Electric Princess [Railgun]

Like said before: The phenomenon in the sky captured the attention of perhaps the entire population of the island.

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A red-haired mage with a barcode-shaped tattoo on his cheek approached the young foursome, entering they circle. He took a puff from an expensive luxury cigar, which he was enjoying, and spoke up like a speaker in front of audience. "So it's already started, huh?... Who would have thought, that all they've done so far is just a deception to occupy our attention until they're ready for the main show? Meanwhile, we have to wait for their big move, because an exaggerated early reaction would cause more trouble that good. The most embarrassing thing about this whole setting is; that in this game we are pawns in some imaginary chess game that someone is playing with someone else. In order for the leadership to kill time, as if we are all for fools, we are literally playing in role of clowns. In addition, one girl would need someone to apologize to her, because someone else arranged for her role, to be something like a navigation beacon for that thing up on the sky. That castle follows her as a target marker, that shall hit as first, for them to move forward in their game. The very act of extinguishing that beacon or moving it to the ocean would only benefited the attackers, whose hands would be untied, so to speak. It would be like running away from the challenge and false justify they delusion. Then, not need to follow that rule anymore, they will break the target look and redirecting their attack directly to the entire city. From what Index said, we shall simply imagine a big boulder from asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. That bullet it's a solid space boulder that won't be that easy to shot down."

It took the brunette a moment to realize that the recap monologue was actually for her. She puff her cheeks unsatisfied. "A beautiful description for something that is perhaps a dropped atom bomb as long as it hits the ground."

On the other hand, not far from them, Mugino release a bunch of inappropriate comments, or rather curses, on the topic of a shortened vacation.

Touma spoke next. "I'm sorry Misaka, but I need you to stay still for a while. Don't move at all and please watch Index for a while." Kamijou pushed the limp white-haired girl into Mikoto's other arms.

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So now, she squatted/knelt there with two absent minded girls in her arms. Of course, her face showed displeasure. (("So, only now a lot of the nonsense that has happened in the last few days is starting to make a sense. However, I can think of a better way to ground me in one place than trying to pin me down with two nonathletic sacks with big mouths and cut tongues.")) She looked at both burdens in her arms and tentatively checked they bio-electricity with her ability. She looked away from them to the sky as she made sure they were indeed only hard knocked out. (("Sure, I always say it's better if I'm the one being attacked than someone else who can't even defend themselves. But a live navigation beacon? I can imagine they'd be worried if the chosen person was running around in a panic, running away from the city, trying to escape it, or to drag the marker out onto secluded area in self sacrificial move. But I'm not just anyone, I will fight, so write it down already! The first person to throw a note about the fact that this island resembles a shooting target and I'm the black doth in the middle, will get a good punch from me!"))

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The scene of alien like object high in the sky, attracted the attention not only in the park area but certainly also the population in 'Gakuen-Toshi'. Especially when a ball rolled out of the void in the middle, conveniently like forcing foosballs of table football onto the playing field. But this ball was a giant. Thanks to the action of magic, the surroundings around the ring showed a phenomenon as if it had its own gravitational or anti-gravity field. The given object did not start falling like a thrown stone, but slowly began to fall with the fact that it will pick up its speed when it is out of reach of the given object. Since this version of the marble was so huge, there was no doubt that its impact from such a height could level a considerable area, even more.

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The red priest frown. "So a meteor. Like a shooting star. And big enough to be beyond my abilities. They done it. They really crossed the no-return line, by putting a destroyer onto a game." He sighed. "Hey boy, forget about your right hand coming into a play, when that thing hits, we're done. Dammit!! Why does that thing have to be so big? It can be too much even for our Ace up the sleeve. If Kanzaki, as a saint, releases all her inhibitions/restrains and goes all out, then we can get to the point where we have traded one destroyer for another."

Kamijou was still full in battle spirit. "No worries, just for this case we have the most suitable person who can control all the vectors. Accelerator, you are up!!" He called for the white haired youth with red eyes.

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But the answer did not come.

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Among the people around, it was Inoue with a pocket bag on her hip who realize something. She stepped closer to speak up aloud. "Misaka supposes that this is probably an opportune moment to announce, that Accelerator is no longer able to participate in the campaign, as he has suffered heat stroke and is currently unconscious. Furthermore, Misaka would like to emphasize that through the mysterious interference imposed on this resort, communication via radio or the Internet is not possible, this island has been cut off from the rest of the city, so it is not appropriate to think about reinforcements. Since Misaka is already talking about the shortcomings, she has to file a complaint that the ice cream stand is no longer supply a strawberry-flavored one, and someone has broke down the thermostat on the outdoor bubble bath. Additionally number-two: 'Dark Mater', hawing an unexpectedly low tolerance for alcohol when an unknown female visitor allegedly flirted with him. All the sisters want to file a silent complaint against Anti-Skill, who decided to tactically withdraw from the premises, in process expelling all the park staff from areal. So now, there is no one to operate the (attractions). That's why Inoue has to highlight the fact that whatever you plan to do, you can only create a combination of what you see around. Misaka notes that we are alone on this island, thinking that someone has tricked her. Ironically, the only Misaka who isn't on the island, and is in town, who could serve as a communication link to the leadership, is too busy with her team on they task. So she cannot provide any usefulness help. --and the mentioned Misaka complains that: (She is again; criticized that she complains again); adds Misaka exactly toward Misaka with five matching digits. (No! I refuse to use your self dedicated name.)"

That was too much for Kamijou and he snapped, shouting angrily. "Why is the message report less relevant from point to point?!! And what a very suspicious coincidence is this?!! Do you realize, that Accelerator can handle a hundred meteors as if it were a child's play? He would throw it back at them and we done here!! Stop screwing me, this isn't funny!! Anyone!-- Please!-- Heal Accelerator immediately!!" It could be tell from his expression, that he realized what a contradiction he had uttered when he asked for healing #1.

A green Meltdowner beam shot into the sky, aiming to gradually vaporize the thing, but it dissipated into a cloud before it could hit its target. Mugino had to admit in her displeasure that the thing was too big and too far even for her.

"Then that would be enough!!" Mikoto spoke up determinant. "Are you saying, the thing is too big for anybody to handle? Are you saying that wherever I go, that thing is determined to fall on my head? Is that so? Then your decision to leave me out of the whole thing is clearly flawed, because even at this point I have something to say! By taking away everyone who was supervising this area, they are actually telling us that I finally have free hands to get wild! This means that it is finally my time to make this place my own playground and beat someone up!! I'll just start by smashing that meteor to pieces." She hand over the immobile burden from her arms to a pair of gentlemen. At the same time, she made sure that the honey-blonde was taken by a priest. Only then did she look directly at the incoming ball with a determined expression.

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The brunette stood in the middle of that meadow/picnic area. As she suddenly had space around her, she let go the supposed leach that restrain her powers and stretched her arms to the sky. Embraced by the electrical discharges, she used electromagnetism to summon all metal from the surrounding area, so to speak. All the metal cutlery and crockery from the nearby mobile sideboard cart flew over her head. The wooden benches and the lone table lost their nails. She was so precise that even a stone grill became a victim, scraping off all the metal. She coated the whole thing with black iron sand that rose from the grass area around her. She even went so far as to pull out sand from the beach and the (jungle?) around. Gradually, the whole mass formed one solid black metal ball, which strongly resembled a charge for an oversized cannon. "If someone thinks they can just throw a mountain at me, they've miscalculated badly!!"

