Mugino Shizuri

Mugino Shizuri (麦野 沈利) is of the Level 5 espers, ranking fourth after Mikoto Misaka, and is one of the antagonists in the Toaru Kagaku no Railgun manga.

She is the leader of ITEM, which is at odds with SCHOOL, led by the second most powerful Level 5 Kakine Teitoku. She looks down upon lower-level espers and does not mind eliminating people who get in her way or who go against her, regardless of whether they are allies or enemies. Her overconfidence eventually results in her defeat against Level 0 drop-out Hamazura Shiage.

Plot
Prior to the events of the novel, she and her group are hired to stop Misaka Mikoto from destroying the facilities that are running experiments with the Misaka clones and Accelerator. She fights Mikoto who proves to be a worthy opponent and pushes her close to death. While she was gaining the upper hand, Mikoto makes use of Frenda's traps in the facility and destroys the platform they stood on, dropping to the bottom. She survives the fall and apprehends some of the scientists and finds out about the Level 6 Shift Program and decided to let her be.

Volume 15 of the series is her and ITEM's first appearance in the main story line. She and her group was hired to stop SCHOOL's assassination on Director Oyafune Monaka. She kills Frenda for trying to defect to SCHOOL. ITEM fought SCHOOL once at Kirigaoka Girls' Academy, which resulted in Mugino's defeat by Kakine Teitoku, and half her coat being burnt, and half her face swelled up after being hit by Kakine.

During the events of Volume 15, she loses her left arm and part of her right eye to Hamazura Shiage. In Volume 19, they are replaced with masses of energy with the help of her own ability.

Personality
Mugino may seem gentle and kind, but in reality she's a sadistic, battle-hungry fighter who looks down on all she deems weaker. She does show a little compassion towards her teammates, but she would get rid of them in a heartbeat if they got in her way. Later in the series she develops a rather twisted personality after Hamazura defeated her, resembling a Yandere crush in which she has marked him as her prey and hers alone.

Abilities
Her ability is, which converts electrons into unstable destructive matter that is said to be in a state between particles and waves. She can use her ability to fire up to four beams at once, create a defensive shield that can melt/disintegrate steel, and supposedly her ability even grants her the ability to turn into an intangible energy, allowing her to phase through attacks. It is so powerful that she needs a limiter put on so that she doesn't end up hurting herself. She carries around silicon cards that can disperse her laser shots into multiple ones.

Unfortunately, her ability is highly unstable, as demonstrated when her arm was lost when she used too much of her power.