The higher you stood, the farther you could see. Jiu Ming had been about to charge down and take his opponent out in one hit, but then he spotted a building not far from Accelerator—a research institute whose name he didn't know. Hmm. He'd wait a little longer.
He glanced toward another spot. A faint, prying gaze quickly withdrew, but Jiu Ming paid it little mind.
Once Accelerator had entered the institute, Jiu Ming drew a deep breath. Since he was leaving anyway, there was no point holding back. At worst, he could go back and sleep a little longer. Transparent ripples, like flames, began to burn across his skin.
"What... is that? Why does it feel so oppressive?" The person spying on Jiu Ming sensed not only him through their ability, but also the spiritual pressure rapidly building around him. It even gave them the illusion that Queen was already mentally weaker than this man... How could that be?
Crack...
Dense fractures spread across the high platform beneath Jiu Ming's feet. The cracks raced outward, and Jiu Ming vanished from where he stood.
Boom—
The building Accelerator had entered seemed to have taken a direct hit from a missile. It collapsed on the spot. Jiu Ming had made sure it wasn't one of the main testing facilities before striking, so there was no need to worry about accidentally injuring any of the other Misaka Sisters.
"Hahahaha! You lowlife again! I was just wondering how I'd find you!!" A wild laugh rang out from beneath the collapsed building. The rubble burst outward in every direction. "That's one hell of a way to say hello!"
"Tch, so it really doesn't work?" Jiu Ming pursed his lips as he looked at Accelerator, completely unharmed. Single-target attacks got reflected, and even this kind of area-of-effect attack was useless. It might look like Jiu Ming had smashed the building apart with one punch, but—
In truth, he'd spent even longer charging up this time. The building had only been caught in the collateral damage. He'd controlled his strength and focused most of the impact in one direction, but judging by Accelerator's expression...
He didn't seem to have been affected at all!
Fight, fight, fight... Fight my ass!
That cheat of a White Hair.
"Why didn't you show up yesterday? Dealing with a bunch of weak experimental animals like ants just isn't satisfying." Accelerator tilted his head slightly, his voice dark as he recounted what had happened the day before. Jiu Ming narrowed his eyes.
So that was it.
He opened the Card Collection Book and took out one of the cards. After crushing it in his hand, a length of steel pipe appeared. "You damn—"
"Damn? Tch, don't make me sound like some murderer. Those things were just experimental animals created to help me on my path to invincibility. All it takes is the press of a button, and I can get as many as I want. But you? You're not human either, are you?"
"That's right. Not anymore." Jiu Ming examined the steel pipe in his hand. How did its uses work?
Would it disappear after he used it?
"But I think torturing you to death would be even more enjoyable than killing those experimental animals!!"
"You can do that? The path to invincibility? Who do you think you are?" Jiu Ming curled his lip, then froze for an instant. The hand holding the steel pipe turned transparent for a moment. Was his time up?
Maybe he'd be kicked out of this world in the next few seconds. Damn it, could it kill him to give me a little more time? Next time, he definitely wouldn't waste so much time talking!
It was obvious that Misaka 1 had already met the original. Jiu Ming had completed his commission with her!
With the job done, there was no reason for him to stay in this world. He'd naturally be expelled before long. Jiu Ming tried to resist the repulsion, but he wasn't strong enough to take on the power of an entire world by himself.
"Damn it!! Invincible!? What a joke!"
Accelerator had no idea what had gotten into Jiu Ming. Seeing Jiu Ming's body turn almost completely transparent, he suddenly charged forward. After a brief moment of surprise, Accelerator sneered. "What? Looks like you're about to disappear. And what's with that piece of scrap metal in your hand? How could—!?"
The extreme threat made Accelerator abandon his plan to take Jiu Ming's attack head-on and dodge at once. This time, he didn't activate his ability carelessly. His frantic, all-out evasion made the ground beneath his feet cave in under the strain.
Even so, a streak of blood appeared across Accelerator's cheek. 'Reflection'... hadn't worked!
It hadn't failed. It had been overcome. How was that possible? In theory, even a nuclear bomb could barely hurt him, and now he'd been injured by a steel pipe he'd just called scrap metal!
The instant the pipe's tip touched him, its power seemed to have barely exceeded the level his calculations could handle. And it had happened so suddenly that he hadn't had time to raise his processing power. The margin had been impossibly fine!
It had exceeded his limit by just that little, making his ability's 'reflection' fail.
Could this unremarkable steel pipe be some tool specially developed by an organization to counter his ability? But how could such a thing exist? Besides, he wasn't blind. The pipe in Jiu Ming's hand was just an ordinary length of metal, snapped off from who knew where!
