I, Kurumi Tokisaki, Am a Wanderer

The black-and-red spirit dress billowed violently in the descending gale, and Kurumi, like a hunting hawk, pinned Kakine Teitoku beneath her feet.

Her gaze was cold, furious, and tinged with an almost unhinged madness.

Even the braver version of herself, Moyu Kurumi, would quietly take a detour if she saw this expression.

No one had ever tried to threaten Kurumi before. Kakine Teitoku was the first.

Unlike Heroic Spirits, Heretic Gods, or superior lifeforms, while espers wield extraordinary abilities, their physical bodies are extremely fragile.

Even those with physical enhancement abilities had defenses as brittle as paper in the face of Kurumi.

Kakine Teitoku's head was encased in a mass of white radiance, resembling a motorcycle helmet.

Even so, he could still hear a deafening roar in his ears, as if his brain were vibrating. The dizziness left him dazed.

Kurumi didn't go for a killing blow right away. Instead, she pressed her left foot down with slight force, driving Kakine Teitoku's head deeper into the ground.

Leaning slightly forward, she uttered her words with icy precision.

"Hey... that little one. Where is she?"

Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.

The helmet formed from Dark Matter seemed ready to shatter at any moment. The pain felt like a bullet ant burrowing into his brow and biting hard.

The intense pressure and crushing force turned Kakine Teitoku's vision into a kaleidoscope of overlapping, shaking, splitting, and merging images.

His eyes filled with tears as he gasped for breath through his wide-open mouth.

When had he ever suffered such humiliation, such violent contempt?

Amid the intense vertigo and agony, he heard Kurumi's voice.

His lips moved soundlessly as his hands braced against the ground.

Academy City was far from the polished image it projected. Every member of the dark side carried a history they would rather forget, their tragedies as countless as grains of sand slipping through fingers.

Even someone like Yumiya Rakko had clawed her way out of the abyss of the Talent Workshop.

But what did that have to do with Kurumi? Anyone can play the victim card.

Even if you were plotting to overthrow Aleister's canned mansion, what did that have to do with her?

What Kakine Teitoku never should have done was try to use Rikuto Mika to threaten her.

Pressing his hands into the ground, veins bulging across his knuckles, Kakine Teitoku struggled to rise.

But the pressure on his head was as heavy as a mountain.

"Haaaah!"

A guttural cry tore from his throat as his back surged with a whirlwind.

The gust howled, spiraling upward from the ground, and Kurumi felt a chill on her legs.

Seeing her skirt about to be flipped by the upward gale, revealing the scenery beneath, a hand holding a short-barreled gun reached out to press the hem down.

And then...

Kurumi felt a sudden chill on her behind.

She froze, her mind going blank, completely stunned.

Instinctively reaching behind her, her hand met something smooth and soft.

Not the fabric of her skirt.

...

"Black lace design, adorned with a pair of cute little cats. Extremely sexy and adorable..." The Sister, wearing camouflage over her Tokiwadai school uniform, crawled nearly a kilometer away, her tactical goggles with night vision lighting up.

Her face flushed with an inexplicable redness, seemingly overly excited, as she instantly synchronized and uploaded her memory.

Tap, tap—

A pair of black, round-toed boots stopped in front of Misaka Sister.

She remained utterly unshaken. Lady Kurumi was omnipresent, and they had long been mentally prepared for this.

"If Misaka is forcibly subjected to physical memory loss, please ensure that another copy is transmitted to Misaka," she declared with a tragic tone.

But the Misaka Network remained utterly silent, as if all the other Sisters had gone off to do something else.

Misaka Sister gave up on hiding. She sat up from the ground, shifted her goggles to her forehead, and assumed a posture of readiness for death.

Then she heard Kurumi's voice, tinged with excitement.

"Do your goggles have recording functions? Can they print photos?"

"..."

This was a rare opportunity to capture the main body in such a compromising CG. Using it as leverage might compel her to do this or that.

...

Boom!

In the gusting storm, six white wings were reborn, folding together like flower petals, enveloping Kurumi.

Every feather on those wings trembled, the serrated edges vibrating at high speed, like the radula of a snail.

The wings lashed toward Kurumi as if intending to grind her into pieces.

