Kioshi Fukao was a trained killer. He didn't have some tragic past where he was abandoned by his abusive family and became a killer because he needed to to survive. He wasn't ostracized as a child because he was stronger then everybody around him. He didn't have a mental disorder that forced him to kill without giving him any choice in the matter. He didn't have a sick little sister who had very expensive medical bills that he need to pay off. He didn't even have anybody special that Academy City was holding hostage to make him kill people, like a lot of others in Academy City's dark side. He was a killer simply because it paid very well, and he was good enough that he wasn't in danger of getting killed on most jobs.
He was a level four pyrokinesis user, one of the strongest ones in Academy City. Most of the work that he did was jobs where there was a lot of 'evidence' to be burned, evidence in this case meaning his employer didn't want any bodies left behind. He ran a few other crimes on the side like occasionally helping to fake fires for the insurance money, but mainly what he did was kill for money.
One day he had been approached by a man who offered him a job. A ridiculous job. An offer to join a team with the job of taking down Academy City's number one Accelerator.
Kioshi accepted immediately. He met the other members, and they were all told given a file on everything the employer knew about Accelerator. They told him that they believed his power would be able to hurt Accelerator, by using it to create ozone to make him suffocate. In a one one one fight it would be useless but with nine other level fours on his side, all using other weaknesses there would probably be enough time for it to work
Then that plan had gone to hell when some electromaster that was with Accelerator yelled out to warn him about the ozone, and Accelerator brushed the ozone aside like it was a bunch of eraser crumbs. Then to make things worse the electromaster had somehow managed to block the attacks of seven espers, and get Accelerator to run away, right when they were about to finish him off.
"He got away!" Ekiguchi yelled. He had always liked to state the obvious.
"We'll get him in a second! Kill this one first!" Katsuma, the team leader and a level four teleporter, yelled.
This wasn't the time to panic Kioshi reminded himself. They still had eight highly trained espers, and the enemy were now split up. They had this one surrounded and Accelerator was injured. It was still entirely possible for them to salvage the mission and then Kioshi would be rich beyond his wildest dreams.
"Now!" Katsuma yelled. Miyajima raised her hand and used her power to create a giant light, easily as bright as a flash grenade. Kioshi and the others were all wearing special contacts that blocked the flash and allowed them to see, but the electromaster was blinded. Regardless he started to sprint at Miyajima, seemingly completely headless of being surrounded by espers. Kioshi attacked with a stream of fire, Katsuma teleported a screw, and the others all used their powers at the exact same time.
For a second all Kioshi could hear was the roar of so many powerful esper abilities being activated at once. Then he heard the sound of shattering glass, and he watched all of the powers just disappear all at once.
For a second Kioshi couldn't believe what was he was seeing, then the smoke cleared and he saw the electromaster punch Miyajima in the face so hard that Kioshi knew that she was knocked out. Without pausing he ran straight at Ekiguchi who was standing beside Miyajima. Ekiguchi tried to defend himself with his ability to control the wind but the electromaster smacked it away with ease and punched Ekiguchi in the face as well.
Kioshi's frightened mind began to put together what happened. The electromaster, no Kioshi didn't know what he was but he wasn't an electromaster, had charged directly at Miyajima the second she had used her blinding power. He had ran right past her, and all the others had been forced to attack him from one direction allowing him to defend himself. Then he had used his right hand to block the incoming attacks. It was ridiculous. In that one second he had identified their weak point, Miyajima who couldn't actually attack just blind, and then exploited her to block all of the attacks.
How the hell had he been able to block the attacks of seven level fours though? No simple level four could do that and he didn't match any of the descriptions of the level 5s, aside from the #7 that Kioshi had already seen personally... Wait. That was it. This must be that elusive #6 that no one knew anything about. Of course. That explained why he was traveling with Accelerator, he wasn't one to hang around with weaklings.
