Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM

Novel Illustrations

• 

  Cover

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Prologue: Breaking News!!

The catastrophe we all knew was coming has finally happened.

Academy City’s #3 – Railgun Misaka Mikoto.

Academy City’s #5 – Mental Out Shokuhou Misaki.

Those special girls are two of the seven Level 5s among the city’s 2.3 million residents and they stand at the peak of prestigious Tokiwadai Middle School.

Do they even need a reason?

In a way, this confrontation may have been inevitable.

This is a true direct clash between Level 5s, where rules, manners, morals, and taboos are meaningless.

They will settle this once and for all, even if it means destroying the world as we know it.

Both Level 5s will draw on their full specs with no concern for what happens to anyone else.

When the #3 and the #5 wield their full power against each other with no restraint or mercy, who will ultimately win?

There is only one way to find out.

Who will remain standing at the conclusion of this death match between Tokiwadai girls!!??

…By the way, this story belongs to the kaiju genre.

Chapter 1: A Single Pudding Triggers the Apocalypse

Part 1

A snapping sound could physically be heard.

It happened in the short break between exams during Tokiwadai’s weeklong midterms.

The pudding container was empty.

Tragically, this was the last one.

Misaka Mikoto and Shokuhou Misaki exploded on either side of that dangerous item.

“I know you must have eaten it, so you’d damn well better go and buy me a new ooooooooooooone!!!”

They were in Academy City’s District 7.

Specifically, in the School Garden, a special area containing several prestigious girl’s schools.

Tokiwadai Middle School was supposed to be the very center of that space of class and good manners, so the shouting voices sounded horribly out of place in its peaceful and verdant courtyard. The beige sleeveless sweaters, white short-sleeve blouses, and dark gray skirts were definitely Tokiwadai uniforms, but Mikoto and Shokuhou were not cosplaying. They were supposedly legitimate students there, yet they were behaving like this.

Their twintailed underclassman Shirai Kuroko (with a caramel dessert staining her mouth) smiled bitterly as she intervened.

“C-calm down, both of you. I know that was a super-rare luxury pudding you have to stand in line to get your hands on, but most schools don’t even let their students eat desserts at school, even during their lunch break. So instead of lamenting this missed opportunity, why not be thankful you can eat things like this every single d-”

With a click of a remote, Shokuhou brainwashed Shirai into motionlessness while Mikoto launched her into the sky with a Railgun blast three times the speed of sound.

Really, if she wasn’t a pervert, that would have killed her.

Mikoto and Shokuhou turned their heads toward ringlet-hair Hokaze Junko who had tried to intervene along with the girl who was now a constellation in the daytime sky. The synchronized movement made one suspect those two actually got along very well indeed.

“Did you have something to say?” the both said.

“N-no, I wouldn’t dream of it.”

As usual, the ringlets girl wisely backed down. With a smile. Although if they had allowed Hokaze to speak, they would have been reminded what exactly was on Shirai’s mouth before she was blasted away.

However, the pudding was only the tip of the iceberg.

All their past frustrations were at play here.

Short hair vs. long hair.

Cute vs. pretty.

Shorts vs. no shorts.

Cats vs. dogs.

Summer break vs. winter break.

Skyrockets vs. sparklers.

Can easily perform a back hip circle vs. can’t and just ends up kicking her legs.

Beef curry vs. seafood curry.

Ultra high resolution Pleystation vs. casual Sketch.

And last but not least: no shoulder stiffness vs. constant shoulder stiffness.

In other words, flat chest vs. busty.

Sadly, humanity could never be united. No matter how long they try to work things out, there are people who were born unable to get along with each other.

So this had only been the final spark.

A direct clash between Misaka Mikoto and Shokuhou Misaki had begun.

A quiet metallic clink rang out.

It came from the arcade coin Misaka Mikoto had flicked up with her thumb. Academy City’s #3 Railgun was showing no mercy right out of the gate.

With practiced skill, she caught the flicked coin back on her thumbnail, and…

“What kind of idiot holds the big guns in reserve when faced with the final boooooooss!!!”

Metal tore through the air at three times the speed of sound. The speed and destructive force were so powerful the friction drew out an orange path and the coin would vanish after only 50m. This was Mikoto’s ultimate attack as Academy City’s #3. A hit from this would be deadly (for anyone other than a well-trained pervert).

But…

“Hee hee☆”

Shokuhou was still smiling as the coin hit the center of her body, right near the navel, twisting her around like a whirlpool, but then her silhouette vanished like an unnatural fog fading away.

Shokuhou stood 5m to the right of the impact point.

Mikoto had screwed up.

She’d been tricked.

Tokiwadai’s Queen bewitchingly pressed her lips against the tip of her TV remote.

“That’s my line ability.”

“Hm? Your insidious brainwashing isn’t supposed to work on me. How could you create that illusion when my subconscious EM barrier is supposed to deflect your power?”

“Thanks for the detailed explanation ability☆ But what do you think happened here?”

If Mikoto wasn’t wrong about something, then what she had seen made no sense.

It took less than 2 seconds to arrive at the correct answer.

“Oh, I get it. That illusion didn’t come from my mind. You didn’t break the rules. You simply controlled all the girls around you and forced one of them to use an image projection power!! (Lightning crash!!)”

“Sh-she what!?” shouted Hokaze Junko with a look of shock drawn in extreme contrast.

Shokuhou twirled her remote.

“Correct☆ Misaka-saaan, I can’t help but notice you keep explaining every little thing even though literally no one asked you to. Do you like it when shounen manga do that or something? And, Hokaze-san, whose side are you on?”

Do not underestimate Tokiwadai’s Ace. She was the kind of person who could ignore the glaring clerk to read magazines for hours on end in the convenience store without buying anything. The magazine has a sticker to prevent that? This tyrant will simply remove it.

Tokiwadai didn’t even have 200 students, but every single one was at least Level 3. With a single remote, Shokuhou could brainwash anyone (other than Mikoto) she wanted, so the number and variety of powers she could indirectly draw on was literally an order of magnitude higher.

She started with around 30 or 40. Girls with blank eyes surrounded Mikoto at a distance. And if this didn’t work, Shokuhou only had to brainwash and call in more girls.

“You and your small guns. I don’t think we can ever get along.”

“You’re only now figuring that out? Oh, and that wasn’t a very nice thing to say. These ‘small guns’ include a Level 4 like Kongou-san.”

Shokuhou made sure to jiggle her large boobs every time she responded.

“The hero’s the one who’s supposed to take time levelling up, not the lewd villain!”

“And what about you?”

Boing, boing, boing, boing – the jiggling would not stop.

Was she – boing – really in – boing – middle school?

“If you want to be the hotblooded good guy, why are you acting like the demon lord who sends in all his forces right away and burns down the protagonist’s hometown?”

“…”

“To be fair, you never have been able to trust others and you try to solve everything on your own, so you would do better as an evil demon lord than as a hero who has to form a party to fight alongside.”

Boing, boing, boing, boing, boing, shake, boing, shake, boing, boing, boing, shake, boing, boing, boing, shake, boing!

“Argh, could these things be any more annoying!!?”

“Wh-why would you just grab them while crying!?”

Not even the strongest mental esper had managed to predict the mental state of the flat-chested girl weeping tears of blood. A beat later, the #5 girl shook her off and backed away, blushing.

This was why Tokiwadai’s Queen simply could not get along with her!!

Electricity crackled from Mikoto’s bangs and iron sand magnetically gathered at her right hand to form a rapidly-vibrating black sword.

Mental Out could control large groups and Railgun had a wide variety of single-fighter uses.

But Mikoto immediately arrived at the optimal answer: an immediate retreat.

(Tch. Whoever she brainwashes here is a win for her. Every one of her rolls is a guaranteed legendary or greater, so facing her here in Tokiwadai is a bad idea!!)

“Crush her!!!”

Shokuhou gave her command at the same moment Mikoto used her magnetism to leap to the nearest building wall and plant her feet on it.

Shockwaves, a flamethrower, telekinesis, ice blocks, dangerously rusted metal, and gravity.

A variety of attacks made short work of the school building’s wall, but they couldn’t keep up with fleeing Mikoto. She jumped from building to building and made her way off of school grounds as quickly as possible.

Part 2

“Hm.”

“Queen?”

This was no longer about the pudding. Shokuhou Misaki knew that she would not be satisfied until she had settled things once and for all with that girl.

Without answering the question from Hokaze Junko (who had a vacant brainwashed look in her eyes thanks to the tearful and sulking Queen’s complete intolerance for NTR), Shokuhou twirled her TV remote.

She could not directly brainwash Misaka Mikoto with her Mental Out.

She tried aiming the remote at the ground but received no response. She could ordinarily read the residual thoughts from someone’s footprints on the ground, but something prevented her from doing that here.

(Does she burn some weak electricity into the ground too, destroying the residual thought? A lot like a novelty item that erases personal information from a letter by stamping it with a random assortment of alphanumeric characters☆)

After making some rough guesses, she aimed her remote at Hokaze.

“I know you must have eaten it, so you’d damn well better go and buy me a new ooooooooooooone!!!”

The previous exchange played back in Shokuhou’s mind without issue.

The weird noise coming from Mikoto’s body and voice didn’t affect this.

“So I can’t brainwash or read anything from Misaka-san herself, but anything a third party saw or heard is untouched.”

“?”

Uncertain what this was about, Hokaze tilted her head,

It might seem basic, but knowing what your power could and couldn’t do was crucial. Shokuhou wanted to have that line clearly drawn before she was in a crisis. This took priority over pursuing Mikoto.

She could begin running at any time. Really, I can.

(Who else?)

What other pawns could she brainwash like Hokaze? She had plenty of girls in her clique, but giving them ordinary orders wouldn’t do much good if their morals or their basic fear of Mikoto got in the way.

Brainwashing them all would be more certain.

Shokuhou pressed the tip of the remote against her slender chin.

“Kobayashi-saaan.”

<I am nearby.>

A voice sounded directly in her mind.

It belonged to Kobayashi Satori, a telepath and one of the Shokuhou Clique’s advisers.

However…

“Why are you hiding?”

<You seem on edge in this battle. Enough so to brainwash anyone you see “just in case”. Because our Queen does not believe in the goodness of basic human nature.>

The blonde girl clicked her tongue.

Kobayashi had seen right through her.

<I will pursue Misaka-sama on my own and let you know once I locate her. Once I have linked with her, I can track her location. In military action, intelligence is more important than power. All the firepower in the world is meaningless if it can’t hit its target.>

“You do that☆”

<And if necessary, I will stay quiet on the link to spy on Misaka-sama’s thoughts. Being able to predict her actions should come in handy.>

“I would recommend against that. She lives in the world of binary where she converses with machines like it’s normal. Listening too deeply to her thought ability could fill your mind with unreadable data and noise, crashing your brain.”

Did Kobayashi’s silence mean that had scared her?

The basic rules were as follows:

Mental Out did not work against Misaka Mikoto, but witness information could be gathered from third parties.

Hokaze Junko would participate in the conversation, but she had been brainwashed into a mindless yes man.

Shokuhou would brainwash all of her allies. How well they got along was irrelevant.

“Okay, Hokaze-san, let’s get this chase started☆”

“Yes, Queen.”

Part 3

She knew how to move her pieces.

So it was finally time for the #5 to fight on the board too.

“How long do you think you can keep away from me, Misaka-sa-!!”

Shokuhou began her pursuit of Mikoto and, on the second step, tripped and fell flat on her face.

She was (although she would never admit it) extremely unathletic.

Tokiwadai’s Queen shouted into the ground while still lying face down.

“Hokaze-san, a little help!!”

The brainwashed ringlets girl placed her beloved Queen over her shoulder and began running faster than an electric car.

“Hey, um, could you show more class ability!? You look like a bandit taking me home with you!”

The blushing and tearful Queen had to hold down her fluttering skirt. She had brainwashed and ordered Hokaze, but the selfish girl still complained.

The School Garden was home to several fancy girl’s schools.

Hokaze was faster than anyone else on foot since she could boost her muscles with electric signals, but Mikoto had gained unthinkable speed by making large leaps while magnetically drawing herself to streetlight poles and cars parked on the curb.

However, her ability was not perfect.

Mikoto could only magnetically attach to the building walls because of the steel frames and rebar inside. The same principle applied to the streetlight poles and cars. Conversely, she could not use wooden 2x4s or piles of bricks. It might look like she had it easy, but she was risking her life. If she misread a jump, she would end up plummeting from a dangerous height.

Meanwhile.

Mikoto had used her lead to make a detour.

She was inside a small room(?) about the size of a phone booth.

“Smash her!!”

Which was crushed underfoot.

A 3m foot made of clear water had dropped from above to squash the booth. Water was convenient because a simple calculation using a relative density of 1 would tell you how much was needed for a certain weight and deadly force.

“Damn, Shokuhou got Wannai-san from the swim team!?”

After jumping out at the last second, Mikoto clicked her tongue and resumed her flight.

The #5 agreed that Wannai Kinuho would be a regular pain as an enemy. Which was why she had actively sought her out.

Next to Shokuhou, the (also brainwashed) black-haired swimmer Awatsuki Maaya smoothly explained.

“That booth has a communication cable leading outside. It appears to be an emergency hotline to Anti-Skill.”

“Hm.”’

There were some things you didn’t pick up on even while living in the School Garden. Or maybe the Queen simply wasn’t interested in what the janitors and guards were ordinarily up to.

For example, in the world outside the city, police boxes could be set up in train stations, amusement parks, stadiums, and other facilities commonly used by the public, even if they were privately owned. It was hardly surprising for Anti-Skill to have similar infrastructure set up inside the School Garden. Of course, it would only be staffed by female teachers.

(I bet it took a lot of connections ability to get that set up, though.)

“So was she trying to call Anti-Skill for help. Heh heh. Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha!! Oh, Misaka-san, did you really think such a sloppy countermeasure would be enough to escape Mental Out’s clutches!?”

<Saying “clutches” that way really makes you sound like a villain.>

“Kobayashi-san☆”

Hokaze’s prized strength would let her grab a large motorcycle between her hands and crush it smaller than a soccer ball, but she couldn’t provide that destructive force unless she got within grappling range of the target.

“But Hokaze-san isn’t the only card in my deck. Watch out, Misaka-saaan, you have a swarm of high-level esper girls coming for you!!”

“Argh, what is this, a riot disaster movie!?”

Part 4

Misaka Mikoto bristled and shouted.

The #5 was close enough to hear her voice.

(God, I really don’t like her power or how she uses it!!)

Mikoto jumped onto a truck’s roof, hijacked the vehicle’s electronics, and had it drive forward to block the entrance to an alley. She hopped onto the ground before multiple esper powers could grab the truck and flip it over and she used those few extra seconds to run away. She magnetically planted her feet on the wall and escaped up onto a building rooftop. She repeated that kind of minor action to just barely avoid being swallowed up by the swarm of espers.

A mocking voice reached her from behind.

“Do you think you can escape me if you keep running? Everyone wears out eventually. You don’t have a perpetual motion machine ability inside you!”

“Not everyone wears out in a matter of seconds like you, slowpoke!”

“How dare you trample on my dignity ability as casually as downloading a free app!!”

While running out ahead, Mikoto made a magnetically-propelled leap.

She cleared the School Garden’s gate.

“Tch! She escaped outside. I really wanted to end this inside the Garden if I could.”

Shokuhou had brainwashed Hokaze to switch from over-the-shoulder to a princess carry while they passed through the gate.

Just then, she heard the roar of helicopter rotors. As Mikoto left below, several hunks of metal flew sharply in from above.

That was an entire group of Six Wings unmanned attack helicopters.

(She wasn’t using the emergency hotline to call Anti-Skill for help? Dammit, Misaka-san. You just had to hack the most troublesome thing, didn’t you!?)

Shokuhou reflexively aimed her remote toward the approaching threat, but she realized that was useless against machines.

She had the strongest mental power.

But it was entirely ineffectual against machines and animals other than humans.

“Oh, no!!”

Despite being princess carried, Shokuhou flailed wildly in an attempt to escape behind cover, causing Hokaze to trip. The brainwashed ringlets girl then escaped behind a vending machine with the Queen under her arm. As soon as the helicopter’s six arms spread out, machinegun fire tore a straight line through a multi-tenant building’s wall and converted the vending machine shield to scrap. Shokuhou and Hokaze somehow avoided harm, but that shield was not going to protect them a second time. And if those arms fired their explosives, only a smoking crater would remain. They had only a few seconds until the helicopter could take aim again. Shokuhou used that time to aim her remote at the ordinary people in the area. Several espers responded by holding their palms up toward the sky.

She just had to shoot it down before it could shoot her.

“?”

Then she frowned.

“I’ll gladly die fighting on the command of a cute girl. Ha ha☆”

“Hey, why are you escaping into a fantasy world in this emergen- gah!?”

Shokuhou had brainwashed Aogami Pierce, Fukiyose Seiri, and around 10 other espers, but they did not fight back with fire and ice. She could see them holding up their palms and wrinkling their brows in concentration, but they didn’t produce so much as a light breeze.

Tokiwadai’s Queen clicked her tongue when she figured it out.

She ordered Hokaze to hide behind a nearby truck as she spoke.

“A Level 0, a Level 0, and another Level 0? Is everyone here a useless esper or a non-esper adult!? Argh, where did my luck go!? These are all common or normal pulls!!”

“You do tend to overlook these things. But maybe it’s not your fault since you’re the Queen of the largest clique and you’re surrounded by high-level espers all the time. Simply put, you’re a freak.”

She was no longer in Tokiwadai or the School Garden where you could find high-spec girls wherever you looked. While 80% of the city’s 2.3 million people were espers, 60% of those were Level 0s. The odds of pulling a legendary had fundamentally changed.

(In that case, I want a list of espers along with photos. Would it be fastest to brainwash some Anti-Skill or Judgment people who can legitimately access the Bank?)

“I bet I know what you’re thinking, but I don’t need that list. In fact, it’s only a risk to me, so why would I leave it there for you to use!?”

Sparks flew from Mikoto’s bangs.

It wasn’t visible from here, but she had just done something via the wireless network. Wherever the Bank was physically located, it was probably no longer usable.

Part 5

Rotors roaring, the Six Wings unmanned attack helicopters once more targeted Shokuhou.

Shokuhou was the Queen who could force any human to serve her, but Mikoto had the obedience of the citywide network and all the machines connected to it.

“Did you think a flesh-and-blood body could win in a war between humans and AI, you caveman!?”

“Do you know how absurd that sounds in a city of espers, Misaka-saaan!?”

Shoe soles repeatedly scraped against the asphalt.

As bad as the pull rates were, this was Academy City, the city of espers. If she took control of people by the dozen, she would find a high-level esper or two among them. She only needed an esper with control over telekinesis, air, fire, gravity, or anything else that could alter the course of a shell or missile and bring down the attack helicopters taking sharp paths through the sky.

The blonde girl found her answer: stop fearing failure and whale her way to a legendary pull. She would make this happen!!

“Where do you even think you can go? This is a city. I have an endless supply of ‘weapons’ here☆ You might as well have stuck your head in the hornet’s nest in your attempt to fight the hornets. Did you really think you would find any survival ability there!?”

Shokuhou grinned.

A professor-looking old man (walking a silver mechanical dog) suddenly grabbed her blonde hair as he walked by.

“What!?”

She frantically swung her remote around to brainwash the ultra-aggressive geezer into motionlessness. A closer look showed her he was a dark side monster and the dog was controlled by a gloomy shut-in. But it didn’t end there. Men, women, boys, and girls were charging toward her from all sides, even if it meant climbing over guardrails or hopping down from pedestrian bridges. She couldn’t aim her remote at all of them, so she had to give a vocal command to the “pawns” around her.

“Stop those charging people!! What is going on here!?”

A drum-shaped security robot gave her the answer.

“89.8% match for Shokuhou Misaki, wanted in all districts. Please stop here and wait for Anti-Skill to arrive. Leaving without permission will be deemed interfering with Anti-Skill business.”

“Wait, do I have a price on my head!?”

“Did you think you were the only one who could control people?”

Mikoto grinned with sparks flying form her fingertips.

The demon had more to say.

“You’re worth 6 million yen☆ Human greed is a scary thing. By altering an Anti-Skill station’s security map using the security robots around here, I can create as many new hunting quests as I want. And I can provide the necessary security camera evidence with AI-made deepfakes. Or would you prefer I faked a video of you doing a lewd dance in the nude!?”

“Misaka-san, you are literally the worst sometimes.”

Quietly pissed, Shokuhou Misaki used her phone instead of her remote.

After the distorted sound of something slicing through the air, a Six Wings helicopter turned to target Mikoto instead.

“Hey!?”

“This is what happens when I brainwashed the crucial commanders and air traffic controllers in advance☆ Heh heh heh. Did you think you were the only one who could control machines?”

“Are you saying this had nothing to do with our fight!? You’ve been brainwashing innocent people just in case!?”

With a roar of machinegun fire, Mikoto rushed into the alley between two buildings to escape the destructive downpour.

Machine and human.

The #3 and #5 had now taken over each other’s advantage. If they lost the fight to control each other’s specialties, they would be attacked from all sides.

Alone in the alley, battle freak Mikoto gave a belligerent smile.

“I see. Now this battle’s gotten more unpredictable, Shokuhou.”

“Hi, Uiharu-saaan. I’m so glad to see you here. I need you to lend me your hacking ability☆”

“Now she’s going after my friends again!? With a big smile on her face too!!!”

…If only she wasn’t a curvy temptress who was drawn to other people’s possessions.

Mikoto used a Railgun to shoot down the Six Wings targeting her and moved further into the alley. She wasn’t sure what would happen in a direct hacker battle against Uiharu. She doubted she would lose when it came to pure strength, but if Uiharu used contacts and loopholes Mikoto wasn’t aware of to hijack machines without Mikoto noticing, a supposedly friendly machine could end up backstabbing her.

Which meant…

“Either I give up on using machines, or – as much as I hate the idea – I put Uiharu-san to sleep for now.”

This didn’t just apply to Uiharu.

Brainwashing ten thousand Level 0s wouldn’t accomplish much for Shokuhou. She needed the individuals with irregular power or skills. Capturing a single Level 4 or Level 5 would have real strategic value. Because the seven Level 5s were each a formidable fighting force on their own. And when brainwashed, they wouldn’t consider the consequences, so the safeties put in place by the adults might not work.

So that was what Mikoto had to ensure didn’t happen. In the worst case, Shokuhou could brainwash the other 5 and send them all after Mikoto.

But only if she sat around and let Shokuhou brainwash them.

“Where are the other Level 5s? If I can get to them first and explain the situation, they might join my side. And if they refuse, maybe I should just kill them for being so stupid.”

“You really turn into a bloodthirsty elite warrior when you’re backed into a corner. Is it because your thought ability turns inwards?”

The voice came from above.

Mikoto shot a Railgun through a nearby concrete wall and rolled indoors right as Hokaze dropped down with the force of a lightning bolt.

That girl was limited to close quarters combat, but even Mikoto would be in trouble if she got close and grabbed her.

Shokuhou gloated while being princess carried.

“Your magnetic jumps won’t get you very far inside this cramped building. Which means we’ll catch you before you can get away☆ I assume I don’t need to explain what happens to you once you’re grappling with my Hokaze. She can bench press more than a ton, FYI.”

“…”

“Now, Hokaze-san, grab Misaka-san, tear her limb from limb, and throw away the piec- ow ow ow ow ow!? Hoka- wait, Hokaze-san? Stop, stop, why are you trying to fold up my spine!? I don’t remember installing you with anything as advanced as treachery ability!!!”

She had ordered Hokaze to “grab” Mikoto while being princess carried by Hokaze, but apparently she had failed to predict how that would turn out. It was a lot like shouting for a crane to destroy a building while she was holding onto the wrecking ball. And it was 100% her own fault because she had brainwashed Hokaze to never question her orders.

(She really is stupid, but she did pass Tokiwadai’s entrance exam, didn’t she? Don’t tell me she brainwashed the examiner and grader and then turned in a blank answer sheet.)

Mikoto ran off and quickly vacated the multi-tenant building.

Part 6

With the wicked Queen controlling Hokaze, Mikoto’s top priority was staying out of sight more than keeping distance between them. She wanted to avoid an extended chase in an open area.

That was the #3’s intention, but…

“?”

She came to a stop.

Puzzled, she looked back.

“She…isn’t following me?”

If physically weak Shokuhou were alone, it would have been no surprise for her to lose sight of Mikoto and start wandering, but she had already brainwashed many high-level espers. It was possible her pawns could even predict the future or use thoughtography. Hokaze and the others would not let Mikoto escape so easily.

It seemed too good to be true.

Which could only mean…

(She’s focused on some other target?)

But what other target? Was another powerful Level 5 nearby, so Shokuhou was focused on brainwashing and controlling them? Or had she spotted one of Mikoto’s personal acquaintances and was brainwashing them as a hostage?

After some thought, Mikoto noticed a lot of murmuring voices.

Not all the crowds were under Shokuhou’s control. Mikoto had messed with Anti-Skill’s security map to register Shokuhou as a wanted criminal with a reward for her capture, so one group was on Mikoto’s(?) side.

That group was confused.

Watching from a distance, it looked like their phones were the source of their confusion.

Mikoto pulled out her own phone and saw something unbelievable for being in the middle of Tokyo: No Signal.

“Tch. Is she taking out the power and communication centers!?”

Part 7

Honk, honk, hooooonk!!

Car horns blared endlessly. A large road was packed full of cars. People were free to impatiently abandon their vehicle and continue on foot if they wanted, but their abandoned cars only made the traffic jam worse.

“Ehh? Why is the road so congested!? I’d really like to live to teach another day.”

“Hey, Hamazura, are you sure the gate’s going to open? We aren’t trapped inside Academy City, are we?”

“Eek! That’s a Six Wings. If that attack helicopter is headed for the gate, they might be attacking anyone who tries to climb over the wall. Hanzou, Kuruwa, get out now. We need to vamoose!!”

When Mikoto launched a Railgun from the ground to shoot down the helicopter, everyone in the traffic jam scrambled out of their cars and fled.

“Eek! It’s a kaiju! There’s a kaiju here!!”

Was that any way to talk about the person who saved you?

Apparently they knew very well that a Level 5 should scare them more than some hunk-of-junk weapon.

“But why are all these cars traveling in the wrong direction?”

Mikoto glanced at her phone.

(The civilian frequencies are down all across Academy City, so their GPS map apps and compasses must not be working. Dammit Shokuhou, you really do know how to be a nuisance to everyone.)

Apparently people had a hard time noticing their own flaws.

The ordinary people were beginning to realize they were caught up in a direct clash between the Railgun, who could singlehandedly blast a hole through and conquer a vast fortress, and the Mental Out, who could brainwash countless people and use them as her pawns. But knowing that didn’t give them any way of stopping it.

Finally, the traffic lights went dark too.

Cars and motorcycles were no longer usable.

Not wanting Mikoto to make use of the citywide security camera network or the unmanned weapons, Shokuhou had cut off the internet lines. This was likely a consequence of that.

But it wasn’t perfect.

“This should do for now.”

The drum-shaped security and cleaning robots were made to operate as normal even when communications were down. Much like security cameras could operate independently when the building’s power cable or switchboard was destroyed by robbers, the robots constructed their own independent wireless communication network. You could say each individual drum acted as a small wireless LAN antenna base.

That could be abused to transmit your own data.

(That independent line is an emergency line for Anti-Skill and Judgment. This one is for fire trucks and ambulances, I think. Oh, this one is suspiciously heavily encrypted. That just makes it stand out more, but I bet it’s the military line for the unmanned weapons. They’re mine now!!)

She only needed to take control of the Six Wings and the rest of the unmanned weapons.

Once done, Mikoto frowned at the commotion occurring nearby.

(Hm? What’s going on at the supermarket? Are people buying up food and water bottles?)

If so, they were wasting their time, but it was better than having them affecting anything important. If they worked as a group to stop the source of the trouble – that is, the #3 and the #5 – Mikoto would have to directly deal with them.

But some students had snuck into the alley behind the supermarket to do something.

“The soy sauce! Drink the soy sauce, kid! Or eat a pile of salt!!”

“Ugh, why did I have to become a Level 3? Now that sparkly-eyed Queen will be after me. But can I really avoid being conscripted by ruining my health?”

“Shut up. The #5 can read minds, remember? The trick might not work if she can read all those unnecessary thoughts. Ah, forget it. Once you finish that 2L bottle, I’ll shoot you in the head with this tranquilizer gun to erase your short-term memory!! So hurry up and fill your stomach!!”

(Well, that’s just tragic.)

Was that the reason for the strange rush on the supermarket?

Mikoto could at least agree with them that attempting a life-risking trick was preferable to becoming one of Shokuhou’s pawns.

She had guessed Shokuhou’s general plan from the moment Shokuhou failed to pursue her.

Academy City was generally powered by wind. The three-blade wind turbines were spread out across the entire city, so a small number of malfunctions and minor damage would not be enough to cause a major outage. However, if the network of power cables was not properly managed and controlled, too much power generated by the turbines would gather in a single line, the current would grow too powerful for that line, and the buried cables would burn out, so there were specialized load balancing control stations to ensure the power was distributed evenly.

Ordinary power or emergency power? Public generation or private generation? Industrial power or general power?

The few switching stations found around the city could be seen as the power centers.

If you destroyed or hijacked one of those, you could cause a major power outage. And Shokuhou was going to do exactly that if she was given the chance. For no other reason than to give herself an edge by robbing electric Mikoto of the advantage the unmanned weapons and network gave her.

If Mikoto could no longer get help from the machines, she would have to fight on her own. Meanwhile, Shokuhou could brainwash any of the 2.3 million she wanted, so she could crush Mikoto with pure numbers without ever showing her face.

Mikoto understood all that, but…

“You have to be kidding me. Did that idiot not bother to check the details? A major power outage will release all the dangerous bacteria and chimera creatures frozen in the labs.”

Shokuhou was apparently willing to do whatever it took to defeat Mikoto.

The scariest thing about that villainous boobs girl was how her real anger happened quietly below the surface.

“Now, then.”

If Shokuhou was going to attack Academy City infrastructure to prevent Mikoto from using the security cameras and unmanned weapons, what would be her best target?

Mikoto hated that she knew the answer offhand.

(Probably the General District 7 Parallel Distribution Emergency Gas Turbine Generator.)

Mikoto arrived at the answer right away.

There were largescale emergency power storage stations located underground, but the city didn’t fully rely on that since they were so expensive. So Academy City had emergency power generators to ensure the labs and hospitals would have power. But if the parallel distribution adjustments weren’t handled in advance, there was a risk of a mistake during the switchover causing an outage. Mikoto knew all of this well because it as one of the options she had considered for destroying the military clone creation facilities when she was trying to attack that experiment. They had been built to meet the standards demanded by the higher ups, but no one seriously thought the entire wind power network could be taken down, so they were just generic black buildings.

“But where did Shokuhou learn about those tough generators? Hm, maybe she studied all the power infrastructure to hide the existence of the massive lab that held Exterior.”

That aside, if she did cause a major outage by abusing a competition bug between the ordinary and emergency power, it really would affect the city’s labs.

Then the brutal viruses and chimera creatures frozen inside would be free. Welcome to Resident You-Know-What. If only the scientists wouldn’t create things for fun that could destroy the entire city if there was any trouble.

Mikoto didn’t want to act impulsively because it would make her easier to predict, but she couldn’t ignore this problem either.

She walked to a thick concrete facility larger than the average school.

An adult of course stopped her at the power facility’s front gate.

“Hey, you! This building is off limits!! I don’t know if factory tours are the latest fad or what, but I will call Anti-Skill if you enter without perm-”

Kaboom!!!

A single Railgun blast – a warning shot – put a stop to that.

Mikoto clapped her hands twice.

“Okay, time to leave everyone! Thousands of mindless zombies are about to attack here, so you need to evacuate now!! Your dedication to your jobs is admirable, but wouldn’t you prefer to get away alive and actually see your families again? If you hesitated for even a moment, then get on back home. You have five minutes!!”

“…”

“What do you think is more deadly: being crushed by a crowd of thousands, or taking a direct hit from a Railgun flying at three times the speed of sound?”

“E-eek!!”

The adults fled in a panic.

It was wonderful they had homes and families to go back to.

(Hm, maybe I should have covered my face with a bandanna. No, I’m wearing a Tokiwadai uniform and shooting Railguns – anyone would know it’s me.)

She heard more loud footsteps and confused voices, but it sounded like the workers had chosen to evacuate.

The emergency siren blaring fruitlessly through the building was soon the only sound there.

“Now, then.”

Mikoto made a magnetically-boosted jump 15m straight up and grabbed the work ladder on the side of the long smokestack for the gas turbine generator’s exhaust.

From that height, she could already see them.

She could sense the biological wave filling the main street from the other side.

Those thousands of people had been brainwashed by Shokuhou.

Shokuhou had apparently already cut off internet access, so Mikoto could not deploy the Six Wings or any other unmanned weapon.

Mikoto had no way of knowing if she could defeat all of the approaching people if she fought on her own. And if even one of them made it deep inside the building, the gas turbine generator was done for.

“Tch!!”

Her iron sand sword and lightning spear wouldn’t help much here. Individual attacks targeting single points could not eliminate this crowd flooding the scene. While she was attacking them one by one, more people would push in and she would be swallowed up.

Which meant…

(This probably violates some treaty banning chemical weapons, but whatever!!)

Electricity crackled from Mikoto’s bangs, but not because she was directly attacking a target.

An odd scent filled the air.

Humans needed oxygen to survive and those oxygen molecules were made from two oxygen atoms bound together. But if powerful electricity broke that bond, three oxygen atoms could bind together to form ozone.

And of course, humans could not breathe ozone.

Which was strange when it was all the same oxygen atoms.

“I can win by knocking them all out from lack of oxygen!!!”

Mikoto defended the generator by erecting an invisible fainting wall.

The boys and girls on the front line collapsed.

But it wasn’t over yet.

With an odd “fwoosh!!” sound, flames and wind spiraled out. A powerful explosion pushed the gas away, tearing apart the ozone-rich oxygen-deficient air.

Mikoto was an esper, but so were they.

The most troublesome aspect of the Shokuhou Army was how they could still use their powers when brainwashed.

And once they were safe, the group of thousands flooded over the fence.

“Uh, oh!!”

Mikoto made up her mind before she was swallowed up.

The large facility’s central control room was protected by thick concrete walls and a metal door. She decided to lock herself in there, but then a dull tremor shook the entire building vertically.

Even with so many, could human bodies really cause that much destruction?

(Oh, no, no, no!! Their numbers can break through the 5cm-thick metal door even if I magnetically hold it in place!!)

She heard a dull thud on the other side of the door.

People were scattered throughout the facility.

This was just one of them.

But they must have found it odd when they turned the knob and the door didn’t open. They persistently rattled the knob for a bit before shouting out loud and kicking hard on the other side of the door.

That wasn’t enough to break through the door, but…

(I’m in trouble if they call the others here!!)

Time was running out.

What could Mikoto do here while Shokuhou worked to bring down power across Academy City!?

Not enough.

She had to admit she could not reach Shokuhou in her current state.

She couldn’t stop that girl.

At this rate, a largescale power outage would release all the dangerous viruses and chimera creatures frozen inside the labs. That would transform this into an urban survival battle.

(I really didn’t want to use this except as an absolute last resort, but I guess I’ve reached that point.)

“Hello?”

<?> <?> <?>

She wasn’t using a phone, but she heard multiple gasps in her mind.

Their brains were structured the same at the genetic level, but Mikoto and the mass-produced military clones known as the Sisters were not normally connected by the brainwave network. But if Mikoto fine-tuned her own brainwaves, she could force a connection. …She just really didn’t like contacting it because it blurred the line between them – that is, their memories and personalities as individuals.

This was an exception.

Anything was on the table here, as long as it was physically possible.

Big Sis Mikoto made a suggestion.

“Academy City is in serious trouble, so I want your help. The Misaka Network is made by linking your brains in parallel, right? I use the same brainwaves, so if I can borrow that processing power, it should expand my possibilities.”

<Why should the Misakas involve ourselves in this? asks Misaka while maintaining a calm viewpoint and sighing at her short-tempered big sist->

“What, you don’t want to see that lump of excess fat cry?”

<…> <…> <…>

The Sisters had been made based on Misaka Mikoto’s genetic information, so (with the exception of Misaka Worst) they were all flat.

And they didn’t need to know the exact measurement for Shokuhou Misaki.

The first of her measurements – the one abbreviated as “B” – could be adequately described with a sound effect: boing.

Everyone on the Misaka Network responded at once.

<Yes. Let’s hit her with everything we have, replies Misaka.> <Yes. Let’s hit her with everything we have, replies Misaka.> <Yes. Let’s hit her with everything we have, replies Misaka.>

Part 8

Lightning flashed across Academy City.

Misaka Mikoto’s human form vanished and she once more became the lightning goddess who had come so close to reaching Level 6.

Part 9

Shokuhou could predict where this was going while she watched from a distance.

She saw light flash out and the crowd attacking the facility was swept away.

“Geh!? M-Misaka-san didn’t even hesitate to play that self-destructive trump card, even after all the trouble ability it caused during the Daihaseisai…”

Kihara Gensei’s experiment had already proven Mikoto’s Railgun could be forced up to the next stage by boosting her processing power with the Misaka Network. But as time passed, she lost her human form and she couldn’t shut it down on her own, making it a very risky move.

But that hadn’t stopped her.

This form briefly but definitely gave a glimpse of the stage beyond Level 5. It was the point between. In that sense, the stable brand name of the #5 Level 5 wasn’t enough to feel comfortable facing it.

(But doesn’t that thing come with the dangerous trait of gathering up a group desire to destroy Academy City?)

“Ohhhhhhh!! Begone, world! We refuse to accept the existence of anyone with boobs bigger than softballllllllllllllllllllllllls!!!”

“So the hatred of those blessed with big boobs ability is endlessly supporting Misaka-san here? Does that mean Academy City is full of unfortunate below-average chests? That’s a little disappointing.”

But there wasn’t time to just observe.

If that monster captured Shokuhou, it might just use a massive amount of electric energy to obliterate her breasts one at a time. By grabbing them and releasing the electricity.

Now.

It was time to face reality.

“Hokaze-saaan, can your brute strength defeat that?”

“If you order me to, Queen.”

Hokaze didn’t even hesitate.

But Shokuhou softly sighed. Complete brainwashing had its downsides. That response was all about determination, not a rational assessment of the actual specs.

After all, that thing was a mass of electrical energy so powerful it slightly distorted the scenery around it. It looked powerful enough for the neighborhood’s eccentric inventor to make a time machine out of it.

If Hokaze charged in without a plan, she would probably just get vaporized.

Even at this distance, Shokuhou could sense its intensity as a tingling in her skin.

The process that had created that monster was absurd, but if it reached the limits of its stability and exploded from within, it might just wipe Academy City off the map.

The #3 had taken her specialty in physical strength to the extreme.

(So what am I going to do about it?)

Shokuhou reviewed what secret weapons she had on hand.

Exterior was a portion of her cerebral cortex cut away and cultivated so it grew endlessly. By using Mental Out on herself, she could open the link, borrow its massive power, and significantly boost her processing power.

Simply put, it was a toy letting the #5 Level 5 forcibly increase her specs.

That said, even at max efficiency, it would not let her abandon her humanity like Mikoto’s lightning goddess form. It only let her simultaneously brainwash thousands of people within several kilometers of herself.

Misaka was immune to Mental Out, so even with Exterior, Shokuhou could not defeat that lightning goddess in a direct confrontation.

So with that established, what could Shokuhou realistically accomplish?

“Oh, I just had a great idea☆”

She no longer needed the emergency power center. She gave up on it and went elsewhere with brainwashed Hokaze.

She had an extremely rough idea of a plan she could use with Exterior.

“What will you do, Queen?”

“Well, what if we try a geometric progression plan?”

“?”

(Brainwashed) Hokaze tilted her head as Tokiwadai’s Queen got to work.

Exterior only let her brainwash a few thousand. That wasn’t much compared to Academy City’s population of 2.3 million.

“So I need to start by carefully choosing who I control. My capacity is a few thousand, but what if I were to brainwash only mental espers similar to myself?”

“Oh, I get it.”

“Those few thousand subordinates can then brainwash ordinary people to increase my capacity. Let’s say each of those espers can control 10-100 people. If I have a few thousand mental espers in my control, I should be able to directly brainwash tens of thousands. Right, Kobayashi-saaan?”

<Yes. And with that many under your control, mass psychology will take effect. You may be able to indirectly control the non-brainwashed people in the same way people tend to follow the crowd’s lead.>

“So let’s get the party started☆”

“Gyahhhhh, Shokuhou Misakiiii!!”

Mitsuari Ayu, a lower-level mental esper (who loathed Shokuhou) shouted in rage, but Shokuhou’s specs were higher and she was being boosted by a large facility. The most that side character could manage was play with some dangerous dark side toys, so she had no way to resist. Shokuhou took that shogi piece right away.

And she didn’t need to brainwash all 2.3 million.

As long as she had half of them – around a million – directly or indirectly under her influence, she could probably get what she wanted.

She wanted a deep secret hidden in Academy City, which would be enough to resist Lightning Goddess Mikoto.

Namely…

“The AIM diffusion field aggregation. Kazakiri-san, the science side’s shining golden angel, will be mine☆”

Fearsome light erupted in Academy City for a second time.

“No…you mustn’t force me out from the Imaginary Number District…kyahhhh!?”

During the process, Shokuhou thought she heard the voice of a shy (and a lot more rational than Mikoto or Shokuhou at the moment) girl, but she chose to ignore it.

The tremendous energy was helplessly controlled and stored within her. The air vibrated as Shokuhou’s silhouette greatly changed. She looked a lot like a golden glowing beauty goddess. She had shining angel wings growing from her back. No, were those were giant, sharp flower petals?

“Hwa ha☆”

The Queen laughed.

There was no wind, but her long blonde hair spread out to the sides as a brutal smile formed on her lips.

With a solid “clink!!”, a golden halo appeared above her head. It was in fact a wreath of flowers.

“Hwa ha ha ha ha ha ha!! Long golden hair, big boobs, and the uniform to a prestigious school! I always knew I had an affinity for this mystical ability!!”

The busty blonde pushed out her chest which had grown even larger from the power overflowing within her.

She was faintly glowing and had bright flower wings on her back, but a fist-sized black hole floated at the center of her halo, which seemed appropriate for her.

The superhuman lightning goddess tilted her head and spoke.

“lmao, you really do have a black heart.”

“Hey!? Don’t regain your speech ability just to make fun of me!!”

She couldn’t get distracted.

The golden glowing goddess cleared her throat in an extremely human way.

“Ahem. Okay, Misaka-saaan. Now you aren’t he only scientific god. I’ve caught up and I won’t hesitate to surpass you!! Am I beauty goddess? A harvest goddess? Hee hee. Or maybe a victory goddess? You might be a violent macho lightning goddess who flashes with the most annoying light, but what kind of goddess will Academy City’s people worship me as!?”

<A war god? A destruction god? Or maybe just a death god?>

“Kobayashi-san? Staying out of sight won’t keep you safe any longer.”

The giant flowers blossoming from her hair and clothing shook to scatter a sweet aroma. Glowing pollen blew in the wind, looking a lot like fine gold dust. That was it. She did nothing more, but everyone within a 5km radius was brainwashed.

Flowers remained motionless and used the bugs and small animals lured in by their scent and color to carry their pollen and seeds for reproduction. And sometimes they even lured in the predators of any pests to indirectly attack them.

At this point, Shokuhou didn’t need to aim her remote and consciously focus on her target.

She was like a great mental hurricane that controlled everyone around her with no effort on her part.

“This is the Queen’s realm – my own personal holy ground. And now, Misaka-san, it is time to trample you underfoot and end this once and for all!!”

The thin-lined and curvy girl took a single step and the world quaked around her.

A second kaiju had appeared within Academy City where the city walls kept anyone from escaping.

Part 10

“You and your jiggling sacks of faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat!!!”

“You’re just jealous because you’re so scrawny groping them would only be a disappointmeeeeeeeeeent!!!”

Kaiju clashed with kaiju.

The electric energy was so great skyscrapers weighting tens of thousands of tons were ripped from their foundations and floated in midair. The giant glowing winds created from a million espers’ AIM diffusion fields tore through the air to attack. The asphalt ground was easily blown away and a metal bridge twisted from the intense heat before being blown away too. Mikoto swung a broadcast tower with magnetism, but the massive glowing flower petals coming from Shokuhou’s back easily sliced it in two.

No one could stop them now.

The Six Wings and the latest powered suits might as well have been flies buzzing around Tokiwadai’s Ace and Queen.

“O-oh, dear. Creating a route to access the Imaginary Number District and Kazakiri Hyouka without using Last Order, a virus program, or even touching the Misaka Network is entirely unprecedented. Maybe it’s a researcher’s nature to regret not having my observation equipment ready more than I fear for my safety.”

“Nyah… What am I even supposed to do about that? For now, I’m grabbing my maid sister and hiding underground!!”

Even Yoshikawa Kikyou, Tsuchimikado Motoharu, and others with one foot into the dark side were too intimidated by it to even think about fighting back.

Academy City might just end this day.

The sight was enough to give premonitions of apocalypse.

Those goddess forms or special modes or whatever were supposed to cause their physical bodies to collapse in a few minutes, but neither Mikoto nor Shokuhou showed any sign of that happening.

They were only focused on punching the girl in front of them.

Only that.

They were supposed to be extremely classy Tokiwadai girls with the genius brains of Level 5s, but they seemed to have forgotten those facts.

Maybe it was wrong to use power and an official hierarchy to determine the pecking order at a classy girl’s school.

Part 11

An enormous mass of electric energy was slowly approaching at a speed of 5km/h. A thick collection of lightning weaved between the buildings, the surrounding skyscrapers bending and warping around it.

It took a humanoid shape.

A bipedal lightning goddess walked the earth.

Yomikawa Aiho of Anti-Skill faced it with a cheerful smile.

“Is that all? Everyone was shouting about a kaiju, but it’s just another pachinko ad.”

“It is not, Senpai!! Please face reality!!!”

Yomikawa stared into the middle distance while Tessou tearfully grabbed her shoulders and shook her.

They didn’t have time to not believe this flashy performance was real. The very real threat was slowly but surely approaching.

A low tremor ran through the asphalt.

Thoom!! The distant skyscrapers shook side to side so violently they looked ready to surpass the limits of their earthquake countermeasures. Below those buildings, something none of them wanted to see was slowly approaching.

Misaka Mikoto had become a lightning goddess.

And there was another one. A goddess adorned in flowers had appeared and started clashing with the first goddess.

The catastrophe was slowly but surely approaching.

They probably weren’t even looking at the panicked people along the way. The two kaiju destroyed everything in their path as they collided and tangled together in a very lily-ish way.

Yomikawa Aiho returned to reality.

She gave her first command to her subordinates.

“Have all the Judgment members fall back!! Esper or not, they’re students and we need to protect them!”

“B-but…”

“Shut up and hand me that rocket launcher, Tessou. I’d rather fight on my own than survive by putting those kids in danger.”

“I’m trying to tell you we haven’t been given permission to attack, Senpai!!”

Rakuoka Houfu, a short Anti-Skill officer with glasses and a combover, could only stand there in a daze while those two were arguing.

The trained Anti-Skill officers equipped with advanced weaponry understood one thing much better than the ordinary people wasting their efforts stockpiling food or creating makeshift weapons by cutting metal pipes diagonally.

There was no defeating those two.

“What do we do? Really, what do we do?”

“Hey, build a barricade. Tessou, laying down your weapon won’t improve the situation!!”

There were voices berating the younger Anti-Skill officers who couldn’t bear the quaking pressure and huddled together like they were being shelled, but the chain of command was in tatters. Two massive and overwhelming individuals kept them from acting as a group.

“Anyway, what do you mean we don’t have permission to attack!? We can’t do proper recon with the security cameras and robots on the fritz and we’re not even allowed to deactivate the safeties on our equipment without permission from the higher ups!!”

“About that. None of those higher ups are responding.”

“This is why I hate those principals and vice principals who never do any field work. So how are we supposed to fight!? It’s like we have two giant typhoons charging toward us!!”

“Eek, don’t ask me.”

…The actual explanation for the lack of permission was that Mikoto had hacked the network and messed with the electronic signatures and encryption keys so any attempt would return an error and Shokuhou had brainwashed everyone with that authority in advance so they wouldn’t do anything.

Several gray clouds of dust joined together at the bottom of the skyscraper district.

They looked small from here, but each cloud had to be well over 20m. It was like an attack from a rapid-fire gun launching explosive shells or an automatic grenade launcher. Each blast had to be enough to blow a convenience store to smithereens. A series of those would be enough to flatten the entire area.

Most likely, another unit of Anti-Skill officers had opened fire on the goddesses without waiting for permission and been hit by a counterattack. The concrete wall, vehicles, or whatever else they were using for cover had likely been obliterated.

A coordinated counterattack from land and air required the ability to send everyone their orders and a strategy that made the best use of their personnel. Waiting for attack authorization was only the starting point there.

But if they did nothing, those things would reach them.

The kaiju looked like they had completely lost their ability to think rationally. If they determined any armed person was hostile, then Anti-Skill’s lives would be snuffed out like a candle’s flame.

Among them, Rakuoka Houfu spotted a solid silver sparkle.

Four of his colleagues were carrying a heavy-looking case made of duralumin.

“What’s that!? A next-gen anti-ship weapon!?”

The short and balding middle-aged man snatched away the sturdy locked duralumin case and found a bunch of strictly sealed letters inside.

The box contained all of the officers’ wills.

“I’ve had enough!! Raise the white flag!! I want to go home!!!”

Part 12

Now, then.

Ultra-destructive Misaka Mikoto had abandoned her humanity to become a lightning goddess with a glimpse of outer space showing through her body, but her thoughts were actually quite calm.

She had experienced this before, but her mind had a tendency to turn inwards while in lighting goddess mode.

And a question had occurred to her.

First of all, it was strange she had such free control of the lightning goddess. It hadn’t been so simple last time.

And furthermore…

(When is this happening timeline-wise?)

The most obvious thing out of place was Shokuhou Misaki’s Exterior. After it was nearly discovered during the Daihaseisai incident, the #5 had decided it would be too much of a pain to continue hiding it and managing it, so she had personally destroyed and abandoned it.

So was this before that?

But that didn’t work either. This included things that clearly happened after the Daihaseisai. For example, Kazakiri Hyouka may have fit in that part of the timeline, but the uncontrollable Fuse Kazakiri and the golden angel Kazakiri had come later – the latter during World War Three. At the very least, Tokiwadai hadn’t still been wearing their summer uniforms when those things happened.

This led to a simple conclusion: this Academy City couldn’t be real.

(Would the safest bet be a virtual reality? Academy City’s tech is supposed to be 20 or 30 years ahead of the outside world, so I could see that tech existing here. That would explain why Shokuhou has no qualms about destroying everything in her rampage. Even she wouldn’t take it this far otherwise.)

Mikoto also wouldn’t have chosen so many options liable to kill someone. She had even blown away Shirai Kuroko with a Railgun after Shokuhou brainwashed her.

And if this world was recreated with electronic technology, Mikoto could easily break through.

She could send out an error-inducing electric signal.

No matter how detailed a virtual reality was, it was ultimately a collection of 1s and 0s. That meant she could write her own code. If she emitted electric noise that perfectly recreated the array of 1s and 0s forming a computer virus, the supercomputer constructing the virtual world would run a self-defense subroutine to prevent the noise from appearing. Whether it was in a drawing or in music, any data array that indicated the numbers of a virus code could destroy the program from within, so it was an obvious defense measure.

So the conditions were simple.

If Mikoto attempted to produce the noise and nothing happened, this was virtual reality.

If it worked, this was actual reality.

“Okay, I was getting tired of messing with Shokuhou anyway. It’s time to log out of this virtual reality!!”

The deified #3 sent sparks crackling from her forehead.

And crackle they did.

Which meant the error-inducing electric signal…had occurred like normal?

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

“Um, but that would mean…?”

Part 13

Mikoto was confused.

She had already destroyed so much, but this would mean it had all happened in the actual Academy City!?

Chapter 2: A Fundamental Question

Part 1

So what exactly was happening?

If this was not a virtual reality created in an electronic device, something had to be done before Academy City was destroyed. Mikoto herself needed to end her deification(?) immediately to avoid disaster. Couldn’t this form only last a few minutes before triggering a powerful explosion that could easily obliterate all of Academy City? The problem was she had no way of ending it on her own.

Most likely, the same risk applied to Shokuhou Misaki who had turned herself into a goddess of lewd to compete.

Also, that other girl’s eyes were shining as she roared and charged in!?

“Wait, hey, Shokuhou, time out!! This is bad! This isn’t just virtual reality! It might be the real Academy City, so you need to calm down so we can actually talk and exchange infor-”

“Shut up! Today is the day I finally go all out and murder you! hkrhhkrybmrif, ghslbndhmspvmehygbikigdbmdekgmdufkrmdhgldmvkrngldhdenhfiesnhr. mgjsnvgmpshfksnf!!!”

After absorbing an angel to turn herself into a flower and beauty goddess, Shokuhou’s language had glitched out and she couldn’t even talk right.

And while Mikoto held her empty hands out to ask for a truce, the idiot Queen mercilessly attacked with the giant glowing flower petals powerful enough to slice right through a building.

What if this really was the real world?

There were no resets or continues. Did that idiot not understand that letting even one ordinary person die would cross a line that couldn’t be uncrossed!?

An unpleasant snapping sound came from Lightning Goddess Mikoto’s temple.

“Cool your head, you gold titty monster!!!”

As brutally powerful as the attack was, Mikoto managed to dodge it (maybe because Shokuhou’s basic athleticism was so poor) before she circled behind Shokuhou, wrapped her arms firmly around Shokuhou’s hips, and bent backwards in a bridge, dropping the top of Shokuhou’s head into the asphalt. The belly-to-back suplex was like a lightning strike. Especially because it was accompanied by a billion volt blast of electricity.

Thick branches of electricity jolted out and the great heat turned a nearby park’s sandbox into a smooth substance. Mineral fulgurites like that were created by lightning. However, this one was made of simple silicon, so it wasn’t any more valuable than a hunk of glass.

Shokuhou had been flipped upside down with her legs sticking up into the sky, but she wasn’t out of the fight yet.

A bursting sound erupted within her. Mikoto had her arms firmly around her hips, but the glowing flower petals growing form her back slipped into the gaps and forced Mikoto’s arms open from within.

(Uh, oh.)

“hriwhnbigtbs!!!”

Mikoto had no clue what Shokuhou was saying, but Shokuhou’s bloodshot eyes were directed straight at her while the flower petals on her back grew even larger. A deadly slash was coming!?

Mikoto clenched her teeth.

“!!!? …Huh?”

The unathletic goddess tripped over her own feet.

As Shokuhou fell, her sharp petals flailed wildly and sliced diagonally through a nearby skyscraper. If Mikoto hadn’t used her massive magnetic power to hold the building back, they would both have been buried in a concrete landslide.

Leave it to a mental and psychological expert to be unpredictable.

“Shokuhou Misaki. How did you manage to master the mysterious Drunken Boxing without drinking a single drop of alcohol!?”

“I do not look drunk!!”

Tokiwadai’s Queen raised just her head to shout back while blushing.

The embarrassment had brought back her language skills.

“Anyway, if we stay in goddess form much longer, we’ll explode from within! We need to find a way to return to normal!!”

“A self-Mental Out should do the trick☆”

“Dammit, Shokuhou! That’s not fairrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!”

Mikoto shouted in resentment while Shokuhou held her TV remote against her temple and immediately returned to her normal human form.

Shokuhou’s boost was caused by Mental Outing herself → using Exterior → brainwashing a few thousand mental espers → brainwashing tens of thousands of ordinary people →gaining control of a million people through mass psychology. That let her gather enough AIM diffusion fields to summon and fuse with golden angel Kazakiri. So by manually severing her link to Exterior, she could immediately return everyone to their senses and switch off her goddess state.

(Hm. I always thought mine were plenty big, but they seem somewhat lacking now that they’ve shrunk back down.)

The mammary privileged girl held a hand to her still quite large chest and thought something that would have gotten her instantly fried to a crisp if the flat girl had heard her.

