Toaru Majutsu no Index

Part 1

Because of Block’s collapse, things had settled down for now.

Tsuchimikado was taking care of wrapping things up, Musujime was off taking care of her wounds, and as for Unabara, though it was not known where he had gone or what he was doing, his situation could be called safe at least. Accelerator, who had nothing to do (and no motivation, for that matter), took a railcar back to District 7 and bought a can of coffee from a random corner store.

At this time, his phone rang.

On the screen, it showed "Entry 3", Tsuchimikado’s number- but after answering it, he found that it was someone else calling.

“Thanks for your effort, Accelerator. Block’s plan to assassinate the General Superintendent is finally over. This is all thanks to you people from Group.”

“So it’s you.”

Hearing this voice, Accelerator answered impatiently.

“I’m fortunate to have such capable subordinates.”

“...So you really want to die, huh.”

“No, no- this time, I’m thanking you from the bottom of my heart. Due to that, in addition to the usual rewards you receive from your job, I’ll give you some useful information as a personal gift.”

“Useful information?”

“That’s right. A bit of information related to Serial Number 20001: Last Order’s life.”

Part 2

Uiharu Kazari and Last Order were sitting inside an open-air café.

Last Order, who had come out looking for a lost child, had walked so much that her legs were sore and was currently half-lying on a table. Uiharu had sat down next to her and challenged the shop’s specialty: the large sweet parfait.

“So, have you found the person you’re looking for? Did your ahoge finally stop with that *biribiri* reaction?”

“'...This thing that Misaka has isn’t an ahoge!' says Misaka as Misaka has a tired voice.”

But this child who was around ten years old had a cluster of hair that stood up, and it was waving in the autumn wind. That was, without question, the ultimate ahoge!

“'Uu... I’m sure I felt him around here somewhere, but he suddenly went off somewhere,' says Misaka as Misaka is feeling down due to doing all that work for nothing.”

Last Order, who was like a deflated balloon, suddenly raised her head.

Did she find that person? Uiharu thought, but that wasn’t the case.

A few girls walked past, and Last Order stared at a free gift key chain that was from a nearby fast food chain outlet.

“'Mi-Misaka really wants that!' says Misaka as Misaka has no wallet on her and thus can only look at Uiharu nee-san with her puppy dog eyes!”

“Ah, geez. Didn’t you go out to look for someone?”

“'Yeah, and he’s in that fast food shop,' says Misaka as Misaka can feel—”

“It’s not alright to lie, you know! Besides, I just finished ordering that large sweet parfait, and I’ve only just started; I can’t leave now. ”

“'How can you be this relaxed!?' says Misaka as Misaka bangs on the table repeatedly and mutters.”

“Ah, don’t you have the leftover change from the taxi?”

“'Ah! You’re right!' says Misaka as Misaka takes out the paper note and charges towards the fast food shop!”

Before her voice finished echoing, Last Order had already left the café. Uiharu could only wave a handkerchief and say loudly, “Remember to come back!”

As Uiharu was about to start her attack on the ice cream section, a voice spoke from beside her.

“Sorry to bother you, ojou-san.”

Uiharu hurriedly put down her spoon and turned towards the voice. Standing there was a teenager who gave off a vulgar sense of style. On his right hand was some kind of mechanical claw.

On this teenager’s face was a warm smile that didn’t suit his appearance.

“Um... may I ask who you are?”

“Kakine Teitoku. I’m looking for someone.”

While he was talking, this teenager who called himself Kakine brought out a photo.

“Do you know where this child is now? Her name is Last Order.”

“...”

Uiharu stared at the photo for a few seconds. She then looked back and forth between Kakine and the photo before finally shaking her head.

“Sorry, I haven’t seen her.”

“Is that so?”

“If you're in a hurry, I suggest you should go to the nearest Anti-Skill booth and ask there.”

“You have a point. But before that, maybe I’ll keep looking by myself for a while.”

Kakine said as he turned to leave.

Uiharu lowered her head, and was about to start her attack on her ice cream once more.

“Ah, right. I have something I forgot to mention.”

“?”

Without waiting for Uiharu to raise her head, the next sentence came with a blow to her head.

“I knew you were with Last Order! You idiot!”

*Bang*, the impact spread from her temple.

Before she realized she had been hit, Uiharu was already falling from her seat. She reflexively kicked the table over and upended her chair. The barely eaten large sweet parfait scattered across the road like a crushed fruit.

Around them, people passing by screamed.

Uiharu, who still didn’t know what has happened, first thought of standing back up.

But Kakine’s foot stepped viciously on her right shoulder and pinned her back down.

“That’s why I didn’t ask ‘Do you know her’, but instead ‘Where did she go’!”

Kakine put all of his weight onto his foot.

*Crack*, as she felt the heavy weight, the pain of bones rubbing against each other spread through her body. Then, her shoulder became dislocated.

Uiharu unconsciously tried to roll over in her pain, but Kakine’s leg was like an unmoving steel beam.

At this point, Uiharu was screaming rather than merely whimpering, but it didn't move Kakine at all.

“You discovered me and told Last Order to escape; I understand that you aren’t all that capable. Even though I’m a scumbag, I prefer not to involve normal people. If you had cooperated with me in the first place, I wouldn’t have had to use violence.”

It was a holiday afternoon, and there were a lot of people around in the open-air café- but they only looked on from afar and didn't try to help.

But they couldn't really be blamed for that.

