Chapter 21: Momentarily Stunned
I snapped out of it late, my eyes flying wide. "Are you insane? Have you lost your mind? Do you even know where we are?!"
I bellowed, storming toward Kal in three strides. He flicked at his messed-up hair and expanded the magic circle even further.
"You're the crazy one. Were you planning to take these on alone?"
"It's way better than dragging in some huge risk!"
I snarled viciously, and he snorted in amusement. I was dying of worry that he'd get hurt, but he looked totally at ease—like I wanted to explode.
"It won't be a risk, so quit worrying."
"Damn it! Do you even realize how dangerous this is...!"
"Save the nagging for later. First, how about we deal with the monsters in front of us?"
Sweat dripped onto his grinning face. Only then did I notice his wrist trembling as he maintained the magic circle.
Grrrrr...Kraaaang!
The Deberas trapped in Kal's magic circle went berserk, clawing and biting to shatter it. The circle shuddered perilously.
'Damn it all...'
Part of me wanted to smack this stubborn frog of a guy, but now wasn't the time. Vowing to give him hell once this was over, I let out a sigh.
"Listen up! Those Deberas are already under someone's control, so mind domination won't work!"
"What?"
Kal frowned and tried a mind-control spell anyway—of course, it failed, and the magic circle only cracked further.
"Who the hell..."
"That's not important right now! Kal, I need your help with something besides mind control. Can you do fire magic?"
"I can."
I quickly explained to Kal, who looked strained holding the circle.
"Deberas are corpses, so they're weak to fire. The surest way to kill them is to inflict a big wound and shove embers inside to burn them from within. I'll climb that tree—once I wound a Debera, cast fire magic right into the gash. Can you do it?"
"...I'll try."
Kal nodded gravely. As the Deberas gnawed at the circle and his hand spasmed, I spoke slowly.
"You still have the Teleport Artifact, right?"
"...Yeah."
He hesitated, then sighed in answer. I gave him a faint smile.
"Promise me—if I get hurt and can't fight, you'll run."
"Don't be ridiculous...!"
"Don't argue with me!"
I glared at his protest. "If you don't promise, I'll knock you out and send you back by force!"
I couldn't run from danger. That was the life I'd chosen—facing threats head-on to protect people was the duty of the strong.
But Kal was the ducal heir. He had to survive this place to protect far more people in his own way.
"Promise you'll live."
Maybe it was selfish of me. For the first time in ages, someone had cracked open my heart—my other blood kin. I wanted him to live. As happily as possible. It was a new wish budding in my heart.
"...Damn it. Fine, I promise. So quit making that face!"
Our eyes locked as he faltered, then he roughly ruffled his hair and yelled. I sighed in relief, turned, and faced the magic beasts. The circle was nearly gnawed through.
"Dismiss it on three."
I felt his silent assent. I took a deep breath.
"Three."
I channeled mana from my whole body into my sword, gripping my trembling hand tighter. It felt like I'd lose something precious again. The Deberas' red eyes glared like flames ready to devour me and mine.
"Two."
I coated my body in mana for reinforcement. Kal swiftly climbed the tree behind me. But he wouldn't back down. Neither would I. I was a calamity too. My power was a calamity forged to protect what's precious from other calamities.
"One."
The circle shattered. The calamities surged free. The Deberas rushed like a massive hailstorm. Facing that colossal disaster, I thrust my black aura forward.
My sword sharpened most when guarding something.
Shiiik—!Kraaaak!
I repelled the charging pack with a gale of aura, slashing them one by one. My aura-clad blade shredded their rotten flesh. The stench numbed my nose; black blood and chunks splattered my body. Still, I didn't stop.
A hook-like claw raked my shoulder. My mana-shielded body took only a minor scratch. I severed the incoming forelimb, stabbed its torso, and dragged downward.
Kraaak!
Black blood sprayed everywhere. The Debera screamed. I signaled Kal.
"Now!"
"Ignite!"
A red magic circle flared over the wound, erupting in flames. Fire burrowed inside. The stench of burning rot swelled the flesh until the Debera exploded.
"Urk."
I heard Kal retching from the tree. He tried acting fine, but I could feel his aura wavering.
"Get it together! If you don't support me right, I'll die!"
I bellowed, scrubbing rotten flecks from my cheek. I wished I could go comfort him. But I couldn't. He'd chosen to stay—he had to own that choice.
"I won't let you die!"
Kal shouted, voice thick with fury. I chuckled despite myself—then gripped my sword as more Deberas swarmed.
Someone I'd fought with once said something like that.
