Shoutout to our boy @Zzz-Awakening for making this amazing soundtrack for the story! Go check his youtube channel and wattpad account for his own content!
Enjoy Fran's rage official theme! : D
(I will also link it again in some part of the chapter where it fits a lot! See you later!)
DISCLAIMER:
-This story is written on this time line: after the Railgun Daihasei festival (with everything canon happened before).
-Everything that happens in this story disregards what happens after the festival in the canon novel and is written without knowing it.
-I will post a new chapter as soon as I can (Usually from 3 weeks to one month from now on)
-Join our Shadow Crafter Discord Community to share art, memes and anime stuff! LINK IN BIO!
The ghoulish and unbelievable moment seemed to have frozen time; no one had still acknowledged the other's conditions, they were all paralyzed in terror. Touma, the only one fully awake, was the first one taking the reins on the situation; he saw Index feeling sick and ran to support her, but then he noticed Kuroko almost drowning below the black slime and decided to help her first.
«Hey, you! Wake up!» the boy gave her some light slaps on her cheeks and Shirai regained consciousness: she started coughing and heavy breathing, but she could stand up again.
«W-what the hell happened to Fran-san...?» She asked shaking, but Touma didn't answer and fled towards Index; he couldn't explain something he hadn't understood too, after all.
So Kuroko reached to Mikoto to check if she was fine, but the level five had her eyes fixed on Fran advancing in the direction of Chiara who, even if safe up in the sky, was floating further and further away from him.
Fran suddenly stopped and did a smug smirk.
«You are so frightened... I can see it in your eyes.» Fran affirmed smiling. «And this is not the only thing I see. I can also see your future.» the boy added, then pointed the finger at her and spoke. «You will die, Chiara... burned by the light of the sun.»
«THAT SCUMBAG!» Chiara thought with infinite rage; thinking was the only thing she was able to do. She couldn't move of speak. Her teeth were shaking so fast she would've cut her tongue if only she had tried to speak to grant a wish; she needed to concentrate her body and blank her mind, otherwise her previous sentences' effectiveness would've been compromised too.
Fran turned his stare back to Mikoto and noticed she was looking at him back too, relentlessly, but her face was dried and deathly pale; she didn't know how much more she could've lasted without breathing, but she couldn't afford to hurt her sisters. Not again.
«I have no time to waste...» Fran exclaimed, clenching his fists; then gathered all his voice and shouted: «SHOKUHOU MISAKI!». The queen was stunned due to Fran's bloodlust too, but the powerful call of the boy woke her up immediately; Shokuhou coughed away the saliva that was choking her and raised her tearing eyes up to him. Fran was looking at her straight in her eyes, unmoving, and with resolve so solid you could've felt it in the air.
«Nothing has changed, Misaki-san. The plan is the same. I believe in you.» Fran said to her.
«Huh?» Misaki couldn't understand a thing of those words' meaning, but Fran was already done with her and resumed his advance towards Chiara.
«That goes for you too. You'd better not disappoint me, ugly fourth rate hero.» Then Fran hastily said to Touma.
«Huh?! A-alrighty! What do you want me to do? Hey?! Answer me please!» Touma was completely clueless, but Fran would've never answered because chitty chat time was over; only one scene in his mind: crushing to pieces his terrible archenemy waiting for him in the sky.
«One line will be enough and that maggot will disappear...!» the rainbow girl was now feeling better and ready to shoot the decisive bullet, she just had to say the sentence; However, as soon as she blinked and opened her lips, Fran appeared right in front of her and hit her with a double shadow sword slash, painting a black cross on Chiara's heart; the blow was so strong the rainbow girl was thrown a few feet away, while coughing and spitting saliva due to the rumble inside of her body.
«WHAT?! When did he get here?! Can he fly?! I don't see any black wings tho...» These were the first things Chiara asked herself, as she unintentionally touched her heat by fear. «He obviously hasn't sliced my chest... however, that was an insanely fast jump! I couldn't see it despite all the power ups I have on me!» Chiara regained her balance after the attack and tried to speak again, but she didn't even have the time to move her tongue; Fran slashed her neck and stomach this time with a double horizontal cut.
