AN: Hello readers! I have retuned with the finale of the Level Upper arc. After 32 chapters and a little over 300,000, the first main arc from the Railgun series has finally been completed. I promise that Big Spider and Poltergeist will not be as long, since Asher's background has been given a lot of context within this arc already;)

Due to the sheer size of this chapter (13,287 words), it was almost going to be split in half...But I wanted to keep my word (for once lol since I tend underestimate at times) and have the Level Upper arc end right here. And I thought it was only fitting that it nearly topped my current highest word count of this series as the one currently in first place is the finale for WaveInflux (13,480 words).

So with that, I hope you enjoy! There will probably be a longer lull for the next batch of chapter uploads for a while. I'm going to most likely return to the 1-2 chapters every 2-3 weeks as I had before since I reached my goal of finally finishing this arc.

As always, please leave a review on anything you liked, think I should work on, or just any questions in general! I enjoy reading them and I will answer them at the end of the next chapter:)


Disclaimer: I do not own A Certain Scientific Railgun/Magical Index or any of its characters...the only things I own are:

1. My characters and

2. my ideas


Chapter 32: The Final Battle, GravShift X Railgun vs. Multi-Skill

July 24th, 1:00PM

Somewhere within the 7th District

Uiharu was staring out the windshield in front of her as she remained still within the passenger seat next to Kiyama. She was currently handcuffed as the woman's hostage due to her going through her files and connecting the dots that she was the one who created and distributed the Level Upper to the populous of Academy City.

She tried getting answers for what she had done, only to be swatted down as she hadn't answered any of her questions as well. All she handed over to her were two simple things…

One was some type of sound file that supposedly would allow the Level Upper victims to wake up after hearing it. Even though there was some part of her that believed or at least wanted to believe that to be the case, the other part of her remained skeptical from not being able to understand the reason she did all of this. She seemed like a nice woman who was both knowledgeable in her field but unpredictable in every way, shape, and form so it was just really hard to read her most of the time.

The other thing that was handed over to her still had her at a loss for words after while from skimming through the pages of the document itself when they were in her office from before. She just didn't know what to say or even know whether it was right to try to believe what was in there. All she knew is that it involved one of her friends, which was enough for her to get her to try and pry the information from the woman next to her.

"Dr. Kiyama, can you at least answer one question for me?" She asked, with the woman next to her sending her a sideways gaze and remained silent. Uiharu waved the folded piece of paper in her direction. "What does this Project WaveInflux experiment have to do with this? Or more importantly, what does this have to do with Asher?"

Silence fell between them for a while before Kiyama let out a tired sigh, putting her eyes back onto the road in front of her.

"You and all these questions, but that one in particular I guess I feel inclined to answer since it does seem to look like an outlier." She said as her eyes narrowed slightly. "Short answer: Silas Wright, her stepfather who happened to be the head of the project, was one of the top researchers in Academy City when it came to both sound and the mind, just second to probably her late father, Ryo Asher. Silas figured out a way to somehow increase someone's power though brain wavelengths by just using sound as a stimulus, which was something that was beneficial towards my own research with my own device. It would have been the only thing I used, until I quickly learned that it was impossible for me to do so."

"Why was that?" Uiharu asked as interest layered her voice.

"Mostly because his device and the basis of his theories and research were all specifically based and tailored for GravShift's AIM Diffusion Field and no other." Kiyama flatly explained. "Meaning that method only would have worked for Asher Zierdan and not anyone else in Academy City because of that unique ability she has. An ability that was enough that at age 10, she was promoted to become the 3rd Ranked Level 5 of the city and hadn't even gotten out of grade school yet."

Uiharu's eyes widened from hearing that before they fell in confusion. "3rd ranked? But I thought Asher is the 5th ranked Level 5 while Misaka is the 3rd ranked level 5 esper of Academy City."

"Yes and no." Kiyama replied. "Before Railgun had become a Level 5 esper, GravShift was the one who held the Rank 3 spot. She fell down to 4th after Misaka Mikoto was promoted to a Level 5 position. The only thing that I know that may have been the reason is due to Asher's particular weakness when it comes to electric abilities. They must have seen Railgun as more valuable in comparison because of that, so they placed her above Asher."

Kiyama fell silent after that, trying to ignore Uiharu's confused and borderline angered expression from avoiding the obvious question hanging in the air.

"Then if you know that, then why was Asher moved down to her current position?" Uiharu asked.

Sweat went down the side of Kiyama's face as her eyes narrowed slightly. "That's getting into some territory that may or may not be something you want to hear from me." She said hesitantly. "From my viewpoint, the current 4th and 5th positions can be used interchangeably even though the 4th's particular skillset also relates to that of electricity as well. I still believe Asher's applications and power still should be in that position, though, or…even greater than that. But as I said before, the reason why she's in the 5th spot is a reason that may not be pleasing to hear from me. Just know that the paper in your hands is most likely the sole reason why she is where she is. It could be said she's a middle ground for the Level 5s, both valuable in terms of her ability but too unpredictable to know how much she's worth in comparison to the ones in front of her."

"You don't have to spare me the details for my sake! I want to know why another one of my friends is involved in this!" Uiharu shouted.

"And what I'm telling you is that this is something that you don't need to hear from me as that is not the form you want it in at any capacity!" Kiyama said sternly, pushing Uiharu into silence. She let out a calm breath after losing her composure just a bit, flattening her face back into its usual tired expression. "I'm not doing it just for your sake. I'm doing it for your friend's sake as well. That man I spoke of earlier who did the experiment or the man I said was her late father, has she ever mentioned either of them to you? Anything about them at all, maybe even that of her late mother?"

Uiharu went to respond to that before she paused. Now that she thought about it, she honestly knew nothing of Asher's background, with the only sliver coming from Misaka about how they first met. She was like a ghost in a way, almost like she existed right in front of her, even though there was almost nothing about her at the same time. She hadn't even known that Asher was a Level 5 from when they first met, since she honestly didn't know anything related to "GravShift" in the same sense as she knew about the 3rd ranked Railgun of Academy City.

So in response, Uiharu remained silent as Kiyama took note of it.

"From your silence, I'll take that as a no then, meaning I don't feel it is necessary or right for me to say anything more than this: Silas Wright, the one who is considered her stepfather even though she stopped carrying his name two years ago, is currently in prison for a life sentence for what he did during the events of Project WaveInflux in which led your friend to a state similar to the states of the current Level Upper users." She began to explain. "And not in the same sense as to why they are like that now due to the Level Upper, but for the very reason that man pushed her to where she was strained to the point where she was clinically classified as deceased for a minute or two according to her medical records at the end of the project itself after she had stopped breathing. If it hadn't been for Railgun's efforts to stop her heart from going into cardiac arrest, that girl would have probably died before she received any aid. And that isn't even including what happened thereafter because of it…So…"

Kiyama looked over at Uiharu who wore a look of horror on her face as she looked away, missing a look of empathy fall in the woman's eyes.

"Do you want me to continue with this secondhand account of these events when you can get it at its source?" She continued as she looked back at the road ahead of her. "If you think I wasn't inclined to say my reasons for the Level Upper, then explaining the reasons behind the horrific acts posed by the embodiment of ignorant arrogance Silas was to do what he did is definitely off the table. I may be using some of his research, but to say I agree with what he did is not even possible."

Kiyama left it at that as she progressed down the road within her car, knowing that the girl beside her was nearly overwhelmed with what she had just said. She could have said more, but as she said, that was all she was inclined to give her.

