Chapter 13 - Run

"Fire!"

At someone's shout, thunderous gunfire erupted. Dozens of bullets hurtled toward Ifrit.

She had expected all of it. After making such a flashy entrance into the midst of an enemy ambush, wasn't this the least she could expect by way of a welcome?

Grinning fiercely, Ifrit moved with swift, dance-like acrobatics, dodging the incoming bullets.

Of course, she couldn't dodge them all. Avoiding bullets traveling at or beyond the speed of sound through movement alone was something possible only in the imagination.

But that was no problem.

Ifrit was a high-grade Pathfinder whose entire body consisted of cyberware. She wasn't the sort of person who went down after taking a bullet or two.

Bullets tore through the air and struck her all over. Yet not one penetrated or damaged her. They merely crumpled or ricocheted off.

"Her head! Aim for her head!"

Not a bad command. Even Ifrit's steel body would be useless if her head were blown apart.

The REST-men took careful aim, but none could hit her head.

How were they supposed to hit a target that sprang off walls, flipped through the air, and bounded about like a circus acrobat?

Even when a bullet happened to come close to the right trajectory, she needed only to raise her arms and block it.

"Fucking...!"

Just then.

BOOM!

As she sailed through a backflip, Ifrit fired her weapon, the Bloody Heart Mk.7.

The explosively powerful round, in a different league from the REST-men's ammunition, smashed through a barricade and blew apart the head of the REST-man hiding behind it.

"Ahahahaha! Aim for the head? Okay!"

Breaking into crazed laughter, Ifrit caught a drone hovering around her and let out a delighted squeal.

"Eeeek! OuterLover, thank you for the fifty-thousand-credit donation! Oh, you really shouldn't have!"

It was horrifying.

Killing people and getting paid to make entertainment out of it. The sight sent chills crawling over the REST-men.

"Fuck! What the hell is Hanson doing—"

One man turned, calling the name of their heavy-weapons specialist. But he never finished.

He had locked eyes with an unidentified humanoid standing beside the decapitated Hans.

The humanoid, Ash, swept his blade in a broad arc to shake off the blood, then spoke quietly.

"Good day to you."

"Eek! Behind us! There's an enemy behind us too!"

At their comrade's cry, the REST-men looked back.

Every one of them was horrified.

"Fuck, what the hell is that?"

"Shoot! Shoot it!"

As their fire converged on him, Ash moved his feet swiftly. A barrage thick enough to fill the passage followed, yet not a single shot touched him.

When necessary, he even raised his blade to deflect bullets, sending up intermittent showers of sparks.

"Where are you all looking? Eyes on me!"

They had no time to focus on their rear.

Did she resent having the attention stolen from her? Ifrit returned fire with even greater ferocity. Each time her large-caliber pistol spat flame, a dreadful crack echoed through the passage.

In front. And behind.

Their formation fell apart in an instant.

A mad idol was shooting at them from the front, while an unknown humanoid hunted them from behind. The REST-men poured bullets recklessly in one direction or the other.

Confusion spread in an instant.

Two drones flitted about, capturing the carnage in vivid detail. With each fresh scene came a cute chime announcing another donation.

The REST-men, who had laid their ambush here believing the terrain ideal, were rapidly wiped out.

'Where the hell did it all go wrong?'

There had been seven REST-men in all, and since they had been dispatched to the Outer, their armament was reasonably good.

They had even set an ambush, and there were only two enemies.

Yet the result spoke for itself.

Even now, REST-men were dying. Unable to decide where to point their guns, they floundered, falling one after another onto the cold floor.

When the gunfire and sword dance finally ceased, only one remained alive.

It was the REST-men's leader, whose right arm had been replaced with machinery. Sitting against the wall and clutching his broken leg, he watched Ifrit approach.

"What are you glaring at? Got something to say?"

Ifrit sneered as she changed magazines. Her heart-shaped eye lights flashed briefly, and the drones circling overhead drew close to her.

"If it's 'Please spare me' or some shit like that, save it. Doesn't really suit a REST-man, does it?"

The man stared at the jeering Ifrit, then suddenly burst out laughing.

"Heh heh... Hahahaha!"

"What the hell are you laughing at?"

The man, who had been howling like a lunatic, abruptly stopped. A strange heat kindled in his eyes.

It was madness, a mixture of terror, despair, and emptiness.

"You're broadcasting, huh?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"Just thought that worked out nicely."

"What did?"

"I'm about to give you a show."

The man raised both arms.

"Ha! Now you're going to surren—"

That wasn't it.

CLANK! CLACK! RATTLE!

His right arm began to transform with a grotesque noise. The forearm split apart and unfolded, revealing a heavy metal barrel that sprang out from within.

A portable antitank recoilless rifle.

That was the hidden purpose of the man's steel arm.

"You crazy fuck!"

Ifrit's pistol spat flame.

His torso burst open, and half his head was blown away.

But the man kept moving.

"You're dying too, you crazy bitch!!"

