Well... hello guys. It was a somewhat long time since I uploaded a chapter. Normally I would say 'sorry, but I couldn't do it earlier because...' and then list up a couple excuses, but this time I don't really have some. I was just lazy. And had over things to do. Mostly playing videogames... and reading... and sleeping.
But hey, here is the next chapter! Enjoy it!
I do not own 'To aru majutsu no index', only my OCs!
Chapter 2: the misguided light
"This place has guts!", a Boy yelled while walking over a street in London.
"Shut up, Idiot! Or do you want to announce 'we are here, please attack us'?", hissed the girl walking next to him and hit him on the back of his head.
"Didn't you say you use nothing physical? How gutless, Kumiko!", exclaimed the boy.
"Normally I wouldn't do it. But your little acts at both airports and in the plane have near completely wrecked my nerves."
From the passersby's point of view this duo seemed a little odd, some wondered what two foreign teenagers did alone in London.
"First we need to check in a hotel.", she began, trying to calm down her nerves which got strained from the trials she had thanks to Gunha.
"Then let's go!", the boy exclaimed and dragged her along the streets.
After some seconds in which Kumiko complained he stopped and asked: "Where exactly is this place?"
'Seriously, he is such a...', she thought and answered sighing, pointing with her thumb over her shoulder:"Other direction."
"Ohh... Let's go with guts!", Gunha said and went in the other direction, still dragging her with him.
'Calm down girl, he isn't doing it on purpose...', Kumiko tried to remain calm.
Some hundred meters further and Gunha asking her for direction multiple times they finally arrived at the hotel.
"Listen up, Gunha: I need to meet up with a friend. You are going to rent one room with two separate beds for us and then come after me. Do not use your ability in some way, don't do anything outside the order I gave you. Or else...", Kumiko let the last part open, giving him a piece of paper with the address of her friend on it.
His eyes widened in fear and he nodded fast multiple times, taking it.
"Good, good. 'till later!", she bid farewell and walked away, leaving an in fear frozen Gunha behind.
'Let's see if she is at that place.', was Kumiko's thought as she wandered towards her destination, hoping it would be so or she would need to collect in Gunha.
After some time she arrived at a bar with the letters 'New Light' above the entry.
Kumiko knocked and waited for a response. The door opened and in the frame stood no one less than Lessar.
Kumiko smiled at her.
Lessar returned the smile.
Both stood for a few seconds like that.
Lessar began to sweat and nervousness started to let the smile crumble.
"Hi, Les~sar~chan.", Kumiko cheerfully greeted.
For her that was the signal. She sprinted inside and yelled loudly:
"RUN! THE SPANKBRINGER CAME!"
Kumiko just followed her, ignoring the nickname she got.
Inside the local were three out of the four girls.
Lessar, who build up a provisional barricade and hide behind it with a Steel Glove ready to strike, Lancis, who laid lazily on a sofa and read some magazine, and Bayloupe, who walked towards her with a happy expression on her face.
"Nice to see you."
"Good to see you too, Bay-chan.", Kumiko replied and hugged her.
"I won't lose this name anytime soon, right?"
"Nope, not until I die."
"Thought so...", Bayloupe sighed and detracted herself out of the hug.
"Why are you here, Spankbringer?", came a question from Lessar.
"Information I need and even some I will give you. And why do call me 'Spankbringer'?", Kumiko asked with a eyebrow raised questionably.
"You made my life harder! You were the one who brought Bayloupe the idea of spanking when she is angry at me!", Lessar replied angrily.
"You actually followed my advice?", she asked Bayloupe.
"Yeah, she screwed up badly one time so I spanked her.", the girl said, seeming satisfied with it.
"Ass?", Kumiko asked.
"Ass. And the dump actions of Lessar are getting lesser and lesser."
She gave Bayloupe a thumps up.
"See, I told you it would work."
"You demon. Do you know how long my bottom is red after Bayloupe is done?", Lessar stared angrily at her.
"A day?"
"A WEEK!"
Kumiko looked at Bayloupe with something like respect.
"That is some spanking power..."
Lessar glared at her but didn't say anything.