I'm sorry Himari, it may not have been right of me to reveal so much about your daughter's past without her permission, She thought as her eyes narrowed slightly from seeing the Anti-Skill blockade in front of her, putting her foot on the break to slow to a stop.

But…

This is the only way I see that will finally allow her to move past it without you here.

It seems she still hasn't allowed herself to say anything to those she knows that she can trust, so logically I should feel inclined to give her a small push for her and your sake.


Judgement 177th Branch Office

After the actual reality of the current situation settled in relating to Kiyama being unmasked as the true person behind the Level Upper, Misaka, Asher, Shirai, and Konori moved into a frenzy at trying to absolve this situation safely.

All of their hearts dropped from this revelation as they knew that Uiharu was more than likely currently a hostage due to her last known location being at the older woman's office and her not responding to any of Shirai's calls or texts.

Right as Konori ordered one of them to contact Anti-Skill of the present situation, a determined look fell into Misaka's eyes as she looked over at the older teen.

"I'm coming along too!" Misaka announced confidentially.

Before anyone in the room could say anything, Asher released a sigh from under her breath as she rose up to her feet.

"Even though I'm not usually one to willfully put myself into draining situations like these, it's probably for the best that I go along as well." Asher sighed.

Konori crossed her arms as her eyes narrowed slightly in their direction. "Although I normally don't like getting any civilians involved, having the both of you on this would definitely be beneficial."

Misaka and Asher nodded at this as they took off out the door on the other side of the room, with Shirai following right behind them.

"Hold on Sissy and Zierdan!" Shirai called out as she ran up to them before she came to a stop with a determined look on her face. "You both shouldn't forget that Uiharu is a member of Judgment! She can handle herself if she needs to!"

Silence fell between them before sweat dropped down the side of Shirai's face for her own comment as a nervous look fell into her eyes. "W-Well, probably if she's lucky…"

"That is so very not convincing in the slightest Kuroko. If you were trying to convince us of something, it sure as heck didn't work for me of all people at least." Asher said bluntly with a deadpan.

Misaka just remained silent from the teleporter's words, finding herself in the same amount of dismay as Asher was.

It took a few moments, but Shirai was able to recover from her nervousness as she continued on with the heart of the matter. "Besides, Anti-Skill is getting involved. I doubt a scrawny scientist like her would be able to do much against them!"

"You shouldn't make assumptions. I understand the logic in part of that statement, but we honestly don't know what this woman is capable of on any regular day. There's no telling what she'll do when she's cornered like this." Asher explained.

"The lives of 1000s comatose espers are in her hands. Like Z said, there's no telling what she'll do now with the truth out." Misaka added. A contemplative look fell into her eyes as she brought a hand up to her chin. "And, I'm just…getting some sort of bad feeling about this."

"Exactly!" Shirai insisted. "That is the reason why a Judgement officer like myself should-"

She was cut off as an intense wave of pain rolled into her arm, cringing in agony right as Misaka had laid a gentle hand on her injured shoulder.

"Are you in good enough shape to go into action?" Misaka asked as Asher let out a sigh.

"It's illogical for you to come with all of those injuries, Kuroko." Asher remarked as worry shined in her stoic gaze.

"Wait, I already knew that Zierdan saw them, but, Sissy, did you know about my injuries as well?" Shirai asked with a wince as she grabbed her shoulder.

Misaka let out a small chuckle in response as a warm smile came on her face. "Yeah of course I knew. I find it funny at times that you both try to do this, thinking I won't find out eventually."

The Electromaster brought her index finger to touch the teleporter's forehead, causing the younger girl to look up at her in surprise.

"You shouldn't overthink situations like these, Kuroko. You may be strong but remember that we're both the older ones in this situation." Misaka remarked as she took her finger away, sending her a small wink. "It's been a rough week. So you can turn to us, Z and your Sissy."

A light blush fell on Shirai's cheeks as a light twinkled in her eyes, looking back at both of the Level 5s as they smiled warmly back at her.

It took her a few moments, but the teleporter finally relented as she let out a sigh, looking back at her friends with a warm smile of her own.

"Thank you, and please be careful." Shirai stated as she went back inside the Judgment office.

As soon as she went out of sight, the two Level 5s went towards the elevator. Asher wasn't too keen on going inside at first, but it was a lot better than going through all of the stairs in the stairwell.

When the doors closed, Misaka went to press for them to go to the bottom floor, before Asher beat her to it and pressed the top floor, leaning her back against the wall behind her as the Electromaster sent her a confused gaze.

"Up? But shouldn't we go down?" Misaka asked, seeing her friend's face go green slightly for a few moments before she recovered.

"No, because then you're going to end up calling us some type of car to take us there. And unless you want me to destroy their backseat accidentally then I wouldn't advise it." Asher replied bluntly.

Misaka giggled at that. "Well, I didn't know if you would be up to taking us there by air. You're not one to usually like having a passenger, so I'd figured you would go on ahead while I catch a ride to get there."

Asher let out a sigh as the elevator opened its doors, running up the last batch of stairs to the roof. She came to a stop as soon as they reached it and looked up at the clouds in the sky. "True, I typically don't like others with me. But mostly because I don't want us to fall to our deaths if they somehow break my concentration." She explained stoically. "I'll make an exception today since we have to get there pretty fast, but just be careful if you feel inclined to use your ability. I know you would lower our chances of dying if my ability happens to get canceled out, but I still don't want to fall from that height at any capacity."

"Okay I'll be careful." Misaka said amusedly. "We should go ahead and get going now."

Asher nodded her head as she created a gravity barrier for both of them to stand on. As soon as they did, it encircled them midway as Misaka used her electricity to keep a firm hand on the gravity esper's shoulders. As soon as the barrier crossed the midway point, Asher allowed for the natural image of their environment to show, creating a window in a way by using her light reflection.

The gravity construct began to float in the air and take off at a high rate of speed. Misaka took her phone out of her pocket to call Shirai to get the approximate location of where Kiyama was as the two Level 5s headed over there to confront her.


A little while later…

Asher was keeping her focus as they nearly reached Kiyama's position before a massive amount of pain spilt her head for a few seconds before leaving as quickly as it came. It almost felt like an esper ability or, more accurately, multiple esper abilities were going off at the same time at the location they were heading towards, blindsiding her in an instant from not being prepared for all of the fluctuations to hit her that hard.

She tried her best to hold back a wince, but one must've slipped out when she saw Misaka look over at her with a concerned look in her eyes.

"Z, are you alright?" Misaka asked. "If you need to slow down or stop, we can. I'm pretty sure we're close enough to run there."

"Y-Yeah, I'm okay. And I don't have to stop, because I'm not even pushing myself at all." Asher explained before her eyes narrowed slightly as sweat came down the side of her face. "I just sensed something that I've never sensed before. It's almost like multiple esper abilities are converging into one person. It was jarring enough at least that I wasn't able to ignore whatever it was all that much."

Misaka's eyes widened at that. As the bridge where Anti-skill was posted up to stop Kiyama from progressing any further, there was a massive amount of wind coming from that direction. Shirai released a sharp gasp in both of the Level 5's ears from being on a connected call with her, pushing concern and worry deeper into their souls.

"Kuroko!" Misaka yelled out when the teleporter had remained in a stunned silence. "Kuroko, tell us what's happening over there!"

"Anti-Skill was able to track down Kiyama to the location I told the both of you before, but…she's somehow engaging them with an ability." Shirai responded as surprise lit up both Asher's and Misaka's face.

"What do you mean she's using an ability Kuroko? I was under the impression that she didn't have one." Asher remarked.