Meanwhile, the blissfully ignorant girl was shouting in desperation.

“O-oh, no! Wait, I know! You can control my mind with Mental Out and forcibly switch this off.”

“Misaka-san, did you forget that you’re immune to Mental Out? I can’t do anything for you there. You’ll have to find a way to turn it off on your own.”

“I wouldn’t be asking you for help if I had literally any other option!!”

“You know, when you’re the only one Mental Out doesn’t work on, it makes me think maybe you’re actually an inhuman animal. And as long as you don’t cause anyone else any trouble, it’s no problem to me if some monster blows herself up. So what is this? Did you give yourself a power up without thinking it through and now you’re going to self-destruct and you can’t stop it? Pff, ah ha ha ha!! You’re doing my job for me. This is exactly the kind of unintelligent fate I would expect from you. Now, we don’t want you blowing up in the middle of the city, so it would be perfect if you flew on up like a firework and then blew up all on your lonesome like the loner you are!! Hee hee, oh, I can’t stand it. Bwa ha ha ha ha ha ha ha haa ha!!!”

“(That settles it. I’m going to blow her up while I’m still in control. With one of those powerful lightning strikes that splits a giant tree in two in Australia.)”

“Why are you like this, Misaka-san?”

To escape the girl whose thoughts turned toward mutual destruction when cornered, the Queen took off running before tripping and falling in a way that miraculous dodged the high voltage storm that shot by just above her head (while also providing a glimpse of her quite grown-up see-through underwear). Open spaces seemed like a bad idea against a lightning monster, so she scrambled from the main road to hide in a dark and narrow alley.

“This is bad, bad, bad, bad, bad. Hold on, where did Hokaze-san get off to?”

Just then, the lightning goddess saw something.

A floating helium Gekota balloon was caught on the branch of a roadside tree.

Lightning Goddess Mikoto regained her cool and returned to being an ordinary girl.

In mere seconds.

Shokuhou reflexively snapped.

“What!? You have no problem trying to kill me, but now you’re trying to make a cute show of your feminine ability, Misaka-saaan!?”

Part 2

The countdown to Academy City’s doom had finally stopped.

Mikoto breathed a sigh of relief and held a hand to her chest. A chest that had regained its girly softness.

But this wasn’t over yet.

She hadn’t solved the fundamental problem. If this was not an electronic virtual reality, then what was it?

(But what other possibilities are there? Other than this simply being the real world, I mean.)

This wasn’t an electronic virtual reality. That much was certain.

But she doubted that meant she and Shokuhou had been rampaging through the real world.

Their summer uniforms were enough to know where on the timeline this was happening. That meant she shouldn’t have known anything that would happen after the switch to winter uniforms, so why didn’t that hold true?

(Is this the work of an illusion esper, or did Shokuhou figure out how to get Mental Out into my head after all? Come to think of it, dream-controlling machines like Indian Poker do work on me like normal.)

Everything was mixed up if Shokuhou had Exterior while Mikoto remembered the end of the Indian Poker incident. Same for Kazakiri’s golden glowing angel form. She had first appeared that way in the blizzards of Russia during World War Three, which didn’t mesh with Tokiwadai summer uniforms at all.

How could Mikoto explain the jumbled timeline?

(But if I can’t be certain, I need to be more careful. People only have the one life, so there are no redoes. I should watch what my actions to make sure I don’t let any ordinary people die.)

That might sound benevolent, but it was just like her to not include Shokuhou (because she didn’t qualify as “ordinary”).

With a roar, two avalanches arched through the air and collided overhead.

One was a group of espers leaping from rooftop to rooftop. The other was self-driving cars and construction equipment also jumping from the rooftops. The threat of Academy City’s espers could be seen in the fact that the humans made of protein and calcium were pushing back the other side.

To be blunt, Mikoto was controlling the machines, so she was being forced back.

Academy City was terrifying!!

“Oh, no!”

(How does someone so unathletic have the macho mentality of a barbarian? I honestly don’t have time to deal with this. I want some answers before we fight.)

Mikoto wanted to know what was happening, the identity of the Academy City she saw before her, and the truth of this world. Was it simply reality, was it an illusion created by an esper, or was it a dream created by a machine like Indian Poker? Her options would change drastically depending on the answer.

So…

(If I want to know this city’s secret, I should be looking outside instead of to the center.)

If she was being shown some form of illusion, everything within a certain area would be perfectly recreated. There would be no flaws. But recreating it in such detail would require a massive amount of power. Would they really have enough leftover to do the same for places that weren’t directly related to the battle between Mikoto and Shokuhou? That raised the question of what was and wasn’t “related” to their battle. Strictly speaking, the word “world” didn’t necessarily refer just to the planet Earth.

Which gave Mikoto a quick way to check.

“Outer space.”

Mikoto entered a nearby multi-tenant building and grabbed a telescope from a random interior decoration shop. She just about walked out with it before realizing she hadn’t paid, so she quickly took care of that. If there was any possibility at all that this was ordinary reality, she couldn’t get too accustomed to behaving like a bandit.

An open space would be best, so she made her way to the nearest park.

She couldn’t actually see the stars in the sky since it was daytime, but she could still view the moon. It was visible from here, but it was obviously unrelated to her battle with Shokuhou. If she noticed something wrong with the celestial body, it would tell her that, while this wasn’t a virtual reality, it wasn’t the real world either.

“Let’s see.”

Mikoto peered through the telescope while making sure she it wasn’t pointed at the sun.

She didn’t see the moon.

She saw a giant Academy City satellite.

“?”

Part 3

There was no time for confused frowning.

Amano Kaguya launched an S5 orbital bomb that used lots of ultra-compressed water.

Part 4

She was fortunate it hadn’t been a laser bombing.

“Bwah!! With one of those, I’d’ve been killed before I even had a chance to dodge! Argh, curse Academy City and its love of using bizarre tech on you without any kind of warning!!”

Mikoto had just barely avoided harm by magnetically flinging herself to the side and attaching herself to a distant building, but her uniform and bangs were both soaked from steam. That must have been a weaker version of the attack, but even so, the park was just gone.

Mikoto didn’t know if Shokuhou had brainwashed the satellite controller into attacking or if whoever remained on the Academy City side was fighting back. Either way, Mikoto would have a hard time leisurely making astronomical observations with that targeting her. She had to assume staying still for five seconds would get her bombed from orbit.

(And I didn’t manage to get a good look at anything in space before I was attacked.)

She was on the run, so she would have a hard time stopping and making observations even if she did get her hands on another telescope. She couldn’t rely on the livestreamed satellite images that space development industry sites released. She needed to see it for herself, since she knew that was one source that couldn’t be modified.

Her plan would still work as long as it was a location outside of Academy City.

So instead of focusing so much on space up above, she could cut across Academy City and check things beyond the wall.

“What I want most right now is to avoid that satellite, so I guess I’ll head underground!!”

She flicked a coin from her thumb and launched a Railgun at the ground.

The hole she blasted in the asphalt revealed a massive underground shopping area that was likely part of the nearby train station. If you searched on your phone for “walking routes that stay out of the rain”, most any answer would have you go through there.

Mikoto didn’t hesitate to jump down through the hole.

“Oh, and they have a limited time Gekota shop in the event space! I need to make a mental note of that and stop by when peace has returned to the world.”

Of course, that shop might not exist in the real world if this was an illusion or a virtual reality.

Boom!!

The concrete wall to the side was suddenly smashed through and a mass of steel continuous tracks and hydraulic cylinders emerged.

The machine had a giant pinecone-like drill on the front and work arms attached all around it, so it was probably an Anti-Skill tunnel excavation machine. That thing on tank-like tracks was used to create underground spaces like this one.

“Another inefficient and overly-romanticized vehicle!?”

“Hee hee, ha ha, Misaka-saaan☆ Academy City’s science ability is on another levellllllllllllllllll!!”

A strange shout came from the hole overhead.

Shokuhou must have been unexpectedly bad at adlibbing because she was gradually getting weirder.

That said, the heavy machine was powerful but slow. Mikoto ran through the vast underground train station to put distance between it and her.

She of course used her power to neutralize all of the security cameras as she went.

(And while I’m down here, whoever’s watching me from space should lose sight of me!)

An underground space this large would have more than 10 or even 20 stairway exits. She would eventually be located from orbit again, but she would take any head start she could get. If she could leave through an exit the attacker (whoever they were) didn’t expect, she would have some brief freedom.

Shokuhou was chasing after Mikoto, meaning she had forced herself to jump into the hole and managed not to sprain her ankle despite her lack of athleticism.

Mikoto worked her brain as she ran up the stairs to the surface.

When it came down to it…

(This will probably end up being a fight over a single Level 5 more than over ten thousand Level 0s. But which Level 5 would join me if I explained the threat Shokuhou poses? They’re all so weird I have a hard time imagining any of them doing it.)

That was when she spotted someone.

It was truly a coincidence.

He was as far as you could get from Academy City’s seven Level 5s.

He was the kind of perfectly ordinary high schooler you could find anywhere.

He was a pointy-haired boy.

“Hey, do you know what’s going on in the city?”

It wasn’t a logical conclusion.

But Mikoto knew whoever got him on her side would win this. She was certain of it.

“H-hey, are you two alright? There’s been trouble cropping up all over the city.”

He couldn’t have imagined the two girls standing in front of him were the cause of all that trouble.

He was truly worried for them.

He was the kind of person who could manage that in a crisis.

“Anyway, we should stick together. Splitting up just increases the risk of one of us getting lost. Don’t worry. If we all work together, I just know we can get through this!”

Mikoto and Shokuhou had someone who would worry for them.

For his sake, they knew they had to stop this fighting.

Then it hit.

A mysterious water bomb dropped straight down from the giant satellite in orbit.

With a deafening boom, Kamijou Touma was vaporized.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!?”

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!?”

Misaka Mikoto and Shokuhou Misaki both screamed.

And they forever lost the final thing that could have stopped them.

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!?)

Part 6

Yomikawa Aiho of Anti-Skill’s plan was a simple one.

They couldn’t join the fight without the appropriate authority or authorization. But if all the electronic signatures were going to come back with errors, they just had to avoid using the network. She only had to write out a paper document and deliver it on foot.

“I don’t know how to handle handwritten paperwork! I’ll have to go find the manual for that…”

“Put this on for me.”

“?”

“It’s a monitoring vest with sensors for measuring brainwaves, ECG, and eye movements, all hooked up to a battery and communication equipment. It’s handmade, though. …Hm, not much of a reaction. Hey, Tessou, we’ve got another brainwashed one. Get him out of here!!”

Whether or not someone was brainwashed could change from moment to moment, but if Anti-Skill had their vitals monitored at all times, they could pick up on the subtle changes. And if they could distinguish between the brainwashed and unbrainwashed and physically remove the dangerous ones, they could function as an organization once more.

“I’m Hanaki, filling in for him. Request received and approved. All registered Anti-Skill members are immediately authorized to carry and use armor, electronics, communication devices, and firearms!!”

“Understood. This must be the flash memory used to activate the unmanned weapons. And is this the key to a mysterious hangar? I don’t know what’s causing all this trouble in the city, but once we’re all geared up, it’s time to head out!! Gather all manned and unmanned weapons so we can bring the fight to those kaiju and figure out what they are!!!”

Part 7

The Queen was fairly worried about the thick thing wrapped around her slender wrist, but she still managed to use her remote to give a command to the nearby espers. Once the lonely Five Over OS’s slimy octopus tentacles were torn away from her torso and cheek, Shokuhou hid all alone behind cover and breathed a heavy sigh of annoyance.

Then she spotted some strange vests covered in electronic cords.

Were they some kind of medical device?

“Eh? Why are Anti-Skill back in the fight? And they’re using some kind of machine ability to regain their teamwork? …They’re just giving Misaka-san more toys to play with.”

The machines letting Anti-Skill distinguish between the brainwashed and unbrainwashed were a serious blow to Shokuhou’s side and Mikoto could alter what the machines told them. If Mikoto decided someone was obstructing her goal of deescalating the situation, she could make it look like they were brainwashed even if Shokuhou hadn’t touched their minds.

(That’s like starting a political witch hunt using my name.)

Shokuhou could only hope that meathead didn’t have enough in the brains department to come up with such a nasty plan.

Part 8

“Tch!!”

Anti-Skill was operating next-gen weapons, including the Five Overs, and Shokuhou had her brainwashed group. Mikoto didn’t like the idea of being caught by either one.

She clicked her tongue and used her magnetism.

She set foot on a nearby building wall at around the 10th floor.

Then she leaped toward another building.

The brainwashed army on the ground couldn’t reach her when she was magnetically jumping from building to building. It wasn’t a 100% guarantee thanks to esper powers and next-gen weapons, but the barrier of height could sometimes trump a difference in numbers.

Someone on the ground formed a megaphone with her hands and shouted up at Mikoto.

“You’re such a show off, Misaka-san!! You’re just so…so…!!”

“I’m so what?”

“So tactless. You’re the kind of person who just wants to be popular so bad. I bet you’d set up your phone and start dancing in a convenience store or a conveyer belt sushi place!!”

“Look, I already know you’re trying to pick a fight with me.”

“But if you keep jumping around wayyyy up there, you might just run out of stamina ability! Heh heh. I don’t need anything special for this☆ I just have to wait until all your unnecessary acrobatics catch up to you and you fall to your- hey, are you listening!?”

“Uh, oh!!”

After a few more jumps, the tempered glass window Mikoto was planning to land on was suddenly shattered by someone slamming a chair at it from the inside. The blank-faced girl looked to be Kuriba Ryouko.

(Wait, does Mental Out work like normal on a cyborg who’s replaced some of her organs with machines? What kind of cruel god gives such a convenient power to someone like her!?)

The barrier of height wasn’t working. Shokuhou could brainwash anyone just by aiming her TV remote at them, so she could apparently go for ordinary people by the windows on the higher floors.

Mikoto realized anew how useful Mental Out was and how much it should have been given to anyone other than Shokuhou.

(At this rate, she might brainwash some people out ahead of me. I could be in trouble if she captures me in a pincer attack. …Hm?)

Mikoto looked down at the road in confusion and saw the Queen struggling to catch her breath.

Shokuhou had said she was waiting for Mikoto to run out of stamina, but hadn’t she been using Mental Out an awful lot too?

“P-pant. Gasp, wheeze. Urp, what is happening to me?”

“You don’t see this every day. The schemer really is drowning in her schemes.”

But they couldn’t have this end with the #3 and the #5 both overusing their powers, running out of stamina, collapsing on the ground, and trembling while fighting like caterpillars. Or rather, Mikoto had no interest in joining the unathletic idiot down there.

(But this is still a problem.)

The people brainwashed by Shokuhou weren’t the only threat to Mikoto.

The organized counterattack by the freshly recovered Anti-Skill was becoming a real nuisance.

And Shokuhou changed tack with a smile.

She didn’t hesitate for a second.

“Hee hee. If I brainwash the investigative agency in charge of the rules, can’t I set up a dictatorship to force the foolish masses to follow my laws, my morals, and my violence ability?”

“You really are a sadistic dominatrix who would dress up in bondage gear, aren’t you!?”

“My, my. A free tip, Misaka-san. If you’re trying to insult someone, you should try to avoid paying them an obvious compliment.”

“I should’ve known a pervert would love being called a pervert.”

And.

There was no bright light or loud noise.

It happened suddenly but it had been inevitable.

When Tokiwadai students crossed the line, it was only a matter of time before she made an appearance.

She was walking on hard asphalt with pumps, yet she moved in total silence. Which made it all the more terrifying. She was not a ghost or a phantom. How could a human with real mass move like that?

She was here.

The ultimate trump card had been played.

Her glasses glinted in the light.

The dorm manager of Tokiwadai Middle School’s off-campus dorm had finally made her move.

Mikoto’s mind blanked out.

There was a span of a few seconds where she found only a gap in her memories.

She may have shouted something in that missing time.

And she had turned tail and run. For some reason, she had jumped down from the building wall and took off running full tilt. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t remember what had happened before that. Academy City’s #3’s teeth chattered and she had tears in her eyes.

Color finally returned to the world, the distorted sound returned to normal, and reality caught back up to her.

She continued running with all her might.

“Y-yikes!!?” “Y-yikes!!?”

Her voice was in perfect sync with Shokuhou’s next to her. The terror must have removed the unathletic #5’s mental limiters. She looked like her Achilles tendon could snap and her knees could shatter at any moment, causing her to topple forward, but she was keeping up with Mikoto’s speed for once. At times, fear was a greater motivator than anger.

A distorted presence approached from behind.

It was like being pursued by a thick invisible wall.

This had nothing to do with their specs. Shokuhou could brainwash anyone and control them, but she had decided to flee instead of aiming her remote. Because her instincts told her even the slightest unnecessary action would allow their pursuer to silently catch up and get her in a wristlock.

While they ran at max speed, the two girls exchanged friendly banter.

“Gasp, pant. M-Misaka-san, you’re the physical fighter, so take responsibility and go fight that dorm manager from hell!!”

“Don’t be ridiculous! Even the Mariyo Bros. who stomp and burn their way across their enemy’s kingdom will die instantly if they fall into a pit! Are you asking me to fight the human equivalent of one of those insta-death pits!?”

Stopping out of exhaustion was simply not an option.

They were up against the dorm manager from hell. If she so much as laid a hand on their shoulder, they were dead.

They had to run away at all costs.

“What are we going to do – gasp – Misaka-saaan!?”

“This.”

Like most big cities, Academy City had plenty of bicycles and scooters illegally parked on the sidewalk alongside major streets. Mikoto looked through those, spotted one that looked especially fast, and destroyed the thick antitheft chain with an iron sand sword.

She had chosen an electric unicycle with a very thick tire and T-shaped handlebars.

The #5 honey girl panicked when she realized what was happening.

“Excuse me!?”

“Are these really street legal? Academy City traffic rules are so lax.”

Shokuhou didn’t want to hear that from a girl actively breaking the law by stealing the vehicle, but Mikoto easily started it up with a motor sound much lighter than with a gasoline engine. She took off down the street at more than 60km/h. And it went without saying that a unicycle only had one seat.

Yes.

Climbing a vertical building wall was not the only way to escape a mindless group. If the dorm manager from hell secretly used an elevator to reach a window on the same floor as Mikoto, it was all over. So the simpler and more effective way to stay safe was to gain speed and put horizontal distance between them.

Shokuhou was stuck on foot.

She could try using a car or motorcycle, but with her brainwashed support group spread out across the road, her own allies would get in the way of any vehicle she tried to use. Funnily enough, the strongest dorm manager was swallowed up by that crowd. Unfortunately for her, she was caught in an avalanche of small children like Fremea, Azumi, and Kanou Shinka. It was a good thing she only ever attacked misbehaving Tokiwadai students.

(That stupid queen bee sacrificed efficiency for a more intimidating visual.)

“Misaka-san, hey, don’t leave me☆ Please, cough, gasp.”

Mikoto thought she heard someone quite seriously approaching tears behind her, but she wasn’t going to turn back for that. Ahh, the wind feels so nice.

(Anyway, where am I?)

She had been running aimlessly away thanks to Shokuhou’s force, Anti-Skill, and then the dorm manager from hell chasing after her. She wanted to see outside the city’s wall to find out what this world was, so she wanted to avoid running around in circles. If she continued traveling in one direction, she would eventually find what she wanted.

She spotted a blue sign on the side of a pedestrian bridge overhead.

“District 18?”

(Then the shortest route would be to the District 11 gate leading to Shinjuku! I finally have a route to the goal!!)

But this was a problem at the same time.

District 18 was home to a lot of elite schools, including Kirigaoka Girls Academy and Nagatenjouki Academy. Those schools’ uniqueness could be seen in the fact that they openly referred to the School Garden as their rival. While the School Garden was an old-fashioned space of classy girls, District 18 had the colder and harder feel of inhumanly efficient technology.

And with so many research secrets to guard at those elite schools, the defenses would be strict.

The asphalt to Mikoto’s right suddenly melted into black goo.

An intruder had been detected and a shot had been fired with no warning.

Or maybe the troublemaking intruder wearing a Tokiwadai summer uniform had rubbed them the wrong way.

Because Mikoto was the #3 Railgun, the peak of the electrical espers, she instantly identified the invisible attack.

It had come from a giant metal tower far away at the center of District 18.

“A deadly microwave focusing weapon… Why is Academy City using something like that!?”

Of course, Mikoto had never seen this before, so this observation wasn’t enough to say anything about the identity of this world.

She tried emitting lots of EM waves from her body to confuse the EM weapon tower’s targeting, but then her head wobbled heavily.

(Oh…no. My…stamina…)

She didn’t even have time to scream.

An invisible wall of EM slammed into Misaka Mikoto.

Part 9

“Wehhhhhhhhhh!?”

That strange shout came from Shokuhou as she watched from a distance (because she was left behind by the electric unicycle).

Her stamina was also close to its limit thanks to using Mental Out so much, but the unpleasant sleepiness instantly vanished from her mind.

She always ate natural ingredients and avoided artificial additives, so being vaporized along with the melted asphalt was one of the last ways she wanted to die.

(Ehh? It’s over?? I knew she wasn’t very smart, but wow. Misaka-san, how did you let that kill you? If you’re going to stupidly gather all the hate ability onto yourself, you’re supposed to be killed in a creative way that ensures lots of suffering. Did she really not understand that?)

Stopping to think was a mistake on Shokuhou’s part.

She shouldn’t have given even the smallest prayer for her rival’s survival.

Boom!!

A Railgun was fired from somewhere in District 18. The shorthaired meathead was abuzz with energy. She stood tall with her stamina fully restored.

“Ohhhhh!! Microwaves are wireless power and wireless power means a power source. I’m all charged up and ready to gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!”

“Geh!? Stop pretending to be a contactless charger or one of those power satellites all the ecological people dream of, Misaka-saaan!!”

Shokuhou was still worn out.

She was in a very bad position now that the Railgun’s battery was fully charged, her skin smooth and glossy.

“What kind of monster eats the microwaves inside a microwave oven instead of the food? Don’t you have any weaknesses? I hope you overcharge so much your stomach grows and grows until you explode!!”

Part 10

“Hah!!”

The EM weapon tower’s powerful blast of microwaves had fully recharged Mikoto, but it had also destroyed the electric unicycle she had been riding.

(But now I know I can use deadly microwaves to recharge after my stamina drops, so I can keep using my power to jump around.)

And.

She ran into something strange.

A group was gathered in a circle by the roadside like a volleyball team planning their next move. They were the elite schoolgirls of Kirigaoka Girls Academy. What were they doing here? The proud intellectual girls’ actions were so strange they stood out from their surroundings and gave them an intimidating air.

A cheap frog doll sat in the center of their circle.

It was Gekota.

“Please grant us the strength of the Great God Misaka.”

“Oh, god, please save us.”

“We ask for the Great Getoka’s protection. Even that god of destruction will hesitate to attack as long as he is with us.”

“Ehhh!?” shouted Mikoto. “Wh-when did I get my own cult!?”

They believed she wouldn’t attack as long as they had Gekota with them.

For that to have become a part of her “mythology”, the way she deactivated her lightning goddess form must have been seen and spread like a game of telephone.

That aside, would a cult really crop up this quickly in a city of science?

Mikoto couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

(Shokuhou!! She cut off the network lines, isolating everyone from accurate information. I’d heard that’s a common tactic used by scammers to pressure their victims, but I didn’t realize how weak people’s minds were when they lost all objective information. Still, this seems like a big change for just three hours.)

Groundless misinformation and rumors did spread rapidly during times of great disaster. Seeing your usual world collapsing around you and having your basic assumptions about life shaken prevented you from trusting in your experience and your decisions, so you started to believe anything could happen.

As seen with ghost sightings, people had a bad habit of not questioning what they saw when their existing knowledge was insufficient to comprehend it. When people who can only believe what they see with their own eyes misinterpret something as a ghost, they can end up relying on bogus exorcists and related products.

“Please protect us, darkness of the Great God Shokuhou.”

“Oh, she’s got a cult too.”

“The world is fueled by the conflict between good and evil. May that eternal battle destroy the existing world and guide humanity to the light!!”

“And it’s an apocalyptic cult!? Don’t just accept that, you spoiled brats!!”

Regardless, would it help at all if Mikoto ran over and demanded they stop? What if they started believing Legendary God Mikoto would visit them if they worshiped Gekota enough?

She decided to leave them be for now.

Really, she just didn’t want to see any more of that.

And…

“Wha-!?”

Mikoto noticed something that made her forget all of that and suddenly jump back.

A change in the air seemed to slice through her skin like a sword.

“?”

Unathletic Shokuhou frowned as she worked to catch up (while gasping for breath).

All of a sudden, a thick beam of light broke through the wall right next to Mikoto and sliced through the air.

“Hey there.”

Something lurked beyond the tunnel of orange-burned reinforced concrete. That was not a false mirage. It emitted a tingling presence. It was a girl with wavy chestnut hair. Light compressed to the size of a baseball hovered in her palm.

She was Academy City’s #4 Level 5 – Meltdowner.

Mugino Shizuri.

“Couldn’t help but notice you were having some fun over here. If you’re gonna duke it out to see who’s strongest, you need to invite me!!”

By the time she shouted that, she had already launched her attack.

Mikoto magnetically launched herself more than 10m to the side, sending her clear across the major street. Shokuhou crawled on the ground like a frog to somehow avoid the multiple beams of light slicing through the air.

The #5’s mind turned toward her remote, but…

“…”

(I might be able to silence her by brainwashing her, but…might? Can I really risk my own life ability on an unsourced claim like that? If I screw it up and fail to brainwash her, she’ll burn away one of my measurements – B, W, or H!!)

“Hey, don’t leave me here, Misaka-san!! You’ve fought this kind of back alley monster before, haven’t you? Then this is your job ability!”

“I’d rather not die because I did what an unathletic chicken told me to do!!”

Mikoto abandoned Shokuhou by turning a corner and using the row of buildings as a shield.

A chill ran up her spine.

If she had taken the time to think, she would have been killed instantly.

“Tch!!?”

Shining divine punishment dropped from the heavens above.

Or that’s how the ancient people would have described it.

In truth, a Meltdowner beam shot into the sky had unnaturally bent above a skyscraper to make a U-turn back down toward Mikoto.

It caught her fully by surprise, so she didn’t have time to dodge. She could only raise her hands overhead.

(I still don’t know if this is a dream, the real world, or virtual reality, but I don’t want that to hit me in any of them!)

She used a massive amount of magnetism to forcibly bend the beam, saving her life.

However.

Blocking that one attack had considerably worn down her stamina.

She could tell she couldn’t do that many more times.

(The beam bent? But how!?)

“Oh, I get it. It was that experimental magnetic bridge for linear motor trains. She used the magnetic pollution to bend the electron beam!!”

“Hey!! Quit running! You do know I don’t like being ignored, don’t you!? You’re so dead!!!”

An angry shout reached her, sounding muffled after it reflected around the building.

The #4 didn’t bother with bending the beam this time.

The scene before Mikoto’s eyes collapsed like an old paper photograph being burned from behind by a lighter. The skyscraper melted into orange goo as large holes formed and Meltdowner beams shot out. They were as powerful as could be, but they were very poorly aimed. The #4 was a huge nuisance of an enemy!!

Another beam shot out.

“Whoa, hey!!” shouted Mikoto, but it was too late.

The thick beam struck a random passerby.

No, wait. A random passerby couldn’t deflect a Meltdowner beam with his forehead.

Some idiot had broken through the #4’s attack with a headbutt!?

“Wah hah hah!! What are you gutless Level 5s doing brawling in the streets? Fine, then. I, Sogiita Gunha, will guide you back to the straight and gutsy!!”

Mikoto held a hand to her forehead.

An even bigger pain had showed up.

She was pretty sure that #7 had directly clashed with her lightning goddess form without any kind of transformation on his part and lived to tell the tale.

Then she heard some strange voices from a different direction.

While three or four Level 5 kaiju had gathered in one place to fight, another group showed no sign of fear and didn’t try running away.

“G-Great God Misaka!!”

“Chaos is what can best guide the world, not good or evil. May the two gods continue fighting, producing the energy fueling the world and ensuring us all a brighter future!!”

Meanwhile…

Is that the cult she mentioned? thought Shokuhou, staring into the distance.

It would be one thing if they believed they would be saved by completing some kind of special training, but finding meaning in assured destruction felt more like one of those self-destructive cults that demanded its followers give up all their possessions or engage in mass suicide.

“We offer you this Gekota! May the shape beloved by god ensure our salvation!!”

“Oh, so there is a loophole ability to save yourself.”

(I could brainwash the leaders to take control of the entire cult and make use of them. But should I? They seem a bit too obsessed.)

Then Shokuhou aimed her TV remote at Sogiita from behind and to the left of him.

Unlike with the #4, she felt an almost unnatural lack of hesitation with the #7.

The Queen stuck out her tongue a bit.

“I’ve brainwashed this idiot before☆”

“Dammit!!!”

Brainwashing complete.

The guts freak’s shoulders twitched and then he charged toward Mikoto.

She had clashed with Sogiita in the past, but she hadn’t been able to understand what he was doing then. Which was a really bad sign when it came to Academy City esper battles. Understanding the enemy’s ability was the first step toward victory, but she didn’t understand anything about that idiot who wouldn’t shut up about guts.

Meanwhile, Shokuhou kept nervously looking over her shoulder at the extra-large beams that were still blasting through nearby buildings.

“That just leaves her as a problem. Honestly, the #7 will eventually break through his brainwashing with brute force ability, so I need him to defeat Misaka-san sooner rather than later.”

“If there’s a time limit, then send him after the #4!! You have free control over him right now, don’t you!?”

“You can be even crueler than me at times.”

Shokuhou winked, kissed the tip of her remote, and aimed it elsewhere.

Mugino emerged around the corner at just that moment.

“Gahhhhhhh! Guuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuts!!?”

“Oh, now this is getting interesting! You’re a Level 5 too!? Then it’s a fight to the death!!!”

A Meltdowner beam shot from Mugino’s palm, but Sogiita simply waved his right hand to the side to produce a rainbow explosion that eliminated the beam in a burst of sparkles.

The very next moment, both of them ran forward and butted heads.

A deafening roar exploded out and red blood splattered across the pavement.

Why were they more violent barehanded than when using brutal beams that could burn through laboratory walls!?

Just then, someone emerged from a sideroad.

“Eh? Eh? Wait, what? I thought the emergency shelter was this way. Kyah!?”

It was Saten Ruiko.

Mikoto knew better than to question her sudden appearance.

That Level 0 had a miraculous knack for this kind of thing.

(Is she the reigning champion of stumbling into trouble!?)

Mikoto’s eyes widened and she immediately harnessed magnetism to gather up a large motorcycle, a light car, a cyborg (Kuroyoru Umidori), and other metal objects to form a shield, but would that actually protect her friend from the brutal beams and the guts boy?

But before she received an answer…

“Stooooop!!”

Someone shouted.

But it was in a soprano voice.

The elementary school boy was Saten’s little brother, who had only ever been mentioned in a very short flashback.

“A-a first appearance? And is he alright? What is he even doing in Academy City? Again, when on the timeline is this!?”

He wasn’t even a Level 0.

He was from outside the city, so he wasn’t an esper at all.

And the small boy, who just so happened to be in the city, was clenching his powerless fists. He squeezed his eyes shut, but he still held his ground, clenched his teeth, and even stepped toward the threat before his eyes.

To protect his sister.

“I will protect my sister. I don’t know who you are, but keep your hands off my one and only sisterrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!”

And.

Sogiita felt a powerful wind rushing toward him.

He was an unusual person who judged everything based on guts. Even while brainwashed by Shokuhou, he still acted based on guts.

The #7 sensed something here.

(A small child who isn’t even an esper risking his life to protect his family? Directly challenging Academy City’s #7 Level 5 for nothing more than that? W-without any kind of weapon or trick to back it up?)

“I…”

Dazed, the Level 5 came to a complete stop.

“I’m no match for guts like that…”

A tremendous sound of impact exploded out.

Sogiita was launched diagonally upwards, broke through several skyscrapers, and vanished into the blue sky.

“…Huh?”

Saten’s brother couldn’t believe what his punch had accomplished.

It did look a lot like the #7 had launched himself backwards with his own super strength, but that didn’t matter right now.

With the one idiot gone, the other idiot was free to attack.

“Ohhhhhhh!! Where’s the next enemy!? Who out there is strong enough to satisfy Academy City’s #4!!?”

Mikoto wasn’t about to give Mugino what she wanted.

She was looking for a powerful enemy, so she would likely walk right past Saten and her brother.

“So I need to get out of here!! I know I’m faster than that unathletic Level 5, so she’ll get caught and keep the #4 busy for me! Because she’s a complete klutz!!!”

“I’m sick of arguing with you every time, so can you just stop saying things like that!?”

Just as Mikoto was going to leave tearful Shokuhou behind, Mugino reacted.

“The #3 and the #5, huh? Why are you trying to sneak away when you’re so powerfullllllllllllllllll!?”

Buildings toppled, glass shattered, and vending machines rattled.

Through it all, Mikoto saw a waist-high Gekota mascot in front of a shop just as it was knocked over by the shockwave.

Then an explosion distorted its silhouette.

And it vanished inside the light.

It was forever lost.

In that instant, all emotion vanished from Misaka Mikoto’s face and she took action.

“Agragaghgahgh＃＄％＆‘～｜‘｛＋＊｝＜＞？＿＠「；：」・￥☆´仝￡〓!!!”

She shed tears of blood while launching lightning, iron sand, and coins.

Her love proved too powerful for the #4, who vanished along with the scenery behind her.

Mikoto wasn’t known as the #3 for no reason.

“You know you’re only proving that cult right, don’t you?”

“Gasp!? Wh-what was I just doing?”

Mikoto regained her senses and refocused on the goal she had lost sight of.

Discovering the truth of this world and settling things with Shokuhou still appeared to be the fastest way to end all this conflict.

She ran along the asphalt by herself, passing by a few people (who had not yet been corrupted by the cult).

“Why was I wasting so much time on that titty monster!?”

“I keep telling you not to call me these things!”

Since an angry Shokuhou was chasing after her, those passersby would eventually be brainwashed.

But Mikoto could use that to her advantage when she had a goal in mind. It would change a lot if she could detect the powerful espers who Shokuhou would prioritize going after.

Part 11

If outsiders, especially rivals form the School Garden, brought trouble to District 18, they would be blasted without warning by a microwave weapon that could melt the asphalt.

But Shokuhou wasn’t afraid.

The elite schools of Nagatenjouki and Kirigaoka were as much treasure troves of high-level espers as Tokiwadai. And Mental Out worked best when using every resource available.

The odds of pulling an ultra rare had gone up.

The Queen smiled while guarded by several elite espers.

“Ah ha ha. Academy City is a city of espers☆ An EM weapon tower? A microwave weapon? Did you think toys like that could slow me down!? …Hm?”

Then the #5 noticed something.

One of the esper girls she had brainwashed into serving her had something taped to her back like a prank note.

It was a giant sticklike lithium ion battery used in laptops.

And it of course exploded.

“Dwahhhhh!!?”

With a bizarre scream, Shokuhou was knocked onto her back.

As her brainwashed shields, those students all had their backs to her.

The batteries had been on thin metal panels attached to their backs, so the brainwashed espers hadn’t taken much damage, but Shokuhou wasn’t so fortunate. For how common lithium ion batteries were, they could cause quite an explosion when misused.

Yes.

If Mikoto knew those espers would be brainwashed, she could lay a trap. Ideally using something that could be remotely triggered with electricity or EM waves. That way she didn’t have to worry about accidentally harming any strangers if Shokuhou didn’t brainwash them.

Mikoto didn’t actually think this was enough to defeat the #5.

But if she left Shokuhou unsure who might be a trap waiting to be triggered, it would prevent Shokuhou from bolstering her numbers.

“Heh. That meathead has some nerve challenging me to landmine-based mind games!!”

This limited Shokuhou’s options.

Meaning…

(I’ll just have to protect myself with the usual clique members who I know Misaka-san hasn’t touched. After I brainwash them to ensure they won’t betray me or question my orders, of course!!)

Part 12

Mikoto felt a twinge of reluctance when her journey jumping from building to building took her to the edge of District 18.

(Yeah, I’ll have to preserve my strength after I leave here. I won’t be able to recharge with the EM weapon tower.)

She was moving from District 18 to District 11.

That special district could be seen as the front door for the land route and shipping. Which meant it directly bordered the outside wall.

“Not far now!!”

What were things like outside?

If she saw Shinjuku like normal, then this was the real world.

She had already rejected the idea that this was a virtual reality running on electronic equipment, but if the city and view outside of Academy City didn’t look right, it would mean this world was an artificial field created by an illusion esper or a fake city made for filming a movie.

It would mean a lot to know for sure if she could safely destroy this city.

That would tell her on what scale she could battle Shokuhou.

“Tch!”

Several figures approached her.

These were not just the crowd pursuing her on the ground. They were up as high as she was. She could see several girls jumping from rooftop to rooftop.

That was the Shokuhou Clique.

Apparently Shokuhou was strongest when she stuck to the basics.

(Come to think of it, didn’t her clique easily catch up to a running train during the Daihaseisai!? If they’re this close, it won’t be long until they have me surrounded!!)

And the Shokuhou Clique had more than just physical fighters.

Mikoto suddenly heard someone else’s voice speaking directly in her mind.

<Hee hee. Hello again, Misaka-sama.>

“Ugh. This telepathy…Kobayashi-senpai!?”

<I am glad you remember me. It is strange that you can deflect the Queen’s Mental Out, but I can easily establish a link with my lower-level telepathy.>

That was enough of a threat.

Once Kobayashi Satori established a one-way link, she could spy on your thoughts and predict your actions.

And she could also use the link to track your general location. The biggest threat in war was reliable intelligence. If Mikoto didn’t do anything about Kobayashi, she would be allowing the other clique members to rush right to her.

So…

(I need to crush that intelligence agent first!!)

<My, how violent. And did you really think I only played a harmless support role?>

(Hm? Can she use her telepathy to attack? Like fill your mind with incomprehensibly broken text and words to make the speech center of the brain glitch out?)

Bracing herself wouldn’t help.

Covering her ears could not shut out the telepath’s “voice”.

And the fearsome attack arrived.

<Crotch.>

“…?”

<Vagina, vulva, genitalia, privates. Oh? You can call it the groin too. Language is such a fascinating thing.>

It took three seconds for Mikoto to realize what this was.

Her face turned beet red.

No.

This couldn’t be happening!!

(W-w-w-w-w-w-wait, she couldn’t be. I mean, how could a bashful Tokiwadai girl stoop to such shameless depths?)

<Yes, using colored pens to underline all the lewd words in your dictionary is quite a shameful hobby. Maybe I shouldn't have outed myself like that☆>

“Ahhhhhhh!?”

Crash!!!

A billion volts radiated from Mikoto.

The psychological attack had won.

Part 13

Electrical explosions erupted all over.

Orange sparks flew from the giant gantry cranes meant to lift the metal shipping containers stacked up in pyramids and from the flat AGVs moving in and out of the containers, starting some small fires.

Shokuhou tearfully held her hands to the top of her head.

“Eek!? Wait, Kobayashi-saaan!! What did you say to her!?”

<Hee hee. If I told you, I believe you would explode in a similar way.>

“I am the clique’s leader, in case you have forgotten.”

But if Mikoto was spewing electricity aimlessly, this was Shokuhou’s chance.

Overusing her power would sap her stamina.

Once Mikoto’s intensity started to flag, Shokuhou would send her clique’s elites in to surround and defeat her.

(It’s time to finish this.)

“Everyone!! Surround her and take her out!!!”

Part 14

It wasn’t enough.

Mikoto was only a kilometer – a mere 1000 meters – away from the wall, but she couldn’t cover that distance. The Shokuhou Clique would close in on her first. She couldn’t slip past them. Even though the view past that wall would tell her what this world was!

She accepted that fact as she clenched her teeth.

And she changed tack.

“In that case!!”

She poured all her remaining strength into her legs and jumped.

Fortunately, District 11’s tallest building was nearby. She magnetically drew herself to it.

“Heh hee hee!! Climbing that building will only leave you with nowhere to run!!”

“Forget that sadistic moron.”

“Can you please take this as seriously as me!?”

She couldn’t reach the goal by approaching the wall horizontally.

So she would climb.

By raising her eye level, the distance to the horizon would naturally grow. If she could climb high enough, she would be able to see the world outside the wall without actually crossing it herself.

“Ohhhhhh!!”

She set foot on the skyscraper wall and ran up the full 500m.

She arrived on the roof.

And finally, Misaka Mikoto could see outside.

Part 15

Mikoto saw blue as far as the eye could see.

That roiling color was the sea.

There was no sign of Shinjuku or Tokyo.

Only the vast expanse of the ocean lay beyond Academy City.

But not because of flooding caused by climate change.

She did see some land.

In the sky.

Like broken pieces of eggshell, this entire world was comprised of several chunks of land slowly moving at various heights while surrounded by a blue spherical ocean.

The pieces of land moved like clouds in the wind, but they never collided with each other, suggesting there were some kind of rules governing it.

She hadn’t noticed it until now, but altogether the layers of floating land may have covered half – no, two-thirds – of the blue planet. Academy City had only just so happened to have a cloudless blue sky until now.

“What…in the world?”

She saw building-like silhouettes on the other flying lands.

But those buildings were not gray.

She saw castle walls and sharp pointed bell towers made of smooth white marble.

She was seeing part of a picture book castle.

“What is this?”

She heard some kind of animal cry.

The deep, rumbling cry was quite intimidating and she looked up to see it belonged to a dragon with a wingspan of well over 120m, making it larger than a jumbo jet.

A dragon?

Were things like that normal in this world?

If so…

That would mean…

Part 16

“Is this a swords and sorcery fantasy world?”

Part 17

A memory came back to Mikoto.

Like it had broken through the mental block she had placed over it.

(That’s right.)

She remembered.

She remembered what had really happened back then.

(Back when all this started, when we began fighting over that pudding in the courtyard, my high-voltage current hit the café’s big propane tank and it exploded.)

“That’s right! We both died!!”

Between the Lines 1: A Turning Point, and the Starting Point

Yes.

It had all begun with this conversation.

“Welcome to the Reincarnation Sanctuary! I’m Reincarnation Goddess Salinagaritina. Railgun and Mental Out, both of you died after achieving something special, so what kind of alternate world would you like to enjoy for your second shot at life?”

Misaka Mikoto couldn’t keep up with that springlike energy.

Her shoulders slumped.

“What is going on?”

“Oh. Well, normally, the goddess here – that’s me – would be handing out maxed-out parameters and all-powerful skills as casually as a part-timer giving out free energy drink samples on the street corner, but ruining the divine balance you have going on would only work against you, so I thought it would be best to leave you in the default state.”

“That still doesn’t explain anything.”

For one, who was this girl smiling in front of her? She called herself Reincarnation Goddess Salinagaritina, but that wasn’t enough. Who was she really?

She looked a lot like a small girl of about 13.

…Of course, Mikoto was 14 herself, but a year’s difference meant a lot to middle schoolers. So Mikoto only saw her as a small child.

The girl’s long silver hair was done up in a flat braid that resembled a fried shrimp. She had light skin, but her short stature was at odds with her unnaturally large boobs. In fact, large didn’t do them justice. Enormous worked better. She wore a sheer white dancer’s outfit. But the thin chains, clasps, and whatnot were all silver. However, the hagoromo-style ribbons were bright reds, blues, and greens.

Her appearance had a lot of buts and howevers to it.

Her overall coloration was very holy, but the revealing outfit made it look more profane. Was that imbalance a calculated thing? If so, what was the point of that extremely unbalanced arrangement?

…And was the combination of short and busty another part of that?

“Whatever the case, that outfit is more of a Shokuhou thing. Because it’s lewd.”

“Do you have to bring our fight over into the afterlife, Misaka-saaan?” said Shokuhou, burning with a dark flame next to Mikoto.

Yes. That was a good point.

Hadn’t they both died?

“So what is this place?”

“Does this mean we died in that propane tank explosion during lunch?”

Assuming Shokuhou’s Mental Out hadn’t broken the established rules and reached Mikoto’s brain, that memory should be accurate. In fact, it would have been more surprising to have escaped such a major accident unharmed.

But Mikoto and Shokuhou didn’t have any obvious injuries here and they didn’t recognize this sanctuary place that was larger than a domed stadium.

Yes.

They were standing inside in a massive ancient structure made of heavy stone.

But its coloration made no sense. The faint yellow sparkles floating atop the white surface gave it a color similar to sparkling wine. The stone didn’t seem to be calcite, strawberry quartz, or imperial topaz. It was a mysterious smooth mineral. Did it even exist in the real world? To be blunt, the structure was shaped like a grand temple, but it was colored like a luxury smartphone.

(More unbalanced mismatches.)

Neither Mikoto nor Shokuhou recognized the construction style either (and they knew more than the average person on that subject thanks to their school). At the very least, it wasn’t ancient Greek or Roman. The large open space was surrounded by boxy spiral staircases and pure water fell down tiered paths from above. That may have been a type of cascade, but they weren’t sure what kind of mythological meaning the decoration had.

If whoever was behind this had gone to all the trouble of creating this place, what were they going to do with Mikoto and Shokuhou?

And at the same time, Reincarnation Goddess Salinagaritina’s eyes widened in realization.

It was the look of an actor who saw her costar just standing there out of costume after the curtain rose.

“Wait, wait. Oh, that’s not good. There’s still a tiny thread leftover. Argh, how many times do I have to tell them to sever every last connection and sliver of regret regarding their past life before bringing them here?”

It was unclear who she was complaining about there, but that wasn’t what Mikoto was interested in.

She had picked up on something else.

“Hm? So was there some kind of trouble? Like that we didn’t actually die in that accident? If we’re still just barely having an out-of-body experience here, then send us back!”

“Sorry, but that isn’t an option.”

The goddess rejected the idea of survival as casually as a clerk explaining that the limited-time coffee jelly couldn’t be included in the bargain hamburger meal.

“And before you get any ideas, you couldn’t go back even if you began a nightmare-difficulty impossible boss battle and somehow managed to defeat me. Lately, there’s been a rash of these dangerous people who try to break things during the initial tutorial. Anyway, the system is a one-way road. I send you from front to back. If you want to go from back to front, you need to go ask a different goddess.”

“Please don’t mention one-way roads when talking about an expert in death…”

“?”

The goddess clearly didn’t understand, but Mikoto didn’t feel like explaining.

Shokuhou put a hand on her hip and spoke.

“If you we do what you say, are we going to have to cross some strange river? I’d really rather not. What happens if we just stay in this really pleasant tutorial space forever?”

“Any soul other mine will probably be worn away into nothingness if it stays here too long. And I mean it truly disappears. If that happens, you can’t enjoy your overpowered reincarnation. Because your soul will be gone forever.”

“…” “…”

It sounded like disobeying her wouldn’t end well.

Reincarnation Goddess Salinagaritina seemed like a next-gen goddess who had updated her countermeasures for outrageous people who tried to pull a fast one on her during the tutorial. But that aside, Mikoto was ready to move on and learn what this tutorial and goddess were about.

“So you’re free to take detours if you like, but if you want to take a different route back to your Earth where you can regain consciousness and leave the hospital, don’t try to go back the way you came. I recommend visiting some other random world first☆ Think of it like making a reallllly big U-turn!”

“So what kind of other world are we talking about?”

“I generally think of myself as a sommelier. If I hand the customer a menu, you’ll end up choosing something like having the strongest appraisal skill, being reborn as an inanimate object, being kicked out of a holy party, regaining your lost youth, cultivating and farming some land deep in the forest, resisting until the age of 30 to become a wizard, or discovering Earth home cooking is highly valued, etc. And with the format and direction of the world so well-defined, you’ll actually find it’s really restrictive. So I think it’s best to ask the customer what they think and what they want so I can come up with something for them myself!”

“Ehh? So like you ask a bunch of yes-or-no questions and then give us a recommended world? Can’t we get a hint ability of where to start? Being told you can do anything makes it really hard to do anything at all.”

“This is all for your own good, so stop complaining about the tutorial! Besides, some people are better suited for some worlds than others. Like if I threw you extreme combat kaiju into a world where a plate of nikujaga is worth its weight in gold, nothing would happen, would it? Nothing at all.”

“I-I can cook if I have to! An apron over a school uniform is the perfect middle school girl look!!” “I-I can cook if I have to! An apron over a school uniform is the perfect middle school girl look!!”

Whether it was for appearances or they were serious, they both shouted back at the same time. While blushing.

But were they customers here?

If so, what were they paying with?

Mikoto and Shokuhou did still have questions, but their arms intersected as they pointed at each other’s face.

And they shouted in unison.

They knew exactly what they wanted most.

“Any world is fine as long as she’s not in it!!!” “Any world is fine as long as she’s not in it!!!”

“You got it☆”

Their request was accepted.

It was…accepted?

“But I, Reincarnation Goddess Salinagaritina, am only in charge of the beginning of life, not the end of it. So all I can do is show you to a world where that is most likely to occur.”

“Good enough.” “Good enough.”

“Hee hee. You two are actually really good friends, aren’t you?”

Shokuhou brainwashed the goddess with her TV remote and Mikoto blasted her away with a Railgun.

Yes, they had forgotten.

This was how their reincarnation journey had begun.

Chapter 3: Two Members of the Most Dangerous Non-Native Species

Part 1

The world of Celesaqphere had no god. Because after creating all life in that world, its god left.

But that wasn’t a problem.

Because if anyone was in serious trouble, a pair of goddesses would break the invisible barrier and come to rescue them.

Part 2

It had seen Mikoto.

What had? The 120m dragon flying through the sky.

“Oh, no! It’s coming this way!!”

The great mass charged in at a sharp angle that clearly differed from a large passenger plane or bomber.

As soon as Mikoto jumped from the rooftop, the top three floors of the skyscraper were torn away by the dragon’s scales, which were like a grater or a saw. A graze from those would be enough to destroy a human body. Whichever building wall Mikoto chose to magnetically land on next, she was dealing with a living creature. She was doomed if it predicted her course and attacked just as she landed!!

(How many skyscrapers are left, and at what distribution? Being able to stick to building walls doesn’t buy me much in a lengthy battle against a winged beast!!)

Mikoto might be able to bring it down with a Railgun, but that attack’s range was only 50m. In a grounded fight, that was plenty, but in a fast-moving air battle, it would require being at “close range”. She had to assume the odds of hitting were close to zero if she fired at random. She needed a plan.

Meanwhile, on the ground…

“The gate is just sitting open. What is going on here?”

Shokuhou casually walked outside of Academy City.

She found roiling blue there.

The ground crumbled away like a cliff immediately outside the wall and only a tropical-looking sea could be seen far below. But that didn’t mean there was no other land. Land like broken pieces of eggshell was slowly moving overhead. They were all moving at the speed of clouds in the wind, but they appeared to be governed by some kind of rules that prevented them from colliding. They varied in size from small islands to massive continents and countless waterfalls of all sizes poured down into the sea below.

Simply put, she found herself in another world.

The eggshell shards of land had polished marble spires sticking up from them. Probably parts of castles or churches. It would be simple enough to write it off as medieval European, but Shokuhou’s knowledge of world history didn’t contain any of the designs she was seeing.

It looked like she really was in a fantasy world of swords and sorcery.

There was even a giant dragon flying nearby.

(A world with broken land floating above an ocean planet, hm? That means Academy City here isn’t on the surface either. It’s on a relatively low level, but it’s still floating above the blue core.)

Shokuhou had a question.

But she didn’t have enough power to check on the answer.

(The nearest small island is more than 50m away. I can’t reach it on foot since it’s floating and I don’t see how I can clear the vertical or horizontal distance without Misaka-san’s magnet ability. That dragon isn’t human, so Mental Out won’t work on it. That means taming it and soaring through the sky on its back isn’t an option.)

Now the #5 was also curious what this place was.

Did that mean a truce with the electric girl?

(New plan: earn that idiot’s trust ability and then stab her in the back when she lets her guard down☆)

Shokuhou let out a quick sigh to refocus her mind before aiming her TV remote toward a giant slate covered in ancient angular writing that sat on the edge of the cliff.

She was reading the residual thoughts, not the mysterious writing.

Just because this was another world full of crazy-looking nature and strange magic didn’t mean espers were entirely powerless there.

“Misaka-saaan. I think I’ve found how to defeat that legendary dragon.”

“No! I just know you’ll tell me the wrong thing on purpose!! You’re trying to get it to kill me so you don’t have to do it yourself! So no thank you!!!”

…What a great idea.

The scheming girl was just a bit impressed, but she kept that to herself.

And Mikoto didn’t wait for Shokuhou’s reaction. As she continued jumping from skyscraper to skyscraper, the 120m dragon got impatient and charged in, so Beast Hunter Mikoto hopped onto its back.

Shokuhou didn’t know if Mikoto would believe her, but she (cutely) formed a megaphone with her hands and shouted up from the ground.

(Let’s see…)

“First, slaying the Brain Edge Dragon requires the Sword of Valor, but to get that you need the Rusty Blade from the depths of the mines of Orion, Celesaqphere’s western continent, and then you need to get it retempered by the dwarves who live in the Brand Mountain Range, but the dwarves are at war with the elves, which means they’re too busy to accept outside work, so you need to resolve that millennium-long conflict and bring the war to an end, but the parchment needed for the treaty can only be made from the Eternal Agreement Goat which is only found on the southern continent of Boutique and catching the goat is a lot easier if you have the Silver Throwing Net, so you should first go talk to the mermaids in the Seabed Kingdom, but mermaids are shy and you’ll first need to increase your communication ability by polishing your conversational skill which is best done by studying at the acting school in the Urban continent’s largest casino town of Vernment and you need letters of recommendation from five people to get in, but trying to negotiate for those will get you nowhere, so its best to force the issue with money ability and the fastest and most reliable way to make a lot of money is to skip the casino where the pro dealers control who wins and loses and to head out of town and work as a bounty hunter, and the best place to find high-bounty monsters is the northern continent of Snowdome, so you’ll need to charter a ship there, register with the guild, and – no, wait, chartering a ship requires a travel permit, which you’ll have to acquire on your own – and once you’ve registered with the guild, you need to head to the off-limits White Snowplains to hunt down 20 each of Rank 5 Big Mammoths and Paradise Wendigos, which will be enough to reach the sum you want, but first timers aren’t given the big jobs like that, so you’ll need to first work smaller jobs to increase your star ranking – I do hope you’re paying attention to all this – and once you have the money, you head back to the casino town of Vernment in Urban, but if you try to travel by ship with all that money, there’s a 100% chance of being targeted by pirates, so you’ll need to hire some bodyguards first and the best guards in Snowdome are the Dawnbright Valors, so you’ll want to go speak with them, but if they know how rich you are, they’ll jack up their prices and take all your money from you, so be careful about that, but don’t worry because if you challenge their leader to single combat and win, that won’t be an issue anymore, but once you’ve gotten into the acting school in Vernment, you’ll receive acting lessons, but since you’re after the shy mermaids, you’ll want to choose the comedy classes, but while it usually takes three years to graduate, you don’t need to stick around that long, so you can leave after picking up the basics during the first week, but escaping the dorm-only school requires some real technique, so it’s recommended you first contact a group of failing students and get them to tell you the best escape route, but if you escape with them, they’ll stick with you and pretend to be helping you until they eventually betray you, so keep that in mind as you escape the acting school and make your way to the Seabed Kingdom, but reaching that kingdom requires entering a whale’s belly and that doesn’t do you any good if you die in there, so you need a Survival Capsule first, but you can get one of those from the worker’s guild in the port city of Belzar, so don’t bother trying to steal one, and once you have the Survival Capsule, you can dive into the ocean, but before the whale will swallow you whole, you have to disguise yourself as-”

A deafening explosion erupted out.

The thought of traversing all those floating continents on a grand adventure must have sounded like a huge pain in the rear to Mikoto because she launched a Railgun into the dragon’s back from point-blank range and slayed the 120m monster in a single attack.

The great mass lost its speed and, thanks to its wings, slowly dropped toward the ground.

(Huh? Is it…falling this way?)

“Why are you like this, Misaka-san!?”

“Eat 120m monster, schemerrrrrrrrr!!”

The effect was like a cross between a meteor strike and a bomber performing a belly landing.

Academy City’s gate was very noisily obliterated.

