Chapter 11 - Change
The group of six, now smaller without Hina, bolted through the city. The speed of the player was astonishing and surprised many squadrons that were surrounding the Dome. The squadrons were waiting to ambush anyone who wanted to use the Dome. The group, however, they're too preoccupied to care for these low-level players. Ana, with her speed and agility, annihilated the squadrons with no effort.
When they reached the Dome, the surrounding area was empty, there was only sand and concrete. There were no trees or rocks to provide cover for an ambush. As they stepped closer to the large structure, RG stepped out of the Dome with what was left of his squadron, twenty players. Hina was standing behind him, her expression now stoic and cold.
"Well, well, well, if it isn't Guren and his minions," said RG, in a taunting voice.
"Who are you calling his minion?!" Shiho retorted.
"Anyways, you're too late, the Arfa Sys is mine," RG continued with a wide smirk on his face.
Elysia immediately aimed at RG and fired her shot. A hard light shield appeared in front of RG and blocked the bullet before disappearing. Hina took a step forward with her right arm raised in front of her.
"Master, I shall protect you," said Hina in a cold almost robotic tone.
RG let out a big laugh, "That's my Arfa Sys. Good job. Now attack them."
Hina drew her knife and charged towards the six. Behind her, the twenty players followed suit. Hina pounced at Elysia who defended herself with the body of her sniper and pushed Hina away. Elysia attempted to aim at Hina's leg but her sniper was kicked away by Hina. She drew her karambit and locked knives with Hina.
"Please, Hina. Please stop," begged Elysia, as she pushed Hina off her. But Hina had no response, her lack of expression broke something in Elysia's heart. With Hina pushed back, Elysia lowered herself down in a crouch, ready to defend herself. Hina regained her balance and raised her knife to Elysia.
As Kei shot down three of the players with his MK1 9mms, he glanced worryingly at Elysia, who was in a stalemate with Hina. He hesitated but knew what he needed to do and opened up his inventory. Shiho stayed behind the cover of the building pillars, only popping her head up to counter fire. Kuroyuki moved from shadow to shadow throwing her knives and firing her Five seveN from time to time, taking down seven of the players. Ana focused on defending Sho from any approaching players, dealing with five of them almost instantly when they entered her killing range. The last five players pushed up to Shiho's cover when a flash grenade flew out, blinding them. Shiho then jumped out to finish them off.
Hina kicked Elysia in the stomach and slashed Elysia in the cheek with her knife. Elysia grunted in pain but ignored the laughing from RG as he watched leisurely. Blocking Hina's quick attacks with all her power and skill, Elysia dodged to the side at one of Hina's attack. As she moved to the side, she gripped Hina's knife welding wrist. With a twist, she locked Hina's arm behind the smaller girl. Hina pulled out a second knife with her left hand and stabbed Elysia in the left thigh forcing her to back away. Elysia kneeled on the floor, pressing down on her wound with her left hand. Hina did not let the opportunity pass and pounced once more onto Elysia, pressing her down onto the ground with her tiny body, her knife locked with Elysia's millimetres from Elysia's throat. Elysia struggled, trying to push the knife away when suddenly Hina fell to the side after a gunshot. Elysia traced the shot back to Kei.
"What are you doing Kei?! You shot Hina!" yelled Elysia angrily.
"Relax, it's just a stun bullet," said Kei as he approached the angry Elysia, "I would never use a real bullet on Hina."
Kei helped Elysia back onto her feet and nodded at her, she returned the nod and charged straight for RG with Kei by her side. RG panicked and started to fire his AUG at the two, they immediately split to avoid the barrage of bullets and regrouped without losing any momentum. With no bullets in the mag and no time to reload, RG switched to his Mac 10, Kei moved in front of Elysia.
Ana said to predict the bullet lines based on the barrel of the gun and the eyes of the player. The bullet line tells me the exact path the bullet will take. If I memorise the order of each bullet I may be able to do it.
