Chapter 21 Night of Destiny: Introduction of the Strongest

(Unmei no Yoru: Saikyou no Nanori)

Stepping into the switchyard, I checked my watch that was synchronised to Academy City's server clock; One of the most accurate time keeping devices in the world.

Time: 20:30

That means the experiment is already supposed to have started...

In the distance, I could hear Accelerator chasing down the MISAKA clone like she was his prey, his taunting voice echoing throughout the switchyard, "If you don't try to avoid this, you really will die!"

Not now she won't, I must be the biggest fool in the world, to actually think I can even for a second, halt the advance of the unstoppable force that is Accelerator. But to protect that Sister... There's no other option other than using my own body as a shield.

The rocks and pebbles scattered throughout the switchyard crunching under my feet as I slowly but surely made my way to Accelerator, I wondered if Accelerator could sense fear, or maybe smell it, because fear was emanating from every pore in my body right now, saturating the air around me like a toxic cloud.

"Now for a question: How many times have you been killed?"

Accelerator had total control now, the clone balled up on the ground as the tip of his shoe stabbed into her repeatedly. While he continued to pound her, he held back enough so that her body would not be destroyed, but the intense pain she felt was clearly etched into her face with each consecutive hit.

My legs still shaking as I entered the construction yard, my breaths came in short gasps as I slowly made my way to my impending doom.

As if he could sense the familiar presence, Accelerator turned slowly towards me, leering at me as if I were a bug on his shoe, "What's this? Come to fail at saving one of these dolls again?"

"No... I cam here to save her." I said softly, trying to mask the fear that licked at my insides, filling me with doubt and uncertainty.

This is not just butterflies before a stage performance, this is opening night when I haven't even practiced. Fights aren't a bother to him, their a nuisance. A one way slaughter.

"You're not even practice for me. Go to sleep already!" Accelerator yelled, shifting his foot on the ground slightly, that slight movement sending an avalanche of rocks and pebbles in my direction.

He's underestimating me. That can work in my advantage for only so long... Once he gets a little serious... I'm dead.

Raising my hands, I slowed as many of the rocks down as much as possible, the pebbles halting as soon as they touched my own Vector Shield, set to stop rather than reflect.

Accelerator's shield is generations more advanced than mine, passively deflecting anything whether he is aware of it or not. My shield only works if I can see or have an idea of what I'm supposed to reflect. I can't just set it to reflect everything, I do need essentials like gravity and air. If I reflect the pebbles and rocks back, assuming I can reflect maybe 60% of what hits me, they'd just fly right back at me harder and faster.

I'm going to lose this for sure.

"What's wrong? No counterattack?" Accelerator sneered, raising his foot for another stomp.

Now!

Using Telekinesis and Aero Hand, I sent a low blast of air across the ground, raising the dust to obscure Accelerator's vision while I made a mad rush for the clone. The dust won't get into his eyes for sure but the dust cloud would definitely screen my movements for sure...

"Gahh...! Hah...!" I grunted, another explosion of gravel pelting me from the side out of nowhere, Accelerator cackling like a maniac from my right, "Really now, did you think that sort of petty trick would work on me?! Too dull and too slow!"

Rescuing the clone taking second place on my priority list, I immediately jumped away from the source of Accelerator's voice, the sound of steel grinding in the cloud.

My tactic already rendered futile, I cleared most of the dust with another gust of wind only to see Accelerator grinning like a murderous fag as he grinned lecherously at me, licking his lips in anticipation, "Hey lowlife! Science question! If momentum is mass multiplied by velocity what would your velocity be if I send this beam at you?!"

Shit... That beam weighs several times my own weight... I don't even need to do the calculations for this. No matter how fast Accelerator sends it at me... It'll definitely be fatal.

Leaping in a roll before Accelerator shot the I beam, I watched in awe as it shot through several containers like an armour piercing bullet before stopping.

That would've killed me for certain!

