Black Badger

Kyle twisted his body sharply.

“The Remnant Wraith?”

The air wavered.

As I floundered in my muddled consciousness, I felt the ripple that word carried with it.

In an instant, the atmosphere changed. Cracks ran through the rage and heat that had filled the cave.

I barely managed to suppress the faint smile that tried to rise.

You brought them in safely.

“What woke it?”

Kyle’s lowered voice came through.

“Did it breach the boundary? Casualties?”

“The eastern boundary has been torn open.”

Valdez answered.

“All buildings that lay along the trajectory of the beam were destroyed. Those performing boundary duties there... were killed instantly.”

“It’s the work of some little bitch!”

Someone burst into the cave.

I lifted my heavy head slightly. As the cold sweat clinging to my lashes dripped away, the owner of the voice came clearly into view.

The stable hand, Andy.

He was gasping for breath.

“There’s a girl wearing black boots who flies through the sky!”

“That badger bastard.”

Kyle growled low.

His reflection on the water showed him grinding his teeth before turning his gaze toward Valdez.

“We’re going now.”

Shing—

He drew his sword as smoothly as flowing water, then lifted my neck with the tip of the blade.

“So this is why you came to the negotiating table so strangely compliant?”

My former comrade whispered softly.

I let out a small sigh, mixing relief, despair, and resentment together.

“You’re the one who suggested negotiations.”

Now that Kyle was clearly leaving this place, I wanted to buy Kairos and Ami just a little more time.

“If you hadn’t kidnapped me, the Remnant Wraith would still be sleeping quietly in its pit.”

If that were the case, Kairos and Ami wouldn’t be making this absurdly dangerous gamble.

In that moment, resentment and hatred surged violently.

I spat out my emotions.

“This time, too, I foolishly put my hopes in you.”

I hate you for leaving me with no choices.

“I should’ve learned not to expect anything—”

Smack!

Lightning-like pain snapped my head to the side.

At that moment, Valdez cried out in a terrified voice.

“They report that drones and helicopters are heading toward the breached boundary!”

Before the words had even finished, Kyle sprinted out of the cave.

Mages and the stable hand followed after him.

The presence of my kin rapidly receded. I stared blankly, listening to their urgent footsteps fade away.

The diversion worked.

It didn’t seem like Kairos’s presence had been discovered yet. Milk must be doing its job properly. Milk, who resembled an Earth cat, was a creature called a thief snowflake—one with the ability to turn itself and anyone in contact with it invisible.

A very timid species.

I silently apologized to Milk, who was probably trembling violently inside Kairos’s pocket.

Until Clyde approached again, breaking the heavy silence.

“At last, we can proceed with the work properly.”

His sigh fell onto my torn flesh.

“I was worried you might be completely crushed like this.”

Exhausted by the pain, I couldn’t respond.

Of course, I hadn’t completely lost consciousness. Kyle had finally left. Now was precisely the time to pull myself together. With fewer eyes watching, I could look for a chance to escape.

I still didn’t know how I’d escape without using the poison capsule, though.

And all of this was scraping at past memories I very much didn’t want to recall.

Being bound, rolling something around in my mouth while waiting for an opening—it didn’t help.

Get a grip.

Murmuring to myself, I blinked my sweat-soaked eyes.

Don’t get dragged into the past....

***

Inside the enemy’s eastern boundary.

The third building collapsed.

What had likely been used as a watchtower—probably once an office building—was reduced to ash by the Remnant Wraith’s beam.

As the beam dissipated, the searing glare faded.

Kairos watched as nothing remained where the cannon had swept past.

Several combat creatures vanished without a trace.

But this time, the same shock and chaos as the first attack didn’t unfold. The enemy quickly formed up, looking up at Ami.

“Shoot her down!”

Someone who seemed to be the unit commander shouted sharply.

“And don’t waste effort on the Remnant Wraith—it won’t work!”

They were running across barren ground.

There were almost no traces of daily life. Likely because they were near the boundary. All surrounding buildings were used solely for military purposes, and everyone deployed was a combatant.

According to Yoow, civilians would only appear much deeper inside.

That was a relief.

At least civilians weren’t being swept up. Just as planned, the Remnant Wraith’s cannon tore through the enemy’s defensive line, annihilating those stationed along its path. After barely dodging the blast, Kairos grabbed Milk, and in that moment felt several kin presences blink out.

Immediately after, the enemy surged forward.

Kairos now matched pace with the woman commanding the familiars. Those responding were all handlers.

He swept his gaze across their familiars.

Thanks to Milk, he was currently hidden.

But this camouflage had limits. Milk would soon tire, and Kyle would arrive before long.

He couldn’t leave Ami to face both the Remnant Wraith and their kin alone forever.

So far, she had shown astonishing skill, evading every incoming attack.

But now it was time to send the Remnant Wraith back into the hole.

The defensive line had been torn enough.

“Dodge!”

“It’s coming!”

“Ow!”

Boom-boom-boom-boom!

After cleanly evading the Remnant Wraith’s beam cannon, Ami flew wildly along the outer edge of the barrier.

Her focus was solely on the Remnant Wraith.

That was right. When facing one, you couldn’t afford to divide your attention.

Which meant he would deal with the kin targeting her.

“Fire! Fire! All at once—shoot her dow—”

Kairos brushed past the familiars.

“What—?”

The one pointing at Ami spun around in shock.

Handlers halted mid-run.

Those chasing after Ami widened their eyes as they looked at the creatures they controlled.

The familiars descended into chaos, milling about in confusion.

Paths tangled. They spun in place, unable to tell where to look.

The handlers stared down at their malfunctioning familiars in panic.

“What’s wrong with them?”

The enemy halted.

“Why are they suddenly going berserk as a group?”

“Are they scared of the Remnant Wraith?”

