Chapter 38 : Second Match (6)

“Oh? You remembered my name? That’s a surprise.”

Eve paused mid-yawn and asked with some surprise.

Seriously, what’s with all my ex-coworkers, like Kabi and her, assuming I wouldn’t remember their names?

…To be fair, I really did forget.

It wasn’t until Kabi mentioned during the last meeting that the QPD was assigned to escort the Saint that I managed to

recall the names I had long buried in the back of my mind.

Smart little shits.

“Eve! How could I forget your name? We were such close coworkers!”

“Leilia, come on. We both know that cheesy line isn’t fooling anyone.”

“What? You think it’s a lie that I didn’t forget your name?”

“No. I’m talking about the part where you pretended we were close coworkers. That’s the real lie.”

Tch. If I had known I’d keep running into QPD folks like this after leaving the Kyro Society, I would’ve treated them a

little better back when I was still active.

Of course, even if Eve and I had been close, it probably wouldn’t have made much of a difference in this situation.

But still, like they say—what goes around comes around, right?

That is how the saying goes, right?

Anyway, while my brain wandered through useless thoughts like that, my eyes and body were alert, carefully scanning the

situation.

 where’d I put it? Oh, found it.”

Rustle. Crunch, crunch.

Not sure where on her plated armor there could be a pocket, but Eve pulled out some chocolate from her waist,

unwrapped it, and started chewing away.

“ So bitter… I’ve complained over ten times about the taste, and they still won’t change it. Why is the Order so

stingy about such minor stuff?”

…Isn’t the real issue that you’re stuffing your face before a fight?

Sure, chocolate’s great for combat because it’s high-calorie for its size, but eating it at such a tense moment is just dumb.

When your body gears up for battle, it reroutes the energy usually used for digestion into your muscles.

So eating chocolate now will just make your stomach feel heavy and uncomfortable.

But even with my completely valid point, Eve just pouted and grumbled.

“ Leilia… you really didn’t care about any of us, huh?”

“Eh, whatever. Honestly, the less you know about me right now, the better.”

Unfortunately, she had a point.

In battle, information is everything.

The Order probably has detailed intel on my abilities, and naturally, Eve would’ve been briefed on everything she needs to

know.

“So, Eve. What do you think?”

“Think about what?”

“Even if I don’t know much about you, you know a lot about me, right? So, if we fought right now—do you think you’d

win?”

“Oh, that’s what you mean?” Yaaaawn…

As if I wasn’t even a concern to her, Eve let out a long sigh and tossed the last bite of chocolate into her mouth. Then she

pulled out the sword she had strapped to her back.

Shwing.

“Honestly, is it really that important who’s stronger before a fight? You don’t only fight when you’re sure you’ll win.”

“Interesting way to look at it.”

Eve drawing her sword meant the fight was about to get serious.

I stretched my neck side to side and locked eyes with her.

‘Don’t miss the subtle eye change that happens before Neural Overclock activates.’

During my fight with Kabi, I had let my guard down and almost got caught off-guard when she activated Neural

Overclock.

Luckily, Kabi was mentally unstable, so I managed to recover.

But there’s no guarantee Eve will be the same.

Actually, no—if I let her land the first strike, I’ll definitely die.

‘The Paladins are another variable.’

I didn’t know why, but the 30 Paladins behind Eve hadn’t moved an inch. They were just watching us talk.

But once the fight starts, they’ll definitely try to target me.

Even with my reaction time and speed enhanced by Neural Overclock, taking on that many enemies’ fire support will be a

huge burden.

So my plan was to keep my distance from Eve’s sword while dealing with the Paladins first—

“Knights, support deployment.”

―Commander Laav confirmed. Unit 1 support squad, initiating support.

What the hell?

Even if their voices were muffled by those heavy helmets, it shouldn’t sound that robotic.

Unless… they’re not humans.

“Androids?”

“Yup. Newly formed Android Knight Corps. First time seeing them, Leilia?”

“That’s insane. The Kyro Society is so obsessed with its old doctrines that while they might allow priests to have

cyberware, there’s no way they’d make robots part of the clergy…”

“That’s why I said—they’re Knights, not Paladins.”

“Wow, that’s such bullshit. So just because you don’t give them the title of ‘Paladin,’ suddenly it’s okay to have non-

humans fight for you? Since when did you guys start twisting doctrine like cheap legal loopholes?”

