Accelerator/Abilities

This article details Accelerator's abilities.

Accelerator
Accelerator is named after his ability. It creates a thin field of AIM around him, which allows him to modify the vector values of anything he touches. After the events of Volume 5, his brain has been damaged, and he has to rely on a choker-style electrode that connects him to the Misaka Network. The brainwave network allows him to use language, as well as making up for his lost ability to make calculations, although it is stated that it's less than half of what he once had. Furthermore, the network enables Accelerator to reflect ultraviolet rays even when he isn't in esper mode. When using the network in esper mode, the battery of the electrode initially only lasts fifteen minutes. That changes when he joins GROUP and its technical team cranks his time up to thirty minutes. He does not need the Misaka Network to use his abilities when in an awakened state.

He is shown to be far stronger than any other Level 5 in Academy City, being able to easily defeat the #2 Level 5 esper Kakine Teitoku without the use of his black wings. It should be noted that this fight took place after Accelerator's brain was damaged and he was forced to rely on the Misaka Network to do his calculations, which reduced him to having less than half of his former calculation abilities. Accelerator has stated that as long as he has experienced it, he can analyze forces unknown to him, by following the vectors that have been applied, nearly like the immune system. He used this ability to understand Aiwass's"inexplicable laws."

Redirection
Rather than creating a vector from nothing, Accelerator may instead alter the vector of an object that he touches. This aspect of his power is versatile offensively and defensively; not needing conscious control, Accelerator may deflect or redirect bullets that strike him, or the pressure wave of an explosion without requiring his awareness of the threat. Accelerator may apply this ability consciously however, to such effect as reversing the blood flow within someone's body by touching an open wound. Accelerator must consciously choose which vectors naturally interact with him-- including the vector forces acting on him from gravity or incident light. Because of this 'reflection' of light, unnecessary ultraviolet light is deflected by Accelerator, contributing to his albino appearance as his body ceases to produce melanin. The defensive power of this ability is impressive, but if negated or worked around through some other means, Accelerator himself is quite fragile and easily beaten down.

Wings
He acquires black wings towards the end of volume 13 when he has an epiphany before being nearly killed by Kihara Amata, and fully awakens in his fight against the #2 level 5, Kakine Teitoku in Volume 15, during which he displays a massive superiority in power. Whenever he awakens, Accelerator usually loses almost all control of himself and begins to speak in the language of the angels. He gains the ability to understand laws that are hitherto unknown and unexplainable to him, and no longer needs contact with vectors in order to control them. When under tremendous emotional pressure, he manifests massive black wings, stated to be made of the same "Dark Matter" that Kakine Teitoku creates with his ability. These wings do all the vector-related calculations for him, implied to be much faster than his original capabilities, and as a result, he does not need the Misaka Network to manipulate vectors in this state. In volume 22, due to his pillar of support being changed after his second defeat by Touma, he manifests white wings and a halo and is able to block a massive amount of Telesma that Fiamma of the Right launches from the Star of Bethlehem. The angelic nature of his ability is described as "The One Who Wields the Power of God" (「神にも等しい力の片鱗を振るう者」).

While embedding the Clonoth into the world with the support of Qliphah Puzzle 545 and the Will of the Misaka Network, in order to thoroughly shake the world and apply a great external pressure to Coronzon to temporarily force the demon out of her physical body, Accelerator manifested pale platinum wings, similar to those of Aiwass.

Magic
Accelerator has demonstrated the ability to use magic. In volume 22, he used his vector ability to interpret the song used by Index to save Last Order and repeated the breathing method, casting the spell. As this was a pure magic spell, he suffered serious harm but saved Last Order. This is a possible factor that led to Accelerator gaining White Wings, replacing his Black ones. After an explanation on the theory of magic provided by Leivinia Birdway, Accelerator displays his extreme delicate control over magic to having a side effect of using magic as unnaturally sweating rather than rupture of blood vessels and organ damage. An example of this is even when he has only a rough idea what Feng Shui was, he is able to use a limited magic detection and then combine it with his knowledge of group psychology to increase its accuracy. However, Magic still presents a great foil to Accelerator, as when he was tricked into fulfilling the conditions to perform a spell by magician disguised as a Trident member he suffered from the rejection reaction without having taken steps to lower the damage beforehand, which caused the blood to burst from his right arm. The extreme pain involved lowered his calculation ability to a point where he was unable to use his Reflection ability, leaving him helpless.

