The Moonlit Night Awakens – The Shadow Swears Eternal Vengeance

The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was a night sky burning with incandescent splendor.

Lily’s sweet, cloying scent—lingering stubbornly on my skin no matter how I struggled—filled my nostrils and throat.

“…Princess.”

“H-Hin? Are you all right?! Your wounds… ah, your eyes…”

Even the brief words I’d meant to say to her—trying to pull away—only made matters worse.

She had been frantically patting my body and face the moment she heard my voice, checking for any injuries.

With her hands gripping my face, my gaze still locked on Bifrons in the distance.

The single glance I cast toward him made Bifrons’s shoulders tremble openly. The tremor wasn’t just in his body; it rippled through the dark-red mana spheres he had gathered as well.

“…It’s all for nothing now. The possession is over. The price for that possession, it seems, was only one eye!”

Bifrons had been spying on my condition. The moment he realized the aura I carried was completely different from the one I’d had right before, his arrogant mask slid into place and a sinister smile curved his lips.

I tore my eyes away from him and looked back at Lily, who was still watching me with worried eyes.

Then I pulled her into my arms and whispered against her ear.

“Princess.”

“Y-Yes… Hin?”

“I’m sorry.”

“Wha—?”

Just a little longer. Please sleep. This scene shouldn’t be shown to the Princess.

My whisper never reached her lips; it dissolved into thin air.

Because I had knocked her unconscious.

Thud.

I gazed down at Lily, now peacefully asleep in my arms, her once-attractive face still carrying the charm of a girl even now—scratched and covered in dust from the earlier battle to save me.

If things stay like this… does that mean she already knew the truth of what happened…?

I shook off the chain of thoughts trying to follow and turned my gaze back toward the demon.

The question could have been answered later—when Lily woke, or at any time—but right now was the only chance I had to quench the thick, suffocating rage that clung to me like a parasite.

“You arrogant bastard! The possession is over, you’ve lost an eye, and you still dare to glare at me like that?!”

With my gaze calm and still, the demon met it. He couldn’t hold back any longer and fired the dark-red mana cannon straight at me.

Then came the thunderous boom, exactly the same as when it had pierced my abdomen.

My remaining weapon was gone. One eye had vanished. I hadn’t been granted the right to pick up the Solaris lying beside me.

So of course the demon—proud as he was—kept blasting me with mana.

He had been a weakling who had only stabbed my abdomen until moments ago. Now he was even more helpless, yet he still faced me with that unyielding arrogance.

But he didn’t know—the me before I lost consciousness and the me now were worlds apart.

“…Black Night. White Night.”

—Because neither blade held any will but mine.

Almost as if it had heard my call, Black Night slid into my palm.

Without hesitation I swung it toward the mana cannon Bifrons had fired, severing its spine.

Shing.

At the same instant the cannon struck White Night’s blade, the mana spheres shattered and dissolved into nothingness.

“Why is Black Night in your hands…?!”

There was one fact Bifrons didn’t know.

The me now possessed an unbreakable will when it came to wielding any sword.

Whoosh.

White Night, which had been waiting in the dormitory, flew into my hand the moment I called it.

Then the two blades—Black Night and White Night—transformed, their silver moonlight hue merging into one radiant sword.

Black Night, black as the night sky’s darkness.

White Night, pure white like the moon that never lost its light even in the night sky.

Now one sword, its form revealed in my palm, looked exactly like a blade that would remind you of the moon hanging in the night sky.

The blade itself remained spotlessly clear white like moonlight, but the hilt was the same deep black as the night sky’s darkness.

I didn’t need to ask its name—it chose me, just like Solaris had.

“Moonlit Night.”

Uuuuung—

For a lifetime I had searched for its true master. Now, with joy overflowing through my entire body, it finally found me.

Somehow the feeling of the moon chasing only me with relentless light in the night sky made a strange warmth bloom inside my chest.

BOOM!

Bifrons’s mana cannon shot forward again, even clearer this time.

This time I swung Moonlit Night with absolute intent and killed it.

“Why…?”

Only now did Bifrons understand that his mana cannon was useless against me. He began unconsciously stepping backward, each step trembling.

Yes.

The only will I had gained because of Hin—the single will I intended to engrave into the sword I carried.

Hin had sworn his life to the Imperial Princess, Liliana Yekaterina, who was nothing less than the Empire’s sun. A sunflower reaching for sunlight.

He had become a knight blessed with the sun’s light.

So then… what about me?

