Hello, everyone! It's finally time for the climactic Ichihanaran battles, Touma vs Birdway and Mikoto vs Brunhild!
comrade-elmo1: Mikoto is pretty used to Touma's kind of antics by this point. He is definitely a chad, and he does still have the ability to attract girls without knowing it.
LordChorizoCosmico: Thanks for the more expressive review! Yeah, now that Touma is in a relationship, he wants to keep his girlfriend in the loop, and I figured that a phone call would be a good way for Mikoto to learn about his confrontation with Birdway, just like how she learned about his memory loss. It is frustrating for him to deal with firearms. That's a good point, Mikoto will probably get quite a lot of experience tending to his wounds. A foreign language lesson from Mikoto would be interesting, though it would be hard to write since my story is in English and I don't know Japanese. I don't think I'll have Touma use his dragons or the invisible thing except when he does so in canon. You should definitely read the light novels when you have some time, they're very good! Yeah, Touma is certainly progressing thanks to his girlfriend's support.
Tsukz: Thanks, I finished writing this next chapter a bit earlier than usual, so I was able to release the previous chapter more quickly.
xellos540: Yeah, I decided not to write out the scene of Touma and Thor breaking Fraulein out, since it would be the same as canon and it wouldn't really involve KaMikoto. Thor is pretty much betraying GREMLIN here, and in fact, he doesn't actually go back to GREMLIN after this arc. Mikoto might be able to try faking it by deliberately letting out electricity, but she'd have to make it the same pattern and intensity. That's true, Birdway had subordinates up to NT3 but didn't use them here. Maybe they died in NT3, or she was dissatisfied with their performance and decided to take matters into her own hands. I guess she knows it's a power drill from the feeling of the tip, or maybe she saw it through her peripheral vision. Touma may have the right to complain, but he did threaten Birdway's life, so that's why she feels that way. Yeah, Birdway was pissed when she found out, but the Saints she brought told her she deserved the payback from Touma. I guess Fraulein is a zombie. If Touma corrected Cendrillon's assumption, she would've tried to get revenge instead of helping to save Fraulein and Last Order. Yeah, Cendrillon doesn't have a surname, and she is indebted to Touma, similar to Kanzaki. I think she's implied to get some feelings for Touma, and Mikoto was so jealous in canon that she at first refused to translate that line. I think your impression is right, he basically betrayed GREMLIN once he found out about Fraulein and never worked with GREMLIN again.
MarauderPrime12: Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed it.
Stryper88: Yeah, I wanted Mikoto to be with him throughout the events of NT6 so Touma could fill her in on his plans. At first I thought about having her join him when she crashed into the dumpster he was hiding in. But then I figured it'd make more sense for her to visit him at the hospital, which is how I came up with the idea of having her listen in on Touma's confrontation with Birdway. Plus, this way, Mikoto wouldn't have to deal with Shokuhou's harassment. There will be some slice-of-life scenes after the festival. The Othinus arc will have many significant developments, and Mikoto will probably still confront Touma in Denmark.
Vetin221: I'm happy you liked my way of including her more in this arc. You're right, it is a little cute that she's jealous of Thor in that way.
Touma, Mikoto, and Thor were now at the top of a certain multilevel overpass in District 7. They were faced by two saints, Brunhild Eiktobel and Silvia. However, Touma was not focused on them. Instead, he looked down to the second level, where Birdway and Fraulein were facing each other. He couldn't hear what Birdway was saying, but he knew that Fraulein would soon be in danger. He turned to Mikoto and said, "I'll go deal with Birdway. Can you take care of things up here?"
Mikoto grinned at him, and said with a raised fist, "Sure, just leave it to us!" She was still rather wary of Thor, but he at least seemed genuine about wanting to save Fraulein, so she was willing to trust him for now.
Touma nodded at her, and then proceeded to jump from the upper level to the level below, landing directly between Birdway and Fraulein.
Mikoto and Thor turned their backs on each other, facing the two saints. He asked her, "You ready, Miko-chan?"
The girl scowled and snapped back, "I told you not to call me that!" She then looked at Brunhild and told herself, "I'm fighting a Saint again, huh?" She thought back to when she'd gotten curbstomped by Acqua of the Back. She knew that this was going to be a tough fight, one that she was unlikely to win outright. However, Mikoto also knew that she didn't have to win. She only had to stall Brunhild long enough for Touma to defeat Birdway, which Mikoto was absolutely confident he would do. She pictured the anguished face her boyfriend had had when he'd learned about Birdway's betrayal, and vowed to do everything she could to ensure that he could get closure from Birdway.
Mikoto knew that a Saint like Brunhild could move at supersonic speeds, so she needed a way to keep track of her opponent's movements. She used her magnetism to gather some iron sand from the nearby soil and place a thin layer of it on the road between her and Brunhild. This would allow her to track Brunhild's footprints with her ability, much better than with her regular kinetic vision.
While she did this, Mikoto turned some of her attention to Birdway. Her eyes widened as she sensed some metal next to Birdway's back. Focusing closer, Mikoto realized that the magician had a knife and some sort of gun hidden away. She gritted her teeth and deduced, "She's going to distract Touma with her magic and use those normal weapons to hurt him." She wished she could warn him somehow, but he was too far away to just shout out to him. However, she realized she could at least send a signal that she was keeping an eye on him.
Meanwhile, Touma reached the ground between Birdway and Fraulein, greeting the former, "Hey, Birdway. How about we fight and make up?" Birdway had just offered to freeze Fraulein in a coffin after cutting off her limbs, in exchange for using Fraulein to lure out GREMLIN. She had thus offered to put a final end to Fraulein's suffering. However, Touma wasn't about to just let this happen. While looking at Birdway, he asked the girl behind him, "Are you really going to let yourself die to bring it all to an end?"
