Here it is, the final battle of the Sisters Arc, re imagined in a special double length chapter. I hope I haven't kept you all waiting too long. After the last chapter was a bit hit or miss, I really didn't want to mess this one up. Hopefully, you all think the same. It has all been leading up to this.
Not going to waste your time, just going to get the Q&A done right off the bat.
BakonoftheUnknown: Those were Type-Moon references. Phantasm Carnival was something I created for this story in an original chapter, while also a completely blatant reference.
icedshadows: Glad it melted your heart a little bit. Hopefully, this one does the same.
Bluejack222: That's the thing, they have known each other on a much deeper level for a longer time in this story. Mikoto is going to be more confident about her feelings. Plus, the confession was meant to be rushed, she was going off to die. In she didn't do it then, she'd never get the chance.
ArmoredCoreNineBall: Glad you liked it. Based on your reaction, it looks like a was able to capture the emotion of each scene. I think you're going to enjoy this re-imagined fight.
ahsoei: Yeah, you're right on the mark. Sometimes I get so enthusiastic that I slip up. Working on that.
Kim454: Well, you'll see just how exactly I implement each version of the fight in this re-imagining. Those are some interesting Servant choices. I might actually use some of them if I ever get around to writing that story.
mohamadstar94: Glad you liked the confession.
TeotakuFantasia: Glad you liked the musical selection. It's actually one of my favorite songs in the entirety of the Toaru Soundtrack. I might be able to suggest songs in certain scenes, but can't be certain.
RedSS: YES! Net -1 Sin! That's a Win! Glad you liked the chapter.
5waydragon: Way too advanced for a Judgement Issue Weapon. Upgrades will be made slowly over time, but nothing that advanced so soon.
fencer29: Yeah, it was a bit rushed. My fault. The confession was intended to be rushed considering the situation. The end result might just surprise you.
Guest (1): Glad you liked it.
Guest (2&3): Glad you liked the chapter. I see you're still optimistic about your favorite series getting included in my Multi Crossover Universe, but try not to get ahead of yourself. I still haven't even decided if I actually going to go through with that plan.
guest (Guest): Yeah, my bad.
Gashadokuro Amanojaku: Glad you liked the confession.
Generation Zero: Glad you liked the chapter. I've always seen Touma as smarter than people give him credit for, so I really wanted to show that off. As much as I want to have the fight change up more, a fundamental part of what makes the fight work as both a fight and a plan to stop the experiments is that Touma has no real help from a Level 5. A David vs Goliath fight is the greatest form of overcoming an obstacle, and that's what makes Touma's fights so amazing. Trust me, re-imagine this stuff is no walk in the park. There is so much I need to do to make old stories feel fresh with their additional twists. I think you misinterpreted my MCU. It's not a crossover with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it a Multi Crossover Universe that builds up similar to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I just gave it the same acronym for shits and giggles.
Anonymous Noob the 2nd: Don't worry, magic fights will come soon. It's just that a lot of Science Side conflicts have been happening consecutively. Touma's answer might actually surprise you.
SoulReaver267 : I'm glad you liked the confession. Helped to take a lot of the edge off, while sharpening it at the same time. Since the fight is internal as much as it is external, character's thoughts are sure to be expressed in some form or another. Trust me, the ending of this arc will be a dosy.
Guest (4): Yeah, considering the situation, I felt it neccesary to undercut the confession since she's going off to die and nothing would come of it and the comedy helps to take off the edge.
a certain guest (Guest): Yeah, had to make the confession reflect her desperate situation. Actually, the fight goes a bit differently than how you expect it, and I use the term loosely. I won't spoil it, so just sit back an enjoy the show.
GhostofTime: Yup, bumpy ride. No kiss, not yet. That would be rushing it in an inappropriate way.
Aquadude: Good job.
Kami (Guest): Now, I never got a chance to read the novel. However, I am fairly certain that, much like in other adaptations, Touma as just acting. The Invisible Thing did the near-killing. Besides, having a dark side requires you to have a standard light side. Touma is more of a Lawful Neutral, doing what he believes is right, regardless of what others would think. He's not inherently good or evil.
Chroma (Guest): Let's not get ahead of ourselves. The ship doesn't sail until it raises anchor. All I've done so far is lower the sail.
Successful World Is A Nice Rel: Oh, it's going to be interesting.
RPGPersona: I can see your concerns. I'll do what I can to make sure it doesn't get out of hand. Like I've said before, changing character dynamics is the biggest goal of this story. All these changes are attributed to the expanded history I've given all the characters. Well, I still have about a week, so I might be able to get the conclusion out before then.
And that's all of them. Man, something must have been screwing the at the time I approved so of those Guest reviews, cause they all showed up twice! Well, no dwelling on that. Disclaimer!
Disclaimer: All characters and plotlines of the "A Certain" franchise are credited to Kazuma Kamachi.
Chapter 36: Greatest Extremes
The time and date were 8:25 pm on August 21. The weather was calm, and the sky was clear. Even with the polluting light of Academy City's urban light, the moon shone as brightly as ever, casting its reflected light over the empty trainyard. Misaka 10032 was all alone in the trainyard, keeping a steady pace as she walked through.
"The time is 8:25 by my clock," a voice called over from above, "You're a few minutes early."
Turning towards the sound of the voice, Misaka saw Accelerator sitting on top of one of the many shipping containers in the trainyard. He sat there completely relaxed with his leg crossed over the other. He was simply waiting for the appropriate time to take action. It was only the 10032nd time he was doing all of this.
"So, I take it you have no objection to being my next target for this experiment?" Accelerator asked, almost sounding like he wanted to hear a negative response.
"No," the Sister replied instantly, "I am Misaka serial number 10032, Misaka identifies herself. Before we begin, wouldn't it be wise if you confirm my password to make sure I am part of the experiment? MIsaka responsibly advises."
Accelerator couldn't help but click his tongue in frustration.
'Always the same thing,' he thought to himself, 'Besides, what good is a password when everything about them screams being part of the experiment?'
"Honestly, I hate to question you when you're so diligently performing your role in an experiment to increase my power, but you strike me as unnaturally relaxed, given the situation," Accelerator noted, "You sure your mind isn't occupied with something else?"
'Just answer differently for once, would you?' Accelerator quietly begged.
"The phrase 'something else' is too vague for me to comprehend, Misaka replies to some confusion," the girl replied simply, "Three minutes and twenty seconds until the experiment is scheduled to begin. Are you ready? Misaka inquires, seeking confirmation."
'Of course that's her response,' Accelerator thought to himself, 'It always is.'
Since the beginning of the experiments, Accelerator has always started with a little prebattle banter, just to see how the Sisters would respond. Every time, it was the same. They would accept their fates wholeheartedly. They never rejected, never rebelled, never tried to escape. They just fought in the sense that the experiment required them too for a few minutes before he inevitably killed them. It was getting old. They appeared human and Testament gave them human minds, but they always acted like windup dolls, just like the researchers described them. For once, Accelerator wished they would react in a remotely human way.
"I don't think I'll ever understand how you could be so willing to throw your life away," the boy mused, "My life is more important to me than anything else in the world, which is why my desire for greater power will never disappear or diminish, so it doesn't matter if I've killed ten or ten thousand in this experiment. As long as I'm getting stronger, your deaths are nothing to me. I'll laugh away each kill."
