Bad Born Blood - Chapter 4

Chapter 4

My right cybernetic eye was worth every penny. The implant expanded its detection of the visible light spectrum, absorbing it to perceive the surrounding objects. The view, enhanced and corrected, was as clear as daylight.

I saw two Corans standing on the cliff edge. They wore clothes that billowed in the wind, the loose sleeves and hems fluttering. What had once been white clothing looked worn and faded, almost gray.

The two Corans pulled out cigarettes, placing one in their mouths. The lighter’s flame flared brightly before fading away.

I blinked, turning off the glow of my cybernetic eye, and raised my hand.

“I’ll take the left; you take the right.”

With a brief hand signal, we divided our roles. Ilray and I would simultaneously strike the outpost from both sides.

*Whoosh!*

I was the first to scale the cliff. I pushed off the ground, hand gripping my sword’s hilt.

*Clang– Clack!*

I passed right between the two men who had been smoking. Their dropped cigarette butts hit the ground, the red embers trailing as they fell. Then, their heads also rolled onto the ground.

With my attack as the signal, a silent massacre began.

*Swish!*

The cadets and I stormed the outpost, cutting down and stabbing everyone in sight.

*Wiiing! Wiiing!*

Belatedly, the alarm spread throughout the outpost. The front of the base grew chaotic as guards stationed at the perimeter rushed toward us.

“Ah, Acr–…!”

Upon seeing our precise movements and attire, they instantly recognized who we were. Fear gripped them immediately. They were already as good as defeated before even putting up a fight.

*Bang!*

An enemy gunshot echoed. It was a shot fired wildly in fear. None of us were foolish enough to get hit by it. Everyone instinctively scattered.

*Rat-a-tat-tat-tat!*

Gunfire continued in rapid succession. I skillfully evaded the barrage of bullets, advancing by circling around. Other cadets temporarily concealed themselves or used corpses as shields.

I closed in on the Coran firing the machine gun. He frantically tried to turn the gun toward me, realizing too late that he should have drawn his pistol instead.

“You, damn, devil!”

The Coran shouted as he looked at me. I shrugged slightly and swung my blade.

*Slash– Clang!*

The Coran’s head split vertically from the temple, separating into two halves. The red cross-section of his philtrum and jaw was exposed with an unreal smoothness.

I kicked the headless Coran, toppling him over.

‘…Too easy.’

It seemed that Ilray and I alone could wipe out this outpost. As expected, it was only natural. After all, we were destined to become elite soldiers of the Empire.

I walked through the chaotic interior of the outpost as if I were taking a casual stroll.

“Mo-mother, m-mom, mom…”

I turned my head at the sound. A Coran boy, around my age, was crawling along the ground. At first, I thought he might be injured.

‘He’s just too scared to even move properly.’

He wasn’t using his perfectly healthy legs. Pathetic.

“A… ah…”

The boy, frantically calling for his mother, sensed my presence and lifted his head. I hesitated for a moment, meeting his gaze.

‘For the welfare of the Empire’s citizens and the glory of His Majesty…’

I mouthed the words silently, attempting to steady my mind.

But an uneasy feeling crept over me, and I halted my hand. If only the boy had a knife or a gun in his hands, I wouldn’t hesitate. I’d cleanly sever his neck.

‘…A non-combatant who offers no resistance.’

But my orders were to kill every Coran here.

*Thunk!*

I drove my sword downward. It grazed the back of the boy’s neck, embedding itself in the ground.

“Lie down like you’re dead. Then you might survive.”

I whispered as I pulled the sword free. My heart was stirring with doubt and unease. If another cadet noticed my actions, my life could be in danger.

But I acted on impulse, risking that danger. A wave of guilt, untouched even by murder, suddenly swept over me.

‘This isn’t right, Luka. The Empire’s command is absolute. It must not be disobeyed.’

Even now, I should slit the boy’s throat. I bit my lower lip, glaring down at him fiercely. The Empire’s orders were pushing against my back and my hands.

