A bead of sweat swivels down Maxim's cheek as he continues to make eye contact with Adalae with clenched teeth. Her tears were white, contrasting her onyx skin as she fidgetted between the purple-skinned brute's grip.

The black-armored security personnel continues to circle around the brute, their gun whirring along with their metal footsteps being the only sound penetrating the suspenseful atmosphere.

"Sir! We're going to have to ask you to back away from the assailant!" One of the guards yells.

Maxim's eyebrows burrow as he takes a step forward. "The only way I'm going is with Adalae in my arms you got that! So you can just shove it!"

Adalae shakes her head, scrunching her eyes shut with a mumble beneath the man's hand holding her hostage.

"Natacuy jueno." The battle-suited brute murmurs beneath his breath.

His battle suit's inner mechanisms click while glowing a bright neon blue. His back then unlatches up into a hexagon opening, releasing several clear discs that become invisible as they hover in different directions. All the security personnel steps back, seemingly disturbed by his move, as the battle-suited brute raises his rifles in different directions.

—CLACK CLACK CLACK CLACK CLACK

He lets out a barrage of red plasma bullets, their blue electro-charge trail whizzes around the area as they hit their air and seemingly bounce off an imperceptible surface. The security personnel attempt to flee, dropping their weapons and dashing to the yellow 'Danger' tape. However, their agonizing screams are accompanied by the ripping of flesh and plinks of bullets hitting the ground while passing their torso and heads.

Maxim's eyes widen, and his breaths slow into a gasp. His eyes shifted around the room. The security personnel's bodies were plastered with holes, blue and yellow blood oozing from their body armor as some performed their final breaths.

The battle-suited brute then steps forward. Still taken back from the display, Maxim notices a large shadow looming over him. He looks up to the brute looming over him with eyes of dread, then gazes down at Adalae. She shakes her head frantically, desperately trying to tell him to flee, but all he does is smile.

"I told you… I'm not leaving without you in my arms. I, uh… I love you…."

The battle-suited brute aims both of his rifles on either side of Maxim's head, heat and smoke still extruding from their nozzles from his initial attack. The sides of the rifles then light up with a bluish glow, with the nozzle releasing a gleam of light. Adalae's eyes widen, her baby-blue pupils shimmering beneath her watery gaze.

—PLING

Adalae turns her head to the side with closed eyes as she hears the bullet collide with the ground. She then opens her left eye, then the other, looking around for Maxim, now nowhere in sight.

"… Sometimes, boys can be so stupid."

Maxim looks up at Miya, hovering over him, holding him by the legs and back as they are now a few feet away from the brute. She drops him onto his feet and then turns around, looking at him with a smirk.

"If you love her, then why would you let her see you die? Such simple-minded thinking, really."

Maxim drops to his knees, with his eyes beginning to water. "M-Miya…"

The battle-suited brute turns to Miya, his armored helmet creates several blue and green glares as he angles his rifles into the air.

Miya's pupils dash around the room. She then watches as the plasma bullets leave the chamber of the rifles. She traces forty-two small red beams as they bounce off a small invisible surface in the air on either side of her. The beams hit another surface a few inches away in different directions, making the bullets circle around her.

Only mere plinks and clinks can be heard by the untrained eye as imperceivable small red pellets whiz around Miya, continuing to stand still. She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, her eyelids then slightly open ajar, revealing the bottom of her brown eyes now glowing a deep crimson.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

A few bullets plink off a nearby surface to her right and trail toward her with incredible speed. Miya looks to the side and jumps back, nearly eluding the attack; The bullets create a loud buzz similar to an angry hornet as they shoot past. Before the bullets hit the ground, she watches as a translucent plate whisks to the bullets and makes them bounce back into the air.

Miya's hand inches toward her holster. However, her eyes shift to the side, noticing a plink at her backside. She slides to the left as several bullets bounce high into the air from a transparent plate behind her initial location. She looks down at a burnt bruise on the side of her hand with a grit of her teeth.

Miya's boot digs into the cement surface, creating a dense footprint as she takes off. The battle-suited brute laughs and aims his nozzles directly at her. With a clink, he releases several red plasma bullets that soar through the air.

