Misaka Mikoto/Abilities

This article details Misaka Mikoto's abilities.

Esper Ability
Mikoto's power is known as the Railgun (超電磁砲 (レールガン) ). She chose the ability name herself, naming it after her famous finishing move. Her ability belongs to a type of esper powers known as Electromaster (電撃使い (エレクトロマスター) ): those who can generate and manipulate electricity.

Mikoto is the most powerful Electromaster in Academy City. Her maximum output is known to be 1 billion volts. She has also demonstrated enough skill and battle knowledge to fight head-on with powerful beings such as a Saint like Brunhild Eiktobel.

Railgun
The Railgun (超電磁砲</rb> (</rp>レールガン</rt>) </rp>) is Mikoto's signature technique, the source of her epithet and her ability name.

Operating in a manner similar to its, by forming parallel currents on both sides of her arm with her electricity and utilizing , Mikoto can fire metal objects at three times the speed of sound. She primarily uses arcade coins as her projectiles for portability. According to the System Scan on July 16th of the current year, her Railgun has a muzzle velocity of 1030 m/s (2307.2 mph), a firing rate of 8 shots per minute and a projectile distribution of 18.9mm.

The Railgun's primary limiting factor is air resistance and the resulting friction. As the projectile passes through the air at supersonic speeds, the friction causes a loss of kinetic energy and generates heat, building up to levels which cause most projectiles to melt. With her typical projectiles, the arcade coins are entirely vaporized after travelling 50 meters. Larger projectiles usually have a longer maximum range and more destructive power.

Aside from using different projectiles, Mikoto has also used or referred to several variations of her Railgun:
 * While using a giant iron sand puppet in her battle with the Doppelganger and its giant debris puppet, Mikoto used the electricity built up within her giant's iron sand body to fire off iron sand bullets from it in a manner similar to her Railgun. These shots were capable of punching through her enemy's debris giant and accurately hitting targets several kilometers away.
 * Liquid Proof Railgun (液状被覆超電磁砲</rb> (</rp>リキッドプルーフレールガン</rt>) </rp>): A variation which Mikoto used with support from Shokuhou Misaki while piloting the Anti-Art Attachment. Utilizing the ability to manipulate liquids with fine control which forms the foundation of Mental Out in cojunction with Mikoto's electromagnetic ability, a slight liquid coating is applied to the coin used as a projectile, with a special lattice pattern designed to melt in a specific way, described as requiring precision far greater than the ablative heat shield used to protect a space shuttle during atmospheric re-entry. Where the coin would normally melt due to friction from air resistance, the ablative coating takes away the frictional heat and cools the coin, melting in a specific way to preserve it. As the liquid explosively expands as steam, it accelerates the coin further, resulting in it gaining speed as it flies. With the frictional bottleneck neutralized and additional acceleration beyond the initial launch, the Railgun's normal speed and distance limits are removed, resulting in increased destructive power. The Liquid Proof Railgun is capable of penetrating the Windowless Building's Calculate Fortress, which was capable of withstanding a nuclear blast, and not even Accelerator which throwing a building with the rotational energy of the planet wasn't enough to dent the windowless building.
 * While being annoyed by Misaka Worst, Mikoto threatened to unleash a never-before-seen Rail-Shotgun on her.

Electricity


As an Electromaster, Mikoto is capable of generating and manipulating electricity, and being the strongest Electromaster, she can do this on a scale beyond any other such espers in Academy City. Her maximum output is known to be 1 billion volts, rivaling that of a thermal power station (though apparently not for total amount of power produced in a day), and can easily meet power requirements on the level of a battleship's diesel engine. Her body is immune to the effects of its own electricity, as well as electrocution from external sources.

Mikoto can discharge electricity from her body in order to attack or incapacitate a target, both from direct contact and at a distance. She has often launched such attacks from her forehead, in a form described as a "lightning spear" (雷撃の槍).

Given her level of power, Mikoto is also capable of using her ability to call down real lightning, regardless of the season, with power enough to cause a city-wide blackout. Beyond a single lightning strike, she can call down massive thunderclouds with multiple lightning strikes occurring from within. She is one of only a few espers capable of this degree of large-scale weather control.

Mikoto's strong electricity can cause and she has utilized it with the air for a number of purposes. When at high altitudes and supersonic speeds without the protection of a cockpit or life support systems (such as when flying the A.A.A.), Mikoto can open a 'hole' in the atmosphere by breaking air down, providing her with oxygen while also causing rushing air to naturally be redirect (as fluids flow from denser to less dense areas), preventing frictional damage. When facing Shundan Kimi, who was countering her electricity with her own apparently electrical attacks, Mikoto used the electrical breakdown of air and the subsequent currents to guide her opponent's attacks, and create an opening for one of her own.

