Chapter 24

Bell sliced through the boss in the blink of an eye and kept moving.

A shimmer of heat haze trembled in the air.

Then a thunderous crack tore through the silence.

The black armor the boss wore shattered into pieces and clattered to the ground.

But the flesh inside was completely intact.

Just like it had been with me.

You had to destroy the armor first before you could pierce the flesh beneath.

Bell was no different.

"Hoo..."

As usual, she let out a sigh like air escaping a balloon and started to lose her balance—

"Ah..."

—but she didn't fall.

Her legs stood straight beneath her, rooted like a tree.

She clenched and unclenched her fists.

Then she brushed her body off, checking her condition.

"Why... am I okay?"

Confusion twisted into a smile.

She began to laugh.

The boss she'd attacked directly shook its head, its eyes sharpening with murderous intent.

It looked like it had made up its mind: no more holding back.

Just as it had done in my past life.

Just as it had trampled and killed Bell.

In the end, it threw everything into a full-force attack on her.

She deflected the boss's axe with the flat of her blade.

"Urgh..."

Even that single block twisted her face into a deathly grimace.

"Kinzo, light me up too," she said, dodging the axe's edge left and right.

"What?"

"Fire! Like you do for Mago!"

An instant later, flames coiled around her sword.

"It's hot."

Bell prepared a second explosion.

She was going to settle this in one blow.

The boss's axe swung toward her shoulder—

At the same moment, Flash Strike.

The axe crumbled.

Along the shaft, the arm was severed in two.

From the arm to the shoulder.

From the shoulder to the neck.

Bell's blade tore through the boss, moving in a single, straight line.

The teeth and horns strung on its necklace flew off.

Finally, the head.

Its skull hit the ground with a dull thud.

"Phew..."

Only then did Bell collapse, just like always.

I took down the goblins on the hillside one by one.

I killed every last one of them and then opened my eyes.

The third Lake.

Today's final Lake session was over.

Kinzo came down with Bell cradled in his arms.

He said something to me, but I couldn't hear a word.

A louder sound swallowed his voice.

The howl of a wolf.

"Ah, right."

This was wolf territory.

"Right," I muttered.

Wolves crawled out of the shadows, locking onto their prey.

"Must be the smell of blood."

Between the humans and the monsters, blood was everywhere.

The howling crept closer.

A black wolf stared up at me, growling low in its throat.

In seconds, we were surrounded by a ring of pitch-black wolves.

They were coming from every direction.

And we were just three.

Bell was completely out of commission.

"Ugh..."

Kinzo dropped to his knees, still holding Bell in his arms.

"I think I broke my arm blocking that axe," he grunted through his teeth.

Kinzo was as bad off as Bell.

That left me.

"Mago. Your arm..."

"Yeah, my left arm's useless now."

All I had left was my right arm.

With that one arm, I had to protect myself, Kinzo, and Bell.

The wolves circled, pacing in a slow, deliberate ring.

They were ready to pounce at any moment, just waiting for the right signal among themselves.

"I'm not done yet... not even close..."

I forced myself to stand alone, keeping my eyes locked on them.

I snapped my head left and right, my gaze darting, ready to cut down the first one that lunged.

Every muscle in my body was coiled tight.

A huge wolf broke from the pack and charged first.

I cleaved its head clean off.

But that was just a diversion.

As if on cue, the rest of the wolves sprang from every direction at once.

I had taken down the goblins. The orcs. Even the orc chief.

Unlike my past life, Kinzo and Bell hadn't died.

But still.

Was this how it ended? Eaten by wolves?

"Thanks for holding out, Mago."

A red line streaked past my eyes.

It carved a fast, crescent arc through the air and vanished.

Where it passed, heat shimmer exploded.

The wolves suspended mid-leap were sliced in two in an instant.

Their bisected bodies tumbled down the hillside.

"Mago."

El.

That was Elizabeth Red's voice.

Her blade was glowing a vivid, blood-red.

"Mago. Snap out of it."

