"Hahaha..." Though the pain in her body had yet to subside, the ethereal lightness in her mind made Kiyama Harumi burst out laughing. This was the feeling—unparalleled computational clarity.
Her finger hovered in midair, and with a soft buzz, an invisible barrier manifested, blocking all of Kakine Teitoku's attacks as though it were a transparent wall. "Don't bother testing me with such meaningless tricks. I have more important things to do. How about a truce?"
"Oh? Feeling confident all of a sudden, are we?" Kakine Teitoku raised his hand. With a sharp crack, Kiyama Harumi's transparent barrier shattered instantly. "It may be a little trick, but it's not without purpose."
"..." Alert, Kiyama Harumi teleported away, swiftly escaping the range of Kakine's attacks.
Watching the area engulfed in violent energy blasts, Kiyama couldn't help but sigh. As expected—even if she temporarily reached the realm of a Level 5 using the Honkai Enhancement Serum, there was still a vast difference between her and a 'professional' Level 5 like him.
"With those little tricks, I've already analyzed the composition of your barrier," Kakine said lazily. "You don't actually think you can defeat me with a borrowed Level 5-level ability, do you?"
"Of course not..." Kiyama smiled faintly at his words. "I've never thought I could defeat any of you Level 5s. But if I wanted to escape—could you stop me?"
"Relax. I'm not interested in the reactor lab behind you. What happened earlier was just a misunderstanding. I can apologize for that."
Her tone was calm again, as if she'd returned to her usual rational self—ignoring the crimson glint in her eyes.
Seeing her lower her stance, Kakine didn't care much. For Kiyama, whose reason had reasserted control, her only goal now was to complete her mission. Swallowing her pride meant nothing.
"Of course, if you insist on interfering, I won't back down!" she said, her voice tinged with madness, crimson light deepening in her eyes. "Even if it means making an enemy of the First-ranked Level 5 himself, I don't care! I just want to save those children!!"
"Children?" Kakine murmured. Her words sparked a faint memory. The runaway ability explosion experiment... He looked at her again, her unyielding, desperate resolve evoking something long buried within him.
Wasn't he once the same? Fighting for the people he wanted to protect—for Yuzuriha Ringo, for the girl next door he once swore to defend. Looking at Kiyama Harumi now, Kakine Teitoku saw a reflection of his past self.
Without reason, he felt a pang of sympathy. After all, though he was a villain, he wasn't without a line he wouldn't cross.
"..." Kakine fell silent.
Seeing him hesitate midair, Kiyama Harumi didn't know what he was thinking. Assuming he'd accepted her words, she turned around to leave.
At that moment, Kakine's voice echoed behind her, making her tense up instantly. "That serum you injected earlier—it was from the Schicksal Research Institute, wasn't it? The Honkai Enhancement Serum. I don't know how you got it, or what model it is..."
"...I'll just warn you. Without professional equipment or supervision, using that serum on your own carries serious side effects. You might not feel it yet, but for someone like you—drained mentally and physically—the boosted vitality is only temporary, an illusion."
"My warning ends here. You should already know the consequences." Finishing his words, Kakine didn't wait for a reply. He turned and flew off, leaving the stunned Kiyama Harumi standing in silence.
On his way back, Kakine's sharp eyes caught a flash of lightning in the distance—Misaka Mikoto rushing toward Kiyama's location. He couldn't help but smirk. "Still not giving up, huh, Fourth-ranked?"
Meanwhile, Misaka, sprinting across the ruins below, spotted Kakine's silhouette in the sky and waved. "Hey! Where's Kiyama Harumi?!"
"She's just ahead. And I'm not 'hey'—the name's Kakine Teitoku. Remember it, Fourth-ranked." Landing on the ground, he glanced around, puzzled to find no sign of Mugino Shizuri. "Huh. Where's the Fifth?"
"Borrowing your words—I'm not the Fourth-ranked. My name is Misaka Mikoto. Why didn't you capture Kiyama Harumi?" Misaka shouted as she ran in the direction Kakine had indicated.
