Department Store Terror (2)
‘First floor: ■ hostages, six dolls.’
‘Second floor: ■ hostages, four dolls.’
‘Third floor: ■■ hostages, seven dolls.’
‘Fourth floor—’
Club, who had first ushered the cats inside, counted off a dozen seconds or so before charging straight through the department store's front entrance in one go.
The cats that entered ahead of her were already roaming freely, capturing every corner of the store's interior with their own eyes. And everything those cats took in was being relayed directly to Club right now.
—To be precise, Club's ability wasn't animal control.
It was merely a secondary effect derived from the nature of her power.
Club's signature ability: clairvoyance.
In truth, it was the power to share vision remotely with any subject whose wavelength matched hers. 'Sensory sharing' or 'sensory synchronization.' An empathic ability that linked not just sight, but all five senses—hearing, smell, taste, touch—with registered subjects.
That was the true nature of Club's power.
Back when she had cornered Villain No. 13 and Dorothy, she'd sniffed out Dorothy quietly picking up a gun from a blind spot while muffling the sound—because she was sharing vision with a cat right beside them.
She'd located the two without fumbling because she'd prepositioned cats throughout every floor beforehand.
The only reason she hadn't spotted the flashbang Villain No. 13 prepared was that, from the cats' positions at the time, the one in his hand had been out of sight.
In the end, the trick was ridiculously simple.
But it was far trickier and harder to handle than one might imagine.
People already had their hands full processing the world through their own senses alone. Club's power expanded and multiplied those senses twofold, threefold, fourfold... countless times over.
No single human brain could handle that load.
Yet Club could. Even if it took skill, that very capability was why she was rated so highly.
No wonder her confidence brimmed over.
...For reference, she'd gathered cats specifically because, among animals, they matched her wavelength the best.
‘……With this, I've mapped every floor.’
Meow meow meowmeowmeow...
Club dashed up the escalator slicing through the mall's central atrium, yanking a massive handful of coins from the pouch at her waist.
‘Set impact points keyed off the cats' fields of vision.’
‘Targets... the dolls closest to the hostages.’
"【Load. Scatter aim.】"
Clatterclatterclatterclatter!
Fwosh!
Club flung the fistful of familiar 500-won coins into the air.
A chaotic metallic jangle as they collided midair.
But in the next instant, the coins scattered haphazardly through the air halted dead in place all at once. Hovering motionless, like obedient steeds awaiting orders, refusing to fall further.
Club raced onward, leaving the coins suspended, and murmured her follow-up incantation.
"【Fire. Become my spirit bow and shoot down the enemy.】"
Twenty-seven coins scattered in the air.
The mana infused in each one unleashed at once.
Every coin became a bullet, streaking through the air.
“Listen up, both of you. Let me brief you on the plan.”
A moment ago, with the department store looming before them, Apple had laid out the final operational rundown for Club and Spade.
“First thing to know: Villain No. 13 has some special escape ability. Probably from that fellow Abyss member, the Advisor.”
Most likely shadow-based warping or the like. A headache of a power, but they had no way to counter it right now.
“Rescuing the hostages matters, but if the situation turns against him after that, he'll bolt immediately. We can't let him.”
Hence Apple's proposal: lightning war. End it before Villain No. 13 could even decide whether to flee or stand his ground. Aim for an ultra-short decisive battle.
That was her pitch.
“We'll finish it before he can judge whether to run or fight to the end.”
“I'll handle the bombs and comms for as long as I can. You two just follow orders and charge in at top speed—no other worries.”
And with that, the plan was set.
Whizz—!
Zing! Zing! Zing! Ping! Zeeeng! Zing! Zeeeng! Zing! Zing! Ziiing!
Whiiiiiistle! Zing! Zeeeng! Zeeeng! Screeeeeeee!
The coins, triggered by Club's magic, hurtled through the department store's central span toward the spots she'd designated on every floor.
Twisting midair as she guided them, barely losing speed.
Ripping through the wind like that, the coins struck home the next instant.
BOOOOOOM!!
Crack! Craaaackle!
