Chapter 12 - War cry of the wounded white soul
In District 7, there existed a place that seemed out of sync with its surroundings. Buildings boasting an architecture reminiscent of another era were commonplace, reflecting the refined tastes of its inhabitants.
Strangest of all, the place was relatively well preserved amidst the ruin of the rest that surrounded it.
"Is the valve malfunctioning?" mused a girl clad in a jumpsuit to herself.
With a wrench in her hand, the short-haired girl was fiddling with an analog contraption that looked like a car engine. Over the past year, she had developed a knack for repairing and fine-tuning all manner of antiquated machinery, a natural progression from her preexisting interest in such matters.
"I'd better take a shower and leave this for later," she said, eyeing her grease-streaked reflection in the small garage mirror. "If Shokuhou catches me like this, she'll launch into her 'Misaka-san, you must maintain a presentable appearance ability or risk not being taken seriously as a leader' spiel."
Some things never changed.
Setting the wrench aside, Misaka Mikoto rinsed her face at a nearby sink within the enclosed space. Before she could dry herself with the green frog-print towel, a knock echoed on the metal garage door.
"Misaka-sama, I have an urgent report," came a voice from outside.
Number 3 momentarily froze at the mention of urgency. Holding a council meeting in her current state would undoubtedly give the opposing faction leader an advantage in their ongoing dispute.
"I'm a bit tied up at the moment, Hokaze-san. Could it wait?"
"It's no big deal."
She breathed a sigh of relief, but her respite was short-lived.
"It pertains to our guest."
That was concerning. When it came to that individual, trouble seemed to follow.
"Go on," said Mikoto, still refusing to open the garage door.
"I personally went to assist, but our guest was not in the designated room. Apparently-"
"I get it."
That interruption was followed by another tired sigh.
"What's that person scheming now?"
x-2-x
Before he could fully grasp the situation, he found himself downstairs amidst the chilling night air. Naru had whisked him away with her paper wings, leaving Yakumaru behind with Maidono.
The mall was now a hive of activity. People scurried from within the wreckage of the destroyed stores, some aiding others out of the rubble, while others operated machines reminiscent of a colossal, transparent jellyfish with tentacles sprawling in all directions—a sight Kamijou had previously encountered in Los Angeles. It was hard to tell if the initial attack had left any casualties, but considering that the monster had been lured here on purpose, it was more likely not.
The towering creature that had invaded the mall loomed ominously in the frigid night air. Its body, covered in scales, resembled the shell of a giant insect. Disproportionate limbs extended in all directions: Sharp claws like articulated knives that seemed capable of crushing concrete and membranous wings that beat with sinister energy. Numerous bright, multifaceted eyes stared in all directions, as if perceiving every dimension simultaneously, while a serrated jaw emitted ominous, guttural sounds.
With a sweeping motion, the creature's insectoid appendage sent clouds of dust and debris billowing into the air. Kamijou, along with everyone else in the lower section of the mall, was engulfed in a blinding haze as rubble cascaded down upon them.
"Kamijou-senpai, stay close to me," said Maidono.
It seems that her intention was to stay behind to support, but when she saw the monster's first move, she gave up and ran towards Kamijou. Naru had already moved away, supporting Yakumaru who had stayed behind. She was relying on those two as her vanguard in this fight.
The onslaught of debris ceased abruptly around Kamijou, thanks to Maidono's protective intervention. With deft gestures of her index fingers, she deflected any potential threats from reaching him.
They were in the center of the mall, next to the main square. It was more or less the same place where their previous fight had taken place, but the space had been refurbished and subdivided into multi-level zones. Much of the northern part, where the monster had emerged, had opened up like a great maw in response to the chaos. The destruction hit several wings, leaving a battlefield of decapitated mannequins and torn clothes, broken monitors and cables hanging like cobwebs.
Kamijou clenched his fist tightly. That destroyed place wouldn't last long if it went on like this. He had to act.
But a strong arm stopped him in his tracks.
"Don't get carried away," said Mugino Shizuri. Several white spheres of electrons flew around her. "First let's see how tough this thing is."