During the Liberal Arts City incident, Mikoto was able to use electricity and the large amount of water vapor in her surroundings for flight. As a result of large-scale attacks on the ocean at the time, a large amount of water vapor was present in the surrounding air. Using formulas similar to the ones used for her iron sand sword, she manipulated water vapor into wings, using static electricity from interactions between particles, and used her electrical power to induce electrolysis, obtaining hydrogen and oxygen to use as fuel. This flight method depleted the water vapor in the air as it was used, going below the required levels to maintain it within a short amount of time.

Mikoto can also use the light produced from the electrical phenomena she creates to blind or distract an enemy's eyes,   such from the flash of a basic electrical discharge,  or from ionizing empty cans to create plasma.

Electromagnetism

 * Electromagnetism: Mikoto can use electromagnetism to attract and repel metallic materials and use it to her advantage. Examples include creating a make-shift shield out of scrap metal, walking on walls and ceilings, as well as attracting iron particles in the ground around her. She can also use electromagnetism to interfere with radar, and radar-based weapons liked guided missiles. She can use it to manipulate metal tools or weapons held by the enemy, interfering or completely stopping their attacks. She can also magnetize them so that all sorts of iron objects will attach to them, increasing their weight. Her power and control over electromagnetism is enough to be able to temporarily support several uprooted and pilled up buildings while preventing the structures and their occupants from being crushed. She is also capable of manipulating electromagnetic waves, such as microwaves, and diverting them.
 * Wall-Crawling: By manipulating electromagnetism, this type of esper can also move three dimensionally by running on walls  and ceilings.
 * Enhanced Speed: By channeling electricity in feets, Misaka can increase his speed.
 * Powerful Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP): Mikoto can create magnetic pulses that can disable machines. Also, her EMP attack can be used to destroy a living opponent's internal organs.

Iron Sand
During her battle with Kuriba Ryouko's doppelganger, Mikoto used her ability to create a gigantic puppet out of dust and iron sand to match the doppelganger's own gigantic puppet. This puppet is somewhat fragile due to the small parts making up its body, but it can regenerate and change forms. Additionally, the iron sand can infiltrate wounds inflicted to its enemy and cut it from within. The vibrating iron sand particles inside the puppet rub together and build up electricity, making the puppet dangerous to touch and can be used to fire an iron sand bullet, which penetrated the armor of the doppelganger's giant puppet and caused massive damage to it.

Mikoto can combine her electricity and iron sand to create a large cage to trap an enemy. First, Mikoto creates several hundred iron sand balls around her, which spread around the area before dividing into smaller spinning balls. The balls then start emitting bluish sparks as Mikoto uses them to conduct electricity to cover the gaps between the iron sand balls, forming the cage. Mikoto can freely control the size and shape of this cage, and can repair it and reform it in case it's damaged by controlling iron sand.

Hacking

 * Cracking/Hacking: Using her electric powers she can hack any electronic device and bypass normal electronic security measures with ease. She can decode the electronic flow of information, like to steal the information from a credit card's magnetic strip, as well as directly process a computer's information in binary. This skill also enables her to perform acts such as erasing herself from security footage in real time or taking control of Academy City's roving security robots. Furthermore, it is revealed in Volume 7 of New Testament that she can even use her power to take control of cars.

Sensory and Biological Applications
As an electromaster, Mikoto is of course able to sense electric, magnetic, and electromagnetic phenomena. She is, however, able to follow the electric and magnetic field lines using her eyes, something that normal electromasters are unable to do with their limited power.

Mikoto is constantly emitting electromagnetic waves and can sense those released waves. With this radar, she can sense attacks coming from her blind spots, blocks three attacks from AIM Burst without looking,  deflects a falling ventilation shaft she doesn’t see and reflects shrapnel away from her,  and even to enable her to see the image of the room three-dimensionally without the use of her sight, giving her no blind spots.

During her battle with Kiyama Harumi, Mikoto inadvertently read her memories and saw her past through a connection formed when she grabbed and shocked her at point-blank range.

Mikoto has been shown to be immune to the effects of telepathic manipulation due to the electromagnetic barrier created by her AIM Diffusion Field.

Although the application of her power to help people with muscular dystrophy was a pretext to acquire her DNA map, Mikoto was capable of using her powers to control and move her muscles and nerves when they had been rendered ineffective through the use of an injected drug. The cost of this was that it required her to constantly use her powers on her body, effectively making her a walking stun gun.

Mikoto has also learned from Hokaze Junko how to use the same physical strengthening method which Hokaze uses with her Rampage Dress. The method is noted to require really fine control and a single mistake could mean serious injury, with Mikoto's power strong enough that she has to be very careful to avoid frying her own nerves or breaking her bones. On one occasion, when she forcibly jumped forward in response to an ambush from behind, Mikoto dislocated her thigh. As well as the whole body, she can limit the areas which are strengthened (such as restricting it to her triceps or legs), and has used it to descend several storeys and cover a moderate distance under the cover of a brief flash.

