"What, what is this?!"
Saten Ruiko could feel the power of the wind contained within the blade. It was as if the wind resonated with her, filled with a peculiar flow... Ugh, is this the perfect model Mr. Fang Zheng mentioned? And not only that, the blade is so large, yet it seems as light as a feather, not heavy at all... Wait!
Just then, Saten Ruiko suddenly realized that the blue-haired girl who was beside her had vanished!
"Huh? Huh? Where did that child go?"
[Be careful]
However, just as Saten Ruiko was looking around, the voice of the blue-haired girl suddenly appeared in her mind, and then Saten Ruiko saw the contaminated beast in front of her charging at her!
"Uwah!"
[Focus your mind, gather your strength, and strike down]
"Ah... Yes!"
Even though she didn’t really understand what was happening, Ruiko still followed the voice in her head, raising the Blade of Wind high above her head and slashing it down at the contaminated beast in front of her. However, the scene that unfolded was beyond Ruiko’s imagination.
"Whoosh---!!"
As Ruiko swung the sword, the next moment, a wind blade as thick as her arm burst from the blade and shot forward, instantly slicing the contaminated beast before her in two. Then, as the wind blade penetrated the beast’s body, it abruptly exploded, turning into a raging gale that tore the contaminated beast apart from the inside out!
"Uwah!"
Seeing this, Ruiko was also taken aback, not expecting that a single strike could be this powerful!
Keep in mind that previously, with the assistance of Fang Zheng’s Sacred Artifact, Ruiko’s Ability Level was only around LV3, and the wind blades she released were only as thick as a thumb, even when she exerted all her strength. But just now, Ruiko felt that with just a slight effort, she had produced an effect similar to the phrase "using a small force to move a great weight"... a phrase she did not understand. In simpler terms she could grasp, it felt like using LV2 abilities to achieve an LV4 standard!
This was terrifying!!
[Be careful, here comes more]
But Saten Ruiko didn’t have the luxury to be distracted at this moment. The voice in her head rang out again, so Saten Ruiko quickly focused her attention forward. Contaminated beasts from other parts had already arrived, surrounding her.
"Let’s break through first!"
Saten Ruiko was not an ordinary girl anymore. At the very least, she had seen many strange things with Fang Zheng. Now that she snapped back to reality, she could mostly guess that the mysterious sword in her hand was probably related to the blue-haired girl from before. Thus, she quickly composed herself, swept the blade forward, and ran toward the path cleared by the fallen contaminated beast.
This was the difference between Saten Ruiko and Misaka Mikoto. If it were Misaka Mikoto, she wouldn’t leave until she finished off these contaminated beasts. But Saten Ruiko was different. She was originally from a non-ability user background and did not have Misaka Mikoto’s LV5 charisma, so in battle, she was actually more clear-headed.
Saten Ruiko knew when to fight and when to run. She judged that there were unknown numbers of contaminated beasts here, and neither did she know how long the sword would last, so it was better to escape to a safe place. Given the loud commotion, Mr. Fang Zheng probably already realized something was up. As long as she held out until Fang Zheng and the others came to rescue her, she’d be fine!
Thinking of this, Saten Ruiko immediately turned and charged in the direction of the recently shattered contaminated beast. Although this path was scattered with blood and the stench due to the torn-apart beast, Saten Ruiko didn’t care about this at all, gritting her teeth as she channeled Hayate, accelerating forward.
Behind Saten Ruiko, the contaminated beasts were in hot pursuit. They were much smaller than those Fang Zheng had previously encountered, and thus much faster. If Saten Ruiko had not already taken Fang Zheng’s advice to accelerate using the wind, she would have been caught up by now.
Yet, even so, her good luck soon ran out. Saten Ruiko soon saw the road ahead cut off once more, leaving only a fragment of debris and a bottomless abyss below.
But Ruiko had no other choice.
"Hah.....!!"
Seeing the broken iron bridge in front of her, Ruiko gritted her teeth, leapt forward, and pointed the longsword in her hand downward. The next moment, a roaring air current burst forth, propelling Ruiko upward! The contaminated beasts, lacking the ability to fly, rushed forward but couldn’t stop in time, falling off the edge of the iron bridge.