She made a quick gesture with her hand. In the corridor on the third floor, to the east, a group of espers hid behind the railings, armed and ready for combat. Some positioned themselves near the escalators, monitoring the movements of everyone on the lower floor - a strategically vital observation point. Despite the damage to the mezzanine, its elevated position provided a comprehensive view of the central square and surrounding areas. They had to move carefully to avoid dangerous falls, due to the broken handrails and crumbling plaster, but the strange machines they operated seemed unshaken and ready even in that difficult terrain
"On my mark."
The place was lit up in the next instant.
Not only did pure electron beams discharge from the spheres orbiting the girl, but the synchronized machines also joined the assault, slicing through the air with a series of popping sounds that echoed in the night.
The creature suddenly stopped its advance. The number of attacks was in the hundreds, so many that several missed their target when the creature roared and started moving again. Much of the Mall now looked like it was inside a volcano, with walls oozing a glowing liquid, and even the air in the place seemed to have been altered by the blast of electrons.
The onslaught didn't cease there.
Espers throughout the vicinity unleashed a torrent of elemental attacks. Storms of fire, ice bullets, and even spears of electricity. Maidono, displaying her formidable strength, tore apart an entire two-story store, reducing it to a molten heap resembling magma, before hurling it at the advancing creature, which continued its relentless rampage.
The scene had transformed into something more akin to hell than a battlefield.
Struggling to breathe amidst the ash and smoke-filled air, Kamijou pressed his hand over his mouth, his breaths coming in ragged gasps. He lifted his head carefully, trying to see through the dense cloud that had formed.
A deafening roar followed.
"Shit," spat Mugino, stopping firing momentarily. "Is that thing still alive?"
"But at least we caused some damage."
Kamijou's hopes were shattered as the Queen emerged from the dense curtain. Her body seemed to have changed color, but that was all. Her opulent, gigantic body still stood against the skyscrapers in the background, with no visible damage.
And then it happened.
The roar the creature let out was different from the others. The very ground beneath them quaked in response, pulsating with an unsettling rhythm that likely registered on nearby seismographs.
Coming from everywhere, more creatures with their indecipherable colors invaded the mall.
"Are you serious?" Maidono said, looking at a group of PBs crawling up the walls like spiders. "It's not like we had the upper hand here, and now this?"
"They're just a bunch of trash," said Mugino. She fired in the direction of the creatures coming through the huge hole in the Mall. The destructive power massacred the creatures, but the oncoming sea didn't diminish one bit. "All of you, let's split our focus and—"
A deafening bang sounded. The northeastern part of the mall where several of the attack machines were located was wiped out in an instant. You could hardly tell what it was, but a beam as bright as solder came out of the huge creature's mouth and swept through the place.
Without knowing what to do, all the scattered combatants began to group together, panic covering their faces, several even tripping over each other without knowing what to do. They were being surrounded. Their attack force had been destroyed, and more and more prismatic beasts were coming from everywhere. What's more, the only obvious way out was the giant hole that the Queen was guarding.
There seemed to be no escape.
"Mugino-sama," cried out a frightened esper girl in desperation. "What do we do? You have a plan B, don't you?"
The level 5 esper didn't bother to respond. With her silence, the team's morale plummeted. Some continued to fight, halting the advance of the PBs, positioning them for easier targeting.
"They're just low-class PBs," Mugino finally remarked, sensing that if she didn't intervene, everything would collapse around her. "Let's concentrate on annihilating them first, then we'll deal with the queen."
"B-but-"
"Do as I say, damn it!"
Mugino punctuated her command with bursts of electron beams, targeting the walls and ceilings more precisely, zeroing in on the encroaching creatures. She was likely operating more on instinct than strategy, merely attempting to keep the momentum going, fend off negative thoughts, and contribute something useful.
Her efforts at least served to keep her faction circulating. With the sound of attacks sweeping through the already destroyed place, the wave of PBs was being pushed back little by little, but as more were destroyed, more arrived to take their place.
They were all beginning to tire. And to make matters worse, the queen started moving again.
There was no telling what level of sentience this colossal creature had, hence it was difficult to discern why it chose to act only now. Had it exploited the opportunity and launched an assault alongside its troops, the group huddling within a circle around the central square would likely have been utterly decimated by this point.
