The knowledge from Kihara Gensei had fused with Natsume-san's understanding of Meltdowner, granting her a continuous stream of new insights.
Combined with the actual combat experience she'd recently been forced to accumulate under control, Natsume-san easily found a near-perfect balance point through her Phase perspective, allowing her to firmly grasp this dangerous weapon.
The practical application of Meltdowner was now fully realized.
Without hesitation, Natsume-san adopted this optimal method, simultaneously scanning the entire battlefield for the right moment to act.
The scene before her had drastically changed. Under Kihara Gensei's deliberate or inadvertent influence, the scale of the battle had expanded to affect several kilometers.
Nearby buildings were being scorched and eroded by the ominous aura radiated by the dark energy sphere. It didn't take long for exposed steel reinforcements to become visible, with large amounts of brick and stone constantly crumbling away, quickly piling up into massive heaps of debris over a vast area.
The crowd was being urgently evacuated.
Or rather, those curious Academy City citizens had no choice but to abandon their desire to spectate under the indiscriminate energy erosion, withdrawing in an orderly fashion under the temporary direction of the Judgment officers.
On the evacuation route lay a faded, washed-out teddy bear.
Its little owner, tears streaming, struggled to go back and retrieve it, but was firmly escorted away from the scene by a responsible Judgment member, leaving behind only a fading trail of sobs.
The deteriorating situation was made starkly clear by the sphere's expansion.
Although its growth wasn't rapid, within just a few minutes, it had formed a behemoth with a direct radius of a hundred meters and a profound radiation radius exceeding three hundred meters.
It was like an infinitely watered-down version of a black hole that devours everything.
Surrounding light was continuously drawn into it, countless free-floating electric charges were sucked inside, and the intense heat generated within constantly dissociated the air into plasma.
Soon, the center of the black sphere shifted from black to a red-black hue, as if containing unimaginably vast energy, dangerous yet surrounded by an eerily beautiful atmosphere.
But compared to the true might of a Level 6, what Misaka-senpai—this incomplete evolution or extremely inferior version of Level 6—displayed was merely the tip of the iceberg of the real thing.
At least in terms of accumulating free energy and creating tools from AIM diffusion fields, she was still in a relatively immature stage.
Even under Accelerator's relentless attacks, she was consistently unable to gather an attack powerful enough to destroy Academy City.
Even though Accelerator's ability was particularly effective against energy-based attacks, the results were still unusually good.
The computational power this senpai currently commanded likely far exceeded Accelerator's own peak capacity.
Under normal circumstances, even if she couldn't defeat Accelerator, she shouldn't have been suppressed this thoroughly.
This probably had a lot to do with Misaka-senpai having lost all reason, acting solely on instinct for revenge. She was like an inflexible robot, which amounted to yet another significant weakening.
Furthermore, Misaka-senpai herself remained positioned directly behind the black sphere.
The two were almost glued together, separated by at most two or three meters, brazenly facing the bomb head-on.
This was a major taboo for espers. Except for someone like the #4, whose ability itself was highly dangerous, any sane Level 5 would generally choose to maintain a safe distance.
Even if the energy was their own creation, it was to prevent themselves from being undone by their own power.
From an ordinary person's perspective, Misaka-senpai's actions were utterly suicidal.
Even if that energy black sphere accumulated enough power to destroy Academy City, Misaka-senpai herself would bear the brunt of the central blast.
However, given the current situation, with Accelerator's presence, the sphere's destructive potential was maintained at a level capable of obliterating a few kilometers or a small half of School District 7, never truly reaching the point of destroying the entire city in one strike.
Natsume-san, however, still had her doubts. Lacking higher-level information, she couldn't be a hundred percent sure if a Level 6 might undergo some strange genetic mutations, making them immune to attacks based on AIM diffusion fields.
Young girls often tend to let their imaginations run wild. She was actually quite curious about Level 6 herself, but her inherent laziness left her lacking the drive to advance.
