Since Mental Out was useless against Accelerator, it was naturally his turn to throw a fit.
And what did an enraged Accelerator look like? Well, picture someone who could swing entire buildings with their bare hands.
Still, he forced himself to hold back.
A jumble of thoughts raced through his mind as he crouched down to check on Last Order's condition. He wasn't afraid of any sneak attacks; his only worry was the kid in front of him.
It had to be Mental Out. Only that ability could have taken control of the kid from a distance.
Accelerator's mood soured drastically. He scanned the surroundings but found no trace of the attacker.
If he remembered correctly, the only one in Academy City skilled enough with that ability was Tokiwadai's #5.
But from what he'd learned before, wasn't that person supposed to be an ally to the kid and the others?
What's more, it now appeared that Tokiwadai's #8 had also fallen victim. The mere thought of the threat #8 posed caused Accelerator's brow to furrow in frustration. This was getting complicated.
He wasn't afraid of a controlled #8.
With proper vigilance, replicating the battle from the Level 6 Shift Project was nearly impossible. However, #8 could still manage to stall him for some time.
No matter what the enemy intended to do, that delay might just be enough.
What surprised him more was that several dozen seconds had passed, yet the enemy remained inactive. This eerie silence put Accelerator even more on edge.
"What a pity," a voice mused. "Kamijou Touma got caught up in other matters. This experiment might end up lacking something."
"Fortunately, we have Accelerator as a substitute. With #8 under control and able to fight at full strength, it should suffice."
Standing by the sidewalk about a hundred meters from the safe house, an odd old man went completely unnoticed by the passing crowd, who seemed oblivious to his presence.
His eyes were wide open, emitting a gloomy, oppressive light, as if he could see events happening hundreds of meters away or even farther.
These eyes possessed a clairvoyant ability.
As one of Academy City's elders, Kihara Gensei knew far more than the average person.
The newly ranked #8, Natsume Sonoko, had her Parameter List suspected of being artificially altered.
Her true parameter list had yet to be made public.
It was now confirmed that she possessed the potential to become a Level 5.
Had she received support from various research institutes earlier, she might have reached Level 5 a year or two sooner.
But strangely enough, she hadn't received any unconventional resource allocation.
Before her battle with Accelerator, she had been largely ignored—a situation that undoubtedly bore the fingerprints of Academy City's authorities.
Even so, her abilities had advanced by leaps and bounds in a short period, rising from Level 3 to Level 5 in just half a year—a truly astonishing feat.
Moreover, Kihara Gensei knew that Natsume Sonoko possessed an unknown power. He had learned this from a fairly reliable spy, offered as a bonus piece of information.
He wasn't sure why the spy had shared this intel with him, but now was the perfect opportunity to try and force that unknown power to surface.
At this thought, Kihara Gensei felt no urgency. He attempted to read Natsume Sonoko's memories while waiting for his test subjects to arrive.
Speaking of which, Misaka Mikoto should have already obtained the materials he left at the offline location for the 'Ability User Mutual Aid Forum.'
The evils lurking in Academy City's shadows were also fodder he intended to use to corrupt her. An angry person lacks reason, and a mad one is utterly irrational.
The less control one has over their emotions, the harder it is to break free, swept along by the tide of evolution until their sanity is completely shattered.
However, at that moment, Kihara Gensei focused his attention inside Natsume-san's brain. A sudden surge of curiosity arose within him.
According to that spy, it was an unknown power that had prevented the cold light from destroying the entire Northern Hemisphere on the space elevator.
Boring memories, just like any ordinary girl her age.
Shopping, eating, buying manga, playing on her phone, attending classes, doing homework, slacking off in club activities after school;
Greeting classmates she passed by, once, twice, three times... basically idling away the whole day.
Hmm? A kid who brings death wherever he goes?
Now that's worth looking into. He might make a fine test subject.
Another notable point was that Natsume Sonoko seemed to share a mental connection with someone, but these memories were somewhat fragmented.
He could guess it was probably that special girl mixed in with the Misaka clones—a memory he had gleaned from Shokuhou Misaki.
Kihara Gensei continued to read Natsume Sonoko's memories, but due to the intense resistance from the esper's brain, the process became fragmented, intermittent, and chaotic.
Most of it was mundane daily life, with very little useful information.
In fact, Kihara Gensei found himself somewhat influenced by Natsume-san's memories. His aged heart felt a faint, lazy warmth, like a withered tree experiencing a fleeting spring.
He promptly used his ability to sever the flood of useless memories, and the image of Natsume-san's grinning, adorable face faded significantly.
Even though these memories were trivial compared to his own life's experiences, he had to guard against being affected by such listless thoughts.
After all, a single spark could start a prairie fire.
#8 looked all righteous and stern, yet turned out to be something of a nihilist—completely different from Shokuhou Misaki's confident, proactive drive to protect everything.
"Enough of this. I can't find the memories from the space elevator for now."
"An esper's brain is simply too complex," Kihara Gensei sighed, shaking his head with regret.
The memory reading hadn't taken long. Accelerator was still in the same spot, examining Last Order.
But Kihara Gensei knew his true objective. Through his enhanced hearing, he could already pick up Kouzaku Mitori's voice. Misaka Mikoto was almost here.
Moreover, under his deliberate direction, all the observation resources at his disposal were now trained on the vicinity—though his own eyes remained the most superior among them.
"Now, to implant the virus."
He pulled his hands from his pockets, pointing a remote control toward the building ahead.
Without hesitation, Kihara Gensei transmitted a massive virus, disguised as memories, into the Misaka Network.
As he pressed the button on the remote, Misaka 10086 inside the building jolted violently. Her brain was suddenly flooded with new memories, which then uncontrollably surged into the Misaka Network.
The sister with the fastest network connection was the first to wobble and collapse to the ground, clearly falling unconscious. It seemed a fast connection wasn't always an advantage.
Then, one after another, the sounds of bodies hitting the floor echoed through the building. Last Order, beside Accelerator, also fell limply.
Soon after, sisters who had been sent all around the world began losing consciousness in rapid succession.
--+--
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.