She spoke more clearly and firmly than ever before.

"Thank you. For everything. I'll pay you back. With interest."

"Miss El!" Kinzo shouted, his voice cracking like a sob.

"Take care of Bell for me."

"Yes? Yes...!"

El exhaled a wave of heat.

*

"Kinzo, I'm going straight over the mountain to the Capital."

"Are you out of your mind? You want to keep fighting with just one arm? And you've used up all your Lake charges!"

"You head down with Miss El. I'll see you later."

"Wait, hold on. Mago. You're saying you're going alone. No Lake, no flames, by yourself. That sounds like a death sentence."

"Does it really?"

"At least take Miss El with you..."

"There's someone I need to meet. I have to ask them for a favor."

"A favor? What kind?"

"The fourth exam is going to be voided. There won't be time to retake it, so they'll just let us graduate with our current scores. Bell killed the boss today—that's a waste of a good performance."

"That's right...!"

El, cradling the sleeping Bell in her arms, answered before I could.

"I'm heading to the Capital to find the Special Forces. I'll tell them about our achievements and request a special selection."

"The Special Forces? How do you know who's coming? Or even that they're already there?"

"They're definitely there. That's just the kind of person they are."

"So who is it?"

"Marjelo Arnis."

"Yeah, Marjelo... wait, what? Marjelo Arnis? You're going to meet her?"

"And besides... I don't think there's anything left for you to do here."

I tilted my head toward the side.

"How are you all still alive in one piece?"

Amon stared back at me with a blank expression.

"Does this look like 'one piece' to you?"

He raised his left arm, showing off the arrow still embedded in it.

With a gesture, he returned the blades made of blood back into the ground.

"Amon? That just now..."

Kinzo started to ask.

"Huh? Did something happen?"

Amon shrugged, playing dumb.

"Assassination Squad, fifty members. Some injuries, but no fatalities."

He gave me a brief report on the situation down below.

"That's a relief. The Guard Squad scattered, so I'm not sure about them. But since the boss sent all its forces toward me..."

"And," Amon cut in, "from what I confirmed on my way up: Guard Squad, forty-seven members. Same as the Assassination Squad—some injuries, but no casualties. All thanks to you... Miss Elizabeth."

"Really...?"

Kinzo's face lit up as he asked again.

"Finally, all of you—Mago, Kinzo Shua, and Bell Red, plus the entire fifty-member Guard Squad—everyone's alive. All that's left now is to make it back alive."

"Amon. Good work."

I put my hand on his shoulder.

"You all go ahead. I'm not done yet."

"Mago! This is insane!"

Kinzo grabbed my wrist.

"No. I think it's going to rain soon."

"What are you talking about... It's blazing clear out here."

*

I shook off my colleagues and barely managed to slip away.

The training grounds had been defended from the invasion—

But the Capital itself.

"That bustling Capital..."

It had been utterly ravaged.

I felt it on my skin first.

A chill.

The sticky smell of ash and blood clinging to my skin told me everything.

I held the back of my hand over my nose and walked.

There were only corpses.

The shops along the road.

Homes. Town hall. The church.

Corpses everywhere.

Citizens, soldiers, and even monsters.

The fact that monster bodies were scattered around meant someone had killed them.

But there was no sign of the living.

Not a single trace of human presence.

I walked a little further.

Alone through the Capital, as if all life had been snuffed out.

I wandered in a daze.

"Li..."

Then I saw a horse.

A large brown stallion.

"Light?"

It was my former master's horse.

The one he'd treasured like a child.

A bad-tempered beast that had even warmed up to his children.

Now it was wandering without its owner, pacing in tight circles.

It looked uneasy.

"Light!"

At the sound of its name, the horse turned its head.

I met its large, dark eyes.

As if recognizing me, it approached with unusually gentle steps.

It came right up to me and lowered its long neck.

I stroked its mane to calm it down.

"That's it."

I grabbed the reins and climbed onto its back with care.

"Never thought I'd see you again like this."

