Touma and I followed a path towards the bridge, upon reaching it we saw her. Misaka Mikoto, staring off into the distance thinking to herself. "HEY, MISAKA. WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING." Touma called out to her in the distance.
Misaka turned back to Touma, with a helpless expression. "I'm the level 5 railgun and I can do whatever I want. Did you forget that?"
Touma could only sigh before I pulled out something from his pockets. "We found this inside of your room, wanna explain to us what it is?" I question her with a bit of mockery.
I show her the insane report printed on twenty or so sheets of copy paper. In that moment, Mikoto Misaka's everyday act shattered into a million pieces. She probably didn't realize where the muscles in her face were moving; her cheeks twitched like it had broken. His heart throbbed with anguish.
"Aah, jeez, why do you do this stuff?" she shot back, cutting me off. "If you've got that report, that means you came into my room without asking, didn't you? And then you went looking inside a stuffed animal…You're more persistent than a sister-in-law, you know that? Man. I guess I'm supposed to be thankful or something that you got so deeply into this to the point where you forget what's going on around you, but you know, that would normally get you executed. Executed!"
Mikoto said all this casually, grinning as always. That smile looked like it had let go of something, and it made his chest hurt even more.
"So would you mind telling me just one thing?" Mikoto's voice—bright and fairly forceful. Kamijou reflexively asked, "What?"
"In the end, you 2 saw that and thought I needed to be worried about? Did you think that you couldn't forgive me?
Her voice was oddly cheerful.
It was as if she knew we had come to denounce her. It was as if she thought that no one in the entire world would actually worry about her. Her voice strangely struck a nerve.
"Just cut the shit out Misaka." I spat out obviously with righteous fury. "We know that you're gonna do something stupidly reckless, that's why we're here, to help you out and make sure you don't get yourself killed."
My reckless outburst had Misaka startled for a little bit but she regained her bearings and responded "Well, I guess someone lying like that is better than no one saying anything at all, no?"
A tense silence hit the atmosphere for a few seconds. Then out of nowhere she started laughing. She laughed with eyes that had given up on something, with eyes witnessing a distant dream.
Touma decided to step up and speak instead of me, "We're not lying, we care about you" The words found their way out of Kamijou's mouth automatically. "What…?" Mikoto scowled. "I said, We're not fucking lying!" he yelled back. Mikoto's shoulders started trembling more than the black cat's. For some reason, he just couldn't forgive her for making that face.
"Look Misaka" I said, pausing the conversation with Touma and Buzzy zap zap. "We apologize for going into your room and all that stuff, but what are you doing? I don't think you got this report by asking permission, either. There was this map buried there. They all seem like institutes researching sicknesses, but what are those red X marks drawn on it? It's almost like…"
I paused, letting her answer the question for me. "…Like they're kill marks, I presume?" Her voice was emotionless enough to fill Touma with terror. It was transparent, and it could freeze someone solid if they had known her before now.
For a moment, the only sound was the distant city hum. The black cat at her feet looked up at her anxiously.
"Well, that's what they are," she said, her tone shifting abruptly into a false, singsong cheerfulness that was more disturbing than her silence. "But it's not like I went all Railgun on them or anything like that. A single piece of lab machinery costs millions. I just got in through the Internet and used my power to blow 'em to bits. So the institutes that can't function anymore go under, and their projects get frozen for good…"
Mikoto said all this like she was trying to convince herself it was a fun game, but she stopped abruptly, the hollow cheer vanishing from her eyes.
"…Well, at least, they were supposed to."
"Supposed…to?" Touma asked, the question leaving my lips before I could stop it.
"Yeah." Her voice was completely drained now. "It's actually pretty easy to shut down one or two research institutions. But some other one ends up picking up the experiment where it left off. However many I squash, however many times I get in their way, the experiment just keeps getting passed on. I guess the prospect of the first-ever Level Six is just too sweet for those important scientists to turn a blind eye to."
It was as if her voice contained an enlightened despair, like she had lived a thousand years and bore witness to all the darkness of the human heart.
"…You know those kids?" she dropped the question like a stone. "They all say they're test animals with a straight face. Test animals." she repeated, almost angrily. "I looked it up because it was bothering me, but boy, is it cruel. They cut holes open in their live skulls with a saw without even giving them anesthesia, then drip drugs directly into their brains, all in a search for data. They see how many millimeters of the medicine it takes before they start coughing up blood and die in agony. They do this every single day and record their results in, like, picture diaries. When they run out of data, they put together a male and a female in a cage. Then, when the experiment is over, they just dump the leftover mice into an incinerator."