«Again?! How can he be faster than me?! My capacities should be much greater than a normal human being! Can't be that... he's not one anymore... NO! There's only one truth! The reason Francy keeps attacking me is because he wants to stop me from using my divine power! He can't afford me... to use... my power...?» Chiara was throw away again due to the shockwave, but this time she realized something really important from Fran's attack. «Wait a minute... how could I've been so stupid to lose my cool...? It's just as he said, nothing has changed... I have no reason to worry!» Chiara still had some spare rainbow shield floating around her, but Fran was so fast he could move through them like he had rockets on his arms and legs; his shadow blades were hitting her smoothly and rapidly in all her body's joints and the shockwaves and the frenzy of the fight were making it impossible to pronounce any sentences. The only thing she was able to do without talking was to move her explosive gums and unicorns she made before to charge against Fran; however, every single of her colourful attacks was intercepted and destroyed by gigantic shadow centipedes coming out from the black ocean below.
Chiara was trying to dodge and counter, but Fran's movements were too swift and controlled; the boy seemed to be far superior despite the many buffs Chiara had on her body thanks to her ability; Anyways, time was inexorably running out and the situation was about to change soon.
«But this is incredible... that prick... he has become so strong! Guys! He may win!» Kuroko exclaimed enthusiastic, trying to cheer up her best friend, but as soon as she noticed everyone else's grim faces she felt goosebumps. «Or he may not...? What are these faces! Okay, we are not doing great, but maybe he can-».
«Shirai-san! Don't be fooled by appearances and the excitement of the moment!» Misaki shouted, interrupting the teleporter. «Fran-san had his powers back, true... but that's it. The fact Fran-san is able to fight again... doesn't mean the enemy got weaker. Can't you see that despite all of Fran's successful hits... Chiara's sentences are still active, including the one making her immune to all other esper powers... and this means that...»
«IT'S ALL USELESS! Until the wolf marked will be immune to esp powers, Francy's attacks will have no effect except the annoying rumble stopping me from talking and moving freely... quality over quantity! Soon you'll see my dear Francy! Not only your inhibitory power is no use against me...» Chiara thought, as she was now able to dodge half oh Fran's slashes. «You are slowly running out of stamina!» the rainbow girl managed to deliver some kicks or punches back while she was getting hit by the blades, however, none of them was really effective; the new shadow dress of Fran was as though as his centipede's body, making it a great armor; Nonetheless, when getting hit by Chiara, the shockwaves still echoed inside of his body and lightly damaged him.
«Why...? Why are you wasting all of your energy, Fran-san? Your shadows can't cancel her powers and neither hurt her... instead, her punches are as hard and strong as an anvil because of her damn buffing sentence... YOU CAN'T DEFEAT HER THIS WAY! WHY WOULD YOU RISK YOUR LIFE FOR NOTHING?! WHAT'S THE MEANING OF WHAT YOU ARE DOING?!» Shokuhou yelled in despair; everyone felt her suffering deep in their hearts, but nobody could help her and certainly she would've not received any answers from Fran.
«His attacks are losing the swift rhythm he had at the start... I just have to wait the right chance and then... NOW!» Chiara finally managed to dodge both Fran's blades, eventually finding the opening for a full attack; Chiara hit Fran with a powerful punch on his right cheek. The shadow armor of Fran tried to parry the attack by stretching in the direction of the hit, but it wasn't enough. His face was covered in blood and the boy was thrown away from Chiara while losing his shadow blades which flew in the opposite direction.
«Fran-san!» his group of friend shouted and especially Misaki voice cracked, while looking at him flying and wounded.
«I can finally speak!» Chiara cheered inside with relief. «Now that he's far away from me, no one else can stop me from pronounce the divine words! All this show for nothing! All I had to do was to adapt to your fight style and wait the moment to counterattack! Eventually, you were just an annoying oversized mosquito!» Chiara thought, then raised her hands to the sky. «I sentence that-» However, as soon as she started talking, Fran appeared already in front of her, again; he arrived there in a blink of an eye, without recovering from the previous hit and with his head still turned due to the punch he took. Chiara couldn't understand how was it possible that he came back to her like he had ridden a slingshot, but now she had something else to take care of: Fran stretched his hands to her throat, with all of his crazy bloodlust leaking. Chiara felt the big danger and decided to overload her wings speed to the limit just to dodge that one grasp; if Fran had reached to her, he would've probably twisted her windpipe. Everybody else felt that creepy unpleasing feeling once again; a really weird sensation who seemed to change gravity force upside down, like your soul was getting ripped off your body towards the unknown dark skies.
