The Backstage

by vixyw

Beneath the peaceful cover, the science and magic worlds are about to clash. And besides Kamijou Touma, many others were being forced to take sides in front of the upcoming war. What a small gear ticking behind the curtains of this massive system called the dark side of Academy City will do in midst of all this?

30. Final Bet

V

Chapter 30: Spin the Roulette of Fate

Final_Bet

Part 1

The original sin is very much a proof that humans were not made to simply bow down and accept the rules surrounding them. No, they explore, experiment, and push those rules to their utter limit until they break, all to satisfy themselves and justify their own existence. The church may object against this defiance, but perhaps that was what God planned for us from the very beginning. I dare to say our free will was one of many of God's gamblings with its own creations. Therefore, it is not only fine, but also expected of you to rebel against the chuckles of fate holding you back. There might be a chance of breaking them by making your own play in this gamble too, don't you agree?

Part 2

Wind blew past the girl's chestnut short hair. At the rooftop she was currently using to get a clear view of the events unfolding down there, the air felt quite chilly despite the time of the year. But that wasn't enough to break her focus.

Taking a deep breath, she pulled the bolt of her massive sniper rifle, releasing the empty capsule that was left in the chamber after her last shot and putting the next bullet in position, all the while keeping her eye on the scope to not miss anything that would happen.

Nothing could escape her vision. Her finger relaxed and tensed again on the trigger, testing the time it would take for her to completely pull it. The head of the next target was perfectly aligned to her line of fire after taking all the variables into consideration. It would be a sure hit if she were to take action.

Yet, she stood still and just watched cautiously.

First of all, after all the incomprehensible phenomena that had just taken place there, the "sure hit" rule lost quite a lot of its weight. These people were moving in unpredictable and incalculable patterns, that were difficult to explain even after taking Esper powers into consideration. It had crossed the line of even not mattering if the hit had landed. The possibility of them surviving was open. And nothing she learned from the Testament could be used against something as unknown as that.

However, that was not the reason she kept herself on standby. After all, her brain was flooded with memories of over 10,000 others that lost their lives fighting the invincible. That was far from being enough to scare her.

Suddenly, a sound coming from her earpiece took half of her concentration away. "Kyuchi, we are now in numeric advantage! If you go down there, we can surround them and-"

"Negative - denies Misaka. It is more efficient if I keep giving them support from above, especially if the nonmembers of our team decides to betray us - explains Misaka as she adjust the angle based on the new direction of the wind."

"How? Wouldn't it be better if you were close to Shiro if that happened?"

"It would if not for the sword wielder, since I am not confident I could win in a direct confrontation with her - admits Misaka as she hangs her head low a little."

It was a solid argument. Keeping Kyuchi as a wild card in effect outside of the field would put both their opponents and temporary allies at check, as they could never be sure of how much of a threat she posses from there, nor what would happen if she were to join in. Asuka had no other option but to agree with this. But even though it was all logic, there was some uneasiness in her. Something like looking at a complex puzzle that seemed to be perfectly completed, but actually one of the pieces was out of place. It was difficult to pinpoint the mistake even if you got the feeling that something was not right.

Perhaps, if she thought about the situation calmly, she would notice the contradiction.

Why would one of the Sisters care if they couldn't take their enemies head on? It is true that they were slowly giving more value to their own lives after the Level 6 Shift project, but it still hadn't gotten to the point of prioritizing it over orders given from someone they trust.

Yes, that what she was doing right now: following orders.

Her safety in that situation was of utmost importance for her to fulfill her real mission.

Part 3

Save for Cristina, no one dared to move a single inch. Even the robed woman was left speechless in front of what her partner had done.

The pile of molten gold illuminated the area in front of the abandoned factory with an eerie light. Just a moment before, it used to be the body of Aureolus dummy. And without remorse, Cristina mercilessly made him destroy his own body somehow. Kanzaki in particular was especially disturbed by the sight and lifted her sword towards the girl, clicking her tongue with her eyes filled with anger. "Nanasen!"

"No you won't!"

Before the attack could connect, the other woman stepped in the way and blocked the attack with something that looked like a wooden staff with both of its edges cut, giving the impression of it being incomplete. "I will be your opponent!"

"What makes you think you have the right to decide that? You're at a disadvantage now!"

"Are we, though? Saint, you're the only piece out of place here. Cristina can handle these two on her own pretty well while I finish you off!" Saying that, she held her hand towards the remainings of Aureolus, making a card emerge from the glowing viscous substance and fly to her fingers. "Just because your Stigma puts you slightly above the average human, that doesn't make you invincible. After all, even the son of God failed to escape DEatH!"

XIII - Death.

That was the text scribbled in the card she held in her fingers.

It was a tarot card that was somehow used to bring back the unstable Aureolus Dummy to life. And now, she was using the exact same spiritual item against Kanzaki confidently.

Of course, Kanzaki was no amateur. Her instincts as a magician were sharp enough to take over her when her mind failed to comprehend something in time.

A sweat drop fell from her chin, and before it touched the ground, she had already jumped a great distance back. A moment later, the whole area around the robbed woman glowed in a purple light that shook the very core of everyone present.

Both Hishiro and Frenda swallowed dry. They had seen Rüdiger's instant kill attack first hand before, but whatever this was, it had to be at least 100 times worse, even though it didn't have a physical form unlike the water serpents.

"Cristina, get started with the Seeds of Doubt now! Because of your little show, I'll only join you after I'm done with this one!"

"Yes, ma'am!" The brown haired girl saluted carelessly as she answered. Seeing that as an opening, Hishiro shot at her intending to finish her before the battle started. However, all that took her was to glance at him and… the bullets were gone.

The gun was gone.

"Wha… what the hell?"

Both Cristina's, Hishiro's and Frenda's eyes glowed in the same tone of red, which worked as a signal for the rules of the world to change completely. The bunny outfit magician sat on nothing but air with air legs crossed as spotlights from multiple directions as she pulled out a mic from somewhere unknown. "My, aren't you excited to start already? But this kind of attitude is a no-no. You gotta behave now, or there will be consequences, if you know what I mean~*!"

Frenda reached for her weapons, only to click her tongue in annoyance as hers were gone too. How did that girl do that? This felt different from all other weird phenomena they had seen so far.

"Well, then, we better get started before our guests ran out of patience again, right! Welcome back to the Wheel of Fortune! The show where our contestants fight and struggle to death in hope to change their future! And oh my goodness, our cute little seed of doubt managed to reach the white rabbit just in time! A round of applause!"

As commanded, an invisible audience roared and clapped for Frenda's success. Checking her phone, she was only about fifteen minutes ahead of the time limit, which she had completely forgotten about in the middle of the chaos. It was for the best to not even think about what would happen if they were late for said "challenge" that she still really didn't understand.

But setting that aside for now, where was the one thing that made her go all the way out here in the first place? She looked around, but there was no sight of it. Still, she couldn't just demand it out of Cristina while Hishiro was around. Not until that annoying girl was defeated and she wouldn't need Hishiro's assistance any longer at least.

"Our newest guest seems to want a direct confrontation, but that's not how we play here. There's no fun if the event's aren't decided on random. That's why we're called The Wheel of Fortune, riiight?" Spouting all that to the invisible audience, Cristina stalled her fingers and a massive roulette appeared out of nowhere.

"Is that the thing you were talking about earlier?" Hishiro asked in disbelief while Frenda just nodded in agreement. "Hey Asuka, are you seeing this? Where did that come from?"

"..."

"Asuka? Asuka, are you there? Can you hear me?"

"Now, now. Contacting people outside of the show goes against the rules. I can't let you do that."

"?!"

The boy panicked when he noticed that the communication device attached to his ear was completely gone. Or rather, it now rested on Cristina's hand. He hadn't even blinked and yet she had taken it from him without him seeing. He didn't even had the window to question the incident before the girl continued. "Well then, without further ado, let's get to the second challenge!"

As if waiting for these words, the roulette started to spin, drawing the attention of both seeds of doubt instantly until it stopped on a picture of a child sleeping on the top of the moon. "Oh boy, that's too bad for them! But the rules are absolute, they'll have to go through the Nightmare now!"

That indeed sounded bad. The boy clenched and asked. "Hey, Frenda… just for reference, what was it you got the first time again?"

"Something like the race to the wonderland, I think? Though she only ran away all the way here to Tokyo. You can't make out the meaning of those things only by their name."

They didn't have to wait long to find out.

In a blink, all light was suddenly gone.

"Eeek!"

"What the… what's going on here!?"

Hishiro blinked a few times, and even had to confirm if his eyes were open using his own hands. Had she blinded us?

This felt different from a blinding blast from a flashbang. There was no pain. There was no discomfort. His sight was simply… gone. The boy's body was covered with cold sweat from the fear of permanently losing his most reliable source of awareness, but he didn't let that get to him. This state of confusion might be pretty much the goal of his foe.

It was impossible to keep calm in that situation though. Especially after what was about to come.

"Kyaaaaaaaaaah! Wha-what is this!?"

"Frenda? Frenda, what's happening? I can't see you!"

"I can't see it, but there's something climbing up my b- No! Stop that! Not there! Gwaaaaaaaaahhh… t- too strong… it... it hurts… "

Hishiro felt actually terrified. There was no way to tell for sure what was going on, but it sounded horrible. On the worst case scenario, she was beyond saving already. Still unable to contact Asuka and unsure if Kyuchi could see them, she was his only ally there, and losing the numeric advantage in that situation would lower his own chances of surviving by a lot. Because of that, he rushed towards where her voice was coming from after a slight delay while clicking his tongue. "Hang on! I- Gwah!"

Something had hit his stomach only after a couple of steps. And just as he knelled down trying to endure the pain, another object circled around his body, climbing its way up and wrapping itself tightly around his neck. "Gh… D-dammit… get… off...!"

What is this thing? It feels like a chain or something of the kind… I can't break it!

No matter how much he struggled to pull it off him with his hands, the ting wasn't moving an inch. On the contrary, it seemed to apply even more pressure over time. Unable to breath, his limbs started to lose strength. And to make things worse, whatever had hit him before struck again, beating him on multiple parts of his body over and over.

There's nothing I can do! Dammit… is this it? That's how it all ends?

When he was about to give up and lose consciousness, he heard a clapping sound from the distance, followed by a voice. "Okay, that's enough!"

And with just that, everything went back to normal.

He could see and breathe again. Not instantly though, his eyes did hurt a little from the sudden light, and his throat was still blocked for a few more seconds. It was like taking your head out of the water after almost drowning. It took a few moments before you could breathe again. "*Cough, cough!*! *Gasp* wh… what..."

Looking to the side, he saw Frenda on fours with one hand on her own neck, breathing roughly and with saliva leaking from the side of her mouth. By the mark left on her skin around the area she was touching, it seemed she had taken it way worse than him.

"Wow, isn't Ars Magna amazing? It really let me create anything I want! Maybe I should've done something more daring and fun to take advantage of the situation instead of torturing you two like that, kihihihih~!" Cristina said it casually while sitting on nothing but air with her legs crossed, floating slightly above the ground while playing with her tarot card.

Ignoring her for the time being, the boy stood up with difficulty and dragged his body towards the blond girl still gasping for air. "Are you okay?"

"Not really..." She replied in a weak voice and accepted the hand he offered her to stand up. "But more importantly… I don't understand. How did she get us? This is completely different from last time. We weren't hit by anything. Her attack simply… happened."

"I don't know yet. But if I were to risk, I'd say that we can't let her roll that roulette again."

"Agreed. And in the end, there's also that." Frenda then pointed towards the card in Cristina's hand. "That thing is probably what gives her those powers. If we tamper with it, we win."

"Yeah, but I don't think we can do that so easily. It only worked last time because we had that nun with us. I have no idea how these cards works, so I won't know what to do with it even if I manage to take it."

"What about the samurai girl?"

As if to answer the blonde's question, they heard explosions happening in the background, making Hishiro shake his head. "She seems to have her hands full right now."

