The moonlight fell upon Natsume Sonoko, casting an unnatural, deathly pallor over her exposed skin, like the bleached belly of a fish.
But there was no time to observe closely.
Dense droplets from the sky coalesced into dozens of sharp water spears, which were then swept up by a gust of fierce wind, gathering into a powerful impact force.
They effortlessly pierced through a certain bun-haired girl. Her body shuddered violently, like a reflection in water or the moon in a mirror, before dissolving into nothingness.
As the water spears struck the ground, they instantly left several shallow craters in the pavement.
'Not just wind, but water too?'
Natsume Sonoko felt a flicker of surprise. This time, the enemy's methods seemed somewhat similar to her own.
In that case, the threat level had actually decreased quite a bit for her.
Natsume-san focused her observation entirely on these targets. Their every move was within her range of perception; she could even clearly see their panicked expressions after their failed ambush. It seemed they were complete novices at this sneak attack business.
There were three of them, all girls. Under the mixed light of the moon and streetlamps, and from her elevated position, she could make out the strange outfits they wore.
She'd left only a false image behind in her original spot, which had served nicely as a decoy to draw their fire.
Shielded by the night, Natsume Sonoko advanced rapidly, her mind continuously tracking the now-locked-on targets.
With just a thought, pre-heated air currents began to envelop the three girls, invading their bodies through their respiratory tracts.
Shock therapy was usually reserved for the utterly vicious or particularly annoying types, but this time, Natsume-san acted with decisive swiftness.
Having judged their blatantly hostile intent, Natsume-san felt no psychological burden about engaging in this turn-based game of attack and counterattack.
Under her control, the hot air invaded the three girls.
They could have avoided instant defeat if they'd covered their noses and mouths immediately.
But Natsume-san had clearly overestimated their reaction speed.
In an instant, before the three girls could even process what was happening, their eyes widened, rolled back, and they collapsed to the ground.
The attack had taken effect instantly, clean and efficient.
This left a certain Natsume-san, who was usually on the receiving end of such quick defeats, momentarily stunned. It took her a few seconds to register what had happened.
She'd expected a tougher fight, but the opponents had gone down before she'd even gotten serious, leaving her with a feeling akin to punching cotton.
After facing so many powerful adversaries, encountering such rookie amateurs gave her a sense of effortless domination.
Within seconds, Natsume-san had mentally categorized the three girls as total newbies, rather than attributing their defeat to her own strength.
On the surface of Academy City alone, there were several individuals she knew she couldn't handle, let alone the shadows of the city or the wider world. Natsume-san had more self-awareness than most.
So her long-term goal was simply to become someone who could escape from anyone, avoiding being easily eliminated.
Of course, that only applied to people.
A hint of victorious joy touched her face, though her expression remained largely the same, somewhat blank and zoned out.
She had chased them from the family restaurant all the way to the vicinity of the leisure promenade—an area filled with pavilions and dense trees for visitors to rest and cool off.
Naturally, at this hour, it was dotted with students and tourists. The fight had ended so quickly that no one seemed to have noticed the commotion.
Pilot Natsume Sonoko landed smoothly on the grass, planting her hands on her hips with a triumphant air, and peered curiously at the trio of unconscious girls piled together.
This 'girl group' seemed quite young, and their clothes were so strange, almost like... magical girls.
'Ah, that's right. Magical girls.'
As if remembering something, Natsume Sonoko pulled the third-generation Magical Powered Kanamin charm from her pocket.
Frowning, she circled the three girls a few times, nodding thoughtfully to herself. Upon comparison, there were indeed some similarities.
Witch-like coats, suspicious pointy hats... one of them even held a broom. Normal people wouldn't dress like this, right?
'As expected, art imitates life. Magical Powered Kanamin, you didn't deceive me.'
While Index and Kanzaki-san were also magical girls, they didn't quite match the image Natsume-san had fantasized about.
"They must be magicians. Magical Girl magicians," the bun-haired girl murmured to herself, nodding and using this clumsy logic to categorize the trio as part of the magic side.
Even if they were magicians, as long as they were still human, Natsume-san stood a chance of winning. She was quite adept at this whole ambush thing herself.
But that only meant she could handle the magicians, not necessarily magic itself.
The mere thought of that magic circle from before—the one that could alter time and even change people's perceptions—sent waves of discomfort through her.
She simply couldn't grasp the principles behind that sort of thing. The scientific foundations in her mind were too deeply ingrained.
If she hadn't met Kanzaki, the most likely outcome would have been her father's men extracting her, staging a 'murder'—a script she'd already read through once.
'The case of the esper girl murdered in a locked room,' or something like that.
But if these people were magicians, what were they doing inside Academy City? Could it be that the mastermind Shokuhou-senpai mentioned was actually from the magic side?
As she pondered, Natsume Sonoko's ears caught the sound of Misaka-senpai and the others approaching.
Natsume-san had moved too fast. Only twenty or thirty seconds had passed since the attack began before she'd rushed in and resolved it all on her own.
This resulted in Misaka-senpai arriving after everything was over, only catching a distant glimpse of the defeated magical girl trio.
Dropping her camouflage as she landed, Natsume-san waved vigorously in Misaka-senpai's direction.
"Misaka-senpai, over here!"
It felt more and more like being an Ultraman—showing up after defeating a minor monster to greet your teammates.
Taking a few steps towards Misaka-senpai and the others, Natsume-san glanced curiously at a nearby power pole.
A card with a strange symbol drawn on it had been pasted to it, though she didn't know when.
'That spot…' Thinking back, she was sure she'd seen a tourist passing by there earlier.
Just then, Natsume-san's smile froze, because she detected an intensely scorching heat manifesting directly behind her.
It seemed like a writhing mass of flame.
It appeared out of thin air, without any warning, almost like it had been teleported.
Yet it felt different from spatial movement, though she couldn't quite pinpoint how.
There was no time for reflection. Various contingency plans flashed through her mind, and she selected the most convenient one.
A blast of air erupted behind her, providing massive thrust that propelled Natsume Sonoko a good ten meters into the air, instantly putting distance between her and her previous location.
At that exact moment, a brilliant blue-white beam of light streaked past Natsume-san. It was incredibly fast, carrying immense heat and kinetic energy, and it narrowly missed her body.
Knowing it was Misaka-senpai's Railgun, Natsume Sonoko hadn't activated any defensive measures against the projectile, allowing it to pass unimpeded.
While the Railgun was extremely fast, its intense heat signature actually made it something Natsume-san might be able to detect.
But for something with a human body's temperature level, combined with twice the speed of sound, it would just be a blurry afterimage on her thermal radar map.
Stabilizing herself mid-air, Natsume-san realized she had evaded the thing that appeared behind her and silently let out a sigh of relief.
She wasn't drenched in a cold sweat, but she was certainly startled. 'So this is what it feels like to be ambushed.'
Turning to see what had happened, a look of astonishment immediately spread across Natsume-san's face.
On her thermal map, it was an indistinct, bizarre mass of heat.
But to her naked eye, it was a tall, distorted figure shrouded in raging flames—'creature' would have to suffice as a descriptor for now.
And thanks to the Railgun's precise hit, the flaming creature's body was instantly severed at the waist, the entire upper half vanishing completely.
--+--
T/N: I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 3 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.