Get Ready, Tense Up

"There, there they are." Standing on high ground, Frenda watched Rod and the other three through binoculars as she reported to Mugino Shizuri.

"Why are there two Number Threes?" Frenda asked in confusion.

"You idiot, didn't you read the briefing? The experiment here is part of the Level 6 Shift Project." Kinuhata Saiai was speechless.

"What? The Level 6 Shift Project? Shouldn't it be the Railgun Cloning Project?" Frenda retorted, looking like a total know-it-all, leaving the other three at a loss for words.

"The Level 6 Shift Project is meant to..." Kinuhata Saiai and Rod in the field explained the purpose of the Level 6 Shift Project at almost the exact same time.

The purpose of the "experiment" was to arrange twenty thousand battles and have Accelerator complete them according to plan. An esper's abilities could improve through combat, and the experiment's ultimate goal was to control the direction of that growth, allowing Accelerator to evolve from a Level 5 esper into an absolute esper.

"Y-You've got to be kidding!? Something like that..." Misaka Mikoto's slender body could not stop trembling upon hearing this, boundless fury spreading endlessly from within her heart.

"So the moment my clones were created, they were stripped of their right to live and turned into disposable lab rats by this city?!"

Electric currents surged and roared around Misaka Mikoto, revealing the intense emotions her power's owner could no longer suppress.

"You scum, just die!" Thunderclouds gathered in the night sky, and terrifying lightning flashed down from above, like savage thunder beasts descending upon Accelerator in an instant.

One of Misaka Mikoto's ultimate moves: true lightning strikes! Its maximum output voltage could reach one billion volts.

Yet this mighty attack could not harm Accelerator in the slightest. With Vector Control, so long as something came into contact with his skin, he could freely manipulate the direction of all forms of energy, including kinetic, thermal, and electrical energy. Combined with his terrifying computational ability, he could precisely avoid any damage those energies might cause.

Misaka Mikoto's eyes widened in shock at the sight, disbelief written all over her face.

"Impossible! That was a billion volts!?"

Only now did she truly understand what Academy City's Number One meant. This overwhelming difference in esper abilities was a defeat unlike anything she had ever experienced.

That sense of powerlessness filled Misaka Mikoto with unbearable frustration.

"If you attack me, you'd better be prepared to be killed by me." Accelerator sneered at Misaka Mikoto. With a light tap of his foot, he shot forward like a cannonball, extending his right hand toward her face.

Just as Misaka Mikoto sensed that his palm was about to touch her forehead, cold sweat slid down her face. Yet Accelerator's hand was suddenly seized by the wrist by a large hand, halting his charge.

The sight stunned both of them.

Misaka Mikoto was shocked by Rod's strength, while Accelerator could not believe it, unable to understand why this unfamiliar man was able to touch him.

"I wasn't finished. The Level 6 Shift Project's purpose is only a cover on the surface. In other words, even if you, Accelerator, really completed twenty thousand killings, you still couldn't become an 'invincible' absolute esper—Level 6."

"Hey!? What do you mean?" Putting aside his shock that Rod could touch him, Accelerator glared at Rod with an ugly expression. If what Rod said was true, then wouldn't all the slaughter he had committed become a complete joke?

"You don't get it? The Level 6 Shift Project's true purpose was never to evolve Accelerator into an absolute esper, Level 6. It was to deploy artificial espers to every corner of the world. This was all part of Aleister Crowley's plan, the chairman of Academy City's Board of Directors. To naturally send these Misaka Sisters outside Academy City, he deliberately destroyed the Railgun Cloning Project first, then destroyed the Level 6 Shift Project as a smokescreen. Through those two feints, the Misaka Sisters would be sent to Academy City's partner institutions all over the world, eventually shrouding the entire world beneath the AIM Diffusion Field."

Rod spoke the truth with a mocking tone, as though deliberately taunting Aleister, who was watching this place.

"This man knows far too much." Aleister's usual indifference toward all things showed the slightest ripple. He did not know whether allowing this unexpected chess piece that had fallen onto the board to continue would have unimaginable consequences for his plan, nor whether those consequences would be good or bad.

"Why? Why would the chairman do something like that?" Misaka Mikoto asked, utterly baffled.

"Simply put, it's to destroy the magic world," Rod replied casually.

"Magic? Magic exists in this world?" Misaka Mikoto's mind had already descended into complete chaos.

"But none of that is important. Hey, Misaka Mikoto, leave this place. If you get caught up in the next fight and die, don't blame me." Rod tilted his neck, producing a crisp crack, then released Accelerator's hand.

"I... I understand." Knowing she would not be of any help if she stayed, Misaka Mikoto took a Misaka Sister's hand and left.

"Hahahaha! You think saying a few words is enough to make me give up this experiment? That's just laughable, isn't it?" Accelerator ignored Misaka Mikoto and the Misaka Sister leaving. In his eyes, those two were merely insects he could kill at will. At this moment, Rod interested him far more.

"Are you misunderstanding something? I only said all that to disgust Aleister. I never intended to make you believe any of it." Rod shook his head, utterly unconcerned by Accelerator's rebuttal.

"You bastard!?" That indifferent attitude enraged Accelerator. He swung his arm at Rod's face with immense kinetic force, but Rod caught it with ease. The excess impact blasted a massive crater into the ground beside Rod, demonstrating the force behind that strike.

"I came here for one reason only." Rod casually flung Accelerator away. Accelerator skidded several meters after landing before barely steadying himself, only to suddenly feel an incomparably intense malice crashing toward him from the front like a tsunami.

A thin line of blood appeared across his neck, followed by a spray of blood. He touched his own neck in disbelief as cold sweat trickled from his temple. Pressure—how long had it been since he had felt pressure? Yet at this moment, it surged from the depths of his heart.

"Take your stance. Steel your nerves. If you don't want to die here, Number One. Heh~" Rod revealed an incomparably mocking smile as a terrifying presence burst forth, and an emotion he had never felt before spread through Accelerator's heart.

That emotion was called—fear!