The V-22 tiltrotor, nicknamed the Osprey, was a little different from what most people thought of as a "helicopter."
In outline it resembled a fixed-wing aircraft, but at each wingtip sat a rotatable engine nacelle driving a proprotor.
In airplane mode, the V-22 looked like a plane with two enormous propellers mounted on the wingtips.
In helicopter mode, it became a helicopter with two relatively smaller rotors. That gave it the defining trait of a helicopter—vertical takeoff and landing—while also retaining the advantages of a propeller aircraft: high speed, long range, and lower fuel consumption.
And now, one of those Ospreys suddenly appeared from the far side of the river.
The moment it noticed them, it came straight over. Without a word, it swung its cannon to intimidate them, signaling them to pull over.
There was no choice but to comply. No one could possibly withstand an aircraft cannon.
Under normal circumstances, Saya Takagi would have interpreted this as the military trying to prevent further spread of the virus—stopping anyone who tried to escape via waterways.
So she would not have been too panicked.
She was the Takagi family's young lady. If she gave her name, maybe they would even escort her home. If anything, she felt a certain sense of security.
However, she noticed something odd on the Osprey's fuselage—strange symbols and graffiti, with none of the usual military markings. That made her pay closer attention.
So she raised her binoculars—and immediately saw that something was wrong in the cockpit.
One by one, the crew were wearing masks like demons.
Her heart dropped. This Osprey was not right.
At once, she warned that guy over the radio.
Sure enough, the instant they pulled in to the bank, a masked woman leapt down from the aircraft.
The key point was that she jumped from that height, and that was simply abnormal.
In Saya's understanding, even a very strong soldier would be an idiot to jump down like that. It would be easy to fracture a bone. A bad landing could even kill you.
Which meant the masked woman's physical capability was far beyond a normal human's.
So Saya immediately realized the masked woman was likely that guy's enemy—here to stop him.
"How lucky," the masked woman said bluntly. "Catching the Takagi family's young lady by accident. Now I can use you to threaten the chairman of that Patriotic One-Heart Society—the one who won't bend no matter what."
Saya's expression changed.
It looked like she had guessed wrong.
"This is the age we've been waiting for," the woman continued, still speaking lightly. "Only by cooperating with us—Syringe—do you get a bright future. But that bastard really doesn't know how to show respect. So I'll cut off one of his daughter's arms and send it over first. Hm. Should I also take an eye?"
The casual tone, paired with the cruelty of the words, made Saya's face tighten even further.
But she caught something else.
The moment the woman said "Syringe," Saeko Busujima reacted.
Saeko's gaze sharpened like a blade.
In that case, the masked woman really could be that guy's enemy.
Perhaps she was one of the masterminds operating behind the scenes of the current "counter-terror" chaos.
"The living dead… was that your organization's handiwork?" Saya demanded.
"Hm?" The masked woman laughed. "Why would you think that?"
The question did not answer directly, but Saya confirmed it through the woman's subtle body language.
She had hit the mark.
And in that instant, Saya felt the woman's attitude shift. Before, she had wanted to take her alive.
Now, she only wanted to kill her.
To silence her.
In the next moment, from more than ten meters away, the masked woman closed the distance to nearly zero in what looked like a blink.
She sprinted straight into Saya's face. A hand plated with sharp armored segments shot toward her eye—only a few centimeters away from piercing her eyeball.
Saya's eyes trembled. Her face drained bloodless white.
It did not miss because the woman held back.
It missed because Saeko's knife-hand strike intercepted it.
And Rei Miyamoto thrust her spear in at the same time—only for the masked woman to catch the shaft with her bare hand.
The next second, Saya stumbled backward and fell hard onto the ground.
Saeko had yanked her back.
Saeko immediately surged forward with a ferocious counterattack, while Rei could only watch for an opening.
But after only a few exchanges, Saeko took a punch.
Then, just as the masked woman reached to seize Saeko's face and tear it apart, Rei's spear tip forced its way in.
It still was not enough.
Within a few more exchanges, Rei was sent flying, crashing heavily into Saya and making her cry out in pain.
Before the two of them could even disentangle, another body slammed down onto them, drawing another agonized scream from Saya.
Saeko too… was defeated?
"You've got good eyes," the masked woman said. "Join my team."
As she spoke, she casually stepped back, because Saeko—struggling—finally collapsed unconscious.
