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Chapter Text

PROLOGUE

Someone that released his own dreams

The_Ice_Illusion.

A heavy rain was falling. The puddles in the soil reflected the sky at nightfall, colored grey. Despite being just July 10th, there was an abnormal cold. The walls in the alley were cracking, while a thin layer of ice expanded itself like a white shadow on the outside walls of the buildings that surrounded them.

Two people were there. One of them, lying on the ground, was crawling out of the alley, leaving a trace of blood behind him. His eyes covered in tears and his cold sweat creeping down his forehead denoted that he was trying to run away from something that endangered his life.

But, who was it? Who had the power to wound so seriously a sturdy man that, additionally, was armed? Why didn't the bullet penetrate the stomach of the other man? These questions just created a bigger confusion.

The other person, who hadn't moved a muscle until now, advanced slowly. He wore a long cape with a hood that covered his face, giving him the appearance of an RPG mage. With each step, the ice on the walls expanded and cracked. The blood on the ground turned dark, drying with the extreme cold that apparently emanated from the hooded man.

When the man in the cape reached him, he felt a horrible chill. His nerves were inflammating due to the sudden temperature change, and his limbs were getting numb. Shivering, he turned and begged:

"P-Please, have mercy... I-I'll do whatever you want!"

"That is exactly what I was expecting to hear", said the hooded man answered. "I need information about Skill-Out".

The man on the ground didn't answer. His silence was not due to the intense cold, but to the sudden fear that scaled up his spine.

"Is Skill-Out involved in the recent murders of Ability Users?", asked the man in the hood. "I don't have any wish of torturing you until I got the information, so you better speak now".

Aggressively, the caped man took the other by the neck of his shirt, pulling so strongly that the cloth ripped.

"A-Alright! Just d-don't kill me!", sobbed the wounded man, trying to loosen his opponent's grip.

The hooded man let him go. A white frost mark remained in the shirt of the wounded man, who sat on the ground, defeated. How could he, a Level 0, defeat an Ability User with those magnificent ice powers?

The man in the cape nodded, expectant. A menacing aura in his person caused horror to anyone who looked at him.

"In Skil-Out w-we are always in disadvantage, y'know?", explained the guy, shivering. "You Ability Users a-always look at us Level 0s with revulsion in your eyes... W-We are tired of being Academy City's garbage!

Suddenly, the man threw a handful of dirt at the hooded man's eyes. Backing off to the surprise attack, rubbing his eyes so strongly that it looked like he was going to scratch his cornea.

A hurried noise indicated to him that his victim was running away. Nonetheless, being so close to obtaining information, he wasn't planning on giving up. With reddened eyes, he ran from the alley, while his cape waved on the wind.

He was able to see his prey stumbling with other people on the street. It wasn't too late yet, so it was normal to find the streets crowded even after sunset. There was one hour left before the curfew, so he had some extra time for the questioning.

Not caring about all the people in the surroundings, the caped man kicked the ground. The terrain, like obeying a mute order, cracked. As if having enormous underground pistons, the slabs of the ground raised and dropped again to their places, pushing to the air anyone who was over the stone plates. Several passersby dispersed abruptly, escaping of what, if not a lethal blow, definitely would break some bones.

The runaway, limping and covering his bleeding abdomen, raised after receiving the impact of one of the stone plates, falling violently to the ground with a mild "CRACK". The hooded, walking with a hurried pace, put his right foot over his victim and pressed. A hard, white layer extended over the wounded man's chest, parting from the point where his assailant's foot was placed. Struggling, he tried to move without success.

Nevertheless, just when the questioning was about to begin where they left, the aggressor received a kick in the face. The impact looked like it came from nowhere since someone couldn't attack him from the front without him noticing the threat. Another kick, this time in his left cheekbone, made him notice for a couple of seconds who was the one attacking him.

"You are under arrest!", yelled an acute voice. It sounded like a girl from elementary school or, at the most, middle school. "In the name of Judgment, surrender!"

The voice came from a girl who stood about two meters from him. How the hell did she move so fast?

The girl, of a small height (maybe a meter and a half), looked at him, showing her right sleeve, where a green armband showed that she belonged to the student disciplinary committee of Academy City. Her tawny-colored hair, tied in two pigtails, conferred her a doll-like appearance.

And that uniform she wore...

Then, suddenly, the hooded man realized who he was dealing with.

"You're from Tokiwadai, right?", he asked, trying to gain time. "I already heard of a student with the Teleport ability that belongs to Judgment. Komeko Chirei was her name?

"Is Kuroko Shirai", corrected the girl. "I have heard of you, too. You call yourself a 'Magician' that wanders around taking justice by your hand and altering order".

"I have my own reasons for it since neither Judgment nor Anti-Skill seems to pursue those murderers of Ability Users", said the Magician, and, for a moment, Shirai thought she saw a red glint in his eyes.

"That is not an excuse for attacking other students in such a cold-blooded way", answered Shirai, observing the runaway guy. "Anti-Skill and Judgment are working the best we can to solve these crimes. Not only you nearly kill this guy, but you also destroyed part of the street. Look at this disaster!"

The girl extended her right hand, pointing out the disordered stone slabs and the passersby that, terrified, observed from both sides of the street.

The sound of an engine attracted the gaze of the Magician. An armored truck, reinforced with heavy metal plates, arrived. The doors of the vehicle opened abruptly, revealing five soldiers with helmets and bulletproof vets. Shielding themselves behind riot shields, they pointed their guns directly at the criminal's body.

They were Anti-Skill, the organization in charge of controlling the insurgent Ability Users and fighting organized crime. Alongside Judgment, they served as the most powerful anti-crime organization in Academy City.

A sixth person got off of the truck. She didn't wear a helmet, so her face was perfectly visible for those present. Her dark and long hair, extended beyond her waist, was tied into a ponytail that gave her an air of elegance and fearlessness. The woman took a megaphone and took it to her lips.

"Anti-Skill! Keep yourself with your hands over your head! Repeat: keep your hands over your head and surrender!"

Then her face changed from her triumphant and self-confident expression into one of unnerving fear.

The caped man was laughing. It didn't sound like a laugh of happiness, nor like the laugh that covered rage.

It was the laugh of fear that emerged when someone is cornered.

"I can't believe it... The powerful Anti-Skills and this midget from Judgment decide to arrest the one that is doing their job for them. You should be the ones investigating these cases!"

"The problem is not what you do, but your savage methods", cried out Shirai, clenching her fists. "And what do you mean by 'midget'?!"

"You! The Skill-Out boy!", yelled, pointing his defenseless victim. "You are safe for now, but I assure you that, sooner or later, you Skill-Outs will fall for your crimes".

With a fast hand movement, the Magician created an ice wall between him and the soldiers that ruined his questioning. There was no choice. He will gather information at another time. Before Shirai could jump to him and take him to justice, before Anti-Skill could shoot down the ice wall, it exploded in a vapor cloud, expelling ice fragments like knives to his attackers. The cold dew created a mist screen that blocked everybody's vision.

By the moment it was dispelled, Ishiki Kōrihi, self-proclaimed Magician of Academy City, had vanished.

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 1

Someone who cannot advance

Nearly_Another_Level_5.

Ishiki Kōrihi woke up in a state of shock. The sharp noise of his alarm clock was the first thing he heard. Irritated, he turned it off with his fist. A brief glint, followed by a blasting noise, occurred at the moment his hand impacted against the device. A small heatwave was emitted by the remains of the appliance, emanating a thin smoke scroll, almost invisible.

His humor was dreadful. Not only he was incapable of finishing his questioning, but also the one who forced him to retreat like a dog with its tail between their legs was just a loli, a girl that looked like an elementary schooler.

Even though it would be more appropriate to say that the girl brought reinforcements, and the presence of these (the Anti-Skill, an organization in charge of containing rampage Ability Users) was what made him run away from the scene. Nonetheless, it wasn't exactly that way.

It was well known by the 2.3 million inhabitants of Academy City that that small girl, one head lower than Ishiki, was a really strong Level 4.

Even so, how the hell I allowed that midget to make me run away like a coward? he thought.

"Damn you, Kuroko Shirai...", he muttered between his teeth, grinding them with anger. His rage gurgled in a way that he really considered skipping classes just to go and beat up that girl.

No. I shouldn't, he thought. We have the same level, so a confrontation would be matched.

But she is from Judgment. Attacking her would turn me into an even worse criminal. I won't be different from those vulgar Ability Users-murderers.

Cursing between his teeth, he got up from the bed. He needed to calm down, or his classmates would suspect that something had occurred. He went to the bathroom and, after looking at the mirror, he couldn't avoid contorting his face in an expression of displeasure.

He had two big hematomas, at both sides of his face, right where Shirai kicked him. His cheekbones were swollen and had a purple coloration, and he might have had bone fissures due to the fight.

Nevertheless, his fractures were what worried him the less.

His biggest worry was finding an excuse by the moment she asked.

For a moment, the image of a girl with dark hazel hair appeared in his mind. Without being able to avoid it, a light blush appeared in his cheeks.

He knew how much she hated him picking up fights unnecessarily, and if she found about what he was doing during the latest week she'll probably end up crying.

But this is something I must do. If Judgment nor Anti-Skill are giving the importance needed to what's happening, then I'll do it personally.

However, what troubled him the most was exactly that. The fact that the most important unities of justice in Academy City were overlooking those events was something abnormal, even speaking about a place like that, where 2.3 million people passed through tests to stimulate and develop abilities beyond normal. That city, in the central area of Tokyo, where science and medicine have advanced so much that they were envied by governments all around the world was simply ignoring the murders of Ability Users that occurred in recent days.

Even though, it was more like the directors of Academy City were deliberately slowing down the investigation.

With an intent to calm down his concerns, he washed his face. The cold water accomplished cleansing his thoughts, like purifying and lightening up his emotional charge. Now that he was more relaxed, he returned to his room. While dressing up in his uniform, he ignored the growing smoke scroll that ascended dangerously from the place where his alarm clock was before.

And then, without previous warning, a deafening alarm started ringing.

"What the hell is happening now?!", yelled Ishiki, returning to his previous mood.

Suddenly, like responding to his reclaim, the automatic sprinklers in the roof activated, spraying water all over the apartment.

"No, no, no, no! Dammit, not again!"

This time wrathful, he gave a strong kick to the nightstand, lighting it up in a fire that was immediately appeased by the artificial rain caused by the fire system.

"DAMN IT!", he yelled, at the same time the sprinklers turned off after finishing with the heat sources in the room.

Chapter Text

The doorbell rang.

Soaked to the skin, Ishiki walked to the entrance of his small dormitory. His mood was so degraded by that moment that he literally expelled steam. Or, rather, his body produced such heat that the water over his skin and uniform evaporated, drying his clothes and skin quickly.

Even though his ability was similar to the striking and powerful Pyrokinesis*, this was not Ishiki's power. It was easy to mistake him as a user of that power due to the ignition that occurred to the oxygen of the surroundings when he got angry.

Even so, his ability was much more. In the beginning, the scientists at Academy City believed that he was a Dual Skill, but that theory was discarded eventually when they researched further the functioning of his power. Ishiki didn't fire the oxygen directly by lighting or heating it. If that was his power, he shouldn't be able to cause freezing or small but violent earthquakes.

His power consisted of molecule vibration control. When he vibrated molecular oxygen in his surroundings it ignited. When he slowed the vibration rate of dihydrogen monoxide it reduced its freezing point, creating solid-ice walls. The same principle was applied to control steam. The violent earth movements were caused by maintaining hard and constant vibrations to the nitrogen, iron, and phosphor molecules present in the atomic constitution of the ground, leading to violent subsoil unevenness and, even, big earthquakes in small areas.

Because of this, his ability was registered under the name Base Alter—Skilled in the Four Precepts**.

Arriving at the door he was completely dry, which juxtaposed with the soaked room and the books scattered all over the floor, wet as if the Genesis Flood had manifested exclusively in his room.

Who is it this time? he thought, gritting his teeth in a way he nearly could hear them creak.

Nevertheless, when he opened the door, his face contorted by anger turned to an appeased expression. A girl of middle height, her hair copper-colored, was at the entrance to his room, with her hands behind her back.

Attired with the distinguishing uniform of Kurumizawa High School, with a white dress shirt wore under a turquoise wool vest, the girl posed her reddish-brown eyes on his friend's, as happy as always—or, is needed to clarify, almost always.

"Good morning, Kishi-kun!", greeted the girl, waving her right hand happily.

"Eeh... Good morning, Yukiko", answered Ishiki.

"Eeh? You seem weird. Did something happen?"

"Well..."

Dissimulate, Ishiki, dissimulate! You can't let her know, said the boy to himself.

Yukiko Hitogata was the name of the girl. One of his two childhood friends. A sweet and kind person, though she was strong-natured and a bit unstable.

"Hm? Why do I smell smoke?", inquired the girl, frowning slightly.

Ishiki looked away, in a vain try to not reveal his wrathful behavior just minutes ago.

Shit! I forgot to tell her to not come for me today, he thought. This morning has been truly unfortunate.

Absorbed in his thoughts, Ishiki didn't notice the change in his friend's expression. She wasn't smiling but was looking at him with mistrustful eyes. Being unable to avoid it, he felt the girl shoving him violently to the side. She didn't even take off her shoes at the entrance when she noticed the disaster caused by the earlier battler between a raging Ishiki and the fire system.

"What happened here?!", she yelled, making an exaggerated movement with her hands, as if the untidy room were a monster she wanted to defend herself from.

"Eh... A little problem with the fire detectors...?", answered the boy, scratching his head nervously.

" 'Little'?! Look at this place! Even my own room is more organized than this garbage dump!"

"Haaah? Don't talk like it's my fault!", reclaimed Ishiki, returning fast to his own bad manners. "I slept badly last night, and the alarm clock rang suddenly when I wasn't even in a deep sleep! Even you would've woke up in a bad mood!"

"You do know why it is called 'alarm clock' in the first place, right?! And yes, I admit that I wake up in a really bad mood each time that hellish sound rings, but that is not an excuse for your serious self-control problem! You really need to control that power of yours every time you get furious!

