novelraw Chapter 21
Chapter 21
Liberto gripped the tonfa in his hand tightly, a bitter smile forming under his gas mask.
‘What a mess.’
The objective of this raid was crystal clear.
‘To make the Synthetic Nation pay the price.’
To those vile bastards who, far from blaming the Defense Force for their incompetence in failing to protect the planet from cosmic beasts, not only drove us out after we went to great lengths to rescue the planet's inhabitants, but are now trying to bury the incident again without any remorse.
That was why they had gone to the extreme of launching an attack in Hyperspace.
‘If I use ‘that’, I should be able to buy some time.’
He reviewed his options and steeled his momentarily wavering resolve.
The main attack was on the bridge, after all.
If he could just hold out until they seized the bridge, their objective could be fully achieved.
“Terrorist? That’s a harsh word.”
With that, he threw off the black gas mask he had been wearing, half to hide his face and half to block out the harmful substances in Hyperspace.
A rather handsome, blonde man's face was revealed.
It was a calculated move; although unpleasant, his notoriety as a wanted man should prevent them from being completely at ease.
“For what it’s worth, I also hold the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.”
But, mockingly, Obia and Jin Crow paid him no attention whatsoever.
“Go to the bridge, Major Obia.”
“Huh? Won’t they be fine on their own, Instructor?”
“I know what they’re like, but I’m not in the mood to play around right now. You’re not unaware of what it means to be stranded in Hyperspace.”
“...Can’t argue with that. See you later, then!”
Contrary to his intentions, Obia Timist disappeared toward the bridge so quickly that he had no time to react.
Thanks to that, Liberto, while realizing things had gone awry, instead smiled refreshingly and said.
“Now it’s truly a race against time.”
“What do you mean?”
“No matter how strong a Quad Gear user is, given the nature of their abilities, defending the bridge won’t be an easy task.”
The fatal flaw of the Special Ability Division was that their powers were so destructive, they came with many restrictions in ship-to-ship combat.
And skilled Martial Arts Division Superhumans are trained to exploit such openings very well.
“In other words, if I can keep you tied up, things will be much easier!”
As if to prove his own words, Liberto leaped toward Jin Crow.
The corridor floor buckled.
And Jin Crow, seeing the trajectory of the tonfa swinging toward his eyes in an instant, twisted his body with an almost instinctual movement.
Krrrunch!
The tip of the tonfa, dodged by a hair's breadth, dented the wall and shattered a pipe within, releasing a cloud of hazy steam between them.
“Are you taking it easy? Or were the rumors exaggerated?”
Liberto taunted Jin Crow, leisurely spinning his tonfa, but still received no reply.
He didn’t mind much, as the intel had stated he was a man of few words—or to put it another way, had no manners.
However, the fragments he knew of the man's past deeds bothered him, so Liberto resolved not to give him any time to think.
“Hup!”
For a fleeting moment, his vision warped.
It wasn't due to another's violence, but a step taken of his own will, ending at Jin Crow's abdomen.
“...!”
He saw Jin Crow instinctively raise his sword to block, but the movement was utterly clumsy.
And so, he stopped his tonfa.
Then, in the brief moment he exhaled with a furrowed brow, he thought.
‘Is it a trap?’
Perhaps because he was an instructor at the Central Special Mission Military Academy, background checks had been difficult; the information provided by his superiors was incredibly scarce.
Nevertheless, a notable point was that he was a veteran of the 3rd Galactic War, a conscript who had started not as an officer, but as a common soldier.
The fact that he had not only survived that brutal battlefield but had risen from a soldier to a military academy instructor was the reason Liberto had subconsciously rated him higher than Obia, a Quad Gear Superhuman, even before they had clashed.
Things like experience and combat sense weren't things that could be covered simply by having a high Gear-class.
KWAAAAAAAANG!
Before his thoughts could conclude, Jin Crow blocked his tonfa head-on and was sent flying into a wall.
“...What was that?”
Liberto narrowed his eyes.
It was a look of bewilderment and doubt.
He was so baffled that he lowered the hand holding his tonfa and simply waited as Jin Crow, who had crashed into the wall, let out a dry cough and pushed himself up.
“Hup!”
The pattern repeated.
They leaped toward each other, clashing again.
The chaotic dance of the tonfa and the jet-black longsword looked like a life-or-death struggle at first glance, but the reality was completely different.
KWAAAAANG!
CHAAAAANG!
How much time had passed since their chaotic exchange of blows began?
Finally, Liberto spoke.
“You… your body isn’t in a normal condition.”
“...What are you talking about?”
“I think you know better than I do.”
It was far more plausible to interpret it that way than to assume that a skilled warrior who had survived on the battlefield for twenty years was actually weak.
How could he have become an instructor at the Central Special Mission Military Academy if he hadn't reached at least Triple, or perhaps even Quad Gear?
Indeed, the proof was that when he mentioned his physical condition, Jin Crow’s endlessly black eyes had trembled for a brief moment.
Just as he thought.
Jin Crow’s head felt like it was about to explode.
‘...Damn it.’
At this point, he had no choice but to admit it.
That he, Jin Crow, was in no position to call the people of this world complacent.
No, if anything, he was the complacent one.
‘I even predicted we would be attacked, and yet this is the result.’
There were still about twenty minutes of drug withdrawal left, and he could feel two Gears creaking and shifting within him, but it was useless.
Although it was just Liberto's wild guess, his physical condition was indeed poor, and his swordsmanship was only half-formed, merely swinging as his body dictated.
‘What should I have done?’
Should I not have sent Obia Timist to the bridge?
‘No, if the bridge were to be taken and we lost control of the Mother AI, things would truly spiral into the worst-case scenario.’
