(81.5) Unexpected

Massive monsters popped up one after another while a troop of soldiers stood back and watched. Just the light alone from the multiple massive summons was enough to blind anyone not looking away. Unfortunately, this didn’t work on the soldiers. Their helmets’ ocular systems adjusted the light shown to them while also pointing out targets. Just like the nine targets shown to them behind the walls.

In front of the group, three individuals whose suits featured blue highlights stood.

“Looks like they aren’t novices at this,” said the top commander, his suit featuring golden adorations besides the blue. On his left arm, a thick circular device projected a blade which featured five zones for cards.

The shorter of the two other commanders chipped in with a worried tone. “General, is it really a good idea to let them get their summonings off? We could attack right now.”

The general shook his head. “Lieutenant, understand that if they wanted to, they could summon those monsters without fanfare, this… Show. Is an intimidation tactic meant to draw hasty decisions from us.” He glanced behind him. “One which would’ve worked if I wasn’t here, I imagine?”

At this comment, the Lieutenant could only lower her head and admit. “I’m… afraid it would… General Tychon.”

General Tychon turned away and focused on the defenses his targets had prepared. “Don’t feel bad about it. Many non-duelists would’ve fallen for it. Which is why I’m leading this force personally. Duelists think differently from regular soldiers. That’s why they’re given the freedom to ignore orders issued by officers with no Solid-Vision training.” He glanced at the other commander standing next to him. “You have experience with that regulation, if I’m not mistaken.”

With a pained sigh, the remaining commander agreed. “Yes, sir… It is unfortunate that your presence is required to maintain order among my troops…”

The General turned away again, commenting. “Looks like the rest are about to summon their monsters.” He opened the comms channel and ordered. [“Activate power sink.”]

A couple of seconds passed before someone replied. [“Power Sink active, expect complete blackout in T- 5 minutes. Over.”]

General Tychon looked at the monster in front of him, and ordered. [“Disperse and begin suppressing fire on the target. Over.”]

—

‘They’re moving… Did it work?’ I ask myself as I spot the lump of soldiers disperse around the area; I turn to Yasuna. “Should we continu—”

*BOOOOMM!!!*

An explosion rocks my barrier, making me cower behind the table in front of me. It’s a wake up call, to say the least. My senses go wild and I rapidly examine everyone else.

“That was a bang!” Exclaims Haruna to my left. She was about to perform her summoning. The cheerleaders on her side also hide behind the table; Their faces showing little worry.

Yasuna looks at me with a flat expression and says. “They’re firing Yuumi, we have to strike ba—”

*CRASH!* Emphasizing her point, another explosion impacts our barrier; Quickly followed by the sharp sound of bullets whisking by, like pebbles hitting rock. The assault has begun.

Looking over the wall, I spot various groups of soldiers advancing to our position. They’re running and gunning while making sure a single attack won’t destroy them by keeping some distance between them. I turn to Yasuna, also noticing Mia and Aiko cowering behind the wall while sporting brave faces. “Y-Yeah, p-prepare to attack!…” But stutter and trail off, still a little apprehensive about all of this.

Yasuna notices this right away and takes the lead. “Don’t worry about it!” She looks above the wall, and orders. “Quasar! Starlight charge!” — Her dragon rushes to the group of soldiers, with its entire body glowing with white light. Yet, it is quickly apparent that they were expecting this; As a force field starts materializing above the battlefield.

Noticing this, Yasuna exclaims “Shit! Retreat!” She lowers behind the makeshift wall and turns to me. “I can’t get into a duel here. You’ll have to take over.”

I can’t help but stammer. “A-Are you sure? Yasuna, I don’t—”

“Don’t what?” Haruna, of all people, interrupts. “Don’t think you can do it? I heard what happened from Nanako, just think of the soldiers as duel monsters. It isn’t really that much of a lie.”

I look down at my disk… And stand up. As soon as I do, I find the immediate space outside of our force field a desolate wasteland, a deep chasm. Bullets ram into the barrier, stopping right in front of me while soldiers run around, charging at our position. A deep chill runs down my spine… But… Closing my eyes, I order. “Accesscode! Knock them down!”

My summon raises its spear and points it at the closest group of soldiers to our position. Its spear lights up with a yellow light before firing.

*PSIIIU!!!* A sound akin to a sci-fi laser blaster follows the projectile, which lands in the middle of the group.

I look away as the sound of the explosion reaches my ears, then I peek at the group. They’re downed and screaming for help, but don’t seem to be dead. I look away, not interested in seeing their injuries.

Yet, this isn’t a time for celebration, as other groups still rush to our location and Accesscode continues following my order.

—

‘This is insane… This can’t be real.’ Thinks a blue-haired girl cowering behind a metallic dinner table. She peaks out into a very much real active battlefield, seeing bullets bash into a transparent barrier, and promptly lowers her head again, trembling while panting.

A girl on her left which looks almost exactly like her but with brown-hair turns to her and reaffirms. “Calm down Sis. Yuumi has them under control. Come on, deep breaths, I know you can do it.”

“What do you think I’m doing!?” she hastily shouts back to her twin sister. “Mia, my heart is about to jump out of my chest! I can’t do this!”

Seeing her like this, Mia leans over her and plants her hands on her shoulders and looks her in the eye. “I know this is difficult, Aiko, but you have to stay strong. Yuumi will beat this… We will beat this!”

