Chapter 40: White and Crimson

  Lu Bu Post Death

  It is very rare that I ever have cause to admit that I made a mistake, even rarer still that I would actually do the admitting. Staring at the leaders of Clan Irons for as long as I did was a mistake. I should have repositioned myself so she couldn't see me, should have been less obvious about my staring, and should have done something to make sure things didn't go the way they did. I was simply stunned by who I was looking at.

  [Lyn Lu]

  [Crimson Duelist]

  [Subclass: Slaughter's Heir]

  [Level 12]

  "Diaochan," I whispered. "Tell me I am crazy, tell me I am mistaken, and that isn't-"

  The white haired gang leader's eyes met mine, likely because he A.I told her she was being stared at. The look of shock on her broad features mirrored my own, I am certain, though unlike me, the white haired young woman reacted instantly.

  "Infiltrator!" She screamed, her face changing from an expression of shock to one of pure rage.

  "Uh-Oh," Said Diaochan. "We have been marked, and will stand out like crazy for anyone in the Irons Clan or those they are connected to." Even as my A.I was explaining this to me, I was moving, and believe me, I was not the only one. A full fifteen Irons Clan members leaped to their feet, including 'Lyn Lu' and her gigantic co-leader.

  Call me a coward, and I will slaughter you where you stand. In fact, Impugn my bravery and talent in any way, and I will eventually find you and put nine generations of your family to the sword. None of that, however, means I am above fleeing should a situation call for it. It is neither defeat nor cowardice to not throw one's life away in an impossible battle; better by far is to find a more favorable opportunity, or if you have to fight, your way clear.

  This was one of those 'fight your way clear' times. Which wasn't ideal for a number of reasons. The first and foremost was the number of clan members coming after me. If it had just been the Clan Irons members that would have been problem enough, but obviously the cry of 'infiltrator' was good enough reason for members of the other criminal clans to give chase, as I saw several rough-looking types in the other sections of tables jump up and join the chase.

  The next issue was that two out of the three abilities my class granted me were only usable if I had a weapon in hand of above a certain synchronization with me. Both [Man Within Ogre] and [Do Not Pursue] were locked from use and could have come in very handy for me at that moment. I could still activate [King of Destroyer] and fully intended to when the right moment presented itself. I tore through the club, smashing past people on gambling machines and knocking down scantily clad waitresses.

  The warriors pursuing me were, fortunately, as unarmed as I was, but that didn't mean they had no abilities to activate, and the right side of my HUD began to fill with scrolling descriptions of abilities from their classes or cybernetics. This included several 'spells' which I had been told about but had never encountered before.

  I leaped onto an empty stool before one of the gambling machines to avoid grasping hands that surged out of the ground thanks to [Steel Authority: Grasp], which the description informed me was one such spell. Keeping my momentum going, I leaped up onto the top of the machine and began sprinting down the row of them.

  It was atop those machines that the first of the clan members caught up with me. He was a young man with skin the color of stained wood, and he was listed in my HUD as a level 5 Blade Lord with the subclass Street Samurai. He appeared before me in a flash of green light. Much later, when I was reviewing this engagement, I determined this was the ability [Relocation Surge], which was apparently extremely popular among any class that could take the ability, along with any cybernetic that could support its use. It is honestly no surprise why, the ability let the man teleport in front of me, and didn't seem to cause him any of the disorientation so common with translocation techniques.

  I could tell this as when he appeared, he did so appropriately balanced atop the machine he was on, and already charging at him with an outstretched palm wreathed in lightning. While the sudden appearance of one of my pursuers did catch me off guard, it wasn't the same kind of off guard that had hit me upon seeing Lyn Lu; this was the kind I had spent long hours training to deal with, and my instincts took over without even a heartbeat of conscious thought.

  I didn't so much dodge out of the way as lean my upper body aside as I twisted my running legs to half-pivot. The movement was enough that the lightning-covered palm strike flew past my head, close enough that the energy of the lightning made my hair stand up. As it did I struck out with a fist strike of my own, and one empowered by my activation of king of destroyer.

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  Even though my Diaochan A.I insisted that my naming of my abilities was the result of mistranslations within my own mind. I think the name was appropriate. I had given it the same name as the improved version of my striking technique 'Titan's Pendulum', which I had strengthened and perfected until it was virtually unstoppable even by the mightiest of defensive techniques.

