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nChapter 59, An Expensive Deathmatch

nAlpha had changed her clothes before Akira realized it.

n“Alpha, why are you wearing this now?”

nAlpha was wearing an augmented suit that looked much like Akira’s. Although its shape was different due to the difference in their build and gender, it more or less looked like another series from the same type of augmented suit.

nAlpha smiled.

n“I just thought that it might be fun to use the same suit as you from time to time, what do you think?”

n“Even if you ask me so… It looks… normal?”

nWhen she was training Akira for CQC, Alpha was usually in an augmented suit. But it was not a common augmented suit, it had the old-world feeling with a daring design that showed the difference in their culture.

nCompared to that augmented suit, the one that Alpha was wearing now looked very normal. Although it had a striking curve to house her voluptuous body, it was way better compared to her usual augmented suit that had a mysterious useless opening in the front.

nAlpha looked exasperated.

n“That was a straight and boring reply. As I thought, it might be a good idea to train you in that department.”

nAkira looked slightly annoyed.

n“Even if that’s true, this is not the time for it.”

n“Well, you’re right. Let’s talk about something else then, Akira, one of the enemies has entered the building. It’s the one with the smaller powered suit, while the other one is watching from the outside right now.”

nAkira tensed up. He completely forgot about Alpha’s appearance in an instant.

n“As I thought, they won’t leave, huh? Even if you say that it’s a smaller powered suit, it’s still a pretty big one. So how did that girl get in this building with that powered suit?”

nThe hallway where Akira was in, was rather narrow and short. It would be pretty hard to move around in that space with all of Nelia’s equipment.

nAkira was worried if Nelia was moving inside the building by demolishing the walls, but Alpha confirmed that it was not the case.

n“She left her powered suit behind. It seems that my plan to bait them into the hallway without their powered suit is going well. But even so, we still don’t know how strong she’s without her powered suit. She might be confident that she would be able to kill you even without the powered suit, that’s why she entered the building without it.”

n“It’s a good thing that she left her tank-like powered suit behind. Without her powered suit, the CWH special ammo should be enough to kill her, right?”

nHe thought that it was at least better than repeatedly shooting at an enemy despite dealing almost no damage at all. Since continuing so would only shave his optimism bit by bit, Akira looked hopeful thinking that he had a better chance to win now.

nBut before his optimistic guess turned into a real hope, Alpha warned him.

n“It might give you a better chance, but it doesn’t mean that you’re in a better position now. So don’t let your guard down.”

n“I know. They’re stronger than me, so it’s not like I can afford to lower my guard.”

nAkira focused his mind and answered back firmly.

nAlpha smiled, satisfied with his answer.

n“If it’s possible, it would be great if we can lure her into a long hallway where you can take aim at her from the other end of the hallway. We’ll keep on moving until we find a good position.”

n“Where is she right now?”

n“She’s over there.”

nAlpha pointed her finger towards nothing but the wall. But thanks to her support, Akira was easily able to see Nelia’s image past the layers of walls.

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nAlthough he was keeping his guard up since he knew he was fighting against someone better than him, with the layers of walls and the distance between them, Akira thought that there was no way Nelia would be able to see him as he instinctively lowered his guard.

nWhile Akira was observing Nelia, she too was looking straight at his face. Although there were layers of walls separating them, he could feel Nelia’s gaze looking straight at him.

nAkira’s and Nelia’s eyes suddenly met each other. Akira who had lowered his guard immediately tensed up.

n“Get down!!”

nThe moment Alpha said that to Akira, he quickly lied down on the ground, his move was almost perfectly in sync with his augmented suit. Thanks to that, he was able to quickly lie down.

nRight before Akira lied down, he was observing Nelia. That was when Nelia made a gesture as if she was cutting him down.

