As he heard the god of war falling over, Sayama heard #8 shout.
“Defend!”
She did not say what to defend.
But in response to her shout, four automatons leaped forward to his left and four did the same to his right.
Their maid uniforms flipped up and they formed a half-circle around him with weapons in both hands.
But he had already started to move.
He moved forward.
As he saw them position themselves in an arc, he had a single thought.
…They have opened up gaps to avoid friendly fire.
His opponents were armed with firearms just like him.
In that case, a factor other than firepower would determine the winner.
There were three such factors.
First, there was speed.
Second, there was position.
Third, there was mentality.
Those factors could be affected by tactics.
And Sayama had lived with the Tamiya family until two years ago. They had originally been a yakuza family and they had weapons.
…And I have my grandfather’s training!
And so he did not hesitate to move forward. A skilled group and a firefight lay at close range. Distance was almost meaningless here and something else mattered more.
…Position!
What position would aid him and put his opponents at a disadvantage?
That would be right in front of an enemy. The other enemies would be unable to fire for fear of friendly fire.
The third maid from the right had black hair and she raised a handgun in her left hand.
She seemed to be the only one with a handgun.
And the short weapon could reach firing position fastest.
That was why he prioritized her and charged in toward her.
From there, his speed said everything.
Without killing the momentum of his charge, he used the shotgun in his left hand to sweep away the arm holding her gun.
“!?”
With a light impact, her arm moved to the left.
That arm obstructed the path of the fourth maid from the right, slowing her movements.
Sayama then jumped to the left and charged toward the side of the fourth maid from the right who had stumbled a bit.
While sweeping the third maid’s arm upwards, he jabbed his left elbow into the now-unguarded side of the fourth one.
“!”
The fourth maid doubled over and collapsed.
One down.
In response, the second maid from the right and the fifth maid from the right raised submachine guns.
They moved to trap him where he was in front of the third maid and the collapsed fourth maid.
But they were too slow. His left arm remained bent from the previous elbow jab, so the shotgun barrel was pointed to the right. He also passed the submachine gun under his left arm to aim it to the left.
With his arms crossed as if in an embrace, he fired both guns.
He hit twice.
The second and fifth maids were blasted in either direction. Counting the fourth maid in front of him, that was three down.
But the first maid from the right and the sixth, seventh, and eight maids on the right had taken action.
The one on the right and three on the left had already raised their guns.
“Nn!”
With that voice, four gunshots rang out. As expected, there was one from the right and three from the left.
The bullets arrived. Also, the third maid in front of him had brought back her arm.
Sayama hurried forward while uncrossing his arms.
He jumped up. As his arms met in the middle in the process of uncrossing them, they deflected the third maid’s arm upwards once more.
“…”
He heard a metallic noise and her handgun flew into the air.
She was now wide open.
He spread his arms and moved forward while listening to the four bullets passing by behind him.
As he stepped forward, he raised his right leg and jabbed his knee into the third maid’s right side.
The strike knocked the third maid away, making four down.
He used the impact of the knee jab to rotate backwards to the right.
As he did, he saw #8 standing beyond the others.
“Wait there!”
He would make sure to take her on.
He felt faint irritation as he wondered why the representative of the Leviathan Road had to fight automatons who were not the representatives of 3rd-Gear.
Even so, he was aware that he had partially wanted this.
…Are they desperate as well?
He wanted to know why. He felt he needed to know. He mentally nodded twice, ended his spin to the right, and leaped toward her. He quickly ran to the right.
The only maid remaining to the right was the one originally first from the right.
She had brown hair and she raised a rifle in her left hand.
In the instant she took aim, Sayama swung his submachine gun to the right.
An instant later, she pulled the trigger.
The rifle fired at the same moment that his weapon struck her arm and knocked it to the right.
The gunshot passed by the right side of his face and the bullet grazed his hair, but it did not hit him.
He stepped forward and raised the shotgun in his left hand while holding her rifle away with the submachine gun in his right hand.
But this time, she defended.
