Science And Magic

---30th September 7:20p.m.---

The drive after Hokaze left lasted for 5 minutes before Accelerator told him to stop in front of a small park. It seemed like they were at the edge of District 7. The street sign for the neighboring District 5 could be seen not far ahead.

Accelerator grabbed a large bag lying in front of the backseat and placed it on the seat next to him. It likely held spares of Hound Dog's equipment. The bag was over a meter long and resembled a body bag made of synthetic leather.

He opened the zipper and found tons of deadly weapons inside.

He found a handgun small enough to fit in his palm, a submachine gun, and a shotgun. Other items he found stuffed inside were clay-like explosives, fuses, radios, and masks that covered the face.

What he wanted first and foremost was a replacement for his cane which he had lost before the battle with Kihara Amata.

And he had decided on the shotgun.

It was a semi-auto shotgun made of a glossy black metal. Everything from the underside of the barrel to ten centimeters in front of the trigger seemed to be sideways magazine.

It probably held about thirty shots. Accelerator was fairly certain some sort of submachine gun used the same structure for loading. The main body of the shotgun was about a meter in length and the stock on the back could be extended to the desired length. It had something like a scope on top, but it provided no magnification and a red dot appeared in the center when a switch was flipped. It appeared to be a dot sight.

If he grabbed the shotgun's grip and held the stock under his arm, it almost looked like a crutch.

"(My weight might bend the barrel, but I don't plan on firing it anytime soon. So it should be fine.)"

As Accelerator thought that, he heard the driver's voice.

"It's no use," said the scratchy voice.

The man's strength had dried up so much one would have thought it had been days since he had any water.

"You met him directly, so you should know. Kihara-san is absolute. He is not someone who a boy with a brain injury who has been dulled by peace can hope to defeat with methods he thinks up on the fly."

"Do you want to die now?"

"Heh, it doesn't really matter now, does it?"

Accelerator had not anticipated that response.

"Well, not that I really want to die, but right now I can't even do anything. I'm losing too much blood and my head is getting foggy. I'm being held hostage by the strongest fucking esper in Academy City, and Kihara-san will probably find me and kill me even if you didn't. He's terrifying...just knowing what he does is scary in and of itself..."

"Do you ever shut up?"

Accelerator nudged the metal stick just a bit but it made the driver's shoulders jump.

"Eeee...eee!! I don't want to die...if I'm unlucky, Kihara-san might not even kill me. K-Kihara-san is the type of person who can easily break Guinness World Records or make the world's three great scandals into the four great scandals..."

His muffled voice was starting to slowly break as the tears shielded by his mask started to dampen the cloth over his mouth.

"Why are you crying? You and I both know how utter trash we are for the inhumane things that we have done to our victims. How many people have you killed?"

A smile appeared on Accelerator's face as if his mouth had been sliced wider.

"F-Fourteen..."

His voice trembled as he struggled to get the words out, and Accelerator was quite disappointed to have heard him say that.

"Well, it's not as much as what I have accumulated, but still, the amount of blood you have on your hands is still there. It's tainted into your mind and your soul."

Accelerator commented as he appeared on the rearview mirror of the van once more.

"Bastards like you don't even deserve to live a happy life. You deserve to rot at the bottom of the pit, but I can also say the same thing about me. Hypocritically, I've been living the life despite all that I've done. So I'll give you a choice."

Accelerator then pointed the shotgun in his hands at the man's face.

"Do you want to die now, or continue living this shitty life that you've endured."

"A...Ahhhh..."

"You won't have to worry about Kihara finding you. I'll kill that bastard tonight and take back my happiness that he has stolen from me. Your life can still be saved but whether you want to endure this suffering is up to you because you're sure as hell not getting out of the dark side so easily."

His body was trembling even more now that Accelerator had pushed the shotgun closer to his shielded face. It wasn't going to have a very devastating effect, but it would still be enough to kill him in the state that he was in.

"Y-You are no match for Kihara-san though...what makes you think you can beat him?!"

"I have a much better chance than you."

"..."

There was a slight hesitation in his actions as he closed his eyes and clenched his teeth through that cloth.

"F-FUCK!! Fine!! I want to live, I want to drink alcohol and watch all my pre recorded shows!! I want to still be able to enjoy those little things in life, so please, spare me!!"

The words came out off his mouth like flowing water.

Quick and easy.

Accelerator then lowered the shotgun as he snickered at him.

He continued rummaging through the rest of the contents of the bag once more in search of anything besides the shotgun he could use.

He found a certain device.

It resembled a handgun with a silencer attached, but the end had a sponge-like sensor similar to a microphone. Also, the area just above the grip, where a handgun's hammer would be, had a small LCD monitor of about three inches.

"That's an olfactory sensor, it's a military version of the ones used by perfume and deodorant companies..."

"So it's basically a mechanical version of a police dog."

It was likely more effective than a dog. After the sensory information was converted into data, only the needed smells of all the complexly mixed smells detected would be recorded in memory.