Any attack I throw at him will be reflected. Any attack he throws at me will slowly but surely cut me apart. This isn't a stalemate, it's still his win...

Unless...

There was a way that Kihara girl used... Something that got through my Vector Shield before... But would it work on Accelerator? What was it...?!

Trying as hard as I could to recall the memory while dodging rocks, debris, and flying metal objects, a small but brief image flashed into my mind, of Kihara punching me even though her hand stopped in midair.

That's it! Reverse punching!

Before I could put my idea into action however, Accelerator sent a container in my direction, forcing me to block it, my knees buckling from the strain of trying to keep up with Academy City's strongest.

Actually on the topic of reverse punching... My body coordination isn't even close to the level needed to pull it off. In a situation where one wrong move means death, getting close to Accelerator rates pretty high on my "how to die a horrible death" list.

Kaho? A little help here?

With silence as my only answer, I let out a small sigh and did a quick double take followed by a reverse tumble when Accelerator shot another I beam at me.

Not paying aware to my surroundings, I inadvertently reverse tumbled right into a container, the impact on my back forcing the air out of my lungs as the I beam slammed into the ground right I front of me spraying me with rocks and pebbles; Adding insult to an already taxing injury.

An image of Misaka flashing in my mind, followed by one of Maka and finally Akiha, either my mind was telling me to get up and was using girls to motivate me, or it's taunting me with girls since I didn't even manage to get close with any of them.

"What's wrong lowlife? You have my ability right? Use it! Go on! Show me you're not like the rest of those dull delinquents! Come ON!"

Stamping on the ground, Accelerator shot me into the air as my body flew like a disembodied doll before crumpling on the ground several meters away. The majority if the force Accelerator used was dissipated harmlessly before I became airborne but I hadn't accounted for the landing... And it hurt like hell.

Despite being in excruciating pain, several ribs cracked, probably a few broken, not a sound escaped my lips. Had I already given up? Or was I already dead? I can't be dead, I'm still thinking and giving a long assed monologue...

Slowly getting to my feet again my body protesting every inch of the way I stared at Accelerator with a lazy look that seemed to piss him off even more.

"What's with that face?! Huh?! WHAT'S WITH THAT FACE?!"

More than half my attention focused on keeping my body standing, I waved my left arm from right to left, producing a force that is supposed to originate from Accelerator's face and move outward; Nothing happened.

Did I miscalculate?

"Where's the fear huh?! Where's the pain?!" Accelerator yelled, leaping at me this time, putting a large crater where I was right before I ducked and rolled once again, panting heavily.

Maybe... Just maybe if I wasn't injured, if Accelerator wasn't jumping around and did not have his attention focused on me, I just might be able to pull it off. But the fact is I'm already weighed down by multiple injuries each threatening to take my life if left untreated and Accelerator doesn't even have a scratch.

Is there no way out of this situation?

Wait... There is... But to use it I need some time.

Kicking the ground below me while throwing a large telekinetic wave above me, I dislodged a container from above me causing it to seemingly fall on Accelerator.

That bought me a little time, 3 seconds at the most. The container will fall, Accelerator will assume it hits him and prepare to redirect it towards me. The container will miss. He will laugh and attack. In that timeframe, I have 3 seconds.

Tracing abilities from unknown sources not only scares me but is nearly impossible. Without seeing it in action, without adapting the ability itself, it is not only dangerous to trace, but potentially deadly if something goes wrong. But the situation is already dangerous AND deadly.

Plumbing the depths of my mind for a memory, a memory that took place just weeks but felt like ages ago, back to two fights that brought out the other side of me, my "alter" as I liked to call him: Kihara Kaho.

If I keep this up, I'm dead. If I try to run like a rat scampering for the end of that murky scum festered tunnel for my life I'll still be killed while trying to flee. Death. Death. Death. Every scenario, every plan every solution, death awaited me at the end.

And so, in my mind this was the only last resort. If I'm going to die, I might as well make my life worth it. Someone has to come along, someone has to see what is going on! They have to!