The eastern quadrant of the square was now nothing but rubble and molten metal. Smoke and heat billowed into the night, making the people left behind faint. It was possible that several of them lay buried beneath the debris, their chances of survival dwindling.
"Hey, concentrate," said Maidono calmly. Or at least as calm as she could muster in this situation. "We've waited too long here, we have to do something."
Kamijou was so stunned by so much going on that he could only shake his head in silence as he listened to the screams of people trying to fend off the wave of approaching creatures. Some of them were charging at each other, still desperately firing everything they had.
"Mugino, this is a super good time to back off."
Kinuhata's voice sounded sharp through the screams and explosions. Mugino looked at her with an irritated face.
"Back off? " She even grimaced in frustration. "And what's in it for us? That thing is going to chase us anyway. We have to keep attacking and—"
"Mugino, this isn't super working. If we stay here, it's only a matter of time before everyone dies. Including him."
Mugino's face contorted as if she were about to spit blood. Her gaze swept the hellish place, witnessing the situation deteriorate with each passing minute. This quadrant of the Mall had been earmarked by her for the battle, strategically chosen to be as distant from the infirmary as possible. Leading the queen here may not have been the wisest decision, but the rationale had been to ensure easy access to any necessary supplies, thereby enhancing their chances of victory. However, upon reflection, Mugino realized there wasn't a supply that could significantly alter the outcome of this battle.
"If you want to run away, do it now," said Mugino, almost growling. She turned her back on Kinuhata, unable to look her in the eye. "I won't judge you if you put your life above the rest. But I will stay. Even if I have to fight alone, that's how it's going to be. Call it madness, desperation or even an idiotic form of self-punishment, but if this is the end of my life, then so be it."
That's all she said. No sentimental farewell speech, no attempt to appeal to what her ally might be feeling at the moment. That was all the older girl felt she had to say, and she kept it to a minimum. Anything more would only disrespect the relationship they had built up so far.
"Then it can't be helped," said Kinuhata after a sigh. She stood next to the leader of the New ITEM and clenched both fists. "I don't want to hear super complaints in the afterlife when I say 'I told you so'."
The two advanced in sync, with Kinuhata throwing herself into a wave of monsters and smashing them to pieces with punches, while Mugino focused on drawing the attention of the Queen, who was advancing without haste. Her intention was to guide that thing away from the rest of the base where what she wanted to protect was.
"In a way, we got lucky," said Maidono, looking at Kamijou sideways.
"What are you talking about?"
"There are no abominations." She gestured with her head in the direction where the monsters were concentrated. "These things can still crush us because of their sheer numbers, but a single abomination in their midst would be the end of everything." Maidono smiled slightly even in the midst of the chaos as she looked at him. "I mean, if you weren't here of course. Do you know what that means?" She waited for him to shake his head in denial before continuing. "You're our heavy hitter. Focus on what matters, let the garbage be taken out by those who matter less."
Kamijou wished she hadn't phrased it so bluntly. However, deep down, he couldn't deny her accuracy. This situation mirrored the time when the elements ravaged the city. While he might be outnumbered alone, he had proven capable of holding his own even against the colossal 100-meter creatures of the past. What he needed to do here remained unchanged.
He clenched his fist with reinvigorated determination, walking away from the crowd fight that he didn't belong in.
"Maidono, can you cover me?"
"Kamijou-senpai, who do you think I am? We've already fought together and against each other too." She made two pistols with her hands while smiling, she even looked excited. "I can do a lot more than cover for you. Now go!"
There was no time to dwell on doubts. Kamijou pushed aside the negative thoughts stemming from the chaos of battle and honed in on what truly mattered. This boy liked to say he was an amateur, but in reality, he was an expert. His focus was always on this kind of simple battle, where a big, scary enemy was faced head-on.
The Queen's movements took on an unusual rhythm the moment Kamijou diverted his attention away from the skirmish and aimed in her direction. The creature locked eyes with him, unmistakably shifting its focus as if recognizing him as the primary threat before it. It was as if they were synchronizing their intentions.
He just had to punch it.
Focusing on anything else was unnecessary. Kamijou just had to clench his fist as tightly as he could and swing it.
But this simple thinking proved to be a mistake.
