Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM Chapter2 (section)

===Part 10===

“Hah!!”

The EM weapon tower’s powerful blast of microwaves had fully recharged Mikoto, but it had also destroyed the electric unicycle she had been riding.

(But now I know I can use deadly microwaves to recharge after my stamina drops, so I can keep using my power to jump around.)

And.

She ran into something strange.

A group was gathered in a circle by the roadside like a volleyball team planning their next move. They were the elite schoolgirls of Kirigaoka Girls Academy. What were they doing here? The proud intellectual girls’ actions were so strange they stood out from their surroundings and gave them an intimidating air.

A cheap frog doll sat in the center of their circle.

It was Gekota.

“Please grant us the strength of the Great God Misaka.”

“Oh, god, please save us.”

“We ask for the Great Getoka’s protection. Even that god of destruction will hesitate to attack as long as he is with us.”

“Ehhh!?” shouted Mikoto. “Wh-when did I get my own cult!?”

They believed she wouldn’t attack as long as they had Gekota with them.

For that to have become a part of her “mythology”, the way she deactivated her lightning goddess form must have been seen and spread like a game of telephone.

That aside, would a cult really crop up this quickly in a city of science?

Mikoto couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

(Shokuhou!! She cut off the network lines, isolating everyone from accurate information. I’d heard that’s a common tactic used by scammers to pressure their victims, but I didn’t realize how weak people’s minds were when they lost all objective information. Still, this seems like a big change for just three hours.)

Groundless misinformation and rumors did spread rapidly during times of great disaster. Seeing your usual world collapsing around you and having your basic assumptions about life shaken prevented you from trusting in your experience and your decisions, so you started to believe anything could happen.

As seen with ghost sightings, people had a bad habit of not questioning what they saw when their existing knowledge was insufficient to comprehend it. When people who can only believe what they see with their own eyes misinterpret something as a ghost, they can end up relying on bogus exorcists and related products.

“Please protect us, darkness of the Great God Shokuhou.”

“Oh, she’s got a cult too.”

“The world is fueled by the conflict between good and evil. May that eternal battle destroy the existing world and guide humanity to the light!!”

“And it’s an apocalyptic cult!? Don’t just accept that, you spoiled brats!!”

Regardless, would it help at all if Mikoto ran over and demanded they stop? What if they started believing Legendary God Mikoto would visit them if they worshiped Gekota enough?

She decided to leave them be for now.

Really, she just didn’t want to see any more of that.

And…

“Wha-!?”

Mikoto noticed something that made her forget all of that and suddenly jump back.

A change in the air seemed to slice through her skin like a sword.

“?”

Unathletic Shokuhou frowned as she worked to catch up (while gasping for breath).

All of a sudden, a thick beam of light broke through the wall right next to Mikoto and sliced through the air.

“Hey there.”

Something lurked beyond the tunnel of orange-burned reinforced concrete. That was not a false mirage. It emitted a tingling presence. It was a girl with wavy chestnut hair. Light compressed to the size of a baseball hovered in her palm.

She was Academy City’s #4 Level 5 – Meltdowner.

Mugino Shizuri.

“Couldn’t help but notice you were having some fun over here. If you’re gonna duke it out to see who’s strongest, you need to invite me!!”

By the time she shouted that, she had already launched her attack.

Mikoto magnetically launched herself more than 10m to the side, sending her clear across the major street. Shokuhou crawled on the ground like a frog to somehow avoid the multiple beams of light slicing through the air.

The #5’s mind turned toward her remote, but…

“…”

(I might be able to silence her by brainwashing her, but…''might''? Can I really risk my own life ability on an unsourced claim like that? If I screw it up and fail to brainwash her, she’ll burn away one of my measurements – B, W, or H!!)

“Hey, don’t leave me here, Misaka-san!! You’ve fought this kind of back alley monster before, haven’t you? Then this is your job ability!”

“I’d rather not die because I did what an unathletic chicken told me to do!!”

Mikoto abandoned Shokuhou by turning a corner and using the row of buildings as a shield.

A chill ran up her spine.

If she had taken the time to think, she would have been killed instantly.

“Tch!!?”

Shining divine punishment dropped from the heavens above.

Or that’s how the ancient people would have described it.