Uiharu was wearing a Judgment armband. Although Judgment members only dealt with incidents on school grounds, some students believed that they were people who protected the peace like the police or the army. Even if the organization did have its elites, there were also weaklings. It was a shame, though, because the people who didn't understand these limitations thought that if someone in Judgment could be easily defeated, they wouldn’t stand a chance either.

There was no help for Uiharu here.

Kakine put more strength into his leg, forcing his shoe deeper into Uiharu’s shoulder.

“...But! I have no mercy for my enemies. If you didn’t know anything and were only around Last Order by chance, then I wouldn’t have to do this. However, the instant you decided to protect her by your own will, it became another matter entirely. So please, ojou-san: don’t force me to kill you right here.”

*Gacha kara kara*, the dislocated bones were forcibly moved, and pain flooded her body.

By the time she finally reacted to her pain and tried to withstand it, Uiharu’s eyes were already filled with tears. The complaints of why she had to go through this, the fear of facing overwhelming and unstoppable violence, and the regret for not being able to resolve this situation: these negative feelings mixed together and weighed down Uiharu’s mind from within.

There was only one possible way for her to be released from this. 𝑓𝒓𝚎e𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯𝘰𝐯𝒆𝑙.c𝚘m

“Where is Last Order?”

In her hazy mind that was filled with pain, there was only Kakine’s voice.

“Tell me, and I’ll let you go.”

In the maze that had no exit, someone had finally pointed the way out. For Uiharu who was engulfed by the darkness known as violence, she desired the finish line so much. Her sense of responsibility as a member of Judgment and her personality as "Uiharu Kazari" were being shattered by that one thought of "being released from this pain".

Her lips finally moved.

With tears running down her cheeks, she slowly opened her mouth.

She knew she should stay silent, but she could not even accomplish that.

And so, while hating her own uselessness, she declared her final intention.

“...? What?”

Kakine furrowed his eyebrows. He didn’t seem to understand the other side’s intention.

With trembling lips, Uiharu said once more,

“Can you... not... hear me?”

Using what energy she had left.

“I said... that child is at a place you will never see. I’m not... lying.”

She said this while poking her tongue out, as if she was using all her energy to toy with her foe.

Kakine Teitoku went silent.

“...Very well.”

As he said that, he lifted his leg off Uiharu’s shoulder.

But his foot did not go back onto the ground. Instead, it was aimed at Uiharu Kazari’s head.

“I told you before: though I don’t attack normal people, I have no mercy towards my enemies. If you understand that and still refuse to cooperate, then there’s nothing I can do.”

Kakine Teitoku put all his strength into his foot that was hanging above her.

The foot was as if it was about to crush an empty can.

“Farewell.”

*Boom*, a large gust of wind made Uiharu unconsciously closed her tear-filled eyes; this was all she could do now.

But Kakine’s foot did not crush Uiharu’s head.

Another explosion rang out across Academy City.

A gale swept through them like a blast wave. Uiharu opened her eyes and saw an ATM and shards of its glass and walls. A twister made of these shards smashed against Kakine Teitoku at an incredible speed. Taking this blow head-on, Kakine stumbled, and the foot that was going to crush Uiharu ended up stomping the floor a few millimeters away from her head.

From inside the completely destroyed ATM, pure-white paper notes flew in all directions like an angel’s wings.

In the middle of all that, Uiharu heard a voice.

“...Seriously. Is that all it takes to satisfy you, scumbag?”

Passionate, white, insane.

That was the voice of the demon-like strongest Level 5 in Academy City! “Let's raise the stakes some more. While we’re at it, I’ll teach you what it means to be a villain.”

Part 3

“That hurt.”

Kakine Teitoku directed his gaze from Uiharu Kazari to Accelerator.

“That was irritating. No wonder you’re the #1, you’re the most irritating person I’ve ever met. I was right to come and kill you first.”

“You sure talk big for a lil’ chicken that’s afraid of fighting me head on and has to take a hostage. The difference in our strength was obvious from the instant you went after the brat.”

“Are you stupid? She’s just a little insurance. Who would fight a bastard like you fairly? That’s too troublesome, and you’re not worth that.”

These were Academy City’s #1 and #2.

Accelerator and Kakine Teitoku. Neither one of them was holding any information back.

Naturally, someone would take care of cleaning up the aftermath later.

“For a pig like you, you should go be a stuffed pig on a food platter where you belong.”

“It’s laughable, you lapdog. Do you really think that by protecting some weaklings you can become a ‘good guy’?”

“Ha, so you still don’t understand.”

Accelerator threw his modern cane to one side and said slowly, “Fine, now is a good time to teach you something: even villains have standards!”

Boom! A loud explosion rang out.

Accelerator and Kakine Teitoku clashed head on! A shock wave exploded outwards, flattening everything, knocking down bystanders, and breaking glass windows. Even in the midst of this mess, however, each's eyes were only on their opponent.

The result for this round was clear.

Kakine Teitoku, who had taken the attack head-on, was blown backwards and smashed into a café with a loud crash. But Accelerator merely felt displeasure, since the other side seemed to have avoided a head on confrontation.

“So you’re the esper that can control any vectors.”

Came a voice out of the café that looked like it had been hit by a bomb.

“Then, what if you were to smash into a large mass that can’t be moved regardless of all the vectors you can gather? Guess that wouldn’t work. As long as my vectors aren't being controlled, it’s meaningless.”

Completely unhurt.

