Chapter 15: Ninjas are as Annoying as Flies in May

As Christmas approaches, the city streets are lively with decorative lights.

Even though I understand it's just part of the economic activities surrounding the Christmas sales season, seeing the happy passersby used to make me feel miserable. Yes, until last year.

Now I have the Lynx. What more could I need? Just being aware of the pilot card in my breast pocket makes my blood race. I've never felt this exhilarated, not even on my very first date.

Unleashing one's fighting instinct is the ultimate ecstasy - life itself is a struggle. I won't be a docile livestock, a wildcat must live while pigs must die.

Whoa, the alcohol hasn't left my system yet, it seems. Despite my reflections, I drank too much again last night. The pre-match tension is amplifying the effects, leaving my nerves strangely excited and my heart pounding incessantly.

There are only two hours left until the match. For the sixth round, the organizers have assigned specific match times. With the tournament narrowed down, there aren't many opponents left, which is convenient for not having to search for a match partner. However, being late means a default loss. I'll drink plenty of vegetable juice as a hangover cure. Please, veggies, I'm counting on that Vitamin A from the carrots to improve my dynamic vision.

Apparently, maintaining physical condition is fundamental for athletes, but experiencing it myself, I realize it's quite difficult to be in top form for a match. Abstaining from alcohol is especially hard.

Until recently, I hardly ever drank alcohol, but whenever Mr. Trisky invites me, I inexplicably get an intense urge to drink.

I use the restroom 30 minutes before the match and head to the game center. The drunkenness seems to have worn off, but my throat is parched, so I drink a sports drink just in case to lower my blood alcohol level a bit more.

Mr. Trisky and the others have already arrived at the game center to cheer me on.

A game pod has been reserved just for me. Apparently, the staff replaced and adjusted the controller with a new one since this morning. Even if the button response was a bit off before, I made do with it, so having a new one is really appreciated.

I immediately get in and start a CPU battle. When the scheduled time arrives, an interrupt should trigger the player match.

I try deflecting beams with the Buster Sword - no problem, the alcohol seems to have cleared.

A new controller really is great, though. I can make micro-adjustments with surprising precision, making me want to laugh. Usually, Betty automatically compensates for any minor input errors caused by the hardware, but the direct feel is just different. I should thank the staff later. Well, the best thanks is to win, of course.

What armament should I use today? I'll take off the Xcalibur since I won't be using it anyway. The Buster Sword and 38 Cannon should be fine.

For a sword-and-gun combo, I'll equip the Sword Breaker and Short Circuit on the leg racks.

The Short Circuit is a rare weapon I got from the recent match. It's like a beam sword version of the Sword Breaker.

It looks like a beam knife but is classified as a shield, so its attack power is low. However, its special effect is a high weapon destruction capability specialized against beam swords.

If an enemy uses a physical sword, I'll snap it with the Sword Breaker. If they use a beam sword, I'll destroy it with the Short Circuit. I'll be the demon of close-quarters combat.

Most players focus on ranged battles and discard melee combat from the start, so the chance of needing a weapon destruction weapon is low. But I want to avoid getting killed by Leo's sword at all costs, mostly a matter of pride.

I can accept losing in a ranged battle, but losing in my specialty of close combat is too uncool. Excuses like bad matchups or character disadvantages just sound lame and uncool themselves.

At least within the game, I want to look cool as an old man.

Right after Stage 5 started, as I tried to dodge Sagittarius' opening beam, the interrupt kicked in.

Stay calm. Am I fully prepared? Well, since I told Betty about it, there shouldn't be any mistakes with my armaments.

Damn, I feel the urge to use the restroom again. This must be from the tension, even though I just went.

The special stage this time is also a forest setting, like the fifth round.

The trees seem a bit more sparsely spaced compared to last time. Is it a different part of the previous stage, or a similar but separate one?

The dramatic red evening sky lacks a visible sun. Is it set right after sunset? Looks like I can't use the tactic of fighting with the sun at my back.