"You say you can not understand Misaka, but Misaka also finds your behavior confusing, Misaka replies honestly. You are the strongest Level 5 in Academy City. You are in a position where nobody else can touch you, so there is no need for you to become more powerful, Misaka states reasonably."
Just like the Sister said, her analysis was based entirely on reason. Hard reason, the kind that a computer would follow. No loopholes, no exceptions, just a conclusion based on purely logical thinking. Of course, humans didn't think like that, Accelerator knew this for a fact. People had known he was the strongest since he was a kid. They knew this, but they still challenged him on the delusion that they had a chance at winning. If chaos theory was to be believed, everything was bound to happen at some point, no matter how improbable it was. It's why humans take chances. They bet on chaos theory to have them be that one instance that the improbable happens.
However, a computer didn't operate like that. While it did consider chaos theory, it disregarded the illogical improbabilities. The Sister in front of him believed that since he was the strongest, Accelerator had no need for extra power since it would be illogical to challenge him with such a small chance of success. She knew this better than anyone, having memories of 10031 other deaths at his hands. The only reason she took the illogical path was because she was created for the sole purpose of doing so. She did not realize that other people have tried to fight him and failed miserably because they put their faith in an impossible outcome.
"The strongest, huh?" Acclerator mused, "Yeah, that's true, but how did people arrive at that evaluation of me? They call me the strongest Level 5 because they tried to fight me and got beat. That's the basis for my classification right there. I'm at the top of the heap because a bunch of dimwits thought to themselves, 'Hey, I think I'll pick a fight with that guy, it will be fun to see what he can really do.' Well, that's not good enough, not even close. I've got bigger plans for myself. That level of power is significant! The level of power I'm after goes a step beyond that! I don't what people to think fighting me would an interesting challenge, I want the very idea of fighting me to be unthinkable!"
"One minute and thirty seconds until the start of the experiment," Misaka noted, "Are you certain that you are ready to begin? Misaka asks, seeking confirmation."
Accelerator could only sigh in exasperation. The Sister never where very talkative.
"I figured we'd chat a little before we got to it, but you're just hopeless," he complained as he stood up, "There's no point in trying to hold a normal conversation with you."
He jumped down from the top of the stack of shipping containers, using his power to negate the recoil he would have felt from falling such a height.
"Okay then, are you ready? It's almost time for you to die," Acclerator asked, "you substandard factory reject."
If Misaka had been hurt by the harsh words, she didn't or couldn't let it show on her face.
"The time is 8:29:41. We will now commence trial number 10032. Will test subject Accelerator please take his position, Misaka instructs politely?"
The girl lowered her goggles over her head, preparing for combat. Taking a single step, Accelerator amplified and redirected the vectors that determined his motion and rushed forward at a breakneck pace. Acting quickly, the Sister dodged to her left, attempting to zap her opponent with a mild electric shock as he flew past her. The shock did nothing, simply reflecting off his body and into the ground. She then jumped backwards in an attempt to put some more distance between the two of them, firing another, larger shock at him. The result was the same. The shock was simply redirected to the ground surrounding him.
"What's the point with all this running around?" Accelerator asked as he ran to close the distance, shrugging off all further attacks, "It doesn't matter how much time you try to buy yourself, no miracle is coming to save you!"
Once again, the Sister tried to fire a shock, only to have it reflected away. Using whatever magnetism she could muster, Misaka jumped on top of a small stack of shipping containers, doing her best to keep some distance between her and Acclerator.
"Have you noticed?" Misaka asked from atop the containers, "Tonight, the wind is a zero miles per hour."
Accelerator was about to disregard the comment but stopped when he noticed the smell in the air. It smelt foreign and toxic, like something that normally wouldn't be in the lower atmosphere. He then thought back to all the shocks she was sending his way and how they could have interacted with the air. Oxygen was rather plentiful near sea level, it was necessary for the type of life that lived on the planet. However, not all forms of oxygen are safe to breath. With a little electron manipulation through electricity, it would be possible to take the oxygen that is normally inhaled and convert it into a much deadlier form, especially when no wind was present to shift the particle around.
"Oh, I get it," Accelerator realized, covering his nose and mouth, "You're breaking apart the oxygen in the air with electricity and turning it into ozone, hoping I would pass out from the lack of breathable oxygen. Cleaver girl!"
Misaka took off running, clearly not keen on sticking around now that her plan had been exposed. Accelerator and her both knew dealing with the ozone problem was a simple as incapacitating her, something Accelerator could easily do once he got a hold of her.
Giving chase, Accelerator took a single step and glided over the surface of the ground, easily catching up to and keeping pace with the running Sister. Now within striking range, the Level 5 threw a modified punch at the clone, sending her flying off her feet. She landed harshly on the ground, getting torn up as she rolled to a was a simple application of his power, but an effective one. All he did was redirect all resulting forces of the punch in one direction, out, so that Misaka took all the forces that where normally divided among all members of the collision.
"Hey, come on! Aren't you guys supposed to be mentally linked or something?" Accerator asked as he approached the fallen, bleeding Sister, "I gave one of your buddies a big hit during the last experiment. Shouldn't you have had time to learn from it by now?"
As the Level 5 approached, the Sister laid there on the ground, helplessly awaiting her demise. She was all out of moves and was heavily injured from only a single attack. There was nothing else she could do but await for death 10032. However, that death never came.
"Hey, we have a visitor," Accelerator noted, looking off to the side, "How do you suppose that plays into everything?"
Following his gaze, Misaka was completely shocked at what she saw. Standing no more than a couple meters away was Touma Kamijou. He was panting heavily and leaning on a nearby shipping container. He looked to be completely tired, both from his lack of breath and his ragged, injured body. However, despite all this, he held a steely, determined gaze.
"It's you…" the Sister whispered, "What are you doing here?"
Not happy by the turn of events, Accelerator pressed his foot against Misaka's head, grinding it into the ground.
"What, are you inviting members of the general public to our testing sites now?" Accelerator asked through his teeth, "That's irritating. You see, I didn't budget any time into silencing outsiders if they discovered our secret."
"Step away from her," Touma growled.
"What the hell?" Accelerator whispered in confusion, "Did you say something?"
He could hardly believe what was happening. Sure lots of people have been ballsy enough to challenge him to fights, but this person in front of him was completely different. Touma approached Accelerator without even a hit of hesitating, all the while he was making demands.
"Step away now," Touma demanded, clutching his fist, "Get away from Misaka's Sister! I mean it, get away from her this instant, Yuri!"
For a moment, everything was silent. Accelerator had stopped grinding his foot into the Sister's head and only stared at the boy in front of him. He looked at Touma straight in the eye, coming off as both aloof and confused.
"Who the hell is Yuri?" he asked simply, "And what's with all the demands you're making? There are seven Level 5s, and I am undeniably the strongest. You must have quite the set if you think you can stand there and make demands like that to me."
"I'm sick of repeating myself!" Touma yelled, shoving the fact that Accelerator didn't recognize his own name to the side, "Get the hell away from her!"
"Oh yeah? I have to admit, you're intriguing," Accelerator replied, "However, instead of me getting away from her, how about I get her away from me?"
Without any other warning, Accelerator tapped his foot against the Sister's stomach. Amplifying the vectors of momentum behind his kick, he launched the girl high into the air. If she hit the ground in her condition with how far she was flying, she would surely be put in far worse shape than she already was in.
