District 19 was and is Accelerator's playground. It has been for the past 2 years now. No one can question who truly owns the marked territory. Not even those who enforces the law dared to venture in here. But today might just change that perspective.
At the start of the morning, precisely 7:55 am. A loud rumble was heard throughout the city. Even more to those who are within or close to the district. The source couldn't be pinpointed, as if the entire place itself was shaking.
Webs of cracks appeared on every corner of the concrete jungle. Rocks, dirts, plastics, even iron beams lifted off the ground, ascending up to the sky slowly at an exact rate. People were seen elevating as well. The objects they used as an anchor to keep them on the ground are rendered useless when they begin flying along with them.
And at the very center of the district, a lone figure stood. His arms spread. His crazed look would leave anyone traumatized. "Holy shit! Its actually fucking working!" He shouted without a single care in the world.
Accelerator's ability allowed him to control every vector in the world, with the conditions being that he had to manually calculate the exact magnitude and directions he wanted it to go. And that he can only control the vectors that were within his barrier. Said barrier was only big enough to cover him and the clothes he wore. Some of his hair was, in fact, left unprotected.
So he began theorizing a few things. But the damage it might inflict left him unable to perform a few experiments that could confirm nor eliminate the legitimacy of the theory.
But with the limitations having been lifted, he was freed of his shackles and is, truly for once, freed.
His laugh boisterous, sounding more like a hyena than a laugh coming from a person, he began once more. "This is fun! This is so much fun! Imagine what I could do with the atoms! The winds! The fucking planet!"
As his laughs grew harder, the strength of the gravity increased. Buildings are no longer pulled now the very foundations they're built upon are too, being pulled from the ground. The views are both magnificent and terrifying for the eyes of the unknowing.
"This fucking world is mine to do as I please!" He said to himself gleefully.
With his right hand balled, the direction in which they go turned into a single point. Every bit that flew off speeds off onto that center point and gathered, forming a small planetoid of concrete and dirt.
His surroundings are now left barren. Few survived the gravity pull. The district, big enough to be a city on its own, is cleared clean, leaving only patches of broken up lands. He could see the other districts from here.
And to think that by 12 am, everything would be back to normal, as if this had never even happened to begin with. It filled him with so much energy and thrill. So much of his power would be discovered. So many more things to do.
So much fun.
He has hundreds- no, thousands of things he wanted to test, things he wanted to see. And there is nothing stopping him from seeing it. Nothing.
"Stop over there criminal scum!"
The grin he had was wiped into a mere irritation he used to wear. He looked over his shoulder in a sideways glance, seeing whatever it is that dared to refer to him in such a manner.
"Anti-Skills." He murmured in annoyance.
There were guns pointed at him. A shit ton of them. Ranging from sidearms to smgs to assault rifles, etc etc. Riot shields were used, as if it would do anything against his rampage. Do they even know who he is?
"Oi, oi, what's this? I thought you third-strings were too much of a faggot to enter the danger zone?" He taunts them.
"Stop whatever you're doing, and hand over yourself!" The same person shouts.
"Hah? You come here and dare to provoke me like that? I've got to say, you've got some serious balls. But y'know, when push comes to shove, I have the right to defend myself, right?" He turned towards them.
The distance between the two is large. But he could see that there were some disputes going on between their officers. It didn't take long before the one he's been talking to to relent and hand over the speaker.
She began shouting and all guns were dropped. By the voice alone, he could tell that it was from a woman. From here he could see that she has blue hair. She was clad in a full armour, coloured in black.
She steps out of the line of Anti-Skills, both hands held out in the air, her right holding onto the speaker. The gap diminished considerably until she was eventually less than 10 meters away from him. Here, they could hear each other.
"Look, kid," Accelerator's eyes twitched at being called that. "I don't know what's troubling you, but we can talk about it. What you're doing right now is causing too much damage to the city. There were lives lost here already. So please, stop whatever this is before any more innocent lives are lost."
The albino stares in disbelief for a second before he begins laughing mockingly right into her face. "Talk about what? Talk me out of having fun? Fuck that!" He was amused by her attempt. Not many would dare to approach a rampaging beast like him. So to reward her, he might as well be merciful. "I'm in a good mood right now, so why don't you and your peps get the hell out of here, and I might just let you all escape with a scar or two."
The steeled resolve on her face only hardens at the threat. She seems to be contemplating his words carefully. But he knew her type. She is one of those people who will not leave things unattended. Once they set their minds on something, they will give their everything to achieve that objective.
