Cop Craft – Dragnet Mirage Reloaded

Matoba had been shoved to the side as he fired his gun, and Tilarna had been dragged to the ground as she tried to swing her sword. Their teamwork was horrendous, but funnily enough, they had yelled the exact same thing at the exact same time.

However, now was not the time to argue. Clicking his tongue in frustration, Matoba hurried over to the window.

“We have to follow him! You go down the elevator and wait for him at the bottom of the—”

Pausing in the middle of his sentence, Matoba scratched his head. He had been planning to trap the man by covering both ends of the staircase, but he couldn’t trust this little girl with such a complicated maneuver.

“—Never mind. Stay here. And don’t move.”

“I refuse. I will go and capture him.”

“Just shut up and stay!” Matoba yelled, his voice shaking with anger.

Tilarna ignored him. She ran straight past Matoba and leapt through the frame of the shattered window.

“Hold on! Are you out of your mind? The enemy has a machine gun!” Matoba yelled, astonished at her recklessness.

But that was when he finally noticed the change in her appearance.

She was wearing a set of white armor.

The shiny surface of the silvery white armor was covered in delicate engravings. It protected every vital part of her tiny body, and it was crafted with an efficient, lightweight design that did not limit her movement at all. It was visibly different from the Farbarnian clothes that she had been wearing earlier.

When did this happen?

There hadn’t been a single second that she could have taken to change into the armor.

“Do not worry. This set of armor provides excellent protection against the weapons of the Dorini.”

Her expression was calm and relaxed, yet it did not form a smile. At that moment, Tilarna’s childlike aura transformed into that of a fierce, hardened warrior. It was an aura that Matoba had felt before, made by soldiers and police officers moments before they threw themselves into the face of danger, fully understanding the risks that they were taking. That same look could now be seen on Tilarna’s face.

Tilarna disappeared from the window as she chased after the assassin. Now, Matoba would have to be the one to catch him at the bottom. He exited the apartment room into the hallway, where the elevator was still waiting for him. He sprinted inside and pressed the button for the first floor.

Countless thoughts raced through his mind as the elevator began its descent. Just like the Filipino who killed Rick, that assassin had been possessed. He was being manipulated by the Semanian sorcerer. There was no doubt about it. That monstrous strength and stamina, those wild, animalistic movements, made as if he did not feel any fear or pain at all. And if the man was really nothing but a puppet, even if they managed to capture him, it would be difficult to get any information out of him.

But still, something felt off. Why would the sorcerer arm the man with a machine pistol and have him fight back against them? If the murder of that Colombian was his only task, why did he have to run away like that? Why didn’t he just use the knife to commit suicide after he killed Alvarez?

The elevator arrived at the first floor.

Irritated at how slow the doors were to open, Matoba sprinted out of the elevator. The emergency staircase connected to the balcony was located on the west side of the apartment building. When the assassin reached the bottom of the stairs, he would likely run northward, through the alley behind the building.

Matoba arrived at the alley and turned toward the emergency staircase. The Semanian assassin was standing on the platform between the second and third floors. Tilarna rushed down the stairs of the third floor, holding her drawn sword in her hand. Raising his gun, the man took aim at the girl.

“Stay back—”

His voice was drowned out by the sound of automatic gunfire. A storm of bullets sped through the air toward Tilarna. She held her hands in a cross, protecting her head. The bullets rained onto her, striking her in the shoulders, chest, stomach, and thighs.

“!”

She had been shot. Her tiny body convulsed with each bullet that struck her. Her knees gave out as she fell backwards onto the stairs, sliding down the steps.

The man vaulted over the staircase railing and landed on the ground.

“Freeze!”

Now was not the time to worry about Tilarna. Matoba’s extensive experience as a police officer told him this. As he expected, the assassin immediately pointed the pistol toward him. Matoba fired his gun. It pierced the man’s chest, striking him right near his heart. Despite the injury, the man fired right back. The countless bullets sprayed through the air in every direction possible, colliding into the ground and buildings nearby.

Taking cover behind a garbage can, Matoba clicked his tongue angrily. These puny 9mm bullets wouldn’t leave a scratch. He should have brought the shotgun stored in his car. Even a zombie wouldn’t stand a chance against the devastating slug bullets that it shot. 

(No—)

He didn’t have any time to waste regretting his decisions. It was only a matter of time before the garbage can that hid him was torn into shreds by the storm of bullets that flew in every direction. If the man kept firing at him for any longer, his life could be put in serious danger. If he didn’t do anything—

Matoba froze.

With incredible agility, Tilarna, who had been leaning over the second floor railing of the staircase, leapt through the air, toward the man. Gathering all of the strength in her body, she swung her sword.

In just a single stroke, the blade cut from the man’s left shoulder down to the right side of his waist. His body was sliced into two.

Not even a gasp escaped his throat. His expression unchanged, the man collapsed into a pool of his own blood.

Police sirens blared in the distance. Laying at Matoba’s feet was the dead body of the assassin.

After a long, uneasy silence, Matoba yelled angrily at Tilarna.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing!? Just cutting him in half like that!?”

