3rd pov
There was no way to describe the mood the next morning, the air full of tensions, fear, and so many emotions that the group had a bit of trouble talking to each other, especially since Yomikawa had gotten to the kitchen and decided to cook, with no assistance. She can make rice perfectly fine, but everything else the woman has a bit of troubles with, so they're choking down burnt and slightly undercooked vegetables. Upon arriving into the room, they pause but don't comment, instead Touma and Index shove the table out of the way - with the nun stealing bits of food as she does - while the others set about unfolding the futons, creating a giant space for them to lie down and watch from.
Accelerator gets shoved into the middle, with Yomikawa on his left and Yoshikawa on his right, Last Order cuddling up against his stomach, settled between his legs. Touma grins and settles in next to Yoshikawa, Index practically jumping on him, while Mikoto settles against Yomikawa, Heaven next to her. Once they're prepared, they all relax - as much as possible considering how things were last they saw - and prepare to see what happens next.
Hishigata is wheezing as he breathes, hand clutching his chest where the blood is spreading and leaking from, his badge identifying him hanging from his neck. He's shaking a bit, but he lifts his head, opening the eye he'd closed in pain in order to gaze upon his sister through the shattered glass of the coffin. He reaches out with the hand covered in blood, almost like he's cupping her cheek, his hand covered in blood. "Thank goodness she's safe." His voice is weak, breathy, but he can still talk. She's still not awake, even after that, remaining unconscious as the install continues. " Hirumi's as pretty as ever." He barely touches her, only a few digits on her in order to avoid getting too much blood on her. "And most importantly uninjured." His hand falls from her face, smearing a bit of blood on her chin and under her right eye, but otherwise leaving her markless.
"Oh my god... What is she going to react like once she wakes? Is Esther ok? Why the hell do I suddenly feel bad for Hishigata?" Mikoto growls, because he's an asshole, he'd kidnapped one of her Sisters, copied the 10,031 deaths they'd suffered and he certainly wasn't the nicest to the albino next to her, but damn it, she still does not want to watch him die like this.
"Holy shit... Is Esther going to be ok after all of this? What will happen to her resolve, especially if the damn girl wakes before she gets a chance to fully recover? Oh, this is not going well, not at all..." Touma mutters, though he sympathizes with Mikoto because he doesn't really want the guy to die here either, if only because he needs to be punished for his actions and to understand the consequences, not just die and get off free.
"That's a pretty bad wound too. I'm not sure how long he'll last without proper medical attention or even just some basic first aid." Heaven sighs, staring at where the man been stabbed, observing it, because yes, that would be about chest height of so on the girl as well, so it is a potential fatal stab to the man, but the blonde does know first aid, so they might be able to help him... assuming that nothing goes wrong and they have to flee immediately.
"He left blood on her... The bastard was trying so hard to protect her he was willing to spill his own damn blood. The fuckin idiot, what's the point in all his hard work if he just fuckin dies before he gets to see the damn thing finished?! This is how it all went down, hmm?" Accelerator sighs heavily, can easily recall the conversation he'd later had with the blonde, though conversation is extremely generous a word.
He starts to collapse to the side, a hand resting on the coffin, smearing three streaks of blood along the side, before his knees catch him. His breathing is noisy, wheezing and rough. Hirumi starts to open her eyes, which are filled with a lethal ice cold rage, unusual for someone who just woke up and is about the age of 14. Esther stares in shock and horror, breathing raggedly. She's shaking, not prepared to face Hirumi so soon, especially not after what she had just done. Hirumi looks alive, blinking, all the rage and darkness gone, leaving a simple innocence that's hard to believe. "What are you doing here, Esther?" She sounds surprised, voice clear despite being out for several long minutes in order to get the install. Esther stares at her in horror, still not ready. "Good morning." She starts to move in the coffin. "And how have you-" She walks out of the doors, which had been broken more than expected by the hit. "-been?" She stops in front of Esther, who stares at her with grief and anger in equal parts, uncertain of how to respond.
"Oh shit, that rage was not the girl's. This is not ok, whatever has inhabited her body is not a normal or sane person by any stretch of the word. What the hell can be done against that? And the quick turn about? Fuck, that's not good." Yoshikawa groans, running her fingers through her hair, more than used to spotting insane from sane after working in the dark side with other researchers of questionable morals for so long.
"Poor Esther, she's so scared, so hurt right now. She wasn't expecting to stab Hishigata or to have to interact with the girl, not at all and because of that, she had no preparation for the off chance she didn't manage to beat the girl before she awoke. She's not going to have an easy time with this." Index mutters, long used to seeing through people, not that this girl is all that hard, not with the mask she wears that's extremely poor and the heart she bears on her sleeve. The poor thing might not ever recover from this.
"Damn...She really got him good, didn't she? He won't last long. At least he'll get to talk with Hirumi and finally see their dream come true. He was so worried about it, but at least now he'll die knowing it was accomplished. Not that he deserves death, but I don't think he'll last long. I hope the sister is better mentally then her brother, otherwise her reaction might fuck everything up." Touma winces at the thought, has plenty of experience with that since both Accelerator and Mikoto have had moments when they were definitely not entirely their, emotions shoved away so they don't have to deal with them or literally broken inside from the actions of others.
"Misaka wants to know what's wrong with that girl, because there's no way that was normal anger, she would know after living with dad for so long and having to deal with his temper, says Misaka Misaka, knowing that an icy cold anger like that speaks of many things like revenge and a plan that will devastated more than just a few things." Last Order can indeed think of several book plots similar and that is where her knowledge for this comes from, especially since she knows something is wrong with the girl, had been able to tell since the first time the girl's personality shifted.
"What's the matter with you?" It's clear she has not yet spotted her brother or the blood on Esther's blade, much less how badly the blonde is breathing, how shaken she is, like she's about to collapse. "You seem upset." Hirumi moves closer still, but upon getting to her 4th or so step, she appears to slip on something, falling on her ass with a "Ugh!" The place where the cords connected to her back have little circles, perhaps like the ones on the corpses? She's got her arms wrapped around herself, a blush on her face. "Ouchie. That really hurt." Tears are gathered in the corner of her eyes from the pain. "And why am I only dressed in underwear?" She seems a tad bit different from before, but something is still not right with her. Esther has managed to gather herself in the time the girl has given her. "Is that...?" She looks conflicted, before jerking her head to the side, closing her eyes.
"Aww. poor Esther. She's trying so hard to gather her resolve, she wasn't planning this nor was she prepared and it's biting her in the ass now. God, I just want to give her a hug." Yomikawa mutters, staring at the poor conflicted girl, wondering if she would even take the hug or if she would try to pretend to be strong, like a certain Esper she knows.
"The fact the girl fell... Either the download has messed with her and the whole holding still thing, or something has changed drastically with herself, the spirit possessing her maybe? It's hard to tell, but there is something not quite right about this. What could've possibly changed though?" Yoshikawa stares, trying to figure out what about the girl or soul possessing her could've changed, shifted or otherwise been affected by the damn formula Hishigata had installed, especially since this is a science she knows nothing about.
"That damn blonde idiot. I knew she wasn't going to manage this, she hasn't accepted anything or strengthened her resolve completely, the fuckin idiot. Damn assholes, not listening to me. Fuckin shit." Accelerator had thought she was getting there, but no, her resolve had wavered and shattered at perhaps the worst possible moment, leaving her unprepared and defenseless in a situation where her guard definitely needed to be up. Where the hell is Houtou when you need her?
"I can almost see her as a kid, but there is definitely something wrong here. Those circles, they look extremely suspicious." Heaven sighs, he has a bad feeling about this already.
" No, it isn't her. It's just Taowu. The real Hirumi is dead." She's obviously trying to remember this, because she had not interacted much with Taowu after it was placed inside Hirumi, so she's never faced the corpse of her best friend. Hirumi is looking at the floor, the blood still on her face, looking a bit like a kicked puppy, the blood resting all on the tip of Esther's dagger. "Jeez." She reaches out towards something. "I guess this-" It's a tarp or something else that was resting on the floor nearby, white in color. "-is better than being almost naked." She huddles it around her body, blocking off the view of her bra and underwear. Esther stares at her, still building up the courage she had used to first charge, her resolve shaken by stabbing Hishigata, but not completely gone. "How embarrassing. What gives?" She looks genuinely happy and like someone normal, not a crazy evil spirit. "That's quite an interesting outfit you've got on." She smiles and tilts her head, sounding teasing and probing. "You haven't suddenly taken up cosplaying, have you?"
"This is so not ok! This is so much worse than the tactics they were using before! To let Hirumi come forth or to act enough like her in order to mess with poor Esther's mind, when her resolve, her will, her everything is shaken and already having troubles. She really doesn't have the mental strength right now to actually deal with this." Index pouts, because this is a tactic that's been taken way too far, and most certainly couldn't have happened at a worse time... which feels almost as if it were planned. The thought has her shivering, because if this is part of a plan, then who's?
"The mental anguish and conflict she's facing, god I don't know if I'd be able to do anything either. Shit, that's just so messed up. What's wrong with the kids in our city that this barely bothers them? Fuck, the board are assholes." Yomikawa sounds like she's ready to cry, staring at the blonde child trying to recover enough in order to attack the corpse of her best friend which is being controlled by an evil spirit. There's nothing ok with this situation, least of all how well thought out and planned it appears to be.
"I don't like this... The girl is giving me some really bad vibes at the moment and I don't even fucking know what she's actually like, but this feels way to played up..." Touma shifts, the way this one acts, the way she talks, especially after the look on her face right after the door opened, it's too big of a shift and it's causing goosebumps to rise on his skin.
"Misaka thinks there is something wrong with the soul inside the body. After all, the girl is dead, but the soul possessing her is going between personalities, something none of the other pseudo souls appear to be doing, so maybe there's something wrong with Taowu? Asks Misaka Misaka, while also pointing out the fact that there is something different about this one." Last Order is staring at the screen, she's pretty sure she's right because none of the other souls have reacted like this, not a single one, all of them monotone and following every order, protecting their Master's without thought for their own safety.
The girl finally notices the dagger, as well as the blood resting on its tip. She looks a bit frightened. "Hey uh Esther-" Esther is still staring at her, clearly trying hard to win this mental battle within herself, while the girl's focus is completely on her blade, the blood dripping from it onto the floor and creating a pool. "-is that...blood?" Hishigata is leaning against the side of the broken coffin, and he lets out a wheeze, seen just past Hirumi from where she's sitting. He lets out a groan and that grabs her attention, the girl turning and looking over her shoulder. She turns, rising as she goes, facing her brother, who's hunched over, trying to stop the bleeding, wheezing. "What happened?" She sounds confused, scared and horrified, but there's a commanding note to her voice. Hishigata turns to face her, the broken glass from the door hiding the rest of him from view. The blood dripping from both corners of his mouth and the sweat on his face are not very reassuring. "I see you're up and about, Hirumi." He's got a shaky, weak hand pushing against the wound to stop the bleeding. "At least the install is complete. Hmm. Now you'll be a -" He starts to cough, Hirumi setting a hand on his shoulder, Esther watching it all.
"Oh fuck, oh shit, oh no she saw him. This is not going to end well, the way she reacted and his rapid deterioration due to the wound being bad, aw man... Her luck is almost as bad as mine." Touma grumbles, the fingers of his hand clenching and unclenching, revealing his desperate need to help, to reach out, to do something, but he knows this already happened and there's nothing he can do.
"That's not good, this is not going to end well, what the fuck is going to happen? Taowu has already revealed there's something wrong with it or it's not mentally stable, this will certainly fuck things up even more, so how is this going to go?!?" Yoshikawa starts biting at her fingernails, stopping when Yomikawa grabs her wrist to stop her, Accelerator shoving a thing of candy into her hand, one being shoved into her mouth, which she immediately starts to chew on.
"The hell? He's so close already, but then again, it was a pretty deep and certain stab, in a pretty dangerous place and he hasn't gotten any medical attention." Yomikawa mutters, running her fingers through Accelerator's hair, enjoying the soft, almost silky strands. For things to have developed like this so quickly, it's a testament to Accelerator's luck to attract trouble. Or would it be Last Order's? Both?
"Fuckin idiot, just stab the damn girl. You'll be doing the bitch a favor, so stop goddamn hesitating. Damnit, this is why I don't let people deal with shit they're close to, they always fuck it up! Damn Hishigata, getting in the fucking way, stupid bitch being mentally unstable, fuckin dumbass blonde that can't gather her own damn resolve. Useless, the whole fuckin lot of them." Accelerator groans, staring at the blood gathering on the man, and can already get a pretty good idea of when he will die - based entirely on the injury and not just his memories - so he knows things aren't going to get any better just quite yet.
He's still coughing, but they're not wet, dry, so his lungs are fine for the moment. Hirumi looks worried from over his shoulder, before she gasps, something catching her attention. She lets out a shaky gasp, horrified. His breathing is worse than before, more gasps and pants with a breathy tone than wheezing. She makes connections in her mind and the horror gets worse, her eyes clearly displaying it all. She stands, her back to Esther. "Esther-" She turns to face the blonde, her bangs hiding any expression she might be showing from her eyes. "-why?" The blonde is still shaken, trying her hardest to recover, but it was such a strong mental attack - stabbing and potentially murdering someone, and then seeing Hirumi alive, sounding completely normal - that she's having troubles. One of the cords starts to rise from the ground, much like a snake. Hirumi's face still can not be seen, only her mouth which is a cross between a severe frown and a thin displeased line. "You did this." She turns a bit more to the side. "Why would you stab my brother? How could-" She looks up, revealing her unforgiving, angry eyes, before she starts to glow red. "-you?!?" She sounds completely lost now. Several cords connect to her back, with no issues whatsoever, the red glow appears to be coming from the circles they connect to.
"Shit just got real. Where the hell is this power coming from? What even is it?" Mikoto tilts her head, trying to figure out what the red light could mean, because it has to be a sign of her power, or maybe it's not? Those circles on her back were odd and they might have something to do with it, as well as the cords that are connecting to her.
"That damn bitch let the idiot live for too damn long. If she had just stabbed the damn girl and not wasted her time talking, I can safely say the night would've ended a lot fuckin better than it did. Damn blonde, never following through on things and fuckin Houtou, not there the one time she needs to fuckin be." Accelerator heaves a sigh, already so done with the entire thing, because the girl has very little reason to freeze, she knows it's not Hirumi, she was prepared and braced, the shock of stabbing Hishigata should not have done this much to her.
"That is not just Taowu, this appears to be more than that, but damn. That light does not give me good feelings, not even a little bit. What the fuck is the point of it, and why is it something that she's using now? Is it part of what the install of 10,031 deaths gave her or was the moment before now just not right?" Yoshikawa mutters, chewing on the candy, trying her hardest to unpuzzle the puzzle, because there are definitely pieces missing or placed in wrong, so what the hell is going on here.
"I think that humans are so interesting. The level of emotion they can show, as well as the strength and free will they've been given, it's so interesting, but I really want to know why that emotion can easily overpower logic and reasoning. If the girl had stayed calm, Esther could've explained, but she's overreacting and now everything is going wrong." Index complains, because if people could just be calm and normal and wait, could push aside their anger and fear and other emotions long enough to see the other side, the magic and science sides would not have to fight, there would be so much less fighting if humans could just do that, but then... maybe they were created this way for a reason?
"Misaka thinks the emotions are a good thing, after all without them, humans would be far less interesting and the world would be a much less interesting place. Plus, emotions are such wonderful things, the warmth and cold they can give, the comfort, the everything they offer, would it be worth it to remove them, even if it meant more peace around the world? Inquires Misaka Misaka, because she thinks the world would be a worse place without emotions, even if they overpower instincts and other things." Last Order rather enjoys having emotions, even if they're hard to understand or get tangled or make it hard for her to do things, they're still so precious to her.
Esther steps back in surprise, fright and horror, a shaky gasp escaping her. Hirumi's entire body is glowing red, the cords connecting to her back making her look part machine, as she starts to approach the blonde. She stops, the cords starting to move more, some of the larger ones around and under Esther moving and causing the blonde to lose her footing, falling to the floor with a short small gasp. Hishigata is still resting on the broken coffin, staring in pride and awe at his sister, still bleeding. "It's activated. My sister's about to become the first ever-" All the cords start to rise, gathering in front of Hirumi, glowing the same red as her. "-level 6!" He sounds way too excited for a man bleeding out and potentially dying, but his dream has come true. The cords start to move, and then it's the destroyed school above, a small beam of red light coming from below, before it expands, covering almost an entire section of one of the buildings. It's making an interesting sound, but does not appear to be doing anything. Accelerator turns from where he's crouched with a "Hmm?" sounding uninterested and perhaps far too unsurprised.
"Oh my god, she looks like a damn robot and why the hell aren't you showing more surprise on your face! What are you even doing? I thought you were trying to find them, so why the hell are you looking around at the ground?!" Mikoto exclaims, thoroughly exasperated at how relaxed and calm he is about everything, regardless of the situation and the surprise he should show.
"She really is controlling the cords. Would that be a machine ability? A telepathy? Something else since the formula might've fucked with it entirely? What on earth is she doing anyways?" Touma mutters, the red light going up into the sky appears to be entirely useless, but maybe it's building up to it? He's far too used to Accelerator's not reactions to actually comment on it, because he's fought the teen, knows he's a strange combination of extremely awkward, completely internalized emotions and a mask on the outside, which honestly is a constant source of entertainment for the noir.
"I don't know if that's the power of a level 6, but I certainly do not like this. There's no damn way this isn't going to have concerning and extremely disturbing effects on people as well as potentially the city." Heaven tries to recall any of the patients he'd dealt with during this time, but Accelerator had been his priority, as the teen is someone he refused to let die, though he tries not to lose any patients, so he can't recall anyone other than the albino. Their injuries must've been pretty normal then.
