Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:Railgun Chapter4 (section)

===Part 11===

It all happened at once.

Partially because waiting for the count of three would have been too slow to save Akazame-sensei.

“Hm!!”

Misaka Mikoto took control of a metal construction panel a few centimeters thick and bigger than a tatami mat. She magnetically threw it, caught the teacher standing on the gallows 70m ahead, and launched her past the gathered crowd and outside Tokiwadai’s grounds.

Of course…

“We have a traitor!” The agitator’s voice exploded from the megaphone. “We have a traitor among us!! That traitor’s name is Misaka Mikoto!! That Level 5 is here to rescue the filthy teachers so she doesn’t have to give up all the perks those problematic adults granted herrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!”

The girls all turned toward her with fully bloodshot eyes.

(Don’t look at me like you’re diehard fans and I interrupted your concert, dammit!!)

Ironically another trait of these high society girls was a reluctance to be the odd one out no matter the situation.

Mikoto wanted to ask them how they hoped to live a comfortable life when people were shouting “guilty” and pulling out the hanging wire.

As soon as she ran out of the thicket, the artificial woods were blown away. She didn’t have time to determine if it was fire, ice, wind, or rock that had done it. Hundreds of different powers flew her way and destroyed the very scenery 

Fortunately, Mikoto didn’t need to defeat everyone gathered around the makeshift gallows.

In fact, everyone other than the agitator were merely schoolmates. Fighting her own side would be a waste of time.

(That means running away is my best bet, but will a magnetically-powered dash really be enough to escape them!?)

Bluish-white sparks scattered from her bangs before the many beams of light could reach her.

Then she jumped 5m straight up, planted her feet on the school wall, and leaped up to the roof.

The attacks immediately ceased.

(They don’t see a need to fix this right away because they can still live their ordinary lives. That’s how the passive acceptance works, so they won’t want to destroy the school that plays a crucial role in those ordinary lives!!)

“Bingo!!”

“''Are you sure about that.''”

She didn’t even have time to gasp.

Her consciousness was rattled by a blow to the side of her head. A heavy weapon had hit her. If she had lost her magnetic control, it would have knocked her clean off the roof.

There was someone up here with her!

“Tch!!”

“Why the surprise? The walls here aren’t perfectly smooth. The contestants at the Climbing World Cup can scale a 15m wall in just a bit over 5s. Plus, we can cheat with our powers.”

Mikoto chose to ignore what this girl said for now. The information might be useful, but she hadn’t searched it out and verified it herself. Anything the enemy said without prompting was too risky to take at face value.

She heard a heavy swishing sound.

They were several meters apart, but that was no reason to relax. The enemy held the megaphone in one hand while her other hand held a rod longer than a mop and twirled it like a baton.

The end of that rod carried the deadly combination of an axe and a spear.

“A halberd?”

“That attack should have taken off your head, but your last-second step forward meant the shaft hit you instead of the blade. Well done, little girl.”

The agitator grinned and slammed the butt of the shaft against the roof.

[[Image:Railgun_BW10.png|thumb]]


She looked to be the same age as Mikoto or a year older.

Her shoulder-length red hair was decorated by a tiara inlaid with jewels. A large chest pushed out her blazer uniform.

Her face showed beautiful white skin, but the legs emerging from her short skirt were covered in thick leather. Rather than stockings or tights, these were probably riding breeches.

“Resanerié Sadis Dialine, 3rd year. Tokiwadai Middle School Debate Representative and Equestrian Combat Club Captain. I have more titles, but I needn’t bore you with them, I hope?”

Mikoto decided the debate representative part could be safely ignored.

Another part sounded much more important.

“Equestrian combat club?”

“It’s a minor club, so I’m not surprised you haven’t heard of it.”

Was that why she wielded the halberd in one hand despite its great size? This wasn’t ordinary spear technique. It was a martial art designed to provide as much power as possible while staying balanced and keeping one hand on the reins at all times.

She held the megaphone in one hand and the halberd in the other.

Resanerié smiled boldly while wielding both the pen and the sword.

“Why the caution? I am no threat to the great Level 5 said to be Tokiwadai’s Ace despite not joining any of our many clubs.”