nNot only was there quite a distance between them, but there were also layers of walls separating them. Akira could see Nelia holding a blade that was not long enough to reach him. And even if it could extend to reach him, he thought that the walls between them should be strong enough to greatly reduce its cutting power. Thus, it was highly unlikely that Nelia could wound him from behind those walls.

nNormally, Akira would not even have to take any evasive action. But when he saw that, he instinctively forced himself to lie down onto the ground. If someone asked him why he did that, he could not answer back with anything else but intuition. After all, he really did that purely out of instinct.

nThere were so many reasons why his instinct told him to take evasive action. There was no hesitation in Nelia’s movement, it was as if she could completely see him. It looked like she did that knowing exactly what she was doing, it was not merely a random action. But more than everything, Akira remembered that he too had done something similar in the past.

nNelia swung the blade in her hand as if she was cutting the air. The blade itself did not even reach the wall in front of her. But with that motion, the wall in front of her, and all the walls between her and Akira, were all split into two. The blade that she was using was an old-world relic. The blue light that shot out from it cleanly cut everything in front of her.

nAkira was barely able to avoid that slash. But his rucksack was not so lucky, it was cut open, spilling out everything that was inside. The magazines and medicines boxes inside his rucksack were cut clean into two. The bullets melted where it was cut and its cross-section looked like a mirror.

nSince the light that just passed above Akira’s back did not transfer heat, the gunpowder inside the bullets did not explode. The blade simply erased everything that was on its path.

nAfter Nelia cut everything within a few dozen metres radius around her, the old-world blade that she was holding silently crumbled into dust and was blown away by the wind before the dust could even reach the ground.

nNelia looked at the image of Akira, who was lying on the ground, and smiled. She immediately noticed that he was still alive.

n“Nice!!… No, wait, that only cut open his rucksack…? Well, I guess that’s fine. But it at least cut his friend down. To think that he would evade that attack, as I thought, he could clearly see my movements.”

nShe looked at Akira’s movements and from it, she could easily guess that he could also clearly see her. After all, it would be impossible for him to evade that attack otherwise.

nNelia threw away the blade in her hand that had nothing left other than its handle.

n“Good grief, I even wasted an old-world relic just to kill you, you know. You’re really an expensive boy. Well, it doesn’t matter. I still have a lot of other old-world relics. Just wait there, I’ll chop you to pieces.”

nNelia pulled two blades from her belt. Those were nothing but handles without a blade. But when she firmly gripped those handles, liquid metal came out from those handles, ignoring the gravity it formed the blades’ cutting edge. The blades kept on extending out until it reached 2 metres in length.

nShe swung her blade at the wall in front of her, the blade cut through the strong wall as if it was made of jelly.

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nShe utilised the power of her cyborg body to kick the part of the wall that she just cut and sent it flying. She then used that hole to enter the room. She kept on cutting the walls in front of her as she walked to Akira in a straight line. She was smiling happily as she was enjoying the satisfaction of cutting down old-world buildings.

nAkira who was lying on the ground tried to confirm the situation that he was in. Although he had no idea what exactly Nelia did, he understood that he just barely escaped death from that blade slash which somehow even reached him.

nBecause his rucksack was cut open, the things that were inside it were now scattered on the ground around him. Unfortunately, among those, Akira found his information terminal which was already sliced into two. Since there was no need for him to operate his information terminal as long as Alpha was around, he normally kept it inside his rucksack.

nAkira clicked his tongue when he saw his sliced information terminal. He knew that Alpha was doing so many things in the background, which he did not even understand, to control his augmented suit. But one thing he knew for sure, Alpha controlled his augmented suit through the information terminal the first time she did. If the destroyed information terminal prevented her from controlling his augmented suit, it would significantly lower his fighting ability.

nAkira pushed his body up and turned towards Alpha’s direction as he said.

n“Alpha, the terminal is destroyed, am I going to be okay?”

nAkira was completely shocked the moment he saw Alpha. She was lying on the ground, sliced into two, and covered in blood.