"Ok, that is enough talk about spanking. You said you need information?", Bayloupe asked, bringing the conversation in a different direction.
"Jep, I did. Information about GREMLIN to be precise."
"But don't you already have access to such information? You know, agent of the board of directors and all?", Lessar asked confused.
"No, because I am no agent anymore."
"You got fired?", Lessar asked with mirth in her voice.
"Yeah, and I'm happy about it. Try to imagine working for a person worse than Stuart, then multiply it by ten.", Kumiko said, successfully crushing Lessar's attempt at making fun of her.
"And what exactly do you want to know about them? And what is with payment?"
"The names of some important members. And, which is more important, their type of magic. I know they lean on the Nordic mythology, but I don't really know who with what is in charge of specific operation zones. And about the payment, I have information that might interest you.", Kumiko said the last part with a smirk.
"Well, about the members: We know that a person named Othinus is in charge of all operations, which get controlled by the chiefs-in-charge. We think that whole GREMLIN gets controlled by her. About her magic relation, we are not quite sure: Either Tyr or Odin.", Bayloupe informed her, leaving Lessar out of the loop before she could say something stupid.
"Othinus, huh? Somewhere I heard this name before...", Kumiko thought out loudly, rubbing her chin.
"Strong magician, rumors saying she became a magic god."
"Shit! That would make the whole thing harder that it already is."
Before Kumiko could let lose a huge barrage of curses the door slammed open and in the frame stood Gunha.
"Mission accomplished, Kumiko!", he exclaimed loudly and drew all eyes at him.
"Who is that? Your boyfriend?", Lessar asked, surprised by the sudden appearance.
"What the...? Why do all think he is my boyfriend the moment he appears?". Kumiko questioned, a little stuttering.
"You seem to be like butter and bread.", Lancis pointed out her opinion, speaking up for the first time.
"You gotta be kidding me...", Kumiko sighed loudly, massaging her temple.
"But we are friends.", Gunha pointed out, seemingly not understanding what was going on.
"So you are together.", Lessar smirked at her, mirth now seeming to ooze off her.
Kumiko began to get nervous.
"No, we are just friends, nothing more."
"But we already bonded with guts; We are more than friends!", Gunha exclaimed.
This caused a chain reaction: Bayloupe smirked, Lacis eyes widened in shock and Lessar looked flabbergasted at Kumiko with mouth open.
Said redhead's face seemed to try to imitate her hair color with huge success.
"You two already have advanced to this stage?! I really shouldn't take you lightly.", Lessar said to her, still the same expression on her face.
"NONONONO! We didn't do something like that and we are in no such relationship! What he mean with bonding is something completely different then what you think!"
"Ara ara, that isn't nice of you, to deny to have done such an act in front of the person you did it with. Think about his feelings."
"Stop misinterpret in what he is saying and stop acting out of your character!", Kumiko almost screamed at this point, becoming even redder which is almost impossible. "And what he called bonding was to beat some assholes into the ground. Together."
"That's right! We are best friends! But what do you thought bonding i...", Gunha didn't come further as Kumiko's hand slapped on his mouth, successful silencing him. She leaned closer towards him.
"You say another word about this topic in the next five minutes and I send you personally flying to Hawaii.", she hissed him in his ear in a sickly sweet tone.
'Then you are not my responsibility anymore.', Kumiko thought, grinning to herself and backing away.
Gunha in response trembled in fear and nodded frantically.
Bayloupe leaned towards Kumiko, then whispering in her ear:"Something happened? You losing it faster than usual."
"Just the most nerve wrecking travel I had so far in my life."
Bayloupe smirked at her.
"You need to tell me sometime."
"Later, promise."
Kumiko moved away from Gunha and Bayloupe, relieved that he didn't say anything about that topic anymore.
"So, after we cleared the misunderstanding, let's continue with me getting the information I want and after that, Lessar~chan:", she said and smiled with eyes closed a sinster smile at Lessar.
"It will be spanking time."
Lessar paled and backed away slowly, but got held firmly by her left shoulder from Bayloupe who too smirked at her.
