Difference between revisions of "Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume1 Chapter3"
(Created page with "{{Incomplete|parts=4|tparts=14}} ==Chapter 3: A Dark Conspiracy and a Barrier Gone — Enemy_Use_XXX.== ===Part 1=== Kamijou’s vision spun wildly around. If he slammed in...") |
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But the girl going by the name Maidono tossed the bag over her back and used her other hand to stick her phone between her cheek and shoulder. With that hand now free, she simply pulled the index finger in towards herself as if telling them to come at her. |
But the girl going by the name Maidono tossed the bag over her back and used her other hand to stick her phone between her cheek and shoulder. With that hand now free, she simply pulled the index finger in towards herself as if telling them to come at her. |
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| − | That was all she did. |
+ | That was all she did. |
A moment later, the asphalt ground rose up along with the dark soil and concrete structure below. Unable to respond to the makeshift ramp in time, the Hammerhead Sharks flew by over her head, crashed into the third-floor windows of a nearby building, and stopped moving. |
A moment later, the asphalt ground rose up along with the dark soil and concrete structure below. Unable to respond to the makeshift ramp in time, the Hammerhead Sharks flew by over her head, crashed into the third-floor windows of a nearby building, and stopped moving. |
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The #3 always stood on the borderline. |
The #3 always stood on the borderline. |
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| − | She was one of the few people who could get involved in both the sunny and dark sides of Academy City. Of course, just like all the people who had peered into the dark side, she had not ended up in that position out of choice. |
+ | She was one of the few people who could get involved in both the sunny and dark sides of Academy City. Of course, just like all the people who had peered into the dark side, she had not ended up in that position out of choice. |
(She has such a powerful ability, but she made sure not to harm that girl. That means killing her isn’t her goal. She won’t want us rescuing Last Order or a stray shot accidentally killing her. That means she will be taking Last Order somewhere safe no matter what it takes. That’s her goal! So where is Last Order!?) |
(She has such a powerful ability, but she made sure not to harm that girl. That means killing her isn’t her goal. She won’t want us rescuing Last Order or a stray shot accidentally killing her. That means she will be taking Last Order somewhere safe no matter what it takes. That’s her goal! So where is Last Order!?) |
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Revision as of 05:00, 9 February 2020
Status: Incomplete
4/14 parts completed
Chapter 3: A Dark Conspiracy and a Barrier Gone — Enemy_Use_XXX.
Part 1
Kamijou’s vision spun wildly around.
If he slammed into the ground, he was dead. The special knife stabbed into his side would shred his organs and blood vessels if he did. He knew that, but he could not just sprout wings and fly. Once his feet left the ground, he could not recover.
However, that did not happen.
Because…
“Are you okay? asks Misaka to confirm your condition while catching you.”
A gentle sensation saved his life.
This was not just the soft skin of a girl. Not only had she caught him without touching the knife, she had used her body like a spring to eliminate the impact.
But he did not have it in him to thank her right now.
He ignored his aching body and pointed straight up while the young girl held him in her arms. This should have been a flat asphalt road, yet there was now a two or three story cliff there.
“Please! Help Last Order!!”
Misaka Imouto did not respond.
In fact, she gently lowered him to the ground and began checking over his wound.
“Hey?”
“By grazing your liver, it threaded the needle between several different blood vessels. This location may have been intentionally chosen to make it difficult to remove, says Misaka while grimacing at the cruelty.”
“What are you doing? Forget about me! You need to pursue her or we’ll lose them!!”
“Misaka cannot do that.” The girl shook her head with no emotion in her eyes. “Misaka will respect our higher unit’s free will and let her do as she wishes, but her opinion still reaches Misaka through the Misaka Network, explains Misaka.”
“What are you talking about?”
“She does not want to reward your kindness by abandoning you. And this Misaka agrees, says Misaka to establish her own opinion.”
He clenched his teeth so hard he thought they would break.
He reached for his own side and grabbed the handle of the knife.
More than a burning pain, he felt an iciness along his spine form the slight tremor passing into his body through the weapon. This told him all too well that a foreign object had torn into his body and the sharp metal remained there. That unrealistic sensation caused his vision to darken as if with static and his breathing picked up pace. His mind was off balance. Before long, he would collapse backwards and the force would cause him to gut himself.
“Oh.”
But instead, he tightly gripped the knife’s handle and gave a merciless tug.
“Ohhhhh!!!???”
