Chapter 37: The new religion

-with Mukuro and Valerie-

"... Ano... Mukuro-san"

Valerie called out as both of them casually walked down the bustling streets of Academy City.

"Yes?"

"... We aren't making any progress with our quest..."

"Muku knows... but we have no choice, for thy people of this dimension is at peace"

Mukuro says before turning her head back to look at Misaka, along with Kuroko following them from behind.

"We cannot move freely for those gents art at each moment following us from behind"

"Is she still suspicious of us?" 

"Muku think not"

"So why is she following us?"

"Muku know not"

Mukuro answered as she placed her sight on the road in front of them, while looking around for anything that might help them with their quest.

"Has thee had tried talking to the souls of the deceased?"

"Hmm... the souls in this city is quite... strange"

Valerie says while holding her chin in contemplation, trying to recall any information that she received from speaking with the souls inside the city.

"Most of the souls are... kind of similar to how Mikoto-san looks but... they feel artificial, I know what a natural soul should feel and act like but they're different, their souls are like fragmented copies of Mikoto-san"

"Artificial you say?"

"Yes, they look and feel unnatural, most importantly their soul is distorted so most of them can't perform any of the racial skill of a natural soul"

"What has thee find about them?"

"They said something about the 'Misaka Sisters' inside the laboratories around the Academy City... They're quite easy to juice information from because of they're way of speech"

Valerie says as she tries to remember one line told to her by one of the souls of the Misaka Sisters.

"You can see Misaka?, ask Misaka, shocked at the ability of the little girl in front of her"

She repeated the soul's words causing Mukuro to look at her weirdly as she knows no one that would ever speak that way.

"Should we investigate it?"

Asks Valerie as she stopped in her tracks before looking at the rabbit ear like ribbons on top of Mukuro's head.

"Why has thee stared at thy ribbon?"

"... Nothing"

"Would thee like one as well?"

Mukuro says before casually taking out an identical ribbon and hair extensions from a wormhole, ignoring the shocked bystanders close watching her casual movements with wide eyes.

"T-Thank you, should we get back to the topic from before?"

Valerie shyly asked as Mukuro tied her soft blond hair into a Odango with the ribbon on her hand, before adding the hair extensions on her, similar to her current hairstyle.

"We cannot for it will only bring suspicions to thy side"

"... You're right, then what should we do?"

She asks in anxiety before a massive explosion of black flames blew the entire building beside them, causing several debris and large chunks of concrete to fall down on the civilians.

"Michael"

Mukuro says as a small key appeared on her right hand while both of them casually walked through without minding the falling building above them.

"[Jerez]"

She casted causing the building and debris falling down above to disintegrate into thin air.

"Muku has mistaken, this dimension is not as peaceful as Muku thinks it is"

She says before both of them turned their head to look at source of the large explosion and found a 15 year old black haired woman wearing a black and red Obi while flying above the air as 8 bat like wings were fluttering behind her back, allowing her to fly in the air.

"That is..." 

Mukuro muttered as she found the figure closely identical to the horny cat from their home.

"... It's Kuroka"

"Who's the gent opposite her?"

Mukuro asked while staring at the white haired teenager with a pair of black wings attached to his back, facing Kuroka with a large grin on his face.

"That must be... Accelerator? Wait... If Kuroka is here then he must be here too"

"Not really"

A monotone voice says as a little girl with long blond hair wearing a black strap outfit appeared in front of them with a deadpan expression visible on her face.

"Y-Yami!?"

"Lucias is not here, he split up some of the members and sent them towards the remaining pairs inside their dimension"

"But we suddenly got attacked by this 'espers' as soon as we step foot inside the city, which lead to this"

Yami explained while walking closer to their location.

"Should we kill this man?"

Mukuro asked while pointing at Accelerator, staring closely at Kuroka as he waited for her next attack.

"Kuroka can easily handle him"

Yami assured as Kuroka suddenly raised her hand above the air while scattering her mana, confusing him from her sudden actions for the residents of this dimension cannot feel nor see any type of mana.

"What is she doing?" (Valerie)

"[Planetary Time Domain]"

Kuroka shouted as the large burst of mana engulfed the entire city, freezing everything in place except Mukuro, Valerie, and Yami.

"... Wait, I think we're forgetting someone..."

Valerie muttered before turning her head to look at the Misaka who was frozen in place as a small  bronze coin is stuck in the air close to her right hand, aimed at the two figures above the sky

"Is she flipping a coin? At this time?" (Valerie)

"No... do you see the static electricity coming out of her arms?" (Yami)

"Is she... trying to attack them?" (Valerie)

"I think so it seems like she is using the coin as a medium of attack, but I don't think it's powerful enough to even harm the two of them since Kuroka can easily block the attack and the white haired kid can redirect the direction of her attack... I think, we currently have not much information about his ability"

Yami explained as Kuroka landed down on the ground close to their location, carrying the time frozen Accelerator in her hands.

"Long time so see nya!"

