Fourth out of six fights, Mikoto vs Wrath. Round three but their can only be one survivor. The fate of Ruiko Saten is on the line. Who will win? But first, let's answer some questions and give some comments. Oh this is also Chapter 30 of the story, it has been going on for awhile.
Ultimate10: I answered him privately but just some little science fact for everyone. It was a very small black hole and would have probably burned itself out after swallowing everything around it. It was not big enough to maintain itself indefinitely. Besides, we all know magic black holes are not nearly as awesome as naturally occurring black holes. But, Sogiita punching it was still awesome.
Guest: FACEPALM-TALITY, I love that word.
Okaidi: Each sin has their own decorated arena, so they could resemble junk yards. If you remember in 26, Gluttony had a lot of machines and Wrath has a lot of junk, so your imagination isn't too far off.
Disclaimer: I do not own Toaru Majutsu no Index or any of the characters.
It would be an understatement to say Mikoto was worried. She had fought Wrath twice before and both times she would have been in big trouble if Touma hadn't stepped in and saved her. During their second encounter on the beach, Mikoto saw Wrath's true power and it was only thanks to Kaori and Touma they all walked out alive. She also knew Wrath's sin mark could cause excruciating pain to the point of incapacitating people. If I get hit by that it is all over for me. However, she didn't know how she would be able to avoid getting hit by it since she never saw it activated. Kaori and Touma had both mentioned it to her, but just about the pain effect. She looked at Wrath and for some reason Wrath had stopped as soon as she stepped into the arena. Wrath was also watching her grinning widely.
"Where is the confidence you just had?" Wrath asked mockingly. "Don't tell me you just now finally realized the position you are in."
"Who would be scared of you?" Mikoto replied back. "I know your powers so you can't catch me off guard. I was just looking around and admiring your home. The charred remains suit your personality perfectly. I see where you got your fresh scent from."
"Petty taunts from a scared little girl," Wrath said laughing. "I am going to enjoy extending your suffering. As for my home, it gives me such pleasure destroying things. I need an outlet for my anger when brats get away from me by sheer luck."
"Well now you can't blame luck," Mikoto said as white-blue sparks flickered around her. "It's just you and me."
"I know," Wrath said her creepy grin stretching over her face. "Sucks for you." Bright red flames erupted instantly behind her creating several pillars. They wrapped around her constantly obscuring her from sight. "It's time for you to suffer the same humiliation I did before you die." One of the pillars arced and flew towards Mikoto. A bolt of white-blue electricity was her instant response and the blasts collided in midair. The energy from both dispersed into an explosion and the light temporarily blinded both of them. It faded away and they just stood glaring at each other.
"You are going to have to do better than that," Mikoto said grinning. "I'm the strongest electromaster." She pointed her hand at Wrath and let lose another bolt of electricity. It crackled as it flew through the air. Wrath lifted herself effortlessly into the air as the fire collected under her. She flew above Mikoto's electricity and performed what looked like a simple backhand motion. Several flames in the shape of arrows flew from her hand. Mikoto jumped to the side as the arrows hit the ground. She thought she had avoided them but, a second after the arrows hit the ground, they exploded. She was just at the border of one of the explosions and felt the intense heat hit her skin. She rolled to avoid most of the blast and minimize damage. Her shirt got a little burnt in the process but overall, she was still fine. I'm going to have to make sure I move far enough away to avoid those.
"Ah," Wrath said in a mocking baby tone. "Is the wittle baby going to cry from a little heat?" A vein in Mikoto's head throbbed a little. "I hope you don't die to fast. I want to be sure I get to fully enjoy my revenge." Mikoto's response was to shoot anther blast of electricity at Wrath, but she merely shot a jet of flame at her side to avoid it in midair. "The wittle baby is getting mad. I bet she starts crying." Mikoto made a very rude gesture with her hand and shot several more bolts which Wrath just continued to fly around by using her flames as a propulsion system. Eventually she got bored. Is this all she can do, I overestimated her. How dull. Six jets of flame came out of her back, almost like wings. They twisted around her body and all converged at Mikoto's location. Mikoto couldn't dodge all of them and Wrath was about to believe she won, when she saw it.
Mikoto was smiling.
Suddenly, a piece of metal flew from Mikoto's right and she grabbed it. The force of the movement pulled her out of the way as all six jets hit the ground. The flames started to melt the stone and the smell made Mikoto retch slightly. She was far enough away from getting burnt, but there was nothing she could do about the smell. She did, however, focused on something else and ignored the smell. While Wrath was talking, she had been using her magnetism. She not only made sure she had magnetized pieces of metal to allow her to move around the arena quickly, she also started collecting her favorite weapon, after her railgun. She lifted her hand and the ground beneath Wrath exploded. Wrath looked down and saw a brief cloud of black sand before it engulfed her.
