The Fastest Esper (7)

Takagi had to scrap his plan to travel eastward. After seeing the arrival of the Black Scorpion gang from that direction, he assumed that Travis had little chance of being there. That was why he went south.

He had reported Nightshade's presence to Talia via his comm set, and they had prepared themselves in case the elder invaded. After a while, they were safe, so he was assured that Nightshade was only there to collect the bodies of their fallen men–a custom for the Black Scorpion gang.

His quest of finding Travis was at a dead end, however.

The drones he sent did not capture anything as he monitored their activity via his digipad. Their ESP detection sensors had not caught anything for a while. He hid inside an abandoned building for a few minutes and blended in with the darkness beside the road. He had not yet arrived in the southern part of the district, just a few blocks shy from it.

Travelling in the dark was difficult, and he could only rely on his knife to light his trail–and his extensive memory about Regra's every road, path, and building. It was not a big problem, but it affected his speed in searching for Travis.

Still, his trail was cold, and it was the biggest problem. However, he was not completely clueless.

He could only base his scenario on the fact that he wiped out the Black Scorpion gang that came after him and his men, despite heavy casualties from both sides.

He seemed to be disinterested in what Travis had done to his men. Either he had a more important priority or another reason he could not think of.

Either way, such a scenario did not justify the fact that Travis did not return back, nor not being able to communicate or report to his own men.

"For fuck sake."

Takagi was about to put his digipad down, but he noticed something weird on the screen. He had received a notification about an arriving email. It was sent just then, but then he realised there were three emails with the same message within around a ten minutes interval from each other.

There was nothing but blanks. He quickly understood the message and did not bother to read its sender's address. Still, he could not help himself with a frown on his face. He put his digipad back and then set his comm set frequency to another channel, which was still on his head for the entire time.

"I can see nothing."

There was no reply after a few seconds, so Takagi rephrased it again. Only then did he get the response.

"You got the memo." A man replied. "I'll patch you through. Wait a second."

Takagi waited until his comm set emitted a voice. This time from Redmond directly.

"Phantom."

"I didn't expect you to break our non-contact protocol this early."

"Just trying to ensure you won't go deeper into some kind of shithole there."

"You don't have to watch my every step." Takagi shook his head. "Do you know something about what happened here?"

"Everyone tries to get a hold of Regra. Big players are involved. Black Scorpions, Markov, you name it."

"Any particular thing I have to be wary of?"

"We received reports that Nightshade is also there. Possibly with some other espers as well."

"Are you sure?" Takagi feigned his reaction.

"Yes. Also, Black Scorpion's presence is enormous, and it was not just him. Others probably have some on their side as well. It is a giant battle royale out there."

"Do you think it's a coincidence that those big syndicates are here?"

"Probably yes, but I'm still sceptical about it. Still a conjecture, though. There wasn't enough proof for now. Our information gathering there cannot be as deep as we wanted. We have more pressing matters elsewhere."

"I see."

"You make sure to steer out of Nightshade's path. He's clearly up to something."

"Yeah."

"How's the progress?"

Takagi quickly understood what she meant. "Got some crucial insight, but I still have to do more."

There was no reply for a while. Then Redmond said, "Whatever you do there, steer away from the syndicates, especially that weasel. That's all I ask. I still need you here. Remember from whom you get your money."

"I know what I'm doing. Don't worry about it."

"That's all. I'm out."

His comm set then went silent.

Almost immediately, his neck felt a chilling touch from a blade's tip coming from behind. Takagi glanced at the curved sword with its black fuller and white edge in the same style as his knife had. It was the Murakumo K-7 searing katana

It was the worst encounter, even more than Nightshade.

"Kneel with your hands in the air."

Takagi complied with the young woman's voice without saying any words. He raised his hands first, then kneeled on the ground.

"So engrossed with the chat that you caught off your guard?" She said with a teasing voice.

"What are you doing here?"

"I ought to ask you the same question, although I got the answer already."

She then put the blade away. Takagi did not move an inch and stayed where he was.

"Activate."