«He went straight to my neck... to stop me from talking...?!» Chiara thought, stroking her neck with kindness as she waited her wings cooling down; they were smoking so much she was covered in mist.
Fran eventually turned his stare back to straight and stretched his hurt jaw; he clenched his fists and covered them with spiky shadow brass knuckles. The boy immediately dashed against Chiara using a centipede as a ramp, ready to punch her.
«What is he doing?! Eheheheh... he's trying to melee fight me in the air?! Maybe you had the chance to surprise me with the blade range... but with my buffed body and speed you will never get me down by classic knuckles alone!» Chiara thought smirking, but her face immediately turned red. A very strong fist hit on her nose and threw her away, almost crushing inside a building; She was able to recover and get back up, but a way more faster punch gatling was waiting for her. Even if Fran power wasn't working, the shadow knuckles cover was helping him hitting Chiara without hurting himself due to the hard resistance of Chiara's skin.
«But how is this possible?! I- I can't keep up with him! His movements are now so unlinked and random I can't neither follow nor predict them! A Goddess like me... is forced to bleed, even if for one only second... UNFORGIVABLE!»
Chiara was drowning in rage. She couldn't explain why she wasn't able to intercept Fran's attack even if her perception and speed were greater than the limits of a human being. Fran's punches caused very little damage, however, and his enemy's wounds were automatically healing thanks to one of Chiara's previous sentences.
Fran hit her shoulders, knees, cheeks, thighs and every spot he could reach; Despite that, Chiara was bearing that temporary minimum pain and counter attacking with her fists and kicks. Even if the girl wasn't as quick as him, she was using the moment in which Fran was attacking her to deliver her blows since she was healing over time while Fran was only getting hurt more and more.
Mikoto was watching everything without being able to comment; she actually hadn't the strength to think neither.
«Fran-san is faster and more skilled than her but... it's no use... and if it keeps going like this, we'll reach the point Onee-sama will have to...» Shirai exclaimed clenching her teeth.
«You're wrong...» Touma intervened, and Kuroko turned to him curious. «Fran-san is not faster than her at all... it's just that his moves are unnatural and unpredictable... and that's because of one of his techniques I saw in person when we had fought. I can't remember the name... but he is basically using his body like he is a puppet.»
«To Give a Marionette Life. That's the name. Kamijou-san is right, Fran told me about this at breakfast together some time ago...» Shokuhou continued, after finally standing up again. «If you watch carefully, Shirai-san... you will see many thin shadow wires attached to his body. Fran's movement are controlled by the shadows, letting him resist to attacks and move in every possible direction dimensions he wants just like he did to recover from that Chiara attack that blew him away... but at what cost? His muscles and bones are probably in pieces due to the stretching and pulling... human body is not made of rubber... I think he won't be able to move anymore once the wires expire, his body probably has no sensitivity anymore... and all of this just to Hit Chiara once or twice for pure satisfaction?! His offensive is useless! If only we fought Elena this way from the start...»
«That prick... such a painful move... but for what reason? Is he really just blinded by anger and revenge...?» Kuroko asked herself; she knew Fran wasn't like that, not even in the worst possible scenario. She remembers on her skin he always has a plan when in need.
«And this is not the only problem... look at our feet.» Misaki said, pointing to Index. «The shadows... they are dissipating. The liquid was up to her knees before...and now it's barely on her ankles.»
«But what does this mean?! Fran-san said he was able to draw on an infinite source of power, do I remember right?!» Kuroko asked upset.
«He wasn't wrong, indeed... but even if his darkness is infinite, his energy isn't. What use are limitless AIM waves if his body collapses, if his brain turns off...? He's losing all his strength in this fight... and his mind is getting weaker, therefore his shadows are slowly disappearing as Chiara is taking over...» Shokuhou answered.
