Artist's commentary
Karindou 4-Koma Extra Story Pseudo Short Story [Ghostrick Live] 13
With the knife in her right hand, she blocked something incoming, sharp and fast.
On reflex, without knowing what it was, she launched a kick out in the direction the attack came from, but, naturally, or rather, obviously, it only hit air. With nothing to stop her kick, she kept going several meters, flying into a hole in a ruined wall.
"Oh ho... Once again, a field that favors you."
Echoing on the stacks of completely rusted metal containers, Pink-chan said casually. The containers nearly reached the ceiling and were stacked in a systematic, regular way, so as to block the dim light to the path, casting shadows all around. This was probably done on purpose.
"Actually, it looks more like a place from a movie where the villain lures the hero to, and you're aware of every little thing because of how so unfair it is. That's what it feels like. Don't you think the same?"
"Oh? I think it's like a game, where the one controlling a high attack power enemy chooses an advantageous terrain so he'll be a match for the players."
"It's like that?" said Pink-chan as she tilted her head. Right in front of her, in the shadow that was cast on the floor, the shape of a human stealthily took form.
"Ah, though I can't deny that this is advantageous terrain for my powers, I didn't lure you here; you were the ones who came here. I've been ready to take you on for a while. But you're quite good at dodging. I hid my presence, didn't give away my killing intent until just now, but you were still able to react. How wonderful! I'm looking forward to this so much that my heart is racing."
Hearing this, the face of the human-shaped shadow bared its fangs as it gave a terrible smile. In response, Pink-chan gave a mischievous smile and laughed.
"You're wrong, I didn't react. It was simply that in that moment when the surprise attack came, I thought how cool it would be if I was able to stop the attack, and I just pulled out my knife and stopped it with perfect timing. If I had actually reacted, the follow up kick would have hit."
"... Really?"
"Really really. Very really."
(I can't tell if she's being serious or joking... What is she?)
He couldn't read her.
The shadow... BB, probably for the first time in his life, was thinking the same thing that all other people who he had previously fought thought. As he felt this confusion deep inside of him, he confronted the woman in front of him, Pink-chan.
"Ehh!? M-Mifi-san...!"
"I know. Be quiet."
Losing sight of Pink-chan, who had ran off far ahead of them, Cuey stiffened up and started to scream, but Mifi grabbed her and placed her hand on the wall where her foot had stopped.
"... Pink-chan didn't disappear; she's ahead of us. She seems to have flown through the hole in this wall. Since there was nothing, she would have kept going and stopped when she hit something. I hope it will be settled without us being dragged into a fight, but..."
"Then, while Pink-san is keeping the enemy busy, we should advance! So I'll go first now..."
"Don't be stupid. It's not as if there's no one aside from that guy earlier and that Shadow Stalker. Sure, your strength and beam are powerful weapons, but if something like them appears, are you confident that you can win in a real fight? If you're thinking you can just return to your normal size and crush them, then think about why we've been hiding ourselves this entire time. Also, we'll be crushed too, getting buried alive here in these ruins. No thank you."
Cuey didn't hear the final "are you so lovey-dovey with the mistress that you're willing to die for her?" that she whispered. Mifi's words had had their effect on her and she felt despondent. Slapping Cuey on the shoulder, Mifi indicated her to bring out the invisibility cloak, and just like how they did it while they were infiltrating, they got closer to Pink-chan.
They reached the wall with the hole in it, and as they stealthily looked inside, Pink-chan was engaged in combat, of course. At first glance, it looked like Pink-chan was engaged in a knife fight, her specialty, but her opponent's moves were a complete mystery. Hiding in the countless shadows, leaping out of another shadow with a bladed weapon. It was like he was forcing Pink-chan into a melee combat of a completely different kind.
The two of them felt that the only thing that hadn't completely changed in this abnormal fight was Pink-chan's usual carefree smile.
"Bingo, she's fighting that Shadow Stalker. As far as we know, they're focused on each other, and thanks to the fortunate circumstances, we didn't get dragged in as combatants, but... it doesn't change the fact that it would be dangerous if we kept going forward by ourselves. If the head chamberlain can finish her fight and get here, it would be a different story, but I don't think she'll be able to get rid of him that quickly. And so, we must do what we can to help Pink-chan win."
