In Academy City, the Paradise Project begins.

Page 19

Higashino frowned, somewhat puzzled.

Mutation! And an extremely dangerous mutation! The energy fluctuations emanating from the fantasy beast were filled with rage and chaos.

But this is definitely not the strength that the fantasy beasts in the original work should have.

"Tears!"

Higashino's voice was firm and decisive, carrying an unquestionable tone of command.

"Take Misaka-san to a safe place!"

He made a quick decision.

"I'm going to find Haru and Kuroko!"

Mikoto suddenly reached out and grabbed his wrist: "Wait!"

Mikoto tried to stop them. However, the instant their skin touched, Mikoto unconsciously held her breath, and her cheeks flushed red again.

It's that feeling again... every time I run into a teacher...

This familiar yet unfamiliar electric sensation made her heart flutter.

Looking at Mikoto's suddenly flushed cheeks and the complex emotions flickering in her eyes, Higashino realized that his previous changes in perception might have had a deeper impact on her.

But right now, every second is a matter of life and death! This is not the time to continue thinking about those issues!

"Believe me."

He gently but firmly broke free from Mikoto's hand, and when he turned to Ruiko, his eyes softened instantly.

"Take care of her."

Ruiko bit her lower lip hard, her eyes filled with worry, but she still nodded emphatically: "Senior...please be careful!"

Mikoto wanted to say something, but Higashino's figure had already shot out like an arrow, disappearing into the night bathed in purple light.

The night wind carried the acrid smell of burning flesh, and the power within him surged and roared like a ignited furnace, boiling with unprecedented intensity. This time, it wasn't a gradual infiltration, but a full-blown explosion!

"teacher--!"

Mikoto's urgent shouts, louder than ever before, came from behind, piercing through the howling night wind.

"We absolutely must... bring early spring back!!!"

Higashino didn't turn around. He simply raised his right hand high, making a clear "OK" sign behind his back, and then disappeared into the dark alley leading to the 23rd school district.

In the distance, the roar of the fantastical beast shook the night sky like the beating of war drums, while only one incredibly clear thought burned within his mind:

Although I don't want to play the kind of hero who appears at the end of a TV series.

But Chu Chun Shiri, you absolutely have to be alright!

Chapter 24 Railgun Max Output!

The street rushed past Higashino Yu's feet. The air was thick with the smell of burning, and the distant roar of a fantastical beast made the ground tremble slightly.

Higashino's temples throbbed; the aftereffects of overusing his ability were beginning to show. After all, he had used his ability a little more frequently since last night, and although he had rested, he had not fully recovered.

But he didn't care about that.

However, this is a bit tricky! To eliminate the Fantasy Beast, it must first be weakened. Its current power level is still too low to completely erase its existence.

As he turned the last street corner, the sight before him made him gasp: a massive purple energy body hovered in mid-air, its twisted torso covered with countless groaning, agonizing faces, densely packed and nauseating.

Unlike the original story, this fantasy beast is nearly three times its original size.

"This feeling is..."

Cognitive anchors! The fantasy beast has cognitive anchors that he has placed on it, but he has no memory of ever using them.

Wait, this feeling is... from those three thugs before! Those three thugs we intercepted before, they probably used the Illusionary Hand recently, and after falling into a coma, they formed an inexplicable link with the Illusionary Beast?

Higashino wasn't sure, but it seemed that the fantasy beasts becoming stronger really was related to him? But there was no time to think about such things anymore.

Below her, Shirai Kuroko was struggling to teleport the unconscious Hatsuharu across short distances, each teleportation accompanied by painful gasps and violent ripples in the space. Her right leg was torn, her sock stained with blood. Further away, Kiyama Harumi knelt on the ground, clutching her head, letting out a silent roar, seemingly consumed by despair.

"Kuroko!"

Higashino shouted, simultaneously pushing his ability to its limit. A "cognitive domain" with a radius of twenty meters instantly expanded, causing violent water-like ripples in the air, enveloping Kuroko and Hatsuharu within it.

Hearing the sound, Kuroko turned her head, but the sharp pain in her right leg slowed her movements by a fraction of a second. A thick, dark purple tentacle, composed entirely of negative emotion and crackling with black lightning, from the fantastical beast was about to slice her in half—

"Attack is prohibited here!"

The moment Higashino's voice rang out, the tentacles of the fantastic beast twisted and disintegrated strangely half a meter away from Kuroko, as if they had crashed into an absolutely inviolable barrier. The black lightning contained within exploded into a few sparks in vain before dissipating.

Seizing this critical opportunity, Kuroko gritted her teeth and activated her ability again, teleporting with Hatsuharu to Higashino's side: "Doctor?! Hatsuharu, she..."

Sweat mixed with blood slid down her cheeks, dripping onto her pale face in early spring.

Higashino quickly assessed Chuchun's condition: "She's unconscious from the shock, but there are no fatal injuries. She's out of danger for now!"

He looked up, his gaze fixed on the fantastical beast that was gathering its strength. "Take her and get out of here immediately!"