Reacting quickly, Touma dashed under the airborne girl, reading her trajectory to predict her landing. Just before she landed, Touma jumped forward and grabbed her in his arms. He then turned his body midfall, landing on his back and cushioning her decent. His back hurt like hell after taking the full force of their combined fall on to the gravel ground. However, that didn't matter to Touma at the moment. He was just glad he managed to catch his friend.
"That was a close one," Touma remarked to himself.
Holding the girl close, Touma noticed something warm and wet on his left hand. Upon inspecting said hand, he was horrified by what exactly he was feeling. It was blood, Misaka's blood. His gaze then shifted to Accelerator, who only smirked at the display of self-sacrificial heroism Touma just enacted. Even after seeing the boy in front of him for himself, Touma could hardly believe what had happened to his first and best friend.
'Yuri,' Touma thought to himself, 'What did they put you through to turn you into this?'
"What is this?" Misaka asked, breaking Touma away from his thoughts, "What in the world are you doing here? Misaka asks in utter shock. Why would you take such a risk for somebody like Misaka? As long as the necessary chemicals and equipment are available, Misakas can be manufactured with the touch of a button. The bodies are fabricated and filled with fabricated minds. The process has been repeated many times. There are still 9968 untouched units for use. For the sake of a laboratory rat, yo-"
"I don't care," Touma cut her off, setting the injured girl on the ground, "Manufactured or not, it doesn't matter to me. And you're more than just a bunch of chemicals now. After all, you're still the only one of you in the whole world, right? That's why I came here. Sorry, but you aren't going to be dying, not today. You still have accounts to settle."
As Touma walked away to face Accelerator, the Sister tried to get up in a desperate attempt to stop him. However, her injuries got the better of her, keeping her on the ground and pulling her into subconsciousness.
"He'll kill you… says… Misa… ka," the clone said weakly as she slipped into unconsciousness.
"Nice speech. Did you come up with that just now, or have you been practicing?" Accelerator asked mockingly.
"Do they ever give you a day off?" Touma replied, not feeling like humoring his opponent/friend.
"Huh?" Accelerator responded.
"Earlier tonight, in that back alley," Touma clarified.
"Oh, you saw the work I did there, huh?" Accelerator realized, "Blood flow manipulation, my first time too. Hell of a performance, don't you think? I mean, who knew there was that much blood pumping through a person? Ha, but windup dolls aren't people, right?"
"Is that what you tell yourself?" Touma asked dangerously, "Is that the illusion you pull over your eyes every time you take one of their lives? I've known you since we were kids, I know for a fact that you never liked hurting people. People told you your power was a gift but you saw it as a curse, a flame constantly luring in moths for you to unwillingly inflict pain on. Yet here you are, killing these girls one by one and reveling in it. Is that what changed?! Did you just decided that just because they were born in a tank, they weren't human?! Is that what convinced you it was okay to kill them?! That's not the Yuri Suzushina that I knew growing up! I don't want to fight you, but I will if I have to! I'll do whatever it takes to stop these experiments and shatter your messed up illusion!"
If Accelerator was being honest, he had no idea what the boy in front of him was talking about. He didn't recognize the boy in front of him at all, yet he claimed they knew each other since they were kids. And what was with all the talk about illusions and the clones being people? They were manufactured windup dolls. That wasn't some illusion he told himself in self-doubt, that was a hundred percent fact. Those where the researchers' words, not his. If the creators of the clones couldn't be trusted to know what they made, then who could. They certainly had more merit then this stranger in front of him.
Still, Accelerator would be lying if he wasn't at least a bit suspicious about the boy. Against all odds, he somehow knew things about his past that only Accelerator would know, albeit twisted from how he remembered them. Things like his power drawing in opponents with the temptation of status certainly checked out, but everything else was different. As far as he was concerned, those idiots who challenged him were nobodies. He didn't care what happened to them when the tried to fight. The magnitude of his power was less of a curse and more of an annoyance.
There was also the matter of the boy's intentions. Did he honestly think he could stop the experiments? The only way he could do that is if he messed with some part of the calculations that started the experiments in the first place. How was confronting him going to mess with those calculations? And even if this confrontation did mess with the calculations, Tree Diagram could always just push out another set of them. Not only that, but his methods were hypocritical as well. He didn't want to fight, but he was willing to do so if that's what it took. Did this boy even know who Accelerator was? If you don't at least confront him with the resolve to fight, you are going to die very quickly. It was just simple fact.
Finally, there was this boy's hair. For some reason, that hair seemed awfully familiar to him despite how outlandish it was. It looked like something from a manga or anime. A hairdo like that in real life had to be one in a million, even with the common hair color. Of course, this was coming from the guy with naturally white hair as a result of his power reflecting radiation and negating his need for pigmentation. Still, despite how uncommon the hairstyle was, Accelerator swore he saw it somewhere before.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Accelerator finally asked in a bored tone.
"I'll show you right here!" Touma replied as he charged in blindly.
As his opponent charged in practically suicidal attack, Accelerator couldn't help but smirk in amusement. Just before Touma could close the distance between them, Accelerator kicked up a large among of gravel with the tap of his foot. The gravel forced Touma back, with a few particularly large pieces nailing him in the stomach and face.
"Oh man, you're slow!" Accelerator yelled as he kicked up another flurry of gravel.
The resulting explosion of gravel knocked Touma even farther away form Accelerator. He rolled across the hard ground for a few seconds before stopping with a thud. It was the kind of attack that would have most people screaming in terror and running for their lives. However, being Touma Kamijou, he did not scream, nor did he run. He simply picked himself off the ground, trying to shake away the pain. Seeing that his opponent wasn't going to quit yet, Accelerator decided to give him one last chance to reconsider his decision to fight.
"Seriously, this is pathetic," Accelerator taunted as he walked towards a nearby train track rail.
With the tap of his foot, he forced several dozen railroad spikes out of the ground, releasing the rail. He then forced a large portion of the rail to stand upright at his feet, bringing it to the perfect position for his next attack.
"It that's the best that you can do, you don't stand a chance in hell," Accelerator mused as he tapped the rail with the back of his hand.
With a single tap, the rail began to bend in several places. Each bend appeared almost instantly, one after another, until the rail was nothing but a giant, crooked, piece of metal. As soon as the final bend was made, the rail pulled itself out of the ground and hurled towards Touma. Acting quickly, Touma barely managed to roll out of the way of the attack. However, Accelerator was one step ahead, already launching another rail. The second rail managed to actually hit Touma, cutting through his left side, but otherwise leaving him unharmed.
Even then, about half a dozen more rails came raining down on him, all with the intent to kill. The rails all landed at the same time, kicking up a massive dust cloud around Touma. Miraculously, he managed to dodge all of them by a hair, managing to find that sweet spot where he would not be harmed. Realizing he was at a disadvantage, Touma knew he had to put some distance between them. Using the dust cloud as cover, Touma ran into the maze of shipping containers.
Back on the bridge, Mikoto simply sat in the middle of the road, her only company being the kitten that apparently belonged to one of her Sisters. She just sat there with her thoughts, thinking back at her confrontation with Touma, clutching his journal close to her chest.
'I couldn't stop him,' she thought to herself, 'I tried, but I failed at that too. I couldn't keep the truth about Yuri from him. Instead, I told him the truth myself to try to sway him away from going, but it just spurred him along, saying he would save him along with everyone else. It seems impossible, but I wouldn't put it past him to do something everyone considered impossible. That's just the kind of person he is. Of course, the odds are stacked against him, just like every other time.'
