Author's Notes: Chapter edited and corrected by Scott Fellman.
"Even if that's the case! You can't counter my regeneration! Let's get this over with!" Riser exclaimed. I raised an eyebrow.
"Finish? But I want to play a little more, Riser. I was about to get serious." I said playfully. Riser looked at me incredulously. I raised an eyebrow. "Physical combat has never been my specialty. I don't like it, and I just wanted to test my dummies. You called me a witch. Turns out, my specialty is magic." I said playfully. Riser still looked incredulous but grunted once more.
I saw Riser move quickly in my direction. I extended my left arm and created a portal in front of me that joined another right next to Riser. A coin appeared between my fingers; I began to generate large amounts of electricity with my magic while manipulating the currents to establish two parallel currents in my outstretched arm.
Using the Lorentz Force wasn't a problem either. My smile widened as I tapped the coin with my finger. Misaka's well-known Railgun Mikoto shot out from my fingers, passing through the portal before erasing Riser's head and continuing on.
It turns out that alchemy is entirely OP when you begin to understand that it works for almost all laws and matters existing on the material plane and not just for transmuting one matter into another. Most alchemists also manipulated the energies intervening in an object at a given moment to move and attack it.
The easiest example to see was Solf J Kimblee, the Crimson Alchemist. His conflicting tattoos create an unstable energy imbalance in any matter he touches, creating a violent explosion.
And that included almost anything that could be calculated and manipulated. Since alchemy can reshape molecules, and even atoms, to change one substance into another, it was incredibly easy to know where to start manipulating electrons, making it possible to manipulate magnetic fields and charged particles with moving electrons.
Espers' calculating abilities were nearly impossible to replicate. I could replicate everything Misaka could do, but it took increasing my mental speed hundreds of times over to perform all the necessary calculations.
All I had to do was generate electricity and lightning with my magic, something I couldn't do with my everyday alchemy, and start manipulating everything from there. Once I learned that the Railgun was possibly Mikoto's easiest ability to use, it was practically the same calculations every time with small variables.
And that wasn't all. Most of ToAru's esper powers could be recreated through alchemy. I could replicate most of Accelerator's feats from the beginning of the series, but I didn't know if telling the truth wasn't exactly vector manipulation anymore, but energy manipulation.
On the other hand, there were a few exceptions that were truly impossible to replicate. The first was the Dark Matter of Kakine Teitoku. This ability allowed the creation of matter with unknown physics. It is impossible to replicate through alchemy.
And second, the teleporters were impossible to replicate. While I knew exactly how the mechanics worked, I couldn't replicate them. Knowing that teleportation works by locating an object's position in the eleventh dimension and then moving it from there was useless. I didn't know how to perform calculations in eleven dimensions.
And the Philosopher's Stone didn't work either. It turns out that, after a few experiments, I concluded that while alchemy allows one to teleport to another "dimension" to meet The Truth, alchemy, in general, only works in the first three dimensions and can't work in higher dimensions.
It was a real shame. I wanted to be able to use Musujime 's Move Point Awaki. She had a chance of becoming a Level 5 esper if it weren't for her crippling fear and lack of computing power available to harness her full power. It's such a shame.
Returning to the fight, I saw Riser look at me, confused, not knowing what had happened. I just smiled. I clapped my hands and stamped my foot on the ground. Once again, the ground shook, shattering the entire surface into tons of iron sand.
"Sand?" Riser asked, frowning. I flexed my tattoo again and began manipulating the iron sand around me. I slowly began to fly, and large amounts of iron began to rise. Large whips emerged from the ground and began to vibrate violently and quickly began whipping at Riser.
Riser quickly dodged them and began throwing fireballs at all the whips he found. Even so, he calculated quickly, and the iron sand began to join together again in the form of a whip and continued to attack Riser relentlessly.