Smells were divided into a few different classifications and each genre had a similar molecular structure. The device likely started from there.

"We always used that to track our target. It's quick and reliable. I've never seen someone escape once Kihara-san wants them found..."

"..."

A disinterested look appeared on Accelerator's face.

He had no objection to crushing Hound Dog, but he did not want to constantly worry about surprise attacks. It would be better if he set up a way of taking them by surprise.

"Just because we used a vehicle doesn't mean anything. They'll follow the scent of the tires to find the van. Then they just have to follow your scent. We keep tracking the target until we have stabbed them in the back. They will find this location right away."

As Accelerator listened to the man speak, he fiddled with the olfactory sensor.

"How do you use this?."

"...Give it up."

The man gave a slight smile. It was a pale, dry smile.

"Hound Dog has a cleaning agent for erasing scents. It messes with the very molecular structure of the scent. If they used that at the attack site, you won't find anything..."

According to the man, there were two types of cleaning agent: one for putting on the Hound Dog members' clothes and one for scattering across the site after the fact.

"Do you have that cleaning agent?"

"If I did, I would have already used it. I was part of the wrong group. One group tracks, the other covers our own tracks..."

Accelerator clicked his tongue as he threw it back into the bag and headed for the doorless opening.

"Wh-where are you going?"

"To kill Kihara and get back what I've lost. I told you just now, didn't I?"

He was dumbfounded by that annoyed reply from the Accelerator.

"Why are you not giving up? Surely someone as knowledgeable as you knows how helpless you are against Kihara-san. I mean, you were just beaten up by him! He's just going to find you and beat you with a smile on his face, you won't even have time to prepare against him. He has the upper hand in every way."

"He may have, but I'm not going down without a fight. If he wants to fuck with me and involve other people in his shit, then I have no choice but to fight."

Accelerator took one step out of the van as he told the man one last thing with his back turned.

"There is no hero in this world, that's why I'll have to take things into my own hands."

With that, he slowly limped forward to a nearby payphone.

----------------------------

"Alright. I understand."

The man on the phone was standing in the center of a room looking through a person-sized window. He had received an important call from the Chairman of the Board of Directors.

He hung up the phone as he looked at his hostages in the room.

There were two of them and they were both females.

One of them was average in height, sporting blonde hair while wearing a blue skirt and black top but the skirt was sticking to her skin as she was caught up in the rain earlier. She has green eyes that were filled with determination despite the situation she was in.

The other has long, brown fluffy hair that made it look like marshmallows. Despite being in the rain however, her hair was still maintaining its shape. She was wearing the summer Tokiwadai uniform despite being the winter season already.

They were Ester and Mitsuari.

"Congratulations! Well maybe not to the both of you, but to Accelerator! It's his lucky day as he gets to live to see another day in this shitty world that we live in."

He stretched his arms out as if he was going to hug the both of them.

But he merely stood in front of them.

"Accelerator-kun is so cool! He has so many girlfriends after being released from the experiment. Man, I'm so jealous. He gets to have fun while I'm stuck working in the lab with Guinea pigs. You know hope miserable it is right, you little ant!"

Amata went up to Mitsuari as he poked her plushy cheeks.

"Shut up,I don't want to hear words coming out of a monster. What do you even want from us?"

Mitsuari spat as she glared at him.

"Oh I want nothing from the both of you. Especially you, Mental Stinger. You aren't even Mental Out, I can't even use you for experimental purposes because of how useless your ability is!"

Mitsuari clicked her tongue as she grits her teeth.

"If you're so confident about how useless I am, then why don't you come closer?"

Amata smirked as he tilted his head slightly up but still maintaining eye contact with her.

"I know how your ability works so I'm not falling for that. You're not really that smart, are you? I heard you don't even attend school at all. Man, you're really just fodder in society. Useless and hopeless. I can see why the Mental Out is better."

Then with his smirk growing wider as he tilted his head back down, he simply said one thing.

"You only bring pain to those close to you."

"Don't you dare say that about her!!"

The sudden outburst of emotions didn't come from Mitsuari but from Ester instead who was baring her fangs at him.

"Someone like you don't have the right to judge others for who they are when you don't even know them personally! You only see her for her power but not what's inside her! I won't tolerate something like this coming from someone who harms innocent people!"

She tried to go closer to bite him because that was all she could do. They were being restrained with ropes around their wrists and legs. There was nothing else she could do. Even calling out her magic name would have been useless because she didn't know how many people had died around them in the facility she was in, and just revealing it could be deadly on its own.

There was a drawback to her power.

If the master was weaker than her army, they would most likely consume her instead.

Amata simply kicked her head back, sending her flying back to the wall.

"Oh shut up, will ya? Prisoners don't get to talk, anyway where's the other fuckin' ropes?! Who the hell thought we were only going to capture one person?!"

Amata took the toolbox from earlier and smashed it into one of the armed men in front of him.

He felt joy from it as he smiled maniacally.

"Alright, I've had enough of playing. Set up the Testament right now."