"The fire shouldn't be able to melt it fast enough," Mikoto mumbled to herself as the iron sand she collected surrounded Wrath. She didn't want to kill Wrath, but she had to defeat her so she could save Ruiko. She forced the sand to fly toward the stands of the coliseum to slam Wrath into them and knock her unconscious. Right before the sand hit the stone, an explosion blew away all the sand as a giant ball of flames erupted from Wrath. The iron sand still near her melted and fell to the ground. Mikoto gathered the rest of the sand in her hand forming the sword of finely vibrating iron particles. "Shit. I thought I had her that time."
"You worthless brat!" Wrath roared emerging from the circular mass of flames. "Here I was going easy on you and planning to give you a quick clean death. And this is how you repay me? I'm going to burn you slowly, one limb at a time." The fire around her grew slightly darker and expanded. The stone ring and metal junk started to melt under the intense heat. Even standing a considerable distance in the area from Wrath, Mikoto could feel the temperature rise. Wrath pointed at her and a giant hand made of fire was formed from the flames. Wrath reached out toward Mikoto and the giant hand moved toward her. Mikoto pulled a magnetized metal sheet towards her and stepped on it as it slid by her. She magnetized her feet to stay on, and used it as a surfboard along the ground, controlling it with her power as the hand chased her.
"You seem upset," Mikoto called out humorously to Wrath. "Is it really that difficult to beat a brat like me?" She lifted the metal sheet out of the area and started to skid along the stands in the arena. The hand was following her, occasionally melting pieces of stone and other junk it passed through. It was just as fast as she was, but it couldn't turn as well so she was able to dodge all the junk while the hand had to burn through it or take a wider route around. The hand occasionally got close to her since Mikoto was sliding on the ground while the hand flew, but Mikoto kept managing to make sharp turns to avoid it.
"You are going to get you're a$$ handed to you," Wrath yelled as she laughed at her own joke. Mikoto groaned at the horrible joke and thought the flames might have become a little brighter. "But the game is over. You die now." The hand started to move faster toward Mikoto and, within a minute, caught up to her. Mikoto however grinned because her plan worked.
"The game IS over," Mikoto said. "But you will lose." The entire time she was sliding around in the stands, she was pretending to be chased by Wrath's flame hand. She had purposely let it get close right before she dodged. All of this was used to lure Wrath into a false sense of security. What was funny was this was a strategy Touma had used against her frequently. He lured her into his own pace and before she knew it, he was the one in an advantageous position. Of course, he never made full use of it against her, which had pissed her off a lot, but she knew now he just didn't want to hurt her.
Anyway, she was slowly making her way towards Wrath's position. The flame was getting closer to her but she knew she had to keep it near her or Wrath might realize what was happening. She had purposely circled the long way around the arena to make Wrath focus longer on controlling the hand and make her believe Mikoto was running from it. She was less than a fifty feet from Wrath before she realized what Mikoto was planning. She raised her other hand in response. "Oh no you don't brat," she called out.
"Catch," Mikoto called out suddenly. She suddenly veered to the right less than thirty feet from Wrath. Under the metal sheet she was using to surf, another one of almost equal size flew out. Mikoto used her magnetism to propel it all full speed right toward Wrath. She did make it fly flat instead of on the edge because, if Wrath did not block it, it would just knock her out instead of slicing in half. Wrath smiled and moved her hand toward the flying piece of metal. Flames appeared from her arm and melted the metal ten feet from her. The metal and flames blocked her sight for a moment.
"Not bad," Wrath called out. "At least you have some skill…AH!" She stopped and yelled out in surprise. The flame hand she had been using to chase Mikoto was less than ten feet away. The flame hand had been traveling in a straight line towards Mikoto who had been rushing at Wrath. Wrath ignored it for a moment and left it on roughly what could be considered autopilot, in a straight line, while she was going to roast Mikoto with her other hand. But because Mikoto had surprised her, she completely forgot about the hand and focused on the metal flying at her. The brief lapse in concentration and the explosion blocked her view for a moment allowing the hand to get close to her. Her surprise also delayed her reaction speed for a split second and the hand collided into her. A huge explosion of flames engulfed her, along with a twenty foot radius around. The flames erupted into the air like a geyser.