"The databank doesn't show that she went through any form of ability development. But we can clearly see that she's using some type of ability on the camera feed to the point where it looks like she's using multiple ones at the same time." Konori stated.

"N-No way, that shouldn't even be possible for her to do." Misaka said over the phone.

Normally that would be true, but this isn't any type of ordinary situation here, Sissy. This probably has to do with something involving the Level Upper, allowing her to use 1000s upon 1000s of brains to power her ability and grant it the form of something entirely new: A compound esper, Dual Skill." Shirai explained.

The stoicness on Asher's face seemed to falter as her lips ran a thin line in some form of nervousness.

I don't why, but…I just got a bad feeling about this, Asher thought as she began to lower them toward the ground. The floor underneath their feet disappeared as Asher lowered the gravity around the both of them so they could mostly float all the way down, lightly landing in the middle of what seemed like a warzone as Anti-Skill had been taken completely out of commission.

"Anti-Skill is…" Asher trailed off, unable to finish her sentence from the amount of destruction in front of them.

"They're completely wiped out." Misaka mumbled in dismay. She stood there for a few moments before something caught her eye, seeing a girl with a band of flowers on her head knocked out in a passenger seat in a vehicle not too far from them. "No, Uiharu!"

She dashed off with Asher right behind her, skidding to a stop as they gathered around the side of the car that Uiharu was sitting in. They tried shouting her name, growing progressively more and more worried when she wouldn't respond to any of their advances.

This was all derailed to an extent, however, as the tired voice of their potential opponent rang out in the air.

"You both can relax." Kiyama said from behind them as a breeze dispelled the smoke that was hiding her from view. "She just caught an aftershock from the fight just now. She was knocked out, meaning her life is not in any danger."

Misaka and Asher turned in her direction, wearing looks of determination on both of their faces as the woman continued on.

"Misaka Mikoto and Asher Zierdan, 2 of only 8 Level 5s located within Academy City. With the only two among them that seem to have some type of partnership as your abilities go hand in hand with each other from what I've heard." She said before turning around with a small smile on her face. "But even with that and the extensive skill set the both of you have, I bet that you haven't' fought anything quite like me before. Do you think you'll be able to stop me when I have the power of 10,000 minds at my disposal?"

Asher let out a sigh at this as a bored look fell on her face, contrasting with the amount of sternness shining from her eyes. "You shouldn't overestimate your abilities while underestimating what we can do. It doesn't matter that we've never fought against you before."

"What matters is that we're gong to stop you, right here and now!" Misaka yelled, taking off towards the older woman in front of them.

Kiyama's bloodshot eye twitched at that, causing a hole to appear on the ground under the feet of the Electromaster.

Misaka would have nearly fallen if wasn't for Asher sensing the attack itself, creating a barrier on top of the hole before her leg got caught in it. But that didn't prepare them fully for the massive amount of air coming towards their direction, prompting Asher to run up in front of Misaka and create another barrier to block the majority of the gust that Kiyama had sent their way.

Kiyama's eyes narrowed slightly as she saw the smoke clear away, hearing the Level 5s talk among themselves right in the middle of their fight.

"MK, I wouldn't advise just running in there like that again. It would be more logical for us to get a gauge of what she can do first before we decide to even try to move that close to her." Asher said with a sigh.

"But that's what I was trying to do just now." Misaka replied as she put her hands on her hips. "You know I'm not the best at holding myself back from getting into the action like you can. I got a good general gauge of her ability just then when I did that, knowing you would be able to support me when I did until you figure out some sort of pattern."

She turned over to look at Kiyama with an interested look in her eyes. "So, it's true then. You can use a lot of different abilities, can't you? This dual skill thing is starting to look somewhat fascinating and should make for an interesting fight!"

Asher sighed internally at that, hoping that the Electromaster wouldn't get too carried away or play around too much from already being able to find some type of amusement in this fight of theirs.

A dark look came into Kiyama's eyes as she brought her hand out to the side of her. "You'll find that my ability is different in nature and in name in comparison to the impossible power that you speak of." She remarked darkly as she clenched her hand slightly. "It should be called Multi-Skill!"

Something slashed through the ground at a high rate of speed and power that prompted Misaka to jump towards the side as Asher disappeared from view, with the Electromaster herself smirking slightly at the sight as electricity arched from her fingertips.

"You can call it by any name you want. I won't care because a new name isn't going to change what we're going to do to you!" Misaka stated as she propelled electricity in her direction.

Kiyama put up a field to dispel the electricity to go on all sides of her while simultaneously creating a sound wave to go off in the immediate around area her.

As Misaka's face fell in surprise, a harsh shout of pain went through the air as Asher's invisible cloak went away as she had been propelled back and skidded to a stop next to her, clutching onto her right ear as blood fell to the ground in a small stream.

"Zierdan!" Misaka said in alarm as she ran to her side, seeing her look down in the palm of her hand as a small pool of blood sat within it. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah but ...how did she do that?" Asher said under her breath. "She shouldn't have been able to switch between abilities that fast, let alone create a high amount of sound in that instant at the same time to basically overtake the sound limiter in my Amps that easily…unless…"

"Oh, is something wrong? Was I actually able to surprise the both of you in some way?" Kiyama questioned in amusement as she put her hands into her pockets. "It seems you've underestimated me as well. You knew I could use multiple abilities, but did the thought not occur to you that I could use them all at once?"

Before either of them could respond, a massive tremor went through the ground with Kiyama's at its epicenter. Asher immediately grabbed Misaka's hand just in the nick of time as the pavement collapsed under the both of them with Asher barely having enough time to create a barrier for her to grab on to as she kept Misaka steady enough to be able to magnetize herself to a wall in her near vicinity.

Misaka sent Asher a small word of thanks. Asher sent back a nod as she created another gravity barrier for her to land on below her, wearing a conflicted expression on her face.

Damn it, I can't fully read her movements with all of these variables concerning what she's capable of and what she's motivated to do. she thought as she bit the side of her lip.

I can't come up with some sort of strategy to go about this in a timely manner. This is staring to be a more draining situation than I thought it was going to be…

Misaka sat on the wall, nearly thinking the same thing as she found herself at a loss as well.

Is this woman insane? She's using all of these abilities without any concern if she gets caught up in them!? She thought in complete shock, looking over at Asher out of the corner of her eye as her eyes came across the small amount of red lining the side of her face, seeing her bring her hands up to her Amps after a while and decrease the volume within her ears.

She must know about Zierdan's sensitivity when it comes to sound to try and nearly take her out like that. The sound traveled so fast that I didn't even have time to warn her about it.

"Well that was just a bit Anticlimactic. I would've thought the 3rd and 5th ranked Level 5s would be more capable than that." Kiyama said flatly as her hands remained in her lab coat.

Asher released a sigh at this as she saw Misaka's eyebrow twitch slightly out of the corner of her eye.

Unlike us, it seems she has some sort of strategy to single the both of us out from what it seems like. By keeping me away with sound before I can attach myself to her gravity and putting hits into Mikoto's pride, she's making it to where we have to actually be logical and smart on this and not fully rely on the power of our abilities. We can't just run in recklessly or she might actually come close to overwhelming us at our current power output.

Misaka's eyes narrowed as she reached back and used her electricity to magnetize the stone she was against, bringing it upwards in her hand with a small frown on her face. "So what if you're able to counter one of my shocks? Or keep Zierdan from reaching you?" She brought her hand back to throw it at her. "Don't think that automatically means you can win this!"

