January 13
"Ahahaha! Ha! Ha! You dare use my weapon against me? You've earned yourself a death sentence!"
The moment the enemy drew a katana and blocked her strike, Kyoko was startled. But when she focused and realized it was the very sword she had discarded earlier, her fury instantly surged sky-high. This thing had actually dared to use her weapon against her. It clearly had a death wish.
She tried to exploit the Miao saber's reach to take the special infected's legs off, using the fact that her blade was a full fifty centimeters longer than the katana to dominate the distance. Outdoors, the longer weapon always held the advantage.
Tonight, the moon had slipped free of the heavy clouds. Its light joined the beam of Kyoko's flashlight, giving the battlefield another source of illumination while also casting a bleak, icy pall over everything beneath it.
Fine. Time to send this monstrosity straight to hell.
Kyoko was done with restraint. She was going to butcher everything in sight.
While leaning back to evade the creature's slash, she used the length of her saber to counter with a thrust toward its shin.
The special infected shook its oversized head and retreated at high speed, narrowly escaping the point of her blade.
Using some method Kyoko didn't understand, it began summoning the remaining ordinary infected on the rooftop, drawing them toward the battlefield.
"Hah. I was willing to play with you a bit longer. But since you've called in backup, the game ends here."
"Hiss, hiss—roar, roar—wo, wo, wo…"
The infected bellowed back, as if answering her taunt.
Kyoko burst out laughing and attacked even more ferociously. She pressed it with a series of left-right jumping cuts, her style broad and domineering, forcing it entirely onto the defensive. The creature could do little more than struggle to fend her off.
If not for the sturdy fastenings on her helmet, the sheer violence of her movements might have flung it right off her head.
Without even looking, she cut down several ordinary infected lunging at her from the side. More corpses piled onto the ground.
By now, the battlefield had truly become a dance atop a sea of bodies and blood.
The infected's swordsmanship was oddly familiar to her. In life, perhaps, it had been a devoted kendo enthusiast.
That only made things easier for Kyoko. She could read and dismantle its moves one by one. Steel clashed against steel in rapid succession, sparks flying with every collision. The force traveling through the blades sent the infected stumbling back again and again beneath Kyoko's monstrous strength.
The katana in its hand was already battered, chipped, and cracked. In contrast, Kyoko's Miao saber remained largely unscathed. Though the longer blade consumed more stamina, it was also far sturdier than a Japanese sword. The katana's greater curve and more fragile body left it inherently disadvantaged in defense.
After several exchanges, the infected found itself sinking further and further into a losing position. No matter how hard it searched, it could not find an opening in Kyoko's defense. At this rate, defeat was inevitable.
Its body, after all, had not been transformed to the same monstrous extent as its brain. Physically, it was only around the level of a trained athlete.
Against Kyoko in her current state, that simply was not enough.
At last, it faltered again. Blood from its wounds had soaked its entire body. Its already tattered clothes were now little more than hanging strips, barely enough to cover its private parts. Its left arm had been severed entirely, leaving only an empty sleeve flapping while green blood poured from the stump.
Badly wounded and now surrounded by ordinary infected, it still could not withstand even a single exchange with Kyoko.
Those fodder infected could not even buy it time.
Its virus-altered brain might not compare to a normal human's, but it was still leagues above that of an ordinary infected.
Driven into a corner, it chose to run. It ordered the last few infected remaining to hold Kyoko back and buy it time to escape. They staggered into her path, trying to delay her on behalf of their superior.
The special infected feinted another attack, trying to bait her into committing.
Kyoko saw straight through it.
Realizing it intended to flee behind its pawns, she wielded the Miao saber one-handed to cut down the ordinary infected closing from all sides, while her other hand darted to the daggers strapped to her thigh.
Three knives sliced through the air with sharp whistles and flew toward that grotesquely oversized head.
This time, it failed to dodge.
All three daggers buried themselves deep into the back of its skull, their hilts sinking in until they nearly vanished. Its eyes bulged wide. Its fingers slackened, and with a crisp clatter, the weapon in its hand fell to the ground. Shock and disbelief filled its face as it toppled backward.
Its filthy blood blurred its vision. The last thing it saw was Kyoko below.
Because at the instant it fell, Kyoko had already flashed forward in a single step, hooked up its still-breathing body, yanked the brain-slick daggers free, and hurled it into the air. It rose, then dropped, and met the unforgiving rooftop in a final, crushing kiss, its body nearly merging with the concrete.
With a clear metallic ring, Kyoko launched herself at the final few infected still moving.
Dropping into a bow stance, she gripped her blood-drenched Miao saber and unleashed a triple thrust, the tip flickering like a striking viper as it pierced their vitals one after another.
At last, no living thing remained standing on this patch of ground.
Only Kyoko, the victor of the battle, stood upon the bloody field.
Wind came howling in from afar. The nuclear contamination still lingering in the air had begun settling onto the ground with the falling dust.
The fight was not over.
Or rather, tonight's fighting was not over yet.
There was still cleanup to do.
"Anything that's been dirtied like this… isn't worth keeping anymore."
Seeing her beloved sword ruined and fouled by the infected, she muttered those heartless words. In truth, it was not some priceless masterpiece—just a blade commissioned from an ordinary smith for three hundred thousand yen.
But it had meaning.
Her parents in this life had given it to her after she took second place in Fukushima's regional junior high kendo tournament.
So even after saying that, she still picked it up anyway, wiped the blood off on an infected corpse's clothing, and wrapped the black, gore-smeared hilt in a strip of cloth.
She also retrieved the scabbard she had dropped earlier in her desperate retreat.
As for the Colt M1971, when she found it, it was already in rough shape. There was not much ammunition left for it anyway. Maintenance would be troublesome. It would be easier to just buy a new gun.
For her next one, though, she planned to go full-auto.
This semi-automatic pistol simply wasn't suited for dealing with large crowds. She was considering either the Glock 18C developed by Austria's Glock company, or the fully automatic version of the Czech CZ-75.
Both used 9×19mm rounds, though one fired three hundred rounds per minute faster than the other. Each had its own strengths and weaknesses. The Glock 18C boasted terrifying fire density and was ideal for close-range suppression, with a modular design that could accept many types of magazines and attachments. But its high rate of fire was also its weakness—its recoil in full-auto was severe, and controlling its spread required serious training.
The CZ-75 automatic model, on the other hand, had once been used by Delta Force. It came with a forward grip for greater stability, making it suitable for urban combat.
Its advantages were its flexible double-action/single-action firing modes, high accuracy, and durable all-metal construction.
Enough. Time to go back.
Huaxiu was still at home, waiting for her.
As for cleaning up the battlefield, that could wait until Huaxiu was in better shape.
Kyoko carried Huaxiu into the bedroom of Room 1502. Worried that the room might be too cold, she went next door to light the stove, pouring bottle after bottle of precious drinking water into the pool as if it were free. Gradually, the room temperature rose.
First she removed Huaxiu's damaged clothing, then changed her bandages. Finally, she took out small doses of dopamine and tranexamic acid from their carefully packed medicine kits and administered them intravenously.
By the time it was done, it was nearly three in the morning.
Even in her current superhuman state, Kyoko was beginning to grow drowsy.
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 178)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 115)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League ( 126 )
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter116)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter82)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter144)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 77
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 118
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 111
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 80
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 112
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 65
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 80
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 74
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player 48
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 50
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 47
Uma Musume: From Beginner 42
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