But until then... My mind is made up, my course is clear. There's no time for what if's and regrets. I have to set my foot on the path that I chose and move forward... So...

Rebuilding Personal Reality from personal experience and memory. Assembling fragments of calculations formed during use of Personal Reality and reverse engineering them. Personality assumed identical, Personal Reality as a result also identical... Calculating compatibility match... 95%...

As I worked to rebuild the forbidden ability that I was never supposed to discover, the number in my mind when I did a compatibility check was a clear 95, but the 9 started to grey out and fade in and out switching between 5 and 95.

Just what is the meaning of this?

There is no time for that, I'll have to save my questions for later and focus on the task at hand. Tracing via adapting the personality data of a person, memorising and recreating their AIM field and utilising the finished product if the compatibility is at a stable level, reproducing an Esper ability by making it my own after observing and learning from its original user.

Error. Tracing incomplete. Insufficient personality data and AIM field analysis.

Normally I would abort and try again later, but this ability is not something I will chance upon again at any point in time in the future. Unknown ability "Reality Shift" should not be available to me, by forcing myself to recreate that which should never be created, I am putting my life on the line.

Filling in the missing holes in the personality data with my own data, normally this would cause my work to blow up in my face, but this ability is born from my own self, and therefore my own personality. It doesn't matter what happens now, I must focus all my attention on stopping Accelerator for certain.

Tracing complete, ability "Reality Shift" ready for use.

Right at that point, the container hit the ground behind Accelerator and he started to laugh, one second, a third of the time I had bought myself had already been spent.

Immersing myself in the Personal Reality of my past self, I gave a small start as the potential uses the ability held, manipulation of other Personal Realities, alteration of my own personal reality to produce the desired ability I wanted, altering the laws of reality of the world, as I swam in the possibilities of what I could do, I suddenly fell one one knee clutching my head, my vision swam as I used Vector Change to search for the cause of this sudden loss in balance.

It burst. A blood vessel in my head burst. My personality isn't as similar to Kaho's as I thought, the conflicting personality data in the same ability causing my own body to rip itself apart. Continued use is dangerous, I might be able to handle small uses, but if I tried something as major as altering reality I would definitely die on the spot.

Raising a hand and yelling as I ran to Accelerator, I used my own ability like a virus as I ran towards him, ready to drop his Vector Shield for a split second before my fist connected with his face.

Staring at me like I was some kind of idiot, Accelerator stood there ready to take the hit, confident his ability would save him, oh he is so wrong...

Right before my fist connected, something in the back of my head gave way, probably in the occipital lobe as I went blind, swinging wildly and hitting nothing but air as I hit the floor, blinded and confused.

"Hahaha! Can't even hit me? You're worse than that Sister!" Accelerator sneered, stomping on the ground and sending me flying between several containers before turning back towards the clone.

The impact as I hit the ground mind numbingly painful, I groaned and clutched at my body wishing the pain would end as my world started to return and refocus.

My vision... Is back...?

I must have knocked something in the impact as my vision started to return slowly but surely, Accelerator heading for the Sister ready to kill her.

Someone... Anyone... Please... Save her!

As if a higher power out there was answering my scream, another set of crunching footsteps entered the switchyard, a boy with spiky black hair in a dishevelled uniform slowly walking in and glaring at Accelerator.

Dammit, why is he here? Why couldn't someone else come along?!

Touma... Had arrived...

"…Get away from her" Touma growled, glaring daggers at Accelerator, "Get the hell away from Misaka Imouto. Can you not hear me?"

What the hell is he doing here?! You're supposed to be protecting Misaka dammit! Get the hell away from here!

"Hey, Misaka's the name of your original, right? If he knows that, then he must know you.

C'mon now, don't bring unrelated people to the experimental grounds." Accelerator muttered, rolling his eyes in Touma's direction, "…I mean fucking come on. What am I supposed to do now? I guess the standard thing would be to silence the person who knows about this secret experiment, but that just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. He's not some disposable doll. He's just a normal-..."