"Don't worry, it won't be that bad.", she reassured her though her voice let to believe she didn't think it herself.
"Back to topic: We have a person that might be a magic god and...", Kumiko started.
"Many who lean themselves at gods of the Nordic mythology or the mythology itself plus some from the science side.", Bayloupe finished, sounding a little concerned.
"That is going to be a shit storm."
"Watch your language, please."
"Sorry, my tongue slipped."
"You don't mean it, do you?"
"No, I do not."
Bayloupe sighed, shaking her head slowly.
"But when two of the criteria are correct, then we might have already won. So, in that case we just need to ensure there are minimal casualties...", Kumiko mused barely hearable and rubbed her chin in thought.
"Wait, what?", Lessar asked, not really understanding the meaning of what she said.
"AH, did I say it out loud? Don't worry, nothing serious. Just a silly thought of mine.", she reassured the younger girl, giving her a smile.
The others(except Gunha) looked at her suspiciously but didn't say anything anymore.
"Is there still more, or was that all?", Kumiko asked to change the course of the conversation, a little nervous.
"Well, we found out some locations of operation bases around the globe.", Bayloupe explained a little irritated, pulling and spreading out a map and marked different locations, under them ones in Germany, America, Vietnam and Russia.
"That is quite the number of bases.", Kumiko whistled in a appraising tone. Every other girl in the room looked at her incredulously.
"What? It is a big a feat if you manage to build and hold so many bases, scattered across the world. And that against every other organization that hates them. Which are quite a lot... if not even the rest of the world.", she explained, seeming to not know what was wrong with complementing the enemy.
That statement lead to raising of eyebrows and twitching eyes.
New light shared the same thought: 'It isn't a thing to complement when enemies are a threat big enough to hold their own against the world.'
After a awkward moment of Kumiko receiving glares Bayloupe broke the silence.
"Okaaayy. Even though this somewhat strange situation is rather interesting, I think that we should get the show on the roll. You said you have information that are... interesting for us, haven't you?"
With that single mentioning everyone changed back to a more composed and businesslike manner.
"I have some information that are indicating that GREMLIN will have a operation in England around this week. And knowing them it won't be very pretty.", Kumiko informed them, leaving them all speechless.
"Are you sure?", Bayloupe asked in a heavy voice, concern spiking.
"I am. Got it from the information network belonging to the board of directors when I was still an agent: A 99 percent chance for the event to happen."
"But we have a Saint here. And Nececcarius' HQ. They can't cause much damage, can they?", Lessar demurred, hoping it would be true.
"That would be a nice change. But too bad: If they send a strong team, and giving the oppositions to them like you listed is a high chance, it would ensure that victory for England is no guaranty. And they send, apparently, a rather well known alchemist to lead the whole operation. A guy called Lucius Schwarzeiche , coming straight from their forces in Germany."
"Good god...", Bayloupe muttered, a heavy mine forming on the faces of the New Light members. She already heard what this man was capable of, and it did no good thing for their chances for success.
"But don't worry, I will help you. Friends stick together and help each other, right?", Kumiko tilted her head slightly to the right and smiled at them so brightly she seemed to radiate of a wave of light.
'She is madcap.'
'She is a goddess.'
'I want her as big sister.'
After some seconds the 'light' faded and the others managed to collect their thoughts.
"But, to win this battle for sure, we need Necessarius on our side. Joy.", concluded Kumiko, an air of gloom hanging around her.
"It shouldn't be that bad..."
"You have no idea. Stuart and I are almost at war."
"What did you do?"
"Nothing big... just blew up some magic side property."
Bayloupe raised a eyebrow in response.
"And you wonder why she isn't on good terms with you?"
"It wasn't my fault! Two saints are not really a thing where you can be discrete...", Kumiko muttered defiantly, suddenly finding the ceiling very interesting to look at.
"Tw-two saints? At the same time?"
"Yeah, killed one of them and beat down the other. Too bad it was Kanzaki Kaori. And the building I blew up while fighting them... let's just say it was fairly important. Nececcarius didn't take that lightly." she explained, twitching under the stares she received now.
"What did you blow up?", Bayloupe asked, despite fearing the answer.