Fraulein looked at him silently, and he continued, "I don't know who your friend is, but if you can't bear to lose them, then you can't seriously want to give them the pain of losing you! They want to protect you just as much as you want to protect them! So don't just give up, if you live and struggle, you can find that happy ending where everyone will smile, both you and the friend you want to protect!"
As he made this very familiar speech, he thought back to that fateful night with Mikoto on the iron bridge. Just like he'd fought for a happy ending for her, her sisters, and even Accelerator, Touma resolved to fight for one here as well.
Birdway had already silently begun her attack. Her wand was now transformed into a sword, and she used it to create a gust of wind which cut through the road between Touma and Fraulein. As a result, the overpass tilted across one of its supports, and both Touma and Birdway slid down to ground level.
Once he reached a stable position, the boy felt a spark of electricity hitting the titanium ring on his left hand. He wondered, "Static electricity?" That explanation didn't make much sense to him, but he soon realized, "Oh, it's Biri-Biri!" He was touched that his girlfriend was apparently keeping an eye on him, but he hoped she wouldn't get distracted from her own battle, which would be tough enough already.
Birdway finally responded to his earlier speech, scoffing, "What a fool. Fraulein Kreutune isn't a human like you think she is. I don't know why exactly she is the way she is, but everything down to her basic construction is beyond our understanding."
Touma sharply retorted, "So what? She might work on some complex basis, but all I see is a girl trying desperately to protect her friend. I don't care about this ridiculous conflict over her. She has this ridiculous idea of throwing away her own life to save a friend, but there's no reason for me to not reach out and help her."
As he shouted at Birdway, he remembered how Thor had called him pathetic, and realized that he had been right. Even if he had been tricked in Hawaii, he'd still used his limited power to save people. Touma didn't want to be someone who focused so much on the big picture that he wouldn't notice the people he trampled on. He then concluded, "She may have been muttering about functions and eating brains, but I heard her say that she didn't want to eat her friend's brain! So I made my decision."
Birdway was unmoved by his words, and replied in a cold tone, "What if those words were just an imitation?" As his enemy, she was trying to crush his core beliefs. She continued, "You're mistaken about the heart of this issue. You think that Fraulein Kreutune has a mind which functions in the same way as yours. But that's wrong."
The boy's eyes widened, and he reacted in a stunned tone, "What?"
Birdway elaborated, "This isn't an issue of good and evil or liking and disliking. Fraulein Kreutune is fundamentally different from us." She swung her sword, which now transformed into a cup, and added, "She only appears to think. She's always been like that, both now and when she was described in historical documents. Even if she clenches her teeth and holds back tears, she's still just a slave to her functions. The human heart can seal such functions away, but if her pattern of decisions change just slightly, she'll eat a supposed friend's brain without hesitation. It's just her simple thoughts leading her in the most comfortable direction."
But Touma instantly replied, "I believe her." Despite knowing him somewhat well, Birdway showed a twinge of surprise at his declaration. He continued, "If the ultimate answer she comes to with simple decisions meant to find the optimal action is that she doesn't want to hurt her friend, it doesn't matter what exact process led to that. If she's the kind of human that can make such a kind decision, then I can believe in Fraulein Kreutune."
Birdway asked him in disbelief, "So you can get emotionally attached to a doll made of metal and plastic whose emotions are controlled by a program? You're going to protect something with just the appearance of a human after having been shot in the side?"
The boy easily answered, "Yes! If something that smiles like a human, cries like a human, and is considerate of others like a human, is in danger, then I'll clench my fist. It doesn't matter what she's made of or what the inner workings of her head are. She isn't a monster, and in fact, I'm more frightened by people who have a proper brain that can understand others but still enjoy deceiving and hurting them."
This wasn't just a hypothetical for him. After all, the Misaka Sisters were clones who had originally been dismissed as emotionless dolls with only programmed thoughts and actions. And even if they formed a whole network, each of them was still an individual girl with her own identity and feelings, and they had all worked together to save him and their Big Sister. There was also Kazakiri Hyouka, who had also been called a monster due to being made up of AIM diffusion fields, but who had fought to save her friends multiple times. Was it really human to abandon someone just for being differently constructed?
Touma then challenged Birdway, "You felt the same way, didn't you? That was why you didn't attack her right away, but instead talked to her. You treated her like an equal even while knowing that her thoughts work differently to yours. Wasn't that because you were taking Fraulein's feelings into consideration?"
Birdway conjured up a wall of water around her and snapped, "Silence! Even if she does have a heart that's just a different type, that doesn't change what I need to do. To destroy GREMLIN, that spear's production must be stopped. If I prove I can do that, I can lure out the Magic God Othinus and crush her. That's my top priority."
Touma clenched his fist and muttered, "So it comes down to that in the end." He then said a bit more loudly, "But Birdway, you're going about this the wrong way."
Birdway asked, "What do you mean?"
The boy explained, "Even if you defeat Othinus by sacrificing Fraulein Kreutune, and destroy GREMLIN altogether, deceiving and hurting everyone will only lead to more distrust and confusion, and your Dawn-Colored Sunlight will become a worse monster than GREMLIN. For the world and everyone you want to protect, this will only change the name of their enemy. So let's end this! I'll stop you here before you become the ultimate villain!" It was now time for them to clash once and for all.
Mikoto and Brunhild were both ready to start their battle. Mikoto was one of the strongest people on the Science Side, while Brunhild was one of the strongest people on the Magic Side. However, Mikoto knew that they were not as evenly-matched as these facts might have implied.
For starters, Brunhild could move faster than the speed of sound, and she did so from the very first step. Because of this, it was impossible to ever react based on sound. It was theoretically possible to react based on sight, but it was still very difficult, due to normal human reaction times. Brunhild reached a point just in front of Mikoto and swung down her claymore sword, aiming to use the supersonic shockwave created by its flat side to crush Mikoto's entire body.