That was probably just Natsume-san's nature. Perhaps she wasn't cut out to be a powerhouse, but was just an ordinary girl who loved life, only craving power when she felt pressure.
No one could say for sure if this was also in line with her true heart.
Or perhaps it was just self-deceptive consolation, a way to live alone in this concrete jungle.
"I can't wait any longer. Misaka-senpai is waiting for me."
Hidden within the shifting light and shadows, an updraft lifted the two weakened girls.
The main body, Natsume, still sported a pair of bloodshot eyes, looking exceptionally haggard and pitiful. The physical pain and prolonged use of her ability had pushed this body to its limits.
Reiko firmly wrapped her arm around the main body's slender waist, lifting her head to gaze upon the chaotic battlefield.
Quietly absorbing and comprehending the Meltdowner formulae, the girl residing within Reiko's body took a deep, determined breath.
Seeming to feel something, she glanced down at the gruesome injuries on her main body's form, then, without looking back, charged straight into the radiation zone of the dark energy sphere. She had to get Misaka-senpai within her ability's range of control.
That feeling of powerlessness finally dissipated. Natsume-san's heart was filled with an unprecedented resolve.
Her desire for everyone to survive received a precise response from both her body and soul. Every cell seemed to hold its breath, cooperating with her actions with all its might.
This was human courage.
It made one forget their own safety.
Within her frail body lay not only a highly developed brain, but also a heart full of courage.
Academy City's #8, formally entering the fray!
--+--
Circle around to the back, avoid the dark energy sphere head-on.
Forcibly sever the connection pathway, first peel away the energy sphere and the negative emotions, then separate Misaka-senpai from the Misaka Network.
The bio-computer inside Reiko rapidly calculated after gathering sufficient intelligence, while both Natsume-san and Reiko rationally executed the commands derived from the extensive computations.
She was her own best tool.
Natsume-san wasn't good at fighting, and she disliked it.
Spending so much time with Shirai-san had led her to categorize fights as breaches of student discipline. But she knew what was effective. The essence of combat was simply finding a way to achieve one's goal.
Sometimes, it didn't require a grand, life-or-death struggle with overwhelming momentum. It just required the right person to do the right thing at the right time. And she was the one performing this precise surgical operation.
In fact, almost all high-level espers had the potential to be surgeons, if only for their high precision alone.
As long as she could separate the mixed-together AIM diffusion fields through this 'surgery'—no, rather, make them stop mixing further, sever that interconnected pathway—Misaka-senpai's evolution could be halted.
The AIM field of the Misaka Network originated from all the Sisters, and wasn't directly related to Misaka-senpai herself. Therefore, a pathway leading to Misaka-senpai must exist within it.
The AIM diffusion fields generated by the Misaka Sisters were drawn to the Misaka Network, and then, through viral induction and mutual attraction, loaded onto Misaka-senpai.
Even the AIM field of Misaka-senpai post-evolution, when exchanging Phases with that other field, largely stemmed from contributions from the Misaka Network.
After all, this was a forced evolutionary guide; the immense computational power of the Misaka Network was pushing Misaka Mikoto's evolution, not an evolution ex nihilo that ignored physical laws.
However, severing the path only temporarily blocked the Misaka Network's influence on her senpai.
As for the parts that had already intermixed and were fashioned by Misaka-senpai into the dark energy sphere bomb, Natsume-san had no good solutions.
Compared to the delicate work of separating the mixed fields within the black sphere, Natsume-san preferred the direct approach of complete excision. All it required was her 'scalpel,' coupled with timing control precise to the millisecond.
She had originally planned to utterly destroy that portion. But considering the potential problems that might cause later, she had no choice but to turn her gaze towards a certain white-haired boy fighting desperately to prevent the battle's aftermath from reaching Last Order.
Hang in there, Mr. Vector Manipulator, Natsume-san thought silently to herself.
--+--
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.