No Trace Left Behind
The curse spat low to the ground scattered into the silence of the ruins. Rin's gaze relentlessly bored into the empty wreckage. What should have been there was gone. The core they'd been searching for from above had evaporated entirely. A hollow laugh escaped her in disbelief, only to sink into cold resolve. Rin lightly shook the blood from her fingertips and reached into the air. With a sharp crackle, a semi-transparent comm panel deployed in midair. A heavy silence flowed through the instantly connected line, but Rin didn't wait for the other side to speak first. Dropping her eyes to the ground, she opened her mouth.
Torn-apart corpses and crumbled debris. And the trail cutting straight through them abruptly ended. Not fading naturally, but as if a chunk of space had been carved out entirely. Not even a residue of mana remained. Rin's lips curved up ever so slightly.
The old voice pressed down like a weight, but Rin let out a short laugh.
"It'd be easier if it was a traitor."
She lightly nudged the blood-puddled ground with the toe of her shoe.
"He wouldn't leave traces like this."
Her gaze slowly swept the floor. From debris to wall, then her head tilted toward the distant vertical passage. Up there. The flows didn't connect physically. A whole section in the middle was empty.
"It's mana, sure..."
Rin's words hung in the air before trailing off.
"But the way it's handled is freakishly off. Rough, forced."
She exhaled shortly and narrowed her eyes.
"Yet the end result is nauseatingly clean."
Rin scanned the lingering afterechoes again. It wasn't a simple movement trace. The structure differed from any school of magic she knew.
Rin blinked slowly.
"Who knows."
She tilted her head slightly and propped her chin.
"If it's just some new magic, honestly, it'd be a bit disappointing."
Her gaze returned to the end of the vertical passage. An immense height.
"From this pit bottom straight up there in one go."
She lightly jabbed the air with a finger. The tension in Rin's shoulders, wound tight, loosened instead.
"Less like I missed it."
Her lips curled thin and sharp.
"And more like there was no middle process from the start. Like the space was sliced clean through."
Rin cut off the comm panel without waiting for headquarters' reply. The light faded with a crackle. In the darkness settling over the ruins, Rin stood motionless for a moment. Then her gaze dropped to her feet. Karin, plunged into the pool of blood. Still clinging faintly to life. Rin's brow furrowed ever so subtly.
"Ha..."
Exhaling with irritation, she approached. The toe of her shoe prodded the stiffening body. A twitch—pale muscles jerked unwillingly. Rin bent at the waist and roughly grabbed Karin's nape, yanking her up.
"Get up."
The limp body dangled powerlessly. Blood stench hit hard, but Rin ignored it.
"This is all because of you."
Rin's face drew close to Karin's ear.
"You started it. See it through."
Then she released her grip without hesitation. Thud. Karin's body slammed back to the floor with a dull sound. But Rin's gaze had already shifted from the fallen Karin. Her eyes flashed toward the debris pile where the Noshim should have been—the empty center.
"...Interesting."
Her coldly settled lips slowly curved into a smile. As Rin turned lightly, her silver hair brushed the dusty afterglow. Her unhesitating footsteps melted into the darkness and vanished.
The moment I cross the Light Boundary, my senses flip first. The clinging pressure lifts, and the weight bearing down from above vanishes in an instant. The air brushing between my scales feels strangely light. The sticky humidity clinging to me clears away. I pause for a moment and exhale long. It's not that the inside is empty. It's like a blocked airway suddenly opens, releasing everything at once. My body reacts first, thought following after.
I lift my head. My field of view opens wide. Different from below. Not enclosed structures—similar wreckage forms scattered at regular intervals, collapsed. Traces of human habitation, now just skeletal ruins.
Raising my gaze further, ashen sky comes into view. Layered artificial strata block the top, letting almost no light through. The entire vista feels crushed. But in one spot, a massive circular gap yawned wide. I stood within the beam of light pouring down from it. Artificial light falling on my scales spread a strange warmth. Warm. Not mere heat. The light seeped along the scales, flowing inward. The razor-edge tension I'd held eased for a split second. I don't bother digging into why. I just liked this warmth. Maybe because I'm wearing a reptilian body inside out.
It was the moment I brushed the thought aside briefly.