nHe could not believe what he was seeing, this scene should have been impossible to happen. Because of his shock, he forgot about Nelia and shouted.

n“Alpha!?”

nHe ran towards Alpha’s dead body in a panic. He extended his hand to grab Alpha’s upper half that was already separated from its lower half. But his hand passed through her body and hit the floor.

n“Calm down. Did you forget that I’m only an image?”

nAkira, who was utterly confused, snapped back to his senses the moment he heard Alpha’s voice which sounded as if nothing worthwhile had happened. She was still lying on the ground with her sliced body as she turned towards him and smiled.

n“I’m just showing an image of what would have happened if it was a corporeal body that was cut into two by that attack.”

nAlthough it looked as if Alpha was cleanly cut into two, for her, it was as simple as changing her clothes. Akira felt relieved as he understood that she was completely fine, but he then asked her while looking totally surprised.

n“W-why would you even do this…?”

nAkira thought that it was not like Alpha did it just to surprise him. When he asked her that question, he started to think for any valid reason. But she quickly stopped him.

n“Save your questions for later, I’m completely fine. Keep one thing in mind, in this battle, you’ll fight the enemy in close quarters. Get yourself ready. Aah, I’ll stay like this for a while, but you can still talk to me normally and it won’t affect my support for you too, so don’t worry about that part.”

nThe moment he heard the word ‘enemy’, Akira tensed up. He put all of his questions for later and focused on Nelia who was coming at him.

nAkira quickly got on his feet and aimed his CWH anti-material rifle at Nelia. He hesitated for a moment since he could only see a wall where he was aiming. But he kept the muzzle aimed at the image of Nelia behind the wall and pulled the trigger.

nThe bullet that he shot at point-blank range made a crater on the wall, but it did not create a hole that Akira could pass through. The CWH special ammo could not penetrate the wall although it was shot at a point-blank range.

nAkira was surprised at how durable the wall was.

n“Whoah, this wall is crazy hard! How the hell did she slice through it?!”

n“She used an old-world relic after all. You too did the same thing before, remember?”

nAkira remembered that he once used an old-world blade to cut through the building wall together with the thug who attacked him. But at that time, there was only a single layer of wall separating them. So, Nelia was clearly using something more powerful.

n“That thing, huh!! What a huge pain in the ass, what should I do now?”

n“You have no other choice but to somehow lure her to a place where you can get a clear shot at her. I don’t know how far you can fight with your augmented suit, but one thing for sure, you’ll have to do crazy manoeuvres. So just grit your teeth and get yourself ready.”

n“Alright, I get it!! Please somehow end the fight before my limbs fall off my body, okay!!”

nAkira yelled back as if he had already given up. He had already used all of his medicines. And on top of that, the medicines that he had taken would eventually run out of their effects soon. The next crazy manoeuvres that he would do would put his body under immense stress which might rip his limbs off for real this time.

nAlpha’s image was still lying on the ground, sliced into two.

n“I’ll put in extra effort to comply with your request.”

nIf Akira judged from only her voice, it sounded as if Alpha was standing beside him just like usual. Although it calmed him a little, he still sounded panicked when he said.

n“You should answer back with full confidence like always!!”

n“Don’t worry… Even if you get some muscles torn, you can still walk back home as long as you have your augmented suit.”

nAkira could not see Alpha’s expression since he was watching Nelia, but he somehow thought that Alpha must be smiling teasingly at him right now. In response, he just smiled bitterly.

nNelia kept on slashing through the walls as she was walking towards Akira, eventually, she reached the last wall that separated her and the room where Akira was. She could see Akira holding his CWH anti-material rifle aiming it at her, waiting for the moment she would step into the room.

nShe stopped in front of the last wall and smiled.

n“Standing there means that you’ve done the same thing in the past too. You know that I can’t use the old-world relic that I just used to cut down your friend. That’s correct, I can’t use that old-world relic twice. Although, to be honest, it would have been really great if you had dropped dead with that attack. Good grief, you’re really a troublesome boy.”

