Chapter 747: The Windowless Building, Aleister, Aiwass!
Misaka Mikoto stood alone under the flickering streetlights of Academy City, the cold night wind brushing against her short chestnut hair.
The silence of the Seventh District was oppressive, heavy with the weight of the secrets she had uncovered. She undoubtedly wanted someone to help her. In fact, she was desperate for it.
The darkness of Academy City was far deeper than she had ever imagined. It wasn't something a single middle school girl, even an Ace of Tokiwadai, could dismantle alone.
Misaki Shokuhou, who was also a member of the dimensional Chat Group, was her best choice.
Moreover, Misaki Shokuhou was also a Level 5.
Although the two didn't get along—in fact, their relationship was catastrophic, akin to mixing oil and water—Misaka Mikoto had to admit one thing: Misaki Shokuhou's formidable nature towards others and her ability to manipulate minds made obtaining information exceptionally convenient. Where Mikoto was a blunt instrument of destruction, Misaki was a surgical scalpel of information warfare.
Furthermore, from Mikoto's perspective, they didn't have any major conflicts. Sure, they bickered, and Misaki loved to tease her, but Mikoto naively thought it was just a rivalry between two high-level espers.
At least, she personally thought so.
But Misaki Shokuhou didn't think so.
Miles away, in the luxurious confines of the Tokiwadai dormitory, or perhaps lounging in a high-end night café, the Queen of Tokiwadai stared at the glowing screen of her phone. Upon seeing Misaka Mikoto's request for assistance pop up in the private message interface, her honey-colored eyes narrowed.
She laughed—a cold, humorless laugh that would have sent shivers down the spines of her clique.
Her slender fingers danced across the holographic keyboard, typing out a reply that was dripping with years of suppressed resentment.
[Misaki Shokuhou: Do you know who you're asking for help?]
Mikoto frowned as the message appeared. She hesitated for a moment, the blue light of the screen reflecting in her tired eyes, before typing back.
[Misaka Mikoto: The fifth-ranked Level 5 of Academy City. The Queen. Who else?]
The reply came almost instantly, sharp and biting.
[Misaki Shokuhou: Wrong. I'm the person in this world who hates you the most!]
[Misaka Mikoto: ?]
Misaka Mikoto's delicate brows furrowed slightly. The question mark she sent encapsulated her genuine confusion. She wondered what she had ever done to Misaki Shokuhou to warrant such a strong word as "hate." Annoyance? Sure. Rivalry? Definitely. But hate? That felt personal.
[Misaki Shokuhou: Do you know... Dolly?]
The name hung on the screen, foreign and unfamiliar to Mikoto. She racked her brain, searching through memories of classmates, teachers, or enemies, but came up blank.
[Misaka Mikoto: Who?]
[Misaki Shokuhou: Heh.]
Even through text, the disdain was palpable.
[Misaki Shokuhou: She was my... friend. She died, a very painful death. Or rather... she never lived a proper life like an ordinary person.]
Mikoto felt a knot tighten in her stomach. The conversation had taken a dark turn so suddenly. She didn't know how to handle someone else's grief, especially not Misaki's.
[Misaka Mikoto: Uh... my condolences.]
Misaki Shokuhou suddenly saying these things to her left Misaka Mikoto truly at a loss for how to respond. It felt intimate and raw, completely out of character for the usually composed and manipulative Queen.
But the next sentence filled her with confusion and a sudden chill.
[Misaki Shokuhou: It's all because of you!]
"Me?"
Mikoto whispered the word aloud to the empty street. Her grip on the phone tightened until her knuckles turned white.
Misaka Mikoto couldn't remember ever harming anyone. She fought delinquents, stopped bank robberies, and protected the weak. She was a hero to the children of Academy City.
[Misaka Mikoto: Hey, you can't just say things like that. I haven't killed anyone! You know I wouldn't!]
[Misaki Shokuhou: Heh.]
A hint of disdain appeared in the cold smile on Misaki Shokuhou's face as she sat in her room, the memories of a small girl with a mechanical support system flooding her mind.