That one strike had cracked something in his confidence. Jiu Ming had aimed for his forehead. If he hadn't dodged, he would have died!
If the pipe wasn't the reason, then it had to be Jiu Ming himself—an ability that countered his own... That brush with death just now...
"Excellent! I'm starting to hate you more and more. What should I do? I'd be overjoyed if I killed you!!!" Accelerator wiped the blood from his cheek, his expression manic. He looked like a lunatic having an episode...
"...Too bad! Time's up." Jiu Ming didn't keep arguing. After that one failed attack, he stood still. What he'd just done had used up most of the time he had left. If he made any more big moves, he'd be kicked out immediately. In the end, all he could do was stand there and say those two words, feeling more helpless than he had in who knew how long.
It seemed that someone like Accelerator was a very important part of this world. If it had been someone else—even someone about as powerful as Accelerator, but not important to the world—the outcome would have been completely different.
Jiu Ming had just unleashed all his speed, but he'd watched Accelerator make an incredibly unscientific, 'instinctive' dodge, quickly tilting his head to one side. Damn it! The world didn't have to play so unfairly!
If he got a couple more tries... if he had one more chance to attack, he refused to believe Accelerator would get that 'lucky' again.
But he didn't have another chance.
"Lowlife, you...!?" Accelerator had noticed something was wrong with Jiu Ming, too. How could he miss Jiu Ming flickering like a malfunctioning neon sign?
"Ah, what a shame I didn't kill you. Hurry home and get some sleep..."
Before he'd even finished speaking, Jiu Ming vanished from Accelerator's sight like a dying candle snuffed out by the wind.
Boom—
A powerful quake seemed to rock the ground in front of Accelerator. Deep cracks spread across the earth, and chunks of debris shot into the air. No one was there.
"Bastard! What do you mean, 'time's up'?!"
Roaring like a beast whose prey had been stolen, Accelerator furiously wrecked the open space around him. Jiu Ming hadn't looked like he'd moved away. And the regret in his voice before he vanished made it seem more like he'd simply disappeared on his own...
Time was up?
He'd vanished?
Was he fucking messing with him?!
"What!? He disappeared?" Shokuhou Misaki froze at her subordinate's report. The details her subordinate provided were vivid, and she understood exactly what had happened.
His body had flickered, then turned completely transparent and disappeared? They were sure he hadn't just disintegrated?
Ah... As the nameless anger in her heart vanished, she suddenly felt a vague sense of guilt.
He really had disappeared?
"Who are you?" Misaka Mikoto stared blankly at the girl who looked exactly like her, disbelief filling her voice.
"AAAAAAAAAH!! For fuck's sake!" Inside the Mysterious Shop, Jiu Ming paid no attention to how unusually transparent his Soul Body had become. He rolled around on the floor like a child. His usual calm had been kicked far away by his crushing frustration.
Give him ten more seconds... No! Five more seconds of being able to move normally, and he could've sent that White Hair on a one-way trip!
"What a joke. This kind of depressing ending doesn't suit me..." Jiu Ming glared at the damn liar. Then, with a look as if he'd died with regrets, he suddenly sat up and stared hard at the 'World Crossing Gate'. After a long while, all he could do was let out a long sigh. Fine... He pushed the door open again and saw a Sealed Card floating quietly there. This counted as a 'gift' of the same kind as the 'Imagine Breaker' card.
Name: Defective Electricity
Type: Skill
Attribute: Electricity
Notes: None. Using the ability contained in this card costs you a negligible amount.
Remarks: Doesn't even reach 1% of the real Railgun's power...
Convertible Origin Power: 200
There was no time limit, which meant the ability sealed in this card could be permanently mastered once loaded onto himself. Jiu Ming didn't need to load it onto himself at all. For one thing, he could use the ability inside the card just by holding it. There was no limit to the number of uses, and he didn't even need to crush it...
For another... there was no point!
The Sealed Card wasn't worthless, but in some ways, it was worth very little. A single-use Imagine Breaker was worth 300 Origin Power, and the steel pipe that could pierce defenses, with three uses, was worth 450 Origin Power.
Oh, the steel pipe now only had two uses left, so its value had dropped. It was now worth exactly as much as Imagine Breaker. And don't forget: the Defective Electricity Sealed Card granted permanent mastery, while those other two had limited uses. Even if their values weren't that different, the actual difference... tsk, tsk.
"Let's make a deal, Panel-kun. Can you take this thing back and let me go back there once?"
Before you continue