Sniff sniff.
Riku twitched his nose, stepping back a few paces to the doorway.
Bang!
A gunshot rang out. Riku activated his Sandevistan, and everything in his vision slowed to a crawl. He darted back into the apartment building.
Boom!
An explosive blast followed, shattering the tiles on the ground and sending debris flying. The bullet left a crater in the floor.
"Damn it!" Riku cursed. A sunaipā (sniper)? These corporate dogs must've realized they'd been found out.
Good thing his Sandevistan was fully flesh-integrated now. Otherwise, that shot might've blown apart whatever it hit.
Even with that kind of firepower, his subdermal armor was probably no better than paper. Sure, he could survive getting his head blown off, but the problem was—it was still broad daylight!
"To get out, we've gotta take out that sniper first," Riku decided quickly.
He wasn't too worried for himself. The flesh-integrated Sandevistan gave him confidence. With his speed and the Sandevistan's boost, if he went all-out, that sniper would need some serious luck to land a hit.
But Sasha? She was a different story. Her cyberware was mostly geared toward hacking, boosting her nō (brain) for computational power. She was nimble enough, with decent close-quarters skills, but nowhere near capable of dancing through a hail of bullets like Riku.
He could carry her, sure, but that'd slow him down, making it way easier for the sniper to tag them. Too risky.
"What the hell's going on?!" The sniper's shot was loud enough to rattle the apartment building, sending the tenants into a panic. They knew something big was happening.
When Riku and Sasha had arrived, there were still a few curious onlookers nearby. But the second the gunshot echoed, those tama (bystanders) scattered like roaches.
For Night City citizens, knowing how to escape when danger struck was practically a mandatory survival skill (seizon sukiru).
"They're coming down!" Sasha said, checking the building's surveillance. The ambushers upstairs had clearly realized they'd been spotted.
"And more are coming from outside," Riku added, picking up a scent. While everyone else was fleeing the building, some were rapidly approaching.
No way those were reckless bystanders. It had to be more corporate dogs lying in wait.
"Looks like we're not leaving until we take them all out," Riku said, pulling the blade from his back. It was a thermal katana—a netsu-ken with a black blade that glowed with fiery light, radiating waves of heat.
Of course, Arasaka Corporation made katanas. As a Japanese company with a long legacy, the samurai blade was their pride and joy. This thermal katana was one of Arasaka's latest creations, so pricey Riku could only dream of affording it. He had Mother Nature to thank for this one.
"Let's head to the second floor. We can't get pinned down here," Sasha said, staying calm despite the chaos. Getting caught in a pincer attack was the worst-case scenario.
The second floor was a solid choice. If things went south, they could always jump out a window. Surely there couldn't be snipers everywhere, right?
Riku nodded, understanding her logic. He dropped an optic at the entrance for vision, then followed Sasha up the stairs to the second floor.
As they emerged from the stairwell, a group of agents rounded the corner—black-clad, no obvious corporate logos, but it didn't take a genius to guess they were Biotech's goons. After all, Sasha hadn't pissed off any other corps, and she was here to meet a reporter to dig into Biotech's dirt.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The four agents opened fire, bullets raining down on Riku and Sasha.
Bzzt!
Riku took a deep breath and triggered his Sandevistan. The bullets slowed to a crawl in his vision.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
He swung his thermal katana, deflecting every bullet. Some even ricocheted back toward the agents.
The agents scrambled, caught off guard, but their own subdermal armor held up against the deflected shots.
"Stay safe, Sasha," Riku said, before charging the four agents in a blur.
Shnk!
The lead agent's head flew off, his face still frozen in shock, unable to dodge in time. Blood sprayed as his head spun through the air, and Riku was already moving, slashing at the next agent.
Bzzt!
The second agent reacted, his movements speeding up—Kerenzikov cyberware. But it wasn't enough. His Kerenzikov was low-grade, and his skills were no match for Riku's.
Shnk!
The agent's dodge was futile. Riku's blade cut him down.
Bzzt!
Thanks to their comrades' deaths buying them time, the remaining two agents activated their Sandevistans, retreating up the stairs to gain distance.
"Not bad for corporate dogs. They're loaded with gear," Riku muttered, not slowing down. He bounded up the stairs, his blade aiming for the next agent's throat.
The two agents fired, their guns spitting fire at the rapidly closing Riku.
But their shots were too late. Riku's blade was already on them.
Even with Sandevistans, their reflexes couldn't keep up with his. Sandevistans varied in quality, and the gap in their physical abilities (taishitsu) was even harder to bridge.
Shnk!
Riku skewered both agents, pinning them to the wall. The thermal katana seared their throats, their flesh melting like wax.
Sizzle!
Suddenly, Riku's vision flickered, then went black. Someone had hacked his optic.
Behind the four agents was a hacker—a woman with glowing eyes, her face twisted in shock. She'd tried to hack Riku's systems, but only his optic responded. His Sandevistan was like a ghost to her marionetto (puppet) programs—no reaction at all.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The hacker fired her pistol at Riku.
Shnk!
Riku surged forward, his katana slicing through the air, lopping off her head mid-expression.
He still had his third eye unaffected, plus a flesh-integrated optic he could deploy. Optic reboots were no big deal for him, unless he was standing in direct sunlight.
Even then, his nose could pick up human scents like a bloodhound. Their aroma was impossible to miss.
"Optic reboot complete."
His vision returned, but Riku kept his third eye open. In the world of Cyberpunk, more eyes meant less charisma—a running joke. Normally, he kept his third eye closed to avoid the sun's glare.
He wasted no time, ripping out the agents' optics and chips, blood and all, and stuffing them into his pocket. Then he used the thermal katana to set their clothes ablaze.
Crackle!
Sasha stood there, dumbfounded. Riku's combat prowess had skyrocketed since last time, and his decisiveness was on another level.
[Ding! Experience +250.]
[Ding! Experience full. Level up to Lv5. Current EXP: 119/500.]
[Gained 1 Attribute Point.]
[Gained 1 Skill Point.]
The fight was over, and the experience rolled in. Riku had leveled up again.
Each of the five agents gave him 50 EXP—less than the 200 from that black-clad shinobi before. Probably because, with his Sandevistan, these agents weren't as much of a threat. That shinobi with a Nichirin Blade could've actually endangered him.
Riku dumped the attribute point into Constitution (taishitsu), then upgraded [Oni-fication].
[Oni-fication Lv4: Transformed into an oni by the blood of the Oni King. Strength, Agility, Constitution +8, Charisma -9. Grants Blood Demon Art and Constitution Alteration State.]
He could've upgraded [Water Breathing], but he wanted to train it himself first. Wasn't there something called Jōchū (Constant Flux)? No need to burn skill points yet.
Plus, [Oni-fication] reduced the charisma penalty every two levels, making it a better bang for his buck.
Feeling his physical stats surge again, Riku basked in the thrill of growth. Then more mugi (wheat, a playful nod to enemies as "harvest") came to him.
The ambushers outside had stormed in. Riku had known they were coming—his optic on the first floor hadn't been spotted, giving him a clear view of their approach.
Bzzt!
Sandevistan activated again, Riku's form flickering as he moved.
Caught off guard, the agents barely had time to fire, their guns spraying wildly.
A shadow surged from Riku's feet, morphing into a giant wolf that blocked their shots and pounced, sending the agents tumbling down the stairs.
Shnk!
Riku followed, his thermal katana slicing through them like a shinigami cutting bamboo.
(End of Chapter)