episode_0073

An abnormal scar streaked across the road in a straight line, and a massive metallic clang echoed.

It happened once, twice, thrice… After that, the sounds layered and exploded beyond count, and suddenly, unseen damage had appeared once more.

Abandoned junk cars and gangster bikes were riddled with scattered pellets, their exteriors pierced and engines destroyed, and the apartment walls began to show shallow and deep, irregular scratches, as if scored by claws.

Two afterimages created this phenomenon.

The battle between the two mercenaries, operating their Speedwear to the extreme, swept through the entire vicinity.

*Stop* How many dozens of exchanges had they shared?

Suddenly, both of them halted simultaneously, spitting blood and gasping for breath.

*Drip drip* The blood hitting the ground was distinct, much like their appearances.

The Shapeshifter, who had coughed up sticky, transparent gel-like blood, reverted Luna Anthony Taylor’s form back to its original shape and readjusted his stance.

“Cough…”

Although he had injuries here and there, the Shapeshifter seemed capable of continuing the fight. His opponent, however, was in tatters.

A knife was embedded in his thigh, his abdomen had been repeatedly stabbed, and blood *gushed – gushed -* from his cut neck.

Moreover, the recoil from the Speedwear seemed even greater, his eyes unfocused and vacant, making it impossible to tell if he was even conscious.

“Even if it’s a direct confrontation and not an assassination, and you actively used cloaking, I didn’t expect you to endure this much alone.”

“…You stabbed me in the back and say it’s not an assassination? Aren’t you shameless?”

“To be a killer, you have to abandon this much conscience.”

“I get it.”

The two mercenaries casually exchanged banter as if they were close friends.

Yet, neither let their guard down against the other.

“I thought I was past the point of getting beaten up easily, but there are truly too many monstrous bastards out there…”

“Your skill is already excellent. It’s true you’re not easily beaten. You just had a bad opponent.”

John Doe, who, though not entirely unknown, bore an unfair moniker because of his name, felt the faint residual current in his throbbing nerves slowly dissipate as he urged Cerberus forward again.

It was an excessive operation, enough to worsen even an observer’s condition almost instantly due to the recoil, but there was no other choice.

Rather, this level of recoil might even be a cheap price to pay.

The only thing he could do for his body was to buy as much time as possible for recovery.

“You’re quite confident… I don’t know why a skilled person like you is cleaning up after the bigwigs, though.”

“I’m at the top, which is why I do dirty work. However… there are far better jobs than being a killer, but I caused a bit of trouble, so I have no choice.”

“Just how much trouble did you cause?”

“I gambled and got into debt.”

“…”

At the Shapeshifter’s reply, John Doe blinked for a moment, then his face twisted strangely, as if he had only understood the words seconds later.

“Don’t look at me like that. I was pretty broke at the time, so I played poker to earn some living expenses, and boom, two million credits vanished in one go.”

*Gasping.* John Doe had something to say, but couldn’t bring himself to, his mouth agape like a goldfish.

***

What the hell is wrong with this crazy bastard?

I heard it from Johann, but aren’t the Seven Highs supposed to rack up money quickly by taking on a few jobs?

‘No, more than that, if he can throw two million credits into a pot, why doesn’t he just use that money?’

It truly seemed like a gambling addict trying to excuse his gambling, so I clicked my tongue, *tsk*.

More than that, what kind of den of iniquity was a poker game where you could bet two million credits?

“…Is that really all it is?”

“Listen. I clearly had a hand I could bet my life on, but who knew the guy next to me would have a higher hand! I borrowed some money to win it back, but I kept losing, so the debt just piled up.”

He was clearly at the top of the mercenary industry, so why did his actions resemble those of the gutter trash living without a tomorrow?

“Do you do drugs too?”

“Combat drugs? A little.”

“Damn it.”

Gambling and drugs.

Isn’t that the typical lifestyle of a day-to-day mercenary?

And to top it off, even after being cornered, he still had this strange, baseless confidence.

“Anyway, working under the Chairman helps me resolve my debt and living expenses, so I’m just following orders.”

“How much is it?”

“About this much?”

The Shapeshifter held up a finger.

“100?”

*Shake shake*

“…1,000?”

*Nod nod*

“You crazy bastard.”

There was probably no one else in Eclipse Point with a debt of 10 million credits except him.

Then again, perhaps being able to survive with that much debt was proof of his special nature.

Given how Johann always grinned like an idiot, and that old man Yoshimura also seemed out of his mind, perhaps you had to have a screw loose somewhere to become a Seven High.

“Anyway, since the assassination of Closing Age failed, if I deal with you guys… I can deduct about 20% of my debt. Sorry.”

“My life being used to pay off someone else’s debt? No thanks!”

*Thwack!* He roughly pulled out the knife plunged into his thigh and flung it forward.

The knife, thrown with a burst of air and a loud boom, flew straight towards the Shapeshifter’s Adam’s apple, but the Shapeshifter’s body *shimmered -* and vanished into thin air.

‘Optical Camouflage…!’

This was why, in addition to transforming into Luna to make attacking vital points difficult, I couldn’t gain an advantage despite my overwhelmingly superior specs!

It was an extremely troublesome piece of equipment to fight against because you only knew which direction the transparent foe would attack from after being hit.

“Damn it!”

Even after looking around, the Shapeshifter had already blended in and was invisible.

