The sun was setting, casting an orange-red glow across the streets. Students getting out of school and workers clocking off for the day flooded the roads, all heading home.
As the sun dipped lower, people's shadows stretched out, becoming long and distorted. The darkness was like a ravenous mouth, bit by bit devouring the light, inevitable and relentless.
Having donned his armor, Andrew approached the Blazing Light Tachi and carefully inspected its condition.
Over the past few months, the Blazing Light Tachi, Icebrink, had been recovering fairly well, but it still wasn't in any shape for combat.
Its current sharpness was even worse than the newly forged Dullahan Tachi.
So, after a moment's thought, Andrew decided against strapping it to his back and picked up the bow he'd bought from the artisan's weapon shop instead.
The weapon was chosen. As for arrows, he could carry as many as he wanted. The system's ammunition pouch meant he didn't have to worry about weight.
The bow he had on hand had extremely limited compatibility with gas canisters, and the one he'd bought couldn't handle their power boost at all.
So, Andrew took a little treasure he'd modified from some ammunition out of his item box and placed it in the pouch.
And this little treasure was an arrow modified from the shock ammo in his item box.
The only problem was that his once-easy source of ammo resupply was now gone. For now, at least, every shot he fired was one less he had for good.
But ammo was made to be used. If he didn't use it when he needed to, there was no point in having it.
As he stepped out the door, Belle had already rushed over from the video store and was waiting outside his room.
Seeing Andrew in his gear again, Belle knew he was dead serious this time.
The image of him slaying a dragon with a tachi surfaced in her memory, but the weapon on Andrew's back wasn't the same one from back then.
After all, their target this time wasn't human. She had expected him not to bring his hunter's weapon.
Belle, holding Eous, said:
"My brother's already got the car downstairs. That gear of yours is way too conspicuous, so you should ride in the back, just like last time."
She glanced at the time. Nearly an hour and a half of the two hours they had was already gone. She urged him on,
"Hurry up, Andrew! If my brother floors it, we can totally make it in time!"
But Andrew didn't seem worried at all. He picked up the scoutfly cage hanging at his waist and gave it a little shake.
"Don't worry, we won't lose them. As for making your brother floor it... setting aside whether he even has the skill for that, getting pulled over by Public Security would be a real disaster. Just have him drive normally."
"I know your scoutflies are amazing at finding things, but don't you need to collect fresh tracks to lock onto a target?"
Belle, who had seen Andrew use the scoutflies for a cat-finding request, had a basic understanding of how they worked. She had no idea how he could lock onto a target from so far away.
Seeing Belle was stumped, Andrew didn't keep her in suspense. He held out his left hand, where the scoutflies' glow swirled, emitting a soft green light.
And on it were the traces left behind by a shattered Paintball.
"A target, or a location, marked with this paint can be tracked for a period of time. We just have to wait for them to arrive. We don't even need to tail them."
While Belle had only seen Andrew use the scoutflies, the fact they needed tracks to guide him was something she could wrap her head around. But this Paintball... wasn't it a bit too overpowered?
"You... when did you mark them? How did I not notice at all?!"
Andrew switched the scoutflies' target to a charm. The green glow left his hand and stretched out into the distance.
"On the charm I gave to Anby Demara, of course. There wasn't much paint on it, but it doesn't affect the tracking one bit."
Belle stared in shock at the Paintball in Andrew's hand and said with genuine admiration,
"That's just insane! With this, anyone marked with the paint can't escape, can they? With a skill like that, I honestly think you'd have a brighter future as a cop than a Proxy. For real."
————
Wise drove at a leisurely pace, looking like any other ordinary citizen out for a casual drive to clear their head.
With the scoutflies guiding them, the two didn't have to worry about losing the trail and could enjoy the scenery along the streets.
But following the scoutflies, the car reached the outer ring without any sign of reaching their destination. Any further, and they'd be in the old capital's territory.
Seeing that there was no one around, Andrew went ahead and moved to the front passenger seat.
Suddenly, a deep, magnetic roar grew louder, approaching from a distance. On this deserted road, a speeding motorcycle kicked up a thick cloud of dust, like a curtain being drawn, blurring the line between heaven and earth.
The massive roar was accompanied by billowing dust. A uniquely-styled motorcycle, obviously a custom job, sped up alongside the car. Two very distinctive-looking beautiful girls were on it, riding parallel to their window.
The rider, a girl with vibrant green short hair and a not-so-long ponytail at the back of her head, was steering with one hand and gesturing with the other.
What was most unique about her was that her left arm wasn't human, but a mechanical prosthetic.
Riding behind her was a blonde girl with two unique iron hair ornaments tying her hair into twin tails. She was clearly saying something, her mouth moving constantly, but the roar of the motorcycle completely drowned her out.
Perhaps realizing this, the girl cupped her hands around her mouth like a megaphone and yelled even louder.
But even as she shouted until her face turned red, she couldn't out-volume the roar of the motorcycle's fuel injectors.
Watching the rider's completely incomprehensible hand signals and the passenger's hard-to-read lips, it took Andrew a good while to realize they were mouthing for them to stop.
After a moment's thought, Andrew decided he and Wise should pull over and see what these two were up to.
Even if it was a robbery, Andrew wasn't scared in the slightest, not to mention the girls didn't seem malicious at all.
By the time the car stopped, the girl on the back had shouted herself into a state of utter despair, slumping onto the rear seat.
Who knows if she was just single-minded or what, but her first reaction to a loud noise was to try and shout over it. It looked like she'd completely exhausted herself.
Seeing the car stop, the green-haired girl also stopped her bike, walked up to the car, and broke into a smile.
Despite her spirited and handsome face, the leather vest she wore under a fur-collared cape draped over her shoulders accentuated her impressive curves.
-
Hello! Walnut here! Or... Miku Dayo in this case heheh...
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