At that moment, an intensely brilliant flash of electricity illuminated the entire devastated battlefield. Arcs of lightning slithered back and forth across the ground like pythons, dazzlingly bright.
Misaka Mikoto, the source of it all, had powerful currents coursing over her entire body. The crackling and popping echoed throughout the area, and her chestnut bangs began to flutter.
Beneath those bangs, a pair of equally chestnut-colored eyes stared intently at Mugino Shizuri.
The emotion within them was resolve.
"This is...!"
Mugino Shizuri could not help but be startled.
As an Esper who could likewise manipulate electrons—and whose ability, strictly speaking, belonged to the same category—Mugino Shizuri could sense it.
Misaka Mikoto was different from before.
The difference was in her output.
If Misaka Mikoto had merely been a shell just now, then she was now a Nuclear Bomb.
Mugino Shizuri understood.
Misaka Mikoto had been holding back all along.
Unlike Mugino Shizuri, who could fight and kill without mercy, Misaka Mikoto was an ordinary middle school student who lived in the light.
That was why Misaka Mikoto had always worried that her power would hurt others. Under normal circumstances, she did not dare use her full strength at all.
Only now had Misaka Mikoto begun to reveal her true power.
Realizing this, Mugino Shizuri's face finally twisted somewhat.
"You damn brat!"
With a furious shout, clusters of Meltdown light suddenly appeared all around Mugino Shizuri.
Yet those clusters were more than twice as large as before.
Clearly, Mugino Shizuri had erupted as well.
But...
"Rumble..."
When that sound came from the distant sky and reached Mugino Shizuri's ears, her entire body stiffened slightly. Then she forcefully raised her head and looked upward.
What entered Mugino Shizuri's eyes was a night sky that had somehow become blanketed in dark clouds.
"Rumble!"