She clenched her teeth, and her throat moved like it was suppressing a gag.
"Those kids all know exactly what test animals are. And yet they still call themselves that totally calmly."
Unable to stand it, she bit down on her lip. A trickle of red blood welled from the spot.
"But we have the report, right?" Touma cut in, his own voice strained with a desperate hope. "If we hand it in properly to the Anti-Skills, wouldn't the board do something about it? Isn't cloning humans against international law?"
Mikoto's face twisted into an expression of pure, astounded pity at his naivete.
"From a human point of view the experiment is wrong, but from a scholar's point of view, it's correct. Even if it breaks the law, even if they're shouldering huge risks, and even if their methods stray into the inhumane, it's science that 'needs' to be carried out."
"That's insane! Who would let something that crazy—?" Touma yelled, his frustration boiling over.
"Yeah, it's crazy," she agreed, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. "But don't you think it's strange? This city is constantly under the surveillance of those satellites. It doesn't matter how much you sneak around. It shouldn't be possible to fool the eye in the skies."
The implication hit me like a physical blow, and I saw the same horrified understanding dawn on Touma's face. That could only mean one thing.
"They're keeping quiet about it," Misaka confirmed, her eyes locking with ours, ensuring we understood the full gravity of our situation. "And that includes the city police, the Anti-Skills and Judgment, of course. They're in control of the city's laws, so if we just waltz up with a report in our hands, they could just capture us instead." explained, lowering her gaze to the black cat at her feet…as if trying to fight back her anger.
Honestly, I forget how fucking evil this city is. Like I knew it was bad but I think we should nuke the whole city. Those antagonists in anime that want to incinerate humanity don't sound half bad right now.
"…This is wrong," Touma rumbled, his voice low with a fury that wasn't just his own. I watched him, my own hands clenched into fists at my sides.
Mikoto gave him that exhausted, adult smile—the one that pretended he just didn't get it.
"Yes, it is wrong. Relying on someone else is wrong. This is a problem I created, so it falls to me to take responsibility and rescue those kids."
I couldn't stay quiet any longer. "Responsibility?" I cut in, my voice sharp. "Don't pretty it up. You're talking about throwing yourself at a dude who can chuck building, you know you can't beat. You're not taking responsibility; you're committing suicide by Accelerator and calling it a plan."
Her head snapped towards me, the smile faltering for a split second before hardening. "When you think about it, it's simple. If the whole Accelerator part goes away, the experiment falls apart."
"You're lying," Touma said, his words a blunt hammer. He was always better at the simple, undeniable truths.
But I was better at the details. "He's right, and we both know it," I said, stepping forward to stand beside Touma, a united front. "We've seen the data. The Tree Diagram's prediction was 185 moves. You're not planning a fight. You're planning a performance. A one-act play where you trip, fall, and get splattered on the first move to make the scientists doubt their precious data."
I let the ugly image hang in the air. "You're going to let him kill you to make a point. Because the satellite's gone, and they can't run the numbers again. That's your 'chance'."
Kamijou sucked in a sharp breath, the final, horrifying piece clicking into place for him. But for me, it was just stating the grim facts we'd already uncovered.
Mikoto's ragged grin was a brittle thing. "It's all I can do. It's the only move I have left."
"And what if it doesn't work?" I pressed, my voice dropping, losing its edge for something heavier. "What if they see right through your little act? Or what if they don't care? You die for nothing, and the Sisters keep right on marching to their deaths. Your sacrifice becomes a statistic. Is that the 'responsibility' you want?"
"I get it…," Touma sighed, the sound full of a pain I felt echoing in my own chest. "You're trying to die, aren't you?"
"Yes." She nodded, a single, stark admission.
"You seriously believe that by dying you can save the last ten thousand Sisters, don't you?"
"Yes."
Then she took a single, determined step forward, her eyes fixed past us. "Now that you understand, get out of my way. I'm going to meet Accelerator."
"I'm not moving," Touma said, his body tensing like a wall.
Mikoto looked genuinely startled. "You're not…moving…?"
"No," I answered for both of us, my voice final. I shifted my weight, planting my feet firmly beside Touma, blocking the path completely. "He's not moving, and neither am I. Your plan is a last resort for someone who thinks they're alone. But you're not. We read the report. We know the stakes. And we're telling you—there's another way. So you're not going anywhere near him."