"Then we just rip the damn thing in half and kick her until she passes out. I still have some tricks up my sleeve." She grinned and winked at him. The boy didn't know what, but Frenda probably figured something out that he hadn't and was going to use it as her trump card. All he could do was to rely on her for the time being.

"Alright, sounds like a plan to me." The two nodded at each other and dashed forward towards the roulette, much to Cristina's amusement.

"Hey now, you two can't do that. The Wheel of Fate can't be reached by the contestants!" The girls words roared strong in the area, causing Hishiro's and Frenda's legs to stop moving.

"What's this?!" Asked the blonde in surprise. "It's different from your ability, but I can't go any further than that!"

She was right. They couldn't take another step further, but it was not because it was physically impossible. Their bodies just… wouldn't move. It felt a lot being on the edge of a tall cliff and trying to take a step forward. Your body wouldn't easily allow you to do that because it knew you would fall and die. The boy clicked his tongue in annoyance as he tried to fight off the feeling but it was no use.

And it was already too late. Cristina had already put the roulette to spin again. "For this next round, let's make things more interesting. It's quiz time~! If you answer right, you get to choose to accept or skip the effects of the raffled spot. What do you say? Sounds like a good deal for me~!"

"Don't mess with us!" Hishiro shouted in protest. "You're just playing around instead of-"

"Instead of what? Fighting? All you know is violence, boy." She interrupted him, making him even more angrier than before. "Just so you know, thanks to what Aureolus left me, I could kill you two whenever I wanted, but that's not what we're here for. I would rather not even use these brutal approaches, but Academy City leaves us no other choice."

The boy narrowed his eyes. Her statement made a ton of questions appear on his mind, but she gave him no time to think about them. "But enough of that, let's get started! Since it's the first one, it'll be about something you're familiar with: why Academy City keeps the details of Esper development program a secret, even for its affiliated companies all over the world?"

Really? What's the point of this? They were both confused as to why their foe was doing this, but the two Espers wanted to avoid whatever it was going to happen when the roulette stopped and this was their chance to do so. Hishiro was the first one to answer. "That's a dumb question. It's obviously about patent protect-"

"BEEP! Wrong!"

That moment, the wheel stopped spinning on a lightning symbol, and the boy dropped to the ground just a second later, screaming in agony as an electric current ran past his body. "Gwawawawah!"

Meanwhile, Cristina put the wheel to spin again and looked towards Frenda, expecting her to say something. However, blond girl was horrified, looking back and forth towards Hishiro and her enemy, not sure of what to do exactly After all, his answer wasn't wrong. "U-uh… It's because the rest of the world didn't go through the social transition that Academy City has, so in the end, no one else is prepared for that and chaos would spread out… right?"

"Better, but not quite what we're going for here." Once again, the raffle ended right after, but on a spot marked with a "+1" symbol. "Be glad you were lucky enough to get this one. You guys can have another shot, but trust me, fate isn't kind enough to give people a third chance."

"Ughh… then what the heck are you going for?" Hishiro asked, finally free from his punishment.

"Silly boy… figuring that out is part of the game, of course!" The girl answered with a wicked smile.

"This is a trap, Frenda." Standing up with some difficulty, he directed the word to his ally. "She doesn't want an obvious answer, no matter how obvious the question is."

"Then what should we do?"

"This sucks… as long as she somehow keeps forcing us to follow her rules, there isn't much we can do. But thinking inside the box here is out of question."

"Out..." That word made the member of ITEM frown and fall silent for a couple of seconds before continuing. "Come to think of it, what we said is taught in the schools of the city, but she isn't supposed to know that. So the answer must be from the knowledge of the people outside the city… no, more than that, it must come from her personal perspective..."

"Uuhhh… you completely lost me midway there. What do you mean?"

Ignoring him, Frenda looked at cristina again with assertion in her eyes and gave her second answer. "Because that way, Academy City can use Espers to fight off menaces from outside the city, which are deemed inferior to Esper powers. Which basically means people like you!"

"*Ding Dong* - Correct! You're a really smart girl, just as I expected!" Following her announcement, confetti burst out from the ground and applauses roared out around them while the roulette slowly stopped on the Nightmare symbol again. "Now, if you want to, you can skip the next event! So, what will it be?"

"Of course I'll skip it! There's no way I would want that to happen ever again!"

"Even if I promise to be gentle this time? That's a shame, I was sure you would enjoy it."

Ignoring the maniac program host, Frenda talked on a lower tone so only Hishiro could hear. "I think I got what she is trying to do. Unless she changes her tactics, as long as we keep answering in a way that puts Academy City in a bad light, we can keep avoiding her attacks."

The boy looked at her in surprise and blinked a few times before replying. "That's… incredibly smart, coming from you."

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?"

"It's just a compliment, good job." He said that, but his tone left quite clear the irony behind his words which annoyed the girl a little. "Still, we can't just keep dodging forever. We need to strike back."

"I know, but how? She took away most of our weapons, and the one I have left will only work if I get close enough. But she can just do that… thing and it becomes impossible to get to her."

"Yeah, that's weird… no, it has been weird since the very beginning." Hishiro stated after resting his chin on his right hand. "Even with the freak magician last time, as absurd as his deeds were, they usually followed a pattern. But with her, it's completely random. First she baited us out here, then there was that golden weirdo, the infinite loop, and in the end she killed him and now all of that. Besides, by the way she has been acting, it's like she is testing something instead of following some plan, unlike the other woman fighting Kanzaki right now. Actually, it's like-"

"Whoops!"

*BANG*

Cutting him off, Cristina made a cute noise before falling on her butt like a child learning to walk, just before a loud gunshot struck the ground just where she had been a moment ago, hitting only one of the bunny ears of her costume. With that, all of the ridiculous things she had made appear out of nothingness were gone, as well as the red color in everyone's eyes. No, it wasn't just that, it felt like the whole surroundings had somewhat changed, but it was impossible to call out the specifics without directly comparing the image from before and after the gun fire. The girl didn't even try to hide her annoyance and started stomping on the ground after she stood up. "Geez, stop interfering already! You're gonna ruin everything at this rate!"

"Dammit Kyuchi, Couldn't you do that earlier!?" Shouted the boy in frustration, but also glad to be forcibly reminded that the clone was also fighting alongside them.

She replied right after. "Sorry, but I judged to be for the best to only attack when you were to be cornered - explained Misaka as she gets ready to take advantage of the distance between the foe and the allies to fire again."

Distance? Something made no sense in her sentence. No, more than that, the whole situation now felt disconnected from what was happening before. His brain was trying to warn him that a piece of this puzzle was out of place right beneath his nose.

He didn't have much time to think about it though, as Cristina quickly got up and prepared her tarot card again. "Hey, we can't let her use that card again!"

"Got it! Now's our chance!" The girl replied and both charged forward intending to end this once and for all.

However…

"Are you sure you want to do that, yellow flower? Did you forget what you came here for in the first place?"

Those words forced Frenda to stop abruptly on her tracks. Hishiro couldn't stop as fast as her and ran past her a few steps. "What are you doing? We need to act now!"

"He's right. If you don't act now, it will be too late for her." The ill intent in the bunny girl's voice sent a shiver down the blonde's spine. "Because if you let him take me down, who's gonna give her back to you?"

"..."

"Who is this 'her'? Who is she talking about?" Feeling out of the loop, the boy shouted those questions at his temporary ally.

But there was no way she could answer that. Not to him. Not to anyone from the dark side of Academy City. "I-I… I don't know..."

"Then why are you hesitating?"

"..."

"What the hell? Answer me!"

"Oh my, you didn't tell him about little Fremea?" Cristina probably caught up on the situation and teased her, completely forgetting about the spell she was about to activate. "I didn't know you were the kind to keep secrets about your own rela-"

"Shut up!" Frenda cut her line just before she spilled out everything. "Just shut up already!"

"I could, but then I wouldn't be able to tell where she is, riiiiight?" The magician was clearly having a world of fun while the other girl could only click her tongue while sweat started to drop from her face. "You Exceptions are so, soooooo entitled. Yes, all of you. Including little Fremea. What a spoiled little girl she is..."

"I SAID SHUT UP! Don't you dare say anything about her!"

"You shut up for a minute as well!" This time, it was Hishiro that cut in the discussion. He was doing a good job in hiding it within his apparent anger, but he was absolutely terrified by now. There was something going on between those two that he didn't know about. And in this battlefield full of unknowns, being the only one missing such a crucial piece of information could cost his life. Realizing that this was his actual situation, all definitions of friend and foe fell apart, and his survival instinct told him to trust only himself until the situation was made clear - if it was ever to be made clear. "Didn't I tell you to say everything before? Dammit girl, do you want both of us dead? Or perhaps just me? Tell me why am I even fighting here by your side if I can't trust you?"

"No one is asking for you to stay!" The member of ITEM shouted back at him, but her voice was shaking as if she was about to cry. "If you don't want to, then you can just turn back and leave!"

He was actually expecting a lame excuse out of her, so this kind of evasiveness caught him off guard, making him at a loss of what to do. Taking this opportunity, Asuka took the liberty to turn on the speakers of Hishiro's communication device and join the conversation. "Frenda, isn't it about time you tell us about the girl that she kidnapped? It's pointless to keep hiding it now."

It was difficult to tell which one of the two was more shocked by this statement. Hishiro seemed to want to ask something, but the blonde asked faster. "You… you knew it? How?"

"I saw everything by the satellite recordings, remember? Though I lost sight of the little girl in the middle of the confusion, I clearly saw this Cristina taking her away."

Frenda fell to her knees miserably, completely forgetting the situation they were in. "I see… I messed it all up from the very beginning. Mugino is right… I can't do a single anything at all without messing up… even when the more important things are at stake… I..."

"Come on! How come I am the only one left in the dark here? Can someone - anyone - explain to me what is this all about!?" Hishiro demanded impatiently. "First of all, why did you stay quiet if you knew it all Asuka?"

"I did it out of consideration to your partner there, since she went out of her way to not mention it. I'm only talking now because the subject was brought up. I mean, just look at her. You can't be so dull to not understand anything after all this, Shiro? She pro-"

"It's okay… I'll say." Still on her knees, the girl interrupted with her gaze locked on the ground. From his angle, Hishiro couldn't see her face that was covered by her hair due to the way she fell earlier. But he could see a couple of tears dropping down on the cold floor. "In the end, the reason why I wanted to - no, had to come here confront her was because of Fremea. She took my little sister away from me right in front of my eyes! And I couldn't do anything!"

Part 4

Whatever substance there was in that mist, it quickly consumed all oxygen it came in contact with. Because of that, the tables had turned on Yuna just as fast as she had turned on the rest of the battlefield a while ago.

Not only were her flames sealed, she had also breathed in a bit of it, which had weakened her body. It would be difficult now to even get away from the area to avoid inhaling more. And that is without taking into account the mysterious character in front of her, all covered in heavy black vests and wearing a gas mask over its face.

"I'll at least let you choose how do you prefer to die." He said in a muffled voice. "You can either suffocate in the smoke or beg me to finish your life as quickly and painlessly as I possibly can. Which one will it be?"

But anything he had said after "die" went unnoticed by her. That word replayed on her head over and over again while she remembered about her deceased twin sister.

No… not yet…

Even though she could no longer lit her fists on fire, her eyes undoubtedly started burning through the attacker's mask with her deadly stare.

For Yuko's sake… I can't… NOT JUST YET!

Gritting her teeth, she held her breath completely and stood back up, much for the masked person's surprise. Before he could say anything however, she clamped her fist and aimed a punch towards his face, which was easily avoided.

"So you prefer the most painful way to go. I see. A shame, such a shame really." Her enemy lamented after sidestepping another failed attack and pulling a combat knife from his belt.

In the following punch, Yuna's arm met the weapon's blade, making her close her eyes tight in pain without letting her voice out for even a moment. Her situation was dire, but even a gasp would make everything worse.

