When the Sword Is Wrapped in Light (2)
Kristin and the search party were racing across the wasteland. Strangely, the swarms of monsters that had been ambushing them never appeared once they began their desperate sprint toward the scene. That fact only made Kristin more uneasy. Her heart was pounding wildly. It felt as if something irreversible would happen if she didn’t run with everything she had, right now, at full strength.
From somewhere in the distance, a monster’s shriek echoed across the wasteland. The cry that had once threatened its prey had now twisted into a howl of agony.
“...Doesn’t the cry sound different now?” one of the No Man’s Land soldiers asked while running.
Paola nodded. “It sounds like it’s in pain.”
“...Could it be other monsters?”
Paola shook her head. “No, absolutely not. What kind of monster could inflict a painful wound on a giant Deathworm that burrows through solid rock? At least, none of the creatures I’ve faced since being stationed here could manage it. Even if they were hauled here in carts, they wouldn’t pose any threat to a Deathworm.”
“Then that would mean...”
Paola’s eyes sharpened. “...I can’t be certain yet. So we need to run faster.”
She picked up her pace. “Vice Commander, we may need to prepare for combat.”
Although Paola was in overall command of the search party, she was technically subordinate to Kristin. Kristin nodded. She was already gathering light into her hands.
After confirming Kristin’s intent, Paola raised her mace. The silver mace, stained with blood, gleamed as it caught the sunlight.
“All personnel, prepare for battle.”
The knights drew their weapons. The clash of steel rang out across the wasteland.
“Our priority is not killing monsters, but rescuing lives. And above even that is protecting your own lives.”
Paola seemed accustomed to commanding troops. Even without flaunting authority, her voice carried a natural weight of command.
“Move out.”
After crossing several high and low hills, the search party reached a gentler slope. Kristin looked down at her feet. Cracks ran through the dried, hardened ground. Gravel crunched beneath her boots.
“The ground is shaking...” Kristin murmured.
“Yes,” Paola answered curtly.
Once again, a monster’s cry rang out.
Kiiiiiiik—!
When that death rattle reached them, the search party caught sight of the massive Deathworm at the edge of their vision.
“Holy shit...”
The Deathworm writhed and rolled, its body rising and falling like a small hill gone mad. The wasteland trembled as if struck by an earthquake. Clouds of dust surged like a tidal wave. In a place where the wind never blew, the dust swelled like ocean waves, spreading in every direction.
Kristin narrowed her eyes, peering through the haze. At first glance, it looked as though the Deathworm was thrashing alone. The ground beneath it caved in and split apart, and massive boulders were hurled high into the sky.
But above it. The faint presence she was beginning to sense made Kristin’s eyes widen gradually. Tears of relief welled up as she clutched her chest, yet the realization that Maxim was fighting filled her with fresh anxiety.
The squad members stirred.
“Is someone riding on top of it?”
“Are they fighting?”
“Who is it? The Commander? Whoever it is, they’re alive.”
Paola frowned. It seemed she had recognized the figure atop the Deathworm.
“It’s Maxim. I don’t know why he’s up there, though.”
Kristin’s pupils trembled. “Where… where is the Commander?”
“Since Maxim is alive, the Commander must be too. Don’t worry.”
“No, that’s not what I mean.” Kristin shook her head fiercely. “Why isn’t the Commander the one fighting?”
“...That’s true.”
But that wasn’t the question she meant. Kristin bit her lip hard. If things continued like this… The aura felt dangerously unstable.
Please, Senior. I told you not to overdo it.
Through the swirling dust kicked up by the Deathworm’s thrashing, a brilliant cluster of light began to gather. Kristin’s steps grew frantic.
No.
“What is that light?”
“It looks like aura, but it’s not the Commander’s…”
No.
The dust began to settle. No—it seemed to be drawn in and swallowed by the aura radiating from that light.
Paola let out a small gasp as she watched Maxim form his aura.
“Golden. That’s not common.”
The aura rose from its roots. Particles swirling around it sparkled like stars, enveloping Maxim. The sight was like gazing at a night sky that had not yet turned completely black.
Kristin’s eyes trembled. The light gathered in her hands grew even brighter.
“Senior…!”
Light bloomed in the distance. The spreading radiance coalesced into a clear shape along Maxim’s blade and settled there. It took the form of a straight, glowing tree trunk.
Ah.
Kristin reached out weakly. On top of the Deathworm, Maxim gripped his sword and spun his body with great force. Kristin’s hand trembled in the air. From her pale fingertips, a massive full moon rose above the battlefield where a life-or-death struggle raged.
The full moon illuminated the wasteland brightly. A powerful sword wind swept through.
Paola, running at the front, suddenly stopped in her tracks.
“...Incredible.”
Following Paola’s exclamation, the squad members’ belated reactions poured in one after another.
“What the hell is that…”
“There was someone in the knight order who could use aura like that?”
The sight left the squad members overwhelmed, rooted to the spot. But Kristin alone did not stop running. She had to go faster. She had to hurry.
The Deathworm’s massive corpse was collapsing. Its body, sliced cleanly in half by the full moon, crashed to the ground. Maxim stood resolutely atop it.
Kristin ran toward him.
“Senior—!”
She drew closer. That precarious figure was swaying. Moisture filled Kristin’s voice.
No. Please.
Even when Kristin reached him, Maxim remained standing, refusing to collapse. The sword was still gripped in his hand. The golden aura was fading like a setting moon. The rising aura melted into the sky above.
It’s still okay. It’ll be okay.
The ground where Maxim had fought was a wreck. Beneath the completely collapsed earth, the Deathworm lay dead, severed in two. Without hesitation, Kristin leaped into the ruins. She stepped on the Deathworm’s corpse and approached Maxim, who stood there as if dead.