"Fuckin that's why she did this shit. Bitch ass mother fucker was a pain in every damn possible way. God, the things I put up with to atone is sometimes just too fuckin much. I'm still human as well and I do need breaks, goddamnit." Accelerator is tired, weary, soul deep exhausted, even as he spends his days in a mix between sleeping on the couch - or in a bed - and fighting to keep the small girl he has come to care for safe.
Yoshikawa is smothering her laughter, because her child is in a potentially dangerous situation - when is he not? - but he looks so nonchalant and calm, as well as completely unsurprised by anything that happens around him. God, she really does love him sometimes. She tugs him a bit closer to cuddle, amused when he goes along with it, especially as Last Order shifts around, trying to get his bag leg into a position that won't stress it out too badly.
The red light bathes part of his back, as well as the area behind him, but the tree he's by is too far away. He's standing, the light coming from beyond a section of the school that's completely gone, appearing to have been burnt sometime during the battle. "What's that?" He sounds a bit more confused than he looks, perhaps even a bit interested as well. The light collapses and then disappears. Hirumi is still bathed in it, her eyes closed, head tilted down. She inhales deeply, the cords all around her glowing red, creating a sort of cocoon around her almost, before it closes, Esther staring from where she had fallen to the ground, obviously taken by surprise. Anti-Skill are there, spread out, some wielding guns and others observing, the sound of gunfire in the background clear, though what they're shooting at is unclear, the building behind them cracked. "We have you completely-" Several are spraying water with hoses as well, others with guns up, a truck behind them which contains the supplies if they need to reload or suit up. "-surrounded. There's no point in resisting!" 4 more, 2 aiming hoses and spraying water, putting out fires, while two stand with guns up, prepared to fire at any moment. "Surrender yourselves!" It's all said through either a PA system or a megaphone, the male voice echoing over the entire area, obviously one of the leaders to the group. Yomikawa is there as well, one of the few not wearing helmets. "Put down your weapons immediately." She has her gun up which means it's not likely she's aiming at children.
"Why the fuck can I tell immediately who you're fighting based entirely on whether you've got the damn gun or not? I should not be goddamn able to guess who your fuckin opponent is just by the weapons you have on you!" Accelerator complains, though he understands it pretty well, how can he not considering everything he's doing in order to make the Sisters happy, which he's still not certain why some of them are happy talking to him, but if they are happy, he's not going to stop them.
"You are such a damn curious person at heart. Are the DA and Anti-Skill still going at it? The reinforcements must've arrived, finally. You caught up pretty quick considering their head start and the damn delay you got with those girls. Did you arrest them?" Yoshikawa wonders if the girls turned over a new leaf or if they are still stuck. She also wants to know if they predicted DA or something, because those guys had a huge lead and yet they're stuck now.
"Why the actual hell are you not wearing a helmet? What is wrong with you?" Touma asks in pure disbelief, considering how much effort she puts into keeping children safe, she sure is pretty damn reckless with herself, especially since there are bullets flying everywhere but she had nothing to protect her head!
"Helmet blocks my view. Can't see half as well and considering the amount of hair I have, that would also get in the way. Besides, there is no way helmets are going to keep us completely protected, we are wearing the exact same thing as DA, so the bullets can still tear through them just as well. Honestly though, we worked really hard to make up for lost time and everything, I was so glad we caught up and managed to get them to this point, they were fuckin assholes." Yomikawa growls, because she knows they absolutely used everything they could to their advantage, even things that they should not have, morals or a conscience speaking up.
"People are so weird. The way you all interact, the way things play out, the actions you choose to take. That girl is choosing to let her emotions get away with her, the same way Accelerator is letting only his genuine curiosity and confusion show, similar to how Yomikawa is being as professional as possible, all of them locking away emotions but in completely different ways. How intriguing." Index truly finds the human mentality, the soul, the heart, everything, all so fascinating. She wonders though, what helps form the ways they react, besides trauma?
"I find the pseudo soul's reaction to be extreme, especially considering that it should have no feelings for him, but that would only add to the fact that there is something wrong with it. The girl is using her power for something, while Esther is too shocked to do anything. Accelerator is not anywhere close, his heart refusing to let him get too far from the Sister, even if he won't admit it. Anti-Skill are likely somewhere nearby, considering Hishigata had not broken ties with DA and they also have no way of knowing he had to retrieve the girl himself, so they're assuming he's still an ally." Heaven states, putting everything into view, because the stuff going down is not going to help anyone, least of all those closest to it.
Ito is at her side, his gun as well, also not wearing a helmet. "You can't win this fight. DA is completely finished." They've recovered well from the state of complete collapse and unconsciousness they were in, DA backed into a corner and appearing to be stuck. "They've got us cornered!" One exclaims, his gun raised in order to open fire. Another answers as a third person approaches, their gun raised as well. "This is hopeless." Da are smart, wearing their helmets, guns raised, being as safe as they can be. "Let's just do what they say and-" Someone cuts him off. "Shut up! Our justice will never be broken." He sounds desperate, launching something from the lower barrel on his gun. It hits, a bunch of smoke going up, the Anti-Skill with shields in front blocking most of the bullets. DA retreat, heading down a hallway in a nearby building. Ito, Yomikawa and Anti-Skill follow after them. Ito is panting, obviously they're still exhausted from the fight. The red head stops with a gasp, Yomikawa stopping a few feet to his side. "What in the...?" They all watch in suspicion as roots appear to cover the roof and walls, writhing and squirming against each other.
"Super glad you're following in order to ensure they actually get caught and all, but maybe not into the dark hallway that could have any number of dangerous things, including super suspicious and extremely dangerous looking roots." Mikoto struggles with the last word, because how the hell would roots be there, what kind of fucking power does Hirumi have? But that's what they are, there's really no way to deny it.
"Shit, so were those Hirumi's doing then? That explains why they weren't actively attacking, they were just kind of existing? The hell were they for? There appeared to be no real purpose to them, least of all with them kind of growing everywhere." Yomikawa feels the vein throb again, but there really had been next to nothing that those vines did, so what the hell was their purpose?
"DA are a pathetic fuckin group filled with assholes and absolute nutcases, but there are a few smarter ones among them, if only by the slightest fuckin margin. How the hell did they get away with so much fuckin shit again? They started goin all damn out as soon as they were discovered. The board was covering their tracks pretty fuckin well, the bunch of bitch ass pussies." Accelerator growls, because there's no way guys willing to destroy the hospital road, murder quite a good chunk of Anti-Skill, kidnap a girl, kill people and melt their corpses was not being covered by the damn assholes who rule the city.
"I don't like the look of those vines. Curious how they're vines though, not just cords like I was expecting. I wonder if she has more than one power, or if it was just really flexible, because there's no way she should be able to do that without her power. Vines? Does she still control the cords as well?" Yoshikawa stares at the things, because there's no denying the fact those are not metal, but they're also moving as well, much faster than one would expect, rather thick and strangely colored. What the hell could they possibly find there to help them though, because if they are roots, there's no liquid or dirt to help the thing grow.
"Trust me, I didn't like them either. They were not normal at all and the way they moved, reacted, just fuckin existed rubbed me the wrong way. We were extremely wary as you can see, so there's no need to even tell me how dangerous those could be, especially since I know they're working with a researcher, I probably informed my team as well so we'd be prepared." Yomikawa mutters, staring at the vines that must've been the girl's doing, but what was the exact reason for them, considering their normal state now, something must've changed. But what?
DA are staring as well, as several come from in front of them, clearly this is not what they were expecting. "What are those?" The speaker sounds scared. "Hishigata's lab is up ahead. It's probably some new bio weapon." He sounds certain of it, as if the scientist would actually still be helping them. Of course, he's also unaware the man never intended to work with them this long. "This abomination?" He sounds young as well as uncertain. They're gathered in a small group, coms clearly not something they want to risk using here. "It doesn't matter what-" They all raise their guns and start firing on something, though whether it's Anti-Skill or the roots is unclear. "-it looks like, as long as it helps carry out justice." They start backing away, trusting the plants. Yomikawa and Ito are both staring at the roots in confusion, because they're huge, dark pink maybe red, and they came from nowhere. "What are we dealing with here?" Ito sounds far more composed than any of the DA, clearly his many years in the force had long acquainted him with unusual and bizarre things. "Whatever it is, we're blocked." Yomikawa replies.
"Ok, you all are able to be explained away because you're trained to not react to situations, not with the things and shit you'll see, but what are those lackluster responses? Also, the hell is DA thinking, there's no way Hishigata would make a bioweapon like that, he's mostly worked in machines which is pretty clear due to the coffins they'd been using that he'd designed!" Mikoto rants at the stupidly of people, because those roots are extremely dangerous, she can tell, but DA are going further into them and Anti-Skill are no longer able to follow, which is perhaps a good thing, considering the fact they still have no idea what Taowu plans to do with them.
"Why the hell are you guys so fuckin boring? Why would they think this is Hishigata's? I suddenly see why they would want to cut ties with these idiots, they're literally idiots to an unknown degree. He's only ever given them machines, plants are nowhere near close enough to machines to be considered even slightly as a backup plan. God, I almost feel bad for whatever they run into with these roots." Touma grumbles, because honestly, the only good thing that might come from them heading in further is they no longer are bothering Anti-Skill, but they're also not being caught either. He has a feeling they're going to meet something worse because of the roots.
"Damn, so there really is nothing you can do to go after those fuckwads? That does explain something for me, but god damn, why are all of these people fuckin psychopaths? Couldn't they be goddamn normal? At least one of these fucks? On top of that, the hell are you guys going to fuckin do, because I sincerely doubt those damn roots are going to be anything considered easy." Accelerator sighs, shifting a bit and nudging Last Order, who grins and shifts a bit, so that he can rest his bad leg on her, the ache and faint pain relaxing a bit as he elevates it, though not by much.
"Misaka thinks Anti-Skill did the right thing, after all, who would know better what to do than them? Besides, Mo-Yomikawa was the one leading them, so of course they'll be ok, states Misaka Misaka, hoping no one comments on her blunder of almost calling Yomikawa 'Mom' as she lets them know the group will be safe." Last Order is blushing, her face red and she hides her face in Accelerator's body, refusing to have to deal with this, hoping they'll let her be.
Yomikawa is holding back tears, looking overwhelmed, while Yoshikawa is soft, jealous, yes, but glad the woman can be happy now. Accelerator sighs and nudges her, grunting when she doesn't move, before reaching down to run his fingers through her hair, subtly drawing Yomikawa to as well, moving his hand and waiting. The tiny girl looks up, blinking in surprise at the woman.
"I would love for you to call me Mom, there's no reason for you to be so embarrassed. Feel free to do it, I don't mind. I love you."
"Misaka loves you too! Declares Misaka Misaka, refusing to have you thinking she doesn't love you when she really really does, especially since dad won't ever admit it." Last Order scoots, moving to cuddle with Yomikawa, Accelerator being shifted a bit closer to Yoshikawa, getting comfortable as the two have their moment.
A bright red glow comes from the bundle of cords that are constantly moving, small shifts and slithers. A hand clutching at a white lab coat, a short grunt, Esther is grabbing Hishigata, hanging from above the ground since the floor has been overrun by cords, Houtou holding her up by her belt with one hand, while the other is grabbing hold of something on the wall, Esther gasping due to all the weight forcing her to breath faster. "Adonai!" The girl pulls up, Esther rising and Hishigata being freed from the cords, though they rise up after them. The cords are breaking through everywhere, a large group of thick ones appearing in front of the Sister, before they thrust towards her, whether trying to kill or otherwise harm, she does not wait to see, hitting it with her ability as soon as it gets close. That doesn't appear to do anything, a loud roar escaping from somewhere, the girl turning to run as soon as she realizes that didn't work at all. She trips, hitting the ground hard and the cords get closer. She's frightened, staring at them. "Misaka can not stop the threat with her power." She looks horrified and sad at that, she just wants to help. "Says Misaka gritting her teeth at her meager abilities." The cords encroach, encasing her completely, and Accelerator comes from above, clearly annoyed that they're going for her again.
"Oh my god, she's saving Hishigata? Like, I love her, Esther is such a good kid, but is she maybe showing a bit too much mercy here? And you. Where the hell did you come from? Those are cords, so does that mean the soul's power is stronger than a level 3? Or does it mean they're not considered cords but roots now?" Yomikawa groans, hating having to figure out how an Esper's power works, even if she is extremely good at it.
"There are so many, where did they all come from? How can she control them all so well? Accelerator, why were they going after my Sister? Was there something more they wanted from her?" Mikoto looks at him, refusing to back down even as those red eyes - like blood or, perhaps a garnet gemstone. Fitting for its meaning of love and friendship, things he desperately wants but no longer thinks he deserves, scared to hurt or taint anyone offering it - lock with her own, offering her the answer without him having to respond verbally. She grins in relief at the denial and comfort his eyes are offering.
"Well, Esther has a really good heart. I wonder if she knew a side of him we've never known, because Hirumi must've been alive when she met them, in order for them to get close and because Taowu only just recently got into the girl, based on the short memory we saw when Esther was finishing the dagger ritual or whatever. That might be what's she doing right now, trying to save the side of him she knew, unable to just let him die. Accel, my friend, my dear, thin, albino, you look so angry at those cords and perhaps even at the Sister for staying close. It's adorable how worried you are." Touma grins at the boy trapped between the women, reaching over Yomikawa in order to pat the teen's shoulder, grinning at the blush that rises on his face.
"I think humans are strange for trying so hard to cover their emotions. If you came out with the truth and spoke it, instead of denying it or delaying, there would be a lot less regret and sorrow that you must face. Accelerator can not accept his feelings and thus he has trapped himself, trying to hide them behind a mask, shoving them deep or locking them away, where he can not feel them. Esther wears hers on her sleeve, she does not want Hishigata to die because she still knew him at one point, had worked with him and been his friend, she would regret leaving him behind to die there." Index states, refusing to let the albino hide, because those are not healthy ways to deal with his emotions.
There's darkness in his eyes, as well as anger, his hand by his face, a small white orb building in his palm that would probably be unseen by others. He gets close enough and it hits, tossing his hand back and completely obliterating the cords, blowing them away in a neat circle from around the girl. He lands easily, while the Sister hits the ground with a thud, still on her ass. She gasps, looking at him in surprise. He's not even looking at her, attention completely on the cords threatening to take her away again, left hand partially curled. "How many more times am I-" He swings his hand, his power coming easily to him. "-going to have to save you today?" He sounds annoyed and is definitely tapping into the dark side a bit, his voice rough at the end of the sentence. A shockwave goes off, stopping the cords and destroying the ground a bit as well. Dust rises, before being blown away as well, the Sister still surprised has not gotten up yet.
"You are really having a hard time, aren't ya?" Yoshikawa asks, because he has to be running low of time, as well as just in general tired, he hasn't had anything to eat or drink since they went to the damn restaurant, he reopened his wound and collapsed, had to recharge his battery and stayed up an entire night chasing after psychos, and he is still going, despite probably being tired, hungry, thirsty, mentally overdone and completely at his limit. She wishes he would take as good a care of himself as he does the Sisters.
"Dude, how the actual fuck are you even still going? When was the last time you drank and ate anything? It's been fight after fight after fight, and you recharged the battery twice. I would've collapsed at this point, but you're still going. How?" Touma sounds exasperated, but he's concerned as well, because that is not a normal thing to be able to do, not even close to normal.
"It's the fuckin training I got. Was pretty early on too, when I was like 6 or some shit. Food was scarce and water was hard to get clean, so I learned how to cleanse both of them, because I really did not want to eat anything unhealthy or drink unclean water. Fucking, water is harder to clean, but food is hard to get some damn good ones. Plus, I am partially fuckin insomniac, a bit due to the nightmares, a great deal due to being forced to stay awake for nights on end for fuckin experiments when I was young. Besides, charging the battery is a goddamn pain and yes, it damn well hurts, but when don't I hurt? Even before this damn choker was required, I was in constant pain from bones not healed right, muscles or joints that were aggravated from too much movement in a direction it disliked, things like that. I was simply already suffering before so dealing with a couple of days of no food, little to no drink of any kind and no sleep is fuckin nothing." Accelerator grumbles out, because he knows they won't let him stay silent, not after that.
"Your power is really awesome, and I imagine the faint outline we saw is not something one can see without getting close to you, which is next to impossible. But, your power still works on the cords, or whatever the fuck they are, so it's not stronger than you yet, if it ever gets done at all. How interesting... I wonder what this is going to do, because this is not anything like the shifts that I have seen or heard of. I don't like that you're in the center of it all." Yomikawa really wants to clean something, anxious and nervous, because she knows her memories of this and nothing more. To settle herself, she starts running her fingers through white hair, gently untangling it and getting it neat, before just running her nails along his scalp, enjoying the purr she gets, since there's no way the albino's going to let out anything that sounds like pleasure.
"You're adding the Sister to your formula, how sweet of you." Heaven grins, amused by the way the teen ducks his head and tries to hide between the two women, but they're not letting him. He settles for hiding his face with a hand. Mikoto gives the doctor a confused look. "Ah, your formulas are different from his. He has to take in everything and either add or remove it from his formula for it to be affected. He's filtering her in so it's like she's counted as part of his own body, so his powers are not going to touch a hair on her head." Mikoto gives a look at the albino, who will not meet her eyes, which gives her all the answers she needs.
"You're putting in so much effort to protect my Sisters, even when stretched to new limits. Thank you so much. I'm not going to forgive you just yet, but I will extend my gratitude, for all the work and effort you're putting forth to keep them happy, even as limited as you currently are." Mikoto gives him a wide grin, something she had not yet done, and reaches out, resting a hand on his, smiling when he turns it and squeezes hers gently.