nNelia readied her blades.

n“You can’t shoot me with that gun through this wall, right? Although my blade can cut through the walls, I can’t cut you from far away. So we’re basically at an impasse here. If we just stand here waiting, the colourless mist will go away and you’ll be able to call for reinforcement. You might be hoping that would happen, but I’m sorry, we’re in a hurry here, you see.”

nShe spun the blades in her hands in a full circle on the ground.

n“That’s why I’ll go there right away.”

nShe then raised her leg above her head and swung it down at the floor, the part of the floor that had been cut in a circle cracked and collapsed. Nelia smiled and fell to the floor below together with the crumbled pieces of the floor on which she was standing.

nThanks to Alpha’s support, Akira could clearly see Nelia’s actions behind the wall. He was surprised when he saw her fall. The moment he noticed that she did that deliberately, his face turned grim.

nAkira quickly jumped out from where he was hiding. A few split-seconds later, two silver blades protruded from the floor below him, everything that those two blades touched were cut clean. Fortunately, the blades only cut through the air and a few strands of his hair. Nelia, who was in the room below, also noticed that she failed to cut Akira.

nNelia aimed her blades at Akira from the floor below, with her cyborg body she jumped close enough to the ceiling and slashed towards her target who was above that ceiling. The silver blades in her hand could easily cut through the wall that CWH special ammo could not even penetrate. So of course, Akira’s augmented suit would not stand a chance against them.

nAkira was desperately evading the blades that were coming at him from below. He could not afford to get cut by those blades and it was not like he could use his rifle to block them either. In the worst-case scenario, the blades might cut through his CWH rifle as easily as they cut through the walls which would render his rifle useless.

nIf he lost his only means to fight back, he would lose any chance to win this fight. He understood this fact from his fight against Yajima. He could not render Yajima unable to fight even though he used all his strength to punch at Yajima. So, that might also be the case for Nelia too. She was not someone that he could defeat without a weapon.

nNelia’s blades vigorously cut through the floors while chasing Akira as he kept avoiding those blades from touching his body.

nNormally, using the same blade to cut that floor that even CWH special ammo could not penetrate would gradually dull the blade. But the blades that Nelia was using were old-world relics, those blades retained their sharpness no matter how many times she used them to cut through that floor. Those blades were formed by holding liquid metal within a forcefield. This forcefield would distort every time she used them to cut through objects, but it would quickly return back in no time, thus maintaining the highest sharpness no matter how many times she used them.

nAkira was still inside that room while evading the blades. Every time he tried to get out of that room, Nelia would slash at him and prevent him from getting out. Because of that, he was trapped inside.

nOn the other hand, he had no means to shoot at Nelia. The floor was made of the same material as the wall, and also because of the length of his CWH anti-material rifle, he could not aim straight down to where Nelia was.

n“Alpha!! At this rate, it’s only a matter of time before my legs give up!!!”

nIn order to evade Nelia’s blades, he had to keep jumping around. Successively accelerating his body followed by a quick stop put his legs under immense stress. He had already numbed from any other feelings except the pain. Both his body and his augmented suit were close to their limit.

nAlpha gently said to Akira, trying to calm him down.

n“Endure it for a little bit more. It’s okay, they’re not torn yet.”

n“That means that I would get a chance to shoot at her soon, right? It’s not like you’re saying that my limbs are going to tear off soon, right??”

n“Yep… But I can’t guarantee that your body will be okay after you take a shot at her.”

n“Just tell me that I’ll be okay!”

n“That would be a little impossible.”

nIt meant that he would get a chance to shoot at Nelia but the sacrifice would be big. Akira frowned while desperately evading Nelia’s blades.

nNelia had sliced at Akira so many times, but she could not get a hit at him at all. Although she found it surprising, she kept smiling since she thought she still had the upper hand.

