New chapter. I'm hoping for a schedule of one a week until the epilogue.

teguhbnn80, NSGCommando: Well, there it is :)

Xeno01: I think a few aspects will be similar- especially with Accelerator to Coronzon, but I'm hoping to showcase a different type of relationship between Coronzon TO Accelerator. No spoilers, but it was Eve that gave Adam the apple was it not?

KinDoRh: No loving relationship is possible without it first starting off with the couple trying to kill each other. No other way around that :)

And thanks to everyone who has read this story so far. Hope you will continue to enjoy it.

Disclaimer: The To Aru Series is owned by Kazuma Kamachi.

It is not the strongest or the most intelligent who will survive but those who can manage change.

- Charles Darwin

He wasn't dead...

"The game isn't over yet."

No. It wasn't. Accelerator's heavy eyes opened to Japan's clear sky, which was now turning orange due to the sunset.

He wasn't dead, but he had been knocked out for quite some time. In that case, why hadn't Coronzon killed him?

Sitting back up, the boy looked around in an attempt to find Coronzon, but the demon was also nowhere to be seen.

The esper was now being bothered by his surroundings. Something was definitely wrong here.

It seemed… too peaceful. Certainly, there still wasn't anyone else around, but on further inspection, Accelerator soon realized that every building, street, and walkway had returned to their former condition before Coronzon's arrival. What was first damaged by the demon's fight against Aleister and then further vandalized by Accelerator's challenge was now magically spotless.

Scratching the back of his head, the boy attempted to make sense of his fact before soon realizing something else.

Taking a look at his hand, the esper came face to face with another surprise: his albino palm unabated by injury or blood. Between the two casting of Coronzon's ace spell, he was sure that he had sustained bleeding hand injuries on his hands as well as on the back of his head.

So, he was now miraculously healed? No… Accelerator felt off. The initial rush of adrenaline after he had woken was now waning. His limbs felt cold, his heartbeat irregular, but most importantly, his mind was numb. The presence of 'calculatable' vectors and numbers that he had grown accustomed to were dimming in front of him.

His body tingled again- the same way it had when he had deflected the demon's magical hair.

Accelerator cursed. No doubt, the esper was now under some influence of Coronzon's ancient magic. Whatever happened during the hours between his fight and now, the demon had no doubt been busy. Coronzon had 'healed' him with whatever screw-up magic she possessed, but the magic was now affecting his ability to interact with his personal reality.

So, near-complete healing of her most dangerous threat along with repairing Academy City sans the Windowless Building.

Why? For what purpose?

Accelerator muttered a few choice words to himself before looking around for his crutch. Whatever was going on, he had a feeling that he was being played at.

Right on cue, he came face to face with a certain beautiful lady that magically appeared in front of him- nearly scaring the esper to a fight response.

"OH HO… you are finally awake." The demon grinned as she stood- towering over the boy. "Are you ready to continue our game?"

"Continue… our… game," Accelerator repeated the words to himself before sneering at her. "If you want to kill me, then just do it already. I am not playing games with you!"

"Kill you already?" The demon seemed to laugh at the boy's notion. "No, my dear, I have already told you before; I decide how my toys will be played with, and I have just started playing with you."

The demon pointed at the boy as if to indicate the playing field.

"I have healed your wounds. ALL of them. In return, I have given myself an equivalent boon for the next game."

Coronzon smiled sadistically, "You don't think such fun will end so early, don't you? No, I am allowing you an extra chance to try again. You should start running, toy."

"After all, the longer you run, the more time you have before you die."

The boy slightly choked upon hearing those words. It was only now in this lull state did the esper realized what the words that voice in this head had been saying meant.

He was being sent back to the past- during the time of the experiment.

But only this time, he was now in the shoes of a sister.

"Congratulations, you have now realized what you are facing now. This situation is most certainly not ideal, but the first step of winning is understanding what game is currently being played."

Accelerator stayed mentally silent at the voice's remark. As correct as it was, he couldn't afford to waste time contemplating it.

There was only one thing he could do, however, and it was something that no one had ever seen the strongest do before.

Was it because it was the only logical choice, or was it the boy's long-lost human instincts finally taking over? Whatever the case was, only one action was present at that moment.

"Run"

He got up and ran.

A new hunt between predator and prey had begun.

"The cat is now the mouse."

Accelerator was no stranger to this game. He had played it all too many times. 10031 times to be exact.

But it was the first time he was playing the part of the prey.

Once he was out of the Coronzon's physical view, Accelerator drove down an alleyway before hiding behind a dumpster bin in an effort to sit down and take a short rest.

