What am I even thinking? I'm such an idiot.
Shino bit down on her lip and scolded herself hard.
This was all for one rational purpose: winning the BoB finals and becoming the strongest player in this world. It was also the fastest way to eliminate Death Gun, who was throwing the tournament into chaos with some unknown ability outside the system. For now, working with Samuro was simply the most efficient choice.
If they succeeded, then the moment it was over, that lone wolf would become her enemy again. The next time they met, she would pull the trigger without hesitation, defeat him, and forget him. After that, they would probably never see each other again.
Forcing herself to endure the pain gathering around her heart, Shino broke into a run. She needed a building in the city district that could be entered. Any usable building should have an obvious opening near the entrance. Southwest of the stadium, across a wide ring road, there was a large building with a section of wall caved in. If she slipped through there and climbed to the third floor, she should have a clear view of the stadium's outer wall.
The distance was close enough that being noticed while sniping terrified her, but Death Gun was fighting Samuro right now. No matter how abnormal he was, he should not have time to check his surroundings. It was hard to imagine anyone could fight that man and still have the leisure to watch every angle around him.
Even so, a large part of Shino's mind had already been taken over by thoughts completely unlike the ones she was used to. She realized it as she was about to pass through the broken wall of the building.
A vicious chill ran across the back of her neck.
Before she could even turn around, she collapsed onto the road.
At first, Shino could not understand what had happened. Then she finally realized it and tried to stand, but her body refused to obey. Only her eyes could move. Desperately, she looked toward her left arm, stretched out in front of her, and confirmed the place where she had been hit.
It was almost the same kind of special bullet that had paralyzed PaleRider earlier. Assault rifles, machine guns, and handguns could not load something like that. Only some large-caliber rifles could use it, and yet the shot had made no sound. A suppressor that could be mounted on such a massive rifle should not exist either.
The answers to those questions came not in words, but in the sight that appeared before her eyes.
Her throat, unable to form a voice, panted violently. Shino screamed without making a sound.
Dark gray cloth fluttered in the wind, cutting through her confused thoughts.
The silent assassin who had made PaleRider vanish a dozen minutes earlier. The one who had probably killed the previous champion, XeXeeD, and the leader of a large squadron, Usujio Tarako.
No. More than that, he could even evade Satellite Scan while using camouflage. But during the previous scan, a point of light had definitely appeared at this location.
The ghostlike figure stopped two meters away from Shino.
Its broken cloak swayed. The long, massive rifle in its right hand lowered slightly. Death Gun, or rather the man borrowing that form, looked down at her.
The intermittent mechanical voice had almost no inflection, yet she could feel an enormous emotion packed inside it.
"Sinon."
The name made her whole body freeze harder than the paralysis effect.
"You really are wonderful. A survivor who killed a man with a gun, then came to a world of guns and tried to become the strongest. You have the proper talent. The proper past. The proper wound."
The words slipped into her ears like rusted needles.
"But what you lack now is the madness of a ghoul. Returning to reality seems to have let you draw a line between yourself and who you used to be. Then allow me to help you."
The electromagnetic stun round was still throwing off sparks, but since it had struck her left hand, her right could still barely move.
Death Gun drew the black handgun at his waist. The Type 54 Black Star. He gripped the pistol and aimed at her from a half-crouched Weaver stance.
Then the darkness beneath the brim of his tattered hat distorted faintly. It quivered like slime and slowly dripped away, revealing a pair of eyes within.
Bloodshot whites. Tiny black pupils, perhaps because her own pupils had dilated, looked like deep holes.
The man who, five years ago, had burst into the small post office on Northern Street with a Type 54 pistol and shot her mother. The man whom the child she had been had knocked down, robbed of his gun, and killed by pulling the trigger.
Those were his eyes.
He was here.
Right here.
Hidden in this world, waiting, biding his time for this chance to take revenge on her.
The sensation in her right hand vanished. No, the sensation in her entire body vanished. The red evening sky and the gray ruins faded away. All she could see were those eyes in the darkness and the muzzle of the gun.
Her heartbeat grew louder, echoing in her ears. If she fainted now, the AmuSphere's safety mechanism would automatically log her out. It could have ended there, but Shino's consciousness did not break. It simply waited for the moment Black Star's trigger was pulled.
Click. Clack. Clack.
The trigger gave off a sharp sound. If his finger pulled it back just a few more millimeters, the hammer would fall. This was not a bullet that dealt virtual damage. It was a real bullet. It would pierce Shino's heart, stop it, and kill her.
She would end up just like that man back then.
This was fate. There was no escaping it. Even if she had not been in GGO, that man would surely have hunted Shino down somewhere else. Resistance was useless. All her struggling to cut herself free from the past had meant nothing.
Inside that crushing resignation, there was one emotion no bigger than a grain of sand.
I can't give up.
It can't end here.
I was just about to understand what strength really means. If I stay by that person's side, if I keep watching him, then someday, surely...
The thought was cut off by a roar.
"XaXa!!"