Though she had been shot multiple times, Tilarna did not seem to be injured. Her armor had protected her from every last one of the assassin’s bullets. Only a few scratches could be seen on the armor’s white metallic surface. It wasn’t even dented.

Despite having just killed a man, she did not seem disturbed in the slightest. Her breathing remained steady as she stood in silence, calmly gazing at the dead body. Her white face and armor were splattered with his crimson blood. She was not swayed by the scolding, nor was she disgusted by the blood that covered her face. She appeared to show no emotion at all.

Illuminated by the streetlights, her pale skin stood out in the dim light, in striking contrast with the pool of blood that spread around her feet. Beauty, youth, and violence blended together into an unbelievably breathtaking scene. A mysterious aura filled the air as the beautiful young girl stood, holding a sword covered in blood.

However, Matoba’s heart was not moved.

Though the killing of the man was inevitable, he believed that it was something that must be done by an adult. Seeing this innocent-looking little girl murder a man in cold blood, he felt deeply disturbed.

“Is this really the ‘justice’ that you strive for? Who the hell do you think you are, Don Quixote? Did you not even consider capturing and restraining him instead? Of course not, instead you just slice him into pieces like you’re gonna eat him for dinner.”

Matoba knew that he was being unreasonable. After all, he probably would have shot the man anway, and murder is murder, regardless of the weapon. And if he had hesitated to do so, he might have been the one dying in a pool of his own blood.

Deep down, he knew. He knew that he was just looking for excuses to take out his anger on her.

“The man was being manipulated through the power of the Mildi. Even if we captured him, we wouldn’t be able to get any information after him,” Tilarna said after a long silence.

“Then why did he run away? If he was nothing but a puppet, there wouldn’t be any point in making him fight back, don’t you think? Either way, killing him gets us absolutely nowhere.”

The girl widened her eyes and shot him a sharp glance.

“Because you were about to be killed, Dorini. And not only are you ungrateful, but you continue to complain for no reason.”

“Ho. So you think you saved me?”

“It is the duty of the Knights of Mirvor to defend the weak.”

“I don’t need your fucking help. I’m not weak. I at least have enough reason to stop a violent savage from mindlessly attacking everything.”

“Are you talking about me?”

“Well, I see that you shit-brained aliens have at least some sort of critical thinking ability. Great. You wanna know what I really think? The more I work with you, the more I’m convinced that you were actually sent here to interfere with my investigation.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you?”

Smiling exaggeratedly, Matoba stared into Tilarna’s face. His seething eyes did not match his smile. 

“I have no idea how much of a noble you really are. I’ve begun to think that you’ve been bribed to come here.”

“What are you trying to say?”

“This is all a hypothetical situation, but let’s just say that there might be some evil people on the other side that don’t want the fairy to be protected. So, they decide to hire a knight. The knight travels to this city in order to interrupt the investigation… Or something like that. It’s all gotten way too obvious, you know, with all of the unnecessary chaos you’ve been causing.”

In the next moment, Tilarna brandished her sword, bringing its sharp blade right up to Matoba’s neck.

“This is your first and last warning, Keh Imatooba.”

Her voice trembled with fury as she suppressed the boiling anger inside of her. It made her seem much bigger than she actually was.

“You shall never say such insulting things about me. If you say that again, I will kill you. I am serious.”

“Heh, really?” He asked, staring coldly at the shining white blade that threatened him. “Are you really letting your feelings get hurt by a filthy barbarian Dorini like me?”

“Zearja (Shut up)!”

“Hey, hey—”

Matoba shrugged his shoulders as a sharp metallic sound rang out from the pistol that he had been holding at his waist. It was the sound of the hammer being pulled. Matoba had silently aimed it at Tilarna’s face while she swung her blade.

She hadn’t noticed the gun until she heard the sound. She seemed surprised.

Matoba casually returned the gun to its holster. He had done it solely to vent his burning anger, and he did not intend to escalate this pointless argument even further.

Turning his back to Tilarna, Matoba crouched down to the assassin’s corpse and examined his pockets for any items.

“The gun is a bootleg, illegally manufactured. It’s a carbon copy of the Israelian model. Normally, it would be very difficult for a Semanian to obtain such a weapon. Other than that… Ah. All he has is some getaway cash. He doesn’t have a license or working visa or point cards or anything of the sort.”

He grabbed some coins and wrinkled-up bills out of the man’s pocket, took a deep sigh, and put them back. He looked over his shoulder at Tilarna.

“Hey. I have something I need to ask you,” he said.

“What is it…?”

“You really want to capture this criminal and take back the fairy, right?”

“Of course I do,” she answered, awkwardly sliding her sword back into its sheath.

“Same here. But if we’re both working toward the same goal, why are we still in this dark alley, yelling and pointing weapons at each other like complete idiots?”

“……”

“Well, who cares. More importantly, we need to continue our investigation. You stay here and wait until the police cars arrive. Make sure nothing happens to the body.”

Matoba stood back up and headed toward the main entrance.

“Where are you going?”

“To Alvarez’s room. There’s something I need to examine.”