Got You, Bastard 2
"The young master says he's eliminated the threat."
"Good. Now we just need to handle our share."
The swordswoman whom William Wentworth called his master, Kurayami Gawa Reizo, let out a sigh of relief. In the midst of battling that over-augmented freak called Exose, a sudden explosion had thrown her into panic—what if something had happened to William? Bell had felt the same, ready to bolt to her master's side at once. But William had sent a transmission telling his bodyguard bot not to worry about him. And before long, word came that he'd sorted out the threat himself.
"Relief... but honestly, it's embarrassing."
"Yeah. Makes me so pathetic I could cry."
Relief washed over them even as dejection set in. Not only had their protectee faced a threat while separated from them, but they hadn't even managed to take down the enemy in front of them by the time it was resolved.
At first, it had looked like they were smoothly cornering Exose. But the mad knight quickly adapted to their pincer attack, darting around with laser potshots for suppression. Then, spotting an opening, she'd charge in with her lance to press the advantage—over and over. It was a tactic made possible by Exose's superior mobility compared to Bell and Reizo.
Paaat-!
A blue laser lanced toward Bell. She scowled in irritation, boosters firing to evade. The pale beam struck an electronics shop around the fourth floor, turning its innards into a blast furnace core. Iron melting back to iron in a cycle of unity. A minor issue of Cultural Revolution-style reductionism, but whatever.
"...Is it just me, or has that pointy-hatted doll been targeting me specifically for a while now?"
"Who knows? Why not ask her yourself."
"She'd probably spout something like 'Selective focus is the tactical virtue that overcomes numerical inferiority!' Anyway, we can't keep getting dragged around like this."
Once the purple-eyed warrior demonstrated her trick of batting away lasers with her sword, Exose's ranged attacks focused mainly on Bell. That really got under the ACS unit's skin—like she was the easier mark.
'Fine. Then I'll turn that miscalculation against her tactically.'
Bell narrowed her eyes, scanning the surroundings. She shot Reizo a glance, then stripped off her top and fully deployed the plasma blaster on her right arm.
Vrrrrm-!
Radiator fins and cables extended, dark red waves flickering from the coils. Her emerald eyes blazed as the maximum-output plasma beam fired. Piercing the misty steam like dawn fog, a crimson beam lanced skyward ferociously.
Kwa-gwagwagwa-!
But it wasn't a single pillar of intense light. The red flashes split into multiple streams, raining down like reverse buckshot toward spots across the department store ceiling. Meanwhile, she didn't forget to unleash a barrage of gyrojet rounds from her left arm. Full salvo. A desperate measure to pin down Exose, who had been deliberately keeping her distance.
Psssh- Pabapabat-!
The store's interior flushed red in an instant. Structures hit by the spreading photon barrage melted like styrofoam touching embers. Overwhelming firepower that dominated the entire area, as if there were no safe spots left.
"What a spectacle! A storm of steel, sulfur, and lightning!"
But the knight's face lit up with renewed glory and a smile. The over-augmented woman's half-melted blue eye gleamed as she gripped her lance tighter, like her competitive spirit had been recharged. She raised her left arm, energy shield forward to cover her head. It looked like a focus on defense at first glance, but far from cowering. Aligning her body like a massive spear, she plunged into the upward-rising storm of fiery lightning under the blue pentagonal barrier's protection.
Shooooaaa-!
Exose herself spewed terrifying flames as she closed on Bell in the blink of an eye. Incoming photon rounds and gyrojets failed to pierce the shield, scattering as mere light and smoke wisps. Bell feigned surprise. Of course, it was acting. She'd anticipated the enemy charging straight through her barrage. Her plan: play bait to draw her in, while Reizo flanked from behind and cleaved that toothpick in half.
Her wide emerald eyes caught the swordswoman shadowing Exose like a phantom. Even if momentum carried her through and got her pierced, the plan would succeed—
"Do I look that naive, to fall for such an obvious ploy?"
By the time Bell processed the words, the knight was already moving. Just before contact, she flipped 180 degrees midair. Instead of the lance, her armored leg lashed toward the ACS unit. The blade slicing for her waist met the blue energy field instead, sparking like flint on steel.
