いつの間にかアルファの服装が変わっていた。そのことに気付いたアキラがアルファに尋ねる。
『アルファ。どうして服を変えたんだ?』
アルファの服はアキラと同じ種類の強化服に変わっている。2人の背丈や男女の体型の違いが反映されているが、基本的には同じ服を着ているように見える。
アルファが
いの格好でもしようかと思って。どう?』
『どうって言われてもな。普通?』
アキラに近接格闘の訓練を付けている時のアルファは強化服を着ていることが多い。旧世界風という、大胆を通り越して文化の差を感じてしまうデザインの強化服だ。
その格好と比較すれば、今のアルファの格好は余りにも普通だ。アルファの豊満な胸の大きさに合わせて設計したような強化服の凹凸部も、そこに用途不明の開口部が存在する旧世界の強化服と比べれば、気にするほどのものではない。
『実に率直でつまらない返事ね。やっぱりアキラはもう少しその辺のことを学んだ方が良いと思うわ』
アキラが少し不満そうに答える。
『そんなことを言われてもな。それに、今話すことじゃないだろう』
『それもそうね。それなら適切なことを話しましょう。アキラ。敵の1人がビルの中に入ってきたわ。比較的小型な重装強化服の方よ。大型の方はビルの周囲を警戒しているわ』
アキラの緊張が高まる。服の話がアキラの頭から消える。
『やっぱり帰ってはくれなかったか。小型の方って言っても、結構大きかっただろう? あの
く行ったわ。ただ、これで相手がどの程度弱体化したかは未知数ね。強化服無しでも殺せると判断したからこそ、中に入ってきたのかもしれないわ』
『あんな着る戦車みたいな強化服をはぎ取れただけでも助かるよ。強化服無しならCWH対物突撃銃の専用弾が当たれば殺せるだろう?』
かにましだ。アキラはそう考えて勝ち目が出てきたことに希望を持った。
アキラの希望が楽観的推測を経て願望に変わる前に、アルファが
『勝ち目が出てきただけであって、アキラが優位に立ったわけではないわ。気を抜かないで』
アキラは気を引き締めるように強く答えた。
アルファがアキラの返事に満足したように
『できれば相手を長い廊下に誘い込んで、廊下の端から狙撃できるようにしたいわ。適した場所まで移動し続けるからね』
『今、相手はどこにいるんだ?』
『あっちよ』
アルファが指差す方向をアキラが見る。その方向には壁しかないが、アキラの拡張された視界には数枚の壁の向こうにいるネリアの姿が分かり
アキラは格上の相手に対する警戒心を働かせていたが、ネリアとの間にある壁と距離、そしてネリアからはアキラは見えないだろうという緩みが、アキラの警戒度を若干低下させていた。
アキラがネリアを注視する。ネリアはアキラの方に顔を向けていた。アキラは壁の向こうにいるはずのネリアからの視線を確かに感じた。
そして、アキラとネリアの目が合った。緩んでいたアキラの警戒心が一気に跳ね上がる。
『伏せて!』
アルファの叫び声と同時に、アキラが床に伏せようとする。アキラの動作はアルファが行った強化服の操作とほぼ一致していた。そのためアキラは驚異的な速度で床に身を伏せることができた。
床に伏せようとする直前、アキラはネリアの挙動を注視していた。ネリアがアキラを両断しようとしている。アキラにはそう見えた。
アキラとネリアの間はかなり離れている上に、2人の間には数枚の壁がある。ネリアは右手にナイフを握っているが、その刀身がアキラに届く距離ではない。仮にアキラまで届いたとしても、ビルの材質はケインの重火器の銃弾を防ぐほど頑丈で、ナイフでその壁を切り裂くのは困難だろう。
通常ならば、アキラが回避行動を取る必要などないと判断するだろう。それにも
