Climbing a rusted iron ladder from the sewer’s darkness, Danan lifted the manhole cover to reveal a plaza steeped in sweet, rancid decay. Not a soul in sight, artificial grass and nylon shrubs rustled unnaturally in the windless air. Choking on the stench stinging his nose, Danan dove into nearby bushes to evade the cameras of hovering flying units.

  The flying units’ vision mimicked an insect’s compound eyes, instantly targeting and eliminating designated enemies or detected lifeforms. With four translucent wings deftly maneuvering, their 9mm Parabellum machine guns—dangling from long tails—aimed at the ground, resembling bees hunting prey or dragonflies swimming through the air with high mobility, scanning for intruders with dual compound-eye cameras. Fitting, since their official name was Dragonfly.

  What to do… Holding his breath, Danan aligned his assault rifle’s sights on a Dragonfly, then glanced at the palace rooftop. There, gazing over the ruined pleasure district, arms spread wide with an expressionless face, stood Aeshma.

  “…Lils,” he whispered.

  “What’s up, Danan?” she replied.

  “I found Aeshma. I can kill her now.”

  Shifting his rifle from the Dragonfly to Aeshma, Danan muttered over comms.

  “Aeshma? Really?” Lils asked.

  “No mistake. I could kill her now. No, to be sure, I should use the anti-armor rifle… I will use it.”

  Slinging the assault rifle, Danan drew the anti-armor rifle, steadying it with his mechanical arm while his flesh left hand rested on the trigger. Connecting the electronic scope’s cable to his goggles’ socket, he entrusted ballistic calculations and recoil suppression to Nephthys, switching his arm’s auto-targeting to semi-auto.

  Aim for the head or the heart in her chest. No room for error in this rare sniper shot—the first since his fleeting clash with Damocles. His finger touched the trigger, released, touched again. Slowing his breaths to calm his racing heart, Danan glanced at the goggles’ readouts as Nephthys’ voice chimed, “Danan, ready when you are.”

  “…Dragonfly movements?” he asked.

  “Maintaining patrol, anti-air, and search patterns,” Nephthys reported.

  “Aeshma’s status?”

  “Unchanged. Stationary.”

  “…Checking bio-signs. Wait a sec,” Lils added.

  Right… A strange sensation tugged at his scalp, like a thread snapping. The comms cut out, replaced by the dull sound of lymph fluid in his ears. Unconscious blinking, sweat beading on his forehead, warm liquid trickling down his jaw, the iron tang spreading in his mouth… Tension or the thrill of eliminating a threat—Danan hadn’t noticed he’d bitten his lip, drawing blood.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Kill when you can. No matter the state, no matter the urgency, don’t miss a once-in-a-lifetime chance. “Bio-signs confirm Aeshma alone, nothing else,” Lils’ voice returned. Without hesitation, Danan pulled the trigger.

  The gunshot shook the air. The bullet, fired at blinding speed, obliterated Aeshma’s head, blood gushing from her neck stump. Alerted by the roar, the Dragonfly swarm turned their machine guns on the sniper—Danan.

  Leaping from the bushes, sprinting across artificial grass, Danan was pierced by a rain of bullets as he stormed the palace. Slamming the heavy alloy door shut, he faced three Dragonflies that slipped through the gap.

  Their whirring resembled a fan’s blades. Their linear movements were predictable, but their speed was beyond troublesome. Vanishing the moment he locked on, they reappeared elsewhere, machine guns roaring. Reinforcing his unarmored parts with bio-fusion metal, Danan swapped to his assault rifle, aiming at the Dragonflies circling at high speed.

  “Nephthys! Lumina bug usage rate!” he shouted.

  “Lumina usage at sixty-five percent. Primary resources allocated to bio-fusion metal and injury repair,” Nephthys replied.

  Plenty of leeway with the Lumina bugs. Deflecting bullets, sparks flying from his dull skin, Danan yelled, “Lils! Find the palace’s armory!”

  “Three hundred meters straight, third door on the right!” Lils directed.

  Shooting normally wouldn’t down Dragonflies. A swarm was easier to handle than individuals due to restricted mobility, but these three were unrestricted—high-mobility, high-output Oniyamma Mode. Running, suppressing fire, following Lils’ guidance, Danan slammed into an unmoving iron door, cursing the locked knob. No time to search for a key. Even if Dragonfly bullets couldn’t pierce his bio-fusion metal, the Lumina bugs would hit their limit first. He had to break through.

  Drawing his sword Heres, Danan slid it through the door’s gap, slicing downward. Hearing the lock snap, he burst through without pausing. Inside: a skeleton bound by wrist chains, a rotting corpse riddled with bullet holes. Melted flesh, blackened blood, the stench of death choking him. Spotting wall-mounted firearms, Danan grabbed a shotgun, then shattered a locked cabinet’s lock, seizing chaff grenades inside.

  “Nephthys! Deactivate the bio-fusion metal!” he ordered.

  “Not recommended. Irrational decision,” Nephthys warned.

  “Just do it!”

  “Understood, reluctantly complying,” Nephthys said.

  The cold, emotionless combat AI’s voice hinted at incomprehension. Following Danan’s command, deactivating the bio-fusion metal protecting his body, Nephthys predicted his next move from the grenade in his hand.

  “Lumina control, protecting mechanical arm with bio-fusion metal—correction, good call, Danan.”

  “Damn right!” he snapped.

  The pulled pin hit the ground, powerful chaff scattering through the air, disrupting electronics and slowing even nanomachines. The chaff fried the Dragonflies’ circuits, their arms curling as they fell like dead insects.

  Motionless Dragonflies were mere scrap. Aiming the shotgun, Danan fired, destroying all three, then collected ammo and grenades from the armory shelves.

  “Danan,” Lils called.

  “What?”

  “You shot Aeshma, right?”

  “Yeah, blew her head off. No mistake.”

  “Did you confirm the body?”

  “No…”

  No time to check. Frowning at Lils’ words, Danan shuddered at her next statement: “One bio-sign…”

  Impossible. No human could survive their head obliterated. Only a non-human, someone with Lumina bugs like him, could. Did Aeshma have Lumina bugs too? Was she… like that man, Kaas?

  “Danan…” Lils said.

  “…Guide me.”

  “…”

  “If Aeshma’s there, still alive, I’ll kill her again. Make her regret living. Even if she’s like me, I’ll break her spirit if I can’t take her life. So, Lils… tell me where she is.”

  “…Got it,” Lils sighed, her tired voice carrying over comms as she relayed Aeshma’s location, sighing again.