"Lightning Spear!"
Blue and white lightning gathered at her fingertips. Yutsuki released the bowstring, and in an instant, a spear of lightning shot toward Ellen at the speed of lightning.
"Territory deployed."
Her extensive combat experience told Ellen instantly that she couldn't dodge. A dark green energy shield ford around her, blocking Yutsuki's attack.
Ellen's montum slowed for just a mont before she imdiately chased after Yutsuki. Although the Lightning Spear traveled at the speed of lightning, its destructive power was significantly weaker compared to the Railgun.
However, it was more than enough to serve as a restricting force.
Yutsuki flew backward at an incredibly fierce, high speed. Moving as if she had eyes in the back of her head, she deftly maneuvered around the towering skyscrapers. Facing Ellen, she continuously fired off a relentless barrage of Lightning Spears as if they cost absolutely nothing.
The powerful resistance generated by the attacks constantly hindered Ellen's acceleration. As a result, the distance between Ellen and Yutsuki didn't close; rather, it vaguely seed to be widening.
At this rate, engaging Hacker in her weakest area—close-quarters combat—seems highly unlikely.
Gritting her teeth, Ellen landed on the rooftop of a tall building. She retracted her laser blade into the ch suit. In response, the weapon mounted on her left shoulder began to transform, extending forward from beneath her armpit.
At this mont, Yutsuki had already slipped behind a tall building and disappeared from sight, but Ellen didn't care.
"Pierce through, Rhongomiant!"
From the tip of the weapon, a torrent of magical light so intensely bright it could burn one's retinas erupted forth. The weaponry used by the standard AST could not even begin to compare to this. It possessed an overwhelming, catastrophic destructive power that rivaled the strike of an Angel.
The midsection of the skyscraper was completely swallowed by the massive spear of light, leaving a gaping, hollow hole. Even the buildings located directly behind it were not spared, completely obliterated and reduced to nothingness.
It looked exactly as if a lance designed for a giant had pierced straight through them.
Afterward, Ellen slowly exhaled. Due to temporary overheating, the massive cannon beneath her armpit retracted back into her shoulder mount.
"Seriously... It's bad enough that a monster like you is incredibly strong in close combat, but for your long-range attacks to be this absurdly powerful?! Where does that leave a pure archer like ?!"
A familiar, complaining voice rang out from right behind her. Ellen's eyes widened in sheer shock. She hurriedly reinforced the defensive Territory shield around her. The next second, a violent storm of torrential lightning crashed down upon her.
Without even needing to confirm it, Yutsuki knew there was absolutely no way her opponent would be taken out that easily.
Sure enough, as the smoke cleared, Ellen's figure gradually ca into focus. Let alone a scratch, her pristine white cha suit hadn't even gathered a single speck of dust.
"I see. You used the building blocking my line of sight as a chance to circle around to my back, didn't you? Then you launched a sneak attack during the cooldown period after I fired Rhongomiant. You're still relying on underhanded, dishonorable tactics, just like last ti!"
Looking at Yutsuki standing on a rooftop two hundred ters away, Ellen scoffed lightly.
"Anyone who willingly fights you head-on in close combat is undoubtedly an absolute idiot with low IQ."
Yutsuki returned a mocking smile and raised her Angel, Ratziel, holding it horizontally in front of her chest.
"Ratziel — Cannon Mode."
The grip section retracted into the main body, enveloping Yutsuki's right hand. The dark blue, lightning-shaped limbs of the bow rged forward. The pincer-shaped cannon now surged with waves of electricity. Thin streams of iron sand continuously gathered at the tip, faintly emitting a massive amount of heat.
"Foolish!"
A look of utter disdain flashed across Ellen's eyes. The thrusters on her back generated a massive amount of propulsion. Gripping her laser blade tightly, she charged fiercely toward Yutsuki at an incredible speed.
In order to wipe away her previous disgrace, Ellen had ticulously analyzed Yutsuki's various abilities and detailed intelligence reports.