My body wanted to act not of my own will but by the Empire’s will. And I didn’t like that.

I hesitated.

*Bang!*

A gunshot rang out. The bullet pierced through the boy’s head. He was likely dead before he even registered it.

‘Ilray?’

I looked toward the origin of the gunshot. Ilray stood on the rooftop of a nearby building, smoke lazily drifting from his pistol.

He looked at me, shaking his head slightly from side to side. It meant he’d seen everything. But it was Ilray, and because of that, I felt relief.

‘If it had been any cadet other than Ilray who saw me hesitate…’

I would have had to find a way to silence that cadet—by persuasion or, if that failed, by any means necessary.

‘Ilray won’t report my hesitation to the superiors. In any case, today’s fool is me.’

My mind snapped back into focus. I realized exactly what I had almost done. I’d nearly endangered both myself and my comrades by sparing some nameless Coran boy out of misplaced mercy.

I looked back up at Ilray on the rooftop, intending to at least nod in thanks. But at that moment—

*Wooong!*

The air distorted beside Ilray.

I opened my eyes wide. Even my state-of-the-art cybernetic eye couldn’t immediately process what was happening. It was a phenomenon that defied the laws of physics.

*Bang!*

An explosion erupted next to Ilray. It wasn’t caused by a projectile. The air around him had simply warped and then expanded violently.

“You worthless bastards—!!”

A rough voice boomed out. I immediately sprinted toward where Ilray had been.

Ilray, caught in the explosion, had fallen from the rooftop, a good three stories high, and landed on the ground.

“…Luka, there’s a Force-user. I was careless… I’ve got no excuse.”

Ilray was barely standing, leaning against a wall. He seemed to have shielded his head and body with his arms and legs, sparing his life. His limbs, which had absorbed the brunt of the blast, were now exposed, with components and bundles of wires sticking out.

“I’ll handle it. You stay put.”

I focused on the clearing at the center of the outpost. That’s where the disturbance was coming from.

‘Force.’

It was my first time encountering one in person. I only knew about them from knowledge alone.

‘…A kind of superpower.’

Force-users could create phenomena that defied the laws of physics. The explosion that had struck Ilray was one such phenomenon.

‘Did the Captain of the Imperial Guard know there was a Force-user here?’

If they’d given us a warning, Ilray might have avoided injury…

I shook my head as I ran toward the clearing. A foolish thought. We should have been prepared for anything.

Ilray was injured because he was careless. And his carelessness was also partly because of me.

‘Because of my hesitation, Ilray was injured.’

For the first time in a long while, I felt disgusted with myself. Don’t ever let this happen again, Luka.

In the clearing, the fight between the Force-user and the cadets was already underway.

“This isn’t a military base! It’s a settlement! The people you killed were just… just trying to survive…!”

The Force-user’s shout was filled with rage. He looked like an ordinary middle-aged man, but a faint blue aura rippled over his skin. His loose Coran clothing billowed around him, defying gravity.

*Bang!*

Explosions erupted in the direction the Force-user gestured. His rage-fueled attacks swept the cadets off their feet, flinging them in all directions.

*Bang!*

One of the fallen cadets fired a shot. A thin barrier surrounded the Force-user, but the feeble pistol shot failed to penetrate it.

‘This isn’t a good match-up.’

With our current equipment, he was a difficult enemy to confront.

‘No need to panic.’

It was my first time fighting a Force-user, but I’d already learned how to handle one. Today was simply the day to put it into practice.

‘It’s never as simple in the field as it is in theory, but…’

I gripped my sword in one hand and my pistol in the other as I charged forward.

*Bang! Bang!*

I fired, knowing it would do no real damage. The shots were meant to draw his attention.

‘I’ll take care of this guy.’

I signaled to the other cadets. We hadn’t yet fully secured the outpost. Following my directions, the cadets dispersed to finish taking control of it.

“Wh-where do you think you’re going?! You bastards! Come on! Come at me!”