It was a mad laugh that seemed to scorch the soul, like a demon on the edge of an abyss finally dragging its withered limbs up the cliff, hauling a body burning with cold blue flame onto solid ground, and unleashing years of twisted emotion toward the sky.
But the one who staggered was the man in the tattered cloak in front of her.
The eyes under the brim vanished, turning back into red points of light. An orange-red damage effect flashed across his right shoulder, and a slender dagger was already buried in the tattered cloak.
"Ugh...!"
Death Gun let out a low, unclear groan. The thrown dagger itself had dealt little damage. It was the roar, filled with searing intensity, that had shaken him to the core.
Before his eyes, a deep pale-gold gaze was burning.
"Tsk."
He clicked his tongue, casually pulled the katana from his left side, and flung it to the ground. Then he holstered Black Star, unslung the L115 from his shoulder, and swiftly changed equipment, likely replacing the electromagnetic stun rounds with lethal .338 Lapua rounds.
He shouldered the long, massive rifle, lined his eye with the scope, and fired without hesitation. Even to a sniper like Shino, that sequence of movements looked frighteningly precise.
Apparently, he missed. Otherwise, he would not have fired four shots in rapid succession.
Lying on the ground, Shino could already hear heavy footsteps approaching like a sudden downpour.
"Not yet..."
He muttered hoarsely, then casually pulled a grenade from his chest, stood, and crouched to leap away.
Shino squeezed her eyes shut. If the grenade exploded this close, she would take severe damage. No, even that would be better than being hit by Black Star, by Death Gun. She might as well die a normal death.
If she lost in the middle of the tournament, she would retire from GGO. No, from VRMMOs altogether. Then she would hide her presence in the real world. Someday, that man would probably come after her again anyway.
But what happened next still surprised her.
The delay before an unpinned grenade exploded was only two seconds, yet in that tiny interval, a dark figure darted to her side, snatched it up with lightning speed, and hurled it in another direction.
Half a second later, it detonated. The violent shock wave, the blast of fire, and the wind forced Shino to close her eyes again where she lay.
"..."
She held her breath. The numbness still had not worn off. If she could pull the dart from her left arm, she would be able to move, but her right hand could not manage even that. By now, the will to stand had been worn away completely.
She probably could not think properly anymore.
Then someone grabbed her left arm.
"Hey. I thought you'd be right here, ready to fight me to the death."
The man's voice was thick with negative emotion.
Her left arm was yanked up roughly. His hand moved to her back, and without a pause, he lifted Shino with both arms, Hecate II and all.
Immediately, she felt acceleration so violent it seemed her body might come apart.
Air roared in her ears. In Shino's field of view, she saw the face of the player running while holding her. Loose strands of hair whipping in the wind. Unremarkable features. A gray overcoat.
Samuro.
She wanted to call his name, but no sound came out. That ordinary face now carried an expression that was genuinely terrifying. No, chilling. A malicious smile tugged at the corners of his mouth, and for an instant his eyes flashed with a deep pale-gold light. Perhaps it was an illusion.
Either way, at one glance, she knew this was not the Samuro she had parted from.
Enough already. Let me go.
Shino stared blankly at the man who had suddenly become a stranger. Even though she thought those words, she still could not say them. Her entire body, no, her very consciousness, remained paralyzed.
All she could do was blink and think sluggishly.
What is he even trying to do...?
A nearly broken neon sign not far from the road answered the question. In the dim twilight, a string of flickering letters appeared. The capital, SBC Glocken, had facilities like this too: unmanned rental shops. In the vehicle lot, almost all of the three-wheeled motorcycles were wrecked. Only one seemed usable.
But those were not the only means of transportation. As the sign indicated, several large four-legged animals, horses, were tethered beside the motorcycles. They were not real horses, of course. They were mechanical horses with exposed metal frames and gears. Only one of them seemed usable too.
Satoru went straight into the parking area, ran up to the only intact three-wheeled motorcycle, pressed the start button, revved the engine, set Shino on the rear seat, straddled the driver's seat himself, and accelerated without hesitation.
The large rear wheel let out a thunderous roar as the motorcycle spat white smoke and swung around.
"I'll get you somewhere safe first. I've confirmed his nickname and appearance. He won't escape."
As if forcing something down, Satoru used what little reason he had left to put Shino's safety first, though the thirst for battle still leaked through his words.
"Destroy that vehicle. Later... I'll go after him myself."
"..."
Shino finally used her still-numb right hand to pull the paralyzing round out of her left arm. Hearing him, she blinked and looked back at the mechanical horse, then realized he must be worried that the man in the tattered cloak, Death Gun, would use it to chase them.
Or perhaps he was simply afraid that with a fast vehicle, Death Gun would target her first.
For some reason, Satoru was radiating pure hostility in that moment, enough that even Shino could feel it. She nodded blankly.
"I... I understand. I'll try."
Her trembling arms raised Hecate II from her right shoulder and pointed the muzzle at the cold metal horse twenty meters away. At this range, she did not need the scope. With one of her correction skills, she could hit it easily. Her finger settled on the trigger, and a pale-green bullet prediction circle appeared, perfectly centered on the horse's flank.