The Legend of Level 0 in Academy City

With prolonged use of the external brain replacement device, Inoue Hideka's mental state became increasingly exhausted.

He now has to force himself to keep his eyes wide open to fight off the overwhelming drowsiness.

The battle outside the door continued. One of the two defectors was a powerful ability user who could interfere with light, and the other was an ability user who could control the coefficient of friction of the objects he touched.

Although neither ability was particularly powerful offensive, they caused considerable trouble for the enemy. Coupled with the previous physical ability user unleashing their power again, the two sides were locked in a stalemate for a long time.

After an unknown amount of time, Inoue Hideka was already in a drowsy state, her eyelids opening and closing as if she might fall asleep at any moment, but each time she would suddenly open them just as they were about to close.

After waiting for a long time, the last ability user still did not appear.

Meanwhile, the ability users inside the villa realized something was wrong—it wasn't that their teammates had turned against them, but that they had been controlled.

The group of ability users who had gathered at the door began to split up. One group fought with the three controlled ability users and left the room, while the other group peered menacingly at Inoue Eika, the Arbitrator, and Kumokawa Sera.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, the controller will undoubtedly be one of these three individuals.

Although their only task is with Inoue Hideka, if they don't deal with the person who can control them first, they could very well become the ones being controlled in the next moment.

Forcing himself to open his eyes wide again, Inoue Hideka stared at the ability user who was cautiously approaching with small, quick steps, knowing that he couldn't delay any longer.

Even if the last person still hasn't shown up, we can't wait any longer.

"Arbitration, if I lose consciousness, take the thing off my back and wear it yourself. Here's how to use it..."

In one breath, Inoue Hideka transmitted all the data related to the artificial magnetic field she had used to the arbitration panel through her ability. She bit her lip hard to clear her mind a little, and then used her mental control ability to its maximum extent.

The simplest instruction was given to everyone: Leave!

Immediately afterwards, Inoue Hideka's vision went black and she lost consciousness.

------

Outside the villa.

A short-haired girl, who looked quite mature, sat atop a powered armor over ten meters tall. She looked at the ability users walking out of the villa and exclaimed in surprise, "Huh?"

After confirming several times that she hadn't misread it, the girl's expression darkened slightly.

She was the commander of this operation, a level 4 visual ability user, skilled in using X-ray vision, farsightedness, night vision, and even the ability to capture subtle movements.

Because of her keen eyesight, she focused on hand-to-hand combat in her fighting style.

Her eyes could detect the slightest movements, and combined with her specially trained, swift physique, she could always anticipate her enemy's moves and strike a fatal blow.

The mission assigned to her by her superiors in this operation was to kill a boy named Inoue Hideka.

However, she didn't take it too seriously. With such a large force, it would be a joke if they couldn't kill a powerless person.

So she hadn't paid much attention to the situation inside the villa, but instead admired the long-haired girl's artistic battle with the powered armor while glancing at the villa every now and then.

However, seeing the ability users emerge from the villa one by one with lifeless eyes, she was somewhat puzzled.

Activating his X-ray vision, he surveyed every room in the villa and spotted three people whose hearts were still beating in a room on the second floor.

One of the unconscious people was her target this time, Inoue Hideka!

Looks like we failed... What a bunch of useless idiots!

The girl cursed inwardly as she jumped off the drive armor and walked steadily toward the villa.

Chapter 428 An Attack from the Dark

The arbitration panel was already in a state of confusion, and when it saw all the ability users suddenly change their attitudes and head out of the villa, the arbitration panel was completely dumbfounded.

What exactly is going on with this strange state?

What happened...? No! Just now...

Recalling the voice of Inoue Hidekazu that had been received a second earlier from an unknown source, the arbitrator quickly turned to look at the location where Inoue Hidekazu was—

Sure enough, his rival lost consciousness again, his head drooping, his whole body limply leaning against the bed.

"Um... senior? What should we do next?"

The arbitration trial seemed mysterious and had a powerful background. Yun Chuanqin asked questions cautiously.

"Hmm? I guess... we don't need to do anything, right?"

Yun Chuanqin leaned back in her chair leisurely, an innocent expression on her face, and replied casually.

The ability users have been dealt with, and Saten Ruiko is holding off the Drive Armor outside the villa. All that's left is to wait for Misaka Mikoto and Fujiwara Masagat to arrive.

"But... just now I thought I heard Inoue-kun speak to me, saying that if he lost consciousness, I should take the thing off his back and wear it myself. Well, although I didn't see Inoue-kun open his mouth... maybe it was just my imagination?"

According to the arbitration proceedings, Inoue Hideka, in terms of ability alone, was a genuine person without any superpowers, such as mind manipulation or telepathy.

So he didn't think much of it at first, and instead thought that he was just being too nervous and was having a hallucination.

