A Chance Encounter with Argon
"Hmm. Hey. Do you go around asking people that kind of thing on a regular basis? Keep it up and you'll end up in a psych ward."
The white man of Norman descent shot back as if he couldn't believe what he'd just heard — but he didn't deny it. Taking that as confirmation, Seo Rin pressed on.
"So then… are you the one attacking the homeless people around here?"
At that, the man snorted with laughter. He covered his mouth with one hand as if he simply couldn't help himself, his ponytail swaying behind him like an actual horse's tail.
"Ah, honestly. I can't do a thing with him. Bark, that idiot. I told him to draw some attention, but at least he doesn't seem to be a complete mad dog."
"Huh?"
"I'm not the one attacking people here. Well, I may have egged things on a little, but this isn't the result I wanted either. Luckily Giovanni's crew started brawling with them, so I got what I needed out of it anyway."
Giovanni — that would mean Giovanni Vantero. Seo Rin carefully shifted his body, checking the submachine gun holstered under his arm. But the movement must have been too obvious.
A sudden chill raced down his spine. Just from the man's piercing stare, Seo Rin's entire body began to tremble, strength draining out of him. It felt as if chains had bound him from head to toe. To be suppressed by a gaze alone — did this man possess some kind of Evil Eye?
"We're in the middle of a city. Tone it down, will you? Or are you ready to start a firefight right here in the streets?"
"Whoops."
Seo Rin pulled his hand back out of his jacket and looked at the man again. The stranger smiled faintly and offered a handshake.
"Hmm. You must be Seo Rin, right? Funny, running into you like this."
"You sure like the word 'coincidence.' Who the hell are you?"
Seo Rin ignored the outstretched hand and asked flatly. The man withdrew his awkward hand and blew a large bubble with his gum.
"Me? Well… these days I go by Eric Hoggard. But everyone just calls me Argon. Nice to meet you, child of Lilith — Seo Rin."
"I—I'm not happy to meet you at all! What the hell do you want? 'Running into me by chance'? You were tailing me, weren't you?"
At Seo Rin's accusation, the man who had introduced himself as Argon widened his eyes in pure disbelief. Then he waved a hand dismissively and scoffed.
"You got paranoia or something? I told you, it really was a coincidence. You think I'm some kind of stalker? Plenty of people chase after me because they like me — I've never once gone trailing after someone because I needed them. Everyone keeps singing about how amazing Lilith's children are, so I guess you really started believing you're something special, huh?"
Just like that, Seo Rin had been cast as some kind of delusional patient. He blinked in surprise and shot back:
"…Wait. Am I not amazing?"
This time Argon was the one left speechless. They stared blankly at each other for a moment — then both snorted with laughter at the same time.
"Well, damn."
Argon shook his head. The light still hadn't changed. It should have by now. Seo Rin kept glancing at the traffic signal as he asked:
"So why are you here, then? You do have some connection to the vampire attacking people around here, don't you?"
"Think whatever you want. I'm not obligated to explain every little thing to you, am I?"
He said that — but it was as good as an admission. Running into a vampire in broad daylight by pure chance? Hardly likely. This Argon almost certainly had some connection to the vampire preying on people here, and that was why their paths had crossed. Or perhaps he'd spotted Seo Rin interviewing the homeless and approached him on purpose.
"Well, fine. Show me what you're made of. We'll start the conversation from there. Two heads are better than one and all that — but Esprit is poor and weak, so we have to be careful."
With that, Argon took off his hat. In that instant, Seo Rin's vision flared white-hot, the world around him blazing into pure brilliance. Pain seared through his optic nerves as everything before his eyes receded into nothing.
Then the audio guidance for the visually impaired chimed in his ears. The light must have changed.
Startled, Seo Rin opened his eyes — and froze. He hadn't taken a single step from where he'd originally been standing. Crossing the crosswalk, meeting Argon, standing with him in the middle of the road dodging cars — all of it had been an illusion from the start.
Argon, standing on the sidewalk across the street, raised a hand in greeting — then melted into the crowd instead of crossing. Seo Rin stood rooted in place, watching him disappear.
Argon climbed onto the quiet rooftop of a building and looked around. Pigeons had left their droppings everywhere, turning the surface nearly white — there was barely room to step.