"Haha, I succeeded!"
With that, Ruiko relaxed. She had long ago considered using wind power to fly, but her Ability Level was too low to achieve it. Just now, she tried out of desperation, figuring that with the sword’s assistance, she could exert LV4 level power, which should allow her to fly!
And indeed, as Ruiko hoped, she was really flying!
Now, to find a place to land...
As she thought about this, Ruiko adjusted the wind and looked around. Soon, she locked onto a platform above her and accelerated toward it.
Just a little more... just a little bit...
However, just as Ruiko was within an arm’s reach of the platform, the voice of the blue-haired girl suddenly reappeared in her ear.
[No, I can’t hold on anymore]
"Huh? Wait, don’t..."
Hearing this, Ruiko’s face turned pale, but before she could finish speaking, the Wind Blade entwined around her right hand disappeared instantly, and the blue-haired girl reappeared at her side. Without support, both fell helplessly into the abyss.
"Waaah-----!!"
Ruiko screamed out loud, and the next moment, everything turned black, and she landed heavily on solid ground. At the same time, Kuroko Shirai’s voice came from beside her.
"Honestly, what were you doing?"
"Classmate Shirai!"
Hearing Kuroko Shirai’s voice, Saten Ruiko finally breathed a sigh of relief. She opened her eyes to see Kuroko Shirai standing with arms akimbo, staring at her helplessly. The blue-haired girl stood beside Kuroko, curiously looking around, clearly unsure of what had just happened.
"We heard a noise below, and Mr. Fang Zheng thought something might’ve happened to you, which is why Onee-sama and I rushed to find... what on earth were you doing?"
"It’s bad, Classmate Shirai!"
At this point, Saten Ruiko finally reacted.
"There are contaminated beasts below, many!"
"Contaminated beasts?"
Upon hearing Saten Ruiko’s words, Kuroko Shirai’s face changed.
"We should leave here first, but speaking of which..."
Said Kuroko Shirai, turning curiously to the blue-haired girl beside her.
"Who is the girl with you?"
"It’s a long story. Let’s head back to Mr. Fang Zheng first."
Saten Ruiko didn’t want to waste time here. Although those Contaminated Beasts seemed unable to fly, who knows if there might be some that can?
"I understand."
Saying this, Kuroko Shirai turned to look to the side.
"Please notify Mr. Fang Zheng, tell him we’ve found the person."
With Kuroko Shirai’s words, Saten Ruiko noticed a pink petal silently drift down from the sky, then disappear without a trace.
"What is this?"
"This seems to be a kind of ability called ’Nen Aura’ that Miss Feli possesses. She used this ability to find you all just now... Anyway, let’s discuss the rest when we get back."
With Kuroko Shirai’s aid, the group’s return journey to the core control room was smooth. Spatial Movement completely ignored all obstacles, making it perfect for escaping. Saten Ruiko was used to it, but the blue-haired girl stared at Kuroko Shirai in amazement, trying to figure out how it was done.
When Kuroko Shirai brought the two back, everyone else had already gathered.
"You really are something..."
Silently observing the blue-haired girl beside Ruiko, and listening to Ruiko gleefully recount how she found the blue-haired girl, both Kuroko Shirai and Misaka Mikoto had expressions as if they were hearing a Heavenly Book, while Fang Zheng was simply speechless.
Of course, he recognized the girl. If Fang Zheng remembered correctly, she was the Holy War Angel, one of the Tree of Seven Lights—Leyfelie Mezarans.
The Holy War Angel possessed the ability to synchronize contracts with people, transforming into a weapon to fight alongside them. Fang Zheng had seen this in animation before, although his impression of the female lead was somewhat stronger, he couldn’t clearly remember the story itself.
If Fang Zheng remembered correctly, Lei’s attribute was wind, which matched well with Saten Ruiko’s air manipulation...
"This girl can transform into a weapon?"
After hearing Ruiko’s explanation, Misaka Mikoto and Kuroko Shirai were incredulous.
"Is something like that really possible?"
"What’s so strange about it? I have something like that too."
Fang Zheng interjected with a chuckle, immediately drawing attention from the others.
