Death Battle Predictions: Killua VS Misaka

 

“Relationships are like electric currents. Wrong connections will give you shocks throughout your life. But the right ones will light up your life.” - Leonardo DiCaprio

Killua Zoldyck, The Lightning Assassin turned Hunter from Hunter × Hunter.

Misaka Mikoto, The Level 5 Railgun from A Certain Magical Index

Hailing from the infamous Zoldyck family and the illustrious Tokiwadai Middle School, few stars in anime shine brighter than these electrifying fan favorites. They may seem ordinary on the surface, but beneath lies unbreakable spirits that have withstood some of the darkest abuse their worlds have to offer. Just don’t threaten their sisters, and you’ll find they know how to have some fun, too.

It’s a battle of Nen and AIM, yo-yos and arcade coins, zappy-zaps and biri-biris. Only one of these prodigious electromasters can live to see another day, so strap in and settle for a superb spark-filled show! Will Hunter × Hunter make its DEATH BATTLE! debut with a shocking victory, or will it short circuit in the face of the Railgun?

Before We Start…

For Killua, we will be looking at all his canon material, which includes the original manga and both the 1999 and 2011 anime. We will also be taking a look at his two non-canon movie appearances. Obviously no crossover scaling from the Shonen Jump crossover games will be used.

As for Misaka, we’ll be looking at all of her series’ expansive canon media. This includes the original Light Novels, the manga content, and the anime adaptations. It should go without saying, but no wacky crossover antics here, with regards to Durarara!, Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax, Super Robot Wars, etc. Additionally, as far as the videogames are concerned, we won’t be delving into the PSP game or the mobile game, Imaginary Fest, at least as far as scaling is concerned. More specifically however, there are certain aspects of Misaka’s arsenal that will not be in consideration; namely, her Anti-Art Attachment (A.A.A.) and Level 6 Shift form. Those will be addressed in more detail later, but to summarize, we’re looking at Misaka at her most consistent, without temporary weapons or short-lived power boosts. 

Additionally, huge thanks to ChaosTheory for a lot of the Hunter × Hunter calcs/pixel scaling in the blog.

Background

Killua Zoldyck

“Assassination — It’s the family trade. We all take it up. My folks see me as an exceptional prospect. But I don’t see that I should have to live up to their expectations”

To many, a life of freedom and fulfillment is all that anyone could want. But unfortunately, life always brings predetermined expectations that keep us from reaching our full potential. In moments like these, it’s important to surround yourself with those who will support you at your lowest and push you to be the person you want to be. However, all of this couldn’t be more than the complete opposite for the teenage Hunter, Killua Zoldyck.

Born as the middle child of the Zoldyck family, Killua was taught from a young age the art of assassination in order to one day take up his family’s occupation as a globe-trotting assassin. As such, not only was Killua taught the many ways of how to kill a person as lethally or quickly as possible, but was also tortured with electricity and poison to convert him into the toughest assassin possible. However, as Killua grew, he realized that the life of an assassin was not only insanely boring, but also restrictive to the point where he wasn’t able to have any friends. So by the age of 11, after leaving his mom and older brother parting gifts they won’t ever forget, Killua ran away from home in search of a better life.

His self-journey would eventually lead him to partake in the Hunter Exam, a yearly life-threatening series of challenges that, should he pass, would grant him the title of the most renowned profession of his world, a Hunter. Killua may have entered just for fun, but it was there that he would meet who would soon become his best friend, Gon Freecss. You’d think that Killua’s chances of making friends would be incredibly low after a life of isolation, but thanks to Gon’s friendly personality, the two hit it off with each other extremely well. Eventually, once they made it to the end of the Hunter Exam, Killua agreed to travel alongside Gon, to not only look after him, but also help find his dad.

Together, Killua and Gon’s misadventures took them to all sorts of places such as a fighting tournament called Heavens Arena which Killua had reached the upper echelon of before, an auction at Yorknew City where they got roped into a conspiracy with an infamous criminal group, and a video game called Greed Island where they had to collect specialized cards in order to win and help Gon track down his dad. The ending of the last adventure led both Killua and Gon to meet an old friend of Gon’s dad, Kite. From there, Killua and Gon joined Kite and his group and sought to uncover the sudden appearance of supernatural bugs called Chimera Ants. The case of Chimera Ants would prove to be the hardest challenge the two would ever face and, after Kite’s death, Gon’s mental state took a turn for the worst.

Still, no matter how far Gon strayed from the right path, Killua promised that he would always stay by his side and do whatever he could to be the best friend that Gon could always rely on. This led to Killua breaking free from a mentally inhibiting needle injected within him by his older brother Illumi. While Illumi intended for this needle to keep his younger brother safe by preventing Killua from engaging in fights against more powerful opponents, Killua knew that in order to face off against the best of the best, he would have to reject his brother’s manipulation and forcibly remove the needle, all in the hopes of becoming as strong as he could possibly be. From then on, Killua could fight without any limitations, and he was fully prepared to defend both himself and Gon from the powerful Chimera Ants that would await them.

Thanks to this, Killua and Gon were successful in their war against the Chimera Ants, but the lengths Gon went to achieve victory left him in a critical condition. Because of this, Killua sought out the help of his long-forgotten sister, Alluka, and asked her to use her powers to save Gon’s life. Finally, after using Alluka’s powers to save Gon as well as making up with his sister’s alternate persona, Nanika, Killua and Gon finally went their separate ways, knowing that no matter where they would be headed in the future, they could always count on one another to be there when they need each other most. It was thanks to the help of true friends that Killua finally realized what person he could truly be, and for the first time in Killua’s life, he was satisfied with the person he was. Killua can now look ahead at a future that he can mold however he wants with his sister at his side. While uncertainties will surely pop up wherever he ventures, even still, Killua couldn’t be more excited to delve into them headfirst at Lightning Speed.

Misaka Mikoto

“There’s no reason to fall off the cliff while bound by meaningless principles and ideologies. If you’re reaching for the happiness you alone believe in, it doesn’t matter if you have to spit on your own words, as long as it all works out in the end.”

Welcome to Academy City, a scientific utopia more than 20 years ahead of the world in technological advancements. In this bustling city resides many students that enroll in the state-funded Power Curriculum Program, designed to draw out fantastic Esper powers. Naturally, as with any super-powered-people society, there exists a scale by which to categorize and rank the powers wielded by the city’s student population. Levels 1-3 are relatively tame, Level 4s begin to up the ante, but Level 5s take things to a whole new level. There are only seven Level 5s in Academy City, and among the weird, the cunning, the insane, the broken, and the godlike, you can find the one and only Railgun, Misaka Mikoto. She may be one of the city’s most powerful Espers, but don’t fret; she’s actually pretty chill and down to earth! Misaka spends her time doing normal teenager things, like reading manga, gaming at the arcade, kicking those damn dirty vending machines that always cheat you out of your money, and going to school. As long as you don’t get between her and her beloved Gekota merch, you’ve got nothing to worry about.

At a young age, Misaka, like many of her peers, took part in the city’s power programs; but also like many others, her potential for power development made her a target for the city’s inner circle of morally depraved scientists. Misaka’s naive and well-intentioned nature resulted in her willingly giving up a sample of her DNA, believing it would help produce a cure for certain physical diseases. Over time, Misaka indeed developed well past her previous boundaries, going from Level 1 to Level 4 and, soon enough, a Level 5. Enrolling in the renowned and prestigious Tokiwadai Middle School, she quickly became recognized as one of the most prolific Espers of her tier, alongside fellow Tokiwadai student and Level 5, the mind-controlling Shokuhou Misaki. Together, these two bitter rivals became known as Tokiwadai’s “Ace” and “Queen”, respectively. As Tokiwadai’s prized Railgun, Misaka began to earn a bit of a reputation for herself. Her powers let her settle any petty street fight she got into, and she had (mostly) utmost adoration from her peers. 

Needless to say, things seemed to be going well for Misaka, until she learned of the Level 6 Shift project, a top-secret government conspiracy to clone her 20 thousand times using that DNA she gave up. For what, you may ask? To her horror, the clones would serve as cannon fodder for the City’s #1 esper, Accelerator, in the hopes of ‘leveling’ him up to the unprecedented Level 6. It’d have been one thing if the clones were mindless robots, but Misaka quickly realized these clones - her “Sisters” - were just as real and complex as any ordinary human girl. Despite the shellshock from learning the city she called home was harboring such repugnant experiments, Misaka worked tirelessly to destroy the facilities acting out these secret slaughters.

Alas, she alone couldn’t stop such a sprawling, city-wide machination. Misaka could do nothing but watch as the Sisters marched obediently to their inevitable deaths, the only purpose their lives had been given. Hope seemed lost, and Misaka resolved to sacrifice her own life in combat with Accelerator, in the hope that it would halt the experiment’s progress, even if only a little. After all, if the real Level 5 herself fought the #1 and performed pathetically, what appeal would there be in continuing to use her clones? That was Misaka’s resolve, until a certain spiky-haired boy named Touma stepped in, helping to save Misaka from her own despair. Though it certainly wasn’t easy, the combined efforts of Touma, Misaka, and the Sisters managed to stop Accelerator and put an end to the City’s plans… for the time being. 

Over time, Misaka began to develop feelings for Touma, and tried to return the kindness and unfaltering selflessness he had shown her. However, she was completely unaware of the impossible Magic Gods, sorcerers, and *gulp* British people Touma had been dealing with (this is where the magic side of the Index world comes in). Despite all her power, she couldn’t keep up with the strange arcane powers she found Touma wrapped up in; she was utterly outclassed. This revelation hit Misaka hard, as she had always been a big fish in a small pond, so-to-speak. Since then, she’s been trying to ‘catch up’ to Touma as best she can, wanting to help the boy who had selflessly done so much, going so far as to put his life on the line for her.

On the plus side, though, Mikoto eventually began to reconcile her feud with Shokuhou, and the two formed an unlikely alliance. While they may not be able to fully comprehend the Magic at play in Academy City, the Ace and Queen have proven to make an incredible team, even achieving feats Accelerator himself was incapable of. In this way, Misaka has taken strides toward putting her pride aside for the sake of a higher purpose, which may just be the key toward her overcoming - or accepting - her own personal shortcomings.

Skill & Intellect

Killua

Killua's extremely experienced in hand-to-hand combat, given the fact he had been trained to become an assassin at an extremely young age. At the age of 6 he was forced to get to floor 200 on Heaven’s Arena, a feat which took him two years. (Given it only took two months to get to the 150th floor). 

Killua is also a Nen prodigy and is often praised by his instructors, He was able to successfully deal with the awakening of his aura nodes though Nen Baptism, a process that is greatly frowned upon because of the strain it can put on one's body. He was able to change the attribute of his Aura in only 4 days. This can be attributed to his years of electrical torture, but applying it was still incredibly impressive. He was able to use Ten on his first try, learned Ren and Gyo in a single night, and was able to perform Zetsu without any tips or hints just by seeing it once. He can use Ren for three hours straight and he can constantly use Ten. He formed Ko almost instantly which he used to knock out Gon.

While Killua’s parents aren’t one for instructing formal education onto their kids, their assassin training was still informative enough to allow him to showcase impressive displays of tactical analysis amidst combat. Killua has proven that he can accurately form predictions that help him read his opponents movements in order to pinpoint openings in their fighting stance, and he has even shown efficiency in analyzing and discerning thought patterns to be able to pick up traces of hostility from the opposition. He can even discern a Nen User attempting to conceal themselves just based on the slight imperfections they enact when activating Zetsu (more on that later).

On top of this, Killua is also a fellow power scaler (well ain’t that something). More specifically, this just means that Killua is able to evaluate and estimate a given character’s power level in comparison to either himself or anyone else that could be going up against said character. Thus, Killua has proven he can discern the physical advantages that his opponent might have over him, be able to calculate the success rate of a favorable outcome, and allow himself to adapt his battle strategy in order to better achieve his desired victory in spite of the disadvantages.