As the rock came towards her, Kiyama took one of her hands out of her pocket and created a sword of fire at its maximum heat, slicing it with just a single strike.

As Misaka looked over in surprise, something split Asher's senses as she saw her point in the Electromaster's direction. She immediately dashed in that direction as a stone cylinder was cut out from under the Electromastrer's feet and pulled out with her still magnetized to its surface.

"Oh crap!" Misaka shouted as she began to fall. Before she reached the ground, the area lit up in purple for a few seconds as she and even the rounded piece of stone made a soft landing onto the ground, looking up and seeing Asher drop down next to her.

"Please be a little bit more careful, MK." Asher said as she brought out her hand to get the Electromaster on her feet.

Misaka automatically reached out and grabbed it. She dusted her knees off just as she rose up to her feet. "Sorry, I just keep finding myself surprised of what she can actually do right now."

As they stood there from afar, Kiyama narrowed her gaze towards Asher, trying to relax it even though she was starting to grow just a tad bit nervous.

I need to take her out first. She's able to sense my attacks a little too well for my liking, but it's not like I can stop her from doing so from her incredible awareness when it comes to sensing fluctuations around her. she thought to herself.

From what I've read in her file in Project WaveInflux, she can practically reduce all of her calculations to controlling a person's gravity field by touching them, which would probably end this little fight in an instant if she does and sends me into the ground or hurling off into the sky…

It would most definitely not be a pleasant experience, meaning those Amps of hers have to go before I can even try to take her out with a sound attack fully directed into her ear canal.

But…

This whole thing could all be avoided if they would stop trying to pester me.

"Why don't the both of you just stop this foolishness?" Kiyama questioned, voicing her thoughts. "There's just a small matter that I need to look into further and once that's done, I'll release all of them." She bowed her head down slightly. "I'm not trying to sacrifice anyone."

"Are you kidding me!?" Misaka yelled angrily. "You won't sacrifice anyone? Then what about all the people you dragged into this damn mess!? You're toying with actual lives here and you want us to stop you from doing so to go do something real quick? No, we won't because we're not giving you one single chance to get away from us!"

"It's illogical to even ask that of us, especially with the research your Level Upper is based off of." Asher darkly remarked as a massive shadow fell on her face, with her purple eyes piercing through its darkness. "How are you going to get us to trust this device when it's based off something that nearly led to this city being destroyed?"

"Ah so you did figure that out. Though, I guess his stepdaughter would end up figuring it out due to being about as involved in the project as he was. So, I won't write you off that quickly." Kiyama sighed as she brought a hand to grasp the front of her face. "But even with that, I expected more from you, Railgun, but you still don't know how this world even works, do you?"

"Why should I even try to believe in the twisted world that you live in!?" Misaka shouted

"I don't think I even need to explain that your perception of the world is too naïve than it should be. You really think that what the people do in this city is always safe and humane? They're concealing something from every one of us with this sort of development at its center. The teachers don't even know, and they aid in increasing each and every day. Can you even begin to understand how dangerous that can be?" Kiyama asked as the Electromaster fell into silence for a couple moments.

"I never said that. I never said that at all, so stop trying to put words into my mouth!" Misaka said angrily as electricity sparked from her hand. "I'm not naïve to the darkness of this city as I already have witnessed it with my own eyes from that man you are nearly resembling right now! There are just some people in this world that will stop at nothing to attain their own twisted fantasy of what they believe will help them! And I refuse to sit here and stand by as someone else tries to do it right in front of me!"

"Hmmm, I'm nothing like Silas, so don't even try to put me in the same category as him. But to say that you can stop those who are like him so easily just proves my point. You don't understand that they are the ones with the power in this situation, something I bet GravShift knows perfectly even with being the sole participant in Project WaveInflux." Kiyama explained, seeing the esper in question grow tense.

Even though she didn't want to, Asher was starting to falter to a degree in bringing this woman into custody when it came to the ideals that she had just laid out in front of them. She knew she was right that she was nothing like Silas, because she would have been able to see that particular angle of the Level Upper from a mile away, letting her know that there was more to this story.

"Zierdan," Misaka said from beside her, looking over at her and seeing determination shine in her eyes. "Don't let this woman get to you." She brought her hand down towards the stone below her as electricity sparked around it. "Let's give her what she wants and show her more of what we can really do, so we can go ahead and take her into custody!"

Asher nodded at this as the wind in the area began to pick up as she raised her own hand. Misaka collected the iron sand on the ground and sent it in multiple angles to hit Kiyama, seeing a barrier of stone stop it in its tracks just as she had predicted.

"That's going to have to wait." Kiyama remarked flatly.

Before she was able to even continue, her eyes widened as a sharp wind barreled towards her, putting up another barrier of protection just in time to block the majority of the blast. She sidestepped when a hand came into view, encircling her hand in electricity as she grabbed onto the gravity esper's arm.

"Just full of tricks up your sleeve. I would have never guessed that you have enough delicate control to manipulate the wind with your gravity as well." Kiyama commended as she saw Asher's stoic expression when she backed a few feet away from her. "Though with that genius level intellect, I shouldn't be surprised. You are definitely Himari's daughter alright."

Asher's eyes widened at that as some of her concentration of the situation started to falter, unknowingly causing her to lower her guard.

"What you knew m-my mother?" Asher asked in surprise.

"Yes, I did. But it shouldn't be surprising. Who wouldn't come to know the woman that was just one position under one of the top researchers of the city: Kihara Gensei?"

A massive amount of pain split through Asher's head when she heard that name, seeing random images appear in her view that were too distorted for her to make out. Before she could even question it or take time to figure out what that was about, she heard someone call out to her and broke her out of whatever haze she had just been in.

"ZIERDAN LOOK OUT!" Misaka cried in desperation.

When Asher looked up, she was immediately overtaken by sound, screaming out in pain as she grabbed onto her ears. It was definitely an attack focused in onto the esper's ears as she heard her Amps fizzle out and unable to stop this relentless assault as she fell to her knees.

Misaka saw this and quickly tried to intervene before she saw an array of aluminum cans flood the air.

"Sorry but I have to take care of her first." Kiyama said as she tiredly looked in her direction. "But if you want to cut in line then by all means do so."

It didn't take long to click in the Electromaster's head that all of the cans in front of her were potential bombs waiting to go off through the use of accelerated Gravitons. With Asher preoccupied at the moment, she knew that she wouldn't be able to stop the woman from doing so and took it upon herself to destroy all of the cans with her electricity.

"Wow that's very impressive of you. Too bad that it won't be enough." Kiyama said without even turning in her direction as she brought another can into her view.

Before Misaka could even say anything in response, she stiffened when she sensed something behind her, looking back in surprise as a random can had teleported there. She didn't have any time to blast it away as it exploded right in her face.

Presuming that the Electromaster was down for the count, she focused all of her focus on expanding the wave of sound that she was sending in Asher's direction, hearing more strangled screams come from her mouth as she fell on her back in agony.

"I didn't want to have to exploit this, but that keen sense and adaptable ability is starting to become a nuisance." Kiyama stated, seeing Asher crack open her eyes to say something before she screamed out again from intensifying the sound another time. "You shouldn't try to even resist. I don't want to be forced in sending it directly into you temporal and frontal lobe. According to WaveInflux's records, it was one of the ways they used to subdue you when you lost control of your ability during the trial, though, I know that it was probably so dreadfully painful."

Concentrate…I-I need to concentrate. Ignore it…ju-just try to ig-ignore and endure i-it, Asher repeatedly thought as waves upon waves of darkness continuously flooded her vision, trying her best to keep her focus on anything but the sound coming into her ears.

