Video Tape (4)
Jeomsuni raised the Nangseon. The multiple prongs connected to the end of the long shaft brushed through the empty air. Light and leisurely. An elegant hand motion, like striking the opening beat for an orchestra. Yet if it hooked properly even once, it had the power to rip off an arm or neck outright.
"Still."
Jeomsuni opened her mouth with a bewitching smile.
"It's much better than that reckless charge from just moments ago."
I didn't answer. Instead, I shifted my foot to the side. To keep Ganet, Rikako, and the glass tubes out of the fight. That came first.
"Hoo..."
I drew in a short breath and slowly exhaled. A warm heat rose from beneath my feet. Shin.
Jeomsuni's gaze flicked briefly downward, then back up.
"...Oh my."
The fingers gripping the Nangseon twitched.
"You use that too—"
Before she could finish, I lunged first. One step. Shin shoved my back forward.
-Thud!
That single step closed the distance to Jeomsuni in an instant. I didn't swing the sickle wide. I feinted toward her throat and burrowed deeper inside. A probing strike to draw out her reaction.
"Hmm?"
Jeomsuni's Nangseon moved first. What I'd thought was a frontal thrust slid sideways like a serpent. The iron tip at the end of a prong grazed my side.
-Slash!
My clothes tore, flesh parting grotesquely. But I didn't stop. I twisted my waist, slashing the sickle upward. Naturally, Jeomsuni raised her staff's shaft to block.
-Clang!
The sickle blade clashed head-on with the shaft. I twisted my wrist in reverse. The laid-flat blade slid up along the shaft toward the opposite side of the ground, its tip raking Jeomsuni's sleeve and shoulder together.
-Drip.
A red line spread like paint across the white suit.
Jeomsuni took half a step back.
"You wield it so roughly."
Her tone was soft, but the Nangseon's tip was already swinging back. This time, the trajectory was wildly erratic. It feinted a downward smash, then veered up diagonally. The moment I raised my sickle to block, a side prong shot out late.
I deflected the first side prong along the sickle shaft, but the second tore my shoulder, and the third deeply gashed my thigh.
"Ugh!"
My leg wobbled for an instant. Jeomsuni didn't miss it. She yanked the Nangseon shaft briefly toward herself, then thrust it forward. Too fast to track with the eyes.
I angled the sickle shaft obliquely to meet the frontal assault.
-Crunch!
My palm went numb. The shock of blocking the Maestro's attack head-on rippled up my arm, aching like it might tear apart.
-Crack!
I endured as best I could, twisting my neck aside. One prong grazed beneath my jaw. Half a beat slower, and my throat would've been pierced.
I retreated sharply backward. I'd realized a prolonged fight against this lunatic was impossible. Whether due to that bizarre weapon's unique attack style, damage seeped into my body bit by bit even while guarding. At this rate, mere survival was a luxury I couldn't afford.
Watching me fall back to steady my breath, Jeomsuni spoke in a gentle voice.
"Why not give up here? No matter how I look, you don't seem to have a chance."
"Bullshit."
I drew a deep breath to steady my emotions. Light unfurled from my fingertips, coiling along the sickle blade. A single thin ring of light. Mang.
Jeomsuni murmured low.
"That's a new one."
The next instant, the Nangseon swung wide.
-Boom!
I had no choice but to dodge. I crouched low, coiling into a spring. A prong tip passing directly overhead sheared off a few strands of hair. From that lowered stance, I kicked off the floor and charged Jeomsuni again.
Jeomsuni smacked my sickle with the end of her staff shaft.
"Ugh..."
That shook her stance by half a beat. It was enough. I twisted the Mang-coiled blade all the way up.
-Shrrk!
Jeomsuni's right shoulder sheared clean off. The white suit tore, red blood spurting wildly. This one landed solidly.
Jeomsuni's eyes widened.
"What... is this?"
For the first time, her voice cracked at the end.
I didn't miss the opening, pressing deeper. But a Maestro was still a Maestro.
-Clack!
Jeomsuni raised her remaining arm, angling the staff shaft obliquely. My sickle blade caught on it and slid aside. And in the next moment—
Several prong tips surged downward all at once, like the fangs of a living beast. Unpredictable, too fast for the eyes to follow. I tried to pull my foot back to evade, but it was too late.
-Squelch!