"Shut the hell up and get away from her, you lowly thug!" Touma screamed, cutting off Accelerator and even making him take a step back.

Between Touma and Accelerator there's no doubt Touma would lose. But he had an advantage, and advantage I didn't realise before: his right hand could do things no other Esper could. But can he really stand up to Academy City's strongest Esper and just walk away?

I'd better pull back for now, that Sister needs medical attention.

"Not so fast, I'm dealing with that third-rate now so shut up and sleep." Accelerator said, not even sparing me a look as he blasted me with a shower of rocks. Some pinging off my reactivated Vector Shield the rest sending me flying between a set of containers.

Dammit I can't do anything now... I wanted to be the one to save the Sister, and maybe prove myself in "her" eyes... I guess that's nothing but a dream now... And dreams can only be dreams...

"[Stay. If that kid goes down it's up to you to stop Accelerator.]" Kaho said.

"[Oh. Only NOW then you choose to show up?! And for what? I'm done here. I can't even hold a candle... To... What?]"

Accelerator had sent several steel rails flying at Touma and even though Touma managed to dodge and weave through the steel rails, but the rails still carried momentum. Once the rails struck the ground, rocks were sent flying and Touma couldn't dodge those in time.

Left, right, backward tumble, Touma manoeuvred his body around each rail but was constantly peppered by gravel each time he dodged.

His ability to dodge is unquestioned. But even if he does, those gravel are chiselling away at his body each rock stabbing him like a blunted knife.

Before I could even stand up, the taste of iron in my mouth stunned me into staying put.

"[Your injuries are too severe to help. Tend to those first.]"

Yeah thank you Captain Obvious.

Ignoring the sounds of the battle that was right in front of me, I focused inwards, trying to detect any abnormalities in my body. Fractured rib... Bruised right lung... Brain hemorrhage... Oh man I'm going to need an ambulance if this keeps up... Minor abdominal bleeding... There must be bleeding elsewhere because my heart rate is getting a little sluggish...

The sound of containers falling here and there jerking me out of my meditative state, I turned to look at what was causing the commotion instantly regretting doing so as Accelerator had kicked a container causing the rest to fall like dominoes, the area enveloped in a white powder.

Even from where I was, I could still hear Accelerator's voice from the darkness, "Heh. It looks like these containers held flour, but this nice windless night might be making this a very dangerous situation."

Wait... Is that white powder flour? How is that dangerous? What's he gonna do, bake a cake with Touma in it?

"There are stories of explosions in mines, right? Those don't happen because someone didn't use

their explosives properly. They were caused by the fine dust from the stones filling the air in the mine. A lot like now."

Dust explosions?! Shit!

In less than a second after I started to run, the entire area around Accelerator simply exploded enveloping the area in a torrent of flames as if a gasoline station had exploded.

I couldn't see Touma during the blast but he was the least of my problems as the flames headed in my direction as well. Vector Shield would take the brunt of the heat and reflect it, but because of the sudden detonation, and the fact that it occured so rapidly burned all of the oxygen nearby for combustion. With a sudden reaction like that, air from the surrounding area would flow rapidly to take up the so called "void" that was left by the combustion forming a negative pressure zone that forced me to lie on the ground as i gasped for breath.

As if strolling through the park, Accelerator calmly walked out of the fiery hell he himself had created, fanning himself as if nothing was wrong, "God damn it. I'm sure you just experienced it yourself, but the lack of oxygen was tough on me, too. Fuck, I thought I was gonna die. You should be glad. I think you're the first in the world to make me, Accelerator, think he was gonna die."

If he can come out of that sort of attack unfazed just what is it going to take to stop him?!

Stopping as soon as he was clear of the flames, Accelerator cheerfully looked at Touma like an eagle eyeing its prey, "…Well? What are you even trying to do? All your frantic efforts haven't gotten you a single step closer to me. And what the hell do you even think you can do if you were somehow able to get near me? I can manipulate every vector that touches my body. That includes the flow of your blood, y'know? In other words, the instant you touch me, every blood vessel and organ in your body will explode. Do you really understand that?"

