Chapter 3: The Unknown Just Outside
Kamijou stood in a park next to a Certain Vending Machine. For some reason, he didn't feel that he needed a drink, and was more relaxed around nature. Normally in the heat, he would be desperate to get a drink, would only have a 2000 yen bill, and unfortunately the vending machine would just eat his money and give nothing back. But now, he was able to survive on less and less food over the past several days. And he was also now receiving amounts of money beyond that of a Level 5, mostly to keep him quiet about the information and keep discreet. To do this, Kamijou would commit his Imagine Breaker to suppressing his Interdimensional Shift while in the public eye. But Aleister Crowley warned him that there would be quite a few... observants taking major interest in him. But they wouldn't be able to control him. As he thought about what to do, a swirl of galactic purple energy came down and stopped in front of him. It seemed to orbit a core with a geometric appearance of the same color, and glowed brightly. This was a device through which the Greater Being would communicate, as his presence can be extremely lethal to anyone looking.
"Come with me. I want to show you something that is now approaching your world." The greater being then showed the location with a ping of purple light.
"In orbit?" Kamijou said. "How do you expect me to get there?"
"Have you not noticed?" the Greater Being said. "The lower need for food, your constantly increasing strength, your powers, and the feeling of weaker gravity, the glows that flow through your veins, and the now current fact that the dust and pebbles around you are now levitating off the ground."
Kamijou looked, and simply stared at the floating pebbles. He was now defying gravity without even subconsciously trying. It was now a natural effect of his power.
"Now remove yourself from your limiter, and follow me."
Kamijou then released the Imagine Breaker, and the effect dramatically increased. Soon he started to lift off the ground. Then, he started thinking of how to start moving. Unexpectedly, when he thought of going up, that was exactly what happened. He flew into orbit at a speed that no craft in the world could attain. He soon reached orbit within a matter of less than 10 seconds. On top of that, his body was now turning into flowing galactic purple energy. Questions flooded into his mind.
"How am I still breathing?" Kamijou asked.
"It's quite simple," the Greater Being answered. "You no longer need air to survive."
"This is all becoming to much for me."
"I know you're confused, and I am sorry for that. As for your body, soon you won't be human anymore. You will go beyond that, beyond physics, and even reality yourself. You have already partially achieved this with your previous powers, but it left you vulnerable, much like the generations before you that lived in my previous kingdom. Needless to say, I have many enemies that know me, but they don't know you. You are an indestructible, unstoppable, post-human being. The strongest existence in the Universe, the embodiment of power itself. Only I will be greater. What you currently have now, your flight and your first stage of destructive power, is just the beginning."
"So, what did you want to show me?"
"I know for a fact that you will soon have many enemies of your own. Those who have sided with you won't be able to fight alone. Therefore I am giving you the remnants of a long lost fleet, once a part of my previous kingdom in a war that took place before time began."
Kamijou looked out into the vastness of space, and saw a shape that appeared to be a triangle. On a closer look, it was a massive superstructure shaped as a trilateral pyramid with equilateral sides, the structure itself being a third the size of Earth. There were also several ships as escorts, which were massive city-sized triangles with some noticable structures: four building sized structures arranged 2x2 at the front tip, shallow rght triangle inclines starting just behind, and a small structure in the back that served as some sort of control tower. Even more ships of various shapes and sizes were in the distance. That was about as much as Kamijou could see on the outside. Kamijou flew up and approached one of the escorts, but as misfortune had it, he forgot to slow down and slamed right into the rear structure that allowed for control. Then the recoil threw him against one of the flat surfaces and he slid across the ship. Having altered its trajectory downwards from the second impact, Kamijou was looking at Earth.
*Sigh* "Such Misfortune."
"There are 12,874 ships and 942 stations in this fleet remnant, though there used to be trillions of ships guarding their assigned galaxy. It is far more than enough to help you in what you will face, as you are well aware that you are not at your full capabilities, far from it actually. But you won't need them for most of your battles. The fleet will take their formations and wait for commands."
Kamijou looked back to the fleet, then back to Earth. If there were trillions of ships guarding a galaxy, he could only wonder about the size of the whole force guarding the Universe. The scientist's theories really were just speculations at the amount of power the Greater Being had.
"So, you have any other fleets?" Kamijou asked.
"Indeed, I have many more, but as I said before, one fleet is far more than enough for you," the Greater Being answered. "Let us return to Earth."
-Meanwhile, in Academy City-
"Ah, Misaka-san!" a voice called out.
"Uiharu, Saten, how are you both doing?" Misaka answered.
"We're doing well," Uiharu answered.
"Hmm, I feel like I forgot something to do today..." Saten said. "Wait... aha!"
At that moment she flipped Uiharu's skirt. Being cautious as she was in public, she flipped it at an angle where only she could she. Yet, everyone would remain oblivous unless Uiharu screamed in response, which happened as expected.
"W-w-what do you think you're doing, S-saten-san?!" Uiharu yelled while her face was cherry red.
"Just checking if my friend is wearing proper clothing," Saten answered humorously while Uiharu continued to scream in embarrassment.
Then their chat was interrupted by the news.
