Episode 25 — Lab Infiltration 1

The corridor that greeted them the moment they stepped inside turned out to be a decontamination chamber.

As they walked calmly through, disinfectant sprayed automatically from the ceiling and walls, followed by a blast of warm air to complete the sterilization, and only then did the door at the far end of the corridor open.

"What a mess, huh?"

Grave's remark, the first to look around the interior, said it all. The inside of the research facility looked like Cosmo Spawn's soldiers had already swept straight through it — nothing left intact anywhere.

"No need to worry about anything irrelevant. We just need to get to the data room on the third floor, extract the data, and then blow this place."

The Professor reminded them of the job's details before handing out explosives to Shadow and Kiss.

"Plant these over there, over there, and around there."

"Huh? We're blowing the section we just came through? Then how are we supposed to get out?"

"The detonator's centralized. I'll set it off all at once right after we clear out, so there's no issue with the escape route."

With the Professor's brief explanation finished, the group pressed on.

Leaving behind what looked like some kind of reception area, they arrived at a vast space that appeared to be the main research facility.

"Heh... there's a lot of sketchy stuff in here."

Grave, glancing with disgust at the plant and animal samples floating in test tubes along the way, suddenly sensed a presence and looked up—

"Who the hell are you?! This place belongs to Cosmo Spawn now. If you know what's good for you, outsiders, turn around and go!"

"Huh, surprising. No immediate gunfire?"

Grave laughed, intrigued, but the Professor shook his head.

"It means this facility holds value worth preserving, even to them. On top of that... open fire carelessly in a place packed with chemicals like this, and you get a massive explosion."

At the Professor's remark, the group surveyed their surroundings with cold, wary eyes. Setting aside the various test tubes, machinery and installations marked with unmistakably ominous skull symbols sat scattered here and there throughout the room.

"Now! Get out, quick! Be grateful we're not forcing you out by other means!"

"That's a problem. We've got business inside too, you see."

At the Professor's remark, the guards' eyes changed.

"Don't tell me you're WAC's lackeys!"

"Well, let's just say we're mercenaries who took a contract."

"How dare you!"

One guard started to raise his weapon, but the soldier beside him pointed at the skull markings and shook his head, so both of them instead gritted their teeth, drew the energy blades strapped to their backs, and leapt down from the stairs.

"Fools! You will not pass through here!"

"This is getting tiresome. Shadow. Swap positions with Grave."

"What?!"

"Got it."

Grave looked about to complain, but the Professor simply pointed at Grave's machine gun without a word.

"Tch! Fine, I get it!"

In the end, Grave fell back, and Shadow stepped forward, drawing her wakizashi and rushing the soldiers.

"...Shadow. Don't try to block their blades with your own. An energy blade cuts through most ordinary metal."

"So that's how it is, huh?!"

Deftly rolling to dodge the first soldier's blade, Shadow flowed straight into slicing both legs out from under the soldier following close behind, shaking her head in disgust.

"Aaaargh! My leg!"

"Damn it! This woman!"

The soldier, just resetting his grip on his energy blade to glare at Shadow, felt a tap on his shoulder from behind and turned.

"What? Who the—"

Something dark came flying straight at his face, and he went sprawling, dropping his blade entirely.

What sent him flying was the Professor's kick.

"Guh...! Wh-what was that?!"

"Apologies. My leg has something of a bad habit."

Watching the Professor tap his own thigh casually, making light of it, Shadow caught on immediately — that kick had been a clean roundhouse.

Same as during their very first encounter with him, it seemed the Professor had picked up some martial arts training, too, even if he never made a show of it.

"Wh-why, you insolent—!"

Enraged, the soldier snatched up the fallen energy blade of the other downed soldier too, wielding one in each hand, and charged at the Professor.

"Professor!"

"Die, you black-clad bastard!"

"……."

Just as the soldier crossed his twin blades into an X and brought them down, the Professor drew the bayonet knife at his waist and thrust it forward in a flash.

"Aaaaargh?!"

The energy blade in the soldier's right hand, just about to connect with the Professor's helmet, dropped away harmlessly — because the Professor's left-hand knife had sliced clean through the fingers gripping it.

"M-my fingers?!"

"...Your other hand has stopped moving."

Startled, the soldier flailed his remaining left hand in desperation, but the Professor smoothly dodged it, slipped a leg behind his ankle, and tripped him. Staggering from the fall, the soldier toppled forward and ended up impaling himself on his own energy blade, dying rather pointlessly.

"……."

"Didn't know the Professor was good at hand-to-hand too."

At Kiss's question, the Professor shook his head.

"It's basic self-defense, nothing more. Against a real specialist like Shadow, I'd barely manage to stay alive long enough to run."

Shadow silently grumbled to herself that this was obviously a lie, but stepped forward regardless, satisfied to have glimpsed yet another unexpected side of the Professor.

Passing through the corridor into the next space revealed something even stranger.

"What is all this?"

Shadow reached out curiously, only for the Professor to smack the back of her hand to stop her.

"Ow! What was that for?!"

"...Isn't there a saying — 'curiosity killed the dog'?"

"...It's a cat."

"……."

Clearing his throat, the Professor shook his head.

"Best policy is not to touch what you don't understand. Especially somewhere like this."

"But... this is seriously not normal."

What Shadow was pointing at was indeed strange. The chunks of meat floating in the preservation fluid inside the test tube each had a single eye attached to them.

"...Which is exactly why I said not to touch it. That unidentifiable mass might just attack you and do something truly horrific."