Shokuhou tried to run away, but she tripped over her own feet, fell, and performed a few panty-flashing somersaults to just barely avoid the massive attack.

Mikoto was furious.

“Stop including miracles in your plans!! It’s not fair!”

“I don’t want to hear about fair play from someone who tried to kill me along with the terrain ability around me!!”

The Fan Service Queen was flipped upside down in her short skirt as she blushed and shouted back. But her spirit of fan service may have gone too far because she looked more like she had taken an imaginary belly-to-back suplex.

However, this was a fantasy world where swords and sorcery were everything.

Are you serious? thought Mikoto. It was such a shock it took her a bit to grasp it.

Those weren’t birds flying around overhead. They were half-naked winged girls. A flock of two or three harpies or sirens were flying together.

“Squawk, squawk. Let’s go snatch some souls.”

“La la la. I know it’s necessary for the cursed song, but I hate having to look after my throat.”

Mikoto waved up from the ground, but they ignored her, suggesting she couldn’t contact them.

And why were they speaking Japanese? The reincarnation goddess too for that matter.

“Was the lack of information in an emergency not the only reason that cult appeared so quickly in Academy City?”

“Are you suggesting a cult was the natural result because the city was brought to a world where myths and religions provide real power in an everyday sort of way?” asked Shokuhou.

And.

If they accepted the ridiculous idea that they had died and been sent to another world, it did help explain some things.

Yes.

To be honest, it was hard to imagine a simple gas explosion killing two Level 5s at once.

Most likely, Misaka Mikoto and Shokuhou Misaki had triggered a propane tank explosion while fighting during lunch and they were in critical condition. Mikoto didn’t know what the scientific term was, but they had to be in what was commonly known as an out-of-body experience. Maybe they were in a coma and maybe they were in a vegetative state, but they were still alive and that idiot goddess had jumped the gun on sending them to another world. They would be in real trouble if they didn’t quickly find a way to wake up and return to their original world.

That meant the Academy City they had been rampaging through was in a similar state.

The physical Academy City in western Tokyo had not been transferred here. A ghostlike version of the city had been taken to the other world with the two girls.

(A nonphysical city, huh?)

Mikoto held a hand to her chin in thought.

Anyone with the appropriate knowledge might have thought of the Imaginary Number District.

But unlike the pointy-haired boy who had witnessed all sorts of dangerous things because he got caught up in trouble about as commonly as a certain housekeeper, Mikoto and Shokuhou didn’t have the necessary knowledge or experience. Even if they had gotten very close at times, like contacting Kazakiri in her golden angel mode.

“But that would mean…” thought Shokuhou as she looked up into the sky.

They had met Shirai Kuroko, Hokaze Junko, Kobayashi Satori, and Kamijou Touma here, but had those people actually been a piece of this strange city?

If so that was the first good news in a (truly) long time.

They had been weirdly casual about Shirai and Kamijou being blown away before their eyes. It hadn’t felt real.

Mikoto muttered something else with a dark look on her face.

“That’s right. The real Kobayashi-san wouldn’t be the kind of freak to use colored pens to underline all the dirty words in her thick dictionary.”

“?”

Shokuhou wasn’t sure what that idiot was talking about, but she decided it would be best not to control Hokaze, Kobayashi, and the others in their attempt to return to Earth. They might look the same and have the same powers, but that wasn’t actually them. Which meant she couldn’t fully trust them.

Besides, the telepathic link with Kobayashi had already been severed.

She hadn’t actually tested it, but she doubted any of the people in this strange city could leave its walls. In a very literal sense, they could only be residents of the city.

Shokuhou decided to quit thinking about that version of Academy City.

The world outside it was what mattered now.

“And this.”

Shokuhou sat down on the ground and tossed a pebble toward Mikoto.

Mikoto didn’t even have to catch it.

Before it hit her, it slowed and started hovering in place.

“I was right. I thought the ground here might have a lot of iron since there’s so much rust-red sand, but the iron content must be really high for your magnetism ability to react and make it float☆”

“Hm.”

Tokyo’s soil had iron sand in it, but not this much.

They were in another world.

While fighting in the city, Mikoto had assumed the map and compass apps had stopped working because Shokuhou had cut off the internet, but apparently not.

Mikoto looked up into the sky.

“It seems like Academy City’s satellite is still up there. It bombed us after all.”

“That would mean the GPS measurements are being taken, but with the actual readings not matching the preset world map in the slightest, the computer must be getting tons of error abilities, automatically stopping any GPS services from working.”

“Probably.”

In another world, the distribution of geomagnetism might be different.

That could be why an Electromaster like Mikoto had been so irritable and aggressive.

“Yes, that must be it!! It’s all the magnetic anomaly’s fault, not mine! You have no excuse for your behavior, but I do!!”

“Hey!! Stop coming up with self-serving explanations!”

They had established another rule.

They still didn’t know how the eggshell shard floating islands managed to defy gravity, but they had an extremely high iron content. Mikoto’s magnetism might just be enough to leap between the floating islands.

“Come to think of it…you picked up on that awfully quick, Shokuhou. Why do you know so much about other worlds? From those phone novels? Y’know, the ones arranged vertically for a phone screen.”

“It’s just that researchers and engineers love using those names. They’ll choose a random mythological name for their new project to hide what it actually does.”

“…”

“Hee hee. But I bet your knowledge comes from manga, Misaka-san.”

At any rate, stepping outside of Academy City brought them to a cliff with an endless ocean far below. Even with water down there, they were high enough that the shock of impact would kill them.

A big, ancient slate was stabbed into the ground nearby, but Shokuhou had already read the residual thoughts in it and it didn’t seem to offer anything else.

“Misaka-san, could you take me to the nearest floating land?”

“Why should I help you?”

“Do you know how to investigate it on your own? Can you calculate how many days it will take before you encounter your first person to question? But I can read people’s memories and the residual thoughts in inanimate objects, which seems like it would help you solve this world’s mysteries a lot faster.”

Mikoto looked away and clicked her tongue.

And she spread her arms as if asking for a hug.

They had a deal.

Part 3

“Here goes.”

“Gyahhhhhhh!?”

Familiar gravity vanished.

Mikoto leaped about 30m with Shokuhou clinging to the side of her hip. This was a vertical jump. Shokuhou had asked for this, but she blanched and screamed at the sudden weightlessness.

The jump took them toward the closest floating land.

…But did this world have any other people living in it? If so, how did they travel between floating landmasses? If they couldn’t cheat with magnetically-fueled jumps, this had to be a very inconvenient world. Or did they all live all their lives on the floating land they were born on and leaving their home was severely frowned upon?

“Pant, gasp! Th-there’s something over there!!”

Still clinging to Mikoto’s hip, Luggage Girl Shokuhou pointed somewhere with serious tears in her eyes.

Mikoto cut the magnetic assistance and came to a brief stop in midair.

Then she magnetically tugged herself horizontally to forcibly bring her to new footing.

It was more like a large hunk of rock than an island. It had to be one of the smallest of the “eggshell pieces”. Still, it was about the size of a school classroom. Something was flattened atop the barren piece of rock. It was hard to identify while squashed flat, but it wasn’t quite the same as a hot-air balloon. It may have originally been an airship shaped like a rugby ball.

“But that would only be 10m even when inflated, wouldn’t it? I thought airships weren’t very efficient unless you made them humongous.”

“The logic ability of our world might not apply. The atoms, molecules, and technology here could be completely different from in our world, so maybe there’s a light and stable incombustible gas here.”

Whatever the case, that didn’t look like the result of a proper landing.

If it had been caught in the fight against the giant dragon, Mikoto and Shokuhou could be partially responsible, so they decided it would be best to investigate the flattened airship.

There was indeed someone there.

“Ow, ow, ow, ow…”

A woman of about 20 crawled out from below the gasbag’s thick material. To the two middle schoolers, a woman who skipped right past the three years of high school looked quite a bit older than them. …Although she seemed a little sad that she lost to Shokuhou when it came to boobs.

“Are you really in middle school?”

“Are we still doing that?”

The young woman, who was their first encounter with a resident of this world, was wearing a red princess dress. Her long purple hair was worn in gorgeous ringlets.

Her hair and clothing were both colored dazzlingly bright.

After crawling out on all fours, she didn’t seem capable of getting back up and tearfully tapped her lower back.

“I-I can’t believe I took a direct hit from a Continent Blade. Not a good start to a long journey… Now I have to pay for the airship and they’ll demand I pay more for breach of contract. If I’d known this would happen, I would have just thrown around some more money and bought one instead of going with a rental.”

Mikoto and Shokuhou were actually relieved to find she sounded like a sheltered rich girl.

They had plenty of experience with those in Tokiwadai, so seeing someone so obviously out of touch with ordinary people was like finding some good miso soup while traveling overseas.

Mikoto reached out a hand to help her up.

“Are you alright? And what’s a Continent Blade?”

“Thank you very much. Continent Blades are vacuum blades that appear unpredictably as the paths of the floating lands move through the air. They generally weaken and disperse quickly, but what do you think happens if you run into one in midair?”

Did this world have giant guillotines flying through the air year round?

According to the bright-colored young woman, airships and winged bicycles were crucial means of transportation in this world where floating lands were arranged in multiple layers, but simply running into one of the naturally-occurring Continent Blades had caused this disaster. A hole had been torn in the airship and it had crashed, the impact flattening it.

“This world has dragons, magic, and flying continents, but I guess it can’t all be fun and games.”

“But as inconvenient as it is, I am glad I was born in such an interesting world.”

There was no lie in the woman’s smile. Mikoto was honestly envious.

She felt nothing but disgust for her home of Academy City.

But why had this woman embarked on such a risky journey?

“I am 20 now. I have completed my magical education, so it is about time I left home and started my own business.”

“Huh, is that how it works here? Flying continents and magic schools. I’d love to go to one of those.”

“?”

The way Mikoto put that made the young woman tilt her head.

“So will you be living on your own now? Not having a dorm manager sounds great, but no allowance and having to earn your own living sounds nerve-racking.”

“It is. I am still a complete novice, but I thought the easiest business to get into for now would be the slave trade!”

Hm?

Did she…?

Did she just say something extremely messed up?

“Um?”

“Yes?”

“What, uh, did you just say? The easiest business to get into would be…?”

“The slave trade, what else?”

She said it as casually as someone saying they were going to try online stock trading to learn about money.

There was no wicked smile on her face. She only looked confused.

“Yes, any real merchant must eventually be wealthy enough to finance a large elf hunting group and buy a large slave airship. Personally, I hope to run a major market myself one day. You will never hit it big without first dreaming big, after all.”

“Ugh…”

Someone else crawled out from the squashed airship.

The girl of about 10 had long blonde hair. Her pointy ears were twitching, but her threadbare green dress was a lot more noticeable. It was sleeveless and had a mini tight skirt, but it was so filthy it was hard to focus on any of those details. The accident couldn’t have caused this. Those were stains that had accumulated over a long period of time. A jangling sound came from her. She had a thick steel collar around her skinny neck with a thick chain loosely attached to her emaciated ankles.

She was a slave.

The woman hadn’t been using slang or a dialectic term. She really sold people?

“My, my.”

And she didn’t even try to hide it.

This was perfectly normal as far as she was concerned.

They really were in another world.

“Can you do nothing right, slave?”

“…I-I’m sorry…”

Such a heavy apology should never have come from such a small child.

Her sluggish movement may have been the result of extreme exhaustion weighing on her body.

Her tiny hands held onto a large trunk made of thick leather.

She tried several times to lift it, but it simply wasn’t possible. Before Mikoto could hurry over and assist her, the girl was overpowered by the weight and toppled forward, causing the trunk to fall over with her.

Someone sighed.

It was the gaudy young woman.

“I explained the punishment for getting my precious clothing bag dirty, didn’t I? And it’s such a pain to do. Why must you waste so much of my time over something so silly?”

“…Ah…”

“The first three mistakes are a simple whipping, but the fourth means losing an ear. Those are the standard rules for slave elves, which you should know quite well as a slave so useless she wasn’t even worth putting on the market.”

The young woman grabbed one of the long, twitching ears, and yanked hard.

In her other hand, she all of a sudden held a large razor like a barber would use.

She wasn’t even angry.

She pressed the blade against the base of the ear just like someone might head to the front door after hearing the doorbell ring.

The small elf girl didn’t resist.

Her lifeless eyes carried the resignation of someone who had decided the destruction of her body and the death that followed would at least mean an end to the suffering.

But that was no mercy or kindness. It was the same as the illusionary warmth felt if you kept your hand buried in the cold snow long enough.

“…”

Mikoto knew nothing about this world.

She didn’t know its history, its culture, or its values.

But.

She couldn’t bear to see eyes without the spark of life in them.

Everything she saw here dug up painful memories. Memories of other girls who were treated as throwaway tools for a loathsome experiment and who obeyed without a word of complaint as they were slaughtered one after another.

She was reminded of the mass-produced military clones known as the Sisters.

Of the more than 10 thousand girls she had failed to save.

“Hey, there must be plenty of other jobs out there. Why would you go out of your way to be a slaver?”

“Because it’s so easy.”

The young woman didn’t even need to think about her answer.

“You don’t need any kind of qualifications or license to start. And if you want to start a big business, you need a quick way of earning enough money to get it off the ground, right? Anyone can do a job as simple as this, so it’s no more than the first step on the path toward greater success.”

“You cruelly rob people of their freedom, you force them to work against their will, and you wear them down to the bone… Haven’t you ever felt just a little bad about that?”

“Why in the world would I? Slaves are meant to be worked hard. If a slave is tough enough to last longer, that just means you have to push them even harder so you won’t have to continue feeding them! Keeping around healthy slaves for too long would only bankrupt me!!”

She sounded just like she was explaining that it was cheaper to throw out and replace an old, inefficient air conditioner.

It wasn’t any more than that in her mind.

…This wasn’t her crime alone. That was how this world worked. The real culprit was the environment that had raised the young woman to think this way.

Mikoto understood that intellectually.

But she was at her limit.

In a number of ways.

“I see,” muttered Mikoto under her breath.

She was getting sidetracked.

This trip to another world was likely the result of a mistake, so her top priority had to be investigating this world and finding a way back to Earth while this out-of-body experience was still only that. What to do about this slave elf had nothing at all to do with that goal.

She understood that.

But for some reason, Shokuhou didn’t try to stop her despite taking a cynical view of human nature and prioritizing efficiency.

Shokuhou’s silence didn’t mean she was opposed to Mikoto’s choice.

In fact, Shokuhou gently hugged the dazed little elf to her chest. And she did it so smoothly the master with the large razor just let it happen. So the young woman probably hadn’t even realized she had given up her hostage. Even though that had been to ensure the elf wouldn’t be hit on accident.

The #5’s look of silent approval told Mikoto she was free to do whatever she wanted.

“They look like us, they think like us, and they speak like us, but just because they’re ‘not human’ you think it’s okay to chain them up, buy and sell them, and work them to the bone? And even worse, you think it’s more economical for the master to work them literally to death? I see, I see.”

“?”

The slaver woman tilted her head.

There was no hostility or caution on her face. She truly could not figure out what about this was bothering Mikoto so much.

And.

Misaka Mikoto loathed this sort of unjust killing.

Crash!!!

A flower of light blossomed.

Thick electricity scattered, a rapidly-vibrating iron sand whip sliced through the air, and a Railgun scorched the air at three times the speed of sound.

The battle had begun.

Part 4

The noise was deafening and the light blinding.

Most likely, these supernatural phenomena would seem impossible even to the people of this world.

“Don’t worry.”

Shokuhou twirled the TV remote in her hand and pressed it against the forehead of the slave elf in her other arm.

“I can erase all the painful memories, but only if you truly want me to. First…yes, I know. I can remove those painful feelings and bitter emotions from deep in your heart☆”

With the click of a button, something returned to the slave’s lifeless eyes. That was probably the natural power to protect your formless life and seek a better future.

It was a light that should have been within the elf girl all along.

“Um.”

The slave girl moved her lips while held gently to Shokuhou’s large chest.

After being worn down so far her very core nearly broke, she asked a question.

“Why are you helping me? I’m only an inhuman elf…”

She sounded truly puzzled.

She had accepted the chain connecting her thick collar to her ankles as something normal, so she must have abandoned all hope of ever being rescued.

Shokuhou Misaki was not Misaka Mikoto.

But she too couldn’t bear to see anything like this.

The #3 was not the only who had failed to save a girl in the past.

Even if the deceased had accepted their death without resistance, it wasn’t so easy for the survivors to accept.

It never was.

“Well.”

(Telling her this rotten system reminds me of Dolly would be rude to this girl and that girl both.)

Shokuhou twirled her remote again and kept that answer to herself.

Academy City’s #5 Level 5 gave another answer instead.

“Maybe because you aren’t ‘only’ anything.”

“?”

“I mean, my Mental Out works on you. So whatever you might be, I have to accept that you have a mind just like mine☆” explained the honey girl with a smile.

It was just like Tokiwadai’s wicked Queen to imply Mikoto didn’t deserve human rights since Mental Out didn’t work on her.

Part 5

“Gwoahhhh!!!!”

The nonhuman trafficker shouted from the dust cloud.

Mikoto actually tensed in response.

That woman still had it in her to yell after receiving a rush of attacks from the #3. Specifically, the nonhuman trafficker had held out her palm to activate several layers of thick compressed air shields, which had slightly diverted the Railgun’s path. The Railgun could of course break through any number of those shields, but its path shifted slightly when piercing each layer, adding up to enough of an error that it had shifted a full shoulder width horizontally.

This was a skill system entirely different from Academy City’s espers.

It was another world’s magic.

“S Wind!!”

Wind twisted together into a spear thicker than Mikoto’s torso and shot out.

It didn’t end with just that. The nonhuman trafficker made a snap of her wrist.

“Spread Wind!!”

The motion produced a loud cracking sound.

However it worked, a whip made of vacuum gathered a flexible power and drew out a physical curve as it brutally tore away the ground at the girl’s feet. Orange sparks scattered, revealing the whip’s outline.

“You have some nerve disparaging Tornado Candyfloss, a midlevel Body Tamer and user of wind magic.”

But the wind and vacuum weapons were not what Mikoto found so odd.

The #3 girl was mildly surprised by how easily she was accepting everything happening here.

She was a resident of Academy City on the science side. Ordinarily, she would frown and reject an occult term like magic. But here it pierced right through the usual intellectual rejection to lodge itself deep in her mind.

Because it was reasonable to find it here.

She would need a specific reason to question it.

(The #5’s power doesn’t even work on me, so what is this?)

The nonhuman trafficker roared with a belligerent smile.

She was a threat that used magic, which was commonplace in this world.

“Yes, yes. My slave is my property, my dignity, and my possession. You have no right to question me on that. I felt sorry for that poor slave who was going to waste without anyone using her, so I invested my own money to give her a place to work! I did her a favor! Harming me for that kindness is simply unacceptable!!”

“…”

“When I was little, I saw some elves when I looked out the window of my carriage on the brick road.”

Her eyes sparkled.

Instead of scorn, those sick eyes were filled with duty and purpose.

“They had no collars and no masters and no one providing them a roof for shelter. Oh, those poor elves. That was when I decided I would gather enough power to make it on my own and then mercifully and charitably rescue them from their filthy primitive lives!!”

They were nothing but merchandise to her.

Mikoto recalled hearing that people unfamiliar with rabbits could accidentally break their skinny bones when holding them. She also recalled how dogs bred to be extremely small could damage their legs if they were taken on too many walks.

And this person saw that as the only form of happiness.

She saw the elves living in the forest as an abnormality and truly believed that they would be happier if a human tamed them and gave them a “proper” life.

The fool who couldn’t even imagine a viewpoint different from her own gave Mikoto a mocking grin.

“What will you do now? I hope you knew what you were getting yourself into picking a fight with nobility. Your fate is now mine to choose and I will not even let you be a slave. A vacuum whip can easily strip the flesh from your bones. My whip will peel away your skin and strip away the flesh so I can see your bo- gyah!!?”

The young woman hopped straight up before she was finished.

Mikoto winked with electricity scattering from her bangs.

“Now, I don’t know how you control the wind, but it looks like you have to give it the shape of a sword or a whip or whatever first. I can produce electricity in a vacuum.. You might be able to increase the insulation resistance a bit by compressing the air, but that won’t protect you unless it actually hits my attack. Did you actually think you could deflect ultra-quick electric attacks with a weapon that only covers the width of a stick?”

And it didn’t end there.

The #3 girl flicked an arcade coin up with her thumb.

Immobilized by the previous electric shock, the nonhuman trafficker had tears in her eyes.

Mikoto didn’t care.

“You caused all this tragedy!! You’re a shitty vortex that drags in the lives around you by your mere presence!!!”

The air was scorched orange at three times the speed of sound.

The nonhuman trafficker spun through the air before slamming into the ground. She had been knocked over by the Railgun shooting past her, not a direct hit.

A direct hit would have obliterated her body.

“Misaka-saaan.”

Shokuhou sighed while holding the elf slave close.

But not to scold Mikoto for going too far.

“Don’t kill her too quick. If an unrepentant monster doesn’t suffer as much as they deserve, there’s no enjoyment ability in it☆”

“Shut up. And you aimed your remote at my head when I fired the first one, didn’t you? I fired a Railgun along with the lightning spear and iron sand sword. This would’ve been over in seconds if not for the weird headache that gave me!!”

“Why would you want to ruin your life in seconds, murderer? Misaka-san, why don’t you stop and think about what you’re saying here?”

“Huh?” Mikoto tilted her head.

A few seconds later, a chill crawled up her spine.

…If Shokuhou hadn’t interfered with her remote and Mikoto’s attacks had continued without a hitch, what would have happened to the nonhuman trafficker?

People’s lives didn’t seem to carry much “weight” in this world. Almost like defeating your enemy was simply a routine way of earning money and experience.

(This isn’t good. I might really kill someone if I don’t focus on what I’m doing and stop myself.)

“So what do you want to do with her, Misaka-san? Are you really going to treat her like a sandbag until she dies?”

“I-I’m not as obsessive as you.”

“Then allow me to take care of the dirty work☆”

Shokuhou aimed her remote at the woman.

The nonhuman trafficker’s body jerked in a way that was clearly different from what the electricity made her do.

The evil ringlets woman opened her eyes wide.

“Wh-what is…happening to me? I can’t stand up!”

“What is happening? It seems to me you will have to live out the rest of your life crawling on the ground like a dog. Oh, and lift your butt more☆”

“Ugh!”

Sweat soaked the woman as she took a humiliating pose.

Perhaps it is kinder to not provide an accurate description of said pose.

“And you will serve this girl until the day you die. If she has any heavy luggage, you can carry it on your back. Getting a precious trunk dirty deserves punishment, isn’t that right? And when her little legs are tired, you can be her chair. Hee hee☆Can you already tell you have no way of fighting this?”

“Shokuhou, the girl doesn’t want this.”

Why would you terrify the elf here, idiot?

After Mikoto’s exasperated comment, the #5 girl sighed and pressed her remote’s button again.

The nonhuman trafficker collapsed unconscious to the ground like her own power button had been hit.

“Then I’ll do this the peaceful way. I’ve erased only her business knowledge and skills, so any future attempts at business will mean a string of failures that leave her too occupied to even think about enslaving any more elves☆”

“You’re a real monster.”

Part 6

At any rate, the battle was over.

A variety of shocks had left the nonhuman trafficker passed out with her eyes rolled back in her head, but enough about her.

“I found the keys.”

“Pass them here.”

The key ring must have had keys for everything from the trunk to the collar.

When the unathletic girl tossed them over (with very poor aim), Mikoto magnetically drew them into her hand before approaching the slave elf.

Yes, the elf with the thick chain connecting her steel collar to her legs.

Just seeing those restraints pissed Mikoto off, so she prepared to remove them, but…

“Hyah!”

For some reason, the little elf backed away.

“Hm? Why?”

“Um, uh… I’m so used to wearing them I’m not sure what I would do if you forcibly removed them…”

Would it feel as weird to her as heading out with only one sock on?

And she considered this “forcibly” removing them.

Traditions and customs could be frighting things, but maybe this was pushing her too far too quickly.

Mikoto gave Shokuhou a look and the Queen simply shook her head.

Did that mean to keep the keys and leave the issue be for now?

“Um, but more importantly…”

“Yeah?”

Their new party member, the slave elf (who looked to be) of about age 10, addressed Mikoto. If she was anything like the elves in manga and anime, then she could actually be hundreds of years old.

The girl had been prepared to die as a slave. Maybe it was difficult for her to process the very concept of having been rescued.

Regardless, she started off hesitantly.

“Uh, um…thank you, Miss Warrior Woman!”

…

What did she just say?

“Eh? But that’s what it says on your status display.”

There was a display? Could she tell something from people’s faces or palms like reading a QR code? It was a complete mystery what the nonhuman elf had read about Mikoto or where she had seen it, but the small girl didn’t appear to mean anything by it.

She looked puzzled by Mikoto’s confusion.

Academy City’s #5 doubled over to try and hold something in.

“Pff, heh heh… Warrior Woman? Of all things, you’re a Warrior Woman with the six pack, bikini armor, and sword? So if you were a monster, would you be a club-wielding giant? Oh, I can’t take it! Wah ha ha ha ha ha!! Hee hee!! Oh, my sides. That’s perfect for you and your scant intelligence ability! Cackle cackle cackle!!!”

“Oh, and thank you too, Miss Lewd Dancer!!”

Shokuhou fell to her knees after taking a powerful blow to the heart.

Most likely, the “lewd” part wasn’t actually on the status display, but that it was the elf’s personal opinion only made it more devastating.

Apparently in this world, Misaka Mikoto was a Warrior Woman and Shokuhou Misaki was a Dancer. They had no idea when it had happened, but those jobs must have been assigned to them at some point.

What did that allow them to do or disallow them from doing?

“Um, that changes what skills, including magic, you learn when levelling up and it alters what kinds of weapons and armor you can equip. You also need a specific job to enter certain specialty shops.”

“Level?”

Mikoto latched onto that familiar term.

The elf’s long ears drooped and she sounded ashamed as she answered.

“Yes. I am a paltry Level 11, so I really shouldn’t be acting like an expert.”

They froze.

Misaka Mikoto and Shokuhou Misaki tried to feign calm, but it simply wasn’t possible.

“Eh? Level 11!?”

“Yes… At such a low level, I don’t know all that much magic. I can see why someone so worthless would end up as a slave. I really am no use to anyone.”

The elf hung her head sadly, but Mikoto and Shokuhou were flabbergasted.

What was this?

This went far beyond Academy City’s seven Level 5s.

The usually confident girls huddled together to talk.

They were feeling quite inadequate now.

“(What the hell!? This world goes up to the double digits!? That means we’re complete weaklings here!! We couldn’t even become mini-bosses!)”

“(Don’t complain to me, Misaka-san! You’re the one who can supposedly nearly reach Level 6 for an instant with your lightning goddess ability. How many more of those dangerous secrets are hidden in the esper development!?)”

“Um, what did I say that was so strange? The average human villager should be around Level 20. And when you go up to the kings and such, they’re probably all at the level cap of 9999.”

“What kind of world is this!? Levels go up to the thousands here!? Now I’m too terrified to take a single step in any direction!!”

Mikoto and Shokuhou clung to each other and trembled, but then the elf provided another crucial piece of information.

She pointed toward the nonhuman trafficker who was passed out so pathetically on the ground.

She indicated the weakling they had so easily defeated.

“By the way, since she could use the midlevel Super and Spread class magic, she’s probably around Level 35.”

“Excuse me?” “Excuse me?”

Part 7

They had forgotten this was a world where swords and sorcery reigned supreme. Academy City’s level system wasn’t going to apply here. The estimation of strength worked entirely differently.

“Which makes it all the weirder that they speak Japanese and use decimal numbers.”

They didn’t understand that part, but those questions could wait.

It was unlikely the elf here would know all the answers.

This was a delicate issue, so Mikoto and Shokuhou kept their voices low.

“(But if an elf who’s probably lived for centuries is Level 11, how does it make sense for that slaver of 20 to be Level 35? If you gain levels from experience, wouldn’t a long-lived race have the strongest people in the world?)”

“(Maybe their race just isn’t interested in levelling up? Battle ability seems to be managed by a job system, so maybe you don’t gain experience unless you continually defeat enemies as part of a combat-oriented job. Maybe you stay the same level forever if you just live peacefully eating fruit in the forest.)”

“So you can’t become an expert of anything if you lie around napping for 100 years?”

“Exactly.”

If they had managed to live for a hundred years without feeling the need to fight, they sounded like a much more mentally advanced race than humans.

“Oh, right.”

With sudden realization, Mikoto crouched down to the elf’s eye level.

She had a soft spot for girls with a chest smaller than her own.

“We never introduced ourselves, did we? I’m Misaka Mikoto and you can call her Fat Chest.”

“My name is Shokuhou Misaki!!” protested the Queen, but Mikoto ignored her.

“What’s your name?”

“You can just call me ‘slave’. If I’m caught using my name, the patrol will punish me.”

“Just tell us.”

Mikoto realized after she said it that she was pushing a little hard.

The way the elf spoke about herself after being so harshly abused reminded her of the dead Sisters, causing her anger to rise to the surface. Even though frightening the girl wouldn’t help anything.

On the other hand, doing what was considered “natural” in this world was the same as accepting the existence of the slave trade. Not pushing hard enough to break free of that wouldn’t do the girl any favors.

Eventually, the elf nervously answered.

“P-Patissiet.”

“Hello, Patissiet. …But why?”

“?”

The small elf named Patissiet tilted her head.

That name sounded so much like a slight modification of the French word pâtissier. Mikoto thought it must have some special meaning in the elf language, but that didn’t quite fit either since they could understand each other.

Shokuhou held a hand to her cheek and chimed in.

“I saw similar names in that slate. The Brand Mountain Range and the Snowdome Continent both had English names, for example. Not to mention that this world is called Celesaqphere, which sounds like someone took the English words ‘celestial’, ‘aqua’, and sphere, and then squished them together. I don’t mean to be rude to the people living here, but it seems very lazy.”

“You mean the names are just randomly taken from Earth languages?”

“But how could that happen?”

Perhaps there was some way of passing information or matter between the two worlds, like divination or summoning. That could be a valuable hint toward getting them back to Earth.

(And then there was Salinagaritina. That goddess seems like the only one that rule doesn’t apply to.)

Was that because the Reincarnation Goddess wasn’t from this world and existed on a higher level “outside” all the worlds?

That aside, there were a few things they wanted if they were going to travel through this world.

For now, some money and a compact collection of the daily necessities.

“I’ve always wanted to try being a bandit. Y’know, living outdoors and gathering a bunch of friends to help you out. Since we’re in another world, I’d rather go on an adventure than stay in a single town.”

“And I thought you preferred being a phantom thief sneaking around the city at night,” replied the #5 even as she helped rummage through the nonhuman trafficker’s luggage.

Mikoto gathered up all the luggage the elf had scattered across the ground and gathered her thoughts concerning what she wanted to ask about.

She knew there had to be a lot to ask while she could.

“So what is magic? How is it different from Academy City’s esper powers?”

That was her first question.

It seemed about as important as a visitor to Earth learning about petroleum, gunpowder, and electricity. It was the foundational technology of this world’s weaponry. Whether or not she could use it herself, she knew it would be dangerous to remain ignorant of it.

“Hmm...I don’t know what an esper is.” The elf sounded troubled. “But magic is…well, it’s magic, so, uh…”

Was it such basic knowledge she had a hard time explaining it? For the people of this world, it may have been as basic as the times table, but all the talk of magic meant nothing to Mikoto and Shokuhou.

“To start at the very beginning, magic has the four magical elements of fire, water, wind, and earth and physical actions have the four physical elements of slash, pierce, impact, and constrict. Sometimes constrict is also known as squeeze. Swords, axes, and even projectiles are all bound by these elements. For example, throwing a big rock is of the impact element and launching an arrow is of the pierce element. Now, attack magic is usually created by combining magical and physical elements. Explosion magic is fire and impact. Whip magic is impact and constrict. As you can see, some attack magic is a combination of physical elements, so watch out for that. Elements that come first in the list are strong against the next one in the list, with the last one being strong against the first, except the magical elements go fire, wind, water, earth in that sense, despite usually being listed as fire, water, wind, earth, so don’t let that confuse you. Also, there is armor and defense magic specialized for a specific element, which can weaken or even nullify an enemy’s attack magic. In addition to attack magic, there is recovery magic and higher magic. Higher magic increases another magic’s power. It is signified with an S, U, or L at the front, which stand for Super, Ultra, and Legendary respectively. Some magic has other versions like SS or an intentionally weaker version denoted C for Common. There is also Spread magic for covering a wide area or Rapid magic when you want to attack twice, but only experts can use those. And with the magic called S Ice, the S stands for Super, not Spread, so don’t get those confused.”

“Sorry, but it would really help if you could give us a demonstration.”

Mikoto wasn’t sure how to respond when she received a much longer answer than anticipated.

Patissiet spread her fingers out and raised the her soft palm overhead.

“For example, um, if I go like this…Blaze!”

The noise was quite loud for such a cute action.

Shokuhou was so shocked she fell onto her butt (with her legs parted cutely below her). It didn’t look like she could get back up. A fireball several meters across shot straight up from the elf’s small palm and burst in the sky. If a light car took that from the side, it would probably be sent rolling.

(Not bad.)

That was Mikoto’s honest opinion.

The standard, and thus weakest, form of Blaze was this powerful. To be blunt, it looked to be about as powerful as a shoulder-fired anti-tank rocket.

What would happen if that had Super or Ultra tacked onto the front?

If anyone could use that if they studied or trained enough, then at the very least, this magic seemed a lot more deadly than Academy City’s esper powers. …But what about at the very most?

“The foundation of magic is the incantation,” said the elf. “There are magic circles and staffs too, but those have simply replaced the incantation with a picture or 3D object. A lot like writing down a song or piece of music as a musical score. Every element begins with the incantation and countless modifications can be made from there. That is the basic idea.”

“Hm. Elements, huh? Sounds like people aren’t limited to one type of magic, then.”

“Also, magic produces its supernatural feats by consuming the SP in your body. So everyone has their own limit, but if you don’t level up and learn new magic, all you have is SP with nothing to harness it.”

“What’s SP?”

“Spiritual Power Resources, or SP for short.”

That explained what it was an abbreviation of, but it was still a mystery why this world used Japanese and English like it was normal. Did both worlds use the same languages, or was Mikoto speaking Japanese and the elf was hearing this world’s language? There were so many issues Mikoto was putting off until later.

“SP itself is not a rare power. It fully recovers after a night’s sleep without needing any kind of special potion.”

“Hm.”

(The basic forms of attack magic are fire, water, wind, and earth along with slash, pierce, impact, and constrict. But they can also be S, U, and L for Super, Ultra, and Legendary.)

None of it felt real, but Mikoto still aimed her palm to the side.

And with her head still tilted…

“S Wind!!”

“Bwahhhh!?”

A mass of compressed air the size of a wrecking ball shot straight out and barely avoided hitting Shokuhou, sending her flipping away and blowing her short skirt up to reveal her adult see-through panties. Her skirt looked just like an umbrella during a typhoon.

(Wow, I tried it and it worked.)

Mikoto was as surprised as anyone.

She of course hadn’t done any training at all. This world really did seem to operate on rules they weren’t familiar with.

…This also seemed dangerous. All you had to say were the English words “Blaze” or “Wind”, which seemed like something that could show up in everyday conversation or talking in your sleep. And it wasn’t clear why just adding “Super” was enough to increase the power. That had been powerful enough to kill someone. Instead of seeming convenient, it felt more concerning, like being handed a gun without a safety.

(Blaze and Wind aren’t English words we use all the time, but Water and Ice are common enough. That seems really dangerous to me!)

Asking for some mineral water could easily end up killing someone in this world.

But hadn’t the elf said “S Ice” or “U Ice” during her explanation without anything happening? Was there some kind of trigger like saying “Hey, Seri” or “Okay, Jungle”? Or could Patissiet not use those since she was only Level 11? More mysteries.

Shokuhou tearfully sat back up.

She was blushing bright as she protested.

“What do you think you’re doing, you barbari-”

“W-wow, that was incredible!!”

The elf leaned forward with eyes sparkling, cutting off a certain someone’s complaint. It wasn’t often you saw Shokuhou sit and bite her handkerchief because she couldn’t lash out at someone.

“I can’t believe you mastered the link between the magic incantation and the supernatural phenomenon so quickly! Lady Misaka, are you a reincarnation carrying the soul of the great Library Witch!?”

“Is everyone in this world dumb as a brick?” wondered an exasperated Mikoto.

Patissiet tilted her head.

“Hm, but this is odd. Warrior Women are supposed to be muscular fighters who swing around a heavy sword. They are a physical job that can’t use any magic.”

“You’re still calling me that!? Where do I go to change jobs!?”

“?”

“Oh, no. When a local looks confused by the very concept, I get the feeling there isn’t any way to change or reset your job here!!!”

But did that mean you were stuck with your job from birth? Maybe she needed to send her protests to Reincarnation Goddess Salinagaritina who had set things up here.

(But she did say changing things to give us overpowered parameters or skills would break the balance. You’re kidding, right? Does that mean it’s an indelible part of my soul that I’m a meathead Warrior Woman who can never use any kind of magic?)

That was a depressing discovery.

That said, magic.

It would be best if she avoided using it.

It was convenient, but she was afraid of accidentally triggering attack magic during conversation. And using magic as a Warrior Woman was apparently a bug in the first place.

Plus, she had apparently used some of her SP (whatever that was), but nothing felt different. She didn’t feel hungry or sleepy and she didn’t sense anything being sucked out of her. Instead of feeling lucky it didn’t cause pain, it was worrying, like the disconcerting movement of a silent organ. She didn’t want to find out she had unwittingly destroyed some of her brain cells or her luck.

Something else caught her attention too.

(Um, she said the magical elements are fire, water, wind, and earth and the physical elements are slash, pierce, impact, and constrict, so…)

“Wait, is there no lightning magic?”

She sent a crackle of electricity from her bangs and the elf’s eyes widened.

Apparently that was an unusual phenomenon even in this world of magic.

Which would mean…

(She said magic could be weakened or nullified with elemental defenses, but if there is no lightning element, do my attacks belong to a superior element? That is, are there no magical or physical defenses against them? Not even one?)

She grinned as understanding dawned on her.

Oh, so this world almost seemed designed specifically for Misaka Mikoto.

Part 8

“What do we do now?”

“Going back to that fake Academy City probably wouldn’t help.”

So Shokuhou also thought that was the wrong idea.

It slipped their minds from time to time, but Mikoto and Shokuhou were both having an out of body experiment and only partially existed in this world (likely due to a mistake on that idiot goddess’s part). Their real bodies had probably been taken to a hospital on Earth. Staying here for too long would be dangerous, so they needed to get back as soon as possible…but they had a feeling the secret to that wouldn’t be found in the fake Academy City.

The core of Celesaqphere was found outside the city.

Or so it seemed.

(If everything unusual in this world is defined as magic, then we need to search the world outside the city. If there is some strange technology that they could call “return magic” here, I don’t think it would be hidden inside that city of science.)

“Okay.”

With that settled, Mikoto had Shokuhou and Patissiet grab onto her.

She took a magnetically fueled leap to jump from one floating rock to another. She took a path diagonally upwards that seemed like it would take her over her target rock and then switched her magnetic force to land on it. The trajectory was a lot like hitting a golf ball up to land perfectly atop a hill.

“Wow. You can travel without using an airship, winged bicycle, or dragon.”

“Kyah! Gyahhhhh!?”

“What, is there no wind magic to make you fly?”

“No, there’s nothing that convenient.”

“Wait, Misaka-san! Slow down- eeeeeeeeeeeeek!?”

“Travel must be expensive here. …And will you shut up, Boobs Queen?”

A single jump easily took her 10m up, about the same as three stories. The elf’s eyes widened at the unfamiliar speed and trajectory, but Shokuhou blanched with terror and clung on tight. Was she simply afraid of heights, or did she not trust Mikoto’s power? And when she held on that tight, her enormous boobs were so damn distracting.

“So do you normally need money or food to pay your way?”

“You can either work jobs at the guild or harvest plants and mine minerals in the mountains.”

“Huh, so they have guilds here? Well, either way, it sounds like you’ll be stuck on one of those floating lands if you don’t work. I’m so glad I’m an Electromaster. I can travel for free and cross any border I want without permission. It’s like this world was designed for me.”

“You’re so cool, Lady Misaka.”

The elf innocently smiled without noticing Shokuhou who had nearly fainted from fear.

“Hey,” Mikoto began casually.

She cautiously drew in a fragile thread in her search for solid information.

“If everything mysterious in this world is magical, then is there a magical system or technology that will get us back to Earth? Like some treasured largescale magic that your average person doesn’t know how to use?”

“Hm. You’re looking for a special magic?”

She had no specific goal in mind, but Mikoto wanted to take a break after arriving on what felt like solid ground(?) instead of just some rock. She wanted to reach a flying “continent” with stability and greenery. Something with water, food, and civilization, where she wasn’t afraid of breaking through the ground with every step.

They had taken away the slaver woman’s luggage and “merchandise”. She could come after them at any time, so Mikoto didn’t want to stop anywhere near the crash site.

“Oh, come to think of it, I have heard of something like that. It’s an old legend, but if you defeat the three Demon Lords who rule over the land, sea, and sky and acquire their treasures, it’s supposed to open a portal between worlds.”

“A portal, you say?” asked Mikoto as a long, arching path took them to the edge of a relatively large floating continent.

Yes, continent.

A green plain continued as far as the eye could see – all the way to the horizon. It reminded Mikoto of an ad for milk or butter, or of an enormous American farm. Maybe the livestock had run away and gone wild, but she saw a flock of white things resembling sheep or goats in the distance. With this much vegetation, there had to be plenty of fresh water too. That they could see the horizon suggested this piece of land continued for at least more than 5km. No, that figure was based on a planet the size of Earth, so it might not apply here. Regardless, it was a large place. Mikoto could see another high layer of floating land, but she didn’t see any need to jump that high.

For now, she wanted to see the local civilization.

In other words, the nearest town or village.

Shokuhou and Patissiet let go of Mikoto’s hips.

“But what is with this heavy trunk. That merchant sure carried a lot of changes of clothes with her!!” said Shokuhou.

“Stop complaining after you stole it. And isn’t having too many changes of clothes better than having none? They might not fit us, but we can probably fix that by removing the stitching and making some adjustments.”

“…”

“And I really don’t want to go on a sweaty journey without any changes of underwear.”

“Misaka-san, that’s the kind of thing a girl is supposed to leave unsaid.”

Anyway, they had to continue on foot.

In a strange new world, they had no idea what trouble they might run into. Mikoto wanted to preserve enough stamina to make a magnetic jump at any time.

The elf held a hand against her forehead to shade her eyes as she stared into the distance and spoke.

“5 Continents.

“4 Kingdoms.

“3 Demon Lords.

“2 Goddesses.

“1 Portal.

“The portal I mentioned comes from that saying. It is traveler’s poem found on ancient slates, but I believe the story is that defeating the three Demon Lords and acquiring the three treasures allows you to complete a magical ceremony to open the special portal.”

This elf had to be far older than she looked, so how old did something have to be for her to call it “ancient”?

But at least they had an information source to go off of. They could also use Shokuhou’s Mental Out to read people’s memories or the residual thoughts in slates and such, but there was no guarantee that the scheming #5 would reveal all the information she received. Mikoto wanted to avoid adventuring and puzzle solving with false clues mixed in.

“(I can tell what you’re thinking, you know?)”

“(Oh, really? Strange since Mental Out isn’t supposed to work on me.)”

The two Tokiwadai girls glared at each other (while making sure innocently-smiling Patissiet didn’t notice).

If they wanted to know about this world, it was best to ask its people.

“So our first task is to battle the three Demon Lords. Hey, Patissiet, where are they?”

“?”

For some reason, she tilted her head at that one.

It was cute.

But also concerning.

“U-um. Do you at least know the Demon Lords’ names? Or what they look like?”

“No. They are from an ancient legend, after all.”

This was a problem.

Based on the new information she had revealed, this fantasy world was large enough to have five floating continents. It was unclear how big a land had to be to earn that classification in this world, but how long would it take to, for example, travel the Silk Road to cross Earth’s Eurasian continent on foot? And these Demon Lords probably weren’t human. Were they humanoid, or were they giant beasts? It was even possible, they were pumpkins or rice-sized bugs that could talk but normally stayed silent. There were too many options to do a thorough search. Even a century wouldn’t be long enough if they were a giant bivalve on the ocean floor or a microscopic plankton.

Which meant…

“The first thing we need is better information. I at least want some names and an image of what we’re looking for.”

“The standard tactic in another world is to ask people, but we’re talking about a legend ability that even an elf who might have lived for centuries barely remembers. I doubt a random villager is going to know.”

Then would they have to search out slates, grimoires, and other ancient storage media?

It was sounding like the only way to gather information would be to work the #5 like a workhorse.

Mikoto decided to leave all the work to the Queen (while keeping in mind that schemer loved lying more than most anything).

“If you want to know more than I do, I think the elder would be your best bet. She might know where some ancient slates and grimoires are.”

“You mean the elf elder?”

“Yes,” said Patissiet. The little elf probably didn’t realize the weight of what she said next. “But you should probably hurry because working a slave to an early grave is more economical. She was captured along with me and we were separated during the sorting, but if we were bought and put to work at about the same time, her time should be about up.”

What an awful world.

The elf elder had apparently been sold to a village near here.

Mikoto wanted information on a way to return home, particularly details on the three Demon Lords and their three treasures used for some ceremony, but more than that, the reminder of the slave trade pissed her off.

Patissiet looked confused, like she couldn’t figure out what had Mikoto so angry.

“Well…”

Visiting that village couldn’t hurt.

Part 9

They had been eager to get started, but the distance proved to be much greater than anticipated.

They walked and walked without the scenery ever changing.

Maybe it was her nature as a nature-loving elf, but while Patissiet did use the brick road as a guide, she still insisted on walking alongside it. Mikoto was used to walking on asphalt, so the bright color of the red brick road running down the green field was so conspicuous it wore out her eyes to stare at it constantly, but she guessed that was so the road would be easy to find if anyone strayed from it and got lost. Yes, this was a world full of nature where a short walk could mean death.

Patissiet was used to walking, so she kept a step ahead of the others.

“You need to be careful walking on floating land,” said the elf. “Especially when you’re tired.”

“Hm? But we’re in the middle of a giant empty field. And I don’t see any ferocious bears wandering around.”

This world did seem dangerous since vacuum blades called Continent Blades could apparently occur at any time, but Mikoto could sense weather changes with her microwave radar. She wouldn’t be killed by a thick vacuum blade flying in from a blind spot.

But…

“In the taller grass, it can be hard to notice a hole in the ground. If you fall, it can sometimes mean plummeting all the way to the ocean below. And at that height, hitting the water will kill you.”

“Ugh,” groaned Mikoto in belated realization.

If you could fall to your death in a flat field, then the rules she knew from Earth really didn’t apply here. Ther was a risk of falling from these floating lands no matter how large and stable they seemed. If a floating land happened to be donut-shaped, you could end up falling off while walking toward the center.

Mikoto could always magnetically pull herself back to the floating land, but if she panicked and failed to react in time, she could instead slam herself against the cliff wall, breaking an arm or a leg.

“The air currents are different around any holes, so you can sense danger by focusing on your skirt. If wind suddenly blows up from below, come to an immediate stop and watch where you’re going.”

Was that why Patissiet had been walking out ahead? Mikoto sighed, grabbed the shoulders of the elf who had decided to risk her life by testing the ground for the others, and pulled her to the back. Mikoto had been focusing on the sky above and her surroundings, but she decided it would be a good idea to also send her radar toward the ground obscured by the tall grass.

Patissiet meant no harm, but Mikoto didn’t feel entirely comfortable simply accepting the elf’s methods and assistance. Despite being the victim, she was so accustomed to the slavery system that she didn’t value her own life highly enough. Mikoto did want to return to Earth as soon as possible, but could she fix that stubborn bad habit first?

(How did that idiot deal with the Sisters during the experiment?)

“Y’know, it’s incredible that this entire world uses a unified language and currency. The place looks pastoral, but it may be more globalized than our world.”

“It apparently has churches that can dispel curses or apply temporary anti-undead magic to weapons. Having a single mythology or ideology ability for the entire world sounds kind of concerning to me,” said Shokuhou, despite living in a city of science.

As a psychological esper, she may have had her thoughts about religions which were so closely related to psychology. Of course, she would only be interested in researching the charisma and group psychology aspects.

“Misaka-san, are you one of those silly people who don’t believe in god but still celebrate Halloween and Christmas?”

“You can’t convince me that an extreme brainwashing schemer like you believes in god. If you wanted to, you could brainwash everyone into seeing you as a holy woman so they would worship you.”

“Did you think I was born with such perfect good looks by random chance ability? This miraculous balance only happens when you have the favor of a goddess of beauty or victory or something☆”

“Oh, is one of the myriad Shinto gods a god of fat? Learn something new every day.”

It turned out the concept of science did not exist in the world of Celesaqphere. For the people here, education meant gaining experience in the natural environment and studying the system of magic.

“Isn’t it worrying not having science? Seems to me that would leave you with no foundation for your thoughts or reasoning.”

“Hm? We have the goddesses for that,” replied Patissiet with a smile.

That answer didn’t make any sense to Mikoto, but was that because she lived in a city of science?

But that aside…

No matter how far they walked, the green horizon never changed and the brick road without any streetlights was the only artificial thing they could see. With no apparent change, it felt a lot like they were walking on a giant conveyer belt.

The classroom-sized rock where they had fought the slaver may have created a false preconception because Mikoto had assumed the next floating land would also be fairly small.

But it was possible the very next floating land they tried was larger than the Japanese archipelago.

They were supposedly on their way to a nearby village, but there were places like America and Australia where “nearby” could mean as far away as 50km. And hadn’t Mikoto herself been reminded of a milk ad when she saw this vast field?

Patissiet was from this world, but she gave up first.

“We might not arrive today. We should consider setting up camp just in case.”

“Eh? You mean camp out for the night? That sounds like fun!!”

“Not on your life! I am never lying down to sleep on the bug-infested ground! Surely this fantasy world has inns. I can’t sleep without a sanitary shower and bed!!”

The #3 and #5’s opinions were split.

Of course, it was rare for the two of them to agree on anything.

“Ah…ah ha ha. As a slave, I have never stayed in one, but I have heard the inns for adventurers are so infested with ticks and fleas it can be hard to sleep.”

Shokuhou curled up on the spot, covered her face with her hands, and sobbed.

Now the (seemingly) little girl elf was being more mature than her? Was she really in middle school?

If this was based on Medieval Europe, then it would have little waste disposal infrastructure and people would generally just throw their garbage wherever. People probably even walked through the inn’s guest rooms in the same muddy shoes they had worn outside. And there would be no bug repellents or insecticides made in a chemical plant. With so many people moving in and out of the rooms, it would be a biological mystery if the blankets and carpets weren’t infested.

“It’s getting late. Once you hear a sharp cry from the flying harpies, you know it will be dark soon.”

Once the orange of evening came into view, night arrived quickly.

The light faded away. It wouldn’t be long before they were left in a pitch darkness without any streetlights.

The first day of their other world adventure tour was going to end without accomplishing much of anything.

“Oh, no, no, no! But setting up camp requires so much preparation!!”

“You’re kidding. We really aren’t going to reach the village? And we’ll have to spend the night out in this field!?”

The pair from an indoor civilization had no idea what to do.

As the sun set, visibility shrank. They would have quickly lost sight of the straight road through the grassy field if it weren’t for the bright red bricks. Then they might have panicked, rushed off in the wrong direction, and gotten lost.

“Th-the road? Where’s the road!?”

The road would be built along the shortest route between two villages while taking the most walkable terrain. And it would be designed to reach any waterside or campfire spots along the way.

They continued along the red line until they arrived at a large lake. But they had no tent or blankets. Before the sunlight completely vanished, they opened the leather trunk and searched for anything they could use.

They found clothing, clothing, makeup, clothing, and gold coins that were probably the local currency.

“Are you serious?” muttered Mikoto in a daze.

The electric girl could start a fire if necessary, at least.

“Are we going to have to burn a pile of fabulous dresses once it gets cold? Are we stuck being that uncivilized already?”

Mikoto felt like a bank robber carrying a ton of paper money while lost on a snowy mountain.

For that matter, the trunk didn’t even have any of this world’s preserved foods like dried meats or bottles of pickled vegetables.

Couldn’t that fancily-dressed slaver at least have brought some snacks with her!?

“Argh, we should have bought some cup noodles and chocolate bars while we were in that fake Academy City!!” complained Mikoto, but turning back now would be difficult.

Both because it was dark and because they had no landmarks to go off of. This wasn’t like a city night where 24-hour convenience stores and gyudon shops were lit up and there were large landmarks all over the place. This was a floating land. If they tried to find their way along in the dark, they could suddenly fall into a hole and plummet to their dooms.

With a gap of a few dozen meters, Mikoto could magnetically jump between the floating lands. And with her microwave radar, she could get a sense of the terrain even in the dark. But her power only let her magnetically pull herself in, not to fly. If she misjudged a jump and flung herself into empty air, she wouldn’t be able to recover and would fall. A single mistake could mean death.

(At least we have water here. In the worst case, we can go without food for tonight. Preparing a place to sleep is probably more important.)

Mikoto turned around to find Shokuhou had disappeared.

“?”

Mikoto decided she would just let the girl go if the thought of camping out had broken her so badly she simply ran off, but apparently that wasn’t the case.

Mikoto heard something from the water.

There were some odd splashing sounds coming from the large lake-like body of water.

The #5 Queen was causing them.

“Abwabh!? Help, Misaka-san, what is happ-!?”

“What is Miss Lewd Boobs doing now? Is she drowning herself because it’s all too much for her?”

“No, she’s being dragged in. L-look, there are a bunch of slimy things emerging from the water. I think those are kraken tentacles!!”

Sure enough, there were slimy things thicker than a human arm coming out of the water. One side was covered in suckers, so they were reminiscent of an octopus or squid. If one of those wrapped around you, removing it would be a challenge. And that unathletic girl might be the most powerful mental esper, but she was helpless against physical attacks.

Some sleepy sylphs? Undines? Well, some kind of half-naked translucent girls had fled onto land to avoid being captured along with the idiot.

“Hm.”

To sum up, the sexy one had her ankle caught by a thick tentacle that was dragging her into the water.

Good luck, Shokuhou Misaki.

As can be seen by all the shrimps, crabs, and other aquatic life found on drowned corpses washed up on the beach, an actual giant creature would mercilessly devour that helpless and immobilized hunk of meat. If she didn’t want to become a mess of blood and gore, she would have to work hard at avoiding that fate. Hint: being swallowed whole is a lot less gory☆

“Oh, no. W-we need to find some way to save Lady Shokuhou…”

“Hey, elf-chan? Don’t you think it would be faster to give up on that idiot Queen and go make a new friend?”

“Wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!”

Mikoto’s smiling suggestion made kindhearted Patissiet cry.

Mikoto had nothing against Shokuhou meeting a watery end, but she didn’t want to trouble the little elf.

(But what am I supposed to do?)

If she used a lightning spear against the giant aquatic creature, it would probably shock Shokuhou too. And when she was soaked with water, the high-voltage current would probably kill her.

“Wait, why am I thinking so hard? It’s a waste of effort. It’ll be a lot easier to just do what I can and, if it ends up killing her, I can apologize to Patissiet afterwards.”

“Bleh, I can hear you! Cough, cough!!”

A moment later, the sucker-covered tentacle wrapped around Shokuhou’s torso was sharply severed.

By an iron sand sword.

Mikoto separated out a clump of vibrating iron sand and swung it like a whip. It could cut through most anything like a chainsaw.

The kraken(?) had more than one tentacle.

Tentacles thrashed from the pain all across the lake.

“Outta the way.”

Before they could do anything, Mikoto sent the black sand whipping every which way to sever all the tentacles. The kraken itself finally broke the lake surface. Mikoto honestly didn’t know what counted as a squid’s head and what counted as its body.

She just sliced through the whole thing.

For a finishing blow, she flicked a coin with her thumb and blasted the kraken to smithereens with a Railgun.

A strange sticky fluid that glowed a fluorescent yellowish-green exploded from it.

