A Certain Magical Index: The Primal Spirit Descends to My Side

Beneath the broken overpass, the wind swirled dust and the smell of burning. The "baby" floating in mid-air gradually drifted away, flying towards some inconspicuous facility in the distance.

A barrage of gunfire erupted as dozens of guards, using the makeshift defense formed by the bridge wreckage, fired their rifles simultaneously. Every few rounds, a tracer bullet traced a dense pattern through the air.

Bullets rained down on its translucent body, creating ripples that spread across its surface. The bullets shattered its tiny tentacles, but it regenerated even faster to fill the gaps. It simply turned back to clear out the guards with two tentacles before continuing its flight.

It's on the edge of the Seventh School District, home to a medium-sized nuclear power plant that supplies electricity to the surrounding area.

The intense gunfire continued to echo, and the guards exchanged bewildered glances, their hands trembling slightly as they gripped their rifles. They watched the monster continue to drift, their courage, honed by riot shields and tear gas, seeming utterly powerless before this supernatural being, yet their fingers remained firmly on the trigger.

A streak of blue and white lightning fell from the sky, and Misaka Mikoto landed in front of the defensive line.

"You all retreat!" she shouted back to the guards, her short, brown hair ruffled by the wind from her rapid run. "This thing can't be dealt with by conventional weapons! Staying here will only result in pointless sacrifices!"

The squad leader looked at her, then at the faintly visible dome of the nuclear power plant in the distance, and his Adam's apple bobbed.

"Do you know why we're stopping it?" The squad leader pressed a metal plate against his leg, then wrapped it with bandages again and again. "There's a nuclear reactor behind that, little girl. If that thing gets in, District Seven will be finished."

He gripped his rifle tightly and helped up his colleague, who had been injured by the tentacles. "We might not be able to penetrate it, but we must not give up..."

Misaka Mikoto was stunned. She looked at these people wearing bulletproof vests, with blood on their foreheads, who were clearly terrified but did not back down an inch. It felt like something had hit her chest hard.

"I see…"

She turned to face the fantastical beast. Lightning crackled on her forehead. "I'll hold it off. You all step back and stay out of its attack range!"

Sizzle—!

Blue and white lightning streaked through the air as Misaka Mikoto used magnetism to attract the steel bars of the bridge. She was launched by a powerful magnetic field, tracing a sharp straight line in the air, attempting to intercept the path of the fantasy beast.

"Don't even think about going there!"

She made a fist with her right hand, forcibly gathering the free electrons into three lightning spears, which she fired simultaneously at the fantastical beast. The high-voltage current tore through the air, producing a piercing explosion.

It hit its mark.

This time, it worked.

The lightning spear pierced three holes in the translucent body of the fantasy beast. Blue-white electricity surged wildly, tearing obvious cracks in its surface and disrupting the starlight flowing within. The fantasy beast abruptly stopped its drifting motion and let out a sharp screech.

"It works!" Misaka Mikoto's heart leaped with joy.

But her joy lasted only a moment. At the edges of the torn void, the translucent body writhed as if alive. In less than two seconds, the three holes were filled in completely. Not only that, the repaired body seemed to be nourished, visibly expanding another size, and the flow of starlight within it became even more rapid.

"It's no use..." Kiyama Harumi struggled to his feet, his white coat fluttering in the wind. "Its regeneration speed is too fast... and it absorbs the energy from attacks... converting it into nutrients for its own growth... the harder you hit it, the bigger and faster it grows..."

As if to confirm her words, the fantastic beast opened its mouth again. The residual ionized energy in the air, the lingering heat, and even the faint bioelectric field emanating from Misaka Mikoto's body were all drawn into its mouth by an invisible force field, swirling like a vortex. Its size visibly swelled again, moving from the size of an infant to the form of a toddler.

"What?!" Misaka Mikoto's pupils contracted. The attack was effective, but it actually accelerated its growth? "Then how do I stop it?!"

"Sever the 'core'..." Kiyama Harumi pointed to his temple, "It was born from the 'Fantasy Master' network... As long as the network exists, it can obtain near-infinite regenerative power from the parallel processing of ten thousand brains... We must simultaneously sever the connection between all users and the network... making its regenerative foundation disappear..."

"What should we do?"

"Uninstall the program... By interfering with brainwaves through synesthetic audio, forcibly disconnecting the network connection... But it needs to cover the entire Academy City's playback area... and it must be completed before it comes into contact with a high-energy source... Once the audio takes effect and the network is disconnected, its regenerative ability will completely disappear, and only then can it be truly 'killed'..."

"So where is the audio?"

"In the hands of that 'disciplinary committee member'..."

"Early spring?"

Time was running out. Misaka Mikoto gritted her teeth, turned, and rushed towards the blue sports car. Uiharu Kazari was still unconscious in the passenger seat, clutching the memory card tightly in her hand. Misaka Mikoto gently shook her awake: "Uiharu! Wake up! I need your help!"