"Ugh. This is seriously disgusting. Damn it."
He had no choice but to tread through the pigeon shit as he looked down at Seo Rin from the roof. The boy was glancing around with a dazed expression, clearly having no idea where Argon had gone.
Argon shook his head. He'd expected a monster on par with Tetra Anax just because the kid was a child of Lilith — but Seo Rin was nothing more than a naive civilian.
"At this rate, I even have to wonder if he's really a Ririm."
He hadn't hoped for a monster equal to Tetra Anax, but still — this green? Argon blew another bubble of gum and reached for the pendant around his neck. Ironically, for a vampire, he wore a silver cross. He stroked it absently, lost in thought.
Then the rooftop fire door slammed open with a bang, and a green-haired young man in a black racing suit came up. The shattered doorframe made it clear he'd kicked the shutter open rather than unlocking it.
"You're the Jinma Argon. No mistake, right?"
"Well, of cour—"
Argon started to answer — then whipped his body backward.
BANG!
A bullet sliced through the air, grazing just above him. Attacking in almost the same breath as the question. A strike that pierced the gap in his psychology — this opponent was clearly a seasoned fighter.
If someone like this was still left in Korea, it had to be Han Se-gun.
"Then you must be Han Se-gun."
Argon spun around and planted himself against the rooftop railing. The rain-soaked bird droppings made for a truly foul footing, and his face twisted in distaste.
"Well now. Looks like I hooked a real big fish. If this is what I get, putting up with Seo Rin's cluelessness was worth it."
Jet-black wraiths surged up from Se-gun's body. In the rain, his eyes blazed with blue fire. Argon startled at the sight and waved both arms.
"Hey, hold on! How about we talk this out like civilized people? Opening fire the second you see someone — is that how you handle things that could be settled with words?"
Argon signaled for a moment of dialogue — but the answer that came flying at him was a kick. A whip-like high kick snapped toward his throat. Argon blocked it, but the impact still sent his body skidding sideways.
Splashhh!
Rainwater sprayed as Argon slammed into the rooftop wall. His stance never broke. Even sliding across a roof carpeted in bird shit, not a single stain touched his clothes.
But Se-gun didn't so much as flinch at his attack failing. He mechanically launched the next one. Jet-black detonating cord sliced through the air toward Argon.
"Someone's in a hurry."
Argon muttered and swept his arm. Instantly a white gale of freezing air erupted from him, sweeping the surroundings.
WHOOOOOOSH!
"What—?!"
Se-gun's detonating cord was flung back by the force. No — the rainwater pooled on the rooftop blasted upward in a three-meter spray and came crashing down on him all at once.
Crack!
But Se-gun kicked up the fire shutter he'd just torn free and planted it as a barrier against Argon's wind. The cold intensified at terrifying speed; the rain turned to hail.
Shhhhk!
Something tore through the freezing gale. Se-gun ducked behind the fire door — and a blade punched through the shutter like paper. If he hadn't ducked, it would have gone straight through his skull.
Hisss!
Se-gun twisted his fingers, and the wraiths erupted from the ground, raising their arms in unison. Like servants offering tribute to their master, they reverently presented him with a jet-black greatsword. Se-gun took Noctis and swung it at the fire door. Argon's longsword and Se-gun's claymore carved through the shutter at the same instant.
CLANG!
The shattered fire door clattered across the concrete roof in a racket of noise. Argon stared at the sword Se-gun had swung and let out a cry of admiration.
"Ohh! That's Noctis!"
Se-gun said nothing. He shifted Noctis to one hand and drew a Glock with his left. But Argon dropped his longsword low, then snapped it into a mid-level cut as he charged.
"Kh—!"
Se-gun raised Noctis to block — but the strike was far too fast and heavy for one hand. He was blasted backward, slamming into the rooftop safety mesh. Even as he flew, he raised the Glock and fired at Argon.
Tat-tat-tat!
But transparent discs — thirty of them — materialized in front of Argon and stopped every bullet. Each disc was roughly thirty centimeters across and made of ice, orbiting around him. Remarkably, most of the rounds failed to pierce more than three discs; even the best only made it through six. A rifle round might have been different, but pistol rounds simply weren't enough to punch through that much ice.
"Hup!"
Argon charged with his arms hanging low, as if dragging them along the ground, and raked his claws at Se-gun pinned against the mesh.
