V

Chapter 25: Prelude to the Game of Fate

Last_Pawn

Part 1

August 31, 3:40 PM, somewhere in the southeast outskirts of Berlin, Germany

In the backseat of a red popular car, a girl watched the scenery through the window with deep blue eyes while she played with her blond braids. Her long and expensive looking white dress adorned with pink and golden frills gave her an aura of nobility that didn't fit at all the vehicle she was riding in. But she paid it no heed and was just worried about how long it would take to reach her destination.

It's been a few minutes since they had last seen any building, as now the only thing that surrounded the road was the trees and vegetation of the forest. Sighing in boredom, she leaned her head against the window, trying to find the birds that eventually flew from a branch to another.

After riding in that straight road for quite some time, the car took a turn to the left. There was no asphalted road there, but the ground was surprisingly easy to ride on, despite having to make several turns to avoid the trees there. Clearly, this was a path purposefully made to not be noticed by normal people. A quick glance at it would give only the impression that there was a gap in the vegetation there. But following the disguised trail would lead them to the large mansion hidden in the forest, at the margins of the Müggelsee lake. And it was exactly there where the red car was heading to.

There, two men waited its arrival in the rose garden next to the parking spot. One was wearing gray robes, walking aimlessly while reading an old book. The other one looked slightly younger, wore luxurious black clothes that contrasted with his blond hair and blues eyes and was drinking tea in a white table at the exact center of the garden.

Once it finally arrived, only the girl stepped out of the car while several maids took her baggage before it made an U turn and went back to the road. She headed straight to the tea drinking man and made a polite bow. "Good afternoon, Myrin onii-sama. I'm finally back."

Keeping a serious expression, he placed his cup on the table and answered without standing from the chair. "Welcome back, Lillian. We were waiting for you. Want some tea before we-"

"Ah, Rázval!" Cutting him off, she dashed like a kid towards the other man when she noticed he was also there.

He took his eyes off the book when he heard her voice and dropped it to catch the girl that had jumped at his arms without warning. "Rázval! I didn't know you were back! I missed you so much!"

"My, my, miss Lillian, no need for all that. It has been just a couple of months. Still, it is good to see you again. I hope you enjoyed your trip."

"I sure did! Lisbon is such a beautiful place! You have to come with me the next time!"

"Ahem-." The two of them broke the hug at Myrin's signal, but none of them seemed embarrassed nor apologetic for acting as if he wasn't there. "You two must have a lot to talk about, but I'm afraid we have a lot to discuss first. We can't afford to waste time."

They both gave him an awkward smile and joined the blond male on the table, accepting the tea he offered to them. Lillian was tired and wanted to throw herself on her bed as soon as possible, but she knew the importance of this meeting. They indeed couldn't waste a single second.

After all, the future and hopes of the ones that lived within the mansion - including themselves - rested on their shoulders. No, maybe even the future of the whole humanity was at stake and could take a severe turn for the better or the worse depending on what was decided by them.

They were the three pillars that supported the whole faction. The Crown of the Golden Sages of the Next Aeon.

She was the first one to talk. "So, how far did the plan progressed in my absence?"

"Beyond our initial expectations." Answered Myrin. "And without any casualties so far. Or rather, Rüdiger… how can I put it…. Hmmmmm..."

Lillian's face stiffened at her brother's hesitation. "What? What happened to him?!"

"Please calm down, miss Lillian. He was severely injured, but there is no imminent risk of death. I'm sure he will be fine in a couple of weeks."

"Oh thank goodness..." The girl sighed in relief and rested her back on the chair. "Though it is a shame he has to step aside so soon. He is a rather valuable asset."

"His sacrifice paid off." Continued Myrirn. "Thanks to him, we managed to nourish the Seeds of Doubt while Rázval was busy with the experiment. And since I mentioned it, Rázval..."

"What should I say? It was a complete success. So much that the spell exceeded my own expectations and affected the whole world in an equal intensity."

"Ah, so that was your doing!" The girl slammed her palms on the table and glared at the older male. "You can't do something like that without warning me first!"

"Oh, could it be that you suffered some kind of… inconvenience because of the Angel Fall?" He asked, clearly teasing her.

"N-no! I sensed it and made a barrier on the last second, but it was a close call!"

"As expected from you, milady. Then there is nothing to be complained about, right?"

"Of course there is! What would you do if I had failed and some pervert ended up with my body!?"

