The damage to the chamber was extensive, every piece of concrete had cracks in it or had completely crumbled, it was uncertain, how long this building would survive the exchange.

All while the strongest Esper's battery charge slowly diminished.

Accelerator was panting heavily. He had about 10 minutes of Esper-Mode in his electrode left.

Thanks to his redirection, he had no injuries, however wielding his power was exhausting in and of itself.

Engelmacher meanwhile was perfectly fine, they had exchanged high-speed blows for almost 10 minutes nonstop, yet, he didn't look any different from when they started.

"I bet you wonder, why I am not exhausted at all. My fellow magicians always forget to train their body together with their mind, they rely too heavily on the magic aspect and can't even handle themselves in a fistfight without it. But you haven't fought as many of them as that Imagine Breaker boy, so how could you know. Are you ready for the next round? I've got many different techniques in my repertoire!"

The German used different attacks every time, it was brutal efficiency, sometimes he was clashing with Accelerator using Vector Transformation, then he used his elemental-style Magic. Blue flames, vacuum blades, earthquakes, electricity, just about every physical phenomenon was part of his arsenal. Accelerator had to be ever out on the watch, as he also had to protect the two girls on the battlefield from any stay shots.

The great vault door was blasted away; an orange beam of light had pierced it right at the center.

The blonde giant watched in glee, as 5 identical hazel-haired girls and a similar looking older one entered the premise.

"You're way earlier than I expected, Railgun!"

"Shut it, I am here to take my little sister back! Also, why are you here Saten?! We'll talk later!"

The #3 Level 5 was accumulating iron sand around her and charging up her one-billion-volts of electrical current.

A certain white haired Albino yelled from the top of his lungs:

"Don't use any special techniques, he can copy them in an instant, for fucks sake!"

It was too late, Engelmacher saw, what she was up to and immediately copied the special attack, swords of iron sand clashed in midair and lost their forms.

"Boring, I figured, you would have more interesting attacks. I can summarize, lightning spears, iron sand and your railgun, that's it, I recorded it all. Now bugger off."

She fired her railgun again, directly at the guy's face. It was redirected upwards and pierced the concrete of the ceiling.

"Okay, then let me use this for a change! "

The man chanted in a low voice and a foreign, hard language:

"Das Horn bläst und die Wilde Jagt zieht durch die Lande!
Wodan, wilder Jäger, nimm meinen Feind und verschluck ihn in deinen Zug!
Vorbote des Todes, bring Verdammnis über meine Gegner![1]"

A Three-meter-tall being appeared out of thin air in front of the Misakas. It looked like a bearded old man, with only one eye, wielding a golden spear made of ash-wood, the blade of a double-edged sword was attached to the front. A giant-raven sat on each of his shoulders.

A certain high-school boy may have been remembered to the despair he felt not so long before.

Esper Ability Imitation Spell:

Espers use a personal reality in themselves, they calculate changes in it and then observe that reality as the real one.
The Spell takes this knowledge, coupled with understanding of physical interactions and recreates the effect, by applying the changes to the genuine Reality, using many infinitesimal small magic interferences to the underlying physical principle.
For Example, an Esper can manipulate electricity, by observing his personal reality.
The Spell-User can manipulate electricity, by interfering with the electromagnetic Interaction.
The effect is the same, a one-billion-volt lightning spear shoots out.
While the underlying calculations are identical, the point of view is different, the magic approach brute-forces itself into reality. The effectiveness greatly depends on the users understanding of the Science-Side's physical formulas and principles, learning those might take a long time.


[1] The Horn blows, the Wild Hunt is on the loose again!
Wodan, Wild Hunter, take my enemy and swallow him into your raid!
Harbinger of death, bring damnation to my opponents!

(Wodan is the German name of Odin, or Othinus if you want!)

Also, Wodan is the leader of the supernatural hunting party "Wild Hunt" "Wilde Jagt" another story from German folklore, like Faust.


The battle intensified.

Those three monsters clashed with their full might, the other people present could only watch.

Thanks to the rebar in the concrete supporting the structure Railgun could freely move around in three dimensions.

The girl skillfully evaded the two ravens chasing her. Lightning spears were a good measure to keep the distance, their feathers were burned by the current.

The magical creatures regenerated from time to time, to be shot down by her again.

Her bigger problem was the lance, the bearded man had thrown it once, but it followed the girl like a homing missile, no matter how often she evaded or deflected it using electromagnetism, it turned around every time. Almost like it couldn't miss its target.

Accelerator meanwhile exchanged another round of blows with Engelmacher, each of their punches held the might of a small nuclear device.

"This is fucking useless; I can't get through your magic and you can't pierce my Reflection!"

"I just have to wait until your battery runs dry!"

"You just wait, I got another ace up my sleeve!" a mad grin split the albinos face.

White wings materialized on his back and a halo appeared over his head.

Let's see if my spell can hold up with the one who wields the power of god!

The speed of their exchange multiplied, the spectators could hear the sonic booms, as the opponents left only their afterimages behind.

Engelmacher initially could only defend, but as his understanding of the new situation grew, the initiative slowly switched back to him.

