Chapter 69

Back in time slightly—before the Arasaka Tower.

Sandayu Oda, leader of the special forces and personal aide to Hanako Arasaka, one of Arasaka’s twin aces.

Few knew his name, with rumors attributing this anonymity to his other identity as a cyber-ninja.

The speed with which he closed the distance to David, who held Byakko at the ready in a high stance, was so fast it barely registered in visual perception.

Thus, the only reason his ambush was avoided was thanks to intuition honed through countless battles.

"F-fast—!?"

"Hmm... not bad."

Extending his mantis blade arm to its maximum length, Oda transformed it into a deadly thrust with incredible reach.

It was a one-hit-kill technique meant for first encounters, but David, noticing that the overhead strike launched from mid-air came at a shallow angle, deflected it with an upward sweep.

He leapt lightly and used the momentum from parrying the high slash—delivered with both arms—to spin his body, converting centrifugal force into a returning strike.

Oda bent his knees and hopped back like a grasshopper recoiling from danger.

"You know what this thing’s nickname is?"

Named Byakko, it naturally came with stories of its own.

Because the blade was forged with a center of gravity weighted toward its tip, its overhead slashes gained centrifugal momentum, making it perfect for deadly strikes.

In the hands of an amateur, the katana would control the wielder, but for someone well-trained, they could entrust themselves to the sword’s natural flow.

The unique flexible structure of the katana, combined with dynamics, allowed its tip to bite like a man-eating tiger lunging at prey.

When the wielder synchronized with the sword’s shifting weight, adding the thrust from enhanced cyber-legs, its vertical slash could cut through even steel.

So, the fact that David narrowly avoided what seemed like a teleporting slash was a testament to Oda’s skill.

However, even under the cyber-menpo, a single drop of cold sweat revealed that it was a razor-thin stroke of luck.

One was a ninja of old, drilled in the shinobi arts.

The other, a man-slaying samurai reborn in modern times.

They each held their blood-drenched weapons, not even breathing freely, letting sparks of murderous intent collide.

David met Byakko’s biting swordplay with the side of his mantis blades, deflecting its deadly arcs, and dodged each desperate strike with the thinnest margins.

In a kill zone barely a meter wide, relying on nothing but cultivated skill, the two exchanged smiles.

"A fine blade, I must say! And to master it—impressive indeed!"

"As expected of an elite. The cream of the crop sure is tough!"

Ironically, their roots both traced back to traditional Japanese martial arts. One inherited a family’s secret techniques; the other learned absurd manga-style moves from an amateur.

With a big grin and overflowing confidence, David had demonstrated those manga techniques in a BD simulator, cheered on by the girl he liked: “Come on, try it!”

He trained until he saw it in his dreams, practiced in life-or-death scenarios by mimicry, and sharpened the moves with raw talent until he’d polished them into something close to the real thing.

He mimicked shukuchi—an advanced footwork technique—by brute-forcing it with cyber-legs, interpreted a katana’s fluid slash style by likening it to flowing water, and mastered a pseudo-Gatotsu by training his stepping form.

But thanks to Jugra’s taste, he ended up incorporating Satsuma-style swordplay. The dragonfly slash that required no follow-up stroke suited him well. Combined with Byakko’s traits, he achieved a slash sharp enough to cut iron.

So much so that even Rebecca once told him, “Smiley’s crying ‘cause you never use him anymore.”

David had become deeply attuned to the katana.

Which is why, in a cyberpunk world that had no place for swordsmen, his duel with Oda—trading technique for technique despite their differences—was an absolute thrill.

『Let me serve you a taste of ninja jutsu, then!!』

Oda smashed a smoke bomb, putting distance between them and cloaking himself in white mist.

Sensing the blade from the sound of cutting air, David swung—only to find nothing there.

Footwork at blinding speed, combined with hard-to-detect optical camouflage, brought forth an invisible assassination technique.

"If that’s your trump card—"

Oda approached from behind. He was invisible, yet somehow David’s line of sight matched his, and Oda’s face contorted in astonishment.

The truth was, the moving weapons rack—Jugra’s suitcase—wasn’t exclusively used by its owner.

Jugra, David, and Delamain’s Kiroshis all had optical camouflage scanners installed, capable of detecting even weak electromagnetic signatures.

Thus, a red silhouette appeared vividly against the white curtain, making it easy to break Oda’s stealth kill.

"We’re not falling for that!"

David stepped in beside the extended mantis blade, struck it down, and delivered a brutal elbow to Oda’s face as he was left motionless from the impact.

Even though the cyber-menpo screen softened the blow, the hit landed squarely on his nose and was more than enough to cloud his consciousness.

"CHESTOOO!!"

Even if Oda had backed off and fired his Shingen in full-auto, the result wouldn’t have changed.

He quickly activated Kerenzikov and dodged at inhuman speed—but David caught up thanks to his ace-in-the-hole: Sandevistan acceleration.

Oda, who relied mostly on assassination, was at a disadvantage against David’s power-type fighting style that dissected enemies head-on.

Just like that time in the past, David swung his blade down midway through Oda’s upper arms, severing both of his chrome limbs just before the mantis blade connections.

"…Magnificent!!"

Having lost both arms and accepting death, Oda lowered his head—but David only chopped him lightly on the crown, refusing to kill.

As Oda reeled from the unexpected headache, David smiled wryly and revealed his intent.

"We never planned to kill you or Takemura in the first place. We need you two to handle things once Saburo’s ambitions fall apart. See, over there? Del’s playing around with Takemura too. Point is, our gear’s been souped up to Grade 5+. They’re basically custom-mod masterpieces. Nothing off-the-shelf can compete. In the end, the difference in quality techs is what decided this fight. And also..."

