"You can't run forever, Natsuha Inose!" The girl yelled out, trying to find me in the vast mall. I was already running away from her, but she kept chasing after me with a speed that even I couldn't match.
"You can't escape forever, Natsuha Inose!" She yelled again.
I ran around the escalator and hid myself there, giving myself enough time to manifest my AFR and enter into battle mode again. That punch really did me in, considering how strong it was. Is every Multi-Utilizer that physically strong? Whatever fucked up experiments they've put themselves into, I'll end it.
"You won't come out? That's fine! I'll just destroy everything around me!" She taunts, waiting for me to respond to that and reveal myself. She's probably going to attack me with her ability if I do come out. But what could I possibly do against someone who can use Multi-Utilization? It's not like I have any kind of defense against that. Unless... I can replicate her abilities... I hope it won't cause me any brain damage. They are as strong as a Class 10 and any ability of that caliber can cause my OCR to glitch out, which I REALLY wanna avoid that.
"Natsuha Inose!" The girl yelled, trying to get my attention. This is my chance. I manifested my AFR and jumped out from where I was hiding. I extend my hand and aim at her, manifesting my beam and discharging it, hoping to have engulfed her in that big line of energy.
"HAHAH! You're interesting, Natsuha Inose! Do you seriously think a single beam can take the life out of me?" I can see her extend her hand as well. She makes contact with my beam and... What the fuck.
She just... She just walks into that beam like it's nothing! She's getting closer. She's right in front of me now. I don't know what to do anymore. I'm about to be hit by that girl's ability.
As I finally stop discharging my beam, I struggle to turn my whole body in a 65 degree angle to kick her to the ground, but she anticipates my attack, dodging my kick and punching my face.
"You see. We Multi-Utilizers are physically very strong. We can sustain a force as strong as a Class 10 and we can punch as strong as a Class 10. We can use our abilities to their fullest potential, which is why we're impossible to beat. Even if you're the Fourth-Ranked Class 10, you won't last long." She taunts me.
I hold my nose for a second and then manifest an energy blade, hoping to slash her. I swing my arm but she's a step too quick as she ducked under my swing and elbowed my stomach, before kicking me to the ground.
I land roughly but I was still stumbling. "Lost your balance already?" The girl says, accelerating herself towards me.
"You know I can do more than that!" I talk back, jumping up before she could tackle me. I make a frontflip and extend my leg to kick her upper head. "Gn-"
I hear a little grunt from her. After that, I break a little wall out of it's place and threw it at her. She'd get hit hard by the wall, pushed back by the force. She would go flying out of the mall.
She's out of the mall, good. Atleast I can guarantee everyone's safety now. Stay put, Ritsune and Nazuki. I jump out of the mall and land on the ground, in front of the Multi-Utilization girl.
She doesn't even look hurt! She didn't even break a single sweat. Just who are they? She got full on hit by a wall and she's not even hurt?! Before I could speak, I could feel my guts squeezing in together. I don't see the girl... Where is she...
I look around me and I see the girl in front of me, punching my guts real hard. So that was the squeezing feeling I felt... She was too quick for me to even see.
"GGH-" I feel like I'm going to puke. My stomach hurts and I have trouble breathing. That punch is... unhinged.
After that punch, she'd start a flurry of powerful punches and kicks. Those punches are as if I was getting hit by loads and loads of trains at once... I can't take them.
I couldn't dodge myself and I couldn't even block her attacks. She's just too fast. She fires a beam straight into my arm and exploded upon contact, the shockwave blowing me back a hundred meters away.
My vision starts blurring as I'm flying away from her. I land roughly on the ground again. I try to stand up but my legs are wobbly. She's just walking towards me. I think she knows that I have no energy anymore to fight. She grabs my shoulder and then pushes me down onto the ground.
"Nng..." I moan. She looks at me with a sinister smile. I swear... Multi-Utilizers are crazy.