Kei readied his photon swords as he saw the barrage of bullet lines appear before him. His heart raced as he deflected the bullets aimed at his head with his right sword and heart with his left. The other shots dug into his abdomen and legs but he was still able to keep moving forward, shielding Elysia.
"Impossible!" RG exclaimed, "How can you deflect my bullets?!"
RG's magazine soon emptied with most shots deflected by Kei. Kei moved aside allowing Elysia to have a direct vision on RG. Elysia threw Hina's knife at the surprised RG, the knife embedded itself in RG's calf. RG cried out in pain and Elysia smiled.
"Kuroyuki! Now!" she shouted, diving onto Kei. Kuroyuki threw two ion grenades at RG who was still nursing his wounded leg to be swift enough to run. After the explosion, RG crawled out legless and with a sliver of HP. Elysia jumped off Kei and approached RG, stopping him in his tracks by putting her foot on his back. She pulled his head upwards, revealing his throat where she placed the blade of her karambit.
"There's always next time," said RG.
"If there is, I'll kill you again," said Elysia as she finished him off with the slide of her hand.
When the smoke cleared and RG's avatar slumped onto the ground, Elysia let out a deep breath and collapsed on the floor. Ana approached the downed Kei, who was still in shock at what happened and helped him up.
"I can't believe you actually tried it in such a situation. You still need some polishing but you're getting there you lucky newbie," said Ana as she passed him a healing syringe and giggled away.
Next was Kuroyuki who rushed to his side, her eyes sparkled as if she's meeting her favourite idol in person, "Shisho! You were amazing out there! You deflected the bullets!"
"I couldn't deflect them all though. I still got a long way ahead of me," said Kei.
"Geez, don't worry us like that, you idiot," said Shiho as she punched his shoulder.
"You of all people were worried about me?" said Kei with disbelief in his eyes.
"I-I was worried about Elysia's safety, not yours, you idiot. She's my client after all."
"Then go hit her not me."
"You're the one who put my client at risk with your reckless plan, you idiot."
"I'm still on the floor," Elysia stated, her arm resting on her eyes as she laid on the sandy floor, "If anyone is interested."
Kei crouched down beside Elysia and gave her a flick on her forehead, "You! Don't even get me started! Can you not dive onto me like a giant mech? It really hurts."
"I saved your life, you bastard," Elysia muttered, with her eyes still closed.
"It felt like you almost ended my life, you know how much HP I was on after I took all those shots?!" Kei answered back. Elysia gritted her teeth and swung her foot under Kei, tripping him on the floor. Elysia jumped up and trapped Kei's neck with her legs. She gripped his wrist and pulled him into a Leg Scissor Choke. Kei gasped for breath and gripped her legs, hoping to pry them apart.
"Let's see how your HP drops or you can just surrender," laughed Elysia, as Kei flopped around, trying to breathe.
"I will never surrender!" Kei choked out.
Kuroyuki stood by, unsure what to do to help Kei. After some thought, she crouched beside Kei and just admired his features. Kei looked back at her stare unsure what she was doing. Kuroyuki let out a sigh and poked the red-faced Kei on the nose.
I wish Shisho would give me as much attention as Elysia-nee.
Ana glanced at Shiho, who had a strange look on her face, and let out a cough, "I understand that you want to celebrate your victory and all, but time is ticking here."
Kuroyuki blushed and stood up quickly, with her cheek flushed in embarrassment. Elysia reluctantly released Kei from her hold and pushed herself up to stand. Kei, with the return of air in his lungs, gasped and coughed, falling flat on the floor. The three quickly recomposed themselves and they began to form a plan.
"Well, unlucky for us the conversion point isn't the dome for us," said Shiho.
Elysia opened up her map, revealing the conversion point that they have to take Hina to, "The Outskirt Facility, north-west from our current position. Luckily it's not too far from us."
"We'll have to get moving with just under twenty minutes left before the event ends," said Ana.