Godkiller towered over Mikoto and pointed its disproportionate lance directly at her. Her hip was dislocated from taking a full on hit from the shrapnel of the last blast. At point blank range, there would not be enough reaction time for anyone to dodge an attack, even with the assistance of her electromagnetism. Even if she raised a shield of iron sand, it would be instantly vaporized. A mechanical whirr clunked from inside the magic based machine. This was the end.

Touma screamed from the side unable to do anything about the situation. Defeated and greatly weakened, Touma despaired from under the rubble he was being crushed by. The esper with the power known as Space Breaker remained unconscious next to him.

"MIKOTOOOOOOOO!"

Misaka Mikoto did not turn around, but only continued to face her end. There was nothing she could do anymore. She had tried everything she could to save Touma, and up until this point she knew her efforts were in vain. He was too far ahead, but perhaps this was the only way to catch up to him. She knew if the Godkiller fired at this close range, the blast would destroy it as well. The damage she and Space Breaker had inflicted were enough to render it vulnerable. It was like the final sacrifice to end a chess game, and the final attack would end up costing a valuable piece. However, Misaka Mikoto was not being ordered to do this, she whole heartedly threw herself into fire to protect someone she had wrapped her heart around. She would no longer be the one to be left behind, but now someone to keep him moving forward.

I know I probably haven't done enough for you. I know this will probably hurt you more than anything, but I need to do this for my own selfish reasons… I need to make sure you can keep going forward, even if I can't ever catch up to you.

The mechanical whirr from the Magic hybrid increased, and a glowing red light began to emit from the barrel of the lance. This was it.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU THINKING!? YOU'RE GOING TO DIE!"

Idiot, she thought, this is exactly something you would do… who are you to say something like that

The light began to grow brighter, and the unsettling sound of something mechanically high pitched screeched from the internal mechanism of the Hyrbid. Just before it unleashed hell onto Misaka Mikoto's helpless body, she turned her head towards Touma. Her lips were moving as tears streamed from her eyes down her face, but Touma could not make out what she was saying over the high pitched screech of the lance. Then, a flash of light engulfed Misaka Mikoto and blinded Touma.

Flesh ripped from her bone and instantly vaporized from the sheer energy of the blast. Nothing would be left of her even from the initial blast. Then, as soon as the first blast finished, the diameter of the explosion quickly imploded on itself and crushed everything around it inwards towards the center. The Hyrbid couldn't even take the blast and crumpled completely under its own attack and quickly disappeared as well.

And then there was silence…

Nothing remained except a crater where Misaka Mikoto once laid helplessly in.

"MIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIKOOOOOOOOOOOOTOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Touma screamed in vain. There was nothing that could be done. She was gone.

9 hours earlier…

Misaka Mikoto trudged along her way to school. It was her last year at Tokiwadai Middle School and many of her classmates were finding or already found High Schools to apply to. Most of them would be moving on to other high class, prestigious schools with specializations towards higher education or pristine Esper Development. However, Mikoto still had no choice. She was being haunted by something else that bothered her from the inner core.

Mikoto entered the campus and slumped into a desk. All the other girls around her were happily gossiping or talking amongst each other. Many conversations were about the future. However, Mikoto could only think about how hopeless she would be. Surely she could go off to a stellar high school and then college and make herself a promising career, but to her, that was the least of her problems. Mikoto's emptiness had its origins from deep within herself.

He's so far away…