Chapter 104
Chapter 104
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 104
Chapter Title: Enigma Auction Scramble (4)
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In a truly desperate situation where even Fixers and metahumans were succumbing to the gas and running rampant.
In the spacious lobby connected to the auction house exit, the fight between Alice and the Prefect continued.
However, the situation was more of a one-sided chase.
The Prefect, with blazing mana claws extended, charged like a beast.
Alice, completely unarmed, was busy just dodging the attacks.
“Kyaaaah! Dieeee!”
“Ugh…! You’re being too reckless! Get away from me!”
“Kkh!”
The Prefect’s claws tore through a lobby pillar, ripping it to shreds.
At the same time, Alice seized the opening and landed a kick squarely in her side.
It was a powerful counter, possible only because the Prefect moved like a mindless animal.
Alice, with her exceptional physical abilities, packed a dizzying amount of power in her kicks.
Enough to easily crumple the metal body of a car.
Naturally, the smaller Prefect was sent flying backward.
“Ki, kihihi… Dieeee!”
But the Prefect, her eyes bloodshot, glared at Alice and charged recklessly once more.
Her unfazed movements suggested the very concept of pain had been erased from her mind.
*Tch… I’ve never seen body reinforcement this durable. At this rate, my leg hurts more than she does. How annoying!*
Alice realized why her opponent could take a direct hit and keep moving.
The Prefect’s mana reinforcement boasted astonishing durability.
No matter how lacking one’s pure physical ability, mana could easily bridge the gap.
Thus, the current situation was overwhelmingly disadvantageous for the unarmed Alice.
*Honestly, it's tough for people who can't use mana.*
She thought quietly, watching the dark figure relentlessly charging at her.
*People haven’t gotten far enough away yet. Thankfully, the gas hasn’t spread further, and the other Fixers are managing to mitigate the damage, but… at this rate, someone else might get caught in the crossfire.*
The situation on the ground felt like they were barely managing to avert the worst-case scenario.
The bottleneck at the exit had been cleared early, and about half the people had already escaped the auction house.
Thanks to the Fixers’ swift response in subduing those who had lost their minds, the casualties from the gas were not that high.
Crucially, the gas that had been spreading in all directions had begun to settle on the floor, preventing the number of infected near the exit from increasing.
Whatever was happening inside, the victims who managed to escape were in surprisingly good condition.
Still, infected people continued to emerge from within, so it was extremely problematic for Alice to remain tied up with the Prefect.
People who had just barely escaped could be seriously injured by the rampaging girl.
So, she decided.
Even if it was a bit reckless, she had to take her down, and fast!
“Kihihi, blood! Guts! And screams! Give me anything!”
“Sorry, but my playtime with you ends here!”
*Hooooo…*
Alice took a long, low breath.
She spread her feet shoulder-width apart and kept her entire body relaxed and loose.
In that moment, she recalled the anti-metahuman martial art she had learned over Raven’s shoulder.
A last resort created by humans on a mana-less Earth, who were vulnerable in close combat.
Just as the Prefect raised her arms wide as if to tear her apart and lunged forward.
Alice didn’t retreat. Instead, unlike before, she charged forward with all her might!
“Kyahaha! Blood, blood!”
*Stab! Squish!*
The Prefect’s claws sank into Alice’s body, drawing blood.
But the wounds were surprisingly shallow for the amount of blood spilled.
She had taken the attack with her shoulder and forearm before the Prefect could put her full strength behind it.
Without so much as a flinch, Alice lunged forward and grabbed the airborne Prefect by the waist.
This was a self-sacrificial move, deliberately allowing a minimal hit.
To create an opening for a much more devastating blow!
“You’re coming with meeee!”
“Eeeek?! Gwehk!”
*Craaaash!*
Alice slammed the Prefect she held by the waist into the floor with all her strength.
It was a picture-perfect, earth-shattering back suplex.
Perhaps even a mana-enhanced body couldn’t withstand such an impact.
The Prefect, planted upside down in the hard marble, flailed her legs weakly before going completely still.
It was a shocking sight that suggested her head might have been crushed, ending her life.
But this was the same body that had nonchalantly endured Alice’s full-power kick, which could dent metal.
It was unlikely that this would be life-threatening. Probably.
“Hah, hah… Oww, that hurts… Still, this might have been a cheap price to pay…”
Alice grimaced at the pain shooting from her bleeding shoulder and forearm.
But this was no time to dwell on the pain. She quickly got up and surveyed the situation.
The Prefect, who charged recklessly without regard for her own safety, was an opponent she couldn't take her eyes off.
As a result, she had completely lost track of what was happening elsewhere.
Tearing a strip from her skirt to stanch the bleeding, she scanned her surroundings and her eyes widened at an unexpected sight.