"How did someone like Utsu-san have such a hard time fighting you?" She said with a confused look. "You haven't even got a single attack on me that actually hurt. You're not even close to being able to beat me."
She lifts me up and blows me back once again but stops me mid-air, holding me mid-air with her telekinesis. "Fourth-Ranked... but so vulnerable and so weak. Do you have no fighting spirit, little girl?"
"Wha-" I try to say something but she cuts me off. "You fight as if you have no hope anymore. Your AFR is fluctating and you look unhappy... What underlying cause could force a broken fighting spirit in you?" She asked me.
".....Fuck you! It's because of you people that I..." I start to say but she cuts me off again.
"But we're only just starting our attack, aren't we? What are you so stressed about? You might as well tell me since you're going to die anyways." She says with a wicked smile.
"I'll kill you!" I yell at her. But she doesn't even flinch. "So what do you want to say? Tell me, why don't you fight at full power?" She asked again. I'm starting to get really... REALLY angry. I want to rip her head off and blast it away.
"You guys... You guys are sick in your heads! Why would you goddamn idiots undertake in such a horrifying experiment? You guys killed thousands of people!" I yelled out. My vision started to blur.
"Thousands of people died, but that's not the point. We're doing this for the good of everyone, isn't that right?" She said, looking at me with her cold eyes.
"That's bullshit! How is 're-writing' the entire definition of SPECs a good thing?! You're just trying to justify your actions by saying 'for the greater good' or some shit like that. That's not true, you bastards! You guys are fucking murderers!" I screamed at her.
"Why does any of that matter for you, little girl? You're going to die here. And when you do... I'm gonna be there." She said and then she starts walking towards me.
"Don't come near me! I'll kill you!" I yelled out. I can feel my AFR is getting unstable. I'm going to snap.
"I'll make sure your death hurts." She laughed, holding her hand out and manifesting a beam with a penetrating feeling. I'm seconds away from death... I... I made a promise to Megumu... I promised her that I would end this experiment... I promised her that I would destroy all buildings associated with that experiment... I promised to destroy the dark side of the city.
She fired her beam and I'm still stuck in place... I can't... I can't die yet.
I was silent for a moment and then my AFR rose at unimaginable levels. The beam made contact with my AFR. My AFR starting repelling the beam back to the girl. The girl was perplexed and didn't expect something like this. She almost got hit by her own beam if she hadn't side-stepped.
"What the... How did you repel that beam?" The girl asked me. I make no noise. I'm full of anger right now and I just want to kill her.
I start going onto the offense. I make afterimages of myself around her, each firing beams that were lethal. The girl created a barrier and repelled some of them back. "Argh! You little girl! You won't beat me!" She yells out, getting hit by one beam. She accelerated towards an afterimage of mine and punched it, only to realize she punched a fake.
She started going round and round punching afterimages of mine, before finally accelerating towards me for a punch.
I stomp the ground and lifted the earth up and dispersed it, huge chunks of earth and road debris flying towards her. She had a hard time dodging them.
I create another afterimage of myself and shoot a beam at her. It hits her but doesn't seem to affect her much. I try to keep attacking her but she's able to dodge every attack I throw at her.
She starts creating barriers and repelling my attacks. She accelerates towards me and so do I, punching and dodging each other.
"You're strong... But you'll never beat me. I underestimated you." She said.
"I don't care, you're going to die." I said in a monotone voice.
"Don't underestimate me, I'm the strongest here!" She yelled out, teleporting behind me and getting a hard kick on my side. I lose balance and fall to the ground.
"Uff- This isn't over yet!" I get up and she gets close to me. I start charging a beam and fire it at her. She dodges it and fires her own beam at me. I dodge it and fire my own beam. We both fire beams at each other and dodge each other's attacks.
This fight is intense... I can feel my energy depleting each step I take. She accelerates towards me again but I anticipated that, replicating Ritsune's power and reversed her velocity. She would now accelerate away from me. "What the fuck?!" She yells out.
