Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume2 Chapter2 (section)

===Part 2===

They did not hold back.

The black metal on Misaka Mikoto’s back spread out like demonic wings. A Gatling gun, a chainsaw, a smoothbore gun, a melt-cutting blade, a multiple missile launcher, a large drill, a plasma cannon, and plenty more heavy weaponry were attached around a base of twin rocket engines.

That was the A.A.A., or Anti-Art Attachment.

It was such a black box that not even the #3 herself knew what the device was ''originally meant to do''.

But that was not enough to explain this.

While Mikoto could fly through the sky with that special equipment, the #5, Shokuhou Misaki, should not have been able to accomplish that kind of physical feat. And yet she was keeping up with fully-equipped Mikoto’s movements and rapidly jumped from a building rooftop to the arcade roof of the old(-looking, thanks to the professional “dirty” paintjob used for things like warship models) shopping district.

How could she do that?

There was a clear answer:

“I know that’s cutting-edge equipment, but couldn’t you have found something warmer for this time of year?”

“Ahhh, shiver, shiver. Send any complaints to my spare, ''Mitsuari Ayu''!”

Another girl had possessed a psychological power similar to Shokuhou Misaki’s. She had used several types of mechanical support to make up for her inadequacies as an esper and to defeat the #5 Level 5.

Those included the Five Over OS and the Five Over itself.

Both were Model Case: Mental Out.

To control ''that bizarre equipment which had attempted to purely mechanically reproduce the power of Academy City’s #5'', Mitsuari Ayu had worn a special suit.

However…

“Shiver, shiver, shiver.”

“A swimsuit—ha ha—a high leg cut—ah ha ha!—in December—ah ha ha ha ha!”

“Oh, shut up!! Why did you have to choose such a pain-in-the-butt design for this season and location, Mitsuari-saaan!?”

“And skintight too—pff ah ha ha! Hey, the crotch is looking pretty bulgy there.”

“It is not!! I can’t believe that girl! Did the loneliness drive her toward exhibitionism or something!?”

Shokuhou held her own body against the cold, but she still shouted in desperation with her body temperature higher than anyone else’s here. Fur coats and wool scarfs apparently had nothing on embarrassment when it came to keeping you warm.

The equipment’s design was about as crazy as bikini armor, but its defensive capabilities were very real.

And the enemy they had to defeat ASAP was right in front of them.

(It doesn’t look like she’s hiding a glass container or any other pills.)

After all, she only had a thin cloth barely covering her naked body. It seemed unlikely she had anything hidden below that, but did that mean she had no means of defense against the special microbes that not even Academy City could heal?

Or did she have antibodies in her body itself?

Whether it came to searching her possessions or running scans at the hospital, their best bet was to knock her out and capture her.

“Now, then,” said the barely-dressed little girl named Anna Sprengel. “''I gave you plenty of time, so I assume it has not spread to every part of his body yet. But if you’re still making me wait, perhaps I should speed things along.''”

Misaka Mikoto had seen Anna yesterday and the night before that. She had not noticed it at the time, but she had some clear differences from the other elementary schoolers who were busy using their phones to pursue the limited-edition Santa-costume Android Demon Lord (a hyper ultra miracle heroine who had destroyed three other worlds before arriving on earth and was actually just lonely). There was something about the aura surrounding the girl, the shadows lurking in her eyes, and the smile on her lips. There was something out of place there that felt far older than Mikoto or Shokuhou. Mikoto could not shake the feeling that she was looking at a cheaply faked ghost photo or something.

The girl had been holding her ice cream cone like a microphone, but she casually tossed what remained of it over her shoulder. As it flew up into the air and dropped behind her, her sweet lips formed a single word.

“Incubate.”

More of a shockwave than an explosion filled the space around her.

The tables and chairs in front of the stores were blown away, the Christmas tree and snowman decorations were knocked over, and the passersby were mercilessly thrown to the ground. The shop windows and even the transparent arcade roof all shattered.

“Misaka-saaan!!”

“I know!!”

If Mikoto used magnetism to take control of the metal objects and Shokuhou took control of the ''unconscious children and part-time workers,'' they could keep the snowy glass shards from shredding the skin of the defenseless people walking below.

Misaka Mikoto remained hovering in place and Shokuhou Misaki jumped to the ground when her footing collapsed.

The shopping district had lost its transparent protection, so the wind and snow could now reach it.

That was more than enough for the unconscious people to freeze to death.

