I Am Honkai

Night fell, and we won't mention the "empty-nester Old Kuro" crying alone in dormitory 208 at this moment.

By a certain river in Academy City, under the bridge on a riverbank.

Mikoto Misaka and Kamijou Touma stood face-to-face by the river, separated by more than ten meters.

In between them was Selene, who was temporarily brought in as a referee.

"Hey! Here we go again. You keep saying you want to settle things with me, but up till now, haven't you lost every fight?" Looking at the enthusiastic middle school girl sparking with electricity, Kamijou Touma sighed deeply.

"Shut up! I've never been hit by you, so I haven't lost. Anyway, I want to have a showdown with you." Mikoto Misaka blushed and turned her head, speaking very tsundere.

Originally, being dragged out to fight late at night, Kamijou Touma was a hundred times unwilling, but she was offering too much money.

When Selene pulled out over a million yen (roughly 6800 USD) on the spot, Kamijou Touma couldn't help but call her a sugar mommy, ultimately succumbing to the allure of money.

"This place is empty around dusk, so fighting here won't disturb anyone. Are you both ready?"

"Yeah, ready whenever." Kamijou Touma, having experienced Mikoto Misaka's power many times, wasn't worried at all.

"Okay, then let the battle begin!"

As Selene's words fell, a surge of electricity followed, but as Misaka expected, the electricity vanished before Kamijou Touma.

"As expected, electric attacks don't work! In that case... try this!" Seeing her electricity had no effect, Mikoto Misaka ceased the electric attack, forming a sword with iron sand. With a swing, a whoosh sounded through the air.

"What's that... I say, using weapons is a bit unfair, right?" Just hearing the whooshing sound, Kamijou Touma knew this iron sand sword was sharp. If it hit him, it would be dangerous.

"I made this weapon with my own ability, so it's not cheating, right? Even if there's blood, didn't I bring Selene along? With her here, you won't die!" She charged at Kamijou Touma, swinging down with the sword.

Clang!

The "black blade" swiped past his scalp, making Kamijou Touma extremely alert. "Even so, I definitely don't want to get hit!"

Swish! Swish! Swish!

Under Misaka's relentless pursuit, Kamijou Touma was jumping all around, appearing quite disheveled, but he managed to dodge every attack.

"Even if you run around, this thing can still be used like this!" Misaka's iron sand sword suddenly softened and extended like a whip, lashing towards Kamijou Touma.

The sweeping attack's range was much larger with the whip, and Kamijou knew this strike couldn't be dodged, so he could only use... his hand of materialism.

Biu! (Let's consider this as the sound effect of Kamijou activating Imagine Breaker)

Seeing this, Selene thought, so Imagine Breaker can only be used with the right palm.

With Misaka's disbelief, her iron sand attack was nullified. "Forcing the iron sand to revert to its original form?! But this was within my expectations."

"I say, it seems the result is already decided."

"I think not!" More electricity, but this time it was much thicker. "I don't believe you have infinite stamina and mental power to keep nullifying attacks!"

In theory, within Academy City, activating any ability requires some physical and mental power, unless it's a Gemstone which doesn't require mental calculations.

Misaka's attack was relentless, including iron sand in addition to electricity, unlike the previous two attacks that were probing.

This time Misaka was serious, as with Selene, the great healer, she wasn't worried about going overboard.

Biu! Biu! Biu!

While Kamijou Touma managed to block the attack, the surrounding environment wasn't as lucky. The lawn vanished, replaced by charred ground and potholes.

"Railgun!"

A straight blue-white arc transformed into a spear of light, carrying a massive voltage of one billion volts, shooting directly at Kamijou Touma with the speed of light.

Biu!

"I say, are you trying to kill me? If that attack hit someone, it would definitely be deadly!" Seeing the significantly different attack being blocked, Kamijou Touma sighed in relief, grateful for his luck.

"Well, it doesn't work on you, right? Try this one!" Misaka couldn't believe Kamijou would be defeated so easily.

"Huh, what's this?" Kamijou had a bad feeling, raising his arm to block instinctively.

No longer mere electricity, a massive orb of lightning charged with one billion volts of electricity shot from Misaka's bangs, shining with blinding light.

"Railgun · Aggregate!"

Boom!

The lightning orb exploded, a thick blue-white pillar of lightning tearing through the air with countless afterimages, like a high-power laser beam heading straight for Kamijou, the powerful wind scraping away the concrete path.

Facing such an attack, Kamijou Touma had to press his right hand against it, finally neutralizing the attack with a "biu," but when the smoke cleared, Misaka was gone. "Where is she?"

"You fell for it!" Suddenly, Misaka rushed out from the smoke, grabbing Kamijou Touma's right hand. "Got you! Even if you can nullify incoming electricity..."

Seeing this, Selene couldn't help but cover her eyes. Was this a self-initiated capture? Or throwing herself into his arms?

...Crows...

"...Huh?" Misaka froze. Hmm? Why isn't the electric attack working? Why can't the electricity be transmitted? How is he doing this?!

Seeing this, Selene knew it was time to end it. Alright, data collection was complete, and she had no interest in staying any longer. She flickered forward, instantly appearing before the two, holding back laughter. "Alright, the outcome is clear."

With that, Selene casually pulled out a wad of cash from her storage space and placed the large sum before the stunned Kamijou Touma.

Selene: "I keep my word. Here's your payment."

When Kamijou Touma saw the large sum of money being handed to him, his mind was buzzing. Seeing him momentarily lose his ability to think, Selene didn't hesitate and pushed the money into Kamijou's arms.

The pile of money filling him with happiness was tempting, but his reason told him not to take it. "Actually, it's not necessary..."

Before he could finish, Selene interrupted, "I said I'd give it to you, so I'm giving it. I, Selene, never go back on my word. Besides, it's not much, just pocket money, no need to be so surprised."

After handing over the money, Selene glanced at Misaka, "Want a ride back?"

"Uh... Actually, no..."

"Got it, I understand. I won't disturb you. Have fun, bye." With that, Selene vanished.

Under the night sky, a cool breeze blew through the devastated battlefield, leaving only Kamijou Touma and Mikoto Misaka staring at each other.

"Uh... just now..." one of them started to speak.