"Okay, now what the hell is going on?", Accelerator grumbled to himself as the swirling vortex before him began to crackle with ethereal energy. The #1 esper had simply been trudging home from the store, bag full of coffee cans slung over his left shoulder and a small, fruit-flavored candy in his pocket (though he would deny that he'd bought anything of the sort, or that it was for anyone but him, especially Last Order), when the vectors in the air in front of him began to warp and change. Then, out of absolutely nowhere, this swirly-green-magic-whirlpool-thing had opened up in the air in front of him and blocked his path.
Accelerator flinched a bit as he analyzed the anomaly before him, not recognizing the bizarre vectors of its presence. After recalculating a bit, however, he realized that its properties weren't too far off from this world's natural physics, and had the equations figured out shortly. Ugh. Would have only taken about a second if I didn't have to rely on this stupid collar. Is this another goddamn experiment?, he wondered. I don't have time for this crap today.
Turning away, Accelerator moved to walk around the strange phenomenon. I'll let someone else deal with this. I've got better things to do than waste time calculating. Suddenly, bolts of gold lightning began arcing out of the whirlwind, one of them just missing Accelerator's face as it whizzed by. He jumped back, nearly dropping the grocery bag as his right hand reached reflexively toward the black choker around his neck.
"Okay", Accelerator growled, "maybe I will have to deal with this thing."
The vortex crackled and thundered, the strange lightning growing in intensity until writhing yellow volts seemed to connect the sorcerous whirlpool to every conductor in the area. Accelerator crouched, hand still poised at his neck, and narrowed his eyes as the mysterious tornado of energy jolted and warped, as though it was releasing more power than it could withstand. Then, the area was illuminated by a blinding flash of light from the center of the anomaly.
Squinting his eyes shut against the brightness, Accelerator was pushed back slightly by a strong shockwave of wind as the light died down. Opening his eyes, the esper saw that the whirlwind was gone, but something else had taken its place.
The vortex was a portal, and something had come through.
A human figure crouched in a circle of burned sidewalk, head down. They wore only a pair of silvery shorts and black running shoes, and their skin had a slight grey tinge to it. Occult-looking tattoos crisscrossed all over their body, and, to Accelerator's confusion, some sort of small black horn protruded from the base of their head above their neck, and he could sense a myriad of vectors circulating into and out of this horn more than anywhere else on the person.
The figure stood up slowly, lifting their face and surveying their surroundings, seeming slightly confused. It was a young man, probably around Accelerator's own age. They had a slim but athletic figure, their tattoos branching over their skin all the way up to their face and to the ends of their fingers. Their face was round and boyish, but with a stern look of apathetic gloom that suited a more mature person. Baleful yellow eyes shone mystically as he scanned the environment, his gaze coming to rest on the esper's own pale, red-pupiled eyes.
Accelerator straightened up and relaxed his shoulders, lowering his hand. This newcomer seemed at least partly human, so maybe he could be reasoned with. And even if they were hostile, he was hardly worried about losing a fight. Accelerator wrinkled his brow, thinking. Okay, what do you say to a tattooed weirdo who just hopped through a portal?
"So, what's your name?", he tried, attempting a normal smile and failing miserably. The other person blinked slowly, frowning. Accelerator's smile dropped and he narrowed his eyes. "You know, it's rude to-"
"Naoki."
The young man spoke, surprising Accelerator with his deep, commanding voice. "My name used to be Naoki. Naoki Kashima", he said, bringing his hand up to his face and looking at it contemplatively. "I'm not usually referred to by name anymore."
"Why is that?", Accelerator questioned, actually becoming a bit curious.
The newcomer lifted his eyes solemnly. "Not many people I meet are interested in my name. Encounters tend to be… brief." Seeing the white-haired boy's continued confusion, he went on. "I'm referred to as the Demi-Fiend, 'cause I'm what you might call 'half-demon'. I come from a violent world, broken by a huge cataclysm and overrun with demons. After I killed the being who caused the destruction, I got ready to wage war on an even greater enemy, but ended up being sent here instead."
He narrowed his eyes. "Now I come to this one, and debate whether to give you the benefit of the doubt, or obey my common sense and destroy you before you have a chance to attack me first."
Accelerator glared at the young man, again reaching for his choker. "Well you can certainly try if you want. I have to warn you, though. I'm not the easiest person to kill, but I'd say I'm definitely capable of killing someone like you!" With this he clicked a button and let the device whir to life, grinning as his brain raced with equations and measurements and his immensely powerful AIM field manifested itself around his body like a rushing wind.
Naoki slowly blinked again, not a hint of fear on his tattooed face. "Well, I guess I was right."