Kakine Teitoku walked out of the shop with some kind of cocoon around him. No, they were wings! Six wings like that of an angel’s slowly spread behind him.

Accelerator furrowed his brow.

“Mimicking myths doesn’t suit you, you unoriginal idiot.”

“You don’t have to worry about that, I already know.”

Before their voices finished echoing, they clashed once more.

Against Accelerator who controlled the vectors beneath his feet and charged, Kakine Teitoku spread his wings and flew almost twenty meters to the center of the road.

Accelerator swept his arm in front of him and slashed through the air, totally taking control of the airflow vectors. Boom! A hurricane with wind speeds of a 120 meters per second blasted towards Kakine like a cannon shot.

“?!”

Waving his dexterous wings, Kakine tried to avoid the attack, but a *click* sound reached his ears. Looking down, he found that Accelerator had already closed the distance between them. Before Kakine could even figure that out, Accelerator thrust his right hand towards Kakine’s chest.

“Did you know, that everything in this world is made of elementary particles?”

While saying that, Kakine retracted his wings to protect himself. When Accelerator made contact with the wings, they immediately disintegrated into countless white feathers and stopped the attack.

“Elementary particles are things even tinier than molecules and atoms. We know that there exist gauge bosons, leptons, and quarks. There are also hadrons which are made when antiparticles or quarks gather, but, well, they're all divided into a few general categories. These elementary particles make up the world.”

“However,” said Kakine in a soft voice, “That kind of common knowledge does not apply to my Dark Matter!”

Boom! Accompanying gale winds, the six wings behind Kakine instantly recovered their forms.

“The Dark Matter I create is matter that does not exist in this world. It’s not matter that hasn't yet been discovered, nor matter that theoretically exists, but rather matter which undeniably does not exist.”

A material made by an esper ability that could not be classified by science.

Faced by these white wings that seemed to have come from a different world and defy the laws of physics, Accelerator’s will was not shaken.

Who cares what they are? They will all be shattered by the ability to manipulate vectors.

“OK, then I’ll blast you apart along with your ‘Dark Matter’.”

With one more step forward, Accelerator could tear apart Kakine Teitoku’s heart.

However...

“You still don’t understand.”

As Kakine finished his sentence, his white wings let out a ‘swoosh’ and projected a brilliant white light.

“?!”

A burning pain forced Accelerator to back away from Kakine involuntarily. At the same time, he noticed the change in the situation.

Accelerator who could reflect all vectors was actually hurt by an outside attack.

“That was diffraction. Light or electromagnetic waves change direction when passing through narrow gaps; this is common knowledge even in high school textbooks. Using multiple gaps at the same time will make the waves interfere with each other.”

Simply put it was by diffracting light through the countless unseen gaps on the wings to change the nature of sunlight and use it to attack Accelerator. It was not that the white wings gave off light, but that the light itself was changed by diffracting through them.

“Ah, the value of things depends on how you use them. So, how does it feel to be burned to death by sunlight?”

However...

“... Go back and study up on physics, you idiot. No matter how you diffract sunlight it doesn’t change the nature of it into something like a beam of light that kills.”

“Hm, that is indeed the case with the normal physics of this world.”

Kakine’s six wings curled up and gathered strength.

“But! My Dark Matter is matter that does not exist in this world! It completely disobeys the laws of physics of this world. Sunlight that gets diffracted by the Dark Matter will also have its own set of laws! Foreign bodies are like this: by just mixing in a little bit, the world will completely change!”

Fwoom! The six wings blew up a gale wind towards Accelerator. Accelerator used his reflection to subdue the wind while trying to figure out his opponent’s aim. Looking closely, he found Kakine smiling.

“Reverse calculations, complete.”

“!?”

When Accelerator heard that he tried to dodge, but the six wings had already begun to strike. However, unlike before the six wings were used solely as blunt weapons for hitting.

A series of *gacha gacha* sounds exploded out from Accelerator’s body.

Accelerator, who could reflect all vectors, was blown over 10m away, hitting one of the trees on the sidewalk. The thick trunk of the tree got snapped by that one blow.

“Oof...!?”

(So the sunlight and wind from before was all for...!!)

“Accelerator, you said before you can reflect everything, but that’s actually incorrect.”

Kakine’s wings spread soundlessly.

Accelerator flew up to a rooftop, but the over twenty-meter long wings aimed at him like giant swords to strike him down.

“If you reflect sound then you can’t hear anything, and if you reflect physical objects you cannot hold anything. You subconsciously establish a filter that sees everything as harmful or not, and use your reflect to push away anything that could harm you.”

Accelerator spit out the blood in his mouth, blew apart the water cylinder on top of the building with one stomp and jumped aside using the rebound.

The white wings that struck down crashed into the building, and split the building vertically in two. Large dust clouds swelled outwards from there.

“The sunlight and wind affected by the Dark Matter are infused with 25,000 different kinds of energy. Then by observing your reflection and using a filtering system that judges which energies are deemed ‘harmful’ or not, I can use the energies that are subconsciously accepted as not harmful to attack you.”

Even if Accelerator changed the rules which his reflect was based on, Kakine Teitoku would immediately use his Dark Matter to inspect the change. The repeated attack and defense this way would only make Accelerator’s wounds get worse and worse.

“Such is Dark Matter.”

Kakine Teitoku smiled and spread his wings.

“This space which has been affected by foreign bodies is no longer the world that you know!”

