Reincarnation Paradise

A pale red aura surged towards the white-haired boy like a raging tide. An invisible wave expanded from the boy, repelling the heat, carbon dioxide, water vapor, and everything else in the air around him. Anything that touched his skin was "reflected" away.

However, the pale red aura ignored the reflection and continued towards the white-haired boy.

Whoosh—

Su Xiao's aura swept over the boy, blowing his hair up and causing him to stagger back a few steps.

"Cough, cough..."

The boy bent over, covering his mouth with one hand and coughing dryly. Blood seeped through his fingers as he coughed.

"Not bad, scum!"

The pain from various parts of his body infuriated the boy. He hadn't felt pain in a long time and had almost forgotten the sensation. With a defiant personality and a predatory gaze, this was the first impression the white-haired boy gave.

Despite his staggering steps and appearance of being on the verge of collapse, his fierce gaze indicated he wouldn't go down quickly.

The white-haired boy was known as Accelerator. His real name and gender were unknown, but he appeared male. He was the undisputed strongest esper in Academy City, with the ability "Vector Manipulation."

This ability was straightforward: control the direction of kinetic energy of objects and energy. He could make stationary objects move at high speed or change the direction of existing forces. For example, if someone punched Accelerator, he could change the punch's kinetic energy direction upon contact with his skin, causing the attack to miss or even reflect the force back on the attacker's arm.

Overall, this ability seemed unbeatable. However, Su Xiao's aura wasn't a physical object or energy; it was a product of his will and mental power, beyond Accelerator's understanding.

Just like how Accelerator couldn't change the focus or direction of someone's gaze upon him, he couldn't reflect Su Xiao's aura, based on a similar principle.

The active effect of Su Xiao's aura caused significant harm to Accelerator, but its passive effect didn't trigger, surprising Su Xiao. He had assumed Accelerator's willpower wasn't strong, but it seemed that wasn't the case.

Drip, drip...

Blood dripped from Accelerator's fingers as his red eyes stared at Su Xiao.

They stood about ten meters apart. Su Xiao held Dragon Flash horizontally in front of him. Before encountering Accelerator, he had thought about how to counter his ability.

Unfortunately, he still hadn't found a way. Accelerator's reflection ability was too troublesome. However, it wasn't without weaknesses. Vector Manipulation required skin contact to work, meaning Accelerator couldn't control the vectors of anything he couldn't touch.

Su Xiao pondered for a moment. Although this was a weakness, Accelerator's ability was like an invincible turtle shell that couldn't be broken and would counterattack.

"I can only probe for now."

Mumbling, Su Xiao's foot created a circular dent in the alloy floor as he vanished from his spot.

"Such speed... a physical enhancement?"

Accelerator, despite his defiant attitude, was actually very calm. Using his ability required complex calculations, and no Level 5 esper was foolish.

A gust of wind heralded Su Xiao's reappearance two meters from Accelerator, wielding his sword with one hand and slashing towards Accelerator's neck with 80% of his strength.

The blade whistled through the air, and in an instant, the edge of Dragon Flash touched Accelerator's skin.

Thunk—

A peculiar sound followed, and Su Xiao felt a tremendous force in his hand, forcing him to retreat rapidly as if struck by a hammer.

Bang!

Su Xiao crashed into a metal wall a dozen meters away, creating a human-shaped dent.

"What, that's it? Boring. Hahaha, the difference in strength is just too great."

Accelerator lazily picked his ear, glancing at a surveillance camera in the corner of the ceiling.

"It's done. Was this really an experiment?"

Mokuhara Maboroshi's voice came from the central control room, holding a microphone.

"Tch."

Accelerator sneered. He knew today's events were 90% likely due to the lab being attacked and the defense system breached. He was just a temporary watchdog.

He also knew the "Absolute Ability Evolution Program" was impossible. Killing 20,000 clones of Mikoto Misaka to reach Level 6? A joke. Even if he killed 20 million, he wouldn't reach Level 6, and he knew it.

Yet, Accelerator still cooperated with the program because he didn't want to die. The researchers were trash, and he could kill them all quickly, but there was someone in Academy City he couldn't oppose.

As the strongest esper in Academy City, he bore many unknown burdens. He didn't even have personal freedom.

"It's not just reflecting kinetic energy; it also amplifies it."

Su Xiao emerged from the wall's hole, lightly brushing Dragon Flash's blade.

Currently, Dragon Flash's durability was at 87/98. Since entering the Index world, its durability had decreased by 11 points, mostly during his intense battle with Kanzaki Kaori.

Dragon Flash was incredibly durable, especially with its +12 enhancement adding weapon resilience.

When Su Xiao's strike was reflected, he felt the returned kinetic energy and the slight durability decrease of Dragon Flash. The blade remained satisfactorily sturdy.

Su Xiao pressed a hand to his chest. He wasn't seriously injured. The kinetic energy hadn't hit him directly; being knocked back was his way of dissipating the force. As long as he didn't resist head-on, the reflected kinetic energy had limited impact. With Bubotni's healing aura, Accelerator's reflection ability couldn't harm him for a short time.

Changing the attack direction at the moment of contact with Accelerator didn't work. Su Xiao had tried and found it required knowing everything about Accelerator's ability, habits, weight, height, and timing.

Only Mokuhara Kusunori, Accelerator's ability developer, could do that. Defeating Accelerator this way was unreliable.

Since he couldn't break Accelerator's ability, Su Xiao changed tactics to a simple, brutal approach: a war of attrition.

Accelerator's frail body likely had poor stamina. Using his ability required a small amount of stamina and brainpower. According to the law of conservation of energy, Accelerator's ability usage consumed energy.

That made things easier. Su Xiao's stamina attribute was 80 points, and Dragon Flash's durability was 87/98. He didn't believe Accelerator could keep reflecting his strikes. The stronger his slashes, the more energy Accelerator would expend.

Su Xiao planned to exhaust Accelerator. Once his stamina ran out, Su Xiao could finish him in an instant.

"So, you're still alive. Impressive."

Seeing Su Xiao unscathed, Accelerator stopped and looked at him sideways.

Su Xiao didn't waste words. He rushed forward, leaping to minimize the damage from reflected kinetic energy, and slashed down with full force!