II

Chapter 6: Crashing Into the Tip of the Iceberg

Seven_Flashes

Part 1

"Wait, do you mean everything you just told me? If it's a joke, you better say it right now."

"If you don't believe me, just check the security cameras. She was with me up until now."

Even so, Asuka just couldn't believe what the boy had told her. It was the first day of the summer break, neither of them should be working today unless something urgent came up. And the invasion had happened less than 24 hours ago. Nobody would even dream to find one of the intruders so fast without even trying. "No, it's not that I don't believe you, it's just… It's just too convenient, isn't it? Think about it, what are the odds of you bumping on yesterday's target in broad daylight?"

"I figured you would say that, that's the reason I'm calling you." Replied the boy. For once, Asuka wasn't able to imagine what was going through the boy's head right now from his voice alone. "This whole thing was ridiculous from the very beginning. I'm starting to believe that the Breakdown was actually nothing but a rumor to draw attention away from this incident."

She rubbed her temples and thought hard at the possibility he proposed. This was one of the rare situations where she couldn't come up with an answer easily, and that pissed her off. "No… I don't think this is the case. It's not like I can deny it, but if it's really that… It would be at least weird for them to involve our unit into this. We are not like the other organizations that needs a fake lead to ignore something else. We turn a blind eye on almost everything that happens in the city unless we are told otherwise."

"Yeah, it wouldn't make any sense. But come to think of it…" Hishiro paused for a few seconds. Seemed like he was having trouble trying to understand the situation as well. "Given what had happened yesterday, I think that the higher ups are currently unaligned. One or more of them wanted us to get those intruders, while the others - including the chairman, by the way - wanted them in and safe. From my point of view, this is either a signal of internal conflict or miscommunication."

"And we got dragged in the middle of it? I just hope you are very wrong about this one, Shiro..."

"Actually, me too... But my other bet is that they are indulging us to commit a mistake so they would have a reason to erase us, so... I mean, the one that intercepted me was THAT guy."

"That was definitely a death flag." Asuka could only sigh and take a sip from the suspicious looking drink on her hand. "Ahhh… if they really want us to resign, they could just send a demission letter or something. I don't know about you, but I don't like the idea of being silenced by force. It sounds exciting at first, but when you think that it will happen just once and then everything will be over, it's probably very disappointing."

"Says the one that never ever shows her face. Wouldn't them die out of age trying to look for you or something?"

She couldn't help but giggle like a little girl at his comment. It was very rare for him to play along with her jokes. "Tehehehe, are you trying to cheer me up now, Shiro? You just made aunt Asuka very happy!"

"Is that so? Just for the record, it wasn't my intention."

"No use trying to play the Tsundere so late in the game. After all these chapters, your character is already set on stone." She could hear him laughing on the other side of the line and was able to relax a little. Ever since the team shrunk to Hishiro alone, it wasn't easy to see him having fun like this.

"So… what should we do now?" He asked after a while.

"Asking me out? After telling me you took another girl to have lunch? You sure are bold today. Is it because of the horosco-"

"No idiot. I'm talking about the intruder." Seems like playtime was already over, unfortunately.

"Well, we both know for a fact that something is going on behind the scenes here, but they already told us to stay out of it. But you already knew that, and yet you're asking me, so you already had the answer with you from the start."

"Still, I couldn't just act selfishly without consulting you first. Also… I'm not really sure we should. The girl said that it would all be over soon..."

"But doesn't that sounds suspicious as well?" No answer. Actually, even Asuka was at a loss of how to deal with this. "Okay, Then let's just observe for now. No one said we weren't allowed to do that, right? We can decide whether to act or not afterwards, depending on what happens. How that sounds to you?"

"Hmm… satisfying enough, I guess? Thought I may be labelled as a stalker if I keep following her around all day. It's already weird for me to be standing in front of this dorm for so long."

"No idiot, not you." For Asuka, it felt good to give his words back right at him. "I can scan the surroundings of the building using the satellite images. If she leaves and anything happens, I'll call you right away."

