“That package was the bacterial wall the Russian saboteurs were trying to spread around. You didn’t have to go and crush it right in front of me like that.”
✦ ✦ ✦
The air around them immediately froze. The assailants, too, being part of Academy City’s underworld, had heard about the bacterial wall used in the Kremlin Report and how it worked.
It was an airborne pathogen, and the mortality rate of those infected was over 80 percent. It was extremely resistant to high heat as well, so simply boiling it would be ineffective. Because of that, sterilization required the usage of toxic, high-density ozone. Also worthy of note was that the effects of the germ were strong enough to decompose oil, meaning there was a risk it would eat through the filters and such on existing biochemical weapon masks, vehicles, and buildings. When preserving it, most of its activity was apparently contained by keeping it in a super-low-moisture container, but once it left the package and came into contact with the moisture in the air, it wouldn’t be possible to keep it in check any longer.
Yes.
Even with special masks and suits covering their whole bodies, they could still be infected!
“Shit!!”
For the first time, the assailants panicked. Even realizing it would do them no good, they began to move, trying to get as far away from the broken glass container as possible.
And then it happened.
Shiage Hamazura quickly waved the hands grabbing the assault rifle.
“I lied, morons. It’s a can of fizzy water.”
“?!”
By the time his attackers figured it out, it was too late.
From his prone state, Hamazura got up onto his knee on the snow and forced his body forward. He shoved the rifle’s barrel in between the white wings, forcing open a line of fire toward a spot near the attacker’s waist.
He didn’t have time to hesitate.
He pulled the trigger.
After a sharp crack of gunfire, one attacker fell down into the snow like a door being violently kicked in. He’d been protected by the white wings before. It was plain as day what would have happened had the bullets hit the attacker anywhere else.
“You bastard!!”
They’d probably never even considered one of their own might die. The other two attackers flapped their wings hurriedly.
At that rate, Hamazura’s body would have been torn to shreds. Not even the thick conifer trunks would obstruct their pearlescent wings.
However, a dead human body outfitted with the same technology now rested at Hamazura’s feet. He turned around, then dove behind the white wings that were still extending from the grounded corpse. Their wings, which would shear through anything, were blocked by wings of the same material and bounced away.
Hamazura kicked the dead body, drastically changing the angle of its neck—or more specifically, of the wings coming out of the mask. In the direction the head was facing, the white wings rushed down at the attackers from directly overhead like a guillotine.
Their weapons were the same, so of course, his foes could block the white wings swinging at them, too.
One attacker produced several wings from his mask, using everything he had to stop the onslaught. Yes—everything he had. His dire straits left him no room for anything else. And then, Hamazura thrust his assault rifle’s muzzle toward him from the side.
A scream rang out.
With a short burst of fire, red fluid sprayed, and the second assailant fell to the snow.
But that was as far as he could go.
The third assailant went on the counterattack. Several white wings writhed, not going for Hamazura but instead gouging out a huge chunk of the ground at his feet. If Hamazura lost his balance, he wouldn’t be able to aim his assault rifle; he’d be completely disabled. After securing his own safety first, the assailant unwaveringly went forward. He grabbed Hamazura’s neck in one hand. Then, with one side of his body positioned in front, he slammed him into the trunk of one of the conifers still barely standing from the battle.
“Gah?!”
The impact shot through him, his breathing stopped, and his assault rifle slid from his grip. Hamazura’s feet were floating off the ground. The assailant, saying nothing, spread the white wings from his mask wide. Not a shred of mercy could be felt from them.
“…Aren’t you forgetting something important?”
But Hamazura grinned.
He grinned, and he spoke.
“No matter how unstable her physical balance got because of the Crystals, Shizuri Mugino is still number four. She can manage to fire a few times.”
“…” The assailant, still holding Hamazura up by one hand, shook his masked face slightly. “You’re bluffing. You can’t trick me like that twice. Shizuri Mugino’s power was clear the moment she lost to scum like you.”
“I see. That’s too bad.”
Hamazura relaxed his hands.
With his limbs hanging down, he said one last thing.