How Did You...!
The blip on the cracked monitor was closing in fast.
The foot of the mountain. The descent path. And the spot where we were standing.
"...Oh."
The time it took to skip from one coordinate to the next was getting shorter and shorter.
"Jihyeon unni. Which way is that thing heading right now?"
"...Down. Toward the descent path."
Down. We were about to head down ourselves.
"......"
The thing that had been following me was now walking ahead.
There was something I needed to check first. I took three steps toward the car.
The red blip on the monitor didn't follow. It was already blinking red out in front of me.
"......"
You can run from something that's chasing you. You can't dodge something that's waiting up ahead.
A crack split the ground beneath the road. There was no sound. A single straight line raced across the dirt, just a little faster than a person's stride.
I looked at where the line was headed.
The barbed-wire gate. The single passage through the fence that wrapped the entire mountain — the only way in or out.
It's trying to pen us in. Wreck that path so we can't get out.
"Jihyeon unni. This thing's planning to block the road."
"...What do you think we should do?"
"We stop it from blocking the road. Fight a blockade with a blockade. A so-called... blockade-blockade?"
Jihyeon just stared at me.
Three seconds from clicking her pen shut to picking up the radio.
"This is the Saetbyeol Guild secretary. Requesting that the earlier evacuation order be reinstat—"
The transmission never finished.
The ground started heaving like a wave.
RRRRMMMBLE—!
I hurriedly pulled a wooden sword from the cart.
A thing with no edge. A stick, if you were being generous.
"...Sorry, pal."
Making a bladeless thing do this... I'd become a pretty sorry master myself. But today, this was the only one I could count on.
"Byeori. Why are you taking that out?"
It was Nayeon. Given the situation, her voice — usually so high-energy — sat lower than usual.
"S-self-defense! Just grabbing it just in case...!"
"Self-defense is for protecting yourself when you have no other choice. You know that, right?"
"I know. And I know that's right now."
Nayeon's face went tight.
"...Ten steps. I'll stay within that."
It wasn't a lie. I just hadn't specified how long a step was.
Nayeon bit down hard on her lip, then let it go with a sigh.
"...Don't leave my sight. Please."
I nodded and ran, wooden sword in hand.
I gripped the hilt with both hands and calmly swept through my own body. There were five. One for each hand I'd passed through, in order.
Style 1. Channel blue lightning sword qi the way Rina used to when she wielded me. But channel it... and stick it where? The enemy wasn't even visible. It was underground.
Style 2. A heavy downward smash that crushed with raw force. Use that brainless technique and the road under my feet would split first. What, smash the passage myself so it doesn't have to?
Style 3. A horizontal slash thin as a sheet of paper. No body to cut. Pass.
Style 4... Flood the blade with sword qi until it glowed like a white-hot bulb. Yeah, this wooden sword would shatter first.
Last, Style 5. A needle-like thrust that bored into a single point. It'd reach underground, sure. But what good was stabbing with an empty needle?
"Nnnngh...!"
The middle three were out. That left the first and the last. Of course, those two had their own problems...
"...!"
Put it this way: Style 1 had the cargo but nowhere to send it. Style 5 had the address but nothing to deliver.
So what if I just... combined the two?
The thought alone made me swallow hard. I asked my body. You okay with this? Can you do it?
It wasn't a strike listed on the status window, but...
"Gotta try even if I can't!"
The splitting line was twenty steps from the threshold. It was the kind of thing that ran ahead of wherever I was going...
"This way!"
I threw myself to the right, like I was about to bolt that way. There it was. The line veered right, like it was determined to get there first.
"Got y—"
There was no thud. It was quiet under the dirt.
It hadn't fallen for it. It had stopped. Stopped trying to guess where I'd go.
Which left... only one option.
"The ground I'm standing on right n—"
The instant the words left my mouth, the ground under the foot I'd been about to plant split open. Silently. Just wide enough to swallow me whole.
Dark. How deep did this thing go?
I barely managed to plant my other foot beside it.
"...!"
Holy shit that actually scared me.
My mouth fell open, but all that came out was air. Having a half-wrecked throat was a blessing for once. I'd almost shrieked like some little girl.
"Hah... hh..."
A chill bloomed through my chest. The same ache that had surged that day, when I'd nearly been sucked into a rift.
Thud. An impact, furious, like it was pissed its last trick had missed.
This wasn't a knock anymore. The door was already swinging open. And the feeling coming through from the other side...
come back...
Come back.
"...Come back?"
Oh, give me a break.
"Why are you so clingy! That type is not popular!"
I don't want to. I have a place I belong now, okay?
I'll give you an answer, though. You started this by getting violent. So I'll answer the same way.
The right hand gripping the wooden sword moved. A thrusting trajectory — short, no wasted motion, the tip boring through a single point.
Tssss—
And I laid sword qi along that path. Blue lightning. A bolt of thunder nested in a wooden sword that didn't even have an edge.
CRACKLE—!
More. A little more. Sorry, wooden-sword pal, but I need this to cover every inch of you.
The crack that hadn't closed yet. The strike I drove in without hesitation sent blue lightning pouring through it.
