Disclaimer : I don't own Naruto or Toaru Kagaku no Railgun/Toaru Majutsu no Index
The Trinity of Tokiwadai
Chapter Ninety Seven: Smashing Homecoming - Castlefall
Touma nervously tapped the heel of his foot against the floor of the suborbital plane that the Trinity just happened to have access to. Seriously, what do these Ojou-samas not have just waiting in the wings to use? There should be a limit to what resources middle schoolers should have!
The tension in the cabin of the plane was high. Birdway-san was on his right, arms crossed and looking irate in general as she glared at Accelerator in particular. Actually, she looked mighty miffed at all the people here. As if what was happening went against a script in her head or something.
Not that everyone seemed to feel that way. Index who was seated and buckled in to his left certainly didn't feel the tension. By the way she was happily swinging her feet, she was finding the flight a fun little thrill ride. Across from them sat the Trinity, Accelerator and Kazakiri-san, all of whom were busy chatting with one another as if it were just a casual day for them. Even Accelerator! He might have been grumpy and taciturn as he did so, but he was nevertheless actively participating in their group's conversation. And then there was Hamazura-san's group, ITEM, on Touma's side of the cabin just down from Index's seat, who all looked bored or, in the case of the stylish older girl - Shizuri-san, he thought her name was? -, as irate as Birdway-san.
Ok. So maybe outside of me and, maybe at a stretch, Birdway-san and Shizuri-san are tense… But they should be! Touma thought with a frown. I mean we're flying off to stop a chunk of rock the size of a mountain from crashing into Academy City! We could stand to be a little more worried!
And then there was the other reason they should all be tense… Their pilot. That being a blonde foreigner girl that he would bet was younger than he was! How could someone like that even know how to fly a plane, much less a prototype suborbital plane! So, he didn't know if there was a difference in flying such a plane from a normal one but that's besides the point! How could a girl who couldn't be more than fifteen know how to fly a plane!
But was anyone freaking out about it? No! Apparently they were all satisfied that Seivelun-san could handle it. According to them, a mix of the plane's advanced AI autopilot and the use of an Indian Poker card to give the Norwegian a crash course in flying a plane was good enough!
Don't think about it, Touma! Touma reminded himself as he gripped the straps that buckled him into his seat tightly in a bout of nerves. If you do, you'll just feel worse! Think about something else instead!
Touma freely admitted that he was not exactly the most creative person out there so he was unsurprised that the first thing that his mind latched onto as a distraction just happened to be something that he had just been thinking about in passing: Indian Poker.
Really wished it worked better for me. He thought with a frown as he recalled how he had spent a good chunk of his latest allowance on a card of Eden Corp's scent triggered dream learning tool, specifically a card that contained a math supplement. As it was an all natural product, he had hoped that for once his Imagine Breaker wouldn't deny him the chance of using such a useful learning aid. It worked too! It had allowed him to pull his grade in his last test from an abysmal F to a solid E! Sure, it was still a failure but at least he had shown improvement.
Now, if only I had enough money to afford the other supplements I need. Touma lamented as he remembered that thanks to his frequent involvement in Incidents, and the hospitalizations that typically followed, he was very much behind in his studies, something that was reflected in his grades. Namely, that he was failing everything!
Fukou da…
"Hey hey! I've got a visual and damn! That thing really does look like a mini Star of Bethlehem! Though this one has those weird metal spheres on the bottom." Their pilot commented to them from the open concept cockpit at the front of the plane - Why there wasn't a dedicated cabin for the cockpit was beyond Touma - as suddenly, probably as a result of her turning them on, a set of screens descended from the roof of the plane and began playing a video feed that indeed showed a cross-shaped floating mass of earth that reminded Touma unpleasantly of Fiamma of the Right's flying fortress. The resemblance was frankly uncanny, this thing's smaller size, he didn't measure it himself but he trusted the measurements that Saten-san provided, and the aforementioned metal spheres below its mass being all that really set it apart from the Star of Bethlehem.
So this is Radiosonde Castle, huh?
"Hm, yes, those spheres are actually powerful magical items that allow the Castle to float." Birdway-san commented in her seemingly usual manner of a teacher lecturing students.
"Tch. More illogical magic. There shouldn't be a way for such small things to hold up such a massive weight. Seems there's no limits to what kind of physics breaking nonsense magic can do." Shizuri-san said with a scowl.
"Ah, but Fancy Lady, isn't that the pot calling the kettle black?"
Index-san, please do not anger the scary rich lady!
"Huh?" The woman turned to his gluttonous roommate with an irate look. Was that her default expression or something? "Was I talking to you, you useless little-"
"Mugino!" Hamazura-san called out to her, his tone firm and harsh.
The Number 6 huffed, dropping the subject and calming down, looking off to the side.
