Recaps

Jiang Rui entered Academy City, cooperated with Aleister, and crossed paths with Misaka Mikoto and Saten Ruiko while hunting for points and grimoires. He led an assault on ITEM’s research facility, defeated Mugino Shizuri, and left with a simulated version of her power while claiming Aleister would recognize him as a Level 5 esper.

• Jiang Rui arrived in Academy City and negotiated with Aleister for an identity, legal privileges, and work in exchange for cooperation.
• Jiang Rui hunted for contribution points, encountered Misaka Mikoto, and learned that Aiwass had defeated Accelerator as participants vanished from the rankings.
• Aleister assigned Jiang Rui a team that included Fiery Sky and Kihara Tsumiki, while Jiang Rui befriended Saten Ruiko and enrolled in high school.
• Jiang Rui declared that he would kill Mugino Shizuri and take her place as Academy City’s Number Four, then attacked ITEM’s research facility.
• Jiang Rui discovered evidence of experiments involving dead Railgun clones and killed a researcher before fighting Mugino Shizuri.
• Mugino swallowed Crystals and unleashed an ability rampage, but Jiang Rui survived the blast and healed his destroyed arm.
• Jiang Rui demonstrated his ability to copy powers, then defeated Mugino as an ice crystal storm swept through the institute.
• Kihara Tsumiki arrived to retrieve Mugino’s body, and Jiang Rui obtained Simulated Atomic Collapse through Great Sage without absorbing her Sequence.

Jiang Rui killed Takitsubo Rihou, took control of the remnants of ITEM, and joined a gathering of powerful outsiders as Academy City’s conflicts escalated. He became entangled in the Imagine Hand incident and a battle between magicians, while Nine Tails became his partner and Kanzaki pursued enemies tied to Index.

• Jiang Rui found and killed Takitsubo Rihou, then forced Kinuhata Saiai and Frenda to disband ITEM and erase its records.
• Jiang Rui met Othinus and Wingetron at a gathering of powerful outsiders, where Wingetron proposed that they cooperate to break through the world’s restrictions.
• Nine Tails chose Jiang Rui as her teammate, and he returned to Academy City with her while planning to avoid Aleister’s notice and keep his distance from Kamijou Touma.
• Jiang Rui met Misaka Mikoto, Shirai Kuroko, Saten Ruiko, and Kazari Uiharu, then clashed with Misaka Mikoto over his decision to kill Mugino Shizuri.
• Jiang Rui joined Aleister’s Imagine Hand experiment, but the ability spread through its users and left Saten Ruiko and others in incurable comas.
• Jiang Rui and Nine Tails fought alongside Accelerator as magicians attacked him, and Nine Tails’s Dark Matter blast devastated a large area of the harbor.
• Jiang Rui persuaded Kanzaki Kaori to pursue the enemy magicians, while the seductive woman transformed her companion and escaped by taking over a child’s body.
• Aiwass captured the escaped girl for research, and Jiang Rui stopped Nine Tails from killing the wounded Misaka Sister before treating her.

Jiang Rui helped defeat the Imagine Beast, then became entangled in the conflict over Index and fought alongside his allies against Kanzaki Kaori. After the battle, he trained Saten Ruiko in magic and gathered his friends for a barbecue, where Nine Tails questioned his feelings about brief friendships and killing someone he liked.

• Jiang Rui and Misaka Mikoto destroyed the Imagine Beast’s core, and Jiang Rui helped Haruue Kiyama surrender to Anti-Skill while protecting the children inside the creature.
• Jiang Rui revealed magic to Saten Ruiko and offered to teach her, then later warned her about Academy City’s hidden dangers and its Guardian, Kazari Uiharu.
• Jiang Rui and Nine Tails intervened when Stiyl tried to take Index, while Jiang Rui entered Index’s Mind Palace and copied her grimoires after Kamijou Touma stopped Automatic Writing.
• Jiang Rui joined Nine Tails, Kitagawa, and Ghost Blade in battling Kanzaki Kaori, using his Dream Manifestation barrier to restrict her before Nine Tails’s black hole attack overwhelmed her.
• Jiang Rui and Nine Tails killed Kanzaki Kaori, and Jiang Rui crushed Index’s pendant before Aleister ordered the elimination of witnesses in District 18.
• Jiang Rui arranged for Frenda and Kinuhata Saiai to help manage the aftermath, then explained Aleister’s plan for Artificial Heaven and the conflict between science and divine authority.
• Jiang Rui taught Saten Ruiko magic, opened her mana circuits, and made her his affiliate, while Great Sage evolved into Archmage Great Sage.
• Jiang Rui and Nine Tails returned a Misaka Sister to Heaven Canceler after confronting Accelerator, then Nine Tails asked whether Jiang Rui regretted temporary friendships and could kill someone he liked.

Jiang Rui gathered Accelerator, Kamijou Touma, and Nine Tails to capture Aureolus Izzard and recover Index, while Saten Ruiko discovered the Absolute Power Project and Misaka Mikoto prepared to attack its facilities. The operation ended with Aureolus defeated, but Jiang Rui left Academy City as Mikoto sought an experimental site and faced Lilith.

• Jiang Rui recruited Saten Ruiko to his team, kept her public rating at Level 3, and began teaching her magic and Spirit Gear.
• Jiang Rui assembled Accelerator, Nine Tails, and Kamijou Touma to pursue Aureolus Izzard after Aureolus abducted Index.
• Jiang Rui’s group entered Misawa Cram School, fought Aureolus’s defenses and the Roman Orthodox Thirteen Knights, and learned how Aureolus’s reality-altering spells relied on his certainty.
• Aureolus’s magic wounded the group and turned Nine Tails into a golden statue, but Touma’s Imagine Breaker and resolve shattered Aureolus’s spells and defeated him.
• Jiang Rui delivered Aureolus to Aleister, then learned that Saten Ruiko had accessed the Absolute Power Project and explained the plan to recover the Sisters and deploy Artificial Heaven.
• Jiang Rui warned Misaka Mikoto that attacking the cloning laboratories could endanger Saten Ruiko, but Mikoto insisted on stopping the killings and asked him to protect her friend.
• Jiang Rui’s team left Academy City for Russia while Misaka slipped away to find an experimental site, where Lilith confronted her after Jiang Rui attacked with a thrown cup.