The scant trees are worth noting - obstacles at that spacing can actually make evasion trickier. Especially since these large trees seem too brittle to even block shots.

"Target approaching rapidly, from above!"

Whoa, not even trying to hide? They're coming in with active radar wide open.

But to attack from above right away...

An unfamiliar silhouette of a unit zipped overhead at high speed, indiscriminately firing its pulse beam cannon.

The pulse beam cannon, also called a beam machine gun, fires salvos of around 10 beam bursts, making it an easy weapon to land hits with.

And an attack from directly overhead is a completely new situation for me. Damn, overhead is my blind spot? The phased array sensor from before would have been better in this case.

I barely manage to evade all the beams through sheer instinct.

The enemy unit wasn't jumping, but clearly flying.

So that's the rumored flight-type unit, the Musca I believe it was called. Musca is apparently Latin for fly.

It's a lightweight, highly maneuverable recon unit capable of short bouts of flight with the small wings on its back. It does resemble a fly.

If I had a gatling gun, this thing would just be a target. The 38 Cannon is lacking, but having ranged options is better than just a sword at least.

Its aim is obvious - it plans to score a hit-and-run victory. In this fight, getting grazed even once means losing.

"Target lost."

The Musca seems to have excellent stealth capabilities too. Passive scanning alone can't keep up with it.

What should I do? It knows my location, should I use active scanning?

No, that would just play into its hands. I can't think of a good counter, but in situations like this, I can't follow its tempo.

I carefully move while observing the terrain. My own stealth ability is decent enough - I won't lose at hide-and-seek.

Once it loses track of my current position, it will likely use active scanning. Then its location will get picked up by my passive scan. A fruitless game of cat-and-mouse, but that's fine - I'll maintain an even situation.

"It's coming again from 4 o'clock."

It flies in again with active radar wide open - not very creative. I can easily evade the overhead pulse beam shower the second time around.

Or so I thought, but it threw something weird amid the beams - shuriken, but the blades are beams.

"That weapon is not in the data."

"No problem."

I'm quite a fan of ninja movies, so I know the weakness of shuriken well.

Shuriken can easily be deflected with a sword. If you swing along their rotational axis, you can knock them down barehanded. The great general said so, it must be true.

Without panicking at all, I give the 38 Cannon a light swing to bat the shuriken away. The shuriken seemed to be made of four beam knives combined - quite a waste to discard such a weapon.

It appears the Musca's hidden trick was the beam shuriken, and now it's out of ideas, endlessly repeating the same hit-and-run attacks.

I simply focus on complete evasion. The situation is still me being aggressively pressured, but in battles like these, mentality is key. The one who thinks they've lost, loses. As time runs out, the enemy is clearly getting more flustered. A draw means both lose, after all.

With the initiative in the enemy's hands, they're bound to make careless mistakes if they panic.

I empty my mind and concentrate solely on evasion, intentionally not even firing the 38 Cannon. For me, it's actually easier to evade when accurately locked-on, so I want the enemy to focus entirely on shooting without worrying about evasion.

Above all, the enemy has overwhelmingly superior mobility. If I were to force an engagement, I'd only get one chance - aim for right before time runs out.

With 10 seconds left, the enemy charges in. Likely their last attack. I ready the 38 Cannon - I'll settle this in one shot.

Suddenly, the enemy unit is engulfed in flames, like a phoenix. Ah, the ninja art of the fire phoenix.

It rapidly closes in at several times its previous speed. The Musca's overheat effect seems to boost its speed. The enemy has used their trump card.

I swiftly change my plan - abort the attack and lure them in as close as possible. The instant they fire the pulse beam at point-blank, I dash sideways, then make a 90-degree turn with the wire anchor to avoid crashing into a tree.

The fire phoenix technique is flashy but too straightforward an attack. Timing the evasion was easy.

And there's the time over, giving me the win by decision.

I was a bit worried about how overheat damage would be handled by the rules, but it seems to just incur a normal point deduction. Using it recklessly could lead to self-destruction.

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