When the invisible flying ship exploded, their communication jamming was also destroyed, and Yuri who had scoured the entire highway where there was debris from the cars of the Imperial Guard, was now able to contact Yuna.
"Yuna! I've been looking all over for you. Where are you? Are you alright? Is Akira there?"
She instantly burst into tears, "Yes! We're alright! But Oda is gone, he saved us, Yuri!"
"You mean that explosion just now? I know where it is. I'm heading there. Don't use your phone! Find a safe place to hide, and I'll get there. I promise."
Ayesha, the AI girl, that merged with Yuri to form the Exosuit had used Omnipresent Surveillance to track the direction that Yuna and Akira were coming from.
"I have found them, Master. They are 10 km west of the Kyoto Imperial Palace."
"Good! Let's go!" Yuri rushed toward the palace, flying in his Dragon-form with full speed.
"If our forensic analysis of the situation on the highway is correct, the enemy destroyed those two cars in front and behind them, then lifted them somehow, in the direction of the palace. And it is highly unlikely to be a coincidence, Master."
"If that is the case, then we have to hurry as soon as possible. The Bedlam Mercs might be near them already!"
It was 10:00 pm in Kyoto. And Yuri was still miles away from where Yuna and Akira were. So to arrive there fast enough, he used the Rocket Engine Booster that he used earlier.
"AI, give it everything you've got! But make sure we don't harm anyone when we land."
"Yes, Master. Engaging Transformation of wings into Rocket Thrusters. Now."
After Yuri now looked like a rocket missile blasting through the air, at very high speeds.
"Right there!"
"Engaging parachutes now."
Yuri was able to manage his momentum and slow down with enough time, to land safely.
Yuna and Akira had hidden in an alleyway. The National Diet had declared Martial Law in the country, so everyone was now on high alert, and locked their doors, not letting anyone in.
Yuri saw them and he approached.
"Yuri? Is that you?" Yuna did not recognize Yuri's dragon form. But he removed his helmet for her to recognize him.
"It is you!"
She ran towards him and hugged him tightly. Then started crying on his shoulders.
"Where were you? If you were here, Oda wouldn't have…"
"It's okay…. It's okay… I'm sorry… I…"
Yuri felt ashamed that he wasn't able to be there when Yuna needed him. He thought of Oda, and how reliable he was.
"Oda is… Gone…" she kept crying.
"We have to get to safety!" Akira said.
"Are you alright, uncle?"
"Yes, I am. We barely got out there alive, son. Oda was a great man for being there for us. He will be remembered as a truly great man."
"Yes… He will. I will make sure of it," Yuri said.
"It takes a real man to give his life for the ones he loves. And I had always noticed from the start, Princess."
Princess Yuna did not reply. She also knew of Oda's love for her. But that matter is past now.
*PEW!
A silenced bullet is shot in Yuna's direction. Yuri's Automated Defensive Capabilities catches it.
"GET BEHIND ME!"
He instantly morphed a protective dome around them to protect them.
Yuri then morphed the dome into a large rolling mechanical ball and rolled away while the inner core that held the three of them maintained a center of gravity.
"Don't worry, Yuna. Uncle… I won't let them get us," he said.
Three Bedlam Mercenary Invisicrafts had found them and aimed to kill them.
"Can you see them, Yuri?" Akira asked.
"No! I can't. Their cloaking devices must be Magitek. They must be working for the AeroMage."
"What does the AeroMage want?"
"I don't know, Uncle! But he seems to want us dead!"
The giant rolling ball of metal kept going and being shot at by the enemy.
"AI, I need you to do something for me. I need you to unmerge with me, and protect my Uncle and Yuna."
"Huh?" Akira was surprised to hear Yuri talk to his AI.
"I can't fight Mercs while protecting them at the same time. Take them to safety and leave me here. That's an order."
"Yes, Master," the AI replied.
"I'm sorry I can't be of help, Yuri," Yuna cried while reflecting on her helplessness.
"I have full Magitek Armor and Weapons in my inventory. I've learned from my mistakes," he smiled.
Yuri then took the armor, sword, shield, quiver, bow, and spear out of his inventory. He wore the full armor, put the quiver and bow behind him, sheathed the sword on his right side, and held the shield in his left hand, and the spear in his right hand.
"Will you be alright without your AI, son?"
"Uncle, it's just an AI… Don't you already know?"
"Know what, son?"
"I AM THE AI-MAGE."
He jumped out of the metallic ball and landed at the center of the street.
There was no traffic and no one in sight.
But they were there. And Yuri knew it.
Yuri's Magitek Armor could not be penetrated by their bullets but they would be able to kill him when they catch him off guard and hit a critical shot.
The three Invisicrafts stopped. They unloaded their cloaked mercenary passengers on top of the buildings, on the streets, and on top of parked vehicles.
Although Yuri couldn't see anything, hear anything, or feel anything, he knew they were there.
"This is what it feels like to be haunted by ghosts, huh?"
He smiled. Standing proud and tall, amongst his enemies, he then shouted.
"I highly commend the AeroMage for being able to gather this many skilled men in the past 17 days that he had gained his power."
Yuri trying his best not to let even one of them the chance to get close held the spear forward and kept rotating it, to make sure none of them were close to him.
"So you guys got me separated from my buddy? Well, well, congratulations!"
Yuri mockingly said. "You guys are such professionals, surrounding a lone man, with overwhelming numbers. How is that honorable? How is that brave?"
