[Please call me "Super Skyfarer Katarina Who Pulled Eden and Valentine's Clarisse in a Surprise-Ticket Ten-Pull."]
[Well, I completely whiffed the next thirty pulls and then got a Certificus from a draw ticket, but what the hell is a Magna player supposed to do with that? Unite and Fight is so much fuuuun!! (Screamed while coughing blood.)]
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Kei: "Ah, someone's pointed out in the comments, 'Kei-kyun, haven't you got the effects of Good and Evil Bullets mixed up?' I've got some complaints about the way they're addressing me, but first, I'm sorry, I got that wrong. Oh, and Silver-san is back."
Silver Mask: "My Negotiate skill is maxed out!"
Kei: "Negotiate, as in talking your way out of things..."
Eight: "Um, Face-Hider-san is pulling some seriously crazy moves right now. Is that one of those things I'm not supposed to bring up?"
Kei: "Hmm? Ah, let me think... The Sheriff, I think? No Face is imitating—okay, ripping off—the moves of a character from a game called Dance Guns Duel."
Onscreen, not just bullets but the guns themselves were flying through the air. An unrelenting assault of bullets and bare-handed blows was driving the TV-headed woman back.
This was the sight of Amelia Sullivan—or rather, Masked Hannya—being overwhelmed one-sidedly. People said that despite acting like an ill-tempered relic of the twentieth century in ordinary life, her technical finesse in games rivaled Sylvia's. Up until now, precisely one person had ever managed to do this to her.
Eight: "Dance Guns Duel? Ah... hang on, I swear I've heard that somewhere... Oh! Now I remember! It's that fighting game from about two years ago, right?"
Kei: "That's right. Every character uses firearms, which made it a pretty interesting fighter. Although the shotgun character's normal attacks were so overpowered it was a little ridiculous..."
As an aside, for certain reasons, Katzo once played a hundred consecutive matches against Sunraku. The memory of throwing away every last shred of dignity and beating Sunraku senseless with that very shotgun character just to maintain a seventy-percent win rate is locked up tight and sealed deep inside Katzo's heart.
Kei: "Oh, looks like some people in the comments remember it too. Right, right, people called the Sheriff a bigger clown than the Gatling-gun clown! And, yes, he can actually do that. He said a perfect copy would be impossible, but the fact that he can reproduce the general idea at all is completely insane."
Silver Mask: "Hey, Kei, what exactly is No Face doing right now?"
She'd asked with full awareness of where the comment section was headed. A modern professional gamer is essentially half gamer, half entertainer; being America's number-one gamer also means being a first-rate entertainer.
She had picked out a common thread amid the torrent of comments, asked the question on everyone's behalf, and passed it to someone who knew the answer. Receiving that perfect opening as an entertainer, Kei began explaining the ongoing fight in terms of precisely what the viewers wanted to know.
Kei: "I'll keep the Sheriff's character breakdown brief. The Sheriff is the kind of fighter who sacrifices damage per hit for a lot of attacks. In the original game, the Gatling user was way out in front for DPS. But using the Sheriff's moves with Dust has one advantage."
Eight: "And that would be?"
Silver Mask: "The variety of bullets, Eight. You might not have to worry about NPC bullets, but having to decide which incoming shots to avoid while fighting? Even I would find that a little troublesome... A little."
Silver Mask did not say she couldn't do it. That confidence was the undimmed gleam of America's number-one star, even after suffering a defeat in an official match.
Kei: "Even Display, who's not all that sturdy, can basically ignore NPC bullets. But it's a different story when Dust's guns are mixed in. Just like PSY-Borg, Dust deals most of his damage with gunfire, and his attacks have knockback. Take a hit carelessly and it could lead straight into a combo."
But then Kei opened his mouth again.
Kei: "There is one fatal weakness in that strategy, though."
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Ms. Play Display: "What's wrong, Dust? Where's my encore?"
Dust: "Mind if I take a five-minute break?"
Ms. Play Display: "Like hell I'd allow that!!"
Yeah, that's what I figured.
Damn it. The Sheriff strategy definitely worked, but it had a fundamental problem.
In Dance Guns Duel, reloading left you open, but ammunition was effectively infinite.
Dust, on the other hand, had to punch people just to replenish bullets. Even on the offensive, there was no way his rate of replenishment could keep up with his consumption.
