Misaka Mikoto and Takahashi Yuuya stood facing each other on the deserted beach of Tokyo Bay, the tension in the salty sea air palpable.
Mikoto clenched her fists, swallowed hard, and felt a bead of cold sweat form on her temple.
This was her very first time officially fighting another Level 5 in a one-on-one duel. Although she had technically fought this guy once before on their first meeting, she had absolutely no idea he was a Level 5 at the time, which had led to her being effortlessly tackled and pinned to the ground for no apparent reason.
'My cheeks still flush just thinking about that humiliating scene,' Mikoto thought, gritting her teeth.
'But looking closely at him now... this guy is actually quite handsome. Although his personality and arrogant attitude are incredibly annoying, overall, he's not bad looking.'
'Wait, what the hell am I thinking?! Focus, Mikoto!'
She shook her head, her gaze gradually sharpening. Although she had spoken casually and confidently earlier, she knew she was actually very nervous.
After all, this guy was a legendary anomaly in Academy City—the rumored Multi-Skill Esper—and she knew firsthand that he possessed the exact same Electromaster superpower as she did.
Shirai Kuroko and Index had also run to a safe spot nearby to watch the duel. As the atmosphere on the beach gradually quieted down, Kuroko held her breath.
'Although I have absolute confidence in my Onee-sama,' Kuroko thought anxiously, 'I secretly asked Uiharu to check Takahashi Yuuya's classified file. When I read it, my eyes almost popped out of my head. This guy is officially confirmed to possess more than five distinct superpowers, and they all operate at the Level 5 tier!'
She had also hacked into the security feeds and seen the surveillance footage of Yuuya fighting the Number Seven, Sogiita Gunha. They were indeed terrifyingly powerful, engaging in an earth-shattering brawl that destroyed an entire city block.
However, her Onee-sama, the Number Three, was also extremely capable. No one truly knew the outcome of a clash between Level 5s until the fight was over.
Then, Kuroko hung her head in despair. 'It turns out I was the one who practically persuaded my Onee-sama to illegally run away from Academy City...'
...
"So, you still want to fight me?" Yuuya said lightly, looking at Mikoto's increasingly serious expression. He raised his hand in a playful, beckoning gesture. "I'm ready anytime. Don't hold back. Bring it on. If I am forced to move even a single inch from this spot, I'll consider it my loss."
"Still rocking that same self-righteous, arrogant attitude as always," Mikoto scoffed. "I don't need you to provoke me! I've been waiting for this rematch for a month!"
Mikoto immediately clenched her fists, adopting a carefree and unrestrained expression as she grinned fiercely.
A piercing, high-pitched whining sound suddenly rang out. A blinding surge of blue electricity shot out from Mikoto's body. The ground trembled slightly, and the sandy beach seemed to ripple outward like ocean waves. Suddenly, her immediate surroundings turned a dark, grayish-black.
Those grayish grains were iron sand—ferromagnetic particles even finer than regular sand—extracted directly from the beach beneath her feet. Mikoto was using her powerful electromagnetic calculations to forcefully pull and control all the iron filings hidden within the surrounding coastline.
The massive cloud of iron sand, centered on Mikoto, slowly extended outward for fifty meters like a shifting, liquid storm.
"Oh, so you're using your Iron Sand Sword technique," Yuuya smiled calmly, seemingly completely unfazed by the terrifying scene before him. "Do you honestly think you can hit me by just playing in the sandbox? You're not a kid anymore. You're a middle schooler. Why are you still playing with sand?"
"Hmph! I already knew you were practically immune to electricity!" Mikoto shouted confidently over the whining of the sand. "You must have some specific superpower to block raw voltage. So I'm using physical mass! If you're afraid of this move, you'd better use your teleportation to run away with your tail between your legs right now!"
"Like I said," Yuuya remained unmoved, his hands tucked casually in his pockets, "if you can make me move one step, I lose."
"Then you'd better brace yourself!"
"HAAA—!"
Mikoto raised her arm, and the massive cloud of iron sand instantly gathered into a fifty-meter-high, churning black tornado. With a flick of her wrist, it crashed down directly toward Yuuya's head like a striking dragon.
The piercing sound was deafening—like the vibration of countless bees' wings, amplified hundreds of times.
This was one of her signature, lethal moves. By manipulating the electromagnetic force, she could collect and hyper-vibrate all the iron sand within a range of hundreds of meters. She could manipulate this iron sand into any shape, making it a terrifyingly versatile weapon for both offense and defense. She could even command the iron sand to fly up from all directions, forming a high-speed vibrating storm that attacked from 360 degrees without any blind spots, acting essentially like a massive, fluid chainsaw.
She certainly wouldn't use such a lethal attack casually against normal opponents. But against a fellow Level 5 who had actively mocked her, she had absolutely no reservations. Besides, this guy had easily withstood the raw, telekinetic cannonballs of Sogiita Gunha. Judging from his dismissive attitude, he must have some kind of ruthless, absolute defense.