りすらしていない。しかしネリアの攻撃は、ネリアの前の壁、そしてアキラとの間にある全ての壁を両断した。ネリアが使用したナイフは旧世界の遺物だった。ナイフの刀身から放たれた青白い光が光の刃となり、ネリアの前方の空間をそこに存在する物質ごと両断した。
アキラは辛うじてその刃から逃れた。背負っていたリュックサックが切り裂かれ中身が散乱した。弾倉が弾薬ごと切断されていた。弾丸の鋭利な切断面は鏡のような光沢を見せるほどなめらかだ。
アキラの背を通り過ぎた光刃に熱量はなく、弾薬の火薬が爆発することはない。刃は通過した物体を純粋に切断、又は消滅させていた。
ネリアが半径十数メートルの存在を切り払った後、ネリアの持つナイフ、旧世界の遺物の刀身が音もなく崩れ落ちていく。その刀身は床に落ちる前に
ネリアはベルトから別のナイフを抜いて両手に装備した。そのナイフには柄しかなく、刀身がついていなかった。ネリアがその柄を強く握る。するとナイフの柄から液体金属が重力を無視して流れ出し、銀色の液体がナイフの刀身を形作る。刀身はそのまま伸び続けて刃渡り2メートルほどの薄いブレードに変化した。
ネリアが両手のブレードを目の前の壁に振るう。ブレードは強固な壁をゼリーでも切るかのように
切り込みを入れた壁にネリアが義体の出力を生かした痛烈な蹴りを入れる。切断済みの壁がネリアに蹴り飛ばされて飛んでいく。ネリアはその穴を通って部屋の内部に侵入する。そしてアキラとの間を隔てている壁を次々に切り裂きながら、旧世界の遺物の切れ味に喜び笑いながら、アキラへ一直線に向かっていった。
床に身を伏せてネリアの斬撃を回避したアキラがすぐに状況を把握しようとする。ネリアに具体的に何をされたのかまでは分からなかったが、自分の位置まで届く攻撃をされたこと、九死に一生を得たことだけは理解していた。
リュックサックを切り裂かれたため中身が辺りに飛び散っていた。運の悪いことにアキラの情報端末も両断されて床に転がっていた。アルファがいれば一々操作する必要もないため、情報端末をリュックサックの中にしまっていたのだ。
アキラが破壊された情報端末を見て舌打ちする。アルファはアキラの強化服を操作するためにいろいろしていたが、その初期設定はこの情報端末を介して行われていた。もし情報端末を破壊されたことでアルファがアキラの強化服を操作できなくなったとしたら、アキラの戦闘能力は致命的に低下してしまう。
『アルファ。情報端末が壊れたけど大丈夫か?』
あり得ないはずの光景を見て、信じたくない光景を目の当たりにして、アキラが敵のことなど忘れて絶叫する。
「アルファ!!」
アキラが必死になってアルファに駆け寄り、両断されたアルファの上半身を抱え起こそうとする。アキラの手がアルファの体を突き抜けて床に当たった。
「な、なんでそんなことを......」
アルファもアキラを驚かせるためにこのような姿になったわけではないだろう。アキラは尋ねながらその理由を考え始めていたが、それをアルファが止める。
『質問は後。私は無事。今は戦闘中。敵が接近中。それだけ把握して、敵に備えなさい。ああ、私の姿は
敵、その言葉を聞いてアキラの意識が切り替わる。アキラは頭の中にある全ての疑問を棚上げして、自身に迫る敵、ネリアに意識を集中する。
素早く立ち上がったアキラがネリアの方へCWH対物突撃銃を向けようとする。しかしその方向にあるのはビルの壁だ。アキラは少し
アキラが壁の頑丈さに驚く。
『旧世界の遺物を使用したのよ。アキラも前にやったでしょう?』
アキラは以前に自分を襲った盗賊を、旧世界の遺物のナイフでビルの壁ごと両断したことを思い出した。あの時のアキラは壁一枚隔てた相手を斬っただけだった。ネリアが使用した遺物がそれ以上の性能であることは間違いない。
『あれか! 敵に使われると厄介なことこの上ないな。どうすれば良い?』
