One-way traffic

"General, if I just lightly touch you, you will die instantly, without any chance of survival."

The first person to make this statement immediately extended the fingers of his right hand, capable of killing the female attacker in an instant.

However, her expression remained completely unmoved.

It's as if they don't care whether they live or die.

then.

"—Do you think I would do that?"

“…Huh?”

Followed by.

Gunshots rang out throughout the room.

Boom!! Accelerator pulled out a pistol called Silver Wing from his pocket and fired a burst of bullets into the opponent's thigh.

The female attacker's eyes widened instantly.

"Waaaaaaahh ...

"Do you think I'm going to put my hand on your body right now and let you die like this? You idiot, you're such a stupid fool."

What?

The female attacker was breathing heavily, trying her best to calm herself down.

"That means I saw through your ridiculous little tricks a long time ago."

"...?"

An expression of disbelief crept onto the female attacker's face.

It was as if a storm had suddenly broken out without any reason during a smooth voyage.

“It was discovered from the beginning that small fry like you, as ‘Gremlin’ members, have no reason to suppress the enemy with such meager abilities, especially an enemy with whom we already have detailed intelligence.”

Unlike the factions of Touma Kamijou and Badway, the magic faction known as "Gremlin" understood the true strength of their enemies from the very beginning.

Science and magic, these two are mixed together, is information that Gremlin knew from the beginning.

Knowing this intelligence, they had no reason to send only a group of soldiers who relied solely on firearms to fight.

Therefore, there must be some other secret hidden within this.

"You all knew I was an ability user all along, didn't you?"

"...So what?"

"If that's the case, why are you fighting me with just firearms? Humans wouldn't be so reckless when they realize they can't defeat monsters even with weapons. And... your expression is also a big problem."

Accelerator gently tapped his cheek.

"When I wiped out your group of friends, you didn't even show the slightest change."

"...!"

"You never intended to beat me with just guns from the start."

If that's the case, the opponent must possess some means to win in a battle against an opponent.

correct.

To try to get one side to make various movements and move to various positions, for some reason.

"—You plan to make me perform a certain action, and then make me, as an ability user, use magic, thus suffering the backlash from the side effects, right?"

That is the original form.

Since physical force alone cannot defeat the monsters of Academy City, why not rely on laws that are universal across all fields?

If a person with superpowers uses magic, they will experience unprecedented side effects.

It's enough to simply guide Accelerator to perform a perfect action and use some kind of magic.

Regardless of the effect, even if it's just a trivial magic like making the fingertips glow slightly, it doesn't matter. What matters most is the fact that 'magic was used' and that it happened to the person with the ability.

Even if the opponent is the strongest number one in Academy City, they will inevitably be dragged into the abyss by this side effect.

However, Accelerator, with his keen observation skills, saw through this series of plans.

He didn't make the final move, but instead chose to use a gun to finish off his opponent.

"How...is this possible...how did you see through it?!"

The female attacker was furious.

She quickly picked up her assault rifle from the ground, trying to seize one last chance for herself.

but.

Gunshots had already been fired before that.

"Pfft—what…?"

The female attacker, her blood splattered, lay there dead.

But Accelerator couldn't help but raise his eyebrows.

His fingers didn't move at all, meaning that he didn't release the attack.

The first person turned their gaze to the entrance on the other side.

There seemed to be a tall and imposing figure standing there.

"That won't do, ma'am. With your body severely injured, you're not suited to use a gun. Besides, your posture is completely wrong. No matter how advanced the gun you're equipped with, if your posture is wrong, it will be very difficult to hit the enemy within ten meters!"

The English was spoken with a thick American accent, and the other person was a middle-aged man.

He looks like a native-born American.

But Accelerator didn't pay attention to that and instead aimed his gun at him.

"who are you?"

"Hmm? Judging from your appearance, you must be Japanese, but you speak English right away."

"Stop talking nonsense, I'm asking you who you are!"

The principle is that an enemy who has no enemy is a friend.