Should I have refused the position of Admissions Inspector?
‘If I had, I might have avoided the immediate danger, but the end result would have been the same. In fact, it would have likely drawn unnecessary suspicion.’
Should I have sought power, power first?
‘I can't get my hands on an Awakening Agent, and it's still uncertain where to find an OOPArt with the right properties for me.’
In the end, no matter how he went over it, the choices he had made were the best he could have made at the time.
It was then.
Did he think Jin Crow's silence was a silent affirmation? Or did he think there was a chance he too could be swayed by their 'cause'?
Liberto spoke, his expression no longer hostile but one of faint sympathy, as if looking at a kindred spirit.
“I did a little background check. I heard that before you became an instructor, you expressed your intention to be discharged, only to withdraw it and then be selected for the Central Special Mission Military Academy.”
That was all the information about him that could be found externally.
The fact that he was a veteran of the 3rd Galactic War.
His uniquely peculiar personality and attitude. And finally, his discharge application, which he had formally submitted to the military, leaving an inevitable personnel record.
“You know it too, don’t you?”
He was certain now. That Jin Crow, too, was one of them.
“The Synthetic Nation is that kind of place. Despite your condition, they forcibly hold you down for their own use—it’s pure egoism. In the end, though our paths may be different, you and I are both victims of this twisted state power.”
And by this point, Jin Crow couldn't help but notice what kind of delusion, what kind of idea, Liberto was entertaining.
“Join us, Instructor Jin Crow.”
“...Haa.”
This was another ridiculous turn of events.
Jin Crow needlessly ran a hand through his hair, but Liberto, seeing his furrowed brow, seemed to think he was agonizing over the decision and immediately continued.
“We are not terrorists. If you sympathize with our cause, we are willing to provide everything you need for your rehabilitation...”
“Your cause. I know it all too well.”
“Pardon?”
To think I'd live to see the day I get a recruitment offer from the Red Hand, one of the designated groups of morons in the story.
Had the unimaginable event actually cleared his mind? Or had it, perhaps, erased his fear?
Jin Crow uttered a very blunt remark to the man who was questioning him with wide eyes.
“A bunch of morons who throw their lives away, brainwashed by agitation, without even knowing whose interests they’re serving.”
“...What did you say?”
Was it just his imagination, or was his mouth getting fouler?
Probably not.
It was likely proof that Jin Crow's own ego was gradually awakening.
Meanwhile, Liberto, oblivious to his thoughts, had an expression that was utterly rotten.
“...How insulting.”
The offer, made with a certain degree of goodwill, had been rejected.
In that case, there was no reason to talk further.
Liberto quickly composed his expression as if he'd never scowled and repeated the words he had muttered in the corridor earlier.
“If you insist on drinking the poisoned chalice.”
Kugugugugung!
At that moment, feeling a heavy presence flying at him from the side, Jin Crow immediately swung his sword.
The cold, sharp blade cut through the air and Liberto's red afterimage, but the voice that followed came from the opposite side.
“However, you will pay the price for insulting us. You dog of the Synthetic Nation.”
It was pure hostility, devoid of the polite speech he had used until just moments ago.
Was it because of that?
Jin Crow, too, swung his sword faster and without hesitation, his body now hypersensitive to pain.
Kagagagagang!
The heavy weight of the tonfa traveled through the tip of his sword and into his spine.
He wasn't being overwhelmingly pushed back like before.
But paradoxically, Jin Crow's intuition was constantly warning him of mortal danger.
“Die regretting that you refused my final act of mercy.”
At that moment, Liberto appeared directly behind him, whispered those words, and then, rotating the tonfas in both hands like wheels, struck Jin Crow's body.
“...Keoheok!”
On the surface, it looked like a simple swing of the tonfa, but the man before him was a Quad Gear Superhuman and a Grade 2 wanted criminal.
His attack instantly launched Jin Crow into the air.
But paradoxically, that was merely a basic move with no proper name, and the hell Jin Crow was about to face was only just beginning.
「Breaking Wheel.」
The tonfas spinning at his fingertips created two wheels in his hands, which battered Jin Crow's airborne body.
CRUUUNCH!
A gruesome sound echoed.
Flesh tore, bones broke, and the black uniform he wore was ripped to shreds.
“Cough! Keo-heok!”
The steel plates that made up the lobby floor cracked, and pipes burst everywhere.
It felt like facing a storm.
The lobby was instantly torn apart as if a bomb had exploded, and Jin Crow's body at the center of it all was by no means unscathed.
‘Pathetic fool.’
He felt not even a shred of pity for the man who was dying as an expendable pawn, without even realizing the dirty side of the Synthetic Nation.
Especially since, from the moment he had kicked away the chance he was given, Liberto no longer saw him as a person.
‘Time to finish this and head to the bridge.’
There was no need to inflict unnecessary pain.
He wasn't a monster, after all.
And so, just as he was about to deliver the final blow to the man whose breathing was slowly stopping.
KWAAAAANG!
Jin Crow’s fingertips, which had been twitching as if he were unconscious, weakly swung his sword, which was struck by the tip of a tonfa and sent flying into the wall.
“...!”
Following that, the eyes of the man who had been so helplessly beaten opened.
Amidst the pain of broken bones and torn flesh, he staggered to his feet, and finally, his lips twitched.
“...I’ll kill. You.”
It was an infinitely chilling voice, incomparable to the one from before.
A sense of unease made him look at the man.
And in that moment.
“...Huh?”
His vision faded to black, and when Liberto opened his eyes again, what he saw was none other than.
‘The ceiling?’
KWAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!
“Keoheok!”
An ear-splitting explosion, a searing pain striking his back, and along with them, an unfamiliar ceiling.