At dusk, the dim sky revealed a hazy expanse of a vast starry river. On the roads of District 23, the streetlights began to flicker on, emitting a cool glow that speckled the otherwise quiet streets bustling with people returning from work.
In Academy City, District 23 was a special district focused on the aerospace and space development industries. It housed only airports, launch pads, and related facilities, making it one of the few districts without schools or student activity. Instead, it was filled with staff and workers—a working zone with very few places for dining or entertainment.
Each time the workday ended, aside from essential security forces and the unfortunate souls stuck working overtime, the streets here were among the most deserted in all of Academy City.
This led to a curious phenomenon: when night fell, the monsters and ghouls lurking in daylight would often emerge.
Only, today, their "emergence" had gone too far. Multiple factory zones, abandoned buildings, and construction sites across District 23 erupted in gunfire almost simultaneously.
The sound of gunshots echoed like New Year's firecrackers, incessant and loud. Blasts of fire shot into the sky, as if war had broken out. Explosions roared, and the thrum of helicopter rotors from rapid-deployment armed units filled the air, causing countless bystanders to stand up and look around.
Somewhere in the district, inside a hotel—
Swish!
"Heh heh... urp..."
A red-haired girl wearing a dark winter school uniform, her hair in twin tails, suddenly appeared out of thin air, dropping to one knee as she began coughing violently.
Her condition was clearly bad.
Her uniform jacket was soaked in blood at several spots and missing one sleeve. It was torn to shreds. The mini-skirt, already short to begin with, now resembled a tropical samba cloth wrap, even emitting occasional sparks. She wasn't wearing the accompanying shirt underneath; the exposed upper body skin was flushed and steaming as if still radiating heat.
Gunshot grazes covered her waist, arms, and thighs. Even the bandage wrapped around her chest was partially gone, revealing a portion of soft, rounded flesh. She looked utterly wrecked.
As if she'd just escaped from an all-out battlefield.
"Damn it... why were the Judgment, Anti-Skill, and riot suppression units so fast?"
Still hunched over, she gagged a few more times before gasping for breath. After a long moment, she raised her pale face. It was none other than one of the "Guides," the Level 4 esper with the ability "Move Point"—Awaki Musujime.
Staggering upright, her eyes drifted toward the window, still glowing with the smoke of battle. She saw it clearly: a patrol helicopter whirring past, its underbelly lighting up from the jet flare of a riot suppression robot descending.
Seeing this, Awaki Musujime straightened herself and looked down at the silver-gray suitcase in her hands. A case she had risked everything to seize—while fleeing from a Level 5 esper, chased by Judgment, Anti-Skill, and pelted with bullets of all calibers.
She couldn't help but laugh. "Did they really think I couldn't teleport myself? If I want to... I can do it anytime! I can do it!"
Tree Diagram—Academy City's pride and the world's most powerful supercomputer, also known as the Absolute Simulator, capable of hyper-parallel computation. Through reverse research on the Honkai Energy condensed by the Number One, the latest model of Tree Diagram's data-core processor had recently been jointly developed and prototyped by hundreds of institutions.
It was because of this massive breakthrough that Awaki Musujime, through the nature of her work, accidentally learned of Tree Diagram's upcoming processor replacement.
Haunted by the lingering question of "Why do I possess this kind of power?" the thought had suddenly come to her. If any entity could answer her question, it would be Tree Diagram—the world's most powerful supercomputer.
Whether it was removing abilities, gifting her ability to others, or giving more people—more living beings—superpowers…
Awaki Musujime had once experienced an accident during ability development. In one test, a calculation error caused her to teleport herself with one foot embedded in a wall.
Although Academy City had long since healed the physical damage, the mental trauma remained.
After that test, her ability ceased to progress and developed several side effects. First, she became unable to teleport herself multiple times in succession. Repeated teleportation caused mental instability, nausea, ability rampage, and eventually inability to use her powers.
Additionally, spatial teleportation gained a delay. Every calculation needed repeated verification, resulting in a 2–3 second lag before the skill activated.
Even with so many flaws, Awaki Musujime's strength far surpassed an average Level 4. And so, she was chosen.
She was forced to become a "Guide" for the Windowless Building. She could not refuse the orders of Chairman Aleister Crowley. As a result, the "truths" she came to know far exceeded that of any other esper—she learned countless brutal plans.
She hated teleporting herself, but she was repeatedly forced to do so, to be involved, to hurt others.
Awaki Musujime was not particularly strong-willed. If her heart were stronger, she'd have had every qualification to become a new Level 5.