Haru Shiori groggily opened her eyes and saw Misaka Mikoto's anxious face. She instantly became alert: "Misaka-senpai? What happened... Ah!" She saw a fantastical beast that had obviously grown larger as it drifted toward the nuclear power plant in the distance, and her face turned pale.

"Memory card! That program! How come it's playing throughout the whole city?" Misaka Mikoto spoke very quickly, anxiously pressing on Uiharu Kazari's shoulder.

Kazari Uiharu looked down at the card in her hand, her mind racing: "The Academy City's public address system has emergency broadcast nodes in each school district, but that requires authorization... The Disciplinary Committee members don't have enough authorization; only the Security Command Center has the authority to broadcast throughout the entire area..."

"The security personnel were all wiped out!" Misaka Mikoto clenched her fists. "Is there any other way?"

Shiori Haruyuki looked around, her gaze settling on a signal tower in the distance above the overpass: "That's... the district's regional broadcasting tower. Although its range only covers this district, a strong signal transmission might interfere with the AIM field resonance of other districts. Disconnecting this district's connection might weaken it..."

"Then let's do it!" Misaka Mikoto pulled her out of the car. "I'll hold it off! You go to the broadcast tower!"

Chu Chun Shiri nodded emphatically, clutching the memory card as she ran towards the cell tower. Her steps were still a little unsteady, but her eyes were resolute.

Misaka Mikoto turned to face the fantastical beast once more. It had already drifted nearly five hundred meters away, less than two kilometers from the outer perimeter of the nuclear power plant's protective fence. She took a deep breath and pushed all her magnetic power to its limit.

The entire steel structure of the viaduct began to tremble. Broken steel bars, twisted guardrails, scattered vehicle parts... all the metal objects were suspended by magnetic force, forming a dark "cloud of iron sand" behind her.

"Don't even think about taking another step forward...!"

She pushed her hands forward with all her might, and the iron sand cloud roared like a black tsunami, sweeping towards the fantasy beast.

The fantasy beast reacted again, raising its translucent little hand and pressing forward. The invisible psychic field collided head-on with the iron sand cloud, producing a dull thud. The iron sand cloud was forcefully blocked, but the enormous impact also caused the fantasy beast to slide backward dozens of meters.

However, the kinetic energy dissipated during the collision and the heat generated by friction were greedily absorbed by it once again. Its body swelled even larger, and its arms became even thicker. It no longer passively endured the attacks, but actively swung its arms, and several beams of light suddenly shot from the halo above its head into the distance, one of them heading towards…

The direction of early spring decoration!

In an instant, the beam of light reached Hatsuharu Shiori's side, grazed her body, and struck the railing beside her. A hollow steel pipe flew out and hit Hatsuharu Shiori on the head, causing her to kneel on the ground with a thud, feeling dizzy and lightheaded.

"Early Spring!"

Misaka Mikoto, preoccupied with intercepting the fantasy beast, couldn't see clearly whether Uiharu Kazari on the overpass was injured. She only glared even more furiously at the fantasy beast, the electric current emanating from her head unusually strong.

"Don't waste time attacking other places, I'm your match!" Just as the fantasy beast was about to fire another beam of light, Misaka Mikoto shattered a piece of its head. "Come at me head-on!"

The fantastical beast let out a piercing shriek, and the tissues in its head regenerated in an instant. Its tentacles immediately slashed down at Misaka Mikoto, but were severed by electric current before they could even touch her.

The fantastical beast swung its other tentacle again, this time with a horizontal slash combined with ice spikes gathering on its back. But before it could strike, it was severed and blocked by electricity. Misaka Mikoto stretched out her hand, and a surge of electricity flowed out, not attacking directly, but bypassing its body and enveloping it in the current.

Its outer skin was being blasted apart by electric current every second, yet it was regenerating every second. The fantastical beast continuously emitted shrieks, absorbing the attacks, but every tiny bit of growth was pierced and exploded by the electric current.

"That's... an electric field?" Kiyama Harumi shielded his eyes from the intense light, observing Misaka Mikoto's attack method: "The current didn't strike directly, but instead used an electric field to counteract the high temperature generated by the current and disintegrate the surface tissue..."

Misaka Mikoto gritted her teeth. She looked at the fantasy beast, which she had controlled and could not move, but she was also trapped and unable to move. Moreover, this output was a bit strenuous for her. If Uiharu Kazari did not finish the broadcast within half an hour, she might run out of strength.

Is this how it ends?

Just then…

The wind stopped.

It didn't stop; rather, "existence" itself was redefined. Within a one-kilometer radius of the broadcast tower, the space suddenly solidified into an absolute "tranquility."