"Yes sir!"

The other soldiers didn't hesitate to answer. There was only one option for them to answer and that was the word 'yes'.

Amata stood back as Last Order was placed on an office desk table.

Another subordinate placed a silver attaché case on the desk. The electric brainwashing devices known as Testaments were supposed to be quite large, but they could be made this small if all but the bare minimums was removed.

For the most part, those 'unnecessary' parts were what ensured the subject remained safe.

Then, he turned his attention to the two girls again with the toolbox in his hand.

"Alright, let's play a game. Place your bets, how many hits from this toolbox do you think this little ant can take?"

Amata went up to her face as his grin expanding ever so widely and this time, she felt fear.

It was the fear of pain.

It wasn't the fear of death.

If she dies, it simply meant she doesn't have to deal with idiots comparing her to the Mental Out anymore. But if she were to die, she wanted to make it quick and easy.

The way Kihara Amata dealt with his victims, she knows it far too well.

The Kihara name carries a lot of prestige in Academy City because of their gruesome methods of producing scientific results. They have no hearts and would be willing to torture children in the name of science. Moreover, the way they torture their victims were ways only possibly visualized in movies.

They brought it to reality.

"Don't hurt her."

Ester jumped in front of her using her knee strength.

Her back covering Mitsuari entirely.

And Amata showed an expression of surprise.

Usually, in these scenarios, people would likely avoid wanting to get hurt, unless they were masochists. But in this situation, leaning back and watching the other person take the beating would have been the easiest option, but Ester refused it.

"Heh, are you a masochist or what? Did Accelerator teach you how to be a masochist?"

Amata stood firm as he looked down on her, still kneeling on the floor.

"No, I won't sit back while someone is getting hurt. It's that simple."

"Ha!! Hahahahaha!!! So like a hero? You're trying to be a hero here?"

Amata held the sides of his abdomen as he dropped the toolbox in his hands. He was laughing so hard that he could almost cry.

"Yeah, no, being a hero is never good. There are no heroes in Academy City. A hero only gets themselves hurt, yeah, no, I wouldn't want a hero in Academy City. Anyway, such heroes do not exist in Academy City. No one's coming to save you. Got it?" Amata slapped her cheek lightly as he lectured her.

"Then I'll just have to be the hero."

"..."

There was a long silence lingering in the air before Amata's cheeks started to puff up and then he released a roar of laughter.

"GYAHAHAHHAHA!!! You? A hero?! You're fuckin' lying to yourself you bitch!"

Amata kicked her head back with his leg and she landed on Mitsuari.

"Alright since you want to be such a hero in this situation, let's see how much you can take."

He pulled her hair and threw her to the side of the room like a doll being flung across the room.

"Alright how many do you think she can take?"

Then the numbers started rolling out.

"Since it's Kihara-san, I bet 4!"

"No, she's a girl, so she'll probably get knocked out in the first hit!"

"I know Kihara-san enjoys torturing people, so I say 10!"

Then Amata turned to her as his grin touched the end of his cheeks and he gave his bet.

"I say 50."

----------------------------

Accelerator was in a phone booth with a payphone that was likely never used for a long time as there were visible rusts all over the phone and around the booth. He wanted to use a payphone due to the fact that if he were to call Last Order, it would most likely be Amata who would pick up. Moreover, he could use that call's signal to track him with even more ease.

He couldn't risk anything at this stage.

He had less than 7 minutes of full power mode and he wanted to save it all up for the final battle. Fortunately, the phone booth also had a red emergency button that would most likely send a signal to the nearest hospital in the District. In this case, it would be the frog-faced doctor.

He inserted a coin and dialed a number.

It continued ringing for a while.

Eventually, an elderly female nurse answered. Accelerator ordered her to connect him to the frog-faced doctor.

The call was quickly transferred.

"What might you need at this late hour?"

"I've run into some trouble. Some major trouble."

"I have heard the general situation from the Misaka Sisters. It seems they have been exchanging information over their electric network."

"(I see. So she can use that instead of her phone.)" Accelerator thought in admiration.

However, he only borrowed use of the network for help with his calculations, so he could not actually communicate over it.

"That speeds things up. Tell me what you know. Where is that brat?"

"It seems like she has been captured and even she herself doesn't know where she is. She states that right now, they are putting some weird electrodes inside her mind."

"Fuck!! So they've started to fuck with her mind."

"Fear not, right now it doesn't seem to be hindering the use of the Misaka Network yet. You're still in the clear."

The frog-faced doctor said that was why the Sisters were unable to head out to search for Last Order. Of course, the ten or so Sisters in Academy City were undergoing adjustments to their bodies, so they could not be allowed to walk around in the rain for an extended period of time.

It annoyed him, but he would have to carry out his original job for the moment.

"Has that Tokiwadai girl arrived at your hospital yet?"

"She has, but I don't really know what to do with her. How does she know your calculation assistance?"

"That's none of your business."

"Do you really need a new battery?"