Though both she and Shirai Kuroko were Level 4 spatial-type espers, Awaki's capabilities far outclassed Shirai's.
She could teleport objects weighing up to 4.5 tons, with a maximum range of 800 meters. Shirai Kuroko, in contrast, could only teleport objects weighing up to 130 kilograms, with a maximum range of just 81 meters. Furthermore, Shirai had to touch objects to teleport them—Awaki did not.
Among the fewer than 60 spatial-type espers in Academy City, excluding Selene, Awaki Musujime was the strongest by raw stats.
However, within the reality of the "darkness," her sensitive heart fell into despair. She blamed all her misfortune on her ability. She wanted to cast it away. She no longer wanted to be a Guide. This power—whether given away or erased—meant nothing to her anymore.
And so, she took action. With companions who shared her ideals, she devised a plan to steal Tree Diagram's new data-core processor.
She was careful—called in multiple reinforcements, prepared ample weaponry—but the outcome? Every external organization she contacted was brutally suppressed by Academy City's security forces.
That's right—suppressed. Not by the hesitant Judgment officers or Anti-Skill who used rubber bullets and aimed to capture. No, those peacekeeping robots suddenly switched their lights from blue to red—
Lethal force authorized!
They targeted vital points with full-powered, large-caliber rounds. If not for her superior ability and fast reflexes, Awaki Musujime would have been shredded like the others.
Even though she destroyed many security robots, there were simply too many. As riot suppression units deployed swiftly, dodging that dense barrage made her dizzy. She had no choice but to flee.
"An order from the top... stealing this means I've truly crossed them."
"I have to get out of Academy City." Awaki Musujime bit her lip. Her thoughts hadn't yet finished running through her mind when a sudden burst of pain made her cry out.
Instinctively, she reached for the source of pain—only to touch something familiar.
A wine opener.
"Leave? You still want to leave? Judgment officer, second-year student of Kirigaoka Girls' Academy, Level 4 'Move Point' Awaki Musujime—you're under arrest." A familiar, mocking female voice came from behind her. "I was extra careful. Didn't want to mess up the location."
"You?" Awaki Musujime turned her head instinctively toward the voice.
"You... You already healed that fast? Heh, since when did Judgment get access to such high-grade medicine?"
"Ah, yes. It's me."
Shaking a small spray canister labeled with the Schicksal Research Institute insignia, the twin-tailed, tea-haired girl sat elegantly at a dining table, a faint smile on her lips.
"As a refined member of Judgment, of course, the treatment I receive is different from some pest disturbing the city's order.
"If my intel is correct, two years ago, your trauma came from a teleportation mishap, didn't it? You miscalculated and embedded yourself in a wall or something, right? So careless." At that, Shirai Kuroko gave a deliberately sympathetic sigh.
"You..." Awaki glared at Shirai, but pain surged through her entire body!
Ugh! She let out a muffled groan and collapsed to her knees. Thick steel spikes had pierced her thighs, shoulders, and ribs.
"Don't worry. I avoided the vital points."
Shirai Kuroko chuckled softly as she looked at the fallen, exposed girl. "This is just returning the favor."
Hours earlier, while doing her usual Judgment patrols, Shirai had dealt with over a dozen black-clad robbers in an alley—only to be blindsided and defeated by Awaki Musujime. To proud Kuroko, it was a humiliation. You're not even a Level 5! Shirai Kuroko is second to no Level 4!
"This is a military-grade emergency spray from the Schicksal Research Institute. I got my hands on a few of these top-shelf goods thanks to Selene-senpai. Works wonders."
Shirai rolled the spray toward Awaki. "Alright, crawl on the floor and stop your bleeding. With this, we're finally even."
Hahaha...
"What's so funny?" Shirai's sneer vanished as she watched Awaki struggle to her feet, fighting through the pain with a deranged smile.
"Pest? That's hilarious. Looks like the Railgun isn't the only one keeping secrets from you... If I'm a pest, then what does that make my 'master,' my 'superior'? Shouldn't they be demons damned to hell?!"
"A villain like me has reported to your senpai many times, passed along intel. You think Selene's seat on the Board of Directors fell from the sky, Miss Ivory Tower Princess?"
Picking up the emergency spray Kuroko had rolled over, Awaki pointed to the Schicksal Research Institute logo and gave a mocking flick. The bloodstained steel spikes clattered loudly as they hit the floor.
"Clearly, you don't understand a thing."
Despite her bleeding wounds, Awaki showed no concern. She looked at the Judgment girl before her with a pitying smile.
"Your two senpai—one lives in a fantasy world, far too naive. The other, the strongest of all, is a monster standing arrogantly above the rest. Must be tough for you, caught between the two."