«I don't understand your worries, girls!» Fran-san told us to follow the plan. I'm sure he has an idea and we'll soon take part of it!» Touma said calm.
«I think you are too confident of something we have no idea about! Plan?! What plan?! Our starting intentions have nothing to do with the absurd situation we ended in... our opponent now is Chiara, and not-»
«Nothing has changed, Misaki-san. The plan is the same»
«Nothing has changed.»
Fran's words suddenly echoed in Shokuhou's mind while she was complaining; the girl thought back to everything Fran had done during the fight and looked at him carefully as he clashed with braveness and resolute against Chiara who, insolent and confident, was hitting him and laughing at his impotence. Light, finally the light came. The queen understood the reason behind every little thing.
«Nothing has changed... of course... how could I've missed the point for all this time while it was right in front of us... and Fran was the only one who had seen it...» Shokuhou exclaimed as she looked at her hurt hand shaking no stop.
«Misaki-san...?» Touma wanted to ask for an explanation, but a violent burst of blood interrupted their thinking and forced them to watch towards the clones group; one of the units was cut in a half, but after a bunch of seconds the body parts attached back to new.
«Forgive me... forgive me, it was a mistake...» Misaka said crying and sobbing in an unnatural way just to prevent her from breathing again. Human body lives by instincts, and the main one is survival; even if unintentionally, Mikoto took a little breath to keep on living thought the nightmare and the clone exploded.
«Onee-sama!» Kuroko dived to her side to comfort her. «Don't speak... it's not your fault. If you don't want to die you have to take breath... you must... Onee-sama... I don't know... what to say...» Kuroko was clueless, she couldn't advise her friend any better; should her tell Mikoto to breath carelessly or to hang on for the sake of the clone she didn't even know a single thing? She couldn't risk to hurt her best friend feeling but also she couldn't stand seeing her die that way.
«Eheheh... what an idiot. Taking little breaths once in a while will only cause more victims over time...» Chiara thought as she enjoyed the show but, due to this distraction, she lost Fran out of sight; the boy retired on land, far away from her and the rest of the group. His body was completely broken and paralyzed, a shadow shape behind him was holding the wires that were letting him moving and stand up.
«What is he doing?! If he stops attacking... she will be able to use her power again!» Kuroko exclaimed dismayed.
«AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH! What happened?! Are you feeling guilty for your beloved Railgun brat?! Huge mistake! How do you prefer to die?! I can grant you any wish you want!» Chiara yelled excited; she was finally free.
«That simply reminded me I really have no time to waste. I'll end this in one blow.» Fran ignored Chiara's taunt and opened his shadow hand; all the black sea started getting absorbed inside a tiny sphere floating above his palm, it was storing all of the available darkness around. The strength of the wind was getting so great all of the spectator were risking to get blown away into a black whirl.
«Misaka-san... forgive me...» Fran apologized, but for some reason Mikoto was the only one to understand he wasn't apologizing for the clones' matter.
«Every try will be useless... and I'll show you with the best sentence I came up to demolish all of your hope! I'll present you a choice so cruel no option will result acceptable to you! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!» the wolf mark on Chiara's neck brightened along the one of all the other possessed; the city's sky turned red. «I sentence that... whoever tries to attack the Alpha next will disappear forever!»
That said, those present remained speechless and turned in panic towards Fran.
«Can she really do that?!» Kuroko asked incredulous.
«This sentence used all the city's brains... and it's generic enough to work! Anyways, when in doubt... Fran-san, don't attack! I beg you!» Shokuhou yelled upset and shaking; she had a bad feeling about Fran's next move.
«Not only I can do it...» Chiara intervened proud. «But this is also an immediate one! If you dare to attack me, it doesn't matter what's the results of the battle... you won't be coming back alive! Choose! Become the world's rebirth servant along with your friends... or go die together! You... First, Francy! AHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!» Chiara exclaimed, acting the decapitation mimic.
Fran looked into the shadow sphere, then turned his stare to Mikoto; the girl, even if at her limit, had her eyes wide open on him and was tearing silently; Mikoto finally understood what Fran was apologizing for and couldn't stop crying. Fran smiled at her, then turned to Chiara.