He felt a slippery sensation, but was that blood? To be blunt, any other possibility would be even worse. Removing the blade plugging the wound caused him to start bleeding a lot more, but he had to ignore that now. He tossed aside the unnecessary blade.
Breathing deeply would only harm him here.
He held his breath for a bit and the illusionary static slowly faded from his vision. He had apparently started hyperventilating.
He was soaked with sweat despite the chilly air and he glared over at Misaka Imouto.
The world was wobbling around him.
If he lost any focus, he would pass out almost immediately.
But.
He had to say this.
“Kah, ah… I-is that good enough? Now you don’t have to look after this useless SOB.”
“That is not even remotely-”
“Shut up!! I wasn’t looking after all of you because I wanted anything in return! I’m just doing whatever the hell I want, so quit attaching price tags to it and trying to manage it all!! Who made you the good deeds police? You might as well be nitpicking every little thing people do!!”
All his shouting accomplished nothing.
He wobbled and nearly collapsed, so she gently supported him.
“Misaka shall sew up your wound. A bandage is not enough to stop this level of bleeding, says Misaka to state the objective facts.”
“…”
“Misaka would really like to administer painkillers or provide a transfusion first, but are you willing to go through with this as is? asks Misaka to receive your final confirmation.”
“Go for it. I just need to keep this goddamn body moving for another minute or even ten seconds. As long as it lets me save that kid.”
The goggles girl pulled something like a sewing kit from her skirt pocket. The actual tools may not have been all that different, but it was sealed up in plastic. This was a disposable first aid kit.
“We do not have time to prepare a sterile environment in a sealed-off operating room, so Misaka will provide field medicine sterilization. This will hurt like hell, warns Misaka.”
“Just do it.”
“Then enjoy this big-old splash of ethanol.”
He screamed and his vision filled with firework-like afterimages.
This was more than just pain, but she calmly restrained his arms and legs to make sure he did not further tear open the wound in his side.
“Misaka will sew up the wound once the convulsions have stopped. That means Misaka will be passing a needle through the already sensitive wound and sewing it shut with thread, explains Misaka. Doing this without anesthetic will be a living hell, so consider yourself warned.”
“A-and if you do use anesthetic?”
“You will likely wake up around this time tomorrow in a sterile hospital.”
He was having trouble breathing, but he still moved one trembling finger.
Raising that particular finger formed a gesture one should never direct toward a girl like this.
“Hell no.”
“You’re so cool, says Misaka while grasping the needle between tweezers.”
Again, he screamed.
Feeling an explosion of pain atop an already excruciating injury was a rare experience. His teeth chattered as he tried to clench them and bear with what felt like having all five senses shattered into a million pieces. He came close to accidentally biting his tongue.
“Do not worry, says Misaka to state her conclusion.”
“What do you mean?”
“Misaka is not about to unconditionally accept every part of Academy City, but she knows that the depth of its dark side is matched by the warmth of its soft side. So do not worry. We can catch up to them without you carrying all the weight yourself, states Misaka. This city contains that sort of opportunity as well.”
In other words…
“You are not the only hero. That is what I am trying to say, explains Misaka with a wink.”
Part 2
The Santa costume girl stood on a relatively gently-sloped part of the asphalt cliff that rose up at an angle.
“Now, then.”
As powerless as this hostage was, she did not want the girl struggling.
(My head is so hot in this hat and wig. But I have to keep them on for a while longer still.)
The girl of 15 or 16 tossed out a bandage roll that spread out all on its own before hitting the ground. This was a controlled rope that could bind, constrict, and kill on its own. It had originally been serpentine duct tape that could safely wrap around and seal off leaks in gas or steam pipes at accident sites that would be too dangerous for a person to approach. As she watched the rope automatically bind Last Order’s limbs and mouth, the girl pulled a handkerchief-like cloth from the chest of her Santa costume. She spread it out to reveal the kind of large white bag often seen at Christmas scenes.
It took her less than two minutes to pack up her poor “gift”.
The cosplay girl reached for the side of her miniskirt and pulled a smartphone from the top of her white kneesock.
“Maidono here. Things have taken a turn for the better, so I was hoping I could meet you directly and explain the result. Is now a good time for you?”
The words from her mouth and the violence surrounding her were like polar opposites.
The asphalt ground had risen up, the structure below the concrete was flooded, and the nearby buildings were shaking like willow branches in the wind. All of this had of course been noticed, so sirens were blaring as Anti-Skill vehicles rushed in from all directions.
