Trinity of Tokiwadai

by Engineer4Ever

Three very different girls. Each a powerful Esper in the miraculous city of superhumans, Academy City. Together these heroines and their friends explore the wonder and mystery of their City and its Dark Side as the Trinity of Tokiwadai.

69. Chapter 69

Disclaimer : I don't own Naruto or Toaru Kagaku no Railgun/Toaru Majutsu no Index

The Trinity of Tokiwadai

Chapter Sixty Nine: Daihaseisai - Climax of Revenge

Beta:

---

Accelerator felt a sense of lingering annoyance as he flew the last few feet atop a conjured twister and into the courtyard of Shinohara Liquid Material Factory, which apparently served as MEMBER's current main base of operations. Even the admittedly soothing sounds of the Counter Capacity Down system emanating from the earbuds he was wearing that had been cooked up by Ruiko's crazy mother to counter AIM Down failed to fully calm him down.

He would much rather have helped the others in retaking [Mental Out]'s captured base over in District 2. Everyone was sure that was where the main bad guy was, but no! The blasted Number 7 had objected, citing some bullshit logic about how he'd just wreck everything in her base. He would've just ignored her but Ruiko, of all people, had backed her up. And had even used their daughters to delay him so he couldn't just finish with MEMBER and loop back around to join the rest of them.

He suspected his girlfriend just didn't want him there when she finally got her revenge on Gensei. Probably thought seeing her go all homicidal would make her look bad in his eyes or some nonsense. For some reason, Ruiko seemed to think he didn't understand that she could be just as much of a monster as he was. Silly girl! He loved her knowing that. He loved every part of her, even the [Army Slayer].

"Alright fuck nuggets. Think you're hot shit? I'm about to show you why you're hot garbage."

"Big words from a cripple." A girl with shoulder-length curly black hair and brown skin said as she walked out to confront him. She was sporting some no-name school's track suit and jersey. Seriously? Black and red? Lame.

He didn't completely ignore who she was though. He was seasoned enough on the City's Dark Side to know the value of knowing his opponents. Even weak trash might surprise you. Look at how he'd underestimated the Hero after all. So he'd diligently read Ruiko's reports on the various MEMBER operatives.

This girl was one of those Gemstones who insisted on calling themselves 'Magicians' named Xochitl who used Aztec 'magic' and had joined the City after being exiled from her cabal for stopping them from massacring the people of the disbanded Liberal Arts City - And thank Science Ruiko and her friends never did go on that field trip there, the whole thing that went down there sounded like a total waste of time that he was sure they'd have been sucked into if they went. Guess the twins getting sick that week had a silver lining after all. - during their operation to break up the American government's secret Gemstone kidnapping and experimentation unit operating there. Apparently the sickos in her cabal thought killing tens of thousands of innocent people to keep their organisation's existence a secret was justified and the girl had violently objected, earning herself exile and apparently a forced merger with one of their superweapons they called a 'grimoire'. Accelerator honestly didn't believe any of that magic bullshit, so all he got away from that was this girl apparently was a kind hearted pussy and was pretty powerful at least by the standards of these so-called 'Magicians'.

"Eh? Are you volunteering for the first bloodletting? I have to say, you've got more balls than most in this City walking up to me all calm." Accelerator said as he flashed a feral smile, crimson eyes glowing in merry delight at the thought of beating something up after that Gensei shit attacked his girlfriend's home.

"I know who you are, but you aren't much on par with what you used to be." The girl coolly informed him, whilst shooting a mocking glance at his choker.

Oh, even though she was a girl, her balls were huge.

"...Oi, oi, just because I'm weaker, doesn't mean an insect like you is stronger." He chided with a sharp click of his tongue. "Especially some voodoo wielding hippy. Why don't you walk off and play with some dead fucker's corpse. I'm sure that gets you off more than being beat bloody."

Ah, there was the twitch in the eye. He'd hit a nerve. He loved poking at nerves! It was a pastime at this point. No wonder Jailbait poked fun at the Bug Zapper so much.

"I do not perform Necromancy." The girl retorted as she used her 'magic' to summon a macuahuitl, a traditional Aztec double-edged sword made up of a wooden staff, where small stone blades made out of white chalcedony were lined up on either side making it look more like a saw.

"Oh right," Accelerator said, with a taunting sneer. "You're too much of a goody two shoes to do something like that, huh? I read about what you did in Liberal Arts City after all."

"If you have," the 'Magician' said, relaxing slightly but not dismissing her weapon. "Then you know that I abhor needless violence. This is one such instance. We need not fight today."

"Nah, I just think your Gemstone cult is as nuts as the rest of you. But I guess the Kool-Aid finally went sour for you, huh?" He jeered, ignoring the girl's statement as the misdirection that it was, while adjusting his foot slightly so he made contact with a nearby pebble. "Is MEMBER's better, I wonder?"

Even as he finished his question, he sent the pebble flying at the girl like a bullet. She reacted admirably though, moving her weapon up to act as a shield that deflected the pebble safely away. It blocked her sight though and gave Accelerator the opening he needed to close in on her from the side courtesy of a series of air bursts. He stretched out his right hand at her, planning to touch her and manipulate her blood and cause her to blackout.

To the Number 1's surprise, the deluded Gemstone responded by transforming the entire side of her body facing him into dust even as she spun away from him. Wary of the dust, Accelerator made sure to keep a layer of wind around his body that kept it from settling on him even as he took a power enhanced leap back from the 'Magician' who was rapidly returning her body to its normal state.

"I was serious when I said we need not fight." The girl said as she used a series of impressive moves to avoid getting hit by the random debris that Accelerator hurled her way, deflecting any she couldn't outright evade with her weapon. "MEMBER has discovered that our go-between with the Board has betrayed us and has been using us for a rogue op in service of a third party. MEMBER is no longer your enemy."

"And you just expect me to believe that?" Accelerator asked with a roll of his eyes as he tried sending a twister the girl's way only for her to outrun it. "You think I'm an idiot? Besides, I don't care. All I want is to bash some MEMBER heads in for even having the gall to attack the Sisters!"

"You are being unreasonable." The Gemstone said as she ran up the side of the factory whose courtyard they were fighting in to escape the dissipating twister he'd sent at her. She reached the second storey before she leapt off the side of the building and partially transformed herself into dust midair to somehow adjust her trajectory so she could fall down at him from on high with the flat of her weapon poised to bash his head in.

"Fuck yeah I am!" He readily agreed and slid along the ground, using Vector Control to manipulate friction and allow him to literally skate out of the way of the attack.

"Then perhaps you'd be more reasonable if I appealed to your duty as a boyfriend." The girl said as she tried to lash out at him with a swing of her weapon, taking advantage of its admittedly substantial reach. "This is the second time you've let the Number 3 confront her enemies without you, is it not? As her boyfriend, shouldn't you be there supporting her by fighting by her side?"

"...Okay, just a note for you if you live. You don't talk about relationships during these things. Or you're going to get smacked something fierce. Revenge is all good, but talking relationships is like talking sex with the in-laws." Accelerator said as he blasted the girl with a powerful gust that slammed her hard into one of the factory walls. She transformed herself into dust to lessen the impact, but by the grunt of pain she gave out as she hit the wall and reformed her body, it still hurt like a bitch.

I honestly agree with her a little. But…

"Ruiko can take care of herself." He hissed angrily as he advanced on the Gemstone as she struggled back to her feet. "Also, three."

"Three…?"

"Three times I could have blown you up in a dust explosion. That's how many times you turned to dust and every one of those times I could've used that to kill you. But I was being generous and didn't. So now that you know how outclassed you are, ditch now and you won't become a statistic of the Dark Side." The albino offered, he tried not to kill if he didn't have to.

As best as he could anyways. His girls, both Ruiko and their daughters, got on his case way too much when he did. Sure Namikaze could go all Bathory, but she's still adored. Double standards, seriously.

"I-" The Gemstone began when their conversation was interrupted by his phone ringing.

"What now?" Accelerator said irritably. Calling him when he was on an op? Man, what a damned rookie move and not to mention rude. His Caller ID told him that it was Yoshikawa though, and she wasn't exactly a field operative, so he'd just have to be generous and forgive her.

"Yeah, wha-"

"Last Order just passed out." The nanny informed him hurriedly. "It's probably a result of whatever Gensei is doing. Do something!"

"Leave it to me." Accelerator reassured the woman, before turning his back on the Gemstone and launching himself into the sky atop a twister even as he abruptly ended the call and dialed Ruiko's number.

"Ruiko, Last Order just-"

"Passed out I imagine?" Ruiko replied, her voice coming across synthesized like she wasn't actually talking to him but using Electromastery to directly input her side of the conversation into her phone. "I'm fighting Gensei right now, so I can't give you the details but he's basically using Exterior and the Misaka Network in a convoluted plan to temporarily elevate Mikoto-sempai to a near Level 6 state so he can collect data. I'll kill him and dismantle his plan. I'll be done in a minute or two. Ruiko out."

Without so much as waiting for a response, she hung up and Accelerator cursed. Ruiko was never so abrupt with him. Especially not when they were talking about one of their daughters. Her fight with Gensei must be a lot more serious than she was letting on. Though how an old geezer could be giving her trouble he didn't know, but he could totally imagine that sicko finding a way. Probably one thoroughly unethical one.

"If she's busy with Gensei, then I'll go after that big brain." He decided as he made a beeline for School District 2. "She said he's using it to mess with the Misaka Network, right? So if I destroy it then it'll stop whatever is hurting Last Order and the Sisters."

With his target set in his mind, he sped up but just as he was crossing the boundary into District 2, the Misaka Network suddenly started feeling strange.

"What the hell!?" He cursed as he brought himself in for a landing on a nearby rooftop. He wasn't about to risk flying with the Network on the fritz. "Shit, whatever Gensei is doing to the Network is messing with its calculation support for my ability!"

In hindsight that it would do so should've been obvious. That it hadn't until now… Was probably Last Order's doing.

"Shit! Shit!" Accelerator cursed as he landed in a stumble and collapsed face down on the rooftop."N-No, no! I-I re-refuse t-to l-let t-this s-stop m-me!"

His slurring speech was not a good sign though. It seemed the Network's degrading capabilities were weakening even their ability to support his basic functions.

"Fuc-uck, m-m-move. MOv-e!" He shouted, refusing to give in.

He couldn't lose here. He just couldn't! There was too much at stake. Last Order needed him! Ruiko needed him! The Misaka Network couldn't be destroyed! He wouldn't let it! If it did… It would render him a vegetable and take him away from Janie and Febrie too! He couldn't allow that! He refused to! His family bloody needed him!

With a wordless roar of defiance, as images of his girlfriend and their girls filled his fading consciousness, black winds exploded out of him.

---

"I have to say, this is such a lovely road trip vehicle." Misaki chirped as she lounged on the comfortable couch inside the luxury camper. A much better option in her opinion than flying off alone to bash heads like Accelerator had been forced to. She was the [Queen] and she deserved to travel in style. "Naru-chan's doing no doubt, since Misaka-san and Saten-san don't have taste ability for the finer things."

"Oi oi, don't encourage these crazy purchases, you Boob Monster." Misaka-san snapped, looking ever so grumpy. She just wanted to pull the girl's cheeks to help her get a grip.

After all, Misaki had far, far more to lose and she wasn't showing her stress so blatantly.

Especially since she was comforted by the fact that she was returning to her occupied base at the head of a literal army. Their little luxury camper being only the lead vehicle in a convoy that contained APCs full of Maniple troops, Anti-Skill agents and Judgement volunteers. The only ones left out had been the rest of the Sisters, who under heavy protest had been convinced to stay behind at the Kiyama house to protect their non-combatants.