Deciding to attempt to defuse tension that the little confrontation had created, Touma quickly redirected everyone's attention elsewhere. "So, um, just a question, but why aren't we leaving things to Necessarius again? Or, I dunno, the Chinese, South Korean, and Japanese militaries the airspace of which the Castle is descending over? They all did say they could and would be happy to deal with this, right?"
"Huh? What are you? Stupid?" Accelerator told him rather harshly.
Yeesh! It was just a question.
"That Castle is targeting our City. Our home. It should be us defending it. Not some outsiders that got a deal with the Superintendent. Tch, you forget what we talked about in Siberia about stepping up and doing the right thing? How the hell is leaving the problem to other people doing the right thing?"
Ah, well, when put like that it was pretty silly.
"Ah, that's true…"
Still, though, I already had to deal with this thing once before. Can't I be spared having to deal with its cheap knockoff? Is this poor Kamijou Touma ever going to get a break? Fukou da!
"I don't see why you are so adamant about handling this yourselves. If we had gone with my idea of just disabling the means that the Castle is using to track Kamijou here, we could leave the disposal of it to someone else. It would be far more efficient!" Birdway-san huffed, looking ready to grind her teeth if it wasn't against Ojou-sama protocols.
"That wouldn't work." Saten-san said with a shake of her head. "That solution is dependent on this Gremlin you claim launched it at the City not being able to redirect it independent of the tracker. And based on what our analysts have been able to figure out, the Castle is tracking Kamijou-san by using Feng Shui principles to remotely observe the repairing of "altered" ley lines that are destroyed by Imagine Breaker. That means it is only precise enough to detect that he had returned to the City. Considering the impact zone should the Castle make landfall encompasses not just the City but a good portion of Japan as well, the tracker you are so obsessed about was likely just a fire and forget trigger for the Castle. In other words, once it served that particular purpose it was rendered a non-factor in regards to this attack and I'd wager follow-up ones as well, considering they will be able to track Kamijou-san's movements through more conventional means now that they know he is back in the City. Of course, we will dispose of the tracker. I have it on good authority that the Superintendent has already sent a team to do so. However, it is hardly a priority."
Birdway-san blinked in shock. She wasn't the only one either. Touma and Index were both looking at the Number 3 in surprise.
How did she know all that!? I mean, didn't we find out about the tracker a few hours ago!?
"How?" The Magician said at last. "How can your analysts know so much, so quickly?"
Namikaze-san scoffed. "Why shouldn't they? You'd be surprised, Birdway, by how many top-tier Magicians work for the City now."
Accelerator shot his girlfriend a look at that and asked curiously, "Etzali and Tsuchimikado?"
What? Tsuchimikado? And that guy who was masquerading as Unabara-san?
"Xochitl-san and a few others as well." Saten-san replied, shocking Touma even further.
There were more? Seriously!? As far as I knew, the City hadn't recruited any Magicians!
"That's all well and good!" Birdway-san cut in haughtily. "But disabling the tracker in the City would have slowed down the Castle and given us more time to-"
"Weren't you listening, Mesugaki?" Accelerator snapped. "Ruiko said it's being handled. Besides, we don't need more time."
"H-how d-dare you interrupt me like that, you barbarian!" Birdway-san sputtered angrily in retort. "Do you know who I-"
"We don't care!" Shizuri-san spat. "You could be the bloody Queen of England and we wouldn't give a damn, you English strumpet."
"Exactly." Kinuhata-san, Shizuri-san's teammate said as she cracked her knuckles. Even as the two remaining members of ITEM shot dagger eyes at Birdway-san. "Everyone here in this plane has done something that has earned everyone else's respect. Everyone except you."
"You might be some bigshot on the Magic Side, Birdway." Namikaze-san said, picking up where ITEM had left off. "But you're on the Science Side now."
"Yeah, so get off your high horse." Misaka-san added, sparks arcing from her body in a demonstration of her agitation. "Stop treating us like we're beneath you."
"Or you will regret it." The usually mild mannered Kazakiri-san warned, shooting a glare at the Magician.
In the face of all that hostility, Birdway-san could only shrink back in her seat and frown.
"You got owned bad~!" Index sang as she pointed and laughed at Birdway-san.
Touma would have backed the girl up. She had saved him after the fight with Fiamma after all. But… Well… The others were kinda right.
Even as she smiled in a way that showed she very much agreed with Touma and everyone else, Saten-san thankfully did not pile on. Instead, she turned to the cockpit of the plane and addressed their pilot. "Frenda-chan, we should be entering into effective range shortly."
"Geez, Ruiko-sama! You took the fun out of it! I wanted to surprise everyone!" Seivelun-san whined, getting most of the cabin laughing at her expense.
"Oh, I know. That's why I spoiled it." Saten-san shot back teasingly.