David broke eye contact with Oda, whose eyes were wide open, and glanced around.

Though invisible to the others, David’s optical camouflage scanner displayed rows of drones surrounding the area.

To begin with, if the plan had been to kill Oda and Takemura, it would’ve been over from the start.

Jugra trusted David and Delamain, truly did—but her realist side didn’t allow her to depend on that trust alone. She had layered insurances, just in case.

All around were heavy quadrupedal drones, hover drones equipped with micro-missiles, mounted drones with Gatling guns, and even Over-Glaards—tech-modified anti-materiel sniper rifles—poised on rooftops, manned by the《Delamans》.

Thanks to the optical camouflage scanner, there was both a sense of security and an undeniable fear.

Shifting his gaze away from Oda and the hidden insurance policies cloaked in camo, David looked toward Delamain, who was toying with Takemura.

『You're quite the dancer, aren’t you? How well you manage to dodge, truly impressive.』

"...Tch, I can't afford to fall here!!"

The monowires extending from all ten of Delamain’s fingers lashed like whips, shimmering with heat, electricity, and chemical hues as they struck at Takemura.

Takemura countered with his Masamune, but there was a fatal flaw.

Limited ammo—he had too few spare magazines, forcing him to conserve shots.

Unlike the attackers, David and his crew, Oda and Takemura had exited through the front entrance under Saburo’s orders as an emergency evacuation measure.

Even if it was with intent, there was no way to fight Delamain’s units effectively with such scarce resources.

Takemura’s customized Masamune could pierce Delamain’s skin layer, but not the armor beneath.

The scene was like a fox tormenting its prey—Takemura’s suit was in tatters, yet thanks to his exceptional skill, he’d survived with only grazes. It was proof he’d been walking a razor’s edge and surviving by miracle.

Eventually, his intercepting shots—targeting only direct hits—ran dry, and he could no longer shoot. The ten monowires coiled around him from both sides, binding him and roasting him to a medium rare with electric shocks.

The electricity disabled his cyberware entirely, crushing any chance of a comeback.

Takemura dropped to his knees, limp, restrained by Delamain and loaded into a retrieval drone alongside Oda.

"Heh, not much of a look for the great Arasaka."

『...Then, as per plan.』

"Del? H-Hey, wait, what the hell!?"

Delamain suddenly kicked David into a different retrieval drone, then mounted a hover drone and left the scene.

With the nuisances finally gone, Jugra and Saburo began to move, as if they’d been waiting.

The Arasaka Tower’s logo slid open, and before Saburo, something landed quietly in a descending arc—once a prototype known as the cyberskeleton, now a completed weapon.

Originally, it was a powered suit meant for Adam Smasher.

But now it had been redesigned: equipped with miniaturized jet engines from AV units and a new anti-gravity tech. The result was a system that couldn’t even support its own weight unless powered on.

The original dual-terrain lunar design was scrapped for ground-exclusive optimization. The latest model corrected its flaws through support AI, which assisted its operator’s thought process.

No longer intended for Smasher, it had been rebuilt into a fully unmanned unit. The issue of weight control was solved by increasing the unit’s size and adding a second small engine, boosting energy gain.

It used a proprietary transmit-receive system to block external hacking, limiting its users—but as a dedicated unit, it had no drawbacks.

Its output exceeded that of the cyberskeleton, making handling tricky. But with Saburo Arasaka’s memory imprint at the controls, it was no issue.

"A cyberskeleton evolution, huh...?"

【Indeed. This is the weapon that razes the land—Cyber Eclipse.】

Standing behind Jugra was Delamain Custom, transformed into a powered suit, but it was small.

Its armor was thicker than the standard Excelsior models, able to deflect even Glaard rounds. Yet, perhaps due to a focus on transforming from a car, it remained a powered suit rather than a full frame.

However, since it used a custom Delamain car, extra thrusters were installed everywhere, and its design clearly wasn’t made for ground combat.

【Now, let us settle this once and for all. Daughter of Masahiro, regret interfering with my ambition.】

Saburo opened the chest of the kneeling Cyber Eclipse, removed himself from the neural port, and plugged in his core.

"...Father? ...Understood. Even if I must crawl through the mud, for the prosperity of House Arasaka..."

With those words, Hanako, free from Saburo’s control and back in command of herself, seemed to grasp the situation and quietly left the area.

But Rogue, lying in wait in the shadows, quickly grappled her down and captured her as a prisoner.

Sensing something was off from experience, Rogue had Emeric carry Hanako and withdrew from the area.

Watching the scene, the two left behind wore complicated expressions—but figured it was fine, since they'd left the battlefield.

"...Man, what a mess."

With her face turned toward Saburo, Jugra remotely brought the Delamain Custom closer, used its left hand as a ladder, and climbed into the cockpit in its chest.

She placed the device helmet she had been wearing into the designated slot. It locked into place and transformed to match Delamain’s smooth head exterior, cables snaking into the back of her head.

Plugging a cord into her neural port, Jugra directly linked with the Delamain Custom.

It looked like a super robot version of Bumblebee. The drones hovering around began attaching weapon packs, transforming it into a full-armored mobile suit.

Saburo didn’t ambush Jugra during the Full Armor Custom Delamain’s transformation.

Being a pure-blooded Japanese, he knew attacking during a transformation sequence was taboo.

And besides, if they were truly fighting without rules, Jugra would have the upper hand—so Saburo waited, anticipating this.

"Alright, let’s go with a final battle. Your ambition ends here and now."

【Hmph. And you think a brat like you could make that happen?】