Chapter 53 - EP.2 Mountains of Corpses, Seas of Blood 7

The mercenaries could not say a word. They merely fidgeted with their now-empty hands, watching someone for a reaction.

That someone was Ash.

Ash looked from Jack Five's head lying on the main floor to the mercenaries who had somehow survived, then spoke in a low electronic voice.

"All of you, leave this place. Anyone who appears before me again will not receive the same mercy."

His tone was so devoid of emotion that it felt cold. Yet that very quality lent his words a weight that brooked no defiance.

As though acting on an agreed signal, the surviving mercenaries scrambled out into the lobby. Their frantic footsteps quickly faded into the distance.

Silence settled once more over the main stage, thick with the smell of blood and gunpowder.

"Whew. That gave me a fright. Who knew they'd start shooting each other?"

Siren was the first to break the silence, her words mingled with a sigh. Flicking the blood from her blade, she surveyed the stage strewn with corpses.

Few had died by the sword.

"They were all mercenaries drawn here by the promise of credits. This was probably their first time even seeing one another."

Zero shrugged as he answered her.

"Well, it worked out for us."

Ash nodded.

"A successful opening. But this is not over yet. Those on the main stage were merely a force thrown together in haste, were they not?"

"That's right. Memoryphilia's own members should still be somewhere in this building."

"Their own members, you say. Roughly how many does Memoryphilia have?"

"I don't know the exact number, but well over several hundred. Most are spread out manning the roadblocks at present, though, so there shouldn't be many left in Inferno."

"Then there is no reason to hesitate."

Ash's turquoise optical sensors turned toward the dark passage behind the DJ booth.

"Let us move at once. We shall end this swiftly."

At his declaration, the five swordsmen silently adjusted their grips. Sharp fighting spirit gathered around them once again.

* * *

The staff-only passage was long and narrow. Unlike the lavishly decorated main stage, its walls were marred by exposed pipelines and power cables.

Orange work lights dotted the ceiling, flickering irregularly over everything below. Each flicker stretched the shadows of the six passing swordsmen long across the corridor.

As they raced silently down the corridor, they gradually slowed. Ash, running at the head of the group, had eased his pace.

He came to a complete stop before a right-angle bend and stared into the darkness beyond it.

"Is this the fastest route to the private rooms?"

It was a question he had asked before. Puzzled, Zero nevertheless nodded at once.

"Yes, it is. This is the staff entrance, so it connects to the VIP lounge as well. We can bypass the security system, too. But why do you ask...?"

Ash raised an arm to bring the group to a full halt. His gaze remained fixed on the end of the corridor as he answered.

"Because it seems our opponents have had the same thought."

"Pardon? What do you...?"

Before Zero could finish, Ash continued.

"There are enemies around this corner."

Ash's electromagnetic energy sense clearly picked up dozens of presences stirring farther down the corridor. Their bearing was markedly different from that of the inept mercenaries they had just fought.

There was unmistakable order to their movements.

At Ash's words, Siren closed her eyes and activated the vibration sensors she used for exploring the Outer. Her cyberware eyes trembled faintly, detecting minute vibrations traveling through the walls and floor. She could sense presences shifting beyond the corner.

"There are quite a few. And they're barely moving. It looks like... they've set up a defensive position and are waiting for us."

Ash nodded at her assessment.

"My thoughts exactly."

Standing between them, Zero looked from one to the other.

"Can you two see something? I can't tell anything at all..."

In a way, that was only natural. He could neither use energy sense as freely as Ash nor did he possess the detection sensors that were standard equipment for Pathfinders.

Rather than answer Zero, Ash chose to act. Turning, he looked over the companions following him.

"Time matters most to us. We cannot abandon this route. That leaves only one option."

"Breaking through."

Ash nodded at Siren's words.

"We must break through them."

Breaking through enemies entrenched in a narrow corridor. They were likely armed with guns, which would make it doubly difficult.

As tension slowly mounted, Ash spoke.

"Zero. Stand beside me. From this point onward, you and I will serve as shields."

"Understood."

"Next, Lady Siren and..."

Ash's gaze settled on the wolf-masked ninja, who bowed his head.

"Please call me Second."

"...young Master, take the flanks."

"Yes, Mr. Ash!"

"Understood."

Finally, Ash turned to the remaining two ninjas.

"You two, keep as wide a view as possible and prepare for any unforeseen developments."

The ninjas in rabbit and mouse masks nodded.

In an instant, the six swordsmen formed a massive wedge. It was a breakthrough formation: a sturdy vanguard to absorb enemy attacks, sharp wings to carve through either flank, and a reliable rear guard to counter the unexpected.

"Remember, we must move neither too fast nor too slowly. We move as one. Keep that in mind, all of you."

They all nodded at his instructions, taking their positions according to their assigned roles.

Once he had confirmed everyone was ready, Ash readied his steel blade and spoke quietly.

"Then let us begin."

With those few words, six shadows emerged at once. The first thing to greet them was a shout.

"They're here! Fire!"

BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!

Countless bullets rained down on them.

There was nowhere to dodge.