However, Mikoto reacted just before she was hit, shouting, "Damn you!" Using her magnetism to control one of the concrete blocks making up the road, she tilted the road, causing Brunhild's aim to be off. Instead of crushing Mikoto, the sonic boom flew off in another direction and smashed all the glass in one of the buildings next to the road.
Brunhild muttered to herself, "A broad-use electric type? Did she use some kind of radar? No, this is…"
In fact, Mikoto was using the iron sand she'd placed on the road earlier to track Brunhild's movements. Her ability to sense how the iron sand was moving was quicker than even her normal sense of sight, so she was able to keep track of her opponent.
Mikoto then began her counterattack, snapping her fingers and exclaiming, "Be swallowed up!" The iron sand on the road rose up and combined into a swarm of vibrating killer needles that shot towards Brunhild from every single direction. Mikoto knew that she couldn't afford to hold back in this battle, so she immediately went for a lethal attack.
However, Brunhild took her giant sword and swung it around in a circle. The resulting sonic boom struck the iron sand needles, causing them to lose their form and be blown away. This time, Mikoto shielded herself from the shockwave by controlling the rebar in the road to create a giant wall of metal in front of her. She also gathered the iron sand on the road again and used it to check on her opponent.
As Brunhild aimed for her again, Mikoto thought to herself, "That sword!" Brunhild aimed for the girl's neck with her claymore, but Mikoto used a large amount of magnetic power to stop the metal sword in its tracks.
But Mikoto knew that it wouldn't be stopped for long. In the same situation, Acqua of the Back had been able to overpower her magnetic force with his innate strength, and Mikoto had no illusions that this time would be any different. Indeed, Brunhild took less than a second to begin moving her sword horizontally again, but this small delay was enough for Mikoto.
She fired a lightning spear directly into the sword, something that not even a Saint like Brunhild could ignore. The high-voltage current traveled through the metal sword, past Brunhild's wrists, and then into and around her entire body. At the same time, Mikoto swung her left hand and sent the giant mass of metal she had gathered straight for Brunhild, aiming for a body blow while her opponent was distracted by being shocked.
Brunhild quickly recovered from the electric shock and used her sword to stop the large mass that was powerful enough to destroy an entire wall of a building. The two fighters then struggled with their weapons locked against each other.
Brunhild finally decided that her opponent was worth speaking to, and she said to Mikoto, "From the looks of things, you have little to do with magic. So why are you involving yourself in the conflict over Fraulein Kreutune? I'm not trying to argue that she only belongs to the Magic Side, but you're risking getting wrapped up in GREMLIN's plots."
Mikoto was glad for the opportunity to explain herself, since it also gave her enough of a respite to do something else. While she couldn't afford to take a moment to look down at the battle raging between Touma and Birdway, Mikoto sensed with her ability that the magician was taking out her knife. She sent a warning spark towards Touma's ring before answering Brunhild, "I don't want to hear that from the person who rushed in trying to kill me. Anyway, I don't really care much about those big picture issues, and I don't have any special reason for fighting here."
She continued using her left hand to control the metal hammer, but Mikoto now used her right hand to create an iron sand sword, as she continued, "But I do know one thing."
Brunhild continued pushing with her claymore sword against Mikoto's metal mass, asking, "And what is that?"
Mikoto smirked and started her response, "You don't need a special reason to save a friend. If you want to, you can just save them. I know an idiot who kept saying these stupid things even when he was on the brink of death, but he really did end up saving almost ten thousand lives. And he's once again trying to save someone." At this point, Brunhild was using all her might to break her claymore through the metal obstacle, so Mikoto tried slamming her iron sand sword into the claymore to stop its path.
However, from its first contact with the sword, Mikoto could tell that her iron sand wouldn't be able to slice through the steel claymore. The girl wondered if it was due to magic, since her vibrating iron sand should have been able to slice through any normal metal. In any case, she knew it wouldn't work here, so instead, she released the iron sand and placed a coin she'd taken out at some point on top of her thumb. As she fired her signature railgun directly towards Brunhild, she exclaimed, "As for me, I want to save Touma and Fraulein Kreutune, so I will!" A great flash of light then formed along the path of the projectile.
As Mikoto expected, Brunhild was easily able to dodge her attack. But by doing so, the Saint had fallen back a bit, giving the girl some breathing room. She then took this opportunity to check on Touma's battle again. He'd apparently survived whatever Birdway had done with the knife, but now Birdway was pulling out her gun. Mikoto was a little confused when she determined, "It's unloaded?" Nevertheless, she sent another warning spark to Touma's ring and resolved to keep a closer eye on his battle, since his right hand couldn't negate a gunshot. But to do that, Mikoto would need some way of holding back Brunhild without using up all of her own concentration.
Mikoto noted that the battle behind her between Thor and Silvia was still raging, but she couldn't afford to let that distract her from her own battle. She quickly came up with an idea, thinking to herself, "I didn't think this would work on Acqua, but I could try it here, since it's a one-on-one battle." She then quickly began putting her plan into motion.
Birdway had just transformed her symbolic weapon into a cup, and now had a wall of water swirling around her. It stretched upwards and eventually formed a giant disk. But then the disk began splitting into a large shower of water daggers, all heading towards Touma. She knew that Touma could negate anything supernatural, including these water daggers, but since his Imagine Breaker was limited to his right hand, a large amount of normal attacks would have a good chance of overwhelming him. With hundreds of thousands of daggers so tightly packed, everywhere except where he held up his right hand would be skewered repeatedly.