"...Ah. I think I get it now, a little."

Watching her take a step back from the tube immediately, the Professor let out a quiet snort of laughter behind his helmet.

"By the way, security's surprisingly light, don't you think?"

"They probably never expected anyone to come all the way out to a remote spot like this. On top of that, this isn't exactly an ideal place for a firefight, so fortifying it wouldn't accomplish much anyway."

Opening the next door and passing through another corridor, they came upon a wide space that looked like a cafeteria. Sure enough, Cosmo Spawn's soldiers, helmets off and in the middle of eating, spotted the Professor's group and hastily drew their energy blades.

"Y-you bastards! How dare you intrude in a place like this!"

"Damn it! Don't you people ever eat?!"

"Idiot! Is food the issue right now?! Our sentries just got taken out, didn't you hear?!"

The soldier in the middle, still fixated on his meal, got smacked on the back of the head by the one next to him.

If anything, the whole scene felt utterly devoid of tension.

"We only have business on the third floor. Starting a fight in a place like this benefits neither of us."

The Professor floated the suggestion, gesturing for them to lower their weapons, but they shook their heads.

"Don't make me laugh! Whatever's on the third floor, I don't know, but our captain said he has business there too!"

"Argh! You absolute moron! Why are you blabbing that out to the enemy?!"

Smacked on the back of the head yet again, the dim-witted soldier gritted his teeth and stepped forward.

"Damn it! This is all your fault! You'll pay for this, intruders!"

"I'll go get the others!"

One of the three at the meal table bolted up the stairs leading to the second floor, while the remaining two squared off tensely, energy blades drawn.

\

The Professor deliberately walked straight toward the dim-witted soldier who'd already been scolded by his comrades several times.

"As I said before — we'd rather avoid unnecessary fighting. You seem like someone I could reason with... what do you say?"

"Don't make me laugh! You rude bastards! You've completely ruined my mealtime!"

The Professor raised a finger, wagging it.

"So then — how about you two just continue enjoying your meal in peace... and we go our own way?"

"Uh... that actually sounds like a pretty good idea."

Sure enough, the dim-witted soldier took the bait, and the soldier beside him, apparently at the end of his patience, clubbed him on the head with the butt-end of his energy blade.

"You tin-headed moron! If we do that, the captain's going to have us shot later, you get that?!"

"Guh?! B-but I'm hungry! We haven't had a single sip of water since this morning because of all the work!"

"That's exactly why! We just slice these guys up quick and then eat, got it?!"

Only then did the dim-witted soldier's expression brighten, and he straightened his stance, leveling his blade at the Professor.

"You really thought you could fool me, huh?!"

"……."

Watching this for a moment, the Professor abruptly pointed toward the second-floor staircase.

At the gesture, the tense soldier glanced that way out of the corner of his eye — and in that instant—

"...Here. A little service."

"What?!"

With a quick side-step, the Professor snatched up the meal tray sitting on the table and hurled it like a pie, right into the dim-witted soldier's face.

As the flustered soldier wiped frantically at the field rations smeared across his face, the Professor's kick was already coming up between his legs.

With a sharp crack and a strangled groan, he collapsed — and almost simultaneously, the remaining soldier, caught up trying to track Shadow's dazzling movements, had his throat cut in an instant and fell as well.

"...Kiss. What are you doing?"

"...What do you mean?"

In the middle of all this, Kiss had been secretly snacking on a rectangular ration bar left on the tray, and she brushed off her hands as if nothing had happened.

"They'll be swarming us soon. We need to secure the second-floor staircase first."

"I'll go."

Grave, looking like she'd been itching for this, cracked her shoulders and strode forward.

"No guns, Grave."

"I know. I just got something from Cuticle. I'll use this instead."

Seeing what Grave pulled out, the Professor let out a short laugh. The weapon Cuticle had handed her was a set of spiked knuckles.

"Well then, I'll leave this one to you this time. Shadow."

"I know."

Swapping positions once more, the Professor's group climbed the stairs and reached the second-floor corridor.

There, soldiers were already pouring out from the opposite side, energy blades drawn, waiting for them.

"Y-you bastards... you'll pay for what you did to our comrades!"

"There they are! Surround them!"

The ones who met the soldiers charging in to encircle them were the Professor and Grave.

"Here, eat this and sleep!"

Grave, her knuckles fitted with armor plating protecting the back of her hand and forearm, dodged the blades and pounded the soldiers' faces without mercy.

"Alright, over here."

The Professor, meanwhile, was employing an altogether different set of techniques — tripping soldiers, grabbing the hand holding a blade and redirecting its swing into some random, wasted direction.

"Gyaaack!"

"D-damn it! What kind of punches is that woman throwing?!"

"Look at those forearms! That's no joke!"

Pushed back by Grave's sheer force, the soldiers began edging away, instead swarming toward the Professor, who looked (relatively?) weaker by comparison.

"This way! This guy's weaker than he looks! Just a little more pressure and he's done!"

"I'll carve you up nice and fine!"

But that was a grave miscalculation on their part.

The Professor, perfectly composed, moved freely front and back, left and right, dodging every single blade strike by the narrowest of margins. Even as he dodged, he relentlessly kicked at the soldiers' shins and knees to bring them down, and the moment they fell, stomped their faces in, killing them outright.

"D-damn it! What the hell is this guy?!"

"H-he's dirty, but he's strong!"

"Damn it! Why can't we land a hit on him?!"

—To be continued—