Nagato whistled as Accelerator led him into a darkened laboratory.
"This is a nice place for interrogation."
"It was abandoned after Railgun attacked it during the Level 6 Shift Project. You might see damage here and there."
"All I need is a sealed off room, a chair, some rope, and some duct tape."
"First two things are easy, last two I do not carry with me."
"Oh, lead me to a sealed off room then. Preferably with as little metal as possible. Magic can take the place of rope and tape."
Trying to recall the layout of the place, Accelerator led Nagato around a few floors until they reached the basement, where they stopped at a plain opaque fiberglass door.
Nagato nodded appreciatively. "Nice choice."
"It's a boardroom. Inside is another closed-off door that is used for interrogation. Not a lot of metal if I recall correctly."
"Hurry up. I think she'll wake up soon."
"What are you going to do with her when you're done interrogating her?"
"I don't know, actually. All the interrogations I carried out before were on targeted criminals, and I killed them after. For her, I just don't think that's the right choice."
"Isn't there any spell to erase her memories?"
"Last time I tampered with memories, I created a living hell. I swore to myself that I would not use that spell ever again." Accelerator knew Nagato was talking about him.
"What other choices are there?" Accelerator kicked open the door, moving a nearby chair to the middle with his ability.
"That's it, I'm afraid. Needless to say, she might be rather happy to be reunited with her boyfriend." Nagato placed the girl on the chair and produced a length of silver rope, tying the hands, legs and feet together. He then looped the rope twice around the chair and the waist.
"What's that silver rope?"
"Blocks magic from being used and is unbreakable from the inside. Actually, before I interrogate her, we need to talk."
"What?"
"You held back, didn't you?"
"How did you know?"
"You didn't use plasma."
"You're referring to experiment number 10032?"
"Yeah."
"She was actually easy to beat. Dodge her lightning attacks and even a toddler could probably beat her."
"You know, she reminds me of you before the experiments ended."
"You're right."
Their conversation was cut off as Nathalia woke up, her eyes unfocused. They slowly focused, until she saw Accelerator and Nagato in front of her. Her face twisted with rage again.
"You!" She tried lunging at Accelerator, but the bonds held tight.
"Me." Accelerator had a look of pure boredom on his face. "You know, if you stopped making these faces, I might actually consider using the word 'pretty' to describe you. By the way, your makeup looks like it was put on by a clown who never saw a mirror." His voice was laced with thick sarcasm.
Ignoring him, Nathalia glared at Nagato. "What do you want?"
Nagato slowly walked around her chair, a bored look on his face just like Accelerator's. "Nothing in particular. Information would be nice. Perhaps you can tell us what the Roman Catholic Church has up their sleeves."
"Too bad for you, I left the church days ago."
"Still late enough to hold some nice tidbits of information that would benefit the Science side, would it not?"
"I'm not telling you assholes anything."
"Ah, sure. Of course, we could just leave you here all tied up with no access to necessities needed to live, but I'm not that cruel."
"Please, everyone in the Roman Catholic Church know how you interrogate your enemies, Shadow Assassin. "
"Nice to know I'm infamous. Oh, I do so love being a black spot on your usually spotless records. Well, we need answers. Comply with us and I'll let you go. Don't comply and your brain might just explode."
Accelerator repressed a shudder. Nagato wasn't insane like he was. Instead, the magician excluded casualness towards death and injury. In a way, that casualness was much scarier.
"I won't tell you a thing."
"Oh? Such a pity. Perhaps I'll just reunite you with your little boyfriend earlier."
"Oi, Nagato." Accelerator whispered a few words in Nagato's ear. Nagato considered it, and nodded.
"Looks like today's your lucky day, Nathalia Pyxia. He just saved your life. However, I'm still going to get my answers. Ultor248!"
Rune cards covered the ground, in the shape of a magic circle. The cards looked different from the ones Accelerator saw Stiyl use. Instead of a red and white star, Nagato's rune cards were white, with an intricately designed pattern of black diamonds alternating with indigo diamonds, in the pattern of a star made up of seven smaller stars.
Chanting in Aramaic, Nagato crouched down and touched the magic circle, trailing his fingers across certain areas of the magic circle. Wherever his fingers touched, a glittering silver trail followed.
When he finished, the silver light abruptly turned off, leaving only the marks of Nagato's hand. Nathalia was unconscious.
"Hey, what was that?! I thought you said you wouldn't kill her!"
"This spell requires preparation. We're lucky I didn't forget my rune cards. Don't worry, she's not dead."
Walking in front of Nathalia as close as he could get without touching the magic circle, he spoke. "State your name and affiliation."
Nathalia opened her eyes to reveal blank whites. "My name is Nathalia Pyxia, formerly of the Roman Catholic Church." Her voice was monotone and robotic, reminding Accelerator of the clones.
"When did you leave the Roman Catholic Church?"
"Three days ago, on August 18."
"Do you know who will invade Academy City?"
"The fifth-ranked magician in fighting power, under the influence of Lucifer the fallen angel, and his lackeys."
"Why will God's Right Seat not participate?"
"They have been ordered by Lucifer to stay out of the battle."