"I don't know… I don't like the idea of letting you get the credit -or the blame- for this one."

"You were the one scared in the first place. Leave it to me and go enjoy your break, kay~?"

"What about your break, Asuka?"

"I'm 26, I don't go to school anymore. Summer break means nothing to me since very long ago."

"Oh, that's right, I forgot about that. Your own fault for not acting your age..." She could hear a long sigh from the line and heavy steps. Seems like she managed to convince him.

…

From a safe distance, a certain someone wearing a dark gray robe with golden decorations and a black hood that covered half of his face watched carefully the brown haired boy talking in the phone until he left.

"The fruit of knowledge has been placed in front of thou, and thou have been warned to leave it alone." The sentence recited to no one in particular was red from the tiny scroll held by the person. As a thin smirk formed on its face, the scroll got burnt by green flames and vanished. "So, what are you going to do now, my dear Adan? Obey and accept this fake paradise? Or reject everything and take a bite?"

Part 2

The electricity crisis that had been tormenting District 7 since the night before was still ongoing. In an area where the power had yet to be restored, a group of four girls were walking on the streets with a rare aura of seriousness around then. They were Kuroko Shirai, Mikoto Misaka, Kazari Uiharu and Ruiko Saten. Not long ago, they had parted ways with a specialist after discussing about the Level Upper. The teleporter was satisfied with everything they had learned. "So, everything comes down to whether we find it or not… Uiharu, we should go back to the office."

But the other girl was distracted by something on the opposite sidewalk and didn't answered. No, instead of something, it was someone. "Hey, Shirai-san. Isn't that boy the one you arrested by accident?" Kuroko turned into the direction she was pointing and… it was indeed him, there was no mistake about it.

"Oohhh… so this is the rumored guy that Shirai-san ran away with in the evening." Saten, which had been quiet since she learnt that the Level Upper might had side effects, embraced the opportunity to change the subject.

"Is that true, Kuroko? I haven't heard this part of the story at all." Mikoto asked, with a surprised expression. "Don't tell me that he is the reason we got punished for you being so late back then."

"T-That's not it, onee-sama! It was all part of Judgment's work!"

"Even though Konori-senpai said you didn't had to go after him?" Said Uiharu, ruining her friend's excuse. "No, thinking about it now, she actually told not to go-Hmghm!"

"Uiharu… ENOUGH!" The flower headed girl was forced to stay quiet when the fierce level 4 blocked her mouth with her hands. "If Konori-senpai knew he was going to face another esper that had stolen something from him, she would have officially sent me without thinking twice."

"Yeah, that's what you say, but I wonder what his side of the story sounds like." Giving the finishing blow with a giggle, Saten drove Kuroko into a corner. The goal was to make her resign and accept the joke, but she underestimated the level 4.

"What!? Do I need to go this far to- no, I'm looking at this from the wrong angle. If it's for the sake of maintaining my reputation in front of onee-sama, this is nothing! Even if I have to go this far, I have to do it!"

"Wait, Shira-" Uiharu was unable to stop her in time. The twin pigtailed girl had already teleported away.

Saten wondered with an apologizing tone. "Maybe… I have gone a little too far."

"No, it's not your fault. She is just this stupid when she gets worked up with stupid things." Explained Misaka before sighing, half expecting what was about to come. And just like she predicted…

ZAP!

"Here he is."

"... huh? What just… What?"

Kuroko teleported back, and she had bought the mysterious boy along with her. At the sight of the confused male, the other girls could just wave and smile wryly.

"Now, Saten-san. Feel free to question him for as long as you like. You'll see that there won't be any contradictions about what I said."

She actually managed to turn the tables on me?! Saten panicked, trying to come up with an excuse to escape the situation. "W-well, this is sudden… Could you introduce us first?"

