IV

Chapter 22: What Can't Be Reached By Brute Force

One_Way_Road

Part 1

The situation was beyond hopeless. Hishiro was just a couple of steps away from the corner he had just turned in the back alley, but against Accelerator, that distance was meaningless. The white demon could reach him and end his life in a fraction of a second before he could have any chance to turn around and run. However, that monster was approaching him slowly step by step instead of doing that. Was he mocking him? Gauging his intentions? Waiting for Hishiro to make the first move and crush any hope he had of surviving after that? It was impossible to tell by just looking at his face.

Trying to keep his distance, the unfortunate boy staggered backwards while he slowly reached for his revolver inside his pocket. Since he didn't had his usual jacket today, he couldn't bring all his arsenal he kept hidden within it, so that's the only weapon he had at the moment. Six bullets and no reloader. Accelerator noticed the motion and suddenly stopped, twisting his mouth into a sick grin that screamed "you're dead".

What can I possibly do now? It doesn't looks like I can talk my way out of this, and this gun is nothing but a toy compared to his powers. Wrecking his brain as he looked for a solution, he failed to notice the other boy's move. Actually, even if he was 150% focused, he would still have a hard time understanding what had just happened. After taking one last step, Accelerator simply vanished from his sight with a high pitched wind noise. And in a split of a moment later, he heard a voice from behind. "Where are you going?"

!

Surprised, Hishiro jumped forward and turned around to find the #1 esper standing just a step away from where he was. Surely he was just toying with him before giving the final blow. Tsk… I won't let that happen! The desperate boy thought out a plan and quickly drew his revolver, shooting as fast as he could to not give his enemy enough time to react.

Unfortunately, no time was needed. When the bullet was about to hit Accelerator's right shoulder, it simply flew back towards the same direction it came from. However, that was not a blind reckless attack, Hishiro predicted that this could happen and activated his ability right after he pulled the trigger, slowing down the projectile and giving him an chance to dodge. All the bullet did was scratch his cheek before hitting a wall behind him. Still, that was way closer than he had expected and left his hands covered in cold sweat.

"Hoh? Seems like you at least have some intelligence, unlike the others." Said the white demon, slightly lifting his heel. "Still, you're not smart enough to stay away from me huh? AHAHAHAHAHA!" And he softly tapped the ground with it in the middle of his mad laugh.

Hishiro failed to notice the attack coming and was suddenly sent flying in the air. Seeing Accelerator jump towards him, he activated his ability and stopped raising sooner than the other male predicted, making him miss him by a mile. That didn't help him for long, as the attacker landed a dropkick on his stomach before he could touch the ground, speeding up his fall.

The brown haired male could do nothing this time and had his back hit the floor with enough strength to make his whole body crack, which was only worsened by the fact Accelerator was still standing above him. "Gaaaaaa-AAAH!" This was probably the strongest strike he had ever taken in his whole life. He was actually impressed that he was still alive after that one.

His vision was blurred by a moment as blood leaked from his mouth, but he managed to see the other boy ready to stomp on him. Hishiro barely escaped by rolling to the side, but the shockwave created by the attack sent him crashing towards the wall of the building ten meters away from him. The impact actually left some cracks on the wall and he was afraid that he had broken something this time. He got up as fast as he could in his current state just in time to sidestep a charge from the #1.

If this continue for too long, I'll end up dying for sure! But just as I thought, no direct attacks are effective. Then my only option is really to… He had a plan, but would that kind of thing actually work on Accelerator out of all people?

The other male didn't wait for him to make up his mind and charged towards him again. Hishiro ended up tripping down on the body of a knocked out thug when he tried to dodge. He got out of the way of the attack, but he fell on his butt and hit his back on a trash dumpster. Accelerator reached him before he could get up and aimed a stomp for his chest, which Hishiro avoided by throwing himself to the side despairdly.

Accelerator's foot dug into the dumpster, deforming the steel structure. Annoyed, he clicked his tongue and pulled his leg back, dragging the whole thing along with it, as if it was glued on the sole of his shoe. "Here, let me put you where you belong!" After turning to the side, he made a heel kick motion and sent the dumpster flying at the other boy, who widened his eyes and tried to get away with no success. "Oh crap- ARGH!"

