đźź Chapter 48:
We faced an obstacle before entering — Number Four. I didn't wait long and immediately attacked, firing an explosive bullet like the one I'd used on Number Five before. But...
"Spatial Rift."
A rift suddenly opened in front of her and my bullet went into the rift instead of hitting her.
"Huh?... Where did it go?"
The same rift appeared over Haizen's head and my bullet came out and exploded on him.
"Oops... I think I blew him up by accident."
I looked at Haizen to see if he was okay. The smoke from the blast cleared and Haizen was still standing despite the explosion, glaring at me.
"You've got insane durability. Well, I can't handle her alone anyway. By the way, sorry about what happened," I told him.
Number Four laughed mockingly at me.
"Do you think the two of you can face me?"
Her skill was annoying, no doubt, but if that was all she had, I thought we had a chance. She pulled two combat knives from the pockets of her suit.
In a blink she attacked Haizen, but he reacted quickly — parrying the first knife aimed at his head and the other at his stomach.
Number Four backed off and renewed her assault, sending a flurry of strikes at Haizen while he parried with his sword.
Despite his blocks, she remained a big problem; he couldn't stop defending because of that ability of hers.
I figured I should intervene, but using an explosive bullet might be bad, so I switched to a normal round. I aimed at her, but she saw it fast and used a rift to make the opening appear in front of Haizen — he dodged the bullet too, but in the process he took a stab from her knife and staggered, falling to the ground.
Number Four began to taunt us. "Hahaha, did you think these were ordinary knives? Actually, they contain a paralytic poison."
This is bad. Really bad. A real problem. How do I deal with someone like her?
[You know I'm a system — I can come up with ideas humans don't.]
What is the system talking about now — ideas humans don't come up with? Think, Takeru, think... Haizen got up and tried to resist the poison and attacked, but his strikes became slower.
Number Four easily avoided him, opened a rift and stabbed into it, then made another rift in front of Haizen's leg and drove her knife in there — he fell again.
What can I do to defeat her? A blinding grenade... no, that could backfire. What about a massive bomb to blow the whole place... no, that won't work either.
[I can't make a bomb that blows up the whole place.]
Right — the system's capabilities are still limited. Haizen rose again, deciding to use the Shadow Style. It was clear from the stance he took.
A dark aura began to spin around his sword. Number Four didn't just watch — she used her rifts and started stabbing, but Haizen resisted to prepare his counterattack and then struck. Even Number Four was shocked by the attack — but unfortunately...
She saved herself at the last moment and used her rift clumsily, to the point she didn't know where to put her second rift, which ended up far away from Haizen. That was disappointing — even Shadow Style wasn't enough against her, though she seemed a little shaken.
"System, can you make a weapon faster than Haizen's attack speed?" I asked.
[No. Think of something else.]
Okay — I don't know where her second rifts will appear, so I'll play a dangerous game with her.
[As usual, you'll think of a bad plan.]
"System, I found what I want you to make. Create..."
…Five minutes later.
Haizen continued attacking despite the poison, but he had become painfully slow; he couldn't keep up with her movements. Only one idea remained — risky and with a real chance of failing — but I had no other choice.
"Heyyy, Number Four!"
She turned at my words with a cold look. I hadn't attacked at all since I told the system to build what I wanted.
"What is it, Tree? Your partner is trying desperately to hit me and you just watch?"
"If that's the case, then end me. I'm tired of just watching — I'd rather die than only watch. One challenge with the weapon I point at you. What do you say — do you accept or are you afraid?"
Number Four grew furious at my words.
"Haaaa — I'm terrified of your pathetic little weapon, as if you'll hit me with it."
Perfect. She sees me as pathetic — exactly what I wanted.
"So you have no problem with this contest, then."
She looked at me arrogantly and said, "Hurry up and show me your pathetic challenge."
"I'll fire the same thing I fired earlier that hit my comrade instead of you, and you in turn will attack from behind my head — you can cut my head off then, or wound me; whichever is faster wins."
It was crazy to dictate where she would strike with her rift, but that played on her pride: one of us would lose a head.
Haizen looked at me in bewilderment but didn't object. Number Five looked at me like he'd seen something like this before. Number Four grinned excitedly and said, "This is fun. I'd love to see your head explode or be cut... fine, I accept."
Excellent — she agreed. Now only one thing remained to blow the other's head off, you conceited fool.
I pulled out my pistol — it looked like my previous pistol, at least externally to her — and focused my aim at her head while she held her knife. I tilted my head slightly away from the gun and then fired...
The bullet shot straight for her head, but the rift preceded my bullet; at the same time there were three other rifts.
One appeared in front of her and she lunged through it with her knife, emerging from the second rift which was supposed to appear behind me — but...
As I said, my pistol only resembled the previous one on the outside. What I asked the system to make was something no human on earth had invented.
It was still a pistol in the end, but made in a Factory style, of course. There was a forward shot, but the pistol also fired a rearward round.
She couldn't see it externally and couldn't know how it worked internally — and I don't even know exactly how the system made it — so there was simply a rear muzzle on the pistol, which is why I had tilted my head away from the pistol earlier so it wouldn't hit me.
My forward bullet was slower than her rift because there were meters between us, but the rift that appeared behind me to stab me with her knife was very close, and the rear bullet would surely be faster than her attack. Still, I ducked lower just in case she might hit me.
The rift behind me opened and her knife struck me a little, while my rear bullet sped into the rift through which she thrust her hand and detonated in her face without her realizing it.
As for the frontal bullet that was supposed to hit me, the rift that would return it to my face appeared in front of me — but the bullet was... fake. Essentially a plastic round that hit my face and had no effect at all.
Number Four collapsed from the explosion, the force of the blast driving her toward the door and shattering it completely.