With her other arm, she grasped at her attacker's throat. Unfortunately, she was unable to straighten her grip enough to hurt him. In return, he tried to dig the knife in her stomach, but she was barely capable of throwing herself on the ground, using his momentum to drag him alongside her, even though he ended up on top of her.

"Your struggle is pointless. Just die already." The masked person tried once again stab her, but she held his wrist in the middle of the movement.

Not yet… not yet… notyetnotyetnotyetnotyetnotYEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!

Mustering all she could in her palms, a tiny amount of smoke started rising from the point where their limbs were connected.

"Are you this stupid? You can't light up anything if there's no oxy-" He stopped his words there as he felt a burning sensation on his arm.

Yuna's face was pathetically turning purple, but her eyes still had the same killing intent from before. Blood started leaking from her nose and eyes as the smoke around her foe's wrist started to get denser.

"What in the world are you doing?"

"...!" She didn't reply. She had all of her focus on her palms. Suddenly, the skin on her left hand started cracking and peeling off, revealing the muscles beneath that were incandescent from the heat she was creating.

Soon after, the sleeve of the masked man's vest lit up in embers. He felt forced to back off from her and try to kill off the tiny flames.

Taking that chance, Yuna used her hurt arm to reach for her pocket, pull out a gun and…

*BANG*

"That was a close one." Commented the attacker. "It's a shame that you missed though, such a shame really. For you, that is."

Indeed, the shot went past him and above the mist that surrounded the two. But that was Yuna's goal all along. The gun she held in her hand was not a normal gun. She was never good enough with them, so she didn't carry it around and instead let her henchman do the shooting when needed.

"Oh well, doesn't matter. You should lose your consciousness soon enough. And then, you won't be able to hold your breath anymore. It's over for you."

Yes, it was over.

A wet noise of blood being spat echoed in their surroundings.

Daisuke could be seen standing just behind the masked figure, holding the same knife he had in his hands a moment ago against the region just below his ribs. "Don't you dare to lay a single finger on our commander again!"

It was a swift deadly hit that the man could never seen coming. As he flopped on his face, the boy in glasses ran towards Yuna and dragged her out of the fog. "I can't take my eyes off you for a second. Didn't I told you to not overdo it? Be glad that I saw the signal of your flare gun."

Finally allowing herself to breathe again, the girl coughed out a few times and didn't even tried to move her body from the ground. "Daisuke… the mist… are you alright?"

"I knew it was unnatural for it to be giving you trouble, so I did not inhale it." He replied as he opened a small case containing a first aid kit, as well as a little bottle with a red liquid which acted as an antidote for the power up effect she had used early, but the girl slapped his hand away when he tried using it on her. "Commander!"

"You saved my life, Daisuke. I'm grateful. But this battle is not over yet."

"You cannot be possibly thinking of still fighting in your condition!"

The girl simply ignored him and looked towards the fog. The masked person was probably out of combat for now, but from what he had said, he was not alone. It was possible that other affiliated to this CLASS were also here.

And her guess was spot on.

Metallic noises rang out from within the poisonous smoke that soon revealed to be three of the powered suits. In front of them there was another person also using a gas mask. This one was taller than the other that she had fought before, had a long black hair growing from behind the dark blue mask with white star paintings on it, and carried an electric guitar over his shoulders. "Ouya, Daku's plan didn't work out? Well, that means more fun for me then! Kekekekekekeke!"

Daisuke put himself between the new enemy and his commander quickly, but Yuna stood up using his body as support before pushing him aside. "Don't interfere… those are my prey… all of them!"

"What are you saying there, lady? You can barely keep yourself standing!" The masked person's taunt literally made the area around the girl's body lit up on fire. Finally surrounded by oxygen again, she didn't hold back in the slightest and just kept the heat increasing endlessly.

"C-commander?" Daisuke called out to her in vain as she kept ignoring him, while he had to step away and protect his face from the light coming from her. What is that? She is going beyond the power of a level 4!

"Woohoo, you're doing pretty rad, lady! Was all that whiny a moment ago just an act?" Said the masked person making a signal with his hand. The machines waiting on his both sides responded and charged forward. The one at the left fired with an electromagnetic cannon while the one on the right shot multiple greenish light beams at her.

The fire dancing around the girl's body burst outwards when she took a strong step forward just before she launched herself ahead. It wasn't exactly like a jump, and she wasn't running either. It was like a rocket being shot horizontally, reaching top speed in a fraction of second.

A moment later, there was a hole in the left weapon from which you could look through the burnt metal and see the other side. Yuna went below the attacks and melted both the hull and the interior of the machine so fast that one had to wonder how that was even physically possible. If there was someone piloting that thing… well, It's better to not picture that image in your mind.

The second powered suit wasted no time and shot a second barrage of projectiles. Yuna took cover behind what remained of the destroyed weapon and, once the rapid fire stopped, she dashed towards it like a wild animal and jumped on one of its limbs. Not only her hands were on fire, her whole arms were swallowed by a blazing swirl that she used to rip her target apart piece by piece.

In no time at all, all that remained was a pile of incandescent scrap metal. Yuna roared like a beast, turning her deadly glare towards the remaining Powered Suit and the masked person standing near it. Blood leaked from her eyes and mouth, but she seemed to pay it no heed and just headed for her next prey.

"Yikes, she is heading this way. Okay, Sumire! Time for you and Beta to shine! Let's Rock!"

Several lids in the machine opened revealing the amplifiers hiding within while the blue masked man held his guitar in position and started to play a cacophonic melody. The chaotic assault made Daisuke cover his ears and grit his teeth, but that seemed to not affect the berserk girl at all.

But it did not stop there.

At a specific distance, something translucent with a light white tone appeared between the two sides of the battle. It looked like a crystal wall or something of the sort.

Yet, Yuna didn't stop. She headed right towards it, intending to break through. The result was a dull sound as her body crashed into the obstacle without leaving even a scratch on it.

However, instead of giving up or changing her plans, she got up and clawed on the wall with all her might.

"It's no use, lady!" Taunted the guitarist. "This wall was made as a counter to fire! Beta can create anything with whatever physical properties we need! The experiment was a complete Success! Sensei will be so proud!"

I thought he was an Esper capable of materializing the resonating point of sound waves, but this was the Powered Suit doing? How does it do this? And the description of that power sounds exactly like… no, it could not be that… could it? Daisuke tried to analyze the situation from the sidelines, but the more he did, the worse it looked like. The worse is that the Commander seems to have completely lost it. I should have given her the antidote when I had the chance. If I do not do something soon, she might...

He didn't stop his line of thought because he didn't want to imagine the worst case scenario.

He just couldn't believe his eyes.

The barrier started to glow in an incandescent light where Yuna was trying to rip through it. The flames around her limbs slowly turned blue as she opened a gap large enough to fit her head trough. "Rhhhhhhhhhh… RRHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAHR!"

"Hey, Sumire-chan... stop messing around! Don't let her pass through this!"

Answering the angry shout, the hatch of the powered suit opened and a girl in a purple racing suit peeked out. "This is not my fault, I followed the instructions! It should be impossible for fire to damage that thing!"

"Then what's going on over there?"

"Like hell I know! Maybe Beta is still flawed!"

While they were discussing, Yuna had managed to cross the barrier and resume her hunt. Even though she was moving way slower than before, the killing intent was still just as intense.

"Kyaaah! What do we do now Nokon?"

The male just answered his teammate by clicking his tongue and playing his guitar again.

This time, he didn't use the amplifiers.

The sound rang loud, but felt dull and low pitched. Once it got to the pyrokinetic girl, she felt a massive resistance as if she was trying to move underwater against a river's current.

This was still not enough to stop her.

It made her slower, but she was still moving.

Blood and saliva mixed together at the edge of her mouth. Her head hung low and her hair hid her eyes, but her twitching fingers were enough to give away her intentions.

She was out for blood. Nothing in this world was going to stop her.

The two members of CLASS felt a shiver as they watched her get closer and closer, unable to do anything.

And then… she fell down.

Yuna flopped forward and formed a puddle of blood beneath her. Her body had probably reached its limit.

Both Sumire and Nokon stared in awe for a moment before laughing out loud. "Kyahahahaha, you put off a fight lady, but you weren't able to reach my greatness!"

"Y-yeah! Hahahaha… now you'll have what you deserve for scaring me like that! Feel the power of CLASS!"

"Commander!" Daisuke tried to run towards her, but the crystal barrier stopped him. The edges of the hole Yuna had opened were burning hot, he knew just by looking. There was no way he could use it. And running around it would take too much time.

But then gunshots started hitting the back side of the machine. The ones attacking were the disposable troops, followed by other members of LIZARD that had came to the rescue.

"Aw shit! When did they surrounded us? Take her out fast, Suuumire-chan!"

The machine moved forward intending to run over the girl on the ground, but then it crashed into… something.

"L-leave Yuna-sama alooooone!"

"Myuri!" For the first time ever, Daisuke felt relieved to see the little girl. "But what about the antena?"

"I-it's already d-done! Ou-our side has also ta-taken control of-of the battle field, t-thanks to Y-Yuna-sama!"

The male looked around him and it seemed to be right. Their forces had regrouped and were pushing the enemy back. Even the members of CLASS were being forced to retreat in the face of their devastating large numbers. "Thank goodness… keep your ability activated! I will go get the commander!"

"R-roger!"

…

Far away from the battle, inside the director's office at the highest floor of a certain building in District 7, the boy with messy clothes and spiky dark red hair spun around in his chair while hearing the reports of the operation.

"Overseer, we have heard that the operation of Yuna's team was a success. They had successfully taken over the radio tower of district 22 and the attacking forces are on retreat."

"Good, very good. I know she could do it… well, with a little help, but it doesn't matter. Good results are good results. Ah, who am I trying to lie to here! I'm just way too excited right now! Is the specimen in position?"

"Yes sir! What should we do with it?"

"Just leave it there."

"... what?"

"You heard me. Leaving it there is enough. We won't be the ones guiding it towards the target."

"... understood. We are returning to base now."

"Sure. Ah- but don't think you are done just yet. Tell your men to be prepared. Now that we have the radio network and our cute little toy is ready to run amok, it's time to start phase two of the plan."

Part 5

The boy couldn't help but feel something burning inside of him. It could be called anger, but it was different from the usual.

It all made sense now. He could understand Frenda, as a fellow inhabitant of the Dark Side of the city. If there was one unwritten rule for those who walked in the darkness, it had to be this: have no relations with anyone. The moment the life of someone else became as important to you as your own, you would be at a terrible disadvantage. Because you would have to fight not only for your own survival, but also for the survival of that important person that probably may not be capable of defending themselves. This meant any 1 versus 1 fight would turn into a 1 versus 0.5 the moment that person was targeted by your enemies. It was an obvious weak spot that you can be 100% sure that will be exploited if found.

But this last part was the thing that gave this rule a bit of leeway. If it was found out. As long as you can keep your life in the darkness and those relations hidden from each other, you would be safe. It was risky, sure, but it came with the reward of having half of a normal life.

Hishiro kind of knew about that, but he had chosen to give himself to the darkness completely to achieve his goals. Even though he had a facade of a normal boy purely for convenience (and insistence of the scientists researching his ability), he had no attachment to that lifestyle and wouldn't think twice to give it all up to save his own skin if, for example, someone from a rival faction were to target his school and his classmates. Because of that, he would automatically draw out any possibility of others in the darkness around him being any different. To his eyes, they were all just cold blooded greedy carnivores ready to pray at each other with nothing to lose.

But right in front of him, there was someone different. Not even in his wildest dreams he would expect Frenda out of all people to have a family member living close to her. The picture of her he had in his mind was completely shattered, being replaced by something more human.

Actually, that was probably the first time he saw her as a human being equal to himself instead of a threat or a useful resource.

