The building shuddered the instant the magnetic field flipped, and the very ground beneath them began to quake violently.
In the blink of an eye—faster than any normal person could even process—the entire space became compressed and claustrophobic.
Endless black iron sand came rushing in from all directions, crushing inward toward the epicenter of the magnetic field. The greater the repulsive force had been before, the more terrifying the attractive force was now, as the two poles reversed.
Accelerated by the immense magnetic pull, the iron sand transformed into blades sharp enough to pierce solid objects. Combined with their sheer, staggering numbers, this was arguably one of the most powerful physical attacks an esper could possibly produce.
Accelerator, standing at the center of the onslaught, noticed the change around him immediately.
A flicker of surprise crossed his face as he glanced at Misaka Mikoto, who had already let go of the building's edge and was using her ability to manipulate gravity, putting distance between herself and the area.
Even as the one who initiated the attack, she couldn't avoid being harmed by its indiscriminate nature. She'd managed to evade the very center, but her body was still well within its range.
While Accelerator's mind could keep up with the shifting situation, his body seemed to lag a split-second behind. In an instant, he was surrounded by the blade-like iron sand, caught in a relentless, seemingly endless barrage.
In that extremely brief window, even an esper with spatial abilities wouldn't have had time to escape.
"I see," he murmured. "Using yourself as bait to deal with me? That's some serious resolve."
There was no extra emotion in Accelerator's eyes. Instead, he spread his arms wide, welcoming the storm of destruction. Frankly, compared to the doll-playing farce of the experiments, he found this far more interesting.
"But this still isn't enough to handle a villain like me, you know."
He watched coldly as his body was swallowed by the iron sand, yet a strange light flickered in his eyes.
The light around him warped. The air itself was pushed away by the dense cloud of sand. A dark curtain began to wrap around Accelerator's form—one layer, two, three—slowly forming a massive black sphere.
Meanwhile, Misaka struggled to release arcs of electricity. Her stamina was nearly spent, barely maintaining an electromagnetic barrier around her body to deflect the dense, fine particles of sand.
She was falling toward the ground, her hair a mess. The casual clothes she'd picked up at the mall were now tattered and torn. Fortunately, there was no risk of exposure, but that was the least of her concerns right now.
Her hand shot out, grabbing a protruding steel rebar, finally halting her descent.
Following her gaze upward, she saw the iron sand being drawn into the air, coalescing into a huge, dark sphere that hung ominously in the sky, visible even from a great distance, darker than the night itself.
Finally, the last of the airborne sand fell, the magnetic field dissipated, and the powerful attack she'd mustered exhausted its final ounce of strength.
Accelerator's body was trapped within, buried deep inside the massive orb.
BOOOOM!
Losing its support, the gigantic iron sphere plummeted from mid-air, crashing through multiple floors of the building and shearing its original height clean in half.
The sphere began to slowly disintegrate, iron sand particles leaking down toward the ground like a black waterfall.
Suddenly, the sphere shook violently. A large, cleanly cut opening ruptured from its center, and Accelerator's figure emerged once more.
His body was completely unscathed, his clothes untouched, but his breathing was noticeably quicker, his demand for oxygen seemingly increased.
On the other side, Misaka was on one knee, leaning weakly against a wall, gasping for air. Her clothes were soaked through with sweat.
"I'm impressed. You actually managed to pull that off," Accelerator said, landing from above. His steps were light and careless. His body, lacking exercise, seemed frail, yet no one could possibly dismiss the person before them. "Now I understand a bit why those old fogies ranked you third."
"Alright, game over. I had fun tonight, so I'll let the matter of you disrupting the experiment slide for now."
He walked up to Misaka, looking down at her from his vantage point.
Just then, his phone vibrated slightly, halting his steps.
"Ugh— What the hell are you guys doing? The experiment's a complete mess today," Accelerator said, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Our apologies, Accelerator. It seems the signal in your area was severely jammed. We were unable to relay the latest information to you promptly."
"We've lost the signals of all the Misaka clones active in District 7. However, based on the memories updated by the clones about a day ago, we have several potential targets."
The voice on the other end belonged to a middle-aged man, his tone noticeably ingratiating.
"Given the current situation, I personally suggest temporarily extracting a clone from the research institute. Alternatively, the most reliable course would be for you, Accelerator, to retrieve the experimental clones yourself," the man on the other end proposed cautiously.
"Enough. I don't have time to clean up your mess. I'm heading back now."
Accelerator shot a glance at Misaka Mikoto before snarling into the phone.
"I see. We'll schedule the experiment for another day then. But rest assured, Accelerator, we will immediately dispatch the Dark Side to investigate."
The man on the other end seemed to be sweating, hastily agreeing with Accelerator.
"Accelerator? Accelerator, are you still there?"
The voice continued from the phone, but Accelerator's eyes narrowed slightly, ignoring the man's persistent questions.
He ended the call, a curious expression resurfacing on his face as he studied Misaka Mikoto intently.
"Something's off. You shouldn't be this quiet. Even if you're not cursing me out, you should at least be firing a few Railguns at me."
He tilted his head slightly, muttering to himself.
He waved a hand gently near Misaka. Her figure shattered like a reflection on water, but in the next second, it returned to its original state.
After a few attempts, Accelerator shut off his phone, his expression turning thoughtful as he observed his surroundings.