She was on the verge of passing out from the high degree of noise coming in her direction, barely able to hold on by blocking some of the sound with a barrier she created within her ear canal, feeling and hearing it cracking as time went by.

As it came so close to shattering, the sound stopped, still hearing it ringing in her ears at a lower volume than before as she let out a wince and maybe even a small curse under her breath from the amount of pain she was currently in.

Kiyama looked back in surprise to see that Misaka wrapped her arms around her, looking over to where she had been lying from before and seeing a barrier of metal she used to block some of the Graviton explosion.

"I was trying my best to play nice with you, but now you've gone and made me angry from nearly busting my best friend's ear drums in front of my face. In return, I'm going to shock you here and now at point blank range." Misaka stated as static began to appear around her body. "It may have not worked on a certain idiot I know. But there's no way you have any type of ability that's even close to being out of this world as his is!"

Kiyama attempted to stop her, trying to control the metal within the area with one of her abilities, but it wasn't enough as she released her own shout of pain into the air when the electricity intensified out of nowhere.

As the massive amount of electricity surged through the air just a few feet away from her, it wasn't enough to stop Asher from slipping under the waves of darkness.


It wasn't too long before Asher began to stir after a while when she began to sense something off from the side of her, letting out a small groan of pain. She had slipped into a sort of in between state of consciousness and unconsciousness, finding herself awake but unaware of what was actually happening around her at the same time.

The ringing and incessant pounding in her ears didn't make it any better either, sighing internally that she was probably going to need to get her ears checked out again at the hospital and hopefully acquire new Anti-Amps to trade out with the ones that were most definitely fried.

"You understand nothing!" She heard painfully loud and clear as she gripped both of her ears with her hands. She sat there and concentrated to lay out the small dimensions within her ear in an effort to hopefully block out some of the noise with a barrier as she opened her eyes.

She saw Misaka standing a few feet in front of her with Kiyama unsteady on her feet as she shouted towards the Electromaster in either rage or something akin to some sort of sadness.

"I would do anything to save those kids!" She continued as she gripped the front of her face. "Anything in the entire world! The whole city can hate me or even revile me for all I care! It won't matter to me at all as I'm not going to let anyone stop me now!"

Before she could continue, it was almost like some sort of pulse went through the air that caused Asher's eyes to widen when a chill fell down her back. It seemed to happen right as Kiyama shouted out in pain, with her own pain from this occurrence most likely there as it was hidden within the current pounding sensation inside of her own head.

What the heck is happening right now? Asher thought as sweat trailed down the side of her face. She's giving off so many fluctuations a-and she's not even using an ability. It almost feels like an AIM Diffusion field b-but….it feels like there's so many. An illogical amount coming from just one person.

She slowly rose up to her feet as Kiyama fell flat onto the ground, letting out a loud enough wince for Misaka to look back at her in concern.

"Oh Z, you finally woke up. Are you doing okay?" Misaka asked.

"Other than an annoying headache and feeling like something exploded inside of my ear, I'm doing just great." Asher said bluntly before a nervous smile came on her face. "Sorry, didn't mean to take a nap like that, but whatever I woke up to makes me almost wish I didn't from the massive amount of fluctuations coming from that woman."

Misaka's eyes widened in some semblance of surprise. Before she was even able to say anything, though, she saw her friend's face go pale at whatever she was looking at, looking back behind her as the same expression of shock came on her face.

Something grew out of Kiyama's head, an indescribable creature that looked to embody the image of some type of blue fetus as a ring of light floated above its head.

"What the absolute hell is th-that thing?" Asher said under her breath, prepping herself for a fight that neither of them had even anticipated. No amount of logic could even begin to try to define what was in front of them, only feeling the same chill go down her spine as some type of bottomless pit fell into her stomach.

"Oh gosh…" Uiharu said from behind them. She had recovered from whatever had knocked her out before and came down here to see how the Level 5s were fairing against Kiyama. But just like Asher and even Misaka who hadn't spoken a single word, had not prepared to see the sight that was in front of them.

"Is i-it some sort of fetus?" Misaka questioned as she instinctively took a small step back.

The fetus then opened its yellow eyes, screaming out in some semblance of pain and agony and sent out a massive shockwave of some type of wind layered with electricity to nearly resemble Misaka's level of output.

The Electromaster shielded herself and Asher from the attack and sent a blast of electricity right back in its direction. Her eyes widened in shock when the attack left some sort of wound for a few seconds before it was healed over as arms sprouted from the wound itself.

Asher moved into action when its form began to grow as her eyes flashed purple, creating a box around the creature and quickly condensed it to where it hardly had any space, feeling her entire body shaking under the pressure as the fetus continued to grow even with how high the gravity should've been within the box it was confined in.

"Um, Z…I don't think that's working." Misaka stated, seeing a vein bulging from Asher's head from the amount of actual effort she was currently using at this moment.

"Oh really, Mikoto? You know it isn't logical to state the obvious as I can clearly s-see and feel that. But if you have another way of suppressing it before it goes off and does who knows what, by all means say so." Asher strained, falling down to one knee after a while as she pulsed more and more gravity into the fetus.

It was almost like it was ignoring whatever she was doing, leaving Asher at a loss on how to actually contain something that she currently assumed was uncontainable as she couldn't attach to the complex gravity surrounding the fetus itself.

She noticed how ineffective her efforts really were when she saw it turn its eyes in their direction, stiffening when ice collected in the air and was sent right at them at an intense pace.

She was yanked out of the way by her collar as Misaka took them off elsewhere, instantly breaking her concentration in which released the fetus from its gravity cage as it grew bigger and bigger each passing moment.

"For once, I think I'm going to take your usual position and give some space in between us so we can come up with something else that doesn't involve you about to burst a blood vessel." Misaka said as she ran away.

"Agreed." Asher replied with a sweatdrop, seeing massive crystals of ice stabbed into the ground of where she had just been standing in.

She let out a yelp when the Electromaster yanked her in another direction by her collar, seeing multiple projectiles of ice coming towards them every which way as Misaka barely dodged all of them.

"Hurry Misaka and Asher!" Uiharu shouted, causing both of the Level 5 espers to look over at her in surprise.

"What the heck are you even doing here Uiharu!?" They both shouted at the same time.

Before they could receive their answer, they both sensed an attack coming towards them. Misaka let go of Asher's collar and sent out a blast of electricity to destroy half of the projectiles, while Asher took the other half with a condensed wave of gravity hurdled in their direction.

"Uiharu, are you okay?" Misaka asked, looking over and seeing their friend peek around the column she was hiding behind.

"Yes…I'm alright. Thank you."

Asher let out a relieved sigh at that before looking over at her with a stern expression on her face. "You are so illogically lucky that you are, Uiharu. You should not have come down here."

"Sorry about that, I j-just wanted to-"

"We know but still just stay over there." Misaka stated, cutting her off from speaking any further. "I have no clue what to even say what this thing really is, but if it wants to fight us then it can have one!"

I thought she just said we were going to sit back and come up with a plan first, Asher thought with a facepalm.

When they turned to face the fetus as the both of them prepared an attack to launch at it, they were taken aback by the lack of motivation it had to attack them now. They didn't know how to gauge what this creature wanted, whether it was on a random rampage or a calculated assault on something unknown to them.

All they could tell was that it was in some sort of pain from just looking at its actions as it turned its attention towards the bridge.

Even though she hadn't physically seen her yet, it still put Asher on edge from having a bad feeling that Yomikawa was most definitely up there, creating a barrier under her feet to run towards it.