But for her, everything was lost. Her weak spot had been exposed to him. Using Fremea as a hostage, he could make her do anything he wanted for as long as he lived. This could even be used to undermine ITEM from the inside and destroy the whole faction if he wanted to. And it wasn't only her that became aware of that. Would Hishiro himself resist the temptation of doing something like this if ITEM got in his way again? There was no way he could answer 'yes' to that question without at least giving it some thought.

By no means he was a good person. He never considered himself that way. And this feeling inside him would probably make him look like a hypocrite to an outsider, but he couldn't help it.

He took his eyes away from the crying girl and sent a deadly glare at Cristina. She still had that sickening smug grin on her face.

She had no right to do this.

Not an outsider like her.

It would be one thing if he had found out about that sister's existence on his own, and it would be another for that magician to make use of her for her own interests. But forcing a situation in that Frenda would have to tell him on her own?

It was like playing a card game with a good hand just to have someone out of the table shout out your cards one by one to all players to listen.

This was way too low, even by his standards.

"You will pay for that, you bitch."

"Oh, you're mad at me? That's unexpected. Why is that?"

"I don't care if you don't understand. You don't need to. You just need to die. And I'll make sure that you will."

Over and over again, the image of a certain girl from his past flashed through his mind, feeding the blue flames of hatred and determination inside him even further. "Stand up, Frenda. I came all the way here to help you, and I don't plan to give up now at the very end. Don't waste my good will. "

In between her sobbing, she tried to talk in a weak tone. "But..."

"Let's ignore the complicated things for now. First we need to survive. Nothing will matter if we don't. And it will be impossible to do it alone. You understand that, right? You risked everything by coming to me for this very reason. So get a hold of yourself, because right now, I need you as well."

Slowly, she lifted her body, wiped her tears away and faced forwards one more time. "Yeah… yeah, you're right. I can't do anything for her if I don't survive. Thanks."

"Kihihihihihi, how cute! You two are really cute together, you know?" Cristina tried teasing them, but they didn't fall for it this time. "That serious look on your faces is the real thing, huh? Okay then, playtime is over. Let's go all out and begin the final round!"

With that, the bunny girl stared deeply into the tarot card on her hand, turning her own eyes into red. From that point on, the pools of molten gold that were still lying around all over the place started to move, forming countless magic circles and hieroglyphs on the ground that started to emit an eerie glow when touched by the moonlight. "Wow, I bet Aureolus never thought of using Ars Magna to speed up a ritual process. It sure makes everything easier!"

And after that, her carefreeness stopped for a short time. The next words that came out of her mouth sounded nothing like her voice from before. "Shait is the master of all fates, for mortals and immortals alike. I now rest our future in thou hands as I walk the same path as Khonsu, who gambles with Gods for the destiny of the deities cursed by the sun bird!"

With this chant, everything changed again. Hishiro's and Frenda's eyes shone red once more. But this time, the effect felt way stronger than before. No, it was visually impossible to not notice the difference.

The whole scenario had changed. Instead of having an invisible crowd, they were now standing on a fancy stage surrounded by hundreds silhouettes of people cheering and clapping as the floor beneath Cristina was lifted by pistons beneath the ground and spotlights aimed at her. And in the back stood a larger version of her beloved Wheel of Fortune, still marking the Nightmare slot, just like they had left it a while ago.

It was just like an old school TV show with contestants competing for a large money prize.

The brown haired boy clicked his tongue in annoyance. "Shit, here we go again. Don't even try to question this anymore, most of this is just to take our attention away from what we should be really focusing on."

Frenda nodded in agreement. "Got it. We just keep answering her stupid questions and wait for an opening to strike."

"Yes. But not only that, we need to find a way to make this stupid show of her stop. I think I'm starting to understand a thing or two about what's happening here."

…

Meanwhile, looking at the sky right above the three of them, every now and then two figures would occasionally clash sending sparks flying in the darkness.

Kanzaki and the woman in robes were still fighting during all that. Flying at unbelievable speeds, the saint swung her sword at full force, all the while sending her seven wires cutting through the chilly air towards her enemy, who had the seemingly incomplete wooden tool spin all around her on its own to intercept and redirect the strength of the attacks away from herself.

With both weapons being parried, all they had left to use were their limbs.

Kanzaki used her momentum to send a deadly kick at her chest, forcing the woman to cross her arms in front of her to block the blow. She clearly felt the impact and grimaced in pain, but pushed the foot back with both arms with an incredible amount of strength, almost twisting the swordswoman's ankle in the process.

As a result, both of them were pushed back in midair, and landed perfectly atop of buildings on opposite sides of the empty street down there. By now, the two of them were panting hard and had their bodies full of bruises, but were showing no intent to give in.

With a hand on the hilt of her katana, the ponytail girl prepared her stance for the next attack. "I have to say I'm impressed. Normally, I'd have to hold back to not kill my opponents, but even with the body of a normal human, you're able to withstand the damage and keep up with me while I'm going all out. Draining my own life force to heal yourself the moment my every attack hit was a really clever move."

"That's my line, saint. You're enduring way more than what I expected." Replied the woman, signaling for the staff floating besides her while also preparing to jump again. "Anyone else would be on the brink of death after my third spell, yet you're still fighting after twenty. This can't be just your Stigma. I don't know how you're doing this, but that proves your value as a magician. If it weren't for your alignment with Necessarius, you would be more than welcome to join the Golden Sages if so you wish."

"Your petty cabal is part of the very reason as to why Necessarius exists." Kazaki replied in disgust. "You not only violated the noninterference rule, but also attacked and harmed innocent people."

"Noninterference? Innocent? Please. If that's what guides your sword, we are not the ones you should be pointing it at. But I assume no words will be enough to change your little brainwashed mind. It almost makes me feel bad for you. Almost."

Indeed, no more words were needed.

The two jumped into the night sky once again.

Faster than the two, the seven wires cut through the air mercilessly. Foreseeing this move, the woman in robes stepped over the wooden rod and kicked it forward jumping further up, not only keeping herself outside of harm's way, but also shooting her weapon forward like a bullet.

The saint had to use her sword to defend herself from the attack, and even then she knew by now that this action wouldn't be enough for her to avoid the damage completely. However, against her expectations, she felt nothing from the clash. Instead, the tool stuck to her sword and started emitting a purplish light, drawing her attention to the woman above her.

"The flow of NiLe cannot be stopped by human hands!" Following the short chant, an unnatural backwind blew her body down towards Kanzaki, who was having a hard time breathing and keeping her eyes open due to the air current.

No, it's not just the wind. This suffocation is one of her tricks at play. She is once again using my own energy to activate her spells!

Using her free hand, Kanzaki managed to stop the supersonic punch aimed at her face, although it made the muscles of her arm burn in struggle to stop the absurd amount of force hidden behind the attack, drawing a silent groan of pain from her. On that position though, there was nothing she could do about the next incoming attack. Her enemy used the remaining momentum to headbutt her, finally putting her back to the mercy of gravity with no means of readjusting her falling direction.

But even after all that, she still had everything under control. The wires she had sent only were not just a direct attack. They also formed a three dimensional magic circle. Putting a lot of strength on her legs and stomach, she managed to spin herself in midair so she could land on her feet, all the while activating her spell.

The air around the wires vibrated and roared a high pitched noise as they lit up in flames. In contrast, icicles appeared around them and, following the same wind created by the rogue magician, they homed on her and she just barely dodged about half of the freezing rain.

Standing on the top of the factory from before, the woman in robes quickly pulled out the frozen spikes digging in on her body, ignoring the blood leaking from the wounds. "How merciful of you. If those were made of anything else, I would probably be in trouble now. You used ice so my muscles would be weakened, but the bleeding would stop on its own soon after, didn't you?"

"..."

"The silent treatment will not work on me this late in the game. I tapped on your life force, remember? This is more than enough for me to know what kind of person. I could even guess your magic name at this point."

Kanzaki narrowed her eyes, but still didn't answer. The woman's words meant nothing to her. All that mattered is that she had showed no intention of giving up, even after all the damage she had taken. There was no time to lower her guard.

Indeed, this fight was not yet over. The mysterious opponent launched the ice spikes still in her hand towards the swordswoman who dodged swiftly. That one action bought her enough time to activate her next spell. The wooden rod that already looked incomplete split up into hundreds of pieces, each shaped like a needle of different size and surrounded by a glow of different colors. "I doesn't matter how much your physical abilities are increased for being a saint. The impossible is still impossible. This next attack is absolute!"

As if her shout was a command, the needles rained towards Kanzaki at a speed beyond what she could manage to avoid. Instead, she stabbed her sword into the roof of the building and used the weapon as a lever to rip a part of it and use the piece of concrete as a makeshift barricade.

However, just that wasn't enough. The projectiles pierced through her defenses and continued their trajectory at a slightly lowered speed. The ponytail girl barely had time to jump backwards and deflect the attack with her sword and steel wires.

After the barrage was over, there was just a single scratch on her right arm. But that was enough for her to feel the effects of the spell right away. "!"

"It is amazing that you managed to resist this much, but that's still my victory. Be glad that though. A direct hit would've killed you instantly."

This was different from before. The amount of life force, mana and overall energy ripped away from Kanzaki's body was tremendous. Her legs gave away and she was forced to use the large katana as a cane to help her keep standing. "I see… instead of draining it, you opened a leak to let my power flow out and disperse..."

"It is a waste, but I'm afraid that you would be able to endure longer than me if we kept going as we were. It was a risk to use this spell in my current condition, but it seems it was worth it." She replied, clearly way more exhausted than before.

Her attention then turned downwards, where the other fight was still ongoing. "Good grief, Cristina, what in the world are you doing? The more you extend this, the lower our chances of success. I guess I have no choice but to hurry you up myself."

"Wait!" Shouted the saint, recomposing her stance with great effort. "We are not done yet!"

"Tsk, aren't you persistent? But are you sure about that? I can't guarantee you will leave this place alive if we continue."

"Listen to your own words and surrender. Once you can no longer cast your spells, you won't be able to keep up with me. How many of them will it take for you to reach your limit."

Amused, the woman smiled slightly. "Oh, aren't you on your limit already?"

"Don't underestimate a saint." Kanzaki retorted and resumed the fight with her wires.

…

"Next question: Why was I able to get into Academy City without permission?"

"No one was called to stop you. The higher ups overlooked your entrance."

"Another correct answer! You guys are on a roll!"

Frenda felt relieved as the roulette landed on a boiling cauldron icon and she shouted "Skip!" without even waiting for the bunny girl to ask anything. She quickly glanced at Hishiro, who shook his head discreetly.

A little more… we need to catch her off guard and react quickly to whatever happens when I do it. We need to wait for her to lower her guard. That was what the boy was focused on, but he couldn't help but question what Cristina was trying to accomplish here.

"Okay, now comes a hard one: If Academy City is focused on studying and developing supernatural powers, why is it that you cannot understand mine?"

"Eh?" Frenda panicked and tilted her head. For the first time, she had no idea what kind of answer she should be giving, much to the other girl's amusement.

"Kihihihih! Sorry, that was mean of me. But since you were getting all of them right on your own, I wanted to give a question only he would be able to answer." Said the bunny girl carelessly, sitting on nothing but air as if there was an invisible chair there.

Hearing that, Frenda once again turned towards Hishiro who clicked his tongue. She was clearly talking about magic, and he wanted to avoid the topic when people that didn't know about it were around. Impatient, he made a signal to his ally and took a step forward. "You want me to answer? Fine. Let's see if you like THAT answer then!"

And then he swung his left arm horizontally, activating the Null Inertia at the exact point the roulette was standing.

Just to regret the action a split second later.

"Wha- wha, wha, whataaaaaaat!" Cristina's reaction was justifiable. The whole area around them shuffled.

Think of a jigsaw puzzle, but instead of fitting the pieces together to build the complete picture, the pieces would only fit in the wrong place, resulting in random image fitting in the surreal realm of art. That was the best way to describe what had happened. It was impossible to say where the ground was. It was difficult to even maintain their balance.

But weirdly enough, they could see each other just fine exactly where they were before.

