Night had fallen. Leaving aside the "lonely old black" silently crying in Room 208—
By the riverside of a certain river in Academy City, under a bridge, stood three figures.
Misaka Mikoto and Kamijou Touma faced each other on the riverbank, separated by a dozen meters or so. Between them stood Selene, who had been temporarily dragged in as the referee.
"Hey! Again? You keep yelling about wanting a decisive battle with me, but so far, haven't you lost every single one?" Looking at the excited middle school girl in front of him, Kamijou Touma sighed deeply.
"Shut up! You never hit me, so I haven't lost! A-anyway, I'm going to settle things with you today!" Misaka Mikoto's face flushed red as she turned her head away proudly.
Normally, Kamijou Touma wouldn't have wanted to come out at night just to fight. But—she had paid too much to refuse.
When Selene had pulled out over a million yen on the spot (roughly 7,000 dollars), Kamijou couldn't help blurting out "Rich woman!" and, in the face of such financial temptation, shamefully gave in.
"This area's deserted by dusk, so fighting here won't bother anyone else. Are you two ready?" Selene asked calmly.
"Yeah, ready anytime," Kamijou said. He had faced Misaka's power many times before, so he wasn't worried in the slightest.
"Okay then—battle start!"
The moment Selene's words fell, a surge of electricity flashed through the air—but as expected, it disappeared instantly the moment it reached Kamijou Touma.
"As I thought, electricity doesn't work! In that case... try this!" Misaka immediately stopped the electric discharge and instead manipulated iron sand into the shape of a long sword. With a swing of her hand, the air split sharply with a whoosh!
"What the—hey, using a weapon is totally cheating!" Hearing the slicing sound, Kamijou could tell that the blade made of iron sand was incredibly sharp. Getting hit by that would be dangerous.
"This is made with my own ability, so it's not cheating! Besides, even if you bleed, that's why I brought Selene here! With her around, you definitely won't die!" she said confidently as she charged forward, swinging the blade straight down at him.
Clang!
The "black blade" grazed Kamijou's scalp as he narrowly dodged. His expression turned serious. "Even so, I still don't want to get hit!"
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Under Misaka's relentless pursuit, Kamijou leaped and dodged frantically. Though his movements were awkward, he managed to evade every strike.
"You can run around all you want, but this thing can be used like this too!" Misaka shouted. The iron-sand sword in her hand suddenly softened and extended like a whip, lashing toward Kamijou with terrifying speed.
Since the weapon had changed from a sword to a whip, its horizontal attack range expanded dramatically. Kamijou realized there was no way to dodge this one—he could only rely on... the hand of materialism.
Biu! (Let's just call that the sound effect for Imagine Breaker's activation.)
Watching this, Selene thought silently to herself, So that's Imagine Breaker. Sure enough, it can only be activated through his right hand.
In Misaka's disbelieving gaze, her iron-sand whip was nullified. "You forced the iron sand back to its raw state?! Hmph, but that's still within expectations!"
"I'd say the fight's already decided," Kamijou remarked lightly.
"Not so fast!" Misaka shouted, releasing another wave of electricity—this time, far thicker than before. "I don't believe you have infinite stamina and brainpower to keep that ability up forever!"
In Academy City, the activation of any esper power required both mental focus and physical stamina—unless one was a Gemstone, who could bypass such limits.
Misaka's attacks came one after another, combining both electricity and iron-sand strikes. Unlike before, these weren't tests—she was serious this time. With Selene, the "ultimate healer," watching, she had no worries about going too far.
Biu! Biu! Biu!
Although Kamijou managed to block every attack, the surroundings suffered immensely. The once-green riverside lawn was now scorched black, riddled with pits and trenches.
"Railgun!"
A blinding blue-white arc of electricity condensed into a spear of light carrying billions of volts, shooting toward Kamijou Touma at light-speed.
Biu!
"Are you trying to kill me?! If that attack actually hit me, I'd really be dead!" Kamijou Touma shouted as he barely blocked the oncoming strike. Realizing he was still alive, he exhaled in relief, his face showing pure gratitude for surviving.
"Not like it would work on you anyway! Now, try this!" Misaka Mikoto clearly didn't believe Kamijou would go down so easily.
"Huh? What's this...?" Kamijou's expression stiffened. He suddenly had a very bad feeling and quickly raised his right arm defensively in front of him.
This wasn't just ordinary electricity anymore. The lightning sphere forming at Misaka's bangs blazed with ten billion volts of raw power, its brightness almost blinding.
"Railgun—Converged Mode!"
BOOM!
The lightning orb detonated in an instant. A thick, blue-white pillar of lightning tore through the air, leaving countless afterimages in its wake. It was like a high-powered laser beam, firing straight at Kamijou Touma. The shockwave alone split the ground along its path, ripping up chunks of concrete.
Facing that overwhelming attack, Kamijou gritted his teeth and thrust his right hand forward. Finally—biu!—the impact vanished. When the smoke cleared, however, Misaka Mikoto was nowhere to be seen.
"Where did she—?"
"You fell for it!" Misaka suddenly burst out of the smoke, grabbing Kamijou's right hand tightly. "Got you! Even if you can nullify attacks flying at you—"
Seeing that, Selene couldn't help covering her eyes. Girl, are you throwing yourself into his arms... or straight into a trap?
Caw— (somewhere, a crow cried overhead)
"...Eh?" Misaka froze. "Why... why can't I discharge electricity? The current... won't flow through? What the hell is going on with this guy?!"
Watching the scene, Selene sighed inwardly. Alright, data collection complete. Time to wrap this up—I've got no interest in hanging around here any longer.
In an instant, she teleported in front of the two and managed to hold back a laugh. "Okay, that's enough. The result's obvious."
As she spoke, Selene casually pulled a thick stack of cash from her spatial storage. In front of Kamijou's dazed face, she handed him the money.
"I keep my word. Here's your payment," Selene said matter-of-factly.
Kamijou's brain practically short-circuited at the sight of that much cash. His mind went completely blank, filled only with the ringing in his ears. Seeing him stunned speechless, Selene didn't bother waiting—she stuffed the entire bundle into his hands.
The weight of that enormous payout made Kamijou's chest swell with a sense of blissful disbelief. It was tempting—extremely tempting—but his conscience still managed to protest. "Uh, actually, you don't have to—"
Before he could finish, Selene interrupted bluntly. "I said it's yours, so it's yours. I, Selene, never go back on my word. And honestly, this isn't even much—it's just pocket money. No need to act so shocked."
Having finished her transaction, Selene turned her gaze toward Misaka. "Want me to send you back?"
"Uh... actually, no—"
"Got it. I understand. I won't interrupt your little moment. Have fun, you two. Bye."
And with that, Selene vanished into thin air.
Under the night sky, a cool breeze swept across the ravaged battlefield, leaving only Kamijou Touma and Misaka Mikoto standing there, staring awkwardly at each other.
"So, um... just now..." One of them finally broke the silence.