Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS2 Chapter6 (section)

=== Part 4 ===
<br>
Misaka Mikoto jumped out from behind a battered shelf.

At the same time, multiple gunshots chased after her.

Intense bluish-white sparks flew from her entire body starting with her bangs. The flash and roar were just like that from actual lightning. The tremendous light and noise pounded an extremely primal fear into the hearts of the rioters that were staring at her through their gun sights.

Simply put, it was similar to a stun grenade.

However, the problem was that they held rifles or handguns in their hands. The flash and roar did make them flinch away and it succeeded in taking a few of their senses from them, but at the same time, their trigger fingers pulled back almost reflexively.

Even more bullets flew through the air.

Mikoto had been heading for a nearby shelf, but she gave up on that and used magnetism to forcibly pull the shelf closer.

The rifle bullets could easily pierce straight through the shelf.

However, Mikoto used magnetism to crush the shelf raising its density. As a result, it just barely managed to stop the deadly bullets.

Mikoto then threw the crushed shelf at the group of rioters.

Multiple people were knocked away as if they were bowling pins.

“Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!”

With a universally understood cry, men and women continued to charge for her despite having blood flowing from their foreheads. It did not matter whether they held guns. Mikoto had been determined to be pure evil, so they were mercilessly heading for her as if they enjoyed the fact that they had made that determination.

(The lowering of their ability to think has dulled their sense of pain… Dammit, this is practically a scene from a zombie movie!!)

The crackling of bluish-white sparks exploded out.

A high voltage current flew straight ahead and finally stole the use of his limbs from a rioter and knocked him unconscious.

Or so it should have.

“Gh…gh…”

Despite having collapsed, the rioter’s fingertips were wriggling which caused even Mikoto to gasp in surprise.

And then…

(…?)

Mikoto heard a creaking sound from the side.

As soon as she heard it, multiple shelves from the gun shops collapsed all at once as if they had been hit by heavy machinery.

“Wha—!?”

At that time, Mikoto remembered a documentary on tropical oceans she had seen.

More accurately, she recalled the sea anemones.

What reminded her of them were all the hands, hands, hands, hands, hands, hands, hands, hands, hands, hands, hands, hands, hands, hands!!!!!

“…!! What happened to your guns!?”

Mikoto magnetically manipulated one of the shelves that had been knocked over. She sent it sliding across the floor at high speed as if it was sliding on ice. It took out the rioters’ feet knocking them over.

But that was not enough.

She then heard a metallic click behind her.

“I didn’t say that because I was hoping you would bring the guns back!!”

Multiple gunshots rang out.

Mikoto dropped down her hand that was up in the air while magnetically manipulating the rebar in the ceiling. A large amount of building materials came crashing down like a shutter creating a shield against the bullets.

An unpleasant sweat appeared over Mikoto’s body.

There were some rioters as well as Mikoto along the path where the bullets would have gone. They truly were just a gathering of strangers, so they did not care about friendly fire.

She could not continue stopped in one place.

She had to stop the guns from being spread out from that gun shop area, but getting swallowed up by the waves of people would not help anything.

“…!!”

Mikoto gritted her back teeth and moved swiftly. She fired a few more flashes and roars in the place of stun grenades and used all her speed to leave that gun shop area.

She cut across a grocery corner and into a do-it-yourself carpentry corner while a few bullets were fired nearby.

(I can’t do anything if I don’t neutralize their guns.)

Mikoto ducked down and ran between shelves while covering her head from the remnants of the products being blown away by the rifle bullets.

(My power can do a lot of things, but it’s easier to use by strengthening it with items gathered from the area than just using it by itself. Even its namesake, the Railgun, is like that…)

Mikoto practically slid into the corner she was headed for and grabbed the package she was going for. It was a large plastic bag about the size of a bag of rice.

(And so is my magnetic control using iron sand.)

Inside the bag were business use hand warmers.

The package held a few dozen of them and Mikoto used magnetism to rip them apart from the inside.

There were multiple types of hand warmers, but those ones had iron powder inside.

“Personally, I find iron sand easier to use, but I guess this is no time to be picky.”

She heard a sound similar to when an insect flew by her ear.

The advantage of iron sand or iron powder was that it could easily be interfered with using magnetism. If she made it vibrate at high speed, she could cut objects as if with a chainsaw and she could change it into the form of a sword, a spear, or a whip at will.

For example, it was not difficult to send out orders that caused masses smaller than a speck to be fired into the barrels or the ejection ports of the guns to tear them apart from the inside.

The sound of objects slicing through the air continued.

However, the sound was not that of rifle bullets.

It was the sound of the “bullets” of iron powder Mikoto was firing being swallowed up by the barrels of the rioter’s guns.

(This will work.)

She was now sure of that as she started to run again.

This time, she was not trying to flee. She was running in order to fight.

(This way, I can neutralize all of the guns being looted from that area! I can avoid the worst possible situation!!)

Just as she thought that, Mikoto sensitively felt an invisible current in the atmosphere. It was not a physical current of air. It was the current of emotions that had spread throughout the area and given rise to that rioting.

It had chaotically spread through that area like a giant balloon being filled to its limits within an airtight room.

However, it was now as if a gap had been created.

The flowing feelings were leaving for somewhere else. The tense feelings started to move off into the distance.

At first, Mikoto thought it was just the rioters faltering at the beginning of her counterattack.

But it was not that.

It was…

That current of emotions was…

(The target of the violence…has changed to something else?)

Mikoto frowned while continuing to destroy the rioters’ rifles from the inside.

(The Russian version of the uranium ornament story had me as the ultimate villain. Why would they start to leave their primary target alone…?)

Had the violence advanced to the point where their original reasons no longer mattered? If so, it could be a major problem in its own way, but…

(Wait.)

Mikoto suddenly realized something.

(It’s possible this rioting is being caused by Code EIC. What if it was caused in order to stop us from reaching the center of the incident…?)

Mikoto stopped running without even realizing it.

(That would mean the target of the rioting had moved to Lessar who’s even closer to the center of it all!!)

[[Image:RAILGUN_SS2_06_027.jpg|thumb]]

Mikoto was not the one who was truly in the most danger.

It was Lessar who was heading for the center of Code EIC.

She had finally realized that fact, but dozens of rioters were still heading her way like an avalanche.

“Out of the way…”

Sparks crackled around Mikoto.

A large amount of iron dust writhed like a living being.

“Get out of my waaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!”

<br>
<br>