"Even if you say that... Uh.... Wouldn't it be best if we stayed hidden like we are right now...?"
"As long as we're covered by that, he shouldn't be able to sense our aura, and as long as we don't do anything to make our presence conspicuous, it will hide us. And if we do it right, we might be able to support her."
"H-how?"
"I'm still thinking about that..."
If it had been Elza, she wouldn't even think about it and just invade and conquer, but Mifi didn't even have a sliver of combat power, and in a battle of the minds, even if she could rely on Aiina's advice, she couldn't interrupt the electronic battle that she was currently fighting. In reality, what bothered her was that she couldn't come up with a plan to turn the tide in their favor, nor even follow the battle that was erupting before her with her eyes. However, as she desperately wracked her brains trying to see if there was anything that she could do, she unconsciously gripped the sides of the hole.
As she saw the untraceable battle before her, the silent stones quietly spoke to Mifi.
(... Ah.)
There was.
It definitely was impossible for just herself, but since Cuey was also there, it was possible. Her ability as a spiritualist, and the strength of a cyclops. One that hadn't grown at all, one that hadn't been trained. They were unhoned, low quality abilities, but if they were combined, then maybe...
Of course, it was unthinkable that they could defeat the Shadow Stalker with that. Actually, no matter how useful it might be, if they were to face him directly, they would immediately be at a disadvantage. She knew that was how weak they were.
(So, our objective is... just to let Pink-chan defeat him, by giving her an opportunity...!)
To do this, she steadied herself. She had to make certain of the timing. If there was even a small mistake, Pink-chan would be the one in trouble.
Mifi whispered into Cuey's ear, and at first, her eyes went wide with surprise, but she soon understood her plan and nodded vigorously.
If possible, while this opening was made available, Pink-chan would hopefully win. As they hoped this would happen, Mifi softly held Cuey's giant hand on her chest. It wasn't just Mifi who needed to figure out the timing, Cuey's cooperation was also essential.
From their perspective, they could only just barely see how the battle was going from Pink-chan's knifeplay.
A smile and a crazed laugh. Both of them stabbing, slashing, slicing with their blades, surpassing each other's speeds, then going even faster and faster, in a flash, becoming a barrier of blades.
Only ending when one had taken the life of the other, a dance of death invisible to the eye. Mifi waited, focused, listening to the voiceless voices.
(So you're watching, Mifi-chan, Cuey-chan...)
As she felt the thrill and joy of having a shadow blade pass 8 mm from the tip of her chest, Pink-chan felt the faint scent of their life-force. Or more precisely, it wasn't her sense of smell, but instead it was her special succubus sense, which her mind interpreted as a smell or taste. And though it was like a smell or taste, it was only a difference between regular water and slightly salty water, depending on the person. However, for them, she could figure out the normally imperceptible difference. Or rather, she could feel it. There were times when she would be infatuated with humans who had a tasty life-force (Usually, she would be unable to hold back and feed excessively during a short time frame, draining their life-force and unintentionally killing them), but otherwise, humans were treated merely as food by other succubi, and the differences were considered different tastes. (This meant that, for the same target, the amount of food obtained would be spread out over their family, and thus reduced, so they avoid any troubles like going on life support or the species' survival instinct.) For Pink-chan, who spent her childhood always hungry, you could say she'd eat anything, or that she was forced to eat bad food for a succubus. But if an assassination target could change their looks or was using a body double/disguised counter-assassin, she could tell, and could spot enemy soldiers, even if they were hiding their presence and were out of sight or hiding. While she was a mercenary, it was a sense she relied on a lot, beyond just satisfying her hunger.
(The scent of corn and aloe, it's definitely them. Maybe they're thinking they can support me? They're so serious it's cute... oh ho.)
Enticingly bending her hips, she dodged the blade aimed at her midsection. She countered with an elbow and once that was dodged, she made a big side sweep with her knife, warily stepping back as BB retreated into the shadows.
(Ah, again, there's a scent that excites me in that way, like the mistress or Onee-sama... Could it be him? Come to think of it, when I defended against that preemptive attack earlier, did I pull out my knife because I was worried about that scent...)
