Hello Everyone, Reader Here. Been a while, I know, but here's a consolation in the form of a new chapter! More notes on the bottom!

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN TOARU MAJUSTO NO INDEX!

Dawn's Shadow II

The mysterious man known as Aleister Crowley, the general superintendent of Academy City, floated within the confines of his life support tank while looking over the various screens displayed on the glass walls. This prison of red liquid and wires was the nerve center of the most advanced city on earth, possibly the center of science itself. It was where the silver-haired man had strategist and enacted his many plans in preparation of his final goal.

The usually emotionless man appeared annoyed at the reports of a 'mysterious' group of 'unidentified espers' infiltrating the city and performing violent attacks in the various districts. Aleister knew better than most of the ignorant masses of science. He knew all too well of magic real existence in the world. He wasn't once called the most power magician in the world for nothing. But on the flip side of that exact coin was how magic had taken the lives of those closest to him, filling him with hatred for the art he was once known for.

Although he was used to magic cabals trying to attack the city in attempts to weaken science, this particular group was one that had interfered with his plans on multiple occasions. Even before establishing Academy City he had battled with this group, known as the Dawn's Shadow, both before and after the Golden Dawns civil war in early twentieth century London. This particular instance was, however, unique to the usually reclusive cabal. The group usually had acted through proxies, such as during the Crystal Towers Massacre, rather than directly involving themselves. That signaled to him that they were doing something serious.

The Imagine Breaker.

The power to nullify all forms of supernatural abilities, whether they had been magical or esper in origin. The power was originally held by an artifact known as the Blythe Road's Treasure, the arm of a saint that was fashioned into an arrow. He had stolen the artifact to in order to fight the Golden Dawn and was destroyed when he confronted his former master, the power-crazed Samuel Mathers. That same power had coincidentally manifested itself in its current form of Kamijou Touma's right hand.

Although the boy had interfered with his plans on multiple occasions in the past, he was a valuable resource he intended to extort to its fullest. The Imagine Breaker served its purpose for Aleister before, and it will do so again. He was sure that the Dawns Shadow was here to collect the Imagine breaker for themselves and also the other little secret he had stowed away. Even he wasn't sure how they had learned that he was currently in possession of it, though it mattered little in the long term.

"My plans always work out in the end. Changing one thing is as trivial as placing a rock in the middle of a stream of water. It may redirect the flow for a period of time, but eventually, they will reconnect at the end. Now, let's see how the Imagine Breaker will deal with one such rock."

While saying that the image of the teen in question appeared on the side of his life support capsule. On another screen, the visage of two familiar men was also visible as Aleister smirked. Time to see if the boy had any merits to be included in more of his plans.

Touma pressed his back against the glass window of a small convenience store within Academy Cities most well known shopping center. In his hand was a small cup of black coffee and had his phone in the other. He had decided to use his day off from school to investigate the mysterious magic cabal that was out for his life. Or should he say, his right arm?

After he returned to his dorm after the incident with the magician, he had down some research online into this group, though had only come up with a few hits. According to the online sources, there was an old group known as the 'Golden Dawn', a secret society that had focused on researching the occult in London, United Kingdom. Apparently, the group had a dispute and it fell apart after a mysterious incident tore them from the inside out. Other than a few other sources that were more based on wild conspiracy theories, he had very little to work with.

The former criminal assumed that this Dawn's Shadow was most likely a continuation of the Golden Dawn, or a group trying to recreate them. Falling back on the information from Motoharu, they were currently seeking an artifact located within Academy City and that they required his Imagine Breaker to access it.

There were many questions left unanswered, however. Why was this magical artifact located within Academy City? The city was not very accommodating to anything of the arcane, so if such an important item was indeed in the city, why here of all places? Where were they holed up? How many magicians did they have? What were they planning to do with said artifact?

"Such misfortune..." he said aloud while taking a sip from his coffee. When he reviewed his surroundings, however, he immediately noticed there was something off. There wasn't even a single person around him on the usually busy Sunday. When he looked back into the store, where he knew he saw multiple people earlier, there was no one to be found.

"Looks like he isn't totally hopeless..." said the cold voice nearby. When he turned, he saw a man with dark black hair that was neatly combed back. Next to him was a more rugged blonde haired man who looked especially annoyed. "Can we get this over with? We have things to do and places to b-" spoke the man before the raven-haired man punched him in the gut.

"Learn your place. Or do I need to beat it into you?" he said menacingly. Touma felt a sweat drop while he stared at this interaction with a blank expression. "N-No sir." responded the man as he straightened himself of while brushing the dirt from his shirt.

"I assume your from this Dawn's Shadow I've heard about?" said the boy off the bat. The man squinted his eyes and his cheeks hardened while his posture became more rigid. "I see you are well informed. Indeed, we are the descendants of the Golden Dawn, the Dawn's Shadow. And for us to return to our former glory, we require an artifact that had been stolen from us by a traitor."

"And you need my arm to get to it?"

"You're partially correct. Though I'm surprised you managed to learn that, there are actually two artifacts that we need..." he said darkly while reaching into his pocket. Touma blinked in confusion before he realized what the man was talking about. They were going to take his arm by force, it seemed.

