Hey everyone! Sorry for the long hiatus. Long story short, I'm currently full-time college student in my senior year desperately trying to finish off the rest of my credits by the end of the summer. Suffocate to say I have been busy with life and may become even more busy with what comes next, at least until I can get my feet properly planted. Don't worry though, I'm not about to drop this story because of something like that.
What started as a simple hobby and experiment during my freshmen year has become a massive, ever evolving project over the course of this story's three year run. And it would not have been possible had it not been for all of you, the dedicated readers who have provided me your endless support and helped me propel this story into the upper echelons of "A Certain" fanfiction. I just want to say I appreciate all the support you've given me over the years and I hope to keep writing for all of you for years to come.
Just had to get that off my chest. I've kept you all waiting for so long and it honestly makes me feel terrible, so I wanted you to all know just how much I appreciate you all.
For now, let's move on to the reviews. You've been waiting well over two months for me to update, so let's get your questions out of the way!
Ghost of Los Angeles: No. I checked the Toaru Wiki and double checked the references. Predator is Level 3.
kyonsho23: There aren't going to be any dragons in this arc. But you can be sure they'll show up eventually, and much more frequently than in canon.
Isokage: Considering the events of the Necromancer Arc pick up at around nightfall and carry over into the next morning, yeah, I'd say Shizuri isn't going to be very happy when she catches wind of all this. Admittedly, Touma doesn't get to do too much this chapter. Since the bulk of Accelerator episode 5 was just Anti-Skill vs DA, I ended up including episode 6 in this chapter so it wouldn't just be a complete retelling of canon, and even then there wasn't much I could do since Touma wouldn't be a good matchup for most of Scavenger since Yakumura's ability is used to prep weapons and Naru would cream him if she got the first hit in. Seike is managable and Leader is a noncombatant, but Touma wouldn't realistically know that. Plus, I didn't want to take too much away from Esther and Houtou. Still, I think you'll enjoy what Touma brings to the table. Saten wouldn't be able to do much with the knowledge of operating the Ekatarina II since she doesn't have ready access to it. As for Indian Poker, I guess an interesting skill for her to pass on would be the ability to literally sniff out rumors and urban legends.
Nemonobody001: Thank you! Hope this was will be worth the wait too.
SuddenBetrayal: Sorry to worry you with the long update time. I'm definitely going to make a call back to that little rumor at some point. It's just too good of an opportunity to pass up.
Vein Bloodborne: While I can't say how exactly they will react to the rumor about them, I can assure you that when it does happen, it will be hillarious.
Clearwing Yuta: Glad you liked it!
ahsoei: Nothing as drastic as that, but I can assure you that their confrontation will have a handful of epic moments.
Surayo: That's what makes the urban legend aspect of A Certain so fun! They can be twisted so much but still have a hit of truth, and it becomes impossible to tell how much of it is true.
Blankow: A big part of this story is shaking up the status quo of canon regarding character connections. As you'll see in the future, Touma is a major catalyst for the foundation of a lot of new relationships.
Yuuji Akira: While Shizuri will be involved in the Necromancer Arc, she will not be acting in the same party as Touma. She will be engaging in her own isolated but connected side adventure during the arc. When Scavenger was introduced in the Necromancer Arc, their backstory wasn't really explained. They were only really one-off villains that happened to be brought back for Railgun's Doppelganger Arc. So yeah, don't expect to feel too much sympathy for them here.
Treviisolion: A fair counter argument, but allow me to play my final card, the AIM Diffusion Field. This property is the key defining trait that definitively distinguishes an Esper from a Magician. The scientists now for certain that Gunha is a Gemstone Esper since they detect his AIM with special equipment, and thus rationalize him as an Esper despite his outlandish powerset. With this in mind, the general populous of Academy City would assume anyone with outlandish powers was and Esper without knowledge of Magic being an alternative. And of course, Espers like Shoukuhou need special mediums to help them focus their Abilities, so the use of Magic Tools could just as easily be misunderstood as such. As you mentioned, this makes Touma's previous experience with Magic all the more invaluable, since he can recognize certain telltale signs of Magic that most people in Academy City wouldn't think much of.
DuckBoi: Glad you liked the chapter. Don't worry about Scavenger, their trauma will only be marginally worse than what they got in canon.
GG Vegito: Unfortunately for Scavenger, they are not really the hunters in this situation.
Rexclone22: Those were urban legends. They were supposed to be overblown inaccurate, for comedy. Shizuri will be involved in this arc, but in her own seperate, but connected side adventure.
DarkMatter69 (Guest): Nah. If Scavenger hates teachers, then they would not take nicely to a member of Judgement, who is essentially a hall monitor.
5had0wHand: Touma is definitely gong to be a massive bon to Esther and Houtou's fighting prowess in this chapter. Touma's fights are always one part physical, one part mental. You know he's going to give Scavenger a piece of his mind when he hears Scavenger's opinion on teachers. I have no evidence of Shiina being particularly resilient, but given how physically active she it, its certainly possible she passed down some resilience to her children. While those additions are certainly a possibility in the future, I want to avoid advancing ODD too quickly. Don't want the advancement of the tech too be too fast.
H17 (Guest): Sorry to drop that cliffhanger on you. Tension is key to maintaining audience interest. Honestly, I haven't come up with anything regarding what Esther can do after the Necromancer Arc, but I'm sure her aid will be useful in future when appropriate. Yuri being able to interact with the rest of the cast, sepcially the Railgang, is definitely going to be fun to write.
A Reader (Guest): Nice to see someone so engaged in my work. Regarding the harem tag, its there mostly for comedy reasons. Kamikoto was and still is the only ship that will be treated with any level of seriousness. The harem tag is just there to let people know that other girls will be interested in Touma and thus lots of shenanigans will ensue. Romance and harem antics are just accessories to the greater story. The story will take precedence over everything else. I'm sorry this took so long to update.
Stryper88: Thank you for the kind words.
azlil7: As I told A Reader, the harem aspect is just an accessory for comedy. It will never take precedence over the story. The girls will be back for the Orsela Arc and will be active participants, or at least one of them will be. I won't spoil exactly who just yet. I don't have any plans for original arcs at the moment, but I do have plans for original chapters. I might be able to combine a few of those original chapters into original arcs, all of which deal with some original content that I will really start exploring in this arc. For the Battle Royal Arc, I will be consulting the light novel in addition to the anime, as Index season 3 was very rushed, which should help with the overall pacing.
Mister Phoenix - Deltora: Yeah, that's not happening. Touma isn't exactly their type (the exact opposite actually) and they're more likely to be traumatized by this upcoming experience.
GENO BERSERK: I don't plan on reconing the identity of Aihana at the moment. Makes the story as a whole too messy given how much I focus on continuity. Once a get to the events GT2 (if I ever do), I'll see what I can do to remedy it.