“You’re awfully self-deprecating for how haughty you look. Don’t you have any confidence in yourself?”

“Shut up, flat chest. You know those probably aren’t growing any more, don’t you?”

“…”

“…”

Misaka Mikoto and Resanerié Sadis Dialine clashed head on.

The agitator wasn’t like the rest of the angry mob.

If Mikoto defeated her, this would end. It might not end as soon as Resanerié was defeated since all 5 debate participants were probably working together, but it would still have a major impact on bringing Tokiwadai back to normal.

Thus, she didn’t hesitate to produce an iron sand sword in her hand.

That sword used its rapid vibration to slice through any substance like a chainsaw and it could also change form at will. Its default form resembled a one-handed sword, but it could also stretch out more like a whip.

However.

“My, my.” The voice that reached Mikoto’s eardrums carried pity. “Is that blatantly self-taught style really enough to handle me?”

“!?”

Orange sparks exploded out.

But Resanerié’s halberd remained intact.

That weapon had a spear, an axe, and a sharp hook on the back of the axe. The iron sand sword caught the thick axe…or it sure looked like it had to Mikoto. But after the burst of sparks, it was Mikoto who staggered back.

Her attack had been deflected.

“Wha-!?”

“You rapidly vibrate the iron sand, so, much like a chainsaw, that sword gains its superb cutting edge by repeatedly cutting at the same spot with miniscule blades.” The redhead smirked. “That cutting edge can never reach my halberd if I deflect it in the instant of a single vibration, before the vibration wave can repeat. What’s wrong, Academy City’s #3? Did you think your weapon was so formidable it couldn’t be countered?”

(Yeah, right. That’s like saying a running chainsaw won’t hurt you if you poke your fingertip against it for just an instant. It’s ridiculous!!)

But the fact remained that her halberd had survived contact with the iron sand sword.

In fact, Resanerié was swinging it toward Mikoto now.

Now that Mikoto had failed to end the battle on her first move, it was Resanerié’s turn.

(What kind of monster is she? How is my power as the #3 not working against her!?)

Just as Mikoto tried to fall back, she felt a tug at her leg.

Resanerié had lowered the halberd’s tip, moved it past Mikoto’s leg, caught the heel side of Mikoto’s ankle with the hook, and yanked hard.

Her weight seemed to vanish as she toppled backwards.

She gave up on preparing for impact with the rooftop. Instead, she magnetically suspended herself in midair for a single second while she curled up, made a full vertical rotation, and pressed her feet against the roof again.

She heard three swooshing sounds in that time.

The halberd tore into the rooftop.

If she had landed safely or hit the roof hard, the sharp tip would have destroyed her vitals. The weapon moved so smoothly, it reminded her more of a chameleon’s tongue than a metal spear.

The redhead girl looked annoyed.

“That’s cheating.”

“How are esper powers cheating in a city of espers!?”

The axe dropped straight down like a lightning bolt.

Mikoto quickly swung her body to the side, but the halberd swooped diagonally back up to pursue her. If she hadn’t doubled over and held down her fluttering skirt, the hook would have caught the cloth.

“So close. I was hoping to strip you naked.”

Of course, it wouldn’t have been anything as harmless as that.

Once you kept your target from moving, they might as well be asking to be killed. Mikoto was done for if she was dragged to the roof by her clothes. Resanerié could jab with her spear or swing down her axe to kill her instantly.

Resanerié easily twirled her halberd.

“Dragging your opponent from their horse and killing them on the ground is the standard tactic for a horseback knight, but with a soldier not wearing full armor, you can instead catch them by their collar and strangle them to death with their own clothing.”

(So you’re going to hook my clothes? How stupid are you!? I’m not going to let you carry out your plan after you explain it to me!!)

A high-pitched whistle left the gap between Resanerié’s alluring lips.

At the same time, Mikoto sent her EM radar from her entire body at full power.

Resanerié made a jab from head on instead of swinging the hook from the side. The sharp spear tip sliced off a few strands of Mikoto’s hair, but that was all. The deadly jab was sharp and heavy, but it failed to find its target and swished through empty air.

Mikoto had finally managed to dodge.

