Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM Chapter2 (section)

===Part 5===

Only one option remained for Mikoto and Shokuhou now: fight until the bitter end. Any other option had been stolen away before their eyes.

The concrete and asphalt city was shaken by a great cry straight out of a movie’s battle scene.

Someone was being lifted like a palanquin at the center of the commotion.

“Hee hee hee, heh heh heh heh. Hope just went extinct, so how about we settle this once and for all, Misaka-san? Let’s fight fair and square☆”

“(That’s her, officer. That sexually-frustrated titty monster is the one you want.)”

“Take this seriously!!” shouted the Queen, who was generally a schemer yet was extremely easy to rile up (and actually had about as short a fuse as Mikoto), while on the verge of tears.

And at the same time…

“Mii! Circle around on that side to cut off their escape!!”

“For someone who never bothers showing up, you really take your Judgment work seriously when you do show up.”

The neighborhood upperclassmen Judgment members named Konori Mii and Yanagisako Aomi rushed toward Shokuhou (probably to crack down on this unauthorized public gathering).

Shokuhou could apparently only control a few thousand within a few kilometers of herself.

That meant the #5 had constructed her own territory over a radius of a few kilometers and she was moving like a typhoon to attack Mikoto. Whenever someone left that area, she released them from the brainwashing so she had enough open slots to brainwash more.

But to Mikoto while she fled on foot, it felt like the entire city was attacking her as a giant avalanche.

The difference between the appearance and the reality was crucial.

Yes, Shokuhou could not brainwashed all 2.3 million people at once. She only made it look like she had.

(Internet server maintenance workers, traffic controllers, high-ranking Anti-Skill, and maybe the 12 board members – there must be some people Shokuhou wants to keep under her control. She won’t release them even if they leave her area. And the more people she has to hold onto, the fewer open slots she has to brainwash new people!)

If that was all, then the situation would only get worse for Mikoto with time. After all, if people with political power or control over the infrastructure fell under Shokuhou’s control, she could take over the security cameras, the unmanned weapons, and the rest of Academy City’s functions and use them against Mikoto.

But…

(What if I ''direct Shokuhou toward annoying enemies who she’s forced to brainwash''? People who don’t do her much good as pawns, but who she can’t release because they’d get mad and attack her. If I send a bunch of those nuisances her way, it will fill up her brainwashing slots. There are 2.3 million people in this city. She’s only trying to minimize the threat, but she’ll end up filling up her few thousand slots like blocks in a puzzle game!!)

Righteous Anti-Skill officers who were trained to arrest criminals, including rogue espers, made the perfect sacrificial pawns.

Shokuhou had Mental Out.

Sending Anti-Skill her way would only get those adults brainwashed sooner or later, so Mikoto just had to set things up so it would be “later”. Because she only needed to buy enough time to get away from Shokuhou. With the exception of some truly special espers, once a group of people passed a certain size, it just became a general “crowd”.

That was Mikoto’s plan, but something unexpected happened.

Unathletic Queen Shokuhou Misaki extended her hand forward.

She pointed her palm toward the approaching Anti-Skill officers.

“Hahhh!!”

They flew.

Her shout sent the heavily-equipped Anti-Skill officers flying more than 5m straight back.

Even Mikoto stopped running and stared wide-eyed at this.

“Eh? What!? Are you a sage now!? When did this idiot get such a cool move!?”

“I have the strongest mental power, Misaka-saaan. Of course I can command them to launch themselves backwards. …And did you just point at me and call me an idiot?”

By brainwashing them, having them knock themselves out, and then releasing the brainwashing, Shokuhou wouldn’t fill up her slots.

The #5 snapped her fingers and the crowd rushed toward Mikoto again. It was like a wave of human bodies. If it contacted her, she would be engulfed.

But just as the #3 feared that would happen, something else entirely happened.

Something emerged.

The special powered suit was shaped like a mantis. But in place of the folded front legs, it was equipped with a Gatling railgun.

Five Over.

Modelcase Railgun.

(Really, when in the timeline is this!!?)

All sound vanished.

Even Mikoto immediately hid behind the corner of a building just before the thick concrete wall was torn through like tofu. The Five Over powered suit was designed to mimic the #3’s abilities. But making each and every orange-trailing shot a railgun was completely absurd.

She did not want to be hit by that when she still wasn’t certain if this was a dream, the real world, or virtual reality.

Since unathletic Shokuhou ran behind cover in a panic, this was probably being controlled by the “official” Academy City side and wasn’t part of her brainwashed army. Although knowing how much of a screwup she could be despite her high specs, there was a distinct possibility she had brainwashed the pilot and then confidently given a suicidally bad command.

Mikoto thought she heard the buzzing of giant insect wings and noticed something like a mechanical scorpion wasp flying in the sky. Was that a Five Over too? But Mikoto didn’t recognize it. She could guess it was from the same series as her mantis, but which Level 5 was it supposed to be!?

“Oh, that’s my Five Over,” said Shokuhou.

“Is everything bad in ''this'' world your fault, you busty god of pestilence?”

“That octopus-like one over there is mine too.”

Mikoto was pissed now, so she electrically controlled that Five Over OS to send it toward Tokiwadai’s Queen. Quite strongly.

“Dbh? Hey, why is this lonely machine wrapping its sticky tentacles around me!? I know you’re the Outsider, but you’re still from the #5 Five Over series, so take my side!!”

“You’re the one with the big boobs, so the slimy tentacle monsters are your domain.”

“What did you say!?”

Mikoto didn’t bother answering and got to running away.

But now they were seeing superweapons capable of killing a Level 5 with direct force.

She didn’t have a moment to lose.

(They weren’t using such powerful weapons before. Has something changed on the Academy City side!?)