Bonus: The Grave Dilemma⑦

"...What is the meaning of this...?"

Supported by two unexpected allies, Reicia Blackguard landed on the ground. Her first words were filled with confusion. And that was only natural. From the perspective of Reicia Blackguard, neither Frenda Seivelun nor Hamazura Shiage were the kind of people to act in such a way. Hamazura aside, Frenda was certainly not the sort of character to willingly throw herself at an overwhelming enemy.

"Why are you here, at this moment? You both should have withdrawn from this battle long ago...?"

Frenda and Hamazura, for their part, accepted her confusion as natural. Frenda even gave a faint smile as she spoke.

"Turns out Bisai Otome was my friend after all."

Her fist clenched tight.
Those words alone made Kamijou Touma decide to cast aside any doubt. To question someone speaking in such a voice—that alone would be an insult to a hero.

And then Frenda pressed on, driving the point home.

"That monster of a weapon is using Bisai's tech. Sure, she's a sadist and a real pain in the ass, but still. In the end, that tech was honed for the sake of helping a friend. And when I see it being twisted like that, I just can't stay calm, I can't keep my cool, I just can't stand it!"

"Tch. Not like I've got any grand reason like that."

Maybe because Kamijou was standing right there, Hamazura spat the words out as if uncomfortable.

"She asked me to smash the thing. And you know me—I can't say no when a beauty asks."

"...I see."

Kamijou left it at that. He remembered Hamazura. The memory of that night—when he had struck this very boy for trying to kill Misaka Misuzu on selfish grounds—was still fresh.

Yet even so, the man standing before him now seemed like someone else entirely. Or perhaps—like he had finally regained the light his soul was meant to have.

"Then, I can leave this to you."

Kamijou said this as he lowered his gaze to the right fist clenched in his hand.

"I'm heading after Gensei, the one who got blown away. After that fight earlier, he should be worn down, and I doubt we’ve got much time left. If I don’t take him down fast... Nurikae is going to spiral out of control."

No more words were needed.

The four heroes nodded firmly to one another and set off to fulfill their roles.

Chapter 3 — The Worth of a Soul is Worthless — Double(Square)_Faith.
Bonus: A Grave Dilemma >>>>>The 21st District Kuriba Ryouko Abduction Battle ⑦

Frenda and Hamazura tore through the nighttime forest at full speed.

Above them, Reicia beat the wings of 『Crack』 as she soared through the air. Moving at the speed of sound, she was, for now, keeping her distance from Microbe Revenge.

"So, oh gallant Knight. We’ve ended up in a battlefield overflowing with heroes—what’s your next move?"

Overhead, Reicia unleashed her ability in an attack. 『Crack』 flashed across the sky like black-and-white lightning, striking at Microbe Revenge. But Microbe Revenge dodged with ease and retaliated with a railgun blast aimed at her.

Reicia managed to evade, but not without effort.

The firepower was simply too overwhelming. Even if she avoided the shell itself, the turbulent shockwave tearing through the surrounding air was more than lethal enough. It was only because she could manipulate air currents that she survived at all. And even then, such a balance could not last.

Watching her struggle out of the corner of his eye, Hamazura spoke.

"Having a world-class Level 5 esper drop in has made things easier for us, sure. But Microbe Revenge isn’t something that can be beaten just because a Level 5 shows up. This thing could single-handedly shatter every war on Earth—and if it can repair itself right after, then the word ‘invincible’ barely covers it."

"...No, that conclusion’s still too hasty."

Frenda thought for a moment before cutting in.

"What if we go after the ground again? Sure, it might repair right away, but in this situation—where the hidden Fourth, Another Four, is here—being forced to stop moving would still be fatal. Even a moment of slowdown could be enough to slice that machine in two. With 『Crack』 interfering, repairs could be blocked. And besides, if we manage to destroy the reactor that spews magma, it’d be an instant, no-questions-asked, massive explosion."

"No."

Frenda raised a finger as she made her suggestion, but Hamazura shut it down. He handed her a handheld telescope—probably stolen from an observatory—and said,

"Take a look at Microbe Revenge’s footing."

"...? What about its legs…? —!!"

Peering through the telescope with a doubtful expression, Frenda quickly caught her breath.

Microbe Revenge’s propulsion system, shaped like armored hakama. Until now, the underside had spread wide to focus on spewing magma. But now, new lid-like units had been added, opening and closing.

If it can re-pair, then it can up-grade.

It sounded obvious when said aloud, but in truth it was anything but simple. Weapons were electronic craftworks built upon immense calculations. Add a new function on the fly, and it could just as easily backfire catastrophically.

And yet, this machine could implement improvements in the middle of combat. That was something only a mechanical brain like the Doppelgänger’s could achieve—but even so, the adaptability was staggering.

"...Kuriba Ryouko. A cyborg who spent a year fused with a scientist who mastered substitute technologies..."

No ordinary machine could manage this. Only the Doppelgänger.

Still—the situation had worsened. Destroying its footing was now meaningless, which meant they needed another plan. Yet with Frenda’s explosives, she could at most scratch the surface armor—and even that would be easily repaired.

Supporting Reicia wasn’t an option either, not when they couldn’t even slow the machine down. The battle was becoming a dead end.

Then, while observing the enemy through the telescope, Hamazura noticed something.

"Come to think of it—why the hell is Microbe Revenge even using a ‘variable-caliber railgun’ as its main weapon, powered by the Third’s magnetism?"

"Huh? Obviously—"

"But it doesn’t add up. If it didn’t need to rebuild the barrel after every shot, it could’ve been firing those blasts like jabs in a boxing match. In that case, Another Four would’ve been taken out instantly. So why burden itself with such a clunky system, one that makes rapid fire impossible...?"

At those words, another doubt surfaced in Frenda’s mind.

