-THE FANFIC LIVES! ANd dies again because I'll be going back to writing my other fanfic, "Genuine Courage". Go check on that one and leave a review please. Anyway, it's been a while! I thought that I can upload this story like maybe every week or so but some things distracted me from doing that. Is this what other authors go through? Regardless I'm here I'm here I'm here!
By the way, this is written in Third POV, let me know what you think. Is it better than the usual first-person view that I kept writing for a while? Or should I go back to my usual writing?
Anyways, let's get on with the reviews!
adisit: If you read the LN you should know what character that girl was but you're right, he does feel nerfed but don't worry. He's going to be the OP Accelerator we all know and love. I just want to give him a challenge because being OP all the time is kinda boring IMO.
Giuseppe: Your wish is my command! :D
Kyle: Thank you. Even now, I'm still wondering why no one thought of this idea.
XXxxxadisxxxXX: I've been using grammar software before uploading chapter 3. I guess even a computer can leave mistakes. Also, thank you for liking this fanfic!
Disclaimer: I do NOT own Toaru series and Oregairu. Some of the elements of the story are inspired by Darkbetrayer's popular fanfic, A Certain Infinite Possibility.
Rated M for strong language and sexual content.
Chapter 9: A Certain Struggle Against Advanced Technology
The entire world knew the existence of a certain city in Japan. It's mostly common knowledge about a sovereign city-state that is thirty years ahead of technology and science, and the wonders it brought that could only happen in science fiction. Before they built it, most of humanity fantasized about flying cars, spaceships, and robots, but they thought these things won't be invented in real life soon. Science is a process of trial and error, a way of knowing about the world from a logical standpoint. And the world is vast, so all of them thought all the sci-fi fantasies would take a long time to become a reality. Not to mention, science is also vast with all the branches such as chemistry, biology, physics, and many other branches that scientists need to even narrow down all theories in each of them. With such a wide variety of options and possibilities, the amazing inventions that everyone dreamed of would take centuries to come to the real world. That was why they were all shocked that the city was suddenly built into almost every sci-fi elements everyone could think of.
Academy City
As the name suggests, it is a city of several schools and institutions of higher learning from kindergarten to university level that has education on higher technology that only exists there, and learning and developing psychic abilities to students to become what's known as "Espers". The discovery of the scientific supernatural ability is the very highlight of the city's reputation as scientists created the Power Curriculum Program for students to unlock their powers and developing them in further levels. Telekinesis, precognition, clairvoyance, mind control, telepathy, etc. Each student develops one psychic ability and each esper power varies from usage, application, process, and a certain factor known as "Personal Reality". However, not all students of that city can achieve power, nor will they become equal even in status. Some will become defects known as level 0s, those who didn't unlock their powers, and then there are rare individuals who stood at the top of the world of science and espers, known as the level 5s. With such advanced technology and the science beyond belief, perhaps that place can be referred to as a city full of miracles even with the inequalities. Be that as it may, the city is not a utopia as it also falls under the flaws that all societies faced and endured throughout the years: Corrupt staff known as the Board of Directors; discrimination towards espers with lower levels; and the underground organizations hidden in the Dark Side.
Academy City is both admired and feared at the same time. Even without the existence of espers, the technology that scientists built surpasses the military might of a country. Whether it's a device for hacking or an unstoppable weapon of mass destruction; The city's technology could destroy a country and bring fear amongst people. Even its very own citizens are afraid of what terrifying inventions their scientists could create, so international laws and internal conflict in politics and ethics prevent such inventions from being created. However, there are some who can sneak past those restrictions and used their creations to cause trouble. Whether the technology is from the surface or from the Dark Side, people will find problems in dealing with it.
It is a struggle against advanced technology. A struggle that the two ladies are facing right now.
Two normal, powerless, and beautiful ladies against an army of floating circularly shaped droids with a radius of 70 centimeters. One of these ladies tied her long silver-bluish hair in a ponytail and has a beauty spot under her right eye. She is cold, curt, stubborn, frank, and distant to others. She can appear aggressive to some, both in defense of herself and when being "polite". Because of this attitude and appearance, the class sees her as some kind of delinquent, but in reality, she's not. This lady is just socially awkward and in actuality, she's kind, hardworking and a loving older sister.
This lady is Kawasaki Saki, a Sobu High classmate of the strongest esper and older sister of who Hikigaya referred to as "Bug".
Now the other is a white-skinned young woman with shoulder-length black hair and rose eyes. She is the definition of what a perfect woman is to others. She is talented, friendly, beautiful, and intelligent. In Chiba and probably some parts of the world, no one can compete against her in all aspects of what defines a woman. However, only a few people are aware of her true colors. Outside of that warm and friendly personality, she has a sinister side that many consider those who witness it as unlucky or people who she hates. She is manipulative, cold, and shows no emotion when she's in this state. However, she can be genuinely kind and a hardworking, loving older sister.
This lady is Yukinoshita Haruno, a Chiba University student and the older sister of who Hikigaya referred to as the "Ice Queen".
*BZZZZZT*
The sounds of Edge Bees' spinning chainsaw echoed throughout the empty streets as the two young women just sat on the road after dodging one of the deadly droids. They both thought the slightest movement would make these droids react and would signal their doom. However, they both knew they couldn't just sit here and wait for some inevitable fate but both had different thoughts on how to act in this situation. Kawasaki thought of just run and try to fight back with her abilities and the environment she can utilize while Haruno thought she can negotiate with the one controlling Edge Bee although she isn't sure if the controller can hear her speak.
The floating droids made the first move as one of them flew towards Kawasaki aiming for her head. She responded by rolling sideways and then roll backward as she noticed another Edge Bee coming at her in a low position. Haruno stood up and then ducked her head to dodge a droid and then made a run for it. Kawasaki followed her while dodging the incoming droids by doing a flip and ducking her head. They ran into the alley as fast as they could while the Edge Bees are chasing them from behind. One droid flew above them and blocked the ladies' path. Kawasaki threw a nearby trash can towards the Edge Bee. Both Kawasaki and Haruno expected that it would slice the trash can in half by the droid's terrifying chainsaw, but it didn't happen.