"Fine," the masked woman said. "Then I'll just kill you."
So that guy still had not arrived?
Body aching, Saya watched the masked woman draw closer—then suddenly pulled the trigger on a pistol she had kept hidden from the start.
Bang!
The masked woman staggered back, her head snapping slightly.
Hit. Yes—
"What a shame," the woman said, straightening in an instant with a mocking tone. "You missed."
Damn it!
Suddenly, the woman jerked backward again. A faint orange glimmer flashed through the spot where she had been standing, then plunged into the river beside them.
An abnormal flare lit up the water.
The river surface began to boil, and hazy gray vapor rose into the air.
Saya froze for a split second—then released a shaky breath, and even felt a flash of delight.
That had to be his kind of ammunition, the kind that could melt even metal.
He was here.
Sure enough, a silhouette cut into the scene and planted itself in front of them.
"Oh?" the masked woman said, amused. "Interesting. That speed isn't something an ordinary person can manage. Are you with Black Label?"
He did not respond.
Instead, he glanced back at the girls behind him.
His gaze lingered on Saeko longer than on anyone else, and his brow tightened slightly.
For some reason, that made Saya feel an inexplicable, sour irritation in her chest.
When he turned back around—
Saya suddenly felt as if he had become more frightening.
She could see anger in his eyes.
"If you're going to ignore me—wh—!"
The masked woman's voice cut off mid-syllable.
The masked woman, Murasaki Kaoru, performed the last physical motion of her life—
Her pupils dilated.
She saw her own arm—raised to block an attack from the man who had seemingly "jumped" into her face—get severed and sent flying.
A joke? It had to be a joke.
The armored gauntlet on her arm was made from special metal, and it had been cut off that easily?
Huh?
Her vision turned strange—double images, like one person becoming two, the images splitting farther and farther apart.
In the final instant before her sight went completely black, before consciousness sank forever into darkness, she saw the other half of her own body.
So that was it.
She had been cut clean in two.
…
Gulp.
That was the sound of Kiba Mikoto swallowing.
They could not keep up in person, but they still had remote drones.
So they saw it clearly.
On the screen, the masked woman—Syringe's operative—was killed in a single exchange.
Her body split straight down from the head, neatly cleaved into two halves.
This woman was one of Syringe's members, one of the malignant tumors they were meant to remove. Mikoto had fought her yesterday—she had been stronger than Mikoto by far.
And because Mikoto had dragged Yuko down, that was why those sisters had escaped.
Yes, twin sisters.
One of them was apparently the "Harem Demon Claw."
Now, with only one clash, one of the twins was instantly dismembered.
Which meant that if Mikoto ever faced that man directly, he could kill her in a single move, in a single instant.
"This is bad," Mikoto said suddenly.
If the younger sister had been butchered like that, the companions on the Osprey—especially the older sister—would go insane.
Sure enough, the Osprey began to turn.
But it did not bring the externally mounted cannon to bear.
Instead, it swung its rear around, presenting its "tail" more precisely.
Mikoto saw it.
At the open rear ramp, the older sister looked like she was roaring, hefting a Gatling gun—clearly intending to personally riddle him with fire.
Then they had to be faster.
Mikoto drove her drone forward at full speed, aiming to ram it into the aircraft. The drone itself was rigged with explosives.
However—
Before it could collide, before it could even get close enough—
The older sister's body abruptly melted away by half, in a single instant.
Immediately after that, the Osprey took abnormal hits as well—seven or eight orange flashes in rapid succession. Wherever the impacts landed, everything was melted through.
Including the Osprey's outer skin, which opened into glaring, cavernous holes.
Then a massive fireball blossomed across the night sky.
For a moment, Mikoto could only stare.
When she snapped back, she swung the drone's camera down toward the people on the ground, because she had caught orange streaks slicing through the darkness.
Those shots had come from the ground.
The moment the camera refocused, she saw him raise his gun toward the drone.
In the next second, the feed went dead.
The drone had been shot down.
Or maybe not.
Maybe the battery had simply run out and it dropped on its own.
Mikoto looked toward Yuko.
Originally, they had intended to repay a favor, to step in and help.
But now it seemed there was no need at all.
He had dealt with everything cleanly and decisively.
So… should they still make contact?
That man was dangerously strong.
But at least one thing was fortunate.
He clearly was not a member of Syringe.
(End of Chapter)
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