The Red Hand

A few days after the Kyoto Mall attack.

"I've got eyes on target." Mixu spoke to Minazawa via her comms. The two were currently in Nagano province, East of Matsumoto. They'd tracked a group of three Libra members to a base in the mountains. US Intel suggested they were planning to hit the city in the coming days and the RRT wanted to stop such an attack. They'd been getting flack for their recent failures and were being pressed to strike back against Libra in a meaningful way.

"I see, Shimari and Ketosu. They're standing outside talking. No visual on Tatsumaki. As far as I can tell, they're completely oblivious to our presence." Mixu relayed what the players were doing. She was quite the extraordinary distance away but her eyes combined with better optics meant she could easily see.

"Good," Minazawa replied. "I'm nearly in position. Take either of them out when I give the signal. I'll try to jump the other." Minazawa was creeping closer to the base. She had no ranged attacks and thus needed to strike in melee. She was hoping to knock out both Shimari and Ketosu before Tatsumaki showed up. Fighting the barbarian was not going to be easy, even if she was alone.

"Hopefully, these bastards go down easier than Herlex." Mixu sighed. She was sitting in a tree stand several miles away on top of a mountain. It was an insane distance for a sniper, but she could easily make this shot.

________________________________________________________________________________________________

<Ketosu POV>

"Kyoto turned into a real cluster, huh?" Ketosu asked Shimari. He was a catkin like Chloe, though he was actually a frontliner who wore heavy armor, rather than a stealth fighter. He and Shimari were friends from before FWO and had played many games together even working together on the Assault Team.

"Yeah, and I can't believe Herlex is really just letting Akagi dictate to him like that." Shimari was also a frontline fighter and a dogkin, similar to Hikari. “Its really not like him, or Armalthy to just do what people say." She was surprised when the orders came down to stay out of Kansai.

"Yeah, I'm starting to get the idea that-" His words stopped as his head exploded from Mixu's energy round. With her upgraded gear and total surprise it wasn't very surprising that he instantly died.

"Eh???" Shimari was completely stunned. "Ke-Ketosu?" She tried to walk to his body but was body checked by Minazawa, who tackled and pinned her to the ground.

"Drop your weapon now, Shimari!" Minazawa yelled. "Mixu, keep your eyes open for Tatsumaki let me know the second she pops up!"

"Minazawa?!?" Shimari recovered from the initial shock. "What are you doing out here?!?"

"Did you really think you were safe? Even this far in the mountains?" Minazawa smirked as she pinned the girl. "We've got satellite feeds and can track you idiots anywhere in Japan. So hiding from us isn't going to happen." Shimari was struggling, trying to get Minazawa off her. But she wasn't strong enough.

"Stop resisting, or I will kill you, Shimari!" Minazawa exclaimed. "Don't make me have to do it!" She had steeled herself to kill, but part of her wanted to prevent more needless deaths. She knew this specific player and was conflicted about taking her life.

"Mina! I've got a visual on Tatsumaki!" Mixu spoke over the comm.

"Where is she?!?" Minazawa asked.

"Right here!" (Tatsumaki)

Before Minazawa could react, she was impacted by a massive greatsword that sent her flying into a tree, snapping it in half.

Tatsumaki stood next to the prone Shimari and smirked. "Gotta pay attention to your surroundings Minazawa, no Ishigami to cover your ass anymore!"

She looked down at the dog girl.

"Shimari, get up!' Tatsumaki yelled at the dog girl. "Help me take Mina out. Then we'll go rip the vampire to pieces. That way you can get revenge for your little boyfriend." She teased Shimari with a comment she knew the dog would hate.

"Ye-yeah. And he wasn't my boyfriend!" Shimari got to her feet and summoned her sword and shield. Like Minazawa, she was a tank meant to take damage rather than dish it out. Tatsumaki however, was a bit different. She was one of the few who chose the Barbarian class, which focused on dealing damage. With her special subclass and abilities, she had an extraordinarily high amount of HP and was resistant to most damage types while in her frenzied state.

"Mixu, can you make another shot?" Minazawa asked as she stood up and wiped broken bits of tree off her.