nIt might look like Nelia was only randomly slashing at Akira, but that was not the case. The ceiling for her was the floor for Akira, by cutting it at a certain angle, she made parts of the floor brittle.

nNelia was planning to restrict Akira’s movements and lure him to any of the brittle parts of the floor. She would then break the floor with a kick, throwing him off balance and cut him down while he fell to the below floor.

nShe constantly adjusted her attacks to push Akira to that particular part of the floor. If he did not evade her attack, it would cut him to pieces, but if he did, he would be slowly led to that trap. Both outcomes were to her advantage. Unaware of the trap, Akira kept evading and finally stepped on the brittle part of the floor.

nThe moment Akira stepped into that trap, Nelia smiled and kicked the ceiling. She used the full power of her cyborg body to deliver that kick. The floor where he was standing cracked due to the impact of her kick which could even bend steel.

nBut even with that powerful kick, strangely enough, the ceiling did not crumble down as she had expected. Even though it was brittle and had absorbed a powerful kick from her, that part of the floor stayed in its place.

n“Wha-!?”

nNelia shouted in shock. At the same time, recoil from her kick threw her off balance. Since the floor that she kicked stayed in place, all the force rebounded back to her.

nThat floor was already fragile enough after it got slashed so many times by Nelia’s blades. After that strong kick, it finally started to crumble and fall.

nNelia could not immediately figure out why there was a delay in the crumbling of the floor or why she was hit with recoil.

nAmong the crumbling pieces of the floor, Nelia could see Akira who was also thrown off balance falling down just like her. Akira’s eyes were locked onto her.

nWhen Nelia kicked that part of the floor, Akira also did the same from above as instructed by Alpha. Alpha had already read Nelia’s plan and used it against her.

nRight before Akira kicked the floor, he pointed his CWH anti-material rifle upward and pulled the trigger. The kickback from that shot was absorbed into his augmented suit and increased the force of his kick that he released after pushing his augmented suit to its limit. His kick more or less packed the same amount of impact power as the kick from a cyborg body.

nThe reason why the floor did not crumble when Nelia kicked it was because Akira’s kick balanced the force on the floor.

nIn that short chaotic moment, Akira, who was thrown to the air due to the recoil from his kick, looked at the crumbling floor he was standing just a moment ago. The floor was breaking up into chunks as it crumbled down. He felt the time slow down; this sudden change confused his perception so much that it felt like he took forever to load a new magazine into his CWH anti-material rifle.

nHe still did not have a clear shot at her. He could only see the image of Nelia, who was on the other side of the rubbles, because of Alpha’s support.

nWhat should I do? I won’t be able to hit her even if I try to shoot her now. I’ll be falling down at this rate and she might try to cut me while I’m in the air. I won’t be able to evade when that happens, it’s not like I can freely move in midair. What should I do…

nThe time still felt like it was running slow as Akira was thinking hard on what he should do. But his body suddenly moved on its own, it was Alpha who was controlling his augmented suit.

nAkira quickly pointed his CWH anti-material rifle straight up again and pulled the trigger the moment he finished loading another round. The kickback blasted his body down and pushed other rubbles between him and Nelia down with him.

nNelia tried to attack while still in the air, she was about to throw the blade in her hand. But Akira, who was falling down fast because of the kickback of that shot, brought all the rubbles between them along with him and smashed onto her, preventing her from throwing the blade at him.

nAfter they crashed onto the floor below, Akira and Nelia were once again got thrown off to the air. The impact made both of them let go of their weapons. But they quickly regained their balance and grabbed a weapon near them as they landed on the floor. They were now ready to fight again.

nThey stood against each other with their weapons ready in their hands. Nelia was standing ready with a blade’s handle in her right hand. While on the other side, surprisingly enough, Akira was also gripping the same object in his right hand.

nNelia smiled at Akira. She then turned her blade on, just like before, liquid metal came out from its handle and formed a blade.