I run towards her and manifest my beam at the same time. This should do it. I wait for a good 20 seconds for the beam to be big enough to engulf her completely.
But she was fast... She side-stepped and fired a small beam aimed for my heart. I barely avoided her beam as it grazed my arm.
"Agh-" I grunt, stopping my attacks and holding my arm.
"You're too slow..." She said, running towards me. I try to get up but she kicks me in the stomach, knocking all my breath out.
I fall back down onto the ground, gasping for air.
She approaches me again and punches me in the face. I grab her wrist and throw her into a wall. I'm so tired man... I can't fight anymore. I dash at her and grab her face, going through an apartment complex and then flying out of it again, pulling her up and kicking her down to the ground, before manifesting a beam and blasting it at her.
That much should damage her quite a bit... If not, I'm dead. I land in front of her and manifested an energy beam to put and end to this. I aim for her heart but she was quick, teleporting away from me.
"I didn't know you had it in you... You've hurt me..." She said, panting and laughing. "I thought you were weak... now I understand the struggles Utsu-san had trying to kill you."
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"Giving up already?" I said, trying to anger her. "It almost sounds like you're scared."
"Oh, I'm not scared... In fact. I've been holding back so I could make this fight a little bit interesting for the both of us. But now... I know that I don't need to hold back. I'll make sure to hurt you as much as I can and mutilate you!" Her AFR raised quickly. Her AFR is greatly overpowering mine.
Fuck... I'm almost out of energy and she's still at 100%... No... I can't lose hope just yet. Stay confident, Natsuha. You'll win... But that AFR... it's scaring me.
"I see... So you are scared..." She said, laughing. "Ah, psychological terror... I love it. I gave you a little hope and you've lost it now. Don't worry... Just because you're interesting, you'll have an easy death. I... Uraka Maestera will see to that." She said, revealing her name.
She's a Maestera... That name is familiar... The Maestera Terrorist Organisation 4 years ago... which purged the Class 10. They... She... She's scum. The worst of the worst. The lowest of the lowest. A Maestera and a Multi-Utilizer. She's going to die. I'll kill her.
I lose my mind and yell at her in rage. "Why... WHY?! Why are you involved with two of the WORST THINGS?!" My AFR surges again, but it feels faint and it's fluctuating.
"Hm? Two? Ah... you probably mean the Class 10 purge the Maestera's initiated?" She laughed. "I'm not linked to that in any way. That was the work of my father, Tenha Maestera. He got killed by Hi-Quads 2 years ago... Ah... I've never told you why I'm a Multi-Utilizer, right?" She said, looking at me.
"Well. I'm a Multi-Utilizer because I want to exterminate the Hi-Quads, the entire defense fronts of the city. I want to control the Class 10 and start something my father never could. A coalition to overthrow the current government. Full control of the city, and later on... conquer the world. A world controlled by Maestera's... how beautiful is that?! Do you have any idea how amazing that would be?! I would have the power to control every life form in the world! All the humans, under my control! Hahaha! HAHA!" She starts laughing like a maniac.
"You're insane..." I said, trying to calm down as she laughs. She stops laughing and her face turned expressionless. She held her hand out and started lifting me up. "A... AH- Stop!"
"Insane...? Tell me this, Natsuha Inose." She stopped for a moment before continuing to speak. "If you tell me I'm insane, doesn't that make you a hypocrite? Aren't you insane yourself?"
I'm confused by that sentence... What does she mean? Why did she say that?
"You strived for unmatched power because you were too weak to be classified a prestigious and potential future Class 10 SPEC. Why would you get angry at me for undertaking in a project when you did that yourself?" She smiled wickedly.
... No... no no no NO NO NO! I... didnt'! I was forced into that project! I never fucking submitted!! ...This girl! I can't... FUCKKK!