Looking down at the journal in her hands, Mikoto opened it up and flipped through the pages until she came across Yuri Suzushina's profile. Seeing the childhood photo at the top of the page, Mikoto's heart ached at the thought of how much had changed between them in their separation. It just didn't seem fair that Touma's dearest friend was ripped away from him and twisted into such a monster. Averting her eyes from the photo, Mikoto skimmed down the various notes until she found what she was looking for. At the very end of Yuri's profile was proof of Touma's claims before he left.
'Yuri Suzushina had always been an incredibly powerful Esper,' Mikoto read in her head, 'Upon receiving his first System Scan, he was ranked a Level 3, and quickly progressed to Level 4, despite being so young. Researchers speculated he might be able to reach Level 5 with some more intensive training. However, his level is more of reflection of his raw power, rather than his control. Since the day I met him, he has never had the best control of his ability, constantly hurting people on accident because of his automatic reflection skill. My right hand is the only thing that has ever managed to get past it. He told me he wished there was some way he could get people to stop challenging him to fights. Maybe then, no one would have to get hurt anymore.'
Mikoto couldn't help but laugh slightly at what she had read.
'So, he was telling the truth after all.'
Looking towards the black kitten left with her, Mikoto realized something that seemed familiar about it. She had meet this kitten before, back when she first learned about her Sisters.
"Hey kitty, have we met?" Mikoto asked, picking up the kitten in her arms, "Was that you stuck up that tree?"
The kitten simply meowed.
"Sorry about that," Mikoto apologized, "It's kind of difficult to tell you apart, you know?"
'Like the sisters,' Mikoto mused in her head, 'They all look the same on the outside, but each one is unique with her own life that's separate from the others, even with their shared memory. They're people.'
Looking at the kitten, Mikoto felt like he was agreeing with her. Even if the cat was just a young animal, it appeared to be a rather smart animal.
"There's a reason I can't leave this to anyone else," she decided, "Saving Yuri from himself is Kamijou's responsibility. My responsibility is saving my Sisters."
The kitten meowed, as if to agree with her.
"Let's go."
Even with his head start thanks to the dust cloud, Touma still found himself struggling to keep some distance between him and Accelerator. While Touma had to run through the maze of shipping containers, he couldn't hide since the Level 5 could easily kick the containers away and make a shortcut. In hindsight, running into such a maze was the same as locking himself in a cage in front of a shooting squad. With his luck, Touma was sure that at least one of those containers would fall on him, even if Accelerator wasn't actively aiming for him.
If he wanted to get out of the maze alive and keep ahead, Touma had to think outside the box when it came to his movement. Thankfully, the walls and cliffs formed by the variously sized stacks of shipping containers made for a perfect free running course. Thanks to his many years of running away from angered gangs and his more recent weeks of running after convicts in Judgement, Touma had developed so rather impressive parkour skills, and this maze of shipping containers the perfect place to show them off.
Turning a corner, Touma found himself face to face with a dead-end. However, the wall of that dead end was only a single shipping container tall. Running at full speed, he ran along the wall, slowing ascending with each step. Once he reached the dead-end shipping container, he grabbed the top the container and pulled himself up. Touma repeated this same process with each dead-end he ran into until he had gone up as high as the containers were stacked. Continuing to run, he looked back to see Accelerator had jumped up on top of the containers as well through his vector manipulation.
"Trying to get the high ground, are you?" Accelerator taunted, "I have to admit, those were some pretty impressive moves."
Not caring to reply, Touma continued to run. When he came across one of the gaps in the shipping container maze on the ground, he long jumped across, trying his best to keep his pace. When faced with a single shipping container high drop, Touma simply fell in stride with his run, doing a PK Roll to minimize the impact and keep his momentum going. Occationally, if a gap was too wide, he would use his ODD as a vaulting pole to help him across. Using his various self-taught free running techniques, Touma was able to keep a fair distance between him and Accelerator, all without the use of an ability.
However, that did not mean that the chase was easy. Thanks to his vector manipulations, Accelerator was able to move the individual shipping containers with the tap of his foot, no matter how far away it was. He would uplift containers Touma was standing on, forcing him to run off as soon as possible to avoid being catapulted out of the train yard. Accelerator would also cut off Touma's path by removing or dropping shipping containers in front of him, forcing the Level 0 to either make a last minute long jump over or make a sharp turn, occasionally using added containers to wall run and make the turn more free-flowing.
Eventually, seeing that these simple attacks were not cutting it, Acclerator decided to go ham and collapse the entire stack of shipping containers they were standing on. With a tap of his foot, he forced all of the bottom most shipping containers at one side of the stack out of place, causing the stack to fall in an avalanche with Touma still on top. Acting accordingly, Touma jumped, slid, and ran from container to container, trying his best to avoid being crushed by the avalanche of metal. When he reached the ground, he had stumbled and fell less than gracefully. The contents of one of the containers spilled, coating the area in a cloud of wheat flour.
'Something's wrong,' Accelerator thought to himself as he watched Touma struggle to catch his breath, 'We've been at this for a while, and he has yet to use an ability. Instead, he pulls out some high tech collapsing pole to help him fight. Could he be…?'
"Hey, by any chance, could you happen to be a non-Esper?" Accelerator asked, effortlessly climbing over the wreckage, "The way you showed up and started trash talking, I thought you must have some rank, but now I'm starting to think I was wrong. You're the smallest fry there is, aren't you? No… actually, regular small fry wouldn't have access to non-lethal Academy City weapons like you do. No, you're the largest of small fry, Judgement's Certain Strange Addition. You possession of that weapon says it all. An impressive Level 0, but still a Level 0."
'I don't like this,' he thought to himself as Touma returned a determined glare, 'There have been an innumerable number of misguided idiots to challenge me to fight in the delusional hope of claiming top-dog status. There's always a moment, usually after losing an eye or a limb, that they realize their mistake. Their faces contort in realization of agony and terror. And then, there's this guy. He's completely unyielding. He's already taken a few bad hits and he's still challenging me. He still has the same determination he had when this fight started, maybe even more so. What does he hope to accomplish?'
"Come on, you must know by now that I'm exponentially stronger than you, even with your little weapon. Of course, if you want to die that badly, I'll happily comply and blow you to pieces. You see that container over there?" Accelerator said, pointing to the opened shipping container of flour, "Looks like there was flour in it. There's no wind tonight, either. It's perfectly calm. That can turn this into a really dangerous situation."
With the tap of his foot, Accelerator launched one of the other shipping containers high into the air. Based on it's trajectory, it could be predicted that it would scrape against one of the other containers before hitting the ground, potentially causing a spark. Touma had a bad feeling about what Accelerator had planned.
"Hey, Third String," Accelerator called out, "Ever heard of something called a dust explosion?"
His fears confirmed, Touma began running in the opposite direction in a desperate attempt to escape the predicted blast. Even he knew he could not out run an explosion. Thankfully, had quickly formulated a plan to save himself. Grabbing his ODD, Touma threw it with all his might at his opponent while it was in its collapsed form. As soon as the weapon collided with Accelerator, it was immediately reflected back at Touma with just as much momentum as it had on impact. Despite the near suicidal appearance of this move, everything was going exactly how Touma planned it. With ODD now rushing towards him, Touma made a final leap forward and turned his body to face his incoming weapon. Just before it reached him, he reached out his left hand and remotely commanded his ODD to return to said hand at max speed. All of this happened within the time it took for ODD to be reflected back at Touma.
