Early the next morning, Rowan Mercer returned to the stadium.
The Grand Star Festival spanned a full week. Today was the second day, and he already knew how events would unfold. His only objective was Misaka Mikoto. When her forced evolution began, he intended to enter the Misaka Network, synchronize with her, and experience the transition from Level Five to Level Six firsthand.
Invisible, he drifted high above the grounds.
Below, Misaka Mikoto teamed up with Kongo Mitsuko and won the three-legged race. Later, while Misaka returned to the dorms to change, a hospitalized Misaka clone was mistakenly pulled into the next event in her place. Soon after, that clone was abducted under Shokuhou Misaki's orders, and Misaka Mikoto began searching for her.
Exactly as predicted.
Rowan never intervened. He simply watched from above as the chain of events unfolded, waiting.
By evening, Kihara Gensei confronted the clone on a rooftop. Through her, he seized control of the Misaka Network and lured Misaka Mikoto to the same location.
"Academy City's hidden favorite," Kihara said, fingers poised over the control device. "What happens if this power becomes the ignition for your absolute strength?"
He pressed the button.
The sky split open.
Violet-red lightning poured downward, flooding into Misaka Mikoto's body. Her electromagnetic output exploded, white lightning wrapping around her like armor. Faint horns of electricity formed above her head.
"That's enough," Rowan said quietly.
He pulled his hands apart.
"Plasma Railgun."
A massive bolt of condensed plasma slammed down, vaporizing Kihara Gensei instantly. Rowan had no intention of letting that man interfere while he was connected to the Network. Eliminating the largest variable was the safest option.
He landed beside Misaka Mikoto and placed a hand on her shoulder.
The connection snapped into place.
Rowan entered the Misaka Network, then pushed deeper, aligning himself with Misaka Mikoto's consciousness as closely as possible. The lightning armor surrounding her spread to him as well, binding them together.
He felt everything.
The expansion of her capacity. The restructuring of her perception. The pain, the pressure, the strain of something human being forced toward something else.
"Sorry," Rowan said calmly within her mind. "This space isn't open to guests."
Inside her mental landscape, a girl was attempting to steer Misaka Mikoto toward attacking the Windowless Building. Rowan grabbed her and flung her out without hesitation.
Her name was Kiyama Harumi. A former associate of the earliest Misaka clone experiments. Grief, resentment, and manipulation had driven her here.
With the interference removed, Rowan focused entirely on the ascent.
"Now we can do this properly."
Together, he and Misaka Mikoto experienced the climb.
One percent. Two. Three.
By thirty percent, the lightning armor changed again. Halo-like rings of electricity formed above them, and ribbons of light spiraled through the air, almost tangible.
Something clicked.
Rowan felt it clearly. The essence of lightning itself. Every spell he had ever studied that involved electricity suddenly made sense, not as formulas, but as instincts. Centuries of confusion vanished in an instant.
It felt like having studied lightning for hundreds of years.
If the process stopped here, he knew his command over lightning-based magic would leap forward dramatically. Even ancient spells that once required long incantations could now be shaped in seconds.
"Why are there two of them?" someone shouted.
The rooftop door burst open. Kamijou Touma and Gunha Sogiita rushed in, then froze at the sight of two Misakas mid-transformation.
"Doesn't matter," Gunha said. "We save them first!"
They lunged.
"Not yet," Rowan said.
Without opening his eyes, he lashed out. Electric ribbons knocked Gunha back repeatedly, while steel reinforcement bars tore free from the rooftop beneath Touma, coiling around his legs.
Touma's right hand could erase any supernatural effect. If he touched Rowan now, the process might collapse entirely.
That couldn't be allowed.
Touma wiped out the electromagnetic control, but the steel remained twisted around him. When he forced one leg free, the other was bound again. Rowan simply moved faster than Touma's right hand could keep up.
He had studied Touma carefully the day before.
Imagine Breaker was absolute, but limited to one hand. Touma himself was still human.
Meanwhile, the ascent continued.
Thirty-five percent. Forty. Fifty.
At fifty-one percent, Misaka Mikoto's body began to turn translucent. Her head dissolved into a shifting constellation of stars. The lightning darkened, turning pitch black as it enveloped them both.
In that moment, Rowan felt it.
A fragment of something divine.
But he also knew the truth.
If this continued, Misaka Mikoto's personality would collapse completely. And even Rowan would lose control of his own form. They might reach one hundred percent, but both would be erased in the process.
One body lost was acceptable.
Two were not.
And knowledge gained at the cost of annihilation was a poor trade.
So Rowan held the line, standing at the edge of godhood, memorizing everything he could before taking the next step.
Or choosing not to.