Black Badger

Kyle had been splitting the ground with sword slashes since the old days.

It was the ground in Zone 5 that got split.

So did that mean Kyle was in B-5 Zone right then?

"Hilde, sit down."

Ami grabbed my arm and yanked it.

Her grip had quite a bit of force, so I reluctantly lowered my head.

But I didn't sit; instead, I met her eyes while standing.

"Did you see that attack too, Senior?"

"Yeah. I'll show you, so sit."

"Pardon?"

How was she going to show me?

Puzzled, I plopped down into my seat, and she pulled out her smartphone from the pocket on her pants.

The senior tapped at the earring clinging tightly to her ear.

"This earring is a body cam."

She explained as my eyes widened in surprise.

"It might be a bit dizzying, but it's recorded pretty well."

Ami was right.

It was like watching footage from a black box—the recorded battle played out. The video captured by the earring appeared on the phone screen.

It was shaky from her quick movements, but I could grasp the situation.

The battle in B-5 Zone replayed.

It was on a scale incomparable to this place. There were tons of creatures and badgers. Unlike the chaotic melee in Zone 7, there were proper formations here. It looked like the units were divided, with a couple of badger squads charging at the creatures from the opposite direction in the video.

The badgers had the upper hand.

The camera focused on Chen aiming at a creature.

A massive, grotesque limb took up half the screen.

I wasn't sure what it was, but it was something green and wriggling. Just as Chen was about to fire his bazooka at it, the sword slash came flying in.

[What the hell?!]

Something like a white wave split the ground.

[Dodge!]

KABOOM!

What was that?

"We never figured out who launched the attack."

Ami muttered beside me.

I pulled in my head, which I'd been holding high, and then lifted my chin to scan the surroundings. Before I knew it, the seniors had gathered behind me and Ami, peering at the video.

A thick shadow fell over me and Ami.

I quickly turned my eyes back to the video.

In the footage, the startled badgers disrupted their stances as they searched for the attacker. I observed the chaotic scene.

Then I pointed at the screen.

I rewound the video to the moment the attack began.

"You couldn't find the one who launched this attack?"

"A portal opened right at that moment."

Richard gave a heavy response to Yoon's question.

"So we focused on retreating. That was the plan anyway. And the attack didn't repeat."

"Exactly."

Ami spoke as she watched the video I was looping.

"Even when we went up into the sky, we couldn't find the attacker."

It was definitely Kyle's doing.

He must have hidden himself somewhere. He knew full well there was no point in revealing himself. With the portal opening and the badgers fleeing, showing his face wouldn't benefit him at all.

But there was something odd.

This was unmistakably Kyle's sword slash, and that's precisely why it was so strange.

What in the world...

I tuned out the conversation among the seniors behind me and focused back on the video. I lost track of time, oblivious to anyone trying to talk to me, as I kept looping it. From the moment the sword slash appeared until it vanished from the screen. I replayed it over and over to confirm what I'd seen.

But no matter how many times I watched, what I'd seen was correct.

Maybe my fatigued eyes were playing tricks on me.

But no matter how I looked at it, this was...

...Ha.

What?

What was this?

"What are you staring at like that?"

My mind snapped back to reality.

The one who'd spoken was Walker, who'd been standing silently beside me. He must have been watching me the whole time as I was absorbed in the video.

Ricardo had his back half-turned to me, but I could tell he was listening for my response.

I had been acting strangely.

But I didn't have the mental bandwidth to explain properly.

My entire focus was on Kyle's sword slash; I barely felt any pain. The fatigue wrapping around my body and the cold that had me hunching my shoulders—they were gone.

I met the senior's gaze vaguely for a moment, then dropped my eyes back to the video.

"I was looking at the attack."

"What's there to see?"

Walker asked in a low voice.

I rewound the video to the point where the attack started.

"So, you'll see."

It was truly bizarre.

"The trajectory isn't straight."

Ami turned her head toward me.

Yoon, Richard, Tvain—they all stopped talking and looked down at me. Jonathan Kudo, who had been tending to his sword beside Ricardo, and Aki, who had been lounging next to Ami whistling—they froze too.

But I ignored the varied reactions from those around me.

And I played the video at 0.5 speed.

"Can you see how jagged it is?"

"No."

"If you look closely, you'll see it."

Walker didn't seem interested in looking closely, but I didn't care. It was clear as day to my eyes. The attack, which should have gone in a straight line, zigzagged like a tiny saw blade.

Like a cut surface left with crude marks.

It was just like the edge of paper cut with dull scissors.

"This causes the energy to scatter wastefully, reducing the power. It gets progressively weaker toward the end."

At my added explanation, people leaned in closer to examine the video.