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As she collected the last iron sand grains from the surroundings, a (somehow white, but more like no color at all) mass began to form around her cannon ball. Little by little, it spread over the metal surface like some kind of semi-liquid gel, enveloping the ball conveniently like when you wrap a fragile nougat core in a praline, with melted white chocolate to create a protective shell. Railgun tried to analyze the phenomenon, but was unable to discern even a basic affinity, as if the matter had none. This lack of features gave her a clear idea of what it could be, especially when a certain name was mentioned a while ago.

#2, Level-5: 'Dark Mater', the ability to create almost anything, not only in shape but also in properties, or go as deep as choosing the affinity he wants. Another ability that has been taken so far that it now defy reality.

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And indeed, a brown-haired young man or older boy with this nickname stood among the onlookers. In fact, he seemed so drunk, that he was close to falling to the ground and passing out from alcohol poisoning. They had to support him so that he could walk at all, with the fact that they probably dragged him here. Despite his state of complete drunkenness, he maintained some kind of presence of mind and somehow understood the threat of the meteor. His gesture with an outstretched hand to the black iron ball and a completely exhausted expression on his face indicated, that he was not interested in standing aside to not put his hand to the work. From what he babbled, audience could barely understand that he was going to take revenge on the woman that tricked him. With the last drop of his strength, he clenched his palm into a fist and the gel solidified into a smooth and solid white ball. Immediately his knees buckled as he went into a sitting position, but he still maintained his consciousness and thus kept the ability active.

Railgun felt that this white layer was armor that exceeded even the known scale of hardness, ignoring the ills of everything that had been used as armor until now. In addition, it has an anti-gravity property that was in such perfect harmony with the core that the cannonball would levitate even without its electromagnetism. She clearly understood that with the right stimulus, she could now send this thing into orbit. On the other hand, she gained a deep respect for her own idea, because from another point of view, what she now has in her hands is the equivalent of a meteor that bearing down on them, and that itself is the equivalent of a defused atomic bomb. Her mistake could have disastrous consequences.

Red-haired Stiyl also joined the idea of strengthening. "So we're layering our own counterattack? It would be nice if we went right into a counterattack. I can certainly imagine the looks on faces of those up there, when they realize we're defending in exactly the same way they're attacking us." He sent a swarm of rune cards towards the orb, each one bearing an ancient symbol written by hand. This swarm stuck to this ball like wrapping paper or stickers. "If they bothered of armoring their meteor with defensive magic, this will do the trick." He issue a command: "'Inocentus!'" The given praline received its cellophane wrapper and an eye-catching effect: The top half burst into flames. They stretched directly up, until someone could claim to have seen a silhouette of a monster, a fire golem, or a fire elemental, as it pulled itself up to half the waist from the surface and screamed toward the sky.

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For Mikoto, her big move came. She closed her eye to focus and at same time flexed her muscles. Her right hand went down to her side where she clenched her palm into a fist. The cannonball came down to her and landed/touched on the open palm of her stretched left hand. Lightning, like massive blue discharges, flew around her in a continuous electric arc. They resembled the fairies who dance in the meadow around their idol in an unrestrained wild dance. After a while, the electric discharges were directed into the core, charging the projectile with an outrageous electric charge. When she finished charging, she opened her eye filled with serious expression. She shout a furious battle cry, as she pulled her left hand towards her, threw her right hand up, hitting the praline with her fist.

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The thunder resembled a shot from a huge cannon. That thunderous crack of lightning or a gunshot, was so deafening that some people squealed or have a ranging in their ears. A pressure wave swept through the meadow area, which sway not only the onlookers, but also the trees and palms.

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The cannonball of the Railgun, conveniently like its coin version, shot out at supersonic speed, trailing a tail of lightning that connected it to the brunette. Instead of the projectile melting into orange lump and partially vaporizing on its way through air resistance, this time it was enveloped in a mysterious flame that would not get extinguished, even on a supersonic speed.

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A falling giant meteor and a rising cannonball, collided. A bright flash, light up the sky. The air trembled. A vibration combined with a downright fiery pressure wave swept across the surface of the meteor. Something like the skin on an apple cracked, ignited, detached from the rest and burned to dust. Subsequently, Railgun's shot broke through the stone shell of the giant, sank into it and, like a bullet passing through a wooden barricade, flew out the on other side. The reactions of the forces in play, was so great that the body of meteor cracked and was literally tored to pieces. Since for some reason Stiyl's sealing leaves were detached from the projectile, even as it flew through the meteor and flew into the surroundings, or rather the immediate surroundings, there was a direct fiery explosion that smashed even those pieces to smaller pieces. The fire golem 'Innocentus' materialized in the gap between the debriefs. After he roared, all the stone fragments were engulfed in fire. Shining with a bright flame, it completely set fire to everything around it with raging flames. Regardless of the fact that it was a stone meteor, many of its fragments burned to dust. Many smaller fragments burned up before they could get away from the impact of the explosion and could head for the surface. At this moment, many of the magic cards have already burned-out, or otherwise deteriorated, or flown out of reach. 'Innocentus' lost his base that kept him summoned and faded away. They spread the fire around as if with the snap of their fingers it significantly lost its intensity until in some places it went out completely.

The poet would spoke about this clash as a battle between a heavenly entity/ Kami and an earthly dragon, who, despite the difference in their size, defied heaven and bit its fangs, clawed its claws, into the entity. While he was tearing the giant to pieces, he roared at the top of his lungs and then whirled all his fire until finally, standing in the inferno, he roared at the heavens above him.

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A moment later, a shock wave from the collision of the celestial bodies reached the ground, and the deafening sound of the collision made more than one person cover their ears.

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The aforementioned praline, now without its flaming topping, continued to fly up the sky, this time only propelled by its own inertia. In her way stood a magical structure and its castle walls in the form of a ring, made of a large number of glowing magical circles. From that grouping, several circles were released, which fell down, under the main ring, and there formed a defensive pattern/fresco, like some kind of scaly shield or defensive rampart, against the incoming attack. Railgun's ball hit this barrier and the air trembled. Despite all the power that the cannonball possessed, the projectile stopped against the shield like an arrow that pierced anarchery practice target. Something on the ring activated, the shield glowed with a bright light, and immediately the ball and shield were mutually destroyed. They immediately fell to debris pieces particles and sparkles. Some of them went down other were catch in a gravity of the void hole. The fee for this fraud was, several additional circles on the ring burst into particles, which were sacrificed for this purpose.

However, that was not the only thing that fell to the ground. As mentioned earlier, part of this elaborate defense was also a powerful curse that was sent to an attacker who managed to damage the wall, wherever he was. The price for this was the consumption of a good dozen magic circles from the large whole.

You could feel it, that something invisible, fell down on the island.

The protection from the flags extended its protective hand again, and this time two flags flared up at once. But it wasn't enough to deflect the full effect of the curse.

Through the properties of dark matter, or because of no properties, or rather a deliberately created property of dark matter, it was only the brown-haired guy who was affected by the curse. It writhed him in painful convulsions as something invisible tortured him and twisted his body. Like a huge invisible hand of a giant trying squash a trapped rat in its palm. He spat out a pool of blood and not even the person supporting him prevented him from falling to the ground unconscious.

