Awakening

I awakened. Ah, so this is what awakening felt like.

“I thought it had nothing to do with me.”

Who could have known? That someone who had been visually impaired like me would awaken.

“It’s blinding.”

The world was far more complex than I had imagined, and equally more beautiful. The glare bored into my pupils as colors burst forth like spilled paint. A shiver ran through my entire body. It didn’t feel like the world was welcoming me so much as I had been granted permission to see it.

However.

“I have no idea what any of this is.”

The world had unfolded before me, yet I couldn’t understand it. I could see shapes, but I had no names for them. Vague lines, blurry masses. Something dangling somewhere glittered. A gap far away let in a shaft of light, and everything crowding the space around me formed bizarre silhouettes.

What is this?

I turned my gaze. Seeing something wasn’t the same as knowing what it was. The shapes wavered. Rough outlines, unknowable textures. Could I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠touch something like that?

This is home. It shouldn’t be dangerous.

I reached out. It felt rough and cold. Only after touching it did I realize. Oh, a curtain. I knew this texture. I pulled it aside. I understood in a single glance.

“Wow.”

Light poured in, dyeing the world. Sunlight. So pretty. Too pretty. But.

I still couldn’t identify most of the other objects. I could see their shapes, yet I had no idea what they actually were. I touched them carefully with my hands. This was the remote. This was the window. Was this the table? It was all very different from what I had imagined.

Then, suddenly, something unfamiliar caught my eye. A smooth surface radiating a strange aura. A mirror, I believed it was called. I had heard that mirrors reflected the world. In that case, it should show me what I looked like as well.

What do I look like?

A natural question. Inside the mirror, someone was staring back at me. I reached out. The moment my fingertips touched the cold surface, the figure in the mirror slowly raised its hand and met mine. Our eyes locked. They were deep and transparent. And the hair—

Is this really me? My hair was never this long.

It flowed down lightly, falling straight in places and rippling with the light in others. I slipped my fingers along the strands. Soft. It slipped through my fingertips and scattered like silk.

I gave it a tug.

“Ow.”

It hurt. So it really was my hair.

“This… is me?”

Even speaking the words felt foreign. A slender girl’s voice.

“…I’m a girl?”

The face reflected before me was utterly different from the “me” I had pictured in my mind. It seemed that using the Inversion skill had changed far more than just my eyesight.

Am I considered pretty?

I couldn’t tell. Honestly, I had no frame of reference for beauty. I had lived in darkness my entire life; this was the first time I had ever seen a female form. Everything was unfamiliar, yet it didn’t feel unpleasant.

Well… I suppose it’s passable.

Then my eyes began to sparkle with an eerie light. Like flickering flames, something inside my pupils started to awaken. The clothes I wore vanished layer by layer. No, they weren’t being removed. My gaze—my eyes—had begun to see through everything.

I lowered my eyes.

“Oh my. Oh my.”

The gentle curve flowing from the shoulders. The soft glow sliding over skin. The neck and collarbones were sleek and firm, yet the feminine lines that continued from them flowed warm and supple. The chest drew a modest arc.

“Small.”

I let my gaze travel lower. A waist so slender and delicate that both hands could wrap around it with fingertips touching. Perhaps because the body hadn’t fully matured yet, the lines were so fine and delicate that even breathing felt precarious. It seemed as though it would shatter at the slightest touch, radiating fragility. A body like a flower bud yet to bloom, but already containing the promise of future splendor.

X-ray vision?

I had heard of it. But this was practically a superpower. Some text even appeared, describing me.

But… how am I reading the text?

It looked exactly like a system window. When it had first appeared to me, it was the same. The characters transformed into meaning, embedding information deep inside my consciousness. The meaning unfolded naturally in my mind. I hadn’t needed to trace the shapes with my fingertips. There was no process of recognition or interpretation. I simply understood the moment I saw it.

Only now did I realize my hair and eyes were blonde and blue.

The name changed too? And twelve years old means I’m an elementary schooler.

Even my name had been forcibly altered. It had become a name that required an awkward roll of the tongue. Ernian Ludwig. What was I, some noble young lady? When I checked, even my disability registration card listed that name. As if I had been born that way from the beginning.

I shifted my gaze to the closet. Even without opening the door, I could see inside. The clothes I used to wear had vanished, replaced by neatly arranged garments meant for a young girl.

“My entire life has been inverted.”

But that wasn’t the end of it.

“W-wait. Just how far can I see?”

Information flooded my mind.

I cried out, but the information refused to stop.

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“Stop! Stop showing me!”

It was disgusting. Terror surged through me. I had never imagined that seeing everything could be this painful.

“……Ugh, I don’t want to see any of this.”

So in the end, I closed my eyes. The moment my vision was cut off, the chaotic world vanished in an instant. Familiar darkness rushed in.

“It feels better to keep my eyes closed.”

I didn’t know the exact principle, but it seemed my x-ray vision couldn’t pierce my own eyelids. At that moment, a tremendous roar echoed from far away. The vibration of something collapsing traveled all the way to my toes.

