Author's Notes

Here's a new chapter, as usual I will be posting it in parts.

=Chapter Start=

Part 1

Shirai Kuroko cursed as she nearly fell into a rubbish dump in between an alley. She wished she was able to travel further, but considering the amount of concentration needed, she was lucky if she could go 1 mile consecutively.

She was neck-deep in paperwork when a phone call came in about a fight going on at the river bank near the suspension bridge, west of District 21. Normally she would not bother about that while handling the paperwork; fights tend to happen so often between espers or Skill-Outs, many of the Judgement departments tend to relay the calls to each other so as not to be bothered about it. Sadly, theirs got involved too many times to count.

But when the caller starting talking about a thunder storm gathering there, and electrical appliances going out from the sudden surge, she immediately volunteered to visit the scene. After all, all the signs were pointing to her beloved Onee-sama fighting someone, most likely that ape, and she needed to be there to see his trashed body.

It took a fair amount of pleading (aka. begging on her knees) for Konorii, and a fair amount of persuasion (aka. blackmailing) on Uiharu, but she was finally freed from the mountain of paperwork and off to see Mikoto! And once she got to her side, she was going to shower her with her admiration! A sharp pain at her side dragged her out of her crazy thoughts and back to reality as she landed on a rooftop.

The source of the pain came from the level scanner that was attached to her waist. Apparently the strap attaching it to her belt got loosened during her jumps, making it bounce around and eventually dig the blunt corner into her side. Kuroko did not really want to bring it along since it was cumbersome, but Konorii insisted that she carried it with her. Kuroko understood its purpose, but did not see the point of having to bring it everywhere; it was pretty clear that the vigilante attacked the Skill-Outs and Esper Gangs after curfew, and disappeared almost immediately after, at times a week in between. Furthermore, the person would have to be an idiot to use his powers in the day when most of Judgement would be out patrolling with the scanners checking everyone in the area.

Still, it was the rules, and the last thing she wanted was Konorii to give her tons of paperwork and suspension that could affect her merit points from Tokiwadai. It was fine for 'normal' students if they were to get benched, but it was another thing entirely if said student hailed from the more privileged schools like Tokiwadai. They do not want to have students with a bad mark and would tend to demonstrate their anger ruthlessly. Something the Dorm Supervisor was all too eager to demonstrate.

After moving the scanner to a more padded part of her clothing, Kuroko jumped in the air and started teleporting again towards her destination. Little did she know that bringing along the scanner would help her out later in many ways unexpected.

Touma sighed as the sound of explosions intensified at the river bank. What used to be an empty patch of river bank with nice greenery 1.5 hours ago, was now reduced to a scene resembling more of a battlefield; Iron poles scattered all over the area, small cracks in the ground where Mikoto's lightning hit it, and last but not the least, the huge crater lying in the middle of the area. Considering the devastation in front of him, most would probably ask how Touma could be so calm with this situation. Technically, he wasn't, but considering all the crap he had to go through for the past few months, this was considered relatively normal.

Privately he wondered if he should run away now before this continued any further. He got the feeling that with his misfortune, he was so going to be made responsible of this mess somehow. It should be okay, since he was not really obliged to stick around for the fight.

"And where do you think you are going, Kamijou-chan?" Touma froze before turning his head slowly to see a smiling Kumokawa Seria. "I hope you are not thinking of running away from this great fight?" Touma's head dropped at the sight of her teasing smile. There was no chance of him getting away. He knew his misfortune was going to get him in trouble now.

An explosion nearest to them thankfully knocked him out of his funk in time. The fight between Mikoto and Samuel had gotten more intense since the last major attack, and Touma, Index and Seria had to move away a few times to avoid the occasional attacks that missed (mostly Mikoto's). It would not be wrong to assume that both Mikoto and Samuel may have forgotten the original reason for the dual, and they have forgotten or ignore the rule for non-lethal force.

Currently they were roughly 1km away from the bridge, a little too close for Touma's comfort, despite their best efforts to contain the devastation. It would seem that Mikoto's attempt to take him out with one shot had awoken some hidden part of Samuel that enjoyed a good fight, as he was getting more 'hands-on' as compared to earlier. He was still using the iron poles, but this time decided to go in with what Touma guessed to be a mix of martial arts and street fighting. Every time he got near Mikoto, Samuel would use CQC in combination with his diamond armor to try and disarm her of her electricity. Occasionally he looked less of fighting and more like doing a complicated dance.

As it stood, it seemed that Samuel was still holding back on Mikoto despite getting more physical in his attack style. Whenever he got close, Samuel often used his palms rather than his fists to hit Mikoto; when he used his legs, he would sweep her off before grabbing her arms and pinning her on the ground. But since he was holding back, Mikoto was able to fend off his attacks or escape his pinning moves, then launch one of her own at him.

He could see them both panting heavily, but if he had to guess, Samuel was actually recovering faster than Mikoto. Touma knew from experience that most espers relied on their abilities too much, so when someone (like yours truly and Samuel) was able to get through their attacks, they tend to panic and somewhat self-destruct either by their powers or their actions. Samuel definitely had that experience of handling espers barehanded; coupled with his armor and healing factor, he was effectively a one-man army. Touma could only imagine the chaos that would unfold if Samuel decided to let loose his full strength, remembering the sorry state of Metallica.

Hearing an exasperated growl at his side, he turned to see a very annoyed Index fidgeting as she stared at the fight. Touma realized she was probably not used to this type of situations and so tried to defuse the ticking time bomb next to him. "Erm, Index, perhaps you would like to leave?"

To his surprise, Index shook her head, still watching the fight unfolding before her. "No, I want to continue watching, Touma." Her eyes narrowed as Samuel called up a brick wall before ducking to the side to avoid a lightning strike. "I need to see what that guy's ability is."

Touma arched an eyebrow at the statement she gave. Okay, that was definitely a first for him. Index would have complained like an hour ago and probably get Touma to leave with her by chomping on his head. Index would never get this interested in a fight between espers unless…

Touma frowned at the last part she said 'I need to see what that guy's ability is'. Did that mean Samuel was using magic? But that was impossible; for one thing, magicians cannot be registered on the scans. Secondly, any esper using magic would have dire consequence, something Tsuchikamdo was particularly familiar with, and also what had happened with Elis, the magician involved with the experiment to create a hybrid.

