The air writhed with intense heat, waves of scorching air radiating outward from the flaming creature's form.
Enveloped by this sweltering haze, the nearby pavilions and trees risked ignition, while the blistering winds rushing forth could easily scald human skin.
The surrounding space grew distorted and dreamlike, light refracting into impossible shapes that strained belief.
It was then that Natsume-san, clever as she was, caught on.
This monster's bizarre, wavering form—much like staring at a dancing candle flame—was merely an illusion born from shifting air densities.
Having solved that trivial mystery, Natsume-san fixed a stern gaze upon the gaping hole in the creature's chest.
Flames born from some unknown source surged forth, refilling the hollowed-out torso left by the Railgun's blast.
The fiery humanoid regenerated swiftly; in the blink of an eye, everything above its waist—obliterated by the electromagnetic projectile's sheer force—had been fully restored.
'It's similar to some things I've encountered before,' she mused. 'Just how obsessed is this world with regeneration and recovery as a combat style?'
After only a brief observation, Natsume-san clearly understood: this flame creature's body temperature far exceeded what a certain bun-girl could ever hope to achieve.
At least three thousand degrees Celsius, with minor variations across different parts of its form.
Natsume-san rarely encountered temperatures of this magnitude—her own experiments typically remained within her ability's comfortable confines.
Yet this fiery being sparked her curiosity. She too wished to generate such intense heat; who wouldn't want to play with fire as their personal toy?
But her ability seemed stubbornly limited, heavily dependent on ambient temperature or an object's existing heat—fundamentally, the movement speed between molecules.
Within her current capabilities, Natsume-san could alter temperatures by about one hundred degrees Celsius in either direction, effectively interfering with molecular motion to some degree.
Yet her progress in expanding this interference had slowed to a crawl, making her wonder if she'd nearly reached her limit.
The reasons eluded her—perhaps some bottleneck in her Personal Reality, or maybe she simply hadn't found more effective methods to dig deeper.
Still, Natsume-san wasn't content with merely manipulating molecules.
She'd begun exploring the atomic realm, striving to unleash and control energies at that level, with her Personal Reality serving as the vanguard.
It was through such interference with Personal Reality that espers as a concept existed at all.
Returning to the present, Natsume-san watched the flame creature quietly.
As the ambient temperature soared under its influence, molecular velocities shifting dramatically, she had to continuously recalibrate her formulas to maintain precision.
The mental effort required was negligible, little more than a passing thought.
Though she'd put some distance between herself and the fiery being, Natsume-san still faced the overwhelming heat directly.
Her thermoregulatory barrier activated instantly, stabilizing the air currents around her body and blocking the massive waves of scorching energy.
But the heated air was only part of the threat—the tremendous thermal energy conducted through the air began infiltrating her barrier, stirring a flicker of concern in a certain bun-girl's heart.
Her thermoregulatory layer was intrinsically tied to her ability's limits, meaning it could only reduce temperatures by about one hundred degrees Celsius.
If she accidentally got too close to this three-thousand-degree monster, even Natsume-san's barrier would surely overload.
For such situations, she naturally had contingencies prepared.
She was the type of girl who constantly pondered crisis scenarios—she'd even drafted plans like 'immediately retreat upon encountering Accelerator.'
With a simple adjustment to her formula's operation, Natsume-san restructured the thermoregulatory layers surrounding her body.
If the barrier maintained a comfortable internal temperature, then she could partition the air within, creating a Russian nesting doll-like configuration.
Layer upon layer of thermoregulatory barriers would progressively weaken the temperature, establishing new environmental conditions until reaching tolerable levels.
This complex operation required expanding her barrier beyond mere skin-level coverage, extending it outward to form a transparent sphere roughly one meter in diameter.
This essentially utilized thermal conduction between nested layers to create insulating thermal buffers.
Using this method to raise temperatures would be terribly inefficient—just waiting for heat transfer would take far too long.
As her multi-layered thermoregulatory system came online, Natsume-san felt immediate relief.
Now even standing right before that monster, she wouldn't have to worry.
"Meigo-senpai, get back quickly!"
Seeing the bun-girl unharmed, Misaka-senpai breathed a sigh of relief.
When the flame creature suddenly appeared behind Natsume-san, she'd immediately drawn a coin from her pocket.
The scene before her now brought surprise—the fiery being whose abdomen she'd pierced had completely regenerated.
This convinced Misaka-senpai to abandon further Railgun attacks, opting for alternative methods.
"Misaka-san, please be careful!"
Feeling she couldn't contribute much, Meigo-senpai hurriedly retreated to contact Anti-Skill, watching with concern as the two espers stood facing their adversary.
Sparks of electricity began flashing as iron sand emerged continuously from the ground. The black liquid flowed up Misaka-senpai's legs like armor, shielding her from the oncoming heat.
Only seconds had passed since the creature's appearance, yet both girls had already prepared countermeasures.
In the very next moment, the flame creature moved, its target clearly Misaka-senpai still standing on the ground.
This action strengthened the bun-girl's belief—their target was definitely Misaka-senpai.
As Misaka-senpai swung her arm, the iron sand transformed into a dozens-of-meters-long chain, firmly binding the nearby enemy.
This revealed the creature had physical substance, rather than being purely ethereal flames.
The iron chains instantly glowed red-hot, showing signs of melting within seconds.
But Misaka-senpai pressed on, more iron sand surging forward to submerge the flame creature completely.
As the sand grew increasingly incandescent, the creature found itself trapped by the near-liquid metal, struggling violently against its constraints.
Simultaneously, a water pipe beneath the creature burst, releasing massive clouds of steam.
The moment steam met liquefying iron sand, a tremendous explosion-like roar erupted.
The surroundings vanished into blinding whiteness as steam instantly vaporized, while the glowing iron sand solidified into a hardened prison temporarily containing the flaming being.
--+--
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.