"and many more……"

However, his words successfully caught the attention of Kumokawa Seriya.

Having said that, Yun Chuanqin's eyes became serious, and she asked suspiciously:

"You mean, what did Inoue tell you before he lost consciousness?"

"Um... I'm not sure if it's Inoue-san or not, it could be mine..."

The arbitrator was awkwardly explaining, scratching his head, when Yun Chuanqin interrupted him hastily.

"Tell me what you just heard? If I'm not mistaken, the crisis... might not be over yet!"

"Oh, okay! A voice that sounds like Inoue-kun told me that if I lose consciousness, you should take the thing off my back and wear it yourself. The method is like this: after you stick it on your spine, you can use magnetism to manipulate the surrounding metal with just a thought..."

"Okay, I see."

She was interrupted again by Yun Chuanqin in the middle of her sentence.

The arbitrator seemed somewhat afraid of this smiling, mysterious girl. After being interrupted, he didn't dare to complain at all, but just awkwardly scratched his head and stared blankly at Yun Chuanqin.

"Pfft! What are you still standing there for?"

Amused by the arbitrator's silly demeanor, Yun Chuanqin couldn't help but burst out laughing, and then jokingly questioned the arbitrator.

"Huh? What?"

The arbitrator paused in his scratching motion, blinking with a puzzled look on his face.

"What are you standing there for?"

Yun Chuanqin had a slight doubt about this person's intelligence, and helplessly repeated what she had just said.

"Huh? If I'm not going to just stand here, what am I supposed to do?"

"what……"

Like a doctor who has given up on treating a patient, Yun Chuanqin sighed in despair, turned her head, pointed at Inoue Eika's body, and said with a face full of black lines:

"Didn't I tell you to take the thing off his back and wear it yourself? Are you... just naturally dense?"

"Uh!" The adjudicator was utterly speechless.

You didn't tell me to do what that voice said, did you? How am I supposed to know if it's Inoue-kun or not?

However, adhering to the principle that a good man doesn't argue with a woman, the arbitrator didn't offer any explanation. Instead, he nodded, said "I understand," and walked towards the hospital bed.

Without thinking much, the arbitrator directly supported Inoue Hideka's body and lifted up Inoue Hideka's shirt...

"Huh? Is this guy really an idiot?"

Yun Chuanqin frowned, muttered a complaint under her breath, and quickly turned her head to the side.

After waiting a while, I turned around again and saw the arbitrator shirtless, with a puzzled expression on his face, one hand behind his back as if he was groping for something.

Seeing that Yun Chuanqin was looking in their direction, she hurriedly held up something that looked like a chip and asked:

"By the way, Inoue-san only said to stick this thing on the spine, but didn't say where on the spine, or if it's too high or too low, it should be fine, right?"

Looking at the arbitrator's unusually masculine, pale upper body, a fleeting blush crossed Yun Chuanqin's face. Then, as if no longer concerned, she calmly gazed at the arbitrator and said:

"If there really was a connection, Inoue wouldn't have kept it from you, right? Is there something wrong with your IQ?"

"Huh? Is...is that so?"

"In any case, you'd better hurry up. The crisis is not over yet, and an attack could come at any time."

"Yes, that makes sense."

Without any hesitation, the arbitration panel simply found a spot on the spine and attached the chip.

Sure enough, as if sensing something, he felt a connection between himself and the surrounding metal, and he could move them closer or further away with just a thought.

The arbitrator tried manipulating the metal stool that was placed to the side, and with a 'whoosh,' the stool appeared beside him.

What a convenient piece of equipment!

Sighing to himself, the arbitrator suddenly felt that this scene was familiar.

It seems that when Inoue Eika came to save Saten Ruiko last time, she did something similar to the steel bars on the rooftop.

So this was the thing they used back then?

whoosh-

Just then, a whooshing sound came from outside the door, the target being Inoue Hideka, who was lying unconscious on the hospital bed!

The arbitrator could sense that a metallic object was rapidly approaching them.

However, given his reaction speed, he was unable to detect it, making it utterly impossible to control.

He is different from Inoue Hideka.

Inoue Hideka has received grueling training from international martial arts masters in Indian Poker, and his reaction speed is far superior to that of arbitration judges.

Fortunately, the adjudicator was standing right next to Inoue Hideka at that moment.

He shifted his body, using it to shield himself from the incoming metallic object and Inoue Hidekazu, then with a thought, he threw the object, which was flying straight toward him, at him.

whoosh-

The unidentified object returned along the same route at an even faster speed than it had come from, and then—snap!

A crisp sound came from the ground outside the room; the unidentified object seemed to have fallen to the ground.

However, according to the information obtained from Inoue Hidekazu, the transmission distance of the magnetic force should not have been so close, which means that the unidentified object was destroyed by someone.