Mikoto herself was out of breath. Carrying the nut up to such a height turned out to be extremely difficult and taxing on her stamina. It cost her more strength than she originally expected. Somehow she joked that the revenge phenomenon should have affected her as well. But #2 in his over drunken state had to arrange in that way; for everything to go onto his head. Almost as if he sacrificed himself heroically, when he had still a chance, if nothing else. Therefore, it is no wonder that the brunette was horrified at the sight of the falling debris from the meteor.

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Although the fiery inferno in the sky reduced out the falling debris of the stone meteor, no one could dare that the falling rocks will break apart evenly on derbies of similar size. The clear evidence in this rule was one huge piece still on fire that defied the intended destruction, changing its flight path with the intention of leaving the Aqua Park and landing on the city.

Railgun's eyes widened even more when she saw a figure flying directly towards the rubble. No, someone in (a superhero saving the day) jumped against it, standing in its path. She couldn't help but feel, that the lad in question, strongly resembled a masked super hero, with a cape, who set out to save the day with a perfect smile. Exactly like an over-powered character from a manga or novel. He shouted his battle cry at the top of his lungs ('Supper amazing Punch!!') and head on slammed his fist into the boulder. Both opponents stopped/frozen in a place for a moment until it seemed that time stopped for them. But in the end it was the meteor piece who threw a wet towel to the ring. A shock wave swept through it, not only extinguishing the fire, but causing it to crumble into gravel. It headed straight down, like if someone opening a bag of flour upside down, in blink of eye losing entire content/volume.

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Then the green laser show started. Because it was already in her firing range, Mugino and her Meltdowner made a short work of half the falling debris that didn't burned to dust by Innocentus fire.

Kanzaki, a swordswoman with a ponytail and a two-meter katana, finished the second half. Shrouded in a blue flame-like aura, she leapt through the sky as each weapon swing she made shook the air and a distant boulder was pulverized by an air blade.

So what managed to reach the Aqua park was only pebbles, stones and powder, which mostly fell on the barren water surface of the lake.

The cloud of dust that remained in the sky after the meteor attack on 'Gakuen-Toshi' gradually dissipated as the wind carried it away.

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Mikoto, let out a breath, ready to rest after her big move. However, she giggled when the aforementioned hero jumped down from the sky right between them, safely landing at the meadow as if he just jump down from a low tree branch.

It was a Sogiita Gunha, #7 Level-5 Gemstone Esper. This wild-haired, black-haired college student wanders around in his white school uniform as he wears a tailored jacket unzipped and hanging from his shoulders like some kind of heroic cloak. It matches a long white (sports events) ribbon on his forehead and a red t-shirt with the rising sun. (sometimes just plain red t-shirt) His personality fits right in with the statement: ('A good-hearted super hero, all brawn/muscle and no brains, who rushes into a problem with no regard for the consequences, where guts/courage are the solution to everything and every problem.'), which led to more than one misunderstanding. The wide use of his unsolvable abilities could be explained as 'determination/guts'. The more of this determination he puts into something, the more senseless the result is, so to speak, overwriting the surrounding reality in which acts as the OP super hero from the comics, whose super powers often defy logic or physical laws of the story setting. As he is not the brightest head around his intuition is crazy over charts. Yet all his explanation of how his own powers work, what he do, got criticized to be straight wrong, the moment he explain.

As always, he was pumped with a fiery vigor of determination. "That meteor had a serious guts!" He shout excitedly, or rather impatiently. "I don't know what he was from, but even now my whole arm hurts because he was incredibly resilient. Its feel like I was punching a fortified bank vault door. Miss, that counterattack you pulled off had a lot of guts in it. That must be acknowledged." Laughing, he gave her a thumbs up. "I, Sogiita Gunha, announce my arrival at the party."

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While Mikoto was derailed from #7, Touma looked up at the sky in displeasure. At one point he sighed. "Of course, it doesn't end with only one. If they'd rather put their efforts into good things. Such a bad luck." He looked sadly at the brunette. "Sorry Biri-biri [sparkler/ verbalized sound effect for electric shock], but can you do one more stunt like the last one?"

She was so taken aback by this question that she didn't even protest to the nickname. "Eh? Right now? You're serious? You have no idea how tired and exhausted I am. You shall know, that I used a lot of power for that. If you'd waited a few minutes, sure, but right now? Plus I used up all the metal around to made the charge. Like, I could clawing at the very building under our feet, to get the steel beams out of it, but then I need to regain strength first. So we're back at point one again."

Sogiita already had an idea and unabashedly inserted himself into the conversation. "No worries miss! You can do it with enough guts! As for the bullet, on the way here, I saw something that fits your description perfectly, and no one needs to tear down any buildings. Give me a minute, I'll jump for it." Without hesitation, he ran and jumped... With a single jump, he jumped over the lake and the perimeter wall of the complex. It dint helped that some people around was looking at that leap as something unreal, that broke/ignored several laws of physic.

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The red haired priest had some reminders when he looked up at what (those at up) will throw down at them. "Truly like a scaly snake that sheds its skin every time it's in trouble and spews venom at those below from the safety of the walls. Pretty presumptuous to call it a dragon." He took a drag on that cigar before addressing the pair. "Tamp your expectations! From that metallic sheen, I'm guessing the first attack was a write-off from the start. It was used to analyze what they were up against. They dint expect to succeed with that one. But this new meteor is probably all metal, or at least the surface of it."

Touma objected to the intention of those up there. "Isn't that a bit like scoring their own goal? Considering what happened a while ago? Using metal when we have someone here who can send it all back to them?"

Kanzaki joined their conversation. "Don't rush! Index made it clear that they have something that will adjust the specs of their attack to be just above the defense's capabilities. We're not going to walk around the hot mess and make it clear; we cannot allow that thing to hit the city by its full force! I'm sorry, but I have to go all in on this, and while I'm at it, I'll take care of the rest. I'm counting on you to stop me then before things get worse." From the gesture with which she gripped her katana, it was clear that despite her determined expression, she would immediately choose another alternative if she could.

Mikoto was suddenly wary of this young woman who seemed to be about to sacrifice herself. "Hey! Wait a minute, don't you tell me that she also has some kind of ability beyond normal?"

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Stiyl sighed with a smile. "Beyond normal? As beautifully described. No, she's a saint. Even though she can't use normal magic, her spells are extremely powerful. So much, so that her powers have no top at which she could stop. Push too far above what you can handle and you lose your mind. Sure, she can deal with everything all by herself, but if the price is a bersek in which she will not recognize friends from the foe and will fight until she breathes her last. Then it is no longer such a win win, became a hero become a dragon destroyer." Suddenly he clicked his tongue as if he remembered at something. "Tcs! A Saint is only a saint when he is sane. Lose that leach and a dragon of destruction will arise at its place." He turned his gaze to the blacky. "No! Kanzaki, I have another idea. We're going to repeat what this girl did before, only our way and in a bigger version. I'm volunteering to be affected by that curse. Your magic will be used as the core and mine as the protective cover." The swordswoman pressed her lips together but nodded anyway. Stiyl looked back at the sky, and seem to just speaking for himself. "Signs are favorable… Fine, we'll do the seasons thing.-- Just remember, that the feedback/impact will be so great for me that it will knock me out of the fight even without the curse. Deal with it. Losing Kanzaki in at this point it would only work for the other side, so I'm volunteering to be the next one to fall. I'm going to call 'Innocentus' exactly four times in row to this spot. So stay away, because it's going to be really hot!"

