Multi-Skill User

Duke’s scrutinizing gaze and calm, relaxed demeanor greatly irritated Accelerator. His face darkened, and he could not help wondering how Duke had vanished. He had not caught Duke’s trajectory at all. If it was speed, that was far too fast. From stillness to an explosive burst, there hadn’t been the slightest warning.

"Is this what you’re relying on? If that’s all… how disappointing."

The corners of Accelerator’s mouth curled up. As if competing with Duke, he lightly stepped on the ground and concentrated his power beneath his foot. The next second, he shot into the air like a speeding sword. His terrifying speed tore through the gloomy air, producing an ear-splitting blast that pierced the eardrums from afar.

One hundred meters, fifty meters, ten meters, one meter…

"Die by your own hand!" Accelerator grinned cruelly. He could already imagine the other man being torn into mangled pieces the instant he made contact, due to his reflection ability.

Just a tiny bit of force could unleash immense destructive power.

The absolute ability of Vector Manipulation made Accelerator’s battles extremely simple. He did not need to lift a finger; merely standing in place was enough for him to reap countless victories.

This time was no exception. He would make Duke die by his own power.

Duke held the unconscious Misaka Sister in one hand. His lab coat snapped loudly in the savage gale. The instant Accelerator touched him, he vanished again without warning, leaving behind only a faint afterimage.

Boom—

One corner of the building collapsed beneath the powerful impact. Rubble rained down upon the ground below, shattering the windows and streetlights on both sides of the road with crackling impacts, while the remaining stones smashed small craters into the pavement.

Two hundred meters away, Duke set down the Misaka Sister, checked her injuries, and performed some basic emergency treatment. When he reappeared, he was already facing Accelerator from afar.

Accelerator stood atop the building, staring coldly at Duke. Moonlight fell from behind him, leaving only the outline of his face covered in shadow. He tilted his head, and a flicker of confusion passed through his red eyes.

Duke had dodged his attack twice already. This deeply puzzled him, because he could not analyze the method of evasion.

Speed beyond the limit of what the naked eye could perceive?

No!

Accelerator quickly shook his head. He had not seen a sonic boom cloud formed by an object breaking the speed of sound, nor had he heard the thunderous explosions caused by extreme speed. Thus, he was certain that Duke’s movement method was not as simple as speed.

If not speed… then what was it?

"Could he be an esper with spatial abilities?" Accelerator raised an eyebrow and muttered to himself.

Academy City had no Level 5 spatial espers. All those registered were Level 4. Setting aside their offensive power, every one of them was exceptionally skilled at escaping. Even Academy City’s Number One found such shameless escape methods extremely troublesome.

"I can’t use the AIM Diffusion Field to sense his esper level. Could he be a Gemstone?" Accelerator felt that he had likely grasped the truth.

Gemstones! Espers who acquired their Personal Reality through accidental conditions without human intervention were also known as natural espers. The chances of their appearance were incredibly small, with only around fifty in the entire world. Their abilities were often very strange, and some of them could not even understand their own powers. Unlike artificial espers, Gemstones could use their abilities freely as instinctively as breathing, without calculations. Compared to espers developed by Academy City, they held a greater advantage in battle.

"No calculations needed, and they use their abilities like instincts. Gemstones really do have an advantage over espers. But… how arrogant! I am Academy City’s Accelerator—" Having figured it out, Accelerator could not help laughing bitterly, his expression filled with deep resentment.

His pursuit of power was practically an obsession. To become the legendary Level 6, he had willingly sunk into depravity and stained himself with blood against his conscience. In his eyes, Duke’s overconfident provocation was trampling on his dignity. Regardless of whether he won or lost this battle, he could not tolerate anyone insulting his conviction.

Otherwise, what had the Misaka Sisters who died at his hands been? Meaningless, cheap products?

"You should die!"

Accelerator roared, stomped down hard, and charged toward Duke like a cannonball. Behind him, the stirred water vapor condensed into mist and formed a fan-shaped shock front. A thunderclap exploded, and a sonic boom cloud flashed into existence before vanishing.