The great thing about alchemical tattoos was that they could be used constantly and instantly. So I could maintain complete control at all times. Unfortunately, it still required contact, so a small current ran from my left arm to the ground and spread throughout the iron sand as a magnetic current.
As some whips attacked Riser, I manipulated the iron sand, clapped my hands, and quickly, a huge steel sphere half my size was in front of me. I clenched my left fist and hit the steel ball, creating a huge railgun. Riser looked at me in disbelief as he dodged the tentacles but moved quickly.
Riser's reaction speed was enough to dodge the massive railgun, but a portal opened behind Riser and blasted him back again. Riser clicked his tongue and tried to dodge out of the way. Only to be firmly caught by a whip of iron sand that shot out of a portal next to his foot.
The massive Railgun obliterated Riser's lower half and continued for hundreds of meters before completely disintegrating. I dropped all the iron sand I was handling and smiled slightly. I had some things to polish, but it was a successful experiment.
For my next test, I swallowed a small Philosopher's Stone. It wasn't necessary, but it was annoying to carry around when trying to fight. I held out my hand and two of my fingers like a gun.
A small, glowing green light appeared before my fingers, and I fired. The laser moved as fast as lightning and hit Riser, destroying half of his body. I smiled widely, another success.
Mugino's ability from Shizuri de To aru Majutsu no Index. It uses electrons to force them into an ambiguous state where they are neither particles nor waves. This causes an abnormal state where they are 'stuck and stopped,' creating the effect of a seemingly solid object, a false 'wall.' By pushing those electrons in one direction at high speed, they create a powerful beam of destruction that disintegrates everything in its path by producing enormous amounts of heat and massive friction. Basically, it's a high-speed particle wave cannon.
As I said, alchemy could control electrons, but sadly, I hadn't been able to manage to do the calculations for Meltdowner. The calculations necessary to replicate it were impossible for me at the moment; even stacking and multiplying my mental speed as much as I could failed to complete them.
Academy City was able to replicate it through FIVE_Over Model case "MELTDOWNER", and he'd needed to use quantum computers to achieve it. Something I definitely couldn't do.
But skipping the entire calculation stage and cheating with the Philosopher's Stone? I could do that. And it was a resounding success.
Meltdowner was ridiculous; the particle cannon's speed was between 90 and 99% of the speed of light, making it very difficult, if not impossible, to dodge. The only problem was that it consumed a Philosopher's Stone with only a few souls inside it too quickly.
Still, that was no reason not to have fun. I smiled widely and began firing Meltdowners in Riser's direction. Riser was fast, and his dodging reactions were even faster, but dodging half a dozen shots that were almost approaching the speed of light was challenging.
His body was being pierced by several of them at once, And I started using my portals. Since they were just solid "electrons" moving at high speed, they could enter my portals and bombard Riser from all angles without any problem.
Riser was having trouble dodging the lasers. Despite being a High-Class Devil, he had great speed, strength, strong fire and wind generation, and regeneration. Riser didn't have anything else. He was easily overwhelmed at this point; his only form of attack was his fire.
He was a one-trick pony, so it was almost excessive to use Meltdowner against him. But I still had a few things to try. I took out a coin. This one was different from the ones used for the Railguns.
This coin was special. On one side was a pentagram. A pentagram that matched the pentagram on my left shoulder, with small circles at each point bearing a symbol I easily recognized, the symbol of ancient magic, the same symbol that was on the other side of the coin. The coin emanated ancient magic; I could hear the whispers it emitted.
I grabbed the coin and threw it into a portal. I could feel my shoulder tremble, and the piercings protruding from my skin began to emit the same murmurs of ancient magic. I saw the coin land near Riser and activated it.
The Meltdowner emerged from the coin and shot in Riser's direction. I smiled widely.
Alkahestry. The alchemy variant of the country of Xing in Fullmetal Alchemist. I had to buy Mei Chang to teach me Alkahestry, but it had been worth it.