*muttermutter*
"I didn't quite catch that."
"An important telesma research facility at the north pole."
Silence. The only exception was the sharp breathing from every New Light member. Finally, after some seconds that seemed to be hours, all three shouted in unison:"YOU DID WHAT?"
"For my defense, they attacked first."
"Let me get this straight: You destroyed a very, very important research facility.", Bayloupe said, her face twitching.
A nod from Kumiko.
"Because the saints attacked you while being there, for..."
"Spying for AC.", came the short answer.
"For spying. Plus You killed one of them." Another nod.
"And beaten another down. And in that whole process you killed nearly all staff member in that facility when you, as you said, blew it up."
A nod for confirmation.
"And I guess the research results are destroyed too."
"Well, technically they are not."
"What does that mean?"
"Deposited in academy city?"
"...You stole them?"
"Stealing is such a hard word; I prefer the term 'taking without asking'."
Bayloupe rubbed her temples and groaned.
"Why do you make everything worse than it already is?"
Gunha patted her on the back, smiling at her reassuringly.
"Don't worry, there are people so gutless that they do things even worse."
Kumiko blinked at him, not wanting to believe what he said.
'He may be the biggest hypocrite I met so far.'
"Thanks. Good to know that you are friendlier than your girlfriend.", Bayloupe teased, smiling back.
A growl that startled everyone sounded in the room, origin Kumiko. They diverted their attention towards her. Kumiko's face twitched, multiple veins pooped up and her hair seemed to defy gravity.
"I will explain it one more time:", she hissed, resulting in everyone backing away slowly.
"He"
She took a step in their direction.
"is"
Another step. Everyone gulped.
'Oh shit!'
"NOT MY BOYFRIEND!", Kumiko roared, heating the whole room up and suddenly appeared bigger than she really is.
Everyone thought the same as she seemed to tower over them.
'We took it to far.'
Kumiko's gaze wandered through the room and stopped as she fixated it on Lessar.
"I remember that I still owe you a spanking, Lessar-chan."
Lessar wasted no time and tried to run, but got gripped by the others.
They send her a 'better you than us'-look. At that moment Lessar thought only one thing and one thing only: 'You backstabbing traitors!'
"Soo, Lessar...", the spoken words send Lessar in a world of fear.
She slowly shifted her gaze towards Kumiko who massaged her left hand.
"It's time for punishment."
She gulped and everyone in that room learned a lesson for life:
Never, ever get on Kumiko's bad side.
A little later screams of pain and sounds of slapping filled the building.
"Haaaa, now I can think straight again.", Kumiko, now relieved and calmed down, said and stretched her arms while walking down the street, a wide smile plastered on her face.
Gunha followed a meter behind her, trying to forget the gruesome pictures of what happened in the bar to Lessar.
"So, next stop would be... Necessarius.", she muttered, gloom hanging around her.
"It won't be so bad.", Gunha said, trying to lift her mood.
"You have no idea.", Kumiko answered with head hanging down. The rest of the walk towards their destination was walked in awkward silence.
After around half a hour they stood in front of a big building.
"This is it. St. George Cathedral", Kumiko sighed, just standing there and was seemingly not interested in entering the building.
"Are we not going in?", Gunha asked her, confused.
"I don't really want to." A pause.
"So... we are not going in?"
Kumiko sighed again."I said I don't want to and truth be told, If I were to chose between taking on an aircraft carrier or talking with that person now, I would chose the carrier every time. But too bad I can't call hut."
She started to walk towards the double door with him in following but stopped in her tracks and held out a arm, stopping him too.
"Before we bring it behind us, I must warn you: No sudden movements, no talking when unquestioned, and most of all: Try to survive."
Gunha signaled her that he understood by giving her a thumps up.
Both walked towards the door, nodded to each other and pushed, each one wing, and walked in.
The inside was darker than one thought. A chill went down Gunha's spine and he felt it. Something was there.
Kumiko appeared to also notice it.
"This raging fury, this killing intent;"
One could hear footsteps which got louder and louder. Both teenagers made themselves ready.
"Something is coming."