Then the fight began.
Accelerator tossed his coffee to the side and stamped his shoe against the ground like he had when he'd fought Awaki. His AIM field rang with kinetic energy as the entire street shattered, the shockwave of his stomp cracking and tearing apart the ground like an earthquake, sending cracks and chunks of asphalt in all directions.
The Demi-Fiend leaped into the air as the place he'd been standing was obliterated, his eyes slightly widening. So, he's actually able to back up what he says. This might not be as quick as I thought.
The esper stretched out his arms, extending his control to the gravitational vectors around him, and launched himself into the air to pursue the half-demon. The air swirled over his back, forming itself into four tornado-like "wings" that propelled him forward at breakneck speed.
The Demi-Fiend lifted his eyes and saw the esper coming at him. Accelerator laughed maniacally, pulling back his fist to deliver a kinetically-enhanced punch, but his laughter stopped short when Naoki whipped around faster than his eye could follow, dodging the punch and slamming his foot into the esper's gut with a single motion.
TWAANG!
The blow ricocheted off his AIM field, throwing the demon off-balance, but it still sent Accelerator streaking to the ground, crashing down onto the already-ruined street hard enough to throw up a massive storm of debris like a meteorite, every window on the block shattered by the aftershock of the impact. Naoki dropped down and landed lightly at the edge of the newly-formed crater. The dust was too thick to see, but the outcome was obvious. Another pointless kill, he thought with a sigh, turning to leave.
Suddenly his horn reacted, sensing movement. A concussive burst of sound thundered behind him, instantly blowing away the dust cloud and clearing the air. He turned, wide-eyed, and saw the figure of the #1 esper, standing tired but unharmed, in the middle of the crater.
"God… damn, that caught me off guard!", the esper said, but his face cracked into an even bigger grin. Naoki raised an eyebrow, wondering. Could he be…?
He didn't have time to wonder, because Accelerator was getting something new ready. The white-haired boy spread his arms and turned his face skyward, extending his will to the space around him. "Kk k… kk-k-kh!... Kwkkk-kk-KkK-Khhk... hk-kkwwkk-WKKW-kHHWW-WkWkkk!..." Strange, rasping syllables came from his throat, as though he was choking on sandpaper. Naoki flinched, recognizing a few syllables as… No, it couldn't be… He's not…
The Demi-Fiend could sense a massive spike in energy coming from just above Accelerator's head, building exponentially as those impossibly familiar sounds grew in intensity until it sounding like he was shrieking himself hoarse. The air around them swirled into roaring wind currents that flowed past Naoki and swirled together above the screeching esper, collecting and merging and scraping against each other, massive amounts of friction building between every molecule, creating an ever-expanding field of blistering heat.
Then, at the center of this pocket of kinetic energy, a blindingly-bright pinprick of light appeared. Hovering for a moment, it suddenly warped and swelled into an amorphous, violently contorting blob of purple-grey plasma, expanding by the second and baking the area with an atmosphere of superheated wind.
The Demi-Fiend's eyes widened. That maniac! He's gonna destroy half the neighborhood if he launches that! It did seem to be taking a long time to charge, though…
Hoping he would have enough time, Naoki focused the sensory abilities of his horn on his opponent, analyzing him.
After the analysis was complete, the Demi-Fiend relaxed a bit; he now had the means to defeat the esper boy.
Accelerator continued his rapid calculations, pulling in all the air around him to form this plasma attack. Once he fired this, everything but him would be incinerated instantly, including that demon son of a b*tch.
Crack! A tattooed fist slammed into his face, his calculations grinding to a halt. The plasma dissipated with a shriek, its energy dispersing into the environment, which already was starting to melt. The punch threw Accelerator backwards onto the cracked sidewalk as stars exploded across his vision. The esper collapsed onto his back, sprawled over the pavement
"What the sh*t?!", Accelerator gasped, shakily pushing himself off the ground. He sat up and gasped for breath, only to choke on the thick waterfall of blood that started pouring from his nose and brow. Grasping his stinging face, he looked at the Demi-Fiend with terror. The demonic boy was standing in the crater, wiping the blood off his fist and dusting himself off, as though it was no big deal that he'd just floored the most indestructible being in Academy City.
Naoki tried to rub the red stains off of his knuckles, but they clung stubbornly to his skin. He debated summoning a lesser demon to clean it off, but couldn't decide if it was worth the trouble. His thoughts were interrupted by a string of highly foul-mouthed insults uttered by the white-haired boy as he stumbled to his feet. Well, I guess I should wait 'til I'm done making him bleed, anyway.
