One-way traffic

But as soon as he stepped into the room, he was stunned by what he saw.

"What the hell is this?"

As he walked, he kept his eyes fixed on the machine in front of him.

A colossal machine, at least two meters tall, stood before him.

The machine appears as inconspicuous as two platforms on the surface, but it is surrounded by a variety of circuits, all of which are intertwined like a spider web, ultimately leading to a single source.

It was a centrally controlled computer.

Then, Accelerator saw someone sitting in front of the computer.

"...I knew the calculation would turn out like this."

The man turned around, a few puffs of smoke rising from his mouth.

A researcher, who looked to be around twenty-six years old, wore a white lab coat and ordinary glasses, but he exuded a down-to-earth charm.

There was a coffee machine and steaming hot coffee on the table, and an expensive cigarette dangling from his mouth, which looked like it had just been lit. Even his eyes seemed quite unusual, very different from the bookish researchers that Accelerator remembered as only knowing how to calculate data.

"According to my calculations, the probability of all members of the 'Group' arriving here is 13%, and the probability of the other members of the 'Group' arriving here is 17%."

"And the probability that you got here alone is 70%."

Accelerator narrowed his eyes, looking at the researcher as if he were a monster.

"Who are you? You wouldn't happen to be the doctor those guys from 'Sign' were talking about, would you?"

"Doctor, so that's how those people address me, even though I'm the one who's using them."

"what?"

Why does this guy talk in such a sinister way?

"You'd better explain this to me clearly."

"Before that, let's have a brief chat."

The researcher held the cigarette between his right and left a few puffs of smoke.

"Just call me Kiseki Setsuzawa. My identity is nothing special; I'm just a scientist who will do anything to achieve my goals."

"Is that all you have to say? Tell me what your purpose is in developing this crap."

Accelerator raised his pistol and pointed it sharply at Kisaragi Setsuzawa's head.

But the other person didn't even show a change in expression.

"Did you know? The number one esper, Academy City is now arguably the most technologically advanced country in the world."

"For people, Academy City is synonymous with miracles. Things that were once considered science fiction are nothing here. Even miracles like you—espers—can be created."

"But in my opinion, that's not enough at all. That's right—since it's a synonym for miracles, it should be a real miracle."

He stood up, ignoring the pistol in Accelerator's hand.

"I want to do something that Academy City has never developed before—change time and space."

"My purpose is nothing more than to enable Academy City to acquire more advanced technology, thereby bringing us one step closer to a true 'miracle,' nothing more."

Are you out of your mind?

Accelerator whispered mercilessly, as if mocking someone.

"Isn't Academy City currently developing time-space related stuff? To take such a huge risk for something that will definitely come out in the future, are you really just talking nonsense for too long?"

"I see."

Kisaragi took a casual puff of his cigarette, then smiled calmly.

"It seems you have no idea that it was all a lie."

"what?"

At the same moment.

The enormous cage completely imprisoned Accelerator's body within it.

Boom! A sudden explosion occurred from above, and under Accelerator's watchful gaze, the massive, airtight iron cage imprisoned his body.

But he remained completely calm.

"Since you know who I am, you shouldn't expect that trash like you can stop me."

“You’ve got one thing wrong: you’re a vector manipulator.”

Kishiwa smiled and raised one hand.

Then he gently pressed the red button on the table next to him.

"This is just the beginning."

The next instant, Accelerator saw that the air inside the cage began to distort.

It is fire.

Extremely hot flames, with temperatures exceeding 10,000 degrees Celsius and resembling plasma, instantly enveloped Accelerator's body.

The cage wasn't destroyed; it could hold on for a while longer. However, there was no doubt that Accelerator, as a human, couldn't withstand all of this inside.

Kishiwa took another drag of his cigarette.

"Accelerator, you are the strongest Level 5 esper in Academy City, ranked number one, and your ability is vector manipulation."

"I think anyone who has taken a high school physics class should know what a vector is, right?"

He waved his hand and continued.

"Temperature is not included in the vector, which means it is beyond your capabilities."

"Perhaps simple flames can't burn you to death, but what about extremely high temperatures? Your abilities only allow you to manipulate simple vectors; you simply can't manipulate scalar levels—"

"You keep using 'vector' and 'vector' all the time, you didn't even finish elementary school, did you?"