"Spoilsport!" Seivelun-san retorted with a raspberry. "Anyways~! We're entering effective range in T-minus ten. So everyone get ready!"
Immediately Saten-san began unbuckling herself from her seat, double checked the environment suit and pack of other equipment - which included parachutes and a respirator that would supply them with the oxygen they would need to breathe as high up as they were - that all of them were wearing alongside the rest of the Trinity, Accelerator, Kazakiri-san, and Shizuri-san. That done, they began lining up by the plane's airlock.
"Happy hunting, everyone!" Seivelun-san shouted as one by one those who were exiting the plane stepped into the airlock and then the skies beyond.
"We'll be back by dinner." Saten-sama joked in reply as she took her turn stepping into the airlock.
Seivelun-san laughed at the joke and Touma could only frown.
"Touma, what's the matter?" Index asked, looking confused by his reaction.
"Nothing. It's just… I'm feeling a little useless knowing I'm only here as an observer and as a 'backup plan' should the main plan fail."
Though how he'd manage to serve that role if the need arose was beyond him. Saten-san, who had come up with their main plan, hadn't exactly told him anything.
"Just take it in stride, Kamijou-san." Hamazura-san said as he leaned back in his seat, looking for all intents and purposes like he didn't have a care in the world. "Just relax and trust the others to handle things for once. It's not like you have to be the hero in every Incident."
Touma just nodded even if he still felt uneasy.
I should be out there!
Flaring the wings of her Angel Mode and taking a brief moment to enjoy the feel of the strong winds of the mesosphere flowing through her feathers, Ruiko smiled as she floated in the air besides Accel, Hyouka and Naru in their respective Angel Modes and Demon Frames as they all collectively, through their own slightly different means, defied aerodynamics and gravity. Though glancing at her blonde best friend, Ruiko couldn't help cocking an eyebrow in curiosity.
"Hexe Frame, Naru-chan?"
"Yeah." Naru-chan nodded. "I'm thinking if nothing pops out to attack you and Kazakiri-san when you two get going that I can help Senpai and Mugino with blasting the Castle down to size for you and Hexe and its Hyper Accelerated Entropy is the most useful technique I've got for that."
"That's very thoughtful of you, Naru-san." Hyouka said, offering Naru a smile.
"Hmm.. You have a good idea there, Number 2." Accel said with a nod. "If nothing comes out to defend that thing then I'll join you."
"Thank you both." Ruiko said with a smile for both of them that Hyouka emulated. "Now are we ready to begin?"
Accel, Hyouka and Naru-chan all nodded.
"Senpai? Mugino-san?" Ruiko asked over the radio in the environment suits they all wore. She would have preferred using audiokinesis. Scaring people by suddenly having her voice appear from right beside them was just too fun! However, using it up here in the mesosphere was too much of a hassle. She'd have to mix in a whole load of other abilities to make enough air to properly carry her voice and that was just too much trouble. All because of how annoyingly thin the air was up at this height. Heck, the only reason the four of them didn't need to use the respirators that came with their suits was because their Angel Modes and Demon Frames allowed them, as tested by Kaa-san and Miyahara-san, to operate in even the vacuum of space.
"Ready." Senpai said eagerly.
"Let's get this show on the road already!" Mugino-san said in her usually irritable tone.
Ignoring the Number 6's deplorable attitude, Ruiko addressed her other best friend over the satellite assisted radio link, who was currently all the way back in the City alongside Kuroko-san and waiting on them to get the ball rolling.
"You heard them, Kazari. Are you ready?"
"Yup." Her Level 1 best friend and the best hacker in the City replied excitedly. Considering what she was doing to support their mission, it was no surprise. This was perhaps the most extensive hack that the tech wiz has ever carried out. "The Castle is in my targeting sights."
Smiling, Ruiko gave the command that she was fairly sure her friend had been waiting for. "Then fire at will!"
Seconds later, dozens of beams from the City's defense network, ranging from its satellite-based orbital weapons to its ground-based guns based within the City itself shot towards the Castle. They weren't the end of the barrage however as they were followed seconds later by missiles of various sizes screaming after them from similarly orbital and ground-based launch sites.
From where she was floating next to her, Hyouka let out a nervous laugh as she commented. "Uiharu-san is scary."
"Yes, she can be when she chooses to be." Ruiko agreed even as in the background they heard the aforementioned [Goalkeeper] start cackling like a Saturday morning cartoon villain whilst Kuroko-san scolded her and, more importantly, the bombardment of the Castle was added to by railgun and Particle Waveform High-Speed Cannon shots courtesy of Senpai and the Number 6, who she knew were literally hanging out of their plane and providing their own fire support.
"She isn't called the [Sleeping Terror of the City] for nothing, you know?" Naru-chan chirped as they all admired the destruction that was being rained down on the Radiosonde Castle. Seeing its surface get consumed in explosions was like watching a fireworks display. It was very pretty.