My right foot was pierced straight through. No, it didn't end there. The iron tip punched through the top of my foot, shredding all the flesh inside. As it scraped flesh and bone viciously, my foot was mangled like it'd burst apart entirely.
"Gah, ah...!"
A scream tore from my throat. My leg buckled, nearly collapsing me to the floor, but I jammed the sickle shaft upside-down to barely prop myself up.
-Drip, drip.
Blood poured from my foot. The floor soaked red in seconds.
Jeomsuni withdrew the Nangseon and looked down at me. The corner of her mouth, visible beneath the face veil, curved ever so slightly. As if her own wound meant nothing.
"Truly..."
Her voice remained courteous. Just much lower than before.
"Fascinating."
Jeomsuni stepped forward. I raised my sickle again. Raised it, that's all.
"...Grk."
My right foot was already ruined. Every time I put weight on it, crushed pain surged from inside. My left arm wouldn't respond properly. I couldn't charge like before. Just holding the sickle upright was exhausting.
Jeomsuni read it instantly. The Nangseon tip rose leisurely, then stabbed toward my shoulder. I twisted aside, barely dodging. One prong grazed my cheek. The second attack came right away. This time, I hid behind the sickle shaft to block. The impact climbed from wrist to elbow.
I couldn't block the third. The Nangseon pierced my left arm's inner side. My body swayed. Jeomsuni didn't stop. Thrust, swing, smash, thrust again.
-Thwack.
Small and large wounds bloomed across my body.
"Arrrgh!"
-Whoosh.
I limped on one foot, swinging the sickle. Not to hit, but to check and create distance.
-Clink.
Jeomsuni casually twisted the Nangseon to deflect it.
"Hee hee, your foot won't move anymore."
She was still courteous.
"A pity. If I'd met you a little earlier in my studio, it would've been far more entertaining."
I panted in response instead of words.
"........."
A metallic tang of blood filled my mouth. My vision blurred at the edges, tinnitus buzzing from all around.
"But from the look of you, your time left isn't much."
Jeomsuni closed in again. A prong tip burrowed toward my chest. I barely deflected it with the sickle. But the following shaft end whipped my side. My ragged breathing cut off. My knees nearly buckled.
Still, I didn't fall. I stabbed the sickle shaft into the floor like a crutch to force myself upright. Jeomsuni's gaze traveled from my fingertips to the floor, then back to my face.
"So tenacious."
She narrowed the gap another step. This wasn't even a fight anymore. The Nangseon tip batted my sickle aside, a side prong raked my hand's back, the shaft pierced my side. One-sided violence. I flailed the sickle wildly. Its tip cleaved empty air. Slow—even I could see it. Jeomsuni didn't dodge. She simply caught the blade lightly with her white-gloved hand and tossed the sickle away.
-Thud.
Without the sickle, my stance collapsed completely. Jeomsuni looked down at me briefly. Then she chuckled very softly.
"Now I'm certain."
The Nangseon tip rose slowly. Aimed precisely at my chest—right where my heart sat.
"That brain of yours is quite intriguing. It'll surely inspire my next masterpiece."
Jeomsuni's voice grew even softer.
"I'll extract it... and study it. Slowly. For a very, very long time."
That was the moment.
Jeomsuni's words didn't reach the end.
-Crack.
A hand had already latched onto her back, gripping her throat. And a hand ringed by two brilliantly shining light loops pierced her heart.
2 Mang.
Jeomsuni's eyes flew wide.
"Wha... what—"
-Splat!
Her heart exploded, followed by her neck bursting apart. Vertebrae tore out roughly, her head wrenching sideways and half-crushing. The face veil soaked in blood, shattered bone fragments and gore trickling along the control room floor's grooves.
The Nangseon slipped from limp fingers, clattering to the ground.
-Thud.
The now-masterless body crumpled onto the lab floor as well.
"...Urgh."
The lab fell silent. Only the glass tubes' machinery hummed lowly.
Before my eyes stood Vergilius, bereft of gladius or coat. Splattered with Jeomsuni's blood across his hand, he shook it off wordlessly. The light rings encircling his hand faded slowly. Only then did his red eyes turn to me.
"...You held out well."
A short phrase. But one brimming with palpable worry and gratitude.
-Thud.
I leaned against the lab wall, gasping raggedly. A moment's lapse in focus, and I'd black out—but I couldn't close my eyes. Not yet. Not until I'd seen the conclusion.
The outcome I'd staked everything to protect.