No one knew what to do in what seemed to last for a whole minute before Hishiro shouted. "That's our chance! Go!"

The girl blinked a few times and hesitated, but ended up rushing forwards regardless.

It would be a mistake to say that this was their plan. They had no idea this would happen. But Hishiro had an idea that using his ability on Cristina's spell would result into something, based on what had happened during his fight against Rüdiger. It seemed that was why he was called an Exception in the first place. As long as it could cause a distraction, Frenda would be able to use the confusion to get close and use the trick she had been hiding ever since Kanzaki had confronted them. It was an unreliable bet from the very beginning, as he didn't know if the Wheel of Fate was her spell in the first place.

Unfortunately for him, this seemed to have a side effect. The moment his ability activated, a strong headache struck him like a sledgehammer. Still, he had to endure. He couldn't let this chance escape.

When the bunny girl understood what was happening, Frenda had already caught on to her and was in the middle of a kick motion. She was forced to try to block the strike with her arms, but… "That won't work!"

From the sole of Frenda's shoes, a blade snuck out, adding a deadly layer to her attack.

"Ugh- AH!" Cristina jumped away after being hit, holding her arms that had been deeply cut by the weapon, leaking a worrisome amount of blood. "T-to think you still had something like this… what are you miss, a living swiss army knife?"

"Not really. In the end, I just have second and third options as a precaution. I noticed you only took away from us the things that you saw as a menace, so I kept these hidden until I got an opening!"

The blond girl was rushing in for a follow up, but Cristina lifted her card to her own eyes again. "I'm regaining control! Your weapons aren't allowed in my stage!"

With those words, Frenda's high heels simply snapped away from her feet and reappeared on the magicians hands. This tripped her out of balance, making her flop towards the ground.

By now their surroundings had turned back to normal.

"The card!" shouted Hishiro.

But when the girl stood up to take it away… "You cannot do that! Go back to your place!"

"Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

Some invisible force pushed Frenda all the way back to where the boy was standing, making him frustrated. "Dammit, I'm doing it again!"

"I won't allow it!"

Hishiro swung his arm again, but nothing happened. "What the hell… why!?"

"It's no use… like I said, she will take away anything she sees as a menace." Explained Frenda after standing back up, rubbing her butt that she had painfully hit during the forced landing. "We can only use each weapon once."

"If that's the case, then I'm done for. I have nothing left."

"I still have my tape, but it needs to be prepared first. I doubt she will just watch and wait for me to do so."

"Then what the hell are we supposed to do!"

"Isn't it obvious? Just play along with the show!"

… huh?

"I mean, it's so much fun! And the host is super cute!"

"F-Frenda?"

"Or do you perhaps… prefer me?"

Something was not right. The blond girl was speaking sweetly to him, slowly approaching in a seductive way with her eyes flashing red. "I'm not against the idea, you know. We could run away from Academy City together. Let's leave aaaaaaall those pointless battles behind and live together somewhere better!"

"What are you saying? What about your sister?"

"She will be fine. We can ask someone to bring her to us later, right? But for now... I want it to be just the two of us." Once she got close enough, she started to take off her black sailor top and the white shirt below it, making the boy panic.

"W-wait! Wait a second! Now is not the time for that! I didn't agree with it either!"

"Kihihihih… it's written all over your face!" To stop him from getting away, she wrapped her arms around his neck and drew her face closer. "You play the strong one, but now you're blushing from just that..."

His mind was just a step away from going completely blank as she got closer and closer.

Their lips were almost touching.

"Pff… tehehehehehehe, hahahahahahahaha, AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!"

He just couldn't help himself but to laugh maniacally like this in front of such a ridiculous situation.

Frenda looked deep inside his eyes and asked with the same sweet voice. "What is it, darling?"

But he just pushed her away forcefully. "I need to give you credit, you almost got me there. Ah, I got it. I finally got it! And now your stupid tricks won't work on me anymore!"

"Oh, is that so?" Cristina taunted him.

"Yes. I took all of it for granted because this is still a foreign concept for me, but this was one of the situations where I shouldn't. Because none of this is real! The infinite loops, the red eyes, the fucking wheel of fortune and its effects, they are all illusions, aren't they?!"

With that, Frenda seemed to go back to normal - though her figure disappeared from his sight for a brief moment and reappeared again laying down on the floor breathing roughly (and properly dressed). She was probably under the effect of some vision as well.

Meanwhile, Cristina slowly clapped her hands with her eyes closed, looking a little melancholic. Her playful tone was completely gone from her vice now. "I foresaw you would be able to see through me, but I have to say I am impressed. You still managed to do that even after all the precautions I made. Yes, that's right, it was an illusion all along. But tell me, how did you figured it out?"

"You mean, aside from the obvious bullshit you just made me see?" He spat in anger. "You made it look like you took away my communicator, but during the brief moment your trick fell because of the gunshot, I had it with me and could talk with Asuka using it. Then it was just gone again. It was thought to notice that detail with you messing with my head."

"I see… the mental confusion wasn't strong enough after all. I have to admit I'm not that good at it. It's way easier to just stimulate the five senses with fake signals instead of implanting or blocking ideas from the mind. I guess I messed that one up."

"Eh? W-wait a second!" Frenda quickly sat up, scratching her head. "So in the end, she was just telepathic esper?"

"Not exactly, but something like it. Espers would probably give us more trouble with mind control and memory manipulation."

"Kihihi, science is scary, isn't it?" Said the bunny girl. "But, you only figured me out 50%. The illusion was nothing but a side effect of the true thing!"

"True… thing?"

"Yes! The name of the program was the Wheel of Fate after all! This wasn't just for show, you know? It was the true game we've been playing the whole time! And you almost won with that guess just now."

"What game? What the hell are you talking about?"

"Simple: it was a gamble." She explained while spinning the card on her fingers and walking from side to side. "There's one important rule when it comes to fate, and it is that you can't be changed without taking risks. So, it just happens that the three of us are completely doomed! I'm a fortune teller, so I can tell for sure. That's why I came with that idea: Whoever between the two of you could beat me seeing trough my illusions would win. However, if the two of you fail, I would win. That way, with a 1/3 chance and putting our lives on the line, we could generate enough power to overcome such a terrible destiny if we were to beat the odds. And since I had no intention to kill any of you from the start, the odds were even more stacked against me."

"Uuuuhhh… sorry I don't follow you." Hishiro was scratching his head with both hands at this point. "First of all, what fate are you talking about? And I figured out, so that means I-"

"BUT!" Interrupting him, Cristina pointed towards the pile of gold that had cooled down by now. "Aureolus gave me the tool to overcome this with certainty. When he stabbed his neck, he activated his Ars Magna, but he was under my illusion when it happened. Not even the needle he used to focus would be enough to bypass that. That moment, I took control over the spell, and using the illusions on myself, I didn't need the same tools to focus my thoughts into what I wanted to happen. I could force myself to think whatever I wanted. That way, I can do whatever I want in this space. See what I'm getting at here?"

Of course, none of them were understanding what she meant. They knew little to nothing about magic, let alone the advanced alchemy that was Ars Magna. Still, the bunny girl continued with her arms spread out, as if to hug the whole world. "It means whatever I think becomes reality in this place! I can even bend the rules of this game to make sure I win, no matter how impossible it is! That's why you won't break free of my illusions even though you figured me out! And with that, your victory is impossible!"

"... is that it?" Asked the boy. "I didn't get everything, but we lose because you illusion won't end?"

His disappointed tone made her unsatisfied. "Eh, what with this underwhelming response?"

"I mean, this plan is flawed to the core. For starters, if you bend the rules to grant you a perfect chance of victory, doesn't that means the odds of defeat are zero? In that case you are overcoming nothing. You won't get whatever you want that way, right?"

"T-that's not how it works! It's Aureolus that bent the rules, not me! So it'll be fine! P-probably!"

"Probably, huh? Geez, you're the one being deluded here." He retorted while reaching his hand to his ear, making a motion with his finger like he was pressing an invisible button. "Not to mention that I already know how to break this illusion. Any external interference and the whole thing shatters apart."

"But nothing of the sort will happen! You can't make it happen!"

"Can't I?" Hishiro grinned like a child ready to turn his sibling in to their parents. "After all, you took away the physical sensation of the objects with me, but they are still with me, right!"

"No! I won't Allo-"

"Kyuchi, shoot now!"

The thunder like sound of the .50 caliber sniper rifle being fired roared from above, making the world around them go back to normal. Blood dripped from Cristina's right arm where the bullet scratched over, much to her luck.

Frenda took the opportunity to rush forward and grab the girl by her shoulders, pulling her away from the magic circle drawn on the floor. "That way we are out of the 'area', right? Basically, you're powerless now!"

But the girl didn't respond. She just looked blankly at the void. Was she scared because of the shot that almost killed her or just frustrated that her plan had failed.

The answer was neither. "This is… just like… it looks the same as… no. It's too late."

Her words fell to deaf ears. Neither of them were interested in what she was babbling. Holding his revolver that he could finally see again, Hishiro spun the drum and slowly approached her step by step. "Frenda, stop. Don't take the card away from her just yet."

"Why?"

"You said this was a gamble right? As long as you have the card, it still counts, right?" He said in an eerie tone, making shivers run down Cristina's spine. "So let's gamble. In a fair and classic way. You seem to like roulettes, so you should be familiar with Russian roulette, I assume?"

*GULP*

It was impossible to tell who had made the dry sound, but both girls looked at him in fear and confusion. "In any case, the rules are simple. You point the gun to yourself and pull the trigger. You die, you lose. The other dies, you win."

And then he guided the gun to his own head. "Though I have no idea how many bullets are left here."

"Wait, are you seriousl-"

*CLICK*

Despite Frenda's protests, he pulled the trigger. Without a single sign of hesitation. "Seems like I'm lucky. Your turn now."

Like he said, the gun was now pointed towards Cristina, who looked terrified. The dark city, the woman holding me down, the man with a gun… This is exactly like the vision I had when I read my own fortune. Which means that now I'll…

She smiled wryly in hopelessness and grasped her dear card tighter. "Yeah… you were right all along. There's no meaning if there's no risk involved. And the higher the risk, the higher the chances of my spell to change my fate are to work. And it's more fun this way. As the owner of the name Aleo772, I say let's do this! I'll make it happen in the face of what I was trying to avoid all along! Go ahead, pull the trigger!"

"As you wish."

And.

It was then.

At that moment.

It happened.

Her fate was finally...

*Bang*

… fulfilled.

Part 6

Cristina's tight black bunny outfit started getting stained by blood on the height of her stomach where the bullet had hit. Her once pretty face was now twisted in pain and fear, having no resemblance to her arrogant self from minutes ago. "Hihi… so… that's it… for me..."

"Sorry, didn't want to make this painful for you." Hishiro's words didn't match his expression at all. The bloodlust in his eyes made it clear he was enjoying this. "I'll make sure to hit your head with the next shot."

"D-don't..." The girl refused his "kindness" in desperation. "I don't mind… a slow death. There's something - ugh - something I need… to tell you..."

The boy raised an eyebrow and was not willing to listen, but Frenda grabbed his wrist and pulled it away. "Where is Fremea? What did you do to her?"

"She… is fine. I never… took her out of the city. But… more importantly… *Cough Cough*!" Trying to readjust her posture proved to be a mistake, making her cough out loads of blood. "You two… need to understand... You and all seeds of doubt… we are not… your enemies..."

"Bullshit!" Hishiro interrupted, followed by Frenda's protests.

"You want us to believe that after all you have done?"

"It may… be asking for too much. But… I need to say… anyway. The true enemy… is inside… Academy City. The future I foresaw... for you and your sister earlier was true. And the same... goes for you too. If you don't... change your path... you will meet... a terrible fate as well."

The disturbing prophecy sounded even more creepy between her weak breaths. No, it was more than that. It didn't even felt like it was Crstina talking. Or rather, not only her. The boy narrowed his eyes in confusion as she looked towards him with an honest smile on her face. "Hishiro-kun..."