Misaka

As one of the top Espers in Academy City, Misaka isn’t just powerful, but also incredibly intelligent. Esper abilities require specific calculations in order to be produced efficiently. Level 4 Espers below Misaka, like Shirai Kuroko, calculate up to 11 dimensional space so as to safely and accurately teleport; and these calculations must be near-instantaneous, not to mention 100% accurate in the midst of combat. Misaka herself has shown a specialty in engineering, hacking, and has a plethora of knowledge regarding physics and general sciences; after all, she developed the Railgun technique herself practically on the fly, simply because it made sense to her at the moment. In combat, she’s known for being extremely perceptive and quick-to-adapt to unfamiliar power sets, as demonstrated in her fight against the Doppelganger. 

Other Espers such as Raifu have remarked that Misaka has a great intuition as well, piecing together her opponent’s intended strategy with ease. She tends to develop a long-term strategy against particularly difficult opponents, planting seeds that will help her turn the tide later on. For example, she has hacked robots to come to her rescue after a certain amount of time, and has planted iron sand within objects as a failsafe to destroy them from the inside if need be. All things considered, it’s no wonder she managed to rise the ranks from Level 1 to Level 5, given her natural intellect and hardworking nature.

Despite lacking any proper hand-to-hand combat training, Misaka is also surprisingly adept at engaging in fisticuffs. She has accumulated years of experience winning street brawls, which has naturally led her to adopt some basic defensive techniques, as well as develop an understanding of unarmed combat. She’s not afraid to fight dirty if need be, which has let her get the better of more experienced brawlers in combat before. While lacking in finesse, Misaka can still hold her own even when outmatched against assassins and seasoned fighters. When Misaka fought Raifu, she was able to quickly recognize her opponent’s desire to finish things up close; her natural response to this was to fling herself away using magnetism in order to maintain a safe distance. When that failed, Misaka managed to defend herself up-close using a magnetized shield, demonstrating her tendency to adapt and reposition herself into a favorable spot if it’s within her power to do so. Beyond raw combat ability, Misaka is also a very accurate shot, able to precisely obliterate only the head of a spoon with her Railgun.

Equipment

Killua

Yo-Yos

Durable yo-yos that each weigh 50 kg, they are constructed of an unnamed metal alloy that also serves as an excellent electrical conductor.

Skateboard

It’s Killua’s handy dandy skateboard. It doesn’t have any useful abilities other than allowing him to travel faster than walking and running.

Knife 

A knife that Killua has used to force Sadaso (a cheating Nen User) to give up his treacherous ways and quit competing in the Heaven’s Arena tournament. Although he has yet to wield this weapon in combat, it’s extremely likely he knows how to, given his background as an assassin.

Taser

A taser that Killua initially utilized on himself as a means to transmute his Nen with the properties of electricity. While he has yet to wield this taser as a means of offense, similar to his knife, there is little reason to assume he wouldn't if the time was right.

Misaka

Arcade Coins

Misaka’s most standard and iconic equipment is her tried-and-true collection of arcade coins, of which she carries a handful on her person at all times. Rather than use the coins as direct projectiles, she instead uses them as ammo for her signature move, the Railgun.

Abilities

Killua

Finger Claws

Killua can strengthen and sharpen his fingers at will to form piercing claws.

Joint & Muscle Control

Killua is capable of dislocating his joints at will. He dislocated his shoulders, arms, and fingers to escape Machi’s strings while they were restraining him.

Rhythm Echo

An advanced assassination technique, Rhythm Echo allows one to create a series of afterimages by moving continuously in a rhythmic fashion. It completely masks the user's sound completely while the afterimages disorients a target, making it a useful way of landing a discreet fatal blow on an unsuspecting opponent.

The Snake Awakens

A technique Killua activates when in his Assassin Mode which allows him to move his arms with such incredible speed and fluidity that they can be mistaken as whips. It not only looks cool, but it has been shown to cleave through limbs of a genetically enhanced Chimera Ant.

Assassin Mode

Killua enters a heightened state of concentration where he is fully focused on killing his opponent. Killua also states that there is a noticeable increase in his overall power when he enters this mode.

Nen

Oh God here comes this can of worms… In the world of Hunter × Hunter, Nen is an ever flowing, spiritual energy that resides within each and every living organism. Various differing techniques are derived from Nen, as any living being has the ability to manipulate and control their own life energy, or “aura”. Nen is primarily utilized within the realm of combat, as most Nen Users are regarded as being among the strongest and most skilled fighters in the world. Not only that, but when talking about the many Nen Users within Hunter × Hunter, no two practitioners are the same. Due to Nen deriving from a person’s life energy, their feelings and desires are able to mold their aura to suit whatever fighting style fits them the best.

Four Major Principles

In order to gain a deep understanding of Nen, one must first learn about its Four Major Principles. Ten, Zetsu, Ren, and Hatsu are the four principles that are naturally studied under the Shingen-Ryu school of Kung Fu. By studying and practicing these principles to the point of being second nature, an aspiring Nen User will have access to “many'' of the combat capabilities that their Nen can provide.

Ten

Ten is the first of the four principles of Nen. While it may seem basic, it’s actually the most important aspect of Nen. Ten is the process of keeping their aura nodes open at all times and causing said aura to continuously flow throughout the entire body. Due to the energy of the body no longer leaking out, this grants the user reduced aging. Finally, Ten grants a defense against both emotional and physical attacks, although the latter is quite limited. 

Zetsu

Zetsu is the second of the four principles of Nen. If Ten is the ability to open all Aura nodes, then Zetsu does the opposite and closes them all. By closing one’s Aura nodes, the user becomes almost impossible to sense. While this does make seeing the Aura of others also impossible, the sensibilities towards the Aura of others is heightened.

Ren

Ren is the third of the Nen principles and is the ability to exert your aura to an immense degree, increasing the user’s physical power, durability and granting a wider aura pool for stronger and more expensive skills. Users of Ren can also weaponize their hostility as “bloodlust”. This can cause a variety of effects such as paralysis, immense dread or even death if the victim is not using Ten. If the Ren is sufficiently strong and malevolent, mere exposure can cause mental breakdowns for even those with Nen defenses.

Hatsu

Hatsu is the final principle of Nen and is essentially the ability to express a person’s Nen through Nen techniques. Through the use of Hatsu, a person is able to project their own aura to perform abilities specific to that person’s Nen Aura Type (more on that later). Through enough practice, Hatsu can allow a person to create a wide variety of possible techniques that are more or less tailor-made for the person in question.

Miscellaneous 

Nen Crush

Nen Crush, or Nen Baptism, is the principle of releasing aura from your body and directing it at someone else. Anyone who has not had their Nen Nodes/Pores opened will feel as if they are held in place or “crushed” by the aura, especially if the aura is laced with Malice. Fighting against this “Nen barrier” without beforehand experiencing Nen (via opening the nodes) can supposedly lead to death according to Wing. While death has never been shown on panel, Nen Crush has caused severe fear to people exposed to it, like Killua and Gon before they unlocked Nen.

It should be noted only a select number of characters have been shown causing this effect, usually via a released aura mixed in with malice, as shown with Hisoka. That being said, Killua has caused Rammot to experience a similar effect. (More on this before the verdicts)

Advanced Nen Techniques

Gyo

Gyo is a more advanced application of Ren where a person focuses larger quantities of aura around a specific body part. It increases the strength of the body part at the stipulation of leaving the rest of the body more vulnerable as a result. When applied to the eyes, it allows a user to see a person’s aura that would otherwise be too faint or invisible to spot normally.

 

Ko

Ko is the technique that focuses all of one’s aura into one spot. This technique makes the area where the aura is focused extremely powerful at the cost of making the rest of the body defenseless. Due to this, Ko is purely an offensive ability.

Ken

An advanced version of both Ten and Ren. This is a very powerful defensive ability that protects the user's body from all directions. Due to the massive amount of aura it emits, this ability is very tiring to use. The aura can be expanded in range to be able to sense attacks that the user wouldn’t be able to see normally.

Ryu

Ryu is a state of utilizing Gyo while in a state of Ken to have a balance of offense and defense. The user is capable of distributing certain percentages of their aura to different parts of their body to better adapt to the situation. This requires great control over one’s Nen to use.

En

An advanced form of Ten and Ren where the user’s aura extends to a minimum of a range of two meters. This allows the user to sense the shape and movements of everything within the range of their aura. This is especially useful for finding fellow Nen users due to their movements being immediately detectable upon entering a field of En. This technique however is extremely tiring and drains the user of their Nen constantly.

It is important to note that despite Killua being incapable of extending the radius of his aura to the full two meters that’s required with En. He can use this application of Nen at a smaller scale of fifty seven centimeters instead.

Shu

An advanced form of Ten. By enveloping one's Aura around an object one can strengthen and protect said objects, essentially making them extensions of the wielder's body. This technique can also be used in conjunction with other advanced Nen abilities such as Ko.

Nen Aura Types

Every Nen user in Hunter × Hunter can be placed into a different category of Aura Type. This is usually discovered after the Water Divination test which involves projecting Nen onto a glass of water with a leaf on top. The manner in which the water and leaf react will determine a person’s Aura Type. Specifically, there are six Aura Types that a person can be identified as: Enhancers, Transmuters, Emitters, Manipulators, Conjurers, and Specialists. Outside of Specialists, even if a person is placed of a specific Aura type, they are still capable of learning and practicing Nen techniques from other Aura Types, just with less effectiveness. In Killua’s case, he is placed under the Nen Aura Type of a Transmuter. As a Transmuter, Killua can change the properties of his Nen to replicate the specific attributes of whatever he desires. This can range from just mimicking the aspects of a certain element to altering the required properties of an element to best suit his needs. 

Nen Abilities

After further training in his usage of Nen, Killua managed to develop his own Hatsu ability; the ability to transmute his Nen aura into electricity. This is due to his resistance to electricity after years of being exposed to it while training as an assassin as well as his Nen type being a Transmuter. Despite the fact that Killua must first charge his body up with electricity first in order to use his Nen abilities, after doing so he can utilize these abilities in multiple useful ways.

Lightning Palm

A technique where Killua simply produces electricity within his palms and fires a small stream of electricity from them in order to stun or paralyze his target up close.

Thunderbolt

Killua charges electricity into his hand and fires a large thunderbolt towards his target from a great distance away, resulting in the target getting temporarily stunned or paralyzed.

Object Conduction

Killua can surge his electricity through objects that he’s touching, resulting in that object electrocuting anyone who makes contact with it despite Killua not touching the person directly. He has utilized this ability by surging electricity though his Yo-yos.

Godspeed

By sending a surge of electricity throughout his body, Killua enters a state he calls Godspeed, this allows him to automatically react to his external stimuli, drastically increasing his physical and mental reaction speeds. To be more specific, instead of the normal process of the stimulus being perceived by the nerves (which transmits a signal to the brain which in turn sends an instruction to the muscles), Killua programs his aura to send an electric signal to his muscles so as to instantly react to a threat, bypassing the comparatively slow nervous system. With this, Killua utilizes Godspeed with two core techniques:

• Whirlwind: The ability that Killua applies offensively to sense his opponent’s movements, allowing him to react to their attacks automatically. Not only does this technique bypass the need to send his muscles instructions directly from the brain, it also allows Killua to land several attacks on his opponent before they are given a chance to act.
• Speed of Lighting: This allows for him to control his own body at will while moving at his max speed. This application is used for traveling long distances and increasing the height of his jumps.

Resistances

• Electricity: As part of his assassin training, he was subjected routinely to electric currents.  He is able to handle 1 million volts of electricity without issue, though he does still feel pain.
• Poison: He is immune to most poisons, including from genetically enhanced insects.
• Organ Manipulation: Godspeed uses his nen to exert precise control over his neural networks and muscles.  Another nen user restarted his own heart while unconscious.

Misaka

Esper Physiology

In the world of Index, Espers are individuals in possession of something called AIM, otherwise known as An Involuntary Movement. It is an appellation employed to describe the phenomena where an esper involuntarily emits an invisible energy field from their body, labeled an AIM Diffusion Field. These fields produce tiny effects on the regions they cover, but require a baseline called Personal Reality in order to manifest fully. Essentially, Espers who train in Academy City’s Power Curriculum Program see a “shifted world”, and by learning of their Personal Reality within, are able to substitute reality with their own, so-to-speak. In doing so, an Esper unlocks their abilities, which are indicated by the effects of their AIM field.