"Unfortunately no." Kuroko closed her eyes and remembered what happened when she first met him. "This gentleman refuses to give his name no matt-"

"Good evening, I'm Hishiro Yamazaki." Bowing politely, the brown haired gentleman cut off Kuroko and introduced himself to the other girls. "If possible, please call me by my first name and without honorifics."

Everyone looked to and fro the boy named Hishiro and the girl (who was frozen in place) dumbfounded. Misaka was the first one to break the silence. "Hey, Kuroko. I think I picked a contradiction already..."

"This gotta be a new world record. It took less than half a minute." Added Uiharu.

"Wa-wha- why!?" The teleporter girl snapped and yelled at the boy. "How can you give your name away so easily now?!"

"Why couldn't I? It's just a name anyway..."

"If that's the case, why didn't you told us when you were being questioned?!"

"Because it was a questioning." He shrugged and replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "I have the right to stay quiet."

"Why… you! How da-"

"By the way, who are you again? I get the feeling we met before somewhere..."

"GWAAAAAAAAAHHHH!"

In the end, the other girls had to hold their friend back before she could commit a crime. Actually, Misaka had to knock her out by zapping her, since a teleporter can't just simply be held in place.

Part 3

"Sorry I didn't recognised you. A lot of things have been happening around me, my head just can't keep up."

"It's okay… don't worry about that anymore..." Kuroko's voice sounded lifeless after she woke up. There were still smoke around some parts of her body.

After the commotion, they had to move away before someone from the crowd around called Anti-Skill on them. Right now they were sitting on a bench on a small park that was surprisingly empty, even though it was summer break, and then waited for Kuroko to wake up before everyone introduced themselves properly.

An empty park. Four girls and one boy. Under the sunset. Dammit, this is uncomfortable. How the hell did I end up like this? Not to mention that one of them is a freaking level 5! I just pray that Asuka is not watching over me right now...

Uiharu turned to the boy and decided to start. "Well then, Yamazaki-san..."

"As I said, please use just my first name."

"Oh- sorry, Hishiro-san… no, sorry, I mean..."

"It's better to let her use honorifics." Interrupted Saten. "I never ever heard Uiharu calling someone without them."

"Really? Well… that's fine, I guess."

"Ahem." The flower haired girl cleaned her throat and started over. "Hishiro-san, we would like to hear from you what happened that day after you and Shirai-san left."

"Hmm, let's see..." He thought for a moment and explained with as little details as possible, so they wouldn't pry where they shouldn't.

"See?" Said Kuroko after he finished. "I'm as clean as the clear sky in a summer morning."

Aside from your dirty mind… Misaka thought, but kept it for herself.

"Are you satisfied now, Saten-san?" The person in question just smiled wryly and didn't said anything, but it was enough to please the twin pigtailed girl, until a question popped on her mind. "By the way, what happened to that other boy? Did you find him?"

"Nope, and honestly I hope to never see him again unless if it's to watch his ass getting kicked." The scornful tone on his voice clearly showed how he despised the other male. "I had enough trouble with him already."

"But why he wanted that USB drive so much? Was there anything valuable there?" Asked Saten with a hint of curiosity.

"Supposedly it had something to do with a dumb rumor about the Imaginary Number District-"

"THE IMAGINARY NUMBER DISTRICT!?" Hishiro noticed his mistake too late when the black haired girl's blue eyes sparkled at him.

""There she goes again..."" Misaka and Uiharu said in unison.

"Y-yeah, but it was nothing but a rumor in the end, so it wasn't worth it." The boy quickly tried to shot her down as she was starting to get too close, as if she would devour him at any second.

"Saten-san, leave it alone." Misaka intervened. "We already have our share of urban legends to take care about."

"Ehehehehe, sorry sorry. I just couldn't resist..." Her behavior went back to normal in an instant and her mood seemed to get a bit heavier. Hishiro picked on that quickly and decided to ask back. "Now that's something. What kind of legends is the famous Railgun after?"

"At this point, it is way beyond just an urban legend." She said with a sigh. "Have you heard of the Level Upper?"