Back before she had clashed with Misaka Mikoto. The Doppelgänger had apparently contacted Kuriba Ryouko before ever meeting Kihara Amata. And during that contact, it had tried to kill her.

(The attempted murder of Kuriba Ryouko. That never really lined up with Microbe Revenge’s rampage, and I left it alone because it didn’t concern us... But what if both events stemmed from the same root purpose?)

The attempted murder of Kuriba Ryouko.

The deployment of Microbe Revenge.

A railgun, variable even for anti-personnel use.

All of this pointed to one answer.

That was—

"...Hamazura, you genius!!"

It was simple.

The answer had been there from the beginning.

This battle is a battle to seize ‘Kuriba Ryouko’.

──Reicia was struggling.

The bombardments were powerful enough to throw off her stance just from dodging them. Worse, as the fight dragged on for five, then ten minutes, the unbridgeable gap of "stamina" gradually began to show itself.

Naturally so. The enemy was a machine, while she was flesh and blood. Reicia had to use her ability to its fullest just to counteract the backlash from supersonic maneuvers. Her brain was already running at maximum just to keep up with the fight. On top of that, she had already fought Yobou and Mugino earlier today. Her stamina was bound to give out any moment now.

《Shiren… are you all right…!?》

《I can still… keep going… but…》

Even so, neither of them felt like they'd hit "the limit." If they forced themselves, they could still fight.

But an ominous chill gnawed at them.

If they pressed forward, there would be no turning back. That dread made them hesitate to unleash their full power.

《Then, what should we do? Dragging this out only to die a slow death would be a pathetic joke. If we have to settle this with the cards we have now, then how!?》

《…………First, we have to admit it.》

In the middle of this dire situation, Shiren spoke with an air of resignation. Reicia was about to snap back, but his tone soothed her.

《Borrowing from Rensa’s system—a limited application of the Railgun. Judging from how they’re operating that massive body… I think the entire machine is a single emission point for the ability. As for Kuriba’s “possession,” that’s probably a physical manipulation through slime mold. If they use that slime mold to form a computational circuit, then…》

《…! A ciliate-based computer!》

《Exactly. Spread that throughout the entire machine, and it can define its whole frame as “part of itself.” …And if we’re up against someone wielding a Level 3’s power through circuits and a scale beyond Level 3, then us—secret Level 4s of Another Four—don’t stand a chance. First, we need to accept that.》

《…………》

Normally, Reicia would flare up without even a split-second’s pause at words like that. But this time, she listened calmly to Shiren.

Because…

《For someone talking about giving up, your tone sounds awfully defiant, doesn’t it?》

《We can’t destroy it. We can’t win. …But maybe—juuust maybe—we can make it lose.》

Shiren’s eyes carried the insolence of a villainess as he spoke.

《The target isn’t it. It’s the ground. We’ll split the mountain apart with fissures.》

《…Undermine its footing? Isn’t that a bit too optimistic? Its propulsion system looks well-suited to unstable terrain. Even if we triggered a landslide big enough to overwhelm it, that “automatic repair function” essentially means rebuild. If it reconstructs itself into a form suited to the terrain, then we’re right back where we started.》

《For the moment, yeah. …But what about after that? Once the ground collapses, debris and wreckage will become obstacles. How will it deal with those? Each time it adapts, it’ll bolt on more makeshift features. Weapons are designed with a balanced whole in mind. But if it just keeps slapping on new functions by impulse, in the end it’ll self-destruct—like one of those prehistoric beasts whose fangs grew so big they wiped themselves out, destroyed by their own imbalance.》

《Ah…!》

Not a strategy of directly "defeating" the enemy, but of forcing it into a cycle of "false learning" until it self-destructed.

Terrifyingly, for a Level 5 esper like Jagged Edge, this was actually possible.

By relentlessly reshaping the terrain and forcing ad-hoc adaptations, they could drive the machine into imbalance and ultimately self-destruction. It was, indeed, a viable plan. If there was one issue, it was that the two powerless Level 0s—who were busying themselves with something in the background while Reicia bought time—would probably suffer the brunt of those changes…

And it was only then that Shiren realized it.

Fremda and Hamazura took the brunt of the impact.

………………………………。

《……Reisia-chan, maybe we should stop,》

《We’re doing it! There’s no other way, absolutely!》

《W-wait, Reisia-chan!? I know I was the one who brought it up, but this plan doesn’t take Hamazura-san and Fremda-san’s safety into account at all! We can’t just send them into a battlefield where landslides and “Debris Materials” are flying around, can we!?》

《Idiot! You think those two would die from something like that? Of course they’ll survive in just the right way and pull off their jobs in just the right way too! That’s how it is, so the plan goes forward—no objections accepted!!》

Ignoring Shiren’s protests with elegance, Reisia was about to formally put the plan into action. Right then, the mobile terminal tucked in her chest pocket received a call.

"…………"

『Ah…! Th-thank goodness. Reisia?』

Looking slightly vexed at having her momentum cut off, Reisia pressed the call button. The voice that came through belonged to her friend—a girl with the same face as the mechanical doll they were currently fighting—Kuriba Ryoko.

"…? Kuriba-san? What’s the matter? Ah, I entrusted you to Baba, but I assume you were able to evacuate safely—"

『About that… sorry.』

And with the next words Ryoko spoke, Reisia’s plan collapsed before it could even begin. She continued like this:

『Um, I ended up being brought back to the mountain by these weird two people, but where should I go to meet up with you?』

"…Those… those two idiots…………!!!!"

What came to mind were a pair of Level 0 powerless fools, one blonde and one brown-haired, both wearing irritatingly smug grins. With all the weight of her feelings, Reisia muttered:

"Punishment is guaranteed desu wa…………!!!!"