"What do you want now?!", he turned and shouted at the belligerent esper. The vector boy clutched at his face, which had no effect on the blood flow besides drenching his arm and most of his shirt. It also didn't hide the look of absolute rage on his face.
"How?! How the f**k did you just do that!?"
"You know as well as I do that your reflection can be bypassed if I pull my punch at the last nanosecond."
The esper's glare dropped into a look of complete shock. "Pulled… punches… But how-how did you know when to pull your punch? Only one person could do it, and he spent years just to calculate it!"
The Demi-Fiend turned his head and tapped his neck-horn with a finger. "This isn't just a horn. It's a demonic sensory organ. It detects things around me and lets me analyze anything in minute detail." He turned back to Accelerator, his expression serious. "I now know every method that can damage you, and I'm capable of almost all of them. For example..."
He lifted his hand, fingers pointed, and aimed it directly at Accelerator. "This skill is called Pierce, and this attack is called Xeros Beat."
A few seconds of stillness passed as esper and demon glared at each other, then the Demi-Fiend seemed to blur out of existence. Shocked, Accelerator had a moment to gasp before he was struck from the left, hard enough that a tooth flew from his mouth. Reeling, he swiped his arm in the direction he was hit from, sending out a shockwave that sliced a nearby car in half, but didn't hit anything living.
Another moment of confusion and he was hit again, this time in the middle of his back. Thrown forward, he didn't even manage to hit the ground before another blow to his gut flung him straight up into the air, knocking the wind out of him. He hovered, gasping, in midair for a split second before a hail of impacts smashed into him from the right, left, beneath, above, front, and back at such speeds that the source of the attack was invisible, barely registering in his vision as streaks of light.
All at once, the high-speed assault stopped and Accelerator plummeted, smashing onto the pavement with a crunch of splitting concrete. The esper gritted his teeth, trying to push himself up, but grew still as a wave of pain passed over his battered frame. Damn it. I knew I relied too much on my reflector field. My body isn't used to taking direct damage.
Then he saw Naoki standing in front of him with arms crossed, just watching from a distance. The Demi-Fiend had a look of… is that pity? Is he PITYING ME?! Accelerator planted his right hand on the ground, his broken left hand twitching with rage, and forced himself up on one arm. "You son of a b*tch!", he screamed, spittle flying from his mouth and eyes bloodshot, "I don't need your pity! I just want you to die!" His opponent uncrossed his arms, anger replacing pity on his face, and blurred out of sight again. Accelerator snarled, looking around wildly. "Don't you try that sh*t again, you b*tch! What kind of-"
CRUNCH! Accelerator's eyes bulged, his back arching and his mouth flying open in a scream of pure agony as the Demi-Fiend's foot came down, crushing the bones in his right hand. No longer able to support his weight, his arm gave way and his face slammed down onto the ruined concrete again, gritty crumbs of cement digging into his teeth and eyelids. He tried to lift his head, but just as he managed to get his eye open, his vision focused on the rapidly-growing image of the Demi-Fiend's other shoe.
Thwack! The demon kicked Accelerator in the face again, sending him tumbling off the sidewalk into the damp grass, red droplets of blood mingling with the dew on the ground. Naoki was done playing around. When a lesser enemy was beaten, they were supposed to accept it, not keep prolonging their agony. There was only one solution.
Naoki pulled back his hand and spread his fingers. Closing his eyes, he spoke two words. "Magma Axis." A blood-red fireball roared to life in his palm, bathing the Demi-Fiend in a hellish red light.
Accelerator groaned, every body part racked with incredible pain. He tried to push himself away, then felt something at his hip. Craning his head to the side, his neck flaring with pain, he could just make out the image of the small candy he'd purchased falling out of his pants, split into two pieces and smudged with dirt, blood, and grass stains. … Last Order…, he thought, … I'm about to die… and I never even...
Then Naoki threw the fireball.
TWAANG!
The air rippled as the glowing orb struck the esper's form, then ricocheted back at the demon. Naoki gave a cry of surprise before his own attack collided with his face and detonated in a spray of embers and lava. Knocked backwards, the Demi-Fiend flew over the street and smashed into a house, shattering the wall and ending up on his back in what used to be a kitchen.
Laying back on the cracked tile, Naoki slowly reached up and felt his face. His eyebrows and lashes were singed, and his skin stung with 2nd-degree burns. Looking at his arm, he saw that the glowing borders of his tattoos, where his demonic lymph normally glowed green just under the surface, now gleamed a dull red.
It's been awhile since I've taken this much damage all at once. How on earth did he do that?, Naoki wondered, grunting as he pulled himself to his feet. He closed his eyes and lifted his hand, focusing his magical energy. "Diarahan," he said.
