Simply put, it was a battle far beyond anything a normal human could comprehend.
At least, that was how it looked to Fubuki.
As the sole spectator, Fubuki witnessed every second of it with her own eyes. She was watching a realm she could never hope to reach herself.
It was…
"A completely different dimension…"
That was the only way she could describe the battle unfolding before her.
Fubuki couldn't take her eyes off it.
Tatsumaki manipulated everything around her with astonishing psychic power, turning rubble, rocks, steel, and even vehicles into projectiles, hurling them mercilessly at Sylvia.
Sylvia, meanwhile, stood there as though she were performing on a stage. Starlight radiated from her body, neutralizing Tatsumaki's powers and causing the debris to lose its momentum, falling helplessly to the ground.
Tatsumaki then began manipulating the atmosphere itself, twisting the air into a roaring tornado that swept toward Sylvia.
But Sylvia seemed determined to focus entirely on defense. She simply sang amid the dazzling starlight, using invisible sound waves to cancel out Tatsumaki's psychokinesis and rapidly weaken the tornado.
Then, she switched songs.
Another tornado erupted and charged straight toward Tatsumaki's, colliding head-on.
Sylvia kept changing her songs. Sometimes she summoned raging winds, sometimes she neutralized psychic power, repeatedly blocking Tatsumaki's attacks one after another.
At one point, Sylvia suddenly surged with power. Whether she had directly interfered with Tatsumaki's mind or not, Tatsumaki suddenly winced in pain, and the green light radiating from her body weakened considerably.
Even so, Tatsumaki's strength exceeded Sylvia's expectations.
Forcing her way through Sylvia's spiritual attack, Tatsumaki let out a furious shout and lifted the very ground beneath them into the air. The earth collapsed into a massive abyss capable of swallowing tens of thousands of people, dragging Sylvia down with it.
Unfortunately for Tatsumaki, Sylvia switched songs once more.
Like a mirage, countless copies of Sylvia appeared, scattering in every direction.
Tatsumaki was clearly taken aback, but she still summoned a storm to sweep up the surrounding debris, shredding the avatars one after another.
Sylvia refused to back down. She sang yet another song, summoning her own storm of wind and debris to clash head-on with Tatsumaki's.
It was a scene Fubuki could never have imagined, a terrifying battle that could only take place between the highest-ranking Level 5 Espers.
Fubuki could tell that when it came to raw output, Tatsumaki was undoubtedly superior, so much so that even Sylvia was surprised.
But Sylvia could freely switch between different types of abilities. She could weaken Tatsumaki's power, interfere with her mental state, summon violent storms, create avatars, and unleash various other techniques. She was like an omnipotent Strega, leaving Tatsumaki unable to fathom how one person could wield so many distinct powers.
As a result, one side possessed overwhelming force while the other was entirely unpredictable. One launched relentless attacks while the other adapted with incredible flexibility.
Somehow, the two ended up evenly matched.
Fubuki could only stare wide-eyed as the terrifying battle raged on. The shock in her heart had long surpassed its limits.
By the time the battle finally began to subside, the surrounding area had been transformed beyond recognition.
The bustling city street that stood here moments ago was completely gone. In its place was a wasteland. A genuine wasteland.
Skyscrapers had been reduced to rubble. The solid earth was torn to pieces. Countless objects were turned into junk, filling the entire landscape.
Stones.
Scrap metal.
Steel rebar.
Severely mangled vehicles, fallen streetlights, and snapped telephone poles were scattered everywhere. It looked like the aftermath of a magnitude-ten earthquake.
If the massive commotion caused by Tatsumaki's arrival hadn't already driven away the nearby residents, not a single civilian would have survived.
When the battle finally ground to a halt, Sylvia and Tatsumaki descended to the ground at the same time.
"Ha… ha…"
"Huff… huff…"
Their ragged breathing echoed through the air. Both of them were visibly exhausted, sweat covering their faces.
The starlight surrounding Sylvia had grown extremely faint. The green glow around Tatsumaki was just as weak.
Even Fubuki could tell: the two of them were running on fumes.
"You're… seriously annoying!" Tatsumaki shouted angrily. "Can't you just let me finish you off already?!"
"Don't look at me like that. I'm actually pretty stubborn myself, you know?" Sylvia smiled weakly, still catching her breath. "Though, I don't exactly feel like I've beaten you either."
After all, the sheer strength of Tatsumaki's superpowers had genuinely caught Sylvia off guard. Even after having her power weakened and her mind disrupted, Tatsumaki had still displayed such overwhelming force. It completely changed Sylvia's opinion of her.
'(If I didn't have a way to counter superpowers, I really would've had a hard time beating her, wouldn't I?)' Sylvia silently admitted to herself.
Still…
"This is where it ends," Sylvia said, looking at Tatsumaki. "I have a way to recover my stamina quickly. You, on the other hand, probably don't, right?"
After all, Sylvia possessed not only her Innate Skill but also a full set of Equipment. Among them, the accessory 'Optical' could greatly reduce the stamina and energy consumed by her techniques while accelerating the recovery of both.
Therefore, even after using up most of her Prana, Sylvia could recover and return to fighting condition in a short time.
Tatsumaki, on the other hand, had taken a direct hit from Sylvia's spiritual attacks. As a result, the effect of 'Dark Flow', the paired accessory to 'Optical', had significantly weakened both her abilities and stamina.
Combined with the massive strain of using her superpowers, this overwhelmingly powerful Level 5 Esper couldn't outlast Sylvia in a battle of attrition.
Fubuki realized this too. The final winner would most likely be Sylvia.
Her elder sister, the monstrously powerful woman Fubuki regarded as an invincible wall, would lose if they kept going.
That was the harsh truth.
Tatsumaki, however, refused to accept it.
"You think this is over?!" Tatsumaki yelled. "I don't need to wear myself out for someone like you! I can finish you before it ever gets that far!"
The green light representing her psychokinesis surged around Tatsumaki once again. Beside her, a massive piece of rubble stirred. Wrapped in green light, it shot toward Sylvia like a cannonball.
"...!"
Sylvia's expression instantly hardened.
Just as she prepared to push past her limits...
'Whoosh!'
A figure appeared in front of Sylvia as if teleporting. Facing the massive chunk of rubble hurtling toward them, the figure unleashed a kick as fast as a flash of light.
'BOOM...!'
With a heavy impact, the wall-sized piece of rubble was blasted apart, shattering into countless fragments.
The sudden turn of events left Tatsumaki frozen in place. Fubuki's heart leaped into her throat.
Only Sylvia smiled as she looked at the familiar back standing before her, a back she knew as well as her own soul.
(End Of This Chapter)
You can read ahead up to 70 chapters on my patreon https://www.patreon.com/GGS6395