As she twisted her body, fighting against the incessant blades and thinking, a sharp shadow came up from by her feet, and by luck, it was deflected by a knife she had hidden at her side, and it flew perfectly between her breasts, ripping her maid uniform and bra, and then instantly returned to the shadows. As she thought 'after binding me, is he going to do this and that to my half-naked lewd body? Even though they're watching, that pervert will do that to me and be so aroused', her nipples got hard, and she felt hotter below. This sort of thing was terrible, but a common occurrence.
(A Shadow Stalker of a different temperament, huh... He certainly is different, though in a different way that Mister said. At the hotel, I didn't notice it from the surprise grenade attack and because the little mistress was being targeted, but I can clearly tell now. Compared to you, a normal Shadow Stalker would be much bigger trouble! And since I know this, you have no chance of winning!)
A regular person wouldn't understand. But since she's a succubus, she understood, and Pink-chan purposefully included lewd moves in with her actions, honing his battle thoughts to be pink-colored.
Thus, this was the real effect of the teasing that Pink-chan included each time she fought hard. It wouldn't consciously affect them, and in melee combat, and would equally affect the strongest and the unluckiest, the best and the worst, enemy and ally alike. It was the activation key to the most horrible trap.
Eventually, she was dodging BB's attacks by a hair's breadth, and each time her clothes would get slightly torn, she would say "Nooo♪" or "Aaah♪" in a high voice, and act like she's covering it would actually doing so, eventually exposing herself without sustaining any injuries to her body. She was intentionally just barely dodging, and purposefully letting only her clothes be lewdly cut up. And so, her knife had not lost its edge.
With this lightheartedness, the serious battle continued.
"Grah, stop fucking around! Are you trying to mess with me!?"
Finally, the man's instincts got revved up once her breasts became fully exposed, and BB yelled out, annoyed that he was being played with and that the only thing he could slice was her clothes.
"Hah, you only realized it now, you fool! When fighting against me, who has spent her life perfecting the art of teasing, the more you get teased, the shakier you become! And now you can stare at my beautiful breasts as much as you want and have a once-in-a-lifetime chance to jack it, you ass man!! Nihihi!"
Pink-chan had a Cheshire Cat grin, and it only made BB even angrier. Normally, he was the one who was playing with his opponent. But with this woman, he could clearly see he was being played with, and she was messing with him by turning his own attacks against him. This caused him to get unnecessarily irritated.
He never imagined that he would get caught by his opponent's tricks at such an early stage.
"You're showing me your tits and treating me like a teenage boy, you slut!!"
Once again, blade struck blade, and sparks flew in the dim light.
The long, long staircase caused a hazy illusion where it seemed like you would get sucked down to the bottom if you stopped concentrating for a moment.
"My grandfather's plan, you see, was to have stairs be the only way to get to the laboratory, though there's an elevator installed in case of an emergency evacuation, but that's backwards? Well, I like my grandfather's odd way of thinking, and I kept on using the structure that was left from back then, yeah, yeah. And remodeling, naturally doing it to the entire facility was too much, it's too big, so I focused on just one corner of it, there might be valuable documents still there? Though I say that, all the documents about the illegal research my grandfather did were burned, so there's nothing left that really caught my interest."
That's probably true, the fruits of his research had been deemed to be dangerous ideas, so all of it was disposed of. More than anyone else, Elza herself had personally been there and already knew it. I guess he really liked it, she thought, only half paying attention to Ryuuto as he babbled on and on about the laboratory they were heading to. Meanwhile, Elza continued to gaze onward down the stairs.
This was the second time she had used these stairs. This inconvenient, completely open wind blowing had the same markings as back then, but now has a completely different feeling to it, as it blew up from below.
Before, she had even thought that they might be going into the depths of Hell, such was the extent of the rising confusing miasma.
And even now, after all that time, she thought they might be heading to the entrance of the underworld, feeling the spirit energy wrap around her.
(Descending so easily like this, I feel like Izanagi entering Yomotsu Hirasaka.)
Thinking that, she shook her head with a self-derisive smile, and stopped thinking about it. No matter what happened, she would get Ran and bring her back for sure... She definitely would not make the same mistake as he did. That she swore.
