Chapter 129: 『Righteous』 Thunder God
"……!"
The moment I began calculations to take Touma-san and fly away, I felt a subtle tug at my left hand. Looking down at the hand that was held… what clasped it, wrapped in black dress gloves, was another hand, clad in pure white gloves. Raising my eyes, I found it was Shokuhō-san.
…Huh? Shokuhō-san, what’s this about? Could it be that she wants to come along?
Reicia-chan must have had the same doubt as me, because she let out a slightly exasperated expression before speaking.
"What is this? Your role is already over, isn’t it? Isn’t that enough for you?"
"Wrong, you know. It’s Mi-sa-ka-sa-n related. I’ll explain more as we move along. Come on, hurry it up, bring out the 『Rift』’s cage."
"I don’t like this one bit…"
《Now now, Reicia-chan, no need to be so harsh》
Reicia-chan kept grumbling, but I made sure to properly enclose Shokuhō-san within a 『Rift』 so she could follow along in flight. Naturally, Touma-san too. For some reason, once Touma-san parts ways with Shokuhō-san, it seems all the memories up to that point get wiped away.
If I keep them at a distance that’s neither too close nor too far, the impression seems to remain continuous, though.
"Ah, my my? Blackguard-san? Why is there a 『Rift』 barrier between me and Kamijō-san? Wouldn’t it lighten your burden more if you put us together in the same space?"
"…………,"
"Actually, isn’t this Shiren-san, hmm? Hey, excuse me?"
Flight, commence.
Chapter 3: A Soul’s Worth Is Worthless Double(Square)_Faith.
Episode 103: 『Righteous』 Thunder God PHASE_NEXT.
First, as a fundamental premise.
Misaka Mikoto was not running out of control.
Rewinding time, right after Reicia was blown away by the Doppelgänger.
Having sent Reicia flying to the far reaches of the sky, the Doppelgänger, clad in a mantle of lightning, looked down upon the ground.
"──That Jagged Edge won’t be dead from something of that level, but… I blew her toward Kihara Gensei, so it should buy some time at least. The problem is──"
Her gaze settled on Misaka Mikoto, battered and worn.
Like her, Mikoto’s whole body sparked with crackling violet electricity as she glared up at the Doppelgänger. But theirs was not a relationship of equals.
If anything, it was the literal difference between heaven and earth.
Unable to freely use her power, Mikoto was already exhausted, breathing heavily from fatigue. In contrast, the Doppelgänger, being a machine, showed no signs of breath at all.
Expressionless. With a mechanical face that betrayed no emotion, the Doppelgänger in the heavens looked down on the third-ranked esper standing below and spoke.
"──I do feel a little guilty. Seeing you like this, stripped of the power of a Level 5."
"Bold words. But you don’t exactly look sorry to me."
"I lack the function to form expressions. If you have complaints, direct them to my creator."
That was the extent of their exchange.
The moment the Doppelgänger swung her arm, Zubajii!! a spear of violet lightning shot down toward Mikoto.
She moved herself with magnetism, dodging and parrying the blows as best she could. But it was like trying to cool a burning stone with a splash of water. Even as she evaded, Mikoto’s body was being scorched bit by bit by the electricity.
"Kh…!"
Caught in an induced electromagnetic field, Mikoto was hurled away by magnetic repulsion. But her body, numbed by electricity, failed to take a proper landing, and she rolled hard across the ground.
She forced herself upright as she rolled, regaining stance immediately, but overhead the Doppelgänger was already poised with another spear of thunder.
"A cruel irony, isn’t it? Slowly being eaten away by your own ability. Wouldn’t it be wiser to retreat?"
"Don’t… kid… me…!!"
The Doppelgänger’s suggestion to retreat was met with a defiant grin, even as Mikoto stood on her last legs.
She twisted her rolling momentum into magnetic levitation, taking to the air, but still couldn’t dodge completely. In desperation, she swung an electrified backfist, trying to parry with the rebound force. Naturally, there was no way a move like that could close the gap in their strength.