And the guns he'd borrowed from NPCs were disposable. With him firing wildly to keep Valkyrie in check as well, he'd run out of ammunition in no time.
Ms. Play Display: "You and Sylvia are a real pain once you get warmed up, but it looks like Dust ain't tough enough to keep it going."
Dust: "That's rich coming from somebody at forty percent health... Whoa, watch it!"
God, this useless tin can is annoying!
So being America's number two is no joke, huh? What we were doing wasn't simply trading punches. At the same time, we were both trying to force Valkyrie's aggro onto the other player.
As far as that contest went, I had to admit I was a step behind. I'd wound up with a little over fifty percent of my HP left, and considering my ammunition situation, I was at a disadvantage overall.
What now? Am I the kind of person who'll bleed for a short-term payoff? It's not even guaranteed that I'll win in the end. Everything's become such a jumble that calling it a plot would be a joke; this is really just a shaky script we're improvising as we go.
In this situation, do I have the guts to bet on a gamble with the odds stacked against me?
Dust: "Sure do."
Ms. Play Display: "Huh?"
Ultimate activated.
Dust: "Dust to Dust!!"
That's what you call romance: taking a gamble when the odds are against you. Ever since the first day I touched a video game, that kind of thing's been my favorite food in the world!
In terms of classification, Dust's ultimate is closer to Cursed Prison's Prison Break. Unlike an action-based ultimate such as Metius's, it's an ultimate that changes the character's state.
"Dust to Dust" is the name of a pair of absolutely lethal bullets bestowed upon Dust by Hellzebul, the supreme ruler of Hell in the Galaxia Label universe.
The bullets already loaded into his guns temporarily vanish, and one new bullet is loaded into each of his two guns. This ultimate deals massive damage on the condition that both shots hit.
Ms. Play Display: "You're using your ultimate this early...?!"
Dust: "With that much health left, this should blow you away...!"
Ms. Play Display: "I'd like to see you try!!"
The bullets generated by the ultimate disappear if I go twenty seconds without firing them. Twenty-second time limit! Get both shots into her!
Dust: "Now, die honorably...!"
I'll be borrowing that idea, Raid Boss-san!
Point a gun at her and she has no choice but to dodge. I close the gap while she's moving and throw a roundhouse kick into the opening, but it's too shallow. As a counter, the damn TV blasts my right side with a deafening burst of damaging noise from the speaker hanging at her waist.
Dust: "Guh...!"
I fire the gun in my left hand. The gray bullet flies straight toward the damn TV, almost as if being sucked toward her after that last attack, and strikes her right thigh.
Ms. Play Display: "You bastard!!"
Dust: "That's one!!"
Don't rush. There's still more than ten seconds left. Valkyrie levels her spear and charges straight at me. You're in the damn way! Get lost, you piece of junk!
I throw the left-hand gun now that it's fired its Dust to Dust round. I'm not trying to deal damage. If this uses Shangri-La Frontier's system... You're a named NPC. I was counting on you to follow it with your eyes.
Dust: "The flaw in being bipedal!!"
A sweeping kiiiick that exploits the utter vulnerability of a two-legged creature's balance: make one leg uncontrollable and it loses fifty percent of its stability!
Dust: "Ten seconds left!!"
That damn TV... Aaaagh, shit! She's running away after all! Thanks for making the absolutely perfect move! Well, in that case, I'll just have to do this!
I raise my gun, sharpen my concentration... and fire.
The echo of the shot breaks a brief silence. Not feeling any impact on her body, the damn TV turns back toward me—
Ms. Play Display: "Hey, what the hell were you aiming—"
Dust: "Divine Punishment."
Ms. Play Display: "Gah...!?"
Nobody said I'd used up all my bullets.
I throw away the NPC policeman's gun after firing the final hidden round I'd kept in reserve. The damn TV has taken the Dust to Dust shot right in the face, fired from a Bakumatsu quick-draw stance also known as the Double-Layered Two-Shot Divine Punishment.
Dust: "Judgment time. Are you going to pray to God? Or beg the Devil? Dust to Dust—there's only one answer for you... or something like that."
Condition met. The two bullets embedded in the damn TV begin to shine...
The swelling radiance rises like a pillar, forms a cross of light, and bursts apart.