Instead, the trash can is stuck on the chainsaw as if it was "grabbed" by the blade and spinning at high speed. Kawasaki quickly reacted by ducking her head from the thrown trash can aim at her head and the two ladies ran towards the droid and roll forward to duck under it and ran. Both ladies looked calm but fear is plaguing in their mental state. Nonetheless, they keep moving to stay alive while thinking of ways to counter the Edge Bees or at least escape from them. Haruno analyzed the droid's action previously and came up with something.
"Those chainsaws aren't as sharp as I thought it would be. Did they forget to clean the blades or something? No, I think it's part of the droid's feature. The accuracy when that thing launched the trash can at Kawasaki's head hinted that. Let's see..." Haruno picked up a nearby broken lamp and threw it at the droid. The result is the same as she expected as the lamp was stuck on the chainsaw and then it got launched towards her. She ducked her head in time and felt the air from the passing lamp. The lamp crashed into a wall and made a small crack on it which made both ladies feared for being hit.
"I was right. Those chainsaws aren't for cutting but for grabbing an object stationary or thrown, use centrifugal force to add force and launch an object with deadly accuracy at targets. They can cut, but it may take them more time and their cuts are very rough. The hole in the rooftop previously hinted that." Haruno concluded while noticing Kawasaki going into a store.
"In here!" Kawasaki shouted and the she-devil complied. They crouched behind one of the shelves to hide. The blue-haired girl analyzed the surroundings and quickly assessed that they are in a store for cleaning supplies such as brooms, detergents, and vacuum cleaners. Their muscles tensed as the ladies heard glasses breaking and the sounds of chainsaws. Most likely the Edge Bees broke into the windows. Kawasaki grabbed a nearby broom and held it firmly.
"Are you going to fight those things?" Haruno whispered to her with uncertainty.
"It's not like we can outrun those droids. We're not even sure how far did they clean up the area. They might've emptied the crowd a lot further from this district."
"And the only choice is to fight? I hope your strategy isn't reckless such as facing them head-on. We don't know how many of those Edge Bees are and-"
*BZZZZZT*
The sounds of the droids' chainsaw interrupted the older daughter of Yukinoshita. It sounds like it's getting closer and closer to them. Haruno carefully took a mop as her weapon and the ladies brace themselves for the right opportunity to strike. As soon as they saw an Edge Bee coming towards their shelf, Kawasaki immediately used the handle of her broom to pierce one of the two propellers located under the Shampoo hat-like head, and the sounds of sparks echoed in the store.
The Edge Bee fell onto the floor.
"It worked?" The blue-haired girl asked to herself and they both looked at the fallen droid. Its chainsaw is still spinning, but it couldn't do anything else. It surprised the ladies that its propellers are that easy to break. They looked at each other and nodded as they both came up with the same conclusion; They can't exactly destroy the droids, but they can immobilize it by breaking their propellers. They split up to face all the Edge Bees present in the store.
Kawasaki ran towards a droid, and it responded by flying towards her. She crouched and pierced through the propeller, breaking and immobilizing the droid in the process. Haruno encountered two Edge Bees, and they seemed to notice her as they flew towards her direction side-by-side. Haruno threw a metal bucket at one of them, and the droid "grabbed" it with its chainsaw blades. She immediately crouched and pierced through one of its propellers. The other droid leaned sideways to aim and then she bent her body sideways to break its propeller.
"Second weakness; Its aim. The Edge Bee needs to adjust its balance to aim at the intended target. It also can't "grab" objects thrown at it in an angle the chainsaws can't reach." Haruno analyzed while dodging another incoming droid and breaking its propellers. Kawasaki hid behind a shelf from three Edge Bees coming at her. She then pushed the shelf with her shoulder and it toppled on the ground along with the droids. An Edge Bee evaded the falling shelf in time and flew very low towards her legs. The ladies also noticed that the other droids are flying very close to the ground.
"They're covering their weak spot." Both of them thought. There are only 5 droids left. Kawasaki jumped on the droid and stomped one of its heads. It leaned which resulted in the spinning chainsaw touching the ground and the droid got stuck.
"That's a good idea!" Haruno shouted and imitated the blue-haired girl's actions towards the two droids. She jumped and used each of her feet to stomp their heads. Their chainsaws grazed the floor lightly, but it was enough for the blades to get stuck. Even though they can cut a hole in a cement rooftop, they took time since their blades weren't sharp enough and forcing the droid to suddenly sink their chainsaws into the ground would either break their blades or get stuck.
Haruno looked at the last two that were just floating still. That puzzled her and Kawasaki so they decided to approach the droids slowly while holding their "weapons" tightly. The mop and broom have their handles broken from piercing through the propellers, but they're still enough to fight the last remaining Edge Bees. Each passing second felt like an hour. The sounds of chainsaws from a few of the fallen droids, the cold sweat dripping on the ladies' cheeks, and a fast beeping sound echoing along with the buzzing of the chainsaws.
"Wait, Beeping?" Both ladies looked at each other and then their surroundings as the fallen droids are making beeping sounds that are going faster by the second. The last two droids are also making beeping sounds and are closing in on the young women. Kawasaki and Haruno moved in sync as they crouched and pierced the propellers and then the she-devil grabbed the blue-haired girl's hand.
"They're about to self-destruct!" She screamed as she dragged Kawasaki to the counter and both jumped behind it to take cover, but the moment they jumped, Haruno suddenly felt pain on her back as if something sharp pierced her flesh.
*BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM*
The Edge Bees exploded but not what the ladies expected as thousands of J-shaped fishing hooks are launched everywhere like fireworks. Some of those fishing hooks ricocheted off a wall and into Haruno's right leg and Kawasaki's arm. The blue-haired girl propped her head up on the counter and saw fishhooks stuck on the floor, shelves, walls, ceiling, even the counter itself. She tried to remove the fishhook in her arm but the more she pulled it, the more painful it gets as the hook sank deep in her flesh and the tip is making it harder to pull without making it any less painful and ripping out more flesh inside out.