Ethereal wisps of green and white light flowed from his hand and circled his body in a gentle orbit. Naoki winced as the burns in his face rippled back into undamaged skin, his brows and lashes regrowing and the glowing lines on his body returning to their healthy green aura. His injuries having been healed, the Demi-Fiend stepped back out of the empty house to see what had happened.
Whatever he expected, it wasn't what he saw.
The white-haired esper boy stood with limp arms and head drooping, his own blood still splattered across his body. He was perfectly still, seemingly not even breathing, just standing immobile in the place he had been lying injured moments before. But it wasn't his stillness or his apparent lack of pain that surprised Naoki.
It was the wings.
Two huge, dark, semi-solid masses erupted from the boy's back, writhing and flowing outwards until they formed ghostly wings that stretched over him threateningly. Waves of power came off of his body, the grass and trees around them rustling as though in a beginning windstorm. Naoki's eyes widened in a combination of shock and apprehension as Accelerator twitched and coughed, then lifted his head.
His eyes were wild and rolled erratically, face split into a maniacal grin that put even the most unhinged demons of the Vortex World to shame. He let out a hacking, choked laugh that sounded more like a death rattle, jerking forward like a demented ragdoll as he took a step in Naoki's direction.
The Demi-Fiend, caution slowly overtaking confidence, took a step backwards, lifting his arms into a defensive position. In response, the esper's gnashing grin grew even wider, inhumanly wider, patterns of dark blood drying on his face and black wings undulating above him, the visage of a creature of nightmares. For a moment Naoki felt as though a mad, blood-hungry god of death was staring at him with those twitching, reddened eyes.
Then the esper began to walk towards him with a lurching gait, looking like something crawled from the depths of an eldritch grave. His strangled cackling stopped, and now he spoke. His mouth moved independently of the sounds he produced, echoing, high-pitched reverberations of a language not meant to be uttered by any human mouth.
"yimhjiutafreqtred molpfDESTROYbeahyyrto wrednejofnjdjtdth", he rasped out, chanting in a terrifying dialect that any normal being would hear as gibberish. But Naoki knew better, and recoiled in disbelief as those nightmarish syllables were forced from the esper's throat, recognizing exactly what he said. There's no mistaking it now… That's angelic speech.
The Demi-Fiend tried to process this circumstance, So is he an angel? No, he can't be. But that language… How is this possible? Is he some new form of divine being? But he didn't have much time to ponder, as his horn automatically kicked in and translated the divine wording into one that he could understand, broadcasting Accelerator's statement into his mind:
"DESTROY"
The wings on the esper's back roared, lashing around his body like whips and darting toward the Demi-Fiend. Naoki shielded himself with his left arm, but yelped in shock as one wing plowed into it and pushed through, shattering the bones of his forearm before slashing his chest with its razor-sharp edge. He winced and clenched his teeth as he heard the sharp sound of several ribs cracking, then gagged and choked up blood when the other wing rammed into his gut, rupturing the skin in a spray of crimson and propelling him straight into the air.
The demon boy gasped for breath as the swirling black pillar of divine matter rocketed skyward, his limp body ground against it by the G-forces of their ascent. Suddenly the wing vanished, leaving him suspended in midair. Trying as best he could to think clearly, Naoki turned in the air and tried to angle himself so as to land on his feet.
Wham! Accelerator rocketed towards the Demi-Fiend, feet first, and collided with him head-on, the heels of his shoes slamming into the demon's torso hard enough that his ribcage split. Naoki's yellow eyes bulged out from his head and his jaw dropped open, red globs of spittle flung out as he tried to scream, but only let out a choked wheeze as his punctured lungs were forced empty.
"yurgtithphyajmn gantpthDIEdjosthyplowmnqrwtyn", Accelerator shrieked, his attack blasting the demon across the town. Hurtled through the night air, Naoki was flung straight into Academy City's downtown.
Civilians out walking around in the bustling city streets, whether going about their nightly errands, trudging home from late-night school sessions, or patrolling the streets and upholding the law, lifted their heads and looked around worriedly as a deep boom resounded through the air.
Then one person pointed at the sky and screamed. Every head turned to see something streaking over the city at mach speed and smashing into a skyscraper with a crash that could be heard for miles around. Crowds of people turned and ran, screaming and pushing to get away. Cries of fear and confusion resonated across the streets, wondering whether this was an act of war or the work of a rogue esper.
