"Okay now I know you're cheating!"

"Not cheating, you're just bad."

"Hmph!"

Accelerator dully stared at the pouting girl that sat on the opposite side of his bed. Emily, were one to compare her current personality to how she acted two weeks ago you'd think they were two entirely different people.

"I wanna rematch!" She declared as she scooped up all the cards that lied spread out on the bed.

"Not a chance brat, I'm starting to get tired."

"But there's nothing else to do till mom and dad come back." She whined and the esper merely sighed.

That's correct Accelerator was assigned baby-sitting duty. Why Emilia and Axel seemed to trust him enough to leave their child with him was beyond him, they only knew eachother for two weeks. But alas that seemed to be enough time for Emily to show her true colours. Were it not for her hair and eye's he'd think the brat before him was somehow Last Order.

"Then can we atleast go for a walk, I'm gonna get bored just sitting around."

"Sounds like a you problem." Came the short reply of the esper. And he recieved a pouting face again that had little effect on him.

But alas the esper wasn't completely cold hearted.

"Fine, I have to return the books I borrowed anyway." Getting up from his bed he received almost an eerily familiar cheerful smile from the younger girl.

"Yes!" She cheered as Accelerator collected two books that layed on his desk. One titled, 'History of Remnant' and the other 'Creatures of Grimm'.

True to his words Accelerator had done extensive research and he had learned alot about the world known as Renmant. He had learned much useful things.

Dust, Aura and Semblance's were among the things he found the most interest in. Semblance, essentially abilities developed by those who possessed aura.

These abilities varied from person to person, but he did not receive specifics on what kind of semblance's there were, the library in town lacked certain details.

His other interest was with aura, it was basically the manifestation of one's soul. It mainly acted as a shield that covers the user's body and healed minor wounds, in some cases it was stated to be able to use in an offensive way. As absurd as the concept sounded, Accelerator wouldn't be surprised if this world held even more absurd things.

Then there was the dust, there were varied versions of it and was used as then main source for Renmant as a whole. They used dust for almost everything and apparently it lost all power when leaving Remnants atmosphere.

Then there was the Grimm, there wasn't much told about them, only the types of Grimm that could be found and some of their anatomy. But what was intriguing was the level's these Grimm were seemingly placed at.

Lesser, Omega and Primal.

Phrases used to seemingly sort the Grimm in how difficult and dangerous they are. But barring the lesser level of Grimm Accelerator did not gain much information on them as a whole.

"C'mon slowpoke!" The cheerful voice of Emily reached his ears as he was snapped out of his thoughts. Accelerator merely kept the same slow pace as he and Emily walked through the town.

He didn't know why the girl liked walking around so much, the parent's just mentioned that she did and he should accompany her if she wanted to go out. Accelerator himself wasn't much of a fan of moving around too much, in fact the esper was not a fan of doing anything productive at all.

But Emily seemed to enjoy it for whatever reason. He'd never understand how these brats think.

"Crapes! Crapes! Crapes for sale, come get your crapes! " A loud voice behind a small stall advertised as the sweet scent of fresh crapes filled the air. A few people already gathered around the small stall and he could practically see the drool from Emily.

"Hey! Can I get one? Pleeeas!" She pleaded as the esper merely shook his head.

"You're asking the wrong person brat, I ain't got any money." He stated as he watched the deflated Emily.

"That frowing face won't do young lady, here crapes on the house!" The owner of the stall was now suddenly standing before the two, holding two crapes in his hands. Emily immediately lightened up as she accepted it but Accelerator only stared at the man with narrowed eye's.

"What's the catch?"

"Catch? There's none, I just want to offer my crapes to everyone." He said with a bright smile

Accelerator merely sighed, perhaps he was being too on edge. This wasn't Academy City, and the crapes didn't looked tampered with. So begrudgingly he accepted it as the man walked back to his stall with a wave.

"C'mon, let's get a place to sit." He said as they walked to a nearby bench surrounded by a small patch of grass. Emily kept quiet as she munched on her crape, with Accelerator just taking small bites.

He wasn't much of a fan of sweet things, he'd prefer a coffee. But somehow Last Order always managed to get him to eat all kinds of sweets, hell some she even made herself. He heaved a slight sigh as his gaze fell to the sky.

Was he ever going to find a way back? That's a question he did not know the answer to. He might very well be stuck here forever with no way of ever going back.

But what would be the result of him being stuck in this world.

