Chapter 145: Arrogance and Choices (1/2)
Zalmo slowly moved his hands to block the spot where Akira was aiming his rifles. He then smiled rather smugly and said.
“Those rifles are both empty, right? I bet you’ve used all the ammo in that barrage in order to kill us. But then, that was not enough to kill me. Although you’re aiming them at me, it’s nothing but a bluff to keep me away, right? I bet bullets won’t come out even if you pull the trigger.”
Akira’s expression did not change at all.
“I wonder now, I might have left some ammo inside.”
“Who would give such a vague answer? If they still have some ammo in, you could have just told me so. To be honest, my augmented suit is not strong enough to defend myself from armour piercing ammo, that’s why I used those two men as shields.”
“Then why did you throw them away?”
“Of course, it’s so that they won’t slow me down when I try to evade the bullets. They’re all already riddled with holes, there’s no meaning in using them as shields anymore. That’s why it’s better to keep my feet light, no?”
Zalmo slowly but surely walked toward Akira, who walked backwards with Zalmo’s every step.
Zalmo smiled confidently.
“What’s wrong? You won’t shoot? You still have some ammo left, right? Or is that you’re afraid you won’t be able to hit me from this distance?”
Akira still had the same expression as he replied.
“I’m still looking for an opening. If you can predict when I pull the trigger, you’ll be able to evade. I don’t have much ammo left so I can’t do indiscriminate shooting, I have to make sure to kill you with my shot.”
Zalmo was still approaching Akira slowly and Akira was also walking backwards equally slowly. Both of them eventually reached the middle of the room.
This time it was Akira who threw a question to Zalmo.
“How about you? You’re not going to use your rifle? You could’ve run away, hid somewhere, and readied your rifle when you still had your shields, no?”
“Actually, you destroyed my rifle during that barrage just now. There was some leftover destroyed rifle back then, right? If I had tried to run away back then, you would have reloaded a new magazine in your rifle and used it to shoot at me. There’s nowhere for me to hide in the middle of the hallway, so that would have been a very bad decision.”
“Shouldn’t you keep it a secret about your broken rifle? If I thought that you would shoot back, I wouldn’t immediately choose to chase you, right?”
“You could have noticed that only by looking at my destroyed rifle. It’s easy to notice that on the ground after all. I know that you want to keep your distance from me, but just so you, that won’t work.”
The tension between them heightened. Both of them kept their eyes on each other as not to miss even the slightest move. The critical point was close.
Akira once again threw a question.
“You look pretty strong, honestly, I don’t want to die. If I tell you that I don’t mind letting you go, what are you going to do?”
“Well, I don’t want to die either, so I’ll thankfully take that offer. So, can you put down your rifle so I can feel safe leaving this place?”
“No.”
“They’re just empty rifles anyway, right? There won’t be much difference even if you put them down.”
“…Like I said, they’re not empty.”
Zalmo stopped pressing forward, so Akira also stopped walking backwards. Both of them understood that the fight would start soon.
Zalmo suddenly dashed toward Akira, he decided not to run to his left nor right, but straight at Akira. Akira fixed his aim at Zalmo, if his rifles were really not empty, Zalmo would not be able to evade his shots.
Akira pulled the trigger on both of his rifles, bullets flew straight out from both barrels. Back then during the barrage, Alpha stopped Akira mid-way to leave some bullets in the magazine when it looked like he had used up all of his ammo.
Akira was not bluffing, just like what Zalmo thought.
Zalmo fully predicted that both of Akira’s rifles still had some bullets left. When bullets flew out from their muzzles, Zalmo had accurately predicted their trajectories, he quickly raised both of his hands as if to block those bullets.
Then, at the next moment, a bright light flashed, the force field armour changed the kinetic energy of the bullets into photons.
Both of Zalmo’s arms were equipped with portable force field armour.
The smaller the force field armour area of effect, the shorter its duration, the stronger it became. Since Zalmo only deployed the force field armour on a small area just enough to block the incoming bullets, it was enough to completely kill the momentum of the incoming bullets.
The blinding flashing light from Zalmo’s force field armour made Akira flinch for a split second, but that was enough for Zalmo to close their distance as he released a kick aimed at Akira’s head. Akira was not using anything on his head, a clean hit of Zalmo’s kick would send his head flying.
Akira looked completely surprised by Zalmo’s force field armour, his expression showed his shock and he was unable to react for the time being. Zalmo noticed that and was sure that it was his victory.
[Got him!]
But Zalmo’s kick cleanly cut through the air, Akira was able to quickly duck as if his body was sucked in and evade Zalmo’s kick.
Akira was down low right in front of Zalmo, he then released a swift kick as if to sweep Zalmo’s leg off the ground. But Zalmo lightly jumped off and evaded Akira’s sweep, while at the same time, he brought down his other leg that was still dangling in front of him to Akira’s head. Akira quickly rolled back and stood up.
The short exchange ended there, Akira and Zalmo returned to their initial position. Akira had already thrown away his rifle in the middle of that short exchange, he was now unarmed. Akira lightly tightened his fist and readied his stance, in reaction to that, Zalmo stretched his hand and also readied his stance.
Zalmo then said to Akira mockingly.
