Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM Chapter1 (section)

===Part 11===

An enormous mass of electric energy was slowly approaching at a speed of 5km/h. A thick collection of lightning weaved between the buildings, the surrounding skyscrapers bending and warping around it.

It took a humanoid shape.

A bipedal lightning goddess walked the earth.

Yomikawa Aiho of Anti-Skill faced it with a cheerful smile.

“Is that all? Everyone was shouting about a kaiju, but it’s just another pachinko ad.”

“It is not, Senpai!! Please face reality!!!”

Yomikawa stared into the middle distance while Tessou tearfully grabbed her shoulders and shook her.

They didn’t have time to not believe this flashy performance was real. The very real threat was slowly but surely approaching.

A low tremor ran through the asphalt.

''Thoom!!'' The distant skyscrapers shook side to side so violently they looked ready to surpass the limits of their earthquake countermeasures. Below those buildings, something none of them wanted to see was slowly approaching.

Misaka Mikoto had become a lightning goddess.

And there was another one. A goddess adorned in flowers had appeared and started clashing with the first goddess.

The catastrophe was slowly but surely approaching.

They probably weren’t even looking at the panicked people along the way. The two kaiju destroyed everything in their path as they collided and tangled together in a very lily-ish way.

Yomikawa Aiho returned to reality.

She gave her first command to her subordinates.

“Have all the Judgment members fall back!! Esper or not, they’re students and we need to protect them!”

“B-but…”

“Shut up and hand me that rocket launcher, Tessou. I’d rather fight on my own than survive by putting those kids in danger.”

“I’m trying to tell you we haven’t been given permission to attack, Senpai!!”

Rakuoka Houfu, a short Anti-Skill officer with glasses and a combover, could only stand there in a daze while those two were arguing.

The trained Anti-Skill officers equipped with advanced weaponry understood one thing much better than the ordinary people wasting their efforts stockpiling food or creating makeshift weapons by cutting metal pipes diagonally.

There was no defeating those two.

“What do we do? Really, what do we do?”

“Hey, build a barricade. Tessou, laying down your weapon won’t improve the situation!!”

There were voices berating the younger Anti-Skill officers who couldn’t bear the quaking pressure and huddled together like they were being shelled, but the chain of command was in tatters. Two massive and overwhelming individuals kept them from acting as a group.

“Anyway, what do you mean we don’t have permission to attack!? We can’t do proper recon with the security cameras and robots on the fritz and we’re not even allowed to deactivate the safeties on our equipment without permission from the higher ups!!”

“About that. None of those higher ups are responding.”

“This is why I hate those principals and vice principals who never do any field work. So how are we supposed to fight!? It’s like we have two giant typhoons charging toward us!!”

“Eek, don’t ask me.”

…The actual explanation for the lack of permission was that Mikoto had hacked the network and messed with the electronic signatures and encryption keys so any attempt would return an error and Shokuhou had brainwashed everyone with that authority ''in advance'' so they wouldn’t do anything.

Several gray clouds of dust joined together at the bottom of the skyscraper district.

They looked small from here, but each cloud had to be well over 20m. It was like an attack from a rapid-fire gun launching explosive shells or an automatic grenade launcher. Each blast had to be enough to blow a convenience store to smithereens. A series of those would be enough to flatten the entire area.

Most likely, another unit of Anti-Skill officers had opened fire on the goddesses without waiting for permission and been hit by a counterattack. The concrete wall, vehicles, or whatever else they were using for cover had likely been obliterated.

A coordinated counterattack from land and air required the ability to send everyone their orders and a strategy that made the best use of their personnel. Waiting for attack authorization was only the starting point there.

But if they did nothing, those things would reach them.

The kaiju looked like they had completely lost their ability to think rationally. If they determined any armed person was hostile, then Anti-Skill’s lives would be snuffed out like a candle’s flame.

Among them, Rakuoka Houfu spotted a solid silver sparkle.

Four of his colleagues were carrying a heavy-looking case made of duralumin.

“What’s that!? A next-gen anti-ship weapon!?”

The short and balding middle-aged man snatched away the sturdy locked duralumin case and found a bunch of strictly sealed letters inside.

The box contained all of the officers’ wills.

“I’ve had enough!! Raise the white flag!! I want to go home!!!”