The fist of the Quinn who had been attacked was covered in red crystals. I thought she had used Carbuncle. But that was a bad move. That was a technique that covered the fist like a glove with red cacti, but it didn't have the metamorphic performance of the Carbuncle Talisman. While useful as armor, it had no other effect, and it might have been better to prioritize agility rather than recklessly hindering the movement of the hand.
But that prediction was completely off the mark. Starting from the fist of the Quinn who had struck the berserk individual, the Carbuncle began to spread. Like a creature that had been infected by the Almeiza Machine and turned acute, the body of the attacked Quinn was being covered by the Carbuncle Talisman.
She hadn't activated the technique herself. She was 'being made' to activate it. Faced with that abnormal situation, the one who acted fastest was the victim herself. She immediately decided to abandon the Quinn, and the main body detached.
However, she wasn't overlooked. No matter how much a main body—which could only move sluggishly—made a split-second decision, there was no way she could match the speed of the berserk individual.
The main body, attempting to leap away, was caught in mid-air. In an instant, she was pulled into the red crystals.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
With that, the response ceased.
My thoughts nearly froze from the sheer shock, but terror forced my body to move. We were no longer at a stage where we could leisurely talk about suppressing and rescuing the berserk individual. We didn't have the luxury of identifying the cause.
This was an opponent that had to be finished off for certain. This entity could wipe us all out. There were only two victims so far, but for some reason, I was certain.
"Prepare Cyst Shock!"
The thing we had to be most careful of was touching the enemy. That Carbuncle Talisman was infectious. Even we, who were supposed to be able to suppress the onset of the Almeiza Machine, were being taken over without any resistance. We must never, ever come into contact with the enemy.
Because of that, our options for action were drastically reduced. Against an enemy already superior in skill, we could only keep evading without being able to even defend. If we were grazed, we lost.
Long-range attacks were the only means left. With the power of a Cyst Shot, we wouldn't even be able to scratch that armor. That was why we would use a newly developed technique.
The Cyst Shock was a railgun in the process of formation. It was the same in that it created a barrel shaped like a morning glory bud around the main body, but its size didn't reach that of the Cyst Burst. It was about 60 centimeters long.
Compared to the railgun, which exerted tremendous power as a fixed turret, the Cyst Shock prioritized mobility and was small enough to be carried. It also had the advantage of being ready for the next shot quickly. However, its power was significantly inferior. There was the issue of the barrel size, but the power also had to be suppressed to a level where the Quinn could withstand the recoil while holding it.
Consequently, its performance as a railgun was low, and plasma would be generated that hindered electromagnetic induction through unnecessary friction and electrical resistance. However, this technique utilized that plasma expansion pressure to fire the projectile. Its performance was closer to a thermal gun.
Its power was incomparable to a gun using gunpowder as a propellant. No matter how strong and flexible the Carbuncle Talisman's defense was, it couldn't fully withstand this strike.
Against an enemy who far outclassed us in enhancement rate, our only weapon was numbers. If we surrounded her and showered her with gunfire, we could defeat her. The situation was still in our favor. However, the number of victims would increase the longer it took to finish her off. We had to carry out the battle swiftly.
I activated the Cyst Shock. Though not as long as a railgun, the formation of the weapon took some time. The enemy was not one to sit and wait during that opening. She came toward me. Our eyes met.
A pressure that felt like my heart was being gripped. I say our eyes met, but I don't know if that's appropriate. The enemy definitely recognized me and was coming for me, but she didn't hold malice toward me. The black smoke billowing from her body was the feeling of self-reproach; it wasn't directed at others.
It felt like debris blown by a gust of wind was flying toward me. It felt so simple that if I just stepped aside, she would pass right by.
But that was, after all, just my personal feeling. If she touched me, I would surely die. No, I didn't even know if I could die. I hadn't confirmed what happened to the comrades who were taken. That was the kind of enemy I was facing.
A spear-hand thrust approached on a trajectory to pierce my chest. I twisted my torso to the right to evade, and at the same time, I stepped back. The enemy's kick passed through the space where the Quinn had been standing just moments ago. I saw through the spear-hand as a feint. The real target was the leg sweep. She didn't need power. The enemy only had to touch me to win. She just had to think about making contact compactly and quickly.