Kurumi applied slight pressure to Kakine Teitoku's head with her left foot. The spot beneath her toes immediately cracked with fissures. She sprang gracefully into the air, performing a backflip to dodge while unleashing a barrage of bullets from her dual pistols.

Did she feel threatened by Kakine Teitoku's attack?

No.

She had just recovered from the terror of being skirt-flipped.

Ever cautious since her encounter with Saten Ruiko, she hadn't expected to lose her composure over such a thing in front of this guy.

"You, where did you pop out from, Saten Ruiko?" Kurumi hissed with a mix of anger and embarrassment, her tone laced with murderous intent.

"Saten Ruiko?" Kakine Teitoku staggered to his feet, looking puzzled. His head was still spinning.

The angelic wings on his back unfolded slowly, casting a beam of pure white moonlight toward Kurumi.

Numerous gashes had opened across his body, and dark-colored clothing was soaked through with oozing blood.

Luckily for him, Kurumi's bullets were spiritual constructs, dealing pure penetration damage without the typical cavitation effect of physical bullets. That was the only reason he was still standing.

Resigned, he used his ability to create new flesh to fill the wounds.

Barely regaining combat readiness, Kakine Teitoku's wings bent in preparation for his next move.

It was laughable—his opponent hadn't even used the all-encompassing barrier she was capable of, and he was already in such a miserable state.

Could it be... was he truly inferior to that androgynous, pale-haired freak?

Elsewhere, drinking coffee in a hospital next to a spiky-haired boy, Accelerator suddenly sneezed.

Kakine Teitoku's wings fluttered as he ascended into the sky.

This time, he didn't bother striking a theatrically religious pose. He needed time to prepare his finishing move.

An embarrassed and enraged Kurumi stomped hard on the ground. Ignoring the intricacies of her Zafkiel, she lunged straight at Kakine Teitoku with such speed that it left him barely able to react.

Kakine Teitoku's wings unfolded soundlessly.

The forty-meter wings, with their chainsaw-like edges, slashed downward like a butcher carving meat.

If one looked closely, despite the blood gushing from his mouth, Kakine Teitoku was smiling.

Kurumi glided through the air with ease, skimming past the descending wings as lightly as a dragonfly touching the water.

The sweeping wings slashed down, cleaving the earth beneath them. Soil flipped and churned on either side of the impact.

Seeing that his first strike had no effect, Kakine Teitoku swung his wings horizontally. The white wings cut through the air with a whooshing sound, wielded like blunt weapons by a master swordsman.

These wings were not mere appendages; they were Kakine Teitoku's Dark Matter manifested into wing-like forms.

They could be wings, blades, chainsaws, or even tails if he willed it.

But such attacks proved futile against Kurumi. She danced among the flurry of wings, closing the gap between them with breathtaking agility.

Her dual pistols, their muzzles edged with jagged edges, slashed through Kakine Teitoku's reinforced wings.

The white wings were sliced apart effortlessly, as if cutting through paper.

Faced with the oncoming Kurumi, Kakine Teitoku spread his hands wide.

The ineffective wings retracted, forming a white barrier in front of him.

"Calculation complete!" Kakine Teitoku shouted from behind the shield, his expression unhinged.

"Do you understand? My Dark Matter is something that does not exist in this world."

Kurumi had already reached the shield. Her entire being turned into a crimson streak, and her sharp gun blades cleaved the white shield in two with a single vertical slash.

Kakine Teitoku retreated while pointing at her. "It defies established laws, embodying infinite possibilities."

"Air can be denser than solids. Water can be sharper than blades."

"As long as I will it... the world will be completely reshaped."

"Oh?" Kurumi caught up with him, twisting her body mid-air and slamming her flintlock gun heavily into his abdomen.

Kakine Teitoku spat out a mouthful of blood and was sent flying over ten meters.

Clutching his stomach, he was overwhelmed by a pain so intense it drowned out the rushing wind and obliterated his senses, leaving only a tidal wave of excruciating agony.

For a moment, Kakine Teitoku couldn't even draw a breath.

Yet even in such a state, he forced out a cocky, triumphant grin.

"So... you idiot. This round is mine!" Kakine Teitoku extended his hand and tore viciously at the air in front of him.

He blended Dark Matter into the space around them, replacing the air with Dark Matter, the water molecules with Dark Matter, and then assigning these materials destructive properties.

