Combatants Will Be Dispatched - Volume 1 - Chapter 6.08

8 

“Bwah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Power! Absolute power! The Demon Army is nothing next to my power!” 

With each crack of my rifle, the golems far below shatter. 

Well, okay, it’s actually too dark to see if my shots hit anything. 

“Focus. Stop laughing and relax. You’re making it hard to aim,” Alice chides me. I exhale and relax while she adjusts the rifle barrel to compensate. “Good. Fire.” 

Another shot rings out. Another golem goes down. 

Ordinarily, I wouldn’t be able to hit anything that far away in this sort of darkness. 

Which is why I’m leaving the aiming to Alice. As a high-performance android, she’s equipped with night vision. So I can just focus on pulling the trigger. 

“…I-incredible… Um, may I ask why you didn’t just use this from the start? I imagine this would have made the fights up to this point much easier.” Tillis tilts her head in curiosity. 

“I’m the type of guy who doesn’t really like spending reward tokens on OP weapons and buff accessories in video games.” 

“That’s why you can’t take advantage of opportunities and end up stuck as an errand boy for the Supreme Leaders. All right, fire.” 

Another bang. The powerful recoil from the anti-materiel rifle ripples through my body. 

“…Every shot makes the spot where you punched me hurt even more,” I grumble. 

“Shut up. Drop dead.” Snow clutches her knees to her chest, sulking a short distance away. 

“……You’re the one who said I could do whatever I wanted.” 

“Shut up. Drop dead.” 

“………All right, fire.” 

Another bang rings out, shattering the last golem. 

“All right, that should even up the odds a little.” 

“Shut up! Kill yourself!” 

“There’s still the two members of the Elite Four to take care of, but I don’t see the— Wait, are they the ones flying around over there? It’d be one thing if I could aim and fire, but we can’t hit them if I’m stuck aiming for you.” 

“But we can’t have you firing this rifle. The recoil would rattle you to pieces.” 

“Shut up. Drop dead.” 

Alice suddenly pipes up as she watches the Elite Four members from the balcony. 

“…Hey …Hey! They’re coming straight for us! Everyone get inside, now!” 

Heine, mounted atop her griffin, and Gadalkand with his band of demons are gliding through the air toward us. 

I shoulder the rifle, then go over to Snow, still sulking in the corner. I grab her by the hand and pull her into the room. 

“Oh, come on, get over it already! All I did was pull down your panties! It’s not like I got a good look afterward!” 

“Shut up. Drop dead.” 

With the great crash of shattering glass, the griffin and the demons charge into the chamber! 

“There you are, Six! You’re dead! There’s never been anyone dumb enough to mess with me as many times as you have! You were behind all those explosions earlier, weren’t you?! And then you went and blew up my precious sorcerer stone!” Heine snarls in rage as the ten or so demons who charged into the room let out a bloodcurdling scream. 

“Ohhh, I thought you looked familiar. You’re the pathetic bastard who was cradling that dead lady and bawling! Did you bury the body properly? Or did you keep it around as a plaything? Either way, it looks like you’re the bastard who took out my golems, huh? I’m about to make you wish you were dead. If you’d like, I’ll even let you slit your throat with your own knife. I’m merciful like that. Now then, you’ve got two seconds to die, so hurry up and get dying! One! Tw—” 

As Gadalkand begins his hyper-clichéd countdown, I unshoulder the rifle, take aim at him…and fire. 

Gadalkand apparently sensed the danger and jumped out of the way as soon as I aimed the barrel at him. The shot takes out the demon behind him instead. The bullet goes straight through its head, punching a hole in the wall behind it. The sight of one of their own being reduced to pebbles silences the screeching band of demons. 

Behind me to the right, Alice loads her shotgun and takes aim, while to the left, Snow brandishes her sword. 

Standing a few feet behind us, Tillis calmly stares down the demons. 

“Is everything all right?” a soldier calls from the door. He probably heard the sound of demon bits hitting the floor from below. 

Snow shouts a reply. “The demons are here! Go and defend His Majesty!” 

Gadalkand listens to the exchange with a casual air, whistling tunelessly as if trying to taunt us. 

“…Well, damn, that’s some weapon you’ve got there. I gotta admit, you gave me a scare when you pointed that thing at me. What the hell is it?” 

I slip another round into the chamber of the single-shot rifle, keeping my eyes locked on Gadalkand. 

“…Oh, this? It’s a neat little toy known as an anti-materiel rifle. It’s designed to take out hardened targets like you from the safety of a balcony… Oh, that reminds me. Remember that woman you were talking about earlier? She’s still alive. You just met her earlier. And you actually taunted me, convinced that you’d killed her! Ha, what a moron! Are you sure you’re not just some third-rate demon that fell ass-backward into power?” 

My words wipe the smirk off Gadalkand’s face. 

“…You wanna die that badly, asshole? I’ll—” 

“‘—gladly grant that wish for you.’ Seriously? Does that pea brain of yours only have room for tired clichés? You want your head squished like you did to Grimm? No? Then take that horde of yours slumming around out there and get lost!” 

