Ladders and Lies

On top of the fortress wall, the werewolf Canis and Dick faced off.

She glared at Dick as she dropped into a fighting stance.

He's a Kizen student, same as me. Maybe I should just fall back and let the ordinary soldiers handle the slaughter?

For a moment she actually considered it, but soon Canis shook her head.

Whatever else happened, this war would be decided by the thirty necromancers wielding Jet-Black. Taking down an enemy commander—the enemy's Kizen student—was worth far more to the tide of battle than burning Jet-Black on cutting down nameless grunts.

Besides, that smirking bastard knows who I am.

If she let him go, everything about her—including her bluffs—would be in the defenders' hands. She decided to fight.

...Though what is that supposed to be?

As much as she wanted to simply charge in, the metal cases sitting on either side of Dick made her deeply uneasy. They had a sleek metallic finish, and the way the wall's floor had cracked under them suggested they were heavy.

Canis had no way of knowing what kind of equipment they were. She'd never seen a necromancer wield a weapon like that.

"Well then."

Dick, having watched her hesitate, placed his palms on the two metal cases.

"I'm coming at you first!"

As Dick's Jet-Black flowed into the metal cases, they flashed to life as if someone had flipped a power switch. A moment later, an engine began to hum and the machines whirred ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠into operation.

[!]

She jerked her head back. Something had brushed past her face, and when she turned to look, a tiny spark was streaking away in a line like a flash of light.

"Oh, you reacted to that! Is that some kind of wild animal instinct?"

Dick said this while pouring more Jet-Black into the cases. Holes clattered open along their sides, and from within them, a deluge of sparks came pouring out.

[Kgh!]

Canis spun around and sprinted along the wall, the swarm of sparks chasing hot on her heels.

What is that thing? A curse?

She couldn't tell what the technique actually was, but nothing about it looked like it would be pleasant to take head-on.

Weaving between the shots with the natural flexibility of a werewolf, she channeled Jet-Black into her claws and swung them in a wide arc.

Clang! The spark that struck her claws ricocheted away.

Good—Jet-Black can break through them after all!

"Hm."

Dick furrowed his brow as though the effort was starting to weigh on him, then drew out even more sparks from the metal cases and fired them off.

The pattern held: Dick pressing the assault, Canis slipping away. Their dazzling duel was so ferocious that the beastfolk army didn't even dare think of interfering.

Good.

But as the seconds ticked by, the flow of battle began to shift. Canis was dodging masterfully, and now it was the attacker, Dick, who seemed to be flagging, his breath coming ragged.

Naturally—firing off that many at once had to be draining his Jet-Black reserves badly.

With room to breathe, Canis drew a curse sigil across her palm.

I'll land the Howling and finish this in one blow.

She completed the curse in a flash. Then, breaking from her long retreat, Canis charged straight at Dick, pressing the sigil on her palm up close to her mouth.

Awooooooo!

And she howled.

The wide-area curse that triggered through sound—Wolf Howling—spread out around her.

"Guh!"

"Kgh!"

The soldiers who had come to back Dick up went white-faced at the cry, stumbling backward or collapsing as the strength drained from their legs. Dick, too, had gone pale, his pupils trembling.

The perfect opening.

Slipping behind Dick with explosive speed, Canis barreled in on a straight line.

I won!

The instant her twin claws were about to pierce his back—

[!]

Dick twisted at the waist and dodged.

The man who should have been paralyzed by the Howling curse stepped lightly to the side, while it was Canis—her body pitched violently forward with the momentum of her lunge—who staggered.

Keeng!

Kiing!

A heartbeat later, her sword-like claws snapped tight against the metal cases with a clack!

[Wh-what is this thing?!]

She tried to wrench her arms free, but they didn't budge an inch. The weight of the metal cases meant that the harder she pulled, the more her claws felt like they would tear right off.

"Phew."

Dick rose from his spot with a smirk. He looked remarkably untouched.

[H-how did you dodge that? You were definitely caught in the Howling!]

