DRAGON: First Link

36.0: Ambush

"All units, stand by." I ordered through my comm device.

"Oi, you sure about this?" Chiro asked.

"Jah."

"You sound Irish."

"My great-grandfather is half-Irish, after-all."

"No, I mean, you sound like Irish." Chiro said. "You know, your mother's cousin."

"Whaj jou know abouj jer, ehj?"

Chiro chuckled.

I scanned the perimeter. I'm good to go. Through my enhanced hearing ability I noticed the almost unrecognizable turning of cogs, the shuffling of heavy feet, and the sound of signal-comm from one unit to another.

"Tank Unit Tango, roll out."

The ground shook hard as my mini-tank bots came rolling towards the enemy encampment.

"W-what's going on?" I heard someone shout from the distance.

I grabbed a microphone from my inventory and turned it on. "Listen, people of the Gaul!! The Purge of the Fire starts now!! Woohoo!!"

Yeah, I did sound like Hitler. Or I think I did.

The Support Recon Unit started firing their guns, while the main tanks started pummeling those who mistakenly cross their paths. The poor guys, who must've anchored their Sense Mastery at the level 30s. I mean, seriously? They can't see sh*t in this darkness!!

"You b*tch!!" A guy started charging towards me with his shield, so I took his initiative and dashed to the side. He stopped just after passing me, and swung his long sword towards his back. I grabbed the edge of the blade, but he flipped it, along with me. Whew, good thing I have high dexterity.

I examined the guy as the latter went into a western stance. Hmm, huge shield top with the tip of his sword, a stance by a professional, or a manic artist, no less. What's he doing with Xin?

"Whoo, you're generally high-leveled, aren't you?"

"I see you're not so arrogant to not notice our difference in power." He replied in low voice. "Tch, an ambush in the middle of the night. As expected of a cheater like you?"

"Cheater?" I raised my brow. "For doing what? And doing it when and where?"

"Heh, quit lying. Grueth told us all how you cheated when you two fought."

"Oh, you mean, her carelessness that resulted to her beheading?"

"You brat!!" He dashed yet again, the sharp edge of his blade missing me by a hair. "In a battle, you should respect your enemy by fighting fair, and giving it your all!!" He forced his shield towards me, which I blocked with my crossed arms. "That is chivalry!!"

"Ahh, I could understand that." I gave off space, which made him pause. "I tried to be like you too, but I failed. Miserably, as a matter of fact."

He went to his stance and attacked me again.

"'Why,' you might ask?" I dropped to my heavy counter stance, intent to meet him full. As he came within striking distance, I swung.

Pieces of shield and pixels came flying and was swept by the calm breeze as the knight disappeared into nothingness. Damn, he was a good guy too, only to be misled by a lie. Chivalry huh? He might be a nerd. Or just a simple person who was born on the wrong era. "The world doesn't work like that anymore, good knight. Chivalry is dead."

"Your world view is as twisted as always, Kanzaki." A voice so eerily familiar made me turn my head.

"And you still believed in lies, Zhang." I grinned at the leader of the Gaul, who was robed for full combat, his staff in hand, and I'm within hitting distance. However, his eyes bore hesitation. "What, you're not gonna hit me?"

"And risk the life of my teammates here?" he asked.

Tiningnan ko ang paligid. True enough, they were drastically fighting against my bots. Another surprise attack would kill them in no time. "Maah, neh, you're such a bore."

"And you are as ruthless as ever." Xin put his staff back in his inventory, which shocked me. "Now it is my turn to ask: why do you not take advantage of attacking me right now?"

"Because I just came to weed out those who will only blocked your path." My lips turned upward. "I got a proposition to make; forget 15 days of war, let's finish this tomorrow."

"That was what I was thinking too." He turned his back on me and flicked his fingers. One by one my bots started exploding, until none was left. "I will make sure you kneel, Princess Shichio Kanzaki."

"Hmm." I turned around too, a smirk on my face. With all bots down, there's only my teammates who will be covering for me. "I look forward to it, Xin A.D. Zhang."

Chiro opened the door to the bunker for me as I returned to base. Uhh, too much happened. I miss the feeling of being tired and plopping into my bed with exhaustion. Guess this world can't replace reality and its flaws, after-all.

"Your disciple never changed one bit, Chiro." I said as I shrunk into the sofa. "He's still a Chinese who can't speak Chinese."

"You think?" He laughed, giving me a plate of his special carbonara. "He was a good guy surrounded by bad influences, yet he never yielded from his own virtues. Nah, guess those kind of people still exists."

"It's bad enough." I forked the noodles, then stuffed them into my mouth. Pagkatapos kong ngumuya ay nagsalita ulit ako. "He never saw the world as it is. You can't be positive all the time, especially when you lost an arm."

"And that's why he wants to destroy you, Chio." Oyaji went back to the kitchen. But I heard him say from the door. "You're the only piece of negativity in his life."

"Yeah, I think." I smiled as I looked up the ceiling. "I cut his arm, after-all."

"Hime!!" Sanders fell from the ceiling outlet, face first to the floor. "Bowler logged out already!!"

"Hmm?"

"He received a call earlier, and he said it was urgent."

"Ah, that reminds me." Chiro came back with a pitcher. "Mika was subjected to forced log-out earlier. I do hope she's okay."

That's two people off the my team. I smacked my forehead. "Fuyukai."