Kuroko gritted her teeth and nodded, but then suddenly grabbed Higashino's arm: "No! Onee-sama is still here..."

Before she could finish speaking, a dazzling blue-white bolt of lightning tore through the dimly lit street. Misaka Mikoto appeared at the street corner, dragging her injured right leg, with Saten Ruiko supporting her with all her might; both of their faces were filled with determination.

"Idiots! What are you doing here!"

Higashino and Kuroko shouted at the same time.

The fantastical beast seemed to be drawn to Mikoto's powerful Am force field, emitting an even more piercing shriek mixed with countless human screams. Several human faces on its massive body simultaneously opened their "mouths," and an invisible mental shockwave swept towards Mikoto and Ruiko like a tsunami!

Beware of psychological attacks!

Higashino's pupils contracted; the attack range was too large, and his domain could not completely cover it!

Mikoto's face turned pale. Enduring the sharp, needle-like pain in her head, she pushed Ruiko to a safe area and slapped the ground with both hands, shouting, "Drink!"

A thick whip of iron sand whipped up a large amount of metal debris from the ground, forming a distorted barrier in front of her. The mental shockwave struck the iron sand barrier, producing a teeth-grinding scraping sound. The barrier shook violently, and iron sand fell down in a shower. Mikoto groaned, a trickle of blood spilling from the corner of her mouth, clearly indicating that she had barely managed to withstand the attack.

Tears staggered a few steps after being pushed. Although she avoided the direct impact, the aftershock still made her dizzy and almost unable to stand.

Seeing that the mental attack had failed, the fantastical beast roared in anger. Several dark purple tentacles, crackling with black lightning, launched an attack from different angles, lashing out at Mikoto and Ruiko, who had just regained their footing! Where the tentacles swept, deep furrows were plowed into the ground, and the wreckage of cars on the roadside was easily torn up and shredded.

"Get down!"

With a roar, Higashino expanded his domain, instantly bringing Mikoto and Ruiko under his protection. A sharp pain shot through his brain like an electric current, and his vision began to darken at the edges.

Time seemed to stretch out. Higashino saw Ruiko's wide, terrified eyes, saw Mikoto's posture as she gathered electricity again to fight back despite her own injuries, and saw the bulging veins on his outstretched arm from excessive force and the eerie blue light emanating from beneath his skin.

"Harm is prohibited here! Anyone who harms this place will be exterminated!"

The world seemed to have been paused. All the approaching tentacles abruptly stopped a meter away from the two, the negative energy and black lightning that constituted them disintegrating and dissipating silently from their tips as if erased by an eraser, turning into purple dust that drifted across the sky. The entire process was eerily silent, a stark contrast to the ferocious roars of the fantastical beasts.

Mikoto's pupils dilated suddenly; she had never seen such a bizarre and powerful way of using abilities. This was no longer a simple defense or destruction, but a direct alteration of the local rules of reality!

"Doctor... what is this...?"

Mikoto's voice was filled with shock and a hint of weakness.

Higashino had no time to explain; a splitting headache struck, making it extremely difficult to stay conscious. The tearing sensation from the overload of his abilities blurred his vision, but he had to persevere. The core of the Fantasy Beast was frantically absorbing the dissipating Am force field and negative emotions around it, regenerating at a rate far exceeding expectations.

"Misaka!"

He endured the excruciating pain in his head, his voice hoarse yet exceptionally clear: "Take advantage of its regeneration gap and bind its core with all your might! Use the electromagnetic cage!"

Mikoto instantly understood, her gaze becoming incredibly focused. She crossed her arms in front of her chest, and the electric currents dancing between her brown bangs ceased their violent movement, instead manifesting a strange, highly concentrated, spiral-shaped stable structure. Countless fine, silky blue-white currents erupted from her entire body, not as an attack, but as they intricately intertwined and swirled in the air, rapidly forming a massive, three-dimensional cage of pure electromagnetic force, precisely targeting the core area where the fantasy beast's energy was most concentrated!

Zizzi——!

The cage closed successfully! The massive body of the fantasy beast suddenly froze, letting out a painful howl. Black lightning lashed wildly against the cage walls, erupting with blinding light and dense sparks, but the cage, under Mikoto's focused control, fluctuated violently yet did not break.

"efficient!"

Tears welled up as she cried out in surprise and struggled to her feet.

But both Higashino and Mikoto knew this was only temporary. The core of the fantasy beast throbbed violently within the cage, each throbbing absorbing the dissipated energy from the surroundings. The electromagnetic lines of the cage were visibly stained with an ominous purplish-black. Large beads of sweat appeared on Mikoto's forehead; maintaining the cage consumed far more energy than she had imagined, and her legs trembled violently from overexertion.

"Higashino...it...it's absorbing my electricity...the regeneration speed is too fast..."

Mikoto's voice was tinged with panting and a hint of barely perceptible panic.

"Hold on! Give me three more seconds!"