With the thrusters and Accelerator moving ODD in the same direction, the momentum was compounded as it collided with Touma's hand. The total momentum was far greater than what is meant to be caught by a single, human hand, and with no resistance on Touma's part, it was enough to launching him through the open fields of the train yard.
By the skin of he's teeth, Touma managed to outrun the massive dust explosion created by Accelerator. However, he did not go unscathed. Despite not actually caught in the explosion, he was still struck by the resulting shockwave and thrown against a shipping container. In addition, the force exerted on his left hand was far more intense and concentrated than what it was used to. His hand was left sore and he might have even cracked a few bones in it. Not to mention the force of ODD flying at him at an exaggerated rate added to his impact with the shipping container.
'Going to have to add that in the next ODD prototype report,' Touma thought to himself, 'Left hand needs protection from recall function.'
Focusing again on his opponent, Touma watched in mild disbelief as Accelerator walked out of the flames of the dust explosion, completely unscathed. He knew Accelerator was the strongest in Academy City, but he was really starting to push that title.
"Yup, dust explosions are pretty nasty," Accelerator mused nonchalantly, "Next time I do that, I got to remember not to put myself in the middle of it. Nearly suffocated from the lack of oxygen. I always thought I could survive a nuclear warhead, but now I might have to reconsider."
Touma simply stood himself upright, once again giving his opponent a determined glare.
"So, you're still going to fight me, even now?" Accelerator asked, annoyed.
"Of course I'm still going to fight," Touma declared, "This experiment has caused nothing but pain and suffering for the people that I care about! I'll do whatever it takes to stop it, even if it means fighting the very people I intend to save!"
The strongest and the weakest simply stared at one another in the midst of the flames. One stared out of confusion and bewilderment, the other out of determination.
A few blocks away, Mikoto was still running towards the trainyard, her Sister's kitten snuggly in her arms. Even from that distance, the dust explosion Accelerator had set off. The thought of Touma getting caught in such an attack horrified her. All she wanted for him was to stay out of the situation, yet her follies and his determination put him in the dead center of it.
Looking down in her arms, she noticed how innocent the kitten looked. Even if his owner was scheduled to die tonight, there was no need for him to get involved as well. Mikoto wasn't going to let another bystander get dragged in.
"Sorry," Mikoto apologized as she set the kitten down on the street, "but I can't drag you into all of this too."
Saying goodbye, Mikoto once again took off sprinting, clutching Touma's notebook close to her chest. It didn't matter to her if her Level 5 status made Touma's plan less effective. She was getting him out of it no matter what it takes.
"In a way, you're lucky you don't have any Esper ability," Accelerator mused, "My reflection skill doesn't work so well on someone so weak. Strange as it is, you've done pretty well so far. You're still alive, and considering I'm your opponent, that's a miracle."
"You of all people should know that's not true," Touma replied, "Like I told you before, I've known you since we were kids. You of all people should know how unlucky I am. You've seen my rotten luck first hand. It's not exactly something that's easy to forget. Just end quit the act already! This needs to end, now!"
Accelerator clicked his tongue in frustration. There this boy was going again, talking about how well they knew each other despite the fact Accelerator didn't recognize him at all.
"You know, for once, I agree with you. This does need to end," Accelerator growled, "I'm getting bored of your constant babbling and this game of cat and mouse, so let's end this! Pick a hand, any hand. It doesn't matter which one touches you. With either one, I can reverse your blood flow, resulting in a messy death. So, which will it be? The left hand?"
Accelerator stepped forward.
"The right hand?"
He took another step forward.
"Or both!"
With very little warning, Accelerator rushed at Touma with both hands stretched out, already making the choice for his unlucky victim. However, Touma had taken a fighting stance and had made his choice of hand long before the fight even started. It was an obvious choice for him, just like always. He chose the right hand, just not Accelerator's.
Just as Accelerator was about to reach Touma, a loud crack was heard that echoed through the trainyard. The next thing he knew, Accelerator was staring at something he never thought he would during a fight.
'The moon? Why am I look at the moon for?' Accelerator thought to himself in utter confusion.
Looking around, he realized that he was flat on his back, lying on the ground. Picking himself up, Accelerator then noticed Touma standing in once piece a few meters in front of him like he had just thrown a punch. Just a second ago, the two were face-to-face, but now there was a large gap between then. Touching his face, Accelerator noticed the most unbelievable detail about his predicament. He was hurt, in pain, and bleeding out his nose.
"What the hell happened here!" Accelerator yelled in outrage.
'He knocked me on my ass! Me! If he did that, his arm should be broken!' Accelerator thought in a burst of anger and confusion, 'How could he even touch me?! It's just not possible!'
Looking up, Accelerator saw that Touma had stepped in range for what could only be close quarters combat. Standing up, he wiped the blood from his face, laughing in denial.
'I must have focused everything in my hands, shutting down the reflection around the rest of me,' Accelerator reasoned, 'Damn, what an idiotic move!'
"Impressive," Accelerator laughed, "No, I mean it. That was good. A solid hit! I'll give you that, you really nailed me, but now…!"
Acting out of anger, Accelerator flung his right hand straight at Touma, fully intending to kill him. However, the right hand of a Level 5 was redirected by the right hand of Imagine Breaker, negating the Esper ability and rendering it harmless. In a single swift motion, Touma pushed the hand aside and pulled back his own fist. Before Accelerator knew it, the fist came rocketing into his face.
"Snap out of it already," Touma yelled as his fist flew, "Yuri!"
Falling victim the Judgement's Certain Strange Addition's right hook, Accelerator was slammed into the ground once again. This time, Mikoto was just outside the trainyard's fence, able to the act for herself.
She could hardly believe it. Not only was Touma fighting and going on the offensive against the strongest Esper in Academy City, he was fighting the person he considered his best friend, even to this day. It was laughably hypocritical. He refused to fight her to stop her from fighting Accelerator herself, yet he just punched his best friend in the face in an attempt to save him from his own hell. Mikoto wasn't entirely sure how she should take that. Then again, the circumstances where different, with fighting Accelerator being a necessary evil.
Picking himself off the ground, Accelerator started getting desperate. Letting his anger take control, lunged at Touma again, trying his best to land his single, instant-kill touch. However, Touma intercepted him with a right palm strike to the chest, knocking the air out of his lungs. Touma followed up by grabbing Accelerator's shirt and pulling him in close, opening the opportunity for a knee to the stomach. The knee pushed Accelerator back again, giving him a bit of breathing room.
His anger still rising, Accelerator attempted another charge, this time aiming for Touma's left side. At the very least, he could tell that something wasn't normal. Something about it was preventing him from using his ability. More unsettlingly, something about how the hand felt seemed familiar. It was like he had felt the same sensation before, albeit gentler. However, he couldn't quite remember where he felt the sensation.
On paper, Accelerator's plan to aim for Touma's left was solid. If he could put a little bit of distance between him and that right hand, he could get enough time to land his one-hit kill blow. However, Touma recognized this and reacted accordingly. With a slight stumble in his footwork, Touma sidestepped to the right, orbiting counter clockwise around Accelerator as Level 5 flew past the Level 0. Touma then grabbed Accelerator's right side with his right hand, quickly following it up with his left hand on Accelerator's left side. Using his opponent's momentum against him, Touma spun Accelerator around 180 degrees and threw him against a shipping container with a crash.
His anger approaching it limit, Accelerator charged again, only for Touma to jump back and avoid his attack.