Misaka, hearing our words, started getting furious at our antics. Lips atremble with anger, she laid down her next words with a disbelieving expression.
"What…are you saying? Do you know what you're saying right now? If I don't die, ten thousand Sisters will be killed. Or do you have some other way? You're not really thinking that it's okay if they die because they're just degraded copies…?"
The air grew heavy, thick with her despair and our defiance. I saw Touma flinch, but his resolve didn't break. He didn't have a plan, but he had a heart, and right now, that was enough.
"I still don't want to," he said, the words simple and devastating.
A flicker of surprise crossed her face before it was consumed by pure, unadulterated fury. "I see. You're gonna stop me, huh? You think the lives of ten thousand Sisters aren't worth anything, huh?"
The air crackled, the scent of ozone sharp and threatening. The black cat at her feet flattened its ears and bolted.
"I can't stand seeing those kids be hurt any longer. This is my final warning, got it? Get out of the way."
Touma silently shook his head.
"Fine! I won't hold back, either!" she snarled, pale blue sparks dancing around her shoulders. "So ball your fists like your life depends on it… because if you don't, you're really gonna die."
I watched the seven meters between them, a chasm of misunderstanding and pain. Words had failed. I saw Touma make his choice, a choice I couldn't make. He thrust his right hand out to the side, not in a fist, but open. A cross. A refusal to fight.
"Wait, what the heck are you…?" Mikoto stammered, her confidence wavering.
"I won't fight," he said, and the words seemed to shatter something in her.
"Are you…stupid?!" she screamed, the electricity around her flaring uncontrollably. "I'm telling you, fight me!"
But Touma just stood there, his open hands a testament to his resolve. "I still will not fight you…!"
Her shoulders shook with violent tremors. "Damn it! I'm telling you to fight me, damn it!!"
A spear of lightning, a billion volts of raw power, erupted from her bangs. It wasn't aimed to miss this time. It flew straight for Touma's heart, a demand for him to finally, finally fight back.
Touma didn't move.
But I did.
I wasn't going to let him take that hit. I shoved him aside, my own power flaring to life. A golden portal opened up and in it I pulled out one of the strongest shields I could recall, Lord Camelot. The shield Mash Kyrielight used in Fate Grand Order.
The electric lance didn't just vanish like it would against Touma's hand. It slammed into my shield with the force of a freight train. The impact sent shocks vibrating up my arms, the sound a deafening crackle-roar of energy being forcibly contained and dissipated. Light flared, blinding and blue-white, illuminating the entire bridge in a stark, terrifying snapshot.
When the light faded, we were unharmed. But the strain of blocking that attack was too much for me. Smoke curled from the shield's surface, and my arms felt numb, but we were unharmed. I stood braced, breathing heavily, between a stunned Touma and a horrified Mikoto.
Mikoto stared, her eyes wide with shock. She had trusted, in her own twisted way, that Touma would nullify it. She never expected me to intercept it. She never expected this.
"Wh…" she whispered, the anger draining from her face, replaced by pure, unadulterated confusion. "Why…?"
I met her gaze, my voice steady despite the adrenaline coursing through me. "I told you," I said, the words cutting through the ringing silence. "We're not letting you go through this alone. And that means we're not letting you make him hit you, and we're not letting you hit him. We're stopping you, Misaka. But we're not fighting you."
I brought my hands up, not in a fist, but mirroring Touma's cross, only with a shield in hand. A second, unwavering wall.
"Your way isn't the only way."
The silence after that was heavier than the attack itself. Mikoto stared, her breath catching, as the residual energy from her blast crackled harmlessly against the bridge around us.
It was Touma who broke the silence, his voice raw but steady. "…You…realize it, too, right? No one is gonna…be helped by this. Even if you die and you saved the lives of ten thousand Sisters…You think they'll be thankful they were saved by you doing this? The Sisters you wanted to save aren't that petty!"
"Shut up! Just be quiet already and fight!" Mikoto's scream was a desperate, broken thing. She whirled on him, electricity arcing wildly around her. "I'm not the good person you think I am! I dumped a billion volts of lightning into you, so why the hell do you still not get it?!"
Another spear of lightning, less focused but just as violent, lanced out from her. This one was pure, emotional backlash.
Touma didn't move. He took the blast square in the chest.
The force of it sent him stumbling back a step, his shoes scraping against the asphalt. A wisp of smoke rose from his singed shirt. But he didn't fall. He gritted his teeth, his body trembling from the shock, and forced himself to stand straight again.