Truly the resources the Trinity could mobilize was terrifying. And this wasn't even their full might. Naru-chan had tried to call in her girlfriends and their Black Crows too but their involvement was being withheld by the Board, the Crows were apparently the City's on duty security unit today, and were kept as an emergency reserve. To be deployed at the Board's discretion of course, much to everyone's annoyance. Misaki was fairly sure she heard Monaka-sama shout an obscenity or two at that decision when the old bats had called to let them know that particular decision.

No, no don't focus on how her kohai had her totally outclassed. That way led to madness! Focus on the plans and preparations she had. She had three little attack dogs for this too. One of them was even rabid for Gensei, so it would all work out somehow. At least she hoped so.

"Just asking Naru-chan." Misaki cut in, disguising her worry behind a coy smile. "But where did you get something this fancy? Why not just settle for a more standard model, they do have ones specially built for us Dark Siders you know, right? Not that I'm complaining mind you, the comfort power of these seats are nice."

"I was young and stupid." Naru-chan replied with a shrug. "I have a number of these in stock so might as well use them."

"Ah, that makes sense." Misaki nodded.

"More like a few months ago younger." Misaka-san jeered with a mocking smile, making their little kohai pout adorably. She resisted her urge to pinch those cute cheeks. Truly, Naru-chan's moe ability was fearful, as expected of a model.

"So anyone thinks letting Accelerator go alone was a bad tactical decision?" Misaki asked airily, trying to keep the conversation going and keep her mind from wandering back to her worries. "I agree with pointing him away from Exterior, because he'll just wreck it, that barbarian, but sending him alone? Is that wise?"

"It's fine." Uiharu-san said with a grin, looking up from her tablet where she was overseeing the transport of her drone army. "Saten-san knows how to manage him. He'll be suitably distracted with beating up MEMBER. That should keep him away from wrecking anything you don't want him to. That and having his daughters delay him so he sets off later than us buys us time too. So he's unlikely to finish beating them up and then come over to cause a mess. We'll be done before he arrives. Isn't that right, Saten-san?"

Saten-san just nodded, with the barest hint of a smile. It did little to hide the fury she still radiated. Helped along immensely by the rainbow aura that surrounded her.

"He's a real softy once you get to know him." Naru-chan giggled with a dimpled smile that radiated sunshine. She really was a wolf in sheep's clothing. Among the Level 5s, only her and Misaka-san seemed to blend well with the public. This despite she possibly being the one among them with the most blood on her hands.

"That's because you use the twins as shields." Saten-san ruefully countered.

"Nonsense! As their Nee-san, they love me too much to let their Papa snap my spine in three different places."

That sounded far too specific and Misaki used her ejection ability to banish it from her mind. She really didn't want to know when Naru-chan had the displeasure to have suffered that fate at Accelerator's hands.

"...So, about Accelerator…" Misaki started, but the mad glare she was sent by the rabid puppy made her zip her pouty lips in an instant.

"He'll be fine, Rui-chan." Naru-chan took over, much to Misaki's relief. Anything to get the Number 3's murderous gaze off her.

"Anyways, I have a question." Misaka-san said suddenly, shooting Misaki a searching look. "Why are you helping the Sisters? What do you get out of this?"

"Such low trust ability?!" Misaki gasped, gloved fingers covering her mouth. "Can't I show my concern power and help the lost lambs in their time of need?"

"No," Misaka-san said bluntly. "So tell us before I shock you senseless for being a potential turncoat."

"Naru-chan, your brute of a Sempai is bullying your more lovely Sempai!"

"I'm honestly curious too," Naru-chan said with a smirk. "So tell us."

Fiddlesticks.

"Oh, fine." Misaki said, thoroughly annoyed that she'd have to reveal yet another of her secrets. But she couldn't really afford to alienate the Trinity now, so she had no choice. "You see when I was younger, I met a clone named Dolly at a research facility for my Power Development-"

"The same one which produced Exterior with the original purpose to create a DNA computer that could grant Mental Out to anyone?" Naru-chan inquired. "I remember them running a concurrent programme at that time called the Clone Dolly Workshop. Not sure about the specifics though."

Misaki's eyebrow twitched in annoyance at having even this much about her past being known by others. And without her telling them! How the hell did they know!? She shot a suspicious look at Saten-san, but the girl was too busy glaring a hole at the far wall from where she was sitting to even acknowledge her.

How rude, telling a lady's secrets, Saten-san.

"-who thanks to the low quality of her creation process and neglect by the researchers needed machines embedded inside of her as a life-support system." Misaki continued with a frown at the likely culprit for spilling her secrets. "Though even these were only poorly embedded at best, leaving her body covered in scars and worse were easily displaced if she was jolted. At some point due to the loss of her only friend, Dolly's cooperative ability went down. So the researchers requested that I brainwash Dolly to make her think that I was said friend, another girl I never met but which Dolly called Mi-chan, in order for them to continue gathering the valuable data they wanted from her. And eventually… I-I came to truly regard Dolly as my friend. My closest friend…"

Her eyes stung, but Misaki held the tears back. "Dolly even shared with me her dream of wanting to see the ocean and get outside the research institute. That never happened though. One day, Dolly just… collapsed."

Misaki didn't need to use her acting ability as she sobbed at the memory, tears running down her face as she recalled the horrifying moment in time.

"I-I watched her going through such pain, panicking all the while. Dolly asked me my name, revealing that she'd seen through the entire ruse ever since she asked me to perform the same power as Mi-chan and I proved unable to do so. And yet, and yet, she still stayed my friend."

That brought a fresh round of tears to Misaki's eyes and she unabashedly let them fall. She would never let her shame power come in the way of her precious feelings and memories of Dolly.

"D-Dolly's body was at its limits. Falling apart and failing her, even with Academy City's extensive medical prowess. Apparently this was something the researchers accounted for." A snarl had her peeling her lips back, causing her to show her teeth as they grinded together in her rage.

"Though I only learned most of this after Dolly died and I took over their minds to suss out the truth from the researchers. They wanted me to be their puppet? Ha!" She barked out a cruel laugh, one full of lingering rage. "Now? Now they dance to my whims and I'll use them up until they pay. I'll use them to protect the mindless masses against the evil in this filthy, evil City."

She said with the full weight of her determination. It was a goal she was ready to dedicate her whole being towards.

"Never again, if I can help it, will I allow anyone to suffer like Dolly did. All she wanted was freedom. To see the freakin' ocean! Yet, those, those damned animals couldn't even grant her something so simple! So fuck this City and our damned immoral overlords. If I ever get my hands on them, I'll burn them slow until they don't even realize they're dead."

Misaki's little tirade left the whole van in utter silence, everyone looking at her with disbelieving, awed looks. Well, everyone but Saten-san, who just kept up with her staring contest with a blank wall.

"Wow!" Naru-chan said, sounding impressed. "I don't think I've ever heard you speak so real before Sempai. If I wasn't in a committed and loving relationship, I think I'd fall for you after that."

Leave it to Naru-chan to confess after that. What a strange little kohai. Still, a watery smile came to Misaki's face.

"You couldn't handle all this, Naru-chan. But I take the confession as a sign of how grand our compatibility power is."

"But seriously, why are you opening up now, Sempai? After all, you don't trust people whose minds you can't read, right?"

"I still don't," Misaki confessed with a shrug. It wasn't lady-like, but pearls among swine, or two thirds swine in this case. "But if it increases your trust power in me then it's worth it."

"So you're trying to manipulate us?" Misaka-san accused with a glare.

"Well, it is my MO," Misaki said with a shark-like smirk. "Just like keeping and spilling secrets is Saten-san's."

Despite the obvious bait, the Number 3 did not rise to the occasion and Misaki was starting to get genuinely worried.

"Uh, is bringing Saten-san along really a good idea?"

"I'm fine. I won't lose my cool." The furious Number 3 said, still not looking away from the patch of wall her eyes had been glued to for the past while.

"Rui-chan is so beyond anger, she's circled back to calm. So expect a lot of blood." Naru-chan chirped with a knowing look at her bestie. "But if she does do something stupid, Mikoto-sempai and I are there to keep her in line."

"Yes, you will be." Saten-san nodded, offering both her fellow Trinity members a smile. "Thank you."

"Onee-sama!" Shirai-san, Misaka-san's Minion #1, said as she poked her head in from the driver's compartment via the small window in the divider. The Teleporter having chosen to ride shotgun whilst Kurozuma-san drove to provide some protection for him should the enemy try anything fishy on the way to their destination. "We've arrived."

"Then it's time," Saten-san said, a bloodthirsty smirk growing across her face. "Time for Gensei to reap what he's sown. Time for vengeance!"

"You're going all over the top on us, Ruiko." Misaka-san said with a sigh as the van came to a stop and they all began unbuckling their seatbelts. "You only do that when you're at your worst. Are you sure you're okay?"

"She's fine." Naru-chan reassured the [Railgun]. "We've got her back, remember. Rui-chan, just one thing-"

"What?"

"Whatever you do, don't destroy the City. Remember your family lives here."

This seemed to strike a chord with the Number 3 and she nodded, her features calming slightly. Misaki really hoped it would be enough. The situation was crazy enough as is. Adding an out of control [AIM Sovereign] to the mix was not a good idea. Not at all.

To think Naru-chan was her verbal leash in this situation. That said a lot.

"Alright, let's get this show on the road already." Misaka-san said as she pulled open the camper's door. "Time to save 10032!"

---

"Alright, the security cordon is complete." Yomikawa-san said as she walked over to join Mii, Sempai, and Ylva-san as they convened in the mobile command center that Anti-Skill had deployed to help coordinate their operations for the day. "Thanks to the help from your friends in Judgement, Konori-san, we've managed to both evacuate the area and secure it in record time."

"Don't mention it," Mii said, offering the older woman a smile. "We're glad to help."

"Yeah, well I really want to help in assaulting the enemy base too." Sempai said with a pout. "I want to make that Gensei idiot pay for getting his toady to kidnap Mii and I."

"I think Saten-san has that more than covered, Sempai." Mii told him with a roll of her eyes even as she gestured at the aforementioned Level 5 standing just outside the door to the back of the trailer where they were gathered and conferring with Shirai-san, Uiharu-san and her fellow Level 5s as they planned their storming of the enemy base. The usually controlled girl was currently looking practically eager. Not surprising really. Based on the history she had with that old man, she certainly deserved the chance to have at him.

Honestly, if she hadn't been kidnapped, she would have felt sorry for the man - If she didn't know his horrendous deeds - for having four Level 5s coming after him.

Sempai reluctantly nodded in agreement.

"It seems the enemy is tired of waiting." Ylva-san said suddenly, looking away from the bank of monitors that she'd been observing the past while and picking up her sniper rifle before walking towards the door. "I'm going outside to where I can best help my men. Yomikawa-san, can I leave the overall coordination of our forces to you? I believe you are the most experienced in that field among all of us."

"Leave it to me." The Anti-Skill commander said as she picked up a headset and fell into a chair in front of a console, the monitor of which was showing hordes of robots pouring out of the enemy base.

There was a slight hum in the air that signified that AIM Down was at play but Mii barely felt it, courtesy of the countermelody being played directly into her ears through the Counter Capacity Down earbuds she was wearing. There wasn't even the slight reduction in her computational ability that she'd suffered in her last run in with the system. It seemed that in the hour or so since then, Kiyama-sensei had somehow managed to refine their countermeasure even more.

