Frenda, high up, held binoculars, her voice cutting through the night wind.
"Found them, over there!" she reported the location of Rhodes's group of four to Mugino Shizuri.
"But why are there two Third-Rankers?" Frenda's voice was filled with confusion.
"You idiot, didn't you read the data?" Kinuhata Saiai couldn't help but retort, "The experiment here is part of the Absolute Power Project!"
"What? The Absolute Power Project? Shouldn't it be the Railgun Clone Project?" Frenda asked back, the 'sudden realization' of intelligence on her face leaving the other three speechless for a moment.
"The purpose of the Absolute Power Project is…" Kinuhata Saiai spoke almost simultaneously with Rhodes in the arena, clearly articulating the cold experimental plan:
The core of the "experiment" was to arrange twenty thousand battles, allowing Accelerator to complete these twenty thousand killings as planned.
Espers grow in battle, and the ultimate goal of this "experiment" was to precisely guide this growth, forcibly pushing Accelerator from a Level 5 Esper to the throne of an "Absolute Power (Level 6)".
"Are… are you kidding me!?" Misaka Mikoto's body trembled violently, boundless rage surging and erupting like magma in her chest, "In other words… my clones were deprived of the right to live from the moment of their birth?! In this City, they are only fit to be… lab rats, consumed at will?!"
Crackling blue-white electricity burst uncontrollably from around her, like a frantic swarm of snakes, twisting and leaping wildly in the air, materializing her uncontrollable strong emotions and illuminating her face distorted by anger.
"Demons like you who trample on life… go to Hell!" Misaka Mikoto's roar tore through the night sky.
With her angry roar, the sky suddenly changed color! Heavy thunderclouds instantly gathered, and violent lightning flashed wildly within them, like an enraged ancient beast, letting out deafening roars.
A terrifying bolt of lightning, thick enough to make one's heart palpitate, carrying a destructive billion volts, ripped through the darkness and struck precisely above Accelerator's head with the force of a thunderbolt!
Misaka Mikoto's ultimate move—a true lightning strike!
However, this destructive blow, powerful enough to vaporize steel, disappeared without a trace the moment it touched Accelerator, as if a clay ox had plunged into the sea.
Accelerator's terrifying Item, "Vector Manipulation," allowed him to freely control the direction of all energy—kinetic energy, thermal energy, electrical energy—with just skin contact.
Combined with his monstrous computational power, any form of attack was merely a breeze brushing against his skin.
Misaka Mikoto's pupils constricted abruptly, her eyes widening in disbelief.
"No… impossible! That was a billion volts!?"
Only now did she truly realize how despair-inducing the power of Academy City's top-ranker was. This feeling of powerlessness in the face of absolute power, like a cold tide, drowned her, bringing unprecedented frustration, followed by even more surging and helpless rage.
"If you attack me, you should be prepared to be crushed," Accelerator's lips curled into a cruel arc, and he lightly tapped his foot.
Boom!
The ground exploded, and Accelerator shot out like a cannonball, charging towards Misaka Mikoto with an ear-piercing shriek!
His right hand formed a claw, bringing with it the shadow of death, accurately grabbing towards her face!
The icy breath of death instantly seized Misaka Mikoto's heart. She could even make out the Texture of his fingertips, anticipating the moment that hand would cover her brow, and cold sweat instantly drenched her back.
At the critical moment!
A large hand appeared out of nowhere like an iron clamp, firmly gripping Accelerator's wrist! That impact force, enough to crush steel, was stopped dead by this hand! Accelerator's forward momentum came to an abrupt halt.
This sudden turn of events startled both of them.
Misaka Mikoto, still shaken, looked at Rhodes, who stood in front of her, shocked that he could directly block Accelerator.
A hint of surprise, for the first time, flashed across Accelerator's crimson pupils—this unknown man could ignore Vector Manipulation and directly touch him?!
"I haven't finished speaking yet," Rhodes's voice remained steady, with a hint of all-knowing mockery, "'Absolute Power Project'? It's just a pretty fig leaf. Even if you really kill twenty thousand Misaka Sisters, it's absolutely impossible to become some 'invincible' Level 6."
"Hey?! What do you mean!" Accelerator violently shook off Rhodes's hand (or Rhodes voluntarily let go), ignoring the shock of the other person being able to touch him, his face instantly turning extremely ugly. If what Rhodes said was true, then the countless bloodstains on his hands… wouldn't they become a complete, utterly absurd joke?