More cords come and he grunts, letting his head dip in the slightest bit of exhaustion, before he crouches down, scooping the Sister into his hold and waiting a moment, before launching them both, the girl staring at him in surprise and a bit of fondness, the cords falling away from them, unable to maintain the height and speed he is going at. He lands on the roof, setting the girl down quickly, turning to face where they came from. The cords are still following after them. "Please. You mean this is that bastard's idea-" A hideous bulb thing starts to grow in front of them, bulging and disgusting to look at."-of what a level 6 shift looks like?" He sounds disgusted, outright indignant and bothered, because he's a level 5 and would never subject himself to something like that. The center grows, getting thinner and taller, more roots or vines whatever the fuck they are, covering the school building. The vines - or perhaps the soul within Hirumi's body - are roaring as they overtake more and more of the area. There's a large spiral like design around the hole the beam of light had created, which appears to maybe be part of the base. Esther is running behind Houtou, who's carrying Hishigata in her arms, the man appearing to be unconscious. They're heading towards a locked door and Houtou takes care of it, shifting her weight as she steps, swinging a leg up and taking off the cover of the card swipe. The door opens as she pauses for a moment.
"Good, you got her out of there, but the fact that you left instead of continuing to fight, means that you are running pretty low on fighting time left on your battery. Will you be able to make it?" Index asks, because retreating before he has to means he is conserving, saving it, trying to keep his strength when he has so little time. He can't leave completely because he's worrying about Esther and Houtou, as well as wanting to get to Hishigata, the man still inside somewhere.
"Holy shit, you're moving away and that tone... But you're right, that doesn't seem to be quite right for a level 6 shift. On top of that, what even is that thing? It's disgusting, for the most part and that's just wrong. At least those two -three? - are getting away from the roots or whatever, but the strength of that girl is still so much and interesting to watch. Esther must be lagging because she knows the way to close things, though she might also just be slower. But, where the actual hell is Taowu?" Yoshikawa stares, because the fact the albino had to retreat, as well as the fact they are retreating - mostly due to the man's injury - is disturbing.
"I really don't like that you are limited in fighting time now. You are a very creative person, but there's still only so much you can do about the limit and what you have as options in your arsenal, so the limit really does fuck you. On top of that, those two having to run as well, means she's targeting everything moving or living? Because the DA guys were targeted as well, along with the Anti-Skill, Accelerator and the Sister, and them. So, moving things?" Mikoto thinks the damn soul is making life way too hard on all of them, because there's not much they can do about moving, with the chest and stomach moving automatically with every breath, and if it's heat vision it's worse, they can't exactly stop that.
"Those things move fast and what the fuck is roaring? There are no mouths, there should be no damn roaring! God, I hate the way you had to retreat, especially cause that's a silent admittance that you're exhausted, and I really don't like that those two are still down there were the cords/vines/root things are still so active, especially since they must have a reason or else the soul would not be doing anything with them." Touma frets, a hand rising to run through his hair, messing it up and the other clenching into a fist, nails close to biting into his skin.
"I think the roar is coming from the roots, which means they do in fact have mouths of some sort. How disturbing. And is that nasty thing supposed to be a flower? Because it's not anywhere near pretty enough to be one so it should just stop trying. Where are the two girls even going? Esther knows the place, but I doubt she's been there recently and Houtou has no idea. And the roof is really not a very good place for you to try to get away from them, the things are everywhere." Index mutters, almost glaring at the mockery of a flower stem, hating it because it's so nasty looking.
She hurries through, Esther following and as soon as they're both passed, the blonde turns and pulls a handle with a small grunt, red emergency lights going on as the door closes. She lets go and turns with a small gasp, Houtou kneeling as she gently rests Hishigata against a terminal of some kind. She hurries over, panting from the constant movement and action of the last few days(?) and then starts applying pressure to the wound with a white piece of cloth, which has been folded over several times to make it thicker. Esther is staring at the wound in determination. "I have to applaud you. You've really done it. Hmm." He's not unconscious as thought, but he still sounds weaker, much less vibrant than he had been even just a mere 10 minutes ago. Maybe more. She's not responding, doesn't even look away from her task. He's staring at her with perhaps a bit of fondness, but there's none of the anger you would expect from a man talking to the person who has potentially killed him and was trying to destroy his dream.
"So he does still have a heart. I almost feel bad. Maybe. Possibly? Perhaps not. At least they're safe for the moment, though I can't tell if she's trying to help because she hurt him and feels guilty or if it's because she still cares for him, even after everything that's happened." Mikoto grunts, annoyed, because she can't say she would have done the same. She knows very well that she can hold a grudge, deserved or not, which means she probably would not have saved Hishigata if she'd been in the blonde's place, but if she had hurt him like that and been fond of him... the girl sighs, she might have saved him as well.
"I think he might be redeemable. That look, he really cares for her, at least a little bit and he did love his sister, even if he went a bit too far to get his dream, especially since he's refusing reality and hiding inside his illusion that she's still alive, but he does still care and he's not completely gone, though that might just be because he's dying at the moment." Touma observes, because if anyone would know best if someone can be saved and changed, it would be the noir, especially after everything he did for Accelerator and others.
"That damn idiot, what good is being in that room if those damned vines get through? They have no goddamn exit, they haven't looked around for possible weapons and they are literally going to fucking die. This dumbass... God, why am I surrounded by idiots?" accelerator groans, because the girl has done so many things wrong in such a short amount of time, she's not going to remain alive if she doesn't get herself into shape. Didn't check her surroundings, panicked, chose a bad shelter, and perhaps the most important thing : she did not keep an eye on the enemy to see if they were following.
"I'm glad she's helping him, but I don't think there's much that can be done to save his life at this point, not after the blood loss and the coughing, he's probably done for." Heaven shakes his head, because the things this city does to its people, that utterly destroys chances of advancement of any kind, it's just so sad, especially since so many people could've been saved had those people had a chance to remain alive and not corrupted to the core.
"She's a sweet kid. I feel bad for her, the family she mentions does not appear to care for her, not as they should and that bothers me, especially since it's clear she's trying her hardest to please them, or maybe just get away from them at this point, who knows. She has a good heart, but it can't quite take the hits its taken up to this point and I think this is her way to try and recover, at least a little bit. Besides, she's been forced to face the dark side a lot since she got here, she's still not seen the worst of it though and something tells me it's not going to stay that way." Yomikawa stares sadly, because the girl is trying her hardest, her absolute best and she keeps fumbling, making mistakes as humans do.
"When credit is due, it needs to be recognized. We had our disagreements, but because of you our research was finally able to see completion." He's giving her gratitude, because she had helped them finish everything and he knows she deserves some credit as well. She gasps at that, clearly she still hasn't completely reconciled with that part of herself just yet. The blood leaking down his chin is not fresh, but it's no comfort, least of all since he's so dirty from everything. He's staring up, clearly extremely grateful and more than prepared to die where he is. "If it hadn't been for you, my Hirumi would've never gained the perfect body or the perfect ability to go along with it." He appears to be weakening, having lost too much blood. Esther is still focused on her task. "You're wrong! I already told you that thing isn't Hirumi." She sounds desperate, like she's trying to get him to see reason so he can perhaps live with his sin, though more likely he will die in peace.
"I can respect that the man is giving her credit, most damn researchers and fucko scientists try to take the accomplishment all to themselves, but he's giving credit where it's damn well done. Fuckin bastard might not be my favorite person, not be a long damn shot, but he certainly has my respect, even if I don't like him." Accelerator growls, because he might not ever like Hishigata, but he understands and respects the man well enough to know that they are alike in a few ways, most dark ways, though not too much so.
"That's not ok, she's trying so hard to get him to see that it's not Hirumi, but he likely won't believe her, he's too wrapped into his illusion to realize that. He's a good man though, would've made a great deal of things had he not been corrupted. She really doesn't want him to die, does she? She doesn't want to face the guilt and regret of having stabbed him, though she must've known there was no way he was going to let her just stab Hirumi." Yomikawa murmurs, tightening her hold on Last Order as well as Accelerator, well aware the albino has similar issues.
"I can see why should would like him to stay alive, he might have knowledge that's useful, but it's also because she really does not want his death on her conscience, especially since she really wasn't thinking about him during her plan, she was focusing on Hirumi more since the girl has the power as well as the soul inside of her and thus she was more dangerous. " Mikoto groans, because she knows that evaluating your enemies is something you should do, in order to pick the best one to take out first, but the blonde had not done anything for Hishigata, had been relying on pure luck to get to him before he noticed her, which is not the case.
"She is really having a rough time accepting her part in the experiments and research that went on, she can't quite reconcile with her past the way she needs to, so I'm not sure she's going to actually manage to stop Taowu in anyway, after all, she hasn't been able to keep her will strong at all this entire time." Yoshikawa sighs, wondering why the girl had to be dragged into the dark side, because clearly she had been sheltered before this, at least to some degree.
"What could he mean by the 'perfect ability along with it'? Does that mean this ability is something that she did not originally have? Was there something more to the formula than just the deaths or was it more something he added in order to make sure she reached level 6? Or, is this the power the soul had and he thinks Esther somehow managed to give it to Hirumi?" Heaven asks, curious because abilities are not something anyone has ever managed to change, they grow on their own sometimes, but there is no known way to switch two Espers abilities.
He smiles at her, Houtou watching from a few paces away, while Esther looks concerned as well as guilty, her emotionless mission mask thrown away in the face of everything that had just happened. "You don't know when to give up, do you? As if there's anyway I would confuse my own sister for a total stranger." He sounds certain of that. "You have to trust me. That's just Taowu in disguise." She is definitely strong on this, knowing her necromancy and charms the way she does. He looks exhausted, his face dark from pain and death encroaching. "Not this again." All three of them are dirty, Houtou and Esther both facing him, and he's resting against that terminal still, looking nothing like he's prepared for a mission in comparison to the other two. "Not one bit of her DNA is any different. I assure you she's 100% herself." He looks completely sure of himself, so he must've taken the test himself. "I wanted to believe too. I clung to the hope she'd return the same person." She sounds broken, her voice wavering and almost cracking as she says this. She's determined, trying to make it as clear as possible to him for this next bit, because she has accepted it, if he can not, he will not ever see his sister again. " But I'm telling you that's not the case." He's got no light in his eyes, staring at her from the corner's of them, clearly everything is too much for him. He laughs, the sound weak and breathy.
"This is so not ok..." Mikoto mutters, trying her hardest to not break into tears. He really does believe it's his sister, has himself so convinced he won't believe anything different unless the soul does something to change that which will shatter the man. Esther was trying so hard as well, wanting her friend to come back to her, but she has at least started to accept that what came back was not Hirumi, unlike Hishigata.
"Her DNA would not change if the soul was planted in there, so DNA does not matter at this point, damnit! On top of that, the fucking idiot is not listening to the necromancer, who for certain would know better than him since she deals with pseudo souls and corpses far more often then he ever will. God, why are researchers like this? If he would just accept that he's not right, there would be much less heartbreak right now!" Yoshikawa growls, trying her hardest to not let herself break, because to cling to a hope that a best friend might come back, to desperately hope for it and have it be wrong, that's something she can sympathize with.
"Goddamnit, that stupid bitch held on for too long. After a certain point, hope is useless and she was just hurting herself, because somewhere deep inside her, she knew the thing that came back was not going to be fuckin Hirumi, she knew that and chose to ignore the damn facts, because she was blinded by the first bit of affection and care someone gave to her ass, since her family appears to be shit. If she had even an ounce of care in her body, she might've been able to stop this from fuckin happening, goddamnit." Accelerator is so tired, just wants to close his eyes and sleep for years, because at this point, he thinks he deserves a break, dealing with the idiots he does as well as the things he's done, he just wants to be left alone in order to give up, but he knows there are people who care, he can not afford to give up anymore.
"He's so confident, but he's going to shatter once evidence is presented to him, because there's no way that is Hirumi, not a single possible way. She's already breaking, because she's trying to accept that it's not Hirumi, knows it logically but the heart doesn't follow the brain very often, in fact it tends to ignore the brain. He might not recover after he sees Taowu in action, though the soul appears to be acting way too differently for him to notice, so it might not be all his fault." Touma grumbles, because the soul had been acting rather like a person, instead of a machine or a blank slate, similar to the other souls. Honestly, something tells him that was not Taowu acting then, but then... who was it?
Esther is pushing down on his wound, peering down on him from above. "No matter how much necromancy I perform, I can't resurrect a person from beyond the grave. The only one capable of doing that is god." She's trying to put it in a way he can understand, despite knowing he is already aware of these facts himself. He's still staring at her from the corners of his eyes. His gaze is a bit dull. "Seems the only way to settle this is by asking ourselves." Esther gasps, before whipping her head to the side. A vent or something is overflowing with vines, all of them lashing out, Houtou in a defensive position. A roar comes from the vines. Hishigata moves, sitting himself forward a bit. "There's my sister." A bump appears in the vines, before it folds back like a pod, Hirumi's top half emerging. "I've been looking all over for you." She sounds innocent, nice even. Hishigata has slumped back against the terminal, his hand pressing against the cloth on his wound, while Esther is crouched with her back to him, facing the threat, Houtou looking over her shoulder, prepared to grab both and move if need be.
"That's no longer a human, much less Taowu. That is something else completely, because it's like she's being absorbed into the cords, rather than them holding her up. Considering she has not had them put her down, I can only imagine that means they are fusing together somehow." Heaven notes, having seen powers similar but not quite like this, none of them ever threatening to swallow the Esper like this appears to be.
"He really just will not accept reality, will he? There's only so much necromancy can do and he knows that as well and she does, but he's willfully ignoring it because he doesn't want his sister to be dead. This idiot, he's going to get them all killed." Touma sighs, but he can understand, after all losing a sister must hurt quite a lot and there's nothing that hurts more than losing someone precious to you, no amount of physical pain will ever get close to that.
"How did the soul manage to creep up on them like that and what the hell? There's something wrong with this power. They really wanted Hirumi back, didn't they? I want to know how the hell the soul is managing to sound more human than any of the other ones, especially considering Houtou has been around more people and should be able to react similarly and has not." Mikoto grunts, though the tension in her body clearly shows how much she does not like the situation, especially since the blonde has nowhere to go, there are no other exits that she knows of, having not looked around.
"That stupid asshole, he was stalling for time, just the slightest bit, though he also wanted to get the damn words out, so I'll give the fucktard that. That bitch, if she had looked around more, she might've noticed some damn signs that the vines were getting close or maybe a back damn door they could escape through, but she did not, so now they're trapped, like a bunch of fuckin shits." Accelerator is tired of Hishigata, the man gets way too into things and ignores reality, in a way Accelerator had not done, even as he killed Sister after Sister. Surely, the researcher must know somewhere inside that he's wrong, but he is choosing to ignore that and is focusing on what he thinks is important.
"Hmm... it's interesting the way her power is choosing to work. I wonder if it's because there's a pseudo soul or if her power was always like that. Besides, she does not appear to have changed, despite the monstrous bulb thing that has appeared above ground, no change has happened to herself, not in any way. There's not a chance she has of getting stronger at this point, because nothing has happened yet, but it should've been pretty immediate." Heaven mutters, trying his hardest to figure out whether she's already gone through the shift or if she is just building up to it, because there's no way nothing will happen, this is a researcher who put time, effort and a lot of blood into it, so for it to go wrong... it won't happen.
"Sorry to ask this, but could you do me a favor and tell this stubborn woman that you're the real Hirumi?" The girl is almost pouting, looking stricken and hurt. "Why don't you believe us, Esther? You're the one who's been acting weird." The girl is highlighted by the red lights, but she is no longer glowing and perhaps even more suspicious, the blood stains on her cheek and chin are gone. "Why would you attack my brother like that?" She sounds angry and hurt, but the eyes that should be blue are more of an orange or red, and they don't reflect the emotion at all. Esther stares, looking a bit put on the spot. "Well, I..." She hesitates. Hishigata looks smug from where he's settled, looking a bit more alive than even just a few moments ago when it was just the three of them. "Convinced? Or are you going to keep insisting she's an imitation? Hirumi's more human than either one of you." He covers his mouth after speaking, coughing into his hand, a wet sound coming, clearly more blood has come up, so the wound is not healing as it should. Hirumi looks worried. "Hang on brother!" His hand is shaking from where it's pressed against the cloth, likely not putting any pressure on the wound at all. The blood has stained down his pants. "You're bleeding badly." She's still hanging from the wall, lower body hidden away. Houtou has turned to face the girl, moving down by Hishigata's feet, Esther still crouched. "We have to take you to the hospital, now!" He raises a hand, looking at it, covered in blood. "What? You mean this? Actually, I'm probably done for. But that's alright." He clearly knows exactly how much blood he's lost, as well as where he was hit and the damage done. His eyes are clear, he has no regrets in dying like this.
"He knows the truth at least, and he's accepted that he's going to die, but what the hell? Her eyes are a different color now? There's no way that's from the formula, something has definitely changed within the girl. Also, that was an extremely low blow, coming from the man who asked Esther to use her powers the way she did, in order to further his research. Where did the blood on her face go as well? There's no signs of water or anything, so she didn't wash it off, but then where...? And to perhaps top it all off, she's still acting more human than the other souls, which is extremely weird and entirely off putting." Yomikawa notes, she's been paying attention to the girl because she rubbed her the wrong way and she has an idea why that might be.
"I don't like the eye color change either. I think the soul inside Hirumi is infected with something, or maybe it was destroyed somewhere in history and they never realized, so it's broken and that's why the soul is acting differently? Hishigata knows he's going to die, so he's accepted that, he knows his dream has come true and his sister is safe - at least in his eyes - so he can move on with peace, at least that's what he thinks. I have a feeling something is going to change that real soon." Touma is getting a bad feeling from the girl, like she's hiding poison or something, a feeling similar to how a person being stalked by a hiding predator, so what the hell is wrong with her doing right now?