n“Too bad, what are you planning to do with that handle? It’s not like you can get the blade out just by grabbing it, you know? Old-world relics have security measures installed in them. Unless you know how to remove it, you won’t be able to-“

nNelia was smiling contently thinking that there was no way Akira could use that weapon. But her words were cut short when a blade came out from Akira’s handle too. She was completely taken aback by what she saw but quickly regained her composure.

n“…Ahhh, I see. So you know how to use it too, huh? A normal Hunter should not be able to get that information though. It’s secret information that even an agent from the city should not be able to get easily as well… So, who exactly are you?”

nAkira really did not know anything about operating the blade, but Alpha knew. He too did not even know how she knew about it, and it was not like he wanted to know anyway. If someone asked him who he was, he would say that he was just your everyday common Hunter. The one that made him different from your everyday common Hunter was Alpha, and of course, it was not like he could tell Nelia about Alpha.

nThat was why Akira did not reply. Nelia took that as him refusing to answer.

n“I see, in that case, can you at least tell me your name? This must be some kind of destiny that we met here. So at least let me remember your name.”

nAkira hesitated but eventually replied.

n“…Akira.”

n“I see. I’m Nelia. I’ll remember your name until I kill you. To be more precise, that would happen in about 30 seconds.”

nNelia suddenly closed the distance between them as if she just warped right next to him. She then swung up the blade that was long enough to almost touch the ground.

nAkira evaded her blade by jumping to the side. Had he jumped back then he would have been cut down even if he knew the exact length of that blade. After all, the blade suddenly extended when it was swung.

nThen Nelia’s blade made a sharp turn, chasing Akira who jumped to the side. Akira used the blade in his right hand to block it. Both of their blades clashed, Nelia’s blade broke at the contact point, the broken part turned into liquid metal and splattered on the ground.

nBut even after losing a part of her blade, she didn’t retreat. Instead, she stepped in and lunged at him with her broken blade. Akira bent over and evaded. Right after she lunged, her blade which was broken, returned back to its original length. If Akira had stepped back, the blade would have definitely reached him.

nAlthough Akira lost his balance when he evaded, he made a big sweep with his blade. But it did not extend like Nelia’s blade. As a result, she evaded with just a jump as he made that sweep.

nBoth gained their balance immediately after and were standing facing each other again. Akira made an extremely grim face, while Nelia was smiling leisurely. While adjusting the distance between them, she said.

n“Anyone else would have normally died after my previous attack. Seriously though, who exactly are you? Looking at your movements when you evaded, you’re properly trained. Not to mention, you also know how to use that weapon. A normal Hunter should not be able to do these things.”

nAkira did not give any reply. After all, he could not answer the question to which he himself did not know the answer.

n“Alpha, I still didn’t get any chance to strike back though?!”

n“Well, at least we’ve escaped the situation where she was one-sidedly attacking you. Originally, I was planning to shoot her with the CWH special ammo while we were falling down, but the rubbles were blocking your shot so it was impossible to do that. Unfortunately, it seemed that you didn’t have enough luck to execute that plan. If only you had better luck and was able to take that shot, you would’ve won by now.”

n“Well, I guess I’m really left with a scarce supply of luck. No wonder I always get to be in this kind of dangerous situation. By the way, why won’t my blade extend like hers?”

n“The liquid metal stock in your handle is low. She might have intentionally emptied the liquid metal stock of the blades that she was using when she was attacking you from below.”

n“So basically I got the handle with the less liquid metal, huh? Did she go for that handle knowing that it has more liquid metal? Or was it simply a pure coincidence?”

n“I think it’s pure coincidence.”

n“I see… Good grief, what the heck is going on with my luck?”

n“I’ll also give my best to substitute for your bad luck.”

n“Well, thanks for that.”

nHe knew for sure that the moment Alpha’s support could not substitute for his bad luck, he would get killed.

