Chapter 137: To the Very Last Trace
The one who made the first move was Souji-san.
When Souji-san flicked his right hand, a UAV hidden beneath his sleeve responded. It discharged a burst of electricity—striking the ceiling dead-on.
"...?"
Reicia-chan wore a puzzled expression, unable to grasp his intent—though only for a moment.
With a loud SPLASHHH!!, water sprayed out in torrents from the sprinkler that had been hit by the electric shock—and right after that...
Zzzzzzz...
The flood of water gushing from the sprinklers gathered of its own accord, clumping together at Souji-san’s side.
...Hydro-Hand, waterflow manipulation!? To manipulate water that directly—science shouldn’t be able to do that... unless... could it be another case of stealing some random student’s ability through Fantasypiece Level Upper or something similar...? If that’s the case, then there’s also the possibility of combined attacks using multiple abilities...!?
"Ahh, rest assured. If I could use the Fantasypiece Level Upper, that would’ve been my first choice. But lately, Gensei-san has made a mess of things, hasn’t he? Thanks to that, Anti-Skill security has stepped up their countermeasures. It’s not so easy to use anymore. At least, not with my level of clearance. So—instead—I substituted it."
Souji-san spoke with the radiance of a man unveiling his research results.
"The principle’s simple enough. You know how when you bring a rubbed plastic sheet near a stream of tap water, the water bends? This is just an advanced version of that."
He made it sound so casual—but to refine such a common phenomenon into a writhing, gurgling mass of water—GLOBB GLOBB!—would demand staggering layers of scientific development. That UAV, dramatically introduced at the start, must be the core of the technology behind it...
《...Hydro-Hand, waterflow manipulation. I see. Moisture, is it? He’s bundled his equipment perfectly around related technology.》
《...Ah, so that’s how it works?》
I’d wondered how exactly the Five_Over controlled moisture in the first place, but if it’s through static electricity, then it does make a certain sense. After all, the device is also designed to replicate parts of Shokuhou-san’s ability. In other words... if Souji-san gets too close to Shokuhou-san, there’s a chance he’ll acquire the “recipe” for Mental Out, Mind Controller, by some method.
In the “Canon history,” they had to forcefully absorb Shokuhou-san into Five_Over after restraining her. But against “Kihara,” we can’t assume prior intel like that will be any use.
Which means, for now—
"You flaunted your little ‘trick’ here to intimidate me... but wasn’t that rather careless? If your ‘waterflow manipulation’ depends on that, all I need to do is destroy it first!!"
With that declaration, I attacked the UAV with a black-and-white Fissure.
Of course, I didn’t expect that to end Souji-san’s scheme. He probably had another move prepared for when the machine was destroyed—but that was exactly what Reicia-chan was focusing on. Against any counterattack Souji-san unleashed, we would adapt. We’d been layering strategies like that all this time—
"And yes, that’s exactly what you’d think, isn’t it? But thaaat, you seeee, is the wrong move~"
—The very next instant.
With a jolt ripping through our entire bodies, our consciousness was severed.
Finale Chapter— Turning the Entire World Into an Enemy Are_You_Ready?
Chapter 111: To the Very Last Trace Suffer_a_Defeat.
"R-Reicia!?"
"Big sis, Jagged Edge!?"
It happened in an instant.
The very moment Reicia deployed her black-and-white Fissure to destroy the UAV, lightning crackled across the surface of the Fissure—and pierced straight through her body.
"Jagged Edge’s Fissure is a forcefield on a scale capable of severing even electrons. In other words, the surface of the deployed Fissure is electronically unstable the instant it manifests. And I believe I already explained this, didn’t I? That my waterflow manipulation technology—relies entirely on static electricity."
An ability that manipulates even the flow of water with precision—through static electricity.
And in the hands of a ‘Kihara,’ backed by science and malice, that same principle could be exploited: an electronically unstable forcefield given deliberate direction, manifesting as a tangible current of electricity.
"……!!"
Reicia collapsed limply, and Nayuta caught her without hesitation.
With the strength of her cyborg frame, she scooped up both Reicia and Index under her arms at once. Then, like a sprinter exploding off the starting blocks, she used raw acceleration to put distance between herself and Souji.
Even for a Kihara, keeping a fleeing cyborg locked in his sights at full speed was no easy feat. Focusing only on pursuit would leave no room to exploit openings for counterattacks—and that wouldn’t be any fun.
"Well now, I believe this proves the point. Jagged Edge cannot defeat Kihara Souji. I’ll be looking forward to our next clash, Blackguard-san."
"No way… I never thought Souji-nii would go that far, preparing combat forces specialized entirely against Jagged Edge-neesan…!"
Having successfully fled the scene, Nayuta muttered those words, her voice laced with frustration.
One might think Reicia’s loss in that battle came from carelessness—but in truth, that wasn’t the case.
Before the clash even began, Souji had deliberately triggered the fire-suppression sprinklers by using electricity. Seeing that, Reicia would naturally hesitate to deploy her transparent "Cracks," which offered no defense against electrical attacks.
