The Darkness of Barenberg
A man was racing through the crowded streets of Barenberg.
A tattered robe and a gray mask. At a single glance, he looked thoroughly suspicious. Schwarz leapt from rooftop to rooftop along the main thoroughfare, hot on his trail.
"A mana user…"
The man slipped through the throng of people as smoothly as water. His speed and movements were anything but ordinary.
"I can't let him get away."
Afraid of losing him even for a moment, Schwarz poured every ounce of his focus into the chase.
The pursuit stretched on for several minutes until the gap between them had closed to a mere few meters. Then, without warning, the man veered sharply and plunged into a narrow alleyway right beside him.
"Huh!?"
Schwarz let out a startled cry at the sight.
"Of all the places in the world, why there…"
He stared into the alley where the man had vanished, his voice thick with frustration.
The backstreets of Barenberg were a tangled web, as intricate as a spider's nest. Anyone unfamiliar with them could get hopelessly lost with just a moment's distraction. Schwarz himself had once lost his way here, so he knew their complexity all too well.
"No choice, then."
Whatever the man's purpose, it was clearly nothing good. To prevent any potential disaster before it could happen, this was something he absolutely could not ignore.
"Hup…!!"
With a short shout of effort, Schwarz vaulted across the street and landed atop a building on the far side. He peered down into the alley below, but the man was long gone.
That did not mean he was out of options.
"Hoo…"
Drawing a slow breath, Schwarz gathered the mana within his body. In the next instant he focused it into his eyes—and something began to appear in the empty alley that had held no trace before.
A trail of glittering particles, like misty water vapor. It was the residual mana that any mana user inevitably left behind.
"That way…"
Muttering to himself, Schwarz turned his head in the direction the trail led. It wound deeper into the alley. He let out a short sigh, then dropped down into the street and began following the mana traces.
A musty stench assaulted his nose, and the air hung heavy with dampness. The sky above the narrow alley glowed a fiery red, yet within the passage itself it was as dark as night.
"This brings back memories."
Walking along the alley, Schwarz spoke in a voice thick with nostalgia. The sun setting, the flickering streetlamps half-broken and sputtering, the road home… The scene before his eyes was little different from those days.
"Around here…"
He murmured as he pressed deeper into the gloom. The farther he went, the clearer the faint, mist-like mana trail became. That meant the man was close.
Bracing for the worst, Schwarz began preparing a spell in advance. How long he walked after that, he could not say.
"This place…"
The moment he rounded the corner ahead, a vacant lot opened before him. Only the rubble of a collapsed building remained—and there stood the man he had been chasing.
"So you came."
"Who are you? Why were you following us?"
"You don't need to know."
Answering Schwarz's question, the man drew a longsword that gleamed with a pale light from the scabbard at his waist. At the same time, masked figures who clearly belonged to the same group emerged from the alleys connected to the lot.
"So I was the target from the start."
"Only just figured that out?"
Every one of them seemed to be a mana user; large and small auras of power radiated from the group.
"Are you confident? You'll regret this."
"Hmm. Will I, now?"
The man snorted as Schwarz glanced around while speaking.
"I'm serious…"
Of course, from Schwarz's perspective the man's attitude was nothing short of laughable. Even if every person present pooled their strength, it would not amount to a tenth of the mana Schwarz possessed. Against ordinary people they might have been formidable, but before him they were no different from children showing off.
"You made this choice. Don't regret it."
As Schwarz settled into a stance, it happened.
—Fwing!!
"What…!?"
"Now! Strike him down!!"
A sharp whistle of air, and an arrow buried itself in Schwarz's back. Startled by the sudden attack, he cried out just as the surrounding throng charged him.
"You cowards…!!"
"Boy, there's no such thing as cowardice in a fight. What good is regret after you're dead?"
Watching the scene, the man let out a low chuckle. In an instant the masked figures closed in and drove their sharp blades into Schwarz's body.
"Guh…!!"
Skewered like a porcupine, Schwarz groaned and sank to his knees.
