Black Badger

They didn’t respond to Aide Gilbert’s shout.

More precisely, it seemed like they couldn’t hear him at all.

[There’s no connection.]

It was the first time I’d heard irritation in the aide’s voice.

[Looks like they deliberately wrecked their communicators. The signal itself isn’t getting through.]

“A trick that gets used a lot.”

Yun snorted.

“That way, it’s not disobedience. They just ‘didn’t hear the order.’”

“I can’t exactly say I’ve never used that method myself.”

A loophole.

In chaos like this, there’s no way to prove whether a communicator was broken on purpose or just malfunctioned by accident. If they couldn’t receive orders from above, it couldn’t be definitively labeled insubordination.

It was probably a method used everywhere. I’d used it myself a few times back in the Empire. Anyone who’d spent long enough in the field had likely done it at least once.

If you’re on the receiving end, though, it makes you want to tear your hair out.

“So where the hell did they get a tank?”

[They’re forming a line in the rear.]

Gilbert answered.

[They brought it out in case this frontline got pushed back. Pulled it from the units mobilized there.]

“Went blind over a tenth-class.”

Yun clicked his tongue.

“And in the middle of all that, they hauled out the one with the strongest firepower.”

At this point, the only response left to us was to chase it.

“So what, just let it go?”

Igor asked.

“Or should we aim for the wheel chains?”

I didn’t answer right away.

Instead, I narrowed my eyes and watched the advancing tank.

I swept over the surrounding situation as well. If the wind kept strengthening, there was no guarantee even a tank wouldn’t get blown away—but the tank was advancing relentlessly.

It wasn’t necessarily the wrong response.

After all, what would even count as a “correct” way to deal with a rampaging archmage?

I looked at the raging wind, then at Cecil crouched at the center, and made my decision.

“Let’s go.”

“Run after it?”

“Yeah.”

I lowered my body.

Then I swung my arm and sent out a sword strike.

BOOOOM!

A streamlined attack, familiar to my hand.

At this point, there was no room to keep imitating Kysis’s sword techniques.

I had to be ready to respond no matter how the seniors moved.

I sprinted forward.

“Ami! Support from the rear, please!”

As I shouted while running toward the flower, Ami yelled back.

“No matter what happens, I’ve got you—just run!”

“Yun, Igor!”

“Ah. I’m included too, huh.”

“You’re the cleanup crew.”

Igor ran after me immediately, curling his lips into a crooked grin.

“Someone’s gotta collect what’s left, right?”

Even in a situation like this, he didn’t lose his smile. That was just like him.

There was no way he hadn’t seen Cecil and my past, yet he deliberately didn’t {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} bring it up—that too was very him. Igor wasn’t hurt like Yoow, nor did he charge in head-on with blunt resolve like Kairos.

He was simply there at my side, as always.

A man who showed loyalty in a traditional way.

With Badgers I could trust to hold the rear to some extent, he followed the path I carved and ran alongside me.

Sasu stayed right behind me and spoke.

“So the old man’s a Swordmaster now, huh.”

“Don’t get swept away by the wind and go flying, rookie.”

I ignored the bickering between Igor and Yun.

BOOOOM!

“Focus.”

Instead, I used my sword to carve a path.

“We don’t know when the next attack will start.”

If this frontline collapsed now, things would spiral completely out of control.

That was the one outcome we had to prevent. If even the rear line got pushed back, there would be massive casualties again.

BOOOOM!

At least the wind wasn’t getting any stronger than it already was.

Stepping along the path cut open by my sword strikes, I steadily closed the distance to the tank.

If it weren’t for all these glittering things, this would’ve been much easier.

There was no way to avoid every single crystal of light floating lazily through the air.

As I ran, fragments of memory collided with my body.

Each time, Cecil’s memories kept flooding in.

‘Anyway, let’s go.’

Jaeyeon was holding out a hand to Cecil.

‘We’ve waited long enough already. Bring that idiot out too. We’ll have to hide what he’s become from him, but still.’