"Let's go outside and join the party too, Sempai." Mii told her boyfriend with a smirk. "We'll be of more help out there than in here."

"Right behind you, Mii." Sempai said with a grin of his own as they both followed Ylva-san's lead and filed out of the trailer.

"Nee, nee, Sempai~? Can I go crazy or should I save the fireworks for the important people?" Namikaze-san asked in a cutesy tone that sent a shiver down Mii's spine.

Ah, the bloody Namikaze-san was coming out today it seemed.

"Toss them a parting gift and move on, Naru-chan." Saten-san said even as she dropped what looked suspiciously like an actual black hole on top of a concentration of the enemy robots and reduced them to so much scrap whilst she began taking an almost leisurely stroll towards the enemy base. "Don't lose sight of the real enemy."

"Gotcha, Rui-chan." Namikaze-san said as she spat a trio of massive white fireballs at the enemy, turning hundreds of the robots into slag as she ran up to fall in beside her best friend. "Mikoto-sempai, Misaki-Sempai, Uiharu-chan, Shirai-chan, let's go you slowpokes!"

The two older Level 5s exchanged an exasperated look before sighing and falling in behind their kohai, with Mii's own two Judgement kohai - or in Uiharu-san's case, her drones - dutifully forming up as their group's rearguard.

"Best of luck, Jouchans! Beat the shit outta that old geezer for me." Sempai shouted from nearby, as he stepped out of one of the Maniple APCs in his personalised Powered Suit.

Namikaze-san shot him a thumbs up but the others seemed a little too preoccupied with destroying the countless robots trying to waylay them to give him any mind.

This is my life now. Mii couldn't help but think with fond exasperation as she caught the sniper rifle that Sempai tossed her way.

"Time to do our part, Sempai." She told her boyfriend as they both exchanged a final nod and rushed off to join the fight.

---

Blasting their way through the robotic horde that Gensei had thrown at them was easy and it was just a few minutes before Ruiko, Naru-chan, Uiharu's drones, Mikoto-semapi, Shirai-san and Shokuhou-sempai managed to fight their way inside the occupied Exterior base. As they did, they were greeted by Gensei's gloating voice greeting them over the building's P.A. system.

"Well, well, aren't I popular? Four Level 5s here to stop me? Am I really that dangerous?" The deranged madman said over the building's speakers even as more of his robots appeared to delay them.

Ruiko was honestly tempted to silence him by shorting out the speakers but she knew better. Gensei loved the sound of his own voice, especially when he thought he had the upper hand. If she let him keep talking he'd let something useful slip sooner or later. It was for that reason that she shook her head at Mikoto-sempai as sparks danced around her head as she prepared to fry the P.A. system.

"Gensei, I will kill you. Slowly." Ruiko replied instead, succinctly summarising her feelings towards the man, sending a matter destabilization wave surging down the corridor ahead of them causing the hundreds of enemy drones in front of them to fall to pieces. Using this particular ability was draining as it required mixing of at least a half dozen Esper abilities with the massive calculations that entailed, but Ruiko wanted to make a statement. Besides, with the power of her Angel Mode surging through her veins in response to her anger it was strangely easy.

In response, Gensei just broke out into a laugh.

"Ignore him, Rui-chan." Naru-chan said, putting a hand on Ruiko's shoulder and giving it a reassuring squeeze as they began advancing into the facility.

"Yes, he's just boasting. He's far from achieving his goal and we have plenty of time to stop him. Honestly, I have no idea what he hoped to gain from seizing Exterior in the first place."

"Oh? Is that so, Shokuhou-chan?"

"Of course. The registration process that you will need to complete to gain access to Exterior will take days. There's no way that you can use it in the short term."

"Ah! But if I just tune that giant brain's brainwaves to my own then I can bypass that, can't I?" Gensei said with amusement even as a fresh wave of drones tried to delay them and Mikoto-sempai took them out with a series of rapid railgun shots.

"Level Upper!? You're using Level Upper?" Ruiko hissed, furious.

"Oh, what's with that anger, Ruiko-chan? Need I remind you that I was the one who developed the fundamentals of the tool and that you and your mother simply refined it? As its inventor it is only right for me to use it as I see fit, no?"

"Ruiko, stop letting him rile you up." Mikoto-sempai chided as she shocked a half dozen of the hover drones that had dropped their optical camouflage in an attempt at ambushing them. "Stay focused."

"Yes, Saten-san." Shirai-san added as she destroyed three of the hover drones by teleporting her exploding nails into their bodies. "Do not let your emotions overrule your reason."

"Yeah, Saten-san. Don't let him manipulate you." Uiharu said through her drones as well as she blasted the last few remaining ambushing drones with her machines' energy weapons.

"Yes, channel your inner [Ro-." Shokuhou-sempai began only to be interrupted by Naru-chan teleporting to her fellow blonde's side and covering her mouth.

"Sempai, you're not helping." She warned the mind reader. "Just be quiet okay?"

The older blonde frowned but nodded nonetheless and began pushing Naru-chan's hand off her face when suddenly a mass flowed out of a ventilation shaft above their position. It was fast and Ruiko only managed to throw up a barrier above them in the nick of time. The thing bounced off said dome of energy and landed a short distance in front of them in the corridor, revealing itself to be Kouzaku's liquid metal puppet as it formed itself into its favoured humanoid combat shape. It wasn't alone however as a series of hidden doors opened on either side of the corridor behind it from which poured out a company's worth of Gensei's drones.

Slipping behind the cover of the freshly arrived drones which shielded it from the withering fire that Ruiko and her friends sent its way, the puppet coiled its tendril like arms into giant cockscrews that it proceeded to thrust at them, uncoiling the arms as it did and adding more force to its thrusts.

"Neat trick, Kouzaku-chan." Naru-chan scoffed even as the attack deflected off Ruiko's barrier just as ineffectively as the laser fire of its robotic allies. "But you'll have to do better than that to break through one of Rui-chan's barriers."

Even as Naru-chan taunted their enemy, Ruiko acting on what Konori-sempai had learned from her and Kurozuma-san's run in with the puppet proceeded to use a quick burst of telekinesis to crush the skull ornament hanging from the choker around the puppet's neck and destroying the camera hidden within.

"Uh, no offence Saten-san but what good does that do?" Shokuhou-sempai asked, looking confused. "I mean she can just look through the drones' cameras, can't she?"

Seriously!? Ruiko thought as she shot the oldest of them an annoyed look. Is she really critiquing my tactics when she herself has done nothing meaningful in the fight so far!?

"Consider it thinking ahead." Ruiko retorted as she turned back to the enemy whilst firing a brace of particle beams at them, adding to the various attacks that her friends were raining on them.

It was a relentless assault but whilst the drones fell in droves, Kouzaku's puppet weaved around their ranged attacks and easily weathered the damage it sustained from the few times that Shirai-san turned her attention towards it. All whilst simultaneously engaging in hit and run attacks against Ruiko's unyielding barrier. Though by its unceasing attempts to breach it, it was undeterred by its persistent failure. Likewise, even though more than a hundred of their number had already been destroyed so far, Gensei continued to send in more of his drones into the meat grinder that was the current skirmish.

"Good work Kouzaku-kun, keep them occupied please." Gensei said even as the aforementioned Level 4's puppet's bladed arms futilely tried to penetrate Ruiko's barrier, throwing up sparks with each attempt, but nonetheless alongside its robotic allies successfully pinned their group down. "Thanks to your efforts, you've bought the time I've needed to use Mental Out as granted to me by Exterior to implant a virus into the Misaka Network via that Sister we acquired."

"A virus in the Network!? What have you done to my sisters, you cre- Argh!"

Ruiko spun to face Mikoto-sempai even as the older girl cut herself off and let out a pained cry.

"I think you should be more worried about yourself, Misaka-chan~!" Gensei said with a laugh as a burst of electricity suddenly erupted from the [Railgun] forcing everyone back from her even as she entered some kind of transformation. Ribbons of electricity arced off her body and began to somehow solidify into something resembling a solid mass that began to spread over her body like a second skin even as it began to form strange structures around her.

"Onee-sama!" Shirai-san cried out in alarm and almost teleported to their transformed sempai's side but Ruiko quickly reached over and grabbed her arm whilst disrupting her ability. Getting close to Mikoto-sempai now was dangerous.

"Shit! He's forcing her through a Level 6 Shift!" Naru-chan shouted as wrapping herself in her Panzer Demon Frame, she tackled the transforming Number 5 straight through a wall and towards the exterior of the building. "I'll keep her under control while she goes berserk! The rest of you go stop Gensei!"

Shirai-san looked mutinous and roughly pulled her arm out of Ruiko's hold, attempting to teleport after Mikoto-sempai but the [AIM Sovereign] continued to lock down her ability. Even as she used Aero Hand to create a powerful suction effect through the path outside that Naru-chan had created to pull Kouzaku's puppet and its robotic compatriots out of the way.

"Don't. You won't be any help against someone undergoing a Level 6 Shift. You saw what it did to Naru-chan. We can't expect Mikoto-sempai to be in control of herself in that state, especially not if Gensei is using Mental Out to induce it. He's probably simultaneously using it to manipulate her."

"Saten-san is right." Shokuhou-sempai said with a nod even as she drew a remote from her purse and pointed it at the tawny haired Teleporter. "Besides there's something you can do which will be a lot more useful."

"Wha- Ow!" Shirai-san said with a wince.

"Explain to them what you're doing. I'm off!" The blonde said as she touched a section of wall, which after a quick scan by a hidden biometric sensor slid aside to reveal a secret passage.

Without any other words, she ran down the newly revealed corridor even as its door sealed itself behind her. With the Number 7 gone, Ruiko immediately turned to Shirai-san for answers.

"She's gone to try and lock Gensei out of Exterior. She thinks if she does that then she'll be able to stop whatever he's doing to the Misaka Network that turned Onee-sama into that thing." Shirai-san said as she clutched her head, fighting off the pain of the [Queen]'s sudden uploading of what must have been a sizable amount of information directly into her head. "At the same time, she wants me to go hunt down Kouzaku, something that in her words 'I'm uniquely capable of as a Teleporter'. She theorizes that since Kouzaku is Gensei's most capable remaining pawn we are aware of, it is likely that he has used Level Upper to share Exterior's Mental Out ability with her and that she's using it to influence Mikoto's actions to his benefit."

"That all sounds reasonable." Ruiko said as she processed the little plan of action that Shokuhou-sempai had come up with.

"What about me and Saten-san though?" Uiharu asked from one of her drones which had taken a defensive formation just in case the enemy ruined their reprieve with another attack.

"Nothing. I think she wants you two to go after Gensei directly." The Teleporter said as Ruiko handed her some painkillers she'd conjured with Dark Matter to counterattack her headache which her schoolmate promptly swallowed. "Argh! You'd think she would manage to actually mention that when she dumped all that other stuff directly into my mind. By the way, thanks for the pain relief, Saten-san."

"Don't mention it." Ruiko said honestly. "Now, stop whining and go do what Shokuhou-sempai asked. If we want to save Mikoto-sempai then we all need to play our part in bringing down Gensei and his sick little experiment."

At the mention of her precious Onee-sama and the plight she was in, Shirai-san grew serious once more.

"Right. And you. Don't do something you'll regret."

"I'll try." Ruiko replied. She wasn't about to make promises she might not be able to keep.

Frowning, Shirai-san shot one of Uiharu's robots a look and got a nod from it in reply. This seemed to reassure her and with one final warning look Ruiko's way, she teleported away to begin her hunt for Kouzaku.

"Come on, Uiharu." Ruiko said when it was just her and her best friend's drones left. "We have a mad scientist to murder."