"Lillian, you are overdoing it. Lower your tone." With a clear tone of authority in his voice, Myrin managed to completely change her attitude, earning an apology in return. "I was the one who authorized Rázval, and we could not risk trying to convey you the message regarding it."

"And if it servers as a consolation, I had so much difficulty trying to contain it that I had no time to avoid the effects on my own body."

"Eh? Really?" Her mood lightened up in a flash hearing the gray robe man's words. "Who did you become, Rázval?"

"It seems like my appearance was that of an old female police officer that has quite an interesting fan club."

"Pff… BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I would've loved to see that!"

And laughing like a child while kicking the air, her dignified aura was ruined once again, making her older brother sigh in resign. Leaving her alone for now, Myrirn turned to the older male and continued. "Still, to think that even you was unable to fully control the Angel Fall..."

"It would not be that much of an issue if I had been the one to directly cast it. And there is also the fact that the area of effect started to expand beyond the planet and into outer space… not even I can guess what could happen if the spell was not restrained. It was a stroke of luck that my improvised countermeasure using the ley lines were enough to stop the process for long enough until the people from the Anglican Church destroyed the ritual place."

Lillian finally stopped laughing and joined the discussion again. "So tell me, Rázval, what did we got from that experiment?"

"Mainly it confirmed that Academy City is trying to create an angel following a different set of rules from anywhere else in the world based on science alone. The incident that happened while I was still there was no accident. Aleister really wants to achieve the system, and probably put himself on the top of it. Though I am unsure of how exactly he is intending to use that to fulfill his plan."

"Leaving his ultimate goal aside, that artificial heaven of his gives him way too much power." Added Myrin. "On the bright side though, his towering empire will continue to overshadow us if it keeps growing at this pace. Not only the Anglicans, but the Catholics are also feeling some kind of threat coming from there ever since the failure of the Gregorian Chant."

Hearing that, the girl made a signal with her hand and a nearby maid brought her the item she was carrying inside the car. "He can get all the power he wants, it won't make a difference anymore. Now that we have this, I believe we are ready to tackle both Academy City and Necessarius at once." With this statement, she placed it on the table.

It was a longsword with a golden shaft, adorned with tiny crystalline gems on the handguard and protected by a blue sheath with golden patterns drawn onto it. The other two widened their eyes on the sight of the weapon, showing clear disbelief over its presence in front of their eyes.

"You mustn't get too close, Rázval." Warned Lillian. "I can guarantee that its power is real. Me and onii-sama are alright, but you can really die if you show any intention of touching it."

"Oh, of course. How careless of me." With these words, the gray robbed man pulled away from table, but still kept his eyes glued on the item in question while the girl carefully handled it, pulling the sheath just a little bit to reveal the shining silver blade hidden within. It had a light of its own and made the air around it vibrate, which was clear proof of its overwhelming power. "Simply beautiful. Just as one would expect from the Sword of Law. You did a fine job with it, miss Lillian."

"What are you thanking me for? This was only possible thanks to onii-sama."

"That's the least I could do to support you." Myrin said that humbly, but this was actually a tremendous feat, probably rivaling the world class Angel Fall spell Rával set up. "And your involvement was crucial as well. I would not be able to accomplish that if it wasn't for all the allies you made all over the continent."

Smiling in satisfaction, she sheathed the blade and continued talking mischievously. "In any case, the preparations are complete. When do we strike?"

Myrin rested his chin on his hand and dived deep into his long thoughts before answering. "Hmmmmm… It is true that we need to be careful with our timing, but we could also make use of our current momentum. After all, we do have personnel on standby just out of their walls. What do you think, Rázval?"

"Like the commoners say: first come, first served. We should act before the three great churches. However, I do recommend taking some precautions against the other golden remnant cabals beforehand. It is unlikely that they will do anything, but one of them is particularly... troublesome and unpredictable."

"That will not be an issue. I know how to put them in check." Myrin commented proudly while checking his watch. "Shall we do it then? Get yourselves ready. Tomorrow you will give the command and draw out the Seeds of Doubt while I handle the rough edges on the sidelines. If everything goes according to plan..." He stood up and eyed the sword one last time. "Lillian, you know what to do, right?"

"Of course, onii-sama. I can barely wait. The Fool fallen magician won't even know what hit him!"