"!" By now, he had already lost count on how many times his mind had snapped like this today. He wasn't expecting to hear about that all of a sudden, specially from civilians. "Isn't it that thing that increases the level of an esper for a time and then makes them collapse?"

Kuroko was the one surprised now. "Have the rumors gone this far already? We can't really underestimate people's curiosity when it comes to things like this."

"In summary, we are trying to find who's behind the Level Upper and how to wake up the victims. But we need to find the Level Upper itself first." Misaka explained. Out of reaction, Saten checked her cellphone inside her pocket with a troublesome expression. Hishiro noticed her reaction and grinned.

Heh… now that's an interesting situation. He was no amatheur, that was really enough to grasp what was going on within this group. What he couldn't grasp though was what the higher ups were thinking by let it happen. It would be really sick if this whole incident was nothing but a social experiment just to see how people would react on the situation this girl is right now. But it's naive to think that I just found the core of everything here.

"Waah, it's really hot here! The shade isn't helping that much..." Saten quickly changed the subject, but only Hishiro knew her true intentions.

"True..." Misaka replied innocently with a careless smile, but then noticed something out of place. Namelly, the boy's gray jacket. "Wait, how can you stand the heat wearing something like this?"

"Hm? I'm not feeling hot at all." He decided to play along with Saten's excuse. Still smirking, he boldly stood up and grabbed Misaka's wrist. The girls all felt surprised by the sudden action, but Misaka in particular was surprised by something else. "See?"

"It's… cold?!"

"Yup, it is." Hishiro seemed amused by her reaction, letting go her arm. "I told you about my ability just now. You know how heat is actually the agitation of molecules, right? The AIM diffusion fields I emit doesn't let them to agitate beyond a certain point naturally. Without my jacket, the air around me would never get above about... 17º C I think… or something like that. I don't actually know the details. This is what I overheard from the staff during the ability test some years ago."

"That's some convenient side effect." Misaka smiled wryly and took a hold of her own wrist, enjoying the cold feeling before it faded into the summer heat again.

"I get that a lot, but I don't think it's a big deal..." The boy shrugged. There was a hint of something on his eyes that moment… Sadness? Loneliness? Misaka couldn't exactly tell, and before she could ask-

Beep Beep

That sound broke the world. For Hishiro, that ringtone was like an air raid siren. Every time it played, he was dragged away from relaxing moments like this one and into a bloody and dark battlefield. And at this time in particular, it had an even heavier meaning. He picked the device and walked away from the girls.

"What is it, Asuka?"

"Something's happening! Where are you right now?" Her voice sounded completely different from usual.

"I'm still on District 7. What's going on?"

"Go back to that dorm quickly! I'm not sure how much time we have, so I'll explain on the way!"

"Got it. Give me half a minute, I need to dismiss some civilians around here first."

The boy switched the call to wait mode and sighed. He actually wanted to pry a little further on their business with the Level Upper just for the fun of it, but this was way more important. When he walked back to the girls, Uiharu noticed right away that there was something going on. "What's wrong?"

"Sorry, but I need to go." They looked worried for a moment, but Hishiro told them off before any of them had the chance to pry. Specially the members of Judgement. "It's nothing serious, really. I was actually waiting for that call."

"Is that so… Well, see you around then."

"Next time make sure to greet me like normal people do." Kuroko turned her head away, avoiding eye contact.

Before leaving, Hishiro walked right beside Misaka and whispered so only her could hear. "The black haired girl sneaked away a while ago in that direction." Only now Misaka noticed that Saten was missing from the group. "You better keep a close eye on her, or she might do something unnecessary."

Before she could ask anything, he was already running towards the opposite direction. I was told to not interfere, so that's all I can do for you. The rest depends on how deep are you willing to dive into the darkness.

Part 4

"She never left the building?"

"No. As far as I can tell, the girl must still be there. Unless she used some underhanded way to get past the satellite vigilance and the security cameras."