The large steel object hit the boy's right arm, bending it unnaturally and making he fall one more time. This time he was sure his arm was broken, as there was a weird numb sensation on his shoulder following the maddening pain. Still, he was lucky that that was all. The dumpster landed on another wall, cracking it from the ground to the roof. If he had taken a clean hit from that…

"This is insane..." Hishiro said, dumbfold at both the strength of the attack and the fact he was still breathing after it. He got to his knees and saw Accelerator slowly walking towards him again. The battle had gone for barely a minute and he was almost in a state he could almost no longer fight, while the other was intact.

"Are you done already?" Said the white demon, stopping just two steps away from him.

"Are you kidding me? I was done after the first hit..." It hurt his pride, but he had to admit he stood no chance in a head on battle against this monster. But.. Ten seconds. If I can keep him from moving during ten seconds, I might be able to stop his heartbeat and get away from here! Standing up he made a self-deprecating smile and kept talking in a mocking tone. "But I guess you won't let me go if I throw the towel now, will you?"

"Not before I'm satisfied punishing you for ever thinking of challenging me."

"Yeah… that won't do." Hishiro took his stance again and started the countdown. If Accelerator noticed he was messing with his body, it was all over. If he moved before his heart stopped, he had to start all over again. And his only resource to try and keep that monster from attacking him were his remaining five bullets of his revolver, which weren't even effective against the #1.

10… 9… 8…

"Well then..."

Accelerator dashed forward. Hishiro predicted his movement and sidestepped perfectly this time, making sure he had his gun really close to his foe's eyes in the process and pulling the trigger at the right time.

Of course, his aim wasn't to shot him. The boy hoped that the light, heat or the burnt gunpowder could at least do something to his vision despite his impenetrable vectorial armor. And in fact, the #1 stopped for a moment after the action.

Now's my chance!

10… 9… 8… 7… 6…

"Do you think that'll work on me?" Accelerator turned around and kicked the air, making the floor crack broken and sending half a dozen of concrete pieces towards Hishiro. On instinct, he dissipated the field inside his enemy and made another one in front of himself in order to block the attack, but the projectiles were too fast and heavy for him to slow them down in such a short distance. One of them struck his chest and another opened a gash on his forehead. He held his ground though, and stared at the other male while clicking his tongue in annoyance. Four bullets left…

Hishiro took initiative this time and dashed forward while aiming his gun using his left arm. The white demon widened his grin and spread out his arms, welcoming the incoming attack. But again, the three shots fired were never supposed to hit him. Instead, they flew past him towards the pipes that ran along the wall, which was damaged by Accelerator's attack earlier. Two of them hit, and the already weakened structure started to collapse on top of the white haired boy. By then, Hishiro had already activated his ability and counted silently as he watched everything and got ready to fire his last remaining bullet to give him enough time if needed.

5… 4… 3…

Accelerator smile was replaced by a bored expression when he lifted his head, looking at the pathetic attempt of the desperate boy. Without even bothering to move, he let all the pipes fall over him, redirecting them twice as fast towards random directions, some even hitting the unconscious people he had already defeated.

2…

Hishiro pulled the trigger one last time, aiming for the center of the other boy's body, and jumped to the left at the exact same time in order to avoid the redirected bullet. But instead of coming back at the same direction like last time, Accelerator predicted he would do that and shifted the angle, sending the projectile to Hishiro's already injured right arm, drawing a loud scream of pain from him.

1…

The brown haired male endured the pain and made an extraordinary effort to keep his focus. While he landed on his back, he created yet another field on Accelerator's feet, intending to keep him in place for just one more second at all costs. The sudden action earned him an intense headache and an intense pressure on his body that only increased the pain of his injuries.

0.

With this, the fight was over.

Hishiro was laying on the ground, barely able to move a muscle. Accelerator nonchalantly made his way towards the downed boy while his feet were under the effect of Null Inertia.