"Since when was she called that?"
Naru-chan shrugged. "No idea. Just saw Kazari-chan being called that a time or two online."
"It's since she got her drone army." Ruiko helpfully explained. "It was spawned by a discussion on a forum that pointed out that between her drones and her ability to commandeer practically any electronic system with her hacking, she is in their words a 'sleeping terror'."
"They're not wrong." Hyouka said with a shudder.
"We're not in a position to say such things." Ruiko said with a chuckle and a shake of her head.
"True." Hyouka agreed with a giggle. "It would be the pot calling the kettle black."
"Yes. And let's show why that is the case shall we, Hyouka?" Ruiko asked as she stretched out a hand to her sister.
"Of course, Onee-sama." Hyouka said eagerly as she slipped a hand into Ruiko's, allowing them to sync their powers.
Wearing matching grins, they both turned towards the Castle and in unison declared, "Let's demolecularize that eyesore!"
Naru couldn't help but laugh at Rui-chan and Hyouka-san's declaration. "Hey hey! It's going to take a while for you to power up and finish up the computations you'll need to do that, ya know?"
Rui-chan's blush was plain to see and just adorable. Hyouka-san however just blew a raspberry at her. Thankfully, she didn't use her powers to emulate a Shitanaga Uba, the infamous long tongued yōkai, like her sister sometimes did to imitate horror movie staples. She'd seen how long Hyouka-san's tongue was normally when she'd had it all lolling out during the invasion of the City by Vento of the Front and it was plenty long enough already, thank you very much! If she'd enhanced it with her powers then it would've been super freaky. "Boo, Naru-san! Don't spoil our fun!"
Naru simply giggled at the whole thing. It was nice to joke around light-heartedly even when things were going to hell. It kept her sane.
Naru, even if you poke fun at them, their destructive ability is still better than our own. Kurama grumbled, sounding sour at the notion, but good of him to still be able to admit it. Even with my Micro Phases, Hyper Accelerated Entropy or the new Senjutsu: Yugo Nichibotsu (Sage Art: Fusion Sunset), we wouldn't be able to destroy the Castle before it falls low enough in the atmosphere to cause widespread destruction. Yet, those two can.
Geez, I know, Kurama. It's why I'm letting them handle destroying it without any protest. Heck, it's why Mister Albino is leaving it to them too. Naru replied alongside a burst of amusement as she turned to look at the falling Castle. Besides, just because that's the case, it doesn't mean I can't tease~
The blonde could feel her partner's exasperation at her antics and that just made her even more entertained. Something that exasperated him even more which in turn amused her further, thus resulting in a small little vicious circle. A circle that was abruptly broken when Kurama tensed and he shouted into her mind. A shout that was echoed at the same time by one made by Accelerator.
Evade! "Watch out!"
Acting entirely on instinct, Naru moved at the words of warning from her allies. Her Hexe Frame twirled around, arms raised as the spheres floating in front of her Frame's hands turned into a pair of large shields. Barriers that blocked the attack aimed right at her, or more accurately, Rui-chan and Hyouka-san immediately behind her. Said attack took the form of a cylinder made of heavy stone that had a diameter a little under two feet with a height of roughly twice that which was surrounded by thunder and lightning, slamming into her shields with the speed of a lightning bolt and the force of a freight train. Shields that it even now was trying to push through.
"Like hell!" Naru shouted and quickly trapped the cylinder in a time loop, stopping the strange weapon in its tracks. Thank you Recursive Temporal State Micro Phase!
Wait is that-! Kurama, am I imagining things or is this thing giving off emotions? Naru asked as she watched the stone loop in time, continuing its struggle to push through empty air as she cautiously floated away from it.
No, you aren't. That 'weapon' is a human being. I'd recognize that emotional spectrum from anywhere.
What?! But how can anyone, even a Magician, turn themselves into something like this?!
"Oi! Pay the fuck attention, Usagi! That thing's trying to break free!" Accelerator shouted at Naru, catching her attention.
Sure enough, while Naru had been left shocked over her discovery, the strange Magician apparently had been gathering up magical energy and using it to erode away at her time stop. Until, with the sound of shattering glass, that was eerily similar to the sound created by Imagine Breaker taking effect, Naru's Micro Phase collapsed.
"As if I'd let you get away!" Accelerator shouted as he burst forward like a reaping wind, charging right in front of the stone and sweeping his wings towards it, proceeded to unleash a massive squall that sent the stone shooting off course.
"Sorry! Just a little surprised to find out that the thing is human." Naru informed Accelerator as the stone recovered quickly and correcting its course, zeroed in on Rui-chan and Kazakiri-san once more.
