episode_0061

The moment I saw him, looking utterly suspicious, trying to pull back the red curtain, a dangerous electric shock tingled through my body, and I was thrust into a moment of accelerated time.

I felt as if only my thoughts left my body first, and as I rapidly accelerated, he, perhaps using a high-performance speedware as well, was a little slow but reacted to my charge.

As I bent my waist and dodged the sharp chrome bear claw extending toward me, a mantis blade unfurled, tearing through the sleeve of his forearm.

“Damn it!”

Usually, models with only one gimmick are common for chrome weapon arms, due to issues of durability or cost.

However, advanced cyberware that included several types of gimmicks occasionally existed, albeit at a high price.

*Slash!* I quickly raised my arm to block the mantis blade.

No matter how much my muscle compression and durability continued to increase with nanowear, blocking a sharply polished blade without damage was impossible, even with high-quality cyberware.

I grimaced at the pain from the blade, which had cut through my skin and muscle layers, hit my subcutaneous armor plate, sparked, and then stopped. I then continuously kicked his abdomen.

The hard sensation from the recoil thumped against the sole of my shoe, and he twisted and swung his blade, flying backward.

“Ugh…!”

As the blade scraped my subcutaneous armor plate and sliced a long wound into my flesh, I clutched my arm and exited the accelerated time.

Blood streamed from the wound, forming a red puddle on the floor where a severed flap of skin had fallen.

Because such variables could be created, those who preferred a tricky combat style sometimes used complex weapon arms, holding hidden tricks in reserve.

“Tsk… He’s quite skilled.”

“Jun?!”

As if Luna had immediately grasped the situation, she slid across the floor, taking position in front of me, and fired a .50 caliber at the pile of filming equipment where he had flown.

The violent explosion of gunpowder and the shockwave spreading around, unable to be hidden even by the massive amplifier’s sound, suddenly cut off the heat from the stage, a chill that was also felt backstage.

Yuki and Luna, rushing over, each holding electromagnetic acceleration pistols, aimed and charged towards the direction he had flown, as if to provide cover.

The guy, who had pulled out his mantis blade, crashed, but perhaps using some auxiliary system, he intentionally bent his back and slammed into a box, evading Luna’s gunfire, then stood up and immediately accelerated.

The guy, rushing forward and leaving afterimages, held a fist twice the size of an ordinary person’s and raised it towards Luna. I, accelerating again, threw my body at him, colliding.

*Crash!* As I was hit by the incredibly fast human bullet, he and I tumbled to the floor. When the gorilla arm seized me, my body flew like a sheet of paper, getting tangled in the curtain and rolling across the stage.

“Damn it!”

Trying to untangle myself would only take too long.

With the intention of tearing it, I activated my potentialware and stretched out my arms to escape the thick fabric binding my whole body, and with a *crackle*, I was able to break free as if tearing open a cocoon.

And I felt thousands of pairs of eyes fixed on me.

“Oh no…”

The closest one was Closing Age, who was in the middle of singing on stage.

With a perplexed expression, he cast a glance at me, yet naturally shouted “Calm down!”, as if it were all part of the act. The unidentified assassin, whose body was entirely hidden by a long coat, patted himself down as he walked onto the stage.

“Damn it! Who is that person?!”

“It seems to be the assassin we’ve been waiting for, but he’s damn strong.”

Closing Age, who was shouting the F-word in his natural voice instead of into the microphone so it wouldn’t be heard below the stage, turned pale at the mention of an assassin.

“If the concert’s over anyway, shouldn’t we just run away like this?”

“We have to finish the final encore song so the fans don’t get disappointed.”

“How bold…”

I clicked my tongue at the musician who loved his fans needlessly and stood up.

According to that assassin’s plan, he must have intended to kill Closing Age during the performance using specially made bear claws, in order to frame Bearhand, who had bear claws implanted as bioware.

A musician torn to death in front of his fans during a performance.

It would certainly become a huge topic, and Juworld would be engulfed in enormous controversy and madness.

I don’t know if that’s truly what he’s aiming for, but there’s no need to think long; I just need to stop him.

Closing Age, who had grabbed the microphone again, shouted.

– “Now, enjoy the end of the fading era!”

Heavy electronic music began to play, along with the apocalyptic message.

‘Over there backstage, security personnel are torn and scattered, but…’

I could clearly see two corpses with their throats torn out by bear claws.

I don’t know how many he killed to get here, but at least this security company will suffer quite a loss.

“Alright, let’s start too.”

Along with the beat of post-hardcore, he and I blended into the stretching sound.

***

Even though he was slower, as if he had foresight, the sharp claws already positioned where I would move, sliced through flesh and tore out muscle.

Overwhelming combat calculations.

But I have a super AI that calculates for me.

I hooked the drawn knife, twisted to block, kicked his knee to bring him down, landed a knee kick to his chin, and then backflipped away as an electromagnetic propulsion shell crossed and pierced his hip joint.

Yuki and Kana, simultaneously charging for the next shot, dashed across the stage towards the guy who couldn’t get up.

Kana’s extended leg twisted his chin, and Yuki’s tech gun, which had finished charging as she slid across the stage, pierced his shoulder on a trajectory that barely avoided Kana.

The guy staggered greatly from the combo.

Behind him, Luna slammed her foot hard onto the floor, and the tiles shattered and flew up. When she kicked them, they flew at tremendous speed and struck the back of his head!

As the guy, head buried in the floor, rolled towards me from his remaining momentum, *thud*, I felt a warm sensation flowing from my nose. I accelerated once more, adding a flurry of blows to the surging electronic and drum music that was getting faster.

Combo, combo, combo, and yet another combo.

With the intention of not even giving him time to reach Closing Age, we relentlessly attacked.