Still, he did know that there was evidence of hybrids out there, and from what he recalled about Kuroyoru Umidori during the Hawaiian incident, she actually used magic by using her cybernetic implants to bear the burden of casting the spell, thus leaving her unharmed.

That said, Samuel did not seem to have any of the associated problems if he was using magic. Maybe what Index meant was the manner Samuel was using his ability was similar to some magic style she was familiar with. Yeah, that had to be the case.

Because there was absolutely no way Samuel could be a magician, right?

Mikoto took a few seconds to catch her breath as they broke their recent exchange of attacks. Honestly, she had never had a fight that lasted this long; her fights with Touma always ended up with him stopping her attacks before having her chase after him for abandoning the fights; her fights with her fellow Level 5s were more understandable, particularly Mugino Shizuri, whose ability was similar in principles, and Sogiita Gunha, who was basically a walking enigma. Accelerator did not count, that reflection ability was totally cheating.

But Samuel was a totally different case entirely. Mikoto fully admitted to the fact that Samuel did not bother using full strength just yet. He was just following her level as they fought, never going above the threshold to dominate, or go below in a manner of insulting her. He acknowledged her strength, so he used the appropriate amount of strength to match her. For any other person, she may have been outraged by the supposed display of holding back. But for Samuel, it was hard to feel that way; he did not brag about his strength like some of the espers out there, nor did he downplay his skills on dumb luck like Touma.

"So then, Misaka" A voice prompted her to lift her head to see Samuel casually walking towards her. He was covered in soot and dirt from their exchange of attacks, and had various cuts on his body from the iron sand that managed to bypass his defenses. "Shall we continue our little waltz?" He was panting a little himself, but a lot less than her, a sign of proof that he had trained his body a lot more than her. Mikoto wasn't too surprised by that; from what she had seen, Samuel seemed to have as much experience in dealing with street fights as Touma, and he definitely had the prowess to prove it. Even now, she could see the cuts closing up to form new skin, a result of his healing factor.

Taking a deep breath, Mikoto sent electricity down to the ground again, gathering up the iron sand, but this time holding one end and letting the rest flail around like a whip. Wasting no time, she swung the iron whip right at him, cutting down the many iron poles that were in the way. Samuel did not waste any time in hesitation himself; he jumped forward while activating his armor ability on his arms, and took a swing at the iron sand. Like the earlier scuffles, he easily broke through it, with the audible sounds of the sand grinding against the diamond armour. However, Mikoto decided to do something different by dispersing the iron sand to give the illusion that Samuel had weakened the whip, before using the electricity to magnetize the sand and made it envelop Samuel's body.

The brief look of surprise on Samuel's face before he got enveloped by the iron sand was enough for Mikoto as she leapt further away before discharging a large helping of electricity at the cocoon of iron sand, thus shocking Samuel from within. She had to give out harder attacks in order to deal with him.

For a moment, the cloud of sand was still, its magnetism having gotten stronger from the electrical attack. Then with a yell, the cloud exploded and fell to the ground, leaving behind Samuel fully covered in his diamond armor once again. He apparently crouched to minimize the exposure of the iron sand and the damage from the electrical attack. He lifted his head to reveal his untouched face. It was somewhat unnerving to see those eyes of different colors under the glow emitted by the unearthly green hair that came with his ability. If she were to meet him at night, Mikoto might have fired off lightning bolts just to get away from those eyes.

"I will be honest with you; this has to be the longest fight I had since I entered Academy City." Samuel smiled at Mikoto as he stood up slowly to face her. He meant it in a good way, not like he was bragging about it; when he came into Academy City a few years back, most of the people who picked on him tend to go down within 5 minutes. He only had trouble with the occasional Level 4 espers who could dominate him, but that would take him at least 10 minutes to take them out. As he built up his esper abilities and his physical strength over the years, fewer people were able to last even a minute. Before long, he ended up beating everyone with his physical strength alone, and soon found himself wondering if there was anyone able to take him on. Looks like he finally found one to use his esper strength to the fullest.

Mikoto could only smile in response to his words. Honestly, this guy was really hard to hate or to get insulted by. He was not an idiot like Touma or Gunha; he was not some psychopathic like Accelerator or Shizuri, and most certainly he was not manipulative like Shokohou. Mikoto shook her head gently in order to clear her head and think of her next move.

This much she learnt from their exchange and their earlier conversations. Samuel had the ability to manipulate any matter around him, hence the stone slab and the pillars, and the ability to convert matter around him, evidence of his armor ability and the iron poles he called up. Based on what Metallica kept mumbling when they handed him over to Judgement, and what she had seen so far, she figured the one aspect of his amour relied on utilising the carbon that resided in his body. And based on the injuries he had from the few times he used it, there was a limit to how much he could use in his body. To compensate, he had the physical strength to restrain her, and together with the other ability, he was pretty much shutting her out.

"Right, what's the next dance move you have considered?" Samuel asked while maintaining his stance of being open to attacks. 'If there was one odd thing about him, it had to be his choice of words using dancing as the theme' Mikoto thought privately as she made a decision. There was one way she could think of trying, but that would seriously break the rule of the fight. Then again, considering how both sides had forgotten about using lethal force, guess they were passed that.

Guess it was time to really pull out the stops.

Slowly and deliberately, Mikoto took a coin out of her pocket much to Samuel's puzzlement. 'She's going to hit me with a coin?' Samuel could not help but arched an eyebrow at the idea. His thoughts got answered when Touma, who saw the action from the spot he was at, started going pale and yelled out at Mikoto. "Wait a second, are you nuts?! Are you seriously going to use that on him?!"

'Use what on me?' Samuel alternated looking at Mikoto and Touma, who was looking seriously panicked-stricken to the point Samuel thought he was going to have a stroke. A sudden clap of lightning drew his attention back to Mikoto, who was currently emitting a lot of lightning around her. There was a definite difference from before; It was literally making his hair tingle and stand on end, what with all the static being generated.

'This is bad!' Samuel could tell that was some serious amount of power building up there. And the part that was worrying him was the idea that even his diamond armor might not be able to handle a direct attack from whatever Mikoto was planning to use.

"Neh, senpai?" Mikoto smiled as she watched Samuel take a bracing stance. It would seem even Samuel could tell Mikoto was finally going to give it all she got at him, and was cautiously watching to see what it was. "Tell me, do you know what a railgun is?" Her smile went wider at the way Samuel's eyes went really wide. Looks like he did know what it was, and more importantly, who she really was.