『何とかして相手を射線上に捉えるしかないわ。来るわよ。アキラの強化服でどこまで相手の動きに追いつけるか分からないけど、かなり
アルファが両断されて床に転がったままの体勢で答える。
アキラがアルファの位置を声だけで判断するなら、いつも通り自分のすぐ
『そこはいつものように自信たっぷりに答えてくれ!』
『大丈夫よ。......ちょっとぐらい千切れても、強化服を着ていれば歩いて帰れるわ』
ネリアを警戒してその方向を見ているアキラには、床に倒れているように描画されているアルファの表情を見ることはできない。でもきっと少し
ネリアはアキラとの間にある壁を切り裂いてビル内を進み、ついにアキラがいる部屋の手前まで到着した。ネリアには部屋の中のアキラの様子が見えている。アキラは壁から距離を取って銃を構えてネリアを待ち構えている。ネリアが壁を破壊して部屋の中に入ってくる瞬間を狙っているのだ。それぐらいはネリアにも理解できた。
ネリアが壁の前で止まって楽しげに笑う。
く。一瞬遅れて床から銀色の刃が伸びてくる。刃が触れたものを全て切断して階下に消えていく。刃に触れたものは、部屋の空気とアキラの前髪が少し。そして、部屋の外にいるネリアにはアキラを斬ることができないという幻想だ。
ネリアが両手のブレードで階下からアキラを狙う。義体の身体能力で天井近くまで飛び上がり、空中で天井の向こうにいる標的へ斬撃を放つ。ネリアの両手に握られている銀色のブレードは、旧世界のCWH対物突撃銃の専用弾すら防いだビルの壁をいとも
アキラは部屋の中を必死で逃げ続けている。アキラが部屋を脱出しようとすると、ネリアがアキラの両断よりも脱出の阻止を目的とした斬撃を放つからだ。結果的にアキラは部屋から逃げられなくなっていた。
アキラがネリアを攻撃することはできない。床も壁と同じ素材だ。更にCWH対物突撃銃では真下にいるネリアを狙おうとすると、銃口が床に当たって狙えないのだ。
『アルファ! このままだと俺の足が持たないんだけど!?』
アキラはネリアの斬撃を回避するために急加速と急停止を繰り返している。その動きの要となっている両脚には大きな負荷が掛かっている。痛覚以外の感覚など既に
アルファが慌てるアキラとは対照的な落ち着いた声で答える。
『それはもう少しで反撃の機会が来るって意味で良いんだよな!? もう少しで千切れるって意味じゃないよな!?』
よ。......反撃後の状態は保証できないけれど』
ネリアは何度もアキラに斬撃を放ったが、アキラはその全てを
ネリアは一見ひたすらアキラを狙い続けているように見せていたが、その斬撃にはアキラを攻撃する以外の目的で放たれたものが含まれていた。ネリアにとっての天井を、つまりアキラにとっての床を切り裂く際に、微妙な角度で斬りつけることで、周囲の床から切り取られているが、引っかかって落ちてこない部分を作り出していたのだ。
ネリアはその場所にアキラを誘い込み、その場所を蹴り飛ばしてアキラの動きを封じるつもりだった。床ごとアキラを蹴り飛ばし、空中で体勢を崩して身動きが取れないアキラを両断するのだ。
そしてアキラが仕込みの場所に来た瞬間、ネリアは笑みを深めて跳ね上がる。そのままネリアは空中で義体の出力を生かした痛烈な蹴りを放つ。真上にいるアキラの足下、他の床とは切断済みの部分の床が、鋼すら曲げる威力の蹴りを受けてひび割れる。
非常に勢いよく蹴られた天井が、ネリアの予想通りにアキラごと吹き飛ばされる、ことはなかった。他の部分と
の隙間から、自分と同じように空中で大きく体勢を崩しているアキラの姿を見た。そのアキラの目は、しっかりとネリアを見ていた。
ネリアが下から切断済みの天井を蹴り飛ばそうとした時、アキラは上から床を蹴り飛ばそうとしていた。アルファがネリアの策を読み、その裏をかいて反撃を試みたのだ。
