Chapter 85: Usurpation Plan

The situation shifted in an instant.

Kihara Gensei, who until now had dominated the battlefield, took a single step back. With just that one movement, everyone present understood: the rules had been rewritten.

The singularity—the focal point—was a single girl.

Reicia＝Blackguard.

A piece that should have been the most mediocre on the board only moments earlier now stood at the center of a massive upheaval.

The cause was—her right eye.

Reicia’s right eye, once shining like aquamarine, now held the emerald glow of green.

Kamijou, who was also present on this battlefield, grasped the abnormality.

(…Her right eye’s color changed? That shade, it kind of resembles Index’s eye color…)

If someone besides Shiren, someone who also carried the knowledge of the "novels," had been here, they could have pondered its meaning.

Index, Othinus, Ollerus, Nephthys, Niang-Niang, Sōjō… In the "novels," every Magic God or being close to one who had been given a visual description shared the same trait: they all possessed "green eyes."

The chicken or the egg.

Perhaps anyone who reached a certain domain naturally became "that way."

In any case—at this very moment, Reicia＝Blackguard, through her own power, had obtained the "qualification."

"……One thing, before we go on."

Reicia spoke further. Even after freeing Kazakiri from her bindings in a single blow, she made it clear that this was not the end.

"Next comes now you see "

And right after that—

The "fissure" Reicia had used to sever the line linking Kazakiri and Gensei.

Along that trajectory, a pale, amorphous substance manifested. It obeyed gravity, descending straight toward Kihara Gensei.

"'Debris Matter.'"

Reicia declared.

"When you cut three-dimensional matter, its cross-section becomes two-dimensional. Cut a two-dimensional plane, and the cross-section becomes one-dimensional. Likewise, if you sever concepts higher than the third dimension, the cross-section collapses into 'three-dimensions.' …Well, not that I need to explain this to you."

"…Don’t tell me, are you speaking of all-dimensional severing…?"

"Now that really would be absurd. If I had the entire population of Academy City lending me their calculation abilities, perhaps. But on my own, the best I can manage is cutting down to one-dimensional—and severing AIM Diffusion Fields."

The debris matter crashed down. Possessing absurd mass, it sank deep into the asphalt. It was a sight that defied reality, far removed from anything the scientific side should allow. …Of course, its true "source material" did indeed originate from magic.

《…I thought, maybe I could pull it off, so I tried—and it actually worked, Debris Matter.》

《Wow, a Level 5 esper really is amazing.》

《Shiren!! Quit escaping from reality!!》

Leaving aside Shiren, who seemed rather shocked at unleashing such ridiculous power, Reicia turned her awareness to the White Strongest who had been protecting her.

"Accelerator, are you unharmed?"

"…Heh. If I’ve reached the point of needing worry from the likes of you, then I might as well hand over my strongest title, huh?"

"If you’re picking a fight, I can start by taking you down, you know."

"Okay, okay, Reicia-chan, that’s enough. …If you can still run your mouth like that, then you’re fine."

With Shiren casually defusing things, Accelerator stepped up beside her.

Now, four Level 5 espers and one irregular had gathered in the same place.

A reversal of fortunes.

That phrase fit the mood perfectly. Yet, within this favorable turn, Reicia and Shiren noticed something grotesque.

《This is… the scenery around Gensei…?》

A mirage.

Or perhaps, a heat haze.

Through her right eye, they saw it: the scenery warped around Gensei. As if looking through a muddied lens, "time" itself was twisting around him. Countless events—pale platinum light, the gathering of Level 5 espers, things that "should not exist at this stage"—were present.

But Reicia and Shiren instinctively knew: these were trivial.

This—this "distortion"—was the root of it all.

"……I see."

And Gensei’s judgment was swift as well.

"Now I understand why Aleister is pushing forward a new 'Plan' with you at its center. …It seems, in this place, my true nemesis isn’t Kamijou and his Imagine Breaker, nor the strongest Gemstone, Kakine, but you."

With those words, change began.

Like a hologram collapsing, the surface of Gensei’s body crumbled away, and the pale platinum glow was drawn inside.

