Chương 56: 10.5 Particle Effects?

"U-Ughh!"

W-What the hell... Did the world change again? I couldn't see any changes in my immediate vicinity, so I could only guess that it was something minor. But then...

"Halt!"

My eyes widened. A person?

"You've destroyed a Vestygian vessel!" the harsh voice growled out. "And I can see that you're a [Somatic]... You will die for what you did to my countrymen!"

"W-what..."

I couldn't help but whisper out my utter confusion at the man now standing before me. Wearing what seemed to be an unholy combination of steampunk aesthetics and high fantasy mysticism, the muscle-bound shirt he was wearing was practically bulging at the seams as the goggles hanging on his neck swayed with each step he took. He also wielded what looked to be a rifle attached to some sort of machine on the side of his belt. It would've been cool to look at if it wasn't currently being aimed right at me.

"You've destroyed the VSDV Emerald with your [Manifest]! And seeing as you're fighting for the Empire, it only makes you an enemy of the Republic!" the actual stranger bellowed out, steam clearly coming out of the device on his hip as he aimed. "Unfortunately for you, I am a State-Sanction [Somatic] sent here by President Stein himself!"

{BZZZZTT BZZZTTT!}

Another round of static echoed across the ether as I groaned into my headache. I was blanking out. I could barely absorb what this man was even saying anymore as the world around me seemed to make even less sense with each second that passed. Where did he come from? How did he even appear when there was clearly nobody around when we first got here?

"Stunned into silence, [Somatic]? You should be!" the self-proclaimed [Somatic] proudly declared. "I am none other than Garnet Fleuger, the wielder of the [Flugbahn]!"

I could only watch as the large man donned his goggles, a shimmer of blue circles appearing in front of his eyes as he aimed his rifle at me. Still, I was already forcing myself to recover, my vision returning to form as I returned the favor with my own guns.

"Surrender!" he bellowed out.

"H-How about you surrender?" I countered back. "I have more bullets than you'll ever have if you must know."

"I care not about how your [Manifest] works!" the German expy growled out. "If you are an enemy of the Republic, then you are better off either dead or complicit!"

[*HISS!*]

My senses quickly sprang to life, my legs already moving as I moved out of his shot's way. I didn't know what his goggles could do, but the least I could do for now was to dodge and hid- "KHH!" What?!

"Surprised?!"

I continued with my roll, ignoring the growing pain blooming on one of my legs as the bullet wound made my life ever so harder.

[HP: 210/220]

Ten health, huh. At least it wasn't as powerful as it was painful to take. Still, how in the world did he hit me? I was sure that I evaded his shot just now...

"I can see that you're confused," the man gloated as he kept his rifle trained at me. "In truth, I had already seen where you'll go next. I simply led my shot forward to where you're supposed to dodge."

I blinked at his explanation. Some form of future sight then? The same kind as Shizu's?

[*BANG! BANG!*]

[HP: 196/220]

I winced at the amount of health my shots took as I pulled the triggers. Seven whopping points were pretty substantial, but it didn't matter right now. What's important was that I kill this man before he could kill me. I didn't know what was happening anymore, but it was clear that I was in a deathmatch right now. The semantics could come later.

"Hoho! Those contraptions of yours... those are your [Manifests], correct?"

"Who's asking?" I ground out, alarmingly noting the fact that none of my shots even hit the guy. "I'm assuming those goggles are yours?"

"Why, of course?" he proudly declared. "It allows me to see the wonderful world of trajectories!"

...

...Eh? Did he seriously just tell me how his power works?

[*BANG! BANG!*]

[HP: 182/220]

I fired off two more shots, not even waiting for the guy to finish monologuing for me to attack.

"AGGH!!" he screamed as my shots actually hit him this time. "You disrespectful cur!"

I couldn't help but smirk. If his power relied on him to be looking at something, that just meant I had to blind him or take away his attention. And what better way to do that than to abuse his monologuing ass?

"I might be disrespectful, but at least I respect the sanctity of battle."

Letting out a chuckle, I then dashed towards the water, fully intent on using the glaring errors to my advantage as some kind of smokescreen. Surely, if it was already jarring to me, then what more to a person that seemingly looks at the world through his so-called trajectories?

"You- Die!"

[*BANG!*]

His steam rifle rang out again. This time, I looked at the thing's muzzle for any indication of where he was aiming. If he could supposedly see where I was going, then the key to avoiding this would be... to act like an actual maniac?

[*BANG! BANG! BANG!*]

[HP: 120/220]

I fired off three shots at the man, my rifle-wielding enemy quickly moving to avoid them as I did the same with his own shots. Errors of various shapes and sizes kicked themselves up into the air as my feet splashed at the water, creating some sort of visual barrier to avoid his attacks.

"Don't think that the Deep will help you, Forest Lover!"

[*BANG! BANG! BANG!*]

Our shooting match continued, with him having his back to the outpost while I used the sea to my advantage. It was now clear that his first shot was a massive fluke, one that I could easily avoid so long as I moved with the cover of the water. His vaunted trajectory-seeing skills were somehow no match for a bunch of floating errors, his shots hitting the water beside me as mine... unfortunately whizzed past him.

Damn... I guess this'll be harder than I thought.

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