Death in the Shape of a Knight
"...*Cough.*"
The smell of burning singed his nose. The hot air he inhaled deeply made his lungs feel dry and dusty. Yujin coughed, his brow furrowing. As expected, using the Sun Sword with an unfamiliar short sword was an exhausting ordeal. The environment was so extreme that merely breathing felt like his insides were being cooked alive.
The cherry blossom trees charred to ash, their beautiful pink hues stained pitch black. The one who had turned the surroundings into this wasteland was none other than Yujin himself. Everything in the vicinity, save for him, was engulfed in raging flames.
"Whew..."
Yujin let out a ragged breath. His fingertips trembled slightly. It had only been a few minutes. He had fired off consecutive bursts of the Sun Sword, but he still had some strength left. The real issue was the toll it took on his body.
Supernatural ability users possessed a natural resistance to their own powers. As a master of fire, Yujin had an exceptionally high tolerance for heat. But resistance did not mean immunity. If it did, he wouldn't have burned his hands the very first time he unleashed the Sun Sword.
There was a strict limit to this resistance, and the moment he crossed that threshold, his own supernatural power would begin to consume his body.
His body heat had risen excessively. It was only natural, considering he had been spamming Sun Sword: Meteor Shower for several minutes straight. If he had regulated it moderately as usual—keeping it within the bounds of his resistance—there would be no issue. But spamming ultra-high-temperature flames like this caused his body temperature to skyrocket abnormally, deteriorating his physical capabilities. It was Yujin's chronic weakness. Yet, it was also a familiar one.
Training was the act of overcoming one's own shortcomings. For Yujin, who constantly pushed himself to the absolute limit without permanently breaking his body, this level of fever was practically an old friend.
He clenched his fists, and the trembling stopped. He forced his consciousness to sharpen. His dulled physical senses gradually returned to life. Yujin raised the Red Sword. Once again, flames began to gather along the short blade.
In truth, Sun Sword: Meteor Shower was an incomplete technique. It was similar to before—a completely new skill constructed purely on theory. For something improvised on the spot, the results were quite decent. At least he hadn't suffered any burns this time. He had also gotten the hang of it through consecutive uses.
He kicked off the ground and leaped high into the air. Soaring over ten meters without any preparatory movement, Yujin quickly scanned his surroundings. In an instant, countless sights burned into his retinas. Fallen citizens. Fleeing people. Screaming monsters. Pursuing beasts. Taking in the entire chaotic scene in a split second, Yujin slashed the Red Sword with a hand taut with veins.
Sun Sword: Meteor Shower.
A swirling crimson light rained down. Like meteors streaking across the night sky, the flames left long trails behind them as they ruthlessly bombarded the earth. With every impact, bizarre shrieks echoed briefly. Very few monsters even had the chance to scream, as almost none survived the direct hit of the meteor shower.
Though he had crushed dozens of monsters in an instant, Yujin's expression remained grim. The number of monsters wasn't decreasing. Or rather, even if they died, they were immediately replaced. An endless horde of monsters. It was already a wave—a tsunami threatening to swallow everything in its path. For now, there were only relatively weak monsters, but the number of beasts surviving the initial blast was steadily growing.
Yujin gritted his teeth. Even a brief moment in the air revealed too much. It was increasing. Not just the monsters, but the blood soaking the ground. No matter how hard Yujin fought, no matter how many monsters he incinerated with his sun-like heat, he couldn't prevent every single casualty.
It was an inevitable reality. Yujin was undoubtedly exceptionally talented, but that was by student standards. Among seasoned heroes, there were plenty of veterans who possessed skills rivaling his own. When even the Commanders—the pinnacle of all heroes—couldn't save everyone, the reach of a mere student was bound to be limited.
"Don't make me laugh..."
The moment his feet touched the ground, he stomped hard enough to shatter the earth and conjured his flames once more. More precise. More powerful. The crimson ripples wrapping around the Red Sword carried an even higher, devastating heat.
"I will protect them! I'll save everyone!"
Boom!
With an explosive roar, Yujin shot across the sky. A red trajectory soared straight upward. Increase the number of meteors. Raise the power. Boost the speed. Repeating those thoughts like a mantra during the few seconds of his leap, Yujin dispersed his compressed flames in all directions the moment his upward momentum began to wane.
The crimson light scattered like shrapnel before forging itself into blades of fire. Soon, they swirled and orbited around Yujin like satellites. The principle of the Sun Sword was always the same: compress through rotation. The meteor shower was no different.
"Haaah!"
