'What are you doing right now? And why?'
Konrad's fist connected with that annoying Major's face, and—
Yuri used the chaos to get away.
He had no idea what else went down, only that Dmitry and Sokolov tried to keep them apart.
Which, if he could still think without that fog in his mind—
No. Even now, he knew it meant that all the soldiers were free to run.
'I mean—can't blame you for slugging the guy, but was this the right time?'
Who was even talking?
Not his Haremettes, that much he could tell. It wasn't that earlier voice that told them to go wherever, either. That one had a deeper, more suggestive voice, and this was a woman.
A stranger, and yet somehow familiar.
'Why, thank you. I only left like five minutes ago, and look at yourself now.'
Hmm? That couldn't be it. Back then—
How long did the parallel brain disappear? And while everything was fuzzy—and he had an incoming fist to handle—in his mind, that voice was male, anyway.
'Come on, now. Does that matter? Lean left ten degrees and drop your weight.'
That wasn't a command, but he followed it, and lo and behold, Major Degtyarev's fist missed his face. His body felt as if it moved on its own when he returned that punch. Again. Or, wait—
No. He was the one starting it in the first place. But also, he wasn't.
'Pathetic. Do I actually have to take over? You told me you had the technique to resist it.'
He had many techniques, but resist what?
That voice, the loud one, only wanted them to go somewhere at random. The one pissing him off at the Major was something else. More silent, but also stronger.
Ah. So that's what it was.
It slipped under his radar earlier. And this third voice nagging him was—
'Let's save me for later. Now you know what you're facing. Act.'
As if he weren't already doing that. He punched that guy twice, and—
No. That's not what he should have been doing.
What was this mess? Where was he again?
He had to clean up the chaos in his head, and for that, he had to lock it down. Keep the voices out. Refocus his attention on the present before it slipped away, and—
Right. They were in the CNPP, somewhere underground.
A dilapidated corridor. A voice urging them to run through it—
Another pitted those who resisted against each other.
And that's where he lost track. By the looks of it, Konrad was the first to lose his sanity, too.
How embarrassing.
Dmitry and Sokolov still held on, thanks to their Dampeners. And as for Degtyarev—
His jaw swelled up, blood dripping from his lips.
Whoops.
"He's back, he's back," the Captain yelled once their eyes met. "But the soldiers are on the run, damn it. What can we even do about them now?"
"Fuck if I know," the Major grunted, spitting blood on the floor. "How are you this fast?!"
It was clear as day that he was struggling with something, too, and it wasn't the two punches he ate. They landed so well that Konrad couldn't help but feel proud, even in his embarrassment.
'I saw the stuff he imagined doing to you, so don't feel bad.'
That third voice was still there, though, despite locking out the other two.
'Well, duh. I was here way before them.'
And it wouldn't go away, either—as if it had somehow rooted itself in his brain.
'Okay, you're still a bit slow on the uptake, so I'll help. The problem is the soldiers.'
Right. They ran far beyond their reach now, and—
'No. Not them. The ones coming through in three, two—'
A heavy sealed door he hadn't noticed until now burst open almost in his face. It didn't register before, since it seemed stuck in place. But as it turned out, it was not.
Through it came three men wearing white, armored suits.
If only Konrad had acted faster, he could have warned his friends about them, too, but—
No. As things stood, time seemed to be almost standing still around him.
'The best I can do right now. I'm still far from what your angelic wife can do. But this should be enough if you don't waste it.'
More words that made little sense. But Konrad knew when to ask questions and when to act.
'Do you now? Because you're still awful slow.'
He was acting. Or something like that.
Thank the spirits, Dmitry had already let go, so he was free to move, but—
What could he do against three soldiers armed to the teeth? He had a pistol, which didn't seem adequate, an ES-335 in his guitar case that had seen better days, and a sword that—
Okay, he could pull it out while the others were still only blinking.
His body felt slow, but it was still faster than their reaction speed.
And the first slash connected way before the enemy could raise its weapon, too.
Blood splattered, not the Major's this time.
Welf's amazing blade cut through everything like it was nothing.
'Two more. Hurry up. I have places to be.'
As if he wasn't already moving faster than his friends could even blink.
The second soldier started firing. He didn't aim at all, but in this narrow space, any bullet could have been lethal. And punching one in the face earlier or not, Konrad couldn't have that.
'You can shield them. You have the Mama's Beads,' the voice reminded.
And while it felt terrifying to step in front of a firing weapon, he actually did that.
Only until his next slash. Two down, and the rest of his group was still yet to move.
But the third had something scary. Something big, he knew he should have recognised, but—
'Yeah. A .50 cal. The Captain will be happy once he loots the ammo from that belt.'
Sure, sure, but said belt hung out of a big gun, pointed straight at his chest.
The best he could do was slash at it and knock it aside, but the soldier didn't stay idle, either.
In fact, the time dilation seemed to be wearing off.
The Monolith guy in his heavy armor and tough gauntlets grabbed Konrad's blade and wouldn't let go. He had a hunch that a punch from his other gauntlet would feel bad, too.
But as his lightning-fast moves felt like slowing to a crawl and his body grew heavy—
His eardrums almost shattered when those friends behind him opened fire.
Chitin armor or not, taking that many shots straight in the head did the last guy in.
And by the time the crisis was over, Konrad finally put the remaining pieces together as well.
'No, you did not,' the voice scoffed. 'First off, it's an Exoskeleton, not Chitin, and second—this is far from over yet. Look where the aircrews had gotten by now.'
Ugh. Far ahead on the same corridor.
"The hell was that?!" the Major demanded, too, staring at the blood dripping from his blade.
His hand was still on his swollen jaw, and he took a shaky step back.
But at least the rest of the group didn't seem affected by the voices anymore.
"It's time we pushed back."