Night of Masks (5)
In the midst of the tense standoff, one of the opposing witches roughly scratched at her hair.
"They always dump the annoying jobs on me…"
A witch in gothic-punk style — black leather jacket, torn stockings, and heavy boots. Shoulder-length black hair streaked with red highlights, thick smoky makeup around her eyes. Her face was ice-cold, but her speech was rough as gravel.
"Hehe…"
The other wore a worn, tattered vintage dress and a shawl so coarse it was impossible to tell whether age had ruined it or it had been made that way from the start. Pale skin. Violet eyes.
And with them, two men who looked to be their contractors.
Compared to the eye-catching witches, the men could have passed for ordinary guys you might see walking down any street — yet the air they carried was anything but ordinary.
Yes. It was unmistakably the thick killing intent of murderers.
In the middle of the standoff, the gothic-punk witch looked back and forth between me and Gretchen.
"Honestly, I never thought you'd still be around, dropout Gretchen. The fact that you're still breathing means… either you've been damn lucky, or you've been hiding your real strength. Am I right?"
"…"
Gretchen gave no answer. Instead she readied herself to counter whatever came next. Across from us, the contractors scowled and started grumbling.
"Hey, Nox. How long are we supposed to wait?"
"I've got work tomorrow. We need to wrap this up early."
Right.
I was a college student — I could take a leave of absence if I had to. But for people with actual jobs, Witch's Time running from midnight to three in the morning had to be a serious burden.
So this standoff wouldn't last long.
"Construct."
Just as I'd expected.
"Soaring shadows, darkness that cradles blades, the black serpent coiled at our feet."
"Twisted souls, torn-out hearts, the cold silence coursing through the veins."
"Lantern that lights the night, pure-white silence, noble veil of dawn."
I had fought a total of two witches so far.
The first one had ended in an instant — no real fight to speak of.
But the second, against Kang Seonghun and Ceres, I'd been locked in a one-on-one with Seonghun, separated from the witches. I never got a proper look at a full magical duel between them.
So this was the first time I was facing a true mage battle head-on.
【Shadow Serpent】
A feast of magic erupted in an instant.
Behind me and Gretchen, the long shadows cast by the purple moonlight rippled all at once. Those writhing shadows twisted into grotesque shapes, transforming into something like black serpents that lunged straight for us.
【Brand of Ruin】
Ominous violet sigils bloomed in midair.
I had no idea what those unknown marks meant, but every instinct screamed that I must not let them touch me.
"Kh—!"
Shing!
I split the black serpents apart with Jack the Ripper's knife, its edge flickering with a pale silver flame. But that left me completely exposed to the violet sigils drifting through the air.
⟨ Barrier of the Galaxy ⟩
Gretchen's magic transformed her mana into the shape of a pale vermilion lantern. That lantern-light coiled around us like a shield, stopping the violet sigils from touching our bodies unchecked.
But the witches' magic wasn't the end of the assault.
Click— THUNK!!
"Gretchen! Get down!"
"Kyah…!"
An arrow loosed by the crossbow contractor streaked straight toward us. I shoved Gretchen aside at once.
And in that split second, a figure closed the distance on me with the full superhuman speed of a contractor.
The gauntlet contractor.
He came in with a boxer's stance and threw a jab without breaking stride.
"Kh—!"
"I used to be an amateur boxer for real. You're actually gonna die, kid."
"Feels like you've already killed one or two."
"Kahaha, that how I look?"
He laughed big and kept throwing punches in a relentless chain. If my body hadn't been reinforced by the contract, I'd already have taken half a dozen hits and been sprawled on the ground.
I clenched my teeth hard and swung Jack the Ripper's blade.
CLANG!!
My sword slammed into the metal gauntlet and stopped dead. But he still had one hand free.
"Your left's open!!"
"!"
THUD!!
A clean straight. My vision swam. And those thorough hunters did not miss the opening.
Whoosh— THUNK!!
An arrow punched clean through my left shoulder.
I didn't even have time to register the pain of the shaft buried in my flesh. The gauntlet contractor's steel fists followed in a merciless barrage, wrecking my body more thoroughly, more savagely, than anything Seonghun had ever done to me.
"Doyun!!"
Gretchen, the one I'd shoved clear of the arrow, tried desperately to chant a spell to help me — then snapped her gaze away as hostile mana came screaming toward her.
"You don't have time to look away, do you? Even if you've been hiding your power, can you really take both of us at once?"