Having prepared his ammunition, Yujin unleashed a carpet bombing on the ground without hesitation. Distinguishing civilians from monsters, he rained down divine punishment precisely on the beasts. Just as over a dozen monsters were about to meet their end—
"...?!"
Screeech.
A sharp ringing echoed in his ears. His survival instinct screamed in warning.
An overwhelming physical force is targeting your blind spot!
Yujin wrapped his entire body in the remaining meteors he hadn't fired yet and instinctively slashed diagonally to his left. At that exact moment, he was blasted backward as if shot from a cannon.
The immense counterforce sent Yujin hurtling helplessly toward the ground. Since he lacked the ability to fly, falling was inevitable, but this time the process was different. An enormous physical force had shot him down.
He fell headfirst and came dangerously close to cracking his skull open. He managed to twist his body mid-air, using a burst of fire to cushion the impact and land on his feet, but a cold, terrifying sweat drenched his back.
"What on earth?!"
A massive shadow fell over him, blocking out the sunlight. Thanks to that, Yujin could look up at the sky without squinting. It was a giant eagle. Sharp, fierce eyes. A beak sturdy enough to crush boulders. Its flapping wings whipped up a gale. However, only its upper half was avian. The lower half revealed beneath its wings resembled a lion rather than an eagle. A platinum-white head and pure white wings, but below them lay the body of the king of beasts.
"A gryphon..."
Yujin muttered under his breath. A high-ranking monster, without a doubt. A mythical beast that, depending on the individual, was sometimes designated as a 'Named' monster. If he hadn't instinctively counterattacked just now, he would have died. It was a strike aimed precisely at his neck and head—a silent ambush by an experienced hunter designed to crush any resistance and sever the prey's windpipe instantly.
"So they've finally started showing up."
His panic was short-lived. A Rift in Space of this scale was bound to summon high-ranking monsters eventually. And this wouldn't be the only one. If the Rift had stabilized enough for high-ranking monsters to cross over, more would surely follow.
Yujin rotated his aching wrist and took a step forward. There was only one for now. In that case, he would defeat them one by one before their numbers grew. He didn't stop to think about whether it was possible. He did it because he had to.
"...Come on. Let's make this quick. I don't have time to waste on the likes of you."
"Aren't we confident? Oppa, are you really okay? Isn't even a single high-ranking monster a bit too much for you?"
Resting her chin on Yujin's shoulder, she whispered in his ear. Yujin shoved her away without even giving her a glance. Astaroth backed off, putting on a show of being deeply hurt.
"If you said you weren't going to do anything, then get lost."
"I was planning to, but watching you made me worry."
"..."
No matter how focused he was on the gryphon, he hadn't sensed her presence at all. You only see as much as you know. Ever since Yujin had outgrown his rookie phase, he had become highly sensitive to the strength of others.
I can't see her limit. What kind of monster is she, really?
Yet, he felt absolutely nothing from Astaroth. While part of it was because she was concealing her energy, the fundamental reason was that her power was so colossal that he couldn't even begin to comprehend it.
"You see~ I really like you, Oppa."
"So?"
"Make a contract with me. I'll give you a special hand if you do."
"Shut up."
"Without even hearing me out?!"
"Nothing a creature like you says is worth listening to."
"You're so cruel..."
Astaroth took a few hesitant steps backward.
"Ugh... My perfect plan to win Oppa over by using this crisis as leverage...!"
"..."
"Hmph, fine! It's not like I'm losing out on anything anyway!"
Something was wrong. The gryphon wasn't attacking. It merely circled in the sky, showing no hostility toward Yujin. To be precise, it was showing no hostility toward the girl standing next to him.
Is it because of her?
Even a high-ranking monster is wary of her? High-ranking monsters wouldn't hesitate to launch suicidal attacks even against the Commanders. What on earth is her true identity?
"I don't beg people who say no. Today just isn't the day, I guess. I didn't expect much from the start anyway. I was just throwing it out there."
Opening her palm and tapping her parasol, Astaroth looked up at the Rift in Space stretching across the sky. She tilted her head, lost in thought for a moment, before letting out a soft chuckle.
"Then should I go to Lucia? I'm sure that girl would accept my offer..."
A sharp slash cut through Astaroth. Three consecutive flashes of light. A red blade carving through her head, chest, and shoulder. Yet, Astaroth evaded them as naturally as flowing water. She kept her feet planted in the exact same spot, merely swaying her upper body slightly, but Yujin's surprise attack was completely rendered useless.
"Don't you dare touch Lucia!"
"...Hehe."
Astaroth giggled delightfully. She clasped her hands behind her back and hummed a tune.
