Chapter Nine

 Marino whipped around, slamming his fist into a guard's face. He knew his form wasn't very good, but he'd never been in a fist fight in his life, unless he counted the fight with Takashi. Speaking of which, if he wasn't dead, Marino needed to find him. Only way to beat him's to trap him in a planet, he thought humorously. One of the guards, the one who had threatened him first, went down with a cracked mask. Another was shot by one of his own comrades, groping his throat as he went down. Marino tried to channel his electricity, but something seemed to tug at it as he fired it, turning another guard to ash. Marino noticed something different now, however-the usually cobalt electricity was contaminated with a sort of gray substance. Marino watched as the guard he'd just turned to ash collapsed in on himself and exploded.

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 "We need to hurry!" Uyeno said, ripping his sword out of its scabbard. Noda followed close behind, sprinting and taking out guards left and right. Uyeno made a flourish of killing one of them-he forced the guard onto his knee and spun around the guard, blade focused on the guard's throat. With a wrenching movement, he cut the guard's head off. He swiftly jumped back, meeting Noda in the center of the hall, standing back-to-back. "Where to?" Uyeno called over his shoulder, parrying a guard's strike to the side. In a flash of bioluminescent water, Noda deflected a guard's bullet. "I mean, unless you're trying to go into a random employee's office, straight ahead." she said. Uyeno nodded, and began sprinting down the hall, closely followed by Noda. 

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 Marino's fingers spread apart, electricity curling between them. Fire began to spread on his fingertips, dancing around with a sort of energy incomparable to any other thing Marino had ever seen. Marino thrust his palm into the chest of a guard, and for a second, thought it wouldn't do anything. Suddenly, the guard howled a cry of pain once and went down, burning from the inside out. As the guard crumpled, his skin went gray and peeled off, revealing his skeleton. His jacket turned to dust, and his eyes popped out of his skull. The other guards recoiled, but one in particular seemed unfazed. She took her helmet off, her black hair falling out into straight, soft lines. Her face took on a look of boredom. Taking a step forward, she addressed Marino, with little to no concern of what he had just done. "Marino, right?" she said casually. Marino nodded. "Who are you?" he asked, somehow feeling scared. The girl smiled, a mix of cruelty and carefulness. "Kasumi," she said.

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Uyeno and Noda continued their advance, cutting down all who stood in their way until they arrived at their destination. In front of them was a large pair of pure iron doors. Finally out of combat, Noda released a sigh of relief. Uyeno's gaze was still set forward. His eyes ran over the various locks and mechanisms set on the facets, and after a moment, he came to a conclusion. "Noda." he said. She turned to him.

 "Get back."

Nodding in agreement, Noda stepped back, as Uyeno walked forth. There was a resounding KLANG as he drew his sword. He exhaled an icy breath. 

Shifting his position, he leveled himself almost elegantly.

In a motion that could only be described as divine, Uyeno swung his sword. There was a moment of silence, nothingness, before a loud, metallic cry rang through the air, the top of the door sliding off. Noda was frozen. She couldn't quite describe the residual feeling that came upon seeing this- a mix of shock and awe was the best she could muster.

Uyeno sheathed his sword in a calm manner, stepping forth into the corridor ahead. Noda snapped back to reality, stumbling to catch up to him.

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Marino charged at the rest of the guards, Kasumi still standing there. "WHERE IS MY SISTER?!" he shouted, plunging his fist through a guard's head. He ripped a gun out of another's hand and shoved it up under the guard's jaw, firing six shots before pointing it at Kasumi. "You will lead me to Uemura," he said, his tone dark, "or you will die."