Although his bare face, still concealed, wasn’t revealed, his bewilderment could be felt even through the mask.

*Thump!*

“This bastard dares to target my friend!!!”

The appearance of “Tin Head” Ricardo, who flew from the audience seats and stormed onto the stage.

“Are you the one who dared to impersonate us?”

Along with a bear’s paw that had punched through the stage floor, Bearhand, rising grotesquely, also looked with furious eyes at the assassin who was being beaten by me, Luna, Yuki, and Kana.

JQ’s drones, covering the sky, scattered chaff; Raleigh, who had already arrived, boosted by speedware’s hyper-acceleration; and even Blake, who had drawn his katana to show the coolness of a maid.

As more people slowly stormed onto the stage, where rough music was pouring out, the excitement flared even higher.

“Looks like things got a bit out of hand! Aren’t you not supposed to interrupt a performance?!”

“Things never go as planned, do they? We just have to roll with it!”

A gigantic bear paw clashed with his bear claw, adding a sharp clang to the music. When he countered Blake’s downward katana strike with his mantis blade, a chilling metallic screech was added.

Gunshots fired along with the drums, and impacts reverberating like a bassline.

To somehow smooth over this situation, the stage team desperately mixed lighting, holograms, and stage effects in a chaotic mess.

The violence and bloodshed on stage brought about a frenzy, pushing the performance to its climax and distorting the perceptions of those present.

The assassin’s pierced and cut wounds regenerated easily, as if he had a healing factor implanted, but he still fell to his knees from the sheer number of attacks.

Simultaneously, the music came to an end.

Everyone was heavily panting, and the fans, sensing the end, urgently shouted “One more!”

“Huh… Hah… Persistent bastard. To be beaten like that and still be able to stand…”

“…He’s beyond expectations. I suppose I can’t complete the mission with this.”

“You… could talk?”

At his words, implying that if he weren’t limited to using only bear claws, he could have broken through us and killed Closing Age, Ricardo flared up, but no one who had faced him could refute it.

Against me, who moves with Kerberos’ acceleration, far exceeding the human limit for extreme military usage, he was able to establish a defensive battle against super-heavyweights like Luna, Raleigh, Ricardo, and Bearhand.

Moreover, while possessing cyberware reminiscent of a healing factor, the performance of his ICE, which quickly created new defensive barriers even after Martina had invested 30 seconds into hacking, was grotesquely powerful.

“What kind of monster is this?”

“Fuck!”

It wouldn’t be strange now if he declared that nothing else mattered and pulled out a real weapon.

Everyone, tense, surrounded him, ready to react.

But as if he wanted to make us look foolish, he seemed to check the time, then put away his bear claw.

“It’s a failure. I don’t know how many years it’s been since I failed a request. Anyway, your skills were quite impressive. You can all go far if you don’t stick your heads in strange places.”

“Hey, wait..!”

As if wishing us well meant his job was done, he lightly patted his coat, which was undamaged even during the fierce battle, and subtle optical devices activated, making his figure disappear from sight.

Immediately, Luna, Ricardo, and I surrounded Closing Age to protect him, but even as time passed, no approaching presence was felt.

He had truly left.

“…What kind of guy was that?”

I muttered about the guy who had cloaked and disappeared, as if to say that if he had simply wanted to assassinate, it would have been an easy task.

***

Although we had turned the stage into a chaotic mess, it wasn’t necessarily a bad kind of mess. Anyway, after the concert ended and the audience left, the rooftop of Junk Palace became quiet.

The EPSB seemed to take this incident, where mercenary combat was broadcast live, quite seriously, as a considerable number of patrols were gathered below.

It might be best to lie low for a while.

“It was different from what I expected, but I think we responded quite wonderfully to the fans.”

Closing Age, the client, who I thought would be angry about the stage being ruined, was instead pleased, saying it allowed him to show a new performance.

He muttered something about being able to express the intensity of the lower city right beneath the upper city.

More than that, I was curious about the identity of the killer who came as an assassin, but anyway, since things ended well, it should be fine.

“Separate from the request, I’ll invite you sometime later.”

“I’m good. I’ll be going now.”

The Juworld executives, whose arms had been severed by Bearhand and the killer, each glanced at Ricardo, then coolly disappeared.

“That foolish bear cub, seriously. Haha! Good work, everyone, my friends.”

Ricardo then cursed at the Juworld executives behind their backs, put an arm around Closing Age, and waved.

JQ, his fan, pestered Blake and followed the two of them, and Raleigh had already disappeared.

“Whew~ I’m so tired. I don’t think I can go home like this, so I guess I’ll have to stay at Jun’s place tonight ♥”

“I couldn’t rest and walked so much, and then I fought against a monster like that at the end, so praise me a lot, okay?”

One by one, they dispersed and scattered, but Yuki and Kana, whose original goal was me, naturally appealed to go back with me.

“Hmm…”

At the twins, who were bloody but still casually nuzzling and acting cute, I felt Luna’s piercing gaze on the back of my head.

When I gave an awkward smile and looked at Luna, she had a sullen expression but sighed and nodded.

“Alright. It’s true they helped diligently.”

Luna, who, even though she didn’t like it, pretended to be defeated and cleanly acknowledged their efforts.

And after acknowledging it, she would act kindly without holding a grudge.

For someone living in Eclipse Point, where clumsy individuals quickly hit rock bottom, her naive and generous side was why I liked Luna.

“Still… I thought today we could have a date just the two of us.”

At her whispered little murmur, Yuki and Kana’s ears perked up, and Luna smiled sweetly, then lightly tapped my chest and walked away.

“Let’s go now. If we’re any later, we’ll be on the morning news instead of the late-night channel.”