The man whipped a piece of paper with a rune carved into it from his coat and held it high in the air. "Darkness, as black as night, I call upon you to envelop my foe in an eternal void!" he yelled. Instantly Touma's vision filled with nothing but darkness. Around he heard the footsteps of the two men charging him from either side. He tried to defend himself but the punch from one of them connected with his face while a kick sent him backward.

Touma pressed his right hand against his face and the darkness was instantly slashed away as the sound of shattering glass resounded in the desolate mall. He was just able to duck under the blonde man's dropkick before he pushed himself away from his attackers. The dark haired boy reached into his pocket and pulled out his small pistol and fired a few pot shots at the two magicians. He had a hunch that he would be attacked today, so he had brought the gun with him to be safe. Although he abstained himself from killing, that didn't mean wounding them would be out of the question. Through his many gunfights Touma had become quite proficient with firearms, to the point where he could shoot to wound specific points of the body rather than kill.

The men dodged the gunshots while Touma charged at the assumed leader with his right hand extended. Just before his fist could collide with the man's face, his entire being was engulfed in blackness. The dark void quickly moved away from him and re-materialized as the raven-haired man just a few feet away, annoyance clear as day on his face. The man's blonde assistant pulled a small dagger and used the same teleportation method to close the distance between them and went on the attack with quick and calculated slashes. Meanwhile, the leader stood nearby chanting the words to a spell, though he couldn't make out what he was saying.

When the man armed with the knife went for a lunge, Touma sidestepped the attack and plunged his right fist into his gut. While the blonde man was stunned, Touma reached out and grabbed the mans arm and then sharply raised his right leg and smashed it the man's elbow. The pain too much for the blond man to bear, he howled and pain dropped the knife onto the ground. Touma then sent a powerful punch to his face that sent falling backward and flat onto the floor. Just as he was about to level his pistol at the remaining man, the leader let out a roar and summoned multiple rotating black orbs.

"Cut him down!" the leader yelled as the orbs began quickly moving towards him. Touma managed to block one of the orbs with his right arm, but another managed to hit its mark. The dark globe hit Touma with immense force that knocked the wind out of him and sent him to the ground wincing in pain. He tried to push the pain to the back of his mind as he stood up and blocked an orb then quickly ducking under another that was sent his way. The ball sped by him and crashed through the front window of some unfortunate cafe.

Seeing that the mage was out of these strange orbs Touma aimed his pistol at the leader and fired a round that pierced his shoulder. He let out a groan as the blood spilled from the wound and down his suit. Strangely, the man let out a slight chuckle before he began to speak while grasping the bullet wound.

"Not bad kid. Not bad at all... for a warm up. But for now, we need to put off our little fight before my spell ends and everything returns to normal. But mark my words boy, your arm will be ours soon enough..." he said begrudgingly while raising his right, Touma noticing a dribble of blood spilling from his lips. The former assassin pulled the trigger again but realized the magazine was out of bullets.

'Damnit!' yelled the spiky-haired boy in his mind while he dug into his pocket for another magazine. But before he could even pull it out of his pocket the two were enveloped in darkness and were gone. Touma quickly placed the empty handgun in his pocket as he felt the space around him warp, feeling his vision blur and his senses dull for a brief moment. Then the feeling went away and he looked around, the mall returning to its normal state with a bustling crowd of shoppers and students. Any signs of the previous battle between him and the magicians were also erased as well.

"What... the hell?" the teen muttered to himself softly in astonishment. He knew that magicians could be powerful, but those two had pushed him pretty far. Although he was not nearly at his pique performance from his assassin days, Touma would certainly not classify himself as a pushover. He was also curious as to how they had not only managed to clear away everyone from the mall but also reverse the damage from their fight. But at the end of the fight, he saw that the leader seemed to be hurting from some other wound other than the gunshot Touma inflicted on him.

'Might be a side effect from using too much magic?' he questioned internally. He knew that one of the limitations of magic was the use its fuel, mana, which came from a persons life force.

'My life is getting too complicated... such misfortune...' Touma wept internally. He felt the adrenaline of the fight leave his system and his limbs tire from the battle with the mage duo. Tomorrow he would need to talk to Tsuchimikado about his encounter when he went to school. Letting out a loud sigh, Touma left the mall and returned to his dorm for the rest of the day to catch up on his school work.

Only God would know how bad his grades were.

And his teachers, of course.

"That's quite troubling-nya, attacking you broad daylight? Even under the effects of a spell, that's not like them to do that."

Touma sighed at Tsuchimikado's response while resting his head against his arms while closing his eyes. The class was mostly empty, with a sparse amount of people sitting down or just standing in small groups chatting. The lecture had yet to start, as such Touma and Tsuchimikado were able to discuss such events without fear of being overheard. Opening his eyes Touma gave his shoulders a slight shrug.

"Well, they did. And they certainly weren't any ordinary messenger boys either. I might've been screwed if I wasn't carrying a piece with me," teen said while feeling an ache from a spot where one of the strange shadow balls had hit him. The blonde spy frowned while he reached down for his phone.

