The Girl in the Dream and the Collapsing Cave
Shimazu Renka stood like a sentinel before the magun gate, blocking Aoki’s path as the base camp crumbled around them. Lava surged up from cracks all over the floor. She raised her sword and glared at him.
The blade of Renka’s sword blazed with searing flames. Aoki, clutching the stump of his severed left wrist, broke into a cold sweat but still managed a smile.
Renka said nothing. She simply kept her sword raised, eyes locked on him. Beyond Aoki’s shoulder, she could see Baek Chulyeon sprinting toward them in the distance.
Shirabayashi-san.
She had known he would be here.
You realized long ago that Major Aoki was a monster who hunted Koreans…
That was why he had entered the magun—to execute Aoki. Yet he had hidden the fact that Aoki was a murderer from her. Why?
The reason wasn’t hard to guess.
Because he didn’t want to hurt me.
Renka could picture exactly what Baek Chulyeon had been thinking. If his fiancée learned that her betrothed was a monster and that he intended to kill him, she would be devastated. So he had chosen to bear the burden alone.
Renka clenched her teeth.
But there’s something you don’t know, Shirabayashi-san.
To Baek Chulyeon, a man of strong Korean patriotism, Aoki was obviously someone who had to be eliminated. But from Renka’s perspective, Aoki was an irredeemable murderer as well. The idea that such a monster was her fiancé was utterly unacceptable. No matter what her father wanted, this was one thing she could not obey.
I’d rather he were dead!
Hadn’t she dreamed countless times of Aoki dying crippled on the battlefield? Yet that never happened, and since there was nothing she could do, she had tried her best to forget and endure it all this time.
But this was different.
If it’s Shirabayashi-san, he can defeat him.
Renka glanced at Aoki’s severed wrist. He must have lost it in the fight with Baek Chulyeon. Aoki had used the cave’s collapse as a chance to flee.
I have to buy time.
With a sharp swing of her sword, a massive wave of flame roared along its arc. But Aoki dodged it with nimble footwork.
Renka’s awakened ability let her wreathe her blade in fire. But the flames only worked when she actually cut her opponent; if she couldn’t land a hit, they were useless. In the end, it came down to swordsmanship.
Of course, Renka’s sword skills were advanced enough to slaughter mid-rank magic beasts with ease. Yet the gap between her and Aoki was undeniable—differences in experience, in technique. On top of that, the fear she harbored toward Aoki created an even larger disparity.
Despite having only his right hand, Aoki easily parried Renka’s strikes. Besides, the weapon he wielded was a bayonet—a Japanese sword blade attached to a pistol grip—so losing one hand didn’t change much.
…!
When his ferocious slash knocked the sword from her grasp, Aoki sheathed his bayonet, closed the distance in an instant, and raised his right hand.
His black-gloved hand slapped her across the cheek.
Murasaki Kenji, who had been following me, sensed that something was wrong and shouted in confusion.
I watched the fight between Renka and Aoki unfolding ahead of us. But Renka was struck down before she could even exchange more than a few blows.
Damn it.
Aoki had been delayed for a few seconds dealing with her, but there was still about ten meters between us. He was just about to scoop up the fallen Renka and step through the magun.
If he got out, it was over. Outside, the place would be swarming with Aoki’s allies. No one would believe a word I said. I’d be the one screwed.
Whatever happened in here had to end in here.
I hurled my crucifix sword with all my strength. My target was his lower body. The flying blade grazed Aoki’s shin, leaving a deep gash.
Aoki dropped Renka and tumbled to the ground. I closed the distance in that opening, snatched up my sword again, and raised it high to deliver a finishing blow.
But then—
Murasaki stepped between us, blocking my path.
You’ve got to be kidding me.
Aoki, sprawled on the floor, looked at Murasaki with a satisfied grin and asked,
Still pointing his sword at me, Murasaki answered fiercely.
I spoke to Murasaki.
Clench…!
The tip of Murasaki’s sword wavered. I used that opening to slip inside his guard and slammed the flat of my blade hard against his shin.
Murasaki crumpled, clutching his leg. I spun toward Aoki again, but the sound of a hammer being cocked made my body react on instinct. I raised my sword in the direction of the noise.
