The men in the pub watched as the group pushed straight through the defensive line and swarmed around the surviving ZEMAL members.
They were aghast.
“What’s that supposed to…?”
“What are they going to do now?”
Soon, the thing everyone expected to happen, happened.
Invisible barriers rose around the four survivors. Not because they had a special item or ability, but simply because that was how the special rules were programmed.
“Ah, geez.”
Once the attackers got within ten feet, they suddenly slammed on the brakes. But there were more and more ghosts rushing in behind them, pushing them closer, until they made contact with the defensive barrier around the living and were promptly ejected out of the way.
More and more came running up, got knocked back, and flew through the air.
✦ ✦ ✦
“What the…?”
Pitohui was enjoying the sensation of being tossed through air, and despite the looping, spinning vision, she was able to observe not just the dark mass of their group charging at ZEMAL and getting knocked away—but also who was rushing up at the end of the pack.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Why would they do this…?”
Vivi hadn’t even fired her gun yet.
She and her three companions—front, front left, and left—were under a completely meaningless assault by hostile ghosts. It was an onslaught. And their assailants got deflected, tossed into the air, and pushed away.
Some of them were bounced up by one player, soared into the air, then came down on another, only to slow down briefly and get tossed up again, like on a large and very strange trampoline. It seemed fun.
Vivi’s vision was full of the ghosts, faded and indistinct figures with the letter G over their heads. For each one who was knocked away through the air, another was already behind it.
It was like being behind a windshield in a snowstorm. Vivi wasn’t getting touched by any of it.
Whatever this was, it was totally pointless.
It would be one thing if they just wanted to play a game of rag doll, but if these ghosts were trying to defeat the enemy ghost team to benefit Llenn, they shouldn’t be wasting their time with Vivi.
They’d already broken through the line, so the smart course of action would be to take out the individual members of the Vivi Army one by one.
Instead, they were playing this silly game, which was allowing the Vivi Army to regroup and shoot them from behind instead.
Tomtom and Shinohara were blazing away without a care, taking out ghosts from the Pitohui Army bit by bit.
Even still, the advance on the living did not stop.
“What’s the purpose…?”
✦ ✦ ✦
“Grab on tight! Here we go!” roared Fukaziroh, who was driving.
✦ ✦ ✦
The Pitohui Army pack had been rushing ZEMAL, getting tossed around, and rushing back, for over ten seconds, and it was starting to lose steam—when Vivi saw it.
“!”
Beyond the Pitohui Army, there was a ghost flying through the air.
She could tell it was the man who’d tagged along with them from the rare SG550 assault rifle he was holding.
And then everything clicked.
“Everyone shoot!”
But her order was too rushed—and too simple.
Keeping orders simple was crucial, but in this case, it backfired, because the other members of ZEMAL just watched in mute bafflement.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Here’s the first one!”
“Awright!”
Fukaziroh’s PM was racing forward, barreling the Vivi Army’s ghosts out of the way.
The PM had tires. And on a perfectly flat and smooth surface like this, Fukaziroh’s propulsion efficiency—which came entirely from herself—was at an optimal level.
Peter’s cause of death was faltering at Vivi’s orders, and turning back to glance at her.
The PM zipped past the man with the tape on his nose, as quick as the breeze, and in that time, Llenn’s extended arm extended its photon sword arm, too, neatly cutting off his head.
✦ ✦ ✦
“They’ve gone in,” said M.
Pitohui, who only had a few percentage points left of her expanded hit points, made a triumphant pose with her lightsword.
“Hell, yeah!”
Fukaziroh and Llenn’s plan had been conveyed to Pitohui via messages carved into stone with Llenn’s photon sword.
Ghosts
Charge
We come
Behind
The plan was to use the ghosts to distract and blind ZEMAL to the approach of the PM behind them, and it had worked like gangbusters.
“Wa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!” Pitohui brandished her lightswords high as the remnants of the Vivi Army swarmed her and riddled her with bullets. “I regret nothing!”
She had a joyous smile as she moved on to the afterlife.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Vivi, forty-five degrees right!” Llenn instructed.
“Don’t worry, I see her!” Fukaziroh said, already steering the ship in that direction before Llenn had even closed the lid again.
The PM had been improved onsite. They had prioritized visibility over defensive capability.
They fashioned a single, two-inch hole near Fukaziroh’s right eye with the photon sword, so that she could see as she piloted. Despite the excellent defense of the shield, pressing the sword against it at full power output would eventually burn a hole into it. If not for this hole, they would not have been able to speed around barricades and keep up behind the ghost charge.
Their first attack just happened to be on Peter, who was the closest at hand, but their true target was Vivi.
The PM ignored Huey and Max, who were stunned to see a garbage can running by, and rushed straight for Vivi.
“Ah!”
Vivi’s RPD barked at them, but all the bullets were deflected, and none were lucky enough to pass through the sight hole.
“Take thiiiiis!” Fukaziroh bellowed, the sound muffled by the cramped interior. Her powerful glutes bulged as she pushed.
Although the shots did slow down the PM slightly, it still continued its push toward Vivi—who, recognizing the futility of shooting, tried to jump to the side to avoid it.
That prevented the vehicle from delivering a body blow on her, but it did produce the dull thud of metal on metal. The RPD was jolted out of her hands. It was hanging on a sling, so it dangled on her body rather than being thrown free.
The next moment, a blade emerging from the open lid of the PM swiped at Vivi.
“Ah!”
With brilliant reflexes, she dodged this as well.
The blade had been meant for her neck, but it only grazed her shoulder and chest instead. There was barely any HP loss, most likely. But Llenn’s determined attack succeeded at severing the gun sling, dropping the RPD to the ground.
“Damn, I missed! Nice dodge!”
“What did I tell ya? She’s real tough. Close combat is her forte,” Fukaziroh said of her bitter rival. The momentum of their surge took the PM well past Vivi’s position.
“Then let’s attack again!”
“Anytime, anywhere, anyhow!”
Fukaziroh’s boots jammed against the ground hard enough to burn the surface, jolting the PM into a rapid brake, followed by a screaming one-eighty turn.
“Augh!”
Llenn smacked her head against the inside of the vehicle up above.
The turn was finished, and the PM began to close the gap with Vivi again. It was a distance of about twelve feet.
“Goddess!”
“Take this!”
Huey and Max started shooting, but the expensive plating on the PM repelled all their bullets. There was no power like wallet power.
They stopped shooting just as quickly. They were afraid that they’d hit Vivi, either directly or on a deflection.
“Doryaaaa!”
Fukaziroh made another furious charge. Vivi easily stepped aside, like a matador avoiding a charging bull.
But Fukaziroh had read her all the way. “You always dodge to the left!”
With her entire body thrown into the steering, Fukaziroh jolted the PM’s helm to the left.
“Augh!”
Llenn smacked her shoulder against the inside of the vehicle up above.
There was also an ugly thud as the PM slammed into Vivi’s body. She was thrown up into the air and landed directly on top of the vehicle.