Imagine Breaker and Urban Legends

Selene sat behind the desk in the Tianming Research Institute office, deep in thought.

Yesterday, when interacting with Kamijou Touma, besides using electricity to scare them a little, Selene had also discreetly used a very weak spatial ability to touch Kamijou Touma's right hand. As expected, Selene's ability was nullified.

With this result, Selene needed to devise some countermeasures. She definitely didn't want to be on the receiving end of a "friendly punch" from Kamijou Touma in the future.

Even though Selene had watched the anime "A Certain Magical Index" in her past life, she hadn't seen it in its entirety and only had a superficial understanding of it.

Most of the plot details were from reading online, where every writer and fan had a lot of talent, spoke eloquently, and had imaginative ideas that were more entertaining than the original work.

The "Imagine Breaker" that resides in Kamijou Touma's right hand is a unique ability that negates any supernatural power, regardless of its nature, whether it is an esper power or magic.

Imagine Breaker is not magic; it's not an unidentified or unparseable magic. It's also not an esper ability, as it doesn't emit an AIM field and continuously neutralizes surrounding AIM fields.

Since Imagine Breaker is an innate talent of Kamijou Touma, it existed before he entered Academy City, indicating it is not a product of the Power Curriculum Program.

The essence of Imagine Breaker is "the crystallization of all magicians' wishes" to repair, restore, and long for this world. Magic at its pinnacle can distort the world at will, making it impossible to return to the "original world" even if desired.

However, if there's something "unaffected by magic," the original state can be maintained even if the world is distorted, and returning to the original world becomes possible with such a baseline.

This "baseline that restores the world" is the essence of Imagine Breaker, which removes all influences from phases on the world, returning it to the pre-influenced state (retaining only physical laws).

Imagine Breaker, despite continuously disrupting supernatural powers that maintain this world, is a destruction that harmonizes with nature, like fallen leaves decomposing into nutrients after returning to the ground.

Although the ability is quite overpowered, Imagine Breaker has a fatal flaw in that its actual usage range is narrow. As long as it doesn't touch the right hand, any attack can cause damage.

Moreover, only supernatural powers can be nullified. If it's another force unrelated to supernatural powers, it cannot be neutralized (such as storms created by magic or esper powers or flying debris). Imagine Breaker also can't help when facing ordinary people without powers or when combating guns and machinery.

Knowing this fatal weakness existed, Selene felt relieved. "In that case, aside from not using powers, there are many ways to deal with it. Not to mention my innate 'strength' and 'resilience,' even just carrying a handgun would make it easy to win, as long as I don't miss."

Having figured this out, Selene sighed with relief. There were still plenty of ways to handle this.

For example, she could drain the air around him, move a building to crush him, cause an earthquake or tsunami using spatial shockwaves, or rapidly increase or decrease the temperature in a large area.

If none of that worked, I'd stop fighting and leave the solar system. Could Kamijou Touma pursue me there?

...

In a pitch-black environment, light shone from under a girl's chin, casting a shadow.

"This is something that happened to the boyfriend of a friend of a senior in real life. It was a hot summer night when the boyfriend was passing through a sparsely populated park. He was asked by a woman standing there for directions to the train station... Just as the boyfriend was kindly explaining the route, the slightly melancholic woman quietly raised her hand..."

As the atmosphere reached its peak, the black-haired girl sinisterly glanced at the four girls surrounding her, and three of them gulped simultaneously, unable to bear the eerie atmosphere.

The black-haired girl continued, "The melancholy woman quietly raised her hand. Suddenly, swoosh! She took off her shirt."

The girls surrounding her exchanged bewildered glances.

Suddenly, "Hey! That's not scary at all!" Misaka Mikoto stood up, throwing off the black cloth covering her.

"Geez, we went through the trouble of creating that atmosphere, only for you to tell this story. Your story... is really disappointing..." Shirai Kuroko also expressed dissatisfaction with the story's content.

"Saten-san, what... are you telling?" Uiharu Kazari couldn't comprehend her friend's taste.

"We thought it was going to be something scary, but it turned out to be this. It's boring." Selene was also displeased with the story.