TrainerRed164: Thank you for the concern, but I actually already have the entirety of the OT light novel series downloaded as pdf files. I feel dirty about it, but if it makes for more accurate adaptation on a budget, then I'll settle for it.
jayasimha: Touma with a gun? Yeah, that's not happening, even if its a supernatural gun. That be like giving Batman a gun.
Hardshell (Guest): Well, compared to everyone else, Aogami is the most normal of Touma's friends on a surface level. Not sure how I would be able to translate Keigo into the story since I've been using loose translation without Japanese honorifics. With contrast of Aogami's relatively normal personality to the rest of Touma's friends would be funny.
WwEpsilonwW: Yeah, I was thrown off by it too. Seike's gender is left pretty ambiguous, but several hints in main and supplementary material point to him being a boy, like the fact he doesn't use the changing rooms with the rest of Scavenger and his assumption that Mikoto was a boy that liked crossdressing as a girl, making her a kindred spirit of sorts. Thanks for that shoutout in your last chapter of "Misfortune No One Sees, Until Now".
Grancrest: Glad you like the story so much. Yes, the main ship of this story is Kamikoto, but its honestly an accessory to the larger story.
17113020: My guess is she'd have a mental breakdown at meeting Komoe. Probably pass out and wet herself.
Well, that was nice. You all know the drill from here.
Disclaimer: All characters and plotlines of the "A Certain" franchise are credited to Kazuma Kamachi.
Chapter 67: Good Students, Bad Students
As night fell over Academy City, Anti-Skill was making its first move to remove the corruption embedded within itself. Having tracked down a DA base in the Sukunabikona Foods Supplement Factory in District 14, Academy City's best and brightest in law enforcement took to the offensive and blasted their way into the building to confront the corrupt splinter cell organization. Among those in the ranks of Anti-Skill was Aiho Yomikawa, who rounded out the front line with a riot shield in hand. Yomikawa was known for many things. Her colleagues would call her a reliable and dependable captain. Her students considered her an Amazonian beauty. But above all else, she teacher, one who went above and beyond to see that her students prospered and were successful.
It was for that reason that Yomikawa could not bear the thought of an organization like Disciplinary Action being allowed to operate freely from the shadows. The organization had proven itself to be a danger to every student living within Academy City's walls. They could not be allowed to continue roaming freely. So long as DA remained at large, Yomikawa would not rest until the organization and been brought to true, untainted justice.
Barely into the factory, Anti-Skill was met with quick and lethal resistance from DA. Using shipping containers and vehicles as barricades, DA fired on Anti-Skill with machine guns set to automatic with intent to kill. Despite the strong resistance, Anti-Skill held firm, returning fire and gaining the upper hand within seconds of making contact. Slowly but surely, Anti-Skill was forcing DA further back into their branch base. While DA had superior equipment, Anti-Skill had superior numbers. Even if the weapons they had were stronger, it would not matter much if they ran out of ammo before all their opposition was eliminated.
DA's leadership was well aware of their predicament and commissioned Hishigata for some sort of solution. While the mad scientist had already made his decision to cut his ties with the organization, he elected to play along until he could get the resource he needs from them, that resource being the Sister they kidnapped, Misaka 10046. With the empty promise of a tide shifting weapon once he got the Sister, Hishigata hung up on DA, the organization now the farthest thing on his mind.
As the battle at the Sukunabikona Foods Supplement Factory continued, Anti-Skill were rather puzzled to find DA no longer firing back at them. The troops the terrorist organization had positioned at the factory had fallen back deeper into the building, disappearing into a dark corridor. Not wanting to risk their targets escaping into the city, Anti-Skill advanced further in with caution.
When they first entered the corridor, Anti-Skill saw no sign of the DA agents they were fighting. However, that all changed when a set of seven green lights arranged in a hexagonal pattern illuminated the hallway. Standing in front of them was a massive red machine standing on six legs tipped with wheels and equipped with a heavy machine gun. This was DA's special large mobile weapon, the Tarantula.
When the Tarantula opened fire, the walls were painted red with the blood of Anti-Skill officers. The rounds fired by the Tarantula's machine gun were far more powerful than what Anti-Skill's riot shields could withstand. With a single sweeping pass, the entirety of Anti-Skill's frontline was eviscerated, reduced to stains of red on the walls. Face with such overwhelming force, Anti-Skill was forced to fall back, taking cover among the rubble of the previous room.
As her team was pinned by the overwhelming force of the Tarantula, Yomikawa noticed a trio of DA agents trying to flee the scene with a body bag via a catwalk. She wasn't the only one, as follow Anti-Skill officer Itou was able to force the trio to stop in their tracks to take cover with some well-aimed machine gun fire.
"Itou, give me a boost!" Yoshikawa requested as she ran towards her colleague.
Understanding the woman's plan, Itou placed his hands together to form a step for his coworker. We a mighty throw, Itou launched Yomikawa up to the catwalk to meet with the trio of DA agents.
"A bit early in the year to be delivering presents." Yomikawa quipped, "Since you three aren't exactly minors, don't expect me to go easy on you!"
With nothing but her riot shield, Yomikawa charged at the trio of DA agents, easily tackling two of them and throwing them off the catwalk. That left her with the one lugging around the body bag. Now fighting one-on-one, Yomikawa kept to the defensive with her shield, letting her opponent empty his pistol clip one the barrier. When he realized his clip was empty, the DA agent dropped the body bag to free his hand and replace the clip. As he did so, the contents of the bag spilled out slightly, revealing a dangling arm.
"A person? You guys are sicker than I thought!" Yomikawa cried out in disgust as she drew her own pistol.
By the time Yomikawa had pulled out her pistol and taken aim, her DA opponent had reloaded his weapon and done the same. Since she had to move her riot shield aside to aim properly, Yomikawa was left exposed, leaving the two combatants at a stalemate as neither could take a shot without getting shot themselves.
Back on the ground, Anti-Skill continued to struggle with the Tarantula, hopelessly pinned down by the machine's heavy firepower. It was especially concerning since the law enforcers were expecting reinforcements, along with anti-heavy vehicle equipment to deal with the threat.
"Where are those reinforcements!?" Anti-Skill officer Takahashi cried over the radio.
"So, that's where they were headed." an unfamiliar, girlish voice replied on the other end, much to Takahashi's shock.
"Who is this!?" Takahashi demanded, "Where are my men!"
"Oh! They're all dead." Naru replied rather jovially as she and the rest of Scavanger stood over a pile of Anti-Skill corpses just outside the factory.
Having no reason to continue chatting with the teacher on the other end of the line, Naru tossed the radio aside, letting it shatter on the ground.
"I think we're close to the action." Leader deduced from the large number of troops they had just slaughtered.