"No such thing exists now, does it? Anyway just keep her there for the next 24 hours or so. She'll most likely be targeted by those bastards."

"What a pain. Can we not leave this problem to Anti-Skill?"

"What can those pacifist teachers do? This enemy is on a completely different level. If you don't want to increase the body count, then get that into your head."

"...I suppose so. But I never thought I would have to protect someone who is not a patient of mine."

"Well, you'll be getting a new patient too. A man who was stabbed in the back should be arriving soon. Once you give him emergency care, prepare for an attack. How much firepower do you have there?"

"Firepower? This is sounding quite dangerous."

Even the frog-faced doctor was taken aback by that, but Accelerator was not about to explain every little thing.

He did not have the time.

"You said you have a grasp of the situation via the clones' network, right? Then you should know this is no time to be acting soft. Just tell me already. The longer you sit around flustered, the odds of death rise for everyone there."

The doctor gave an audible sigh before answering him.

"I have about ten of the mass produced military Sisters who are in for their adjustments. I believe they have the Metal Eater MX anti-tank rifles and F2000R Toy Soldiers they used in the experiments."

"That isn't enough. The clones are little help in their current state and I doubt they could handle this even in top form. Can you evacuate all of the staff and patients in the hospital?"

"Are you asking me to leave my post? Do you have any idea how many beds are in this hospital?"

"About three hundred?"

"Seven hundred and I have 52 patients who it would be dangerous to move such as newborns and the seriously ill. Fortunately, no patients are currently in surgery, but do you know how reckless it would be to move everyone?"

"..."

"If I leave here, what happens if a new patient arrives? There is that problem as well."

Accelerator did not complain about the frog-faced doctor's words or thank him for them. He did not have time for that.

"Can you do it?"

"I will do it."

That was the immediate reply. The frog-faced doctor's tone had changed to something completely different from his usual lighthearted one. "I can use a smoke bomb or something and say a fire has broken out. If it can be connected to some form of terrorist attack, that will be reason enough to justify a full evacuation. Moving some of the patients will be dangerous, but it is my job to protect their lives. I will manage somehow."

"I may have been the one to ask it of you, but can you really do this?"

"I said I would. Did you not think this would go so well? I have a few alternative options when it comes to the patients. I can assign them to other hospitals and such. If I had no alternative option, I would never have agreed."

"...Sorry about this."

"To be honest, I do not enjoy being used in your conflicts, but I will treat any patient equally. If you ask me to protect a patient brought to me, I will do everything I can to do so."

The siren of an ambulance passed by.

The Hound Dog man would soon be brought aboard the ambulance and brought to the

hospital.

Then the frog-faced doctor hit him with a question he didn't expect.

"So, how far are you willing to take this?"

"I will kill Kihara, crush Hound Dog and save those girls."

"That is impossible."

Accelerator frowned at the frank and coolheaded tone that did not suit the man at all.

"You are taking too many objectives at once in your restricted state. Do you think you can reach your goal just by simply killing? You will never succeed that way. It's as simple as that."

"Tch, when did a doctor start giving bullshit lip service? Someone from your world would never understand this depth of darkness."

"You seem to be mistaken about something so let me correct you."

The frog-faced doctor did not hesitate to give Accelerator a reality check as his tone grew even deeper.

"I have seen more of hell than you have. Do not look down on the profession of a doctor. I believe I have seen much more blood and tears than you. But for me, it did not end in tragedy. I am known as Heaven Canceller. I am the one who brings people back from the underworld. The only difference between us is simple. Do we choose to stay there or do we make sure we come back?"

"..."

Accelerator did not know he should respond to him because simply speaking, he had only one goal and that was to save the girls.

But now, it seemed like the doctor was trying to tell him to give up, lie down and let Amata stomp all over him.

He couldn't allow that.

But the doctor spoke again.

"Let me give you some advice as one who has known this darkness longer than you have. Restrict yourself to a single goal. Killing Kihara and crushing Hound Dog can wait. There is only one thing you truly need to do."

"Tch, I know what I need to do, but even if I want to save her, I'd have to--"

"You're not understanding me."

"Ahn?"

Accelerator's words froze over as the doctor continued heartlessly.

"You're too naïve Accelerator. Why are you so insistent on doing the impossible?"

"..."

This was a different person that he was speaking to. This was not the usual doctor he had always known.

"Saving those girls unharmed is impossible. I'm assuming that you had to run away on a vehicle because you couldn't beat him, am I right?"

"..."

"I'll take that silence as a yes. Therefore, I'm instructing you to just leave it to me to save them. If you keep fighting Kihara, the likelihood that he'll continue torturing them increases because he's going to feel frustrated that you're still alive. I know how the Kihara family works. I've been in the city longer than they have existed, they won't go the extra mile just to harm others. Maybe they might come back in one piece by tomorrow morning. As long as they're still breathing, I can still save them."

Accelerator froze in place as he looked down at the floor. His heart sinking even further. His heart felt like it was going to stop at one point.

