This is a Beta Test?! - A Literally Broken System

With Shade slamming on the kiosk, the sound of the Tether Cannon doing its job crackled through the air, its mechanism glowing blue as it reeled in the slack that was assuredly still submerged under the sea. Right alongside that, I killed everything that could possibly drain us of power as I waited for Shizu's updates.

"Twenty!"

"Eighteen!"

With each agonizing second, I sincerely hoped that it would be enough, that the Tether Cannon could reel in enough slack that we'd be able to run across without too much risk of falling into the sea.

"Sixteen!"

"Fourteen!"

[*"They're preparing to board!"*]

[*"Who turned off da lights?!"*]

I forced myself to ignore Guidance and Shen's voices as I listened to Shizu. I already saw that the enemy [Rig] was starting to prepare for the inevitable battle, and I didn't need anyone else distracting me from hopefully minimizing our energy usage and avoiding plunging us back into darkness in the middle of a war.

[*TWANG!*]

My eyes widened. "Kill the cannon!"

Just as soon as I heard the tether pull up into the air, I shouted at Shade to stop the cannon from reeling us in. Looking outside, the harpoon attaching us to the enemy was finally taut, our energy reserves just enough to pull them in without the energy expenditure of forcibly dragging such a massive vessel by the hull. Thank god that reeling up slack didn't take too much energy.

"We stopped at around eleven percent!"

"That's good enough for me!"

Slamming the lights back on, the obvious threat of the enemy boarding our ship was the next thing up on the chopping block as I stepped away from the console. Grabbing my [Blanc and Noir], I forced myself to ignore the floating prompts in my vision in favor of looking at the facts. There was more to be done here than to pick and choose my quirks right now, and we didn't really have the time to waste for it anyway.

Besides, I might even get some [EXP] out of this.

[*"Guys?! Where are you?! We need back up here right now!"*]

"Shade, tell Guidance we're coming!" I called out, my eyes already on the bridge door as I smirked. "Shizu, we're going in as backup."

"Finally!"

With a leaping bound, Shizu forced herself up to my level before standing beside me, her stance already ready for battle as she raised her fists in anticipation.

"Moriya! Shen's asking for instructions!" Shade called out.

I clicked my tongue before I responded. "Tell her to keep herself hidden. She doesn't have any combat capabilities, and running back out on the deck would just show her to the enemy!"

Shade did as he was asked, the sounds of battle already starting to heat up as short bursts of gunfire and metal clashing against each other began echoing from underneath the bridge.

"I really hope we can fend them off," I muttered aloud.

"Why not?" Shizu beamed at me. "We've faced worse. That dungeon earlier's tougher than any Vestygian heathen we have to face!"

I could only smile at her confidence. "We can only hope, Shizu. We can only hope."please visit pαпᵈα-:)ɴᴏᴠᴇ1.co)m

Stepping up to the plate, I raised my pistols at the ready as we moved to leave, Shade still behind us as we opened the door.

"And I'm assuming that I'll stay here on the bridge?"

Hearing Shade call out to us, I gave him a quick side glance as I responded, "If that's where you'll be most effective, then please do so. If not, then feel free to join us below."

"I see," he promptly replied. "In that case, I'll be here charming our opponents and coordinating the defense efforts."

"Much obliged," I nodded. "Shizu?"

"Yes?"

I couldn't help but smirk despite the dire straits we were in. "Let's get down there and kick these guys off our [Rig]."

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Shade hid the wicked smirk that showed itself on his face as he watched Moriya and the princess leave. Having the bridge to himself, he couldn't help but laugh as he watched the impending carnage below him.

"Not gonna lie, things are heating up despite the danger."

He wasn't going to lie to himself by telling that he was worried for the princess. It was all lip service, even if most of them did make sense from a logical perspective. In the end, he knew that Shizu was far from being the weakest person on their team. In fact, he could even admit that he might be the least useful when it came to a straight-up fight. Even earlier when Moriya skipped over him when choosing his team, he didn't truly mind despite his protests... Well, he did, but he knew deep down that he wouldn't be as useful as any of the other people on their team.

Yes, he knew that the former group of four was perfect for their current objectives. Now, however...

"It's time for me to show them what I'm truly good at..."

While he was decent in a fight, that wasn't where his talents lay. No, his [Manifest] was far more suited for diplomacy and social events than it was for its fighting capabilities. A razor-sharp whip could obviously slice through his enemies, but where was the fun in that when you could just as easily talk them out of fighting entirely?

"H-Hello..."

Picking up his [Rozen] on one hand and the comms on the other, Shade smirked as he exuded his power, his own self-assured charm filling him with confidence as he cleared his throat. While his earlier hails to the enemy [Rig] had failed, with them now being on his turf, there was no stopping them from hearing his dashingly seductive voice.

"Salutations, enemies of the Empire," he began. "Welcome aboard the ICR... Name pending."

Shade frowned. Their [Rig]'s lack of name quashed some of the intimidation that he wished to exude through the Marquean speakers. Nevertheless, it shouldn't really matter. He had far more methods in his arsenal than simple intimidation.

"If you would please look towards the deck, our lovely Lady Guidance and Maruki Storm will be there to assist you in boarding our vessel."

He smirked as his [Rozen] glowed pink, his words having the desired effect of leading these fools to the deck. He now had a bird's eye view of the entire situation, and the enemy didn't bother going below deck.

"Still got it."

Truly, words were the most powerful thing in this world.

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