Chapter 194: Invisible Surveillance

To be honest, Accelerator's ability is a bit overpowered.

However, through analyzing the 9,980 battles between the clones and Accelerator from memory, George managed to develop some countermeasures.

Accelerator can control the direction of all forms of energy through skin contact. Whether it's the kinetic energy of physical attacks or the brainwaves used to control thoughts, he can manipulate them with ease.

Even more terrifying is the defensive reflection generated by his ability.

Using his immense computational power, Accelerator can establish a reflective barrier on his skin. Anything harmful to him that falls within his perception—such as gas, nuclear radiation, or other attacks—is reflected automatically.

What’s more, this reflection remains active even if he loses consciousness, unless he disables it himself.

In theory, as long as this reflection is maintained, no one can harm his body.

But George noticed a limitation: Accelerator's reflection requires recognition of the energy system in question. If the energy system exceeds his understanding, the reflection becomes less effective.

Without understanding, he cannot compute and therefore cannot control it.

Analyzing the energy takes time, even for him.

Furthermore, while the reflection is powerful, it has limits. If the energy of an attack is overwhelmingly massive, George believed that Accelerator might struggle to reflect it.

For example, throwing an entire planet at Accelerator—his reflection couldn't possibly repel an entire planet.

Lastly, like all espers, Accelerator has the inherent weakness of a human body.

He will starve without food, die of thirst without water, and suffocate without oxygen.

While the latter two are unlikely in his current situation, the first is much easier to exploit.

George’s magic, originating from other worlds, should theoretically lie beyond Accelerator's comprehension.

Even if some straightforward magical attacks could be quickly analyzed and intercepted, subtler magical techniques might be far harder to defend against.

“Control over any energy—so this is vector manipulation?”

Hearing George's explanation, Misaka Mikoto frowned.

She had never met Accelerator but had heard of him—the strongest esper in Academy City. While she knew his ability was vector manipulation, she wasn't familiar with its precise mechanics.

“If that’s the case, my attacks might not be effective against him. I wonder if maxing out my power output would make a difference.”

“Don’t worry, I have a plan.”

George leaned close to Misaka Mikoto and began detailing his strategy.

Meanwhile, in a windowless building in Academy City's Seventh District, a man with white hair submerged in a red liquid containment device muttered to himself:

“What’s with this guy?”

This man was none other than Aleister Crowley, the creator of Academy City and the greatest magician of the 20th century. His current alias masked his true identity.

Using the Nano-Machine Air Circuits that monitored the entire city, Aleister had already been informed of Clone No. 9981’s anomaly by the director of the Level 6 Shift Project.

Initially, he hadn’t paid much attention.

Upgrading from Level 2 to Level 4, while unusual, wasn’t entirely unheard of.

Although ability levels were generally fixed, certain circumstances could occasionally break the rules.

However, the sudden disappearance of Clone No. 9981 from his monitoring systems had forced Aleister to take this matter seriously.

While an esper’s abilities could potentially evolve, it was absolutely impossible for them to simultaneously manifest two distinct powers.

Clone No. 9981 inherited the electromagnetic abilities of the original Misaka Mikoto, not an invisibility-based power.

Due to this newfound invisibility, the Nano-Machine Air Circuits couldn’t locate Clone No. 9981 until she reappeared on a footbridge, interacting with the original Misaka Mikoto.

“Observe for now. Send in the Dark Side units to capture her later.”

The Level 6 Shift Project wasn’t Aleister’s ultimate goal. Even the previous Mass Production Esper Plan served only as a cover for his true objectives.

These so-called plans were meant to mislead the magical community, allowing him to discreetly deploy the mass-produced Misaka clones across the globe.

His ultimate aim was to expand the once localized "Imaginary Number District" of Academy City into a worldwide construct.

Once the incomplete "Imaginary Number District: Five Elements System" was fully operational, it would trigger the "Artificial Heaven." This new “realm” would destabilize all magical powers, leading to the self-destruction of every magician.

Clone No. 9981’s anomaly might cause deviations in his plan. Thus, if she survived her encounter with Accelerator, Aleister decided he would observe her for a while before dispatching Dark Side units to capture her for research.

In his view, even if Clone No. 9981, a Level 4, teamed up with the original Misaka Mikoto, a Level 5, they stood no chance against Accelerator.

“Will this really work?”

Misaka Mikoto looked at George in surprise.

George’s plan was simple: when Accelerator showed up, she would engage him in a full-force battle, drawing his attention as much as possible.

“Trust me. I’ll handle the rest.”

Once Misaka Mikoto had distracted Accelerator, George planned to use his invisibility to approach him undetected and cast the Imperius Curse to temporarily control him, forcing him to disable his reflective barrier.

Without his defensive reflection, Accelerator was just an ordinary human—easily dealt with.

Alternatively, George could use the Killing Curse, which bypassed all defenses, and potentially finish the job.

If Accelerator’s analytical abilities were truly exceptional and he managed to counter George’s magic, they would retreat.

George could pull Misaka Mikoto and Clone No. 9981 into the Mirror Dimension. Even if Accelerator destroyed the entire Academy City, he’d never find them.

“All right. But if I can defeat him head-on, the rest of the plan won’t be necessary.”

Though she understood Accelerator’s abilities countered hers, Misaka Mikoto was eager to test her strength against him.

George nodded. If Misaka Mikoto could defeat Accelerator outright, that would be ideal—he was curious to witness the true power of a Level 5 esper like her.

One could never predict such outcomes.

“Strange… that feeling of being watched again.”

After finalizing the plan with Misaka Mikoto, George frowned.

“Are the surveillance systems in these labs really that advanced?”