"I already killed more than ten thousand people!" she cried, her voice cracking with the weight of a guilt we knew wasn't hers to bear. "There's no reason it would be okay for a villain like me to live in this world! Why the hell are you standing up for a villain?!"
"You're not a damn villain," he said, the words simple and absolute.
I stepped forward, my own voice cutting through her hysterics. "He's right. A villain wouldn't be trying to sacrifice herself to save others. A villain wouldn't be standing here having a breakdown because she might have hurt her friends." I gestured to Touma, who was still standing, a testament to her own subconscious mercy. "Look at him. Really look."
Touma locked eyes with her, his gaze unwavering. "If you were a bad person, then why am I still alive?"
"Eh?" Mikoto stammered, the fight draining from her posture.
"You said a billion volts. There's no way a normal human could live after being jolted by that kind of high tension. Didn't you think you were doing something strange? Or maybe you were holding back unconsciously or something like that."
"Holding…back?" she whispered, her face a mask of confusion and denial. "There's…no way. I was ready to kill you. I knew that you were…defenseless…and I knew you wouldn't resist…but I still…!"
"But you still couldn't kill me," Touma stated, a final, unshakeable fact.
"…" Mikoto's abruptly went silent after that declaration
Touma stared at her, battered but unbroken, a faint, weary grin on his face. "For you, giving your life to save the Sisters might be your final dream—" he said, his voice raspy but clear. "But in the end, despite that…You're a good enough person that you can't even kill the people trying to steal your final hope, aren't you?"
The sound that escaped her was a whimper. The fight drained out of her, leaving only a lost, confused child. I could see it now—her entire brutal confession, her violent outbursts, it was all a desperate play to drive us away, to make us give up on her so we wouldn't follow her into the abyss.
"Just…stop it," she begged, her hands clutching her head.
But we wouldn't. We were in this now, all the way.
"I have to die to save those kids! There's no other way! Isn't that enough?! I'll die by myself, and if that can rescue everyone, that's a wonderful thing, right?! If you think that, then get out of my way!"
She shut her eyes tight, as if she could block out our resolve.
—But she must have felt us standing there, unmoving.
"…You'll die," she whispered, a final, desperate warning. "If you take the full brunt of my next attack, you definitely won't survive! So if you don't want to die, then get out of my way!"
The air itself began to scream. This was different. The harmless, high-voltage sparks were gone, replaced by a deep, resonant hum that made the fillings in my teeth ache. This was real. She was gathering everything, pushing past her subconscious limits, forging a killing intent she had never truly possessed before.
Touma didn't flinch. He didn't take a single step back.
And I knew, with a cold certainty, that he wouldn't raise his hand to stop it. His choice was made. He would rather die than fight her.
Mikoto bit her lip, a single tear tracing a path through the grime on her cheek. She screamed, and the world turned white.
A bona fide spear of lightning, one meant to pierce the heavens and erase a life, erupted from her. It wasn't aimed to intimidate or to test. It was aimed to kill.
Touma, true to his word, kept his right hand open at his side.
In that frozen instant, I did not step in front of Touma. I stood my ground beside him, my voice rising not in a shout, but in a clear, resonant declaration that cut through the storm's roar.
"True name unleashed."
The words carried weight, reality itself bending to their command.
"I will stand on the seat of catastrophe."
The space before us shimmered, not with heat, but with the promise of a manifested ideal.
"That which heals all wounds and grudges, our glorious homeland."
A brilliant, golden light began to coalesce, weaving itself into a form both ancient and eternal.
"Manifest yourself,"
The light solidified, etching the air with the patterns of a celestial city, a round shield that was more than an object—it was a testament, a legend given form.
"LORD CAMELOT!"
The spear that was meant to cause significant damage, fizzled out when it came into contact with the fully manifested noble phantasm.
The light faded, and the shield vanished, its duty fulfilled.
The silence that followed was heavier than any sound. There was no scorched earth, no ringing in our ears. There was only the three of us, standing on the bridge, completely and utterly unharmed. The air was clean, the bridge undamaged. It was as if her ultimate attack had never existed.
Mikoto's eyes opened wide, her breath catching in her throat.
"Ah…"
It was less a word and more the sound of a paradigm shattering. She saw Touma, untouched. She saw me, standing calmly, my arm lowering. She saw that her ultimate, soul-crushing attack had failed to do any damage.
The black cat mewled, its innocent eyes reflecting the impossible scene.