As Light picked up a little speed, my left arm—already hanging uselessly—swung even more.

I set off in search of any sign of life.

Coming back to the Capital after all this time brought back old memories.

I was sitting in an inn lobby, ordering a meal like I always used to.

- Mago. This world is full of absurdity.

Kinzo had spoken up, bored while waiting for the food.

- You're hardly the one to talk about wealth inequality, Mr. Privileged.

I'd shot back curtly.

- That's not what I mean. I'm talking about magic. Since you've got talent for it too...

- Magic, all of a sudden?

- It's decided from birth what kind of magic you can use. Even if it manifests later like yours did, that was still what was meant for you. Just a matter of timing. The academy called it a 'Gift.' Most people can't use magic at all, and even among those who can...

A sigh mixed into his words.

- It's decided what kind of magic each individual can use. There's no greater absurdity than that.

- I've never thought about it deeply, but you're right. It's not fair.

- I've got Flame Reinforcement Magic and Clairvoyance Magic. No matter how much I train, I can only improve those two. I can never learn another.

- I know. But so what?

- Or sometimes, a Gift runs in the bloodline. The three great noble families of the Empire with their unique magic are the prime examples. Red, Coster, Moonlight. You know them, right?

- Of course. I'll be meeting Red and Coster soon enough.

- Huh?

- Anyway. Even if magic is unfair, there are Magic Tools.

- M-Magic Tools? You know about those too? Mago, were you really locked up in that mansion?

- There are plenty of legends.

- Ah, right. Anyway. Even within all that absurdity, there are blessed people. People who seem born to be the strongest. And we've even seen one in the flesh, haven't we?

- I think I already know who you're talking about. Is that what all this rambling was leading to?

- Our food's here. Mago, let's eat.

Kinzo set his plate down on the table.

He stabbed the edge of his steak with a fork.

Then he sliced through the meat with ease using his knife.

Holding up a piece impaled on his fork, he said,

- To Marjelo Arnis, monsters are probably about this much.

- This much?

- A single bite-sized piece of meat. Exactly this much.

That old conversation was still fresh in my mind when—

A massive head came flying toward me.

It hit the ground and rolled three times before stopping.

I locked eyes with the still-warm orc head staring blankly back at me.

"Hey, Trainee. This area's dangerous. Keep your distance."

"Everywhere's dangerous these days, so it's not like—"

"I'm talking about the area around me."

I followed the trajectory of the head with my eyes.

A pack of orcs had something surrounded.

Roughly fifty of them.

A perfect circular encirclement.

One by one, the fifty started falling apart, cut into pieces.

The tightly packed formation crumbled like a sandcastle, absurdly easy.

Whenever the black armor and green skin split open, I caught glimpses of a figure through the gaps.

A flash of black hair.

Then the black uniform of the Special Forces, just for a moment.

Each time the orcs were knocked away, the woman at the center of the siege became clearer.

It felt like parting a thick bush to find a treasure chest hidden inside.

Everything around her was pitch black.

But her movements were unmistakably a gem.

And since I'd known this for a long time already,

My certainty only grew.

"I've seen this countless times in my past life..."

Just like Kinzo had sliced through his steak with a knife,

Marjelo Arnis's spear did the same.

Effortlessly cutting through the orcs' bodies.

Like a warm-up before the real match.

Like a predator tearing into its prey.

She simply continued the slaughter.

Marjelo Arnis.

The One-Man Army.

The Walking Cannon.

Humanity's strongest.

And the Hero.

When the Hero finally lowered her spear and stood still, the entire pack of orcs had been reduced to nothing more than scraps of meat.

It was terrifyingly overwhelming.

"This never gets easier to watch."

I've always wanted to be like her.

I've always thought that.

And I still do.

Now that I have the Lake, maybe even more so.

I dismounted from Light and raised my hand in a salute.

"First Training Center, 66th Class, Trainee number seventy-one. Mago."

"Marjelo."

Yeah.

What more needed to be said?