I lightly wave the barrel of the rifle toward him. Gadalkand assumes a fighting stance. 

“…All right, listen up, boys. It looks like that weapon can only manage one shot at a time. He’s a sitting duck after each shot. Otherwise, he’d have blown us all to bits by now. Close the gap and jump him all at once. Don’t stop even if he blasts the guy next to you. You’ll get him.” 

Dammit! This one’s not as stupid as he looks. 

“Six, I’ll take care of the underlings. Do something about Heine and Gadalkand.” 

“Not calling me commander anymore? That was quick. How long are you going to hold the underwear thing against me? Anyway, fall back. I’ll show you your commander’s real abilities. Hey, Alice! Get me the R-Buzzsaw!” 

“…I beg your pardon? You’re gonna take them on by yourself?! You idiot! You are already…” 

As Alice launches into her explanation, the demons begin moving. 

“Six! I can at least deal with the grunts! I can help!” 

Snow won’t back down, choosing instead to stand by my side. 

Sigh. This woman. I thought she’d gotten over that stubborn streak, but nope, she’s still the same, even at a time like this. 

The demons tighten the circle around Snow and me. Behind them, Heine begins gathering flames in her hand. 

It looks like the griffin’s a little too big to fit into the room, so it’s waiting out in the balcony. 

“Alice, hurry up! Please, I need that thing ASAP!” 

At my desperate urging, Alice sets down her shotgun and scribbles onto a sheet of memo paper. 

“Fine, but you’re on your own now!” 

As if prompted by Alice’s remark, the demons pounce all at once. 

I turn my rifle barrel toward Gadalkand, but unlike the other demons, he jumps to the side. 

I turn the rifle toward the nearest demon and pull the trigger, taking it down. 

As if taking advantage of that moment, another just barely streaks past me. 

Sparks fly as a demon’s claw grazes the torso of my power armor. 

I kick one of the pouncing demons, using the momentum to jump back and dodging a second fireball thrown my way. As I land, an enemy grabs the rifle barrel. 

Two more rush me from the side. 

“Six! Duck!” 

As soon as I do, something grazes the top of my head. 

Looking up, I see the two demons howling as they rear back with sword slashes across their faces. 

“Wh-what were you planning to do if I didn’t duck?” 

I try to contain the panic in my voice as Alice shouts at me. 

“It’s here, Six! Grab it!” 

The space in front of me hums and ripples with blue-and-white electricity. 

When the static storm fizzles out, a familiar weapon is waiting for me. 

I let go of the rifle, which still has a demon clutching at the barrel, and grab the weapon in front of me with both hands. 

I flip the switch and slash at the demon holding my rifle. 

The demon tries to block the slash with the rifle… 

The sound of a rapidly vibrating blade cutting through hardened metal rings through the air. 

The demon and the rifle both fall to the ground, cleaved clean in half. 

“…H-hey! Wh-what the hell is that…? …Where did it come from…?” 

Gadalkand mutters in shock; the demons around me, catching sight of their companion being hacked in half, halt their advance and back away. 

“This? This is a piece of cutting equipment called the Anti-Armored-Vehicle Omnidirectional Vibrating Blade Bad Sword, Type R. I’ve taken to calling it the R-Buzzsaw, for short. See, where I come from, Bad Sword and Buzzsaw sound pretty similar. It’s perfect because they’re both handy tools for slicing up weaklings like you,” I answer Gadalkand, lifting the all-purpose chain saw with both hands and getting ready for battle. 

I don’t really understand the mechanics, but an internal engine rapidly vibrates the blade, allowing it to slice through armored objects from tanks on down. It’s definitely my favorite weapon out of the entire Kisaragi arsenal. 

I take the R-Buzzsaw’s external power connector and plug it into my power armor. That lets me add the power armor’s output to the blade. 

It won’t last more than a minute, but this move’s allowed me to take out countless numbers of Heroes. 

Now I can’t lose. 

“Release Restraints!” 

With that command, an announcement echoes in my head. 

<Releasing power armor safety restraints. Proceed?> 

“Six, isn’t that the ability you used against the golem? The one that paralyzed you? Are you sure you want to use that with this many demons and two of the Elite Four surrounding us…?” Snow shouts in surprise. 

“Proceed.” 

The announcer continues in response to my answer. 

<With restraints disengaged, the power armor will require a three-minute cooldown period for every one minute of activity. Continue?> 

“Alice! Stop him! Isn’t that supposed to be your job?!” Snow is still yelling. 

“Yes, continue.” 

The announcer begins counting down at the command. 

<Releasing safety restraints. To cancel, please issue cancellation order at any point during the countdown. Ten…nine…> 

Everyone in the room is frozen in place. The air is thick with tension. 

“Siiiiiiiiiiix!!” 

Sensing her opportunity, Heine tries to lob a fireball at me, but Alice thrusts her shotgun at her and diverts the blast. 

<Six…five…> 

I glance over at Alice as the countdown nears the end. 

“GO GET ’EM!!” 

