episode_0134

“Everyone’s comms are cut. I didn’t expect much, but this is too fast.”

In the middle of the pandemonium, where screams erupted from everywhere, loud shouts and the pungent smell of gunpowder vibrated.

At the entrance of the subway station, officially closed long ago due to business termination, a man in a red and white striped suit, his arms crossed with disappointed eyes, spit out the cigar from his mouth and sighed.

“Haha! All the better for us. Lieutenant General Derek, the Goliath’s usage permit has been approved, so if we just finish this job safely, we won’t have to see that arrogant bitch Phoenix swaggering around anymore.”

“Let’s hope so.”

A muscular, short-haired woman placed her hand on the shoulder of the man called Lieutenant General Derek.

The two looked up at the sky with different expressions, their gaze fixed on the enormous object shadowing them.

Height 7.2m. Volume 5.1m. Total weight 60.6t.

A full metal frame painted with a blue base mixed with red and white, mimicking the Stars and Stripes.

A colossal bipedal chrome exoskeleton heavily equipped with ultra-high-end armaments such as multiple missile launchers, industrial power tool arms, plasma atmospheric accelerators, and rocket accelerators.

A weapon whose immense power was universally acknowledged, yet due to its enormous size, its fuel efficiency was poor, limiting its widespread military use.

The Goliath M-88 was flying, suspended by eight large transport drones.

Although a model from over a decade ago, this monstrosity, designed for military use, was still an insurmountable object for personal firearms.

“Phoenix, no matter how much that bitch screams about danger, what can anyone do against that?”

“The targets are Wizard and the Black Market owner… but it wouldn’t be bad to crush them while we’re at it. And also to retrieve Cerberus, which we couldn’t recover.”

“That’s exciting. Since that mission was already a failure for her, I can assume I have a chance, right?”

“Cerberus was supposed to be assigned to Phoenix due to its self-destructive nature… but seeing it being used normally, it seems the problem has been improved. If so, they’ll decide who among the generals will take it.”

[“Mobile weapons with mass destruction capabilities, as per Article 14 of the Eclipse Point Public Order Maintenance Clause, are prohibited from existing in the general residential areas of Eclipse Point. Arrest procedures are commencing. Lethal force is authorized upon escape. Stop immediately!”]

EPSB and SWAT, the ‘People’s Batons’, along with security drones, began arriving at the street damaged by the forceful occupation. They swiftly surrounded the Fiftystar, who had started causing a ruckus in the affluent district, where public order maintenance services could be requested and maintained.

Calls for surrender and menacing warnings of force echoed from all directions.

However, the Fiftystar generals ignored it as if hearing the buzz of flies.

[“Identity scan complete. Derek Offmans, Samantha Hamon, Nakahashi Jo, Jose Peña Nieto… quite a lot. All your records are dirty. Prepare your wills immediately.”]

“Annoying curs, guarding a house.”

Lieutenant General Derek furrowed his brow, gave a hand signal, and then irritably turned his back.

E pluribus unum, In God We Trust─

The giant, defending freedom under democracy, snapped the thirteen ropes that bound it.

***

After thoroughly stomping the finally awakened naked blue-spandex figures back into a comfortable slumber, the four of us, with serious faces, began a marathon meeting.

“Our guys are probably annihilated. At least the ones at Japantown Station. Is it fortunate that I told them not to send reinforcements to Japantown?”

“To call it fortunate, if all the station staff were wiped out, there’s only one exit, so we’re completely blockaded.”

“I know..!”

I clicked my tongue at Spenda, who was already pulling and tearing at his subtly thinning hair, perhaps from constant stress.

‘What’s the probability of escaping without engagement?’

‘Having jacked the surveillance cameras inside the station and Fiftystar’s communication channels, if Zafudong attempts to escape alone without companions, it is estimated there’s a 98% chance of safe egress.’

‘There’s no way I’m going out alone.’

‘When accompanied by Shirokitsune Yuki, the optimal path still offers a safe zone with 87.6% success, but when accompanied by both Wizard and Stan Burton, the chance of avoiding engagement is 0.57%, which is practically impossible.’

Frankly, then, it wasn’t a threat to me.

After all, Yuki is the only important person to me.

However, knowing full well that they have two targets, I’m not keen on just handing them over by saying ‘Here we are!’

Just as my dilemma deepened over which choice to make, I felt a soft, warm palm gently settle over my hand.

