They heard the sound of the circuits switching, and the lights came back on.
Standing there in the center of the kitchen was someone they hadn’t seen before.
✦ ✦ ✦
The sprinklers came on, drenching the room in a cold rain.
The figure was dressed just like Kaname usually was, in a white shirt, dark slacks, and a necktie. He looked like he’d just attended a funeral, but the belt of tools around his waist instantly put a stop to that impression. The one pouch in a different color was for his killing tools, components of the Legacies.
In his hands was a battle rifle, most likely a high-powered single-shot weapon for sniping. At first glance it looked like someone had stuck a large magazine into a simple hunting rifle. It appeared fully capable of automatic firing, but due to the large caliber modification, it seemed the intent was to keep it in semi-automatic mode. Otherwise, the recoil would be too great. Perhaps that was why the rifle had another gun installed underneath the barrel as a kind of foregrip. This was a short-range, fully automatic nine-millimeter weapon. Its creator had obviously wanted to avoid fighting the larger gun’s recoil in a close-quarters confrontation.
The weapon also sported a sideways smartphone in place of a dot sight. Whether this was used to perform on-the fly adjustments or some other operation involving eye tracking was not yet clear.
Criminal AO, Takamasa Hekireki.
The instant the lights came back on, the two boys’ guns were out of their holsters and trained on each other.
“Hey there, Kaname.”
“Takamasa.”
“I figured if I caused a commotion, you would try to escape through here. I’d like to say I foresaw your every move and all that, but it wasn’t so simple. It took a lot of thinking before I arrived at a prediction I could be confident in.”
The gleaming kitchen was packed with refrigerators, stainless steel counters, sinks, ovens, and microwaves scattered all over the place. Plenty of places to hide should the need arise, and plenty of ways to accidentally unleash an explosion or electric shock, as Kaname had just demonstrated. An excellent location for a showdown in a game, but not so ideal for protecting someone.
Because of that, the first thing he did was thrust Midori right into the bosom of Takamasa’s coveted target, Pavilion.
“…You think I won’t shoot if my sister’s in the cross fire?”
“The opposite. I think you won’t risk harming a Zodiac Child.”
Takamasa would want to treat Pavilion with care as an important part of his plan, though that didn’t mean he trusted her. Takamasa had his own ideas, and even if she was a Zodiac Child, he was never going to accept a total stranger as a friend or hand over the reins to her.
“You need her here, in the virtual world. If she Falls, you lose your chance. That’s why Pavilion is the perfect shield for Midori. In fact, your sister’s the only one on my side who’s not a Zodiac Child, isn’t she?”
Kaname and Takamasa, their guns still raised, slowly circled each other across a large rectangular counter in the center of the cluttered kitchen.
“Get out of here, Midori.”
“But—”
“Take Pavilion where she needs to go. This won’t be a repeat of Jungle Park; he’s lost his credibility after sacrificing all those Dealers. Now no one’ll work for him no matter how much he pays, and he doesn’t have his Magistellus, either. He can use the PMCs for things like brainless slaughter or patrolling his base, but he can’t reliably send them after you two without risking Pavilion. All that’s left is Criminal AO himself, so I’ll hold him off here while you two escape.”
Takamasa sneered in response.
“What if I don’t want to fight you?”
“You don’t get to decide that—I do.”
Just then, someone else sprang into action: one of the cooks who had been cowering behind Takamasa. It seemed unlikely he was acting out of any particular devotion to his employer. He probably just couldn’t take the stress of waiting any longer. He let out a roar and lunged for Takamasa, a carving knife in his hand.
Takamasa’s hand-to-hand combat skills were almost nonexistent. However, he didn’t even turn around. His eyes simply darted down to the smartphone atop his battle rifle.
And as soon as they did…
✦ ✦ ✦
Ka-boom!!!!!!
All of a sudden, the cook was catapulted into the air, as though a large explosion had gone off under his feet.
✦ ✦ ✦
It was hard to believe, but there was no denying something had shot up from the floor and slammed the cook in the stomach. Kaname tutted and shot the knife out of the man’s hand so that when the flailing cook landed, he wouldn’t slice himself open.
“Wha—?!”
“Don’t just stand there, take Pavilion and go!!” Kaname yelled as Midori hesitated.
Just then, the kitchen started to transform. The stainless steel worktops and tiled floor both began warping and melting, reforming themselves into a new shape.
A huge, winged reptile appeared, like some kind of legendary dragon. It was as if the gleaming silver background textures from the kitchen had been forced around its shape. Rising to its full height, it scraped the ceiling, its mouth issuing forth sparks of flame.
“What the heck…?”
The force of its wingbeats was shockingly realistic. Pavilion stared up at it, frozen in wide-eyed terror.
“A bug? A glitch??? Has Criminal AO really gained this much control over the game world?!”
“What are you all so surprised about?” asked Takamasa with a smile. “You see demons in Money (Game) Master every day without batting an eye. Surely I’m allowed to add a little anomaly of my own into the mix.”
Was it going to ram them with its enormous body, cleave them with its sharp claws, or perhaps fill the closed-off space with its fiery breath?
“You saw my lab in Jungle Park. You know I’ve succeeded in making another Money (Game) Master inside the first one. Thanks to that, I think I have the basic theory down. The only thing I can’t control is those diabolical Magistelli.”
Though it was a little outside its intended genre, the dragon roaring right in front of Kaname was a very real threat.
Takamasa peered at his foe through the smartphone screen atop his weapon.
“Once I bend the Magistelli to my will like I have this creature, I’ll have won. The equations are all in place, Kaname. I just need one of the Zodiac Children to complete them. That’s all I need to put this world back in the hands of humanity.”
Kaname took a deep breath.
Then he launched into action.
✦ ✦ ✦
Two in the eyes, one in the mouth, and a final shot to the throat. With four .45-caliber handgun bullets, Kaname put the legendary creature down in mere moments.