"Well then." Mikoto said as she flicked the coin high up in the air. Some of the lightning bolts started gathering at the coin as it continued its ascent, while the rest got concentrated at Mikoto's hand. Samuel felt time slowed down as he watched the coin came to a slow stop, hung in mid-air, before beginning to drop back down.

Samuel knew what a railgun was, and though her words gave him an idea of who he was facing, he did not have time to think about it. Currently he was thinking of how to survive the attack. There was no way he would risk pitting himself against that attack. Even with his diamond armor, he was not taking that chance!

There was no choice then; he had to use one of his more unknown abilities. He quickly raised his left arm in front of him, while reinforcing his arm and legs, leaving his right arm and head exposed. In an odd way, this reminded him of the first time he displayed this ability, and the person who helped him control it. He could almost hear that person's voice as he closed his eyes and focused his concentration into the defensive ability he had.

'Remember this, Samuel'

He would need a shield to handle that type of strain coming to his arm.

'If in the event your abilities are outmatched by your opponent…'

He would need a defense to protect him from the potential fallout.

'And you feel you are unable to handle that opponent…'

He would have to use that particular defense with the moniker given by someone close to him.

'Then try imagining the one thing that can stop him.'

"HERE WE GO, SENPAI!" Mikoto shouted as the coin landed just above her thumb. For a quiet moment, she flicked her thumb outward, and then with a thunderous roar, the coin shot forward in a flash, leaving behind a streak of light as it flew towards Samuel. In an unusual state of calm, Samuel took a deep breath before opening his mouth.

That defense name, hence his other ability, was called…

"AEGIS!"

"BOOOOM!"

Kuroko was just a few blocks away when she saw the tell-tale signs of a railgun about to be fired. She immediately sped up her pace, once again cursing the fact she could not go further and faster at her current level. She did not know why she was fighting, but Kuroko knew that the opponent had to be a particularly strong esper if Mikoto needed to use her signature move against him.

Just as she got to the rooftop two blocks away from the location, Kuroko saw a streak of light across the riverbank, and then heard the deafening sound of the railgun shot. A few seconds later, she got blown off her feet from the rooftop and sent back to the previous rooftop. Kuroko had to grab a standing lightning rod and hang on for dear life as the shockwave continued to spread everywhere.

It took a while for the shockwave to disperse before Kuroko dared to remove herself from the pole and fall on her butt. She took a few deep breaths to try and slow down her heart rate, the adrenaline in her body not helping her at all, before she turned her head towards the scene of the fight.

What the hell was going on over there?

The explosion that came out of the attack could only be described as 'epic'. The flames that spewed completely engulfed Samuel and spread across the river side, scorching the ground and the remaining greenery near them. The shockwave generated was even stronger than the last major attack; it blew Touma and the girls off their feet and tumbling to the ground a few feet away. It reverberated across the streets and caused some of the nearby vehicles to set off the car alarms. The light generated was so blinding, even with their eyes closed, the others felt it was invading their sense of sight completely and painfully.

Touma shook his head a few times as he tried to get upon his feet. The sound alone wrecked his hearing to the point he had to cover his ears and focused on the silence in order to stop the ringing and tried to get back his bearings. The huge flash of light resulting from the explosion had also blinded him to the point he kept seeing spots flashing before him. Beside him, he could just about make out Seria and Index trying to do the same. He slowly crawled his way towards them, taking his time in order to halt the feeling of vomiting. Last thing he needed was to haul on them and get a bite from Index.

"Index, Senpai, are you two okay?" Touma managed to get that out before he took a deep breath to stop the gaging feeling in his throat. "Yeah, think I will live." Seria managed to give a strained smile as she sat up slowly and taking deep breaths. "Although I think I'm going to need to take a sick leave from school." She groaned as she held her head while leaning against a lamp post nearby.

"Index, how about you?" Touma turned to her, feeling a lot better now to move about faster. His heart nearly stopped at a shaking Index clutching her head while compressing her body into a fetal position. It seemed that the aftershocks were too much for her to handle, as her eyes were shut tight and she was grimacing painfully.

"Index, hang in there!" Having recovered enough, Touma scrambled to Index's side and gently cradled her head. She flinched slightly, but after realizing it was Touma, she relaxed enough to let him check for any injuries. It did not seem she gotten any major injuries, just a scrape on her left side and possibly a slight concussion from the explosion. Touma heaved a sigh of relief when he saw there were no major injuries on her, before turning his head towards the battlefield.

The earlier attack gave the impression of a nuclear bomb detonation that was localized in one spot; this devastation left by the railgun could only be described as a sight resembling a scene from 'Terminator 2': a charred-black ground, with bits of grass catching fire; the stretch of river next to them totally evaporated and was now being refilled by the downstream current; and finally, the cloud of smoke where Samuel was struck by the railgun. Just a few away was Mikoto, who was remarkably standing upright despite the shockwave induced.

"Oui! Could you at least hold back your power a little, Misaka?!" Touma shouted at Mikoto, wincing at the sound of his own voice seemingly drilling its way into his brain. Mikoto started and slowly turned around, revealing a look that was half tired and half sheepish. "Yeah, about that…" Mikoto paused before continuing. "I think I may have gone a little overboard with that attack."

'What?' Touma took a while to register before his eyes went wider. "Wait, how much power did you put into that attack?!" Touma gave a panicked look towards the spot where Samuel was earlier. There was still no sign of movement, and Touma was starting to wonder if he had to call an ambulance sooner or later.

Mikoto herself was wondering that, as she gave a rather uneasy look. She got caught up in the moment and just fired off a round that a little stronger than she gave to Touma. If Samuel did not get out of it untouched, she was so going to regret it big time. "Hey can you guys call the hospital or something?" Mikoto called out to Touma and the others. Seria apparently thought the same as she took out her phone, having recovered enough to move about. "Guess I better call for an ambulance now. It would seem that continuing this fight would not benefit anyone, especially with the racket we made. So this fight will be…"

"Ow, Ow, Ow." For a moment, everyone stopped breathing at the sound of those words. Slowly, Mikoto turned her head towards the cloud of smoke, barely believing what she was hearing. True, she did not hold back as much as she hoped, but this was plain ridiculous! There was absolutely no way for him to survive that, let alone say anything…

Her heart nearly gave out at the sight that was appearing out of the smoke. At first there were bits of something shiny that peeked through the smoke. As more of the smoke settled down, she could see what looked like a golden transparent hexagon floating in the air. A gentle breeze blew behind her, catching the smoke and bringing it away from the crash site, revealing a sight that made Mikoto go weak at the knees.

