Academy City.

A city filled with schools whose technology is 30 years ahead of the world.

As a result, most of its 2,300,000 inhabitants are students. However, there were something special about those students.

They were all ESPers.

ESPers are people who gained supernatural abilities through the Power Development Curriculum. There was a ranking system from Level 0 to Level 5.

Level 0s are people whose abilities are almost non-existent, or no ability at all.

At the extreme end, Level 5s are people whose abilities enables them to fight an entire army on equal terms.

Kamijou Touma was ranked as a Level 0 in the system. He was one of the 1,110,400 Level 0s in this city.

Which was why those thugs chasing after Touma who lived in the same city as him did not display any abilities.

"Get back here, you fucker!"

"Stop running!"

"Such misfortune."

Touma said as he ran across the street, under the starry night sky where a few couples were seated at the benches available as they admired the stars together.

He had a star-gazing date with Misaki, and he had a strong feeling that he was going to be late.

Touma glanced at the large TV screen placed outside a shopping mall.

It was 8.30pm. His date was at 9.00pm.

And I haven't gotten a bite yet.

After queuing up for a bank card replacement for two hours, Touma decided to grab a quick bite at a nearby family restaurant.

Before his pasta meal was served, he had gotten into some trouble, and ended up being chased by thugs.

Touma wasn't too bothered with the thugs. He could deal with them effortlessly.

Yet he was running away from them.

It's for their good.

As Touma was running in random directions disguised as a roundabout way towards the iron bridge, one by one, those thugs gave up chasing as they put their hands to their legs, panting heavily.

Upon seeing that nobody was chasing him anymore, Touma made his way to the iron bridge. After crossing the bridge and with some walking, he'd be able to meet up with Misaki.

"You're a rather nice person for going out of your way to protect those delinquents."

The bridge was not lit up, and the whole area was wrapped up in something like a glittering midnight sea. In front of Touma about 5 meters away was a middle-school girl with short, brown hair.

"So you figured that out."

The girl in front of him was Misaka Mikoto.

A Level 5.

There were only seven Level 5s in the city, and she was ranked third out of the seven.

Against a person who could fight an army on equal terms, it was for their own good that they stay away from Mikoto as far away as possible. Which was why Touma lured the thugs away from her, and ran across the street to tire them so that they would not go back to harass Mikoto.

Mikoto pulled out a few lightning bolt from her hair, "They were pretty annoying, so I ended up roasting them anyway."

Touma sighed. While he did not know the details behind it, Touma felt as though he had wasted his efforts running across the street to keep them away from her.

"I hope you didn't end up killing them. Alright, I have to go no-"

"Wait a minute."

"What?"

"Our duel! It's time we settle this once and for all! Don't think you can run away this time!"

Ever since Mikoto saw him negating her lightning with his right hand from about a month ago, she had been chasing after him. Fortunately, Touma managed to avoid fighting Mikoto through running away at the best possible time.

Electricity surrounded Mikoto and she fired a lightning bolt at Touma.

He reached out his right hand, and it vanished upon contact.

"You keep saying you're a Level 0, but are you really a Level 0?"

"That's what the SYSTEM scan says. I'm really a Level 0, go check the Bank if you want."

Touma may be a Level 0, but he had a strange ability that could not be detected by the SYSTEM scan which determines each person's Level.

An ability in his right hand known as the Imagine Breaker.

As long as it's a supernatural phenomenon, it will be nullified without any exceptions, but that was only the Imagine Breaker's default setting. There was more he could do.

"Then why are you completely unhurt, huh? Level 0."

Why she was obsessed with fighting him was simple.

Mikoto had to always restrain herself from going all out if she didn't want to end up as a murderer. This was the price of being the #3 in Academy City.

Now that she has found a person (Touma) that she could go all out against without getting him killed, she could let loose and prove her worth as a Level 5 by defeating him.

However, despite having searched the Bank and saw that Touma was really a Level 0 who is a good-for-nothing high-school boy, and fail his tests all the time, Mikoto believed that there must be some kind of trick going on.

A person who could negate her lightning like it was nothing definitely isn't a Level 0 no matter how you look at it.

Touma sighed, "Wouldn't the scan classify me as a Level 0 if my ability is always negating the AIM field around me?"

"Don't treat me like an idiot. All abilities originate from the AIM field that one possesses. How can you use your ability if you have no AIM field to manifest it?"

"... Oh right."

If his form teacher, Tsukiyomi Komoe was here, she would not hesitate to give him back-to-back supplementary lessons recapping the underlying concept of one's ability. What Mikoto said was a succinct explanation of this concept.