"Goddamn bitch, I didn't realize this fuckin bullshit was already happening back the fuck then. Goddamnit, there needs to be a knife in her chest soon, break the damn charm or whatever, but stop that shit! She's not stable, there's something wrong as fuck and that is a bad thing, combine it with that damn plant thing going on and the supposed power to become level 6, as well as the knowledge of 10,031 deaths and some bullshit fuckery is about to go down! Kill the bitch already." Accelerator groans, because if Esther really had the resolve to actually hurt her friend, the situation from later would never actually have happened and everything would've been so much easier.
"Misaka thinks the soul is not entirely the soul alone, because only another human would be able to act convincingly like a human. Hishigata is really hurt, isn't he? Misaka does not want him to die, he could do so much good if he would stop fixating on his sister and tried his hardest. States Misaka Misaka as she knows that the man can be redeemed, and can do a lot of good if he remains alive, though that injury really is bad and he probably won't make it." The tiny girl has tears in her eyes, staring at the man bleeding out, something inside saying he does not survive.
"That power is way too much, and the way she's acting... There's not nearly enough concern or tears from that girl for it to be completely real, it almost sounds fake, but there is a bit of real emotion there, enough to fool most people. Her power is spreading and changing, even as she talks with them, I have no doubt, but what the hell does it do and what's the point of it?" Yoshikawa groans, because there is going to be so much trouble from this asshole's attempts to make his sister stronger, so surely he made a back up plan in case it was too much for her at once, right? Maybe they can use that to stop her?
"She's not being fake at all. Her eyes are a different color, but those emotions, that feeling, it's all extremely real and from the heart. I wonder what will happen when the girl understands his words, when she completely lets it sink in that her brother is going to die and there's nothing she can do. With all the power she has, as well as the soul and potentially another thing residing in the soul as well, it can not be anything good." Index sighs heavily, because yet again human emotions are just so complicated, like a giant tangled knot that just when you think it's going to unravel, tightens and shifts and adds another emotion without a hint of doubt, leaving the nun to wonder how humans deal with this.
He stretches his hand out towards Hirumi, who looks horrified at the words he just said. "As long as you've reached-" She's crying, tears rolling down her cheeks, a hand reaching out in response. "-level 6. Then..." He wheezes, breathing getting harder. "Brother..." Her voice shakes, clearly this is not something they'd planned for. "You can't die." She looks shaken and broken by the possibility, then something changes, her eyes growing large, a gasp escaping her, and then she slumps over, going limp like a puppet cut from its strings. Esther grunts, tipping her head up, exhaling harshly as she watches for something. Hirumi rises, but she's completely different, the aura a menacing one, with only her left eye open, a gleaming, bright golden orange. It moves unnaturally, clicking noises like gears grinding almost sounding as the pupil moves side to side. A symbol is etched into the eye, showing the view from above. "Checking body temperature." The world is in inverse colors, the dark spots on Hishigata's clothes looking more black then red, the rest an off color blue. "Gauging blood loss. No possibility of self restoration." He's staring in shock and horror at the girl, clearly he'd noticed the change as well. "Estimated time of death. 11:32." The voice was cold and professional through the entire thing, none of the emotion from before coming through at all.
"What the hell? That sounds more like Taowu then anything, considering the other souls talk exactly like that as well, but why the fuck did it kick in there and like that? Also, the fuck is wrong with her eye? Where did all the emotion, the tears and sadness from just a moment ago go? She sounds like a completely different person." Mikoto stares in horror, because a change that abrupt and after such devastating news, what could that possibly mean? Especially considering the lack of anything other than sadness when it happened. Was there a trigger of some sort that activated the soul and it just took over?
"Holy shit... There's something wrong here. That was not ok, this is not the same person, maybe not even the same soul. The way she collapsed has me getting shoved deep inside her conscious vibes and I don't think she's ok or there anymore, whoever was in control at that moment. Taowu or someone else, they're not there, tough this sounds more like the soul should be, so who was controlling before this?" Touma groans, he hates having to figure things like this out, he barely manages in school, doing it in his free time is not something he really wants to do, though he certainly can do it if he puts his mind to it.
"Not god, not good at all. That can only mean, those reactions and the shift, the eye of a completely different color and the everything, something else has taken control of the body from whoever was there before and that's horrible, because we know nothing about this new person, we don't know how they got there or why, or even if they will be as easy to get rid of as destroying the charm, assuming that's even the way it's done. They have unknown abilities, since we still don't know what the fuck her power is, and there is no emotion or heart in her voice, nothing to even make it appear she is human." Yoshikawa starts aggressively chewing on the candy. Index has been munching steadily, but she reaches and grabs a handful of bacon, chewing on that in her nervousness, because this new presence, this new thing, it's aura and the change bother her, but she's not sure what or why it bothers her, just that it does.
"Wait, if she can see vii heat signature, is anyone inside the building safe since the vines are part of her, or at least they appear to be? Won't that mean she just has a free go at anyone inside and around or nearby and she can see them without hesitation? What could that possibility mean for this group?" Yomikawa asks, because they had not managed to figure out how the roots were seeing, not exactly, so she must be controlling them somehow, and her vision must affect the roots as well. What an interesting power.
"So this is when that bitch came through, hmm? Fuck bastard, too smart for her own damn good, hiding under the other soul inside until given the chance to properly take over with no interference from the soul in any way, not with it so overwhelmed with sadness. Goddamn manipulative bitch. Fuckin hell, I hate people like this fuck soul." Accelerator growls, because this bitch had chosen the time when least resistance would be put up against her in order to come forward, had perhaps even stalled Hirumi waking in order to make sure Hishigata got hurt, so she would get a chance to take over.
"She's not wrong, but to go from the sadness and fear and horror of a young sister losing her brother to that sudden professionalism is completely unrealistic. Something happened the moment she collapsed and whatever happened, it completely changed her. How interesting, though it's also completely concerning because this is not going to end well, I can almost feel it." Heaven says, because any patient that reacts like that they typically send to an asylum in order to get the treatment they need, that or they end up killing themselves as well as many other people as possible, because they no longer have the will to live and want everyone around them to suffer as well.
"Misaka does not like this...mumbles Misaka Misaka, the sudden change in personality scaring her and making her wish that Esther had managed to get rid of the soul already." Last Order is clutching Yomikawa's shirt, but she's resting against Accelerator's chest, and Yoshikawa throws an arm over the albino, resting her arm over the tiny girl as well, offering her more comfort, because this is not something any of them had been prepared for, except the albino.
He speaks, but his voice echoes and wavers oddly. "Hey, why are you talking like that?" Clearly he's still trying to remain in his illusion. Taowu is staring at him blankly, no attachment of any kind for him. "Given that life functions for subject of continued deception are expected to cease, termination of Hirumi Hishigata's memories will commence." The girl lowers her head a bit, eye falling closed. He stares in horror, it had taken a moment for what she said to sink in. "What...? Hirumi, what are you saying?" He sounds weaker again, clearly the prolonged life and the fact that this might not be his sister is stealing the energy he was using to remain alive.
"Wait, hold on, is it saying that all all Hirumi's memories are going to be gotten rid of, just removed so that it can't be accessed anymore and can't affect it anymore?" Index asks in surprise, because that really must mean this is the soul, which is choosing the easiest way to get away from the emotional attachment in order to complete its orders.
"Holy shit, I actually feel really bad for Hishigata. He's going to die realizing that his sister had not ever come back and his dream had been pointless, as well as the fact that nothing he'd done for her had been worth it. Goddamn, I shouldn't care about him, really should not care that he's going to die like this, but damn if I don't." Mikoto grits her teeth, because he had done horrible things, but he'd done it for a reason, and to have that reason destroyed so completely and solidly without warning, as he's lying there dying, it must be a harsh blow, an extremely debilitating one as well.
"Goddamn bastard, about time the fuck realizes he made a damn mistake. This must be the fuckin moment that lead to that... I understand better now, and that might might it even fuckin worse, depending on how you want to fuckin look at it. I think the bastard deserved the truth, though perhaps having it presented in a better damn environment and time would've been better for everyone." Accelerator states, because he knows exactly what the man is feeling at the moment, can recall the moment Touma's punch had hit him and he'd been forced to let his illusion shatter completely, to let the thoughts he'd been forcing away to come forth and swamp him all at once.
The adults can only watch in horror, because for the soul to just decide to get rid of memories like that, without hesitation or thought, not even bothering to assure or comfort the brother, it really is a different person which spells all kinds of trouble.
The golden eye opens again, her head rising. "Hirumi Hishigata's memory reproduction has been terminated. My name is Taowu." There's a noticeable pause before she says her name, the voice getting darker and less mechanical as it's said. The man stares in horror, gasping as he realizes he really had been wrong. She's hanging from the ceiling now, head tilted unnaturally up to be staring down at them, the golden eye unnerving beyond all belief, her arms held out to the side as if to say 'ta-da' and her back arched the slightest bit. "Congratulations are in order, Esther." The blonde has shifted from a crouch to resting on her knees. She's staring with dead, angry eyes at the body in front of her. "What are you talking about?" Her voice shakes a bit, but for fury or despair is entirely unclear.
"What the fuck is wrong with this soul?!?" Touma yells in exasperation, because that whole memory deletion thing had been one thing, but for her entire voice and demeanor to change as she says Taowu, her name, something's not right here and he really wishes shit would just stop happening.
"I think... I think the soul is corrupted somehow, something went wrong, or maybe it's because Hishigata himself is not actually a necromancer so he can not control it properly, but what was the point of it acting up until now?" Index tilts her head, trying to figure out why the soul would choose to act along, because it should not have wanted power, it would have wanted to simply have protected the Master as well as whatever order it was given, but acting like another person shouldn't have been possible.
"That is not a sane person in control anymore. That position, that demeanor and voice change, something is wrong here, they really need to get out of there." Mikoto demands almost, staring in horror and shock, refusing to believe that this is happening. What kind of soul can just delete memories from itself without thought, and then completely change the way it acts, with not even a second of hesitation or anything?
"Misaka does not like this new development. Something is indeed wrong and she's not sure what it is, but she's not certain she wants to know either, breathes shakily Misaka Misaka, scared and bothered at the way memories were deleted without hesitation, wondering if it's possible for the same thing to happen to the Network as well, because Misaka doesn't want to forget anything or anyone!" Last Order is crying, tears streaming down her face, anguish and horror warring in her, because she can only imagine the damage that would happen if the Network were to have memories deleted. Accelerator would be affected as well.
"Shit, this is going way too damn far. To get rid of memories as easily as that? Nothing is going fuck great down there, they really fuckin need to back the hell up and get the shit out of there. Nothing is going the way it needs to and the damn blonde is not processing fast enough, especially not since this damn new prospect or person appears to know the dumbass somehow, even if she does not share the sentiment." Accelerator is annoyed as fuck, he hates that the damn soul or whatever had managed to upset Last Order and pulls her closer, dragging Yomikawa closer as well, refusing to not offer the girl every comfort she needs even if he is a bit uncomfortable having to lie on his side.
"Good god... This is not something that ever should have happened, much less is such a way." Heaven shakes his head sadly, because there should be no reason for anyone to ever take such dire and desperate outs, especially since this person obviously does not care for the girl's body they're in, simply needing it for something else, at least that's what he's assuming, since it choose to address the blonde.
"For 23 generations, spanning 400 years, the Rosenthall bloodline has-" Her face steady gets closer, but she still shows no emotion, that gold eye the only one open, the other remaining closed as if it is gone, the gaze boring into her, staring deeply at her as if seeing her very soul. "-been steadily refining necromancy. And at last it's about to be perfected." The monstrosity outside has changed, mostly a large, thick disgusting mass raised in the sky, it's got two blue ish purple pieces rising from the top like wings almost, everything else a gross, red orange color, the same as the vines. It's ominous looking, with areas that look almost like something zipped closed, bulging unnaturally in others, some places looking like flayed open wounds and others looking smooth as a shaved leg. The vines start pulsing. "Come and celebrate." They start to shift and change. Accelerator is beside the Sister, body sideways, the girl still on the ground, both watching this change happen. "Sing songs of praise-" The vines bearing down on people in suits, whether DA or Anti-Skill, it's hard to say. "-dance-" The vines surrounding them have grown mouths and teeth, the men staring up at them. "-openly rejoice-" They open fire, bullets not even piercing the skin, much less bruising it.
"She's going to do another massacre, isn't she?" Mikoto's voice shakes as she speaks, staring in horror at the thing's they just heard, as well as the horrible truth facing them right now, that bullets are doing no harm to the vines or roots, and that means that once those start to kill, there will be no way to stop them, not even a chance of it. Of course, learning that the girl's family had been planning this for generations, had apparently wanted something like this, is not any easier.
"Good god. That thing is disgusting, even just with the color. The wing things, they're kind of pretty, but the stem or whatever, it looks completely disgusting and wrong, so I don't feel like this is supposed to be something that exists." Index mutters, because roots that can kill people, a monstrosity like that stem that is not complete in a lot of ways and definitely in the way this family is operating, all of them are disgusting, especially since the kids are raised in a way that suggests abuse of some kind.
"Is she really telling Esther to be happy that this is happening, that everything appears to be falling apart? And what the hell are you doing, just watching with the Sister? Get out of there or go in, stop just fucking standing around, you dumbass!" Yomikawa complains at the albino, who levels her with a deadpan look that lets his dead soul look through.
"I was a bit too fucking busy being equally disgusted and fuckin interested to move away, and there was also no damn way I was going to just let Hishigata get a chance to fuckin run, since at this point I was unaware of Esther and Houtou being down there or his injury. Like hell was I going to let the fuckwad regroup and try again later. You can't tell me there weren't people staring at it after you assholes got out, because it's too ugly and yet fascinating to look away from." He retorts, more than done with this shit because goddamnit, Hishigata deserves to die, but he deserves to die in a way that would make him repent, if he even was going to be killed, since Esther likely would've gotten in the way, mercy giving brat like her.
"Bullets are doing nothing against the roots and this appears to have been a long time coming. Accelerator how do you and Last Order get mixed up in these things?" Heaven sighs heavily, because one is about 10 years old physically, but mentally older and younger, while the other is 15, maybe 16 and is definitely far older mentally. They should be able to stay out of trouble, but no.
"Misaka protests that, because trouble finds us, we don't go looking for it! Exclaims Misaka Misaka, insulted that you think we go looking for trouble, we are just trying to be happy and as normal as we can." Last Order pouts at the man, who simply levels her with an unimpressed look.
Anti-Skill are retreating with skill, several opening fire and keeping the things away while people retreat behind them. "Don't stop moving!" Ito yells, not taking his eyes off the vines. Yomikawa is further in front of him, firing her gun as well. "Hurry and get out of here." Hishigata has moved to his stomach, staring in horror at the girl. "What are you going on about, Hirumi?" He's got his arms under him barely to keep his chest lifted in order to look at her. "I don't find this funny anymore." The two girls are clearly in more defensive positions, having already accepted and known this was Taowu. The girl is hanging from a large vine, her lower half still swallowed by it. "Taowu!" Esther says. The vine holding her moves, putting her closer as she replies, "Yes?" Esther is obviously bracing herself to ask the question, opening her eyes as she does. "Why did you go astray?" The girl has her arms to her side, looking almost too perfect to be human. "The results of my self diagnostic program conclude all is proceeding as intended." She sounds mechanical as she responds. "How can you say that?!" Esther sounds disbelieving.
"Look at you, you're really managing to do your job well, considering the odd things that have happened around you since Accelerator got started with this. Anti-Skill have a lot of weird quirks and I think your ability to just roll with the weird is perhaps one of them, though it certainly comes in handy living with these two little shits." Yoshikawa muses, grinning at the two kids between them who sputter at the wording.
"Mmm. I think that's more specific to my group then most of Anti-Skill, just because we happen to deal with Espers more often than others, so we happen to be used to trying to figure out why something happens or how and just as easily rolling with it because if we didn't we would die. Besides, the weird things that happen are a great deal of fun, so why not make it a quirk to just deal with them?" Yomikawa retaliates, besides having to work to actually scare or shock her teammates with pranks is a lot of fun, especially that time she got Accelerator to join in without realizing, since this asshole at the school wouldn't leave her alone and she had needed his help.
"Damn, Hishigata is really trying his hardest to not let his illusion break and Esther just wants to figure out why the spirit is not doing what it should, because there's no way she gave it that order, so who the hell did? On top of that, the spirit in control does not appear to actually be all that sane, much less in control of what it's doing, so I want to know how broken it is." Touma grumbles, because there's no way that something like this would have come from Esther, the girl would never order death like this, and because the soul has to be broken, in some way, it's nowhere near as blank as it should be for a pseudo soul.
"If the damn thing hasn't gone astray, who's damn orders are it taking? And if the fucking thing is doing those orders, why can't the bitch take this moment when it's guard is down to fuckin stab it? She already built her resolve once, it's still there, but she is not using it when she damn well should, the fuckin idiot." Accelerator grouses, because everything that happened after this was a bunch of bullshit, and Esther could've prevented some of it if she had just taken the numerous chances she was given.
"I'm with the blonde, how can the soul say it hasn't gone astray and it's following orders if she obviously never gave it any? Especially since they appear to be working for the Rosenthall's only. Except, it mentioned the Rosenthall bloodline rather than a specific person, is it possible it really isn't taking orders from her but dead people?" Index asks, wondering if that's possible considering it's a pseudo soul, but would it be able to keep memories from when it's out or would they just disappear?