"Don't hold it against us too much. We don't do this because we enjoy it."
With those words the masked man approached and raised his sword.
"Any last words?"
"None…"
"Admirable."
At Schwarz's quiet reply the man nodded and tightened his grip. Then, in the next moment—
"I figured as much."
"Wh-what!?"
Schwarz's body crumbled into dirt and collapsed. The masked group cried out in shock and spun about in confusion.
"What the hell just happened!?"
"Where did he go!?"
"A dummy…!!"
Amid the chaos, only the masked man grasped what had occurred and frantically scanned the surroundings.
"You didn't really think I'd fall for such an obvious ambush, did you?"
At the same time a voice drifted down from above their heads. Looking up, the men saw a boy gazing down at them with black wings spread wide.
A tail and wings covered in black scales. A pair of horns rising from his head. Amber eyes gleaming in the shadowed gloom.
"A-a demon!!"
One of the group, voice thick with terror, hurled a dagger at him—but it only bounced off with a sharp ting!
"I'm not a demon, you know…"
Strictly speaking, his appearance would not have seemed out of place if someone called him one. That did not mean he liked hearing it.
"Well, that's that, and this is this."
Schwarz let out a short sigh, eyed the men who were watching him warily, and began gathering mana at his fingertips.
—Crackle-crackle-crackle!!
Blue sparks began to leap within his palm.
"If you surrender now, you won't get hurt. How about it?"
"Don't make me laugh! Even if you're a mage, you can't take on this many alone!"
The man shouted back as if the very idea were absurd.
"Suit yourselves."
Even a free meal is refused if you don't want it. He had given them a chance. Whatever happened next was entirely on them.
With that thought, Schwarz carefully let the tiny sparks dancing at his fingertips fall toward the ground.
"Close the distance! If he's a mage, he'll be weak in melee!"
At the man's cry the masked throng rushed him from every side. But the sparks reached the earth far faster than their attacks could reach Schwarz.
"Taser Shock."
⟨ Taser Shock ⟩
The moment the crackling sparks touched the ground, Schwarz spoke the incantation—
—CRACKLE-CRACKLE-CRACKLE-CRACKLE!!
A sound like something tearing apart rang out, and a brilliant flash of light flooded the vacant lot.
When the noise and the glare faded, all that remained were the masked figures collapsing, sparks still dancing across their bodies.
"Hah…!! Hah…!! What the hell are you…!!"
In the center of the fallen group, the masked man gasped for breath. His entire body was scorched, smoke rising from his clothes. He looked ready to drop at any second.
"I am the personal servant of Lady Milia Valentine of the Valentine family."
"Don't make me laugh… What kind of servant in this world is a monster like you?"
The man spoke as if he could not believe his ears, while Schwarz offered a faint smile.
"I'll say it one more time. Surrender. If you do so quietly, there will be no need for bloodshed."
He needed at least one of them intact if he hoped to extract information. Facing the man who looked ready to collapse, Schwarz spoke again and once more conjured sparks that leapt in every direction from his fingertips.
"Kh… Khah…!! Khahahahaha!!"
Yet the man only burst into laughter at his words.
"What's so funny?"
"Just like that bastard said. You really are an eyesore."
"That bastard?"
At the sudden mention, Schwarz narrowed his eyes. He did not know the details, but this "bastard" was clearly the mastermind behind the whole affair.
"I will have to take you with me one way or another. Surrender quietly. If you refuse, I will have no choice but to use force."
"Boy, save the jokes for your friends."
Answering in a firm tone, the man pulled something that looked like a pill from his pocket.
"What do you intend to do with that…"
"Nothing to lose… Might as well try this."
As Schwarz tilted his head in confusion, the man swallowed the pill in one gulp.
And in the next moment—
"Ugh…!! Aaaah…!!"
"This is…!?"
The man staggered, letting out agonized groans. At the same time, the mana erupting from his body made Schwarz cry out in alarm and leap backward.
Then, the next instant—