"Face reality Accelerator, they'll probably face some harm while being captured by him. I'm only telling you this in case if you proceed forward. Step any deeper into the darkness and someone might die."

"You said 'might', correct?"

"What are you--"

"Then I'll take my chances. It doesn't matter who stands in my way. I'll keep going until they are by my side. I'll destroy everything with my own two hands, that's what I'm meant to do."

The silence in the phone held a lot of meaning to the both of them. It was like they both had come to a compromised conclusion and it was a silent handshake.

"If that's what you want, then go ahead. Just remember, a life is something I cannot bring back. Once they're dead, then that's it."

After that, the frog-faced doctor told Accelerator where he would be hiding after temporarily abandoning his hospital. Accelerator was to head there after retrieving Last Order.

Accelerator put back the receiver.

He leaned his back against the glass door of the phone booth.

And he smiled.

He was going to accept everything that would happen to him. He was going to bring himself back into the dark side, he was going to bring out the inner monster inside him.

"(If I can't save them unharmed, then so be it. This is perfect...)"

He knew that Hound Dogs had that olfactory sensory device that could track his scent and so his first task was to intercept them.

He needed a battlefield for that. He did not have time to stand around.

----30th September 8:00p.m.----

"This is it..."

Accelerator gave a small smile in the Third Resource Recycling Facility's control room. The small room had no windows and dozens of monitors covered every wall. Everything from the work done in the factories to the security was controlled from here.

The fourteen workers had been unable to resist the intruder who was armed with a shotgun. They were cowering down and trembling here and there in the room, but Accelerator was not looking at them. He was staring at one of the monitors. It displayed a list of the cleaning agents kept within the factories.

Accelerator was looking for a cleaning agent that used a chemical reaction to transform the particles of a scent into some other type of matter.

"(Found it. They have a few different types. I can escape their olfactory sensor with this.)"

He was prepared to fight Kihara Amata and Hound Dog to the very end, but he did not want to have to constantly worry about an attack. He had less than seven minutes of usage time left for his full power. Amata himself was one thing, but he wished to avoid wasting that time on the subordinates of Hound Dog. For that reason, he needed to grasp the initiative of the battle.

And plus, he wanted to fight Amata without being interfered midway through by Hound Dogs.

He had to kill him. It was not whether he had a choice or not.

There was no other way.

"(Hound Dogs will probably sic me even after I kill that bastard. So once I get them off my tail, I need to find Oriana.)"

On his way to the Third Resource Recycling Facility, Accelerator had contacted Oriana, and she could not assist him as she was busy with Misaka back at the apartment. When he called Yomikawa, she didn't respond for some reason.

Although he found it strange that she had not called him back or even pick the phone up, he could not stop to think about such trivial things.

That means he was all alone this time round.

"(I need to hurry up and erase my scent with one of those cleaning agents and get out of here. I can't waste too much time here. Who knows that he might be doing to them now. Where do they keep the cleaning agents in the facility?)"

Suddenly, the monitor on one of the screens showed a woman wearing yellow clothing. Her clothes looked like the kind of dress woman wore in medieval Europe. Her hair was covered by a cloth wrapped around her head, so not even a single hair was visible. She had piercings in her mouth, nose, and eyelids that destroyed the balance of her face. In her hand, she held a giant hammer that exceeded a meter in length. Sharp barbed wire was wrapped around it from halfway up the grip to the very top.

"(Who the hell is this woman?)"

Accelerator realized that she was the only one that came in.

"(Was she forced to act as a Hound Dog? Or is she some sort of commander for Hound Dogs? No way, with that type of clothing, I doubt she would even fit herself in with Hound Dog...)"

Then he realized something.

The city was too still at this moment, moreover, even if it was curfew hours for most students, there was absolutely no one to be seen. Not even Skill Outs or Anti-Skill for that matter.

And since Yomikawa was not responding, he thought of another alternative to the situation.

And it probably had something to do with his left hand.

The Imagine Breaker.

"(A magician? She sure fits the part. I need to get everything ready.)"

He quickly located where the cleansing agent was, as he slowly limped out of the room.

"If you all want to live, don't leave this room for 30 minutes or so. Call Anti-Skill and wait for them."

They didn't respond to him as they cowered, they were probably more afraid than anything to even respond him. But he didn't care about their response.

He already gave a warning.

Inside the facility, it rendered his powers useless as the walls were built with a certain material that blocks electromagnetic waves, so his connection with the Misaka Network would probably be very weak, and thus causing him to lose control of his powers.

This situation was probably the worst situation for him as he never had a chance to fight a magician without the use of his powers.

He only had a shotgun so the chances of his victory was slim. If he had a long-ranged rifle, it would have been easier to fight the magician in the dark. He knew for a fact that magicians were something entirely different. He had very few encounters with them, but those encounters were enough to tell him one thing:

Their senses were very different from normal humans.

If he got close, they would probably be getting the jump on him instead.