Aiko takes a deep breath in and gulps before responding. “Alright… Alright…” She peaks over the table again, seeing the situation turn in their favor. Many of the soldiers have started retreating, while Yuumi’s massive knight keeps firing energy blasts at a distance.

—

Further along the wall, three taller girls wearing blue NWDA uniforms look on with varying expressions. “She’s really doing it; They’re retreating!” announces one of them with long, dark hair sporting a wide smile.

But, while she celebrates, another girl rebuts with a furrowed brow and a light frown. “This can’t be right. Why aren’t they using duel monsters? They have to have duelists!”

“I don’t know Naeko, but I hope it stays like this.” Voices yet another of the girls with an uncomfortable smirk, this one with her short, pink hair styled in a pixie cut.

This is when Haruna stands up and turns to Yuumi. The purple-haired girl, who is much shorter than the other cheerleader, looks at the battlefield expressionlessly. Haruna looks down at her, and notices a glimmer in her eye followed by a tear dripping down her face. Focusing in, she also notices her duel disk arm shaking.

The cheerleader glances at the battlefield. Unimaginable peril befall the soldiers throwing themselves forward. They continue shooting, but their bullets have no effect on the large force field, all the while a giant golden lord picks them off. From the over 50 men present before, now only about 20 remain combat ready.

“Why?…” Yuumi mutters a single word in a pained voice.

“Because they have no other option.” Yasuna replies, placing a hand on Yuumi’s right shoulder. “They’re trained to follow orders without question, Yuumi. Don’t feel bad for them.”

She turns to Yasuna with apparent rage on her face, contrasted by tears. “But why don’t they just surrender!? It’s not like they’ll ever turn this around! You know what?! I’m done with this. I’m recalling my summon, you want to massacre them? Then do it yourself!”

Yasuna staggers back and replies with an elevated voice. “Yuumi, they have a duelist! If I get into a duel, then who knows if I’ll win!”

The two girls stare into each other’s faces intensely, and that’s when Haruna thinks. ‘Aff, time to calm Yuumi down… I have been doing that too much lately. It doesn’t help she always gets into these situations. What an unlucky girl.’

Haruna leans in and wraps her hands around Yuumi from behind.

—

‘Their forces are almost all downed, but they still have a duelist watching from behind… What the hell are the commanders thinking?! And what’s with Yasuna!? How can she expect me to just continue this massacre!? I don’t even know how many, if any, are still alive… I’m going to fucking puke.’

Then I feel two long arms reach around me from behind, and I see Haruna plant her head on my shoulder and say. “Calm down Yuumi… You’re spiraling.”

It feels… Nice… And it calms me down a little, but it’s obviously not enough to distract me from what my summon is doing out there. “Haruna… Please.”

She shakes her head. “Not until we’re safe, Yuumi. I hate that you have to go through this… But Yasuna is right… This is self-defense.”

I take a deep breath through my nose. “But is it really self-defense when it’s so one-sided?”

Haruna lets go of me before replying. “They’re still shooting, are they not?”

Turning around to look at her, I say. “Not effecti—” But I’m interrupted.

*CRACK!!!!* The sound of glass shattering reverberates around the space as particles of what used to be our barrier float between me and Haruna.

My world slows down to a crawl, and it’s there that I see it. Between the particles of the shattered barrier, a glint of a bullet flying straight into Haruna’s shoulder. My eyes follow it as it goes in and what feels like seconds pass before it exits through her opposite shoulder… Flying out with a spray of blood behind it.

I stand frozen in place… My eyes following Haruna.

She falls down hard on the floor before her eyes can even begin to close.

“YUUUMIIII!!!” Yasuna shouts behind me, and I feel her hands wrapping around my legs. She pulls hard on them, and I’m thrown face first onto the floor, right by Haruna’s legs.

The world around me seems to speed up again and I hear shuffling, followed by shouts.

““CAPTAIN!!!!!”” I hear Naeko and Nanako scream in unison. From the corner of my eye, I see them crawling over to Haruna.

I sit up and press my back against the hard metal table serving as a barrier, then I look around.

Yasuna is completely focused on her duel disk, probably trying to find what the hell happened to our barrier. Further along, Mia and Aiko are on the ground, hands above their heads with their duel disk’s duel blades retracted.

I look down to my own duel disk, a warning message menacingly shown on its screen.

[MASTER CAUTION: EXTERNAL POWER LOST! CRITICAL WARNING: DISABLING SOLID-VISION SUBSYSTEMS! EXTIMATED RUNTIME ON MINIMAL SV LOAD BATTERY BACKUP: 3 minutes]

Looking up from my duel disk, I spot Naeko with her duel disk raised above Haruna. Her blade is also gone, but she doesn’t miss a beat and uses the remaining power in it to project a white box which covers Haruna’s chest. I recognize it as an advanced first-aid device. Its color and styling also point to it being from the same company of that tattoo machine… Probably bought in a bundle…

Naeko looks up at Nanako with a stern expression and exclaims. “Help me with this!! We might be able to stabilize her before we run out of juice!!!”

Nanako, on the other hand, is trembling, her eyes laser focused on Haruna. Yet, Naeko’s call gets her to snap out, and she raises her duel disk. That’s all that it takes for a beam of light to shoot from the front of her disk and shine on the white box.

While all of this is happening, bullets don’t stop flying above us, and the pinging sound of them impacting the metal tables follows.

Focusing on myself, I notice I’m breathing heavily and try to calm down. ‘Haruna is going to be fine… Probably... Fuck! How did this happen!? No power?! Was this their plan from the start!? SHIT! We got careless!’