"Besides, how is that you slept bad?", the girl averted her gaze from the room and fixated it in his face, looking closely. "But you... You're wounded! Who did this to you? Were you in a fight again?!

The girl's face quickly changed from anger to concern. She had those mood changes a lot, and her attitude reminded Ishiki about that character archetype... Tsunderes, were they called?

This is why I didn't want you to see me like this. I hate to worry you for things without importance..., he thought.

It was always the same. They encountered, argued, and yelled at each other, and even so they always had a great concern for each other's wellbeing. Ishiki remembered when they were children, his bad character took him to fistfight against other classmates, especially when they bothered her. Even so, Yukiko always ended up crying, both for the commotion because he jumped to defend her with Maruo, their other friend, and also because of seeing them with bruises and scratches.

It was, in fact, way before they moved to Academy City and signed up for the Ability Development Program.

Way before becoming Ability Users. In those distant days, now just living in their memories, Ishiki just had his fists to fight. No fire, earthquakes nor ice. Only his own strength and determination.

It was even curious that the latter mentioned was what pushed him to his violent questionings. After all, he was afraid that the murderer will start to look for Level 0 victims only to satisfy his morbid bloodthirst.

Because the girl standing in front of him was exactly that, a Level 0 Ability User, with a latent, undeveloped and undiscovered talent. It had nothing to do with the scientists' negligence, nor with mistakes in the examinations. It had nothing to do even with her own carelessness in her training.

She simply was incapable to project a superhuman ability until she reached, at minimum, Level 1.

"Who was it this time? And you better not be fighting that dangerous criminal from the news!"

"Who? You mean the murderer?", asked Ishiki.

"I mean the one with the cape. That guy seems to be really powerful. Don't dare to try and capture him on your own!", the girl warned him. "Anti-Skill and Judgment will take care of him".

"No, no. I really didn't fight with anyone that dangerous. It was a Level 2 that tried to take my wallet", lied the boy. "I just restrained him until Judgment arrived".

"Really?", asked the girl. The mere idea of someone trying to steal from her best friend terrified her.

"Geez... You always look for an excuse to pick up a fight. You're starting to be like that dude from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure or something.

"I'll try to fight less, okay?", Ishiki gave up.

"Promise it".

"What?"

"I want you to promise it!", yelled the girl, kicking the floor. Her eyes glowed more than usual. Was it due to the tears covering them up?

Without knowing what to say or how to act in front of a girl crying in front of him—and such a beautiful one—Ishiki agreed.

"I promise", he said, showing his right pinky finger to her, blushing a bit.

Yukiko smiled a little. She wiped the tears from her face and crossed her own pinky finger with her friend's.

"Thank you...", murmured the girl, looking down, slightly embarrassed.

Suddenly, her face returned to a wrathful expression while she picked up something from the floor.

"Please, tell me these aren't the manga I lent you", she said, glaring at him. The sweetness and concern in her gaze disappeared, replaced by irrepressible anger.

The mass that she picked up was of different colors, mainly black-and-white. The books' covers were nearly liquified due to the excess of water.

"... Oh, oh..."

——o——

"Yo, Issan, Hitogata-chan", greeted a red-haired boy, peeking from behind Ishiki's apartment's opened door. A fast shadow passed by his side, to the hallway, like it was running from the Devil itself.

"I'm going to kill you!", yelled Yukiko, pursuing Ishiki across the hallway. She didn't even bother to put on her shoes when leaving. "You owe me three Kijutsushi-san's volumes!"

"I'm sorry! I'm really sorry! I will replace them, I promise! Just calm down!"

"DON'T YOU DARE TELLING ME TO CALM DOWN, ISHIKI!", screamed the girl.

The red-haired boy observed his friends disappear behind the corner.

Love problems? asked the boy to himself, staying there without being even noticed by his friends.

"I would have to mediate between them again...", he murmured to himself, picking up his friends' shoes from the entrance and closing the apartment's door.

I will arrive late to class again for their fault!

Chapter Text

"So, in summary, is your fault that Hitogata-chan's manga ended up damaged", commented the boy, scratching his head and messing up his red hair a bit.

Ishiki just explained to him what happened. The friend trio was walking down the sidewalk on their way to school. With everything that happened that morning, in addition to the red-haired boy to calm down the rampaging girl, they have already skipped the first hour of class. Even though, at this moment in the semester, they didn't care that much. Just one week until summer break, and the three of them had a good grades record until now.

Maruo Kuwabara, although accustomed to the constant fights and arguments between his two friends—and having invested an unhealthy amount of time trying to calm them—he maintained a perfect grade record. Even before moving to Academy City, the three friends were always together.

For years, Maruo served as a mediator between Yukiko and Ishiki, to the point of becoming something like the leader of their group. Even after the research of their abilities and their respective Levels, where there was a great gap between their powers, the trio kept spending time together.

He was a Level 2 Ability User. His ability was Aero Hand*, which allowed him to eject heavy objects with just his touch, using the air in the surroundings and concentrating it in a powerful current. The maximum weight he could move with a single current was 73 kilograms, even though he was able to create two ejection points with the same power each.

Ishiki was the most powerful of the three, having a Level 4 ability. He was the only student in all of Kurumizawa Academy that was going to be the eighth Level 5ーthe highest power level a student could aim for.

There were a total of seven students who have officially reached Level 5 all over Academy City, of which Ishiki only knew two of them studied at Tokiwadai Middle School: the Third, known as the Railgun, and the Fifth, labeled for an unknown reason for those who didn't study at Tokiwadai, as The Queen.

Yukiko, however, being the only Level 0 of the group, usually felt a bit excluded from her friends. Both of them had amazing powers, and they were able to adapt their training to their abilities. But she? Since her ability was unknown, she didn't even know where to start to train to reach Level 1.

This is not the moment to think about this, she told to herself. I'm already mad enough to Kishi-kun as for, above all, feeling jealousy of his enormous power.

"I already told you I'm sorry...", repeated Ishiki, getting his friend out of her self-absorption. "I even promised to give you the next volume as a gift, besides the ones that were damaged, so could you stop pretending I don't exist?"

"Hmpf", exclaimed Yukiko as her only reply. The ambiance started becoming heavier and awkward, especially for Maruo, since had to decide which side he would take part for. Having a friend that exploded with almost no provocation and another one who, as kind-hearted as she was, was incredibly moody, choosing a side was especially difficult.

"Please, just arrange a valid compensation!", pleaded the boy.

"Help me, Maruo!", exclaimed Ishiki in despair. He was hurt that someone like Yukiko treated him that way, but he didn't want to get mad at her either. He knew that the girl had enough reasons to be angry, but what she wanted in compensation far exceeded his wallet's capacity.

"I'm sorry, but I can't force her to forgive you, as well as I can't force you to give her the twenty-eight volumes of her manga just because she demands it.

"And changing the topic, because I can see that if we keep talking about this we'll never arrive to class, what the hell happened to your face? Was it Hitogata-chan?", inquired Maruo, observing the hematomas that Ishiki had on his cheekbones.

"H-Hey! Implying that I could hit him like that...", claimed the girl, resentful.

"True, true. My apologies. You wouldn't hit the guy you likー".

Maruo discovered he spoke too much too late when he felt Yukiko's fist in his cheek. The punch was strong enough to throw him on his back.

"You two are such idiots!", shrieked the girl, with her face reddened. Ignoring the passersby that observed them, she turned in her heels and walked to school, at an accelerated pace.

Ishiki approached his friend, extending his hand. Maruo took it, using his Aero Hand to push him up quickly. He had his cheek almost as swollen as his friend's marks, which were less inflamed than the night before.

"I think I spoke too much...", he told to himself out loud, rubbing his cheek. His head was spinning due to the blow and the fall impact.

"You think so?", commented Ishiki sarcastically.

Chapter Text

Maruo and Ishiki arrived at school fifteen minutes after Yukiko. After being scolded by the security guard and being forced to fill in an admonition that confirmed their late arrival, the boys headed to the classroom.

While they walked upstairs to the second floor, both of them were still talkingーor, better said, arguingーin a low voice. Ishiki was mad because of Maruo's comment when they were still walking with Yukiko, although he didn't really know what was exactly what he was about to say. Ishiki had a remote idea of what it was, but he didn't want to jump to a rushed conclusion. What was important now was to replace Yukiko's manga, even if because of Maruo the girl's mood had been altered to a point where it would be harder to put her in a good mood again.

"C'mon, Issan. I just wanted to tease her a little! She didn't even let me finish!", Maruo excused himself, waving his hand in the air like trying to dissipate his friend's bad mood.

"Well, I guess is irredeemable", sighed Ishiki. "Anyway, Yukiko already gave you what you deserved".

"Have at least a bit of empathy. That girl may be a Level 0, but I believe that she really has developed quite a good super punch, don't you think?".

"Why do you ask me? I'm not the one she hit".

"Huh? I swore those hits in your face were her doing", exclaimed Maruo, surprised. "Then, how did you get them? You didn't have them yesterday".

"Ah, well...", answered Ishiki, being taken off-guard.

What do I tell him now? I can't reveal myself, much less in a place like this, he thought. It wasn't that he distrusted his friends, or that he was afraid of them informing Judgment or Anti-Skill. On the contrary, nobody else knew better than Ishiki that they were willing to cover his back.

The problem was that he didn't want to involve them. Yukiko would be excessively worried, and she was so hardheaded that he was sure that she would try to chase him to help with the search of the murderer. Maruo, instead, would surely use his ability to beat up every Skill-Out member that they encountered, which would get him in greater trouble, not to mention the huge risk of rummaging in the affairs of such a dangerous organization.

If something went wrong, he preferred to be the only one to get killed.

"Y-You know, I think you should compensate Yukiko, too. After all, is your fault that she got even angrier!", said Ishiki, changing the topic hurriedly.

"I'll think in something. I guess I have some ideas of how to do it", answered Maruo while they walked upstairs to the third floor, where their classroom was.

When they got to the third floor, they headed to the classroom. The voice of their teacher could be heard inside. The boys lamented their luck at having that teacher's class the day they arrived late. Kuroe would be really mad just because two feckless kids went late, and the fact that she was already interrupted by Yukiko when the girl arrived earlier didn't make their situation any better.

"You'll knock the door!", whispered Maruo.

"I did it last time. You'll go this time, you coward!"

"She knows you better. Knock the door!"

"That's exactly why she will not hesitate in killing me! You knock!"

The door suddenly slid to the side. They didn't notice that they'd stopped whispering.

"What about, instead of knocking the door, you two just get in and sit down?", said the teacher, glaring at them.

"Eeeeek! S-Sensei!", squealed Maruo, turning pale. A tall and slim lady had her gaze fixated on them. Her eyes, sapphire-colored, penetrated coldly in the boys' eyes. However, just the red-haired seemed affected by that icy contained fury.

"Good morning, Sensei", said Ishiki, entering without looking too much into teacher Kuroe's eyes. Maruo followed him, not without making a polite bow to the woman.

Ishiki took a seat at his desk, right next to the window. He directed a glance to the seat at his right, where Yukiko sat. She, however, looked away. Her ears were still reddened, but the rest of the class didn't know if it was because of anger or shame.

The moment the class restarted, Ishiki couldn't concentrate nor clear his thoughts. Last night's events, added to the ones that morning, had left a mix of unease and worries hard to explain.

Last night's questioning gave him more information about the murders than the previous ones. Although he had intercepted and attacked various Skill-Out members, the only one he could extract some information from was the one from last night, even if it was just an insinuation that he was aware of the reason for someone to kill other Ability Users. The other ones didn't seem to know a thing about the events.

I have to find him again. I will interrogate him again, and if necessary I'll resort to torture to make him spill everything he knows.

Shaking his head, Ishiki tried to take those thoughts out of his mind, at least for now. He had to behave like usual while his acquaintances were close by.

Watching Yukiko with the corner of his eyes, he saw that she was looking at him, although she looked away quickly. Maruo, who sat on the desk in front of Ishiki, was watching the scene, mockingly grinning at his friend. Extending his hand, he placed a small piece of sloppily folded paper on his classmate's desk.

Ishiki took the paper and opened it. When he read what was inside, his face reddened.

《Man, you are already aware, no? Hitogata-chan doesn't seem to hate you for what happened earlier. I'm sure that if you invite her on a date everything will be solved. HAHAHA.》

When he looked at Maruo, he was making a gesture of approval with his thumbs, like saying "Good luck with the girl, my friend!"

For some reason, this angered Ishiki a lot. The heat of his face and hands was rapidly rising, burning the piece of paper and reducing it to ashes. A smoke trail came out of the black powder that fell on his desk, attracting attention from both his classmates and his teacher, who interrupted her explanation about differential equationsーwhich, after all, was only listened to by two students.

"Using powers in class, Kōrihi-kun?", said the teacher with a calm tone that juxtaposed with her frown and the throbbing vein in her temple, which seemed about to burst.

"Ah! O-Obviously not, Kuroe-sensei!", exclaimed Ishiki, standing up, with his arms in a firm position.

"'Obviously not', you definitely were using them!", reclaimed Kuroe, walking towards the boy and pointing him with a finger, losing every formality. "Is the fifth time this month! I won't pay again for a burned desk or a frozen chalkboard!

"And for God's sake, call me just Sensei if you want! It looks really bad if a student calls their teacher with their name, independently of the honorifics they use!"

"Hah? To begin with, how did you pass from scolding me for one thing to reclaim for a totally different one, Nee-chan?", yelled Ishiki, flying off the handle.

Normally a situation like that would be unimaginable in a school, much less in a highly prestigious one like Kurumizawa Academy. Nonetheless, it was impossible for two siblings with so many differences between them to avoid fighting.

After all, Ishiki and Kuroe were exactly that: siblings. With a huge age gap of fifteen years between them, they never had the opportunity to truly be raised together.

In fact, it was so common for them to argue like that that the whole school already knew that the beautiful, black-haired, and blue-eyed teacher, was the older sister of the wrathful, almost delinquent with Level 4 powers. Although just by thinking about it, both of them had explosive personalities, and most of the student bodyーand even part of the facultyーwere sure that, if Kuroe had psychic skills, she would fight her brother right there.

