Smoke rose skyward, flames raged high beneath the scorched-red night.
The two armies clashed in a brutal struggle, the searing air thick with blood and madness.
A silver-armored Valkyrie and a grotesquely twisted mutant aimed their guns at one another.
The fainted Saburo, the silent Vela, and the roaring Yorinobu—niece and uncle, loyalty and betrayal, rescue and regicide—all seemed to depict the Arasaka family teetering on the brink of collapse.
The sanctity of the old days shattered; new authority was taking its place.
...
Click.
A grand tableau of rebellion and suppression froze in time.
Huff... huff...
Aboard the Airborne Assault Division's aircraft No. 127, the side hatch was open. Through a 50x optical zoom device, the floating armor platform recorded the "son fails to slay the father, niece strikes uncle to save the old man" incident—historical footage destined to become corporate propaganda. The pilot couldn't help but mutter inwardly: Saburo-sama really has grown old.
One moment of carelessness, and Yorinobu managed to outsmart him—imprisoning him and nearly taking his life.
As a cyber-ninja trained in the Arasaka Family Compound, Rin was an orphan, bearing no surname; even her name was one she chose for herself later. "Arin" was Vela's personal nickname for her.
Like Goro Takemura, Rin's creed in life was loyalty to Arasaka.
After being handpicked and assigned by Saburo to serve under Vela, her and her colleagues' lifelong duty became to protect, attend, and—when required—monitor Vela.
Though Rin sometimes felt that Vela hardly needed their protection.
As for surveillance—Rin was aware, and Vela was even more aware.
Regardless, from Rin's perspective, their coexistence was harmonious, mutually beneficial, and uneventful.
She truly enjoyed the days serving by Vela's side.
Not only was the work fulfilling—full of action, strategy, and constant skirmishes with rival factions from New America and other corporate rivals—but she also enjoyed early access to cutting-edge tech and new iterations of cybernetic weaponry.
"Takemura-san and the others were just unlucky," Rin muttered. "To get caught up in a father-killing mess like that—nearly wiped out... hmph, our Lone Wolf Hundred have never suffered such a loss. Shameful betrayal! Who would've thought that Yorinobu, whom Saburo-sama once called weak and spineless, would dare something like this."
Behind her, the grinding sound of machinery filled the cabin as several fully armed cyber-ninjas in [Oni 3-C] medium power armor cursed while adjusting their exosuits, moving toward the open drop hatch.
It was 2077—Arasaka's so-called "cyber-ninjas" were no longer mere assassins or bodyguards. "Special forces" was a far more accurate term, one that naturally included power-armor operators.
The miserable fate of Takemura's squad, in the end, was a matter of ambush, not incompetence.
After all, their light bodyguard armor had been overrun by the fully equipped Arasaka Regular Combat Division—caught off-guard by inside betrayal, and by Yorinobu himself acting as bait in his mutated form. Their defensive floor was bombed to ruin. With all those debuffs stacked—how could they have fought back?
Beep, beep.
A high-priority channel pinged in Rin's headset.
[Vela: Proceed with Plan A. Identify friend and foe carefully. Prepare for extraction. Ensure rapid evac of the rescued personnel.]
Hearing that, Rin focused, her neural link controlling the aircraft's electromagnetic railgun while she peered through the Blaze Luminous shield below. Vela was carrying Saburo to retreat, while Yorinobu charged after them, roaring.
Gunfire filled the night.
"Concentrate fire!"
Suppressing the first-stage Kakuja's bloodthirsty frenzy, the now-lucid Yorinobu shouted, "Vela, you can't save him!"
He clumsily manipulated his unnamed [Oni-series] external cybernetic module—his muscular legs tensed, shattering the concrete beneath. The jet module on his back roared to life, fiery exhaust bursting out as he launched like a human projectile.
His claws lashed out—
Rip!
His shoulders and back split open, bone growths piercing through flesh. Crimson Kagune tendrils wrapped around his arms, forming heavy, spear-like Koukaku blades.
With a thunderous thrust, the sharpened spikes tore through smoke and debris, striking toward Saburo cradled in Vela's arm.
—And then—
Bulbous, murky eyes bulged and split open along the Kagune, bursting violently. Blood vapor ignited on contact with air—boom!—a burning explosion.
Like a flaming lance of a mounted knight.
Vela remained silent—only dodging.
She had no choice, burdened as she was with dead weight.
The [Warframe System]'s honeycomb crystal shield could not completely block the shockwaves and vibration of collisions or explosions, especially not the thousand-degree flames generated by the combustion of T-Veronica-virus-infused blood.
