Chapter 296

Lars piloted the air vehicle, weaving precariously between the towering buildings of Border City. It was, quite literally, an aerial stunt.

Tur– eong!  

Hanging onto the air vehicle, I pulled the trigger of Ruina. Each time, a federal police drone burst into a blue explosion and plummeted.

Ting!  

Spent coolant casings, heated from the shots, bounced up repeatedly, distorting the air around them.

Kiing! Clack!  

I reloaded the magazine with one hand while keeping my gaze fixed on the drones.

At some point, their acceleration began to slow.

‘So this is the extent of their operational range.’  

The unmanned drones pursued us only up to a certain point before halting, turning around, and retreating.

I looked down. A riot had broken out in an already crime-ridden district. Looters swarmed the city streets.

Since the air vehicle we were riding in belonged to the police, the looters' gazes briefly turned toward us. However, when they realized there were no warnings or responses, they continued their plundering.

‘What a joke.’  

Border City’s police force did not maintain general law and order.

Their role was essentially to protect federal officials and the privileged class residing in Border City.

Uuuuuuuung!  

An air vehicle passed by us, its open doors revealing armed individuals inside.

‘Private security firms.’  

Instead of the police, private security firms patrolled this area in their air vehicles.

These firms sought out and protected the stores and clients they were contracted to defend.

- This is a contracted establishment of Aisa Sotra. Stand down! We will open fire in three seconds.  

Armed guards leaped from the air vehicle, immediately threatening the rioters. The looters hesitated before turning tail and fleeing. They had no intention of fighting professional security forces, who made a living from combat.

Not all stores had contracts with private security.

Murmur, murmur.  

Those who couldn’t afford security contracts armed themselves and defended their stores on their own.

The militia in the shopping district stood their ground against the looters, firing their weapons to protect their property.

However, the looters had no fear of militia members who were no different from themselves. A full-fledged battle erupted in no time, with screams and shouts filling the air.

Thud! Thud!  

I knocked on the upper panel of the air vehicle. Lars understood my intent and opened the door.

Giiiing!  

I pushed myself inside and leaned back against the seat.

“The chase ended right here.”  

Lars exhaled in relief.

“Border City’s security resources are stretched thin. There are far bigger priorities than recovering a stolen police vehicle.”  

“This place is a complete mess.”  

“Yeah.”

I didn’t deny it.  

Even in the lower districts of Akbaran, an uprising of this scale would have warranted direct intervention by the Imperial Army. They would never have just stood by and watched.  

"Someday, the Empire will bring order to this place," Lars muttered.  

One day, Lars would also march into war as a soldier of the Empire. He would take on the role of executioner without hesitation, slaughtering in the name of the Empire.  

I had once been the same. But now, the thought of killing for the Empire left a bitter taste in my mouth.  

…I could no longer live as a soldier of the Empire.  

‘That doesn’t mean I’m a better person than Lars.’  

I wasn’t claiming any moral high ground. I was still a killer. If anything, I might have been worse.  

I killed for myself, and I took lives to protect those around me.  

My motivation for killing was no longer the orders of the state but my own personal reasons.  

We passed through a district where law and order had completely collapsed.  

"We’ve reached the coordinates… It’s an 'auction house.'"  

We had arrived at Border City’s auction house.  

Despite the chaos in the city, the auction was still in full swing. The wealth and treasures exchanged here ensured that the auction house had its own security force.  

‘If anything, this is the perfect time for illicit auctions. Stolen goods, government-banned items…’  

It wasn’t just Kinuan and Akies Victima users who took advantage of chaos and disorder.  

Chaos disrupted rigid order. It blurred the lines between the strong and the weak. It created the perfect opportunity to evade government oversight and turn a profit.  

"Luka-nim, something’s off. People aren’t going in—they’re running out."  

Lars observed the auction house with his "top-grade, latest-model cybernetic eyes" and reported his findings.  

‘They’re running out.’  

Just as he said, people were fleeing from the auction house in a panic. Many were pushed down and trampled in the disorder.  