"Sweet! Then let's catch up with those jokes and finish the job!" Naru cheered.
"Yeah!" Seike and Yakumaru cheered in unison, albeit less enthusiastically than Naru.
As the battle between Anti-Skill and DA raged on, the Tarantula abruptly stopped firing its gatling gun. Checking the vehicle's systems, the pilot of the machine discovered that all the constant firing he had been doing had caused the gatling gun to overheat, rendering it useless. Although annoyed by this news, the DA agent did not let this stop him from enacting what he saw as justice. Instead, he switched to the Tarantula's secondary weapon, the String Juicers.
Locking on to a handful of Anti-Skill that had come out of the cover of the rubble, the Tarantula opened a hatch on its side and deployed ten disk shaped flying devices that homed in on the targeted Anti-Skill officers. As they reached their targets, the disks extended wires from their rims that spun at blinding speeds. When the disks made contact, the poor souls that were selected as targets were reduced to a bloody mist in seconds, their reinforced ceramic riots shields doing nothing to stop the attack. This was the String Juicer, a DA developed weapon that took the concept of a yard trimmer and amplified it to nightmarish degrees. The weapon surely would have meant the end of all the Anti-Skill present had it not been for the unexpected arrival of some inconspicuous paper airplanes.
To the shock of everyone present, a set of paper airplanes flew in on the scene and detonated in massive explosions the moment they collided with something. These airplanes appeared to fly intelligently, dodging the String Juicers' blades to destroy the cores and attacking the Taratula itself. The consecutive blasts created shockwaves and wind currents all throughout the factory, all while the laughter of several teenage girls could be heard over the wind.
As a result of the wind and shockwaves, the DA agent facing off against Yomikawa was blown farther down the catwalk along with the body bag, breaking their stalemate. As he got his bearings, the agent took notice of the four new arrivals on the scene, arrivals that did not resemble either Anti-Skill or DA. Those among DA were able to recognize them based on marks that they bore. They were Nakimoto's cleaners, Scavenger.
"We don't time to take on two separate enemies." the DA agent handling the body bag ordered over his communicator to the Tarantula pilot, "The Tarantula can only buy thirty minutes. Use it to support us, got it?"
"Copy that." the pilot replied, glaring at the cleaners on his monitor, "You trash! Darksiders are part of the lawless filth occupying Academy City! As long as I'm wrecking stuff, take this!"
Dead set on ending Scavenger in the thirty minutes the Tarantula could buy, the pilot had the vehicle charge at the Espers at full speed. However, the Tarantula suddenly came to a full stop, its tires spinning uselessly underneath it.
At first, the pilot of the Tarantula thought one of the Espers was using Psychokinesis to hold the vehicle in place. However, Seike was quick clarify that his Ability was actually Stick Slip, which allowed him to manipulate frictional coefficients. By increasing the frictional coefficient of the air in front of him, he could stop anything from being able to approach him since air resistance was way too high. The same could be done with the paper airplanes from earlier, resulting in them generating massive explosions from the heat they generated upon colliding with something. This Ability only worked within a meter of Seike himself, but the effects lingered for a few seconds and could be applied continuously for three minutes at a time.
Now understanding that he could not attack with a head-on approach, the pilot of the Tarantula pulled a hard reverse for a tactical retreat. However, Seike would not let his target escape so easily. By reducing the coefficient of friction under his shoes, he was able to glide across the floor and easily catch up to the Tarantula. Once in range, Seike touched the floor and reduced the coefficient of friction under one of the Tarantula's wheels to zero, leaving the pilot unable to steer and sending him crashing into the wall.
The Tarantula's crash resulted in the destabilization of the catwalk Yomikawa and the DA agent carrying the body bag were standing on. As the DA agent struggled to keep a foothold, he dropped the body bag yet again, revealing an unconscious Misaka 10046, much to Yomikawa's horror. As the catwalk continued to destabilize, chucks of rubble fell off the wall, one such chunk crushing the unfortunate DA agent to death. This left the unconscious Sister unsupervised and a victim to the unfortunate fate of sliding down the factory wall's slope and plummeting to the ground.
Foreseeing this unfortunate turn of events, Yomikawa leaped after the unconscious girl, barely managing to grab her hand before they went over the edge. Gritting her teeth, the teacher tried her damnedest to maintain her grip. Unfortunately, the universe seemed to have other plans as the corpse of the recently deceased DA agent slid down the slope after them, knocking into the unconscious Sister and sending her body dangling over the edge. With the Sister now dangling, Yomikawa inevitably lost her grip, left to watch hopelessly as the innocent girl plummeted to her doom.
However, there were those in this world that refused to let innocents suffer if they could help it, and two such individuals had just arrived on the scene. Racing across the room towards the Sister's expected landing zone, Esther threw a paper talesman in front of her which expanded into a green, glowing glyph in the air. When she jumped on the glyph, the Necromancer was propelled upward, meeting the Sister and catching her in her arms.
'No more!' Esther thought to herself in resolve as she plummeted towards some parked shipping truck, 'I won't create any more unhappiness! No matter what!'
Despite being on a collision course with a shipping truck trailer, Esther never collided with the vehicle. The normally fatal fall was broken thanks to the well-timed assistance of Houtou, who caught Esther just before she reached the trailer. However, this did not negate the actual force of the fall, as a noticeable impression was left in the side of the trailer where the trio landed.
"Adonai, are you uninjured?" Houtou asked her master.
"Yes. Thank you." Esther replied, releasing a breath she did not realize she was holding.
"Are you two okay?" Touma asked as he ran up to the trio, "I've had my fair share of falls, but I'm pretty sure a fall like that would kill most people."
"Adonai is uninjured." Houtou responded, putting Esther down so she could inspect Misaka 10046, "As for myself, the charm to which my pseudo-soul is bonded to was in no danger of damage. While this body may sustain damage, it is of no consequence so long as the charm is intact."
"Still, you should take better care of that body. You're just borrowing it, after all." Touma pointed out, "Hasumi Hitokawa's family is going to want something to put in a grave when this is all over. Esther did mention she didn't want to cause Hitokawa any more unhappiness from beyond the grave."
"…Very well. If that is what Adonai wishes, I will endeavor to preserve this body's condition." Houtou replied, almost hesitating to give an answer.
"How's Misaka doing?" Touma asked Esther as she finished her examination.
"She's still alive, thankfully." Esther answered, releasing a sigh of relief.
"If I'm not mistaken, that's probably the same bag with the girl inside they mentioned over the radio." an unfamiliar voice mused from above.
Standing on top of the crashed Tarantula and looking down on the quartet of teens was the Dark Side quartet of Scavenger, all of whom looked rather comfortable despite the carnage surrounding them.
"We'll take her." Leader announced, clearing indicating it was a demand and not a request.
