Black Badger

Kairos was with Igor.

They had come out to buy daily necessities that had run out at the cabin. Toilet paper, bottled water—things like that. That was the surface reason.

But the real objective was to talk about the ‘work’ currently in progress.

The matter Hildebert had recently set in motion.

And, while they were at it, to talk about Lin as well.

The two men talked in the car as they headed toward the busy district.

“You’re getting cursed out.”

It was the first thing Igor said, flatly, the moment he got into Kairos’s car.

“They say you ran off to the Black Badgers because you didn’t want to get old.”

“There are disappointed fans.”

“Some of them are way past ‘disappointed.’”

“Haha. Still, it was inevitable.”

The man who had once been a star driver replied lightly.

“I get why they’re disappointed, but... I’ve been careful to keep them from coming anywhere near the cabin. Did something happen that got under your skin?”

“No. A star since the Imperial days—you’ll handle it properly.”

“Thanks for trusting me.”

“Keep your reputation clean enough that it won’t be a problem even when your identity gets exposed, along with the Captain.”

The tall swordsman shoved the passenger seat back and stretched his legs.

Without even sparing a glance for the contractor who was smiling faintly, he added,

“That greedy raccoon—no telling when he’ll set off a bomb.”

Kairos burst out laughing.

The contractor knew well that this swordsman didn’t like contractors. At the same time, he also knew the man was the type who poured his affection into people without restraint.

Igor was worrying about his future.

“Thanks for worrying about me.”

After parking in the underground lot of a big-box mart, the contractor smiled when he saw the swordsman frown.

“How’s your training going?”

That question earned him a barrage of curses.

The personal order Hildebert had given Igor—‘break out of Sword Expert and enter Swordmaster’—was never going to be easy.

It was only natural to be irritated at such a casually tossed question.

Kairos brushed off Igor’s grumbling and walked through the mart.

An awkward time a little past three—there weren’t many people around.

He listened uneasily to news about Lin while lifting a bundle of bottled water.

That was when he felt Cecil’s presence.

BOOOM!

“Kyaaaak!”

“What the hell?!”

A deafening roar that shook the entire mart.

They grasped the situation instantly.

How could they not?

They remembered vividly the moment, fifty years ago, when Hildebert’s presence had been detected again.

The impact had been like a blow that lashed straight through leaf veins.

Those who had waited for Hildebert for fifty years had caused accidents—big and small—back then.

It had been an event so shocking that accidents were inevitable.

At the time, Kairos had rammed the car he was driving into a wall. Thankfully it hadn’t turned into a major accident, but the speed had been enough to give the pit crew a heart attack.

After that, he hadn’t even been able to get out of the driver’s seat for a long while, nor respond to the frantic radio calls.

Igor, meanwhile, had botched a small private-investigation job he’d been in the middle of.

The instant Hilde appeared, he’d dropped everything and sprinted toward the place where the presence was drawing closer.

If not for Yoow’s urgent notice, he might have trespassed straight into Black Badger headquarters.

A time when they’d panicked in their own different ways.

Because they’d been through that once, they didn’t hesitate or waver this time.

They dropped the items they were holding and ran out of the big-box mart.

BOOOM—

The moment they exited the building, a violent wind slammed into their bodies.

The men grabbed people who were screaming and rolling on the ground.

After helping those who had fallen, they turned their bodies toward where the sphere of light was.

The place where wind began sweeping away flyers and trash.

“Grand Mage.”

Igor muttered.

They could see the sphere of light she had created.

Because of it, the city was strangely bright. Unpleasantly bright, even considering that it was daytime.

A light that made everything starkly clear illuminated people fleeing in terror.

And those who stood ominously still.

“We’re screwed,”

the knight said.

“In the middle of the city?”

“Hilde.”

Kairos, standing beside him, spat out the name.

“He’s going to stop her.”

As if that sentence were a signal flare, the two of them started running.

They skillfully dodged whatever came rushing at them and sprinted toward the light.

To be brutally honest, Kairos knew they wouldn’t be able to do much.

A Grand Mage’s rampage was something only Hildebert, a Swordmaster, could properly respond to.

But that didn’t mean they could just stand by and do nothing.

If it were a duel with Kyle, they would never interfere, but...

“At least we can bring water.”

Agreeing with Igor’s self-mocking mutter, Kairos ran toward Cecil.

***

Just as expected, the area outside the pop-up store was a disaster.

People were running, crying. There were plenty who were clearly injured.

Explosive sounds pounding the ears. Violent wind shoving bodies aside.

The direction where Cecil’s presence could be felt was drowned in ominous light.

And then—

“Aaagh!”

“Run! Run!”

The sphere of light was growing larger.

Cecil’s spell.

I knew it well. I remembered long ago, when she had used that very spell to overturn the flow of an entire battlefield in a single breath.

The sphere would continue to grow, then erupt with tremendous destructive force.

And when it did, it wouldn’t just wipe out a park—it would take the entire zone I was standing in and erase it in the explosion.

It had to be torn apart before it fully ripened and detonated.

[Captain!!]

Yoow’s shout came through the phone I still hadn’t hung up.

[Do you have your sword?!]

“Yeah.”

[Energy shell, damn it!]

The tactician was swearing through a ragged voice, as if he were running this way.

[You have to pop that thing!]

I know.

[It’s grown fast! Slash it and bleed off the energy!]

“Got it.”

[You can send it into the sky, right?!]

“I can. Once I arrive, hide behind cover.”

I answered while sprinting down the street.

“Even if I vent it upward, there’ll still be shockwaves.”

There was a reason Cecil was called a Grand Mage.

