On sorcerers on mages.

[ACMI2: Fanatic]

"This spell is called four ways to truth." Tsuchimikado explained as he arranged the materials on the floor.

Tsuchimikado was the guy who wore sunglasses. He'd introduced himself when GV and Touma got back to the terminal. Apparently he was a major contact between Academy City and the various magic factions throughout the world.

"Using this, we'll be able to pinpoint Oriana's location." He continued.

Oriana Thomson. They have filled GV in on her and the stab sword.

A weapon made to kill saints. Joule was unlikely to be the target but Arisa could be and that meant that GV now had a solid reason to help out instead of just to pay back a debt.

Touma looked worried "But won't it hurt you? I thought you weren't supposed to use magic?"

"And that is why," Tsuchimikado turned and smiled as he finished setting up the spell "I'm going to go get some help."

Stiyl, the pyromancer took the chance to step forward and take a position over the spell before kneeling down.

It looked almost like he was praying as he began to use the spell.

"Traveling on the wind, conveying not air but will to the specified location."

The circle glowed red and the paper that had been placed around it stood up straight. This was GV's first chance to see this kind of magic. The paper began to spin in the circle, growing closer to the center with each rotation. Finally they struck what had been placed in the center of the circle. A piece of paper that Oriana had apparently left here.

The inside of the circle glowed and became a map- no not a map, an aerial view of japan, then Academy City, then it zoomed in further to show Oriana walking down a road. She stopped and looked up and GV tensed.

Her lips moved but this spell apparently didn't do sound.

The circle shattered and Stiyl yelled out and rocked back. It looked like he was in agony.

Touma negated whatever was affecting him with a quick touch from his hand and Stiyl fell down, the pain apparently leaving him. He was muttering, wondering how she stopped him.

"Nope." Tsuchimikado noted to one of Stiyl's ideas "Nothing that simple I'm afraid. What I think is that there's a specialised interception spell, one that has been specifically designed to react automatically to Stiyl's personal magic."

GV blinked "I don't know a lot about magic but that sounds like a waste."

"It's a hell of a thing to have prepared." Stiyl groaned as he stood up.

Touma blinked "So she singled out Stiyl to prevent him from casting any magic on her?"

Stiyl steadied himself and walked a few steps before continuing "It's a pretty big deal for a person to detect a specific life force, trace it back and then apply a counter attack." As he finished he sat down on a box.

"Something like that with only a few words? Is she a specialist in... anti-magic?" GV tried.

"Not really." Stiyl sighed "Well, she is Route Disturb. We should have seen this as a possibility."

"Root Disturb?" GV asked "Is that her... Magic name?"

"Nah, just a nickname she uses." Tsuchimikado mentioned.

Stiyl sighed again as he dug around in his coat for something "This might sound crazy but there's something about her method that strikes me as familiar. I must be wrong though don't you think? There's no way she could be in possession of one."

GV lacked context and it seemed that Touma did too as it was Tsuchimikado who nodded.

"Well, oddly enough, I was just thinking that there's no other possibility."

"Are you serious?" Stiyl leaned forward as he drew out a cigarette "But if that's really true then that would mean that Oriana is a sorceress, not a magician like we thought."

"What are you guys talking about? What is this thing she has?" Touma asked. GV shook his head "And what's the difference between a sorceress and a magician?"

Tsuchimikado smiled "I can answer both quickly. First, a magician is someone who 'uses' magic whereas a sorcerer is one who is able to 'teach' magic. Normally using a grimoire."

"So she has a grimoire?" GV asked but Tsuchimikado shook his head "Not a normal one. Otherwise we would of heard of it."

Stiyl nodded "Necessarius keeps records of different grimoires and their owners. Oriana is not on that list."

"What Oriana must have is something that can hold magical knowledge, it must be able to function on it's own as a magical array, it works without needing a magician's will. Yet we know she doesn't have one of the recorded Grimoires. So she must have made one of her own."

"You think so?" Stiyl asked with a note of disbelief "Creating a grimoire to fit these exact circumstances. That would be quite difficult."

"The original text could just be a scribbled note." Tsuchimikado noted "It would have limited effectiveness and it would break down quickly."

Stiyl had lit his cigarette by now as he named her gift "Let's call it 'Shorthand'. That should be accurate enough."

"What should we do then?" GV asked "Do we have a workaround?"

Tsuchimikado was doing something with a piece of paper but he nodded "The first thing will be to take out that interception spell. For that we'll need to be able to use Stiyl's magic."

"Isn't that a catch-22?" GV asked but Stiyl shook his head "It's possible, but what's the chance of her fleeing the search area while we're doing that?"

"She wouldn't have set up this spell if she was confident that she could escape." Tsuchimikado noted then looked up "Okay, you're going to have to try using your magic." It seemed that he'd set something up.

It looked like a rag soaked in blood and Tsuchimikado used it to draw a circle, he claimed it would be used in a spell to locate the incercept. It also seemed risky. Tsuchimikado claimed they'd probably need to try it a few times to pin down it's location.

It could seriously hurt Stiyl but Tsuchimikado talked GV and Touma around by reminding them of the stakes. There were lives around the world at risk if this when pear shaped.

"Let's get on with it." Stiyl noted as he stood up from the box. He walked over to the circle and noted that Touma should be watching over Index.

"If this ends in sadness for her, it will be your fault." He then set fire to a card in his hand.

Stiyl began to scream.

End of chapter.

Talking really takes time when it comes to my chapters. I could just skip the exposition (and I sometimes do, honestly) but in times like this it feels like it needs to be there.