Even as the large-caliber rounds shattered his body, he aimed the recoilless rifle at Ifrit and fired. A brilliant blue flash blazed with an explosive report beyond anything that had come before.

Ifrit hurried to evade, but she was far too close to dodge it completely.

One could never afford to let one's guard down against a Pathfinder, but seeing him on the verge of death had made her relax for an instant. That was her mistake. In that brief moment, Ifrit sensed her own death.

It happened right then.

Ash darted in like lightning and planted himself in front of Ifrit.

His optical sensors precisely calculated the trajectory and speed of the warhead streaking toward them like a ray of light, and he raised his steel blade at an angle to meet it.

SKREEEECH!

With a screech of metal on metal, the warhead's straight trajectory actually bent.

Originally aimed at Ifrit, it veered toward a spot on the ceiling and detonated in a massive explosion.

The tremendous blast shook the entire passage. Dust lying everywhere rose all at once, forming a dense cloud.

"Cough, cough!"

Despite her repeated coughing, Ifrit quickly scanned her surroundings. Her first priority was the REST-man.

"You...!"

The man who had been making his desperate last stand had died without even seeing what became of his antitank shell.

Judging by the faint smile on his lips, though, he probably thought he had blown Ifrit to fucking pieces.

"You son of a bitch!"

Apparently displeased by that smile, Ifrit smashed her chrome fist into the remaining half of his head.

"You crazy fuck, firing a shell underground in these ruins! Why? Trying to bury us alive?"

Exactly.

That had clearly been his intention.

It had failed only because Ash had unexpectedly intervened.

"Enough, my lady. Is he not already dead?"

At Ash's words, Ifrit looked up from venting her anger on the corpse. For a moment, she stared at him standing with quiet dignity amid the hazy cloud of dust.

"... How did you do that?"

"Do what?"

"That thing just now! What the hell was that? How do you deflect an antitank round with nothing but that blade?"

Her voice held shock, admiration, and even a little awe.

Deflecting a shell with a sword?

If someone had called it bullshit and dismissed the claim as compulsive lying, there would have been no arguing with them.

Ash looked at Ifrit for a moment, then activated his voice module.

"Should you not thank me first?"

"Thank you! You saved my life! You're the best!"

While her unabashed barrage of thanks left Ash feeling awkward instead, a strangely familiar monstrous cry rang out.

GRRRR...!

SKREEEE!

It came from beyond the enormous hole the antitank shell had blasted in the ceiling.

Ash and Ifrit looked up at the same time.

As the thick dust slowly settled, the scene beyond the breached ceiling came into view.

"... Those appear to be Grotesques."

"Yeah. They do."

"But do there not seem to be rather a few of them?"

"A few?"

Countless red eyes blazed in the darkness.

"... Looks like a whole fucking lot to me."

There seemed to be hundreds, even thousands.

SKREEEEEE!!

The creatures shrieked and looked around. Then, spotting Ash and Ifrit beneath the hole, they began dropping straight down.

Ash and Ifrit glanced at one another, then broke into a run at exactly the same time.

* * *

Akina was hiding in the dark.

More precisely, she was inside a round duct resembling a ventilation shaft.

Judging by the distant gunfire, the battle seemed to have just begun.

She was far enough away to be relatively safe, but she couldn't help feeling nervous.

The hand gripping her pistol was slick with sweat.

RUMBLE...!

Then, at some point, a deafening roar unlike anything before it reached her, accompanied by a faint tremor.

What on earth was that sound?

She desperately wanted to peek outside, but Akina knew this made it all the more important not to reveal herself. She barely managed to suppress her curiosity.

"... What the heck is going on?"

It must have started after that noise.

A strange vibration traveled through the floor, strong enough for even a girl with undeveloped energy senses to feel it.

Her anxiety intensified.

Had something happened to those two? What if, say, there were actually hundreds of REST-men?

Akina worried at her dainty lips with her teeth. With darkness all around her, her anxiety only grew.

Just then, hurried footsteps sounded along the passage. It didn't sound like a whole group.

Perhaps two people?

Akina cautiously poked out only her head to investigate.

She saw two figures running toward her through the gloomy passage. Craning her neck and squinting, she could make out Ash and Ifrit unmistakably.

Delighted, Akina hopped out, waving both hands as she called to them.

"Mister! Ifrit! Did you kill them all? Is it all ov—"

She never finished.

Ash and Ifrit shouted almost simultaneously, their voices filled with sheer panic.

"Run!"

"Run, Miss Akina! Quickly!"

Run?

Where?

What on earth had happened?

Looking puzzled, Akina was about to shout something back when she happened to glance behind them.

The girl couldn't believe her eyes.

It was a fairly broad passage.

At its far end, the creatures appeared.

Twisted bodies filled the passage, crushing one another, with glinting red eyes shimmering between them.

A wave of Grotesques that looked to number well into the thousands. And that wave was surging straight toward her.

"Aaaaaaah!! What the hell is that?!"

Akina screamed involuntarily and instinctively took off running, as fast as her little body could possibly carry her.