Clang!
The blade cracked like a spiderweb at the same moment a gunshot rang out. Aoki was aiming his pistol at me, and a lead bullet was lodged in my sword.
…!
Aoki muttered and pulled the trigger again.
Bang!
I blocked it once more, but the second bullet finally shattered the blade and buried itself in my abdomen. If I’d had a bulletproof artifact or a higher level of ganggi, I might have stopped it. That was the problem.
“Kgh!”
Thankfully the ganggi-infused blade had canceled out most of the bullet’s kinetic energy, so the wound wasn’t deep. Still, the sudden pain of my peritoneum being hit forced me to my knees. Seeing that, Aoki burst into loud laughter.
Breathing hard, Aoki staggered to his feet.
He raised the gun toward me again, but at that moment a blade suddenly burst out of his stomach. Aoki stared down at the sword protruding from his gut.
…?
Murasaki stood behind him. Aoki’s face twisted in rage as he coughed up blood.
Murasaki muttered with a complicated expression.
Murasaki gripped the hilt tighter and continued.
As Aoki spat blood and demanded an answer, Murasaki raised his voice.
With those words, Murasaki yanked the sword free. Blood sprayed from Aoki’s abdomen. He slowly turned toward Murasaki, glaring like a vengeful ghost, and screamed.
…Ugh!
Murasaki raised his sword as if to strike Aoki’s neck, but the moment their eyes met, both hands gripping the hilt and his legs began to tremble violently. Aoki continued in a voice thick with rage.
Hic… Hiccup!
Overwhelmed by Aoki’s aura, Murasaki collapsed to the ground and began to hiccup. No matter how much of a delinquent he was, he was still the seventeen-year-old son of a police chief. He had probably never killed anyone before.
Guess I have to step in.
I endured the pain in my stomach and sprang forward. Aoki noticed me, but with a fatal wound already piercing his gut, he had no way to resist. I swung my sword and severed his remaining right arm.
Then I sliced off both his ankles.
Having lost both feet, Aoki collapsed face-first onto the ground.
Aoki thrashed desperately with his mangled limbs, trying to crawl away. But as if to add insult to injury, lava surged forward and began to consume his lower body.
I looked at him and thought,
Burn slowly to death in this collapsing cave.
I had no intention of showing mercy to a bastard like him. He deserved to die as slowly and painfully as possible.
Leaving Aoki behind, I walked over to the still-sitting Murasaki and held out my hand.
Murasaki ignored my hand and stood up on his own. I thought to myself,
You’re an accomplice now too.
Even if the police investigated Aoki’s disappearance, Murasaki—now a fellow accomplice—would keep his mouth shut. Besides, with the chief of the Jongno Police Station as his father, he would want to bury this incident as deeply as possible.
After helping Murasaki up, I picked up the bayonet Aoki had dropped and tucked it into my belt. Then I approached Renka, who lay unconscious on the stone floor in front of the magun gate.
She fainted from a single slap.
I suddenly remembered that Aoki had been wearing gloves. I pulled the glove off his severed right hand.
She passed out the moment she was hit while he was wearing this.
It looked like an ordinary military leather glove, but I could faintly sense magic power. Maybe an artifact with a stun effect? I decided to examine it later, crumpled the glove into my pocket, and went back to Renka to wake her.
I slapped her cheek a couple of times and her eyes slowly opened.
She really had only been unconscious for a short time. I asked her,
Her eyes were open, but she was still dazed from just waking up and was talking nonsense. With no other choice, I lifted her into my arms and headed for the magun passage, which had already shrunk to half its size.
From behind us came Aoki’s agonized screams. His lower body was already completely submerged in lava.
But Renka, still cradled in my arms, looked down at Major Aoki with half-lidded, dreamy eyes and murmured with a faint smile,
She smiled softly, her face peaceful, and closed her eyes again.
Staring at that serene expression, I swallowed hard.
Even though she hated him, to react like this while her own fiancé was screaming in agony, his limbs severed and burning alive in lava…
She really is a terrifying girl…
With that thought, I left behind Aoki’s final death throes and carried Renka out of the collapsing magun.