What the heck were they supposed to do against a level five though? He was competent that they could defeat Accelerator, but that was after gathering ten level fours specifically trained to fight his weaknesses. He was under no illusions about how strong the seven level fives were, fighting this one without being prepared would certainly mean their death.
However running away now would also certainly lead to their deaths. Accelerator would hunt them down one by one and kill them, without the strength of numbers he would slaughter them like pigs. You couldn't stay alive in the position he was in by allowing people who knew your weaknesses to live. No one would be willing to shield or hide them from him, not wanting to risk their wrath as well.
No, they had to figure out what this level 5's power was. He had blocked all of their powers, but it seemed to be limited to his right hand. Kioshi had never even heard of a power like that, but then again the #6 had stayed hidden so well for so long so he must have a talent for this sort of thing. Damnit he needed to figure this out.
The fear of the unknown started to fill him as two of the espers managed to realize that he would be coming for them next and started to fight back. They didn't attack with coordination or teamwork but in a panicked mess. One of them, a girl whose name Kioshi had never learned tried to use her power of gravity manipulation to pull him down. Kioshi wasn't able to see what happened next but that sound like shattering glass appeared again, and the #6 dispatched of another esper. The other Fumihiko tried to used her power to control the earth to pull the ground out from beneath him, but almost like he could see it coming the #6 was easily able to jump over the displaced ground and punched her in the face.
There were only four of them left now. Katsuma had killed Iwasa before the fight even started, then Accelerator severally injured Mitsubishi their icemaster, then the #6 had taken out four others on his own. Kioshi was flat out panicking now, unable to even begin to imagine what this esper's ability was.
"What the hell is he!" Shizuma, who was standing beside Kioshi yelled. Now all of them had abandoned any idea of teamwork, and were all fending for themselves.
"He's a level five!" Kioshi yelled back.
"Fuck!" Katsuma yelled.
The #6 punched out Yatsuda as they were talking and turned to them. They were the only three left. All of them were terrified. "Why the fuck is he just punching people!" Shizuma yelled.
That was something Kioshi hadn't considered. His terrified mind clung to the thought like a drowning man to a piece of driftwood. Why would a level five only attack with his right hand, in fact why was he going through so much trouble to only block with his right hand? The answer hit him like a locomotive. He was toying with them. He was so unconcerned with the threat that they posed that he was only bothering to use his power to cover his right hand.
Shizuma let out a crazed yell and charged at the #6 with his fist raised high. He wasn't even bothering to use his ability. He must have thought that by not using his ability he would have a better chance since the #6 was only bothering to use his power to block abilities. It was a stupid move. None of the espers on the unit were very fit, and judging by how this level 5 had just carved through their unit like a hot knife through butter he was obviously a very strong and very experienced fighter. Shizuma took one punch and collapsed.
"What the fuck is this guy!" Kioshi yelled.
"Who the fuck cares!" Katsuma yelled. Kioshi could hear the obvious fear in his voice. "He can't block something that just teleports into him right! I'll put it right through that fucking hand of his!" Katsuma yelled as he grabbed a screw from his pocket and swung his hand.
Kioshi felt hope for one glorious instant as the screw vanished from his hand. Then the screw reappeared in the same spot, only now it was occupied by a part of Katsuma's palm, due to Katsuma moving his hand as he teleported the object. Katsuma screamed and grabbed his hand, dropping to his knees. The #6 punched him in the face five seconds later, and he too was knocked out cold. Kioshi was alone.
"THAT'S NOT FUCKING POSSIBLE!" Kioshi yelled at the top of his lungs. There was no way he could block powers and use teleport at the same time. No esper, even a level five could have more than one ability.
That was it. Suddenly he understood. This time he knew the real reason this opponent was so strong, and it wasn't because he was a level five.
He was a demon. A monster made flesh.