"Ngh!"
Se-gun grabbed the mesh above his head with one hand and spun like a gymnast on the parallel bars, landing on top of the fence and dodging the strike. A trail of white light followed the path of Argon's claws; the mesh tore apart instantly, and freezing air flooded outward.
Tat-tat-tat!
From atop the mesh, Se-gun fired at Argon's head. Once again, the transparent ice discs shifted and intercepted every shot.
No matter how extraordinary a vampire's reflexes, no ordinary one could simultaneously dodge an attack and block Se-gun's counterfire. The only ones capable of that were the Oracles of Tetra Anax, born with foresight.
This one had something different from ordinary vampires. Had he stolen another bloodline's ability? Or refined his own power through magic and secret arts? Either way, he was a terrifying opponent.
But Se-gun had trained himself to respond to every situation. Even if an attack failed, there was no reason to freeze in surprise. As long as he was fighting vampires, he had no choice but to kill them — no matter what abilities they possessed.
Se-gun extended the detonating cord, wrapping it around the ice discs Argon had arrayed for defense. He pressed the detonator. A blast of searing heat erupted, splitting every disc clean in two. Impenetrable to bullets — utterly helpless before detonating cord.
"Damn it!"
With his shields gone, Argon charged again before Se-gun could bring a gun to bear. Was that really a vampire swinging that blade? His swordsmanship was so refined that Se-gun had no choice but to grip Noctis with both hands to meet it.
He dropped the Glock and caught Argon's incoming blade with both hands on Noctis.
CLANG!
Sparks flew as the swords collided. Muscle fibers tore and blood vessels ruptured in both men's arms at once; blood sprayed.
"You're strong!"
Argon admitted it freely, then brought his sword down in a vertical cut. Too fast to dodge, too dangerous to block head-on. Se-gun hooked his right foot into the mesh and angled Noctis to deflect the blow.
But Argon's longsword struck Se-gun's blade with perfect precision, drawing blood from his arm again. Fresh crimson sprayed from both fighters' forearms, staining the rooftop.
CRUNCH!
The mesh under Se-gun's foot couldn't take the force. It buckled and collapsed inward. The instant it gave way, Se-gun flung himself sideways and drew the Beast. One shot from this would drop even a Jinma. But Argon threw himself sideways in the same direction, matching him.
"…!"
Se-gun couldn't help but be stunned. This vampire had leapt the same way, at almost the same instant. Argon's white ponytail streamed behind him, and the green-gray eyes under his baseball cap gleamed into view.
He was smiling — brightly, like a boy who'd just hit a grand slam in a neighborhood baseball game. A born fighter who genuinely enjoyed a life-or-death brawl. Unlike other vampires, who spent their long lives jealously guarding their territories, this one was a true warrior.
"Damn it!"
Instead of pulling the Beast's trigger, Se-gun crossed the gun barrel and Noctis into an X-shaped guard. Argon brought his longsword down on that defense without the slightest hesitation. The blade — easily twice the weight of a standard Japanese sword — blasted Se-gun into the rooftop wall.
BOOM!
The concrete crumbled, and Se-gun tumbled through into the building. Even after that reckless attack, Argon spun gracefully in midair and landed on the ground with style.
This guy is seriously no joke!
Se-gun clicked his tongue. Most of the vampires he'd faced until now had been lazy beyond belief. But Argon's swordsmanship was a level no vampire — no matter how gifted with raw strength — could reach without real training. To think there was a creature like this among the vampires… he had to admit he was impressed.
Shhhhk!
A blizzard came racing along the ground. Se-gun pushed himself up with one hand and dodged it.
CRACK!
It slammed into the stairwell wall, spraying snow and wrapping the area in extreme cold. As his body temperature plummeted, the blood in his own veins suddenly felt scalding hot. He hadn't even been hit directly, and it was this bad — that cold was dangerous.
Two or three direct hits would crash his body temperature, and then even a vampire or lycanthrope would suffer catastrophic loss of function. After that, he'd be nothing but meat for Argon's blade.
Shhhk!
A second wave of cold came flying in. The stairwell leading to the roof was poorly ventilated — keep taking hits like this and even without a direct strike, his body would start shutting down. But if he charged out? Argon would be waiting for exactly that.