Part 2

August 31, 1:00 PM, south area of District 3 - Academy City

It was difficult to hide his anxiety as he walked down the streets. In truth, things weren't doing well for Hishiro lately. He was forced to participate in deadly battles with monsters such as Level 5 espers (including the #1) and magicians, all the while trying to grasp the abnormal situation in the city, which he seemed to be part of without wanting. But every step he moved closer to understanding it, it felt like he also took two or three steps away from it.

The only thing he knew for sure is that there was some conflict going on between the higher ups and some maniacs from the said magic side. The problem is that he had no idea as of why. Was Academy City being attacked? How was it going to respond? Was it preparing to fight back at full force with those mechanical espers? What if Academy City is actually the one buying the fight? None of that would matter if it wasn't for one massive problem: why was he chosen to be part of this? What does it mean to be a Seed of Doubt?

Well, being it really put a lot of doubt in my mind, so the name is not just for showing. He had grown used to laughing bitterly at how crazy all of that was. The worst of all is that fate seemed to be actively trying to stop him from doing anything regarding that. The only one that could answer his questions about magic was the nun named Index. Asuka had her on the radar all the time, but ever since the incident with the Five Overs, they didn't had a chance to properly talk to her. Once Hishiro was out of the hospital, she had moved out of the city and only came back yesterday. Today was supposed to be the big day, but Seria had suddenly called him in for a mission, which would probably take the whole day. And tomorrow was the end of summer vacation, which meant...

"Ugh… school. Why do I even bother going there anyway? The money I earn from the missions is more than enough for me, and I could be sniped and drop dead at any given moment, so long term planning is just pointless."

"Don't say anything stupid like that, Shiro. I wouldn't let something like this to happen to you."

"I wonder about that..."

"Hey, I really wouldn't! After all… your face of disgust tomorrow is gonna be PRICELESS!"

"Yeah, yeah, screw you Asuka."

"Oh, such a lifeless rebuttal..."

"*sigh* I'm not in the mood for your bullshit right now."

Luckily, he had arrived at his destination, meaning that Asuka would shut up for the time being. It was a building with several rooms for location, meant to be used in business meetings.

Under regular circumstances, there would be no need for him to come to a place like this personally, even if someone was surveying their communications and actions, but today was different. He wasn't there just to receive the details of the next mission. In Asuka's words, they would be throwing a "welcome party", but for him it was more like an initiation ritual.

In summary, New Pointer would be receiving its new member today, and they were about to meet him or her, which also says a lot about the boy's bad mood.

After entering the building, Hishiro was greeted by the receptionist who told him the room where he was supposed to attend. Taking the elevator, he went to the 6th floor and stopped by the door marked with the number 64, hesitating to open it.

"Are you nervous, Shiro?"

"W-why would I? Don't be ridiculous."

"Don't worry, I'm not making fun of you. It's just natural."

"..."

"Everyone would be thinking the same at your position. Is it a boy? Is it a girl? Is she cute? Is she sexy? Is she younger? Is she a vir-"

"Say one more word and I'm leaving you here!"

"Wait, wait! I'm sorry, I won't do that again! Though I could just hack into anything in there and-"

Hishiro ignored her and turned the doorknob forcefully. He didn't came all the way here just to freeze in front of the door, and if he kept listening to Asuka he would end up snapping, and he wanted to avoid such scenario if possible.

However, little he knew at that point that this was the only possible result regardless of what either him or her did.

"What… the heck… IS THAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!?"

Inside the room were two people. One was Kumokawa Seria, who was sitting elegantly at the end sit of the table on the center of the room. The other was a girl with short chestnut hair and wearing Tokiwadai Middle School's uniform. Her back was facing the entrance, but no matter how you looked at it, this girl could only be… "Seria, are you out of your damn mind? What is the meaning of this?!"

"Hello for you too." She answered coldly. "And no, I'm still pretty sane, enough to not go shouting on other's faces when I first meet them."

"What sanity? What first meeting!? THIS PERSON IS THE FREAKING-"

"Ah- have you met her before, Shiro?"

"I-" He cut his own words there, noticing the mistake he had just made a bit too late to fix it. Crap, I never told them about my meeting with the Railgun before… no, more importantly, she hates me, doesn't she? Will I have to live from now on watching my back at all times? Wait, if Asuka finds out about this, I'm doomed regardless-

"Alright, that's enough, you two. Get inside and close the door."