‘Hilde isn’t an idiot! He’s really just lost his memories!’

‘Yeah, yeah, got it. Now let’s go.’

Cecil didn’t take the hand being offered.

But she didn’t refuse right away either. For the first time, she hesitated.

The long years of waiting had worn even her down.

I’d probably made things hard for her in a lot of ways too.

The silence born of hesitation.

But in the end, Cecil didn’t take Jaeyeon’s hand.

Jaeyeon’s brows bent.

‘Cecil.’

‘...I’m going to wait a little longer. Will you just tell me where the exit is?’

‘Hey. I wanted that being you’re waiting for to show up too. Wouldn’t that have been a perfect fairytale ending? But he’s not coming! Do you even know how many years you’ve waited? I can’t even bear to watch anymore!’

‘Once everything’s ready, I’ll tell Hilde and Mr. Simon Diamond where the exit is.’

She murmured in a voice that sank inward.

‘There’s still preparation left.... Especially for Hilde, there are a few more memories that need to be erased....’

‘You can cast that right now, can’t you? You said everything’s erased and only the finishing touches remain?’

‘It’s a delicate spell, so I want to observe the progress a bit longer. Just a little more.... It’s not like Hilde has to go back immediately.’

‘Isn’t it a spell that can never be perfect anyway?’

Jaeyeon asked, arching her brow.

‘You said you can’t completely rule out the possibility of the memories coming back.’

BOOOOM!

The scene blew away, and reality returned.

The tank was still advancing like a charging bull. Unless something changed, it would reach the target area before long.

Yun clicked his tongue.

“Is it going to keep showing us this crap?”

“There’s too much floating around in the air. It can’t be helped.”

I answered while watching the tank gradually slow.

“All we can do is try to break away from the memories as fast as possible....”

Cecil was looking down at Simon Diamond.

Once again, she was peering into Simon Diamond’s memories. She was searching for information that might help me—what kind of clothes I should be sent out in, which pieces of knowledge I’d acquired on Earth should be left intact.

Language was the hardest part.

With a sigh, Cecil muttered to herself.

‘I should learn the language too.’

She murmured as she looked at Simon, sleeping peacefully.

‘I don’t know the words, so I can’t properly understand this man’s memories....’

Then the mage, motionless.

After a long while, she spoke again to herself.

‘Hilde should learn too, right?’

A thin voice flowed out.

‘It’ll be much easier for him to adapt if he learns before going. I’ll tell him about the exit after that....’

Ziiiiing

At last, the tank reached the flower.

“What are they doing now?”

Igor shouted as he batted away stone fragments swept up in the gusts.

“The tank stopped?!”

“Looks like they’re going to fire.”

Yun was the one who answered.

“Guess their brains aren’t completely dead. They’re aiming at the flower.”

Ah. Not a bad attempt.

I’d been trying to separate Cecil from the flower myself.

As I admired the idea and tried to take a closer look at the angle of the barrel, another memory surged in.

There was a blinding light.

‘How did you find it?’

I heard the stunned voice of a mage.

She was looking at me, standing in front of the exit. It looked like I’d cleared the ruins and uncovered it.

I lifted my head from the glowing hole.

‘I followed the direction where it sounded like a heartbeat.’

White hair fluttered in the wind pouring out of the exit.

Having forgotten most of my memories, I smiled as I answered.

‘A steady heartbeat.... Hm? Can’t you hear it?’

Cecil didn’t react for a long moment, as if she were shocked.

‘Cecil?’

‘Could it be Kyle’s heartbeat?’

‘Pardon?’

Having caught her muttering, I looked even more confused.

‘Who is Kyle?’

‘...I’m sorry, Hilde.’

Tears welled up in Cecil’s eyes.

‘I took too long—.’

And the scene abruptly shifted.

The mage was now standing beside me in front of the exit.

At some point, she’d calmed down, and I’d changed clothes.

Cecil patted my white shirt lightly with her palm.

‘This outfit should be just fine.’

I was wearing a white shirt and black pants.