The Kōrihi siblings would've continued arguing and yelling at each other if it wasn't for a voice, shy yet clear, interrupted what passed from a Mathematics class to an awkward entertainment for the students.

"U-Uhm... Excuse me, is this Kuroe Kōrihi-sensei's classroom?"

Who spoke was a girl that was way younger than the rest of the class, popping her head out from the classroom's door. She wore a sailor uniform that clearly resembled those from Sakugawa Middle School's students. Her black hair was short, and a weird but undoubtedly outstanding flowered headband crowned her head.

"A-Ah, good morning", said Kuroe, turning pale. "That's right, this is my class."

I hope she didn't see me yelling to a student, thought the teacher, walking towards the sliding door as if nothing had happened, though she glared one last time at her brother, who felt a chill up his spine.

"You're screwed~ ", sang Maruo to his friend in a whisper. He knew perfectly that Kuroe was a scary person, even without having any powers.

Ishiki limited himself to look at him again, not with anger but like yelling "Save me!" with his eyes. No one better than himself knew what was awaiting him when his sister finishes work.

Even though no adult in Academy City had powersーmainly because none of them underwent the Ability Development ProgramーKuroe was a dangerous woman when she was angry.

"What do you need, miss?", kindly inquired Kuroe, trying to calm the girl's nerves and shyness down dedicating a smile at her.

"Ah! I-I'm from Judgment. One of my partners is on her way to investigate some of the students of this academy...", answered the girl so nervously that she seemed about to suffer a panic attack right there.

To demonstrate the veracity of her words, the girl lightly tugged the right sleeve of her uniform. In fact, she was the armband with Judgment's emblem.

The same emblem that a certain girl wore...

"Oh, sure. I remember they sent a memorandum telling the teachers that you will come. Is your partner here yet?"

"She will be here in a minute. I think that she said she'll go to the lavatory for a moment..."

Then, a short ring sounded.

"Aah! I-I'm sorry!", exclaimed the girl, blushing while she took her flip phone from her skirt's pocket.

When she opened it, the girl started to read the text on the screen. A message or an e-mail, maybe?

"S-she's on her way here. She will come soon...", she said, putting her phone back in her pocket.

As if some kind of summon was made, another girl popped her head from the door.

"Ah, Uiharu-san, you're here. Did you tell them?", she said, walking towards the short-haired girl.

"Shirai-san! Yes, I already told them", answered Uiharu, relaxing a bit now that her partner arrived.

At that moment, Ishiki turned pale.

The girl that entered the classroom, with brown hair tied into twin pigtails, wasn't another but the one who caused him his face bruises.

Chapter Text

Part 5

"Ehem. Well, to begin with, the manners", said the twin-tailed girl. "I am Kuroko Shirai, a first-year student at Tokiwadai Middle School. I'm a member of Judgment, 3rd Branch."

"Ah! M-My name is Kazari Uiharu, a student at Sakugawa Middle School, first-year", added the short-haired girl, bowing to the class. "177th Branch of Judgment."

"As you probably listened in the morning news, there were attacks from a high-leveled Ability User against Level 0s over the last week", continued Shirai.

"Since all of the victims were members of Skill-Out, we theorize that the suspect is an attempt of vigilante that looks for the Ability User's murderer."

A muttering became audible. The students were talking excitedly with their classmates on the desks next to them, both terrified and yet interested in the idea of having a criminal at school.

"Although his intentions are helping to capture a dangerous criminal" continued Shirai, "his methods are unacceptable. After confronting him once, I took note of his possible abilities. Using the Register, we intercepted several students with similar powers. The people we're calling will undergo an interrogatory."

"W-We're sorry that we have to do this" apologized Uiharu, bowing again. "But we must capture him to avoid more interference in Anti-Skill's investigation. They're studying these murder cases..."

Shirai, with a wooden document holder in her hands, read the first page of the document.

"Hinosaki-san, Kōrihi-san, come with us, please."

Ishiki was astonished. He stood up quicker than he wanted since it could reveal his nervousness. Maruo and Yukiko looked at him, as perplexed as himself. At the other side of the classroom, a girl with bright red hair slowly stood up from her seat.

An Hinosaki was a really beautiful, popular, and smart girl. It wasn't a surprise that she was practically deified by both students and teachers. Her long hair, tied with a single ponytail that reached down to her heels, shone as if it was a fire.

Shirai inspected both students with her gaze, stopping briefly on Ishiki. The girl's eyes looked directly at his facial bruises for a few seconds, though he felt them like an eternity. After that awkward moment, the girl made a gesture with her hand, asking for them to get closer.

The two students went out of the classroom, followed by the Judgment girls. They made a final bow to Kuroe, apologizing for their intrusion. While walking through the hallway, Ishiki gulped soundly. He felt his throat dry, and his hands were sweating as if he had hyperhidrosis. Shirai, who quickly walked to the front, looked so small and defenseless...

What if he got rid of her right there? After all, the short-haired girl didn't seem particularly strong, and Ishiki was sure that she'd just pee herself just by the fact of being suddenly attacked.

"You can calm down", whispered an acute voice in his ear. Ishiki jumped and looked back. His gaze encountered Uiharu's dark-brown eyes. The girl smiled at him empathically. "Is just a short questioning, and you don't seem like a bad guy. Try to stay calm and just say the truth, okay?"

Ishiki nodded, trying to calm down. Being nervous will just work to increase the suspicions on him, and assaulting two members from Judgment was a direct pass to a long time in prison. He wouldn't say the truth, definitely, since it would put him in trouble anyways. Not only he attacked several defenseless Level 0s, but also his actions obstructed the judicial procedure against him each time he ran away.

"Here is fine", said Shirai, stopping in front of another classroom.

"Ah, wait here for a moment, please", exclaimed Uiharu, advancing towards her companion. The girls entered the classroom and apologized for their intrusion, the same way they did with Ishiki's class. After some minutes they came out again, followed by an unknown, tall guy.

With his black hair, long down to his shoulders, the guy glanced at An with his yellow-colored eyes. The girl jolted a little, backing up one step. Ishiki thought that that unknown person had the appearance of a delinquent. Uiharu returned to her position at the end of the line, urging them to keep moving.

The five of them kept walking until they reached the stairs that lead to the floor below. Shirai informed them that they'll go to the gym since it was empty at that time. When they went out of the main building, the sunlight of summer fell directly over them, blinding the students momentarily.

When they arrived at the gymnasium, Shirai told An to come in with her first. Nervously, the red-haired girl obeyed, leaving the other three waiting outside.

"I hope she won't go too hard on her...", said Uiharu. "Shirai-san can be a bit... violent, although she is a kind person."

She said that with an indulgent smile, staring at the two guys.

I believe in the "violent" part. But "a kind person"?, laughed Ishiki to himself.

"Is hot today. D-Do you mind if I sit under this tree...?", timidly asked Uiharu, pointing at a wooden bench a meter from them, under a bright-green cherry tree.

"Go ahead", said the tall boy, giving her a nod of approval.

"T-Thank you! My apologies for the bother...", answered the girl, making a grateful bow and sitting on the bench.

"Do you want something?", asked the guy, moving his gaze from Uiharu to Ishiki.

"Eh?"

The guy was pointing at a vending machine, near the bench where Uiharu sat.

"Ah, no, but thank you for the offering", said Ishiki, smiling a bit. Although that unknown boy had such a dangerous look his politeness was remarkable.

The guy nodded again, his long hair shaking at the movement of his head, before going to the vending machine. From his position, Ishiki couldn't look what he was buying, since the back of the boy covered the window of the machine, keeping Ishiki to distinguish what kind of cans fell. He watched him take a couple of drinks after his purchase.

Going towards Uiharu with a firm pace, the guy offered her one of the cans.

"A-Ah! You shouldn't bother yourself with this...", said the girl, blushing a little while she took the iced tea drink. "T-Thank you!"

"Is important to stay hydrated when it's a hot day", responded the boy, giving the girl an unexpected smile.

Walking away from her, he returned to his place next to Ishiki, offering him the other drink.

"Hydrating is important", repeated.

Ishiki glanced at the can for a moment, reading the label, indicating that it was a green apple and banana-flavored iced tea. With a slight distrust, he took the can, thanking him. After tasting the content, he felt that strangely bittersweet flavor. It wasn't unpleasant, but it was still uncommon.

They were, after all, in Academy City, the crib of the highest technologyーwhich included the creation and testing of flavors and weird mixes in the food that was sold there. Restaurants and supermarkets were usually safe from that since their products were created inside the city. From livestock to dairy products and vegetables, everything was produced in enormous complexes, being reinforced with extra nutrients. From their arrival there it was nearly impossible for an inhabitant of Academy City to consume a product directly from the field.

Unfortunately, that left students and teachers a way for experimentation with the canned products and snacks from stores and vending machines that were distributed around the city. There were normal flavors, like lemon iced tea or green apple, but there were a lot of weird flavors waiting for unwary people to taste them, like the banana and carrot juices or sweet potatoes-and-berries flavored snacks. Ishiki felt grateful that his drink didn't taste that bad.

"Won't you drink something, too?", asked Ishiki, questioning himself if the guy gave his own drink to him out of mere pity.

"Don't worry. I can drink at any moment without spending a yen", answered the guy, raising his right hand and lightly shaking it in the air, with an elegant aura. Little by little, the empty space surrounding his wrist transformed into a water ring that, floating in an antinatural way, softly rotated in the air.

"Hydro Hand", explained before Ishiki's gaze. "I can control water from any source, or accumulate dew in the air to make a bigger mass of liquid."

"An interesting ability", commented Ishiki. It was his first time meeting an Ability User with that power. "But isn't it dangerous? How do you know if the water is potable?"

"Is easier than you think. I just make the water vibrate rapidly to heat it, killing off any form of bacteria it could have."

That said, the guy got his lips closer to the strange bracelet, transparent and constantly moving. With a weird air of elegance, he drank the water with a delicate, almost feminine, sip.

Once he finished drinking, the young man added:

"What is your ability? If you don't mind me asking. I know it might be incredible since I am a simple Level 1. I couldn't compete against a Level 4 ability."

"Wait, how did you know my ability is a Level 4?", asked Ishiki, feeling distrust again.

"Don't worry, don't worry. I'm not a stalker, I swear. Is just that your fame precedes you, Kōrihi-san. In this institution is not a secret that you are one of the three highest-leveled Ability Users that study here.

"Moreover, some people assure that with powers of your level you could've gone to a more prestigious school. Why coming to an academy created specifically for students of Level 0 to 3?"

Inside Ishiki's mind, three faces that he knew pretty well appeared. A tall woman, with black hair tied in a ponytail. A girl his age, with copper-colored hair and red eyes. A tall boy, with bright-red hair and gray eyes. Feeling a bit embarrassed, he instinctively parted his gaze, evading the question.

The black-haired guy smirked.

"They surely are people important to you, right? Don't worry, I won't bother you anymore. I just felt curious. By the way, I think I didn't introduce myself properly. My name is Kuromori Yamada."

Kuromori made another bow, like thanking Ishiki for listening to his chatter until the end. Before Ishiki could reply to the introduction appropriately, Uiharu spoke from the wooden bench.

"Thank you again for the drink. I promise to return the money to you later..."

"Don't worry about it", replied Kuromori. "Consider it as a citizen thanking Judgment for their good job."

The girl blushed one more time. Her face emitted heat, like the flames of a Pyrokinesis user.

The gym door opened again. An Hinosaki went out, notably calmer than before. Behind her was Shirai, with a serious expression.

"Kōrihi-san, come with me", said the girl.

Chapter Text

Part 6

"Please, have a seat", Shirai said, glaring at Ishiki. Was she trying to intimidate him? Or was he really the main suspect? Nerves were starting to take over his body. He felt sweat trickling down the back of his neck and his hands felt as if he had dipped them in a bucket of warm water. Swallowing saliva, he obeyed the girl's command.

Ishiki looked around, spotting two people he didn't know. One was a tall girl, wearing a uniform from an academy whose name he didn't know. Her hair was short, black, and she was watching him intently through her square-rimmed glasses. The boy couldn't help but feel like he was at an airport checkpoint like he was being thoroughly scanned. Could it be the girl's ability?

The other person, also a girl, wore a uniform unfamiliar to Ishiki. Long, straight-haired, she held a wooden clipboard and wrote down notes quickly.

"He's clean, Shirai-san", the bespectacled girl said, turning her gaze to her companion. "He has no weapons on him."

"Okay. Thank you, Konori-senpai", Shirai replied, taking a seat across from Ishiki.

"Let's leave formalities aside. Where were you last night?", asked the girl.

Taking a deep breath, Ishiki set out to lie as realistically as he could. He was lucky he had thought of everything since leaving his classroom.

"I was walking back to my apartment in District 7", Ishiki said, so matter-of-factly that he surprised himself. "I was just leaving Seventh Mist when a guy assaulted me. Naturally, I fought back and fled the scene. I was going to contact Judgment, but in the end, I wanted to save myself some trouble, in case the guy came back for me in retaliation. I just wanted to go home and sleep..."

Unexpectedly, part of what Ishiki had said was not entirely a lie. It was true that she had left the Seventh Mist mall, and was planning to head home. However, that was when he saw a gang of young men trying to extort money from two boys. He was lucky he'd had that cape with him all week. Stowing his purchases in his backpack and leaving it attached to a wall of the mall, he headed over to help.

He had no trouble defeating two of the three guys. In fact, wearing his cloak made him look intimidating in a way. He was about to knock out the third of the group when he mentioned something about Skill-Out finding out about it. These words gave him a few more minutes unharmed.

Ishiki didn't know at what point the boys he had gotten out of that predicament left, but he didn't care either. He was with a member of Skill-Out now, and he wasn't about to let him get away without getting some information out of him about those murders. Because who else but Skill-Out would go around Academy City taking the lives of several Ability Users? The resentment of that group against people with powers had been evident ever since they had been discarded solely for not possessing superhuman abilities.

