This will probably be the last update for this story for a while so consider it an early Christmas present.
I could theoretically wait till Christmas to post it but the chapter is ready and given my circumstances I likely won't have the time later.
Hope you enjoy.
Chapter 7: July 20th Part 2
The Witch Hunting King.
To say that Kamijou Touma had a rough day was to say the sky was blue or that water was wet or people die when they're killed. Indeed, it was widely speculated by his peers that if the unfortunate Kamijou were to ever have a completely normal (by the standards of other people) day, it was to be considered a sign of the end times.
Of course, having grown more than accustomed to being shit on by the world around him, the Ever-Enduring Kamijou would bravely continue to face whatever the world had to throw at him, be it hunger, poverty, the united hatred of his class for unintentionally making their homeroom teacher cry, or a so-called Magical Loli-Nun trying to devour his arm.
Ok, admittedly that last one was a bit of a stretch, but who else in this world of science and wonder could honestly lay claim they'd had the 'pleasure' of running into a self-proclaimed [Magician] with any possibility of it being the genuine article as opposed to the far more likely case of rampant [Eighth Grader Syndrome]?
Getting back on track, after essentially black-mailing Touma into providing her with a meal, and then savagely mauling the hand that fed her, the Nun in question, 'Index', or rather [Index Librorum Phrohibitorum] as she apparently claimed (and good grief didn't the name alone raise warning flags), had gone on to declare herself a member of [Necessarius], a branch of the Anglican Church, whatever the hell that meant, that dealt with Magical shenanigans, heretics and so on.
Naturally, the Ever-Sceptical Kamijou had called her out on her bullshit. And how could he not, having spent most of his formative years in the City of Science? Sure, he might not be the greatest student out there, but even he knew that so called 'Magicians' were just Scammers using gimmicks or Esper Powers.
Needless to say, like most Religious Fanatics, Index didn't appreciate an audience with enough brain-cells to question the obvious holes in her script, vehemently insisting that Magic existed despite lacking the ability to prove its existence to the Ever-Critical Kamijou.
She even had the gall to outright deny the existence of Esper Powers despite sitting smack-dab in what was essentially the Mecca of their Development and threatened the Unwavering Kamijou with physical harm if he didn't capitulate to her way of thinking. Typical Cultist behaviour really.
Fortunately for our hero (lol), he was more than used to dealing with unreasonable people with delusions of grandeur, hell you could say the entire student populace of Academy City fell into that category, since most only enrolled for the chance to gain Esper powers. And the reason for that was, unlike the clearly delusional Cult-Baby, Touma possessed the ability to not only verify the existence of supernatural powers, but render them null and void.
Whether it be a full-power electrical strike from a Level-5 Electromancer, or even the Miracles of God, Kamijou Touma was confident his right hand could negate whatever was thrown at it. So if this girl truly believed Magic existed, the Ever-Sceptical Kamijou was more than confident he could [Shatter] that illusion.
Index, naturally, had scoffed at his explanation, citing how a brainless heathen who didn't even know the true name of God could boast about negating His Miracles, before challenging him to do just that by touching her robe, which she claimed possessed the defensive strength of a Nuclear Fall-out Shelter.
If that was the case, then Touma could only pray a nuclear war didn't break out anytime soon, because if the way Index's habit disintegrated at his touch was indicative of the state of England's Fall-out shelters, the Royal family would be better off trying to shield themselves with their umbrellas.
And so, having confirmed the existence of Magic, and endured the ensuing retribution of the mortified nun, the repentant Kamijou briefly turned his attention to an earlier part of their conversation, namely, the reason Index found herself splayed out on his balcony like a rug.
By her own admission, she had seemingly collapsed from exhaustion, having been in the middle of fleeing 'Evil Sorcerers' who sought to lay claim to the 103,000 Forbidden Magical Grimoires in her possession via rooftop.
