"Firma!" I yelled out, my voice sounded a bit muffled, but loud nonetheless, and somehow it cut through the thick storm of dusty air and raging Han riffles.
As I yelled his name, I turned my neck right, squinting my eyes as my gaze pierced through the swirling dust, fixating on Firma, who was running at the same pace with me.
My left hand covered my mouth and my nose, serving as an imperfect barrier between the dust and my lungs. My right hand clenched the hilt of my sword tightly, never letting go as I ran.
Cough~ Cough~
I cleared the dust out of my throat. It seemed that indeed, my left hand was an imperfect barrier because the dust still found its way into my throat.
Firma turned his neck. And as he turned, his dull brown eyes locked with mine. He didn't speak or utter a single word. All he did was raise the top left corner of his lips and furrow his brows a little.
And I knew. 'What is it?' That's what he was asking.
"We take out those rifle guards high up on those arrow slits!!" I screamed at the top of my voice, my throat vibrated, and I realized that my voice was cracking.
Firma nodded, increasing his pace in that same moment.
I looked forward. Dodging the deadly flurry of Han bullets as I ran. The sound of my footsteps was swallowed in the bellowing noise that engulfed the entirety of the castle.
My eyes never lost focus as I dodged and ran. They peered through the dust, staring straight at the large square stone tower that stood high up.
That tower had thick walls that would surely be a pain in the ass to breach. Various slits were carved on top of them, slits where the majority of the rifle guards shot at us.
That's the castle's keep. If we take the guards out and find our way inside, then the Provincial Lord…
Click~
A low click sound chimed.
I think I stepped on something as I was running. What was–
My eyes widened immediately, and my entire body shivered as an electric-like jolt ran through me.
My instinct.
My forehead wrinkled as I paused and opened my mouth wide, "Firma! Get back!!" I screamed. My voice bled, coming out of my throat the only way it could. In rasping cracks.
It was a trap. A bomb made from Han. One meant to explode immediately stepped on.
Boom—!
I took a large leap backward, barely evading the massive explosion that raised a gigantic canopy of dust in the area where I once stood.
As the sound of the explosion mellowed, all I could hear was a faint ringing sound that streamed through my ears lazily.
–Huff– –Huff–
My breathing was ragged now. Each breath I drew felt like I was deliberately scratching my lungs with thousands of hot knives.
I was crouched low, my two hands raised, slightly barricading my eyes, leaving just enough space for me to see through and view the dissolving dust canopy.
I gnashed my teeth, clenching my fists tighter. If my sword were alive, it would have been strangled because of how tightly I clenched it.
My skin was flushed, my body temperature shot up. It was uncomfortable, like I was suddenly being burned from the inside out.
I understood it then and there. From the way my heartbeat went off rhythm, beating against my ribs in a feral way.
It was time to go wild.
I looked right. Not too far from me, Firma — as expected — knelt with one knee. The other knee was up, and his weight was being supported by one of his axes, which he held with his right hand.
He looked back at me, too. It was as if he knew. Because I could see it in those eyes of his. For the first time in a while, they held an expression. And that expression was the same as mine.
We're going to destroy everything.
I stood up. My knees trembled slightly, causing me to stagger a bit, but I composed myself.
"Are they dead?!" The guards asked.
"Search? Search the dust! They must be!"
The bullets had stopped. It was silent.
The guards must have thought that the explosion had killed us.
Perfect.
The cascading dust was our only cover.
With my right foot, I took one step forward. My left foot remained backward.
My sword quivered slightly in my right palm. Maybe it really was alive, maybe it knew what was about to happen.
I closed my eyes, crouching low.
–[Go. Han.]–
The words of an Elf held power. A power that humans couldn't even dream of having. That's why they constructed artificial ways to harness it.
But it was very different for us. For me.
It came to those of us Elves who knew how to stir it.
The two command words that stirred Han. They echoed through my veins. The fiber of my being. They rang out within my consciousness. A massive ball of nothing.
That ball broke. And within that broken ball, my soul floated.
The words. The commands pierced my soul, stirring the Han within it. And the Han moved, circulating my body and manifesting physically as my awakened element.
As Darkness.
The moment I opened my eyes, the world I saw became different.
It was all black. The darkness dripped through my eyes; it permeated my body.
I guided the dark Han, and it moved through my body like jelly. I felt it within my veins, until they enveloped my sword, down to the tip.
The grim and desolate darkness had colored my sword.
I exhaled with my mouth open. Darkness floated out, like smoke from a burning incense.
I crouched lower, and my calves bulged, brimming with the dark Han.
"Hmph!"
I took a large leap, the force of my leap causing the ground where I once stood to crack.
I soared high up into the air, above the swarm of dust and sand.
The breeze up in the sky was refreshing, but I had no time to admire it as I looked down on everything and every single guard. Including the ones in the keep.
They were all below me.
"Do it now, Karanin!!" Firma's voice streamed through my ear like a tidal wave.
"Now," I said, raising my darkness-coated sword high up with my right hand. "You all die."