Shaking her head to clear it of distracting thoughts so she could properly focus on the situation at hand, Naru shouted at Rui-chan and Hyouka-san. "You girls focus on the prep to take down the Castle! Accelerator and I will handle the Magician!"
Hanging onto the roof of the suborbital plane that had somehow ended up in the Trinity's possession after they had 'borrowed' it to get her to Russia for the final battle of World War 3 - she blamed Naru. Ruiko wasn't a kleptomaniac when it came to things. Money though… -, Mikoto thanked Ruiko's foresight in equipping them with all the gear she was currently using to operate up in the thin air of the mesosphere. Without the environment suit keeping her safe from the freezing temperatures and the respirator with its inbuilt supply of oxygen rated for days, she would have had to cobble together some kind of electromagnetic shield bubble to store warm, breathable air taken from the plane. That would've been a major pain! Especially since she already had to use her Electromastery to keep herself from being blown off the plane by the howling winds that were blowing past them as a result of being so high up in the atmosphere.
She was pulled out of her thoughts when she heard Mugino's voice crackle over the radio built into her suit."Hey, [Railgun]! Shouldn't we be providing fire support for Accelerator and Namikaze?"
Glancing at where the Number 1 and 2 were fighting some kind of flying stone cylinder, Mikoto just shrugged whilst using her Electromastery to both pull out a pitch black ball of some wonder material - it was impossibly dense whilst being rather light and, most important of all, could be easily manipulated by electromagnetic fields - that Ruiko had made for her using Dark Matter for the occasion from the pack she had strapped to her back. "Nah. If they haven't asked for help then that means those two have things under control. We need to focus on doing our part in the plan."
Mikoto caught [Meltdowner] frowning through the transparent faceplate of her suit but the Number 6 nevertheless nodded and sent another batch of her electron beams at the Castle alongside the railgun she herself had fired with the fist sized ball as ammunition. A barrage that was soon added to by the City's defenses that Kazari-san had suborned.
Like the previous salvos of their unrelenting bombardment, they landed perfect hits on Radiosonde Castle. Unsurprising, since there was nothing to defend it against their efforts to blast away at it and chip it down to size a little to make Ruiko and Hyouka-san's job easier. The only defense that it did seem to have was that stone cylinder that Accelerator and Naru were fighting.
At the reminder of the two of them fighting to protect Ruiko and Hyouka-san as they focused their powers to do the heavy lifting for this mission, Mikoto found she couldn't help herself and chanced another glance at the fight against that flying stone cylinder.
Damnit! I wish I could help them. She thought even as she fired off another railgun alongside another salvo from Mugino. I really wish I could somehow fly.
Sadly, she couldn't. And that meant she had to help out in other ways instead. One thing she'd learned since she'd become part of the Trinity was that there was no "I" in a team. Each of them had their own part to play and she knew her role for this mission and she would stick to it.
I still wish I could help though. Mikoto thought with a pout as another salvo from the City's defenses slammed into the Castle. I really, really do.
"You girls focus on the prep to take down the Castle! Accelerator and I will handle the Magician!" Accel heard Namikaze shout at Ruiko and her sister as the weirdo Magician who could apparently transform - or perhaps was permanently changed - into a stone cylinder zipped towards the two like a lightning bolt.
"Yeah, leave defense to us just like planned." Accel echoed the Number 2 as he interposed himself between the two Angelic sisters and the incoming attack whilst simultaneously testing the waters a little by stretching out the range of his Redirection further. Much to his satisfaction, the moment the cylinder hit the boundary of his automatic defense, his vector manipulation caught hold of it and sent it veering off course.
He hadn't been entirely sure his Redirection would work on the Magician and their magic. Whilst most magic just manipulated natural phenomena to create unnatural effects, some of them were more esoteric than that. And as much as he'd been researching magic lately, he was far from an expert on all manner of magic so he couldn't exactly tell which type this Magician was using. It certainly looked like the former but looks could be deceiving, especially when it came to magic. And figuring out which type of magic this Magician used was of utmost importance, because whilst Redirection worked fine on manipulated natural phenomena, it was spotty on more esoteric magic. At best, it just dispelled it or in the worst case, did not affect it at all.
It's damn lucky this Magician isn't that freaky after all. Accelerator thought even as he frowned at the inhuman shape their opponent had transformed themselves into. Seriously! They weren't even humanoid!
"Usagi! My Redirection can affect it!" The Number 1 informed the blonde he was fighting alongside. "I'll stick close and use it to keep them safe. You go on the offensive!"
"Gotcha!" The Usagi shouted back as she switched Demon Frames, changing from the flamboyant looking Hexe Frame that let her most easily use her Micro Phase into her speedy Jager Frame. A change she accompanied by jetting towards the Magician as it righted itself from being deflected off course by his Redirection and swinging a pair of still forming blades of that corrosive chakra the Number 2 was infamous for at them.