"Right behind you, Saten-san."

---

Finding said mad scientist despite the labyrinthine nature of Exterior's base, a security feature most likely, was surprisingly easy. The bastard was waiting for them on the roof. All they'd had to do was blast their way through a few hundred enemy drones to get to him, a task that between herself and Uiharu's own drones was utterly trivial.

"Gensei," Ruiko said as she and her best friend's robotic minions stepped out onto the roof and came face to face with the mastermind behind this Incident.

The human monster was just like Ruiko remembered him. An elderly man of average height standing slightly stooped due to his hunched back and with a birthmark on his right temple. Dressed in a lab coat, dress pants, shirt and tie he looked like just another of the many researchers that lived in the City, not the scum that he truly was.

"A wonderful sight isn't it, Ruiko-chan?" The madman said, gesturing to the foot of the building where from the massive arcs of electricity flying everywhere Ruiko surmised Mikoto-sempai was fighting Naru-chan. "Who would've thought that even this mere pale reflection of a true Level 6 would be this magnificent?"

His back was to her but much to her own chagrin she knew the psycho well enough to know that in his clear excitement his eyes would be wide open as they took in the sight before him, instead of the half-lidded almost closed gaze that he wore normally. At his feet was 10032 just laying on the hard gravel that lined the floor of the roof discarded like rubbish by him now that her usefulness to him was at an end.

"Uiharu," Ruiko addressed her best friend as she stalked towards the scoundrel. "Get 10032 out of here once you get the chance but otherwise hang back. Gensei is mine."

"Gotcha, Saten-san." Uiharu agreed easily. "Be careful."

Ruiko just nodded even as she let the mysterious power of her Angel Mode that she'd been bottling up inside her since the start of the Incident loose. It flowed out of her body eagerly, surrounding her in a rainbow aura and formed into her tendril like wings.

"Time for us to settle our debts, Gensei."

"I suppose it is." The mad scientist agreed even as he turned around to face her.

---

A short while earlier, whilst Uiharu and Saten-san were still making their way up to the roof of Exterior's base for the latter's long awaited confrontation with the man who had ruined her life, Kuroko had teleported off to hunt down the Kouzaku girl who was probably using her stolen access to [Mental Out] to somehow use the Misaka Network to transform Onee-sama into a monster. Just glimpsing at what the girl and Gensei had done to her precious roommate made her blood boil and it took all Kuroko had to look away and focus on the task at hand. She had to. Like Saten-san said, she had to play her part in rescuing Onee-sama and that meant finding and taking out Kouzaku.

According to her Bank profile and corroborated by Saten-san, Kouzaku had to be nearby. Her Liquid Shadow had a respectable but still fairly limited range and since her puppet was last spotted attacking them inside Exterior's base then that meant she had to be in the immediate area somewhere. It was just a question of finding her.

"Uiharu, any idea where she is?" Kuroko asked her Judgement partner via the radio built into the Counter Capacity Down earpiece she was wearing.

"Based on the security feeds I have been able to gain access to and footage from the Flies I got from Maniple, I've narrowed her position down to a single building." Uiharu informed her from the safety of the command centre she was sharing with Yomikawa-sensei. "She should be somewhere inside that mall to your ten o'clock. That beige building to your left."

"I see it." Kuroko replied as she teleported inside the building that Uiharu had described.

The moment she exited the higher dimensions and rematerialised inside the structure however she was forced to pull off another hasty teleport to avoid a pair of lashing liquid metal whips that struck the space in the building's central atrium where she'd been standing.

"I think we've got the right place." Kuroko observed as she rematerialised a short distance away from her initial entry point and glared at Kouzaku's puppet as it reeled its arms in. "The puppet just attacked me."

"I saw," Uiharu informed her. "Keep it busy while I hunt down where exactly Kouzaku-san is hiding. It shouldn't take long. There aren't very many areas left to search."

"Gotcha." Kuroko said as she teleported a pair of explosive nails into the thing's shoulder. The blast splattered the puppet but before Kuroko could even so much as breathe a sigh of relief, the chunks of it that landed nearest to her leapt out at her like bullets forcing her to teleport away and buying time for the puppet to reform.

"You're a pest to deal with it, you know that?" Kuroko said as she stuffed her left hand into her skirt pocket and began rapidly teleporting the contents inside, a little surprise she'd specially prepared to use against the puppet, whilst she ran her right along her thigh holster and teleported another two explosive nails into the construct.

This time instead of letting the detonation of the nails splatter it apart, the puppet broke apart of its own accord in a rain of razor sharp liquid metal lances that flew at Kuroko, exploiting the blast of her own nails to give them a little push that had them flying faster.

She's adapting. Kuroko noted with a frown as she rematerialised from her latest evasive teleport. Then again that's to be expected. She's not the only one doing that after all.

At that thought, the last of her surprises were teleported into position and with a smirk she pressed the activation button on the lone device that she'd kept on her person. Within seconds a screeching sound boomed out of the dozens of marble-sized speakers that Kuroko had scattered all around the mall's atrium with her Teleportation.

"Like that?" Kuroko taunted as she watched in satisfaction as the liquid metal puppet reeled from the sonic assault. "Those are Judgement issue anti-eavesdropping devices, perfect to counter the echolocation you use to see through your little puppet. With that down and Saten-san destroying your camera earlier, you're as good as blind!"

Kuroko had spoken too soon as her taunting must have given away her position somewhat and the puppet whipped its arms towards her, forcing her to teleport away. Though she was a second too slow and earned herself a painful cut to her right arm for her overconfidence.

"Don't get cocky, Shirai-san." Uiharu chided over the radio.

"Got it," Kuroko whispered back, chastised even as she was forced to teleport away yet again as the puppet once more used its whip-like arms to attempt to attack her. It was strangely accurate and the only thing that saved her from taking a hit was her quick teleport.

How can it still be so accurate? Shouldn't it be blind? If it's still able to attack with such accuracy then… Kouzaku must be able to see me somehow! But from where?

"Shirai-san! Based on the puppet's attack pattern, Kouzaku-san must be observing you from the upper floors." Uiharu said, confirming Kuroko's own suspicions. "Give me a minute to drop a swarm of Flies on the building to triangulate from where exactly."

"I'll leave it up to you, Uiharu." Kuroko replied even as she teleported out of the atrium, the puppet in hot pursuit even as she awkwardly pulled out some medigel, the City's latest all in one disinfectant and wound sealer, and applied it to her cut. "Though, you are only concentrating them now? Why?"

"Just taking a leaf from Saten-san's book is all. I didn't want to show my hand too early."

"Somehow I don't think that strategy fits the current situation." Kuroko commented as she teleported away from another attempt by Kouzaku's puppet to give her a lashing.

"Maybe." Uiharu reluctantly conceded. "Anyways, I think I've found her. So teleport inside one of the stores and lose her puppet for a second and let's give her a surprise."

"You really are taking too much after Saten-san these days, you know that?" Kuroko griped even as she complied with her partner's suggestion.

---

"Where in the world did she go!?" Kouzaku Mitori said as she stared in confusion at the screen of her tablet as it showed the feed from her trump card as she used it to guide her Liquid Shadow in search of the Trinity's pet Teleporter. The purple haired girl with her hair styled into twin tails narrowed her violet eyes in consternation as despite her best efforts she couldn't find the Teleporter anywhere!

"Don't tell me she fled? There's no way she'd do that, right? Everything I've managed to dig up on her says she's utterly devoted to the [Railgun]! She wouldn't just abandon her!" The girl dressed in an outfit that resembled a pink nurse's uniform modified to contain elements of punk fashion through the addition of various skull-themed accessories said as she continued her search for her opponent.

"You're looking in the wrong place, Criminal." The Teleporter's voice said from behind her and Mitori spun around and stared in shock as its owner glared at her from just a few feet away.

"H-How?" Kouzaku asked the girl she now shared the section of sewer with. "How did you even find me?!"

"You can thank these." The Teleporter said as she gestured to a trio of small golf ball sized drones that shimmered into view as they dropped their optical camouflage and orbited around the Judgement agent. "Maniple's latest spy drones, the Oculus, or as Janie-chan and Febrie-chan calls them, the Flies."

"I must say, using the Daihaseisai Homing Camera to misdirect me into thinking you were hiding on the upper floors? It was quite brilliant. Though you really should pay more attention to the drones around you." The Teleporter said, her voice dripping with venom.

"S-So you're found me, so what!? You still have to beat me and besides my Liquid Shadow I currently also have access to Mental Out! You think you can beat a Level 5 ability!?" Mitori shouted tauntingly as she brought the remote she needed to channel the Number 7's ability to bear against the younger girl.

Before she could so much as press a button though, one of the Teleporter's nails embedded itself into the remote and exploded with a small charge. It was too weak to do any actual injury to her but it was more than enough to destroy the remote.

"You really shouldn't telegraph your intentions like that. To make such an amateur mistake, are you really a Dark Sider?" The Teleporter taunted. "No matter. Without that, I presume you won't be able to continue manipulating Onee-sama, so I suppose your foolishness is to my advantage."

"Gotcha!" Mitori crowed as the emergency container of liquid metal she kept in her fanny pack exploded as she used her Liquid Shadow ability on its contents, causing it to stream around her body and form into a new, albeit smaller than usual, puppet.

"Who's the amateur now!?" She shouted as she sent the diminutive but no less deadly puppet at the pesky Teleporter.

Who, much to Mitori's annoyance, just teleported out of the way of her puppet's lunge.

She reappeared in between Mitori and her puppet even as she ran her hands over her thighs and sent a pair of nails from her holsters into her puppet which was spinning around to attack her back. The nails exploded, releasing clouds of cryogenic gas that promptly froze Mitori's puppet solid.

Mitori had seen the Teleporter use this tactic before and knew her puppet could break free of the icy prison it was now trapped in but it would take time. Time that she feared she did not have. So with no other options, Mitori had to resort to the last tool in her arsenal.

"You won't take me down that easily!" She roared defiantly as she rushed the Teleporter, intent to tackle her to the ground, hopefully pinning her long enough for her puppet to break free and assist her.

Sadly, Mitori had next to zero training in close combat and the Teleporter was a fully trained Judgement agent. Whilst said student-based disciplinary committee's combat training wasn't exactly great it was still more than Mitori had. As such it was no surprise to her that forgoing her ability, the Teleporter just avoided her tackle by stepping out of her way. What she did not expect was the other girl tripping her as she did so, sending her crashing to the floor of the sewer passage - thankfully they were standing on one of the walkways on either side of the main channel and she didn't get a mouthful of sewer water in the process - they were fighting in.

"Actually, I think I will." The cocky Judgement agency said as she teleported one of her nails into Mitori's thigh.

The Dark Sider didn't need the hydraulic hiss to figure out just what type of nail it was. The Teleporter was a notorious goody two shoes. She'd want to take Mitori in alive. That could only mean she'd take her out with one of those sedative autoinjection nails she'd been reported to have.

Dolly. I'm so sorry! I fai-

---

Whilst Shirai-san was dealing with Kouzaku, Ruiko's fight with Gensei began in earnest. Wary of whatever tricks he might have up his sleeves though she was, Ruiko had honestly still expected the fight to be a cakewalk. Gensei wasn't an Esper and was an old man besides. Surely, he couldn't be too much of a challenge.

Thus as she fired a brace of her emulation of [Meltdowner]'s Particle Waveform High-Speed Cannon at the man and he deflected them by creating an energy barrier, she was shocked speechless. Well, for a second, before her immense processing ability figured out how he'd managed the impossible.

