Chereads / The Six Guns: The Library / Chapter 48 - Chapter Forty-Eight: Eve of Destruction

Chapter 48 - Chapter Forty-Eight: Eve of Destruction

A few days ago, Chinese forces had successfully pushed from Chiba and into Tokyo. They came in armor patrol cars, and pushed wave after wave of soldiers in via armored vehicles. Fighting immediately broke out between Chinese forces and whatever people had any means to fight. Police officers, the SAT and even some civilians picking up whatever tools they could use to hit the soldiers with. Some civilians wielded magic, but didn't stand a chance against the walls of digital shields the Chinese pushed into the city with. Overnight, the eastern edge of Tokyo was turned into a burning hellscape, as streets were filled with broken glass and debris from cars and buildings that took heavy damage from the fighting. From there, the Chinese forces set up checkpoints and strongholds out of the buildings around them, to reinforce their push against Japan. "There's no way" Haruto Suzuki says as he, as well as the rest of Haru's old cell discuss the situation near Central Tokyo. Haru, Satomi and Mikoto walk in the room and sit down with them.

"It's bad" Haru says. "Unfortunately, we couldn't get any word from Chiba before it was too late."

"Before we knew it, they were already in Tokyo" Haruto says.

"Damn them!" Yui Kobayashi says as she pounds her fists on the table. "First an EMP strike, then they roll APC's (Armor Personell Carrier) into our cities!?"

"When did we lose our wire to Chiba?" Sota Watanabe asks.

"Don't know" Haru replies. "Hard to tell when it's all happening so fast. We don't have any cell towers up yet after that EMP strike. Direct wires are being cut, and we're outclassed by armor alone."

"Then the solution becomes simple." Riku Yamada says. "Cut down their armor."

"Our priority should be to establish comm-links first" Haruto says.

"No" Haru says. "Your priority should be to re-establish communications. We will cut down their armor."

"What are you planning, former Commander Nakamura?" Haruto asks.

"Mikoto, Satomi and I will spearhead a sabotage on enemy supplies" Haru replies.

"We will?" Satomi asks.

"Yes, we will" Haru explains. "If we push them back and cause a chain reaction, sabotaging their armored vehicles, we should be able to fish them out of their strongholds. From then on, prepare to run."

"I don't like the sound of this..." Mikoto says.

"Consider it a diversion" Haru adds. "From then on, establish a reconnect to our localized network as we lure enemy forces closer to Ginza."

"Why are we brining the enemy closer to us?" Yui asks.

"Because, we will have the home advantage" Haru explains. "From the very moment you establish connection with nearby provinces, instruct the police in the nearby areas to evacuate citizens or hide them. Whichever is faster. We will then have other SAT units establish an ambush setup in all corners as we pinch the forces that chase us. The moment we run in with China on our tails, open fire."

"What about clearance?" Haruto asks. "You could be caught in the crossfire."

"We'll deploy digital shields as soon as we reach the ambush point." Haru adds. "Get the forces directly on us and keep them occupied. From there, we'll use the subway system to circumvent their forces and catch their flank. Cutting their numbers, their supplies and successfully establishing our network again."

"Sounds doable" Riku says. "Just don't blame me if our concentrated fire is too strong to handle. Make sure you're in and out of those streets. I can't promise you'll be able to survive more than thirty seconds of fire."

"I'll take that into consideration" Haru says.