In response, mouths suddenly opened up all over the Magician's body and the decidedly feminine lips uttered some magic incantation. "ᛗᚨᚷᛁᚲ ᚹᛖᚨᛈᛟᚾ: ᛈᛁᛋᛏᛟᛚ (Magic Weapon: Pistol)."
Her spell proceeded to conjure up a small armory's worth of matchlock pistols around her body that with a series of supernatural booms fired off a salvo of glowing bullets straight at the charging Usagi before the weapons seemingly fading out of existence.
"Yeah, you'll have to do better than that, Magician!" The Number 2 shouted derisively as without slowing her charge, she began spinning in the air like some demented bladed top. A move that somehow allowed her to cut every single bullet that flew at her, even those that defied physics to curve through the air to try and hit her from behind.
Considering that the Magician didn't have a face or body that Accel could use to gauge things, he wasn't sure how they reacted to the failure of their attack but he'd bet good money on them being unfazed. Especially since instead of panicking or trying a desperate evasion to avoid being skewered by the spinning mass of blades that the Usagi was imitating, the Magician just cast another spell. "ᛗᚨᚷᛁᚲ ᚹᛖᚨᛈᛟᚾ: ᚲᚱᛟᛋᛋᛒᛟᚹ (Magic Weapon: Crossbow)"
This time it conjured a massive ballista that looked like it was straight out of the height of the Roman Legions that proceeded to send a bolt heavily charged with some magical energy Accel wasn't familiar with, it wasn't the Telesma he used in his Angel Mode at least, flying at the Usagi. Said Level 5 had by now closed to point blank range and had no chance of evading the attack. She didn't need to though. She wasn't fighting alone after all.
"Oi! Usagi! Be more careful!" Accel scolded even as he flared his wings and fired thin beams of Telesma from his feathers that curved through the air at perfect right angles before slamming into the Magician's ballista bolt microseconds before it hit Namikaze, disintegrating it.
"Didn't need the save but thanks anyway, Accelerator!" The Usagi shouted back as she finally reached her target. However, much to her, and Accelerator's, annoyance the Magician reacted to this by zipping away whilst enshrouded in electricity, an effect that made them look like a lightning bolt.
"You're not getting away that easily!" Namikaze roared, clearly angry at being denied the chance to sink her blades into their opponent.
Said Magician wasn't about to let that happen however and she - Accelerator was willing to bet good money on them being female - conjured supernaturally loud thunderclaps as she fled. Booms of raw sound that acted as shockwaves that knocked the Usagi off her pursuit vector.
Not that it worked out as well as the Magician likely hoped it would.
"Let me say it again, Magician! You need to do better!" The Usagi shouted furiously as she righted herself from the slight midair tumble the thunderclaps had sent her into before with the engines of the jetpack built into her Jager Demon Frame flaring, she shot towards the Magician like a red comet.
I guess the Number 2 isn't teleporting after her because the big idea here is to keep the Magician away from Ruiko and Hyouka-san and playing cat and mouse is safer than closing and attempting a fight she might not win. Accel pondered. It wasn't a strategy he'd use. He was more inclined to just seek out a straightforward direct confrontation than play games but he wouldn't begrudge the Number 2 her fun.
Especially when it was working as seemingly panicked by this the Magician continued her desperate attempts to shake Namikaze off her tail by trying the thunderclap trick again but upping the intensity of it this time, unleashing a whole bunch of them in quick succession. Unfortunately for her, Namikaze was simply moving too fast and she plowed through the shockwaves. They did slow her down marginally, but they did nothing to deflect her course and she began rapidly closing on the magic user.
Watching as the two of them chased each other through the sky, one a lightning bolt and the other a red comet whilst in the background the sky was lit up by explosions as the Castle was pummeled with everything the City's defenses, [Railgun], and Meltdowner could throw at it, Accel couldn't help but shake his head. How did my life end up like this?
Just months ago, the most dramatic thing he'd ever done was be part of the Level 6 Shift experiment. And as deplorable as that was and how he deeply regretted his part in it, it was also low key. Operating in the shadows of the City, it barely attracted any attention. But now? Now, he seemed to become involved in some Incident or other that threatened the world or had a massive scale, sometimes even both, every other week!
Chancing a glance at Ruiko as she continued to sync her powers with her sister so they could destroy the Radiosonde Castle for good, Accel came to a realization. It's all worth it.
Something that was emphasized by the loving smile that Ruiko shot his way when she spotted him looking at her.
He was just smiling back when he heard the air around them boom with a supernaturally loud voice, "ᛏᚺᛖ ᛏᚺᚱᛟᚹᛁᚾᚷ ᚺᚨᛗᛗᛖᚱ (The Throwing Hammer)!"