“Jun, are you worried?”

A hand that skillfully intertwined fingers with a smile in her eyes.

Yuki brushed against my cheek as if to kiss it, whispering into my ear.

“If it’s because of me, it’s fine.”

“Do you know what I want to do?”

“No! But if we were trying to escape, it would be because of me, and if we were fighting Fiftystar, it would be because you were worried about me, right? In that case, you don’t need to worry about me. I have insurance too.”

With a crisp wink, Yuki gave me a faint smile.

You know me too well.

Alright. Even if a somewhat dangerous guy shows up, I just need to draw attention, so let’s do it.

I pushed aside the frustrating dilemma and opened my mouth to make a suggestion to the two of them.

And faster than that, Wizard made a suggestion to me.

“Escape…”

“I’ll ‘request’ it from the heads of R&B Risk Control and K.I.T.S.U.N.E. I hope they accept.”

Having been beaten to the punch, Yuki and I blinked and stared at each other.

Rumble─!!!

The subway station, built sturdy enough to serve as a shelter, shook violently as if an earthquake had struck, reflecting and spreading the thunderous roar that erupted above us.

Old dust, stirred by the vibrations, tormented us with its musty smell, drying out our noses and mouths. With many old, broken lights, scattered flickers were the only source of light in the descending darkness.

A group running through the dark tunnel, using those dim clusters of light as their guide.

Clatter clatter clatter-

“Gyaaaaah!! Goddamn my ass!”

“What can be done when your legs are like that? Take your complaints to the laborers who laid all those stones on the track.”

Even in this situation, Wizard looked at Stan, who was screaming profanities about his pelvis being rattled, as if he were an unmannered person, and behind them, a clattering sound could be heard.

“Is there no sense of crisis? I told you there are dozens of those blue-spandex figures targeting you! And what’s more, that Bonesy guy is coming too, right?”

“If scowling would solve this dangerous situation, I’d wrinkle my face any time. But wouldn’t a scowling magician make for an unappealing show? It’s like that, you see.”

“I don’t understand at all.”

As we ran, we passed three Fiftystar members lying incapacitated on the floor.

And then, vaguely, a white tail could be seen swaying in front, before turning transparent and moving ahead.

We had borrowed the stealth jumper made by Pointless for Yuki and were breaking through with a strategy of implanting viruses into the enemies ahead to neutralize them quietly and cleanly.

However, while the cognitive impairment function that Yuki originally used to induce self-destruction was excellent, it didn’t suit this strategy, so Stan had improvised and switched it to a different firmware weapon.

It was a device that disrupted the cyberware’s neural integration system, turning them into empty shells until recalibration, making it practically poison for former corporate soldiers with high-level modifications.

The operation was quite successful.

Because in less than five minutes after leaving the shelter, we had neutralized four squads.

‘The real action will start once we’re out of the station, but at least we can get out of this tunnel without a fight.’

It was then.

Bang─

A heavy, ominous roar.

Amidst the high-pitched screams mixed within, I swam through the slowing perception of time, drawing my dagger.

My prediction was utterly naive.

As my nerves burned and I entered the realm of super-acceleration, the sight before my eyes was a Fiftystar member, armed with advanced weaponry unlike any seen before, raising the barrel of a large-caliber automatic pistol, and Yuki, whose fingers were blown off, apparently having failed her surprise attack and been exposed.

As the barrel slowly rose, aiming for Yuki’s head─

Clang clang clang-!!

The plunging dagger and the pistol’s frame intersected, sparking, exchanging three blows in less than 0.1 seconds.

The tearing metallic sounds merged as if one, and the Fiftystar guy and I retreated from each other.

“You bastard…”

“All the ones we sent first lost contact, so I wondered if something was up. So this was it.”

Even under my fierce gaze, he slowly pulled a cigar from his pocket, cut it, and put it in his mouth.

“Ugh, I’m sorry, Jun..! I got found out…”

“It doesn’t matter. More importantly, are you okay?”

“Yeah. Just a couple of broken fingers.”

Yuki must have been in optical camouflage, yet the fact that he accurately blew off her index and middle fingers, where the connectors are, means he’s absolutely no ordinary person.

“I am Lieutenant General Derek Offmans. I believe you are Ayakashi Jun. I heard there was some friction with one of our fools; I hope we can resolve it amicably through discussion.”

