Editing City Series:Volume4b Chapter 6 (section)

===Part 1===

'''4:33 PM

The Umeda Sky Building normally used a see-through elevator to ascend the first 33 floors to the floating garden 170 meters off the ground.

After climbing to the observation deck on the 40th floor positioned between the two towers, one only had to exit onto the floating garden on the rooftop.

But the Sky Building was currently running on emergency power and the elevators were not running.

The only option was the emergency staircase facing the building’s windows.

Those stairs were the key to the battle.

Yuuki was an Energy Gunner.

Taeko was a Steel Master.

Both their Combat Styles focused on long-range attacks.

And at the moment, the stairway acted as a narrow, straight pathway, so they had to prepare themselves for their enemy’s sniper shots.

If they moved out ahead of their enemy, they would be fired on from below.

If they fell behind their enemy, they would be fired on from above.

Standard combat theory said higher was better.

And right now, Taeko was below.

There were two reasons for this.

One of those being…

“How can that girl keep firin’ such powerful attacks so fast!?”

Her complaint was answered by two water spears flying down from the stairway landing and skewering her body.

They were narrow blasts of water, but they accurately pierced her right shoulder and right chest.

After a breath, blood spirted from the holes in her inner suit.

–''Taeko – Mind Tech – Take – Control Pain – Hit.

The sight of blood did not frighten her.

She simply searched for her enemy.

–''Taeko – Sight Tech – Take – Find Enemy – Hit.

Her enemy was no longer on the next landing up. She had already continued upwards.

Taeko took a breath and started running.

Her right arm was not moving properly.

–''Taeko – Medical Tech – Take – Check Injury – Hit.

Her right shoulder was broken.

“So I’ve only got my Dragon Emperor left arm to work with.”

She muttered to herself as she ran and she looked over at the Dragon Emperor.

The Dragon Emperor was not roaring.

Its activation had stopped at the Third.

On the bullet train before, it had stopped working when she tried to use it against Yuuki.

It seemed to not reach the higher activation levels where the dragon’s will awoke.

That was the second reason that Yuuki had the higher position.

“Why are ya refusin’ to fight her? She killed my brother and she’s ignorin’ Shoui.”

The metal fist did not explain its actions.

Taeko ran up the stairs.

She had run like this once before: on her way to where her brother had died.

She had shaken free of the Koto Chancellor’s Officers when they tried to stop her, but there had been nothing there to see.

Nothing had remained.

Only a white chalk oval drawn on the road next to the Sarusawa Pond.

That was where her brother’s right arm had fallen.

There had been no bloodstains. According to the boy in charge of the scene, her brother had likely been flash frozen by the Koto Chancellor.

After that, Taeko had trained and entered the Mountain to support her family.

And now she was running up the stairs.

Her brother’s killer was up above.

She reached a landing.

She ran up the next flight.

The next thing she knew, the floor number label said 33.

An emergency exit opened onto a passageway into the building.

She ran through it and reached a large space.

There was a long escalator straight ahead.

Unlike the previous escalators, this one had a roof.

It continued past the windows.

It led to the observation deck suspended between the two towers.

A red figure was running up it.

“!”

Taeko’s body moved on reflex.

–''Taeko – Savate Tech – Take – Dash – Hit.

She ran.

Blood dripped down her right arm and onto the floor.

Even so, her body moved forward.

The soles of her shoes split the floor tiles below her feet.

She produced a series of solid sounds.

For just a moment, Yuuki looked back toward that noise while climbing the escalator.

She ran.

“Ya ain’t gettin’ away!”

Taeko ran up the escalator.

She was fast.

Her speed allowed her to start catching up.

She could see the sky through the glass overhead.

The floating garden on the roof was near.

She released her Words.

She used her poorly-moving right arm to stick just the right side of her headphones in her ear.

She surrounded herself in the light of her own Lightning High instead of the Dragon Emperor’s.

She did not rely on the dragon.

Someone stood in front of her with the setting sun washing over her.

It was Koto Chancellor Yuuki Yuuki.

“!”

Taeko no longer said anything.

She ran up the escalator.

Ice flew her way.

–''Taeko – Savate/Gym/Dodge Tech – Counter-Multi-Take – Dash Dodge – Hit!

She ducked down as she continued forward.

The string holding her ponytail in place was torn by the ice spear and her black hair spread into the air.

But she did not stop.

They were a mere three meters apart.

Yuuki held Housei and light filled its ether firing section.

She was going to fire.

But Taeko moved before that happened.

–''Taeko – Boxing Tech – Take – Grab – Hit.

:–''Taeko – Boxing/Gym Tech – Multi-Take – Brute Force – Hit!

Taeko used the Dragon Emperor’s fist to punch the escalator stairs with all her might.

Even with the power out, the stairs would move if enough pressure was applied.

The aluminum stairs lost to the Dragon Emperor’s strength and broke.

The escalator only shook slightly.

But that was enough.

The vibration propagated through the stairs and Housei’s tip hopped up slightly in Yuuki’s hands.

“…!?”

It produced ice, but that ice shot past above Taeko’s head.

Yuuki had an opening, so Taeko aimed for it.

–''Taeko – Steel/Boxing Tech – Multi-Take – Strike – Hit!

The Dragon Emperor’s fist powerfully punched Housei from below.

The intense sound was that of a great weight and metal colliding.

The confrontation between the Suzaku and the dragon was easily won by the dragon.

The tuning fork shaped staff was knocked from Yuuki’s hands and flew toward the heavens.

It broke through the escalator’s ceiling and spun as it continued upwards.

Housei stabbed into the base of the floating garden that they could see from below.

“!”

Now Yuuki had no weapon.

Wind blew icy air into the escalator.

Taeko looked up at Yuuki in that chill.

Yuuki looked back down at Taeko.

Yuuki jumped back.

Taeko pursued.

“I said ya ain’t gettin’ away!”

–''Taeko – Steel/Boxing Tech – Multi-Take – Strike – Hit!

She launched the imperial fist toward Yuuki.

Or she tried to.

The Dragon Emperor suddenly stopped.

“Wha-…!?”

Again with this.

The dragon was refusing to fight the Suzaku user.

The dragon’s will was interfering at the low level of the Third Activation.

Taeko’s body tilted to the left thanks to the Dragon Emperor’s weight.

The raised metal fist was pulled down by gravity and slammed against the escalator railing.

Yuuki escaped upwards.

Taeko clenched her teeth.

Her right arm was injured, so she could not fight properly without the Dragon Emperor.

If Yuuki had time to prepare, she could use spells even without her staff.

Taeko looked at the Dragon Emperor that was no more than a weight now.

“Ya…piece of shit!!”

She roared at it and reached her right hand toward her left shoulder.

The bloody right hand manually released the Dragon Emperor’s removal bolts.

There were three.

The Dragon Emperor was removed somewhat and her left shoulder felt lighter.

A moment later, she reattached the Dragon Emperor as if tackling it with her shoulder.

–''Taeko – Steel Tech – Take – False Arm “Dragon Emperor” Initial Activation – Hit.

When restarting the Dragon Emperor while it was attached, the dragon’s will would interfere and slow the process down.

It was faster to unplug it and plug it back in to restart from the very beginning.

The floating emblems carved on the inside activated and the weight vanished.

Taeko stood up and ran forward while dragging along the sleeping Dragon Emperor.

She ran toward the rooftop where her enemy waited.