The update schedule is going to slow down a lot more now. I have a lot of plans for the festival arc, but not many ideas for this arc.
I didn't spell/grammar check this one either lol, please be warned.
"Are you okay?" Emilia asked with a hint of worry.
"We're fine." Mikoto reassured with a smile. "These robots just began to attack Febri for some reason."
Emilia looked over behind Mikoto to see a bunch of immobilized robots, on the ground. While they left Mikoto to leave with Febri, Febri was apparently assaulted by malfunctioning robots. It was a good thing Mikoto was there.
As Kuroko and Mii reported the problem of malfunctioning robots, Anti-Skill came to the scene.
"I can't believe this." A female Anti-Skill officer said. Her name was Yomikawa Aiho, who was the same person who put Mikoto and Emilia's duel to a halt. "Our reputation is going to take a hit after this."
"This is weird…" Another officer muttered. He was scavenging to thrashed robots.
"What's wrong? Kuroko asked.
"These robots are brand new, there isn't anything powering them at the moment." The man replied, stunned. "Maybe the factory left testing batteries in?"
The judgement members inspected the trashed robot, trying to come up with leads.
"As Judgement members, we should inspect the area and gather clues on how this could have happened." Mii said. "Emilia and Kuroko, patrol the area to look for anything suspicious. Uiharu, you stay here to inspect the robots."
"Where should we meet up?" Emilia asked.
"Hmm… Let's meet up at the place where we entered."
"You got it!" Kuroko and Emilia both replied.
Emilia and Kuroko began to walk in different directions, with their guards up. Emilia opened up the small bag she was holding through the trip, and pulled out what appears to be military goggles.
I never got the chance to use these. She thought as she put them on. The goggles were almost identical to the ones the sisters wear, and were given to Emilia as a gift. The goggles assisted Emilia to detect the faintest of heat signatures in her surroundings.
Emilia noticed a unique heat signature on the ground, and walked closer to it. A coin. Emilia thought with surprise. Given the temperature, the goggles helped her identify objects. This goggles is helping me identify that the coin is mostly made up of copper, with a mixture of tin and zinc. These goggles really are the real deal.
Just as Emilia began to walk further away, it suddenly hit her. With these goggles, I can find out what exactly happened to those robots. Maybe some fingerprints if I'm lucky.
She returned to the scene, and crouched down to further inspect the robots.
"Emilia?" She heard Kazari ask. "You're done already?"
"Oh, no. I just wanted to double check on something." Emilia replied.
"You don't have to take your work that seriously." Kazari said with a small laugh.
She inspected the robots, but didn't find anything out of the blue. As she stood back up, she noticed something strange. She felt something's presence behind a certain tree. Did someone leave their phone here or something?
However, when Emilia came to check, she only saw a mysterious purple object.
What is this? She asked herself. Does this have something to do with the robots? She picked it up, and looked at it all over. She couldn't find the purpose of such a gadget. She sighed. I'm overthinking this, aren't I?
She left the scene once more to finish up the patrol.
"We're finally done!" Mii announced, having a good stretch.
"We still have no leads on what went wrong with those security robots." Kuroko said. "Come to think of it, those traffic lights were the same yesterday."
"A series of mysterious malfunctions…" Kazari repeated, wondering. "What do you think, Emilia?"
Emilia removed her goggles and looked up to think. "If I had to guess, I would say that the robots were hacked or something. I used to think that this culprit had something against the Railgun, but now that Shirai mentioned the traffic lights, I'm not really sure. It could just be a pointless prank for all we know."
"You sure it can't be some kind of coincidence?"
"The chances of such a thing would be astronomically low if that were the case."
"Well anyway..." Mii interrupted.
All three girls turned to look at their chief.
"Are you three free?"
Emilia found herself in front of a bath house, along with the usual people she knew. We do almost everything together, huh? Emilia thought with a bitter smile.
"Y-you really like this kind of thing, don't you?" Mikoto asked.
"Oh come on! It's always nice to have this after a long day." Mii replied. "Right, Febri-chan."
I would say otherwise. Also, why are you using the girl to further convince us? I bet she doesn't even know what this is!
Nonetheless, Febri still breathed in awe.
It seemed like most of the girls had taken to Febri's admiration, that they decided to just roll with it. "I think I'll pass on this." Emilia said suddenly. Everyone looked at her in confusion. "I'd rather be somewhere else after a day like this." Like a nap or something. Emilia thought further.
"Oh come on, Emilia! Don't be like that!" Mikoto said. She aggressively grabbed Emilia and started to drag her along to the entrance of the bath house. Emilia tried to resist, but Mikoto only began to tighten her grip, and quite literally carried Emilia.