At this point he was contemplating on whether he should be fighting here or whether he should rush for the cleansing agent instead, get out of there and fight her outside where the use of his powers would still be available.

If he were to use it in the building, he would lose control and bring the whole place down with him.

It would be fine if there was no one in the building, but right now that wasn't the case. Plus he has no info on what the magician can do, so if she were to use some sort of last resort spell like what Oriana did, or what that demon Taowu or Isaac Rosenthal used, it could destroy the whole building.

And he had only avoided those massive explosions due to the miracle in his left hand.

Accelerator clicked his tongue as he thought about something else.

"(In my state, she could probably beat me in a hand-to-hand combat as well. I don't have the freedom of movement that the Misaka Network provides. Also, if I leave, there may be a chance that I might run into her.)"

He had to make his decision quick.

-----------------

When all was done, Amata wiped a sweat off his brow as he looked at his masterpiece. Well, it was not really a finished masterpiece.

Which meant...

"thath was fifty...heh you'f lost."

Ester had a smirk on her face as she taunted Amata. But her body was absolutely bruised and battered beyond recognition. Amata sighed as he placed a hand over his forehead.

"Well you won. You survived 50 hits congratulations."

He threw the bloody toolbox to one side as he glanced over at Mitsuari who was still unscathed, but she was damaged mentally. Her eyes echoed a sense of fear as she cowered in the other corner of the office.

He wasn't done yet however.

He went to one of the soldiers in black as he pulled out their sidearms. Of course, that soldier didn't say anything nor did he or she complain. They just let it happen out of fear that he might turn the gun on them, knowing his unpredictability.

He flicked the safety switch on the gun as he pointed it at her.

"Gya ha ha ha ha!! Here's your prize you bitch!"

Gunshots rang out in the office, his bullets pierced through her body, but she couldn't let out a single scream. Maybe it was because she had lost all her energy sustaining those hits from him earlier. Or maybe, it was because she still believed in that 'hero'.

The gunshots lasted for a few seconds and then his gun clicked, signifying the end of his onslaught.

He had ran out of bullets.

He threw the gun on the floor as he turned to face Last Order who had the necessary adjustments done to her. This time, several electrodes were placed around her head.

"It's done, sir. The virus has been installed." One of his soldiers updated him.

He nodded his head as he slowly approached Mitsuari.

She thrashed her legs about as tears started forming in her eyes. She didn't want to suffer the same fate as Ester who was probably dead by now. But the corner she was in provided no sort of escape route for her. She was trapped and cornered like a dog.

When he got in front of her face, he simply asked her a simple question.

"Ya got a phone?" He asked with a sly grin on his face.

"Ah...ahhh...g-get away from me!!" She was petrified, she feared the person in front of her so much that she forgot that was even an esper herself. "I-It's in my pocket, just please, get away from me!!"

"Ah, that's good. Pardon my intrusion then."

He forcefully flipped her towards the wall as he ran through her pockets, unintentionally feeling her up along the way and when he pulled out her phone, it was a touchscreen phone with a pink case.

"Now let's see here..."

Fortunately for her, she had face ID enabled for her phone. So he didn't have to force the passcode out of her. And if she had fingerprint as her unlocking method, he would have undoubtedly sliced off one of her fingers just to get into her phone.

"Lucky ain't ya?"

He faced the phone towards her face as she looked at it, knowing his intentions.

He just wanted to get into her phone so she just had to unlock it for him. She looked at the phone as her wallpaper was aimed at her.

"Man, I'm glad you managed to get the Accelerator's phone number in ya phone too! You must be a very lucky girl to be affiliated with him." Amata sarcastically said as he scrolled through her phone for her messaging app.

"Ah, there we go."

He faced the back of the phone at Ester and a flash lit the whole dark room.

She knew what he was planning to do. She didn't like it, but she was glad at the same time, it gave her a bit of assurance knowing that the Accelerator would see what he had done to her.

She knew it was selfish, she knew it was fucking hard, but she just had to grit her teeth and accept it.

Whatever Accelerator was about to receive would break him and make him go insane.

When that happens, he would find them and end this situation once and for all.

"(I'm sorry...)"

If only she had been stronger.

"(I'm sorry...)"

If only she had the ability to use her Mental Stinger from afar just like the Mental Out.

"(I'm sorry...)"

Those were the only words she could find.

--------------------------

The woman dressed in yellow was walking through a darkened pathway where the only noise around her was the sound of heavy machinery.

That place in which she was in was well lit, but upon entering deeper, the lights had suddenly been cut off, but it didn't matter to her. Any sort of ambush attack he had would be dulled and useless, and her senses would be ready for anything like that.

Moreover, for her to be able to pinpoint the Imagine Breaker, she did not have some super luck that brought her to some random place in Academy City. There were 23 districts in Academy City, she could have stumbled into the wrong one and gone on a mass killing spree in that district, but of course that didn't happen.

She stopped in her tracks as the darkness surrounded her, the only light emitting around her were the red lights from the machinery, and also the alarm that was supposed to tell everyone working in the factory that there was an intruder.