The third string Railgun and the hero could protect the sister's when it came to it. But what of Last Order? Who was going to protect her? Yoshikawa and Yomikawa were trustworthy but at the end of the day they were just normal humans in a city full of corruption and filth. And with his absence no doubt a bigger target was on Last Order's back, thus far he had been able to keep her safe but he wasn't there anymore. He saw first hand the condition Last Order was in with the mere presence of Aiwass manifesting. And he had long since realized that there was another purpose for the Misaka Network, and as the control tower Last Order was a constant target.

"You look worried." Emily suddenly spoke up having finished her crape in record time.

Accelerator glanced at the girl who looked at him with wide eyed innocence.

Accelerator silently clicked his tounge, just looking at the girl reminded him of Last Order and it was pissing off. He was acting like some homesick mother.

"Tch, I'm fine just thinking about something."

"Are you thinking about your home? You never told us about it? What was it like?" She shot her questions rapidly.

"Nothing you'd be intrested in."

"I'd still like to hear about your homeland though." She pressed on.

"It's nothing intresting, just a crappy place no one knows about." He stated and that much was all he was going to say and she seemed to notice it.

"There you two are. Having your own little date, huh?" The joking voice of Emilia reached the two's ears.

"Mom!" Seemingly ignoring her comment, Emily rushed towards her mother to embrace her.

Accelerator merely watched on as he remained in his seat.

"So where's the geezer?"

"Axel? He's waiting at home. Getting ready to set off." She explained.

"Dad's going somewhere?"

"Yeah, just an errand outside of town sweety, it won't take longer than a day."

"Outside the town again? That didn't seem to end well last time." The esper mutterd and Emilia hummed in agreement.

"That's right. That's the reason we've been meaning to ask you if you would accompany him for his trip. Since you seem capable of handling Grimm we'd thought to ask you. So, would you go with him?." She asked.

Accelerator for one wasn't so keen on traveling around too much, but sitting on his ass all day was unproductive. And he wanted to see how many Grimm species he would be able to kill. At least that way he could further test his ability, to see if it truly was restored to it's prime.

"Sure, I'll go with him. But I won't be babysitting him."

"Great! Thank's alot Accelerator!" She responded with a smile. "Guess I'm making another feast tonight."

"Yay!" Cheered Emily.

"Come one then let's go meet up with your father." Emilia said as she led the way with Emily in tow.

Accelerator merely stared at the mother and daughter before heaving a sigh. He's only known them for two weeks yet they treat him like an old friend they could ask favours for.

How weird.

"Alright, we're all set." Axel announced as he heaved a bag onto his back, it holding several supplies needed for the trip.

"You sure dear? You aren't missing anything." Emilia asked.

"Food, check. First aid, check. An Accelerator, check."

Accelerator merely rolled his eye's at the man's attempt at a joke while, Emily and Emilia merely giggled.

"Will the two of you be gone long?" A sudden question was raised by Emily.

"Dont worry, we'll be back before you know it. But I know you're still gonna miss your old man and especially Accelerator." He said with a chuckle as Emily's face seemed to turn a shade of bright red.

"I-I won't miss him!" She quickly declared, not at all sounding convincing.

"Suuure."

"At the rate this is going we'll be gone by night" Accelerator interrupted.

"Guess you're right." Axel said with a sheepish chuckle. "Well then Emily, Emilia I'll be seeing you two soon."

"Goodbye honey, safe travels to both of you."

Accelerator merely gave her a slight nod, as Axel embraced the two for the last time. And with that Axel and his traveling companion were soon on their way.

Exiting through the town's main gate the two found themselves on a dirt round surrounded by trees.

"So what exactly is the purpose of this little adventure?" Accelerator asked, he had agreed to join the man but he still did not know what they would be doing for the majority of the time.

"Well it's kinda like a supply run." He began.

"Supply run?"

"Yeah, we'll be heading to another town a bit of ways from here. There we'll be picking up certain supplies we ourselves can't get our hands on, small towns and villiage's in Mistral have to stick together after all." He explained.

"Then why didn't you bring one of those carriages?"

"There's no need, we need only check the supplies we need and the village will deliver it to our town within a week or so."

Accelerator nodded his head in understandment before their journey continued. Surpsingly their jouney was in realitive silence, no Grimm attacks and Axel seemed to keep quiet for some reason.