It wasn't silence, but rather the concept of "sound" was temporarily stripped away. Light no longer traveled in straight lines, but bent and refracted in the air, forming countless still arcs of rainbow light, illuminating the entire area as if it were the inside of a kaleidoscope.

The fantasy beast truly "turned around" for the first time.

Its body, now swollen to a size larger than the overpass, turned completely, its large eyes gazing towards the radio tower. All traces of confusion and wariness vanished from the baby's face, leaving only the most primal, instinctive fear of "the end."

Atop the signal transmitter at the top of the broadcast tower, a figure stood silently. Long, greyish-white hair cascaded down in the absolute stillness of the space, each strand clearly discernible. A pure white spirit dress—Divine Might Spirit Dress Zero—covered her entire body, layers of gauze skirts moving without wind, their edges flowing with beautiful particles.

The crown of light and veil she wore exuded a gentle yet undeniable majesty within the still rainbow. She opened her eyes, and deep within her grey pupils, colorful nebulae slowly swirled, eventually settling into an indescribable hue.

She didn't look at Misaka Mikoto, Kiyama Harumi, or Uiharu Kazari. Her gaze was fixed on the fantastical beast, and then she raised her right hand.

Fingers loosely clenched, palm facing upwards.

Her voice did not travel through the air, but resounded directly in the consciousness of all observers. Calm and ethereal, yet carrying an absolute power that transcended all laws, each syllable caused the surrounding reality to tremble slightly.

"Church of All Things"

Om-!

In the void, a gigantic "flower" appeared before her. Intricate leaves gradually unfurled, revealing a young girl lying at its stamen. It was not a material flower, but a tangible manifestation of the law of "death." As the petals unfolded, countless tiny particles of light, radiating a soft white glow, drifted out from within.

Like pollen, it symbolizes the end.

These particles of light drifted lightly toward the solidified tentacle. At the moment of contact, there was no explosion, no flash; the tentacle's existence was "terminated."

It wasn't destroyed or eliminated, but rather given "death." The AIM force field, energy structure, and even the concept of "part of the fantasy beast" that constituted the tentacles instantly ceased functioning and collapsed upon contact with the light particles.

As if stripped of all "lifespan," the tentacles turned into grayish-white dust from the point of contact, disappearing silently without leaving a trace.

There was no regeneration.

The parts touched by the light particles of the "Hall of All Things" have their "existence" itself determined to be terminated, losing the possibility of regeneration at its root. This is completely different from the damage caused by Misaka Mikoto's attack, which can be quickly repaired.

The fantastical beast let out a sharp, piercing scream that seemed to penetrate one's very consciousness. It was the lament of an impending end to existence, wildly waving all its tentacles and unleashing an AIM force field tremor powerful enough to distort reality, attempting to dispel the drifting particles of light.

invalid.

The light particles ignored all force field defenses and energy interference, as unstoppable as destiny itself. They drifted to the surface of the fantastical beast's body and gently adhered.

Upon contact, the translucent "flesh and blood" of the fantasy beast began to change.

"Roar... Aaaaaaahh ...

The illusory beast's body shrank rapidly, its enormous form returning to that of an infant, before continuing to shrink. Within it, countless illusory, tormented faces and fragments of consciousness from ten thousand users extinguished one by one amidst their wails. It desperately crawled towards the nuclear power plant, trying to escape this realm shrouded in "death."

The white-haired girl remained expressionless, her outstretched right hand flicking slightly. "Henet"

Above her palm, a palm-sized, budding flower instantly materialized. The bud bloomed, and a straight, extremely concentrated "beam of death" burst forth from its center.

The beam of light silently swept through space, precisely striking the core of the fantastical beast. There was no penetrating wound; the portion of the beast illuminated by the beam was forcibly brought to its final state. Its struggles ceased, its howls vanished, and its last, open, empty eyes, composed of countless points of light, reflected the pure "light of death."

Then, it completely dissipated.

It's as if it never existed.

The scattering of light particles ceased, and the enormous flower of concept slowly closed and vanished. The still arc of rainbow light faded, and the stripped-away concept of "sound" returned. The sound of wind, the distant honking of car horns. All sounds surged back into this space.

The spirit dress on the white-haired girl's back dissipated into specks of light, returning her to her ordinary casual clothes. Her long, gray-white hair swayed slightly in the newly rising wind.

She glanced down at the broadcast tower control room. The man named Uiharu Kazari hadn't died; he'd only been knocked unconscious by the shockwave of the explosion. The other guards had also recovered, but they wouldn't be able to leave their beds for a month. The threads binding Kiyama Harumi had also disappeared.

The matter is considered resolved.

Seeing the fantastical beast disappear, Misaka Mikoto plopped down on the ground, her short brown hair soaked with sweat. She looked up at the gray-haired girl at the top of the tower, her whole body trembling slightly.

The girl turned, took a step, and vanished like a phantom. Only the sirens of the security support vehicles gradually rose in the distance.