The Legend of Level 0 in Academy City

But now, my home is probably being watched by Chao'an's men. Going back would be like a lamb entering a tiger's den.

"..."

Inoue Hideka shared the same thought as Saten Ruiko; he also knew that whether it was at home or in their former dormitory, they had definitely been exposed.

Frowning, Inoue Hideka pondered where else he could go.

huh-huh-

At that moment, one after another, driven armored vehicles nearly seven meters tall jumped off the nearby buildings, waving their massive arms as they charged toward Inoue Eika and Saten Ruiko.

Saten Ruiko stared solemnly at the drive armor rushing towards them at high speed.

Inoue Eika was injured, and Saten Ruiko dared not take him on a high-speed journey, so...

All we can do is keep the attacks in front of us at bay!

Ding ding!

A crisp sound rang out half a meter in front of Saten Ruiko.

The arm that was driving the armor stopped in front of Saten Ruiko and Inoue Eika as if it had hit a transparent membrane, unable to move forward any further.

"Tears, let's retreat first. We don't know if there are any other enemies behind us. It's too passive for you to take me with you."

Inoue Eika felt somewhat guilty as she tried to persuade Saten Ruiko.

"Okay. But I'll still carry Yinghua on my back, come on!"

Saten Ruiko nodded, walked up to Inoue Hideka, bowed, and explained while gesturing to Inoue Hideka:

"That way, it will be easier for me to manipulate the power to reduce your weight, otherwise we'll be too slow."

"Forehead……"

Inoue Hideka hesitated for a moment.

After a moment's thought, he realized that now was not the time to be concerned about being carried by a girl, so he bent down slightly and climbed onto Saten Ruiko's back.

"Well!"

When his abdomen touched Saten Ruiko's body, the pressure from her weight made Inoue Hideka feel pain in his abdomen... the wound must have reopened.

Inoue Hideka's face grew increasingly pale.

He suppressed the pain in his body and remained silent.

Bang—Crack!

The protective barrier that Saten Ruiko had created earlier has now been shattered by the successive attacks from several powered armors.

"Don't worry about her, Ruiko. Let's go!"

Seeing that Saten Ruiko seemed to be about to use her ability to defend herself again, Inoue Hideka quickly spoke up to stop her.

"Oh!"

Saten Ruiko agreed and, with Inoue Eika in tow, flew steadily into the sky.

At this moment, the drive armor below all stopped moving and remained motionless.

In contrast, Inoue Hideka's face and lips turned deathly pale. After swaying his head a few times, he suddenly collapsed onto Saten Ruiko's back.

The moment Inoue Eika lost consciousness, the drive armor below began to move again.

The enormous arm extended pipes resembling cannon muzzles, firing one cannonball after another at Saten Ruiko, who was flying into the distance.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Upon hearing the sound coming from below, Saten Ruiko quickly used her ability to dodge.

The Inoue Hideka on her body wasn't heavy.

Because Saten Ruiko enveloped his body with her abilities, there was almost no error when manipulating him at close range, and he couldn't detect much weight.

But the weight on her shoulder and the hot breath from Inoue Eika at close range that Saten Ruiko felt on her neck told her that Inoue Eika had passed out.

Based on the previous reaction of the Drive Armor, Saten Ruiko could deduce that Inoue Eika had just used an external brain to temporarily control the operator inside the Drive Armor.

However, external brain implants can have a certain impact on the user's mental state, and there will be a period of fatigue after use.

These were things that Inoue Eika had told Saten Ruiko before.

Even a psycho-type psychic like Misaki Shokuhou would feel dizzy after using it extensively, let alone Inoue Hideka, whose body is currently extremely weak.

Thinking of this, Saten Ruiko quickened her pace and sped away into the distance.

"Saten-kun!"

While flying in the air, Saten Ruiko, who was retreating while dodging shells in a random direction, suddenly heard someone calling her from below. She quickly looked down and found that it was someone she knew.

Arbitration trial, the rich second-generation who once tried to offend Saten Ruiko.

He was sitting in a luxury car, half his body leaning out of the window, head raised, an anxious expression on his face, shouting loudly at Saten Ruiko:

"Saten-kun, come to my place! Those board members won't dare do anything to me!"

"Forehead?"

Saten Ruiko dodged the incoming cannonballs once again, hovering in the air and looking at the arbitration trial with a puzzled expression.