The manifestation of an AIM Diffusion Field and the subsequent impacts it produces will diverge based on the ability of the esper producing it; Electromasters, such as Misaka, release electromagnetic fields. This allows one to take their AIM Field, calculate their desired effect, and then produce it in their reality, thus resulting in electrokinesis. AIM is not simply weak energy emanating from espers, but the unconscious interference against reality, and analyzing its composition and strength gives more insight into the Personal Reality of a given esper than a psychological profile.

Misaka’s AIM Field involuntarily produces a ‘passive’ constant Electromagnetic Barrier, which repels animals, allows her to detect and counter microwaves, and naturally shields her against Shokuhou Misaki’s Mental Out power, which targets one’s bioelectricity.

Electromaster

Misaka’s Esper ability is that of electrokinesis, making her Academy City’s most powerful Electromaster. This allows her to generate and manipulate electricity freely, as well as tap into things like electromagnetism. A general use of Misaka’s abilities would be her trademark lightning spears, which can be thrust from any part of her body towards an opponent; and these lightning spears are quite potent, repeatedly stated to reach at least one billion volts. It’s important to remember that Misaka’s electrokinesis is a result of her AIM Field and Personal Reality; this means she isn’t literally made of electricity, nor does she absorb it. Her shock and zap limitations come in the form of what she can calculate, not a literal pool of electric energy she draws on.

That said, she can use electricity for far more than simple shocks and zaps. Misaka has relied on the immense heat generated by her lightning to burn concrete rubble into charcoal, and has even decomposed flesh with prolonged exposure to its heat. Additionally, she can create quick flashes of light in order to stun opponents, buying herself a potentially crucial second of advantage in a fight. In a battle against another electricity-user like herself, Misaka has even demonstrated the ability to ‘guide’ opposing electric currents with her own electrical breakdown in the air, leading them astray and effectively protecting from any attempts at beating her in a battle of lightning. Additionally, she can weaponize electromagnetic waves specifically to target internal bodily organs, which is oddly specific, but sounds pretty useful for a fight to the death.

Weaker electric-based Espers, such as Junko Hokaze, have shown to be capable of creating an ‘ion sheath’, using positive electrons to suppress the power of a negatively-charged electric blast.

Railgun

Misaka’s signature attack that she serves as one of her monikers. By using Fleming’s Left-Hand Rule, utilizing Lorentz force and sending electric currents through her arm, she can fire off projectiles as though they were shot through a… Railgun. Get it?

With her preferred ammo, an arcade coin, she can fire off beams at Mach 3, and do so in rapid succession up to eight times. However, this value scales with whatever she’s using as ammo; therefore, using this technique on, say, a plane, would result in a much faster and deadlier projectile, as it achieves a greater distance and lasts longer before burning out from friction. These larger pieces of ammunition can also be rapid-fired for particularly devastating results. Provided she has the necessary energy, of course.

Weather Manipulation

Misaka is capable of not only generating electricity, but calling down natural bolts of lightning as well. In doing so, she has created large storm clouds on-command multiple times. This method of attack is generally her deadliest and most powerful; even casual misuse of it has caused city-wide blackouts, much to the annoyance of others.

Magnetism

One of Misaka’s favorite applications of Electrokinesis, allowing her to tap into the power of electromagnetism. When throwing electricity doesn’t do the job, she can magnetically manipulate objects large or small to do her bidding, with the only caveat being that her magnetism gets stronger the closer she is. She’s proven the versatility of this ability many times, as seen in the following examples:

• Misaka used electromagnetism to pull herself toward and away from certain objects, useful for countering friction-altering powers
• A similar example shows Misaka using electromagnetism to fling herself off steel objects in order to gain an aerial advantage. In a cityscape environment, she can practically slingshot herself nonstop to cross great distances in no time at all.
• Misaka can stand atop any metal surface, allowing her to walk up buildings or hang upside down from them
• A more obvious and traditional use of the power, Misaka can simply throw around metal objects for both offense and defense
• Pushed further, Misaka can lift up entire facility floors
• Misaka tends to create shields out of large metal objects, or simply use whatever’s nearby for the same purpose
• Misaka has used her magnetism to soften a long fall
• If her attacks need more oomph, Misaka can always use magnetism to create larger Railgun ammo
• Alternatively, she can create even bigger constructs like a concrete cage, by simply mashing together various pieces of magnetized rubble
• For more precise applications of this power, Misaka has manipulated objects such as necklaces around a person’s neck and metal on one’s belt to gain an upper hand in certain situations

Iron Sand Manipulation

A specific use of magnetism that Misaka employs. By gathering large amounts of iron sand fibers from her surroundings, Misaka can modulate their morphological and mass attributes to generate a plethora of multifaceted constructs. Misaka’s control is so precise that she can even manipulate iron particles in the air, with the individual particles vibrating at high speed, thereby permitting them to bisect through solid bodies in a fashion analogous to a chainsaw. The vibrations of the iron sand possess sufficient amplitude to penetrate or cut through concrete blocks, pavement, rubble, and metals. The diminutive size of the iron sand also means that it can be placed or mixed into materials discreetly, and allows it to infiltrate gaps and wounds to cut targets from within, preventing regeneration from the opponent via cutting it apart from the inside as it reforms. Due to their malleable nature, even if these iron sand constructs are damaged or disrupted, they can be replenished and regenerated.

Misaka habitually manipulates her iron sand in the guise of an iron sand sword or whip sword, a cutting blade which she can lengthen into a whip at will. She can also employ it to puncture and adhere to objects, in a manner similar to a grappling hook, and she can even create multiple iron sand whips to allow her to attack from several directions at the same time, numbering in the hundreds which Misaka can even flow electricity through, and serve as conductors for her lightning spears. Misaka’s even equipped with the ability to combine her electricity and iron sand to create a large electric cage to trap her adversary.

Aside from the whip and the sword, Mikoto also wields the iron sand in bulk; creating long tendrils, small tornadoes, lengthy appendages or huge waves to assault foes. When gathered from 200m around her, Misaka can create a wave comparable to a tsunami or a living snake used to slice through tanks and armored vehicles of the independent unit with the Opasnosti. Mikoto has further availed her iron sand to form projectiles, being able to create a storm of killer needles that surround an opponent for a 360 degree attack. Large amounts of iron sand can even be used to blow away sandstorms, battle robots, and create giant arms. If Misaka needs to, she can even catch foes off-guard by hiding herself within an iron sand twister and attacks from multiple angles, allowing her to freely take an advantageous position amidst the chaos.

Of course, the Iron Sand can serve more purposes than strictly being for combat. By spreading iron sand across the ground, Mikoto can use it to follow the footsteps of an enemy moving at faster-than-sound speeds. It can form itself as a surrounding barrier, defending Misaka from all sides, and blocking massive area-of-effect explosions. She can also utilize them to instinctively defend from projectiles, and incoming attacks. If Misaka needs to reach somewhere without the aid of her magnetism, she can always amass a large amount of Iron Sand to lift herself into the air, creating a high-rising platform.

Lightning Giant

Misaka’s greatest application of the Iron Sand. By gathering large quantities of Iron Sand, all throughout the environment, Misaka can create a gigantic puppet out of iron sand. Misaka has even demonstrated the ability to construct a sizable puppet with lower amounts of iron sand, and she can even employ large waves of iron sand to act as massive limbs on the build-up to its construction.

Misaka can 'pilot' this construct, essentially creating her own kaiju-combative mech. It was capable of matching and trading blows with Doppelganger’s own massive puppet, a creature created from absorbed rubble that was easily capable of sending skyscrapers flying with a single swing. The doppelganger had even absorbed enough material around it to eventually grow higher than a multi-story building, but Misaka’s own puppet was still able to match it. Possessing considerable strength due to its size and mass, the puppet is somewhat delicate by virtue of its delicate constitution; notwithstanding, its essence as an iron sand creation precludes it from being completely indestructible and allows it to reanimate and modify its configuration.

Moreover, the iron sand can permeate traumata inflicted on an objective and bisect it from an interior pathway. Due to the vibrating iron sand particles inside the puppet rubbing together and building up electricity, the puppet is extremely dangerous to touch and simple physical contact can break the opponent apart. The stored electricity can be used to fire an iron sand bullet, which Misaka can use to create a far more powerful version of her Railgun.

Electromagnetic Sense

As an Electromaster, Mikoto is able to sense electric, magnetic, and electromagnetic phenomena.

Mikoto perpetually radiates electromagnetic waves and can detect the resulting reverberations. By faintly proffering microwaves in all directions and inspecting the bouncing off reverberations, she is able to detect her near environment, akin to radar. Mikoto can sense her immediate surroundings as well as objects and individuals within them, leaving her with no blind spots. In her surrounding area, this radar facilitates her ability with the capability to envisage a three-dimensional image of the room even working when she’s deafened & blinded. This also enables her to block, deflect, intercept or evade attacks and hazards without looking in their direction, even those coming from invisible weapons. Additionally, far weaker clones of Misaka such as Last Order have utilized magnetic fields in order to scan entire apartment building floors; as a result, Misaka would be able to accurately view where exactly someone is positioned and even what objects they’re holding before she ever sees or hears them.

While this 'EM Sense' leaves Mikoto with no blind spots, it does have several weaknesses; materials that absorb or dampen EM waves can be used to avoid detection, and, as demonstrated by Misaka 10032, if the waves' frequency is known then they can be negated by sending out reverse phase waves. Most notably though, Misaka overly relies on her EM sense in battle, and if it’s ever compromised, she can barely function without it, leaving her vulnerable.

Flight

Much like a certain other electromagnetic-powered teen, Misaka has shown the ability to practically achieve flight through the use of her magnetism. While she can ordinarily fling herself around with these powers, she can also employ the tried-and-true method of simply controlling something and hopping along for the ride, or levitate using the same principle.

While far less common in practice, Misaka can also manipulate water vapor into a set of wings using the static electricity from the interactions between particles. Thanks to her electric powers, she’s able to induce electrolysis on a huge body of water like a river or ocean to obtain hydrogen and oxygen as a fuel source to sustain her wings. Obviously, the practicality of this would heavily depend on the environment.

Technopathy

Thanks to her electrokinesis, Misaka has the ability to affect and override control of most technology, so long as it runs on, y’know, electricity. This is especially impressive in-context, as Academy City’s own tech is 20 years ahead of the rest of the world, yet Misaka can hack into anything there with ease.

She’s hacked things as mundane as roomba drones and security cameras, has accessed deleted information from a secure website, and doesn’t even need to use her hands to use her phone. Truly, the most broken ability in her entire expansive arsenal. For the purposes of a fight, however, she typically relies on her technopathy to hijack combat-capable drones and mechs, bending them to her will instantly. She can even program things she hacks to defend her at a set time in the future, so as to prepare a failsafe defense just in case she needs it.

Memory Interaction

Not to be confused with outright memory manipulation, Misaka has claimed to be able to precisely zap someone’s brain in order to wipe their memories of certain events. Weirdly enough, we’ve also seen her electricity act as a circuit that links her mind to someone else’s, though this was accidental and required her to be making physical contact with her target.

Decoy Creation

By utilizing her ability to manipulate iron sand, Misaka can create a fake version of herself out of iron sand to trick and catch opponents off guard. She can create exact replicas of herself, or opt to create many doubles of other people. Either way, these decoys are often pulled out in crucial moments to help Misaka turn the tide of a battle, and have even fooled seasoned killers.

Plasma Manipulation

Misaka’s control over electricity is so precise, she can operate on an atomic level, manipulating individual electrons. While she may not be able to, say, create a giant planet-spanning plasma storm like Accelerator, she can still cancel out plasma creation & ionize objects into plasma herself.

Air Ignition

More frequently demonstrated by the Level 4 clone Misaka Worst, an Electromaster can detonate the air itself using a high voltage current. This can be used defensively, shown by Misaka herself, or for offensive mobility, as Misaka Worst tends to employ this trick to launch herself through the air, Bakugou-style.