"Although, we appreciate you keeping an eye on her until we arrived," Seike said, surprisingly pleasantly.
"Seriously, thanks for the help." Yakumura added, once again oddly pleasantly.
"There might even be a bonus for packing her to go!" Naru cheered, although it came off as more deranged than anything.
'Who are these girls?' Esther thought to herself as she and the rest of her group got defensive of Misaka 10046, 'They're nothing like DA or Hishigata.'
"If you leave the bag and walk away, we're willing to let you go." Leader offered in a decidedly less pleasant tone then the rest of her team, "Disposing of you wasn't in our contract. If you cooperate, we're willing to let you go."
"This coming from a Dark Side organization?" Yomikawa cried out as she rushed between Touma's group and Scavenger, her riot shield at the ready, "As if you'll keep any promise you make!"
"Miss Yomikawa!?" Touma yelled in shock at the sight of his PE teacher.
"I see you've gotten yourself mixed up in something big yet again, Kamijou." Yomikawa mused before noticing Houtou, "Aren't you…?"
"It's a long and complicated story." Touma cut in, "I think it will have to wait until we deal with them."
"Good call." Yomikawa agreed, "Leave this to the adults and get these three girls with you as a far away from here as possible. That's a direct order from a superior office."
"But we can't just leave you!" Touma protested.
"That uniform. She's Anti-Skill." Leader noted with a glare, "Which means they're just a couple of goodie-goods."
"Goodie-goods are the kind of jerks that hide behind a teacher and poke us whenever they feel like it." Naru moaned with disgust.
"Yeah. Maybe we better get rid of them too, just to be safe." Yakumura suggested.
"How about we kill them all, along with the teacher?" Leader offered.
"Agreed!" Naru and Yakumura cheered in unison, disturbingly jovial about the chance to kill a teacher.
Naru in particular was especially enthusiastic, practically begging for the chance to do the deed. Will all that enthusiasm, the rest of Scavenger was more than willing to let her have all the fun.
To the surprise off everyone outside of Scavenger, Naru's clothing started to fall apart, disassembling into a storm of loose sheets of paper. Those sheets of paper then reassembled themselves around Naru into what could only be described as a bunny themed mini mech suit. The suit's design was strange to say the least, sporting enhanced limbs, a giant head that seemed to serve no purpose, and no real torse. Naru herself operated the suit by sticking her limbs in the appropriate enhancements while straddling a single bar where the hips would be, all while she herself was completely exposed save for a couple of sheets of paper over her nipples and crouch.
"You ready? Time to have some fun." Naru said with sadistic glee, "Now then, let's see if I've still got it!"
Taking a massive leap into the air, Naru pounded the ground with her paper construct's fist, launching a shockwave much greater than what one would expect from something made of paper. The force generated by the impact shook the entire room and sent small bits of debris flying at the group defending the unconscious Misaka 10046. Said group was only unharmed thanks to Yomikawa's riot shield, which managed to block most of the particles thrown at them.
'That's some serious striking power.' Touma thought to himself, slipping on his Kevlar laced glove, 'My ODD should be in range now. If we're going to have to fight, I better retrieve it.'
"I'm in the zone." Naru announced proudly, licking her lips in anticipation.
"Hey, Naru! Dial it back a little! Or did you forget we were up here!?" Leader yelled out angerly from the top of the Tarantula, the rest of Scavenger clearly shaken by the shockwave.
"Sorry! I got a little too excited!" Naru apologized in a cute tone that clashed with her homicidal behavior, "I mean, when it comes to punishing a teacher, who wouldn't get carried away?"
'What's with this obsession with teachers?' Touma thought to himself as Naru jumped back on top of the Taruantula with the rest of her team.
"Now then, how should I go about killing her? Oh, how about pulling her limbs out of her sockets one at a time?" Naru asked, playing with Yakumaru's arms as a demonstration.
"It's up to you, but could you please not practice on me?" Yakumaru begged in a tone more exasperated than anything.
"No, wait! How about I snap her neck and watch her twitch around on the ground?" Naru suggested as an alternative.
"Again, what have I said about treating me like a training dummy?" Yakumaru pleaded as she was toyed with again.
"Come on, which one should I pick!" Naru begged, unable to choose for herself.
"Hey! I've got a question for you four!" Touma called out, outstretching his left hand at them in what appeared to be a gesture to stop, "What exactly do you have against teachers?"
"Huh? Why wouldn't we have a grudge against teachers?" Naru answered, "After all, they're the root of all evil in this city."
"Come again?" Touma asked, raising an eyebrow.
"It's the truth. Everyone knows that." Leader reiterated.
Seike nodded in agreement.
"After all, Academy City is one huge school, right?" Yakumura explained, "That means that when things aren't going the way they should, then obviously the teachers are responsible somehow."
"That's where we come in." Naru continued, "Dropping the hammer over and over again on educators who neglect their duty and let the city fall to pieces. Eventually, we'll make our way up to the headmaster, principle, whoever the source of evil is. And when we meet them, we'll squash them flat! Once they're out of the way, this city will be a much better place. You think so too, right? Let me hear you, people."
The rest of Scavenger gave a small round of applause for the speech they had just executed regarding their stance. However, that applause was cut short when a short, metal rod flew in on the scene, bouncing off the heads of each member of Scavenger before landing in the open left hand of Touma Kamijou.
"You're wrong." Touma declared, expanding his recently retrieved ODD into staff mode, "Maybe there are some rotten teachers out there that abuse their authority over students, but there are just as many if not more of them that will do whatever it takes to see their students thrive. Miss Yomikawa here is a perfect example of the latter. She could be anywhere else right now, but she chose to be here tonight and risk her neck for the sake of every student in Academy City, regardless of if they would ever walk into her classroom.
"When things go wrong, it's not just because a teacher messed up. Students are as much a part of Academy City as the teachers and are just a responsible for what happens. That's why organizations like Judgement and Anti-Skill work collaboratively to protect this city. The real source of evil in this city isn't the teachers, it's people like you who abuse your powers to walk over everyone else just trying to get by! If you really think that a select few teachers are the only ones responsible for how screwed up this city can be, then I swear I'll shatter that pathetic illusion!"
'Well said, Kamijou.' Yomikawa thought to herself as she looked back at Judgement's rising star.
"What was that about!?" Yakumura asked in irritation, rubbing the soreness in her head.
"Ignore him. He's just spouting crap." Seike advised, "After all, it's impossible for there to be a teacher that's also a decent person."
"Plus, look at the armband he's wearing." Leader pointed out, "He's clearly member of Judgement, which makes him a suck-up hall monitor."
Out of nowhere, a stray DA agent appeared on the scene, opening fire on the four members of Scavenger. The entire time he was firing, he yelled at the top of his lungs, pretty much solidifying every claim Scavenger had made.