In truth, a Meltdowner beam shot into the sky had unnaturally bent above a skyscraper to make a U-turn back down toward Mikoto.

It caught her fully by surprise, so she didn’t have time to dodge. She could only raise her hands overhead.

(I still don’t know if this is a dream, the real world, or virtual reality, but I don’t want that to hit me in any of them!)

She used a massive amount of magnetism to forcibly bend the beam, saving her life.

However.

Blocking that one attack had considerably worn down her stamina.

She could tell she couldn’t do that many more times.

(The beam bent? But how!?)

“Oh, I get it. It was that experimental magnetic bridge for linear motor trains. She used the magnetic pollution to bend the electron beam!!”

“Hey!! Quit running! You do know I don’t like being ignored, don’t you!? You’re so dead!!!”

An angry shout reached her, sounding muffled after it reflected around the building.

The #4 didn’t bother with bending the beam this time.

The scene before Mikoto’s eyes collapsed like an old paper photograph being burned from behind by a lighter. The skyscraper melted into orange goo as large holes formed and Meltdowner beams shot out. They were as powerful as could be, but they were very poorly aimed. The #4 was a huge nuisance of an enemy!!

Another beam shot out.

“Whoa, hey!!” shouted Mikoto, but it was too late.

The thick beam struck a random passerby.

No, wait. A random passerby couldn’t deflect a Meltdowner beam with his forehead.

Some idiot had broken through the #4’s attack with a headbutt!?

“Wah hah hah!! What are you gutless Level 5s doing brawling in the streets? Fine, then. I, Sogiita Gunha, will guide you back to the straight and gutsy!!”

Mikoto held a hand to her forehead.

An even bigger pain had showed up.

She was pretty sure that #7 had directly clashed with her lightning goddess form without any kind of transformation on his part and lived to tell the tale.

Then she heard some strange voices from a different direction.

While three or four Level 5 kaiju had gathered in one place to fight, another group showed no sign of fear and didn’t try running away.

“G-Great God Misaka!!”

“Chaos is what can best guide the world, not good or evil. May the two gods continue fighting, producing the energy fueling the world and ensuring us all a brighter future!!”

Meanwhile…

''Is that the cult she mentioned?'' thought Shokuhou, staring into the distance.

It would be one thing if they believed they would be saved by completing some kind of special training, but finding meaning in assured destruction felt more like one of those self-destructive cults that demanded its followers give up all their possessions or engage in mass suicide.

“We offer you this Gekota! May the shape beloved by god ensure our salvation!!”

“Oh, so there is a loophole ability to save yourself.”

(I could brainwash the leaders to take control of the entire cult and make use of them. But should I? They seem a bit too obsessed.)

Then Shokuhou aimed her TV remote at Sogiita from behind and to the left of him.

Unlike with the #4, she felt an almost unnatural lack of hesitation with the #7.

The Queen stuck out her tongue a bit.

“''I’ve brainwashed this idiot before''☆”

“Dammit!!!”

Brainwashing complete.

The guts freak’s shoulders twitched and then he charged toward Mikoto.

She had clashed with Sogiita in the past, but she hadn’t been able to understand what he was doing then. Which was a really bad sign when it came to Academy City esper battles. Understanding the enemy’s ability was the first step toward victory, but she didn’t understand anything about that idiot who wouldn’t shut up about guts.

Meanwhile, Shokuhou kept nervously looking over her shoulder at the extra-large beams that were still blasting through nearby buildings.

“That just leaves her as a problem. Honestly, the #7 will eventually break through his brainwashing with brute force ability, so I need him to defeat Misaka-san sooner rather than later.”

“If there’s a time limit, then send him after the #4!! You have free control over him right now, don’t you!?”

“You can be even crueler than me at times.”

Shokuhou winked, kissed the tip of her remote, and aimed it elsewhere.

Mugino emerged around the corner at just that moment.

“Gahhhhhhh! Guuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuts!!?”

“Oh, now this is getting interesting! You’re a Level 5 too!? Then it’s a fight to the death!!!”

A Meltdowner beam shot from Mugino’s palm, but Sogiita simply waved his right hand to the side to produce a rainbow explosion that eliminated the beam in a burst of sparkles.

The very next moment, both of them ran forward and butted heads.

A deafening roar exploded out and red blood splattered across the pavement.