"Huh? Have you heard it before, senpai? When you think about it, wouldn't you be scared if you experienced it firsthand? The urban legend of the 'Stripping Woman' who suddenly takes off her clothes!" Saten Ruiko pouted, clearly upset that the urban legend she was interested in was ignored by the group.

"Not scared." Misaka Mikoto's tone was firm, "It's just an exhibitionist pervert, right?"

"Hey, hey, look at this!" Uiharu Kazari, who had always believed in urban legends, suddenly thought of something. She casually took a laptop out of her backpack and beckoned everyone over. "Have you heard of these urban legends? They're all explained in detail here!"

"Hmm?"

The group gathered around, seeing a forum dedicated to discussing urban legends displayed on the laptop.

Shirai Kuroko glanced at it, feeling unimpressed, sighed, and returned to her seat. "Stop looking at such boring forum sites. Urban legends are unscientific, and this is Academy City, which champions science. How could such intangible things be real?"

"Oh, come on, that's so unromantic," Saten Ruiko couldn't help but complain after hearing Shirai Kuroko's words.

"Not necessarily. Although they are exaggerated, they're not entirely unfounded and are based on real incidents." Selene's words surprised the group.

"Selene-senpai, do you know which ones are real?"

"I only know some of them, like 'Why do wind turbine blades often experience anomalies?' Who do you think that refers to?"

The group thought for a moment before looking at Misaka Mikoto in unison. Feeling their gaze, Misaka Mikoto awkwardly smiled, "This... shouldn't be... me, right?"

"What do you think?" Selene looked at her with a hint of reproach. This rumor about district-wide power outages was related to Misaka Mikoto.

"And this one!" Saten Ruiko eagerly looked at the laptop. "The legend of the ageless girl! Wow... what an enviable ability."

"And a tragic love story where two men fight over a girl, and she beats them both up..."

"Ahem, wait a minute." Selene coughed, finally unable to stay silent. She slowly stood up, approached the laptop, and asked, "Uiharu, can I take a look?"

"Huh? Senpai is interested in this too?" Uiharu Kazari was surprised that Selene was interested, asking with slight delight.

"I just had a sudden idea to check it out." Selene, with a serious expression, took Uiharu Kazari's laptop and carefully read through the so-called 'urban legends.' Shirai Kuroko also stopped her previous disinterest and leaned in to read carefully.

[Why do wind turbine blades often experience anomalies?]

[The Stripping Woman][Level Upper]

[Academy City's Ageless Legend]

[Love and Hate Among the Top Three Level 5s]

[Guardian][A Man Who Can Nullify All Abilities]

[Guide][Brutal One][Elixir of Immortality]

[Artificial Lake of the Eighteenth District]...

As she went through these so-called "urban legends," Selene's brow furrowed more and more. Ignoring the posts that were obviously referring to her, "There are quite a few true ones here..."

[A Man Who Can Nullify All Abilities] Seeing these words, Misaka Mikoto couldn't help but ponder. She had encountered such an ability before.

She thought of the spiky-haired boy who wanted to save her from the delinquent thugs that day.

"So? Interesting, right?" Saten Ruiko, attentive to Misaka Mikoto's strange reaction, smiled and asked, "Misaka-senpai, do you think any of them are real?"

"Oh? I think... maybe," she replied, obviously distracted.

"Although most are just clickbait, there are quite a few true ones. Look, this one about Academy City's network 'Guardian,' who do you think of?"

Upon hearing this, the group thought for a moment and then unanimously turned their gaze to Uiharu Kazari. Yes, the weak girl before them, with her incredibly strong hacking skills, was the true identity of Academy City's network 'Guardian.'

"And this 'Academy City's Ageless Legend' is also true. Maybe I can even take you to witness it."

"Wow, so many? Looks like quite a few urban legends are real. I'm so happy." Hearing that her beloved urban legends were true, Saten Ruiko jumped up excitedly, "So, what about the 'Stripping Woman' we talked about?"

Upon hearing this, even Shirai Kuroko, who had the least interest in "urban legends," couldn't argue anymore. After all, two urban legends were among them, and one was her beloved sister, a significant impact.

"Perhaps in reality, one of us might encounter the 'Stripping Woman.'" Selene suddenly laughed, giving Misaka Mikoto a meaningful glance.