«Maybe you miss to understand... I have no choices to take because I've already made up my mind. I don't care if this is the end for me... I said I will kill you. And I will, Chiara.» Fran aimed the energy sphere against Chiara and sped up the shadow absorbing process; that was a declaration of war. This was his last attack.
A rainbow thunder stroke Fran and covered his body, without damaging him; after the colours disappeared, that was the sign the sentence became true. The boy's body started crumbling down slowly into sand, starting from the sting perimeter.
«FRAN, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!» Misaki shouted, then tried to run to him but Touma stopped her; Misaki started hitting Touma to break free, but soon she surrendered to the inevitable and calmed down.
«You... are just a pathetic insane leftover...!» Chiara exclaimed, she was cold sweating. «He is really giving up his life... just for this attack? He really believes it can make the difference to defeat me...?!» she asked herself upset.
The shadow sphere was now fully charged, after absorbing all of the darkness around except for Fran's arm, his clothes and the shape holding the wires that were making him stand up.
«Your time is up, Chiara... you're going to face something so powerful you've never witnessed before...» Fran was ready to shoot his compressed dark energy; Chiara went on guard while her hands started sparkling rainbows.
«This is not a bluff... Francy is really counting on his attack... but I can answer with something stronger one hundred percent!» Chiara thought. «He wants to overwhelm me with that gigantic shadow energy ray, so all I have to do is to make it completely ineffective! If I sentence a laser too strong, I may risk to destroy the whole city... I mean, I don't really care but... I can't disintegrate my servants too... Maybe I can just shield it. Even if he hits me, I will not lose my power and it won't damage me, so why does he want to attack me with that...? Huh...?
«I can also see your future. You will die, Chiara... burned by the light of the sun.»
«Now I understand what was his plan from the start... Francy thinks I will underestimate his attack and get pushed out of the atmosphere. He knows his attacks can't damage me... so he planned to throw me into the sun! What a fool! There's a simple solution to this!» Chiara was ready to pronounce the decisive sentence.
Meanwhile, Fran freed all the darkness from the sphere, generating a very powerful and oversized black energy wave flying up to Chiara.
«I sentence that... colourful energy is always stronger than dark one!» Chiara shouted, then threw a rainbow laser of the same size against the dark mass; in the moment they collided, the rainbow ray completely swallowed Fran's attack and rapidly travelled to the boy location, hitting the ground.
«AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH! I win!» Chiara affirmed satisfied, watching her laser piercing the asphalt into a majestic explosion; however, something went wrong. In a blink of an eye, a pair of shadow spirals covered Chiara's ray, climbing back to Chiara's location with insane speed.
«What's happening?! Why those...? That bastard...!» In few seconds, Chiara was facing two titanic centipedes a few inches from her nose which managed to reach her by curling up her rainbow attack; this made her understand immediately how she was tricked, thinking back to some words she herself said once.
«You're not wrong... me and Francy have one thing in common, indeed. We both have few creativity and imagination. He's always with his centipedes and I'm obsessed with rainbows and unicorns...»
«Me and Francy are one and the same... we don't change our being no matter what. He would've never used something that it's not centipede like wouldn't with my rainbows. He never intended to shoot an energy ray in the first place! He building up all that darkness in that little sphere was just to obtain a powerful spring effect in order to shorten the distance between me and his shadows immediately! By creating centipedes, he made my sentence completely ineffective to something that is not an energy attack... so his shadows were able to surpass my laser and get to me! But how did he...?! He predicted this too?! And where is he at now?!» Fran had left the place where he had shot his compressed centipedes, Chiara had lost him; he popped out from one of his giant insects' mouth alongside his puppeteer shape, he appeared in front of Chiara, unprepared and surprised once again.
Fran revealed what he was wielding in his right hand, aiming it against Chiara: it was Elana's gun. The rainbow girl panicked; she was the strongest and had automatic healing, but a point-blank bullet to her heart would've immediately killed her anyways. She didn't have enough time to sentence, but she had the right speed to disarm Fran before he could've pulled the trigger; by using her unmatching speed, she twisted Fran's wrist and made him drop the gun. However, that was just the Fran's bait; his real decisive strike was inside the shadow hand, actually, was the shadow hand itself.