"I'll try, but since they know I'm here, it's going to be hard. They'll probably start using the trees for cover. I'll move to another spot and see what I can do, but you might have to fight them 2 on 1. Sorry." Mixu sighed as she cut comms.

{Well at least she killed Ketosu...} Minazawa readied herself for the onslaught.

"Let's go!" Tatsumaki roared as she activated her frenzy. Her eyes turned red and a red aura encased her entire body. "I'm going to tear you apart Minazawa!" She stepped forward taking off towards Minazawa as a thunderous boom erupted from the ground as it cracked and buckled under her power.

*BOOM*

She slammed her massive sword down onto Minazawa's shield. "Don't think you can just sit behind your shield! I'm not like Elna. My hits actually go through your armor. Hiyahhh!"

*BOOM**BOOM**BOOM**BOOM**BOOM**BOOM*

Tatsumaki continued to strike Minazawa. Her shield was taking a beating from the massive blade, and she could feel each strike. The barbarian's strikes did significantly more damage than Elna's fists, and Minazawa was starting to feel the pressure. Barbarians could pierce heavy armor with their attacks, and were essentially the anti-tank class. Unfortunately for Minazawa, her build was reliant on her gear to soak up damage rather than having high vitality. 

{Not good...} Minazawa thought to herself as Tatsumaki slammed her shield.

"Come on!" Tatsumaki had flown into a rage as a result of her ability and had started to lose control. "Why do you have to hide?!? Get out here and face me!" She slammed down once again, pinning Minazawa with her large blade. The barbarian's face contorted in rage and was starting to look crazy.

{Dammit, this meathead is annoying!} Minazawa thought to herself. She was in a tight spot only made worse when Shimari attacked from her rear.

"Hiyah!" The dog-kin swung with her blade. Minazawa couldn't risk a direct strike on her back, so she sidestepped, allowing the weight of Tatsumaki's attack to carry her off balance. The barbarian fell forward slamming into Shimari, slashing her, and opening a massive gash in her armor. The dog girl screamed in pain, falling over bleeding.

This was not exactly what Minazawa was expecting, and she was briefly shocked as she'd expected Tatsumaki to either try to redirect or soften the blow. But from her perspective, the barbarian intentionally hit as hard as possible into her teammate.

“Arhahdshashdfh!” Shimari started screaming. “It hurt! It hurts!”

Tatsumaki lifted her blood-stained blade and laughed as she swung the blood onto the ground. "Aw, poor puppy. Shouldn't have gotten in my way. Oh well, too bad." She turned around to face Minazawa, blood covered her armor, and some was on her cheek. Her eyes were starting to show not just rage, but madness.

{Well, that worked out, but I need to deal with this beast quickly. Taking Shimari alive would help us a lot.} On top of intel, Minazawa wanted to save as many people as possible, even her enemies. Perhaps this change was a result of her wanting to make amends for what her boyfriend once did, even she couldn't say.

“Come on you raging bull!” Minazawa clanged her blade on her shield. “Lets see just how far that animal instinct gets you!”

“With pleasure!” Tatsumaki charged forward and the battle continued.

The two dueled one another, exchanging blows. Minazawa's high defense did help to keep Tatsumaki at bay, but she was slowly being worn down. As her frenzy continued, Tatsumaki got more and more deranged. It was as if she was little more than a monster driven by blood thirst. Minazawa was relieved that Tatsumaki couldn't strategize but was also wary of just how dangerous a rampaging animal could be.

{Now I see what Superbia meant by the game powers having different effects.} A barbarian frenzy wasn't supposed to affect a player's mind, but it seems that in the real world, it made them go out of control. Tatsumaki had likely underestimated this change when she used her ability, just as Superbia had with Princess of Blood.

"Come on, Purple Rose!" Tatsumaki swung her blade down, missing Minazawa, and smashing it into the ground creating a crater. "Let me feel those thorns!"

Minazawa had landed a few hits with her blade, but it became apparent that her strikes had little effect on the berserker. She lacked the damage necessary to bring Tatsumaki down and needed Mixu's blasts to kill her.

