Chapter 71
Dodging Ned Ludd's blade strike that followed immediately was a stroke of heavenly luck, even thinking back on it.
Swooooosh─!
If Ned Ludd had swung it without hesitation in top condition, I never would have been able to dodge it no matter how much luck was on my side.
But fortunately, the guy had just escaped the aftermath of the Pepper Grenade, and a spicy, stinging sensation still lingered around his eyes.
On top of that, the jet-black katana I was holding had shown strange signs in the middle of it, humming and clanking.
Since Ned Ludd had just suffered from the chemical pepper tear gas I prepared and couldn't help but be flustered, he couldn't help but think, maybe this time too?
Afraid that I, who wouldn't be exaggerating to say had survived this far solely on item power, might have another trump card left,
or that the katana might suddenly transform into a firearm like the umbrella gun, or explode, or even fly away, he hesitated and sliced through the empty air with a much subdued momentum.
Even that was a burdensome blow for me, to the point where I could barely throw my body to dodge it.
Anyway, I did dodge it. I earned one more life.
Now, what comes next is important.
The jet-black katana, which had been exuding a ton of suspiciousness as if it had something, returned to its previous state without any particular change.
From Ned Ludd's perspective, he would think he had fallen for a bluff, that it was nothing but mere bravado.
If only out of frustration from being fooled, this time he would push in with all his might, completely ignoring whatever I did.
I could guess just by looking at him grinding his teeth, full of anger. He seemed to have no other thoughts besides the single-minded determination to kill me.
Thanks to that, it was a relief he didn't know about the crack in his own sword, but…
The problem was that even knowing it, I couldn't block it, and I couldn't dodge it.
That speed pumped by drugs and physical strength fueled by anger could not be handled by my currently dulled reaction speed and athletic ability.
I was not an athlete. I had to solve the problem with abilities other than my physical body.
There was only one way.
Somehow activating the katana's function.
If I could just trigger that unidentified internal blade high-tech, the weapon of a noble family that surely had immense power and explosive force lying dormant within, I had a chance of winning.
The problem was that it was easier said than done, a realistically impossible realm.
‘Bio-ID does not match…’
I gritted my teeth, recalling the stiff mechanical notification sound that had flowed out of the katana a moment ago.
A Bio-ID-based security system could not be fooled.
It was a widely known fact that anyone living in the Cyberpunk world couldn't possibly not know.
Of course, just because it was Bio-ID-based didn't mean it was always perfect.
Just looking at me right now, didn't the older model cyberwatch I received from the Iron Blood chairman have dummy data implanted in it?
Whenever I used a system that required an ID, I always put that fake identity information to good use.
But that was a result made possible because of the technological prowess of the megacorp called Isiho.
Even that wasn't forging someone else's Bio-ID,
but was possible because they turned the biometric information of my existing biometric information into data, uploaded it in a dummy format, and overlaid a forged nanomachine reaction on top of it.
It wasn't completely forging a Bio-ID from start to finish to bypass the system, but more like circumventing the framework using existing data.
Of course, even this was by no means an easy task, but it still wasn't at an impossible level.
To the point where there were quite a few hackers and net technicians who could perform a similar level of identity forgery even without a megacorp's technological prowess.
The technicians of Isiho had just performed it more precisely and safely, perfectly ensuring the probability of being discovered was extremely low.
Using a fake Bio-ID based on my body information and replicating and applying the identity information of an actual existing person were completely different issues.
I would have to forge the Bio-ID of another person, someone with absolutely no genetic or biological connection to me, from head to toe.
A method incomparably more accurate than fingerprints, irises, or facial recognition.
A unique security code belonging only to that person, registered in their DNA sequence and genetic information itself from the moment they were born or moved into this city, which could never be decrypted.
The number of technicians who could copy that even to a similar degree was… eight? Nine?
It was probably around that many. In all of Dusk City.
I think they said something like that in an event cutscene in the game.
At the very least, it was definitely a number you could count on two hands.
Even they wouldn't be able to whip it up immediately in a sudden and urgent moment where every second counts like right now,
but it would only be possible after going through a precise and tedious process that takes at least a few months.
Not to mention the need for the infrastructure and environment where the technician could fully demonstrate their skills.
So, to say it once again. It was indeed impossible.
Because I was a layman when it came to 22nd century technology. I wasn't even a science major when I went to college in the first place.