Within the impacted building, Naoki Kashima slowly opened his eyes. He was laying on his side, left arm mangled and crushed, right arm dislocated from his shoulder. His breath came shallow and rapid, every gasp stinging as shards of bone pushed through the myriad holes in his lungs. Blood trickled from his mouth and nose, as well as gushing in spurts from beneath the shredded skin of his abdomen. His entire body throbbed with a dim red light, his heartbeat weak, his vision clouded... He's a monster… Such power… Not even Kagutsuchi could match that attack… Naoki thought of the grotesque sight of Accelerator's maddened grin, the pain that his wings had caused, the sheer weight of his attacks...
And he smiled.
The night rang with another crash as Accelerator landed in the building, his black wings now looking more solid and defined than before. He lifted his face, that psychotic, bulgy-eyed smile contorting viciously, and rattled out more angelic utterances from his bloodied mouth.
"thheytyuaWHEREmkiduhbfkij"
"ndjdkkgkenejmAREmfsjhdkgjykesk gjshg"
"bvghcfdgjkkuYOUooiphvffgjkvft"
"Right here, you albino freak."
Accelerator's head jerked to the side, staring with bloodshot eyes in the direction of the voice. Naoki's injuries were healed, but he was emphatically different from before. His skin had darkened to pitch-black, his whole body looking like a shadow, were it not for the occult markings that webbed his body, which now glowed so brightly that they illuminated everything in the room but their owner, and had changed from pale cyan to a strikingly dark aquamarine hue. The Demi-Fiend then opened his eyes, which were no longer yellow, but a piercing, intimidating shade of red.
Naoki Kashima drew a deep breath, drinking in the entropy of the reality around him. Letting out a deep sigh, he leveled his gaze with Accelerator's; two pairs of red eyes, one bloodshot and one glowing, one crazed and one calm, one twitching and one focused, trained on each other with an intensity that seemed to vibrate the room around them.
Then one of them spoke, in a voice so terrible in authority that even the mad esper's smile faltered for an instant:
"I am Naoki Kashima, the Chaos King. I was the first to witness the Conception, and the last to see it die. I am made in the image of the Morningstar, and honed to be wielded against the Great Will. I am the slayer of deaths, devils, and deities, and shall lead the Forces of Chaos in glorious war to bring about the Apocalypse. I am the Fallen's Champion, and all that stand against me shall be as dust scattered before my feet."
Then… The Demi-Fiend moved.
A bolt of lightning struck the esper's face, hurling him from the building. A kick slammed into him, sending him to the earth. A blast of fire awaited him on the ground, forcing him back upwards. He felt the pain of a fist striking his flesh, knocking him through several skyscrapers. An impact upon his body, grinding him against the street.
Each attack came with such force and such speed that Accelerator's angelically-enhanced mind, the greatest nexus of impossible calculations in existence, couldn't even comprehend the specifics of what his opponent was doing. Everything was a blur of damage and motion, impossible to track. All he could make out was that he was losing badly.
Very badly.
Finally, the "fight" stopped, and the blurs of movement realigned into a reality that Accelerator could see. He was laying on his back in another crater, probably the remains of whatever surface his foe had smashed him into. His body was covered in bruises and scorch marks, many of which were the product of the intense friction generated simply by the blinding speed at which he was being moved. His wings still rippled lazily, but their shape had become even less defined than it was originally, just a vague mass of greying blackness.
Reality seemed to jolt as an event happened in front of him, an impossibly-fast transfer of matter and energy that had no perceptible description, but a definite result. As one instant passed to the next, the Demi-Fiend now stood over Accelerator, the sheer weight of his presence seeming to increase the gravity around them tenfold.
Naoki bent down, his transhuman eyes inches from the esper's emotionless face, and spoke his creed.
"Death's vastness holds no peace… I come at the end of the long road… Neither human, nor devil… All bends to my will."
Straightening up, he turned and stepped away, looking contemplatively out over the city. "Not once since I attained this power have I had an occasion to use it. My new master has provided me with countless foes to hone my skills in preparation for the oncoming war, but not one of them pushed me to fight seriously." He turned back to the esper with those glowing eyes.
"You are the single greatest foe I have ever faced, comparable even to my master in power. And for that I offer you the chance to walk away and survive this encounter." Accelerator didn't move, still staring up into space. Naoki continued, beginning to walk around the crater, eyes down, "If we continue to fight, who knows how much destruction will be dealt by my attacks before your incredible defensive powers give out and die. My last string of attacks already has done considerable damage to this… School District 7, or whatever it's called. So if you don't want-"
"What did you just say?!"
Naoki turned in surprise. Accelerator had somehow pushed himself into a sitting position, and his expression had changed. He no longer grinned demonically or stared blankly, but had a look of what could only be described as… some kind of concerned anger. Naoki hadn't expected to see such a… mundane expression on such an interesting opponent, but the stare the esper was giving him almost worried him, as though he had said something he would regret.