My partner throws me a thumbs-up, evidently forgetting she’s an android and grinning from ear to ear. 

<Restraints released. > 

“I’m Combat Agent Six of the Kisaragi Corporation! This world doesn’t need two evil organizations! I’m gonna end you here and now!” 

“Bring it on, human! I’ll rip you apart and feed you to the ogres!” 

Having grown tired of waiting, Gadalkand rushes forward while swinging his club. I jump forward to attack, pushing my body to the limit. 

“Snow! Stay back! I’m going to take these bastards out with my Finisher!” 

The club and the R-Buzzsaw meet mid-swing. 

“?!” 

My R-Buzzsaw slices easily through Gadalkand’s club, right down the middle, and I continue the downward swing without missing a beat. 

“H-hey, wait!” 

Letting the momentum carry my blade in an arc, I slash again at Gadalkand. 

He utters a frantic plea and tries to shield himself with his arm. Both his remark and his right arm are cut off by my attack. 

“H-hey, Six! What the hell is a Finisher?! P-pay attention to your surroundings!” Snow stammers in a panic. 

“G-Gadalkand?! Hey, you! Stay back! Get away from him! Hurr?!!” 

I use the momentum of my swing to spin in place, planting my heels in a point. Using them as a fulcrum, I become an unstoppable whirlwind of death. As I spin, my blade lashes out at everything near me. 

“Ah……ahhhhh!! Ahhhhhhhhhh!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” 

Heine lets out a high-pitched scream as she watches her companions get drawn into the whirling blade and chopped into fine paste. 

I’m spinning too quickly to actually keep track of who is getting caught up in the attack. 

“Wai— Six!…… S-stop………! Y-you’re going to kill me, too……!” 

Things that move, things in black. 

“Eeeeep!” 

I can’t tell who’s screaming what. I’m just mincing everything that catches my eye with my whirling sword. 

The cooldown process begins, and I finally stop moving. 

Around me lie the scattered pieces of what’s left of Gadalkand and his lackeys. 

“Ahhh… Wh-wha-wha-wha……what-wha-wha-wha…?” 

Heine sits cowering in the corner of the room, backing away in terror, her legs refusing to let her stand. 

“…Sniff…” 

Behind me, Tillis plops to the ground and starts to sob. 

“Good work!” Alice chirps. She had taken cover by the wall sooner than everyone else. 

“………” 

Nearby, I see Snow assuming a turtle pose. She’s covering her head with her arms, and she’s curled up into a ball. 

Noticing the silence that has fallen over the room, Snow peers out cautiously from her crouch, and I catch her tear-filled eyes. 

“…Y-you…y-y-you…you, you! Six, what were you…? I thought I was going to…! I really thought I was going to die! Look at this massacre! One wrong step and I would have joined them on the ground in several pieces!” 

“I did say I was gonna use my Finisher.” 

“…Next time, give me ten seconds’ advance notice…” 

Snow still looks on the verge of tears, sniffling loudly as she stands and wipes at her nose with her sleeve. She then looks over at the shell-shocked Heine. 

“…Now then, what do we do about her? Are you going to splatter her across the walls with that weapon of yours?” 

“Eeep!” 

Snow probably meant that as a joke, but Heine takes it seriously. She goes deathly pale and begins to tear up. 

It’d be a while before I could use that move anyway. My armor’s still on cooldown. 

Evidently, Heine’s in no state to think that deeply about the circumstances. 

“Well, I suppose there’s no reason to let her live…” 

Alice looms over Heine, meaninglessly pumping her shotgun and chambering a new shell with a loud ga-chunk. 

“A-ah…ahhh…!” 

A thought comes to mind as I watch Heine cowering, teary-eyed, in the corner of the room. 

“Now, Heine…” 

“Y-yesh?!” 

As I call over to her, she answers in a frightened falsetto. 

“…I’m willing to overlook your role in all this…” 

The silence lingers in the room. 

“…Hic… Sniffle… Waaaaaah…!” 

For some reason, Heine suddenly bursts into tears. 

“H-hey! Why are you crying?” 

“…S-Sir Six… Sh-she might be a demon, b-but…please…! Such a punishment is…!” 

“…W-well, I do feel bad for her, but we don’t have a lot of options. Heine of the Flames, I’m sorry. All you can do now is, well…make your peace…” 

“Okay, you two, let’s have a little chat. All I said was that I’d be willing to overlook things…” 

I guess my pervy day-to-day behavior caused them to fear the worst for Heine. 

“So, Six, does that mean you’re just going to let her go?” 

“Of course not.” 

At my immediate answer to Alice’s question, Heine’s face shifts from abject horror to crippling despair. 

“It’s not gonna be that bad; don’t worry so much! I haven’t even done anything, but now I feel like an asshole! At least wait until I’ve done something before you react so negatively!” 

“…Th-then…wh-what do you want me to do…?” Heine asks haltingly. 

“How about a truce? A month should be fine. Those are my terms. If you accept, I’ll let you and your underlings go home.” 

With that, I flash her my best roguish smile.