I'm so, so, so sorry for not updating in such a long time. I have no excuses (well, besides getting hooked on D. Gray-Man and Sword Art Online…and real life). Truth is, I actually had a hard time writing this chapter. And chapter 10. My weak version of compensation was to post two chapters at once. So, yeah. Sorry. Also, there's no action in this chapter since I kinda needed a transition between the actual battle and chapter 9.
Thanks for all the reviews, follows, and favourites, guys!
Yeelimso: Would you like me to answer or not? Other reviewers have posed this question. As for AU Mikoto, she does know about the Level 6 Shift, but she didn't really care since AU Accelerator took care of the mess for her.
J. Gentleman: Okay! I'll take your word for that. Which means…
Disclaimer: I own nothing besides the AU characters, and Ryuuichi.
P. S.: Sorry for not writing any action scenes in this chapter.
Silver Dragon SD: Here's an extremely late update. Um…as for the matter with Touma and Index….*coughs*
Anyways, Accelerator will show his insane side soon. Maybe in chapter 12. That's the reason why I like him as well.
flaming hunter: What if he's the…antagonist?
IMPORTANT AN AT BOTTOM PLEASE READ
Enjoy!
Right after Accelerator finished his sentence, the room exploded with loud protests.
"Are you crazy?!"
"That base is the biggest one!"
"Are you deliberately trying to get us killed?"
"I thought you were sane!"
Accelerator ignored their protests, instead modifying his auto-reflect to reflect the sounds. He closed his eyes, opening one when he sensed a bolt of electricity bouncing off his shield. Angry brown eyes stared back at him, and Accelerator sighed, letting the sound waves travel through his auto-reflect.
Silence met his ears, and Accelerator realized that someone must have silenced the others. Taking that as his cue to speak, he opened his mouth.
"First, get off me, third-rate."
Mikoto stepped away from Accelerator. "First off, are you even a sane person?!" She retorted.
Accelerator stared at Mikoto in disbelief. "Who told you I was sane in the first place? Because I'm not. But right now, I'm sane enough to know that taking over the closest base is the best idea right now. They currently pose the biggest threat to us since they're the closest to the hidden base. I'm surprised you guys haven't taken care of them by now."
"That's because it's the same base where Satou-san and Kakine-san got captured," Aihana said. "None of us have dared to go near that place since then. Mikoto and I usually go out and take care of individual magicians, and we only attack the smaller bases alone."
"No wonder you guy's are still hiding," Accelerator grumbled. "Aren't you Level Fives strategists and leaders? Skulking in the shadows and attacking the smallest of places won't cut it."
"Then you try devising a strategy to attack that base with the least amount of casualties, Mr. I-think-I-can-do-anything. Last time Aihana-san attacked a small base alone, he barely escaped with his life. We can't risk losing a large number of Level Fours, much less another Level Five." Mikoto glared at Accelerator. He stared back coldly.
"Gladly." His voice was heavy with sarcasm. "Considering you do nothing in your spare time but attack individual magicians, third-rate."
"Alright, alright, stop fighting." Surprisingly, it was Sogiita who said that, dragging Mikoto away from Accelerator and quickly depositing her on a chair before retreating back to his own spot. "Accelerator, let's hear your plan."
"I need all the information we can get on the base. How big it is, how many magicians, what type of magic is used, what kind of magic is guarding the base, et cetera."
"Wait a second, will you?" Misaki cleared everything off the table and ran her hand across the smooth, polished surface. "Aihana-san, the lights?"
The lights went out, but the surface of the table was glowing with an eerie light that cast strange shadows across the room. Intrigued, Accelerator stood up and walked over to the table. His eyes widened when the surface rippled and changed to display the entire map of the ruined Academy City.
"Hmm, where was it...? Oh, here we go! 3-D mode." Misaki tapped something and the 2-dimensional map sprang up, the flat buildings suddenly rising up into the air. "This is a complete map of Academy City, updated just a week ago."