The moment Kristin reached him from behind, Maxim’s body collapsed like a broken puppet. Kristin hurriedly caught his falling form.
Maxim’s condition was so poor that it was a miracle he was still alive. His left arm was exposed where the armor had shattered, blood streaming freely. His entire suit of armor was twisted and deformed in places. The rib area in particular was so deeply caved in that it was likely broken. Scratches and cuts covered him so extensively that counting them was meaningless.
But the most serious injury was the internal damage caused by the curse. Healing light gathered in Kristin’s hands. She squeezed out every drop of mana she possessed and poured the magic into Maxim’s body.
“Senior…”
Blood flowed from Maxim’s mouth. Kristin checked his pulse and breathing. He was still breathing. She turned his head so that blood would not block his airway. Blood trickled down his cheek.
Kristin sensed someone approaching from behind. Theodora stood there, holding an unfired signal flare in one hand. Her limping leg appeared to be badly broken. Theodora’s face was deathly pale. The hand holding the flare trembled violently. She reached out toward Maxim with her other hand.
Slowly, Theodora’s hand approached. But to Kristin, the fact that Theodora was injured, that she stood there pale as a lost child with shaking hands, was no excuse at all.
Slap.
Kristin struck Theodora’s hand away. With eyes swirling with rage, resentment, and sorrow, Kristin glared at her.
“...Don’t touch him.”
Kristin’s voice was shaking. Theodora staggered backward. Kristin remembered. She remembered Theodora’s cold, heartless attitude. The hatred she had shown toward Maxim. And how that hatred had nearly put Maxim in mortal danger. And yet, unable to let go of her lingering feelings for him, she had continued to hover around him endlessly.
Kristin bit her lip until it bled. A metallic smell filled her nostrils. And Maxim had collapsed here, in this very spot. All because he had tried to protect his ex-girlfriend until the very end.
“You don’t have the right.”
Kristin rose, supporting Maxim. The unconscious Maxim’s feet dragged across the ground like a sack. Behind them, the belatedly arriving search party reached Theodora.
Paola helped support the weight of Maxim, whom Kristin was carrying.
Kristin carried Maxim away. With every step she took, the fallen Maxim moved farther into the distance.
Theodora stood frozen, as if struck in the head by a hammer. She could not process everything that had happened in the span of mere minutes. The sharp sting where Kristin had slapped her hand away hurt. No—that sensation alone told her that the nightmare she was in was reality.
Maxim had collapsed. He had collapsed while coughing up blood. It hadn’t even been from fighting the monster. There was no denying that the Deathworm was a terrifying opponent, but with Aura Blade, it was not an enemy that could not be defeated alone. If only Theodora’s body had been in proper condition, she could have sliced it apart with a single powerful technique.
Why? What had gone wrong?
They had fought well. There had been no direct hits. He had perfectly drawn out the creature’s frenzy and finished it cleanly.
The squad members crowded around Theodora. Her vision blurred. Normal thought was impossible. Her head was spinning. Theodora tried to walk forward, but her legs refused to obey. She staggered and collapsed forward.
Thud.
Even as she fell to her knees and braced herself against the ground, Theodora tried to crawl forward. Maxim had collapsed. That single scene replayed endlessly in her mind.
The sword dance that had risen like a full moon. The Deathworm’s body sliced into two pieces. And Maxim standing atop the collapsed corpse, looking at her with those empty, hollow eyes.
“Commander!”
“Commander, are you all right?”
“Someone help! Is there a stretcher?”
Theodora dragged her leg as she crawled. She wanted to say something. She wanted to call Maxim’s name. But her throat felt blocked, refusing to let any words escape.
Theodora gasped and choked. The lingering resonance of the aura that had hummed from Maxim’s sword echoed inside her head. Why, why, why, why, why.
The only word filling Theodora’s mind was a question. The image of Maxim collapsing, the dark, dead blood flowing from the corner of his mouth. Everything before her eyes was spinning. Theodora could no longer tell whether what she was touching was the ground or the sky. Her heart beat without consideration. Her breathing grew ragged.
Multiple footsteps approached the collapsed Theodora.
“...mander!”
“...Hurry! Bring a stretcher!”
The last thing Theodora saw was the world turning white before she crumpled completely.
Just before losing consciousness, she heard the words Kristin had left behind.
You don’t have the right.
Theodora closed her eyes weakly.
It was morning. Maxim shot upright like a man emerging from water, gasping violently.
“Cough—haah… haah…”
A fierce burning pain flared in his abdomen. Despite the momentum of sitting up, Maxim immediately fell back onto the bed.
“Ugh…!”
He clutched his solar plexus and let out a pained groan. The agony tormented him for a long, excruciating time. Alone on the bed, Maxim twisted and tore at the sheets until the pain finally subsided enough for him to regain his senses.
A bed. Maxim looked to both sides while breathing heavily. It appeared to be a medical ward. The infirmary in No Man’s Land, which he had visited once before. Maxim let out a sigh of relief and relaxed his body.
I was rescued.
Truly, when he had drawn the Aura Blade, he hadn’t been sure what would happen. Had Theodora managed to fire the signal flare and hold out?
Maxim guessed that must have been the case as he forced his still-uncomfortable body to sit up again.
“Damn it.”
It still hurt. Come to think of it, he had used it. The aura. Maxim stared down at his abdomen with a hollow feeling. The patient gown covered it, so he couldn’t see the wound, but he suspected it was quite serious.
When Maxim hesitated, grasping the hem of his gown to lift it, the door to the ward opened. He turned his head. Beyond the open door stood Kristin, her eyes brimming with unshed tears.