Needless to say, whilst still understandably sceptical, (who wouldn't be when presented with such a Light Novel-worthy Scenario?), having confirmed the existence of Magic all thoughts of leaving the nun to fend for herself had been systematically culled from the mind of the Interfering Kamijou.
Even if she wasn't being completely honest, and it turned out she was the bad-guy hoping to prey on his naivete to avoid the magical authorities, Kamijou Touma was not the kind of man to throw a little girl to the wolves, especially not after destroying her only means of defense.
Unfortunately, it seemed that Index was determined not to involve him, or anyone really, in her predicament, the little nun citing that she'd be safe enough once she found an Anglican Church to claim Sanctuary in, sounding so confident in her plan that even the Agnostic Kamijou couldn't bring himself to question whether such a church even existed in the Scientifically-Minded Academy City.
It also didn't help that in her final words to him, she took the time to take a final parting shot at his Imagine Breaker, citing that the same Right Hand that had saved his hide countless times, the same Right Hand that could dispel the Miracles of God, as the cause of his eternal suffering.
"If your right hand truly opposes the Divine, then just by coming in contact with the air it guarantees you'll be met with misfortune at every turn" the devilish nun chirped around a smile akin to the Virgin Mary "If you ask me, being born with such a power is the worst kind of misfortune in and of itself "
And with that, she skipped off into the unknown, leaving the mentally defeated Kamijou to wallow in his misfortune until a glance of his alarm clock reminded him that he was already running late for his remedial lessons.
From there, things had pretty much returned to the norm. While he wasn't able to completely erase the nun's presence from his thoughts, the antics of Aogami and Tsuchimikado, given free reign due to the absence of Fukiyose and Itsuki, ensured he was too busy trying to appease Komoe-sensei to allow his thoughts to wander far from her lesson plan, lest they try to purposefully get him in trouble.
'Besides, I'm fairly certain she'd survive even if the world got destroyed.' A part of him noted, shivering as he envisioned a swarm of habit-clad roaches crawling over his skeletal remains looking for food.
And so, after being forced to take part in several games of Blindfold Poker and an extensive session of Columbus' Egg, the long suffering Kamijou was finally permitted to make his way home for the day, stopping only to grab a large Gyudon at the local beef bowl restaurant on his way home, as there was really no point in rushing for the last bus home, given his unique circumstances.
A Certain Male Student Dorm, several minutes ago...
'I really outta do something to thank Itsuki for helping out with the groceries.' Touma noted, patting his stomach with a sigh as he stepped off the dorm elevator for the 7th floor 'Seriously, if it weren't for him I'd probably only have 30 Yen to my name right now…hm?'
Now it should be noted that Touma's dorm building wasn't anything special, just a stereotypical one-room apartment building with doors lined up alongside one wall of the rectangular building. The only truly stand-out feature was the lack of plastic sheets on the metal railings to prevent peering up girls' skirts, primarily because it was a guy's only dorm.
You'd think, with that in mind, that the area would be a little more rowdy come evening time, but thankfully with the advent of summer vacation, most of the residents were off enjoying their break from school, so it wouldn't be too far-fetched to assume the place was deserted.
However, it seemed someone had apparently missed the memo, for as he looked on in confusion, the ever confused Kamijou was surprised to see three cleaning robots clustered in front of his door like they were plotting how best to break it down.
'Or that jackass Tsuchimikado got plastered and threw up on my doorstep…again.' The long-suffering Kamijou sighed, shaking his head in disbelief as he stepped forward to drive them off, unable to help the intense feeling of impending misfortune that was slowly building in is gut.
A feeling that more than justified itself when he got closer to the animated trashcans, only to find them clustered around the prone form of Index, the little nun lying in a pool of her own blood courtesy of a single horizontal strike near the bottom of her back.
A decidedly morbid part of him noted that the cleaning robots had, at some point, identified the nun as the source of the crimson stain and were actively trying to soak up as much of it as possible, adding further trauma as they continuously rammed into her like the deranged Roombas they essentially were.
