Chapter 2: Trigger the Free Spirit.

Hayato lay collapsed on the ground, his shirt completely soaked in blood.

Little by little, his hair began to turn white like ash, while a red light slowly covered his whole body.

A red flash lit up the entire place. With the power of a thousand suns, blinding even the soldiers who were fighting the young woman who looked like an angel.

"What’s happening?" said one of the soldiers, trying to regain his vision.

"General! Another Dual has appeared!" shouted another soldier.

The general, who was face to face with the girl, shifted his gaze downward.

On the ground, a young man with white hair and a large violet overcoat seemed to stretch, as if waking from a long nap.

"Tch… damn it, another Dual. What a nuisance." said the general.

"Lambo, Gini, capture the second Dual." he ordered with authority.

Two soldiers nodded in unison and descended at high speed.

As they approached the subject, who was throwing punches into the air, Gini was the first to speak:

"Unknown Dual subject, please surrender without resistance, or we will be forced to open fire." she said, in an authoritative tone while holding a pulse rifle.

A smile appeared on the young man’s face when he saw the two soldiers in their flying armor.

"What a rude woman…"

"Before asking me out, you should put on some makeup. You’d look younger if you took care of your skin and didn’t wear such a revealing suit."

A vein appeared on her forehead while her partner laughed.

"Ha? He’s definitely an aggressive Dual." she said, raising the pulse rifle.

"Wow, wow, let’s not get aggressive, mecha soldiers." Trigger replied.

"But if you insist on pointing your weapons at me…" he continued, while materializing a red pistol and a blue one in his hands.

The whole atmosphere tightened; the soldiers aimed their rifles. The air began to feel heavier. The whistle of the gusts of wind lifted dust as they passed.

Even a tumbleweed appeared out of nowhere and rolled across the place.

"You should know weapons are not a game… you must be willing to bet your lives." he said, while removing the safety with his finger.

A crow landed on a sign and began to caw.

The scene looked like something taken from a duel in the wild west.

Trigger looked at his pistols and changed his serious expression to a confused one.

"Forget it. I forgot to reload my guns." he muttered, while spinning the empty cylinder.

Click, click.

He turned around and started walking away with his hands in his pockets.

"Idiot…" Lambo muttered.

Ratatatatatatá!

A burst of bullets tore through the whole area.

Trigger dodged the bullets as if he were dancing and jumped to the side, the ground exploded under his feet.

Bang!

Crack!

He rolled, took cover behind an overturned car, and barely peeked his head out.

"How can you shoot someone who’s unarmed?! What little decency you people have in this world!" he shouted, while a bullet ping! bounced just centimeters from his face.

"Man, this body is a mess… I’m already out of breath. Does this kid never exercise or what?"

Then he looked to the side, as if speaking to an imaginary camera.

"Don’t forget to exercise every day." he said in a sarcastic tone. "You never know when you might be attacked by mecha soldiers from a mega corporation."

"Or should I say 'Mecha-Corporation'?" he wrote it down in a notebook, as if it had been a good joke.

His pistols began to glow faintly as he imbued them with magic.

"Enough jokes."

"This body won’t last long… so I need to get serious if I want to stay alive."

When he raised his head, plink!—another bullet bounced against the car.

"Stop shooting at me already! Reload or something! I want to make my dramatic entrance!"

The soldiers looked at each other, confused.

"I’ve never seen a Dual this annoying…" Gini muttered.

Meanwhile, Lambo watched as his teammates fell before the Valkyrie. Even the general was having trouble.

"Gini, let’s finish this fool before—"

BOOM!

His voice was lost in the explosion, the turbine on Gini’s suit had just blown up.

"What the…?!"

When he looked up, Trigger was already in front of him, less than a meter away. His smile was that of an experienced killer.

"Don’t let your guard down, pretty boy…" he whispered, pulling the trigger.

BANG!

The shot hit Lambo’s exoskeleton directly, making it spark before shutting down.

In one last attempt, Gini drew her plasma sword and ran toward him. Trigger dodged every strike, as if dancing between the blue flashes.

"Sorry, darling, you’re not my type. I like blondes." he said with a teasing smile.

Gini’s face turned red with anger.

"Ahhhhhhhh! You’re so annoying!"

Shouting, she closed the distance with a leap and unleashed all her fury.

Trigger’s pistols began to shine with a golden glow, changing shape before everyone’s eyes.

Clang!

The sound of swords clashing… the pistols had transformed into a sword.

"A transforming Dual?" Gini thought, surprised.

But there was no time to analyze it.

Her virtual lenses began to flash red.

Alert! Power loss! Combat-suit functions canceled.

The plasma sword disintegrated instantly, and she saw that the core in her chest was gone. Only sparking cables remained.

"Wow… this looks important." Trigger said, tossing the small orb away like it was scrap.

"At what moment...?"

She remembered the clash of swords. A small opening in her defense. Goodbye to her core.

"This Dual is terrifying." she thought, her face stiff with shock.

"Well, little soldiers, we’ll play another time. I’m out of time." he said, while flying toward where the Valkyrie was still fighting.

"Ah, and don’t forget to put on makeup next time!"

Gini’s face turned red again with rage, while Lambo struggled to stand up, his suit destroyed and his pride shattered.

In the air, one of the soldiers, gasping, spoke with a broken voice.

"Huf… huf… General Shepard! Lambo and Gini have been defeated!"

"Our plasma cells are at twenty percent, and we’re almost out of ammo!"

The general’s face hardened. He looked at the Valkyrie, who didn’t even seem to be sweating, her expression was cold, unmoving, like a marble statue.

"Retreat…" he ordered in a rigid tone. "I won’t leave until I finish her."

…

Absolute silence.

When he looked again, his soldiers were slowly falling toward the ground, while the turbines of their suits spat smoke.

He looked up… and saw him.

"Who the hell are you?" Shepard muttered.

The white-haired young man passed beside the general without even giving him a glance, as if he wasn’t worth his attention.

"Hello, beautiful. Would you go on a date with me?" Trigger said, with a rose between his teeth and moving his eyebrows up and down.

For the first time in the entire battle, the Valkyrie’s face changed. Her expression turned into a look of disgust, as if that man were the greatest insult imaginable.

Shepard had no idea what was happening. But he was sure of one thing: that Dual was far from normal.