In front of her was something so unusual and oddly mind bending, that if Mikoto had to give a name considering the situation, she had to call it a 'beehive barrier'. At the spot where Samuel was standing earlier, stood an unusual sphere that was at least 2 feet taller than her. The structure seemed to be made of small gold hexagons that were giving out such an unearthly glow, it felt like looking at the sun directly but not getting blinded. The mind bending part came from the manner which the hexagons were slowly turning around in alternating rows; it seemed organic, yet inorganic, contradicting yet accepting, and other associated opposites that Mikoto could only think of faintly.

In front of it were 3 additional hexagons stacked together. They definitely bore the full brunt of Mikoto's attack, as the foremost hexagon was almost destroyed, with the other 2 showing deep cracks. Even as Mikoto stared at the unusual sight, the stacked hexagons started breaking down, their pieces scattering in the breeze before they disappear. In response, a loud crackling sound permeated the air as the golden sphere itself started to have cracks appearing all over it.

With a shattering sound, the barrier collapsed from the top, leaving in its wake a very exhausted Samuel holding his left arm up. It seemed that even the barrier was barely able to resist her attack; based on the drag marks on the ground, he got pushed back a feet from his original position. If he did not activate his armor ability, he would probably have gotten his limbs blown off.

As the last pieces of the barrier disappeared, Samuel dropped his arm and rested both his palms on his knees to steady himself, before calling out in a raspy voice. "Damn, Misaka" Samuel panted while grinning at the expressions that adorned everyone's faces. "You really wanted to take me out permanently, huh?"

Part 2

Kuroko was shocked at the sight that was in front of her.

It was one thing that some of the Level 5s could take her on, that much she had to admit. It was another thing for that ape to stop her attacks, which she ruthlessly crushed the thought mentally. But for someone else to have bared the full brunt of Mikoto's railgun without a scratch, now that was something she could not ignore. As far as Kuroko could remember, none of the barrier type espers were able to withstand that attack even when Mikoto was only using a sixth of her full strength. Their barriers would break under the strain by the first hit, leaving them open for electrocution from the side effects.

Kuroko looked at the topless man as he straightened up and flexed his arms to loosen the joints. She had tried to use the scanner she had to get a reading on him, but the battery got fried from the electromagnetic pulse generated from the railgun. So she had to settle on guessing the person's level based on what she had seen. This person would have to be a Level 4 to at least stand a chance to withstand Mikoto's attack. Then again, that ape was supposedly a Level 0 who somehow or another has the ability to cancel out other powers. Anyhow it still begged the question:

Who the hell was this person who could take on her Onee-Sama so easily?

"Okay, seriously Misaka" Samuel paused to crack his neck a little. "Have you by chance forgotten the reason we are having this duel? The last thing I need is to arrive for my job in a wheelchair." After moving his shoulders and legs to test if he still had motion, he proceeded to dust himself of all the debris and soot that had settled. Remarkably, his pants survived the entire ordeal without any damage, only a fray at the left knee to indicate the iron sand attack from his earlier scuffle. "So, is that all?" Samuel smiled at the gaping Mikoto while shrugging his arms, like it was a sparring fight for him.

Mikoto did not reply back; in fact she was still having such a hard time processing what just happened in front of her, all she could do was gape at him with her arms hanging at the sides. She pretty much threw everything but the kitchen sink at him, and even if the railgun was not at full strength, it was at a higher level than the one she used on Touma. And Samuel just took it like it was nothing! Seriously, what was with the guy?!

Ignoring Mikoto's laughable state, Samuel turned to Touma's direction. "Hey, you guys okay?" Touma could only reply by nodding his head gently. He too was having a hard time processing the situation in front of him. He figured Samuel had the physical strength for a street brawl, he knew he had the power to take on a few espers at a time, but this was completely ridiculous. Seriously, was this guy related to the super powered people like Aqua or Fiamma?! That had to be the reason for him to just take everything from Mikoto and just stand around joking?!

"Earth to Touma, you hear me?!" Samuel's voice jolted him out of his thoughts. "I said what's wrong with her?" Samuel pointed to Index, who was still curled up in a fetal position. Though she had stopped shaking, it seemed the aftershocks were being felt in a worrying manner; she was mumbling something very fast with her eyes closed, and the intensity she was doing it was somewhat nerve-wrecking.

"Index, you okay?" Touma shook her gently, getting even more worried as she showed no sign of responding to his words. "Index!" This time, Index reacted to his words and stronger shaking, stopping her mumblings. Slowly she opened her eyes, their eyeballs seeming going out of focus as she tried to set her sights on anything she could see. Only when she placed her eyes on Touma, then her eyeballs stopped twitching and the glazed look was gone. "Touma, what happened?" Index asked softly as she took a deep breath. Touma himself took a deep breath and let it out slowly to ease his nerves. "Yup, she's fine now." Touma called out to Samuel who nodded to show his acknowledgement.

Stretching his arms again to let out the tension in his body, Samuel turned to Mikoto with a tired smile. "So, you are the famous Misaka Mikoto, aka the Railgun, Tokiwadai's Ace and lastly, the Electro Princess. I will say this: you are definitely the first Level 5 I fought at all. Truly an inspiring fight" He added with a small bow and a hand at the chest, before lifting that hand towards Mikoto, giving the impression of him bowing and asking Mikoto for a dance at a ball. "So, shall we close the curtains for this performance? It would seem that we may have ended up attracting some unwanted company." Samuel turned his head towards the nearest building as he said that. Mikoto took a while to understand his words; the sounds of sirens were faint, but evidently were getting closer. It seemed their little battle had attracted the attention of Judgement and possibly Anti Skill. It would be wise to get away before she had to do some explaining.

With that in mind, the next thing she said was one that most people would probably not say: "Okay then, let's finish this fight now." That got Samuel's attention as he broke his gaze at the building and directed an amused expression at her. Touma himself stared at Mikoto for the statement she just made; only Seria was smiling her trademark smirk, indicating her interest and amusement in the both of them.

