Kamen Rider Zi-O, Dimensional Descent

Such mechanical words, such an emotionless voice like that of an AI—

It's as if it was manufactured.

However, Yan Ming had already thought of this. It was impossible for there to be so many twins at once. Since these sisters were all clones, it must be that some people had to create them in order to accomplish certain things.

…Is this something that happened in this city?

Looking back on the people he has met so far, they all seem to have had some poignant past experiences. And the sight of countless clones of Misaka Mikoto before his eyes made Yan Ming even more certain of one thing.

This city is amazing.

Behind this seemingly glamorous city, there must be some unspeakable and terrifying secrets hidden. Considering Aleister's situation at the time... it is very likely that countless darkness is lurking behind this city.

Yan Ming completely changed his view of this Academy City.

However, before that...

"I have a question for you."

Yan Ming learned that the other party would not tell him anything about the experiment without the password.

Therefore, he considered using another method to get information out of her.

"I don't intend to ask you about your experiments, but at least tell me where you plan to go next, so I can find you again later."

"...If you want to find the Misakas, I suggest you go to the 10th school district," Misaka kindly advised the unknown gentleman who wanted to strike up a conversation with the Misakas again.

That should be enough.

Yan Ming watched as all the girls left, then he turned around.

There was someone standing right behind me.

"It can't be hidden anymore."

Misaka Mikoto.

She must have seen all those Misaka Sisters leaving this place.

She looked at Yan Ming, her expression leaning towards helplessness and distress.

“That’s right, those children are my…clones, beings created by the higher-ups of Academy City using my DNA.”

Realizing that she couldn't fool Yan Ming with fabrications or lies, Misaka Mikoto simply told him the truth.

"They were androids created as part of a certain plan, and the cause was me... If I hadn't provided those guys with my DNA, they wouldn't have been created into this world without my consent..."

"So what exactly is the plan?"

"...Sorry, I have to leave now."

While Yan Ming continued to interrogate her, Misaka Mikoto chose to back down.

She couldn't help but respond to Yan Ming with a wry smile.

"I hope you can keep this a secret for me. I'm so sorry, we've only known each other for a day and you've already witnessed something so shameful..."

"If you really can't take it anymore, you can try to completely forget about me and them, and have no more memories of the past. That's also an option..."

While muttering these words to herself, Misaka Mikoto left the place completely.

Only Yan Ming remained standing in the alley.

He remained silent for a long time, then closed his eyes slightly.

"...Woz."

Then--

The sound came from beside me.

"What brings you here, my Demon King?"

"Use the Omaguchi Advent Calendar·KT to check what happened to them just now."

Woz appeared beside Yan Ming without warning and, following his words, directly opened the book.

"According to this book, Misaka Mikoto is the third-ranked Level 5 esper among the seven in Academy City. In order to implement the 'Level 5 Project,' the higher-ups of Academy City used her DNA to create nearly 20,000 clones modeled after her."

To be able to create 20,000 clones that look exactly alike... Putting aside the technological issues, from an ethical standpoint, has Academy City not considered these things at all?

“Continue.”

"Unfortunately, this is all the information we have for now. Of course, I think if we wait a few more hours, there may be new information added to this book."

"It's been too long. I won't use books to look up information; I'll do it manually myself."

"Manually checking means...?" Woz was slightly puzzled by Yan Ming's statement.

Then they saw Yan Ming walk out of the alley.

"My Demon King! Where are you planning to go?"

"Let's go to District 10. Those girls just said they were planning to go there. If I go with them, I'm sure I can find the next clue."

At this moment, Yan Ming recalled what Aleister had said to him.

"I hope you can live a peaceful life in this city and try not to cause me any trouble. Please don't make things difficult for me."

Don't make things difficult for me...

“If you think you can restrict me with this kind of treaty, you’re sorely mistaken, Aleister.”

Yan Ming ignored Aleister's words without hesitation.

Whatever lies before them, whether it's the unknown darkness of Academy City or something more profound.

"The reasons for taking action are in my hands; whether or not to do anything is entirely up to me."

He cannot allow anyone to take control of his right to act.

"Excuse me, Aleister."

Woz followed closely behind Yan Ming, who slowly approached the direction of the tenth school district.

"No one can control me... Only I can decide all of this."

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Volume 5 of A Certain Magical Index: Chapter 136 The Absolute Ability Plan

The 10th school district of Academy City is the only place in the city with a cemetery.

Although the modern era favors cremation as a convenient method, there are still many people who use customs similar to cemeteries to dispose of the dead.