Even if the shield could block the blast, it was designed for a full-body warframe—there was hardly any room inside.
And Saburo didn't have Vela's resilient physique, nor the protection of her armor.
He was flesh wrapped in steel, held in Vela's arms outside the suit.
To put it bluntly, if the shockwaves or heat reached him, he'd become little more than human reactive armor.
Not to mention, Saburo had just been forcefully injected by his dear son with a fusion-virus-modified G-embryo, leaving his physical condition severely weakened.
Vela worried that if she accelerated too hard, tossed him around with a few Gs, and then looked down... she might find the old man already gone.
So—she brought backup instead of going in light.
Boom!
Boom, boom!
Boom-boom! Boom-boom!
After suppressive fire blanketed the field, hundreds of meters above ground, the Airborne Assault Division's armored transports and heavy attack aircraft opened their belly hatches in unison. Rows of power-armored units began their descent, while pyramid-shaped drop pods plummeted to the surface.
The power-armored troopers used propulsion systems for maneuvering; the pods decelerated using reverse thrusters at 10–5 meters altitude.
There was no need to elaborate further—the power-armored units landed, the pods slammed down, and the moment the hatches burst open, engine roars and gunfire filled the air.
Autonomous drones, Cyber Tyrants, multi-legged mechs, robotic hounds, and AST battle units poured out in perfect coordination. Cannon fodder took the front, shields held the line, assault squads charged, harassment units flanked, and cover teams laid suppressive fire—each playing their role with tactical precision.
Through the external lenses of the drop pods, the Division's Netrunner squads initiated simultaneous hacks—either engaging hostile netrunners directly or supporting allies by sowing chaos. [Electromagnetic Shortout], [Target Lock], [Cyberware Malfunction], [Collateral Infection]—a cascade of digital curses unleashed like a storm.
Pressure on Vela's side instantly lifted.
Following the intrusion link, she fried several rebel netrunners' brains to medium rare, their eyes rolling back as blood steamed from their ears. Then she glanced toward Yorinobu and said coolly, "You've lost."
Raising her arm—bang, bang-bang, bang!—a burst of azure energy rounds shattered the Blaze Luminous shield's control terminal and generator.
Amid the dissipating smoke, severed cables crackled with blue-white lightning.
The emerald barrier flickered—then burst apart with a sharp pop!
"No!"
Yorinobu screamed.
Naturally, Vela wouldn't waste such an opportunity. Smiling, she bent slightly and leapt backward.
Amid the brief gap in anti-air coverage, she deployed her four-winged anti-gravity and vector thrusters, ascending slowly into the sky.
Sweeping her gaze across the battlefield, she preemptively detonated incoming programmable proximity missiles, then veered east to avoid the air-defense grid still under Yorinobu's control. Once clear of the port area, she entrusted the unconscious Saburo to a trusted subordinate.
Heh-heh-heh!
Whirrr!
A barrage of Ukaku projectiles filled the air, followed by a crushing gravity field.
Vela countered by deploying her own anti-gravity field, glaring at the airborne Yorinobu. He raised his Koukaku, morphing into a massive battle axe as blood ignited around him. With a roar, he twisted his waist and swung downward.
His movements were fierce—faster than Vela had anticipated.
That external module... gravity field generator... vector thrusters... identical to her own concepts. But how was he controlling it? Force feedback? Neural impulse? Subdermal neuro-interface?
Vela pondered calmly.
A heartbeat later—sparks and shredded flesh burst from Yorinobu's chest.
Boom!
A charged 22mm explosive armor-piercing round struck him, halting his movement.
Then came more—rockets, autocannon fire, engulfing him in an inferno. His body plummeted, crashing hard into the coastal wall of Arasaka's waterfront district. Smoke and debris erupted skyward, fragments raining down everywhere.
"Commander!"
Through roaring engines, a shadow loomed. Rin's airborne assault craft arrived—the floating armor gunship's side hatch open, her electromagnetic railgun still trailing white smoke.
"Arin—it's yours now." Vela turned lightly, passing Saburo into her arms.
"Yes, ma'am." Rin received him carefully.
With the dead weight handed off, then...
Spinning Black Abyss in a flash of gunmetal light, Vela's lips curved into a vicious grin.
Energy surged. Her four-winged anti-gravity thrusters flared bright, nozzles aimed skyward.
"I'm not afraid of you killing the hostage anymore... my dear second uncle."
BOOOOM!!
A sonic boom shattered the air.
A streak of light plunged downward—crash!
Squelch~
The wall exploded, followed by the wet crunch of flesh and bone ground to paste amid the rising dust.