Amidst the wreckage of the S-Processor Laboratory, Misaka Mikoto finds out that the attacks have stopped. However, she remains vigilant, knowing that her attackers wouldn't let her off the hook that easily. As she weighs her next possible moves, she discovers a strip of explosive tape, the one Frenda had used on her earlier. Upon following that strip, no only did she find the entire facility lined with the tape, but also the stuffed toys that are placed in strategic areas.
As Mikoto stares upon the button-eyes of a doll she had picked up, she decides to use them as weapons of her own.
Meanwhile, Frenda and Takitsubo Rikou decide to retreat from the facility and speeds away in an armored van. As Frenda decides to relax after a tense fight with a Level 5, Rikou takes this chance to recover after the usage of her ability has left her completely fatigued. However, Frenda discovers that she just forgot one important thing to do, and it was to dispose of her bombs.
It was too late for Frenda. As Mugino waits for Mikoto to show up at a large well-lit room inside the facility, she discovers that Mikoto has picked up Frenda's dolls, and is using it as her weapons, using electricity to detonate them and magnetism to manipulate their movements in mid-air. Although fending off the dolls are an easy task for Mugino, doing so while protecting the database nearby is something troublesome for her. On the other hand, Mikoto uses the moment of advantage to overwhelm Mugino through sheer numbers.
However, Mikoto is thrown into a corner as Frenda's dolls are destroyed by Mugino's Meltdowner beams, spread into several dozen beams using silicon cards. Mikoto watches in shock as Mugino, introducing herself as the fourth-ranked Level 5, destroys Frenda's dolls in an instant.
Mikoto is forced to retreat her last remaining doll as Mugino continues to gloat over her imminent victory. Then, she sprints towards Mugino and uses the doll as a diversion. Mugino is then taken aback when another doll flies towards her. However, Mugino was able to swat it away, using her ability to interfere with Mikoto's electricity.
Then, as Mugino prepares for her killing strike on Mikoto, the doll she swatted earlier, which is much heavier than expected, crashes straight into Mugino's temple, knocking her out instantly.
With Mikoto stealing victory from Mugino, she heads to the database room of the facility and used her last doll and her electricity to destroy everything inside. However, unlike in her previous attacks, she decides to leave early to avoid from getting caught in the fires herself.
As she returns to the room where Mugino was lying cold on the ground, Mikoto is surprised to find a small puddle of blood on the ground instead. Mugino appears shortly, delivering a barrage of Meltdowner beams before kicking Mikoto on the gut. At that moment, the bloodied Mugino is in rage, firing her beams where Mikoto stands, determined to finish her off for managing to injure her. Meanwhile, Mikoto remains on a defensive, focusing more on a clean getaway instead of a direct confrontation with Mugino.
Mikoto leaves the room and heads back to the many hallways that line the facility, planning an escape using a particular route she discovered earlier. This is not easy, though, as Mugino continues to fire beams at the fleeing Mikoto. Soon, Mugino's assault is interrupted by a call from Saiai, reporting the smooth completion of her mission on her part. Their conversation is rather short due to Mugino being too focused on taking care of Mikoto, so Saiai just relayed a message for Frenda instead: that "she will get a spanking" when everything is over.
Mugino and Mikoto soon reach a part of the facility filled with pipes and metal tubing. Mikoto uses the metal pipes to slide away from Mugino, but the Meltdowner quickly paves a path for herself, destroying Mikoto's footing and causing her to plummet to a nearby platform while Mugino reaches her with ease. Mikoto, despite the effects of fatigue setting in, still shows barely enough power to defend herself from Mugino's beams. However, with Mugino dangerously close to her, one wrong step would be her demise.
Mikoto laughs as Mugino urges her to use her most powerful ability against her, telling her that she no longer has the stamina to use her ability extensively, let alone fire a Railgun. However, she points out that the platform they are standing on is lined with Frenda's explosive tape, a part of her plan to close off any escape routes. Mikoto then uses a small spark to denonate the tape, and in an instant, both of them plummet to the ground, except for Mikoto, who used her magnetism to cling to a nearby metal section. Mugino manages to survive the fall using the recoil of her Meltdowner beams, but she still injured her right leg in the fall.
As Mikoto rests, she realizes that she still needs to take care of another facility, but is too weak to make a decent spark. Meanwhile, Mugino desperately searches for information about the project. After beating up a random researcher fleeing from the S-Processor Facility, Mugino reads on about the Level 6 Shift Project. At first, she is amused at how Rank One ends up killing 20,000 clones to reach Level 6, but Mugino becomes interested as she realizes that Mikoto is being dragged into the darkness of Academy City, slowly but surely.
Mikoto manages to return to her hotel room, battered, bruised and overly fatigued. However, the sleep allowed her to recover some of her strength. After finding her clothes tattered by the fights the night before, she quickly changes back to the Tokiwadai Middle School uniform and decides to so some surveillance on the S-Processor Neuropathology Analysis Laboratory.
Upon closer inspection, Mikoto discovers that most electrical devices have been shut down and security is obviously lower than expected. Despite suspecting that it may be a trap, she heads inside. There, she discovers that the facility has been completely shut down, and all data files have been erased. Upon reading news of the facility filing bankruptcy was the moment Mikoto wonders if the last research lab had given up after losing its sister facility.
The feeling that everything is over seems surreal to Mikoto. As memories of the clone she met for the first and last time... of her death... of Accelerator... and the Sisters flashed in her head, Mikoto realizes that everything that had happened will not disappear, and the only left to do it to move forward. However, what's important to Mikoto right now is that the experiment is over, and that the remaining Sisters no longer need to die.
With that, Mikoto decides to return to the friends that she had left behind all this time.
As Mikoto visits a certain vending machine, she sees a certain unfortunate boy lose his money as it was eaten by the vending machine. At that moment, all Mikoto felt is relief.
Rating: 9/10
Comments