Observer

[ACMItM: Fortis931]

As Touma spoke, Joule was able to hear the same thing that he had; a high pitch whine.

Joule looked in the direction he directed and saw some sort of movement coming quickly.

The mages had gathered together and now stood back to back in order to look for the source of the sound.

The sound stopped for a moment and so Joule glanced around to see another, smaller, robot appear in mid-air. These robots began shooting towards the mages with some sort of glowing projectile but Joule was unable to get a good look.

More robots then started to appear and began to shoot at the mages too. It was strange though as they seemed to be missing every shot, were the mages using some sort of defensive magic?

Finally the main robot moved again, shooting out tendrils of cables towards the mages. As they did so, the smaller robots jumped away. The fire mage seemed to understand what this meant as he called out to the other mages.

"Go!"

They scattered as one of the cables hit the previously shot disks. A moment later the disks exploded, causing a wave of detonations to hit the entire area. From where she sat, Joule could feel the heat of the blasts as the pressure wave struck them all.

More tendrils shot after more disks forcing the mages to move further. By this time the mages had been driven back to the road behind the pool of water that they had all walked to get there in the first place. The mage's fire and the explosions from the disks lit up the night.

Above them, the main robot took a few steps forward.

"What is that thing?" Touma asked in shock.

It stopped attacking and a female voice came from speakers attached to it.

"Attention. We are the civil conflict resolution and relief patrol. We are authorised by the city's governing board. Be advised, this is a special intervention."

The main robot jumped forward and landed between their group and the mages. It was followed quickly by two of the little robots who moved behind the mages to cut off their movement.

In response the water mage pulled water from a pipe and created a shield around them before firing it as darts of water towards the lead robot. who maneuvered around the shots and even onto a building to dodge. Eventually it leaped, launching disks towards the ground around the mages before shooting cables after them. A moment later they detonated with the mages in range.

The dust was cleared a moment later by a swirl of air created with magic. The pyromancer had started running away from the pool but the others were still there and ambushed the robot by using the earth to stop it's movements. Luckily for it though, the smaller robots quickly freed it before it leaped again after the fire mage.

He began casting fire about himself to strike at the smaller robots only for them to shoot disks at him in response.

Something moved beside her and Joule noticed that Touma had stood up and had begun to run after the mages. He seemed to know the mages so Joule decided against trying to stop him.

When the large robot went to fire cables however, they were deflected by something. Joule was too far away to see. The mage glanced up at the building to his side and Joule followed his gaze to see there was a person standing on the roof. The two of them seemed to speak for a moment but Joule couldn't hear anything. The fire mage gave an order and the other mages joined him in running.

The robot had picked a new target; the person on the roof of the building. It leaped up to reach them and fired on them. Great flashes of light lit up from the bullets.

When they cleared though, the person was still standing there. The robot moved behind them on the roof and fired cables towards them. The person fell from the roof but landed gracefully just as the mages ran past.

"Hey hold on! Why are you after Arisa?" Touma had caught up to the mages and while the fire mage stopped at his question, the others kept running.

If the mage answered it was too quiet, Touma had reached the other end of the road to fountain. Touma glanced back towards the group still sitting around the pillars and as he did so, the mage ran off quickly.

The robot did jump down though and approached Touma. A hatch opened to reveal a pilot. A woman, likely the same woman that had spoken earlier.

She and Touma exchanged words before the hatch closed again and the robots departed as a group.

[ACMItM: ...I want to sing]

Now the danger was gone, she looked the the two unconscious members of the group. Uiharu had done the smart thing and called an ambulance for them both.

Touma joined them a few moments later to ask if they were okay.

Uiharu didn't look okay but she answered that she was fine. She had taken a cloth from her bag and wet it in the fountain before pressing it to Saten's head.

Arisa on the other hand was looking as if she had just fallen asleep. Index was checking on her.

Joule's side still hurt from the kick and though she didn't mention it, Uiharu still checked on her.

After Index finished investigating Arisa she pronounced "She's fine. I don't understand what she did but it didn't seem to cause any physical issues."

Uiharu frowned "Do you have first aid training?"

Index waved her hand around in a 'sort-of' motion while answering "Not really, but the human body is used in enough books that I have a working knowledge when it comes to some injuries."

Uiharu sighed and began her own check on Arisa's health. As she did that, Joule turned to Touma "That fire mage, you acted like you knew him?"

Touma just shook his head "He's an... acquaintance. His name is Stiyl. We've run into each other a few times. I thought he had left for england after a recent issue that came up."

Index nodded "He's part of the same group as me, Necessarius. But he always causes trouble by dragging Touma into magic business."

"It's all real then?" Uiharu spoke quietly, she had been told about the golem but she had never quite believed it.

Joule turned to the nun and asked "So, why was he attacking Arisa? Have you heard anything Index?"

Index shook her head "I don't get directly contacted anymore, I don't hear about the news of the church very often. It is still strange though, why would Arisa be a problem for-"

She cut off then and thought in silence.

Uiharu looked around, her check-up done "She seems alright, I think it might have just been the shock of what was going on after a long day."

Touma nodded "If that's the case, there isn't a need to bother the hospital with her too. Index and I can give her some rest at my lodgings."

Joule nodded "That sounds ok, We'll stay with Saten."

They helped get Arisa onto Touma's back and then he and Index left. A few minutes later the ambulance arrived.

Uiharu and Joule rode with Saten to the hospital where they waited for the results of the doctors examination.

Finally a nurse came to tell them that Saten would be fine. She would have to stay in the hospital for a day just to make sure but she would be out before too long.

Joule got a text from GV and headed home, Uiharu however stayed.

"It would feel wrong to go back right now." was her explanation.

As it wasn't yet midnight, the trains were still running so Joule got home quickly. There she explained to GV what had happened.

GV nodded thoughtfully at the end.

"I'll look into it." was his promise.

Joule just ate a quick supper and prepared for bed, it had been a very long day for her too.

End of chapter

There is about 7 minutes (depending how you count it) of the movie done.

And finally, finally, Joule gets a bit more explantion of the magical world.