KU-GU-GU-GU-GU-GUNG!

The house I lived in shook violently.

“Uwaaaaaah!”

“World Boss! A boss has appeared!”

“What? Suddenly?”

“Just run like hell!”

Loud sirens blared. Aaaaaaaaahng!

“Woof!”

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At that moment, something soft and warm came running toward me. The being people called a guide dog for the visually impaired and I simply called my friend—Hahyang-i. Even with my eyes closed, I could sense her. She was whining and tugging at me.

Even though my appearance had changed so drastically, Hahyang-i still recognized me.

I can’t keep my eyes closed in a situation like this.

I opened my eyes with determination. But immediate regret washed over me. The world before me was completely buried under layers of information. It was worse than not seeing at all.

So this is what it feels like to open your eyes and still be unable to see.

I needed to evacuate, but my vision was so cluttered that I couldn’t even make out the path I was supposed to take. A headache strong enough to split my skull throbbed. Unable to endure any longer, I squeezed my eyes shut again.

“Woof! Woof!”

Perhaps unwilling to leave me like that, Hahyang-i bit the hem of my clothes and urged me forward. She was desperately trying to save me. I belatedly grabbed my cane and stumbled after her guidance, trying to get out of the building, but—

…it was too late.

KWAAAAAANG!

The building split in half. Dust swirled amid the shaking and cracks that threatened imminent collapse.

“Kyaaaak!”

My body was hurled into the air and my consciousness briefly faded.

“Ugh…”

Thud.

My small frame slammed into a wall. The impact forced my eyes open, and through my blurry vision I saw a colossal figure. It looked like the embodiment of the apocalypse itself. A colorless knight radiating a chilling aura.

Was this basic information automatically provided? Cold text floated above its head. But the moment my eyes were open, the ability activated whether I wanted it or not. I pierced through the colorless outline and saw its true form.

Everything was overwhelming. It inspired not rebellion but utter despair that crushed even the will to resist.

Hunters fight things like this?

The sword in its hand swallowed all light and burned black. Jet-black energy swirled across its surface like dark flames. A weapon that seemed to breathe darkness itself.

Shing.

The moment the sword swung, the air itself was severed. Whatever lay in its path was sliced apart—whether it was a person, the ground, or something else entirely. This couldn’t even be called a fight. It was a one-sided massacre.

“Kyaaaaaaaagh!”

“Save me…”

“What the hell is the Association doing?!”

“When is S-Class reinforcement coming?!”

“You’re a Hunter! Stop shaking and protect me!”

Helpless. Every time the creature moved, corpses piled up. Screams never ceased. Blood sprayed. Equipment scattered across the ground. Before it, humans had been reduced to nothing but a disordered mass of screams. It took less than a few seconds to annihilate the Hunters.

The creature began walking. Its target wasn’t me. It was Hahyang-i.

“Hahyang-i!”

I shouted instinctively. Ears folded back, Hahyang-i retreated while growling, refusing to flee as she tried to protect me.

“Grrrrrr!”

That pure courage. But it would mean nothing to the monster. It raised its sword.

In that instant, all thought vanished.

I have to do it.

My level was only 1. Moreover, I was in the fragile body of a young girl. But I knew. No—in this entire world, perhaps only I knew.

The heel. That was the only weakness. The sole way to stop this overwhelming being.

I knew it was reckless. I had no time to hesitate. While the creature focused on Hahyang-i, while its back was turned to me—this was the only chance.

I scanned the equipment scattered on the ground. All the Hunters’ gear that had fallen nearby floated into my vision with letters, numbers, grades, and properties. But they were useless. Every item was split in half, glowing red with the message unusable.

“……Should I throw a rock, then?”

Even I thought the idea was absurd. The rough surface of a stone at my fingertips. Throwing this to defeat that colossal monster? Even if it was a weak point, did that make any sense? Of course not.

At that moment, a faint white light flickered at my feet. It had been so close I hadn’t noticed it before. Without thinking, I reached out ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and picked it up. The cold touch of metal against my fingertips. This wasn’t Hunter equipment.

A revolver.

Even a visually impaired person knew the common knowledge of this world: modern firearms didn’t work on monsters that came out of Gates.

“Still, I have no choice but to try.”

My finger found the trigger. The cold metal seeped into my skin. I knew how ridiculous this was. I had never even seen a gun before, let alone held one. I didn’t know how to aim. But this wasn’t the time to worry about that.

If it was to save Hahyang-i, I could do anything.

Thump. Thump.

My heartbeat roared in my ears. My whole body felt frozen with tension, yet a faint instinct whispered to me.

It’s okay.

My eyes were telling me everything—how to fire the gun. No, more precisely, how to kill the monster.

I pulled the trigger.

All physical sensation disappeared; only the resistance at my fingertip remained clear.

Bang!

A short vibration and recoil. The aim was perfect. The most flawless trajectory my eyes had shown me.

“Kwaaaaaaaaagh!”

The bullet struck the heel exactly.

The World Boss that had reigned under the name Immortal Knight had been defeated.

This was my first shot.