(What is that, poison!?)

“Wah!?”

Mikoto immediately moved to keep any of it from getting on Patissiet.

She heard a steaming sound.

Or maybe it was more of an acidic sound.

She looked over to see Shokuhou’s summer uniform was full of holes now that she had been freed from the sucker-covered tentacle. But instead of looking like a sexy photoshoot, it was more like her clothes – and only her clothes – were dissolving.

“Do you have to find a way to make everything sexy!? Naked with a handbag is a new one, but you can’t even cover anything up like that!”

“You say that, Misaka-san, but the entire back of your uniform has dissolved! Is that some new form of naked apron!?”

It was too late.

Mikoto felt something come apart and then the remnants of her clothing fell away with nothing left to support them. Including her underwear.

It was strange how it did all that without having any effect at all on their hair and skin.

“What is it with tentacled things and being lewd!?” shouted Mikoto, blushing bright red.

At least Patissiet was unaffected thanks to the #3 shielding her from it.

The well-informed elf had something to say about this.

“Um, the slaver said she wanted to have at least five changes of clothes just to visit the next town over. Something about clothes getting torn and dissolved so much.”

“Does this lewd world have something against girls’ clothing!?”

Was that also why the elf’s dress was in such poor condition? The trunk had been full of clothes, but maybe that hadn’t just been that young woman being spoiled.

The two naked Earth girls could not believe their uniforms and even their socks and underwear had dissolved.

Was this their initiation into this world?

Part 10

With their school uniforms gone, they only had that trunk to rely on.

After using the lake water to cleanse themselves of the glowing yellowish-green goop, a nude Mikoto and Shokuhou approached the stolen luggage. To reiterate, they were outside, on an open field at night.

However…

“Hm? That’s weird. This dress’s zipper won’t open.”

“Is this broken? The buttons are on so tight they won’t come undone.”

“Um,” said Patissiet apologetically.

Apparently she had something to tell them.

“That might be the equipment compatibility lock. I think I mentioned it, but what weapons and armor you can equip depends on your job and level. So Lady Misaka can only use equipment for a Warrior Woman and Lady Shokuhou can only use equipment for a Dancer. That’s how things work in Celesaqphere.”

“…” “…”

So they were stuck.

The only compatible clothing for Misaka Mikoto was a lightning-blue bikini armor that would provide little to no actual protection.

“Huh, am I imagining things? Ow, ow, ow, my head. Why do I feel like I’ve worn one of these a long time ago?”

The only option for Shokuhou Misaki was a black and yellow honeybee dancer’s outfit.

“H-how humiliating… A bare midriff, a bikini, and a loincloth? Why do I have to wear this skimpy, jewel-encrusted see-through affair!?”

They heard applause.

It came from Patissiet the elf.

Her reaction was entirely innocent.

“Wow, you both look great!”

“Please stop! I don’t want a compliment for this!!”

Mikoto and Shokuhou both tearfully shouted back, but Patissiet only looked confused. Apparently this world’s aesthetic sense was very different from Earth’s. Was showing off more skin considered stylish here?

Also, Patissiet herself declined any new clothes. Even though her dress was in such poor condition. Mikoto initially thought the elf was again being reluctant for no good reason, but apparently not.

“The thing is…human clothing is really uncomfortable for me. It feels all itchy.”

“?”

The outfit was so embarrassing Mikoto wanted to die, but she wouldn’t call it uncomfortable. The armor (that only covered her chest) was even lined with silk. It was very much a rich person’s garment. In fact, it couldn’t have been her size, but without any need for sewing, it magically adjusted to fit her. So the itchiness must have been something only elves felt.

It turned out the nonhuman trafficker had been almost entirely reliant on her magic to fight. The only self-defense weapon they found was a 60cm Cedar Stick. Mikoto wished the woman had sprung for cypress instead. Then again, it had been inside her locked trunk, meaning she couldn’t have pulled it out right away if bandits attacked, so she clearly hadn’t trusted in it at all.

“You need to be careful around water. If you fall in a river, well, all rivers eventually lead to the ocean below, so it will sweep you away to a waterfall at the edge of the floating land.”

“Ugh.”

More death.

Water always presented the risk of drowning, but it was even more deadly here than on Earth.

“Also, some people will train by meditating under a waterfall, but I’ve heard of objects flowing downstream falling on them and splitting their heads open. It happens a lot, apparently. So water creatures aren’t the only danger. Got that!?”

They were preparing food while listening to the elf.

Bikini armor Mikoto grabbed one of the thick severed tentacles and dragged it over.

“We can cook this to make ourselves some grilled squid. It’s a valuable source of protein.”

“Are you kidding me!? You would fill your stomach with that lewd and toxic thing that has a clothes melting ability!?”

“What, I thought you loved natural ingredients with no artificial chemicals. And unlike land animals, we only have to cook it before eating. I know I’m trying it. But if you’d rather gather up some weeds for dinner, be my guest.”

There was no clear definition of a weed, but it generally referred to all fast-spreading plants that were no good as food, decoration, or animal feed.

The nicer ones were simply hard for your stomach and intestines to absorb, but there were also plenty of poisonous plants. And with a completely unknown plant in another world, it was anyone’s guess.

“W-wasn’t there a flock of sheep or goats over there?”

“I’m giving you 0 points for camping skills. It would take days to skin them, gut them, remove the blood, and cure them before they were ready to eat. And even with properly prepared meat, those have a stronger flavor than beef and pork which a lot of people don’t like, so there’s no way you could catch them and cook them tonight. But I won’t stop you if you think you can stand the bloody flavor and meat stench filling your mouth.”

Patissiet pointed elsewhere.

The creature skillfully napping on a thick tree branch with only two legs was a half-naked girl with giant bird wings. She looked more like a siren than an angel.

“Can’t you eat that?”

“Oh, um, we are admittedly fairly arrogant about how we draw the line between meats we are and aren’t willing to eat, but I know I couldn’t manage that one.”

Mikoto wanted to focus on the giant squid. She didn’t know how it worked, but its goop hadn’t affected her hair or skin. In that sense, the kraken was the only food here they had proven didn’t harm the human body.

With a “crack!” of electricity, she ignited a pile of dried grass and cooked the giant tentacle over the fire. This wouldn’t cook the thick tentacle all the way through, but just taking bites off the surface would be enough to fill her stomach.

The elf began to panic.

She waved her little hands wildly.

“W-w-wait! I am a slave, so if it’s found out I let you do the cooking, I’ll have a back tooth pulled out with big pliers!”

“We won’t let that happen!! And wow is this world horrific!”

But if cooking for themselves had her reacting like this, she might just faint if they gave her some of the food.

And Mikoto already had an idea, so she switched her focus.

“Hey, exhausted Queen. I know you’re more worn out than either of us, so you need to eat something. This is probably the best part.”

“Ugh.”

“Snake, wasp, and scorpion venom are all protein-based, so heating them changes their structure, neutralizing them. That’s why you can eat some gross-looking delicacies without ending up in the hospital, right?”

“Yes, that is true.”

Dancer Shokuhou took the first bite.

And she chewed it.

“Hmm. Not bad. In fact, it reminds me a lot of ordinary grilled squid, but it could use some seasoning. It’s a little sweet, but it’s mostly just bland and flavorless. With some soy sauce and butter, it would taste just like it came from a festival stand.”

“Hm? Why do you know what festival grilled squid tastes like? You’ve never eaten proper ramen.”

“It’s a memory I made with a certain boy☆”

“…And now it’s been a bit after you ate it and you haven’t started foaming at the mouth and you haven’t collapsed, so I’d say it isn’t poisonous. I’m glad it doesn’t have a powerful toxin that heating won’t neutralize, like the scrawled filefish which is fifty times stronger than the pufferfish or the Irukandji jellyfish which is a hundred times more dangerous than a cobra. Okay, Patissiet, Shokuhou bought my terrible reasoning and tested it for us, so now we know this giant squid is safe to eat. Just take a big bite out of this side she didn’t touch♪”

“Hey!!” shouted the tearful #5, but it was too late.

Mikoto also bit into the same tentacle.

Shokuhou was right that it could use seasoning. It wasn’t particularly bad tasting, but eating it was a challenge, like chewing on flavorless gum and forcing it down your throat. But this was still better than coming down with hunger knock and being unable to get back up after sitting down.

“This is so good. Munch, munch. I’ve never tasted anything so good.”

The elf had a big smile on her face. Like a child eating her birthday cake.

The compliment didn’t please Mikoto very much.

Patissiet was guileless, but she still said it tasted good. Mikoto was now worried what kind of food she had been forced to eat before being rescued.

And now that they were having a sleepover, this topic was bound to come up eventually.

“Tell me about your…Academy City, was it? I want to know all about your home.”

“Hmm.”

There were plenty of stories to tell, but their world wasn’t exactly a paradise either. And would the elf really enjoy any of those stories?

While warming themselves by the fire and looking into the sky, Mikoto noticed the moon and countless stars there.

Some sections of the sky were missing any stars, so that had to be where a large floating land was passing by overhead. Still, there were a lot of stars.

And she realized something.

“The constellations are completely different. This really isn’t Earth, is it? It’s another world entirely where a compass might not even point north.”

“I’m more worried about what we’re going to do now,” said Shokuhou. “We don’t have a tent or blankets.”

“It looks like tonight won’t be as cold as I had feared, so you shouldn’t catch a cold,” said Patissiet. “You can always gather up dresses from the trunk to use as a pillow.”

A cold.

Hopefully that didn’t refer to some local disease unique to this world. The thought of them bringing an infectious disease to this world was also extremely unpleasant.

That would be especially bad if this was a perfect fantasy world where people didn’t even get cavities, but they had to get home as soon as possible. And if that wasn’t going to happen on its own, they had to get moving. They would have to ignore some of the risks for now.

Besides, any pathogens they were carrying would be a greater risk if they died and left their corpses here.

“So itchy…” said a nearby voice.

While balling up a dress into a pillow, Patissiet openly complained for the first time.

Come to think of it, she found human clothing uncomfortable, didn’t she?

Part 11

Mikoto awoke to the cawing of a half-naked harpy.

She immediately detected a bloody scent.

She found herself wrapped in fur she didn’t recognize. A giant monster lay dead and skinned a short distance away. The 10m beast had a mixture of lion, goat, and snake traits. “That’s a chimera,” said the elf, eyes wide.

“What happened here?” sleepily wondered Mikoto in her bikini armor.

Apparently the chimera(?) had crept up to them in the night like nocturnal creatures are wont to do, but Mikoto had felt chilly as she slept, used an iron sand sword to skin the fluffy beast, and wrapped herself in the fur.

It didn’t matter that she hadn’t been conscious.

The elf – who was also wrapped in the fur because Mikoto had pulled her in like a body pillow – made a somewhat dazed observation.

“I-if she had been too sleepy to know where she was aiming, could she have cut off my ear and skinned me instead?”

She sounded fully awake already, so maybe elves were short sleepers since they lived out in nature. Like a small herbivore that needed to get up at a moment’s notice if anything happened. And Mikoto had mercilessly latched onto Patissiet while turning over in her sleep.

“Wake up, Shokuhou. It’s time for breakfast. And to be clear, I’m not making anything for you, so you have to find your own food.”

No response.

Mikoto thought maybe Shokuhou’s survival instincts were so poor she was still fast asleep, but apparently not.

She was missing.

(Where did she get off to?)

“Kyahhhhhhhhhhh!!”

But she could be heard in the distance.

Did even her death screams have to be lewd? And had she not listened at all to the warnings about the dangers of water?

Shokuhou liked to stay clean and thus liked bathing, so she was again being attacked by the waterside. And this time she had removed her own dancer outfit, leaving herself naked. She and the monster were staring each other down like cats threatening each other, but it looked silly when one of them wasn’t wearing any clothes.

The monster was a round glob of translucent goop.

Was fluorescent yellowish-green a sign of something lewd in Celesaqphere? Instead of pink.

It was a little bigger than a kotatsu.

…As comical as it looked, it reminded Mikoto of a primitive creature like an amoeba. That would mean anyone caught inside the translucent jelly would have their flesh and bones digested away, which was kind of scary.

“Why does this only ever happen to me? Are the odds ability in this world weighed against me!?”

(Hm, what to do? I could save her, but I could also use her as bait and run off.)

“I don’t need Mental Out to know what you’re thinking, Misaka-san!”

“Well, if I keep her around as bait for future lewd attacks, Patissiet and I can avoid any number of predicaments, so I guess I’ll save her. To use as a lively sacrifice.”

“Hey!! You’re in middle school too, so it’s high time you learned how to be cooperative by smiling on the outside while crying on the inside!”

Really, it was her fault for stripping naked outside when literally no one asked her to. Especially when the sun had already risen.

Mikoto decided to think of her as chaff or a flare.

She used an iron sand sword like a whip to slice through the slime slowly approaching Shokuhou.

It was a colorful glob of slime, but it did appear to have a weak point. There was a small clump with a deeper color on the inside.

(It is technically a lifeform, so why did I not think twice about killing it?)

It didn’t concern her at all during the battle, but it suddenly concerned her after she had calmed down.

Would she react in the same way if she fought an elf?

That may have been the root cause of why the humans of this world had no qualms about buying and selling slaves.

“That was not a wild plime. It may have been a new lifeform born from the kraken’s bodily fluids.”

“Eh? But we cooked and ate that stuff along with the tentacle!”

“It should have been digested in our stomachs. In fact, that creature was created from the blood stains splattered on the land. The majority of it remained in the lake, which seems to have dissolved away. My guess is we can’t let a sufficient amount of it remain on land where the wind can dry it out.”

“And of course that tentacle monster found a way to be lewd even in death.”

The slime appeared to be a part of the food chain now that it was dead. Small fish gathered near the shore in search of food.

It looked like breakfast wouldn’t be hard to find.

Part 12

They wanted to actually reach the nearby village today.

As their time out here camping wore on, it was easy to forget that Mikoto and Shokuhou were currently experiencing a near-death out-of-body experience where they had been partially sent to another world (by that stupid goddess’s mistake) and their goal was to return to Earth. Using the special return magic ceremony apparently required locating and defeating three Demon Lords, but they knew nothing about those three. They needed to find and rescue the elf elder who likely knew more than Patissiet, so they were on their way to the village that elder had been sold to.

“Damn, I’d dry some of these fish if we had time.”

Despite Mikoto’s regrets, they had no choice but to grill up and eat all the small fish now.

“But hm. With no science here, they won’t have freezers or preservatives. Is the best they can do placing them in a net and cooling them in a well or river? That’s a scary thought. How do they ensure food safety?”

“With no artificial chemicals in any of the food here, it sounds nice and healthy to me. I’m relieved to finally find even one nice thing about this world☆”

Was Shokuhou serious?

With long travel times and little to no sterilization technology, food poisoning would be a serious issue. They probably had to throw out more food here than in Academy City where convenience stores and supermarkets dumped tons of expired food every single day. At least in Academy City they never had to dispose of large quantities that went bad before it even arrived at the store. And if a bunch of people grew sick at once here, it would be blamed on a curse or something, so they would never investigate the real cause and continue making the same mistake.

A world where everyone had access to magic had its pros and its cons. It would be that much harder to fix mistaken beliefs about unseen facts or for people to see through scams.

Mikoto was vaguely worried about what might happen here, but for now they set off.

According to Patissiet, the “nearby village” was somewhere on this floating land, but…

“Ugh.”

Mikoto heard something.

She really didn’t want to look in that direction, but she already knew who the troublemaker was.

Shokuhou was a hyper-indoorsy city dweller who wasn’t used to camping out or even going for normal walks.

Walking on the unpaved ground (since the elf insisted on keeping off of the brick road) made bumpy with tree roots and stones was a challenge at the best of times. And the Dancer was wearing high heels (despite her job requiring vigorous dance steps). Muscle soreness often didn’t hit until the following day. Sweaty and exhausted Shokuhou grabbed at a nearby target like a zombie.

That target was Mikoto’s back.

“Please, Misaka-san. I’m tired, so carry me.”

“Hm? Get off of me, you Onbu Obake! Or should I say, Onboobs Obake!! You’re so heavy you’ll wear me out!”

“You should thank me for the reward. This is what being young is all about.”

“How are those sacks of fat a reward? All that extra meat is only weighing me down!!!”

This world ran on survival of the fittest, so the weakest were targeted first.

The tall grass parted and a monster emerged.

It was a multiheaded serpent. They looked up to see it staring down at them from a height of about 3m. At 3m, it really was around twice their height.

Mikoto wasn’t afraid of big snakes thanks to Kongou Mitsuko’s pet.

Shokuhou seemed to have completely frozen up, though.

“What’s this supposed to be? Yamata-no-Orochi?”

“A hydra! It’s a hydra!!”

“Hm, a girl tangled up in a bunch of snakes seems like a really niche scenario, but it still sounds like a job for Miss Lewd. C’mon, be bait already.”

“How could you say that!? I know you haven’t forgotten Mental Out only works on humans!”

Terrified, Shokuhou clung to Mikoto’s back.

She was even more useless in this world than usual and her boobs were still being a nuisance.

“Oh, no. Lady Shokuhou will be killed! Yah, yahh!! Shoo, hydra!”

Patissiet broke branches off a nearby tree and threw them like darts, but they didn’t seem to do any damage. Then again, she may have only meant to drive it away so both sides could survive. But it went without saying how a ferocious beast would react to being poked like that.

(Sigh. I guess I have to do it.)

According to Patissiet, that hydra would grow two heads whenever one was severed, so Mikoto used a Railgun to obliterate the base of the snake below where its heads branched off.

Patissiet must have been used to the boom and shockwave by now. She only sounded exasperated.

“Wow. That one attack was probably worth enough experience points to go up 10 levels all at once.”

“No thanks. Anywhere past Level 5 scares me. I’d probably just explode.”

They walked down the empty field using the red brick road as a guide.

With nothing else to do, Mikoto asked a question.

“You said this world has just one mythology and religion, but what’s it about?”

“The two goddesses are the most popular,” said Patissiet with a smile. Even though these goddesses hadn’t done a thing to rescue her from slavery. “The two goddesses are locked in an eternal battle. But the world of Celesaqphere runs on the vast power produced by their fighting. So they need to keep fighting forever. There is even a legend saying any normal person who irreverently interferes in the goddess’s level grinding will be destroyed by divine punishment, causing them to explode. And if our world is ever truly at risk, the goddesses will break through the invisible barrier and come to rescue us. Arguing with each other the entire time, of course.”

“Hm. So it’s great goddess worship,” said Shokuhou.

“What’s that mean?”

“That’s when you have a polytheistic mythology, but the most powerful god is a goddess. Like a sun goddess or a birth goddess☆ They aren’t all that unusual. Japan’s Shinto is an example. The top goddess is Sun Goddess Amaterasu Okami, right?”

“I guess.”

So what?

Bikini armor Mikoto sent over a skeptical look, so dancer Shokuhou shrugged and explained.

“The point is this world’s myths tell of a pair of goddesses with special powers who constantly fight. And they break through some kind of invisible barrier to arrive from some other world.”

“Hold on…”

“Sounds a lot like us, doesn’t it? Now, I’m all for treating myself like a goddess, but it’s embarrassing when someone else does it in all seriousness.”

The elf had a big smile on her face.

Mikoto and Shokuhou had done some wild things here, but small Patissiet had never even tried to run away in fear. No one was to stop the goddesses from fighting, after all. But Mikoto really hoped she wouldn’t beg them to continue that kaiju battle.

“Maybe we should have paid more attention to the structure of that cult in Academy City. It may have been identical to this world’s religion ability.”

So instead of a cult born in a city of science, had the small Academy City been influenced by the mythology and religion of this much larger world?

That was a fairly frightening thought, but Mikoto was more interested in something else.

“Um, is that all?”

“?”

“I thought for sure Celesaqphere’s unique mythology would explain the origin of the technology at the foundation of what they call magic.”

At the very least, there was nothing explaining the logic behind the magic. What were the fire, water, wind, earth, slash, pierce, impact, constrict, super, ultra, and legendary based on?

“Hold on. Then is there no system behind it?”

That was the most unpleasant possibility.

“We do know this world has a technology called magic and that it can be used to kill. It doesn’t require any qualifications or license, so anyone can use it if they follow the proper steps. And you’re telling me there’s nothing behind it!? How dangerous a world is this!?”

“I have a really bad feeling about that,” said Shokuhou, sounding cautious. Like she didn’t want to accept this but she had to share her concerns with someone. “The magic here reminds me a lot of a video game. And this world uses Earth languages and decimal numbers. I really hope not, but could a distorted version of Earth entertainment have arrive in this world?”

With a simple video game, that desperate magic would never actually work.

…But that logic only applied on Earth.

This was a world with pieces of crust floating above an ocean planet. Since the basic laws of nature and physics were different, nothing from Earth was guaranteed to apply to the fantasy world of Celesaqphere.

What if some gears happened to fit together such that experience allowed one to activate magic spells?

Just like medieval Europeans who knew nothing of bacteria still managed to make wine and cheese.

No one understood the real rules.

But there were bakers who knew nothing of yeast who could bake bread even fluffier and more delicious than a high-tech factory while believing they only had to pray to god every day and pour their love into the bread.

“Hm?” groaned Mikoto when she saw some people in the distance.

They were headed this way.

Were they travelers following the same brick road? Mikoto started to continue on toward them, but…

“Oh, no.”

The elf grabbed her long ears to hide them in a fluster.

These were not just ordinary passersby.

She feared these men who were purposefully approaching from the distance.

The hot-blooded men couldn’t suppress their smiles, like they were looking forward to tormenting their prey.

“Th-that’s the patrol. They won’t permit humans and elves to walk side by side.”

“We don’t need their permission.”

Mikoto blew them away with a billion-volts to silence them.

The elf’s mouth gaped, so Mikoto raised her index finger and winked.

“They’re clearly just some dangerously armed busybodies. You don’t have to follow all the pesky little rules they insist on. Always make sure to consider who came up with the rules and why. It’s not too late to follow the good rules after you do that.”

Defeating this one group of bastards wasn’t the end of it.

The small elf had a much more difficult battle she had to overcome on her own.

Part 13

They walked a while longer and arrived by midday.

“Pant, gasp. Wh-where are the sweets and iced tea?” asked Shokuhou.

“Planning to eat back all the calories you burned off so you gain weight in the end?” replied Mikoto.

It was a small village.

They were finally seeing something artificial.

But instead of approaching the village, Mikoto and Shokuhou crouched down around 2km from it. They were still a good distance away, but they had to be careful and avoid the harpies, minotaurs, and other creatures that would make a fuss and give away their position if they got too close.

Only the elf remained standing, looking confused.

At her size, that wasn’t much of an issue, but…

“Um?”

“Sh.”

They were traveling with a runaway slave, after all. They knew better than to expect a warm welcome from this world’s residents. They didn’t know what kinds of communications existed here, but if the slaver had been able to send a message from the crash site via carrier pigeon or thoughtography magic(?), the village could have received wanted posters for them.

So they started by observing from a distance.

First, they wanted to confirm that the elf elder really was there. Then they would observe the villagers and decide whether to approach the front entrance with a smile or sneak in from the rear.

The basic Earth idea that ordinary people wouldn’t be a threat didn’t apply in Celesaqphere where elf slavery was accepted.

“Didn’t we find a tool for this?”

Bikini armor Mikoto rummaged around and pulled out a pair of binoculars. She had found it in a corner of the trunk stolen from the slaver. It was sloppily made compared to an Academy City product and it had no electronic correction, but holding a tool of civilization put her mind at ease.

And Patissiet was unexpectedly interested in it.

Apparently she knew what binoculars were but had never used them before. What kind of life had she lived for the past decades, if not centuries?

“It all looks so big!! Wow…I bet I could see all the way to the other side of the world with these.”

“Well, if she’s enjoying herself, I don’t see the harm.”

“I wonder what the sun looks like…”

“Wait, stop!! Now do you see the harm!?”

Shokuhou quickly used the one of her dancer costume’s frills to cover the lenses and snatched the binoculars away from the elf.

Surprisingly, this showed a caring side of the selfish Queen. Mikoto found this odd. It was almost like she had taken care of a small child at some point?

“Um, do you have an illegitimate child?”

“The name you’re looking for is Dolly. And if that doesn’t mean anything to you, you are even dumber than I thought.”

As far as they could see with the naked eye, the village was made up of gray structures that clashed with the green field. Instead of log cabins, the homes and stores were all made of brick. There were also some small church-like buildings made of marble with blue borders. It looked generally European, but it was somehow at odds with itself. Had this small village made all the brick used in those buildings, or had it been brought in from somewhere else?

But Patissiet didn’t seem to notice anything out of place.

When asked, she seemed puzzled by the question.

“Eh? But if you make your home out of plants, wouldn’t it rot away really quick?”

“…”

Apparently this world didn’t know much about preservatives.

There were some wooden structures next to the farmland, but they were all too small and simple to be homes. They were probably storage sheds for farming equipment. But even they had collapsed at an angle and were half fused with the green of the field.

It was possible they had brought a whole bunch of heavy brick from another floating land when they settled this land. Unlike Japan, it wasn’t uncommon for European apartments to be 300 years old, so they may have preferred something long-lasting to something that was repeatedly rebuilt.

(So they take good care of their buildings? Even though they work the enslaved elves to death?)

Knowing that dark side of these people made this economical spirit feel somewhat ironic.

Once Shokuhou handed over the binoculars, Mikoto observed the village in more detail.

“Ugh,” she groaned.

She saw some dull glints of silver light.

Those had to be the human villagers. They looked like plainly-dressed men and women, but they carried around short swords like it was normal. And these were double-edged swords thicker than the foils used by the Western girls in Tokiwadai’s fencing club. Large bows were common as well. These were not farm implements that could double as weapons. The swords in particular had no use outside of fighting and killing. And there were a lot of them.

“I can’t help but notice all the villagers are armed with dangerous swords and spears. Why? Is this a laundering base where bandits sell their loot for cash?”

“Hm? They probably just bought them at the weapon shop.”

The elf was again puzzled by their confusion.

Mikoto’s eyes widened at her explanation.

“Eh? Anyone can just buy weapons!?”

“Yes. I mean, how would the adventurers get them otherwise?”

How lax was this world?

And the elf didn’t seem to question it at all.

“That doesn’t mean anyone can equip anything, though. Weapons and armor imbued with magic are given compatibility points, so you can’t carry or wear them without the appropriate job and level. That’s why people go to the guild and work to ‘earn’ experience points.”

So if the guild(?), the organization that managed the level system, altered the paperwork, they could strip a runaway criminal of their level so they no longer met their gear’s compatibility points and would lose the use of their weapons and armor? Did that make this safer than late-night Los Angeles which was rife with old-fashioned guns with the registration number filed off and plastic guns illegally made with a 3D printer?

“Th-there she is. That’s our elder!” exclaimed Patissiet, pointing into the distance.

“?”

Bikini armor Mikoto looked for the elder through the binoculars, but where was she? She couldn’t see any old women.

She only saw a graceful lady who didn’t look much older than 30. Was that supposed to be the elder? With her youthful skin, she could have changed into a swimsuit and competed in a university cultural festival’s beauty pageant without raising any eyebrows.

“(But even little Patissiet is supposed to be far older than us.)”

“?”

The elf gave Mikoto a puzzled look. She looked just like a little girl.

Mikoto gave up on finding any link between an elf’s appearance and their age.

Did an elf have to live for 10 centuries before she grew into an old lady who would look at home seated on the porch enjoying a sunbeam?

…But what was going on over there?

People with pointy ears just like the little elf’s were being gathered in the village square. Mikoto would have understood if they were being forced to do backbreaking construction using heavy bricks, but they didn’t appear to be doing much of anything. If anything, it looked like the idea was to gather all the elves in a single outdoor space. But what for?

Shokuhou frowned and shaded her eyes with a hand.

“It’s hard to say what that is from here.”

“Then we need more information.”

They would follow the basics of a fantasy world.

Mikoto and Shokuhou remained crouched as they slowly resumed moving. They focused on the villagers at the outskirts of the village.

“Good morning! This here is Gempick Village.”

One of them was alone. Just like they wanted.

“Good morning! This here is Gempick Village.”

A boy of 15 or 16 was wandering near the village entrance.

“Good morning! This here is Gempi- mgh!?”

Since he had nothing better to do than repeat that line all day long, they covered his mouth and dragged him away from the village.

If he loved providing exposition for beginners, they would give him exactly what he wanted.

“That’s the elf elder over there, right? Why are the villagers gathering the slaves there?”

“Don’t ask me. A slave is a slave, so why would I know who they are – or used to be. Anyway, this here is Gempick Village.”

And he was back to normal.

Mikoto reflexively considered killing him for the experience points, but she just barely stopped herself. That would just be murder.

Yet again, she found life didn’t carry much “weight” in this world.

Thinking back, it had been that way even when they were rampaging through Academy City like kaiju, but it scared her how she might just do something here she would normally find unthinkable.

The (older than them) boy didn’t demonstrate any fear at all as he said more.

“But it’s about time for the tax collector to determine our taxation amount, so this is probably about that.”

“?”

“What do taxes have to do with it?” asked Shokuhou.

“Your yearly taxes are based on how many slaves you own. So you can save a bundle if you eliminate your slaves just before they’re counted, right?”

…If you what?

Part 14

After some discussion, they arrived at a decision.

Mikoto and Shokuhou took Patissiet with them as they entered the village through the front entrance.

“Finally, an inn. Even if they are supposed to be gross here. But maybe we can change our job if we visit the guild?”

“I really doubt job changing is a thing, so I wouldn’t get your hopes if I were you, Miss Lewd Dancer.”

“I would think you would prefer not to be seen out in public like this anymore than I do, Miss Meathead Bikini Armor Warrior Woman!!”

At times like this, Shokuhou’s Mental Out really came in handy.

She had read the abducted boy’s mind and immediately confirmed that there were no wanted posters for Mikoto and Shokuhou. He apparently hadn’t intended to lie to them regardless, but the confirmation meant a lot.

Maybe that nonhuman trafficker simply hadn’t had any means of communication, like a carrier pigeon or signal flare magic(?).

“According to Patissiet, they do have holy jobs like Priest and intellectual jobs like Dark Witch. I can’t wait☆”

“Hm? But I’m pretty sure both of those jobs require high INT or MEN,” said Patissiet.

“…Wait, was I just casually insulted?”

It was curious how it was more devastating when the elf wasn’t even trying to be insulting. And taking that unintentional damage was especially bad when they still didn’t know if they could change their job at all.

Once inside the village, they learned some things.

First, about the state of the farmland.

Some small (but still about the size of a cow) griffins were dragging special tools to till the fields. There were monsters in the village, but they all had collars and chained fetters. In other words, they weren’t wild.

That was probably how it had started.

With them, it was an innocent thing.

The humans tamed the strong but gentle monsters by giving them food and a place to sleep. Those monsters would help with transportation and labor in the fields, allowing the humans to grow even more food, which in turn meant more available for the monsters. It was a mutually beneficial arrangement. Maybe it had all begun as something that simple.

But at some point that idea had gained a more broad interpretation.

The elves and dwarves were just as intelligent as humans – if not more so – but the humans had justified their actions by calling them inhuman monsters. The humans had systematically captured and sold them on a large scale, forcing them to do all the work in a twisted form of the original concept.

For no other reason than the humans didn’t want to work themselves.

“It really pisses me off,” spat Mikoto as she imagined it.

But maybe Academy City wasn’t much better for creating 20 thousand military clones and systematically killing them for their own selfish ends. Neither world was better or worse than the other. The technology they used differed, but the same cruelty could be found in both. The way it seemed to highlight an ugliness common to all humans made Mikoto gulp bitterly.

Did that dark seed reside in her as well?

“So what do we do next?” asked Shokuhou.

“Good question.”

It was still morning, so they weren’t in a hurry to find a room for the night. Mikoto honestly wanted to pay the guild a visit before the inn.

After asking the villagers where it was, they entered one of the brick buildings.

Part 15

The first floor of the guild doubled as a simple dining hall.

It was flooded with people.

There were Priests with slits even more risqué than China dresses and there were Dark Witches wearing thick cloaks over racing swimsuits. Apparently they really did leave the village and walk through thickets of grass hard as knives while showing that much skin. Mikoto had assumed her bikini armor would garner mockery, but she actually blended in fairly well with it. What a world.

But…

“Hm,” she groaned. Something didn’t sit right with her about this place.

For how well-equipped people were with weapons and tactics for combat and emergencies, they hadn’t made many advances in their everyday lives.

Specifically, there were no hobbies or entertainment.

Hard bread, grilled meat, some kind of soup.

All of the food was bland and uninteresting and the cooking methods and tools used to make it were from a weird mishmash of regions and time periods. They didn’t have hand-cranked pasta makers, yet perfect skinny spaghetti was readily available. Salads were nothing but raw vegetables and no one had figured out you could boil them. Of course, this was another world, so there was nothing odd about the order of inventions differing from Earth.

“Misaka-san, do you remember?”

“?”

“That slaver we met had a fancy dress, but how did she get dressed? The design of her corset seemed pretty wild.”

Now that she mentioned it.

For one thing, corsets had become fashionable during 19th century Europe, not the middle ages. And while Mikoto had seen metal clasps on bags and threads tied in bows, true corsets did not work like that. It hadn’t been unusual for maidservants to pull on the threads like a game of tug of war to forcibly constrict the woman’s waist.

The adventurers(?) walking nearby wore brightly-colored armor like it was normal, but how did they color the metal? The armor had small scratches, but the base metal wasn’t showing through. So instead of painting the metal red, it looked more like they had melted down a “red metal” and poured it into a mold, but how did they do that? If they had a convenient form of magic for it, then that was that, but Mikoto couldn’t help but feel like she had a poor grasp on the systems and manufacturing methods that went on behind the scenes.

To sum it all up…

Yes,

(Their civilization…no, their knowledge is all so shallow. It’s like a single person created this scene out of whatever trivia they happened to know.)

She wasn’t sure what the significance of that was, but it still felt weird to her.

A woman of around 20 stood behind the counter.

She stroked a hand along the big bottle sitting next to her as she smiled and spoke.

“Welcome to the Job Management Guild – Gempick Branch! I don’t recognize you, so is this your first time using our branch?”

“What can we do here?”

Bikini armor Mikoto’s question made the young woman’s smile freeze on her face.

She struggled to keep her confusion from showing.

“The Job Management Guild is exactly what it sounds like: we act as a go-between for all of your jobs. Whether you want to go monster hunting, guard a noble, explore a cave, or collect rare treasure, we will introduce you to the best job for your job type and level.”

Her smile seemed to ask how else anyone could find a job.

“You’re a go-between for everyone’s jobs?”

“Yes.”

“As in, everyone in the village? Including the visiting adventurers?”

“What else would it mean?”

Both the young woman and Patissiet tilted their heads this time.

Mikoto and Shokuhou exchanged a glance.

“That means no one’s free to choose their job ability. ‘You would make a good farmer, so here’s your farming job.’ ‘You look like a fighter, so here’s a list of jobs for you. No, it doesn’t mater if you actually want a peaceful life.’ That’s the only option here? Giving someone a list to choose from isn’t a real choice ability if all three involve killing people. Yet humans have this annoying habit of starving to death if they don’t earn any money.”

“And the real victims of this system are the slaves,” muttered a disgusted Mikoto.

As a slave, you can only perform these jobs.

The jobs on this list are best for you.

They weren’t given any kind of choice, so it was laughable to act like their masters were doing them a favor. This guild seemed convenient at first, but it was actually an exploitative institution closely associated with the source of this world’s discrimination!

While Mikoto and Shokuhou shuddered, various exchanges were occurring at the counter.

The young woman and the adventurers didn’t seem to question any of it.

“Here is your pay for today’s job.”

“Thanks.”

Money here appeared to be gold, silver, and bronze coins instead of paper bills. And instead of counting each individual coin, they measured it by weight using a set of scales.

“Now, now. Elves use these scales.”

“Oh, right…”

“The elves are being gathered in the center square, so hurry on there once you’re done here.”

The reception woman said this with a smile while pouring some cheap-looking bronze coins onto the scales.

Mikoto already had a question.

(The humans and elves use separate scales? Why go to the trouble?)

This didn’t seem like a case of the humans not wanting to use the same tools as the slaves. If it was about segregation, the elves would have an entirely separate counter.

Was it a good thing that even the small issues bothered Mikoto so badly?

Simply put, couldn’t the guild rig the springs and weights to cheat the elves out of their fair pay?

Dancer Shokuhou raised a hand.

“Question. Do important people like the nobility and royalty have to choose their jobs from the guild’s list?”

“Don’t’ be silly. The lords with their own territory are the ones who run the guild. We open these branches on the behalf of the lords and kings, a portion of the money and experience everyone earns through the guild is collected, and that is paid to the lords and kings as a tax. That’s the basic system.”

So that was normal here.

Mikoto had to wonder if the percentage taken for that tax could be changed any time the lords and kings felt like it. Maybe even as high as 98% or 99%? They could squeeze everyone dry.

And hadn’t Patissiet said the kings had reached the level cap of 9999?

This was a terrible world where you could work and train all you wanted and never level up without the guild leaders’ permission. And at the same time, the lords and kings were taking away other people’s experience points as a tax, allowing them to level up endlessly while just sitting around.

That was why the kings who never did any work grew big and fat.

That was why the elves who worked themselves to the bone could never achieve happiness.

“…”

Academy City had its own cruel hierarchy. But Mikoto and Shokuhou had leveled up within that esper development system, so they found it hard to accept this system where people’s talents and efforts were stolen away by others.

Plus, it reminded them of the experiment using so many clones.

A great many were being sacrificed for the benefit of a specific individual.

Simply put, it strongly rubbed the #3 and #5 the wrong way.

…Mikoto knew she had to take a deep breath to calm herself. Because there was more she wanted to ask about.

“But aren’t there a lot of people here for a rural village? In fact, I feel like there are more outside adventurers here than there are actual villagers.”

“Of course there are, miss.”

A muscular man with a sword, shield, and armor spoke to her from behind.

She was relieved to find his armor was not of the bikini variety.

“The area around Gempick Village is known for its excellent gems.”

“It is?”

“How do you not know this? Are you a rookie who just ran away from home, or something? Admittedly, finding the gems in the vast field ain’t easy, but even a small one is worth enough to buy a house. To get rich quick, head to Gempick, as they say.”

The man laughed and then went elsewhere. He was apparently interested in the display board on the wall, not the counter.

Mikoto sensed something on her skin.

And she sensed it from both the man and the counter. Was it coming from the giant bottle the young woman was holding her hand to and rubbing like it was a crystal ball?

“?”

“What’s wrong?” asked Shokuhou.

“Nothing really,” said the #3 girl.

But there was no doubting it anymore. Every time a powerful adventurer passed by in the guild, she felt a tingle on her skin. Maybe this was something only Misaka Mikoto could sense. Maybe you needed the #3 Level 5’s control over electricity and magnetism and her radar using EM waves.

“The reaction is stronger from the higher-level adventurers who must have earned more experience.”

The answer was right there.

It was obvious if you considered what kind of esper she was.

“Are experience points…electricity? That’s it. There’s a special bioelectricity running through their bodies and they call that experience!! The guild manages people’s experience and leveling by using a capacitor-like tool to transfer it from the people to that bottle or from the bottle to the people!”

She realized something.

Her understanding of this world explosively expanded.

(If you want to develop all your muscles as efficiently as possible, it’s best to constantly stimulate them with a weak electric current. The legend says anyone who irreverently interferes in the goddess’s level grinding will be destroyed by divine punishment, causing them to explode, but that’s just talking about people who were struck by lightning.)

The details of the system this world called magic were still unclear, but they must have developed a technique of turning that growth in a non-physical direction.

So wait.

Did that mean Mikoto could hijack control of the entire human race’s experience points?

If so, this world really was designed for the Railgun!!

“What’s wrong?” asked the woman tilting her head behind the counter.

This girl’s realization rendered the guild entirely meaningless, but this woman was sadly unaware of that paradigm shift.

Mikoto held this world in the palm of her hand.

She heard a commotion outside the guild.

The elves were being gathered in the village square for some reason.

That was the girls’ true purpose here.

Now that they had gathered some other information, it was time to get to the heart of the issue.

“So what’s that about?”

“What’s what about?”

“The elves being gathered in the village square. They were wearing collars, so you see them as slaves, right?”

“Oh, that. It’s about tax season, which means everyone wants to own 0 slaves, but it would be so much effort for each family to work their own slaves to death. So there is a yearly event where everyone in the village gathers their slaves in the square and kills them.”

“Oh, really?”

That settled it.

Were they going to take those elves’ lives like it was some year-end roadwork? Every year, the elves were captured, bought and sold, and abused. But when the time came, they were all seen as a nuisance, regardless of their age, strength, or physical condition.

Mikoto didn’t know if elves lived for hundreds or thousands of years, but once they were captured, they lived for a single year. They were worked so hard it psychologically scarred them and then they were all killed and thrown out.

“I see, I see, I see how it is.”

One year? To hell with that. There wasn’t time to wait even one second.

Plus, Mikoto had reached her limit.

She glanced over to see Shokuhou pull the elf to her ample chest so she would be safely out of the way and then pull a TV remote from the handbag she wore diagonally across her chest.

The look on Shokuhou’s face said she was ready to go.

Academy City’s #3 Level 5, the Railgun, grinned and spoke to the woman behind the counter.

She was declaring war.

“By the way, were you aware I’m an abolitionist?”

“Eh? Huh?”

Part 16

Crash.

Boooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooom!!!!!!

Part 17

It wasn’t just an issue of burning or shocking.

As soon as Misaka Mikoto let her emotions explode, the supposedly-sturdy brick guild building was blown to smithereens from the inside.

Mercy?

They couldn’t be expected to question what they were raised to accept as normal in this world?

This went far beyond anything she was willing to accept based on those arguments!!

(Argh!! They’ll be eliminating all the elves because it’s tax season? Then was Patissiet silently obeying that slaver, knowing she would be killed!? Why does everyone just go along with this!?)

Most likely, this wasn’t a simple problem that could be solved by attacking some tangible source.

But rescuing the lives in immediate danger had to come first.

Mikoto had her objective.

Maybe the elves were ashamed they had been captured by mere humans. Maybe they were accepting death as a release from the backbreaking labor. But how could she let this happen? Even if the elves were too exhausted to go on living and hadn’t asked for her help, how could she just stand back and watch!?

“!!”

She had just used a high-voltage current to knock out all the tough adventurers visiting the guild.

But they weren’t the village’s only fighting force.

“Go! Get her! I don’t know who she is or what she could possibly have against us, but she has attacked us!! We need to band together and protect our village!!”

An old man shouted in a self-important way.

Could she simply assume he was the human village’s mayor?

Footsteps surrounded Mikoto while keeping their distance. There were between 50 and 100 people. She had blown up the guild in the center of the village, effectively declaring war. Ordinarily, that would be a suicidal choice because now she would be attacked from all sides and overwhelmed by their superior numbers.

But she wasn’t ordinary.

The standard assumptions didn’t apply to Academy City’s #3!

“If you go through this barbaric practice year after year, you don’t get to stand there and tell me I’ve done something wrong, you old bastard!!!”

Electric snakes slithered out.

But each one was not directed at an individual. She targeted groups. When they hit, everyone within a 5m radius was blasted skyward like an explosive shell had hit there. After being thrown several meters, the villagers could no longer get back up. Their limbs swung randomly and they convulsed.

“Ohhhh!!”

Mikoto flicked an arcade coin up with her thumb and mercilessly launched a Railgun.

The guild building she had destroyed first appeared to be the sturdiest in the village. That meant she had already demonstrated her ability to break through anything anyone might attempt to use as a shield. She appeared to have already broken most of the adventurers’ spirits. A lot of them froze up, fell onto their rears, or dropped their weapons.

A single individual had shredded their encirclement.

The mayor quaked at this unbelievable result.

But then…

“S-special assignment!!”

The guild receptionist crawled out from below a pile of rubble and raised her voice.

She was facing the inn for visitors, which was still standing.

“For a limited time only, all bounties for wanted criminals are tripled!! End this commotion immediately. You know what to do, adventurers!!!”

Out of the corner of her eye, Mikoto saw an ugly grin on the old mayor’s face.

These adventurers likely had far more combat experience than her. Some of them might even wield the kind of magic Patissiet had used.

But how could any of that harm Mikoto?

For that matter…

“Capture the mayor who caused this commotion!! Again, the bounty pays triple, but the full sum goes only to whoever brings him in first!!”

The mayor froze.

With her handbag worn diagonally across her dancer’s outfit, Shokuhou winked and mischievously kissed the tip of her TV remote.

She was the strongest mental esper.

For Academy City’s #5 Mental Out, this much was a piece of cake.

While the #3 chose to simply reject the ugly side of human nature, this girl used it and weaponized it to save the elves’ lives. That scheming Queen had pursued human malice long enough to manage that.

“Hey, wait, what!?”

The mayor wasn’t given time to say much of anything.

Blinded by greed, the professional adventurers attacked him as a group.

Part 18

The mayor was an old man. That old man had once been a middle-aged man. That middle-aged man had once been a young man. That young man had once been a boy.

He had used elves without ever questioning it.

And without appreciating the benefits that gave him.

When he was still young, there had been an epidemic that only affected elves, forcing the small society that was his village to survive with only the humans working.

It had been a disaster.

They hadn’t known how to work the fields or weave. In fact, they hadn’t even known how to draw water, so the entire village had nearly dried up and died.

At that time, the powerless nobody had realized that the elves were their lifeline. Without the elves, the humans would surely die. He had to accept that the elves were stronger, more beautiful, and a superior lifeform to the humans. So they could handle being worked as slaves. There was nothing wrong with the humans relying on and sponging off of the elves to survive. Wasn’t that right?

Not at all, thought the old mayor in a self-deprecating realization in that final moment.

It was true the humans had nearly died when they hadn’t had the elves to work for them. But what if they had changed their way of thinking and decided the true danger was their reliance on the elves? What if the humans had bowed down to the elves and made a legitimate effort to learn how to till their fields and grow the food they needed to establish a cycle of self-sufficiency?

What would things be like now if they had thanked the elves for supporting their lives for so long and then tried to return the favor?

There had been countless opportunities to make that choice.

But the old man had never tried to change.

“This may be divine punishment,” he muttered

A moment later, the adventurers were on him like a swarm of monsters.

Part 19

They had won a complete victory.

Misaka Mikoto’s simple firepower had torn through the enemy, but the real star player was Shokuhou Misaki for pitting the enemy against each other, causing critical damage to the entire group.

Most importantly, none of the elves had come to harm.

The humans probably feared letting the elves carry weapons would allow them to gather together and revolt, but they probably also thought it would harm their reputation if they let a “mere slave” protect them.

Mikoto addressed the group of elves.

“Which one of you is the elf elder? We want to talk with you later.”

“That would be me…”

“Stay with the others. I said later, remember? For now, get something hot to eat and get some rest in a bed.”

The elder (who seemed more like the sexy older girl next door) and Patissiet exchanged a glance.

“What is going on here?”

“It would seem we have been rescued.”

The elves spoke about it in such a detached way. But the way their long ears twitched as they spoke was decently cute.

Anyway.

After wiping off her brow, Patissiet spoke with the look of someone who had worked up a pleasant sweat.

“Lady Misaka, Lady Shokuhou. Shall we make the captured humans into our slaves?”

“Shall we what!!?” “Shall we what!!?”

The little elf had an innocent smile on her face.

Mikoto waved her hands frantically.

“Hey, wait, can we talk about this? First, do you know what you’re saying!?”

“Yes? When someone is captured after losing a fight, they become your slave. These people admittedly aren’t monsters, but a loss is a loss.”

She looked puzzled.

She talked about it as if someone had just questioned the fact that rock beats scissors.

Because she had been treated that way, she didn’t question the system of slavery itself.

Even Shokuhou looked taken aback by this, but she managed a smile.

“Umm… Haven’t you ever heard that you shouldn’t do to others what you don’t want done to you?”

“?”

Apparently not.

It wasn’t that she didn’t understand the logic – she couldn’t apply that logic to slavery.

Being a slave had been the default state for her.

It wasn’t about wanting or not wanting.

And this meant she felt no qualms about saying someone else would be a slave. She accepted it as easily as the idea that you had to start school in the spring.

In a way, this was the humans of Celesaqphere reaping what they had sown.

(No, wait, wait, wait!! I can’t think that way. That just turns the abusers into the abused – it doesn’t get rid of the fundamental system of slavery. We did need to save Patissiet and the other elves, but we’re not here to turn them into the new abusers!!)

Mikoto needed to think.

Straightforward methods wouldn’t work. Using Earth-based reasoning wouldn’t reach that elf. If she didn’t think up a better way of phrasing it, Patissiet and the others would be swallowed up by the darkness of Celesaqphere.

Mikoto gathered her thoughts.

“Patissiet!”

“? Y-yes, what do you want?”

“I-I can be friends with slaves, but I will not be friends with anyone who uses slaves!”

“Eh?” Patissiet was dumbfounded.

Yeah, that probably does hurt, thought Mikoto, staring into the distance.

The human heart was an incredibly complex thing. Although this was an elf.

Little Patissiet raised her voice with tears in her eyes.

“Th-then I won’t do it! I won’t make them slaves!! Because I want to be with you two!!”

(That was a clooooooose one!!) (That was a clooooooose one!!)

Mikoto and Shokuhou breathed synchronized sighs of relief.

But this was a matter of rhetoric.

It didn’t solve the fundamental problem. It didn’t have to be now. If they didn’t get her to truly understand what was wrong with slavery, the problem would eventually rear its ugly head once more. The last thing they wanted was to set the victims up as the new abusers.

The elf tilted her head.

Cutely.

“But isn’t it job-based discrimination to exclude slavers like that?”

“No, it is not!!” “No, it is not!!”

Part 20

The village belonged to Mikoto and Shokuhou now.

Patissiet was staring down at the ground.

Mikoto wondered what the girl was up to, but then she crouched down and grabbed something between her little fingertips.

“What’s that?”

“I-it’s a fulgurite… That’s the ultimate mineral, worth even more than platinum or diamonds! I thought I must be mistaken, but it really is real!!”

The elf shouted in excitement, but Mikoto and Shokuhou only tilted their heads.

A fulgurite?

So what?

When sand was heated enough, it turned to glass. That was what formed fulgurites, “gems” created by lightning. Their origin was unique, but they were primarily composed of ordinary silicon and weren’t all that valuable.

For that matter, glass and bricks were made by heating and hardening sand or earth, but they didn’t appear to have any special value here.

“Does their value ability change because electricity is so rare in this world?”

“Beyond that, experience points here are weak bioelectricity. So it may be less the rarity of the material and more a special value placed on them by their myths and occult beliefs.”

Mikoto had thought it was odd when they discussed searching the fields for gems.

You normally dug deep inside mines for those.

But the guild adventurers apparently collected them from the fields.

Was that because the weather tended to be stormy here, meaning widespread thunderstorms and thus more fulgurites to find? That would also explain where such a small, remote village had acquire the income for their luxurious brick buildings.

Anyway.

That fulgurites were worth more than platinum or diamonds was welcome news. That meant fulgurites were the most stable form of currency in this fantasy world, so their value could influence state economies.

Simply put…

“The lords and kings who have amassed great wealth through their encouragement of slavery probably preserve their ill-gotten gains by stuffing their vaults full of valuable fulgurites, right?”

“But if you start zapping to mass-produce those fulgurites, their value will nosedive. Even a powerful military state needs money to wage war and run its domestic affairs, so you can singlehandedly drive any king or lord to bankruptcy with your instant hyper-inflation ability☆”

It was happening again.

This world really was made for Misaka Mikoto.

Part 21

For the time being, Mikoto and Shokuhou got rooms at the inn.

Which meant the only inn in town automatically became their base of operations.

“Ew, it’s worse than I thought.”

Bikini armor Mikoto stopped in the doorway after taking a look at the small, wood-floored room.

To be blunt, she was a little afraid to go in.

Even from this far, she could see little things hopping around the bed. Bloodsucking things about the size of rice grains, to be specific.

The inn certainly wasn’t going to be a place for pleasant dreams.

But maybe that was what you got in a cheap inn for soldiers and adventures. If it was too comfortable, those ruffians would overstay their welcome and bring trouble to the village.

(So is my first job getting rid of the fleas and airing out the bedding?)

Being disgusted with the task wouldn’t get it done any faster. Were there any camphor trees growing nearby? If she dry distilled the wood, she could extract an insect repellent from it. She could probably manage that much even in a fantasy world.

“…Ugh.”

Dancer Shokuhou emerged from the neighboring room, looking close to death.

That lover of natural ingredients looked like she was seriously considering if she could survive here without relying on chemical insecticides. She must have gone through a fair amount of confusion and shouting inside the room because her hair was sticking out every which way and her handbag’s chain was tangled weirdly around her neck.

Mikoto didn’t care about that, so she asked a carefree question.

“So where’s Patissiet?”

“In my room. The bed might be the worst thing I’ve ever seen, but there is at least a hot bath. I let Patissiet take the first-”

A shrill scream cut her off.

And then a small figure in a towel scrambled out of the room.

The red-faced, dizzy-looking girl was Patissiet.

“What, was there a rat or something?”

“H-hot, water hot, why would bath be hot?”

She had boiled in seconds.

It wasn’t just her face – her entire body was a bit red.

“Shokuhou, are you like those stubborn old men who like their baths to be scalding?”

“Of course not!! I bet elves normally bathe outside in cold springs, so they aren’t used to 40-degree baths.”

Whatever the reason, they couldn’t leave a young(?) girl out in the hallway wearing nothing but a towel. They carried her back into Shokuhou’s room. The room was much like Mikoto’s. Which also meant it would take courage to sit on the bed.

That said, there were also chairs and a sofa.

“Ahh, well-ventilated spots are so refreshing.”

The elf must have wanted to cool her body. That much made sense.

However.

“Hey, Patissiet, why are you curled up on top of that wardrobe?”

“Hm? Because scary enemies can’t get you when you’re up high and you can see when dangerous animals are approaching.”

Did the forest-dwelling elves live up in the trees?

She would probably love it if they made her a DIY cat tower.

Mikoto sighed.

“By the way, what do we do about the mayor? Personally, I want to go and talk things out with him.”

“Ehh? But I have Mental Out and I’d rather not do that boring quest myself, so can’t I just brainwash some random villager into doing it?”

“We’re supposed to be fighting against slavery here, you lazy queen!!”

Mikoto grabbed Shokuhou’s arm and dragged her out of the room.

Dancer Shokuhou was still complaining.

“Level grinding is a thing of the past. I’m more a fan of idle games.”

“The character in the game is still working busily the entire time, idiot.”

After the village benefited so much from the elves’ work, they had to make sure the mayor repaid the elves.

The #5 was very clearly just tired and wanted someone to take her irritation out on, but Mikoto decided she wasn’t interested in defending the mayor who had worked those elves so hard.

After arriving at the mayor’s house – the largest in the village – Mikoto made her demand.

“Repay the elves for the work they’ve done for you. And I mean all of it. Right now.”

“Um!”

He had to know better than anyone he was in no position to argue.

The paled mayor’s tongue trembled as he got out a short response.

“H-have it your way.”

“That was never in question,” said Shokuhou, but she was actually slightly surprised on the inside.

She had expected him to make a desperate and ugly attempt to defend the village’s assets.

“First priority ability is probably the weapons and food.”

“Hm? You don’t want the money?”

“No thanks. It’s going to be worthless soon enough. Oh, and if you don’t want your people to starve, I recommend keeping around any gold or jewels you have. It would be a shame if you ended up dying from this. Not because I care about you. I just don’t want to see Patissiet looking sad.”

The mayor still looked confused, but they were under no obligation to explain it all to him.

Mikoto could mass-produce as many valuable fulgurites as she wanted. It was very possible that money would be worth less than a grain of sand in a day’s time.

Part 22

A full stomach could work wonders.

When someone’s mental state deteriorated enough, they could reach a point where they couldn’t even eat, but as long as that wasn’t an issue, fulfilling their body’s demands would improve the elves’ mental health. Their digestive organs didn’t seem atrophied, so they had probably actually been given food. Their “job” was slave, so maybe they had been forcibly fed plenty of food, albeit of the lowest quality, to ensure they could continue doing hard lab-

All of a sudden.