"Get buried you rotten scum!" the DA agent screamed, "Kids should listen to adults and do what they're told! And any brat who doesn't needs to be punished!"
However, none of the shots hit their mark as Naru was easily able to block the attack with her Ability, forming a super durable shield from a small portion of the paper forming her suit. Before long, the DA agent had emptied his last clip on the shield, leaving him completely defenseless.
"Looks like we missed one." Leader mused at the sight.
"We better take care of that." Seike concluded.
"Case and point. He just attacked us, no questions asked." Naru agreed, "That's pretty low, even for a teacher."
"I've said it before, and I'll say it again. They're beyond help." Yakumura sighed.
Dispersing her shield, Naru jumped down from the Tarantula to deal with the DA agent herself. However, rather than outright killing the corrupt teacher, she decided to let her teammates in on the fun.
"Yaku, would you do the honors?" Naru requested.
"If you insist." Yakumura complied, jumping down from the Tarantula and splashing a vial of liquid from her belt on to the DA agent.
As soon as the contents of the vial made contact with the man, he quickly started to freeze over, ice quickly crawling up from the initial contact point to the rest of his body.
"What is this?" the DA agent asked in fear.
"My specially made coolant." Yaku explained, "Cooled to -269 degrees Celsius. Controlling the specific gravity of the individual chemicals is the most crucial part, all possible thanks to my Ability, Mix Master."
Within seconds, the man was complete frozen to the core, killed by the freezing of his heart and brain. With the man frozen solid, Naru finished the job by throwing him into a wall, shattering the corpse into millions of ice fragments.
With one target eliminated, Naru immediately returned her attention to her previous target.
"Don't think I forgot about you, Teach." Naru cried as she charged at Yomikawa.
"Kamijou! Go, now! Get those three civilians out of here while you still can!" Yomikawa ordered, raising her shield.
"Sorry, captain, but sometimes orders aren't orders! I'm not about to leave you here to die!" Touma argued, taking a defensive stance.
"Don't make me laugh! Do you really think you're shield will protect you!" Naru hollered as she punched the shield, shattering it in half and sending Yomikawa flying.
"Miss Yomikawa!" Touma cried as he watched his PE teacher fall flat on her back.
"Houtou! We can't let them kill her!" Esther pled desperately.
"They won't." Houtou declared.
"Class is dismissed!" Naru cheered as she went in for the kill, only to be intercepted midair by an axe kick from Houtou.
The kick sent Naru spinning in the other direction, putting her a considerable distance away from her target.
"Nice kick." Touma complimented as he stood beside Houtou in defended the fallen teacher.
"Can't help but interfere, can you? Who are you anyway?" Naru asked, annoyed.
"Looks like we've got a couple of honor students that want to show off for the teacher." Yakumura observed.
"She doesn't look like a run of the mill Esper." Leader deduced, "And the hall monitor hasn't displayed any Esper Ability yet either."
"Trust me, neither of us are honor students." Touma quipped, "She's a reanimated corpse and I'm barely passing my classes with my attendance record and grades."
"Don't mock me!" Naru yelled in anger.
"Just kill them already, Naru." Yakumura sighed.
"The teacher comes first." Seike reminded everyone.
"Would you three butt out!" Naru screamed, "I'm the one who volunteered!"
"If you kill her prized pupils, the teacher will spend the rest of her short life living in despair." Leader suggested, sadism oozing in her voice.
"I love it!" Naru cheered with a grin.
"Houtou." Esther said as she picked up the conscious Yomikawa.
"Understood." Houtou replied, "Keep back. Examination of battle is complete. Estimation of enemy's power has increased. Unleashing physical strength to remove threat. Permitting muscle fiber rupture to ten percent. Will allow for ten minutes of combat."
"I'm fighting too." Touma butt in.
"Kamijou, I advise that you stay back with Adonai." Houtou instructed, "My battle calculations have only accounted for one-on-one combat as I do not have enough data on your own combat capabilities to make a reliable estimation. For now, please protect Adonai so she can provide me support and analyze the opponents' capabilities so you can better judge you own chances of success. Is that agreeable?"
"… Okay. I'll stay back for now." Touma agreed, stepping back to help Esther carry Yomikawa and Misaka 10046 away from the fight.
With the matter of who would be engaging in direct combat settled, Houtou charged into battle with Naru. While Naru had the greater size and strength advantage, Houtuo's smaller size gave her the speed and agility advantage. Try as she might, Naru was unable to land a hit using standard fisticuffs.
"Hold still you sneaky little…!" Naru yelled in frustration.
Houtou's response was a well-placed axe kick to the bunny armor's head piece, which Naru managed to feel the impact of. Said impact also knocked off several sheets of paper off the armor, a detail that Naru found particularly infuriating.
"Hey! Didn't anybody tell you not to touch works of art!?" Naru chastised.
Despite the damage to her outfit, Naru used the opportunity to repurpose the lost paper for something more offensive. Recollecting the scattered sheets and extracting some from her arms, Naru morphed the paper into dozens of arrow shaped structures, all of which were pointed at Houtou.
"In addition to looking amazing, my mascot costume can shapeshift between offensive and defensive capabilities!" Naru boasted.
"Are those paper charms?" Esther asked in intrigue.
"No. Looks like her Esper Ability." Touma clarified, "If I had to guess, it looks like some form of telekinesis that is especially effective with paper. Given how diverse her constructs have been, she must either be using some special type of paper, or her Ability allows her to change the paper's properties."
As he said this, Touma noticed a stray piece of paper flow in his direction, still glowing from the effects of Naru's Ability. Grabbing the sheet with his right hand, the sound of shattering glass immediately rang out and the glow disappeared. Additionally, the sheet went slack, no long seeming to move on its own. A few tugs and attempts at ripping the sheet confirmed Touma's suspicions that the paper was totally normal and was merely the medium for Naru's Ability.
'If that's the case…' Touma thought to himself as he continued to watch from the sidelines.
"I'm gonna turn you into shish kebab!" Naru announced as she fired her arrows at Houtou.
With her superior speed and agility, Houtou was able to dodge most of the attacks. However, she was unable to keep up forever, and sustained a cut on her right thigh.
"No!" Esther cried in concern.
"You think that hurt!?" Naru yelled as she threw Houtou into the wall, "How's that feel?"
"Houtou!" Esther called out.
"Adonai, there is no problem." Houtou said reassuringly as she pulled herself out of the crater in the wall, her leg spilling blood.
Seeing Houtou in such terrible condition made Esther quiver with fear and worry. While she could use her Magic to bolster Houtou's strength and capabilities, the current condition of the body would not allow those boosts to make much of a difference. Regardless, she needed some way to help her familiar that would be able to significantly shift the tide of battle.
At first, Esther could not come up with anything, but that all changed when she noticed a patch of exposed earth on the floor.
