He’d experienced this feeling before. Instinctively going along with his body’s movements, he made a fist and threw his arm forward with all his might. His fist plowed into the side of Monica’s face, sending her flying. She bounced once from the impact, then rolled roughly along the ground until friction finally brought her to a stop.

  Akira gasped and stared at the motionless Monica for some time, completely dumbfounded. She didn’t move a muscle.

  Shiori and Kanae stood frozen. Normally they would have immediately pounced while she was down, but now they were too stunned for anything else. Even when they came to their senses, they couldn’t move right away—the nonplussed Akira just standing there, Monica lying on the ground, the toll the speed stims were taking on their bodies, and their own surprise and confusion distracted the two maids from all thoughts of battle. Keeping a wary eye on Monica, they approached Akira.

  “Mr. Akira, what was that just now?” Shiori asked with trepidation.

  “Oh—uh, nothing really. I just hit her as hard as I could.”

  Of course, Shiori knew that alone wouldn’t have been enough to bring Monica down. She narrowed her eyes in suspicion, but she could tell from the look on his face that he was the most surprised of all.

  Carol walked up to them. She looked at Monica on the ground, then the other three, and judged that they’d won. “Nice job, Akira!” she said with a smile. “You did it!”

  “Y-Yeah—probably.”

  “Probably, you say?” She fired another round into Monica, just in case.

  The impact from the shot sent Monica flailing across the ground once more like a rag doll. There was no resistance—as if Carol had shot a corpse.

  Normally this would’ve been enough to confirm for her that Monica was indeed dead, but since Carol had already made that mistake once before, she felt she couldn’t be certain now. “Hmm. Well, she doesn’t seem to be faking, but if she is just pretending to be dead, we’re screwed anyway—that was my last bullet.”

  “No, it’s fine. We’re good,” Akira suddenly said, and walked over to Monica’s body.

  Shiori, Kanae, and Carol all exchanged glances—his declaration had seemed quite confident, and since he was approaching Monica with no caution or tension whatsoever, they opted to trust him and followed behind.

  Right after Akira had said “probably” to Carol, Alpha, who once more had returned to his vision, grinned. Don’t worry—you won! she proclaimed.

  Upon seeing her, Akira felt a variety of emotions arise within him, but he suppressed them for now. Just to confirm, everything’s taken care of now, right?

  Yes. There shouldn’t be any more problems anymore, she said with a smile.

  Got it. Thank goodness. He sighed in relief. Alpha, you’re late. Really late.

  Alpha gave him a teasing grin. Oh? That’s an unusual way to show gratitude to someone for getting them out of a tight spot.

  Yeah, thanks. What was that back there, anyway? What’d you do? Even Akira could realize that he’d only been able to break through Monica’s armor and send her flying because Alpha had interfered with it in some way.

  Oh, you know, this and that. And I’ll just warn you now—she’s still alive. She can’t fight anymore, though, so no need to worry.

  Really? Good to know.

  Akira relayed this into Carol and the others, then walked up to her body.

  Just as Alpha had said, Monica was still alive. But she was so badly injured that she couldn’t even get up on her own. Fighting any more was out of the question.

  What the hell was that?! The question repeated itself within her muddled consciousness, but she couldn’t come up with an answer. She’d just witnessed something truly unbelievable.

  Then Akira appeared next to her. At first she panicked, thinking that he’d come to finish her off, but he just glared down at her. Monica glared back, yet the traces of fear on her face were unmistakable. She still longed to kill him, but now the impulse came from shock and confusion that the tables had turned on her so suddenly—and fear that she herself was about to be slain.

  Wh-What’s he going to do?

  Akira continued to stand there looking down at her, making no other movements.

  Monica felt even more confused. What’s he thinking? Is that hesitation I see on his face? Why? What’s he—?

  “You’re the one making those corpses move, right? Stop them right now,” he said at last.