Ozone Creation

By using electrolysis on the air, Misaka can turn an area of oxygen into ozone; particularly useful for suffocating unsuspecting opponents, or for countering abilities that rely on a certain air composition to function.

Rampage Dress

Rampage Dress is the name of Junko Hokaze’s Esper ability. It refers to the act of manipulating the somatic cells in the body via electrical signals in order to draw out more power from them, allowing the user to amplify all of their senses and their physicality. In addition to more physical strength, speed, and durability, Rampage Dress drastically heightens one's sense of smell, and, when active, can protect the Esper from outside interferences that attempt to manipulate electrical signals in the brain. More impressively, however, Rampage Dress grants the user heightened regenerative abilities, allowing the user to heal from wounds like fractured bones in an “instant”.

Despite this being Junko’s technique, however, Misaka is able to replicate it through her mastery over electrokinesis. Thanks to some tutoring from Junko directly, Misaka learned not only how to use Rampage Dress, but also how to focus and limit the areas of her body affected by the ability. In her case, Misaka tends to prefer amplifying her leg or arm strength, allowing her to not only kick harder and punch the best, but also travel at much greater speeds than she ordinarily could. 

All that being said, Rampage Dress is not a perfect ability, and has numerous significant drawbacks. For starters, using the ability to rapidly regenerate cells places an immense strain on the user’s mind and body; the body will instinctively hinder its ability to perform in order to prevent further injury induced by Rampage Dress. Additionally, Misaka noted how delicate she had to be when applying Rampage Dress to herself, as one small mistake could result in her sustaining a serious injury. We’ve even seen her sustain such a wound, when she dislocated her thigh after using Rampage Dress.

Lastly, Misaka herself has some understandable mental and emotional baggage relating to Espers with the ability to “manipulate the flow of power”, so her body instinctively resists her use of Rampage Dress just a little bit. At the end of the day, it is a secondary technique for Misaka, whereas Junko’s mastered the ability in full and trained both physically and mentally to withstand pushing it to the limit.

Resistances

• Electricity: As an electromaster, Misaka possesses a natural resistance to the negative effects of electricity, though she is not completely immune to it. She has tanked her own electricity redirected back at her, and recovered from a massive electrical shock faster than Kamijou Touma. Other electric-based Espers, like Mugino, have stated that they have a heightened resistance to electricity as well; though again, definitively not immune.
• Bioelectricity Manipulation: As a side effect of her AIM Field, Misaka is passively ‘shielded’ from outside attempts at messing with her personal bio-electricity. However, sufficiently powerful attempts at breaking through can still cause her noticeable discomfort.

Feats

Killua

Overall

• Passed the Hunter Exam by defeating every other participant
• Along with Gon, learned and mastered the four basic principles of Nen within the span of only a few months, whereas for most Hunters it would take several years
• Made it to floor 200 in Heaven’s Arena, “twice”
• Escaped the clutches of the Phantom Troupe, despite him and Gon being physically outmatched and outnumbered
• Figured out how to transmute his aura into electricity, creating his own Nen-centric fighting style
• Along with Gon, Biscuit, and a few other hunters, defeated Razor in one of most intense games of anime dodgeball 
• Beat Greed Island with the help of Gon and Biscuit
• Supported the Extermination Team in their invasion on the Chimera Ants
• Reconnected with his sister Alluka, and utilized her Nen ability to save Gon from having his body slowly decay
• Defeated Johness, the Amori Brothers, Zushi, Riehlvelt, Binolt, Bopobo, Sub, Mosquito, Rhino, Rammot, and the Ortho Siblings

Power

• In order to enter his residence, pushed open a gate that weighed 16 tons 
• Later on in the series, when pushing the same gate he could push up to 64 tons
• Kicked through a building’s wall
• Broke Pakunoda’s arm
• Broke several of Machi's ribs with a kick
• Held the weight of a large boulder over his head in his sleep while training with Bisky
• With Snake Awakens, cleaved through the limbs of Mosquito
• Pierced through Rhino’s body. Prior to his fight with Killua, Rhino was boasting about how impenetrable his hardened skin was.
• Knocked out Gon with a punch
• Decapitated Rammot and crushed his head
• Consistently shown to be able to tear apart Chimera Ants
• When using Godspeed, harmed Youpi with his electric-charged punches and kicks. This is despite Youpi claiming that Killua should be 10 times weaker than himself.
• When using Godspeed, burned away parts of Pouf’s body

Speed

• (Movie Only) Dodged bullets from point blank range
• Before learning Nen, speed blitzed Johness and stole his heart before he could even process what was going on
• Killed two guys before they could even notice
• Knocked out nearly 1500 people and collected their badges in an hour and a half; all they saw was a blur
• Casually outmaneuvered all of Zushi’s attacks in their fight at Heaven’s Arena, despite not having learned Nen at the time, and Zushi having already learned most of the basic principles
• Moved in tandem with his own lightning attacks (Mach 18.6)
• Capable of reacting to the Greed Island card Accompany, which can travel between continents in a very short timespan (Mach 1185.862)
• Blitzed and tore off Rammot’s head before he could finish his sentence
• In Godspeed, was stated to be faster than a full-power Pouf
• In Godspeed, was consistently shown blitzing and tagging Youpi. Despite being a Chimera Ant officer with one of the better reaction speeds in the series, Youpi still was unable to keep track of Killua’s movements and attacks.
• In Godspeed and while holding Alluka, ran so fast that he appeared as a blur of electricity
• When activating his Godspeed reflexes for the first time, reacted to a dart which required “light-speed” reflexes to react to (Mach 2217.3 - 1.7% SoL) (See Before the Verdict)

Durability

• Was relatively fine after getting tortured for days

• Withstood being shocked by Riehlvelt’s whips that unloaded one million volts of electricity, feeling only mild pain

• Survived being injected with a lethal poison from Mosquito’s poison sting, despite Mosquito’s poison being one of the most potent in the world

• Survived an explosive fart from Carabid Beetle, which incinerated a large assortment of trees (1.5 - 3.3 Kilotons of TNT)

• Survived being constantly pelted by fish darts that were created by the Ortho Siblings; despite bleeding out tremendously, he still pushed forward and finished both of them off

• Blocked multiple blows from Palm, who could casually punch craters into the ground

• (Movie Only) Blocked punches from Uvogin

• Uvogin is powerful enough to create large craters and casually destroy chunks of rock by just charging up his aura

Misaka

Overall

• Eventually defeated Kamijou Touma

• Aided in the first defeat of Accelerator

• Successfully helped free her Sisters from the Level 6 Shift experiment

• Instrumental in the defeat of the Elements

• Reverse engineered the A.A.A.

• Helped Touma defeat High Priest

• Managed to control 150 machines with her technopathy at once

• Went on a “nonstop” rampage, taking out 20+ facilities across 3 days and nights whilst barely ever resting… then proceeded to fight and defeat another Level 5 and her subordinate

• Defeated Seike Taroumaru, the AIM Burst, Frenda Seivelun, Mugino Shizuri, Kiyama Harumi, Doppelganger, Wanigawa Raifu, and Shundan Kimi

Power

• Used magnetism to construct a giant six million ton iron sand kaiju

• Was stated to be “dozens of times” weaker than her 2% Level 6 form by Kihara Gensei (16.86 kilotons of TNT - 2.53 megatons of TNT) (More on this before the verdicts)

• Stated several times to have firepower similar to a battle cruiser

• Vaporized a 500 ton turbine propellor made of carbon fiber (463.6 tons of TNT)

• Created a giant storm cloud with an accompanying lightning strike

• Made another giant storm cloud (36.47 kilotons - 2.67 megatons of TNT)

• Yeeted a plane beyond the horizon (53.72 - 95.69 tons of TNT)

• Standard Railgun snapped multiple metal beams in half

• Using magnetism, threw hundreds of steel construction beams at once

• Tore straight through a facility’s walls with larger Railgun ammo

• Let off a massive electric blast on a certain bridge, resulting in an explosion 

• Humiliated the Type: Mantis mech 

• Caught a skyscraper with magnetism 

• Standard Railgun blew a hole through Doppelganger's body 

• Stated to be able to destroy all of Tokiwadai Middle School on her own

• Railgun was stated to be able to bust through a nuclear shelter in one blow

• Kamijou Touma stated that Mikoto's lightning strikes could break the Tokyo Tower

• Split a Xiuhcoatl aircraft in half with the Railgun

• Managed to catch multiple 20-story buildings being thrown at her in the fight against the High Priest

• (Anime Only) Blasted away Telestina’s mech across the sky.

• (Anime Only) Launched the Ekaterina II S mech at massively hypersonic speeds with a punch (1.4 megatons of TNT)

Speed

• Dodged Mugino’s Meltdowner beams at near point-blank range, seen above (7.1 % SoL)

• Meltdowner is essentially a high-speed particle wave cannon that acts like a particle accelerator; these are known to reach near the speed of light in real life

• There are various statements throughout the series that describe Mugino’s Meltdowner lasers as beams of light. Mugino has diffracted her beams, and they are shown & said to burn through objects.

• After launching hundreds of metal beams at Accelerator, dodged them after he reflected them at the same speeds they were sent

• Outsped multiple explosives sent flying toward her whilst blinded and deafened

• Reacted to and destroyed a redirected missile sent flying toward her. In the same fight, casually reacts to multiple other missiles

• Busted open a giant door then suddenly appeared behind Kimi before Kimi fully realized it

• Lightning spears are described as lightspeed

• Can also attack with natural lightning strikes, which should be… as fast as natural lightning

• (Anime Only) Intercepted a point-blank pistol away from someone's head before they could fire it

• (Anime Only) Sent a mech flying so fast it outpaced a bomb moving at hypersonic speeds (Mach 583.7)

Durability

• Was more or less unaffected by her own electric blast when used on Harumi at point-blank, literally hugging range

• Also withstood having her own lightning redirected back at her by Raifu

• Took multiple physical blows from Mugino 

• Blocked Mugino's Meltdowner lasers, which are stated to be capable of slicing through an Aegis ship

• Withstood the pain of having one thigh dislocated

• With Iron Sand, caught multiple large pieces of rubble hurled at her stronger than she claimed she could throw

• Withstood having her own Railgun redirected back at her

• Took a full-scale charge from the White Dragon to the face; this dragon feeds on a black hole for energy

• Withstood being near a 10,000 degree Celsius ball of plasma

• Was relatively fine after crash landing at Mach 2.5

Scaling

Killua

Menthuthuyoupi

While Killua doesn’t fully scale to Youpi, he should be a little under ten times his maximum power and is capable of inflicting serious harm to him. In his Godspeed form, he is capable of speed blitzing Youpi with ease, while also causing him to feel immense pain.

• With his Rage Blast technique, created a massive crater (132.3 kilotons - 15.63 megatons of TNT)

• Note: Morel’s Smokey Jail withstood this exact blast without any damage. Killua should scale to Morel by virtue of being able to damage Youpi, someone who’s physically stronger than Morel. So despite Youpi’s statement of Killua being under a tenth of his full power, Killua should still scale to the feat itself through Morel’s aura being able to take the blast directly.

• Destroyed a large staircase (731.5 tons of TNT)

Neferpitou

After Neferpitou was killed by Gon and their Post-Mortem Nen was activated, their body attempted to attack Gon. Post-Mortem Nen gives Pitou a greater boost in physical capabilities than they had while they were still alive due to Post-Mortem Nen growing in power from persisting strong emotions of the deceased Nen user. Despite this, Killua was capable of moving in tandem with Pitou’s corpse in his Godspeed state in order to push Gon out of the way of Pitou’s attack. This means that Killua should be faster than base level Pitou in speed.

Note: Killua scales to Post-Mortem Pitou in speed only, not in power or durability

Base level Pitou should be comparable to the other Royal Guards in power and durability. Meaning that due to Killua downscaling from Youpi, Godspeed Killua would also downscale to Pre-Mortem Pitou in power.