It felt like standing completely alone in this empty lot.

Then, from far away, *slap slap slap* came the sound of flip-flop soles rapidly hitting the concrete as someone ran towards him.

It was a familiar sound, so I turned around to see a woman with white hair and perked-up fox ears running straight towards me.

“Jun! I’m here to help!”

“Yuki?”

I felt a momentary relief at the sight of her swaying, bushy tail, and although it felt a little strange, I reached out my hand to Yuki.

“Yuki! Don’t come here! The Shapeshifter is currently…”

*Thud* “How kind of you~”

“Damn it… So that’s why I felt something was off!”

Come to think of it, Yuki and Kana had headed to the furthest location from here.

If anyone were to come, it would be Ricardo, contacted by JQ, not Yuki, and certainly not alone. There was no reason for her to come for support.

“Even if you knew, you couldn’t ignore it, could you? Just in case it was real.”

Mimicking Yuki’s seductive smile, the Shapeshifter plunged a knife into my chest once more, then changed his body back to Luna’s form and threw a punch.

*Thwack!* My body flew through the air again.

“Gasp… Gasp…! Pant…!”

Before I knew it, I was crawling on the ground.

The strategy of constantly shifting between familiar and unfamiliar faces to distract me, while endlessly launching surprise attacks with transparency, was utterly impossible to counter.

To face that bastard, I needed someone with the kind of sensibility that could kill anyone—acquaintance, friend, lover, or civilian—without a shred of doubt.

*Flick* As I crawled across the ground, my palms scraped raw, my hand happened to touch a black spray paint can.

It must have been trash left behind by some delinquent who was drawing graffiti.

*Rattle rattle rattle* When I shook it, there wasn’t much content, but perhaps about 25% left.

“It’s a pretty popular face, so it’s a shame. If you were a host instead of a mercenary, you’d probably get a lot of love from rich people.”

“Sorry, but I’m not into greasy people.”

The Shapeshifter slowly approached behind me, while I struggled even to get up due to injuries beyond the limits of my Nanowear’s healing and the recoil from Cerberus, which had been activated dozens of times.

I heard the chilling metallic sound of him picking up a katana, which lay strewn on the ground from our earlier fight, as if he intended to sever my neck.

*Clench* I gripped the spray paint can tightly and regulated my breathing.

“I’ll make it painless.”

A presence and a shadow loomed behind me.

I saw a raised arm, and the moment it began to descend, I accelerated.

Overworking my already frayed nerves, I used my knee joints like springs, twisting and rotating my upper body, and hurled the spray can towards the descending katana.

“!”

I couldn’t see his face, but there was a hesitant pause, as if he was flustered.

However, the katana, already descending due to inertia, sliced the spray can in half, causing the black spray paint inside to erupt.

*Pshhhhhh!!!* A black, misty paint shot out, coating the Shapeshifter’s cloaking cloak.

At the same time, I rolled sideways, ending my acceleration, and the katana, cutting through the air, *scratched!* the asphalt ground, sending sparks flying, and the Shapeshifter’s cloak was dyed black.

“This much…”

The Shapeshifter once again melted into the air.

But the parts stained with black paint were unaffected by the optical camouflage, appearing as if black spots were floating in the air.

“It worked! That equipment… it refracts light with special particles to make you invisible, right? If it works that way, it’s vulnerable to contamination!”

“It’ll be expensive to repair…”

As the Shapeshifter murmured in a tone that seemed to ask, ‘So what?’, I shifted my gaze to the apartment building.

‘Now!’

‘Target ICE penetrated, entering internal OS. Executing short circuit.’

Martina’s real-time decking required visual acquisition of the target.

Because of this, she was not well-suited against someone who constantly evaded sight through invisibility, but if I could create a visible mark, it was entirely possible!

“!”

*Halt* The black spot floating in the air, which had been moving rapidly, stopped, and the Shapeshifter’s form began to reappear.

His body seemed rigidly stiff.

I grabbed my shotgun like a baseball bat, twisted my body to its maximum, and unleashed a full swing.

No matter how bad my physical condition, I wouldn’t miss a motionless target!

*Whoosh!!!* The stock of the shotgun, cutting fiercely through the air and becoming a blunt weapon, *thwacked!* hard against the Shapeshifter’s mask.

With that powerful blow, his head snapped back violently, rotated 180 degrees in place, and he crashed headfirst into the ground.

“Gasp… pant…”

With ragged breaths, I looked down at him.

The mask, completely shattered at the point of impact, was what allowed him to change faces.

‘To ensure the safety of the target, a virus is being deployed to the operating system for definite suppression. Executing Libido Protocol.’

“What?”

As I looked at the Shapeshifter, holding my dizzy head and catching my breath, Martina’s announcement in my mind made me grimace.

Then, the Shapeshifter’s lying body stirred.

He gathered his legs, rubbing his thighs together, and twitched his body, as if he needed to urinate.

“Ugh… W-what is this all of a sudden…?”

“…?”

I crunched on a completely crumpled energy bar from my pocket, rapidly recovering my stamina, then knelt down and carefully removed the Shapeshifter’s mask.

Fortunately, there was no misfortune of a bushy-haired old man staring at me with fervent eyes; instead, the face of a white-haired woman, eyes closed and breathing irregularly, was revealed.

“…You were a woman?”