Nevertheless this afforded Accelerator to do some thinking. Said thinking mostly revolving on how he was going to find a way back. To do that he would first need to properly evaluate his situation.

("Am I simply on another planet or a parallel word?")

While the first could make things somewhat simplier, there was still the problem of how he would go about finding a way back. This planet while advanced had not even managed to travel to the moon yet, regardless of the state it was in. This was due to their reliance on dust, they use it for nearly everything including their vehicle's and such. And dust could not leave Renmant's atmosphere making space travel essentially impossible.

Though with his intelligence learning and creating his own ship might be a vailable option. It was only a matter of securing the necessary resources and implementing more natural ways for it to take off.

But even so how would he locate earth? And there was the chance he was just in some parralel universe, as absurd as it sounded it was still a possibility.

If that was the case constructing the right kind of ship would not accomplish anything.

("At the rate I'm going, I'll be stuck in this place forever.") He thought with a grimace.

His ability was also a factor he could include. Finding a way to interact with the 11th dimension could be a solution. Teleportation espers calculated their coordinates in an 11th dimensional space. So additionally to the 3 dimensions one can perceive as humans, they have to account for their position in eight additional dimensions. And if even one of those coordinates is slightly off, things like Awaki's past error happens. But even if there were someone who could muster teleportion in this world, he could not be sure how his ability would react to it. Though teleportation was limited, the esper had never directly interacted with the 11th dimension. Usually if a teleported were to try imbed an object into him via teleportation a strange phenomenon would take place in the 3-dimensional world. Thus his reflection could easily deal with it, but could he interact with the 11th dimension via his ability?

The answer was unknown for now, he had never tried it before. And it wasn't as if there was any teleporters nearby that could help test his theory, but nonetheless with teleportation vectors were still involved.

But if this was possible he would still need a way to pinpoint where he would want to go. His eye's stared down at his chocker, if it was online it could act as a kind of beacon to pinpoint him into the right direction. But he saw no way to get it back online, he was in another world after all.

("I have to start somewhere, finding someone with the ability to teleport could help. But the fundamentals of how they implement their teleportation might differ from what I'm used to.")

"You always seem so deep in thought." Axel suddenly spoke up for the first time.

"Ah?"

"That look in your eye's. You always looked so focused in the past few day's, it makes you look too serious, intimidating sometimes too."

"So?"

"You should lighten up a little, you're still young. Far to young to be grumping around." He advised.

"Didn't realize you were a counsellor." The esper spat but Axel merely let out a laugh.

"Maybe I should give being one a shot, yeah?"

"I don't really care."

"There you go with those grumpy responses again. I swear if it weren't for that baby face I'd think you were some cranky old man."

"Was there an actual point to this conversation? Or were you just bored?"

"Just trying to get my nerves under control with a bit of conversation."

"What for exactly?" The esper asked, though he knew the man for a small amount of time he could atleast tell that he wasn't one to openly express any negative emotions, he seemed to be always positive. So it was curious that he was seemingly openly expressing his nervousness.

"It's just that apparently bandit activity has risen somewhat. All around small village's and town's are being raided by them." He explained.

"Your town seems too big to raid. You sure you aren't worrying about nothing?" Accelerator began. "But then again seeing as it's that big these bandits might want to raid it even more for the supplies they could gain."

"...You know if you weren't so pessimistic I'd think you were trying to comfort me." A sheepish laugh escaped his mouth. "But anyway I'd say a small break is deserved."

Stopping at a small clearing Axel sat aside his bag as he leisurely took a seat on the ground.

"Man my legs might've cramped if we walked any longer." He said with a sigh. "What? Aren't you gonna take a seat? The grounds pretty comfortable."

The esper merely leaned against a nearby tree. He wasn't really tired, slightly reducing his own body weight via manipulating the vectors of gravity made it easier to move around. And besides he'd rather be on guard if any Grimm were to attack.

"So seeing as we have all this free time, how 'bout you tell me more about yourself "

"Kinda pointless to be asking this now, isn't it?"

"Maybe. But I'd like to know more about you, for the two weeks we've known echother you never really talked much."

"Sounds like you're weary of me."

"No it's not that, I can tell your not a bad person." The sudden statement caused the esper to slightly raise an eyebrow.

"Oh? You can tell that of a person you barely know? Sounds to me like you're being too trusting."

"Hardly, you saved my life, remember? That's not the kind of thing some bad guy would do."