[Misaki Shokuhou: Aren't there enough people who died because of you? Are you truly ignorant, or just willfully blind?]
[Misaki Shokuhou: Now, it's the 9983rd one about to die.]
"!!!"
Seeing this number, Misaka Mikoto's pupils contracted sharply. Her breath hitched in her throat, and the world seemed to spin around her.
This number reminded her of 9982.
That was the serial number of the Misaka Sister she had met just hours ago. The clone who had looked at her with innocent eyes, who had cherished the badge Mikoto gave her. The clone whose leg was torn off, whose body was crushed by a railway container, and whose blood was splattered across the asphalt by Accelerator.
The Absolute Power Ability User Plan. The Level 6 Shift Experiment.
She had found out it was starting today. No, it had been going on for a long time.
In other words, the clone of herself she encountered tonight was number 9982. And if Misaki was talking about 9983...
She suddenly understood what was going on. The horror of the realization crashed into her like a physical blow.
Because of her own genes, 9982 Misaka Sisters had already died. Nearly ten thousand versions of herself had been slaughtered like livestock.
"Ugh!"
Misaka Mikoto looked dazed. She stumbled back, leaning against a cold concrete wall for support. She covered her mouth with a trembling hand, fighting the urge to gag. The metallic taste of bile rose in her throat.
[Misaki Shokuhou: Heh heh, no reply. It seems you've figured it out, haven't you?]
The messages kept coming, relentless and cruel, forcing Mikoto to face the sin she didn't know she had committed.
[Misaki Shokuhou: Isn't it strange why I said 9983? Because Dolly, my friend... she was your very first clone. Number 0. The prototype.]
[Misaki Shokuhou: A clone created for a measly 180,000 yen. Heh heh, truly cheap experimental material. Dolly never left the laboratory from birth until her quick death. She never saw the ocean she wanted to see so badly.]
"!!!"
Misaka Mikoto's eyes widened in disbelief. Tears began to well up, blurring her vision of the screen.
At this moment, she finally understood why Misaki Shokuhou was targeting and hating her. It wasn't petty jealousy. It was grief. It was righteous anger.
If it weren't for her own genes, such a tragedy wouldn't have happened. If she hadn't been so trusting, so naive as a child...
Unconsciously, her lips were bitten until fresh blood appeared, a stark contrast to her pale skin.
[Misaka Mikoto: ...I'm sorry. I never thought it would turn out this way...]
The young Misaka Mikoto had once provided her DNA profile to a university-affiliated hospital. She remembered the doctors in their white coats, praising her for her contribution to science.
She thought it was for developing a drug to treat muscular dystrophy. She thought she was saving lives.
She never imagined her DNA profile would be used for something like this—to create an army of disposable lives for a monster to kill.
[Misaka Mikoto: It's all my fault. I started this. I will end everything myself!]
Things had come to this. The guilt was a heavy stone in her chest, crushing her heart.
Misaka Mikoto no longer had the face to ask Misaki Shokuhou for help. How could she? She was the source of Misaki's pain.
[Misaki Shokuhou: ...]
On the other side of the connection, Misaki stared at the screen. From her words, Misaki Shokuhou felt the Railgun's apology and determination. It wasn't the arrogant deflection she expected. It was genuine, crushing guilt.
She couldn't help but think of Dolly. Of the promise to show her the ocean.
She pursed her lips, closing her eyes for a brief moment to compose herself, and sent another message.
[Misaki Shokuhou: You should know that behind this project is the Board of Directors. The darkness runs deep. And that Accelerator is the First Rank. You can't beat him alone.]
[Misaka Mikoto: I know. But no matter who it is, I will make them pay! I'll destroy those labs even if it kills me.]
[Misaki Shokuhou: ...]
[Misaki Shokuhou: You must have investigated the location and time of this experiment, right?]
[Misaka Mikoto: Yes, the container port in an hour.]
[Misaki Shokuhou: See you in an hour.]
Misaka Mikoto was stunned. She blinked, wiping the tears from her eyes to make sure she was reading it correctly.