nLooking at how Nelia was smiling leisurely, Akira tried to disturb her mood in order to change the flow of the fight and to get the upper hand. He mockingly said to her.

n“It’s already well past 30 seconds, isn’t it?”

nAkira hoped that Nelia would get annoyed after hearing that, or at least, it would make her movements rougher. He tried his best to make a mocking expression towards her.

nBut instead, Nelia laughed at him.

n“I’m happy that you remember what I told you.”

nAkira frowned.

n…How in the world did she even come up with that reply?

nHe was a bit overwhelmed by that unexpected reply. Nelia kept making an unwavering happy face in front of him.

n“But still, I’m surprised that you can even evade all my attacks. It’s pretty amazing for someone your age to have enough skill to fight evenly against me with a blade. Or is that you’re actually a child-sized cyborg? Don’t tell me that you’re actually an old man. Well, I don’t really mind either way though. By the way, are you already taken?”

nAkira looked puzzled, he did not understand the meaning of Nelia’s question.

n“What exactly are you talking about?”

n“If you’re not taken yet, want to try dating me? My boyfriend just died not too long ago, so you came at the perfect time. I like men who are stronger than me, you see. And I have nothing to complain about your skill too.”

n“To think that you can even joke like that, you must be really enjoying this.”

nAkira brushed it off thinking that Nelia was only joking. But she replied back with a smile.

n“Oh my, I wasn’t joking. I’m serious, you know. I’m seriously asking you, so what’s your answer?”

nEven if it was only a ploy to shake him off, Akira thought that it might really change the flow of the fight if he went along with her acting. So then he asked Nelia.

n“…Well, say that I accept your proposal, will that save me from this situation?”

nNelia immediately replied without a trace of hesitation.

n“Of course not, I’ll still kill you. This and that are two different things, you see. Me killing you and me going out with you are two completely separate things, don’t you think so too?”

nShe slowly got closer to Akira while still smiling. Akira frowned and took a step back carefully.

nHer bizarre reply successfully shook his inner belief, but Akira was barely able to make a bitter smile as he jabbed back at Nelia.

n“Are you seriously hitting on a guy that you’re trying to kill? Are you sure you’re right in the head?”

n“Is it strange? Humans are creatures that could even kill the person who they’ve loved for years. So, I don’t see anything strange with killing the guy who I just dated. What’s more, whether it’s a tragedy or a comedy, having a deathmatch with your lover is not something that you can usually experience, right? It’s a kind of experience that can add some spices to this boring life. You only live once after all. It would be a waste not to savour such experiences.”

nFor some reason, Akira did not think that Nelia was lying. Although he did think of asking for a confirmation from Alpha, he decided not to. After all, he did not want Alpha to confirm that she was indeed telling the truth.

nAkira was even more overwhelmed by Nelia’s way of thinking since he just could not understand it. The conversation that started as him trying to disturb her focus ended up as being counter-effective.

nNelia somehow let out a pressuring smile at Akira while she kept closing the distance between them.

n“So, what’s your answer?”

nIn order to erase the unexplained fear that was growing stronger inside him, Akira yelled back.

n“…No thanks!!”

n“Is that so? That’s just too bad.”

nNelia did not seem to be acting as she looked seriously disappointed. She then quickly closed the distance between them and swung her blade at Akira. He evaded her blade and struck back immediately.

nBoth of them were using blades that could easily cut through an object that even the CWH special ammo could not penetrate. Had they left unused, those blades would have fetched a huge amount of money.

nOriginally, all old-world relics could be sold at a high price. But if they were used, meaning that the energy saved inside it were reduced, then the value would also be decreased. And of course, their values would be significantly lowered if they were broken.

nAkira and Nelia were constantly reducing the value of the old-world relics that they were using to kill each other. The lesser the value of the relic in their hand, the lesser the energy inside it, and the closer they would be to death. It was indeed a luxurious deathmatch.

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