"Z where are you going? Don't head towards that thing!" Misaka shouted, seeing the stoic blue eyes of her friend look back at her.

"I'm buying you all some time to figure out what we should do. It's about to attack Anti-Skill and if we're having a hard time, then they are probably about as powerless to really do any damage against it. I'm going to use more gravity to see if I can contain its destruction somehow, for right now!" Asher stated as she ran before Misaka could even respond to her.

She quickly got into the air above the fetus as she witnessed Anti-Skill trying to take it down to no avail. She jumped off her barrier and descended a ways down, pulling back her left hand as blue surged into her blonde hair.

Gravity…

To the naked eye, some of the things were pulled into her direction, with small pebbles to the extent of even large boulders becoming suspended in the air for a few short seconds. Again, the fetus didn't seem to be affected all that much from this, though, it did take some notice as it looked up at the determined face of the gravity esper as she quickly brought her hand forward with purple overtaking her hair once more.

Crash!

All the gravity that she had pulled towards her in the air quickly reversed and sent a powerful wave of gravity into the fetus, enough that it sent it towards the ground. It let out a shriek of pain as a crater was immediately created beneath it, trying to rise again as Asher bit down on the side of her cheek.

"The amount of effort you're making me feel inclined to do is already draining the little energy I have any given day. I would appreciate it if you at least amuse me and my ability for a couple seconds and stay down like you logically should!" Asher commanded, sending another pulse of gravity into the ground and sweatdropping that the fetus was still able to move.

I'm currently using about 8-10 times more than the gravity of Earth. Normally anything undergoing that amount of strain would be crushed in an instant but…

This thing is still somehow able to function enough to actually move and attempt to go against my control.

As she accelerated even more gravity into the beast below her, a massive wave of wind, electricity, and sound struck her out of nowhere, sending her tumbling in the air. She must have briefly lost consciousness from the blow because when she opened her eyes, she was dozens upon dozens of feet away from the fetus, creating barrier to slow her fall before she basically crashed landed onto the ground.

She had slowed her descent enough that it didn't deal any critical injury towards her, but that didn't stop her body from aching tremendously as she gripped onto her midsection when she unsteadily rose up to her feet.

The fetus had increased even more in comparison to the short amount of time when she had last seen it, watching on as it slowly but surely began to come towards her to maybe try and finish her off.

Or at least that's what she thought at first as a massive slab of metal was hurled towards it, cutting off a section of its body in an instant.

"Z, we've got a major problem on our hands right now." She heard Misaka yell as she dodged all the attacks coming in her direction. "It's trying to go and most likely destroy the nuclear reactor that is right behind you at this moment. Do you think you can either hold it back when it gets too close and create a big enough barrier to stop it from even trying to break through the security fence in the first place?"

Asher thought on it for a moment, before she released a sigh, sending the Electromaster a nod as she went over to move in front of the fence surrounding the experimental nuclear reactor behind her. She planted her feet into the ground with her gravity and prepare enough force to practically stop anything in its tracks when the time was right, trying her best to figure out how to maintain or even gain control of the fetus's gravity field.

It was becoming more and more apparent that this thing was most likely the embodiment of all of the AIM diffusion fields from each of the Level Upper victims, sensing it all through the fluctuations within the air and logically concluded that was why she couldn't fully connect with its gravity field easily because of it. She was trying her best to calculate something close of what it would be, hoping she'll be able to do it in time before it decided to turn its attention back on what it was trying to do before.

As she maintained holding up the gravity barrier behind her, her eyes widened when she saw that that it was trying to attack Uiharu from afar, splitting her focus to create a gravity barrier to stop it from hitting the girl. She looked over at Misaka as the fetus tried attacking the people standing on the bridge once more.

"Mikoto! I can't keep spreading myself so thin right now by creating a barrier from this distance and condensing this amount of gravity at one time if it attempts to come closer to me!" Asher shouted.

"Yeah I got it!" Misaka called out, propelling her electricity into the fetus, looking down at her hand when it looked in her direction. "What did I tell you from before?" She said to it with determination in her voice, looking over at it with a stern expression on her face. "I said that you're going to face me and only me right now so prepare yourself!"

Asher stood idly by as she watched the Electromaster attack it in any way she could: metal, electric attacks, and even using iron sand, but all leading to a point where she had to go on the defensive when none of her attacks were able to disable it.

She skidded to a halt as she stood right next to Asher, looking over at the esper with a troubled look in her eyes.

"This is starting to look like this fight is going to go on forever at this rate." Misaka said in irritation. "What do you think it wants with this nuclear power facility anyway?"

"I honestly have no clue." Asher remarked, causally creating another barrier as ice projectiles were sent their way. "It seems to be driven towards it for some reason or another."

As soon as Asher took down the barrier, Misaka pulled her arm back to release another attack, only to see her world turn upside down as a tentacle was able to grab ahold of her leg.

"No, Mikoto!" Asher shouted, trying to scrap up enough concentration to save her.

But she couldn't when she noticed that the fetus was coming closer and closer to the security fence behind her, propelling a massive amount of gravity in its direction to try and stop it in its tracks.

It didn't quicken its approach until it threw Misaka towards the security fence, attempting to make a break for it as it forced Asher to skid back and let out a wince when her back slammed and broke her own gravity barrier and into the wall of the security fence behind her. Cracks began to develop, appearing more and more as she used the most energy than she had ever used in a while to stop it somehow.

She wasn't able to stop it, though, as she was pushed back enough to fully go through fence, letting out a small wince under her breath because of it as the fetus tried to get closer and closer to the nuclear power plant behind them.

"Mi-Mikoto…I can't keep pushing it back like th-this much longer." Asher strained as her arms began to shake in front of her. "I don't feel comfortable increasing my output any more than this so close to the reactor."

"Well since it made it through the security fence, how about we both team up to somehow defeat this thing quickly?" Misaka asked. "We may have more luck in destroying it if we do it together."

"Alright, that plan seems to be the most logical one we have right now." Asher stated as she stopped attempting to keep the fetus away.

They were about to prepare an assault before a weird sound came through the area, causing Asher to both flinch and cringe slightly at its abrupt occurrence.

"Jeez what even is that?" Asher questioned as she covered her ears.

"I'm pretty sure it's the sound file that Dr. Kiyama gave Uiharu to use to wake up the Level Upper patients. She must've found out some sort of way to disperse it well throughout the city." Misaka explained.

As they were preoccupied with that, they were just a second too late to avoid being grabbed by the fetus's tentacles.

"Crap! / Dang it!" Misaka and Asher said respectively as the both of them were restrained from being able to move their arms.

As a massive tentacle came their way, Misaka made sure to use her electricity to stop it, cutting off its appendage in an instant. When she did, both of their eyes widened from seeing that the attack was finally effective as it wasn't able to regenerate anymore.

"It really is the treatment program," Misaka said in relief as a smirk came on her face. "Sorry about this. But it's game over for you now!"

Blue and purple intensified on two sides of the fetus as electricity sparked around Misaka and gravity began to pick up around Asher. Asher's eyes grew to be an intense shade of purple as she controlled the wind to leave large cuts as it sliced through the air, hearing the fetus wail out in pain. He shrieked even more when Misaka joined in, shocking it with a devastating blast of her electricity as soon as Asher had moved away when she had cut herself free.

Its flesh or some sort of skin on its body burned as its blue color shifted into more of a brown one, slumping over and crashing onto the ground as smoke rose up from its body.

"Finally, that was a close call." Asher sighed, looking over at the Electromaster as she sweatdropped at her comment.