His interrogation would have gone perfectly except that he accidentally wounded the Skill-Out member in the belly when, in an attempt to escape, Ishiki threw an ice blade at him, more out of impulsivity than a desire to cause him real harm.

What happened to him after last night? thought Ishiki. Did he run away? Did Judgment and Anti-Skill capture him? I doubt he's dead. If so there would be a lot of people talking about it.

"You say you only defended yourself, correct? Did you use any technique, like martial arts or a weapon, or were you forced to use your Alter Base?"

"Ah, I only used my hands", Ishiki replied, sweating. The sudden question had taken him by surprise. "Had I used my ability I might have ended up in trouble, and as I said before, I prefer to avoid getting into trouble at all costs."

Shirai looked at Ishiki a little more closely. Her light brown eyes were fixed on the marks on Ishiki's face. She crossed glances momentarily with the girl with the glasses, Konori, who nodded before speaking:

"Please, could you give us a demonstration of your skill? Your partner also gave us a brief demonstration before."

Ishiki was about to complain, but he knew right away that doing so might increase Judgment's suspicions about him. However, he decided to answer Konori's question with another:

"Doesn't Judgment have access to the Ability Data Bank?"

"It's true that we have access to the Data Bank, but we've never seen your ability in action. It's part of the investigation procedure", Shirai replied, standing up and moving to stand next to the girl with the glasses.

Immediately regretting having shown some wariness towards Judgment's request, Ishiki stood up from his chair. Following Konori's directions, he stood at one end of the gym.

Show assurance and confidence, Ishiki. You just need to hold back a bit to avoid attracting more suspicion.

Taking a deep breath, he placed both hands on the ground. Focusing his mind on the vibration of the oxygen and hydrogen particles floating in the air near the ground, the boy began to alter the speed of the molecular agitation in his mind, performing rapid and complex calculations related to atomic physics.

It was not a difficult thing to do, as all the experiments performed on him when he was just a child had altered the way his brain worked. This was the secret to the superhuman abilities being studied in Academy City. Each power required complex calculations that were mastered by their respective users. This boiled down to the fact that if the power was immense, so were the mathematical and intellectual capabilities of the one who possessed such an ability.

Then, almost immediately after his fingers touched the ground, the microscopic water molecules present in the air at ground level began to solidify, forming a white layer that stretched from Ishiki's hands to the wall on the other side of the gym. The ice crackled, expanding unevenly to the sides.

The girl with long straight hair began to take note of what had happened.

"That's it? I swore that Base Alter was a high-level skill. What you just did would barely qualify as Level 3."

"I'm not done yet", Ishiki cried. He felt the vein in his forehead pulsing as if it wanted to burst out and hit that annoying girl in the face.

I can't hide my skills from Judgment anyway. Thanks to the Data Bank they already have all the information they need.

... Wait a minute...

Ishiki froze in place, thinking. Judgment and Anti-Skill are both supposed to have access to Academy City's Ability Data Bank. Why would Judgment be testing students on their powers?

Something definitely didn't add up.

Glancing sideways at the long-haired girl, who was still making notes and muttering something to her glasses-wearing companion, he noticed that they were glaring at him as if they were directly accusing him.

The girl with the glasses, Konori, approached Shirai and murmured a few words in her ear. The girl with twintails replied, watching Ishiki's face with special attention.

"I didn't ask you about those injuries, Kōrihi-san. I have to assume that you got them fighting that delinquent last night, right?"

Ishiki looked back at him warily. Shrinking, without even removing the layer of ice from the ground, he replied:

"Indeed. Although I don't understand what these injuries have to do with what you are supposedly investigating."

"They have a lot to do with it, as I confronted the delinquent in person last night, and I well remember kicking him in the face twice", Shirai explained. "I don't think it would be a problem if I told you that this guy had a rather peculiar power. That's why we had to interrogate all the students who possessed similar abilities."

"It hurts me a little to be seen as a suspect. Can't you see that I'm just an ordinary student of Academy Ciー"

"If you're just an ordinary student, there's no problem showing us what else you're good at, is there? Or are you trying to hide something?"

Unable to dispel his suspicions about the unusual interrogation, Ishiki stood his ground. He knew that, if he continued to evade Judgment's requests, he wouldn't be able to throw them off as he had planned, but his bad feeling increased with every minute.

Paranoid, Ishiki tried to focus on the ground beneath his feet. He could clearly feel the vibrations caused by the slight movements of the three girls, as well as to detect two other people outside the gym, probably Kuromori and Uiharu.

His Base Alter ability had a small extra advantage: apart from being able to control the vibrations of matter, Ishiki could detect the variations in them with the presence and movement of people in a radius of approximately two kilometers, as well as objects resting on the ground. It was like a kind of sonar, only instead of detecting bouncing vibrations caused by himself, Ishiki was able to sense vibrations caused directly by external sources.

And it was just thanks to that sonar that he detected something unusual entering the detection radius, rapidly approaching.

Footsteps. About twelve... No, twenty people, probably carrying some heavy equipment, as the vibration he detected was unusually large per individual.

It was as if they were carrying armor and riot gear...

Then it dawned on him why Judgment was keeping him there longer than Hinosaki.

"Anti-Skill! We've got you surrounded! Come out with your hands up!", a female voice sounded from outside, amplified with a megaphone.

Stunned and angered, feeling tremendously stupid that he had fallen into Judgment's trap, Ishiki turned sharply towards Konori when he detected a movement from Shirai out of the corner of his eye. A silver object, about the size and thickness of a pencil, was flying towards his face rapidly.

Acting instinctively, he made a vertical upward motion with his right hand, creating a column of ice in front of him. With a soft "clack" he knew that the metallic dart had stuck in his icy creation.

However, Shirai's attacks didn't stop there. The girl had begun to move at breakneck speed, constantly appearing and disappearing and throwing more steel needles from all directions.

How could I be so stupid!, Ishiki thought, creating more ice columns to intercept some of the projectiles the girl was throwing at him and moving quickly trying to dodge the remaining darts. However, an occasional metal needle managed to graze him, tearing his uniform and skin. The wounds, though not deep, hurt like hell.

"Damn you, Shirai!", Ishiki shouted, trying to fix his gaze on Shirai, who kept teleporting around the gym.

With more and more pressure on him, thinking properly was becoming more difficult. With each passing second, his anger increased, and with it his capacity to think rationally. Then, during a very brief moment when Shirai was still, Ishiki kicked the ground hard.

Immediately, the vibration wave expanded rapidly, cracking the layer and pillars of ice he had previously created. The steel darts fell to the ground, echoing through the gymnasium with a metallic clang, while the vibration shook the earth, like an earthquake whose epicenter was the point where Ishiki's foot touched the wood. Fragments of ice flew in all directions, like shards of broken glass, crashing into the floorboards or shattering against the walls. Somehow, the girls accompanying Shirai had taken cover behind the desk they had carried there, which had been knocked sideways by the earthquake, avoiding being hurt by the rain of icy blades.

With another kick from Ishiki to the ground, the ground rose straight up, breaking through the wooden planks, all the way to the entrance of the gymnasium, where a column of earth, compressed until it was as hard as concrete, stood, blocking it just as Anti-Skill's forces attempted to enter. He could hear the pounding and kicking at the metal door in their vain attempt to break it down.

For the first time since she had started attacking him, Ishiki and Shirai's eyes met. The girl was breathing heavily, and the sweat on her forehead indicated that, at the very least, Ishiki had put up a fight trying to dodge the darts.

The next thing that happened was as sudden as it was unexpected to Ishiki. For a split second in which he blinked, Shirai had disappeared from his field of vision.

Then, he felt the light touch of a hand on his back, just before the sensation of floating in the middle of nowhere overpowered his senses. It had been so fast that he barely noticed that, for a thousandth of a second, his feet didn't touch the ground, and his body felt extremely light, like a feather in the wind.

After that sensation of floating in the void, Ishiki was lying on the floor of the gym, staring at the ceiling. The resounding thump served to indicate to him that he had somehow been effortlessly launched by the girl. It was impossible for him to know exactly how, but he was sure that Shirai's teleportation ability had worked to knock him down like that.

Which, indeed, was true. Kuroko Shirai's ability, Teleport, allowed her to transport any object or person she touched instantly. The principle for her abilityーas well as for the other fifty-seven users with teleportation powersーwas based on the 11th Dimension calculations, so it is necessary for the user to wield a higher amount of concentration than most abilities.

Shirai appeared in the boy's field of vision again. Between her fingers she held four metallic darts that emitted a silvery flash before disappearing, thrusting sonorously into Ishiki's clothes, hooking him to the wooden floor.

"Ishiki Kōrihi, self-proclaimed Magician of Academy City, you are under arrest in the name of Judgment and Anti-Skill for repeated attacks on Level 0 students, for your constant disruption of the judicial process against various Skill-Out members, and for the use of an ability against Judgment members."

"Those damn Level 0s were from Skill-Out!", Ishiki shouted angrily. "And I wouldn't have attacked you if you weren't standing in my way!"

"Even if the Skill-Outs are criminals, it's not up to you to interfere with justice!"

"I was just doing what neither Judgment nor Anti-Skill seems to be able to doーAGH!"

Ishiki let out a cry of pain. One of Shirai's darts had gone straight into his right thigh. He felt his warm blood gushing from the wound, forming a dark stain on his uniform pants.

"Like I said last night, we are doing everything we can to catch this killer. Having you hanging around and attacking other students only increases our workload."

The girl looked strangely disappointed, like a teacher scolding a pupil who repeatedly committed the same fault.

"Shirai-san, I just got through to Yomikawa-sensei. They request that you teleport the suspect out of this building", said a female voice, probably belonging to Konori, since Ishiki couldn't see anything but the gym's roof and Shirai in front of him.

"Thank you for informing me, Konori-senpai. Did you hear that, 'Magician'? You'll spend a very hard time paying for every crime you've committed."

The smirk that had formed slightly on the girl's lips did not please Ishiki at all, who felt a chill as if his own power had been used against him.

Shirai's hand was approaching, and as soon as the girl's fingertips managed to reach him, he would be at Anti-Skill's mercy.

If he didn't do something soon, all his efforts up to that point would have been in vain.

Chapter Text

Part 7

Ishiki struggled, trying to get loose, but the fabric wouldn't tear where the metal darts stuck him to the ground. His movements became more and more violent until finally, he heard the right sleeve of his shirt tearing slightly at the spot where the metal needle was stuck.

Shirai's fingers were only six centimeters from his face, inching closer. If he wanted to stop the girl from using her Teleport to pull him out of the gym, leaving him at the mercy of at least two dozen Anti-Skill soldiers, he had to act fast.

He could set fire to the oxygen above him, forcing Shirai to retreat, and perhaps causing severe burns to her hand. Or he could even freeze the entire gym again, this time along with the girls who were there, and give him plenty of time to break free and run away.

However, he also did not want to risk seriously hurting anyone who was not part of Skill-Out. To him, it was morally wrong to directly hurt people unrelated to his interrogations, and it was absolutely stupid, a very irresponsible thing to even consider directly attacking Judgment's people.

But... what if Shirai thought he was about to hurt someone?

Now that the girl's fingers were four centimeters from him, he had no time to waste. Taking advantage of the small space between his left leg and the metal dart that pinned his pants to the floor, he gave a very light kick to the ground.

However, the small vibration caused was enough for Ishiki, using Base Alter, to amplify it greatly. The earth shook violently, cracking slightly as if it were an earthquake of level 6.2 on the Richter Scale. The walls of the gymnasium cracked, and debris fell from the ceiling. Even the main building of Kurumizawa Academy, where the teachers' lounge and most of the classrooms were located, suffered some damage. Glass was shattered, blackboards were broken, and light bulbs were blown out.

The darts holding Ishiki to the ground loosened due to the cracks in the floor. Shirai overlooked it, however, as she had turned and was watching the scene above, on the ceiling that covered her companions. Several pieces of it had been loosened by the earthquake and were falling straight towards the girls still hiding behind the overturned desk.

Acting as fast as her ability would allow, Shirai teleported to her teammates. Placing a hand on the shoulder of each of them, she used her power to pull them out of the gym that was collapsing on their heads, managing to escape unharmed.

"W-what's wrong, Shirai-san?", Uiharu asked, trying her best not to be knocked down by the force of the earthquake, which was beginning to subside ever so slightly.

"Kōrihi took us by surprise. The bastard almost killed us by throwing that building on top of us", replied the girl, letting go of her companions, who were still trembling with terror even though the earthquake had been reduced to a slight shake. Shirai looked over her shoulder, trying to locate Ishiki with her eyes. However, as she had expected, he was gone.

He managed to throw us off, the girl thought, looking at the metal darts she had kept Ishiki restrained with, faintly reflecting the sun's rays.

"Escaped?! B-But what are we going to do? Do you have a plan, Shirai-san?", Uiharu asked, visibly nervous.

"He can't be far away. I contacted Anti-Skill headquarters", said a female voice, approaching the girls. The tall woman walked confidently and firmly, stepping hard in her riot gear, letting her long ponytail sway in the wind. "An APB is being issued right now with the information on his student ID. He'll have nowhere to hide."

The woman was right. Just by looking up a student's name in the Data Bank, they could find out not only what ability they had, but also their ID number, photograph, and academic record. Wherever Ishiki tried to hide, as long as Anti-Skill and Judgment knew his name, he would be found.

"I'm surprised at the power that boy wields", Shirai sighed, looking at the ruined gymnasium and the collateral damage to the main academy building. "Even having read about his skill level, I never thought he'd get to the point of nearly killing us. Is he really a Level 4?"

Several students were beginning to peek out of the broken windows, and even some confused teachers were looking around to make sure no members of the class had been hurt.

Yamada, who was still waiting for his turn to be questioned, watched with concern at the outcome of the earthquake.

Somewhere in a certain classroom, a girl without superhuman abilities was watching outside. She had seen a figure in the academy's male uniform running away at full speed, almost as if being propelled by the wind.

"Kishi-kun...", she murmured, as a tear rolled down her cheek.

What kind of trouble are you in now...?