"I have to applaud you, Gensei. Thinking you can use Level Upper to fight toe to toe with me? I thought you consider yourself smart. This? This is moronic." Ruiko scoffed, a sneer on her face.

Gensei just shrugged and sporting a smile he replied. "I'm simply using the right tools for the job. I even went to the trouble of kidnapping, no, securing! Yes, securing some rather useful individuals just for this eventuality."

The smile set Ruiko on edge, yet she refused to falter here.

"Everything is a tool to you." Ruiko shot back angrily and sent a vacuum blade at the psycho. All whilst at the same time, she used some Electromastery to reply to Accel's urgent call about Last Order. It seemed that despite her resistance, her oldest daughter had finally succumbed to Gensei's subversion of the Misaka Network.

Hang in there Order-chan. Mama will save you. Ruiko thought with determination.

"Indeed." Gensei agreed, blocking the attack with another energy barrier whilst retaliating by using Telekinesis to rip a large air conditioner compressor off its moorings and send it flying at Ruiko. "Nothing matters but the unraveling of this world's mysteries."

"Those mysteries will have to go unanswered then, because you'll be dying here today." Ruiko countered as she used her wings to catch the hunk of metal and disintegrate it with a dose of matter destabilization.

"We'll see about that, Ruiko-chan."

"Don't call me that again." Ruiko warned, shooting a brace of fireballs at the old man. "You have no right!"

"You talk about rights? What about you hmm? After all, what right do you have to call yourself a friend to the rest of the Trinity when you're up here while you let the [Alien] fight Mikoto-chan all on her lonesome. I thought you cared for that creature?" Gensei said as he tilted his head, tutting at her like she was caught trying to take a cookie from the jar all while he intercepted her fiery barrage with one of his own.

"Do not talk about Naru-chan like that." Ruiko hissed, shoulders shaking at the insulting way that the maggot referred to Naru-chan.

If Gensei heard her retort, he made no sign of it and instead chose to keep going with his berating tirade. "Though you must know the steamroll process I used to force Mikoto-chan into becoming a Level 6 will end up killing her. Poor dear."

Ruiko snorted as she used some Telekinesis of her own to pick up pieces of gravel off the roof floor and sent them flying at high speed at Gensei. "That's because of the shoddy methodology. If you can't get what you want, you only know to brute force it. How childish."

"Oh please, as if the Number 5 is worth much." The Kihara said with a dismissive wave of his hand as the gravel bullets deflected harmlessly off a barrier. "Only the Number 1 and 2 have any hope to become stable Level 6s. And the only reason the Number 2 can manage that is due to its unique ancestry. I think there's a program for that… Oh wait! It failed and you and your friends shut it down."

Ruiko refused to lash out at the remark and instead simply continued with their verbal joust, "Sempai is only unstable because of your piss poor methods."

He didn't respond, but Ruiko knew the remark irked the man. He was too full of himself for it to not sting his pride. Proof of this came in the form of three large chunks of machinery that were sent flying at her which she simply blasted out of the sky with Particle Waveform High-Speed Cannons.

"And that's why I need to observe the phenomenon that's about to grace this utopia full of test subjects. Once I do, I can refine the process to show my genius to the world."

Refine? All this suffering for her loved ones and it was all to refine the process?

"Those are my motives, but what about you Ruiko-chan? Like I said, shouldn't you be out there helping your Mikoto-sempai? After all, with your AIM Sovereign you could actually slow down her ascension."

"I'm sure Kamijou-san's Imagine Breaker can do just as good a job. He's joined the fight below by the way." Uiharu chimed via the drone she'd sent to rescue 10032 as it came to a stop beside the rest of her robotic contingent. "Thanks for keeping Kihara-san distracted Saten-san."

"I trust in my allies, you old fossil." Ruiko said with a smirk. "Just like I trusted Uiharu to rescue 10032, I trust the others to save Sempai. So, that gives me all the time and space for my revenge."

"Doesn't the saying go 'Seek revenge and you should dig two graves, one for yourself'?" Gensei shot back with a grin as he tried to form a barrier that would have bisected Ruiko, only for her to disrupt the AIM Field that propagated the ability he was emulating, stopping his attack in its tracks.

"I've filled plenty of graves in my time." Ruiko retorted easily. "I'm not afraid to fill another. Even if it is my own. And even in the remote chance that a sad, pathetic fossil like you succeeds? Well, Sempai reaching Level 6 will cause an expulsion of phenomenal amounts of energy. Enough energy to destroy the City and take you with it."

A smile full of bloodlust, something Naru-chan would be proud of, split her face. "So even if we fail to stop you, I'll still be happy knowing that you'll die too. It's quite the consolation prize in my opinion."

"Oh? And does that count for the rest of your family as well? Wouldn't they die too?" Gensei said, with faux concern as he used some variant of Mix Master to create an orb of acid he kept suspended in the air next to him via Hydro Hand and which he proceeded to use as ammunition to fire a stream of acid bullets at Ruiko.

"Ah, there's an issue with that. But it won't happen. Without the codes to disable Exterior's limiters and the access to the full boosted Mental Out you'd need to guide Sempai's mind as she transcends to Level 6? Sempai will die before she reaches that threshold." Ruiko countered as she intercepted the acid bullets being shot her way with a stream of her own energy bullets.

Gensei offered her that grotesque smile he thought was grandfatherly. "And that's why I sent someone I trust to secure those codes."

"I wouldn't underestimate Shokuhou-sempai. She might be a frail, super annoying girl, but she's far from weak."

Gensei just smirked.

Scowling, Ruiko continued. "Don't gloat so soon because my friends and I won't let things get that far. We will stop you and save Mikoto-Sempai."

The balding piece of garbage shook his head, "Honestly, I am so disappointed that even you, the most logical of the Level 5s, is so susceptible to wishful thinking. I thought such ludicrous ideas were ripped out of you during your training. Oh wait, your childhood. And what a childhood it was, wa-"

His taunting was cut short when he became distracted by what he was seeing through his emulated Clairvoyance. Like she had, he had been using it to spy on the fight to contain the out of control Mikoto-sempai and had detected as Sogiita-sempai joined the fray.

"The Number 9 too!? Oh! Lucky day!" He said to himself, enamored and excited. "How will Mikoto-chan do against these three enemies? Yes, keep struggling and feed me your data, you adorable little test subjects."

His distraction cost him as it gave Ruiko the opening she needed to score a hit. One she ruthlessly exploited to fire a Particle Waveform High-Speed Cannon right at the old fossil's groin. The result brought a vindictive smile to her face as she enjoyed the sight of hot energy vaporizing not just the man's genitals but a good part of his lower body as well.

"Hitting me below the belt." Gensei tutted as the mangled body vanished and the real him shimmered into view as he dropped the Trick Art effect. "To think that you're supposed to be an ojou-sama of Tokiwadai."

"Like you'd know anything about manners, you psycho." Ruiko countered as she sent her wings at the man only for him to teleport out of their way and directly in front of her.

Well that explains how he avoided my Particle Waveform High-Speed Cannon. The Number 3 thought even as she reached out to try and grab him to pull off one of the many martial arts moves she'd learned over the years since she'd escaped his control. Unfortunately, he seemed to expect this and using Stick Slip he manipulated the frictional coefficients around his body so that she couldn't get a grip.

He had no such problem however as he flicked her on the forehead. He'd added a substantial amount of telekinetic force to the blow though and even though her rainbow aura kept her from actually getting injured, the sheer kinetic force behind the blow still sent her flying.

"Saten-san!" Uiharu shouted in concern from her drones as Ruiko crashed into one of the large air conditioning compressor units that dotted the roof and caused the car sized machine to crumple in on itself.

"GHTQ$(^HG! !" A strange voice screamed out unintelligibly and resembling nothing less than the sound of static from a malfunctioning speaker, as a lance of spiraling black winds almost impaled Gensei.

The old man escaping that fate only by pulling off a hasty teleport.

Looking up at the origin of the unexpected assistance, Ruiko was shocked to see Accelerator flying towards the roof on wings made out of twisting, writhing black winds.

"Oh." Gensei paused, staring up at the enraged Number 1. "What is this?"

Ruiko wasn't entirely sure either, but there was one thing she was absolutely certain that it was.

"Your doom."

---

"Damnit! Do all Level 6 Shifts cause people to go berserk!?" Naru shouted, her voice brimming with annoyance as the transformed Mikoto-sempai sent her flying with an absurdly overcharged lightning bolt despite her Panzer Frame. "Mikoto-sempai! Snap out of it!"

Just like she expected, Sempai either couldn't hear her or was so out of control of herself that she couldn't respond. Well, she did. Just not in the way Naru wanted and just sent another lightning bolt at the twintail sporting blonde.

I think the whole transformation thing is more creepy actually. Kurama commented with a mental frown. Going berserk, at least a little, when you go through something as drastic as a Level 6 Shift seems almost expected. But what's with this transformation?

A visible sign of the change? Naru replied half-heartedly as she crossed her arms in front of her and charged through the powerful lightning bolt towards Mikoto-sempai.

She had to agree with Kurama though. The transformed [Railgun] looked freaky. She had spontaneously grown a pair of horns that appeared on her head and which merged into an onion-dome shaped structure on her head that had a strange structure floating in the widest part of the gap in the centre of the structure that made it look like an eye. At the top part of the horn structure was something like a halo that revolved around the tapering structure with a sphere that floated at the top of the horn that altogether gave an impression of a miniature Saturn. Ribbons of glowing energy had materialised out of nowhere and had connected themselves to Mikoto-sempai's body, even as her hands and feet had become tapered and became connected with the ribbons.

Naru had to suppress a shudder as she went in for a punch only for the ribbons to shoot in front of Mikoto-sempai and somehow block the blow. She wound up her other arm for another punch but her transformed Sempai just hit her in the gut with another lightning bolt that sent her skidding back.

With Naru out of the way for the moment, Mikoto-sempai seemed to decide it was time to turn her attention to their gathered Maniple, Anti-Skill and Judgement allies. They had the common sense to begin pulling back the moment Naru had forced the [Railgun] outside but there were still plenty of Gensei's shitty robots in the area to waylay them and despite their best efforts there were still a ton of them in the area and were now vulnerable as the berserk Level 5 sent a storm of lightning their way.

"Not on my watch!" Naru shouted as she slammed her hands into the ground and caused walls of earth to shoot out of the ground to shield their less sturdy allies.

"What the hell is going on here!?" Kamijou shouted as he ran up to the scene, conveniently negating a lightning bolt with his Imagine Breaker and saving a group of Anti-Skill troopers that Naru's earthen walls hadn't managed to protect in time.

"Mad scientist is forcing Sempai through a Level 6 Shift and it's making her go berserk." Naru explained the situation succinctly as she sent a wave of earth at her aforementioned upperclassman in a bid to smother her lightning and hopefully trap her. "Just our typical Wednesday."

"Your Wednesdays are insane!" The single most unfortunate boy in Academy City shouted back as he leapt out of the way of some debris that were sent flying as Mikoto-sempai used a twister of iron sand to shred apart Naru's earthen wave. "How can I help?"

"Hit her with that Imagine Breaker of yours. That should be enough to stop whatever is messing with her and causing this issue." Naru replied as she shifted to Festung and charged up a beam of raw chakra that she promptly released at Mikoto-sempai, forcing the berserk Level 5 to use her ribbon things to create a barrier. "I'll cover you. You charge her."

"Gotcha!" Kamijou replied as he broke out into a run towards Mikoto-sempai.