"You didn't follow my orders!" She sounds almost outraged at this. The blonde is still on her knees, Taowu suspended from the wall with the vines' help. "The wishes of the Rosenthall family as a whole took precedence." Esther gasps in surprise. Houtou is behind the girl, staring blankly ahead. "A pseudo soul doesn't have the ability to refuse commands their masters issue them." Whether she's stating that for Taowu or reminding Esther is unclear. The girl looks almost amused. "Maybe a lower class such as yourself, but you and I are different. Achieving the Rosenthall's goal must take priority over everything else." Esther looks devastated to hear that, staring in horror at the soul. "Taowu, what exactly happened?" It's clear her family had kept this from her, maybe thinking she would never release the charms so there was no need. "9.85487051 billion seconds have elapsed. That is when I was first activated, as well as the same time of being connected to a pseudo soul that comprises me." "Connected with you?" Esther sounds confused, not a good thing considering this has to do with her own power. "After allowing .32 seconds of hesitation, I permitted communication. And this being..." She looks unbearably smug as she speaks, though the lack of emotion in her voice is unnerving. The rest of her sentence is unable to be heard, since it becomes a sort of sonic attack.
"Fuckin what the actual hell? If that thing is not a pseudo damn soul, what the hell is it? And if something else slipped in and it's communicating with the damn soul, then isn't the fuckin thing corrupted by that and that is why the fucker isn't acting like the rest? And What the fuckin hell does it mean that Houtou is a lower class? Goddamnit, the little brat didn't explain this shit to me!" Accelerator growls, those things might've been helpful while fighting later on, though he can't quite recall some of the fight near the end due to his battery giving out.
"Are you telling me that someone tampered with the talisman and nobody noticed anything? There's no way this entity would've been able to interact with it if someone had not messed with the talisman, which means it was out of the sight of the family for a pretty long time at some point. And for them to have covered their tracks so well no one has noticed for hundreds of years? I don't fuckin believe that shit for a second." Yoshikawa denies, because there's no way a family would miss such obvious signs of tampering with something important to them, but then does that mean they knew and were waiting for this moment?
"Are they going to be ok? That attack did not look pretty and that was a pretty hard mental blow as well, on top of her wavering resolve and I'm not certain that she's going to be able to manage this for long." Yomikawa mutters, staring at the two girls, wanting to see how they deal with it, because there's no way that didn't hurt.
"The things people are willing to do for a goal is disturbing and worries Misaka, confides Misaka Misaka, recalling the number of times Dad's goal to protect her had him getting hurt, or the times when mom's goal of cleaning moved important things to locations she could not remember, or when Mother's goal to get a job has her leaving for hours and returning to look for more, since her qualifications are all over the place." Last Orders rambles a bit, clearly she's worried about what might happen, though they can't really blame her for that. Yoshikawa focuses on something else-
"Mother?" Last Order blinks while Accelerator heaves a small groan, shifting to lay by Yomikawa and pushing the tiny shit over to the researcher, though he's completely unprepared for Yomikawa to yank him back against her completely and start running her fingers through his hair.
"Ah, Misaka had not meant to let that slip so soon, murmurs Misaka Misaka, trying to hide her fear behind a pout because she really had not wanted to drop it on you." Last Order is fidgeting a bit. Yoshikawa reigns, tears in her eyes and pulls the small girl close, cuddling her as best she can, more then willing to accept the title, similar to how Yomikawa did and - though he will deny it - Accelerator as well, since he never tells her to stop with the 'dad' or 'big brother' which seems to change daily.
"I would love to have that title." Mikoto grins, glad her Sister's are in a place where they're so loved, before returning her focus to the screen, trying extremely hard not to throw up.
Esther covers both her ears, letting out grunts, while Houtou covers one, both bracing themselves. The entire room shakes for a moment. "So you're telling me you're actively communicating with this devil?" Esther can't comprehend why anyone would do that, sounds downright confused and disgusted. "Yes. And most importantly, it taught me exactly what I needed to do to accomplish the Rosenthall family's wish." Hishigata pushes himself up more, laughing a bit as he does so. "My sister's got one wicked sense of humor, doesn't she?" He appears worse off, blood still along his chin, and obviously lacking the strength to get up on his own. "Come on-" He reaches out with a hand, clearly desperate for this to just be a joke. "-everybody knows there's no such thing as devils, Hirumi." Suckers are rolling from his pocket, hitting the ground with a sound similar to rocks. Taowu moves a bit closer. " There is." She sounds forceful as she says this. The vines are moving behind her, Houtou crouching behind Esther, the blonde crouching, prepared to spring away, while Hishigata is just barely on his hands and knees, a few feet away from the terminal he was leaning against. "You should be rejoicing Esther. After all, I'm finally making your family's desire a reality." An encroaching vine crushes the suckers, Hishigata having collapsed back onto his stomach can only stare in horror, something finally knocking loose in his head, crushed bits of one of them landing in front of him. "You do know Mistress." Taowu is barely a foot from Esther's face, almost level, her golden eye glowing unnaturally. "What the Rosenthall family wishes for." Esther gets closer, making the distance maybe an inch, clearly wanting to get her point across, but also not wanting anyone else to have to hear.
"Holy shit, what the hell is wrong with the family she comes from?" Mikoto breathes in horror, unable to accept the shit that's happening, wanting an explanation, though she also feels bad for Hishigata, he's clearly struggling with the shattered mess that Taowu has left him and Esther is trying so hard to fight against whatever the hell is wrong with Taowu, obviously something had infected it and done a lot of things while it was in resting mode.
"I'm officially adopting her and there's nothing you can do to stop me." Yomikawa deadpans, staring in disgust at the screen, because for a soul of the family, created specifically by them, to put the family bloodline before the child, that's just not right. Nor are any of the other small things she's hinted towards any time she mentions them.
"Fuckin hell, so the damn thing is infected. She's trying to argue and talk things out with the damn thing? It's pretty clear by this point that it doesn't give a shit about her, so why the fuck does she think talking is going to do her any good?" Accelerator sighs, because he can not really judge, he tends to go for a kill if they annoy him or fit the right criteria, though he's also never had to fight a friend, much less a best friend, since he's never really had any, and the fights with Touma can barely be counted since he was not really there.
"I have a really bad feeling about this..." Index mutters, because nothing good ever comes from a family goal that takes precedence over everything, much less a wish that somehow got imparted onto a fake soul they built for- why did they build the fake souls? What was the purpose of them?
"I really don't want to know why the Rosenthall family is like that, I just want Ether to not be there with them anymore, because there are some seriously wrong things going on with them. On top of that, for a pseudo soul they created for yet known reasons to become corrupted, and start almost obsessively following an order given hundreds of years ago, I don't think she'd be safe there either. "Touma grunts, trying to not clench his fist, blinking in surprise as pale, thin fingers shove a thing of sour candies into his hand, forcing him to relax in order to grab it. He nods at the albino, who simply blinks in return.
"I wonder, is Taowu special in its ability to recall memories from hundreds of years ago or is that something specific due to it being infected and corrupted? And can it similarly affect the other charms after they're placed, because having to find Hundun, Qiong Qi and Taotie again will not do you any good at this stage." Heaven mentions, because if the talisman are connected in any way, the possibility of the infection spreading increases greatly and having to beat all four of them at once, seems to be a bit much, even for Accelerator.
"For the creation of a perfect golem." She sounds disgusted and horrified to have to say it, but her voice does not waver. Taowu is almost smiling now, her teeth noticeably sharper than a normal humans, her glowing eye reminiscent of a snake or predator, something that stalks its prey. "Then it would appear as though you've not forgotten." She sounds like a maid scolding the youngest mistress, which is just wrong. Esther is staring off to the side, obviously uncomfortable and angry at her family's desire. "Every child born into our family was told of that dream when they were little and were never allowed to forget it." A flashback, showing a story of some sorts. A man wearing a robe, a corpse covered in front of him, the man holding three papers with symbols on them. "From times of old, we Rosenthalls have been searching for a method that would allow us to create-" There are more robed men, one appearing to be taking notes of some sort, another just observing. "-the perfect golem."
"What the hell is the point of creating a perfect golem though? Necromancy requires a dead body, would a golem even work?" Yoshikawa demands, because this so far does not seem like a great start into convincing them that this is important enough to risk everything for, including the lives of children.
"I don't think I want to know." Mikoto grits out, because for all the kids to learn it and never be allowed to forget it, it sounds like a horrible dream, especially with these damn old ass images showing them everything.
None of the others bother commenting, after all, they can tell this is bullshit and nothing they say will change it either, since this has already happened, there's nothing they can do but interact with the blonde differently once they meet her or see her again. Besides, they want to know more, because this feels extremely important in some way.
Hands opening the corpse's mouth and a charm being prepared to place on the tongue. "-One day, our founder Obed-" The robed man manipulating something, her hands held in position. "-developed necromancy. A method of making a golem using a dead body." There are candles behind the man. The man is kneeling between two men forcing him down with spears, a king or someone of equal importance in the background. "However, it wasn't accepted by those in power. And Obed was cast out of his homeland-" Soldiers on a dock, 2 on a small boat, pairs of men rowing it away. "-as a heretic." Mountains, a beach and perhaps in general an island of some sort. "Then his fourth generation heir Issac crossed over into the east and encountered the -" A boy holding a charm up to a man, who's lower half is coming from a vase of some sort, purple fire glowing from his eyes. "-Dao Si-xing spell. He incorporated it, creating a new line of magic. The Rosenthall style, if you will." A half black half, white circle, symbols of all kinds across it.
"Good god, they really started going all out with this shit as soon as they got the chance, didn't they? And of course no one was going to accept that power, by those of power, to mess with the dead is wrong, in a number of ways, but especially in this way!" Index groans out, because nothing makes it ok to manipulate or mess with someone's dead corpse, especially if it means there's a chance the poor soul that inhabited the body might not ever get to rest.
"Holy mother of fucking hod damn pieces of shit, cock sucking, egotistical, asshole sucking fucktards. Her family is worse than I thought, which is saying something because I already did not think highly of them. I almost regret letting the little fuck go back to them, but its what she wanted and she seemed determined as all shit to do something, so I decided not to stand in her fuckin way." Accelerator growls out, because he had not known any of this, would never have let her return without at least offering her an open invitation back, if he'd just fuckin known. Oh god, is this how others feel dealing with him when he's hiding something? Shit, he'll have to apologize.
"I didn't think it could get worse. Why did I think it could not get worse?" Touma deadpans, because of course it got worse, what else would it do? Something this insane would have to span generations, especially with a power like necromancy at their disposal.
"I am really curious what the man expected when he created necromancy that way, because I doubt he thought they would accept him. Was he going to scare them into submission but wasn't given the chance? Or was his goal to be labeled a heretic and get free from there, in order to continue learning?" Heaven asks, because the man might've been a genius if he planned on being labeled a heretic in order to get away to continue his research and training in another place, without any interruptions.
"Later, the 5th generation heir Nathan radically increased the potency of pseudo souls." Some symbols pass by. " Which produced talismans for Taowu, Taotie, Qiong Qi and Hundun." The four charms, each a bit more complicated than the last, hanging in little wooden boxes. "The four evil spirits of the numbers." A different circle. "But after all this, the Rosenthalls were still far from accomplishing their goal." An angel, a power building up in front of it. "What they were in pursuit of was a creation that never existed before." The hideous vine thing that has been created. "A golem possessing a perfect soul and body. A being that would be on par with a god." The stem of the thing is spiraling up, high into the sky. "I don't believe you. All of this was decided years-" The girl retracts towards the wall. "-in advance!" She pretty much yells it, trying to ignore the reality that this is something her family wanted, to go against them for the first time.
"I can't blame her, because the souls likely aren't meant to recall anything from before they were applied, but this one appears to and plus, that was ages ago, why the hell would the soul continue to actively follow that order and goal after so damn long?" Yoshikawa states, because having to deal with anything from the family is hard enough, but a plot and goal that has been in the making for hundreds of years and the head of the family appeared to know about is just too much.
"My dad may not be around all that often and my mother might be drunk more often than not when i see her, but they're at least there for me, and absolutely willing to listen to me, so why the hell is her family like this? What is making them so obsessed they're forcing it onto all their children and never letting them forget it? Because this goal to create a being that does not exist seems like bullshit to me." Mikoto hisses, because what the hell is wrong with people? Why can people that give birth to children not care for them properly? Being good people but shit parents are not the way things should be and yet that's more often than not the situation. God, she just wants to help.
"I can see now why she might be shaken after having to recall all of that, much less learning that it must've been planned for years, and that this soul is putting that above everything else. I can only imagine the shock and horror, perhaps even disgust and plain out shame she must've felt, realizing her family had something like this going and she is an unfortunate part of it due to being a Rosenthall." Touma says, because he can barely imagine how he would react in her place, emotions out of whack and every which way, but at least he knows that Accelerator is going to help her get right the fuck back up. After all, there's no way the albino will ignore someone in pain and suffering, trying their hardest but not having a hold anymore.
"That dumbass bitch. She's finally putting up a fight, but there is no way she can possibly hope to give a shit now after losing the damn resolve and fucking will to do what needs to be goddamn done. This brat, she's going to be a damn dumbass and try to shoulder this shit alone, because her family are a bunch of lazy, egotistical, abusive, pieces of shit that need to be taken down almost all the pegs that exist." Accelerator moans, tipping his head back in order to rest it on Yomikawa, shifting a bit before holding a hand out to her, amused when she hands him a pillow without him even asking, before he shoves it between his legs, trying to take some pressure from just existing off of his bad one. The ache gets a bit better, but his leg still hates its existence, pulses of pain going through him.
"This is exactly what the devil said." She no longer looks calm and sane, her single pupil having grown small, an uncontrollable insanity and darkness hiding inside it, poorly contained. " By repeatedly dying ten thousand times, the souls of men slowly begin to evolve, reaching Keter, the top of the Sefirotic tree." An image, a circle, perhaps the tree she speaks of. "Even pseudo souls could obtain this level. All that's required is logging evidence of the ten thousand deaths." Esther looks overwhelmed and completely confused, but she also looks horrified. "How is that possible? Are you also tampering with reincarnation?" She sounds disgusted, though the fact she thinks that far brings into question what she has seen in her life, to assume that. "I have those memories." Taowu looks unbelievably smug and happy. "The 10,031 deaths were converted into a formula and transferred into me." The glowing eye almost looks happy. "They then became appended to the sefirotic tree that comprises my pseudo soul. Why aren't you celebrating?" She almost sounds mocking, clearly getting a kick out of this despite her voice being so monotone and boring. She's got an evil grin on her face, bangs hiding her eyes. Her hair raises in a way it shouldn't, almost as if it is floating.
"What the actual hell?" Mikoto demands, because this is what they are using her Sisters' 10,031 deaths for? They're using it for some goddamn evil scheme to create a perfect golem, a thing that has never existed and probably for damn good reason at that?
"Why can't people just give evil a break and take a step back for once?" Yomikawa asks tiredly, because if these people had just stepped back and away, they'd maybe have realized there are more important things and they might even have decided it was stupid to try and create something that had never existed, with a damn good reason, the woman is willing to bet.
"What hell has Esther seen for her to think they might be tampering with the reincarnation cycle in order to complete their plan? Why would she even think that's possible? Asks Misaka Misaka, because she has never heard of such a power being possible, not for an Esper anyways." Last Order has tilted her head, more than willing to accept an answer.
"That's because this is magic, not science. These work with different rules completely, though there are rules for certain. This family, they're breaking and bending quite a few to get away with what they're doing right now." Index grumbles, because dealing with the Rosenthall family will likely be a pain in the ass, though she's really hoping Esther doesn't get bothered, because necromancy is not a bad magic, it just isn't great without certain parameters and restrictions, which would have to be followed.
Normally they would argue, but Accelerator can recall magic helping him, as can Mikoto recall the damn war with magicians, forcing her to admit they're real. Heaven had always known ,after being forced to interact with Aleister, while Yomikawa and Yoshikawa are open minded people, and Last Order has always been willing to accept pretty much anything told to her.
"Ok, why are they going this far? And what is the Sefrotic tree? Are those important things for what they're planning?" Yoshikawa asks, trying to figure out the way this ties in with everything, because that is likely what is giving the damn soul its power and if they can figure it out, surely the thing would lose some of its power.
"Sing songs of praise, twirl and dance in honor of your victory. The 400 year old wish of the Rosenthall line is finally coming to fruition." Esther is completely done, knows exactly what this kind of thing could do to the world. "You have to stop tampering with death!" She's drawn her knife, the blade pointed at the body. She's prepared to attack if need be. "If I've learned anything, it's that necromancy-" She is certain of this, her eyes boring into Taowu, daring her to try and speak otherwise. "-doesn't return what was taken from us. I lost a friend-" She closes her eyes, clearly this still hurts her. "-and when I tried bringing her back, I just lost her all over again." Esther rises to her feet, finally getting her resolve back together and piecing a part of herself back together as well. Houtou is ready as well, crouched but more than positioned well enough to attack or defend. "No matter how much control I have over death, I wasn't able to save my friend. We've no place interfering with the deceased." She is going to get her point across, make sure there is no shaking her, no breaking down, there will be no going back on this one, her eyes are blazing in determination and strength. "This world doesn't need devils or manufactured-" Taowu looks amused, a grin resting on her face, glowing eye staring with insanity and a desire to complete her goal. "-gods!"
"Hell yeah, you fuckin go Esther!" Touma cheers, because he loves to see people break free of their illusions and stand all on their own, though he never minds lending a helping hand to those who need it as well, as long as they break free.
"It's about damn time that bitch got things settled and fucking ready to go. Honestly, it was like waiting for fuckin grass to grow. Dumbass bitch, took her fuckin time, now if she can keep that and maintain it the dumbass might win here." Accelerator grumbles as he knows that something breaks her pretty quickly after this, considering the shape she was in once he saw her. Damnit, can't she catch a break?