Hishiro ran as fast as he could towards the dorm he had been earlier this afternoon. "That's weird… she told me that she just had to pick something up."

"Remember, she is from the outside. You can't just trust everything she said just because you found her cute."

"WHEN DID I EVER SAID THAT?!"

"It was obvious from the way you looked at her when you met her. I took a screenshot of that moment, if you are interested."

"Hell no!"

"That's a shame... Would you prefer a screenshot of her face th-"

"Is that REALLY the time to be messing around like this?!" It could be because of the sudden stressful situation, but Hishiro felt more irritated than usual.

"Fine fine, I got it." Asuka finally went straight to the point. "The thing is, about five minutes ago, every pedestrian simply walked away from the perimeter and the place became eerily empty."

He just frowned. That sounded strange alright, but surely it wasn't enough to make Asuka call him. "Isn't it just a coincidence? It's not impossible that no one had business there for an amount of time, specially in a residential area like that one."

"That's what I thought at first, but then a single person walked into the building." Asuka paused, making Hishiro anxious.

"What? Who it was?"

"It's… a tall female wearing weird clothes, but the important part was what she was carrying… I didn't want to believe something was going to happen but now..."

"What was she carrying Asuka? Just say it, dammit!"

"A sword." His eyes widened after hearing the word. "At first glance, it looks like a long pole, but after analyzing the image with more attention, it is undoubtedly a katana of about two meters long. Does that ring any bells?"

He remembered. One of the intruders was holding something that looked like that. "You gotta be kidding me..." He remembered what that and the other person were trying to do with the girl named Index, and what the results were. He remembered about how the girl looked scared, but at the same time relieved when she said that everything was about to end soon. "You gotta be fucking kidding me!"

"But think about it Shiro, things are starting to make a bit of sense." Asuka used nothing but logic on moments like these. The only feeling that her voice emitted was the anxiety of if Hishiro could make it in time to confirm her theory or not. "Academy City is cooperating with those people to get this said something that this Index has. The secret files from the other day said that someone among the higher ups has a great interest in it, so they probably want to keep anyone from interfering in exchange of a peek on whatever it is."

"Tsk!" His legs were burning from the frantic dash, but he increased his speed anyway. "The woman, is she still in the building as well?"

"I didn't see her leaving yet, so, yes, most likely." Asuka hesitated for a while before asking. "What are you planning to do now, Shiro? Do you want to save that girl? If you were to ask me… it would be better to keep observing from the shadows. It's just too risky to act when we don't even know the scale of thing."

His heartbeat increased upon hearing her suggestion. He could roughly tell what would happen if he just walked away, but what would happen if he decided to barge in? Probably it wouldn't end in just a warning like last time… but even so...

"I couldn't care less about the safety of that airheaded nun. But I'm not the kind of person that likes to be left behind like this. If they had stayed quiet about the whole thing, I would just leave it alone, but I'm not willing to step back anymore. I want to know what's going on, and if they won't tell us by the easy way, I'll just make those involved speak in their place!"

Asuka giggled at his response. She probably already knew he would say that. "Oh my, Shiro, You could sound so cool if you were honest with yourself for once. But you're cute when you're like that as well~*."

"Shut up, I'm serious. And I don't want to hear that from you." Retorted the boy. He hadn't noticed, but there was a wide and somewhat malicious grin on his face right now. "If you wanted just to observe, you wouldn't have called me on the first place."

"I don't even know what you're talking about~~!"

…

It didn't take long for him to arrive back at the dorm. But, unfortunately, it was already too late. From afar, Hishiro could see the silhouette of a female running from inside the building while he tried to catch his own breath. Is it Index? No… it's too tall to be her. He closed the distance without her noticing and watched carefully. She was breathing heavily and her steps were unsteady. But what picked his eyes was the tone of red splashed on her white shirt and ragged jeans.

