The words were calm and clear, but they brought no comfort. The officers could all see that while everyone else was backing away in terror, this young man was stepping forward to face the Cyberpsychosis head-on. In their eyes, he was about to be torn apart in the next moment.
"Be careful!"
An older NCPD officer ran out from behind cover. He did not know why this kid was rushing toward death, but that was not something he could ignore. He might take bribes, shake down vendors, and beat those who refused to pay, but he was still a cop, and he could not watch a child die.
"No need to worry."
Carl had no intention of explaining anything to the NCPD. As long as their useless Militech Lexington did not hit him, that was enough. In his hand, the Monowire had already been drawn.
As Carl moved toward Patrick, the man who had been targeting an NCPD officer hiding behind cover suddenly stopped. His instincts had caught the presence of a threat. Even stripped of reason and left as a mad beast, he could still sense who his greatest enemy was.
Compared to the people around him, those small targets he could kill at will, what Patrick felt now was something else entirely. It was like a tiger closing in. A single word flashed through his mind, and for reasons he did not understand, it stayed there as if burned in place.
"Tyger Claws."
He muttered it under his breath, and Carl stopped about twelve meters away when he heard him speak. Carl wondered if there was any reason left in the man at all. The yellow eyes filled with red had already locked onto him.
It did not look like there was. The flesh around the eye sockets was split and bloody, yet the bright yellow glow of the artificial eyes still shone through. In those eyes, Carl could see nothing but madness.
"Come."
Carl smiled lightly and issued the invitation. The instant his voice fell, Patrick's figure blurred. The flow of time seemed to slow as he activated Sandevistan once again.
The Sandevistan he used was the 'Dynalar Sandevistan Type One,' a model meant for mercenaries and soldiers. It was combat-focused Cyberware, designed not just to boost reaction speed and physical output, but also to provide limited combat assistance. With that assistance, even in madness, Patrick could still identify fatal weak points and strike at them.
In less than a blink, he reached Carl's side. One of his Mantis Blades stabbed straight toward Carl's body, aiming to pierce through the right arm, pass through the lung from the side, and reach the heart. The path was clean and precise.
"Can see it."
In the stretched perception of Patrick, he saw a smile slowly pull wider, a tilt of the head, and words that should not have fit into that moment. He was keeping up with his speed. The realization sent a chill through him despite his madness.
The strike could not be withdrawn, so he could only continue forward. Carl watched it all, his smile growing brighter. He knew he had guessed right.
From the first time he saw this Cyberpsychosis activate Sandevistan, Carl had begun to form a theory. AfterOperational Organization his thoughts, he had already mapped the opponent's movement pattern. A mind lost to madness relied only on its most familiar and instinctive actions, and for a Cyberpsychosis, that meant never changing fighting habits.
The first piece of information was simple. This Cyberpsychosis named Patrick had used Sandevistan twice before, and both times he attacked by circling to the opponent's right. In his instincts, attacking from the right was the most natural and comfortable choice.
The second piece of information was distance. Each time he used Sandevistan, he covered exactly fourteen steps. A madman would not stop using Cyberware unless forced, so fourteen steps was his limit, which translated to about eleven point nine meters.
Carl had positioned himself at twelve meters. Patrick could not get behind him, nor use his familiar rear stab. He could only stop at the right-front or right side and attack from there.
Once the attack position and target area were clear, responding with calm against speed was not difficult. The flicked Monowire lashed across the side of the arm that held no Mantis Blades. The sharp wire cut through Patrick's Subdermal Armor with ease, severed half the arm's flesh, and struck the Mantis Blades itself.
The Mantis Blades could not be cleanly cut, and when resistance was felt, the Monowire behaved like a wire should. Like a line wrapping around a spinning top under force, it coiled around the Mantis Blades. With the stored G-Force released, Patrick at the limit of Sandevistan could only watch as the wire wrapped his entire arm.
Time snapped back to normal. Patrick instinctively pulled back, trying to tear the Mantis Blades free. His broken mind forgot that the wire had wrapped not only the blade, but his arm as well.
The moment he pulled, the Monowire cut smoothly in the opposite direction under his own G-Force. With a single yank, he carved half the flesh off his own arm. The wire finally jammed at the wrist, not because it could not cut further, but because the opposing pull from the other Mantis Blades reached its limit, producing a harsh metallic screech.
Pain forced a brief moment of clarity. Understanding the danger, Patrick realized his right arm was beyond saving. He raised the left Mantis Blades to attack, but by then Carl had already prepared.
A pistol pressed against Patrick's forehead.
"Nice to meet you, yellow-eyed uncle."
Carl looked down at him, now slightly lower after the struggle. He saw the yellow glow dim beneath the flood of blood and said his farewell to the madman.
"Then, goodbye."
Carl wiped the blood off his face with the back of his hand and sighed. "Splashed all over again," he said, then added, "When will humans evolve to stop spraying blood after a headshot."
As Carl walked toward Patrick, a middle-aged NCPD officer stepped out from behind cover. He had been about to stop this young man from getting himself killed, but now he stood there, frozen, seven or eight meters away, staring at what lay on the ground.
Everything had happened too fast, and his mind had not caught up yet. A Cyberpsychosis that the NCPD could do nothing about had been taken down by this young man. And it had taken only a single exchange.
Shaken by what he had just seen, the officer looked up when Carl finished wiping his face and asked without thinking, "A-are you hurt?"
"I'm fine."
Carl retracted the Monowire and slid the Kenshin back onto his belt. After a brief glance at the officer, he squatted down and started going through the pockets of the Cyberpsychosis on the ground.
"What are you doing?" the officer asked as he stepped closer, curiosity getting the better of him.
"Looking for money. What else?" Carl replied.
Had this NCPD cop never searched a body before? After a practiced search, Carl found that the Cyberpsychosis was strangely poor, without even a single Eurodollar.
"Huh?"
His fingers brushed against something flat, and Carl pulled it from inside the jacket. It was a chip.
Without showing anything on his face, he turned his wrist and slipped the chip into his sleeve. Then he stood up, looked at the officer who had come closer during the search, and pointed at the body. "What was his bounty? I remember NCPD put one out yesterday. I took him down, so this job should be settled."
"Uh."
The officer had noticed a bit of Carl's hand movement, but he did not think much of it. He signaled the other NCPD officers to stand down, confirming that Carl was not a threat, and then checked the bounty list.
"Patrick-Bell. Bounty is ten thousand Eurodollars. Alive or dead."
"Only ten thousand Eurodollars?" Carl said with clear disappointment.
The officer could tell now that this young man was almost certainly a merc. Only mercs valued money this much and cared about the bounty more than their own lives.