  Now his hesitation made sense to her. The corpses were still attacking his teammates, but he was unsure whether killing her would stop the corpses—or make it so that they could never be stopped. He wasn’t hesitating out of mercy—he was only weighing his options in the first place because he could kill her whenever he wanted.

  Monica began to see a way out of her predicament. If I tell him I’ve taken one of his friends hostage, he won’t be able to confirm it due to the rain hampering communications. I can use that opening to—

  But before she could think any further, Akira’s eyes narrowed in suspicion. “Actually, I take that back—are you really controlling the corpses?”

  “O-Of course I am! If you kill me, you won’t be able to stop them anymore. And also—”

  Alpha?

  She can’t stop the corpses on her own. It’s impossible.

  With that, Akira’s reason to keep Monica alive vanished. “That’s a lie,” he announced. The uncertainty had also disappeared from his expression, and the glare in his eyes became murderous.

  “I-I’m not lying! Okay, I might’ve asked the factory hiring me to do it, and I might not actually be able to control them myself, but I really can stop them just by asking!”

  Akira ignored her and raised his fist. Monica realized that nothing she said could convince him anymore, and she changed her approach. “W-Wait! How about we make a deal? If it’s money you want, let’s talk! Not aurum—coron!”

  Akira’s fist froze in midair. Monica couldn’t help but smirk—there wasn’t a hunter alive who didn’t understand the value of coron. After all, this was the very reason she’d sought out employment from an Old World factory in the ruins and killed her fellow hunters, even if it meant Kugamayama City might put a bounty on her head. She was sure that mentioning coron would put a damper on her opponent’s dangerous attitude.

  And she had plenty of bargaining power with which to persuade him. She could afford to actually pay him some coron if need be, or she could get him to join forces with her—he was strong, after all. At any rate, getting out of her current situation was her top priority.

  “Let’s join forces, you and me!” she pleaded. “You really are strong—you’ll be a natural! I’ll introduce you to the factory system that hired me. With strength like yours, you’ll be sure to make some serious—”

  Alpha?

  She’s not lying, Alpha replied.

  Got it.

  The next instant, Akira’s fist plowed directly into her face, smashing her skull and pulverizing the brain matter within. Her death was instantaneous.

  After finishing Monica off, Akira sighed.

  Next to him, Alpha looked puzzled. Why did you do that, Akira?

  Um, was that bad?

  You asked me to confirm whether she actually intended to pay up, and I said she wasn’t lying. So why did you kill her?

  I just wanted to check whether she really thought I’d be stupid enough to let her go if she paid me. There’s no way she was going to hold up her end of the bargain. Just how far did she plan to go to deceive me? His telepathic voice became laced with irritation and anger. Oh, and just to let you know—even if you’d told me beforehand that I could afford some seriously good gear if I accepted her offer, I still would’ve done the same thing.

  That’s fine. I’m not criticizing your decision—it doesn’t matter to me either way. I mean, I didn’t stop you, right?

  Akira realized that Alpha could’ve taken control of Akira’s suit and forcibly stopped him if she’d wanted. But she hadn’t. He began to calm down. R-Right. Sorry.

  No big deal! Like I said, I personally don’t care—though I’m not sure how everyone else feels. Alpha cast a knowing glance at Carol. When Akira turned to look, Carol was wearing a conflicted expression.

  “Hey Akira, was that really the right decision? I mean, she offered you coron, right? Don’t tell me you’re so green you don’t know about the value of coron.”

  “Yeah, I do know that much. I know that it’s the currency they used in the Old World, and that there are some incredible pieces of gear out there that can only be bought with it.”

  “Then why? We’re talking coron here! Coron!”

  Akira felt like he was being criticized for his decision and scowled. “I warned her before that if she tried to hurt Elena or Sara in any way, I’d take responsibility and kill her,” he said quietly, though looking stern. “I just made good on my promise, that’s all.” Without meaning to, he let his anger at Monica creep into his attitude toward Carol as he added, “And if you’re thinking I should’ve asked you first since coron’s involved and we’re on the same team, don’t waste your breath.”