My back grew heavy. Even the exhausted seniors from Zone 7 craned their necks forward.

I couldn't wait around for everyone to spot that moment.

With no choice, I skipped ahead in the video, ignoring Tvain muttering something like, "What the hell is this kid on about?"

I still had more to say.

"And if you look at the end of the video."

This part was even more ridiculous.

"The attack splits in two directions."

"Huh, it does!"

This time, the reaction came immediately.

Ami's eyes widened.

"It splits like a whale's tail!"

"That means almost no vital strikes land."

It was different from the attack Hecate had unleashed, which split into six branches.

That one had been divided from the moment the sword slash was launched. To make it impossible to dodge.

But this was a technique that was supposed to start as one and end as one.

Yet...

"It means the technique wasn't executed perfectly."

"Ooh, that's interesting. But is that important?"

"Would yours do that?"

I looked up at Aki's question.

The senior lounging next to Ami, swinging her legs, had a sharp gaze.

"Isn't it similar to the one you launched last time? Or not? Sorry if I'm wrong."

"Uh..."

She's basically asking if this was even a sword slash...

I stared blankly at the face of the shooting prodigy.

Then, realizing the piercing stares boring into me, I quickly schooled my dumbfounded expression.

"My skills are lacking right now too, so if it were recorded, it'd split even more than this."

It used to boast a very smooth cut surface.

Honestly, I didn't have the confidence to produce such a clean sword slash anymore. As Yoon said, the cost of not training for so long was huge.

That's why lately I'd been putting effort into swordsmanship to regain my former level. To deliver clean, refined attacks. Recalling the memories of sparring with Kyle back then.

The moment you perfected a flawless, refined sword slash, you reached the realm of swordmaster.

It wasn't just about launching sword slashes to be called a swordmaster. A swordmaster had to perfect the sword slash. One that didn't deviate from its trajectory, didn't scatter its power, and after slicing the target, faded beautifully without splitting.

The moment you achieved that, your swordsmanship advanced to the next level.

The exhilaration I'd felt upon reaching that realm.

Now, every time I recalled it, I also became aware of how much my skills had declined.

But fine, I could accept that for myself. Why had his skills declined?

I figured he'd regain his true form soon enough, and right now, it didn't seem like his skills had dropped as much as mine. Still, I'd keenly sensed his regression.

There was no way I wouldn't. From that moment we faced each other in the training hall, we'd been rivals. Kyle and I had pushed each other, trading leads and contributing to each other's growth. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Even back on Earth.

In that vast expanse of pure white, until we pointed our blades at one another.

"Do you use a sword?"

Kudo's voice pulled my mind from the memories.

I saw the badger's face, tinged with pale dawn light.

"Yes."

"I didn't know~?"

"Hilde's amazing with a sword!"

Ricardo let out a hollow laugh, and Ami stretched her neck out.

"You two should spar sometime!"

To be precise, he was an idiot who only knew how to swing a sword.

Tvain voiced the awkward words I was about to say. Richard piled on with nagging about whether his shooting skills had stopped improving.

With so many people, the conversation quickly took off. I let out a resigned chuckle and listened in on the talk from those I'd run missions with.

It was roughly about my skills.

A mix of nagging, sarcasm, and praise—I listened in a daze, and soon the topic shifted elsewhere.

"What about the Tier 9 creature?"

My breath caught.

A stern man asked Yoon.

"It definitely came this way."

The mentor didn't spare me a glance.

Instead, he just rolled his eyes to meet Richard's. The mentor stood crookedly on the overturned asphalt, a lit cigarette in his mouth.

"We lost it."

That was what he spat out after a brief silence.

"Foolishly."

"You know this isn't a trivial matter."

Richard whispered ominously, arms crossed.

Heads turned that way. Richard Green had the power to make everyone gathered fall silent and listen attentively.

"It's the first time since the First War that such a perfect humanoid creature has been sighted."

"Well, officially, yeah."

"And lately, several creatures similar to humans have appeared."

Richard finished speaking and picked up a white bundle on the ground.

I hadn't even noticed it was there.

It looked like something that could hold a basketball.

Richard shoved his hand inside and pulled something out.

"This is one of those creatures."

The contents were laid out under the dispersing white dawn light.

My yellow gaze locked onto it.

"The main body was too large to bring back. We'll take it to the lab for analysis, though?"

A head where half the face was covered in dead wood.

A gray, withered head.

A head with the neck below severed and missing.

I recognized the half of the face not covered by the wood.

"Did you hang it from a tree or something?"

The moment Yoon scoffed, I shot up from my seat.

Then, staggering over, I shoved my head into the ruins and vomited once.