I've clashed with him... Several times in fact... And looking at him now, he's never gotten serious. Even just now, he must have been holding back... Is the difference between Level 5 and everyone else truly that great?

Closing my eyes tightly shut as Touma hurtled along to his death, Accelerator reached out with both hands, ready to execute him if even a finger grazed Touma's flesh. I didn't want to see it, the sight of Touma dying in such a horrible fashion is definitely something I don't want to keep in my memories if I even survive this.

As a dull crack resounded through the air, I opened my eyes by a tiny crack to see what had made the sound, it couldn't have been Accelerator, I'd be hearing something way more gruesome... But... Even though it's right in front of my eyes, I don't believe it. Touma's fist had connected with Accelerator's head, going straight through his Vector Shield and sending him sprawling atop the gravel. Touma, had actually hit Accelerator!

"Ah? Ow… Ha ha… What the fuck? Oh, wow. Ha ha ha. Dammit. Excellent, excellent. That

was great! That was wonderful! Now you've done it!" Accelerator laughed sounding like a maniac.

Whatever, if Accelerator's having fun I can now treat the internal bleeding that I got from just now.

Closing the bleeding area slowly with Telekinesis, I slowly absorbed the moisture from the blood turning it into a make do clot, the other injuries had to be treated in an actual hospital but I should be good to go for another few rounds before my body falls into critical condition.

My attention back on the fistfight between Touma and Accelerator, I watched in awe as Touma dodged Accelerator's attack and slammed his right fist into Accelerator's face again and again. He definitely had the reflexes no doubt from being a Level 0 who had to fight against delinquints, Accelerator had never lost a fight, he never had to rely on anything but his absurd ability and this is the result: A Glass Cannon.

With his Vector Shield completely nullified Accelerator was a fragile punching bag waiting to be beaten up. Against the battle hardened Touma that lived his life fighting on the streets, this was no longer a match of the strongest pounding the weakest; It had become a match of the weakest pounding the strongest.

"…The Sisters were living with everything they had. They gathered all their strength and lived. They worked with everything they had. Why do people like that need to act as your prey!?" Touma yelled, panting heavily as he stared down at Academy City's strongest Esper.

Dammit, it looks like my work here is done. Once Touma punches Accelerator out like a light there's nothing left for me to do.

Turning around ready to head home and maybe to the hospital in the morning, a sudden gust of wind drew my attention back to the two combatants: Accelerator lying on the ground with his fist in the air and Touma standing with his arms up ready to defend himself.

As the winds gathered speed with a resounding roar, the air gathered above Accelerator slammed into Touma and blew him away like a child tossing a rag doll.

Guess I have to take the stage once more...

Surveying the scene once more as I formed a plan of how I can tango with Accelerator with my current injuries in a scenario where I don't suffer from anything fatal or die a gruesome death. The problem is... There isn't one. In my current state I'm already what most medics would call "a dead man walking".

The switchyard was a mess. Gravel had been thrown everywhere: into containers, over containers, into the nearby turbines. Touma himself had flown back quite a distance into the furthest turbine, his back against the pole marking the spot he slammed into it with a small dent. Whether he fell or was thrown into the place made no difference. He was dead for sure.

Visibly elated with his newfound power, Accelerator started to laugh, "Heh...! What's with you?! What's with you?! What's with you?! After all that tough talk that's all you could do?! I'm gonna fire another one so why don't you show me the return of the badass loser!?"

He's gathering another wind ball judging by the way the dust is swirling around, this is just cruel. He's already gone and you want to torment him further.

Sighing as I started a slow walk to Accelerator, my knees not moving like I wanted them to, another presence in the switchyard stopped me in my tracks. I recognise this AIM Field... Misaka Mikoto...!