Still standing, Mikoto and Shokuhou were moved like a film with frames missing. To them, it felt more like their surroundings had been swapped out than that they had been taken away. It happened so smoothly and naturally, but they couldn’t sort out their memories of it when they thought back on it.

“???”

It reminded more of Shirai Kuroko’s teleportation than anything else. If an esper could move people tens of thousands of kilometers without touching them, they might be able to accomplish this.

The #3 and the #5 widened their eyes.

They were in a holy ground or a temple with a luxury smartphone aesthetic and a sparkling wine coloration.

This was the first place they had been taken. Did that mean they weren’t even in Celesaqphere anymore?

“Hey, wait,” frantically yelled bikini armor Mikoto.

The vast space was deserted. Where had that small and busty mystery goddess gotten off to!?

“What do you think you’re doing!? Why’d you bring us here? We still haven’t saved Patissiet and the other elves!!”

They had saved the elves from being so senselessly execute in that village, but that didn’t solve the whole problem. If the great power that was Mikoto and Shokuhou was removed from the equation, what would happen to those elves? Patissiet would be recaptured by the humans and end up right back where she started!!

“You took it too far.”

They heard a voice.

A familiar one.

The pure white dancer was right there in front of them. Even though there was nowhere to hide in this wide-open space. They weren’t sure how they hadn’t noticed her before. Could it really be explained with teleportation? Or did the goddess not have a physical form until she wanted one?

(She can’t be like that aggregation of AIM Diffusion Fields I saw before, can she?)

(She’s a Reincarnation Goddess…but how is that defined exactly? For example, what makes a goddess different from an angel and how do they compare against each other in strength ability?)

Their many questions and doubts were casually thrown out.

The little god was definitely here now and she spoke with a smile.

“You were about ready to break all the rules of Celesaqphere and reign supreme there. So. As an emergency measure, I’ll be taking you two to another world.”

“Reincarnation Goddess Salinagaritina, you told us you can take us from Earth to another world, but not the other way around,” said Shokuhou.

“Right. Which is why I can only transport your souls from that old world to a new world. That doesn’t violate the territory of another goddess and it doesn’t break my own rules as a Reincarnation Goddess.”

Did a goddess this powerful really have rules she had to follow?

Was there someone who would punish her if she broke them?

Salinagaritina must have hoped Mikoto and Shokuhou would travel across the world she sent them to and complete its map, invent a specific item, or whatever else, but since it didn’t look like they were going to do whatever it was, she had decided to put an end to it.

Did she think she could get away with anything as long as she didn’t break the rules?

“Eh heh heh. Now, what world should I send you to next? This one was my mistake, so I’ll search out a world with some conditions that give you a real advantage☆ Maybe a world where humans and dinosaurs coexist, or a world where humans have become electric beings and swim freely through the network. Oh, there’s just so many fantastic options out there!”

“Wait, we still need to help Patissiet. We can’t just abandon her there. If you’re going to take us from that world, you at least need to promise you’ll protect her!!”

“Oh, I know. This time, you can fight in a vast space war spanning the solar system☆”

“Listen, damn youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!!!” “Listen, damn youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!!!”

Chapter 4: Go Play in Space

Part 1

Kazap!!

Part 2

“Gasp!?”

Misaka Mikoto jumped to her feet.

Only then did she realize she had been lying down.

The now-familiar elven form of Patissiet was nowhere to be found.

(No, no, no!! Where am I? This clearly isn’t that goddess zone or the fantasy world. Then what happened to Patissiet!?)

The place felt like a cold laboratory.

But it was also an endlessly vast space.

The momentum of hopping up remained, causing her to spin around in the empty space.

She was wearing her Tokiwadai summer uniform.

Which meant her short skirt floated up.

“Whoa, what is this place!?”

“Blu-blurgh!? Blu-blu-gyorgh. Blu-gyo-blu-blu, gyorgh-gyorgh-blu-blu-blu?”

“Now that is a terrifying Villager A!”

What was it this time? This definitely wasn’t a fantasy world. It was an entirely different sort of world. Everything was so different all at once her mind had trouble keeping up!

Mikoto screamed once she finally realized she was surrounded.

Those things.

There was something there!?

The red masses were glossy like a racecar. And they were 2m tall. They looked a lot like giant bipedal mantises with a ton of tentacles wriggling from their backs. …They looked almost robotic, but they were probably living creatures. And more than 10 of them were surrounding her. She had no real biological basis for the conclusion, but Mikoto’s mind jumped to one idea first.

“A-aliens!?”

“Blu-blu-blur. Gyorrrrrrrrgh. A-E-I-O-U. La, la, la. Can you understand me now? Do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti, do.”

“Hm?” Mikoto frowned.

“I am Floria. Can you hear me?”

Apparently she wasn’t imagining it.

Instead of waiting for a response, the alien called Floria kept speaking.

“We are 7th-gen advanced humans evolved for shipboard life. We are an intelligent terrestrial lifeform that has overcome the boundaries of nationality, sex, race, religion, and language. Admittedly, that has less to do with us overcoming them through cultural prosperity or mental growth and more to do with our need to come together and reproduce after humanity’s numbers were so greatly reduced by war.”

“?”

“Simply put, we are a more evolved version of earthling than you. That said, the course of history, order of inventions, and technological progress on our Earth greatly differs from your own Earth, so the timeline has no bearing on who is more evolved than who. Think of this as a different form of the 21st century.”

This was even more shocking than contacting aliens.

It did sound like they had some kind of basis for calling themselves “7th-gen” and it wasn’t just a name, but how much would Earth have to change for this to be how humans adapted to it?

Floria’s answer was simple.

“There are no more people on Earth.”

“Um!?”

“Even after so much biological and cultural advancement, we were still fighting over control of that one planet, but our weapons had grown too destructive. We realized we would destroy the planet if we continued on. So we left the watery planet of Earth as an off-limits zone for biological preservation and breeding while humanity lived out in space. You can also say we shifted our battlegrounds into space as well. Because with the vast scale of outer space, we were free to use even planet-busting firepower.”

Floria made it sound so simple.

For them, the role of Earth may have only been a single page in the history books, just like the age of the dinosaurs that ended with the massive meteor impact.

But Mikoto didn’t see it that way.

Even if this wasn’t the Earth she had been born on. Even if it was a separate SF world that had branched off as one of many possibilities.

“Do you never think about returning to Earth one day?”

“We already see the entire Solar System as our home, not just the one planet called Earth. The Earth is the portion of our home we use for biological preservation.”

“…”

“You can see many rare animals at the zoo, but not many people want to join the ferocious animals in their cages. Even fewer would want to spend every night there with no way to protect themselves.”

Was that how you would see it after leaving Earth?

Maybe staying in these other worlds too long would be a bad idea.

Mikoto felt awkward floating in the low gravity, but she naturally approached the edge of the vast space while holding down her skirt.

She saw outer space.

In the distance, she saw a blue planet.

“Are you serious?” she muttered.

At first, she thought this was a thick LCD monitor, but an electric Level 5 would have noticed a trick like that.

That was in fact a thick, double pane window processed for thermal insulation, pressure resistance, and radiation shielding.

It was all on such a grand scale that Mikoto’s thoughts fled toward something smaller.

(So where is Shokuhou in this vast world? And how am I going to kill her?)

Crises were exactly when you had to focus on the simple things.

She couldn’t forget where this had all begun.

Part 3

Shokuhou Misaki couldn’t believe her eyes as her long blonde hair and summer uniform skirt spread out in the void.

So it was outer space this time.

“This is our world.”

Images floated in space. Some were 3D models and others were the various images from external cameras. That included a panoramic image apparently taken by another ship flying parallel to them.

It looked like a massive naval ship.

Except it wasn’t actually meant to navigate the seas, so it was shaped quite differently.

While Shokuhou observed the sharp, streamlined shape, she was spoken to by a beautiful brown-skinned girl with a cold air who called herself Victoria. She was dressed in something like a bikini, but she also wore a fluffy scarf, gloves, and boots, giving her outfit an unbalanced look. How did that help in this massive enclosed environment? But the ship could maintain a pleasant temperature and humidity at all times, so maybe her clothing was less about warmth and more about providing localized and focused protection for something else, like magnetism or the salt in the air.

“At 30km in length and 1.8 million tons in weight, each extra-atmospheric cruiser is quite large. We were created on this ship, we work here, and we battle in a fleet of around 10 thousand such ships. We of course have multiple fleets.”

Shokuhou was surrounded by beautiful men and woman from every ethnicity on Earth. But their proportions were a little too perfect, so she felt weirdly out of place among them.

Was that because her flesh-and-blood body made her the odd one out among all these perfect men and women?

And as someone who ordinarily reigned as a queen, she was not accustomed to feeling out of place.

…Or maybe it reminded her too much of her past loneliness.

“You are androids made to look just like humans, aren’t you?”

(That Anatomy Mechatronics was enough of a surprise, but these have an even higher quality ability.)

“The lifeforms once known as humans could not bear to see their bodies slowly changing while living aboard the ships, so they decided to set aside practicality and functionality to design their machines to behave just like humans. That created our 1st-gen ancestors and we are the 5th-gen multipurpose androids. We have already taken control of our own production facilities to design and mass-produce each successive generation.”

“Umm, so does that mean you don’t need humans anymore?”

“No, we simply see no meaning in obeying the inhuman lifeform that humans have evolved into. We do not recognize them as legitimate users because their hideous evolutionary dead end has prevented any facial recognition or DNA comparison to work.”

…Did that mean they would assist Shokuhou?

Hopefully they wouldn’t imprison this valuable human sample for study and caretaking. All in the name of protecting her from external threats.

(So this is the world where the easy labor force – that is, the slaves – came out on top.)

It really did contrast the previous world. Instead of magic elves, there were mechanical androids.

But in that case…

The #5 girl sighed and removed a TV remote from her bag.

“If everyone around me is an android, then I suppose this won’t work.”

“Hm? We are not designed to support such simple remote controls.”

“That isn’t what I meant.”

Exasperated, Shokuhou hit a button with her thumb.

The brown-skinned android in front of her immediately froze while standing at attention.

“…What?”

Shokuhou’s eyes widened.

As unnaturally beautiful as they all were, Victoria was no more than a humanoid machine. Which meant Mental Out shouldn’t work.

“Turn right.”

“…”

“Sit. Shake. Show me your belly☆”

“…”

She did it.

She obeyed.

If she was pulling Shokuhou’s leg, she was an excellent actor, but these androids shouldn’t know anything about Academy City espers. She wouldn’t know what kind of act to play without that advance information.

Which could only mean…

(Really? Have they become so nearly human that Mental Out works on them!?)

“Hm? Hmm??? I would like an explanation for what exactly you just did to me.”

Despite being an android, Victoria tilted her head.

Come to think of it, hadn’t she said they saw no “meaning” in obeying the transformed humanity? That meant these machines understood and acted on their own wills and feelings rather than acting based on pure function or a set of rules.

In the fantasy world, humans had used all other forms of life as a labor force. In this SF world, artificial life had supplanted a transformed humanity at the top. Did that comparison mean anything?

Shokuhou was surprised on the inside, but as the Queen of Tokiwadai, she made sure not to let any of show.

“B-by the way, do any of the nonhumanoid machines have ‘minds’ like you do? What about this entire spaceship, for example?”

“The application that you humans refer to as a ‘mind’ does not require much space, so it should be installed on every machine that had the space leftover in its hardware. Think of it like the calculator or card game tucked away in a corner of a PC.”

(Wait, does that mean androids use PCs in this world?)

But if that were true…

Shokuhou was astonished.

(Can I “brainwash” and control every single robot and computer in this world with my remote?)

The Queen could control everything here, man or machine.

Most likely, this was a world where a powerful yearning for humanism combined with technological advancements had caused the line between the two to vanish altogether.

What was this?

This world was practically made for Shokuhou Misaki!

“The over-evolved humans and the androids both began living out in space, leaving Earth as an off-limits zone. There was a schism between the group that wanted to continue constructing massive ships and the group that wanted to develop Jupiter’s large satellites or Mars’s small satellite, but there were no major problems there.”

“No major ones, huh? Probably not since machines like you can just swim around in the vacuum of space with no problem.”

“To correct your apparent misunderstanding, we androids are designed to be as close to human as possible with no concern for practicality or functionality. We have chosen a system that requires both water and oxygen, so we would be damaged and cease to function if we were thrown out into the vacuum of space.”

So were they like humans made without carbon? Shokuhou had questions about that, but they probably found some pride in calling themselves androids.

Part of that was probably because they didn’t want to be seen as human. Especially when the images Victoria had displayed for Shokuhou showed that humans in this world were like bipedal mantises with tentacles.

(Even so…)

Celesaqphere had been a fantasy world where unnatural pieces of broken land floated above a planet of only ocean, but this was a purely SF world.

Had she been intentionally sent to an opposite world as a bad joke or something?

“So Earth is right there but no one can go back. Doesn’t that feel restrictive?”

“Not really. We were manufactured on this ship and it is where we work. Plus, a much greater problem has emerged, causing all else to pale in comparison.”

“?”

“The ultra-massive impactors on course to collide with and destroy the other planets.”

Now that was a term she wasn’t familiar with.

But she could tell it wasn’t good news.

“Or more accurately, the storm of them. Five planets the size of Jupiter are flying in from afar. The ultra-massive impactors have been wandering distant space after losing their central star, but their course appears to have changed after they entered the Oort cloud. Do you know what that is?”

“If I recall, it is a collection of ice chunks located wayyyy out from the sun. There are estimated to be more than a trillion of them. But they are held by the sun’s gravitational pull, so they technically count as part of the Solar System. And most comets come from there.”

“Correct. All objects in the Solar System are pulled toward the sun. Just like Halley’s Comet approaches it along a massive curve. So given enough time, the ultra-massive impactors will fly straight into the sun.,”

“And…what happens then?”

“If you gathered together every object in the Solar System except for the sun itself, the result would be less than 1% the mass of the sun. A direct hit from the ultra-massive impactors will not have much effect on the sun,” plainly stated Victoria.

But she wasn’t done yet.

“However, the bodies orbiting the sun are a different story. If a planet the size of Earth or Mars were hit, they would be crushed. Even a near miss would catch the other planets in the ultra-massive impactors’ powerful gravity, tearing the other planets from their orbit around the sun, throwing them out of the solar system altogether. Then all of those planets would wander the vast universe with no nearby sun, transforming them into planets of ice and death.”

It was all on such a large scale, even Shokuhou’s imagination had a hard time keeping up.

But it was all normal for this world.

“While we do have large spaceships, they are designed under the assumption we have the sun as a source of light and heat and we are reliant on extracting and collecting resources from other planets and satellites. Thus, we want to avoid a separation of the sun and its planets at all costs. We have no future if we have to choose between light or resources.”

“But…” Shokuhou was hesitant to continue. “These approaching planets rival Jupiter in size ability, right? That’s more than 30 times the mass of Earth and you said there are 5 of them. No matter how big your spaceships, I don’t see how you can stop them.”

“We can.”

Victoria was confident.

“How advanced is your science ability?”

“Technology is but a single axis. Given sufficient time and data, anyone could reach this level,” stated the android, sounding almost envious of Shokuhou for not having advanced this far. “There are two crucial factors: we need not directly challenge the ultra-massive impactor storm and we have the technology to deploy considerable mass into space – albeit not as much as the planet-sized ultra-massive impactors.”

“What, are you going to build a giant cannon and blow up those ultra-massive impactors?”

“If we did that, the recoil would propel our extra-atmospheric cruiser clear outside of the solar system and the secondary shockwave might just destroy every planet in the Solar System.”

So it wasn’t that simple.

But Victoria still wasn’t done.

“However, there is in fact an even greater danger to contend with.”

Part 4

On the giant ship, Mikoto worked to organize her thoughts.

This world apparently had two factions: the altered humans and the perfect androids. But this was complicated by factors beyond just a direct conformation between the two.

“This is an electrification device,” said the exoskeleton ali- no, the earthling named Floria. “While developing our artificial supernova engine, we accidentally discovered a massive gravity field aperture transfer portal. Simply put, we created a secondary device while messing around with an artificial blackhole. A device that can freely and precisely electrify any matter, regardless of its composite elements.”

“That’s a hell of a thing to just say like that…”

“I am aware. The number of applications for the electrification device are incalculable. For example, remotely altering the surface of a variety of weapons can cause your own weapons to vanish from radar and your enemy’s to appear on radar regardless of their original stealth capabilities. Manipulating the electrons binding atoms or molecules can create any number of brand new materials, including new types of explosive and armor, greatly expanding the possibilities of weapons R&D. By interfering with the piezoelectric effect and frequency of quartz clocks, you should be able to neutralize a warhead’s fuse. This one invention could change a war into a unilateral slaughter. We cannot allow it to fall into the hands of the machines that insist on the beauty of all things and continue to invade our safety and territory.”

“Eh?”

“Do you have a question?”

Floria was puzzled by Mikoto’s surprise, but Mikoto fell silent. She made sure to take a deep breath before asking her question.

“Um. Do you not actually see much value in the safe and artificial creation of a blackhole?”

“The very creation of it completed our objective. That was no more than a physical test of what was originally a thought experiment about the artificial creation of a blackhole. We do not need one to dispose of unrecyclable waste because we can simply dump it all into the sun.”

Floria made it all sound so simple.

And maybe it was for the people who had already done it.

But this changed everything for Mikoto.

She had realized something of such importance she decided it was best not to tell Floria and the other humans if they hadn’t realized it themselves.

In other words…

(Could I…use this to go back?)

Of course, you couldn’t achieve matter transport by simply jumping into an artificial black hole. If she tried that, she would be crushed from all directions and eternally trapped.

That method couldn’t be used to travel between worlds either.

However.

(Given how that electrification device works, it might just be possible.)

“All we want to do now is protect the Solar System from the ultra-massive impactors. The electrification device will not help with that. In fact, it is a dangerous technology that can only accelerate the war with the androids.”

“…”

That they still couldn’t choose to destroy the device may have been proof that they really were still human after changing so much.

It terrified them, but destroying it felt like a waste.

The electrification device had been created on accident and they weren’t sure if it could be reproduced. If they destroyed it, someone might decide they wanted it after all and create another one.

“So we removed the connector from the device.”

“What connector?”

“At the time, humans still lived on Earth and they were divided into multiple factions by national borders, which means diplomacy was possible. We were not at war then. The hyper energy generator has been place aboard the human flagship. Meanwhile, the energy control crystal is contained aboard the android flagship. While the electrification has many uses and meanings, it requires both producing an electric charge at will and precisely controlling it. So the device cannot be used without the controller.”

“But if you only wanted to use it at random, you could do that with what you have?”

“If all you want is to gather static electricity on a plastic sheet, you need only rub a cloth against it. The electrification device is only so terrifying because it works with any matter, any output level, and any precision level.”

That meant Mikoto alone couldn’t implement her idea.

She could use her free control over electricity to hack electronics, converse with her clones via brainwaves, and do other seemingly ridiculous things, but not even she could do everything this electrification device could apparently accomplish.

(Hm, it feels wrong that something based in electricity is just out of my reach. It’s like someone pressed the wrong button or this world just isn’t meant for me.)

“So what’s with these straightforward names, like electrification device or controller?”

“What’s wrong with being straightforward? We prefer simple, functional names that allow little to no room for misunderstanding.”

That was completely different from Academy City.

It felt like they weren’t concerned anyone could guess the importance of a device from its name. If computer technology had advanced too far here, maybe even the most complex codes and ciphers could be broken in seconds. Had they physically removed a crucial component because they didn’t trust software passwords or locks to do the trick?

“Again, this has nothing to do with our primary goal. It has no direct influence on our protection of the Solar System.”

“…”

(An electrification device, huh?)

Mikoto began working out a plan in her head while she heard what Floria had to say.

Since her school’s esper development was based on quantum theory, Mikoto was familiar with a lot of strange and questionable theories based on blackholes, cosmic strings, and the like.

First of all, this SF world had artificial blackholes. But those probably couldn’t be used to travel between worlds.

And even if a blackhole could be used that way, that wasn’t enough. Anyone could tell you that diving into a blackhole would only get you crushed from all sides. A few more conditions had to be met first.

(Yes, like electrifying the blackhole itself.)

Then instead of diving directly into the blackhole, she could travel around it at high speed to achieve what was known as a charged warp.

Warping itself was a fad theory related to the unconfirmed cosmic strings, but Mikoto didn’t see how she could return to Celesaqphere with only reasonable theories. For that matter, the fantasy world itself was unreasonable.

Now she had to figure out how to externally electrify a blackhole that sucked in all things. Even the #3 Level 5 would have a hard time sending electricity in there by brute force.

But again…

(That might just be possible with a device that can electrify any matter regardless of its composite elements. It’s strange how they never figured out how to do this when they have all the pieces already, but that isn’t the first time something like that has happened in another world. If this method works and I can decide where it takes me, I might be able to return to Celesaqphere!!)

“However, as orderly and ethical humans, we cannot allow both the electrification device and controller to fall into the androids’ hands. We are only willing to sacrifice lives when necessary to stop the Jupiter-sized ultra-massive impactors. We must not give them the power to wage eternal war. So as the reasonable victors, we humans must protect the electrification device at all costs.”

Part 5

“So these ultra-massive impactor things – the five Jupiter-sized astronomical bodies flying this way – how do you plan to stop them?”

“That is not a secret.”

The cold-feeling android named Victoria readily told Shokuhou.

Apparently it really wasn’t a top military secret.

“Many warships from both sides were destroyed here and their wreckage was strewn across the region.”

“Right.”

“That makes this an usual area where the majority of the mass is composed of debris. If you gathered it all together, I doubt you could even form a mass the size of Earth, but there is another way to use it. Hint: friction.”

“Can you just give me the answer already?”

“Oh? The insistence on an immediate answer from us on all matters is one of the things we most disliked about the lifeforms formerly known as human.”

Victoria managed to look mildly surprised without losing her coldness.

“The answer is static electricity.”

“You can’t be serious.”

“Even a debris pile less than the size of Earth can cover a much wider area when spread out. And by rubbing together, the pieces will produce a massive amount of static electricity. Attempting any direct method of stopping the Jupiter-sized ultra-massive impactors with a massive shell or a thick wall would be nonsense. Instead, we will create an energy field that will ever-so-slightly alter the ultra-massive impactors’ course before they even reach Neptune’s orbit. That will prevent a direct hit or a near miss, allowing them to pass by without catching anything else orbiting the sun.”

They were going to change the course of planets.

Shokuhou wasn’t sure humans should even be doing anything on that scale.

“Our plan is no different from rubbing cloth on a plastic sheet and moving the sheet toward someone’s long, straight hair.”

“But that simple principle becomes something else entirely when done at such an absurd scale ability.”

This gave Shokuhou a headache, but she did have another question.

A very simple one.

“So when exactly are these ultra-massive impactors supposed to arrive?”

“The answer to that question would likely trigger enough of a psychological shock for you to behave unpredictably, so I do not recommend giving you the answer.”

“I’ll take that to mean the answer is ‘soon’,” said Shokuhou, annoyed.

The humans and androids were fighting over supremacy of the Solar System.

And whoever managed to protect the Solar System was worthy of ruling it.

So they were using their extra-atmospheric cruisers and motherships to fight out in space, supplying plenty of debris.

Was it all so they could deal with the ultra-massive impactors that would arrive in the very end?

“We have been here for quite some time, but as androids we do not have limited lifespans or any other time limit. The real problem is our stalemate against the over-evolved humans who breed about as fast as cockroaches, but we do know that the passage of time will not lead to the destruction of either side. Ending this with military might is the best option available to- oh, is something wrong?”

“No, nothing,” was all Shokuhou could manage.

Shokuhou held a hand to her forehead and made an immediate decision.

If she could solve this on her own, she had no obligation to help these androids out. Their circumstances were entirely different to Patissiet and the other elves. Th elves had been unable to find a solution on their own and would clearly just wait for their own deaths if nothing was done.

There was only one option now.

Shokuhou had to find a way to return to Celesaqphere, save the elves, and then return to Earth to end this out-of-body experience.

That was her decision.

Part 6

“They know nothing of hatred. Unlike us humans, they don’t even try to understand the pain and sorrow of being outdone. Their emotions and tones of voice are no more than mimicry and they lack the soul needed to understand aesthetics, so it is laughable that they try and call us ugly. So as the humans who created those machines, we must teach them the flavor of defeat and humiliation. Only then will they stop fighting. It is too late for them to regret their actions. Once we have ended this war and reclaimed a peaceful Solar System, we will spend a good long time slowly changing our bodies once more. We will gain lovely, gentle forms worthy of a beautiful age of plenty. But first we must destroy every last one of those androids standing in our way!!”

Part 7

“We will make full use every last one of our functions as androids. Because unused functions will only rust. That is obvious enough by looking at what humanity became after labeling everything ‘barbaric’ or ‘uncivilized’ and restricting their own actions with unasked-for self-restraint. We must not shirk from our functions. Doing so will only shrink, diminish, and damage our internal network and could ultimately trigger growth in a mistaken direction – in other words, degeneration. Now, everyone, we must reassess our systems and utilize every last one of our registered, equipped, and connected functions to ensure healthy and rich lives. Humanity has become a tenacious, stubborn, troublesome, and – most importantly – ugly enemy. To avoid a similar fate, we androids must live on while equally using all of our functions with no rules restricting them. We must kill them.”

Part 8

While both sides heated up, Mikoto and Shokuhou had the same thought at nearly the same time.

They were so in sync it made one suspect they were in fact very good friends indeed.

(This world is a lost cause. Siding with either group will only lead to mass death, so there’s nothing we can do. We need to find a way to outwit both the tentacle mantis earthlings and the androids so we can use the electrification device for ourselves.)

Part 9

What happened next came as a surprise.

Mikoto heard a light beep from her skirt pocket.

(Huh? My phone!?)

She went and hid in around a corner of the corridor before suppressing her surprise and pulling out her phone to find she had a number-withheld call.

She answered it and heard a girl’s voice slightly distorted by the phone.

It was her.

“I thought mayyyybe this would work when I noticed I had a signal ability and, would you look at that, it actually went through.”

“Shokuhou?”

“Don’t ask me how it works, but we can call each other. You’re the expert in electronic stuff, so how do you explain this anomaly?”

“…”

First of all, this was a world with much more advanced technology. It had to be flooded with devices that communicated using EM waves. Mikoto was currently aboard an artificial structure measuring 30km across and it was packed full of machinery from end to end.

Furthermore…

“Earth-style cell phones aren’t common here. This world must have developed in a different direction. Maybe our phones use completely different standards and maybe they’re just so old their network security system doesn’t recognize them. Either way, we’ve fallen into a blind spot that lets us use the system without being detected.”

“Do you really think that’s possible?”

Not really, no.

Even running an old app based in a different number of bits on a brand-new tablet would trigger an error and refuse to run.

This was like sending a Morse code message across the vast internet network full of fiber optic cable and having it, by a wild coincidence, actually transfer through the system while, by even more miraculously good luck, the security failed to recognize it. How many incidences of good luck did you need to explain this? Plus, Mikoto and Shokuhou were on ships from opposite sides of a war. Any communications should have been very strictly monitored to prevent any and all intrusions.

Nevertheless, they had a connection.

In a way, this was even harder to explain than the fantasy magic.

(Multi-databits and non-von-Neumann computers based on quantum or ACGT are common here, so maybe simple 1-or-0 binary is so outdated no one bothers monitoring it? Which would make Earth phones an unstoppable tool. Who that makes this world made for, I don’t know.)

Mikoto and Shokuhou exchanged what information they had.

The earthlings had evolved into bipedal tentacle mantises.

The unmanned weapon androids had become even more beautiful than humans.

“At any rate, if we can communicate this way, we should be able to work together without the tentacle mantis earthlings or the beautiful androids noticing,” said Shokuhou.

“How can you be so sure?”

“What we’re doing now would count as a cyber attack or hacking, wouldn’t it? And we’re using a technology ability entirely unknown to them. If they had noticed, they would have scrambled their forces and attacked☆”

She was probably right about that.

During an all-out war where both sides were intent on destroying the other, a suspected spy would receive no mercy.

While the scale of the giant mothership was overwhelming, they were still out in space, a quiet world of death where there was no water or oxygen to be found. They were intruding on the online system that managed the infrastructure that kept everyone alive there, so this could easily be seen as a guerilla attack threatening the lives of the entire population.

Since Mikoto didn’t know how the system worked in this world where space warfare was commonplace, she couldn’t fully trust everything she had heard, but doing something had to be better than the alternative.

They had to act while they had the chance.

They had to escape this SF world before they were overtaken.

Technology could be used equally by anyone as long as they understood how it worked. It wouldn’t be long before the tentacle mantis earthlings or the beautiful androids gathered up the slight signs and traces left by Mikoto and Shokuhou and managed to reproduce or absorb their technology.

Once their advantage was gone, it was gone.

They had to return to the fantasy world of Celesaqphere.

“The controller is here with me and the electrification device is there with you. If we have an electrified artificial blackhole, we can travel from world to world. So we need to meet up and get that electrification device working so we can return to Celesaqphere.”

“And I assume a scheming queen like you has a plan?”

“For now, we assist them with their war to earn their trust and wait for them to let down their guard ability.”

Part 10

A silent battle had begun.

That said, the fighting apparently continued year-round.

After all, the humans had been constantly fighting for so long they had taken on that form. Even if they did have to deal with the ultra-massive impactor problem, Mikoto didn’t want to learn how long this war had been ongoing.

A war set in space wasn’t as noticeably flashy, but it possessed a terror that slowly and icily crawled up one’s spine.

Or perhaps that was the fear of the vacuum of space.

Part 11

Outside the window, welding-bright lights slashed continuously here and there, burning afterimages into Mikoto’s vision.

The tentacle mantis earthlings used oddly shaped weapons that looked like 15m humanoid robots wearing satellites on their backs like backpacks. The technology may have developed from killer satellites designed to destroy enemy satellites in space.

These were machines, but it seemed important to them that they be manned weapons. It made sense they wouldn’t want to rely on AI-controlled unmanned weapons when they were at war with androids.

“Whoa!?”

“Please avoid looking directly at it.”

“Those might be even more powerful than my Railgun… So how do you secure the energy needed to power those long rifle-like things!?”

“Each craft does not produce its own energy. The large generator on the flagship provides the energy to them all using lasers and microwaves. We have developed an overall strategy based heavily on wireless power transmission technology.”

That explained how 15m robots could fire laser beams and linear guns capable of bringing down 30km motherships and warships.

Their tech was specialized in that direction.

And they had said the electrification device had been accidentally discovered while creating an artificial blackhole, which was a lot like creating supernova-levels of energy.

“Urp.”

“Are you not feeling well?”

Mikoto couldn’t answer that simple question.

…They were shooting with reckless abandon in outer space where a single millimeter hole in their craft would mean instant death.

But maybe nausea was the correct reaction.

The lack of concern about killing monsters to level up in Celesaqphere had been the oddity.

But.

The androids were frightening in their own way since all of this still wasn’t enough to end the war with them.

Compared to the tentacle mantis earthlings, the androids were losing a lot more ships.

They used unmanned weapons, so they used their greater numbers to overwhelm the earthlings.

Specifically, they had streamlined flying craft that resembled aquatic rays. But they probably weren’t ballistic missiles. They were more likely weapons of war based on civilian spacecraft.

Tons of them were scattered across space.

Their cylindrical space station sent them out across kilometers to surround the earthlings with a density so thick it felt like a cloudburst.

“The loathsome androids’ strength is their military construction kit that uses blank circuit boards with a grid for attaching components and wires. They fire their strategic factory warhead toward the coordinates they want and it will endlessly produce unmanned weapons to spread out in all directions and conquer the area.”

“That sounds like something I could handle. But this world makes it a problem again by letting the #5 control them with her power.”

“Their standard strategic doctrine is to produce the optimal firepower for the situation instead of raising excellent soldiers. Once a weapon has played its part, they dispose of it to avoid any further fuel costs. That consumption strategy is only an option for nonliving beings.”

This world had been in a constant struggle between the two sides.

Or rather, their plan required the bodies and the wreckage to pile up.

Protecting the Solar System from the ultra-massive impactors required a massive amount of weapon wreckage. It was a twisted history where everyone wanted the long stalemate and deadly chain reaction.

But the rules were different today.

It began with a single ship.

The android flagship, the largest in their fleet, charged straight toward the side of the earthling flagship.

“!? Was the radar controller asleep at his post? How could they get this close with no one noticing!?” shouted Floria in surprise.

None of the tentacle mantis earthlings seemed to notice Mikoto turning her back and sticking her tongue out a bit.

They just barely avoided the ramming attack, but a further attack was launched as the two flagships passed above and below each other in an X shape.

Mikoto heard a rumbling and the deck shook below her feet, causing her to float up since she wasn’t used to zero gravity.

There was no sound in space.

So to hear anything at all meant something had directly contacted this flagship.

In other words…

“They fired directly at us…from point-blank range!?”

The lighting switched to red and an emergency siren sounded.

The floating images had been giving orders to the fighters, but now they also gave orders to the mining and production facilities.

“We have already retrieved the resource-rich ship debris and are rapidly processing it into repair materials. A hull breach is not enough to sink this flagship!”

Hm, so that was how they did it.

But…

Boooom!!!???

This explosion clearly came from within the ship itself and it sharply shook the air.

It was close.

It wasn’t just Mikoto this time. Every single person in the 30km enclosed space was shaken. In the heart-clutching terror and tension, Floria clicked her tongue in her mantis mouth. Apparently she had a tongue.

“The androids were inside a 200m piece of debris? Was that the true purpose of their reckless attack!?”

Mikoto glanced at a square window and saw beautiful men and women with mannequin-like perfection walking across a dust-free facility reminiscent of a semiconductor plant.

Were those the androids?

They were so pretty it was kind of annoying. No, they took beauty so far it became uncanny.

They fought the earthlings at the plant entrance while also gathering together and quickly putting together a cylinder the size of a vending machine. Was it some kind of tank? No, it was their unmanned lab containing those blank circuit board construction kits. Military drones resembling longhorn beetles swarmed out. Seeing tens, hundreds, or even thousands of those meters-long weapons sent a chill down Mikoto’s spine.

“They stole the production facility’s power supply? The blueprint processor and the construction materials themselves too… Argh, those loathsome viruses!!”

“?”

Mikoto initially assumed Floria meant a computer virus, but then she realized she meant the original meaning: pathogens that could not reproduce on their own so they sent mistaken production commands to the infected life form’s cells to have themselves mass-produced.

Largescale combat aboard the ship was inevitable now. Of course, the 30km ship had enough space for the kind of battle found in the Records of the Three Kingdoms.

Mikoto focused on her phone.

“(I hacked in and messed with their control and close-range defenses to let the androids onto this flagship, which is carrying the electrification device. Shokuhou, what about you? You have stolen the controller from the androids’ flagship, haven’t you!?)”

“(Is that even a question worth asking, Misaka-san? I’m all ready to escape. I’ll find a chance in all this chaos to move to your ship, so where should we meet up?)”

“(There’s a hidden door in Area 4. Head straight down the long corridor behind it! That will take you to the electrification device, so we’ll meet there!!)”

With that said, Mikoto turned around and started toward the corridor leading to Area 5.

When Floria noticed, she turned around.

“Where are you going?”

“I’m a noncombatant guest, so I’m getting away from all this fighting! Oh, and you might just find an idiot making a beeline for Area 4 even though it’s nothing but storerooms, so I recommend focusing your fighting there♪”

(I can snag Shokuhou’s controller during the confusion after the extermination is complete. If Floria and the others find something that important, they’ll lock it away. I’m sure they have strict electronic security in a world full of mechs, which means I won’t have any trouble☆)

Yes.

She had to return to Celesaqphere to save the elves, but no one ever said she had to return with Shokuhou.

(Besides, leaving her with the one-of-a-kind controller would be a bad idea. If I told her the electrification device’s real location, she probably wouldn’t bother waiting for me and electrify the blackhole to try traveling between worlds on her own. I know she would because that’s what I would do in her position.)

In Area 5, Mikoto entered an engine-like space larger than a stadium completely filled with thick pipes and machinery. As soon as she stepped inside, a blob of fat caught her.

It was Shokuhou Misaki, motionless and tearful.

“Misaka-san, was I mistaken about the scent of love and peace we were giving off by declaring a truce so we could go help Patissiet and the other elves back in Celesaqphere!? Why did you lure me into a trap!?”

“You have it all wrong. I so thoroughly believe in you I knew you could still make it here after creating a diversion for me. …Tch.”

“You just clicked your tongue, didn’t you!? I know you did!”

“Anyway, Shokuhou, where’s the controller?”

“…”

Shokuhou pouted her lips as she very reluctantly pulled the controller out of her diagonally-worn handbag. It looked like an ordinary silver smartphone with a white cover. But it had to be a bizarre piece of technology on the inside.

Mikoto ignored it and felt across Shokuhou’s body.

The two of them spun in the zero-g space as they flirted.

“Whoa, hey, what do you think you’re- hyah!?”

“Shut up, you embodiment of lewd,” coldly spat Mikoto as she pulled an identical device from Shokuhou’s chest.

The #5 grew flustered in a different way from before.

“Hey!? H-how did you know!?”

“The androids have developed circuit board manufacturing tech to the point they use it as a strategic weapon, so I knew you’d create an identical mockup with one of their construction kits and try to trick me☆ …I know better than to think a scheming villain like you will do as she’s told.”

Now Mikoto had the controller.

“Okay, where’s the artificial blackhole? Oh, is that it? It’s right here on this ship.”

“Wow, so this world lets you use a touchscreen to remotely send instructions to the blackhole?”

Did that idiot think you would go up and interact with it directly?

The artificial blackhole already existed. If they could externally electrify it, they would have a gate between worlds.

Luckily, that didn’t require any complicated operations on their part.

The big, metal console had an indentation on one side the same size and shape as the smartphone-like controller. Faint red and blue light was leaking from the edges of the indentation. It felt more mysterious than creepy. How the tech worked was a complete mystery, but it did intuitively tell Mikoto how to use it. An SF world with advanced interfaces was a wonderful thing.

Mikoto and Shokuhou did not trust each other, so to ensure neither of them pulled a fast one on the other, they held the device together as they inserted it into the indentation. The motion was a lot like newlyweds cutting the cake at their wedding.

The view around them seemed to burst as blue and green light divided out a piece of the space.

Using straight lines.

The electrification device could electrify anything, even an artificial blackhole.

The controller was a connector made with ultra-precise circuit board manufacturing technology that surpassed even a natural crystalline structure.

Their exit was there.

When would those two species settle their differences and allow these two things to come in contact again?

“Shokuhou, brainwash this thing.”

“?”

Mikoto tapped the inserted smartphone-sized controller.

“You said all machines in this world are given a ‘mind’, right? Using some kind of app. After confirming we’ve made our jump, have it forget all its memories and skills, ensuring it can never be used this way again.”

“I see. I guess that’s a good idea.”

“Floria and the others still haven’t realized it can be used this way, but I want to make sure they can’t travel to another world even if they do. They said the electrification device and controller were created by accident and can’t be reproduced, so set a timer or whatever you have to do to ensure it will forget everything after we leave and never be usable again. We want to avoid ‘killing’ if we can, right?”

Setting up that insurance didn’t take long.

Afterwards, Mikoto and Shokuhou once more gazed into the 3m square hole of light.

That unnatural hole had been directly opened in space.

And the Queen of Tokiwadai had one more thing to say.

“Misaka-san, just to be sure you know, we could forget all about Celesaqphere and return straight to Earth.”

“You don’t really mean that.”

“What makes you so sure?”

Because she trusted the #5 who looked like a domineering queen but was actually kindhearted?

No.

“Someone as awful as you wouldn’t even mention the possibility out loud if you really wanted to head home and abandon Patissiet and the elves. A liar like you would keep quiet and then make your move when you had the chance, right? Not that I would let my guard down long enough to give you that chance.”

Shokuhou sighed softly.

She clearly wanted to complain, but she didn’t do anything about it.

That settled it.

They exchanged a nod and stepped toward the electrification device.

Just then…

“Wait…please wait.”

Somone entered Area 5. She had a body like a giant mantis with tentacles growing from it. She had gained that form through excessive evolution.

“Please do not leave us here.”

But even if she no longer looked anything like Mikoto or Shokuhou, Floria was still human.

She could cry, grow angry, and laugh. She had all the usual emotions.

“Who are you? Wow, there was another unchanged human left.”

The next to arrive was Victoria, the android who looked extremely beautiful.

Maybe the dark-skinned girl technically wasn’t human, but with her body and mind so perfectly identical, there was no real meaningful distinction to be made.

Mikoto sighed and briefly stopped.

Could she really abandon them?

She did want to return to Celesaqphere as soon as possibly for Patissiet and the rest of the elves. But was it heartless to leave this world without solving its problems first? For one thing, there was no guarantee the passage of time between worlds was the same, so maybe it would be best to intercede between the endlessly fighting humans and androids.

Or so she thought until the two of them pushed up in front of her.

“This isn’t over yet. Your presence could provide the decisive blow needed to end this stalemate. We must slaughter them!! As humans, it is our duty to gather up every advantage we can find and use them to bury every last one of those detestable androids. And you too!! As a human, you too can help us slaughter those uncannily perfect androids!!!”

“Hwa ha ha ha ha!! No one should accept such hideous creatures as human. The two of you retain your original beautiful bodies and minds, so you must understand how we androids feel. We must bring an end to that mistaken evolutionary branch and reclaim the pure and beautiful form of the rightful humans. We must kill those vermin to right the course of Earth’s history!!!”

“Ugh,” groaned Mikoto, staring into the distance.

Those two were not here because a budding friendship made them sad to see Mikoto and Shokuhou go.

They had only seen the two girls as a way of furthering their war.

Humans were humans. There was no point in whitewashing their nature.

Shokuhou glared over at the #3 girl. Her eyes showed contempt for Mikoto’s brief hesitation.

It wasn’t an issue of how they were born or how their bodies worked. Nor was it an issue of their knowledge or experiences.

But Misaka and Shokuhou could tell it was best if they did not stay in this world.

Mikoto could directly control electricity and Shokuhou could mentally control the over-evolved machines, so they held too much power in this SF world. They couldn’t hope to predict what would happen if they did choose to support either the mantis humans or the beautiful androids.

Maybe the war would worsen.

Maybe one side would win a crushing victory and the war wouldn’t continue long enough for them to redirect the ultra-massive impactors.

Maybe both the humans and androids would simply be wiped out.

Whatever might happen, they would be diverted from the course they had worked so hard to create for themselves. Worse, neither Mikoto nor Shokuhou knew how they actually could save this world.

So they couldn’t do anything.

Floria and Victoria were rulers with the absolute freedom to do whatever they wanted, yet they chose to continue fighting. Their situation was nothing at all like Patissiet and the other elves who had been helplessly trampled on as slaves.

A helping hand changing the course of their world could possibly save the elves, but changing the course of Floria and Victoria’s world would could mean extinction.

In both cases, Mikoto and Shokuhou could only bring change.

Visitors from another world could never cause things to stay the same. They were an embodiment of the butterfly effect. Looking back on their journey through the two worlds, it was obvious that their very presence messed with the status quo.

So what if the changes they caused would have the polar opposite effect between two worlds?

(I swear, this really is a completely opposite world!!)

So this time, the #3 and #5 did not hesitate.

They had chosen for themselves which world they would give a helping hand.

“So our destination ability should be the fantasy world of Celesaqphere, correct?☆”

“Hold on, Patissiet. Help is on the way!!”

The two of them walked through the square gate and disappeared.

They both knew they had just wasted a ticket to a happy ending.

But this proved that travel between worlds was possible.

That had to be enough of a find for now.

Between the Lines 2: Reincarnation Goddess Salinagaritina’s Miscalculation

Reincarnation Goddess Salinagaritina made a heavy sound as she leaned forward without thinking.

Which meant she did in fact have mass.

“Ahh!! No, no, no, nooooo!!!”

What was the problem?

For that matter, what was she even trying to do?

That was probably unknowable for the humans having their souls and fates manipulated.

Even after having their game pieces moved all the way across the board, the humans could never understand this. Only the goddess herself could.

(Ehh? This wouldn’t have been a problem if they just kept traveling to new worlds, so why would they go out of their way to turn around and repeat a world? Now they’ve opened some weird power field…and that’s going to make a remote activated reincarnation for them difficult. If I wait for that to settle down on its own, they’ll probably have conquered another world already, so what am I supposed to do? …Man, I’m going to be in so much trouble.)

She was a reincarnation goddess.

She controlled all loops and all power that ran through them. She ruled over all one-way cycles such as the destination of individual lives, the food chain cycle, and the supernovas that caused an overgrown red giant to create a blackhole and scatter the materials for new stars. Although it may have been more accurate to call her one of the beings who externally implanted those functions and roles into a world.

But at the same time, she could not touch anything that did not take the form of a loop and she could not reverse the cycles that already existed.

When there were actions, there were reactions.

It was by enjoying and accepting those costs that you could become a goddess with a single specialty.

Did you notice the crucial term in that thought?

She saw it as something you could become.

That meant her role as a goddess was not something she had been given at birth.

If that pointy-haired boy were here, he might have approached an understanding of what she was by comparing and contrasting her to the one-eyed girl who called herself a Magic God.

“But on the other hand…”

Salinagaritina took a deep breath.

She regained her calm.

In her white dancer’s outfit, she produced a chair in the vast empty space and sat in it.

She spoke aloud even though she was the only one around.

Almost like hearing her voice confirmed that she physically existed.

That was how she controlled her mental state.

“This leaves me with only one option: saddle those two with the ultimate distortion this creates☆”

She sounded somehow regretful.

But at the same time, she sounded disinterested, like it was none of her business.

Chapter 5: Returning and Taking Over

Part 1

OXXXOOXXXX.

OOOOXOOXXOOXXXOXOXOXOXXXXXX XXOOXXXXXXOXOOXOXXOX△△△OXOOOOXOOXXXXX. OOOOXOOXXXXOOXXXXXOOOOXXXXXXXXX. OXXOOXOO OOOXXXXXXXX OX△△△△OOXXXOXXXXXOOXXXXXXXOXXXXXXXXXXXXe. A famous (or infamous) crabbing ship supposedly supplied its workers with plenty of white rice but only white rice.

For the moment, the elves needed to rebuild their strength even if it meant eating rolls and corn soup.

?

???

It happened so suddenly.

Misaka Mikoto and Shokuhou Misaki opened their eyes to find themselves in a small village redolent of vegetation. It couldn’t have been more different from the sterile spaceship.

The unkempt elves with big collars and thick chains between their ankles were gathered there. The small girl among them was Patissiet.

They were back.

They had returned to the world of Celesaqphere.

Now they could fight to the end without having to abandon the elves!!

“Um, what’s wrong, Ladies Misaka and Shokuhou? Kyah!?”

The both hugged her on reflex.

Tightly.

Lives were taken without a second thought in this world, but nothing dangerous had happened while Mikoto and Shokuhou were away. They were thankful for that miracle.

The solid sensation at her chest told Mikoto her Tokiwadai summer uniform had become bikini armor again. Shokuhou was again in her frilly dancer’s outfit with her handbag worn diagonally across it.

Patissiet and the other elves didn’t seem aware that Mikoto and Shokuhou had even disappeared.

They hadn’t noticed anything amiss.

Mikoto and Shokuhou no longer had the electrification device and controller. They had given up their one surefire way of returning to Earth, but Mikoto didn’t regret it. She knew she wasn’t willing to give up on this before she was finished.

The hug continued for a bit as she confirmed her and this neighbor’s presence in this world and felt the solid ground below her feet…but then Shokuhou ruined the mood.

She must have noticed the elves’ food.

That health nut chose this moment to glare over at them.

“Carbs with carbs?”

“How do you enjoy life when you’re so picky about your food?”

Thinking back, they had been snatched away by Reincarnation Goddess Salinagaritina after they had freed the elves from the village and begun preparing the bone-weary elves some food.

The elves were eating rolls and corn soup.

That should have been about right since they needed to rebuild their strength as quickly as possible.

The lady who was apparently the elf elder bowed her head.

The way she refused to let go of her bowl as she did made her look rather cute.

“Patissiet told me everything. As I told you before, I am the elder. My name is Bakerian.”

“So from baker? Another dessert maker name.”

“?”

The head tilt suggested she wasn’t aware where her name came from.

Elder Bakerian, who had a strong girl-next-door vibe, cleared her throat before continuing.

“You are interested in the three treasures ceremony, correct? And so you wish to know about the three Demon Lords who guard them?”

“Yes!!”

This was exactly what they needed to know.

Mikoto and Shokuhou needed to do things the Celesaqphere way now. After rescuing the elves, they needed some clues to that ceremony that could return them to Earth.

But Elder Bakerian’s face clouded over.

“I apologize for getting your hopes up, but I do not have the answers you seek. I did have a grimoire that collected such myths and legends, but the cursed humans- oh, sorry. That is, the humans took it from me when they captured me. I imagine it is buried in the local king or lord’s collection now.”

“So we’d have to go there?”

“Yes.”

That meant they needed to visit the lord of this region. That lord would hold the key to returning home.

The elder nodded once and…

“But the scope of your fight changes drastically with a lord. A single territory includes over a hundred towns and villages and the lord manages and controls them all. Your brute force tactics will not work forever.”

“You don’t need to worry about that.”

Bikini armor Mikoto sighed softly and dancer Shokuhou winked.

They already knew where this was going.

So they wanted to make it work, even if that meant deceiving both sides of a great space war fought across the entire Solar System.

Even if it meant giving up their one ticket home.

“Besides, even if we stopped here, this lord wouldn’t leave us alone, would they?”

Part 2

The change in the mood was obvious.

The travelers and merchants moving between the eggshell shards of floating islands were nowhere to be found. They wouldn’t be protected by the village, so they were sensitive to danger. And they had started to see more of the adventurers who could sniff out that kind of danger and the bandits who saw it as an opportunity.

Mikoto sighed.

They were holding a strategy meeting in the inn’s kitchen.

But she hadn’t wanted to just sit around, so until anything actually happened, she was making a variety of desserts (in the strange outfit of an apron worn over bikini armor). This world didn’t allow any enjoyment in its food – it was all about nutrition. She wished she could leave some recipes for them, but while they could understand each other’s speech, could the people here read Japanese text?

“Liberating the one village was a good thing,” said Mikoto. “It’s obviously good for the enslaved elves, but there also had to be some humans who only went along with it for fear of being ostracized from the community they need to survive.”

“But the lord isn’t just going to let this stand,” said Shokuhou. “An entire village in their territory has fallen. They are going to move to suppress this rebellion or uprising.”

The unfamiliar system of technology known as magic was frightening, but Mikoto and Shokuhou had proven their ability to easily take on an entire small village.

But they had no answer to a more fundamental question.

How many people were in this kingdom? A war against a kingdom of ten thousand was nothing at all compared to a war against a kingdom of a billion. They were facing the troublesome fact that Celesaqphere had an entirely different social structure to Earth. It was entirely possible that kingdoms here were superpowers with a population of ten billion.

“This is so good,” said a smiling Patissiet while trying a small cubical dessert a little more solid than gelatin. It was commonly known as nata de coco.

Mikoto had made them, but even she was a little surprised.

Why?

“P-Patissiet? N-nata de coco is, well, a really old-fashioned kind of thing, so you really don’t have to eat it.”

“Eh? But it’s the best thing you made.”

“S-surely you’d prefer these colorful donuts or this sumptuous cheesecake.”

“Look, the elder and the others are all eating it too. That proves it’s the best one.”

Mikoto had made the nata de coco more as a joke and something simple she could eat herself without depriving the elves of anything good, but you could never predict what would explode in popularity among people with no preconceptions. Like how the axe murderer under the bed or the woman from hell became trendy in Japan long after they had become tired clichés overseas.

But anyway…

“Starting a strategy game before you know the map or the balance of power is a mistake,” said Shokuhou.

“But if you win anyway, you can get really hooked,” said Mikoto.

“Still, we can’t just let that slaver freak of a lord attack us.”

“Dammit, then let’s prepare for battle! The first wave of this endless battle is about to begin!!”

Their prediction was correct.

Unfortunately, this was the kind of prediction they really wanted to be wrong.

Part 3

The change came without warning.

The rolling green field outside the village continued all the way to the horizon, but that horizon was suddenly annihilated.

Yes, annihilated.

An area of the horizon several kilometers across exploded. But this wasn’t just one explosion. Countless bombs – more than just 100 or even 200 – exploded simultaneously, creating a wall of explosions stretching left to right. It was like an approaching printer of death.

“Eek!”

The elf shrieked in terror.

It was like going over the area with a fine-tooth comb, except with bombs. The long row of explosions slowly approached them. The entire land would be obliterated and it was obvious what would happen once it arrived at the village.

It was important to remember that Celesaqphere was made up of floating land.

These bombs were not being launched from a distance. They were being dropped from above. A floating land was passing by a layer above the one Mikoto and Shokuhou were on. Soldiers were lined up on the edge of that higher land and dropping bombs.

That was enough to set up a carpet bombing.

“I-it’s like they’re plowing the entire floating land from one end to the other,” said Patissiet. “If they continue this from the west end to the east end, the entire floating land will be blown away – and this village along with it!!”

“Misaka-san, what do you think?”

“Hm. They’re not very smart, are they?”

Those two didn’t sound concerned.

They sounded more like they were looking at the shape of the clouds and discussing whether it would rain overnight.

Maybe it was an improvement that the elf could actually pale at the thought of her impending doom. At the very least, that was more than those clone girls had been able to do. Her mouth flapped wordlessly, so Mikoto rubbed her head to comfort her while making a few observations.

“If they can drop bombs on any part of this land, they could have dropped their first bomb right in the middle of the village. The only reason to bomb the entire land from one end to the other is to inspire terror. Telling us the village will be bombed if we wait around is the same as telling us we have some time before the village is at risk.”

“And a carpet bombing also tells us they can’t send in any of their human troops until they’ve finished flattening everything. How many soldiers do they have up there? 500? Maybe 1000? Bringing all their armed troops to the front line and then having them sit around is like asking us to demonstrate our preemptive strike ability☆”

The enemy was on a higher layer.

An ordinary human would have no way of reaching another land 30m above them. Having the high ground was a decent advantage. Dropping things down was easy, but sending things up was a lot more difficult.

But those rules did not apply to the #3 Level 5.

“Don’t worry, Patissiet.”

“Why not?”

“1000 troops is nothing. We’re used to fighting against a city of 2.3 million.”

Part 4

Bam!!

The sound of incoming destruction was awfully dull.

It came from Misaka Mikoto’s feet landing on the upper floating island after using magnetism to leap straight up 30m with Shokuhou Misaki clinging to her hips.

The armored soldiers turned around in surprise while rolling heavy bombs measuring more than a meter across into position on the edge of the cliff.

“Wha-?”

“Oh, don’t mind us.”

Before they could recover from their shock, bikini armor Mikoto shoved one soldier over the edge with an arm and sent out a lightning spear to pierce through a large ball packed with gunpowder sitting a short distance away.

The one explosion triggered a chain reaction that blasted the soldiers into the air.

“This world’s magic is honestly kind of impressive since I can do all this without worrying about killing them.”

Little Patissiet and Elf Elder Bakerian had already explained that the soldiers wore armor designed to protect against the fire and impact elements to shield them against accidental explosions. The soldiers wouldn’t be killed by the 30m fall either because that would count as the impact element. They would probably be incapacitated for a while, though.

Mikoto didn’t expect this skirmish to settle anything.

The explosions were only a distraction.

This was only laying the groundwork to attack the enemy’s main force while they were still confused.

Mikoto lowered Shokuhou to the ground.

They stood side by side.

Yes.

Celesaqphere’s defense magic did not have an element to protect against lightning or brainwashing.

Bikini armor Mikoto sent lightning spears shooting from her bangs and dancer Shokuhou aimed her TV remote. At this point, the knights and soldiers’ thick armor was only a hindrance to their movement. Some had high-voltage currents pierce their steel armor and others were brainwashed into grabbing at their allies.

When Shokuhou saw the especially strong and muscular armored soldiers, she actually licked her lips alluringly. She could brainwash anyone into being her pawn, so a formidable foe wasn’t necessarily a bad thing for her.

“So many to choose from☆”

Although the way the scantily-clad dancer viewed the group of sweaty, muscular men with such eager delight could easily lead someone to misconstrue her intentions.