The human form was lost.

The white-platinum aura swelled with its pulsing, swelling into a massive shape—until finally, a silhouette took form.

With wings.

With four legs.

And with massive jaws.

That form was—

『Behold. It seems this body even possesses transformation functions, doesn’t itー』

Speechless.

While everyone there was struck dumb, only Shiren and Reicia—who already knew the meaning—managed to speak, their voices trembling with dread.

What Gensei had become.

That was something generally known as—

"That’s…," "…………『Dragon』……!!"

Yes—that was its name.

Chapter 2 – I Won’t Choose Between Two Options PHASE-NEXT.
Episode 71: Usurpation Plan Operation_"SNEAK_DRAGON".

『It seems you were under a bit of a misunderstandingー. Even if I lost Kazakiri-kun, I still have Misaka-kun, don’t I』

Transformed into a dragon, Kihara Gensei’s voice was unnervingly calm for a creature of such colossal form. A slight movement of his body alone unleashed a storm strong enough to make simply standing impossible—yet even within that gale, Misaka Mikoto sprang into action.

Crackling with purple lightning from head to toe, Mikoto had become nothing less than a "Raijin." She whipped her head around and locked her sights on Reicia.

In an instant—

Mikoto appeared directly before Reicia.

Her speed was impossible to follow with the naked eye. And yet, there was no surprise in Reicia’s expression. Her right eye had already seen the "distortion" that signaled Mikoto’s attack.

"I see."

A myriad of "fissures" flared like wings. The next moment—GOGGGIIIIINNNN!!!! Reicia’s debris matter, born from those fissures, clashed head-on with Mikoto.

A blow strong enough to shatter even the black-and-white fissures under normal circumstances was nonetheless held back by debris matter, a higher-order fragment of severed concepts. Considering that in the true timeline this phenomenon had once been used as a trump card by the Second Princess wielding the power of an archangel, its scale was only natural.

"…Put simply, Academy City’s esper powers are, in themselves, forces born from distortions. They twist the world at will through fluctuations in observation. When you think about it like that, this is only to be expected."

Mikoto struck from behind next, but even that attack was stopped by debris matter already deployed in anticipation.

Yet the reason Reicia, overwhelmingly slower, could sense Mikoto’s movements beforehand was not only because she could read the aftereffects of an Academy City esper’s power.

Her right eye was seeing something else.

"……Mikoto too, around her, the same kind of 'distortion' as Gensei’s…? …This distortion is what’s warping her current state…?"

『GUOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHH!!!!』

While Reicia pursued her thoughts, Gensei was far from idle.

He roared, and mysterious crystals congealed into being around him, forming as though condensed out of the surrounding space. With a transparency unlike either ice or quartz, the alien shards rained down on Kamijou and the others like a torrential storm.

"Ugh, oooOOOHHH!?"

Kamijou instinctively raised his right hand to block, but a prickling sense of danger at the nape of his neck made him hurl himself backward in a roll.

DONZONZANBANZUGAN!!!! A barrage of heavy impacts thundered out.

The other Level 5 espers fared little better than Kamijou. Each judged interception impossible and instead relied on their own abilities purely for evasive maneuvers.

"This… damn, I knew it. Powers can’t cancel it out."

Kamijou reached out and touched one of the crystalline spears jutting from the ground. As expected, even his right hand couldn’t erase it.

Most likely, these crystals were the same as charcoal left behind by magical flames: the "result" itself, immune to nullification.

At that moment, Reicia arrived, fissure-wings beating behind her.

She stepped in front of Kamijou, shielding him, and without turning back, spoke.

"Kamijou-san! Leave the cover to us. Right now—you must prepare to strike at Gensei himself! We’ll back you up with everything we have!"

"…Yeah! Got it!"

Kamijou did not doubt her words.

From experience, he knew all too well—there were few he could trust more than her to guard his back.

But Gensei, even now, had not cast aside his caution.

『It seems that, aside from abilities themselves, Blackguard-kun has become a troublesome factor. …If the difference in firepower lies with me, then perhaps this approach might be entertaining.』

ZOBBAA!!!!