The Queen didn't move to come to him, in fact, it backed away. It was silly to think that the thing would just do something so desperate, but in a way it made sense. Did it understand the threat he posed? If so, was that why it was using minions instead of simply decimating everyone there in an instant?
Imagine Breaker.
That power was formidable but the range was terrible. Besides, Kamijou didn't have any extra specials, if he wanted to end it, he'd have to run up to that thing and desperately hope for the best.
A violent cracking noise rang through the night. The retreating Queen swung her claw-like appendages, not towards the boy, but at the asphalt beneath it. Debris erupted, sending chunks of asphalt and poles hurtling in all directions. Had Kamijou not halted and rolled out of harm's way, he would have been struck by a chunk of reinforced concrete the size of a car.
"It's not working," he whispered to himself as he desperately got up and jumped to the side. A pole slammed into the spot where he was standing. If he had reacted a second later, his head would have been blown off by brute force.
The creature's giant claw came down once again. Kamijou was already in a bad position, if this continued he wouldn't be able to keep moving forward. The Queen was slipping completely out of his grasp.
A change occurred. The creature's massive hand halted in mid-air, just before it could make contact with the ground.
"That actually worked!"
Maidono's voice sounded excited. She was right there beside him, amidst the rubble. Her two telekinetic pistols were pointed firmly in the direction of the creature, which seemed to be struggling to move its arm held in mid-air by invisible restraints.
"These things aren't organic, right?" said Maidono, her hands shaking as if she had a great weight on her fingertips. "Only the parasite in them counts as a living being, so 'Queen' or not, I can use my powers on it!"
She had bound the Queen's arm with her powers. It wasn't perfect, but that girl had sealed the thing's movements.
A roar escaped the creature's gaping maw. As said, it wasn't perfect. The invisible tether binding it was on the brink of snapping.
Maidono Hoshimi planted her feet firmly on the ground, a grunt of pain slipping past her lips.
"Damn annoying thing. Quiet down!" she snapped. A capillary appeared to have burst, giving her eye a blood-red hue, yet she gritted her teeth and persevered. "What are you waiting for, Kamijou-senpai? Am I not covering you enough?"
There was no verbal response. The boy would take any chance he got, he wouldn't let his faction leader's efforts be in vain. The distance between him and the Queen was only 50 meters now, and he covered the distance in just a few seconds.
The Queen's claw finally touched the ground.
But...
It hadn't been of its own volition. Maidono had forced that monstrous limb to move, pinning it to the asphalt with her powers. That was indeed her last effort. The Queen was free now, and she roared in response. But it was too late.
His fist swung with force, targeting the claws forcibly embedded in the ground by the powers of the monstrous girl who could hurl skyscrapers as if they were mere toys.
The sound of shattering glass reverberated through the night. The Queen was struck; the destructive power of the Imagine Breaker shattered the giant hand, triggering a chain reaction that obliterated the creature's arm in an instant.
But the fight wasn't over. The destruction only went so far.
"Damn it," said Kamijou, "just like that time."
It took precedence.
That abomination he had faced at dawn, when he discovered he was a Shattered, hadn't crumbled with a single blow. He couldn't fully grasp the mechanics behind it all, especially considering he had once dispatched a similar abomination with a single strike, a feat nearly unheard of in this world.
But in the end, the same applied to the Queen.
And something had changed on that battlefield. It was as if a focused silence had fallen over the people fighting and crying in the midst of the chaos.
"What the hell?!" Mugino Shizuri exclaimed, abruptly halting her barrage.
With the Queen's retreat, the battle against her troops seemed distant, yet the Level 5 esper grasped something crucial nonetheless. A peculiar smile crept across her face.
"He damaged that thing!" Mugino shouted, gesturing toward the vacant space where the Queen's arm once extended.
It took a while for everyone to realize this important fact. The notion seemed unbelievable, but once it sank in, they erupted into enthusiastic shouts, as if witnessing a thrilling play in a sporting event.
Hope had been renewed, but it wasn't over yet.
"Attention, everyone," said Mugino at the top of her lungs. "From now on, everyone will support Kamijou Touma. Don't let a single PB get near him, am I clear?"
"Yes, Mugino-sama!"