The truth was, that Yuri was just stalling so that Yuna and Akira would be at a safe distance for Yuri to unleash his true power.
"I just have one question for you guys. Ever heard of something called, a wireless connection?" he then laughed.
"AI. Whenever you're ready," Yuri said to Ayesha.
"Yes, Master. Integrating, Autonomous Driving Capabilities: Self-Defense Protocol, Omnipresent Surveillance Capabilities, Offensive Cyber Capabilities, and activating HP to MP converters in your Magitek Weaponry."
Yuri's whole armor and all his weapons glowed with pure processed Mana flowing around them.
This was Yuri's secret weapon that he made just before he went to sleep this morning. "Who knew I would be able to use it on the same day?" He laughed.
The thirty cloaked mercenaries that surrounded him went on high alert, then they went all went on the melee attack.
Yuri's whole armor was a customized forge of a complete set of armor that acted like a mechanized armor that could be controlled remotely. Ayesha had connected to Yuri's armor and would handle his defensive movements, making it virtually impossible to hit him. While Ayesha would protect him, Yuri was able to Augment his Omnipresent Surveillance and use it as a form of Machine Vision. With the Augmentation, he was not able to see them, but he was able to see where they weren't.
He held a long spear, and with his E-class Dexterity, stabbed one of the mercenaries right in the chest. The HP to MP converted in his Lesser Spear left a large gaping hole inside the merc's chest, and due to his design of the spear where he had processed mana flowing around it, he was able to weaponize Mana Monopoly, instilling doubt and fear in his enemies.
"COME ON!! YOU FUCKERS!!! COME AND GET ME!!!"
Three of the Mercenaries who had daggers, charged at Yuri. One of them tried to stab him in the head, but Ayesha predicted the movement and dodged it. The two who were close and out of reach from the spear, aimed for Yuri's stomach and others at his back. But Ayesha also predicted this, and moved Yuri out of the way, by pole-jumping with his spear and making him climb up to the closest building.
The two who tried to stab Yuri weren't able to stop their momentum and they accidentally stabbed each other with the daggers.
With a few seconds free from attack, when Yuri was above the building after jumping there, he used his Offensive Cyber Capabilities and hacked into their three Invisicrafts. Yuri took control of them and with his hand movements, he crashed them into those who were still on the streets, killing ten of them.
"How many are left, Ayesha?"
"There could be more, Master, but as I have counted, there are still 16 of them left, Master."
Yuri who was still holding the spear, through it at one of them.
*PLUCK!
It disintegrated the mercenary into a piece of rotting meat, due to the Mana Monopoly and HP to MP conversion.
He then took his bow and let Ayesha take over shooting at them, as she could manage the precision, and measure the exact amount of pressure, aim, and timing, to continuously gain headshots.
*SHWUCK!!
Blood splattered on the floor, as the ones who tried to climb up, was first on the priority for headshots.
*SHWUCCCK!!
Ayesha shot at them mercilessly and at such a high rate of fire.
"Damn! Ayesha, you beat my record of 6 continuous headshots!"
"Yes, Master. This is kind of… fun."
"HAHAHAHAHA! It is isn't it."
Yuna was being dragged by an invisible mercenary from a distance.
"YURI! HELP ME!!!" she screamed. "THEY HAVE AKIRA!!" she screamed more, as she was being dragged away.
Yuri then said, "AI, my turn."
He stretched his bow and aimed directly at Yuna's forehead.
*CHUCCK
He not only hit Yuna in the forehead, but the arrow also made contact with the Mercenary who was carrying her. The arrowheads were filled with Processed Mana thus killing both her and the merc carrying her. The holographic disguise was disabled, and the Mana Monopoly reduced them to a black smudge on the cement.
"Fucking idiots!" he laughed.
Yuri then jumped back onto the street. He put his bow and quiver on the side, and even put his sword on the floor.
He only held his Magitek Shield. He was trying to provoke them to fight him since it would be difficult, for him to try and hunt them down one by one.
The Bedlam Mercenaries thought that Yuri's abilities were now exhausted and they thought that now was their time to strike.
All eight of them, charged him with machetes, and when they got close to his vicinity, Yuri's shield activated and wrapped him like a cocoon, then long spikes with processed mana on their surface stabbed all eight of them at the same time. The Mana Monopoly then set in, and after a few seconds, all that was left of them, were sparkles of Mana Points dissecting into the air, and their blood and guts spilled on the streets when the spikes stabbed each of them.
"Is there anyone of them left?" Yuri asked. "No more, Master. It is now safe."
Yuri sighed and breathed heavily out of exhaustion.
"That! That… AI… was something… We should have left one of them alive, no?"
"That would not work, Master. During the fights, I have detected self-destruct molars in every one of them. Those were set to explode, once they were captured."
"Damn! AeroMage's men are built differently. Where does he or she? Get them?"
"Many of them seemed experienced in gun battles, Master, but lacked experience with close combat melees based on my analysis."
"Hmmm… Well, whoever they are… Fuck'em!"
"Are Yuna and Akira safe?"
"Yes, Master. I have taken them to where Sebastian and Mr. Saburo are located."
"Good… good… by the way, Ayesha… Don't tell Yuna, you kissed me, okay?"
"I would not dream of it, Master."
"Yeah, I gotta regenerate you fully next time. That was some weird shit earlier today. Not gonna lie. Also, Call Botan. I need to give him clear instructions. If he won't be able to do as I tell him, we might lose this war, before we even have a chance to turn it around."