Screee—!
A tearing crack split the air. I whipped my head around reflexively. Incoming. Multiple at once. What looked like distant specks—metal lumps—traced straight lines, surging in an instant. Unhesitating killing intent aimed at me.
My body drops low to the ground first. Thinly spread Dao Force crumples and folds the space ahead. Shrinking Earth. Vision cuts then reconnects, position shifts. Without stopping, I step through the air repeatedly, widening the distance. But my extending senses rebound from an odd spot. More flows ahead. Unable to slow, I roughly veered direction. Encirclement? Weird. Not even minutes since surfacing. Perfectly cornered at this timing? Doesn't add up.
Then, the approaching metal masses split. The drones' trajectories veered subtly, not all aimed at me. Maintaining my path, I twisted my gaze to chase the flows' end. Amid the crumbling wreckage, one motion leaped into view. Immense speed, but flows utterly disrupted. Hugging the ground then repelled, extending then harshly bent. Definitely harboring vast power. But incomplete. Fatally skewed, madly pursuing like a cornered beast.
And an old face. A shriveled elder. Not just battle-worn. A visage gnawed by long years and madness. Red glint flashed within. Not both eyes. One socket crudely fitted with a metal prosthetic. The intact opposite eye blazed with bloodshot red madness. Before fully registering the form, the air around grew heavy with crushing pressure. Not refined mana. Like an engine on the verge of exploding, a cliff-edge old beast's killing intent.
The drones dared not cling to that eye, maintaining distance while herding. They'd targeted something else from the start; I'd just stumbled into their encirclement. I veered direction immediately. Can't go that way. Don't touch that thing now. Instinct drew the cold line before reason judged. Without hesitation, I extended Dao Force in the opposite direction. Folding space to fully escape that dangerous trajectory—
With all senses locked on the old man's ferocious intent, I noticed the subtle wrongness underfoot a beat late. Without warning, the solid ground sank deep. Even as I was sucked into the collapsing floor below, my reaction wasn't slow. Twisting my waist to regain balance, something poured down from all sides. Crunch! Whoosh! A net? Not ordinary metal wire—an energy bundle shimmering blue. Holding form in midair, it clung grotesquely along my scales on contact. Binding my whole body, forcibly restraining it.
I pulled Dao Force to its limit without delay. Fold space. Shrinking Earth. Vision flickered like a glitch. But it didn't reconnect. The folded space lost tension, rebounding, leaving my body snared in the net. Shrinking Earth blocked. A bizarre twist I'd never felt since reincarnation.
Not panicking, I thrashed, forcibly twisting scales to escape. Then, with a loud crackle, human voices erupted.
"Got it!!"
Not one or two. They'd surrounded from all sides. I craned my head up. Similar to the mercenaries in the tank, but qualitatively different. Thicker armor, far more mechanical implants embedded in bones. Perfect hunters, every step disciplined.
"...What the."
One approaching paused upon seeing me.
"Not a mage? What the hell's this contaminant freak..."
Seizing that instant's hesitation, I shoved Dao Force again. Fold space. Shrinking Earth.
...Blocked again. The net wasn't just squeezing along scales. Not physical restraint—this blocked space itself. Flows severed, space unconnected. I halted my thrashing for a split second. A very brief beat. Lowering my gaze, I examined the binding net. Not individual lines dancing. All intertwined, linked to one center. A core.
Vertical slit pupils rotated a pattern within. Dongshu. Invisible flows overlaid my vision. Amid the tangled energy, the densest clump sharpened into focus. I stabbed honed Dao Force at that knot. Snap. With a dull severing sensation, the pressure on my scales ebbed like receding tide. The block lifted. Without pause, I kicked off the ground and twisted my body. The binding light lines scattered into the air.
"What was that, just now—!"
Before the panicked voice finished, I'd already burrowed into the nearest one's embrace. Short distance. Tail tensed with Yokai Force whipped air first. Augmented weight and power slammed his chest. Horrific rupture exploded. Thick exoskeleton crumpled, bones shattering. His cannonball body bowled over the following pack like dominos. Without stopping, I launched at the next.
No thought of fleeing from the start. Not evading the encirclement. Rip and break through.