"You killed living people," Rowan said calmly, watching the cracks spread across Accelerator's composure. "We weren't machines. We just grew too fast to develop emotions properly. If you hadn't slaughtered them, they would have learned to feel. To live. Just like me."
He pressed where it hurt most, deliberately.
Killing Academy City's top esper outright wasn't an option. Rowan wanted a future where the remaining clones could live openly here, not hunted in the shadows. If Accelerator could abandon the experiment willingly, that was the cleanest outcome. If not, Rowan could always choose a darker solution later.
Accelerator's head dropped.
"So… they weren't puppets," he whispered.
Guilt crushed him. The realization hollowed his chest, leaving nothing but nausea and regret.
Rowan didn't waste the opening.
"Legilimency."
Accelerator's fractured mental state made resistance impossible. Memories surfaced in flashes: laboratories, isolation, manipulation, fear. When Rowan withdrew, the conclusion was clear. Accelerator could be turned.
He was about to speak to Misaka Mikoto when a streak of green light tore through the air.
Rowan twisted aside. The beam punched through four stacked containers before dissipating.
"Well, well," a woman's voice said lazily. "A clone beating the city's number one. Guess rankings aren't as reliable as advertised."
Mugino Shizuri stepped forward, green orbs floating around her like predatory stars.
"So you're 9981," she said. "Don't struggle. Breaking you would complicate my paperwork."
Misaka Mikoto, supported by 9982, moved to Rowan's side. "Who are you?"
"ITEM," Mugino replied with a smirk. "Black-ops unit. Contracted by the Mizuhara Institute to retrieve that clone. And I'm Mugino Shizuri. Rank four."
Rowan exhaled slowly. "So just making Accelerator quit isn't enough."
Mikoto tried to summon electricity, but only weak sparks answered her. She was spent.
"Accelerator's defeated," she said. "The experiment can't continue. Why take her?"
Mugino laughed. "Not my problem. Orders are orders. And you're in no condition to fight me."
Rowan stepped forward, placing himself between them. "Rest. I'll handle this."
Mugino raised an eyebrow. "Confident for a Level Four."
She adjusted her dress and sat on a nearby rock. "Kinuhata. Frenda. Bring her in. Alive."
Kinuhata moved first, nitrogen propulsion blasting her forward. Frenda fired a round that stopped midair less than a meter from Rowan.
Then it detonated in a blinding flash.
"Special flash round!" Frenda chirped, already tossing doll-shaped explosives around him.
Kinuhata struck, her punch backed by enough force to flip a car.
Rowan caught her fist.
"…You're strong," he admitted, surprised.
Even with layered enhancements from multiple worlds, the impact made his arm ache.
Vision meant nothing. His psychic senses mapped everything.
"My turn."
Electricity surged from his body, racing along Kinuhata's arm.
She reacted instantly, nitrogen armor snapping into place and deflecting the current as she retreated.
Rowan lowered his hand, eyes cold.
He would keep his magic hidden for now.
Here, he was just a mutated clone.
And that had to be enough.