"Still don't understand?" Rhodes's smile held even more sarcasm, as if piercing through the Void Realm, directly looking at some being secretly observing this place, "The true core objective of the 'Absolute Power Project' was never to make you evolve. It's just one piece in Aleister Crowley's grand chess game. Its purpose is to quietly spread these artificial Espers—the Misaka Sisters—to every corner of the world!"
He paused, clearly stating the cold truth:
"In order to 'naturally' send the Sisters out of Academy City, Aleister first deliberately destroyed the 'Railgun Mass Production Project,' then used the 'Absolute Power Project' as a cover. Using the smokescreen of these two consecutive feints, the 'Misaka Sisters' were logically transported to Academy City's globally distributed partner organizations under the guise of 'experimental rejects' or 'research samples.' Ultimately…"
Rhodes's voice was like a cold verdict:
"When tens of thousands of Misaka Sisters are spread across the world, the AIM Diffusion Field they emit will envelop the entire planet. This is the Chairman's true purpose."
"This guy… knows too much." Aleister, suspended upside down in the life-support device, his perpetually indifferent eyes finally showed a ripple, almost imperceptible.
This unexpected chess piece, if left unchecked, who knows what unpredictable impact it would have on the carefully crafted script…
"Why? Chairman… why would you do this?!" Misaka Mikoto's thoughts spiraled into a chaotic vortex.
"Simply put, to destroy the magic world." Rhodes casually threw out an even more astonishing answer.
"Magic?! Does this world… really have magic?" Misaka Mikoto felt her worldview collapsing.
"But none of that is the point." Rhodes's gaze refocused on Accelerator, and he twisted his neck, emitting a crisp cracking sound, "Hey, Misaka Mikoto, take that Sister and leave immediately. The scene that's coming is not something you two can spectate. If you get caught up in it and die, don't blame me."
"I… I understand." Misaka Mikoto gritted her teeth, knowing that staying would only make her a burden. She quickly grabbed the hand of the Misaka Sister beside her and retreated to a safe area without looking back.
"Hahahaha!" Accelerator suddenly burst into a crazed laugh, his crimson eyes fixed on Rhodes, completely ignoring the departing Misaka Sisters—in Accelerator's eyes, they were merely bugs that could be crushed at any time, "You think you can make me give up this interesting 'experiment' with just a few words? You're too naive!"
"Have you perhaps misunderstood something?" Rhodes shook his head, his tone carrying a casualness bordering on pity, "I said all this just to annoy Aleister, who's hiding behind the scenes, to make him uncomfortable. As for whether you believe it? Heh, I don't care at all."
"You bastard—!?" Rhodes's indifferent and contemptuous attitude completely ignited Accelerator's rage! He then let out a furious roar, his right arm, carrying terrifying kinetic energy capable of pulverizing a building, ripped through the air and slammed towards Rhodes's cheek at an imperceptible speed!
Bang!
A dull thud! Rhodes's palm steadily caught the violent punch! The furious impact had nowhere to vent, suddenly spilling to the side, instantly blasting a huge deep pit in the ground beside Rhodes, sending gravel and dust flying!
"I came here," Rhodes's voice suddenly turned cold, and he casually flung Accelerator away like trash, "with only one purpose."
Accelerator forcibly twisted his body in mid-air, and after landing with a "chi la" sound, his feet plowed two deep marks in the ground before he barely managed to stabilize himself. As soon as Accelerator looked up, an unprecedented, thick and tangible icy malice, like a towering tsunami, surged towards him from Rhodes's direction! That malice was pure, profound, and carried the fishy smell of death!
Slightly.
A subtle line of blood, without warning, quietly appeared on the side of his neck. Warm liquid slid down his skin.
Accelerator subconsciously touched his neck, his fingertips feeling a warm, wet sensation. Cold sweat, uncontrollably, seeped from his temples.
Pressure…
The pressure of death!
This long-lost, almost crushing sensation, like a cold venomous snake, coiled around his heart.
"Get ready," Rhodes's voice was like the cold wind of Hell, he tilted his head slightly, a nearly ferocious, utterly mocking smile playing on his lips, "Brace yourself."
A terrifying Aura, like tangible darkness, erupted from Rhodes, instantly engulfing the entire space.
"If… you don't want to die here."
Rhodes stared at Accelerator, whose face had changed drastically for the first time,
"First! Ranker!"
A strange and icy emotion, like a poisonous vine breaking through the soil, wildly spread and grew within Accelerator's ice-like heart.
Its name was—
Fear.