Companions bought -2 [104]
Mei Chang(T4)[buy] from Fullmetal Alchemist
Alkahestry focuses on the constant flow of life energy that metaphorically flows throughout the world. I had to learn how to use and read the world's ley lines, and there was a good reason to learn how to use alkahestry.
Distance alchemy, that was precisely what I was looking for. Overcoming the great weakness of normal alchemy. And not just alchemy, Alkahestria could transmit any kind of magic I wanted from a distance as long as I was connected to it. My only problem was that I couldn't properly utilize ley lines and natural energy. We were in the underworld, which made everything very different.
Even if we were in the human world, I didn't want to mess with the ley lines there. If I did it in Japan, where a lot of the canon takes place, I'd have Yasaka on my tail almost immediately, and not in a good way. So it was a big no-no. That meant that I had to replace them and find another way.
And I came across ancient magic, which was almost similar to the world's natural energy. Ancient magic flowed everywhere, raw, uncontrolled magic filling all worlds, and they had their own ley lines. There were a few differences from natural energy, but it existed, and I had to make adjustments.
It turns out it was all in the kunai Mei Chang used, along with her pentagrams. Those kunai were designed to connect with the ley lines, and they didn't even have to be kunai. She only used kunai because they were more convenient in a fight. But anything that created a connection with the energy she was using was enough.
So, exchanging them for items imbued with ancient magic worked wonders.
I pulled out 20 coins with pentagrams on them and struck them with my magic-infused tail. The coins vibrated one by one, growing into a small, winged metal woman, which I held and fused with the coin. I could still feel the connection, so I created a portal, and all the Schiavos entered it.
Once again, I began peppering Riser. He'd been snarling for a while, never taking a break. But to my surprise, he was improving by leaps and bounds, reacting faster and faster. Now, I used my Schiavos to move around the battlefield without using my portals.
Was it necessary? Absolutely not. I just wanted to test how Alkahestry worked. It was fascinating. You can use magic from a distance, not just hundreds of meters away. I'm sure I could place an ancient magic pentagram thousands of kilometers away and still be able to use it as if it were right next to the other circle.
I had to test if it was usable from the underworld to the human world or vice versa, but it was incredible.
Riser seemed to grow tired of being bombarded by laser beams and used his magic. To my surprise, he began to create a wind tornado around him. The Schiavos coins couldn't resist the force and were swept away by the wind. Riser flexed the tornado and began to shrink it until he had a small orb with all the coins in front of him.
He lit a hellfire inside the spinning orb of wind, melting the Schiavos immediately. I almost pouted.
Now, it was time for the final stretch of this exhibition fight. Because that's what it had been until now. Me showing off and displaying the full extent of my power. It was practically the only universal language the devils knew how to speak, and it was necessary if I wanted to move forward with the rest of my plans.
It was time to place the first of my last two cards on the table. I clapped my hands once more and hit the ground. I began to push my alchemy to the limit. Not because the transmutation I wanted to achieve was difficult, but because the range I needed to use was too wide.
The iron sand turned back into earth, and the earth began to break and create fissures at great speed. They began to spread for hundreds of meters, and straight lines were marked on the ground before enveloping everything in a huge transmutation circle.
Riser was terribly annoyed as he descended in front of me. He didn't need to wait for me, but I guess he either knew this was a show or he was genuinely curious about what I was about to do. Maybe he was just arrogant enough to be unafraid of anything I could accomplish. I was betting it was the latter.
I could tell he was tired, and he was sweating slightly. Those regeneration rates pushed him to his limit, but it appeared he could go for several more rounds.
Still, I wasn't worried. I created some portals, took five small nails from my inventory, and dropped them through them. When they crossed the portals, I cast an enchantment to return them to their actual size. Five pillars, dozens of meters tall, fell around us.
"A pentagram?" Riser's eyes widened as he realized what I was doing. And that was exactly what it was: a massive pentagram. It has five pillars attached to it, each at a point of the star.