After this quick exchange, the battle resumed in earnest. Meltdowner beams were now thrown by the dozens, clearing the way for the new wave of allies coming in behind. This confidence boost meant that the enemies were unbelievably pushed back, taking the fight away from the queen. The battle was officially on two fronts now.
"You're becoming quite the celebrity," said Maidono, giving him a thumbs up. "That's my senpai. When we take down that monstrosity, the first round's on me."
"Thanks for the offer, but let's not count our eggs before they hatch."
His concern was genuine, and to make it clear, the Queen moved once more. That thing had already recovered from the stun of that direct hit and was preparing its next attack.
The remaining claw, positioned on the left, moved with alarming speed.
"Maidono—"
"Damn, we've got a problem."
The Queen pressed on, disregarding Maidono's telekinetic efforts to halt its advance. She strained so hard that it seemed tears of blood might spill at any moment.
"That thing is too strong," she said, her voice almost cracking. "And it's using its whole body instead of just its arm this time. If I keep this up, I'm going to lose this tug-of-war."
"No problem, hold her as long as you can, I just have to keep punching her until she falls."
Kamijou fired once more in the queen's direction. His mind was too focused on this simple strategy, which was to take her down before Maidono lost the duel of strength.
He just didn't expect it to happen so soon.
A grimace of frustration contorted his face as he stopped and observed the Queen begin to retreat. The thing pressed her weight so forcefully into the ground that he even lost his balance. The already destroyed cityscape was being reshaped with all the mess of that creature. More rubble was thrown in his direction, raining down from above. Kamijou desperately tried to get away so as not to be crushed. Chunks of asphalt and buildings flew erratically, and even if he managed to dodge them all, he had no room to move forward. He would soon be overwhelmed.
"This is a piece of cake!" shouted Maidono.
Several pieces of debris now floated in the air, pushed away from Kamijou as if by an invisible windshield. Maidono had emerged like a guardian angel, not only halting the Queen's assault but hurling it back. Though it didn't achieve the desired effect, the boy felt a wave of relief wash over him knowing he hadn't been crushed.
"You can leave those useless attacks to me," said Maidono. "As long as it's not a direct attack, I can handle it."
Kamijou just nodded with a straight face. It might have been easy for her, but she was clearly worn out after having a duel of strength with the queen twice in a row. Besides, they were still at an impasse.
"Let's move," he said. "Can you protect us while we run at full speed?"
"I can try. Stay close to me."
The battle raged on as the Queen reared back, wielding her titanic limb like a battering ram, smashing and hurling everything in her path to halt the advance of the two. Suddenly, the creature's maw opened wide. A rush of compressed air preceded an intense beam of light, mercilessly unleashed from the Queen's gaping jaws. It resembled a constant and much thicker version of number 4's ability. It even looked like the attack of a certain silver-haired girl.
"Behind me!"
He only had time to pull Maidono by the sleeve of her jumpsuit and raise his right hand with his fingers spread wide. A flow of energy was negated. It was so intense that he had to hold his arm with his left hand or it would have dislocated. There was no damage to Kamijou, but he felt his body being pushed little by little, which once again stopped what little progress they were making.
"Hang in there, Kamijou-senpai!"
Feeling pressure against his back, Kamijou sensed Maidono's delicate hands providing support, preventing him from being pushed off balance and falling backwards.
"Thank you," he said, panting. "But we're at an impasse."
"It's all right," she assured him, also panting, perhaps even worse than him. "We're not alone anyway. And frankly, it's about time."
"Huh?!"
Kamijou didn't understand what Maidono was referring to. She stared into the void, while he focused on trying to completely negate that flow of energy that wouldn't stop.
Until a dry rumble rang through the night.
The attack aimed at Kamijou stopped when something hit the queen with such force that it felt like the whole world had shuddered. The creature remained standing and unharmed, but it was pushed aside after the mysterious attack which at least served to stun it.
Kamijou quickly recovered from his initial surprise and his eyes finally focused on the person responsible for the attack. It was like a white jet was floating in the sky, close to the queen. This person who had appeared out of nowhere had such an aura of irritation that you could feel it from a distance of more than 100 meters.
An instant later, the person in a white formal suit flew over to where the two of them were standing and floated for a moment until he slowly touched the ground on the destroyed and scorched asphalt.