"You can deny it all you want... but they asked you nicely, didn't they?" She continued agitating me. I cover my face while I scream my lungs out. I... I don't want to hear any more of this.
"You said yes and you agreed to offer your SPEC up to them so they could observe your O.C.R pattern and find ways to make you stronger... You had to perform horrible and traumatizing duties to boost up your O.C.R... right?"
Stop stop stop stop stop stop stop stop STOP STOP STOP STOP! STOP!!!! SHUT UPP!! HOW DOES SHE KNOW ABOUT THAT?!
"Your power is unique and they wanted to use you. They used you, just like they're using me. You can't get angry at me because you're just like me. You were power hungry... and look where that got you, little girl. Destroying the source doesn't mean the damage will be fixed."
No... no no... She's wrong... I was never power hungry! I wanted to improve myself through basic training, not an experiment! They forced me... they forced me to... I... I'm crying...
"Hehehe... HAHAHAHAHAH! PATHETIC! YOU WANTED PRAISE BUT YOU GOT TRAUMA IN RETURN! HAHAHAHAHAH! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" She started swinging her arms, the telekinesis throwing me all over the place. I'm hitting walls, stores and concrete... I'm getting battered and bruised.
I'm trying to protect my head from her attacks but she's too fast for me... I can't do anything about it.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH! NATSUHA INOSE, YOU'RE SO INTERESTING!" She yells out, swinging even harder. I'm... What can I do... What can I do in this situation... I've lost my fighting spirit...
"Hahaha! Hahahaha! Hahahaha! HAHAHAHAHA! HAHAHAHAHAH! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" She's laughing so hard that tears are coming down from her eyes. She's laughing so hard that she's almost hyperventilating. She's enjoying this...
But... "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA...hahah...hhh..." She stopped laughing as she stopped swinging her arms. I'm soaked in my own blood and I have bruises everywhere... Luckily, nothing is broken but I feel dizzy and unreal... like I'm out of my own body. Is this what dying feels like?
"Oh... haha... hihi... I'm having so much fun... I'm going to lose myself because of you!" She chuckles. I can hear her voice, but it's distant and muffled. "... Okay... I've had enough. Say goodbye, Natsuha Inose."
I hear my name... two times... Why would she say my name twice... Wait... It's... Is that...?
"SUHA-CHAANN!!" I hear Ritsune's voice getting louder and closer. You idiot! What are you doing?! You're going to die!!
"Oh... look at that. Is that your little friend, Natsuha Inose?" She looks at Ritsune with a sinister smile. "What an experience... I get to kill two birds with one stone."
"R...Ri..Ritsu-" I try to utter. Ritsune looks at me with deep concern. "Save your breath, Suha-chan... I'll get you out of this mess."
"N...No... Save yourself... Please..." I try to say something. I don't want her to die...
"...Ha...HAHA... This is like watching a movie!" The Multi-Utilizer girl laughed again. "Well, enough talking... You've just signed your death wish, red-haired girl!"
"Really? Because the way you're speaking sounds so in reverse that you're the one that's going to die!" Ritsune yells back.
"Heh... I've met so many interesting people in my life... but I think you're the best one yet! Very well then! Let's hold a legendary battle!" She said, holding her arms out like she's performing in a gladiator arena.
"Tell me, red-haired girl... Have you ever heard of... Program Des Nulls?"
"...Program Des Nulls?" I hear Ritsune's confusing voice next to me.
"It's a program which boosts a person's multiple equipped abilities tenfold, so they can be on par with the Class 10. Think of it as overclocking a computer. A boosted base clock of a computer will make it work even better. In this instance, I've overclocked my abilities without harm. That is why fighting Class 10 is like stomping on a frog. It's so easy! That's why your friend is drowning in their own blood!" She laughed as she spoke.