Faced with this taunting, Accelerator controlled the air flow and made four tornadoes behind him.

Clash!

Accelerator’s tornadoes swept away Kakine’s wings, and Kakine’s wings blew apart Accelerator’s tornadoes. The buildings which were made of steel beams and cement were trembling from the blast waves and shook continuously. Suddenly, the two were no longer where they had been. The two of them continuously attacked each other, moving in parallel down the main road at an extreme speed. Occasionally they flew towards a windmill electricity generator, and other times they kicked streetlights away, flying down the road at a frightening speed.

“Even though I’ve finally snatched the Tweezers, studied the Underline, and planned many other things, none of them worked. Guess killing you, the #1, is the fastest and most efficient method.”

Kakine said while waving his wings that spanned several tens of meters long.

“What? You maggot, you’re still on about rankings at a time like this?”

“This has nothing to do with rankings! I only want the right to directly speak with Aleister!”

Accelerator ignored Kakine’s words and stomped on the gravel road, and then kicked the rocks that were sent flying up using a karate kick.

Boom! A loud explosion rang out.

The vectors of the pebbles were changed and fired off faster than a Railgun, but vanished after a few millimeters. However, the pressure waves did not vanish, and the attack felt as if it would tear the very air apart. But, Kakine also put strength into his wings and scattered the attack. The waves of attacks between the two clashes against one another, sent a ‘tsunami’ of air throughout their surroundings and blew streetlights and advertisement signs into the air.

“That bastard Aleister has many plans in place at the same time. Even if it's the most promising plan for him, once he finds it doesn’t work he’ll immediately switch to another plan. Then when the time is right, he’ll go back to the original plan. Just like a spider web, no matter which path you choose sooner or later you will end up back on the same path.”

Accelerator and Kakine who were flying parallel down the road suddenly changed paths and chose the shortest route to smash into each other. A four-lane crossroad was blocked completely due to the clash between those two. Nobody complained, and nobody dared to complain. Everyone here had the instinct that if they dared to speak up they would die.

The silhouettes of the two swept past each other.

A few seconds later, the air exploded and a shock-wave rang out.

“If that’s the case then there is only one efficient path to take. Destroy all other plans that are prepared, so that Aleister has no other path to take. Then, as long as I’m not the spare plan, as long as I am the center of the plan, then Aleister can no longer ignore me! I don’t want to destroy this city, it is still useful. That’s why I’ll start from devouring the core, and in the end take control of it!”

Accelerator’s and Kakine’s blood flew around the air.

“So, only by killing off me, the true center, you can take over the plans.”

The two of them stood facing each other, slowly gauging their opponent.

If Kakine could say such rhetoric then he must be confident of the truth in the fact that Aleister had many plans.

And for Kakine to have done what he did, naturally he had his own reasons. As for what they were, Accelerator didn’t try to figure them out. In the darkness of Academy City, there was more tragedy than stars in the night sky. Chances were one of them was what had twisted Kakine’s personality. Just like how Accelerator had killed 10,000 Sisters for the experiment. Just like how Accelerator was willing to give up his life to save one person.

“Bullshit.”

Accelerator continued, while on that train of thought.

“Maybe you think what you’re saying is nothing less than the absolute moral truth, but everything that’s coming out of your stinking mouth is complete bullshit.”

“Ha. Even though you have the right to directly communicate with Aleister, you have no idea the value of that right! People like you have no right to say that about me.” f𝙧ee𝘄𝐞𝚋𝐧૦ѵeƖ.c𝘰𝓶

“At the moment you spoke those words, you became one of those common filth that pass themselves off as great villains.”

“That doesn’t sound convincing.”

Kakine Teitoku said uninterestedly.

“I don’t want to lay hands on normal people either. If I’m in a good mood I’ll even let bad guys off. Having said that, I don’t really care if those people live or die. Aren’t you the same? In our battle just then, how many spectators and bystanders have got hurt? Cement and asphalt were traveling over the speed of sound, and shock-waves wiped out everything. That’s the kind of battle between us.”

“... ...”

“Including the brat that shielded Last Order, they are all the same. You don’t have to right to lecture me, murderer. In order to battle with me, the you that kills off bystanders has no right to lecture me. Don’t tell me you truly believe you are exempt from your own ideals.”

“Ha, ‘battling with you and killing off bystanders in the process’, is it?”

Even when accused of this, Accelerator smiled leisurely.

“What a scumbag. It’s because you have no aesthetics that you can say bullshit like that.”

“Huh?”

“In the end, do you understand why you’re #2 and I’m #1?”

As he laughed he spreads his arms out wide.

“Between me and you, there is an impassable wall.”

Kakine was fuming at his comments, but he also noticed it.

Their surroundings.

True, the battle between Accelerator and Dark Matter had destroyed the road. The glass from the buildings had shattered, traffic lights had been blasted off, and trees had been blown away and were sticking out of the cement buildings.

But, something was missing.

Tragedies.

Glass shards had rained down from above, but there was no-one hurt. A sweeping gale had twisted the path of those shards into falling elsewhere. The advertisement signs had miraculously protected those that were to slow to run away. The others were the same, with not a single person hurt. Though it was uncertain, in their fighting to this point, probably not a single bystander had been hurt.

(I-impossible!)

Kakine felt his throat go dry.

“Are you saying... that you protected them all?”

Thinking back, the first sneak attack could have been much more powerful. But if that was the case, Last Order’s companion at that time would also have been hurt.

This was his way of doing things.