Haru, Satomi and Mikoto sneak through the city until they're on the eastern edge of Tokyo where they saw lines of APC's creating a wall where nobody could escape. Sneaking from building to building, they wait until nightfall to move. Once they were ready, the three of them sneak up to the armored cars after the area was cleared of soldiers. Using this chance to sabotage the vehicles, they crawled to the underside of the vehicles one by one and placed these metal charms inside of the vehicles. Reaching behind the wheels of the vehicles, they placed on charm on both sides of the vehicles, placing the metal charms deep inside the APC's. Attempting the place the charms as close to any important wiring or motors in the vehicles as they could, they reached as deep inside the vehicles as they cloud and then attached a thin and metal wire to each one as they moved to the next vehicle. After they finished, they crawled away until they were far enough away, stretching the metal wire until its very end. From there, Haru channeled endo into the wire, and charged the charms. Then, with one quick pull, she ripped the wire back and detached all of the charms. The three of them immediately began running under Haru's instructions, and there was a few seconds of silence before a guard spotted them. They could hear yelling and some running as the soldiers started to take notice of the three of them. As soon as some of the soldiers got outside though, a chain of explosions went off inside of all of the APC's. Some of the Chinese soldiers were sent on their backs from the blast as Haru and the others kept running. Haru, Satomi and Mikoto managed to keep enough distance between them and the Chinese soldiers for them to have a hard time aiming their guns at them. But not far enough away to shake the pursuing forces. They ran and ran for nearly 7 miles, taking them one hour and ten minutes to make it to Higahsi-Ginza Station, in the intersection of this four-way street. As soon as they got there, Haru noticed a lense flare from the scope of a rifle on the third floor of this building with glass walls facing the intersections center. Haru immediately told Satomi and Mikoto to stop as the three of them turn around and put up several digital shields. A soldier was the first to shoot, as it hit their shields. Immediately after that soldier's shot bounced off of the shield, a shot came from that rifle on the third floor, taking out the man who shot first. Immediately, several units of SAT come out of hiding as they stand up from nearby roof tops, aim out of windows and even come out from alleyways with their guns aimed at the soldiers. Showing no intention of taking prisoners, they all immediately started to open fire. Haru, Satomi and Mikoto ran into the nearest subway system and came out behind the enemy forces as they started to open fire from the soldier's backs. Just as they thought this plan was going to go without any problems, another wave of enemy soldiers came in behind Haru and the others. Going back into the subway systems, the team came out behind their own forces for cover as they reassessed the situation. They could see even more forces coming in from two sides of the intersection. The northeast and the southeast sides. The battle raged on as firing continued through the night. Until around midnight where many of the ally forces had to retreat as they had too many wounded. Haru, Satomi and Mikoto, however, had caught their breath and remained their energy to continue the fight. Satomi comes out of one of the nearby alleyways with her bat in hand, glowing with armament magic. She hits a nearby soldier in the stomach with it as he was looking away. Satomi creates a digital shield and blocks two shots that were fired at her as she ran. She headbutt the next nearest soldier, then swings her bat horizontally, hitting the guy she headbutt and sending him flying into the other soldier that shot at her.

Mikoto covered Satomi's back by using elemental magic to fire back at the remaining crowd of soldiers. As they were distracted, Haru moved behind their forces once more as it looked like the soldiers stopped sending waves of reinforcements. Mikoto used an illusion spell to cover herself for a moment. Just as she vanished, Satomi also vanished with the same illusion spell. From there, the two of them nearly swapped places. Satomi moved around to where Mikoto was, and Mikoto moved to where Satomi was. Only, they each had a digital shield prepared as they got ready to counter whatever the soldiers were preparing for them. The soldiers were caught off guard by the illusion spell as Satomi got a couple more soldiers with her bat and Mikoto blindsided some of the soldiers with an elemental spell that they weren't prepared for. Them preparing buff spells to protect against the bat did not save them from the fire Mikoto threw at them.

Amongst all the discord, the enemy units began to separate and attack Mikoto and Satomi. As they separated, the soldiers in the back of each unit began to drop as the sounds of a gun firing could be heard. They turned around and saw Haru, using her excellent marksmanship to nail soldier after soldier either in the center of the chest or between the eyes. Like conducting an orchestra, Haru took out soldier to the left and right with a single pistol, using a charm in her other hand to throw up a digital shield for a split second only to block and deflect shots fired at her. Their numbers were dwindling, but the soldiers still had plenty of numbers and the crew was beginning to get pushed back. Just then, Haruto, Yui, Sota and Riku stormed out of the buildings and began their assault too until the last enemy was taken down.