Unfortunately, it seemed Naru had underestimated her Sempai a little and even as she was preoccupied with the Number 2's beam she somehow still found the wherewithal to use tendrils of iron sand to toss random chunks of the debris their fight had created so far at the Level 0.

"Fukou da!" The high schooler cried out in dismay as he frantically began zig zagging in a bid to avoid getting crushed by the massive chunks of concrete and other miscellaneous stuff that the [Railgun] was hurling at him.

Seeing his predicament, Naru urgently abandoned her beam attack and turned to aid the boy only for Mikoto-sempai's ribbons to lash out at her and force her back, leaving her unable to do more than shout out a warning as a particularly large chunk of concrete fell towards him.

"Shit! Kamijou left! Left!"

"Fukou da!" The exceptional Level 0 shouted in dismay as he sprinted out of the way.

He wouldn't make it though and was just about to be crushed when suddenly out of nowhere they received an expected helping hand.

"GUTS!" Gunha-sempai shouted as he shot himself into the concrete chunk surrounded by an energy aura like a knockoff Z Fighter. Despite his corny appearance, he nevertheless hit the piece of rubble with enough force to literally vaporise it even as he landed with an overdramatic three point landing like some superhero.

"Gunha-sempai? What are you doing here?" Naru asked as she switched to Festung and opened fire on Mikoto-sempai with her Frame's many guns, forcing her berserk friend to use her ribbons to shield herself and hopefully suppressing her for the moment.

"I saw a monster rampaging and decided to intervene, Naru-kohai!" The Number 9 said as he stood up properly and adopted a stereotypical heroic pose.

"Same as me then, huh?" Kamijou commented as he rubbed the back of his head self-consciously. "Didn't know anyone else thought like that."

"Of course I do! It's the only thing someone with GUTS would do!"

"Uh, right." Kamijou said as he edged away from his saviour uneasily. "And, um, thanks for saving me just now."

"Oi, you two idiots!" Naru shouted as she was once again sent flying by a lightning bolt from Mikoto-sempai, who wasn't as suppressed as she'd hoped. "Don't just stand there yammering like a pair of gossips and help!"

"Right!" "Sorry!" Both high school boys shouted as they leapt to action, literally in Gunha-sempai's case as he jumped towards Mikoto-sempai with his right fist cocked back and glowing with energy.

Of course the transformed [Railgun] saw him coming and tried to intercept with her ribbons but Gunha-sempai just punched the air in their direction and sent a beam of energy crashing into the things, deflecting them and sending himself flying back into a perfect landing. All the while, Kamijou took advantage of the distraction this clash created to sprint closer to Mikoto-sempai, wisely ducking behind the cover of some random debris once the light show ended and biding his time for a chance to inch forward again.

Naru took this all in as she scrambled back to her feet from the crash her latest impromptu flight had ended in. But that wasn't what really caught her attention. That honour went to the strange glowing woman standing on a nearby rooftop looking down on Mikoto-sempai's current inhuman form with a smile that she spotted out of the corner of her eye.

"Who the Science are you?" Naru murmured as she turned in the woman's direction to get a closer look.

Only the woman wasn't there anymore.

Kurama, did I just imagine that?

No. I saw her too. Her partner confirmed. But we can look into it later.

Right. Naru agreed as she returned her attention to the problem at hand. We have a Sempai to spank.

---

"Ha, ha, ha." Misaki panted as she jogged into the control room for the systems that managed the massive clone of her brain that was Exterior, the device that greatly amplified her powers and through that fact was also one of the main sources of all the misery in this Incident. Looking out of the long line of windows of the room, she caught a glimpse of this marvel of Science. It was separated into its right and left hemispheres with each in their own massive cylindrical container.

Wiping her brow, she grimaced at how gross she felt. This was why she hated physical exertion. It left you all sweaty and that was just disgusting.

"I really need a segway in here or something." She said, gathering her breath as typed away at the systems, trying everything she could think of to sever Gensei's access to Exterior. And failing miserably.

"I really should have brought along one of Uiharu-san's drones. I'm sure with the [Goalkeeper]'s hacking ability, she would be able to figure out a way." Misaki gripped as she pouted at her failure to think ahead and began keying in the commands for the final option.

"Damnit! I really don't want to do this." She confessed as she hesitated to push the button that would destroy Exterior.

If she lost it, she would lose a great deal of her ability and with it her power to fight against the City's darkness would be greatly reduced. Then again, with Exterior's location compromised and taken over once, there was no guarantee someone else wouldn't try to repeat the feat. And loathe as she was to admit it, she lacked the resources to prevent them. That made Exterior a liability. And destroying it would greatly help in resolving the current Incident…

"Oh! Why must this have so much difficulty power!" She whined and stomped her foot. "Argh! Alright! I'll do it! I'll do it!"

She was just about to press the button when suddenly, the roof of the chamber that held Exterior collapsed.

"Ah!" She screamed, instinctively shielding her head even though she knew no debris should've been able to break through the control room's reinforced glass and looked up to see Accelerator of all people come flying down with a pair of wings made out of vortices of writhing black winds growing out of his back and who proceeded to tear the brain apart before setting the rest on fire like some angry - Dare she say it! - god!

"Crap!" She gasped and slapped the button as fast as she could and flooded the ruins of the vats that had contained Exterior with acid to finish the job.

Accelerator surveyed the destruction they'd wrought for a second before inclining his head slightly in what might've been a nod of satisfaction before he looked up and without a word, he was off, blasting through her building like it was tissue paper!

"I am so billing Saten-san for this. She has the money ability to handle it." She huffed and felt a knife go through her arm. "Ah!"

She fell, landing on her side as she looked at the kunai knife in her arm. She felt out for a presence, honing in on it and pushing all her diminished power into it.

And nothing. Nada. Zero.

And they're immune. Because of course they are. Misaki scowled as she got back up on her feet and glared up at the man who had attacked her. He was hanging upside down like Naru-chan would when she would pull pranks on her minions. There was sadly no prank to be played here this time.

"Your ability is much like our genjutsu. All I have to do is pump chakra to my brain and it negates it all the same." The man, who was dressed up in a thoroughly unfashionable ninja outfit, said as he smirked at her. "Not that you would understand all of that."

I don't, so fuck you very much, you tweeting oaf of an assassin. Misaki glowered, balling her fists in annoyance at the man. And what is with everyone developing counters to my ability! Now even the blasted Shinobi can do it!? What's next? Will all the Magicians find one too?

He suddenly leapt down, landing next to her and Misaki ripped the knife out of her arm and swung it at him. But he just casually slapped it out of her hand, followed by slapping her across the face.

The blow had her staggering back, cupping her cheek.

Fuck that stung like heck!

"Aw, did that hurt?" He mocked as he abruptly disappeared from sight, but this time she could at least sense him. She tried to turn, but wasn't fast enough to do anything beyond present herself as a target for his fist as it slammed right into her side.

The blow sent her flying and she landed several feet away with a scream. Her whole body was wracked by pain and she held her side, where the pain was most intense. It seemed he had broken her ribs.

"Ugh! Dammit! Damn you!" She cursed him, trying to stay awake despite the blistering pain she was in.

This is why she didn't do field work!

"Why, why are you playing around?!" She growled, eyes stinging with tears. "Aren't you, you going to kill me? It's all you fools know!"

"Kill you?" He said as he cocked his head to the side. "Killing you would bring far too much heat on my organization. Especially since you aren't even the target of this op."

Misaki grit her teeth, balling her hands in anger at how easily she'd been laid low. I'm not worth killing? Me? Well screw you, jerk!

She closed her eyes, waiting for the blow. Shinobi were liars, he would certainly kill her. At that thought, her pained tears turned into frightened ones. She didn't want to die!

But despite her expectations, no killing blow came. So a tense moment later, tentatively hopeful, she peeked open her eyes and saw that dismissing her entirely, the Shinobi had walked over to the console.

He was typing away at the computer. Even with her limited computing skills, Misaki could tell he wasn't hacking the systems. Instead he was keying in codes. Codes that were giving him administrative privilege to the blonde's systems.

How the hell did he get those codes!?

"That old man. For all his genius he really is a fool you know?" The shinobi said with a chuckle. "Sure, he needed to link his systems to the base to gain local control, but to not leave more than such paltry security on said link? The entry point into his systems? Foolishness of the highest order!"

A moment later, he let out a triumphant noise that made Misaki sick to her core despite feeling the pain ease. Or maybe that was shock and adrenaline finally kicking in? If it was, it was about damned time!

"This? Oh! This is perfect." He crowed as he pulled out a flash drive and began downloading something from her system onto it.

As the data was being copied, he turned to look at Misaki.

"Consider this proof that my organisation means you no ill will this time." He said, gesturing to the computer. "I will leave this link to Gensei's systems open when I leave. Feel free to look through it at your leisure. I'm sure you'll find something interesting. Ah! It seems the download is complete. Adieu, Number 7."

With that he pulled out his flash drive and stuffed it into a pouch, before he rushed through a series of those silly hand signs his kind used to activate their techniques and disappeared in a puff of white smoke.

What in Science's name was he looking for? Misaki pondered before she heard hurrying footsteps. She turned, seeing the knife not too far off and started crawling to it in a panic.

Said panic eased once she recognised the approaching mind as belonging to Keitz. Good, safe and efficient Keitz.

"Hello~! Ow, ow!" She tried to play it off, but the pain of her broken ribs weren't doing her any favors.

"Dammit, Misaki. You should have sent me in." He scolded her, practically ripped a First-Aid kit mounted on a nearby wall out of its housing and hurried over to tend to her.

She looked away, pouting all the while.

---

"Your doom." Accelerator distantly heard Ruiko pass judgement over the old man she was fighting, someone who even through the mess that his mind was in at the moment he was able to recognise was Kihara Gensei.

Not that it mattered who it was. So long as it was Ruiko's enemy then it was his. Simple as that. As such it was with an unintelligible roar that he swept his wings forward, sending a brace of vacuum blades and spiraling lances of unnaturally black winds flying at the man.

Much to his surprise, the old man didn't just die and actually managed to pull off a series of quick teleports to avoid so much as taking a single hit.

"S$TGWNOSDF&*#FW!" He roared in frustration as he sent his wings forward in their entirety, intent to use them to crush the insect who dared defy him and Ruiko,

"Accel!" His beloved girlfriend shouted and he turned his head to look at her even as he continued to use his wings to play whack-a-mole with the teleporting geezer. "I don't know how much of what I am saying that you can understand in the state you're in but keep Gensei busy. I've got a plan."

Understanding what Ruiko was saying wasn't a problem. It was communicating that which was proving difficult as his trouble with stringing together proper words had shown, so he resorted to something more basic and just nodded.

This got him a smile and if his control of his body wasn't completely out of whack, he'd have blushed. Ruiko's smile made her everyday beauty transcend into something that made poets and artists weep in his opinion and it never failed to make him hot under the collar. As it was though, he didn't know what reaction, if any, his body made in this instance.

Whatever it was, Ruiko seemed to get the point as she blushed and smiled more brilliantly even as her tentacle-like wings - And why did her wings have to look like that!? Did she get inspired by some hentai the bloody Usagi conned her into watching? If so… Well, he'd either have to teach the brat a lesson or thank her, he hadn't decided yet. - began plucking at things in the air he couldn't see like Ruiko was some spider.

What is she doing? A part of Accelerator pondered curiously, fascinated as always by seeing his Ruiko work her magic. Sure, his own ability let him do a lot of different things too, but he tended to mainly specialise on emulating the effect of Aero Hand. Ruiko though? She dabbled in using all kinds of stuff. And then there was what she could do with AIM that he couldn't replicate at all. So watching her at work was always a sight.