As the cadets scattered, the Force-user became visibly flustered.

‘So he was planning to act as a decoy on his own. There’s no need for us to fall for that.’

I focused on the Force-user’s arm.

‘A Force ability requires specific catalysts and actions. If I watch those, I can react accordingly.’

The Force-user’s ability was explosions, and there was a clear cause-and-effect sequence, like pulling a trigger to fire a bullet.

He determined the direction of each explosion with a hand gesture, and just before each blast, a necklace wrapped like a chain around his hand would glow blue. That necklace was the catalyst for his ability.

‘Hand gesture, the light reaction of the catalyst, and then the explosion.’

That was the sequence. Now that I understood the process, I had plenty of time to evade. Dodging bullets was harder. It was only due to the unfamiliar nature of his attacks that the other cadets had fallen so easily.

*Boom!*

An explosion went off beside me. I moved only at the last moment, speeding up just before each blast.

The Force-user furrowed his brows, watching my unpredictable movements.

*Boom!*

Another explosion erupted. The range was wider than I’d anticipated, and I took some of the impact. Staggering, I caught myself on the ground and jumped to the side.

*Ka-boom!*

The spot where I had been standing exploded. The blast radius was expanding, and the intervals between explosions were now shorter. He was adjusting his attacks to counter my erratic movements.

“Grrrrr…!”

The Force-user was pushing himself to the limit. Veins stood out on his face, red and strained.

But I was also pushing myself to the limit.

‘I’d like to drag this into a war of attrition, but I can’t sustain high-speed maneuvers for long.’

Even with my high-powered prosthetic legs, the rest of my biological body couldn’t keep up. The sudden stops and accelerations were making my hip joints scream.

‘At this rate, I’ll break down first.’

I had to charge while I could still maintain top speed.

*Whoosh!*

I lunged straight forward. The Force-user stood at the end of my path.

‘Faster!’

I ignored the pain. If my body broke down, the Empire would fix it. As long as my head remained intact, the rest would be dealt with somehow.

“Huuuup!”

The Force-user steadied his breath and thrust both hands out in front of him. Seeing the glow of the catalyst necklace, I anticipated an explosion and accelerated. But the explosion I expected didn’t happen.

My heart dropped. The scythe of death brushed against the back of my neck.

‘A feint!’

A fraction of a second later, the air in front of me warped. The Force-user knew how to wield his ability skillfully. His quick adaptability suggested he had extensive combat experience.

‘If I pull back now…’

My body was accelerating too much to stop. Slamming on the brakes would shatter my hip joints. Even if I survived this moment, I wouldn’t be able to dodge the next attack.

‘I’ll push forward even faster.’

The decision was instant. It could mean my death.

Despite seeing the signs of an impending explosion, I didn’t back off. I charged straight through the warping air. My skin felt like it was tearing against searing hot spikes.

*Ka-boom!*

The explosion went off right behind me. Scorching pain slashed across my back. In a critical moment, pain had to be ignored.

I didn’t pay attention to the state of my body. My focus was solely on the Force-user.

…Finally, my sword reached him.

I stretched my arm, driving the tip of my sword into the Force-user’s chest. The blade tore through his Force barrier, slicing through his skin and muscle, embedding itself deep in his chest.

“Gah… guh!”

The Force-user staggered, looking at me. Blood spilled from his mouth as he raised the hand holding his catalyst necklace toward me. The necklace glowed a faint blue. A precursor to a Force explosion.

‘Is this his final attack?’

I had no way to dodge it. I raised my head to look at his face. He, too, was looking at mine.

“Now that… I see you up close… you… you’re just… a kid…”

The Force-user muttered, lowering his hand. My eyes widened.

*Wooong!*

The Force aura that had gathered in his hand dispersed, brushing past me before dissipating entirely. There was no explosion.

*Thud!*

The light faded from the Force-user’s eyes. His lifeless body collapsed weakly to the ground.