"Shit! Cut it out!" he roared, lunging forwards in a futile bid to pry them off despite knowing fully well they'd been intentionally designed to be too heavy to be moved by hand, which combined with their not inconsiderable horsepower made his effort a comedy of errors "Dammit, who the hell did this?!"
"Hm? Oh, that would be us [Sorcerers]." A cocky voice replied from behind, a tall, redheaded foreigner stepping out from the emergency staircase "Though I gotta admit, it looks like they overdid it a bit."
'Sorcerers?' Touma repeated, taking in the redhead's pure black priest's habit that stank of sweet perfume, a stark contrast to the barcode tattoo beneath his eye and silver rings that adorned his fingers and ears 'So this must be one of the guys that Index was running from?'
To be brutally honest, the ever expectant Kamijou had been expecting someone a little more imposing for one of Index's 'Evil Sorcerers'. True, the redhead towered over the dumbstruck Kamijou at an impressive 2m, but the fact his face wasn't much older than Index's rather ruined the effect.
Indeed, were it not for the bleeding form of Index and the overall oppressive feeling the redhead was giving off simply by standing in the passageway, Touma would've mistaken him for a delinquent living out his chunni-fantasies by carving up people with a box-cutter & claiming it as magic.
"Yeah, looks like Kanzaki got her pretty good." The redhead mused, leaning over to peer at Index's back past Touma's stiff frame "And here I was thinking we were in the clear since there was no blood trail…" he scowled at the cleaning robots "guess those automatons are to blame for that."
"…Why?" Touma demanded, glancing between the prone nun and the redheaded priest, trying to comprehend why on earth someone would go to such an extent "Why would you…?"
"You're wondering why she came back here?" the redhead guessed, incorrectly it should be pointed out, though Touma would confess to being curious himself "Who knows? Maybe she forgot something." He reached up to cup his chin "Come to think of it, I'm fairly certain she was wearing a veil yesterday. Did she lose it somewhere I wonder?"
It was clear from his tone the redhead knew exactly where the hood was, namely resting right where Index had dropped it back in Touma's room, the enlightened Kamijou having wisely opted not to risk touching it after her earlier wardrobe malfunction, lest he inadvertently destroy it as well.
Why then, had Index returned to retrieve the hood? While it was possible she wanted to retain what little defence it could afford her following the destruction of her self-proclaimed [Walking Church], the fact her pursuers could track the habit's magic meant it would've made more sense to abandon it.
"—Then, will you follow me to the depths of hell?"
The answer was simple, and yet at the same time Kamijou Touma couldn't help but feel the bile rise up into his throat, fists clenching and shoulders trembling as he glared down at the prone form of the wounded nun before him.
Index hadn't returned to reclaim the hood out of a desire to protect herself. She had returned on the off-chance that, unable to track her movements using the Walking Church, her pursuers would target Touma in a bid to draw her out of hiding.
"…idiot." He cursed, teeth clenching as he fought back the burning tears that were forming in his eyes, cursing himself for his reckless actions that had led to her losing her sole protection against the uncaring world that sought to cut her down "You goddamn idiot!"
Needless to say, his words were directed to himself just as much as they were towards Index. After all, had he only spoken up when she originally forgot her hood, she wouldn't have had to come back for it. Hell, as morbid as it sounded, if he'd simply followed her advice and stabbed her with the kitchen knife instead of using his right hand, then the Walking Church wouldn't have been destroyed in the first place.
"Hm? Hey, calm down there." The redhead chastised, smirking in response to Touma's mounting fury "C'mon, I can't have you looking at me like that. I'm not the one who carved her up like that," he insisted, nodding towards Index's prone form "and I'm fairly certain Kanzaki didn't intend to make such a bloody mess either. Her Walking Church is supposed to be an absolute defence, a pope-class barrier that could fend off anything short of St. George's Dragon…"
His smile vanished, the laid-back, almost genial air that had been emanating from him replaced with a sudden sense of malice, his eyes hardening into a calculating stare that seemed to bore into Touma's very soul.