At her incantation, the Magician veered away from the evasive patterns she had been using to escape Namikaze's pursuit and turned towards where Accelerator, Ruiko and Hyouka-san were hovering in a small cluster. And as she did, she fired off a massive blast of concentrated energy in their direction. It slammed into Accel's Redirection barrier with the destructive power of one of the flaming arrows from Archangel Gabriel's God's Purge.
It however wasn't God's Purge, and where the spell used by the Archangel which Accel had fought during World War 3 possessed a supernatural quality that he still didn't understand and could thus slip past his Redirection unhindered, this spell had none of that. It had plenty of raw power but in a fight between Magicians and/or Espers, power wasn't everything. A point proven when with only a slight supplementary boost to the subconscious computations he used to power it, his Redirection easily deflected the full might of the Magician's spell safely up into the thermosphere and beyond.
The casual deflection of what might've been her ultimate attack seemed to startle the enemy Magician and she just froze for a second. Between that and her earlier abandoning of her evasive maneuvers to launch it in the first place gave the Usagi the time she needed to fall upon the magic user at last.
"Got you!" Namikaze cried out triumphantly as she swung twin massive blades at the Magician in a scissor motion.
Blades that sunk deep into the Magician's stone cylinder of a body and pulled a very clearly feminine scream of pain from her even as blood fountained from the wounds.
"Bullshit! Why can't my blades cut through you?" The Number 2 grumbled as she pulled her blades free and prepared to swing them at their injured opponent again.
Something that the Magician wasn't going to just let happen.
"ᛏᚺᛖ ᛏᚺᚱᛟᚹᛁᚾᚷ ᚺᚨᛗᛗᛖᚱ!" The magic user incanted with a hint of desperation as she fired off her ultimate attack right at the Usagi's face.
"What do I keep telling you, Magician? Do better!" Namikaze taunted as using the insane speed that her Jager Demon Frame gave her, she just casually jetted out of the way of the massive energy blast that their opponent had unleashed.
This seemed to panic the Magician and she began to desperately attempt to fly away from the Usagi who doggedly pursued her. And just when she was about to catch her again-
""Bye bye, Radiosonde Castle!"" Ruiko and Hyouka-san said at once as true to their words, the Castle - whittled down substantially by the barrage it had been subjected to but still massive - began to rapidly disintegrate as it was caught in the concentrated demolecularization effect that the AIM Angel sisters were subjecting it to.
The suddenness of it startled Namikaze and that was all the opening the Magician needed. Not to make one last attempt to save the doomed Castle she was defending though. No. She had more sense than that. Instead, she shot away from the local airspace as quickly as she could.
"You are-"
"Namikaze! Let her go!" Accel shouted at the blonde as she made to pursue the fleeing Magician. "We're done here. No point chasing her and risk getting led into some kind of trap."
"Tsk. You're right." Ruiko's classmate agreed with an angry pout that she accompanied with a glare in the direction that the Magician had fled. "Good riddance!"
Ignoring the Number 2, Accel flew over to put an arm around Ruiko as she finally released her sister's hand and wobbled a little in the air. "You okay there, Ruiko?"
"I'm fine, Accel. Just a little woozy. Demolecularization is always a little strenuous. Thank you." She told him with a grateful smile.
"Onee-sama, you and Accel-san are so cute together." Hyouka-san cooed.
In a move that would have been uncharacteristic of the him just a few months ago, Accel offered his girlfriend's sister a grateful smile in reply. "Thank you. Do you need any help, Hyouka-san?"
The girl shook her head in denial only to wobble unsteadily in the air as the move seemingly screwed with her tenuous balance.
Thankfully, before she could fall out of the sky, the Usagi teleported to her side and caught her by the arm to steady her. "Hey! Woah there! I've got you."
"Thank you, Naru-san."
"Yes, thank you Naru." Ruiko said, offering her best friend a smile.
"Don't mention it." The blonde said with a shrug as the four of them began flying towards the circling plane where their allies were waiting for them. "Let's just head home."
"I can agree with that." Accel said with a nod. "Let's go home."
Back on the Trinity's plane, even as the Number 5 and 6 Espers finished cycling through the airlocks and headed back to their seats as if what they had just been a part of was an everyday occurrence for them, Leivinia Birdway could only stare in awe at the image of the blank sky being projected on the screen in front of her. Everyone else was watching it to see the remaining members of their group fly back towards them but something else entirely had captured Leivinia's attention.
In her mind, the image on the screen was supplemented by the memory of the fight earlier. Sure the battle against that Gremlin Magician was impressive. Even Leivinia would struggle to fight at that level especially in the mesosphere and with as little preparation as the Trinity and its allies had. But no, that was not what had her so rattled. If push came to shove, she could probably hold her own in a fight of that caliber. No, what had truly shaken her was how relatively effortlessly the two AIM Angels had utterly destroyed Radiosonde Castle. Even at her most powerful, Leivinia had doubts she would be able to manage that!
