Kamijou's body was knocked to the ground like he had been hit by a shell. His momentum kept him rolling for a few meters. As he lay face down on the ground with his arms and legs roughly sticking at, he looked somewhat like a broken doll.
"Eh?"
The one most shocked by the scene was Mikoto, not Kamijou.
Mikoto did not know what Kamijou's power was, but in their fights up to that point, not one of her attacks had hit him. As his unknown power had negated her attacks again and again, her attacks had escalated and escalated to the point that she had seen him as an invincible existence that could easily handle any attack.
That was why she had fired that lightning spear.
She had thought that boy would easily negate an attack like that.
In a twisted way, she had trusted him.
"But…"
(This has to be a mistake…)
Mikoto looked at the boy who lay atop the bridge. Mikoto knew very well what would happen to a human who received an electrical current of one billion volts. That boy would not stand back up. She knew that. She had done it. She knew that.
And yet…
An instant later, she saw a movement coming from that boy who should never have stood up again.
Gritting his teeth, the boy mustered all his strength and stood back up.
"Why…?" Mikoto said.
Her lightning attack had not been negated by Kamijou's power. It had clearly struck him. Yet that boy stood back up without relying on any power and using only his own body.
And even after receiving that one billion volt attack, the boy did not clench his fist.
That was why Mikoto had muttered "why" in shock.
"…I don't know." Kamijou gritted his teeth. "I don't know why I don't want to fight. I don't have some other idea! But I still don't want to see you get hurt! Not even I know what I'm saying! But I can't help it! I don't want to turn my fist on you!"
"Wha-…?" Mikoto was at a loss for words.
The boy yelled as if he were about to cough up blood as he desperately kept his feet planted on the ground because his body seemed about to collapse.
"Even if there is no other way!! Even if I don't know what else to do! I still can't let that happen! Why do you have to die!? Why does anyone have to be killed!? I just can't understand!"
That boy surely realized that his words would not reach Mikoto.
Even so, he yelled.
He likely had no real reason.
He understood her reasons, but he still had something he refused to give up on.
"…"
For an instant, just an instant, Mikoto bit her lip.
A certain girl had once muttered "help" so that no one would hear her.
That boy had appeared as if in response to her cry.
She was sure that boy would be able to carry out any miracle if she cried for help.
"But I can't let that happen," Misaka Mikoto muttered under her breath.
It was her own fault that over 10,000 Sisters had been killed.
She absolutely could not allow herself to rely on others to save them.
"Shut up," Mikoto said moving her trembling lips. "I no longer have the right to have people say that to me. Even if there was some happy world that everyone wanted and in which everyone could smile, there would be no place for me there! So get out of the way!"
Sparks flew from Mikoto's bangs.
She was sure that the boy would either give up and clench his fist or move out of her way that time.
But he would not clench his fist no matter what.
At that point, she could no longer control the lightning spear as it pierced the boy's chest.
There was a tremendous roar.
But the boy did not die. He did not even collapse to the ground. He gathered all his strength in his legs and continued to stand in her way despite being so battered.
"…I'm sure…you've realized it, too. You can't save anyone this way. Even if you die…and save the 10,000 Sisters…do you really think they will thank you for saving them that way? Are the Sisters you want to save really that small minded?"
"Shut up! Just shut up and fight! I'm not the good person you think I am! Why can't you realize that even as I fire these one billion volt lightning spears into you!?"
As if to threaten him, Mikoto fired another electrical spear.
But Kamijou did not clench his right hand. The spear struck him directly in the chest.
Even so, Kamijou did not fall.
Even after receiving an attack like that, he would not fall.
"I have killed over 10,000 people! There is no reason for a villain like that to live in this world! Why are you standing up for a villain like that!?"
"You aren't a villain," Kamijou said.
Mikoto frowned doubtfully.
"Why am I still alive?"
"Eh?"
"You said these attacks had one billion volts. A normal human cannot survive voltages that high. Don't you find it odd? Or are you subconsciously holding back?"
"Holding back?" Mikoto had a bewildered look on her face. "Of course not. I was trying to kill you. I knew you weren't resisting…I knew you wouldn't resist…and yet…!"
"And yet you couldn't kill me."
"…"
Mikoto fell silent.
He was right. Normally, a human would not survive voltages as high as one billion volts.
But there was an exception.
For instance, commercial stun guns had voltages of two or three hundred thousand volts, but a human would not die from being hit by one. On the other hand, 100 volt household outlets could electrocute someone.
That was not caused by the voltage. It was due to the difference in amperage. The amount of electrical power was equal to the voltage multiplied by the amperage, so one would not be electrocuted even with extremely high voltages as long as the amperage was low.
In other words, Mikoto's lightning spears had extremely high voltage but extremely low amperage.
It was as if her attacks were just for show and did not possess any real substance like a fake sword for a play.
However, Mikoto had not intended to hold back. She had meant to fire her spears at full blast. That was why she merely stared at Kamijou without knowing why it had happened.
As she trembled like the frightened kitten, Kamijou looked her in the eye.
"For you, saving the Sisters with your life may have been your final hope," the battered boy said. "But in the end, you are still the kind of good person who cannot kill the guy who is trying to steal that final remaining hope from you."
As he spoke, he seemed completely exhausted but he also smiled happily.
"Ah…uuh…" Mikoto muttered in confusion as she looked at Kamijou.
Her eyes wavered like a small child who was lost.
Misaka Mikoto did not want Kamijou Touma to get any more involved in the experiment.
That was why she had so easily spoken of its repulsive contents when he had brought it up. She had wanted Kamijou to despair upon hearing about it. She had fired her electrical attacks on him despite his lack of resistance because she had wanted him to give up because he believed his words could not get through to her.
If Kamijou were to lose hope in her, he would not follow her and end up getting involved in that experiment that was nothing more than a spiral of death.
"Stop this."
Mikoto grabbed her head with both hands.
Even so, Kamijou had told her to stop. No matter what terrible things she said to him or how cruelly she attacked him, he did not care.
At that rate, the boy would get involved.
He would cross the point of no return and get involved with that abnormal world of spiraling blood and dirt.
"My death is the only way left to save those girls! So just accept it! If I die, I can save everyone! Isn't that wonderful!? If you agree, then get out of the way!"
Mikoto covered her ears with her hands and clenched her eyes shut as she yelled.
Even so, she felt like she could hear the boy saying he would not get out of the way.
"…You'll die," Mikoto said with her eyes still shut. "There's no saving you from here on! If you get hit by this next attack, there's no way you'll survive! So get out of the way if you don't want to die!"
The sound of the purple sparks flowing from Mikoto's body grew heavier and sharper.
As if some kind of weapon had been activated, the pitch rose and rose.
"…"
Even so, the boy did not move a single step.
It was as if he were saying that an attack like that was not a reason to fall back.
Mikoto bit her lip.
A bluff would not work on that boy.
If she did not actually fire a deadly attack, she could not get him to give up.
If he knew she was not bluffing, that boy would have to fight.
Even so, she heard him yelling that he would not get out of the way.
Mikoto finally could not stand it any longer and she yelled out.
A great flash seemed to pierce through her tightly closed eyelids. A great roar burst through her hands covering her ears. That was not a decorative high voltage attack that had low amperage. She fired a true lightning spear that was just like the real thing.
Amid that lightless and soundless flash, the sound of a direct hit resounded out like a fireworks factory exploding.
Even so, the boy did not clench his right hand even in the very end.
In the end, that was all there was to it.