‘Seems like today’s auction had more visitors than usual.’  

The guards who should have been stationed at the entrance were nowhere to be seen. It looked like they had all gone inside.  

Boom!  

An explosion erupted from the roof of the auction house, followed by a relentless barrage of gunfire.  

…I wasn’t sure whether to be pleased or concerned.  

The good news was that we had arrived before the assault had ended. The bad news was that it was still ongoing.  

There was no time for a smooth landing or a calm entry through the front door.  

"Lars, you see that central pillar in the auction house? Ram into it."  

"Huh? Luka-nim, I may have a full-body prosthetic, but if the vehicle explodes, I’ll die."  

"Of course you’ll die. Are you stupid? Just jump out before impact."

Lars looked at me as if I had lost my mind.  

"…I-Is that so?"  

"Your adaptive three-dimensional maneuvering is rated A, right? Use the terrain to slow yourself down. We don’t have time."  

I stretched out my leg and kicked the door. The metal crumpled and tore off, falling away into the open air.  

Whooosh!  

The wind roared violently.  

Lars squeezed his eyes shut for a moment before gritting his teeth and accelerating straight toward the auction house.  

Beep! Beep! Beep!  

The collision alarm blared furiously.  

"Now."  

I shoved Lars on the shoulder and leaped out first.  

Cursing under his breath, Lars smashed through the opposite door and abandoned the air vehicle as well.  

As we freefell, we grabbed onto the tangled mess of wires crisscrossing the air like spiderwebs, hooking our legs around them to decelerate.  

Ssssh!  

I caught hold of a fraying wire, twisting my body to the side.  

Crack!  

My shoulder crashed into a thin glass ceiling. It held for a split second before completely caving in.  

Crash!  

With the glass breaking beneath me, I plunged downward.  

A standard breakfall involved landing on the back, but my back was still flesh and blood. If I landed like that, I’d be looking at permanent lower-body paralysis at best.  

Whirr.  

I shifted my center of gravity midair, flipping once before landing feet-first.  

Thud!  

I bent my knees, absorbing the impact with both legs.  

Pshhhhh!  

The tiny gaps in my knees and thighs expanded and contracted as air pressure hissed out and then refilled. A perfect shock absorber.  

Boom!  

The air vehicle we had abandoned slammed into the central pillar and erupted into flames. Shrapnel and debris rained down from above.  

‘First, the internal situation…’  

I had landed in the main hall of the auction house.  

Countless corpses were strewn across chairs and tables, their blood painting the floor in deep crimson.  

The air was thick with the acrid stench of energy weapons and gunpowder.  

‘So you planned to disguise this as a terrorist attack, Son Seok-jae. Bold move.’  

I could already see right through his plan.  

‘An auction house is a neutral ground, a kind of public facility. Son Seok-jae must have lured Ismael here under the pretense of negotiations.’  

Even Ismael wouldn’t have expected Son Seok-jae to attack the entire auction house. Ordinary mercenaries wouldn’t have the firepower to even attempt such a thing.  

‘He never considered the possibility that Son Seok-jae had contracted the Equessian Mercenary Corps.’  

To Ismael, the auction house was a safe and ideal location for negotiation. He must have believed that Sonsu Industries lacked the means to launch an assault.  

‘And Son Seok-jae must have offered Ismael an irresistibly tempting deal.’

As far as I knew, armed bodyguards weren’t allowed inside an auction house like this. There were too many valuable treasures at stake.  

‘He struck at the perfect blind spot. It’ll look like Ismael was killed by terrorists after the auction’s riches.’  

Even from my perspective, Son Seok-jae’s plan was solid. I could tell how long he had been preparing for this. The chances of success were high.  

‘Son Seok-jae targeted Jafa not just to fuel the chaos in Border City but also to secure the Equessian Mercenary Corps for himself.’  

Equessian mercenaries were among the most reputable, and hiring them wasn’t easy. Especially when dealing with an entire mercenary corps, he would have had to wait for their previous contracts to expire or negotiate a "contract transfer."  