"JUST FUCKING DIE!" Kioshi yelled. He was more afraid then he had ever been in his life, more afraid than of any of the countless life or death experiences he had experienced before. Those were all against flesh and blood humans, people he could understand, people who would go down when hit enough. This monster was unlike anything he had ever encountered before.
He used his fear to release one last desperate attack. Fire so hot it felt like the sun itself poured out of him. It was the strongest attack he had ever done. It would have destroyed an entire building if it had hit one. The demon swept it aside with ease.
Kioshi couldn't even think as a single punch knocked him into unconsciousness.
X X X * * * X X X
The Saint turned and looked at Index, stopping right before he was about to swing his sword down and cut off one of the girls necks. A girl Index recognized. It was Short-hair; the girl that liked Touma. Beside her was a girl with pink twin tails who was out cold. Short-hair looked at Index with a look that shouted 'run'.
"Well look at this." The Saint said. "Here I was worrying that I lost you." Index could feel the magic power in him, the incredible power of a Saint. She fought back the urge to run away and cry for Touma's help.
The next instant she felt him hit her in the side and she fell to the ground. Not for the first time she found herself wishing that her Walking Church still worked. Not even a Saint would be able to hurt her if it was still functional. It was useless to wish for something she couldn't have though. Index cried out as she hit the ground.
"Perfect." The Saint said. "I just have to kill these two and then I can take you and get out of this fucking city." He turned to walk towards Short-hair and the girl with pink twin tails.
Index started singing. She was using her Sheol Fear, an ability in the form of choir that points out and impeaches the contradiction of the basis of a religion or theory of magic and causes a break down in the enemies mind. It was the same thing she had once used to combat a bunch of battle nuns. It was also probably her only hope of actually managing to beat this Saint. She was using it to target Christianity as a Saint gained their power from their bodies being similar to God. That didn't mean that they had to use Christian magic but Christian churches had ways of locating Saints when they are born and raising them as Christians. He was far more likely to be a Christian than anything else. She had never even heard about a non-christian Saint.
The Saint just turned back and looked at her oddly. "Why do I care about some bible contradictions?" Index felt her blood go cold. Her only hope of actually fighting the Saint had just proven to be as ineffectual as calling him a bad name. Index wasn't an idiot, she knew what that meant. Short-hair and the other girl would die and Index would be kidnapped and used to aid the Saint in his quest for power. She had no illusions that Touma would be able to save her this time, even with his right hand he was still an amateur and she doubted the Saint was going to stay in Academy City. No he would take her to some hidden location in the world and no one would ever find her.
The Saint noticed her reaction. "... That was supposed to be some method of attacking me wasn't it?" He looked at her with an expression of pure anger. "Why is it that everybody in this fucking city thinks that they can fight me? I am a fucking Saint, a master of magic and everybody in this city just thinks they can try and stop me! Not one person in this city could possibly hope to match my power!" He yelled and stomped his foot to the ground. The ground beneath his foot was crushed and Index felt the earth shake a little. "Stay the fuck back, when I'm done with killing these two we're leaving the city."
He turned away and Index knew that he was right. She didn't stand a chance. Nobody in this city did. A Saint could kill a person faster than they could even begin to defend themselves let alone fight back. They took their power from God himself and not a single person would be able to stop them if they didn't want to be stopped.
Still though Index wasn't just about to let two people die. As the Saint walked away she decided to examine his magic. She knew it was hopeless. Still though she called on the knowledge in her head, the 103,000 grimoires that gave her her name, and in less than a second she knew everything about his magic.
Then she smiled.
The Saint got back to the girls and raised his sword into the air to kill the one with the pink hair. "I-S-I C-B-I!" Index yelled out. The Saint's weapon turned upon itself and was destroyed.
He turned to glare at her again. "I am going to hurt you for that."