His arm turned into a long and thin wasp stinger that detached from his shoulder and stabbed Chiara straight in the center of her forehead.
Only silence followed; everyone was silently standing still and looking, even the city itself quieted down; the first sound to be heard was the Fran's shadows fading whistling. The shape holding him from behind and the stinger inside of Chiara's head disappeared and also his clothes slowly started shattering, alongside with his own body becoming colourful sand. Chiara burst out laughing and gathered dozens of exploding gums around the boy.
«All this effort... just for one more weak useless shadow attack?! Your last words?» Chiara exclaimed as the mines brightened, ready to blow.
«I'll accept thy kindness and go on then...» Fran replied, turned his stare to his friends and smiled in relief; then took all of his breath and shouted right before the blast. «BREATH AGAIN... MISAKA MIKOTO!» the explosion blew Fran away, or more probably what was left of him, throwing him into building ruins where he was completely buried and lost of sight.
Chiara enjoyed the moment Fran's centipedes melted and collapsed lifeless in a black goo which dried few seconds later, leaving nothing behind. The dark seas had completely dried.
«AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! It's finally over! I won! Now is your turn to... WHAT?!» Nonetheless, she was celebrating her victory too soon. The moment she turned to eliminate the rest of the enemies, she saw Mikoto heavily panting and breathing while Kuroko was patting on her back to help her get the right breathing rhythm back; Even after Mikoto's continuous inhaling, the clones were remaining unharmed.
However, this would've been the last of Chiara's troubles; the girl felt she was losing height and feeling dizzy. Rainbows were breaking into glass pieces and Unicorns were suffocating to death, chocked by scorching gas coming from their mouths. Her shoe wings were losing all of their fathers one by one. The night sky cracked and the dark cover ripped off, showing the real sky of the Gakuen Toshi: a crimson dusk illuminating the incoming epilogue, whatever the outcome.
«What the hell is happening?! Everything is vanishing! NOOOO!» Chiara screamed upset as she was floating lower and lower.
«You are no god.» A female voice interrupted Chiara's complain. Those words which Fran pronounced earlier to humiliate her, once again repeated by another much inferior being. Chiara turned to her with her eyes filled with fury, fury that turned into distress and worry once she saw what was happening: Misaki Shokuhou was standing up, with her hurt droopy arm on one side but with the other straight up to the sky, holding tight a tiny remote control.
«What are you doing...?» Chiara asked, surprised and shocked by the queen's resolute stand.
«Haven't noticed yet? Can't you hear it? My presence in your head!» Misaki pressed a button on her backup remote, her laughter echoed in Chiara's head who tried to cover her ears in vain.
«It's too late to take cover now...» Misaki affirmed as she lowered her remote. «In this moment... I am in control of the Misaka Network!» and after this battle cry, every Sister nearby and afar let loose their rifle, kneeling down with their brand new star shaped eyes gazing into the void.
«THIS IS NONSENSE!» Chiara yelled outraged. «How did you get in control of the clones?! All wolf marked are immune to ESP powers!»
«All except one.» Shokuhou replied and Chiara shut up and blink twice in fear. «You think you are so strong and untouchable... but you're are actually so egomaniac you didn't even notice your limitless strength is also your only weakness. At the start I thought Fran was fighting and getting hurt for nothing... I thought his punches were nothing but the outcome of his frustration... but then I realized nothing happened was meant to be random! Just look at the mirror if you want to understand it yourself!» the queen exclaimed aggressive, then Chiara looked at her clothes and hair. Her appearance was back to normal, including her hair that turned back to black; however, the new grown brown strands and the eyes heterochromia remained. Chiara started shaking.