• Neferpitou not long after being born was able to blitz Kite from a distance of 2 km (Mach 58.3)

• Neferpitou leaps to Meruem’s palace from a great distance away (Mach 34.7)

• Pitou was implied to have gotten double the boost in speed during this feat that they got from their feat of blitzing Kite. Meaning that doubling the results of the prior feat could be used as a high end for this one (Mach 116.6)

• Survived being hit by Meruem’s tail, which had killing intent behind it

• Meruem not too long after being born casually punched a large hole into the Ant Nest (36.04 - 965.6 kilotons of TNT)

• Note: This is not at all implying that Pitou scales to Meruem’s full power. However, due to this feat taking Meruem practically no effort to accomplish along with Meruem praising Pitou for surviving a hit that he fully intended to kill Pitou with; this should make it reasonable to scale Pitou’s durability to this specific feat.

Gon Freecss

Killua throughout the series is pretty blatantly equal to Gon. This is due to the fact they often train together and are compared to each other often, being called one in ten million talents by Wing. 

• Before he learned Nen, was capable of shattering stone pillars 

• With his Jajaken technique, shook a large tree at subsonic speeds (22.6 Tons of TNT)

• Speed blitzed a man at the beginning of Greed Island (Mach 7.2)

Kurapika

During the Hunter Exams, Killua was stated to be stronger than Kurapika. After that both characters should have trained to around the same relative level as one another and Killua in Chimera Ant Arc was capable of taking on opponents significantly above Kurapika.

• Kurapika was capable of blocking bullets with his chain from relatively close range

• Was able to defeat Uvogin

• Uvogin’s Big Bang impact could create a massive crater in the ground (Manga: 96.23 tons of TNT) (Anime: 973.1 tons - 137.7 kilotons of TNT)

• Destroyed a cliff by powering up (175 tons of TNT)

• Was able to survive a bazooka blast which could destroy a tank

• Could catch a bullet with his teeth from point blank range

Machi

The scaling to Machi is fairly simple. Base Killua was able to stab Machi with his hand finger blades. Godspeed Killua also scales to Youpi who is a far superior chimera ant than Zazan. Feitan, a stronger member of the troupe, struggled more with Zazan than Godspeed Killua did with Youpi.

• Machi was stated to be able to make a string which could wrap around the globe (58.7 kilotons - 2.1 megatons of TNT for strength, Mach 452.5 - 2715.1 for speed)

• Should scale to her fellow Phantom Troupe comrade, Bonolenov, who created a massive crater (266 tons of TNT)

Misaka

Kamijou Touma

Touma and Misaka’s encounters go back to the very earliest chapters of Index. Naturally, they have fought more than once or twice, albeit to varying degrees of severity. Regardless, Misaka has managed to knock Touma out with her electricity multiple times, yet has withstood her own attacks; therefore, she should be able to physically scale to him.

• Touma reacted to Index’s satellite-busting beam up close, blocking it with his right hand (1.7% SoL)

• In the British Royal Family arc, Touma managed to survive a shockwave produced by one of Princess Carissa’s bunker clusters used to attack down the Buckingham Palace.

• Touma was in the blast zone of a 10 meter snow wave Accelerator used to attack him.

• He has been able to react countless times to Misaka’s lightning spears, even while drunk.

• Touma survived being hit by Biagio Busoni’s crosses and even forced one of them to change direction. These crosses were being shot as fast as cannonballs and were made several thousand times heavier due to Biagio increasing gravity upon them.

Level 4 Espers

 

While Esper levels are not explicitly indicative of relative power, there are still some instances where particular Level 4 espers have performed notable feats and been made clearly inferior to Misaka in some way. 

Junko Hokaze

• Junko could block & dodge light amplified by Yumiya Iruka’s Wave Conductor (7.6% SoL)

• Junko also said that Misaka would be able to interfere with particles of light as they flew towards her.

• Additional instances of Yumiya’s attacks being referred to or shown as literal light, as well as heat-based lasers

• Using Rampage Dress, Junko shattered the roof of a ceiling & plunged a full water storage tank through in the process

• Using Rampage Dress, Junko threw giant steel construction beams with her bare hands

• With Rampage Dress active, Junko was partially protected from Yumiya’s flashing lights that triggered abnormalities in the brain’s electrical signals

• Fought a Level 5, Gunha, and managed to overwhelm him with her speed

• Gunha was casually able to react to Misaka’s lightning in the Level 6 Shift form (20.9% SoL)

• Junko outsped Shirai Kuroko’s teleportation attack

• Kuroko has dodged Misaka’s lightning spears via Teleportation with ease (18.1% - 71.1% SoL)

Hasekura Reiri

• Reiri created water and then froze a bunch of people to practically absolute zero; she has outright admitted Misaka is more powerful than she is

Kongou Mitsuko

• Kongou’s Aero Hand can launch a broadcast tower into the stratosphere (6.5 tons of TNT). The gust from the aftereffects of Misaka’s standard Railgun attack rivals the strength of wind-based Espers like Kongou.

Misaka Network/The Sisters

Every clone Sister of Misaka is explicitly much, much weaker than the original, so Misaka would obviously scale above anything they do.

• One of the Sisters produced a lightning spear that “moved forward at the speed of light”

Kiyama Harumi

The first antagonist in the Railgun manga, Kiyama Harumi used the Level Upper to hijack the various Esper abilities of many individuals. Misaka not only fought & defeated Harumi extremely early in the series chronologically, but she wasn’t even going all out - made clear later, when Harumi realized this watching Misaka battle the AIM Burst. As such, Misaka obviously scales to (and really, above) Harumi.

• Harumi was able to react to & block Misaka’s lightning from an extremely close distance (3.08c - 10.1c)

Brunhild Eiktobel

(Left to right: Kanzaki Kaori, Brunhild Eiktobel)

It should be made clear that Saints are narratively and demonstrably superior to Misaka in raw stats. However, Misaka has fought Brunhild Eiktobel (technically half Saint) and managed to slightly halt her attacks, as well as inflict minor damage with her electricity. The narration even describes their fight at one point as “a struggle” between two opponents locking swords together. Both Thor and Silvia comment on the fight, with Thor praising Academy City for “making” Misaka; Silvia was even prepared to interfere in the fight, as it was going on for too long. It should be mentioned that Thor specifically sought out Misaka's help as he considered her to be useful in the fight meant to be holding back Silvia and Brunhild while Touma did his thing (Thor was fully aware of how strong Misaka was). Lastly, there is no indication in the text Brunhild was holding back. She simply chose to leave when Touma had knocked out Leivinia Birdway.

Misaka does not scale to these types of characters fully, but may instead downscale from feats on the level of Saints. We will address this point more in detail later, but for now, the relevant feats pertaining to Saints are as follows:

• Brunhild fought Kanzaki (and was stated to be physically comparable to her) & Hel (the latter being off-screen)

• Hel froze 100 km of ocean water around her (486.5 megatons of TNT)

• Kanzaki intercepted Index’s Dragon Breath, a beam that quickly reached space & destroyed the Tree Diagram satellite (13.4% SoL)

• In her own novel, Kanzaki very casually sliced an entire stadium

Ymir’s Ocean Girl

In Toaru Majutsu no Index SS: Kanzaki, the title character sets off to a remote island in Micronesia and encounters a young 10 year old girl who is never given a name. This girl is able to use powerful magic against Kanzaki; this is significant and relevant to Misaka in that Kanzaki, a Saint, directly gets blasted by the magic, is absolutely fine afterward, & subsequently knocks the unnamed girl out with complete ease. Misaka demonstrably did better against a Saint on Kanzaki’s level than the Ocean Girl, so you could argue her scaling to this (literally unnamed) girl’s level of power.

• Ymir’s Ocean Girl used magic to flood 1/3 of Uphill Island (17.3 kilotons - 61.6 megatons of TNT)

• Ymir’s Ocean Girl created enough salt crystal pillars to cover the visible ocean surface 

Weaknesses

Killua

Despite being resistant to electricity, he is not immune. Also, overusing his Nen abilities will eventually result in him running out of electricity, requiring him to absorb more electricity in order to use his Nen abilities again. Regarding Nen as a whole, he can keep it active for up to three hours before exhausting himself and leaving himself more vulnerable without his Nen defense. Additionally, if he were to utilize the Zetsu technique it would leave his body unprotected by Nen. Without Killua’s Nen aura enveloping his body, Killua’s attacks nor his defense would be nearly as potent as they would be with Nen active; this would put Killua at a massive disadvantage due to most of his significant feats only being done with the massive stat boost that he receives from his Nen aura. He also has a severe gambling addiction.

Misaka

Despite being one of the few Level 5 Espers in Academy City, Misaka is far from flawless. We’ve seen her exhaust herself to the point of being unable to use her Electrokinesis; likely a result of not just physical, but mental fatigue, preventing her from performing accurate calculations. While not especially applicable to this fight, AIM jammers are specifically designed to disrupt an Esper’s AIM field, making it incredibly dangerous for them to use their abilities. She must also be particularly delicate when using things such as Rampage Dress, as she can very easily dislocate joints or worse if she isn’t careful.

Additionally, Misaka heavily relies on her EM radar, to the point that she can “barely function” if it’s somehow compromised. And while Misaka is incredibly intelligent, she does have a tendency to enter a confrontation head-on, before exploring any alternatives. This isn’t to say she’s not a strategic fighter, but she does earn her “meathead” moniker from Shokuhou Misaki for a reason. Lastly, Misaka’s electricity can be shut down by insulation, though she can counter this a couple of ways, either through simply brute-forcing with the heat of her lightning or by using magnetism or technopathy as alternate forms of attack.

Before the Verdict

Light-Speed Dart

In chapter 240 of the manga, Killua seemingly grabs a dart that would require “light speed reflexes” to grab. Does this mean he is light speed? Eh, not quite. In truth what occurred is that Killua programmed his hand to catch the dart after it pierced his skin by predicting where it would (after taking multiple hits beforehand) and by using his Nen to bypass his own reactions entirely. This cannot be applied to reactions whatsoever. The fight with Youpi also confirms that this specific moment was far too fast for Killua’s own brain to perceive.

It is also debatable if “light-speed reactions” is literal here. The japanese raw does in fact say lightspeed reactions, so there is that. The stats section includes a calc using the maximum we can reasonably give Killua for the speed of his Nen signals, for reactions.

How Effective is Nen Crush?

Death Application

Now to talk about the elephant in the room, what is the overall effectiveness of Nen Crush? As shown in the section above, it is stated by Wing to likely result in death if someone is exposed to Nen aura without the proper Nen defense. This is the result of someone’s aura nodes being forcibly opened, which could result in their body potentially shattering or breaking. However, contrary to what Wing has stated; exposure to aura without a Nen defense does not always result in death.

Later on in the series we’re introduced to the Chimera Ants, who were incapable of using nor had any knowledge on Nen before fighting hunters that could utilize Nen. Rammot for example was capable of taking multiple Ken infused attacks from Gon and Killua and even a full on Jajanken Rock from Gon, which is an attack that’s infused with KO; a technique that focuses all of Gon’s Nen into his fist.

Rammot managed to survive all of this, these attacks were even revealed to have forced his aura nodes open after the fight. Not only that, but after Rammot’s aura nodes were opened; he punched Colt with his Nen active in order to force Colt’s aura nodes open. It should also be noted that Rammot had discontent towards Colt and stated that he may not be able to hold back before punching Colt, further contradicting Wing’s statement that a Nen based attack even with the smallest bit of malice would kill someone without their aura nodes open. Rammot even starts punching multiple weaker foot soldier Chimera Ants to open their aura nodes, which the ants end up surviving.

What does this mean? The death application of Ren is shown to not always hold true when exposed to someone without a Nen defense. Showing that death from exposure is more than likely a result of the aura being too strong for the body to physically take as opposed to exposure to this aura resulting in any sort of death hax behind the aura.

This is also supported by Gon’s first fight with Gido, where he gets hit by a Nen enhanced top while in the state of Zetsu. Instead of outright killing him, this ends up fracturing and cracking many of his bones. Wing and Killua both reference what happens to people without their Nen active who get exposed to aura or baptized, equating this exact situation to that; further showing that it’s the force and power behind Nen that would shatter an unprotected body from exposure to the aura as opposed to some sort of death manipulation.