"Fuck you! You'll drown in your own puddle of blood after I pummel you to the ground! No one hurts my friends... Especially my beloved junior!" She said, her eyebrows raising up as her eyes widened from the anger.
"You seriously think you can beat me? I can't even feel your AFR because it's so weak!"
"Oh please. I'll let you in on a secret. Even a mere Class 8 has a thousand tricks up their sleeves." She boosted her own confidence. "I'll start with the first one and then defeat you with the other 999." She went in a fighting stance, ready to dodge any attack thrown at her.
"HAHAHAHA! You're a brave girl! I'm gonna show you how much stronger I am than you! I'll make sure you remember this day for the rest of your life!" The girl grinned, manifesting a beam towards Ritsune.
Ritsune smirked, reversing the velocity of the beam back at her. The Multi-Utilizer didn't anticipate it and got hit by her own blast. It didn't even affect her. She's standing there as she tanked that blast head on.
"That was a really annoying fucking trick, red-haired cunt!" The Multi-Utilizer yelled out in anger as she got hit by her own blast. She accelerated herself towards Ritsune and went in for a punch.
Ritsune didn't anticipate her attack but jumped off the ground and reversed the Multi-Utilizer's velocity, blowing her back as she accelerated away from her. Ritsune clicked her fingers again, reversing the Multi-Utilizer's acceleration back towards her. "AGH- WHAT THE-" She yelled out.
"This is why my ability is so fun." Ritsune said, jumping on a balcony and jumping off of it, freezing the Multi-Utilizer in place as she landed on top of her.
"How... How are you doing this?! I... I can't move!" She yelled in anger and confusion.
"You don't underestimate a low-class like me just like you don't underestimate a Class 10. I may lack in strength but I have a thousand tricks up my sleeve! That's a bad thing to do, right?" Ritsune said, her eyes gleaming with a heroic smile. "I'll let you in on another secret: I know all about your abilities." She said, obviously lying but it was to agitate the Multi-Utilizer even more. "W...What? OW... OW! OW- AGH- STOP THAT!!-"
Ritsune started stomping on the head of the Multi-Utilizer while also hammering her with a wooden plank she found lying on the balcony she jumped off.
"STOP! STOP THAT!"
"Oh! Are you going to cry? Hehehe!" She giggled, jumping off her. "The next time you hurt my friends is the last time you'll be able to see light." The moment they were face-to-face, she flicked the Multi-Utilizers forehead and stopped freezing her, while also reversing her velocity back. She would fly away from Ritsune.
"Alright..." Ritsune landed in front of me, holding my hand. "I have time to get Suha-chan and myself out of here." She hoisted me over her shoulder and ran away into an alleyway.
Ritsune ran through the streets of Ultima City. She had no idea where she was going, but she knew that she needed to run as far as she could from that Multi-Utilizer to save her own life, as well as mine. "Suha-chan! Hang in there! I'm sorry I couldn't help you sooner!" She kept running and running. It was like she was looking for somebody. "Where the hell is Mihara-san?!" She yelled out, taking her phone out and calling her. It looks like they exchanged phone numbers during that ordeal in the mall.
Nazuki picked up and they started talking. Ritsune jumped up on the rooftop of a building, trying to find Nazuki in the same District.
{C}: "Nonomura-san, where did you go?!"
{C}: "I'm at the other side of the district! Where are you!?"
{C}: "On the roof of this building!"
{C}: "What roof?!"
{C}: "Look around you! Look to the right from the Mall!"
{C}: "Right of... ...Oh, I see you! I'll be there in a second!"
{C}: "Oka-"
Nazuki teleported in front of me and Ritsune. "What's wrong?" Nazuki asked, looking down at us. "Wait... Inose-san? What happened to Inose-san?!" Nazuki looked at me with great concern.
"I'll tell you all about it later, right now, we need to go! Take us to a safer place!"
"I... I can't teleport 2 people at once, Nonomura-san! You'll have to catch her!" She said.