Even in a death match between the #1 and #2 Level 5s, even on a battlefield where a slight mistake could get you killed, Accelerator protected the normal people who he had never met before.

“Don’t joke around! Are you saying everything was under your control from the beginning?!”

Accelerator showed impatience, as if saying ‘of course’, and taunted Kakine for his incompetence that he could not do the same.

“Are you angry, you lowlife?”

Towards Kakine who was shocked, Accelerator impatiently said, “Now this is what should be called a villain.”

If after doing this much, if one was still called a villain, then just what did a hero in Accelerator’s mind have to do?!

“Stop spouting nonsense, Accelerator!!”

Kakine Teitoku roared out and increased the power in his six wings. Changing the lengths, the structure, the white wings spread out and transformed into six lethal weapons that aimed at six of Accelerator’s vital points.

Facing these, Accelerator only smiled.

“Bring it on.”

“These are more than enough to bring you down, since I’ve already figured your filtering system. That sham of a defense cannot stop this!”

“Indeed, you can control matter that doesn’t exist in this world.”

Accelerator only wagged his index finger and made a ‘feel free to do your worst’ expression.

“The laws written in school textbooks don’t work on them, and light and electromagnetic waves that come in contact with the Dark Matter get twisted into energy that can’t possibly exist. So using energy calculation algorithms based on rules of this world will definitely have flaws.”

The killing intent between the two had risen dramatically.

This crossroad was now fully saturated with the breath of death.

“Then all I have to do is include them in my calculations. To change the laws of this world into a new world that includes your Dark Matter and create a new algorithm, then it’s checkmate.”

“Using your vector transformation... to control my Dark Matter...?”

“Don’t you think I can do it?”

“Ha, do you think you can gauge the entirety of the depths of my ability just by doing that?”

“Your depth is actually quite shallow.”

“...!?”

“Shallow to the point I don’t even need to try and gauge it!”

A sound of explosions ripped through the sky.

It only took an instant for the two to clash.

The victor in the match between the #1 and #2 had been decided.

Part 4

Accelerator looked at the ground, and saw a walking stick nearby. Probably something that flew near him from the spectators that were affected by their fight. Now, accompanying the uproar they had caused, several hundred people had crowded around.

But Accelerator showed no intention of hiding. Other small fries would take care of covering up the incident, there was no point in worrying about this himself.

“...”

Looking back,

In the center of the crossroad that was in upheaval, Kakine Teitoku was lying there on the ground. The white wings that had their control of the vectors taken from them, had stabbed through Kakine. A puddle of blood was slowly spreading, as if an unknown magic circle was slowly taking shape.

However, Dark Matter was still alive.

And Accelerator was a villain, not one of the good guys.

At this time, one of those puke-inducing good guys would probably leave it at this, and turn to walk away. Or maybe they would even be merciful, staying to take care of the wounds the bad guy had suffered, and point him a new direction in life to make everything better. But now, Accelerator only wordlessly pulled out a gun from its holster on his side. From the instant Kakine Teitoku decided to involve civilians and Last Order in his fight against Accelerator, he never had the thought of forgiving him.

(This is probably the difference between a good guy and a bad guy), Accelerator thought to himself.

“Farewell, scumbag.”

Accelerator cocked the gun with his thumb, and said in a quiet voice to the still unconscious Kakine.

“Well, this is probably better than being taken down by one of those heroes.”

His index finger was on the trigger. It was all over. Not relying on the kindness of others, nor miracles from the heavens; this was the future on the path of evil that was carved by Accelerator’s own actions. Accelerator carried out his actions in his own style, and pointed the gun at the enemy’s head, and slowly put strength into his right hand.

There was only one step left to the end of everything, and the peace that was built on death.

“Stop, Accelerator!”

A loud voice sounded out from outside his view. From the crowd gathered a familiar face jumped out. Wearing a green jersey that was ridiculously unfashionable, and without any make-up on her face. She was a school teacher and also one of the Anti-Skill peace-keepers.

Yomikawa Aiho.

She ran straight towards him.

“I don’t know where you went, or what this current situation means. But, all I have to say is this: Give me the gun. That’s not something you need!”

Yomikawa didn’t have a gun on her. She didn’t even have special batons, tasers, or anything for self-protection. Everyone watching might have thought she was an idiot. Facing a rampaging esper that had done this much damage, going in unarmed was almost like suicide.

Yomikawa probably knew just how dangerous the situation was for her.

Or putting it another way, as a member of Anti-Skill standing on the frontlines, she understood far better than bystanders just how dangerous her actions were.

“I’m a villain.”

“Then I’ll stop you.”

“Are you serious?”

“Apart from that I have no other choice.”

Not defeating him, just stopping him. That was her way of doing things. Just like how Accelerator chose the life of a villain, Yomikawa would never agree with methods that pointed a weapon at the children that they needed to protect. Accelerator stared into Yomikawa’s eyes. Those eyes shone out with determination. In Accelerator’s view this was a way of life that was beyond foolish, but to her this was something that was worth giving up her life for.

“It doesn’t matter whether you are a villain or hero, Accelerator, nor what kind of world you are involved in. For me, what’s most important is bringing you back. No matter how dark or cold your world is, I’ll never give you up, and drag you back!”

In this instant, the two of them shared the same position. This had nothing to do with being the strongest Level 5 in Academy City or an adult with no power of her own; Yomikawa Aiho was blocking Accelerator’s way.