"Yeah no kidding. That got a little too close for comfort." Misaka added.

"Hey! Don't relax now!"

They looked around in confusion for whoever said that, looking over at the tired form of Kiyama in surprise and saw the tense expression on her face.

"The fight isn't over yet!" Kiyama continued.

And she was right, the fight wasn't close to being over yet when both of the Level 5s looked back as the fetus began to rise back up from the ground.

"This thing is really starting to hurt my brain." Asher groaned. "How did it survive both of our attacks with that treatment file now active?"

"The network may be disrupted now, but you both have to remember that's a mass of ten thousand people's thoughts that was created by AIM diffusion fields! It's not some type of ordinary creature!" Kiyama explained.

"B-But this isn't something that we bargained for! What the heck are we supposed to do now huh?" Misaka asked.

"There should be some type of nucleus where the fields have become embedded in a way somewhere inside of it. That should be the main way that you can destroy this thing!"

As soon as Kiyama said that, Asher's and Misaka's eyes widened when they heard a familiar voice sound out through the area. It caused Asher's eyes to waver slightly as she looked towards the ground with Misaka looking up in surprise at the thing itself.

"Is that it? Are Level Zeroes permanently defective?" The voice they knew to be Saten said, leading the charge as more and more voices became layered together.

Their faces started to become more and more downcast from hearing their words, hearing their struggles that they both respectively did not have from being renowned Level 5s within this city. They were never seen as weak in the eyes of many, knowing that was both beneficial and detrimental to their characters at times. But even with this, they were never seen as weak or were beaten down by being told of their flaws as most were either too scared or overlooked them from believing that they didn't even exist.

"MK…" Asher said softly.

"Yeah, I know." Misaka responded before turning back to look at Kiyama. "Stand back from us. From where you are, there's a high chance that you're going to be hit."

"Why should I care? That creature is my creati-"

"And what difference does that make. You shouldn't minimize your existence because of an illogical reason as that." Asher remarked as she cut her off, floating up into the air with one of her barriers.

Misaka turned back to look at the doctor with a determined expression on her face. "Think about the students you taught. Once we save them, shouldn't it be right that your face is the one they see first? I'll help you save them, but not sacrifice you in the process. And once I explain it to her, Z will be all in for it too, no matter how she may act like she won't. The life that I saw through your memories from before…that is something that I know that she can relate to and something I refuse to allow to even happen to anyone else no matter how naïve it may be or sound."

Another tentacle came from behind the Electromaster, nearly causing Kiyama to warn her of the attack but only was taken aback in surprise when a massive amount of electricity surged through the area.

Around the same time, Asher got above the fetus yet again as her hair began to rise on her head, creating a massive barrier around the creature and left openings within it for Misaka to dish out attacks without them being disrupted from her gravity. She didn't hold back as she propelled enough force from above to most definitely prevent the fetus from moving, which sent a massive surge through the ground as Misaka shot electricity into all of Asher's openings to create an induction field.

Kiyama looked at them in shock and surprise, never realizing the true extent of their powers.

Even though their abilities can cancel out each others, it seems that they both have found ways to move around it from their current display of teamwork. As Misaka attacks offensively to destroy this thing, Asher is keeping it restrained from moving in any direction to make it easier for Railgun to aim. Kiyama thought as her eyes widened even further.

The lightning isn't hitting it directly, but the heat that it's generating is blasting its body away…And the gravity field around it is only increasing that amount of heat tenfold by containing it from escaping into the air.

No matter how much I pushed them or gave them reasons to, neither of them must have been using their full power when it came to face me.

When the electricity went away, the fetus tried its best to move and attack the Electromaster but shrieked in agony when Asher dealt another devastating pulse of her gravity into it. Even though it was working now, none of that stopped her face from falling into its current downcast expression as she remembered the words she read from Saten's text.

[Asher, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry that I haven't texted or talked to you at all. I just couldn't bring myself to look you in the eye after a while from the decision I made behind your and everyone else's back.

At first, I thought making you feel better was all I wanted to do whenever I saw you. But I realized after a while that I was being selfish in wanting to do that, because I wanted to feel better about myself at the same time, which seemed to happen whenever I was able to make you happy in some way and I'm sorry for that too.

There's probably no amount of apologizing I could do to make it up to you for what I've done. I even lied to you, something I just rationalized was to not burden you with my problems but was only an excuse to not tell you something that I was too stubborn to give up.

I spent each day trying to figure out how to write this, to work up the courage to say this to you.

I used the Level Upper. And I think I made a huge mistake, and it's probably too late for me to fix it.

And I'm sorry.]

"No, I'm the one that should be sorry, Ruiko." Asher said under her breath as a small tear went down her face. "I should've told you how much of a great friend you are to me…to all of us a couple days ago. I knew you were hurting, and it probably grew and grew to the point the smile you usually wear became less and less genuine. I just…held myself back from doing so. Emotions have never been my thing. I've always had a hard time understanding them. But like with MK or even Kuroko, I know for a fact that being around you is something that I want because you make me happy. No matter how nervous or how illogical my face gets whenever I'm alone with you, I'll allow it just so I can be able to say that you're my friend…"

"I promise that I'll try to be better in telling you guys stuff about me or whenever I'm bothered or upset about something. Holding myself back from expressing that part of myself is a bad habit of mine. It's just something I'm going to need to work on that I know you and the others will get me to do no matter how much of a draining task it will be." Asher said with a small smile on her face.

As Misaka's electric pulse died down again, she looked up to Asher and cupped her hands around her mouth.

"Z, I'm ready!" She shouted.

Asher nodded at that, closing her eyes in concentration to create two holes for the Electromaster to Railgun into from sensing the concentration of electricity condensed at a point she knew had to be the nucleus of the fetus.

It wasn't long before Misaka used her ultimate attack and sent it right through the creature, severing its nucleus from its body as it dissipated, signaling to them that they had finally won the grueling battle.


A little while later…

When they brought Kiyama over to be taken into custody by Anti-Skill, Asher was singled out by Yomikawa when she saw blood running down the sides of her face, forcing her to allow her to clean it up.

She let out several winces whenever she even touched one of her ears the slightest bit, just feeling how tender and sensitive they were from not having her Amps to decrease the amount of sound in her ears. At one point she instinctively leaned away from the woman, hearing her let out a chuckle as she gently brought her back closer to her.

"Come on now, hold still so this can go faster." Yomikawa said amusedly. "if you keep squirming like that, I'm going to end up wiping in the wrong place."

"Sorry," Asher sighed.

As soon as she was done, Yomikawa gave her a light pat on the back and handed her a pair of her own black, expensive-looking earplugs that she used for Anti-Skill assignments on occasion. Asher looked over at her with a conflicted expression on her face.

"Are you sure you don't need these, Miss Yomikawa?" She asked, seeing the woman smile at her as she automatically laid them into her hand.

"I'm sure. We have extra on hand back at the facility. And you need these more than I do for right now. It'll hopefully help and hold you over until you can get some new Anti-Amps." Yomikawa replied with a smile.

Asher sent a smile of her own as she said a word of thanks, putting them into her ears. Yomikawa patted her on the head slightly before she went off to leave with her squad.

As Asher rose to her feet and began to walk over to where her friends were, she sweatdropped at the sight of Shirai sitting on top of the Electromaster who was too tired to do anything to stop her advances.

Asher was about as drained and tired as she was, sadly not able to be of much help to her best friend in need as her perverted roommate took the opportunity to do such things to Misaka that would normally call for an electric blast to the face. She heard Uiharu let out a small laugh from the expression on her face, turning towards her and seeing a confident smile on her lips.

