NOVEL NEXT Chapter 16
Chapter Sixteen: Railgun VS The Colorless King (Please support with flowers and monthly votes)
The airship hall filled with people one by one, and naturally, they saw the Colorless King sitting on the couch, leisurely sipping his glass of red wine.
“It’s time to return my body, O colorless king.”
This image of someone else occupying his rightful place caused Adolf K. Wiesmann to frown deeply. Having not experienced the original story arc, he felt no sympathy for the Colorless King.
“This is somewhat surprising.”
“You worthless fool, how dare you come here.”
The Colorless King called Wiesmann a waste because, as the First Authority Holder, he had secluded himself on the airship for seventy years after his sister’s death.
Such a fragile person, what right did he have to be king?
“Is this him? The one we need to deal with?”
Misaka Mikoto swung her small fists, faint arcs of electricity wrapping around her body. She was already eager to give the Colorless King a good beating.
“Ace, interested?”
“Don’t call me Ace, seriously.”
Mikoto was speechless at Bai Luo’s behavior—why did he love giving people nicknames so much?
“I am indeed curious about superpowers from another world.”
Misaka Mikoto asked, “Can I see them in action?”
“Sure.”
Bai Luo smiled, “And Kurumi Tokisaki and Tanjiro, if you’re interested, you can try too.”
“Also, don’t worry about safety; I’ll be here to back you up.”
Bai Luo’s strength was well known to Wiesmann and Kurumi Tiske who had witnessed him summon the Black Authority Crown. Misaka Mikoto and Tanjiro hadn’t seen that, but both were intuitive individuals.
Ace’s electromagnetic sense detected an extremely terrifying fluctuation emanating from Bai Luo—a feeling she couldn’t describe. One thing she could confirm was that absolutely, under no circumstances, should anyone attack him—it would be fatal!
“Can I join?”
Tanjiro lacked Ace’s superpower but his nose could detect various ‘flavors.’ There wasn’t any physical scent coming from Bai Luo, yet Tanjiro smelled something more abstract—sadness, happiness, deception, fear—all these emotions his nose could discern. When Bai Luo said he’d guard them, Tanjiro immediately sensed an indescribable sense of security—a towering mountain standing behind him, sturdy, magnificent, unshakable against all storms.
“Isn’t this too dangerous?”
Wiesmann was concerned. Though the Colorless King wasn’t a strong fighter, his ability to steal others’ souls was unsettling.
“Relax, if he dares use that power, the fight will end instantly!”
At the moment the Colorless King tried to take over bodies, Bai Luo would intervene, making sure there were no surprises. The Black Authority Crown was far beyond the reach of the Colorless King’s ‘Interference Power.’
“Additionally, I want to test the Sacred Domain’s strength.”
Bai Luo wanted to know how effective normal Sacred Domain protection was, whether it could withstand attacks from Ace and Kurumi.
“Hey!”
“Aren’t you being a bit too arrogant?!”
The Colorless King was irritated by Bai Luo’s disdainful attitude. He picked up the pistol beside him and fired a round toward Ace, who stood in front of Bai Luo.
“Bullets?!”
Ace didn’t expect the Colorless King to use firearms. In the next moment, her powerful electromagnetic perception quickly captured the trajectory of the bullets.
With a slight shift of her body, Ace easily evaded the shots.
“What?”
The Colorless King seemed surprised by Ace’s quick reflexes and immediately started firing continuously.
“Bang Bang Bang!”
However, Ace moved as though she had foreseen everything. All the bullets missed her without a single hit.
If the attacker were an Authority Holder, their inherent Sacred Domain would deflect any firearm. For Ability Users, enhanced abilities often made ordinary guns ineffective. But Ace’s case was different. She calmly approached the Colorless King step by step, avoiding all bullets with minimal effort.
“How could this be!!”
The Colorless King looked incredulously at Ace. “Damn! Damn damn! Stand still, you wretched woman!!”
“His state seems off, doesn’t it?”
Kurumi turned to Bai Luo, who nodded. “His mental stability is compromised, isn’t it?”
“Yes.”
“This is the side effect of stealing others’ bodies and memories.”
Bai Luo continued, “Continuously replicating other people’s personalities eventually leads to this grotesque state. Soon, I suspect he won’t even remember who he is.”
“I see.”
Understanding the Colorless King’s condition, Kurumi viewed him with a mix of mockery and pity. “Swallowed by his own power and ambition, truly a pitiful man.”
“Boom Boom Boom!”
On the other side, Misaka Mikoto watched the increasingly frantic Colorless King and remarked dryly, “Using a handgun to attack, are you really an Ability User?”
In Academy City, technology was advanced, but no one used firearms. It wasn’t that they were useless; rather, Ace believed that as Ability Users, they should settle disputes using their powers.
“Hey, stop playing around.”
Misaka Mikoto earnestly urged, “Show us your superpowers already.”