Even if she had anticipated that far ahead and still tried to use her transparent "Cracks," other UAVs would have immediately fired back with electricity. In that case, the transparent "Cracks" offered no means of defense at all.
In conclusion:
For Reicia to survive a confrontation with Kihara Souji, she would first need to endure his initial assault by committing entirely to defense—using black-and-white "Cracks" and scattered debris as shields.
──In other words, she would be forced to surrender the initiative to Kihara Souji.
Against a "Kihara," yielding even a single move is a peril too obvious to need further explanation.
(Jagged Edge-neesan mustn’t be allowed to fight Souji-nii…!)
This time, the opponent was simply one step ahead.
Souji had deployed a force deliberately adjusted so that Reicia Blackguard had no way to seize victory. The result was inevitable. In fact, it could even be considered fortunate that Reicia wasn’t captured on the spot.
And beyond that—
As the descendant of a clan that manipulates both malice and science, Nayuta read deeper, perceiving the malice hidden behind Souji’s maneuvers.
(So then… why did Souji-nii enter the battlefield from the very start with the intent of striking down Jagged Edge-neesan…?)
Could it really be that the weaponry organized with Mental Out–related science just happened to counter Reicia Blackguard perfectly?
Such a murderous coincidence was impossible.
Far more likely was that "he deliberately prepared weaponry designed from the start to shut down Reicia Blackguard, camouflaging that fact under the guise of Mental Out technology."
Souji’s words and actions that hinted at Mental Out were probably all just a bluff. The truth was that from the very beginning, he had entered the battlefield with Reicia Blackguard as his true target.
(But… that seems to fall outside Amata-ojisan’s objective. Sure, Jagged Edge-neesan does interest him, but his current goal is securing Mental Out. …Which means Souji-nii only pretended to be cooperating with Amata-ojisan as usual, but in reality, he came here for his own separate purpose…?)
What should have been a fixed power balance was beginning to fracture once again.
As long as Souji’s true objective remained unclear, treating him as just another pawn of Amata would be a mistake. Logically, the safest move would be to regroup with Shokuhou, Amata’s target—but that might lead to Souji and Amata joining forces, turning into an even more troublesome enemy. Normally, the Kiharas were infamous for turning on each other whenever they allied, but given how these two often operated together, that might not apply here.
"…N-Na, Nayuta!!"
"Heh—ah!!"
Only then did Nayuta realize that Index she was carrying under her arm had been calling out to her.
"Um… I think you can put me down now. Besides, I want to check on Reicia’s condition."
"Ah… sorry. I was lost in thought…"
Apologizing, Nayuta set Index down on the floor, then gently laid the unconscious Reicia beside her.
Index quickly rushed to Reicia’s side, patting over her body to check her state. It was clearly not a medical diagnosis—even to Nayuta’s eyes—but for some reason Index let out a sigh of relief.
"…She’s fine. There’s no abnormality in the circulation of her life-force mana, and no sign of leakage either. She’s just unconscious. But still… for Reicia to be taken down so easily…"
"I think Souji-nii came here with a force designed specifically against Jagged Edge-neesan. Probably for his own purposes, separate from Amata-ojisan’s… That’s why we can’t let him fight her again."
Nayuta spoke with a grave expression, and Index nodded in agreement.
No matter how powerful Reicia was, she was still only human. If her enemy’s tactics had been built entirely around countering her, then there was simply nothing she could do.
That was why, with their strongest fighter effectively neutralized, Nayuta had no choice but to begin devising the next-best strategy.
"We need to regroup with Jagged Edge-neesan’s allies and with Shokuhou-neesan as soon as possible—"
"That won’t be necessary."
At the voice, they turned—and there stood a girl in a maid outfit.
But her condition was far from intact. The maid uniform had been scorched away in a diagonal slash across her chest, and parts of the skirt were burned through. Even so, only faint soot stains marked the skin beneath, which made the sight all the more unsettling.
"N-No way, you’re… Jagged Edge-neesan’s ally… Maid-neesan!?"
"…I’m not the only one."
Looking closer, they realized she was carrying someone on her back.
Seeing the boy’s face, Index’s eyes went wide in shock, as if she couldn’t believe what she was seeing.
"T-Touma!?"
──Kamijou Touma.
The spiky-haired boy had lost consciousness and was being carried on Xochitl’s back.
"We ran into… a bit of trouble as well," Xochitl said, scratching her head with a look of genuine exasperation.
And it was then Nayuta noticed. In this extreme irregularity—where the absolute hero Kamijou Touma was unconscious—there was still one key figure missing.
"……Maid-neesan. Where’s Mental Out?"
"About that. I’ll be blunt."
Xochitl’s expression twisted as though she were chewing down on something bitter, and she spoke:
"Kihara Amata attacked us. The Level 5 esper Mental Out──Shokuhou-san──was taken by him."
Put simply—
The situation had reached its worst possible outcome.
Comments (3)
Please login or sign up to post a comment.