But it didn't end like that. Touma raised his right hand and negated a single dagger with his fingertips. But as it shattered, the fragments spread in every direction and struck the other surrounding daggers, altering their trajectories. The resulting chain reaction produced a much wider gap, so the remaining daggers only fell around Touma instead of hitting him. This was yet another application of his instinctual precognition.
However, Birdway sneered, "I already worked that into my plan, you fool." Now that Touma's thoughts had switched from defense to offense, she aimed for a point next to his left side and created a summoned explosion. This was magic power without any given form, and it spread to about 10 meters and tore through the road. Touma frantically twisted his body and tried to suppress the explosion with his right hand, but this only gave Birdway an even larger opening.
She transformed her weapon back into a wind sword and swung it down, aiming to cut off Touma's right arm. With him still dealing with the summoned explosion, he wouldn't have enough time to block the sword with his right hand. Birdway was a little worried about what was beyond his right arm, but since he couldn't fully control it, she was confident about being able to defeat it with a few more swings of her sword.
However, to her surprise, her wind sword was knocked away, not by his right hand, but by her own summoned explosion. Instead of simply negating the explosion, Touma had formed his hand into a shape that had deflected the explosion along the path of least resistance, and towards the wind sword.
Touma smirked and pointed out, "Did you forget? I directly fought Fiamma of the right, so I know there are powers with too much pressure for me to negate with my right hand. But I can still deflect them! You just have too much power, Birdway." Touma also recalled the same sort of thing happening with Mikoto's arc fusion blades the previous night. He now took this opportunity to run in towards his opponent.
For the first time in the battle, Birdway clenched her teeth. But she wasn't too perturbed, and spat back, "Is your hand just a bunch of petty tricks? You may have gotten one strike in, but you're still way out of your league!"
Birdway's weapon was now a wand, and she spun it like a baton to produce a wall of orange flames that shot towards the boy. He knew that it was just a distraction for another attack, so he swung his right arm to divert the flames to the side, allowing him to penetrate through the wall.
As this happened, Touma felt another spark on his ring, and he wondered, "What's Mikoto trying to warn me about?" He soon got his answer, as he immediately saw a large group of gray stone daggers heading towards him. This was the attack Birdway had tried to distract him from. Helped by the warning from his girlfriend, the boy saw that one of the daggers looked a bit different, since it was actually a real dagger, made of metal.
Touma twisted his body with all his strength to avoid that dagger, managing to just get a light cut on his cheek. He also negated a single stone dagger, and its fragments again caused a chain reaction that left a safe zone for him, just like with the previous water daggers. He smiled at his opponent and said, "That knife alone was real, isn't that right, Birdway?"
Birdway quickly replied in an impressed tone, "Ha, such interesting behavior!" They were now separated by just a few meters, and Touma would reach her soon. She continued, "Well, I knew you were more than just a kid who swung his right hand around, which is why I gave you so much focus."
She reached behind her back, and Touma at first expected her to bring out a magic item like a card or a crystal ball. But he immediately received another warning spark from Mikoto, and he realized, "Another weapon?"
Indeed, Birdway pulled out something from behind her back and held it out, saying, "I don't really like modern weapons like missiles or machine guns, but these flintlock guns are a different matter." It was an old-fashioned handgun that could only hold a single bullet. She pointed it towards him and continued, "I'll cast aside my pride so I can be certain of victory."
Touma's body initially stiffened, since he had no way to stop a normal bullet that didn't use supernatural powers. In fact, he was still suffering from his previous gunshot wound from Anti-Skill. Furthermore, he still needed to take a few steps to reach Birdway, who had her finger on the trigger and was aiming for his center of gravity, making it impossible for him to evade.
But he then remembered that Mikoto was paying attention to his battle and had already sensed Birdway's gun with her ability. It would be easy for her to change the direction of the gun with her magnetism, so Touma decided to put his trust in his girlfriend, even though she still had to focus on her own battle against Brunhild.
Touma forced down his instinctual fear of the gun and rushed towards his opponent. With one more step, he would even be in range to push the gun away himself. But just as the fingers on his left hand grazed the gun, Birdway pulled on the trigger with her finger. He was surprised that Mikoto wasn't doing anything to stop it, but she might have been too busy with her opponent. But he was even more stunned when he didn't hear a gunshot at all.
Birdway told him, "Wrong move, you fool." The boy immediately thrust out his right hand, instinctively knowing that she was about to make a sneak attack. Indeed, a stone pillar suddenly began rising from the ground, aiming towards his chest. Fortunately, his right hand was able to negate it just in time, before it slammed into his chest, but Birdway took the opportunity to slap him with the grip of her gun, causing him to fall back onto the ground.
He didn't actually get too injured from that blow, but Birdway still took the time to say, "At least do some research into how guns work. I know it might be too much to ask for someone from Japan, but you fought in the middle of World War 3." She spun the gun around in her hand before explaining, "With a flintlock gun, the gunpowder and bullet have to be inserted before firing. It can't be fired just after pulling it out."
Touma smiled to himself and realized, "That's why Mikoto didn't do anything, the gun was unloaded and she didn't want to give herself away yet."
Birdway continued her boasting, "I just wanted to use the gun to get an opening on you and deal a decisive blow. I didn't expect you to evade the pillar, but you're still in a dangerous position." With her opponent on the ground, she pulled out a bottle of gunpowder, a small metal ball, and a thin rod, and said, "Now then, I'll show you the proper way of doing it."
She poured the gunpowder into the gun, popped in the round bullet, and forced them both down with the rod. She then aimed the gun at the boy on the ground, telling him, "Just give up on Fraulein Kreutune, or I'll give you a reason to give up. You've shown that you won't give up after being shot in the stomach, but what about your leg? Once you can't move or support the weight behind your fist, that should be enough of an excuse for you to go lie down in a hospital bed."