アキラは床を蹴る直前にCWH対物突撃銃を真上に向けて発砲する。発砲の反動を強化服で受け止め、限界まで上げた強化服の身体能力で放つ蹴りの威力に上乗せする。その蹴りの威力は戦闘用の義体が放つ蹴りの威力を相殺した。
ネリアが切り離し蹴り飛ばそうとした床部分が動かなかったのは、アキラの蹴りによって上下から等しい衝撃を受けたためだった。
アキラは蹴りの反動で空中に浮かびながら、矛盾した時間感覚の中でゆっくりと落ちていく
く長く感じている間に、アキラの体が勝手に動いた。アルファによる強化服の操作だ。
アキラは再びCWH対物突撃銃を真上に向けて、次弾装填が終わった瞬間に引き金を引いた。発砲の反動でアキラが真下に吹き飛ばされる。そしてネリアとの間にある
ネリアがアキラを見て笑う。笑いながら右手の柄を操作する。柄から再び液体金属が流れだし銀色の刀身を形作る。
「残念だったわね。柄だけでどうするつもり? 握れば勝手に刀身が生えてくるとでも思っていたの? 旧世界の遺物にだって安全装置ぐらいは付いているのよ。つまり、その解除方法を知らないと使えないの。ちょっと調べれば分かるようなものじゃ......」
アキラにこのブレードは使用できない。ネリアはそう思って笑っていたのだが、アキラの右手の柄からも刀身が生えてきたのを見て、意外そうな表情を浮かべる。
だから名前ぐらいは教えてもらっても良いかしら? これも何かの縁。覚えておいてあげるわ」
「そう。私はネリアよ。
、本当に何者? 今のは避け方を知っている動きだったわ。そして剣の扱いを理解している動きだったわ。普通のハンターはそんな技術を学んだりしないはずだけど」
アキラは答えない。知らないものは答えられないのだ。
『アルファ。反撃の機会の方はどうなってるんだ?』
『取りあえず一方的に攻撃される状況からは脱したわ。本当なら落下しながら相手にCWH対物突撃銃の専用弾を
『俺の運の残量は本当にカツカツだな。道理でこんな不運に見舞われるわけだ。ところで、何で俺の方の剣は伸びないんだ?』
『刀身を構成する液体金属の残量が少ないからよ。恐らく階下からアキラを攻撃してきた時に、使用する武器を意図的に偏らせていたのね』
『俺が残量の少ない方を握ったのは、相手が多く残っていた方を知っていて先にそっちを選んだからか? それともただの2択?』
『そうか。......一体俺の運はどうなってしまっているんだ』
アキラの不運にアルファが対処できなくなった時、アキラはあっさり死ぬだろう。
余裕の笑みを崩していないネリアを見て、アキラは流れを変えるために、
つき、その余裕の笑みが少しは崩れないだろうか。それでネリアの動きが少しは雑になったりしないだろうか。アキラはそれを結構期待して、嘲るような表情を頑張って浮かべてネリアを見ていた。
「私のことを覚えている時間が延びたことを喜んでくれるのね。
「何の話だ?」
「いないのなら、私と付き合わない? ちょうど恋人と死に別れて今はフリーなの。私は強い人が好みなの。
「そんな冗談を言えるなんて随分余裕だな」
「あら、冗談なんかじゃないわ。本気よ。真面目に口説いてるわ。それで、どう?」
「......それは、付き合うって答えたら、俺は助かるってことか?」
「いいえ。殺すわ。それはそれ、これはこれ。私が
「そう。残念ね」
ネリアは演技ではない残念そうな笑みを浮かべた。そしてアキラとの距離を一気に詰めて斬撃を放つ。アキラがそれを
Alpha had changed her clothes before Akira realized it.
"Alpha, why are you wearing this now?"