The side of the garbage dump was sticky and absolutely disgusting, but the boy had much bigger things to worry about.

Was this his punishment? It would undoubtedly have been fitting: a small taste of fear that the sisters felt during the accursed experiment.

On instinct, the esper went to turn off his choker to save precious battery, but he suddenly came to another unnerving reality.

It wasn't on.

Trying the light switch again, the boy still couldn't feel and see the calculation always given when he turned on his choker.

In fact, it was only now did the boy realize that he had sprinted across three street blocks without the help of his clutch.

So that was the 'advantage' that Coronzon had given herself. In return for a complete 'healing' of his body, the demon had shut down his powers.

But perhaps not completely. Wanting to know the entirety of the demon's restrictions, Accelerator tapped the metal garbage container he was leaning on before calculating the amount of force needed to dent it.

The numbness in his mind grew thicker. His heart rate crawled to a slow thump. No doubt the demon's curse was working hard to stop him from continuing, but such a task was far too simple for the first-ranked. A genius mathematician could still do simple addition even when drunk.

After approximately five seconds, the metal wall dented. Just as the esper will it to.

So, he still had his powers; however, they would be useless in any combat situation.

The boy gave small 'tch' to no one in particular. He had warned himself that a situation similar to this was likely going to happen the second he decided to challenge Coronzon. Still, now that he was participating in the game in the flesh, the boy couldn't help but feel a small sense of regret. Was there anything left to do except keep running until Coronzon eventually got bored and erased him from existence?

Just like what he did with the sisters.

This time, however, there were no 9969 other chances to stop the game. There was no 'hero' to save him, and most importantly…

There was no hidden conscience from the villain. Coronzon would kill him without shame or regret.

"Oh really, then why did she first try to scare you away from the fight?"

"Ok, I am really getting sick of your bullshit! Who the fuck are you? You have been trash-talking in my mind ever since the damn demon showed up. Are you some other curse she created to screw me over?"

"If I was a curse, I wouldn't be talking about how to defeat her, no?" The voice replied.

Accelerator paused. What the voice said was true. For every snide remark, singular word statement, or observation it made, the voice had always been trying to get Accelerator to understand the same mistakes he made in his past were being repeated between him and Coronzon.

He had learned from those mistakes. Touma, The Sisters, and Last Order had taught him how to move forwards, and now he was meant to teach those same lessons to Coronzon.

"So, now you have started to listen."

"Shut up."

However, a big problem still persisted. The difference in power between him and Coronzon was much greater than between the esper and Touma. This was especially evident now that his powers were almost unusable in a confrontation.

Fuck.

The esper was great at adapting to difficult situations when needed. It was why he could define and deflect magical vectors despite having only known about magic for six months. He would get hurt, resharpen his 'sword' and fight back all the stronger for it.

But now, he could no longer adapt to the situation when needed. Coronzon had locked away his ability to calculate vectors in real-time, along with any chance of winning that came with it.

This was too much. Like the human immune system, the esper could survive and adapt to almost anything if given the time. But could the same thing be done when both were compromised?

"No, but when the immune system cannot adapt, it doesn't mean the rest of the body is helpless either. The mind can innovate ways to win. Magical healing, scientific medicine, man has shown that the improbable is not always as impossible as they seem when they pit their best ideas against it."

Use his mind? What an odd idea, as if he hadn't been using it already.

"You are hopeless." The voice sighed dramatically. "Your way of fighting. You can win if you change and adapt how you fight."

The esper thought about that assessment for a moment. Him going full-force forward was the boy's usual way of fighting his opponents. Since that method failed spectacularly, another method was needed.

As usual, Accelerator's mind wandered to Touma. Certainly, the hero had a way of winning against his foes despite the near-impossible odds. Even better, the boy recalled the time he had defeated Isaac Rosenthal's Kabbalah by attempting to mimic the hero's right hand. Since Coronzon was also connected to the 'holy tree' in some form, a similar approach might be possible to defeat the demon.

But that idea fell apart as suddenly as it was forming. The esper realized that he had already subconsciously attempted to due so against Coronzon's ace spell when he raised his right hand against it. Moreover, the hero was also the type to 'shoot first and ask questions later.' Their style of fighting was just too similar. Whatever move he tried to emulate, Coronzon would be ready for it.

Gah! He needed to forget about trying to face Coronzon head-on. Any confrontation had to be thoroughly thought out beforehand.

"Aleister"

"Oh, back to speaking random words again? What about that bast…."

"Aleister."

"I need a lobotomy after this. What the fuck are you trying to…."