Or so he thought.

The albino directed a massive amount of pure energy at him. The Magician was caught in a blast of abnormal power.

For the first time, while fighting Accelerator, the German feared to be annihilated.


The foot-soldiers of the "Beschützer der faustschen Idee" were on the retreat.

Even though all of them had magical skill, it was not as if they were remotely on a level with their Boss, in fact, they relied on their scientific gear in a fight, while the magical reinforcements applied strengthened their effectiveness.

After being defeated by the sister clones, they had the order to evacuate the premise as fast as possible. The rumbling coming from the buildings lowest floor made it their only option to get out alive.

Just as the last bunch had regrouped and the injured were collected something changed, the building changed in an instant, massively.


Accelerators enormous attack threw his enemy through the concrete ceiling and the building above. The giant chamber was ripped open along its 150-meter-long axis, as the supporting walls crumbled. It was a view comparable to a large open wound, the Esper made sure, that none of the spectators were hit by debris.

Saten felt it was her chance to free Last Order, she picked the girl up and ran over to the Misaka Sisters, they got to cover again, because Mikoto was still fighting the bearded monster.

She attached to its back as the lance charged her, impaling the apparition with its own weapon. The monster crumbled from the blow, its ravens were long gone, but the lance continued to chase her, after all, it seemed the spear was at the core, not the wielder.

"Impressive!" the Number one jerked, when he heard a voice from the sky. "You almost killed me, I felt that one. You're no disappointment, but now is the time to end it all!"

Engelmacher looked battered, his shirt was torn, the right side remained in place, but the left was ripped up from his belt up to the shoulder, revealing his menacingly steeled body.

The monsters charged each other once more, the sky was their battlefield now, no more caution for bystanders, no more holding back to keep the chamber together, they went all out in the middle a raging thunderstorm.

The thunder or their fight, which one would be louder?

Spherical shockwaves spread through the rainy sky, every time the attacks of those powerhouses met.

Meanwhile, Mikoto had an Idea, what would happen if Engelmacher hit that spear head on? He created it with his own power, maybe it could pierce his defenses? She could feel the gold, that coated the weapon and attached herself to it using electromagnetism, every conductor can be used for that after all.

She tested, how the missile-like item handled, when its target was on board, soon she had a hang of it and steered it like a surfboard through the sky.

Their spectators watched in awe, none of them had ever seen two Level 5s going all-out.

"You can do it! I believe in you, both of you!" the only black-haired girl on the premise yelled.

The longer Misaka held the spear in a straight path, the more speed it would pick up.

As she approached her target, the girl shouted from the top of her lungs

"ACCELERATOR, QUICK!"

The Albino realized, what she was trying to do, he charged at her with tremendous speed, his opponent followed.

The collision happened, the #1 used his Vectors to knock the #3 away from the spear in the last moment, while directing the GeForces away from her body.

Behind the two Espers, a giant explosion of white light ripped the night apart.

When the Level 5s landed back in the testing-chamber, they were exhausted and ready to collapse, that was when a golden spear made of ash-wood tumbled through the air.

The out of control Weapon struck one of the bystanders, before anyone could react.

"RUIKOOOOOOOO!"

"SATEN, NO!"

The two yelled instantly and simultaneously.

The lance had hit her lower abdomen at an angle, teared through the body-armor and into her flesh. Saten felt how the cold darkness enveloped her, as she collapsed.

The Misaka Sisters immediately rushed to help her, but an even greater disaster had shown itself yet again.

The Magician stood in front of them, bruised and beaten up, but still determined to fight.

"This isn't over yet!"

That was the moment, when something Accelerator had built up for a long time in himself snapped. The change in his attitude was apparent, his wings changed color to pitch black, like a raven's feathers.

"You will pay for that with your life! Gyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Nobody hurts my Ruiko and lives!"

Even the floor was lifted by the shockwave of his charge at the man.

"Wait, can it be, what am I even doing? Is this the same as…" Engelmacher contemplated at the boy's words and unknowingly let his guard down, moments later Accelerator embedded him into a wall of the building at several dozen times the speed of sound.

His mind went blank, surprisingly, the body was still in one piece.


The Albino rushed over to the place Ruiko had collapsed, it didn't look good. The lance had left a deep chasm in the girl's stomach. He immediately touched the blood to prevent any more from leaking out, by manipulating the vector of her blood flow.

"Misaka can feel, how her bioelectricity is in disarray, reports Misaka with a sad tone in her voice. Misaka doesn't think she can be moved to a hospital by an ambulance. Or moved at all."

"Why had this have to happen to her! It's all my fault! I can't protect anyone after all!" the boys thoughts were a complete mess.

*slap

The #3 had punched the #1 in the face to have him snap out of it.

"She's MY friend! Apparently, you care for her too Accelerator, now do something!"

I risked breaking my hand, he seems to really care for her, to not notice that his reflection failed.

"I can't do anything, I can't fly to the hospital, prevent her blood from spilling out and keep her bioelectricity from ceasing at the same time! I'm fucking useless! And my battery can at most hold out for another five minutes. Is there nothing we can do?"