Posture and stance, core and center of gravity movement—human joints cannot move infinitely. By looking at her form, the next move was naturally limited. However, that wasn't just true for the attacker. The same could be said for the defender.
I read that she would transition from the kick to a right fist. I moved to the right to prevent it. But the enemy had read that evasion instantly. Her left side opened slightly. Next, an elbow would probably come.
That was checkmate. My Quinn hadn't finished her evasion yet. It was as if time flowed differently for me and the enemy; I couldn't make it in time.
'It's coming.' A rustling static crawled up my senses. The world converged on that one point as if being sucked in.
The left elbow struck. The Quinn's body was blown away by an explosion and impact.
However, that impact wasn't from the enemy's attack. The Quinn was injured, but safe. She hadn't been pulled into the Carbuncle Talisman.
Comrades had provided support in time. A Cyst Shock had detonated between me and the enemy, forcing us apart. My heart, which had almost stopped from fear, began to beat as if it had regained its breath.
Deafening gunshots overlapped. The enemy moved swiftly to evade. It was a movement that couldn't be done without accurately grasping the surroundings and predicting the trajectory of the bullets. Even so, she couldn't evade all the high-speed bullets.
A bullet hit. Sparks flew. 'This will settle it.' I prayed to the heavens for that outcome. That meant I didn't think for a second that we could actually finish her off.
Certainly, that bullet would have had enough power to pierce the armor. But that energy was parried as if sliding off her fingertips. Unexpected strength, and refined skill. Body movements that combined rigidity and fluidity significantly attenuated the bullet's power. Even the cracks in the armor were repaired instantly.
Unless we shot her while she was standing still, it didn't seem like we could deal proper damage. And such an opportunity wouldn't conveniently arise. Furthermore, the formation we were currently using was poor.
We were surrounding the enemy. If we tried to aim at her, our line of fire overlapped with allies behind her. Because of that, we couldn't recklessly fire the powerful Cyst Shocks. Moreover, rather than surrounding her from a distance, we were crowded together in a narrow range. Because the enemy had suddenly appeared in the middle of the unit on standby at the rear, this situation was unavoidable.
At this rate, the encirclement would be broken. If it turned into a chaotic melee, we would be even more disadvantaged. No matter the situation, this enemy wouldn't lose her cool. She would surely evade and parry the bullets. I couldn't imagine a vision where a bullet hit.
"Now!"
Someone shouted. Starting with that voice, the scene before me changed completely. Only then did I realize. The dense encirclement wasn't a disadvantage for us.
The Quinns on the front line surrounding the berserk individual jumped out all at once and used a certain technique. It was En. However, the purpose wasn't search and detection. It was a hemispherical spatial grasp expanding with the Quinn at the center. They metallized that soap-bubble-like aura membrane with the Almeiza Machine.
We had used this technique before. It was a technique for quickly creating a dome-shaped crystal shelter to protect oneself. But this time, we used it for capture. By many Quinns using this technique simultaneously, areas appeared where the En shelters overlapped. Like a Venn diagram representing sets, the overlapping areas were partitioned and isolated as small rooms.
We trapped the enemy in that small room. This was one of the strategies we had practiced many times. Normally, it was a strategy carried out after ensuring coordination by exchanging information through radio waves, but there was a high probability that this enemy was intercepting those communications. That was likely why they carried it out without contacting each other.
Presumably, signals like eye contact had been given. I had failed to notice, but my comrades had correctly understood the intention and made the operation a success.
Even if we layered multiple En shelters, they were ultimately just partitions made of thin metal plates. It wasn't a restraint that could compete with the power of the Carbuncle Talisman.
But the enemy first had to destroy this small room. That move was absolutely unavoidable. Isolated in a small room with her vision blocked, even if she used En to prepare for the next attack, her defense wouldn't be in time.
The muzzles of the Cyst Shocks, which had already finished charging their magnetic force, were aimed at the small room where the enemy was trapped. I pulled the trigger. All the guns that were aimed spat fire at once.
With this, it's checkmate.