Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:Virtual On Chapter1 (section)

===Part 2===

Meanwhile, some Virtuaroids had been fighting from short and long range while Kamijou and Index had walked through the city.

That was one of District 7’s preliminary rounds.

The winner would qualify as a candidate for the tournament between representatives for all 23 districts.

A total of 4 Virtuaroids stood in a square territory with 800 meter sides.

Raiden.

That well-known model had a solid silhouette and thick legs to support it. The bazooka on its right shoulder was known as the Zig-18. The excessively powerful laser cannons on both shoulders were known as the Binary Lotus. It was as much a “robotic robot” as Temjin, but while Temjin had a thin and sporty look, Raiden had heavy armor reminiscent of a baseball catcher or a hockey player. This one had special coloring, giving it a sporty look of primarily light purple.

Odd static slowly ran through the entire robot from top to bottom, like it was a television screen being filmed by a video camera. The customizations were added to the pilot’s Virtuaroid. That solidified its image as a piece of data instead of a steel weapon.

Fei-Yen.

This one had been fighting before and it had a slender feminine silhouette with a more obvious custom concept. It was fighting on the same team as Raiden. With a close-range rapier known as Kindness of the Fool and a guided heart-shaped beam, its firepower had no blind spots, but its movements were the most unique aspect. It ran along the ground, kicked off building walls to jump, and flipped through the air in every direction for dynamic three-dimensional movement. It looked like the machine’s original agility had been further honed.

The Virtuaroids never seemed too much like robots made of steel, but some seemed more like they were made of light plastic or synthetic fibers. That sports-like impression may have been what led to them wearing what amounted to sportswear and sports protectors. Its coloration was the same purple as the Raiden, but it looked completely different. If anything, it looked like a lightweight cheerleader.

The opposing team was made up of two Angelans with identical colorations.

The Angelans were colored yellow and black like killer bees. They were specialized for long-range combat and they were known as interference machines that applied various forms of jamming on whoever their attacks hit. They should have been poorly suited for a close-range rush, but they forced their way through that with clever strategy.

The motor roared loud enough to hurt one’s ears and the giant V-Disc on the back of each Angelan rapidly grew red with heat. The unit was announcing the stress placed on it by this non recommended usage.

The identical two units demonstrated movements not at all possible with the cylinders and gears of existing robotics. They seemed far more human and even had a feminine allure to them. This was also part of the customization. There were multiple types of artificial muscles, but some of them used special fluids. This was likely an application of that.

Simply put, the identical units nimbly crossed paths as they aimed for their targets.

Just like balls being shuffled inside overturned cups, it was impossible to tell which Angelan was which.

The spherical devices overhead that acted as referees began moving rapidly back and forth.

The Raiden’s fire-control system (FCS) kept the locking cursor on one of the Angelans, but as it moved from blind spot to blind sport and even cut across the center of its enemy’s field of vision, the automatic seeking function could not keep up. If these disturbance tactics had included the aforementioned jamming attacks, the cursor really would have wandered around without knowing where to go.

To sum up…

“Oh, honestly!! Why do you insist on using those cheap movements over and over, Shokuhou!?”

“Kyah, you’re so scary, Misaka-san, lol. And Raiden’s legs are soooo thick, lol. It’s the perfect character for you, lol.”

“Ahn!? And quit saying ‘lol’!!”

The bright purple Raiden fired bazooka blast after bazooka blast, but the two Angelans flew behind the buildings on either side as if to mock her. If Mikoto pursued one of them, she would have to expose her back to the other.

“Just look at that synchronicity. You’ve got to be controlling your partner!!”

“Onee-sama! It would be best to ignore your FCS’s lock! Firing at them with straightforward manual control should raise your accuracy!!”

“I…know that!!”

The light purple cheerleader Fei-Yen looked down at the buildings from midair and fired down a bombardment of pink particles.

However, none of them hit.

But not because Shokuhou’s side was rapidly evading to either side or jumping high into the air.

One of the yellow and black Angelans slipped through the gaps in the glowing rain as it ran toward the transparent wall that signified the edge of the combat area.

“Oh, honestly! It’s going for a pit stop! It might swap out its equipment!!”

The wall blocked the long-range attacks.

“She’s down to the 1 unit, which is good for us! Let’s take care of the remaining one before the other one returns! If we can take the lead in points, we can-…!!”

Before Mikoto could finish speaking, a yellow and black Angelan burst in from the other side of the wall.