"Finally! I can't wait to see Esther take this bitch down and put her in her place properly! Now, the question remains is she going to be able to stab her best friend's corpse, though? Because she can't seem to yet come to terms with the fact that it is in fact a corpse and not her best friend." Mikoto sighs, but she's putting hope into the blonde, because the girl seems to have finally got some confidence and a part of herself back as well, something she can agree with, having had Touma do the same thing for her.
"She's not wrong, Misaka agrees with Esther. The world is perfect just as it is, there's no need for anything more! Exclaims Misaka Misaka, thinking back on all the beautiful and ugly things she has seen, but loved anyways because they are proof she is alive and living, unlike many people who were not allowed to live, like the poor girl Houtou inhabits currently." Last Order is practically bouncing in place, though Yoshikawa looks fond at this, rolling her eyes before grabbing a little parfait thing from the table, handing it to the tiny girl.
"Honestly, the world would be a much worse place if god or demons were to really exist and in a plane where we would be forced to interact with them as well." Heaven mutters, because there's no way anything good would come from beings of such strong power existing where humans - greedy, corrupt beings for the most part - can interact with them on a daily basis.
The vines start pulsing from where they've intertwined with cords. The golden eye is boring into the blonde. The eye narrows a bit, clearly angry and insulted. "I see." Hishigata is laying there, staring in horror still, listening to everything being said. "Then are you saying I should not carry out the directions I was given by the self-proclaimed devil?" "That's exactly what I'm saying." There's a layer of sternness and order in her tone that has not been herald before. She points at the girl. "And since I still have Adonai rights, in the name of the head of the Rosenthall's, you're to stop carrying out this devil's instructions. This instant." Taowu looks unstable, uncertain, downright insane, darkness covering her eyes, the open one wide in shock, perhaps. She tips her head down, hair falling to normal. "I acknowledge your request." The vines with mouths stop moving, the DA letting out gasps as they stare. Accelerator has a dome, barely seen in white, around him and the Sister, his hand raised to maintain it, several vines poking at it.
"I feel like that was way too easy, especially after all the damn shit the spirit said about talking with the devil and on top of that, about being a higher class than Houtou, so I doubt that works." Index points out immediately, not wanting to let them hope because there really is no way it would be that easy, not after a 400 year old plan was explained to the girl.
"I can't believe the bitch really thought that would work. I want to smack her so fucking bad, but damnit, the idiot already did this, no point in making it worse for her dumbass. Besides, this almost for certain would've worked for any of the other damn souls, this one just happens to be wrong and broken, not unlike most people." Accelerator sighs, because there's no way anyone this broken would willingly just let go of a goal they've worked for 400 years for, not after all that effort and blood and sweat and probably tears.
"God, I wish it were that easy, but there's no way that will remain that way. So your power works on the roots, keeps them away, but bullets can not hurt them in any way at all. How interesting. I wonder if the roots are specifically weak to science since this is a magic thing." Heaven is trying really hard to figure out how Accelerator can hold the roots off as well as destroy them, since nothing else being used appears to do any kind of damage, though he did it easily.
"So you are still there... Was there no better place for you to go? Surely the roof was a bad idea if the roots caved the building in or came from below." Mikoto complains half-heartedly, because the rest of the area appears to have been overrun by roots, and he can change his power enough to protect them even if the roots come from below, as he can easily destroy them and with ease, though she's worried about how low his battery life is at the moment.
"That look and the way she is hiding her face, it's pretty clear the soul never had any intention of listening to her, not from the very start. Why take all this time to explain and help Esther understand? Is the soul trying its hardest to torment her or something?" Yomikawa demands, because for something or someone to torment a child, and to do it in such a way, it's an insult to the actually people who do their best to care for kids, to make them safe and happy, especially with the potential that the soul is corrupted and thus it could also easily be someone within the family, considering how well they know the goals and wishes of the entire bloodline.
They stop, the albino letting out a tired "Huh?" as he lowers his hand, the barrier disappearing as well. He looks like a normal teenage boy, none of the darkness, insanity and otherwise age defining things he's learned from the dark side showing through his eyes, just a simple confusion and bits of curiosity. Yomikawa is staring at some over her shoulder, students that are being approached by vines. "What's happening?" One of them asks in a shaky voice. "Never mind, keep running!" Yomikawa orders sternly, well aware this is not the end. All movements from the vines stop. Esther blinks in surprise, before releasing a heavy sigh, sheathing her dagger in its place with a click. She's turned away, so Taowu gets closer without hesitation, a wide, vicious grin on her face, revealing all of her sharp teeth, as well as darkness covering her eyes, clearly she has a plan here.
"Why can't you react properly, you idiot? Yomikawa had the right reaction there, and she was not only evacuating people but trying to make sure that the roots were getting any closer!" Mikoto complains, so done with his lack of reaction, though she's also horrified at the face the soul is making right now.
"Don't turn your back on the enemy yet!" Touma yelps, because that is not a good look, and those sharp teeth are so close to her neck, a place where there are a great deal of vital veins.
"Damn bitch, I thought she would've known better than to think that would work, though that kind of acting is pretty smart of the damn soul." Accelerator mumbles, already wishing he had been able to impart his wisdom at this point because goddamn, she can be a stupid bitch sometimes.
"You're doing some damn good work. Keep on evacuating people, quickly. Those damn roots are going to do something, though exactly what, I can not fucking decide. "Yoshikawa cheers on Yomikawa, amused at the look the other woman gives her.
"Look at you. You are so cute and fluffy looking when you put down all your masks and just react." Yomikawa coos at the albino, amused at the blush that covers his face.
"You must be running pretty low in order for you risk an attack, with you putting your barrier down like that without a bit of hesitation." Heaven murmurs.
"As if that was really going to change my mind." Esther looks horrified, both at the words being spoken to her and at how close the girl has gotten to her. The darkness pulls back, revealing her bright golden eye, as well as the fact she has her tongue hanging out, the appendage longer than normal. The vines start moving with a roar, more things bursting from all around the room, Esther and Houtou both glancing at everything that moves. They grunt, going back to back. They're surrounded, though by what exactly is unclear.
"I could've predicted that." Touma moans, because of course the damn snake woman thing would have a super long fucking tongue and compete control over the roots in order to fucking create monsters from the fuckers.
"I hate this." Mikoto deadpans, finally having reached the point where this weird bullshit no longer makes her exasperated and just has her firmly on the 'this is my life now' stage, though she is a tad bit worried for the two surrounded girls, because Esther sheathed her dagger and Houtou is limited in what she can do in such a tiny space.
"She wasted no time in making a move on the two of them did she? I wonder if that means they actually represent a possible threat to her." Yomikawa mutters, because the only time an enemy focuses completely on a person, is when they have the ability to completely derail and destroy their plans with a pretty simple plan of action.
"Well, Esther has that blade, which can do something to the souls, probably with the charms themselves, so I imagine that the soul would want to distract her or break her before she can use it, though being in the blonde's best friend's corpse is probably helping quite a bit in that regard." Index sighs, because if the corpse were anyone else, Esther might not be having half as many troubles, though the fact that it is a corpse either way might have affected her, especially after hearing all that bullshit that her family her has been doing for years to hopefully create a perfect golem.
"Goddamnit, I have regrets in agreeing to work with the stupid bitch. Can I just... not? For the love of everything fuckin unholy and dark, can I just get a damn chance to relax and not have to deal with this bullshittery for a while?" Accelerator bemoans, staring at the ceiling with dead eyes, already so done with just having to exist at some times, this being pretty close to one of them.
"I've come too far to stop now." They both look at another one as it appears. "Everything's already set up." Houtou keeps glancing around, her teeth grit and an expression almost like anger on her face. "I'm going to keep going until I obtain our 400 year old wish." Esther is struggling clearly, her hand on her hilt but not yet drawing it. Her teeth are grit in sadness, and she looks over her shoulder, despair in her gaze. "Don't have what it takes to plunge that dagger into the form of your friend, do you Esther? You're so simple it's pathetic." She's clearly talking differently, sounding smug and amused and sadistic as she speaks. "What's the matter with you Taowu?" Esther sounds shaken by the fact the pseudo soul has ignored an order. "Ha. After 19 generations, how can you people be this stupid?" She sounds almost disgustedly amused by this. She opens her mouth, her tongue flowing out, the charm resting on it in all its glory. She draws her tongue back in. "You really have no idea?" The soul seems to find this amused. Esther is still staring at her, hand on the dagger, but listening intently to everything. "Allow me to explain then. Taowu has my soul merged into its artificial soul." She sounds unbelievably high as she says this, clearly looking down her nose on the girl.
"Shit, so someone else merged their souls to Taowu's? What the hell kind of shit is that and also, why would they do that? Their wish is not nearly important enough for anyone to do that, so why would this asshole do it?" Yoshikawa demands, because honestly, what is wrong and- wait. 19 generations/ That's not what it had said just a few moments ago. The woman feels her gut drop, knows this is someone in Esther's family, someone she has never met but who's placing the importance of the Rosenthall reputation over his own family.
"Fuck, what is wrong with people that they think things like this are good ideas? There's no way sticking yourself onto? Into? With? Another soul is not going to create problems for them, and on top of that, there is no need for them to try and fill a stupid wish hundreds of years later, when the family most likely doesn't even want to, but has no other goal to strive for." Yomikawa growls, because dammit, working for hundreds of years towards the same goal is not the way to live a happy life, least of all since the family has no other goal to even try and break free from this, but they are not really working towards this one all that hard.
"Esther clearly doesn't want to do this, but the damn soul isn't giving her an option, it's insulting her and her family at every damn turn without fail in an attempt to weaken her resolve, her will and her fire of rebellion, especially since the person who has bound their soul to Taowu's is clearly pretty close to the family, if not a part of it." Touma groans, because he has a loving family, he's sure of it, Mikoto has a loving mother, even Accelerator has two mom's at this point, even if the boy won't explain it, he's also got a daughter, sisters galore and a brother, so they all have loving family's, but this girl, she had managed to get a family with nothing relating them but maybe looks, her soul and fire completely different from the rest.
"Can I lodge a complaint to the afterlife? The reapers or whatever? They missed a soul and it's causing all sorts of trouble now." Mikoto deadpans, her arms crossed over her chest, trying to figure out what insane asshole would tie themselves down like that.
There's a moment of silence, before Accelerator starts to chuckle, the comment catching him off guard enough to get real laughter from him, which makes him sound young, like a kid. Last Order follows after her dad, the women watching over them dying as well. Touma tries to muffle it, while Index has no such reservations, laughing into Touma's side in an attempt to be quieter. Heaven is much calmer, though he's hiding his chuckles behind his hand valiantly, trying to keep everything much calmer.
"Then you're..." Esther breathes, seeming to realize something. Taowu is grinning madly, eye glowing and looking insane. "When I was ill and on the verge of death, I used my son Nathan to transcribe myself onto Taowu before my soul could undergo any damage." Esther lets out a choked sound at that. "So you're saying..." She sounds so far into horrified, there's no word for it. "Finally catching on?" The grin on Taowu's face is too wide, barring way too many teeth. "Yes, you have the distinct honor of speaking to the fourth family head. Issac Rosenthall." Esther is staring at her, so overwhelmed she barely manages a strangled gasp at that news. The girls' face is twisted, the golden eye glowing from the inside, while the other is covered by her hair and darkness. "And this devil that tempted Taowu, happened to be me." She sounds far too gleeful about that, letting out a small chuckle after she speaks. It's stable, not broken or shattered, but smug and unbelievably wrong.
"...There's no way. Why would anyone go this far for a damn useless goal?" Mikoto breathes in horror, unable to work out why anyone would do something like that, especially to a member of their own family, because she loves her mom, her Sisters, the brothers she's just found, and she loves her father, even though he's a bit absent from her life. What is urging this guy so far?
"Wait, what does he mean by used? Did his son give his life in order to transcribe this man's soul to Taowu? And devil is a pretty damn good word for what that man is, especially since he seems so damn at ease with the fuckin things he's doing, like he's done this before, maybe even worse..." Yomikawa mutters in horror, trying desperately to figure out why this guy thinks the creation of a perfect golem is worth the effort he's putting in, especially against his own family. Her, Yoshikawa, Accelerator and Last Order are creating their own family, and the people with them are being added, so the thought of someone willingly hurting a great- she ain't say all those greats - granddaughter for anything, it hurts her in a way she can't say.
"Misaka is confused. Aren't families supposed to love each other? Why doesn't Esther's family appear to love her? Asks Misaka Misaka wondering if this is something that happens as kids grow older and fearing it happening to her as well." Last Ordre looks nervous, but then Accelerator rests his hand on her back and Yomikawa rests a hand on her side, offering her comfort, Mikoto and Touma also reaching out, gently patting her legs, before getting comfortable.
"Damn that man, so he's the fucktard behind it all. No fuckin wonder Esther was the way she was, this damn man is destroying everything she damn well knew or thought she fuckin knew and ripping it to goddamn shreds right in front of her. Shit, I wish I could punch him even if he's already dead as fucking balls." Accelerator muses, his eyes gleaming in a way that none of them overly like, though they all know that its part of him and accept it, though fingers start running through his hair and along his side gently, trying to calm him without speaking.
"To think anyone would be this committed to their goal." Heaven shakes his head, because nothing is this important, nothing at all.
"I am so confused, there is no reason for this person to go so far, especially since his family no longer seem to want to work toward this goal so hard, but he does not seem to care." Index tilts her head, trying to figure out what this man is going to do, especially since no one is likely to help him.
A flashback to an older time. A battering ram, slamming violently into a door, before it shatters open, people wearing older looking soldier uniforms storming in, there are people wearing all sorts of robes inside, eating or walking around, just being normal. The man moves forward, a spear in his hand. "We're from the Ministry." Two more men wearing the same clothes and bearing the same weapon step up behind him. "Here to enforce the laws of nature." He's a young person, several strands of black hair hanging down the sides from under his hat. "Surrender your dagger now and come with us, Isaac Rosenthall." He looks up, eyes wide and shocked at whatever he sees. A man is casually trimming a bush, but his face can not be seen. Another is looking through a harvest, a younger man back facing him doing something behind him. A guard reaches out, looking confused and perhaps a bit worried, hand resting on the shoulders of one of the people. "What's wrong with you?" It's an old lady, based on the hair and style. "Hurry up and bow." The person lets out a "huh." and turns their head, revealing that the top layer of skin has been removed from their face, leaving only the fleshy red of muscles, a few teeth missing and the right eye appears to be fake, no pupil to be seen.
Mikoto throws up into a bucket just barely placed in front of her face, Touma not far behind in a different one. Last Order gags but manages to not throw up, since she has died deaths far more gruesome than that, though the entire thing still bothers her to a deep degree. Index only just barely manages to avoid throwing up, swallowing heavily several times and looking away from the screen, thinking of her favorite foods, candies and desserts, anything to get her mind off that.
Heaven inhales sharply and exhales slowly, trying to stop himself from throwing up or anything like that, because the only thing that gets close to this is some of the burn victims he's seen, but even they weren't this bad, but these are obviously some early attempts at the necromancy spells before he got it right. Damnit, there's something seriously wrong with the man to be able to do that kind of thing.
"What the hell..." Yomikawa breathes, because she has seen worse, though only barely, since she is an Anti-Skill, she sees the corpses, the mangled, all kinds of dead bodies, ranging from young kids to the elderly, she knows the kind of mindset this man has to be resting and thinking in, in order to be able to do that kind of thing without a drop of hesitation and in fact to flaunt it like that.
"Oh my god..." Yoshikawa mutters, hand hiding her mouth because she really doesn't want to throw up either, but it looks pretty close to some of the experiments she was forced to watch for some of the projects she worked with, eerily similar and not quite the same at the same time, so she can handle this, but there's not anything right when a person can do that kind of damage and not bother hiding it away.
Accelerator manages to fight the urge to throw up, simply because he has seen worse than all of this in his time living on the streets between projects, as well as the experiments and torture he was forced to watch and occasionally subjected to himself during projects. He knows the depths of humanities depravity, this is just not something he was expecting to see. "Fuckin nasty ass shits..." He grumbles, checking on the others as he does, rubbing a hand on both Touma and Mikoto's backs, trying to comfort them, letting Last Order completely lean against his hip. He offers what comfort he can, and then grabs some coffee and soda from the table, handing the latter to the girl and the former to the male, having them rinse their mouths out and then drink some of it in order to get rid of the taste. They all agree to sit up for now, in case they have to throw up or anything else during these next few moments and they fold the futons up, Heaven keeping Touma and Mikoto standing off to the side, arms around their waists. Accelerator and Yomikawa get one futon upright, before they shove it, Yoshikawa, Last Order and Index getting the other, the two futons colliding, the arms vanishing in order to not hurt anyone.
Accelerator settles down, blinking in surprise as Touma and Mikoto sit on either side of him, cuddling up, Last Order and Index sprawling out over the three of their laps, Yomikawa and Yoshikawa on either side of the bundle of kids, Heaven settling next to Yoshikawa, before they return their attention to the screen. The buckets of sick disappear, before new ones appear.
Two of the guards jerk back in shock with disgusted and horrified shouts leaving them. "What is that monstrosity?" One asks, both looking close to throwing up, but managing to not. They can not help the horror as they stare though. "Watch your tongue." A males voice, from an unseen location, all the guards looking to their right. "Don't you know art when you see it?" A young man, his face normal, a green turban hat on his head. He's on the second level of the house, staring down at them. He's young as well, his hair perhaps a blonde or gray, but he's clearly not had many people for company, darkness of a different sort seeping out of him. The guards all eye him warily, his hand resting on the railing. "Isaac, we demand to know where you've taken General Lee and his daughter." The man speaking sounds calm, though his worry is noticeable in the way he maintains eye contact. "Oh, I haven't taken them anywhere." He sounds almost mocking as he says it, both hands resting on the rail, the guards hats as well as some of the back of their heads just barely seen from behind. "As a matter of fact, they were interested in witnessing my necromancy and sought me out for a demonstration." He gives a grin, looking far too pleased with himself, raising his left hand in a mocking gesture, his pointer finger and thumb the only ones up.. "So naturally I was obliged to give them a taste of my power."