All you can do now is to live with what you did. Stopping won't bring them back to life, either.

The whole world may never forgive you for the terrible things you did in the past, but if you try to protect others, the world itself sure will become a better place.

That's all there is for you to do now.

Don't be so hard on yourself.

The boy heard the kind and loving words of that girl in his head, he didn't want her to become just a memory. After all, she had forgiven him, she was his world, what would he do without her, he couldn't imagine, when the despair clouded him.

I'm so sorry Ruiko, I couldn't protect you after all! I'm just a pathetic villain, that tried to protect the people around him… and you had to pay the price for my arrogance.

Even if it was selfish, he wanted to feel her heavenly softness, hear her lovely voice and look into her deep blue eyes, he wanted to be with her forever. Accelerator burst in tears, he could not do a single thing to keep her from dying.

Even the collection of the Misaka-Network's malice, Misaka Worst, felt deep sadness in her heart, it was her purpose to break Accelerator, but seeing him like that made her eyes wet from tears.

Mikoto knelt at Satens other side, she didn't care that the person, that killed over 10000 of her little sisters saw her crying face.

Is there nothing we can do for her?

A heavy breathing was heard.

The sound came from a direction, no one had kept their eyes on.

A giant man, at least 190 centimeters tall, wearing a torn up wine-red shirt over his thoroughly trained, but badly mangled body, walked into their direction.

Immediately, all of Mikoto's senses went to full alarm.

That was when she saw it, he had tears in his eyes as well.

"It was like this, when my beloved Melanie died, ten years ago. In the morning, I learned, she was pregnant, but in the evening… It was an accident, I found her in her dying moments. All I could do was hold her and curse myself for being so powerless… That was when I picked up magic, I wanted to prevent anyone from feeling that pain ever again. I soon realized it was not enough, so I substituted the gaps with science. I wanted to learn everything in this universe to keep tragedy from happening. I wanted to wield the power of a god! Now in pursuit of my goal, I became the cause of such tragedy myself."

Accelerator looked at him with a piercing stare.

"Please let my fix my error, let me just once do the right thing. Maybe my magic can save her! It's not too late!"

"My old self would have ripped out your fucking spine and shove it down your throat, but if you can help my Ruiko, I'll put that on hold for a little longer."

Since when is Saten `your´ Ruiko? Mikoto muttered to herself, while following that unexpected ray of hope.

"Science calls it bioelectricity and blood flow, magic combined the two into life-force. I will stabilize her for transport by rebinding her life-force back to her body! I need an object with great meaning to her to use as an anchor. It's all I can think of right now."

Accelerator took the red good-luck charm out of her pocket and handed it to the foreigner.

He knows her that well already? Mikoto thought, maybe I've been wrong about him.

"Now for the magic array, I will use the human body, it's the strongest and fastest construction!"

With that, Engelmacher took a knife from his pocket and stabbed himself into the stomach, he immediately began to draw magic symbols with his own blood.

"What are you doing?" Misaka was glad he tried to help, but also shocked, hadn't that man tried to kill them just minutes ago? And now, he is on the way to take his own life while saving Saten.

What is it with those Magicians, none of them seem to be sane, at all!

"The blood stands for my life-force I use to construct the spell, while the object is a template for the person to be anchored. Blood works well, because of its strong magical connection. The circle gives direction to the energy."

As the magic circle was finished, he placed the charm in the middle.

The Symbols, carved in blood, began glowing in a brilliant blue color, seconds later the ceremony was complete.

"Place this… in her hands… then get her to... the best… doctor… you know…!"

The Magician, who caused all of these events just collapsed onto the ground, he had lost consciousness due to the blood loss.

Accelerator closed Saten's hands around the small red good-luck charm. Her condition stabilized, for how long was another matter. The Albino immediately picked her up in his arms and spread his wings.

"Do you know where to bring her?" Mikoto had a certain talented doctor Gekota in her mind.

"Heaven Canceller, the poor guy might look like a frog, but if anybody, he can save her! Can you please take care of Last Order and Worst for me, you're their damn big sister after all!"

With that, Accelerator took off, black feathers rained down around him, as the color of his wings changed yet again to white.


Hours later, the rest of the building had caved into the chamber at the bottom. The heavy rain was still falling.

A battered Magician sat in the ruins, Engelmacher was glad. The research of 10 years may have been rendered in vain today, but he had prevented a tragedy like his own from happening again.

"I will soon visit you Melanie!"

Steps were heard in the rubble.

"I wondered, when you might come after me."

The German turned around to see a young man standing behind him, he was even taller than himself, but rather slender in appearance. He wore a priest's robes, had silver rings on each of his ten fingers and countless earrings on either side. The man's blonde hair had been dyed red and he had a barcode tattooed under his right eye. Undoubtedly he was a Magician. The priest held laminated cards in his hand, and had a cigarette in his mouth.

"You must be from Necessarius! Is your objective here to eliminate me or to apprehend this madman?"

"Depends on your resistance."

"Then let's go, I don't have enough spirit left to fight today. I always wondered, how the Tower of London looks from the inside."