Hishiro obeyed by impulse, but in his mind… this can't be happening, this can't be happening, this can't be happening, this can't be happening, this can't be happening, this can't be happening. C'mon, am I the only one that sees the problem here?!

Not noticing (or just simply ignoring) how the boy felt, Seria started talking once again. "First of all, let's allow the new member of our team introduce herself properly. Misaka, could you please turn around now?"

Right after those words were spoken, the girl nodded and did as said with a blank expression. "Hello. I'm Misaka, one of the many Sisters. My serial number is #19998. I'll be counting on you from now on - says Misaka trying to make a good first impression."

The boy was stared blankly at the scene unfolding before his eyes with his jaw dropped. It was impossible to tell what was going through his mind, but Seria still gave it a shot. "What, did you really believe that I had convinced the actual #3 to join us?"

"He… hehehe… ah, so it's just a clone, you scared me for a moment, now I'm so relieved… AS. IF!"

"Watch it, boy. I won't tolerate your tantrums today." The girl warned while staring coldly at him. "You asked for someone capable, didn't you? There you go. She has the experience of fighting Accelerator 10,000 times, and had military and strategy training embedded in her brain via the Testament. What issues could you have with her to be so mad?"

"OH, I do have many, but let's just fucking focus on the most obvious one, shall we?" He leaned forward with both hands on the table and stared back at her in a challenging way. "Two words: Misaka Network. We are already having some information leak issues as is, and now you're bringing in a living backdoor linked to other 10,000 access points that who knows where are all of them by this point! How could that NOT be an issue?"

Seria blinked a few times before closing her eyes and crossing her legs beneath the table. "Do you think I would've brought her here today if that hadn't already been dealt with?"

"The network is not a problem." Added Misaka while pointing to herself. "Ever since the end of the experiments, every Misaka grew out to be its own entity, so while we are all connected, the information and experience exchanged is filtered by our new gained self awareness - explains Misaka, hoping to clear up the misunderstanding."

"That sounds way too convenient for me to just blindly believe in."

"But it's actually true." Added Asuka. "It was written in a report given by Nunotaba Shinobu, the person behind the creation of the Testament, so I'm pretty sure the info is legit."

"I-is that so?" Hishiro had no choice but back down on that line of argument, be he wasn't done yet. "Then what about her lifespan? The accelerated growth would mean she doesn't have more than a few months of life, right?"

"This is not a problem as well. This Misaka was used as an experimental model for the deceleration program, in which the other Sisters are undergoing by now - explains Misaka. Even though my treatment is still not complete, I can participate in the missions without bigger issues - complements Misaka."

"Yuuup, this also matches the reports, before you say anything Shiro."

"I-I wasn't going to!" Frustrated, the boy recurred to his last resource. "So what? Am I supposed to just walk around with a Railgun look alike like it's the most normal thing in the world?"

"Only during missions, yes." Refuted Seria. "It's not like you two are going to be living together or anything, so you should be able to bear that much. Anything else?"

He still thought that doing this would end up getting too much unwanted attention given how famous the Tokiwadai Ace was, but the way she spoke left no room for disagreements. Sitting back on the chair, he let out a sigh and gave up. "No, sorry. I'll resign on the matter for now."

"Yay, you broke through Shiro's defensive walls! Welcome aboard, Misaka-chan!"

"Yes. I'm looking forward to working with you all - says Misaka as she politely bow at the strange talking device."

…

"With that out of the way, I'll be giving you the operation details."

This room didn't have any fancy equipment, so Seria just handed over three sheets of paper with a few pictures and a ton of text that Hishiro didn't even bother reading at the moment. Seems like this whole meeting was a last hour arrangement.

"Your target this time is an organization named PACK. On the light, they are a delivery service of dangerous chemical and other laboratory needs, but they also deliver weapons and many kinds of resources to several factions of the Dark Side. However, they've been stepping out of the line recently, attempting to smuggle our technology to outside the city."

"I should be surprised that they're being able to pull that off, but honestly, the security on our walls have been shitty these last months." Spat Hishiro.

"Not even I can argue against that." Agreed Asuka. "Still, this group is just a small fry. Shouldn't Anti-Skill been the ones to deal with them?"

"There is where the problem lies… Someone has been keeping Anti-Skill in check recently. They couldn't even mobilize their units during the incident that happened the Research Exhibition Assembly."

"Oh yeah, I think I heard about that. Seems like Judgment had to handle it alone."