<><><>

Somewhere in Academy City, far away from all that chaos, far away even from his own apartment, Ishiki Kōrihi was hiding in an alley.

Shit, shit, shit! Now that those Anti-Skill fuckers know who I am, it's only a matter of time before they find me, he thought, moving stealthily through the abandoned backstreets of a remote district.

It had been two hours since his identity had been discovered, and in his flight, he had barely managed to grab some clothes from his apartment to change. After all, in the Data Bank was the location of where he lived, so he wasn't really attracting anyone toward his hiding, and he felt that was a risk he should take. After all, without his uniform, finding him would be a bit more difficult.

The gray sweatshirt he wore, as well as his jeans, were quite dirty and stained by the blood and dirt from his disastrous escape. Adjusting his emerald green cap until the visor partially hid his face, he walked out into a strangely empty street.

The area was desolate as if it had been abandoned in a hurry. There were few vehicles parked in front of a building that had all the appearance of having been, at some point, some sort of warehouse. The vehicles were so damaged and so thickly dusted that it was normal that no one had returned to look for them, and some of them even had parts of the chassis and tires deformed as if they had been subjected to extreme heat.

Now, where should I go? He still had yet to find any Skill-Out members to proceed with his interrogations. After all, he still didn't know who was orchestrating those murders, nor why all the victims were, conveniently enough, Ability Users.

"I guess I'll scout that warehouse first... Maybe there's a Skill-Out group or two hiding in there. They always look for the dirtiest, loneliest places to organize, like the damn rats they are."

Walking towards that building, he could feel an ominous aura falling over him.

He didn't know if that ominous aura came from the stress of knowing that he was now a full-fledged criminal and that he would never be able to return to his normal life.

Or maybe that feeling came from sensing that, even in that place, the most dangerous thing he might encounter wouldn't be a gang of Skill-Outs.

Chapter Text

INTERLUDE ONE

— — And without knowing it, Judgment was meddling in something unknown.

"Shirai-san, why do you look so angry?", asked the short-haired girl. The headdress she wore on her head gave her a curious appearance as if it represented that her mind was normally a field of flowers. Or, put simply, it was as if it represented how empty-headed Kazari Uiharu could be at times. However, the strangest thing wasn't that she always wore it, but why she wore it. Uiharu rarely answered anything when asked about it, so those who knew her merely theorized that it was some personal fashion choice.

However, what the others thought about her wasn't really important, not at that moment at least. Another girl, around the same age as her, had walked through the office door.

"He escaped...", muttered the girl who had just arrived. She had light brown hair, tied in two twin-tails on either side of her head with red bows. Despite her childish appearance she was, like Uiharu, a middle school freshman.

On that July 10th, less than an hour ago, Kuroko Shirai had come close to cornering and arresting the main suspect of attacking several Level 0s in the past week.

"He escaped? But how?! You went to investigate immediately after the first call", exclaimed the girl with the flower headdress, quickly getting up from her chair.

As members of Judgment, they had the responsibility of maintaining order among the students of Academy City and making sure that the students didn't use their powers to commit illegal acts. That afternoon they should have finished as soon as the sunset, but after receiving instructions from one of their superiors, a high school girl named Mī Konori, she and Uiharu would have to stay at Judgment's 177th Branch Office. Shirai, who belonged to the 3rd Branch Office, was finishing her patrol when she received a call from the girl.

As Konori explained, there had been reports of a violent fight between a Level 3 or 4 Ability User and a Level 0. Such reports had been plentiful lately, so Judgment was already investigating the case. Shirai had been sent to the scene to arrest the suspect.

"I didn't think he could have such an ability. The reports only said 'control over geo-vibration, three-meter range'. But apparently, it can also control the cold, or at the very least the general state of the water."

"Eeeeh?! Y-You're insinuating it's a Dual Skill?"

"I don't think it's possible. Using two skills at the same time? Ha!", Shirai said, grabbing a folder from the desk and looking over the case reports.

As I thought. None of the reports talk about cryonization abilities, the girl thought, before turning to her companion.

"Uiharu, do you know if Anti-Skill was able to collect information about the AIM Diffusion Field in the area of today's incident?"

"Ah, Konori-senpai received it ten minutes ago. She went out to study the area further, though she didn't say anything about the suspect having escaped...", replied Uiharu, feeling slightly left out as she was the only one investigating from the office, reviewing the documents they received from the Anti-Skill soldiers still at the crime scene.

Shirai picked up another document, printed on a single sheet of paper, and began to read it. Someone had carelessly left it on a tea table in the center of a small room on the other side of the bookcase. It was probably left there by Konori due to her rush to leave.

"Did you notice anything in particular about this report, Uiharu?", Shirai asked, looking away from the document.

"I didn't have time to read it. After Konori-senpai reviewed it, she asked me to check the cameras in the vicinity of the incident, and to let you know if I saw anyone suspicious."

"It seems we were a bit wrong about his ability", Shirai replied, laying the report on the desk. "According to the investigation of the last two sites where the suspect attacked the Level 0s, the AIM Diffusion Field was composed of abnormal and irregular vibrations, especially in the air and on the ground."

"Does that mean...?"

"Exactly! The suspect must be at least a Level 3. Leaving such a Diffusion Field would be impossible for anyone Level 2 or lower. Also, he can apparently cause vibrations in the air, which would explain his ice manipulation powers", Shirai explained. "With this information, we can track down students with related abilities!"

"I'm on it", Uiharu exclaimed, typing rapidly on the office computer. Shirai waited in silence as she watched her partner work.

After several seconds of strenuous silence, Uiharu finally spoke:

"Here it is! According to the Ability Data Bank, there are few students with powers involving vibration, and of those, only these are Level 3 or higher."

Uiharu pointed to a list of names on the screen, accompanied by pictures of the students who qualified with the search parameters made. Underneath the names was the educational background of each of them, along with their skills and skill levels. Shirai read the list carefully.

"Four different schools. Uiharu, contact the Judgment offices of those schools. If possible, we'll question each of them tomorrow."

"Got it!", Uiharu replied, sending a mail to the other Judgment branches.

"Wait a minute", Shirai stopped her. "Don't ask the 88th Branch Office to intervene directly."

"Huh? The one at Kurumizawa Academy? But it's the one with the higher levels."

"That's exactly why Branch Offices 3 and 177 will be in charge of that", Shirai replied. In her eyes was the resolve to finally catch the one who had been causing so much trouble.

Uiharu was slightly dismayed. Looking at the three students from that school that they would have to interrogate, none of them looked particularly suspicious to her. Perhaps the long-haired one, with a photo that didn't look particularly flattering, was the one who looked like at least a minor delinquent.

But what if they were wrong? What if they ended up arresting someone innocent? Or worse, what if one of them was actually the criminal? They were taking quite a risk since this was someone who was able to escape from Shirai, who could teleport, and Uiharu, who was inspecting every camera in the vicinity.

"Don't worry", Shirai said, as if she had seen through her partner's worried face. "There are a couple of characteristics that will probably give him away."

"What's more, I don't even think we'll end up interrogating those three", the girl added, proudly clasping her hands around her waist. "Our suspect should be the one with the two bruise marks on his face. We just need to pay special attention to the behavior of the one with the marks."

"Ah, you really think of everything, Shirai-san! Uiharu exclaimed, surprised."

"If we can solve this soon, maybe we'll get some clues to pick up that dead-end case."

"The one with the Ability User murderer?"

"Exactly. All we know is that it probably belongs to Skill-Out, as the marks on the bodies indicate that they were attacked by a bladed weapon, not a power. Of all the crime syndicates in Academy City, the only organization capable of using such violent methods against Ability Users is Skill-Out."

"It's a pity that this self-proclaimed "vigilante" didn't join Judgment... I have a feeling we could have very well advanced the investigation with someone so powerful on our side."

"Well, not everyone has the same concept of justice as we do", Shirai sighed. "Even without having joined Judgment, he might as well have lent us a hand with the investigation. Like my beloved Onee-sama."

"Misaka-san's power is enormous", Uiharu pointed out, remembering a certain incident from the previous year, when she and Shirai were still training to be part of Judgment.

They were cornered during a robbery, perpetrated by Ability Users. Konori had been injured, and only Uiharu had been able to escape the scene, thanks to Shirai's power. The girl had not yet learned to teleport herself, so she was at a disadvantage against the criminals.

Uiharu was frightened, screaming for help outside the sealed building, until a girl, dressed in the uniform of Tokiwadai Middle School, came to her aid. With light brown hair, the girl needed only a token coin to destroy the gate, catch the thieves off guard, and allow Judgment and Anti-Skill to do their job.

That was the power of the Third of the Level 5s. A single coin, weighing no more than 4.80 grams and with a diameter of 22.6 millimeters, powered by electric energy, was enough to destroy a reinforced metal door.

However, the girl had not stayed to see how things turned out. After making use of her signature move, Tokiwadai's Railgun had left the scene.

And yet, several months later, Shirai became her roommate, by what she kept calling "chance" and "fate". Uiharu, on the other hand, hadn't been able to meet her in person yet, though she had received several letters from Shirai, describing practically every move Misaka made. It was, in Uiharu's opinion, rather terrifying.

"Don't you think Misaka-san would cause problems for Judgment? I-I don't mean that in a bad way! I mean, the power of a Level 5 could cause various structural damage in the event of a fight...", she hastened to add, seeing her companion glaring at her.

"Hmm... I actually agree with you on that. Though I must admit, Onee-sama looks so majestic when she fights. Heh heh heh heh heh heh", Shirai remarked, blushing so much that she seemed to have suddenly become intoxicated.

"S-Shirai-san, you're drooling..."

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 2

Absolute destruction

A_New_Beginning.

"'...So, please, if you have information leading to the capture of Ishiki Kōrihi, the main suspect of multiple Level 0 assaults and attempted murder against Judgment and Anti-Skill personnel, notify any authorities.", read Yukiko aloud.

It had been about two hours since those Judgment girls evacuated Kurumizawa Academy after the sudden earthquake that morning. On many screens in Academy City, in addition to the typical advertisements for cosmetic products and new food, that message now appeared every so often, accompanied by a picture of Ishiki.

While Yukiko and Maruo were stunned to see their best friend become a wanted criminal, no one was more shocked and hurt than their teacher, Kuroe. Upon learning who had tried to end the lives of the authorities who rounded him up, not caring in the slightest about the collateral damage it would cause to the school building and those inside it, her heart broke.

They still remembered the woman's words as several Anti-Skill members approached to question her. "The class is over. Go home, and be careful", was all she said before retreating without another word.

None of her students knew her as well as Yukiko and Maruo, who had been friends with her younger brother since they were in preschool. They knew very well that when Kuroe spoke little or not at all, it meant she was either too angry or too hurt, and they weren't too sure if the woman was angry at the moment.

"Why do you think Ishiki decided to go to such lengths against Judgment...? No. Why do you think he even started committing those crimes in the first place?"

"I'm not sure... I know he constantly had scars from blows or cuts, but I never thought he started the fights."

Although it was just noon in the middle of summer and the sun was shining directly on the streets crowded with students, Yukiko and Maruo felt no warmth at all. The pain they felt, added to the fear that they might never see their friend again, froze their hearts with a cold that spread throughout their nervous system, as if it sought to freeze their souls as well.

Why would he attack Level 0s? wondered Maruo. He was afraid to ask his question out loud, as he didn't want to remind Yukiko of what, deep down, troubled her. The fact that someone so important to her would attack those who were similar to her must be difficult information to digest.

"You know, I don't think he attacked those Level 0s without a reason...", said Yukiko, as if she could read her partner's mind to answer the question he was afraid to say. "He's not that kind of person. He would never attack someone if he didn't have a reason to, don't you think?"

"Well, that I agree with... Although all of this just leaves more questions than answers."

They both remembered those situations in the past where Ishiki, even before the human experimentation that would have granted him his Alter Base, would throw himself into fighting whoever he considered a bad person, not caring about the trouble he might get into with other people for the sheer amount of fights and arguments he would get into.

Ishiki, you're an idiot! You should have trusted us..., Maruo thought, clenching his fists. He felt hurt. Not only because his friend was a criminal, but because he was sure he had a reason to have acted that way, something of force majeure that made him feel that committing a crime was the only way to solve something. He had the feeling that they could have helped him, or even just supported him, if only he had trusted them.

"I think we should look for him", Yukiko proposed, "We have to find him and make him explain why—Ah!"

The girl fell backward. She had bumped into someone who was just coming out of a café near the sidewalk they were walking on.

"Are you blind, you idiot!?", shouted the person Yukiko had collided with.

She had blonde hair, tied in two elegant pigtails on either side of her head. Her dark purple eyes looked at Yukiko in a disdainful manner. Her uniform, neat and perfectly pressed, consisted of a dark grey pleated skirt, a white short-sleeved shirt, and a stylish light brown wool vest, with a small red crest sewn on the left side of the chest.

It was the uniform of one of the most prestigious schools in Academy City, reserved only for girls with powers of Level 3 or higher. The legendary middle school attended by not one, but two of the seven Level 5s, the highest level an Ability User could aspire to.

It was the uniform of Tokiwadai Middle School.

"Well, well. Who do we have here?", said the girl, smirking and taking a closer look at Yukiko, "Aren't you that common Level 0 who claims to be proud of being one?"

The girls accompanying her let out a laugh, directing the same looks of contempt at Yukiko.

Though no one knew better than her that this "pride" was just to hide her own inferiority complex, the tone in which the girl pointed it out made her blood boil with the anger it caused her.

"I see you haven't changed a bit, Misuzu", said Yukiko, getting up from the floor and shaking the dirt off her skirt. "You're still as arrogant up as ever."

Himari Misuzu and Yukiko had known each other since elementary school when they were both in first and fourth grade respectively. Even back then, Himari had proven to be an arrogant person, solely because she had developed her powers faster than other children. She had a special disdain for those who had fallen behind, such as children older than her who not only hadn't developed any powers but had been dismissed as potential subjects of study due to what she called "lack of talent".