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Stiyl took a drag from that cigar, but another brunette caught his attention. "There is another option other than sacrifice. Misaka requests consideration of one more alternative for firing the projectile." Inoue spoke, stepping closer to her older sister. "Although it has not been tested, in theory the 'Misaka Network' could be used to transfer the power needed to perform the desired mass-driver task. Calculations have shown that it is possible, but first, there is one obstacle to be resolved at the elder sister." She stepped forward and stared at Mikoto. "Onee-sama, your current Level is not enough and must be boosted by an external adapter. Join us! Join the 'Misaka Network'! Misaka suggests and at the right moment Imoto lends a helping hand for all the sisters."

The first brunette retreated half a step. "Hey, wait... you're not suggesting?..."

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Inoue dint wave in her determination. "Level (five and a half). With all the sisters to uphold the computing power, it will work, even if for a short moment... No, Level (five and a quarter) will do, Misaka adapts the situation plan, when the elder sister expressed concern for the health of her younger sisters."

As proposed, her sisters approached Mikoto from all sides, forming a group around her. It was as if she were looking at her reflections in a mirror labyrinth. Except that each had a different swimsuit. Plus: There was a mini version of her. A smiling version that still had long hairs. A version that had to go through an additional growth spurt because she looked two years older than the original, which was evident in her blossoming chest versus other sisters. Plus this one had a meany grin, especially teasing other sister with her more developed body curves. Misuzu wanted to join in too, but was stopped by the optical glasses Hyouka, shaking her head dismissively.

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#7 was finally back, leaping onto the meadow. He brought with him what could be called a spaghetti ball of bent construction beams, which he had to take from a nearby construction site where they were loosely laid around, ready to be taken. Well, in the best case. He put it to #3 and gave a thumbs up with a big smile. Railgun being a tsundere, asked if her sisters know at least an approximate number within the power of how much she used for the previous attack. The sisters reassured each other by saying with a thumbs up that they could do it. Also, almost as a truce, Railgun had a comment about the unevenness of that girder ball, as if someone must improvise to make the material; transportable. Hyouka responded to that, ran up to that mess and touched that formation. It immediately melted, kneaded like dough, and resolidified into a worked smooth cannonball number two. As she suddenly ran away, Stiyl send a paper storm. A flood of magic cards landed on that projectile, covering every part of it. Misaka Mikoto ended speechless and with a stony expression as everything was going too smoothly and she was unable to found any excuse. In the end, she scratch her head disgruntled, and even more disgruntled, she announced out loud that she would do it.

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So... The brunettes clasped their hands, forming a circle around the iron object. They Onee-sama, closed her eyes and after a deep inhale and exhale concentrated on her task. No, she concentrated for the role of all sisters, including her. She suppressed her defenses of her individuality so that she could subconsciously approach the sisters, synchronize with them, connect to an imaginary network of minds whose brains worked on the same frequency.

It was like she was diving into the lake of her consciousness. Beneath the surface, for a moment she heard the distant (voices?) of her sisters' presence. Not only those around her, but from all over the world. It was enough for her to focus on any of them and she would be able to tell where it is on the planet. This system she joined perfectly combined the diversity in levels that was between her sisters collective and united in that metal ball. The wills of the individual members of the collective, including their big sister, merged into a single powerful will that flowed through one of them, boasting the nickname 'Railgun'.

So when she opened her eyes again, the projectile was ready. Charged with a charge, it floated in a bluish glow just above them, above the center of their circle. A ring of lightning stretched around its perimeter.

Sogiita raised his fist excitedly. "Young lady's, that's a beautiful guts. Fine, it's time for me to join in." That orb began to vibrate internally as #7 extended an open palm towards it, as if he was infusing it with his force or guts.

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Yet Mikoto noticed a (presence?) of this unknown element. So the original for all the sisters barked at him. "Hey, what do you think you're doing?!"

Gunha continued to smile. "I'm adjusting the tidal forces to this evidence of human endurance. So when it meets that dark moon, it's the dark messenger who's going to have a major problem whit tidal forces interaction."

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"Stop joking with that unrealistic explanation! This is no new moon above our planet be able to talk about tidal forces!"

He laughed. "Unrealistic? Miss, it takes a lot of guts to say that word in this town. Who can say, that they threw a rock into the sky and it stayed there? You're a class act, miss! No worries!, those up there won't be hiding forever! The moment they will be drag out of that dark lair hole, they will get a real lesson in guts department." Of course the tsundere blushed, stifling her further comments.

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The synchronization between the Misakas was so stable that Railgun didn't have to say, or even hint, anything to the sisters. They were all on the same page. She didn't resist that feeling even with the new sensations from the network, so to speak. Even through the situation they were in, she smiled. Their cannonball was no longer just an inanimate object, but directly became part of their 'Misaka network'. They could subconsciously push their new metal sister up to the heavens, so to speak.

At a certain moment they all as one, risen they faces, looked up, and after a loud electrical crack, the ring detached itself from the projectile into a wider circle, and while the projectile rose a little higher, the whole circle shrunk to a single point at the bottom of the cannon ball. There was a flash. There was a deafening thunder/ cannon shot. A pressure wave swept through the meadow area. And that missile soared into the heavens, dragging behind it an umbilical cord formed by an electric discharge/current.

On the way up, she encountered a certain object that came dangerously close to the ground.

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A falling metal meteor and a cannonball collided. It flashed. It thundered. A wave of charged electricity swept through the meteor, charging it with an electric charge. He once again lost his apple skin of enchantment, which disintegrated and left the main body. These charged particles turned into sparks and filled the sky like some fireworks show.

What happened next was magnetic billiards.

According to the original calculations, the metal meteor was beyond the capabilities of a certain tired electro-master. However, when an entire army of electro-masters joined the already ongoing equation, the fact that he was made of metal was suddenly not an advantage for the attackers. It don't matter if it was magnetic or non magnetic metal, if you using a too high voltage/current. The same esper made sure that the calculations included the condition that the meteor would not disintegrate upon impact, but that something would happen that would take someone's breath away.

The brunettes fired the rest of the electricity they had built up for their task into the sky. It traveled along the umbilical cord like a massive discharge until it reached their cannonball and the supply link was terminated.

It was the second shot from the cannon. There was another flash, the thunder sounded again, and a pressure wave formed by blue discharges spread into the surrounding area. Both balls, like one rocket, headed for orbit, leaving behind metallic particles that flew in all directions like sparks from fireworks.

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The magic construction up on the sky, or rather its ring-shaped walls of glowing magic circles, released an inordinate amount of magic circles. (a lot of them) They merged into shapes and formed one shield after another in an unprecedented amount, as if you were neatly stacking one sheet of paper on top of another. This is how they formed a properly layered wall.

A misdirected meteor retracing its steps, smashed through a good quarter of them. One can imagine a brick, that vandal thrown into a stand on the open body of a glass window maker's car. Which was left unattended as the workmen took the first glass/window panel, saying they would return for the rest. Only then the meteor begin to crumble, losing pieces here and there. Which flew into the surrounding area. Breaking through the penultimate barrier, the big meteor completely disintegrated and none of its pieces continued up toward the supposed gate. Many pieces were caught in the gravitational field phenomenon around that ring and it didn't look like they were going to leave it anytime soon. But most of the debris headed back toward earth.