"Damn you, stop moving!" Accelerator cried.
His only response was another right hook to the face.
"What the hell is with your right hand, huh?!" Accelerator yelled before receiving an upper cut to the gut.
His anger was really starting to boil now.
"Don't get cocky, Third String!" Accelerator screamed as he stomped his foot, creating a small explosion of gravel at Touma's feet.
Finally able to get a hit in, Accelerator couldn't help but smirk as he saw his opponent start to fall on the ground. However, that smug quickly turned into one of horror when he saw that Touma was still conscious and raring to go. Faster than Accelerator thought was humanly possible, Touma swung himself up from near ground level and slammed his right palm into Accelerator's chin. Touma then grabbed Accelerator by the face and slammed him into a shipping container, pressing his own left arm over his opponent's chest, pinning him to the wall.
"You should never have gotten involved with this. So many Sisters living the best they can. They use up all their strength, just to fight you. They deserve better! They're living beings, not animals to be used in some inhuman experiment!" Touma yelled, "And so are you! You don't deserve to be put through! You shouldn't have to trade lives. You shouldn't have to kill twenty thousand just to scare the other seven billion. Just help me end these experiments now and you don't have to kill or hurt anyone anymore! Please, I'm begging you, Yuri, I don't what to have to fight you!"
Despite his face currently being covered, Accelerator let out a growl. Who did this guy think he was? He was Accelerator, the undisputed strongest Esper in Academy City. Yet, this guy kept knocking him down, making him bleed, throwing him to the side, making him look like a total joke. They say that if you could make God bleed, people will stop believing in him. If people thought it was possible to beat him, they would never stop trying to achieve it. Losing to this guy would make his goal for invincibility all the more unattainable. You couldn't be invincible if you could be defeated.
However, what angered him most of all was how the person in front of him was talking. The entire time they were fighting, his opponent acted like he knew what who Accelerator was on a personal level. He claimed they were friends. He claimed Accelerator never wanted to hurt anyone. He claimed Accelerator had delusions about the Sisters and Project Level 6 Shift that needed to be shattered. It was nothing but crap coming from his mouth. However, the thing he hated the most was how this person kept calling him "Yuri". He didn't like it at all. He needed this person to stop talking.
Mustering what ever physical strength he had without his ability, Accelerator lifted his foot and pressed it against Touma's chest.
"Stop talking!" Accelerator yelled, kicking Touma off of him.
Now free, Accelerator stomped on the ground and backflipped over and behind the shipping container he was just pinned against. Upon landing, he modified the vectors from his impact, causing all of shipping containers in the immediate area to fly into the air. Seeing this, Touma knew there was only one way the situation could end.
Just as quickly as they were thrown up, the multitude of shipping containers came plummeting back down to the ground. Touma scrambled for dear life, trying his hardest not to get crushed under the several hundred tons of metal falling from the sky. Upon impact, the containers crumpled and kicked up dust, covering the trainyard in a dust cloud. The dust was so thick Accelerator actually lost track of Touma inside of it. Meanwhile, Touma hid behind one of the many destroyed shipping containers that were scattered across the field and hidden inside the dust cloud surrounding Accelerator.
"What's wrong, Third String? Have nothing else to say?" Accelerator taunted, "We were just having such an engaging conversation! Don't tell me you decided to be quiet just because I asked!"
Using the field to his advantage, Touma quietly snuck around Accelerator, using the dust cloud and the shipping containers as cover. As soon as he was a safe distance away, Touma took his ODD and tossed it over to another shipping container. The multipurpose weapon stuck the metal box and created a subtle clang, alerting Accelerator to Touma's supposed location.
"There you are!" Accelerator yelled as stomped on the ground.
The vibrations from that stomp were amplified tenfold, creating a massive gravel explosion that would have torn anybody to shreds. In the loud commotion that followed, Touma quickly circled Accelerator from behind the dust cloud and shipping containers until the Level 5 was positioned between ODD and its owner. He was in the perfect position to make his move.
With a single thought, Touma commanded ODD to return to his left hand. The weapon's thrusters flared, and it propelled itself towards Touma along the shortest path, the one with Accelerator in the way. Anyone who knew where Touma was could tell that the weapon was using its recall function. However, to someone like Accelerator, who had wrongly assumed Touma's location, it looked like Touma had thrown the weapon at him from behind the dust cloud. When the ODD collided with Accelerator, it was harmlessly reflected away by his automatic defense.
"Seriously?! That was you're big play?!" Accelerator laughed, "I know all you have is a stick and some weird right hand, but you could have at least tried something a bit more effective, Third Stri-"
Accelerator had taken the bait, and he paid the price for it. Before he could finish his sentence, Touma rushed out of the dust cloud from behind him and punched him in the back of the head. The punch was more than enough to catch Accelerator's attention, turning him around to properly face his opponent. Unfortunately, this only lined him up for a second punch from Touma, straight at his face, knocking him on to the ground. Touma was left standing above him, nonchalantly returning his ODD to his left hand.
"If you know what's good for you, you'll stay down," Touma explained, "Your defeat will mean the end of the experiment. You and the rest of the remaining Sisters will be freed from this cycle of death. I promise, I'm make it up to you in some way, Yuri."
Having said his piece, Touma turned around and started to walk away. He didn't like it, but he did what he had to do to stop the experiments. It wasn't the reunion he wanted to have with Yuri, but it was the best he could get with his rotten luck. At the very least, his defeat might give him another chance to escape the constant cycle of violence his power trapped him in. For now, everything was over. Unfortunately, Touma couldn't have been any more wrong. As he walked away, he was oblivious to Accelerator's anger reaching its peak.
'We know each other? He doesn't want to fight? They're alive? What is he talking about? I've never met him before in my life. Anyone who isn't from a lab just wants to fight me to prove something. The Sisters are just windup dolls, just like the researchers said,' Accelerator growled in his head, 'I need power. The power to make him stop saying this stuff. No, more! I need the dominion over reason and rules that comes from absolute power!'
As Touma walked away, he felt a sudden strong guest of wind slam into his right side. Turning around, he saw Accelerator still lying on the ground with his arm held in the air. He was chanting some sort of gibbering, becoming more vocal and erratic with each sound he made. As his voice picked up, so did the wind as it circled around him, becoming strong enough to make Touma lose his footing and fall on the ground. Acting quickly, Touma took out his ODD and transformed into a triple spiked claw, essentially the head of his ODD's spiked crowd control pike form. He drove the spikes into the ground, giving himself some sort of foothold to keep himself from flying away.
"Yuri, what are you doing?!" Touma yelled, trying to surpass the sound of the wind.
Accelerator didn't bother acknowledging his original name. He simply kept babbling, making the wind grow stronger and stronger. With an ear shattering screech, the vortex picked up speed tenfold, becoming strong enough to pick up the many shipping containers and people. The only thing keeping the likes of Touma and Mikoto from flying away was ODD and the trainyard fence, respectively.
As the wind got stronger, Touma's grip on his weapon progressively got looser. He tried to hang on with both hands, but both were coming loose with the intense wind. No matter what he tried, Touma's grip was sure to give in eventually. The final nail in the coffin was the various debris being picked up by Accelerator's whirlwind. As per his rotten luck, a random piece of trash slammed into Touma's hands, knocking his grip loose and sending him flying.
