Stop Playing Around! Get Up This Instant!
Dan Miryu felt something warm running down his forehead. One side of his vision was blotted out, but he had no spare moment to drag an arm across his face. Black flame kissed the edge of his throat.
The Saintess came on with a sword in one hand and a flail in the other — One Sword, One Flail, a pairing that refused to agree. It was inefficiency at its peak, and she did not care. Her true weapon was black flame without a shape.
He let the sword, bending like a whip, glance off his forearm, then took a single step to slip the arc it carved toward his back. The flail swung in from the outside; he knocked it inward and sent it back at her, and in that instant it became a net. There was no dodging this. The judgment was immediate. Dan Miryu stepped into the Saintess's embrace.
Black flame burned his body, and he paid it no mind. Wounds of that sort were already carved all over him. A dull impact — she kicked off to retreat, and he caught her arm and stopped her. The Saintess's dress crept up over his hand. Vicious pain screamed through his fingers, and still he did not let out a single groan. Before he did, he landed one more blow. A clean strike, driven from the hips, and his fist sank into her temple as if sucked in. The Saintess staggered.
"Is that all?"
Cold eyes. They seemed to ask whether this was truly the best he had.
"No!"
His fist cut the air. He knew the punches weren't landing clean — he had already thrown dozens more — and still he refused to surrender the opening.
The impact detonated. A superhuman grapple blew a crater into the earth, and from the point where the Saintess had been driven in, the ground split like a spider's web.
"Kh—"
Dan Miryu shook off the black flame clinging to his body.
"It doesn't come off so easily anymore..."
He frowned at the burn on his arm. The talisman Hong Yumin had given him was losing its power. He was still holding, but at this rate his whole body would turn to ash.
Black thorns erupted, hunting the gap in his breath. They shot up fast from the cracked ground, and Dan Miryu only just answered them.
Tap. Tap.
The Saintess rose, brushing the dust from her clothes.
"Is that all?"
"...And here I thought the hit had a decent feel to it."
Cold sweat ran down Dan Miryu's back. A good while had passed since the fight began. Phantom was still down. Hong Yumin was struggling alone against the eclipse, and he himself was the one holding the Saintess in place.
The Saintess's mouth curved into a crescent moon.
"What's the matter? Have you run out of strength?"
Black hair, eyes half-lidded, she was as beautiful as something painted. Decadent allure married to a Western loveliness that teased at the heart; something in that seductive air made her look like the ill-fated heroine of a tragedy. He would have been glad never to have seen it here.
Dan Miryu opened his mouth, meaning to buy time.
"Yes. Keep fighting a beauty like you, and the strength just won't come."
"Is that so? You do seem weaker than you were a moment ago."
That's because you keep getting stronger.
Dan Miryu swallowed the words. She wasn't even the hero of some boy's comic, and still she grew stronger in real time. How was a mere supporting player like him supposed to keep pace? The Saintess's once-clumsy technique climbed by leaps with every passing moment, until she hardly seemed the same person. She was being pushed back only because that surge had not yet climbed as high as Dan Miryu.
"Hahaha... This is rather shameful."
"Hmph."
The Saintess let out a little hum through her nose.
"Why won't you show me that disgusting light you showed before?"
"...What light?"
"Don't play dumb. The light the same color as your hair. Where has it gone?"
Dan Miryu offered a loose smile.
"Ah... That's a superpower of mine with a time limit, so I can't use it just now."
"Hmm..."
The Saintess's sword shot out in a straight line and grazed Dan Miryu's neck, if only lightly.
I nearly died.
"You lie poorly. That is no power a human can contain."
The black sword tapped his cheek.
"It is a power our great Eclipse God ought to purify and wield — not a demon like you."
"It's the truth."
Dan Miryu raised both hands.
"I don't know what you're talking about, but I'm innocent. That is my superpower."
"Haa... How low of me, exchanging words with a demon."
The Saintess's tone dropped.
"I'll simply kill you and look for it later."
As if to say she would indulge him no longer, her eyes caught fire with black flame.
"Well, now..."
Dan Miryu let out a hollow laugh. A black wave reared up into the sky, and the world in front of him went dark.
"Hss. I'm actually going to die."
This wasn't like Jeju. This time, he truly thought he would. Would it have been different if he'd still had the Stone of Resurrection? But give up, and it ended there.
"Huuu..."
He slowed his breath. His eyes sank deep, and he took hold of every muscle, reaching for the transcendent's world he had felt when he entered through the Stone of Resurrection. His body screamed. The bones in his arms felt as if they were snapping. Blood ran from his eyes.
A moment. Only the briefest moment would do. He was merely drawing out a sensation he already knew — not something he had met once or twice. He had trained it without number and fought to make it his own. All he had to do was bring that fruit to bear. He could not even be sure it would kill her. Even so, a transcendent's strike would land. It had to. He could not lean on the Stone of Resurrection forever.