No AIM field, or very weak AIM field, no ability. It was as simple as that.

Touma had no AIM field, yet he still had an ability. Mikoto came to the conclusion that his ability must be something different from the abilities developed in Academy City.

"Hey. Do you know what a Railgun is?"

It was time to test the limits of his ability by unleashing her strongest move, the Railgun.

Mikoto took out a coin from her skirt pocket, "I doubt that a Level 0 like you would understand."

She flicked the coin up into the air with her thumb, "I'll show you."

An orange light beam from Mikoto's thumb tore through the air as it headed towards Touma. However, something incredible happened.

Touma grabbed the beam, and broke it apart from Mikoto's thumb like snapping an attached extension with his right hand.

Mikoto blinked in confusion, "How is that even possible...?"

He had grabbed energy emitted from her Railgun as if it was a solid object. Mikoto was reminded of the #7 Sogiita Gunha who could do similar impossible feats such as pulling down the Earth's electromagnetic field to form a shield around him.

The difference is that Gunha had an AIM field, but Touma doesn't.

"You are not even a Gemstone."

The long, orange glow stick in Touma's right hand began to change form.

It turned into a bident.

"Are you sure you really want me to fight you seriously?"

Touma had an focused look on his face. He was ready for her.

Mikoto grew excited upon seeing this.

"Even though you have a stranger ability than that #7, I'm still a Level 5 and I won't lose that easily even if you finally take me seriously."

She formed a iron sand sword.

"Take this!"

The blade grew in length as it darted towards Touma.

It was destroyed in a single strike, and before Mikoto could blink, Touma was already two meters closer to her, with the bident pointed dangerously close towards her neck.

"The world is more than just Academy City."

Mikoto trembled as she felt the stinging heat from Touma's bident. All it took for him was two moves. She didn't even have a chance to retaliate.

She felt that there was a profound meaning behind those words, but only Academy City could develop ESPers. Other countries have tried, but failed.

An existence like Touma should be impossible. He had no AIM field at all, yet he could do impossible things like the #7.

"Wh-who exactly are you?"

There are seven billion people in the world.

Five people stood at the very top.

Each one of them had enough power to take on the world on equal terms.

Touma was ranked fourth out of the five.

He may have been reduced to the level of a Saint, but the rest of his power still resides within him. Touma was only unable to fully manifest his Imagine Breaker at 100% output because he no longer possessed a suitable medium.

Compared to Mikoto who could fight an army alone, Touma was the real monster. However, he now wanted a peaceful life.

And he also had a date with Misaki.

"What is the time now?"

"I-If you don't p-put that away, I can't check the time on my phone properly."

"Oh right."

Touma smiled sheepishly as he threw the bident away. It turned back into a coin midair and it dropped on the bridge with a 'clank' sound.

Mikoto was still trembling as she flipped open her phone, "I-It's 9.30pm."

Touma had a resigned look on his face, "I see." and patted Mikoto on the head, "Don't be scared. You were the one who asked me to take you seriously. Well, I really have to go now."

He turned away and ran across the bridge as fast as a moving car.

As Mikoto went and picked up the coin that was surprisingly cold to the touch (her Railgun should have heated it up), she thought about an unanswered question in her mind.

What did he mean by 'The world is more than just Academy City'?

She had a feeling that if she truly understood what Touma meant by that, her question would be answered.

Just what exactly are you?

Author's Note: As I was writing A Certain Destructive Meltdowner, I realized that I'm not a Shizuri person at all. I mean, sure it was interesting trying out a different character than I usually write to get out of my comfort zone, but deep down inside, I'm more of a Misaki and/or Mikoto person. As in, I enjoy writing about them more. Since everybody is bored of Mikoto, I'll go with Misaki before everyone becomes bored of Misaki as well.

Anyway, yes, I was inspired by Loopsey's OP!Touma fic, so I decided to give Touma a power up, but not as OP as the Touma in his fic. Maybe Kanzaki's OP level would be pretty okay for Touma.

I'll see how the response for this fic goes. If you people really think that this fic has potential, I'll import my ideas that I've planned for 'A Certain Destructive Meltdowner' into this fic. If not... then I'll probably have to come up with something original I suppose. (But actually I myself think that it really has potential.)

And... hope you liked this short intro chapter before I delve deeper into the story.

Lastly, bonus virtual cookie to anyone who can guess the remaining four person who stood at the very top with Touma. A pizza if you get the order right.

See you :D