Alkahestry in the area. This didn't make my alchemy stronger in any way. But it did allow me to manipulate everything within the circle alchemically. Without sounding arrogant, I was the closest thing to a god within the pentagram's area.
I flexed the tattoos on my palm, and Riser's arm froze. Riser's eyes opened wide, and his arm ignited with fire, melting the ice. A Meltdowner appeared on the side of Riser's head and pierced through it. I could feel the Philosopher's Stone finishing its consumption within me; really, the Meltdowner was consuming too much. Riser began to regenerate.
I chuckled as I raised my left arm, the last tattoo I had integrated. It's an easily recognizable tattoo. Scar's deconstruction tattoo from Full Metal Alchemist. I flexed the alchemy of my tattoo and sent it through the Alkahestry pentagram and disintegrated Riser's leg.
"W-what did you do?" Riser asked, confused as his leg regenerated. This time, I disintegrated his right arm. Riser regenerated once more and immediately flew into the sky. I created a portal in front of him, and Riser crashed into the ground when the portal sent him down.
I flexed the disintegration again, and Riser's other arm exploded. Riser regenerated, and this time, I disintegrated Riser's entire body. I prepared to call Enid, but to my relief, Riser began to regenerate even though most of his body had been disintegrated. Really, the Phenex were practically immortal.
But on the other hand, disintegrating matter with only intention within a limited area was terrifying.
And that was the reason I was testing it against Riser in public with the other devils watching. The city I was about to create would be inside a massive Alkahestry pentagram. Any invader who tried to break in? Disintegrated immediately. That was the message Ie was trying to send.
"It's time to end this," I said simply.
"So you're giving up?" Riser grunted, finally regenerating, slightly sweaty from the exertion. I laughed lightly. I had to give him credit; I thought he'd give up a while ago.
"I am the bone of my sword
Steel is my body and fire is my blood
"I have created over a thousand blades"
Demonic power gushed out of my body. My stars began to spread all over my body, including my tattooed arms. I reached out and grabbed the scythe that materialized from my Reality Marble.
"Harpe," I muttered softly, but my voice echoed throughout the pocket dimension. I could see Riser begin to tremble as he stared palely at the weapon in my hands. "I'll ask you. Are you surrendering, Riser?" I asked with a smile. Riser gritted his teeth.
"Don't even dream about it." Riser growled, and I sighed. I simply lifted Harpe over my head and lowered it slowly, a portal was created and enveloped Harpe's blade and appeared behind Riser. The tip of the blade pierced Riser's shoulder, making him scream in pain.
I pulled Harpe back, and I could see Riser clutching his injured shoulder as he tried to heal it with his fire. He looked almost desperate as he held his wound.
"Harpe, the immortal-slaying scythe. It inflicts wounds that can only be healed through natural healing. I ask again, are you surrendering?" I asked once more while looking at him seriously. Riser gritted his teeth.
"of course n-"
"He surrenders." Lord Phenex said, appearing between us.
"Father!" Riser tried to say. Lord Phenex was glaring at me—in fact, he was glaring at Harpe, almost with hatred. I suppose it was to be expected. Harpe nullified the strongest point that made the Phenex nearly unbeatable.
"Good fight, Lady Prince. Ravel will be fine in your care." Lord Phenex said, looking directly at me. I smiled slightly and made Harpe disappear.
"I'll make sure of that," I said with a smile. I guess that's how the exhibition fight ends. Now, to face all the devils once more. I sighed tiredly.
Author's Notes: Well, these chapters were long, especially chapter 102. Turns out writing the fight first, then the previous chapter, is definitely not recommended. I got too caught up in writing it, and it got way too long before I realized it. Still, I decided to leave them that way. As always, next week's chapters are expected to be normal length!
Editor's Notes: Our dear Author Kami, we welcome you to get carried away as much as you wish. By your divine will, we shall enjoy every word. Thank you for your hard work.
Author's Notes: ♥❤❤!