"Alright! Shall we finish this up?" Naru cheered, leaping into the air at the still downed Houtou, "May I present, my finishing move! Giant Stamp!"
Intending to end the fight as brutally as possible, Naru feel on Houtou with a powerful dropkick. The dropkick generated a massive dust cloud that obscured the view of the fight from outside observers. The rest of Scavenger thought it was a surefire victory, but they were completely surprised when Naru immerged from the dust cloud shaking in pain, like she had stubbed her toe on a rock a thousand times.
"Ouch. That didn't go as planned." Naru whined as she collapsed, her voice shaky from the experience.
When the dust cloud fully settled, Houtou was seen standing, ready to continue the fight. However, now she was equipped with a floating barrier made from stone, as well a gauntlet on her right arm made from the same material. This was one of Esther's support spells, Armor of the Dead.
While the Rosenthal family's magic was referred to as Necromancy, it was more accurate to say that it was golem magic using corpses as a medium. As golems were traditionally built from stone and clay, those same traditions still existed within Rosenthal Style Necromancy. Thus, practitioners of the art naturally had knowledge of earth-based magic, creating such support spells like Armor of the Dead.
With her new armor equipped, Houtou once again crossed blows with Naru. When their fists met, the classic cliché was defied as paper for one did not beat rock. Although Naru was confident in her paper constructs, Houtou's Armor of the Dead proved more powerful, dismantling Naru's paper arm with a single blow.
"Seriously, again! I just got the feeling back in my legs!" Naru whined, feeling the impact in her arm.
"It's no use! I don't know who you people are, but I've just about reached the limits of my patience!" Esther declared, "Get out of here!"
"Yeah, right." Yakumura taunted, blowing a raspberry.
"So dramatic." Seike sighed in indifference.
"Dig in, Naru. It's just dirt." Leader instructed her teammate, "Humans have been carving holes into the earth forever, not matter how tough the surface."
"Hey now! There's an idea," Naru said excitedly, "for a brand-new form!"
With a simple thought, the arms of Naru's suit disassembled into their component sheets of paper before merging to form something new. That new form was a massive, cylindrical, excavator drill five times the size of the rest of the suit. On the back of the suit, a jet boost formed, perfect for charging head one with reckless abandon.
"How do you like my Excavator Version!?" Naru yelled as she started up the drill and charged straight at Houtou.
Unfortunately for Naru, while her excavator was powerful and could end fights with a single blow, it was also cumbersome. An extremely nimble opponent like Houtou could dodge the weapon easily, and while such efforts would surely be tiring it, they were even more so for Naru, who was lugging around a weapon several times her size. However, Leader had a plan for dealing with such a weakness, one that was only possible thanks to Houtou's undying loyalty.
"Naru, aim for the blond." Leader instructed.
"Huh?" Naru asked, not quite understanding what the team leader was getting at.
"Just do it!" Leader ordered more firmly, to which Naru complied happily.
With Esther and Touma presently guarding the still unconscious Yomikawa, there was no way for them to dodge the attack in time. And with Houtou's primary directive being to protect Esther, she would surely jump in the way to defend her master, guaranteeing Naru her one hit. It would have been a perfect plan had it not been for one flaw, one unknown factor. That one unknown factor was a certain strange addition to the whole ordeal.
"Here I come!" Naru yelled as she charged.
"Houtou, stay back! I've got this!" Touma called out, taking a stance between Esther and Naru's excavator.
"Kamijou, what are you doing!?" Esther cried in fear for the boy.
"You want to die first, mister hall monitor? Well, be my guest!" Naru yelled as she kicked things into high gear.
Amidst the chaos, Touma remained perfectly calm. As the drill barreled towards him, he gripped his collapsed ODD in his left hand in front of him and chambered back his right fist. After watching the fight from the sidelines the whole time, Touma was confident he knew how Naru's Ability operated. Leader's Ability was an unknown. Yakamura's Ability was only applied in preparation. Seike's Ability could be problematic but manageable. But Naru's Ability was the perfect target for him. It was all a matter of the right opportunity presented itself. And when that opportunity arrived, the gun that was Touma Kamijou fired.
Just before the excavator reached him, Touma threw his signature right hook, punching the paper weapon with Imagine Breaker. As soon as the right hand mand contact, the sound of shattering glass rang out and the power started taking effect. To Naru's surprise, her excavator was disassembling back into its component sheets of paper without her command, and with her booster firing at full power, she was unable to stop before Imagine Breaker had drilled through the excavator, leaving her face-to-face empty handed with Touma.
With his target in range, Touma switched hands, transforming his ODD to Stun Spear Mode and thrusting his weapon into Naru's exposed chest. He then set the weapon to strike with the highest, non-lethal voltage it could manage, zapping Naru with so much electricity that she was left temporarily paralyzed. Following up on this opportunity, Touma pulled back his weapon and threw a right uppercut at Naru's jaw. At the moment of impact, the sound of shattering glass rang out once again as Imagine Breaker negated Naru's Ability at its source. In that instant, the paper armor she wore completely disassembled, leaving Naru completely naked as she flew across the room from Touma's punch. When she finally hit the ground, she was in a complete daze, her brain unable to comprehend the consecutive attacks she had just received.
"Naru!" Yakumura cried out as she watched her friend get thrown across the room with a single punch.
"What the hell!?" Leader yelled, hardly able to comprehend what had just happened, "What just happened!? How could anyone overpower Naru's Ability with a single punch!?"
"You really want to know?" Touma asked, returning to a neutral stance and throwing the young terrorist a glare, "How about you come down here and show me what your Ability is so I can show you how I pull it off?"
When Leader saw the look in Touma's eyes, she knew he was no ordinary member of Judgement. Those eyes where the eyes of someone who had seen hell and come out of it with their sanity intact. They were the eyes of someone who had been in life-or-death combat and not only survived but triumphed. They had a fire in them, the kind of fire that seeks out injustice and burns it to ashes. But if that were the case, why would he side with a teacher and a couple of honor students. Those where the thoughts that passed through Leaders when looking in Touma's eyes.
"Who are you?" Leader asked calmly, "Why are you protecting the teacher and these honor students?"
"I'll tell you what I tell everyone else who asks me something like that. I'm an ordinary high school boy who doesn't need a reason to want to help someone." Touma declared, "But in this case, you lot have given me plenty of reasons to get involved. You say you want to make this city a better place by purging it of corruption, but you're all just another part of the problem, hurting and killing innocent people just trying to get by and help others. Here you are, slaughtering organizations like DA, but your view of justice is just as screwed up as theirs is. You're exactly the same! You've righteous crusade is nothing but an illusion, one that I'll shatter with my bare right hand!"