“We need to move elsewhere!!”

“Do you really think she’ll give us the chance? I’ll use Mental Out ''to move those people out of the way'', so you buy me the time!!”

(What even was that, anyway?)

Mikoto was bewildered.

What had caused that shockwave?

And what was that giant orb that had appeared behind the little girl?

The metal sphere was more than two meters tall, making it taller than Anna herself. It gave off a dull silver light and it hovered in the empty air.

Had its appearance split the air?

That meant it worked very differently from Shirai Kuroko’s Teleportation. That girl’s movement did not have such a violent side effect.

It had caused this much damage simply by appearing.

Mikoto had no idea what it was, but she knew it was bad news.

(How was she storing that? If she’s storing the vaccine, antidote, or other defense in the same way, then can anyone but her even get it out!?)

She bit her lip and pulled out an arcade coin.

She placed the coin on her thumb while maintaining her midair position, but then she stopped moving.

The little girl was pointing at the center of her own chest with a thumb.

“Give me your best shot.”

“…”

“That ‘power’ was already deflected by ''a miniscule fraction'' of what R&C Occultics can provide anyone around the world, so do you really think it can harm me?”

“Argh!!”

Mikoto took action.

A boom shook the air and a beam of light scorched the air, but the straight line of destruction was not her Railgun that sent metal flying at three times the speed of sound.

It was a lightning spear.

She was afraid of facing that denial again. Even so, this lighting spear was powered up by the A.A.A. It could easily pierce the rubber suits used by workers on transmission towers and it might just immediately stop the heart of any ordinary person it hit.

However…

“Coward.”

She heard a single word full of both scorn and pity.

Not one step.

Anna Sprengel had not moved a single step while she was surrounded by dust crackling with electricity. The metal orb remained in place as well.

(What just…happened?)

Mikoto floated down from the broken arcade roof to the floor. She looked pathetic, but Anna actually seemed impressed.

“Oh, you didn’t fall for it?”

“…”

“Just like before, this would have been ''very much over'' if you hadn’t seen it. Did you use geomagnetism? Or the undetectably-faint plate vibrations? That’s kind of neat. So even the science side can detect those ''landmines'' made with ley line distortions.”

Anna laughed and pointed her thumb back over her shoulder.

While bragging about the metal orb there.

“Pneuma-less Shell. Hear me, Philosopher’s Egg and Clear Coffin. Hear me, spell that never strays far and is found hidden even in paintings and music. I seek not the red stone, so show me a distorted result here. So that junk might remain junk, entertain me with the unforeseen that not even I can predict.”

Was that a giant ship’s wheel at the very center?

The little girl grabbed it with her tiny hand and casually gave it a spin. It produced a continuous grinding noise like many heavy gears were turning along with it. Several cracks appeared in the orb and it opened in an even more complex way than a bank vault.

(Dammit, is this the real attack!?)

Something unbelievable had to be stored within.

The seal was opening.

There was no need to wait. Misaka Mikoto knew she had to settle this before the contents could show themselves, so she immediately readied the cutting-edge equipment she wore.

But she was an instant too slow.

Almost like the timing had been calculated out in advance to work that way.

With an especially loud clunk, ''it'' emerged.

It was a perfectly ordinary tree branch.

Mikoto’s mind went blank.

She honestly did not know what this meant.

The branch branched out several times to spread out like a large hand. It was no thicker than a little finger. It did have a scattering of solid green leaves, but Mikoto could not quite place what kind of tree it was from.

Mikoto held her breath, but for some reason, Anna Sprengel puffed out her cheeks from within. She slowly let out the breath she had been holding in and it took the form of a sigh.

“''Damn, that’s a dud.''”

“Really!!!???”

She did not wait a moment longer.

Had Anna infected that idiot over something so unimportant she was willing to leave it up to chance?

And on Christmas Eve of all nights?

Every weapon forming the demonic wings aimed at Anna Sprengel. They were all powerful enough to possibly sink a warship, but Mikoto was past worrying about how sturdy her opponent was.

However.

Anna’s next comment was one of complete disinterest.

“''Winning with this would be so easy it’d be a bore.''”

Misaka Mikoto perceived it as the wind crashing into the side of her face.

But in fact, the demonic wings of the A.A.A. had their right half torn away like they were made of wet paper.

The white curtain of the blowing snow was swept away only after a short delay.

They were still a good distance apart.