Fear Application

However, there is another application of Nen Crush that is consistently used as hax; this would be its ability to induce fear or break someone mentally. There are multiple examples of this application being used, such as Gon and Killua being scared by Hisoka’s aura, Wing’s scaring Gon and Killua, Killua’s making Rammot hallucinate out of fear, and Pitou’s driving Knov insane just to name a few examples. While it is true that this application is only shown to be used by certain Nen users that project their malicious intent, Killua was shown to be capable of doing this when he projected his malicious intent onto Rammot.

Overall, while the actual death application of Nen Crush is more than likely due to the pressure of the aura itself as opposed to any sort of hax; the fear application of it has shown to be consistent within the series.

Why doesn’t Misaka get the Level 6 form/A.A.A.?

By far the biggest misconception surrounding this matchup is the notion that Misaka should be given access to her most powerful form, the Level 6 Shift. If DEATH BATTLE! uses characters at their peak potential, why is Misaka the exception? And what’s up with that mech thing? I’m glad you asked, dear reader! Let’s get into it, starting with the Level 6 Shift.

Level 6 Shift: Super Form or No?

The Level 6 Shift was the effort by Kihara Gensei to elevate one of the Level 5 Espers to Level 6, something thought to be nigh-impossible. If you recall from the background section, that other guy with the hyena laugh, Accelerator, was the only guy who could naturally reach Level 6, and even he needed to grind like an RPG character on thousands upon thousands of Misaka clones to maybe accumulate the needed experience in order to reach Lv. 6.

Later on, during the Daihaseisai Festival, Kihara Gensei uses Exterior - a mcguffin under Shokuhou Misaki’s possession - to funnel the power of the Misaka Network into Misaka. The sudden influx of power rapidly began to change Misaka, forcefully elevating her past Level 5 and into 5.1, 5.2, and then 5.3. See, she never actually reached Level 6 like the title would have you believe. Because if she did, she would have exploded immediately, wiping the entirety of Academy City off the map. 

Why doesn’t she get this form? It’s precisely because Kihara Gensei forced this state upon her; it’s not her own form. She does not have the capacity to ever reach Level 6 naturally, so it is not her “peak potential” either. Misaka was not only forced by Gensei (an outside party), but he also required the use of Exterior, yet another person’s possession, and one which is now destroyed permanently.

If Misaka were to get the Level 6 Shift in a DEATH BATTLE! scenario, she’d need A. Kihara Gensei present, B. a Misaka clone present to connect the Misaka Network to her, and C. Exterior to not be destroyed. She’d also need to uh, be willing to literally die an inevitable death without Touma present to stop her evolution. Oh, did I mention that she also cannot even act of her own free will in this state? That’s right, she needed yet another third party to influence her actions & point her in the direction of things to blow up. 

To summarize in bullet points, as simply as can possibly be laid out, Misaka needed:

• Kihara Gensei present

• A Misaka Clone present & incapacitated

• Exterior, out of Shokuhou Misaki’s possession

• A third party to guide and influence her actions

To be clear, she NEVER again reached anything resembling this form. It is not something she can naturally attain. It’s as non-standard as non-standard can get; even more so than temporary power amps that require ample prep time and planning. At least in those cases, characters, y’know, intend for the power boost. Hopefully there is no confusion as to why Misaka won’t be given her Level 6 Shift form now. Fret not, though, for there is something valuable to be gained from this whole debacle.

While Misaka was in the process of evolving to Level 6, Kihara Gensei dropped a particularly interesting nugget of information: the revelation that Misaka at 5.2 was “dozens of times more powerful” than Misaka at her base form. We know that at 100% (Level 6), Misaka would have wiped Academy City off the map; so logically, we can work backwards and figure that 5.2 Misaka is itself 50x weaker than 100%. From there, it’s possible to backscale a concrete numerical value for Misaka’s attack potency in base, thanks to the information gained from the Level 6 Shift. In this way, the Level 6 Shift is, actually, very relevant to the matchup and verdict… just not in the way most people likely expected. 

Anti-Art Attachment: Isn’t It Standard?

Following the escalation of events in the main Index light novels, Misaka as a character quickly became outclassed in the narrative hierarchy. She was the definition of a big fish (Level 5 Esper) in a small pond (Academy City). With the magic side of things becoming more prominent, fans began to clamor for some kind of power boost that could help Misaka keep up with the literal Magic Gods that Touma was fighting every Tuesday. Author Kazuma Kamachi answered the prayers of many by delivering unto Misaka not a new form, nor a new ability, but rather, an addition to her scarce arsenal that would completely change the game.

…kinda.

See, the Anti-Art Attachment is an interesting beast to put it simply. They are designed to combat Magic Gods, and combine technology with magic. Specifically, the mini-mechs are sort of conduits for Aleister Crowley (named after the real-life nutjob, yes) to channel his magic through. In this way, the A.A.A. is an extremely potent weapon if you can utilize both halves of its arsenal. 

That said, Misaka is not a magician, and using magic as an Esper has severe consequences in Index. As seen with Accelerator, performing the arcane arts as an Esper can cause great bodily harm to the person in question; at best resulting in nasty blood spurting from random places, and at worst, disrupting an Esper’s calculations completely, leaving them more vulnerable than they were before.

Luckily for Misaka, though, she doesn’t even know how to attempt magic in the first place. Therefore, when she tries to use the A.A.A., she simply can’t - at least not how it was intended. Thanks to her technopathy, Misaka can brute-force her way into the A.A.A.'s systems and manually override control over the technological side of its arsenal. Eventually, she had a custom-made A.A.A. that she carried around as part of her standard arsenal. So why, then, is it not in consideration here?

Simply put, it’s not very indicative of her overall capabilities, and not only was it a newer development in the novels, it’s also currently destroyed, so no longer in her possession. The A.A.A.’s arsenal consists of things like lasers, guns, chainsaws, flamethrowers, more guns, and the ability to shapeshift into a jet or motorcycle. That’s all cool for sure, but it kind of flips Misaka’s powerset on its head, turning her more into a pilot using Electrokinesis to pilot the A.A.A. rather than to fight directly.

It would simply muddle the conversation too much and distract from how Misaka is portrayed the vast majority of her history in the Index franchise. So, while you could argue it *was* standard, it could also be argued no, given its current status in the novels; and it wouldn’t really be in the spirit of the character to focus on anyway. Will she need this weapon to win the fight? Well, you’ll just have to keep reading to find out!

Is Misaka’s lightning really lightspeed?

(Note: a collection of novel statements with raw scans regarding Misaka’s lightspeed lightning can be found here)

While less of an obvious elephant in the room, this is still important to discuss thoroughly for the purposes of this match. If you are not familiar with the Index light novels, you may be wondering why this needs to be addressed at all; after all, the statements are pretty clear, so what’s the problem? 

#1: Consistency 

To start, critics of Misaka’s lightspeed lightning statements will point to the fact that the author, Kazuma Kamachi, has not regularly referred to her attacks as lightspeed. In fact, the vast majority of every lightspeed lightning statement can be found within the first 3 volumes of the first Index series, with only one exception later in volume 8. The reason for this hasn’t been given explicitly, though it can be assumed that - given the context of certain novel statements being blatantly, scientifically incorrect - Kamachi “course corrected”, so-to-speak, and dropped the lightspeed descriptor for Misaka’s lightning moving forward. To support this assumption, one may look at the following novel quotes:

• “Bluish-white sparks flew from the girl’s bangs like a horn and a spear-like line of lightning flew towards Kamijou. There was no way to evade. After all, he was against a bluish-white lightning spear shot from a Level 5’s hair. It was an experience like watching a thundercloud fire a bolt at light speed and then try to dodge it”. – OT Volume 1, Prologue”

• “Mikoto slightly narrowed her eyes and said, ‘…Can you really use that weak Level 4 ability of yours to escape my lightning strike?’ ‘Oh my, the speed of lightning is as fast as light, so it’s true that I can’t avoid it on sight, but so what? Once I see the signs and move quickly…’ ‘It’s not possible.’ Mikoto firmly interrupted her words”. – OT Volume 8, Chapter 3

In these excerpts, we can see that the author writes not only Misaka’s lightning spears as lightspeed, but natural lightning in general. Given this is obviously incorrect, one may argue that the statements are contradictory; and without further statements in later novels to offer clarity, one wouldn’t be faulted for coming to the conclusion that lightspeed lightning is simply invalid.

On the other hand, however, one may consider the fact that Index as a whole is full of apparent contradictory statements, with regards to numerical values describing certain attributes and attacks. For example, Misaka’s own Railgun is constantly stated to fire off at Mach 3, even in much later novels.

• “Its speed may have been Mach 10, Mach 20, or even Mach 30. Mikoto could only fire an arcade coin at three times the speed of sound, so this was beyond anything she could handle. She could only wait to be crushed and turned into a portion of a giant crater.” - NT Volume 13, Chapter 4

If we were to take the Railgun statements at face value, they would barely be stronger than an average bullet… which, evidently, is not the case, unless bullets can also destroy nuclear bunkers and hurl cars into the air. And yet, somehow this inconsistency persisted far longer in the novels than Misaka’s lightspeed lightning. What we can gather from this information is that Kamachi isn’t exactly the best at crunching numbers to match his narrative.

Which is fine, of course! However, it does devalue the argument that lightspeed lightning is illegitimate based on Kamachi dropping it, as he also continued incorrectly describing the Railgun, yet no one would argue the Railgun is bullet level in actuality. Additionally, it’s always possible he just… forgot, or no longer felt the need to stress the speed of Misaka’s lightning. So if we can’t rely on Kamachi’s word to prove or disprove the speed of Misaka’s lightning, what can we look at instead to guide us toward a conclusion?

Luckily for us, Index (the series, not the character) as a whole has more lightspeed & light-based feats than you may expect. Mugino Shizuri’s Meltdowner lasers are functionally comparable to a particle-accelerator, which can accelerate ions to nearly the speed of light; they burn through objects and cause explosions with their heat, not force, and move in straight lines. Additionally, there’s Yumiya Iruka, who outright manipulates sound and light, and is visibly shown to utilize things like laser pointers and flashlights for her ability. Lastly, we have Index (the character, not the series) who fired off a beam that moved at sub-relativistic speeds into orbit. 

Mugino is another Level 5, one who Misaka is absolutely comparable to, given their extensive fight and close ranking to each other (#3 VS #4). Yumiya Iruka is a Level 4 Esper, whose abilities are likely no greater than Misaka’s - after all, she was matched by another Level 4, Junko, who outright admitted Misaka could interfere with particles of light as they are shot forward. Lastly, Index’s beam was blocked by Kamijou Touma extremely early in the series chronologically; it may not be indicative of Misaka’s own attack speed, but it would support the notion that things this fast existed as early as the beginning of the series, and characters Misaka scales to were already reacting to them.

Taken altogether, we have ample supporting evidence to suggest that Misaka’s lightning being lightspeed would not be inconsistent with the abilities of other comparable or weaker Espers. If we aren’t taking Kamachi’s word choice into consideration, but rather, the content of his writing, we can find that lightspeed lightning would actually be consistent, not inconsistent, with the context surrounding Misaka’s capabilities. Which leads us to the second point of contention…

#2: Breaking Scaling

If you’ve been in the VS community for a while, it can be easy to forget how insanely fast and incomprehensible the speed of light is. Light travels from the sun to our eyes in 8 minutes; crossing an expanse of 94.398 million miles in less than the time it can take to drive somewhere and pick up food. Understandably, applying this level of speed to characters within a narrative can seem absurd at best, especially when the narrative in question repeatedly describes characters moving at the speed of sound as something superhuman and impossible to deal with. 

However, Misaka’s lightspeed lightning (and other lightspeed attacks and abilities) don’t necessarily break the narrative. After all, the stories turned out just fine. No, what they instead break is what the perceived scaling for a series can be. After all, characters like Shirai Kuroko can dodge Misaka’s lightning, as well as Kiyama Harumi, Kamijou Touma, etc. The notion that all of these characters can be “lightspeed” may sound ridiculous, but as established above, there is plenty of precedent already set for this to be the case. 