A tidal wave of air swept across the battlefield.

Had Reicia not been standing before Kamijou, shielding him, that gust alone would have hurled him dozens of meters away.

And even as it tore forth—

──『Dragon』took to the skies.

Like a meteor ascending to the heavens, the wicked dragon composed of platinum brilliance soared upward at incredible speed. ──It was trying to create distance.

The cause was unknown, but Reicia alone on this battlefield was able to sense the "distortions" that accompanied Gensei’s movements. And Gensei, through his instincts as a Kihara, realized that interference with those distortions could very well prove fatal.

Kamijou Touma’s Imagine Breaker fulfilled a similar role, but in his case its effect was limited to the very tip of his right hand. By comparison, Reicia’s ability was an unknown factor entirely. Getting close was simply far too dangerous.

That’s why it only needed distance.

No matter what anyone said, in terms of sheer firepower, Gensei had the overwhelming advantage. By keeping his distance and bombarding her one-sidedly, sooner or later Reicia would run out of stamina and fall on her own.

A cold, ruthless strategy──but therefore an unshakable one.

"...And you think I’m just gonna sit back and watch that happen?"

"Guess staying on your throne too long’s a problem in itself. Forget what a real threat to your life feels like, and even the survival instinct starts to rust away."

Two shadows followed.

Accelerator and Dark Matter.

Without a trace of hesitation, they launched their pursuit of Gensei.

"Tch... First ranked. Don’t get in my way. I’ll crush you along with her."

"Uh, who the hell are you supposed to be?"

"Your priority level just shot way the hell up, bastard."

Trading barbs, Accelerator kicked off the wall and activated the air-current boosters on his back, closing in right at the dragon’s head.

Indeed, the platinum radiance pierced through his "reflection." Against Gensei’s attacks, not even Academy City’s strongest could claim absolute safety.

But.

"There’re bullets all over the damn place, y’know... like 'air,' for example!"

A torrent of airflow converged at the palm of Accelerator’s right hand.

Compressed air heated through adiabatic compression, forming plasma. ──A further evolution of the combat technique he’d once used.

Back then, he’d had to devote every bit of concentration just to form plasma. But after countless battles, with both his familiarity and computation methods now firmly established, he could manage something like this almost offhandedly.

"A pacifier. Be grateful and suck on it, asshole."

DO-GWAAA!!!! The plasma he produced slammed into the dragon’s mouth. A storm of explosive wind raged, its jaws recoiling──but no destruction followed.

Instead, the surrounding void crystallized with a sharp crackling. ──Somehow, the overwhelming force was being diverted elsewhere.

The next to act was Kakine.

On the crystal born from the void, feathers had been densely affixed without anyone noticing. The moment Gensei blocked the attack, Kakine had already completed his setup.

In the next instant, the feathers detonated with a BOBA-BA-BA-BA-BAM!!!!, slamming into the dragon’s flank. Of course, this level of assault could not possibly breach the dragon’s outer shell──

『GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!』

Surprisingly, the dragon’s reaction was extreme.

It wasn’t Gensei’s will. Almost reflexively, the tail whipped out, smashing away the colliding crystals.

Watching this, Kakine smiled faintly.

"Oh? Touched a nerve, did I?"

──Kihara Gensei didn’t actually possess transformation abilities.

This level of metamorphosis was merely an extension of the way he supplemented his own body with AIM. In other words, somewhere within the dragon still slept Kihara Gensei’s own living flesh.

Accelerator didn’t know this, but Kakine, who had been fighting on this battlefield from the start, did. And with that knowledge, combined with his analysis of the dragon’s fighting style and the aftereffects of its various attacks, he could make a reasonable guess about where that flesh was located.

"If you’re not a complete machine, then you’ve still got flesh in there, right? Sure, you’re hiding it behind that massive dragon’s body... but if I rip out the reverse scale—"

Dragons were said to be gentle creatures by nature.
But touch the inverted scale, and the dragon would erupt in fury, killing whoever dared lay a hand on it.

And so, a question arises here.

Why is it that a creature supposedly so mild-tempered would go berserk with murderous rage over just a single scale growing the wrong way?

