The scenery before him sent shivers down his spine. The world was falling apart. Cracks haphazardly zigzagged across the ground and stretched beyond the horizon towards the heavens above. It was like watching a stained glass window shatter in slow motion. Seeing the world fall into disarray was almost enough to stop his heart. In an effort to suppress the fear growing within him, Touma took his focus away from the destruction surrounding him and gave his undivided attention towards the individual who caused this whole tragedy.

Esper, encased within a construct formed of stolen memories, approached the group with eyes filled with rage. Touma stood defensively in front of his allies with his right hand raised in anticipation of her attack. He knew for a fact her ability primarily involved the manipulation of memories. She could change and twist what was already there, but was incapable of outright erasing or fabricating them. Otherwise, this battle would have been over a long time ago. However, that still left her with the option of using their very own memories as weapons. The absolute worst case scenario was the possibility of her using their memories to summon events and people they've experienced to strike them down.

With a cry of fury, lightning arced from her palms towards everybody. It was immediately followed up with a deafening boom and his vision blurring. After a split-second of weightlessness, Touma realized that he was now standing at the edge of a crater along with everyone else.

“Huh? How did we...?”

Touma quickly found the answer to his confusion; a small child staring in bewilderment at his hands.

“I don't know who you are or how you did that, but thanks for saving us,” Considering how the kid looked, he probably didn't understand what he did either. “Don't push yourself though. If you need time to gather yourself, please do so. The rest of us can handle her.”