“That’s why I have to stop you. For the children I must protect, and for the dearly-loved peace. Where you and Last Order can both happily live together. For such a future, the gun in your hand is unnecessary.”

“...”

Accelerator wordlessly finished listening to her words.

He came to a conclusion.

The gun that was pointed at Kakine turned and pointed towards Yomikawa.

(So,)

Yomikawa was an enemy. Even if she was one of the good guys, even if her reason was for Accelerator’s own good, her actions were impeding the way of Accelerator’s path of evil.

So she must be eliminated; but she didn’t have to be killed. If he wanted to go easy on her his gun skills were more than enough to do so.

(Here and now.)

Accelerator also had people he wanted to protect. People like Last Order, the Sisters, Yoshikawa Kikyou, and Yomikawa Aiho. So, he must be cruel to the very end. Even if he had to fight against the whole world, and even against those he must protect, he had to save those people from the darkness.

(Fire.)

“You can’t do it.”

By the time he realized, Yomikawa had walked up to him, and covered both the gun and Accelerator’s hand softly with her own hands.

“You haven't rotted that much.”

Victory was decided just like that. The fingers that were holding onto the gun were slowly plied open one by one by Yomikawa. Then she took out the clip, pulled the slide back, and ejected the bullet already in the chamber. Faced with this kind of end, Accelerator could only stare blankly.

At this time...

Splat.

An attack made of Dark Matter came suddenly, and cut off Accelerator’s thought.

The target wasn’t him.

Yomikawa opened her eyes wide in shock. She slowly looked down. The white wing made of unknown materials had stabbed through the side of her stomach like a knife. Her green jersey had been dyed red. And with each passing moment the redness was spreading into a frighteningly large patch.

Yomikawa wanted to say something, but after stumbling a few steps she collapsed.

Accelerator could only look on. Behind the collapsed Yomikawa stood a human figure. It was the unconscious Kakine Teitoku.

And behind him were the six wings.

There was no need to explain what had just happened.

Swish. The sharp wings that stabbed through Yomikawa’s side were lightly pulled out.

“...She actually said no matter how dark or cold the world you are in, she’ll definitely bring you back?”

Kakine said with a face stained by blood.

The reason he attacked Yomikawa wasn’t because she was in his way. From the beginning, Kakine’s eyes only had Accelerator. That slight hesitation, the slight hesitation in front of Yomikawa that he would step off the path of evil, was the reason he attacked Yomikawa.

To him, that hesitation, was the obstacle.

If Accelerator had given up evil, then just what had he himself lost to?

Because of that, Kakine Teitoku raged.

“That’s impossible! How could it be that easy?! This is our world. This is the end of darkness and despair!! You babble on with fancy words, but at the end of the end, you rely on something like this. This is what you called aesthetics?!”

A shattering speech. Lead by rage and ill will, the words that were illogical smashed against Accelerator’s body like blast waves.

“In the end you are the same as me, unable to protect anybody. After this many more will die, killed by a mongrel like me. Isn’t that right, Accelerator!! Didn’t you also slaughter your way to where you are now!!”

Kakine shakily stood upright with his body stained by blood and grime.

But this wasn’t for fighting against Accelerator. For him who had a good understanding of ill will, Kakine’s ill will was directed elsewhere.

And that was towards Yomikawa lying on the ground.

“S-stop.”

“I can’t hear you.”

Cracking sounds were made, but no-one was sure what was happening. Kakine wasn’t touching Yomikawa, but Yomikawa’s body was being stepped on by something unseen. Her body was trembling and the red-black patch, upon the pressure, had started to spread once more.

“Stop!!”

“I can’t fucking hear you!!”

Accelerator’s voice was being drowned out by Kakine’s roar.

“Don’t count on me to stop, you idiot!! What do you expect talking to solve, you villain? You have got to be joking—that’s not how we do things!”

Kakine used his ability and increased the pressure on Yomikawa.

This time it was not just her side, even Yomikawa’s mouth started to have sticky crimson liquid leaking out.

“If you want to stop someone, then kill him. If you don’t like something, then destroy it. That’s the evil! Being saved is unnecessary!! Being smiled upon and forgiven is unnecessary!! A piece of shit bastard like you doesn’t deserve to be forgiven! Come on! Let me see the ‘evil’ that you, who have only spouted fancy words, have!!”

—you fool.

Though you’ve said before you won’t involve normal people this is the result. Even though you’ve given up on the light, even though you’ve decided to stand at the pinnacle of the darkness, in the end you got tempted by soft words into reaching for the thread of light that reached for you. His own sight only slightly left the world of darkness, his own hands only slightly touched the world of light. The priority of eliminating Kakine Teitoku was pushed aside and this tragedy was the result.

So...

Accelerator this time changed completely into evil. He swore no matter what he would lose, he would completely shatter Kakine Teitoku!!

A searing headache. It felt like something sharp had stabbed into his brain, and devoured everything in Accelerator. His ears could hear something like fruit being smashed into pulp. His eyes had started to flow with a liquid that was not tears. A liquid that smelled of rust, was redder than tears, thicker than tears, and felt uncomfortable. Even this liquid that came out of his eyes only left a taste of disgust.

And what came afterward was...

Rampage.

“Oh.”

That pillar that had supported him had completely shattered. His whole body had been infected by a murky emotion. Accelerator, who clenched his teeth and had crimson eyes, let out a roar that echoed to the ends of the earth!

“Aaaaaaaargh!!”

