Aurora Over a Dead World

I leap over the cars, making it to the armored truck with the briefcase. Charlotte looks around, spotting six other people emerging.

"!!!" All of us running toward the armored truck stop when someone falls from the sky onto the truck, piercing straight through its armor. The person in question has large white wings and wears a rabbit mask.

"Yo! This here’s mine now, alright folks?!" She hops out of the truck with the briefcase and tries to escape by flying.

"W-WAAAHH!?" I hurl Charlotte at her, which knocks her down. I quickly leap, gaining momentum, and grab both Charlotte and the briefcase.

"Open a rift," I tell her. She seems a bit dazed after hitting her head on the masked woman.

"This stays with me."

"!!!" A man in military gear — someone I recognize — simply appears and snatches the briefcase from my hand. He kicks me midair, but I block as he retreats, and the others go after him.

"Tsk..." Everyone here is a veteran, so they all know how to fight, and they won’t even bother trying once they’ve already got the briefcase.

"Why did you take so long?"

"I-I can’t open a rift that fast!! And you threw me... KYAAAAHH!!" I hurl her again, and she ends up spinning through the air and slamming into the man’s back, taking him down.

"...!!" She grabs the briefcase and bolts.

"Not that direction!!" She runs the opposite way from me, forcing me to chase after her. Since it’s nighttime, I use magnetism to keep the gunfire from hitting Charlotte.

"Really, Zenith? Brought a rookie? You’ve fallen off." A girl dressed all in red, wearing a half-mask, speaks mockingly to me as she passes in front of me, leaving a blue trail in her wake.

I kick a car, slamming it into her and crushing her against a light pole. That won’t be enough to kill her.

"Talk less, bitch. This briefcase is already mine," I say as I pass her, kicking the pole to pin her even more in that position.

"I’ll kill you next time!!" she shouts, trying to move, but the position is awkward.

"Waah!!" Someone grabs Charlotte, pulling her down into the sewers. I quickly smash through the ground, sinking into the tunnels as several others do the same, and I can see the number of people increasing fast.

"Charlotte, duck," I tell her, throwing a knife at the man who captured her. He’s forced to turn and block, which lets me catch up to them.

"Damn you!" He takes a punch from me. I quickly spin him against the wall, pinning his throat with my arm, and land a rapid series of punches to his gut. Then I throw him into the strong water flow from a broken pipe, and he gets swept inside it.

"W-Why didn’t you kill him?" Charlotte asks, hugging the briefcase. I take it from her hands and open it, checking that nothing’s been swapped out.

’Looks like it’s all here...’ There are some papers, a tube with a black goo, and a few small folders.

"We’re all veterans here, girl. We’re not here to kill each other. Of course, that doesn’t mean we won’t try — it just means no one will deliberately take another’s life."

"We’re not that dirty. Everyone here fought for this island and for what’s right. Some here are even war heroes. So I won’t kill unless it’s necessary. Learn that—"

"Nice lesson, Zenith!" I spot someone upside down on the ceiling — a blonde girl with white eyes and a large scar across her face.

"Tsk... the briefcase is mine, Zeni, and I’m not letting you take it."

"Hahaha, you think you can stop me? You’re as bold as always." She reverses gravity, slamming me against the ceiling, but I spin perfectly, planting my feet on it. Charlotte, on the other hand, ends up hitting her head.

"..." I charge at Zeni with a kick. She reverses gravity, throwing me against a wall, but I already know her power well. She uses gravity to shift the direction of things near her, so as long as I spin fast enough, the ceiling or the walls become the new floor.

"Giiiiiiihhhkkk!!" She lets out a shriek when I hit her with electricity. For a moment, she loses control, causing all of us to drop to the floor. Charlotte ends up smacking her face on an iron pipe, getting a nosebleed.

"GAAAHHKK!!" Zeni screams as her leg is horrifically twisted to the side and she collapses to the ground. I look at Charlotte, who did it.

"...D-Damn..." Zeni stares at the wound, realizing it’s spatial attack damage. I run to Charlotte, grabbing her and hauling her with me like a sack of potatoes.

’Running through the sewers is better. No one in their right mind will try breaking the walls since it could rupture the vector energy pipes...’