“Now of all times? And they’re under control—why would they suddenly be afraid?”

“Looks like handling interference.”

An unfamiliar, youthful voice drifted into Kairos’s ears.

“I’ve never seen it directly, but it matches exactly what I was taught....”

“Hey! You think handling interference is something that happens that easily?!”

Someone snapped irritably.

“I’ve never seen a handler capable of that in nearly fifty years!”

Of course not.

Handling interference wasn’t easy, nor was it considered proper conduct.

A technique that stole control of a creature being handled by someone else.

It required a significant gap in handling skill and was forbidden in competitions. Even Imperial citizens disliked it, so Kairos rarely used it.

But this wasn’t an arena.

And this wasn’t the Empire.

“And you think this many creatures could have their control stolen all at once?!”

Voices full of confusion and irritation rang out ahead.

“There’s no way—”

“Kairos!”

A sharp roar shook the battlefield.

Kairos, who had reached the Remnant Wraith’s feet, stopped running.

Slowly, he turned to face the owner of the roar.

The one radiating suffocating pressure.

The one who had known him even longer than Hildebert.

Ebony hair rippling in the wind.

Eyes like a black lion.

Kyle.

Even though Milk hadn’t released the invisibility, Kyle stared straight at Kairos. It wasn’t as if he could sense him with his sixth sense.

He must have guessed the position from the kicked-up sand.

That monstrous, ghostlike perception rivaling creatures themselves was still—

BOOOM!

A sword strike came crashing down.

Fast. Powerful.

The ground collapsed and sand erupted. The earth gouged deeply, shaped like a hawk’s talons. If Kairos hadn’t summoned a familiar the instant he heard Kyle’s roar, he would have fallen helplessly.

A creature that wrapped around him and performed a short-range displacement.

Thanking the creature known as the Bloodline of the Slicing Moon, Kairos looked at his opponent.

No point in hiding anymore.

He pulled Milk out of his pocket again. Feeling the little one trembling as it dutifully hopped down, Kairos watched black hair scatter in the wind.

When Milk touched the ground, the invisibility lifted.

“It’s been a while.”

As his form revealed itself slowly from the crown of his head down, Kairos smiled.

“Kyle.”

Kyle frowned.

He’d seen that expression during the First War.

Eyes filling with betrayal—then betrayal melting instantly into rage.

Hilde must have been hurt by that gaze. He must have resented Kyle in turn, and hated the hardline humans who had made things this way.

But Kairos wasn’t wounded by Kyle’s hostile stare.

He, too, had tried and failed to persuade Kyle. So what else could be done? Their positions were clearly incompatible.

Life was long, and relationships could fracture any number of times.

And once paths diverged, relationships could never be the same.

The Empire’s first handler smiled at the childhood friend who had been by his side since his earliest memories.

“You’re a handler, yet you sided with humans.”

Kyle intoned darkly.

“Who do you think made it possible for you to handle creatures like this?”

“You.”

Kairos let out a laugh.

“If you hadn’t opened the portals and poured creatures onto Earth, I’d never have been able to handle again. That part really is your doing.”

“You crazy bastard. Your reactions have been off since you were six.”

“Handling interference was a technique our tribe used well when fighting the Empire. Because of that, the Emperor came to hate it even more. You remember, don’t you?”

The red-haired handler spread his right hand and caught the presence of the creatures pacing behind Kyle.

Thirty-seven in total.

He would seize control of every single one.

“I never thought I’d use the technique meant to face the Emperor against you.”

“Valdez. Pull the handlers back. I’ll deal with that.”

“Yes.”

As Valdez answered Kyle’s order respectfully, another former tribesman glared at Kairos, veins bulging.

“Fire Dragon Lord!”

Kairos grinned.

“Spellblade! It’s been a while!”

“You know the humiliation of licking royal boots, yet you crawl back to humans again?”

The one who had not chosen the path of a mage but was born with mana and used it in battle—earning the nickname Spellblade—pushed the handlers back in fury.

“Have you no pride?!”

“That kind of attitude only gets in the way of victory.”

Still smiling, Kairos stripped control of every creature around them.

A single sweeping arc of his open right hand was enough.

After firmly securing control of the creatures, he felt the heavy presence of the Remnant Wraith behind him and the thickening stench of rage—and smiled.

Not a smile born of joy, but one kindled by adrenaline.

“I really don’t understand how you could be so cruel to Hilde.”

Kairos spoke.

Then, having finished speaking, he issued a command.

Advance. Slaughter them.

***

“Deploy.”

Yehyeon gave the order impassively, gazing down at the enemy’s torn barrier.

“Don’t miss this chance.”

The Black /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ Badgers descended, eyes fixed on the ruptured boundary.

As ordered, they meant to seize the opportunity.

***

Thinking calmly, I didn’t believe I’d lose my sixth sense completely.

Complete vein removal wasn’t an easy process. In my hazy consciousness, I recalled how much executioners emphasized moderation during vein removal.

There were people whose sixth sense had been damaged and then recovered.

Even if slow, it would heal.

“Ah.”

The moment I had that thought, my sixth sense snapped off.

“...Ah.”

Plop.

The sound of cold sweat dropping into the water echoed through the cave.

An overwhelming sense of severance.

The feeling of one of my senses being switched off.

As if someone had plunged me into a vacuum.

Nearby prowling creatures. Kyle’s presence I had felt even from afar—something I had always sensed without fail—was gone.

I blinked, staring blankly down at the pool of water.

Everything felt unfamiliar, and my thoughts stalled for an instant.

Where hostility and resentment had surged whenever I tried to forget them, now there was only silence.

I drifted blankly within that stillness.

After staring at the ripples for a long time, I finally spoke.

“...It’s quiet.”

And, strangely enough, I felt calm.