Shu was light in my arms.

With adrenaline pumping, it didn’t even feel like I was carrying anything. Holding her tight, I leapt from the hood of one abandoned car to another, moving forward by stepping on objects to avoid getting in the way of evacuating civilians.

It didn’t take long. We hadn’t been far away to begin with.

Soon, I reached the devastated area.

At the center of my vision was a white sphere.

The noise had died down. Thankfully, there were almost no civilians left nearby.

They’d either fled or been killed. Collapsed facilities and abandoned vehicles only deepened the desolation of the scene.

From somewhere not far off, I could hear the voices of Badgers.

Tom Husson and Jin Silver.

They seemed to be helping evacuate civilians who had been left inside a building.

Judging their position, I prepared to swing.

I had to burst it while dispersing the sphere’s energy.

“Where are you?”

[On my way..., now!]

“Don’t run any closer. I’m going to vent the pressure.”

[Almost... there!]

“No. Even if I send it skyward with a slash, the impact will be huge.”

I scanned the surroundings, then set Shu down behind a building pillar that looked sturdy.

“Keep your head down.”

When I said it quietly, the senior nodded.

“Be careful.”

I didn’t answer—just dipped my head.

Then I walked a bit away from where she was. The area had mostly been flattened by explosions. There were still dangerous remnants—utility poles, trucks—that had survived the heavy wind and shockwaves.

After gauging their positions, I stood at a spot that would keep the surrounding people safest.

“Yoow.”

It was one of the more difficult techniques. I needed focus.

Before entering that state, I warned the person on the line.

“I’m popping it. Take cover.”

[Ha—shit!]

“Now.”

I muttered, putting strength into my fingers.

“Here I go.”

KABOOOOOM!

The trajectory carved across the ground, then shot upward into the sky.

The strike flew straight and struck the sphere of light, tearing through its barrier.

There was a thunderous roar as the pressure that had been building erupted.

BANG!

My eardrums burst, blood trickling down.

From the tear, a gale of immense pressure exploded outward and slammed into my body. I had to hunch down and drive strength into my legs to keep from being blown away.

Despite that resistance, thankfully, the sword strike held.

The white attack absorbed the energy contained in the sphere and surged into the sky.

Like fireworks blooming, a streak of white light pierced the heavens.

Above the sky blanketed by the Core.

BANG!

The energy Cecil had compressed detonated.

Light that would guarantee blindness if stared at directly flooded the Core.

“Kyaaah!”

“Aaagh!”

BOOOOOM!

A deafening roar.

Sssshhh—

The bright surroundings plunged into darkness in an instant.

Acid rain poured down.

The light that had covered the sky faded away. The painful glare in my eyes gradually eased, and the whitened world before me slowly began to take shape again.

Falling rain.

Beautifully blooming flowers.

And at the center of the flowers, she stood.

Bright yellow eyes.

Tears streamed from one side of a reverse eye, burned and ruined.

“Cecil.”

I called her softly.

The Grand Mage didn’t respond.

She simply stood among the flowers, taking the fallout. Her silver hair rippled in the wind. The woman stared blankly ahead, as if she couldn’t even hear my voice.

Why does even this sight feel like déjà vu?

Why does it feel so familiar, like I’ve seen it dozens of times...?

My skin burned painfully where the acid rain touched it.

It wasn’t unbearable. Especially considering I’d stopped a massive explosion.

The range of the rain wasn’t even that wide. Only near the flowers did it fall heavily.

I brushed off what was mixed into the rain and headed toward the flowers.

“Cecil.”

I called to her carefully.

“Cecil. It’s me—Hilde.”

No response.

“Cecil?”

I stepped onto the petals.

I heard Shu shout from behind, but I didn’t have the capacity to pay attention. While her mana was cooling, I had to approach and stop her.

Carefully, I climbed over the petals.

Even when I closed the distance to where I could reach her by extending my hand, she didn’t seem to recognize me.

I assessed the situation, then reached out with my left hand.

If I pulled her out of the flowers, maybe she’d come to her senses...

I grabbed her.

‘Cecil!’

Huh?

‘Cecil!!’

Kysis was there.

Reaching out desperately. His reverse eyes wide, his face worn down ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ by repeated, futile attempts.

The one falling away.

The Swordmaster was wearing familiar clothes.

The clothes he’d worn comfortably back in the Empire, now stained with corruption...

Kysis stretched his hand out in desperation, as if trying to catch someone falling.

‘Grab my hand!’

Fingertips brushed. A body that couldn’t grasp anything to support itself continued to fall into the darkness.

I stared emptily at the hand of the one who stood with his back to the light.

More than fear, what came first was loss and defeat.

Is this how it ends?

I thought I’d finally found a way.

And now, like this, so meaninglessly...

‘Cecil!!’

He shouted from within a point of light.

‘I’ll come find you, so wait!’

Those were the last words I heard.

‘I will find you. No matter what!’

That clear vow shook the darkness.

Hearing the cry of the only one I had believed in, I fell.

Downward.

Endlessly downward.

A pitch-black descent.

Eventually, the light vanished from my vision—

BOOOOM!

My body was flung away.

Thud! The body that had been flying through the air smashed straight into an overturned truck.

A sharp jolt ran through my back.

“Hilde!”

“Kh—!”

That hurt.

More importantly, what was that just now?

It felt like a fragment of Cecil’s memories...

I wanted to think about it more, but there was no time.

The mage who had shown no reaction turned her body toward me. Then she slowly raised the two arms she’d been letting hang.

Blue spheres formed above both hands.

“Aaaaah!!”

Cecil began rampaging again.