Her blazer was grazed at the side, fabric burned away. Mikoto gasped as she saw the scorched cloth scatter into the air, while the Doppelgänger, unmoved, paused her assault to remark:
"……One hundred eighty-five moves. That’s about the number."
"…………?"
"The number of steps to checkmate. Whatever strategy you try, I can corner you within 185 moves. Just like I did with the First Ranked."
"…You sure talk big."
After a beat of silence, Mikoto muttered, then added:
"So-what-you’re-really-saying-is… you want me to run away, huh?"
With that, she touched her index finger to her temple.
The Doppelgänger gave no reply. But Mikoto, unconcerned, continued her words.
"Your intent is obvious. You’re not even trying to finish this. If you really wanted to take me down, with my power output dropped to Level 4 range, you’d just swamp me with iron sand. I can’t parry against that with electricity, so that’d be the optimal solution, right?"
Not can’t.
Not that she can’t use it──but that she won’t use it.
Thinking that way, Mikoto could begin to see the Doppelgänger’s intent. Come to think of it, the Doppelgänger had been going out of her way to frighten her with words, almost as if urging her to flee.
"You’re leeching off my ability, so if I die, you’re in trouble, aren’t you? But if you fight me seriously with your current output, there’s a real chance you’d kill me by accident. So you’re trying to scare me off and make me run. Even dragging the First into it as bait."
"……And if I am?"
"Don’t… underestimate… me…!"
Violet lightning exploded.
A surge of power that Misaka Mikoto, stripped of her strength, should have been utterly incapable of unleashing was bursting forth.
No──this was not electricity released from Mikoto herself. Before she realized it, the Doppelgänger was already staring upward.
"…………What is this?"
The heavens were blanketed by a dense layer of clouds.
And tearing through that pale white glow faintly traced across the night sky──a black lightning bolt ran, like a jagged rift.
That rift, appearing from nowhere, converged directly above Misaka Mikoto──and struck her nape head-on.
『……I’m surprised』
A few hours earlier.
Shokuhou Misaki muttered that with an awkward expression on her face.
『I never thought you’d actually come to see me』
『I’m a doctor who always provides what the patient needs, you see? And of course, that includes people as well, you know?』
The one who appeared before Shokuhou, who had split up from Mikoto and was moving separately, was the frog-faced doctor—Heaven Canceler. And with him—
『Nice to meet you. I am one of the Sisters, serial number 10032. By the way, this person is not directly related to the experiment, but is it really acceptable to reveal Misaka’s identity to her? asks Misaka, throwing this rather belated question at the doctor』
A perfect copy of Misaka Mikoto—or rather, a completely different imposter that just happened to wear the exact same face.
Serial Number 10032—a girl Kamijou referred to as “Misaka Imouto.”
To that entirely valid concern, Heaven Canceler only smiled, unfazed.
『Don’t worry about it, you see? In fact, you could say that this girl is, in her own way, also one of the concerned parties here, you know?』
"……Why me?"
Even as Shokuhou shot him a resentful glare, swallowing the words “you dragged me into this,” the frog-faced doctor didn’t let his smile fade.
『After the last incident, I did a lot of reflecting, you see? So I created a system that can monitor and alert us about the Misaka Network’s operational status, you know?』
"And you just casually make things like that… this so-called “genius doctor”…"
Ignoring Shokuhou’s stunned remark, Heaven Canceler pressed on.
『──That system triggered an alert. The Misaka Network is being misused』
At those words, Shokuhou felt as if her breath had stopped.
No—her body was still breathing. It was just that the shock of that single statement was so great, she hadn’t even noticed.
"What do you mean…!?"
『Most likely, it’s tied to the Kiharas. The “Doppelgänger” that combat reports have mentioned is suspicious. By rearranging its internal composition, it’s functioning as an outlet for the Third’s power』
"Isn’t that dangerous!? During the Daihaseisai, those girls were left comatose…!!"