"Oh, didn't they teach you any manners?", Himari said, raising her gaze to meet Yukiko's. Now that they were both standing, the difference in height between the two girls was noticeable. "Level 0 servants must call the aristocracy using a '-sama'. Go on, say it: 'Misuzu-sama, forgive me for being a poor fool and tripping over you. If only I had power, I might have been able to foresee that you were going to leave the cafeteria'."

Yukiko clenched her fists. Her face was deep red, the result of the mixture of anger and embarrassment she felt at the girl's words. She would have punched Himari if Maruo hadn't come between them.

"Apologize", he said, glaring at Himari. He was so tall that the girl barely reached his chest, having to look up to address him.

"Wow, I see you're hanging out with this delinquent again like he's your bodyguard. I didn't know someone like you had the income to be able to pay for his services, Yukiko-chan. Oh! Maybe you're paying him in other ways?"

Both Himari and her friends began to laugh so loudly and so inelegantly that, if it weren't for their uniforms, no one would have thought they even belonged to such a prestigious girls' school as Tokiwadai. Some passers-by stared at them, hurrying or even turning to the sidewalk in front of them.

Then, Himari was violently thrown backward, colliding with her entourage of friends. The four girls fell to the ground, wondering what had just happened.

Standing up quickly, her hair tousled and red with anger, the blonde girl shouted, dropping her haughtiness and derision:

"How dare you! Hit such a high-class girl with your filthy hands!"

The vest of her uniform was quite wrinkled, forming a sort of circular mark with the fabric at the level of her abdomen. It was the spot where Maruo had exerted his Aero Hand to eject her towards her friends as if she was a human bullet.

"Apologize to Yukiko", Maruo repeated. "She may be a Level 0, but there's no doubt in my mind that she's worth a lot more as a person than you or any of your flock of sheeple, Goldilocks."

Himari's face reddened even more when she heard that nickname. Some of her friends tried to hold back their laughter, though they quickly became furious when they remembered that he had just called them "sheep".

"So a common Level 2 and a stupid Level 0 refuse to kneel down and beg for forgiveness from an Ability User of far higher rank? Ha! I'll show you what happens when the serfdom rebels against the aristocracy."

The girl's eyes began to glow, emitting a golden light. She was about to pounce on the duo of friends when another person stepped between them.

"Stop it!", said another female voice.

A girl, wearing the same uniform as Himari, was watching her angrily. She had short, light brown hair, from which a few sparks of blue light were emitted that were enough to make the group of frightened girls back away.

Chapter Text

"Really? You again?", the short-haired girl asked, glaring at Himari. A faint bluish gleam was seen in her eyes.

"'Again'? Y-You know about me?"

Himari seemed unexpectedly happy about that, which irritated Yukiko and Maruo. They hoped that, after being discovered, she would have the modicum of decency to be embarrassed by her behavior.

But it wasn't like that. The blonde girl was looking at the newcomer, almost as if she was somehow deifying her. Who was that girl? For someone as conceited as Himari, who only admired herself, to look at that girl like that, she must be someone very important.

The short-haired girl took a step forward, pointing a finger at Himari. Being so close, the difference in height between the two became more noticeable.

"I see you're not even capable of noticing the noise you're making. I could hear everything you were saying from across the street. You should be ashamed of yourself for behaving like that as a Tokiwadai student."

For some reason, the short-haired girl looked quite annoyed.

"Please, someone like you should be more aware than anyone else of the position of Ability Users over other students, right?", Himari replied, slightly backing away. She seemed to feel a little threatened by the way another student dared to scold her.

"Just because someone doesn't have powers doesn't make them any less than high-level Ability Users", said the newcomer. "It's because of people like you that Skill-Outs are increasing in number. You make all of us who possess powers look bad, and on top of that, you sully the prestigious Tokiwadai name by using the school's status to play princess."

Himari's cheeks turned a shade of pink. The fact that a person from her own school—especially a student she admired so much—was scolding her like that in public caused her a mixture of embarrassment and anger.

"Who do you think the girl is?", Maruo muttered to Yukiko. "From her uniform, she must be from Tokiwadai, too, right?"

Yukiko didn't answer. She wasn't sure who that girl was.

"I-I was just teasing her, haha...", Himari blatantly lied, smoothing her vest with both hands. "Come on, Misaka-sama. You're not defending a couple of such low-level Ability Users, are you?"

M-Misaka?!, Yukiko thought. I know there's a girl named like that in Tokiwadai, but she can't be that Misaka, can she?

"Besides, weren't you about to use your ability against them? I'm sure certain people in Judgment would disapprove of your behavior."

"What?! That boy attacked me first!", Himari shouted, pointing at Maruo. "I have every right to give it back to him!"

"Hmm... I don't remember seeing him attacking you, you know?", said the unknown girl, crossing her arms and making an exaggerated gesture of concentration. "Perhaps you'd better leave immediately. Leave them alone, before you end up further tarnishing Tokiwadai's name. I know a certain dorm warden who would be seriously pissed if she found out what happened here."

The girl kept her serious countenance, holding her right hand to her hip and fixing her gaze on Himari and her entourage.

"Hey, hey, hey, hey. Even though you're well known in Tokiwadai, who do you think you are to give me orders?", Himari snapped at her, finally abandoning all formality and admiration in her tone of voice.

At that moment, the short-haired girl did not respond. Normally she would choose not to interfere in the petty disputes between other students, even if they were from the same school, but in this case, she couldn't let it go. She was tired of seeing how some people looked down on lower-level Ability Users. Add to that the bad day she'd had so far, running all over the city, trying to take her revenge against a certain someone, and her patience was quickly wearing thin.

Without a word, a light blue lightning bolt shot out of her, at the level of her temple, impacting a few centimeters away from Himari with a thunderous noise.

"Eeeeek!", shrieked the group of girls, including the blonde with the twin-tails. The spot where the electric current had hit was covered with a black layer of burnt asphalt.

The short-haired girl stared at Himari and her group, glaring at them. The blonde knew well the power that girl had, and she also knew that had she wanted to, she could have burned her in the blink of an eye. Fearing that the second attack would be aimed directly at her, she turned to her companions:

"Let's-let's go! We're running late anyway."

As they retreated, the unknown girl turned to the duo, who were perplexed by the power she had shown in threatening Himari.

"I'm sorry you had to hear that. She might be a girl with exceptional ability, but she already has a bit of a bad reputation within Tokiwadai for her behavior towards the other students."

"That was incredible! What power! You didn't even have to attack her directly!", Yukiko exclaimed, unable to contain herself in front of one of the high society girls she admired so much. After all, for a few years, it had been her dream to study at Tokiwadai, surrounded by girls of high positions and admirable abilities.

Unfortunately, it was a requirement to be at least a Level 3 Ability User to enter, so she obviously could never study there. However, her admiration for the school only grew when she found out that not one, but two Level 5 girls belonged there.

And of those students, Yukiko had read about one with electrical powers, one who was listed as the third strongest Level 5.

And that girl was...

"A-Are you really... Mikoto Misaka? The Railgun?"

"Ah, I suppose my name precedes me...", the girl replied, scratching her head, feeling slightly uncomfortable. "Pleased to meet you."

"The pleasure is mine! And really, thank you very much for helping us!", Yukiko exclaimed, no longer able to contain her excitement. Her eyes sparkled at the sight of one of her idols so closely, and her hands and legs trembled at the thought of exchanging words with her.

"We really appreciate it", said Maruo, bowing politely. At the sight of him, Yukiko was embarrassed by her lack of manners and, blushing, bowed so sharply that you could almost hear her back crack.

Misaka, on the other hand, seemed to feel self-conscious at receiving such displays of admiration.

"Y-You really don't need to do that. I couldn't let that girl say all those things and get away with it, could I?"

"I'm sorry you went out of your way for us!", Yukiko apologized, bowing again. Maruo, on the other hand, was trying to hold back his laughter at the sight of her.

"It's okay, really. I was heading towards Seventh Mist, but it's not urgent. Besides, that Himari has caused trouble before by attacking students from other schools. This was a chance to put her in her place, at least for now."

"Anyway. I must be going", Misaka said, turning on her heels. "I hope you won't think too badly of Tokiwadai's students after what happened."

"Well, it was a Tokiwadai student who helped us", Maruo replied. "So the last thing we would do would be to think badly of the school's students of that school."

Misaka gave them a smile, waving goodbye. When she was gone, Yukiko looked at her friend, her eyes sparkling with excitement.

"Did you see that?! Mikoto Misaka-sama helped us! And we talked to her!"

"Of course I saw it, I was here the whole time", the boy replied, putting his hands in his pockets and still trying to contain his laughter. "Let's get out of here."

Nodding, Yukiko moved to her friend's side. Despite the commotion of a few minutes ago, they were both slowly returning to that feeling of emptiness. It was impossible to permanently remove them from their worries when, somewhere in that gigantic city, there was their best friend, being chased by Anti-Skill and Judgment.

Moreover, would even Ishiki still be inside Academy City?

Although there were approximately 2.3 million inhabitants in that scientific city, 80% of whom were students, a good portion of them were Ability Users with impressive powers.

And yet, secretly entering or leaving that gigantic laboratory for the development and study of human brain capabilities was virtually impossible. Hundreds of thousands of security robots, Anti-Skills, and Judgment were constantly patrolling, plus there were guards and security cameras scattered around the place, with security being especially tight on the perimeter of the city.

There were even cameras watching from beyond the clouds, set up on satellites that flew over the planet's atmosphere, like a giant divine eye that made sure none of its guinea pigs escaped.

Even if he managed to escape from the Anti-Skills who were looking for him, Ishiki would have to get his hands dirty taking care of any guards that got in the way if he wanted to go beyond the Academy City's boundary and flee to a nearby prefecture, which would make his capture a top priority for the Board of Directors.

It was no secret to any inhabitant of Academy City that the Ability Users were precious study material. The Ability Development Program was, in fact, one of the experiments that put Academy City at the forefront of the world's scientific community. Letting its students, the jewels in that crown, roam free, would give other governments easy access to conduct their own experiments on them, and thus create their own Ability Users.

Thinking of all the bad things that could happen to Ishiki, Yukiko shook her head from side to side aggressively, as if to shake those worries off. No. Kishi-kun would never go to the point of murdering others, even if it was to run away... He must still be in Academy City, hiding, she thought. Besides, given everything he's done against Level 0s so far, maybe he's looking for something...

Then, an idea crossed her mind.

"Maruo, I think I know where Ishiki might be!", Yukiko exclaimed, stopping in her tracks. Noticing it, Maruo stopped as well, watching her in awe.

"Really?! And where do you think he's got to?!"

"You remember what that girl with the twin-tails said in the morning, don't you? The one from Judgment."

"Ah, something about an Ability User attacking the Level 0s?", Maruo inquired, vaguely remembering what Shirai had said in the morning. With everything that had happened and the commotion caused at school, he had forgotten many of the events of that morning.

"Yes, that's right", Yukiko exclaimed. "Kishi-kun would never attack a defenseless Level 0 just for the sake of it! I'm an example myself, aren't I?"

"Well, I'll second that. Whenever he gets in trouble with you, you always end up hitting him, and he's never hit you back", Maruo laughed.

"Exactly! And who are the only Level 0s causing mayhem and attacking Ability Users?"

"You don't mean...?", asked the boy, looking at Yukiko with surprise and a little concern.

"That's exactly my point."

"Skill-Out!", they exclaimed in unison.

"Oh no, this is bad!", said Maruo, holding his hands to his head. "Skill-Out is full of dangerous criminals! Why on earth would Issan want to face them?"

"Do you think it's related to the recent murders?", Yukiko asked, fiddling with her hands nervously.

"If so, we need to find him, and quickly!"

It's true that Issan is powerful, but if he's not willing to murder those criminals he won't stand a chance. He'd be outnumbered, Maruo thought. Besides, with Judgment and Anti-Skill after him, the last thing he needs is to become a murderer on top of everything else.

"Where should we go, Maruo? Kishi-kun might be at risk if he faced a large number of Skill-Outs at once!"

"It must be somewhere where those rats congregate... A place where most of the gangs and subgroups of their organization are."

"And that place has to be... Strange."

"S-Strange? Do we really have to go to that place?", Yukiko asked, feeling nervous.

She'd heard about the place before. Strange was an area full of abandoned buildings, located in School District 10. The place was known to be home to hundreds of gangs and Skill-Out groups. It was an inhospitable place, where anyone who entered—whether an Ability User or not—was risking their life.

"I know the place is dangerous, but Issan is most likely to go there."

"I don't want to go... If we're attacked together, even if it's just one gang, it'll be impossible for us to get out in one piece."

"Listen", Maruo said, grabbing Yukiko by the shoulders. His gray eyes were filled with an infectious determination that showed that, despite the fear he felt, he was determined to take the risk. "I know that place is horrible, and that even with my power it will be very difficult to defend ourselves. But Issan is very important to us, isn't he?"

Yukiko blushed at Maruo's words. Looking away, she was silent for a few seconds before finally nodding.

"Okay. Try not to worry, okay? We'll have our phones ready, and if anything happens, I know we'll be able to defend ourselves long enough for Judgment to get there. Plus, you're a good puncher, I know that from experience", he added, pointing to his cheek and smiling a little.

"I-I'm sorry about that...", muttered Yukiko, feeling rather embarrassed for the impulsiveness she had shown in the morning.

"Bah, don't worry about it. I deserved it at the time. Besides, we have something more important to think about now."

Yukiko nodded again, determined. Following her friend, they both headed towards the infamous School District 10.

Chapter Text

The factory that would now serve as his shelter was a large place, though the interior didn't look at all like a manufacturing site. There were no machines, not even tables or control panels for the workers. There was only a cluster of at least ten monitors, all turned off, and two huge glass cylinders mounted on machines near the wall.

They looked like huge sealed beakers inside which an adult person would have fit without any problem. On the ground near those glass cylinders was a rather large puddle of an amber-colored substance.

This doesn't look like a factory..., was Ishiki's first thought when he entered.

It's more like some sort of... laboratory?

Ishiki recognized the kind of monitors that were there. They were the same ones used in the lab where they experimented on him and his friends when they were just children.

