The Black Knight Kalt (1)
"Charlotte!"
A thunderous crash rang out as Charlotte thrust her half-shattered shield up and planted herself in front of me. Wooden roots burst through the ground and caught my body, holding me steady. A warm current wrapped around me, knitting my wounds shut at a blistering pace. Rubia's divine power pulsed and writhed through my flesh.
At the same instant, shadows erupted from Kalt's body. Their target was Yuria. I kicked off the ground and sprinted. My greatsword swept in a wide arc. The shadows slid along the blade and slipped past. I kicked backward, shoving Yuria clear. A lost shadow twisted my left wrist with a sickening crunch. Divine power that had been pooling in my chest flooded into the joint. Strength returned to the hand that had nearly dropped the sword.
Kalt's gaze swung toward Rubia. Vines shot up and snared his ankles. A lion's jaws tore free of empty air and sank into his shoulder. I did not waste the opening. From left to right, the greatsword carved a horizontal line and kissed his armor. A heavy rebound slammed into me. Shadow jaws erupted from beneath his feet and clamped onto the blade. I reversed my grip and drove the greatsword into the earth. Rubia's divine power lanced forward. Charlotte's flame-wreathed sword flashed. Dozens of beasts charged as one.
The greatsword met a thin blade and stopped. Kalt twisted, slipping the divine bolt. The flames dissolved into a handful of smoke. Shadows erupted from his back and reduced the beasts to pulp.
"Fuck!"
Yuria's voice cracked across the field as hundreds of roots exploded upward and cocooned us. In that same breath—
A grinding, splintering roar. Shadows burst from the corpses of the beasts, shredding the roots as they came. One root burst, then ten, then hundreds. The shadows that had pierced everything surged straight for us. I stepped in front of Rubia and wrenched the greatsword upward.
A clear, ringing clash. Dozens of shadows ricocheted away. At the same moment Kalt's sword thrust for my heart.
"Noah!"
Rubia's divine power gathered. Charlotte's shield flared with fire.
"D-don't you fucking dare!"
The explosion of flame cooled almost instantly; the divine barrier shattered. Charlotte sucked in a ragged breath.
"Haaah—! Shit...!"
Thousands of vines coiled around Kalt's blade and locked it in place. Shadows rippled along the frozen steel, gathering into a single point. The point stretched into a line drawn across empty air—the same instant-kill technique I had seen in the game.
Charlotte's shield was already half-destroyed. Rubia's power was moving, but too late. Yuria's plants could not stop it. I poured everything into Qi Sensing. I discarded every scrap of information except the death racing toward me. Thousands, tens of thousands of data points flooded in. A headache like my skull splitting open. Blood reverse-flowed until I could not breathe. I held my breath and focused.
The image of the sword vanished. Death arrived. I kept drawing the information, never stopping—and I found it. I lifted the greatsword and cut the beginning of that death, the tip of the line.
Unlike the brutal swing of the greatsword, the shadow vanished without a sound. A flicker of interest crossed Kalt's face. The stillness of his expression cracked. Rubia's divine power washed over us. Vitality flooded my limbs. Minor wounds closed; the headache vanished. Fresh flames bloomed across Charlotte's shield, taking the shape of a sun and shoving the shadows back. Flower-scented air rose from the ground and cooled my head.
"What the hell was that just now?"
Charlotte wiped sweat from her brow and stared at me. Whether she meant Kalt's shadow or the sword that had cut it, I could not tell. I simply adjusted my stance in silence. There was no time for chatter. I steadied my breathing and painted Kalt's form in my mind. Unlike the rest of us, battered and bleeding, he stood without a single scratch. The sight set my teeth on edge. I clenched my jaw and tightened my grip on the greatsword.
Kalt flicked blood from his blade and moved again. His presence had changed. His body melted into shadow. No killing intent. No shadow I could draw. I stopped breathing and painted every scrap of information around me. Dirt dented. Leaves trembled. Right side—I swung. A metallic ring. I could not see the blade, but it was lighter than before; I knocked it aside. Shock painted my companions' faces. The wind's flow broke. I inhaled. A faint scent of blood. Right side again. Another ringing clash; I deflected it. After that I simply kept batting away the hidden blades that came from every direction inside the shadows. Small wounds opened and closed under divine power. Fatigue was soothed by the plants growing underfoot.
Then—grinding metal. At last I caught Kalt's sword and stopped it cold. Charlotte's shield shoved the blade aside. Roots erupted and seized his limbs. Beasts tore through the air and dragged at the shadows with their teeth. A spear of divine power ripped space open and shot for his throat. Kalt's face twisted.
"I acknowledge you."