Back on the ground, Mikoto watched in horror as Touma was thrown around like a ragdoll by the wind. He flew around limp, almost looking like a corpse. The image only became stronger when he crashed into a nearby, broken windmill, knocking him out of the sky. He landed on the hard, gravel ground with a sickening cross between a crash and a splat. He lied there unconscious, bathing in a pool of his own blood.
"I-is he…," Mikoto stuttered, "N-no… No!"
Mikoto could hardly believe what she had seen. Touma had had a lot of crap thrown at him in the short amount of time they knew each other. He's lost his memories, got his arm cut off, electrocuted nearly to death, but nothing had ever been this bad. In every single instance, he had managed to come back alive, if not without a few noticeable scars. However, this time, he didn't look like he was getting up. He was bleeding profusely, and his body was limp. It looked like he was actually dead.
"The air, the wind, the atmosphere. I can win this fight. I've got the means to kill that piece of crap right here, all around me," Accelerator declared as a purple ball of light appeared over the trainyard, "If I could control the direction of the air that's flowing through the atmosphere, if I could control the world's wind currents, I could destroy anything I want to. My reach would be infinite. My power would be truly and absolutely unstoppable. The strongest Esper in Academy City, the only Level 6? I wouldn't need that anymore! There wouldn't be anything or anyone in the whole damn universe that could stop me! The world and everything in it would be at my mercy!"
Picking himself off the ground, Acccelerator put an enormous amount of into his control over the wind.
"Compress it. Compress all the air," he laughed, turning towards the unconscious Touma, "Hey Third String, you have given me a fantastic idea. What happened to all that spunk you had? Aren't you going to keep running you damn mouth about how far back the two of us supposedly go? Come on, get up already! I need you to stick with me for just a little longer, okay? It's almost over now!"
"Accelerator!" an all too familiar voice yelled from behind the Level 5.
Turning around, Accelerator saw Mikoto standing there, challenging him. Her right hand was raised and extended towards the boy with an arcade coin resting on her finger. In her left hand was Touma's journal, clutching it close to her chest. Hey gaze was as sharp as a freshly forged sword, and her eyes burned with a flame of determination. Mikoto was done working from the shadows. She was done sitting at the sidelines. For the first time since learning about the project, she was coming front and center to face the problem head on.
"Stay right where you are," Mikoto threatened.
Off to the side, she could hear the sound of shuffling gravel. It was faint compared to the roar of the wind, but it was there. Looking in the direction that the sound came from, tears formed in the corners of Mikoto's eyes as she saw Touma weakly clawing at the ground.
"Misaka…" he whispered weakly, "Don't… do… it…"
'I can't believe it, he's alive,' Mikoto thought happily, 'I'm sorry. I know you always aimed for a happy ending for everyone, but I don't think that's even possible here. Once I die, the experiments will be over. It's selfish, I know, but I don't want you to die because of me. You're too important to me for me to let that happen. So now, I'll end this.'
Returning her gaze back to Accelerator, Mikoto noticed he wasn't even paying attention to her anymore. To him, she was no more significant than an insect. His only real interest as testing out his now trick with manipulating the vectors of the wind. Looking up at the sky, Mikoto quickly realized he was condensing the air into one point to create plasma. The whole plan seemed insane. With how large the ball of plasma was now, it would have destroyed the entire trainyard if it was thrown, maybe even a large portion of Academy City itself.
It seemed hopeless. Mikoto knew there was nothing she could do to stop it. Touma was too heavily injured to do anything, so she couldn't turn to him. She couldn't beat him in a one-on-one fight to stop him, her entire plan was to lose so horribly that an earlier Tree Diagram prediction would be seen as incorrect, force the project to shut down since they couldn't get a recalculation with Tree Diagram destroyed. She could try to use the windmills scattered across the city to interfere with the wind and Accelerator's calculations, but she couldn't possible reach that many windmills by herself.
Looking for an answer, Mikoto's gaze took notice of Misaka 10032 lying limp on the ground not too far away. Mikoto rushed over and kneeled by her Sister's side, begging her to wake up. However, upon noticing how cold the girl felt, Mikoto reconsidered. She was in terrible shape. How could Mikoto ask her for help when the girl had been through so much? However, another look at the far more injured Touma convinced her otherwise.
"I realize that I'm asking a lot of you. With everything that's happened, I know I don't have the right, but please. Please, there's something I need you to do. It's something that only you can do," Mikoto begged, "I hate this. Why do I have to be so damn powerless! I can't do this. I can't protect everyone myself. The Ace of Tokiwodai, one of only seven Level 5s, and I can't do anything! I can't heal her injuries. I can't stop Accelerator. I can't give Kamijou the same ending he gives literally everyone else! Please get up, I'm begging you! Get up and do what you can, not for me, but for him."
"I am… confused," Misaka 10032 replied weakly, placing her hand or that of her older sister, "I'm not sure I understand everything you are saying, but for some reason, I find you words moving, so I am happy to help you."
As the plasma ball grew larger and larger, Accelerator laughed his head off like a complete maniac. He was on a total power trip, something he never really experienced since no one could ever give him a challenge. However, the boy laying down in a pool of his own blood managed to do just that. For once, Accelerator knew what it felt like to let loose to take down an opponent.
"Amazing! It's like a part of my body, like moving my arms or legs! All of this air is completely under my control!" Accelerator laughed, "So fighting someone stronger really was a shortcut to leveling up! Guess they were right all along! Thanks, Third String! You served your purpose well, so now I'm going to destroy you!"
Just before he threw down his plasma ball, Accelerator noticed something odd happening to his creation. For some reason, the plasma was dispersing, falling apart and returning to the form or regular gas. He didn't understand what was happening. He was the top ranked Level 5 and a genius capable of complex vector calculations in incredibly short amounts of time. There was no way his calculations for controlling the wind were wrong. That left only one conclusion. Something was changing the wind currents and throwing his calculations off by changing their basic premise.
He knew it wasn't wind manipulation. No one in the area had that power. Anyone going by Misaka was an Electromaster, through and through, and he had determined the unconscious pain in the ass of a boy to be a Level 0. It's not like some other fourth party was getting involved that just so happened to have the power to manipulate wind on this scale.
Off in the distance, Accelerator could see several of the city's windmill turning. However, the windmills were all turning the wrong way. Instead of turning because of the blowing wind, the wind was blowing because of the turning windmills. Suddenly, it all clicked. If a group of Electromasters were to collaborate and manipulate the windmills, they could alter the wind currents and ruin his formulas. There was only one group of Electromasters he could think of that could collaborate on such a level, and that was the hivemind of Sisters.
Turning around, Accelerator saw Misaka 10032 being supported by Mikoto Misaka. She had a perfect view of his plasma ball, and the images she saw were shared over the entire Misaka Network. If she kept this up, the Sisters might actually be his undoing. Accelerator wasn't about to let that happen.
"I'm gonna kill you!" he yelled at the top of his lungs.
Mikoto simply stepped in front of her Sister, defiantly taking a battle stance.
"I won't let you," Mikoto declared, a fire in her eyes.
Off to the side, the injured Touma could hear everything happening in the fight. Mikoto had stepped in against his wishes, facing Accelerator. He wasn't going to let that fly. Despite his injuries, Touma defiantly made a fist, struggling to get up.