"Who are the lackeys you speak of?"
He was given seven names and abilities. Nagato swore. "Are they following him on their own or are they under the influence of Lucifer?"
"Nobody knows. They are very secretive."
"That is all I need." Snapping his fingers, the magic circle glowed and dissipated, leaving the girl still tied up on the chair, semi-conscious. Muttering another few words, Nagato slashed the bonds with a knife that appeared out of nowhere.
Nathalia looked at him, confused. "Why are you letting me go?"
"I have the information I need, and I don't feel like killing you. However, I did place one spell that cannot be taken off unless you sincerely promise this: to never attack Academy City or any of the people you have met today. If you ever come to this city again with foul intentions in mind, you will die instantly. Now, go."
Without a word the lightning mage hurried out the door.
Nagato sat on the chair, dusting off his hands. "Well, that went better than I expected."
"You were planning to kill her, weren't you?"
"It crossed my mind. Thanks to you, I remembered I had my rune cards for a truth spell."
"What were you going to do if I didn't say anything?"
"Use a spell that lets me see everything in her mind, but the aftereffects would have killed her. I placed that spell as an afterthought. We don't need another enemy. Anyways, what time is it?"
"6:30."
"Hmph. That took longer than I expected. We should hurry back before Kikyou gets suspicious. She knows that we're not training."
"How?"
"She overheard me saying that we already finished training for today. She'll probably guess we're up to something. Well, let's go."
"I have a few questions to ask."
"Shoot."
"What did you say before the spells?"
"Oh, my magician name. By tradition we are never to reveal it. However, it's somewhat like a calling card. Or, whenever a magician says it, it's something like a declaration of war to the death. Needless to say, I like saying it before a fight or a powerful spell."
"Oh. What does it mean?"
"Qui omnia reddam ultionem hostibus meis, et vindictam suorum cecidit ."
"I don't speak whatever language you just said."
"Oh, sorry. It's Latin for 'The one who will take vengeance on all his enemies, and avenge his fallen comrades.' I found it rather fitting."
"It does. Hey, since Haruka's a magician, doesn't that mean she has a magic name as well?"
"Perhaps. She was taught magic by her parents, so there's a possibility. Well, we're back."
"That was fast."
"Eh, I used a tiny bit of magic to speed us up without you knowing. In truth, Aiho's apartment was close to this place, if you didn't take a look around you."
***
"We're back," Nagato announced.
"Oh, welcome back. You're just in time for dinner. I made sukiyaki!" Aiho came out of the kitchen, carrying a large pot to the table.
Everyone else was sitting around the table. Accelerator and Nagato settled onto the couches, identical looks of mild disinterest on their faces.
Yoshikawa sighed. "Don't tell me you two aren't going to eat. Seriously, where did you two get your habit of not eating?"
"Not hungry." Accelerator sounded completely disinterested.
"I'll take some, but I'm not sitting at the table. I used up too much energy today. Accelerator, you should eat something. That healing spell helps restore energy, but if you want to make it through another training session, I suggest you eat some."
"Tch, fine."
"About time you ate a proper meal, Accelerator. Here you go." Yomikawa handed bowls to Accelerator and Nagato, and rejoined the others at the table.
Accelerator methodically put the food in his mouth, not bothering to look at what he was eating. On the other hand, Index was eating so quickly she was getting seconds and thirds in a matter of minutes.
"Hey, shouldn't you eat slower, Index? If you eat too quickly you're going to choke."
"This tastes so much better than your cooking Touma! I can't help it!"
Yomikawa laughed. "There's more in the kitchen. I decided to make extra since Kikyou let you guys stay."
"Yay, thank you so much!"
"No problem. It's nice to know some people enjoy my cooking besides these two boys over there who insist on not enjoying my food."
Said boys ignored her. Nagato finished the last bite and went to the kitchen, placing the bowl in the kitchen. Calling over his shoulder at Yomikawa, he said: "It's not that we don't enjoy the cooking, we just don't eat regularly. By the way Aiho, use some more spices." Going to where Accelerator was, he tapped the boy on the head. "Hurry up, I'm squeezing in one more training session. Librorum Prohibitorum, you're coming as well." The last comment was directed towards Index.
Quickly finishing up the last bites, Index and Accelerator followed Nagato out the door, and onto the rooftop.
***
"Want to know why I called you too, Librorum Prohibitorum?"
"Yes."
"I want you to show Accelerator the Moonlight Codex. You memorized it, yes?"
"But, but, isn't he an esper? The grimoire will kill him!"
"He's also a magician. Relax, the Moonlight Codex is sentient. It'll recognize Accelerator's relation to Yahiko by blood. And if you don't show him, we won't win."
"Okay. Accelerator, hold my hands and close your eyes."
Doing as he was told, Accelerator saw himself floating in a void surrounded by books in his mind. Index was in front of him. As he watched, a silver-bound book floated in front of him. It had intricate swirls and designs on the borders. On the middle was a large silver crescent moon.
"Open the book." Index's voice sounded far away.
Accelerator took a breath and reached out one hand to open the book.
The book immediately exploded with a blinding light.