"Exactly. That's because there is a huge pressure over the higher ups and other organizations of Academy City right now, stopping them from taking action."

"You're talking about the anti-esper movement, right?" Asuka asked to confirm despite having sure she was right.

The boy narrowed his eyes and rested his forehead on his hand. "I don't know what this is about, but this name is already giving me a headache."

"To put it simply, this all started with a pacific manifestation regarding the low attention Academy City was giving to all researches that didn't involve any esper power development, but then things escalated somehow, involved Skill-Out and a bunch of important people, and now it's a complete mess and no one knows what to do about it anymore. Some extremists want to even stop the esper development as a whole, and arrest all espers that are above level 2 in the name of public safety."

Just as he expected, Asuka's explanation made his skull throb. "What a bunch of nonsense. Academy City only exists because of espers."

"Yes, it's a foolish ideal, but it is gaining strength recently and the authorities can no longer restrain it." Added Seria. "The worse is that the movement is not organised, so there's no leader to target and end it all. And many other factions are taking advantage of the loophole created by it, using the name improperly to do as they want without any consequences. That is the case of PACK, who's been supporting the movement in the name of the laboratories it works with, which makes it difficult to anyone to act and stop them, since they'll officially claim all accusations to be a discrimination towards the movement as a whole."

"We aren't officially affiliated to any party, so no one can raise any complaints if we are the ones to eliminate them. Is that it? Asks Misaka in order to confirm her understanding of the situation."

"Yes. And since they are confident of their impunity, they shouldn't offer much resistance. It will probably be an easy job for you to get used to our work, Misaka-san."

Part 3

7:22 PM, eastern side of District 16

"It'll be an easy job, she said… right. How are we even supposed to do this?"

In theory, it sounded simple enough. Get into the property, cause a lot of damage, capture or kill the leader, and leave before civilians notice what happens. The problem lied on the last part though. District 16 was the part of Academy City with the heavier concentration of commercial buildings, which meant that at this time of the day, it was probably one of the busiest as well. That's probably why they decided to make their hideout there, which really looked like any other decent business running in the same street. Even the front door was open for the clients to come in, and there was not even a single undercover guard there. In the eyes of the countless passersby, what they were about to do looked no more than invade a random store and cause a massacre inside - there was simply no way to disguise it. "Seriously, wouldn't it be better to wait for dusk to kick in?"

"Negative. They are going to deliver their cargo at 10 PM and we cannot allow that to happen - says Misaka while checking her equipment one more time."

"And I don't think the crowd will walk away any time soon, Shiro. Some people might be wanting to enjoy their last day of vacation to the last minute."

"Well, that's what I was planning to do if I wasn't working, so I can't exactly complain."

Silence fell on the three of them for a few minutes as they tried to come with a plan to solve the issue. "Hey, Misaka-chan… don't you have any ideas? You received that super training and your sisters had to participate in obscure experiments, right?"

"Even with that knowledge, this is no simple task. Our best option is to wait for an opening to sneak inside, seal the exits finish everything without making much noise - says Misaka while she observes attentively the movement of civilians on the street."

"I've been playing this waiting game way too much lately." Said Hishiro with a sigh. "By the way, can't we call you something else? Saying Misaka all the time feels like it'll shorten my lifespan for some reason."

The girl blinked a couple of times and tilted her head as she turned her attention to him. "Does my serial number works? - Suggests Misaka."

"19998 is quite a mouthful though… don't you have anything else? Something like a nickname or a codename?"

"Number 20001 was given the codename Last Order, but this Misaka never had such a thing - informs Misaka while pondering why is this a problem."

"Then let's give you one right now."

"You're treating her like a pet, Shiro."

"How come?!"

"A pet… then could my codename be Kitty? - Asks Misaka starting to like the idea."

"N-no, that's a bit too much no matter how you look at it." Hishiro had to hold back to not scream at Asuka and blow up their cover on the spot, reminding him of something very important. "And let me warn you: if you care for your sanity, be careful with what Asuka says. Most of the time, everything she speaks that are unrelated to the missions isn't worth paying attention to, got it?"

"Yes, I'll keep that in mind - says Misaka thankful for the useful advice."

"H-hey? That's not true at all!"

The three of them kept arguing on for quite some time while still waiting for the perfect opportunity to arise. "What about Akasim?"