"Who knows, I might just be some pshyco murderer with an ulterior motive." The esper's statement merely invoked a laugh from the older man.

"If that's the case then you're one hell of a babysitter to top it all off."

The esper merely shook his head, why people tended to be trusting so openly was beyond him. But he'd wager the man would play a different tune, had he known exatly what he was capable of and what he had done. Anyone would really, who would accept a monster who killed over 10 000 living beings?

("Just the brat and those two hags")

"There you go with that thinking face again." Axel interrupted his train of thought once again.

"This something you plan on pointing out everytime?"

"Maybe."

"This is gonna be a long trip."

"See, that didn't take so long." Axel stated as he steched his arms.

"It took a whole day." Accelerator corrected.

"Well maybe it did take a while, but atleast that village chief was nice enough to let us stay there for the night. Now while we're on the road again we're fully energised." He said pumping his fist.

"Your town is still a bit of a trip from here though"

"You know you don't have to talk like that."

"Like what?"

"It's basically your town too right now." He said with a smile.

"Not like I'm planning on staying there forever."

"Might be so, but I think you lived there long enough for it to be considered your home." He insisted.

The esper merely shook his head with a sigh. He didn't now why the man was pressing the subject, by all accounts Accelerator was just a freeloader at his home yet he was treated like an old friend. Honestly he was too trusting and way too nice.

Though he was the kind of person the esper was all too familiar with. His train of however was quickly halted as him and Axel quickly took note of something in the distance.

"Is that smoke?" Axel questioned as he squinted his eye's at what seemed like smoke raising in the distance.

"Yeah, looks like a fire started." The esper informed, but he suddenly saw Axel's eye's widen.

"Hold on...that's the direction of the town!" With the exclamation he did not say another word as he rushed down the road and towards the town.

Accelerator narrowed his eye's at the location before he followed Axel. And despite having a head start the esper caught up with the older man in no time.

"That town is still far away, you won't make it with this way."

"It doesn't matter! If the town is in trouble I have to ge-" He was cut off when the esper suddenly gripped onto his shirt.

His confusion could not even be made evident as he suddenly found himself soaring through the sky. His feet no longer touched the ground as the clouds suddenly came closer. The wind hit his face and hair slightly more violently. With some effort his eye's managed to turn to the esper who did not looked too bothered .

He did not know how but he was the cause of their sudden ascent, and somehow he was carrying him with zero difficulty. It might've looked like a comedic sight but those thoughts could not properly surface as the ground came closer.

As if being willed by Accelerator, the wind seemed to surrounded him and Axel. It slowed down their decent and the two gently found themselves on the ground.

Though the situation experienced now was strange, it did not last long in his mind as his stomach sank at the sight before him. They had landed infront of the town entrance, and the sight beyond the entrance was not a pleasant one.

Multiple houses and smaller buildings were set ablaze by still apparent flames. Nothing was left untouched, even things insignificant like stalls were torn apart as well. Even from the entrance one could see the destruction wrought in the town, yet that was not the worse of it.

Scatterd around lied the corpses of the town's folk, all brutally slaughtered. The blood still ingrained into the ground. Axel stared at the sight with disgust at who would've done such a thing but his eye's quickly widened in horror.

"Emilia, Emily!" The names escaped his mouth and without a second though he rushed towards his home.

Accelerator did not immediately follow, instead he examined the corpses.

"Clean cut." He mutterd while his eye's landed on another. "Even bullet wounds..."

It was easy to deduce that this was not the result of a Grimm attack. The wounds on the corpses suggested that weapons were used and the esper doubted the fire was a natural cause.

("But this town is a way too big. Could a bandit group really raid and flee from it in less than a day?") The question momentarily sat on his mind. A large group of them would be needed if they wanted to clear the town out.

Not to mention it looked like no one was left alive, judging from the large amount of bodies.

("But that means they must still be somewhere nearby. If I'm right about their large group, then they couldn't have got very far.") With the thought in his mind the esper made his way towards Axel's house.

Now properly walking through the town, Accelerator took note of how thoroughly most of the houses were destroyed. Not one was left untouched, it was if they took the time to destroy each one But the when did they attack?

"They must've attacked some time after we left." If he was here he could've maybe prevented it. Though he was by no means an optimist, he knew he could've atleast prevented the deaths of a few of these people.