Accelerator's expression hardened. "What. Did. You. Say!?", he demanded with a forcefulness even he may not have expected.
"... That we've already damaged this district, District 7, enough as it is."
The esper's eyes bulged with sudden rage, and he ground his teeth together as he wrenched himself off the earth until he stood upright. Naoki stepped back in shock as the boy's wings flared out again, more solidly black than ever, and he growled like a caged animal.
"Yoshikawa's apartment is in District 7. It's the apartment I live in, and also where-" His eyes grew wide and fearful, and his voice dropped to a tone of such worry and tenderness that for a moment Naoki almost forgot who he was dealing with.
"... Last Order... Could have gotten hurt...", he said, almost a whisper. He lifted his hands and looked at them, caked in his own blood and marred with bruises. His disheveled hair hung down over his scratched face, broken nose, and bloodshot eyes, giving him the look of someone lost in the wild. "... I want her… to be safe..."
And Accelerator Awoke.
Naoki's horn reacted intensely, and he felt it even without his demonic senses: Accelerator's power was climbing rapidly. The lashing black wings of dark energy burned away into nothing, and were replaced.
Accelerator arched his back and cried out as an explosion of pure, blinding light erupted from his back. A shockwave of pure power rippled out across the city, every device and light flickering and every individual turning to look at the white glow coming from the top of a building in the center of the district.
The esper's eyes widened and his body seemed to shine as everything stilled for a moment, then something even more radiant than before burst from him, igniting the night sky with a supernova of whiteness. Naoki was pushed back and forced to cover his eyes as he felt the esper's level of power grow to the limit of what he should be capable of, and then transcend it.
Eventually, he managed to lower his hand and gaze upon Accelerator. Gone were his injuries and the smears of blood over his body. Gone was the maniacal screeching of an enraged esper. Now Accelerator stood, or rather, hovered, in the center of the crater, Awakened.
His pristine skin was flawlessly repaired, all blemishes and marks whisked away by his metamorphosis. His eyes were no longer strained and bloodshot, but gleamed pure silver with shining red pupils like minute rubies, all gaunt tightness of face replaced by a healthy relaxed tone. His arms were held out to the sides as though welcoming, and he was surrounded by an aura of light.
And the wings. Enormous white wings, wings that put the mightiest birds to shame, reached out to either side of him, as wide as those of a plane, gleaming feathers stretched as though they sought to reach the ends of the earth. Above his flowing, silvery-white locks of hair was a translucent gold halo that hovered over him. Everything about him was radiant and bright, the form of a holy being, beyond the realm of mortality.
The Demi-Fiend's jaw hung slack as he stared blankly at this… angel. There was no way around it. An angel was floating in front of him.
Accelerator slowly lowered to the ground, landing so lightly that not even the dust beneath his feet was stirred, and let his arms rest at his sides. His wings folded, apparently shrinking as they did, so that they rested peacefully behind his shoulders, feathers swaying gently in the night breeze. He looked at Naoki with his serene eyes, his expression stern.
"Naoki Kashima… I don't want to fight you. I just want to protect Last Order."
"Who's that?", Naoki asked.
Accelerator looked off, remembering. "... I basically used to be a monster… I existed only as a force to be feared, and didn't know what compassion was. All I cared about was getting stronger, so I would slaughter whole legions of these clone girls called the Sisters and boost my power by doing that…"
"Then this guy, Touma Kamijou, showed up. He has this weird thing going on with his hand that let him hurt me even with my reflector field up, and he basically beat the sh*t out of me until I couldn't attack any more of the Sisters. I was… pretty bitter for a while. It was the first fight I'd been in that didn't end with my opponent dead and in pieces."
"I just sorta wandered around, still getting in fights every now and then, still leaving them broken on the ground. But I didn't really kill that much anymore. And then I met this little girl… One of the Sisters who'd ended up coming out of the cloning process younger than the others. Her name was Last Order."
"I don't even know why I started lettin' her tag along with me, but I did. I ended up saving her life, once, but it cost me a lot of my power. Then I saved her again when I first learned to partly Awaken." At this, he gestured absentmindedly toward his wings. "I guess now I have someone to care about for the first time, and I wanna keep her safe. Which means..." His aura now brightened, and a strong wind picked up. "I can't let you cause any more destruction, Naoki Kashima."
Naoki scowled, getting into a combat stance. "You're the one who attacked me first, esper."
"Maybe so, but regardless of how it started, I'm making sure this fight ends now."
"Then let's get this over with."
