Prologue

There is a city in the middle of the water, also known as Academy City. This city is a beacon of hope for the world as the most advanced technologically advanced place in the world.

And, like any other city or country in the world, there were secrets and a dark side to this city of science. One being the Underworld, the dark side of the city of science, was filled with experiments on humans that were illegal, assassinations, plans for sabotage, etc. There were also plans that were meant to bolster their status as a scientist, but, a bad 'side effect' of this was that students involved would be subjected to some experiments that would be harmful, or break, the human body.

Of course, such experiments would be halted by other scientists, Anti-Skill, or Judgement(to an extent). But that is not the point here!

In this wonderful city of science lived a certain individual. A misfortunate individual that many people(mainly girls) loved.

"Such misfortune!"

...and his signature scream echoed into the sky as he ran away from a large group of individuals.

Let's rewind time for a bit, shall we? 2 hours to be exact.

Time skip 2 hours

"Such misfortune..."

"Stop your complaining and pick up the pace!"

Currently, two males were chasing after another male. The first one wore a full suit, complete with blazer, tie and top hat. His pursuers were a young teen with spiky black hair, and a red haired man with a barcode tattoo under his right eye.

Arms hidden by his cloak, the red haired man turned to his companion. "Try to cut him off. You live here, so you should be much more familiar about this place then me, Kamijou Touma."

"Damn it Stiyl! Why do you always choose me whenever something like this happens! Why not call Tsuchimikado? I mean, dosen't he work for you guys?" Touma complained as he ran, managing to keep up with Stiyl.

"Unfortunately, he is currently trying to locate another group that managed to infiltrate the city, along with this man. So, you are the only one available." Despite his words, a small smirk could be seen under the dim moonlight.

"Such misfortune..." Sighing, Kamijou ran ahead to cut off their target. He knew that Tsuchimikado was not really busy. After all, he spent most of his free time at home with his sister Maika. But if he complained, there was a chance that Necessarius might take away Index. So, he had to take the world's unreasonableness without much fuss.

Sprinting ahead, he ran past a trash can hidden in the alleyway, making a few turns, before he found himself in front of their target.

Surprised, the man tried to change his direction, only to have his face meet with Kamijou's signature right hook. The impact, combined with his previous running speed, caused the man to do a beautiful mid-air spin, before he fell onto his back, unconscious.

"Good job Imagine Breaker." Stiyl commented, bending down next to the man as he talked. "The Archbishop sends her thanks for all your help.".

"Yeah? Well, your welcome." Inside, Touma couldn't help but be tired from this repeated events occurring. As he thought this, he watched as Stiyl placed a piece of paper on the base of their downed target's neck. The moment it was placed, a pale blue light enveloped the man's figure, before it faded away.

Standing up, Stiyl turned to face Touma. "Until next time, Imagine Breaker. And remember what you promised us. Keep her safe, and happy." As he said this last part, a steely glint appeared in his eyes.

Sighing, Touma could only nod his head in response. Nodding his own head, Stiyl picked up his target, placed him over his shoulder, and walked down an alleyway, his figure enveloped by the shadow of the two buildings.

Checking his phone, Touma started to make his way back to his dorm. Thankfully, he had made food for Index before he left, so his disappearance would be overlooked for a while. And based on the timing, he would be able to catch a sale that was going on nearby. He noticed it as he was running after the magician, the poster the last thing he saw before he was forced to go after their targeted magician. Departing the scene, he failed to notice a figure gazing on his figure from the top of a building. As the figure watched, Touma started to run once again, this time in the direction of the market's sale.

"Whew...thank goodness I made it." Touma sighed in relief as he exited the supermarket, hand laden with meat, vegetables and other necessities he needed to survive. By the time he had managed to arrive at the market, the sale was nearly over. Surprisingly, the store's clerk allowed him to buy the items at an even lower price then advertised on the poster, even though by the time he was done, the sale was over. Apparently, the store was closing due to low sales. And as one of the many level 0's in the city, he got an even further discount overall for the large amount of food he bought.

Humming to himself, Touma made his way back to the apartement, already thinking of what he would make the next few weeks. As he had some minced pork, he could choose to make some hamburg steaks, or, with some of the leftover rice he had in the fridge, he could make some fried rice. Mix in the eggs he had just bought, he could create some omelette rice, a dish that would satisfy even the ravenous Index.

Too engrossed Touma was in his thoughts that he had forgotten one small, important fact. Touma's misfortune:Whatever can go wrong, will get worse.

"Oof!" With a gasp, Touma accidentally collided with what felt like a wall made of pure muscle. Lifting his head, what he saw made him gulp in fear. Standing in front of him was a large man, probably a level 0, like him. His arm muscles bulged with every slight movement, threatening to destroy the leather jacket he had on his large frame.

"Oi. Shrimp." The monster of a man growled out. "Watch where you are going. It's pretty dark right now."

"Ah..." Touma could not respond. Too shocked was he when he heard those words. Was his luck finally changing?

"Get him boys! That fool bumped into our boss on purpose!" Another person behind the large man suddenly popped out, trying to grab Touma. Experience took over Touma's body, as he ducked underneath the grabbing arms of the person who had shouted. Raising one leg, Touma knocked over the large man. With a surprised look on his face, the man fell on his lackeys, his large frame helping Touma to get as many of them as disoriented as possible.

"Sorry!"

With a parting shout, Touma ran away from the scene, his legs pumping up and down as he ran as fast as he could with his goods. Touma heard some shouts from behind him, causing him to run even faster.

Present time

"Huff...huff..."