Mikoto had kept moving on her metal surfboard even after throwing the other piece of metal. She knew standing still around a flame user was not a smart idea. You had to keep moving until you had an opening. One hit on a person with flames can cause serious and sometimes fatal damage. She stopped a good 100 feet away as the explosion faded and only a cloud of dust was left. He couldn't see through it, but the sudden quiet let her relax. She can't continue fighting after that right? She hit herself with her own flames point blank. She gave a small sigh of relief, but was worried Wrath might have killed herself. Mikoto did not want to kill anyone because she had seen firsthand what killing was like.
Her worry wasn't warranted. A second later a dark red flame erupted like a volcano. From the dust and flames Wrath's figure emerged into the air. She was no longer human anymore, but resembled the creature made of pure flames she saw on the beach. The humanoid shape of her body was now just a dark crimson red while her previous red her was now fire wiping around behind her. Her white eyes pierced through all the other flames and dust to glare daggers at Mikoto. Mikoto shivered slightly as she felt the pure hatred and murderous aura around Wrath. She reached into her pocket and grabbed a coin, but part of her didn't think it would be enough.
"YOU B%&$^!" Wrath roared as the flames continued to grow. Mikoto felt the temperature in the arena increase again. The stone floor and wall near Wrath started to melt without any contact. "You dare to hit me with my own ability. There is a limit to your arrogance. A slow death still isn't enough for you. I will burn your skin, scorch your bones, and turn your head into a trophy. But first, you will suffer more then you have ever before. Screw the rules. I have power and I think I will kill your friend first. I don't care what the Herald has his so called law say." She started to levitate toward the blue shield covering Ruiko. "Let's see how calm you are after that."
"Get away from her," Mikoto yelled in fear and anger. There is no way I'm going to let her touch Saten. She shot several enormous bolts of electricity at Wrath, or the monster formally known as Wrath. The flames just wiped around Wrath and intercepted all of Mikoto's electricity. Wrath wasn't even paying attention to her anymore. She just moved over to where Ruiko was laying. Mikoto rushed towards Wrath and pulled out her coin. She flipped it into the air. When it fell and hit her finger, she flicked it. A loud boom echoed around the coliseum as the coin was jettison by her electricity at several times the speed of sound. The railgun flew right at Wrath and intercepted her right in the middle of the humanoid torso. Wrath yelled out briefly in pain as her form started to disperse. A second later it started to reform again. The face of fire looked at Mikoto for a moment.
"You will pay for this," Wrath said softly, but anger permeated her voice. "You can't hurt me. I have become pure flames and will just reform my body as soon as you try to damage it."
"Y-you're immortal?" Mikoto asked shocked.
"Only Pride can claim true immortality," Wrath said simply moving toward Ruiko. "I am just pure fire and will just reform like the phoenix. My flames are rage incarnate." She raised her hand above the blue shield protecting Ruiko. "Now your pain and my revenge will begin."
"NOOOOO!" Mikoto called out. She called a thunderbolt from the sky directly on Wrath. For a second, her humanoid form disappeared completely, but a couple seconds later it reformed. "Don't do it!" she cried out desperately. She couldn't stop Wrath from attacking her friend as fear overwhelmed her. She reached for the choker Jason gave her as Wrath slammed down on the blue barrier with her hands.
A sudden burst of blue light emitted from the barrier as Wrath touched it. The light was so bright Mikoto had to look away, her hand frozen over the choker. Wrath was blown backwards and the majority of her flames disappeared. Her flame body was still intact along with a small number of flames around her. The barrier was also still resolutely intact. "Why won't you break?" Wrath yelled out angrily as fire erupted around her again. Mikoto watched her once again slam her fists on the barrier. This time she kept her hands on it as she engulfed the barrier with fire. Mikoto wanted to yell at her, to get her to stop, but her voice failed her. She was frozen in fear and confusion. If she flipped the choker she might be able to win, but if she couldn't, she and Ruiko would die. She also didn't know if the barrier would hold against Wrath.
"Break already you piece of shit!" Wrath yelled pounding her flames on the barrier. Once again a burst of blue light emitted from the barrier and pushed Wrath back while extinguishing a lot of her flames. She staggered backwards and while her flame body was intact, she looked a lot more solid. Mikoto lowered her hand. Whatever the shield was made of, it was protecting Ruiko and Mikoto might not need to use her final trump card yet. "Damn it!" Wrath yelled. "I want to see her suffer, break already."
The barrier changed from blue to white and an image of a man appeared above it. Mikoto did not recognize the tall man with long white silky hair, until he spoke. The voice was ice cold, chilling her to the bone, and she knew who he was. He was the man who saved Wrath from her and Touma at the museum. Damn, I should have guessed he was the leader. Whoever met him is probably in trouble.