“It’s not that.”

“Then what?”

The so-called Paladins—no, Android Knights—knelt in unison and pressed their hands together in prayer.

―Support systems ready.

“They’re not exactly serving the Kyro Society out of devotion. Think of them more like walking batteries. Just like we don’t

call drones ‘priests,’ these guys are just tools.”

Batteries. Drones. Support.

As I put Eve’s words together, a chilling realization hit me.

─Engraved Vision.

I switched my artificial eye’s view mode, letting me see data and electromagnetic flows.

‘Shit.’

These androids pretending to be devout Paladins in prayer weren’t fighters.

They barely had the actuators or parts necessary for movement.

Just as Eve said, they were walking generators—massive energy storage and output machines in humanoid form.

And now, all 30 were kneeling and pouring their energy directly into Eve.

“Even if you’re with the QPD, putting this much power into one body is crazy. The cyberware will overheat and explode

before long.”

“Remember what I said at the start? You don’t know anything about how we fight.”

Clang.

Eve gripped her sword with both hands and raised it in front of her face.

“Let me show you what I meant—with this sword.”

A blue glow burst from her pupils.

─Neural Overclock.

Not this time—I didn’t miss it.

I had been ready to trigger Neural Overclock myself at a moment’s notice, and I entered the accelerated world just ahead

of her.

But…

‘What?’

Eve didn’t follow.

‘Why not?’

There was definitely the same eye glow that comes from activating a special implant.

Did I misread it?

‘Whatever. Doesn’t matter.’

My goal isn’t defeating Eve—it’s getting past the guards and reaching Berry.

If Eve refuses to use Neural Overclock, that only makes my job easier.

‘In that case, I won’t need hand-to-hand combat at all.’

Out of all personal weapons, the worst is your fists.

The best is a gun.

And I’ve got an assault rifle with me—plus I’m moving dozens of times faster than everyone else.

First shot to the forehead.

Then one to each arm, three to the torso.

Switched to auto, spraying bullets across her entire body.

Unless someone’s using Neural Overclock, they have to get hit by at least half of that.

They should have.

But—

The first bullet sparked in mid-air.

Every bullet from the full magazine vanished in a puff of smoke 20 inches before reaching her.

‘An electromagnetic shield?’

Sure, I can make one too using stored energy in my body.

But not like that.

To have that level of protection, you’d need to replace half your body with defense implants.

That’s always seemed too inefficient to me—especially since it leaves no room for high-spec implants like Neural

Overclock.

‘Wait… did she not install Neural Overclock at all?’

Now it made sense.

She didn’t choose not to use it—she can’t. She never had it installed.

Instead of accelerating her mind and body, she focused entirely on defense.

That kind of shield is insanely energy-hungry.

Attackers only use power at the moment of attack.

But a shield like that burns energy constantly, from all directions.

If I had her gear, I’d run out of juice in under a minute.

But if you’ve got android batteries supplying you nonstop…

‘That’s why she brought 30 of them.’

This was never a fight I could win by relying on Neural Overclock.

Just using it for 2 seconds and firing a magazine cost me 10% of my total energy.

Which means I’ve only got 18 more seconds before I lose.

Meanwhile, Eve just stands there doing nothing and still wins.

─Disengage Neural Overclock.

The drawn-out sound returns to normal as time slows back down.

“Wow. You figured it out already, huh? That using Neural Overclock against me is basically suicide.”

“You coward. Who brings 30 helpers to a one-on-one fight?”

“Then you bring your own androids. Build your own battery boys.”

“…That sounds suspiciously like ‘if you don’t like it, pay to win.’”

“Pay to what? What’s that?”

“It’s a thing.”

I suddenly opened fire on the kneeling androids.

It was a feint—chatting to distract Eve while I swapped mags, then launching a full attack on her weak point!

Too bad. Even that failed.

They had the same shield Eve did. The bullets vanished without even reaching them.

“…So that’s how it’s going to be?”

“Hey, this is cheating! They’re clearly your weak spot, and you still gave them shields?”

“Cheating? It’s common sense to defend your vulnerabilities the most.”

She’s right.

This isn’t some game where weak points are there for you to hit.

In real life, you protect your weaknesses.

 They told me to stall for time, but just standing here isn’t really my style.”

Eve finished a big yawn, switched her grip on the sword, and raised it toward me.

“Here I come.”