Chapter 343: Meeting

The core members of the dark side organization "Group" consist of four individuals. Among them is the #1 esper, Accelerator.

There are a total of seven Level 5 espers in Academy City. So far, only three have been involved in dark side activities, and one of them was severely injured in battle, reducing them to little more than a tool for producing valuable materials.

This year, Group has been extremely busy. After the large-scale dark side conflict, Academy City's dark side forces were significantly weakened, leaving only a handful of organizations capable of carrying out missions. Among them, Group is the strongest. Thus, their busy schedule is inevitable.

After dealing with their target, the Raid Team, and due to various reasons, the members of Group decided to turn their weapons against the Board of Directors member who issued the mission—Unabara Mitsuki.

To take action against a Board member, both physical and political factors must be considered. On the physical side, it's a matter of firepower. With Accelerator on their side, Group never has to worry about lacking firepower.

The political aspect, however, is more complicated. Attacking a Board member directly means challenging Academy City itself. The members of Group live and operate within Academy City, and they can't afford to make an enemy of the entire city.

Directly attacking would lead to political backlash. But if they align themselves with another Board member, the situation shifts from "ordinary people challenging the authority of the Board of Directors" to "internal conflict within the Board."

Accelerator received assistance from another Board member, Oyafune Monaka.

Originally, the plan was to arrive at the target location, use Oyafune Monaka's authority to seize the initiative, and eliminate the political risks.

But… plans never survive contact with reality.

"What happened here? Did someone attack ahead of us?"

Tsuchimikado Motoharu looked at the devastation before him.

The shelter door, designed to withstand a nuclear blast, had a hole punched through it, just large enough for a person to pass through. Peering inside, one could see a deep, dark tunnel.

Someone had breached it head-on.

"Hey, hey, Tsuchimikado. Does this mean we don't need to worry about that damn politics anymore?" Accelerator, leaning on his cane, spoke up.

"Yes, if we use the excuse of a rescue operation, there's a lot of room to maneuver."

"That's more like it!" Accelerator flipped the switch on the electrode around his neck. "Screw politics. I don't give a damn about that!"

The white-haired, gender-ambiguous teenager walked up to the door.

The alloy-reinforced door suffered further damage as Accelerator completely exposed the passage behind it.

The #1 esper of Academy City charged in.

Accompanied by his signature maniacal laughter.

"Hey, is this really okay?" Kumokawa Seria asked. "Anyone bold enough to storm a Board member's hideout alone isn't someone to take lightly. Are you just going in by yourself?"

"Aren't you the one who knows his strength best?" Tsuchimikado Motoharu, wearing sunglasses, glanced at Kumokawa Seria.

The girl, whose chest was wrapped tightly with a bandage, snorted. She had once clashed briefly with Accelerator. Even though his brain was damaged at the time, he had still crushed her effortlessly.

Accelerator, even with irreversible injuries, was a monster among monsters.

"Director Oyafune, should we go in as well?"

"Let's go. If Unabara is still alive, it'll be troublesome." The elderly woman, Oyafune Monaka, spoke.

And so, Group entered the shelter.

Accelerator didn't care what his teammates were discussing. He charged ahead.

He didn't believe there was anyone in Academy City who could defeat him.

Not long ago, the #7 had come, and he had turned them into mincemeat.

"Bare-handed? Interesting, interesting. A physical enhancement esper?"

As he advanced through the long tunnel, Accelerator felt like he was descending underground. Along the way, he saw numerous corpses, all heavily armed with powerful weapons. Unfortunately for them, their efforts were futile—they had all been killed with their necks snapped.

The ground was littered with spent shell casings. The security personnel had unleashed a barrage of firepower, but it had done nothing to stop the intruder.

"Just one person? Does Academy City have an esper like this? Hahaha! This is getting really interesting!"

Accelerator increased his speed. His ability was nearly omnipotent, and increasing his speed by manipulating friction with the ground was child's play.

From the details, Accelerator deduced that the attacker wasn't a group, but a single individual.

Most likely a physical enhancement esper.

He was growing curious.

Following the trail of corpses, he continued forward until, at one point, the bodies suddenly stopped appearing. Accelerator was puzzled but kept going. It wasn't until he reached a room further inside that he saw more corpses.

Entering the room, Accelerator saw the first living person since entering the shelter.

It was a boy wearing a school uniform, sitting on a table and casually flipping through a book. At first glance, Accelerator sensed danger emanating from the book.

He drew his handgun and aimed it at the boy.

"Who are you? Where's Unabara?"

"You finally made it, Accelerator. Unabara? Isn't that the guy in the powered suit? I've never seen someone so afraid of death."

"I wouldn't move if I were you. Bullets don't have eyes."

"Since when does Accelerator need a toy like a handgun? Well, whatever. If you think bullets can hurt me, go ahead and try. But my advice is to drop the hostility. Why don't we have a nice chat?"

Li Mo put away the grimoire and jumped down from the table.

"For example, #1, what's your purpose for coming here?"

"None of your damn business."

"True, it's not my concern. Hmm… Let me tell you why I killed Unabara. I was having a great time with my little girl when some dark side group called the Raid Team showed up with bombs, apparently looking for someone called Dragon. Then I found out the Raid Team was Unabara's lapdog, so I decided to take him out too."

Another reason for killing Unabara was that he had leaked information about Li Mo's meeting with Dragon.

Even though Unabara knew about this, he still didn't take Li Mo seriously. That's probably the arrogance of a Board member.

Accelerator lowered his handgun.

He could sense the attitude of the person before him. There was no malice, nor any goodwill. It was as if they were strangers, or perhaps a neutral third party.

Moreover, the other party had mentioned a specific term.

'Dragon.'

One of the reasons Group had come here to confront Unabara was to uncover the meaning behind the word Dragon.

"What is Dragon?"

"A term for an angel," Li Mo answered immediately. "You seem curious about Dragon?"

"An angel? Like Fuse=Kazakiri?"

Li Mo shrugged. "No, comparing Dragon to Fuse=Kazakiri or Aiwass is underestimating them. If you want to know more, you'll have to ask them directly."

"Look, the dark hero has come to see you."

Suddenly, the space around them fell silent.

Then, Accelerator saw a flash of golden hair.