Such a heavy halberd would create a larger opening when it missed, so Mikoto focused on her brow, sent electricity scattering from her bangs, and prepared to launch a counterattack. However…

“''Now the return trip.''”

“Really!?”

The weapon tore through the air again. If Mikoto hadn’t immediately aborted her attack and swung her head in the opposite direction, the axe blade would have caught her on the side of the face as Resanerié pulled it back, tearing off her ear and cheek and leaving nothing to cover half her teeth. Just like pressing a saw against a piece of lumber and pulling it with all your might.

They reassessed the distance between them.

“There is no good translation of halberd in Japanese. Some have tried by inventing compound words like ‘axe-spear’, but I say that fails to adequately describe this weapon.”

All this was done with just the one hand.

Her other hand still held the megaphone she hadn’t even needed to use.

“There are many uniquely Western weapons – the rapier, the dagger, the bastard sword, the pike, the francisca, the morning star, the arbalest, etc. – but the halberd is the most difficult one to learn. Since it can be used as a spear, an axe, and a hook, it can cut, stab, and catch depending on how it is used. It can also be used in a wide variety of contexts: slashing from the ground, stabbing from horseback, or reaching out from a boat and catching the enemy. Even the professional mercenaries gave up trying to master it and invented the inferior battle hook by stripping away everything but the one aspect.”

“…”

“However.”

Mikoto continued watching carefully while Resanerié grinned and twirled the long, heavy halberd like a baton. She did so as casually as a bored student spinning a pen during class.

That showed just how much she had mastered the weapon.

“Any knight who sticks with it and masters its use will become the greatest warrior. I possess an endless number of options, so you can never perfectly predict my actions and I am not so poorly trained that you can dodge when you have to react after the fact.”

(So does her power directly boost her physical strength, or does it control steel or metal?)

Mikoto took a few steps back while carefully judging the distance between them and also making full us use of her mind without letting her thoughts show.

She wiped the sweat from her brow and wanted to believe it wasn’t a cold sweat.

“Are you really planning to keep the School Garden in the sky indefinitely? As some independent state of students beyond the reach of the adults?”

“Heh heh. A wonderful ''new life'' well worth writing in your diary, don’t you think?”

“You can’t be serious. You’ve trapped us in this small world where no one and nothing can get in or out. We might as well all have washed ashore on a desert island. Everyone might be excited now like they just ran away from home, but they will feel the pressure soon enough. I won’t say it’s impossible for people to live without any connection to others, but an isolated life has far more inconveniences than the other way around.”

“I have no interest in a life of riches and plenty. For that matter, is a single student at any of the 5 schools fixated on money? Why would we be when we were all privileged enough to have never experienced poverty?”

“…”

(Or does she have a precog power letting her predict my actions?)

“This will not change the minds of the elites of the School Garden. Especially when I give them a push in the right direction with this.” Resanerié winked and waved the megaphone she held on her other hand. “And it is that lack of interest in direct earnings that prevents the students here from understanding the lengths the adults are willing to go for money. Why rank our powers? Why create an official school caste system that covers the entire city? Because it is a twisted measuring stick the adults use to compare us and determine what research they should fund for the most efficient profit. Isn’t that right, ''#3''?”

“I see. You do have a way with words. Maybe that makes the immediate future look bright, but you aren’t considering what happens a week from now.”

An iron sand sword wasn’t enough.

So should she go with a lightning spear next or skip straight to a Railgun?

To reiterate, Resanerié was still only using one hand.

Mikoto didn’t know how far that girl’s skill went, but she at least had enough skill to concern Academy City’s #3.

(Did she climb the wall without any kind of assistance from her power? Can that even be explained with ordinary physics? Could she have messed with my memory or perception? In fact, could that weird megaphone and how she so easily manipulated everyone in Tokiwadai be related to her power?)

“Oh? Why the wide-eyed look? Are you trying to figure out my power while keeping the damage to a minimum and engaging me in conversation? A valiant attempt, but I’m sorry to say ''I have yet to use my power.''”

“…”

Goose bumps formed all across Mikoto’s skin.

Was Resanerié really twirling that heavy halberd around with just one hand using simple martial arts and no support from her esper power? Even though Mikoto was just barely keeping up while relying heavily on her Level 5 power?