"Wrath," he said his voice calm, but it sent shiver down Mikoto's spine. To her surprise, she saw Wrath's flame body shaking in fear when confronted by this man. "I knew you would not be content with following my laws, so I set up this reminder. Should you attempt to break this barrier again, you will die. There is no second chance, there is no compromise, if you attempt to, you WILL die."
"But Herald," Wrath tried to say.
"You have been warned," the Herald said. Mikoto felt the weight of his words even though his tone had not changed. His words were final and nothing Wrath could say would change it. Wrath knew this and stopped talking. "You will still be punished." The image raised his hand and a bolt of blue light hit Wrath. She flew back a good fifty feet and smashed through a stone wall. The flame body disappeared as she stood back up and she looked normal once again. "Do no fail me."
Mikoto had no idea what happened but she realized Wrath looked weaken. I guess this Herald doesn't care about his allies. She started to spark with electricity figuring this was probably her best chance to defeat Wrath. She arced a bolt of electricity at Wrath, who was still stunned by the recent event, and she yelled out in pain as she was electrocuted. "Give up," Mikoto yelled at Wrath. "He doesn't care about you at all. I don't even know why you follow him."
"You have no idea how this world works," gasped Wrath getting back to her feet glaring at Mikoto with pure loathing. "You were sheltered in the city and born with power. The darkness of this world consumes everyone. The Herald pulled me out and gave me a way to channel my wrath."
"What are you talking about?" Mikoto asked. "Nothing that happened could justify killing others."
"I am Wrath!" she yelled out suddenly. "I am the incarnate of hatred and rage. I will not lose to a mere spoiled brat!" The flames grew around her and started to expand engulfing everything near her. Metal started to melt, stone dissolved, and anything still flammable disappeared. "Ever since I was a child, I learned the power of rage and over the years harnessed it to annihilate all my enemies. Brats like you could never understand me."
"Try me," Mikoto said still sparking and gathering as much iron sand as she could under the ground. She began to realize something. The angrier Wrath got the more fire she seemed to control. When she got surprised or happy, her fire diminished. Maybe if I get her to talk, her fire will weaken so I can defeat her. When he was completely engulfed in anger, she was virtually untouchable. "I've seen a lot of horrible things." This was true as she had walked through the dark side of Academy City. Her eyes darkened as she remembered those times. During Accelerator's level 6 experiment, he killed over ten thousand clones of her, the first sisters. She saw firsthand the darkness people in this world contained in order to achieve their goals.
For a second Wrath looked at her directly in the eyes and smiled slightly. "Maybe you aren't quite as spoiled as I thought. Your eyes have anger and darkness deep down, not nearly as much as mine, but anger and hatred is present in everyone." Her flames continued to spiral around her, but they did not have the same intensity as when she entered her fire form. "Do you think you could survive in the world of light if you watched your entire family being butchered by rebels?"
Mikoto's eyes went wide and words failed her. Finally she managed to choke out, "W-what are you saying? You better not be threatening my family."
"Not this time," Wrath said smirking evilly. "Though, that may be fun later. I was six years old when my village was invaded by rebels and all of us were slaughtered except me. I wasn't as lucky. I was taken away and spent years as a slave. I knew who killed my parents and I saw those b#$^%#* every day. Do you know how painful that is? I pretended to be broken and was abused daily."
Mikoto took a step back at her words. "Y-you," she stuttered but she really didn't have any words to respond to Wrath's statement. If she's telling the truth, no wonder she is so angry and messed up. A shiver went down her back when she thought about if she was in that situation.
"It ends well though," Wrath said as her grin widened. The grin made her face turn scary, it wasn't a happy smile. "I manage to sneak a knife with me and, during the night, I slaughtered the two drunken fools who killed my family. As the blood rushed over my hands I felt something I didn't feel for years, pure bliss. I laughed and continued stabbing them as I unleashed my years of anger. All those years of hating them came to fruition and I won. Another person entered and I killed him too. It was so great. I killed four more of those invaders before I was shot. They threw me into the river to die."
"How did you survive?" Mikoto asked softly. The story was getting to her even if she didn't want to admit it.
"The Herald saved me," she explained. "He said I had a future, but needed to learn magic. He sent me to learn under one of his subordinates. I discovered the wonders of flame magic, as it was linked with my rage. No one could stand before me. Less than five years ago, he called me and bestowed upon me the Mark of Wrath since the previous vessel died. Now I can kill anyone who dares anger me." She threw back her head and laughed wildly.