"Onee-Sama! You can't just drag her like that!" Kuroko shouted. "Instead, you should carry-"
While Emilia was expecting her "me" from Kuroko, she didn't hear anything. Emilia suddenly found herself in a lone pathway near the edge of a park. She still had all her belongings, which included her phone, wallet, notepad, and goggles.
Emilia figured it out. Shirai must have teleported me midway through her pick up line. I can only imagine what happens next…
The image of Kuroko getting hit in the head by Mikoto was a fair assumption.
Emilia got up, and proceeded to walk back to the dorms. She had homework to do. It wasn't hard at all, but it was the tedious kind. The type Emilia hates the most. Emilia just couldn't bring herself to do repetitive work.
Emilia had a good idea of where she was at the moment. If was lost, then she could simply use her goggles. As Emilia walked, she noticed someone alarmingly suspicious on the phone. He was wary of his surroundings, speaking very discreetly, and Emilia felt his body heat to be high. His high body heat could only mean that he is having high blood pressure. In other words, his heart was throbbing.
As Emilia walked closer, the man immediately ran from Emilia in one direction.
The guy knew I was there, and he knew that I would have been walking this way, and yet he still runs away like this when I get close, rather than as soon as he sees me? This is obviously a trap.
But, I won't be able to catch this person if I am careful about this…
Emilia made her decision. I'm going to catch the guy before the trap is set off, and hold him hostage.
Emilia put on her goggles and ran towards the man. Emilia confirmed that he was holding a gun, and he was definitely doing something.
The man was faster, but Emilia had an ability. With her acceleration ability, she grabbed the man's arm in no time. Emilia started to put him onto a choke hold so he can't do anything. The man pulled out his gun, but Emilia stomped on foot, and took the gun for herself.
Emilia found herself in an isolated parking lot. There was a building that looked like a warehouse, with garages and everything.
Emilia noticed the garage opening up, and she pressed the gun onto the man's head.
"Make it stop." Emilia ordered.
"I-I can't do anything! Please don't shoot!"
Emilia clicked her tongue and accelerated him into the wall. The impact cleanly knocked him out. He has balls if he's lying. Or maybe he knew that I won't kill anyone.
Emilia sighed as the garage doors fully opened up. There were robots.
Emilia checked her phone to see if she could call someone, but she couldn't. It was an act of an EMP. Of course. She thought. Yet I fall for the trap anyway. What's wrong with me?
Emilia inspected the gun. She hoped that it was a Glock, but it was just a pistol. A plain pistol is not going to do anything to the robots. The robots looked like the mechs used by Therestina.
The robots came crashing in. They all came for Emilia at once, leaving absolutely no openings. Emilia jumped back as it was the only direction it could go.
She threw a fireball, but it had no effect. The metal was heat resistant. She could already tell using her goggles that there were no weaknesses inside the mechs either.
Heat proofing the outside and inside is a bit excessive, don't you think!? Emilia ranted internally.
Another robot made a swing at Emilia, but she caught the arm and decelerated it to avoid a broken arm. It would have been nice if she could completely redirect the swing to hit the other robots.
Emilia rolled to the side to dodge another attack. So far, Emilia could count about 8 mechs. She was completely on the defensive. All she did was dodge and run.
So they are completely immune to Thermal Energy Manipulation…
I have to use my acceleration ability.
To do that, I need to eliminate only one of the robots.
Just one.
As she found herself cornered behind the same wall she accelerated the man into. She stared at the robot in the front. She picked her target.
Emilia pointed her pistol and began firing at the chest. The tiny bullets barely made a dent in the robot, but as soon as Emilia completely depleted the ammo, there was a little scratch.
Just what I need!
Emilia accelerated the gun at Mach 5. Emilia estimated that Mikoto's Railgun probably travelled at Mach 6. She couldn't make the pistol go at the speed of light, because the projectile would disintegrate before it even reaches its target.
The "thrown" pistol pierced straight through the first robot, creating a hole.
Emilia watched the robot fall to the ground, and smiled. That's all I need.
As the remaining robots charged to Emilia, she accelerated the defeated robot straight at the other mechs.
The mech just punched through the heavy projectile, making it shatter in pieces. However, this was still according to Emilia's plan. She used the scrap metal that flew everywhere to launch even more deadly projectiles.
Now that a single element of chaos was added, Emilia overpowered the mechs easily.
The robots were all destroyed to pieces, and Emilia removed her goggles. She blinked several times to get used to the lighting.
Way to ruin my break.
Emilia looked at the still unconscious man. She should probably turn him in.
Emilia felt her phone ringing. Oh, my phone is working now. She picked it up.
"Todoroki!" Saten's voice shouted before Emilia could say anything. "Come quick! There are robots attacking us!"
Emilia spent no time to waste.