"Art?!? He dares to call those things art? He's disgusting." Mikoto can't get anymore out, the disgust and horror at another human doing something like that so deep she has no words to describe the asshole, so she starts muttering under her breath, drinking more of the soda.
"Fuckin hell no. He deserves to die, he won't get redemption in any way, there is nothing to be done to save his soul." Touma growls, before taking a drink of his coffee in an attempt to relax himself, enjoying the flavor, before reluctantly returning his attention back to the screen.
"Misaka would like to know why people do things like that. Inquires Misaka Misaka, because she has had many deaths, but never anything as horrible as that, though perhaps they were worse in other ways." Last Order is staring in horror at the screen, something which she had not even done to Accelerator, the man who had killed her Sisters in 10,031 different ways, each painful or gruesome, so that speaks volumes on what she thinks of the man. None of them has an answer to her, however.
"To think he would go that far for something like this. He's oozing darkness in a way no one should, and the way he speaks of them, like he's actually proud of his work, disgusting. On top of that, it's pretty damn clear this man is using people that come to him, maybe even kidnapping some and all for this stupid experiment in order to create a perfect golem?" Index grits her teeth, wondering why the church or any others had not stopped them, because there is no way their deeds went unheard, not with the shit they're doing.
"Dear lord.. And this is the person Esther is fighting? No wonder the fucker is so damn good at mind games, he perfected them long before his death and has been using them ever since he was given a chance. What a piece of shit." Yomikawa groans, wondering what other things her kids will get involved in, because surely nothing can be worse than this, right? Right?!?
A guard moves closer, staring in horror, clearly he has a bad feeling about this. "You'll release both of them this moment." A chain rattles nearby, wrapped around a nearby tree, one of the guards turning towards it with a stifled gasp. "Very well. If you insist. Look there and you'll find General Lee." The guard gasps, staring in horror, in fright, in a disgust so deep it goes straight down to his soul, because to be able to do that to another person... A man is standing, the chain wrapped around his waist, groaning faintly. He's wearing similar armor, but his skin is all wrong, face mostly gray and black around the edges, foam all around his mouth and down his chin, eyes completely white and lifeless. He never stops groaning, not once. Isaac looks far too amused by this as he points in a direction, clearly enjoying their reactions. "And right over there-" It's a shorter figure, a white cloth over her head, stuttering gasps coming from her. "-is his daughter." She's shoved forward, spinning in a circle and her hand snags the cover as she faces them, her long black hair and pale skin meaning she would probably be pretty. The two guards let out gasps, recoiling, their faces etched into almost silent screams. A few throw up, one is hunched over with tears in his eyes, covering his mouth to stop from throwing up.
None of them can speak, because the things this man gets amusement and joy out of, they're downright wrong. They can't blame the guards for tearing up or for throwing up, not with how gruesome and disturbing the people they are being shown are, especially not after everything they're being forced to witness at a young age, most likely not ever having seen a battlefield or anything like it. Index and Last Order are almost horrifyingly curious to know what could draw reactions like that, but they really honestly do not want to know.
Touma resists the urge to throw up again, as does Mikoto, but both feel the threatening rumble Accelerator lets out, clearly he's withholding a lot of anger right now, but the rumble is soothing, helping them fight the urge to throw up, taking a sip of their drink, while cuddling up to the albino, each taking a part of his chest in order to get comfortable. Accelerator goes almost stiff as they settle, red spreading across his face, down his neck, all the way to his chest, the surprise and embarrassment catching him off guard, but he does not shove them away, slowly relaxing before letting his arms drop onto their shoulders.
Heaven is almost curious about how the man did it, but even the thought of that has him shuddering in disgust, so he stops. Yoshikawa is trying to figure out what kind of fucking magic would let anyone get away with this, but there's not much she knows so she can't do a damn thing. Yomikawa just stares in dread, because facing someone who can do this kind of thing without hesitation, they could almost for certain be considered no longer human.
Behind them all, Isaac watches from above, clearly observing their reactions in order to figure out what will happen. He starts to laugh, a smooth, clear sound which would be pretty in any other context and time, but simply sounds mocking, almost monotone, and downright malicious at this point. "I'll take that as a compliment." One of the guards that'd thrown up turns to face him, staring at him from his position resting against the rail. "Silence." His voice wavers and he has tears in his eyes, clearly he'd been close to the two people. "You fiend! How could you make such hideous creations out of these two?" It almost sounds like a plea asking why he's doing this. Isaac stands a bit straighter, a grin on his face, he's noting everything and enjoying it on several levels of wrong for a normal human. "Well, since you're so curious, I used the wisdom of Kabbalah, a little was borrowed from Si-Xing spell, but overall it's my own technique." He rises to a full stand, his attention turning from the single soldier to something else. "Still, I can't say I appreciate my artwork being referred to as hideous by-" The guards are all facing him now, staring in horror of some sort. "-commoners."
"The fact he even cares that they are commoners but not that he's killed people and is calling their living disgusting corpses art is so wrong on some many damn levels..." Yomikawa breathes, trying her hardest not to panic at the thought of Esther, Houtou, Accelerator or the Sister being anywhere near this asshole, because she knows he would kill them without a second thought, unlike some people.
"The fact he can sound so normal and even more so that he's been getting away with something like that... it's not right, he's not even able to be considered human anymore, but monster isn't the right word either. Insane, psychopath, something like that might damn well work..." Yoshikawa mutters, because this guy is so wrong in the head she's not certain they'd have been able to do anything even if he lived in current times instead of 400 years in the past.
"This fuckin asshole.. There's a limit to how far you go and he's willingly fuckin jumped over the cliff, gave his humanity without a second damn thought because he doesn't give two shits about other people, he only cares about the damn goal he has set in his disgusting mind. Fuckin shit asshole ball smashing humanity devouring mothering fucking piece of shit." Accelerator growls, because this man had caused so much trouble for him, and for a whole bunch of others, when he should not even exist in this time.
Isaac's face finally twists in his anger, grin strained, showing his real personality instead of the fake one he'd been wearing. "Devour them." The guards gasp, as the people - corpses? Things? - all head for them, their faces all messed up in some way or another. One with green skin opens their mouth, saliva hanging along the teeth, before taking a bite into something. The guards are overwhelmed, the dead taking them down easily, the sounds of grunting, people hitting the ground, moans and groans, all in the background as Isaac laughs softly to himself, a sinister and dark sound. He's grinning maliciously as well, his eyes no longer looking all that sane, darkness overcoming them completely. A guard has managed to survive for the moment, his spear pierced through one of the thing's guts. "You're lower than any human being." He turns to glance at the man out of curiosity, nothing more. Another guard, his face being stepped on, a cheek being pulled, a hand wrapped almost around his neck. "You're a devil!" He starts choking a bit near the end, clearly things are not going well for them.
"That is the damn truth right there." Yomikawa says, barely resisting the urge to throw up as the dead kill people, without hesitation or thought, just following the orders, which means. She gulps, she might throw up if they actually start eating the people they've just killed, but he'd said devour them so...
"There's something wrong with him to be like that..." Mikoto croaks, resisting the urge to throw up at the soldiers being overwhelmed and attacked so easily and readily by the dead, looking away from the screen burying her face into the albino's chest, relaxing a bit as she hears his heartbeat in her ear.
"There's something so damn wrong with this... He's lost all humanity, there's no hope for someone who has freely given up his humanity." Touma grits out, trying not to throw up, easily grabbing at the albino's wrist near his head, counting his pulse as he feels it with his fingers, grounding himself with that, letting it help him fight the nausea.
"There needs to be a better word than that, after all, devil is not quite accurate, but he's not human at all, but monster is no insult to him, it's almost a compliment, with his real personality shown, I'd be surprised if the asshole wouldn't take that as a compliment." Index mutters, finding a soul deep disgust and revolution in her, as she watches a person who has lost all humanity gladly strip that away from others as well, with not a doubt in her mind that he enjoys it.
Last Order turns her head, burying her face in Mikoto's stomach, because she has a bad feeling. She'll listen to the next bit, but watching it seems wrong.
Isaac just grins as he peers at them from the corner of his eyes, clearly he's going to have some more fun with them. "I don't understand why, but everyone calls me that." It's clear he knows exactly why and even understands why as well, but can not be bothered to actually care enough to change. A different guard, completely overwhelmed, hands grabbing his face, his shoulders, until nails dig into his neck and blood sprays out, the groans turning slightly wet. The disgusting corpses are everywhere, feasting as they were ordered, covered in bits of blood and gore. Rosenthall is no longer there, yawning and stretching as he walks out onto a balcony of sorts. "Somehow I have to perfect a vessel fit for a god during my lifetime." He sounds conversational as he says it, like it's not an insane, completely stupid plan. He chuckles as he continues to move, walking out of the building, the wall to his right. "Talk about ironic. A devil trying to create a god." One of the vines with mouths, roaring and then rearing back, mouth opening as it starts to build an attack, a purple glow building in its mouth before it expands, launching as a beam that just misses Esther, the blonde on her knees and Houtou on the other side of the beam, her arms raised in defense.
"To think that asshole would just get away with that, could even enjoy it, and they fucking just followed the order, he stole the humanity from anyone he came into contact with, it's just wrong." Index growls. Yomikawa barely manages to throw up into a bucket, Yoshikawa right there with her, Heaven had turned away in order to not throw up himself, and even Accelerator is trying not to throw up, but Mikoto, Last Order, Touma and Index had looked away, refusing to risk throwing up or having to see such a disturbing sight.
"Damn, those vines have some serious power in them, don't they?" Accelerator mutters, unable to muster up his usual bravado in the face of what had just happened, but also unwilling to not know what's going on. He shifts his hands, feeling for the pulse of the two on his chest, using their pulses and the breathing of the two tiny girls on their laps as something to ground him.
"Hey, she managed to dodge at least, which is quite good for the blonde considering she has a bit of difficulty with attacking because she knows the enemy." Mikoto gets out, watching the two girls as they try to keep themselves safe from the man possessing the soul that is residing with the dead corpse of the blonde's best friend.
"They're trying to create a body for a god?" Yoshikawa asks in disbelief, because there is no stupider or less relevant goal worth 400 years of work than something like that ,especially since a god would have no use in this world, at least right at this moment it would, and in fact, pretty much everyone would rise against the god, because no one wants them now, not if they're likely to just kill everyone or anything like that.
"Esther, you really need to get out of there, so does Houtou, there's nowhere for you to go in order to get room to attack or hide." Touma moans, because this girl has no sense of battle awareness and it really hurts to watch her sometimes.
She wheels around, fist pulled back to attack, and the vines have something metal, which they shift to face a certain direction, before casually throwing it at the girl, who stops and jumps back without problem. It smashes against the floor and breaks a bit, steam pouring out and covering the area. Taowu is watching this all, clearly trying to buy time. "While I was hiding inside of Taowu, I ended up making my way inside of this-" Hishigata is staring at her, clearly he's accepted the situation but he does not like it. "-girl, then found out about this lads coffin research." The floating hair is weird and the steam is already covering most of the area around her, her gold eye easily seen due to its glow, as well as the fact the steam has only just reached her waist. "It would prove helpful, when I learned about these clones and the memories of 10,031 deaths they possessed, I was ecstatic. Suddenly all the tools that I required for constructing a perfect vessel with a perfect soul were at my disposal." Her voice sounds slimy, slithering off the words as she speaks. Esther stands from where she had been kneeling, staring at the ground as she tries to piece everything together.
"For the love of god, kill them! There's no way Hirumi would want the soul of a psycho in control of her body, not if the asshole is going to be actively trying to kill you and her brother." Touma sighs at the fact that Esther likely will not be able to rescue the girl, not yet at least, not after learning all that she had in the last few moments, because it surely messed her up, broke something inside of her to learn all that.
"I really don't like the fact that Houtou had to back off, much less the way that steam is building, because that room is already pretty small, what the hell are they going to do now?" Yoshikawa groans, exasperated that the girl had not looked for any exits, though admittedly first aid was needed a bit more urgently then an exit, but still.
"Why can't people ever check their surroundings? This poor kid, I don't think she's going to be able to rise up again, not after hearing what she's just heard." Yomikawa shakes her head, there's no way the girl is not shaken by learning the devil telling Taowu to act out was a member of her family, much less if the man had explained any of what they had seen, so there will be no fight there.
"Shit. The damn blonde needs to learn to fuckin communicate, because there's no way for me to have known any of this bullshit, goddamnit. Something in there might've been damn well helpful to know, because it lets me know what kind of asshole I'm dealing with, because I can easily get into the right mindset for most villains, though his is one of the ones I most hate having to go near. never mind follow their actions." Accelerator sneers, because damn he really hate fuckers like this guy, willing to give up everything - family included - just to finish a damn useless ass goal.
"You're saying the reason everything happened was because you orchestrated this series of events?" Her voice is sturdy, strong, not shaking or wavering as she says it, the pieces clicking without a moment of hesitation, clearly she has no problem seeing this asshole doing the things he's describing to her. Taowu is looking down on them from above the steam, that eye still remaining closed for an unknown reason. "Be thankful. You were under the misapprehension that you were being used by these siblings." She's grinning widely, sharp teeth practically bared, laughing gently, golden eye glowing brightly, staring at the girl. "When in reality, the Rosenthall's were the ones using them to achieve our objective." Esther is aghast at this news, her teeth grit, clearly she doesn't want to have to be a part of that. "Stop already." Taowu has not moved once, Esther standing facing the corpse, not even coming close in height to her. Her back is clearly seen, the dagger still tucked into its sheath. " So many have died. The sorrow it's caused is immeasurable." There are tears in her eyes, but they have not escaped down her cheeks yet, and her next words are a plea. "I beg you, stop using necromancy for a trivial goal." Taowu's eye lowers, as if thinking about the words or perhaps ashamed.
"Damnit, she broke something in Esther and has cost her all the resolve and will she had built up. I'm not sure she'll be able to get back up either." Index hisses, because she hates watching people shatter and destroy other's souls, but to watch family do it to family, it angers her in a way she can not even begin to explain the depths of, because family are supposed to care for each other, not destroy everything.
"That dumb blonde bitch brat... I could've helped her if she had taken a damn moment to explain more." Accelerator sighs, knows now his words were not what she needed, though they might still have done what they needed to in order to get her to move and finish everything, he still wants to take them back.
"God, everything's just falling apart, isn't it? Esther's been broken in some way, Houtou can not do anything right now since they're trapped, Hishigata's dying, Accelerator and the Sister are trapped outside and Anti-Skill don't have any weapons that work on the roots. This is not a great situation." Mikoto grumbles, because she can not really see a way out of it, though perhaps she should have some faith Accelerator manages to get wins all the time, he should be able to beat this, especially with the blondes help, if she can gather herself.
"I wish something like that would work, Esther, but I doubt someone without humanity or even a shred of care for another human, will take those words and listen to them. God, I wish he would." Touma deflates, because this man has no chances to help himself, he's gone down the road willingly, and so he will die on it, just as willingly as well.
"People like him aren't going to accept begging." Yomikawa says, because she has dealt with a few people like him, though not nearly as many as you might suspect, since even the researchers would have a small shred of humanity inside them somewhere, though it's hard to find it will be there.
"A trivial goal?" A vine lashes out, Esther jumping back to avoid the large pod that hits the ground where she was standing. The blonde is kneeling where she landed. Taowu appears insulted, perhaps angry. "And just who the hell do you think you are? A necromancer spends their entire life hovering near death, touching it and overturning the natural order." She certainly sounds angry. Esther stands, facing the spirit. "I know what our legacy is." "You claim that, but I don't think you're aware how personally responsible you are." Taowu looks angry, her single eye small in her anger, mouth almost a grin as she speaks, tilted to the side a bit as if mocking the blonde. "If you hadn't come here, this girl wouldn't have taken her own life." Esther blinks, the words striking hard, a shaky gasp leaving her. Hishigata is sprawled on his side, hopefully unconscious.
"No... Don't you dare put everything on her!" Mikoto yells, Touma's "That asshole is going to shatter her beyond repair!" almost overlapping it, both refusing to let the blonde take the responsibility for this, but they can't possibly stop something that's already happened.
"Fuckin shit.." Accelerator hisses out, because now he knows what that man had said to his apprentice, to the blonde he had taken under his damn wings, and the death the fucker got no longer seems enough.
"To think anyone would go this far for their own personal goals..." Index can't comprehend it, there should not be a reason for anyone to go to such lengths as to do something right this, but here someone is, going to stupid ridiculous lengths for a useless goal.
"I almost want to look at his head, but I fear what I would find there." Heaven shakes his head, because he would hate to have to listen to the workings of that mind, it is one he would immediately send to either an insane asylum or a prison with high security.
"Don't place everything on her!" Yomikawa shouts, because the poor girl had only wanted to get away from her family, had wanted to know more about the world and nearby cities, had wanted to be free and everything, like any other kid her age.
"Damn him." Yoshikawa growls, because to blame the girl in an attempt to break her, that will definitely work and well at that, if they could tell that from the moment Accelerator met her, it's not surprising this guy picked up on it.
Esther is standing several feet away from Taowu, Houtou nowhere to be seen, vines all over in the background. "How exactly do you think those people died? Maybe it's because you spread death wherever you travel. That's the entire point of being a necromancer." Taowu sounds like a teacher talking down to a student they know is smarter than this, clearly trying to get her point across. Esther has grit her teeth, sweat along her face, staring at her ancestor possessing the corpse of her dead best friend. "That's not true." She's not shaken, her resolve and faith remaining strong, much better than the times before. Taowu looks no different from behind, Esther standing in a straight upright position, not a defensive one like she should be. "You were born a Rosenthall. And this is just now occurring to you?" The blonde is staring at the floor, hopefully putting together an argument, not crumbling under everything.
