Akira's POV
They came for me on the service road behind the eastern storage blocks, where the lighting is thin and the cameras have been broken for months.
The first boot scrapes gravel behind me. I turn on pure reflex and the blade that was meant for my kidney only opens a shallow line across my side instead. Pain flares hot and immediate.
The attacker is already resetting for a second cut, masked, no colours, the same blank reflective plate I have seen on missions the system never recorded.
"Target confirmed," a distorted voice says from the left. "Do not let him reach the main path."
I do not waste breath answering. My sword clears the sheath as the second hunter closes. I catch his descending strike on the reinforced bracer and the impact jars all the way to my shoulder.