However, this was not true for its small companion. Innocentus get activated and there was a furious explosion. The cannonball on its way up, forcibly scattered the last remnants of the large companion, that was blocking its way toward the gate. It slammed into the last shield that separated her from the magical structure and the air shuddered again, proving that she had stopped against it. Yet the flame shock-wave was spreading inferno on the magical circles, as (something) was tearing them apart one after another.

At this moment, Mikoto and all her sisters, subconsciously, in thought, reached out their hands to their metal sister in the sky. In their thoughts, they touched her alleged back and pushed her further. The last shield break apart and the cannonball flew up again. Overcoming the castle rampart wall, this metal sister wearing a fire coat, flew straight toward the open door in the walls.

But before she reached her goal, something flew out of that void in the middle of the ring, like through the aforementioned door. Like a counter shot it hit the cannonball and finally stopped the bullet's progress up. At one point or moment, 'that something' looked like a huge arrow of bright light that pierced the ball in the proverbial manner of an apple in archery tournaments. In the other moment, it looked like a spear of glittering silver that seemed to pierce the shield of a knight sitting on a horse. In the third moment, it resembled a gilded flamboyant sword that pierced the torso of a defeated opponent. Every moment it was another of these three possibilities. The only thing that was clear was that this thing rushed straight down toward earth and it carried that cannonball with it. It dint mattered that the girls worked so hard to get they metal sister this far. It dint matter that Innocentus was on top, that artifact pierced him, ignoring that he is just a golem of flames, pining him onto the ball like some butterfly sample on pedestal.

On their way straightforward down, this duo/trio also overtook the falling remnants of the meteor.

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Sogiita made a remark about the size of that (sword?) weapon. "Wow, I didn't know that this time it was the Giants who turned their unsatisfied anger on 'Gakuen-Toshi'. It takes a lot of guts to just throw something like that, at something that flies through your window into the kitchen. Actually, it will be the first time, I'm going to fight a giant, not that I've ever seen one before. Well, whatever you have for me, I am ready."

Touma immediately corrected him that it was probably just a trick to make them look bigger or some form of a golem.

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The flags from the clothing forming a barrier against death sentence, flared up again like matches/torches. But this time, Mikoto felt that all the flags on this island were burning. So an idea entered her mind that she was out of uniform for the time being and could choose to wear a swimsuit or provocative underwear.

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It was time for a punishment, before which the red-haired priest Stiyl Magnus crossed himself. He took a last drag from his cigar to enjoy the taste that ordinary cigarettes couldn't compare to. The curse hit him and he spat out a pool of blood. Same happened to Innocentus as it get extinguished.But Stiyl expected something more to occur.Yet, that was all that happened to him. This was all punishment he received. Everyone could tell from his horrified expression that he knew the rest of the curse had gone somewhere else.

There was a clinking/shattering of porcelain right where the optical glasses Hyouka stood, having a richly blessed chest. One would say that he saw how a certain perfect copy of the girl in question, made fully from porcelain in life-size, shattered after being shot many times from a shotgun. Even the confused expression on her face was incredibly human. Shard by shard, pieces fell from her body, but also from part of her face, until finally the whole figure fell backwards like a flexible puppet. Almost like a normal person after being hit with a firearm. Yet instead of a blooded wound, there was this hole in a porcelain shell.

Blonde Ester [necromancer], ran to the broken girl with her brown-haired companion and protector in one, Hasami. Both were in swimsuits that did not suit either of them. The blonde didn't look shocked at the state of the calf/body. Rather, she gave the impression that she was going to provide Hyouka with something like first aid, or even a medical procedure. But its seemed that she need to figure out first what that actually means.

But what caught Mikoto's attention was (the thing) that the brunette saw in the hollow of the body, through the crack on the poor porcelain girl's face. It reminded her of a certain golden block with a triangular base. The surface was formed by a network of triangles. And exactly one such was the core of the creature, which was a collection of desires and thoughts of many unfortunate victims from the 'Level UP' incident.

Railgun turned her attention for now to the weapon that had pierced their cannonball and was now hurtling towards them. She only had to let out a single exasperated discharge into the air before…

...Index, who had just woken up a moment ago, shout toward her. "Short hair, wait for that counter attack of yours!!" You could read the fatigue in her tone and how hard she was trying to be heard. "That instrument of righteous punishment of all guilty is falling apart. Don't jump onto the blade when its still there. Aside from the fact that this artifact requires an outrageous amount of energy just to activate, it is too clumsy to be effectively used for an attack. A big care was taken during its creation to ensure, that despite its a noble name, everyone he points his blade at, was found guilty. They bound that effect to 'the original sin', that everyone should have and it is also his greatest weakness. But Hyouka, as a living entity with human parameters, is special in that sense, that she does not have this sin. By that I mean, that the artifact involuntarily committed the only taboo it was not allowed to commit: (He punished the innocent.) Look!"

She looked up at the sky and the onlookers got a glimpse of the given weapon that was coming towards them, cracked, disintegrated into shards and they finally splashed into particles.

Index continue to speak. "I can imagine that this artifact was their Ace, specifically meant for powerful beings like a saint and above. But the fact that they set it to automatically hit whoever crosses a certain threshold means that they were counting on their walls to be overcome. It was a trap from beginning. Which amazes me that you were able to find another way to this point, while keeping Kanzaki at bay. Otherwise it would be her death." She looked at the black haired samurai, who glanced away to her side with a guilty expression. "Without that artifact, they've lost the ability to punish the defender for their counterattack. I think they must be panicking now that, things don't seem to be going their way, when this side's opened up a path for unlimited lunges against them."

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What flew down was just a cannonball that was sent to the sky earlier. The electro-masters concentrated, creating electric curtains, that as a discharge rose into the sky, which became so powerful that it safely trapped the falling bomb in the electromagnetic field. The sphere slowed from meter to meter until it landed gracefully in the center of their circle, where it was forget. Yet this time there was this stabby piercing hole from one end to other.

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The rest of the metal meteor debris wasn't far away, and after a short sentence of courage-themed nonsense, Sogiita leapt into the sky like some comic book super hero. In the air, he kicked the air/ (double jumped?) a few times again, flying even higher as if bouncing off invisible platforms. Kanzaki followed in silence with her katana. After a certain amount of out-of-place reminders, coments and insults that she can also do this flying stupidity, Mugino also took to the sky using her own 'Meltdowner' as rocket engine. The falling debris was made of metal, making dealing with it all the more difficult. On the other hand, it also opened up an unexpected solution, because among the defenders there was also the most powerful electro-master capable of extensive electromagnetism capable to bring onto her rule even on non-magnetic metals. It was even currently power-upped by 'Misaka Network'.

