Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:Virtual On Chapter2 (section)

===Part 28===

Constant explosions shook the night.

Kamijou’s Temjin and Mikoto’s Raiden clashed again and again on the runway.

This was the final set.

Whether via destruction or points, this final battle would settle everything.

The location had few obstacles and little cover. Since Raiden’s selling point was its firepower, failing to dodge its attacks might mean instant destruction. The standard method would be to take advantage of her slow speed to fire from a distance, focus on the amount left in the different weapon gauges while wearing her down to stop her, and take points that way. But Mikoto’s swift movements defied the normal assumptions for Raiden’s speed, so he could not rely on that.

The V-Discs on their backs were heated to a bright scarlet and drew trails behind their incredible movements like tail lights.

He sometimes engaged in a close-range rush similar to mixed martial arts and sometimes moved away and sniped from a distance. Just when he thought he had dodged a shot from Raiden’s Zig-18 bazooka, a lightning spear pierced the explosive and detonated it near Temjin. But in exchange for the damage, Temjin used the smokescreen and caught Mikoto off guard by rapidly approaching and slamming his Blitz Saber toward her right leg.

Their scores changed with dizzying speed and their weapon gauges continually filled and depleted.

Their primary focus was not losing the set via destruction. After that, they fought to score a down on the other.

They fought over the points.

They were also checking the total number of rough plays listed on their command logs.

Since they had Defected, this was more than just a sport for them, so that was literally a countdown to their deaths.

“Uhee!? Wh-wh-wh-what-wha-what is that!?”

“Lilina!! If the data can’t keep up, then cut it off! I’ll aim by eye!!”

“Oh, honestly, honestly, honestly!! That customized Raiden’s entire body is crackling, its surface is covered in ECMs, and who knows when it’ll make a cyber attack that can slip right through our defenses!? I know I can handle anything in binary, but it’s still frightening!”

“I see. So her hacking power is the most troublesome part. I hope that Raiden can’t use it…”

“If you get that, then hurry up and silence her!!”

On the other hand, that might mean that even her hacking was not enough to return the NPC players to normal. Furashina Ririn seemed to specialize in that, but even she had said there was only so much she could do.

Tsuchimikado had said Kanzaki Kaori of the magic side was taking action, so Kamijou felt as if formless concepts like people’s hearts or lives were showing up here.

“Are you not going to use that power you’re so proud of?” asked Mikoto.

“Unfortunately, I’ve been a Level 0 from the beginning.”

“Take me too lightly and you’re headed straight for destruction. You know it really pisses me off when I see things ‘like this’.”

''Maybe so,'' thought Kamijou.

He still did not know why someone (probably the Blue Stalker) was increasing the number of Defected players and the NPC players that came from them. But it was true that it felt a lot like someone was toying with lives just like that experiment in which the #1 used and disposed of 20,000 mass-produced military clones.

That had stimulated Mikoto.

And it had been exacerbated by affecting someone close to her.

“But have you forgotten?” replied Kamijou as he cut off that line of thinking. “I’m not the kind of person to take even a single step back when faced with things ‘like that’.”

“!! Then what are you even trying to do!?”

Four iron sand swords surrounded Raiden and attacked him like whips. And after they cut off his escape, she launched a Railgun from straight ahead.

Kamijou used all of his invisible repulsion to make a high-speed dash.

Fleeing to the side or backwards would have been meaningless, so he moved straight ahead. If he avoided the greatest threat by a hair’s breadth, he would find Raiden defenseless thanks to the slight stiffening from the recoil of launching the attack.

With an explosive noise, Kamijou ignored all of the warnings from Lilina and moved forward.

He had heard the Virtuaroids were materialized data, but Temjin was far heavier and sturdier than a human. That worked to his advantage. He was up against the Railgun itself and the deadly shockwave and wind stirred up around it. A flesh-and-blood human would likely have been killed by those side effects alone. Kamijou’s Temjin was partially torn away in the process, but he successfully dodged the metal shell, even if just barely. And then he attacked Raiden.

“Gh…!?”

“Misaka!!”

He wielded the Blitz Saber close-range sword.

He focused his mind.

First, lights crossed paths. Then Temjin powerfully turned 180 degrees while Mikoto’s Raiden launched multiple iron sand swords directly behind her without turning around. That was the second exchange. More and more and more and more exchanges followed.

But had she noticed?

Kamijou was swinging his entire body around to slash his close-range sword while Mikoto was standing in place and relying entirely on her iron sand swords. This produced a difference in speed and instantaneous power between Temjin and Raiden. That difference grew with each attack and it eventually grew too wide to ignore.

In other words, she was ultimately unable to keep up with his attacks.

“Why?”

She forcibly turned herself around using the weight of her Zig-18 bazooka and by kicking off of a wall created by pulling in metal panels and beams with magnetism. Her top speed was greater than the customized Temjin, but the Temjin had greater mobility and stability.

“Why won’t you let me do this!? I have a way of ridding her of her pain! I have the power to pull her from the Virtuaroid where she’s forced to continue fighting even as she’s left battered and bloody! That’s all…that’s all I wanted to do!!”

“This isn’t about who’s right, Misaka!!”

Temjin’s Blitz Saber gave a roar.

“It’s about which option I want to choose! And I’m saying I can’t bear to watch as your desire to save someone ultimately puts more lives in danger! No!! Those strict words aren’t what I want to get across to you!!”

Her iron sand swords could no longer make it in time.

He dodged the attacks from straight ahead and kept a position out of reach of the powerful Binary Lotus laser weapons and her Railgun, so Temjin could not be crushed where he was.

So…

“I’m saying I don’t want to see you become a villain, Misaka!! And I’m willing to become a villain myself to prevent it!!!!!”

There was no reason for Kamijou’s Temjin to lose now.

A bluish-white light followed the path of his close-range sword and it drew a complex line that swiftly silenced the Raiden reinforced with so much firepower.