The wind brushes the sides of her ears, along with the metallic tinks of bullets rushing past her head and torso as she runs toward the battle-suited brute. Using her built-up momentum, she slides across the ground then pivots on her foot to leap into the air with a spiral, raising her leg high with her toes pointed upward.

The battle-suited brute's face mask creates an array of blue and red dots as several transparent discs converge around Miya at all angles. Her ears catch the ear-splitting clinks as multiple bullets race toward her airborne body; Miya unlatches her pistol from her holster with a puff of smoke. Its appearance then transforms into a silver triple-nozzled gun with a circular-disc-like shape. She fires a white ray above her, forcing her body to plummet down, evading the bullets as they collide with each other overhead.

Her foot clashes with the battle-suited brute's guns, him wincing as he creates an X with his weapons while continuing to shield himself. Miya's eyes widen as he straightens his guns, looking down the black nozzle as they hum with a red-neon glare. She kicks herself off his rifle, eluding his shot, then fires another white ray from her gun, using the force to slam both her feet into the battle-suited brute's helmet.

Miya then pushes herself off and lands her hands on the ground, twisting back into a sidewards flip. She then jumps back to evade two long rows of bullets with her feet sliding across the floor. Several clinks fill the air as she looks around at the transparent discs moving around her. Red shells then follow and bounce off the surfaces spiraling toward her location.

Her gun then elongates itself, the exterior coloring into a shiny jet-black hue while the butt, receiver, and hand guard square off to the same length giving it a rectangular shape. With a soft vreem, she clicks the trigger with two fingers, causing a black bolt to fire from its nozzle.

The beam twists and turns through the air, colliding with stray plasma bullets and burning them to a crisp.

—SCAAH

The beam aimed directly at the battle-suited brute's head dissipates into a white ripple around his body. Miya clicks her teeth and flips back, eluding several more bullets as they bounce off transparent discs and aim in her direction.

That's Masus-type armor, alright. I won't be able to penetrate his shields with electro-pulses, plasma, or armor-cased bullets…

Her eyes continue to monitor the discs floating around her, then the green, blue, and red eyes dashing across the battle-suited brute's face mask. She notices his face pointing toward the right, with several discs racing toward her high in the air.

Some of the discs float to the right, causing the green eyes to blink several times; They then move upward, causing his eyes to flash blue. After finally making their position, they tilt themselves, allowing bullets to ricochet off their surface, causing his face to blink red.

I understand now. Green allows him to control the pallets on the X-axis, red on the Y-axis, and blue on the Z-axis or when they're in position.

Miya notices a transparent ripple at her right, followed by a plink of bullets shooting off the surface. She shields her torso with the side of her gun, causing the bullets to bounce in different directions. One of the bullets strays and heads toward Maxim, standing a few feet away near the heat of the battle.

In a nimble twist, Miya follows a transparent disc as it passes a few inches near Maxim's torso. She aims her rifle and fires a dense black ray at the disc's side, causing it to tumble down and knock the bullet aiming for Maxim's hip back into the air. A few of the discs attempt to catch the stray bullet but crash into each other, causing some of the shots to be lost into the ceiling.

Miya's eyes scrunch down, then looks to the side at another transparent ripple appear on her right and backside.

—Plink Plink Plink

Before she could react, several red bullets sliced the side of her abdomen, with another zipping past her ankle making her fall down to the floor with a wince. She looks down at her black-charred shirt with tiny blood bubbles seeping through her burnt skin.

Her pupils then bounce to the left side of her eye as another pair of bullets whiz past her head, slicing a few pieces of her hair as she tumbles across the floor. She looks down at her hand covering her wound, the blood running down her sides and dripping onto the floor. She stands to her feet with a wince, balancing herself onto her left forefoot, where the bullets left a deep cut into her ankle, exposing her white meat as it starts to mend itself with layers of pink flesh.

The red trails circling around the room continue to quicken. The transparent ripples dash left and right with only mere millisecond movements.

The bullets are starting to move faster the more they collide with those metal plates. My eyes can't track them for much longer. I have to end this quickly.