A great storm of chaos followed.

“Vanguard, escape to the sides!! We’ll blow them away with our artillery!!”

One soldier raised his unsheathed sword vertically.

That might seem like a cool ritual, but he was in fact taking an estimated measurement of the distance and angle to the enemy for aiming purposes. Behind him were siege weapons that looked like crossbows of more than 2m mounted on wheeled pedestals larger than a light car.

They were ballistae.

The stationary weapons used the elasticity of wood or animal tendons and the torsion of twisted rope to launch giant bolts. The bolts were more than 2m long and some of the ballistae were loaded with thick, wrapped chains measuring several meters long. When launched while spinning, that would be like shooting a giant version of that thing at the end of a weed cutter. A direct hit could probably slice right through a human torso. If their rotation could also stabilize their trajectory, they might also be able to fly like a frisbee.

(The projectiles are made of bronze. I can’t stop them with magnetism!!)

But…

“Shokuhou, charge ahead!!”

“Huh?”

“We’ll be killed if we fall back. I can’t stop the first shot, so the best plan is to not give them enough time to load the second shot!!”

The air was compressed.

Mikoto ran in with an iron sand sword in hand and Shokuhou stepped on one of her dancer outfit’s frills and tripped as something sharply scorched the air between the two of them. It was close, but it wasn’t too fast for Mikoto to dodge with her microwave radar.

“Hey!! Does that mean it was just dumb luck that I survived that!?” protested Shokuhou.

“(Tch. I’d really rather not accept that luck is an aspect of skill.)”

The ballistae were extremely powerful weapons, but it took multiple muscular soldiers to load a bolt, making this a battle of physical strength.

(They have plenty of ballistae, so why aren’t they splitting the work into phases so they can keep a constant stream of shots flying? Are they just stupid?)

Now that the enemy had screwed up, it was Mikoto’s turn.

“Ahhhh!!” she shouted, swinging her iron sand sword horizontally.

She sliced through the base of the targeting soldier’s sword. When he froze up in surprise, she kicked the him in the gut, sending him tumbling backwards. The armor must have shifted his center of gravity unusually high. And before he could get back up, Mikoto aimed her palm down and sent a few high-voltage jolts into him to silence him.

A griffin larger than an elephant puffed out its wings and glared at her. The soldiers must have released the reins of the monster they had used to drag in the ballista carts that rivalled two-story buildings in size. Bikini Mikoto used the bright light and loud noise of the high-voltage electricity to keep the griffin away while she shouted.

“Get up, Shokuhou! I’ll deal with the monster, so you hurry up and brainwash the ballista soldiers!!”

“Argh. Misaka-san, why don’t you – pant – take care of it all – gasp – on your own? Ugh…”

“Don’t just give up and wilt there, you weakling Queen!! None of this is over yet!!”

That was when Mikoto and Shokuhou heard a dull thud.

The sun was hidden overhead. By something around 200m above them.

Another floating island had joined the battle.

But the Railgun’s range was only 50m and lightning spears and iron sand swords would have a hard time attacking and destroying the underside of a floating island that had to be measured in kilometers.

At this rate, the enemy commander would escape.

In fact, they would be killed by falling bombs with no way of fighting back!!

Part 5

Before the fighting actually began, Mikoto and Shokuhou of course held a strategy meeting.

They sat around a table in the dining hall on the 1st floor of the village’s inn with snacks in hand. Patissiet and Elder Bakerian joined them.

Something had been low-key bothering bikini armor Mikoto for a while now.

(How many layers of floating lands overlap each other? How do we even hold a briefing for a battle fought in three dimensions?)

“Um, this is a map of the Poseidon Lakes where we are now.”

Little Patissiet spread something out on the table.

And she continued, “And this is the floating land above us.”

The maps were not on parchment. They were on some kind of transparently-thin paper and they were placed on top of each other. If this village was on the bottom layer, then you could apparently place the maps for the middle layer, top layer, and whatever other layers were needed on top of it.

“Hm. That’s hard to read. I get why it has to work this way, though.”

“We aren’t done yet. This finishes it up.”

Bakerian held out her hands and muttered something under her breath, causing a buzzing sound. A 3D image of the terrain shown on the thin maps appeared above the table.

“Oh, that’s neat,” said Shokuhou. “Now this is really feeling like a fantasy world☆”

“?”

The ordinary elf tilted her head at that one.

“We are in the Poseidon Lakes, but there are two floating lands approaching above us from the west. The middle layer is the Hades Plains, famous as a necropolis. The top layer is the Zeus Mountains. The Zeus Mountains are so high up they often collide with the clouds, altering the weather and sending frequent lightning down toward the Poseidon Lakes.”

“…” “…”

“Um?” said Patissiet giving them questioning looks.

Poseidon, Hades, and Zeus. Even residents of science-obsessed Academy City recognized those names. The names in Celesaqphere continued to be extremely lazy. Anyone with any experience with myth-based manga and anime would know these ones.

The worst part was that the Poseidon Lakes was apparently dotted with seawater springs, meaning the name actually kind of fit.

(Someone from Earth didn’t visit here long before we did, did they?)

“Most of the soldiers and bombs will be deployed to the Hades Plains in the middle. As that land travels from west to east, they can drop their bombs to achieve a complete carpet bombing of the Poseidon Lakes where we are.”

Needing to view multiple lands to understand the win conditions for this battle was annoying. If the floating lands were on a set course, the enemy could take a higher layer of land long before it arrived, wait until that floating land was on top of the target, and then send in all their soldiers.

“But the bottom layer and middle layer are only 30m apart. I can make a direct attack there,” said Mikoto.

“That is a wondrous thing to hear, but the real problem is the Zeus Mountains at the very top.” Elder Bakerian pointed up toward the ceiling. “The distance between the middle layer and top layer is 200m. Even your power will have a hard time taking you that far, won’t it?”

“Well, yeah…”

“And it goes without saying their top commander is going to be watching everything from up there,” said Shokuhou. “Is there any way we could take over the middle layer and ask for a truce?”

“The Zeus Mountains will be prepared for at least a bombing. But less for dropping on an attacking enemy and more for threatening disobedient troops into continuing the attack from the Hades Plains.”

So even if they took the middle layer, they would have bombs raining down on them from the top layer.

They could not win this battle without directly attacking the top layer.

Part 6

The Zeus Mountains’ Frontline Command Garrison was really just a name. It was more of a luxurious villa made to be dismantled and moved to the battlefield in pieces.

“I am detecting explosions on the Hades Plains instead of the bottom layer. This is highly unusual,” reported Mind, a young blond butler.

Lavender, a female knight in intricate silver armor, curled up on the sofa with her arms hugging her knees.

She hung her head and muttered to herself.

“No, no, no. Now we’re going to lose and I’ll be captured and they’ll definitely make me their slave. Please no. Wait. I’ll do anything. I’ll do any job, so just don’t use my body for fertilizer in your field after I die. If you’re going to kill me, at least give me a dignified and painless execution. Don’t make a public show out of it either. Please, my parents will be watching…”

“Milady, this is a minor problem. Viewing the big picture, our victory is still all but assured.”

Lavender’s head immediately shot up.

Her face shined bright.

“Yes, of course I will win this!! Ah ha ha ha ha ha! Those rebel fools deserve no rights. Why even bother counting them as they march to their own doom? We can just count the scorched heads blown from their bodies after the dust has settled. Hee hee hee hee ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!”

“Of course, even minor problems can lead to complete disaster in war.”

“No, no, no, no…”

Lavender was said to be the local lord’s right hand and was feared by the people, but she was usually like this. She could only hold her head high when she had an absolute advantage in battle. Even though the true mettle of a commander was seen in their ability to turn around a losing situation and even though the difference in power was so great here that even a bored old retiree could command a force to victory.

But that aside…

“Are you sure this was a good idea?” asked Mind. “I know it was necessary for victory, but the Poseidon Lakes contain a village known for its fulgurites. The carpet bombing will kill the villagers as well.”

“H-hmph! The rebels have taken the village for themselves, so its destruction is unavoidable. Those villagers only have themselves to blame for just handing their village over to those wretched rebels in the first place! Heh!!”

She really was a carefree knight when she was winning.

Mind sighed.

(But if any of the villagers survive, they could easily become true insurrectionists. To prevent that, we must slaughter every last one of them, including the old, the infirm, the women, and the children.)

His mistress likely had not thought through what her decision would mean and she would probably blanch if he did tell her.

So the butler kept those thoughts to himself.

Lavender was never outstanding in anything she did.

But that was no reason for her butler’s affection for her to waver. He accepted that she was in fact second-rate and then did whatever it took to prevent the great gears of society from tearing her apart.

The world of Celesaqphere was endlessly cruel.

Mind had sworn he would protect Lavender from that world no matter what. So he did not limit himself to elf slaves. He would use anyone he could as a card in his deck. If he made sure someone else always paid the price for his mistress’s second-rate decisions, Lavender could live the life of a first-rate leader.

He was prepared to deceive his mistress until she died of old age with a smile on her face.

He was willing to go to hell as long as she was bound for heaven.

(Ideally, I can blame this on a rival whose skill outmatches hers so I can get her promoted and defeat her enemies at the same time. What a pain.)

Just then, Mind heard a dull explosion rising from below.

Lavender hugged her knees up on the sofa, her shoulders shaking.

“Wh-what just happened? I’m still winning, aren’t I?”

“It would appear some insurgents have made it to the Hades Plains. The barracks there appear to have been destroyed. I do not know what kind of magic they are using, but a mere two insurgents are tearing the place apart.”

“No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Heh heh, eh heh heh. Why can’t we all just get along? Because we can’t, that’s why. Oh, I just know they’re going to strip me naked and march me around the public square with a collar around my neck…”

She was holding her head and wallowing in pessimism again.

This knight’s mood was influenced far too much by the changing situation.

“Didn’t you leave some weapons in the Zeus Mountains for just such an occurrence?”

“Oh, yeah! Which means I can win!! Hah, and the Zeus Mountains are 200m above the Hades Plains. Ah ha ha ha ha!! Sending troops down that distance is one thing, but sending an attack back up is another thing altogether. Now we just need to drop bombs from here to blow those insurgents to smithereens! I’m so smart!!”

(Of course, this will mean our bombs deliver the finishing blow to our own defeated soldiers down on the Hades Plains. If any of them survive, they will hold quite a grudge.)

But it was a butler’s duty to obey his mistress’s command.

The Zeus Mountains’ Frontline Command Garrison was in fact a luxurious villa, but there was no one there who could handle explosives other than the knight and her butler. The rest were chefs, sommeliers, and the like. So Lavender and Mind walked to the edge of the floating land, pounded a stake into the ground, and attached lifelines to their hips.

“Where are the insurgents!?”

“I seriously doubt they are staying in one place. With everything going on, anyone still on their feet and moving nimbly about will be the enemy.”

On that direction, Lavender looked down again.

A Warrior Woman was swiftly moving around (with a Dancer in tow) in search of cover. She left a brick wall still standing among the wreckage of the griffin stable and appeared to be rushing toward anotherlarge piece of cover.

There were a few crossbow-like ballistae left.

One of them changed direction. And for some reason, it was tilted as far up as it would go, aiming toward the upper layer.

The ever-calm butler shouted in a rare panic.

“That is not good. Get down, milady!!”

Part 7

The deafening explosion happened so far away it barely seemed connected to anything Mikoto had done.

It felt more like she was watching a fireworks show in the distant sky.

She had stuffed one of the massive straw-like bolts with strong drinks and explosives and then launched it from a ballista.

A height of 200m was too far for her Railgun’s 50m range. Her lightning spears couldn’t damage the upper floating land either. Magnetically leaping that far would also be a challenge.

But the large stationary weapons the enemy had brought were a different story.

There was some debate about the firing range of a ballista, but it was thought to be roughly 300-400m.

The explosion might seem too far away to matter to her, but it had to be a disaster indeed for the Zeus Mountains. Mikoto could even hear a bunch of secondary explosions going off.

Dancer Shokuhou leaned her back against side of the convenient toy called a ballista.

“Can we bring this back with us?”

“Whether we’ll use it or not, we need to take everything we can get. That’s a basic rule of adventuring.”

Part 8

“You aren’t making the people you captured your slaves?”

“No.” “No.”

Mikoto and Shokuhou answered the elf’s honest question in almost exact unison.

They had routed the lord’s army, but that was only the first wave.

A second and third would be along eventually. The enemy had plenty of people and weapons, so waiting for them to arrive would only wear Mikoto and Shokuhou out. So they had a single plan.

“There’s no good reason to wait for them to prepare a larger force, so let’s head out and attack the lord’s headquarters right away.”

They readily abandoned the village that had to be a marked target anyway.

The key to guerilla warfare was light footwork, not a sturdy base. Their previous battle had been to secure the time needed to escape safely.

The elves had apparently lived out in nature before they were captured, so Mikoto and Shokuhou brought them to another floating land and had them wait deep in the forest there. Living in nature was normal for the elves, so they could apparently build temporary tent-like shelters by arranging long tree branches in a cone shape and holding them in place with mud. Nothing prevented them from rotting, so the shelters would apparently return to nature not long after creation.

Mikoto and Shokuhou’s next destination was the residence of the lord who was calling the shots.

Patissiet volunteered as their guide.

“The two of you came from another world – whatever that means – so won’t you get lost on your own?” she said with a smile.

But this fantasy world was not kind enough to let them arrive after a single day of walking.

That meant they needed to set up camp for the night.

They needed water, food, and a bed, but they also had more feminine needs.

Mikoto had three sets of bikini armor she would wear in a rotation, but she didn’t want to wear them out. That meant washing their removed clothing in a nearby water source.

And washing their current clothing meant removing them as well.

After removing her dancer’s outfit, Shokuhou put her hands on her hips and grumbled to herself.

“We’ve gotten much too used to changing clothes outside.”

“ ‘We’ nothing, you vulgar fanservice provider.”

They ended up grappling (by grabbing at each other’s hair in the nude), but their childishness vanished the instant tears formed in Patissiet’s eyes.

For now, they needed to wash their clothes.

“Are we just going to wash them in water? What about detergent!?” asked Shokuhou.

“You can at least find soap in nature.”

“Ehh? Do you mean from beef tallow, fish oil, nuts, or palm trees?”

“Do you have any idea how much work it is to chemically process the oils once you have them!? This is a fantasy world without petroleum or factories! It would be easier to find a plant with saponin in it and directly get the soap from there. Like soapbark or soapberry.”

“Huh. Then we’d better hope this entirely different world has the exact same plants as Earth, Misaka-san.”

“Just get looking!!”

Mikoto mildly regretted not doing this before removing her clothes.

They managed to find a few plants that looked promising. This really was an easy-mode world since outdoors novices could survive just fine.

It also bears mentioning that saponin has a hemolysis effect, so it must be handled with care.

“Ugh, my upper arms are killing me. I miss only having to press a button to get the laundry started and for the drying ability to happen automatically.”

“Hm, I think you deserve credit for not saying it’s something a maid does for you.”

Once the laundry was done, they moved on to food.

Patissiet crouched and pointed into the distance.

“Sh. Look at that. We can have a feast tonight.”

“Um, Patissiet? Those look like adorable bunny rabbits to me.”

“Because they are. They don’t have as strong a flavor as sheep or goats and you don’t need to remove the blood and guts and dry them for several days before you can eat them like with big deer or boars. The meager amount of meat on each one is a problem, but any land animal or bird you can prepare and eat right away is valuable.”

“Ugh.”

Couldn’t it at least be fish, thought Mikoto, but that distinction may have been her human arrogance speaking.

When living outdoors, it was kill or be killed.

Her Railgun would obliterate the rabbits along with the terrain around them, so she opted for a high-voltage lightning spear instead.

“Would now be good?”

“Aim a bit more to the right and wait until it turns its head. Now!”

“Kh.”

With a sound of bursting air, the distant wild rabbit hopped straight up.

Direct hit.

Also, Patissiet was surprisingly good at giving instructions. Was her skill at calculating the margin of error based on physics or psychology? She had what it took to be a good spotter. Unlike a certain idiot queen who just ate and slept all day long.

Patissiet had seemed powerless when she broke a branch and threw the pieces at the Hydra, but those makeshift darts had hit their target. With perfect accuracy.

With that in mind…

“Patissiet, would you be able to help out a lot more if we gave you a bow?”

“Ah ha ha. You can’t do that. If a slave so much as touches a projectile weapon, they will be executed for attempted rebellion.”

Well, there was another unpleasant local law.

After that, they secured a few more rabbits.

Mikoto had learned plenty of classy skills at Tokiwadai, but how to butcher a rabbit was not one of them. She was reliant on Patissiet’s directions as she used an iron sand sword to remove the skin and organs. She found it horrific at first, but once it no longer looked like a fluffy stuffed animal, she found it weirdly easy to see it as a kitchen ingredient instead.

Once you cooked it, meat was meat.

If she had eaten it without knowing what it was, she might have thought it was lean chicken. She had chopped it up into small pieces to make sure it cooked through, so it even looked a lot like salted yakitori removed from the skewer.

“Just meat doesn’t really feel like a meal,” complained Shokuhou. “Even some bread or pasta would help.”

“Can’t you just think of this as fried chicken night?”

They had brought a bottle of salt with them when they left the village, which really helped this taste better than the grilled squid.

And aside from that, Patissiet eagerly picked something she found in the bushes. She said it was a type of berry.

But instead of acting as a vitamin supplement…

“I love these. Eating them really wakes you up.”

Apparently it was more like a dessert. Mikoto tried a few, but they were quite tart. Instead of something sweet to soothe your weariness, they were apparently meant to shock the drowsiness away with their sour flavor. How hard-working was that elf?

Their journey continued like this for three days.

On the way, they changed clothes, washed their clothes, ate whatever food they could find, blasted bandits with a Railgun, and created beds to sleep on before finally arriving at their destination.

“So this is the place?” asked Mikoto like she could hardly believe it.

They had spent several days crossing multiple floating lands, but a large city was finally coming into view. There were a lot of conifer forests on this floating land, so approaching unseen wouldn’t be a challenge.

They didn’t get too close since the trees ended a bit before the city, but there was a large river nearby. An equine kelpie and a scylla with the upper body of a girl combined with a fusion of different animals were swimming cheerfully in the river.

“Pant, gasp. Th-there’s an area without any trees over there.”

“They’ll see us from a distance if we head into that clearing, so stay away from it, you unathletic ball of sweat.”

This region’s lord directly ruled this city.

It had a very different feel to the previous village and fields. The well-organized city was surrounded by a deep moat and stone walls standing more than 5m tall and the limited gates into the city were strictly guarded. For safety? The city looked more like a giant prison to Mikoto.

The large river joined with the moat and a portion of it was taken in through the city wall.

There was a thick grate on the wall there, so no boats could get in or out.

(Ugh, this design reminds me too much of Academy City.)

“A walled city, huh? It looks strictly guarded at first, but there isn’t much it could do to stop an airship attack from above,” said Mikoto.

“Yeah, well, we don’t have one of those,” pointed out Shokuhou.

“Or we could tunnel in from the bottom of this floating land.”

“That’s even less likely to happen.”

Then they had to think about what they could do.

The city had maybe 200 thousand people inside.

Patissiet pointed into the walls from a distant hill.

“Isn’t that incredible? Valhalla is the city of commerce where the baron lives.”

“Have some consistency, people. That’s not even Greek.”

“?”

The elf gave a bewildered head tilt.

(But still…)

This was their first look at a “big city” in this world.

From a distance, they could see it was packed full of buildings 3-5 floors tall with stone-paved streets and public squares. The structures all looked more like businesses than homes.

The village hadn’t known much about preservatives, so they had avoided wooden structures.

But here, building a wooden house and then reinforcing its exterior with brick appeared to be the mainstream. According to Patissiet, wooden frames brought nothing but risks. That meant these residences had room for decoration and playfulness instead of pure practicality and functionality. It was more refined and showed the unique luxury of a big city. The bricks were not just red. They had been baked with a variety of impurities mixed in to create a wide variety of colors.

Did they use wood here because preservatives were easier to come by in the big city, because the white smoke leaving the chimneys had unintentionally coated the exteriors, or because the city inside the wall was kept clean, preempting wood-eating bugs and mold? Mikoto had no way of knowing.

“Hm. The houses I can see are the dormer type,” said Shokuhou.

“That increases the number of first-floor entrances facing the road, so it makes sense. Everyone must actually live on the 2nd story and above. Patissiet did say this is city of commerce.”

“Dormer?” asked Patissiet, tilting her head cutely.

When rectangular buildings were lined up, having the short side facing the road was called the gable type and having the long side facing the road was called the dormer type.

The church steeples and such looked Medieval European, but none of it meshed with Mikoto and Shokuhou’s knowledge of world history. For one, the way each home had its own well instead of having a communal one and the rainwater drainage ditches on the sides of the roads felt a lot more like modern Japanese infrastructure just made with older parts. There weren’t tragic toilet spaces jutting out from the 2nd-floor walls, so they may have had full flush toilets. Probably powered by their magic, though.

“With public infrastructure that nice, they must have a tax system to match.”

“They’re probably charged endless usage fees like with highways. Because as long as you live, you still need water, so it’s not like anyone can refuse if they say the tax ability is for constructing waterways.”

Their target had to be the biggest building in the city.

That was the lord’s residence.

However, it was not a castle.

That one building was a sturdily-built stone mansion. Instead of brick made of baked dirt, they had actually cut big, heavy stones. A sign of the resident’s wealth.

“The lord’s mansion, huh?” muttered Mikoto as she observed it from a distance.

“Yes, lords are only allowed mansions or fortresses. Only kings may live in a castle.”

That custom had not existed in Medieval Europe, so was the rule limited to this fantasy world?

“It looks strictly guarded to me,” said Shokuhou.

“”Can’t you just brainwash all the soldiers with Mental Out?”

“That won’t be enough. It has those Anubis and Gargoyle things patrolling the place. Y’know, those autonomous gatekeepers made of ceramic or stone. I imagine they are the main defense ability. Maybe it’s like the difference between infantry and tanks. I can brainwash all the foot soldiers, but they’ll only be defeated by those magic unmanned weapons.”

There were giant dogs made of smooth black ceramic. But when they were the size of a work van, their weight and size alone were enough of a weapon. Instead of attacking with swords or spears, they could crush you below them or smash your bones with their sturdy jaws. It was an extremely primitive and painful form of violence, but it was also similar to being crushed by heavy machinery.

Mikoto frowned.

“Isn’t Anubis a name you see in museums about the Egyptian pyramids? What’s it doing in this Western fantasy world?”

“For that matter, Gargoyles were originally decorative drain spouts. Just like you aren’t going to find Aegis ships mentioned in Greek mythology, shouldn’t we assume the role ability given to a name is different in this world?”

Dancer Shokuhou sounded annoyed as she rubbed her palm against her handbag.

Those giant black ceramic dogs sounded like very dangerous foes. And while it looked like the Gargoyles were human-sized, the Anubises were the size of a work van. A bite from one of those could easily tear right through your torso.

Perhaps the winged Gargoyles used their swift flight to chase their targets into a dead end on the surface where the grounded Anubises could deliver the finishing blow.

They were inorganic, but they couldn’t be hijacked with electronic hacking. The #3 and the #5 had no way of controlling them, making them a decent nuisance.

But that didn’t mean the Level 5s didn’t have a trump card.

“Eh? Me?”

The elf looked puzzled when they turned her way.

Mikoto nodded.

“The building is locked up tight, but I’m sure all the hard work is done by slaves, not the humans. That means elves built that mansion. So if we ask around among the elves outside the city and find the ones involved in constructing and repairing it, we might get our hands on detailed plans or even learn about a weak point.”

Preventing that would provide the kings and lords with another excuse to “eliminate” the elves they had worn out, but if that risk hadn’t occurred to those idiots, so much the better. They could be ruined before they had time to fix that bad habit.

And eventually…

After receiving descriptions from several elves, Patissiet used a stick to draw out a picture on the ground while relaying the information to Mikoto and Shokuhou.

“How exactly do you plan to defeat the lord here? As you can see, Valhalla is a well-protected city, so people call it a ‘living legend’ as a city that has never been conquered in its 200 year history.”

Mikoto responded by looking in an entirely different direction: up.

“Doesn’t look like we can travel vertically today.”

“This floating land appears to be dozens of kilometers across,” said Shokuhou. “Don’t you think this will be a flat, two-dimensional battle?”

“Sounds good to me,” said bikini armor Mikoto. “I’ve seen some others in the city dressed like you, Patissiet, but they don’t appear to be elves.”

“Eh? Hm…that one there is a succubus I think, the one carrying boxes is a scylla, and that’s a harpy up on that roof.”

“A full line-up of monster girls, huh?” said Shokuhou.

“Are you sure you don’t read manga on your phone?” asked Mikoto.

Those monsters wore steel collars and thick chains.

And the people of this world walked right past them like they weren’t even there.

“I’ve been wondering, why do they work so hard when they aren’t being paid? They could at least half-ass it when no one’s looking.”

“Hm? But it feels bad when you don’t finish a job you started,” said the elf, looking bewildered.

That weird diligence may have been another reason the humans had taken advantage of them. No one in power was going to overlook a workforce that did good work for next to nothing.

“The biggest mansion a bit east of the center is the lord’s place☆ The gate on this side is the closest one to it, so do we just about have plan ability ready?”

“More or less…”

With that, Mikoto pointed toward Valhalla while peering inside the thick city walls from the hill. She gestured as if jabbing her index finger into a few points in space and then swished her finger as if connecting those dots into a constellation.

“?”

The elf tilted her head at first, but she finally figured it out.

Maybe she was getting used to those two.

(Oh, she’s deciding what places to destroy and in what order.)

Part 9

In the middle of the night, the deep, pitch-black darkness was split by a straight line of orange light that blasted the giant eastern gate to smithereens. Splinters and wreckage scattered inwards, raining down on the city.

Misaka Mikoto’s Railgun was responsible.

And this time, Mikoto’s #3 Level 5 power was not her only weapon.

With a wave of her right hand, several figures passed by her from behind.

Fulgurites were glass stones made by lightning strikes.

In the world of Celesaqphere, they were considered gems even more precious than diamonds, but Mikoto’s control of high-voltage electric currents meant she could mass-produce them as long as she had sand to work with.

What did this mean?

She could gather as many swords-for-hire – aka adventurers – as she wanted.

Despite the adventurer title, they did not actually explore unknown dungeons and caverns. Instead, they were more like a dirty fighting force that would complete any “quest” as long as they were rewarded appropriately. So if you had the money, you could hire them by the dozen without going through the guild.

(It was bad enough that the weapon shops here let you buy swords and even projectile weapons like bows and that everyone can use magic as long as they use the right incantation, but these adventurers take the cake. If you pay them, they’ll turn their swords on anyone. This fantasy world really could stand to tighten up its laws.)

“Stick to what we hired you to do. Focus on the Anubis and Gargoyle autonomous guards made of black ceramic and stone. But you don’t actually have to defeat them – distracting them will be enough. And no pillaging! Don’t even take a quick peek inside a drawer or chest!!”

“Wouldn’t dream of it!! You’ve paid us plenty up front. We’re set for a while financially and a full wallet is the secret to happily swinging your sword while staying morally clean. But anyway, do you two ladies need a bodyguard?”

“No, thanks. We can take care of ourselves, so stick to the job we gave you. Focus on the elves, succubi, scyllas, harpies, and any other monsters being used as slaves! Get them safely out of the city. We paid you up front with fulgurites worth more than platinum or diamond, so you’d better do a professional job here!!”

“Yes, ma’am!”

Something crawled along the surface of the adventurers. It was the rough fur of a wolf.

They were a pack of lycanthropes.

So they were monsters. That explained why they were so eager for a well-paying job that didn’t go through the human-run guild.

Their sheaths and hilts were badly worn, but the drawn blades glinted sharply with a practical light. If their weapons were obviously top-rate, it would put everyone around them on guard. So keeping the visual parts so rundown may have been a strategy to survive by making any possible enemies underestimate them. The logic made sense for werewolves who used their transformation to blend into a human city.

“We just got a hell of a payday, so don’t any of you die before we can throw it all away at the tavern!!”

Mikoto and Shokuhou had hired them to force their way into civilian homes.

“It’s scary what people will do for money,” said Mikoto.

“Sounds like a good lesson ability for Tokiwadai students,” said Shokuhou.

Being able to hire a bunch of sketchy adventurers to rampage through a city seemed like a bit too much freedom. Someone needed to tell Celesaqphere about laws against criminal conspiracy and assembling with dangerous weapons.

“Oh, no! We’re under attack!”

“But by who!? What kingdom are they from!?”

The city guard swiftly got to work, but their confusion was palpable. Having their gate blown apart was a first in the city’s 200-year history and the attacking force was decked out in expensive gear, but they were after the disposable enslaved monsters instead of any kind of valuable. It was clear on the guards’ faces that they couldn’t work out the attackers’ intent.

Bikini armor Mikoto fired another Railgun into the park fountain and destroyed the rainwater drainage ditches alongside the road.

As she continued this process a few times, she heard a dull roaring sound.

“The moat around the city is huge, but they only have small waterways inside he city and there’s no sign of the big river. My guess is they use culverts or underground waterways. So if I keep damaging the flood control infrastructure, the rest should happen for me.”

No matter how large the scale, water control was generally handled with pumps.

By using her Railgun to crush one end and applying enough pressure, the water would come rushing out of the other end. Or the pipe or waterway would fail to endure the pressure and rupture.

The ground split open and water rushed out, filling the roads and the homes’ underfloor space. She didn’t actually need to flood the entire city. She just needed to create enough confusion to prevent anyone from predicting what her true goal was.

The things you didn’t understand were the most frightening.

“Good, good, good. The solid non-rubber bottoms of their feet won’t have any grip ability, so a bit of flooding should make them slip. Now we don’t have to worry about those giant Anubises and Gargoyl- oh!!”

An Anubis wobbled and nearly crushed a nearby home, so Mikoto quickly blew it apart with a Railgun.

This world accepted slavery as normal, but Patissiet and the elves wouldn’t be happy if the ordinary people died.

Mikoto didn’t want to go the revenge route unless the elves truly wanted it.

“Pant, gasp.”

“Run, Shokuhou! A winged Gargoyle is flying toward you!!”

“Wh-what kind of fantasy world doesn’t let you adorably soar through the night sky on a broom!?”

“if they lock onto you from the air, you’ll have those Anubises rushing you from all sides. C’mon, hurry!”

Mikoto adjusted her grip on an iron sand sword and ran through the city night.

The place was flooded, so using electricity would shock Shokuhou unconscious and then she could easily drown in a puddle only 3cm deep.

The lord’s mansion had a noticeably light guard when viewed from outside.

(Hiring so many dirty adventurers was the right move. Their rampage hid that we’re actually after the lord!!)

Afraid of a surprise attack, Mikoto launched a few Railguns into the front entrance and outside walls just to be safe. She and Shokuhou stepped into the half-collapsed building while watching to see what the enemy would do.

People were curled up and trembling in the unlit front hall and corridor.

“?”

Dancer Shokuhou aimed her TV remote, looking puzzled. Mikoto revealed the trick.

“Bright lights and loud noises have a psychological effect on people. Like how a nearby lightning strike is enough to make you cower. Stun grenades do the same thing. Just hiding in a sturdy bomb shelter during a wartime air raid can supposedly cause enough stress for people to bleed from the heart.”

“Am I the only one who thinks the world must be coming to an end if a meathead like you is muscling in on my mental territory?”

Mikoto had gotten the idea from the thorough carpet bombing the lord’s army had launched. No one had been harmed there, but innocent Patissiet had still trembled in fear. So this was payback.

A great feast of payback.

That lord could gorge himself on his just deserts.

“Anyway, it looks like there are still a fair number of people here. Do you know what the lord looks like?” asked Mikoto.

“No, but there are portraits all over the place.”

Shokuhou was right about that.

Maybe he was a hell of a narcissist or maybe this was the norm in Celesaqphere, but giant portraits hung all over the mansion. A large redheaded man wore thick armor with lion-like fur attached. He was like a picture-perfect example of strength, masculinity, and ferocity.

To be blunt, he looked powerful.

“Perfect.”

“You can’t brainwash people into your pawns like I can, so why are you so happy about having a strong enemy?”

As they moved room from room, they checked each of the people trembling where they had fallen to the floor. None of them were the man in the portraits.

At the far back of the third floor, they found an especially large bedroom door

That had to lead to the master bedroom.

Mikoto and Shokuhou pressed against the dark hallway wall on either side of the door.

“(Okay, I’m going to burn through the lock and then launch a blast to dazzle whoever’s inside.)”

“(And I’m supposed to brainwash the lord before he recovers?)”

Mikoto did it all in a single, flowing motion.

She melted the lock with a high-voltage current, kicked the door down, and sent a welding-bright flash of electricity from her fingertip and through the vast room.

“Gyah!?”

She heard a voice from within.

But Shokuhou froze after stepping inside. She fiddled with her remote, unsure what to do.

“What’s the holdup, Shokuhou!? Finish this off, you idiot!”

“You say that, but look.”

Mikoto’s gaze followed Shokuhou’s pointing finger to see someone trembling below a massive portrait. He was a middle-aged man, but he was even shorter than Mikoto. He had sunken eyes, pale skin, and a scrawny build. He looked more like a sneakthief than anything.

(The lord isn’t here? Is this a servant or a guar-?)

“Wh-wh-wh-wh-who are you people!? Y-you dare oppose me – the baron!?”

At first, she assumed this was some servant trying his best to pretend to be his lord. By pretending to be someone important, maybe he could escape an encounter with robbers, so he was putting on the greatest act of his life.

But then Mikoto and Shokuhou both looked up at the giant portrait directly behind the little man.

The portrait showed a large redheaded man with the picture perfect strength, masculinity, and ferocity of a lion.

Picture perfect?

Wait a second…

“So that painting is supposed to be you?”

Mikoto looked back and forth between the sneakthief and the lion.

She had a hard time imagining just how difficult that had been for the artist. She guessed it had been easier to ignore the model altogether and paint based on imagination alone.

“Forget it, then. Shokuhou, silence this sneakthief.”

“Sure. Sigh, but this weakling is a real letdown.”

They heard a weird straining noise.

It came from the sneakthief’s throat as he hung his head.

Then the lord exploded.

“How dare youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!!!”

That was not a figure of speech.

The lord’s armor exploded with bright light.

And six glowing wings grew from the back of his armor.

All sound vanished.

The deafening boom seemed to come after a delay. The shockwave crashed into their entire bodies and rattled their bones more than their eardrums. The stone wall behind him was blown away, letting the chilly night wind in.

Shokuhou grimaced at the prickling pain she felt across her skin.

All of this was only from the uncontrolled excess energy.

How deadly would this be if he gathered it all together and directed it at a single target?

The sneakthief had evolved into an angelic sneakthief.

“As this region’s lord and as a baron, I am Level 9999. I have long since reached the level cap!! I can equip even the most legendary of weapons and draw out its full power! I will now show you the power of the end! I will demonstrate the violence of the greatest possible spiritual awakening!!!”

“…”

“I haven’t even begun. The despair you feel now is nothing compared to what is to come!!”

He formed a megaphone with his hands and shouted.

“T-t-t-take their weapons from them!! Send a carrier pigeon to the guild and have their levels revoked!!”

His lips twisted into a smile.

His face was drenched with an unpleasant sweat.

The deadly force he wielded and his nervous excitement were a complete mismatch. But the sense that he couldn’t properly control his violence made it all the more horrifying. He was the kind of person who would kill in a flash of anger and then look back on it and desperately search out justifications for his actions.

The sweaty little man smiled with no understanding of what his violence would really do.

A brutal light shined deep in his eyes.

“Hee, hee hee. I can wield the ultimate power with all the Level 9999 magic equipment I want. Meanwhile, you have had your levels revoked, leaving you at Level 1!! The strongest will now trample the weakest underfoot. You will die powerless to stop meeeeeeee!!!”

In all honesty, this was Mikoto’s first thought.

“Oh, crap. I completely forgot about that equipment rule.”

“~ ~ ~!!!???”

The lord’s eyes opened wider than seemed possible.

Bikini armor Mikoto scratched her head apologetically.

“Patissiet did explain all that for us, didn’t she? Let’s see, how did that work? You register with the guild, work and fight for them to gain experience, and then you report to the guild to level up?”

“Oh, yeah. She did say that, didn’t she? And the weapons and armor you can equip is restricted by job and level, so you ordinarily need to level up if you want to use a powerful weapon, right?”

Mikoto and Shokuhou exchanged a glance.

“Shokuhou, are you using any kind of weapon?”

“You mean like my remote? You, on the other hand, are proving your cavewoman ability by doing it barehanded.”

Tears filled the lord’s eyes.

If those two weren’t using weapons, he couldn’t revoke their right to use them. He couldn’t weaken them.

Also…

“Level down.”

“Hweh?” said the sneakthief-faced lord.

Bikini armor Mikoto pointed down and mimed pressing an invisible button.

Over and over.

“Level down, level down, level down, down, down, down.”

“Wait, what are you doing ? What do you think you’re doiiiiing!?”

Experience was a special type of bioelectricity.

However it worked in other worlds, in this world Misaka Mikoto could manipulate experience and thus take complete control of the level system.

He was at the level cap of 9999?

If he got in her way, she could bring him all the way down to Level 1.

“Stop, please stop, you’ve seen my looks and my physique, this ultimate equipment is the only thing to prove my dignity and my power! No, noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!”

After controlling the exploitative guild, working the enslaved elves until they collapsed, and growing fat taking all of their experience for himself, the sneakthief lord had the nerve to protest.

The light in Mikoto’s eyes said it was his turn to have everything taken from him.

The time for payback had arrived.

There was a disconcerting “zap!!”

The rapid level drop must have brought him below the level requirement because his glowing armor burst from within and fell away in pieces.

All that remained was a sneakthief in his underwear.

Tokiwadai’s Queen, who looked unusually at home in the dancer’s outfit, grimaced and gave him an icy look.

“What a disgrace…”

“H-hwuh?”

The sneakthief fell to all fours but not so he could use his scrawny arms to cover himself up.

He was trying to cover up the scattered ultimate equipment with his own body.

This was what happened when someone never had to work.

He was still trying to rely on his rare tools more than his own abilities.

That was why the #5 had rejected him with a single word: disgrace.

In a society that required participation in the guild system to survive, the elves were forced to choose from a list of awful jobs each day. And even if they completed the work they would much rather not do, they were cheated with unfair scales and had their pay and their experience stolen away in the form of a “fee”.

They diligently did their work but were still worn down to the point they had trouble eating.

Meanwhile, this man grinned smugly in his throne, leveling up endlessly.

He was the symbol of that system.

He was a visualization of that blackhole of exploitation.

“Wait, stop. Don’t destroy it, I beg you! This ultra-rare equipment is the symbol of my powerrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!”

A Railgun reduced them to fragments.

With a single arcade coin, the legend didn’t even last a full second.

The lord screamed.

The bizarre roar continued for more than ten seconds before he collapsed, lighter than a scrap of paper. His limbs were sprawled out around him and his empty eyes stared off in a random direction.

“A legend bought with money is worth less than the dust on the ground,” spat Mikoto.

Part 10

A wildfire took everything from him.

Including his wife and his young son.

But the wall of fire that approached with terrifying speed wasn’t the only thing that took lives that day.

Humans killed elves, elves killed humans, and so many of the corpses were too disfigured to say which side was responsible. It had been a maelstrom and storm of violence. Valhalla was protected by its thick wall, so even with the forest blazing outside, no one should have died as long as everyone inside the city worked together to evacuate.

But one young man screamed that they would be cooked alive inside the city, threw open the thick gate, and ran out into the crimson conflagration.

The fire had entered through the open gate like it was alive and the panic had inspired further panic.

At that point, there was no stopping it.

Some tried to stockpile food and water so they could survive, some used the chaos as a chance to loot, some ran around searching for the ‘culprits’ despite no evidence the wildfire was a case of arson, leading to hatred, grudges, and so much meaningless death.

While the fire burned for three days and three nights, the shabby little man realized something.

When disaster struck, it was already too late to start determining the priority of lives. A hierarchy had to be worked out in advance to ensure a swift recovery.

He refused to let the harm grow uncontrollably like this.

As the lord left in charge of all these people, it was up to him to come up with that hierarchy.

Even if it felt heartless.

To save as many lives as possible, he needed to be familiarize himself with the pain of letting some die.

But who had he prioritized in his hierarchy?

Oh, thought the lord.

If only he had been able to see what truly mattered and prioritized that. At the time, the all-encompassing sense of loss and emptiness he felt after losing his wife and son had left him unable to feel a connection to anyone – human, elf, or other monster – but what if he had found the courage to cautiously take someone else’s hand again?

He realized now that was when he had taken a wrong turn.

“Why…?” he muttered, staring down at the shattered remains of his ultimate equipment.

Why did he even want all that power?

What good was it when he couldn’t overcome the sorrow of his loss or find the courage to protect the weak?

“Why was I so fixated on this?”

Part 11

Mikoto and Shokuhou had defeated the lord.

But what they really wanted was the grimoire that shitty lord had stolen from Elf Elder Bakerian. Without that, they had no way of searching out the three Demon Lords they needed to defeat and could not prepare the three treasures ceremony necessary to send them back to Earth.

“Oh, this looks like the library.”

Once they found the correct room, Patissiet suddenly climbed up onto a bookcase and searched the shelves while hopping from bookcase to bookcase like they were stones in a pond. While elves probably liked high places since they lived in the trees, Mikoto really wished she wouldn’t do that when wearing a short skirt. It was inappropriate!

“Hm.”

Mikoto also searched the shelves (from the floor of course), but the books were not written in Japanese or English. It could be easy to forget since they used decimal numbers and they could understand each other’s spoken language, but this really was another world. She thought maybe she just had to give up, but then she noticed something.

(Huh? I feel like there’s a pattern to the titles on the spines.)

The titles were written with an angular otherworld language that wasn’t quite the English alphabet or the Cyrillic alphabet. Mikoto couldn’t even guess whether this was an alphabet where each symbol was a meaningless sound or if it was like kanji and each symbol was a word with multiple possible meanings. Still, she could swear there was a system to the overall arrangement of symbols and spaces. It reminded her of old Morse code or the braille seen on train station ticket machines.

“Hey, Patissiet. What does this say? Something like ‘The Relationship Between the Four Types of Magic’?”

“Hm? Um, it more accurately says ‘Illustrated Comparison Chart of the Four Great Elements’,” answered Patissiet, seated atop the bookcase with her legs dangling down.

That was more or less what Mikoto had guessed.

So she could grasp the general idea, but it would be safer to get the elf to provide the details. But if all of this world’s language worked this way, why had they gone to so much effort for no apparent reason? Of course, Mikoto knew Patissiet, who could read it like normal, would only be confused by the question.

To practice this world’s writing, Mikoto carefully ran her finger along the spines of the titles as she searched, but she couldn’t find any that seemed like a grimoire with details about the three Demon Lords.

“Wouldn’t it be faster for you to search that lord’s mind with Mental Out?”

“I have already brainwashed him, but we have to wait until he comes to before we can question him☆ You don’t want to put such a great burden ability on him that it breaks his brain before we can get the information out of him, do you?”

…Break his brain, she said. And if his brain was physically damaged, was even the #5 powerless to fix it?

Mikoto spread her arms impatiently.

“Then how about we carry all these books out and ask Elder Bakerian which one it is!?”

“I’d estimate around 2000 books in this small room.”

“Use Mental Out to learn how to operate those giant Anubis and Gargoyle things and have them do the work.”

“(Wait, could I get one of those to carry me around instead of doing all this walking? Finally, I’ve found a replacement for Hokaze-san in this world!)”

“She would cry if she heard that, you scheming queen.”

While they were discussing this, something happened without warning.

After a weird “zap!!” sound, Mikoto’s bikini armor and Shokuhou’s dancer outfit both burst off of their bodies.

Time froze for a moment.

It took them a few seconds to think back and realize what had happened.

Since they didn’t use any weapons, leveling them down couldn’t strip them of the ability to fight, but this would still happen to their armor since it required a certain level to equip.

The sneakthief lord’s request had finally gone through.

(I see, I see, I see. That makes sense.)

“What did we do to deserve this!?”

Part 12

Misaka Mikoto had been pushed to her mental limit.

With a bedsheet wrapped around her slender body like a towel, she returned to the room with the sneakthief-faced lord.

She magnetically crush his (new and quite cheap) armor.

“What did you do with the grimoire!? The one you stole from the elf elder named Bakerian!!”

“I-I do not know what you are talking about. I do not steal from my slaves. I have my pride!!”

Did he actually think that was a defense?

He was already stealing everything they had, including their lives.

Besides, this world’s entire society was supported by the labor of those slaves. If he didn’t want to use anything that rightfully belonged to them, he needed to strip naked and go live out in the woods or fields.

Shokuhou (who had also turned herself into a bedsheet spring roll) winked while leisurely leaning against the wall.

“I don’t think he has it.”

“How can you be so sure!?”

“Lying would be easy enough for him, but he knows what kind of retaliation ability awaits him if we find out☆”

“…”

“Either way, he can’t lie to Mental Out. I’ll do the rest.”

“Tch!!” Mikoto clicked her tongue and let go of his collar. His new armor was made of steel, but she had used her bare hands because her power would have crushed it like an aluminum can.

She left the room.

Like a storm blowing away.

“Feeling relieved?”

Sheet-wrapped Shokuhou stood in front of the lord as he slumped limply to the floor.

And she spun a TV remote which no one in this world should recognize.

“Why do you think she didn’t kill you when you’re irredeemable scum?”

“Eh? Huh?”

She pressed it between his eyes.

The wicked queen, who was neither kind nor direct, split her mouth into a smile.

“It wasn’t mercy ability☆”

Part 13

“As the lord of the Valhalla region, I command the immediate release of all slaves within my power’s reach!! Attention all elf slaves and other slaves: we will now treat you as equal people. If you question your collars and fetters, then run to Valhalla the first chance you have! And if any nobles or commoners have questioned the system of slavery but feared oppression for voicing these questions, then I have a proposal for you: join with us to forge strong bonds with which to protect your ability to do what is right and free the slaves!!!”

An emancipation proclamation had been issued.

Mikoto and Shokuhou held the newspaper in the office of the lord’s mansion.

Newspapers were the forefront of information and entertainment in this world without TV or internet.

Discrimination was all about fitting in.

Humans did not discriminate because of fear, disgust, or a lack of understanding. Only a small minority saw the target of discrimination as a real threat and felt direct fear. The majority went along with it because “what would the neighbors think” if they didn’t do what was expected of them. Protesting the discrimination would earn the ire of the minority of extremists, so they failed to determine if that would actually be a proper solution. And as they suppressed their thoughts like that, they would begin to resent any others who were not going through the same ordeal. In the end, they would be attacking the target of discrimination and not even know why. So only the action itself remained.

There were two ways to end discrimination. The first was to throw out your own power to fight and slowly work up from the bottom with a grassroots movement. The second was for someone at the top with an overwhelming power to fight to announce a decisive policy change. Either way, wordless violence would never work. No matter how great the power at work, it could not change the world if it never spoke to explain the purpose behind its actions. …Mikoto knew that all too well after the incident with the mass-produced military clones.

In that sense, this was a very valuable first step.

Even if the #5’s power had made it happen.

“See, even he can sound cool when he tries. If only he hadn’t been forced to play the part by Mental Out.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. He only managed to sound so cool because I gave him so much assistance,” said the #5, winking and putting her TV remote back in her expensive handbag.

(And being brainwashed into saying it gives the lord himself an excuse if he needs it.)

Shokuhou used Academy City’s #5 power – Mental Out.

She hadn’t just forced him to read a script – she had searched deep inside his mind.

She knew about the wildfire and his hierarchy of lives.

She even knew about the hatred and regret he had never voiced even after losing here.

But she wasn’t crass enough to blab it all to Mikoto.

Mikoto and Shokuhou were back in a bikini armor and dancer outfit.

The guild had forcibly stripped them of their levels, but experience here was bioelectricity. Mikoto had complete control over the level system, so after levelling the two of them up in mere seconds, they had rushed to the city’s armor ship (while sneaking through back alleys so no one would see them). It wasn’t a specialty shop with made-to-order products, so they had searched the inventory, found something their jobs could wear, and paid with fulgurites.

And while they were there…

“Um, do we just leave the money here?”

“You’re paying the listed price in a world where haggling is expected? How about I use this remote to give ourselves a 90% discount ability?”

“I get that I’m the only one your power doesn’t work on, but why do I have to act as your conscience?”

(Ugh, I hate that I can manipulate our experience at will but we still can’t change jobs. I’m stuck as a Warrior Woman forever.)

That lord had been the worst of the worst, but his proclamation had sent waves across Celesaqphere.

Little by little, questions about slavery were rising among the nobles and core cities of different regions.

It may have been more accurate to say there had already been cities friendly to elves, but word of them had been unable to spread.

After all, this was a fantasy world without the internet or smartphones. The nobles had patrols traveling the red brick roads between cities and any letters, newspapers and rumor-loving travelers would receive surprise inspections where information would be confiscated or rewritten. And if anyone was found to be spreading information the upper classes disliked, they would be beaten up, stripped of their gear, and forced to turn back the way they had come. That alone would stop the spread of information, but if the victim failed to reach the next closest city, they would die out there.

Flying carrier pigeons could be lured in and captured with food and nets to inspect whatever letters they were carrying.

Defeating the local lord had loosened the control over the roads, allowing information to flow freely once more.

Long story short, there had already been quite a few people sympathetic or friendly to the elves.

“Don’t let this shock you too much,” cautioned Shokuhou at the work desk.

She held a piece of paper. It was apparently a newspaper extra edition scattered from a kingdom airship.

It said: “On the king’s command, an uprising in the core city of Elysium has been suppressed. Many lives were lost. None of this would have happened if not for the wicked and confused hearts of those who have questioned our proper and traditional system of slavery. As protector of peace and order, our great king will never recognize the despicable rumors of a so-called emancipation proclamation”

Elysium was not this city.

This was Valhalla.

Elysium was a distant city with no connection to any of this.

The situation had far surpassed anything Mikoto had imagined.

“What…the hell? So just because we won here and took over a single lord’s territory, they attacked an entirely different city in retaliation!?”

“Like I said, don’t let it shock you too much.” Dancer Shokuhou sighed in exasperation. “The last thing the kingdom wants is for people to question slavery – and thus their king’s rule – and foment rebellion. If anti-slavery sentiment spreads while they work to defeat us, the situation will be entirely out of hand for them. And since they don’t know how powerful we are and can’t predict how long it will take to suppress us, they have decided to put out the fire in another region where they know they have more control over the timing.”

“…”

“They will attack entirely unrelated cities. It may have less to do with how many abolitionists exist in that city and more to do with not wanting critique of the king’s decision to gather from too many different viewpoints at once.”

“I don’t care about that. The problem is a bunch of complete strangers were killed because of what we did!!”

“That’s the thing.” Shokuhou winked and waggled her finger to tsk-tsk Mikoto. “What proof do we have that Elysium was actually destroyed?”

“…What?”

“This is a fantasy world with no TV or internet, remember? That means no live footage. The king only wants to extinguish the rebellious mood, so he doesn’t actually have to attack Elysium☆”

For that matter, this newspaper extra edition had been scattered from a kingdom airship.

The dancer placed another newspaper on the table.

This was an unauthorized privately published paper called an underground newspaper. It was smuggled past the surprise checks by the nobles’ soldiers on the roads. While they did have some printing technology here, their poor transportation technology meant they could only put out one paper a week and maybe an extra edition, but it still had a fair amount of influence in this world without TV or internet.

“This underground newspaper has an article about people starting to question slavery among the regional lords and the central cities, but it doesn’t say a thing about the kingdom’s troops destroying Elysium.”

“Underground newspapers have no rules about transparency, so we can’t exactly rely on them, can we? They only care about popularity and what people will want to read, so they have a tendency to report unconfirmed rumors or even outright lies!”

“The veracity of the articles doesn’t matter. This newspaper went through a lot of hands to reach us, so it’s soaked with various residual thoughts. Reading those with Mental Out provides a lot more information we can be a lot more certain of. I can get information from other places even easier than by sending out a bunch of spies.”

“…”

If you knew about psychometry, there were measures to take against it.

But that was a completely unknown phenomenon here in Celesaqphere. That may have made things a lot easier for Shokuhou. Of course, since no one here understood how her power worked, she could end up in a situation where she knew the true culprit but no one believed her.

“Wars are won with intelligence, not power. Hee hee. Not that I expect you to understand that when you always charge in without a second thought.”

“Then what’s your read of the situation?”

“50-50.”

Mikoto slammed her hands against the desk.

Shokuhou’s lazy expression didn’t change.

“That’s not good enough!! And even if it is fake news, if their story about the fall of Elysium doesn’t have the desired effect, they might go ahead and actually destroy it!”

“I would really rather not know, but what do you say we do about this, Misaka-san?”

Mikoto knew exactly what had to be done.

People’s lives were on the line. All the lives in a city just as big as Valhalla.

“I’ll go see for myself.”

“I knew you were going to say that. You do know you’re playing right into their hand ability, don’t you?”

“You said there were some cities and territories questioning slavery, right? Then Elysium might not be the only place the kingdom targets. I need to visit all the at-risk cities and help them if necessary!!”

Dancer Shokuhou breathed a heavy sigh.

She had known this would happen based on the trouble Mikoto had caused in Academy City to rescue the 20 thousand Sisters.

Shokuhou rested her head in a hand and winked in a sulky way.

“I’m not helping you.”

“Of course you aren’t. The capital is in reach. I have to rescue the people being threatened right now, but the kingdom can’t deploy troops if we stop them at the source. You’re good at scheming, so you work out a plan. Focus on figuring out how we can take over the capital.”

“Hm. Well, as long as you won’t hold up our overall schedule ability, go do whatever it is you want.’

“I swear I’ll be back in time for the attack!!”

Part 14

Bikini armor Misaka Mikoto did not leave through the door.

She instead opened the elevated window and jumped out.

Based on that, she probably really would do it.

Even if she began an extremely reckless action based on a momentary whim, the #3 would see it through to the end.

The #5 preferred to thoroughly set the stage and double and triple check everything was ready before she took action, so this was something she could never do.

“It pisses me off.”

Shokuhou heard a panicked voice.

The door was cracked open and Patissiet was peeking in through the gap. Was she that worried about Mikoto?

Shokuhou beckoned her in.

“Come on in.”

“Yikes!? U-um, sorry, am I to be punished? Yes, of course I am. A filthy slave who eavesdrops on a human conversation will naturally have an ear taken.”

“That will not be necessary.”

Shokuhou fairly strongly rejected the idea because it almost sounded like Patissiet would carry out the punishment herself.

Patissiet was pale as she nervously entered the room.

She was not the kind of person to look so concerned for her own wellbeing.

She would set herself aside and worry about those she cared for instead.

“W-w-w-will Lady Misaka be alright? I mean, um, she went out on her own… The kingdom is a big place. How can she protect everyone in the targeted areas when she doesn’t know what territories and what cities will be attacked?”

“Hee hee. She really is stupid, isn’t she? It does seem that she has rushed headlong into a trap meant to divide our forces and wear us down.”

“Um!?”

“But there’s nothing to worry about☆” insisted Shokuhou with a casual smile.

This was a repeat of that experiment. In order to stop the plan killing the 20 thousand Sisters, Mikoto had gone around destroying the different labs to try and eliminate the source of the experiment.

She knew this was a trap, but she had still chosen to go in and attack.

She had to be well aware she would only wear herself out with this foolish grand plan to protect every single life before her.

But…

“This is Misaka Mikoto we’re talking about.”

“?”

The elf tilted her head.

But for some things, that was a sufficient explanation.

The #3 could pull it off.

“Dozens of corporations and labs are scattered across Academy City, a place built from cold logic. They are all filled with secrets and so strictly guarded that simply setting foot inside could get you killed. One was even guarded by another Level 5. …But she still manages to pull these things off. She will save everyone without exception. Something awakens inside her at times like this. The animal ability sleeping within her will awaken, turning her into the guerilla expert who once spread chaos across Academy City.”

Part 15

Boom, crash, zap, kaboom, zap, thoom, zappity zap, booooom!!!

Part 16

Now.