“Hahaha! Too slow, too slow! You’re like sluggish zombies!”
“Losing your reason just means you’re an animal moving on instinct! In that case, no matter how many of you there are, you’re no threat!”
“Hiiiek! Please pass out! Uwaaah! Pass out! Pass out!”
What she saw were no more than ten Fixers easily handling a group of enemies three times their number.
They were nameless, unknown Fixers, but they were still talented individuals who had survived the competition to earn their title.
Without the threat of the gas, subduing a few people who had lost their minds was a simple task!
Then, perhaps noticing that Alice had taken down the Prefect.
A particularly agile man with a beard knocked out an opponent with his staff and spoke to Alice.
“Hm? It seems you’ve finished up over there. Uh… what was your name again?”
“Ah, my name is Alice.”
“Well, Miss Alice! That roar of yours earlier was a great help. Shamefully, I was caught off guard by the sudden situation and was in a state of confusion myself… but thanks to you, I was able to come to my senses. Leave this to us and focus on treating your wounds!”
“Th-thank you. I’m counting on you.”
The gas was potent enough to make a skilled fighter like the Prefect lose her mind, making it deadly even for Fixers.
Thus, the nameless Fixers had also been thrown into chaos, unable to do anything but get swept up in the situation.
No matter how strong someone was, they couldn't use their full strength if they were drowning.
Forget crowd control; their best option had been to flee the scene as quickly as possible.
But Alice, a complete stranger, had snapped them out of it with her loud cry.
And as the dangerous gas settled to the floor, they were finally able to unleash their skills.
In a way, they had been greatly helped by Alice.
Perhaps sensing their sincerity, Alice bowed her head to the bearded man in a show of trust.
She then tightly wrapped the cloth around her bleeding shoulder and forearm, staunching the flow of blood.
*They should be fine for now. Oh, right, what happened to Sabrina and Yuria? Did they get in touch? Were they caught in the gas…?*
Having bought a moment of respite, Alice tightened the makeshift bandage and scanned the area.
She had only just remembered asking Sabrina to contact Raven.
Come to think of it, quite some time had passed.
Seeing as Raven was still nowhere in sight, was there some issue on his end?
As Alice thought this, she spotted Sabrina standing nervously in the distance with Yuria behind her and was about to approach them.
That is, if a scream hadn't suddenly erupted from the auction house exit, where the situation had seemed to be resolving.
“Ugh…! Wh-what are these guys!”
“Gah! These guys… they aren’t mindless….”
“Kyaah! Gwehk…”
*What in the world?*
Turning her head toward the commotion, Alice was instantly horrified.
There, the Fixers who had been effortlessly subduing people just moments ago were now rolling on the floor, grievously wounded.
Standing before them was a group of people who didn't seem affected by the gas and looked perfectly sane.
From their appearance and movements, Alice instinctively knew who they were.
*Are those… soldiers?*
No sooner had the thought crossed her mind than the hotel shook with a tremendous roar.
A girl, very familiar to Alice, came tumbling out, crashing through the thick auction house wall.
A blood-soaked beauty with striking, dust-covered lavender hair.
It was Alice’s childhood friend, Yanagi Tamamo, the one who had won the orb at the auction.
“Kyaah! Ugh… A tag match, that’s cheating…”
“T-Tamamo?!”
“Oh, Alice-chan? I didn’t expect to… see you here…”
Tamamo grimaced as if she lacked the strength to get up, slowly placing a hand on the floor.
Alice slid over to Tamamo and helped her up.
It was incomprehensible. The Tamamo Alice knew was a magical genius capable of reverse-engineering an opponent’s magic on the spot and nullifying it.
There couldn’t be that many people capable of leaving her in such a battered state.
No, more importantly, had she been inside the gas-filled auction house this whole time? What on earth was going on?
Confused, Alice supported Tamamo and urgently asked her.
“What happened! And what are all these injuries!”
“Hah, hah… Alice, it’s dangerous here… run, quickly…!”
“What are you…!”
Alice was shaken by Tamamo’s pained words.
The sudden appearance of soldiers at the exit and the battered state of Tamamo.
As Alice struggled to make sense of it all, the voices of unfamiliar girls reached her ears.
“Kyahaha! Think you can run? …Huh, what? Why is there no smoke out here? Ugh! No way! The whole hotel should be filled with rage gas by now!”
“Sister Vita. We’re in trouble. This is grounds for punishment from Lord Morte. I will sell you out.”
“Verita, you! You’d really do that?!”
Walking out from the hole in the wall Tamamo had created were two girls.
Their names were Vita and Verita.
Twin sisters who had risen to the rank of the Seven Extremes Royal Guard, feared as monsters even within the Metahuman Liberation Army.