«The fusion with Elena through an imminent sentence had let you achieve her powers, but all you did was saying she was gone forever and the only remaining was you! Your arrogance made you forget that was not how it really worked! You are now two people sharing an only essence, and the only difference between you and her is that you have done your best to drown her consciousness into yours! Fran was hitting every spot of your body because he wanted to be sure... but in the end he already knew that the source of Elana power is stored in her brain that is now part of yours! Every ESP ability is generated by the brain, and one acquired through a fusion makes no exception! To absorb Elena... you had to remove the ESP immunity from her and this has allowed Fran to hit the only part of her that remained in your body!» Misaki exclaimed as she pointed the centre of her forehead. «Shadow slashes inhibit the ability usage for a variable period of time depending on the hit... since you are too powerful and the spot hit was really tiny, that was really a matter of seconds ... but it was enough for people to get back to a wiped and clear mind, temporarily cancelling the effectiveness of most of your sentences... yeah, including the one that was stopping me from using my Mental Out! In that tiniest moment... I managed to get in control of the whole network by directly controlling Elana herself who opened me the doors to their minds!» Misaki explained proud and rushed, but soon she started slowing down and taking breath due to tiredness.
After hearing Misaki's words, Chiara tried to give orders to the clones to verify; the mark was still active but, every time she tried to command the clones, the star shaped eyes appeared in Chiara's head, nullifying all of her efforts.
«Damn Elana... she even griefs me from the realm of the dead!» Chiara exclaimed, twitching by anger.
«I'm sorry Chiara... you probably don't know this, but when it comes up to mental control... the first who arrives to the people brains wins... and since Elana was gone for some time thanks to Fran's action... it means I'm the one in charge now! In addition... my ability is a level 5 and therefore I'm far beyond your reach anyways!» Shokuhou affirmed victorious, mimicking a weakened and shabby version of her trademark idol pose. Then she sighed and looked towards the destroyed buildings. «Thanks for believing in me, Fran... just like the first time we met. I won't disappoint you. I promise.»
«IM DONE WITH YOUR CRAP!» Chiara yelled wrathful, Misaki suddenly held her head in pain; it was true that Mental Out was blocking the Network, but the queen skipped an important part of the explanation on purpose: controlling all of the clones at once was costing a great quantity of energy, something Shokuhou was already missing from the start; unluckily, Chiara immediately noticed her fatigue and this meant all she had to do was pressing back to get the control of the Network. This was the start of a great war inside the mind. The first one doing a mistake would've lost.
«Don't think you can defeat me now just because you manage to pull out a trick or two... friendly reminder, even if the clones are temporarily out of my reach... I still have more of six thousand minds of citizens under my control! And the number is increasing as we speak!» Chiara exclaimed threatening. «True... Indeed, I have to keep my cool...» then she started thinking of a strategy. «Random people's mind will never be as coordinated as the clones'... but they are still enough to get back some of the main sentences!»
«Alpha can fly! Alpha has buffed resistance, strength and speed!» Chiara sentenced; her wings started working again and she recovered hight. «And now... I'll settle this in the easiest way... ehehehehe!»
«Alpha can use rainbow lasers!» then she added, and her hands began to sparkle of colours. «Level five ability? Mind war? You probably forgot what's the terms you are in, you disgusting leftover! I'LL JUST STRAIGHT UP KILL YOU, CUNT! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!» Chiara shot a powerful laser against Shokuhou who, focused on her mind work, weak and injured, would've never managed to move an inch from there to dodge; an explosion followed the attack but, as soon as the dust vanished, Chiara found herself in an even worst scenario.
Touma moved between the ray and Misaki, cancelling the attack with his Imagine Breaker; Chiara's right eye nervously twitched as she screamed hysterically, almost tearing out her hairs due to the anger.
«Then you probably forget what he said to me. I never liked him a bit, but... he counts on me too and this ugly fourth rate hero won't disappoint him right when in need.» Touma was bleeding heavily again because of his fast dash and the power of the hit he just had cancelled, but his determination almost made him immune to pain and tiredness. «Now that your most dangerous sentences aren't valid... nothing stops me to cancel your attacks. Also... after watching what Fran was able to do just to defeat you... I cannot do less! I will defend with my body if necessary... BRING IT ON, EX-HIGHLIGHTER HAIRS! None of your hit will pass!» Touma exclaimed brave and resolute.
«I must... search for... Fran-san...» Mikoto tried to stand up, but she was feeling numb and sick; she tried so hard not to breath and was still under the effect of Fran's scary bloodlust, she was the only one who hadn't the chance to recover well. However, even with a broken body and spirit, she grabbed Kuroko's shoulder and pulled.