A brilliant silver light flashed in Dongye's eyes. He bit his tongue hard, using the intense pain to stimulate his fading consciousness. For the third time, and currently at his limit, he forcibly expanded an even more powerful cognitive domain. This time, the goal was no longer defense or erasure, but amplification.

"At this moment, your abilities will surpass their limits!"

hum!

An indescribable force, seemingly originating from the very rules of the world, instantly flowed into Mikoto's body!

Her eyes widened suddenly, and she felt every cell in her body rejoice. The previously dim electric light at her fingertips suddenly surged! The brightness, intensity, and control precision increased several times over in an instant!

The electromagnetic cage, which was originally on the verge of collapse, instantly became incredibly solid. The purplish-black erosion was forcibly suppressed and purified, and the cage even began to shrink inward, squeezing the core space of the fantasy beast!

"This power...it's incredible..."

Mikoto felt the unprecedentedly powerful electromagnetic force surging within her body, and her confidence soared.

Higashino, however, was struck as if by a heavy blow; his body swayed violently, and he almost lost his balance. Forcibly amplifying the full output of a Level 5 character had backfired so severely that it nearly tore his mind apart.

"Kuroko!"

He turned to Shirai Kuroko and roared urgently, "Take Hatsuharu to Ruiko's place first. The commotion might get a bit big later."

Kuroko instantly understood his intention: "But you..."

"Go!"

Mikoto had already stood up, surrounded by leaping electric currents. "Leave this to us!"

Kuroko gritted his teeth and nodded, then disappeared on the spot while carrying Chuchun.

Higashino persevered, gazing at the fantastical beast struggling wildly in its cage, its body beginning to swell irregularly. Mikoto stood beside him, their shoulders gently brushing against each other amidst the intense energy fluctuations, conveying silent support.

"Higashino!"

Mikoto's voice carried an unprecedented firmness and a hint of resolve. "Tell me, what's next? The final blow?"

The electricity around her began to converge and compress wildly towards her right hand. A coin was magnetically suspended in front of her fingertip, emitting a high-frequency buzzing sound. The Railgun was charging up! The silver-blue electricity was more condensed than ever before, even carrying a hint of eerie blue luster amplified by Higashino's ability.

Higashino didn't answer immediately; he took a deep breath. He activated his ability field for the fourth time! This time, the range was extremely small, only covering himself, Mikoto, and the coin poised to be released at Mikoto's fingertip.

Deep within his pupils, a ghostly blue light shone like burning stars, simultaneously attempting to influence the cognitive anchors of the fantastical beast.

"Cognitive Restructuring: Denying the Existing Concept of the Goal!"

His voice was cold and calm, yet it seemed to contain the laws of the universe, directly impacting the very foundation of the fantastical beast's existence. Simultaneously, the cognitive anchors within the fantastical beast also came into play, creating an unexpected resonance with the abilities used by Higashino, amplifying their power.

The pulsation of the fantasy beast's core abruptly ceased! Countless spiderweb-like, penetrating silver cracks instantly appeared on the surface of the purple energy body that constituted its massive form! It resembled a piece of glass about to shatter. It emitted an extremely shrill scream, as if the cries of ten thousand souls were echoing, and its struggling strength abruptly weakened.

Mikoto, in a flash of inspiration, seized this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!

"Now! The final blow! Railgun—Max Output!"

boom--! ! ! !

Enveloped by Higashino's Azure Domain and imbued with the auxiliary concepts of "absolute penetration" and "existence erasure" at the cognitive level, the coin transformed into an unprecedented silver-blue torrent, far exceeding its usual diameter! The core of the torrent even carried a hint of destructive darkness! It tore through the air, emitting a deafening sonic boom, and pierced through the core of the fantasy beast, which was covered with silver cracks, with unparalleled precision!

There was no explosion, only silent annihilation! The massive body of the fantasy beast, like a snow sculpture thrown into boiling water, began to disintegrate and dissipate silently from its pierced core, the purple energy and black lightning transforming into countless, rapidly fading specks of light. The countless human faces that made up its body let out their final sighs before returning to nothingness.

Kiyama Harumi knelt on the ground, as if the shackles binding her spirit had broken. Tears that had been building up for so long finally streamed down her face. Gazing at the fading light, she murmured, "It's... over... for the children..."

Higashino Yu's vision was completely swallowed by darkness. His last consciousness was falling backward into a warm and firm embrace that smelled faintly of sweat and shower gel, and hearing Ruiko's tearful cry: "Senpai! Misaka-senpai!"

Chapter 25: The Battleground Between Tolerant Physique and Heart-Shaped Red Beans

The smell of disinfectant mixed with a faint floral fragrance entered his nostrils, and Higashino Yu's consciousness gradually struggled to rise from the deep darkness.

He vaguely thought, "Why does this disinfectant smell so much better than when I was hospitalized last time?"

But... I'm in the hospital again. Less than a week after transmigrating, I've already been hospitalized twice. Am I some kind of "congenital hospitalization physique"? This frequency is just too outrageous...

If my fellow time-travelers knew, they would definitely mock me for having a resilient constitution.

"Higashino, are you awake?!"