"Wha-?"

"She pitied you… more than anyone else… she always wanted to tell you… but couldn't..."

He was shocked. This manner of speaking felt familiar. Who talked to him this way? He couldn't remember, but there was definitely someone. "Who… are you?"

"Find her… the other one… like me… in Academy City… she is in danger… please… The world… Rázval… wants to… cre… ate… we… can… live… in… pea… ce… in…."

"..."

It was over. She wasn't dead yet, but now that her conscious was gone, it wouldn't take long. It was their victory. But Hishiro felt no relief nor satisfaction. This whole thing only left a bad taste in his mouth. "What the hell… just what the hell was that?"

Because he was left confused from her words, he failed to notice the incoming threat.

After all, Cristina was not the only enemy.

"Watch out!" If it was not for Frenda pushing him down, he would be nothing but a bunch of smashed flesh. A silhouette fell from the sky diagonally, crashing down like a meteorite just a few palms away from where the two were standing there.

It was the robed woman.

It seems her hood had been damaged during her fall, as now her face was finally visible. Aside from a large scar on the right side, her facial lines held a mature beauty. In the middle of her scar, her right eye had an unnatural yellowish color, different from the black iris on her left eye, which shared the color of her hair of unknown length running down the back of her gray robe.

It was impressive that she had survived the fall, but she was by no means unharmed. Sweat, blood stains, cuts on her clothes… all signs she had met her league dueling the saint. However, she still had enough strength to hold Cristina's body in her arms while the wooden staff floats besides her. How she picked the girl up during the crash was a mystery. "Dammit Cristina, what were you thinking? Just stick to the plan!"

Not long after, Kanzaki came crashing down as well a few meters away, seemingly in worse shape than her foe. Multiple wounds were visible on her skin, and she couldn't even stand up anymore. The only thing keeping her on her knees was the support of her sword. Still, that didn't stop her from glare hatefully at her enemy.

"You surpassed my expectations, saint. Be proud you went as far as to harm me this much. You were the first to ever accomplish that. I'm ashamed to say that I cannot defeat you."

"... the feeling is mutual."

"In that case, let's call it a tie and go our different ways. You wanted to interrupt our plans and you accomplished that. Be satisfied and never cross our path ever again."

"You wish… because if I see you again, I WILL capture you and send you to the Tower of London myself."

They exchanged no more words. The woman jumped onto the wooden rod and flew off into the sky. Kanzaki actually wanted to stop her from going away, but she knew it was impossible in her condition. But to call it a tie? It was an insult. The ponytail girl had clearly been defeated. If she was to receive another attack she would pass out on the spot helplessly. Just what meant a "victory" for that person?

Back to their feet after witnessing the exchange on the floor, the two espers were astonished to see how badly damaged she was. Just what kind of monster was capable of doing something to her of all people? It would need someone at level 5 at the very least to just keep up with the insane battlefield she was fighting earlier.

"S-should we help her?"

"No… it's better to take this opportunity to go back. We had similar goals this time, but she is from the other side. There's no way it's safe to treat her as an ally. Finding your sister now should be our priority."

Agreeing with him, they both sneaked out before the swordswoman could see them and headed back to the city gates where Asuka was already preparing a way in.

"By the way" Asked Frenda in curiosity. "You already knew that there was no bullet in the chamber when you pulled the trigger on yourself, right?"

"... I'll leave that to your imagination."

…

From the top of a skyscraper far away from the spot they had fought, the woman in robes was forced to stop and caught her breath. "I wanted to take you back as fast as possible, but in this state, that's as far as I can go."

Her words reached no one. She knew that Cristina couldn't hear her. Her body was just resting peacefully on her side as her life was slowly being drained away by the cruel wound on her gut.

"What was that, though? Why did you go out of your way to do what you did? You followed Myrin's orders so thoroughly before… so why now out of all times?"

Her actions were difficult to understand from the very beginning. She didn't even have to come in this mission in the first place. But she insisted so much after having talked to Rázval that no one could say no to her. "So maybe Rázval know of something… or not. This girl could see things that no one else could."

Saying that out loud, she remembered something. "Come to think of it, weren't we all supposed to die according to her vision? So why is it that I'm the only one left alive? Did she do all that to save me? Or were you lying from the very beginning?"

The thought brought an ache to her heart she hadn't felt in a long time.

XIII - Death.

The tarot card rested on her hand.

She was tired, but if she used the life force of anyone in the busy streets of Tokyo down there, she would be able to "reanimate" Cristina's body with her spell.

But by doing that, she would be hammering the last nail in the poor girl's coffin.

"Dammit… you better hope for Rüdiger to be awake when we get back. The two of us can manipulate life force, but only him can restore it. I never felt so frustrated about this in my life before."

Unconsciously, she sent one last glance of disgust towards the walls of the cursed city. One of them was still fighting inside them. "I just hope he had better luck than we did."

Part 7

September 1, 11:10 PM - District 10 of Academy City.

With Asuka's help, it didn't take long for them to find her.

All this time, Fremea had been under the care of Komaba Ritoku. Her fake kidnapping was indeed just a scam to drive them out of the walls to meet with Cristina and the robed woman.

"Fremea… Fremea!"

"Onee-chan? Where have you gone- ah!"

"Fremea! I was so worried!"

"Onee-chan… I can't breathe…"

If it wasn't for the massive build of Komaba standing just beside the two, it would be a heartwarming scene. Hishiro watched it all from a corner outside the field of the vision of the other male. It would be bad for him to be seen by the leader of Anti-Skill of all people, after all. Though he wondered if Frenda really knew who he was.

"Ora, Shiro… is that a tear I see dripping from your eyes?"

"Only in your dreams!"

"Maybe, but you were smiling at them just now, weren't you?"

"... There aren't no cameras around here for you to see anything, moron!"

"But the hesitation in your voice just now tells me everything~*!"

"Make another baseless assumption like this and I'll send you a stealth virus to your address!"

"Oh, please do so. It would be fun taking a challenge from you for a change."

Of course, expecting a virus to cause any damage to one of the best hackers inside Academy City wouldn't accomplish much. Asuka would neutralize, decipher, enhance and send it back in less than an hour, so that was nothing but a self-destructive fantasy.

Setting her nonsense aside for now, the boy approached the sisters that were finally going home. There was one last subject to deal with before they could say this whole incident had really finished.

Frenda knew very well this moment would arrive and swallowed dry. But she did not run. They had to settle it now and then.

After all, Hishiro now knew about Fremea's existence. No matter how unfair the circumstances were, this fact couldn't be changed. And this fact placed them on opposite sides of the game. To protect Fremea, Frenda was ready to kill him if necessary.

With one hand holding the fragile hand of her little sister and the other on one of her missiles, she stood still and was prepared for whatever he would do. "Liste-"

"One condition." He interrupted her. "If you agree to this one condition, I can pretend I never saw or heard anything."

"W-what condition?"

"Just keep ITEM out of my way". It sounded simple enough, but his tone was quite serious. "If our organizations were to clash again, make sure that I win by default. You can use whatever method you want. Deal?"

That was no simple task, because ITEM had one of the 7 level 5s of Academy City. If she agreed and Mugino ever found out about this, who knows what would happen to her.

But compared to the safety of her sister, this was nothing. She could do that much for her sake. Actually, given his position, he had her on the palm of his hands right now. He could ask her absolutely anything, but decided for just that. "Is that… all?"

"What? Were you expecting me to turn you into my slave or something? I don't have this kind of fetish, just so you know. Besides, we will still need each other's help if they were to appear again, right?"

"Well… if that's all then, it's a deal." And with an exchange of handshakes, it was settled in a surprisingly simple way.

Fremea looked at them without understanding anything and asked. "Onee-chan? Is this your boyfriend?"

"N-no! That's not it! He's not even my friend! It's just… well… it's-it's complicated?"

"Don't say that I will only understand it when I grow up."

"You better never need to understand it, okay!? You too, say someth- huh? Where is he?"

"In the first place, he went walking that way."

…

"Is it really okay to leave things like that, Shiro?"

"It's the best I could come up with." The boy kept walking normally using his cellphone while heading towards Kyuchi who was waiting a little farther away. "Asking for nothing would make her anxious. It's hard to trust someone that seemingly acted out of too much good will. And anything more would harm the deal we already had in place. Her corporation is crucial to fight off the magicians coming after us."

"My, aren't you a gentleman~*"

"Stop it."

"But I need to remind you of something. Your promises don't include me, Shiro."

Those words made him stop in his tracks. For the first time in a while, he remembered that in the dark side, you can't trust anyone. "What do you mean?"

"You aren't the only one aware of Fremea's existence. And I have nothing to gain from this deal of yours, so don't assume I won't act because of it."

"... are you willing to undermine my strategy, Asuka? Because if you do that, I won't let you get away with it."

"Yes, I am, if needed. As a member of Watch, I have responsibilities with this city and the safety of its members, and I'll do anything to fulfill that role. I promised to never make that same mistake again. So I'm willing to use any tool at my disposal."

Neither argued any longer than that. Their intentions were made clear and they knew the other wouldn't stand back. They could only hope that it didn't come to that.

Once he reached the clone on the opposite sidewalk, he noticed she was turning the other side, fiddling with with something. "Kyuchi? What are you doing there?"

Hearing his voice, she suddenly stopped and turned around suspiciously, keeping her right hand out of view. "Asuka told me to be considerate and not look at the two of you - explains Misaka trying to hide her jealousy."

"..."

At that point, he was way too tired to care or talk back to whatever nonsense Asuka had put in her head. He just gave her a cold look and turned around. "Whatever."

While she followed behind him, he failed to notice the device she kept hidden, flashing the word "sending" on the screen.

…

"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"

For a normal person, the text being displayed on the monitor in the dimly lit apartment room looked like nothing but a bunch of gibberish. But not for Kumokawa Seria. She could read those with no problem, and it held a heavy meaning for her.

Once she finished reading, she could only sigh and place a hand on her forehead. "The situation is worse than I thought. Even having her observing from nearby, I'm far from having enough information. I can't do anything like this. Who is our enemy? Someone from inside? A spy from the outside? Because now, it only looks like the whole world is against us. And I can't even trust that boy anymore."

Part 8

It has been a very long night for Tsuchimikado.

GROUP had an important mission, but it all fell apart when one of their members died. No, she was murdered by one of their own.

After that, they started fighting among themselves and everything was way beyond saving. He was wondering how he even managed to escape the chaos and walk all the way here.

Barely escaping death, he made his way back to the school dorm. Many would laugh at the infamous Grim Reaper, but for him, this was not a joke. The enemy didn't only had the upper hand, didn't only outsmarted him, didn't only outpowered him, nor all those things that would make him curse himself.

No, the enemy crossed a sacred line for him that was completely unforgivable.

He didn't just dragged his bloodied body all the way here for no reason. He wasn't going to hide until the situation calmed down or wait for someone else to finish the job he couldn't.

He finally pieced things together, even though a little too late, and was going to finish this now.

Stopping in front of his apartment, he unlocked the door using the key that was in his pocket, slowly turned the knob and walked inside.

"Onii-chan? Oh my god, what happened to you? You're bleeding!"

This was a very familiar scene for him. The lights were on. The room was neatly clean. Maika was there waiting for him. It was a comforting scene that always gave him peace of mind no matter how he had dirty his hands were before.

And that's why it was so disgusting.

*STAB*

"! Onii...chan… why…?"

Without mercy, without a second thought, Tsuchimikado Motoharu dug a knife deeply inside the chest of his little sister, Tsuchimikado Maika.

The poor girl looked at him in panic, surprise, pain and so, so much sorrow as she wobbled backwards and feel to the floor. But the boy simply stood there, staring coldly at her without moving a single finger.

"It hurts… it hurts so much… please… help me… save me..."

"I just did what I should have done from the very beginning."

"Why… do you hate me so much…?"

"Please cut off the act. I know you're not Maika. If you don't, I'll keep stabbing you until you give up."