Even as part of his fractured mind was focusing on Ruiko, another more primal, rage fueled, portion was focusing on the task that she'd assigned him. Beating the ever living shit out of Kihara Gensei. And it was a task he was reveling in.

"Fascinating! Absolutely fascinating!" The mad scientist crowed even as he narrowly teleported out of the way of Accelerator slamming his two wings around him from either side. "With the Misaka Network compromised, you should be paralysed but somehow not only are you still mobile but you seem to have unlocked some kind of new power? How? I would very much want to know!"

"NS!SFD!SG#T$&JN!" Accelerator spat back as he spread his wings wide and in the process used telekinesis to lift the majority of the gravel that covered the floor of the rooftop they were fighting on, before sending them flying at high speed in randomised patterns all around them.

Something the scientist responded to by summoning a barrier around himself that deflected any of the stones that flew his way.

"Though it seems it has not improved your creativity. Surely, the vaunted Number 1 can come up with a more unique application for his new po-"

The old geezer's taunting rant was cut off when suddenly his barrier vanished and one of the stones hit him square in the jaw, sending him collapsing to the ground. Accelerator didn't know what had happened but he wasn't about to let a chance like this go and immediately had all the stones converge on the downed scientist who let out a truly satisfying scream as he was pummeled and buried alive all at once.

For in what was likely a bid to add insult to injury, and that was probably exactly her intent, Ruiko added to Gensei's misery by dropping a white fireball directly onto the mound of stones under which he was buried, one hot enough to literally vaporize the stones.

"Incredible. He's actually still not dead." Ruiko commented as she walked over to loom over the badly battered and charred but still living body of her longtime nemesis, Accelerator trailing behind her dutifully like a boyfriend should.

That half of his shattered focus was taking the chance to admire her exquisite behind was something that Ruiko never needed to find out.

"But I promised you a slow death Gensei." Ruiko said as she glared down at the soon to be dead man. "So I did deliberately leave cutting your regeneration for last."

"L-Level Upper," the dying geezer somehow managed to wheeze out.

"Yes, I used my AIM Sovereign to cut off your connection to your Level Upper network." Ruiko confirmed with a bloodthirsty smirk that made her just as alluring as her smile but in a different way. "You really shouldn't have thought to use an AIM based weapon against me."

"So that's what you were doing, Saten-san?" Ruiko's hacker friend said via the drone she had driven over to join them. "I thought you were just letting Accelerator-san have a turn at beating him up while you caught your second wind."

Accelerator snorted at that. Like Ruiko needed more than a few seconds to catch her breath. Of course she'd been up to something!

"That was part of it too." Ruiko said, shooting Accelerator a wink even as she carefully raised a foot over Gensei's head. "But I think Gensei here has suffered in agony long enough, no?"

She's just getting too impatient to drag this out any longer.

"BO!J?FDONZD," Accelerator said in way of agreement.

"I'll take that as a yes." Ruiko said with a giggle. "Good riddance, Gensei."

With that rather anticlimactic declaration, Ruiko slammed her foot down with a little help from some Telekinesis he was sure and popped the head of the man who had ruined her life open like it was an overripe melon. It was a wonderful sight and the last thing he saw as his vision suddenly went black and he felt himself collapse.

---

Shit! She's making for the Windowless Building! Naru noted as she, Gunha-sempai and Kamijou continued their effort to try and restrain the berserk [Railgun].

It certainly looks like it. Kurama agreed, as the aforementioned transformed Level 5 called down a massive lightning bolt from the heavens to strike the mysterious landmark that was the heart of Academy City.

Who knew what defenses that even Naru had no clue about that could wreck her Sempai's shit were just waiting to be turned on if Aleister started to get annoyed by Sempai's knocking!? After all, Naru had little doubt that even if Mikoto-sempai somehow did make it to Level 6 that the asshole would still have a counter against her. He was super prepared like that.

So they had to stop her before Sempai annoyed the Superintendent enough for him to get off his lazy bum and do something.

"What the hell does Misaka-san have against the City anyways?" Naru heard Kamijou whisper from behind his latest cover, a wrecked car, that was just a little closer to the Sempai than his last one.

"Tons of things." Naru noted with a shrug as she tried to catch Mikoto-sempai's attention with a burst of fire from her Festung's guns, earning herself a brace of lightning bolts that she was forced to evade. "Like have you seen the shit that goes down here? Her clones? The countless unethical experiments? What bubble have you been in, moron? There's no telling which gripe whoever is using Mental Out to influence her is egging her on with. Maybe all of them."

"This sucks." The teenager grunted in dismay as he ran towards a collapsed building and a few feet closer to Sempai.

"Don't complain! Focus on using your GUTS to fix the situation instead!" Gunha-sempai shouted as he slammed his palms onto the ground and unleashed a wave of energy that roared towards the transformed Number 5.

"Sempai, I love you like a brother, but I will spray your precious guts all over the place if you keep shouting. Just looking at Mikoto-sempai makes me want to claw my eyes out. I do not need a headache too." Naru aimed her cannons and fired off a stream of acidic mist that ate away at the iron sand defenses her Sempai threw up.

"Apologies, Naru-kohai." The Number 9 replied apologetically as he slammed his foot into the ground and overturning a whole segment of the road he was standing on, turning it into a makeshift shield that protected both Naru and himself from Mikoto-sempai's questing ribbons as she retaliated against their attacks. "And she's intensifying her counterattacks. We need to up our game if we want to keep her focused on us."

"Agreed. I'm going nuclear. Keep her away from me."

"Uh, Naru-kohai… we are in a public setting. That might be… too much guts?" Gunha-sempai suggested, a worried furrow on his brow.

"Not that kind of nuclear." Naru reassured him even as she began reshaping her Demon Frame, even as she watched the [Railgun] drop another supersized lightning bolt on the Windowless Building. "Just keep Mikoto-sempai busy for a bit. I've not had much practice with this one so changing into it will take a while."

Gunha-sempai looked hesitant for a moment but eventually nodded and with an inhuman leap he jumped over their makeshift barrier, kicking it in the process and sending it flying towards Mikoto-sempai. The transformed Number 5 turned towards him at that and using her ribbons tore the chunk of earth apart, but this left her open to the energy beam the Number 9 sent her way which forced her to create a shield of iron sand.

Alright, no lab testing here. Field test number one.

Please stop, I just hope this doesn't fuck her up.

I'm sure we can fix it.

Not helping! Now, let's calculate this.

Turning her attention away from the brawl between her Sempais for a moment, Naru focused inward and slower than she'd liked the familiar form of her Hexe Frame settled around her body and she gracefully floated off the ground.

Okay, let's try using our Micro Phases on Sempai. I'll go first.

With a burst of calculations and a focusing of their combined will, Naru and Kurama called on the power of her Recursive Temporal State in a bid to trap Mikoto-sempai in a time loop. For a second, it seemed to work and the transformed [Railgun] froze mid motion. Even her ribbons which had been twirling through the air randomly throughout the fight froze. But almost as soon as her Micro Phase took hold, with the sound of shattering glass similar to whenever the power of the Imagine Breaker was invoked, the effect was shattered.

Okay, so either it can break through it on command or Kamijou-san being in the area is screwing with it.

I think it's overriding our authority over reality. Damn! Is this the power of a Level 6? Terrifying!

We can't be sure of that. We need more data. Let's use your Hyper Accelerated Entropy. If it negates it the same way, then we'll know.

Yeah, and be out of options.

Naru ignored her partner's pessimism and called on his Micro Phase, intent on using it to force Mikoto-sempai out of the state she was in by forcing it to its conclusion. Unlike with her own Micro Phase, it did not shatter upon application. Instead it seemed to accelerate the process of Mikoto-sempai's transformation. As suddenly, even as Mikoto-sempai was using her ribbons to try and capture Gunha-sempai iron sand shot up and surrounded her in what could only be described as a cocoon.

One that exploded outwards almost as soon as it formed to reveal Mikoto-sempai's latest form.

Her hair had become swept back, and a complex halo had appeared over her head. One made out of a circle with four points facing each cardinal direction and floating at the center of it was a rectangular-shaped object that tapered at both ends whose bottom part was shorter. Most disturbingly, at least in Naru's opinion, was that all of Sempai's clothes were destroyed by the transformation. Her nudity allowed all to see that her skin from the head down to the area of her collar bones had become colored black and dotted by something resembling stars, giving it the appearance of a cutout to outer space or the night sky. Her hands and feet disappeared entirely, with her hands becoming claw-like with ribbon-like protrusions and her legs becoming even more abstract-looking and sporting ribbon-like growths of their own.

Okay, that backfired. Naru noted dryly as she cut off the Hyper Accelerated Entropy. We just made things worse.

Shit, sorry Naru. I want to rip the moron who thought this was a good idea a new one. What the fuck!

"Okay, Naru-kohai, might I ask what is with these transformations?" Gunha-sempai asked as he jumped away from the newly transformed Mikoto-sempai. "Is she some kind of RPG boss or something?"

"Ask the Superintendent. The transformations are all part of his plan, the natural state of Level 6s and all that." Naru retorted with a grunt of annoyance even as she switched back to Festung. If her Micro Phases weren't gonna work then she might as well stick to the Frame that offered her the most upfront firepower.

Firepower that she was willing to stop holding back on now that things seemed to have escalated.

"Bijūdama!" Naru shouted as she fired the signature attack of the Bijū at her monstrously transformed Sempai in the form of a deep crimson beam. One that her currently inhuman looking friend deflected skyward with a sweep of her arm.

Bullshit! How the hell can a little virus in the Misaka Network transform Sempai into a monster like this!?

This is actually pissing me off. Kurama commented, clearly annoyed that the most powerful attack his kind was capable of was deflected with such casual ease.

Turning towards the source of the Bijūdama beam even as Naru cut it out, Mikoto-sempai pointed one of her lance-like arms in their direction and a single massive bolt of lightning fell down from the sky to strike the spot. Naru jetted out of the blast radius on her Frame's thrusters in time, but Gunha-senpai opted for a more offensive kinda defense and leaping skyward literally punched the bolt off course.

Because of course he would.

His powers are bullshit. Naru noted with an eye roll, even as she began charging up another Bijūdama. She might've tried something more powerful but they were right in the middle of the City and she couldn't risk it. She couldn't live with herself if there were any civilian casualties.

She was still midway through gathering the right mix of yin and yang chakra for the temperamental technique when suddenly Mikoto-sempai froze again. Though this time it seemingly had nothing to do with anything the three of them had done.

"She's glitched, body her!" Naru called out, the others having no doubt succeeded in cutting out Mental Out's influence on Sempai.

"She's not returning to normal!" Kamijou called out as he ran out of cover and sprinted straight for the frozen [Railgun]. "It isn't over!"

"Yeah, so hit her with your Imagine Breaker already!"

Her words seemed to have jinxed them however as it seemed to stir Mikoto-sempai back into motion as suddenly a pillar of purple energy shot up from where she was standing and coiled around itself as it formed into a swirling orb that hovered just above the ground with its creator floating at its center.

"Watch out! That energy is literally out of this world!" Gunha-sempai warned as purple lightning arced off the orb and came close to striking Kamijou, who to his credit continued his sprint towards Mikoto-sempai undeterred. "Don't let it hit you!"

"I don't care if it is or not!" Kamijou shouted back defiantly as he negated one of the purple lightning bolts with his Imagine Breaker. "I'm still shattering it with my right hand!"

"Gunha-sempai, clear him a path!" Naru shouted as she fired the overcharged Bijūdama she'd been building as a two storey wide beam of deadly crimson.