"Just what the hell happened to tear it to shreds like that I wonder?"
Had he opened their conversation like that, Touma probably would've been intimidated. Or at the very least, more intimidated than he currently was. But something in the redhead's words gave him pause. Something in his inflection that implied the loss of her only defence hadn't been part of their plan.
"Why?" Touma demanded, earning a quirked bro from the redhead "I don't believe in Magic or all that Fairy Tale nonsense, but you seem human enough so answer me this: Are you seriously telling me you don't see anything wrong with hunting a little girl all over town like a wild animal?"
"…If you're done with your lecture, could you please stand aside?" the redhead demanded, his expression far too calm for Touma's words to have had no effect. Indeed, unless the observant Kamijou missed his mark, the man's hand was trembling as he reached for his cigarette "I need to retrieve her."
Present Time...
Needless to say, Touma had refused. Even after the redhead, one Stiyl Magnus, had all but confessed to being from the same branch of the Church as Index, the Ever-Suspicious Kamijou couldn't bring himself to trust someone who saw nothing wrong with hunting down those under his 'protection' like animals.
Sadly, it seemed that there was more to the whole 'Evil Sorcerer' thing than just a chunni-outfit and some fancy bling, a fact that Stiyl, was more than happy to educate the Ignorant Kamijou as he summoned up great swathes of flame to roast the teen alive from his discarded cigarette.
"Tradition dictates that Magicians cannot use their true names when using magic." The redhead explained with a wry smirk "I never really understood it, but among Mages, I go by [Fortis931]…in your language, it'd be [The Mighty]…not a bad moniker for a killer, wouldn't you say?"
Indeed, Touma had been so impressed by the display that he almost allowed the priest to blindside him with a literal sword of flame. Fortunately, his body, long-since conditioned from countless street-fights and his recent 'duels' with Misaka Mikoto, acted instinctively to bring his right hand to bear.
Unfortunately, seeing Touma's hand in action only seemed to further irritate the redhead. No, perhaps 'irritate' wasn't the best word, as Stiyl went from being shocked to outright murderous as he correctly deduced the culprit behind the destruction of Index's Walking Church.
It was in that moment, seeing the raw anger in the redhead's eyes, that Touma honestly began to believe that maybe, just maybe, Stiyl had been telling the truth, and this was all just one great misunderstanding and that maybe they should calm down and talk it out.
The moment soon passed, however, as the priest began chanting so fast the unprepared Kamijou swore he could only hear the first letter of each word, though his attention was soon entirely devoted to the massive [Fuck-You] fire monster that popped into view between them.
"[The Witch-Hunting Pope, Innocentius]." Stiyl, no, the Magician Fortis931 intoned, the coldness of his expression a stark contrast to the waves of incredible heat his summon was emanating simply by hovering in mid-air "The embodiment of destruction…Its sole purpose is to kill you."
As if to verify those words, the giant flaming figure spread its arms wide, a hellish roar loosing from it's throat before it charged Touma head on like a bullet, only to vanish with the sound of shattering glass the moment the urchin-head back-handed it with his right hand.
"Out of my way." The irritated Kamijou demanded, his confidence restored with the confirmation that his right hand could indeed fend off the redhead's sorcery, only to pull up short at the ever-present knowing smirk on Sorcerer's face "What's so funny?"
Rather than respond, the redhead's smirk simply widened, Touma's eyes following suit as a surge of heat behind him forced him to whip round just in time to bring his hand to bear against the 2m long flaming cross Innocentius had attempted to smite him with from behind.
'What the hell is going on?' the understandably alarmed Kamijou wondered as he struggled to keep the flaming cross from drawing closer 'It's not that my right hand isn't working…these flames keep regenerating every time I snuff them out!'