"Hm? What was that you said?"

Dick said this as he pulled something like an earplug out of his ear.

"I'm guessing you're asking why the curse didn't hit me?"

Her mouth fell open.

[When did you—? There was no moment where you plugged your ears!]

"Ah, carrots. I had them in from the very start, obviously."

Dick had information on her. He knew her Metamorphosis, and he knew about the Wolf Howling she could use in that form.

"So what are the odds that someone like me picked a fight with you and didn't prepare for the Howling?"

[...Damn it all!]

Dick tucked the earplugs away inside his coat.

"Most of the gear I use in combat runs on Enchant—flicked on and off with power. These earplugs are the same. Once they're in your ears, you just channel a bit of Jet-Black through them and you get total soundproofing."

Snarling in frustration, she strained to pull her arms free, but her claws remained plastered to the metal cases, refusing to release.

Canis's claws were practically part of her body, and in werewolf form they held that shape. There was no retracting them and extending them anew.

Dick, naturally, knew this perfectly well too.

"And one more thing."

Dick raised a single finger.

"Those things that were flying at you like curses a minute ago? They had no effect whatsoever."

[...What?]

Just kidding, he might as well have said.

"Everyone's been through hell thanks to curses in the Duel Evaluations, right? So the moment anyone sees anything even resembling a curse, they panic and get paranoid. I played on that little bit of psychology, partly as a test. In reality, these metal cases are just magnets that run on Jet-Black."

A bluff.

And meticulous deception.

That was Dick's way of surviving at Kizen.

[So what?]

Even as she trembled with rage at having been played, she glared savagely at Dick.

[What exactly do you plan to do, leaving me like this?]

Forcing her to drop her transformation was Dick's endgame.

Her arms were out of commission, but she still had her legs. Her fangs. Her tail. If he came close to stab at her with that sword in his hand, she was confident she could manage something.

The muscles in her two legs coiled tight.

[Come and get me, if you dare!]

"Getting in close is scary~ I'm a coward, you see."

Dick pulled potion bottles out of his subspace and hurled them at her, one after another. Her entire body was soon soaked in a viscous liquid.

Something sweet-scented. Probably a poison potion, or a paralytic.

But Canis had sat through Professor Byeolya's classes too, and she trusted her resistances.

More pressing was the rattle of her claws. She could feel her magnetic hold weakening, little by little.

Perhaps a minute or so left on the effect. The one who gets careless is the one who loses—me.

Plop. Plop.

And the last thing Dick dropped at her feet was a hornet's nest. Her expression froze over, stone-cold.

[A beehive? You think you can take down a necromancer with that?]

Dick was already turning his back and walking away.

"Those hornets are a monster hybrid breed. Even if you wrap your body in Jet-Black, their stingers punch right through."

Dick raised both arms behind his head, then flicked his fingers with a tick.

"See you around."

BZZZZZZZZZT!

With a sound that crawled up the spine, swarms of hornets burst out of all three nests. Almost in the same instant, the magnetic grip ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠holding her claws to the metal cases weakened and released.

Yes!

Freed, she channeled Jet-Black through her legs to bolt— but the hornets were faster, swarming over every inch of her honey-glazed body.

Awoooooooo!

It hurt like mad!

It felt as though every single cell in her body was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠being stabbed by a thousand tiny needles. Screaming, Canis began to run.

But no matter how fast she ran, the hornets wouldn't shake loose, and even when she armored her hide in Jet-Black, their stingers bit deep into her skin.

[GYAAAAAAAAAH—!]

Maddened by the agony, she toppled off the fortress wall. She hit the ground with a crunch! face-first, and a moment later her Barrier Gauge bottomed out.

Her body dissolved away from the battlefield as though scattering into nothing.

"Muahaha! First kill is mine!"

Dick threw both arms up in celebration.

After Dick took down Canis, the situation on the fortress wall began to settle, like a dying fire catching and spreading anew.

"Come on, move out!"