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This particular Misaka has just received a calculation/sign from someone who has just revealed his connection to the Misaka Network. (("What? A new signal/presence? Isn't that one of my sisters? Wait… This soul is-- dark? Who is it? And what about the calculations it's sending?... By the relative distribution of the metal meteor debris into a circle in the lake, it would be theoretically possible, to get an additional... Maybe he doesn't propose to reshape the entire lake into?… I get it... This thinking is unthinkable for someone who hasn't gone through the darkness. Destruction of destruction that only someone whose horizon has been expanded to the fifth Level can imagine. The rest can barely stand to watch and refuse to even think about it, because it's far beyond their comprehension. I don't know how he got here, but perhaps he means that even paralysis isn't enough to defeat one of the seven of us. But does he have to be so ignorant about everything? Skipping unnecessary though process to get into a solution? On the other hand, he threw a very basic thing in my face again, which is easy to forget in such cases. And that is that now is not the time to be defensive and nitpicking. It's time to tear down a certain stupidity that has no place to be there!"))

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While the trio in the sky dealt with the debris that would threaten the city areas around the complex, the circle on the ground was supposed to take care of what would threaten the island itself. But Mikoto had a plan going far beyond this assumption. Her ten thousand sisters still held the cards that could be laid on the table. An electric curtain shot out from the circle, and from the island. It branched out to the sides, still stretching up toward sky, to the width, as if it were alive. After a while, the phenomenon intensified so much that from a distance it looked like a blue tree made of lightning whit a huge crown, so big that it overshadowed the whole island. The phenomenon, which was taller than a high-rise building, capturing all meteor fragments that got close enough. As soon as they were in the power of electromagnetism, the girls began to move them according to a certain plan. They placed them at regular intervals in the lake around the island, almost as if they were building something from rocks.

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The trio in the air, wordlessly divided the sky into three parts. The first was occupied by a Mugino one missile, flying around the perimeter, its 'Meltdowner' destroying any debris it targeted with devastating accuracy. It was so effective that she must have had an additional navigation and targeting system. Or, somebody can think that she was not a human but a machine.

Kanzaki took charge of the second third of the sky. Like a swordsman from a romanticized story, she swung her katana, the air trembled and the swarm of debris that wanted to fly out of the compound was pushed back. Some of them were sliced apart.

Sogiita had the third third of the circumference. His punches or pushes sent everything to the right side. But then there was one massive piece that refused to submit due to its size and direction and was aiming for the outside. Hitting him wouldn't help in this case, so he jumped to the side of the body in question. He pressed on him as if he was in a gap between two canyon walls that are closing together and he wants to push them apart by putting his back on one side and his limbs on the other and trying to stretch out. And yet, despite known physics, it was the boulder that was pushed away from #7 and not the other way around.

The actual push was so powerful that the fragment did not go down for a moment, but on the contrary went up a few meters, which successfully reset its accumulated kinetic energy from the fall. This made it the last piece that needed to be dealt with it, because due to its dimensions, the free impact would be felt across entire island.

Although it was not visible on the brown haired girls standing in circle and especially on Mikoto, it took a lot of work to put this last customer in his place. After all, it was a real fat one, made entirely of metal, which, when it landed on the bottom of the lake, caused minor tremors, even a hint of an earthquake.

Landing of the trio of flying heroes onto the meadow marked the fact that the sky is clear. (except for the magical construction up there) So the girls dissolved the circle. They immediately fell to their knees or otherwise on the ground from exhaustion. The curse of retribution for punishing the guilty certainly hit them too, but since they actually acted as a collective, they were punished as one person and the punishment for one person was distributed among all the participating sisters, so the resulting effect on the individual was minimal, if noticeable.

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Kamijou thanked Mikoto for her efforts and everything seemed fine, although Index, sitting on grass, and Stiyl, standing next to this nun, still had their eyes turned to the sky.

The platinum white girl sighed. "So this time it's obsidian. From what I can see, I'm guessing that they must be desperate now that they're pushing so hard on the whole process to speed it up. Even that sphere shows flaws, and I'm not just talking about the imperfect shape of incomplete state. They'd rather lose the possibility of an effective attack, rather than look at a siege which does not going so well as they had hoped. Yet, we playing a tossing a ball game here."

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Image-Breaker ran a hand through his hair. "Are you really sure the round is real? I can't believe such a perfect shape can be found in this world."

This comment make Index to frown so she opened her mount on the boy. "Touma, you didn't listen to me, did you? So again! That thing behind the sky is basically a giant potter's wheel and a kiln that takes imaginary clay directly from the earth's crust as a reference to the lost fifth planet. They build it in a such way, wherethey can use other materials, which they then transformed into a weaponized catapult shot, using alchemy system and erased all the unnecessary properties that your ability would affect. It's like cooking a layered cake."

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Kamijou dint show if he gets that or not. "Since when do you know anything about cooking?"

Angered, she taped/slapped the grassed meadow as if she taped/slam a table to empathize the point she trying to make. "Touma! By that I mean that at the rate they're rushing things, their entire system is fully overloaded and even a small mistake could cause an explosion that would blow the entire pottery to pieces."

Mikoto smiled darkly. "So~o, they're on their last All-in attempt to crush us before they burn out there, forcing them to take an involuntary break?" She raised her voice. "I won't pretend to understand everything, but dropping the first meteor on me was only supposed to be the beginning of their nefarious assault on Academy City. Is that correct?" She got louder from sentence to sentence. "But they can't focus on another target while the first one is still resisting, because that's they rule? Their fault. First of all, they miscalculated when they decided to attack this city." She stood up and the other brunettes gave her a curious look. "Secondly, they need a real wake-up call because I'm still standing! I definitely wasn't just playing with pebbles when I deposited the metal shards in the lake; I was preparing my next move. It's their fault that the other meteor was made of metal. Their fault for targeting me thinking I'd fell to it. Their fault for obsidian being their next choice." At this moment she was screaming. "So don't blame me, for not liking their attitude!! Because this time, I'll will send their meteor back, with my warm regards!!" She spread her arms out to her sides and a massive electric discharge began to dance around her, growing and growing in intensity.

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As Railgun flexed her muscles, from some corner on the edge of the meadow/picnic area, a figure fully covered in a uniform monk's robes, a battle mage, stuck out. This person pointed his magic wand with a large crystal ball at the end at a particular brunette. He had barely begun to chant when from a side, a green beam flashed before his eyes, eroding his weapon right down to the hilt.

The owner of that beam immediately rushed at him, angry yelling. "Hey you retard!! What do you think you're going to do?! Don't you feel like blasting that kid with the pretty face for the public billboards?! Especially when he's about to take his big game-deciding penalty kick?! Especially when every Paparazzi shall be pointing they camera lens on her?! Isn't it? Your audacity is so embarrassing, that I won't even tell you: (That dammed waiting line is already so damn long, so frag of at its end to take a spot!!)" The attacker tried to pull something out of the folds of his robe, but Mugino already reached him, throwing a kick. She thrust one at him so hard, that it sent him spinning from that hit.

As he crash landed, his robed body break apart/disintegrated as if it were made of burnt clay, leaving behind only the garment and a pile of red inanimate matter. A few seconds passed as #4 looked at the already motionless pile before she picked up the fabric and shook all the debris out of it. Here and there there was a hollow arm or leg like some kind of prosthesis, and the remaining fragments resembled what could have been what. After a while, she started swearing at the address of the slacked of copy.

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The swordswoman watched her. "So the others were just bait so this one could get here?" Kanzaki sighed as she dragged a nice pile of empty robes behind her. She looked around. "The wild boy in white and red is gone too. He probably went for some bait too."

