“Huh?”
The sudden change made Misaka Mikoto freeze for a moment, and when she looked again, she saw the monster had grown even larger.
“That attack just now should have blown you to smithereens. You’re truly persistent.”
Not feeling any fear, Misaka Mikoto clicked her tongue in annoyance, electric arcs sparking from her head as she glared at the monster:
“Then I’ll just blast you to bits properly, and then I’ll have a good showdown with Su Rui!”
As Misaka Mikoto spoke, a massive electric arc appeared again, launching an attack at the monster.
Meanwhile, Su Rui, who had been teleported to another location by Shirai Kuroko, helplessly caught the girl who almost fell:
“Are you alright?”
“That’s what I should be asking!”
Before Su Rui could say anything more, Shirai Kuroko fiercely raised her head, glaring into Su Rui’s eyes, and began to scold him:
“You’re too careless! How can you get distracted before making sure the target is eliminated? What if I hadn’t noticed you were really hurt!”
The girl lectured Su Rui incessantly: “Also, Su Rui, your landing pose was indeed very cool, but you can’t disregard your own safety just to show off! It must have been uncomfortable landing in that position, right?”
Su Rui looked at the girl, who was still planning to continue speaking, and couldn’t help but laugh. Shirai Kuroko glared at him fiercely, still wanting to speak: “What are you laughing at? I’m talking to you! Mm?!”
Su Rui lowered his head and directly sealed Shirai Kuroko’s lips. However, considering Misaka Mikoto was still fighting, Su Rui didn’t indulge for too long, merely taking a shallow taste of the girl’s lips.
“Alright, I’m going to help your big sister deal with that monster. You also need to be careful.”
Su Rui smiled at Shirai Kuroko, whose cheeks were flushed and who was staring blankly at him, then turned and walked towards Misaka Mikoto and the monster that were fighting:
“Oh, and even if that attack hit me, it wouldn’t cause me any harm. But I’m happy that Kuroko cares about my safety.”
After speaking, Su Rui turned and charged towards the giant monster, leaving Shirai Kuroko blushing and stunned in place, then she stomped her foot and bit her lip fiercely:
“Damn it, I wasn’t worried about you at all!”
After cursing, the girl still couldn’t help but mumble softly: “Be careful, you! Without me, you’d definitely be beaten to a pulp, and you’re still being stubborn.”
And Su Rui, once again, arrived in front of the monster. The creature called Fantasy Beast had a triangular prism-shaped core. Su Rui had intentionally not shattered it just now, as ending the battle so simply would be a bit too monotonous.
Arriving next to Misaka Mikoto again, Su Rui used a longsword burning with golden flames to parry the Fantasy Beast’s attack, then said to Misaka Mikoto:
“I just saw that the monster has a core, shaped like a triangular prism. Shattering that should take care of this guy.”
“It was already shattered like that just now, and the core still wasn’t broken?”
“It’s probably because this thing can move its core.”
Su Rui glanced at Misaka Mikoto, casually intercepted a steel bar thrown by the monster, melted it in his hand into a meter-long steel nail, and handed it to Misaka Mikoto:
“You seem to be able to accelerate metal with electromagnetism? I’ll create an opportunity for you; you find the right moment to attack its core.”
“I, I understand.”
Seeing Su Rui casually forge such a large piece of metal, Misaka Mikoto’s eyes lit up, and she seemed to want to ask Su Rui something. However, considering the urgency of the current situation, she ultimately didn’t speak, but instead watched Su Rui wield the golden longsword, unleashing large swathes of golden flames, scorching everything in front of him.
As Su Rui’s longsword, burning with golden flames, cleaved through the Fantasy Beast’s body, continuously dissecting its form, Misaka Mikoto gradually saw the Fantasy Beast’s core, which was constantly controlling its own movement and dodging Su Rui’s attacks.
‘Its core doesn’t move that fast; as long as I predict its movement, I can hit it in one go.’
Misaka Mikoto, having made this judgment in her heart, immediately shouted to remind Su Rui: “Get out of the way! I’m going to attack it!”
As her warning words came out, electric arcs burst from her body. Misaka Mikoto, holding a meter-long steel nail in her hand, aimed it at the Fantasy Beast.
With the acceleration of electromagnetism, as Su Rui flashed aside to avoid the Fantasy Beast’s attack, the steel nail in Misaka Mikoto’s hand was launched, piercing through the Fantasy Beast at an extremely high speed and shattering its core.
Unlike in the anime, Tokiwadai's Railgun that Misaka Mikoto launched with a coin at that time only shattered the core after it had been driven out of the Fantasy Beast’s body.
This time, Su Rui saw the steel nail, not yet completely melted, fly out, accompanied by some fragments of the shattered core.
The core had already been shattered inside the monster’s body; the power of this Tokiwadai's Railgun had become even stronger.
“We took it down! Good job, Su Rui!”
Seeing the monster disappear into mist before her eyes, Misaka Mikoto was very happy. She turned to look at Su Rui, intending to celebrate with him, perhaps high-fiving or something, when she saw her junior, Kuroko, throw herself into Su Rui’s arms.
Su Rui steadily caught Shirai Kuroko as she threw herself into his arms, but the girl was still pushing him, looking up at him with a stubborn gaze.
“…” Su Rui, not understanding, fell backward with Shirai Kuroko’s push, and then the girl in his arms sat on his stomach, looking down at him from above.
“You… you actually had the ability to directly eliminate that monster, didn’t you?”
Shirai Kuroko secretly glanced at the stunned Misaka Mikoto in the distance, then leaned into Su Rui’s ear and asked with a sweet yet sharp tone:
“The reason you didn’t directly shatter that monster with a high-powered attack after discovering its weakness was to cooperate with your big sister and increase her favorability, right? You clearly could have just eliminated the monster with a golden sun like before.”
“I just don’t want to cause any more trouble or attract attention.”
Su Rui was still being stubborn, but Shirai Kuroko didn’t believe him at all. The girl huffed coquettishly, then nestled into Su Rui’s embrace, rubbing her cheek against his chest:
“I knew you were a playboy. It’s not just me; you want your big sister too, don’t you?”
“I…”
“Don’t speak, let me finish… I’m not saying I can’t accept it, but you, you playboy, even if you meet more people later, you must always care about me, understand?”
“I thought you’d be stubborn for a bit.”
“I wouldn’t do something so thankless.”
Shirai Kuroko snorted.