Yuriko’s confident smirk disappeared almost as quickly, because as soon as the gunmen said those words, something else happened. Her Mien’s grasp over their minds remained—at least, she thought it did. But their bodies suddenly uncoupled from their brains’ control. Almost as one, the seven men’s guns, which had been lowered when she spoke to them, snapped up. Triggers pulled.

Rat-ta-tat-ra-ta-tat!

She had the impulse to dodge. But Fluffers was behind her. He could probably take the bullets and defend himself with his Anima, but that wasn’t a risk she really wanted to take. Even if he would be fine, Fluffers was Fluffers, and she didn’t want any of his fur damaged. Even worse, her Kanegawa Bladedancer was also behind her, and she doubted the bike would be fine after getting a lead shower. And that just wouldn’t do. She wasn’t in the mood to pay for another bike, or for expensive repairs that may or may not be as much as getting a new bike entirely.

So, she drew her sword faster than the gunmen could pull the trigger. The moment the bullets flew, her Metal sensing already told her where every last one of them was, and their trajectories. The blade’s edge struck one, and she nudged it slightly to the side. The deflected bullet collided with another in midair. Then she used her kinesis to further affect the bullets in flight.

The bullets clashed, but the volley wasn’t done in a single go. She parried, deflected, and plain blocked the follow-up shots. She kept it up for the few seconds the assault rifles took to empty their magazines, but as soon as the chambers emptied, the gunmen didn’t even try to reload. Instead, the whole lot of them yelled their heads off, pulled their sidearms, pistols or knives, and continued their assault.

The ones with knives didn’t even care that some of the others practically shot them in the back as they charged. They staggered, yes, but they continued. Their eyes were wild, and their expressions ran from fear to madness. Yuriko frowned as they closed in, and she was sure the camp had been alerted by their gunshots, so she had to finish this quickly. Not that it would be difficult in any case.

Three of them charged, and two got shot in the back, but either their clothes were bulletproof, which was quite likely, or they didn’t care about the hits. They tried to stab her, but honestly, they were slow. She was sure at least one of them had a Celerity Boost installed, but they didn’t use it. Oh well.

The tip of her straight sword pierced the first ganger’s shoulder and poked out the other side. She retracted the blade even before the man’s arm could fall down. He didn’t look like he felt that; well, he did, but his body only reacted to the fact that he could no longer raise his arm. The rest of him tried to press the assault and Yuriko kicked in his knee for his effort. He fell to the ground hard but continued to struggle, so she crunched his other knee, then stabbed his other shoulder in passing.

The second man tried to take advantage of the opening she left for him. She did the same thing in quick succession. Stab, stab. Kick, crunch. And down he went.

Ptang!

She slapped away a pistol bullet and redirected it to the third knife-holder. The lead bullet hit him in his sternum, but he wore a vest that stopped the ricocheting bullet from penetrating. So that didn’t stop him, or whatever was controlling him. That much was rather clear, Yuriko felt. Her Mien’s control over them had been overwritten by simple dint of bypassing the mind. At least, that’s what she thought, considering their eyes and facial expressions contained fear and lust in equal measure while their bodies acted like Steeld. Simple mechanical motion.

She slammed the flat side of the blade against the third man’s chin. The edge cut him a bit, but the blow shook his brain enough to knock him out. His eyes rolled up, but his body continued to move. Shrugging to herself, she stabbed into the shoulder joint of his ‘chronian gear then snapped his knees. They were also ‘chronian, so they should be repairable. How much of their bodies have they replaced with metal? Elsie distinctly told her that the edge people trod was about fifty percent. It could be a few percent higher or lower, depending on the person, too.

Blessedness was what they called it, but once Yuriko read up on it a bit, it actually looked more like madness. At least until they were brought to a temple of Autochron. Then, they seemed to lose most of what made them mortal and they acted more like humanoid Steeld. Well, not that bad, she thought, but she hadn’t actually encountered Blessed, just read about them, or watched them in movies.

Most flocks either relegated the Blessed as heroes or villains, depending on the storyteller, and their demeanour changed to reflect either role. More empathic and mortal were heroes, while the opposite—cold, calculating, and logical – were the villains. Of course, those were works of fiction, but a kernel of truth must exist.

But, she supposed, the more important question she should be pondering was, who was controlling these gunmen? And why did her Charm Mien trigger this? The effects had been almost instantaneous, and she was sure nobody had been looking in on them. But then again, how did they know she was here? After so many hours of waiting?

And was that someone looking…observing her now?

Yuriko’s frown deepened, and she decided she didn’t really like getting peeped on. For all that she drew gazes like iron to a magnet, she preferred it if she could actually see those looking at her, even if she didn’t deign to return the favour.

Her hand drew her Defender and snapped eight shots, practically emptying her magazine, to hit two gunmen’s shoulders and knees. With a single bullet in the chamber, she holstered her weapon and strode towards the last assailant. That one continued to fire at her and she simply deflected them. She tried a reflection, but the ricochet went wide. Still, it was only a few steps before she was in melee range, and she quickly dispatched the last couple of gunmen. When she turned around, it was to the sight of Fluffers savaging one of the downed knifers who was trying to crawl to her, blade handle clenched in his teeth.

