episode_0135

The storm created by the earth pushing against the air carried intense heat, brushing past their bodies and causing an unpleasant sensation, ultimately completely severing communication between the two sides.

Only nine remained in this place.

Someone quietly recited the name of the person beyond, expressing worry, while another let out a sigh mixed with regret.

“Is that also a famous type of magic? There were no signs of movement, yet it’s faster than speedware’s movement; quite convenient, isn’t it?”

“It’s not that convenient when you’re the one using it. More importantly, would you return my exoskeleton? I humbly request it.”

Flicker- flicker-

With the shock from moments ago, the already poorly functioning light reached the end of its life, letting out its last dying gasp as complete darkness filled the space between the wizard and the soldier.

Only the cold glint of combat optics shimmered in the darkness, searching for each other’s vital points.

The next moment, Derek’s black chrome arm aimed at the Wizard, and in response, the Wizard’s staff tip struck the ground once.

A series of actions were exchanged, nullifying the power of invisibility, and the tightly wound trigger of tension fired, signaling the simultaneous opening of battle.

“Truly a worthy opponent after such a long time!”

“Insolent fellow.”

As if waiting for this moment, Nakahashi, a general granted two stars, retaliated with Hijikata’s ultra-fast slash, delivered by a swinging great tachi.

Similarly, the vibrating blades of their daggers crossed with a clash clash clash! The two people’s weapons struck each other countless times in an instant, madly削ing down their durability, but neither seemed to have any intention of backing down, pressing harder to crush each other.

“I’ll cleave you in half!”

“Every single one of these street samurai bastards is so ignorant, I hate fighting them…”

During the standoff, the muzzle of a large-caliber automatic pistol aimed at Hijikata’s head from close range.

With both hands already pressing down on the katana, Nakahashi, who had a strength advantage due to his physicalware, attempted to break the direct confrontation with his free hand.

Bang─

The muzzle flash erupted, and Hijikata’s head snapped sharply backward.

His head should have been pierced, causing instant death…

“A hair?”

“…What?”

It certainly should have, yet somehow, instead of his head being pierced, the 6.8mm bullet was caught between Hijikata’s sushi-white teeth, unable to proceed.

The depleted uranium projectile, having lost all its kinetic energy from the slightly parted teeth and retaining its intense heat, dropped to the floor.

Nakahashi, having directly witnessed the bizarre feat of someone catching a point-blank surprise gunshot with their teeth, lost his balance from a heavy impact to his leg while in shock, and gritted his teeth against the great tachi’s sword strike that came crashing down.

Clang!

Nakahashi, in an unstable state, forcibly twisted his body to fend off the slash with his dagger, rolling on the ground from the recoil to escape, with the samurai chasing closely behind him like a demon.

Hijikata, consumed by madness to cleave him in two, continued their relentless exchange without end.

“Alright. Shall I take a turn then?”

Muscles, clearly visible even through the suit, stretched and became even more prominent.

Samantha Hamon.

This female soldier, a senior officer granted three stars, just like Scarlet D. Phoenix and Derek Offmans, glanced at Hijikata with a hint of regret before being directly hit by a barrage of smart bullets whose trajectories curved in real-time.

Boom─

With a loud boom, the vaporizing liquid inside the warhead ignited just like before, recreating a small thermobaric weapon and spreading shockwaves around.

“Ow… that hurts.”

“Seeing as you took that and have no injuries, you must be quite durable.”

However, contrary to the power that had instantly incapacitated a squad member, she was hit by an entire magazine’s worth of gyrojet rounds and caught in a chain of explosions, yet only her suit was slightly torn. Her beautifully developed muscles still shone, proudly displaying their robustness.

And she proudly displayed those muscles, even posing, showing them off to a pair of eyes glowing red in the darkness.

“How’s this? Impressive? It’s made of a material that’s highly efficient at absorbing impact and also fire-resistant. You seem to use bioware too, so you must recognize the value of this, right?”

“It certainly looks expensive.”

“In fact, it’s so expensive that mercenaries living hand to mouth would tremble just to possess it. Did you know? Thanks to its high tensile strength fiber structure, someone like me can surpass the performance of most physicalware.”

That’s how bioware is.

Although its cost-effectiveness and numerical performance may be inferior to cyberware, the more money you spend, the more that gap shrinks, and you can even incorporate strange, irreplaceable effects.

Furthermore, it has an overwhelmingly better synergy with combat support drugs like healing factors or combat drugs compared to those who use cyberware.

Samantha carefully stroked her own muscles and asked for further impressions.

“Well? Do you want it? I’m making this offer because you seem to have potential. Surrender now and join me, and I’ll give you the bio-schematics.”

She thought she had made a very generous offer.

Not only would she spare their lives, but she would also open a path for a Jap to gain honor under the Stars and Stripes, and even share ultra-high-performance bioware schematics?

Samantha, having revived a bleeding-edge marketing strategy that had disappeared roughly a century ago, extended her hand with a benevolent smile.

However, what returned was an ice-cold response.

“Not particularly interested. Wouldn’t getting all bulky with muscles make me less cute? It might appeal to some, but Jun prefers the cute type.”

Samantha’s pride was wounded by that nonchalant reply.

Her own bio-muscles, which any bioware user would undoubtedly envy, were dismissed merely because of a man’s preference?

“You’re choosing the painful path, then.”

“Care to look under your feet?”

As she expanded her muscles and cracked her body, the words were spoken to her. When she looked down, she found, as if wanting to ask “When?”, a WP-350 white phosphorus grenade with its safety pin removed, rolling around.