{Come on, Mixu. Get your ass over here!} Minazawa called out to the vampire in her mind, hoping she'd gotten a good line of sight.

*BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM*

The two continued to clash, and Minazawa coughed up some blood. Tatsumaki's attacks were starting to have an effect. On top of that, she was getting tired, while the barbarian seemed to be raring to go.

"Raraghagh!" Tatsumaki screamed as she threw down her blade and grabbed Minazawa's shield.

{The fuck!} She hadn't expected this, as Tatsumaki was not a grappler.

"Worareahg!" Tatsumaki had lost her mind and was now acting on instinct. Her eyes turned completely white as she tried pulling the shield away. However, even with all her strength, the barbarian couldn't rip it away as it was attached to Minazawa's arm via straps and bolts.

{Oh hell, she's lost her fucking mind!} Minazawa was surprised. The ability never did something like this in the game.

Seeing little chance of overpowering her, she swung her blade over and over again, but even drawing blood didn't stop the raging barbarian. Her strikes almost seemed to bounce off rather than actually do damage.

{Where's Superbia's resistance nullification when you need it!} Minazawa complained in her mind about Superbia being busy elsewhere. {Why didn't we bring her for this! Stupid politics getting involved!}

(Minazawa)

"Rarghawerau!" Tatsumaki ignored the strikes to her face, lifted Minazawa off the ground, and threw her into a tree. Minazawa slid to the ground, just barely raising her shield to block the flurry of punches.

*BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM*

"Areaygh Die!" Tatsumaki began smashing into Minazawa's shield trapping her against the tree. "Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! " Tatsumaki no longer cared about anything other than Minazawa. She wanted to break her and tear her to shreds even ignoring the pain in her fists from punching the shield.

{This might be bad} Minazawa started to panic, thinking that she might be killed by Tatsumaki. But as she tried to figure out a plan of action.

*BANG*

A loud shot rang out as Mixu shot Tatsumaki in the back.

"Ack!" Tatsumaki cried out in pain as she fell over, growling. “Areaudfhd!”

Mixu had snuck up close, and seeing that Tatsumaki was completely focused on Minazawa, she walked up behind her and shot her straight in the back with her rifle. Even a raging barbarian in armor wasn't going to survive that. Tatsumaki began heavily bleeding, gagging, and flailing about before she succumb to her injuries.

"Well, that was fucking crazy. Never thought I'd see Tatsumaki actually go all unga. Part of me was expecting her to start repeating your name over and over again as she screamed.” Mixu laughed. "You ok?" She helped Minazawa stand up.

"I'll live." Minazawa. "I guess now we know to pass along a message to any other barbarian. Don't use your fucking rage..." She spit out some blood. "We need to get Shimari to a hospital ASAP. That wound was really bad. Take her to the medical team to get her stabilized first." The dog girl was now unconscious on the ground, her blood pooled around her.

"Why the fuck did she of all people join Libra." Mixu went and picked the girl up.

"I have no clue, but we can find out later. Right now run as fast as you can. I'll catch up." Minazawa waved her off, and Mixu took off at full speed.

They had a medical team nearby in case they needed it, so she took Shimari to them first. They couldn't handle an injury this bad, but they managed to patch her up enough to survive until she was taken to a hospital in Matsumoto.

Upon arriving, Shimari was rushed into emergency surgery. Doctors later told Mixu that the dog girl only barely survived that injury. Tatsumaki's blade sliced right through her armor like butter and cleaved a massive gash in the front of her torso. Had it not been for sheer luck, she would have bled out, but luckily most of her vital organs had been missed or only nicked.

Mixu and Minazawa still couldn't understand why Shimari was with Libra. she was a quiet and relatively nice girl on the assault team who worked with the group that cleared the easier floors. They wouldn't get an answer for some time as the wound had placed the dog girl in a deep coma.

With the conclusion of this operation, Libra had lost three members, and Mixu had become the first member of the RRT to take another player's life, though she wasn't really bothered. She'd killed plenty of NPCs in the game and saw little point in making a distinction now. But now, Libra knew the RRT mean business and the battle between them would only escalate from here.