"I gotta say, you have a bit of creativity in you. I'll give you credit for not doing the same stupid shit as everyone else. But..." The #1 lifted the defeated male by his hair. "What a shame. Your cheap tricks are all useless!" Moving his arm, he launched Hishiro crashing to the wall, drawing another yell of pain out of him. But he was far from done. He would make the boy pay. How dare such a weak kid even think for a moment that he could outclass him?

"What are you doing? - Asks Misaka trying to understand the situation in the experiment location."

Accelerator stopped on his tracks after hearing the new voice. He knew all too well to whose it belonged. "Tsk. What a timing..."

Standing on the opposite entrance of the alley was a chestnut haired girl, wearing Tokiwadai's uniform, military goggles and carrying a heavy looking gun. "Misaka's timing is just right, as there are only five minutes left before the experiment begins - explains Misaka as she informs that it is almost time-"

"I know, I know..." Annoyed, Accelerator turned around to face her, letting out a sigh while scratching his head.

"Misaka needs to remind you that taking part in battles before the experiment might compromise the result - says Misaka hoping that you do not take such actions in the future."

"Don't worry about this mess. This was hardly a battle. It's more like a warm up exercise." He answers with a sadist grin, but she doesn't seems to react to it at all, pissing off the male. "Gimme just a minute and I'll take out the trash."

The Level 5 was about to return to what he was doing before being interrupted, but noticed that the person he had just beat was no longer there. "..."

"If you're looking for that boy, he left through there just a moment ago - says Misaka as she points to the corner and wonders if that was the same boy from the last time."

"Tsk, no shit! He obviously got awa- wait, what was that you just said?"

"He was tumbling while holding his arm towards-"

"No, not that! Have you met him before?!"

Misaka just tilted her head to the side, lost in thought. Accelerator had half a mind to beat the truth out of her, but he held that urge back. The experiment was about to begin anyway. Not to mention…

"Hey, the cameras are only supposed turn on on the given time, right?"

"Exactly. All equipment regarding the experiment is activated when the experiment begins - answers Misaka as she consults the protocols."

Accelerator couldn't help but narrow his eyes as he studied the camera. He was absolutely sure it was moving just a before he faced it. What the hell is going on here?

Part 2

"Cough! Cough! Ugh..."

Hishiro vomited blood one last time before leaving the alley. His whole body was shaking. Not from the pain, but from the terror of the being he had just faced. Just… what the heck was that? He should have been unable to move… so why?

"Ugh! D-dammit..."

His line of thought got interrupted when another wave of pain showered on his body, forcing him down on a knee. He tried to get up again leaning on the wall, but his effort was futile, he simply couldn't gather enough strength on his arms and legs. Every time he breathed in it made his chest hurt so much that he wish he could just stop breathing. But doing so would make him cough out even more blood.

The scene started drawing attention from the people on the street, but no one had the will to help him as he would stare coldly at anyone that got too close. Still, he couldn't go much longer on his state. After dragging himself until just before the crossroads using the wall as support, his legs finally gave in and he slowly slid down the wall, sitting on the walkway. No… I can't stop here… what if he's still after me?

He tried to get up again, but all strength left his body and his vision started to black out. Clinging to his consciousness for his dear life, all he could see was a girl with twin pigtails and an armband walking towards him. Or was it? Probably due to the loss of blood, the image got overlapped with another on his mind and the colors around him got distorted. While he was dazed, she pulled him by his left arm to help him stand up and dragged him away as he leaned on her.

...

The "battle" ended quickly as always, and all that was left behind was a bloody mess. Accelerator stood alone in the middle of it all, looking blankly at the scene. None of his previous behavior could be found on him, as his expression just gave off an unsatisfied feeling.

He had won before he knew it while his mind was somewhere else entirely. It was tragically comical that he didn't even remember that girl's serial number as he wasn't listening to her at all. What would the researchers think of this fight? That didn't concern the boy. It wasn't his fault that she couldn't put up that much of a fight. More over, it was their fault that he couldn't focus.

Glancing one last time to the camera prepared specially for the experiment, he made his way out of the alley. It's time to pay those bastards a visit.