"Runes." A familiar voice called out from behind, the speaker, Index, gazing vacantly at his back from her spot on the floor "Twenty Four characters used as a Magic language by 2nd Century Germanic tribes. Attacking Innocentius is futile unless the runes engraved on the walls, floor & ceiling are erased-"
"That's quite enough." Stiyl interposed, the enraged Kamijou looking on in frustration as the redhead placed his boot on Index's head to keep her from elaborating, unable to intervene due to Innocentius sealing his right hand and keeping him from moving "Don't look at me like that." the sorcerer chided "Even if you managed to knock me out, Innocentius would still hunt you down. As unfortunate as it is, eliminating all the runes engraved on this building is far beyond your abilities."
'Can't be any harder than dealing with this!' Touma countered, gritting his teeth as he redoubled his efforts to hold off Innocentius, only to blanch as Stiyl calmly summoned two blue-flame swords in each hand 'Oh come on, he can still cast while his summon is out!?'
"[Ashes to Ashes...Dust to Dust...]" The redhead intoned, bracing himself as he prepared swing the two flame swords horizontally so they would slice straight through the giant flame god, and the unprepared Kamijou, like a giant pair of flaming scissors "Prepare for the wrath of Squeamish Bloody Rood-!"
'Shit!' Touma exclaimed, the spiky-haired teen waiting for the absolute last second, the very moment the flaming swords touched Innocentius, before pulling back his hand and diving over the railing 'I gotta get outta here-!'
THUUUUuuumm…
TICKTOCKTICKTOCK TICK TOCK tick tock tick…
'This is-!' the Desperate Kamijou exclaimed, relief flooding through his body as an unusual, but far from unfamiliar sensation washed over him, looking on in wonderment as everything around him froze in place, the fading ticking of a clock the only sound in the suddenly oppressive silence "Itsuki!"
"I got you." The blonde assured him, somehow managing to leap up towards Touma from the ground floor, an invisible force wrapping around the unresisting Kamijou, yanking him onto the balcony directly below the one he just vacated "You okay?"
"I'll live…" Touma gasped, allowing his back to rest against the wall as he savoured the opportunity to catch his breath and try to make sense of the situation "Thanks for the save…I seriously thought I was going to die there."
"Don't mention it." Itsuki offered, kneeling down next to his friend in concern "But seriously Touma, do you enjoy pissing off people outside your weight class or has dating Lil' Miss Bug-Zapper turned you into a masochist?"
"We're not dating!" Touma snapped, glaring heatedly at the smirking blonde as he pushed himself slowly to his feet, warily eyeing his surroundings for any sign of Innocentius, only to blink at the sight of several post-it notes plastered all across the hallway "The hell are those?"
"Hell if I know." Itsuki shrugged as he got to his feet "I was just on my way home when I saw that explosion earlier. Since I know for a fact you don't have a gas stove, I figured someone didn't take too kindly to our asking around about Level Upper and decided to send a message."
"Not even close." Touma sighed despondently "Hell, I'd actually be relieved if this was about Level Upper, at least then I'd be dealing with something familiar instead of all this Fairy Tale bullshit." He stiffened suddenly, looking up at Itsuki in alarm "Wait, how much longer can you keep this up for?"
"Not much longer." Itsuki confessed, a bead of sweat trailing down his cheek as he glanced at the staircase leading up to Touma's floor "Less if I wanna take this guy down without any hassle…"
"The guy isn't the problem," Touma assured him, rising to his feet with a determined expression as he glared at the post it notes "It's these rune things, we need to get rid of them or we'll be stuck on the defensive."
"All of 'em?" Itsuki repeated, quirking a brow as he eyed the multitude of sticky notes plastered all over the corridor like a scene from a low-budget horror movie as if someone was trying to ward off an evil spirit "You sure we can't just beat the guy down?"