The boy sat up and began chuckling, realizing that Birdway was not entirely cold-hearted. He asked her, "Do you feel the need to go this far because nothing less will make up for the damage to Hawaii and Baggage City?"
Birdway replied, "So what if I do?"
Touma answered, "Then you're already admitting that you've done something horrible. In that case, don't continue heading in the wrong direction. Even if you capture Fraulein Kreutune, lure out and defeat the Magic God Othinus, and bring about something like world peace, and even if billions of people thank you, you still won't feel satisfied."
Birdway then scoffed, "I'm sick of hearing your emotional appeals."
The boy smirked at her and countered, "But that's just the thing. Why would you even try to save people just based on logic and efficiency? There's some level of necessary evil needed to support society, so if you only care about logic and not emotions, there's no reason to save anyone!"
Birdway's gun was still aimed at him, but he knew that it wasn't actually a threat. He thus felt safe to continue, "We're both the same. We want to save people, so we do. You looked for logical reasons to save them, but you went about it the wrong way. What you're doing is like saving starving people by cutting off pieces of human flesh to feed them."
Birdway readily questioned him back, "But what have you managed to accomplish? You know nothing about GREMLIN's organization. You've only been able to chase after members causing sporadic problems around the world, and all you've done is getting yourself thrown about and increasing the number of victims. To use your analogy, what you're doing is leaving those people to starve and simply watching them as they collapse."
Touma sighed and conceded, "Perhaps you're right. I got credit for ending World War 3 by defeating Fiamma in a one-on-one fight, but that wasn't just my power. I only managed it because people around the world wore down his power. What I can do alone is very limited. But just because my reasoning is childish and wrong doesn't mean your reasoning is correct."
Birdway asked, "What?" She was curious to hear his argument for how her reasoning was wrong.
He answered, "If the only way to feed those starving people is to chop up human flesh, why are you completely unscathed? I've fought many people in the past, and I've needed other people's help for most of those fights. I've exposed a lot of people to danger...but the reason they all lent me their power is because I cut off my own flesh first. You haven't done that."
She then asked him, "Are you saying I have no right to get others involved because I'm making the decision while looking down from above? That I should only influence people's lives if they accept it?" She expected him to reply with some silly argument about the basic goodness of people.
But instead, he nodded and said, "In a way. And the way you could've gotten me to accept it would have been much simpler. It didn't have to be Hawaii, or Baggage City, or Fraulein Kreutune, the final piece needed for Gungnir. If you really needed a sacrifice, and you needed to preserve your own flesh to take action at the final moment, you just had to choose me. That would have been enough for me to accept it."
Birdway felt that time had stopped for a moment. He wasn't childishly asking for her to prevent all tragedies. He was upset that she was bringing tragedy to others instead of to himself. He continued, "You could have used false information about my right hand to lure in GREMLIN and the Magic God Othinus."
Birdway sharply asked him, "Do you even understand what you're saying? You're not a monster like Fraulein Kreutune. Do you know what it means to stand on the battlefield against the members of GREMLIN, who have no reason to keep you alive?"
Touma then retorted, "Othinus appeared before me in Baggage City, and she wanted to test out what my right hand could do. I was easily defeated, but she at least viewed it as something she had to try out first. Maybe it wouldn't have been as sure a thing as Fraulein, but why did you make that decision without me? Why did you choose this screwed up method that robbed everyone of their smiles? Even if I'm being selfish and unrealistic, did you really expect me to accept what you did?"
After listening to that speech, Birdway could only mutter, "You're completely insane. I've witnessed some odd things about you before, but this settles it. Why do you assume that you'll always fight, and why don't you see anything wrong in things being taken away from you? You aren't a battle-crazy person who can't adjust to a peaceful life, nor are you a sheltered person who falsely thinks that going into battle is exciting and glorious. I just can't figure out what drives you!"
Touma could only grin upon hearing her frustration. He thought back to all the incidents he'd been through, and why he'd always been willing to risk himself for other people's sake. He soon looked up at Birdway and replied, "You want to know why? It was because I never had a single reason to abandon them."
With this, Birdway spat out, "I've heard enough." She then aimed her pistol at his thigh, preparing to pull the trigger, and said, "I've always wondered how Academy City is able to control someone like you. The biggest threat you hold is not your right hand, or whatever is hidden within it, or your precognition. Even with such abilities, a normal person can't accomplish much. But you have plenty of accomplishments, and it's because your right hand isn't the reason you fight. You just use its power in fights you already decide to engage in."
The boy laughed, "You're only figuring that out now?" He found it rather funny that, for someone who seemed to be so intelligent, Birdway hadn't realized that character trait of his until now.
Birdway just gave him a pitying look and replied, "In that case, you should be careful from now on. Your right hand isn't good or evil. It can give you great power, but it'll be very disastrous for you if you use it incorrectly."
Touma tilted his head and asked, "What are you saying?"
His opponent just replied, "You don't need to understand it right away. I'll give you some time to think about it, but my method might be a bit painful." She then pulled the trigger, deciding to finally neutralize him once and for all.
However, a powerful force suddenly pulled on the gun in Birdway's hand. It was thus moved to the side, and the bullet fired in a completely wrong direction. She looked at the gun in shock and muttered, "What?"
Touma smirked and thought to himself, "Thanks, Biri-Biri!" He finally stood up from the ground and told Birdway, "Like I said before, I have fought many different people, but I almost never fought alone. There were people who were willing to accompany me on my reckless challenges, people much more softhearted than me."
Birdway looked up and finally figured out what happened, seeing Mikoto glance down from the edge, "The Railgun...Did she control my gun with magnetism or something?" She then took a large step backwards, as an extremely large arc fusion blade suddenly cut in between her and Touma.