That did not bode well.

The rules would change once Resanerié Sadis Dialine started fighting as an esper. Mikoto had no way of preventing it.

“Now, that should be enough of a warmup.”

Resanerié licked her lips and squeezed her halberd tight.

“''It’s time to take this seriously.''”

Misaka Mikoto was a Level 5 known as the Railgun for her ability to launch an arcade coin at three times the speed of sound.

That meant she could function at those speeds if she focused her mind.

She was also sending weak microwaves from her upper body as a type of radar, so she would never overlook an incoming object. She had honed that skill to the point that she could accurately detect and shoot down each and every nonmetallic shard sent flying when a bomb exploded.

And yet.

Nevertheless.

“Gahhhhhh           ahhhhhhhhhhhhh            ahhhhhhh           ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh          ahhhh     ah    ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!?”

She had no idea how long she had been screaming.

The fury of the blade was so intense she felt like the flow of time had stopped.

She wasn’t sure if it was the halberd’s spear, axe, hook, thick shaft, or butt end that directly struck her.

With a sound like a manual transmission car’s shift lever operating, the redhead in a tiara came to a stop. Her right arm dangled limply at her side.

“Oops. I overdid it and dislocated my shoulder again. That’s what I get for not loosening up the joint with some stretches first.”

But Mikoto could not strike back. She had failed to block the fierce attack, so she had been bloodily pushed over the edge of the roof. She now scattered red as she fell toward the courtyard rather than the schoolyard.

“You’ve taken this prank too far, rich girl.”

“Rich girl? I am not like the rest of you,” calmly replied Resanerié, roughly forcing her shoulder back into the socket with her other hand. “I am Resanerié Sadis Dialine, ''empress of the Dialine Empire in Eastern Europe.'' I wield a different sort of power than you children who hide behind your parents’ backs and show off the silly allowances they give you.”

Tokiwadai’s students came from all sorts of backgrounds. Some came from well-established families with a long history and others were set to take over as president of their parent’s massive corporation. There had even been rumors of an actual princess transferring in.

So was that tiara not something she had donned after the completion of her twisted coup? Maybe it was a national treasure and maybe it was a royal tradition, but she had a reason worth earning an exception to Tokiwadai’s dress code.

The setup for this plan had required the kind of money discussed in national budgets.

The identity of the enemy had been staring Mikoto in the face all along. She had been wrong to dismiss the possibility over a simple “surely not”.

(I can’t believe this girl!)

But that was as far as Mikoto got.

Gravity grabbed at her body and she started plummeting straight down.

She really might have died there if she hadn’t just barely managed to hang onto consciousness and magnetically pulled herself toward the school’s wall as she fell.

“Gahh!!”

The difficulty breathing and the dizziness were worse than the pain.

She checked her injuries and tied a handkerchief around her leg.

(Gh. I don’t need to settle this right away. I achieved my goal when I rescued Akazame-sensei from being hanged! I need to make myself scarce.)

“She’s over here, over here, over herrrrrre!”

The agitator’s amplified voice shouted from the rooftop overhead. Resanerié didn’t seem interested in jumping down and pursuing Mikoto herself.

The halberd was not her only weapon.

The megaphone in her other hand said more.

“The traitor Misaka Mikoto has fallen into the courtyard!! If you believe in independence, then lend us a hand by killing herrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!”

Unnatural stars twinkled in the blue sky.

No, those were esper powers dropping back down after being launched up like arrows from the schoolyard. This threat was one of pure numbers.

Mikoto had no choice but to turn tail and run.

“Damn!!”

“Did you think the threat had passed because you rescued one measly teacher.”

The dirt was torn up and launched higher than Mikoto’s head.

A mocking voice called out from the roof behind her.

“All I need to do is catch someone else and place them on the gallows!! ''It does not matter to me who we kill first''. Ah ha ha. Do you have any idea how many teachers there are in the School Garden as a whole? And at 5000m up, they can only run so far. We have you outnumbered, so we will hunt them down eventually. With no avenue of escape, we will seek out every last teacher, so do you really think you can save them all, Misaka Mikoto!?”

(This sucks!! She really understands how to lay on the pressure and tighten the screws!!)