"Hahahaha!! Gretchen! Gretchen!! Let's play like we used to? Come on, let's play, Gretchen!!!"
"!!"
"Construct."
Both witches declared their magic at the same time.
"Blackout of the world, abyss that swallows light, night's veil that screams in silence."
"Noise that gnaws the soul, binding screams, twisted puppet strings."
Black shadows surged upward.
Crimson puppet threads unfurled like razors.
Gretchen knew it at once. This was dangerous.
She glanced sideways.
There was Doyun, taking hit after hit without managing a proper counterattack.
Gretchen thought.
His movements were wrong. Completely different from the way he'd fought Ceres and her contractor the other night.
Awkward. Stiff. Unrefined.
He still couldn't properly control his power.
I have to use it…
A faint white flame flickered for a moment in her palm.
The pure-white sun that purified everything, that burned everything away…
"That is quite enough!!"
In that instant, someone's voice rang out across the battlefield.
"?"
"That man…"
The two witches mid-chant broke off their spells.
Only then did Gretchen turn her eyes as well.
There stood Professor Park Seongtae — the man she had been watching all this time — gasping for breath.
"Stop… this at once… hah… hah…"
Professor Park Seongtae kept panting, as if he had sprinted the entire way. At his sudden appearance, the gauntlet contractor who had been beating Doyun half to death and the contractor drawing his crossbow both froze and looked toward him.
"The hell? Who's this guy?"
"A contractor, obviously."
"I can tell that much."
An abrupt intrusion.
The battlefield ground to a halt because of it.
Nox studied Professor Park Seongtae for a moment, then turned away without a shred of lingering attachment.
"We're leaving. Malefica."
"Heh…? We're going back? Now?"
"Yeah. Our contractors need to enjoy their daylight hours too. Let's go, contractors."
"Do whatever you want."
Even as he said it, the gauntlet contractor shrugged, released Doyun from his left hand, and turned away.
"Boring~. We should head back too, right? Minwoo?"
"Haa… Fine."
Malefica looked at Gretchen with open regret, then called to her own contractor.
"You're just walking away?"
"Yeah. I don't feel like fighting you only to get stabbed in the back by some other witch. You got lucky, Gretchen. Your contractor doesn't look dead, so you'd better take a good look at him."
Gretchen clenched her teeth at Nox's mocking words. She glanced between the intruding Park Seongtae and the two retreating witches, then rushed to Doyun — who had been beaten into a bloody pulp.
"Doyun!! Are you all right?!"
"…"
"Are you okay, Doyun?!"
Once he confirmed the witches who had been fighting Gretchen were fully withdrawing, Professor Park Seongtae hurried over as well and checked Doyun's condition.
Beaten half to a pulp by those steel fists. He was still breathing, but only barely.
"We need to get him to a hospital—"
"It's still Witch's Time. No hospital is going to be functioning properly."
Gretchen gathered Doyun into her arms, then looked at Professor Park Seongtae with open wariness.
"Thank you for your help. But this is as far as it goes. I'll handle everything from here."
"…I see. Understood. That's only natural."
Raising both hands, Park Seongtae stepped back.
"My contracted witch and I will stand watch for any threats nearby. You'll allow us that much, won't you?"
"…Yes. All right."
Professor Park Seongtae withdrew completely and soon vanished from sight.
Only after confirming he was truly gone did Gretchen hurry back to the studio apartment.
"…"
He had been beaten unconscious.
Because she had been weak.
Because she had hesitated.
"Doyun."
No answer.
He had lost consciousness and sunk into deep sleep.
"Doyun."
She called his name again.
Of course there was no reply.
"Doyun…"
An alien color surfaced in Gretchen's blue eyes.
"Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun Doyun"
Like a broken doll, she kept calling his name over and over.
"I want you. I want your love. The Sun Witch, Walpurgis Night, this place Solaris, Sabbat — I don't care if they're shattered, if they burn, if they twist, if they all go wrong. Only you. You alone. You are my everything, my salvation. I am nothing but a single blade of grass, a single flower, a single moon that can only breathe when it receives the light called love from the sun that is you. So please. Look only at me. Even if you forget your enemies, your family, everything else entirely — look at me. Even if, at the end of it all, I meet my death at your hands, even if you trample me, even if you hate me — I will be happy. So Doyun, don't die. Your sorrow is my sorrow. Your pain is my pain. Your happiness is my happiness."
A pure-white flame flickered to life in Gretchen's hands.
"Everything I am exists for you alone."
And that flame slowly sank into Doyun, beginning to burn away his wounds.