"Kkhhh! I can't get it off..." She grunted in pain while blood is dripping from her arm.
"Wow~, how unlucky of you~." Haruno said sarcastically as she struggled to stand up. Kawasaki looked at the she-devil and noticed her upper back is filled with fishing hooks. The blue-haired girl put Haruno's arm around her shoulders and helped her stand up.
"There should be a pharmacy nearby. Some bandages and ointment will help for now." Kawasaki said.
"Pulling these things out is definitely not gonna be a wonderful experience," Haruno said in a frustrated expression.
"Less talking, more walking."
"Shut up."
"...This is unexpected." A man mumbled inside a powered suit that has a giant sensor dome for a head, 2 arms, and 2 legs. Additionally, it has 12 poles extending from his back. He expected that the two young ladies would scream in terror and then get their limbs ripped out by his Edge Bees. Or at least, try to run away from the droids but this isn't what he had in mind. He's not frustrated that he lost his precious droids but frustrated that he and FRESHMEN had to go with this mission with so little resources.
"It's like I'm facing Hamazura all over again."
"Silvercross!" A female voice spoke through his ear. She sounds tired and afraid of something. The man understood the reason. After all, she's currently going up against the number one esper. Even with all those robotic arms and cyborg enhancements, if something is controllable for that monster's vector manipulation it's all futile in the end.
"You look like you're having fun."
"Shut up! How're the hostages going?"
"Not doing well since they're not our hostages yet."
"WHAT?!"
"it's not like those ladies are one of those stereotypical 'damsels in distress'. It's like Hamazura turned into a girl and fighting me again...On second thought, scratch that. Imagining him to be a girl is disgu-"
"I don't give a shit about their characters! Use all of your Edge Bees to-" the sound of an explosion that was heard through the communication device interrupted her.
"Where are you, you fucking doll! What happened to all that confidence you were shitting from your mouth earlier, huh!? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Accelerator shouted and laughed like a hyena. Truly, he is a monster that cannot be killed and when someone gets him close to death, he/she is more unfortunate than the ones who can't even lift a finger on the strongest esper.
"So anyway, I already used all the Edge Bees, and they defeated them all."
"Bullshit!" She said in a whispered voice. "Then just use Enemy Blaster!"
"Or how about we retreat and run away from our client? Doing this mission is a stupid idea. And I'm a guy who uses the right tool for the right job and Enemy Blaster is not the right tool."
"It's not the right tool, it's the only shit you have left so just do it!" And the call ended.
"Oi, Kuroyoru!" Silvercross sighed at her request. They were very unprepared by all of this. The majority of the members agreed to have more time to collect resources, but the client a.k.a. a member of the Board of Directors denied their request. The powered suit that he was piloting right now is called the Bee Launcher and inside each of these poles can store 10 Edge Bees; making a total of 120 Edge Bees. However, they only made 9 droids which are now defeated by the two ladies and also this powered suit is more on surveillance rather than combat. That's how unprepared FRESHMEN are.
"I have more powered suits in my arsenal but we couldn't carry them all because of transportation issues. That client's desperation is really going to kill us." He thought while exiting the Bee Launcher and went inside Enemy Blaster. It is a powered suit that has 8 legs and no head, with lenses and sensors built directly into the body. The waist portion is over 5 meters tall, capable of rotating 360 degrees. Its left arm is twice the size of a human arm and holds a machine gun. Its right arm is 4 times larger, holding another gun. There are other features and weapons inside the powered suit but they were all used and broken during the Skill-Out rampage. No matter how advanced the technology is, there will always be limits and downsides before, during and after its use. Silvercross understood this which is why he is a man who uses the right tool for the right job and that improved his adaptability in battle. However, he couldn't bring out the full extent of that skill because he wasn't given enough time and effort to prepare his collection but he set that aside for now as the two weapons this powered suit has right now is enough to put the two ladies out of their misery.
"This is too much but orders are orders. Even I want to live no matter how much I hate my body." Silvercross mumbled as he started piloting the powered suit.
"AW! I said to be more gentle!" Haruno screamed in pain. She's currently topless, exposing her beautiful white skin and big breast.
"And what? You're gonna savor that feeling? We don't have much time so I'll make this quick!" Kawasaki who is behind the She-devil shouted in frustration.
"That's not what I meant! You kept pushing it too hard and put too much fluid in me! Hah~ it's dripping on my back."
"Then how about I push it in deeper to make it feel even better, huh!?"
"No! J-just don't be so rough, please."
"..."
"... Yeah, we should stop with the innuendos." Haruno said while holding her chin.
"You started it!" Kawasaki shouted.
"And you played along~"
"I-it's because I didn't realize what we were saying until it was too late!"
"Noopppee~. Kawasaki is a total pervert~! I don't sway that way, but I might make an exception if it's you"
"Shut up!" The blue-haired girl pulled out another fish hook from Haruno's back.
"AW!" The older daughter of Yukinoshita shouted in pain.
They are now inside of a pharmacy sitting on the floor. Kawasaki is trying her best to remove all the fish hooks in Haruno's back and then place some ointment for it to heal. Kawasaki already removed the hook in her arm by herself and applied a small band-aid. Once they're done healing their injuries, they would move out again and find some people or at least any living being to relieve themselves from this situation. Hiding might've been a better idea, but the two ladies don't know what kind of espers and machines they're up against. They could come up with millions of ideas of what abilities and troubles Academy City would send here but thinking about it won't help.
"Last one..."
"AW! I told you to be gentle! The tip of that hook is ripping my flesh out!"
"I know but the wound might get bigger the longer we keep playing with this thing so come on!" Kawasaki moved the hook around with her hand and pulled it out.
"AAAHHH! Don't you know how to remove a fishing hook from a hand?!"
"No! Do you? Plus, you said we don't have time for doing proper treatment so stop complaining." She then put the ointment on cotton and held it with cotton pliers. Gently, she tapped it on the She-devil's lacerations on her back. Haruno resisted the pain by gritting her teeth and clutching her lap.
