Chapter 59 - An Expensive Deathmatch (2/2)

Normally, using the same blade to cut that floor that even CWH special ammo could not penetrate would gradually dull the blade. But the blades that Nelia was using were old-world relics, those blades retained their sharpness no matter how many times she used them to cut through that floor. Those blades were formed by holding liquid metal within a forcefield. This forcefield would distort every time she used them to cut through objects, but it would quickly return back in no time, thus maintaining the highest sharpness no matter how many times she used them.

Akira was still inside that room while evading the blades. Every time he tried to get out of that room, Nelia would slash at him and prevent him from getting out. Because of that, he was trapped inside.

On the other hand, he had no means to shoot at Nelia. The floor was made of the same material as the wall, and also because of the length of his CWH anti-material rifle, he could not aim straight down to where Nelia was.

“Alpha!! At this rate, it’s only a matter of time before my legs give up!!!”

In order to evade Nelia’s blades, he had to keep jumping around. Successively accelerating his body followed by a quick stop put his legs under immense stress. He had already numbed from any other feelings except the pain. Both his body and his augmented suit were close to their limit.

Alpha gently said to Akira, trying to calm him down.

“Endure it for a little bit more. It’s okay, they’re not torn yet.”

“That means that I would get a chance to shoot at her soon, right? It’s not like you’re saying that my limbs are going to tear off soon, right??”

“Yep… But I can’t guarantee that your body will be okay after you take a shot at her.”

“Just tell me that I’ll be okay!”

“That would be a little impossible.”

It meant that he would get a chance to shoot at Nelia but the sacrifice would be big. Akira frowned while desperately evading Nelia’s blades.

Nelia had sliced at Akira so many times, but she could not get a hit at him at all. Although she found it surprising, she kept smiling since she thought she still had the upper hand.

It might look like Nelia was only randomly slas.h.i.+ng at Akira, but that was not the case. The ceiling for her was the floor for Akira, by cutting it at a certain angle, she made parts of the floor brittle.

Nelia was planning to restrict Akira’s movements and lure him to any of the brittle parts of the floor. She would then break the floor with a kick, throwing him off balance and cut him down while he fell to the below floor.

She constantly adjusted her attacks to push Akira to that particular part of the floor. If he did not evade her attack, it would cut him to pieces, but if he did, he would be slowly led to that trap. Both outcomes were to her advantage. Unaware of the trap, Akira kept evading and finally stepped on the brittle part of the floor.

The moment Akira stepped into that trap, Nelia smiled and kicked the ceiling. She used the full power of her cyborg body to deliver that kick. The floor where he was standing cracked due to the impact of her kick which could even bend steel.

But even with that powerful kick, strangely enough, the ceiling did not crumble down as she had expected. Even though it was brittle and had absorbed a powerful kick from her, that part of the floor stayed in its place.

“Wha-!?”

Nelia shouted in shock. At the same time, recoil from her kick threw her off balance. Since the floor that she kicked stayed in place, all the force rebounded back to her.

That floor was already fragile enough after it got slashed so many times by Nelia’s blades. After that strong kick, it finally started to crumble and fall.

Nelia could not immediately figure out why there was a delay in the crumbling of the floor or why she was. .h.i.t with recoil.

Among the crumbling pieces of the floor, Nelia could see Akira who was also thrown off balance falling down just like her. Akira’s eyes were locked onto her.

When Nelia kicked that part of the floor, Akira also did the same from above as instructed by Alpha. Alpha had already read Nelia’s plan and used it against her.

Right before Akira kicked the floor, he pointed his CWH anti-material rifle upward and pulled the trigger. The kickback from that shot was absorbed into his augmented suit and increased the force of his kick that he released after pus.h.i.+ng his augmented suit to its limit. His kick more or less packed the same amount of impact power as the kick from a cyborg body.

The reason why the floor did not crumble when Nelia kicked it was because Akira’s kick balanced the force on the floor.

In that short chaotic moment, Akira, who was thrown to the air due to the recoil from his kick, looked at the crumbling floor he was standing just a moment ago. The floor was breaking up into chunks as it crumbled down. He felt the time slow down; this sudden change confused his perception so much that it felt like he took forever to load a new magazine into his CWH anti-material rifle.

He still did not have a clear shot at her. He could only see the image of Nelia, who was on the other side of the rubbles, because of Alpha’s support.