"Laaaaaame. That's just her name backwards, Shiro. It has to be something cuter, like… Mimi."

"You gotta be kidding me! Are you going to call a military clone by that?"

"I don't see the problem."

"Ugh, of course you don't. It's you after all."

"Wouldn't it be better to use some characteristic as a base to decide on the name? Suggested Misaka."

"Though that's kinda what you do to name pets..."

"What do you have in mind, Misaka-chan?"

"... Sparky." She said that with a blank smile while sending a few sparks flying around. Both Hishiro and Asuka fell painfully silent at the scene, but she at least seemed to be having fun.

"No… as I thought, it has to be Misa-Misa."

"Wait, Asuka, aren't we going to get some copyright issues with that name in particular? Let's just take the first two algorithms of her serial number and call her Number 19."

"No, no, no, THAT one is going to have some serious copyright issues. If you're going with numbers, than you should be using the two last instead."

"98? That doesn't sound cool."

"Well…. Mix them then. Keep the nine (KYU) and the last part of eight (haCHI) and there you go."

"Kyuchi?"

"Yup! It sounds cute AND legitimate at the same time!"

"Ehh… I don't know. Hakyu would sound better. What do you think?"

"Kyu...chi. Hm, it makes sense. You can call me Kyuchi from now on - nods Misaka in approval."

"She says that, but she keeps calling herself Misaka… ah, whatever."

Finally, after an hour and half of waiting and observing, the number of people in that street finally dropped considerably. "Hey, you two. If we're gonna do it today, it has to be right now. In about fifteen seconds, the last people will be crossing the entrance of the building and the are will be clear. There won't be another opportunity like this. Are you ready?"

"Fucking finally!" The boy stretched his back and grinned sadistically towards their goal. "Can't wait to shed some blood to make up for all this wasted time."

"Ready and set - confirms Misaka as she counts down the remaining time." She lowered her military goggles and held the assault rifle in position ready to fire.

Once the last civilians passed by, the two dashed fast and quietly towards the building. Hishiro stopped by the front door and waited for his partner to reach the backdoor while he equipped the silencer in his pistol. It was probably impossible to not make any noise at all, but with this they could at least reduce the mess it would cause.

Soon, he heard a commotion happening inside, meaning that Kyuchi had already got in and drew the attention of whoever was on the first floor. He then kicked the door open, shooting the woman behind the counter and the other two males that were inside. He didn't know if that had killed them, but they weren't screaming for help, and that was all that counted. The female seemed to have drawn a gun to fight back before getting hit, but wasn't fast enough to shoot before he did. Well, this at least confirms this place is shady. Would've been bad if this was the wrong building.

Moving deeper inside, he could hear some gunshots. Given the time between the noises, those clearly weren't from Kyuchi's rifle, so those guys were obviously fighting back. "Shit… we gotta get this over with as soon as possible."

Soon enough, he found the building's fuse box and blew it with a small device meant to fry electronic devices, turning off all the lights and giving him his so loved dark advantage, pulling out a small flashlight from his pocket. "Her goggles should also be able to deal with that, so now this is our territory!"

Hishiro made his way through all the rooms he found, destroyed all equipment they had, burned all files and silenced everyone that crossed his path. There was no noise of gunshots anymore, all he heard were footsteps, so either that clone got killed or she managed to defeat her enemies. Either way, this was good. The less noise they made the better.

After confirming that the floor was clear, he made his way towards the stairs - but something pushed him from the side with quite some force, making him fall flat on the floor. And right after, he felt a slippery sensation covering the ground around him.

"W-who the hell are you?!" He heard the voice coming from just a little away from where he was, but because he had let the flashlight go when he fell, he couldn't exactly see the person shouting at him.

"It doesn't matter, since you'll be dead in a moment!" Hishiro got up and pointed this gun towards the direction the voice was coming from, but before he could pull the trigger, the person slid on the floor at an absurd speed and landed a brutal punch on his shoulder. Thanks to the slippery floor, he couldn't sustain his balance after that and fell down again while drifting backwards until he hit the wall behind.

Wait… there's ice on the floor? How? It wasn't there a moment ago? The boy gave up on trying to stand and just shot all of his remaining bullets at the enemy, who dodged all of them while sliding unnaturally on the frozen surface. Wait… is this guy a-

Hishiro understood what was going on too late and the foe was already coming at him, ready to kick him right in the face. All the boy could do was to cross his arms and try to defend from the incoming strike… which actually never came.

