AIM Burst

"Every life has worth… Misaka cannot understand such a profound meaning," the Misaka Sister said, lifting her head in confusion and looking to Duke for help, hoping he could clear her doubts.

For the first time, upon hearing about the meaning of life, the Misaka Sister’s empty heart suddenly began to beat. Like an explorer lost in the desert for three days, severely dehydrated and on the brink of death, catching sight of an oasis. Even if it was only a mirage ahead, the desire to survive could give them the strength to keep living.

The Misaka Sister was the same. Right now, she was like a drowning person clutching at a straw. Her gradually accumulating emotions made her yearn to find her own meaning.

Who am I? Where did I come from? Where am I going?

The Misaka Network stirred up a boundless hurricane…

Duke saw the longing in the girl’s eyes and confirmed that she had developed a sense of self. Like a powerful AI that had transcended zeroes and ones, she would keep absorbing, learning, and simulating. Her emotions would only grow richer in the future. One day, she would become a real person, rather than a clockwork doll following a set routine.

"The meaning of life… how should I put it?" Duke looked awkwardly at Heaven Canceller. He was not a psychologist; guiding patients through mental illness was a job for professionals.

"Everyone’s life has a different meaning. It involves religious theology and concepts of the universe—this is already within the realm of philosophy!" Heaven Canceller clapped his hands together, indicating that he was helpless as well.

The two racked their brains to explain it to the Misaka Sister, only to be met with her expressionless face. Left with no choice, Duke handed her his phone, searched up relevant information online, and let her figure it out herself.

The Misaka Sister treated it like a precious treasure, holding the phone as she became a head-down phone addict. Duke and Heaven Canceller were finally freed, and the two breathed a sigh of relief as they left the ward.

After leaving the hospital, Duke sprinted all the way to buy coffee and returned to the research institute within two minutes.

"Huh?" Duke searched every pocket on his body, only to miserably discover that his ID card was gone.

"Did I lose it while fighting Accelerator? No way. Even I can run into such rotten luck?"

Academy City did not really use national ID cards, since most people were minors. Every student instead had a magnetic student card containing all their personal information, such as their name, age, school, and so on.

Researchers like Duke had identification cards with similar functions, though theirs were more comprehensive. In Academy City, they could even be used as driver’s licenses. If he lost his ID card, he would be unable to take a single step in Academy City.

"I remember it takes half a month to get a replacement. Does it really have to be this miserable?"

Dejected, Duke teleported through the door. Yet when he entered the office, he saw Kiyama Harumi. She should have been in the laboratory, but she was standing by the window in cool underwear, holding a can of iced coffee.

"Why did it take you so long just to buy coffee?" The young woman scrutinized Duke while sipping her delicious iced coffee and fanning herself with one hand.

"Where did you get coffee?" Duke asked in confusion.

"You were gone forever, and you didn’t answer your phone, so I had no choice but to go buy it myself." Kiyama Harumi complained unhappily, "No idea what happened, but the power suddenly went out just now. The backup power supply couldn’t meet the experiment’s requirements, so I had to stop what I was doing… and the air conditioning broke too."

"So I’m not the only unlucky one. That suddenly makes me feel much better," Duke said cheerfully.

Kamijou Mikoto’s figure flashed through Duke’s mind. He could roughly guess why the power had suddenly gone out. Spiky Hair had probably been subjected to domestic violence again.

Tsk tsk, how tragic!

"Since the experiment can’t continue for now, I won’t be coming to the institute for the next week. Organize the database during that time." The young woman took a top from a nearby cabinet and put it on, then picked up her car keys to leave.

"Oh, and did you max out my credit card?" The young woman took out her phone and pointed at the text alert.

"Haha…" Cold sweat trickled down Duke’s face. He had not expected to be found out so quickly.

"But forget it. I’m in a good mood today." Humming a tune, Kiyama Harumi revealed a faint smile for the first time in a long while.

Duke set down his coffee, hesitated, then could not help saying, "Professor Kiyama, do you really have to go that far?"

"What are you talking about?" Kiyama Harumi’s delicate shoulders trembled as she pretended not to understand.

