The atmosphere of battle intensified, their eyes filled with fighting spirit—one to defend Arasaka's honor, the other to destroy Arasaka. It was truly a refreshing battle, until the sound of an av engine rang out.
When the rotary cannons of the circling Arasaka avs opened fire, both figures, like falcons taking flight, fled together toward the alley entrance.
Are you kidding? Even the most powerful Chassis couldn't withstand the fist-sized rotary cannon rounds from those avs. They only wanted to fight, not die in vain.
"Samurai, I will take Saburo-sama's katana back from you, remember that!"
Takemura barked the threat before disappearing into the alley. Berry felt a sense of déjà vu hearing his words.
Akechi Mitsuhide's successful escape had happened an hour ago.
Now, Berry was driving, taking V out of the city and into the vast Badlands.
They had to hurry to the safe house Viktor had arranged.
Because of Saburo's death, the entire city was in an uproar.
Militech, Biotechnica, and Kang Tao were all preparing for war. They couldn't figure out whether this commotion was Arasaka's official excuse to declare war, or if the street rumors were true—that Saburo Arasaka was dead.
As for Arasaka, the center of the chaos, Yorinobu Arasaka formally announced that he was taking over the Arasaka Corporation and began pressuring the board members to acknowledge his position.
Simultaneously, Yorinobu, filled with "anger" and "grief" over his father's death, intensified the search for the "murderers" who had killed his father.
He was also systematically purging the internal traitors in the company who had colluded with the killers to harm his father.
For example, Saburo's former Head Bodyguard, Goro Takemura.
Berry and V themselves didn't realize the magnitude of what they had done—colluding with an Arasaka insider to assassinate Saburo.
Regardless, with Arasaka in turmoil and the other major corporations frantically gathering intelligence, the entirety of Night City was now in chaos.
Berry and V had already escaped the Night City urban area and entered the long Badlands highway. They would reach the safe house soon.
"V, please, hold on a little longer!"
Berry drove, her face etched with urgency.
V, having just undergone surgery, couldn't endure the bumps in the road. Although V bravely held back any cries, her distorted expression made Berry feel distressed.
Moreover, blood was seeping through the bandages, increasing Berry's anxiety.
"I'm fine, Berry, I can do this." Sweat poured down V's pale face as she gritted her teeth, but her miserable appearance gave her words no conviction.
The sky was clear, the moon and stars bright. The Badlands night was bitterly cold. The cars on the highway were covered in dust. V's Hera Car roared furiously, its speed pushed to the limit.
Even so, seven or eight cars were still following them closely.
"Berry, someone is following us." Every word she spoke, every movement of her abdomen, caused V agonizing pain, almost making her cry out. But even so, she struggled to point out the anomaly behind them to Berry.
Someone had targeted them.
They didn't need to guess; it was Arasaka personnel.
A thread of despair rose in V's heart.
In her current state, barely hanging on, could Berry fend them off?
Was this where they were destined to die?
Unwillingness surged in V's heart.
No, she and Berry hadn't enjoyed their good life long enough.
They had just confessed their feelings; how could they possibly fall here?
V gasped for breath. Tears, triggered by the pain of her abdominal wound, had completely soaked her face, blurring her vision.
But this wouldn't stop her from shooting.
"Berry, I'll cover you!"
V bit her lower lip and gripped the "star" pistol wedged between the seats.
"No, V." Berry's firm voice sounded, and her hand covered V's hand on the gun.
"Leave it to me, V, leave everything to me!" Berry grabbed the steering wheel, her eyes fixed intently on the road ahead.
After leaving the Konpeki Plaza, she was just one step away, and her experience points had finally filled up.
She successfully leveled up to Level 30 and gained one extra attribute point.
The moment she leveled up, she immediately allocated the point to the Reflexes stat. Her Reflexes reached 15 points instantly.
Attribute points were not simple additions; each point represented an exponential breakthrough.
Although there was only one point difference between 14 and 15, the gap was immense.
The most immediate result was that, besides being more sensitive to the world and having stronger neural Reflexes speed, Berry could now simultaneously control two Chassis.
The moment she gained this ability, Berry activated her second Chassis, which was now right behind them.
On the dust-covered highway, V's car sped ahead, followed by four or five black SUVs.
But the Arasaka Agents chasing V's car heard the jarring roar of a motorcycle approaching them from behind.
Someone was approaching them.
At that moment, behind the convoy of four or five SUVs, a black and red motorcycle charged forward. A female figure, wearing motorcycle gear and a heavy helmet, was crouched low on the bike.
The motorcycle's two wheels drove aggressively, and the exhaust pipe spat brilliant blue flames, accelerating the bike rapidly, allowing the woman to overtake two SUVs.
"Unknown target approaching, requesting expulsion!"
"Repeat, requesting expulsion!"