"Y-you're insane," Mikoto said sparking up again. "I can sympathize with having a tragic pass, but I can't throw away my life. Other people are counting on me. I will win no matter what it takes." She felt her determination grow as the faces of all her friends came to her mind. Not just Ruiko whose life was on the line now, but Kuroko, Kazari, Jason, Misaki, and even Accelerator. Touma's face swam clearly to the front of her mind and she would make sure to help him to her last breath, no matter who his enemy was.
"I see," Wrath said her eyes narrowing. "I am done playing around with you now. It is time for you to feel my curse for yourself." Mikoto froze knowing the power of her curse ability. She had only thought of one possible way to protect herself, but it was risky and if she failed, it would probably allow Wrath to kill her. "Suffer under the weight of your sins and learn you place before my wrath."
"AHHHHHH," Mikoto screamed as the worse pain she ever felt washed over her. She never had an opportunity to block the attack. Every fiber of her being was on fire. She couldn't think straight and everything became blurry. She fell to her hands and knees. She never realized how much pain a human body could feel without passing out. If she was able to think straight she might have realized this was part of Wrath's curse. It was designed to make an enemy suffer and if they passed out, they wouldn't. She continued to yell in pain as she struggled on the ground.
Wrath just kept laughing. She knew she had won. Her curse was unblockable and even the strongest individuals would fall to it. She watched Mikoto writhing on the ground yelling in pain and trying to get up, but barely able to move. It filled her with joy as she reveled in Mikoto's suffering. How shall I kill her? Her mind started thinking of several interesting ways to prolong Mikoto's suffering. She still wished she could kill the friend first and watch as Mikoto's last rays of hope disappeared. She looked up at Ruiko still in the impregnable barrier. The Herald is quite powerful. A movement caught her eye and she looked back at Mikoto and gasped. "How? That's impossible?"
Mikoto was sparking slightly and was slowly struggling to her feet. "Heh," she grinned looking at Wrath. "I hoped this would work, but it's still really difficult." A human body feels through their nerve endings. When someone would feel pain, the nerves send a mixture of electrical and chemical signals to the brain indicating something had irritated the nerve endings. Mikoto knew enough about biology to know this fact. She used her electricity to block most of the nerve endings from sending this signal to her brain, therefore numbing the pain she would be feeling. She had to make sure she did not numb all the endings or she wouldn't be able to move without using her ability constantly to move her nerves and muscles. The only reason she could numb the nerve endings with just electricity is she could generate it constantly. If she also used it to control her muscles, most of her focus would be just on her body. She used the minimum amount of electricity to block nerves so she could still focus on fighting. The end result was the pain was nothing more than her entire body feeling slightly sore, but she could still move like normal. "I was worried on how your curse affected me," Mikoto said. "But it looked like my electricity was able to cancel it out."
"You… you insufferable brat," Wrath growled. "My curse is unstoppable. The pain will keep increasing till you beg for death." Fire began to wrap around her and raised a hand while pointing a finger at Mikoto. "Die already!" A line of flame flew from her outstretched hand and flew toward Mikoto. She quickly dove to the side as the fire shot right through where her chest would have been. It drilled straight through the stone behind her and left a two inch wide hole in the stone wall behind her. "Quit dodging you brat." Flames exploded under her and she lifted herself into the air once again. She made slicing motions with her hands and several blades of fire flew at Mikoto.
Mikoto magnetized herself to pull herself to a nearby metal pile to dodge the flames. The flames left deep gashes in the stone floor a couple inches wide and several feet long. "I might if you ask nicely," Mikoto called back. She focused on the iron sand she collected below the surface. She didn't have a lot because the space was finite and Wrath had melted a lot of it, but she still had enough to work with. The sand erupted from the ground behind Wrath and formed a solid ball as it flew towards Wrath. Wrath was to focus on Mikoto to notice it and the mass of metal sand collided into her back knocking her to the ground. "You should just give up."
"Never," Wrath roared angrily as red flames erupted all around her. Her body rose into the air and started to turn crimson again. "You will die." She raised both hands into the air and several streams of pure fire started to collect above her. The amount kept increasing as she fed more flames into it. "I'm not going to miss this time. Nothing will be left of you except a charred stain on the ground." Wrath was tired of these games and only had one thought on her mind, kill.
Mikoto didn't really have a chance at dodging but it didn't stop her form trying. She used her full power to pull all the metal she could from the stands. All the metal debris from the remains of countless encounters with Wrath's temper started to gather in front of her. I need more or it's not going to block it. She reached out to her limit pulling more than she had before. The ground beneath her, weaken by Wrath's flame blades and the weight of the metal wall, began to crack.
