Song of Darkness and Lightning
Song of Darkness and Lightning
The city was weathering another disaster.
First a villain scattering bombs like chicken feed from the sky, then a battle between a giant robot and a hero.
And as if that wasn't enough, a new villain appeared.
A knight in black armor, wreathed in electricity.
It was Death Knight.
"..."
Death Knight's appearance itself was exactly the same as when Stardus faced him before.
Death Knight stood there with his helmet on and a huge greatsword gripped in both hands.
And the massive greatsword as tall as a person, held in one hand and resting on the ground.
All of that was the same as before, but there was one major difference.
You could say he was clad head to toe in visibly crackling electricity.
[Kehahahahahaha!!! Power is overflowing within my body!!!]
And that created a pretty significant difference compared to last time.
Death Knight swung his giant sword.
Electricity crackled across the greatsword just as it did across his body.
Rumble—
KABOOOOOM.
"...Haah."
Lightning bolts began to fall from the sky.
And Stardus dodged them, flying through the air.
[Kehahaha!!! How is it!!!]
"Death Knight! Start attacking now!!"
[Understood. Now, I shall get serious!]
Catching Stardus's punch on his greatsword, Death Knight twisted his body and swung the blade toward her.
[Hraat!]
Watching Death Knight charge at her with his giant greatsword, Stardus thought gloomily.
...I only wanted to see Egostic. Why did everything keep going like this today?
Swallowing a sigh, Stardus clenched her fist.
But why did this have to happen right then?
***
[Who's winning rn??]
[Seems pretty even lol]
[Death Knight is strong too, got even stronger with the electricity lol]
[The sparks flying every time he swings his sword look cool though lol]
[Wow but last time I saw Stardus she was fr strong, how are they holding up?]
[How they're holding up is it's basically Death Knight+Electra 2v1 against Stardus rn lol]
[Ah now that I look, Electra is shooting electricity from behind lol]
[Idk if I'm watching the news or a movie, why's it so flashy lol]
"Haah..."
[Kehahahaha!!! Is this it!!! Show me more!!!]
Watching Death Knight swing his sword as if dancing, Stardus acknowledged it.
He was strong. Far stronger than last time.
Stardus had grown considerably stronger since their last fight too. She had faced the Moonlight Priestess and the Moon Monster, and her abilities had evolved greatly.
Meaning, Death Knight was fighting that version of her on equal footing.
"..."
Watching Death Knight swing his greatsword while emitting electricity, Stardus mulled it over.
Unlike the last battle, when she had used the night to her advantage, the sun was still high.
Death Knight's entire body—or rather, his soul—was coursing with electricity, making him difficult to attack. Striking him was like punching a porcupine bristling with spines; even Stardus took damage whenever she landed a blow.
[Now, come!!! Don't run away like a coward, come at me!!!]
Every time he swung his sword, lightning bolts surged toward her.
Dodging them, Stardus racked her brain.
...Her stamina was already somewhat depleted from taking down that mechanical device called Star Breaker.
On top of that, with Death Knight appearing in an even stronger state, it was a pretty troublesome situation for her.
Death Knight's attacks, which were already quite strong, became even stronger with electricity flowing through them. He was even using ranged attacks by swinging his sword to call down lightning, making it hard to create distance and recover stamina for a moment.
And as mentioned before, with current flowing through his body, even attacking him had become quite awkward for her.
In other words, the fight could only drag on longer. Even if she didn't lose, it would take a considerable amount of time to take him down.
And that was the worst possible thing for Stardus, who wanted to face Egostic as soon as possible and confirm whether he was the man she had met on the beach.
"...Haah."
Turning her head to look, Egostic was currently floating far off to one side, filming this place with a camera. He was so far away she could barely see him.
In conclusion, the situation was turning very poorly for her.
[Kehahaha! Stardus, you too are nothing before this evolved power!!!]
Death Knight kept swinging his sword, bringing down lightning.
Right, that lightning. The electricity. That was the biggest difference between the old Death Knight and the current one.
If he didn't have that electrical ability—like last time—she could already have taken him down.
While thinking that, an idea suddenly flashed through her mind.
...If the problem was the electricity wreathing that armor and greatsword, wouldn't simply getting rid of it solve everything?
At the thought that crossed her mind, she flew through the sky and observed Death Knight carefully.
...Right. Something made of electricity was being fired into his back from far away. That was probably what had been supplying Death Knight with current all this time.
So if she deals with the one supplying that current, wouldn't this all be over?
Having made that judgment, Stardus shifted her gaze, which had been focused on Death Knight, elsewhere.
Precisely, toward the direction the current was being supplied, faintly connected to Death Knight's back like a charger cable.
"...Over there."
Muttering that shortly, she kicked off from midair and descended vertically downwards.
Precisely, toward the direction the current was being supplied to Death Knight.
[Hey!!! Where are you going!!!]
