Since the misterious disapparence of Misaka Mikoto, Touma could not do anything but ask to Kuroko what had happened to her. As he knocked at the door to see if Kuroko was inside, he reflected on the strange news that had appeared on the television: mysterious murders had happened every night, and someone cleansed the streets from every clue. Kuroko opened the door, but she was not the Kuroko that Touma knew: she was pale, tired, and appeared to be really sad.
She said "Oh, it's you, you are the one that onee sama liked so much, well that's not a secret anymore since she died, well come in, have a seat, I'll make some tea, since Onee sama disappeared I have tons of that" Touma sat on the bed, But Kuroko teleported behind him and pulled him out "Don't sit there,you ape! That's…that was onee sama's bed" For a moment,Kuroko seemed the old, good, pervert Kuroko, but then she was sad again. Touma then asked "Have you god any idea on her whereabout?" Kuroko sighed and stared at the floor "I Don't really know,by some days she was acting really strange, you know, and she was also starting to talk about some experiments and clones, I just hope that nothing bad happened to my beloved Misaka" That was the first time that he heard her call Misaka by her name, since she always screamed "ONEE SAMAA" for everything. The phone of Kuroko was ringing, she took it and listened to the message, then she said "I'm sorry, but the Judgment had some problem with an irregular esper" She then disappeared, and some minutes later she came back, with several members of the Judgment.
"Kamijou Touma, I have to ask you to help us to investigate the dangerous esper case" Touma was surprised "Why me?" And she answered "because he is a Level 0, just like you".
Some minutes later, they were all in the Judgment HQ, where Uiharu was showing some pictures in her computer, all of the pictures showed random people on the floor, they seemed barely alive "The unidentified esper had attacked 20 espers so far, they were all Level 1" Touma asked again "How do you know that he is a Level 0?" and Uiharu opened a video: many Judgment's agent were trying to take a man to a barrel, so that he could be cured, but he kept shouting "He took my powers, HE TOOK MY POWERS, I can't evoke flames anymore!" the video stopped. Uiharu said "We believe that his power is similar to yours, since your power consists in eliminating other people's power, his power consists in eliminating the power itself from the esper, it's quite dangerous, the whole city it's inhabited by lots of esper, if someone is erasing their power they're all in danger, plus we don't know why is he doing that, we need your help, I found his location, he is now hunting a new Esper" then she sighted "And this time, it's a Level 2" Kuroko gave him her hand "Let's do this, for Onee sama" Touma reflected for some seconds, then he took her hand, and they were teleported to an isolated street, between two palaces, it was dark as it could be.
They heard a scream, and they ran to the source of the sound, to find a black dressed man on the floor, covering his face from the aggressor, which was a simple boy.
"Doest thou know what art thou?" He asked, and his English was archaistic and ancient.
The man on the floor shouted "Leave me alone, you bastard!" The boy just stood still, then he said "Thou art still sleeping, in such a state which consists in a paralyzed consciousness, in order to Awake thou have to find the true power hidden in your real mind, which is far more powerful than this, will you achieve this state, or perish while someone else, which is me, will achieve it thanks to your power?" the man kept screaming, the boy opened his hand in front of him "I have no other choice, I'm afraid that your punition will be quite…." Kuroko teleported herself behind him, and then she teleported her nails on his back, but he turned immediately around, he jumped back, then he tried to punch her, but she teleported herself again "Judgment desu!" the boy opened his hand, and flames came out "Thou shall not stop me from my work, I need to do this" he jumped at her again, but he just slipped on the floor, almost on porpoise, and then he stood up, Kuroko laughed "Is that your power?" He didn't smile "I guess not" And then,he disappeared, Kuroko was shocked and looked around, then she heard a voice behind her "Because your power is now mine, too" She turned around, and he was not there anymore, he was on the roof of the house nearby "You'll never catch me, thanks for your power now!" He then escaped, and Kuroko screamed "Get right back!" She run after him, teleporting Touma with her, and she said to him "I'll now teleport you on him, try to punch him with your Imagine Breaker" Touma agreed.
He was in the sky now, and the boy was running below him, he fell and screamed "I shall destroy that power of yours!" But then the boy covered his face "Stoppeth thyself! For that will kill us both! If you touch me, and I touch you, I don't know what that might cause to this universe!" Touma fell on the ground without hitting the boy, which had stopped "I will do what you ask, but I shall not touch the Imagine Breaker" Kuroko teleported both in prison, before Touma could ask why.
The boy was in chains, Kuroko was interrogating him "Who are you? What do you want,what is your power level? Who is your employer?" The boy answered slowly " I have no name since this body is not mine and this mind is not one, I want to achieve the Level 6 state, I have the power of the Copier, my epitaph is "The one who stays between Heaven and Hell", I am courrently a Level 2, I absorbed 55 people's power, I worked for the founder of this city, which was my master for some time" Kuroko reflected on those strange info, then she asked "What does your power do?" He answered prideful "When I was a Level 1, I was able to absorb power, every kind of power, store it in my cells and then release it, I evolved at level two some days ago, I am now able also to copy other esper's powers, which gives me the title of invincible esper!".
Kuroko asked him "Then why did you surrender to us?" The boy pointed at Touma with his head "If I touch someone, I copy his power, If he touches someone, he blocks that person's power, what would work? I should copy it's power, but he should stop my copy, which I should copy and being immune to, I don't know which power would have worked first, and what if the two forces broke up in a terrible explosion?"
Kuroko stood silent, then she asked "You were talking strange before, what was that crap about?" He then said "Espers are not casual mutations in mankind, they are in fact the prototypes of a new mankind!
We were once very few, hidden by society, we had always existed we inspired wizards, which copied us, our origins are so ancient that loose themselves in the origin of Power itself, we first appeared when magic and esper where unknown, let me tell you a story that will convince you that I'm right, in fact a long time ago…..