"We bring you breaking news today," the reporter on screen started. "At 7:52 am this morning, what appears to be a massive alien fleet suddenly appeared in Outer Earth Orbit. From what the satellites can count, there are well over 13,000 ships, having spread out in between the orbits of Earth and Mars, and are even becoming visible in atmosphere. Astronauts on the International Space Station messaged us that they witnessed the ships 'warping' into the area. Delegates of the United Nations and International Coalition will meet as how to detemine if they are friend or foe, and how to respond to the situation. We'll give more reports once this information is sorted out."
The news then went into a Standby screen.
"Well, that's going to start some rumors..." Saten said.
"Maybe its best we just ignore it. It's not enough to cancel school," Misaka responded.
"Well, we'll be on our way now," Uiharu said.
"See you."
-Back at the park-
Kamijou landed back from where he took off. Looking around, there weren't any witnesses, but he now realized that he left a gigantic web-like fracture that spread through the whole park.
"How am I going to fix this?" Kamijou said. "Such misfortune."
"There has been much disorder in the world since your vengeful conquest 2 years ago," the Greater Being said. "But now you have the ability to forgive, and the power to protect. Now, take your next power."
There was a shifting sphere of energy. Kamijou reached out and took it, and his mind started to alter. Quickly he figured out how to use it.
"Use this power to control objects at will. Previously you could only use this to stop small attacks. Now you can pick up, throw or deflect, even stop the object in place. Now try using it. There is a little girl who dropped her ball, and she is now running across the street to get it. She only has 5 seconds before she is hit by the incoming truck."
At that moment, Kamijou looked and found the girl. Even with his speed, he wouldn't be able to reach her in time. So he quickly stretched his left hand out, and galactic purple energy surged around it. A field of energy then stopped the truck in place, right in front of the girl. Then he picked the truck up and placed it away from the girl, giving her safety.
"Tell me, do you actually control the world, like you do with the state of my body?"
"No. I created them, but I give them the choice of what they want. What they do is entirely of their own will. I would only go as far as to advise of the rewards and consequences, but no further. But onto current business. You are able to keep a human appearance during everyday life. However, the appearance will be compromised when simulating severe injury. I have also noticed that you are developing powers of your own, since you now have a caring and protective personality."
"Can you tell me what they are?"
"That is something to figure out on your own. After all, where's the fun in revealing everything? But that is all for now. Farewell." Then the small core launched up into space.
"Ah, finally done with homework, time for a visit," a voice said. Kamijou looked to find Saten Ruiko, though he hasn't met her before.
"How's your day been?" Saten asked.
"Confusing, for the most part," Kamijou answered.
"Well, I still have to get some punishment for using the Level Upper. You know where a Certain High School is?"
"Over near the hillside. But let me guess why: a failed attempt to get stronger without going through the proper effort."
"How did you know?"
"It's easy for anybody to read the reasoning in someone's behavior."
He then put his hand on Saten's shoulder. She was mildly surprised by the gesture, having a slight blush in the cheek.
"Noone gets stronger just by trying something. They have to be dedicated, and not with just the body, but with the mind and soul as well. It took while with me, but I reached that point of rising myself. But it was because I kept going, pushing through the pain, until I had absolutely nothing left in me. That is the only way you can truly develop your strength. If you want, I can give you a foundation to start with, but this is something best learned by oneself."
"You kidding? I always need a jumpstart with most things that I do."
"Then take advantage of this one." Suddenly, Saten felt uplifted, as if she had an actual chance to increase her level. She just had to commit.
"Well, I wish you the best of luck."
Kamijou departed, walking down the park as he went.
"Hey wait-" Saten started, but all she found was the sound of a sonar ping and floating dimensional fragments that soon faded away to merge with reality.
"I never told you my name..." she finished in a whisper.
She felt strange. Her heart was thumping loudly, and blood started to rush. Her cheeks turned a deep crimson and she started holding her hands to her chest. She wasn't sure what this feeling was, but she couldn't focus on that now. She still had activities to do. She snapped out of her trance and ran to the school.
-Back at Kamijou's apartment-
Kamijou was finally able to return home after dealing with Misaka and doing shopping. During his usual route to the shop, he was spotted by Misaka, who sprinted at him and demanded to him to fight her. And when he tried to reject the demand, she became enraged and ended up with the both of them getting chased by every security bot in the block. Then after shopping, he had to change reality several times to preserve his groceries, even though he was carrying far less than he usually did. Then he forgot he had to get an entire separate amount of food for Index, and had to go back. Now he was here. Thankfully, he didn't feel the slightest bit tired, but looking into an alternate reality, he could have arrived both mentally and physically exhausted from the day's work. And far later in time on top of that. Nevertheless, the trouble was in the past, and he went to his apartment.
"Index?" Kamijou called. "I'm back. I even got all the food you wanted."
Then he opened the door and found an unexpectedly fearful sight. There was Index, on the floor, lying in a pool of her own blood.
Well, that's all for today folks. I update this story, so look forward to the next chapter, A Certain Possible Annihilation. Is Kamijou going to walk another path of blood, or will he see the good in himself to forgive his aggressors? You'll just have to wait and see.
Until then, please Review. (It's my only source of knowing your opinions!)