Sword Strike Fusion
Style 1 (Rina's Lightning) × Style 5 (Thrust)
Thud—
The same way it had been shaking the earth. This time the impact came from down deep — from its own nest.
The dirt sealed shut as silently as it had opened. Like a sea anemone, dancing in the current, yanking its tentacles back the instant you poke it.
"That... actually worked?"
The line racing toward the threshold stopped dead. And with it — crack. A sound from inside my hand. I looked down. A huge split ran through the wooden sword.
"...Sorry. Didn't mean to hurt you."
I stroked the hilt, and a faint warmth answered. Don't be sorry, maybe. There was something that almost felt like it was enjoying itself, too.
"Haaah."
Anyway, this guy was done. I couldn't use it anymore. Push it any further and it'd actually break.
Fwoom—
A blue status window popped up without me even calling it.
Unlock Condition:—
Sword Strike Fusion, partially unlocked. ...And why was the unlock-condition field blank?
"...Mhehe."
A laugh slipped out anyway. Because what I'd just done wasn't a strike I'd learned from someone else's hands. I hadn't invented it from scratch, sure — but I'd combined two styles into a strike that hadn't existed before.
...In other words: not someone else's strike. Mine.
"I should at least give it a nam—"
BOOM!!
...Not the time.
The dirt started splitting open again, like it had shaken off the last hit. Was it angry? Was playtime over?
This time it wasn't the same size. And it wasn't the same slow pace as before.
Thud. Thud-thud. Thud-thud-thud-thud—!
Wild. Random. Like kids throwing a tantrum on the floor of a grocery store snack aisle...!
"Ugh, shut up!"
Guess it really didn't like my answer? Well, I wasn't about to back do—
That was when light surged up from the cracks in the ground. It wasn't a strong light. It only bloomed down in the gaps, so from outside it just looked like the dust had gotten a little brighter.
"What are you try—"
I didn't finish the sentence. I'd barely glanced into the crack before I frantically called up Style 2. I laid sword qi over the half-broken wooden sword, and the blue lightning surging up from below—
CRACK-SHINK!
I managed to deflect it, but my wrist rang like a struck bell.
"W-what the hell is this."
What had come flying out of the ground...
Style 1. Rina's blue lightning.
Then, from the crack right next to it — the sword-light of Style 3.
"Hwek?!"
I rolled forward to dodge. A split second later, Style 4's sword-light slammed into the spot I'd just been standing.
"What even are you! How did you...!"
Instead of an answer, my feet slid across the dirt.
"Heuk!"
I landed hard on my ass, and the split crack started dragging me in. I tried to brace with the wooden sword against the ground, but...
CRACK—!
The thing that had been holding on so hard for me finally snapped in two. The blade half went flying. All I had left in my hand was the handle. The crack seemed to notice I was defenseless — the pull got stronger.
"Masteeeer!!"
I called out with a voice that had already gone hoarse. I didn't need to look back. The Nayeon I knew would already be running. I knew she'd been watching the whole time, even in a situation this dangerous.
"Byeori!"
Light wrapped around me.
Grab. A hand that had timed it perfectly snatched my hilt out of midair.
Nayeon was a Hunter in her own right. She'd put in the hours as Saetbyeol Guild's only Hunter, and she immediately hopped clear of the crumbling ground.
...A kind, warm hand. But clumsy. She wasn't someone who held a sword, after all. The grip, the stance — all of it was amateur hour.
Which meant the share I had to carry was bigger — and that share would land on her body as strain.
"Whoaah?!"
Like taking her hand and pulling her this way, come on. I guided her hand and deflected the white-hot sword-light screaming toward us. I hadn't even blocked it — just redirected — and her wrist still buckled.
...It had to hurt like hell, but the hand clenched around me didn't waver. Better than last time. She didn't even close her eyes.
"Byeori! Don't let go of unni's hand!"
Like I'd let go. You're the one who better not let go of me.
I answered with a single hum of vibration.
"Where— where should I look? What do I do?"
That was a hard question. I didn't have a clue what to do either. The enemy was hidden in the ground, invisible, and if I passed her power it'd strain her body...
While I was thinking, a huge chunk of rock came flying from the last impact. No time to think it through. No time to modulate the power. I reflexively wrapped us in blue sword qi and pulled out Style 1.
...Except.
CRACK—!
Last time, even a fraction of my power had dropped Nayeon the second we punched through the entrance. This time she smashed the rock aside with a pretty serious amount of force and was... fine. Her stance didn't collapse. Her wrist didn't shatter.
...Why?
This sword qi was stable, sure. Rina's style was the type that used as little force as possible to begin with. No waste. Clean, economical motion. But that couldn't be the only reason. If it were, she wouldn't have taken any strain last time either.
I had a hypothesis. Because I knew her name now? Because from the chat window to this moment, I'd come to understand a little more of that person's true feelings?
I'd figure out the why later. What mattered now: using Rina's style put less strain on Nayeon.
Hum—
Nayeon ran with my vibration. Good. Running was Nayeon's job. Guiding her along the right sword-path was mine.
BOOM!