"So it's a light-based ability. Thinking you can just snatch someone away right under my nose? You're underestimating me."
A light laugh escaped him, his face turning fierce with the smile.
Accelerator could also manipulate light, but since he could only control it through direct contact with his skin, he couldn't create refractive clones like a certain someone.
His long-term reflection of harmful rays like ultraviolet light had resulted in his pale skin and white hair.
The lack of these external stimuli also caused abnormal hormone production in his body, making it difficult to distinguish his gender.
The Misaka figure in front of him began to blur.
But in the next moment, another Misaka appeared around him, then two, three, four... ten, twenty.
"Getting more and more interesting," Accelerator's lips curled into a smile. "Alright, you hiding light-user, I'll play with you."
His foot slammed into the ground. Iron shards around him shot out like sharp blades, piercing through countless Misaka illusions, instantly weeding out the fakes.
Furthermore, because the iron sand shattered countless tiny ice prisms in the air, the multitude of phantom images began to vanish, leaving only a handful remaining.
Without pause, the vast sea of iron sand formed into countless whipping chains, their numbers impossible to count. The moment they took shape, they began thrashing wildly.
Since his opponent was an ability user who could conceal themselves, area-of-effect attacks were the answer. Light-type users were physically fragile anyway.
While Accelerator was busy controlling the chains to attack his surroundings, Natsume Sonoko had already brought Misaka to the severed backside of the building.
Finding a relatively flat spot, an ice platform materialized out of thin air, connecting to the building's wall.
"Misaka-senpai, are you okay?" Natsume Sonoko asked, looking at Misaka with concern.
"I'm fine, Natsume-san. But it's dangerous here. You need to leave immediately."
Misaka pushed herself up slightly, looking worriedly at the girl with the bun hairstyle. Even though she'd warned her repeatedly, Natsume had still inserted herself into this fight.
"It's fine. That nasty white-haired guy can't find us."
Natsume Sonoko thought about it. Based on her understanding, while that white-haired guy could control vectors, he probably didn't have any methods for locating people.
Unless Accelerator could control vectors from dozens or even hundreds of meters away without any medium.
Otherwise, even if he could manipulate the air to remove the medium needed for light refraction, when it came to air itself, Natsume wasn't necessarily powerless.
Basically, all vector control users needed physical contact to use their abilities, limited to the surface of their skin. This was a comparative weakness compared to users of other ability systems.
Incidentally, because light has a source, intensity, and magnitude, it is also a vector.
But things seemed to have taken a slight turn. Just as someone thought they were safe, a multitude of whipping iron chains suddenly appeared around them.
These chains weren't scattered chaotically like before. They were linked end-to-end, forming whip-like structures.
Even though his control range was limited to his skin's surface, Accelerator could transmit his ability through his shoes into the ground, using it to control the iron sand littering the area.
Because the chains needed to maintain a connection to Accelerator, their bases were rooted in the ground, all the iron sand linked together as one cohesive whole.
With a light jump, Natsume and Misaka cleared the chains, almost like playing jump rope, though it was a bit awkward on the icy surface.
After three or four jumps, the ice platform beneath their feet was shattered into powder by the chains.
As the platform disintegrated, the two immediately began to fall. But Natsume reacted swiftly. An updraft appeared, supporting her own body, while Misaka clung to the building's wall.
Natsume's updraft, after numerous refinements, could now provide stable lift without being confined to a single area. A continuous cycle of warm air constantly replenished it.
A sturdy layer of ice formed within the updraft, emitting a biting chill, but it normalized to room temperature near Natsume Sonoko.
Natsume shakily got to her feet. The sensation was like standing on one of those rocking horses outside the supermarket, giving her a weird sense of childhood nostalgia.
However, the appearance of the updraft disturbed the surrounding airflow, abruptly blowing one of the chains off course.
"Found you."
The sudden change in the chain's vector was simultaneously relayed to Accelerator's mind. It was subtle, but he'd detected it.
The corner of his mouth twitched upward, like a predator spotting its prey.
The chains around him immediately received their orders. Like a tidal wave, they all surged toward the area of the disturbance. Even the ground began to sprout more and more chains.
Natsume Sonoko's lips pressed into a thin line. Sensing the change, she immediately knew Accelerator had found them.
Her face flushed slightly with embarrassment. She'd just been boasting, but that was due to asymmetric information—it didn't count!
As the horde of iron sand chains surged toward them, Natsume, instead of panicking, summoned a powerful gust of wind pressure around her, instantly scattering the chains in all directions.
Once scattered, the iron sand immediately lost Accelerator's control, falling downward as specks of black.
Beside her, Misaka was equally formidable. With her high level of control over ferromagnetic objects, she merely tweaked the magnetic field, causing all the chains to snap.
As the iron sand settled, Accelerator's face became expressionless. He suddenly looked up, his body lifting from the ground.
Altering the vectors in his feet, he stomped forward forcefully, generating a powerful upward thrust that sent him flying into the air.
But the moment Accelerator took flight, countless ice spears rained down from above, obscuring his vision.
With a slight manipulation of the air, the ice spears turned to dust. But immediately, a layer of solid ice encased Accelerator's body.
As expected, the ice began to crack and scatter, only to instantly reform, attempting to freeze him again.
After several repetitions, Accelerator's aerial momentum was spent, forcing him back to the ground. The stubborn layer of ice still clung to him, refusing to give up.
--+--
T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 3 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.