Kagagang-!!Thwack!!!
Meanwhile, Exose's kick slammed into Bell's chest. The thick wave-dampening semi-fluid armor dispersed much of the damage, but not all—it crumpled near to bursting.
"Kuhk...!"
Bell groaned as if vomiting from the crushing impact, her vision flickering like her consciousness might shut down. Seeing it, Reizo forgot her own foe in shock.
"Bellatrix!!!"
"No time to worry about others, samurai."
The lance thrust at Reizo's torso. She swung her odachi to parry, but Exose anticipated even that, angling for a spot where the opponent's arm joint couldn't fully extend. Veteran precision.
Crack!
"Kuh...!"
Hot blood sprayed from Reizo's left side. The strike had torn through the usual rippling barrier that guarded her. If she'd parried even a bit less, her heart would have a hole.
But the over-augmented lance didn't end with a stab.
Vrrrrm!
"What...!"
Reizo's eyes widened amid her pained groan. Vents midway along the lance glowed. A vicious function to explode a pierced foe into meat chunks. Exose twisted her warped face in triumph.
"Hahaha! Samurai are ultimately inferior to knights! A fine duel, but the curtain falls here! Farewell—"
"Enough, tin can knight!!"
A sudden shout. Exose flinched. Turning toward the sound, an anti-tank missile—source unknown—bore down on her.
"Such dishonorable interference...!"
The over-augmented woman bit her lip in fury but had no choice, blasting orange flames to evade.
Boom-!!!
The missile cleaved empty air before smashing into something inside the building and detonating. Deafening blast and tremors spread; in that gap, Reizo had slipped away, vanishing from view.
"Urgh—"
Blue light ignited beneath Exose's hollow chrome eye socket like a fuse. The grief of a child robbed of cake. The knight whipped her creaking head around wildly, screeching in a voice mixed with grinding metal and electronic noise.
"Earl!! What is the meaning of this!!! Show yourself honorably!!"
But from the darkened shadows where busted lights hung, bullets poured instead of words. She blocked with her energy shield at first, but felt the blue field fading. The photon barrage and earlier slash had drained it too much. So she darted about, regenerating the shield while hunting the two who'd hidden—William and Reizo, excluding the Bell she'd just downed.
'...Come to think of it, did the ACS stay down?'
Exose suddenly sensed imbalance in her body. Puzzled, she slowly looked down, scanning herself. There, clinging to her right leg like it was crushed in a vise: Bell. Smudged with soot and pain, but emerald eyes still flashing resolve.
"Forgot about me again? Your head really is busted."
"When did this toy latch on?"
"Probably since the kick. Reboot just finished, so no memory."
Sparks flew from Bell's arm. Likely, she'd electromagnetically gripped the knight's leg armor in that instant. An anomaly impossible to miss in normal condition. Exose clicked her tongue at her damaged head and senses, but no time for sentiment. She raised the lance to skewer the pest's forehead. But as red light glowed on Bell's arm, she switched plans fast.
Kwagaga-!
Red light erupted midair again, reflecting wildly. Exose's lower body melted from the direct laser hit. But only the lower half. In a flash, she'd stabbed the lance into her own waist, severing below to escape. Black oil and preservative fluid sprayed from the ragged cut.
Yet Exose's eyes still gleamed undimmed, unconcerned.
"Just lost a mobility module! Legs are half decoration anyway—as long as the thrusters work—"
But a soft whisper cut her off, from right behind.
"Then let's see if this is decoration too."
Shring-
As the knight shifted from confusion to surprise to defense, she suddenly couldn't steady her body. Not just her body—her half-wrecked head spun on its own, whirring freely. Spiraling through cold rushing air, she glimpsed the swordswoman leaping off her ruined form to elsewhere. Purple eyes under flying black ponytail. Emerald eyes still hovering via boosters. And beyond, in the dark, blue eyes peeking out, looking down.
Then shock and crushing sensation enveloped her. Only then did Exose realize her defeat.