The final call for monthly tickets this September; just one more hour left. If you still have tickets, throw them all my way! Victory is within grasp; we cannot let it slip away at the last moment. Let the monthly ticket count break through! The explosive releases will continue!

...

Lightning—undoubtedly the most terrifying force, powerful enough to obliterate everything, sweeping flat all that stands on the ground. Humanity fears it but cannot resist; they can only use the power of technology to guide it slightly, hoping to avoid its attacks.

And now, a living human being has been swallowed whole by heavenly lightning. Those in the audience belonging to the world of light were utterly stunned. They could not conceive how an ordinary person could possibly survive such an assault! Evangeline’s supporters fell silent, and Misaka Mikoto’s backers were equally dumbfounded, only capable of sharp inhalations of breath, unable to utter a word.

“She’s really going over the top!” In a certain room, Cho Choutein, who was monitoring every move on the arena floor, was left slack-jawed. The match had reached this point, the footage was already circulating online, and the magicians would surely have taken notice. If she didn’t want her magic exposed, she ought to keep the rest of the contest low-key. Yet, Misaka Mikoto was doing the exact opposite—she was playing it loud!

“If I had known things would turn out like this, I should have tailored a grand stage for her; maybe it wouldn't have been this troublesome…” Cho Choutein managed a wry smile, though inwardly, he was quite pleased. “Still, this turn of events is actually more advantageous for me. Go for it, Misaka-san. I hope you bring me success.”

...

Although most people believed Evangeline had already lost—no, perhaps even died—Mikoto, standing on the platform, wore a grave expression. She was supremely confident in the previous strike; it was the maximum single burst she could currently muster. Yet, she didn't truly believe such an attack would be enough to defeat Evangeline.

The aura emanating from the pillar of lightning confirmed her suspicion: Evangeline had not been struck down.

The dazzling pillar of lightning, sustained by Mikoto’s power, raged for a full ten seconds before its brilliance slowly began to recede. At that moment, a faint voice drifted out from the still-lingering column of electricity. “Not bad. Using bait one after another to distract me, and even targeting my known weakness. It seems you’ve done your homework. If that’s the case, it would be rude of me not to get slightly more serious.”

As the lightning faded, Evangeline’s figure appeared, smiling confidently.

At this moment, the entire arena erupted. Under such a terrifying assault, Evangeline was not only alive but hadn't even suffered a scratch on her attire. For the people of the light world, this was an impossible miracle. Meanwhile, certain elements from the underground world finally confirmed it: Evangeline’s curse had been lifted. The Dark Lord had fully awakened!

This realization gave them terrible headaches. While Evangeline had lived a model life at Tokiwadai Middle School, rarely committing any wrongdoing, she was still the world’s most wanted fugitive, carrying a six-million-dollar bounty from the magical community! Who could guarantee that her past compliance was merely temporary submission while she was powerless? Who could guarantee she wouldn’t launch bloody retribution once she was free?

And facing the full power of the Dark Lord Evangeline, who could possibly stand against it?

These looming questions, compounded by the issues stirred up by Cho Choutein, gave the magicians of Tokiwadai an intense feeling of dread.

Of course, regardless of what they worried about, the fight on the stage had to continue.

“As expected, I knew you wouldn’t fall that easily.” Mikoto laughed. Though slightly disappointed she hadn't managed to take her opponent down, this was precisely what made it interesting. Challenging the strong was always an exhilarating experience.

“Bring out whatever other tricks you have,” Evangeline replied calmly, her gaze fixed on Mikoto, a slight smile playing in her eyes. She, too, felt a touch of excitement; a warm-up match before facing Sakuya Izayoi sounded quite pleasant.

“That’s exactly what I intend!” An inexhaustible battle spirit flared in Mikoto’s eyes. She rapidly retreated, creating distance between herself and Evangeline. With a whoosh, three coins were tossed into the air, then flicked out sharply between her fingers.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Railgun, triple-shot. The same power, the same velocity, the same timing, attacking Evangeline in a triangular formation. She used coins—slightly stronger than her usual ones, perhaps, but her force output had increased several times over. The effective range was less than fifty meters, capable of striking anywhere on the stage but failing to reach the spectators seventy or eighty meters away. It was perfectly suitable for her current target.

“A decent attack, but useless against me!” Evangeline’s tone was brimming with confidence. Facing the Railgun projectiles, which already exceeded Mach 3 significantly, she barely glanced at them, simply flickering her body aside to dodge them completely.

But immediately following, another triple-shot Railgun barrage came, this time aimed linearly at Evangeline’s upper, middle, and lower sections. With virtually no pause between them, Mikoto fired three more Railguns, arranged horizontally. This created a cross pattern, blocking off all routes—left, right, up, and down.