'Your sword's got nothing. No rules, no finesse... not even fancy knightly techniques. But it's weird—I can't look away when you swing it. It's like your sword screams that you're alive, body and soul. Like it's telling the world you exist. Unorthodox yet principled, simple yet heavy. Well, doesn't mean you're perfect. Defend for once, you idiot! Who fights like a lunatic, just brute-forcing attacks?!'
My stamina was abysmal compared to average Sword Masters. I'd swung my sword without proper training, so defense? No clue. I barely blocked lethal blows; most hits, I tanked with my body. Recovery was crap too—malnourished, sleepless days left no room for immunity.
What let me be called the Black Calamity Mir was endless offense.
Kraaaak!
Slash without cease. Even drenched in black blood and rot, I slashed on. Hook-claws scraped my skin, fangs sought my flesh—I never stopped. Under the creed that the best defense is offense, I'd swung to survive, to prove I lived. Everything that failed to kill me made me stronger.
"Damn it, Mir!"
One Debera's fang pierced my arm. Its saliva was a paralyzing venom; my arm stiffened rigid. Dizzy, I staggered—then jammed my sword into its maw and slashed upward. At least it was my left arm, not my sword arm.
"Ignite!"
Kal cast fire on four wounded Deberas at once. Maintaining multiple circles was supposed to be brutally hard, but he pulled off four. True genius.
'Elemental magic guzzles mana... gotta end this fast.'
Time to push harder. About ten Deberas left. Breathing ragged, I gripped my hilt sideways, blade horizontal.
"Kal! Can you hold them off for a bit?!"
"Thirty seconds! No more!"
"That's plenty!"
Exhausted as he was, Kal didn't question it and deployed a barrier circle. Strange geometric runes glowed in the air—enough to stall the frenzied Deberas.
As he desperately held them, I deep-breathed and gathered mana in the sky. Compress, compress again. I churned all my inner aura into one—a massive black sphere floated up.
Too grandiose for an "ultimate technique," but what else to call it? My deadliest move, made for one-vs-many.
"Kal! Drop the barrier!"
If it had a name, it'd be Black Gale.
The light faded; calamities charged. Sschwick.
I stood blade-up and cleaved the aura sphere between me and the Deberas without hesitation.
Roooar!Kaboom—!
Black wind engulfed the world. The compressed sphere burst along my blade's path, devouring the onrushing Deberas greedily. Deafening noise shook the earth; fierce gusts forced my eyes shut, then open.
"Hah..."
It was over. I sighed in relief, scrubbing black blood from my cheeks with my knuckles. Rotting flesh and burning meat reeked through me. Buried in corpses, nausea surged. I'd never wash this filth away.
'All dead for sure.'
Swallowing disgust, I checked the bodies—no survivors. Especially the last dozen: bisected, charred black by my aura, unrecognizable.
'That creepy aura's gone too.'
The shamanic curse from the original story, I guessed. I limped to Kal—one claw had nicked my leg muscle.
"Kal, you okay?"
Lounging on a thick branch, gasping, he nodded slowly.
"Not dead."
"How dead are you, then? Halfway? Half of half?"
He chuckled weakly at my limp joke. Limp himself, he mumbled with half-lidded eyes.
"...We survived."
"Both of us did."
Bodies wrecked, stinking of death—but alive. Feet on this frozen earth, eyes open under the sky.
'We survived this wasteland, just the two of us.'
To me, who'd survived a similar hell alone, it felt profoundly strange. Tears pricked; I scowled hard.
"I never knew... being alive felt like this."
Kal murmured. In any form, survival shone unbearably bright.
He stared long. Clutching my throbbing, poisoned left arm, I stared back. We'd survived on each other's backs—words weren't needed. Our eyes matched for ages.
Kal spoke slowly.
"I... can't climb down."
"Figures."
Grinning, I spread my arms under his branch.
"Jump. I'll catch you."
"Wasn't it your left arm that got bit?"
"I can handle your weight fine."
My recovery lagged average Sword Masters, but I was still one. Venom resistance had built long ago; my arm trembled, but Kal was no problem.
He blinked slowly, snorting.
"Then, with pleasure."
A soft whoosh, and I caught his falling body easily. He was half a head taller, so I crumpled him a bit to fit against me. Half-asleep yet fighting it, I whispered.
"It's okay to sleep."
"...Then... I will... a bit."
No protests—he must've been beat. He slurred, eyes drifting shut. Lips twitching, he mumbled.
"Us... after this... friends..." Thud.
Sleep overtook him mid-sentence, head lolling.
'...Friends.'
Gazing at his moonlit face, I smiled softly and pressed my lips to his smooth forehead.
"Sweet dreams, my dear Kal."
To me, he was already more than a friend.