Judging from the anxiety on his face, it didn't seem like he was faking it.

However, Saten Ruiko could not be certain whether the arbitration proceedings were truly well-intentioned.

After what happened, even Saten Ruiko could no longer easily trust this person.

Furthermore, how the arbitration tribunal learned of the council's affairs is also a question.

Boom!

Seeing another attack coming from the corner of her eye, Saten Ruiko dodged it. Suddenly, she felt a dampness on her back and waist. Looking down, she saw that her clothes had been stained red.

The wound reopened...

Saten Ruiko grew increasingly anxious. Inoue Eika's wound had reopened, and if they didn't find a place to settle down soon, she might die from excessive blood loss.

I can't worry about that now!

Saten Ruiko gritted her teeth and bent down to rush towards the direction of the trial.

Sitting in the passenger seat, the judge saw that Saten Ruiko had responded to him, and immediately instructed the driver to drive and lead the way.

……

Driven by the armored warriors, Saten Ruiko followed the Arbitration Tribunal to a villa area in the 15th School District.

After entering the villa area, the Drive Armor did not continue the pursuit, but stopped and lingered outside the villa area, seemingly waiting for orders from above.

Perhaps Aleister doesn't care about worldly power, but the Council is different.

At best, they are merely managers of a technological city, not its owners, just administrators.

They don't have complete control over this city.

As a world-renowned consortium, the Arbitration Consortium is so powerful that even its board of directors has to consider the consequences of offending them.

This is probably what the arbitration proceedings rely on.

They continued driving for a while until they arrived at a luxurious villa. The arbitrator got out of the car and said to Saten Ruiko, who was following behind:

“This is where I live. The council should be somewhat mindful of my family's influence, but there's no guarantee they won't…”

"Let's not talk about that now! Yinghua's wound has reopened. Could you please provide a place to bandage it?"

Saten Ruiko anxiously interrupted the arbitration proceedings and earnestly requested.

"Um...excuse me! Saten-san, please come with me!"

The arbitrator then noticed that a piece of Saten Ruiko's clothing was stained red with blood around her waist. She glanced at the unconscious Inoue Eika and turned to walk into the villa.

……

About three minutes later.

Inside a room on the second floor of the villa.

The room was converted into something similar to a hospital ward, with a hospital bed, some commonly used medical equipment, and spare medications placed on shelves against the wall.

It was probably a place used by arbitrators as a precaution, for sick arbitrators to recuperate.

Saten Ruiko looked worried as she watched the man, who was supposedly the family doctor of the arbitration panel, bandage Inoue Eika's wounds.

The arbitrator stood quietly to one side, deep in thought with a somber expression.

He knew that Saten Ruiko was probably too preoccupied with other matters to care about right now, so he didn't ask any further questions.

Ringing ring~ ringing ring~

In the room where only the rustling sound of the doctor bandaging gauze could be heard, a cell phone suddenly rang.

Saten Ruiko suddenly woke up, withdrew her gaze from Inoue Eika, and took out her phone to check it.

It's Misaka Mikoto.

"Hello? Misaka-senpai?"

"Saten? Where are you? How is that guy now? I heard from the doctor, I can't believe Shiogishi... that bastard!"

Hearing Misaka Mikoto's angry roar on the phone, Saten Ruiko glanced dejectedly at Inoue Hideka on the hospital bed and comforted her:

“Yinghua is fine now, so don’t worry, Misaka-senpai. I’ll send you the address. Misaka-senpai, come over first. Chaoan definitely won’t let this go. I feel much more at ease with Misaka-senpai here.”

Chapter 423 The Council's Think Tank!

After ending her call with Misaka Mikoto, Saten Ruiko sat by the hospital bed, anxiously waiting for Inoue Eika to wake up.

The doctor and the judge withdrew, leaving the room to Saten Ruiko.

About ten minutes later, Misaka Mikoto also arrived at the villa.

Seeing Misaka Mikoto enter with a worried expression, Saten Ruiko finally felt relieved.

She lacked self-confidence, after all, she was just a powerful user who could only become a level 5 user through a device.

Now, the electrodes have run out of power, and the charging device is at home. Under these circumstances, she has no confidence that she can protect Inoue Hideka, who is seriously injured and in a coma.