But there was no point in such thoughts. He was not here when they attacked and nothing would change that

His thoughts halted as what sounded like sobing reached his ears. As he followed the noise it did not take long before he reached the source of it. It was Axel, and the sight before his eye's was not a pleasant one.

Embracing the cold dead bodies of his wife and child all Axel could do was cry out in despair. He had lost them, they were never coming back. They were dead, gone, killed in cold blood. His sweet wife and innocent child, they did not deserve such a fate. They had never done something to deserve such cruel deaths. He did not care anymore, all he could do was cry. Cry at not being there for them. Cry at not being able to protect them, and cry at never being able to see them again.

Accelerator watched the scene in silent. Given the condition the two were in, it was easy to see that they did not have an easy death like most.

His eye's turned to Axel, who continued sobbing. He could not blame the man, though he could not sympathize with him he could atleast understand the despair one would feel at losing your family. Accelerator did not know which words to offer the man but all he could say was...

"I'll find who did this." If the words reached Axel's ears, he did not know. But there was nothing he could do for the man.

What he could do was slaughter those responsible. Though he held little notion of him being some hero, he could atleast prevent this from occurring again.

And he would do that by exterminating these pest.

As he walked through the villiage, his eye's scanned all around to find something that might lead him to those responsible. He did not have to look around much as his eye's landed on what he was looking for. Multiple heavy footprints ingraved into the dirt found all facing and leading towards the west side exit of the village, along with those footprints were carriage trails.

("Judging from how heavily these carriage tracks are imbeded into the ground, they must've used it to carry any valuable's they found.") He noted as he followed the trail that continued on a dirt road outside the town.

The esper followed the tracks as they seemed to grow more visable the further he walked. Eventually the tracks seemed to derail into the forest. At the same time the esper noticed two discarded carriages that lied on the road.

Ignoring it he walked into the forest, though the lack of tracks would not make tracking them too difficult.

As the esper could make out voices in the distance. As he walked further and further the voices became more clearer, and those responsible came into view.

A large clearing in the forest, with large number of rugged looking people spread around. There was also a large tent in the centre as well as what looked to be a pile of various kinds of supplies stacked in one place. Clothes, food and even weapons among many more.

Thinking it best the esper effortlessly hoisted himself onto a branch of one of the many tree's with a simple leap. The people below all seemed to busy to even attempt to notice him. Though the espers eye's merely scanned over them all

("I only count twenty five. They're way too little to have been responsible for the attack, so maybe they're just part of a larger group. But seeing as they're still so close to the town they must've not have enough time to escape.") He thought as his eye's landed on two men who seemed to stand slightly apart from the rest. One was a bald burly man who appeard to have an axe on his back while the other was more lanky and lacked any weapon.

Focusing on them the esper quickly picked up on their conversation as he strained his ears.

"Man this is so fucking boring." The lanky man started as the other heaved a sigh.

"You got that right. Just standing around this much is driving me crazy." The burly one said as his eye's looked through the camp. "When are we gonna get a move on?"

"Couldn't we have atleast taken some of those town women. Atleast that why we'd have something 'productive' to do." He finished with a lecherous smile plasterd on his face.

"You idiot. You know the boss doesn't like it when we take unnecessary prisoners. Besides it's almost time for us to regroup with her and head back to the main camp."

"Fine, just hope we get to raid another town soon."

Tuning out of their conversation Accelerator mulled over the information.

("They were definitely the one's responsible. But this doesn't seem to be the full group, guess I'll have to keep one alive so they can tell me where their suppose to regroup.") He concluded.

"Then I guess it's time to get to work." Though he held little notion of him being a saint, the esper never really preferd killing. But that did not apply here, these people were scum and they deserved to be treated as such.

30 seconds. It took the esper all but 30 seconds to slaughter the bandits that heavily outnumbered him. Usually when facing such opponents that were heavily armed, Accelerator would merely let his reflection do the job.

He could've easily killed them without lifting a finger. But they hardly deserved such easy deaths, and the esper did not want to waste much time. His eye's scanned through his work, blood tainted the ground as the dismembered body parts of the bandits sprawled across it.

Were anyone to look at the sight, they would not be able to hold back their lunch.

It was simply horrid, no normal human could ever be responsible for such an atrocious act.