“Geez, you’re no fun at all. You really shot someone who jumped straight at you thinking that you have no ammo left. Could you like, you know, get surprised even for a bit? I’m sure you didn’t expect I was able to block them, right? Are you actually a machine or something?”
In contrast to Zalmo, Akira had a grim expression when he replied.
“Didn’t I tell you that I have no leeway for something like that? Or did you already forget about it?”
Zalmo was still looking mockingly at Akira, but it quickly changed to a relaxed smile as if he was looking down at Akira.
“…Well, that doesn’t really matter, it should take effect anytime soon.”
Zalmo had an accelerator drug ready inside his body, it was set so that he could use accelerator drug anytime only by sending the command using his mind. It was a slow-reacting accelerator drug that had a strong effect. Once it was in effect, the drug would significantly boost his focus and perception, thus slowing down the passage of time from his point of view while keeping his disposition calm. Zalmo already activated the accelerator drug, the silly talk with Akira was only to buy some time until the drug took effect.
Zalmo could feel the drug had already taken effect for real, he lightly smirked and said.
“Die!”
With that signal, Akira and Zalmo stopped talking and restarted the fight.
Akira and Zalmo used the full force of their enhanced strength to fight each other, releasing a flurry of attacks with their arms and legs to the vital points of their respective opponent.
Zalmo had superb reaction time thanks to the accelerator drug while Akira had his time compression from his sheer willpower as well as Alpha’s support to move his augmented suit. They were fighting at a speed that no normal human could follow.
A single clean hit was all it needed to kill their opponent, they were continuously throwing attacks at each other while evading the attacks coming at them. It was as if both of them had made prearrangement beforehand, both of them prioritized evading and did not even try to block the attacks. After all, it was hard to judge how powerful an attack with the enhanced strength of the augmented suit was. If they made a blunder trying to block an attack, it might easily tear their limbs, that was why they had no other choice but to evade.
Akira gritted his teeth, he looked like he was having a hard time.
[Too fast!! Although it already took all of me to match the movement of my augmented suit that Alpha is controlling, he is still able to properly react to it! He did say something taking effect though, is it an accelerator drug!? How long before his accelerator drug loses its effect!? Can I survive until then?!]
Thanks to Akira’s time compression, he managed to follow the movement of his augmented suit. By following the movement of his augmented suit during a high-speed fight, he was able to significantly reduce the burden on his body.
But he could not maintain his time compression for long, prolonged use of time compression would assault his brain with information and render his brain fatigued. The moment that happened, his body would be paralyzed. Moreover, there was a limit on how fast he could move his body, the faster the movement, the bigger the burden on his body.
Akira’s physical and psychical limits were coming close. The only thing that he could do in that situation was to do everything he could to end the fight before he hit his limit. But even so, after he exerted everything that he had, he was not able to get the upper hand, as a matter of fact, he was at the disadvantage there.
[Dammit!! Why is someone this strong aiming for this shop!? If he’s this strong, he could have aimed for a better shop with better guards!! Is it because of my bad luck!? Goddammit, I’m really unlucky, right?!]
Akira continued fighting while cursing on the back of his mind.
Zalmo drove a straight kick on Akira’s body. Akira saw it as a good chance, it would be hard for Zalmo to keep his distance close after releasing that kick.
If Akira could open some distance, he should be able to grab his AAH rifle and reload a new magazine. He might even be able to use his CWH anti-material rifle which needed him more time to take aim due to its weight.
Akira jumped backwards, Zalmo’s kick did not hit anything and he lost his balance. Although it was only for a split second, he was not able to chase Akira.
Akira thought that he already had that fight in his bag. So he jumped back, opened a space between them, and tried to aim his CWH anti-material rifle at Zalmo. Akira saw Zalmo still with his balance off, but he noticed something and his eyes went wide.
Zalmo still had not recovered his balance, but he had his rifle that he said got destroyed aimed at Akira.
Akira’s augmented suit moved on its own. He stopped trying to aim his CWH anti-material rifle and grabbed the anti-bullet sheet next to him. He then pulled it to block Zalmo’s line of fire.
Zalmo released a barrage at Akira. Countless bullets pierced through the anti-bullet sheet and hit Akira’s body. Thanks to the sheet killing most of the bullets’ momentum, it did not damage Akira much, but it was enough to blow him back. Akira was smacked to the ground. Zalmo did not stop shooting, so Akira hurriedly hid behind a display nearest to him.
Akira complained while hiding himself from the bullets.
“Didn’t you say your rifle got destroyed!?”
Zalmo recovered his balance and smirked.
“Ahh, sorry, my mistake.”
Zalmo’s rifle was not destroyed yet, although it was damaged, it was still functional.
Zalmo shot randomly in Akira’s direction. The displays were covered with a defensive sheet, but they were not that durable. Akira rolled on the ground from one cover to another, avoiding Zalmo’s barrage.
Akira’s expression was grim, he understood that he was getting cornered.
“Alpha, can we do something about it? It would be bad if this continues. I’m hitting my limit soon.”
Akira was in a rather dire situation. He looked pretty desperate thinking of a way to get out of that situation, but in contrast to that, Alpha replied casually as if it was nothing to worry about.
“Is that so? In that case, how about we just go ahead and kill him?”