Yuriko couldn’t help but smile as she walked over and petted the wolf pup, who was extremely cute in his small form.

‘I did good?’ the pupper asked enthusiastically and Yuriko nodded, absently noting that Fluffers was acting a bit more childish while he was like this. She glanced at the fallen, pondering whether she should finish them off, or leave them be and just move.

Well, she could do both. Her Animakinesis pulled seven ball bearings from her stash and she slammed them between each gunman’s eyebrows. She gave them a cursory glance to check that their brains were leaking out, then shrugged as she mounted and started her Kanegawa.

“Come on, Fluffers,” she beckoned and the wolf jumped and settled on her lap. She stared down at his hopeful look, then narrowed her eyes. “Behind.”

Whine!

“Now.”

“Arf!”

Giving up the pretence, the wolf scrambled around and latched on. She moved the bike slowly, and soon enough, they left cover. She glanced at the camp and saw that they had been joined by even more haulers.

“Tsk.” She clicked her tongue in irritation. If the captives were all gangsters, combatants essentially, then she wouldn’t feel guilty about leaving them. But if they were bystanders, then she should try to help. Just…waiting to find out where the thugs holed up was potentially more useful than stopping them now. She also wondered why the city’s forces didn’t take a stronger stance against these raiders, and she half wondered if these were privateers.

No, that would mean another nation was at war with Dragon Fall City, right? What was the correct term then, if these were sanctioned raiders? Or… come to think of it, who were the leaders of the city-state? She didn’t know, and she oddly didn’t encounter any mention of it in REI-space.

Anyway, it didn’t look like they heard the gunshots or didn’t care either way. Whatever took control of them also didn’t take any other action, so she didn’t really have to move quickly. She hesitated for a brief moment, then used her kinesis to retrieve guns and knives from the fallen. There were seven assault rifles, but they didn’t have any kind of maker’s mark on them. “Homemade?” She muttered, “or marks were filed off.” She was sure Elsie would be able to tell her what these models were, but either way, they could be worth some ACs. She also retrieved a spare magazine from each man. She stuffed the loot into her backpack and clicked her tongue when only a couple of rifles fit inside. She tossed the extras away but kept the magazines. Hmm, she did enjoy firing these things, so she inspected one, cleaned it, and loaded it with a fresh mag, before tucking it into the bike’s built-in weapons holster.

She followed behind the raiders as they continued on their way. They drove into the countryside for hours afterwards, and it wasn’t until the dead of night did they stop to rest. But only for a few minutes. Someone else replaced the drivers and continued.

It was the next day, almost noon, when they finally reached their destination. Yuriko had expected the mountains, or at least, near it, and she had not been mistaken. This close, she could appreciate how steep the mountain wall was. It was almost a straight rise, too, but not the entire thing, only the upper half. The lower ones were just like any mountain range, and they were currently in the foothills.

She would have loved to admire the mountains some more, but the raiders had gone into a tunnel. A section of the foothill opened up and revealed a metalled hallway underneath it, and there went the idea that these rotters were not connected to the city’s leadership. Or maybe they found these old tunnels instead?

Still, she couldn’t help but be excited. While she couldn’t follow them inside before the gate shut, it was easy enough to dig her way in. She stashed her Kanegawa behind some rocks, covered it with a tarp, and set its beacon up so that her Autotab and visor would be able to keep track of it. Then, she moved as close as she could to the hidden gate, covered her body with her Anima, and proceeded to drill down into the earth.

At first, it was easy. The rock and soil parted before her Anima as though it were water. Her perception told her where the tunnel was, and she moved towards it. Trouble began when she actually reached the metalled wall. Her Animakinesis bumped into it and was blocked.

She put more of herself into drilling, released her restrictions, and even slammed her limbs at the wall. It rang like a bell, and she flinched. Foolish move, but already done. Perhaps she should have just rushed the convoy, huh?

The metal gave under her might. The retaining wall was roughly a couple of paces thick, and when she busted through, it was to an empty tunnel that wasn’t the one the raiders used. For one thing, it was humanoid-sized and not meant for vehicles. Shrugging to herself, she conjured a couple of sunblades and used them to reconnoitre.

Then, the second problem happened. She accidentally brushed the sunblade to the ceiling, and the moment the Radiant energy-infused Animus construct touched, lines, circuits, along the ceiling and walls lit up. Then she felt it pull at her sunblade, and in her surprise, she let it.

Whoosh!

The circuits turned golden for a moment, then faded back into obscurity. But then, Yuriko felt the weight of Something’s attention for a gut-wrenching moment. She immediately pulled her other sunblade back and once it was in the depths of her dense Anima, she dispersed it.

She held her breath in anticipation, but the attention slowly faded away. “It felt like something stirring in its sleep…” Yuriko muttered, but then, when nothing else happened, she shook her head. She felt her Anima reach grow from the harrowing experience, and she held back a chuckle.

Was this a challenge she could actually face? And it seemed that Dragon Fall City held more secrets than she expected, and she was eager to find them.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep