The Bounty Hunter

April 1st, 2090

Reiji’s POV

After Minato suddenly sent me away to the apartment, I immediately ran to his place.  Unlike Akihabara the streets were completely deserted, which allowed me to make good time as I sprinted.  I barged into Minato’s house, flashed the pendant at Minato’s parents before they could even get up and ask where he was, and then watched in surprise as it put them to sleep before whisking them away to an unknown location.  Hikari’s parents were in Korea on vacation, so I hauled ass over to my place and repeated said process.

After I was finished, I immediately tossed the pendent away.  My intuition was correct, as I saw the pendent flash once before vanishing.  Tch, Minato was trying to get me out of here too.  I know that I’m still a weak human, but I can’t run away again.  I want to help.  I have to help.  I don’t know whether this need is born from guilt or not, but I don’t care.  I opened up my father’s safe, and withdrew his 9mm pistol.  Sorry Minato, despite your best intentions, I’m going to be doing something reckless.

I ran back out into the street, with my new weapon hidden in my jacket.  I looked towards downtown, and started running once more.  Good thing I’m in so much better shape now.  I may not be able to help Minato and the others, but I can try and help evacuate people caught in the crossfire.  I have Minato’s defensive artifact with me, alongside a few other magic artifacts he entrusted to me, so I should be able to survive.  It is frustrating that I can’t do more, but that’s okay.  I am not a hero, but I’ll do my best anyways.

Kira’s POV

It has been only a few minutes at most since this invasion started, but as I ran towards my rematch with Susan I saw carnage and destruction that in some ways eclipsed the scenes I saw back home.  Humans were blown to shreds with blood and gore everywhere, cars were burning, and the very ground was torn up to the point of being unrecognizable.  It seems that humanity’s science can destroy even better than it can create.  The skies were thick with drones, gunships, and warplanes.  The defenders were fighting back fiercely in the sky, driven by their desire to protect their home.  Shrapnel and scrap metal rained downed as the aerial combatants fought for supremacy.

In order to bypass the crowds running in the streets, I was running in the air.  I was using Farclaws as footholds, sending the throwing daggers ahead of me as I kept sprinting at full speed.  I ignored the occasional cry of shock from the crowd below as they saw me.  Yes, yes, I’m sure seeing a cat-kin for the first time is incredible, but do try and remember you’re fleeing a battlefield!  The civilians were not the only ones who noticed my skyward movements.  Two drones broke off from a nearby dogfight to engage me.  I jumped above the incoming missiles, before flipping in midair and pushing off one of my daggers to dive beneath the subsequent gunfire.  I landed with each foot on a Farclaw, and I maneuvered the blades while I stood on them to fly between the two drones.  The other 11 Farclaws followed, rending through the steel encased machines like a hot knife through butter.

I kept going without looking back, drawing out Longfangs as I saw more aerial fighters inbound.  Rather than waiting for another 5 drones to engage, I willed my blades to expand to an extreme length and slice through the drones before they even got in range of their small-arm weaponry.  Farclaws zoomed into the sky, intercepting, and destroying the inbound missiles that had been loosed by the drones before their demise.  My throwing knives continued screening my advance, striking down many more drones and even an attack helicopter that were blocking my path.

I soon entered the frost covered neighborhood that indicated the ice elementalist was nearby.  There was no chaos or carnage here, even the skies were clear of fighting.  But there was far more death here than before.  Hundreds, no, thousands of people were frozen solid where they stood.  Some were lying on the ground, others were frozen in mid-stride.  These ice statues centered around one person who was still moving.  She turned upon my approach, her silver-blue hair swaying gently with the motion.  Her expressionless face seemed to indicate that she couldn’t care less about my arrival, but I didn’t need a cat-kin’s superior intuition to notice the uncontained hatred that she was directing towards me.  I dropped from the sky, landing lightly onto the thin layer of snow in the area.  My defensive artifact was glowing brightly, warding away the worst of the chill.

“We meet again.  I have nothing to say to a hideous mongrel like yourself.  Die.”  Susan waved a hand, causing a series of large icicles to erupt from the ground towards me.  I noted a small opening in the spread of the icicles, allowing me to contort my body and pass through the attack unharmed.  I charged forward, having no intention in allowing Susan to draw out the battle.  She has altered the very environment to her advantage, and I don’t want to wait to allow the cold to sap my strength.  I struck with my twin butterfly swords at normal length, getting in close to Susan.  She created a mace and round shield of ice, blocking my blades as she countered with an overhead swing.  I jumped backwards and dived sideways, dodging the initial strike and the blast of frost that immediately followed.

Susan took advantage of the new distance to shoot out snowflake projectiles, which I avoided by taking cover behind one of the many frozen corpses in the area.  The snowflakes are apparently razor sharp, seeing how they sank all the way into the thick ice.  I continued weaving in and out of the ice statues, circling around Susan for an opening as she continued with her snowflake throwing stars.  Farclaws was on automatic mode at the moment, repeatedly attacking Susan.  She was forced to block with her shield, allowing me to dart back into close combat.

Longfangs became softer at my command, curling around the edge of her shield as she blocked my descending cross-cut.  I managed to score a light cut on the side of her shield-bearing arm, causing her blue blood to stain my blade.  I deflected her mace with my other sword, determined to press my momentary advantage.  My defensive artifact glowed brighter as Susan’s rage caused the surrounding temperatures to drop further.  My breath crystallized in the air as I exchanged blows with Susan, neither of us giving ground.  I was winning, as evidenced by the series of minor wounds that decorated Susan’s body.

My intuition suddenly went off like a siren, causing me to lash Longfangs out like a grappling hook and then command it to retract in order to pull me far away from Susan.  “YOU FUCKING MANGY CAT!!!!  I’LL EVISCERATE YOUUUU!!!!!!!”  Susan howled, her impassive demeanor shattering like all the ice in the vicinity at the force of her declaration.  The many frozen statues slumped to the ground as their prisons broke, pale corpses hitting the concrete with a thud as the ice dust sparkled around them.  Her pristine face became droopy and wrinkled as her hands elongated into white talons.  She bulked up, tearing her kimono into pieces, with just barely enough remaining to protect her modesty.  She became completely feral, snarling as she dropped to all fours.

Well this sucks.  Seems like I finally managed to get the emotionless yuki-onna to completely lose her shit.  Oops.  I recalled Farclaws to me, jumping on a pair of the daggers as I took to the sky.  Susan was quick to follow as a massive mountain of ice burst through the ground, upending the nearby buildings as it rose upwards.  Hmm.  This scenario seems awfully similar to what happens in those video games that Reiji showed me with the last boss.  Is this the final form?  I flew between the relentless barrage of frozen shrapnel as I prepared to reengage.  “BRING IT!!!”  I roared as I flew back into the fray.