"Gh-gh-gh-gwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

The scream of agony was followed by a loud thud, and then all the ice that was there suddenly disappeared. It took a few seconds for the boy to figure out what had just happened. The person that had just attacked him was unconscious on the floor, and standing nearby him was no one other than… "Are you alright? - Asks Misaka while showing concern for her senpai."

His partner was there, probably coming down after going upstairs, all the while carrying two adult bodies on each shoulders and offering him a hand to help him get up. "N-never mind me, I can stand up on my own… wait, what was that? Did Asuka told you to call me that?"

"Isn't that how someone should refer to their superiors? - Asks Misaka while questioning what she was taught by the Testament based on the boy's reaction."

"... okaaaaay, you're not wrong, but you don't actually need to do that. To be honest, I beg you to not to." He said while getting up and scratching the back of his head. Then his attention was drawn to the bodies once again. "Who are they?"

"The leaders of the faction. I found them hiding in a secret room on the fourth floor - reports Misaka."

"Fourth floor?! You went that far in such a short span of time?!"

"Correct. I also made sure to destroy all evidence and knocked down all enemies along the way, which means our mission is complete - reports Misaka feeling a certain sense of accomplishment."

… unbelievable. Not even when we were in seven we could do something like this so fast. He couldn't help but stare blankly with a bit of cold sweat running down from his forehead. "G-good job. Keep going like this."

"Thanks - says Misaka making a light bow to not lose balance."

Hishiro felt awkward as they left the building from the back door and waited for the vehicle that would take the four suspects away, making a random comment to clear up the mood. "Still… to think that a group that supposedly supports the anti-esper movement to be actually using an esper of that level."

"It is indeed strange, and he wasn't the only one. There were other three others on the upper floors - complements Misaka."

"Heh… the irony."

That moment Hishiro's personal cell phone rang. He usually didn't carry that around because he hated to be interrupted, and there was no one he cared about that knew his number anyway - but the situation has changed recently. It wasn't exactly a call he had received, it was just a message, but given who was the sender…

"Asuka, Kyuchi, sorry but can you handle the rest?"

"Eh? Why are you dropping out so soon, Shiro?"

"There's something important I have to take care of today, if you know what I mean."

"It's about your class tomorrow? Aww… Aunt Asuka is feeling proud to see you actually care."

The boy almost growled, but he was thankfully interrupted by the other girl before he had a chance to. "Understood. I'll wait here for the cleanup team - says Misaka."

"Thanks. See ya."

…

"Fine, this should be far enough… and there's no security camera around. Perfect."

Hishiro walked around randomly for a while until he found a good blind spot where he could safely check the message while being sure Asuka wouldn't be spying on him. Not wasting time, he swiftly flipped his phone and opened the message.

From: Nayuta

Subject: No Subject

Hello, Hishiro onii-san. Have you been doing well?

I'll go straight to the point: when I looked the files you had sent me that day, I really thought you were crazy, but since you asked me soooo kindly to do it, I took a look in the Kihara Secret Database (not the actual name by the way ;) ) and I found something really interesting.

I'm not sure how, but a sample of Evelina Rosenberg's DNA was passed around from person to person in the shadows ever since back then - and it's not the one guarded by Nagatenjouki Academy, nor the one in possession of Anti-Skill for identification. And that's not all, it seems like her DNA had suffered some kind of mutation at some point. Not to mention there's no record of that sample being taken before the accident at all. Do you see where I'm going with this?

Well, this is just speculation from my part, but I don't see any other possibility. The sample was taken after the experiment, and that is why her DNA was altered. Now what all that means… I'll leave it to your imagination while I'll keep looking for more.

"... what."

His body was frozen in place for several minutes. He read and re-read the message several times, but he couldn't swallow what it meant. His heart was beating so fast he thought he was about to have a heart attack, and his whole body started feeling uncomfortably hot, which was an almost foreign sensation for him, all while his fingers holding the phone were getting so cold that they started to tremble.

"Just… what the hell? What the hell is going on here!?"

Between the Lines

How long has it been? I'm ashamed to admit, but I don't exactly the exact date. I should be about four or five years old at the time. It's the oldest memory I'm able to recall.

Yes, I don't remember anything from out of Academy City. It's almost like… I was simply there when I came to be. Within all those other kids, surrounded by those light yellow walls of the room that was basically our home. We all slept there, ate there, studied there, played there, and even though we left for some outside activities every now and then, we spent most of our time there.