From behind him spread murky black wings, as if they shot out from his back. This pair of wings that contained something which could blow away the mind, and anger that shattered his own sense of self, spread instantly over tens of meters, and shaved off parts of the buildings and roads around him.

“Ha.”

This pair of black wings, Kakine had seen it before, and knew what it was.

The elementary particles that didn’t exist in this world, Dark Matter.

“... So strong. Such powerful evil. So you can do it if you put your mind to it, villain. If that’s the case then indeed Dark Matter is only suitable for being the spare plan. However, this doesn’t mean it’s all decided!!”

Kakine’s six wings, as if responding to his roar, spread explosively. The wings that spanned several tens of meters emitted a mysterious glow, and at the same time had an inorganic feel like a machine. Almost like a giant weapon gods and angels normally use.

Flap. The air around the six wings let out a howl.

Accelerator and Dark Matter controlled the organic and inorganic powers respectively.

Different from this world, this was 'organic' and 'inorganic' in terms of a different world. The One Who Wields the Power of God and The One Who Has Touched the Territory of God. Now the odds of victory were even, only that unlike Accelerator, Kakine hadn't lost himself.

An unprecedented power was expanding within him.

And, he had perfectly mastered this power.

Now the position of the #1 and #2 of Academy City was about to be reversed. This was neither a bluff nor an exaggeration. He now believed even if he fought against all the armies in the world, and even every esper in Academy City, he could emerge victorious and unharmed.

“Hahaha!! Uwahahahaha!!”

Kakine laughed and waved his completely awakened six wings down at Accelerator.

He no longer saw Accelerator as a threat, but only a thing to test his new powers on.

Splat.

Kakine Teitoku’s body was pressed into the asphalt by a great power.

“Wha...?!”

He completely didn’t understand what just happened.

Accelerator’s wings didn’t move at all. He only stared at Kakine and slightly moved his hands. With just that, he defeated Kakine who had absolute power and ground him deep into the ground.

His right hand that had the Tweezers on it was torn off from the elbow downwards.

(Ah! ...Uwah! Wh-Wha?! Just what is—)

Accelerator must have changed vectors and energies of some sort, and redirected those towards Kakine as an attack. Even though he understood, even if Accelerator had gathered all the energies in this world, this phenomenon shouldn’t have happened. The Kakine Teitoku now couldn’t lose to this world.

Unreasonable.

Inexplicable.

With an overwhelming presence Accelerator walked step by step towards Kakine Teitoku. His steps were like the countdown until the end of Kakine’s life, when it reached zero it would be all over. And, Accelerator had reached that last step.

“Ha, ha.”

“—yjrpEVILqw”

“Bastard...! Damn it, so this is how it is!! Your mission is...?!”

No reply, just a fist filled with killing intent.

An overwhelming slaughter had begun.

Part 5

The sound of flesh being pounded resounded across Academy City. With every time that sound rang out, the cracks got larger. Just like an aftershock, the earth trembled and buildings frighteningly shook. None of the bystanders made a sound. Now, courage was needed to move one’s sight away from this. Almost everyone was just blankly witnessing this scene.

“Urgh...”

At this time, Yomikawa Aiho woke up.

In her hazy consciousness she heard a roar. A roar that was more frightening than a beast’s, more terrifying than a demon’s. But she felt it was only the crying sounds of a helpless child.

He must be stopped.

Yomikawa thought naturally.

“Yomikawa!”

But, before she could act on her thought, her wrist had been grabbed by someone and was been taken speedily away from the scene. Such efficient skills could only mean it was someone from Anti-Skill that had taken her away. Though unlike Yomikawa who was in her jersey, this person had the full set of combat equipment such as guns and protective gear.

“...Let me go, Saigou. I’m not—”

“No way, Yomikawa!”

Yomikawa wanted to struggle, but she didn’t have the strength. Now, from above came the *pada pada pada* sounds that stirred the air. She looked up, and black helicopters were flying in the sky above her. They were the state-of-the-art Six Wings.

“The recently restored satellite system detected anomalies. A distortion that not even the Theory of Relativity can explain has spread for the surrounding 100m. The analysis unit thinks it’s the result of the AIM diffusion field being interfered with in a special way.”

“And you people attacked the cause of this distortion without regard of your own lives? Stop kidding around!”

In her shouting Yomikawa ended up retching blood out from her mouth once more. This time she finally succeeded in breaking out of Saigou’s grasp. But when she turned to look at her surroundings she discovered there were large numbers of fully-armed Anti-Skill members, powered suits, and armored vehicles setting up their positions. It was a scenario that was almost like it came straight out of a nightmare. An intense feeling of 'this is unreal' assaulted Yomikawa, who had some understanding about Accelerator’s past.

When Accelerator was younger, he had been surrounded like this, lost all hope in life, and after surrendering he had been thrown into dark research labs.

This tragedy must not be allowed to repeat itself.

Yomikawa ignored the wound on the side of her stomach, and blocked the way in front of the other Anti-Skill members while she herself was covered in blood.

“Put down your guns! We don’t need those to convince Accelerator!”

“But, Yomikawa!”

“Do you know who it is standing there?! That is a child that we must protect! Pointing guns at children, I’ll never agree! How could I possibly agree to something like this!!”

Accelerator roared towards the sky.

The black wings behind him had surged out even more fiercely.

“Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!!”

*Don!* A shock wave spread out from him and assaulted everyone present.