“Eh? Aehhh!? It only just left, so why’s it already-…?”

“Onee-sama! That’s a different unit! The endurance has changed, hasn’t it!?”

“Oh, honestly. Are all 4 members of her team colored the same and registered as Hive Eater? That’s just confusing!!”

Mikoto rampaged through Academy City while viewing the usual streets from an unusual height.

In a way, it was like stepping into a different world.

But she got carried away and charged forward with a high-speed dash. She pictured the path as points connected by straight lines and used the strength of her legs as well as the invisible repulsion to launch her unit forward, but an Angelan’s staff stuck horizontally out from behind a building much closer than she had expected.

“Wha-!?”

Mikoto’s Raiden’s legs were swept out from underneath it and it tripped.

An electronic tone sounded.

[District 7 Selection Candidate: Hive Eater has taken 2 points. Current Score: 6-8]

“Oh, hell!! What a cheap trick!!”

“Onee-sama, hurry up and recover!! If you don’t get up within 3 seconds, she’ll get another point!! She’s already won 1 set, so we’ll lose the game if we lose this set too!”

A killer bee colored Angelan repeatedly fired on the fallen Raiden.

And Mikoto did not bother getting up.

“I’ll take my time and let you have this point…”

With no time for that, she held out her bulky arms.

Both shoulders opened up like portable parabolic antennae.

Bluish-white particles danced out.

“So it’s time…you blasted off!!”

Sound vanished.

A massive beam of light swallowed up the killer bee.

That attack was a symbol of high firepower. It was hard to hit with it, but a single hit could turn things around.

Her opponent had not had time to dodge.

The Angelan simply vanished within the light.

But.

“Huh!? That was a direct hit, so why didn’t I get any points!?”

“If I know it’s coming, I can respond appropriately.” The sweet laughter sounded like concentrated honey. “Unlike a certain someone’s thick-legged Raiden, my Angelan is slim, so in a straight-on blast, I can slip into the slight gap between the thick Binary Lotus lasers fired from your shoulders.”

“What!? Curse those refs. Are they even checking the hit-detection data!?”

“Oh, dear. You’re super scary, Misaka-san☆ Just look at that explosion of glaring ability. I bet that’s why the refs don’t like you.”

Mikoto clicked her tongue and the Raiden and Angelan jumped back from each other.

As a Next Generation Game, Virtual-On was not about destroying or killing one’s opponent. It was more like judo or wrestling in that you knocked your opponent down to score points. So even if you tore off your opponent’s head or separated their upper body from their lower body, it would be meaningless if it did not count as a point. On the other hand, a blinding flash of light or a light leg sweep could earn points as long as it unbalanced your opponent and knocked them to the ground.

It was all built on top of that. No matter how much damage you took, you could still win as long as you ultimately had more points. Focusing on the damage and major attacks while ignoring the smaller attacks was a good way to lose in the end.

However.

These young ladies of prestigious Tokiwadai Middle School were ''not just'' fighting over the preliminary round for the tournament.

“By the way, Misaka-san, it’s your turn to show off your speech ability in a highly public place! C’mon, I’m not the only representative of the Level 5s at our school!”

“Hell! No! A showoff exhibitionist like you can take care of that!! C’mon, put on a frilly, see-through dress and go curry the favor of all those guests!!”

“Are you even listening!? I’m saying it’s your turn to put on the frilly, see-through dress!! Besides, there’s only one person I want to win over with my charm!!”

“Why does that piss me off so much? It sounds like a threat!”

As they fired at each other from a distance, the light purple cheerleader Fei-Yen tilted her head while viewing the battle from the roof of a tall building.

“Ah!? D-does that mean throwing this battle means I get to see Onee-sama fidgeting bashfully in a frilly, see-through dress?”

“Kurokooo!! I don’t need Shokuhou controlling you too!!”

“Oh, my, my. Do you really think someone as above reproach as me would do that?”

“All the Angelans are moving in the exact same way, so you’re clearly directly controlling all of your team’s pilots. And if you have to control someone to get a partner, does that mean the queen of the largest clique doesn’t actually have any real friends?”

“Oh, dear. Misaka-san, you do realize that theory doesn’t hold much persuasion ability when it comes from our great lone wolf of an ace, don’t you?”

“…”

“…”

After a short silence, the two of them reacted to the other’s provocation by rushing in for a direct clash.