Other abilities

 * 1) High-level Intellect: Accelerator has shown frequently to possess a very high intellect. For starters, his esper ability is shown to require complex calculations to function, with him being skilled enough in this field to come up with a new application on the fly during his battle against Touma. He also appears to have a very good memory, as he memorized the codes for Last Order's default mind state and was able to remotely return her to that condition, thus erasing the virus planted into her by Amai Ao. Later, he also starts to display clever strategies in battle, as when he was able to take out the Hound Dogs using firearms, which he utilized for the first time against them, along with exploiting his immediate environment and his enemies' psychological state to his advantage, without using his esper ability. Even with less than half of his calculation ability, it is great enough to allow Accelerator to calculate and analyze all the 25,000 different kinds of energy of Kakine Teitoku's Dark Matter, while fighting on par with him and protecting bystanders. Finally, he was able to figure out a way to block the signal used to shut off his electrode and to figure out ways to diminish the harmful influence magic has on his body as an esper, which is a feat only one other individual has accomplished so far. He is also fairly skilled at identifying spies; as well as being a skilled interrogator, as he was seen to easily break a Russian spy with Misaka Worst's help.
 * 2) Machine Ingenuity: Accelerator is also quite competent with machinery and technology, evident in when he modifies his cane with various gravity sensors and small motors to help better support himself. He also implants in it a mechanism to overcome the Board of Directors and their subordinates' means to shut off his choker-style electrode by memorizing the wavelength they use and blocking that wavelength afterwards.
 * 3) Marksmanship: After his fight with Kihara Amata, Accelerator realizes that he can't consistently rely on his power. As such, he trains with firearms and is shown to be extremely proficient in their usage. With his left, weaker hand, he is able to finish off a round of practice in 70 seconds. He commented that his reloading of a pistol in two seconds with just one hand and his teeth is too slow, even though he was simply testing the gun.
 * 4) Driving skill: Accelerator displays enough skill to drive a motorbike, seemingly without issues.
 * 5) Academy City Board Chairman Authority: Ever since being handed the position of Board Chairman of Academy City by Aleister Crowley, Accelerator was given the highest access and authority over the city and its Bank, easily surpassing the authority of the other board members and granting Accelerator access to all the city's data, weapons, research, key codes, and resources.

Equipment

 * Choker-style electrode: After he was shot by in the head, Accelerator, despite having survived, had his frontal lobe badly damaged and lost his ability to walk or use his motor skills, as well as his verbal and calculation abilities, preventing him from properly reading and speaking. This unique electrode, which is attached in his head, connects him with the Misaka Network and thanks to the limited connection to the brainwave network he has gained enough calculation ability to think normally, understand and speak, walk, etc. The choker has three modes: off, normal mode, and esper mode, where the battery runs out in 15 minutes after entering this mode. This was later modified to 30 minutes, but it was also tampered with at the same time with a safety device that allows for someone to remotely prevent the device from switching to esper mode.
 * Modified crutch: The crutch Accelerator always uses to support his body when he is in normal mode contains a small motor and weight distribution sensors that allows it to determine Accelerator's center of gravity. Instead of ending a single leg like a regular crutch, it ends with four legs attached to the end like a microphone stand, which, according to the narration, "holds the ground" helping Accelerator to get up when he is down. The staff along with the four legs can be retracted in and out of the cuff. However, its more important feature is a component inserted by Accelerator that blocks other interference devices. The crutch allows for Accelerator to block specific wavelengths after successfully analyzing it and, using the equipment in the crutch, generate an interfering wavelength specifically engineered to block the original wavelength.
 * Board Chairman Smartphone: Upon him being appointed at the position of Board Chairman of Academy city from Aleister Crowley, Accelerator was also given Crowley's personal smartphone containing all of the city's highest authority to the Bank, key codes to once again reactivate the city, data on all of the city's research, access to its high technology weapons and authority over the city's laws itself.