"*SIGH* These will definitely leave some scars. And I just bought some pretty backless dresses for some occasions. Ah! I won't be able to wear a swimsuit anymore either." She whined.
"Then just ask Hikigaya to close the scars?"
"That's not how his power works."
"No, I mean ask him to get a doctor in Academy City. Maybe they have some cool healing gadgets and-"
"Never. Relying on people who would hurt Yukino is the last thing I want to do." Although Kawasaki couldn't see Haruno's face, she could tell that she's wearing a terrifyingly scowl based on her icy tone. The blue-haired girl stood up to get some bandaged on the counter while speaking to her.
"Not everyone in Academy City is bad. It's not like you know every person there."
"And not everyone there is good. You don't expect Hikigaya-kun to be a good guy if he said sorry, do you?"
"No, I don't. But it's better to know his true intentions than not knowing anything at all."
"How naïve."
"You're only saying that because you want to protect your sister."
"So what? If you have siblings, you would've understood my reasoning."
"I do. I'm the oldest child in the family. I have four younger siblings and I love all of my family." Kawasaki said while holding a roll of bandage. Haruno turned around to look at the blue-haired girl's back as she continued to speak.
"I worked a lot of parttime jobs, doing night shifts to the point where I lied about my actual age just to work in a job with high salary." She explained further. "I thought by doing that, I wouldn't burden my family any longer but Hikigaya told me that was wrong. I made them worried about me and I became an even bigger burden. If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be as close with my siblings as I am now."
"Well..." Haruno finally spoke. "I guess that's love, huh?"
"E-eh? T-that's..."
"But in the end, it's kinda hard believing you have complete faith on Hikigaya-kun when you have this hiding behind your pants," Haruno said as Kawasaki felt something pulled out from her pants. She turned around and saw the She-devil holding an object
It's the anti-esper gun.
"So? Where did you get this?" The oldest daughter of Yukinoshita asked.
"I saw Hikigaya picked one up from one those guys he knocked out and I stole it."
"And why? No, let me guess, You were afraid of him so when you saw the gun having an effect on him, you took it to protect yourself, am I right?"
"..."
"Aaawww~. That's kinda cute." She said as she stood up and slowly approached Kawasaki with her signature glare and a menacing grin. "After giving me such a lovely speech about how much you love Hikigaya-kun and how much we have in common, your words almost felt meaningless when you carried this with you. Why bother forcing yourself to say all that when in reality, you just think of him as some monster."
Kawasaki just stared at her without flinching. It seemed that she's starting to get used to Haruno's demonic aura spreading in the atmosphere inside this pharmacy. After a few slow steps, the She-devil stopped and now their faces are only inches apart with both of them stood their ground against one another. If there was an audience watching their exchange, they would get suffocate to death from the sheer heaviness of the atmosphere and the terrifying expressions these two are wearing. The blue-haired girl showed Haruno her own signature glare, proving why she was feared by her classmates, while Haruno didn't let up and maintained her devilish expression. After a few seconds, Kawasaki spoke first.
"I forced myself to say all of that because that's how love works, I guess. You want to believe in the person you want to be with but I'm not as naive as you think. I don't just make friends that easily. I'm a little more open to people now, but I don't just wiggle my ass for anyone. I chose people who I can trust so I stole that gun in case Hikigaya is not."
"Do you really have the guts to hurt him?" Haruno asked.
"Probably not right away," Kawasaki answered while closing her eyes ending their staring contest. "I might cry first, confess my feelings and then shoot him."
"Well, you did say you want to beat him up. I like how honest you are." Haruno said while looking at the anti-esper gun she is holding. "I did say your speech was ALMOST meaningless."
"I don't know if I should thank you or smack you right now..."
"Anyway~, if you told me you carried this gun sooner we could've dealt with those Edge Bees a lot quicker." The older daughter of Yukinoshita analyzed the gun as she looked at it closely at every angle.
"What do you mean? It's an anti-esper gun, not some laser gun." Kawasaki asked in confusion.
"Did you know that there were anti-esper devices invented way before this one?"
"No."
"You should know or at least speculate that there is one," Haruno explained. "There is a place in Academy City called The Reformatory'. It is a juvenile hall designed to imprison esper criminals and use anti-esper technology to make sure their powers are useless in escaping. That anti-esper device they were using there is called AIM Jammers. You...do know what AIM diffusion fields are, right?"
"Uh...Esper energy?" Kawasaki said while scratching the back of her head.
"Well in simple terms, I guess that's correct."
"So are you trying to say that they made this gun based on this AIM Jammer?"
"That's sort of my guess, really. However, if I'm right then this the best weapon against droids like Edge Bees. Now there is one thing about an AIM Jammer; It uses electromagnetic waves." Haruno said with a smug and pointing her finger at the blue-haired girl.
"EM waves means it could like...short circuit electronics?"
"Yaaaaayyy~!" The She-devil cheered as she clapped her hands which Kawasaki popped a vein in her forehead from that.
"Stop that, it's annoying."
"Can't I just lighten up the mood." Haruno pouted
"But how can 'The Reformatory' use AIM Jammers while trying not to make their electricity to shut down?" Kawasaki asked.
"That's not exactly how EM waves work. I'm guessing that this gun can affect electronics because of the blast of compressed EM waves which probably explains why the muzzle is so thin." Haruno mumbled the last sentence and continued to whisper to herself as she checked her cellphone. "Still no reception, huh. Oh, I need to test this if I'm right..."
And then Haruno thought of something as she saw Kawasaki took out her cellphone to also check but the moment she turned it on, the cellphone suddenly blacked out as a bluish blast hit it. She looked at Haruno who just stared at the malfunctioned cellphone.
"Oh." That was all that came out of the She-devil's mouth and then used the gun to shoot at the fluorescent tubes on the ceiling. The lights on the tubes flickered until they blackout.
"It works." She then just winked with her tongue sticking out. "Teehee~!"