"DIE!" Wrath yelled and she released the giant ball of fire at Mikoto. The enormous fireball collided with the metal wall Mikoto had made and the explosion rocked the entire coliseum. The flames went in every direction along with pieces of metal as the force from the explosion blew the debris everywhere. The blast of heat melted the nearby metal and most of the remainder of the metal became red hot. The dust cleared and a huge puddle of liquid metal was left in the middle of the arena with a few small piles of debris surrounding it. Wrath could feel the heat emitting form the remains. She started to laugh madly. "I win!" she yelled triumphant. "No brat can stand before my rage." She continued to laugh but then stopped. "No it can't be." She looked at the blue barrier surrounding Ruiko. It should have disappeared when she died. If it is still up then…
Her question was answered. The ground exploded as a coin came flying through it right at Wrath. The sudden explosion surprised her and the coin blew straight through her flame body. The flames scattered as her torso disassembled. A minute later it started to slowly form back together. Damn, the fight has gone on too long, I can't maintain this form much longer. She backed up from the hole in the ground as Mikoto flew up out of it, riding another piece of metal. This metal actually looked like a skateboard, about three feet long and a foot wide. "How did you survive?"
"The ground below me broke right before your attack hit," Mikoto explained dusting herself off. "I admit it, I was lucky." She looked at the remains of the wall she made and the large puddle of liquid metal. "I'm glad it did, I don't think I would have survived otherwise." She rode her metal board up into the stands to move away from the carnage in the middle of the arena. "Most of the heat went upwards and to the side, while a minimum amount went down into the area below the ring. I just guessed where you were because I figured you wouldn't move after thinking you had won. People like you tend to be really arrogant and let their guards down when they think they won." She stepped off her board and shot another bolt of blue-white electricity at Wrath.
Wrath was stunned and couldn't believe Mikoto's good luck. She still managed to shoot a jet of fire to intercept Mikoto's electricity. She was pissed but another feeling was mixed in, one she was not use to feeling. She was impressed at Mikoto's tenacity. Most people would have accepted their fate after witnessing her power, but the girl in front of her kept fighting. Of course, she knew it was all in vain. No matter how much Mikoto tried to win, she would burn like all the others. "I see," Wrath said slowly. "You have the devil's luck. But luck will wear our eventually and you will die."
"I don't need luck," Mikoto said. "I will…" She was interrupted by thin line of fire that flew from Wrath. Wrath had aimed her finger through her flame body so Mikoto did not see the attack till it was already coming at her. She was barely able to move to the side and the line of fire tore through the right side of her shirt, setting it on fire. "Shit," she said and didn't really have a choice as the flames were spreading fast. She pulled off her shirt and threw it to the ground. This is embarrassing, she thought to herself. I hope Touma doesn't see me. She looked up in anger at Wrath. "I really liked that shirt!" she yelled angrily. She stopped and frowned when Wrath started to make a weird noise. It took a second to realize what it was as the tone changed to something she knew.
Wrath was laughing.
More specifically, Wrath was not laughing at the prospect of winning or the fact she burnt Mikoto's shirt, she was laughing at Mikoto. "Are you really a middle school student?" Wrath asked.
"What do you mean by that?" Mikoto growled angrily a vein throbbing in her head. If she is making fun of my chest, I'm going to….
"What is with… that… childish… underwear?" Wrath asked between gasps as she just kept laughing.
Mikoto looked down at her chest and saw she was wearing her favorite Gekota brand underwear. It was bright green just like the frog and had his symbol on it. She grew red, with both embarrassment and anger. "You have no idea what you are talking about," she yelled back. "Gekota is a perfectly respectable brand."
"Yea if you are in primary school," Wrath said smirking. Mikoto was so angry at her she didn't even realize Wrath was slowly turning back into her human form as she was laughing so hard at Mikoto's choice of clothing.
"You really like making me mad," Mikoto said while the vein in her head started throbbing madly. She was so close to just exploding into a rage like Wrath had done several times before. "Just because you can't understand how cute Gekota is. All you like to do is destroy."
"Destruction is an art," Wrath replied still smirking. "But I wouldn't expect a brat to understand. After all, you obviously have not matured yet. With your childish choice in underwear, your terrible preference in guys, and your undeveloped body," Wrath looked at Mikoto's chest and put a hand on hers smiling broadly," it will probably be awhile for you."
Wrath said it.
Something inside of Mikoto snapped.
Mikoto gave Wrath an evil grin as her right fist shook in anger. Her left arm was covering her chest in embarrassment. "You, You," she stammered as the words would not form. Suddenly she yelled out with a voice full of rage. "YOU B^$&%!" Lighting started crackling all around her and shooting off in every direction. Several bolts headed toward Wrath, but she just intercepted them with jets of fire. Dark clouds started to form above them and lighting crackled in the sky. Mikoto wasn't even paying attention anymore. Her mind was clouded with the desire to beat Wrath into the ground for her remarks. "How dare you make fun of… of my…." She couldn't finish the sentence, something not noticed by Wrath.