“Zzzt Zzzt Zzzt!”
As she spoke, the young girl flicked her bangs, causing blue electrical arcs to crackle loudly, clearly eager for the fight.
“You wretched woman!”
“How dare you look down on me!!”
The Colorless King read the contempt in Ace’s words and flew into a rage. Without regard for his situation, he rushed forward to engage Ace in hand-to-hand combat.
“Here he comes?”
Seeing the Colorless King leap several meters with unnatural agility, Ace finally became interested.
“Crackling!!”
Huge arcs of electricity radiated outwards from Ace, forming a web that surrounded the airborne Colorless King.
“Haha, this kind of thing can’t hurt me!!”
Facing the terrifying current, the Colorless King showed no fear. Instead, he lunged forward, raising his fist to strike Ace’s head. Laughing wildly, his movements were reckless, abandoning all defense in favor of mutual destruction.
“Hum!!”
But as the current collided with the Colorless King, an invisible barrier seemed to encase him. Instantly, all the electricity vanished into thin air.
“What?!”
The sight shocked Ace. Fortunately, she reacted quickly, manipulating nearby metal to form a steel wall in front of her, narrowly avoiding a blow to the face.
“Tsk.”
The Colorless King looked at the steel wall blocking his punch and muttered that it was a troublesome ability.
“Water Breathing, Second Form – Waterwheel!”
Accompanied by Tanjiro’s voice, a blade-like aura resembling a wheel descended from above. Tanjiro spun through the air, descending with a slash aimed at the Colorless King’s head.
“Hmph!”
However, the Colorless King sneered dismissively, “Useless!”
He offered no defense, simply standing there as Tanjiro’s attack struck him.
“Hum!”
Indeed, just like Ace’s attack, Tanjiro’s sword met an invisible field.
“Get away from me!!”
“Whoa~~”
Tanjiro felt a massive force transmitted through his blade, sending him flying backward.
“What a strange ability.”
Landing safely after stabilizing himself mid-air, Tanjiro retreated to Ace’s side, puzzled by what had just happened.
“It seems like some kind of shield protects him.”
Ace analyzed, “Some sort of telekinetic power?”
“Not quite.”
Wiesmann explained, “Authority Holders each possess their own Sacred Domain. Its essence is ‘Causal Distortion,’ which bends the processes and outcomes of reality.”
No one understood the powers of Authority Holders better than Wiesmann, who studied the Drosston Tablet. Simply put, Authority Holders were protected by fate, possessing immense power to twist causality.
Under such protection, any attempt to harm an Authority Holder would fail. Bullets would be deflected, lethal poisons rendered ineffective, assassinations and conspiracies exposed immediately. Even a nuclear bomb dropped on an Authority Holder would hover in the air, unable to fall or explode.
The existence of the Sacred Domain allowed Authority Holders immunity from both human-made and natural harm.
As for the Colorless King:
The Colorless King was the joker among the Seven Kings, representing interference and unpredictability. This was why he could seize Wiesmann’s body and set up such a trap for the other kings.
“Only another King or the King’s most trusted personal guard can kill a King.”
By “guard,” it generally referred to the earliest clan members who followed the King. This concept resembled the Japanese samurai ritual of seppuku, where someone cuts open their abdomen but does not die immediately. To alleviate the pain, another person stands by to decapitate them, acting as the kaishakunin.
The guard could kill the King, similar to the kaishakunin’s role. When a King excessively uses their power, causing the Sword of Damocles to collapse and fall, the guard must kill the King to prevent greater damage.
“Ya le ya le.”
Kurumi Tokisaki said, “Causal abilities, huh? That is indeed troubling.”
“Only a King can defeat another King?”
Ace expressed doubt, pulling out a coin and flicking it with her thumb. “Boring to the extreme!!”
Misaka Mikoto refused to believe such absurdity! What nonsense about Sacred Domains and Causal Distortion. Such things weren’t scientific!
“Is this magic?”
Misaka Mikoto declared, “There is no such thing as magic in this world!”
“What is this?”
At this moment, feeling the terrifying current surging from Ace’s body, even Kurumi and Wiesmann instinctively stepped back.
‘So the Flat Discharge Girl has tricks up her sleeve too?’
Watching the girl she often bickered with in the chat group, Kurumi Tokisaki smirked, “Intriguing!”
“What?”
The Colorless King was also startled by the scene before him. He had seen Ability Users before, but none with Ace’s impressive display.
“Using the principle of electromagnetic induction, game coins are launched at three times the speed of sound (speed 1030 m/s).”
Bai Luo explained from behind Kurumi, “Its power can even gouge the ground along its trajectory. The residual wind alone exceeds what most wind manipulators can achieve.”
As Bai Luo finished explaining, the coin, empowered by Ace’s electromagnetism, shot out from her fingertip. Moments later, a laser-like orange beam enveloped the Colorless King at a speed he could never react to.