I caught the second sword-light at an angle. The blade rang numb, and the deflected light tore up the empty dirt. Gravel pattered down behind Nayeon's back.
Style 3. Style 4. My former owners' strikes, pouring down one after another.
I set the tip against them and turned their path. I stabbed the gaps in their qi and broke their shape. I smashed down with greater force and erased them.
Crack— CRACKLE—!
A nearby dirt wall split. Innocent cars got scorched by lightning flying every which way. But our rhythm still wasn't perfect. In the gap where Nayeon's feet and my swordsmanship fell out of sync—
Rear left. Nayeon's blind spot.
Hum!
"Behind?!"
The sword-light that grazed the back of Nayeon's neck punched into a boulder and exploded with a roar.
Huh. So now it was going to ambush us from both sides?
Hum. Huummm.
"Right!"
Hum! HUUUM!!
"...Left! Right? Ah, left!"
Nayeon threw herself. The sword-light that followed slammed exactly where her foot had been. I twisted the blade and drew the blue sword qi out as long as it would go.
CLANG!
The shock rang all the way to her shoulder, not just the wrist. It was only because it was me that the impact dispersed. Any other sword and Nayeon's shoulder would've been wrecked.
While Nayeon staggered, a force yanked at us, opportunistic, going for the opening.
"Eut?!"
All of me. I felt the hilt start to slip from her palm. Just as I thought I was going to come free, Nayeon's eyes flew wide and she grabbed on with both hands.
"I'm not losing you."
Through clenched teeth.
As if in answer, the trajectory coming out of the ground changed. Thin. Straight. Fast.
Hey! Stealing Style 5 is cheating! That's the one I learned by getting split in half!
I forced Nayeon's hand down — she was about to take it head-on without knowing a thing.
"Byeori?!"
You don't take that one. It isn't the kind of thing you can take even if you try. So...
I yanked Nayeon's hand hard to the side. A sound like tearing wind by her ear. A flash grazed Nayeon's cheek and punched into the dirt. Steam curled up from where it had landed.
"Hweeeek?!"
...Cold sweat later. No need to tense up. If everything that thing was using was my own strikes, countering them wasn't hard.
The problem was that it wasn't Nayeon's wrist giving out anymore. It was my own body. Even an Ego Sword doesn't have infinite sword qi. I'd been laying it on her over and over, and the bottom was starting to show.
I couldn't keep this up long. Find a way to end it.
Before the next sword-light came, Nayeon's feet moved first. I hadn't guided her. That was her own call.
"Uwaah?! I-I slipped—"
The ground split in front and behind at the same time. Sword-light surged from both cracks at once.
"Kyaaak?!"
HUM!!
I know this looks insane, but trust me and spin!
Even with sword-light screaming in, Nayeon gave a tiny nod and spun like a top. I caught the one in front and flowed it behind, then used the same rotation to sweep the one in back.
BOOM, CLANG!
The two sounds stacked, crack-crack! It must not have expected even that to get stopped. Beyond the thick dust, the two cracks went quiet for a moment.
Ha. How about that. This is what an Ego Sword can do.
The rhythm of the incoming strikes got faster and faster. The faster it got, the sloppier. Easier and easier to read. It started using the same move twice in a row. The finish was falling apart. The power was pathetic.
And then.
Rrrumble—
The ground below started to heave. So it figured nothing was working and switched to a tantrum pattern. Going to dump everything into one last shot, huh.
Want to go force versus force? No reason to play along with a fight that pointless.
I cooled my head. Every hand that had passed through me. The hand that carved thrusting into me. The hand that taught me how to load sword qi. Those hands left me behind. But they left their swordsmanship behind, too.
Just like before. Lay the qi on a thrusting path. Straight into the center of the crack.
Thud—
Blue lightning, driven into the gap. A beat of silence.
KRA-BOOM—!
Sword qi detonated underground in a burst of blinding light.
Thud... Thud......
The vibrations it had been throwing were dying down. The rhythm was almost like a kid sniffling after a beating...
No. What kind of delusion was I projecting onto a crack in the ground.
At last the crack slid shut. And just before it sealed completely, something popped out of the gap and rolled across the dirt.
I could see the cross-section lying on the soil. A scrap of metal. A half-blade in a color I knew too well.
That's... me?
No, no. Saying it like that sounds weird.
That's my other half?
Okay, that also sounds kind of...
Fwoom—!
Anyway. From Ego Sword Byeori, back to Kang Byeori, Saetbyeol Guild's youngest.
The light wrapping my body faded, and as I settled onto the dirt, Nayeon draped her jacket over me.
"Byeori?! What's wrong, does it hurt?!"
I couldn't answer. I couldn't take my eyes off the half-blade on the ground.
...And because of that, I noticed far too late.
A glance. One person, standing where I looked back.
Why hadn't I thought of it. If you raise this much hell for this long, of course someone on this mountain would notice.
Rina was standing there. Her sword hilt clenched so tight the tendons stood out on the back of her hand.
Her eyes weren't on me. The half-blade on the dirt. They went there first. Then, very slowly, they came up. Toward me. Toward the me who had gone from sword back to person.
Our eyes met.
"......"
Ah. I'm so screwed.