Alpha was wearing an augmented suit that looked much like Akira's. Although its shape was different due to the difference in their build and gender, it more or less looked like another series from the same type of augmented suit.
Alpha smiled.
"I just thought that it might be fun to use the same suit as you from time to time, what do you think?"
"Even if you ask me so... It looks... normal?"
When she was training Akira for CQC, Alpha was usually in an augmented suit. But it was not a common augmented suit, it had the old-world feeling with a daring design that showed the difference in their culture.
Compared to that augmented suit, the one that Alpha was wearing now looked very normal. Although it had a striking curve to house her voluptuous body, it was way better compared to her usual augmented suit that had a mysterious useless opening in the front.
"That was a straight and boring reply. As I thought, it might be a good idea to train you in that department."
Akira looked slightly annoyed.
"Even if that's true, this is not the time for it."
"Well, you're right. Let's talk about something else then, Akira, one of the enemies has entered the building. It's the one with the smaller powered suit, while the other one is watching from the outside right now."
Akira tensed up. He completely forgot about Alpha's appearance in an instant.
"As I thought, they won't leave, huh? Even if you say that it's a smaller powered suit, it's still a pretty big one. So how did that girl get in this building with that powered suit?"
"She left her powered suit behind. It seems that my plan to bait them into the hallway without their powered suit is going well. But even so, we still don't know how strong she's without her powered suit. She might be confident that she would be able to kill you even without the powered suit, that's why she entered the building without it."
"It's a good thing that she left her tank-like powered suit behind. Without her powered suit, the CWH special ammo should be enough to kill her, right?"
He thought that it was at least better than repeatedly shooting at an enemy despite dealing almost no damage at all. Since continuing so would only shave his optimism bit by bit, Akira looked hopeful thinking that he had a better chance to win now.
But before his optimistic guess turned into a real hope, Alpha warned him.
"It might give you a better chance, but it doesn't mean that you're in a better position now. So don't let your guard down."
Akira focused his mind and answered back firmly.
Alpha smiled, satisfied with his answer.
"If it's possible, it would be great if we can lure her into a long hallway where you can take aim at her from the other end of the hallway. We'll keep on moving until we find a good position."
"Where is she right now?"
"She's over there."
Alpha pointed her finger towards nothing but the wall. But thanks to her support, Akira was easily able to see Nelia's image past the layers of walls.
Although he was keeping his guard up since he knew he was fighting against someone better than him, with the layers of walls and the distance between them, Akira thought that there was no way Nelia would be able to see him as he instinctively lowered his guard.
While Akira was observing Nelia, she too was looking straight at his face. Although there were layers of walls separating them, he could feel Nelia's gaze looking straight at him.
Akira's and Nelia's eyes suddenly met each other. Akira who had lowered his guard immediately tensed up.
"Get down!!"
The moment Alpha said that to Akira, he quickly lied down on the ground, his move was almost perfectly in sync with his augmented suit. Thanks to that, he was able to quickly lie down.
Right before Akira lied down, he was observing Nelia. That was when Nelia made a gesture as if she was cutting him down.
Not only was there quite a distance between them, but there were also layers of walls separating them. Akira could see Nelia holding a blade that was not long enough to reach him. And even if it could extend to reach him, he thought that the walls between them should be strong enough to greatly reduce its cutting power. Thus, it was highly unlikely that Nelia could wound him from behind those walls.
Normally, Akira would not even have to take any evasive action. But when he saw that, he instinctively forced himself to lie down onto the ground. If someone asked him why he did that, he could not answer back with anything else but intuition. After all, he really did that purely out of instinct.
Nelia swung the blade in her hand as if she was cutting the air. The blade itself did not even reach the wall in front of her. But with that motion, the wall in front of her, and all the walls between her and Akira, were all split into two. The blade that she was using was an old-world relic. The blue light that shot out from it cleanly cut everything in front of her.
