Heating or freezing the air, making it bend to your will—that was the innate advantage of thermal system ability users.
But when facing a genuine atmospheric control system user, one's ability priority just couldn't quite measure up.
After all, the other party manipulated the air or its components directly, without needing secondary influence like some did. So their control over the air came far more naturally.
Of course, it wasn't an absolute rule. If one's computational power was off the charts or their formula efficiency surpassed the other's, then the situation could be entirely different.
If her opponent were this bob-haired girl, Natsume might find herself stuck in a troublesome battle of attrition.
If her guess was right, the other girl controlled nitrogen—the element that made up the bulk of the atmosphere.
One strike had failed, and the scene fell quiet.
Natsume Sonoko watched warily as the two girls, who seemed to be from the dark side, stood before her. Each was troublesome in her own right, and they even appeared to possess heavy weapons like missiles.
Those missiles were the real deal. Get hit, and with luck, you might end up disabled; without it, you could be done for good.
These two girls were nothing like her—innocent and pure as a little flower.
They were dangerously high-risk, so much so that even a certain teleporter, who regularly fought criminals, couldn't subdue them immediately and had even gotten injured in the process.
"So, it's going to be a tough fight after all."
Natsume Sonoko felt a wave of tension.
Her mind kicked into high gear, rapidly calculating as she flew a wide loop around the area. She gathered massive amounts of moisture, sending the humidity soaring. Still feeling it wasn't enough, she even pulled out some thermodynamic conversion formulas.
Only after thorough preparation did Natsume focus fully on dealing with the two dark side girls.
But to her surprise, the two seemed almost dismissive. They abandoned the hostages they'd just taken—including Uiharu and the others—and casually prepared to leave, as if washing their hands of the whole affair.
"Hey, you, hiding who-knows-where—our mission's over. This has nothing to do with us anymore. We've got other business, so we're leaving."
Kinuhata Saiai gestured toward the figures lying on the ground, her tone almost conversational.
"Takitsubo, let's get in the van. Mugino's in a tough spot—we need to hurry back and support her."
Calling out to Takitsubo Rikou behind her, the two climbed into their vehicle, started the engine, and got ready to drive off.
The van rumbled to life. Though its tires were badly worn, they seemed serviceable enough.
"So that's how it is. Once their mission's done, they've got no further stake in things."
Natsume turned the thought over silently, her face still wearing a vacant expression. But inwardly, she wasn't exactly satisfied with Kinuhata's proposed truce.
"Making me come all this way late at night, standing around in the wind for so long—fine, whatever.
"But these guys not only kidnapped Uiharu and the others, they also hurt Shirai that badly… and now they're just driving off?"
The more Natsume thought about it, the angrier she got.
She might be good-natured, not one to hold a grudge, kind-hearted and always ready to help—but sometimes you just couldn't compromise with evil. Decision made: she'd send them straight to the Anti-Skill teachers, and those MAR goons wouldn't be spared either.
Despite her thoughts, Natsume first went to check on Uiharu and the others.
"Uiharu, Haruue, are you both alright?" Watching the van drive into the distance, Natsume landed directly on the ground. She counted heads—no one was missing—and let out a quiet sigh of relief.
"Natsume, we're fine. But I saw Shirai get hit earlier—is she okay?" Uiharu's voice was tight with worry as she recalled the two exploding missiles.
"She's a bit injured, but nothing too serious. Speaking of which, we still don't know where Shirai is."
Suddenly concerned herself, Natsume dialed Shirai's number, only to hear the ringtone start up just a dozen meters away.
Natsume lowered her phone, surprised to see Shirai approaching on foot.
"Natsume, you've really outdone yourself. You might actually make a decent Judgment member," Shirai said, eyeing the downed Powered Suits with astonishment. Since when was Natsume this strong?
"I'm not really interested in joining Judgment."
Natsume started to retort, but the words caught in her throat. Come to think of it, wasn't Shirai still her temporary superior or something?
Dealing with superiors was such a hassle.
"By the way, where's Misaka-senpai?"
Natsume asked. Uiharu must have notified her too.
"Maybe she's still at the research institute. When they were bringing us here, we heard a huge explosion from inside. Sounded like a fight broke out there," Saten, who had been quiet until now, spoke up.
"I remember there were four of them initially, but only two came with us here," Uiharu added hesitantly.
"Onee-sama!"
Shirai's voice was frantic, but her injuries were significant. Without pain suppression, using her ability was nearly impossible.
Just as she was about to call and check on Misaka, she realized the certain bun-haired girl beside her had vanished without a trace.
--+--
"Takitsubo, is anyone following us?"
Kinuhata Saiai gripped the steering wheel, her voice tense as she drove.
The van was mostly empty. Takitsubo Rikou sat in the back, gazing out the window with a worried expression. "Saiai, haven't you noticed? The moisture outside is really heavy—it's almost forming a thick fog."
"Fog? Isn't that just normal mist? There's a lake nearby, so some humidity's expected, right?" Kinuhata kept her eyes on the road ahead, sounding unconvinced.
"—Ah, crap!"
Kinuhata slammed the brakes and swerved, bringing the van to a screeching halt, skewed across the road.
"Since when was there a huge ice wall here? Who has no public morals?"
Kinuhata stared curiously at the sudden barrier ahead.
"The fog's getting thicker. I can barely see anything—I almost hit it."
She grumbled, and as if on cue, the mist grew denser, reducing visibility to less than five or six meters.
A thick fog had risen over the highway, spanning over two hundred meters in diameter. Combined with the ice wall blocking the way, it successfully trapped the two-member Item team, urgently trying to return and support Mugino.
"Saiai, there's someone to your left-front, right there."
Takitsubo suddenly raised her hand, pointing to a spot not far away.