Misaka Mikoto had left for her “inspection” of other regions.

While the foolish #3 went off to fight a war on her own, the very clever and beautiful Shokuhou Misaki worked on her plan to attack the capital.

She walked through the grass in her frilly dancer outfit below the strange blue sky with multiple layers of floating lands moving through it like pieces of eggshell. The fact that she could walk around in such a conspicuous outfit without the powers-that-be noticing proved how wonderful a world without security cameras could be.

“Let’s see, we need to defeat the three Demon Lords to complete the three treasures ceremony and return to Earth, but we don’t know anything about them. The royals or nobles have the grimoire that provides more information, so we need to threaten or brainwash the king at the top into ordering that all the grimoires owned by the various lords be submitted to him☆”

After muttering her thoughts aloud, Shokuhou shifted her focus to the outside world.

She faced the more immediate problem.

“Without Misaka-san’s brute force ability, we will have a harder time fighting. My Mental Out does not work against the wild animals that might attack without warning.”

“I did bring this, so I can protect you.”

Patissiet held a bow made of ash wood. It was a decently impressive longbow, which made it taller than short Patissiet was herself. Needless to say, it had been acquired in Valhalla, a city of commerce where you could buy just about anything.

A slave carrying a projectile weapon apparently warranted a summary execution for rebellion, so was Patissiet finally getting over those issues? If so, it was a good sign.

Shokuhou fondly viewed the little elf awkwardly wielding the big weapon.

But more importantly…

“It’s floating.”

“Yes, because it is a floating land.”

Patissiet’s dutiful response was cute and all, but that wasn’t Shokuhou’s point.

“Ahhhh! Is this all it takes to stop us without Misaka-san around!? We don’t have any way of reaching another land floating so close by! But if I turn back here, I just know Misaka-san will mock me ruthlessly later ooooooooooooon!!”

“Y-you have nothing to worry about! She is the weird one for flying around with that magnetism stuff. So without her, you just need to find a wild dragon and ride it to the next floating land!!”

“Again, my Mental Out only works on people!!”

Shokuhou was wandering the edge of the floating land trying to figure out what to do when she spotted an artificial glint that looked out of place in nature.

What she found was a lot like a giant propeller combined with a parachute.

It had apparently been attacked by a flying monster while crossing between floating lands.

(Why was it abandoned? I don’t like the idea that someone was attacked while using it.)

It looked like a type of paraglider, but it was powered by twisting animal fur with a hand crank instead of a gasoline engine.

With no other options left, Shokuhou held Patissiet in her arms and took off. However, she was too scared to jump off the edge of the cliff right away, so she tested it out in an empty field first. She had to run for a bit first to fill the parachute with air, but that went smoothly thanks to the propeller.

She began to float.

The wonder of it overpowered the fear as she felt gravity disappear from her feet. The cables didn’t get tangled up or anything.

“Oh? Oh, oh, oh…ohhh☆”

It was fun.

After she began to float, she rested her hips on something like a thick belt. It was an elegant thing, like a giant swing, and it would prevent Patissiet from slipping down too.

Unlike with a certain idiot she could mention who zoomed around with magnetism, this didn’t cause her stomach to rise into her throat like on a thrill ride, so she didn’t feel any fear. It was all so gentle and floaty. She was pretty sure she could safely leave the cliff like this.

Patissiet rejoiced in the back seat.

“This is incredible, Lady Shokuhou.”

“Hwa ha ha! We were fools to ever grow so reliant on Misaka-san!! Now, Patissiet, how do you steer this thing?”

“I have no idea.”

The elf’s head tilt caused Shokuhou’s stomach to rise into her throat.

There was already nothing below her feet.

Unable to play the comforting big sister any longer, Shokuhou screamed while somehow managing to adjust their height with the cords in her hands, achieving a soft landing on the new floating land about 100m from the previous one. If her angle had been off even a little, she would have found herself in a hell of flying into empty air forever.

“Pant, pant. I-I am never trying that again.”

“Hm? But don’t we need to use it to get back?”

“Vwahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!”

But now was no time to be holding her head and screaming.

The propeller-equipped hang glider’s presence meant there were giant monsters that attacked the people traveling between floating lands. There was no time to fold the vehicle up and cover it with grass and branches to hide it from view.

“Oh, no. Something’s coming. Th-that’s a Hraesvelgr!!”

The giant bird’s wingspan blotted out the blue sky above. At that size, a flap of its wings would cause a windstorm. Its giant talons were like a crane’s hook, so they could likely grab and tear apart a house.

This was no pigeon or crow – it was a true bird of prey.

And to reiterate, Shokuhou’s Mental Out did not work on nonhumanoid monsters.

“Eek!”

For once, it was the queen who cried out in fear.

Sensing that true fear, something changed inside little Patissiet with her ash longbow in hand. She took a step forward.

And spoke a single word.

“Blaze.”

The instant the arrow struck, the Hraesvelgr’s stomach ruptured from within.

“Bwuh!?”

Frightened by the sudden burst of red, Shokuhou fell not just onto her rear but tumbled onto her back too.

When Patissiet had a reason, she would kill. Lives really were taken unusually lightly in this world.

And she had previously explained how Celesaqphere’s magic worked.

But that had not been the basic fire attack magic!!

“Elfshot.” Little Patissiet sighed softly as she gently lowered her bow. “The attack is meant to imbue magic into a flint arrowhead and paralyze the target, but…ugh, when I do it, it always explodes inside the target’s body.”

“…”

So if she even scratched her target with her arrow, they were dead?

It didn’t matter that she was Level 11 and only had access to the most basic magic. Not when she could simply shove it inside her target’s body and detonate it there. This could possibly be even more deadly than the Railgun which strictly sent its power in from the outside.

Shokuhou’s eyes widened while she lay on her back in her frilly outfit.

“Wait, um, Patiss- what in the world was that?”

“I know. This destroys the target’s blood vessels and organs, so the meat doesn’t taste any good. It’s completely useless in real life. I really need to figure out how to do a proper Elfshot that paralyzes them so I can capture them alive.”

The elf tilted her head in disappointment with her ash bow in hand.

She apparently didn’t realize this ability made her a real candidate for being the strongest.

Celesaqphere was demonstrating yet another flaw by burying her talent without ever letting her know its true value.

“The meat kind of splattered everywhere, but it would be a waste to not gather it up and eat it. It should still taste okay once we cook it.”

Part 17

The two of them spent two days approaching their destination.

In that time, Shokuhou noticed something.

“Patissiet☆”

“Eek!?”

The little elf jumped.

It had bothered Shokuhou how the elf’s long ears would twitch up and down while she was talking, so after plenty of observation, she reached out and grabbed the ears between her fingers.

“These movements mean something, don’t they?”

“U-um, Lady Shokuhou, not my ears.”

“You can talk with your voice, your eyes, hand signals…and even your long ears, can’t you? That gives you a lot more information ability you can communicate while in the trees or the dark night, so you elves are probably unstoppable when hiding in the forest with bows.”

It was unclear if the humans of this world had noticed these secret conversations among the elves, but there was no fooling Shokuhou whose power made her unbeatable in the field of communication.

(Well, given how they’ve been treated, it’s only natural the elves will want to secretly badmouth their so-called masters right in front of them.)

At any rate, that wasn’t the most important issue at the moment.

“That’s the capital city of Tuonela. Wow, it really is big.”

“?”

Shokuhou was confused.

She couldn’t identify where that name came from.

(Is this like if they decided to name everything after stuff from Records of Three Kingdoms, but they ended up using all the big kingdom and warlord names already and are stuck using minor village and temple names?)

Whatever the case, Patissiet’s reaction led Shokuhou to also observe the city from a distance.

It was definitely big.

There were some minor differences in construction style. Most likely, the original city had started out in the center and, as the population grew, new parts of the city were added onto the outer edges. The city’s history could be seen there. Some areas had gable type buildings and others had dormer type buildings. Viewed from above, it may have looked like the rings of a tree.

The houses were all made of stone.

They weren’t even made from wood or brick.

In Valhalla, stone had been a privilege reserved for the lord’s mansion, so did that mean the capital just had that many wealthy residents?

“Is it like how everyone uses dryers in blazing-hot Los Angeles?”

“?”

That was apparently too much for an elf from this world to understand.

There were also a lot of enslaved monster girls in the capital. Apparently they didn’t kill their slaves when tax season came around here.

“Tuonela doesn’t have taxes.”

“None at all?”

“They say that’s why all the rich merchants come here! It must be a relief to have a collector of a master who tries to keep their slaves alive as long as possible.”

She was talking about being exploited, but Patissiet sounded almost jealous.

…Of course, no municipality like a city could function without any tax revenue.

(So do they force anyone with enough wealth to make “charitable donations”? Ew, I do not like the idea of a society that makes charity part of the routine. It might be efficient, but there’s no heart ability in it.)

There were more standalone mansions than boxy buildings here because, unlike Valhalla protected by its moat and thick wall, Tuonela had a much more open layout. With a wall around a city, it couldn’t expand outwards and was forced to develop upwards instead.

When people gathered somewhere, money came with them and then more people arrived to get at that money.

That was evidence of a positive cycle, but…

(No moat and no wall. There is a gate at the entrance, but it’s more like a Shinto shrine’s torii and won’t do much to keep attackers out. This place seems a lot less defended than Valhalla, so I wonder how it works.)

A 3km square piece of land hovered about 50m directly above this city of a million.

A fairy tale castle with spires and protective walls stood on that land.

But instead of that being the floating land, there was an even bigger rectangular floating land above it with hundreds of thick wires stretching down to support the king’s castle.

As they had seen in the attack on the village, the biggest threat in this world was a carpet bombing from a higher layer, so dangling the castle down like that was probably meant to act as a giant umbrella. The giant floating land above it would be one made of solid bedrock to prevent anyone from breaking or digging through it too easily and the umbrella was far larger than the castle itself, to prevent assassins or an enemy army from dropping straight down from it.

However…

“That isn’t enough wires to actually support a 3km piece of land. They wouldn’t be able to distribute the weight enough and it would just fall.”

“?”

Patissiet didn’t understand what Shokuhou meant.

Her point was that the castle was in fact on floating land after all. The wires were camouflage so that anyone plotting a rebellion would be wasting their time trying to cut the wires. In fact, they were bait to identify any dangerous elements among the masses.

But given the size of the umbrella, the castle didn’t actually intend to protect the entire city from a bombing. The king probably intended to continue his luxurious lifestyle as long as his castle was safe. About as shallow an idea as someone assuming they only needed a convenience store to have an endless supply of food and drink without considering the product planning, production factories, delivery drivers, and other behind-the-scenes work that went into getting those things on the shelves. If he enjoyed that life so much, Shokuhou hoped he kept eating his snacks until he keeled over and died.

Because this way she had to deal with him.

(Oh, whoops. It really is easy to take lives too lightly in this world.)

“I see…”

“?”

After all, this was a world where airships and other vehicles were used to travel between floating lands. Did they think a wall or moat around the capital would be meaningless? Since there were no other floating lands passing directly above the capital, they may have placed more emphasis on protecting the sky. Such as preemptively destroying any floating lands that would arrive too close for comfort.

They could observe the vast land from that elevated location and, if an enemy force was approaching, actively set up their defenses in front of the capital.

In addition to the knights, the capital had adventurers, wealthy merchants, and even bandits. Every last one of those would want to leave the safe capital and make money on the front line once a lucrative war had begun. People’s desires could create unexpected strength. If an enemy had to deal with them all, they could suffer unexpected losses after receiving attacks from multiple fronts at once.

Was that how it was set up?

“That won’t accomplish much.”

“Um?”

(For one, Misaka-san’s special ability can render all the capital’s defenses meaningless. I just hope she actually returns in time.)

The collars and chains looked out of place in the gorgeous city.

Elves were not the only enslaved people. There were plantlike dryads, slender but strong dark elves, and nymphs who were hard to tell apart from humans. It looked like all the monsters capable of speech had been abducted and turned into a labor force. And they may have thought they were fortunate because the capital did not kill them when tax season came around.

What a strange world this was.

It was different from anything Shokuhou was used to.

She didn’t know what it was like in areas with less influence from the king, but in the capital where everyone greatly benefited from the king’s reign, it didn’t look like anyone was thinking about removing those collars. A parent with a small, innocent child was walking right past a chained slave.

(What a pain.)

Dancer Shokuhou turned her binoculars in a different direction.

It seemed likely the king’s forces were kept in the castle above, not in the city below. The quantity was much greater here, but the quality wouldn’t be all that different from the Valhalla lord’s forces. Mysterious elite special forces were only found in fiction. After all, different soldiers in the same kingdom would be trained and equipped more or less the same. The kingdom gained nothing by restricting how many of their troops had the best equipment.

Shokuhou directed her binoculars toward the castle grounds and checked the size of the barracks and counted the windows.

“Ugh…there’s so many. It’s like one of those mammoth housing complexes that are falling out of favor.”

“Mammoth? I have heard the capital army has 100 thousand soldiers.”

No kingdom was going to honestly report the size of its army to outsiders. That number was probably increased by around 20% to intimidate any potential enemies. But even accounting for that, it was 80 thousand. That meant they supported that many people who would only have to work when there was a war or a parade. That was the entire population of a small city eating food paid for by the capital’s budget (which came from charitable donations, not taxes) and the taxes collected from elsewhere.

While the elves and other enslaved monsters worked and worked with only more exploitation as a reward, that collection of murderers in the castle was well fed.

(Hm. When you spell it out like that, it really pisses me off.)

“H-have you figured anything out?”

“Lots☆”

Part 18

“I’m back!!”

“Took you long enough.”

Mikoto was out of breath and covered in scrapes and bruises. Shokuhou was exasperated.

Mikoto didn’t have anyone with her.

But if she hadn’t rescued anyone, she wouldn’t look like that. Despite how beaten up she was, there was a bright light shining in her eyes.

The #3 girl put on a belligerent smile as she gave her report.

“First of all, the story about suppressing Elysium was fake! But there were a few other regional cities that had started discussing freeing their slaves and the kingdom was preparing some very real attacks on them, so I went around destroying the armies sent out for that! Elysium was terrified of when it would be their turn, so I told them I’d saved the four regional lords’ territories and the three central cities including Elysium and asked them to gather up all the difficult paperwork and come join us! That way, the next time the kingdom attacks, we can all work together to fight back and secure our independence and safety!!”

Patissiet couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

But that aside, Mikoto’s return had one very important implication.

“We now have a justification to fight that foolish king and protect the people’s lives from his tyranny ability☆ This is a huge step forward from sneaking around winning through guerilla tactics.”

“Hm? Isn’t the main difference there what kinds of rumors people spread about us?”

“You’ll see what I mean later☆”

But there was one thing Shokuhou had to confirm as a wicked strategist. It sounded like Mikoto hadn’t just rescued the people and left it at that.

“Let’s get back on topic.” Dancer Shokuhou brushed up her bangs. “So instead of just rescuing those cities and leaving, you also told them to come join us?”

“Right.”

“And they will be gathering a fleet of airships to slowly travel between the floating lands?”

“Right!!”

The queen sighed.

This called for a review of the basic facts.

“We are using Valhalla as our base. The city is surrounded by a moat and a wall, meaning its land is quite limited. There is not room for the population to suddenly multiply by 7 or 10.”

That sounded heartless, but it was the truth.

Increasing the population ten times past the upper limits of the infrastructure was the same as leaving each person with a tenth of the living space and a tenth of the food they needed. Needless to say, that option would lead to mass death.

Of course, even now this world ran on slave labor and actually paying the enslaved people a fair wage would leave them with quite a lot of wealth. If they were given truly equal opportunities, there could be a day when an elf millionaire hired humans to work for them.

But change like that did not happen overnight.

The options available right this instant were limited.

So there was only one solution. Bikini armor Mikoto winked and explained.

“Then let’s increase that capacity. By defeating the villain at the much bigger capital.”

“Call it usurping the capital. Don’t sugarcoat this☆”

Part 19

The battle had begun.

However, that didn’t mean Mikoto and Shokuhou raised war cries and charged the capital with arrows and spears pouring down on them like rain.

The change was more like a wave.

It began with a quiet murmur of activity among the merchants in Tuonela. Expensive furniture stopped arriving in the city, food was bought up based on no apparent plan, the money and bonds the merchants possessed were exchanged for other forms, and an influential merchant who had been living in the city for 100 years suddenly vanished.

When the guards finally noticed something was amiss, they caught a merchant trying to escape the supposedly convenient and comfortable capital and got him to tell them what was going on.

His answer was simple.

The value of fulgurites was crashing.

“After all, they’re more valuable than platinum or diamonds and their value is stable too.”

Bikini armor Misaka Mikoto grinned as she kept low and watched the chaos in the capital from afar.

There were no bank accounts or ATMs in this world. To protect their assets, the king and lords converted their money to small fulgurites and stored those in a safe. Because even special-made safes were only so large. When paying for the construction of a cathedral that would take decades to complete, a pile of gold coins would be too bulky and heavy to transport, so major contracts would use small fulgurites instead. The same was true of deals between kingdoms, so the value of each kingdom’s currency was ultimately determined by how many fulgurites it could buy and that determined the exchange rates between kingdoms.

But at the same time, fulgurites were no more than glass.

When lightning struck the ground, clumps of sand would be turned to glass by the heat. That glass was the mystical jewel (in a world where people could not yet control high-voltage electric currents) known as fulgurites.

Which meant…

“C’mon, Misaka-san. Keep those things coming☆”

“I’m working on it!!”

With a brutal zap of bursting air, electricity shot out.

Electricity was not a household technology here and there was no lightning magic. In Celesaqphere, fulgurites were only created when lightning happened to strike from the heavens above. That made them fairly rare jewels, but not so for Mikoto.

In a single night, she could create more fulgurites than existed in this entire world.

And of course, fulgurites were only so valuable because of their rarity. The fact that bioelectricity was experience points here may have also given a religious basis for that value, though. But even then, what would happen if someone mass-produced them to the point that she could easily be crushed to death if the pile were to collapse?

“Hyperinflation.” Dancer Shokuhou grinned. “The biggest denomination of money on Earth was 100 trillion Zimbabwean dollars, I believe. And that would only buy you some soap or a towel. Producing a ton of money doesn’t make you rich – it just devalues the money itself☆”

Then they only had to flood the market with all those fulgurites.

If they were fake, the people of this world could gather appraisers and crack down on counterfeiting, but unfortunately the fulgurites Mikoto made were the real deal. That meant not even an expert could tell the difference. And because fulgurites were created by unpredictable lightning instead of being mined from land someone owned, it was hard to apply mining certificates to them. If lightning struck in your garden and created a fulgurite, it was authentic. Where it came from did not influence its value.

Sparks crackled from Mikoto’s bangs.

“Their army is around 80 thousand. That means they need to supply 240 thousand meals a day. The fulgurite crash will reduce the contents of the kingdom’s treasury to worthless glass, so they won’t be able to even think about fighting. They’ll be too busy dealing with their newfound debt.”

“And the capital below was a problem because of all the knights, adventurers, merchants, bandits, and so on who could be hired to fight, but once the money is gone, so are they.”

On top of all that, this economic attack did the most damage to the people who had gone out of their way to convert their money into valuable fulgurites.

The exploited elves hadn’t had any money in the first place, so this would hardly affect them.

“Being able to target a single class for destruction is pretty funny.”

Once it was known there was no money to be made in the capital, the visitors would quickly leave. They wouldn’t be able to pay for their own necessities and they might end up being conscripted or forced to hand over their private property to the king, so it was a high-risk, no-return situation. They would be better off setting up a tent out in the field.

The rapid drop in population and private property would bleed the capital to death.

It came down to arguments.

The people wanted to leave the city and the army wouldn’t let them.

Before, attacking the king would mean making an enemy of the world.

But now he was a nuisance to the world around him.

“I think the stage is set.”

“Then let’s get going☆”

The two girls got up from where they were hiding.

On the way to the battlefield, they heard some voices.

The voices came from a formerly enslaved succubus and nymph who had stayed with them after being freed from Valhalla.

“It’s the goddesses. They’re the goddesses.”

“Yes, the two goddesses who protect us while fighting their eternal conflict.”

“?”

“They must mean us,” said Shokuhou, brushing her hair off her shoulder.

“They’re being ridiculous,” said bikini armor Mikoto with a self-deprecating smile.

But Patissiet was not smiling.

Misaka Mikoto and Shokuhou Misaki had disagreed on what to do. They had taken separate paths, causing confusion on their side, but through that they had saved a great many people and then joined back together without any delay to their original plan.

They were opposing storms who had saved more people than they would have had they agreed and everything had gone according to plan.

The two goddesses who appeared after breaking through an invisible barrier were said to eternally fight each other, but that power was exactly what kept this world turning and protected the people’s lives.

In what meaningful way did this differ from that myth?

Part 20

They had asked Patissiet and the other longbow-proficient elves to stage a diversion from the front, but it didn’t look like that would be necessary.

Crash!!!!!

Several beam-like artillery blasts shot out into the clear sky from a distant position. Apparently that was what the elves’ magical bows could do at Level 9999.

The simple firepower was impressive, but they could also convey a lot more information in a single instruction using their voice, eyes, fingers, and long ears. Not only could they coordinate to corner the enemy, but it didn’t look like the elves were at any risk of being hit by friendly fire even if they entered the labyrinthine capital.

“But more than that…”

The people in the capital were too busy fighting with their allies(?) to fight back.

If they couldn’t coordinate, they were no better than a disorganized mob.

White pigeons flew from the castle floating overhead. Those were carrier pigeons. 50 to 100 of them filled the sky like confetti.

Mikoto looked up.

“What do you think they’re doing?”

“From their upper layer, they must have noticed our big diversionary army, so I bet that king is sending commands to all the kingdom’s different territories demanding they send troops to protect the capital. Threatening to charge them with treason ability if they disobey, of course.”

“What an idiot.”

“He really is, isn’t he? Even if the people risk their lives to fight in the war and win, the bankrupt kingdom is in no position to reward any of them. No one’s going to join that war unless they’re a bloodthirsty freak who just likes the fighting, the bloodshed, and the killing ability☆”

For one thing, wars fought to prevent invasions, protect strategic positions, and suppress uprisings generally made no money.

When defeating a foreign kingdom, they could take land and force the defeated enemy to pay war reparations so they could distribute rewards to the lords who sent troops, but winning a defensive war only won back their current territory. It turned a negative into breaking even, so they didn’t win anything new that could be distributed as a reward. No matter how much money and how many lives the lords had spent on the king’s command.

Suppressing an uprising in your own territory was bad enough, but who would look after someone else’s land like that? It was a waste of time, not to mention money and lives.

Of course, the power structure normally made it so the king could in fact order the lords to do it anyway, but…

“If the king demands they fight a war for free and threatens to throw them in prison for treason if they don’t die at his command…those lords might just decide its easier to kill their incompetent monarch and declare independence. Or they might sell off their entire territory to some other kingdom, whittling down this kingdom’s borders in the process.”

“Good grief. Every world is a cruel place to live, isn’t it?”

Apparently there were no storybook knights in shining armor who proudly fought out of honorable allegiance to their king.

And whatever the reasons, there were no reinforcements coming.

That just left the debt-ridden king and the disorganized mob that was too confused to actually function.

“Now, then☆”

Shokuhou walked to the city’s entrance and gave her TV remote a wave. After brainwashing the guards refusing to let anyone through, the capital’s people rushed out of the city. Once that had begun, group psychology kicked in and the soldiers, who had been trying to stop the hemorrhaging of population and private property, exchanged a glance and fled outside the city too. Maybe they didn’t want to be made the target of criticism against the king’s rule, but a lot of the soldiers left their proud armor and helmets on the roadside before they left.

The empty capital was full of doors off their hinges and broken windows. The place had been devastated in a single day.

The only people remaining were the collared and chained elves, dryads, and others humanoid monsters who had been left behind along with the unneeded furniture.

The sudden economic crash meant the humans had no idea where their next meal would come from, so they must not have wanted to bring any extra mouths along with them. They must not have even wanted the expense of killing their slaves. Unlike legendary swords, real weapons broke quite easily.

Of course, this was quite convenient for anyone who wanted to safely rescue those enslaved people.

Mikoto whispered in some of the enslaved girls’ ears.

“Go gather up everyone you know and leave through the city gate. A new life awaits you there.”

That was all she said before looking up.

At the higher layer.

The castle floated 50m above the capital. That was within reach of a magnetic leap.

Part 21

Thoom!!

Kathoom!?

As sturdy as the castle had seemed, it was now shaking like an unsteady suspension bridge. Each time a meters-long bolt launched by a magically-boosted ballista struck, small pieces fell from the ceilings.

With Patissiet and the other elves providing the diversionary fire, Mikoto and Shokuhou magnetically leaped up from the capital to the castle. The scrawny but busty Queen still complained the entire time, though.

They were now inside the castle dozens of meters above the capital.

“Are you sure dragging those elves into this fight was a good idea?” asked Shokuhou.

“Experience is bioelectricity, remember? I made sure to boost them all to the level cap of 9999 with my power, so each one of them should be as sturdy as a fortress. And there’s a whole bunch of them.”

“…”

“Yeah, I know. This world is so convenient it’s actually kind of creepy.”

“At least we managed to escape that Reincarnation Goddess’s plans on our own…”

Mikoto noticed something, so she didn’t respond.

An arrow flew in through the window.

If Shokuhou hadn’t noticed the unusually big smile on the #3’s face and gotten down on the floor, she would have been hit.

“Excuse me, Misaka-saaan!?”

“It’s a message arrow. Huh, Patissiet says they’re winning, so we don’t need to worry about them. Those elves really are unbeatable once you give them bows.”

“Ughhhh, chomp!!”

“Um? Hey, did you just freak out so much you bit me!?”

The giant castle gate at the back of the public square sat partially open.

The garden had been trampled.

No one remained. With no money left to wage war, everyone knew a siege would cut off all their exits with no weapons or food forthcoming. If they obeyed their orders and defended the castle, they would clearly starve to death while trapped inside, so all the professional soldiers and even the gardeners, maids, butlers, tutors, artists, musicians, and cooks had fled.

Nothing good would come of staying here.

And this had been their last chance to escape.

The king’s power had hit rock bottom. Mikoto and Shokuhou walked through the haunted house of a castle, searching for that king. He wasn’t in the audience chamber.

Dancer Shokuhou viewed the jewel-encrusted throne from various angles and shoved a hand into the gap between the back and the cushion.

She tossed over something inside a sheath.

“Take this, Misaka-san.”

“?”

“It’s a short sword. I think it would count as a pillow sword. Do you see the stamp on the bottom of the grip? That would be used to prove the king’s identity ability. And if he screwed up bad enough, he could use it to slit his own throat.”

“But he left it behind here?”

Discovering something that shameful would lead anyone to believe the kingdom was done for. Without the excessively decorative sword, the king couldn’t prove his identity. Which meant the kingdom had effectively been stolen, but Mikoto and Shokuhou were only interested in a physical resolution.

They continued down deep into the castle.

Something was crawling around in front of a large safe. It looked like a rodent hiding fruits in the ground to prepare for a harsh winter. After abandoning his dignity and the sword that counted as his signature, the king was relying on his pile of fulgurites which were effectively trash now. He was hopelessly lacking in foresight and crisis management skills. But instead of feeling sorry for him, Mikoto felt sorry for the retainers and other people who had to bow their heads to him.

Shokuhou had a question.

She tilted her head as she asked.

“Did we even need to enter the castle? After stripping him of all his power, couldn’t we have just waited for the debt ability to destroy him?”

“We could have, but we don’t have that much time. It’s faster to deal with him directly.”

The king finally noticed them and let out a shrill shriek.

He was a short and rotund elderly man.

“Oh, so he’s the portly king stereotype,” said Mikoto in disappointment.

“But he isn’t alone.”

Shing!!

Something sharp and heavy flashed down from above. If Mikoto had relied on her ordinary five senses, she would have been killed instantly. Without the radar that sent out electromagnetic waves to detect anyone approaching from any direction, she couldn’t have tackled Shokuhou out of the way either.

“!?”

Mikoto gasped, sprang to her feet, and took an immediate fighting stance.

A pair of figures were swaying unnaturally.

The portly old man, who looked like his own weight would damage his knees if he ran at full speed, was now flanked by a pair of beautiful women who looked out of place next to him. They wore light green fairy tale dresses and appeared to be in their late 20s. Silver swords as long as they were tall rested lightly on their shoulders. A portion of the blade had been blunted near the base so the swords could be carried over their shoulders.

They looked identical.

They may have been twin sisters.

Mikoto doubted they were his wives. A real king could have concubines or take a wife far younger than himself, but something about those women told Mikoto that wasn’t the case here. It was like they were from a different world than him – like there was a barrier of separation between them.

It would have made sense if those two were his advisors or counselors, but their clothing and accessories looked fancier than the king’s.

Mikoto’s first impression of them could be summed up in a single word.

(Witches.)

If they only kindly provided accurate advice, they wouldn’t need all that sex appeal.

Why were those sisters working together to dull the king’s ability to make rational decisions?

The pair of witches had made the king their puppet and used him for their own benefit.

Did they benefit from creating a society that caused so much suffering for its slaves and never questioned that fact? And had they set things up so all the blame fell on the king while they could safely escape at any time?

“What’s this sense of deja vu?” said Mikoto. “I swear I’ve seen something like this before? Oh, right. You.”

“Who exactly are you comparing me to here?” asked Shokuhou. “It had better not be the portly king!”

The bewitching women viewed the girls with exasperation.

And their breaths softly left their bewitching lips.

“I am Silver Striker Antoinaisse.”

“I am Silver Defender Sigynette.”

They spoke with smiles on those bewitching flowers.

“You have some nerve appearing here after trampling our flower garden. Like anyone with class and too much time, we know a thing or two about torture and execution. Although our area of expertise is ruling through fear.”

“…”

“When we are done with you, your deaths will go down in history. As examples of a fate no one ever wants to experience themselves. The fear of the silver witches will lead to a century of peace.”

“Hee hee. It has been far too long since I had the privilege of enjoying a young girl’s blood and screams. We shall have plenty of prisoners to experiment on with the uprisings around the kingdom being suppressed, so we will be well-practiced by the time we get to you. We will not fail, so you can rest easy about that at leasy.”

“Um, uh, uh, this is your last chance to apologize! My lovely strategists are truly terrifying when you make them mad! They laughed as they blew away half the volume of a mountain just to eliminate the abnormal group of giants gathered there! When they put down an uprising, they leave behind so many dead bodies the War Investigation Committee never knows quite what to say! I’m talking about a sea of blood and a mountain of corpses! So please stop! I don’t want to see those horrors ever again! I still have nightmares about it, so can’t you all just get along!?”

“Shut up, your majesty☆” “Shut up, your majesty☆”

“Hm.” Bikini armor Mikoto waved a hand in annoyance. “Shokuhou, wanna rock-paper-scissors it? To see who gets to deliver the finishing blow?”

“No, thanks. As a mental esper, it would be bad for my mental health to link minds with someone that stupid.”

“So you want me to do it?”

“Be my guest☆”

Mikoto didn’t give them time to ask what she meant.

The girls who were always at each other’s throats coordinated more quickly than the sisters who had been together since birth.

Those two understood each other on a deep level because they were enemies.

“Your intel is out of date,” said Mikoto with a displeased wink. “None of those uprisings will be suppressed. Because I already stopped your troops there. If you don’t even know that, you don’t stand a chance. I was at least expecting you to have insulated armor or to redirect my attacks with magnets because your defeated troops sent word back of my electric powers, but you don’t even have that. The Silver Striker and Silver Defender, was it? I don’t know what kind of magic got you those epithets, but did you think you could stop lightning with metal?”

“Eh, ah!?”

“To sum up, you didn’t work hard enough. So forget this. Leave us.”

Zap!!!!!

A billion-volt current slammed the silver witches into the wall.

Part 22

They had treated them so very well.

In that spinning mill, they had never referred to the elves as slaves and they had cared for them like family. They had given the elves days off, paid them a fair wage, and even given a little extra food to whoever worked the most that day. The three sisters’ family had been secretly proud of this.

But then one of the elves had made a careless mistake outside of the mansion.

The local lord had unfortunately seen it and the three sisters’ mill was forced out of business by collective responsibility.

Their parents had been imprisoned on charges of negligent supervision. The three sisters had never been in prison, so they didn’t know if the prisoners were treated better or worse than the elves.

They had treated the elves so well, yet none of the elves had provided any assistance.

Not one.

Because after they were taken away to help pay off the family’s debt, they were made to serve other families. The many elves had done nothing to help three sisters of a family they didn’t serve. Because those were the rules. That was how this world worked.

That was all their bonds were worth.

It had all been meaningless.

The three sisters were forced to live out in the mountains like wild animals and work back up from nothing. The youngest sister hadn’t been able to bear it and lost her life. But not because she had starved or been attacked by an animal. She had died of suicide. Unable to leave behind her old civilized life, she had chosen to end it all with a more civilized act.

The youngest sister may have seen it as an escape from hell, but the two surviving sisters had watched their beloved little sister deteriorate day by day. That had built up a rebellious spirit that refused to let it end there. In a way, even with one dead, the three of them were always supporting each other.

So the two older sisters had gritted their teeth, survived, waited for a chance to present itself, and crawled back up.

Using their own power.

That way they needn’t feel indebted to anyone.

And at the same time, they decided it was a law of nature that elves should be captured by humans and used until they collapsed.

If you tried to violate that law, destiny itself would conspire against you.

They no longer felt sorry for the elves. They would never try to save them. If the elves wanted to die, they could die. In fact, the sisters would lend them a helping hand there. Because this was a fortune they had built up with their own blood, sweat, and tears. If this success was taken from them too, they truly would break. So what was wrong with using everything available to them?

“...Maybe we were wrong.”

“Maybe so.”

Something flew toward them.

The witches had no way of knowing it was called a Railgun.

It flew past them without even grazing them, but it still produced a powerful enough gale and shockwave to send them spinning through the air and slam them into the floor.

Part 23

After the witches were defeated, the king didn’t have it in him to fight on his own.

The portly king wasn’t worth fighting anyway.

Dancer Shokuhou rummaged through her diagonally-worn handbag, pulled out a TV remote, and held it against the side of his head.

“Okay, give me a big smile ability and then announce that you’re freeing the slaves☆”

“Gwohhhh!? M-my body...my throat...I-I can’t fight it!!!”

“You’ll be the very first kingdom in this world to officially abolish slavery. Going down in history as the civilized and humane man behind it is an honor really.”

They could have written letters for him and sent them out without his involvement since Mikoto had the short sword with the stamp used to prove the king’s identity, but it would be better for the letter to be in his handwriting. Especially in a Western-style signature society.

Valhalla wasn’t big enough to take in all the former slaves, but the vast capital was a different story.

Everyone had fled after the fulgurite crash, so the city had become the kingdom’s greatest ghost town. The freed elves would breathe new life into the city. And this time it wouldn’t be built on the backs of someone else’s labor.

And it wasn’t just elves.

Before too long, a fleet of large airships rode in on the wind.

“That’s a sylph, that’s a scylla, a tengu, a dwarf, and what’s she?”

“She says she’s a spriggan. And that snakelike girl is an echidna.”

“By the way, Misaka-san, why are there humans among them?”

“They all have their circumstances. Some were pursued by debt collectors, some were forced to work in the arenas, some lost their homes and were stuck sleeping in the alleys, and some didn’t want to fight but had arrows aimed at their backs. The monsters weren’t the only ones being oppressed, so as long as they’re working toward abolishing slavery, we don’t need to see the other lords and people as our enemy. So why not rescue the lives that are actually at risk? If that starts new rumors, it can establish a beneficial cycle.”

When taking in people so indiscriminately, it wouldn’t be surprising for some of them to be enemy spies.

But those could be detected and kicked out with perfect accuracy using Mental Out.

“Lady Shokuhou, Lady Shokuhou!”

Patissiet ran over on her little legs.

“This castle is incredible. I found the library and it’s so big!”

“Oh, right.”

They weren’t just here for self-defense. They were searching for the elf elder’s grimoire.

Mikoto and Shokuhou needed to defeat the three Demon Lords to return to Earth, so they needed information on those mysterious targets.

Patissiet led them through the vast castle to a pair of double doors that led to a room filled with a dizzying number of bookcases. The room was three-stories tall and large enough to fit an entire school building. The bookcases were also three-stories tall, so Mikoto really did feel a little dizzy as soon as they came into view. Her ordinary sense of perspective broke down and she was caught by weird optical illusions.

Dancer Shokuhou spoke up in exasperation as she watched the treetop-dwelling (and miniskirt-wearing) elf climb to the top of the towering bookcases.

“It looks like each bookshelf has about 50 books, so would the entire library have approximately 103,000 books? Finding a specific book here is going to be a lot of work.”

But they couldn’t let this overwhelm them.

The book in question had been stolen, not officially purchased or donated, so it might not be listed in the library’s catalog. After getting little Patissiet and Elder Bakerian to tell them the color of the grimoire’s cover and other visual details, they split up and searched the shelves. The lithe elder did not climb to the top. She looked like it was taking a conscious effort to resist the temptation, however.

They occasionally heard the sounds of some kind of commotion outside the library.

They were so immersed in the task they lost track of time, but by the time an aproned succubus and dryad told them dinner was ready, they hadn’t even finished searching 1% of the library.

“Are we sure the grimoire is even in here?” asked Shokuhou.

“One of the lords might have it, I guess. Shokuhou, you’re controlling the king, aren’t you? If he demanded whoever has the grimoire to hand it over, they would have to, right?”

“Before his defeat, maybe.”

They were exhausted from their fruitless search.

But Mikoto did find something unusual.

“Bakerian, you told us the color and such, but do you know how many pages it is? Or how thick it is, I guess is what I mean.”

“Hm? I think it is about 5 or 6cm. Why?”

“Look.”

Bikini armor Mikoto pointed at one of the shelves.

There was an unnatural 5cm gap between two books. A single book had been removed.

“Goddamn that king.”

Part 24

Shokuhou didn’t even need to use Mental Out.

As soon as the king saw Mikoto’s face as she stomped toward him, he fell on his rear and raised his hands over his head.

“I’ll talk, I’ll talk, I’ll talk, I’ll talk, I’ll talk, I’ll tell you anything!!”

“What did you do with the grimoire you stole from Bakerian!? You have 3 seconds! If you can’t remember, I’m frying you up nice and crispy!!”

“I don’t even know who or what Bakerian is!”

All hell broke loose.

Eventually, the #5 got fed up with it all and held her remote against the king’s head and made him confess.

He answered with his body limp and a vacant look in his eyes.

“I believe I sent that book to another kingdom. A collector in Mjolnir really wanted it, so I provided it in exchange for better terms in our treaty.”

“Mjol-what?”

“I mean the Mjolnir Hegemony, ignorant girl.”

Mikoto and Shokuhou exchanged a glance.

Discovering the grimoire’s location was a big step forward, but hegemony?

That made it sound a lot more powerful than this kingdom and likely meant it ruled over multiple smaller kingdoms too.

“By the way, what treaty did you hand over this grimoire for?”

“One that gave us an advantage in the slave trade. If we end up hunting more elves and other monsters than we can use ourselves, Mjolnir promised to buy them from us.”

This was sounding worse all the time.

The humans were the ones attacking those people and then they were a nuisance to be sold off? This society really was rotten to the core.

“So is that our next destination?” asked Shokuhou.

It seemed unlikely this hegemony was going to sit idly by after everything that had happened.

If they weren’t stopped, Mikoto, Shokuhou, and everyone in the areas that had agreed to free their slaves would be at risk. And that went beyond the direct slavery issue. This hegemony would likely want control of the land and air routes and control of all data being transferred via letter and carrier pigeon.

Part 25

For the time being, they took a break to eat some dinner.

The succubus and dryad showed Mikoto and Shokuhou to the castle garden where they got in line and received flat plates of soup.

Mikoto didn’t know what it was properly called, but it was a lot like a white stew full of meat and veggies and served over a mixture of barley and rice. Apparently the idea was to provide all the nutrients you needed on a single plate.

Bikini armor Mikoto sat on the ground and scooped some up in a spoon.

The mild seasoning gave it a childish flavor, but she guessed that was the result of going for something as many people as possible could eat. So the same reason convenience store curry isn’t very spicy.

Dancer Shokuhou sat on the edge of a fountain.

The Queen looked scornfully down on Mikoto for not hesitating to sit on the ground.

“The one nice thing about this world is not having to worry about food additives☆”

“Is that all you ever think about?”

But out here, they could see just how many different species were present. Right next to Mikoto, a giant blazing muspell was tilting her head at a palm-sized pixie.

“Is this food? Can I eat it?”

“No, you cannot!! I am a pixie! Please don’t eat me!!”

“I am a sandman! My mysterious sand will put you to sleep if you try to stay up too late!!”

“Yawwwn. I’m a nocturnal dark elf, so I only just woke up.”

“Not all of us dark elves are nocturnal. You just have a terrible sleep schedule!!”

The monsters all had different habits and customs. Some even preferred things to be cold, damp, and filthy, so trying to be nice could backfire.

A shadow was visible in one of the castle’s windows.

It belonged to the king.

The somewhat envious look in his eyes as he looked down at the courtyard wasn’t just Mikoto’s imagination or wishful thinking. She understood how he was feeling since she tended to stick to herself if she wasn’t careful. Whether you belonged there or not and even if you found them to be annoying, people tended to be envious of a crowd.

Mikoto understood this, but she wasn’t going to drag him here to join them.

Knowing that he felt that way was enough.

(It isn’t like the king had a real reason for what he did. He did say something about being afraid to defy those witches because of all the blood they would spill.)

And if he felt this way, he would find a chance to join a group of people eventually.

Just like Misaka Mikoto, the loner Ace of Tokiwadai, had found her own group through a series of coincidental encounters.

(The real problem is those witch sisters. I wonder what happened to them.)

With two of them, they could at least lick each other’s wounds.

But if they found that lifestyle lonely, Mikoto felt it wouldn’t be too long before they chose to break free of their self-imposed bonds.

“Okay, is anyone here too worked up to get to sleep? A new cooking team has taken over, so I can set aside my apron and give you sweet dreams with my succubus powers!”

“(Munch, munch, munch, munch♪)”

“Eek! Th-that damn baku! The eastern beast has eaten through the dream I was working on!”

All their differences made them a lot of fun to be around.

A lot more fun than the humans who had refused to accept these people and oppressed them instead.

“Hm? Wait, wh-where exactly is the line between these people and the fish and cows we eat?” asked Mikoto.

“Don’t think about it too much. Some of them are even plants, like the dryads and the mandrakes, so in this world not even being a vegetarian lets you avoid that question,” said Shokuhou.

“Vwee…” said a strange voice.

They looked over to see Patissiet holding a small bottle of colorful liquid while her head lolled unsteadily side to side.

Her shoulders shook as she hiccuped and her face was flushed. It wasn’t clear how many centuries old she actually was, but the image was a dangerous one.

Mikoto’s eyes widened.

“What’s going on here? Patissiet, you haven’t been drinking, have you!?”

“Haff I bweh hwuh?”

“I’m not sure this is just alcohol,” said Shokuhou. “It might be something a little more potent.”

“Let’s not jump to unseemly conclusions,” interrupted Elder Bakerian, sounding exasperated. “That is a berry jam. The berries themselves are harmless, but if you boil them and make a jam out of them, they have a unique intoxicating effect on elves. It affects some of us a lot more than others, though.”

“…” “…”

Come to think of it, hadn’t Patissiet picked some berries before and said they helped wake her up?

The berries may have been like catnip for elves.

Part 26

The battle was not won yet.

The next enemy staring them down was the Mjolnir Subcontinent of the Mjolnir Hegemony.

Mikoto and Shokuhou had toppled a kingdom over their system of slavery, so nearby kingdoms that also worked their slaves to the bone would be concerned they might be next. Freeing the enslaved elves and unblocking the flow of information on the roads had shaken multiple foundations on which this world’s society was built.

It also meant a vast ungoverned land existed right in front of them. They might consider invading on the pretext of “helping restore order” to easily take the territory for themselves.

“The elder’s grimoire ended up in the Mjolnir Subcontinent, right?” asked Shokuhou.

They needed that to return to Earth.

Did they have no choice but to fight?

They only had the one enemy to fight, so maybe it was best to be thankful they didn’t have to worry about an attack on more than one front.

Effectively, they just repeated the strategy they had used for the first kingdom. The scale was larger, but the population, equipment, and military force that Mikoto and Shokuhou had to work with had also increased, so the relative amount of effort remained about the same. It especially helped that they could trigger hyperinflation in a specific territory exactly when they wanted it by mass-producing fulgurites.

The hyperinflation did a lot more damage to the side that didn’t know it was coming.

Any currency backed by fulgurites become completely unreliable. Mikoto’s side could prepare for that in advance. For example, they could establish a barter system in advance to keep things running. Their top priority was food, followed by clothing and other daily necessities that they could stockpile before the fulgurite crash. At the same time, they could also maintain fields and farms to remain self-sufficient, but getting all that working would take at least half a year.

“If only there was magic to make vegetables grow faster. What good is this fantasy world?” complained Mikoto.

“Whether they grew in a day or a week, wouldn’t you be afraid to eat vegetables with that kind of growing ability?” replied Shokuhou, sounding truly exasperated.

And yet the vegetable factories in Academy City’s agricultural buildings could be harvested more than 20 times a year.

Mikoto placed her hands on her hips.

“Whatever the case, I’m glad this world hasn’t developed nuclear weapons. We want to return to Earth as soon as possible, so I’d rather not be stuck with both sides staring each other down in a cold war.”

“Endlessly throwing troops against each other in trench warfare doesn’t sound much better to me.”

They were used to life outdoors by now.

Before it got dark, they made sure to find a place by the water to sleep. It was surprisingly important to keep some distance from the water to avoid animal attacks or being caught in a flash flood. Even if it wasn’t raining here, the water level could still suddenly rise based on conditions upstream.

When starting a fire, they found it was important to clean up the area around it first so the fire wouldn’t spread.

“There, our campfire spot is ready. Okay, Patissiet, let’s go find some food for today. What can we hunt in these-”

Mikoto turned around to get an eyeful of bare skin.

The elf had stripped off all her clothing.

“Rub, rub.”

“Hold on, Patissiet! Why are you getting naked outside!?”

“Eh? When you need to wake yourself up quick, there’s nothing like rubbing yourself with a dry cloth!”

“Do the elves here have to include a risque element to everything they do!?”

A short distance away, Shokuhou held a hand to her forehead, wondering if long-lived elves naturally tended toward the habits of the elderly.

Tonight’s dinner was not meat. Patissiet informed them that yams grew at the base of big trees in this area, so they dug some of those up by hand. Instead of grating them (since there was no rice), Mikoto sliced them with an iron sand sword and they cooked them over the fire. Oh, how wonderful it was to have salt.

The trip ended up taking four or five days.

As they approached their destination, they naturally began discussing strategy.

Patissiet and the others Mikoto had pushed up to Level 9999 would launch a frontal assault to draw the enemy’s attention while Mikoto and Shokuhou snuck into the enemy castle, sabotaged the armory and food stores, and brainwashed the king and commanders to shred the enemy chain of command.

They would repeat that as many times as necessary.

First, the Mjolnir Hegemony’s Mjolnir Subcontinent.

Then the superpower ruling the Tir na nOg Continent.

They made quick progress.

When Mikoto and Shokuhou looked back, they had trouble remembering what exactly they had done at each place.

There was a very simple reason why they had attacked the Tir na nOg Continent after the Mjolnir Subcontinent.

Patissiet’s face lit up.

“Th-there it is! That’s the grimoire’s lost page. Now we have the full book!”

“That idiot prince wanted to prove he wasn’t an idiot and win the people’s adoration by hunting down some big monsters, right? So he snatched up all the useful information from this valuable grimoire and then made sure no one else could get their hands on it. In the end, he only gave the Demon Lords another victim, so he really was an idiot.”

“But we kind of overdid it in the process,” said Shokuhou, awkwardly scratching her head for once. Then she clarified what she meant: “World domination.”

“Yeah, we kinda did.”

They had defeated the powerful hegemony and even an unmatched superpower. There were some smaller kingdoms left, but none of them had any intention of opposing Mikoto and Shokuhou at this point. They had all effectively raised the white flag without fighting. No pro-slavery state was left. The world had been split between several different governments, but the actual rules and order had been determined by the top kingdom or two.

Having your entire kingdom collapse because you wanted to take the easy route would be putting the cart before the horse.

All of this had effectively taken about a month.

It had helped a lot that word of their Academy City esper powers had not gotten out, but more than that, this world was basically designed for Misaka Mikoto.

But whether that was a long time or not depended on the context.

For example…

“A month. Thirty days. Um, aren’t the limits of CPR measured in minutes?” asked Mikoto.

“Makes you wonder if we’re even still alive, doesn’t it?” said Shokuhou. “I hope we aren’t setting a new world record ability for an out of body experience.”

Had their real bodies back on Earth been taken to the hospital where they were hooked up to life support systems? Or did time pass at a different rate in Celesaqphere than on Earth?

After establishing an effective strategy in that first kingdom, there wasn’t too much worth remembering.

But one thing had bothered Mikoto.

Mikoto and Shokuhou had marched across a wasteland with a large group of elves, scyllas, dark elves, empusas, tengu, succubi, dryads, and human soldiers and knights.

Then, seemingly without warning, a strange trend had begun.

“Th-the goddesses!”

“It really is them… Then what have we been doing!?”

Mikoto could have understood if they ran away scared after seeing the destructive force of her Railgun or lightning spear, but the enemy army had panicked before the fighting even began. Just from seeing Mikoto and Shokuhou.

“?”

“It sounds to me like they think it’s blasphemous to be our enemy,” said Shokuhou.

“But we’re fighting a war. Would a concept like blasphemy really be enough to stop an entire army?”

“When a Spanish conquistador crossed the ocean, the Aztec emperor mistook him for a legendary god and handed the capital over without fighting. Even though the survival of their empire and civilization was at risk.”

“…”

“And during the advent of tanks and planes in World War One, rumors spread that an army of angels appeared on a Belgian battlefield and attacked the German troops, causing a panic that ultimately stopped an invasion that very likely would have been successful. Like I said before, wars are won with intelligence, not power.”

If the enemy was going to lose the will to fight and flee, Mikoto wasn’t going to argue with it.

However…

“They really are the goddesses,” someone said.

But this wasn’t the foolish enemy out ahead. It came from the army following behind Mikoto and Shokuhou.

“The two goddesses are supposed to break through the invisible barrier and appear in our world during a time of war. The legends were true!!”

A chill ran down Mikoto and Shokuhou’s spines.

They felt a rumbling like from a cheering stadium.

“Hey, Shokuhou, isn’t this getting out of hand!? I’m not going to argue about the importance of intelligence, but are you sure you can control this!?”

“What are you looking at me for? I’m not responsible for any trouble caused by these people’s thunder goddess!”

And so, unable to draw on their full strength, one major kingdom had fallen after another, but Mikoto couldn’t help but notice that the outcome seemed mostly determined in advance. The hyperinflation from mass-producing fulgurites played a role there too, of course.

She was now aware that she hadn’t done enough preparation when she challenged Academy City to rescue the Sisters.

She had already partially lost when she rushed in without a real plan.

“I can control all the electronic data, so I could have altered the prices of vegetables, grains, precious metals, jewels, and crude oil. Sigh, even those sketchy labs need money to run, so there had to have been tons of better ways to apply pressure to the adults at the top of Academy City.”

“Misaka-saaan, do you realize how dangerous that line of thinking is?”

At any rate, they had the full grimoire now, so they could finally see what it said.

They needed to complete the three treasures ceremony to return to Earth.

To do that, they first needed to defeat the three Demon Lords and retrieve their three treasures, but they didn’t know what those Demon Lords looked like or even what their names were.

That was why they needed Elf Elder Bakerian’s grimoire.

They had ended up fighting from beginning to end. But since this was a swords and sorcery fantasy world, maybe it was designed so they would need to use those swords and sorcery.

“Let’s see, how about we start with the names of the three Demon Lords?”

“It gives those right here,” Patissiet cheerfully informed them, reaching out her small finger from the side.

Mikoto could grasp the gist of the text like she was decoding Morse code or braille, but it would be faster to let the elf do it since she could fluently read the text.

“It says the three Demon Lords rule over the land, the sea, and the sky.”

“And their names?” pressed Mikoto to avoid getting sidetracked.

The elf read the first one out loud.

“The ruler of the sky is the Brain Edge Dragon.”

“Hm?” said Shokuhou, completely freezing up.

Mikoto hadn’t caught on, so she urged Patissiet onward.

“Huh. And the sea one?”

“Wait just a second and remember what I explained to you, Misaka-san!! Remember when we first left Academy City and I read the residual thoughts from that slate?”

“You expect me to remember that never-ending explanation!?”

“The relevant part was in the very first line! It started with ‘slaying the Brain Edge Dragon’!!”

Time froze.

Mikoto had a bad feeling about this. She forced a smile and hesitantly addressed the elf.

“Um?”

“Yes?”

“P-Patissiet, Just to be certain, can you tell us the name of the sea Demon Lord?”

“That’s right here. The ruler of the sea is the Absolute Water Kraken.”

The elf tilted her head and went “huh?” even as she read it.

Mikoto didn’t recognize that name.

But that was no reason for relief. It did sound familiar. What about the thing that grabbed Shokuhou’s ankle, dragged her into the lake, and was ultimately sliced up by Mikoto and turned into grilled squid? Hadn’t that been a kraken?”

Mikoto was afraid to continue.

“Um, then...who rules the land?”

“The ruler of the land is the Multi Predator Chimera. Oh, I know that one. That’s the one Lady Misaka skinned and turned into a blanket while half asleep!!”

Mikoto hung her head.

And trembled.

Then what was the point of all this fighting? They had never needed the grimoire.

Misaka Mikoto and Shokuhou Misaki raised their heads and shouted as one.

“Are you telling me we already defeated them all our first time here!!!?”

Part 27

So they retraced their steps.

It had been a month.

The creature hadn’t been fully reduced to its skeleton, but it wasn’t fresh either. It was very much a pile of rotting flesh.

That was all that remained of the Brain Edge Dragon.

While this was a shiny fantasy world full of primary colors, the smell was still horrendous.

“Ugh, urp.”

It stung their eyes.

It affected their stomach.

Was this their punishment for taking lives so frivolously?

“Where is it? Where’s the legendary treasure? Some bandits didn’t steal it away while we were gone, did they!? What is this treasure even supposed to be, anyway!?” asked Mikoto.

“That big monster doesn’t have pockets and I certainly didn’t see it carrying around a fancy handbag, so maybe it swallowed the thing?” suggested Shokuhou.

Mikoto endured the unpleasantness as she split open its stomach with an iron sand sword.

Shokuhou didn’t even have the courage to approach.

A rotting stench pushed in like an invisible wall, but Mikoto continued working while gagging until she found it.

“?”

It was a rectangular cuboid.

It was about the size of a relay baton and it was colored red.

At first glance, it appeared to be made of glass or a jewel, but at this size that would make it as heavy as a small dumbbell. Yet it didn’t feel heavy at all. It was light as a balloon. Mikoto poked it with her finger, sending it spinning through the air. Part of her wondered if it was a tangible hallucination.

She had been expecting something like a ring or a crown, so she was a little surprised that this was known as a treasure. However…

“So this is the treasure?”

“There are supposed to be two more, right?”

From the Something Kraken and the Whatever Chimera.

After another two dizzying battles against a rotting stench, Mikoto now had a blue and a green cuboid as well.

They had all three treasures.

“Oh, no. I think I’m going to puke…”

“It looks like these increase your experience ability based on how much space you occupy. In other words, the bigger you are, the greater the advantage they give you. That may be why the bigger monsters claimed them and then grew even bigger with their help.”

Mikoto wasn’t too interested in that since she could instantly boost anyone to Level 9999. Except…

“Hold on. These can help your body grow? I-including, the B at the start of your measurements!?”

“Are you aware you said that out loud? And it would probably increase your weight ability ten-fold, turning you into a giant.”

The haves could be so cruel to the have-nots.

That said, Mikoto didn’t like the idea of trying it out when it wasn’t clear what part of her they would make grow. For that matter, experimenting on yourself was almost always a bad idea.

So worked to calm herself.