"Fucking hell! With all the commotion and speechifying, I should have figured you'd be here too." a voice familiar to those outside of Scavenger butt in.
Looking behind him, Touma could not help but break out in a smile at the sight. Esther had a similarly relieved and jubilant expression on her own face.
"Yuri! What are you doing here?" Touma asked in surprise.
"I got word about the kidnapped Sister, so I thought I'd track you three down and lend a hand." Yuri said as he walked up to Touma's side, "But from the looks of things, you have everything under control."
"Barely. The only advantage I had was the element of surprise, and I used that up punching the one member of their team that Imagine Breaker would have been effective against." Touma admitted.
"What are we working with?"
"The one buck naked and being slapped awake by her teammates can use paper to create pretty much anything, which apparently included all of her clothes. The one in the sailor uniform can manipulate friction, so I wasn't too sure how I could deal with her. The one in the hat and belt is a chemist who uses her Ability to produce normally impossible concoctions to take into a fight, so Imagine Breaker is useless in fighting that one. The one in the mask is unknown, but she appears to be the leader of the group." Touma explained.
"Don't worry. Now that I'm here, I can cover what you can't." Yuri sad reassuringly, patting Touma's back, "But honestly, I could probably take them all on myself."
"In that case, you're welcome to it." Touma offered, "Just try not to kill anyone, would you?"
"No promises." Yuri shrugged.
While Touma and Yuri were engrossed in their little chat, Leader had found herself quite taken by the new arrival. His eyes told her he was part killer, part crazy. His grin told her he was weighed down by the oppression of the world. All signs pointed towards him having experienced pain similar to her own, and that was more than enough to catch her attention, throw in his confidence in being able to take down her entire team single handedly, and she knew he was someone worth keeping around.
"Hey, handsome! How about you come along on our excursion to hunt down know-it-all adults!" Leader called out.
"Looks like you've got an admirer." Touma mused, "First Esther, now her? You're really starting to build that harem."
"You're one to talk, mister 'I have a harem in the thousands'." Yuri countered.
"Where the hell did you get that figure!? I only know of two girls he like me that way, and one of them is all the way in Russia right now!"
"Ah ha! So you admit you have a harem!"
"I never said that!"
"So how about it! How about you team up with us and have some real fun?" Leader continued to yell, desperately trying to get Yuri's attention.
"You actually came." Esther said in awe.
"You're in the way." Accelerator said sternly, "Take those two and get far away from here, now."
"… Right." Esther agreed as she and Houtou picked up the unconscious Yomikawa and Misaka 10046.
"You should go with them too." Yuri instructed his friend, "This might get ugly, and I'd hate for you to get caught in the crossfire."
"You sure you can do this on your own? Doesn't that chocker of yours only work on combat mode for fifteen minutes on a full charge?"
"Who the hell do you think I am?" Yuri smirked, "Even with my weakened state, I can end this in a matter of seconds."
"Alright then." Touma nodded as he turned to follow Esther and Houtou, "Good luck."
"It's a hell of a lot better than yours, that's for sure." Yuri quipped as he switched his choker to combat mode, much to Touma's begrudging laughter.
With Touma and the non-combatants out of the way, Accelerator turned his attention to lingering members of Scavenger. By the time he did, Naru had regained her baring and reconstructed her paper armor. Meanwhile, Leader had come down off the Tarantula and was still trying to convince him to join their side, not that he had been paying much attention to her proposals to begin with.
"Hey, alright, listen to this!" Leader called out, "With you on the team, there will be exactly five of us! That's the perfect number for a ranger squad, and you can wear the black suit! So, how about it? Are you on board?"
When Accelerator didn't reply immediately, Leader's patience ran its course and she snapped.
"Hello! What gives! Come on! Stop ignoring me!" Leader yelled, sounding as childish as her appearance would suggest, "Say something, would ya!?"
"You want me to reply?" Accelerator asked dangerously.
Tapping his foot on the ground, the Level 5 sent a controlled shockwave under Leader's feet. The shockwave threw Leader off her feet and on to the ground in front of Accelerator, landing at his feet. Looking down on the young girl, Accelerator bent down to meet her eyes and speak his reply.
"No." Accelerator said slowly, "Okay?"
"… What?" was Leader's surprise, completely at a loss for words.
"You told me to say something. DIDN'T YOU!?" Accelerator suddenly yelled, stomping his food on the ground.
That stomp sent a shockwave capable of launching the one-hundred-twenty-ton Tarantula into the air. Said vehicle was promptly sent on a collision course with the relatively powerless Leader, who was only saved thanks to the quick action taken by the rest of Scavenger to pull her out of the way. All the while, Accelerator was laughing his head off like a maniac.
After the Tarantula failed to flatten his target, Accelerator took it upon himself to stand atop the vehicle and look down on the members of Scavenger huddled in in Naru's armor; a statement as to where to two faction stood in the grand scheme of things.
"Who is this guy?" Leader asked, her voice shaking with fear.
"He's bad news." Naru deduced.
"I say we retreat. Guys?" Seike suggested.
"But if we turn tail and run, we'll all be demoted." Yakumura argued although clearly as scared as everyone else.
"Then what do you propose then?" Seike asked.
"For real though, I'm not sure my technique will do any good against him." Naru voiced her concerns, "The hall monitor completely owned me with a single punch, and this guy was all buddy-buddy with him. I don't even want to think about what he's capable of."
"Ugh! I can't think with you two complaining!" Yakumura whined.
"We'll work together." Leader deciding, managing to find her confidence, "Nobody has ever walked away from a Scavenger combination attack. Am I right?"
Seeing such confidence in their leader, the rest of Scavenger immediately let go of their fears. While they were seen as not as impressive as the likes of organizations like ITEM, they had something the big shots all severely lacked, unity. The big shots were all held together with common goals, while Scavenger was an actual team. So long as they worked together, nothing could stand in their way.
Having regained their confidence, the members of Scavenger broke form their protective huddle and stood their ground against Accelerator. Teamwork was their greatest strength, and they would need to pull all the stops with their combination attack if they were to succeed.
First, Naru threw Seike on top of the Tarantula next to Accelerator. Applying his Ability to the roof of the machine, the frictional coefficient was reduced to zero, ensuring that their target could not move. Next, Naru disassembled her armor and used the collective paper to trap their target in an iron maiden of her own design. Finally, Yakumura prepared a special grenade loaded with a selection of her personally crafted chemical cocktails. This particular cocktail was designed to produce a liquid thermite reaction. Once the grenade was loaded, she tossed it to the iron maiden, whose mouth opened up to let the weapon inside with Accelerator.
Just as Yakumura threw her chemical grenade inside, Touma, Esther, and Houtou had returned from evacuating Yomikawa and Misaka 10046. Unfortunately, they had arrived just in time to see Scavenger's combination attack reach its climax.
