Chapter 4: Waiting
“Cough, cough, cough…”
Frenda Seivelun leaned against the wall, letting out a series of dry coughs. Her pale little hand covered her mouth as blood seeped through her fingers.
“Frenda, you retreat first.”
Kinuhata Saiai wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth. Her long tenure in the Dark Division had helped her suppress the urge to turn and flee.
“Alright.”
Frenda Seivelun, who showed great potential as a turncoat, immediately turned and ran.
“Tch~”
The foremost member, Mugino Shizuri, let out a light snort. Not only was Frenda Seivelun severely injured, but she also heard steady breathing sounds through her earpiece.
This was the sound of the fourth member of the ‘Item’ organization, Takitsubo Rikou, breathing evenly. She had previously locked onto Su Xiao’s aura through the nearby ‘AIM Diffusion Field.’ The moment Su Xiao released his aura, her esper ability was affected. Coupled with her recent drug use—consuming Body Crystal (Body Crystal: full name ‘Ability Body Crystal,’ which can cause ability rampage upon use, greatly enhancing powers but also leading to loss of control)—Takitsubo Rikou had fallen into a brief coma.
Body Crystal was by no means a good thing. Using it caused damage to the brain. Repeated use could lead to a yandere personality, long-term use risked becoming a vegetable, and in severe cases, it could cause brain death.
In a single encounter, two of Item’s four members had lost combat capability. It seemed pathetic, but that wasn’t the case. Takitsubo Rikou’s main role was to locate the enemy and pinpoint their exact position. She had already completed her task well; a short coma didn’t matter.
As for Frenda Seivelun, her ability was to set up bombs. Her direct combat strength equaled that of a high school girl skilled in physical techniques. In a head-on fight, she was nothing more than someone Su Xiao could grind into the ground.
Moreover, Frenda Seivelun hadn’t truly fled; she had gone to find advantageous terrain nearby to set up bombs.
The main combatants of Item were Mugino Shizuri and Kinuhata Saiai—one long-range, one close-range.
“Super crisis.”
Kinuhata Saiai stood in front of Mugino Shizuri. Mugino Shizuri paused, then a look of fury crossed her face.
“Get back. Don’t interfere with my fight.”
“You’re no match for him, Shizuri.”
“Hah?”
Mugino Shizuri’s expression twisted, one eye wide and the other narrow, her face filled with killing intent.
“I’m super serious, and I’m about to use my super-super finisher.”
Kinuhata Saiai pulled out a small pillbox.
“Super-super finisher…”
The fury on Mugino Shizuri’s face faded, replaced by a cold expression.
“Do you… want to die?”
“No, it’s because the enemy is super tough to deal with. Shizuri, haven’t you noticed? The enemy doesn’t seem to be taking this seriously.”
Hearing Kinuhata Saiai’s words, Mugino Shizuri looked toward Su Xiao.
At that moment, Su Xiao was looking up at the sky, not even glancing at the two of them.
“An opportunity.”
A fist-sized green orb appeared above Mugino Shizuri’s head. From this orb shot a green beam of light. This thing was called a ‘Particle Waveform High-Speed Cannon,’ with immense destructive power, and it was Mugino Shizuri’s primary combat method.
The beam cannon instantly reached Su Xiao. A pale blue energy shield materialized in front of him.
The beam cannon struck the energy shield. With a loud boom, green particles scattered everywhere. Walls and ground splashed by the particles instantly melted.
Taking this hit head-on, cracks appeared on the energy shield, which had a strength of 200 points. However, the beam cannon didn’t disappear; it continued to damage the shield like a laser.
Crack, crack, crack…
The cracks on the energy shield grew denser. Energy meridians flickered, spreading the concentrated damage from one point across the entire shield. In less than a second, the shield shattered piece by piece.
With the buffer from the energy shield, Su Xiao sidestepped and leaped, easily dodging the beam cannon.
Su Xiao was waiting—waiting for the person behind the scenes to react. He had already demonstrated his combat strength. He didn’t believe the mastermind would remain unresponsive, letting him wreak havoc here.
Su Xiao’s goal wasn’t to kill someone, but to complete the third-rank assessment as quickly as possible. That was the most important thing. If the mission failed, the penalty of -10 to all attributes was unbearable. With -8 to luck, he’d be at the point where even drinking water could choke him to death.
Aleister Crowley was very strong. Su Xiao had a clear understanding of his own strength. Currently, he was inside Academy City. If he didn’t reach a consensus with the other party and acted recklessly in this city full of surveillance equipment, he was asking for death.
Su Xiao could be certain that over 80% of contractors, upon entering this world, would try to escape Academy City if their mission didn’t require them to stay.
However, Su Xiao couldn’t leave. His mission target was right here. This was undoubtedly a multiple-choice question with only one option.
If Aleister Crowley was on the villain faction, then Su Xiao would have no trouble joining. With his aura, the villain faction would readily accept him.
The trouble was that Aleister Crowley was more like a semi-neutral faction. That hanging man had no concept of good or evil. Those with value were kept; those without were eliminated.
Clearly, if Su Xiao displayed his abilities, he would be someone of great value—not just in combat strength, but also in alchemy.
Su Xiao had gained the trust of many factions through his alchemy: the World Government in the One Piece world, the Dawn Organization in the Naruto world, and the military in the Fullmetal Alchemist world.
“When you’re fighting, where are you looking!”
Mugino Shizuri roared, several green orbs appearing beside her as beams of light shot toward Su Xiao.
Su Xiao frowned. Mugino Shizuri was no easy opponent. Her Atom Break ability had powerful offensive capabilities, low energy consumption, and decent defense.
Su Xiao had tested it earlier. Azure Steel Shadow energy couldn’t devour the ‘Atom Break’ ability because it wasn’t energy—it was a physical chain reaction, albeit highly unscientific.
Several beams came at him. Dozens of hexagonal energy shields appeared around Su Xiao—Counter Shields. They formed a sphere, protecting him inside. The beam cannons struck the Counter Shields.
Boom!
Thick smoke rose. Su Xiao’s feet plowed the ground as he was pushed back by the powerful impact. Once stable, he stood up.
“Still not showing yourself? Looks like I need to kill one. Who to kill? Hmm, let’s start with the arrogant one.”
Su Xiao rolled his shoulders, his eyes narrowing as his aura changed.
Seeing Su Xiao’s ferocious gaze, Kinuhata Saiai felt bitter inside. She couldn’t help but complain: why couldn’t they just let him stand there? Why did they have to provoke him? Waiting for reinforcements was the wisest choice.
“I have no choice. The super-super finisher is ready. Shizuri, step back a bit.”
In the past, if Kinuhata Saiai dared to say that, Mugino Shizuri would have shot her on the spot. But now, Mugino Shizuri actually stepped back a few paces. She had seen Kinuhata Saiai use the ‘super-super finisher’ once before. It was indeed very strong, but the side effects were severe. If used multiple times within a year, it could not only shorten lifespan but even cause ability regression.
For those living in the dark world, power regression was almost equivalent to death.
“It’s been eight months since the last use. It should be fine… probably.”
Kinuhata Saiai opened the matchbox-sized pillbox in her hand, poured all dozens of pills into her mouth, and began to chew.
“The taste is super weird.”
Blood vessels appeared in the whites of this girl’s eyes, but aside from that, no other changes occurred.