And that objective is to stop him at once.
"I don't want to hurt you."
"Hah! As if you could!"
He didn't notice her subtle movements, he didn't see the signal she'd sent to her peers, but he had been anticipating for any moves she might make.
She lunged, handcuffs in her hand. But she was neutralised as fast as she had made the mistake of approaching him.
Sent flying to the rubbles with fingers bent all over, she screamed out in agony. The people behind her see this as a cue to start firing. Their aims are precise as to not hit the fallen teammate, their attacks are meant to disable him from committing further damage nor casualties. But the bullets are as useless as a pebble in the face of a great boulder.
Rounds upon rounds of gunshots, their thunderous bangs continuously strike fear into the people far away. The hot leads merely touch against his delicate skin, only to be sent back into the barrel of the weapon, causing it to burst into a thousand pieces of metal shards.
The albino kicked a small rock, sending it flying at a speed the eyes could not see straight into the engine of their vehicle, reducing it into nothing but a junk, flaming metal.
With their only means of defense and escape suddenly taken away in a matter of less than 10 seconds, the situation now felt even more desperate than it originally was.
"Y'know, I offered you mercy in return for nothing." The planetoid moved, dispersing into a small piece. "But you motherfuckers throw it right back at my face."
A single step from him felt like the world was gonna fall apart. "How about I make you another. Let's play a game." And these words of his was the last thing they'd want to hear.
"If you can survive until midnight, I'll let you live."
Just as he'd said that, the chunks of buildings he'd accumulated earlier began falling down. Everyone present ran as if their lives depended on it. Which, it is.
A single chunk was enough to cause the ground to shake like a mini earthquake. The larger ones made the ground burst out its insides. No one expects anybody to survive. Yet all of them survived for the first 2 hours.
His aims are off, always hundreds of meters away, enough to send them ragdolling over the mountains of concrete rubbles, but not enough to inflict serious injuries. It was as if it was deliberately done. As if he was merely toying them around.
It was later when the 3rd hour closed that the albino finally grew bored and them finally running out of steam. Nobody knew what happened next, no witness was present to see the gruesome murders of the Anti-Skill agents.
Nobody survived that day to see tomorrow. The last thing everyone had felt that day was the ground shaking and bursting. Many were buried deep, most died falling out of the orbit at terminal velocity.
Similar catastrophes were also happening around the world.
^8^
At 8:05 am, a massive disaster hit Academy City. It all happened quickly, and nobody expects it to happen at all.
The sky was clear, and the day was bright. People thought that today was going to be great, many people did. But the sudden category 5 wind happening at the very center of District 7 caught everyone by surprise.
It was complete chaos. Cars were flung into the whirlwind, lampposts ripped off its foundations and children were evacuated underground.
Those who weren't lucky enough witnessed what can only be explained as the end of the world. Nobody knows what could possibly have caused it, as the events can only be described as abnormal.
It was as if the winds around the world were gathered into one place. The sheer force and kinetic energy heats up the atmosphere. Plasma gathered and compressed, emitting purple lights that could put anyone into a deep feeling of absolute dread.
"This…" Accelerator thought. Even he was surprised at the scale of destruction he could possibly create with something so harmless as air. The grin etching across his face and his laughter weren't heard by anyone, the sounds drowning by the whistling storm, his silhouette covered by the dust.
"This power!" He shouted at the very top of his lungs. "Academy City be damned! Fuck Level 6! I have the power to control the world with the mere tips of my finger! The strongest! I am the strongest!"
The whirlwind grew into a size never seen before. Dark clouds pulled by the winds have covered the majority of Asia. Lighting across the continents and the winds had placed people into a constant state of unrest. The sudden change in weather had attracted international attention, specifically from the west. Worry spread to every city in the world, afraid that the storm might hit them next.
Accelerator could feel his power spreading. He could feel people within the buildings and deep underground, cowering in fear before what true power looks like. He'd never felt so powerful before.
The plasma has reached a quantity enough to blow eastern asia in a single explosion. The heat coming from it caused electrical malfunctions. The lights are out. A certain chestnut coloured haired girl frustratingly tried to reverse the turbines's angular direction, but failed to do so due to the extreme winds.
Another girl was begging her to stop. Her hair tied into two tails feels like it's being pulled into a black hole. Eventually she relents. The two disappeared in less than a second, appearing somewhere else entirely.