“Interesting. You can already achieve this level,” a smile flashed in Evangeline’s eyes. She knew there was a time delay between Mikoto’s Railguns. Initially, she could only fire eight per minute, but now she could launch six in a single second—a monumental difference.

Yet, even attacks like this had no effect on her. The True Ancestor Vampire, having regained her full strength, possessed speed and reaction time that were no joke. Combined with her inherent magical abilities, the Railguns were utterly ineffective.

“This is becoming troublesome. Even this doesn’t put you under any pressure?” Mikoto frowned. If the Railgun was useless, the methods capable of defeating Evangeline were truly few. Pure energy attacks would only be absorbed by her.

“If I used my immortality, that would be cheating. How about this: if you can severely injure this current body of mine, you win,” Evangeline suddenly proposed. “Of course, I won’t just stand here and take it.”

The words barely left her mouth before she dashed forward at speed. Her palm struck out, and before Mikoto could react, she was hit squarely in the abdomen and sent flying backward.

“Ice Blast!”

Evangeline sharply called out, and a razor-sharp ice spire materialized instantly behind Mikoto.

No good! Mikoto’s expression shifted. Though she hadn't seen it, she felt the biting chill. She immediately elementalized her body. Upon contact, an electric arc sliced through the ice layer, narrowly avoiding this fatal danger.

She truly hadn't held back... Since the rules of the competition prohibited chanting incantations for high-level magic, Evangeline couldn’t deploy her massive spells. What she could use were these instantaneous, mid-tier magical strikes. That sequence of attacks—close combat combined with magical combos—would have meant certain death for anyone weaker or unable to elementalize like Mikoto.

How interesting! Mikoto wasn't angered by Evangeline’s lethal attacks; instead, she grew more excited. This meant she had finally compelled her opponent to fight seriously—it was an acknowledgment of her strength.

“In that case, I can’t disappoint you!”

Mikoto declared excitedly. A flash of electricity crossed her form, and in an instant, she was back on the stage. She tossed coins again, but this time, there were far more: three rows left, three rows right, three rows above, three rows below, with six more scattered seemingly randomly in the center.

“Eighteen!” Seeing this, not only Evangeline but even Lin Luo was stunned. Mikoto wouldn’t attempt anything she wasn't sure of. Since she brought out eighteen coins, it meant she possessed the capability to fire eighteen Railguns simultaneously. However, the Railgun was an explosive attack; eighteen shots at once was genuinely terrifying.

“That little girl is quite remarkable,” Al remarked, clearly highly impressed by Mikoto’s power.

“Hit me with everything you’ve got!” Evangeline suddenly roared, a hint of excitement in her voice. While blocking Mikoto’s assault wouldn’t be difficult, she now wanted to test something: could she evade ten Railguns using only ‘one body,’ without resorting to her exceptional, off-the-books powers?

“Take this, this is my strongest power right now!” An incomparably brilliant electrical light erupted from Mikoto’s body. Even Evangeline could barely discern the trajectory of her hand movements. The light flashed, and eighteen Railguns were already incoming.

Mach 5! No, it was Mach 6… Mach 7!

Evangeline squinted, instantly realizing the Railguns were traveling at nearly seven times the speed of sound—a speed most people couldn't evade. If the number were smaller, she could dodge them, but facing this quantity, even she felt a degree of difficulty.

“Interesting,” Evangeline smiled.

The eighteen Railguns, traveling at the terrifying speed of Mach 7, arrived next to Evangeline in the blink of an eye, poised to pierce her completely in the next moment.

But!

It wasn't instantaneous. No one could discern exactly what happened, but the dazzling light suddenly retracted. Evangeline’s two hands were held tightly clasped together at her sides, and her body remained completely unharmed.

“Here,” Evangeline suddenly said, opening her fists. Then, they saw that in each of her palms lay nine coins, ravaged and worn down by electrical discharge.

The entire arena was in an uproar!

They say the layman watches the spectacle, but now, even those from the world of light could see that Evangeline’s action was unparalleled. She hadn't dodged the eighteen Railguns; she had caught every single one.

As for how she caught them? The audience didn't need to dwell on such details.

Mikoto was also stunned. If Evangeline had used a spatial shift spell to evade, she might have believed it, but catching her eighteen Railguns with her bare hands was something she had never even conceived of before.

There was no need to continue the fight. Based on that single moment, Mikoto knew there was still a vast gulf between them. Her strongest attack had been nullified, and energy-based assaults wouldn't work. The outcome was clear.

“I concede,” Mikoto said with a smile, her voice calm.

The important thing isn't victory, but recognizing one's own shortcomings, because growth... is endless!