Arc 1 P9

"Damn, thought I did it properly that time."

The rider calmly trotted back towards the burning corpses. His attitude towards the incident was too laid-back like it's just a normal occurrence. In a way, death was normal in the outerfields, but it's usually more… honorable. This however, was nothing but murder. Cold murder.

He raised a brow when he noticed Shiska curled into a ball, hugging tightly the cold hand of the girl he just killed.

"Hey, sorry about that. Mind passing the—woah!" He dodged the incoming head of the staff aimed at his face right when he's trying to pull out his sword. "I said pass, not hey hey! Woah! Stop it!"

On the other hand, Shiska wordlessly and relentlessly attacked. True, relics were powerful once activated, but an inactive relic could still be useful. A sword was still a sword, and a staff, a staff. Simple combat maneuvers could still work.

"What the hell? Were you her friend or something?"

The biker circled back to the corpse to draw his sword, however, Shiska was a step ahead. She intentionally attacked on his right side so he'd try to block. Then, once his hand was on the staff, Shiska let go, prompting his to take it. That's when she pulled out the sword out. It's still vibrating.

"Okay, you're pretty good, I give you that. But if you know what's good for you," His face turned serious. "Put that down."

Shiska replied with nothing but a focused glare. He knew that look. It's the look of someone who's only intention was to kill.

"The bloodlust checks out," He twirled the staff. Although he knew he's not so good at it, he's confident he could defeat her.

Shiska didn't wait for him and struck first. He defended with the staff. Sparks flew as she quickly moved to the next strike. And the next one. And the next. Due to the staff's length, he couldn't do much once that distance advantage was lost.

However, he already knew the girl wasn't so much of a frontliner. Her clothes, while worn-out, had too many straps wrapped around. Being in the outerfields with that get-up meant two things: one, she's just a nutjob. Highly unlikely. Two, she's only in charge of reconnaissance or even just a carrier bot. Those straps were meant to hold stuff. Her moves felt like they're copied from someone who clearly knew what they're doing.

He grinned. I think I wanna meet that guy!

The assault saw no stopping and he's stuck on defense. Some came through, yet nothing clean got past, only scratches.

Soon, he felt it.

Using the momentum of the turn he used to dodge, he hit Shiska at right side. His fingers felt the staff's feedback as it connected to a rib or two. The girl lost balance and fell sideways.

"The thing with adrenaline is, it could only do so much until it fizzles off," he lectured, standing before her. "Again, I'm sorry about your friend there but I'm just doing my job. No hard feelings."

"…"

"Hm?"

"…dying…"

"Seriously? I really don't want to kill you if I can help it, you know?"

"YOU KILLED HER! SHE'S SUPPOSED TO LIVE!"

He's surprised she could still shout with her broken bones. Looking at her eyes now though, he could understand.

Those rage-filled irises were now clouded by tears. He knew it's not from the pain on her side, rather, it's on her left. After all, it looked more painful, seeing her clutch it leaving her injured right side.

"And? Nothing new around here. People kill, people die, this is the outerfields, not Chernobyl. Anything goes here. Besides, I did that tainted friend of yours a favor," He walked to where Ambrosia lay. The two medics were nowhere to be found now. The fire that burned them must've been hot enough to melt flesh and bones that quickly. "Dying isn't always a bad thing. You know what's worse? Being a guinea pig. A lab rat who, instead of enjoying the advance of medical science, lamented it instead. Everyday was a new test. Everyday, a different hell. New medicine, new relics, new theories… sky's the limit."

He remembered some bad memories. He should stop before it interfered with his job. Those people should be left to rest, like this unfortunately girl.

Something hot pierced his side. He messed up. He let his guard down all because of he got a little emotional.

He smiled. "Nice tactic. However, letting me hold this relic is a bad decision."

In an instant, a bright light exploded, engulfing Shiska in a fiery blaze.

"Tinder. That's the name. Be sure to remember that for next time because by then, I'll aim for your neck," He then whispered something to her .

True to his word, the flames died out without severely burning her. Unfortunately, the adrenaline rush had passed and so did her consciousness.

***

Leroy took his time and carefully scanned the area before going to the point the operator said. He couldn't afford to fight like earlier. Shiska wasn't here, meaning he could only do as much as this small vial permitted.

The top floor was more intact that the lower ones. As if the more special in the line of all the once unique floors of this building, this one still had electricity running, thanks to R-cells, an equipment that collected the remaining traces of radioactivity in the surroundings and convert it as useable energy. These little boxes placed around the entire floor might look like nothing at first, but its efficiency could compete with nuclear while its environmental impact was akin to natural sources; the ideal power source, as it was called.

"Why did that corrupted have to be so tough?" He looked at the sword at his right hand. It's still activated. "One left."

Leroy navigated through the spacious area looking at all the things he only saw broken in the outerfields. Soft couches, a huge aquarium with mechanical marine life swimming in it, well-trimmed plants thanks to the housekeeper bot roaming around, cozy lights with customizable settings, and most importantly, a fully airconditioned restroom. Leroy pressed the flush button repeatedly and looked at the water created a whirpool for a few seconds before getting sucked down and returning as still as a lake.

After getting his fill of tinkering through all the amenities, he continued on.

Soon, he arrived at the doors or some sort of laboratory. The airtight, access doors were clearly not in par with the rest of the buildings defense systems. It's a good thing they're not that hard. After confirming with the operstor that the security systems were down, he used a grenade to blast open the door. Years ago, a measly explosive shouldn't be enough. Nowadays, the destructive power of explosives had dramatically improved. After all, as the quality of life increased, so would the weapons.

Inside was indeed a laboratory. Despite knowing nothing about this place, the bloody operating table was a dead give away. There's a weird stain on the floor, along with a tattered lab gown.

"Actually," the operator spoke. According to the database, this building had suspicions of conniving with an extremist group to start the fourth world war."

"Really? So the war took place only around two millennia ago?"

"That's still two thousand years, you know. Besides, I recall saying 160 centuries. That's 16,000 years, you know."

"People live in centuries so I doubt it'd be a long wait. What's the life expectancy now?"

"Uh, 123."

"So that means most people die after a century."

"Hm? Strange…"

"What is?"

"Oh, nothing. Sorry about that."

"Please focus on the mission."

"R-Right. Sorry."