No... I felt her from the beginning... It was faint so I dumbed it down as interference from the Sister but for this AIM field to be this strong... It's definitely Mikoto.

"Stop this Accelerator!" Misaka yelled, a coin on her thumb ready to release a "Railgun" if needed.

Misaka you idiot... If he reflects your Railgun you're dead...!

Not even sparing Mikoto a glance, Accelerator continued to manipulate his ball of wind as if Mikoto were not even worth his time. In this standoff... No, not even a standoff. A standoff would imply Mikoto could actually do something and in this situation, Mikoto would definitely die. Die trying to protect someone who's already got more than a foot in his own grave.

But a voice called out to stop her, "...op, Misaka..."

It... Can't be... He survived?!

Touma, barely standing and shakily getting to his own feet, brought his head up high and yelled, "... Stop, Misaka!"

This is a no-win situation. If Misaka listens to Touma that foot in his grave will become his whole body. If Misaka DOES interfere... She dies from a reflected Railgun.

Only one thing left to do.

Ignoring the slow apology that Misaka offered to Touma I struggled towards the Electromaster, putting energy once again in my aching limbs.

Before she could do anything else, I swung my arm with a yell, throwing out a massive telekinetic wave that knocked her several meters backwards.

Glaring at me for interfering, something else caught Misaka's attention, and mine as well: Accelerator's ball of wind started to heat up and glow. He had made plasma.

The glowing ball of plasma continued to grow larger and larger, Misaka and I simply watching in awe, even Misaka's mouth fell open stupidly. Although she closed her mouth shortly after, the memory of her mouth gaping open had already been burned into my mind and would be cherished for years to come.

"Ryusuke-san, stay here I've got an idea." Misaka yelled over the raging winds, heading for the fallen Sister.

Whatever plan she has she needs time... If Accelerator attacks Touma or Misaka... The plan wouldn't matter in the end...

With Misaka out of sight, the only target in Accelerator's sights is Touma, and the a large ball of glowing plasma over his head, his attack method is clear. I can't negate the plasma, nor can I destabilise it in case it damage the surrounding area. So the only thing left to do is clear...

Vector Change, Telekinesis, Energy Manipulation, Hydro Hand online. Slowing winds under control by Accelerator, absorbing as much energy as possible from the environment and slowing movement of all air particles and water molecules.

As the environment around me and especially in front of me slowly got colder and colder, I still felt the blazing heat from Accelerator's ball of plasma as if the sun itself were in the trainyard and was burning down on me.

Would this actually work...?

"Oi, if you don't feel like dying today I suggest you move third-rate. I'm good enough to give you a warning so shove off if you know what's good for you." Accelerator said, glaring at the "obstacle" in his path.

"We both know I won't win... But I won't let you kill Touma." I said, my voice wavering with each passing second.

Not even bothering with a verbal response, Accelerator twitched his right hand causing a small ball of plasma to break off and hurtle towards me.

Even an attack of that magnitude... If I don't pull together a shield good enough to block that I don't think even my version of Accelerator's Vector Shield will be able to take on a blast that hot... So whatever I do now... Can't be anything superficial.

The basic framework of the barrier formed in my head, I swung both my arms out with a large cry, "Absolute Zero!"

At that precise moment, all the energy I had been gathering from the environment was expended, slowing the air molecules in front of me until it had barely any kinetic energy left. The result was a large wall of ice forming between me and Accelerator, cooling down further and further as I pushed all of the abilities under my control to their absolute limit.

The small plasma ball burning through my ice shield millimeter by millimeter, my shield wasn't cooling rapidly enough to prevent the ionised ball of gas from penetrating the ice, a small sliver slipping through before I closed the hole it had formed, the plasma shooting past and scorching my already injured shoulder.

"Gh-ah!" I cried, the searing pain immediately followed by a cold numbness as the nerve endings were fried away, the feeling of pain or any feeling in that part of my shoulder for that matter completely dead.