"Blood?" At least, it looked like it. The sky had already turned orange, the lights might be playing with his eyes. He wished that was the case, but…

"It is blood. And she doesn't seems to be hurt, so it's not hers." Asuka confirmed. So it could just mean one thing. He wanted to leave the cover right away and confront her, but without knowing what she was capable off, this could be suicide. For starters, that sword definitively wasn't there just for showing. The most sensate thing to do was sneak past her and confirm Index's situation and check for more victims. Asuka could keep track of the woman anyway. But he didn't even had a chance to try it.

"Whoever is behind the pillar, show yourself!"

Darn, I messed up! It was useless to keep hiding. Swallowing hard, he walked towards the female without displaying that he was actually nervous. She narrowed her eyes and stared at him coldly while the wind blew her black ponytail sideways. He felt shivers from just that. It was hard to tell exactly what, but something about her aura felt… very dangerous. And it wasn't just the blood on her clothes.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?" She asked. Hishiro tried to look menacing and stared back with the same intensity as he replied.

"That's actually my line. You are the outsider here, not me." Her stance changed and she placed a hand on the hilt of the sword.

"I would rather avoid conflict, if possible. Please leave and don't get on our way anymore."

"Sorry, but I'm not going anywhere without answers." For precaution, he reached his hand for his weapon as well, but he didn't pulled it out. "First of all, I got some questions for that girl, Index. Is she alright? I heard that she was here the whole afternoon-"

The woman gritted her teeth, and before he could finish- "!"

It all happened too fast. On one moment, she seemed ready to draw, and on the other, he was already laying on his butt, and there was a deep cut on the ground right before where he was standing. "Last warning. Go away. I'm not in a good mood right now."

What… the heck was that? She couldn't possibly have done it with the sword alone, could her? As if reading his mind, Asuka gave a quick explanation.

"At that moment, at least a couple of blades came from different directions and collided to the ground at very high speed, resulting on what you are seeing right now. This is bad Shiro. This isn't the kind of attack you can dodge, nor defend using your ability."

So my only chance is to find the origin of these blades… what an annoying trick. He stood up, paying attention to the surroundings to figure out where it did came from - and if it was going to attack again.

"You don't intend to leave, do you..." The female sighed and closed her eyes. She seemed to be wondering about what to do in this situation.

"No, not at all. I got attacked by worse things these last few days. This is far from enough to scare me." He made an exaggerated movement, indicating he was about to run towards her. If I misguide her judgement and move differently from her expectations, I can avoid those blades and get closer, but that sword is a problem.

Five seconds passed by like an eternity as they did nothing but stare at each other. Hishiro was the first one to move, dashing in a straight line. The woman kept still, slightly pulled the blade from the scabbard and whispered. "Nanasen..."

The almost invisible blades struck once again, but this time, Hishiro was quicker. He had already sidestepped before she had opened her mouth and the attack missed. She looked surprised for a second, but didn't stop there. "Nanasen!"

Several blades came flying at him, but he managed to avoid being targeted by moving at illogical and unexpected directions. It was like trying to not get hit by a bullet: instead of dodging the projectile, you had higher chances by disturbing the aim of the shooter. Still, it would be better if I knew how is she manipulating them.

After the pattern had repeated a few times, he had found an opening on her timing. Without wasting a second, he pulled out his handgun, released the safety as fast as possible and shot at her legs without mercy.

The female took a couple of steps back and moved her sword. Right after, all the bullets had fallen on the floor around her - sliced on half. Hishiro could barely believe it. Even if the blades were fast and sharp enough to pull that out, to actually aim and time the action was unthinkable. With reflexes such as these, she could have hit me long ago. What is going on here?

"Tsk!" he ran for her once again, but this time, on of the blades managed to hit his arm, cutting deep into his flesh. "Agh!"

"I warned you. You could have left unharmed." Said the female emotionlessly.

"To the hell with that!" Changing his plans, he dashed straight to her this time. If things continue like this, it'll be a matter of time until I can't fight anymore. I may not be able to stop her attacks with Null Inertia, but if I slow them down I might be able to get past them, and since she is expecting me to sidestep, I can get her by surprise!