Akira was barely able to avoid that slash. But his rucksack was not so lucky, it was cut open, spilling out everything that was inside. The magazines and medicines boxes inside his rucksack were cut clean into two. The bullets melted where it was cut and its cross-section looked like a mirror.
Since the light that just passed above Akira's back did not transfer heat, the gunpowder inside the bullets did not explode. The blade simply erased everything that was on its path.
After Nelia cut everything within a few dozen metres radius around her, the old-world blade that she was holding silently crumbled into dust and was blown away by the wind before the dust could even reach the ground.
Nelia pulled two blades from her belt. Those were nothing but handles without a blade. But when she firmly gripped those handles, liquid metal came out from those handles, ignoring the gravity it formed the blades' cutting edge. The blades kept on extending out until it reached 2 metres in length.
She swung her blade at the wall in front of her, the blade cut through the strong wall as if it was made of jelly.
She utilised the power of her cyborg body to kick the part of the wall that she just cut and sent it flying. She then used that hole to enter the room. She kept on cutting the walls in front of her as she walked to Akira in a straight line. She was smiling happily as she was enjoying the satisfaction of cutting down old-world buildings.
Akira who was lying on the ground tried to confirm the situation that he was in. Although he had no idea what exactly Nelia did, he understood that he just barely escaped death from that blade slash which somehow even reached him.
Because his rucksack was cut open, the things that were inside it were now scattered on the ground around him. Unfortunately, among those, Akira found his information terminal which was already sliced into two. Since there was no need for him to operate his information terminal as long as Alpha was around, he normally kept it inside his rucksack.
Akira clicked his tongue when he saw his sliced information terminal. He knew that Alpha was doing so many things in the background, which he did not even understand, to control his augmented suit. But one thing he knew for sure, Alpha controlled his augmented suit through the information terminal the first time she did. If the destroyed information terminal prevented her from controlling his augmented suit, it would significantly lower his fighting ability.
"Alpha, the terminal is destroyed, am I going to be okay?"
He could not believe what he was seeing, this scene should have been impossible to happen. Because of his shock, he forgot about Nelia and shouted.
"Alpha!?"
He ran towards Alpha's dead body in a panic. He extended his hand to grab Alpha's upper half that was already separated from its lower half. But his hand passed through her body and hit the floor.
"W-why would you even do this...?"
Akira thought that it was not like Alpha did it just to surprise him. When he asked her that question, he started to think for any valid reason. But she quickly stopped him.
"Save your questions for later, I'm completely fine. Keep one thing in mind, in this battle, you'll fight the enemy in close quarters. Get yourself ready. Aah, I'll stay like this for a while, but you can still talk to me normally and it won't affect my support for you too, so don't worry about that part."
The moment he heard the word 'enemy', Akira tensed up. He put all of his questions for later and focused on Nelia who was coming at him.
Akira quickly got on his feet and aimed his CWH anti-material rifle at Nelia. He hesitated for a moment since he could only see a wall where he was aiming. But he kept the muzzle aimed at the image of Nelia behind the wall and pulled the trigger.
Akira was surprised at how durable the wall was.
"She used an old-world relic after all. You too did the same thing before, remember?"
Akira remembered that he once used an old-world blade to cut through the building wall together with the thug who attacked him. But at that time, there was only a single layer of wall separating them. So, Nelia was clearly using something more powerful.
"That thing, huh!! What a huge pain in the ass, what should I do now?"
"You have no other choice but to somehow lure her to a place where you can get a clear shot at her. I don't know how far you can fight with your augmented suit, but one thing for sure, you'll have to do crazy manoeuvres. So just grit your teeth and get yourself ready."
Alpha's image was still lying on the ground, sliced into two.
If Akira judged from only her voice, it sounded as if Alpha was standing beside him just like usual. Although it calmed him a little, he still sounded panicked when he said.
"You should answer back with full confidence like always!!"
"Don't worry... Even if you get some muscles torn, you can still walk back home as long as you have your augmented suit."