"What was that for!"
"Well, I want to be extra sure that it could really work against machines and whatnot."
"Bullshit! Gimme that!" Kawasaki took Haruno's cellphone and checked the reception and time. She tossed it back to her.
"Tch, you better fix this."
"It's either your phone will be fixed or you need to get a new one."
"I can't afford to buy a new one! There's important stuff in here and I don't want to lose them."
"Like what? Oh, don't tell me you got some dick pics of Hikigaya-kun there~?" Haruno asked with a smug and Kawasaki responded by smacking her head.
"Just fix it when all of this is over!"
"Fine, just help me wrap some bandages on my back," Haruno said with a serious expression and turned her back with her arms up. Kawasaki could only sigh and start wrapping her up with bandages. Haruno contemplated on the anti-esper gun and what else Academy City is hiding.
"I heard that there are at least 27 types of anti-esper technology, and it includes the AIM Jammer. Could this gun be one of these technologies or just an extension of AIM Jammer's concept?" She said in her just a few seconds, they were done with treating their injuries and are now ready to head out. Haruno wore a white T-shirt, cap and tied her black hood on her waist. She held the anti-esper gun firmly while slowly going out of the door.
"Why do you get to use the gun?" Kawasaki asked.
"I have experience in archery. I thought that this shouldn't be any different in terms of aiming."
"Even with the pain in your back?"
"I'll manage."
"You and your sister can do everything, huh?"
"Oh, please. Just because we can do everything doesn't mean we can do it all better than anyone else. Yukino-chan may be athletic but she has low stamina. I am more athletic than her but in terms of physical capabilities, you surpass me on that."
"Really?" The blue-haired girl asked and she nodded in response.
"I was actually having a little hard time catching up to you when we were chased by those droids earlier. Do you know martial arts?"
"I'm pretty good at Karate."
"Karate, huh? It's been a while since I practiced that."
"What martial arts did you learn?"
"Well, there's-" Haruno stopped talking as both ladies heard loud sounds of a machine from behind. It sounded like big, numerous steps of a big robot marching its way to them. The machine turned to the corner and now they see Enemy Blaster armed with two guns that can possibly kill an army or even break through a tank.
"There you are." Silvercross spoke through a speaker in the machine as he piloted the powered suit and aimed the machine gun underneath the ladies' legs but they saw that coming as they quickly jumped away from their spot seconds before Silvercross began to shoot. The banging sound of the machine gun echoed everywhere in the empty district. It was so loud that Kawasaki and Haruno couldn't even hear their own footsteps and breathing and had to cover their ears while keep running in the small alley, hoping that he would lose their tail since the powered suit is too big.
"You just dug your own grave." Silvercross said as he aimed the gun that was held on the powered suit's right arm. Haruno looked behind to see the gun in all of its glory and gasped.
*BOOM!*
The pilot fired the gun and shot the wall of the alley right beside Kawasaki. A shockwave exploded out of it and the girls were knocked back towards the other wall and fell down. Their ears rang as they might fear that their senses of hearing was damaged but they didn't have time to worry about that. The ladies struggled to stand up but Kawasaki recovered a lot quicker and helped Haruno up.
"Come on!" The blue-haired girl shouted as they both ran away which surprised Silvercross.
"Hmm...Either they have astonishing physical capabilities or the shockwave isn't close enough to render them unconscious. They stood back up faster than I expected." The pilot thought and made the powered suit to jump high on a rooftop. He saw his targets ran until they went inside a mall. They were lucky that stores and other buildings are still open despite the absence of any human being working in the area. They both hid in the women's restroom as they take time to catch air while holding their knees.
"What...was that?" Kawasaki asked between pants.
"It's...a powered suit," Haruno answered while taking a deep breath to recover her posture. "It's sort of like a suit of armor to increase combat ability by using things like motors and chemical springs, at least that's what I heard from a conference held in Academy City that one time. That thing has eight legs which is very strange."
"Why?"
"According to a professional scientist at that conference, there are problems for pilots to operate a powered suit that doesn't have a sort of humanoid appearance. To control a 4-legged powered suit, one has to become a 4-legged animal. To control an 8-legged powered suit, one has to become an 8-legged animal. No matter how much they tried to make the controls easier to use, that's what it required in the end to fully pilot such a powered suit."
"Then either they found a way to solve that or whoever is piloting that is a professional."
"It doesn't matter. We need to think of something to fight it."
"Eh? You think that's a good idea?" Kawasaki looked at her in surprise.
"We don't have a choice. How do you think did he find us? That powered suit might have some sort of radar which wouldn't be that surprising and like you said, we're not even sure how far did they clean up the area. They might've emptied the crowd a lot further from this district." Haruno explained.
"Do you think that gun would work on that thing?" The blue-haired girl asked while leaning on a wall.
"It may not exactly malfunction the powered suit, but we can destroy the radars and sensors." Haruno looked closely at the gun once more. "How do you remove the magazine?"
"How am I supposed to know? Do I look like I used a gun before?"
"Do I look like I used a gun before?"
"Oh, I don't know, Ms. I-can-do-everything." The ladies argued while trying to figure out how to remove the magazine until Haruno accidentally pressed the magazine release.
"Oh, there we go." She said as she analyzed the magazine. "There's no clips inside and see this? It's blinking red light, probably battery powered."
"Which means that it's running out of juice." Kawasaki said.
"Problem is we don't know how many shots so we have to make every one of them count." Haruno said as she put back the magazine inside and Kawasaki only nodded. They went out of the restroom and they heard the familiar steps of the enemy's powered suit so they ran to the escalator. Enemy Blaster actually has a radar, specifically, an electromagnetic signal targeting for precise aiming and Silvercross used that spotted the two ladies' location moving however it was a little glitchy. He looked around but he didn't see anyone, at least on this floor.
"On the third floor." He thought.
Regardless of the glitch, he tried to aim the smoothbore gun and fired a shot onto a wall as he guessed it to be close enough to intercept them.