This time, it was Thor. Both lightning users were still engaged in serious fights against Saints where they couldn't afford to make a single mistake, but they'd still taken the time to help Touma against Birdway. Touma then continued, "A lot of dangerous people are fighting today due to Fraulein Kreutune. I might not be able to stand up to a single one of them, but in the end, you all can only split up the work between you. You can only function as individuals. No one truly knows who Fraulein is. She was only freed from imprisonment yesterday, so no one has much real attachment to her. But even so, some of us still want to save her, and through our combined efforts, we are moving in that direction."
The boy gave his opponent a determined look and said, "Birdway, you said I'm crazy for doing what I do, but you're absolutely wrong about that. In fact, anyone would want to save someone who is suffering for no good reason!" He then held up his right fist and concluded, "We won't lose! We won't lose to someone like you who never thought about something so basic!" He felt that this was what it meant to truly be human, and resolved to make Birdway see this too.
Meanwhile, Mikoto started making her next big move. She needed some way to neutralize Brunhild's claymore sword, or else she would eventually get crushed by its shockwaves. She used her ability to magnetize that giant steel sword and attach a large mass of metal objects from the overpass to it. She figured, "That should make it harder for her to swing around." Mikoto then used her left hand again to send the massive metal hammer she was still controlling towards Brunhild.
However, despite her claymore being weighed down with dozens of tons of metal, Brunhild was still able to swing it around to block Mikoto's metal hammer, though it did take much more effort. But with the claymore locked against her hammer, Mikoto sent a lightning spear through the sword again, which connected with Brunhild's body. Like the last time, this didn't do much damage to the Saint, but while she focused on resisting the electric current, Mikoto used her right hand to send a bunch of iron sand toward Brunhild in the shape of killer needles. Since she knew her iron sand wouldn't be able to cut through the claymore, Mikoto tried going directly for Brunhild's body instead.
But also just like the previous time, Brunhild was able to swing her sword to create a sonic boom. The resulting shockwaves dissipated the iron sand, and Mikoto was forced to use the metal mass to shield herself. Nevertheless, she felt that she was making a little bit of progress against her opponent. She still had to mostly remain on the defensive, but she'd been able to survive multiple attacks so far, and had even gotten a couple of hits in herself, even if they hadn't been very effective.
It was good that there was a brief pause in their battle, because Mikoto had sensed a bit earlier that Birdway had loaded her gun with a bullet. When Birdway had pointed the unloaded gun at Touma, Mikoto had decided not to intervene just yet, not wanting to give herself away until he really was in danger of being shot. But now, Mikoto could tell that Birdway was about to pull the trigger, so she quickly used her magnetism to pull the gun to the side. When she heard the gunshot, Mikoto instinctively turned to glance down, and she was relieved to sense that the bullet had gone in the wrong direction and hadn't hit her boyfriend.
Mikoto smirked as she saw Birdway turn her head to look up at her. She couldn't see the expression on Birdway's face, but she imagined the magician was rather stunned. Now that Birdway had used up her non-magic weapons, Mikoto then glanced over at her boyfriend and thought, "It's all up to you now, Touma." She was confident that Touma could handle whatever magic Birdway could throw at him, so she would now be able to focus her full attention on her own battle against Brunhild.
At this point, Brunhild swung her claymore, still weighed down by a mass of metal, towards Mikoto from her right, trying to hit her more open side. Mikoto gritted her teeth and transferred her metal hammer from her left to her right, just in time to block the sword. As they both pushed their weapons against each other, Mikoto wondered if there was any way to break the stalemate. Brunhild could stop her iron sand attacks and the swings of her metal hammer using her sword, and she could mostly shrug off her electric shocks. Even her railgun could just be dodged.
As she tried to think of a strategy, Brunhild fell back a bit and then immediately swung her sword down towards Mikoto. Instead of blocking it with her metal hammer, Mikoto simply used her magnetism to stop the sword in mid-air. Her eyes widened a bit as an idea came into her head. Knowing that her opponent would soon power through with greater physical strength, Mikoto suddenly changed the direction of the magnetic force she was applying to the sword, which together with Brunhild's increased physical force, caused the claymore to swing to the side, the shockwave breaking the glass of yet another building.
Mikoto smirked as she realized how effective this tactic could be. Brunhild could overpower any magnetic force she used to stop her claymore from moving, but she still took a small amount of time to increase the strength of her swing. With her ability, Mikoto could instantly change the magnitude and direction of the magnetic force she applied, which would cause the sword to veer off in the wrong direction before Brunhild could adjust her grip to counteract it.
Brunhild then tried another attack, attacking Mikoto from her left side. Mikoto decided to test out her new tactic again, momentarily stopping the sword and then immediately forcing it upwards and away from her body. This time, the shockwave just traveled up into the air, so there wasn't any damage to the surroundings.
The Saint continued her attacks on Mikoto, but she was able to stop and then divert the claymore away each time. However, Mikoto was getting tired from having to constantly create and manipulate large magnetic forces. She could tell that her opponent was also tiring out a bit from repeatedly swinging her weighed-down sword, but Mikoto didn't think she could survive indefinitely if she remained on the defensive against Brunhild.
Brunhild was a little frustrated by her attacks being evaded, so she prepared for an ultimate attack. She swung down her sword with an increased amount of force from the beginning, so that Mikoto wouldn't be able to stop it, even with her maximal magnetic force.
Mikoto clenched her teeth as she sensed the more powerful attack coming. She wouldn't be able to stop the sword before diverting it, so she went with a slightly different approach. She still used her magnetism to divert the attack slightly to one side, but she also dodged to the other side. She used the Rampage Dress ability she'd been learning from Hokaze Junko to move at a greater speed, so she was able to get a good distance away. Brunhild's sword thus smashed into the road, producing shockwaves through the air and through the ground.