«Kuroko... your powers are back too, right...? You have to help me find him with your telep-»
«Stay right there and do some stretches! You careless idiot tomboy!» Shokuhou yelled at her furious.
«Misaki-san...? What are you saying...? We have no time to lose, otherwise Fran-san will be...»
«Can't you see the trouble we are in right now?! And all you can do is say- AAAAAHHGGG...!» Misaki kneeled on the ground while talking and grabbed her head with both hands.
«Misaki-san... what's happen-» Touma was interrupted too by a second Chiara's blow; the boy cancelled this too, but the wounds were getting worst.
«YOU'RE JUST LEFTOVERS!» Chiara screamed outraged, with bloody eyes popping out, ready to attack again.
«Guys... this is the first time I try to keep possession of such a great number of minds without using the Exterior... I surpassed my limits but... my mind is collapsing and I don't know how much more time I can prevail on her powers... GGGGH!» Shokuhou stroked her forehead as blood was pouring relentlessly from her nose and ears.
«Misaki-san...» Mikoto stretched her hand towards her, trying to drag herself in her location, but Misaki refused her help and warned her to stay there.
«I'd like to go save Fran as much as you, Misaka-san... I dare to say I care about him way more than you do... but this is exactly why... I would never waste the time he gave us with his sacrifice!!! You better stop making me mad with your childish attitude and irrational decisions! D-did y-you get it?! Sigh...! Fuck!» Misaki yelled, trying to hide her coughing and crying and failed; however, the group remained intimidated by the strength of her beliefs and faith. She quickly wiped away her tears and resumed talking «For this reason... do your part Misaka-san because you still are our main attacker. Rest to recover your power... gather your last energies and be ready to join the fight as soon as possible and... please, don't think at anything else. I beg you.»
Misaka closed her wet eyes and nodded with decision, she couldn't be outdone. Mikoto owed him; she focused her strength and got back up, shaking, coughing the stress away and relaxing her muscles.
«Onee-sama... Let's do this!» Kuroko was happily surprised by the unmovable force of will of both level fives and this made her fire of fight burn again in her heart, no matter what would've happened.
«How long will you stay awake... Misaki-san?» Touma asked, visibly exhausted to the limit too.
«Eheh, you noticed it, huh... well, until I'll be safe... I'll be here blocking the clones to my last burned brain cell... but don't worry this much about me. Controlling all of this people may be tiring... but wiping their thought out were not, actually... I did nothing to them. There was no reason for me to alter their thoughts.» Shokuhou chuckled silently, drawing all of her friends' attention.
«Explain better...» Kuroko suggested, but the strong noise of whirlwind almost covered all of her words; behind the group had appeared a storm of black tornados destroying everything in their way, getting closer and closer. A light sound of a crutch tapping on the asphalt was echoing through the violent wind.
«Clones already have a daily task to have in mind... I just restored it and put it back into operation in the best way I could. He's coming...!» with satisfaction and confidence, Misaki raised her stare up to Chiara, who was so focused on raging because of her enemies' insult that she didn't notice the upcoming danger on the horizon.
A loud sonic wind slash covered the sky of the arena, announcing the ascension of the black winged angel; a vector guided compressed hair tornado lunged unannounced against Chiara, devouring her left arm and causing her immeasurable pain.
«AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHH!!!» Chiara grabbed her amputee shoulder and started screaming and twitching in the air, while the one who had caused her such torment was enjoying and laughing at her pathetic drama; the black wind opened in half, and he calmly advanced towards the battleground supported by his peculiar crutch.
«Rainbows... unicorns... candies... I was stuck on the floor this whole time, forced to witness this shit show... what kind of low-rate villain could have such disgusting and miserable tastes, HUH? Let me show you... what colour is a real villain's shade...! EHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!»
Thanks a MILLION to our artist MaxiOrphy for making the original Fran art and the Accelerator edits! This chapter may have one of the most amazing arts Shdaow Crafter has ever witnessed! Thanks again! Go check his work on his instagram!!!
ALSO!
Thanks to everybody still following the story! We are close to the end! Next will be final chapter, followed by the epilogue! Shadow Crafter would be nothing without its readers, so thanks to all of you too!
Consider sharing the story with your friends, dragging them into the To Aru world! See you next time! : D