Regardless of who the other party is, Accelerator has no intention of dealing with him properly.

But the man with the deep voice shook his head and helplessly put down his gun.

"Why do they all have to ask such weird questions... You should really get into the habit of watching the morning news every day!"

"what?"

"That's exactly what I mean, cough cough."

Then, he gave Accelerator a hearty smile.

"My name is Robert Catcher, and my identity is nothing special; I'm just the current President of the United States!"

Chapter 318 Detonator

This time, it was Accelerator's turn to be surprised.

Although it sounds incredible, it is indeed the case.

—The person sitting next to him was indeed the president of the United States, a major gun-producing country.

Robert Katz.

The man, who called himself that, sat in a supercar called Nathos, admiring his appearance in the mirror.

"Whoa whoa…"

"What are you doing?"

"It's nothing, it's just that although I've ridden in many supercars, this is the first time I've seen a supercar like this."

After tidying up his appearance, he looked at Accelerator sitting in the driver's seat.

"So, just as you said, Japanese... are you really not being manipulated by those guys?"

"If that were true, you wouldn't be alive today."

"Well, from this point of view, we've at least cleared ourselves of suspicion."

In any case, Accelerator has confirmed that the US president of this country is not being manipulated by a sorcerer, nor does he need to be regarded as a spy or a pawn.

Even so, he couldn't understand why this guy had appeared in front of him now.

"I was only trying to save those manipulated babies, but then I happened to see you fighting those terrorists."

"So it's just a simple coincidence?"

"No."

The US president paused for a moment, then continued speaking.

“I’ve been tracking these guys down from the very beginning.”

"..."

"First, there's the White House, where a significant portion of the military personnel have been manipulated, numbering in the hundreds, thousands... or even higher, and this has been going on for quite some time."

"...The bastards of 'Gremlin' have already started making their moves so early."

However, there are still some things that Accelerator doesn't understand.

Even if he reads the memories in Cinderella's mind, he won't actually get any truly useful information. No matter how much he uses his ability to read minds, he can only read what the other person already knows. If it's information that Cinderella didn't know in the first place, then he himself won't be able to continue interpreting it.

Although he knew that there were indeed magicians called "Gremlin" on the Hawaiian Islands, he had no idea what their true purpose was.

"Actually, I am quite clear about this."

Robert Kattie's sudden words also caught Accelerator's attention.

"If the people you're talking about called 'Gremlin' are indeed those who use supernatural phenomena, then I can confirm that for sure."

"You know their purpose...?"

"Initiator".

"what?"

A word whose meaning is unclear.

Before Accelerator could even process what was happening, the US president had already begun explaining it to him.

"Small-scale volcanic eruption control device... because that name is too convoluted, we use the term 'initiator' instead, and its effects are indeed related to volcanoes."

Just hearing the name is enough to make the connection.

"If used properly, we can rely on it to disperse volcanic eruptions and use explosives to artificially control the activity of magma, thus limiting the scope of damage during a volcanic eruption."

If that's the case.

"I'm afraid those guys you're talking about, the 'Gremlin,' are after the detonator."

"...If this thing is not controlled properly, could it actually cause a volcanic eruption?"

"If it were that simple, it would be easy."

Robert Katz's expression visibly changed when this was mentioned.

His smile appeared even more wry.

"The detonator is located inside the Kilauea volcano in the Hawaiian Islands. If it's allowed to erupt like this, the surrounding plains will be completely engulfed by lava, right?"

"But that was just a normal burst."

In an instant, his tone became heavy.

"If artificial volcanic eruptions are created directly using detonators, the resulting chain reaction will cause all other volcanoes to erupt simultaneously."

Even Accelerator couldn't help but narrow his eyes.

"...Will the entire Hawaiian Islands be swallowed by lava by then?"

"If we predict the death toll, it's estimated that about half a million people, including residents and tourists, will all perish at once."

By artificially triggering a massive volcanic eruption with an initiator, the entire Hawaiian Islands were brought to an end.