Chapter 6: The Encirclement

Faru faced off against Bottrini, not daring to make a rash move. Keeping Paper Hero in the corner of his eye, he thought, I told you to guard the shore, but you just had to follow. If I risk saving you now, I'm bound to leave myself open. What a nuisance...

Within seconds, Faru had weighed his options and decided to abandon Paper Hero. He reckoned the policeman was a Normal-rank ability user at best. Even if he saved him, the man would be little help and would only become a burden. If Faru slipped up and lost the initiative, they would both be doomed anyway.

Just then, however, something happened that took everyone by surprise. Layers upon layers of white paper flew from Paper Hero's trench coat and wrapped around him, forming what looked like an enormous ostrich egg.

The knights' weapons struck the “eggshell” with the clang of metal on metal. The paper barrier was harder than metal. Neither slashes nor thrusts left the slightest mark; instead, the impacts sent numbing shocks up the knights' weapon arms. A few seconds later, they dropped back onto the ice, none of them inclined to jump up again.

That almost transparent wall of paper alone had stopped the attacks of ten seasoned knights. In an instant, everyone present revised their opinion of this “small fry.”

The dark-faced man fell back to Bottrini's side and asked, “My lord, this man is formidable too. May I withdraw the banner and fight him?”

Bottrini snorted. “As you please. If the killer is still in Venice, he must have seen the cross light-banner by now. If he isn't, keeping it up is a waste of time.”

At that, the dark-faced man swept his right arm, and the white cross of light in the sky abruptly vanished. A flagstaff roughly three meters long appeared in his hand, bearing a rectangular white flag with a red cross. Without another word, he leaped into the air again, wielding the flagstaff as a weapon.

Faru called out to Paper Hero, “Officer! If you want to live, use your ability to get back to shore now! This man's a danger-level-two wanted criminal!”

“Worry about yourself.” Bottrini's towering figure was upon him as the words rang out. He had seized the moment while Faru was calling out to launch a sudden attack.

It was hard to imagine a man that size moving at such astonishing speed with a huge cross on his back, but Faru still had time to react. He shifted a short distance to one side, just far enough to put himself beyond the reach of any human limb.

In the air, the paper walls around Paper Hero dispersed. The flying carpet beneath his feet was gone, replaced by a pair of enormous white paper wings. A paper harness across his shoulders and chest connected him to the wings. Calling him an angel would have been a stretch. Birdman was about right.

At any rate, Paper Hero now had much greater freedom of movement in the air. He simply flew higher, beyond his opponent's jumping range, and replied at leisure, “I know. I've seen his wanted notice in your HL files. Standard-Bearer Suicide, a Normal-rank ability user who can change the temperature of objects he touches.”

Suicide could have unleashed an enormous blade of light with his attack, and he was confident it would break through Paper Hero's defenses. But seeing that the distance was now too great and the attack was bound to miss, he adjusted his posture in midair and used his descent to attack Faru from behind instead. The ten knights silently spread out as well, forming a loose ring around Faru and gradually closing in.

The circular sheet of ice was only a hundred meters across to begin with, leaving Faru little room to dodge and maneuver. Now Suicide was descending on him from behind, Bottrini held the ground ahead and to one side, and the ten knights had sealed off the perimeter. There seemed to be nowhere left to dodge. Yet Faru remained perfectly composed. He darted backward, stepping straight onto the cold seawater as though it were solid ground, and easily escaped the danger.

Only then did Paper Hero realize that the fellow's earlier dash across the water had not been a feat of sheer speed. He possessed some kind of ability that let him walk on water.

After his attack missed, Suicide quickly assessed the situation and guessed Faru's intentions. He turned toward Bottrini. “My lord, it seems neither of these two has an offensive ability. They want to stall until HL reinforcements and mechanized forces surround us by sea, land, and air.”

Bottrini looked scornful. “I chose a cramped sheet of ice as the battlefield, only to run into two men who don't need to set foot on it. Hmph... HL really has gone downhill. Do they send nothing but people who get by on cheap tricks?”

Faru knew perfectly well that this was a simple attempt to goad him. Fighting an offensive ability user like this at close quarters in such a confined space, with every blow drawing blood, would cost him dearly even if he won. Besides, the enemy outnumbered him. Forcing his way forward would be suicide.

“Hahahaha...” Faru suddenly burst out laughing. “Before I saw you, I was certain I could capture or kill every one of you. But... even leaving your abilities aside, that brief glimpse of your fighting skills tells me wiping you out would be very difficult. Still, I'm confident I can get away unscathed.” His laughter stopped. “But now you, Camo Bottrini, are actually resorting to taunts to make me fight. That puts my mind somewhat at ease. It seems you have neither reinforcements nor any carefully laid plans. You're merely trying to use the cross light-banner to draw out ‘someone,’ the man who killed your clerics. Once you've lured him out, you'll take your revenge and withdraw at once. That's what you're here to do.”