(That sounds like a V10 with hydrogen explosions, but those Fugaku sports sedans don’t generally have E-chargers installed. These are custom models for those civil servants, not for civilian use. These must be those unmanned pursuer vehicles that were introduced lately. Weren’t they called Hammerhead Sharks?)
They looked like slim sports cars built low to reduce air resistance as much as possible, but they actually had the engine in the rear and the hood was stuffed full of composite armor. Those weapons on wheels were meant to stop rampaging drivers and otherwise dangerous drivers by safely and swiftly catching up to them with no one onboard and then crashing into the target vehicle to stop it. After the press conference announcing them, they had been mocked as an “eye for an eye” policy.
With several of them linked via high-speed wireless internet, those weapons could force even a 20-ton truck off the road.
They were not meant to be used against an unprotected person.
But the girl going by the name Maidono tossed the bag over her back and used her other hand to stick her phone between her cheek and shoulder. With that hand now free, she simply pulled the index finger in towards herself as if telling them to come at her.
That was all she did.
A moment later, the asphalt ground rose up along with the dark soil and concrete structure below. Unable to respond to the makeshift ramp in time, the Hammerhead Sharks flew by over her head, crashed into the third-floor windows of a nearby building, and stopped moving.
These were unmanned machines, so had they only been meant to get an idea of how powerful she was?
A manned unit would be coming next.
“Yes, yes. You probably just heard an explosion, but it’s nothing to worry about. Just cleaning some things up afterwards. I have safely secured the gift. To be honest, if we just want to get Accelerator to self-destruct, wouldn’t it be easier to just wring her neck and kill her? Eh? We can’t? I had a feeling you’d say that. I will send the gift to the designated point.”
They must have originally planned to attack from the safety of the sky after using the unmanned Hammerhead Sharks to secure the ground. She looked up at the noisy helicopter rotors and saw a total of four fully-equipped powered suits attached to a round observation helicopter, two on each side.
With the faces fully covered, she could not judge their age or gender, but she could easily imagine the looks on their faces. The emotions of fear and confusion were oozing from the gaps in their armor.
She did not care if they could see her.
She had altered her color sample with the wig and colored contact lenses.
Her makeup was thick for being seen with the naked eye, but she had applied a noticeable pattern to be seen through cameras and sensors, much like a kabuki actor. She only had to ensure they could not use facial recognition or photo sharing to locate her official data. The surveillance society of the digital age had eliminated crime? No, it had only created a new dilemma where crimes that left no electronic record could not be proven to legal standards. If a convenience store was robbed in broad daylight, what would happen if the security cameras were not running? People would simply suspect the poor clerk was behind the whole thing.
“Yes, I’m dealing with it now.”
With a wave of her finger, Maidono tore a wagon-shaped window washing robot from the side of a building and threw it. The observation helicopter had to be fairly maneuverable, but it was flying between buildings and its exposed companions were clinging to either side. It could not make any sharp movements that might shake them off. But that hesitation prevented it from dodging the mass of steel, allowing a direct hit that sent them all tumbling to the surface as a giant fireball.
“When will I be done? I already am.”
(These are post-Denmark models, so that much of a crash and explosion shouldn’t be enough to kill them. I can’t say the same for the helicopter pilot, though.)
“We can handle Anti-Skill and Judgment in the usual way. If you send enough violence their way, the confusion causes their chain of command to break down. The internet will go a little nuts over it, but there are plenty of crooked ‘experts’ out there. Those filthy adults will lie and claim none of what happened was possible, all so they can cover up their mistakes in the initial investigation. If we get them to make enough of a fuss, it will create the perfect camouflage to hide our own involvement. No one will see through to the truth.”
She was a natural at cleaning up messes.
Peace of mind was no more than a prey lured out using destruction as bait.
“Yes. Given what we’re dealing with here, the amount of attention needed is going to be pretty high, but that is not a problem. It is still within acceptable bounds.”
She earned points by thoroughly eliminating the people and things that got in her master’s way. She reached for unease to search out, snatch up, and offer peace of mind to that master. She would use concerts, festivals, parades, and other events with abnormal security routines and where a lot of outsiders would be present and then she would choose a conspicuous costume that actually helped her blend into the background.
“I am aware of that,” she said cheerfully.
She was the kind of person who would walk right past a dying old person while preoccupied with her phone.
“I agree that we cannot have the dark side eliminated on some idiot’s whim. Not everyone in the world hopes for a world without crime. Academy City has only kept such a massive lead over the rest of the world by constructing and preserving an isolated space where the rules need not apply. You have seen that in the world of money and me in the world of fists. Neither of us can survive without the dark side, can we? …Oh, please. I at least know it’s true for me since you remade me to be that way.”