Touma has already dodged a beam that explicitly can be measured and calculated to move at near-relativistic speeds as part of the story; Junko has blatantly dodged amplified light beams as part of her story; Misaka herself has done similar. It’s hardly an outlier when three characters have separately performed these concrete feats, and extending the scaling doesn’t actually break things as hard as you may think. 

For instance, Kuroko would absolutely be uniquely used to Misaka’s lightning, given that Misaka zaps her so frequently. One explanation for her ability to perform this feat is that she simply grew more accustomed to and improved her reaction time to adapt to Misaka’s electricity, something she’d be getting a dose of often. Additionally, her fighting style is teleportation; she’s always catching opponents off-guard in fights, so it’s not like random Level 1 and 2 Espers are scaling to her speed.

And Touma is a special case, as his speed & reaction time has only gotten better from the beginning of the series. If you aren’t familiar, he eventually got to the point where he could dodge universe-crossing arrows from one of the more powerful Magic Gods in Index. So, needless to say, he isn’t exactly a traditional “low tier” in-universe, despite what you may think. As such, there’s good reason to believe he’d be faster, or at least have the capacity to be, than opponents he faces early on; and if he’s clearly faster than most people, they don’t scale to him, and scaling remains consistent for lower tiers. 

As for Junko, her whole deal is amplifying her stats - including speed - to the point that she becomes overwhelming, even for characters like Gunha, who reacted to Misaka’s lightning. She is demonstrably faster than the lower Level Espers she fights in Astral Buddy, which makes for a clear distinction in scaling. All of the above examples - Kuroko, Touma, Junko - can be seen as exceptional in some way, which explains their ability to keep up with lightspeed attacks. All of them are faster than lesser people in-universe, so there is no way to extrapolate us arguing that, I dunno, frog-faced doctor is relativistic. With just a bit of closer examination, the scaling in this case is not broken, but rather quite solid.

In conclusion, Misaka’s lightspeed lightning is not inconsistent, but rather, very consistent alongside other feats and abilities in Index. With the precedent set by concrete things such as Index’s satellite beam, Yumiya’s light manipulation, and Mugino’s Meltdowner lasers, Misaka’s lightning can more reasonably be viewed as a consistent value in context. In other words, you can think of the more concrete lightspeed values as supporting evidence for Misaka’s lightning being lightspeed. And this wouldn’t break scaling, either; the characters who scale to these feats are all exceptional in some way, with valid reasons for being as fast as they are. Accepting Misaka’s lightning as lightspeed wouldn’t imply random nobodies are relativistic, it would only strengthen the superiority other characters have already shown over slower, weaker tier characters.

Verdict

Stats

Looking at the big picture, Killua and Misaka pack plenty of power within their respective universes’ scales, rightfully earning them their reputations as two prodigious, capable fighters. Killua notably being able to scale (at least partially) to the likes of the Chimera Ant Royal Guard members Youpi and Pitou due to being able to damage and even outspeed them while Godspeed is active. He would also scale to his friends Gon and Kurapika and by the current arcs, as strong if not superior to the Phantom Troupe member Machi.

All that said, Killua is coming into this match swinging with more impressive stats than you may have expected. Scaling to (and above) Kurapika, Killua would be able to top Uvogin’s Big Bang impact, which could require anywhere from 96 tons of TNT to 137 kilotons of TNT. On a higher end, he can downscale from people like Pitou, who’s taken a hit from a practically newborn Meruem, netting 36.04 to 965.6 kilotons of TNT. By comparison, Gon’s Jajanken technique (22.6 Tons of TNT) barely even registers as notable, and Killua himself has withstood a 1-3 kiloton fart to the face. And of course, he can physically push at least 64 tons after obtaining the ability to use Nen. 

Of course, Killua can hit far higher numbers when accounting for his most powerful form, Godspeed. First off, Machi’s strings are ridiculous, able to extend across the entire planet - and we’re not talking about a normal-sized Earth, either. Hunter × Hunter takes place on a planet much, much larger than our own; 41 timers greater, to be exact. The energy needed to spread even an incredibly thin string across that circumference would be equivalent to anywhere between 58 kilotons of TNT and 2 megatons of TNT. In Godspeed, Killua would be massively upscaling from this feat.

On the higher end, Killua’s max potential comes from his fight against Youpi; or rather, by scaling to Morel’s fight with Youpi. Sure, Youpi did say Killua was only 10% of his power… but in this matchup, random, very specifically inconsistent numbers are nothing new, so, y’know. Morel’s aura being able to withstand the Rage Blast means Killua in Godspeed scales to a range of 132 kilotons to 15 megatons of TNT. This value is pretty consistent with Killua’s upscaling from Machi as well, leaving us with a solid range of power for the young assassin. To summarize, Killua most consistently scales into the mid-high kilotons, and at his best, can even reach low megatons of power. 

Now you may be amped to learn how Misaka compares, so let’s get into it. Starting off, she has plenty of lower level feats for her trademark technique, the Railgun. Misaka has launched a large aircraft beyond the visible horizon, netting around 53 to 95 tons of TNT. Even a basic Railgun attack could completely vaporize a 500 ton turbine propeller, worth 463 tons of TNT. Moving higher on up, Misaka has performed feats that range in the kiloton to megaton range of power; including when she used the Railgun technique to smite a large mech into a missile approaching Earth. Given that the missile has a stated speed, it’s possible to compare the speed of the mech Misaka launched, resulting in an energy output of 1.4 megatons of TNT.

This level of power is further substantiated by her storm cloud creation feat, wherein she amassed large clouds in a matter of seconds using her electrokinesis; ranging anywhere from 36.37 kilotons to 2.67 megatons of TNT. As we’ve established before, Misaka should logically downscale from her Level 6 Shift form quite a bit. At 100% Level 6, Misaka would have wiped Academy City off the map, and characters have specifically referred to this event as a “vaporization”. Thanks to that, we know that Misaka’s base potential rests somewhere between 16.86 kilotons to 2.53 megatons of TNT. As far as her own lifting strength goes, Misaka’s physicals aren’t particularly standout, though she can amp herself with Rampage Dress to compensate. The real kicker is how much she can lift with magnetism; at least 6 million tons in all. Needless to say, overpowering her defenses up close won’t be as easy as you’d expect. All in all, it’s weirdly very consistent that Misaka clocks in around the low megaton range of power by herself.

That said, Misaka is still likely a bit stronger than just that. Misaka’s battle against the Saint, Brunhild Eiktobel, is a point of contention as far as determining how far she scales. Regardless of whether you believe Misaka scales or downscales to Brunhild, however, there is still one feat in particular that Misaka can compare to thanks to this fight. See, Misaka fought Brunhild, Brunhild fought Kanzaki, and Kanzaki fought a 10 year old girl who literally does not receive a name - let’s call her Jane Ocean. Jane Ocean used some magic to conjure up a big ‘ol flood, covering 1/3 of a small island. Kanzaki got blasted in the face by this flood, and gave about a collective 0 shits about it, then proceeded to knock Jane Ocean out with no effort whatsoever. We know Brunhild and Kanzaki are comparable physically, as it’s outright stated, and Misaka at the very least could damage Brunhild and briefly block her attacks with magnetism. Ergo, Misaka demonstrably has done better against Saints than Jane Ocean; a character whose flood feat (directly used against a Saint) comes out to around 17 kilotons to 61 megatons worth of TNT. 

Looking at them side by side, Killua typically has higher showings on the lower ton-kiloton range of power. Misaka more consistently peaks into the low megatons, which Killua can match and upscale from via scaling to Machi. So far, edge goes to Killua, and that continues if you look at Youpi’s Rage Blast VS Misaka’s megaton level feats. He could be up to 5 times stronger… at least, until you take into account Misaka’s own higher ends. Remember, Killua scaling to Youpi directly is about as high as he can get. Misaka, on the other hand, should logically scale at least slightly above Jane Ocean, and potentially downscale from greater feats ranging in the 400 megaton range thanks to her fight with Brunhild. Pitting Youpi’s blast against Jane Ocean’s flood, Misaka would then take the lead with a roughly 4x AP gap. What this boils down to is both combatants having the potential to hold a surprisingly similar strength advantage over the other, but Misaka’s scaling to Jane Ocean is logical enough to cement her place in the lead here. Still, a 4x gap is far from insurmountable, so let’s see how these two kiddos stack up in speed.

Starting off with Killua, we know that he can casually blitz ordinary individuals, as shown when he infamously stole the hearts of many - and one poor sap in particular - early on. He can easily dodge bullets, move in-tandem with his own lightning, and react to the Greed Island card, Accompany. Given that it can travel between entire continents in no time at all, he’d need reaction speeds up to 1185 times greater than the speed of sound; and that’s his base form.

Killua of course also has his nifty super form in Godspeed, which might as well be as fast or faster than literal lightning, via massively upscaling from Machi’s strings. In order to toss those suckers across the entire planet - the one I’m sure you remember being, as the kids these days say, a “heckin chonker” - they’d need to be moving anywhere from Mach 452 to as high as Mach 2,715. Last but not least, there’s the notorious “light-speed” dart feat. Assuming the dart really would require such reflexes, Killua - given his anticipation of the dart - could potentially have reaction speeds anywhere from Mach 2,217 to 1.7% the speed of light. Certainly impressive, though keep in mind this feat requires a bit of benefit of doubt, given how dubious the claims made are.

…that all being said, Misaka is clearly much, much faster, and far more consistently, too. Sure, she has natural lightning strikes that Touma - and by proxy, she herself - can react to, but that’s kind of nothing compared to how many instances of near-light speed and just outright light dodging feats there are in Index. Touma as early as the first 10 chapters of his story was already blocking beams that would place his reaction speed exactly the same as Killua’s greatest possible feat, and with none of the benefit of doubt Killua needs to get there, either.

Scaling to Junko, Kuroko, Touma, Kanzaki, and more, Misaka is firmly at least relativistic; backed up by her own speed feats in that range from dodging Mugino’s Meltdowner lasers. Taken at her own high end, Misaka’s upscaling from Kiyama Harumi’s reactions would place her anywhere from 3 to 10 times faster than light. Again, Killua’s reaction time gets 1.7% the speed of light at absolute best, being generous. That would make Misaka 588 times faster with their respective best ends; if we instead compare Junko’s light dodging (close in value to Misaka’s Meltdowner dodge, and doesn’t rely on lightspeed lightning) VS Machi’s string feat, Misaka still comes out as 24 times faster. 

In short, while there are scenarios where Killua can feasibly be argued to have a strength advantage, it’s more likely Misaka edges out with her own scaling, though the gap isn’t insurmountable (legitimate shocker to some, I’m sure). What is insurmountable is the speed difference, as Misaka is well within blitzing range no matter how you slice it. 

*Note on durability: Misaka’s physicality can be amped via Rampage Dress to account for weaker natural physical stats, and her magnetic power would downscale from Brunhild. Killua landing a killing blow against a “glass cannon” here is unlikely for those reasons.

Arsenal & Abilities

Neither character here really packs a heavy arsenal, but there is still a bit to talk about there before moving onto the main course. Killua’s yo-yos are nifty and quirky weapons, but likely not ideal to bring against someone with magnetism powerful enough to uplift millions of tons. There’s not much stopping Misaka from yanking away Killua’s weapons, skateboard, and taser; the latter of which is rather notable, as it means Killua can’t rely on his personal arsenal to recharge his electricity mid-fight. On the other hand, Misaka’s coins are meant to be expendable, and if she runs out, she can still perform her Railgun on other objects she finds or makes with magnetism.

Onto abilities, this is where we start asking the big questions. For starters, could Misaka counter Rhythm Echo? The answer is… yeah, definitely. Remember, her electromagnetic sense is both omni-directional and based on disruptions in nearby electromagnetic waves. Killua might be able to fool her natural senses, but Misaka’s EM sense has saved her while outright blinded and deafened - the two senses Killua is primarily tricking with his technique. Additionally, Misaka kinda just has a better version of The Snake Awakens. Killua doesn't rely on anything but his own limbs to perform the attack, but Misaka can use waves and tendrils of iron sand that far outnumber and outreach Killua’s Snake Awakens. And, because she’s not physically making contact with her own body, she’s obviously a lot safer in doing so than Killua would be. 