The wave was within arm's reach. Breathe out like this, and it would swallow him. He trusted the talisman against his chest. Believing he would not die, he stepped forward. He let the breath go. The wave crashed down. He thrust out a foot, and the world was driven back.
With nothing but a human body, he leapt into a wave a god had sent down. His skin split. His eyes shattered. His blood flashed away to vapor, and even his muscle turned to ash — and still, in a rush of flame, he broke through.
He could see. He saw her.
The eyes of the Saintess, standing in her arrogance, flew wide. She must have felt the threat; she raised a barrier, but it was weaker than the wave at his back. Before a transcendent, a thing like that meant less than paper.
"Got you."
Spitting a mouthful of bloody phlegm, Dan Miryu grinned. The strike, loosed as if the roar did not exist, reached the god's apostle.
"......!!!"
Unable even to scream, the apostle was flung away and tumbled in an ugly sprawl. The sight of her clutching her stomach and groaning was not half bad. One step had carried him through the ordeal. One strike had reached her.
One step through adversity. One blow to reach the mark.
It was a tremendous feat.
"......With my teacher's help."
Dan Miryu smiled, pleased, and collapsed.
"You did well."
Hong Yumin came running, gasping for breath, and hurried to treat Dan Miryu, who was little more than a wreck.
"Endure a little longer. Once we return, you will be all right."
"......I'll be unconscious for a moment, then."
"Rest."
Dan Miryu's breathing evened out.
"You certainly don't do things halfway."
The Saintess spat blood.
"Your organs ought to have been ruined, and yet you've already recovered. Divine power is a troublesome thing."
"It is a god's blessing."
Hong Yumin sneered.
"A poor excuse for a god's blessing. Are you not ashamed, for an apostle of a god? Were I you, I would have died of shame with my face in the dishwater."
The grind of teeth came through clear.
"Playing at caution doesn't suit the likes of you. You were most yourself the first time I saw you. Force on clothes that do not fit, and all you manage is a wretched, sloppy fight."
"......Ha!"
The Saintess forced a laugh.
"Fine. I'll admit it. I fought like a damned fool."
Getting used to divine power — what a joke. Had she killed even one of them? Had she driven them without pause from start to finish? Even if a long battle handed her the victory, if she was beaten bloody and her enemies simply up and died, was that a win? It was mockery. It was humiliation.
"How am I to atone for a sin like this..."
When she returned, she would have to shut herself away in seclusion, or something of the sort. Stay like this, and the sheer injustice of it would give her a heart attack.
"Hoo."
Calm down. If she followed her heart, she wanted to smash that skull. But then she could not honor the souls of the faithful who had gone before her. She must not ruin the great cause over mere selfishness. Her opponent was only one person, in any case, and that one was worn to the bone from facing the eclipse.
"I'll take my time and play with you."
Humiliation? A disgraceful showing? Shame? Did those stand above Ilshikgyo? Above the Eclipse God? No.
Aurone. How long will you act like a child? Turn the past over, and look ahead. Do that, and no adversity that rises to bar you will be able to stop you.
"..."
Hong Yumin swallowed. This was bad. Dan Miryu had fallen, and her own strength was at its limit. The eclipse had swollen larger still, and the white sun was losing its light. A god's sanctuary was far stronger than she had expected.
Is the seal still not ready?
Step. Step. She heard the footsteps of an executioner bearing a black sword.
Damn it. What do I do...
The fallen Phantom caught her eye.
Phantom, you bastard. Get up. I'm telling you to fix the mess you started. You irresponsible wretch! If anyone can, it's you!
The Saintess glanced back. Phantom did not so much as stir.
"What a shame. Your prince on a white horse never appeared."
"He may be no prince on a white horse, but a plain old phantom thief has."
"...Huh?"
A rush of air, a crack of impact, and shards of stone leapt into the air. The crater gained one more imprint in the shape of a head.
"Beautifully done, Miss Hong Yumin. A desperate cry like that is exactly what calls me."
Phantom dusted off his hands.
"......You were angling for that, weren't you?"
Hong Yumin's cheeks flushed red. Phantom's mask rounded into a perfect circle.
"Yep."
"......You bastard!"
Her fist slammed into him.
"Ah, ah. Not the face. I've already done plenty of kissing with the volcano."
"Shut your mouth. I truly thought you were dead..."
Hong Yumin reached for his collar, then faltered as she looked at him.
"You...?"
"Now, now. Miss Hong Yumin, if you would step back."
Phantom turned his back.
"For now, I'll go on a little date with that adorable Saintess."
"Fine..."
Hong Yumin took Dan Miryu and withdrew to a distance. She drew the white sun back in. Phantom would not be bound by this space, so she had no need of it. The sun vanished, and the eclipse took the space for its own.
In the fading light, she watched Phantom stand face to face with the Saintess. Slowly, Hong Yumin opened her hand.
On the palm the light touched for the last time lay a shard of a broken mask.