And with that words a cascade of nuns, priests and persons that looked normal, a oddity in a place and group like that, ran at them with weapons ready and yelling a battle cry.
They started their attacks at them. Sword swings, fireballs, everything they had in their repertoire.
Kumiko's reaction was... doing nothing and let her ability handle it.
A sword to the head; blocked.
A fireball to the groin; blocked.
Gunha on the other hand dodged the attacks with movements that would be just embarrassing for every other person to do.
A girl tried to stab her with a trident, surrounded by some kind of blue shroud, but her attack got halted the moment it would connect.
"How did you...?"
For a moment the girls eyes widened a little before she jumped back and every other attacker paused too.
"Care to explain why I get attacked by an angry mob the moment I step through the door? I have expected to get bombarded with insults by that witch, but I never expected such a... physical confrontation.", Kumiko demanded, looking at them with a scowl meant for little children who didn't behave.
"We are going to revenge priestess-sama!", the girl with the trident answered, now drawing the attention of Kumiko.
"I know you from somewhere... what was it again? Itsuwa, I believe. Yeah, Itsuwa. You were the one girl who stopped me when I was about to kill Kanzaki. So tell me, what is the meaning of this? I didn't kill her, and please say that is no such silly thing as pride.", with the last sentence her voice and eyes became cold and the atmosphere around her became dangerous, something seemed to twirl around her.
All magicians went a cold shiver down their spine and looked at her in fear. Itsuwa couldn't help but feel the same she felt in Avignon.
At that moment Kumiko seemed to be something unreachable for them, a being where it wasn't a question of how you fought or won against it but how you survived it.
"Kumiko", Gunha said slowly, grabbing her shoulder. She didn't react and still stared coldly at Itsuwa.
"Kumiko", this time he said it with more force, but got still no reaction and the amount of the twirling doubled.
"KUMIKO, STOP!", he yelled, generating a huge amount of Energy which gathered around the two of them, letting the space around both look like sugar water. It literally ate the something that twirled around Kumiko.
For Kumiko that energy was comfortable and warm, like a ocean of cushions she sunk in. The coldness in her eyes slowly faded away and was replaced through warmth, the tenseness in the air dropped and everyone's tenseness with it.
She blinked twice and then receded to her normal self. Gunha moved his hand away and looked at Kumiko in a gauging way. She tilted her head slightly towards him and smiled.
"Thanks. It's still kinda hard to control emotions."
"Don't worry, I just needed to inject some guts into you."
They both redirected their attention back towards the mob who stared at them wide eyed.
"I'm sorry that I let that side out, normally one doesn't see it. But even though we could stay here all day I must inform you that I want to meet with Stuart, as in now."
"And why should we let you through?", Itsuwa asked sullen.
"Because I asked nicely and we all know that we", Kumiko pointed at her and Gunha, "could very well force our way through you. But we don't do it because we are nice people. And by the way: I'm not Valkyrie anymore, so I'm not affiliated with that bastard."
"Then why are you here?", a male voice sounded. The owner of that voice came in view as he walked through the mob. He had red, shoulder long hair and a cigarette in his mouth.
"AH, the oversized middle schooler. Nice to see you again, Stiyl!", Kumiko greeted him with faked happiness in her voice.
A vein popped up on Stiyl's forehead and he gritted his teeth together.
"You still didn't answer my question; What do you want?"
" I have Information for you regarding GREMLIN."
That caused an reaction. Every member of Nececcarius looked at her as if she was a ghost.
"And how do we know we can trust you?", Stiyl asked her after a telepathic communication, suspicion showing itself in his eyes.
"You can't. You just need to trust me on this one. But to give you something to work with: I only lie if it benefits in protecting my brother, which isn't the case now."
Stiyl looked at her doubtfully, thinking about if trusting her would be a wise decision. After some seconds and a talk with the one on the other side of the telepathic line decision was made and he motioned her to follow.
"Alright, I will bring you to the archbishop. This way, as you already know."
Protests were yelled but Stiyl cut them down with a single "She wants to talk to her."
And with that he turned around and walked away, not paying her another look.
