Black Badger

One eye had been burned completely black, and the other had stopped halfway through burning.

Cecil must have bent down—my face was suddenly close to hers.

She wiped the soot from my cheek with her hand. After brushing my hair aside, she spread both hands wide over me.

‘I don’t want to.’

Cecil’s voice reached me.

‘I won’t let you die. I can heal you.’

A white light gathered beneath the mage’s palms.

The sclera that had been charred black slowly began to regain its color. It was like scrubbing soot off porcelain scorched into charcoal.

But even then, I didn’t meet Cecil’s eyes.

Without sparing even a glance for the mage struggling to heal me, my past self stared blankly up at the sky.

Then I spoke.

‘Rei is dead.’

Ah.

‘He hesitated when he saw my sword.’

KABOOOM!

I was flung out of the past.

I rolled across the cracked ground. As my speed dropped, I drove my sword into the earth and used it as a brake.

SCREEEECH! With a shrill sound, the road split in jagged lines.

I stopped.

Faint ash-gray smoke drifted upward.

When I lifted my head, I saw people who had been thrown in all directions.

The attack had ceased. The space was quiet.

Cecil covered her face with both hands, muttering sounds I couldn’t understand.

Igor and Shu were down on the ground. Those who had been blasted far from the flower curled their bodies in pain, their hands twitching.

Fortunately, it seemed Yoow had moved behind a building before the shockwave hit.

The contractor lay with eyes closed and unmoving, Yoow holding him in his lap.

The strategist stared at me, his face frozen in shock.

He must have seen the fragment of the past too.

Black eyes wavered.

He had already been furious, thinking I’d chosen death of my own will.

There was no trace of his usual cynicism.

Yoow looked at me with a deeply wounded expression.

I’m sorry.

I wanted to say it—but this wasn’t the time.

I turned my gaze to Cecil.

The confused mage.

「Cecil!」

I spat {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} out the blood that had surged back up and sprinted toward the flower.

Seeing her grow confused every time memories burst out—somehow, that gave me hope.

If we kept digging through her memories, she might regain her reason.

I cut across the ruins.

「It’s me!」

In the Empire, I had used honorifics with her.

Strangely, now I didn’t want to.

「Snap out of it!」

My body began to protest.

My ruptured organs screamed at me to stop moving. Whether it was from confronting memories I didn’t know I had, my head felt like it was about to split.

I ignored all of it and ran.

I grabbed her again.

Her white arm, stained with blood.

「Cecil, please....」

I tried to pull her free of the flower.

「Look at me.」

Cecil’s body flinched.

「You can stop the rampage. You know that.」

But as if complaining, the past surged in.

Memories of the mage flooded my vision.

The ash-gray world unfolded once more.

‘What are you?’

But this time, what appeared before me wasn’t myself.

It wasn’t anyone I knew. It was someone I’d never seen before.

I couldn’t even tell if it was human. It looked like it was barely imitating a human shape.

A living proof of the uncanny valley.

The thing tilted its head and crossed the ash-gray world.

‘Came back after a long time, and there’s someone I don’t recognize?’

Its face looked like it had been assembled from three or four people.

Like a Picasso painting, one eye didn’t line up with the other, nor with the nose or mouth.

Every feature was a different skin tone, a different race. Blue eyes and deep eye sockets. Black eyes with long, lidless slants. A high, pretty nose. A large, vivid red mouth.

‘Did I mess up a dimensional jump and fall here?’

The unknown thing dropped into a crouch amid the ruins before Cecil.

‘How long have you been here?’

The mismatched eyes, nose, and mouth smiled at the same time—grotesque.

‘Doesn’t look like you’ve lost your mind yet, so it probably hasn’t been that long.’

Cecil didn’t answer, looking frightened—but the other didn’t care.

It seemed to be in a good mood.

‘Anyway, you’re lucky. You met me while I’m in a good mood, before it was too late.’

It reached out and grabbed Cecil’s arm.

‘I’ll show you the way out. Come on.’

Cecil resisted.

‘No.’

She pulled back, as if refusing to be dragged along.

‘I’m not going. There’s someone waiting for me.’

The one holding her arm stopped dead.

The mosaic-like being looked at Cecil with a blank face.

‘You might miss each other.’

Cecil went on anyway.

‘If I can’t go back to my original world, I’ll just stay here. But what are you? Where did you come from?’

‘You’re going to wait? For who?’

The one holding her arm asked back.

Its voice was different from just moments ago—as if it had swapped out its vocal cords.

‘That sounds like a foolish choice. If you stay here too long, people go mad.’

Then it suddenly split its mouth in a huge grin.

‘Because the only things with color in this world are fragments of memories that flowed in! If you start peeking into other people’s memories to feel alive again, you’ll soon forget who you are!’

It was a chilling sight.

‘And in the end, you forget what you even were!’

The laughter rose, then fell.

‘Even your own name!’

KABOOOM!

My body was flung away.

This time, I was ready, so the impact wasn’t severe.

I rolled across the ground, broke my fall, and pushed myself up. I quickly stabilized despite the sudden shift in perspective.

Back to square one.

Still, I’d say it was worth it.

Cecil was muttering words I could finally understand.

「No.」

Her sclera, turned black, and her swollen golden eyes.

「I won’t forget myself....」

She seemed trapped in the memory I’d just seen.

Her disheveled silver hair tangled between her fingers, and the wind pouring from the flower kept pushing us back.

