Natsume Sonoko stood before the burning ruins of the substation, staring blankly at the roaring flames.
Just moments ago, two massive warheads had crashed right here, reducing the entire substation to rubble.
This ironically achieved someone's original goal of blacking out the area by shutting down the substation—it seemed Natsume Sonoko possessed terrifyingly efficient execution.
This spot was far from the warehouse, and those annoying explosive dolls had finally stopped appearing around Natsume Sonoko.
It made her wary; from now on, she decided she'd steer clear of any dolls like those.
The once heavily guarded entrance was now pitch black, the armed personnel all gone—likely sent to reinforce their director.
But since their opponent was a Level 5, and one known for her destructive power at that, their chances probably weren't good.
She felt a strange pang of sympathy for these poor MAR members.
Working for a pittance and having to face a legendary Level 5? What a tough job.
Finding nothing useful, Natsume Sonoko felt she'd made another wasted trip today. Just as she was about to leave the research institute, dozens of white beams shot from a distant building, slicing entire sections of its wall into pieces. Thankfully, it didn't cause the structure to collapse.
"What's going on now?" Natsume Sonoko wondered, turning back to look.
Inside the building, that piercing noise had started again, its frequency even higher than it had been over ten minutes ago.
Trapped within the building's confines, the sound waves had nowhere to go, concentrating the calculation interference in that narrow space until it was three or four times stronger than before.
Therestina had brought the Item members to her lab to retrieve the relevant data, but things had taken a sudden turn.
Using the lab's backup power, Therestina activated an even more intense Capacity Down.
"Your real target was never the Capacity Down, was it?" Therestina sneered. "It was the data on the Ability Body Crystal experiment, also stored in this lab."
All the data was kept on a computer in this lab, completely isolated from external networks.
To access it required her personal key and identity verification. Any attempt to forcibly extract the data would trigger an irreversible deletion.
"I don't care who gave you this mission. Maybe higher-ups found out my project was being scrapped and decided on some 'recycling,' or perhaps they're seeking a way to treat this girl's 'Body Crystal' side effects. But no one is taking over a decade of my work away from me."
Therestina's frenzied voice echoed through the laboratory.
The Item members were now completely incapacitated.
Not just Kinuhata Saiai, but Frenda, and the others too—even Takitsubo Rikou, who had been unaffected by the calculation interference earlier, was now succumbing.
The interference hadn't worked on Takitsubo before because her own ability could resist it to a certain degree.
Though their expressions and mechanisms differed, both operated within the realm of AIM diffusion fields.
Capacity Down suppresses computational power as the result, but it achieves this by affecting the AIM field—the process. You can't bypass the process to get the result.
But now the interference had intensified far beyond what Takitsubo's ability could handle.
It was like how abilities within the same system can interfere with and influence each other, following the jungle law of superiors crushing inferiors.
Takitsubo's ability belonged to the AIM diffusion field system. Fully developed, it could freely enhance, weaken, replace, or even mimic others' abilities.
In theory, it had the potential to be an even more dominant Number One than Accelerator. But given her current condition, the likelihood of Takitsubo ever reaching Level 5 was slim.
"I'll kill you!"
Mugino Shizuri frantically pushed her ability, but could only produce a dozen or so wildly inaccurate Meltdowner beams. Not only did they fail to hit Therestina, they nearly sliced her own allies in half.
Frenda's face was drenched in sweat as she gritted her teeth, trying to reach for her bombs, but her hands came up empty.
'The situation in that building is so complicated. Guess turning back to check was the right call after all.'
Natsume Sonoko hovered in the air, stuffing cotton balls into her ears. Though sound could still travel through bone conduction, blocking her ears at least lessened the impact.
She was hesitant to get closer—the Capacity Down there was just too intense. Still, she could make out the situation inside using her thermal sensing.
'Too bad I can't hear what they're saying. Once thermal imaging resolution gets better, I should really learn lip reading.'
Natsume Sonoko suddenly recalled Maeda Kana-senpai mentioning something about learning lip reading. It really seemed necessary, especially for someone like her who kept finding herself unable to hear.
She made a mental note to ask Maeda-senpai later if she knew any places offering lip reading classes.
Her mind was wandering. Natsume Sonoko refocused with renewed intensity.
It just showed—even Level 5s could slip up. No matter what, you had to stay alert on all fronts. Safety first. Never get complacent.
The legendary Number Six, Level 5 'Aihana Etsu,' was the perfect example to learn from. Notoriously elusive, seen only in glimpses—truly the most peculiar of the Level 5s.
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T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 3 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.