A bunch of children without parents… in this city, we are cruelly called Child Errors. We are nothing but dead weights for the society until we can prove our worth in a way or another, regardless of our wills. Though it's not like we had any maturity to decide our own path back then. We simply lived out of the "good will" of the adults around us, which we actually trusted from the depths of our hearts, as if they were our family. Well… maybe I think at least some thought that way.

For some reason, I was different from the others. I could sense something else hiding beneath those kind smiles they gave us. It's not like they were ill-willed or intended to hurt us, but I still felt uneasy near them. I was sure they were hiding something important. I would sometimes sneak out in the middle of the night and heard them talking about things I didn't understand what it meant at the time, but our names were mentioned in the middle of all that.

Time moved on… I don't know exactly how much later was this, but someday, the situation changed. We were taken to a laboratory by a large bus to take some "tests" the adults said. Supposedly, we have been there before, but I have no memory of that. I didn't recognized the place at all. We were taken to different rooms, each led by two that looked like doctors. I remember the ones that took me were an old man with a funny smile that always tried to make me laugh with sock puppets and a woman with curly black hair that had a bad habit of scratching the tip of her nose all the time. Inside the room, they first made a lot of difficult questions, then they would drop different objects from a high shelf to the floor while saying things like "pay attention to it while it falls" or "wouldn't it be cool if it could go back to their place on their own?"

The whole process was confusing and made no sense to me. All I knew at the time is that I got labeled as a Level 2, despite having no idea of what it meant.

Hello once again. It's been a while (that's almost becoming my catchphrase by now) but I'm happy that I manage to finish this still in August. Why, you ask? Well, of course… because this month marks two years since this fic begun! Last year I had completely forgot about it, but not this time! A round of applause please!

Geez, time sure flies. I don't know about you guys, but for me, it doesn't feel like it's been this long. Anyway, I was actually preparing a special surprise to celebrate, but unfortunately, it wasn't finished in time for me to show you with the release of this chapter. And there are still a few things that need to be decided first before making it public, so it might still take some time, but i'm hopeful that it will be done. Eventually.

Okay, leaving all that aside for now, let's talk about the story. I would love to jump right into the action, but there were a few loose ends that needed to be tied first, so this chapter server as a interlude for that. Still, I did put a lot of important info for the new arc in there, especially in part 1. The trio that leads the antagonistic magic cabal, their hideout, and their super weapon… all revealed at once. Well, superficially, at least. That brings the new OC Lilian to the fight. She will be quite present from now on, so I hope you will grow to like her (or to hate her… or to like to hate her, if you know what I mean) in the future. Btw, if there are any geographical mistakes, I apologize in advance. I know I did a pretty stupid one last chapter, and I tried my best to avoid it here, but I actually don't know much of Japan's or Germany's geography, so… yeah.

And we finally have our new member here, which turns out to be Misaka 19998. If you look back, I've been foreshadowing this for quite some time, but it finally happened… and I'm not sure if it will please everyone, because some of my friends told me that this was quite the stretch. Can't deny that. But I couldn't resist the urge to do so. There is so much I can do with her around that it would be a shame to not make it happen. And not only that, but had to give her a nickname, because writing Misaka all the tie would make it confusing when Misaka actually appears again (*hints*). So, there you go. Welcome aboard Kyuchi.

Replies:

Guest: 1. Yeah, I wondered about that for a while, but in the end I decided to leave this out. After all, the level 6 shift, while related, wasn't the focus of their mission. As you can see in this chapter, they are both aware of some details regarding the cancellation of the project, but to spice things up, I won't mention HOW MUCH do they know. Tehehehe…. 2. That sounded like a really good idea, but I had already decided to skip the actual Angel Fall despite being a key point of the story, both to avoid getting too close to messing with the canon and… well… if I don't skip a few things, this will never get to the end.

The crack shipping guy: Thanks! I really put a lot of effort in that battle. It had to be that way because I could see every detail of it in my mind as if I was watching it in the anime. Glad to know it was worth it! Don't worry, there will be more science focused arcs in the future. And yeah, there she is, so I guess I'm safe from those sparks for now. XP

Thank you all for your support. I've been slow lately, but I'll try to release the next chapter before the first episode of season 3 airs. And if I don't… blame my hype for that. See you next time!