Even most of Killua’s basic and advanced Nen applications would get overwhelmed here by Misaka’s abilities and speed. For example, even though expanding his aura by 57 cm would allow for him to sense anything that comes in contact with that aura; he wouldn’t be able to react in time if the thing’s moving faster than he can keep up with. Or if Killua were to utilize Zetsu to try and attack Misaka stealthily, Misaka would be able to still sense him with EM sense; which would just leave him extra vulnerable due to his Nen defense not being active while utilizing this technique.

With applications such as Ryu and Ko, it is true that Killua can focus more of his aura into his attacks to make them strong enough to inflict serious damage onto Misaka with very few hits. However, focusing his aura into certain parts of his body would leave other body parts less protected by his Nen or even completely unprotected if using the latter application; therefore making them more defenseless against attacks that he cannot avoid, such as surprise magnetic projectiles. 

All that being said, there are still applications of Nen that stand out from the bunch and present a unique hurdle for Misaka; namely, Ren. Not only can Misaka not identify what Nen specifically is, given her lack of… y’know, Nen, she would have little to no answers against the fear and mental damage malevolent Ren can inflict on others. The prospects of Killua using Ren in this manner may not be the most likely to occur VS his other abilities first, but if he does use it at an opportune time, it would be serious trouble for Misaka.

Similarly, “Nen Crush”, or the releasing of one’s Nen Nodes, would be problematic for Misaka if Killua were to rely on it. Ultimately, she’d need to rely on her mobility, speed and strength to either forcibly keep Killua away (something she would likely be doing, once she realizes how skilled and dangerous he is up close), or to simply end the fight quickly. Luckily for Misaka, Killua does tend to prefer shorter engagements, which may cut his opportunities to use problematic Nen abilities short; though the point stands that the Zoldyck child has a legitimate win condition to which Misaka has practically no defense against. 

When it comes to their respective electrokinesis, it should be apparent off-the-bat that Misaka is far more versatile and varied in the ways she applies her power. Killua can shock people, amp himself, and throw thunderbolts, but Misaka’s powers extend far beyond that. Magnetism, EM waves, EMPs, weather manipulation, air manipulation, iron sand’s many applications (ranging from bodily infiltration, weapon creation, and AoE, to name a few)  and her own method of amping her physicals more or less make this point open-and-shut… though it still warrants mention that Killua likely couldn’t even rely on long-range lightning here, as Misaka can easily divert and redirect his attacks using electrical breakdown in the air to guide it astray. 

Which leads us to Killua’s next issue in this fight, mobility. Godspeed grants him an incredible boost to his traversal and movement speed (one that Misaka can keep up with via Rampage Dress, but that’s neither here nor there right now), but he doesn’t have much of an answer to Misaka’s magnetic-mobility options. She can hover or fly in the air, or simply fling herself around a cityscape to remain aerial and far away. Failing those options, if Killua were to somehow remove anything she could magnetize or latch onto, there’s always the Iron Sand. Misaka can amass a ridiculous volume of it, creating “tsunamis” to wash away her foes, or create platforms to lift herself into the air, once again ensuring her safety. Killua thrives up close, but Misaka is perfectly suited to playing a long-range game with multiple options at her disposal to ensure she maintains an advantage. 

Both combatants here boast an impressive resistance to electricity. Killua straight up needs some electricity to juice up his powers, while Misaka has withstood her own lightning multiple times. Neither character is immune, but who would crack under the other’s first? Well, Killua has tolerated millions of volts and only gotten tougher since; but Misaka’s lightning not only clocks in with a billion volts, but we can also get an idea of the amps she’d have at her disposal, given she can call down natural lightning strikes. By comparison, Killua’s feats of tanking electricity are a bit less defined, and likely wouldn’t hold up well against Misaka simply overwhelming his resistance with both the voltage & AP gap.

He may be able to recharge once or twice, but it’s a dangerous game he’d be playing - and he may not even get the chance to do so more than once. While Misaka can interrupt Killua’s electricity powers (either by not letting him charge up, or diverting lightning he throws), Killua can’t really do the same. Misaka won’t exactly “run out” of electricity, and her stamina is demonstrably good enough for her to fight nearly nonstop across multiple days before her mental fatigue prevents her from safely and accurately performing calculations. 

Lastly, there’s the comparison between Godspeed and Rampage Dress to cover. Both are incredibly powerful boosts of power and speed these characters can tap into, and they also carry unique and notable drawbacks to consider. For Killua, it’d be how quickly it drains him of his electricity; severely weakening him and leaving him far less versatile if he can’t defeat a foe with Godspeed in time. For Misaka, she runs the risk of inflicting bodily injuries on herself with Rampage Dress if she’s not careful.

To her credit, she doesn’t tend to rely on this ability overly much, so her risk of injury isn’t too high… but she has still dislocated her thigh in a fight, something that would obviously be less than ideal here. While Killua’s Godspeed offers a dominating, complete package stat boost on a short timer, Misaka’s Rampage Dress acts more like a burst-option for quick bouts of well-timed speed and strength boosts. The big difference here is that Killua’s usage of Godspeed could leave him out of electricity, and it’s possible Misaka could simply not allow him to recharge; whereas Misaka can still fight even with bodily injuries, thanks to her hands-off abilities like magnetism. 

Ultimately, Killua’s abilities and techniques are impressive, but Misaka simply has the tools she needs to counter, evade, and push back nearly every option he has. It’s not unfeasible that he may gain an upper hand or turn the tides, but it’s certainly Misaka’s game to control, in conjunction with her superior stats. 

Tertiary Factors

It should go without saying that, stats and abilities aside, Killua is obviously the far more skilled fighter of the two. His actual combat training, let alone assassin skills and efficiency, dwarf any street experience Misaka has. Sure, she knows how to throw a punch and isn’t afraid to fight dirty, but in an equal stat, no ability scenario, Killua is folding her hard. Things get a bit different beyond raw fisticuffs, however; both Killua and Misaka are known for being very analytical, easily adapting to diverse and unique powers on the fly. In a bout against each other, it’s reasonable to assume they’d catch on to the other’s typical combat tendencies.

For example, Misaka would be quick to understand Killua’s reliance on electricity once he runs out and visibly recharges, and she’d know to keep away after getting manhandled up close and personal. On the other side, Killua could easily figure out Misaka’s powerset and anticipate her more basic attacks, such as magnetic projectiles. Generally, they’re likely about even in this regard; though it’s worth mentioning a slight edge goes to Misaka for raw academic intellect. It’s not quite as useful as perceptiveness and intuition here, but helpful nonetheless for figuring out ways to counter Killua’s advances with physics.

Moving on to endurance, Killua generally just has way, way more pain tolerance; though Misaka did withstand Raifu testing her endurance through reflecting Misaka’s lightning back at her, it’s one showing VS Killua’s entire history of torture. Interestingly, however Misaka likely has a bit more stamina. While Gon and Killua were training with Biscuit, they fought Binolt across a 10-day timeframe. It certainly sounds impressive, but we know they at least had intermittent breaks spread out through the night. Sure, we see that they likely slept lightly, as shown when Binolt tried to ambush them, but the fact that they got any substantial rest at all is something to keep in mind.

On the flip side, Misaka went on a three-day rampage against Academy City, barely eating anything and constantly being on the move. Even after she achieved this, she went on to fight ITEM; specifically, the halfwit assassin Frenda, who landed some physical blows on Misaka and basically gaslit her into not using her electrokinesis for the fight. After that, Misaka fought another Level 5, Mugino, who pushed Misaka to her absolute limits, again landing nasty physical blows and pressuring Misaka’s defenses constantly. Comparatively, Killua and Gon (working as a team) had pretty much beaten Binolt day 1, and just proceeded to sandbag on the dude until he had enough.

Overall, Misaka and Killua split their advantages across tertiary factors in interesting ways. Killua is far more skilled in CQC, has actual experience killing frequently and efficiently, is incredibly adaptable and intuitive in his own right, and undoubtedly has a higher threshold for continuous pain tolerance. Misaka, for her credit, has plenty of experience fighting other clever, diverse power sets, is very intuitive and clever, boasts a lot more academic intelligence, and seemingly has an edge in stamina as well.  

Conclusion

"If I ignore a friend I have the ability to help, wouldn’t I be betraying him?"

Advantages:

• More experience with killing

• More skilled in hand to hand combat

• Can potentially charge Godspeed back up with Misaka’s electricity

• Could utilize the fear manipulation behind his Ren to stun Misaka, something Misaka has no resistance to 

• Far greater pain tolerance & endurance

• Resists electricity

• Hella Drip

• Was a Top Tier in Jump Force 

Disadvantages:

• Slower, weirdly enough

• Possibly weaker

• Potentially less stamina

• More linear combat abilities

• Few answers to Misaka’s various mobility & keepaway options

• Rhythm Echo gets countered by EM sense

• Long-range electricity is ineffective 

• Godspeed will eventually run out if Misaka stops using electricity

• Was in Jump Force (L)

• Series is still going

“I’ve only just started to understand it myself. That by depending on others, and letting them depend on you, people can exceed what they can do as individuals.”

Advantages:

• Definitively faster (ironically)

• Likely stronger

• More versatile abilities and attacks

• Greater ranged options

• Superior battlefield control & mobility 

• Can divert Killua’s lightning from afar

• EM sense can counter Rhythm Echo

• Far greater lifting strength w/ magnetism

• Many more defensive options w/ Iron Sand and magnetism in general

• Much smarter mathematically

• Potentially greater stamina

• Resists electricity

• Series is still going

Disadvantages:

• Less direct combat training & CQC skill

• Risks bodily harm from using Rampage Dress

• No resistance to the fear manipulation behind Killua’s Ren

• Has only fought assassins half as skilled as Killua

• Index Season 3

• Got powercrept in her series as a plot point 💀

Contrary to popular belief, this match is not a stomp; but that doesn’t mean it can’t be somewhat clear cut. Killua undoubtedly takes several strong, important key advantages in this fight. His skill and deadliness up close is nothing to scoff at, and his Nen boasts a potentially game-ending effect that demands respect. Misaka is comparably more intelligent, and has greater stamina, while both characters boast impressive adaptability, intuition, and varied combat experience.

When it comes to abilities, Killua is far more dangerous in a direct, up-close confrontation, and his electric absorption + resistance is good to have… but Misaka simply has more and better options for answering most of Killua’s kit, and then some. Superior CQC can only get you so far against someone who can control the flow of the fight on a whim, flood the arena, control their altitude, sense any sneak attack you try, and has multiple layers of magnetic defenses to get through.

Frankly, the AP gap here is likely within a margin of error both ways; you could easily argue one side lower or higher, and there are scenarios where Killua and Misaka land near the exact same values of power. Generally speaking, both can comfortably be placed in the city-level tier of power, which may be surprising if you came into this with preconceived notions about who “stomped” who. Were speed not in Misaka’s favor, it’s honestly possible Killua could take this more often than not, even if he were weaker; her mobility is such a key factor precisely because she is more than fast enough to react & dodge anything Killua attempts, making it incredibly hard for him to set up the scenario he stands the best chance in at winning. Index simply has too many consistent relativistic and light-based feats for Killua to keep up with, even giving him the benefit of doubt with the light-speed dart. 

At the end of the day, Killua is an absolute beast who can win in a few circumstances thanks to his incredible skill, efficiency for murder, and unpredictable Nen… but Misaka’s greater power, blistering speed, and superb versatility are just enough for her to win this battle. It certainly hertz to say it, but Killua absolutely positively couldn’t keep his ion the prize. Oh well, Misaka will just have to be charged with battery.

…and also murder.

The winner is Misaka Mikoto.

Final Tally

Killua (2) - Gogetotanks, Theory

Misaka (14) - 𝓐𝓼𝓾𝓻𝓪, Guruguru wa, Twice, Giotto, Rippen_Crippen, Eyebrawlerz, Rina, Dragonmasterxyz, Hyperstarman, Js250476, Pasbros, Trashy, Behemoth, Greymerlion2