The little girl with only a thin blanket lazily covering her bare skin had merely given the tree branch a casual swing with her arm.

“What!?”

But it was too soon to be surprised quite yet.

The twin rocket engines ruptured and the special fuel leaking from within ignited. The silhouette of Academy City’s #3 was swallowed up by a flash of light as bright as the sun.

“Mi-”

The explosion was too large for ordinary gasoline to have caused it.

“Misaka-saaan!?”

Even Shokuhou’s scream was drowned out by the noise.

No one could have heard her, but Anna whispered in a singsong voice.

Or maybe she had never really been focused on that “enemy” in the first place.

“The world’s oldest whips are said to have been made from a thin tree branch, not leather or rope.”

She twirled the branch back to rest it on her bare shoulder.

This was the same as Misaka Mikoto flicking an arcade coin at triple the speed of sound.

In the hands of a true superhuman who could take a different view of things, even a single tree branch could produce such tremendous results.

“The first projectiles were stones, the first smokescreens were dried grass, the first biological weapons were corpses, and the first blades were…actually, I’m not sure if they were stone or bone. History and tradition can be found ''in any part of the world''. And their essence can be freely extracted from all things. If you go to the effort of-”

“Wait, essence? What are you talking abou-”

“What do you think I was just explaining, you rogd! Qhuvnd—ahhhh—hiengk!?”

A sudden change came over Anna.

She took action while Shokuhou watched on, frozen and unable to move.

That thin branch looked so cheap, yet it had eliminated the #3 with a huge explosion that may or may not have killed her. If the needle reached the end of the gauge, you would be killed for no reason. Without any dignity. Shokuhou Misaki had mastered all things related to the human mind, so she did not need to check a mirror to know the look on her face. She had the look of someone who had drawn the wrong card.

Meanwhile, Anna’s actions were even more obvious. Those were not attacks intended to kill. She kicked over the mascot in front of a nearby bakery and swung down the branch. She did not stop even after tearing off the thing’s head.

This was frightening in a different way from seeing a simple weapon or army.

It was like seeing the kind and hard-working straight-A student engaging in domestic violence.

“You people always do this! Always, always, always, always!! I’m teaching you all the right things from the very beginning, but you decide it’s too much work! You take these shortcuts and try to enjoy the feeling of mastering something without putting in any real time or effort!! And when that inevitably leads to failure, it’s somehow my fault? You don’t understand—truc—what you’re even doing, but you still feel qualified to criticize me? Are you kidding me!? Are you goddamn kidding—kfu—me here? Do! Not! Doubt! Me!! ~ ~ ~tnjswhglf~ ~ ~! Argh, there’s a purpose behind each step, so learn it all in order!! Don’t try to understand it yourself! Don’t assume you can—ntd—find the answer on your own!! If you just do what I tell you, all your questions will be answered and it will all make sense to you, you bvdhktuh!!!!!!”

It had been torn to pieces.

What had once been a torso was now just a few plastic blocks.

But then the monster must have noticed the dumbfounded honey-blonde girl’s eyes on her.

“Phew.”

She looked up from the mascot’s severed head, brought her hands together with the mystery branch still held in one of them, and smiled bright.

And she spoke with an adult confidence that seemed out of place from such a small girl.

“Sorry about that. But I will explain everything for you right now.”

“…”

Shokuhou was being taken in.

Even though she knew this was a bad sign.

The #5 girl was nearly invincible.

She had the strongest psychological power. She might have trouble in an unexplored jungle or the middle of the desert, but she was untouchable in a large city full of people. But there were a few people she would not want to run afoul of even then.

For example, the #1 who linked anything and everything to violence. Or the #2 who had stopped being an individual and split himself up so far that it was unclear if the overall will of “Kakine Teitoku” would keep a promise even if you negotiated with each individual branch and received their agreement. Those monsters could tear through a large group all on their own.

This girl was similar.

Manipulating minds was not enough to rest easy against her.

“Now, where was I? You were listening, so you know, don’t you?”

“S-something about prestige…”

“Oh, that’s right! The people who seek out the Son of God’s bloodstains or bundles of ancient parchment are smalltime losers who only want their actions to carry prestige. So you were listening. Good girl☆”

The girl (who at least looked young) laughed and denied everything before her eyes.

Yes. Listening to her, following her rules, and currying her favor were not a guarantee of survival.

For one thing, they were already engaged in combat.

“And the title of Level 5 here in Academy City is no different.”