Hearing that, Touma get irritated. "Alright, let's stop for a moment! Seriously, this is an official protest! This aqua park was supposed to be something of an impenetrable fortress for today. Not only were there many teams with unique abilities working together to patrol the outside of the walls, so that not even a mouse could get in here. There was even a countermeasure to expel out people and citizens, or some other disguise. So tell me; (How?), they managed to sneak in a whole army? How many of them are still here?"

Index looked like she was repeating herself unnecessarily. "Touma, that's an improved Tekarat Charm, it's used to create a clay army. There's a pottery factory up there. Somewhere might be thousands of those statues in reserve. Hidden in warehouses, on shelves, boxes or mushrooms. But there are only a limited number of pilots to move they conciseness into them." She clearly ignored the faint confused question from Touma about the mushrooms.

Stiyl proved her right. "I believe so. You could easily defeat the same one opponent quite a few times. You should finally accept the unpleasant fact that someone important person, allowed them to enter this island as if it were some kind of arena! I can already form a picture; that's what our higher-up intended. Like newbie is trying to make a name for itself, but the old participant have it for a plaything. But in the end, they'll use the excuse that they wanted to reduce the whole fight to just this place. They pat us on the back with the sentence: (We knew you could handle it.)"

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Mikoto saw the entire failed assassination attempt. A drop of sweat ran down her forehead and down her cheek as she realized that the attacker in question had timed his lunge for the moment when she would practically be most vulnerable as she would be motionless from focusing on her own move. If the assassin used an ability that her automatic defense wouldn't catch, he could thwart her efforts and do something much more. She took a deep breath and exhaled before taking the next step. Her electric charge, which she maintained in the arc of lightning that danced around her, grew so strong that it was ready to branch out. The electric arc shot up, many meters above her, but instead of a path to the sky it branched off and the individual current. Like a strings they curved and headed for the largest fragments from the metallic asteroid sticking out of the water surface of the lake. The electric circuit created in this way began to manifest itself in another phenomenon that formed under the surface and, so to speak, created a new connection, a new circuit connecting the fragments to each other as if they were electrodes. This mysterious white trail resembled a flow/stream of boiling water or bubbling bubbles. Soon the temperature of the lake rose to such an extent that steam began to rise from it as if it were mountain springs. Heck a wall of rising steam formed above the circle circuit hidden under the water surface of lake, making it a small reference to the city wall that are build atop of a particle collider.

Of course, this did not escape Touma's attention. "Hey Biri-biri, I guess you didn't turn the whole lake into a hydrogen reactor or one giant battery, did you? Even if you're Level-5, this is too absurd even for a school electrical engineering project presented by rich young ladies. What if it was anyone is still in the water? Don't forget that there are people who can't keep it up with you!"

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She yelled back at him as she prepared to counter attack the thing high in the sky "Don't worry, the island is safe. I know what I'm doing! Better let me concentrate!" Yet, she suddenly noticed that she was outmatched in that direction.

Some suspicious dart like cone flew out from somewhere in the city. Exactly same cone as it is sometimes seen to hang under the wings of(the icon of progress in aviation), the huge supersonic machine 'HsB-2'. This object seemed to make its own way upward, propelled by mystical way, at incredible speed, heading directly towards the magical structures.

Just by looking at the given dart like cone, Mikoto could somehow tell that what is behind this phenomenon is not only incredibly powerful, but she would even say that the 'will of someone', inserted into this,is so unbreakable that this move can be describedmore like a form of punishment than a counterattack. The poet would say that it should be about tapping/slapping the fingers of the offender who dared to bark at the wrong ruler/lord.

Yet she got confused as if she hear a person speaking. She was not sure who was speaking, how or what was spoken. But she fell like it was a short message for those up there. Yet it was the dart cone who carried the punch line.

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The magical construct resumed its usual defense and released the circles from its ring. And in large numbers. Far larger that for anything before. Thus a multitude of shields was formed, and wall after wall stood in the way of the dart cone. It was so thick that you couldn't see through them.

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But… The cone flew through them as if they were made of paper, effortlessly piercing any that was in its path. The spike itself ignored the barriers, which stopped not only the cannonballs, but also the meteor. That dart flew into the void in the center of the ring.

No! Obviously that shot rammed into something, that caused a shock wave to sweep through the sky. Something massive, like a hill or a castlewas shaking like during an earthquake. That void thing suddenly seemed to be something like a water surface during a risen wind.

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Moments later, the void in the center of the ring was disappeared like mirage and something that had been hidden from view outside of real space returned to real world. No, like a soap bubble that was coating a flower petal, to carry it through breeze; the carried item fell through the weakened membrane, revealing itself. Or someone can call it, as if something was falling through the painting canvas in the sky, falling from the imaginary heaven down into the mundane world. No, something that was originally pushed up the heavenly sky by an unnatural way, now fell down, when it could no longer hide in its hiding place, where no one could reach it. Or in the words of #7, the culprit was driven out from his dark lair hole.

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At first, it was a fragments and rubles of human like constructions made from stone, that were falling toward the island.

In a moment, like it was a fairy tale story, the thing up there was a flying stone castle. The place, where the void castle gate used to be, looked like a shaft with the remains of a huge hanging cauldron, big enough to cook/prepare the meteors in it.

A series of explosions that swept through the fortress and whose were strong to the point that they even tore off some walls, blowing rooms to dust, revealed that the castle in question had itcounted down. This was also indicated by the magical ring construction under it, which began to lose its magic rings in alarmed rate. One by one, they either voluntarily left their place and went falling down, or simply burst into particles. Something that hold them in place was breaking, like snapping invisible string. One way or another, the whole thing was starting to fall apart, crumbling, sending down debriefs of any type and size.

Eventually, the mystical force that must have held the entire formation up in the sky, began to weaken or disappear as the whole thing began to descend. It was clear that once the castle walls had been overcome, it was already the first fulfilled condition for the castle itself to fall. (In more that one way.)

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But we shall not forget about the obsidian meteor, that was already so close to the island, that it obscured the view of the castle from below.

Touma called out to Mikoto that it was now or never.

Around Railgun, it was already really sparkling in the hint of an ion storm, where it does not rain raindrops but lightning. In one moment, that sparkling person rose into the sky, a good few meters into the air, and a certain cannonball with a puncture mark followed that storm girl. From the metal debris arranged in a circle in the lake, a massive discharges rose towards her, transforming all that energy from external reactor to her possession. She placed the metal ball above her, into which she injected a large amount of electric charge until it glowed with a blue aura.

She braced herself and with a furious battle cry, then she slammed her fist into the ball. Projectile shot out like from a cannon, straight up, trailing behind it a thick tail of electrical current that connected the projectile to Mikoto, who in turn was connected to the lake by more branching discharges through the electrodes within it, which from it they were making one big battery.

The collision of the two bodies created a noisy pressure wave with a blue ring. The meteor itself didn't stand a chance against the cannonball as the metal sunk itself to it, becoming its metal core, as if it was a planet. Predictably, the obsidian bowling ball instantly change the direction and start to rising faster that was falling before.

This time only a few desperate bowling pins stood in its way as a final resistance. At the same time, one of the magical circle barriers disintegrated even before the formation of the shield, and the other could not stand the sight of what was (rolling)at them and gave up by sparkling into particles. On the other hand, the other circles were felling from the structure like dry leaves from a tree in autumn when the wind finally starts to blowing.