"You attacked me."
"..."
"I told you, I reeeally wasn't going to do anything today. I even made a promise, didn't I? But... if Oppa attacks me first, that changes things, right?"
"You, from the very beginning..."
"Ahaha! Promises are meant to be kept. You shouldn't break them for no reason, after all."
Yujin leaped backward to create distance. Although he still couldn't sense any energy from Astaroth, an intense feeling of danger made him grip his hilt tighter.
"I can play a little prank, right? Since it's self-defense."
Astaroth pointed her parasol. Not at Yujin, but toward the sky. Holding the very end of the handle, she waved it gently, as if painting on a canvas with a brush. What on earth was she doing? The answer was revealed almost instantly.
Ruuuuuumble.
The cracked scar carved between the sky and the earth—the Rift in Space—began to vibrate violently.
"I can't open the door myself, but I can interfere with one that's already open. Murmur is just too lazy. If you're going to open it, you should open it wide. Opening it halfway only lets a fraction of them through."
■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■───────!!!!
A bizarre, deafening roar. The gryphon howled. And it wasn't just the gryphon; every single monster that had invaded this land began to shriek in unison.
"It was boring with only weaklings around, wasn't it?"
"You... interfered with it? The Rift in Space? Who... who on earth are you?!"
Yujin asked, his voice trembling. He had never heard of or seen anything like this. The expansion of the crack was visible to the naked eye. The scale of the Rift in Space had grown significantly larger. Which meant—
"You're going to be busy from now on. Do your best!"
The monsters were crossing over. It wasn't just one; their numbers multiplied exponentially. Low-ranking monsters. Mid-ranking monsters. High-ranking monsters. And even entities far above them.
Clank. Clank.
The faint sound of iron armor echoed. A pitch-black suit of armor that seemed to absorb all light stepped onto the burning weeds, crushing a fallen cherry blossom tree underfoot as it marched forward with heavy, resolute steps.
"..."
A colossal pressure consumed the atmosphere. As if folding space to fit into a single stride, the Black Knight crossed the entire distance in just a few steps, stopping before Astaroth and quietly dropping to one knee.
Yujin pressed his dry lips together. While Astaroth was so overwhelmingly powerful that he couldn't sense anything at all, this Black Knight was different. It was still monstrously strong, but it was a level of strength that Yujin could actually measure. That was why he could feel it so vividly against his skin—what kind of existence this monster truly was.
"A Named..."
A high-ranking monster. But its caliber was far too high to be lumped into the simple category of 'high-ranking.' For monsters that needed to be distinguished from ordinary high-ranking beasts, humanity had established a unique classification: Named Monsters. A Black Knight. A Death Knight.
Though Yujin's body temperature had risen to a level that would have been life-threatening for an ordinary person due to the excessive use of his ability, his body heat now plummeted so rapidly he felt cold. His sweat-soaked school uniform clung tightly to his skin. Yujin finally realized he had made a grave miscalculation.
He had taken it for granted that she was human. He had assumed she was a supernatural ability user. It was because he hadn't sensed even a trace of the 'Mental Pollution' emitted by monsters. While some monsters could mask their unique presence, they could only do so for a very brief moment—at most, a few seconds to a minute. Thus, he had never doubted that the girl in the red fox mask was human.
That belief had just shattered.
Interfering with a Rift in Space. Controlling monsters. Possessing a strength that defied all common sense. An existence that had suddenly appeared in the world without a sound or rumor.
"You're... not human..."
"You only just realized? You're denser than you look."
"Were you... a monster...?"
"That's such an uninspired name. Call me a Demon God. No, wait. Is it 'Main' now?"
Astaroth rested her parasol on the Black Knight's shoulder. She looked like a king dubbing a knight. The Black Knight's body trembled. A crimson light spilled from its helmet. In a voice thick with overwhelming emotion, the Black Knight cried out:
The Black Knight slowly rose to its feet. The light from its helmet locked onto Yujin. In that instant, a murderous intent akin to a wild beast tearing at his throat washed over him.
"..."
Shaken by a reality he had never even imagined, Yujin forced his stiffened body to move. He gripped his short sword tightly and took a stance. Just one second. If he took his eyes off it for even a single second, his head would roll. A certainty that transcended mere speculation. Death in the shape of a knight stood before Yujin.
"...Fine, let's do this."
In the face of that death, Yujin actually took a step forward. Whatever the opponent's true identity was, no matter how powerful or terrifying of a monster it might be, none of that mattered. He would fight. And he would protect. Lucia. And everyone else here. Because from the very beginning, that was the only thing on his mind.