"I think your world's tech is more advanced than mine," Accelerator grumbled.
"Nope. According to Ryuuichi and Aihana, this kind of stuff is top-secret, even more than human experimentation projects. I'm not surprised you didn't know about this. It's a interactive holographic projector, controllable with simple movements or our thoughts if needed."
Accelerator made brief eye contact with Aihana, who nodded. The white-haired boy clicked his tongue and looked back at the table.
Misaki pointed to some areas in District 7 outlined with a faint blue. "The biggest area is our main base, while the smaller ones are emergency hideouts. The places outlined in black are where the magicians allied with us stay. The places outlined in red are the bases of the enemy magicians." There were a lot of red areas scattered all around the map, but Accelerator made no comment.
"How do you guys update this map?"
"Over here." Misaki pointed to a small flat square with various symbols and words on it. "You can add anything, or get rid of anything. Or if you prefer a hands-on method, just tap on something and it will disappear. Double-tap the same place and the opposite will happen."
"Sounds fun to me." Accelerator tapped a few buildings close to the base. Noticing the stares from the others, he explained, "I destroyed a few buildings when I fought the magician yesterday."
"Yesterday? Wow, you've been here for less than 24 hours and we didn't even notice! It's like you've been here for weeks already." Misaki tapped the middle of District 7 and that district enlarged in size, all the other districts disappearing. "Alright, we're currently here." She pointed to the largest area that was outlined in blue. "The fact that you fought Stiyl Magnus so close to our bases must indicate that they're getting closer to finding us. With Ryuuichi gone, we can't establish another base." A concerned look passed briefly over her face.
"The magicians?" Accelerator prompted her.
"Oh, right." With a wave of her hand, Misaki zeroed in on the large red area in District 7. "The latest information is from a month ago, but the magicians here have reported an increase in the levels of mana coming from that area for the past few days. Whether that means more magicians have arrived or more powerful magic is being used, we don't know."
"Stats?"
"Confirmed about 70 magicians, but there are definitely more. Around 10 of them are responsible for keeping up the incredibly high defense. There are 10 confirmed healers, and they're not to be underestimated. The rest are wielders of many different kinds of magic. Some are necromancers, some are alchemists, some are sorcerers, some are simulcrists, and some are specially trained for combat."
"How long did my counterpart and Kakine last there?"
"Two hours. They held out much longer than expected, and they were able to reduce the magicians by a third, but a magician that my sources didn't sense whose mental powers surpassed mine were able to control them to stop. He personally handed them over to the Magic Side Leader."
"How do you know...oh wait, the crest."
Misaki nodded.
"Tch. Who's the magician?"
"Shizuri?" Misaki glanced at the silent Meltdowner.
Without a word, Shizuri walked to the table, and resized the map to fit half the table with a wave of her hand. Tapping a corner of the table, she brought up a hovering menu, and selected seemingly-random options, until a list of names showed up. She tapped one, and it enlarged to display the profile of a blond-haired man with icy blue eyes.
"Nicholas Geminus, 36 years old, one of the Magic Side's most powerful magicians that use mental magic compared to physical. He's at least 5 times more powerful than Misaki in terms of mind-control, telepathy, and other telepathic abilities. He's the apparent leader of the base, unless someone else is hiding in there."
"That all?"
"Yes. What's your plan?"
"What, no weak spots?" Accelerator narrowed his eyes at the base. If he superimposed his version of Academy City mentally over the map, he could almost imagine the area originally being a huge research facility he sometimes went to when he was still participating in the projects. That place had plenty of weak spots.
Misaki's voice brought him out of his thoughts. "If there were any, the magicians blocked them up with barriers. None of us remember that place before the war."
"It was a research facility," Accelerator said laconically. "I'm no strategist, but we need 3 Level Fives, and any magician that can break down barriers. We need two or three Level 4 teleporters, and maybe 4 or 5 others that are closer to Level 5 and have abilities they can use to fight. The Level Fives will be me, third-rate, and Sixth."