BOOM! ...

The sound of an explosion could be heard.

However, the figure inside the cage was unharmed.

The number one monster in Academy City stood there unharmed, not even a hair on his head.

"How could this be...? Why? You can manipulate scalars...?"

"You've misunderstood what my abilities are from the very beginning."

The white-haired monster raised a finger and explained lazily.

"Who told you my ability is vector manipulation?"

what?

Kishiwagi Setsuzawa looked completely bewildered.

"Perhaps you've come to believe all the nonsense the public is saying, but I'm sorry, my ability has never been vector manipulation from the beginning. It's—the ability to manipulate all directions of energy!"

The ability to manipulate the direction of all energy is the key to success.

To the general public, the top ability in Academy City should be Level 5 vector manipulation, but that's not the case. Vector and scalar are just two of the many abilities that Accelerator possesses.

Accelerator's ability is the power to manipulate the direction of all energy.

Regardless of what it is, as long as it is still defined as energy and has a vector with transmission and direction, then it can all be manipulated at will.

This is the true power of the strongest ability user.

From the very beginning, Kishiwa was already doomed to lose.

"So, do you have any last words, Doctor?"

Click. The first man had already pointed his pistol at the other man's head, a sneer on his face.

"You haven't even figured out the enemy's abilities yet, and you're already playing this kind of low-class game. Your evil is really pathetic."

He won't hold back.

The number one ability user only sees people who should be killed and those who shouldn't. Once someone steps into darkness, no matter what their reason is, they will not let them go easily.

This is Accelerator now; this is a true villain.

but.

"As you wish."

Even at such close range, Kissaku only took a casual puff of his cigarette.

He continued.

"Anyway, the machine has already started successfully."

—?!

Accelerator's eyes widened, and he quickly looked behind him.

At some point, a bright white light began to shine.

Boom! The massive storm instantly blew Kishizawa away. Even though Accelerator was unharmed, he could still feel that the force was very unnatural.

Only one of them was an energy direction he had ever seen.

"...Not bad. Using your abilities, I have successfully activated this machine that warps spacetime."

Lying against the wall, Kishiwagi Mitsuzawa murmured, blood streaming from his mouth.

"Regardless of what your ability is, it is a power that can manipulate direction. I had already determined that before. Then, by relying on the AIM diffusion field of this power, the directionality of spacetime can be distorted."

"Although it's only a very small fraction, but... with my machine, it can... amplify the effect dozens of times, or even more... just once... now is the time to... witness a miracle..."

The sound completely stopped.

This scientist, who cared nothing for his own life until his death, simply wanted to create something on the scale of this riot.

This guy is the real lunatic.

"Tsk! They actually left me with such a huge mess!"

The first ability user looked at the machine in front of him and tried to walk towards it.

However, there was only one type of energy among them that he had seen and manipulated before.

That was space, and time—this most powerful superhuman had never encountered anything related to it.

boom----! ! !

While Accelerator's body was slightly affected, a massive storm exploded.

He felt it; a force different from physical attraction was constantly drawing him into this enormous thing.

Is that a black hole? Or a wormhole? Accelerator couldn't figure it out. That thing might have already surpassed the laws of physics, and might even be expanding continuously.

It will soon grow to a frightening level.

By then, it might not just be a problem of a school district or an academy city anymore; the entire continent, or even a planet, could be swallowed up.

That's not what he wanted to see at all.

"Damn it...that brat is around here!"

Whoosh—! Accelerator's ability, the unique sound effect of vector manipulation, rang out instantly.

His body charged directly into the storm, his arms outstretched, attempting to control this completely unknown vector.

However, it's impossible.

Even if he could guarantee that he was fine, he still couldn't perfectly control this power; it was constantly expanding and would soon devour everything.

But he couldn't give up.

No, he should be said to have to persist.

"You bastard... don't you dare look down on me!!!"

The calculation includes everything, regardless of anything else.

Accelerator didn't care about anything else; he only wanted to suppress this dangerous thing. No matter what, he could only desperately drive his abilities to control and understand these things as much as possible.

It must be suppressed.