All emotions left the girls face and only fear remained as the image of her body turned into static until it formed the figure of a little boy in clown clothes holding a tarot card.

0 - The Fool.

How very fitting for the fatal prank it pulled on them.

"So Unabara wasn't wrong. This was really something else. You weren't using magic at all. Someone else did cast the illusion spell on you, and you spread it out on all of us when we looked at your eyes. However, you made a mistake by taking the shape of someone I had already seen dead. If you took Unabara's appearance, I probably wouldn't have figured it out."

Yes, Tsuchimikado used magic to confirm the death of all his teammates, which left him in his current state. Unabara was the only one he couldn't find, which wasn't a surprise given the boy' ability to change his own appearance as well. So his current status right now was unknown.

"You're not a magician, are you? You're just an assassin. Who sent you after us?"

"..."

It was pointless to ask. The boy was already dead. But it did not matter. He would just have to take him to Aleister and that man would find an esper capable of extracting the information directly from his dead brain. This City was that human's the perfect fortress, and its inhabitants were his many tools that he had carefully prepared for every possible situation.

This was a victory for them, even at the cost of the lives of skillful people. Still, it made the boy angry. The picture of him stabbing Maika would probably never leave this brain for the rest of his life. He was so pissed off that he wouldn't mind sacrificing the rest of his body to a spell that would wipe out the culprits behind this from the face of the Earth.

Soon after, the door cracked open once again. "Have you arrived already, Onii-chan? Oh my god, what happened to you? You're bleeding so much!"

"Welcome back, Maika! I was planning to make a surprise for you, so I rushed home as fast as I could and then I tripped- nya!"

"Geez, how can you be so careless?! Look at you!"

"Don't worry-nya! I hit my head, but it only made a cut on my forehead. It will heal on its own if I stop the bleeding."

"Right, right… Let me get the bandages! I'll be back in a moment!"

"Thank you-nya!"

It wasn't unusual for her to not having mentioned the body at all. The unnatural thing was that the body had disappeared from the room. As the girl walked away, Tsuchimikado shot a quick glance towards the open window.

Below it, on the ground outside, the body was laying down waiting to be picked up.

All he could do to make up for this mess was to protect the peaceful world Maika lived in with all he could. There was no way he would ever let her be exposed to the darkness he was so deeply drowned into.

Part 9

*CRACK!*

It happened inside the dimly lit windowless building. That place is said to be the most secure in Academy City, able to withstand even a nuclear warhead head on, so no one, not even Aleister himself, would expect to be threatened while inside that absolute fortress. At least not this early in the game he had prepared.

Yet, just before his eyes, the unthinkable was happening.

Space itself had been cut just barely a dozen meters away from the glass cylinder where the human floated upside down. If it wasn't for that difference, he would probably be done for without a chance to react. Or would he? Regardless of the answer for that question, whoever was responsible for this either missed for just that little, or had other intentions in doing so. And thinking seriously about it, a person powerful enough to bypass all the defensive barriers and devices of Academy City and the Windowless Building would really make such a mistake in landing a direct attack? Aleister discarded that possibility quickly and narrowed his eyelids.

Like shattering glass, reality itself broke apart starting from the cut, spreading out and only coming to a stop once a hole of about two meters in diameter had been completely opened. And from within it, someone stepped out casually. "Greetings, mister chairman."

It was a girl in a long white dress adorned with pink and gold frills, similar toned golden hair tied in many braids and deep blue eyes that would be beautiful if it wasn't for the scornful expression on her face. But what caught Aleister's attention the most was the shiny, silver bladed longsword on her hands that looked more like a ceremonial item than a weapon. "I apologize for intruding in your castle in such a brute way, but I was afraid I would end up ignored otherwise."

Everything, absolutely everything in her disgusted the human to his very core, from the way she talked, her noble aura, the way she looked down on him, to the object in her hands, which she was obviously making a conscious effort to show off. Still, he managed to reply in a somewhat composed tone. "I have been wondering when the intruders of the stage play would introduce themselves to the main cast. And each time I thought about it, I pictured it as a disgusting event. You can pride on the fact that you are one of the few that managed to surpass my expectations in many, many years."

The girl chucked his response off while shrugging and shaking her head. "I have heard of your peculiar sense of humor, but this is a bit too much, isn't it? Intruders? I beg your pardon, but if we needed an actual invitation for your childish game, you made a rather poor job in making this detail clear. Not that we would follow your rules anyway."

"Yes, I noticed that you and your little group have been making quite the effort to defy the legacy I left behind, all the while daring to call yourselves Golden magicians. Was all this meant to affect me in some way? If that is so, you aren't even eligible to be here wasting my precious time in the first place."

"Please, could you step down of your high horse for a single moment? Or you don't even understand our existence to begin with?"

Aleister didn't refute her, which stamped a wide smile of satisfaction on her face as she slowly approached the glass cylinder. It was clear that the girl was enjoying herself quite a bit by seemingly outsmarting him for this brief moment. "But I assume it is our own fault. We had not had the chance to properly introduce ourselves thus far."

And then, placing her hand on her moderate chest, she made an elegant reverence towards him, one that would only be seen in movies and games when someone was in the presence of royalty, which annoyed the human even further. "I am Lillian Morgana Wyvern, the second member of the Trinity Golden Crown, leaders of the Golden Sages of the Next Aeon, which you seem to be a little familiar with already. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

Aleister started to clap soundlessly and scornfully within the yellowish transparent liquid. "Truly splendid. You've already made your connection to the English standards quite clear already, so you can stop it now. It's painful to watch."

As if waiting for that reaction, Liliam gasped in surprise and took her fingertips to her mouth. The whole action was so fake that it was indeed painful to look at. "Oh my, what a surprise! What was it that gave me away? The accent? The dress? My manners? The sword?" She couldn't keep holding it anymore and started laughing in the end.

Regretting making that observation, the chairman simply ignored her and continued. "I would introduce myself too, but it seems pointless as you seem to know me well."

"Oh, we do. More than you realize too." She stopped her laugh and went back to her previous attitude. "About your pointless struggle, this stupid game you planned and what is your ultimate goal - as well as how it is a waste of time."

Without giving him time to say anything she casually stabbed the tip of the sword in the floor. The motion was intended to give her support like a cane would do, but she had to actually hold it in place, otherwise the blade would keep digging deeper and who knows what would make it stop. The fact she almost tripped over this would be comic if wasn't for the fact of how absurd it was. Even inside Academy City, there weren't many tools capable of handling the material which the floor was made off, let alone damage it to this extent.

After the little display - which kept the human quiet for the time being as he observed in disgust - she continued. "It seems you have made a wrong assumption out of us. We are one of the many remnants of the Golden, but not in the same way all of the others. You and the other magicians of that time had set the rules of which Modern Magic would follow. But not us. Our Golden style does not draw from the fruits of your labors. We inspired from the fact you created those rules in the first place, which is why we've created a whole new set of our own. So please, don't place us on the same level as the rest, otherwise this will end before it even begins."

"So you've done your homework instead of copying. You want me to praise you because of it? Because that won't happen. The amount of pride you take on that fact only shows how naive you are. Just because you're not riding on the rails I have set, that doesn't mean you're untouchable from my perspective."

"Indeed, that was not even the point. One of our goals is to take you out of your throne, but our new style of magic exists to accomplish something even more important than that. You didn't expect us to be as superficial as to have Aleister Crowley at the top of our priority list, right?"

It was kinda difficult for him to swallow that after all the effort she had done to piss him off, but he allowed her to continue without interruption. "I will give you credit however, mister chairman. You were going somewhere with your ideals at some point, but you completely lost it midway. Indeed, the Phases are an issue to be addressed, but not in the way you're planning to."

For the very first time, he started to take her seriously. One thing was figuring out that Aleister, the Chairman of Academy City was actually THE legendary magician Aleister Crowley, one of the most famous members of the Golden Cabal back in the 19th century. But not only finding out about the existence of the Phases, but also finding the link between them and him was a whole different story.

Not many magicians knew about it, but every time they use magic, there's a side effect similar to the action and reaction rule of the science side. Due to the many overlapping views, interpretations, mindsets, and even the recklessness of some magic gods in the past that turned the world upside down, the current world became a mess of all those filters in which reality could be viewed through, which are called Phases. And magic causes a friction among them that may cause harm randomly to people that may or may not be involved with the magic side. It's no surprise that such information was kept a secret even within the already secretive magicians.

Still, that girl knew about it.

And she seems to know what Aleister intended to do about it.

Not letting any of what was going through his mind show on his face, he asked. "Then what would you do about it?"

"Erasing the Phases - by which you would be erasing all supernatural phenomena from the face of this world - to return it to its natural state. Your plan sounds great on the surface, but can't you really see the issue with that? So let me ask you one little question: what even is the natural state of the world? If any religion or mythology we have record of is to be believed, it would mean a world without life. A world where God had yet to create a world. You can deny it all you want, but when most of them, if not all, have that in common, is it not a bit single minded to simply not call out on that coincidence? I would even say it is some kind of blind faith to think it is nothing more than that."

Pulling the weapon back from the ground, she spread out her arms and proudly let herself smile genuinely, emphasizing the beauty of her face. "So what would I do, you ask? Simple: the issue lies on the existence of multiple Phases, not on the fact that they exist itself. So we will unify them all into a single one and keep it under control so it stays that way forever!"

Aleister closed his eyes while his mouth made a motion similar to a sigh. "In other words, you plan to make all mankind accept your way of thinking and then rule over the single minded society like a dictator from behind the curtains by implanting your style of magic into everyone's lives. All because you're making a cheap assumption on the results of my actions."

"The way you put it, it makes it sounds like we want to destroy humanity's free will." She pouted with her hand on her hips, destroying any sign of nobility she had up to that point. "All we want is to limit it a little so no one is harmed."

"And the rest of mankind is expected to blindly trust you by giving up on its ability to guide the world to any direction they want to?"

"Because I can guide mankind to the best possible direction." She said with determination. "And I don't mean the majority of living beings. I am referring to each and every one of them. I swear on my magic name that I, and only I, can accomplish this."

"You sound just like the people from the church that used the name of God in vain only to put themselves in that position."

"Is that so? Except that I am being honest. And I will prove it with my actions instead of pretty speeches. Which is why I am here. To officially announce we are claiming our position in this game, and we intend to grab the first prize, unlike the worms that fell for your trap only to get a small share once the victorious is announced."

The human couldn't help but chuckle at her statement. "How cute. You sure talk big for the child you are. Because from my perspective, the ones actually from England are way closer to being a threat than your pathetic cabal."

"Do not worry about that, they will have what they deserve. After all, England rightfully belong to us."

"So that's what this sword is for."

Liliam lifted the spiritual item not only to give him a better view of it, but also to make him feel it. The glass container started shaking from the mere proximity with the object. "You figured it out? Just to make it clear, this is not Excalibur. That would be way too ordinary. This is the Sword of Law, the real one that was pulled from the stone by King Arthur. You may be more familiar with the name Clarent, I assume."

"I see. Unlike the King's weapon, you went for the symbolic ceremonial item that holds more magical meaning."

"We did not 'go for it'. I said it already, it rightfully belongs to me and my brother. With this in hand, the Anglican church holds no chance against us. The Roman Catholic church is falling apart on its own as we speak. And once we take over Academy city and the Science side, the Russian Orthodox Church, as well as all other minor factions crawling on dirt will be no more than mere pebbles in our way."

"This overconfidence of yours will only lead you to ruin. Mark my words."

"And you mark mine," she replied in a defying tone while pointing her finger towards him. "Onii-sama will definitely defeat you in your own game, and I will make this world better. And for that to happen… well, I think you already know, right? We had made it pretty clear with our first move. Not that you can do anything to stop us at this point."

"Now, can't I?"

It was clear now.

Liliam had only come here to make an open declaration of war against him. And the first battlefield was given away by the mere name of the sword.

The Sword of Law.

There was another spiritual item made by Aleister himself that shared a similar name. A grimoire to be more exact.

