"Koneshu!"

It took a moment for the supernatural sight to fully register in Katie's mind, causing her to step backwards with her mouth agape for lack of speech. A thick concrete fence that the strange child who called himself Viorel had dragged her to after her shift ended immediately had a hole blown through it before her very eyes as a blast of bright blue energy was released from the boy's palm the moment she had said the spellword. It was a moment before she realized the drain of stamina that had accompanied it and fell to one knee, panting while processing what had occurred. 

"I... yo-... [i]we[/i] did that?" she asked, stuttering between pants while Vio turned back to her with a broad grin. 

"Your heart power provides the energy, I release the spell, and the book is the medium," he said, continuing to smile in delight at having finally found his bookmaster. "Now will you believe me?"

Slightly regaining composure, Katie shook her head and looked back at him as more questions flooded her mind. "And there are other... [i]mamodo[/i] that can do this?"

"99 more," he replied, his smile changing form into more of a determined smirk, "and 99 spellcasters like you. The last team remaining will be crowned the king of our world."

"Monsters from another world... spellcasters... battle for king... what is this, a fantasy book?" Katie thought aloud while closing her eyes and rubbing her temples, only to open them and realize she was still holding tightly onto the cyan book with the same hand and flinched. "This is too weird..."

"So maybe its unexpected," Vio replied cheerfully, walking up to pat her on the thigh, "but it's not like you don't get anything out of this. This power is at your disposal! Revenge on your enemies, the respect of others, immense riches! And all you have to do is help me become king."

"I'd rather not go to jail either," Katie replied blankly, instantly negating his excited speech. "This battle stuff sounds dangerous - I don't want anything to do with it." She looked down at Vio, to find that his smile had turned into a pitiful, puppy dog look.

"But..." he mumbled woefully, "my kinghood..." She turned to walk away dismissively, but was stopped as she felt him bear hugging her leg with tears flowing out his eyes. "You're not supposed to refuse! What about the powah..."

"I said no! Let go!" she said while trying to shake him off of her, only to stop as she noticed his disheveled look and dirty clothing. She paused for a moment, her leg in the air with Vio holding onto it, and then spoke under hear breath. "Earlier you said you'd been looking for someone to read your book for weeks... have you been living on the streets all this time?" He looked up at her with a soft nod, and she let out a [i]tch[/i] from her lips as she lowered her leg. 

"I guess you can stay at my apartment for now, then," Katie said under her breath, and Vio's look became one of joy. "But I'm not doing this battle crap, got it!"