"Whatever, just teleport me to a place you know far from here!" Ritsune placed me on the ground and braced herself.
"Okay, okay... Here we go!" Nazuki teleported Ritsune to the roof of an abandoned building. Nazuki looked at me for a good second before saying. "Inose-san... I hope you're okay." She teleported me to the same place she teleported Ritsune. I was freefalling to the ground for 2 seconds but Ritsune caught me perfectly.
"You're okay... you're okay." Ritsune said, smiling. Nazuki followed soon after and teleported in front of Ritsune.
"Right... Nonomura-san... WHAT... happened?" Nazuki wanted answers straight away.
"I... Alright... There was this girl with red eyes and silver hair... a maniac. She terrorized the mall and then attacked Suha-chan... They fought outside the mall but Suha-chan's battered and bruised..." She said while looking down on me.
"What?! Inose-san's a Class 10, how is that possible?!" Nazuki exclaimed.
"I- I don't know! I'm not familiar with the Class 10 roster myself but I'm pretty sure she's not on there at all! She isn't a Class 10... she's something else."
"Fuck... What do we do?" Nazuki asked Ritsune.
"We should leave this place as soon as possible. We can take her back to the hospital and get her medical attention. Let's hurry." Ritsune suggested.
"Alright, let's go!" Nazuki said, grabbing Ritsune's hand before they went.
"I don't know what kind of situation Inose-san has put herself into but... It seems like we're involved in this as well. We need to help her, she can't do this alone." Nazuki said.
"..." Ritsune thought. "Yeah..."
"I hope she'll talk about it when she wakes up."
—
MAY 14, 2063 | 1:03:27 PM
ULTIMA CITY, EASTERN DISTRICT
"Ow... What the..." The Multi-Utilization girl crashed into the bushes not too long ago. She would stand up, brushing herself off and look around. "That red-haired bitch... She... She escaped! Together with Inose!" She stomped the ground, which caused a minor shake. "Shit... This is bad... Shit... Shit... SHIT! The upper boss will fucking kill me!" She looked around, sweating.
She heard footsteps coming her way and she would squeal a little, before covering her mouth. It sounded like it came from behind. She knew it was the 'upper boss' she was talking about and didn't want to give away any weaknesses. Nevertheless, she cleared her throat and stood upright elegantly. The upper boss stood behind her, smiling.
"Your attire, Maestera-kun. You've crashed into some bushes, hm?" The upper boss spoke. It sounded robotic... but angelic at the same time. The boss gave off red light radiating from his wooshing aura.
"I sincerely hope you've not lost against Inose. You'll have to be punished greatly for your incompetence."
"I... No, sir... I have not failed... In fact, she's battered and bruised. All I need is some more time."
"More time equals more work and therefore it's annoying. You should be grateful that I'm giving you another chance to redeem yourself. We don't want to dispose of you as you're our strongest asset. Don't fail me again, and prove to me you're the strongest, or you'll join your father in your grave with a long list of failures." The man with the red aura spoke, chuckling like a savage.
"That... won't happen, sir... I'll make sure Inose's dead before the next meeting." Uruka Maestera said.
"Good. Valuable puppets like you make great work of cleaning up trash." The man came closer, whispering in her ear. "If you don't bring Inose to us 24 hours before the next meeting, you'll be treated as trash yourself. I'll start with cutting your fingers off, then mutilate you and feed you to the city rats."
Maestera felt sweat running down her forehead, and she could feel her heart pounding. She was scared, but she couldn't let anyone know. She had to stay strong, even if it meant being a coward.
"Yes... Yes, sir..."
"Good girl... Hehe." He gave her a pat on the head before seemingly disappearing. Maestera felt so relieved that her legs gave out, as she fell on her knees and smiling. "My father was a honorable man... you piece of shit." She became angry.
"This is why I hate all of you... This is why I'm going to kill all of you."
"Starting with you, Inose."