Faint explosions began drifting in from afar.
The flashes of fire that kept lighting up told everyone that a fierce battle was taking place not far from here.
"Whoa..."
Frenda held down the beret on her head and watched the flashes erupt in the distance, letting out a sound of amazement.
"They're really going at it. Mugino must be getting serious, right?"
Hearing that, Kinuhata Saiai, who stood beside Frenda with both hands tucked into the pockets at the front of her jacket, raised her head and looked defenselessly toward the flickering flames as she answered Frenda's question.
"Even Mugino probably never expected the Number Three to be here. Takitsubo is with her, but her ability can only provide support and can't fight directly. I wonder if Mugino might run into super danger."
Though she said that, Kinuhata Saiai's expression did not change at all.
Clearly, Kinuhata Saiai was not actually that worried about Mugino Shizuri.
"Relax. There's no way some sheltered young lady like that can beat Mugino." Frenda clearly had never considered the possibility of Mugino Shizuri losing. Sticking out her tongue, she said, "Besides, the Esper rankings in Academy City aren't decided by strength. Otherwise, how could Mugino possibly rank below a little girl like that?"
That was true.
The rankings of Academy City's seven Espers were not determined by strength, but by evaluations of their abilities' overall coefficients.
In other words, what was compared was the ability's overall applications in every aspect, not simply who was stronger or weaker.
Misaka Mikoto's ability had an extremely broad range of applications. Not only could she generate electricity, she could also control electromagnetism, radio waves, and electronic signals, applying them in all kinds of ways.
Hacking was only one such application. Aside from that, Misaka Mikoto could use electromagnetic