"Stop! Esther did nothing wrong! Misaka would not be friends with her if she was a bad person! Denies Misaka Misaka, trying to protect the blonde who can not hear her, because the man is putting lies in her head." Last Order looks determined, she really does want to comfort the blonde, but there's nothing that can be done.
"I call fuckin bullshit. Esther, use your damn head! I'm glad your resolve stayed for this moment, but if you waver or give an inch, this fucker is going to use it without hesitation. That asshole has her all figured out and she's going to play into his hand without an issue because she can't help it." Accelerator bemoans the family that raised the girl, because those assholes are the one who allowed for something like this to happen.
"Her resolve held, but for how long" Index asks, but this girl has shown to have a really weak will and backbone when it really comes right down to it, so something is going to give eventually.
"Oh no." Touma shakes his head, he can already tell things are not going to remain the way they are.
"You can't protect others." Taowu sounds insulted and indignant to even have to say the words. Esther is breaking, staring at the ground, the words getting through to her in the worst way. "Then I was wrong. Everything I convinced myself of wasn't true." She falls to her knees, resolve, will and faith shattered and broken. "You're an utter failure to the family name." Her bangs hide her eyes, making it unclear whether the blonde is crying, is angry, is anything, just that she is hopefully thinking deeply about everything, doing some soul searching. Taowu has her hands resting in front of her chests, mere inches apart. "Now sit back and watch as I fulfill our bloodline's ancient wish." A multicolored orb appears around her hands, a purple right in the middle that might represent a star, before it slowly starts to spread.
"Shit, she gave in and now that fucker is doing something else?!?" Touma yelps, because for her to have shattered ten, the timing couldn't have been any worse and now the damn possessed soul is doing something, something bad based solely on the damn way the ball of light builds, something that probably can not be blocked or anything by Espers.
"Holy shit, what the hell was going on while Anti-Skill were evacuating people? This explains so damn much." Yomikawa says, running her fingers through her hair, because it really does, but how the hell was it all happening right under their nose.
"I wonder how long that lab has been under the school, because they've obviously been working from there for a while. Why hasn't it been noticed before now? And how the hell did they manage to make an entire lab connected to the school with no one the wiser?" Yoshikawa asks in exasperation, because the Sister had come up from under and immediately been able to find her way through the school, so there is a door just leading into it, so why did none of the girls actually see it?
"The things researchers and scientists can get away with just by simply existing and making something feel wrong are immeasurable, especially since it's a school for middle schoolers, they are much less likely to mess with something that scares them, unless they're an Esper in which case he most likely kidnapped them and used them during his experiments." Heaven replies, knowing the woman is likely not looking for an answer, despite having asked out loud the question.
Houtou moves in, racing forward to nab Esther by the waist, the girl tucked under her arm like a football, grabbing Hishigata by his collar as she passes, the orb slowly gaining on them. Houtou keeps moving, something shattering and breaking, smoke rising and Houtou running right through it, the orb following after and continuing to spread. She gasps, watching the orb behind her as she moves and then gasps sharply. A wall shatters into pieces in front of her, dust rising as the bits fall, clearing to reveal Accelerator standing there with his hand outstretched, the source of the destruction. He moves forward, teeth grit and stops the orb. Esther is standing on her own, Houtou watching him, and the blonde is obviously still shattered. "Master, I..." Her voice is soft, weak, holding nothing of the commanding, sharp, strong confident tone she'd had earlier. His focus isn't on her, before he turns to look over his shoulder, arm still outstretched.
"About damn time you got there! Surely something must have given them away or something, but you're a bit too late to help poor Esther, she sounds shattered, and I don't think you can help her at this point." Mikoto flails a bit, shifting closer to the albino, though she can't really blame him, he'd been Replaced outside the lab and he has no idea where exactly it was, focus on freeing the Sister not on figuring out where the hell he was. He'd not been prepared for the machines to evolve.
"Hey, just be glad I got there at all! The Sister was having issues so I had to help her, there was literally no clue for where the hell they were until I heard the damn explosions and I was conserving power, so we were a bit slow, ok? Besides, we had to avoid those damn root things as well." The albino snaps back without heat, because getting there had taken for damn ever, simply due to all the obstacles.
"You can block that? But you're using science so how are you blocking magic?" Touma asks, tilting his head in order to look at the albino, who simply meets his eyes and gives him a shrug, he'd just blocked it, nothing special.
"I can recall a few others who have reflected magic but they've never completely stopped it like that. Though, Hishigata is science so maybe the fact that the coffin is partially science gives Accelerator a chance to do something to block the attack." Index mentions, recalling that Hirumi is in fact dead as well as a coffin, meaning that it is a bit science and a bit magic.
"So this is what was happening down there.." Yomikawa watches closely, because her kids are getting into trouble everywhere, without her knowledge and more than willing to jump in with a bit of knowledge, gathering more the further into it they get.
"If I had realized this was going to be so bad, I might've tried to research a bit deeper into DA when you asked about them, though I doubt I would've found anything, which would've helped you out a bit." Yoshikawa complains, because finding nothing else on the DA group would've let them know the Board was involved and that might've helped them to understand someone was being paid to cover their tracks.
"Get moving already." The fact he has not dispersed the orb as well as the tone of his voice suggests he's struggling, as well as so damn tired from all the fighting he's had to do. Esther blinks in surprise, while Houtou calmly turns her head to watch the path in front of her. She starts to jump along the vines, Esther and Hishigata remaining with her. The light from the orb starts to form a pillar above the largest part of the bulb thing, lines connecting areas where the light forms into balls, until there's three across from each other, and four right down the middle, all connected and forming a weird pattern. More light arcs off them, creating a figure almost like lichtenberg marks. The main parts of it form into vines, while the orbs remain, looking almost like jewels. Anti-Skill, the black haired man from Yomikawa's team, putting a radio back on the door of one of their trucks before turning around.
"Fuckin hell. So you can only hold it back? Not good. Admittedly you might've been hard on her, but you were being pushed to your limits as well and trying to hold on, so no hard feelings. Besides, the you of then does not know the things you know now. Thank god for Houtou, getting them out of there so quickly. What are Anti-Skill going to do?" Mikoto murmurs, because they have no weapons that actually work on the roots or whatever and with those things now shooting beams, they might get killed trying to destroy it if they go in.
"Hot damn, she really got them out of there quickly, go her. To think you would be so worn out after all this, it's not surprising. The actual hell just grew on top of the damn flower thing?" Touma asks, because it almost looks pretty, but growing from the top of the damn disgusting stem thing loses it quite a few points.
"I think Issac is trying to create the god right there, with everything already right where he needs it to be. That's not a good idea, that requires quite a lot of energy and if that all gets released, well.. Academy City is going to likely get destroyed either way, but..." Index frowns, the city is still standing so what the hell happened to all the power that likely built up?
"Someone had better stop him and son, because those orbs give me a bag feeling and s o does that entire set up." Yoshikawa mutters, because it screams something at her, causes her want to rip it to shreds and forget it ever existed, even if the thing is most likely important.
"Our orders are to continue guarding only the perimeter." Yomikawa is staring ahead, most likely at the disgusting thing that had grown from the ground, while Ito is staring at the man, both of them wielding guns. "Going inside the facility is forbidden." Yomikawa turns to him at that, determination and a fire in her eyes. "What?" She sounds like she can't believe what she just heard. "It's a governing board matter." The man manages to make the sentence sound like a piece of trash that needs to be thrown away, clearly making his own feelings about this known as well. "Not another one." Ito sounds tired. Yomikawa and Ito are both behind another truck, the red head looking at the woman as she stares with narrowed eyes. "I don't care what our orders are, if there are children being put at risk, you better believe we're going in there." The man replies with hesitation. "Count me in." Ito is right there with them. "Yeah." The two of them turn to face the way they're going to be heading. Accelerator had managed to get rid of the orb or perhaps just buy time, staring at the stem, the Sister to his side, Esther kneeling to his left, Houtou on her other side and Hishigata curled up behind all of them.
"This is why you're always being scolded and having to write those apology letters, Yomi." Yoshikawa groans, covering her face, though she can't deny that it's part of why she became the woman's best friend, both of them refusing to see children being hurt without helping in some way.
"I wasn't going to just let kids suffer if they were in there!" Yomikawa protests immediately, because there is no way she's going to take criticism for that, not when it saves lives, though she's also aware the woman is just teasing her.
"Honestly, I can't even be bothered to ask why anymore, I just... God, I give the fuck up. Can I just die so I don't have to deal with you assholes anymore?" Accelerator inquires as he tilts his head back, silently praying to some deity to strike down the people that he lives with that are idiots.
"No!" Is the resounding answer and he groans in defeat.
"I want to know why they actually thought you would follow those orders. You are known for putting the safety of others, children especially, over the orders of anyone." Heaven muses, knowing she can not deny it because the honest truth is being shoved in her face. He's also amused to realize her crew are exactly like her.
"How did you manage to get people exactly like you on your team?" Mikoto asks in exasperation, because there must be something that draws like to like, at least in Anti-Skill, since most others probably would've stayed behind and chosen to not actually go back into the monstrosity.
"But it makes you wonder what the hell's about to happen." The overall flower-like thing is shown as the man speaks. "Whatever it is, I'm sure it's nothing good." Yomikawa sounds calm as she says this, nothing in her voice moving, she's calm and determined. Accelerator turns his head, looking at Hishigata. The Sister follows his gaze. "Just my luck, the guy I want to beat up the most is hanging on by a thread. How am I supposed to have any fun kicking the crap out of him now?" He sounds annoyed as well as frustrated, clearly he was looking forward to getting a bit of revenge for the Sisters. He faces Esther, who's still kneeling a few feet in front of him, his cane noticeably extended from the piece on his arm, meaning his powers are off at the moment. The Sister turns to her as well. "So what is it you want to do?" He sounds like he's asking for a plan or an action, something from her that's concrete since she does know more than him.
"Did you just defer to her because she knows more than you?" Index asks, knowing it's not something the boy does often.
"I had no damn choice. I was hoping she would have a damn plan, something I could build off of, I didn't realize the fuckin little brat was broken because she had not fuckin talked to me yet." Accelerator mumbles, trying to defend himself, besides which he had been low on battery, there was only so much he could've done at that point.
"I agree with Yomikawa's feeling, nothing good is going to come from whatever the fuck happened with the damn flower." Touma mutters, because there is no way that the glowing orbs, the roots connecting them or the stem itself are anything good, mostly because they're all ugly or disturbing in one way or another.
"Come on Esther, you can pull yourself back together and get this going, right? Surely you aren't going to let your master go into this without helping him in some way. Please?" Mikoto practically begs, hoping the blonde can somehow raise her head and get the hell back up, because if she doesn't, she won't do it ever again.
"Misaka thinks that Esther has a lot of troubles with her resolve because she is constantly having to rebuild it and she no longer knows exactly what it looks like anymore, similar to how dad wears a mask in order to protect himself and loses himself in it or how Mom is professional while working but less so while not working. States Misaka Misaka, trying to help make sense that Esther is not likely to be able to get back up anytime soon." Last Order pouts, she really likes the blonde and watching her fall and fall and fall, sometimes being tripped, it hurts in a way that can not be described.
"She has lost trust in everything she thought she knew, it'll be a surprise if your voice can reach her at the moment." Heaven comments bluntly, knowing that the blonde is questioning everything she thought she knew.
"I was wrong about everything." She's still shattered, broken due to the words spoken by Taowu. "Meaning?" He's bored, clearly confused as well, because he hadn't seen her in a while, so he has no idea what the fuck has happened to her. She's slumped on her knees, arms resting on the ground, everything too much for her. "I thought I knew what started this string of misadventures." Her eyes are still in the dark, clearly this is really causing her some issues. "How I caused so much misery by allowing Hirumi to learn about necromancy." There are tears in her eyes, and she's staring at the ground with no goal or will of any kind. "And if I had realized that earlier, none of this would've happened." Accelerator, the Sister and Houtou are all staring at her, the Sister looking blank and Houtou the same monotone as usual, but the albino is confused and almost looks sympathetic. "But I was mistaken. It was the fourth family head." The new growth from the flower is shown, the orbs of light sparkling and glowing easily. "Isaac is responsible because he sought to achieve the Rosenthall's wish to create a golem. I was wrong from the very start." Accelerator narrows his eyes, letting out a small gasp, clearly this is starting to bother him. Esther collapses to the side, a hand barely catching her, Accelerator relying on his cane. "These events didn't spring from Hirumi's mistake or my losing control of Taowu. It was inevitable the moment I arrived at the laboratory."
"God damn it... She's giving up at this moment. Accelerator doesn't know anything of what has happened, her explanation is a poor one, so he's not going to be able to give her the words she needs, is he?" Touma asks in resignation, he can't blame the albino for anything, after all, that was not the best way or even close to a full explanation, so he's only going to see one thing.
"Fuck, I was really hoping she would not question everything. I was kind of hoping she would not just give in and accept that it was all her fault, but she really has a resolve as strong as a weak kitten, doesn't she?" Mikoto sighs, more than annoyed at the asshole calling himself her family for breaking the girl without thought just so she wouldn't get in his way.
"Something is very wrong with that family." Yoshikawa deadpans, but she has a feeling Accelerator is somehow going to get through to the blonde, after all he's done something similar, and he knows those exact words. However, he chose to get back up and continue moving, even as covered in blood and traumatized as he is.
"That little brat... She wasn't even trying to reach out for help." Yomikawa inhales deploy, trying to keep the tears in, seeing a kid so hurt, so broken and shattered, lost and choosing to remain there, not asking for help or anything, it bothers her, because Accelerator could easily become just like that and she is seeing a parallel to what he would be like. Her heart aches.
"Misaka wishes she could be there to give Esther a hug, states Misaka Misaka, because there is nothing a hug can not at least help, though Dad's hugs are the best when you can convince him to actually give one and not just pretend, which Esther really needs." Last Order is staring at the screen, tears slowly building and more than ready to fall but she won't let them, not yet.
"That poor girl." Index muses, not saying any more, after all, they all know the girl really needs help and won't get it.
The tears are falling now, Esther staring with dead, broken eyes ahead of her. "And we played right into Isaac's hands. Even when I thought I discovered who I was as a Rosenthall, that was a lie. I was wrong about everything." The blade she had worked hard on, resting on the ground, a few tear drops landing on it. She's still slumped over on her knees, clearly she's given into despair, but Accelerator is not having it, a hand resting on his hip as he stares at her. "So in other words, you're backing out now." He turns away from her. "Eugh. I remember when I was ready to kill you and you accepted death with your head raised. Now look at you." He sounds tired, like a parent who's done saying the same things over and over and trying a new approach. "If you're going to pout, you can watch from the sidelines." He starts moving immediately. "Me, I'm going to go take this thing out."
"I think he might've managed it, though it will depend entirely on the blonde, but he might have yet gotten through to her. He sounds so done, a parent just trying to impart one lesson and finally deciding a new approach is the way to go. Esther sounds like she's been hollowed out..." Touma frets, because those are his brother and a younger sister he's yet to meet, and they are not entirely on the same wavelength, though the albino appears to have somehow understood her either way.
"Why are you approaching that alone?!? You're not going to be able to do much, your battery can not have much time left!" Yomikawa demands exasperated, because he has no idea how to win or even beat that thing, but he's still approaching like he has a chance because he refuses to let it continue to exist.
"Goddamn... you've done some real big balls to just approach that nasty ass thing with the intention of destroying it." Mikoto praises him, more than satisfied at the way he blushes as well as the act he had tried to get through to the blonde, had tried to urge her to get up and stand on her own feet, reminiscing her of a time when she was better, trying to force her to recall a time she was sure of herself.
"I think that he knows her better than he wants to, because he can see himself in her." Index says, easily seeing through the albino without much effort, since he was tired and just barely masking his attempt to help her with his attitude, though it's awful that he's so able to help her. No one should have to do anything like he had done.
"I can't believe your battery has lasted this long. Did you take a chance to charge it at some point while we were unable to see? There's maybe 5 minutes left, if even that." Heaven grumbles, though with the chaos that follows Accelerator, it could've easily taken far less time for any of this to happen and they just couldn't keep track since it was a constant back and forth.
"You might be able to win, but you should really take some back up or something, you idiot." Yoshikawa scolds him, because there's no way it's safe for him.
Esther still looks disheartened, tears spilling down her cheeks, her teeth grit.
"Oh, come on!" Touma grits his teeth, he'd really been hoping that would get through to her.
"Damn, so much has happened, and to think you're supposed to be getting a break." Mikoto gives a tired sigh as she sits up, reaching out for a snack.
"What the actual hell is wrong with the board? Your superiors must not have been too happy about those orders either." Yoshikawa asks the air.
"Oh, they weren't, well not all of them, but they were forced to go along with it, the board doesn't care much for the students or anyone who's not a well known Esper, so they mostly care about the level 7's, unfortunately." Yomikawa groans, stretching a bit as she reaches for some chocolate.
"Well, let's get our snack real quick and style down, let's see what happens next." Heaven calmly says over all of them, grabbing a can of some sort of fruit smoothie, as well as some things of harder candy's. Accelerator happily grabs a coffee for himself and then reluctantly grabs some sour and sweet candy's, wondering how they'll taste since he doesn't eat much candy, after getting looks from everyone else in the room. Last Order happily gets some chips as well as candy, while Index is still munching on things, grabbing as she wishes.
(A/N should I not give them a break between episode 11 and 12, like I usually do every 2 episodes, or do you think they should go to sleep after episode 11 is over and wake to episode 12 like usual? Because I'm pretty on the fence and could easily lean either way.)