"I don't understand you people," Accelerator complained, "First we have this damned, gallant appearance from Third String, and then you show up, just to defend this windup doll. That's an overproduced factory reject of yourself. You of all people should be the most disgusted by it. That's how any other normal person would react. Or maybe that's not the part you're disgusted by. Maybe you're disgusted by the idea that someone like me is beating up and killing things that look just like you. Then again, that's not a very good reason to risk your life. Maybe you can't stand the though of someone other than you reaching Level 6 first? Or how about atonement for being the reason these experiments started in the first place?"
"I don't desire power for power's sake like you do. Nor do I think of this as atonement for the things I may have done wrong in the past. She's my sister," Mikoto clarified, holding an arm in front of the injured girl, "All of these girls are my little sisters. That's why I'm here."
Misaka 10032 could hardly believe what she was hearing. Based on what Misaka 10031 had heard from Mikoto and the researchers, their big sister was disgusted by their very existence. Could their conclusion have been wrong.
"I'm sorry," Mikoto apologized to her sister, "I have no right to ask you this, but still. Just this one time, can a fulfil my role as big sister?"
"…Yes," the younger girl replied simply.
Having received her answer, Mikoto took a deep breath and firmly stood her ground. At this moment, she was the only thing between Accelerator and her sister.
"I will not let another one of them die," Mikoto declared.
Despite himself, Accelerator couldn't help but let out a laugh. Out of everything he had heard that night, this had to be the most out there claim yet.
"Man, that's rich! I have to admit, I didn't see that one coming! Playing at sisters?! That's a good one," Accelerator laughed, "You're way out of your league here. If there's something I want to do, you can't stop me. Two little girls like you can't even slow me down. It's kind of like how a person's vision can only be measured up to twenty-twenty. Level 5 is the highest rank and Esper can attain in Academy City, so that's where I'm stuck even though I'm so damn better than the rest of you! I'm sick of looking at the same face day in and day out, so I'm gonna kill all-"
Before Accelerator could finish his rant, he heard the sound of rustling gravel off to his right. The two sisters heard the same, only for them it was to their left. Looking towards the sound, the group saw something of pure surprise and horror. Touma Kamijou was standing up.
He was heavily injured in every part of his body. Blood was pouring out of his various wounds and his stance was weak and shaky. His clothes were in tatters and he was covered in dirt. Given his current appearance, one wouldn't be faulted for believing him to be dead. The way he was standing and how he held himself, he almost looked like he just climbed out of his own grave.
Against all odds, Touma was standing on his own two feet. Slowly but surely, he started walking towards Accelerator, causing the Level 5 to flinch as take a half step back. However, the truly disturbing thing was when Touma spoke.
"Now that's just hurtful," Touma laughed weakly, "You used to love see my face every day."
'There he goes again, claiming to have known me back then. This idiot just doesn't know when to quit,' Accelerator thought to himself, his fear quickly turning to anger, 'Sure, I lost control of the wind, but I can still finish him off, right here, right now. All it would take is one touch.'
"This really has been fascinating, but I've had enough. It ends, now!" Accelerator yelled, rushing at Touma with a single kick.
Seeing what Accelerator was about to do, Mikoto reached for an arcade coin to try and help. Unfortunately, the coin slipped from her grasp and started falling to the ground.
Accelerator glided across the ground towards Touma before jumping high into the air. With the altitude advantage, he descended on Touma with his right arm pulled over to his left shoulder. As soon as he was in range, he swiped his hand at Touma's head, only for the Level 0 to swiftly duck under it. However, Accelerator wasn't done. Although his first attack missed, he immediately followed up with a stab from his left hand. Sadly, that attack was met with Touma's right fist, negating Accelerator's ability and bending his fingers in a disgustingly unnatural way.
Clutching his teeth in pain, Accelerator could only watch helplessly as Touma pulled back his fist for his signature right hook.
"You're the strongest guy in Academy City," Touma said quietly as he pulled back his fist, "That's not going to help you now, the weakest guy is taking you down."
'I don't get it. Why can't I break this guy?' Accelerator thought to himself, 'He's protecting them, the windup dolls. I was one step away from it, from absolute power. And now…'
10 Years Ago
There was an accident. He was the center of it. A couple of kids challenged him to a fight and got hurt. However, they weren't the only things that got broken. The albino boy stood at the center of a disaster zone. A whole army surrounded him with tanks and military helicopters, all of their guns directed at him. The only thing standing between him and them was as single boy his age with spike black hair. He stood in front of the albino boy, his arms spread out on his defense.
"Please, it wasn't Y-r-'s fault!" the boy begged, "It was only an accident!"
His power's main application was to protect him, deflecting away all forms of harm he faced. However, that power was so great and so out of control that it caused harm without his consent, ultimately leading to destruction to others rather than just protection for himself. This got people's attention. Military saw him as a threat. Researchers saw him as an invaluable resource. The researchers eventually won out, getting him transferred away from his Child Error Facility to a high end research facility. There, he gained more power and even more control. However, that didn't mean people stopped getting hurt.
Like before, it wasn't his fault they got hurt, at least not intentionally. They challenged him to fight he had not interest in and they got hurt when they tried to attack. It was as simple as that. Still he wanted it to stop. He didn't want people to get hurt on his behalf anymore. Then, he was approached about Project Level 6 Shift. They promised him absolute power if he participated, the kind that would scare people away from challenging him. All he had to do was kill a couple thousand windup dolls/guinea pigs/clones. If he could achieve that, maybe he could return to the good days with his friend, T-m-. Maybe then, no one would have to get hurt.
To this day, he still remembered his parting with his friend. They stood outside the vehicle that would take him to the research facility. Neither wanted to see the other go, but they had no say in it.
"I guess this is goodbye," -ur- said.
"Sorry I wasn't able to save you then, -u-I," -ou-a apologized, holding out his right fist, "I promise, I'll make it up to you, some day."
That right hand was the only thing that could get around his ability. For some reason, it had the power to bypass it, making To-m- the only person would not get hurt by him. He was grateful to have such a friend.
"I'll hold you to it, -oum-," the albino boy replied, returning their last, signature, fist bump.
That was the last time the two saw each other.
As the fist closed in on Accelerator's face, he final realized that everything the boy in front of him said was true. He would recognize this fist anywhere. He only saw it every day as a child when exchanging fist bumps with his only real friend. Now it was rushing in to punch him. However, what really put the final nail in the coffin was what the boy said before the fist landed.
"Sorry I wasn't able to save you then, Yuri," Touma apologized, throwing his right fist, "I promise, I'll make it up to you, some day."
When Mikoto's coin finally hit the ground, Touma's fist collided with the Level 5's face, sending him flying. When he hit the ground, he only let out a single whisper before falling unconscious.
"Touma…," Yuri whispered as he passed out.
Once he was sure his opponent was down and out, Touma straightened his stance and looked over to the girls.
"You two alright?" He asked nonchalantly.
Both girls simply gave him a nod. He smiled back at them, content with the end result. He then collapsed, falling unconscious himself from his exhaustion and his injuries. He fell limp next to Yuri, their right hands barely a few centimeters away from one another. Quiet fell over the trainyard as the windmills came to a stop, the Sisters no longer manipulating them. The battle of the greatest extremes was finally over.
And that's the fight everyone. I must say, I think it turned out pretty well. Twice the length of other chapters, covers several episodes worth of content, implements elements from both versions, and adds some re-imagined elements. Not to mention all the additional emotional weight to the fight. This has to be one of my best chapters yet.
That's it for now. Hopefully, I can get the conclusion out within the next week. I will definitely be shorter than this, that;s for sure. Tell me what you thought in the reviews!