Their expressions told Faru that his deductions were correct, and his tone grew increasingly smug. “But you never expected to run into me, Ge Faru, in a little place like Venice. Nor did you expect your target to keep you waiting. And then there's that officer up in the sky, whom you can't dispose of just now either. So now you're stuck.

“Running away empty-handed would cost you face. Going all out still might not be enough to kill the two of us. And if you keep stalling, HL will surround you sooner or later.” He pointed at Bottrini. “So nothing you say now will do any good. I won't let you escape, and I won't be stupid enough to fight you head-on. Just wait for the Second Division's forces to arrive, then decide whether to surrender or be killed where you stand.”

Bottrini's temples throbbed, and his muscles swelled until his clothes were close to bursting. Furious, he reached for the enormous cross on his back. “You rat! Do you really think I can't kill you if I get serious...”

Suicide started to speak, then stopped. He had meant to restrain the Chief Inspector, but on second thought, Faru had already seen through their objective and their lack of reinforcements, while there was still no sign of the killer. A swift resolution was now their best course. He therefore said nothing and prepared to support Bottrini's attack.

Listening to their exchange and watching the movements below, Paper Hero felt things might be taking a bad turn. He descended until he was just one meter above the water and told Faru, “We'll have to be careful here. I'll help you.”

Faru found that amusing. He was one of HL's foremost fighters on the European continent. Would he need help from an ordinary policeman? But he also knew there was no time to argue. “Suit yourself. If you get killed, there's nothing I can do about it.”

Meanwhile, faint points of light were already approaching through the distant night sky. They were HL's hover fighters. Scattered shapes were appearing on the sea as well, surely armored shuttle vessels. On land, police cars already packed the docks. HL's ground forces had arrived even faster than the police, just one minute after Faru and Paper Hero left the docks.

Bottrini knew there was no time to lose. If he killed Faru quickly and returned underground on Murano Island, he should still have time to escape by submarine. Failing that, he could fight his way into Venice, split up with his followers, and slip into Reflection City. They could hide there for a while before sneaking out of the city.

With that thought, he made up his mind and cast aside all restraint. He heaved the Holy Cross up and swung it down in a single blow. A white line tore through sea and sky, rushing straight toward the shore.

In an instant, the docks seemed to have been hit by a small tsunami moving at triple speed. The police and HL personnel standing there felt a fierce wind strike their faces. Suddenly they tasted salt and swallowed two mouthfuls of seawater. Then they realized their feet had left the ground. They flew through the air alongside cars, broken timber, and chunks of concrete before crashing heavily down. A few seconds later, the area within roughly a hundred meters of the docks looked like a bucket of swill dumped by the roadside. People and objects, all broken and mangled, lay jumbled together in utter ruin.

It had all happened so fast that only when the survivors came to their senses did they hear a thunderous roar like ten thousand galloping horses. It was impossible to tell whether the sound had arrived late or the shock had briefly deafened them.

Out on the sea, Faru's eyes were wide, his muscles rigid, his clenched fists trembling involuntarily. In those few seconds, even though he had understood what was happening, he had had neither the room nor the ability to evade it. Yet he was completely unharmed. The man beside him had shielded him from the force of the seawater with a paper wing.

One of Paper Hero's wings curved around his own body, while the other spread out in front of Faru. Against the enormous wave raised by the Holy Cross, they remained utterly motionless, as steady as Mount Tai.

“Who exactly are you...” Faru looked at Paper Hero as though he were a monster. Even a danger-level-three criminal like Bottrini would have been beneath Faru's notice without the Holy Cross in his hands, yet this policeman had easily blocked its impact with his own ability. Could he... also be a Strong-rank fighter?! And someone like that was still working as a policeman instead of joining HL?

A chill ran down Bottrini's back. Paper Hero's display had clearly shaken him as well. The Chief Inspector had now lost all desire to fight. The killer he sought had never appeared. Instead, he had encountered Faru, one of the four known as Ape, Sparrow, Python, and Dragon, and somehow a mysterious policeman had turned up whose strength seemed no less than Faru's. Against two Strong-rank fighters at once, killing them quickly was out of the question. Even the eventual outcome was uncertain.

Suicide spoke at just the right moment. “My lord, something seems amiss tonight. We shouldn't linger here. Perhaps...”

Bottrini had been waiting for just such a chance to save face and quickly said, “Hmph... Since the Standard-Bearer says so, we'll leave this debt unsettled for now. Another day...”

“Leaving?” A low voice came from beneath their feet. A lean, muscular arm reached out of the water and gripped the edge of the ice. Then a tall, powerfully built man abruptly clambered out of the sea.