That person looked at Kamijou with an indecipherable expression and then spoke in an extremely exasperated tone.
"What the fuck do you think you're doing here, you monstrous freak?"
This person who changed the course of the battle was someone who had fought alongside him more than once. That white monster was alive, and it didn't look happy about anything.
"Accelerator?" Kamijou was still stunned by the sudden arrival. "Come to think of it... Maidono, did you know he was coming?"
"I wasn't sure." The girl shrugged nonchalantly. "But I asked Misaka-san to let he know what we were doing today. I'm glad you got here in time, #1."
"Tch," Accelerator grunted, his expression darkening.
With another heavyweight joining their ranks, Kamijou felt a mix of relief and apprehension. While Maidono had confirmed his survival, the sight of Accelerator's frown directed at him left Kamijou uncertain of what to expect next.
"You shouldn't be here," Number 1 stated gravely. "Shit. I shouldn't have abandoned my post that day. I have a feeling I was played."
"We'll leave all that for later," replied Kamijou, clenching his fist and pointing at the creature with his other hand. "Putting an end to this thing is our priority."
The three heavyweights stopped talking when they saw the creature ready to attack again. Now with a powerful new fighter, Kamijou had to think of an effective strategy. For some reason, a certain girl walking around with an umbrella made of paper popped into his head.
"I think I'm going to regret this," said Kamijou with a sigh. "Accelerator, you have a time limit, so let's finish this quickly. Can you distract that thing for a while? Maidono and I will take care of the rest."
"I just got here and I'm already taking orders from you, what a pain." Even as he complained, he turned to face the queen once more. "We'll have a talk after that. Don't expect it to be a gentle conversation, you damn abomination."
Accelerator stepped lightly on the ground, but that was enough to launch him towards the queen as if he were an artillery shell. Another impact followed. The white monster's kick sent the queen reeling once again, accidentally destroying a building with its twisting claw. The most incredible thing about the scene was that the creature didn't seem to have taken any damage from that devastating attack. Even with Number 1 flying towards it like a fighter jet and attacking head-on, this had to be finished off by working together.
"What's the plan?" asked Maidono.
"Simple," Kamijou replied, pointing at the Queen's upper body. "We aim for the head. Can you get me there?"
Maidono smiled and placed a hand on her hip.
"Honestly, how many times do I have to tell you? What do you think I'm here for?"
Without further exchange, Kamijou took the lead, his right hand raised in caution. The creature remained preoccupied with Number 1's relentless assaults, but any sudden turn of aggression towards Kamijou could prove fatal, so all caution was needed.
"Stop here!" ordered Maidono, standing next to him. She pointed her two finger pistols at the ground below and behind them. "I have a good view. I just need to adjust the angle... "
"Adjust the angle? What do you mean—"
"We're ready to take off. Hang on!"
There was barely time for Kamijou to grab the girl's waist with his left arm and they were both flying through the night sky. A giant chunk of asphalt had been ripped out to make this possible. It seems that catapulting things was the best flight strategy in the apocalypse, which made Kamijou think that he and Maidono were thinking along similar lines. He had no idea how she managed to maintain perfect balance, but this was no time to think about that.
"Oops, I missed the target," said Maidono, making a circular gesture that caused them to hover in their makeshift 'glider'.
They were close to the queen, but above her head. The pieces of rubble coming off the small floating island touched the creature's insect face, which made it turn towards them. A strange roar escaped the creature's mouth. It seemed about to retreat.
"No, you won't!" shouted Kamijou, letting go of Maidono.
"Kamijou-senpai, wait!"
Kamijou Touma was an impulsive person who acted more on instinct than anything else. This became painfully obvious when he threw himself at the Queen without a second thought. His idea was to hit the Queen and hope that Maidono would find a way to prevent him from becoming a stain on the street below.
But his plan failed for one reason.
The queen opened her mouth at the last moment.
The spiky-haired boy grimaced in mid-air as he kept his fist clenched. He thrust that fist forward with all his might, desperately trying to hit the queen. But again, his plan had already failed.