After the fighting, Haruto told Haru that communications were set up again, but they got a report from the northern edge of Tokyo that another attack was launched on them. They left and drove their way to the north as they planned out how to help the northern districts. "It's been bad all around" Haruto explains. "Seemingly as we launched our attack, they launched theirs. As well as, not only has Chiba fallen, but so has Yokohama. Though, they're still putting up a fight in Yokohama."

"If we're swift enough, we can finish what's up north in Adachi" Haru says. "Then we go to Yokohama before they lose all grounds."

"God only knows what's happening to those poor people in Chiba right about now" Yui says. "I hope the three of you Six Guns members will be enough. Because it's starting to look like we'll need more than just you three... no offense."

"None taken" Mikoto says.

"If only we had Siran and Zia around" Satomi says.

"Yes, but we don't" Haru says. "We make due with what we have."

After they reach Adachi, they find waves of officers trying trying help civilians evacuate. Many stores and building have been demolished and there were a few bodies sticking out from under the rubble. They tried to bring the officers together after hiding the civilians to come up with a plan. Amongst them was a young officer named Haruto Fujiwara, who was shaking and visibly scared. "Look, officer" Haruto Suzuki says, trying to calm him down. "I am Lieutenant Suzuki. We're here to help. Can you tell me how long this has been going on?"

"They've been attacking nonstop for about three days." Officer Fujiwara replies. "We haven't been able to stop them. Anyone who tries only dies faster. The least we can do is help our people hide."

"Calm down" Haruto says. "It's going to be okay. Focus and calm down. What's your name?"

"I am Haruto Fujiwara" the officer says.

"Haruto, huh?" Suzuki asks. "My name is also Haruto. Haruto Suzuki. Look, officer Fujiwara, whatever is going on, we'll call for reinforcements and have this put to an end. Take the citizens and have them hide in the malls for now. Barricade your doors and don't come out until we tell you to. This job is very important. Make sure the people are safe."

"How will we know when it's safe?" Officer Fujiwara asks.

"We'll come to you" Suzuki says. Just hang on tight and wait.

Haru and the others fought the next morning, lasting until the next night. With other SAT units backing them up, they were able to rest and get back into the fight as they needed. Eventually, they left Adachi and headed towards Yokohama. They told officer Haruto Fujiwara where they're heading, and gave him a linked phone using their direct lines to contact them if anything goes wrong. From there, they left to Yokohama. Three days later, fighting broke out in Yokohama. Another officer ran out of the comms room they has their direct line set up in after hearing the news. He tried to pass on the news to Haru and the others, but it was too dangerous to run out there. One of the other officers saw him panicking and asked what happened over the phone. "They're here!" The officer says. "The rest of The Six Guns are coming!"

In the middle of all the fighting, Mikoto was keeping Satomi covered with digital shields as Haru kept Satomi covered with her marksmanship. Satomi's task here was to push into the enemy lines with her bat, in order to divide the enemy lines. Haru's unit helped separate the enemy lines with concentrated fire, and as they separated, Satomi hits one of the soldiers with her bat and send him flying high into the air. However, in the middle of his flight, the soldier was struck by the hands of a fast moving figure. The soldier was sent into the street. However much stability buffs he tried to give himself to save him from the impact with the street was not good enough, as his body made a loud thunk when it met the streets as he died instantly. For a moment, Satomi was distracted by this. A soldier came up by her side, but Haru and Mikoto were kept busy as they were already protecting her from all other sides. One soldier snuck in behind her defenses, but a white flash appeared behind Satomi as a fist met the soldier's face and saved Satomi from certain doom. When Satomi turned around, she could see him. "Siran!?" Satomi yells in surprise. "You're awake!"

"Siran!?" Mikoto asks as she struggles to activate more shields. "Thank God you're here!"

"You couldn't have had better timing!" Haru calls out to Siran.

"Been a while" Siran says as he dusts off his fist. Tanya, Holly and Blake catch up to Siran as they began helping fight back. "Sorry I kept you waiting."

Satomi and Mikoto were almost in tears, as Satomi says "I'm so glad you're okay. I thought for a moment we'd lost you."