Sensing that Accelerator's position hadn't changed, a strange light flickered in Natsume's crimson eyes.
The two of them seemed to share an unspoken understanding, locked in a fierce stalemate high above the ground.
Natsume Sonoko was fighting to maintain the advantage she had worked so hard to gain, while Accelerator was determined to keep Natsume pinned in one place.
In many ways, Accelerator was an undisputed genius.
Even with far less aerial experience than Natsume, who took to the skies almost daily, he managed to achieve speeds surpassing those of outdated fighter jets in an astonishingly short time.
Fortunately, Natsume was still a bit faster. Not only had she spent a long time refining her formulas and accumulating flight experience, but in recent days she had also used the bio-computer to further optimize her calculations.
On top of that, she was burning through computational power like it was free—all key factors in maintaining her edge.
Still, Natsume couldn't be sure whether she would still hold this advantage once Accelerator seriously studied the flight formulas. A sense of urgency began to well up inside her.
If that were the case, then today's opportunity was crucial.
And judging by the situation, Accelerator wasn't about to let her leave. In fact, the current deadlock was largely due to his relentless pursuit.
Strictly speaking, Natsume was only fighting back in self-defense.
For the first time, a certain always-helpful, studious, and ordinarily low-profile bun haired girl—who only wanted to live a normal life as a student in Academy City—felt the weight of such immense pressure.
But there was no time to dwell on pressure.
Natsume didn't even let herself focus on Accelerator's appearance. She concentrated all her firepower on heating the air around him while simultaneously resisting the increasingly heavy vortex of air above her.
As Accelerator gathered more and more air, and with the vortex positioned directly above Natsume Sonoko, his advantage grew.
Even gravity seemed to be on his side, pressing down on the girl's resources.
Natsume Sonoko blinked her slightly reddened eyes. Her skin began to flush, and as her energy expenditure increased, her breathing grew ragged.
Under mounting pressure, Natsume started compressing the air around her to withstand the heavy atmosphere, continuously drawing more air from her surroundings to replenish her pressurized zone.
As Reiko's output increased, so did the amount of computational power Natsume could control.
Not only did she manage to stem the tide, she even regained a bit of ground. The sphere of pressurized air she controlled now took on a slightly concave shape.
To prevent Accelerator's vortex from stealing the air within her domain, Natsume deliberately shaped her pressurized zone into a small, clockwise cyclone—rotating in the exact opposite direction to his.
Perhaps because of the opposing rotations, the ionized particles forming between their respective fields failed to coalesce. Instead, they began to scatter, creating a spectacle of white sparks drifting apart across the sky.
This gave Natsume an ill-timed inspiration: in high-temperature conditions, friction between air molecules could generate electricity—and it didn't seem all that hard to achieve.
The ponytailed girl unconsciously added "develop electricity-generating ability" to her mental to-do list. Maybe someday she wouldn't need to carry a charger anymore.
Pushing aside irrelevant thoughts, she refocused. Accelerator was still in a bad state, and it was only getting worse as time passed.
Although his body was expelling heat through sweat, it was also draining him of large amounts of fluids.
Dehydration or overheating—it was a difficult choice.
But Accelerator clearly chose dehydration. While it would slow his brain's processing speed, it wasn't as severe as the risk of frying his mind entirely.
Sweat blurred his vision. His black-and-white T-shirt was soaked through, yet his expression grew only more excited, a slight, involuntary smirk tugging at his lips.
"So you're still holding up… What a surprise. Now, let's end this."
No longer concerned about his internal heat or physical weakness, Accelerator marshaled every last bit of computational power he could still access. In that brief burst, his processing capacity returned to its peak.
In the next second, the previously balanced situation broke wide open. A gap was torn in Natsume's pressurized air, and a massive flow of air forced its way through, cutting her controlled area clean in half.
The severed section, now isolated and unsupported, was effortlessly dominated by Accelerator, who had seized the upper hand.
The situation was growing more dangerous by the moment. Natsume had no choice but to increase the computational output from Reiko's side.
Her eyes grew redder—half of her irises now crimson, with dense blood vessels spreading across her originally dark pupils. She looked like she hadn't slept in days.
Sixty percent.
The bio-computer had unleashed sixty percent of its total computational power, all directed toward the battle high in the sky.
With this boost, Natsume continuously deployed formulas, reinforcing her defenses. Her breathing grew even more labored.
Her mind grew hazy. Only forty percent of her conscious thought remained in her own body—the absolute minimum needed to maintain basic function and respond to emergencies.
Due to the prolonged and intense use of her ability, blood began to trickle from her nostrils, dripping onto her clothes. Her face was flushed with an unnatural shade of red.
--+--
Meanwhile, back at the Misaka Apartments, Reiko lay weakly in her room.
Reiko was also experiencing a series of issues. For Natsume to use the bio-computer, she first had to route commands through Reiko's brain.
Although her role was only to relay instructions to the bio-computer, the sheer volume and density of those commands pushed Reiko's brain into overload. Her brain temperature began to rise.
Reiko's brain was fully developed, but since she hadn't undergone ability development, she was essentially no different from a normal Level 0.
To minimize unnecessary exertion, Reiko lay on her back, staring upward.
Her face was flushed bright red, with a large block of ice resting on her forehead to cool her down. As the ice melted, it dampened her clothes.
Transferring sixty percent of her conscious thought wasn't just Natsume's limit—it was Reiko's limit too. And in Reiko's case, the situation was even worse.
--+--
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.