Light vanished. Humans need light to see the world, but as the illumination died, the Infected following Yujin panicked.
Instantly, Yujin summoned a brilliant golden light, creating a starlit radiance.
"…A blackout? Suddenly?"
Clack. A sound like a switch being flipped echoed, and every light in the city went dark. Yujin scanned the area, but apart from the starlight he had created, the world was pitch black.
"Ugh, a sudden blackout during an escape? How are we supposed to get out...?"
An Infected groaned, hanging his head. Most doors in Sector Zero were electronic.
He could brute-force his way through by slashing the walls, but that would draw unwanted attention. Yujin couldn't afford to fight a prolonged battle while burdened with the Infected.
"…Hello?"
A voice came from a place where he hadn't sensed any presence. Yujin turned his head sharply.
Standing there was a woman clad in darkness, staring at him.
Yujin‘s eyes quickly scanned her.
Thin armor dyed as black as dark iron, gleaming faintly. And on her back, a massive longbow of extraordinary size.
The woman, holding a bow nearly as tall as herself, smiled at Yujin.
"It's an honor to meet such a renowned knight. It's rare for me to meet someone looking like this."
"You... are you a Darkiron?"
Seeing the person who looked more like a girl than a woman, Yujin hummed low in his throat.
He hadn't felt her presence. Yujin‘s senses were honed to an abnormal degree; failing to detect someone was nearly impossible.
That fact left a lingering seed of anxiety.
"Ugh, 'Darkiron,' 'Lazurite'... the names are so cringy, don't you think?"
The girl, wearing a black mask covering her mouth, laughed. She sounded like an innocent child.
"Even if Grandfather came up with them, except for the six of us, everyone else is pretty much the same... ah, should I exclude Platinum too?"
Even at a glance, she seemed full of openings. Yujin cautiously took a step forward, settling into a stance.
"Still, it's an honor to meet the knight everyone admires these days. Hehe, normally...!"
Enemies must be cut down. Hesitation breeds death. It was a lesson from Netsalem that remained etched deep in Yujin‘s bones.
Clang, screech!
The girl, who seemed to have missed Yujin‘s movement, blocked his sword with her longbow faster than anyone else could have reacted. Her pitch-black eyes met Yujin‘s golden ones.
The twisted collision of sword and bow emitted a sound that made it impossible to determine which was superior. Realizing he couldn't overwhelm her with force, Yujin took a step back.
"…Strange. You don't feel that physically strong."
"You talk too much."
Yujin watched the girl tilt her head as she examined the scratch on her bow.
She was acting as if this battlefield were a flower garden.
"Aww, that's mean. I was looking forward to this meeting. Grandfather went to meet you alone!"
Seeing the girl puff out her cheeks in anger, Yujin felt a sudden surge of rage. If this girl—no, this human—was a Darkiron, she had to know what had happened here.
"Don't you... know what happened in this place?"
Yujin asked her. But the girl answered with a bright smile.
"I know. Human experiments on Infected? Hmm... doesn't really matter to me."
"Right. That's enough."
There was no need for further conversation. Yujin‘s grip on his sword changed as he glared at the Darkiron.
"Then my task is clear."
Crunch. The sound of muscles shifting. Yujin took a step forward. The opponent was a Darkiron; this was not a time to hold back or gauge strength.
Yujin resolved himself. He wouldn't activate the Stars yet, but he would fight with everything he had, disregarding the consequences, just as he had in his first duel with Buldrokk.
This was not a match. Not an honorable duel. It was a fight between killers standing to slaughter one another.
At that moment, the stars in the sky shone brightly.
The blackout made the stars above the city clearer than ever. One of the countless stars traced a tail as it broke from its orbit and plummeted toward Yujin.
SCHWAAAAA!
With a terrifying shriek, the fallen star revealed itself as a black spear. Yujin managed to dodge by leaping away, his golden eyes flashing as he looked up at the sky.
A snipe. An ultra-long-range parabolic shot from an unknown location.
Rumors said there were three Darkirons. Unlike Lazurite and Platinum, whose identities were somewhat known... the Darkirons had been treated as urban legends.
And two of them were trying to kill Yujin.
"Whew..."
He exhaled heavily.
He could die. With that thought, Yujin gripped his sword properly and aimed it at the girl.
"Alright. Let's do this."