[What should I do? I won’t be able to hit her even if I try to shoot her now. I’ll be falling down at this rate and she might try to cut me while I’m in the air. I won’t be able to evade when that happens, it’s not like I can freely move in midair. What should I do…]

The time still felt like it was running slow as Akira was thinking hard on what he should do. But his body suddenly moved on its own, it was Alpha who was controlling his augmented suit.

Akira quickly pointed his CWH anti-material rifle straight up again and pulled the trigger the moment he finished loading another round. The kickback blasted his body down and pushed other rubbles between him and Nelia down with him.

Nelia tried to attack while still in the air, she was about to throw the blade in her hand. But Akira, who was falling down fast because of the kickback of that shot, brought all the rubbles between them along with him and smashed onto her, preventing her from throwing the blade at him.

After they crashed onto the floor below, Akira and Nelia were once again got thrown off to the air. The impact made both of them let go of their weapons. But they quickly regained their balance and grabbed a weapon near them as they landed on the floor. They were now ready to fight again.

They stood against each other with their weapons ready in their hands. Nelia was standing ready with a blade’s handle in her right hand. While on the other side, surprisingly enough, Akira was also gripping the same object in his right hand.

Nelia smiled at Akira. She then turned her blade on, just like before, liquid metal came out from its handle and formed a blade.

“Too bad, what are you planning to do with that handle? It’s not like you can get the blade out just by grabbing it, you know? Old-world relics have security measures installed in them. Unless you know how to remove it, you won’t be able to-“

Nelia was smiling contently thinking that there was no way Akira could use that weapon. But her words were cut short when a blade came out from Akira’s handle too. She was completely taken aback by what she saw but quickly regained her composure.

“…Ahhh, I see. So you know how to use it too, huh? A normal Hunter should not be able to get that information though. It’s secret information that even an agent from the city should not be able to get easily as well… So, who exactly are you?”

Akira really did not know anything about operating the blade, but Alpha knew. He too did not even know how she knew about it, and it was not like he wanted to know anyway. If someone asked him who he was, he would say that he was just your everyday common Hunter. The one that made him different from your everyday common Hunter was Alpha, and of course, it was not like he could tell Nelia about Alpha.

That was why Akira did not reply. Nelia took that as him refusing to answer.

“I see, in that case, can you at least tell me your name? This must be some kind of destiny that we met here. So at least let me remember your name.”

Akira hesitated but eventually replied.

“…Akira.”

“I see. I’m Nelia. I’ll remember your name until I kill you. To be more precise, that would happen in about 30 seconds.”

Nelia suddenly closed the distance between them as if she just warped right next to him. She then swung up the blade that was long enough to almost touch the ground.

Akira evaded her blade by jumping to the side. Had he jumped back then he would have been cut down even if he knew the exact length of that blade. After all, the blade suddenly extended when it was swung.

Then Nelia’s blade made a sharp turn, chasing Akira who jumped to the side. Akira used the blade in his right hand to block it. Both of their blades clashed, Nelia’s blade broke at the contact point, the broken part turned into liquid metal and splattered on the ground.

But even after losing a part of her blade, she didn’t retreat. Instead, she stepped in and lunged at him with her broken blade. Akira bent over and evaded. Right after she lunged, her blade which was broken, returned back to its original length. If Akira had stepped back, the blade would have definitely reached him.

Although Akira lost his balance when he evaded, he made a big sweep with his blade. But it did not extend like Nelia’s blade. As a result, she evaded with just a jump as he made that sweep.

Both gained their balance immediately after and were standing facing each other again. Akira made an extremely grim face, while Nelia was smiling leisurely. While adjusting the distance between them, she said.

“Anyone else would have normally died after my previous attack. Seriously though, who exactly are you? Looking at your movements when you evaded, you’re properly trained. Not to mention, you also know how to use that weapon. A normal Hunter should not be able to do these things.”

Akira did not give any reply. After all, he could not answer the question to which he himself did not know the answer.

“Alpha, I still didn’t get any chance to strike back though?!”

“Well, at least we’ve escaped the situation where she was one-sidedly attacking you. Originally, I was planning to shoot her with the CWH special ammo while we were falling down, but the rubbles were blocking your shot so it was impossible to do that. Unfortunately, it seemed that you didn’t have enough luck to execute that plan. If only you had better luck and was able to take that shot, you would’ve won by now.”

“Well, I guess I’m really left with a scarce supply of luck. No wonder I always get to be in this kind of dangerous situation. By the way, why won’t my blade extend like hers?”