"Because right behind that scale lies the dragon’s weak point, and breaking through it means a fatal blow. Isn’t that right!!"

DOGOBABABAGAGAGIN!!
This time, four crystals detonated at once, hammering into the dragon’s flank. The shockwaves carried through to what should have been Gensei’s living flesh hidden inside, and the dragon wreathed in platinum radiance took what should have been real damage.

Or so it should have been.

『...True, if this were actually a living dragon you’d be right. ...Unfortunately, this is only "a dragon’s imitation." Which means──there’s no guarantee my body is fixed in one place at all.』

DOGGHHH!!!!
The dragon’s tail lashed back, and Kakine was slammed to the ground at several times the speed of sound.

Next, even Accelerator──

"Hah. And you didn’t stop to think that moving your flesh around makes it something I can analyze?"

One strike.
A kick that concentrated the atmospheric vectors created when Kakine was smashed down at supersonic speed bent the dragon’s colossal body into a V-shape.

『Gwaaa……!?』

"Shifting your weak point around—now that’s a clever idea. Probably doubles as a way to reduce the strain your organs take when you’re pulling off that high-speed movement too. But because of that, you’ve gotta keep the shifting speed within limits your body can handle. …And that means your little relocation algorithm is laid bare to me."

Relentless.
Accelerator continued his assault, precisely calculating the position of the dragon’s reverse scale even as it shifted, driving the beast further and further into a corner.

And just before the next decisive strike──Gensei had no choice but to resort to:

『Ability Unlock: AIM Violator, application complete.』

BOBAAANN!!!!
With a deafening roar, the dragon caught Accelerator’s blow head-on.

"Wha...!?"

"First ranked! Don’t just stand there gawking!! You got a death wish or what?!"

The one who snapped Accelerator out of his stunned silence at this unexpected turn of events was Kakine, returning to the battlefield from below.

Barely evading the dragon’s head strike by a hair’s breadth, Accelerator managed to land against the side of a building, regaining his stance.

Kakine, back on the field, was already near the point of collapse. He could probably still manage high-speed maneuvers, but his body was covered in scrapes, blood streamed from his head, and his appearance evoked danger more than strength or reliability.

And above all──their focus was drawn to the new transformation of the dragon before them.

『Well, I’ve gotta say, Nayuta really did some good work for meー』

The dragon’s wings had changed.

One was a black wing like a raging tornado.

The other, a white wing like that of an angel.

The pale platinum brilliance had in an instant transformed into black and white wings.

『The ability to perceive and touch AIM diffusion fields. Can’t quite warp one’s own Personal Reality the way a "Level 5" can, but slipping in a backdoor to apply something like the Level Upper, the "Fantasy Hand," is easy enoughー』

──Kihara Gensei’s true terror didn’t lie in the pallid brilliance of platinum.

Rather, it was in his boundless curiosity and limitless ingenuity.

For example──by planting the Fantasy Hand Level Upper within Kihara Nayuta during combat, he could make that ability his own.

And with that ability, he created backdoors into the powers of Kakine Teitoku and Accelerator alike, weaving them into the web of the Fantasy Hand.

『Once this experiment ran its course, Accelerator would inevitably be rendered inoperable. That’s why I invited Kakine as my backup plan, to stabilize the "Dragon’s" control by using the Second Ranked as a spare. But I never imagined I’d be able to handle both the First and Second at the same time!』

This.
This was Kihara Gensei’s completed form.

Using the Misaka Network, he dragged Aleister’s carefully hidden "trump card" into the light of day.

And by employing his chosen pawns as the control system, he seized full command over it.

The project this city’s King had so carefully and painstakingly advanced—stolen away.

『Are you watching, Aleister-kun?』

The dragon’s jaws twisted into a smile.
It wasn’t the smile of a monster.

It brimmed with hatred and with delight.

A smile full of utterly "human" emotion.

The wicked dragon that now controlled the city declared, as a "human," a pure and unmistakable victory over the city’s King.

『Your... your experiment! Right now! It’s in the palm of my hand!! Fufu, hahahahahahahahaha!!!!』