"You sure about this, Misaka?" There was a hint of jest, yet also the hint of caution, in the words Samuel asked. "You really don't need to continue, after all this is merely to assess my aptitude for my job. I think" Samuel paused to gaze at Seria. "That the requirements had been met. So perhaps we do this another time…"

"It is fine! I want to continue!" Mikoto nodded quickly, disregarding how it might look to others; it had been a long time since anyone was able to make her work to defeat them in a good way, much of her fights were disappointing or in life threatening situations. Samuel however was able to keep up with her, and that got her competitive streak inside her singing in her body. A part of her wanted to see how this individual would be able to handle a Level 5 esper, another part just wanted to defeat this guy and get stronger.

Samuel stared at her for a second, before he bowed his head and his shoulders started shaking gently. For a moment, everyone thought he was getting angry at the absurdity of Mikoto's words; it was the opposite. Samuel threw back his head and let loose a loud laugh that reverberated around the area. It was not a laugh which Mikoto and Touma were accustomed to hearing, since the only times they have ever heard a laugh this loud were from the people who were either trying to take over the world, crush their opponents or the type who get a kick from hurting others. This was a laugh born from genuine amusement that someone actually wanted to have a good honest fight despite the complications coming out of it.

After a while, Samuel managed to restrain himself and smiled at Mikoto. "Honestly, you are an unusual one. But then again, from what I heard about Level 5s," Samuel quirked an eyebrow at this point, "You guys have a somewhat odd sense of doing things." Closing his eyes, he took a moment to control himself before asking one last time. "Misaka, I know that you are strong, and that's nothing wrong with that. But" At this point, he opened his eyes to show a light unlike earlier; before it was a glint of joy at the prospect of a good fight, now got replaced with a light of steel. "Are you certain you wish to continue? Because now that I know who you really are, I cannot afford to hold back any punches against you." His tone changed when he added that part, with a hint of warning.

Mikoto got a shiver down her spine. Yes, this was the feeling from earlier, when she and Touma were dealing with bank robbers and left Samuel with Metallica. She wasn't sure back then, but it seemed that Samuel was finally taking the fight seriously, and decided he was about to pull out all the stops on his end. It really made her curious, just how much he had held back against her before. Mikoto steeled her face as she nodded once to acknowledge her decision.

"Very well then. If you don't mind, I would have to borrow a bit of your iron sand." Samuel directed his arms to the ground, his hands seemingly grasping something.

"Try to hang on, this one's for the grand ending of the show."

Kuroko took a while to catch her breath as she lied under the shadow of exhaust pipe, a few feet away from the curb she was looking over a while ago. That was a little too close for comfort considering the situation, but she had to stick to make sure nothing happened to Mikoto.

When she was monitoring the interaction between the man and Mikoto, the guy suddenly turned his head towards the building she was standing on. Now that action alone would not send her hiding like a mouse, heck she would probably announce herself to everyone and not bow down to some ape or any lowly creature known as "man".

However, it was the feeling she got from that person when he looked at her direction. It was not so much of 'looking at her direction'; it was more 'looking right at her' that got her scrambling for cover. She hated to admit it, but somehow the intensity could be felt from this far, like he was right in front of her. Despite the alleviation, she felt she was getting stared down by her own natural predator, one that could devour her in an instant but was playing around with her. It was a fear so intense her body reacted on instinct and her power activated to get her away from him. It was only the conscious pull from the thought of Mikoto facing this individual that Kuroko was able to stop herself and settled behind the exhaust pipe.

She touched her forehead, surprised that she was sweating despite the weather being cooling. She was not sure why, but that guy was practically ringing all the alarms in her head. That guy was dangerous, and her Onee-Sama was facing that person.

She had to do something about him, that much was clear.

Samuel relaxed his body as he concentrated on the task at hand. The earlier attacks and explosions had drained a lot of his energy, so he would need to reserve whatever he had left for the next few moves.

Aegis was out of the question; one of the major issues with his defensive ability was the ridiculous consumption of his strength. Typical barrier espers only feel the strain in their head, since they were focusing on blocking the attacks with their minds. In exchange for a nigh-invulnerable defence, his ability trades the strain on his mind for the drain effect on his physical body. On a good day, he may be able to use three times, four if he were to push himself. But that earlier railgun almost drained him completely, so there was no chance of using that anymore.

His favoured diamond ability was useful, but it depended on the amount of carbon in his body. Any damage that could get pass the diamond armor equaled the amount of carbon needed to cover the exposed spot. For the human body, losing small amounts was fine, provided it does not lose it too much; but losing large amounts at any given time was seriously bad for it. Even now, he was definitely feeling a little out of touch from the lack of carbon in his body, so he needed to save on it for a last ditch effort.

Thankfully, his most used ability was not draining at all, and with the promise of giving a grand finale, he decided to use one type of attack he did not get many chances to do. Mikoto was strong, so he decided to use an altered version of this attack to show his respect.

On the ground, the iron sand that was abandoned after Mikoto's attacks started to rise slowly, spiraling towards his hands that were emitting a bright light at its palms. As the iron sand hit the light, the process started speeding up, swirling around his hands as it started to form a rough shape. Samuel focused the image in his head as the shape started glowing. He could get it slap-dashed and done with, but he wanted it to be perfect for this fight.

Shape, Forge, Fold, Tempered.

Bring this weapon into existence and grant it purpose.

With that, the rough shapes in his hands flashed with a sudden burst of light, making Touma and the others to cover their eyes with their hands to protect themselves from the glare. It lasted for a few seconds, after which the light receded enough for them to open their eyes and see a rather unusual sight.

Samuel was still standing with his legs apart and his arms to his sides, but his hands were no longer empty. He had created two boomerangs from the iron sand, both of which were a lot bigger and longer than the average boomerang. Perhaps the weirdest part was the design: the one in his right hand was jet black, with a hexagonal red diamond shining in the light. The left was pure white, with a circular yellow gem.

'Boomerangs?' Mikoto thought as she braced herself for whatever attack Samuel got. 'What is he planning to do with them?' She was not sure why, but seeing the twin boomerangs were making her ability go a little out of sync, with static started to appear on her body.

"You noticed?" Mikoto started as Samuel gave a grin at her. "Good, then it was not a waste of time then." Samuel raised the boomerangs above his head, gripping them tightly as he looked at her. "Here we go then, Misaka." With a yell, he threw the boomerangs straight at her.