  He waited for her reaction, prepared even to fight her at a moment’s notice if it came to it. But when he saw the look on Carol’s face, all his tension slipped away.

  “Nope, no complaints here!” she said with a grin. Oddly enough, she sounded even more cheerful than usual.

  Akira was taken aback. “O-Oh, yeah? Good to hear.”

  “How do you two feel about it?” Carol asked, turning to Shiori.

  “I have no complaints. She tried to kill Miss Reina—no amount of money could buy forgiveness for that.”

  Kanae added, “I think you made the right call, kiddo. Even if she’d been telling the truth, give it another hour and she would’ve betrayed you again. You can’t trust people like that as far as you can throw them—it’s more dangerous to leave ’em alive.”

  “Perhaps it would’ve been better to ask for Ms. Elena’s approval first as team leader, but since we cannot contact her at the moment, I’m sure she will understand that the decision had to be made without her input,” Shiori said. “Although, even if we had received Ms. Elena’s orders to leave her alive, I wouldn’t have complied. If you hadn’t finished her, Mr. Akira, I certainly would have.”

  “I-I see.” Akira flinched at her vehemence, but relaxed again when he remembered that, regardless of what Shiori might have intended to do, Monica was now dead. “Okay, let’s meet up with the others, then we can focus on getting out of here,” he said, forcing himself to think positively. The threat that Monica posed had been eliminated, but they weren’t safe just yet—they still had to make it out of the ruins. Reminding himself that he couldn’t let his guard down prematurely, he set off with the others.

  ◆

  With Monica out of the picture, Akira and the others were easily able to meet up with Shikarabe’s group. Once everyone was accounted for, they ducked into a nearby container to rest.

  Akira was surprised at the story Elena recounted to him. “They turned on each other?” he asked.

  “Yes. All of a sudden the corpses were fighting among themselves, as though they saw everyone else as an enemy. They attacked us as well, of course, but their own friendly fire made it easy for us to take them out.”

  “Based on what’s been said so far, that would coincide with the time that your group killed Monica,” Shikarabe added, looking at Akira. “That makes me think her death caused whatever was controlling those corpses to malfunction somehow.”

  Akira looked perplexed. Alpha, I thought you said Monica wasn’t the one controlling those corpses.

  Let’s save that for later. If I explained in detail now, Elena and the others would see the realization dawn on your face and ask you questions you’d have a hard time dodging.

  “Come to think of it, how’d you take that woman down, anyway?” Shikarabe asked. “From everything I’ve heard, it seems like all the odds were against you.”

  “I don’t know myself. I just tried hitting her as hard as I could, and it worked.”

  “But Kanae’s gauntlets could resist force-field armor, and even she couldn’t break through her defenses. So how did your punch reach her only wearing a normal powered suit?”

  “Like I said, I don’t know.” He knew Alpha had done something, but wasn’t sure what.

  His genuinely clueless expression was enough to convince Shikarabe.

  “I see. Well, if that’s the case, it looks like both our groups got rescued by something we can’t explain. I don’t really get it, but I guess we can chalk this one up to luck.” With a wry smile, he looked at Monica’s corpse, which lay in the corner. “Maybe we’d get a better idea of what happened by analyzing her scanner’s data, but that’s the city’s job, and there’s no guarantee they’ll tell us what they learn anyway.”

  Bringing Monica’s body along had been Carol’s idea—she’d argued it would have been a waste to leave her behind, as her body would verify her betrayal to the city, and her Old World gear would fetch some serious coin. “At any rate, I think we can expect a big payout from all this,” she said. “There wasn’t even a bounty on her head, and considering all the trouble we went through for just a normal rescue mission, we can at least persuade the city into buying her gear from us at a high price.” She grinned.