"I don't need to understand. That's just what you think."
"Even if it's idealistic nonsense, my sister truly wishes for a world where you and I don't have to fight."
Without pause, Shirai Kuroko lightly hopped off the table, hand on her hip, giving a cool side-glance to the 'wanted criminal' in front of her. "And Selene-senpai, she just isn't good at showing emotion. But if you want the most dependable big sister figure in Academy City, it's Selene-senpai."
"Do you think you're still alive because of luck? I simply don't want to bother senpai—or cause excessive property damage. Small fry like you aren't worth troubling a Director over. Otherwise, you'd already be dead."
As she spoke, a mocking smirk curled at Shirai's lips.
"As for senpai's disdain and dismissal of you? That's because you're beneath her notice. You're a coward. A blatant escapist. And senpai despises people like you the most!"
"All talk?! I'm the coward?! You're the real monsters!"
As if a wound deep in her heart had been ripped open, Awaki Musujime snapped. Her pupils were bloodshot, and with a madness rivaling Accelerator's, she screamed:
"What did I do wrong?!"
"I just wanted to confirm whether there are other entities besides humans who can use esper powers! Even ant societies have strict order and systems. Espers can't be a privilege exclusive to humans! To understand that—to achieve my goal... I have to use this data-core processor to build a new Tree Diagram!!"
"What's wrong with that?! You don't understand anything! Maybe people like us are just lucky not to have become monsters. These powers..."
"Utter nonsense!"
Shaking her head, Shirai Kuroko looked down with a sigh. "Powers are just that—powers. What matters is how you choose to use them. Classic villain talk, full of self-righteous excuses."
"With or without powers, you're someone who hurts others. That fact doesn't change. You're even worse than I thought—rotten to the core. Jail is exactly where you belong."
"Arrest me?! Haha... You think you can?!"
In the next instant, both girls vanished from their spots.
Crack! Crash!
Furniture and everything in the room disappeared and reappeared in flashes. Glass shards flew wildly through the air as the two clashed with full force, fighting like mortal enemies.
Awaki swung her metal suitcase, smashing it against Shirai's body. Shirai took the blow but retaliated with a punch to the back of Awaki's head. The battle escalated rapidly, their figures blinking in and out of existence, teleporting without pause.
Two Level 4 spatial-type espers unleashed their full might.
This—this was a true spatial teleportation battle.
Each exchange was perilous. Both kept trying to teleport objects into each other's bodies or slam them with debris—whatever it took to incapacitate or kill the other.
Crack crack!
In mere moments, the building began to shake and tilt as its internal support structures were twisted, shifted, or vanished from the space-bending chaos. Chunks of debris rained down—
Rumble—!
Clutching her suitcase, Awaki instantly teleported out of the collapsing hotel. Shirai followed right behind. "Don't think you can run!"
"Haha, run? If you checked my records, you'd know—you're nowhere near my level!"
Swinging her military flashlight used for targeting assistance, Awaki spun around and unleashed several rebar rods laced with bricks and concrete from the debris, sending them crashing down at the airborne Shirai like thunderbolts.
Shirai's face didn't even twitch. With a single teleport, she nimbly dodged and appeared beside Awaki, slamming her baton viciously into her back.
She hadn't aimed to kill—classic Shirai Kuroko.
Arms folded, Selene stood atop a skyscraper kilometers away, calmly watching the duel between two pure-blooded spatial-type espers.
"Kuroko lost. The difference in skill is just too obvious."
In a fit of emotion, once Awaki overcame her fear of teleporting herself—even if temporarily—there was no way Kuroko could win.
Whoosh!
"What?!"
Kuroko's heavy strike missed. Her expression froze.
"Hahaha, this is our difference! Your limit is teleporting objects up to 130 kilograms, max range 81 meters. I'm dozens of times stronger than you! Die!"
Awaki appeared not far away, triumphant, swinging her flashlight down with a snarl—
"...."
Nothing happened.
Not only was she unable to teleport objects anymore—even her own body wouldn't respond. Both she and Shirai were frozen midair. The surrounding space exuded a terrifying malice; no matter how she recalculated eleven-dimensional vectors, nothing worked.
"Is this... Spatial Sealing?!"
Awaki gasped in horror:
"No way. Impossible. She hasn't interfered in any matters for the past month. She's been tied up with Board and Group meetings. I confirmed it again and again—she was supposed to be chairing a conference in District 2 right now!"
A calm voice echoed in the air.
"Sigh, can't I cancel a meeting now and then?"
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