‘If his plan had gone perfectly, Son Seok-jae would have monopolized MAU development while expanding his influence over Border City. Before long, he would have been negotiating at the level of national governments as a mega-corporation.’  

Sonsu Industries was small compared to its notorious reputation.  

Thinking about it, Son Seok-jae had deliberately kept his company at a mid-tier size. As long as bureaucrats and politicians believed they could suppress him at any time, they wouldn’t see him as a threat or try to crush him.  

Had he tried to expand gradually, he would have been targeted and shut down before reaching a certain level.  

‘He planned to skip the intermediate growth stages entirely.’  

Son Seok-jae’s strategy was to become a mega-corporation as quickly as possible, growing so fast that it would be difficult for those in power to contain him.  

‘But the world is full of unpredictable variables. Unforeseen events happen all the time.’  

His miscalculation was not realizing that Ragnata Anima, one of Planet Novus’s top-tier assassins, would act solely out of personal loyalty to Anguis Regina.  

If Anguis Regina had simply hired an assassin with money, the unusual financial movement would have raised suspicion, putting Son Seok-jae on guard.  

‘But all of that is meaningless now.’  

An Equessian mercenary assault was equivalent to the "remnant signal of a Legion." Regardless of whether the attack succeeded or failed, the original Son Seok-jae was already dead.  

"Lars! Take the left! I’ll go in from the right."  

I glanced toward the back of the main hall. The attackers seemed to have breached from there.  

- Understood.  

Lars, who had crash-landed on the opposite side, picked himself up from his crumpled position. Gripping a pistol and a dagger in one hand, he charged in.  

‘The Equessian mercenaries aren’t the only ones here.’

I spotted corpses of other warrior species like Crawlers and Saura. They were likely recruits Son Seok-jae had brought in beforehand. If the attackers had consisted solely of Equessian mercenaries, it would have looked suspicious.  

The auction house’s own security forces were also strewn across the hallways behind the main hall, their bodies lifeless.  

- These guys are pretty tough! It’s not easy!  

Lars had engaged the Equessian mercenaries in the opposite corridor.  

Of course, it wouldn’t be easy. Just as humans varied in combat ability, Equessian mercenaries were ranked by skill as well.  

There were individuals like En, whose combat abilities surpassed even the Imperial Guard, and within the mercenary corps itself, there were lower, upper, and elite tiers.  

‘They sent in high-tier Equessian elites. These are the ones Jafa personally hired with a fortune—they’ll be highly experienced.’  

I soon clashed with the Equessian mercenaries bringing up the rear. Without even checking who I was, they immediately opened fire. Their combat reflexes were impressive.  

Boom! Thud!  

Charging in blindly was impossible. The narrow hallway was a kill zone, with Equessian mercenaries suppressing the area with concentrated fire.  

Not even I could dodge suppressive fire in such a confined space.  

- Unfortunate. I bear no grudge against you, human.  

One of the Equessians recognized me and spoke through a translator.  

"Son Seok-jae is dead. Check for yourselves. The contract is void."  

I pressed my back against the corner and shouted. Not that it would make a difference.  

- That’s something to confirm after the mission is complete.  

As expected, they weren’t going to listen to me.  

In their minds, they needed to complete Son Seok-jae’s mission perfectly in order to save Jafa.  

‘There’s no time. If Ismael encounters the Equessian mercenaries, he’s as good as dead.’  

It seemed Ismael had fled deeper into the hall behind the main area. That was why all the Equessian mercenaries were concentrated here.  

To overcome my limited field of view, I closed my eyes. I focused on using auditory perception to locate the Equessian mercenaries and plan a way to neutralize them.  

…Raaaargh!  

Beyond the gunfire and shouting, my hearing picked up a low, guttural roar.  

‘Boyan?’  

So Ismael was smarter than I thought. Since armed bodyguards weren’t allowed, he must have disguised Boyan—an inherently battle-ready species—as a subordinate and brought him into the auction house.  

Ismael’s chances of survival had just gone up, even if only slightly.

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