With caution-laden steps, Jin slowly approached the child-like entity crouched amidst the pulsing miasma and tendrils. As a precaution, he cast multiple barriers around himself.

“Want me to power the lights in here?” Mikoto asked quietly before Jin could walk too far.

Jin pondered briefly, but eventually nodded, saying, “Try it. Just be ready in case it reacts strongly to light.”

Mikoto nodded, then tapped her foot on the ground. Electrical pulses spread out from her, up the walls, and into the ceiling lights, all the while avoiding the corrupted tentacles clinging to most of the factory lines.

Jin briefly glanced at the electricity, but maintained most of his concentration on the child-like entity in front of him.

A moment later, clicks echoed from the overhead light fixtures, and the buzz of fluorescent bulbs tickled their ears. Some of the bulbs shattered, but the rest illuminated the surroundings.

In retaliation to the light, countless tendrils reared up from the surrounding miasma and struck at the overhead light fixtures. Mikoto clicked her tongue and raised her hand slightly. Currents of electricity arced from the currents she was already maintaining toward the tentacles, briefly halting them into a forest of dark misshapen spires, though they remained fully intact. Mikoto frowned since she expected to damage them. Jin also raised a brow at the lack of electrical burns.

While the tendrils remained paralyzed, Jin clapped his hands together and mumbled, “Lemme try something.”

Mikoto nodded and quietly waited to see what the so-called Sage could do.

Since he was only notifying Mikoto that he would act with his previous statement, Jin chanted before she could even finish nodding, “Barrier Magic: Prism Blade - Whip Style.”

A long and thin translucent barrier flashed into existence directly in front of Jin, extending several meters in both directions. Then, he waved one arm in a sharp cutting motion. The barrier whipped outward, slicing directly through most of the tentacles. Jin grimaced in response, and his arm lurched a few times mid-motion due to his direct control of and connection to the spell. The resistance when cutting the tendrils gave him pause, but at the very least, his barriers worked.

‘I don’t think my barriers are stronger than Mikoto’s powers even though I used a decent amount of energy in that spell, though.’

“It might be more resistant to non-physical attacks, but I’m not one hundred percent sure, yet,” Jin theorized.

“Tch. Figures.”

Suddenly, the cut tendrils receded back into the miasma. At the same time, the child-like entity slowly craned its neck to look at them. Its long silvery blond hair covered most of its side profile, but two pitch-black obsidian orbs peered back at them from behind the strands of silvery hair. Then, the small child slowly stood up as though uncomfortable with its own body. Its torso remained turned away, but its head focused toward them in complete silence. An eerie chill spread through the facility and sent a shiver through Jin and Mikoto’s spines.

Unnerved by the sudden chill, Jin narrowed his eyes and recalled a certain legend about black-eyed children. Before he could think too much, though, the cut tendrils poked through the rippling surface of the miasma closer to Jin and Mikoto. Waves of small ten-legged spider-like beasts charged out the sliced-off ends of the cut tendrils. They looked like living sludge insects crawling out of the muck of a dingy swamp. They poured out as an army in a tidal wave of spindly legs.

“...Bugs?! No! Stay away!” Mikoto yelped, shivering in disgust. She almost bolted, but then glanced at Jin and bit her lip. She saw him glaring at her with a stern gaze. There was also a circular barrier spinning around him slicing the spiders launching themselves at him. Unfortunately, there were too many spider creatures, and they started latching onto his barriers. Their fangs pierced into his outermost defensive barrier without much trouble.

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“Mikoto.”

“Eh? Yes?”

“Please fry them?” Jin grumbled.

“Ah… Um,” Mikoto’s gaze focused on the creepy crawlies, and her eyes dilated. Her legs shivered, and she barely kept herself from fleeing.

“You can do it. Rather, please hurry up and fry everything near us, please?”

“Uh…” Mikoto opened her mouth to respond but then looked down upon feeling something brush against her leg. A brief silence fell.