"At the beginning, I, naturally, didn't know about here, like my father. In short, my father was raised without any knowledge of what my grandfather was doing, yeah, yeah, and my father was someone who didn't express any interest in research, or rather, everyone else kept kept him away from here. Though, his son, that is to say me, started going down the same path as my grandfather, and when I bought the land that was situated above this research facility, the servants who had been with us since my grandfather's time told me about the existence of this place, though I guess it's not too surprising, since we're the same blood line. However, once I started using this place, I solemnly swore not to repeat the same mistakes that my grandfather did, yeah, yeah."
The conversation was almost like talking about past memories. Elza had already heard about half of that, but the part that worried her was how Ryuuto was steered towards this. The servants had worked since the Lord Inventor's time and knew about this facility. It's possible they suggested to him about the Lord Inventor's research, whether superficially or detailed, or regarding how to obtain his research data. Basically, turning Ryuuto into "his grandfather's cat".
"Did you think there might have been some ill intent?"
Feigning ignorance, she asked a malicious question.
"I wonder, I know myself the best, so I can state that my research is due to my own desire and thirst for knowledge, and not for any ill purpose or scheme, and for you, I think giving back your younger sister's remains will be proof enough, and for others... For example, from your perspective, you have a feeling that I'm not lying, correct?"
As if to say that it was a possibility, Ryuuto cheerfully shrugged his shoulders.
"Yeah, yeah, I don't know what to tell you, the part of me that is only somewhat aware, that's the critical part. However, the research I do is related to the spirit and it aspects that are similar to magic and magical research. In any case, I need an appropriate environment, and creating a suitable atmosphere for the location creates desirable results, you know this?"
"Field Enhance, huh, the theory that the Mages' Alliance believes."
Yes, that. Like when summoning a mage's familiar, they use specific odd materials and use strange rituals, and though there's need to do so, they do so because it increases their success rate, and so this is something like that, yeah, yeah. Until we get results, there's no way of knowing if it's good or bad, and until it's over, while we're in the middle of it, even if we truthfully say that we expect this or that to happen — as long as there's no mind reading — it's impossible to know what our true motivation is, and even if a third party uncovers the results, we could have a different third party intentionally twist or reinterpret it, and at the worst, might even transform it. In the end, even if you claim that all your motives are pure, making someone believe you is difficult, and it's very possible they won't be able to believe you. So if I shout "I'm not thinking about anything evil", it's up to each person whether to believe me or not, but all I can do is continue to say it, that's my answer, yeah, yeah. So I can't pretend to be like my grandfather, and have my reputation sullied and my work all be for naught, leaving a mix of truths and lies for this new era, this sort of twisted, lengthy psychological games, it isn't for me. In reality, no one believed what I realized were my grandfather's true goals."
"... What?"
The conversation was bursting with more related information than she could hope for, and now that it switched to a topic that she wasn't expecting at all, Elza's eyes became sharper. Ryuuto had been casually talking, but it didn't feel like he was lying, and it was true. He was implying that there was something hidden that preserved the Lord Inventor's sanity even as his experiments descended into insanity and was the secret behind his death.
"Mmm, are you interested in the story about my grandfather? Very well, I guess I'll let you hear what I realized. I'll start with the things that I don't believe, and let you decide for yourself."
"All right, please tell me, the truth behind the Lord Inventor."
Hearing Elza's answer, Ryuuto began talking, hiding his excitement from her. The sense that Elza got from looking at his back was now different from what it was before, as his mind was always on his research, and she could sense his talking was somewhat subconscious. Now, as if resigned to it, he had an air of philosophical detachment. At first, she felt a kind of humanish feeling from Ryuuto. And now, it was like Ryuuto was repeating the same story that he had told to countless other people, and even if she couldn't accept the truth in his words, it was enough that she could feel his genuine belief in them.
"My grandfather was researching how to artificially combine humans and monsters to create super soldiers, and during his experimentation, a chimera that he created ran wild and killed him, this you know, correct? However, if the chimera was not the goal of my grandfather's research, but rather a method, and the chimera running wild was not a failed experiment or a fluke, but rather was my grandfather's intention, so that it was intended to hide the methods of his research, then what do you think it was for?"
"The research into the methods... That's obvious, of course, his goal was to create super soldiers, and for that, it would be method for him to expand on his research."