Seeing the motorcycle suddenly shoot ahead of them, the Arasaka Agents raised their guns, intending to use force to expel her.
But the woman's actions were faster. She reached behind her back and then pulled something large from the side of the motorcycle.
When the Arasaka Agents in the following cars saw what the woman held, their eyes widened in terror.
It was a cluster of fragmentation grenades!
Without hesitation, the woman pulled the pin and tossed them down. The melon-sized grenades bounced a few times on the ground, and the SUVs, unable to brake, drove right over them.
"Boom!!!"
Several flashes accompanied by loud explosions. The two cars at the back were flipped by the Cluster Fragmentation Grenades and crashed onto the grassy roadside.
"It's an enemy! Open fire!"
Seeing the woman's actions, the people in the three cars ahead no longer hesitated, poking their heads out and pulling the triggers.
Gunfire erupted, casings dropped, and bullets scattered, causing shrapnel to burst from the road surface around the motorcycle.
She manipulated the motorcycle, weaving left and right, using extremely risky maneuvers to avoid the rain of bullets.
Until she was close to the vehicles.
Wearing her motorcycle suit, she took off her helmet.
It was obstructing her vision.
The helmet clanged onto the ground. The woman's stunning black hair instantly billowed in the wind, like algae flourishing underwater.
Beneath the flowing hair was an incredibly fair, cool, and mature beauty's face. Her sharp, black-and-white eyes held only concentration on her target.
A cold beauty should be so cold and serious, but the tear mole beneath her eye added a touch of allure, making her seem like a goddess descended from the altar—inspiring reverence while also provoking secret desire.
She was Berry's third Chassis, "Miko" Kikyo.
Utterly pure, yet alluring without knowing it.
In the rain of bullets, she placed her long leg on the fuel tank cover. Kikyo looked at the SUV ahead, pushing off with her hands and feet, launching herself like a falcon soaring toward the front vehicle.
Her posture in the air was as swift as a swimming fish. Kikyo lunged toward the front car.
But the distance between them didn't seem bridgeable.
The Agents inside the car didn't know what she was planning, but that didn't stop them from continuing to fire.
Until a thin flash of light streaked through the air, securely latching onto the hand of the Agent leaning out.
"What?!"
The Agent watched in surprise as the light threads wrapped around their hands. Before they could even curse, a swift force pulled along the lines, yanking the unprepared Agent out of the vehicle.
Using this momentum, Kikyo, who had been about to hit the ground, shot upwards again, firmly planting her feet on the roof of the vehicle.
It was monowire.
monowire, reflecting red light, extended from the wrist joints of Kikyo's Chassis. The lines danced in the air as if they were alive.
"Open fire!"
The Agents fearlessly poked their heads out to shoot at Kikyo, who had jumped onto the roof. They couldn't shoot from inside the car, as the bulletproof Chassis would reflect the bullets back and kill them.
They could only lean out and shoot from outside the car.
To this, Berry could only say, they had chosen the path to their own demise.
Suddenly, Kikyo moved as if dancing through the gunfire, her wrists flicking as she jumped from the roof to the front hood.
The monowire, reflecting red light in the night sky, spiraled and wrapped around several Agents.
"Shit, what's happening?!"
"I can't move my body!"
Only when they realized their bodies were suddenly out of control, their hands, necks, and waists wrapped in the sharp monowire, did they panic and begin to struggle.
But it was useless.
The scorching heat from the monowire made them wish for death, and their struggles only caused blood to burst forth from their faces and hands, the wounds deep enough to expose bone.
monowire is made of special materials and can sever even steel, let alone their cyberware, which was just metal wrapped in flesh.
Stepping onto the hood, Kikyo violently exerted force with her wrists. The feeling of resistance in her hands instantly vanished, accompanied by the snapping sound of bones being severed.
The sight was horrific. The lines passed through their bodies, and the screaming Agents were instantly dismembered, falling onto the road in large pieces and rolling away.
Only the remaining half-bodies slumped back weakly into the car.
"Sweet dreams."
Smiling at the sole remaining driver, whose eyes were wide with terror, Kikyo retracted the monowire.
But just as the driver thought he might survive, Kikyo pulled out a handgun and aimed it at him.
That's bulletproof glass, she can't—
Bang!
The window shattered, and the driver's head exploded.
The subsequent vehicles were dealt with in the same manner, and soon, Kikyo had eliminated all the pursuers by herself.
Afterward, Kikyo left in a different direction to draw away any potential reinforcements, while Berry and V finally rushed to the safe house
—an abandoned repair shop in the Badlands.
They drove into the yard.
Berry immediately jumped out of the car, pulled down the rolling shutter door, and then rushed to carry V out.
"V?! V!"
But during the recent bumpy ride, V had closed her eyes and fallen unconscious again.
Seeing V unconscious and unsure if she was alive, Berry grew frantic, momentarily unsure of what to do.
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