She happily says as she threw his body a few meter away from her before hugging both Mukuro and Valerie tight in her embrace.

"Kuroka... can you resume the time on the planet?" (Yami)

"Sure nya"

Kuroka answered before retracting her mana back to her body, resuming every event that froze in place. The debris crash to the ground as the water plashed on the civilians on the streets while Misaka fired the bronze coin on the air towards their previous location at incredible speed with the help of the parallel circuits she formed on her arm.

"What?"

She muttered in surprise as she hit nothing but empty air.

"We'll explain everything later, Mikoto-san"

Valerie smiled at her before pushing her back to dodge the sudden attack from Accelerator's black wings.

"Where's Kuroko?"

Valerie asked while searching for the brown haired girl who was clinging onto Mikoto from before.

"Eh? I sent her back to ask for help"

She answered unconsciously before turning her sight towards the 2 new girls behind Valerie.

"Who are they?"

"Oh, they're our allies so you don't have to worry, they won't unnecessarily kill others without any reason"

"A-Ally!? But they almost killed hundreds of people from her reckless attack!?"

She shouted while pointing at the casually smiling Kuroka.

"Please understand, she didn't mean to... they were attacked as soon as they entered the city"

Valerie patiently explained while occasionally glancing at the laughing accelerator standing opposite the 3 girls location.

"Attacked? Why would they suddenly get attacked without any reason!?"

"I... don't know, but I know for sure is that she is not a type of girl that will attack just because of petty reasons... Even though she's a bit simple-minded, she will never do anything that might cause major trouble for Lucias... I think"

Valerie tried to explain herself towards the angry Mikoto on the ground as sparks of electricity occasionally come out of her body.

"Just trust us, we'll explain everything later"

Valerie said while helping her stand up from the ground as Mukuro held out her hand, disintegrating Accelerator's every attack at ease before running towards him at full speed, while dodging his every attack before piercing Michael in his body, sealing all of his abilities  from use and his conciousness as he fell on the ground while Mukuro stepped on his head with a triumph expression on her face.

"This guy is so weak nya!"

"..." (Mikoto)

"Hmm... where should I begin?"

-back at the base-

[Gaia's Ring has nullified all status effect inflicted to the holder]

Riku, wearing a light green ring with a crystal in a shape of a gentle looking woman that he received as a gift from Lucias, walked in inside the office of the head of the department of Internal affairs where Sephie is found, stressed from all the paperwork coming from the 13 representative of each race.

"... We have a bit of a problem, Michaela"

Riku said as he stood inside of Sephie's office, facing as likes of documents covered her entire desks.

"... We need more personnel... It looks like the personnel of the Deviluke palace isn't enough to manage this Faction"

She muttered as she felt a massive headache from the hours of work she experience everyday just to stabilise the current power balance inside the faction.

"Michaela?"

Riku called out again to wake her up from her daze.

"Riku? What is it?"

"We have a problem..."

"Tell me what it is"

"Someone who is calling himself Rizevim Livan Lucifer is currently requesting an audience with Lucias"

"Just reject them"

"... but I think you should hear their purpose first"

Riku said as he took out a piece of paper from his pocket, a paper which contains all of the information he gathered from meeting with Rizevim.

"He specifically said he wanted an audience with both Lucias and Ophis, and they're purpose seems to be recruiting us to join a group that they're building along with several factions like the hero's faction and the old satan faction"

Riku reported causing Sephie to stop her work as she stared at Riku with a serious expression on her face.

"Hmm... What's the name of their group exactly and what are their purpose... maybe it's the same group of people that Lucias was looking for"

"... The name of they're group is... Khaos Brigade, and it seems like they're purpose varies from each faction"

"So we hit the jackpot, huh?"

Sephie smiled at their luck from having their own enemies to knock on their door.

"What should we do, Michaela?"

"Report this to Nia and ask her for all of the information about them, also tell them that Lucias and Ophis is unable to meet them because they're having their honeymoon"

"..."

"What? I can't think of any other excuse to make them wait until Lucias comes back"

"... Can we use any other valid excuse?"

"No..."

"... Fine..."

Riku reculantly agreed before wearing a large white mask on his face while pulling his hood up to hide his appearance.

"... May the True God be with us"

Riku says as he walked towards the door out of the room.

"You mean Lucias?"

"Yes, you're not aware that some of the members of the faction are creating a new religion with Lucias as their God?"

Riku said shocking Sephie from her seat before taking out a document that she ignored in the past when she was checking their projects and reports.

"... What the... So that's why they asked for an entire floor to create a center for their religion... I just threw it at away because I thought they were just messing around... I can't believe that they're serious about this"

"So... do you plan to reject our request?"

"Wait... Our request?"

"Yes, the request was formed from the joint forces of Imanity and the witches"

"..."

"So... You don't agree with our project?"

Riku asked once again to ask for confirmation so that they could build it when Lucias is still not back at their base.

"Sure, this will be very interesting"