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In the harbinger of a certain defeat, the crew of a certain castle proceeded to abandon it. A bystander would expect, since they are, (shall be); wizards or witches; to see flying brooms, carpets, a carriage pulled by Pegasus, riders on Griffins, or other mystified forms of air transport. But what bystanders saw were biplanes from the dawn of motorized aviation, heavier-than-air machines. A wooden skeleton/dragon, mostly covered only with wowed canvas, supplemented with magical symbols and enchantment. Even the big propeller in front was definitely not powered by a classic internal combustion engine. It was clearly a combination of a scientific machine and a magical instrument, as if it were indeed a combination of a flying carpet and a carriage. Proof of this was also their speed and extremely agile maneuvers, which should not be possible at such a height with a biplane. And there were not just a few such machines, but a whole cloud that left the castle in droves. (Heck, at this point one can imagine to see a Santa sledge around them.)

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Shortly after that... An obsidian meteor rolled over everything that looked like walls. He rammed into the flying castle with such force that the shock wave that swept through the stone structure resembled a massive explosion, shattering small pieces like brinks into every direction. But crash was not big enough to blow castle to pieces. Instead, the whole structure was lifted up until it seemed that it would continue up, lifting it into orbit. Surely many of the biplane crews watched in horror as their base, (or air craft carrier), which was about to fall down, ironically flew toward the stars after it knocked a few so-called stars from sky to the ground.

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From the maneuvers of that cloud of biplanes, it was clear that they were about to descend on the city as an invasion squadron.

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Mikoto wondered, if the attackers had mistaken the time-age when they were rollingonto this city, on a planes that she had seen only on the movie screen in a story setting set a hundred years back, to the twenties of the twentieth century. She couldn't believe that they were simply a century behind the current age.

Then something unexpected happened... Despite the fact that they were in the most modern city in the world, which is supposedly twenty years ahead of time, all day long, the sky above the city lacked something that is a matter of course for every big city. That something was air traffic. So far, the only manned flying thing in the sky was the mysterious castle. So when the biplane airborne army took off from it, the alarm sirens warning the population of an air attack were finally heard. (Where they were during that ball exchange game?)

At this signal, a crowd/cloud/flock of war machines rose into the air from the territory of the academic city. This ultra-modern squadron was the complete opposite of the squadron that gave the impression that it belonged in an antiquarian bookshop. This formation, or rather the grouping, that these modern squadrons maintained, was more like a harbinger of a large-scale naval battle. The AC-side could be described as one big fleet of air machines, because not everything could be called an airplane or an airship. From super-modern fighters, through helicopters, to drones, which increasingly had more bizarre shapes. Some looked like overgrown metal insects that from somewheregrab some weaponry that looks like from a sci-fi movie. Others resembled a space robots that must have come from a sci-fi movie. (Okay, one flying saucer look like an overgrown flying rumba, an automaticbroom. Are we cleaning something?)

If these two squadrons going to met in a dogfight, the sky would be filled with lights from gunfire, explosions, smoke and who knows what else. Before long, a disproportionate amount of debris and stray munitions would begin to fall on the city districts, if not fly over the main wall onto Tokyo or such. Maybe that's why the city chose the tactics of intimidation, when by showing their (power) and slow march like progress of a clearly legible formation that push forward the battle front, they wanted to motivate the opponent to choose a retreat before a fight.

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One way or another, many biplane crews decided to leave the battlefield. Gradually, more and more joined this idea, until finally the others also decided that there was no point in continuing, and the cloud began an organized retreat.

The city's formation spread out to the sides to encourage the uninvited guests from the castle to leave their airspace to the east, the shortest way to the ocean and out of Japan's territory. They were practically pushing out that biplane flock out of the Academy city territory.

Yes, there were braver pilots of biplanes who, as if they did not want to accept the decision of the majority, turned their machines against the advancing formations of AC. But in the end, they too gave up and turned their machines again, heading after the flock.

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Mikoto soaked in her own sweat, also severed her electrical connection with the cannonball and thus stopped pushing the castle up, or what was left of it, into orbit. As she descend and landed on the ground, she was still watching the ascending object. In addition to still flying up and leaving the atmosphere, it was burning due to friction and discharges.

Her attention was re-shifted at something else, up there. A bright glowing dot approaching the castle from high orbit, fully caught the brunette's attention. She realized that it was undoubtedly a rocket coming down from the space station. By its size,this missile contained a massive cluster charge and served as a last resort in case something got out of control to the point of endangering the world or the station. That something was now a fresh candidate for new space junk.

We shall make specify that: The station's defense AI has been known for its aggressive, directly explosive, approach to the issue of space debris that wants to get close to it.

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Shortly thereafter, the castle like stone dwelling, including the obsidian meteor, was blown apart into a dust, in a flurry of explosions that could be seen from the ground.

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[ Notes ]

-A mass driver or electromagnetic catapult is a proposed method of non-rocket spacelaunch which would use a linear motor to accelerate and catapult payloads up to high speeds. Existing and proposed mass drivers use coils of wire energized by electricity to make electromagnets, though a rotary mass driver has also been proposed.

-Name #7, Sogiita Gunha, can be translated as Supreme Court Martial. (Supremacy of the Military Court) Of course this character tends to give unrealistic explanations to questions about how his abilities work and what happened when he did this and that. Scientific explanations in early science fiction comics sounded similar, causing contradiction that lead to a broken ability or broken world building.

-Tidal forces- is a secondary effect of gravitational force. Very briefly, these are periodic changes in the distribution of the mass of astronomical bodies, which are affected by attractive and centrifugal force. It works from atomic particles to planets and beyond. For example, our planet is not a perfect sphere, but it flattens and expands, and this does not only apply to the oceans, but also to the mass.

The internationally recognized height (as a constant) from which you are considered in space is 100 km above sea level. Recently, this limit has been moved to 80 km.

-Terracotta Army - Tekarota is a type of (clay?) from which an army of clay statures was made to guard the tomb/ to accompany a certain Chinese emperor in his afterlife. Every single soldier had his face modeled after his real life model, so exactly that you would mistake them for the real thing. It's so well done that when they opened the tomb to the public and people could look down at the faces of the soldiers from the ledge/promenade; one student dressed up as a tekarot soldier, climbed down and stood with the others. It took the patrol a good while before they noticed him and escorted him out. Allegedly, when the statue of the general was being made/cook, that general (who was the model) jumped into the furnace to anchor his soul to his statue.

-Paparazzi - for example, journalist, journalist, sensation hunter, cutting photographer

- Ceremonies use direct references to the magician's surroundings. From the layout of furniture, through clothing the caster wearing, to the position of people to monuments or natural landmarks. In this respect, Index is at least a Level above the others. So when a change occur on her surrounding, she doesn't change them, but adapts to them. Hence the reference to her Observer ability, which expands to Spell Interceptor if she finds a hole. Therefore, its automatic defense does not react to something that is not a threat and is actually just part of the environment.

-Kami - In Japan, it is a description for a soul/spirit that resides in something and is strong enough to manifest. Demons, angels, guardian deities, evil spirits, ghosts, divine entities, or creatures fall into this category. Waterfalls, mountains or large trees can also be marked with this term. Predominantly, Kami [God] is used for 'good'/intelligent magical entities and are objects of worship. While Mazoku [demon] for 'evil'/diabolical or for the beast of destruction and terror.