She could be as noticeable as she liked.
In fact, it only worked as camouflage if it was noticeable.
It had to feel like stepping beyond the bounds of reality and wandering into a nightmare. By creating such a grotesque and psychedelic world, she could ensure that boring reality could not keep up.
The festival of doom was already beginning.
Today was a day to kick back and enjoy the festivities.
(By destroying those specific pipes, the water department will close a few floodgates to prevent the filthy water from leaking out. I have control of the waterflow, so after confirming the bag is watertight, I can toss it in the river and let the collection team fish the trash out downstream. But the scenario says I need to hold their attention on the surface so they don’t notice that.)
Had she used the word trash because she was reminded of herself?
The ground was far from clean. It was littered with glass shards and metal fragments, as well as the bags and phones dropped by fleeing students. Cracks ran through the asphalt and it rose up in some places. But when she saw some chopsticks fallen at her feet, she quietly clicked her tongue.
“One question.”
Her long blonde hair swayed as she looked overhead with the phone still held between cheek and shoulder.
But she was not viewing another helicopter.
“I can ignore the invisible power balance this time, right? If someone tries to obstruct my work, I can eliminate them by force without calculating out the necessary expenses?”
She looked up at one of the skyscrapers swaying in the wind like a bamboo thicket exposed to a crosswind.
Instead of the roof, she looked to the girl clinging to the wall and staring quietly down at her.
“For example, I can go ahead and kill anyone who opposes me, even if they’re one of the Level 5s?”
Part 3
Academy City’s #3 was the strongest girl when it came to pure electricity generation.
In other words, this was Misaka Mikoto.
“You stabbed him.”
She used magnetic power to cling to the wall at the 44th floor of a building that included office space on the lower levels and apartments on the upper levels, but magnetism was not the only thing she could do. Traveling along the ground would have taken too much time given the extreme confusion and damage there, so she had chosen this other path. A Level 5 could reach for this level of freedom for no other reason than that.
“And on Christmas Eve when we were enjoying ourselves!! You’re a natural when it comes to ruining the mood, aren’t you!?”
The situation here was exactly what Kamijou Touma had predicted earlier.
Splitting up into two teams gave them an advantage. While the villain pursued the boy, Mikoto’s team had managed to track them down and move in from behind.
Misaka Imouto had been sent to support the boy on the surface, but she did not need to deliver a finishing blow to the villain. Once she got the boy out of the way, Mikoto could handle the rest.
She moved from that 44th floor to another building’s 38th floor and from that 38th floor to yet another building’s 52nd floor.
She was even holding a certain girl while moving freely between buildings in midair.
The small calico cat in that silver-haired girl’s arms was struggling, perhaps because of the EM waves.
Unlike the well-trained Sisters, it would have been too risky to let her move along the ground while it littered with glass and rubble.
“Short hair!! That monster Santa turned the corner, but that’s not the biggest problem. Do you see that plaza across the bridge? What is with this country!? It looks like it’s full of red Santas! She’ll blend in with them at this rate!!”
(No, if she only wanted to hide from our elevated vantage point, she would only have to move indoors or underground. Is she intentionally staying visible to distract us from something else?)
Mikoto realized something and ran full speed along the vertical wall while holding Index in both hands. A deadly attack burst through the thick reinforced glass just below them. The brand-new sports cars lined up in the well-polished display area were crashing out through the window one after another.
There was no rumble from their engines.
The squealing of thick rubber would be from forcibly pulling the cars out with some kind of power while their tires were not turning.
The #3 was not about to be hit by an attack like that, but it did destroy the glass she was using as footing, making it hard to continue clinging to the wall here. She used magnetism to jump to the opposite building’s wall while clicking her tongue.
“Tch!!”
She was a powerful esper who could use the Lorentz force to launch an arcade coin at more than thrice the speed of sound.
Her magnetism was powerful enough to stop a car plowing toward her.
And yet even she was forced to stay on the run. Her power had the upper hand when things like its breadth of application were included, but when came to the simple power to move objects, she could not compete in this game of tug of war. Their enemy had the greater power output. So if she was still not considered a Level 5…
(Is she the kind of genius that can only use her power for spying or stalking or something? Where has such a powerful esper been lurking in the shadows all this time!?)
That girl was a threat, but Mikoto could not lose sight of what really mattered.
