Do It, Tired, Do It, Tired

"Come at me. Ah, right—if you awaken your Black Wing State in the battle ahead, I'll spare your life." Rod arrogantly raised his head, looking down on Accelerator as he casually pronounced his verdict.

"You bastard!" Accelerator nearly ground his teeth to dust at that utterly contemptuous arrogance, instantly casting aside the fear that had arisen in his heart.

Manipulating the air currents around him and imbuing them with terrifying kinetic energy, he fired several compressed-air blasts like cannonballs.

"Dismantle!" Several invisible slashes swept through in succession, instantly crushing the compressed-air blasts and cutting them apart.

Before Accelerator could react, Rod's palm had already covered his face, and an irresistible force hurled him into the air.

"Is that... Accelerator!?" Frenda, who had been watching through binoculars, let out a startled cry, causing the other three to look toward the white-haired figure that had suddenly appeared in the night sky.

"You've got to be kidding me! That's Academy City's strongest Level 5, the Number One Accelerator! Why isn't Vector Manipulation working!?" Kinuhata Saiai found it hardest to believe. After all, her Nitrogen Armor had been created by transplanting the "defensive" portion of Accelerator's calculation model into her brain, optimizing her "Personal Reality" and granting her automatic defensive abilities.

Didn't that mean her defenses were essentially nonexistent in Rod's eyes?

"Tch, Lord Rod is the strongest!" Mugino Shizuri, who had clearly become a Rod fanatic, naturally began singing his praises.

"Mugino, I think we should retreat to the rear." Takitsubo Rikou, ever cautious, sensed the coming battle and immediately warned her.

"..." After a moment of silence, Mugino Shizuri nodded and led the three girls into the car, preparing to withdraw from District 17. It was precisely this decision that allowed them to escape disaster.

"Is that all you've got!? Number One!?" Rod mocked Accelerator as he rushed toward him at high speed.

"You animal!" Manipulating the air currents around him, Accelerator fiercely swung his right fist at the incoming Rod. Their fists collided in midair, and the immense kinetic energy created a terrifying shockwave that instantly blew away the surrounding clouds and shattered every nearby window into fragments.

Rod sliced a hundred-meter-tall building in half at the waist, then kicked it toward Accelerator. The enormous structure hurtled at him, carrying a violent gust in its wake.

Manipulating kinetic energy, Accelerator thrust one hand into the building and let out a roar as he hurled it back in the opposite direction.

Countless compressed-air blasts frantically shot toward Rod. As though he had precisely predicted the range of every single shot, Rod twisted and maneuvered through the air. Within moments, buildings across several kilometers had been devastated.

Gales gathered around Accelerator, and behind him, four tornado-like wind wings seemed to sprout, raising his aerial mobility to another level.

"Damn it, where the hell did you come from!?" Accelerator roared furiously.

"Hahahaha, why are you angry? Could it be that you've finally realized you're just a frog at the bottom of a well? From the very beginning, your so-called title of strongest only existed within this city. No—the title itself was never deserved." Rod laughed with unrestrained mockery, making Accelerator's expression twist even further.

Rod appeared behind Accelerator in an instant. Before Accelerator could respond, Rod seized his arm and flung him down toward the buildings below, sending him crashing through the cityscape like a rag doll.

"You've got to be kidding me! The strongest? I'm the strongest!?" Enraged and humiliated, Accelerator manipulated the winds into a massive tornado nearly several kilometers tall. Its powerful suction instantly uprooted every building in the area. If it were allowed to continue, the entire district would be wiped clean in the blink of an eye.

Feeling the raging wind behind her, Misaka Mikoto turned around while pulling a Misaka Sister along. She froze in shock. The sight before her was like a natural disaster, and fear grew ever stronger in her heart—fear that Rod would lose and die at Accelerator's hands.

"You have to come back, mister. I still don't even know your name!" Gritting her teeth, Misaka Mikoto looked at the Misaka Sister's vacant eyes, hoisted her onto her back, and quickly ran toward the edge of District 17.

Seeing the giant tornado instantly swallow Rod, Accelerator let out a triumphant sneer.

"Serves you right. What an ugly sight!"

"Dismantle!" A massive invisible slash pierced through the giant tornado in an instant, extending for dozens of kilometers and carving an abyss-like ravine across the area.

Accelerator's laughter came to an abrupt halt. It was as if his throat had been seized, leaving him unable to speak.

He gathered the scattered winds under his control once more, directing several high-rises to crash down on Rod and bury him beneath a dense mass of floors.

"Cleave." Invisible slashes formed a grid, cutting several hundred-meter-tall buildings into densely packed chunks that burst apart, leaving Accelerator utterly stunned.

In that instant of shock, Rod's huge face was already close. Accelerator could only see Rod's wide grin, so utterly wild and untamed.

The struck Accelerator crashed into a building like a cannonball. Unable to resist, Rod stepped through the floors in rapid pursuit, then viciously kicked Accelerator in the abdomen, sending him flying out of the building.

As if he had been beaten senseless, Accelerator lost the ability to fight back. Blood spread across his body, and an intense dizziness filled his head.

Why? Why was the gap so enormous? The thought that appeared out of nowhere nearly broke Accelerator. With eyes vacant as though his faith had collapsed, he watched Rod charge at him again.

A thick, powerful hand pressed down on Accelerator's head, and their bodies rapidly plummeted through the air, smashing through one floor after another of a massive building.

The suffocating pressure robbed Accelerator of the ability to think.

Only when they reached the first floor of the building did Accelerator regain his senses. He clutched his abdomen in agony as blood continuously spilled from his mouth.

Bright moonlight shone down through the cloudless night sky, casting Rod's figure into Accelerator's eyes. Fear—boundless fear—spilled forth beyond his control.

"The moon really is bright. Thanks to that, I can clearly see how utterly pathetic you look."

Under the moonlight, Accelerator's fear-filled eyes were clearly reflected as Rod continued to mock him.

Grabbing Accelerator by the collar and lifting him as easily as a chicken, Rod said in a mocking tone, "Come on, do your best, do your best. Until I get tired of playing, I'll keep playing with you."

The fear in Accelerator's eyes gradually faded into emptiness, and his brain began to tremble!