Index just smiled at him. She had examined his magic and suddenly everything she had been wondering about made perfect sense. The terrible magical ward that wouldn't have stopped any even slightly competent magician from finding them. The lack of any sort of magical alarm system to warn of a prison break. Everything was suddenly so clear she wondered why she hadn't thought of it much sooner. "Don't be silly." She told him. "How could an amateur like you possibly hurt a master of magic like me?"
His face froze. Index kept smiling. "What the hell are you talking about!" He yelled at her "I am a Saint, I am a far stronger magician than you will ever be!"
"Well normally that would be the case, but just because someone is born with talent doesn't mean they will be any useful if they aren't trained." He sniffed in surprise and she knew she had hit a mark. Her analysis had told her everything there was to know about his magic. It was incredibly amateurish, and barely trained at all. "There's nobody in the world who would give up a chance to have a Saint on their side so I'm guessing that as soon as you learned a bit of combat magic you decided that was enough and left thinking that 'it would be okay because your Saint power would make you stronger than any magician you fight anyways'."
"S!" Index yelled out. At the same time the Saint sprinted at Index faster than the speed of sound. He didn't even get close to her. The second he started running his whole body shifted to the right and he ran directly past Index. He barely managed to stop himself before he crashed into the building.
"What the hell!" He yelled out. "You shouldn't be able to use magic!"
"Ah, if you weren't such an amateur in magic you would know a spell like spell intercept doesn't require any mana." Index replied.
An amateur magician who has the power of a Saint versus a master magician who has no magical power. It was impossible to tell which would pull through, the natural talent of the Saint or the incredible knowledge within Index's head.
The Saint started a chant, and Index immediately recognized it as a spell to make the earth below the feet of the enemy explode. It's actual purpose was just to make the enemy lose their footing but with the power of a Saint it could easily be used as a means of attacking the enemy. Like everything else the Saint did the spell was very rudimentary and mediocre, but his raw power made up for that.
"A-I-B!" Index cried out the second before the spell was cast. The ground below the Saints feet exploded and he went flying backwards. She wouldn't have been able to do that with a higher level spell which were generally too specific to be changed that much but the low level ones the Saint was using were. She silently thanked God that the Saint was so untrained.
She couldn't see where the Saint was but she ran over to the two girls lying on the ground. The pink haired one had a large gash in her forehead and Index could tell that she was out cold, and would need some serious medical attention to stay alive. Short-hair had some cuts on her but they were old and already bandaged, and she had several large bruises on her. She was awake and looked at Index with terror in her eyes.
"Take Kuroko and run." She managed to croak out. Index just shook her head.
"I. Have. Had. Enough. Of. This." The Saint said. Index turned to look over and was that the Saint had been preparing a healing spell and was casting it on himself. Of course it wasn't a very good healing spell but at the very least it would mange to seal up his skin and stop the bleeding. "So what if you can mess with my attacks?" He asked. "You still can't hit me on your own. Sooner or late you'll make one misstep and you'll be dead." As he spoke the sword of air reappeared in his hand and he pointed it at Index. "I don't have time for this today so I'm going to make you a deal. Leave with me peacefully and I won't kill the girls."
Index wavered. It was a stalemate for now but eventually she would make a mistake and slip up. She wasn't experienced in combat, and although she knew almost everything about magic she didn't trust herself not to make a small mistake. And in a fight like this a tiny mistake would lead to her death.
"Don't..." Short-hair said.
Index took a look at her and the girl she had called Kuroko. She couldn't let them die. Not for her. She nodded at the Saint and started walking towards him. She couldn't stop a tear from coming to her eye but she blinked it away before it could fall.
"That's better." The Saint said. "Now to get out of this fucking city. This director's plans have already failed so I don't need to stick around here anymore. With you I'll have more than enough magical knowledge to make myself so strong no one can touch me."
"Don't... fuck... with... me!" Index heard coming from behind her. She turned around and saw that Short-hair had pulled herself to her feet. She was wobbling and shaking, but she set her feet and stood strong. "If she can't hurt you then I will."