She stepped back and swept his shotgun upwards with her empty hand.
And she did not stop there.
After sweeping the shotgun upwards, she grabbed the barrel.
Sayama pulled back the weapon so she could not swipe it.
But then he felt pain. It was the phantom pain from his left fist. That pain from the past made him grimace.
“…!”
The shotgun was forcefully pulled from his grasp.
The maid in front of his eyes smiled as she held his shotgun.
She tossed it behind her and then looked behind him.
“Fire!”
Sayama did not look behind him.
He understood what the maid before him wanted. She would stop him and let herself be shot by the three behind him.
…A ridiculous decision!
“So you dolls have decided to sacrifice yourselves!?”
And so he moved. He would not let this doll be shot by her allies. They were attempting to produce something from a death.
…No matter what, I cannot let them accomplish that idea!
His only weapon was the submachine gun in his right hand. He was using it to hold her rifle away.
But he let go of the submachine gun.
He lost his weapon.
However…
“I have more than just guns.”
As the maid’s eyes widened in surprise, he charged toward her and jabbed his elbow into her gut.
With a sound of impact, she was knocked away.
He turned around while watching her rifle and his submachine gun fall to the ground.
Behind him, he saw the remaining three aiming rifles at him.
They were aiming and preparing to pull the trigger.
In that instant, he held his left hand out in front of him.
That hand was empty, but something fell into it.
It was a handgun.
This was the handgun he had used his crossed arms to knock from the hand of the third maid from the right earlier.
As soon as he had it in his grasp, he fired.
A great sound filled the area.
Of the three maids, the middle one was blown away. The remaining two fired, but their bullets passed by either side of him.
At the same time, he heard a metallic noise on the ground behind him.
The submachine gun he had let go of and the rifle of the maid he had elbowed had struck the ground.
With a snap of his wrist, he tossed the handgun overhead.
He crouched down, swung both hands backwards, and grabbed the submachine gun and rifle as they bounced off the ground.
He raised the weapons in front of him and fired.
The two remaining maids took direct hits and collapsed backwards.
The eight were down.
But Sayama did not catch his breath. He tossed aside both guns and used his left hand to grab the handgun he had tossed overhead.
He turned toward someone to his right.
It was #8.
“…!”
Sayama ran.
In response, #8 took quick action.
She tried to raise both handguns she held to target his face.
“I am serious!”
Her shout seemed to pierce through the air, but Sayama paid it no heed and moved forward.
But he would not make it in time. It would not take her long to raise the handguns. She held them right next to each other to target the center of his face.
“Is this your decision!?”
Sayama replied with his actions.
As he took the last running step with his left leg, he swung the knee up and jabbed the shin and knee straight up toward the heavens.
“…!”
As #8 tried to raise her arms, they struck either side of his knee.
Her hands stopped.
“!?”
At the same time, he threw his body forward. He pressed his forehead against his raised knee.
His face passed between the guns held apart by his knee.
And #8 pulled the triggers.
Gunshots passed by either side of his face.
But they naturally missed. Sayama swung down his raised left leg to slam his heel down. At the same time, #8 frantically moved back.
And he moved forward to pursue her.
He maintained his forward momentum and threw his lowering left leg forward. He was already close enough to collide with #8 and he looked at her surprised expression.
At the same moment, his left foot reached the asphalt and he made his step.
Using the force of his step, he pointed the gun in his left hand at #8.
In that instant…
“Sayama-kun!”
He heard Shinjou’s voice.
And so he took action. He first let go of his gun.
“I will now show you my conclusion.”
As he spoke, he wrapped his arms around #8’s waist from below and placed her over his shoulder.
“Ah…!”
As he lifted her up, she was surprisingly light.
With a bitter smile, he took a few light steps forward, lowered his speed, and came to a stop.
As #8 struggled atop his shoulder, he used his hands to stop her legs from moving and he spoke.
“I almost forgot. Dolls are meant to be held and handled with care.”
And…
“I respect that sort of thinking.”