Not even 1 minute later, a massive flash of light was visible from the midwest. The dead of night suddenly became bright as day, like a second sun was formed.
And the shockwave took down buildings, mountains were leveled. Many people had gone deaf, those unfortunate enough to be close to it went blind.
Academy City was no more.
^8^
Accelerator had always wondered how strong the windowless building was. He'd heard that it was capable of withstanding a direct hit from a meteorite. No nuclear warheads in the world currently are capable of even chipping even a small fragment from it.
Many scientists and architects that worked on the building claim that it's literally impossible to destroy the building, no matter the force used. That curiosity has been nagging him for ages, and now is the best time to prove those baseless theories.
In the early hours of the day, Accelerator stood at the plaza outside of the building. People were seen strolling around. Some are going out for some light cardio exercises. Most of them are in uniforms, heading for their respective schools each.
He stared at the black building in a palpable boredom. Slowly he stepped closer to it. A cold hand caressing the back of his neck, he looked behind him and found nothing. He shrugged it off but still glares warily.
The palm of his hand pressed flat againts the frosty wall, his other hand inside the bag of his hoodie. Information flooded his brain and he began processing each and every single one of them efficiently.
They were complex, but not something he couldn't do. The only problem with it was that they kept changing. The slightest bit of atmospheric pressure changes the entire property, and the warmth of his hands interrupts how it reacts to gravity. Very odd, practically defying science.
What made it even worse was that the entire place was a cluster of ever-changing vectors. He can't manipulate them all at once. Unlike gravity that has a constant numerical value, this thing… it doesn't at all.
He now understands why it's said to be impossible to destroy. But then again. He won't know until he tries, right?
With a smirk that screams danger, he directs his focus somewhere else. Somewhere lower, down back to the earth.
The vibration he could from his foot, the immeasurable kinetic energy ready to be used at a flick of a finger presented to him at a silver plate.
"Let's see you withstand this, sucker."
The earth slowed down. Every single person in the entire world felt the whiplash it had caused. People were flung from their position at a distance equivalent to half of a basketball court. The force at which they're is like being hit by a car going 30km/h
But in Academy City, the situations are very, VERY different.
The grounds are ripped, shockwaves tearing them from their places. Glasses shatter from the resounding boom, along with them are the people's eardrums. Dusts settle upon the city, covering it in dark fog, the layers of which heats up the entire city.
God has had enough of them, certain peoples of the city thought. The gift of which had been bestowed upon them was nothing short of an act of defying His rules. To recreate the powers of the blessed and use it to feed their own selfishness is blasphemy to the highest degree. But they can still be saved, as they are young and naive. So they pray and pray for the others to be spared. But none of their prayers were heard, or perhaps they were ignored. But whatever it is, it greatly saddens them.
Although barely visible, they can see numerous objects flying up into the sky, forming one massive ball made entirely of rubbles. A maniacal laughter followed suit with the small planetoid falling down, crashing at the very center of the city.
Nothing good happens that day. Many lives were lost, and many more to come. Aleister Crowley chose not to come out. He was displeased, with how the main plan is acting, stagnating, even ruining years worth of progress. But he is too important to be disposed of. Just as important as the Imagine Breaker. With practiced patience, he held in.
The rest of the day was filled with earthquakes, and planetoids crashing onto a single building.
The entire city was evacuated.
^8
60, 70, maybe 80 days had passed. The albino had lost count. It could be 90. Hell, it could be 100. All he knows is that he's been here for a while now.
The lengths he'd gone were massive, and the lines he'd made were blurred. So many bloods had tainted his hands and much grief, anger and desperation was burned into his memory. He knows none were ever real. But the effects were still there, it was all still in his eyes. He could see them. He could hear them. Even feel them.
And all those times and each of those people were sacrificed to keep him entertained, to make sure that his anchor to reality was not to snap. To make sure that he was real, to know that is still sane. This is the only thing keeping him alive. And yet he could barely feel it anymore.
"What the fuck am I doing." The albino can only lay on his bed, thinking of more ways to learn his power, more creative ways to use it, utilize it as a weapon of mass destruction.
The thousands of ideas are no longer there. He can't come up with anything. He'd done everything he could do with it.
…
But… there is something…
Of all the things he'd done, the days he'd spent, not once had he ever had any real challenge. He hasn't fought anyone with genuine power that could have him fueled with adrenaline. Nothing is strong enough to make him feel threatened.
Except for one.