If he had used the whole plasma ball I wouldn't be standing around to describe it... Hurry up Misaka... What's taking you so long?!

With a sudden gust of wind, Accelerator's plasma sphere started to dissipate and disappear.

"Wha...?" Accelerator said, looking up.

As a result of a sudden change in the wind direction, Accelerator's calculations must have been thrown out of whack as it WAS a windless night. Was because it is supposed to be windless... Until now.

Taking into factor the general direction of the wind flow and its magnitude, the wind blowing through the switchyard right now isn't natural. It's too strong and too focused to be a random air current. This must be Misaka's plan!

Apparently Accelerator had realised this too as he turned around looking for the Sister's body which was no longer lying motionless on the floor, instead glaring at Accelerator intently.

"I'll kill you!" Accelerator roared, as he took a step towards her.

Stepping out from the shadows, Misaka Mikoto stood in front of the Sister, using her own body as a shield, "... Do you really think I'll let you?"

Shit... Gotta get this shield down and protect the Sister!

"Hah. Don't get carried away. At your lower rank, you can't reach me. You can't even slow me down. It's like vision tests where they only test up to 2.0. The only reason I'm stuck at the same level as you is because Academy City's levels don't go higher than 5."

He's right of course, but there's a reason for that, after seeing the previous Level 6 program, no doubt the person who attains Level 6 will suffer from extremely dire and complicated side effects.

"[You have no idea.]"

Ignoring the voice in my head, I heard a noise from behind me, even over the sound of the roaring wind, "..."

Impossible!

After taking a giant wind blast and slamming into a wind turbine, Touma is STILL STANDING!?

His body was broken, bruised and torn. Half the injuries inflicted on anyone else would cause them to lapse into shock, the blood shortage and blood loss enough to do him in permanently. Yet he's still standing. His limbs shaking and quivering, and probably on the verge of death.

Accelerator's only response to such an unreasonable feat, "You're amazing! You're really fucking amazing!"

Taking a step forward, pushing his entire body step by step as if each step might be his last, Touma fought the urge to collapse and walked to Accelerator, his fist clenched with all his might.

As Accelerator shot towards Touma, time seemed to slow down, Touma dodging the first attack and knocking away the second.

"Grit your teeth strongest..." Touma said softly, his fist drawn back and ready to strike, "My weakest attack is going to resound a little!"

Driving his foot into the ground Touma put his fist in Accelerator's face and followed through, the impact sending Accelerator's albino body flying through the air before it crashed and rolled across the floor.

With the time I had borrowed all used up, my own body failed me as I fell to the ground, my brain trying to preserve as much of itself as possible by cutting off all "unnecessary" functions.

-End of Chapter-

-End of Volume 1-

And that's a wrap for A Certain Mystical Esper! I hope you enjoyed the story and look forward to reading the sequel in this series! A Certain Angelic Finality! (I didn't want to spoil and wanted to make you think it was the end but heck, you're my loyal readers so I should at least let you know what I have in store next XD

Authors Note: It took me ages just to even think about the sequel's name, The story that just finished had covered 6 arcs, 3 from Index 3 from Railgun's anime spinoff. With the new sequel fanfic, I wanted to cover another 6 arcs (all from the Index side this time) but after studying the six arcs I planned to write on, I had no way of linking them all aside from the fact that the Sister Arc finally gets its conclusion with the destruction of the Remnant (I'm spoiling all those who haven't seen those novels and anime adaptation yet but suck it up! If you're reading this fanfic you should already know the story!) and the two angels Kazakiri and Gabriel. So with both those arcs in mind... That's how I got the name!

As for the title of this chapter, I wanted it to be of two epic theme songs, one for Accelerator and one for Ryusuke (touma was fighting to accelerator's theme) and Accelerator's original theme (Ippo Tsuko) sounded like two rocks grinding against each other, and I found his 2nd season theme a LOT cooler. So I used that and I took the beginning of the FSN movie and used it as Ryusuke's.