Boom!
With a deafening roar, the intruder who should have been blown away remained completely unharmed.
"Ouch… my whole body feels numb."
"What is this? Telekinesis?" Lizumi Rita frowned. "As expected of someone who dares to break in. This is high-level."
"What is this? An invisible wall… ah!"
Before Naru could finish speaking, the paper she controlled was sliced apart from both sides. The five-meter-tall rabbit construct instantly disintegrated. Since her clothes were also made of paper, they were cut apart at the same time, and she fell onto the cold ground with a scream.
"By channeling my AIM into the paper, you increased its hardness to alloy level, allowing you to freely manipulate its form and assemble constructs," Arata said calmly, holding a sheet of paper as his own AIM field spread through it.
"Trying to play telekinesis tricks in front of me."
As he spoke, the scattered sheets instantly shredded into strips, then gathered together and wrapped tightly around Naru, binding her completely.
"Ahh! You can use telekinesis too? Let me go!" Naru cried out in panic. She understood very well what capture meant during a mission.
"…!"
The expressions of the other three changed instantly.
What just happened?
Naru had been subdued in a single moment. She was the strongest among them in direct combat.
"I'm not going to waste time talking to you. There's no need to kill you either. You're still useful. Sending people who haven't even reached Level 4 to fight me is just meaningless. Do you not understand that neither Accelerator nor Kakine Teitoku can deal with me?"
Arata walked toward them with a faint smile.
There was no need to kill them. They were victims shaped by the darkness of Academy City.
"Accelerator… Kakine Teitoku…" Rita's pupils shrank as she stared at Arata's face, her heartbeat suddenly accelerating.
Before they could react further, an overwhelming force slammed their bodies to the ground.
"Ahhh!"
They screamed in pain as the pressure pinned them down. A pair of feet stopped in front of them. They looked up in terror.
"This… this overwhelming power…" Rita trembled.
I remember now… Academy City announced the birth of a new Level 5 before. I paid attention to that face…
"What is wrong with this guy? He didn't even move and we were already…" Yakumaru Itsuki, the girl in the large hat, stared in horror.
That gaze… it completely disregards us. Like we are nothing more than insects.
"Le… Level 5… Rank 8… Telekinesis…" Rita stammered.
"You bastard! You knocked everyone down, I…" the purple-haired girl shouted angrily, but before she could finish, a strip of paper sealed her mouth, leaving her writhing helplessly.
The remaining two trembled, their hearts pounding.
"I'll deal with you later. Stay still."
Arata bound the three of them tightly using telekinetically reinforced paper strips. Hardened by AIM, they were tougher than alloy restraints.
No wonder they were terrified. Anyone in the Dark Side understood what Level 5 meant. An absolute wall they could not overcome.
Rita Iisuki watched his back as he left, her pupils trembling.
Level 5, Rank 8, Telekinesis.
A esper whose calculations covered all aspects of vector control through mental output. Defense strong enough to withstand missiles. Offensive power reaching minimum tactical nuclear thresholds.
An opponent that cannot be defeated.
…
"He subdued them instantly! What are we supposed to do? We can't stop him at all!" the research supervisor shouted while staring at the surveillance feed.
A sharp alarm rang out. Red zones rapidly spread across the map, marking destroyed sectors.
"Your train passed through here just now. That means this is the only access point. Do you want me to stop it myself, or will you stop it, Shundou Toshizou?"
Arata kicked open the gate and looked at the empty underground tracks.
"…You can just call me Shundou. Arata, I underestimated you. Even if I don't stop it, you can destroy this train."
Arata glanced at the speaker and smiled.
"So you're surrendering already."
"We can negotiate. There is nothing in this world that cannot be negotiated. If it cannot, then the conditions are simply insufficient."
"You think you have leverage?" Arata chuckled.
"Of course. I am one of Academy City's Board of Directors."
Soon after, the train arrived.
Ten minutes later, Arata stepped off the train, a faint smile on his face.
Using Mental Out, he had taken control of everyone inside. The Agricultural Facilities and food distribution sector of Academy City were now under his influence, along with a portion of its economic network.
After releasing the Dark Side operatives and the Corpse Unit, they fled in panic, not even daring to look back.
Despite all the explosions and gunfire, not a single disturbance had spread outside. No vibration, no sound leakage.
Academy City's environmental isolation technology was absurdly effective.
In less than thirty minutes, he had secured control over one Board Director.
At this pace, controlling half of Academy City was only a matter of time.
The remaining half belonged to entrenched financial powers.
…
Back at the bathhouse, Arata sat by the window in the lounge and ordered a cold drink.
"Still not done…"
Index alone could take half an hour just bathing at home. In a place like this, she would probably take even longer.
…
"Yoshi, target confirmed."
On the opposite side, Frenda Seivelun observed through binoculars, licking her lips slightly.
"I'll leave tracking to Takitsubo. Then I'll handle the sniper shot."
...
Re@d adv@nce ch@pters on p@t
guilt_free_daoist
Jo!n d!sc0rd I!nk in synops!s.
GIVE ME YOU POWER STONES.