As the sun rose in the distance, the Demi-Fiend, Paragon of Chaos, took a step forward, and the earth trembled as his foot met the floor. Accelerator, He Who Wields the Power of God, likewise stepped forward, and the air hummed with the vibrations of his power. The two stepped at each other again… and then again… and again… the very fabric of the universe seeming to shift between the two beings, two forces of cosmic-level power that now transcended the realm of mortal existence and entered the hierarchy of the gods. The newborn angel and the champion of demons stopped, face-to-face, barely two feet from each other. And then…
"Bravo, everyone! I'm astounded at how well this all worked out!"
Accelerator and Naoki turned their heads in unison to where a handsome-looking man was standing at the edge of the crater, slowly clapping his hands. He had smooth skin and long blonde hair, and wore a sleek violet business suit with a striking yellow tie. He smiled with eyes gleaming mischievously, one red and one blue.
Accelerator tilted his head quizzically, unsure as to how an ordinary human was standing so close to this conflict without being terrified of the amount of power being thrown around. He was about to question the newcomer, but Naoki spoke first.
"What are you doing here?"
The man placed a hand over his heart with an expression of mock hurtfulness as he walked over to stand between the two would-be combatants. "My dear boy, you wound me. I come all this way to check up on you after you wind up in a dreadful argument with this man, and I don't get so much as a 'hello'?"
Naoki rolled his eyes. "Hello, sir. It's good to see you," he said sarcastically.
Now Accelerator spoke up. "Umm… What's going on, exactly?"
The man spun dramatically and bowed to Accelerator with a flourish. "Ah! How rude of me! Face-to-face with the Number 1 esper in Academy City, nay, the world, and I forget to even introduce myself? Oh, how the mighty have fallen." His eyes flashed as he gave a knowing smile. "Fallen in more ways than one, of course."
The man stood back upright as he placed his hand proudly on his chest. "You may address me as Mr. Louis Cypher," he said, reaching out to shake Accelerator's hand.
TWAANG!
Accelerator's reflector field shimmered as it deflected the man's hand away, something that would throw any normal, unsuspecting person off-balance. Instead, the man spun gracefully and swept back into his upright stance. "What a marvelous ability you have! I can see why the Kiharas were so interested in you, Accelerator!"
The esper narrowed his eyes, growing certain that this was not a man to be trusted. "How did you know about the Kiharas, and my name?"
"Oh, don't trouble yourself, my boy. I know lots of the goings-on around here." He gave another mischievous smile before continuing. "How is that adorable girl Last Order, by the way?"
Accelerator snarled, his hand darting out to grab the man. Mr. Cypher calmly chuckled as he leaned out of the way so that Accelerator's arm shot past him. Losing his balance, Accelerator's wings and halo dissipated as he stumbled forward onto his hands and knees.
"Oh my! Are you alright, my dear boy?"
"Shut up," Accelerator growled as he picked himself up.
Naoki spoke up, having returned to his normal, yellow-eyed self: "I don't recommend picking a fight with this guy, Accelerator. If you think fighting me is difficult, you haven't seen anything yet."
"Oh, stop it. You flatter me," Louis said, waving his hand at Naoki.
"Okay, seriously, who the hell are you?" Accelerator was getting very annoyed with the proceedings, and wanted answers.
Mr. Cypher threw his hands up as though surrendering. "Alright, Esper-Boy, you win! My real name isn't Louis Cypher..." He straightened his tie and flashed a devious grin, eyes glowing. "It's actually Lucifer."
Accelerator recoiled, eyes wide. "You're the f*cking devil?!"
"Oh, NO, no, no no no no no, NO, my poor, ignorant child!", the fallen angel exclaimed, "You see… Your world has a much different devil than our world. And while I admit that in most worlds my equivalent can be… well, a bit of a dick, if you'll pardon a bit of vulgarity, rest assured that I am one of the nicest devils you'll know."
"Okay..." Accelerator lifted an eyebrow. Whatever I figured the devil was like, it definitely wasn't this weirdo.
"So, I assume you're the one who put me in this world, sir?", asked the Demi-Fiend.
"Oh, what a bright young demon I've brought up!", Lucifer laughed, throwing an arm around Naoki's shoulders. "Yes, my boy, it was me. After you butchered all those perfectly good generals I had and never once had to resort to your Chaos King powers, I decided to take the liberty of dabbling in a bit of inter-dimensional matchmaking to find you a good sparring partner."
He rubbed his chin thoughtfully, thinking to himself. "Almost like some kind of… crossover fanfiction."
"A what?"
"Oh, never you mind, young Sir Kashima," he chuckled, crossing back over to Accelerator. "Thank you kindly, Mister 'Lerator, for providing my pupil with such a good test of his powers. And rest assured, no civilians were harmed in this particular battle, though I'm sure the local news will have a field day with this one."