Bio-ID replication my ass, I was someone who had a history of getting hacked because I was too lazy to change my Internet site ID and password individually and just set them all to the same thing.
Though that was a story from my previous world, which had now disappeared into the forgotten past.
What should I do. This seemed like a problem with no answer.
I felt like the floor was shaking from the drug-pumped kick of Ned Ludd sprinting toward me.
I could see the precarious katana in his hand, continuously spewing plasma.
How long would it take for that to reach my skin.
One second? No, it wouldn't even take a second. At most, it would be a fraction of a second.
Not much time left. For death. Or life.
I felt like I was standing exactly at that crossroads.
I had a gut feeling that everything would be decided by my choice in this very moment.
“…Fuck.”
My deliberation wasn't long. I let out a short curse and gripped the Hilt Handle.
There were only two choices.
Run away, or don't run away.
And the decision was always the same.
I raised the blade to eye level.
The hard, solid texture touching my blood-soaked hands through the gloves.
I emptied my mind, trusting only in the katana. I moved my body to take the optimal stance to exert force.
I didn't care about my remaining physical strength. It was just once anyway. This one time, and everything would be over.
My gaze briefly turned toward the enemy charging in like a flash of lightning.
Could I time it right?
I didn't know. I was just going to go for it.
If it really didn't work, I would grind down my arm and shoulder blade to give them up, but I would somehow break that damn tough katana, I swear.
It would be nice to get a cool prosthetic arm while I'm at it. If you're a Dusk citizen, you should have at least one cyberarm.
Preparing to strike down, I pressed my right thumb firmly into the hole below the Hilt Handle.
At the same time, I turned my gaze to look at Young Lady Alexandra, who was trying to get up from the floor.
Blonde hair darkened by blood and dust, a frowning face. Her wide-open sapphire eyes stared at me.
She was shaking her head vigorously. Looking at me.
She looked as if she was trying to convey a message.
It was obvious what she was trying to say.
She was the owner of this pitch-black katana. As the owner, she would know about the katana's hidden functions.
She probably guessed what I was trying to attempt. And that it was close to impossible because of the Bio-ID lock.
It would be none other than the ID code engraved in her own genes.
Since she was the owner of the katana, of course it would be.
Because she had set the security settings to only trigger when she herself held it and pressed the button, she would think I could never pull it off.
Because I wasn't Alexandra Amadeus Schneider, and I was a completely different person genetically. Because I didn't have her Bio-ID.
But it was something I wouldn't know without trying.
I narrowed my pupils with familiar ease.
Like a camera aperture adjusting the light and a lens zooming in, the visual world I took in flipped in an instant.
Everything flowed in a sigh-inducing slow motion.
Even Alexandra's actions, her face contorted and head shaking as if screaming ‘No!’, with her previous arrogant and obnoxious demeanor nowhere to be found.
Even the sight of Ned Ludd, which I was now sick of seeing.
Even the red arc of destruction drawn by the horizontally swung katana, and the plasma heat ray crackling with its red light on.
In the flow of accelerated consciousness and senses, I stared intently at Alexandra Amadeus Schneider.
‘…It's not working.’
And I was disappointed.
I had hoped to dig into the surface and read some kind of internal information like when I looked at the katana, but there was no such thing.
It just uselessly showed a detailed close-up of the rich young lady's pretty but tear-ruined face.
Then again, it made no sense.
Even if this somehow worked and her encrypted Bio-ID appeared before my eyes with a beep, I would have to decrypt it back to fit the security system and input it into the katana.
There was no way that would work.
I had hoped for too much. If all of that were possible, it wouldn't just be extrasensory perception, I would have some kind of divine power.
Should I give up. Was there no other way.
shaking vision. The world gradually regaining its original acceleration, like a rewound film returning to normal.
Amidst all the elements I could perceive signaling failure, something flinched in my hotly flushed head.
My brain sent a signal. It buzzed and encroached on my ears.
Tinnitus, the sensation of my nose going numb, the feeling of my sense of touch disappearing. A suction force swept over me, as if my entirety was being sucked into somewhere.
In that moment, I felt like I instinctively knew what I had to do.
“….”
If anyone saw me, I'd look like a complete crazy person.
Thinking that, I closed my eyes.
Tightly, very firmly. So that the world I was looking at would be entirely submerged in darkness.
Swoooooooosh.
In front of Ned Ludd's blade charging in as if