"I know this sounds weird but it really is just a huge misunderstanding." Touma insisted, pushing himself to his feet and dusting off his ass "Besides, knowing my luck he wasn't bluffing and that thing won't go away even if we did take him out first."
"There is that." Itsuki conceded with a wry smirk, his golden eyes narrowing as he glared up at the ceiling even as Touma caught the distant sound of a clock speeding up in the background "Shit, speaking of bad luck…"
With Stiyl...
'Did that do it?' Stiyl wondered, the redhead warily dispelling the lingering remnants of smoke and flames with a wave of his hand, only half expecting to be greeted by the smouldering corpse of the interloper and thus only a little disappointed when that wasn't the case.
Oh, make no mistake, the corridor before him looked a scene out of Dante's Inferno, the metal railings and floor tiles having warped and melted due to the sheer intensity of the explosion, but of the spiky-haired teen there was no sign, meaning he had, somehow, managed to escape at the last second.
'He stopped holding back Innocentius at the very last second in order to use the explosion to cover his escape.' Stiyl deduced, recalling in slow motion how the teen had desperately ducked under his twin flaming swords, leaping for the guard-rail even as they cleaved Innocentius in twain 'I doubt he'd have braved the fire to make for the staircase, so he must have gone for the railing…'
It was certainly an impressive feat for a mundane, since aside from that [Dangerous] right hand of his, Stiyl hadn't noticed anything particularly noteworthy about the teen, or at least nothing that would imply above average physical ability. That being said, as unfortunate as it sounded, he had a mission to complete and one of the major tenants that Necessarius shared with the rest of the Magical World was their zero tolerance policy for witnesses.
Normally he'd have preferred to just wipe the kid's memory, but given that unusual right hand and how far things had already progressed, he might as well go with a 'scorched earth' policy in order to keep the local authorities from prying to deeply into what happened.
'Some stupid kid burning down his apartment makes more sense than an 'Evil Sorcerer' did it.' He scoffed, a self-mocking smirk adorning his features as he watched Innocentius pull itself together, seeming to take a moment to search for it's prey before surging down the staircase in hot pursuit.
"So he did manage to escape to a lower floor." Stiyl applauded, honestly impressed despite himself, as he doubted even he would have possessed the nerve to attempt such a feat without his magic to cushion the fall. "Not that it matters…" he scoffed, shaking his head in dismissal "even if he knows Innocentius weakness, there's no way he can destroy all the runes I placed. If he has even an ounce of common sense, he'll get as far from the building as possible."
"Yeah, not gonna happen." A voice countered from behind, Stiyl's eyes widening as he whipped around only to choke as something rammed into his gut with enough force to lift him off his feet and slam his back against the corridor ceiling, the redhead collapsing bonelessly to the floor as bloody vomit erupted from his throat.
"Hey, watch the shoes Houdini." His attacker warned, prompting Styil to look up to see yet another teen, his features partially hidden thanks to the shadows of the corridor, save for his golden hair and eyes, the latter of which were levelling a borderline freezing glare at him "You're on thin ice as is."
"Who-?" Stiyl grit out between clenched teeth, one of his hands, which he'd wrapped around his gut in a feeble attempt to soothe the pain, reaching subtly for another of the cards needed to summon his flame swords, only to tense as he felt something, unseen yet clearly humanoid, grab his head from behind and squeeze.
"Keep those hands where I can see 'em." The teen commanded, his tone brooking no argument as whatever was gripping Stiyl's head increased the pressure as a warning, the Magician letting out a gasp as he actually heard his skull creaking from the pressure "Don't test me, the only reason you're still breathing is because Touma thinks this is all a huge misunderstanding."
'So the kid's name is Touma?' Stiyl deduced, mentally tallying the risks of calling back Innocentius before deciding to play it cool for now, slowly moving his hands into view, palms up to show they were empty.
After all, it wasn't as if killing him would dispel Innocentius, so even if this guy did decide to finish him off, he was confident enough that Kanzaki could retrieve Index afterwards while the Witch Hunter kept these assholes busy.