One close enough in power. One whose ability rivals his own, one that is the complete opposite of his. If his power specializes in destruction and chaos, then this guy specializes in creation.
The ability to destroy and create.
"Kakine Teitoku." The one who has touched the territory of God, Dark Matter. The 2nd Ranked of the 7 Level 5s. A person he'd known since childhood as someone who is arrogant, stuck up with a shit-eating smirk. He could imagine him being a little bit of a challenge.
It is said that of the 7 level 5s, only the Top 3 could cause planet wide changes. But of the Top 3, only 1 of them could potentially affect the entire universe, literally. The nature of his power allowed him to create a substance that obeys no rule except for the rule he applied to it to an infinite number. With his only obstacle being time itself. If he somehow finds a way to turn himself immortal, he would no doubt, become a Level 6. This has a lot of scientists wondering why he was ranked 2nd instead of 1st.
Such opponent is the perfect rival for him.
Suddenly he was filled with vigour and anticipation. He knows he shouldn't be putting too much hope in this, lest he wants to be disappointed big time. But he'll take anything to make the time pass quickly.
But one thing though, he has no idea where he is. Not once did he meet him throughout the days he's spent living Tuesday over and over again. But then again, it doesn't matter where he is, he has all the time in the world.
…
He'd looked over multiple districts that day. For hours he looked but couldn't find him. He'd look over houses, apartments, even abandoned buildings and factories. He'd ask around people, giving them details of his appearance and potential personality. But still, none of them had any clear idea who he was talking about.
The next day, he breaks into the old facility they used to be held in. The place hasn't seen daylight in years. Dust had gathered everywhere, fungus and moulds everywhere. Even the air feels infected.
He wasn't expecting much from the building, but he'll take anything he can get his hands on. He navigates his way through the dark places, going deep underground through the emergency stairway. The place was dark and there was no source of lights aside from his phone. So he used just that. He was annoyed for a second there when he took a glance at the date and Kihara's message.
It took just an hour to finally find the server room. Kakine is 3 years older than he is. He was transferred in by the age of 11, and out at 14. It was in the year 2000 when it happened. All he needs is to find the right hard-disk that contains the information of his designation. Problem was, there's at least 1000 of them here.
And all of them are scattered on the floor.
With an irritated sigh, he began working. One by one he checked the date labelled. July 2001. November 1989. September 1994. August 2001. Many, and many more reading. He'd never felt so bored. This level of boredom is only topped only when he'd lay all day in bed, no moving, no eating, no nothing.
Minutes passed by quickly, and only an hour later did he finally find them all. From January 2000 till December 2000. He can't remember the exact date nor months. But it is, somewhere in here.
'After this, I'd just have to search for the facility he was last in, the data records… and then the uni… and then his house.' The albino deflated as he listed more and more of the things he'd need to do. He can only sigh. At least it is keeping him busy, he thought.
He hadn't realized how long he'd been down there. Nor did he know how much more he will have to do just to find 1 man. His long search takes 2 days (loops?) to do, including this one.
He'd rummage through decades old hard-disks in an abandoned facility during the morning, and kill a security guard during duty at a prestigious university during the night.
During those hours, he hadn't once eaten. As far as he'd been aware, he hadn't eaten anything for months, though his body had been fed yesterday. Yet to the albino, that yesterday was as close as the sun and earth was in distance.
He hasn't had the appetite. But the active scent of a crisp scent of a perfectly seasoned chicken wafting through the air inside a certain dirty blond's luxurious apartment seemed to have his stomach kicking.
The dirty blond in question stared deliriously at the albino, who was glaring at him with unconcealed bloodlust. "Yo, third-string, been doing well I see."
The guy wasn't alone. He had a few… henchmens, he might say, around him. And a mistress, perhaps? A girl in a red dress. She doesn't look too bad.
"Ah, my apologies, I didn't realize I was about to kill you during your… gathering."
Kakine had a cynical grin across his face. He rises up from his seat at the head of the table. "Well don't be, Accelerator. We were just talking about you, actually."
"Oh, what could that be about?"
"A way to pass through your barrier, you bastard."
There was a pause before the boisterous laughter from the two. Kakine's people don't know what to do, they don't even know how to react. They eyed the two with unease.
"I'm so gonna kill you, third-string." The albino spoke out, animosity clear as day.
"Then bring it on, you fuck." Kakine speaks out with just as much bloodlust, barbarous tone, ready to fight at a moment's notice.
^8
New shit next Tuesday!