Railgun — The ultimate technique unleashed when her Angel, Ratziel, transford into a pincer-shaped cannon. By gathering the iron sand components from the earth at the tip and firing it using the principles of an electromagnetic cannon, its maximum destructive power was catastrophic. Even if Ellen pushed her Territory's defenses to the absolute limit, taking a direct hit would still cripple over half of her suit's functionality. It was, without a doubt, Hacker's most powerful strike.
However, upon careful analysis, one would discover nurous flaws with this technique.
First, this move required a massive amount of iron sand or tal. If the battlefield lacked iron components, the attack's power would be drastically reduced. Second, the charge-up ti required to gather the iron sand and fire the shot was way too long. Even at its absolute fastest, it required at least three seconds.
Because they were currently fighting near skyscrapers nearly a hundred ters above the ground, the amount of iron sand Yutsuki had gathered was noticeably far less than last ti. Moreover, given the distance between them, relying on the acceleration of Pendragon, Ellen was fully capable of closing the gap and reaching Yutsuki well within three seconds.
Leaving a trail of afterimages, the laser blade slashed toward Yutsuki's head. But the very mont the blade made contact with her neck, Yutsuki's image distorted violently before completely vanishing into thin air.
Optical camouflage?
Ellen scoffed lightly. Through her Territory, she instantaneously switched her suit's sensors to thermal vision. Then, altering the trajectory of her downward slash mid-swing, she swung the blade to her side.
Bzzzt! Clang!
A fierce, violent shower of sparks erupted. Imdiately after, Yutsuki's figure materialized out of thin air. A sword ford entirely of vibrating iron sand clashed violently against Ellen's laser blade.
"I see. The Railgun attack was just a feint. Your actual goal this ti was the exact opposite: you wanted to lure into close-quarters combat."
Within her Territory, Ellen's physical strength was amplified to a level that rivaled a Spirit.
Although the iron sand sword in Yutsuki's hand possessed terrifying cutting power due to its chainsaw-like vibrations, during the clash against the laser blade, it was gradually being oxidized by the extre heat, losing its tallic properties. Left with no other choice, Yutsuki hoisted her Angel up as a makeshift shield, forcefully bearing the brunt of Ellen's heavy slash.
"It's useless!"
The intensity of Ellen's Territory increased even further. The sudden, overwhelming pressure forced Yutsuki to drop to one knee. Seeing the rooftop beneath her begin to crater from the sheer force, Yutsuki let out a bitter laugh. "You really are a monster!"
"Of course." An expression of absolute, unquestionable pride appeared on Ellen's face. "I, Ellen Mira Mathers, am the strongest Wizard of humanity."
"Is that so... The strongest of humanity." A deeply profound smile spread across Yutsuki's face as she retorted, "Then I suppose that makes a Spirit who is even stronger than the strongest of humanity~"
Ellen wasn't angered by Yutsuki's provocation. Instead, she stared in shock as she noticed Yutsuki release her left hand from her Angel, reach into her pocket, and pull out an arcade token.
"Who ever told you that I could only fire a Railgun using Ratziel?" Even though she was supporting the entire weight of Ellen's strike with just her right arm, causing her voice to tremble slightly, her eyes were brimming with amusent. "At this range, there's absolutely no way I'll miss."
Ellen's eyes widened in sheer horror. She frantically tried to pull back and escape, but it was already too late.
"Railgun!"
The arcade token in her hand transford into a searing, blazing orange beam of light. A massive shockwave blasted outward. At a distance of less than half a ter, the original, authentic Railgun of the "Biri-Biri" (Misaka Mikoto) pierced straight through the cha armor on Ellen's abdon, leaving a small, clean hole right through her stomach.
"Guh!" A mouthful of fresh blood uncontrollably spewed from Ellen's lips. She imdiately used her Territory to manipulate her internal blood flow, forcefully stopping the bleeding from her abdominal wound while simultaneously activating pain suppression protocols.
If it had been anyone else, an injury like that would have resulted in instant death. Yet, Ellen was sohow still able to stand. Furthermore, it appeared she still had the strength to keep fighting.
"I have to say, you really are an absolute monster."
