The four mechanical officers didn't waste any words, charging forward with their respective weapons.
The battle broke out instantly; the youth rushed at the front, his wrist flipping his tang-sword around as his other hand gripped the hilt, executing a New Moon Slash upward that aimed straight for the girl’s face.
The woman also stepped out rapidly with a composed expression, pressing a few buttons on her stun gun to eject several hexagonal crystals from the chamber, which surrounded Akabane Tsubaki and filled the air with fine arcs of electricity.
The mechanical officer dressed as a cowboy and the one in the windbreaker raised their revolvers simultaneously, their hammers clicking repeatedly as twelve bullets wreathed in flames surged from the chambers.
The offensive aimed at the girl from three directions formed in a split second; without any rehearsal, the tactical modules allowed these mechanical officers to adopt the same synchronized strategy just by observing the fine details of their target's movements.
Akabane Tsubaki countered each move, loading several interference rounds into her mechanical arm, and before the hexagonal crystals could form a power grid, they were disrupted by the dispersing electronic mist and sparked with fire.
Then, using Shadow Step, Akabane Tsubaki swung Alice horizontally, striking the incoming tang-sword at a precise angle and weaving through the gap between the youth and the woman.
Two shadow clones emerged from the shadows beneath her feet—one rushing toward the other two officers, and one blocking the flying bullets for her.
As the slow-motion effect lifted, the four mechanical officers were surprised to find that the girl they had just surrounded had suddenly appeared on the other side.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The youth was the first to react, twisting his waist and spinning around, but Akabane Tsubaki dodged the hilt he swung at her.
The tang-sword and the baseball bat collided three more times in rapid succession; when the girl raised her cannon port to point at his chest, he simply leaned to the side, allowing the scorching particle beam to graze past him.
The woman flashed next to Akabane Tsubaki, refusing to give her a moment to breathe as she swung her arm down with force, shattering the girl's left arm that held the baseball bat.
A piercing pain made Akabane Tsubaki’s face contort, and she screamed out in agony.
Enduring the intense pain, she violently shoved away the woman who tried to impose authority over her, pressed her back against the ground, and delivered a series of swift, powerful kicks in a semi-circle to defend against the group's assault.
The woman failed to dodge in time and was struck in the abdomen, retreating a few steps with a muffled groan.
For a moment, the group could do nothing against Akabane Tsubaki, who was as nimble as a rabbit.
Thanks to the occasional "stray cats and dogs" attempting to kidnap her during her school days, this little family head's judo and sanda skills were top-notch.
Often, before the Chi family's special forces could even mobilize, she would have already turned the kidnappers' hideout into a mess and returned home at a leisurely pace.
Akabane Tsubaki found her chance, tensing her abdominal muscles to spring up, using a roundhouse kick to force back those nearby before quickly dashing toward her rear flank.
She hopped lightly on the ground with staggered steps, looking completely at ease despite the heavy mechanical arm.
She shrugged, loosened her neck, and looked at the four officers, curling five mechanical fingers in a taunting gesture as the whirring of the gears sounded like a provocation.
"Come again."
Akabane Tsubaki was now bursting with confidence; in her mind-flow state, she was invincible.
It was like a zerg hive in an interstellar war activating cheat codes: the map was fully revealed, the fog of war was removed, technology was upgraded to the max, spawns were infinite, and units were immortal.
Aside from her wicked brother pulling the plug on the internet, nothing could stop her now.
The four mechanical officers exchanged a glance, said nothing, and stepped forward together.
Akabane Tsubaki dodged the woman's grapple, sidestepped with staggered footwork, and deflected the woman's hand with a palm strike.
She lunged to the right, pushing the woman aside to create distance, and moved quickly in a sanda stance.
Facing the youth, she exchanged brief punches with him before slamming her baseball bat into his shoulder.
She extended her arm to lock the neck of the unbalanced youth, pressed her shoulder forward at the perfect angle, and used a "deflecting a thousand pounds with four ounces" technique to brace against his chest.
With a slight push of her forearm, she rotated his body to one side, using him as a shield to block two bullets fired at her.
The youth let out a muffled groan.
Akabane Tsubaki’s movements were crisp and efficient; she pressed her shoulder down, forcing his head low, delivered a knee strike to his jaw, and then raised her leg high in a graceful split to slam the dazed youth hard onto the ground.
The youth landed face-first, his nose breaking as blood flowed out, and a look of helplessness appeared on his weary face as he lay on the ground, silently trying to reset his disfigured features.
The original officer in the windbreaker raised an eyebrow. "Well now, little miss, I didn't expect you to have such skills."
"Of course," Akabane Tsubaki pointed a finger at the tip of her nose. "Handling small fries like you is more than enough."
She hadn't wanted to show off her skills in front of the other girls earlier because she wanted to maintain her persona; she wanted to be the one throwing tantrums and rolling on the ground, not letting others see her rebellious and violent side.
To put it nicely, it was called playing the pig to eat the tiger.
She imagined a day when everyone would be in despair, and she would make a grand entrance, saying 'I really can't do anything about you all,' before beating down all the enemies with a few punches and kicks to save the world—the mere thought of it was cool.
"Well then, keep your eyes open for what's next!"
Red arcs of electricity coursed through the windbreaker officer as his aura surged steadily.
"I recently bought a Tenglong martial arts chip that contains hundreds of styles and close-combat techniques."
"I thought I'd take this chip to my grave, but I didn't expect to find a use for it so soon."
As soon as he finished speaking, the windbreaker officer leapt forward, leaving a trail of afterimages as he reached Akabane Tsubaki’s side with lightning speed, throwing a straight punch.
Akabane Tsubaki decisively raised her hand to block, but the moment her arm collided with his fist, a penetrating force surged through her arm and into her body, making her internal organs tremble and her mechanical arm feel as if it were about to fall apart!
A mouthful of blood sprayed from Akabane Tsubaki’s mouth, and a piercing pain radiated from her previously broken arm, leaving her stunned.
Was this guy for real?
He said some nonsensical things while loading a chip to cheat so blatantly that he could now keep up with the speed of her mind-flow state?
Moreover, this punch seemed ordinary but had actually left multiple layers of internal force inside her; the penetrating shock even passed through her body, leaving a terrifying mark on the wall behind her.
The man showed no mercy this time, forcing Akabane Tsubaki back with a few punches before leaping into the air with a single step.
He performed a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree flip, and finally, his left leg drew a powerful arc in the air, smashing down toward the girl’s head.
Boom—Akabane Tsubaki dodged in terror, the ground cracking like a spiderweb, and the entire train carriage even began to sink.
She retreated into a corner in a daze, looking at the other three mechanical officers in shock.
She saw them also cracking their necks and shoulders, red electricity flashing and fading like mist around them.
After receiving permission from Hera, the permissions of these mechanical officers were gradually being lifted as they loaded their close-combat martial arts chips.
The pressure in the air suddenly grew heavy, and Akabane Tsubaki’s heart pounded with anxiety as she screamed internally.
They say a BOSS has a second phase, but why the hell do these elite mobs have a second phase after losing health too?!
Rate on N.U.
