Editing City Series:Volume8a Chapter7 (section)

===Algo’s Sight Mode: In DT Castle===

'''<Algo’s Over Reload>

Algo and miniature Alternative sat at the entrance to the audience chamber.

There was a step tall enough to sit on below the large metal door. He sat on that and ate the portable food Alternative passed him. He coughed a bit and tore open a wrapper labeled x5.

“Phew. Do we have any tea?”

<We do,> replied Alternative in her window and produced a juice box of tea from behind her back.

He thanked her and looked forward again.

He looked down the large corridor leading to the audience chamber.

'''<Algo’s Over Zoom>

A battle was underway there.

The blue smoke of tear gas filled the tall, wide, and long stone-floored space. But that smoke was swept away by a wind whipping up in the corridor – by a powerful wind pressure that stood in the smoke’s way like a solid wall.

The wind came from a metal staff held by a black-robed man. He was the old-style NPC Body called Anon3.

While wielding that wind, his black robe fell away.

The man within emerged as the cloth rippled to the floor.

He wore blue and white Japanese clothing with the joints tied tight. Above his sharp, slender face, his black hair was tied tightly back with a green hair tie. His hair shook after the falling robe caught it, so he pressed his metal staff against it to fix it.

As far as Algo could see, he was only armed with the metal staff and a wakizashi on his left hip.

The Japanese man stepped forward. He took a large step with his zori-clad foot to avoid stepping on the fallen robe.

Algo swallowed his food while watching the man from behind.

“Take it easy. The queen apparently threw herself into the pit in the audience chamber.”

Algo’s words triggered a response around him.

'''<Algo’s Over Reload>

Six soldiers in blue Yard uniforms ran toward them along the corridor walls.

They took up a semicircle formation around the metal staff man.

One of them operated the program control panel at his hip. He turned a dial and hit a button.

The numerals 1 through 6 appeared in blue light over the 6 Yard members’ heads.

At the same time, they all drew their submachineguns and aimed them at the metal staff man.

They took careful aim at his face, chest, gut, and legs.

After seeing that, Algo stuck a straw into the tea juice box Alternative had given him.

“I see.”

He nodded just before those six pulled the trigger.

A rupturing sound and scattering sparks signaled the beginning of the destruction.

Metal bullets took flight. They fired from six different directions without any hesitation.

The metal staff man in the center moved only slowly.

'''<Anon3: Uriel Word Race Conversion: Switching to C Word Race Traits: Limiter Off: Movement Stability>

Then he spoke the words of his will.

'''“It is no use.”

The Text came from the metal staff he held.

The ring of Text produced a metal gray emblem from the tip of the staff.

The emblem was surrounded by a laurel wreath symbol frame.

The man released his Text and wordlessly raised the emblem-bearing staff horizontally.

That was a defensive pose.

He leaned to the right.

'''<Algo’s Over Zoom>

While holding the staff horizontally, he shifted about a foot to the right.

It was a small movement, but it created a slight difference in when the simultaneously-fired bullets would hit.

The ones coming from the right would arrive a foot’s worth of time sooner than the ones coming from the left.

He used the end of the staff to stop the first shot to arrive from the right.

The bullet ricocheted off the staff, producing a loud clang and a spray of sparks.

The bullet flew off somewhere or other.

The footwork supporting that split-second defense took him slowly to the left.

From there, it came down to a series of instants. After sharply deflecting the first shot with the right end, he caught the 2nd bullet from the right on the part of the staff a bit more than a foot left of the right end.

The 3rd shot he blocked with the spot a foot left of that.

The 4th shot he blocked with the portion left of that, where he held the staff with his right hand.

The 5th shot he blocked with the spot where he held the staff with his left hand.

The 6th shot he blocked near the left end.

He deflected them all.

'''<Algo’s Over Zoom>

By the time he had deflected the final one, his body was already moving left.

While catching those bullets from his position a foot to the right, he had accurately moved himself two feet to the left.

The enemy attack was still underway. They were firing with submachineguns. The second shots from each gun arrived less than a second later.

Shifting himself to the left allowed him to catch this next barrage starting from the left.

He blocked the 1st shot from the left with the exact same spot on the left side of the staff he had used to block the 6th shot last time.

From there, he moved right to catch all 6 similar to before.

Then the 3rd bullets were coming. This time, the ones on the right were closer, so he caught the 6 shots from the right.

None of it stopped there. All the man was doing was holding his staff at an angle that let him sweep aside the shots coming from six different directions. The bullets used a batch program to sync their timing, and their aim was impeccable, but they were still only a barrage coming from 6 directions at once.

A barrage was a wall.

The man set up his own angle in relation to the wall, set up a priority list for himself, and deflected each bullet accordingly.

He slowly backed away to compensate for the speed of the bullets.

His first step was the only one taken forward. The rest took him slowly back.

The submachineguns stopped after their 32nd bullet each.



'''<Algo’s Over Zoom>

Gun smoke spread out through the corridor and the gunshots echoed on and on.

After the six lines of fire used up their ammo, the man remained standing before them with his staff held horizontally.

His feet were precisely planted in the center of the black robe he had dropped on the floor.

He was unscathed and the metal staff was not chipped or scratched.

None of the bullets had reached Algo or Alternative seated behind him either.

'''<Algo’s Over Zoom>

Algo looked back to see the royal flag covering the side of the door had been shot to shreds. The red and yellow coloration made the scraps look like autumn leaves fluttering through the gun smoke. The wall where the flag had been had its texture half destroyed by the bullet holes. The audience chamber’s inner wall was visible through the broken surface image.

'''<Surface image has been damaged. Would you like to repair it? Y/N>

No one pressed the Y or the N key. Algo ignored the message too.

The metal staff man looked back while fixing the women’s green hair tie he wore.

“How was that? I still do not think I have what it takes to take on the strongest opponent.”

“Don’t be silly. That was excellent.”

“Then may I name myself?”

“Go ahead,” replied Algo, placing a slight smile on the other man’s lips.

'''<Algo’s Over Zoom>

The man’s eyes remained closed.

'''<Algo’s Sight Mode has ended>