‘You’ve learned the common language now too, right?’

‘Aren’t you coming with me?’

At this point, I was using honorifics with her again.

But it was a different kind of politeness than before I’d dropped formal speech. In this memory, I was looking at Cecil like a fledgling bird looking at its mother.

With eyes that seemed half-lost in a dream.

‘You’re the one who taught me the common language, right?’

Cecil’s expression wasn’t visible.

But now I could guess it. She must have been smiling sadly, lifting the corners of her mouth as she looked at me, unaware of the situation.

She replied softly.

‘Once I erase those memories one last time, we’ll say goodbye.’

‘Pardon? Erase what... goodbye?’

‘Will I ever see you again?’

She began weaving the spell of oblivion.

A sentence she must have painstakingly crafted for today wrapped itself around a white circle.

‘Will we ever meet again?’

BOOOOM!

A deafening explosion tore through the air.

An explosion so violent it scattered the howling wind in an instant. The three of us, buried in the past, were thrown down by the shockwave.

A heavy pain wrapped around my body.

Thankfully, all three of us regained our senses quickly, but we had to stay pressed flat against the ground until the secondary shockwave passed.

Only after the waves and smoke cleared could we grasp the situation.

“An electric shell?”

I let out a hollow laugh as I looked at the blue sphere of electricity forming at the muzzle.

“So it’s not an ordinary tank?”

“I told you they dragged out the latest model.”

Yun said.

“Don’t get up. Second round’s coming.”

CRACK, CRACK

CRACK

BOOOOM!

The flower was torn apart.

The shell Trevain or Koenig had aimed wasn’t for Cecil—it ripped into the massive structure. Shredded petals scattered through the air.

A dull impact slammed into my body and faded.

From within the smoke and torn leaves, the mage slowly lifted her head.

Despite being closer to the bombardment than anyone else, her body bore not a single scratch. The flower was almost completely shattered, but the stalk and the portion enclosing Cecil remained intact.

She must have cast a defensive spell, or instantly restored it back to its previous state.

“Cecil!”

I shouted her name.

At that moment, the tank hatch flew open and the seniors burst out.

Chen Koenig was holding a gasoline can. Jason Trevain had a gun in his hand.

“Burn it!”

Chen leapt down from the tank like a cheetah.

The senior sprinted to the flower stalk and immediately splashed gasoline over it. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

“Turn to ash!”

Without a word, Trevain pulled out a lighter and threw it.

It all happened in an instant. The lit lighter traced an arc and landed in the pool of gasoline.

Whoooosh!

The flames surged.

In an instant, fire wrapped around the stalk.

A wave of searing heat rolled toward us. Soaked in flammable liquid, the stalk quickly turned into a mass of fire.

It looked like a massive ceremonial torch.

Should I run in and pull her out?

The moment that thought crossed my mind, Cecil spoke.

“Meierbold.”

From within the flames wrapping her, the mage began to speak to herself.

“I told you I wasn’t going.”

Ah.

“I know Kyle is struggling, but I don’t want to leave this place.”

She was recalling memories of facing Kyle’s side.

“I said I don’t want to. ...I don’t want to! I won’t leave from here! I’m not leaving!!”

BOOOOM!

A shockwave burst out from the burning flower.

The blazing stalk was shredded to pieces, scattering outward.

“Get away!”

And the archmage shot into the sky.

She flew straight up and came to a halt in midair. At last, we could see Cecil’s full figure.

Her mage’s uniform fluttering.

Her arm burning away.

Memory crystals falling like snow...

‘The archmage is going berserk!’

‘Kyle, Navaratega!’

‘Teleport it!’

Kyle’s sharp shout rang out.

‘Move it, flower and all! To the enemy border zone!’

But the flower containing the rampaging archmage didn’t teleport to the border.

It appeared in the middle of the city instead, erasing an entire park.

And even now, it was pushing buildings and people aside.

Treating everything around it as an enemy...

“We’ll have to wipe it all out.”

Archmage Cecil looked down at us and said,

“This entire area.”