"You know you just caused permanent damage to someone, right?"

"...So be it..."

"I’m not saying you were wrong, but I suggest being more careful. Don’t make enemies so early... besides, I didn’t need help. Zeni doesn’t have what it takes to kill me."

"Urgh!!" I get hit in the stomach by an iron staff. From around the corner, I see someone who looks quite young and relatively skinny, to the point his military clothes seem baggy on him. I fall to the ground along with Charlotte and the briefcase.

"You neutral-side types are always so annoying," he says, running a hand through his hair. He hurls the metal staff at me, then charges in with a flurry of punches as I dodge the staff.

"..." I block everything with my legs. This makes him sweep the one leg I have on the ground, but I don’t even budge as he injures my leg and steps back a few paces, confused.

"Your prosthetics—" I punch him in the face, twisting my fist and slamming his head against the sewer pipes, knocking him out cold.

"Idiot..." I resume running, carrying the briefcase and Charlotte, trying to find somewhere safer.

"Can’t you generate a rift now? We have to get out of here. I have..." I stop walking when I hear the beeping of explosives.

"Shit... that pyromaniac freak came too."

"What are you talking about?"

"She’s a crazy bitch obsessed with explosives. If there are bombs even in the sewer, then she’s somewhere around here using small insect-shaped drones to control the detonations. We have to get out. I wouldn’t put it past her to have rigged the entire district with bombs."

"I-I need some time. I’m too nervous and my heart is pounding like crazy!!" I set her down after putting some distance between us and the explosive.

"By the way, what the hell is in this briefcase?"

"Documents, mainly... that man who was killed was involved with the traitors who apparently helped create the situation with that monster that appeared three days ago..." I give the briefcase’s contents another check.

’...It looks... different...’ I slam the briefcase against the pipes, and it makes a metallic sound.

"Damn it!!" I throw the briefcase and pull the sky down like a veil. Without any delay, the briefcase explodes, creating a massive gap in the pipe area. Vector energy starts leaking from the pipes, which makes me leap upward, climbing back to the streets.

"W-What was that?!"

"A decoy."

"H-How?! W-We never lost sight of the briefcase."

"Don’t forget that everyone here knows what they’re doing. They swapped it at some point — probably an ability..." Though they swapped it while I had it in my hands.

"It must have been that pyromaniac freak... take off your clothes."

"W-What?"

"..." I grab the top of her clothes and rip it open. She lets out a little scream as her breasts spill out, but when she sees what’s on her, her eyes tremble with fear. There’s a belt of bombs strapped across her chest and stomach.

"H-How?" She looks at me, terrified, as I yank it off her body and throw it to the ground.

"Don’t ask me. I never fully understood her ability. Just know that anything can have bombs... and things will start disappearing out of nowhere... apparently she swapped your bra for bombs. I think she might have help from someone with the power to swap items between locations as long as they’re similar in size." I take off my jacket and hand it to her so she isn’t half-naked.

"There are three things you need to watch out for. If you hear a beep, it’s a bomb. If you feel something strange on your body, it means there’s a bomb. And if you smell something that burns your lungs, then there’s a bomb."

"Come on. I think I know where she might be with the briefcase, and most of the veterans should still be in the sewers." I start leading her away while checking my own body, noticing that my phone has also been swapped for a bomb. I toss it aside and keep moving through the alleys.

’Seems like it won’t be so easy to escape from here even with Charlotte...’ I’d hoped Charlotte would be faster. Apparently, there are a lot of conditions before she can create a rift in space.

"You’re clearly bad under pressure. Stay calm. I won’t let them kill you — you can be sure of that." I try to reassure her so she can use her powers more calmly.

"I-I am calm..."

"You look scared. I think that’s getting in your way. If you want to attack, attack. It’s not forbidden. No one here will be angry that they got attacked... in most cases. Besides, most of them won’t be interested in attacking a rookie."

"So much so that almost no one here has made you a target. So far, only three out of dozens of veterans have actually attacked you, and that’s with you holding the briefcase for a considerable amount of time."

"...Th-Thank you for protecting me... from the bombs..."

"If you want to thank me, just protect me from a danger. I can’t guarantee either of our safety, so yeah... if you protect me, that’s enough."

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