“You fucking—”

Flames that would not stop until everything was burned shot up.

Jose Peña Nieto.

This general-grade figure, granted two stars, unlike Derek Offmans who didn’t particularly cover his face, or Samantha Hamon whose exposed features were the problem, was completely wrapped up, not showing a single patch of skin.

In other words, it was impossible to infer what he was thinking or what actions he would take.

Yuki, naturally finding herself facing him, could not relax her guard, looking at the man who had blown off her finger.

‘He saw through the stealth function of the jumper Jun gave me. Is his intuition just good? Or does he have detection equipment?’

The existence of the injury made her think more deeply, and such an act caused her to lose the advantage of being the first mover.

A gunshot aimed at a vital point, without a moment’s hesitation.

She dodged it by a hair’s breadth with reflexes replaced by high-end models, up to the limit that caused no change in appearance.

The piercing metallic scent was intensely felt, and her body, excited by the danger to her life, accelerated blood flow, preheating itself for even faster reactions.

Whoosh!

Following muzzle flashes and nimble movements, passing bullets struck the gravel and rails on the floor, sparking, then she tapped her jumper’s chest twice, activating optical camouflage.

Assimilating into the darkness, her visual stealth, undetectable even by combat optics’ night vision, caused Jose’s gunfire to pause for a moment, and she burrowed into the gap while his mask lenses were busy adjusting their aperture.

Her patented physical virus installation was blocked, but if she got this close, she could strike.

After all, she hadn’t received combat training from Luna and Hijikata for nothing!

She burrowed directly into his embrace, snatched his wrist, and extended her hand with a plan to strike his chin with her palm to cause a concussion.

“Here you are.”

“Gah?!”

There was no time to panic as her hand was grabbed, and her body, lifted whoosh into the air, flew towards the wall.

And as if asking if one could avoid it with legs suspended in the air, a gun fired.

The battlefield quickly turned into chaos.

The sword-crazed street samurai slashed wildly everywhere, hitting fire hydrants and causing water to gush, while the muscular woman, engulfed in flames, furiously tore up railway tracks, committing acts of destruction. Comparatively, those who wildly wasted ammunition could be considered tame.

Between those flamboyant battles, even the two who were engaged in an unseen struggle of power, upon closer inspection, exhibited greater ferocity than the others.

An anti-gravity field was designated, and gravity, so weakened that one couldn’t touch the ground, was adjusted in output at the tip of the striking staff, causing the floating body to descend again. The blood gas regulation system normalized the internal body pressure, which had been gradually increasing blood nitrogen levels.

Sharp metallic components imbued with magnetism flew towards them, but were then pushed back by air compression within the sealed space, escaping the magnetic field. Attempts to increase oxygen concentration and cause oxygen toxicity were nullified by waving an arm.

Invisible, anomalous deadly attacks flew at each other.

Both of these came from equipment imbued with the Wizard’s technology.

“Remarkable performance, even with unfamiliarity.”

“I, too, cannot hide my lament at your inexperience. How about giving up soon? Given that reinforcements still haven’t arrived, I presume they are either blocking the EPSB on the surface or have encountered a problem.”

“Just because the situation has turned unfavorable, how can one simply turn back when the prey is right before them? And have you forgotten what lies beyond?”

What Derek was pointing to beyond was the other side of the tunnel, blocked by earth and sand.

Thump- thump- thump-

A faintly audible, colossal vibration.

The ongoing battle’s noise at least confirmed he was still alive, but no one knew when that would cease.

“No matter how talented the young master of Ayakashi may be, it’s impossible to face that with bare hands and no equipment. And once the Goliath that dealt with him joins us here, this game will be over.”

The Wizard’s impassive face slightly stiffened, as if he also agreed with that fact.

That reaction made it unnecessary for Derek to move more hastily.

“So, I’ll just happily increase my proficiency with your anomalous equipment while I wait here…”

“Do you know a Taylor?”

“…What are you talking about, all of a sudden?”

Derek, who had raised his arm to test the next anomalous application, frowned at the suddenly posed question.

“Despite everything, that daughter of yours grew up wonderfully.”

“What in the…”

“Ah. It’s just a soliloquy, no need to answer. Anyway… I felt uneasy that I couldn’t offer any help despite my benefactor’s downfall, but she’s still so spirited. It’s a fortunate thing.”

“Am I now in a position where I have to listen to that trivial sentimentality?”

Derek, having maxed out his output, extended his hand towards the Wizard with an irritated gaze, and with a thud from the staff striking down once more—

..!!

A layer of compressed air, created using fluid pressure manipulation, reversed course and struck its creator.

“That’s the point.”

CRASH───!!!

The debris that had darkly blocked the Wizard’s path exploded outwards, and a single figure stood upon the earth and sand, backlit by the pouring light.

His condition, standing there, was not good, even when putting it mildly.

His entire body was severely burned as if he had been cooked by intense heat, and one eye was burst, streaming blood and unable to open.

But Derek couldn’t help but be astonished.

On his shoulder was a grotesquely shaped lance with a massive muzzle, and at his feet lay the roughly torn-off head of a Goliath.

“H-h-how…!! It’s impossible! He surpassed what that useless Phoenix woman said! Is that truly a human being?!”

A situation that should have been utterly impossible had finally occurred.

As he stood there in shock, the Wizard, with a faint but weighty smile, patted his shoulder and walked past.

“I’m glad my dear friend’s daughter seems to have found a good man.”

The one who would end this war exhaled roughly, and with a sound like scraping metal, declared their fate.

“You have three seconds, starting now. If you want to live, bow your head and beg.”