That blonde Santa did not have to defeat her in a fight. In fact, wearing herself down in this fight had to have been an unexpected expense for the girl. Combat was a risky choice that unavoidably scattered material evidence all over the place and increased the number of witness accounts. Not fighting had to be the best option if available.
Win or lose, this fight would only work against her.
So for this girl in the world’s most conspicuous camouflage, what was the ideal result and what was her win condition?
Mikoto only knew one thing for now.
(She’s definitely after Last Order.)
Mikoto hated how coldly she could work through the calculations at times like this.
The #3 always stood on the borderline.
She was one of the few people who could get involved in both the sunny and dark sides of Academy City. Of course, just like all the people who had peered into the dark side, she had not ended up in that position out of choice.
(She has such a powerful ability, but she made sure not to harm that girl. That means killing her isn’t her goal. She won’t want us rescuing Last Order or a stray shot accidentally killing her. That means she will be taking Last Order somewhere safe no matter what it takes. That’s her goal! So where is Last Order!?)
All of those conspicuous actions were camouflage. When a stage magician made some large sweeping motion, they were actually drawing the audience’s eye while they performed some trick under the table.
This was where a girl with a perfect memory came in handy.
“The bag is gone.”
“?”
“The monster Santa was carrying a white bag before, but it’s gone!”
(Did she throw it in that river!? But that water has to be freezing!)
Mikoto started to look downstream of the concrete-banked river that intersected at a right angle with the bridge the Santa-costumed assailant had used, but she stopped her head.
The Santa girl put away the phone she had been using to speak with someone, freeing up her hands as she turned toward Mikoto. Her long blonde hair spread out behind her like something from a shampoo commercial. She placed her miniskirted butt on a drum-shaped cleaning robot located nearby and crossed her legs while aiming her hands toward the sky.
She made finger guns.
Both index fingers were aimed high up at the building where Mikoto was and she winked.
That alone might have looked like a playful gesture, but…
“Here it comes,” said Mikoto.
Stage magicians did not train just for when things went well.
If so, their shows would be little different from clockwork doll performances.
The pros would have several recovery scenarios prepared in case their attempt to draw the audience’s eye failed and their trick was about to be revealed. If it looked like an audience member had seen through the trick, they would call out to that person, draw them into the scenario, and remake the near failure into fuel for a new surprise.
In other words, the enemy would now be contacting them in earnest.
“Here it comes!!!!!!”
Part 4
“Not bad. It’s been a while since someone dodged three of my attacks in a row,” whispered the girl seated on a random cleaning robot.
She was enjoying the situation.
She wanted the dark side to continue because she could not live without this sort of excitement.
She tore objects from the buildings and threw them at her opponent: first a crane atop a building under construction, then a giant broadcasting parabolic antenna, and lastly a clear glass pool jutting out partway up a building. But none of them hit. She would have won right away if her opponent had acted out of pride and attempted a direct competition of strength, but once that opponent grew concerned she might be no match for this girl in pure power output, she had focused solely on dodging. That was the only reason she was still alive.
Maidono noticed the #3 briefly turn her head in a different direction while soaring through the air. They were currently engaged in a deadly battle, so that girl’s life was at risk. No one could look aside when they suddenly found a dump truck charging toward them.
So she must have spotted something important.
Something she thought she should prioritize over the death fast approaching her.
(So did she notice?)
If so, rushing into the crowded plaza and vanishing into the sea of Santas would not be enough. She had to kill that girl to fully cut off that line of investigation.
But more importantly…
“How should I spend my Christmas Eve?”
(I really want to get this all done with by 7 tonight. My school life might be built on lies, but I have made some promises. I do want to cut up those donuts with cheap plastic forks so we can all share them together.)
Light flashed up in the sky.
She could not avoid lightning by starting to run after seeing the light. Or she shouldn’t have been able to. But she was even humming as she slammed the heel of her boot against the side of the cleaning robot she was riding, causing a malfunction in the robot’s obstacle avoidance routine and making it move to the side. It only moved the length of a single human step to the side, but that was enough to cause an unnatural change in the lightning dropping vertically toward her. It instead split apart a Christmas tree located nearby. To intentionally use the tree as a lightning rod, she only had to picture a right triangle formed by the ground, the top of the tree, and her own position and adjust the angles to work out a safe distance for herself.
She even seemed to hear a tongue click from far overhead.
And now it was her turn.
“Found you.”
For fire safety purposes, some large wooden boxes were being carried to the rooftop using a window washing gondola instead of the indoor stairs or elevator. She “grabbed” at them and launched them to the side. Those containers were the size of a slender girl, so the #3 had to launch high-voltage spears from her bangs to blast them into pieces.