The orange light emanated behind his back. The light came closer and brighter towards his side as the sounds of her footsteps echoed inside the empty building. Takagi kept his head straight until he saw her Chelsea boots and jeans move past him. Then he turned his head slightly and looked upward.

The radiance from the searing katana on her left hand revealed a face of a long-haired beauty with a faint smile. Her eyes were attentive.

The figure with the motorcycle jacket then stood around two metres less in front of him. Her katana's point was aimed toward Takagi's head.

"Bring your Spitfire out with one hand. Barrel first. Try anything funny, and you know what will happen with your hand and your head."

Unlike Talia and Nightshade, Takagi could not do anything against the woman before him. Not at such a distance, the woman in front of him knew it.

Takagi put a hand in his coat. On any other day, he would not hesitate to brandish the Spitfire and pull its trigger–but not against this woman.

He then pulled out the Spitfire by holding its barrel with one hand, slowly revealing it. He was just halfway through.

Then there was a flash of orange line trailed in front of him. He could barely see it, and before he knew it, the gun in his hand felt lighter. He could only pull out half of the weapon–the front part of the gun. The other half had fallen on the floor.

The Spitfire had been split into two. Clean. It was a show of mastery of the unique one-handed swordsmanship style, which had become one with her fame as an esper in Podzemgrad.

Takagi then released all his fingers on the part in his hand as he watched it fall.

"Your grenades and gadgets, including your digipad," she said. "Also, your cursed knife."

He then let them out one by one, still with one hand. The comm set came first, then the HE grenades, flashbangs, jammers, his knife, and his digipad.

She then used the katana's flat edge to check Takagi's coat inside without deactivating the blade's searing mode. A slight touch to the coat could cut it in the smallest amount of movement, and it will be a scorching burn to the skin. However, she moved and controlled his blade without letting the sharp edge graze Takagi's coat, let alone his skin.

She looked satisfied. "So, Madam Redmond finally decides to join the fray?"

"Not that I know of," Takagi answered. "How about yours, Aurora? Are you working with Markov right now?"

"Not that I know of."

Takagi could only exhale in exasperation. "Look, my presence here has nothing to do with the war. I don't know who you're working for, but-"

"I'm not interested in your stories." She sliced the digipad in half–this time in a slow, typical sword swing. "Sorry about that–or not, I guess. You have had many spares anyway."

She then aimed his katana back toward Takagi. "Alright, Ryou Takagi, aka Mr Phantom. Care to share about your plan and your progress tonight with me?"

"Is it an invitation?"

"Oh, you're funny."

"Well, maybe not, but perhaps you can start from your side first?"

"You're not in the position to bargain."

As soon as she said that, a slight tremor shook the building, seemingly from a nearby explosion judging by its sound.

He did not know where it came from or anything about it beforehand, but it was all Takagi needed. All this time, he waited for an opportunity to react one step ahead of Aurora.

"Activate!"

He shouted as he pulled his knife into the air towards his hand. The orange trail from Aurora's katana had whipped towards Takagi's neck. His reflex ducked his body quicker before the slash swept barely above him.

But then the second strike came in fast, and this time Takagi used his other unoccupied hand to channel his powers to stop the katana's momentum from a distance.

The lightning slash was suddenly dead in the air, beside Takagi's temple like a bullet stopped by an invisible wall. Both Aurora and Takagi's hands were shaking in a power struggle, trying to dominate over another. Their eyes locked in a glare of fury.

But Takagi still had a knife to use, and he propelled it towards her, using it like a self-throwing dart.

Aurora was quicker to realise the danger, but she did something that Takagi could never have expected.

She let go of her katana and caught the knife instead. Suddenly, a strong gust of wind blew inside the building, followed by the sound of the crashing wall and the clang of fallen metal.

Takagi had kept his eyes peeled open, watching Aurora stand on the street, illuminated by the purple light from Takagi's knife, which she held at that moment.

He then grabbed the fallen katana on the floor, held it with two hands, and raised his stance as he walked towards the road to meet her with full caution.