Part 3

*Beep-Beep*

The sound coming from the interphone broke away Hashimoto's concentration. Sighing in annoyance, he was about to ignore the sudden call when he noticed it was coming from the security staff. Taking his hands away from the keyboard, he pressed the button on the device on his right while his bionic eye kept looking at the monitor. "Hashimoto here. What's the problem?"

"He's here! He took out most of our men and made his way into the facility! We don't have the means to deal with this!"

The voice that came from the interphone didn't belong to the head of security, making the blue haired man frown. Given the situation he described, this person was probably just a regular guard that took the initiative to call him in the middle of the commotion. But what exactly was happening? "Who? Who is the one attacking?"

"It's the #1, Accelerator!"

"What?!"

This is impossible. This facility in particular has no official link to the experiment whatsoever. How did he found us? What does he want? Is this just a coincidence?

"Boss! He's getting closer! What should we do?"

Rubbing his temples, He focused on finding a solution quickly to give him time. "Stop him at all costs! No matter what happens, do not let him reach the enginery lab or the warehouse containing the prototypes! Mobilize the Scorpion units if needed, but you have to hold your posts until reinforcement arrives, understood?"

"Y-yes, sir!"

Cutting the communication there, Hashimoto took his personal phone and called the first number as fast as he could. "Takayama-san, we have an emergency here!"

"Why must it always be bad news?" Ignoring her complaints, he explained the situation to her. "Ah, I see. I had a feeling something could happen, but to think he would attack directly..."

"What do you mean?"

"We had a chance to get some interesting data on his powers earlier before the experiment, but Ike-kun made a mistake while handling the cameras and the boy noticed what was going on. And then we had a strange access to the database… now I understand why. We can't underestimate that one."

"Ike, huh… the poor kid hadn't left the lab for more than a week now, had him? Remember to send him home later. But now we need you here asap. Do you still have the Capacity Down Therestina-san gave us?"

"Sure, but I don't think we'll need it. I'll be there in about 15 minutes. Can you handle the situation until then?"

"I suppose so… but by then, your creations will be just scraps. I hope you don't mind it."

There was a short pause before the reply. "It's a shame, but it can't be helped. At least, let's take this opportunity to gather some data, so this won't feel like a total waste."

…

On the outside of the facility, which looked like an abandoned factory, all that could be heard were the continuous explosions and the terrified screams from the security staff. And in the center of it all was the white haired boy, slowly walking towards the gate that led to the inside of the building, without a single scratch on his body.

More guards appeared outside of Accelerator's field of view and surrounded him, wielding large rifles and riot shields. At someone's command, they all fired at once. Of course, all of the bullets were redirected, but the shields protected the shooters who just kept unloading their guns. Their goal was not to take him down, but to delay his advance.

The boy smiled and complimented the tact on his mind, even thought it was still not enough. Faster than anyone there could follow with their eyes, the #1 made his way to one of the men in front of him and kicked his shield, sending the person flying backwards. Then he simply tapped the shields of the two on either of his sides, completely destroying them. As all of that happened in a split of a second, no one had time to understand what had just happened and take their fingers out of the trigger, resulting in those two unfortunate guards being hit by dozens of shots.

"Uh oh, does that count as an work accident? It would be bad for their families if they don't receive an indemnity for that." Said the with a cold grin on his face.

One of the guards couldn't take the mock and readied to fire his gun. "Y...you monster!"

"Me? You were the ones that shot them, right? AHAHAHAHAHA!"

Accelerator's comment made the man hesitate for a moment and that's all he needed. He lightly kicked one of the bullet capsules lying on the ground, sending it at supersonic speed towards the man. The projectile pierced through the rifle he was holding and struck the helmet hard enough to knock the guard out.

Seeing that, the others gave up and dropped their weapons one by one before running away screaming things like "I don't wanna die yet!" or "They don't pay me enough for this!". While wondering if it was worth chasing them down, an extremely powerful explosion happened on the white demon's shoulder. Unharmed, he simply wiped the ashes from his clothes and turned around to see what had attacked him.

And what he found there was an army of eight legged powered suits equipped with a massive missile launcher attached to its back like a stinger. On the front, aside from the machine guns, two mechanic arms extended out with circular saws on it. The overall design vaguely resemble a scorpion. Perhaps those even crossed the lines of what a powered suit was and should be classified as tanks.