Kamijou was swallowed up by the monstrous thing in an instant.
x-3-x
The fight against the PBs was more controlled than before. The combatants had found a way to prevent the creatures from advancing by using precise pincer strategies, destroying the place itself on purpose to create blind spots and trenches. But that fight was secondary, what really mattered was happening outside.
Yakumaru used the gloved fingers of her small hands to slide through the multiple vials on her utility belt. She knelt beside a severely injured boy who lay sprawled on the ground.
"Hang on, I've got something here that will help lift ya," she assured him.
With practiced ease, she inserted a thin needle into the vial and then into the almost unconscious boy, who lacked the strength to resist. What ensued appeared almost magical: the boy regained full consciousness and rose to his feet, ready to rejoin the fray after a grateful nod. Yakumaru smiled after another job well done.
"Keep bringing the wounded to me," she said, fiddling with the vials once more. "I still have some supplies."
"Got it!"
None of her original team members responded. Yakumaru found herself collaborating with whoever she could gather, drawing curious glances from bystanders who realized that safeguarding the team's "doctor" was a prudent course of action.
"But that doesn't quite fit me," she muttered, peering at her reflection in a test tube. "Some things don't require fixing, do they? They're fine just as they are. What a joke."
A foolish smile played across her lips as she spoke. However, the atmosphere shifted abruptly when a voice cut through the crowd.
"All of you, we're retreating!"
It was Mugino Shizuri's voice. Yakumaru thought that a new strategy was being improvised, but that didn't seem to be the case.
"Kamijou Touma is dead," continued Mugino, looking at the hole beyond the Mall. "He was the only one who could hurt the queen, so we need to buy time while we think about our next move."
Yakumaru hadn't heard the conversation before, so there was no way for her to know that the tea-colored haired girl's resolve had been totally shaken. Perhaps the sight of a mysterious boy with extraordinary powers had briefly lifted her spirits, but now, all semblance of hope had vanished.
"Kamijou... died?" Yakumaru's voice wavered, the bottle slipping from her grasp and its contents spilling onto the floor. "It can't be."
It really did seem impossible to her. And so she ran through the crowd, pushing through them as if she were fighting against the current. It was silly to think that someone could fight a queen and come out unscathed. But she really wanted to believe that he could.
"How stupid I am," she murmured into the wind, her frustration evident as her fists clenched involuntarily. "I wasn't even there to lend support. Why must it end like this?"
The Queen entered her vision. Not that it was possible to miss that creature over 100 meters tall, but she was distracted in thought, just focusing now. She observed her leader hurling debris, chunks of asphalt, rubble from buildings, and even abandoned cars at the creature in a futile attempt to subdue it. She barely noticed someone in white clothes flying in the night sky near the queen.
After trying as hard as she could, Maidono was forced to retreat. She looked at Yakumaru with the most serious expression she had ever seen her form and shook her head. The two of them were standing right at the makeshift entrance to the mall, amidst the colossal crater wrought by the queen's arrival.
"I'm sorry," said Maidono, placing a comforting hand on Yakumaru's shoulder. "It's my fault. I faltered... right at the end... I failed."
When the bizarre creature roared into the night sky, as if it intended to disrespect the moment, Maidono's face contorted with rage. She brandished her two telekinetic pistols at the creature, which trembled as it advanced towards her. A last stand was being made, but this young woman had already spent every ounce of her strength that night.
At this point, Maidono couldn't measure up to the queen. Not without paying a heavy price. But she used her powers anyway, putting everything she had into focusing on those fingers that had been honed to perfection at the cost of so much. It shouldn't have been effective at all. Even a miracle wouldn't save her here.
But... the giant creature suddenly stopped. The claw that would soon be swung in the direction of the two girls and end everything stopped and hung to one side like a wet rag.
Upon realizing this, Yakumaru looked at the leader with a certain admiration.
"You... did it," she said incredulously.
"No, I didn't do anything."
"What?"
The queen staggered, almost as if she had tripped over an invisible obstacle. A grunt escaped from her grotesque mouth, but it wasn't one intended to intimidate. It was a strange, wet grunt... it was a grunt of pain. The huge thing collapsed after flooding everyone's ears with those sounds that shouldn't escape from such an imposing thing.