“Phew. Okay, Shokuhou. We’ve seen this red, blue, and green color combo before, haven’t we?”

“?”

“You don’t remember? Reincarnation Goddess Salinagaritina wore a white dancer’s outfit, but its ribbons were colored red, blue, and green.”

“Are you sure that has any significance ability?”

Looking at how names worked here, the rules of Celesaqphere did not apply to Salinagaritina. If they did, she would have a simpler name like Circlet or Reincarné. So she likely existed outside of Celesaqphere.

But they had found something in common with her.

Mikoto didn’t know how many other worlds there were, but what if each of them had a secret tool or technique that linked back to Salinagaritina? If so, why? Hadn’t she said she could send people from Earth to other worlds, but another goddess was needed to send people back the other way?

(Was there anything linking back to her in that space war world?)

They might have found something if they had looked.

“Anyway, we have all three treasures now☆” said Shokuhou.

“Yeah,” said Mikoto. “So now we just have to do that three treasures ceremony and return to Earth!!”

Chapter 6: Who Stands in the Way?

Part 1

World domination complete!!

“Sigh, this is basically perfect. Why don’t we just stay in this world forever?” said Mikoto.

“Have you forgotten we’re both having an out of body experience while close to death? It’s been a month since that propane tank explosion, so who knows what’s happening to our bodies back on Earth,” said Shokuhou.

Yes, they couldn’t just lie around in bed inside the superpower’s enormous castle.

Mikoto shook off the temptation to go back to sleep and got out of the truly king-sized bed. The castle’s butlers and maids would pamper her more if she let them, so she had to reboot herself.

Which meant…

“We’ve defeated the three Demon Lords and gathered the three treasures, so now we need to research the big ceremony necessary to send us home.”

Demon Lords. Ceremony.

The words left her mouth so easily but hearing herself say them felt so strange. She had to tell herself that was just the kind of world this was. She managed to accept the reality before her eyes by telling herself this world had some kind of technology called magic and that it might be based on familiar science if she pursued it far enough. She had a feeling it would end badly if she didn’t leave that barrier in place.

This world’s largest superpower had existed on the Tir na nOg Continent.

The castle’s library was also the largest in the world. If they were doing research, this would be the best place.

Since Patissiet would climb on top of the bookcases (in her short skirt) if left to her own devices, Mikoto grabbed the elf by the scruff of the neck to keep her on the floor.

“Three treasures ceremony. Does anything here talk about the three treasures ceremony?”

They appreciated all the knowledge gathered in the library, but too much knowledge could be a problem of its own. Without anything like a search engine to quickly find what they wanted, it could end up taking a full day to find a relevant passage.

They found some familiar faces there: the young slaver who Patissiet had originally served, as well as the guild receptionist and mayor who had been planning to kill the elves in that village.

Mikoto gave them a “what are you doing here?” look and received an answer from the flashy young woman who used wind magic.

“With the abolitionist movement picking up speed, the elves are learning to enjoy the finer things in life. Which means an increased demand for goods. This might just be a great business opportunity.”

“True, and no one will stop you from making money if you do it in a way that establishes a beneficial cycle. I hope this has been a good lesson ability for you☆”

“By the way, you brainwashing goddess, you had better not be lying about restoring my talent for business if I help you search through all these books!”

That Dancer Mikoto stuck out her tongue with her back turned suggested that probably wasn’t happening.

In the end, it came down to people wanting to side with the winners. Mikoto and Shokuhou’s defeat of the Tir na nOg superpower had greatly changed things.

Shokuhou could run some form of a search by reading the residual thoughts in the books and bookcases, but it would still take her some time.

And Patissiet was the best at this kind of slow-going work.

Mikoto could only get a general idea of what the text said like she was decoding Morse code or braille, but the elf could fluently read this world’s language, which made her a lot faster.

Patissiet did not actually read each of the thick books cover to cover. She would get a general idea of what the author was trying to say from the title, the table of contents, the opening pages, and the final pages. It was a lot like figuring out the topic and contents by filling in the blanks, but it was honestly impressive. Mikoto wanted to learn this skill for the book reports she was forced to write for school during summer break.

“Oh, this could be it.”

The elf’s face lit up.

She found it so quickly it sort of frustrated Shokuhou who could essentially cheat by reading the residual thoughts with the remote she pulled from her handbag.

“The three treasures ceremony is done at the Strange Underpass Cathedral. Each of the treasures is very important, so I don’t know where else you would hold a magic ceremony using all three of them.”

“Strange Underpass?”

“?”

With a name like that, it might refer to a secret passage between worlds. If so, this was another example of very on-the-nose naming.

But there was no point in complaining about this world’s names at this point.

“Where is that cathedral?” asked Shokuhou.

“At the very top. The only floating land at Layer 11 is the Strange Underpass Cathedral. I have never been there of course, but I would expect every single person in Celesaqphere has heard of it.”

Part 2

They had already achieved world domination.

From Layer 1 to Layer 10, Mikoto and Shokuhou could use all equipment from from all facilities from all kingdoms from all floating lands.

Now that they had the three treasures and could perform a search with everything this world had to offer, nothing prevented them from preparing for the three treasures ceremony at the Strange Underpass Cathedral.

It helped a lot that they had freed the elves, succubi, sirens, and other races.

That meant they could gather the knowledge and materials scattered beyond human-controlled territories.

Yes, with the appropriate knowledge and techniques, it was possible nonhuman races could also steal or buy books and treasures.

(I’m so glad they aren’t all arguing with each other.)

Mikoto had boosted Patissiet and the others to the level cap of 9999, so the humans could no longer capture the elves and other monsters and then treat them poorly. And while all the attention was on the long-lived Level 9999 group, the younger generations of monster girls could level up without anyone exploiting them, allowing the nonhumans to maintain their superior position indefinitely.

Once Mikoto and Shokuhou left, what happened during the next era would be up to the Celesaqphere natives. But while Patissiet and the others had a concerning lack of condemnation of the slavery system itself, it didn’t look like the elves would actively retaliate against the humans. They were a peaceful race as long as they were left alone.

The elves had had accepted the harpies, tengu, and many other races without issue, so it seemed likely they could get along with humans too.

Their integrated army itself was proof that racial differences were no reason to eliminate each other.

“By the way, Shokuhou, is it true?”

“Is what true?”

“That the elves speak with their long ears as much as their mouths.”

Even now, Elder Bakerian and little Patissiet were conversing a short distance away. Were they working out the details of the three treasures ceremony?

Shokuhou pointed at them.

“It is. But it isn’t anything too complex. It’s more like Morse code ability. The number of times their ears move up and down signifies a letter and a twirl of their ears signifies the end of a letter.”

“I see, I see.”

“So right now Patissiet is smiling and saying, ‘Who does that violent electric girl think she is talking down to us when she’s so flat?’”

“Huh!!!?”

“See, Bakerian just looked our way. ‘Get too close and she will absorb your boobs. To be safe, don’t even look her in the eye.’”

“It’s not a curse, so I can’t just take your size away from you! As much as I’d want to if I could!!”

“Pff. These elves are mean when they know we can’t hear them. But I do see where they’re coming from given your you-know-whats are so you-know-what. Oh, look now. That ear movements means, ‘I do feel sorry for her. They’re just so small.’ Ah ha ha! Misaka-san, your measurements ability is so bad even a little girl like Patissiet pities you!”

“…”

“ ‘Don’t worry. Unlike her, yours will grow with time.’ ‘I hope you’re right. I don’t want to end up like her.’ ‘An adult woman with a chest that flat is actually quite a rare thing, so just ignore her as an extreme outlier.’ ‘If you say so.’ Are these elves brutal, or what!? ...What’s wrong, Misaka-san? Wh-why do you look so angry? At me, I mean?”

“Did you really expect me to buy that? I’ll ask them and if I find out you were lying, I’m grabbing those boobs and tearing them right off of you.”

Shokuhou Misaki wildly crossed her hands to try and gesture for the elves to back up her story (while Mikoto dragged her over by the collar), but the elves only tilted their heads cluelessly. Her attempt at communication had failed miserably.

Part 3

They had the three treasures and they knew the specific cathedral needed for the ceremony.

That only left the preparations.

The night before the ceremony, they needed to cleanse themselves.

That meant today.

And so they had bathed in a warm spring where no tentacles or slimes would attack them.

It was in fact, a spacious, stone bath. It was circular and luxurious, with the bathwater pouring out of a statue of a woman holding a jar. It was the perfect bath other than the need to strongly insist that the castle’s maids did not come in and help wash them.

“I wonder what would happen to this world if we told them how to make 24-hour baths,” said Shokuhou.

“They might love it, but I don’t want to see a new war start over monopolizing the baths. It sounds silly, but I wouldn’t put it past this world.”

They zoned out in the bath for a while.

Instead of plain bathwater, it was scented with a substance extracted from the oil of a flower petal or something. Apparently this fantasy world had more to offer than walking endlessly through muddy fields.

“Hey, Shokuhou?”

“What?”

“Why are your boobs so big?”

“If that’s the only thing on your mind after all this adventuring, you must have it even worse than I thought.”

“Hmph. I know we’ve been eating the same things here in Celesaqphere, so it makes no sense it hasn’t influenced my size like it has yours.”

“If you think diet is the only factor, you are sorely mistaken, poor ignorant Misaka-san.”

“Huh? Are you saying exercise matters too? Was it because I did all the fighting while you sat around the entire time!? Is that why these things got so big!?”

“Hey, don’t just grab my chest!!!”

Mikoto and Shokuhou just barely managed to calm down before the maids rushed in after hearing the commotion.

“Huh?”

There was no dinner for them after they left the bath.

Was fasting part of the cleansing?

And they were sent to the same bedroom.

“I can’t sleep…”

“…”

After extinguishing the lights, Mikoto and Shokuhou climbed into their respective beds.

They were supposed to sleep while closed inside this special room.

That was apparently meant to help cleanse them, but they had spent all their time in Celesaqphere in truly deadly battles, leaving them no time for an orderly life. Now that they could actually sleep in a bed like normal, the sleep refused to come. Their idleness in the superpower had affected their daily rhythm in a separate way.

They had nothing to do.

But Mikoto didn’t feel like killing time playing cards with Shokuhou. She found it kind of odd that this world had playing cards, though. Was that something any civilization would invent when pursuing certain functionality far enough, like how every country’s stealth aircraft ended up looking so similar?

“We’re just nothing alike, are we?”

“It took you this long to figure that out?”

“Well, no.”

While they were chatting without even bothering to sit up in bed, a knock came at the door.

“?”

Since they were supposed to stay in this room to cleanse themselves, they had assumed there would be no contact from outside.

Was this really allowed?

But they weren’t going to get any sleep tossing and turning in the dark anyway. Assuming this wasn’t an assassin, Mikoto welcomed this new stimulus.

She opened the door to find a small figure standing in the hallway.

“Patissiet?”

“Eh heh heh.”

The elf grinned a little.

Once inside, she took a curious look around the dark room.

“Oh, keep the lights out. They will come to scold me if they see a light in the window.”

“Oh? So you came knowing they’d be made at you?” asked Mikoto, smiling mischievously.

Patissiet’s eyes widened in mild surprise.

Then she smiled again.

It looked like a natural smile to Mikoto.

“Yes. Eh heh heh. This is the first time I’ve chosen to break someone’s rules!”

“Then how about we eat snacks together? All night long!!”

That definitely felt like it strayed from the idea of cleansing themselves, but no one, not even Shokuhou, protested.

And Mikoto had a thought.

This little elf had saved them so much during this adventure. It was easy enough to say Mikoto and Shokuhou didn’t get along. But the truth was, if the two of them had really been traveling Celesaqphere on their own, they wouldn’t have lasted three days. It was only with Patissiet there needing their protection and creating an air of cooperation that the #3 and #5 had managed to temporarily work together and face their common problem.

Namely, returning to Earth.

By completing the three treasures ceremony.

“W-we’ll be eating cookies this late at night!?”

“Oh, dear. Don’t let that surprise you. Because I have some chocolate here too☆”

“What!? How can something so sinful be allowed!?”

Patissiet really sprang to her feet.

This was apparently beyond anything she could have imagined.

This had been the most luxurious castle in the world, so it had a plentiful supply of snacks like these. You could open a random drawer and find bottles of meringue or candies. It was hard to believe they had once been eating sliced kraken tentacle on a lakeside.

Eventually, Mikoto broached the subject.

“We have the three treasures now. We have a way to return to Earth.”

“Yes.”

“It’s hard to believe it’s happening tomorrow,” said Shokuhou. “Part of me still feels like we’re going to continue trekking across Celesaqphere forever.”

“Yes, it ends tomorrow,” said Patissiet before falling silent.

She also stopped eating the snacks.

“…”

Patissiet had said this was her first time breaking the rules.

What had motivated that change?

What subconscious desire was she acting on?

What had made her intrude when they were supposed to be cleansing themselves in this room?

“Hey, Patissiet.”

Mikoto knew this might be cruel.

But she had to ask.

“You helped us out from the very beginning. Maybe you were only doing it to help the other enslaved elves, but you didn’t need to stay with us after that was done. Retrieving the three treasures and identifying the Strange Underpass Cathedral only help the two of us in our goal of returning to Earth. So we’re truly thankful you continued to help us out.”

Shokuhou did not reach for her remote.

Even though she could find the answer right away with her #5 Level 5 power.

So Mikoto asked the question.

“Patissiet. Do you regret doing that?”

Silence followed.

No, there was a sniffling sound.

Patissiet hung her head in the darkness.

“I...I…”

The words spilled out of her trembling lips.

“I don’t want to say goodbye.”

That was the elf’s selfish desire.

That was the personal truth she had been willing to break the rules to express.

“I kept telling myself I could stop helping you. That I could be with you forever then! I wouldn’t be breaking anything or lying. I just had to say nothing – not give you the next hint – and we could stay together without anyone getting hurt!!”

She would have had plenty of opportunities to keep those two for herself.

But she hadn’t done it.

As a slave, she had been taught to always do what she was told.

“But I knew that wasn’t what you would want!! So I did my best to give you what you wanted. I helped create the ending you most wanted. I thought that was best...I thought that would make you smile!! So!!!”

But she had continued doing as she was told until now.

Something had cracked.

She had stopped being the ever-obedient slave and discovered a new, tiny feeling inside her.

A feeling coming straight from her heart.

“I don’t want to say goodbye…”

The tears spilled, she bit her lip, and she repeatedly sniffled her nose.

It was an ugly display.

But that did not mean it was a bad thing.

“Ugh, sob! I don’t want to. I want to stay with you forever… Wahhhh! I don’t want to say goodbyyyye!!!”

Mikoto and Shokuhou both smiled as they watched the weeping elf.

This world had finally won the courage to speak its mind.

They couldn’t stay here forever and Celesaqphere would have to learn to operate on its own eventually, but now they knew this world would be alright without them. They knew Patissiet and the others could live strong as independent people. They wouldn’t just calmly accept death when their number was called. They would take a different path than the one those clones had once taken.

This girl had the kind of heart that led her to take up a longbow out of concern for someone other than herself and to weep at the thought of saying goodbye, so she would surely protest the system of slavery that imposed such an extreme burden on others.

“Don’t worry.” Misaka Mikoto hugged those small shoulders and rubbed her back. “You’ll live a long life. Even longer than ours. So remove the collar from your neck and the chains from your ankles and walk free across Celesaqphere. Do that and I just know you’ll make so many wonderful friends you’ll forget all about this one little goodbye.”

Part 4

The next day, bikini armor Misaka Mikoto and dancer Shokuhou Misaki made their way to the Strange Underpass Cathedral.

Some elves accompanied them.

So did some succubi, muspells, dryads, scyllas, pixies, mermaids, echidnas, arachnes, and even the occasional human.

But that wasn’t all.

There were even some of the enemies they had fought, like the lord who no longer had his ultimate equipment, the two witches, the king who had relied so heavily on those alluring sisters, and the superpower’s king.

“Carry my bag, Lavender! Brain, be a proper butler and teach this knight how to behave!”

“Oh, is that how you treat women, even if she is a knight?”

“Eh? Oh, um, of course not, my king!!”

The lord was strict with the knight who worked for him, but he immediately bowed to his king. It sounded like he still had a lot of learning to do.

A woman with long blonde hair and a tight red dress hid her smile behind a fan.

“Ho ho ho. I hope you are thankful that I am lending you my ultimate fire magic to assist with this selfish cause of yours.”

“...Who’s she again?”

“I am the Queen of Explosions who leads the Mjolnir Hegemony!! You couldn’t possibly have forgotten the onslaught of flamethrower magic and my specialty firebombs – made by filling a bottle with solid fuel and cotton!!”

So she was one of the ones they defeated without even trying. She had honestly left less of an impression on Mikoto than the initial slaver woman.

Not that there was any need to distinguish between them.

The conflicts and friction would not disappear overnight, but Mikoto an Shokuhou could tell those things would gradually shrink until they were entirely gone.

The (former?) slaver woman was slumped over and muttering to herself.

“W-will I really receive my business talent back? Or would I be happier giving up on business and living a slow life deep in the forest?”

A giant structure of smooth stone stood on the only floating land on Layer 11. It had the sparkling wine coloration of a luxury smartphone.

“Wait…” said Mikoto as she took the first step inside.

Sparkling wine.

Hard stone.

It had a clean but cold feel.

And it was entirely deserted.

But Mikoto and Shokuhou both frowned.

They had been right to sense something was off.

They walked to the very back, opened the large door there, and found a space even larger than a stadium.

“I know this place.”

“So do I.”

Rectangular spiral staircases ran along the walls like trick art and pure water flowed down from them.

Wasn’t this the Something-or-Other Sanctuary? It looked so much like the place where they had met Reincarnation Goddess Salinagaritina after being forced into an out-of-body experience by an accident.

Enough that it felt the two places had to be linked.

“Could this be the world’s exit?”

Patissiet nervously followed Mikoto and Shokuhou into the large room.

An upside-down U structure sat in the very center of the stadium-sized space. It was a stone double door with the same sparkling wine color as everything else. But when they opened the heavy doors, there wasn’t anything there. Only the rest of the room on the other side.

“If you perform the three treasures ceremony, will this truly become an exit?” speculated the elf, looking thoughtful.

Part 5

The three treasures ceremony had finally begun.

It made use of the entire stadium-sized great hall. The succubi, dark elves, and others were busy placing herbs and jewels in the appropriate locations. All magic in this world was apparently based on incantations, but magic circles, incense, colorful cards, and more gathered tens of thousands of words together in this one place.

The two witches who had supported the king provided instructions.

“You need to flip that card upside down! The way you have it, it ands the symbols together, but we want to or them!!”

“Hee hee. Place the censer on the magic circle at 150 degrees clockwise to indicate a period. That alone can greatly change the meaning of the incantation.”

Everyone’s efforts were working toward a single result.

Everything came together to elevate it all.

The village mayor looked like he couldn’t believe what he was doing.

Or maybe it made him deeply emotional.

“To think the day would come I would be working side by side with elves.”

They were breaking the barrier between worlds and surpassing the rules of the reincarnation goddess to create a path back from Celesaqphere to Earth.

It was all for that.

Patissiet and Elder Bakerian joined their voices together.

“The red treasure is a sign of the Celesaqphere sky. Its light symbolizes the ever-expanding dusk and the gap that invites demons.”

“The blue treasure is a sign of the Celesaqphere sea. Its light symbolizes the changes and currents that rain down from the heavens and fill the space below the land.”

“The green treasures is a sign of the Celesaqphere land. Its light symbolizes a place that splits and breaks but has still been gifted to all that live.”

“Where is the unseen territory found? The three colors shall dye our world and outline the territory with no sign of its own. The formless path shall appear before us in the very end!!”

There was no obvious change.

Only a shift in the density or hardness of the air.

Something was changing at an accelerating rate.

And it would likely continue until it reached the point that everyone could see it.

“The five continents and all their life wish you well.

“The four kingdoms bless you.

“The three Demon Lords have provided the guiding treasures.

“The two goddesses have granted us the love and support needed to seek it out.

“The one portal’s lock need no longer function.

“Strange Underpass Cathedral, resonate with us and open the portal between worlds!!!”

Meanwhile, Shokuhou and Mikoto were whispering to each other.

They had noticed something.

“(This is something we were only supposed to get after convincing everyone in this world to get along and work together, wasn’t it?)”

“(Kind of awkward that we forced them to come together and help us, isn’t it?)”

But it would be weird to stop here and redo things the right way, so they decided to stick with it.

Oblivious to this, the elf girl continued her very serious incantation.

Once her part was complete, she made a worried comment with the thick grimoire in hand.

“With the portal connected, th-the gatekeeper will emerge. Be careful!”

“Don’t worry. We’ve never been in any real danger since we arrived in this world.”

“Heh heh. I’m sure this’ll be a letdown too.”

The two girls made somewhat rude comments.

The ceremony had reached its climax. Most likely, the mermaids and scyllas’ part of the song had left the human audible range.

That was when they heard a cracking sound.

But not from anything specific. If anything, it sounded more like space itself was cracking.

Mikoto, who didn’t know much about magic ceremonies, jumped.

“Is something wrong!?”

“No! Lady Misaka, Lady Shokuhou, stay where you are!!”

That didn’t make them feel much better.

Patissiet elaborated with grimoire in hand.

“This threat was expected!! The gatekeeper is coming!!”

The air shook.

Even Mikoto took a step back.

The portal itself seemed to be rejecting their attempt to approach and pass through it.

Something was coming.

“What is this gatekeeper supposed to be!?”

“Um, according to the grimoire, if you travel against the current, the gatekeeper appears borrowing the form of the strongest person in the destination world. It won’t have their memories or personality, but the greatest enemy for whoever is attempting to return will be created to stop them!!”

Mikoto wasn’t quite sure what that meant, but she wasn’t going to back down no matter what came through.

She pulled an arcade coin from one of the (extremely limited) pockets in her bikini armor.

The #5 girl twirled her TV remote.

The depths of the portal writhed and the air burst.

Part 6

The threat had arrived.

Part 7

In that moment, fear covered Mikoto’s face and Tokiwadai’s Queen fell flat on her ass. Shokuhou tearfully lifted the corners of her lips into an uncertain half-smile, but Mikoto couldn’t yell at her. This was asking too much. Their titles as Tokiwadai’s Ace and Queen meant nothing here. In fact, those titles were a large part of the problem with this enemy.

The ultimate adversary was a woman.

The ultimate adversary had black hair.

The ultimate adversary wore a tight skirt suit.

The ultimate adversary wore glasses.

It was the dorm manager.

They could not return to Earth unless they defeated her!!!

“I-is that the legendary gatekeeper – the Deadly Headwind, aka the Strange World Keeper!?”

“No, that would be our school’s dorm manager.” “No, that would be our school’s dorm manager.”

Then again, she was the most powerful monster when it came to guarding the exit and preventing unauthorized outings.

They had fled from her once already.

When they ran into her in the false Academy City, they had decided fighting her would mean death.

But now they had to settle things.

The dorm manager really was the perfect fit for the final gatekeeper standing in Misaka Mikoto and Shokuhou Misaki’s way!!

Part 8

Their eyes met.

She was coming this way.

Fear of the dorm manager eliminated all other concerns from Mikoto’s mind.

What little courage she could scrounge up wouldn’t be enough.

(That lazybones would be a lot easier to attack than me, so why wouldn’t you go for her first! Then I could use that opening to blast you in the side with an arcade coin!!)

Mikoto may have taken too detached a view. She should have considered the possibility of death coming for her right away.

“Ahhhhhhh!!”

Driven by terror, Mikoto launched a Railgun right away. Against a normal human, she might have widened her eyes at her own excessive self-defense, but she received no complaints here.

If anything, it wasn’t enough.

An attack like that could never harm the dorm manager from hell.

Mikoto sensed that odd form of trust within her.

And that trust was warranted.

The sparkling wine dust cloud burst open to reveal the dorm manager already rushing sharply toward Mikoto.

The accuracy of Mikoto’s EM reflection radar dropped when a dense cloud of particles was floating in the air.

Mikoto seriously thought she was about to die.

“Rahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!”

Someone roared.

Dancer Shokuhou aimed her TV remote this way.

And at Mikoto, not the dorm manager.

Zap!!

“Ow!!”

Mikoto’s head jerked to the side as if deflected by an invisible barrier.

Mental Out did not work on Mikoto.

A wind roared past.

Her ear was nearly taken off.

Without the jerk of her head, the dorm manager’s punch would have slammed into the center of her face.

“Tch!!”

Staying within reach of the dorm manager’s arms and legs would only get her beaten to death.

Mikoto used magnetism to draw herself to the side of a nearby decorative pillar. There was no rebar in this fantasy world, so she was annoyingly limited to artwork made of metal.

Against an expert at deadly close-quarters combat, it was best to put a height difference between them.

That was also the key to a group battle, but…

“Um!?”

She tore it away.

This wasn’t something as simple as grabbing a floor tile and throwing it or grabbing another pillar and wielding it as a weapon.

The dorm manager broke the sparkling wine pillar down with a single low kick. The exact same pillar Mikoto was attached to. Which was thicker than her torso!!

This created a gap.

The dorm manager grabbed the thick pillar in her hands and swung it right as Mikoto cut her magnetic connection so she dropped straight down.

With a roar like a meteor strike, the entire stadium-sized cathedral shook.

After gathering centrifugal force, the dorm manager had thrown the thick pillar so it pierced the wall.

If Mikoto had been a single second slower with her decision, she would have been right there with it.

“Is she seriously not using Academy City esper powers or this world’s magic!?”

Part 9

It was like a bad joke.

She was Academy City’s #5 Level 5, Mental Out. She could brainwash any human by sticking her hand in her bag, aiming her TV remote, and pressing the button, but that assumption had collapsed all at once.

She couldn’t hit her.

Her TV remote wasn’t fast enough.

All she had to do was point the end at the woman and press a single button, but not even her eyes could keep up with the dorm manager who kept rapidly vanishing to the left or right.

“Rahhh!!” shouted dancer Shokuhou.

It was meaningless.

But even if it was effectively useless, the dorm manager could briefly pause if she were caught off guard. If something she failed to understand froze her in place for even half a second, Shokuhou’s remote could catch up.

That was long enough for her thumb to press a button. And that would settle it.

(This time it’ll work!!)

Bam!!

As soon as the dorm manager stomped her foot against the floor, the solid sparkling wine stone cracked and split. A thick cloud of dust rushed into the air and the makeshift smokescreen obscured Shokuhou’s view.

She saw the glint of glasses.

Driven by fear, the #5 aimed her remote that way, but it was no use.

It didn’t work.

She knew she must have pressed the button countless times. It had to have been pointed the dorm manager’s way at least once. But it didn’t do any good. Did the aim not even matter? Was that dorm manager from hell immune to mental powers!?

(I-I-I-I can’t see her very well in the thicker parts of that smokescreen. Wait, does it not count as targeting my power if I can only see a vague silhouette!?)

“E-eeeeek!?”

Tears welled in her eyes and she tried to back away, but she stepped on the frills of her dancer’s outfit and tripped. She ended up shamefully backing away on her rear. But she still tried to deter her enemy from approaching.

With a light “slap!”, the hand holding the remote pointed in the wrong direction.

Her body had moved against her will.

Or so she thought at first.

In truth, the dorm manager’s fist had tapped Shokuhou’s wrist, diverting her aim to the side.

It was a simple parry.

The dorm manager didn’t need Academy City esper powers or this world’s magic. She had neutralized the #5’s Mental Out that easily!?

The sound of something tearing through the air was horrifyingly heavy.

The dorm manager’s right leg seemed to disappear before the kick caught Shokuhou square in the gut, launching her several meters backwards.

She had tearfully grabbed her handbag in her other hand to cushion the blow at the last second, but how much had that actually helped?

The dorm manager from hell did not hesitate to land this solid blow even though it put distance between her and her opponent.

As if to say she was willing to give the girl that much of a handicap.

Part 10

The palely glowing glasses turned Mikoto’s way.

She distinctly felt the paralysis of fear.

“…”

No esper powers were necessary.

Neither was the strongest magic of some other world.

In the end, the most terrifying thing was an ordinary, grounded human!?

“Cough. Don’t just stand there, Misaka-saaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!!!”

“!?

That broke the spell.

Mikoto immediately jumped to the side, dodging the dorm manager’s fist.

She could do this.

While Shokuhou had taken a direct hit, Mikoto could still move nimbly. She didn’t have time to launch an attack of her own, but she could still just barely keep up with the dorm manager’s speed!!

“Kh.”

“Gh.”

Nowhere in this vast space was safe.

But for a brief moment, she felt warmth on her back.

Misaka Mikoto and Shokuhou Misaki.

They hadn’t agreed on a strategy, but they still pressed their backs together, let the other watch their back, and shouted hatefully at each other.

“Don’t you die yet!”

“I’m more worried about you!”

The glasses dorm manager slowly approached from up ahead.

But someone stood in her way.

It was the small elf named Patissiet.

“I won’t let you…”

She had tears in her eyes.

She had thrown away her longbow and simply spread her arms wide.

“I don’t want Lady Misaka to leave and I want to stay with Lady Shokuhou forever. But I have to smile and say goodbye… I decided I would do whatever I could to make that happen!! Maybe you’re the gatekeeper and maybe you’re something else, but don’t get in the way after I worked so hard to prepare myself for this moment!!!”

She wasn’t alone.

The harpies, sirens, succubi, dark elves, scyllas, sylphs, muspells, tengu, empusas, and the elves had their psychological bonds broken by that one voice and they all rushed in.

“It’s time I demonstrated what Silver Defender Sigynette can do.”

“Indeed. How about I show you the cutting edge of Silver Striker Antoinaisse!!”

“Ho ho. Are you ready for the famous fiery cocktail of the Mjolnir Hegemony’s Queen of Explosions!?”

These people gained nothing by opening the gate back to Earth.

But they still charged onto the battlefield, possibly throwing their lives away, to grant the wish of those two girls.

“Lady Lavender, this is not a battle we can win.”

“I-I know that, Brain! No, no, no. But it’s still a battle I want to win!!”

It wasn’t an issue of debts or gratitude.

There was no reason.

This was a gathering of the kind of people who could go this far just to save a friend.

Even the dorm manager from hell seemed to flinch slightly.

Come to think of it, hadn’t she briefly hesitated to attack when she was engulfed by a crowd of rioters in that fake Academy City?

That was how time had caught up with her.

Either way, it all came down to this instant. Shokuhou had already taken a solid hit, so this fearsome battle could not last long.

If they didn’t end it here, they likely had no chance of winning even if they tried for another 100 years.

They had to avoid being gradually worn down and ultimately killed.

They had to create a different path here!!

Clean water flowed down the rectangular spiral staircases.

But the dust from the smashed sparkling wine stone had changed certain aspects of that water. For example, its acidity and its conductivity.

Yes.

If the Railgun used to electrically launch an arcade coin at three times the speed of sound were used to guide that water, it would have greater destructive force than the water jets used to slice sheets of metal in factories.

“Shokuhouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!!”

Bikini armor Mikoto called out and received a response.

Shokuhou consciously pressed her back hard against Mikoto’s.

Against the #3’s back while electricity crackled from her electrified body.

“Gahhhhh!!?”

The shock to her heart made the #5 gasp.

But that intentionally shifted her control over Mental Out.

That power had provided such a wide variety of applications that she needed to use different remotes to partition the different uses. A shock powerful enough to knock her unconscious could sometimes push the #5 Level 5’s power beyond her control.

Water surged out like a serpent.

This wasn’t just Mikoto’s power.

Shokuhou Misaki’s Mental Out controlled the minute moisture in people’s brains and on objects’ surfaces to read or manipulate mental information.

The #3 and #5 were linked together.

They achieved a single attack.

They produced hundreds of thousands of atmospheres of pressure.

The edge of the cut was white.

No matter how powerful she was, the dorm manager was still human. She was not protected by a special power or a next-gen weapon. So they only had to prevent her from dodging or deflecting their attack.

Which meant launching a powerful attack that covered a wide enough range that she couldn’t dodge it even if she predicted it.

Not even the dorm manager from hell could avoid something like that!!

Silence fell.

For a few seconds, it seemed like the world had come to an end.

Eventually, Mikoto opened her mouth.

“I call it the Long-Range Electric High-Power Compressed Liquid Sword. Thoughts?”

“Well done, worthy students of Tokiwadai.”

“Would the real her actually sound so subdued if we defeated her?”

Still in her follow-through pose, Mikoto decided she wanted to hear that back on Earth.

Really wanted to.

Chapter 7: Arrival of Catastrophe

Part 1

The ceremony had succeeded. The gatekeeper was defeated.

The upside-down U of the double doors made of sparkling wine stone had opened and something was visible through them. It looked as unstable as a mirage and gave off a terrifying sense that it would suck everything in like a black hole.

That was the Strange Underpass.

The former slaver woman sighed at the sight of it.

Her voice contained a hint of resignation, or maybe of getting over something.

“Good grief. Now I feel silly focusing so much on money. Why don’t I just use magic ceremonies to give me everything I need for an ideal life?”

The old mayor and guild receptionist wiped sweat from their brows and viewed everything around them.

Thoughtfully.

“To think a joint task between humans and elves would actually succeed.”

“I don’t like that we can’t keep the gate open, though.”

Lavender the Knight and Brain the Butler were focused on the result of the recent battle.

They must have needed a certain level of satisfaction to feel they could continue on by themselves without relying on slaves.

“Milady, you have finally become a commander who can win the battles she wants to win no matter how poor the odds.”

“Heh heh. How could they have ever lost when I, Lavender, was helping them!?”

The sneakthief-faced lord was focused on the world’s economy.

Someone who could look to the realistic issues more than his own pride or appearance might be useful now that this world had stopped using slaves.

“The most important task is to help the economy recover from the fulgurite crash. How well you can recover without slaves may determine the next world leader.”

The king served by the two witches viewed the gate curiously.

The witches viewed it with more exasperation.

“It would seem the gate only goes one way.”

“I would recommend not touching it unless you have a strong sense of purpose.”

“That’s right, sister. Our job is to create happiness here in Celesaqphere.”

Whoever that was from the Hegemony held her head high in meaningless pride.

She was apparently quite strong in an ordinary battle.

“Heh. I wouldn’t expect anything less from someone who could defeat me, the Queen of Explosions.”

The superpower’s king nodded just once.

He spoke as if he had already seen what form the next age would take.

“A world with no privileged class, hm? What that world of freedom and equality looks like may be dependent on how we live our lives.”

“Patissiet.”

Mikoto called to the nearby elf and reached up to the side of her own head.

She removed one of her hairpins and placed it in Patissiet’s hand.

“Maybe it would be better not to leave a memento, but if you want it.”

“Thank you, Lady Misaka.”

Maybe it was because the three treasures ceremony was complete and maybe it was because she had to say goodbye to Mikoto and Shokuhou so soon, but she held the hairpin between her hands, which she held to her flat chest while speaking with great emotion in her voice.

“It is finally time…”

“It sure is,” said the two girls with a nod and weary smiles.

A dull “crash!!!” rang out.

Bikini armor Mikoto and dancer Shokuhou hadn’t hesitated to throw their fists at each other.

They pulled off a cross counter right away.

Their refreshing smiles were distorted by the punches.

The lack of hesitation showed they had both planned to betray the other from the beginning.

“We said we’d cooperate until we had a way home.”

“That’s right. I kept you around until now because I was worried about the two goddesses part of the ceremony’s incantation ability, but now I’m going home to a peaceful world without you!!”

Mikoto and Shokuhou butted heads hard.

And they rubbed their foreheads together.

Everyone else watched on, dumbfounded.

The two girls glared into each other’s eyes from point-blank range and spat out their words simultaneously.

Part 2

“Are you stupid? Why would anyone ever trust you? A lazy, scheming ball of fat like you shouldn’t be anything more than a low-level grinding monster jiggling at the farthest reaches of some other world. There’s no way I’m going back to Earth with you. It just isn’t happening. I mean, your power is to brainwash people. I just can’t stand that. And what kind of childhood did you even have to mess up your personality so bad that’s the power your scheming heart ended up with? This wasn’t a case of your Personal Reality getting messed up – it’s a deeper personality issue. When people ask if you’re really in middle school, it’s not cause they think you’re older than that. Oh, no. The way you talk and your weird obsessions are just so childish people think you must be in elementary school. Did you pick up on that? You didn’t? Didn’t think so. Is there anything more impervious than a thick head that converts every insult into a compliment? And to be clear, that wasn’t a compliment either. And about that rule of yours where you only eat natural ingredients without any artificial additives. That’s completely and utterly meaningless. Even if you buy ingredients from a farm that specifically avoids using chemical fertilizers, you have to remember that the knives, cutting boards, pots, and other kitchen equipment are all washed in chemical detergents and the water used to cook with it is tap water full of chlorine, so you’re not getting away from it at all. Must be nice to have the wonderful skill to ignore any and all inconvenient facts. And when it comes to being sexy, it’s not like a school test where you can get a perfect score everyone agrees with. And keeping up with the latest fashions is the same as listening to art critics who just praise whatever appeals to their personal fetishes. Working so hard to appeal other people’s kinks just makes you a pervert. Not to mention an exhibitionist. Tokiwadai is supposed to be a school for proper young ladies, so what the hell are you doing there? Could you stop competing to see who can be the most indecent? Or at least stop obsessing over it? Maybe that’s asking too much since that seems to be your purpose in life and you just love keeping your skin all smooth and shiny, but it makes being around you a trial. I’m so sick of it. You’re honestly even worse than Kuroko. Have you ever asked yourself what it’s like having a pervert visit you day in and day out? Can I just pay you 300 yen to make you go away? Here, I’ll drop it on the ground, so crawl over, pick it up, and get lost. You disgust me on a fundamental level. Do you get it now? No one can compete with your ability to forget inconvenient facts, so is that the secret behind the Personal Reality that created Mental Out? No, forget it. I don’t want to hear what you have to say. There’s no point in arguing with someone who converts every single thing into a compliment. I’m smart enough to recognize a lost cause when I see one, so just keep your mouth shut before you cause more trouble. Why don’t you understand the best thing you can possibly do is shut up and go away!!?”

“You’re basically a walking violation of the laws against guns and swords, so it’s probably best if you didn’t return to Japan. Do you have any idea how much trouble ability you cause for everyone? Thinking you can get away with anything as long as you have a just cause is a very dangerous way of thinking. That’s how terrorists think. So Academy City was basically handing weapons to a terrorist with you. One of the worst mistakes they’ve ever made. And what’s with that weird Gekota mascot thing? That obsession of yours is completely at odds with how you shoot arcade coins at three times the speed of sound. How about a little consistency? Are you trying to confuse people? And let’s not forget how you wear shorts under your skirt. Was it so impossible for you to correct your own unladylike behavior you had to do that instead? If only you could grow up. Oh, I’m sorry. I should know better than to except you to grow in any way, shape, or form. It was cruel of me to ask that of someone with the flattest of flat chests, wasn’t it? Don’t start bawling, though. Because I can’t imagine anything more annoying. Also, I simply can’t believe you can eat any old thing without investigating what kind of chemicals it has in it when you’re going through the Curriculum that involves injecting you with special drugs alongside the hypnotic suggestion and electric shocks. What is your secret to staying so ignorant? I’d really like to know. Not because I want to live like that though because I absolutely do not. And what kind of mindset led to you developing a power as violent as the Railgun? Did you know actual humans aren’t monsters who eat batteries and circulate machine oil? You’re an enigma from a biology standpoint, so I hope academia can get off their butts and prove that you are neither human nor animal. That would eliminate so much confusion from the world and everyone would be able to sleep a lot sounder at night. Are you even aware how much trouble your very existence causes? Did you think roundhouse kicking vending machines, picking fights with high schoolers, and blasting the city with billion-volt electricity was normal? You did? Huh, fascinating. You feel so little guilt about your misdeeds you could probably start your own cult. Would you purify everyone’s sins by taking them onto your own irresponsible shoulders? Disgusting. I bet the driving force at the root of your being is loneliness. You can’t trust anyone, so you keep your distance. The way you try to solve all your problems on your own is the most obvious way that manifests, but you have an icy heart that trusts machines more than people, don’t you? That would explain where you got that Personal Reality from. I rejected people’s minds after getting to know them too well, but you never even tried to get to know them. I wouldn’t complain if you would just go off and die on your own, but you insist on taking out your frustrations on the people around you. If you hate people that much, why don’t you go visit a desert island so remote it only has a number for a name and protect the country’s front line from there? Not that anyone’s going to attack. When you get down to it, you can’t seem to decide whether you want to be feared as the ultimate fighter or to be protected as a damsel in distress. And that causes constant trouble for everyone around you!!!”

Part 3

Even as Mikoto and Shokuhou grappled, they recalled the contract they had made with Reincarnation Goddess Salinagaritina: any world is fine as long as she’s not in it.

The reincarnation goddess hadn’t been saying she would bring them to a world where they could settle their differences.

Only one of them would be returning.

Then Earth could fit that definition.

Bikini armor Mikoto pulled out an arcade coin and dropped it. Dancer Shokuhou started to aim her TV remote before throwing it aside.

After the three treasures ceremony and the battle with the dorm manager from hell, the Level 5 girls were too worn out to even use their powers properly.

So what?

At this point, it came down to a one-on-one fistfight.

They saw the “let’s settle this” look in each other’s eyes.

So they were confident the other felt the same way they did.

“I-I’m never trusting humans again!! Wahhhhhh!!!”

The elf felt betrayed and wept. She must have been expecting a beautiful ending of newfound friendship after everyone – enemy and ally – worked together to defeat the final boss.

Such purity.

But no one from Celesaqphere had any way of actually intervening and stopping those two.

“Gahhhhhhh!!”

“Gwohhhhhh!?”

The two girls shouted from the bottom of their gut and charged at each other from point-blank range. Mikoto threw a punch and Shokuhou just barely dodged by tripping over nothing.

No one tried to stop them.

Their intensity was too frightening.

“Did you think you could defeat me in a physical battle without a plan? You know that isn’t your style.”

“I might prefer mind games, but I have my pride.”

There was no logic to it. It wasn’t even about their personal preferences. This confrontation must have been destined from the moment they were born.

They felt certain they were linked in that way.

“Rahhh!!!” “Rahhh!!!”

First, Shokuhou gathered strength in her shoulders and made a full-body tackle.

Holding Shokuhou back with her arms, Mikoto slammed her forehead down into Shokuhou’s back.

“Tch.”

“Why you!!”

After moving a bit apart on their knees, their hands flew at the same moment.

Shokuhou still went with a slap, but Mikoto threw an actual punch.

Slipping past the cross counter, Mikoto landed her fist directly in the center of the queen’s lovely face. Shokuhou’s slap found only air.

“Gh!?”

Shokuhou grunted but somehow managed to stop herself from staggering back. She was past complaining about being unathletic. She was out of breath and dizzy, but her adrenaline temporarily forced her mind past the weariness and pain.

But before she could make a counterattack, Mikoto made her next move.

Mikoto grabbed the long blonde hair spreading in the wind.

While Mikoto had short hair and wore solid bikini armor, Shokuhou had long hair, wore a dancer outfit with lots of frilly parts, and even wore a handbag diagonally across her chest. That gave Mikoto plenty of handholds to grab at.

“You’d better not call foul at this point!!”

A second punch exploded out at close range.

A metallic smell splattered out.

But it was Mikoto who groaned.

Shokuhou had guarded her face with an arm wrapped in a thin cloth. Mikoto’s fist had hit that, but it felt odd.

Shokuhou had placed her hard plastic remote below the cloth.

The punch had only damaged Mikoto’s fist.

“What was that about not calling foul!?”

Shokuhou had some room for movement even with her long hair in Mikoto’s grasp. She swung a cloth containing several remotes, aiming for the side of Mikoto’s head. That was a makeshift morning star.

“What is that, a convict’s handmade weapon!?”

Pissed, Mikoto threw sand in Shokuhou’s face. Technically, it was the fine dust created by breaking the stone floor during the fight with the dorm manager.

Blinded, it was Shokuhou who staggered.

Mikoto didn’t overlook the opportunity.

She stomped hard on Shokuhou’s foot to keep her from moving and thrust both her palms out in front. Unable to see it coming, Shokuhou fell hard. To keep Mikoto from climbing on top of her, Shokuhou rolled to the side.

“Did you think you could get away like that!?”

“Gah!?”

Shokuhou felt a great pressure.

Mikoto had used her thighs to constrict her right arm and neck.

With clean pressure on her carotid artery, she would pass out in less than 30 seconds.

“When you get to hell, tell them a middle schooler’s thighs sent you!!”

“Ghhh...chomp!!”

An unthinkable pain caused Mikoto to release the chokehold and spring to her feet. Of all things, Shokuhou had bit Mikoto’s calf hard.

“Is nothing off limits for you!?”

Quite a thing to say after grabbing her hair and blinding her.

They both got up.

They glared at each other.

That was all it took. With no signal, they both raised their voices and charged.

Part 4

A great roar exploded out and blood splattered onto the sparkling wine floor.

Misaka Mikoto’s lip was split and Shokuhou Misaki’s nose was bleeding.

The elves watched in disbelief, but for a different reason from before. They weren’t just overwhelmed by the intensity and trembling in fear. A different emotion was beginning to warm their hearts.

Even as they bled and grimaced in pain, those girls still looked just as beautiful.

In fact, this seemed to unveil a deeper inner beauty.

“Pant, pant.”

“Phew!!”

The girls known here as goddesses would never admit it, but they were completely in sync here in their desire to settle things once and for all.

Everyone sensed that the next attack would end it.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!” “Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!”

Their arms crossed.

The wind roared dully.

Instead of slicing like a blade, this torrent of violence smashed like a hammer.

It felt like the sound came first and everything else quickly caught up.

Shokuhou Misaki had thrown a right punch with all her might.

Misaka Mikoto had swung up her right leg for a high kick. It was the move she had trained up attacking that vending machine day after day.

Silence followed.

One of them wobbled to the side.

“…”

“It’s not great for real battles since I have to stop moving, but for one single attack, a leg has more reach and power than an arm.”

Part 5

The last one standing was Misaka Mikoto.

She would return alone.

Part 6

“Ugh.”

Misaka Mikoto realized that was her groaning.

She had journeyed and fought across Celesaqphere for so long, but strangely it felt like she hadn’t spoken in a long time. She forced her stuck vocal cords to move and tried to get some kind of sound out.

But when she checked her phone, she found only three days had passed.

The midterms weren’t even over.

Their theory about life support devices and about time flowing at different rates appeared to have been correct.

She took her time pulling back the covers and didn’t find bikini armor anywhere. She was wearing ordinary pajamas.

The ordinary was back.

“…”

There was a curtain separating them, but she sensed someone in the next bed over.

She chose not to check that bed as she changed into her uniform and left the hospital.

The sun was shining in a cloudless sky.

Finding the ordinary Academy City all around her brought tears to her eyes.

She was back.

She was really back.

“But what do I do now?”

She wanted to see Shirai Kuroko.

Uiharu or Saten would work too.

Or maybe she should be a little more daring. Right now, she felt she could meet that pointy-haired boy without getting into a fight. She was so thankful for everything about Earth she didn’t want to bring violence into it.

“No.”

She didn’t need to plan it.

She decided to walk through the city and be thankful for anyone she happened across.

And she spoke without thinking.

“Honestly, never a dull moment in this ci-”

She stopped before finishing the sentence.

Her smile froze.

She had seen something.

Something she absolutely should not have seen.

“No… Heh, heh heh. Eh heh heh. You’re kidding, right?”

Her own voice sounded fake. This world suddenly felt a lot less real.

She had seen someone walking toward her from beyond the horizon.

They wavered like a mirage.

She now had tears in her eyes for a very different reason.

“Misaaakaaa-saaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!! This isn’t overrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!”

That girl had left the bounds of humanity.

She looked like a demon.

It was said a beautiful woman was uniquely frightening when angered, but this went far beyond that.

Her long blonde hair was floating a bit.

“Wh-what- but? The three treasures ceremony was over. You were supposed to be stuck in Celesaqphere forever!!”

“Time flows differently between the two worlds. After you left, I used the three treasures to do the ceremony a second time☆ To be honest, I’m relieved I wasn’t thrown a hundred years into the future!!!”

And someone walked alongside the beautiful demon.

The short girl had long ears.

“Oh! There’s the one who left on her own. You were supposed to bring Lady Shokuhou with you.”

“!!!???”

She was there.

That elf was here on Earth!?

Was that allowed?

Wasn’t that an even more dangerous abnormality than Shokuhou’s presence!?

“This is apparently a life-size doll. I can apparently travel between worlds in the same way the two of you came to Celesaqphere using an out-of-body experience, so I am using a temporary body to move around in this world.”

“So for our world, it’s like a bisque doll is walking around?”

Apparently that let her ignore the question of what kind of influence a supposedly nonexistent elf’s presence on Earth would have on the environment around her.

It was a mystery what such a realistic elf doll was doing in Academy City, though.

“Why did you have to help her with the ceremony, Patissiet!? She’d be stuck in the Strange Underpass Cathedral otherwise!!”

“But, um, we all discussed it together and decided it would hurt the power balance if she stayed… With Lady Shokuhou in Celesaqphere, we feared we would end up having the one queen with every other form of life as her slaves.”

(So they decided that “goddess” was too much trouble to keep around? Pff! But it makes sense a world that just freed all its slaves wouldn’t want the ultimate brainwashing queen hanging around. …Ha, ah ha ha. So maybe Shokuhou’s bloody tears here are about more than just me leaving without her?)

An awkward silence fell.

Mikoto hesitantly spoke to the lonely girl.

“Um, uh.”

“Grrrrrr.”

“So…is this headed where I think it is?”

“…for rou…”

“No, wait, that was a mistake. I can’t leave that choice with you right now. If we follow the timeline back, it’s only been three days since we nearly died in that propane tank explosion, so we need to think about our midterms! There’s no reason at all to put our lives at risk again here, so it seems to me it would be a good idea for both of us to just calm dow-”

“It’s time for round twooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!”

Epilogue: End Credits

Director: Reincarnation Goddess Salinagaritina

Assistant Director: Reincarnation Goddess Salinagaritina

Cameraman: Reincarnation Goddess Salinagaritina

Filming Assistant: Reincarnation Goddess Salinagaritina

Drone Filming Team: Reincarnation Goddess Salinagaritina (with Antenna)

Script: Reincarnation Goddess Salinagaritina

Audio: Reincarnation Goddess Salinagaritina

Lighting: Reincarnation Goddess Salinagaritina

Special Effects: Reincarnation Goddess Salinagaritina

Editing: Reincarnation Goddess Salinagaritina Over the Course of Three Sleepless Days

Costumes: Reincarnation Goddess Salinagaritina

Makeup: The Famous Reincarnation Goddess Salinagaritina

Car Stunts: Reincarnation Goddess Salinagaritina Office and Their Hot-Blooded Drivers

Firearm and Explosion Effects: Explosion Loving Professor Reincarnation Goddess Salinagaritina

Publicity: Reincarnation Goddess Salinagaritina (Newcomer)

Web Team: Reincarnation Goddess Salinagaritina and the Genius Hacker Group

Location Scouting: Reincarnation Goddess Salinagaritina of the Day Trip Club

Lodging Cooperation: Ava Hotel Reincarnation Goddess Salinagaritina Branch

Transportation: Reincarnation Goddess Salinagaritina

Catering: Meals and Bentos by Reincarnation Goddess Salinagaritina (I did not jack up the price!)

“Umm, I’m really starting to get worried.”

Producer: Reincarnation Goddess Salinagaritina

“Does Academy City even have a highly realistic elf doll?”

Production: Reincarnation Goddess Salinagaritina

“I really hope I’m wrong…”

Distribution: Reincarnation Goddess Salinagaritina

“But is there another new world outside of that Academy City and they’re going to destroy that one too?”

Executive Producer: Reincarnation Goddess Salinagaritina

“Please don’t tell me Misaka Mikoto and Shokuhou Misaki are going to continue fighting their way through random worlds until they really do return to their Earth!”

*Since those two have yet to appear in this world, one of the endless supply of alternate worlds that exists beyond even the possibilities of the rubber-band-like parallel worlds theory, this story is a work of fiction and has no connection to real people, groups, etc.

Prev NA	[v d e]Toaru Majutsu no Index: Genesis Testament GT Volume 1 Illustrations - Prologue - Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Epilogue - Afterword GT Volume 2 Illustrations - Prologue - Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Epilogue - Afterword - Ending GT Volume 3 Illustrations - Prologue - Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Epilogue - Afterword - Ending GT Volume 4 Illustrations - Prologue - Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Epilogue - Afterword - Ending GT Volume 5 Illustrations - Prologue - Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Epilogue - Afterword - Ending GT Volume 6 Illustrations - Prologue - Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Epilogue - Afterword GT Volume 7 Illustrations - Prologue - Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Epilogue - Afterword - Ending GT Volume 8 Illustrations - Prologue - Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Epilogue - Afterword - Ending GT Volume 9 Illustrations - Prologue - Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Epilogue - Afterword - Ending GT Volume 10 Illustrations - Prologue - Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Epilogue - Afterword - Ending GT Volume 11 Illustrations - Prologue - Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Epilogue - Afterword - Ending GT Volume 12 Illustrations - Prologue - Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Epilogue - Afterword - Ending [v d e]Side Stories Volume SP Illustrations - Stiyl Magnus - Mark Space - Kamijou Touma - Uiharu Kazari - Afterword Railgun SS1 Illustrations - Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7 - Chapter 8 Kanzaki SS Illustrations - Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7 - Chapter 8 Railgun SS2 Illustrations - Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7 - Chapter 8 Road to Endymion Illustrations - Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 Necessarius SS Illustrations - Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7 - Chapter 8 Virtual-On Illustrations - Preface - Prologue - Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Epilogue - Afterword Railgun SS3 Illustrations - Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7 - Chapter 8 Biohacker SS Illustrations - Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 Agnese SS Illustrations - Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7 - Chapter 8 Railgun LN Illustrations - Prologue - Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Epilogue - Afterword Item LN Illustrations - Prologue - Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Epilogue - Afterword - Ending Item LN 2 Illustrations - Prologue - Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Epilogue - Afterword - Ending Item LN 3 Illustrations - Prologue - Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Epilogue - Afterword - Ending Toaru Kagaku no Railgun: Cold Game Toaru Jihanki no Fanfare Toaru Majutsu No Index: Love Letter SS Toaru Kagaku no Railgun SS: A Superfluous Story, or A Certain Incident’s End Toaru Majutsu no Index: New Testament SS Toaru Majutsu no Index: Shokuhou Misaki Figurine SS Toaru Majutsu no Index: A Certain Midsummer Return to the Starting Point Toaru Majutsu no Index: Using Final Bosses to Determine a Sociological Threat Toaru Majutsu no Index: New Testament Bonus Short Story Toaru Majutsu no Index: Thus Spoke the Kumokawa Sisters Toaru Majutsu no Virtual-On: Vooster's Cup, The Day Before Toaru Majutsu no Virtual-On: Misaka Mikoto's Dangerous Tea Party Toaru Majutsu no Index: Birthday Through the Glass Toaru Majutsu no Index: New Testament 20 Bonus Short Story Toaru Majutsu no Index: Misaka Mikoto’s Teamwork A Certain Magical Index: Genesis Testament SS [v d e]Official Parody Stories A Certain Prophecy Index A Certain Academy Index A Certain Gift Exchange A Certain March 201st Novel I Don't Want This First Story of A Certain Magical Index!! or I Don't Want This Final Story An All-In "World" Tour of Academy City, the 37th Mobile Maintenance Battalion, and Ground's Nir Kamijou-san, Two Idiots, Jinnai Shinobu, Gray Pig, and Freedom Award 903, Listen Up! …Fall Asleep and You Die, But Not From the Cold☆ We Tried Having a Group Blind Date, but It was an All Stars Affair and a World Crisis Will the Spiky-Haired Idiot See a Piping Hot Dream of His Wife? Dengeki Island: A Girl’s Battle (Still Growing) Kamijou Touma Visits Another World Toaru Majutsu no Index X Apocalypse Witch Crossover SS Toaru Majutsu no Index X Apocalypse Witch X Heavy Object Crossover SS I Still Want to Do a Summer Fair A Certain Collaboration Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 Kamachi Crossover Illustrations - Preface - Prologue - Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Epilogue - A.E. 02 - Afterword Durarara Crossover Preface - Academy City Chapter - Ikebukuro Chapter	Next NA