The Angel in Yutsuki's hand transford back into Cannon Mode. She loaded another coin into the tip, aiming the glowing, superheated muzzle directly at Ellen.
Rumble—Rumble—!
However, just as Yutsuki was about to deliver the final, fatal blow to Ellen... Suddenly, the skyscraper that Ellen had blasted half the midsection out of earlier finally lost its structural balance and collapsed. The massive upper half of the building was currently plumting toward the ground with terrifying montum.
In truth, this had absolutely nothing to do with Yutsuki. After all, the civilians had evacuated long ago, so even if the building fell, it wouldn't hurt anyone in this area. However, what made Yutsuki's eyes widen in sheer horror was the sight of a girl with night-colored hair standing completely frozen, staring blankly upward, directly directly beneath the falling building.
"Holy crap! What kind of absolute idiot didn't evacuate yet?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Accompanied by a furious roar, Yutsuki completely abandoned her perfect opportunity to finish off Ellen. Transforming into a streak of lightning, she dove straight down toward the ground.
------flashback divider line------
"Shido... is he going to be okay?"
The girl with night-colored hair and athyst eyes—Yatogami Tohka. Currently, due to the spatial quake alarm sounding, she was hiding inside an air-raid shelter located relatively close to the Itsuka household, alongside Yoshino and Yoshinon.
"He'll be fine, Tohka-chan! Shido is definitely okay."
"Mhm, I believe... Shido-san is definitely perfectly fine."
Hearing Yoshinon and Yoshino's comforting words, Tohka's anxious expression relaxed slightly. But after a mont of silence, she still stood up anxiously.
"No, I still feel uneasy. Shido might be caught up in so terrible trouble right now. I have to go help him!"
"Eh?"
"You can't do that, Tohka-chan! Our Spirit power is still sealed inside Shido right now. Running out there in this state is way too dangerous!"
"Don't worry! If I run into any danger, I'll just manifest my Astral Dress to handle it!"
Pumping her chest with full confidence, Tohka completely ignored Yoshino and Yoshinon's attempts to stop her and sprinted out of the shelter to search for Shido.
"Shido! Where are you...?"
Arriving on the completely deserted, silent streets, Tohka constantly looked around, shouting out as she searched for any sign of Shido.
Now that she thought about it, things seed a bit strange. The alarm had clearly gone off, yet Tohka hadn't seen a single AST mber appear.
After living in the human world for a while, and with the help of Shido and Kotori, Tohka had acquired a certain level of common sense. Normally, if this alarm went off, that annoying squad of chanical girls would definitely show up to attack a Spirit just like her. (Author Addendum: The AST didn't deploy this ti due to Westcott's backdoor political maneuvering... Just go with it.)
But even so, Tohka still couldn't ease her worries. She muttered anxiously, "...Shido isn't in any danger, is he?"
RUMBLE! CRASH!
Suddenly, a massive, deafening noise echoed from directly above her. Tohka looked up, only to see half of a massive skyscraper executing a very aggressive free-fall directly toward her head.
Wait a minute, you're the one in danger right now, girl!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
"Eh? What's going on?!" A look of pure confusion crossed Tohka's face. However, she was at least aware enough to know that her current situation was very bad. Stomping her foot forcefully against the ground, she shouted:
"Co forth! Sandalphon!"
"..."
Well, absolutely nothing ca out.
"How can this be?!" Tohka's eyes widened in sheer disbelief. Stomping the ground repeatedly, she continued to shout: "Sandalphon! Sandalphon! Sandalphon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
"..."
Well, still absolutely nothing ca out.
Tohka stood there completely dumbfounded. She had originally thought she would be able to manifest her Angel just like she did back at the amusent park when Shido was in danger. But this ti, let alone summoning her Angel, she was about to be completely crushed to death by an object falling from the "heavens."
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING, YOU ABSOLUTE IDIOT?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Right at that mont, a streak of blue and white lightning, accompanied by a furious roar, rocketed downward toward Tohka's location at breakneck speed.
User Comments
0 comments from readers