Mikoto is also capable of using microwaves for warmth, and applying electricity for a massage.

Exterior-forced Misaka Network connection
During the Daihaseisai, Kihara Gensei takes over Exterior, shatters the defenses Shokuhou Misaki had set-up for the Sisters against electrical viruses, and infects them with a virus that forcibly connects the Misaka Network with Mikoto. Here, Mikoto receives a tremendous amount of power, and her appearance changes as she continues to grow in power towards Level 6. Her consciousness is also suppressed due to the external influence. According to Gensei, at 53% of the way, her mind would be distorted into that of something from a different dimension. At 100% her mind and body would be destroyed as they exceed their limits, taking Academy City with her. According to Misaki, Touma’s presence (likely referring to his Imagine Breaker) restrains her growth, while Gensei says that Imagine Breaker acting as a stimulus and Sogiita Gunha with his non-standard power would cause something extraordinary to occur. It is likely the transformations Mikoto goes through is affected by Touma and Gunha’s presence.

During the course of Mikoto being forcibly used as a subject to become a Level 6, she transforms a few times, becoming more powerful each time:
 * Initial form: Mikoto’s initial form upon engulfing the power of the Misaka Network, Mikoto’s appearance changes. Her hair becomes swept back, with a few fringes gathering together to form two horn-like appearances on her head. The sclera of her eyes also darken. The most obvious change, however, is the appearance of two ribbon-like objects with diamond shaped objects attached to them that hug around Mikoto’s arms. It is likely a mass of compressed energy, as Gunha would later be hit by similar things later.
 * Described by Gensei as 2% up along the path of a Level 6, already it is powerful enough to create a large electric attack that completely engulfs the already tall Windowless Building and a large area that surrounds the building, though predictably the Windowless Building is unscathed. This attack is referenced as the largest scale lightning strike ever recorded. Other features of her power include creating smaller strikes that resemble beams of energy, manipulating several chunks of metal and iron sand, and seemingly traveling through the strike of her electricity - literally “riding the lightning.”
 * First transformation: Mikoto transforms even further, and her appearance changes drastically. Her horns begin transforming and hardening, forming an onion-dome shaped structure on her head, at the widest part sits something that looks like an eye. Something revolves around the tapering structure, and at the top sits a sphere, like a miniature Saturn. As for the rest of Mikoto's body, the ribbons from before have begun connecting to her body itself. Her hands and feet have tapered as well and are connected with the ribbons.
 * Under this form, Mikoto can use those ribbon-like things to attack, which Gunha describes as a compressed mass of energy after hit by it. It is apparently solid enough as Gunha is also pinned down by ribbon-like objects much later. Likely, all of the powers that Mikoto displayed in her previous form is retained here and in a stronger version.
 * Second transformation: What Gensei describes as the Opening Stage, this is her final form just before she is turned back to normal. Her hair is swept back, and a complex halo appears over her head: a circle with four points on each direction, and floating at the center of it is something of rectangular shaped, tapering at both ends, with the bottom part being shorter. All of her clothes disappear. Her head down to the area of her collarbones are colored black and dotted by something resembling stars; it’s as if it was outer space or the night sky. Her hands and feet have disappeared. Her hand becoming claw-like with ribbon like protrusions, with her legs even more abstract-looking, connecting through the ribbons.
 * After Kouzaku Mitori seemingly defeats Kuroko, she uses her Mental Out power from Exterior and orders Mikoto to destroy the Windowless Building again. Then the ground where Mikoto is floating on turns black. Mikoto holds out her hand where she forms a large black sphere of energy. Gunha would later describe this as something from another world that cannot be understood. Mikoto would later describe it as something that she called in by her desire to crush and eliminate the parts of Academy City she doesn’t like.

Other Skills
Other than her esper powers, Mikoto is in top form physically and mentally.
 * Genius-Level Intellect: Misaka is highly intelligent, her brain being equivalent to a supercomputer as a Level 5 esper, with aptitudes specifically in engineering and physics. She is one of the smartest students from Tokiwadai Middle School, being able to guide others about them over a phone call, and was able to answer a few questions from Touma's summer homework with ease.
 * Master Marksman: Misaka is an extremely skilled marksman.
 * Musician: Mikoto can play the violin to some extent. She taught Uiharu a little to play the violin.

Anti-Art Attachment


Following her initial encounter with the Anti-Art Attachment, Mikoto had a modified version of the powered suit created for her own use. This Anti-Art Attachment possesses most of the armaments and firepower used by the original version. Mikoto has attempted to reconstruct the original's 'black box,' but apparently hasn't been able to recreate it. She has been experiencing nose bleeds since she began to use the A.A.A.