"Look, the honor students came back!" Naru noted with sadistic jubilation.
"Well, they're too late. He's already in there." Leader mused, referring to the now smocking and red hot glowing iron maiden.
"That's a liquid thermite reaction." Yakumura explained, "The heat being released can reach four thousand degrees Celsius. In fact, I doubt there's any bone fragments left."
"This… can't be real." Esther cried, falling on her knees in despair at the sight.
"Like our iron maiden? It's a fitting end for a criminal." Leader mused.
"Now, about that teacher." Yakumura said.
"It's her turn next, then yours." Seike declared.
"And begging for your lives won't change are minds." Naru hissed sadistically.
"You sure about that?" Touma asked, a smirk forming on his face.
"What's with that smirk?" Leader demanded.
"Hey, Yuri!" Touma called out to the iron maiden, "How long are you going to keep quiet in there?"
"Way to steal my thunder, Touma." a familiar voice reverberated from inside the iron maiden, much to the shock of everyone other than Touma, "And I was about to make a grand reentrance."
Suddenly, the iron maiden exploded in a cloud of scattered sheets of paper. Standing it its place was Accelerator, no worse for wear.
"For four keep going on about teachers, but it looks to me that you're in desperate need of a new one." Accelerator taunted, "In that case, I'll be your teacher, and for your first lesson, I'll be teaching all of you what it means to be a villain."
"How!? He's alive!?" Naru asked in disbelief.
"But our combination attack was flawless!" Yakumura added.
"Impossible!" Seike shock his head in denial.
"Who is this guy?" Leader asked in fear.
"Accelerator!" Esther called out in relief, inadvertently answering Leader's question.
"Accelerator?" Leader repeated.
"That's right." Touma confirmed, "Allow me to introduce you to Yuri Suzushina, better known as Accelerator, the first ranked Esper in Academy City."
"No way." Leader quivered, "Do we even have a chance against someone like him?"
"Let's put it this way. Only one guy has ever held his own against me, and your heaviest hitter was handedly knocked out by him with a single punch." Accelerator mused, "If you couldn't even keep up with my buddy Touma here, you don't have a snowball's chance in hell against me."
"Seriously!?" Naru gasped, "The hall monitor could take you on!"
"In fact, he's the only one whose ever managed to beat me in a fair fight." Accelerator smirked, letting the pieces fall into place in the minds of Scavenger.
"How is that even possible?" Yakumura asked, completely baffled.
"Since then, I haven't had a decent fight." Accelerator explained, "So how about you do me a favor and make this interesting!"
Suddenly, Accelerator shot forward, grabbing Seike by the chest and slamming him against a fallen shipping truck.
"Did you know human bodies have something called 'bioelectricity' coursing through them?" the Level 5 inquired, "Let's see what happens when I tweak yours a little bit."
Suddenly, Seike screamed in pain and anguish as he was electrocuted by his own bioelectricity. Within seconds, he had passed out from the pain, left standing in the indentation in the shipping truck.
"You'll pay for that!" Yakumura vowed, infuriated by the brutal attack on her teammate.
As angry as Yakumura was at Seike's brutal defeat, it was nothing compared to Naru's fury, who charged in blindly to avenge her friend.
"Leave Seike alone!" Naru screamed as she charged at Accelerator with her paper mascot suit, ignoring Yakumura's pleas of caution.
Unfortunately, Naru's brute strength approach was by far the worse one a combatant could take against the top ranked Esper. With barely a flick of his left hand, Accelerator redirected the attack and threw Naru aside. To finish the job, Accelerator borrowed a minute portion of the Earth's rotational energy to manipulate the ground beneath his feet, sprouting four stone tendrils from the ground. The tendril easily pierced through Naru's suit and pummeled her body, striking her internal organs hard enough to knock her out.
Having just watched two of her teammates and friends fall in battle against the monster that was Accelerator, Yakumura urged Leader to help her think of some strategy to counterattack. Unfortunately, Leader was too paralyzed in fear do anything, let alone form a cohesive thought. Not that any idea they could have cooked up would have helped. Accelerator's Ability was too powerful and versatile for them to overcome and the lacked the tools and skills like Imagine Breaker to get around it.
"I broke her brain without even touching her." Accelerator taunted, mere centimeters away from the two remaining members of Scavenger, "Damn, I'm good."
Defiant to the very end, Yakumura jumped away to increase the distance between herself and Accelerator. Unfortunately, the Level 5 was inherently faster than her and was able to take her out with nothing but a finger flick to the back of the head.
All that remained of Scavenger was Leader, who not only was the youngest and less physically capable, but also the only member of the team without any combat-oriented skills, making her easy pickings for the indominable Level 5.
"Unfortunately, you're a little young to be in my class." Accelerator joked, "As bad as I am, it's not really my M.O. to go around picking on defenseless kids."
As Accelerator approached her, Leader clumsily tried to back away in fear, only to trip over herself and fall on her butt.
"So, what to do?" Accelerator mused, staring at his lone opponent dead in the eyes, "What's wrong? Say something. Well? It's rude to keep me waiting."
That encounter was the straw the broke the camel's back. Overcome with fear, Leader promptly passed out, wetting herself in the process. She was left on the ground at Accelerator's feet, her eyes rolled to the back of her head while sitting in a puddle of her own urine.
"There was a load of disappointing fights, but this was by far the most disappointing." Accelerator sighed as he switched his choker to normal mode, not appreciating how easily his final opponent went down.
"Nice going, Yuri." Touma said as he approached his friend, offer a righthanded fist bump.
"Don't mention it." Yuri replied, returning the fist bump, "They weren't even a bit of a challenge."
"Don't you think you went a little overboard, though?" the Level 0 criticized, noting the condition the members of Scavenger were in.
"I didn't kill anyone, didn't I?" Yuri argued back.
"Yeah." Touma agreed, holding his nose, "But the last one had an accident. The least you could of done was knock her out before she wet herself. Or did you not notice?"
"I was able to ignore it until you pointed it out. Thanks." Yuri said sarcastically, holding his own nose and lightly punching Touma in the shoulder.
"Accelerator." Esther called out as she and Houtou ran up to the pair of best friends.
The necromancer beamed at the Level 5 with eyes full of joy and gratefulness for having been saved. While Yuri could admit to himself that the sentiment was appreciated, he would not allow himself to voice it. Instead, he turned away from Esther and focused on Touma, asking the first question that came to mind regarding his current situation.
"You know where I can find an electrical outlet in this dump?" Yuri asked, his choker's battery running dangerously low.
No Animan Temple this time. Kinda burnt out on that front. Might not be another Animan Temple for a while, so you'll have to settle for a plain old end card note.
How did you like that double length chapter? Tell me your thoughts and any questions you might have in review.
All see you all next time for the next chapter, whenever that will be ready.