Mikoto detached a flat piece of steel from her metal hammer and had it float above the ground, jumping on top of it so she could avoid the ground shockwave. She used the rest of the metal as a barrier against the shockwaves through the air. With Brunhild's sword briefly stuck in the ground, Mikoto had just enough time to make her ultimate attack.
When Mikoto had assembled her metal hammer, she had attached multiple large pieces of steel together using her magnetism, making sure to just use pure metal rather than concrete. But now it was time to split them apart again, using her signature move. She quickly prepared rails in the air for each of the massive projectiles and prepared to fire them. Normally when using her Railgun ability on larger objects, she liked to punch each separate piece to launch it. Here, that would take too long, so instead she just slammed her fist into one of them, launching each large piece of metal in separate directions.
Multiple giant flashes of light quickly burst forth. Since she could accelerate her projectiles to thrice the speed of sound, this attack could actually keep up with Brunhild's speed. The Saint had dodged her earlier railgun, but this time, Mikoto had launched a multi-railgun barrage in all directions, centered on Brunhild's current position. That way, no matter which direction her opponent dodged in, she wouldn't be able to avoid all of Mikoto's attacks.
Indeed, Brunhild tried jumping up after extricating her claymore sword from the road, but she was still hit by one of the projectiles and tossed several meters away. When Mikoto saw this, she pumped her fist and exclaimed, "Score!" She was breathing heavily from her exertions, but it felt really good to get in a clean hit.
However, she was stunned to see Brunhild stand back up as the smoke cleared. The Saint looked back at Mikoto and said, "You're stronger than I expected. But you won't defeat me that easily."
Mikoto cursed to herself, "Damn, Saints really are durable, aren't they?" But she then grinned at her opponent and fired back, "Well, I could say the same thing to you!" She was still in a difficult position. She'd used up a lot of energy in the fight, and she'd vaporized her own metal shield. Nevertheless, Thor seemed to be holding his own against Silvia, and Touma was still fighting against Birdway, so Mikoto resolved to continue fighting for as long as she could.
Touma once again prepared his fist as he faced Birdway. He'd survived getting shot by her, but she still had a variety of powerful attacks she could throw at him, and he was still wounded.
But as he thought more about this, the boy realized that something seemed strange. He knew that there were magicians who could easily use massive amounts of power, like Saints, Carissa with Curtana Original, and Fiamma of the Right. But as far as he knew, Birdway wasn't like those magicians. She was the leader of a giant magic cabal, and he knew that magicians used techniques to make up for a lack of talent. So that meant she was somehow creating these tremendous spells with a normal amount of power.
He concluded, "It must be a trick. But how?" It couldn't be a simple exchange where a certain amount of magic power led to a certain amount of results. There must be some multiplier effect, like how the same number of soldiers could become more effective with better intelligence or technology. Magicians often gained power via intelligence, and there was the extreme example of Index and her knowledge of 103,000 grimoires.
Touma wondered what the source of her great power was. "Is it her symbolic weapon? Surely she wouldn't entrust all her power in a small item like that."
Birdway didn't let him ponder this unhindered. She transformed her weapon into a sword again and told him, "Are you prepared to kill me now? Then hurry up! If you're not going to attack first, then I will!"
She swung down her wind sword, once again aiming to cut off his right arm. Following the line being torn into the asphalt with his eyes, Touma moved to evade it rather than negate it. He used this maneuver to take a step forward and head towards his opponent.
Birdway's weapon changed to a wand, and she sent another wall of flames against the boy. By the time he destroyed that wall with his right hand, she'd already transformed her wand into a cup, and water daggers rained down towards him.
As Touma dealt with this attack with the same chain reaction technique as before, he continued wondering what was letting Birdway carry out all those tremendous attacks. Now that he was in range of her, he was forced to choose a target for his fist, and he exclaimed, "Damn it, I guess it has to be that symbolic weapon!"
Birdway scoffed, "I thought that's what you would choose." She changed it into a sword and swung it against his fist. It did get negated, but it still knocked his fist to the side, causing Touma to feel a dull shock. Just like he'd used his right hand to deflect her attacks, she'd used her attack to deflect his right hand.
A chill ran down Touma's spine, as he realized that he was in point-blank range, with his fist already having been neutralized. She told him, "You were naive to the end, naive to assume others are as good-hearted as you." As she did so, she swung her giant wind blade towards him without hesitation.
Touma collapsed his body to the side, barely managing to avoid it. But this caused him more confusion than relief. He noticed that Birdway had fallen back a few steps, probably feeling safer that way. But she must have used that time to carry out some ceremony, because several white summoned explosions fired off around where he lay on the ground.
He frantically created a safe zone by diverting one explosion with his right hand and sending its energy towards other explosions. As he did so, he began to figure out the puzzle, "I'm only safe because she used an attack I saw before. But why? She should have lots of different spells I've never seen before that could blow me away before I figure out how to stop them. "
A wall of flames and a bunch of stone daggers approached him, but they were also attacks he'd seen before, so he neutralized them in the same ways, while standing back up. Touma concluded, "That's it! It's not that she chose to use the same attacks, it's that she can only use these attacks!"
Touma said to her, "I've figured it out! What lies at the core of your attacks and what makes your power so extraordinary."
Birdway narrowed her eyes and asked, "What do you know, amateur?"
As he negated another wind sword, the boy explained, "What makes you special is numbers. You always use the same spells with the same motions! By making the exact same motions in the exact same way, over a long time, you turn those motions themselves into magical symbols themselves! Yourself a year ago, a month ago, a week ago, a day ago, an hour ago, those are your symbols!"
This wasn't something all magicians could do. It was like trying to copy one's previous handwriting exactly. This was the technique she used to draw out overwhelming results, despite its restrictions and limitations. Birdway was the prime example of someone who tried to gain the power to take on the world by polishing and improving their skills.