"Really? Mr. Fang Zheng? I’ve never seen you use a weapon."
"Because there’s no need."
In response to Saten Ruiko, Fang Zheng shrugged, speaking the truth. Then he extended his hand, and soon, two Magic Seals appeared on the back of his hand.
"Come forth, Restia, Ester."
With Fang Zheng’s summons, a pitch-black Greatsword and a silver-white Dagger materialized before the girls, transforming into a purple-haired girl in a gothic dress and a silver-haired girl in a pure white dress. The two girls gracefully landed and bowed to everyone.
"Nice to meet you, I am Restia, the Dark Elf, the magic sword that pierces reality."
"Demon-Slaying Holy Sword—Ester."
"Wow...!"
Seeing this, Misaka Mikoto, Kuroko Shirai, Saten Ruiko, and Feli widened their eyes in astonishment, unable to believe the scene before them. At the same time, Lei was also staring at the two girls in surprise, unsure of what to say.
"Amazing, Mr. Fang Zheng, it’s incredible! Are they like Lei?"
After the introductions, Ruiko learned Lei’s name and excitedly came to the two Sword Sprites, curiously observing them.
"Sort of, but not exactly. They’re the spirits of swords, while Lei can only transform into a sword."
As he spoke, Fang Zheng nodded toward Lei, while Restia and Ester smiled warmly at her, devoid of the hostility they had when facing Frostmourne—likely because Lei’s contract wasn’t with him.
If Lei had chosen to contract with him, Restia and Ester would probably be quite jealous.
Come to think of it, Ruiko’s luck is really something.
As he thought about this, Fang Zheng watched Ruiko, who was holding Lei’s hand and chatting with Restia curiously, and chuckled lightly.
The scene brought back a memory from when Fang Zheng watched anime, where it was said that Misaka Mikoto wasn’t the main character of Railgun; the real protagonist was Saten Ruiko. The same logic applied to the Forbidden Index as well...
The person even provided several reasons why Misaka Mikoto was merely a central character in Railgun, not the protagonist.
Firstly, most protagonists in Japanese ACG are ordinary, domestically skilled, gentle, and considerate—Saten Ruiko fits all these traits: a Level 0 Non-Ability User, good at cooking, cheerful, and kind-hearted.
Secondly, all protagonists have an event-triggering constitution—evidence shows that most events in Railgun start with Ruiko as the catalyst. The Fantasy Manipulator was first mentioned by Ruiko as an urban legend, the cluttered activation incident saw Ruiko saving people, and Ruiko was the first to witness the sister and inform Misaka Mikoto, while during the Febri incident, Febri also stuck close to Ruiko.
Lastly, protagonists can unwittingly turn enemies into friends and add them to their circles—to this end, Saten Ruiko’s aura is stronger than Kamijou Touma.
In the novels, the group of four encountered a crisis in Arts Learning City, where the Magic Side enemies attempted to use a weapon to launch an indiscriminate attack. However, upon seeing Ruiko, the mage in charge of the weapon promptly abandoned the Magic Society’s decades-long plan and disassembled the weapon—all because she had shared a meal and swapped a swimsuit with Ruiko during a brief encounter.
In the manga, when Ruiko was abducted by the Dark Side due to a poker incident, it was Frenda who bravely rescued her, even at the cost of injury, despite their only prior interaction being a meal Ruiko made for Frenda using canned mackerel.
Kamijou Touma had to use a punch of friendship to win allies, Saten Ruiko just needed to meet someone, share a meal, chat, and they’d be willing to risk their lives for her.
The aura of Kamijou Touma can’t compare to this...
Nor can Misaka Mikoto.
Of course, due to Fang Zheng’s meddling, these events naturally couldn’t occur now. The Magic Realm outside was in disarray due to the Vatican’s decline, and the Dark Side within Academy City had dissolved, or those involved had left. However, some things couldn’t be changed, like Frenda and Ruiko becoming good friends, often visiting Ruiko for mackerel feasts, and INDEX clinging to Saten Ruiko, not wanting to leave...
So, Saten Ruiko finding one of the Tree of Seven Lights now didn’t seem surprising.
But... for Fang Zheng, this wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

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