At Mosquito Girl’s command, the entire swarm turned on a dime, dead-set on Alice and Genos, and zipped straight toward them.

Though well aware that neither of them had any blood for these pests to feast on, Genos instinctively stepped in front of Alice. He raised a single hand, leveling the incinerator port in the center of his palm directly at the approaching cloud.

"Incinerate."

A torrent of orange-red flame erupted from his palm in an instant. Forget mosquitoes—even an elephant would be reduced to charred ash under the searing heat of that blast.

A robot that can control fire?

A flash of disgust crossed Mosquito Girl’s face, but then...

"Whatever, I’ll just treat it as some post-meal cardio." Since she didn’t have anything better to do anyway, she figured she might as well stretch her limbs.

"Watch closely."

Genos didn’t look back, but Alice knew the words were meant for her. "Remember the upcoming battle vividly."

Believing it was necessary to broaden Alice’s horizons, Genos had already prepared himself to treat this as a teaching match. "This combat data will definitely be of use to you."

"I get it now! It’s a skill showcase and character trial for my new teammate!"

Alice nodded, a look of complete understanding dawning on her face.

"...Right, let’s go with that. It would be best if you stayed a bit further back, though, or it will be difficult for me to fight at full capacity." After a brief pause, Genos chose to humor Alice’s way of speaking. "My character trailer ends with the elimination of this Mosquito Girl."

"Understood! Alice will watch very carefully!"

As she spoke, the young girl took a few steps backward to give him space.

It seemed that as long as they were on the same wavelength, communication was quite easy. Even though they had only just met, Genos felt a burgeoning sense of approval for Alice.

"Now then, our battle begins."

Genos spoke, his guard never dropping for a single second from Mosquito Girl.

Mosquito Girl wore a look of utter disdain and arrogance. She hadn’t paid any attention to their conversation whatsoever. If anything, putting this arrogant, boastful cyborg in his place seemed like an excellent pastime.

"I hope your strength can actually amuse me a little." Her face contorted into a hideous sneer, and the wings behind her back vibrated violently.

With a burst of speed that far exceeded the dynamic vision of a normal human, she closed the distance and was right in Genos’s face in the blink of an eye.

However, in Genos’s eyes, this was merely a level of speed that required him to be serious.

Deflecting her razor-sharp claws—which could easily slice through steel reinforcement bars—Genos instantly countered with a sweeping kick. Accelerated by his thrusters, the speed of the kick broke the sound barrier.

Yet, Mosquito Girl twisted her body at the absolute limit to dodge the blow, retreating back into the safety of the air where she held the advantage.

Something is wrong. This enemy is strong!

Both realized this at the exact same moment.

Genos analyzed his tactical options and quickly arrived at a viable strategy: trading blows.

He was a cyborg. While his steel body couldn’t generate natural warmth, it possessed an incredibly advantageous mechanism—he felt no pain, meaning his fighting spirit would never waver due to physical agony.

But his opponent was different. Any hit he landed would deal genuine, lasting damage.

Compared to him, who could fight indefinitely as long as he had energy, Mosquito Girl would only rapidly weaken as her injuries mounted.

"In a moment, no matter what happens, do not interfere," Genos warned Alice in a low voice.

"No! Alice cannot just stand by and watch a teammate get hurt!" However, the girl clearly couldn’t accept that kind of reasoning.

"It is not getting hurt; it is simply the tactic I am employing this time," Genos explained. "In battle, any method that increases the probability of victory must be utilized."

This was also something he wanted to teach her. In his eyes, Alice was a bit too naive.

It would be best if this instructional match made her understand that even a powerful individual like himself encountered situations where they had to give it their all, even at a steep cost.

Thinking it through, he attempted to communicate on Alice’s wavelength again. "This is also a part of my character showcase. Because I am a cyborg, I possess these specific traits and optimal playstyles."

Yet, Alice wasn’t buying it this time. "Using a teammate getting hurt as a strategy is not allowed!"

"..." Genos felt a headache coming on. This robotic girl simply wouldn’t listen to a word he said.

Though his initial reaction was that she was a handful, a long-lost, unfamiliar sensation suddenly welled up inside his cold, mechanical heart right after.

"She’s trying to run away!"

Just as Genos was lost in thought, Alice’s voice cut him short.

Looking back up at the sky, Mosquito Girl, who had been hovering right above them, was now flying toward the other side of the city at a breakneck pace. At the same time, countless columns of ’black smoke’ were converging toward her from both inside and outside the city limits.

Just as Genos was about to try launching a flame laser in her direction, he saw Alice raise the massive white cannon from her back.

His mechanical eyes couldn’t analyze the materials of the cannon. Genos was curious, but he had no intention of asking about it right now.

"Light, heed my call—!"

Exactly as Genos had seen in the news reports before, a brilliant blue-and-white beam of light blasted from the muzzle, piercing straight through the sky.

However, observing it firsthand allowed Genos to discern far more details.

This railgun not only had an astonishingly massive recoil and laughably poor portability, but it also appeared to be a weapon that required time to charge up.

If that was the case, the damage from a shot fired just now without any charging might not be entirely optimal.

Genos looked toward the distant Mosquito Girl and, sure enough, found that the blast had only managed to blow away two of her legs. Though her stance wavered for a moment, she was still desperately fleeing, using the mosquito swarm to mask her silhouette.

"We have to give chase," Genos reminded Alice before leaping off toward the distance.

Naturally, Alice chose to keep pace.

However, no matter how fast the two of them were, leaping across the ground could never truly compete with flying, especially when the enemy was intentionally hiding her tracks.

Left with no other alternative, Genos decided to clear out the obstructive swarm of mosquitoes directly.

Compared to Alice, his attacks were far better suited for this scenario.

"Incinerate."

Extremely high-temperature flames shot out from his palms once more.

The searing light ignited one mosquito after another in a chain reaction. In a place where the targets could essentially be used as kindling, Genos’s flames easily achieved massive results.

But... that Mosquito Girl didn’t appear.

There was absolutely no sign of her in the sky.

Did she already escape? Impossible. That short amount of time wasn’t enough for her to flee the city entirely.

Then the only remaining possibility was that she had hidden herself somewhere in this city... If that was the case, things were going to get troublesome...

Just as Genos knitted his brows in thought, an unfamiliar voice suddenly rang out.

"What are you guys... even doing...? Huh? Aren’t you the girl who was next to that woman with the pointy hat before? Come to think of it, you were on TV recently, and I’ve seen you in the newspapers too."

He got right next to me without me detecting him at all?!

Genos turned his head in utter disbelief.

He had braced himself for what kind of formidable entity it might be, only to see a man with a rather blank stare, a blindingly smooth bald head, and dressed in ordinary, casual indoor clothes.

--+--

T/N: If you want advance Chapters, you can find it at [email protected]/AspenTL