He was soon shaken from his thoughts by the sound of the fire alarm going off, followed almost instantaneously by the sprinkler system activating, putting out the few lingering remnants of his earlier attack while simultaneously drenching them all.
'No…wait…' he frowned, having noticed how the water seemed to be curving 'around' the blonde, almost as if he were wearing an invisible cloak over his head 'Is that…some kind of shield?'
"Took him long enough." The blonde scoffed, glancing up at the ceiling with a hint of irritation "Lucky for you we can just pass this off as a case of arson, cause something tells me you don't want Anti-Skill sniffing around, Statue of Secrecy, right?"
"They the local police force I take it?" Stiyl enquired, rolling his eyes at the Harry Potter reference, only to earn a non-committal shrug from the teen "In that case no, I'd rather not deal with them, but you don't seriously think a little water is enough to take down Innocentius?"
The notion was so utterly ludicrous that had anyone suggested it Stiyl would've probably slapped them upside the head. Even in his current situation, he couldn't help but feel actually insulted that they would put his strongest spell on the same level as a simple grease fire. That and he really didn't like getting soaked if he didn't have to, so being forced to lie here like a dog in the gutter wasn't doing his temper any favours.
Thankfully the redhead didn't have to wait around for long before the elevator chimed behind him, his eyes widening as the the spiky-haired teen, Touma, stepped out into the corridor with a relieved sigh "Glad that's over with."
"Took you long enough." the blonde called out, his cold tone replaced with a mocking familiarity that only good friends could accomplish "You know you're not supposed to use the elevator in an emergency, right?"
"Fuck that, we're on the seventh floor." Touma sniped back irritably, his expression growing surprisingly solemn at the sight of Stiyl's prone form on the floor "Dammit Itsuki, I told you to go easy on him."
"He's still alive, and conscious, what more do you want?" the blonde shot back, the lack of concern for Stiyl's well-being sending a shiver down the redhead's spine, though to be honest he probably would've said the same if the roles were reversed "So you wanna talk this out here or should we go somewhere to dry off first?"
"I'd rather do something about Index's wounds first." Touma confessed, surprising Stiyl once again with the level of concern the urchin-head was showing towards the young nun "You mind if we use your room? I don't want to be here in case the fire-fighters come looking."
"Alright, but you're responsible for Weasley here." The blonde instructed, earning a pointed glare from Stiyl, who didn't appreciate the reference one bit "Wouldn't want him casting any spells while our guard is down."
"Just be careful with her." Touma insisted, earning a dismissive wave from the blonde as he turned towards Index, Stiyl releasing a sigh of relief as whatever was holding his head vanished, only to blink as something scooped the little nun off the ground before slinging her over it's shoulder like a sack of potatoes "C'mon man, work with me here." the urchin-head begged, moving to Stiyl's side to help him up "We can get you bandaged up inside."
"Wait…" Stiyl croaked, both to buy himself time to gather his strength and to try and make sense of the situation "What happened to Innocentius? You can't seriously expect me to believe you defeated him by turning on the sprinkler system?"
"Kinda?" Touma confessed, flinching at the redhead's glare "I mean, technically I used it to get rid of the runes you plastered all over the dorm before finishing it off with my right hand." He raised said limb for emphasis "Seriously, I'd have been screwed if you'd laminated them or carved them on the walls."
'Something I'll be certain to do in future' Stiyl vowed, the redhead allowing himself to be helped to his feet, subtly noting that he truly couldn't call up even the simplest of magics whilst held by the spiky-haired teen's right hand.
And here we see the first signs of divergence from canon thanks to Itsuki's presence.
The more attentive among us (¬_¬) may also have noticed the first hint of Itsuki's limits when it comes to The World.
With that said, Itsuki has been made aware of the Magic Side. What shenanigans will result from this?
You'll have to hold out till after Christmas, maybe even new years, to find out!