Disclaimer: I do not own A Certain Magical Index or any of its characters
"I see…so they already made their move…" Leivinia muttered while rubbing her chin. "Not only that they took an ether orb..."
"An ether orb? What's that?"
"Since it's such a rare phenomenon I wouldn't be able to tell you much but from what I do know if one was to gather enough of it in the atmosphere their spells, rituals, and spiritual items would be buffed at a frightening scale there are also instances when the ether solidifies."
"Is that so."
Touma, who was sprawled on his bed, questioned Leivinia.
"Now that I think about it, how did you get in here? And where's Index?"
"I simply unlocked your door with a spell which is child's play for a magician such as myself…and as for the nun, she left saying she was meeting with a friend of hers."
"I see…"
"Don't worry, my men are surveying her, so if anything happens, they will let me know." Leivinia sat on the bed as well while crossing her arms. "The main topic is this Church of Salvation."
"You have any leads?"
"We have managed to obtain something."
Touma tilted his head to the side. "What is it?"
"The Seats of the Salvation Church." Leivinia crossed her legs. "It consists of seven members, each one in charge of a dominion. The girl Revis you just fought is the Sixth Seat which rules over the dominion of Wrath."
Touma continued listening, still sprawled on the bed.
"Each dominion consists of 10 members, so you can imagine the size of the organization, but that's not all. They seem to have indoctrinated several mythological and magical formats into their cabal such as Greek, Christianity, and Roman." Leivinia let out a sigh. "Honestly, what a pain…."
"Yeah…well, what do you think our next move should be?"
"The best choice will be to gain allies." Leivinia stood up from the bed and headed toward the door. "I'll be going now. Make sure to keep your guard up."
And with that, she was gone.
"Allies, huh..." Touma pondered.
It was Monday.
Touma walked into his classroom praying for an uneventful day but deep down; he knew that wasn't happening. He sat down in his seat. His three friends circled him. Tsuchimikado Motoharu, Aogami Pierce and Kudou Nora.
"Morning Kami-yan!" Motoharu greeted him with a wave.
"You guys look energetic first thing in the morning…"
"Well, well, well, my friend Kami-yan we have stumbled upon something otherworldly…This new and high-quality VR eroge!"
"…What?"
"Don't give us such a half-assed reaction!" Aogami yelled in frustration while shoving the eroge game in his face.
"Dude, it's early in the morning! Sorry if my brain can't keep up with everything right now!"
Suddenly the classroom door opened with a bang, and in walked Fukiyose Seiri.
"What's with you guys? I could hear your voices all the way down the corridor!"
"Scatter, it's the 'Iron Wall girl!" Nora yelled.
"Shit! Don't let her see 'it'!" Aogami panicked.
"'It'? What the hell are you idiots talking about!?"
As she asked that, something fell and landed near her feet. She picked it up, confused, only to see it was an eroge.
"Ah."
A few moments later, Komoe walked into a classroom that looked like a storm had run through it, along with four casualties.
It was 11:00 at night.
The streets were mostly empty except for the stary group of delinquents. Leivinia Birdway wandered these empty streets. She walked down the street to meet up with someone. It was a man with sharp brown eyes and black hair. He wore a gray suit and black-rimmed glasses. People would describe him as handsome.
"You're here…"
"Souma, I'm surprised to see a magician from the Blue Rose all the way in Academy City," Leivina said with a grin. "After all you only come out when something catches your interest."
"What can I say? I just had a few businesses to take care of."
The two continued their stroll down the almost vacant streets.
"So, you wanted my help in taking down that Church?"
"That's right. After all, someone like you surely can't overlook their actions, right?"
"…That's right."
"Great. Let's end this charade." Leivinia declared.
That night Touma was struggling to fall asleep in his bathtub.
He kept tossing and turning. All he could think about was the Church of Salvations' following plans.
"Sigh...honestly…" Touma continued to toss and turn. "I should go for a walk."
Touma wore his casual clothes and exited his dorm. The streets were empty, so all he could hear was the sound of his footsteps on the pavement. The only shop open was a 24-hour convenience store.
"I should get Index something for tomorrow."
Touma began making his way when he saw a familiar face.
"Nora?"
"Touma?"
The two of them sat in front of the convenience store, eating their snack.
"Couldn't sleep?"
"Yeah…I kept thinking of the Church of Salvation."
"I see…" Nora continued eating his snack. "Oh, that's right, I have something to show you after school tomorrow."
"Hm? What is it?"
"That's a secret~."
Nora suddenly stood up and let out a stretch while yawning.
"Well, I'll see you tomorrow."
"See you tomorrow," Touma said as he waved.
The next morning.
Touma got from his bathtub bed, made breakfast for him, and Index got changed into his uniform and before he left he warned Index to be careful of anything suspicious after that he headed to school.
He checked the time on his phone. It was 7:00 am. This was the first time he was this early in what felt like ages.
"Nice! I can get to school early for once!"
But as the saying goes, fate had other plans. Suddenly he heard footsteps rapidly approaching him. He instinctually turned around.
"Get out of the way!"
"What the hell!?"
It was a young man clutching onto a purse—a purse thief. The girl yelled for someone to stop him. Touma hearing this, casually stuck his foot out, causing the thief to trip. This caused the man to fall and drop the purse, which Touma picked up.
"B-bastard!"
The girl ran over to thank Touma as he returned her purse. Now that he got a better look at the bag, it looked costly. The girl was a Tokiwadai student with honey-blonde hair and stars in her eyes. Her name was Shokuhou Misaki, the #5 Level 5.
"Oh, my!?"
"What's wrong?"
"Sorry about that, ahem; thank you for your help." She said with a satisfied smile that made Touma's heart skip a beat.
"N-no problem! Well, I'll be going now!"
Misaki gently waved him off.
As Touma ran off, he thought she had a unique scent like honey which he found familiar but he couldn't remember where from.
To be continued...