"Wow, this place is as nice and welcoming to visitors as it used to be.", Kumiko sarcastically commented whilst following him, behind her Gunha.
"You can't really expect us to invite you to a nice talk with tea and cake. Not after what you did."
"That accident was over a year in the past."
"No, I talk about something that happened recently. We send a member of Nececcarius on a joint mission. He didn't come back in a state we... expected."
"And what would that be? You know, out of faked curiosity."
"A day before we got a barrel filled what appeared to be molten flesh. Any guesses?"
Kumiko looked guiltily at him, grief displaying in her face. She always wondered all the time since she heard the news where this fellow of the group went missing. Or, to be precise, the puddle he became. Kumiko bit on her under lip.
"Yeah, that's my handwork. I'm sorry. But at the same time, it was your fault too."
Stiyl whirled around , rage showing itself on his face.
"Care to explain why we are at fault too? I do believe it was you who melted him."
"You were the ones who send him inside Academy City and let him attack and try to subdue Kamijou Touma, a imperative asset for the Super Intend. You were the ones to send him to his death; The question is, did you know it was a suicide mission, or not.", she calmly replied.
"I didn't.", he said, his voices seeped fury. Styil turned around and continued his walk.
"What a coincidence. Ten bucks the witch knew it and send him never less?", Kumiko asked, disgusted by only the thought of it. She followed him in his tracks.
"That is no bet. It's a certainty."
As they walked down the corridor, they suddenly heard a shout.
"NANASEN!"
Something flew towards Kumiko with a great velocity, ripping the ground on its way. Before it could shredder her to pieces, it stopped and revealed itself as metal strings.
Kumiko sighed again, needed to do it too often for her taste.
"It's nice to see you too, Kaori. But seriously, do you need to choose a physical greeting like that?"
The older girl ignored Kumiko and looked at her with narrowed eyes.
"Oh, come on. If that is still about the thing at the north pole, I will throw up."
She got no reaction, Kaori still resumed in her staring. After some moments, Kumiko decided to make a more physical approach too. She grabbed one of the strings and pulled. Stiyl's eyes widened in shock and his body froze in his tracks, only able to watch the event in fornt of his eyes to unfold.
The pull send Kaori flying towards the younger girl who brought up a arm, ready to strike. Time seemed to slow down as she saw Kumiko coming nearer and nearer. She managed to get her feet on the ground again but still slid towards Kumiko. Kaori stopped when she was in arms reach and, unable to react to the other girl's action, Kumiko's arm went down and... hit her softly with the side of her hand on the head.
"Bad kitten."
Stiyl and Kaori blinked perplex alike and tried to process what happened just now. Kumiko repeated it and again a soft chop landed on the bigger girl's head.
"Bad kitten."
Kaori, after finally getting back to her Zen, jumped back and stared at Kumiko dumbfounded.
"Why did you do that?"
"Too ease the mood, of course.", Kumiko answered and showed her a smile. Again she got no reaction. Deciding it was just a waste of time to do a stare showdown now, Kumiko switched to a serious voice and spoke up.
"Listen, Kaori: I know why you react like that. I can even understand this behavior. I really do. I too would react like that if a person who killed friends of mine stood directly in front of me. But you also need to understand that I did what I did to achieve my goal, not because I had fun while doing it. And that I haven't had a choice in that matter."
That seemed to calm Kaori slightly down but she still had a tense facial expression. Kumiko turned towards Stiyl and motioned him to continue the walk.
They stopped in front of a big door. Styil faced Kumiko and spoke to her.
"I must ask you to leave him", he pointed at Gunha "behind. She only agreed to meet you. And I need to inform you that if you do a wrong move we will attack you."
He left the 'and kill you.' unspoken.
"Of course. And to the 'attack you'-part;", Kumiko answered while walking past him towards the door "Try it."
Then she opened the door and entered the room. The room was big and illuminated by the light of the sun shining through the giant windows on the back side. The windows were typical windows found in a church, decorated and colored with many pictures of the Catholic religion.
Stiyl closed the door behind her. In front of the windows sat Laura Stuart, archbishop and leader of Nececcarius, on a chair at a table filled with tea and cake. On the other side of the table stood another empty chair.