「He said he would definitely come find me....」

“I’ll keep at it until she comes to her senses.”

Shu came into view.

When did he regain consciousness and crawl all the way over there?

Ignoring my shock, the senior climbed up onto the flower.

“Come out of there, Cecil!”

Shu shouted, reaching out.

“Cecil!”

「I’m not going!!」

BAAANG!

Cecil threw her head back and rampaged.

It sounded like the air itself was bursting. The atmosphere was shoved violently outward.

I quickly drove my sword into the ground and crouched.

KABOOOM!

I endured the pressure sweeping over my body.

Not everyone could.

“Grab her!”

When I lifted my head, I saw a senior being hurled into the sky.

Shu had taken the spell head-on and was blasted into the air.

“Igor!”

Yoow shouted.

I almost shouted too—then stopped.

Igor was already sprinting through the ruins.

A subordinate running to catch a falling person, having thrown away even his sword.

But the distance was too great.

No.

Too far.

My gut went cold. I knew Igor would be a few seconds too late. At this speed, he would never catch Shu.

There was nothing to grab onto. No hoverboard....

I frantically searched for an alternative, but none came to mind.

I was too far. Igor had started too late. Kairos was unconscious. There were no flying familiars nearby to contract.

There was no way to save him—

Ah.

“Got him!”

A black line appeared in midair.

A clear shout shook the sky.

“I’ve got him!”

Ami.

Ami was in the air.

The breath I’d been holding burst out. I saw black boots spewing fire above.

Igor skidded to a stop and looked up. Behind the building, Yoow—holding Kairos—stared with his mouth hanging open.

A war hero floating in the sky.

After checking Shu’s condition, Ami looked up.

“I’ll take care of Shu!”

She was so far away she looked like a black dot.

“I’ll stay out of the way, so don’t worry!”

“Yes!”

I shouted back at the top of my lungs.

I was glad Ami had joined us.

She was the only Badger I could fight alongside without worrying about her life. It wasn’t for nothing that I’d said she was the only Badger who could survive facing Kyle.

The only Badger I wanted to request support from.

She’d look after Shu.

After taking the shockwave head-on, even a Badger would have taken serious damage.

Hoping that the light and salt of my life would take Shu and Kairos and get out, I prepared to charge the flower again.

Since pulling out memories clearly reduced the aggression, I planned to keep pressing nonstop.

This time, I’d plunge half my body into the flower....

The moment I steeled myself, something surged up inside.

“Cough.”

A mass of blood spilled out.

“Hrk....”

“Inhale!”

I wished no one had seen it.

No chance.

Yoow, who saw me bend over and vomit blood, snapped irritably.

“Inhale! I know you want to die, but at least clean that up before you do!”

He’s angry.

Seeing me ask to be allowed to die must have turned his stomach.

Someone who left everything in his hands, then said ‘let me die’ without any intention of coming back—of course he’d be furious.

Igor later said Yoow would have to apologize, but with things like this, it looked like I’d be the one apologizing instead.

But why haven’t those memories from back then returned yet...?

I was thinking that when—

Tap.

Something grabbed the back of my neck.

BZZZZZT!

“Hrk!”

It hurt.

There was no killing intent in the approaching presence, so I reacted too late.

I couldn’t stop someone from pressing something into my left hand and zapping the back of my neck.

Nutrients flooding in against my will.

I struggled, but the person didn’t let go until whatever they’d pressed into my hand was gone.

BZZZZZZT!

Only after the sensation against my left palm disappeared did they release me.

That bastard....

I took a few steps forward, leaned on my sword, and caught my breath.

The moment my breathing returned, irritation surged.

“Yun!”

The shooter in black combat gear looked at me indifferently.

“What.”

“Didn’t I say I hate that!”

“I did hear that.”

Yun replied calmly.

“And?”

Ha....

Rubbing my tingling neck, I glared at him.

But the shooter looked genuinely unaware of what the problem was. Not surprising.

I let out a short, resigned sigh and turned away.

Fortunately, Cecil was still confused.

“Please take Jack and withdraw.”

Thanks to Yun, my condition had been forcibly improved.

No idea what he’d made me absorb, but....

“If we repeat this a few times, something might happen.”

“Push in with Diamond.”

Yun said dryly from behind.

“Choi Ami is here.”

A fair point.

As if she’d heard him, Ami conveyed the same idea over the comms.

Shu was slowly recovering, she had no intention of giving up on Cecil, and suggested we push in now and try pulling Cecil out of the flower simultaneously.

“Agreed.”

I answered as I broke into a run.

“We have to try everything we can.”

Ami didn’t hesitate.

The distance must have been much greater for her, but the moment I climbed onto the flower, Ami was beside me. Holding Shu in her arms, the senior helped Shu stretch out his arm.

Shu and I grabbed Cecil’s arms at the same time.

In my case, I leaned forward—my elbow sank into the pool of the flower.

We began pulling Cecil together.

Splash.

Ah.

Our eyes met.

For the first time, focus gathered in the mage’s yellow eyes.

「Hilde?」

My heart leapt.

「Why are you here....」

And then the past surged back again.

In a different way than before. A heavy past came crashing in.

Along with a headache, forgotten memories exploded all at once.

‘Kyle—’

Fifty years I had forgotten.

‘He’s dead, right?’

Dying alongside Kyle, I had fallen into the ash-gray world and met Cecil.