With Dick at the lead, the soldiers rallied and began pushing the Khan Kingdom troops back off the wall. Whenever Dick ran an Enchant over a soldier's armor and weapons, just about anyone could hold their own as an elite trooper.

And then—

CRASH BANG WHAM!

The soldiers at the front line were being bowled over by something.

Wondering what on earth was going on, Dick rose on tiptoe and craned his neck—only to see a single siege ladder flailing soldiers around in midair.

"Huh?"

By now, even the ladders that had been propped against the wall were floating up into the open air.

"Wheu! What the—what now?!"

The ladders abandoned the other soldiers entirely and came drifting after Dick. He hastily dropped his sword and bolted.

T-telekinesis? Was there anyone at Kizen who could use telekinesis at this level?

Dick leapt straight up to dodge an incoming ladder, then slapped his palm against its frame.

Enchant!

The moment the Enchant took hold, the force animating the ladder drained away like it had never existed, and it dropped to the ground with a thud.

That settled it for Dick. This wasn't telekinesis at all.

Thud. Thud.

"All you had to do was ferry the ladders, they said."

A girl was walking up to him.

A short-haired girl with prominent aegyo-sal beneath her eyes—and wearing a Kizen uniform.

Despite standing on a fortress wall in the heart of enemy lines, she strolled along it with all the leisure in the world.

The truth was, the ladders under her control were circling her like bodyguards, flattening beastfolk soldiers left and right.

"Fascinating. How did an idiot like you manage to catch Canis?"

"Th-that's a trade secret~"

Dick raised his eyebrows and spoke with an easy air, but he'd burned far too much Jet-Black taking down that werewolf.

And Dick recognized her on sight.

"Milena Hearts. So it's your turn to step up yourself?"

"You caught on fast. The fame's getting a little old, honestly~"

Milena raised her fingers. At once, the surrounding siege ladders clattered to the ground, and in their place the stone tiles of the fortress wall began lifting into the air.

I'm done for.

An opponent who hurled large volumes of non-metal, non-Jet-Black matter as ranged projectiles was the single worst matchup for Dick imaginable.

He scrambled to his feet and ran, and the wall stones came whistling after him.

WHAM!

THUD!

Even the ones that merely grazed past him hurt like hell.

Staggering, Dick ran at full tilt.

"Pretty quick on your feet, huh?"

A voice spoke from right beside him. His heart lurched, and he whipped his head around to find Milena, having caught up to his pace, running shoulder to shoulder with him.

FWOOOOSH!

Her kick came at him, and Dick wrenched his body aside at the last possible moment. Thrown off balance by the recoil, he was met by a wisp of black smoke rushing in.

The Exhaust had landed one beat ahead of him. Dick's body instantly turned to lead.

I-I'm finished! If I don't dispel this fast—!

The second and third strikes were already coming.

Dick hastily spread a sigil across his palm, readying the dispel curse, Cancellation—

Fwoom! Fwoom!

A second and third Exhaust from Milena's fingers tore through his body before his spell could.

A ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠full three stacks of Exhaust.

Dick shuddered as though trying to force himself upright, then collapsed onto both knees. The Cancellation he'd been preparing failed, and his leaden hands dropped to the ground.

"All clear~"

Having confirmed Dick was neutralized, Milena lowered her fingers.

"Haah... seriously."

Dick grumbled.

"This is why curse-users are the absolute worst. Isn't anti-personnel combat just straight-up broken for you people?"

"My condolences~"

She smiled with an expression that couldn't have been less sorry and gave a little wave. The wall stones around them rose into the air.

"Bye-bye."

The stones flew at Dick. The moment he resigned himself and let his arms hang limp—

CRASHAAAAA!

A wall of ice erupted across the front, and the incoming stones shattered against it and fell.

"You idiot! You're struggling this hard against one person?"

"!"

At some point, a blue-haired girl had already locked her hands behind Milena's back.

KRRRRRRK!

Flowers of ice bloomed from her palms, swallowing everything around them.