  This ability wasn't anywhere near so powerful as its namesake, but given my accuracy, strength, and momentum, I felt it would be more than enough to put down a fool who thought to challenge me in single combat. Unlike his empowered hand strike mine landed, and just under his collarbone. When it did, I like to think that this man, and any of my pursuers who saw the split-second contest, would come to now understand that while levels were important, they weren't everything.

  [King Of Destroyer]

  [Standard Cooldown: 3 Minutes]

  [Duration: One Melee Attack]

  [Max Daily Uses: 5]

  [When King Of Destroyer is activated, the user's current melee attack is empowered by additional impact force equal to three times force generated by momentum, strength, and penetrative force of the attack. Note- Recoil received by the user upon impact remains unaffected.]

  There is all sorts of math and whatnot that would allow me to know exactly how hard I could hit someone when using King of Destroyer, but Diaochan could keep track of all that nonsense if she cared to. All I needed to know about the ability is that it let me hit people a lot harder up to five times per day, and without suffering the impact vibrations such a hard blow should generate for me.

  The 'Street Samurai', whatever that is, was sent flying across the club to smash through a different set of the gambling machines. He left them sparking and playing heavily distorted versions of the music they had been, but the dark skinned man did not die. At least I didn't receive my penalized 'xp' for having killed a person, so I assume he didn't die.

  The familiar voice of 'Lyn' screamed orders behind me, and I glanced back for long enough to see a hail projectile abilities flying my way. Lacking a better option, I threw myself off the row of machines onto the floor of the club on the opposite side of the row from the one I had leaped onto it from.

  Bolts of fire, along with ethereal darts and daggers, filled the air where I had been only moments ago. Along with these projectiles flew the white haired gang leader who was executing a near-flawless Heavenly Spear Kick. Having missed her target, the kick was a difficult attack to recover from without stumbling, but she didn't miss a single step as the woman turned the flying kick back into a run, now also atop the gambling machines. I didn't stop running, but a proud little smile crossed my face at that.

  Rather than making a direct line for the exit of Sukarno's, I ducked behind another row of the machines and onto a dance floor that was quickly emptying due to the commotion. You might assume I planned to use that flow of people to hide myself, but it wouldn't have worked. I knew that the clan members had me lit up with red outlines in their vision, just like I had the clan leaders while I was talking to Diaochan about them.

  The real reason is I needed some cover, and knowing that this club was being treated as neutral territory, I was confident the gangs couldn't risk killing its patrons without some fairly heavy retribution or at least having to pay the owner a steep rate of remuneration.

  Perhaps more importantly, there was a servant entrance on the other side of the dancefloor. Oh, excuse me, I mean 'staff' entrance, which is a term I still think is stupid, by the way. A staff is a weapon, and a servant is a servant. Regardless, I ran up and ripped a keycard out of the hands of a man who had just come from the other side of that door. He shouted, and I shoved him aside so I could place the card against a little scanner attached to the doorframe. I couldn't hear if it beeped over the thumping rhythms that permeated the club, but the scanner lit up and the door opened.

  Still gripping the keycard, I dashed through the door and into a room I would never have recognized when I first arrived in Abeyance City, but now knew was a large kitchen. There were all manner of cooking devices and cooks manning them as they prepared food that was mostly going to be ignored in favor of alcohol.

  Scanning my surroundings as I passed by the kitchen servants, I kept an eye on the boxes my HUD brought up as it read whatever invisible signs hovered over the various doors out of the rectangular and very white kitchen.

  [Cool Room]

  [Dry Stock]

  [Dry Stock 2]

  [Liquor Cellar]

  [Alley Exit]

  That was the one! A cook finally looked up from his work and started as he saw me.

  "Hey you aren't supposed to be-" I rammed an elbow into his face and kept running.

  Getting to the door marked Alley Exit, I slapped the keycard against the scanner next to it. This door slid open far less smoothly than the one on the dancefloor, but it did open, and I fled into the night beyond.

  "To answer your question." Said Daiochan, who panted as if she had been running as well. "No, I don't think you are crazy, based on appearance, and her reaction to seeing you, I judge there to be an approximately eighty-four point six percent chance your identification is correct."

  "Speak plainly," I commanded. "I do not understand this percentage gibberish."

  "Yeah…that was probably your daughter."