The air began to vibrate, emitting a faint white glow.

The entire park was enveloped in a milky-white halo that shone faintly in the night. The glow was so bright that it was visible across much of Academy City.

Seconds later, the air detonated with a deafening roar.

Dazzling white light consumed everything, the explosion destroying anything protruding from the ground and tearing up yet another layer of earth.

Kakine Teitoku manipulated his ability furiously, calculating at a frenzied pace.

This full-power bombardment could be sustained for minutes.

How long could that invincibility of hers last?

"It's too bright. I don't like it," came a soft declaration from within the radiant white light.

The voice cut through the roaring explosion, sending a cold sweat down Kakine Teitoku's spine.

She was behind him!

Kurumi gave him no chance to react. Her powerful spinning kick struck his back with terrifying force. The pristine white wings were severed by hidden razor-sharp edges, scattering feathers that failed to offer any protection.

A sickening crack of breaking bones resounded, and Kakine Teitoku's vacant eyes rolled back as he plummeted toward the earth.

Kurumi gave chase, descending even faster than Kakine Teitoku.

As if she had awakened some strange habit, she stepped on Kakine Teitoku's cheek as she plummeted from the sky.

Kakine Teitoku deftly used a helmet constructed from Dark Matter to protect his head.

Boom—

The ground caved in, forming a large crater. The white wings splayed out like spider legs to brace against the force but ultimately collapsed under the immense pressure.

Kurumi stepped on the white helmet, embedding Kakine Teitoku's head further into the ground. She raised her right foot.

Kakine Teitoku, still trying to gather his bearings, instinctively thought about standing up.

The unbearable pain left him gasping for air, his body almost entirely unresponsive. Blood flowed freely from his body like a punctured bag, staining the earth beneath him.

The alternating flashes of bright white light in the sky gradually faded, until they extinguished completely.

Kakine Teitoku wasn't a Gemstone; his ability required significant computation to activate, and the overwhelming pain severely hindered his ability to function.

Pouring strength into her right foot, Kurumi stomped down hard.

The white protective barrier shattered instantly.

"Hey... where's that little one?" Kurumi looked down at Kakine Teitoku.

"I don't know," Kakine Teitoku answered honestly.

"Oh, you don't know, huh?" Kurumi lifted her foot again.

Lying there, Kakine Teitoku felt as though he could see his death approaching like a star shining ominously in the night sky.

Mii~ miu—

A ringtone sounded from Kurumi's phone.

Ignoring the figure squirming on the ground, Kurumi glanced at the screen. The incoming call displayed a string of digits, seemingly random gibberish punched in at random.

"..." She answered the call.

"Rikuto Mika has already been rescued by the former sixth-ranked and is now safely back in the Nagatenjouki Academy dormitory," a neutral voice, devoid of any identifiable gender or age, and full of contradictions, spoke on the other end.

Aleister directly answered the question Kurumi had previously posed to Kakine Teitoku.

"Oh my, Director. So, what now?" Kurumi smiled faintly.

Lying on the ground, Kakine Teitoku's vacant eyes suddenly regained their luster. His expression turned manic.

"Aleister... Aleister!" he roared at Kurumi. "Give me the phone! Aleister... you bastard! Listen to me!"

"Aleister..." Ignoring Kakine Teitoku's shouts, the voice on the phone spoke again, addressing Kurumi. "Kakine Teitoku must not die."

...

A newfound clarity washed over Kakine Teitoku. His eyes widened, and his wings spread across the ground as he fully awakened.

Now, he had touched the realm of gods. In this state, even against Accelerator, he might stand a chance.

With a single stomp, Kurumi pinned the fully awakened Kakine Teitoku back into the ground, her voice cold as ice.

"Oh."

Touching the realm of gods? Impressive?

Kurumi had killed gods before.

The resounding impact of her overwhelming stomp echoed through the vast night. The ground quaked, and the nearby buildings seemed to tremble from the force.

"You spoke too late," Kurumi said, as the white wings disintegrated into scattered light particles, vanishing into the air. She glanced at the fractured earth and Kakine Teitoku, who was now buried deep into the ground by her blow.

Without a second glance, she turned and walked away.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

40 Advanced Chapters Available on Patreon: 

Patreon.com/DaoOfHeaven