Touma smiled and complimented her, "You really are amazing, especially in the way you don't show it off. You wear a cool expression and pretend to look down on the world with a cold heart, but you're actually the most passionate and the hardest-working magician out there. You embody the hope that people who put in the effort will eventually succeed." This was how she had proved herself worthy to lead a giant magic cabal.
Birdway changed her weapon into a wand and pointed it at him, asking, "Do you really think that's the answer? Do you really think I'm that simple? I control the largest British magic cabal, the Dawn-Colored Sunlight! I'm always searching for something new, whether from magic or from science."
She created another summoned explosion. This particular attack didn't rely on strict spell techniques, and it seemed more like ad-libbing. But as he dealt with it, Touma noted, "It's all the same, you make it appear ad-libbed, but it's actually a calculated action where you accurately repeat the exact same motions. You arranged it that way to hide the fact that you can only use fire, water, wind, and earth magic in set actions! I'm sure you could create new spells if you wanted, but then you'd have to start from scratch."
Touma was now confident that his right hand could deal with anything Birdway threw at it. He continued, "The real knife hidden among the stone knives, and the gun, they were just ploys to make me think there was more to Leivinia Birdway than there actually is! You wanted to make it seem like you had a countless number of attacks!"
As he said this, he noticed multiple flashing rays of light coming from the level above him. He smiled and mused, "It looks like Biri-Biri is doing well in her battle, so now it's my turn." The boy then clenched his fist tighter and asked his opponent, "How many cards do you have in your hand, Birdway? Is it 5? 10? 15? 20? No matter the number, you still only have a finite number of attacks. I doubt I've seen them all, but I don't have time to figure out how to handle all of them."
Birdway sharply replied, "Then you can go to your grave with that misunderstanding."
Touma kicked off the ground and sprinted towards Birdway. He then faced a horde of water daggers, a wall of flames, a wind sword, stone daggers, and summoned explosions. There was also a rotating steel blade and some sort of pinballing electric attack. A couple of those attacks were new coming from Birdway, but he found ways to deal with them, reducing Birdway's options for surprise each time. He thought, "It's no good, Birdway. I know what kind of person you are now. You love effort and hard work, and you never tried to target my wounded side. You've charmed the people in your cabal by more than just your words."
After negating everything in his way, the boy finally reached his opponent, exclaiming, "You've inspired so many people about the value of hard work. I won't let you come to the pathetic answer that Fraulein Kreutune is the best option!" After a hard fight, his fist finally slammed into Birdway's face, and with that, the battle came to an end.
Back on the top level of the overpass, Mikoto frowned as she looked over at Brunhild, who had just stopped moving. After Mikoto had gotten that hit on her opponent, she'd been evading further attacks from Brunhild's claymore sword. But now, Brunhild was looking away, down at a lower level.
Mikoto didn't see it as an opening to attack, and she remained cautious. When she glanced down, she saw that Birdway had been knocked out. She smiled and thought to herself, "Good job, Touma." She then turned back to her opponent and asked, "So what now?"
Brunhild quietly replied, "It seems one battle has been resolved. I'm not sure whether to continue fighting you, go fight him instead, or retreat for now."
Also on a lower level, Thor and Silvia had paused their own battle and were looking at the result of Touma's fight with Birdway. However, they looked less confused and more amused at the outcome. Silvia casually mused, "Hmm, what to do now? I now have a reason to abandon a necessary but unpleasant job."
Thor then said, "If two Saints went after him, I'm sure you could manage somehow." Of course, he and Mikoto wouldn't just let Silvia and Brunhild gang up on Touma, but the boy might get taken out before his allies could save him.
Silvia replied frankly, "No, the spell we need to rob Fraulein Kreutune of her special power just requires adding a bit of sand to the pure water of her form. But that's Birdway's specialty, and she didn't trust us enough to tell us how to perform it. Without her, there's nothing we can do." They couldn't just retrieve the unconscious Birdway and continue with their plan. They had no choice but to give up on capturing Fraulein.
Both Saints stood down and withdrew from the battlefield, though Silvia warned that, like a wild animal, Fraulein was dangerous even if she didn't mean any harm. Thor simply told her that they had known the risk of rescuing Fraulein, but they had gladly taken that risk to save that girl from imprisonment.
Mikoto immediately jumped down to her boyfriend's location. As soon as her feet touched the road, she ran towards him and pulled him into a hug. She rested her head on his shoulder and gleefully exclaimed, "You did it, Touma!" Once again, he had achieved the seemingly impossible, defeating a powerful magician and saving yet another girl.
Touma eagerly returned her embrace, wrapping his arms around her back and muzzling his head against her soft hair. He told her, "I couldn't have done it without you, Biri-Biri. You were really amazing, you held your own against a Saint while also helping me against Birdway! And you found a nice way to send me warning signals." He found it kind of romantic how she'd used his ring during a fight to save him.
The girl beamed at his praise, pleased that he liked that strategy of hers. But she modestly replied, "Well, you actually defeated your opponent, while I struggled to just not lose. But we really make a good team, don't we?"
Touma chuckled, "You got that right." He then leaned down and kissed her, and she readily kissed him back. Still filled with adrenaline from their battles, they deepened their kiss and made out for a few seconds.
Once they pulled apart, they both held up their left hands and high-fived each other, with their rings clinking together, and shouted, "Good job!"
Meanwhile, Thor looked down at them from above with a smile. He was actually a bit jealous of the couple's bond. He had worked very hard to become as strong as he was now, but he didn't have someone special to share it with. In any case, he really wanted to have a fight against Kamijou Touma, and now that the battle over Fraulein was over, there weren't any more major distractions. He decided to let Touma enjoy his girlfriend's company for now, but Thor resolved to lure the other boy into a battle before he left Academy City.