"Would it hurt to remember our names?" Aihana asked casually. "Not like I care, but still. Anyways, can I make up a strategy? I have a few in mind."
Accelerator shrugged, before turning to Mikoto and Misaki. "Can you meet the requirements for the specific espers?"
"That's a lot, considering our meagre forces. But if you're attacking the largest base, that's a pathetic number of people." Mikoto said. "But yes, we can find the espers with strong offensive abilities."
"If everything goes wrong, I have a trump card." Accelerator grinned maniacally, and his eyes lit up with sadistic delight.
"What kind of trump card?"
"A highly unstable one. Actually, I should be able to control it. Do any of the magicians know how to summon higher-level beings?"
"Not that I know of," Misaki said, shaking her head.
"Then this might just work. Also, one of the Level Fours should be Worst."
"What the hell, Tou-san?!"
"Hah? I thought you'd be excited to battle."
Worst rolled her eyes. "Of course Misaka wants to fight. Misaka is talking about your trump card!"
"Oh, that. What about it?"
"You didn't look like you could control it the last time you used it!"
"I was in control! Unless you only remember the first time, and that wasn't the last time I used it!"
"You guys can argue about that later," Aihana said. "If it helps us, all the better. Anyways, I've already thought up a strategy for an attack. We'll need a few more magicians, though."
"What is it?"
"We'll need one magician that can put up barriers to shield the ones that are going to dismantle the defenses. Plus, I think bringing a few combat magicians, a necromancer and maybe an elementalist would be more beneficial. Other than that, I agree with Accelerator. However, for an attack plan..." Aihana strode over to the table, and deftly cleared the entire table with a snap of his fingers.
The blue-haired boy tapped a series of patterns on the table, and a 3D close-up of the magicians' base appeared. Holding out his hand, he dropped a series of figures on the table, formed out of ice. "Should I set this to projector mode?"
"Yeah," Shizuri said.
Aihana nodded, before tapping out another pattern on the table. Abruptly, a rectangle of light shone on the wall, displaying everything that was happening on the table from a bird's-eye view. "Okay, so you see the pieces of ice I put on the table? The 5s obviously mean the Level Fives, and the 4s mean the Level Fours. The magicians are represented by the spheres. We'll station the magicians taking down the defenses a little ways off from the actual battlefield." Three spheres moved away from the building. "Meanwhile, the main attack force goes at the front—Accelerator-san, Misaka Worst, and Musujime Awaki." The corresponding symbols moved to the front of the base. Aihana glanced at Accelerator. "You do know her, right?"
"Ugh, that shotacon? Why her?" Accelerator complained.
A smile tugged at the corners of Aihana's mouth. "She's not like that here. She's quite nice. She'll get you out of any sticky situations, and her ability's quite useful."
"I'll see it when I believe it," the white-haired boy grumbled.
"Anyways, we'll have two groups flanking their sides—groups of 4, one led by Mikoto, and one led by me. Mikoto, I assume you'll be choosing your own group? I know who I'll be bringing."
The brown-haired esper nodded.
"Anyways, I'll tell the combat magicians to bust in another way so we can attempt to divert some attention away from us. The necromancer can pick off individual magicians. I'll need to talk to them. Mikoto, come with? I'll probably have a hard time choosing who to pick."
"Sure."
"And with that, meeting adjourned. Wait, what time is it?"
"2 PM," Misaki replied.
"Hm...get some rest. We attack at 3 in the morning. Meet in front of the ruins of the Windowless Building at 2:30 AM. This plan should work for a while. If not, everything's up to you, Accelerator. Don't underestimate the enemy."
Accelerator simply smiled sadistically. "Bring it."
Yet, no one knew what was awaiting them in the magicians' base.
I have put up a poll on my profile page. Please vote! The question: Do you want me to reveal Touma's role in this story? He won't be helping, that's for sure.
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