"I can tell. What did they look like?"

"There was a blonde man with a temper like our resident Iron Wall Girl..." Touma said while hoping said girl, who was currently idling in a nearby seat, didn't hear him, "... and another man with combed black hair. Seemed to me that the guy with black hair was the leader while the blonde was the grunt."

The blonde haired spy paused to think for a moment while the seats around them began to quickly be filled. It seemed that class about to start as the blue-haired Arogami appeared through the door with his usual aloof posture.

"I'll talk to my sources if there have been any irregularities in the Academy City visitor list. But looks like the class is starting now, we'll talk later. Apparently, Komoe sensei has a big announcement today-nya!"

Touma tilted his head in confusion at Tsuchimikado's words as the pink haired teacher entered the room with a stack of papers in hand. Shortly after, another person walked into the class and Touma's eyes enlarged at the sight of the person. A person with oddly familiar long white-hair and a bruised face with a large bandage taped over their right cheek entered Touma's sight.

'It's that Anti-Skill officer from when I cleaned out that convenience store!' yelled the spiky-haired teen in his mind. He felt a slight chill go through his system and began to sweat. Had they managed to trace him? He was pretty good at removing evidence from a crime scene, but had he slipped up?

"Good morning, class! Today we have a new guest starting from now on. Please introduce yourself, Yuki-chan." cheerily spoke the small teacher in her childlike voice. The woman nodded while stepping in front of the class. She was wearing a clean women's business suit and had her snow-like hair tied into a ponytail.

"My name is Yuki Nijima. I'll be working as your assistant teacher from now on, so please ask if you need any help. I'm also a member of Anti-Skill, and also a former member of Judgement, so if you have questions about those I'd be happy to answer. I hope we all can get along!" energetically spoke the snow-haired girl who gave a grin. Touma squinted his eyes at the girl while all the other males in the class gave a love-struck look to the beautiful newcomer while Tsuchikimado, who seemed to notice his odd face, gave Touma an inquisitive look.

"Someone you know?" curiously whispered the blonde to the spiky-haired teen.

"Look at her cheek and take a guess," said Touma while dropping to his familiar position. Realization set in for Tsuchikimado as he gave Touma a grin.

"Man, you surely do have the worst luck-nya!"

"Such misfortune..."

In a rundown apartment in district 19, there was an almost unbearable silence for the few occupants that inhabited it. There were exactly five people, three males and two females who were all scattered across the main room. The girl with purple eyes, known as Akari, laid on a spread out mattress while being attended by an unknown woman with shoulder length blue hair and aqua eyes. The blonde and black haired mages each stood opposite from each other at the kitchen counter while the unspoken green haired man dressed in a simple tee shirt sat on a ripped up couch.

"That boy sure is a lot more frightening than he seems..." meekly spoke the green haired teen, trying to break the awkward silence that had formed.

"Well, thanks for the observation, Mr. Smartass! Surely, you should get an award for your detective skills, Ninji-san," spat the blonde haired man.

"Lay off the boy, Morrison. We don't need to be bickering with each other as Aleister Crowley starts to tighten the noose around our necks, made worse by the fact that we failed to get the Imagine Breaker." the raven-haired man said while sighing. Kamijou Touma had been a better fighter than even he had imagined, with the boy wounding him with a bullet and also beating down Eric.

"At least, without a doubt, we can confirm that the boy has the Imagine Breaker. And also we now know the location to our second artifact, making it a simple grab and go." the blue-haired woman said while she finished tying the bandages to Akari.

"Its never that easy, Hisao. That boy showed that he's more than capable in taking on us on, plus even if we do get his arm, we'd have one hell of a time getting to the second objective." the black haired man countered.

"So what do you say we do, Kleine ? Just run away with our tails between our legs?" questioned Eric. Kleine just gave a smirk while reaching down to pull out a cigar.

"No. We are too far in to pull out now. Even if we could there would be no reason to. Tell me, what is the biggest obstacle in out plans?"

"Getting the imagine breaker to the site of the artifact?"

"Correct. Once the Imagine Breaker is in our possession, Crowley will almost certainly send everything he has to stop us. But what, instead of taking the boys arm to the artifact ourselves...", he paused to breathe in the tobacco and exhale, "... but instead, Kamijou Touma brings it there instead."

The other people in the room seemed unsure of their black-haired leader's words.

"What do you mean, Kleine?" Hisao asked.

"It's as it sounds. We attack the facility where the holy relic is being guarded, secure it, and draw that boy straight to us. There we will corner him and use his arm to break the barrier guarding the relic. It's that simple."

"But what the hell can we do that will draw him to that place?"

"I can think of a few ways, but none of them are things I'm particularly fond of. But in the face of finding one of the most coveted relics of Christianity, everything must be sacrificed, even my morals if need be..." spoke Kleine vaguely while pulling out a large image from one of the bags on the kitchen tabletop. It appeared to be the head of an ancient spear that was encased in a transparent box while surrounded by a globe of menacing blue mana.

"... the real Spear of Longinus..."

Hope you enjoyed, review if you have any ideas or questions. Thanks!

Next Chapter: Dawns Shadow III