  As they talked, the rain finally let up—break time was over. Elena gave the order to move out, but as they were about to exit the container, she stopped.

  “What’s wrong?” Akira asked her.

  “Now that the rain’s let up, I’m picking up a comms signal through all the static. It seems to be heading our way. I’m going to go check it out. Wait right here.”

  Akira and the others took another break while they waited for Elena. When she came back, she wore an odd expression.

  “Something wrong?” Sara asked, concerned.

  “The signal was from an additional unit the city sent. I got in touch with them, and they’re coming to us now.”

  Thanks to the hunter who’d managed to escape and make it to the city’s outpost, the city had already learned about Monica’s betrayal and had immediately dispatched another support unit, which had finally made it close enough to reach Elena’s wireless.

  What was more, since the city had heard no word from Hex and Hound, they’d assumed the worst and issued the support unit another powered armor to serve as a replacement relay back to base. Now that the rain had let up, the network reception within the district had already improved so much it was even better than before the rain started. In the open-air space that contained the terminal, Akira and the others would be able to get in touch with the city’s outpost at last.

  Yet once Elena relayed this to the others, they looked just as conflicted as she had. They were obviously overjoyed to meet up with a support unit, but it was clear from their faces that they would have liked the help a little sooner.

  Before long, Akira and the others met up with the support unit, exited the ruin, and reached the city outpost without any further trouble—though Akira, determined to not let his guard down until the end, had been prepared to fight his way out if necessary.

  Despite all the twists and turns he’d encountered this time, he’d once again managed to make it back from the ruins in one piece.

  Chapter 123: The Trick Revealed

  With his hunter work in Mihazono over, Akira returned home, filled his bathtub to the brim with hot water, and soaked away all his accumulated fatigue. “This is heaven,” he mumbled with a look of ecstasy on his face. Once he’d allowed himself to relax, all the tension his body had dissolved in one go.

  Take your time and enjoy, Alpha said, joining him in the bath like always. Or so I’d like to say, but if you’re that tired, maybe you ought to go ahead and hit the sack.

  That sounded reasonable, but the bath was just so comfortable that he felt reluctant to get up right away. “Just a little longer,” he mumbled.

  Okay, just take care not to doze off.

  “Sure thing,” he replied, but even as he spoke, his consciousness was starting to fade. Realizing he was already in the danger zone, he racked his brain for something to talk about in order to stay awake. “Say, you never told me what trick you pulled to let me win against Monica. How’d you swing that?”

  Fine, I’ll tell you. In layman’s terms, I hacked into her gear’s detection processing and messed with her force-field armor’s output. Alpha explained that Monica’s gear had included high-powered scanning equipment, allowing her force-field armor to sense an enemy’s incoming attack and match its power at the moment of impact. Alpha had exploited this, making the software think Monica was about to receive a fatal attack everywhere except her head. The armor had distributed all its energy to the rest of her body to block the “attack,” leaving her head defenseless against Akira’s punch—boosted with Alpha’s support. Monica’s Old World outfit was the only reason her head hadn’t gone flying from her body.

  Once upon a time, right after Akira had met Alpha, they’d gone deep into the Kuzusuhara ruins together to hunt relics—where he’d nearly died after disobeying Alpha’s orders. Alpha explained (rather smugly) that she’d done something similar back then to help Akira escape, making the monstrous robot attacking him think that the boy was in a different location than he actually was.

  “Oh, so that’s what happened.” He was about to nod in understanding when something occurred to him. “But if that’s all you did, why did you need to be away from me for so long?”

  Remember how my support capabilities take a big hit when I’m outside of Kuzusuhara? Especially my scanning?

  “Yeah, you did say something like that.”

  Well, it does improve over time, but only gradually. I’m glad I could make it back before it was too late. And that wasn’t all I did! Remember when Elena was saying the corpses were fighting among themselves? That was also my handiwork! I rewrote their search processing to recognize their fellow dead as enemies.

 

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