Wrath wasn't sure what her motive for doing this was. Maybe it was fun for her, maybe she wanted to make Mikoto suffer, maybe she wanted to embarrass her like Mikoto did to her. For some reason, she couldn't get the anger she once felt toward the girl in front of her. Anyways, Wrath did not stop there and continued to belittle her. "With such a small chest, I don't know how you would attract any kind of guys. I'm sure Lust could give you some pointers on how to make yourself look good. Envy told us that boy who wields the Imagine Breaker, Touma Kamijou, likes girls with large chests. So the blonde mental user is way ahead of yo…"
"SHUT UP AND DIE!" Mikoto yelled. The dark sky flashed with lighting and then unleashed its full fury. Thunder echoed across the sky as several lightning bolts struck different places around the coliseum. Wrath looked up in time to see one of the larger ones come straight toward her. She flung her hand into the air as fire erupted from all around her and intercepted it about thirty feet above her. Her flames however where not able to block it completely and she felt her skin tingle as some of the electricity got through. She turned to look at Mikoto who didn't seem to care what she was hitting. The lighting was striking random places. The problem was there was A LOT of metal everywhere, including the large puddle of liquid metal in the middle of the arena. As lighting hit the metal junk piles the energy was transmitting all over the place. Even with her fire, Wrath couldn't defend against simultaneous strikes from all directions. If the electricity gets to close, even if she hits it with her flames, the explosion would still impact her.
"You stupid brat!" Wrath yelled as her anger rose. "I'm going to kill you for doing this shit! How dare you threaten me?!"
"I don't want to hear that bull coming from you!" Mikoto yelled back. "You tried to kill me first. Don't get upset when people try to defend themselves."
"This is more the just trying to defend yourself!" Wrath roared back. "You are destroying the entire coliseum. I still had some stuff I liked in here." She felt her anger rising to the breaking point. "You will die now." Her body started to turn blood red as the crimson flames once again wrapped around her turning her into a living entity of fire again. "Your body will burn before my wrath."
Mikoto didn't waste a second. When Wrath started to transform back into her flame form, Mikoto immediately hopped on her makeshift metal skateboard. She propelled it using her magnetism into the arena and skidded across the surface of the metal pool until she arrived safely on the other side. She put some good distance between them as Wrath fulling transformed. Wrath was pissed and Mikoto knew it. Come on fall for my trap. The thunderstorm above them was growing as Mikoto was also pissed. Even though she says die to people a lot in anger, she has never killed before and she didn't plan to start. However, Wrath's flame form was way too powerful to deal with normal means. Even her railgun didn't seem to faze Wrath in that form. "Catch me if you can."
"There is no hope for you," Wrath's voice echoed across the arena. For some reason her voice was softer, but was more venomous then her previous tantrums. Mikoto gave an involuntary shiver as she heard those words. There is so much rage in them. Wrath's crimson flame body started to turn pitch black; the flames around her slowly disappeared, except for the blood red flames dancing around on her head like hair. Even though the flames had shrunk, the temperature in the ring was increasing and Mikoto felt a lot of sweat form. Wrath's flame body was so refined, yet the danger it emitted was real. Wrath raised an arm and brought it down to her side. A strip of black flame extended into the side of the coliseum. In an instant, a strip of the structure disappeared. Well it didn't quite disappear, there was some liquid on the ground as stone and other materials melted, but it was like the coliseum was a cake and someone just cut out a triangular piece. The air became slightly opaque as different gasses floated up into the air.
Mikoto could only stare in shock. Was that sublimation? She actually turned solid stone directly into gas? What the hell are those black flames? They defy common sense. I only have one shot. If it doesn't work it's over. She remembered the choker. Well, guess I have one other final trump card, but will it be enough for that? She gazed at the black flame form of Wrath as it levitated toward her from the stands. It seemed like she was not in a hurry and Mikoto could not blame her. With a simple wave of her hand, she could disintegrate the area Mikoto was in. The storm above them was growing in intensity. It's ready, but will it be enough?
"Flames of Hatred," Wrath called out. "My black flames will destroy anything they come in contact with. They are the true embodiment of my wrath. There is no future for you." She floated over the pool of metal and it began to bubble as she passed over it. When she was right in the middle Mikoto grinned and Wrath stopped. "What's so funny?" she asked.