Did I possess the virtue of loyalty to Lily? No.

Unlike the noble emotion of loyalty, what I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠felt for Lily was only love—pure, unadulterated love.

So then… why had I endured this hellish life for so long, what will had I carried?

Every truth has its origin in the beginning.

The moment I was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠summoned here. The moment I wrote those thirty-four comments for that dog of an author.

Only one thing: the fervent wish to see the character Liliana Yekaterina receive her happy ending.

I would allow no obstacle on the path she took toward happiness.

Anyone who cast a shadow over her smiling face—anyone who denied her the fairy-tale princess ending she deserved—would be torn apart and killed without mercy.

If Hin had been born as the sun and become a single ray of light that protected the sun,

then I would become the shadow born from the light—watching ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠over the sun from the night sky, guiding the path the sun must walk in secret.

Yes.

I was summoned to this world for her sake—Liliana.

I inherited all the swordsmanship talent and experience from Hin, the light.

The will that suited me best—the will the Emperor’s Shadow had earned.

“Those who block Liliana’s path… will all die.”

Not a single one left alive.

Man, woman, old, young, child—anyone, regardless of age, gender, or race, anyone who stood in Liliana’s way.

As her shadow, I would cut their throats without the slightest hesitation.

Even if they were the Demon God himself, even if they were the author who had written Liliana’s dog-like destiny—I would never hesitate.

This was the single will that drove my sword.

Swallow.

Even though Bifrons’s footsteps echoed on the ground, he heard none of it. His own frantic heartbeat drowned out everything else.

“Moonlit Night. Illusion.”

Illusion.

In simple terms, a phenomenon indistinguishable from a hallucination.

Just as proof, the boy’s form that had been radiating thick killing intent toward Bifrons a moment ago vanished—and reappeared.

Exactly behind Bifrons.

Crack!

Before Bifrons could react, the boy severed the demon’s arm tendons in an instant.

At first glance it looked like an easy task, but the reality was far different.

Bifrons was a named demon of a higher rank. Compared to him, the boy was no more than ordinary, yet his blade had sliced through tendons as if they were paper.

His right arm tendons severed.

His left arm tendons severed.

Every swing of the sword carried the will to kill the target. The blade succeeded in cutting only the exact tendons aimed for.

Bifrons screamed, mouth opening, but the boy’s kick slammed his head into the ground, muffling the cry before it could fully escape.

Even the desperate attempt to gather and release mana failed; each time he tried to channel it, the shock wave from the boy’s strikes dispersed it uselessly, leaving Bifrons writhing in agony.

Then the boy leaned close and whispered.

“I waited so long for this day… Bifrons.”

“Uuuu…! Uuup!!”

“You want me to spare you? No way… are you serious?”

As Bifrons’s head—pinned to the ground—nodded frantically to the boy’s question, the boy let out a cold laugh.

“Heh. If that’s what you wish, I’ll grant it. Just don’t say ‘kill me’ until I’m done… Good thing I have a lot to tell you.”

Swish.

The cold touch of the blade slid smoothly between Bifrons’s ribs.

Despite the excruciating pain, the demon’s severed limbs gave him no chance to resist or scream.

He could only twitch his entire body in convulsion, veins bursting in his eyes until blood wept from them.

Then, as if murmuring to himself, the boy spoke one sentence.

“Illusion.”

With those words, Bifrons finally understood the cruel reality he faced.

Using a power that was nothing more than an illusion to torture himself meant he was torturing himself without any hindrance—and he had known it all along.

Bifrons sank into despair, regret, and self-loathing.

Why hadn’t he implanted self-destruction magic on himself just because he was a named demon of a superior rank?

That regret and self-hatred burned in his chest.

And facing a boy who hated him with more than enough emotion—beyond comprehension—Bifrons could only despair at the mercy he might one day receive: the kindness to let him die quickly.

He began walking slowly toward death.

Until the instructor who had been summoned by Selina’s request and Irene who had come running after assessing the situation arrived, Bifrons’s hell continued.

The night sky above the academy remained burning as I carried Lily inside, her breathing finally steady again.

Bifrons’s scream had long since faded into the distance.

And in the distance, the distant sound of the instructor and Irene arriving echoed faintly.

But for now, there was only one thing on my mind.

Liliana Yekaterina… I will not let anyone stand between you and happiness.

Even if the Demon God itself or the author who wrote your tragic fate came for you—

I would tear them apart with my own hands.

This was the vow I had sworn with my sword.