『Calm down. It hasn’t reached that stage yet. But… eventually, it will. That’s why I came to ask for your help』
"……So, what do you want me to do?"
This time, Shokuhou asked with resolve.
The shaken expression she’d worn moments ago was gone, replaced by the strong profile of someone staring straight at the problem before her.
『To put it simply──I want her to use her ability』
"……What?"
『The Doppelgänger is using Misaka-san’s power to access the Misaka Network, and from there is drawing on its energy, you see? Imagine turning on the shower and then opening another faucet—have you ever noticed the water pressure in the shower drop? It’s the same principle. The total output doesn’t change, but because the Doppelgänger is forcing the power at full capacity, Misaka-san herself is starting to find it harder and harder to use her ability』
"That’s just…"
For Shokuhou, who couldn’t care less if Mikoto lived or died, the obvious thought was “then just let her suffer.” But standing here was Mikoto’s sister, who cherished her “Onee-sama.” There was no way she could voice something that cruel.
『But the same thing applies to the other side. If Misaka-san’s output rises, the Doppelgänger’s output will fall. What I want to set up is a tug of war, you see?』
『Please』
Misaka Imouto bowed deeply.
And without lifting her head, she spoke.
『With this method, even the Misakas can save our Onee-sama. …We want to show it—that Misakas are not just pawns to be used. That we are individual lives, capable of rebelling against the greater current』
『………………』
『So please. Protect the dream of the Misakas』
For Shokuhou Misaki, that was nothing less than a forbidden act.
To use her power against a girl who bore the same face and the same circumstances as “that girl,” knowing it would harm her in some way… that was a taboo, almost like a binding carved into her very soul.
And yet—what weighed more? That taboo, or the resolve in front of her, the feelings of a girl bowing her head and begging for help?
The answer, surely, had been decided long ago.
『Heaven Canceler』
Pulling a remote control out of her bag, Shokuhou spoke briefly.
『I’ll hold a grudge against you for this, you know』
『That’s fine. If it means giving the patient what they need, then a little extra expense is nothing』
《What is this!?》
Meanwhile, Misaka Mikoto stood at the edge of complete bewilderment. The moment she shot back a retort at the one who'd been mocking her, a black lightning bolt suddenly struck down from the sky and everything before her went dark. Mikoto felt a familiar sensation. This was—
《No way — that Phantom-born rampage again!?》
《Oh? It’s not anything that dangerous.》
There was a nauseating feeling, like a slim pair of arms had slid around the back of her neck.
《Sh… Shokuhou!?》
《Bingo☆ And this time… it’s not the same kind of rampage as before. I’d say it’s a proper, procedural exertion of enhanced power. To prove it—》
As if waiting for Shokuhou’s cue, a crack ran through the space in front of Mikoto. A blinding white lightning, tearing through the darkness, blanketed the world—and with a glass-shattering crack, the scene before her split open.
It was a form completely unlike what had appeared in their earlier battle. Tokiwadai uniform had shifted color and partly fused with streaming violet electricity, forming something like a flowing robe; yet the skin still resembled a human’s, and only a pair of horns sprouting from the forehead recalled the form seen at the Great Academy Festival. The eyes held the true color of the girl’s determined will. In her hand was a spear shaped by ‘materialized lightning.’
《You should be able to move freely. By the way, this voice and the support program were entrusted beforehand to one of the Sisters, so don’t die before I get there—survive until I arrive.》
《Huh!? What do you mean, deciding that on your own…? And I wasn’t told any of this!? You left the support program with one of those kids—what does that even mean!? Aaaah—if you were going to pre-input things like that, you should’ve just told me everything from the start, dammit!!!》
Mikoto, who had exploded inwardly, went limp in her shoulders after a moment. Feeling the power she had been wielding being literally pulled back, she turned her gaze to the doppelgänger that had frozen, wary now that its strength had been removed.
“…So—long story short, it seems the Sisters handed something over to me.”
Fixing her eyes on the equally ranked powerhouse seated in the sky, she said, “I’m going to take you down. As an older sister.”
Author's Note
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