Araka Kibito and his men fell into a bitter struggle shortly after leaving the boiler room.
They stood on a section of track between two elevated trestles, leaving them sandwiched as Kabane crawled up from the heights. With a steady stream of monsters throwing themselves forward, Kibito's group found it increasingly difficult to cope. Their survival space shrank by the second.
Facing the growing swarm blocking their path, despair took root in the hearts of some. No one here wanted to die.
Morale plummeted. The barely maintained defensive line sat on the verge of collapse. No matter how Kibito tried to bolster their spirits with words, his encouragement proved useless against such cruel reality.
Worse still, Mumei approached her limit. Her movements had turned sluggish, to the point where even raising her gun to fire became a labor.
'Is this... where it ends for me...?'
Mumei grit her teeth in frustration. Watching the Kabane multiply on both sides, a sense of powerlessness welled up from deep within.
'The weak have no right to live...'
That phrase surfaced in her mind out of nowhere, causing her focus to flicker. In that instant, a nearby Kabane leaped high. Before anyone could react, it pounced directly toward her.
"Mumei!"
Ikoma, stuck on the outer perimeter of the swarm, shouted a desperate warning.
Mumei snapped back to reality. A maw filled with fangs enlarged rapidly before her eyes. She could even smell the creature's rancid breath.
Time seemed to slow down. She tried to move, wanting to dispatch the Kabane as cleanly and efficiently as always.
However, her weak limbs groaned in agony. Her exhausted body could no longer squeeze out an ounce of strength. The nearby samurai were too preoccupied with their own survival to lend a hand.
She was out of options. Just as Mumei prepared to accept her fate as one of the weak, the Kabane's body suddenly erupted in a spray of blood.
The creature flew backward as if struck by a massive object, plummeting into the bottomless depths of the mine. A split second later, a storm of bullets swept in from the right. Kabane lining the tracks were instantly pierced, blown away, and torn to shreds by a rain of metal.
The air filled with blood, flesh, bone fragments, and severed limbs belonging to the monsters. They fell in rows like wheat before a scythe.
Mumei, Kibito, Kurusu, Ikoma, and everyone aboard the Koutetsujou turned their gaze toward a single figure. They watched in silence at the one-sided slaughter unfolding before them.
On a parallel track to Mumei's right, Misono Mika pulled the trigger with an expressionless face, harvesting Kabane lives with mechanical precision. With her free hand, she opened a bamboo tube and poured out human blood. Once empty, she opened another, repeating the process.
Lured and stimulated by the scent, the massive swarm abandoned Mumei's group and surged toward Mika's position.
'It looks like Mumei and the others are safe.'
Mika let out a complicated sigh of relief. Was she actually worried about them? It felt strange. These were strangers she had only met a few times, yet they occupied so much of her concern.
It wasn't like her old self at all. After learning from Ayame Yomogawa that the group was in danger, she had rushed over without a moment's hesitation.
A moment later, a dense pack of Kabane scaled the walls and trestles. Screaming, they rushed across the narrow track toward her.
"I suppose I can keep you company for a while. If your souls are trapped in those corpses and find no peace, may you find rest through me."
Mika pivoted her weapon, her slender legs moving slowly as she engaged the encroaching monsters. Her bullets, possessing immense piercing power, easily shredded the reinforced membranes the Kabane relied on. A single shot often claimed two or three lives at once. The endless tide was being suppressed.
As she harvested the monsters rushing to their deaths, Mika felt a flicker of surprise at her own thoughts.
'To feel pity for a group of moving corpses... it was the same at Aragane Station. Since when did I become so... superstitious about such things?'
She didn't remember being religious in her past life. Clearly, the issue lay within her current self.
She was certain of this because, after being hammered by reality and witnessing countless cynical examples, she had forced herself to become an ultimate egoist. Occasional kindness to strangers rarely earned a thank you; more often, it brought trouble. In extreme cases, people were even forced into suicide to prove their innocence.
As the saying goes: meanness is the passport of the mean, and nobility is the epitaph of the noble.
Because she didn't want to fall into the pits her predecessors had stepped in, she armed herself. To avoid being held at gunpoint for being a "good person," she didn't hesitate to threaten everyone on the Koutetsujou, crafting a persona of an unsympathetic, almost villainous outsider.
Mika had another reason for this: she wanted to witness more of the malice in human nature to suppress the "bleeding heart" kindness she couldn't seem to crush. Even warning herself that "no good deed goes unpunished" failed to work.
There had to be a reason for such an anomaly.
'So, am I being influenced by this body? This uncontrollable urge to take action seems to confirm it.'
Mika sighed wistfully. Watching the Kabane retreat into the depths of the mine for some unknown reason, she slowly lowered her gun. Kabane lacked brains and didn't know fear. Their temporary retreat likely meant they were preparing a larger assault.
The result would be the same either way. She would wait patiently.
Mika looked down at her hands—perfect as jade—and murmured to herself, "Unfortunately, I'm no longer that simple, kind student from before. I'm a rather unlikable adult."
"But if my actions go against your true nature—"
Mika took a long breath, no longer fighting her instincts. She was willing to change for the sake of the student she inhabited. After all, she stood here today thanks to the power of Misono Mika.
She closed her eyes, fully opening her mind and body, attempting to truly accept everything about Misono Mika.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
Her heart beat powerfully. A faint strength flowed through her blood into her limbs, warming her entire body. As the subtle sense of dissonance vanished, a spark of realization rose in her heart.
At this moment, she officially gained her "Single Target" capabilities (in-game)!