*BOOM*
In reality, he shot too far away from the ladies and the two who are on the third floor gasped as they saw a shockwave in front of them. Glass shards from window stores and debris scattered to pieces and the shockwave spread, but it didn't reach them. They turned around and ran the other way.
"A smoothbore gun..." Haruno mumbled, but Kawasaki heard it well.
"Smooth...bore? Is it safe for me to say that it doesn't use explosives?"
"Yeah, I forgot what it's called but it uses a special type of shell that utilizes a large amount of pressure to pierce armor instead of the usual explosive powder. In simple terms, the smoothbore is an anti-tank weapon that deals more direct damage but has no explosive element but that shockwave can knock someone out."
"...How come you knew all of this but didn't know how to remove a magazine?"
"That's not important right now!"
They ran as fast as they could to who knows where. They're just praying to find something that could be useful against the powered suit but so far nothing. Just a bunch of electronic stores that sell TVs, laptops, cellphones, etc. Silvercross controlled Enemy Blaster to jump to the second floor and saw no one and then used the sensors to scan the mall and he found them at the farthest side of the third floor. If he shoots his smoothbore gun, the two ordinary women might get blown away from the floor and fall flat into the ground dead, which is not his objective. Instead, he jumped to the third floor where he landed in front of Kawasaki and Haruno like a giant spider pouncing towards its prey. He aimed the machine gun on its left arm at them.
"This is oddly fun, to be honest," Silvecross said in a speaker. "But I have a job to do so be kind and let me kidnap you."
"Kidnap? All this time you've been trying to kidnap us?" Kawasaki said in anger and then had a look of realization. " Are you going to use us to make Hikigaya surrender himself?"
"Classified," He answered. "Although he is still to blame that you two got involved in this."
"Fuck you,"
"Haha, I see you are rather close with that monster. It's such a shame, really but I can assure that our mission isn't to kill you nor Accelerator."
Haruno looked carefully at the powered suit to see if there is at least one weakness that they can use. She did notice some lenses which could indicate that they are sensors on its body. She counted how many of them and noted that there are only 5 of them, at least at the front. She saw other lenses and sensors from the side and speculated that there might be also on the back. Meaning that the powered suit can scan its surroundings and detect enemies from a 360-degree angle. She also concluded that it has a sort of radar that pinpointed their location.
"Which means there's not a single blind spot unless we give it one." Haruno aimed the gun at the powered suit, specifically at one of the lenses. Silvercross saw her action and raised an eyebrow at that.
"Where did you get that?" He asked.
"Stole it from one of your friends back at your failed ambush." Haruno then fired three shots in each of the sensors successfully. Some of the screens in front of Silvercross blacked out, and it shocked him. He tried to bring it back, but it was no use. He didn't know that the anti-esper gun could damage electromagnetic systems. What the She-devil isn't aware of is that she also damaged the infrared equipment that is closely attached to the sensors, and the entire program of optical aiming which relies on visuals suddenly shut down. However, she only shut down the sensors on the front so he controlled Enemy Blaster to rotate its waist on the right side to aim the smoothbore gun.
Haruno saw this as an opportunity as she shot more sensors on the side before the powered suit fired the gun.
*BOOM*
Kawasaki jumped to the side to avoid the blast while Haruno jumped forward to get the blast behind her. The shell exploded a shockwave that propelled the She-devil forward. She tumbled under the powered suit and now she's behind it. Her vision is blurry and her ears rang from the shockwave but she tried shooting at the sensors regardless as some shots hit a few sensors. There is one stray shot of the anti-esper gun that hit the upper joint of its left arm and when Silvercross moved the left arm, it went out of control as the robotic limb is moving up, down, and sideways. It's firing the machine gun everywhere, wasting all of its bullets in the process. The ceiling cracked and one big debris is about to fall on Haruno.
"Yukinoshita-san!" Kawasaki called out to the She-devil and she responded by looking up. She tried to stand but she couldn't move her legs and her body is aching since it couldn't take the shockwave and all the tumbling. The lacerations on her back started bleeding and swelling up the pain. Basically, she's at her limit so the only thing she could do is clutch her head and brace herself.
"Oh shit." Silvercross watched as the debris crushed Haruno's body. The blue-haired girl ran towards her and bent her knees to try carrying the debris out of her.
"It's...too...heavy." Kawasaki said between grunts. She looked at Haruno who is lying unconscious while stuck on this big lump of rock and checked the pulse on her neck. "She's still alive."
"Stand back." The pilot said as he controlled Enemy Blaster to approach them. The powered suit's body is facing sideways because it's the only side that has sensors and cameras although the screen is mostly static. It's because of the multiple blasts of compressed EM waves from the anti-esper gun, it spread into the whole body and that also damaged the infrared equipment installed in the powered suit. Despite the static, he could still see the terrain and the two ladies.
"Why should I?!" Kawasaki raised her arms sideways to protect Haruno from whatever this man is planning to do.
"I told you, our mission is not to kill you two. Stand back." He said with no emotions. Kawasaki relented until she heard Haruno's voice behind her. She looked at the crushed woman and leaned down to hear her speak.
"Let him...do it..." And then she mumbled a few more words that Silvercross couldn't hear. Kawasaki complied and stepped away for him to carry the debris with the powered suit's arms. Although he couldn't detach the guns off the limbs, he can use them to just carry the debris like a forklift. Slowly the robotic arms went under the debris and gently lift it up and dropped it on the side.
"Alright, now-" He was interrupted by two shots of the anti-esper gun as the sudden blackout of the last remaining screens surprised him.
"Can you hear me?" He can hear the blue-haired girl speaking. "Get the fuck out of that shit and get ready for an ass-kicking."
"Hmph. don't think that you rendered my powered suit useless. I can still aim at you-"
"No, you can't." Kawasaki cut him off. "If you're talking about your EM radar, you can't use it here."
"How did you know that?" He asked in surprise.
"She's a lot smarter than you think." He couldn't see Kawasaki looking at Haruno.
"EM...radar...useless...just shoot...the last sensors..." That was what she mumbled after Kawasaki stepped away.