It was most likely Accelerator or one of the employees that had signaled for it, so Anti-Skill were on their way there.

*Ding*

That sound broke the silence of the machinery as she turned behind her and swung her large hammer horizontally.

That was the sound of someone's phone telling them that they had a notification.

A large wind amassed and it broke through one of the pillars that led to the upstairs of the factory.

The stairs which Accelerator was standing on broke and he lost his footing as he dropped to the floor with a metallic thud right in front of the yellow woman.

"There you are, Accelerator!"

That strike was 5 meters away but it had reached the pillar.

"Tch."

Accelerator clicked his tongue as he pushed the shotgun barrel down to lift himself up.

But she didn't say much as she showed her tongue with a long piercing. At the long end of the piercing was a cross.

"Geez, I've had my fair share of trouble tonight, but you just had to show up and put more on my plate."

"Heh, that's the way it is, don't you think? Just die and it will all be over for you, simple as that!"

She swung the hammer horizontally again and it hit the cross, sending a ball of wind to his left side. Even though he had set up the place to be dark, he had not thought of the fact that the magician might use something so transparent against him.

"GAH...!!"

Accelerator was sent flying against the railing but in order not to fall from that 10 meter far drop, he had to drop the shotgun and support his weight with both of his hands. That force was so devastating that it was worse than what Amata had dealt to him.

She was much worse than him.

Amata had held back his strength because he was afraid of miscalculating his punches, whereas this woman had no hesitation whatsoever.

He swallowed up whatever that was rising up to his chest as he supported himself using the railings.

But then another clink sound came, and the ball of wind flew at him, this time it was right in his face.

"K-KAHH...!!"

It hit him right in the face as he flew back to the other side of the railing.

He was temporarily knocked out, but came back 5 seconds later. He felt his heart stop for a moment there and his lungs were out of air.

"(Fuck!! I can barely see what the fuck is hitting me!!)"

His breathing pattern became abnormal as he scattered on the floor for the shotgun. But then he heard another clink and that was when he turned back and randomly flung his left hand around. That was when a glass shattering sound broke out, which signified the use of his Imagine Breaker, but also, metal pieces and rocks which were blown off from the pillar had scattered and grazed him right on his face and body.

"Ah so that's the Imagine Breaker! I've heard so many stories about it, but to see it in real life is really amazing! So it can cancel out my magic, and then what? What more can you do with that pathetic body of yours? HAHAHAHAHA!!!"

Accelerator turned to the sound of the voice, but she was barely visible. The only thing he could make out was a silhouette figure wearing yellow.

"Shut the fuck up, you bitch!!"

Accelerator tapped his hands all across the floor until he found the shotgun and he pointed it at her.

The moment she came into view, he fired the shotgun and the pellets scattered all across her body, while his arm jumped from the recoil.

But a metallic sound could be heard and he feared the worst thing.

"Ah? Oh, you thought bullets would work on me? Ahahaha, sorry sorry, they just don't. I am Vento of the Front, a member of God's Right Seat."

Then her figure became more apparent as she stepped out of the darkness behind her.

"The Roman Catholic Church has declared war on Academy City, and I'm just doing this to further our advances. Don't take this too personal...or do!!"

She swung her hammer to the right and it hit the cross on her tongue and when Accelerator saw that, he quickly threw his left hand out to the side.

The glass shattered again as he slowly stood back up.

He had figured out her trick. If she had swung to the right, he just had to put his left hand to the left, if she swung to the left, he would have to put it to the right. It was simply based on perspective.

"Oh? You did it again. Well done!! Good good, it wouldn't be fun anyway, right?!"

She started swinging even more ferociously as her swings hit her cross with even more 'passion'. His left hand was having a hard time guarding against her attacks, given the fact that he was a handicap as well turning from left to right was difficult and with the rocks and metal pieces flying at him, there were times when he even had to close his eyes to avoid getting them injured in any way.

It was tough for him.

Then a sudden realization hit him.

What if she had swung down?

Which meant he would leave his sides vulnerable and he would undoubtedly have his whole body smashed into pieces, and the best case scenario was having his bones smashed instead. And if he didn't guard against it, he would undoubtedly drop down into the abyss of the factory.

And she did it.

She swung her large hammer down and it grazed the cross on the right side.

He clicked his tongue as he pushed himself to the left side while sticking his left arm out.

He negated the hit on the left and he expected the one coming from the right so he immediately stuck his left hand out while facing his back against the railing and he negated the one from the right side.

He held on to the railing with his right hand, expecting the hit from above to come crashing down, but it never did. Instead, another clink sound was heard and he was hit from the back.

"Ah?!"

He flew back into the center of the pathway, coming face to face with Vento as blood escaped his thin lips.

"HAHAHAHA!!! Is this all the Accelerator has to offer? How are you even the wielder of the Imagine Breaker?! You're so pathetic it's like beating a dog. Seriously, what are you even worth to Academy City? Just die already!!"