The dolls encircling the civilians shattered to splinters in one brutal stroke.
『Kyaaaah!』
『Wh-what...?』
『It—it exploded?!』
The hostages screamed as the dolls monitoring them at point-blank range burst into limbs and debris.
They'd regain composure and flee soon enough. Unfortunately, Club had no spare moment to guide them.
‘Some dolls are still hanging around.’
‘Wipe 'em all, and he'll rabbit immediately.’
Meow meow meowmeowmeow...
Club glanced up at her target spot while rocketing up the escalator.
Per Apple's plan, taking out just the most urgent dolls holding the hostages would pin Villain No. 13 between two choices: resecure hostages or flee. She'd deliberately left more than half the dolls intact.
She'd preserved his options on purpose, forcing him to burn time deliberating.
Even charging brazenly across the central escalator served the same end. By exposing herself as bait—just as he wanted—she'd make him waste more time agonizing.
A gamble of a scheme.
Which made speed critical. No room for him to think coolly.
Incidentally, she'd confirmed Villain No. 13 wasn't at her target spot.
He'd designated Section F on the ■th floor.
But Apple had spotted him via hacked surveillance cams two floors higher.
A position perfect for eyeing her arrival with the naked eye and triggering some device. And far enough that, if she clocked his spot and pushed higher, he could escape at leisure.
She could practically read the cowardly schemer's pathetic mindset. Lurking safe in his blind-spot haven, ready to bail anytime while watching his trap snap on the prey. That rotten, lowlife sadism was plain as day.
Garbage-tier man.
But what he hadn't accounted for—what that obvious plan hadn't foreseen—was the monster on their team right now.
KABOOOOOM!
『Gaaahhh?!』
Before Club reached her mark, a thunderous roar echoed from far above.
Followed by a man's agonized, wretched groan.
For a split second, she thought it was a hostage scream—but no, a familiar voice.
Villain No. 13's.
Which meant the boom and scream's source was obvious.
‘Senior Spade... how's she there already?’
‘Thought it'd take longer. What a monster...’
“Villain No. 13 is monitoring via surveillance cameras.”
“Found traces of hacking. He'd stealthily hijacked control of some without us noticing.”
This had come up in the prior briefing too.
Near-certainty that Villain No. 13 was gauging the scene through camera feeds.
Spade had anticipated as much and promptly holed up in a restroom to stay off-camera. He probably had no clue she was even there.
But any stairwell to the upper floors would catch her on cam eventually.
If he only spotted Club, he'd hesitate to flee. But if Spade showed too? He'd rabbit without looking back.
“So Spade, approach his position while dodging the cameras.”
Absurd on its face, but Apple proposed it with full faith in her capability—a trust Spade couldn't brush off.
Thus.
Spade scaled the department store's outer wall.
Vertically up the building's facade, like some acrobat. Leaping out windows, defying physics to sprint the sheer surface.
In one dash, she beat Club—who was flying up the escalator—and arrived at Villain No. 13's spot first.
By the time he noticed, Spade was already in his face.
Idiotically, Villain No. 13 hadn't even realized she'd closed to two steps away.
Overconfidence? Or was Spade's silent infiltration that elite?
Thwack!
“Guhk...!?”
No time to be stunned.
Spade, now in striking range, slammed a fist dead-center into his gut, launching him sailing through the air with a whoom.
But before he hit the floor, Spade leaped after, seized his collar midflight, and power-slammed him down.
THUDDD!!!
“……!!”
Hurk!
A heavy, savage impact. His head cracked the floor, brain rattling; air whooshed from his lungs, leaving him gasping.
No mere weighted drop. Bones could've snapped, organs ruptured—no surprise there.
Kicking him airborne, then snaring and spiking him midair? What kind of freak trick was that?
Monstrous speed, monstrous power.
An A-rank hero wasn't just flash after all...!
“Kahk... guhk...”
“Can't warp out with me gripping you like this, right? Not escaping today, Villain No. 13.”
“M-monster bitch... for real...!”
Spade loomed vertically above, her crimson eyes gleaming feral and vicious.