“The liquid metal stock in your handle is low. She might have intentionally emptied the liquid metal stock of the blades that she was using when she was attacking you from below.”

“So basically I got the handle with the less liquid metal, huh? Did she go for that handle knowing that it has more liquid metal? Or was it simply a pure coincidence?”

“I think it’s pure coincidence.”

“I see… Good grief, what the heck is going on with my luck?”

“I’ll also give my best to subst.i.tute for your bad luck.”

“Well, thanks for that.”

He knew for sure that the moment Alpha’s support could not subst.i.tute for his bad luck, he would get killed.

Looking at how Nelia was smiling leisurely, Akira tried to disturb her mood in order to change the flow of the fight and to get the upper hand. He mockingly said to her.

“It’s already well past 30 seconds, isn’t it?”

Akira hoped that Nelia would get annoyed after hearing that, or at least, it would make her movements rougher. He tried his best to make a mocking expression towards her.

But instead, Nelia laughed at him.

“I’m happy that you remember what I told you.”

Akira frowned.

[…How in the world did she even come up with that reply?]

He was a bit overwhelmed by that unexpected reply. Nelia kept making an unwavering happy face in front of him.

“But still, I’m surprised that you can even evade all my attacks. It’s pretty amazing for someone your age to have enough skill to fight evenly against me with a blade. Or is that you’re actually a child-sized cyborg? Don’t tell me that you’re actually an old man. Well, I don’t really mind either way though. By the way, are you already taken?”

Akira looked puzzled, he did not understand the meaning of Nelia’s question.

“What exactly are you talking about?”

“If you’re not taken yet, want to try dating me? My boyfriend just died not too long ago, so you came at the perfect time. I like men who are stronger than me, you see. And I have nothing to complain about your skill too.”

“To think that you can even joke like that, you must be really enjoying this.”

Akira brushed it off thinking that Nelia was only joking. But she replied back with a smile.

“Oh my, I wasn’t joking. I’m serious, you know. I’m seriously asking you, so what’s your answer?”

Even if it was only a ploy to shake him off, Akira thought that it might really change the flow of the fight if he went along with her acting. So then he asked Nelia.

“…Well, say that I accept your proposal, will that save me from this situation?”

Nelia immediately replied without a trace of hesitation.

“Of course not, I’ll still kill you. This and that are two different things, you see. Me killing you and me going out with you are two completely separate things, don’t you think so too?”

She slowly got closer to Akira while still smiling. Akira frowned and took a step back carefully.

Her bizarre reply successfully shook his inner belief, but Akira was barely able to make a bitter smile as he jabbed back at Nelia.

“Are you seriously hitting on a guy that you’re trying to kill? Are you sure you’re right in the head?”

“Is it strange? Humans are creatures that could even kill the person who they’ve loved for years. So, I don’t see anything strange with killing the guy who I just dated. What’s more, whether it’s a tragedy or a comedy, having a deathmatch with your lover is not something that you can usually experience, right? It’s a kind of experience that can add some spices to this boring life. You only live once after all. It would be a waste not to savour such experiences.”

For some reason, Akira did not think that Nelia was lying. Although he did think of asking for a confirmation from Alpha, he decided not to. After all, he did not want Alpha to confirm that she was indeed telling the truth.

Akira was even more overwhelmed by Nelia’s way of thinking since he just could not understand it. The conversation that started as him trying to disturb her focus ended up as being counter-effective.

Nelia somehow let out a pressuring smile at Akira while she kept closing the distance between them.

“So, what’s your answer?”

In order to erase the unexplained fear that was growing stronger inside him, Akira yelled back.

“…No thanks!!”

“Is that so? That’s just too bad.”

Nelia did not seem to be acting as she looked seriously disappointed. She then quickly closed the distance between them and swung her blade at Akira. He evaded her blade and struck back immediately.

Both of them were using blades that could easily cut through an object that even the CWH special ammo could not penetrate. Had they left unused, those blades would have fetched a huge amount of money.

Originally, all old-world relics could be sold at a high price. But if they were used, meaning that the energy saved inside it were reduced, then the value would also be decreased. And of course, their values would be significantly lowered if they were broken.

Akira and Nelia were constantly reducing the value of the old-world relics that they were using to kill each other. The lesser the value of the relic in their hand, the lesser the energy inside it, and the closer they would be to death. It was indeed a luxurious deathmatch.

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