Distorted afterimages flickered one after another. In the blink of an eye, Accelerator crossed countless stretches of space, scattering the surrounding light as he crashed before Duke like a black bullet.

Duke did not use Zetton’s Teleportation. He held both hands before him and erected a spherical barrier around himself. The absolute defense that had made countless Ultraman grit their teeth protected him firmly at its center.

The power that reflected all vectors collided with the Wave Barrier Duke had erected—absolute defense versus absolute defense. Circular shockwaves compressed and twisted as the two forces clashed. Time seemed to pause for an instant. After less than a second of deadlock, the compressed rebounding force burst apart, unleashing shockwaves like a Category 12 hurricane that swept in every direction and utterly destroyed the already devastated street.

Bricks and shattered tiles rained down. The earth groaned as it cracked apart inch by inch. Amid the billowing dust, Duke was sent flying backward. He snapped a utility pole and slammed viciously into the wall behind him. The tremendous force blasted apart the reinforced concrete wall, burying him deep within it.

Zetton’s prized Wave Barrier had caused countless powerful Ultraman to suffer defeat, but active skills and passive skills still differed. The barrier could not be maintained forever. Unlike Accelerator’s ability, which operated twenty-four hours a day without a single blind spot.

Especially in A Certain Magical Index World, Duke’s use of monster abilities in a human body had weakened the Wave Barrier even further. With one side waxing and the other waning, failure in a contest of abilities had been inevitable.

"So… he isn’t a spatial esper!?" Accelerator said in shock. During the clash of abilities, he had tried to analyze Duke’s barrier. Though he had not fully deciphered it yet, he was astonished to discover that Duke’s power had nothing whatsoever to do with space.

"Could he be a Multi-Skill User? No, he isn’t an esper…"

Before Accelerator could finish speaking, the collapsed wall suddenly shook. A black shadow flashed past, and rubble was swept aside by the fierce wind. Duke leaped into the air, his elongated shadow stretching diagonally into the darkness at the end of the street before vanishing into the air in an instant.

Teleportation again!

Unable to understand or analyze it, panic appeared on Accelerator’s face for the first time. He did not understand what kind of power Duke was using.

Whoosh!

In the calm air, a fist appeared before Accelerator without warning. His pupils abruptly contracted. He instinctively took a step back, and that momentary reflex caused his reflection ability to stop suddenly for a breath.

The fist grew larger and larger in his vision. Its clear reflection was almost pressed against Accelerator’s nose, making his hairs stand on end. For the first time in his life, he felt the negative emotion known as fear.

A flash of clarity appeared in Accelerator’s unfocused eyes. His bewildered expression instantly twisted into ferocity as the reflection field around him fully activated, slowly forcing away the fist that had been inches from his face.

"Die—"

Crack!

With a crisp sound, Duke’s right arm broke. The reflected force traveled from his finger bones to his wrist, then shattered his elbow and spread to his shoulder blade.

Duke crashed heavily more than a hundred meters away at a speed even faster than Accelerator’s charge. He rolled more than a dozen times before finally stopping after smashing through a wall. His arm had twisted into a grotesque spiral behind his back. With an injury like that, barring a miracle, he would only be able to jerk off with his other hand from now on.

"Huff… huff… huff—"

Accelerator remained frozen in place, breathing rapidly to fill his lungs. Feeling the negative emotion called fear for the first time in his life, his heart pounded wildly. His rapidly flowing blood rushed to his head, making his face redder than ever before.

Duke pushed himself up with one hand and rose from the ground. His right arm, twisted into a bizarre shape, slowly recovered amid crisp bone cracks and the squirming of muscle. Ten seconds later, Duke clenched his fist, producing a series of cracking sounds. Apart from the arm that had suffered a comminuted fracture, every other wound on his body, including the scrape at the corner of his eye, had completely healed.

Articuno—Heal Bell + Roost skills online.