A huge bolt of electricity flew at the Saint. He was so surprised that she was even standing that he took it head on. He cried out in pain. "You!" He yelled and sprinted at her.
"S!" Index yelled again. The Saint shifted to the right again and didn't even get close to Short-hair.
"See." Short-hair said. "If you act as the defence and I act as the offence we can take him."
Index didn't know what to say. So instead she just smiled and resolutely nodded her head.
The Saint ran at Misaka with a cry like a whiny child. Index was already ready for him. "S!" She cried out for the third time. The Saint shifted to the right yet again, directly over a trip-line of iron sand that Misaka had set up. He hit the ground. Hard.
Sparks shot out from Misaka's bangs and she threw a bolt of lightning at him while he was down. A second afterwards a swarm of iron sand formed from the ground. The Saint barely managed to jump clear of being engulfed in it.
Index yelled out "O-N-D!" Cancelling his magical healing before it was completely done. He faltered midstep and the swarm of iron sand caught up to him. His eyes were wide with terror as the iron sand caught up to him. It hit him like a locomotive and stuck to him, pinning him to the ground.
Index and Misaka smiled at each other.
The Saint started chanting again and Index analyzed the spell in half an instant "S-R-T!" She yelled. The next second the iron sand was blown away but a giant burst of wind. However instead of standing up victoriously he cried out in pain. Index had reversed the wind spell so that it hit him instead of flying outwards. It still blew away the iron sand but the Saint certainly didn't enjoy it as much as he would have.
He didn't even try any more chanting spells this time. Instead he simply got up with his super speed and ran at them like a bull charging at a red curtain. "S!" Index cried out yet again.
He shifted to the side and hit the trip-line again but this time he was prepared and the line snapped under his strength. He paused for half a second before running at them again with his sword raised high in the air. That half a second was all Index and Misaka needed. "S-D! M-S-D" Index yelled out.
The Saint sprinted at them yet again with his super speed. Or at least he tried to. Instead he took off at a 1/50th of the speed he had ran. It was still far far faster than any human could move but it was slow enough to allow Misaka to take aim. She hit him directly in the heart. A normal human's heart would have stopped beating but then again if he was a normal human he would have been dead several times over.
The Saint merely shivered for a second and got up again. He looked at them like a spoiled child looks at a person denying it something, and charged at them like a bull at a red curtain. For the final time Index yelled out "S!"
As always the Saint shifted to his right in the middle of his sprint but this time didn't bother to try and reorient himself before turning and running at them again. Turning a complete 90º in the middle of a sprint at that speed was incredibly difficult. Index didn't know if he pulled it off with skill or just plain luck. She could couldn't even see it let alone stop it. He hadn't stopped so she never got the chance to use her spell intercept again. His sword stabbed directly through her heart.
The Saint smiled.
Index smiled back.
The Saint stared at her with obvious disbelief. He looked down to his sword, mouth agape, to see that the only thing remaining was the hilt. Everything that had touched Index had simply vanished.
"Ah, I simply added onto you're sword an effect to make it disappear whenever it touches the flesh of a human back when I slowed you down." Index said to him still smiling.
"You...Bitch." The Saint chocked out in anger. He raised his right fist in an exaggerated slow motion. His face was as read as a beat. Index knew the punch would hurt.
It never hit. Index was pulled away by some invisible force and the Saint barely managed to turn his head in time to see the railgun fire. He didn't have time to move.
He flew off like a rag doll, the force of the coin accelerating him across the compound.
Index pulled herself off the ground to see Misaka breathing heavily. Her hand was still raised and sparks were flying off of her. She looked over to Index with concern, and the two of them smiled at each other like little girls. They had won.
X X X * * * X X X
Accelerator opened the door and walked into the director's room. In stark contrast to the rest of the compound which was designed for the maximum efficiency possible, this room looked exactly like a medieval throne room. Halfway through the room a staircase started at and the top sat Director Akihiro Watanabe in a giant throne. The rest of the room was dimly lit but there was a spotlight on him, one so weak it almost looked natural.