The Book of Law.

The one said to bring the end of the Christianity if it were to be deciphered and used. But its actual potential could go way beyond that. Many failed to understand it, but that item was an important piece that all major factions had, and it was the bare minimum to even stand a chance to survive this absurd game.

The Roman Catholic Church had the actual book.

The Anglican Church had it inside the forbidden library's memory.

Academy City had it, since said library was currently living in the city. Not that Aleister himself needed it as the author.

It was because of that the minor factions were destined to lose no matter what they did. It was like playing Chess without the King piece. And exactly because of that, the Golden Sages of the Next Aeon would be going to try and acquire it one way or the other.

But how?

Well, wasn't there rumors being spread recently that the physical book was stolen from the Vatican?

And more importantly, why would she want to tell Aleister all of this?

Were they so certain of their victory that it wouldn't matter if he knew? Or were they expecting him to act in a certain way now that him knows?

The girl made one last bow before turning around, heading back to the hole she had opened. "Go ahead and try. Struggle all you want pointlessly. It will not change anything. You will learn that soon enough."

And with those last words, she was simply gone.

The hole had also closed on its own the moment he left.

Silence ruled the room for several seconds while the human did absolutely nothing but stare towards where she stood before. That is, until he drew his hand closer and…

*CRACK!*

With a similar sound to the one done by the sword earlier, the glass cylinder cracked when Aleister smashed his right fist towards it with a satirical grim. Slowly, the cracks started glowing in a yellow light and the glass repaired itself, but the human didn't moved his hand back at all. "You… all of you always taking me for a fool. Fine then. I accept your challenge!"

Part 10

September 2, 7:20 AM - Somewhere in England.

A passerby would glance at this scenery and say it was straight out of a painting. Little would they know who that 12 year old girl with short blonde hair, blue eyes and a white dress with black stockings, drinking her tea at the lounge of the fancy looking store adorned with flowers everywhere really was.

She elegantly guided the delicate cup towards her small lips and took a short sip, enjoying the flavor as much as she could - or while she could.

This peaceful atmosphere wouldn't last long, and in her opinion, nor would the ones responsible for ruining it.

"You do know we cannot delay this any longer."

The one talking to her was a tall blond man who wears a clean black formal suit, sitting on the opposite chair of her table facing her with a serious look. It seemed like he wouldn't let her have her moment, not even this early in the morning. "I know, Mark."

Resting the cup back on the table, her expression turned bitter from remember what had happened. "It's our own fault - or rather, my fault for underestimating them and letting them do as they want. And as much as I wanted to send you to solve this situation your way, as the leader of the Dawn-Colored Sunlight, it is my duty to clean up the name of our cabal that they dared to mess with."

Her name could bring fear and hate among the ones in the magic side.

She could be considered the number one enemy of the 0th perish of the Anglican Church.

She was Leivinia Birdway, leader of one of the largest magic cabals in the world.

"But they made a mistake by taking proactive action to keep us from interfering. It means they know they would have no chance if we were to interfere. And they are right to fear us."

There was no response from Mark while she quickly finished her cup in one long sip before standing up from her chair. "The Golden Sages of the Next Aeon and their Trinity Golden Crown. It's time to put those stray cats back to the trash can they came from."

Between the Lines

It was sudden.

So very sudden that it didn't even feel real at all.

We were talking just the other day. We were making plans for the trip that would happen soon. We were looking forward to it. We were having so much fun together.

All she said was "Oh, it's already this late! I need to go to the laboratory today! See you later!" and then she left for never to come back. Those were the last words Lilly ever said to me. And then, without a single sign, she simply vanished from this world.

No… thinking back now, the signs were everywhere. For the few months before the accident happened, her visits to the lab were getting more and more frequent, and she looked really tired when she came back. But I ignored it. Not only that, I was acting selfishly, feeling mad because she had less time to spend with me. It's probably because of this atitude of mine that she never told me what was going on. Whenever I complained, Lilly would force out a smile and act normally in front of me.

I wonder what she really felt in those moments. But I'll never find out.

The following day, I asked the adults where she was, and they said "The results of Lilly's tests were beyond the expectations, so she was transferred to a place where they can better develop her abilities."

"So… I will never see her again?"

I don't know if they noticed the despair in my voice that moment, but a couple of them hesitated to answer. Still, one of them looked me straight in the eyes and answered. "If your power become as good as hers, then I'm sure you'll be transferred to the same place as well."

And because of that, I worked hard. I gave it my everything. I did every damn thing they told me to do, took every medicine, went through all the tests, studied more than anyone else, and trained with my ability whenever I had the chance, no matter how painful it was. As a result, I managed to raise my level to 3, as well as having enough control over myself to reduce the side effects that made me suffer for so long.

It was then that the truth came like a cold shower in the winter.

One day, the facility was closed by Anti-Skill. They tried to cover up the accident the better they could, but eventually it all came to light and, supposedly, the ones responsible went to jail. It was in the middle of the confusion that I overheard the officers talking about the girl that died in the experiment and all the pieces of the puzzle came together in my mind.

Lilly had died.

The adults had killed her.

They pushed her beyond her limits until she literally broke.

And they had lied to me, making me follow the same path.

Knowing that, my mistrust towards them grew even further. While they were relocating the other children, I ran off on my own end ended up on the streets.

From that point on, my memory becomes a bit fogged over. I only remember getting involved in some fights while I was living on the streets and getting beaten until I learned to defend myself, Starving for days until I learned how to steal food, and living miserably until my ability picked the attention of someone incredibly suspicious who invited me to join their organization in exchange for home and food. Of course I accepted, but not for the reasons this person offered me.

They were probably thinking they were tricking me into doing the dirty job, but I knew it from the start. Their eyes gave away their lies. I joined knowing it all because I wanted to.

Yes, from that day on, I dived into the darkness head on. This was the only way for me to get what I wanted. To find out exactly what had gone wrong, why Lilly had to die, and who was really guilty for it.

…

Hishiro suddenly opened his eyes. Did I… fall asleep?

He was sitting on a bench in a small park in District 18. It was still 9:30 AM. He was supposed to be at school right now, but after the mess that happened the day before, he decided to take the day off, regardless of the consequences. He was still so tired that he ended up sleeping here unintentionally. Lucky for him, the streets were almost empty at this time on a weekday. Still, this was way too careless of him.

And that dream… why am I remember about the past now? Maybe he got a little emotional because of the sisters after all? Smiling in bitterly towards himself, he stood up and wiped off a bit of dirt from his pants. "Ridiculous. I came here to get some fresh air, but I guess it was a bad idea..."

Now, was it a bad idea or one of the many wicked works of fate that Cristina kept on about?

No, there were no coincidences in Academy City. Everything happened because someone pulled the strings for it to happen that way.

Or was it?

One would question that after seeing what was about to happen now.

Or rather, one would question their own sanity.

On the corner of his eye, the boy caught a glimpse of a platinum yellow figure walking on the other side of the street. He could've ignored it and go on with his life, but because there were so few people on the streets, this had caught his attention and he turned his face towards it.

"... What…. In the world?"

He instantly recognized that sight. How couldn't he?

That platinum blond hair that looked so familiar.

That flower shaped red ribbon that looked so familiar.

Those clear blue, almost gray eyes that looked so familiar.

That pink one piece dress with white cats stamped on both sides that looked so familiar.

There was no mistake. It was supposed to be impossible, but there was no other explanation for it.

His mind went blank and he shouted the familiar nickname without thinking. "... Lilly!?"

And the girl stopped.

And she looked towards him.

And their eyes met.

And…

…

And darkness was once again creeping on him from the shadows of this city.

---

Hehe… hehehehe… I finished it… I finally finished it… *drops dead*

"No, you still needs to give Misaka more screen time before that - says Misaka while using a generic RPG revival item on the author"

Huh? What? Where was I again? Ah, sure…

Hello again, my dear readers! It's been months since the last update, and before I start making excuses… no, I won't this time, I think the size of this chapter explains everything by itself. But I have to admit that a little mistake in my planning is also to blame. I have been struggling with that during this whole arc, but I think everything is back to the rails after this chapter. You see, my goal was to have everything built up at this point so I could just roll the ball down the peak for the rest of the story - except I forgot about Hishiro's backstory, the Down-Colored Sunlight involvement, Fremea, and a ton of other things that I mentioned during this arc, which I have to say it didn't quite met my expectations because of that. I hope you enjoyed it thought. Sorry if you didn't, this shouldn't happen again.

Setting this aside for now, I would like to comment on the two new magicians. Cristina was the main focus, but I don't think she quite fall into the spot of the villain here, despite some of her actions pointing otherwise. She fought to the end for what she believed was right, even though she was fated to fail from the start. Just look at her magic name. It can be interpreted as gambler, but with the numbers 772, the meaning gets another twist. In many slot machines, the 777 combination would be the best result you can get, but the last number was replaced by 2, not only meaning defeat in this example, but taking poker into consideration, 7 and 2 are the worst card combination you could have at your hand. Her whole motivation was to overcome that curse, and help others with a similar fate, sacrificing Aureolus in the process even though he was one of those people.

Then who's the villain here, you might ask? Well, the hits were laid down. Have fun figuring that part out on your own.

The other female, the magician of death, had another thing going for her. I didn't want to create someone powerful to match against the already powerful saint, as this would create some implications for future encounters, so I went to the extreme edge of skillful. Using the opponent's life force, her spells are just as powerful as her opponents are - which makes her slightly similar to Fiamma - but with the extra twist of her reanimation spell.

Anyway, now all the pieces are finally in place - for real this time - prepare for the next arc. It'll be the Backstage version of the Battle Royale (not the actual arc, just a similar concept), with all the aforementioned factions clashing together. Which comes with the following announcement: I will be trying my best to not go against the cannon, it might become impossible at any point from now on. I'm not on par with the last chapters of the Accelerator manga, and there's the new Dark Matter manga coming soon, and I can no longer change the plot to accommodate what may come out of those. I hope it doesn't come to that, but I thought it would be good to make that clear just in case.

Replies:

Guest: 1. Oh boy, don't get my mind working in that direction! I may not be able to hold myself! Poor Touma will suffer the worst of misfortunes if I do this!

2. For the better or the worst, Index's detection range is quite limited. Just look at the Daihaseisai arc, there were all these battles against Oriana within the walls of Academy City and she never noticed it.

By the way, I didn't forget your question about Touma in the other review. I'm almost finishing NT22 and I'll give you my opinion when I'm done reading it.

Anonymous7: 1. The thing with Rumpelstiltskin is more on a metaphorical level, even though there's gold involved. At the end of the fairy tale, the girl breaks her side of the deal and "cheats" the conditions the imp gave her (though it was his own fault). I named the chapter that way because of the similarities between the deal Aureolus and Cristina had going, and how she betrayed him in the end.

2. Yes, there's that. ITEM will be absent from a certain point on, but the reason will all tie up to my plot as well, so it won't be a problem. And as I mentioned in the chapter, there are other Seeds of Doubt out there…

3. That's a good question. When she first appeared, Yuna would be considered a low tier level 3 while Yuko would be closer to a level 4 but not quite there yet. But when she is using that… ask yourself, a level 4 would be able to create fire without oxygen? What would take for that to happen?

4. I won't comment on the Anti-Esper group as it ties to the next arc.

5. The red eyes were the signal that the person was taking part in Cristina's gamble, and so under the effect of her illusions. Just like Rüdiger, she pushed the limits of the implications and used that take control over the fights. This will be a staple for the magicians of the Golden Sages.

6. Oh, believe me, it's getting really tricky. I'm just glad I never made him a pervert, otherwise I don't know how he would get out of what I set up for him this time…

7. Yeah, it is just the missiles that are filled with napalm. The Scorpions were chosen for that kind of weapon because of the impact absorption system they have on them - but it has been proven to not be enough of a security measure.

I think that's everything for now. Thank you all for your support and see you guys next time! Hopefully soon…