The cramped corridor seemed to have become a gigantic gun barrel, endlessly spitting red flashes and spraying bullets at those advancing into it.

Amid that barrage, six swords flashed.

CLANG! CLANG-CLANG!

From the instant he emerged, Ash's sword moved at unbelievable speed. It never stopped, batting aside the hail of bullets and twisting their trajectories. Rounds deflected by his blade struck the walls and ceiling, throwing off tiny sparks.

Zero, however, could not do the same.

He had not reached Ash's level, so he had to accept a certain amount of injury.

That "certain amount of injury" was, in fact, severe enough to have killed an ordinary human many times over.

THUD-THUD-THUD! SPLAT!

Bullets lodged throughout his body, blasting away chunks of flesh.

Then it regenerated.

His torn wounds and bullet holes were already healing.

A humanoid who knocked bullets aside, and a ninja who advanced while endlessly regenerating from gunshot wounds. Together, they formed a wall of steel and flesh that filled Memoryphilia's members with indescribable terror.

"Y-you fucking monsters!"

Was this what it felt like to watch death slowly approach?

Memoryphilia's terrified members pulled their triggers ever faster. But all their efforts were in vain.

The sword formation led by Ash and Zero was already upon them.

At that moment, Ash shouted, his voice like thunder.

"Now!"

That was the signal.

The six swordsmen, who had silently endured the barrage while closing the distance, accelerated in a single explosive burst.

With Ash at their head, six blades shot forward.

"Wha...!"

The foremost defender split in two. The man behind him lost his head.

That was only the beginning.

Ash and Zero pressed forward, ever forward, cutting, tearing, and crushing everything in their path. They were like starving wolves suddenly loosed among a flock of sheep.

The members who had formed the defensive line were now no more than terrified sheep. Screaming, they tried to scatter or retreat, but the barricades they had erected in the narrow corridor left them no escape.

Then Siren and the wolf-masked ninja, assigned to the flanks, struck.

Keeping pace with Ash and Zero's relentless advance, they unleashed sword strikes to their respective left and right.

"Aaargh!"

"Gah!"

They slashed throats and pierced hearts, all while matching the strides of those at the front and continuing forward.

The two ninjas guarding the rear did not forget their roles either. They finished off enemies fumbling to raise their guns amid the shattered formation, and occasionally hurled shuriken at those whose weapons posed a threat.

A massacre.

It was nothing short of a massacre.

Had even a minute passed since Ash cut down the first defender?

Most of Memoryphilia's members, who had been so confident of victory, now lay scattered through the corridor as cold corpses.

Amid that living hell, one member who had survived through the good fortune of standing at the very rear shouted.

"D-don't come any closer! You fucking monsters!"

Half-panicked, the man's wavering eyes darted in every direction. He pulled a cluster of grenades from his waist and yanked out the safety pins.

Then he flung them blindly at Ash's party.

PING! TING!

The grenades sailed toward them in long arcs. A couple were struck by shuriken that shot out like rays of light and dropped straight down, but one was not.

Ash's optical sensors flashed as he saw it.

"Zero! Fall back!"

Ash shoved Zero, who was swinging his blade beside him, backward. Then he seized the member directly in front of him by the collar and hauled him up.

"H-huh?"

Using the man he had lifted as a shield, Ash turned toward the impending explosion.

BOOOOM!

An explosion incomparably louder than those before it shook the narrow corridor.

The ceiling lights shattered under the impact, plunging the passage into darkness. A moment later, red emergency lights switched on, illuminating them all.

"Gah, cough! Fuck, what crazy bastard...!"

Someone spat curses amid the sudden surge of chaos and looked around. Then he met a pair of turquoise optical sensors looking down at him from above.

It was Ash.

"A-aaargh!"

Ash tossed aside the corpse, shredded beyond recognition, and swung his blade at the startled man scrambling to raise his gun.

A flash came before his finger could reach the trigger.

SHING!

A keen slash cleaved the darkness.

The man fell before he could even finish his scream.

That was the end.

Thick dust, the smell of gunpowder, and the metallic reek of blood were all that remained in the corridor. Not a single enemy still lived. The blinking red emergency lights merely illuminated the wretched, corpse-strewn scene.

Ash flicked the blood off his blade and addressed his companions.

"Is everyone all right?"

Zero nodded.

"We're fine."

"... Are you certain?"

Zero shrugged at Ash's question. With the motion, several bullets lodged in his abdomen were pushed out and fell to the floor.

"As you can see, perfectly fine."

If he said so himself, there was little more Ash could say.

Instead, he addressed Siren, who was not a ninja.

"What of you, my lady? Are you hurt?"

"No. I'm all right."

Her exploration suit was torn in several places, blood seeping through the gaps, but Siren merely nodded as though such injuries were nothing.

Having confirmed his companions were safe, Ash gave a small nod.

"Good. Then let us meet this Maestro and bring everything to an end."

There was no need to delay any longer.

Ash and his companions crossed the blood-red corridor toward the VIP lounge. Their unhesitating footsteps echoed through the silent passage as they gradually disappeared into the darkness.