Before anything else, I went around and looted the place. Luna had pounded into me how important looting was at every opportunity during our practice sessions. It gave her more points, gave me better gear, and kept my opponents from getting better gear.
By the end of my looting spree around the tower, I swapped out into whiteout snow gear to better blend in, and managed to find myself a thermal bodysuit. It was a good start, but I needed something better to move between POIs. Luna made it clear I wouldn’t survive the time it took to travel exposed to the snowstorm.
I grabbed onto the rope of my makeshift grappler, and slowly hauled myself up onto the roof of the radar tower. There wasn’t a rooftop access, and honestly there wasn’t much of a point in coming up here. That is—if Luna hadn’t said anything.
”Sure there’s something up here?” My new gloves did a much better job at keeping my hands warm, but the cold still managed to slip through and make the climb torturous.
”I… I think so.” Luna floated in the air just next to me. A console window sat in front of her flying with code. “There’s too much of a server draw up there to be nothing.”
I pulled myself over the ledge and rolled up onto it. While I was up here, I went ahead and took my ice pick back. I actually kinda liked the tool. It was more effective than I thought it would be… maybe I should grab one back in Aythryn City as well.
It didn’t take me long to find the source of the server draw. A glowing chest sat just between the legs of the radar dish. “Huh. Would you look at that?”
Why would they put this up here? There was literally no reason to come here, and it wasn’t like there was easy access either. I kicked the chest, and it clanged open. For a moment, nothing happened.
Vwoom!
A triumphant tune played out, and a weapon sparking with golden light surrounding it popped out. It was a single-edged saber, and looked like what a heavy calavary unit might’ve used back in the day. The blade was incredibly dull, and covered in black spikes and blotches. Ferrofluid sheath, maybe? Not a bad idea.
[Warhost’s Unstoppable Saber - Sentinel EX-3899-Saber]
I picked it up, and swung it around. Didn’t feel like anything special. “Cool.”
”One sec. I’ll try to pull up more info.” Luna disappeared and went back to doing her job as a runner instead of just watching me.
I swung the sword lightly toward one of the radar dish supports. It, predictably, bounced off without doing much. Not very unstoppable… I thumbed a button and pressed it in.
The moment the sword activated, the ferrofluid protective edge along the blade pulled back. A bright red, warning light flashed several times, and the paper thin blade of the saber was revealed. “Huh.”
I tried again, and the sword slipped through the metal with zero resistance. The metal creaked, but the cut was so fine that the leg continued to hold up the radar dish. I still had to force the blade through, but the actual cutting part sliced like a hot knife through butter. No, even easier.
Luna reappeared, and a screen popped up with more info. ”It’s got a monomelecular blade… be extremely careful, Shiro.”
Monomelecular. A shiver went down my spine. A blade thin enough to cut between molecules didn’t care if it was diamond, flesh, or cheese. The ferrofluid sheets keeping it suspended suddenly made a lot more sense.
Technical Expertise didn’t work here since everything was code, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t check it out to see how it worked. Specifically, the protections. A monomelecular wire, as could probably be expected, wasn’t exactly durable. It likewise would be incredibly hard to store since it could cut through just about anything.
In this case, a wire looked to be suspended on the front of the blade by magnets. It was the same magnets that controlled the ferrofluid to act as a sheath… maybe wire wasn’t quite right? Maybe it was just single molecules of metal held in place by the magnets? Seriously badass.
I slid back into its sheath, and equipped it on my belt. No clue if I’d ever actually get a chance to use it, but it was too strong to leave behind. “Hey, Luna? The stuff here… is it all based on real things?”
“Should be.”
… then that meant this was an actual weapon Sentinel was either developing or already made. I saw theories and ideas for such a thing in their blueprints, but it looked like the weapon had progressed quite a bit since then. Just how many weapons labs did the corporation have?
I ran a finger along the guard of the saber, and checked the map. The person heading toward me was on their way after stopping to loot, and the three others were now engaged in a three way firefight. I could faintly pick up the sounds of their firefight from here.
I shook my head, and moved to the edge of the building. I should get setup for the operator headed here in advance. I’d already spent enough time coming all the way up here. I stepped off the roof while totally distracted by how I wanted to deal with the person.
“Shiro!” Luna’s voice called after me over the edge of the roof.
”Wha—“ I harshly slammed down into the snow-covered ground. Pain shot up my legs, and I collapsed into a heap. “Argh!”
Luna appeared at my side, and worriedly looked over me. ”What were you thinking?!”
A groan escaped me, and I rolled out of the snowbank. Everything hurt. Thankfully, the snow partially broke my fall or I would’ve been seriously injured. As things were, it only felt like broken legs and something in my chest had snapped. “Fuck.”
”Why the hell did you just jump off?!” Luna’s worry faded into anger.
”Forgot… I don’t have… drop chutes…” I pulled myself out of the snow, and slowly stood up on shattered legs. The agony racing through me was severe, but it was ultimately all in my head. This wasn’t my real body. That didn’t make shuffling to the lean on the wall any worse…
Good thing nobody saw that.
— — —
Saint watched a firefight that’d been going for a full ten minutes. Both operators had long run out of ammo for their primary weapons, and were now playing a game of cat and mouse while running around to find loot. It was… boring.
The fight had been exciting to begin with, ‘course, but they were just too careful. Even in real combat situations, the fight would’ve long ended. There were a lot of reasons why the fight grew so protracted, but the main one was Medstims. They were a Monarch exclusive item that allowed the players to fully heal in a short amount of time. This was ultimately still a game, and watching someone slowly bleed out wouldn’t be nearly as fun.
| DarkRun: Go next?
| Ballhog: Ugh, these guys are terrible.
| Roadhouse: I thought Reverent was supposed to be a top-class Nightrunner.