A row of barley intact corpses arranged in a gruesome display. They lay sprawled haphazardly, their once-human forms tangled amidst the ground with an unnerving stillness. The bodies, grotesquely disfigured, were frozen in a grotesque tableau of anguish. Their skin was a pallid hue, marred with grotesque wounds and unnaturally contorted limbs. Blood, congealed and blackened, stained the ground beneath them, testament to the brutality they had endured. Stray locks of once-luscious hair clung stubbornly to their scalps, now matted and coated in grime. Empty eye sockets stared into the abyss, their haunting gaze forever silenced. Flesh peeled away from frames, exposing the delicate intricacies of the human form.

"P-Please! Mercy! Spare me please!" Accelerator looked at the last one begging for his life as he backed up against a tree.

The man looked horrified and there was a putrid smell about him. He had wet himself in fear. But had anyone experienced what he just did then no one would blame him. The monster had just came out of nowhere and started slaughtering everyone in the most violent ways imaginable.

All while wearing a smile, a crooked smile that would send a chill down the spines of even the bravest of men. It did not seem real, one moment everyone was going about their business and in the next instance, screaming and panic. His whole body shook as he saw the monster approach him, he fell on his ass as he watched the boy's bored face.

"How many." The words that exited the monsters mouth confused him.

"H-Huh?"

"How many people have you killed?" He asked again as if his question was merely a normal one.

"I-I don't kno-"

"Answer the question." He said the words with no real emotion, but the man could still not help but feel terrified at his tone.

"T-Thirteen." He answered.

"Thirteen, huh?" He answered as if unimpressed. "Now tell be this, how many begged for their lives? How many asked you to spare their lives with pleading eye's?"

"A-All of them." He answered, he knew he couldn't lie this monster before him would not allow it.

Kneeling down to his his level the esper spoke again.

"I'm guessing you understand where I'm going with this, no? Why would I spare your life? If I let you go now you'd just kill again and still thirst for more. Now I can't let that happen, no I rather have my fun with you. Maybe peel off your skin, tear off an ear, gouge out an eye or maybe tear off your limbs. So many options so little time" As if etched onto his face a smile spread across it.

A horrible smile promising every bad thing.

Were he to live, he would have nightmares of it for years.

"No, No! P-Please I'll do anything!" He begged again but the esper merely let out a laugh.

It was an unpleasant sound, and his fear only grew.

"Well then you're in luck worm cause there is something you can provide me with." Accelerator watched as the man seemed to grow slightly hopeful. "I want the location of where you're going to meet with your other group."

"O-Of course. If you go north of here you'll find our meeting spot, even the boss is going to be there!" He rapidly spoke, desperate to save his own skin.

He did not care what he had to give up, if he could be spared of this monster's wrath no price was too big. Once driven into a corner one's actions became all the more predictable. And with fear in the mix, the man could not even think of a believable lie even if he wanted to.

So he was of no use.

Splat

Blood splatterd on the ground as the the upper body of the frightened man seemed to be missing

Accelerator sighed as he crained his neck.

"I guess acting like that can still be useful." He mutterd before his gaze shifted north. "But I guess this is a charade I'll have to keep up for awhile."

"Still not here. Damn where are those idiots?" The bandit could not help but mutter as his group stood at the rendezvous point. They were suppose to be here 30 minutes ago yet they were a no show.

"Boss I don't think their gonna show." He finished as he turned to his leader.

"It would seem so. Gather the rest we'll head back to camp in a momment." Raven ordered as he nodded.

This was curious, it would be likely to assume that they have all been apprehended or killed. If that was the case it was highly likely a Huntsmen could be responsible.They would the only one's skilled enough to take on a large group on their own. Perhaps a survivor from the town had managed to call one. Though one Hunstman was hardly a problem, but exposing themselves was hardly any use.

"Ma'am all the other's are gathered. We're ready to head back to camp on your order."

As she was about to respond an unfamiliar voice cut in.

"Well this makes things easier." Emerging from the woods a boy in all white stood a bit of ways infront of her leisurely.

"Ah? Who the fuck are you!?" One of the many bandits spat out as he glared at the esper.

"Hey that looks like a Schnee!" another stated.

"For real! One here!?"

"C'mon then let's grab 'em then, we ought get some money holding him hostage." Another said with a cackle. "We'll be stickin' rich!"

As they spoke among themselves the esper merely watched them with bored eye's.

("Just twenty here. With the other's that makes forty-five.") He noted as his eye's landed on one who stood out from the rest.