It was thanks to those experiments that he developed his Base Alter, and from there he was able to increase his own power through different types of training.

Why was there a laboratory in such conditions hidden in a factory? Or was the factory just a façade?

But if so, why would a lab need a façade? Were they...?

Illegal experiments?, Ishiki thought.

Looking more closely, he detected a series of wires running from the giant glass beakers to the set of monitors, connected to the largest of the computers. The screen was broken, and looking at the precarious state of the other monitors, barely recognizable, it gave the appearance that a fire had broken out.

The screens were melted, with holes through which the plasma was leaking. Even the keyboards and part of the metal desk on which all the machinery was located were damaged by the heat.

It was as if someone—or something—had caused all that damage on purpose since the rest of the place was intact. It wasn't possible that only the computers caught fire, but not the floor and walls around them, was it?

Will the investigators be all right? I assume so since I don't remember them announcing any deaths of investigators in recent days.

"Although... I don't remember the news saying anything about a lab suffering such damage either", he muttered to himself.

Ishiki took another step forward. Even though that huge computer was undoubtedly broken, its appearance was imposing. He had never seen one of that size before, not even in the laboratories where students developed their superhuman abilities. Even for Academy City, the cradle of cutting-edge technology and research, such a computer was unusual.

Before he could approach, a soft sound behind him made him turn around quickly. However, there was no one there.

Swallowing saliva, starting to feel uncomfortable and scared, he brought his hand closer to the computer. Examining it in detail, Ishiki noticed a rather large deformation on the side, as if a heatwave coming from a specific direction had caused such damage.

"How hot does something have to be to melt even the metallic elements...?", the boy wondered quietly.

"Fire can have incredible effects when you can control the heat levels", a voice behind him replied.

With a shudder, Ishiki turned quickly, jumping backward to get away from the unexpected intruder. It was a girl about his height, perhaps one meter with sixty-five centimeters tall. She had light blonde hair, almost white, wavy, and short. Her eyes were a grayish-blue, and they were fixed on his own.

Ishiki's first thought was that she was a student of the Ryōran Girls' Housekeeping Academy. However, the color of her maid uniform was quite different from what one would expect a maidto wear. The blouse, instead of having a dark blue or black color, was almond-colored, very unusual even by the standards of that institution.

On top of everything else, she didn't even look like a Japanese girl. Her pale, porcelain-like skin and those big, piercing eyes gave her away as a foreigner. Was she American? European?

Ishiki kept alert. In the brief time it took him to change and flee his apartment, he managed to catch a glimpse of his own face on the screens all over Academy City. Was that girl coming to catch him? Would she give him away?

"I advise you to retire, sir", said the girl, speaking in perfectly fluent Japanese. "This place is my refuge, and I don't remember having any visitors scheduled for today."

"Refuge?", Ishiki looked around again. "That sounds like you're trying to hide from someone. Are you a criminal too, miss?"

He said that last word with a biting tone.

"I'm afraid I wouldn't fall for something as crude as that, Ishiki", the girl replied, watching him impassively.

The boy took a step back, startled to hear his own name come from the lips of a stranger. The only way she could know it was from those Judgment and Anti-Skill warnings with his name and face on them.

"What do you want?", Ishiki asked, almost shouting out of nervousness. A thin trickle of cold sweat trickled down his forehead. "I'm warning you, if you come any closer...!"

"If I come closer, what?", replied the girl, taking a step forward.

That triggered Ishiki's fears. A flare erupted in the air, at the height of the girl's legs.

I won't kill her, but I'll make sure she can't chase me down and turn me in to Anti-Skill!, thought Ishiki. I just have to keep combusting the oxygen around her to leave her immobilized.

However, the terror he already felt was increased exponentially when emerging from the screen of flames and smoke, the girl was still walking, unharmed. Not even her clothes had suffered any damage, nor had her hair been disarranged. Not a drop of sweat was dripping from her.

"Aaah... It's a pity you showed so much aggressivity, Ishiki", the girl said, watching him with those cold eyes. "I had intended to let you escape with just a few warnings..."

"D-Don't come any closer!", the boy shouted, this time slowing the vibration of the humid air around the girl. The sudden change in temperature created a cloud of dry steam as a white layer formed on the ground, rising to cover the girl completely.

However, the ice cracked. The girl, still unharmed, looked up at him. In her eyes, once impassive and cold, now flashed a spark of fury.

"I can't stand aggressive people against a lady, you know", she said, still moving toward him. They were a scant three meters apart.

Ishiki tried to back away, but he felt the hard surface of the huge computer against his back. What kind of power did this girl have, that she could get rid of the extreme heat and cold so easily?

That doesn't matter now, I've got to pin her down and get the hell out of here!

Acting on impulsivity, he lunged at the girl, fist raised. Perhaps they would both suffer some serious burns, but the heat of battle, coupled with his exhaustion, made it impossible for him to think clearly.

Ishiki's knuckles ignited. His flaming fist rapidly approached the girl's face and, with a dull sound, made an impact.

"... How did you...?"

It hit, but not against the blonde's cheek, but inches away from it, as if the air itself had stopped his attack.

The flames in Ishiki's hand were consumed, even though he was still using his Base Alterto ignite the oxygen around him. It was as if this stranger's ability, whatever it was, was canceling out his own.

Jumping to the side and trying to get as far away from his opponent as he could, Ishiki rubbed his knuckles. They were reddened, with a few sores that would have bled if the heat had not already cauterized the wounds.

"The flames will not harm me. They're actually on my side, protecting me", the girl said, watching him. "I doubt you even know this, but not all the powers of this world were created in Academy City."

"In fact, my brain is intact. Neither an experiment was performed on me, nor were powers artificially developed through what you call 'science'", the girl finished, looking at him.

Ishiki was stunned. He was trembling in legitimate terror for his life for the first time in a very long time. How was it possible that she had not been raised in Academy City? It was true that there were rumors of a few Ability Users who managed to develop their abilities even before entering the city, but they were such rare cases that they had passed into the category of myth.

It was, therefore, impossible for that girl, with abilities he would categorize as close to a Level 4—no, even Level 5—had not been treated by the scientists beforehand.

"I guess it's no problem if you don't make it out unscathed, right?", said the girl, pulling Ishiki out of his reverie.

"So let me introduce myself properly before I eliminate you, Ishiki", the girl continued, taking a deep breath before uttering words that seemed completely out of place to Ishiki: "My anger burns fiery as the Judgment from God, Ignis124."

"Aaaaaaaargh!", Ishiki lunged at the girl again, ready to strike her this time. However, he ended up only hitting the air around his opponent again.

However, being able to observe better—perhaps because of the adrenaline shot his body had unleashed—he noticed that what stopped each of his blows looked like a hand... A whitish hand, also created by burning flames.

Then, the strange girl began to utter something that again seemed to Ishiki to be completely meaningless:

"OHFTIOPMTS..."

(Oh, Holy Fire that is omnipotent, protect me, Thy servant...).

Such a surge of heat was unleashed that Ishiki was thrown roughly through the air. His back hit the concrete wall with such force that he almost heard his own bones crack.

"FTEFTDTTC."

(... from this enemy's flames that defy Thy Ten Commandments).

From the back of the girl who called herself Ignis124 sprouted two flames as if they were small wings.

"ATPOCFTTA..."

(As the prophet of Camael from the Ten Archangels...).

W-what... what's going on...?, Ishiki thought, his brain working at full speed, and not even aware that he was crying, terrified by the bizarre spectacle.

"...IAFTPTFTDTWAATSW!"

(... I ask for Thy power, Thy flames, to destroy those who act against Thy Sacred Will!)

In the girl's hand, the flames gathered, lengthening to form what looked like a long sword of white fire. The heat it gave off was such that Ishiki thought he would go blind just looking at it, as he tried to understand how his opponent was able to hold such a weapon without incinerating her own flesh.

Then the girl raised her arm, sword in hand.

Knowing he only had one chance, Ishiki changed the vibration of the ground beneath his feet and, creating a jolt with enough force to propel him, he broke into a breakneck run thanks to the momentum. He no longer cared about his pride or his longing for an answer to the growing number of questions in his mind. He didn't care anymore. He just wanted to get away from this place.

Swinging the flaming sword, the girl struck right where Ishiki had been a second before. The heat was so hot that some of the cement had melted.

Unfortunately for her, she had been very slow.

The intruder was gone.

"Well...", she said to herself, as the flames disappeared, and her sword vanished into thin air as if it had never been created in the first place. "I don't think anyone's going to believe him, even if he decides to open his mouth and tell what happened."

"What's more, all of Academy City is doomed to disappear tonight."

The abandoned lab was in the same stony silence it had been just minutes ago. The only evidence of what had happened in the place was the hole in the concrete wall, which still glowed faintly like magma.

—o—

Ishiki had never felt so grateful to have an ability like Base Alter. If it wasn't for his power, he wouldn't have had the chance to vibrate the stone of the ground beneath his feet at that moment to propel himself forward at once.

If it weren't for that, I'm sure I'd be dead right now..., he thought.

He took a deep breath, catching his breath. He was sweaty, and his clothes were even dirtier than before, probably from the smoke of that fiery fight. As he looked around, he realized where he had ended up in his flight.

He hadn't noticed along the way, he just wanted to escape from that factory-laboratory, so he hadn't realized how close he was to his goal.

He was standing in front of Strange, the place where the Skill-Out gathered. Although, in reality, it had always been there, he just hadn't known about it until now.

The factory-laboratory was in School District 10, the same place where that rat's nest was.

I don't have the strength to fight..., he thought, I'll try not to stand out too much while I regain my strength.

At least, with the deplorable appearance he had, he could easily pass himself off as a gang member.

Ishiki had almost forgotten his goal, the reason why he had had to hide in the factory in the first place, and why he had committed all those crimes.

Now, however, he could only think of one thing as he leaned against a wall and sat on some cardboard boxes.

That girl... Is that the power of a Level 5?

... Or is it... something else...?

Whatever the answer, he definitely didn't want to face someone like that again in his life.

Chapter Text

The girl in the maid dress turned, looking toward the small back door that connected to one of the storerooms. She had heard footsteps.

Although her flaming wings and sword disappeared into thin air, she didn't think she would need them. After all, the young man who had just entered was not an intruder.

It was just a partner with whom she had been working on a small project.

"Oh, Charlie-san," said the boy, looking at her. "I didn't know you were here."

"You took less time than I thought. You missed something quite interesting," the girl replied, alternating her gaze between the young man and the hole she had made in the stone wall. "And I've already told you not to call me 'Charlie'. I was considerate enough to let you call me by any name other than 'Ignis124', so stick to the name I gave you permission to use."

"Ah, that's right. My apologies, Charlotte-san..."

The girl waved her right hand slightly as if to dismiss the useless conversation.

"Were you able to accomplish the task I assigned you?", asked Charlotte, looking at the young man in the eye. "Will I be able to do it tonight?"

The young man smiled. Pulling the curtain of black hair away from his face, he held out a curved, blood-soaked knife to the girl. The blade, of a whitish silver color, was stained with crimson, though part of it already had the brownish color of dried blood. The hilt, of gold and silver, had four inlaid curtains, each with a small carved cross, very similar to the symbol used by followers of Crossism.

Charlotte approached him, took the knife off his hand, which seemed intended for some sort of ritual, and raised it to her eyes, inspecting it.

"Blood of ten people, all with special talents. One sacrifice for each Sephira" she murmured.

"I beg your pardon," asked the young man. He didn't understand English very well, and he hated that this strange girl decided to speak in that language randomly. He felt as if she did it on purpose, with the intention that he could not understand what she was saying.

"Do you still have the Jewel of Yesod?", asked Charlotte, not taking her eyes off the knife.

The young man nodded. From his left earlobe hung a navy blue earring. With every movement of his head, the small gem emitted a strange and unnatural glow, since it did not seem to be reflected light, but produced directly from the center of the jewel.

"Perfect. Don't lose it, I went through a lot of trouble to steal it. Just don't forget our agreement: I give you power, but you help me take the lives needed for the Ritual of the Gate of Eden."

"Don't worry. Even a Skill-Out like me knows how to keep a promise. Is there anything else I have to do?", asked the boy, looking at her with curiosity.

Charlotte walked through the abandoned lab, looking at the giant broken beakers.

"I'm sorry you had to search all over the city for those... what did they call them? 'Ability Users,'" she said, not taking her eyes off the broken glass of the cylinders, so large that an adult human could fit inside. "I understand your gang used to work for an old research team that was trying to create artificial ones, didn't they?"

"Exactly. But unfortunately, the cloning process didn't work out... We had the necessary funds, but the investor walked away as soon as he learned that the first two clones were a failure.

"It's a real shame because had we been able to successfully create Ability Users artificially we would have had an infinite supply of lives to take, and the authorities wouldn't even have known about it."

"I remember you mentioning it. Science doesn't interest me at all, but I have to admit that the creation of artificial humans is something that this research shared with magic. What went wrong in the experiment?"

The young man swallowed hard. He was not used to hearing the word "magic", even though he had been working with Charlotte for the past two weeks or so. However, having seen what she was capable of, and what she made him capable of, he couldn't help but believe in the existence of that world that had so far remained hidden from him.

"I must say that I don't know all the details... After all, I'm not too well-versed in the whole experimentation thing. As you might expect from Skill-Out, we were just obeying the orders of the scientist in charge of everything.

"A-although you could say it's my fault it didn't work out...", the young man continued, scratching his head nervously. "But I'm glad that at least things are working out better now, with this whole magic thing."

Charlotte smiled, turning her cold eyes to the boy before speaking again, ending the conversation about science that, by that point, had already begun to bore her.

"I will take care of the preparations. No one has better knowledge of the Ritual of the Gate of Eden than I do, thanks to this book," the girl took out a small volume, the size of a notebook and covered in red leather. It had some strange symbols on the cover, which definitely did not belong to the Japanese syllabary, nor to the Roman alphabet. "I just need you to cover for me in case someone decides to come. There's a guy who seems to be looking for the person responsible for the murders, and if he finds out it was you it's very likely he'll come back."