"You walked into it," Mikoto said simply as the sky roared. A single bolt of lightning she had been nurturing in the sky struck right at Wrath. This lightning bolt was gigantic and completely covered Wrath. Not only that, Mikoto had lured Wrath over a pool of liquid metal. When the lightning bolt struck, some of the energy was absorbed into the metal, but a lot of it was reflected. The electricity hit Wrath directly and reflected to hit her again. The remainder of the electricity scattered in every direction. For some reason the electricity that was scattering all over the place was hitting piles of conveniently placed metal and flowing back to the middle. Stone and concrete were not the best conductors and the coliseum was made of it.
Wrath yelled in pain as the electricity kept finding its way back to her, helped a lot by Mikoto. "What did you do brat?"
"When you made my really angry," Mikoto explained as she kept cycling the electricity and adding hers into the mix. "The lightning was just a distraction. I was using magnetism to move the remaining metal to be able to focus electricity into the middle. When I finally got you in position, I released the lightning and now it will keep flooding back to you. One strike, but you will get hit so many times."
"YOU BRAT!" Wrath roared as she exploded in black flame. Mikoto slid on her metal board all the way to the stands on the far side to escape the flames. When she stopped and looked, the entire center area of the coliseum was gone. A hole, over 100 feet deep was all that was left. The nearby walls were crumbling into it and the rocks kept echoing as they fell and bounced off the sides of the pit. At the bottom a single figure could be seen.
Wrath was lying on her back looking up into the sky. She could not believe she lost to a mere kid. The black flames do not last long and the seemingly endless cycle of electricity caused her to lose focus and the flames backfired. It really was a double edged sword. She looked at her left arm where a black symbol was printed. It looked like a V shape with the top ends sticking to the right and left and a small diamond in the middle. Brat, I can't believe it, you beat me. I wish I could see you die horribly to the Herald. The rune on her back glowed and she felt pain through her body and then nothing. All that remained was a pile of salt.
Mikoto watched as Wrath glowed white in the giant hole then disappeared into a pile of salt. She refused to look away even though she wanted to. She didn't want to kill, but those magic symbols kept forcing those people to die. She made a fist. The Herald guy must be the one making those symbols. He has to be stopped. She suddenly felt a pain on her left arm and looked to see the symbol that was on Wrath appeared on it. Dang, I forgot about this .It's the same thing that happened to Touma. She decided to worry about it later and instead looked in the direction of Ruiko. The area she was in was undamaged and the blue barrier was gone. Mikoto quickly ran over to her. She saw Ruiko did not appear to be hurt and she gently shook her awake.
"Saten-san," she said. "Are you ok?"
"Eh Misaka-san?" Ruiko said sleepily as she sat up. "I knew we would get rescued. Eh…?" Mikoto suddenly gave her a hug.
"Thank god you are alright," Mikoto said as tears filled her eyes. "I was afraid they might have killed you and just pretended to keep you alive."
Ruiko smiled slightly and patted Mikoto's head. "I'm fine," she said. "I'm sure I can guess who else came with you and they should be able to rescue Uiharu."
"I know," Mikoto said wiping her tears. "I believe in them."
"Same," Ruiko said then smiled. "I can see now why Shirai-san always complains about your choice in underwear."
Mikoto looked down and quickly covered herself with her arms turning red. "Don't you start with me. Wrath burned up my shirt." Ruiko laughed at Mikoto's embarrassed expression. They both looked up as the sky began to crack. "I hope those cracks mean we are leaving this place, I'm exhausted."
So I bet a lot of people thought she would use the choker of ultimate power. But that would have been too easy. I like the drawn out fights more and using the surroundings to your advantage. Wrath had a crappy childhood yes, but she really was insane and couldn't stick around. Electricity and the nervous system is pretty interesting stuff, I simplified it greatly, if you are into biology. So I think I am going to save Accelerator for last so next fight will be Jason vs Greed.
Feel free to leave a review, comment, suggestions, or idea. I love reading them
Jason: Bout time I get a chance to show off. My first solo fight, yay.
Accelerator: No one cares about your fight. They all want to see mine.
Jason: Ouch that hurts. I'm going to tell everyone who your girlfriend is now.
Accelerator: I'm prepared to kill you.
Me: No fighting, you both are going to have plenty of that soon.
Mikoto: Is anyone going to congratulate me?
Kuroko: I knew you would win onee-sama.
Misaki: It was kind of barbaric though.
Mikoto: No one asked you.
Touma: You did well Mikoto.
Misaki: Better than me?
Touma: …
Mikoto: Answer the question.
Accelerator: Wow, I didn't think the hero could run away like that.