Akira could not see Alpha's expression since he was watching Nelia, but he somehow thought that Alpha must be smiling teasingly at him right now. In response, he just smiled bitterly.
Nelia kept on slashing through the walls as she was walking towards Akira, eventually, she reached the last wall that separated her and the room where Akira was. She could see Akira holding his CWH anti-material rifle aiming it at her, waiting for the moment she would step into the room.
She stopped in front of the last wall and smiled.
Akira quickly jumped out from where he was hiding. A few split-seconds later, two silver blades protruded from the floor below him, everything that those two blades touched were cut clean. Fortunately, the blades only cut through the air and a few strands of his hair. Nelia, who was in the room below, also noticed that she failed to cut Akira.
Nelia aimed her blades at Akira from the floor below, with her cyborg body she jumped close enough to the ceiling and slashed towards her target who was above that ceiling. The silver blades in her hand could easily cut through the wall that CWH special ammo could not even penetrate. So of course, Akira's augmented suit would not stand a chance against them.
Akira was still inside that room while evading the blades. Every time he tried to get out of that room, Nelia would slash at him and prevent him from getting out. Because of that, he was trapped inside.
On the other hand, he had no means to shoot at Nelia. The floor was made of the same material as the wall, and also because of the length of his CWH anti-material rifle, he could not aim straight down to where Nelia was.
"Alpha!! At this rate, it's only a matter of time before my legs give up!!!"
In order to evade Nelia's blades, he had to keep jumping around. Successively accelerating his body followed by a quick stop put his legs under immense stress. He had already numbed from any other feelings except the pain. Both his body and his augmented suit were close to their limit.
Alpha gently said to Akira, trying to calm him down.
"That means that I would get a chance to shoot at her soon, right? It's not like you're saying that my limbs are going to tear off soon, right??"
"Yep... But I can't guarantee that your body will be okay after you take a shot at her."
Nelia had sliced at Akira so many times, but she could not get a hit at him at all. Although she found it surprising, she kept smiling since she thought she still had the upper hand.
It might look like Nelia was only randomly slashing at Akira, but that was not the case. The ceiling for her was the floor for Akira, by cutting it at a certain angle, she made parts of the floor brittle.
Nelia was planning to restrict Akira's movements and lure him to any of the brittle parts of the floor. She would then break the floor with a kick, throwing him off balance and cut him down while he fell to the below floor.
The moment Akira stepped into that trap, Nelia smiled and kicked the ceiling. She used the full power of her cyborg body to deliver that kick. The floor where he was standing cracked due to the impact of her kick which could even bend steel.
But even with that powerful kick, strangely enough, the ceiling did not crumble down as she had expected. Even though it was brittle and had absorbed a powerful kick from her, that part of the floor stayed in its place.
Among the crumbling pieces of the floor, Nelia could see Akira who was also thrown off balance falling down just like her. Akira's eyes were locked onto her.
When Nelia kicked that part of the floor, Akira also did the same from above as instructed by Alpha. Alpha had already read Nelia's plan and used it against her.
Right before Akira kicked the floor, he pointed his CWH anti-material rifle upward and pulled the trigger. The kickback from that shot was absorbed into his augmented suit and increased the force of his kick that he released after pushing his augmented suit to its limit. His kick more or less packed the same amount of impact power as the kick from a cyborg body.
The reason why the floor did not crumble when Nelia kicked it was because Akira's kick balanced the force on the floor.
In that short chaotic moment, Akira, who was thrown to the air due to the recoil from his kick, looked at the crumbling floor he was standing just a moment ago. The floor was breaking up into chunks as it crumbled down. He felt the time slow down; this sudden change confused his perception so much that it felt like he took forever to load a new magazine into his CWH anti-material rifle.
The time still felt like it was running slow as Akira was thinking hard on what he should do. But his body suddenly moved on its own, it was Alpha who was controlling his augmented suit.
Akira quickly pointed his CWH anti-material rifle straight up again and pulled the trigger the moment he finished loading another round. The kickback blasted his body down and pushed other rubbles between him and Nelia down with him.