Her gaze fell upon me, and then to Touma, and the last of her resolve shattered. Bluffing didn't work. Fighting didn't work. Even her genuine, desperate attempt to kill had been rendered not just ineffective, but utterly, conceptually meaningless.
With a soft, despairing sigh that held the weight of a thousand broken battles, the last of the strength left her legs. Her shoulders slumped, and she crumpled to her knees, her head bowing in defeat and she started uncontrollably sobbing.
The golden light of Lord Camelot dissipated, not as a fading ember, but as a promise fulfilled, its essence returning to the shimmering golden ripples of the Gate of Babylon behind me. The absolute silence that followed was more powerful than any thunder.
I walked forward, my steps firm on the unscorched asphalt. Mikoto was on her knees, her head bowed, the fight utterly gone from her. The grand and terrible script she had written for herself—the tragic martyr—had been ripped to shreds by a power that represented the very antithesis of solitary sacrifice.
I knelt before her, not in pity, but to meet her gaze.
"Misaka," I said, my voice quiet but iron-clad. "We're going to help you. No matter what."
She didn't look up, her shoulders trembling with silent sobs.
Touma stepped up beside me, his presence a solid, unwavering support. "He's right. There's no walking away from this. Not for us. Not anymore."
Then, I laid out the new strategy, the one her own diagram had just revealed. "Tell us where Accelerator is." Her head twitched slightly at the name. "You said it yourself. This entire research is based on what the Tree Diagram predicted. And its predictions are all based on one, single, foundational fact..."
I let the words hang in the air, the logic now inescapable.
Touma finished the thought, his voice sharp with realization. "...The fact that Accelerator is the strongest."
The air shifted. The despair that had choked the bridge began to recede, not with false hope, but with the clean, sharp scent of a new plan. We weren't just offering to share her burden; we were offering to dismantle the very pillar holding the experiment up.
I pressed on, the strategy crystallizing. "If this research is all based on him being the strongest, and we make them think he's actually totally weak..." I gestured to the now-empty space where her diagram had been. "The entire project loses its justification. It's not about you dying to prove the data has a flaw. It's about us proving he's not the strongest. We break their god, and his church collapses."
I looked from her wide, shocked eyes to Touma's determined face.
"So tell us," I said, my voice final. "Where is he? We're ending this."
Touma nodded, his expression grim but resolved. He turned to go, but then paused, looking back at the girl still kneeling on the ground, looking small and lost.
He offered her a small, tired, but genuine smile.
"Just wait for us," he said, his voice carrying a quiet promise that cut deeper than any grand oath. "We're gonna bring Little Misaka back."
The words hung in the air, simple and profound
Then, together, we turned and ran into the neon-drenched night, leaving the Level 5 Railgun behind us, not as a broken martyr, but as someone who finally, finally, had someone she could rely on.
As me and Touma ran. The weight of what we were about to do was a physical pressure in the air. Beside me, Touma shot a glance my way, his eyes sharp.
"Oogimiya," he called out, his voice cutting through the rush of air. "Are you sure you can fight? Your hands are shaking, in case you haven't noticed."
I looked down. He was right. A fine, uncontrollable tremor was running through my fingers, the muscles in my forearms twitching with residual strain. I hadn't even noticed. I clenched them into fists, but the shaking only became more obvious.
I looked back at him, a wry, slightly strained grin on my face. "I don't usually pull out the actual weapons," I admitted, the words coming out between breaths. "I mostly just launch them at my enemies from the Gate. It's easier on the system. But for that... for a shield that absolute... I wanted to put on a show. What can I say?"
I invoked a true noble phantasm, at a time like this. I honestly couldn't be more stupid. Gilgamesh can use every noble phantasm, but he can't put it to its fullest potential. He's a jack of all trades, can use every weapon but he hasn't mastered any.
Touma's expression was unreadable for a moment, processing the implication that the unbreakable defense he'd just witnessed came with a physical price. Then he gave a sharp nod, his gaze turning forward again, towards the coming fight.
"Just don't break before we get there," he said, not with criticism, but with a gruff sort of concern. The shaking in my hands didn't stop, but my resolve hardened. I pushed my body faster, matching his pace.
…
End of chapter, I started and finished this chapter today, I honestly should've dropped this chapter awhile ago but I was just thinking on some things and couldn't find any motivation to even start it but here it is now, I hope you liked it. Oh and by the way Gilgamesh can use every noble phantasm inside of his gate of babylon, so don't get on my dick for having my SI use Lord Camelot. Alright I'll see you guys next time.