"What, he just threw them?!" Misaka shouted as she called up the iron sand at her side. It made no sense if he was going to throw them away after making them. Maybe he was trying to distract her with them, and then come up close for an attack? She thrusted her arm at them, sending the iron sand forward to create a protective wall in front of her. 'Guess he was getting desperate.' Mikoto thought as the boomerangs disappeared from her sight. 'Oh well, they will get destroyed, so I better watch out for …'

Her thoughts got interrupted as the boomerangs burst through the iron sand wall and continued their trajectory right at her. "What?! Son of a?!" Mikoto swore as she barely dodged them in time, with the white one cutting a piece of her sweater at the side. "Damn, that was way too close!" Mikoto panted as she turned to find Samuel. With the boomerangs gone, he should be defenseless, so he would come up close…

"Right over HERE!" Mikoto twisted her body in time to see Samuel throwing a second pair of the boomerangs at her. In her haste, she felled backwards on the ground, hitting her head in the process. But that fall saved her as the boomerangs whizzed above her. Scrambling to the side, she gathered electricity in her hand as she tried to find Samuel again. If she could just get one hit on him…

"Misaka, behind you!" Touma's yell caused her to lose focus for a short while before ducking for cover, just as the first pair buzzed behind her and fly past her. She stumbled for a second before lifting her head up to find the two pairs of boomerang circulating around her in the air. If anything, she thought they were spinning even faster as time goes by.

"INCOMING!" Another yell made her look wildly at all sides, only to find another pair of boomerangs flying straight at her. She cursed as she fell down in the most undignified manner in her attempt to escape, but she could think of that later; now she was very grateful as the boomerangs just barely flew past her, taking the ends of her hair when she fell down.

Snarling, Mikoto stood up and let loose large amounts of electricity at all sides, prompting Touma and the rest to get to a safer distance quickly. She lashed out at the boomerangs, hoping that she could strike them down. The answer to her idea came soon after.

Striking them, yes; taking them out of the game, a definite no. If anything, the large volts of electricity seemed to have rejuvenated them, making them spin even faster and harder, and also it seemed to have made them attracted to her like some magnet, so now she was dodging all over the place, with the boomerangs cutting her vest a little every now and then.

Mikoto was panting even heavier than earlier; it seemed that all her earlier attacks took a lot more out of her than she thought, and it did not help with those boomerangs flying by and taking a swing at her. And where the hell was Samuel?!

"Looking for me by any chance?" Mikoto turned to find Samuel skidding to a stop behind her a few feet away, before turning and dash straight at her. Thrusting his arms behind him, he gathered the iron sand that was with him to form two combat sticks of the same differing colors as the boomerangs.

At this point Mikoto realized with a jolt that this was perhaps what he wanted: using some unusual material for those boomerangs, he made them circle around her, cutting off all her paths and leaving only the front open for him to duke it out with her. Even now all the boomerangs that were hovering on top of her suddenly dipped down and spun straight for her like buzz saws. The only way for her to get out of it was to attack head-on with the possibility of getting slashed by the boomerangs or taken out by Samuel with his combat sticks.

With the current situation as it was, all Mikoto could do was to gather the iron sand once more to create a small blade, and said with a defiant smile:

"Bring it on, Sammy boy!"

Kuroko was mentally beating herself as she took the needles strapped to her thighs and focused on the calculations before sending them to their intended target. She was too engrossed at how the man seemingly dominated the battle that it was only on the third stumble that Kuroko realized that Mikoto was seriously at a disadvantage. All thoughts of that man's gaze disappeared at the cornered look on Mikoto's face.

She must help her Onee-sama out of that situation! She would not let that… That mongrel win over her at all! She grasped the needles tightly between her fingers as she finished her calculations in time to see the man dash forward with two sticks in his hand.

She was going to make sure that man went down in pain.

Now, Samuel was not one to brag, but he had fought espers and Skill Outs enough times to get a general feel of the situation, and develop sort of a sixth sense to warn him of danger in any situation. That sixth sense had been a great help in all his fights, especially when there were people who tried to ambush him time after time.

So when that sixth sense was practically screaming at him to get away fast, his body reacted instinctively. The left arm that was stretching out to intercept Mikoto's iron sword dipped sharply, plunging the stick into ground with such velocity that his body arched sharply. Letting the momentum take over, he kicked off the ground so that he hung upside down with the stick supporting him, before using the energy to swing himself over Mikoto.

Just in time apparently; as Mikoto staggered in her surprise at Samuel supposedly abandoning his attack, a small flash of light was all Samuel saw before 3 needles hit the ground with soft thuds. Even as he did a somersault to land softly, Samuel did not let the tension go; his sixth sense was still tingling, meaning the attack was not over yet. As soon as he hit the ground, he quickly swerved to the sides, again just barely escaping another round of needles.

Samuel gave a frown as he continued dodging the needles that were aimed for him. He was not too sure of whom or why that person was doing this now, but he got a general idea of where, based on the feeling he got earlier. And that would be…

"OVER THERE!" He twisted his body a full 360, using the momentum to throw the combat stick in his right hand straight at the building he was gazing at a few minutes ago. For a moment, he caught a glimpse of someone jumping in the air, and then vanishing just as the stick was about to reach that figure. It continued its trajectory and with a loud thud that could be heard from that distance, embedded itself in the side of the exhaust pipe.

For a second, Samuel wondered what happened, before his body instinctively moved to the side, just as the figure appeared above the spot he was before, a leg straightened out to deliver a supposed drop kick on the head. With nothing to stop the trajectory, her foot slammed on the ground, making her yelp in pain as Samuel skidded to a halt near the river side, with his hands open to prepare a new weapon.

"Kuroko?!" A shout from Mikoto made Samuel pause for a moment, as the figure turned her head towards Mikoto. "ONEE-SAMA!" With that and a big leap, the figure dived for Mikoto, who was too late to move away due to her exhaustion, thus leaving her open to a hugging tackle to the ground.

"Huh?" Samuel could not help but stare at the scene where the girl was practically rubbing her body against Mikoto while making somewhat disturbing noises and gestures. It took a while for his head to ignore the troubling sight so that he could process what had happened. Samuel recognized her as the twin-tailed Judgement member who had come earlier for the clean-up of the bank robbery, and based on her clothing, she was a fellow classmate of Mikoto. He figured she must have been worried and so went after them, only to find the two of them duking it out.