"Asher, Shirai brought us back some good news from the hospital!" Uiharu said in delight.

"What is it?"

"From what it sounds like, the Level Upper victims are finally beginning to regain consciousness!"

Off to the side, none of them took notice of a woman looking over in their direction as she popped a candy into her mouth. She smirked and walked off as the people powering the mechs around her continued to clean and sweep for anymore hostiles in the area.


A few hours later…

School District 7 Hospital

Asher ran out of her Doctor's room and towards the roof where Misaka had texted her saying that they were with the others, including Saten herself. She was currently wearing some form of soft padding in her ears along with the ear buds that Yomikawa had given since her ears were currently way too sensitive for her Amps to even go in there. She had gotten a new pair, which were currently in a case inside of her pocket, hoping she would be able to wear them at least some time tomorrow.

She had grown uncharacteristically impatient with her Doctor from how long it seemed to take him to check on her, wanting to go see her friend more than ever right now to see that she was actually okay.

When she made it, she stopped at the door as she heard Uiharu let out a wail in the air, looking over and seeing Saten flip up her skirt with a look of pure happiness on her face.

Her loud pants from how fast she had ran brought attention over to herself by the entire group as a silence fell into the air when the tension increased ever so slightly. The look of amusement of Saten's face immediately fell into one of both sadness and concern when she looked over at the Level 5 esper who had a shadow on her face, grabbing onto her arm as she grew to be unbearably nervous.

She felt awful for what she had done, especially when it came to Asher as she lied to her face and left such a message right before she had fallen into a coma, knowing it was probably painful for her to endure and may even lead to her disliking her for it some way. The bandages wrapped on some parts of her arms to cover some of the scrapes and bruises didn't make it any better, taking an instinctive step back as Asher began walking towards her.

"Oh, A-Asher it's you." She said with a nervous laugh before she bowed her head towards the ground as her body trembled. "I-I'm, uh sorry for what I d-did. I know you're probably angry with me."

"Angry doesn't even come close to what I'm feeling right now…" Asher said, with pure coldness seemingly layered in her voice. "I was so stressed out by what you did, I had a full-on anxiety attack because of it that was severe enough in which I passed out. Something that rarely even happens as I don't usually get drained to such an extent as I had in that moment!"

Saten flinched at the sheer bluntness of her words, looking down towards the ground and saw when Asher's loafers came to a stop right in front of her. She hid the distressed and downcast expression on her face for a few moments, shutting her eyes before she quickly raised them to look up at the esper in hopes she would somehow forgive her for what she did.

"I'm s-sorry! I'm so sorry that I did that to you and you probably hate me for it! What could I do to ever-"

Saten paused in what she was saying as a deafening silence only increased around every one of the girls as Uiharu, Misaka, and Shirai each smiled at the sight in front of them.

Saten was too caught up in her own surprise of what just happened, feeling Asher's arms wrap around her as she laid her head on her shoulder as the older girl shook about as much as she was in that moment.

"There is nothing in this world that would ever get me to hate you in any w-way, Saten." Asher softly, losing the stoicness in her voice completely that sent Saten even further in her surprise, feeling her grip tighten ever so slightly. "And I forgive you for what you did. It's not logical for me to lie and say that it didn't hurt because it did tremendously…but I kn-know you didn't do it that for that reason. Bu-But please, don't ever scare me like that a-again. I've somehow grown attached to your illogical nature surprisingly and it wouldn't be the same if I somehow lost it when I've already grown used to having it in the short time that I've known both you and Uiharu."

Saten's eyes watered at that but contrasted with the small laugh that escaped her breath, finally reciprocating the first hug that Asher had ever instigated towards her first.

"Don't worry, I won't. I've caused you guys enough trouble as it is these last couple of days." She said before they both pushed off of each other. "Though, will I get to see the sappy side of you a little more often? There seems to be a lot of sides of you that you keep holding back from showing the rest of us."

Asher's face turned a massive shade of red to the point she was sweating bullets. "W-Well…I-I…u-um, don't kn-know...how to respond to that…." She stuttered, causing everyone around her to laugh.

She slumped slightly down in defeat before a couple of her own laughs came from her mouth, increasing the volume even more as she allowed herself to do it without holding any of the emotion back.

Misaka looked at Asher's smiling face happily as Shirai did the same when she looked over at her.

"Well that settles it. Things are officially back to normal." Shirai remarked.

As they began to converse with one another to the point it took a sharp turn when Shirai had tried to kiss the Electromaster yet again, Uiharu looked over at them in a mix of happiness and tenseness, feeling the paper she received from Kiyama from before growing even heavier inside of her pocket.

She had wanted to bring it to everyone's attention in some way but found herself at a loss on what the appropriate time would even be for that. She was going to do it now, but the smile on Asher's face told her it wouldn't be right for her to do so, not wanting to take away this feeling of happiness that she allowed herself to fully display.

She knew she would most likely do it soon, maybe some time tonight when Saten was released from the hospital and also maybe bring Shirai along to figure out how to go about this situation.

One friend had already hidden something from them that led her into a slump of both depression and low self-worth after a while from feeling that she was alone and didn't have anyone who would understand her hardships…

She didn't want to make the same mistake again regarding the two Level 5s in front of her, hoping that Saten and Shirai would agree with her as well.


Word Count of Chapter: 13287 |Page Count: 23 pages |Reviews: 128 | Followers: 77 |Favorites: 63


Review Replies

emiya unlimited blade works: Great, I hope you enjoyed the finale of the Level Upper Arc:)


Blankow: I thought it was time Uiharu got some love too as she and Asher are never really alone together all that much. For a Level 1, she has about as much determination and drive as some of the Level 5s at times.

I'm sorry for the torture of Ryo's and Himari's deaths T.T. I thought it was probably time to reveal what happened to some extent as they both define the darkness and inner regrets of Asher's character.

I hope you enjoyed the action within this chapter, as it is probably one of the first times the extent of Asher's ability is shown during the present of this timeline.


JintoLin: Yeah, I understand as the title of Chapter 29 says it all with Silas coming into the picture. It may have been hard, but with this meeting of sorts, Asher was finally able to show him that she has a backbone to go against him, hopefully falling in favor of allowing Yomikawa to gain custody over her.

So with the flashback during the beginning of the chapter, I would say that her misclick could have indirectly led to the death of her mother, but only because that allowed her (Himari) to realize the extent of the strain that Silas was putting her through during his experiments without any care of her well being.

Even with her blunt and stoic nature showing most of the time, Asher is naturally a shy and cautious person, which is sadly why she was being held back from contacting Saten first. She doesn't know how to go out situations that tips towards the emotional end in which makes her logic useless on occasion to describe how she feels. Logically, she thought that if Saten actually needed her, she would be the one to contact her even though a part of her knew that she wouldn't. She didn't want to overstep any boundaries and pry into matters when she herself does not like when others try to pry into matters just as sensitive from her own perspective.


LostNeko120: Yes we have finally reached both the climax and ending of this arc after 32 chapters and over 300,000 words. And with the end comes a new question of what's going to happen with the information that Uiharu gained from Kiyama concerning the documents from Project WaveInflux, which will be the highlight of the next chapter.

I actually hadn't realized that Konori and Rin from the fate series (another one of my favorites to watch btw) had the same voice actor. It might be because I watch both mostly in dub but I do watch them in sub on occasion as well, but never connected the two of actually having the same VA.


Thanks for your reviews!

-PurpleClover99