Trials were always present. The difference was that Yujin always overcame them and survived.
He had to make it happen again.
Facing two of the top archers and assassins in Kazimierz.
His sword traced a platinum arc. The blade swung again to pierce the Darkiron‘s side, but the girl quickly raised her bow to block it, growling like a beast.
"Now this feels real... Sir Knight!"
Why an archer was engaging in melee combat was beyond him, but Yujin swung his sword again, smashing down on the Darkiron.
Boom! The girl‘s body shook. Whether she blocked it with instinct again or not, blocking the downward strike sent her flying back a significant distance.
Her pupils slit. Her gaze toward Yujin turned feral.
Naturally, the long-range sniping didn't stop. As if to say this time would be different, arrows capable of inflicting instant death rained down continuously.
"Let's do this... In novels, they say this. I am Yuria Carend, Darkiron of the Armorless Union! I challenge you to a du—!"
"Shut up."
Cutting Yuria off, Yujin kicked her knee.
His heated body couldn't control its bloodlust, and Yujin swung his sword with the direct intent to kill.
Barely dodging by throwing her body, Yuria broke into a cold sweat, breathing heavily.
She was better at close combat than her grandfather or uncle, but she was no match for Yujin.
Moreover, she was blocking a sword with a weapon made to shoot people; she had to worry about how long her bow would last.
Her grandfather was sniping, but Yujin dodged every arrow as if he could see the future while rushing at her.
"I can't do this! HELP—!!!"
This time, a purple arrow, spinning like a sawblade, flew toward him.
Not falling like artillery from the sky, but straight from Yujin‘s front.
"He's not an easy opponent, Yuria. Wake up and do it properly."
Why was the situation spiraling into the worst possible scenario?
"…Fuck."
Yujin cursed, something he hadn't done in a long time, and looked at a man sitting on a wall.
"Consider it an honor, young knight. You're the first person all three of us have moved for."
"I don't really want to consider this an honor..."
Three. One more enemy added to the two he was already struggling with.
Not a long-range snipe, but a close-range shot. The man pulled a bowstring no ordinary human could draw and fired.
"Don't dodge. If you do, the people behind you die."
Hearing the man's words, Yujin remembered the people behind him before he could throw himself aside.
They had frozen like prey facing a predator the moment they saw the Darkirons.
CLAAAAAAANG!!!
Choosing to clash head-on rather than dodge, Yujin‘s body shook violently. But he took another step forward, crushing the earth beneath him.
He spun around. The arrow, split in half despite the direct impact, made the man frown.
Not dodging, but splitting it in half from the front.
An arrow even a Silverlance Pegasus would hesitate to face head-on.
"…Run."
Yujin spoke to the frozen people. But the terrified Infected couldn't hear him.
"Everyone! SCATTER AND RUN—!"
Only when Yujin roared did they snap out of it and start fleeing.
The man didn't bother shooting the fleeing people. He could have taken hostages, but walking a tightrope didn't suit his temperament.
Yujin‘s arms, visibly trembling from blocking the arrow, betrayed his condition.
"…Your body is weaker than I thought. Though your technique is good."
"Shut up unless you're going to fix it."
Yujin was born different from them. He realized this painfully when he started training under Netsalem in earnest.
He couldn't use techniques ordinary Sarkaz could. Or rather, he could, but his body couldn't mimic them.
His mind understood perfectly, but his body couldn't follow.
So Yujin obsessed over technique. He believed it was the only ladder he could climb.
He had been struggling to reach the unreachable.
But.
"I thought wrong from the start."
Yujin recalled the past. The struggle to survive as a child. The backalleys with Theresis and Theresa.
He thought he didn't care about the consequences, but he had limited himself out of fear for the future.
Forgetting that there is no future if you don't survive today.
*["Need power? Then come. Join us and become kin. To the homeland, to that sea..."] *
For a moment, a white doll descended like a mirage, but Yujin shook his head.
The mirage vanished immediately, knowing Yujin would leave without hesitation if it bothered him further.
Then, Yujin gripped his sword as if to crush it, summoning two stars.
Muscles twisted. Blood trickled from his nose and ears, creating a grotesque scene. Yujin looked at the Darkirons with platinum eyes.
Even if I die today, I'm taking all of you with me.
Regaining his old mindset, Yujin charged at the Darkirons.