This is...
[Misaki Shokuhou: Hmph, don't get the wrong idea. I'm not helping you. I'm just avenging Dolly.]
"..."
Misaka Mikoto saw her own shadow in that sentence. The desire to atone. The desire to protect the memory of someone lost.
A warm current surged in her heart, displacing some of the freezing coldness that had settled there. The corners of her mouth couldn't help but turn up slightly.
"Thank you..." she whispered into the night air.
...
Meanwhile, deep within the heart of Academy City, in a place that technically didn't exist on any public map.
Inside the Windowless Building.
This fortress, located in District 7, was a monolith of steel and concrete without a single door or window, a perfect sealed environment separated from the outside world.
Inside, the atmosphere was sterile, alien, and suffocating. Various strange pipes and thick cables were intricately intertwined, covering the walls and floor like the internal organs of a mechanical beast. The hum of high-powered servers and life-support machinery was the only sound.
At the center of these things was a cylindrical transparent container, massive and imposing. It was filled with a red, antiseptic solution that bubbled slowly.
Submerged in the solution was a person dressed in a green surgical gown, hanging upside down. Long silver hair floated weightlessly in the liquid, framing a face that was both youthful and ancient.
Unable to tell if he was male or female, saint or sinner, adult or child. His eyes were tightly closed, unknown whether he was alive or dead.
But outside the container, dozens of holographic screens of light unfolded in the dark space, projecting data at a speed no normal human could process.
The screens displayed Misaka Mikoto's network intrusion search interface, tracking her digital footprint in real-time. Another screen showed grainy footage of Misaka Mikoto sprinting through city high-rises, electricity crackling around her limbs. Yet another showed Misaki Shokuhou walking out of the Tokiwadai dormitory gates, her face set in a grim expression.
This was a variable.
An ethereal voice appeared, resonating directly within the mind rather than through the air.
At the same time, a golden, seemingly female figure also appeared from the shadows. She glowed with a divine, yet distorted light. Wings of energy shimmered behind her.
She came to the side of the container, looking at the upside-down human with eyes that held the wisdom of a different phase of existence.
"They are not within your calculations."
"..."
Gurgle!
Bubbles rose in the solution, a stream of silver escaping the breathing apparatus.
The upside-down person in the container made a sound, his voice transmitted electronically through the liquid.
"Aiwass, how do you think one can communicate while avoiding the A.A.A. system? Or is your interference masking them?"
"Crowley, you already have the answer to this without asking me."
"They are not within your calculations."
"..."
The upside-down person fell silent.
He was Aleister Crowley.
The Chairman of the Board of Academy City, the leader of the scientific faction, and the greatest magician in history who had abandoned magic to pursue science.
His residence was this "Windowless Building." He had always been suspended head-down in this life support device, four meters in diameter and ten meters long, made of reinforced tempered glass and filled with the red liquid that kept his cells from aging.
He had entrusted all his life activities to machines for execution. He did not eat, sleep, or breathe in the conventional sense.
According to calculations by the supercomputer 'Tree Diagram', he had a lifespan of approximately seventeen hundred years in this state.
His entire body, including his brain, was in a state of semi-hibernation, and most of his thoughts were assisted by machinery to process the vast amount of data flowing through the city.
Through approximately fifty million nano-sized machines called "Underline" (or the primitive A.A.A. systems) scattered throughout Academy City like invisible dust, he knew everything happening in every corner of the city. Every conversation, every transaction, every movement of every esper was monitored.
But at this moment, Misaka Mikoto's erratic actions and Misaki Shokuhou's sudden cooperation were not within his original calculations. The prompt intervention of the Chat Group had introduced a chaotic element that his algorithms hadn't predicted.
Just as Aiwass—the entity of the DRAGON—said.
They were variables. Anomalies in the plan.
"Since that's the case, let them also change."
The screen seemed to be operating something, data streams shifting and rewriting themselves as Aleister adjusted the parameters of his grand experiment. The red light of the liquid reflected on the glass, casting a bloody hue over the darkness.
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