Without any warning, they all fired their missiles that were about half the size of a security robot towards him. Accelerator did nothing besides sigh in annoyance as the bomber raid exploded all around him, enveloping the whole place in a sea of flames. In front of it, the machines stood still, waiting to confirm the situation of their target before taking further action, but were ready to fire again if needed.

About ten seconds later, the boy emerged from the fire like a bullet, aiming to reach the nearest Scorpion robot. More missiles were launched, but he simply ran past them without setting them off and punched the right leg of the weapon, which skidded backwards but kept standing after the strike, ready to keep the assault. Accelerator widened his eyes at the unexpected result. "Heh… I didn't use that much power just now, but it should have been enough to blow that shit up. You guys have some interesting toys. Be sure to last long enough to making me coming here worth it!"

He took off again, going for the same unit he had just attacked. The Scorpions couldn't use their missiles at such short distance, so the fired their machine guns instead, hoping to get past the boy's ability by the sheer number of rounds they were firing. But even then, all of it was repelled and set back to the ones that fired it.

When the white demon got close enough, the machine activated its circular saws and tried to cut his head off with it. Before it could connect, he grabbed the saw with his bare hand and pulled it, ripping the whole arm off the rest of the weapon. He then followed up by grabbing the other arm and lifting the damn thing off the ground before sending it crashing into another unit.

Neither of them seemed to have received any damage though, as they quickly stood up and got ready to attack again. Accelerator also noticed that the redirected bullets left not even a scratch on the powered suit's armors. He had no idea on what exactly those were, but they were tough as heck.

This realization bought a joyful and insane expression to his face and he stomped the ground hard, creating a shockwave strong enough to send half a dozen of the machines high in the air. Afterwards he jumped up himself and heel kicked one of them back to the ground hard enough to dig it into a large crater, where it struggled a bit to move. It is still active even after that? Amazing! Excited, he finally decided to stop holding back and dive kicked it with all he got, finally destroying it in a mushroom shaped blast.

The others, however, adjusted their positions in mid air and landed on their feet softly as if nothing had happened. They fired another barrage of missiles, and this time, Accelerator took cover behind one of them instead of taking the attack head on. He could endure the hit easily, but he had something else in mind. As the projectiles exploded, the powered suit that took the blast dismantled into a hundred of pieces.

The boy used the scraps of metal as ammo and launched them at the nearest machine, which tried to defend from the attack with its arms, but the limbs couldn't endure the impact and got ripped off. Still, the main body was mostly unaffected.

The #1 approached it in a second and placed his hand on the metal monster. "I'm curious… just how much can you guys take?!" And slowly, he pressed on it, increasing the force bit by bit. Without its limbs, the machine couldn't fight back, and Accelerator made sure to make the vectors hold it in place, so escaping wasn't an option either. It was only a matter of time until the strength of the vectors would be too much for it. Still, it resisted way beyond anything he had ever seen. At some point, he could hear something that sounded like a rotor from within it, as a bit of steam escaped from the junctions. By then, the pilot jumped off and ran away in terror.

Finally, a bent appeared on the hull, and it triggered a chain reaction that kneaded the whole weapon as if it was a soda can before it burst into flames. Satisfied with the result, Accelerator lifted it and launched the giant fireball into another unit that was approaching while he was playing around with that one, exploding it as well.

The boy kept toying with the powered suits, taking his time to destroy them one by one until there were only two of them left. "*Yaaaaawwwwwn* It seemed fun at first, but you still lacked fire power. Well then, time to finish this."

"Hold it! That's enough already!"

From the other side of a fire wall, a woman in a lab coat with twin ponytails and large round glasses came walking nonchalantly, followed by a dozen of men and women trying to fight off the fire. Accelerator didn't recognize her, but given the situation, she probably was among the staff of the facility - and thus, was somehow linked to the level 6 shift project. "So they finally sent someone to properly welcome my arrival. Took your damn time."

"That's what happens when you come without warning and make such a big mess in the front gate. You could just ask to get in, you know."