Ignoring Death Knight leaping up at her from below with his sword raised, she plunged down even faster toward—
"What the hell?!"
Electra, who was off to one side next to a building, sweating as she supplied current to Death Knight.
Seeing Stardus descending toward her at high speed, Electra looked clearly flustered. Watching Stardus shoot toward her like an arrow, she hastily spread something like an electric current magnetic field around her body and shouted at Stardus.
He sounded genuinely aggrieved.
Yelling as if feeling wronged, Electra hurriedly cut off the current supply to Death Knight and fought back as best she could against Stardus, shooting electricity in all directions.
But that wasn't much of a problem for Stardus, who had already succeeded in getting within attack range.
"...Ack."
Choi Se-hee had been knocked out cold by her one-hit strike.
[What cowardice! Fight me fair and square!]
Death Knight, who rushed over belatedly swinging his sword, was no longer a big problem since he had already lost his electricity ability.
[Kuaaak!!!]
Stardus squeezed out her last bit of strength and sent even Death Knight packing.
Having defeated everyone, she stood alone.
"Phew..."
She felt like she was going to collapse.
That was all she could think.
This was the first time she had ever faced villains three times in a row like this.
Her stamina drained much faster than expected, to the point where moving her body was difficult.
In other words, if another villain jumped out right now, she would be in real trouble.
"..."
From the way Egostic complained, it sounded as though he were the one being ganged up on.
But fortunately, no other villain seemed to be popping out.
Which meant.
Judging that the situation was more or less settled, Stardus looked up.
And there.
-Clap clap clap clap clap clap.
She saw Egostic up in the sky, looking down at her and clapping.
...Finally.
Right. Finally, she could see him.
Right, I finally see you.
Shin Ha-ru quickly summarized the situation.
She had definitely been together with a man presumed to be Egostic at the beach.
And at that moment, Egostic appeared in this city, far away from there. While she was with that man.
Since one person cannot be in two places at once, that meant one of the two was not Egostic.
Egostic hung in the air by some unknown method, wearing his familiar black cape and mask.
Because her gut feeling was almost certain that Dain, the man she saw at the beach, was Egostic.
Ultimately, if it could just be proven that the Egostic over there was a fake, it would confirm that Dain was Egostic.
And she could tell whether the one floating in the air was really Egostic just by facing him and having a conversation.
She was an Egostic expert.
Shin Ha-ru steeled herself and flew up toward Egostic.
"It's been a while, Stardus! You've gotten considerably stronger since last time. Impressive!"
Egostic smiled innocently and applauded her.
'...Huh?'
And seeing that Egostic, Shin Ha-ru's mind went blank for a moment.
'...That really does feel like Egostic.'
***
Barely made it.
Watching Stardus stare at me as if bewildered, I breathed an inward sigh of relief.
...While Death Knight and Electra bought me time, I barely managed to rush over and secretly swap with Eun-wol's illusion.
Of course, I did teleport in between, but that much was fine. Aside from the pain aching throughout my body...
"Haha. Stardus? Are you all right?"
Seeing Stardus clutch her head in confusion while looking at me, I just smiled as if I knew nothing.
"Hmm. Still, it must not have been easy? Haha! Fighting for so long must have given you a headache!"
"...."
Stardus clutched her head and looked at me resentfully. I flinched inwardly but kept smiling.
She gave me a slight glare.
Then she sighed and spoke.
"No, ha...."
"What's the matter?"
"...Hey."
"Yes?"
Suddenly dropping the formal speech, she then asked me directly.
"That was you, wasn't it?"
"...Excuse me?"
"The one who was with me earlier, it was you, right?"
"Cough. What do you mean? Were you dreaming?"
Egostic-Style Secret Art—
Playing dumb.
I tilted my head as though I'd no idea what she meant, as innocent as if I'd heard the most absurd thing in the world. I knew nothing. I knew nothing.
While doing so, I checked the broadcast. Right, I'd muted it long before, just in case. That meant I could say whatever I wanted.
"...No, earlier at the beach..."
As she pressured me, I instead shouted shamelessly. It's all about momentum, momentum.
"Stardus. Cough. What on earth are you talking about? Instead of fighting the archenemy you’re seeing for the first time in months, you’re spouting unrelated nonsense, cough, and it’s extremely bewildering. Is this how a hero should act?!"
"No..."
"Yes? Is this how a hero should act? Cough, tell me! Cough."
Riding the momentum, I yelled like that.
Go for broke. There was no other way.
But why am I coughing like this. At a crucial moment, tch.
At my sudden, reckless outburst, Stardus's expression stiffened.
"Hey..."
"Cough. What."
"You..."
She was speaking while looking at the lower part of my face.
Why was she acting like that? Had something gotten on me?
So I brought my hand to my face.
And seeing what was on it.
"...Blood?"
A trickle of blood was running from the corner of my mouth down my chin.
Why now?
This was driving me insane.