"Accelerator." The director's deep voice boomed down from atop his throne.
"Ah, out of security?" Accelerator said with a smile. "I guess you used it all up on all those espers trained to kill me and that ridiculous amount of powered suits huh?"
"...So you can really only think of security on that level huh?" The director said in a disappointed tone of voice. "I was under the impression that you were much smarter than that, being the number one esper."
"Huh?" Accelerator said in a annoyed tone of voice.
"I don't need security. I am security." The director said slowly and deeply. "No one in this city would dare to attack a board of directors member. Those powered suits are merely to take care of those from outside the city and those espers were hired just for you. I of course didn't expect you to bring some cannon fodder along to hold them off."
That last comment made Accelerator wonder if Kamijou was still holding them off. He quickly put the thought out of his head however. If Kamijou could defeat him, Academy Cities strongest, then he would have no trouble with some weaklings. He just glared at the director and said. "What did you want with Last Order?"
The director pondered for a moment before saying "I guess there's no difference between you knowing and you not knowing. I have won already anyways. There is nothing you can do to change that. I assume you know the purpose of the clone Last Order?"
Accelerator just glared at him.
"Yes, the clone Last Order was made to control all of the other clones of Misaka Mikoto. My plan was simple really." He shrugged as he said the last sentence. "A previous attempt to take control of her had been made but you were able to foil it by reading the virus imputed into her brain and erasing it. All I had to do was use a method that your powers couldn't reverse."
"Telepathy." Accelerator said after a moment. From that small speech Accelerator had figured out the basics of the plan. "You were going to torture those telepaths to get them to brainwash the network through her. Idiot. The telepaths would just use their powers to take control of your guards."
"Yes." The director responded. "That would be the normal situation. However that changed when I was approached by that Saint. He told me about magic, and offered his services in return for a favour. I asked him if he could magically make himself resistant to telepathy and he assured me he could. Then I just had to tell him the location of some girl and we had a deal." He grinned and said "He told me he would even be able to resist the power of the #5 level 5."
"..." That answered why two people from completely different sides of the world would be helping each other out. To think this whole incident wouldn't have happened if the Saint had just approached someone else.
"I see you understand." The director said. "And of course you also understand why there isn't anything you can do about it?"
"What are you talking about?"
"I am a member of the board of directors. If you kill me then you will be treated as a terrorist for the rest of your life. Of course you could merely seriously injure me but then I would be able to come after you." He said. Then a smirk came across his face again. "Now I bet you would be able to survive the hatred of one member of the board of directors but I merely have to go and get help from Thomas Platinaburg, who you shot in the chest in the 9/30 incident."
If Accelerator killed him then he and Last Order would have to live as terrorists. If he merely injured him for now or took Last Order and left, two members of the board of directors would focus on making his life and Last Order's lives hell. Of course if he just left then Last Order would be brainwashed. No matter how you looked at it this was a no win situation.
However...
"You over-extended yourself you idiot."
Accelerator used the power of Academy City's number one esper and killed the director. There was no reveal where Akihiro turned out to be a powerful esper or magician. He didn't have a robot hidden in his throne which he could use to fight back. That kind of ending boss battle didn't happen. Instead Accelerator used his powers and it was a one-way slaughter. It couldn't even be called a fight. Akihiro died before he even realized Accelerator was attacking him.
Accelerator turned and walked away. "You attacked three separate level fives you idiot. We even had the help of a brain of another of Academy City's directors. That's far more than enough political pull to sweep this under the rug." He paused at the door way and turned around to face the director's mangled corpse. "I don't care what you board of directors members do to each other, but leave that brat out of it."
With that he walked out without a second glance.
End Chapter 7
Author's Note: And that was the final chapter full length chapter. Stay tuned for an epilouge.