But did the #3 realize those boxes contained someone’s work tools?
A Japanese Christmas was far removed from the solemn atmosphere of a holy night.
Those electric attacks had triggered the professional fireworks meant for a countdown event during the night.
“Whew!!”
The Santa girl whistled while watching the tremendous explosion.
With a deafening boom, the midday sky was obscured by a whitish smokescreen. That might not be enough to kill the other girl, but fireworks used the principle behind a flame test, where specific materials would create flames of certain colors when ignited. And the materials used for fireworks were generally powdered copper, lithium, tin, or other metals.
Meaning…
(After the initial blast and flash of light, she has to contend with the smokescreen. That will blind her in the ordinary sense and it will also function as metal chaff that will mess with any microwave radar she might be using! And at that height, a single second’s delay can be deadly!!)
The explosive blast also destroyed a rooftop sign, but the girl only raised her index finger overhead. The metal sign had to weigh more than 20kg, but that was enough for it to come to a complete stop in midair. When she lightly swung her finger to the side, the sign sharply stabbed into a nearby concrete wall. She did it all as casually as operating a smartphone’s touchscreen.
Her Telekinesis was powerful enough to directly grab the underground structure spreading across the entire city and shake it hard enough to create a new fault line, so this actually qualified as delicate work for her. Stopping it was not the impressive part, holding it in place without crushing it was.
Telekinesis, aka psychokinesis.
That was such a popular ability that it was counted as one of the two major categories of esper power: PK and ESP. If someone was making a site or pamphlet meant for outside audiences, their primary examples would likely be using PK to bend spoons and ESP to read a face-down card. In fact, some academics even used telekinesis as a catch-all term for all powers that had physical effects, including teleportation and thoughtography. In the simplest form, it was the power to move objects with your mind.
Of those that could produce force out of nothing, hers was probably the strongest.
The only reason she had not been given the title of Level 5 was because the adults saw no alternate uses or economic value in her power.
That power was too specialized for killing and destruction.
To the point that announcing her existence to the world could lead to as many international risks as announcing their possession of NBC weapons.
“Now, then.”
The blonde Santa looked over.
A portion of the polished glass was broken, so the target girl (who carried a silver-haired nun) had given up on clinging to the delicate wall and had apparently jumped inside a random room instead. It was not a bad adlib, but it was sorely underestimating the Santa girl’s power.
Who ever said she could not destroy an entire 50-story building?
“The estimated number of deaths would be just under 2000. I do so love being freed from my usual restrictions about such things☆”
Maidono grinned and aimed her right index finger toward the entire building. And she pulled that finger straight down.
The skyscraper shrank to about half its height.
The destruction was much like crushing an empty can under the heel of your shoe.
But that was not her true attack. She was only setting the stage by bending all the doors and windows to seal her target within a giant cage. The humans within would not be dead. Not yet, anyway. Skyscrapers had a lot more gaps than the people walking through them thought. There were ducts, base isolation structures, cable pathways, and plumbing. Halving the height was not enough to crush the people within. Of course, they would be unable to stand and forced to crawl and the metal doors would be crushed and stuck in place, so it would certainly feel cramped.
(No sign of the target forcing open an exit and emerging. Well, she can’t rely on the original plans anymore. I’m sure she could blast through a concrete wall, but I bet she’s afraid of frying the people buried alive in there. Of course, that hesitation is only going to get everyone in the building crushed soon enough. Life is full of ironies, isn’t it?)
She only had to point her left index finger toward the building as well.
Maidono Hoshimi’s Telekinesis could crush that 50-story skyscraper to the size of a softball. The intense heat caused by the compression would make it glow like lava, but it would not even be allowed to drip down as a liquid. Just like the core of the earth was supposedly made of molten iron and nickel, yet it still managed to remain a solid.
But a moment later, she swung her left hand to the side in the exact same pose. The finger gun looked silly, but that was an absolute weapon coming from Maidono. Something had happened that forced her to aim that second trigger elsewhere. The Santa girl whispered a question while aiming at two targets at once like she was wielding dual handguns.
Her butt rose up from the cleaning robot and her boots touched the ground.
Playtime was over.
This irregularity was beyond what the stage magician’s recovery scenarios could handle.
“What brings you here?”
The threat took the form of a boy.
Bloody Kamijou Touma went ahead and answered her.
He used a word that did not at all suit Christmas Eve, when everyone was meant to be smiling together.
“Revenge.”