Long black hair fell on her back, and her red outfit along with her red arm guards stood out as well as her pale skin that seemed to rival his. But the Grimm themed mask was an intresting choice, a very detailed one too. She also had a sword strap to her hip.

And unlike her comrades she remained silent, and despite her mask the esper felt her gaze bore into him.

Feeble.

That's the word she would use to describe to boy before her. His clothes did little to hide his frale frame, and his androgynous face did not help. He barely looked capable of holding any kind of weapon, let alone be a threat of any kind. One would think it a miracle he managed to survive in a Grimm invested forest for however long he did.

But yet as she stared into those blank crimson orbs, why did she feel so weary?

Why did her instincts scream at her? Was she merely being paranoid, or was this boy more than he seemed. Raising her hand she signaled the bandits to remain quiet.

Her gaze remained on the boy as she spoke.

"Who are you?" She asked, though it was more like she was giving a order.

Accelerator did not answer instead he rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

("Suppose I can't play around with this bunch, killing them with one attack would be better.")

"I'll ask again who-" She spoke again but was silence when the esper interrupted her.

"I'll make this quick. If you shut up this won't be painful." He said bordely.

The bandits looked at him with sneers and glares as they waited to retort. They would have to teach this punk a lesson he would not forget. However that lesson would not ever come.

Slightly raising his foot, Accelerator gently tapped it on the ground. An innocent action when someone normal did it, not so much when Accelerator did it.

The ground beneath them began to shake violently, like a wild beast struggling to escape its confines. Trees began to sway and topple, heavy branches snapping like twigs, and leaves fluttering down like confetti. The bandits looked around frantically, trying to find the source of the disturbance. Suddenly, the ground cracked open with a deafening roar, sending up a plume of dust and dirt. The earth beneath them buckled and heaved, like a feverish stormy sea. Horror flashed across their faces, as they clung to nearby trees and tried to brace themselves against the upheaval. But it was futile. The tremors grew more violent, and suddenly the formation they were standing on gave way, crumbling beneath their feet. Chaos ensued as they tumbled into the gaping maw in terror, grabbing for anything that could keep them from the plummeting to their doom.

They fell hard, their bodies tumbling through the air like rag dolls. The screams of terror filled the air, as they bounced and rolled, trying to escape the impending doom. The ground beneath them seemed to be made of jello, and their movements were unpredictable and uncontrollable. Trees and rocks and debris flew through the air, adding to the chaos and destruction.

Some were buried beneath the debris of the ruined tree's and ground, whilst other's had grotesquely twisted necks and limbs from how roughly they were tossed around. Acelerator would've admired the sight of the dead bandits more had he not found a red blade inches away from his face.

Raven had managed to avoid the devastation, and was now content on ending what she had registerd as a threat. Her blade inches away from the boy's face she shoved it forward without hesitation, intent on ending this as soon as possible.

Though she would soon find that it would not be that easy.

As if hiting an invisible wall her arm gripping her sword shot backward as pain struck it. It was if her arm would get torn out of her socket, had she lacked aura no doubt every bone in her arm would shatter. But she did not let the pain get to her, leaping backwards she made distance between them. Flexing her arm, despite the pain it was still usable, so without saying a word she faced the esper with caution.

("Didn't even break her arm despite the force she tried to hit me with? Could she have one of those aura's? Could explain the still functioning arm atleast.") The thought remained in his head as he stared at the mask women. This time she did not immediately attack, she seemed more cautious after hitting his 'reflection'.

("A force field of some kind? His semblance perhaps, but that would not explain how he caused this absurd destruction.") Raven thought as she glanced at the destruction wrought by the unknown boy. But her thoughts quickly shifted to what his ability was. ("But if his semblance is shield based, then attacking him while he's off guard could provide an opening. Or perhaps I can strike him before he can activate his semblance. But if he really is too much of a threat I'll have to use the power of the Maiden, even though it might expose me.") As she concluded her thoughts she readied herself to attack, but her opponent was quicker.

Seemingly diseapearing from sight he suddenly appeared before her. His hand shot towards her face and every instinct in her body was telling her to dodge. It was odd, he was unarmed and he wasn't even clenching his fist to attack, no instead his palm was open as if he wanted to grab onto something. It was impractical and useless but nevertheless she listened to her instincts, leaning her head back his fingers grazed her mask.

And in the next instance it shatterd into pieces, her eye's momentarily widen but she managed to duck her head in time as his other hand flew over it. Once again she distanced herself from the boy.

