Chapter 3: Item
The green beam of light struck almost instantly, faster than imagination.
Boom!
The green light, mixed with sparks, illuminated the night sky. The rooftop where Su Xiao stood was blasted into a crater several meters in diameter. The steel bars and cement at the crater's edge were scorched red, showing just how high the temperature of that green beam was.
A woman with a slender figure, wearing a purple dress, stood in a small alley dozens of meters away. She had wavy brown hair and appeared to be in her twenties. She yawned, seemingly finding this mission a bit boring.
"Solved. This job was really simple."
The woman was named Mugino Shizuri, a Level 5 esper, ranked fourth among the espers in Academy City. Her ability was Meltdowner. She was currently a member of Item. Item was a dark-side organization under the Academy City Board of Directors, mainly responsible for suppressing riots, assassinations, cleaning up foreign intruders, and other shady work.
This mission was to clean up a foreign intruder, meaning capturing or killing Su Xiao. Mugino Shizuri chose to 'kill' him directly. She had a sweet appearance but was exceptionally cruel.
Beside Mugino Shizuri stood two other girls. One wore an orange short-sleeved shirt with a hood. This girl had her hands in her pockets and her hood up. Due to being in a dark alley and the hood's cover, her face was unclear, but judging by her height, she was young. Middle school student? Elementary school student was also possible.
As for the other, she had wavy golden hair, wore a black baseball cap, and a white short skirt. Judging by her age, she was probably a high schooler.
The one in the hood was Item member Kinuhata Saiai, and the one with wavy golden hair was Frenda Seivelun. Both were Item members.
Item had a characteristic: five members, all female, with four being espers.
The three Item members in the alley all wore wireless earbuds. Item's fourth member was similar to a perception type, named Takitsubo Rikou. After taking drugs, her perception range was absurdly large, but her ability had a flaw: she could only perceive espers. She located enemies by sensing the AIM fields of other espers. AIM fields were unique to espers.
However, after Takitsubo Rikou took drugs, her ability was greatly enhanced. Within a certain distance, even if the enemy wasn't an esper, she could locate them through other nearby AIM fields.
"Still alive."
A drowsy voice came through Mugino Shizuri's earbud. Takitsubo Rikou sounded like she might fall asleep at any moment.
"Not dead?"
Mugino Shizuri was a bit surprised. She was sure the enemy had taken a direct hit from her beam cannon. Based on the position, the beam should have hit his head.
On the rooftop across the street, the flames dissipated. A pale blue energy shield, full of cracks, slowly dispersed into the air. It was a 200-point strength energy shield, shattered in one hit.
"Takitsubo, where's the enemy?"
Mugino Shizuri pressed her finger to her earbud, quickly scanning the surroundings.
"He's... above you."
As soon as she spoke, a crisp sound of a blade rang out.
Clang!
A pale blue blade arc slashed down from high above, extremely fast, heading straight for Mugino Shizuri.
At the same time, a small figure leaped up. It was Kinuhata Saiai, wearing the hood. Her hands were clasped together as she met the blade arc head-on.
Kinuhata Saiai's slender arms contacted the blade arc. With a crack, a layer of invisible armor shattered, and the blade arc dissipated.
Kinuhata Saiai was a Level 4 esper. Her ability was Nitrogen Armor, allowing her to form a layer of invisible nitrogen armor, a few centimeters thick, around her body. It could be used for both defense and attack. Don't let her elementary schooler physique fool you; she was essentially a humanoid Gundam. Working for Item had turned this young girl into a killing machine.
As the nitrogen armor shattered, Kinuhata Saiai pulled a metal canister from her waist and quickly pulled the ring. With a hiss, the liquid nitrogen inside sprayed out, and Kinuhata Saiai formed a thicker nitrogen armor.
"What's going on?"
The golden-haired girl, Frenda Seivelun, looked confused. Her esper ability was unknown, and she relied on explosives in combat. However, she didn't carry a backpack or anything; the bombs were likely stored within her ability.
Whoosh.
A man in a black trench coat landed not far in front of the three girls. As soon as he landed, a faint red wave of aura spread out, sweeping over Mugino Shizuri and the others.
Mugino Shizuri's brown hair was blown back. At that moment, her pupils contracted sharply, her heartbeat quickened, and her muscles instinctively relaxed.
Just as Mugino Shizuri was stunned, a dazzling blade light flashed before her eyes!
Almost instinctively, Mugino Shizuri formed a green light barrier in front of her. This was her Meltdowner ability. The green barrier possessed properties like high temperature, corrosion, and decomposition.
A long blade stopped abruptly in front of the green light barrier, less than 30 centimeters from Mugino Shizuri's throat.
Su Xiao, holding the Dragon-Slaying Flash, halted his slash. Although the Dragon-Slaying Flash could withstand the Meltdowner ability, its durability would drop significantly. This world had just begun; if the Dragon-Slaying Flash was severely damaged, the rest of the fight would be impossible.
Su Xiao recognized Mugino Shizuri. She was ranked fourth among the espers. Of course, this fourth place was official data and not entirely reliable.
Su Xiao leaped backward, sizing up the three in front of him.
After his initial skirmish with the espers, Su Xiao noted a few things. First, the espers' attack power was very strong, and their attacks came without warning. He couldn't sense any killing intent, hostility, or anything. Of course, this might be related to Mugino Shizuri's ability.
Second, the espers' perception was very sharp, at least their dynamic vision was extremely strong. This might be a natural ability developed from long-term esper development, putting the brain under high load.
Third, the espers' physical constitution wasn't too weak. It varied depending on their ability. Su Xiao had just used the active ability Aura Release, which dealt 100 points + (his own willpower × 5) damage, ignoring armor/magic resistance/shields/equipment defense.
Among the three enemies, the golden-haired girl, Frenda Seivelun, was coughing up blood profusely. This already indicated one thing: espers weren't so easy to kill. If their physical constitution was only at an ordinary person's level, they would have been one-shot by the Aura Release damage.
There were several possibilities. The strength of an esper might increase their health points or reduce damage to a certain extent. Su Xiao was more inclined to believe it increased health points.
If espers were just a bunch of glass cannons, then this world's difficulty would definitely not be at the third rank.
After the initial exchange, Su Xiao had gathered a lot of information. As for their purpose, he could guess it with high accuracy. It was most likely sent by Aleister Crowley.
In the alley, Mugino Shizuri extended both hands forward, forming a green barrier in front of her, sealing off the alley. When the green barrier touched the walls, there were clear signs of melting and decomposition.
"This guy is very wrong. Is this an esper ability? He's like a superhuman!"
Blood trickled from the corner of Mugino Shizuri's mouth. Her legs were trembling. Her instincts seemed to be telling her: run, get out of here quickly.