"Yes, everyone thinks that, and I thought that at first, but no, that's wrong. My grandfather's goal was not to make a super soldier, super soldiers were nothing more than a cover for him to continue his research."
He was implying that it was just a cover story for everyone else. Playing God and creating a super soldier and chimera, due to the state of the world back then, was taboo. (Nowadays, there has been a slight relaxing of restrictions, and as long as it's not for military purposes, as long as it's registered as a special familiar, it's permitted for high class mages and wizards to create chimeras, and it's also possible to transfer ownership of it, as long as it passes an inspection. However, the inspection is said to be as difficult as "training a hamster to be stronger than a gorilla".) As a cover story, if that was made public, as someone with dangerous thoughts and without any supervision, he would be immediately executed and his research terminated. This much was obvious. So then, for "who", or "what", was this cover story intended?
"My grandfather put an enormous amount of money into his research, and if my father hadn't been successful in business, the Carmine family would still be in debt, let alone restored as a wealthy family. But, even though I'm maintaining this facility and have my own research, compared to my grandfather's time, even without the chimera, even without the income from my father's business, the royalties I earn from the exorcism tools that I invented are enough to cover all the costs and have some left over. I obtain things I need for my research and have to pay for them, but it's not so expensive as to deplete our fortune. Of course, my grandfather needed to obtain things for his research, and logically, some would be difficult to obtain too... Using corpses that had been executed as materials, death row inmates who become test subjects in exchange for a pardon... There are records of him getting these, but those expenses, even when looking at the books from back then, are surprisingly small. In short, in order to burn through our fortune in just one generation, my grandfather was using the money on "something else". Don't you think that's odd? My grandfather didn't like luxury goods or art and he only spent the bare minimum to maintaining his lifestyle, and aside from the servants' wages, there was only the costs for the maintenance of the facility and research materials, and from the amount of money my grandfather inherited, even if you exclude all he earned, it wasn't enough to burn through it all in his lifetime. Despite that, he even sold all of the works of art and valuables that had been in our family for generations, just to have enough funds... He may have traded some of them too... But he used them. So, where did all this money, that he supposedly didn't use for anything, go?"
That's obvious, it was to obtain materials that were illegal. But just as Elza was about to reply with that, she stopped. She realized what that "obvious" thing was indicating.
The Lord Inventor was involved with illegal deals. She knew this from the post-incident investigation. However, beyond that, the details were not made public. Not even who these deals were being made with.
"... The Lord Inventor was so focused on his research that he took on debt and spent his own money on it... That is the information that is told about the Lord Inventor's profile, and even those that know about that incident, even they don't know much, they know that. Thus, if his money were to slip away mysteriously, it's only natural to suspect there is some hidden connection, regardless of the veracity. However, as long as there's nothing "after" the incident, everyone will only think about the "information about the incident", and as for the "before"... no one will even think to investigate if there was something hidden behind that. That was how I thought!"
"You realized it? A large number of unrelated people were told this, so for the very small number of people who had some part in the incident, there remains certain uncertain information."
"You're even doubting the man himself...!?"
"That was my grandfather's goal, to set up his own insanity, letting others gaze at him uneasily, and encouraging it. When in actuality, I'm certain that that was his final method, and though his plans ended in failure, no, that maybe everyone was smarter than him, that it was inevitable that it would end with some unexpected circumstance. That's why my grandfather let the chimera run wild, to promote his part as the "mad scientist", and lost his own life. By doing that, the true goal of his dangerous research that he was doing, and what he was doing the research for, would be lost, and by setting up his own accidental death, it would draw everyone's attention, so they would tell others about that, even if it was vague.
According to what Ryuuto said, the Lord Inventor's death, even his making his illegal research conspicuous was just an act. Naturally, the eyes of the investigation would be aimed at illegal research materials. If it was true that the Lord Inventor caused his own death, then his research would be seen as dangerous, and therefore, it would be disposed of.
And if this was all part of the Lord Inventor's plan.
And if, even if this was outside his plan, he had planned for it.
"My grandfather was not a warrior. He would have also thought about how to fight the chimera which he created, however, it doesn't look like he did. He knew what he was and wasn't capable of, and he wasn't capable of that. He wouldn't be naive and think that he could simply win a fight just because he had obtained something powerful. So my grandfather, even by himself, would be able to keep on fighting in his own way."