The boy's thoughts trailed off. He knew exactly what the voice was trying to convey. Despite his genius, Accelerator was never the type to come up with detailed and prepared plans before a fight.

But Aleister was.

He hated it. Living in the darkness of the city, the idea of 'plan' had been permanently scarred to him. No good could ever come out of that word. All the plans devised in the shadows of Academy City- from the researchers to Aleister Crowley himself- had only brought ever misery and destruction.

However, if he wanted a chance to overcome Coronzon, to be able to make her see the mistakes that she was making he had think like the one person he always hated.

He had to plan like Aleister.

Well, the first part of any plan was to assess the situation. Once again, he was against a near-unstoppable demon who had disrupted his personal reality. While he could calculate the vectors needed to deflect Coronzon's spells beforehand, he couldn't expect to use it against Coronzon in an offensive manner- especially against 'Magick: Flaming_Sword.'

This meant that he had only one way of going on the offensive.

Magic.

Coronzon would be well-versed in magic, but the demon would never expect Accelerator to use it. After all, he was an esper; any attempt at performing magical rituals would result in massive internal injuries at the very least or an agonizingly painful death at worst.

But it would be perfect for this situation. Not even Coronzon, in her millenniums of experience, would expect the albino to do something so stupid and suicidal. He had the element of surprise, and that meant the first spell he cast would succeed.

But what kind of magic was going to be able to disrupt Coronzon? Certainly, if Aleister's magic couldn't even harm Coronzon, what chance did he have.

The boy silently swore to himself. What an impossible task. Might as well just sign a contract that announced his surrender in return for a painless death.

Wait…

…. contract…

Contract! Accelerator mind light up in a eureka moment. Indeed, the plan was still downright suicidal, but it was also the only type of 'magic' that could potentially disrupt the demon. As Mina Mather explained to the boy, Coronzon was bonded by a contract to kill Aleister. If he could force Coronzon into a contract that would render her original task second, he would be able to control her through this new binding.

A small inhuman smile formed on the albino's face, but just as new ideas formed in his head, the boy felt the temperature near him drop significantly.

"Oh… toy… Come out wherever you are!"

Accelerator ran out of the alleyway. Turning his head back, Coronzon wasn't there in person, but it was no mystery that the demon had already started her hunt.

The demon's voice echoed throughout the city. "Surely you can run faster than this? A good chase is always better than a bad one."

The demon's taunting was undoubtedly meant to frighten him into a nihilistic submission.

And perhaps it would have done that to him even just a few minutes back - when he was willing to give up there and now. But he had learned a lot from himself and from the voice in mind. Now, the new battle was not hopeless.

He had his playing cards, and the boy would use them to the fullest extent.

First and foremost, he had one advantage that he had been constantly worried about before.

Time.

Coronzon wasn't going to kill him. At least not yet. Accelerator now had the time he needed to set up the battlefield in his favor.

It was a long and painful night. The boy ran all across the city, feigning fear while mentally preparing what Mina had told him about contracts as well as predetermining vector calculations that would serve useful in the next confrontation.

His legs were on fire, he hadn't slept in 24 hours, and his only substances for that day were small cans of black coffee he had looted away from the vending machines scattered across the city.

But by the early morning, the boy was almost ready to set his plan into motion.

Almost.

"Tch. The contract can only be partially completed. I need two symbols or names that recognize both the binder and the demon. I know Coronzon's numerical value, but it is useless without another one to bind it to."

"I don't know my own." Accelerator mentally resigned to himself.

"But I do! Your numerical value is 212!" The voice in his head stated in a surprisingly happy manner.

'To New Possibilities! No Matter Which Path!'

"How the…" Accelerator narrowed his eyes. "You're not a curse, but you're not my consciousness either, so what in the fuck are you?"

The voice giggled. Despite the voice's continued presence, it was only now that boy could clearly make out its tone. He had never heard it before, but it sounded a lot like…Last Order…the voice of a little child?

"You will know when we meet again soon. Father. Bye!"

And just like that, the voice was completely gone from his mind, but not before leaving one final imprint on it after that farewell.

"So, we will meet again soon, huh?" The boy lingered on the promise before suddenly smirking.

"I will be looking forward to teaching you some manners, you damn brat!"

It was certainly an odd proclamation, but the focus now was on Accelerator and Coronzon.

One final showdown just between the two of them.

What a strange voice.

About 2700 words. The full story should be around 20K-30K so about 1/4-1/2 of the length of a full novel.

P.S. I know contracts don't work like this in canon, and they arn't really magic in the first place, but lets just say they are for the sake of this plot :)

Anyways, thanks for reading next chapter maybe next Friday? Hopefully.