But that proved to be a terrible mistake.

"Shiro, wait! Don't do this!" It was already too late when Asuka tried to stop him. The woman attacked, Hishiro activated his ability and...

No way! An immense pressure fell on his body, meaning that his ability was at its limit already. He soon found out the reason. Seven? Seven blades at the same time?! I can't-

Pain. For a moment, his five senses wavered as pain was everything he could feel. The seven blades had showered on him mercilessly, cutting his body in multiple places… he couldn't even tell where, everything was hurting. Unable to keep standing, he fell into the pool of blood that had formed around him. His vision was darkening, but he could see the attacker a few meters in front of him. Even she looked surprised at what happened.

Haha… and she wasn't even trying to kill me… just how pathetic am I? Hishiro shut his eyes. He knew what was coming and there was nothing he could do anymore. He didn't want to know the moment his consciousness was going to slip away. Asuka was yelling something, but it didn't mattered anymore. In a matter of seconds, his mind had completely turned off.

…

Kanzaki stood still, staring at the scene in front of her. The male had fainted due to blood loss and was going to die soon if nothing was done. What was he trying to do? That last dash wasn't a suicide attack, he seemed to have a plan… well, it doesn't matter anymore.

"Kanzaki!"

"... Stiyl."

The new voice came from a redheaded male wearing a black robe that was heading her way. Once he arrived, he looked choked by the almost corpse lying on the ground. "What happened here?"

"I don't know myself..." She answered. Her voice trembled as she kept talking. "Weren't your runes supposed to keep civilians away? How in the world did this boy got past your spell?"

Stiyl sighed and lit up a cigar. "Who knows. But the important question is: was it intentional or an accident? If they are secretly researching our techniques and creating counter measures, then this kid is more than a simple mockery - it is an act of war. However..." Placing the cigar on his mouth, he moved besides the limp body and nudged it with his feet. Of course, there was no response. "He doesn't seem to be a menace. So let's just assume that he is an Exception for the sake of convenience and move on. Really… the science side is full of freaks." The man then stalled his fingers and several pieces of paper with runes that were spread around the area ignited and burned away. He blew some smoke before continuing. "Where is Index?"

The woman named Kanzaki lowered her head and answered in a depressed tone. "She's inside, in front of one of the rooms. I..." Biting her lip, she had trouble to continue when she remembered what had just happened between the two of them. "Her walking church is no longer effective for some reason. I didn't knew that and… and..."

"I see…" Styil made paused and blew more smoke from his mouth. That makes two of our spells nullified. Honestly, I don't even know what to make out of this. "Don't worry, I'll take care of her. But first, we need to get rid of this evidence. You know what I mean, right?"

Kanzaki nodded and both picked up the body on the floor, ready to take him away.

…

On the rooftop, the gray robbed person watched everything carefully. On his hands, there were a few damaged pieces of paper with runes drawn on it. A malicious smirk formed on his mouth formed when a certain spiky haired boy appeared and headed towards the dorm which had no traces left of the battle that had just happened. And which was about to become his own nightmarish battlefield very soon...

This was supposed to be as short as the first chapter. Yet I don't even know when it jumped from 900 to over 6000 words… writing is really magic sometimes.

Yes, this is the first chapter of the second arc and the main character is almost dead already, and on the hands of his enemies. Sorry for that, but when you use the Saint card in the game, there is basically no other possible result for the other party unless they are another Saint... or Accelerator. But this had to happen sooner or later. Just like Touma, he had to taste how dangerous magic is... but he don't have the Imagine Breaker so... yeah, things may get a little more brutal for him. *Laughs*

In the reviews, someone asked if Index had planned everything. The answer is no... but someone did. But you know what? It's a nice idea. Might write a fic later where Index is the mastermind and main villain of the series. Mwahahaha!

Anyway, give me your thoughts on your reviews. I love to see you guys trying to figure out what am I going to write (or pointing out my shameful typos... ugh). Look forward to the next chapter!