“Cut him some slack, eh?” Saint spoke up after reading a comment. “Shadowshot isn’t a pushover. The fact that both are still alive after this long says enough.”
The two mercs in question were Shadowshot and Reverent, two well known Nightrunners around the world. Both were incredibly weakened at the moment without their usual gear. Reverent, specifically, was a Magi incapable of using Sprites.
Saint watched the two pass within feet of each other, and both pull back instead of pushing the attack. The issue was that the two respected their opponents too much to brainlessly commit. “Here, we’ll go check on someone else.”
Saint flicked the perspective back to Nightshade. He also pulled up the map with all of the contestants' locations marked on it. “We’ll hang here for a bit. Should be a fight coming up. Nightshade’s probably going to dominate—“
Nightshade stepped off the roof, cutting him off entirely. He went entirely silent as she hit the ground, and shattered both her legs.
| Cyberpunk_Blue: Gravity dominates? Gravity dominates?
| Distinguished Gentleman: @admin, this woman really is ruthless
| Roadhouse: I take it back. Show us Reverent again.
| ShadoWalk: Nightshade’s a maso?
| DarkRun: Admin’s no longer a legend
Saint was equally stun locked as the merc in question pulled herself up out of the snow, and staggered toward the door of the Southern Radar Station. “Maybe… maybe she slipped?”
| ShadoWalk: Maybe you’re coping?
| Roadhouse: Looks like Nightshade’s about to go night night
Saint rubbed at the back of his head, and shook his head. Shiro… did she have no fear of gravity or something? She just crippled herself for no reason, and right before a fight at that. With two broken legs, there was a chance that she was eliminated right here.
— — —
I limped into the radar station, and pulled a Medstim out of my bag. The moment I injected my legs with it, the pain started to fade away. For a broken bone, it’d take about a minute to start mending. I didn’t have that kind of time.
I abruptly shifted tactics instead of heading back up the stairs. I grabbed a handful of snow from outside, and tossed it on a trail up the steps. I then cleared off everything on my boots, and wiped away the trail heading elsewhere.
With most of the setup taken care of, I pulled off my coat. The chill of winter immediately hit me, but I pushed on anyway. I tossed it to the ground like it’d been pulled off by a looter, and flopped down right next to it.
”There’s no way this works.” Luna said.
”Just trust in the process.” I tossed my gun to the side so I looked completely disarmed, and pressed down on the saber. It wasn’t activated, so it wasn’t any danger with the ferrofluid protecting it.
A minute later, just as my legs started to fully heal back up, I heard the crunch of snow just outside of the door. My full body went entirely limp, and I dropped my head to the ground.
Luna flickered and disappeared once more. “Heh… who does this person think they are? Might as well announce your location with that amateur Pulse.”
The door pressed open, and a shadow carefully peeked into the room. My point counter went down one, and the person’s comms came clear as day. “Told you I heard a shot. Think they’re still here?”
“Stop being a pussy.” A woman sighed in annoyance. “Fuck, do you even want to win this thing? The corp’s going to have our asses if we don’t at least get a top five.”
“S-sorry,” the man meekly called back, and a flashlight flicked through the main hall. I was still mostly hidden in the shadow of the door. ”See that snow?”
”Course I can. I’m not blind.” The woman’s voice grew more irritated by the second. “Just go in. I didn’t pick anyone up on my Pulse.”
”I’m just being careful.” The man stepped into the room fully, and his gun snapped to me. The light flashed over me, and I had to resist the urge to twitch. The light flicked away and shot back up to the stairs. “Are you sure they’re not still here?”
”Who do you think—“ The woman’s voice froze in her throat. “There’s a ping from the top. Be careful.”
“Yeah.” The man silently stepped forward toward the stairs—
Shng!
The moment he got close, I whipped out the sword. The ferrofluid pulled back from my blade, revealing the deadly edge. He twitched toward me, but it was already too late. The saber easily cut through his chrome legs like they weren’t even there.
”Argh!” The man collapsed, and his gun twitched up to me. The muzzle flashed as he preemptively pulled the trigger.
My blade was already moving as I sprung to my feet to follow up. His aim locked onto me as my weapon closed the distance. A bullet slammed into the saber’s blade, and cleanly split in two. Both halves slammed into the wall behind me. He didn’t get off another shot as the Warhost’s Unstoppable Saber cleaved through his gun and arm.
I flicked the blade one last time, and it cut down through his chest in a spray of gore. I smoothly flicked it to the side, and spun it around my wrist just like I’d practiced to look cool. The ferrofluid once more sheathed the blade, and I bowed politely toward the corpse.
”Really, Shiro? What’s up with the theatrics?” Luna appeared just beside me, and poked at the freshly made corpse. “No one’s watching.”
“Practice for later.” I rubbed my leg and felt it mostly back in place. “Nice play with the Pulse redirect, by the way.”
”It was too easy. She had no ICE protecting her hack.” Luna’s eyes narrowed, and she shook her head. “We need to be careful, though. There’s some seriously strong runners digging through the Node alongside me.”
”Then I’ll just have to take out their operators.” ‘Sides, that was one more down. Three kills already wasn’t too bad. I eyed my map, and looted the corpse. Hopefully, it’d be six before I even left this POI.
— — —
AN: Patreon changed the interface again. So annoying. The last one was the best so far.