The competitive flame within her was instantly ignited, filling her with excitement. This was the first time she was truly using her full strength; she couldn't ever let loose like this inside the crowded streets of Academy City.
BOOM—!
With a deafening roar, the black tornado, spinning rapidly at a speed comparable to an industrial cutting blade, slammed directly into Yuuya. The sheer friction instantly accelerated the air, creating a fierce, localized hurricane.
Electric arcs crackled wildly around Mikoto's body as she clasped her hands together, forcing the black tornado to accelerate and grind even harder. She knew very well the raw power of this move; even reinforced tank armor would be shredded and pulverized into new iron sand under the high-frequency vibration of this attack.
"This application of power is indeed much more refined than my own raw electromagnetic manipulation. And in terms of sheer output quality, it is definitely a level higher. Level 5 Electromasters are indeed very strong."
Yuuya's calm, conversational voice echoed clearly from the very center of the grinding black tornado.
Mikoto's expression instantly froze.
'How is this possible...?!' Mikoto thought in shock. 'He didn't even try to teleport away, and he took my strongest physical move head-on!'
Suddenly, the black tornado instantly twisted and became completely chaotic. Like a truckload of flour being thrown against a solid brick wall at bullet-train speeds, the kinetic rotation of the iron sand tornado completely collapsed, scattering harmlessly into the ocean breeze.
Mikoto shielded her face with her arms from the blowback. When the dust cleared, she stared in absolute horror.
Yuuya was standing in the exact same spot, his hands still tucked casually into his pockets. He was completely unharmed, without even a single scratch on his skin or a tear in his clothes.
Mikoto swallowed hard, cold sweat instantly trickling down her temples.
'What kind of terrifying ability is this?!' she thought frantically. 'It can passively nullify millions of volts of electric current, and it's even completely immune to high-frequency physical attacks?! What kind of absolute defense is this...?!'
Her mental records of his abilities absolutely did not contain any information about a power like this.
"Is it really that strange to you? Have you ever heard of the Number One... Accelerator?" Yuuya grinned wickedly as he watched Mikoto swallow hard and break out in a cold sweat.
'Is she really already intimidated after just one exchange?' Yuuya thought. 'When her ultimate attack proved completely ineffective, her confidence instantly shattered. Well, that's understandable. When an Esper's primary ability is completely nullified by their opponent, their sense of security naturally plummets to zero.'
"Accelerator...?! Could it be that this absolute defense is... Vector Manipulation?!" Mikoto exclaimed, her breath catching in her throat. "How is that possible?! Isn't that the signature, unique ability of the Number One?!"
"That's right, Vector Manipulation," Yuuya nodded lazily. "Whether it's electrical energy, light energy, kinetic energy, potential energy, or thermal energy—as long as it possesses vectors and magnitude, its direction can be perfectly manipulated. So, I can passively redirect any physical or energetic attack in the world away from my body."
Yuuya gave a mocking smile and casually waved his hand toward Mikoto.
He reversed the wind vectors in front of him. A strong, concussive blast of wind erupted, instantly accelerating the airflow and turning the gentle sea breeze into a localized gale-force storm that blasted Mikoto backward.
Mikoto shielded her face with her arms, her heart pounding violently against her ribs.
'Vector manipulation! It was vector manipulation all along!' she thought in despair. 'So the invisible force that pinned me to the ground that day was vector control!'
'But how is that mathematically possible?! How could he possibly possess Vector Manipulation alongside Teleportation and Electromaster abilities?!'
'How could I ever possibly defeat a power that controls the fundamental direction of all energy in the physical world...?'
Cold sweat involuntarily trickled down her forehead.
"I know you're curious as to why I have Vector Manipulation. The reason is simple," Yuuya said, smoothly spouting complete, terrifying nonsense to break her spirit. "My true, underlying superpower is the unique ability to perfectly copy the calculations of other Espers. Misaka... I not only have Vector Manipulation, but I also possess the specific abilities of all the other Level 5s, except for the unquantifiable Gemstone, Sogiita Gunha."
"That's exactly why I told you from the start... you are absolutely no match for me," Yuuya said softly.
Mikoto swallowed hard, staring at Yuuya as he spoke so eloquently about his godly power.
'The ability to perfectly copy superpowers...?!' Mikoto thought, her world spinning. 'So that is the terrifying secret behind his Multi-Skill... he's a walking database of Level 5s!'
"However, I'm not just someone who stands there and takes a beating," Yuuya's smile instantly shifted from mocking to a sly, predatory grin. He slowly took his hands out of his pockets and began walking toward her, radiating pure malice.
"Since you demanded this fight, Misaka... and I am officially fighting back now... I can't just stop until the challenger is on her knees crying."
Yuuya had barely taken a single step forward when Mikoto immediately took a small, terrified step back, exactly like a startled, cornered kitten.
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