Rampage Angel.

[ACSR: Turnabout]

For a moment after the lightning there was silence.

Hokaze wasn't a mindless berserker. Even when driven this far, she had a plan. Or rather, she wouldn't move until her plan was ready.

She held out a hand towards the ghost girl and Lumen. Then in her head, she passed the plan along to them.

"Joule... Lumen. I need you to sabotage my movements."

The plan was stupid, but it might be the only chance.

The ghost left the link to begin her part of the plan as Lumen paused.

This would be... odd. She absolutely didn't have a song ready for this.

Nevertheless, Joule began to hum and Lumen took hold of Hokaze's ability just as she used it to shoot past her enemy with blinding speed. Even at a speed that should outpace human reaction times though, their enemy managed to get out of the way.

It was like she could see the path that Hokaze would follow.

It wasn't precognition. If it was, Hokaze would have never got any hits in at all. No, the level 4 had been paying attention to what did and what didn't.

Before the poison had been used, any attack that could have ended the fight was always dodged or blocked but lesser attacks that wouldn't get her much sometimes landed.

So that left two possible abilities:

First: The esper could be reading the impact of each blow before it happened. It might only give her impacts that she couldn't afford to let hit. That theory had holes in it so the latter was more likely.

The latter option was that she was reading Hokaze directly. She knew which attacks Hokaze needed to land to win and which didn't matter as much. In that case:

As Hokaze launched another attack, Lumen carefully timed it so her power would "jam" Hokaze slowed from a blur of speed to a dash and, after taking a fraction of a second to react, shot out a kick at her enemy. Hokaze's reaction to the sudden stop was faster and the kick landed solidly.

If Hokaze knew which attacks she needed to land, she wouldn't ever be able to land them, her enemy would just keep dodging. No, Hokaze had to launch her attacks on instinct when her powers were made to fail in a way outside of her control.

As Joule helped balance her power, she was able to allow Hokaze to keep strength to her arms even when she lost it elsewhere. A punch was thrown that tossed the girl backwards.

Still not good enough.

The antidote would still be in her stomach. There was no need to cut her open or punch into her to get it out. All they needed to do was prompt her to vomit it back up.

And all that was needed for that was a good gut shot.

Even now though, the girl seemed to be adapting. The moment that Hokaze's reflexive attack began, the Esper was already moving to prevent it from making much of an impact.

That was where the ghost girl slipped into the plan.

Invisible intent. If the esper's power worked by sensing something in the brain, then someone whose brain wasn't physically present would be invisible to them.

Oh, but how on earth could such a person help the battle in this case?

As the esper prepared to dodge another strike from Hokaze, Lumen's rhetorical question was answered when a laser shot towards her eye. The angle wasn't great as it hit under her cheak but it still distracted her.

Yes, the ghost girl had possessed the poisoned Yumiya in order to get her to attack in a way that would never be seen coming.

The distraction allowed Hokaze to shove into the esper. Now she was close enough and there would be no evading a second strike to the gut.

A fully powered fist rammed into the girl's stomach. A moment passed as the girl was thrown back, coughing up the antidote as she flew.

In that moment of power, Hokaze's power spread out. It was like a halo of light that quickly passed and returned to normal.

The level 4 didn't miss a second, she tossed the antidote towards Yumiya's body. It seemed though that she was exhausted.

Her eyes wavered as she collapsed.

"Take care... of the rest."

"Junko!" The ghost cried out. Hokaze completed her fall to the floor and the ceiling above rumbled. The battle had weakened the building immensely.

Joule panicked, looking back into the building.

The roof was going to collapse right onto Yumiya and Hokaze!

"Don't worry."

A new voice spoke. One she had heard before. Where was it?

Oh, right. Back when the sports festival started. There was that opening ceremony.

Before she turned to look who it was, there was a great rush of "power."

Joule couldn't describe it properly but Lumen was able to watch as the raw AIM flew through the building and right into the roof as it began its freefall. The power destroyed the fragments, saving the girls that were on its path.

[ACSR: Hopeless Feelings]

"Eh?" The ghost girl looked around and Joule turned to look at the boy who'd saved them.

He was... odd.

He wore a rising sun shirt, was using a jacket as a cape and was still wearing a headband even after the end of the school festival.

"So..." He began with a pause as Joule followed him into the warehouse "what was actually going on here?"

Joule didn't really know what answer to give but the ghost girl had remembered something important and quickly opened the antidote capsule and swallowed its contents.

"I feel strange." She muttered quietly as they got closer "Like..."

Yumiya fell down. Her body no longer able to hold itself out. The ghost girl was ejected and she shook her head "I felt... it was like a cloud had swallowed her up."

"A cloud?" The boy asked before he shook his head and looked again.

"You're a ghost."

He pointed it out so bluntly that there wasn't really much that anyone could say.

"Yes." The ghost girl just agreed.

The boy nodded a few times before looking down at the two sleeping girls.

"We should get them to a hospital."

As Joule called for transport for them, she turned to look for the other Esper. She was nowhere to be seen though. Had she slipped away?

Well, that didn't bode well.

And why did she feel that none of this was over yet? This was just... the first part.

End of chapter.

And Gunha makes his first proper showing in this story after GV stole his role during the Daihase arc.

Next chapter will be a bit filler. While the story never specifically says when the girls wake up, it feels like it wouldn't be the same day. So we have the rest of the afternoon to kill where I can cover the discovery of things that are explained to the girls when they wake up in the manga.