Apparently, the older daughter of Yukinoshita believed that there is a radar that relies on electromagnetic signals and the electronics here in the mall interfered the scan as they also emit EM signals. The speculation came from the two shots of the smoothbore gun. She found it odd that he shot way too far when they were running on this floor, so she took a gamble and tried to predict the next shot. She noticed the smoothbore gun aimed a little too high and calculated that it might shoot behind them, so she used that opportunity to propel herself forward and get behind the machine.
"Clever ladies," That was all Silvercross could say before he launched himself out of the powered suit. Kawasaki noticed something flew out at the powered suit's back and saw a small, armadillo-like thing came out. When it landed, it formed into a human-like figure with an armadillo armor on his back. It's Silvercross wearing a suit and a full-faced helmet.
"Give up." Silvercross said but she ignored him as she aimed the gun and fired.
*CLICK* *CLICK* *CLICK*
"Out of batteries, having second thoughts now?" He asked while slowly walking towards her. Kawasaki noticed the debris blocking most of the stores and the only stairs near her. They are stuck on the third floor. She had no choice but to throw the gun away and posed a basic Karate stance. She was glad that she didn't quit the dojo or she won't be able to defend herself against a frightening enemy like the one in front of her. Silvercross stopped and stood three feet close to the blue-haired girl. He just stood straight while Kawasaki maintained her stance with sweat dripping on her cheek. She threw a straight punch at his face but he caught her fist easily.
"Don't even try," Silvercross said. Her eyes widened by his response, but she didn't give up. While he still grabbed her fist, Kawasaki tried to swing a kick at his side but he blocked it with one arm. He then let go of the fist and punched her gut.
"Gah!" She grunted in pain, but he didn't stop there. Silvercross followed up with a left uppercut at her face, a straight punch on the side and then a palm strike below her collarbone. He ended with a thrust kick on her stomach and she tumbled backward. He stood tall as he looked at the blue-haired girl on her knees coughing.
"Are you done? No matter what moves you make, my suit will calculate your every move and counter it." He said with confidence.
" Your...suit?" She asked between coughs.
"It's called the Life Armor, a powered suit that allows me to pilot different powered suits like the Enemy Blaster." He explained while pointing his thumb at Enemy Blaster behind him. " Life Armor has a computer inside to search for knowledge and skills and reinforcing the two of them. It is predicting your every move, calculating the trajectories of your fists, parrying, and then beginning my own attack. The suit is doing all the work even my body movement. Be glad I didn't install the motors and chemical springs yet because if I did before fighting you, I would've already killed you with one punch."
Kawasaki quickly stood up, took a deep breath and posed her Karate stance once more. She didn't look in pain nor did she cared about what he said on his Life Armor. What matters to her is that she needs to defeat SIlvercross and get Haruno to a hospital.
"Are you done talking?" She said in a menacing tone.
"Relentless," He said." Fine by me. Don't complain when you have your bones fractured."
They both stared at each other for a few seconds with Kawasaki in her stance while Silvercross only stood there emitting an aura of indifference. She made the first move by trying to punch him. That was a feint as her intention is to kick his leg to get him off-balance. However, the computer already calculated her move and forced his body to counter her kick with his own. Kawasaki threw a mid-level punch, but he caught her fist in time and pulled her closer. Silvercross tried to do a knee strike on her gut, but she blocked it with her own and successfully punched below his collar and then did a sweeping kick. Silvercross tripped but quickly put his hand on the ground and swung a kick at her face, which she blocked it in time with her arm. However, he twirled his now upside-down body to do a kick on the other side of her face.
Kawasaki got hit, but it didn't put her down. She saw Silvercross stood up and prepared for another straight punch for her gut and she deflected it with an outer block but then she got uppercut in the chin. This kept going for a minute with them exchanging each other blows. Although, Kawasaki took more hits than him as her cheek and head have bruises. Her body ached from all the punches he threw at her. Silvercross didn't look exhausted or in pain from all of this. She guessed it must've been the powered suit which she was correct.
The Life Armor can shut down his nerve to not feel any pain in order to keep fighting. The suit can even bypass the destruction of bones, muscles, arms, legs, blood vessels or even the damage or stop one of his internal organs. He will continue to fight until his mission is complete or his entire body is down for the count. The two fighters stopped for a moment and stared at each other once more. Silvercross is surprised that she can still fight with all the hits he dealt to her. Some of them hit her pressure points and she still wouldn't go down.
An ordinary human who is relentless, brave, and would protect the people she cared for.
"Hahaha, just like Hamazura." He suddenly spoke, and his statement made her raise an eyebrow.
"Who?"
"He's someone like you. Although you are a lot fiercer than him and less cunning. I'm not saying that you're dumb or anything."
"Whatever, thanks for the compliment. I didn't catch your name." The blue-haired girl said as she wiped the blood off her cheek.
"I don't know my real name. I go by Silvercross Alpha." He answered while finally posing a fighting stance.
"Kawasaki Saki."
"Nice to meet you."
They both threw a straight punch and both hit each other's faces. The computer has an interval between calculating the opponent's moves and performing the appropriate counters for only a second but she didn't know that. She just hit him conveniently when the interval kicked in. They went back to exchanging blows, Kawasaki caught an incoming right thrust kick and grabbed his feet and then did a palm strike at his leg, breaking its bones. However, he can still move his right leg which didn't actually surprise her. He swung a right kick on her leg which made her flinch down. He didn't stop as he followed up with a punch on the left cheek, he spun to do a backhand on the other and then swung a kick at her right side but she blocked it.
This went on for who knows how long but Kawasaki is slowly losing her strength while Silvercross didn't even lose a grip on his fist although he did took numerous physical damage from her. He was really glad that he had this suit on or else he would really get beaten to death by this young woman. Kawasaki's thoughts are rambling inside her mind.
"Don't stop! Keep fighting! Just ignore the pain. Hit me, hit him harder. This guy wears a powered suit but so what?! I just have to not hold anything back.
Come on, punch harder! Break his fucking bones.