"Kuroko, I said stop that!" A sudden flash of electricity dragged Samuel out of his thoughts in time to see the girl getting electrocuted by Mikoto's attack. But rather than get knocked out, Kuroko was making even more disturbing noises as she clutched her body tightly. "Ah, Onee-sama's whip of love! Please give me more!" Kuroko squealed as she grabbed hold of Mikoto once again and rubbed her face in Mikoto's chest. Mikoto desperately tried to remove her iron clutch from her while twisting her head back and forth, her face completely flushed from embarrassment, until her eyes lied on Samuel and Touma, who had come down with the other two from the corner they were taking cover, standing side by side staring at her. Her face went a deeper shade of red at their faces.

"Erm, perhaps you would like me to give you two some privacy?" Samuel gave a sheepish expression while glancing at the side. It wold appear he was getting a really wrong impression of them, as he seemed to be thinking out loud a thought he had. "Damn, and I thought that Saji was just being ridiculous about his comics on girl schools, but I guess maybe he was not too far off about them being lesbians."

"No kidding." Touma also turned his head the other way while scratching his nose. "If Aogami were to see this, he would be in bloody heaven and be ecstatic about them being masochists." Both of their expressions and their words were the last straws that broke the back of Mikoto's restraint.

"Wait a second, you two! There is nothing going on between me and her! Senpai, this is my kouhoi, not my lover! And you!" Mikoto turned to Touma. "Don't you even think about what that blue haired moron said?! This girl is just plain messed up!" Mikoto tried explaining that to the both of them; not a very successful attempt, considering how the twin-tailed girl seemed to be panting at the implication that came from the misunderstanding and was actively trying to put her hands into Mikoto's clothes.

"Err…" Samuel hesitated before sighing. Guess the fight was over for the both of them. Lifting his head, he could still see the boomerangs spinning above them, patiently waiting for their turn. Since he had abandoned his attack, they stopped their assault and returned to their original spot to avoid hurting anyone else. Sighing again, he lifted his right hand and snapped his fingers. With that, the boomerangs stopped spinning and for a moment stuck in the air, before glowing and disappearing in the wind. There was no point maintaining them if their fight had been interrupted.

Samuel felt a gaze on him and turned to see Touma looking at him with a strange look. It had the expression of one who was reminded of something, but could not place it properly without other factors to knock it in place.

"Something the matter, Touma?" He raised his eyebrow at Touma who blinked at his question, before shaking his head. "Ah, no problem, Samuel-san." Touma shook his head with a smile, but Samuel could tell that smile was strained. It looked like he was bothered by something and that finger snap had some relation to it. Oh well, he would ask him about it later. Right now…

Samuel turned to find the twin-tailed girl glaring at him. It seemed his finger snapping did not get Touma's attention alone; it seemed to have broken the lustful assault on Mikoto, much to her apparent relief as Kuroko directed her attention at him.

"You there, who are you to pick a fight with my Onee-sama?!" For some reason, her words and that expression had Samuel wondering if dismissing his boomerangs was such a good idea. Before he could reply, Mikoto quickly explained, notably sounding a little panicked. "Ah, Kuroko, don't misunderstand. DanQuein senpai and I are just having a duel to test his strength. Kumokawa-san." She turned to Seria who was standing a little behind Touma. "Wanted to see his strength for a job interview, so she got us to fight it out to see his level."

"Hmm…" Kuroko frowned at the senior as she contemplated on the information, before turning back to Samuel. "Still, I would ask you to come with me to the station for questioning."

"What?" Samuel could only look at her in puzzlement, while the others, notably Mikoto and Touma, had expressions to show their concern for the situation. There was an odd glint in her eyes that got Samuel's sixth sense tingling again, and he did not like the feeling. So he tried to defuse the situation. "Wait, I think there's a misunderstanding of sorts. She was just…"

His words drawled out as his pupils briefly dilated. Almost automatically, his left arm got covered in the diamond armor in time to avoid 2 needles from penetrating his skin. The sound of metal hitting the armour was audible enough to get the others' attention to him. Before the others could react, another metallic sound came from his upper right arm, where a third needle failed to penetrate a small patch of black diamond.

"Wait a second!" Touma turned to Kuroko, who was clutching the needles in between her fingers as she stared at Samuel. It was pretty obvious from the start that she had no intention of letting him off easily. In fact, this may be what she wanted.

"I see, so you are resisting arrest, huh?" Kuroko gave a smirk as she took one step before teleporting the needles towards Samuel. A few more metallic pings were all that was heard from Samuel's side before he suddenly rolled on the ground to avoid a drop kick from Kuroko.

"Kuroko, STOP!" Mikoto shouted as Kuroko continued her assault on Samuel, alternating between teleporting needles and appearing at the sides to try and disorient him before attempting to grab him and do her usual back flipping. Samuel, for his part, was making that hard for her to do; he seemed to have recovered enough to utilize his diamond armor once again, only employing small amounts to hinder her needles, while constantly moving to avoid her touching him.

"I would think" Samuel growled as he swerved out of the way. "That enough..." He clenched his right fist. "IS…" He opened up his left palm. "ENOUGH!" He slammed his right fist to his left palm sideways. On cue, the earth rumbled energetically, before a pillar of dirt shot out of the ground and directed itself at Kuroko. Having been caught off guard by this sudden attack, she was unable to teleport in time for her leg to get hit by the pillar, sending her flying sideways before hitting the ground.

"Kuroko!" Mikoto went to her side while Touma went to Samuel's side, followed by the other two girls who went with him. It seemed there was no problem with her, as Kuroko immediately leaped to her feet and grabbed her hands.

"You see, Onee-sama! That guy attacked me, so I can go and arrest him right?!" Kuroko turned to face Samuel when Mikoto grabbed her arm tightly. "Kuroko, what the hell is wrong with you?! You were the one who attacked him for no reason; he was trying to say there was a misunderstanding! What's the matter with you?!"

"But this… this mongrel dared to attack you with weapons!" Kuroko pointed at Samuel. "That guy dared to hurt your beautiful skin, humiliate you! I should be making him grovel on the ground like the mongrel he is supposed to be!" Her eyes were almost bulging, giving her a somewhat deranged look.