He was that ‘star’ Stan talked about, but I scoffed.

If you were going to make such a proposition, you should have done it a long time ago.

“Aren’t you ashamed, you idiot, still playing with rank insignias and shouting ‘America, America,’ even though you’re just abandoned curs?”

“Hmm.”

Twitch. His eyes narrowed.

“And with that strong killing intent you’re radiating from behind you, who would believe that?”

“It’s unfortunate. All combat─”

Boom─

A volatile situation.

With a huge tremor, the tunnel seemed to collapse once, and everyone confronting me staggered from the impact.

Derek Offmans, seemingly aware of what this impact signified, sighed with an expression of utter annoyance.

“I clearly told them to come down when I gave the signal… They really don’t listen to a single word. Retreat…”

“If they are villains who threaten the peace of many, their sins shall be punished by beheading, and if they are ruffians who threaten a friend, their limbs shall be torn apart.”

“Uh… ugh…”

Just then, a red thread-like line appeared across the torso of one of the Fiftystar members waiting in the rear, slowly sliding along the cutting plane, completely separating his upper and lower body.

The perpetrator of that horror was a man with piercing, madness-filled eyes, wearing a transparent polyethylene haori and emitting the low humming sound characteristic of an ultra-vibration blade.

“‘That sword, you ask? Its name is Hijikata Toshirō.’”

Japantown’s vigilante group. The current director of the Neo Shinsengumi, Hijikata Toshirō.

Enters the fray.

[Lock On]

Following swiftly, gyrojet guided rounds flew from the darkness.

Along with the shocking appearance of the samurai, three rushing rounds precisely struck a Fiftystar member standing nearby. Simultaneously, with an explosion of compressed gas, the member’s upper body was engulfed in flames.

“Hyaaaah!! Ughaaah!!!”

The member writhed on the ground, abandoning his gun, screaming in agony as his body burned.

“Seriously… you said you had something simple to do and then left, does this look simple, Sis?”

If you were to duplicate Yuki, color her with black ink, and slightly alter her expression to be cold, would she look like that?

At the appearance of another figure from the darkness, Yuki and I couldn’t help but be especially glad.

“Kana~ I missed you!”

“I don’t know what you’d do without me. Sigh.”

With Kana and Hijikata’s timely arrival, we reversed the situation, effectively encircling Fiftystar.

Although the remaining individuals seemed to be skilled fighters on a different level than those caught in the surprise attack just now, it wasn’t hopeless.

Derek Offmans, also displeased with the situation, continuously chewed on the cigar in his mouth before finally spitting it out.

“Huh. Damn it.”

If we finish them off like this…

“They’re really making things troublesome.”

Derek Offmans rolled up his sleeve.

And there, unmistakably, was a black cyberware arm, likely recovered from the Black Market.

“Hmm. My magic tool. I went to the trouble of entrusting it, and it keeps getting stolen.”

“Oh, damn it. How was I supposed to know those bastards would attack?”

That black arm extended towards the sky.

“Descend.”

With a short, commanding chant, the ceiling between me and Fiftystar collapsed with a flash of light.

Yes. The collapsed debris piled up.

Separate from the enormous steel robot visible amidst that cluster of light, Kana and Hijikata were isolated.

“Oh, goddamn it..!!”

If the passage is completely blocked, those two alone won’t be able to survive against the remaining guys.

Nor is it possible to ignore that thing, bristling with menacing weapons.

In a joyful moment of savoring victory, I was suddenly faced with a dilemma where I had to choose, risking the lives of precious people.

‘If I accelerate with full power..!’

“Hmm. As per our agreement, I’ll ask you to eliminate the maximum threat. In my opinion, it seems to be that unsightly pile of scrap metal patched together up there. Please ensure it doesn’t cross over.”

Thump-

The tip of the staff tapped the ground.

The next moment, with a fierce rush of air, the three who had been behind me were now on the other side of the pouring debris.

“Jun?!”

RUMBLEEEEE──!!

With Wizard’s face, barely visible through the torrent of dirt, concrete, and asphalt debris, giving a final nod, the massive earth flow finally blocked the tunnel.

Thanks to that, I was left alone with the large-scale killing machine, radiating intense heat and aiming all sorts of deadly armaments at me, but paradoxically, I felt at ease.

“Ha… My heart is thrumming with excitement today.”

I smiled.

“For a trophy, I’ll have to add your head this time.”