"Where is that bastard?"

"Probably long gone. Did you see how fast he ran?"

"Yeah. And that was with these bags on him.Without them, he probably made his way across this park before we even made it halfway."

"Come on boys, let's get back to the boss. And take those bags with us. Treat it as compensation for his life being spared from being beaten black and blue."

As the small group of selinqients caught their breath, they both praised and raged at the misfortunate boy. Bags of food and essentials lay on the ground, some of the contents even spilled all around the pavement. Grinning to themselves for coming to this most probable conclusion, the delinquents hurried to gather their spoils before it got raken by a desperate level 0. Smiling at their good fortune, they left the scene, unaware their movements were being observed by a certain individual.

From behind the tree, Touma waited in silence until the shuffling had stopped, before he quietly made his way back to his dorm.

The moment he had stepped into the park, he quickly staged a scene where he had fled, while in reality, he hid. Past experiences told him that he would be unable to out-run this group, seeing as he had food and such on him. Thus, he thought of a plan. By leaving a few plastic bags of relatively cheap food and some spare items he bought from the super mart, he made it looked like he had abandoned his items to escape. Once the group left with those items, he would leave the scene, his more important, and valuable, items on hand.

All in all, it was a pretty well thought-out plan for Touma. One of his better ones, in fact. The shadowed figure took down this fact, before it made its way back to its home, keeping to the shadows. Unbeknownst to the two parties, there was a third group watching Touma. A pair in fact. They kept their gazes on the departing misfortunate boy for a little while longer, before they dissapeared into the night.

"I'm back." Touma called out into the room. Soon afterwards, footsteps could be heard.

"Touma Touma!" Index cried out, her beaming face causing Touma to be at ease. "Did you get some ice cream?" Her sparkling eyes caused Touma to feel a little guilty, but he knew that he had to be forceful in dealing with the big eater sometimes in order to survive.

"No Index." Touma cringed a little inside upon seeing her pouting face. "But, I did manage to get some more beef and eggs, so we can have some omelette rice for dinner tomorrow."

"Yay!" With a joyous shout, Index went back to her television, her lack of ice cream already forgotten.

"Mew." Looking down, Touma was taken aback by the puppy dog eyes their resident cat had sent to the true owner of this room. Sighing a little, he bent down to scratch behind the cat's ears. "Yes Sphynx, I got you some nice cat food too."

With a satisfied look on its face, the cat bounded back to its master with a parting call. Moving to the fridge, Touma started to put the food in their respective places.

"No troubles so far human." A doll-sized figure climbed up onto the top of the fridge. This was Othinus. "That magic group that entered the city has been captured by that female Saint friend of yours."

"Any idea why they were here?" Touma moved on to refilling the stock of flour and rice reserves he kept under the rice cooker. With a well-practiced movement, Othinus leapt onto Touma's shoulder.

"You know I am not all-seeing." Despite her statement, Touma knew that Othinus's judgement was almost always on point if it concerned magic. Almost, seeing as she was no longer a Magic God. "Probably after that glutton again. Although some know that you are Index's guardian, most magicians do not believe you are a powerful enough threat to protect her. And as the church is literally on the other side of the world, they see no reason as to not try to come after Index." Chuckling, she made herself comfortable as Touma moved to where Index was. Currently, the tv was airing an episode about magical girls. Despite the mumbles Index gave every so often about false information and such, she seemed to enjoy the show. "But, then again, you live to surprise, human. After all, you became my Understander."

"And I yours." Touma smiled a little. Even though he had to go through a lot of pain(Understatement.), he managed to save Othinus. In the sense of helping her find a reason to stop her needless killing and saving her life. And saving her was worth it. "And it was worth all that we had to go through."

"Yes, yes." Othinus waved his response off. Recalling what had gone through her mind during her 'last moments', she pulled her hat down to hide her blushing fsli in embarrassment. A motion that did not go unnoticed by Index.

"Touma..." Index growled as she stood up, a menacing aura appearing around her. Sensing the sudden danger, Touma slowly moved backwards.

"Yes, Index?" Sweating slightly, he positioned himself into an optimal escape stance. Although he knew that Index was angry, he could not understand why. He had fed her, and he had kept the fact that he was chasing a magician a secret. So why is she angry?

"You chased a magician again?! Without telling me?" Oops. He said that part out loud.

"Gyah! Such Misfortune!"

As Touma tried to get Index to stop her attack, a dark figure watched him from the opposite building. It was clad in a long robe, obscuring most of its form. As it watched, Touma collapsed onto the floor of his room, the pain finally knocking him out. Surprised, Index quickly released her jaws from his head.

"Kamijou...Touma...You are very interesting. And an important part of my plans." The figure seemingly commented to itself. "Are the spells in place, Paladin?"

"Yes." A metallic voice responded in the darkness. "All spells have been set. Imagine Breaker will be soon yours, my liege."

"Good." The cloaked figure responded in a pleased tone. "Soon, my revenge would be done against that person. And nothing he does will cease my goal from being acheived."

Author Notes(AN)So, this is officially my second fic. Took too long for this part to be set. I have a plot and an ending(somewhat)set, but unfortunately, no way to start it all off naturally. Hopefully, all you readers would be pleased by this story that I have cooked up. And comments are appreciated. If you have some tips on how I could improve my versions of the character to be as close to the orignals(as of NT vol 14/15 of the Indexverse, that would be great(please send them to my email, with the title as character name).

Also, if Othinus seems a little OC, I have my reasons for that. I would probably explain that further on the next chapter, if enough people request for it.