"Really? Even though this place isn't officially registered to be related to the experiments?"

The woman giggled and stopped a dozen of steps away from him. "Well, even though the aim of this facility is not directly related to the project, it does belongs to our group. So you don't have to worry, we aren't hiding anything from you in that regard."

Accelerator still felt suspicious towards her, but dropped the hostility for the time being and simply kept staring, waiting for her to continue. She took a look at the scenery and sighed. "Good grief… most of my children are completely destroyed. And I thought they had enough in into them to hold on at least until I arrived."

"They were sturdy", he admitted, "but that's what you get when you fill them up with Napalm and do not use any fire resistant materials."

"They were built to be resistant to impacts and that's all. The metal used on the hull is already too heavy, so any extra protection would prejudice it's performance. Though this does creates the flaw you described. I guess that's why everyone else considered it to be a failure." She explained while patting the leg of one of the two that were still standing. Their pilots were long gone by now. "Well then, since you're here, why don't I show you around? I assume you're still suspicious of us after all."

"I would rather take a look on my own."

"Can you promise you won't break anything if I let you do that?"

"What, do you expect to stop me if I decide to do so while you're around?"

With that, the woman smiled in a eerie way and lowered her head in a way that her glasses flashed, hiding her eyes beneath it. "You think I can't? Don't let your power get over your head, child. The human body is fragile. There are countless ways to harm it that do not involve any vectors."

He felt a killing intent coming from her that was totally different from the ones he felt from thugs or the guards just now. It was filled with certainty instead of probability and hope. He was ready to challenge her to try out of curiosity, but then she suddenly dropped her attitude and said in a kind tone. "But of course, I wouldn't go as far as that with my student, right?"

"What?"

"Oh, I haven't introduced myself yet, have I? My name is Takayama Kyrie, one of your teachers at Nagatenjouki Academy… on paper, at least. Nice to meet you." She then walked past him, signaling for him to come along. The sudden change in the atmosphere utterly destroyed any battle spirit left in Accelerator, which followed her murmuring "weird woman."

…

After walking for twenty minutes within the laboratory and the factory while Takayama explained the workings of the facility, they finally reached the warehouse located on the center of the terrain. Unlike the other places, it was locked and no one seemed to be working there. The glasses woman pressed her palm against a reader and the large gate leading inside opened. "And at last, this is where we store the samples that resulted from our research. It's usually rather empty with just a couple of them inside, but we have been experiment different designs and testing their efficiency lately, so it's kinda crumpled right now."

There were no lamps there, so it was kinda difficult to see everything that was inside, but the boy knew what those things were. Just like the ones he had fought a while ago, the room was filled with powered suits of many different kinds and bizarre shapes. In front of each of then, there were plates with some kind of identification that read 5o#3-McR(P004), 5o#3-McR(P005) and so on… following the pattern, the boy estimated that he would find a model named P020 at the end of the first row - and that's just for the first row.

However, since he never saw anything that pointed towards what he was suspecting, his interest in all of it was long gone. Still, he didn't looked satisfied just yet. Takayama knew what was worrying him. "You're still concerned about the equipment during the experiment, right? You think we are secretly researching your ability."

The white demon said anything and just casted her a side glance while she continued. "As a matter of fact, we are the ones that developed the devices used in the experiments. What you saw earlier was just a test run because those were presenting errors. We didn't intended to look into your private matters or anything."

Hearing that, Accelerator turned around and headed to the exit saying "That doesn't explain that boy though."

"Which boy?" She asked, raising a brow.

"... Never mind that."

The glasses woman sighed in relief that he didn't inspected all of the powered suits. After all, there was a very special unit further inside the warehouse. One whose plate was slightly different from the others: 5o#1-McA(P013)

Between the Lines

The following report summarizes the events that occurred in August 8, as well as their implications.

Therestina Kihara Lifeline had taken custody of the Child Errors that were used in the development of the body crystal, in an attempt to refine it further to turn Haruue Erii into a level 6. Her actions had no previous notice and caused quite a ruckus among the higher ups. If she were to be successful, it would destroy the whole point of the level 6 shift project. For the better or the worse, her plan was stopped by the #3 and the children woke up from their comatose.