The fog might obscure vision, but it couldn't block ability detection.
Kinuhata understood immediately. She looked where Takitsubo pointed and launched a missile from her hand, precisely targeting the indicated location.
The moment the missile shot toward the spot, it sank into what seemed like mud. The shell glowed red-hot, like a branding iron.
The projectile grew brighter, smoking faintly, yet it couldn't advance further, as if embedded in a wall.
Boom.
The intense heat on the missile's surface finally triggered the explosives inside, unleashing a massive blast.
As the explosion erupted, one side of the shockwave was suppressed by an unnatural gust of wind, even the shrapnel included. The other side, however, surged forward unimpeded, straight toward Kinuhata and Takitsubo.
The missile had detonated far too close. The two now faced a hail of incoming fragments.
Shrapnel didn't discriminate between friend or foe—its lethality was indiscriminate.
Kinuhata leaned forward slightly, manifesting a compressed wall of nitrogen that intercepted the dense rain of metal, shielding Takitsubo behind her.
"So annoying. They just won't give up."
Kinuhata gritted her teeth. It seemed the opponent could interfere with the missiles' trajectory—using them directly against her was probably useless now.
"Guess we'll use it to clear the path, then." Kinuhata fired the remaining missiles at the ice wall behind them. The subsequent explosion blasted a large hole through it.
But before they could celebrate, the gap in the wall began to repair itself, reverting to its original state.
Hovering mid-air, Natsume Sonoko meticulously controlled the flow of moisture around her.
Neutralizing that missile hadn't required excessive calculation—its kinetic energy wasn't huge, and converting it to thermal energy wasn't too taxing. The aftermath of the explosion, however, had left her a bit flustered.
Her gaze fixed on the two below, Natsume's expression suddenly tightened.
Kinuhata Saiai had pulled out a peculiarly designed large-bore firearm from somewhere. A red laser dot abruptly appeared near Natsume's position.
A bullet fired from the barrel, the tremendous recoil forcing Kinuhata's arm upward.
But almost instantly, the bullet's heat was detected. The projectile glowed increasingly red, even forming a small ball of flame around it.
Ultimately, it was halted several meters away from Natsume.
Another gunshot rang out. A second bullet. Natsume had no hope of dodging at that speed—she could only expend more computational power to neutralize the attack.
But her counterattack followed swiftly. Countless ice spikes erupted from both sides of the road, forming a bridge of piercing cold.
An invisible barrier surrounded Kinuhata, who still had enough leeway to shield Takitsubo firmly behind her. She let the countless ice spikes strike her body harmlessly.
"These ice spikes are numerous, but their power is weak, and they can't focus on a single point."
Kinuhata even had the spare focus to critique the attack. But the next moment, a massive ice battering ram dropped from above, smashing directly onto her head.
Shaking the snow and ice from her shoulders, Kinuhata remained completely unharmed. She even found time to take aim at Natsume again.
As the relentless ice spike assault paused, Kinuhata lunged forward. Using nitrogen blocks formed under her feet, she leaped over ten meters into the air.
"If ranged weapons are useless, then it's fists."
Swinging her fist with formidable momentum, she charged. Natsume startled, hastily using a blast of wind to put distance between them.
But as the gust subsided, Kinuhata, though blown aside, recovered instantly. Before Natsume could catch her breath, another fist—large as a sandbag—was coming straight at her.
Then, suddenly, Kinuhata looked utterly bewildered.
Following Takitsubo's pointing finger, she saw a place crowded with countless silhouettes. Though their features were indistinct, she could vaguely make out the uniform of Tokiwadai Middle School.
"What kind of move is this? So interesting."
Kinuhata exclaimed loudly, smashing one of the illusions nearby before dropping back to the ground in resignation.
Natsume Sonoko now hid within the light and thick fog, using countless tiny ice prisms in the air to refract and reflect light around herself, creating a multitude of mirror images.
It's a deception tactic. Bet you're scared now.
"Talk about a tough nut to crack."
Natsume couldn't help but click her tongue in frustration. Compressing nitrogen into armor—truly the ability of her dreams. Ordinary attacks were practically useless against it.
Running through her mental list of skills, Natsume ruefully realized she lacked any high-powered, unconventional attacks like a certain Railgun.
Maybe she could launch an ice block hundreds of meters into the sky and use gravitational potential energy for a finishing strike? Excluding air resistance, the force might be considerable.
"So, creating a pseudo-vacuum environment is the only way." Natsume ultimately returned to the contest of atmospheric control.
Though her control over the air couldn't match Kinuhata's, the range she could influence far exceeded the other girl's—that was her unique advantage.
Within a hundred meters, removing all nitrogen—she could definitely do it.
Natsume mused silently, acting quickly. The surrounding air began to stir, the nitrogen growing thin almost immediately.
However, affecting the immediate area around Kinuhata proved difficult. Natsume could only tentatively encroach, step by step, until finally a stalemate emerged. But she had successfully confined Kinuhata and her partner to a small corner.
Kinuhata noticed it too. She punched through the ice wall blocking their retreat with a nitrogen-enhanced fist, only to find the opponent's control range was unexpectedly vast. Beyond the wall was still within the other's domain.
To cross this pseudo-vacuum zone, they'd have to traverse at least thirty meters of airless environment. Even if she could maintain her nitrogen armor, its defensive capabilities couldn't be guaranteed.
The nitrogen Kinuhata used wasn't created from nothing—she had to gather and compress it to form her defensive shell.
A layer of ice began spreading across the ground, gradually encroaching on the remaining space available to Kinuhata and Takitsubo. Snowflakes started filling the narrow, shrinking pocket of air from above.
--+--
T/N: HSR Fic out on MapleTL!
--+--
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!
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If you guys wanna check it out.