She swung her hammer once more and this time it hit the top of her cross.

Accelerator saw it and he was certain where it was going to come from.

He knows.

He figured her out and he was confident where it was going to come from now. He didn't hesitate, he knew what she was targeting. It was him and he knew where she was aiming. He ignored the pain in his body and faced upwards and turned his left hand up.

He wasn't certain, but he was confident.

That was when the glass shattering sound confirmed his suspicions.

This time, there was nothing inside that mass of air but he continued coughing out blood from the earlier attack and blood splattered on the ground.

It was on both ends.

Accelerator heard it and he looked at her just to see her on her knees as well.

"W-What the fuck is this?! Bleurghhhh...!!"

Even more blood started escaping her mouth as she placed her hands on the metal floor.

Accelerator was shocked by what he was seeing but he didn't care about her, all he knows is that she has to die.

And so he pulled himself together as he pushed the shotgun down once again.

He knows she can't escape from the ground nor from the top. There were only two exits and he had to put her down before she can intervene anymore in his plans.

Her hammer laid beside her as she used both of her hands to support herself from falling to the ground.

"I...I'm not done yet, goddamn it!!"

She grits her teeth as she got back up. The determination in her to kill the Imagine Breaker was real.

But she was too late. Accelerator pushed his weight down on the shotgun as he forced her head down.

"Heh, looks who's pathetic now?"

She growled at him as she quickly pushed the gun barrel aside and slammed her fist right into his crotch.

Wind escaped his mouth as he let out a groan, releasing his grip on the trigger of the shotgun as he fell to the floor.

"Don't get so cocky, Accelerator! Remember your place you little shit!!"

She picks up her hammer as she prepared to swing it to create her wind weapon again. She swung it and it hit the top of her cross.

Accelerator was too damaged by the low blow that he couldn't lift up his left hand and he was slammed straight down.

"Kah...!!"

She knew he was at his wits end.

She was going to win.

She kicked her sole up and it slammed into his face, sending him flying back.

"I hate science, I absolutely loathe science for what they did to my brother."

She picked up the shotgun as she approached him slowly. Her footsteps were sounding much heavier than before maybe it was because of the amount of blood that she lost earlier. But one thing was certain.

She was getting closer.

"If science hadn't existed and all of it's contraptions weren't invented, I wouldn't have lost my brother."

Accelerator pushed himself off the ground with his two hands as he looked at her in the eye.

"(I guess magicians too have their own dark side.)"

But then he laughed as he fell back to the floor.

"What the fuck are you laughin' at?! You think my backstory is that funny?!"

"Ha ha, well yeah. For such a shitty reason, you would resort to something like this? Your reason for villainy is so cheap I can find it at any convenience store. Seriously. Aren't you more pathetic than me, you third-rate. I've seen villains with more conviction than you and they don't even go this far. Aren't you just the cutest thing ever."

Vento was annoyed at him for what he said. She pointed the barrel of the shotgun towards him.

"You don't know what it's like to lose someone close to you, that's why you don't understand me. When I was young, there was a malfunction while we were testing out a new theme park attraction. My younger brother and I were both horribly crushed. And yet they said it was scientifically proven to be perfectly safe! They said it had several layers of safety features, the latest lightweight reinforced materials, and an automatic speed control program! They used so many reliable-sounding terms, but none of it helped in the slightest!!"

"Is that all?"

Vento raised an eyebrow as she placed the barrel closer to his forehead.

"The depth of your darkness is too simple and you seem to be misunderstanding something. I have lost someone close to me as well, but that's all the more reason I have to get stronger and find ways to prevent it. I'm painting myself in such a shitty light, but there's no hero here. I don't even consider myself to be a hero because of my actions. But I don't just give myself a reason to involve innocent people into my shit. By doing what you're doing right now, you're involving people who probably has nothing to do with science at all and are just living their lives normally and you want to kill them too?! Don't fuck with me!!"

Suddenly, just as Vento was about to pull the trigger, a sudden sound and shockwave shook the whole facility and Vento was forced to her knees as she gripped her ears.

Seeing this as an opportunity, Accelerator grabbed the shotgun beside her and he started to limp away behind her. He wasn't ready to end her yet.

He was going to torture her.

"Tch, get back here!!"

She pushed herself off the floor using her hammer and she started to give chase while on foot.

Accelerator, on the other hand, met some unwanted faces.

"Is everything alright on your side? I heard some gunsh--"

Before that person could finish his sentence, his body was met with multiple pellets that absolutely distended his body.

He couldn't even scream as it was so surprising.

"Yeah, everything's just about to be finished."

Accelerator's face was splattered with blood but he simply licked it off. The other members behind that soldier was stunned by what they saw to even react and he simply continued firing at them.

"Shit, this feels so fucking good!! The sound, the feeling is so fucking good!!"

But he didn't stop there. He pressed the shotgun down as he continued walking to a certain room.

The room where all the cleansing agents are, and he had to set up the final phase there.