Mikoto-sempai countered by firing a similarly large beam of purple energy from her orb and the two beams struggled against each other as both Level 5s poured ever more power into their respective attacks.

"Got it, Naru-kohai!" Gunha-sempai shouted his agreement as with a roar of "GUTS!" he slammed his hands onto the ground and sent a massive wave of energy screaming at Mikoto-sempai.

The transformed Level 5 was forced to direct the rest of her purple orb into a wall to block the attack, one that conveniently formed behind Kamijou and gave the perpetually unfortunate boy a straight shot at Mikoto-sempai herself.

"Snap out of it already, Biri Biri!" The spiky haired high schooler shouted as his legendary right hand, the Imagine Breaker, finally made contact with the [Railgun].

For a moment, the whole world seemed to still when suddenly purple lightning began to arc up along Kamijou's right arm and it began to literally disintegrate before their eyes.

Shit! Is whatever Mikoto-sempai has become overloading the Imagine Breaker? Is that even possible!?

All seemed lost when Kamijou let out a roar of determination and in a burst of otherworldly energy eight monstrous serpentine dragons shot out of the stump of Touma's right arm. In response, a portion of the strange purple energy she controlled hastily wrapped around her body in a protective bubble. Undeterred, the dragons started to literally eat away at the purple energy surrounding Mikoto-sempai.

The energy didn't seem to want to go quietly though and forming tendrils out of its mass it tried to lash out at the dragons and smother them, but it was a futile effort as every contact it made with the mythical beasts just saw parts of itself get erased from existence.

"Okay, I'm not the only one who saw that right? Getting a Flame of Recca vibe here." Naru couldn't help but say as the dragons slowly but surely overwhelmed the power controlling Mikoto-sempai and she cut off her Bijūdama beam as the beam that opposed it also did the same. Gunha-sempai doing much the same with his energy wave as the barrier that it had been struggling against likewise petered out and he collapsed onto his behind and let out a tired breath.

No. It isn't just you. Kurama opined as they both watched as the unleashed dragons flew off having finished consuming the purple energy and leaving in its wake a shaken looking and naked Mikoto-sempai standing before Kamijou. Maybe whatever is sealed behind Imagine Breaker is a fan of the series?

Sealed behind Imagine Breaker? What are you talking about?

Just a guess is all. Kurama said with a mental shrug. So shouldn't we do something about those dragon things?

Nah. They won't get far. They're already becoming more and more insubstantial as is. Naru replied with a shake of her head as the escaped dragons did in fact seem to be quickly fading out of existence the further they flew away. If any of them somehow survive to be a problem later, we'll handle it then. I'm too tired to deal with them now.

If you say so. Oh, look! Your Sempai and her crush are having a moment! Go ruin it! Kurama said teasingly as Kamijou took off his jacket to offer Sempai something to protect her modesty.

I'm not that bad of a spoilsport. Naru shot back as she looked away and frowned at the field of strange metal that seemed to have formed underneath where the purple sphere had been hovering earlier before something about Kamijou properly registered. Wait! Did Kamijou's arm just grow back like nothing happened!? How does that work!? Does he have regeneration now!?

Driven by her curiosity on the matter, Naru couldn't help but skip over and inspect the arm. Refusing to touch it of course.

"Uh, why are you looking at my arm like that?" Kamijou asked with confusion.

Sempai glared at her interrupting her private time with her would-be beau, but this was for Science!

"Uh, you just regenerated it, idiot. Even I need a second or two for a whole arm to grow back."

"Oh, it, um does that?" Kamijou scratched the back of his head with a nervous smile.

That made no sense dammit!

---

Watching as Naru skipped over to annoy Mikoto, neither they nor the [Imagine Breaker] standing with them noticed a mysterious glowing woman looking down on the scene from the rooftop of a nearby skyscraper.

"I am pleased." The glowing figure said, radiating pride. "The girl might've needed a little help but she nevertheless shows promise."

With those passing cryptic words, the figure vanished leaving no trace of its presence behind.

---

Having the last thing I experience be my head being stomped open is truly unpleasant.

That was the first thought that crossed Kihara Gensei's mind as he awoke inside a modified Testament pod in one of his many backup facilities inside the City.

Though at least this proves that continuity of consciousness across clones is possible. The mad scientist consoled himself with a sigh as the pod began the procedures to release him from its confines. It is fortunate that I thought to use a puppeteered bioroid as a body double as I carried out the plan and that Ruiko-chan was too angry to notice my connection to it amidst the rest of my Level Upper Network. I likely wouldn't have survived otherwise.

And if he died, then he wouldn't be able to review all the precious data he'd collected and refine his methodologies for his next attempt to produce a Level 6.

Which would be an incredible shame. The old man thought as the pod's lid rose and he prepared to exit it.

"Now then." He said cheerfully as the lid fully lifted and he began to push himself into a sitting position. "Time to get down to wo-"

He was cut off when a katana appeared out of nowhere and buried itself in his chest, even as his Shinobi advisor materialised holding the blade.

"W-What are you d-doing?" Gensei asked, incredulous at this turn of events as blood began to fill his lungs and slipped out of the corners of his mouth. "D-Don't you want the t-treasure I promised y-you?"

"Oh, I've secured that already." The Shinobi said with a chuckle. "I stole the goddess' DNA map from your systems while you were busy with your foolish Level 6 Shift."

"W-We had a deal! Why resort to such petty theft!?"

"We are shinobi. Theft is part and parcel of our trade." The ninja said with a shrug. "Besides, you stole the DNA from the City's tyrant first, did you not? That makes you a thief too and as the saying goes 'there is no honor among thieves'."

With this statement made, the Shinobi set his blade alight and it was the sight of the flames of this burning blade spreading over and consuming his body that was the last thing that Kihara Gensei saw as his long life ended.

---

"So, um, Mama, I, uh, we… Okay, I honestly don't have a reasonable explanation for what happened today." Mikoto admitted to her mother as they sat across from each other at the coffee table in the absurdly spacious guest room at Ruiko's house the night after the insanity with Kihara Gensei ended.

"Don't worry about it." Mama said with a reassuring smile. "I know that you being a Level 5 means you get involved in a lot of strange, sometimes dangerous stuff."

Actually that only really started happening after I became friends with Ruiko and Naru. Mikoto thought, but knew better than to say.

Unaware of her thoughts, Mama just continued. "So long as you come home safe in the end, I'm fine with it. I trust you to take care of yourself."

Mama trailed off then, muttering to herself about how she had been involved with worse when she was Mikoto's age.

I must've misheard that, right? Right!?

Before Mikoto could ponder that mystery for long, Mama cut into her thoughts by raising her voice slightly.

"But!" She said, with a mischievous gleam in her eyes. "In exchange for being so understanding, I want to meet your new sisters, Mikoto. All of them."

"That, uh, might be a little difficult." Mikoto replied with an uncomfortable laugh as she tried to wrap her head around the logistics of somehow allowing her Mama to meet the almost ten thousand surviving Sisters. "But I'll, um, try my best."

---

Seated on a barstool in her kitchen and watching as Last Order and the rest of the Sisters in the City got properly introduced to Misuzu-san, Ruiko couldn't hide her amusement. Not at her daughter meeting her progenitor's mother, mind you. As amusing as that was, she was used to Order-chan's antics. No, what was the real source of her amusement for the moment was Accel. Or more precisely how he was pacing the kitchen and shooting worried glances over to the living room where Mikoto-sempai was introducing the Sisters to her mother.

"And now there's one more woman that's going to be looking over my shoulder and getting on my case about how I treat the brat." Accel muttered angrily as he collapsed onto the barstool next to her, apparently tired of his pacing.

"Suck it up, Accel." Ruiko told her boyfriend and co-parent with a smirk at his expense. "You're surrounded by girls. That's not going to change anytime soon."

Rather than respond, Accelerator just broke out into disgruntled whispers.

It was just too much. Here was the mighty Number 1 who struck fear into all his foes being made uncomfortable by having too many girls in his life. The thought was just too funny for Ruiko and she broke out into giggles.

Giggles that just became more intense as she spied the scene playing out over in her living room.

"Hmm… How about Neko-chan?" Misuzu-san said as she rubbed her chin thoughtfully and addressed 10032 who was in a wheelchair on Heaven Canceller's orders as she recovered from the virus Gensai used her to infect the Misaka Network with. "That's a nice name."

"Misaka suppose, Misaka says uncertainly." The cat loving Sister said as she stroked her pet's fur as it rested curled up on her legs.

"Misuzu-mama, could you perhaps come up with a more normal name? Misaka begs for the entire Network." The Sister that Mikoto-sempai had dubbed Military Otaku said, looking pained.

She wasn't the only one, every one of the Sisters with the exception of Last Order who was busy hiding her giggles, were sporting similar looks. Each more hilarious than the last.

"Why what's the matter, Otaku-chan? I mean I think it's cute and it's better than what Mikoto-chan came up with, no?"

"Mama! Don't bring me into this!" Sempai said, waving her arms defensively as the gathered Sisters all shot her glares.

"It is cute, Misaka concedes." 10032 said with a resigned sigh. "Very well, Misaka will go by Neko-chan going forward. Misaka concludes despite her embarrassment at the name."

"Now, now, no need to be too embarrassed. Nicknames are supposed to be just a little embarrassing. It's the charm behind them." Misuzu-san affirmed.

The conversation continued from there but Ruiko couldn't focus on it. By that point, she was giggling so hard that she had almost fallen off the stool. If not for Accel catching her, she most likely would have.

"Is it really that funny?" Accel asked with a quirked eyebrow.

"Did you see the Sisters' faces? Yes, it is." Ruiko shot back. "It's hilarious."

"You have a weird sense of humour Ruiko, you know that?"

"Yup, but you love me regardless."

"Damn straight I do." Accel said without hesitation, bringing a brilliant smile to Ruiko's face.

---

In her hotel room, Naru smiled as she finished freshening up and preparing to finally get to enjoy the Daihaseisai properly.

With not a single looming threat in sight.

"Gonna have a good time, gonna have a good time, gonna have a good time~"

Yeah, yeah. Stop that infernal sing song before you jinx it! Kurama shouted irritably.

No. Naru replied with a mental raspberry. You're just peeved that you can't come out to enjoy the festival too.

Am not. Kurama shot back insincerely. You humans can take your silly festivals and shove it!

Then you don't want me to buy you snacks from the stalls?

I never said that! Kurama hastily disagreed.

Laughing at having caught her partner in his lie, Naru skipped over to the door.

"Time to have some fun!" She declared with a fist pump, even as she excitedly swung the door open with her free hand. "Daihaseisai! Watch out! Here I come!"

---

Done and done! Thanks to Nameless as always!

And here is the wowy zowy of a chapter. We got fights, we got talks, we got grudges. It's overloaded with content and all the interesting nuggets for big fans to dissect. We did it, one of the biggest arcs of Toaru is nearly complete. With loose ends tied up and new ones opening, who knows what could happen next. At least Ruiko got her revenge in a way. Still, I demand to know where those freaky stump dragons went in canon! Make sense Touma! Make sense! So we gave some input on that.

Nameless: Mega length chapter is mega. XD So we decided to write a truly epic length chapter for the climax of the Railgun Daihaseisai arc, hope you guys liked it. Oh, and I hope you all also liked our little joke in reference to the chapter title. *wink*

So much content. Once again, hope you guys enjoyed it. We addressed most of it in story. So no need for additional explanations this time. With that said...

You know what to do! Smash that review button and tell us what you love! No flames and peace off my peeps!