This wasn’t a physical attack, but a more simple instinctive reaction to their lives being threatened. The animal instinct everyone had was making everyone there feel like their chest was being compressed. If someone wasn’t careful they would fall to the ground from this intense pressure. Accelerator’s anger wasn’t directed at the bystanders or at Anti-Skill. These things were no longer any concern for him. None of these mattered, the shards of these emotions were enough to let him rule this world, conquer this world, and destroy this world.

His target was supposed to be only Kakine Teitoku.

But, was one person really enough to let him release all that fury? After losing his target, would the aimless fury be directed at someone else? This possibility, no, this danger, was what people were afraid of.

(Dammit, is there... no other... ways left?)

Yomikawa tried to get close to Accelerator, but blood spurted out from her mouth. After seeing that Saigou panicked and quickly restrained her from behind and immobilized her. Even though she couldn’t move, she still stared wide-eyed at Accelerator.

(Is there really no way to stop Accelerator? Like so, would that child’s future be ended right here because of something as insignificant as this?!)

With another roar, the world had been dyed black. His black wings were showing despair beyond the territory of humans. Even without orders, some of the Anti-Skill members had raised their guns. But as soon as the trigger was pulled everything will be over. Accelerator’s soul would be shattered once more, and it was possible that this time it could not be saved.

In front of the overwhelming power, anyone would lose hope.

They could only tremble in a corner, and pray they didn’t get dragged into this.

In front of these people...

Their last hope (TN: reads as ‘Last Order’) had descended upon them.

The girl around 10 years old was running towards that intersection, pushing past the people that were bound by fear. She had brown hair around shoulder length, a lively expression, and wore a sky-blue one-piece dress with a male’s t-shirt over it.

‘I’m looking for a lost child’, she once said.

Now that the child she was looking for was in front of her, she showed no fear. With the situation getting worse by the moment, she didn’t care and went straight to Accelerator. From the bystanders’ view everything was beyond repair, but nobody stopped her. Because by this time, she was too close to the center of this destruction.

“I found you, says Misaka as Misaka tries to communicates with you slowly.”

She got closer towards the still howling Accelerator.

Accelerator slowly turned his head around.

*Boom!* an explosive sound rang out, as if a gale had swept through.

The action the strongest Level 5 in Academy City took was simple. The jet black wings ripped through the air, and with overwhelmingly massive power dealt a destructive blow.

In everyone’s mind there was a picture of tragedy being painted.

Where Last Order’s tiny body was being scattered onto the asphalt in pieces.

However...

With a sharp sound, the black wings stopped in front of Last Order.

The attack Accelerator had fired was stopped by an invisible wall. The black wings had stopped mere millimeters away from her face, going no closer and only trembling. But, she shouldn’t have had the power to block this. Even if the whole world was searched, someone that could have blocked that blow might not be found.

If she couldn’t do it, then who, and how had they blocked the black wings?

Yomikawa, who could only blankly stare at this situation, finally thought of an answer.

“Accelerator...”

Academy City’s strongest Level 5. If someone could stop this unrivaled destructive power, then it could only be the one who possessed this power himself. At the end of the end, Accelerator had stopped his black wings.

The black wings were trembling.

Trembling as if a monster was whimpering.

At this time, a *boom* sound of gunpowder exploding rang out.

Yomikawa swiftly turned around, and saw one of the Anti-Skill members had opened fire without permission.

Not good!

Even though it was obvious that Last Order was right next to Accelerator, a gun was still fired.

Accelerator’s black wings split apart, separated into countless sharp wings and aimed at the Anti-Skill members around him. Last Order had finally realized they had been attacked.

Boom! An attack with Accelerator at its center was projected out around him.

“Stop! says Misaka as Misaka advises!”

Last Order said one sentence.

As if taking that sentence as a cue, the point of the sharp wing that reached for the throat of an Anti-Skill member suddenly stopped.

“It is alright now, says Misaka as Misaka holds out her arms.”

The young girl knew what the current situation was. Even though she knew how dangerous an existence Accelerator was, she still reached out with her slim hands.

“You don’t have to do something like this anymore, says Misaka as Misaka tries to convey the correct words.”

As if to blow apart these words, the black wings once again struck toward her.

But, the black wings once again stopped in front of her, along with a *kacha* blunt sound. Accelerator was conflicted. In his heart, he continued to scream out to give up on everything. If he had to have memories of something like this, if he had to repeat these kinds of tragedies, he might as well abandon everything. But, in the end he could not abandon them. Even though he could kill her with only a finger, even though he could blow her away easily, no matter what, Accelerator could not abandon this hope.

“Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahh! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!”

Roar.

The sound of the black wings waving about could still be heard.

But, the overwhelming pressure from before could not be felt now. Last Order only watched on. Facing the waves of attack coming one after another, she didn’t even blink. Because of the trust between them, she didn’t feel the slightest bit of fear.

The twin wings swelled to the largest it ever had, and with all its might it swung down onto her.

And when this attack had reached in front of Last Order, Accelerator’s own movements stopped.

With his head lowered, nobody could see his expression.

The black wings behind him soundlessly dispersed. Now Accelerator’s body lost all its strength, and fell shakily slowly towards the front.

Last Order opened her arms wide, and welcomed Accelerator into her arms. Even though she almost collapsed under his weight she still held him tight and would not let go.

Finally, she whispered into Accelerator’s ear softly,

“What a relief, says Misaka as Misaka is glad.”