Everyone was incredulous. The people who were retreating and regrouping stopped immediately when they heard the thudding noise. The gigantic mass did damage to the asphalt that was already in an almost irreparable state, its body crashing pathetically as if it had suddenly lost its strength.
And then the next scene made everyone tilt their heads in uncertainty. A hole had opened up in the creature's body. Although she looked like a giant insect, the queen's physique consisted entirely of crystalline matter, devoid of any viscera or blood, even when sustaining significant damage. The gaping aperture emerged where one might expect the creature's abdomen to be, but it fractured like cracks spreading across a frozen lake.
A right hand appeared through the hole. That was responsible for the change, or rather, that person was responsible.
With a face that was a mixture of disgust and anger, a spiky-haired boy leapt out of the giant creature's body. There was no considerable damage to his body, or so it seemed. The dirt on his clothes seemed to bother him as he casually wiped it off with his hands while walking around the creature's collapsed body.
The queen was not dead. As if infused with a final surge of adrenaline, she unleashed a deafening roar in the direction of the boy, her massive form still splayed on the ground. With one claw poised menacingly, she seemed intent on bringing down the apparently insignificant flesh-and-blood opponent.
"Stop being annoying and be quiet!"
But the claw didn't even make the full movement. Before it could strike, Kamijou thrust his right fist into the grotesque insect face of the fallen Queen. An explosion sounded. The Queen's entire head had been obliterated in an instant like a water balloon bursting on the ground. The scene was so surreal that everyone looked at each other as if asking in a communal way if it was all real.
"What the hell was that?" asked Mugino Shizuri, appearing next to Maidono.
"Exactly what it looked like," replied Maidono, with a satisfied smile. "You lost the bet, so get ready to settle up."
Mugino was so stunned that she decided to answer without even thinking.
"I didn't agree to any bet, but fuck it," she said, shrugging and looking at the queen's mutilated body. "But my condition is that he chooses, not you."
With the decisive blow dealt, the fight came to an abrupt end. A queen had been slain today, an important step towards taking back the world for humanity.
Author's note: So, it's been a while.
I'm sorry for taking so long to update this story. I had some health problems recently and even had to be hospitalized. I'm fine now, don't worry. The updates to this story will probably be slower than usual, but eventually I'll get back on track.
Leaving that aside, we had the fight against the Queen here. I'm trying to vary the fights that take place here, and today it was the turn of one against a creature the size of a building. I didn't have much time to edit this chapter, so I'm sorry if the descriptions weren't enough to visualize the environment in which everything was happening. I hope it wasn't a mess.
Kamijou and Maidono are the highlights here once again. They're kind of the main fighting duo in this story. Unlike the fights when Kamijou was alone, here he is totally focused on causing damage without thinking too much about strategy. That doesn't usually work without good support, but Maidono did a lot more than cover for him here.
And number 1 finally showed up. What does he have to say to Kamijou?
I'll have a look at your reviews now:
5had0wHand: Good to know that the mountain of information was interesting. Accel showed up, so the cat's out of the box lol. We'll still get more short moments of Kinuhata and Kamijou interacting, and Naru and Ya-kun are technically the two main girls, so expect more of them too. Mugino is crossing the line, huh?
WwEpsilonwW: Thank you very much. I hope I can deliver on expectations.
Onilink500: Indeed. But Maidono was confident to the end. Yes, there really is someone missing, we'll talk about that in the next chapter.
Guest: I don't know exactly how to answer that xD
Guest(2): The "Lovecraftian phase". More specifically, the story: The Colour Out of Space. But these are only vague elements, I'm not going to go into it too deeply. Glad you liked it, thank you very much.
uzuhyu. sena: It took me a while, didn't it? Thanks, I hope I keep it up.
BlueJack22: This is basically one of his defining traits. LOL.
5queso: I already had plans for Dion to appear, and after her scenes in GT9 I really had fun writing this. Accel has finally appeared here, I hope you enjoyed it. Many thanks as always.
Guest: And here it is. Thank you for reading.
Nicko2545: I'm incredibly happy to read this, because I really enjoy writing about her here. Did you like this second team-up?
See you next time!
By the way, here we had a brief appearance of the Electric Princess. What kind of mess were she and Accelerator dealing with? That's all for now. Moon leaving.