In her confrontation with the Railgun, Therestina made use of the first 5o prototype. We were aware that the power output was still inferior to the original (though this was deliberately hidden from Therestina), but by the data gathered in the battle, we concluded that we were going to the wrong direction from the very beginning. Versatility is more important than the raw power, and that's what differ weapons from espers. Our goal is not to develop a weapon, but that's all we have done so far.

With that in mind, units 002 to 006 were adjusted accordingly, and 004 in particular has shown excellent results in the many uses of an electromaster powers. However something is still lacking: experience. The knowledge acquired through practical use is something we believed that only the user could develop on the long run, but there might be a way to implement it into the machine itself.

The Sisters share their memories and experiences through the MISAKA network, thus the next will always be superior than the previous regardless of not having experienced an actual battle before. Using the same concept, we could add this functionality to the 5o's, but for that to work, all users must be linked by the same brainwave, which could be lethal based on the results shown by the Level Upper.

Still, if a "brainwave translator" were present, then this would no longer be an issue. Needless to say, we don't have the proper specialists in order to research the possibility of creating this. Our only option is to find someone with experience in the area that could bring results quickly to meet the deadlines. The only one that fit this criteria and is currently within our reach is...

...

Kiyama Harumi.

With the children awake, she would no longer be under Heaven Canceler's protection. This was the opportunity many organizations in the dark side were waiting for.

To increase the efficiency of the MISAKA network.

To improve the Testament.

To help finish developing a special brain for an artificial body.

To create a network accessible to all users of a certain tool.

As an apprentice of Kihara Gensei and the developer of the Level Upper, she would be dragged into the abyss of the darkness by the distorted desires of those living within it without a chance to resist.

That's what the twin pigtail Judgment girl waiting in the hallway of the hospital suspected it would happen. And by the movement of the ones she was keeping an eye on, it seemed that her prediction was correct. "... as if I'll let that happen."

And with that, Accelerator makes his brutal and majestic debut in the backstage. It wasn't my intention at first, but this chapter became centered around him (which is totally not because he is my favorite character or anything). I guess it's way too fun to mess around with his abilities - though I had to hold back a bit to avoid some plot holes. If there's enough window for him to show up again after the accident, I'll make sure to go wild. XD

So Hishiro got a beating again. Poor guy tried his best but wasn't enough. And if anyone was curious: Null Inertia is useless against Accelerator. His vectorial control simply takes priority over it due to the sheer strength of the ability of a lv 5 vs a lv 3.

On to the replies now:

Guest(1): Yes, he at least survived but… ouch.

Guest (2): Sharp observation. Even Hishiro was surprised she apologized, and that was all part her plan to take the reins of the conversation back. First of all, keep in mind that they are all allies (for the time being, as anything can happen in the dark side of Academy City), so she doesn't need to go miles away to manipulate them. But even though she is not "messing with their minds", she is following her own strategy and pulling the right threads to make they act, despite how unreasonable is what she wants them to do. The thing is that she made a couple of mistakes regarding the info she passed to them, which made it difficult for her to just rebute Hishiro. So no, she didn't hesitate because he was angry, she just held back to not make any contradictions in her argument… and that's just one of the reasons. Take a look again at her talk with Kaizumi in Chapter 10, compare what she said in chapter 21 and you might see that she is still playing the calculist she is. Still, I wonder if how could I have handled that scene better… it would've been easier to just write from her perspective, but then I would end up giving too many hints. Those are the moments my lack of experience shows of, unfortunately.

As for the Shizuri being afraid of his anger, that was just an hyperbole, she does have enough power to kill him in one hit, and all he can do to fight back is bluff his way into making her not doing that.

Sargent Crash: Yeah, it wouldn't be fun if nothing happened, right? Accel just attacked because Hishiro prepared to attack, and he only did so because he thought Accel would attack first. If he had just walked away… it would end up being a pretty boring chapter. XP

One last thing… I wonder if anyone figured out the secret behind the serial codes by now (not that difficult btw) or about the Judgment girl...