'So much about 'no tea and cake for you', huh?'
Kumiko neared herself the table silently with a fake smile plastered on her face. She got a fake smile back. Kumiko sat herself on the still empty chair and waited for the other woman to say something.
"It's nice to see you again, Kumiko-chan.", Stuart began in Japanese with a voice filled with faked happiness that practically screamed 'Hate you, Bitch'.
"It's definitely nice to see you again too. And Stuart, please: talk in English, your way of speaking Japanese is just silly.", Kumiko replied letting the smile on her face, having the hidden message 'fuck you' in her sentence.
"OH, I Didn't know my way of speaking was this... unfitting.", came the answer, now in English.
"There is no problem with it. You will just get weird stares from the sidelines, nothing serious. But as much as I want to talk with you about such a... important topic, I would really want to talk about the matter at hand."
"I see nothing wrong with that. You said you have information regarding GREMLIN?", Stuart asked and took a sip from her tea.
"You heard correct."
"And why do you think I don't know already what you want to say to me?" This damn woman wanted to pressure her. Kumiko tried her best to keep the smile where it belonged and her fist away from where it was meant to be.
"A feeling. A feeling which says that Crowly didn't tell everything to you. And that you network doesn't possess the information I can offer.", she responded, inwardly resisting the urge to insult her.
"Oh. Interesting, I suppose. But we both know you will not tell me it for free."
"Of course not. I'm no Samaritan. We both aren't."
"And what is it that you want?"
"To stop your attacks on Kamijou Touma. And that you stop the little plan you work on right now." Stuart's smile faded a little bit for the first time.
"That is a really big demand. Why shouldn't we do it?"
"Am I allowed to speak openly?" A nod.
"It simply won't work." The smile she possessed faded completely.
"And why do you think it won't work? You are no magician, so tell me; Where do you take that confidence that it won't work?"
"Because of its very nature. It's moving outside of what you can perceive, of what you can understand. To try and mess with it will not work."
"So you know what it is?" A eyebrow raised a that question. Kumiko looked at Stuart's passive face in a exaggerated way.
"Haven't you listen to me? Right now I can't do exactly that to a hundred percent. No one of us can. And when you ask that question you don't understand it yourself to such length, do you? Why do you even want to follow this plan then?"
"Because it might be a path to salvation."
Kumiko, now without any modesty, looked at her as if she had a second head grown.
"Did you say 'Might' just now? You seriously want to tell me that you risk such things because of a single 'might'?"
"I am willing to take that gamble."
"So you are not backing down?"
"I am afraid not."
Fury. Hot, burning fury raged in her. Every ounce self restraint was lost, every composure she possessed faded away when this sentence was spoken. Around them the basic physical rules seemed to be canceled out, nothing like that mattered at the moment. Then Kumiko spoke up, eying Stuart with hot rage.
"You are 'willing to take that gamble'? Do you even now in the slightest what taking it would mean? I warned you about it. I tried to get you away from that idea. And you come up with that, simply continuing what you started? Not even considering what I said? You have no idea what you are about to do. I was connected. I know the truth, even if my knowledge is only on a rudimentary level. And you say to me in your blissful naivety that you still want to continue? Giving me that answer in your complete arrogance?"
During that entire speech Stuart looked at her with no emotion showing on her face. Stiyl, Kaori and multiple other members of Nececcarius ran in the room and looked wide eyed at the demon standing in the middle of the anomaly.
"You know what...", Kumiko began and the anomaly vanished slowly.
"This deal is blown. Forget the information. Try to safe your beloved England. But remember what I said: When you succeed with this plan of yours, then there is no salvation. Not for you, not for England and most of all not for humanity."
And with that she stormed out of the room and pulled Gunha with her in the process.
No one dared to stop her.
That was it with this chapter!
Some of you may have already notived it, but I made references to other animes. Hehehe... I'm so evil.
And about the whole relationship thing: Sargent Crash, applause to you, you have successfully infected my brain with that idea. Congratulations!
And with that:
Don't forget to leave something behind and...
I'm out! Bye!