"Ah, I know who it is. There are ads all over town. It's that Kurumizawa's Level 4 who called himself the 'Magician of Academy City'. As a hero name, I think it's average, to be honest."

Charlotte smirked. Wizard? Idiot boy. If you knew the true weight that title carries you wouldn't be using it to play vigilante.

Well, it's not like that guy could stop the ritual on his own without the proper knowledge, and I highly doubt anyone in the authorities is going to believe him now that they're looking to arrest him, the girl thought.

"Charlotte-san. I will be able to keep this power if everything goes well, right?", asked the boy, gently touching the pendant. Using it usually caused him an immense sense of uneasiness, but finally having an ability, after so many years, was intoxicating for him. Like a drug, addictive but tremendously damaging to his body, much more than his mind, accustomed to a world without magic, could even conceive.

"Exactly. After all, if it weren't for you this wouldn't have worked out. We will both benefit greatly from this. You will get your revenge, and I will be able to accomplish the first of many purges this world needs."

"So my only job is to get rid of the Kurumizawa guy if he shows up here, right?"

"You could say that," Charlotte replied, opening the book in the middle and inspecting the contents of the pages. With her free hand, she pulled a scarlet-colored chalk from the front pocket of her apron. Without looking at the boy, she began to trace a gigantic circle on the ground, about ten meters in diameter, constantly consulting her book.

After finishing drawing the figure, the girl began to write something on the edges of the circle in a language that appeared to be Greek. Four words that were unknown to her companion, but with which she seemed to be familiar with.

"Camael..." she murmured, as she wrote down each word. "Milchamah... Athanatos... Sabaoth..."

Camael... Warrior of the immortal army of the Lord..., thought Charlotte, mentally translating what she had written.

Next, the blonde girl drew some symbols inside the circle. Numerous small Celtic crosses, the symbol of the fifth sephira, Gevurah, in the center of it, and finally the character representing Mars, at the bottom left and pointing upwards to the right.

After finishing drawing the Seal, Charlotte closed the book and, together with the chalk, put both objects back in her pocket. She brought her right hand to her forehead, touching it with her fingertips and then lowering it to the level of her diaphragm. She then raised it to her left shoulder and finished by bringing it up to his right shoulder.

"Amen", she finally murmured in English. It all seemed very strange to the young man, who had been watching her with interest. Even he, who was an atheist, knew that the moment when people signed themselves with the cross was a solemn thing, so he did not interrupt her.

"The Seal of Gevurah is finished," said the girl, turning her blue eyes to her assistant. "If it is to be done properly, we must let the ground absorb some of the chalk lime so that the Seal will be forged into a sacred mark. It will take a few hours, but I think it will be ready by evening."

"It's too much time... Don't you think it would be better if I go straight to that Level 4 and finish him off?", asked the boy.

Charlotte simply shook her head.

"I don't think it's necessary. If you want to, warn the rest of your gang to keep him busy if they find him. Although, as I said, without the proper knowledge, he won't be able to stop the ritual."

Chapter Text

INTERLUDE TWO

— —And then, a battle on the Dark Side broke out.

The car's engine could not keep up with the speed at which its driver was trying to get there. The man, who did not even bother to adjust his crooked glasses, had hurriedly escaped from the research center. Even his lab coat, which was stained with a few drops of his own blood, was disarranged and slightly torn.

But how could he expect anything else from someone who had betrayed and stolen from his superiors? His only objective at the moment was to arrive at the agreed place that very night.

His name was Mitsuo Kagurazaka. He had participated in what might be Academy City's biggest experiment to date. What was the project? It was easy to describe, though not so easy to accomplish.

After all, creating over twenty thousand Ability Users from the DNA of one of the most powerful Level 5s in Academy City was not only complicated but also tremendously expensive. And all for what? For a maniacal white-haired monster to kill them to become more powerful. It was like accumulating experience by killing low-level monsters to raise the hero's power.

Mitsuo considered it a tremendous waste of potential. If only the Radio Noise Project hadn't been considered a failure...

That same night of May 11th, one of the clones, Sister number 9982, was born. At that moment, he had in his pocket all the information that had made it possible to create the clones, carefully stored in a flash drive, as well as a test tube with samples that were still useful.

All he had to do was get to the abandoned factory where the other research team was. A team that planned to perfect the clones of the failed Radio Noise Project on their own. While he had his doubts that they could pull it off, for him it was preferable to take the risk (and the money) rather than let the clones go to waste on something that, in his eyes, was unnecessary.

Create the first Level 6... Ha! What for? Why give that maniac more power? Damn... So much money is being wasted on such a stupid project.

Now that I think about it... who is supposed to be investing money in this? From the advance paid they gave me, you can tell they really do have lots of funds to spare...

Who the hell, in all of Academy City, is investing money in research something that has already failed in the past?

"Bah... What am I worried about? At least I'll have enough money to live well for a long time. And, if all this really works out, there will be no reprisals against me for making the lab a resounding success—"

FSSSSHT! KABLAM!

A beam of green light, like a huge laser, had just cut his vehicle in two.

The car—or, rather, the two halves of the vehicle—went several more meters before finally coming to an abrupt halt. Countless orange sparks flew from the area where the metal of the car scraped against the pavement.

Mitsuo was holding tightly to the steering wheel, his forehead bleeding. The sudden attack, accompanied by the violent jolt of the vehicle, had caused him to hit his head against the wheel.

When his vision finally stopped blurring, he spotted a pair of figures in front of him, emerging from a giant smoking hole in the wall of a building.

The first, a rather tall girl with a curvaceous body, had her right hand pointed in his direction. From it came a faint greenish glow, the same shade as the laser that had cut his vehicle in two.

The second girl, with short black hair and a tired look, came out behind the first. She said absolutely nothing, but from the lack of flinch on her part, Mitsuo deduced that she was with who appeared to be her attacker.

"Well, well, well. So here we have the mouse that was trying to run away", said the first girl, looking at Mitsuo while giving him a smile he didn't like at all. "I think a couple of centimeters to the left would have been enough to cut you in two, don't you think?"

"W-who are you?! You could have killed me!" shouted Mitsuo, trying to loosen his seat belt. However, the sudden crash had caused the seat belt system to lock, holding him in place.

"Who are we? Hmm... How would you answer that, Takitsubo?"

Mitsuo deduced that she was addressing the short-haired girl, though she merely remained silent. However, a third, slightly higher-pitched voice made itself heard from the still-smoking hole in the wall, accompanied by the sound of low-heeled footsteps.

"I know the answer, Mugino! We are ITEM!"

The girl who had spoken was of short stature and slim build, with wavy blonde hair that fell elegantly over her shoulders. On her head she wore a navy blue beret, matching the rest of her clothes.

"I-ITEM?!" exclaimed Mitsuo, feeling his heart skip a beat and his guts twist. He had heard that name several times before. The laboratory where he worked had hired that organization on other occasions, mainly to stop potential dangers to their research.

Of course, stealing samples was listed among those potential hazards.

A slight click indicated that his belt had finally given way. Fondling the pocket of his lab coat, he breathed a slight sigh of relief after noticing the sample was still there.

However, behind his back, he felt a strong grip. Two arms, quite thin, held him with such force that he could almost hear his glenohumeral joints creaking under the pressure. Terrified and in pain, feeling cornered, he looked back, trying to see the face of the one who was pinning him down. The face was covered by the hood of an orange short-sleeved sweatshirt, although he could recognize quite feminine facial features.

S-seriously?! Are these girls the mighty ITEM organization?! But they're just brats!, he thought, struggling with the grip.

"Come on, come on, stop moving like that. This won't hurt if you give us that sample," said the girl with the beret. From her accent, she seemed to be a foreigner. European, maybe? Or American?

"We won't need to convince him, Frenda. This will be quick," said the tall girl, Mugino. "Kinuhata, let him go."

"Super-yes, Mugino," replied the girl in the sweatshirt, letting go of Mitsuo and jumping to the side, away from him. He sighed in relief, but...

His relief would be short-lived.

A greenish glow illuminated the night again, piercing him from side to side. From his left shoulder to his right side, Mugino's laser cut him in two.

By the time his body, now split into two bloody pieces, with fragments of organs hanging out, fell to the ground, all trace of life had left Mitsuo's face.

"Ah, wow. Looks like we...super-failed?" said Kinuhata, looking at the flash drive, which was partially scorched, and the broken test tube, the contents of which were spilling out onto the pavement. It seems that the pocket of Mitsuo's lab coat had been hit by Mugino's lethal power, destroying the samples.

"Well, at least it didn't fall into the wrong hands, don't you think? We accomplished our main objective, which was to stop the thief."

"Mugino!" Frenda, the girl with the beret, shouted. "You almost cut me in half too! Give me more time to get out of the way!"

"Hahahaha! Well, next time I'll consider letting you know."

"'You will consider'?!" Frenda shrieked, as they walked away from the scene, returning to the lab to report the outcome of their mission.

As the group of girls walked away, a silhouette stood hidden behind a wall. His long black hair was drenched in sweat, and his heart was pounding so hard that he thought it would give away his position at any moment.

G-G-God... now they're sending hitmen to wipe out anyone who betrays them? The scientists in this city are crazy..., he thought. Once the sound of sneakers and heels had stopped, he waited a few moments before peeking around the corner.

The dim moonlight illuminated Mitsuo Kagurazaka's divided body, reflecting off the blood splattered on the asphalt and the organs peeking out of the cavity that had been left when he was cut. Inevitably, the black-haired young man retched loudly, expelling the entire contents of his stomach onto the ground.

As best as he could, he approached the corpse, inspecting with unimaginable revulsion the pockets of the lab coat and pants.

Shit... it was all destroyed!, he thought again, remembering the conversation between the girls as they were leaving the scene.

Rising to his feet, he approached the wreckage of the vehicle. He inspected all the seats, the glove box, and even the cup holder. There was nothing. The only thing he found that was worth anything was a paper envelope, in which there were only some empty test tubes and a laminated card. It was all the money Mitsuo was paid for the samples... Well, given the results of the mission, it was only fair to recoup the investment. Pocketing the card in his pants, and with the test tubes still in his hand, a horrible noise sent a shiver down his spine.

A laugh. Long, icy, irregular, maniacal. It came from an alley, a couple of blocks from where he was standing. The laughter was followed by gunshots. Two... No, maybe four. Straining his ears, he tried to detect something else.

Nothing. As soon as that strange combination of noises had begun, the night returned to its usual calm.

What the hell was that?

There was nothing more he could retrieve from Mitsuo, so he moved away from there as fast as he could, in the direction from which the commotion had come. Besides, the steely stench of fresh blood was beginning to make him dizzy. It was fortunate that the streets were desolate thanks to the curfew.

He was quickly approaching the alley from where he was sure the shooting had occurred. He might not have any special skills or powers, but his sense of hearing was quite acute, as he constantly had to run from Judgment members, as well as the other Skill-Out gangs.

It was poorly lit, but he could recognize a figure leaning in a corner. Its slender limbs, twisted at odd angles, made him swallow saliva nervously. The lack of reaction from that figure, along with the steely stench that was intensifying again, indicated to him in a not-so-subtle way that he was facing a corpse... for the second time in one night.

He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket, turned on its flashlight, and the light finally gave him a clearer view of the situation.

It was indeed a lifeless body. A girl, about fourteen years old. She was wearing the Tokiwadai uniform, stained with blood. On her face, she wore night vision goggles, with one of the lenses broken by what appeared to be a bullet hole.

Is this a... Sister?, he thought. For a millisecond he thought it would be Tokiwadai's Railgun, whose appearance was well-known to many. But it was inconceivable that she would wander the streets alone during curfew, let alone be killed with only four gunshots.

Normally, someone like him—no powers, no talent, and completely alienated from the scientific community since he was discarded for being a Level 0—shouldn't even know what the Sisters were. But then again, thanks to the alliance his Skill-Out gang had made with a group of scientists, they had access to lots of information. After all, even if they were just the pawns in a war of labs stealing from each other, they should have known the utmost importance of what they were to obtain.

And even with all that, he didn't fully understand the science behind cloning. He only knew that it required some DNA from the creature they wanted to clone, but now that Mitsuo had been destroyed along with the samples he had stolen, the entire alliance between the scientists and Skill-Out was in jeopardy.

All because of a DNA sample... A sample that had been lost... Lost?

Right... Maybe he could...

He brought his free hand close to the girl's limp head. It was still possible to feel some warmth. He wondered if doing that would be right, but it was not the time for cheap moralizing...

He plucked a lock of the girl's hair, making sure his bare hand touched nothing but the portion he had taken. His heart was pounding violently, though he didn't have time to wonder again if desecrating a corpse was okay. He heard footsteps, a group of about ten...no, twenty people. They didn't sound like Anti-Skill boots but like school loafers. However, he wasn't going to risk being seen at the scene of a crime, and not just any crime, but a murder.

He turned on his heel and ran in the opposite direction of the footsteps. Mitsuo had failed in his mission, but at least he had recovered a useful DNA sample.

Because clones are genetically identical to the original...right?

As he walked away from the scene, disappearing down an alley, the source of the footsteps came to where the Sister's body lay. Twenty girls, around fourteen years of age, stared at the corpse with expressions as lifeless as the blood-stained girl.

But that insensitivity was not the most striking thing about the group, but the fact that they all looked exactly alike. Moreover, they were the spitting image of the corpse, with their Tokiwadai uniforms, their short hair combed with no differences between them and their night vision goggles.

"It's time to perform the assigned cleanup, says MISAKA, requesting MISAKA to help her cover her sister's corpse with the bag."

She had a very peculiar way of speaking. Anyone listening to her would have a hard time knowing whether she was serious or not. After all, who would speak in the third person, narrating their own actions, and with such an impassive tone of voice?

"Affirmative, MISAKA replies, as he begins to open the body bag."

Another of the girls replied, in a voice identical to the first. She approached the corpse that looked so much like her, opening the zipper of a rather large black bag.

In a matter of minutes, there would be no trace left in the alley of what had happened.

Even the assassin must have been kilometers away from the area by now, advancing like a white, impassive shadow.