Red eye's met red eye's.

The women's pale face quickly morphed into a scowl as she glared at the esper who merely let out sigh. This was the kind of opponent he would have to get creative with, not because she was difficult but because of her dodging. It was something she was likely to keep up and the esper didn't want to bother with drawn out fights.Though he no longer had the weakness his electrode gave him, he still did not like having to fight for too long.

Raven stared at the esper with narrowed eye's as his foot seemed to sank into the ground as if it were quicksand.

What followed was him kicking his leg upwards as if kicking a ball, the result was a chunk of the ground leaving the earth and being chucked right at her with surprising speed. Her eye's widen at the display but she willed herself to jump aside narrowly avoiding the oversized projectile that flew passed her and toppled over the some still standing tree's in it's path. Though her instincts still flared up and her head turned just in time to see him suddenly behind her.

This time his fist was clenched, it shot forward in an instance.

Raven was not in a position to dodge or block the punch but her aura could provide her protection. Once the boy's punch landed she would take the oppertunity to attack once again. Those were the thoughts that ran through her head, but said thoughts quickly fled her mind as the punch connected with her abdomen.

Intense pain struck her as his fist sank into her stomach. Her vision spun as her body did before harshly landing on the ground.

"Gah!"

Having the air violently knocked out of her she struggled to regain her breath. If she was in a better state she would've realized how strange it was that a simple punch managed to immediately deprive her of her aura. But she was not, gripping her stomach she tried to sit up. Her red eye's scanned around for her blade, she would not give up easily.

Accelerator stared at the writhing women with a dissatisfied look in his eye's. Despite the apparent damage he had done he was dissatisfied. Accelerator was intent on killing the women before him, meaning he was not really going to be holding back. As soon as he made contact with her, her body should've exploded into chunks of flesh and blood. But that did not happen, as his fist made contact it was as if he made contact with a second layer of skin. It broke through said layer but as it did she was launched backwards from him and out of reach.

("Aura, it absorbs damage but it has a limit to how much it can take.") Though inferior to his 'reflection' aura had it's merrits. ("But enough of that, I still have a pest to finish of.") Looking towards his feet he noticed her sword laying nearby.

Raven managed to finnally stand up, though even that proved difficult. She did not know how a mere punch managed to cause so much damage to her, but her legs shook as she struggled to stand. Her eye's darted to his position just in time to see a red blur soar through the sky.

And then pain struck her leg. Looking down she saw her blade imbedded into her leg.

She growled in pain as she lost balance and once again fell over. She clenched her jaw as her hand reached for the swords handel, and without hesitation she pulled the it out. She held her hand over her leg as Accelerator noted something of interests.

("She's cauterizing her wound?") He thought as he saw her hand light up in fire, though she did not seem to receive any burns from said fire. ("If she had that kinda ablitilty why didn't she use it earlier?) He questioned as he noticed her rise to her feet once more.

Then in the next instance several dozen ice shards formed in the air as if she willed it.

("Ice now? Must be freezing the water vapour, or maybe even the oxygen or air itself. Her ability must be pretty advance if she can manage that.") He deduced just in time to see the ice shards launched at him. ("Her ability must be to control the rate of the temperature in an area.")

Raising his arm he merely swung it to the side as a violent wind incased the ice as they all shatterd into pieces. Accelerator waited for another attack but none seemed to come.

"She's gone?" He noted as he no longer saw her at her former position. "And just when things were getting intresting."

He thought to find her again but ultimately thought against it, no need to go the extra mile for one weakling.

("Still though what is this sensation.") The esper thought as he looked towards his shaking hand. ("It's like my body is reacting towards her ability, kinda like...)

He shook his head of the thoughts, it's something he could worry about later.

His job was done here.

He could've prevented this. Maybe if he had chose the right words, or may be if he had made an effort. If he could've said anything else perhaps he could've made a small difference.

Accelerator stared at Axel's corpse with a blank face.

A bloodied kitchen knife lied close to the recently deceased body, no doubt he had killed himself due to the grief. Various thoughts ran through the espers head as he stared at the corpses of the people that treated him so differently.

"No use." He mutterd, it was not his place to think of what could've been.

Maybe he could have prevented Axel's death by offering the right words. That's surely what the 'hero' would do. But he wasn't him, he had no say in which path Axel was going to take.

As his gaze fell on the darkened skies he thought out loud,

"Where do I go from here?"