In that instant a shadow blanketed the entire Karahan region. Mana drifting in the air became shadow. Blood soaking the ground became shadow. Beast blood, plant roots, shards of shield, even the remnants of divine power—all of it turned to shadow and began to flow, slow and inevitable.
Charlotte drew a deep breath and staggered, blood spraying from every orifice. The roots that had been protecting Hepais crumbled to powder and shredded her body. Yuria, curled over Hepais, had the skin of her back flayed in fine strips. Kalt's sword swept toward me. The pressure of the swing alone sliced my skin. Then the shadow that seeped into the open wounds became blades that shredded my veins. As if that were not enough, it split muscle and shattered bone. It bored into my organs and shut them down one by one.
My mind went white. Unspeakable pain paralyzed my brain. I felt my pulse weaken in real time. My trembling hands tried to drop the greatsword. My buckling legs folded.
"No—ah...!"
A voice reached me across the receding edge of consciousness. Instinctively I raised an arm. A heavy impact. The raised arm slammed into the dirt. My waist bent. My knees hit the ground. Muscle screamed. Wounds tore wider. Blood burst from the rips, and between the droplets sharp shadows jutted out. Shapes formed in my head, yet I could not recognize them. Sound reached my ears, yet I could not understand it. Agony flooded me and, at the same time, did not. Was I standing? Was I holding the sword? Were my eyes open or closed? Was I even alive?
A thick gush of blood forced its way past my clenched lips. I had no idea what had broken. Shattered ribs piercing a lung? Ruptured organs reverse-flowing? A liver melted by heat? I knew nothing.
"No—get a... grip...!"
Again. That sound that always made my body move. A sound I could not understand. Yet I moved. I tried to flip my hand. It would not rise, so I lifted the arm. It would not move, so I twisted the shoulder. No response. I wrenched my waist.
A grinding, wet scrape dug into my muffled ears. At the same time a cold liquid soaked my body.
"Kh—ghk... kuh—"
Pain-choked sounds stabbed my hearing. Crunching, grinding. A rough, grating texture scraped across my skin. And then—
"No...ah..."
The voice that called my name. Rubia's voice jolted my mind awake. The pain of torn flesh returned. The metallic taste of blood clots filled my mouth. Blurred shapes sharpened. The black knight's form took shape. Shadows surged up from beneath my feet. I twisted the greatsword upward. A clear ring. The shadows bounced away. Confusion flickered across Kalt's face. I did not stop swinging. A grinding clash—I blocked the invisible blade. The body that had been clinging on by sheer spite finally crumbled. The sword that had been staring me down withdrew. Distance opened.
Little by little the world around me resolved. Countless glass vials. Iron shards that had once been a shield. Beast corpses. Shattered roots. Thick liquid. And—
Rubia, smiling with a hole punched clean through her abdomen.
"Th-thank... good..."
A wet tear. The shadow ripped her midsection open. Warm blood splattered across my face.
"A priestess is still a priestess, I see."
Blood-slick organs spilled through the torn flesh. Her smile twisted into agony. Her slender body crumpled to the ground. Sticky fluid seeped between her parted lips.
"Remarkably hard to kill."
Even so, a warm current still lingered around me. Rubia's lips moved, slow and deliberate.
R u n.
"By rights you should have died five times over already."
A wet crack—her arm twisted the wrong way.
"Cut, tear, pulverize—"
A sickening rip—her leg was torn free.
"—and she just keeps regenerating."
A crunch—her ribs shattered.
"I wonder if she'll regenerate even if I twist her neck."
A blood-soaked hand reached for her throat. Yet Rubia still mouthed words toward me.
"If I kill the priestess right here, perhaps..."
And then the warm current thinned.
"Hands. Off."
I forced my gaping jaw shut. Bit down on my tongue. Torn-out nails grew back. I dug them in and peeled away skin. Ruptured vessels regenerated. I bit down again.
"...What the hell are you—"
Twisted joints snapped back into place. I snatched up a twig and scraped out my ear canals. The pulse that had been a faint whisper began to hammer like a seizure. The sluggish blood surged. I accepted every scrap of pain I had been shutting out. I seized my fading mind by force. I woke every dulled sense. I dragged the soaring emotions down and crushed them deep inside.
I painted Rubia's form with perfect clarity. I gripped the greatsword. I lifted my head. I forced my body upright. I fell. I crawled. Whatever had poured from Rubia's body soaked me from head to toe. I rose again. Fell. Rose. My body convulsed, craving blood so hard it howled. It raged. Sound vanished. Scent vanished. Sensation vanished. I simply handed myself over to the instinct that hungered for blood.
The blood-qi wrapping my body laughed. And I—
laughed with it.