He turned around with another flourish. "Alright, Naoki! Time to head back home!"
He snapped his fingers and another swirling green portal opened up before them, just like the one Naoki had arrived in. The Demi-Fiend started for the portal, then stopped and turned toward Accelerator. Accelerator looked back at him, then rolled his eyes and walked over.
"So... yeah", the esper said, absentmindedly rubbing the back of his neck, "sorry for attacking you earlier."
"No problem. Sorry for… endangering your city."
"Yeah, it's fine."
"..."
"..."
"... Tell Last Order I said 'Hi', okay?"
"Yeah, no problem, dude."
"... Well, see ya later, I guess", Naoki said, turning to walk into the swirling nexus.
"Yeah, see you around," Accelerator replied, backing up as the portal crackled with gold lightning. Naoki flashed a slight smile, then turned and stepped into the vortex, vanishing into his own dimension.
"Well, my new friend, I suppose this is goodbye," said Lucifer, waving to Accelerator.
"Yep, I guess so." The esper slowly waved back, still unsure how he felt about this guy. Louis grinned happily, then turned and stepped halfway through the portal.
Before going all the way through, he turned and looked at a nearby satellite antenna sticking out of the roof they stood on, gazing intently at it. He gave a small, knowing smile and winked, seemingly at nothing, then slid all the way into the portal, which closed with an odd pop!
Accelerator stood for a bit, processing the bizarre night he'd just had, then remembered something. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the broken piece of candy he'd originally meant for Last Order. I guess I could try cleaning it off, even if it is disgusting by now. No point letting it go to waste.
But to his surprise, he pulled out a perfectly whole, shiny-clean piece of candy wrapped in a dark purple bow. It had even been changed so that it had a sort of frosted sugar coating and a chocolate center. Accelerator was very confused for a moment, then noticed a little note tied to the ribbon:
"Noticed that this was broken, so I figured Last Order would be more happy with a clean one anyway. Don't forget to tell her we said Hi!
Best of luck,
Mr Cypher"
Accelerator stared at the note for a bit, mildly impressed. Okay, maybe he's alright after all. Putting the candy and his hands in his pockets, he began the walk back to the apartment. Geez, and I thought that Kamijou kid was weird.
In the innermost room of the Windowless Building, Aleister Crowley sat suspended in his tube as usual, watching his camera-footage with great interest. Who would've thought they'd just hop dimensions with such a simple goal?
On the screen, the Demi-Fiend and Mr Cypher were exchanging goodbyes with the #1 Level 5 Esper before moving into an inter-franchise dimensional vortex. I'm pleased that they managed to cause the Level 5 to achieve Awakening so much more easily than anticipated, but I must plan accordingly for the potential repercussions of the damage to the district.
Then, as Lucifer stepped into the portal, he turned and gazed directly into Aleister's hidden camera, making indirect eye contact with Aleister himself as he did so. Crowley's eyes widened ever-so-slightly, as they oft did on those once-per-century occasions when something surprised him, then Lucifer winked at him and vanished into his home dimension.
… Most curious… He can see through one-way technological mediums. I wouldn't even expect Fuse=KAZAKIRI to be capable of that.
"Was that Lucifer Morningstar I just witnessed?", a bizarre voice asked. Aleister didn't need to look to know that his mentor, Aiwass, was hovering just beside him.
"Indeed", Aleister said, "He came from his home franchise to test his new pupil's abilities."
"Oh, how nice of him", the golden being replied, "I always thought that Naoki kid was an interesting one."
"Lucifer seems to possess more abilities than I anticipated. I intend to take measures to ensure he does not interfere with the next few stages."
"Don't underestimate him. After all, he is another njlkfhfliudsgkhjangelbkffgzskyhdk...", Aiwass's voice trailed into unpronounceable utterances. "Oh dear, another word you guys don't have. I guess you could 'round down', so to speak, and call him an 'angel' or something."
"I'm well aware that he is a being similar to yourself, Aiwass. And I have also planned accordingly for this war that they spoke of."
"Oh, that's right. The big battle between Law and Chaos. I must say, that Law guy is a bit of a jerk."
"I would prefer that you do not interfere with this war. If you were to kill Lucifer or the Great Will, we can't yet predict how the residual effects would bleed over into our world." He turned now to look at the ethereal figure at his side. "You will not get involved, will you?"
"I dunno," said Aiwass, their expression unchanging, "I will admit.. The idea of being involved in this dimensional war seems… Interesting."
Aleister turned to look back at his camera feed, which showed Accelerator looking curiously at an odd piece of candy.
"I was afraid you would say that."