It was hard to believe, but it was logical. Ryuuto's speech was not something Elza could dismiss as a tall tale with a laugh, for Elza was a wizard.
Even if she was fighting against someone who was immune to magic. If she couldn't get a hit off, if she couldn't make up for the vast difference in their battle power, if she couldn't come up with some way to fight them, even alone, as long as there was a possibility. She knew she would think of something. She knew that.
"Fooling his enemies, and also fooling his allies, without anyone suspecting a thing, and when they did suspect, faking, and using such an indirect method..."
That was a risky role. It was all a role, and it all opened a single path. Keeping everyone in the dark, not letting anyone see through it, resisting the sandstorm of loneliness and anxiety that slowly eroded away his mind, not knowing when he would finally lose his mind, protecting his sanity as he cloaked himself in insanity, it was his silent battle.
"My grandfather's true goal, wasn't anything as uninteresting as super soldiers. It probably was illegal research, and as I followed where that secret money trail led, I met up with those guys."
"Just who are those guys?"
"... Hell Skulls. A group that became the first corpse collectors, who provided your sister's remains."
The bullet shot out of the very high caliber handgun, with two delayed firing sounds, and it changed direction within 30 cm.
Taking a stance to dodge the two shots fired one after another, Col slipped through an opening, and he tried to pistol whip her in the chin, but in response, she hit his wrist with her right elbow. Punching Col's right arm with his left fist, and avoiding the bullets that were fired, Col spun and did a roundhouse kick from the left, which he blocked with his knee. Continuing her spin, continued with a high roundhouse kick to the shoulder, but with a powerful shake of his left arm, he hit Col in the side. With her body taking the hit, she leapt away, and while sideways, aimed and pulled the triggers, and fired the guns in both of her hands with her body still twisted. The loud noises and gunfire of two shots, and then the high pitched sound of bent metal rang out. Giganov's bullets were only slightly off their mark, but they messed up Col's hair as they passed by. Fixing his aim, he fired another shot as Col stayed low and ran sideways, but the bullet only made a big hole in her skirt, and ended up embedded in the wall. Giganov suddenly wanted to laugh, but suppressed the urge. However, he couldn't stop his facial expression from unconsciously becoming softer.
(Heh, she's intercepting the bullet with a bullet. She's not predicting the trajectory of the bullet, but probably reading the direction of the muzzle, and reacting to the sound of me pulling the trigger, and matching it. In an actual battle, it's just some childish trick, and though I'm surprised she would pull this stunt, it actually does change the direction of the shot, and it really is an annoyance. How funny.)
Two firing sounds, one protected against with the handgun, one avoided by tilting his head up, followed up with a powerful rising kick across the body. He tried to grab at his side and break her ankle, but before he could get a hold of her ankle, Col kicked Giganov's stomach with her other foot, and easily flipped away and landed. Giganov immediately bent over backwards at the waist, and avoided Col's roundhouse kick with razor-sharp reflexes.
(Although I fire one shot, she fires two, and with such a small caliber gun, the power decreases and she needs three or four shots, and it consumes even more ammo. Even more when she attacks. But still, as she uses up her ammo, she still doesn't run out. She doesn't reload and swap out the magazine. She just swaps it with a new gun, without pausing her attack. So her plan is to not give me any breathing room.)
Right now, regardless of which trick she uses, he was impressed by the sheer number of hidden weapons she had, as there was an enormous amount of weapons scattered around. One after another, she was changing the gun in her hand for another, and even Giganov was forced to deal with each type of gun differently, such was the speed and skill.
(Ignoring efficiency and making it a battle of attrition, and with gradually increasing speed... Even though guns are my specialty, that's why she started using martial arts on me. If this continues, I probably won't be able to keep up. But, while the very large number of guns that she has are guns coming from all countries and eras, they can't actually be unlimited! As long as I have spare ammo, the difference in our bullet usage is massive, so don't think you can keep up this war of attrition forever...!)