Kakine's reply came lazily. "That short-tempered woman? She's already gone."
Of course. Mugino Shizuri knew exactly how dangerous Kakine Teitoku was. To her, this mission was already a failure, and there was no point sticking around any longer.
Without wasting time, Misaka sprinted toward Kiyama Harumi's last known location.
...
"Kiyama Harumi, give it up!!!"
Standing amidst the ruins, lost in thought over Kakine's warning, Kiyama Harumi winced as she heard that familiar voice again. Not her again... She clutched her head in exasperation. That girl was as persistent as a leech—impossible to shake off.
Turning toward the sound, she saw Misaka Mikoto rushing toward her, dust and grime covering her uniform. Kiyama sighed deeply. "Sigh... still haven't given up? Do you really think you can stop me alone?"
"Of course! I will stop you!" Misaka declared, eyes blazing with resolve.
Though their clashes were fierce, Kiyama had always held back when fighting Misaka. No matter how determined she was, she couldn't bring herself to strike to kill.
Kiyama merely gave Misaka a faint, weary look before vanishing. In the next instant, she reappeared more than fifty meters away. "I don't have time to waste with you."
"Hey—don't run!" Misaka called out, but before she could act, a sharp whoosh sounded beside her as Shirai Kuroko teleported back into the battlefield.
"Onee-sama!"
"Ah, Kuroko, perfect timing! Let's go after her!"
The two exchanged a quick glance before focusing on Kiyama Harumi, who looked utterly exhausted not far ahead.
"This is bad," Kiyama muttered under her breath. If it were only Misaka Mikoto, she could've exploited the girl's lack of mobility and escaped. But now that the spatial esper Shirai Kuroko had arrived, things had become far more complicated.
Although Kiyama could simulate teleportation through the network of borrowed abilities, the spatial users she tapped into were all low-level espers. Even with her temporarily enhanced computational power, switching between their abilities still took time.
And so the chase began—Misaka and Kuroko pursuing relentlessly, while Kiyama's steps grew weaker, her movements slower. The distance between them closed little by little.
After battling multiple Level 5 espers, Kiyama Harumi's brain was nearing total collapse. Without the serum's support, her body would've broken down long ago. Even so, her crude, improvised use of the enhancement—without proper equipment or the guidance of Selene—was pushing her far beyond her limits.
In the end, the result was inevitable. Once Misaka compensated for her lack of mobility, she seized the moment when Kiyama's body finally reached its physiological limit. In that brief instant of disorientation, Misaka dodged her weakened attack and delivered a direct electrical strike at close range—
...
"How... how could this be?!" Misaka Mikoto stood frozen in shock. For the first time, she began to doubt whether stopping Kiyama had truly been the right choice. She never imagined that the reason behind [Level Upper]'s creation had been to save the students victimized by the Experiment on the Analysis of the Laws of Induced Explosions on Runaway Espers.
So this was the hidden, ugly truth behind Academy City's shining façade.
Seeing her sister frozen in disbelief, Shirai Kuroko called out worriedly, "Onee-sama?!"
At that moment, Kiyama Harumi—paralyzed by the electric shock—let out a heart-wrenching scream. "Ahhh!"
She fell to her knees, clutching her head, her voice twisted in agony. At the same time, the air around them grew thick and heavy, as if space itself had turned viscous. Both Misaka and Kuroko felt unease crawl up their spines.
"What... what's happening?"
"This is... the network... losing control..."
The words barely left Kiyama's mouth before she collapsed completely.
Overusing Multi-Skill, pushing her mind to its absolute limit—her body was already riddled with damage. Even with the Honkai Enhancement Serum prolonging her endurance, recovery was impossible. And since she had used it without proper procedure, lacking the most crucial stabilizing step, the cost was inevitable.
Misaka's lightning strike had become the final straw that broke the camel's back—
The [Level Upper] network had gone berserk!