"I said stop it Kuroko! It is not him bullying me, it is just a duel!" Mikoto resisted grabbing her head as she tried to explain to Kuroko. Seriously, she could be such a handful at times, but this time Kuroko really does not want to listen to reason. "If anything, it was my fault to have started using lethal force in our duel. So he was only using the appropriate means of countering me"

Touma was listening to their conversation slightly, but got his attention grabbed by the appearance of 2 bystanders who had apparently arrived to their spot for some time. One of them had dreadlocks and a tanned skin, with sunglasses to cover his eyes, the other had long dyed hair with pale skin. Both were wearing typical street clothes that suggested they were walking around when they were attracted by the duel.

Currently they were a few feet away from them, but the wind carried their voices to Touma's side. "You hear that? That Judgement girl actually wanted to attack that guy for no reason? That's abuse man!" The guy with dreadlocks was pointing at Kuroko while asking his buddy.

"No kidding! And look at the uniform; she is one of those rich girls from Tokiwadai! That ain't fair dude! She's actually trying to pick a fight then blame it on him?!" The other guy replied back as he took out his phone to take a picture. "We better get this to the others and…"

His words got stopped as Touma went to them and put his hand on the phone. The last thing they needed was some bad press and possible rumours about Judgement or Tokiwadai abusing their powers to attack some random guy. He gave a quick glance at Samuel as he tried to explain to the two fellows.

'Hope he's doing okay.'

For his part, Samuel was watching the exchange between the Tokiwadai girls with growing rage in him. He was trying to suppress it with his mind, but it was a losing battle for him. He knew it was not her fault or anyone's fault about the situation, but the manner she spoke, the way she gestured at him, the way she tried to justify her actions for attacking him, and the act of glaring down at someone like one looking at a cockroach…

It was just like back then.

He clutched his head as the first of the few memories to be stirred up from that conversation to surface flashed with a pang of pain. He wanted it to stop! He did not want to remember! He did not want to relieve them again!

'The memory of a little boy getting kicked and punched by a group of rich kids in an empty lot, their parents actually cheering them on to 'punish the spawn of dirt''

'The memory of the older girl getting her hair pulled by an older boy, while two others held back the struggling little boy as they laughed at his attempt.'

'The memory of the little boy getting dragged by some police officers, while 2 children were faking their tears in front of their parents, one of them giving an accomplished leer at him.'

And finally…

'The memory of the boy weeping as he held the cold body of the girl covered in blood, surrounded by the remains of the people who tormented them.'

"DanQuein-kun, are you okay?" Seria asked Samuel with a slight hint of concern as she watched him clutching his head. Having been involved on the Dark Side a little, she was no stranger to power play by authorities who used their power to just make people's life miserable, or the effects they have on the general public, but this was something a little unusual for her to see, and quite frankly, she was feeling a little intimidated at the rage that seemed to be exuding from him.

Index herself was giving a wide berth from Samuel as he tried keeping his emotions in check. She already had some doubts about the abilities that Samuel had shown, but she was not going to voice them out just yet. But she was wondering what was with the twin-tailed girl attacking Samuel. He was clearly not in the wrong at all, and that girl just tried to justify her reasons by blaming him instead. Clearly the people here were messed up in their heads. She turned to see the argument between Mikoto and Kuroko escalating, with neither side letting up.

"And even if that mongrel needed to pass some test to get some bloody job, he should not have to do it with you! Or for that matter, you using your full strength against him!" Kuroko continued her ranting as Mikoto shook her head listening to Kuroko's twisted explanation. She knew that Kuroko could be a little fanatic in her admiration for her, she knew that Kuroko held little to no respect for males, particularly Touma, but this was the first time she had ever seen Kuroko this adamant about attacking Samuel. She was even risking her position of Judgement just to attack him!

"Kuroko, I am going to say this one more time. You are not to attack him for some twisted reasoning in your head. It is not his fault, nor is it anyone's fault. We were just having a duel. That is all." Mikoto growled with a tone of warning to make her point. She was about to say something else to cut Kuroko off when a voice stopped her.

"Misaka, it is fine." Those words brought everyone's attention to Samuel, whose head was lowered to hide the eyes. Seria and Index were clearly stepping away from him to get away from some possible eruption of rage. "It would seem that she would not let up on getting me into trouble, so why don't we get it out of her system now?" Samuel lifted his head to reveal hardened eyes. There was no longer any kindness in his eyes; there was no longer any glitter that suggested the joy of a good fight. There was only cold fury in the eyes that showed no mercy for the Judgement officer.

"DanQuein senpai." Mikoto started talking before she paused. She was getting the chills again from earlier, only this felt even more intense to the point she was practically frozen to the ground by sheer fear. She wasn't anywhere near him, yet she was feeling a chill down her spine as though he was right next to her shoving an ice spike down her spine. She wanted to warn Kuroko, but somehow the feeling was overriding her thoughts.

"Hmph." Kuroko grabbed her hips as she gave a triumphant sneer at Samuel. "So the mongrel has decided to surrender, heh?" Samuel arched any eyebrow at that statement. "Who ever said anything about me surrendering to you when I have done nothing wrong?" He held back a gleeful smile at the sight of Kuroko's expression changing to a scowl, annoyed that the guy was not going to give up so easily. Samuel slowly lifted his arms, much to the alarm of Mikoto and Touma. Though he could not see Seria's expression, he had the sneaking suspicion that Seria may be looking on with a bit of interest.

Not that he cared too much; right now he was going to deal with this girl in front of him.

"Quite honestly, I could care less about you being a teleporter who works for Judgement, or a Tokiwadai girl who is a friend of a Level 5." Samuel continued his speech as he glared at Kuroko "But if you really believe for one bloody second, you can blame me for what was obviously not my fault, and you believe that being empowered gives you some twisted way of dealing out punishment, you got another thing coming at you."

With his hands raised and his palms just a few centimetres from each other, he added one last thing: "You said something rather interesting, "that I would grovel on the ground, like the mongrel I'm supposedly am." Well then, this mongrel has some news for you:" Samuel slammed both palms together, with his eyes looking more like the slits of a snake staring at Kuroko.

"You will dance yourself to the ground, and prostrate before me."

=====Author's Notes=====

Well, I have finally finished this chapter. That took a lot longer than expected.

Think you guys can tell from one of the attacks that Samuel used and the manner that Kuroko was addressing him, where those reference came from huh?

I will be gone for a short while, because of university examinations, so any new chapters will be a little late.

Spoiler alert for the next chapter: "The Battle is to the Strong"

Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, and hope I can get the new chapter out soon!