Once again, for the countless' time, bullet and bullet clashed. Giganov's sight followed Col's movements, as she dropped a Sturm Luger SP101 and Glock 17 that had run out of ammo onto the floor. But, unlike before, there was no immediate shot from a gun that she brought in to replace it. Immediately sensing something was amiss, he threw his left arm down to guard against her rising palm aimed at his solar plexus. Giganov, believing that Col's hand was empty, thought that she had finally run out of weapons. But just as he thought that, his experience as a soldier told him that that was wrong.
(What! If she was completely out, why does she have a gun that I've never seen before!?)
A tale about Bullet Squall, a chance meeting during the hotel raid. In both, she used them, Bullet Squall's symbol, her dual hand guns, her beloved—
On guard since it seemed like she was aiming at something, he swayed and avoided two consecutive uppercuts by Col, blocked her upraised backhand with his right arm, and attacked with a left straight. Grabbing that arm, she struck from below at his elbow, and just as she was about to follow up with another hit, Col quickly realized that the gun was pointed at her and broke off from her attack, immediately grasping Giganov's right wrist. With both hands grabbed, Giganov stayed wary of some jujitsu move, and tried to break away from Col with all his strength. But before he could do that, Giganov was hit in the stomach by her foot and flew up in the air, still held by both his arms. It wasn't jujitsu, but unless he separated himself from her, he would be floating in the air without anywhere to hide and not knowing what Col would target next. However, as he tried to point his gun at her, out of the corner of his eye, Giganov saw a flash of light. At the same time, he heard a dry explosion come from the opposite side.
(No way, she can remotely control guns to fire!? With all these guns with bullets still in them lying around, she fooled me and drew me into hand to hand combat...)
Guessing at the line of fire from the positions of the flash of light and sound of the explosion, he tried to move out of the way, but contrary to what he thought, no bullets came. Giganov had no time to figure out what was going on, but right in front of him, a small palm-sized remote control slowly fell to the ground.
What Col was remotely controlling wasn't a gun. On a gun she previously used, there was a white light LED that she extracted from the pen light, and attached it to a cracker ball (firework) that she had a maid that was an explosive specialist make for her. She combined it with a miniature transceiver that Aiina made while she was gathering intelligence and a switch that would cause it to light up and explode. At first, it was made to be a counter against Giganov's reaction speed, a test for using remote control of the guns scattered around, but she recognized its use in making a surprise attack. And since she was employing a tactic of melee combat with guns that required heavy focus, if she could intentionally draw his attention towards all the guns scattered around and make him wonder about the certainty of that, then it would be a success. Therefore, she came up with the idea of staging a fake gunshot, and when she tested it on a beast-type monster maid with good perception and reflexes, she fell for it so badly that it was funny. It was even more effective with better perception, so since her opponent was a gun user, he would have an easier time thinking that the light and sound was a gunshot, and could be used to completely throw him off.
The effect was only for a split second, which was all she needed. But the skill needed to take advantage of this split second... If Col didn't have that skill, she probably wouldn't have managed to survive as long as she did.
In this split second, Giganov came into focus in Col's eyes, as he watched her movements. Col already had a revolver in each of her hands and was pulling the triggers.
The shots from her Colt Python and S&W M19 went through Giganov's right shoulder.
(It hit! If I can take out his primary arm, then at the minimum he won't be able to withstand the recoil...!?)
Very quickly, Col saw that Giganov aimed his gun at her without batting an eye. With his right arm.
Instantly, unsure if she was barely touching the ground or not, he fired.
With no time to avoid the impact from landing, she spun her aching body and jumped to the side. A very heavy and powerful shock wave, along with an explosive sound, passed through the space where Col's head had been just moments before.
Feeling like she had just gotten hit from the side, Col bounced two or three times times on the floor,and angrily clicked her tongue as she took a stance. Covered in dust and blood, through the hem of her torn skirt what were once her white stockings could be partially seen. Even though she had leapt away to avoid it, her right leg, which she had jumped off of, had gotten caught in the pressure that ripped up the air around the bullet, and the skin below her knee had been torn off.
... Soon, she wouldn't be able to dodge anymore. And since this was a close, high-speed battle, the amount of time that had actually passed was much shorter than what it felt like to her.