Why were they more violent barehanded than when using brutal beams that could burn through laboratory walls!?

Just then, someone emerged from a sideroad.

“Eh? Eh? Wait, what? I thought the emergency shelter was this way. Kyah!?”

It was Saten Ruiko.

Mikoto knew better than to question her sudden appearance.

That Level 0 had a miraculous knack for this kind of thing.

(Is she the reigning champion of stumbling into trouble!?)

Mikoto’s eyes widened and she immediately harnessed magnetism to gather up a large motorcycle, a light car, a cyborg (Kuroyoru Umidori), and other metal objects to form a shield, but would that actually protect her friend from the brutal beams and the guts boy?

But before she received an answer…

“Stooooop!!”

Someone shouted.

But it was in a soprano voice.

The elementary school boy was Saten’s little brother, who had only ever been mentioned in a very short flashback.

“A-a first appearance? And is he alright? What is he even doing in Academy City? Again, when on the timeline is this!?”

He wasn’t even a Level 0.

He was from outside the city, so he wasn’t an esper at all.

And the small boy, who just so happened to be in the city, was clenching his powerless fists. He squeezed his eyes shut, but he still held his ground, clenched his teeth, and even stepped toward the threat before his eyes.

To protect his sister.

“I will protect my sister. I don’t know who you are, but keep your hands off my one and only sisterrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!”

And.

Sogiita felt a powerful wind rushing toward him.

He was an unusual person who judged everything based on guts. Even while brainwashed by Shokuhou, he still acted based on guts.

The #7 sensed something here.

(A small child who isn’t even an esper risking his life to protect his family? Directly challenging Academy City’s #7 Level 5 for nothing more than that? W-without any kind of weapon or trick to back it up?)

“I…”

Dazed, the Level 5 came to a complete stop.

“I’m no match for guts like that…”

A tremendous sound of impact exploded out.

Sogiita was launched diagonally upwards, broke through several skyscrapers, and vanished into the blue sky.

“…Huh?”

Saten’s brother couldn’t believe what his punch had accomplished.

It did look a lot like ''the #7 had launched himself backwards with his own super strength'', but that didn’t matter right now.

With the one idiot gone, the other idiot was free to attack.

“Ohhhhhhh!! Where’s the next enemy!? Who out there is strong enough to satisfy Academy City’s #4!!?”

Mikoto wasn’t about to give Mugino what she wanted.

She was looking for a powerful enemy, so she would likely walk right past Saten and her brother.

“So I need to get out of here!! I know I’m faster than that unathletic Level 5, so she’ll get caught and keep the #4 busy for me! Because she’s a complete klutz!!!”

“I’m sick of arguing with you every time, so can you just stop saying things like that!?”

Just as Mikoto was going to leave tearful Shokuhou behind, Mugino reacted.

“The #3 and the #5, huh? Why are you trying to sneak away when you’re so powerfullllllllllllllllll!?”

Buildings toppled, glass shattered, and vending machines rattled.

Through it all, Mikoto saw a waist-high Gekota mascot in front of a shop just as it was knocked over by the shockwave.

Then an explosion distorted its silhouette.

And it vanished inside the light.

It was forever lost.

In that instant, all emotion vanished from Misaka Mikoto’s face and she took action.

“Agragaghgahgh＃＄％＆‘～｜‘｛＋＊｝＜＞？＿＠「；：」・￥☆´仝￡〓!!!”

She shed tears of blood while launching lightning, iron sand, and coins.

Her love proved too powerful for the #4, who vanished along with the scenery behind her.

Mikoto wasn’t known as the #3 for no reason.

“You know you’re only proving that cult right, don’t you?”

“Gasp!? Wh-what was I just doing?”

Mikoto regained her senses and refocused on the goal she had lost sight of.

Discovering the truth of this world and settling things with Shokuhou still appeared to be the fastest way to end all this conflict.

She ran along the asphalt by herself, passing by a few people (who had not yet been corrupted by the cult).

“Why was I wasting so much time on that titty monster!?”

“I keep telling you not to call me these things!”

Since an angry Shokuhou was chasing after her, those passersby would eventually be brainwashed.

But Mikoto could use that to her advantage when she had a goal in mind. It would change a lot if she could detect the powerful espers who Shokuhou would prioritize going after.