"The AIM Burst that’s so popular online right now is your work, isn’t it? It can raise ability levels and even allow espers with no abilities to achieve Personal Reality… You’re an expert in brain physiology and a researcher specializing in AIM Diffusion Fields. You should understand how dangerous this thing is. Besides, what you’re facing is all of Academy City. Forgive me for being blunt, but you cannot succeed! Is it really worth throwing yourself away for those students?"

Kiyama Harumi clenched her fists, her entire body tense and trembling. At last, she slumped and relaxed, speaking in a hoarse voice. "Even if I have to make enemies of the whole world, I have to try once. If you want to stop me, you’d better do it now."

Duke fell silent for a while before saying, "Today, I met an incredible doctor in District 7. He has medical skills capable of overcoming life and death. Maybe he can cure your students."

"How could there possibly be such a doctor?" Kiyama Harumi sneered. No one understood better than she did what those students had suffered. It was not an illness at all.

"Maybe it’s worth trying…"

"If I fail, please ask that doctor for help on my behalf." The young woman left after saying that. In the end, she still did not believe that someone like Heaven Canceller existed.

Even after the young woman had left, Duke did not stop her. AIM Burst was Kiyama Harumi’s final hope; she could never let it go. Rather than stopping her, it was better to wait until she recognized her own failure.

"In the end, I still have to clean up the mess…"

Academy City was far from peaceful in the dead of night. When the Hound Dog Unit arrived at the street where Duke and Accelerator had fought, everyone drew a sharp breath. The entire street seemed to have been transported into a world of ice and snow, with bone-chilling cold blanketing everything. At the very center, they recognized the White Hair frozen in ice.

"Academy City’s strongest… Accelerator!?"

"He was defeated?"

"How is that possible? Who did this?"

"You’ve got to be kidding. His ability is invincible."

"What about the nearby cameras? Pull up the footage, now."

"Where are the experiment’s researchers? Why didn’t they report this?"

"They said Accelerator and the clone left the experimental zone, so…"

"Damn it! What exactly happened?"

At the center of District 7, inside a building no one could enter or leave.

Aleister muttered to himself, "Not an esper ability, nor magic, yet extremely similar to both. What is the source of his power? This is becoming more and more interesting…"

During Duke and Accelerator’s battle, every nearby node of the Aerial Surveillance Network had been destroyed. Since the nanobots would freeze as soon as they approached, Aleister could only see the distant scene.

"Aleister, have you seen that Ice Dragon before? I don’t recall such a dragon existing in mythology, yet it did not seem fictional. It seemed truly real." A calm female voice raised the question, so placid that it seemed nothing in the world could surprise her.

"Indeed. If it were a puppet created by an ability, then the person who created the Ice Dragon must understand dragons extremely well… but that is obviously impossible. Whether its structure or that aura, neither could be simulated by human abilities. I’m becoming more and more interested in this researcher!"

"We can discuss the dragon later. As for this mysterious researcher, his ability… was he using the power of God?"

"The power of God…" Aleister hesitated. His intuition told him that Duke had indeed used the power of God, but there was an indescribable oddness to it.

Strictly speaking, the power Duke had used was indeed the power of a god, just not that kind of god.

Articuno was a secondary god, after all!

The Three Sacred Birds, Three Sacred Dogs, Three Toilets, Three Sacred Mushrooms, Three Gay Bros… Calling the abilities of the secondary gods from the Pokémon world the power of gods… there was nothing wrong with that.

"Why not simply test whether it’s the power of God? A saint from the English Puritan Church will arrive soon. Let them meet."

"You want to recruit him?" The female voice mixed with strange static sounded again.

"Recruiting is not quite the word. Our researcher seems to be a lazy man and probably has no interest in my plans. Still, leaving such powerful combat strength unused would be a terrible waste." Aleister, floating in red liquid, opened his eyes. The corner of his lips curled into a confident smile.

"With another powerful figure in Academy City, the Magic Side will surely be thrown into disorder for some time. I can gain more benefits as well. Why not?"