"Shit... I even shot you in the shoulder, but you still ignored it and fired with one hand. That's why I hate guys like you who were born from stories. You fuckers completely ignore pain and body construction, are fine as long as it's not a mortal wound and don't show any weaknesses. Must be nice, completely ignoring logic and rules to beat down your enemies with ridiculous firepower?"
"... I thought so. You don't get it."
A waver appeared in Giganov's eyes, which had before only contained joy. It felt conflicted and Col slightly raised her eyebrows. This was a troubling development.
"I was made to end war, and by the time I had become self-aware, I had already lost my reason for being. The fact is, I was born only as a device for killing humans. Do you know how empty, hated, tormented I was? A mercenary who throws away life for money could would never understand...! I was born to fight in wars that were started by humans, and the meaning of my existence was taken away by a war ended by humans, as if to say that I never existed in the first place! If nobody needs me and everyone wants to end it all, why did they make me? Why do I exist? Why do I, who had my existence denied, have a sense of self!! Do you understand, Bullet Squall, how it feels to be fated to fight, to be fated to kill, and be denied a battlefield, but the only way to protect your sense of self and despair is to throw yourself into some meaningless battle, do you understand it!?!"
"Hah! Are you someone who thinks that fighting defines you? Or maybe you super-human types are just another "protagonist who worries about his own existence"? So you don't like looking reality in the face, huh. And you talk too much. Your story is all too human, but this isn't a game or a comic, it's reality. Keep those things to 'stories'."
Giganov relaxed in response to Col's provocative insults.
"Huh? What are you thinking... Are you making fun of me?"
"You seem to be misunderstanding, Bullet Squall. Then I'll tell you, I'm not an existence that was created from a story about super soldiers."
As he said this, he brought the super high-caliber handgun in his hand into view.
"The anti-tank monster barrel AT14C-7G, nicknamed Gigant. During the Cold War, it was developed to be deployed in any combat zone, but it never saw the light of day, and the development project was scrapped. The anti-tank handgun, this is 'me'!"
"!?"
Now that he said that, she realized that his shoulder that got shot wasn't bleeding. That body was nothing more than a fake body, acting in concert with the "real body" to fire itself.
For an inorganic thing that has life to take on a human form (not including a very small number of exceptions), there were two methods. The first was the same as other youkai and monsters, "human transformation", and turn their form into that of a human. The second was "pseudo body", retaining their their original form and creating another separate body that would be controlled in concert and carry the real body. The downsides were that this pseudo body would be lost if it took grievous damage to overcome its natural healing and would be unable to move on its own if it became separated from the main body (also it couldn't bleed, cry, or anything else that a human could). However, if this was only for combat, it had the advantages of having no sense of pain, so it could ignore pain, and it had no distinct living tissue, so wounds that would be fatal to a human would have minimal effects on movement.
How annoying. Much more so than she thought. Col had been trying to aim at the arms and legs to prevent their use and aimed at vitals for a one-shot kill. As a fellow gun user, this would be one of her worst two match-ups. In addition, while it wasn't a strength or weakness of the pseudo body, the real body was hard enough to repel bullets.
(That's why he was called an immortal super soldier. Being cut, shot or blown up doesn't matter to him, not to mention getting an arm blown off, or a leg taken off or his head blasted off, and he would still be fine. Without knowing that, he's nothing less than a nightmare to face.)
Staring at the barrel of the gun that was once again lazily pointed at her, she thought.
(But, I'm not out of tricks yet. Doing damage to the pseudo body won't have any effect on the real body, but doing damage to the pseudo body would... hopefully cause the pseudo body to stop working, and I could keep doing what I'm doing. And with what I still have left, I might be able to trick that "eye" that watches the bullets. It can't be a diversion, I already know a heart-hearted feint won't fool him, so let me think... If I aim, and somehow surprise him...)
Selecting what she could and couldn't use, quickly going through her thoughts, the word "decoy" immediately came to mind. At first, she hadn't worked out any decoy plan in advance and immediately discarded it, but now she remembered something from her experience.
(That's it..! With that method, I'll be sure to fool his eyes! But the problem is how to do that "trick" without him seeing through it...)
Unconsciously, she licked her lips. It was proof of her nervousness.
(I'm sure I can do it. No, I'll definitely do it. ... Thank you, little mistress, for giving me this knowledge...!)