HIT HIM TIL HE DROPS DEAD!"
"GGRRAAAAAAAAHHH!" She screamed in fury as she punched the screen of his full-face helmet, forming a crack. He was shocked by that because the glass is bulletproof
"Her punch is that strong?!"
He felt relieved that she didn't damage some of its programs but he suddenly felt fear when he looked at her. Silvercross Alpha had already witnessed horrible things in the Dark Side of Academy City, things that a normal person couldn't handle and yet he stepped his foot backward because of the terrifying aura the girl is emitting.
Her face. She has that look of a maniac with her eyes widened and her face covered in blood and bruises. She panted and wiped something on her cheek while still maintaining eye contact with him. It's as if she's a beast that found its prey and is ready to kill.
A normal citizen in normal society can make a face like that?
That's what terrified him. How can someone like her who only witness the Dark Side for the very first time be able to have such bloodlust? It was only for a moment that he got frightened but he quickly recovered himself.
"I have never met someone with as this much tenacity as you." He spoke calmly. "I don't think I'll be able to capture you alive. If I hold back, you might kill me."
She didn't speak nor give any response to his statement. She just stood there with her head low, fists still closed tightly and her bangs covered her eyes.
"Kawa...saki." Silvercross looked to his left and saw the other lady mumbling the blue-haired girl's name. Kawasaki didn't seem to hear her as she slowly approached him with arms dangling down. Haruno can't move her body so she can only watch as Kawasaki about to settle the score with the enemy.
"Kawa...saki," She kept calling out her name but she couldn't get her attention. It's like Kawasaki can only see her prey and consumed by hunger, she's going to devour his flesh.
"Don't...worry," The blue-haired girl finally spoke. "Just...lay down...I'll finish this."
She raised her head up and the two people can see her eyes.
"...We'll get help... But first I'm going to kill this fucker."
Both of their spines shivered from that.
Haruno remembered reading a thesis about violence between mammals. It said that humans are prone to kill each other seven times more than the average of all mammals, even more than the ferocious tigers. For all their ferocious reputation, tigers are much less likely to fight each other to the death, which is very surprising considering their animal instincts as carnivores. Even now, it's still debatable whether humans are born with such innate tendencies or it's just life choices but that doesn't mean that the possibility is zero.
A professor wrote that "...societies can also modify our innate tendencies. Rates of homicide in modern societies that have police forces, legal systems, prisons, and strong cultural attitudes that reject violence are, at less than 1 in 10,000 deaths, about 200 times lower than the authors' predictions for our state of nature."
Right now, there are no police or laws that could stop the blue-haired girl, nor will moral consciousness identify her actions if it's right or wrong. Primitive instincts started taking over her mind and true carnage will begin.
"GRRAAAAAAAGH!" Kawasaki roared and charge at Silvercross. He did a rising block on her incoming left axe kick and threw a left punch to her liver. She did a right outer block and tried to do a left jab on his chest but he caught the fist in time and pulled her close. He did a right uppercut on her chin, did two punches at her abdomen and then performed his own left axe kick towards her head which she crossed her arms to block it.
Kawasaki grabbed the leg and punched his groin. She quickly twisted the leg fractured its bones with a downward elbow strike. She let go to hit his chest with a straight punch and he did a right punch on her side and then did a karate chop at the left side of her neck. Once again, they exchanged punches and kicks until one of them fell to the ground.
Haruno noticed that the powered suit-wearing man is using every martial art she could think of: Taekwondo, Krav Maga, Wing Chun and a few more. Haruno watched Kawasaki and saw that the blue-haired girl only uses Karate and perhaps her violent tendencies. The She-devil was amazed by the girl's tenacity and techniques.
"I wonder if she's a black belt." Haruno thought before noticing the end of the fight. The screen on Silvercross' helmet popped up a text that says:
"WARNING! HUMAN BODY AT CRITICAL CONDITION! COMMENCING EMERGENCY SHUTDOWN IN 5...4...3-"
"Shit!" He cursed. The emergency shutdown means that the powered suit will force the user to immobilize his body in order to "rest" due to how fatal his injuries are. He needed to finish this and contact Kuroyoru to help him if she's still alive that is. The Life Armor blocked an incoming punch on his face with his forearm and now he's about to go for a straight punch at her face to end it all. Kawasaki also went for a straight punch to the screen of the helmet.
*BAM* *CRACK*
Both fists connected. Only the sounds of flesh being hit and the screen breaking echoed inside the empty mall. Kawasaki who's face is all bloody slowly fell down on her back and the same is said to Silvercross as the screen cracked into pieces revealing his face. Most of the right side on his face are burnt red, his right eye blind and the right corner of his mouth is wrinkled.
"Kuroyoru...Come in..." He said. Despite the broken screen, he can still use the communication system in his helmet.
*BZZZT*
Sadly there is only static, which means the girl known as Kuroyoru didn't respond. The fallen pilot feared that Accelerator killed her already and now he might be next. He doesn't want to die. No matter how much he hates his human body, how ugly his face is, or how shitty and cruel his life is, he doesn't want this to be the end of him. But even so, he wants to commend the actions of these two beautiful ladies. Their bravery and determination were beyond ordinary, but he is a little worried about the blue-haired girl's behavior. If she DID kill him, there would be no going back to the normal life she has now.
"What ferocity...I might actually fall for you...Kawasaki Saki..." He mumbled.
"Is that so?! Then how about you fall in hell while you're at it, you fucking bastard!" A familiar male voice shouted. Silvercross and Haruno looked above the ceiling to see Hikigaya with his tornado-like wings and carrying Kuroyoru like some baggage. He had a murderous look in his eyes and flexed his free hand as if he's ready to rip some flesh.
And done! If you guys read the LN, you noticed that I nerfed Silvercross' powered suits, especially the Life Armor. It's so that he'll be on equal grounds with Kawasaki and Haruno when fighting. Also no references here, sorry about that but maybe next time I'll write a few.
As always thank you for reading this fanfic. Please leave a review as your opinions will make this story better.