Maybe if I managed to get my hands on some divine artifact. But even then…
From the seat next to her own, [Imagine Breaker] just chuckled.
"I know that look on your face, Birdway-san." Kamijou Touma said with a crooked smile. "I wear it often enough."
"W-What are you talking about?"
"He's talking about the face you're wearing right now, Birdway." Index Librorum Prohibitorum said with a smirk. "The one where you look absolutely flabbergasted at the display of power before you."
"I am not making any face like that!" Leivinia denied vehemently.
"You are." Kamijou insisted. "But it's okay. You'll get used to it. Academy City is full of crazy powerful people."
Leivinia had known that. She'd read the files on the City. But knowing something academically and seeing proof of it for yourself, was two very, very different things. And after seeing the power that Academy City had at its disposal she suddenly felt a lot more confident in her choice to ally with it against Gremlin.
I made the right choice. She thought as a slight grin began to spread across her face as she began to plan on how to manipulate the powerhouses for whom she had just developed a new appreciation for to her own ends. I've definitely made the right choice.
Done and done! Thanks to Nameless as always!
Phew! And the City was saved! Thanks to the Power Puff Trinity! And friends. And frenemies. Geez, talk about dealing with nonsense as soon as you get home, huh? Sucks to suck, huh Touma? That luck of yours really stinks.
Nameless: Yup! Touma is most unfortunate indeed. Speaking of the dude, let me address his little rant about how a fifteen year old like Frenda (we don't know Frenda's age so we pegged it as her just being younger than Touma because she looks like it) should not know how to fly a plane. We know that there are fifteen years old who can. A quick search brought up Riley Speidel's achievement of becoming the youngest pilot to fly solo across the USA coast-to-coast at 14. However, Touma is both a little uneducated on the topic and having a minor freak out. So cut him some slack.
I mean, Touma just usually goes with the flow of things. If it gives him a hand in whatever thing he's jumping into next? He's usually all for it. He'll just complain a little about nonsense or what he feels is ridiculous.
Nameless: True. Okay! Onto the next bit I want to address and that is us having Mjölnir use Old Norse to cast her spells. That is what she is using by the way if you didn't notice. Anyways, we did that because if I recall, she rarely incants anything intelligible in canon for her spells and that's a shame. She's such an interesting Magician! How many others literally transformed themselves into a spiritual tool? So to play up that uniqueness, we decided to cast her spell in an appropriate language which since she is using Norse magic, that happened to be Old Norse. Hope you guys find our reasoning sound.
Yeah, while Mjölnir is a tough piece of stone, she really didn't get a lot of screen time in this regard. So we hope you enjoyed what was done and the arc as a whole!
Nameless: Just wanted to give a response to onilink500's review on FFN for the last chapter. To be honest, I am uncertain what they were driving at. And I'm sure at least some of our readers are so in the interest of responding to the possibilities of what I think they might be, I'm just going to respond to all of them. If they are saying that the TOT characters that are critical of Touma should learn more about his heroics then I'm a little confused. Have we given the impression that they are unaware of his heroism? No, they aren't. I think we've made it quite clear that he's got a reputation as a hero i.e. they know enough of his heroics on both Magic and Dark Side to form a opinion. Despite that, they just see him as a mostly bumbling hero which can only get serious at the last minute and tends to butt into situations on the road to resolution when he doesn't need to and isn't wanted. We've outlined this time and time again both in-story and in multiple ANs, I really don't understand why we are repeating this again.
Alternatively, if they're asking us to show some of Touma's adventures then we'll have to make a hard pass. This story is *not* about Touma. If you are looking for a Touma-centric story then there are plenty of them and you can go read them instead. After 97 chapters, I'd have thought this was obvious.
As for their actual suggestion, it was for us to mention more of Touma's exploits since a lot of it happens on the Magic Side and the TOT characters might not be aware of them. That's not really feasible. Canon doesn't do that for the side-stories like Railgun unless there's an overlap and we've been following that norm for the entire story so far. If Touma's exploits (be they on the Magic or Dark Side) are relevant like it was in the World War 3 arc, we do mention or even show what he does. Mentioning him more than that is both not in keeping with both canon and the story's convention on handling it but also feels very unnatural. I mean, outside of Mikoto, would any of our main cast care? And would Mikoto be privy to such information? If we made it so she was, would a scene of her reviewing everything about Touma did say during the Orsola Aquinas Rescue arc (an arc I just randomly chose to make this point) be relevant to the rest of the story either in regards to the TOT arc running parallel to or after it? Or to the overall TOT story? I do not think so. That is why we do not mention Touma's heroic antics often.
Now with my long reply done. E4E, sign us out!
E4E: You know what to do! Smash that review button and tell us what you love! No flames and peace off my peeps!