…

“KYAAA! NO!!!”

Massive bolts of lightning arced out in a flash of brilliance.

Sighing, Jin closed his eyes and clapped his hands together, quickly forming another few layers of defensive barriers. Bolts of lightning fried all the spider creatures, but also destroyed most of his barriers. When the flash died down, he opened his eyes. The ground around them was charred black. The overhead lights also shut off.

‘Damn. Wasn’t expecting bugs. That makes this harder since it’s Misaka… Group Chat hasn’t notified us of hints or anything, either. Should I just use the arms now? Well, first…’

Hearing the barely audible pitter patter of insects, Jin frowned and said, “Misaka. Are you alright?”

“Uh, yes. Sorry.”

“I know you’re not good with bugs, but can you try to maintain the light while destroying these things? They are still spawning.”

“Ugh. I… will try.”

Currents of electricity traveled along the metal support toward the ceiling again. This time, she only activated a handful of lights. However, when it came to the spiders, she shivered and hesitated.

“If you need to, just close your eyes and maintain a defensive perimeter around the two of us. I can handle the rest.”

“...Okay.”

Electric sparks spread out in a circle around them, frying all the spiders on contact. Noticing that the sparks avoided him, Jin glanced at his companion again. Her eyes were closed, and she crouched with her hands around her legs. Her hands scratched at her legs as though trying to erase phantom itches.

“That works. Thanks.”

Mikoto only nodded in response.

Turning his head back toward the silver haired ‘child’. It also stared back at him.

‘Honestly, this isn’t that hard to deal with; just annoying. Why did the person who possessed that child need me to handle this?’ Jin wondered, furrowing his brow. He briefly glanced at the surrounding miasma. He saw the charred floor leading up to the edge of it, but none of the damage penetrated its murky surface.

‘Mikoto’s electricity works on the spider creatures, but not the miasma. My barriers work, though…’

He turned his gaze back to the child-like entity. His eyes suddenly widened. He dived sideways. Sharp tendrils shot past him where his head just was. One slightly lower one directly stabbed through all his remaining barriers and pierced his right shoulder. He winced and clenched his teeth.

The next moment, the tendrils receded back to behind the child. Unlike the rest of the miasma, these black tendrils looked sharper and more solid. They flooded out from the miasma at the child’s feet and surrounded her in a defensive posture. Altogether, the defensive tendrils looked more like a carnivorous plant than anything else.

Grunting in pain, Jin sucked in a sharp breath of air. Ignoring the blood seeping out of his shoulder, he channeled his energy toward his back. Within seconds, four massive shadowy arms sprouted from his upper back. Adrenaline flowed, but his breath stabilized. He felt a surge in strength. The wound on his shoulder coagulated instantly.

‘I got a bit complacent. These easy years took a toll on my wariness. Thanks for the warning, kid,’ Jin thought, staring blankly at the child-like entity. Both of their gazes looked cold, distant, and merciless.

Ignoring the pain in his shoulder, Jin clapped his hands together. His shadow arms also clapped together. Barriers formed around him three times faster than before just as the tendrils struck again. Noticing some shooting toward Misaka, he also created stacks of barriers around her, leaving only a space underneath for her to maintain the electrical perimeter. Unlike before, these barriers were thicker and had a slightly dark purple tint. The tendrils stabbed the barriers. They pierced the first layers protecting the two, but halted at the second layers.

Right after the tendrils pulled back, a ding echoed in Jin’s ears. Unwilling to check the group chat now, he frowned and grumbled, “Stupid chat. If you were going to send something, do it before the mission. Well, if it’s like last time, then I’ll definitely want some help here.

The next instant, a very subtle feeling of external guidance fell upon his movements and energy control. Energy channeled into his shadow arms, but it took on a warm nature he didn’t know he could utilize. A dull and gentle light glowed within the shadow hands.

Finally, the child-like entity reacted with a change in expression for the first time. It frowned.