Nelia smiled at Akira. She then turned her blade on, just like before, liquid metal came out from its handle and formed a blade.
"Too bad, what are you planning to do with that handle? It's not like you can get the blade out just by grabbing it, you know? Old-world relics have security measures installed in them. Unless you know how to remove it, you won't be able to-"
Nelia was smiling contently thinking that there was no way Akira could use that weapon. But her words were cut short when a blade came out from Akira's handle too. She was completely taken aback by what she saw but quickly regained her composure.
"I see, in that case, can you at least tell me your name? This must be some kind of destiny that we met here. So at least let me remember your name."
"I see. I'm Nelia. I'll remember your name until I kill you. To be more precise, that would happen in about 30 seconds."
"Anyone else would have normally died after my previous attack. Seriously though, who exactly are you? Looking at your movements when you evaded, you're properly trained. Not to mention, you also know how to use that weapon. A normal Hunter should not be able to do these things."
Akira did not give any reply. After all, he could not answer the question to which he himself did not know the answer.
"Alpha, I still didn't get any chance to strike back though?!"
"Well, at least we've escaped the situation where she was one-sidedly attacking you. Originally, I was planning to shoot her with the CWH special ammo while we were falling down, but the rubbles were blocking your shot so it was impossible to do that. Unfortunately, it seemed that you didn't have enough luck to execute that plan. If only you had better luck and was able to take that shot, you would've won by now."
"Well, I guess I'm really left with a scarce supply of luck. No wonder I always get to be in this kind of dangerous situation. By the way, why won't my blade extend like hers?"
"The liquid metal stock in your handle is low. She might have intentionally emptied the liquid metal stock of the blades that she was using when she was attacking you from below."
"So basically I got the handle with the less liquid metal, huh? Did she go for that handle knowing that it has more liquid metal? Or was it simply a pure coincidence?"
"I see... Good grief, what the heck is going on with my luck?"
He knew for sure that the moment Alpha's support could not substitute for his bad luck, he would get killed.
Looking at how Nelia was smiling leisurely, Akira tried to disturb her mood in order to change the flow of the fight and to get the upper hand. He mockingly said to her.
Akira hoped that Nelia would get annoyed after hearing that, or at least, it would make her movements rougher. He tried his best to make a mocking expression towards her.
"I'm happy that you remember what I told you."
"What exactly are you talking about?"
"If you're not taken yet, want to try dating me? My boyfriend just died not too long ago, so you came at the perfect time. I like men who are stronger than me, you see. And I have nothing to complain about your skill too."
"To think that you can even joke like that, you must be really enjoying this."
"Oh my, I wasn't joking. I'm serious, you know. I'm seriously asking you, so what's your answer?"
"...Well, say that I accept your proposal, will that save me from this situation?"
"Of course not, I'll still kill you. This and that are two different things, you see. Me killing you and me going out with you are two completely separate things, don't you think so too?"
"Is that so? That's just too bad."
Nelia did not seem to be acting as she looked seriously disappointed. She then quickly closed the distance between them and swung her blade at Akira. He evaded her blade and struck back immediately.
Rebuild World (WN)
リビルドワールド
https://www.novelupdates.com/series/rebuild-world/
Action Adventure Drama Harem Mecha Mystery Sci-fi Seinen
Abandoned Children Adapted to Manga Adventurers Alternate World Anti-social Protagonist Apocalypse Artificial Intelligence Beautiful Female Lead Cautious Protagonist Child Protagonist Dense Protagonist Determined Protagonist Distrustful Protagonist Futuristic Setting Gangs Gunfighters Harsh Training Lack of Common Sense Male Protagonist Manipulative Characters Monsters Near-Death Experience Older Love Interests Poor Protagonist Poor to Rich Ruthless Protagonist Shota Sudden Strength Gain Survival Twisted Personality Unlucky Protagonist Weak to Strong
https://ncode.syosetu.com/n9736dt/
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