Yan Ming and Woz arrived at the location of the 10th school district together.

However, their purpose was not to commemorate the dead.

"Woz, do you think there's anything unusual about this area?"

Yan Ming looked around but couldn't find the Misaka Sisters. It seemed they weren't so easy to find.

Judging from the surface environment alone, you can't find anything.

However... neither Yan Ming nor Woz are the kind of minds that can be measured by simple thinking.

“My Demon King, indeed we cannot see anything unusual from the surface of the environment.”

Woz chuckled and pointed to Yan Ming's pocket.

"But what if there's something out of the way we can't see it?"

"That's exactly what I was thinking."

Yan Ming took out a watch face that could transform into a motorcycle from his pocket and materialized it directly on the ground.

Yan Ming quickly confirmed the situation by checking the locomotive's instruments.

The Striker, a motorcycle that transforms using a specific watch face, actually possesses a very unique function.

It has the ability to capture the terrain, structure, road conditions, and even moving objects and thermal signals within a five-kilometer radius.

However... it was never said that it could only capture information about the situation on the ground.

By reversing the operation, Yan Ming successfully changed the direction of the locomotive's detection from ground-level detection to underground detection.

Everything within a 5-kilometer radius was displayed as an image on the locomotive's dashboard.

"found it."

About one kilometer underground, there is a very complex architectural structure.

That's definitely not a naturally formed underground environment, so we can be 100% certain that it's the place the Misaka Sisters were talking about, the place they were going to in the 10th school district.

If you go into that underground facility, you're sure to discover even more secrets.

"Woz, get ready to go."

"Are you planning to use Decade's power to go there directly, my Demon King?"

Under normal circumstances, if you try to use the Aurora Veil to travel through places you've never been before, safety and accuracy cannot be guaranteed.

However, Yan Ming didn't seem too afraid of this kind of question.

“I already know the approximate location of that facility. Although I don’t know the exact spatial coordinates yet, since it’s a facility, there must be many places to land. We don’t need to be so precise about where to land.”

"That's right... As expected of my Demon King, you came up with this method so easily!"

After expressing his admiration, Woz walked over to Yan Ming's side.

Then, Yan Ming activated the Aurora Veil ability, teleporting the two of them to a place about one kilometer underground.

The aurora curtain unfolded in the dark room, and the two landed smoothly on the floor.

A damp, dark, and opaque environment.

The only thing that could help the two of them see their surroundings was the glowing circuits that spread across the walls like lines.

"Be careful, my Demon King."

The environment was very dark, but this was nothing to Yan Ming, who was used to similar environments before.

He and Woz moved back and forth inside the building, occasionally encountering so-called relevant personnel, but relying on his precognitive abilities, Yan Ming either knocked them unconscious or avoided them, and no one noticed their presence at all.

Some researchers are nothing special, but if they discover something and trigger an alarm or something, then it would be a loss for them.

Buzz—the door was then opened.

Yan Ming and Woz arrived at a place that resembled a central control room. Yan Ming turned on the computer and used his computer technology knowledge to directly crack the other party's information password lock.

"This is…"

Through the deciphered intelligence, Yan Ming learned the general content.

"...The so-called experiment refers to having the number one Level 5 Level 5 Level 5 Level 5 Level 5 Level 5 Level 5 Level 3 Level 5 Level 5 Level 6 ...

"However, since we cannot prepare 128 third-generation clones, we will use Misaka Mikoto's DNA to create 20,000 clones identical to her. Their strength is less than one percent of the original, so we need to kill the clones 20,000 times to complete the plan."

This is the truth about human cloning.

They were created to be killed by someone; that is their destiny.

It's like... being used as a guinea pig.

At first glance, this is indeed an infuriating and unbelievable plan, but—

There's more to this plan than meets the eye.

"However... because Accelerator, the number one Level 5 ...

At that moment, Yan Ming noticed a name in the plan, which made him frown slightly.

However, he didn't say anything.

"However, those involved in the Absolute Ability User Project do not intend to shut it down completely. After the project was shut down by their superiors, they are secretly restarting research on the Absolute Ability User Project."

"Currently, the relevant research institutes are distributed throughout various areas of Academy City, with the Tenth District Research Institute being the most crucial research facility—"

Bang——! !

At that moment, a huge tremor was felt throughout the entire research institute.

The entire research institute was flashing red lights and alarms.

"We've been discovered?"

Woz looked around in shock. Why? They shouldn't have been seen by the researchers here!