Black Badger

Allies are being pushed back.

Kairos thought as he dodged the spells fired by the mage.

We held out longer than expected.

But they were still being driven back. It was inevitable. The difference in firepower was absolute.

And Kyle wasn’t a fool. Kairos could feel the heavy presence of creatures steadily being added to the battlefield. The danger wasn’t decreasing—it was only increasing.

Wuuung! Wung!

They had drawn high-ranking creatures into this place.

Beings called high-ranking precisely because humans could not control them.

High Liches, Mire-Tendrils, and various other creatures manifested across the battlefield.

They had been captured by the mages’ spatial transfer circles and summoned here.

Sensing the oppressive weight unique to high-ranking creatures, the summoner narrowed his eyes.

It seemed Kyle had carefully selected which high-ranking creatures to bring into the battlefield.

They were dangerous, but those who knew their attack patterns could avoid them if they tried. Creatures like Slip-Ghouls—whose mere gaze could make organs explode, potentially causing more harm to their own side—had been meticulously excluded.

Just like in the First War.

The handiwork of someone who had stood at the Empire’s very front lines.

BOOOOM!

The Executioner’s axe came crashing down.

Kairos twisted his body to evade and glanced up at Valdez, who was relentlessly pursuing him.

A mage floating in the air, tracking him.

The pattern of attack had changed.

Valdez no longer deployed three magic circles. He had quickly realized they were being neutralized by Kairos and immediately adjusted his tactics.

Instead of firepower, he chose speed and the unique properties of magic.

For instance, just moments ago, Kairos had nearly lost his remaining eye to a blinding light that filled his vision.

No—more accurately, he had nearly died, struck by incoming iron bars when his sight went dark for an instant.

If Milk hadn’t popped out of his pocket to guide him, his throat would have been pierced.

This kind of less aggressive magic was more difficult to deal with, precisely because of its variety.

“Om.”

Valdez’s incantation echoed through the air.

“Sardius Zagrius. Fete Lorencetti, Lorencetti, Lorencetti....”

Piiu!

Milk cried out from inside his pocket.

Kairos ducked sharply, avoiding a combat drone streaking through the air, and replied,

“Yeah. I heard.”

He sprinted toward the portal device and put two fingers in his mouth.

Fweeeet!

A loud whistle rang out.

Then he ran, waiting for the creature he had summoned. At that moment, the sounds entering his ears began to stretch strangely.

His body grew sluggish. As if acting in slow motion, his feet wouldn’t move properly. Not just ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) his limbs—even his eyelids moved slowly.

Pii! Pii!

A slowing spell.

Milk panicked.

Piiu! Pii!

He wanted to say it was fine.

But his tongue wouldn’t move under the magic’s effect. Fortunately, he had blown the whistle beforehand.

Wuuung!

A magic circle formed above Kairos’s head.

The glow of Valdez’s offensive magic circle intensified.

He tried to escape its range, but his body wouldn’t respond.

Hm.

This one’s cutting it close...

If the creature’s even a little late—

Whoosh!

RATATATAT!

The incoming creature snatched him up in an instant.

A Bambi Winged Bird.

It shot in like an arrow, clamped onto the back of the summoner’s neck, and soared upward. Valdez’s attack struck the creature’s trailing end. Recognizing the razor-thin timing, Kairos couldn’t suppress a laugh. As the Bambi Winged Bird twisted its neck and tossed him onto its back, he let out a short sound.

“Oh.”

Pii!

Milk protested softly.

The summoner chuckled under his breath. Offering silent apology, he flattened himself into the creature’s feathers.

The slowing spell had already worn off.

“So you’re running again?”

Valdez’s irritated voice rang out.

“Are there not enough creatures nearby to offer as living sacrifices?”

Crackle, crackle.

A distinct sound echoed from afar.

Riding the Bambi Winged Bird low over the ground, Kairos mapped out the battlefield in his mind.

He wasn’t heading to regroup with the retreating Black Badgers.

He was flying toward a High Lich.

A night illuminated by flames and blood.

A sky filled with blackened dust and hovering drones.

High Liches floated ominously, gripping their staffs.

Whooosh!

Unless one had reached the level of a Sword Expert, encountering such a high-ranking creature was almost certain death. He flew straight beneath them.

A bold move.

The High Lich immediately unleashed crimson thorns.

BANG!

“Tch.”

Valdez, chasing behind him, hurriedly dodged the attack.

“That bastard did that on purpose...!”

This won’t win the battle outright, of course.

But making enemies collide with each other was the essence of tactics. High Liches were especially useful due to their wide attack range. They also floated at a certain height, meaning even if he provoked them and fled, most allies wouldn’t be harmed.

Mire-Tendrils, on the other hand, might devour nearby Badgers if provoked...

Normally, he avoided necromancer-type creatures like High Liches.

But this time, Kairos swept past every High Lich in the vicinity.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Red magic spread through the sky in expanding waves.

He didn’t check how much damage it dealt to Valdez.

That wasn’t his focus.

Because the real fight wasn’t in the air...

And he wasn’t trying to escape.

RATATATAT!

Ah.

Playing cat and mouse with Valdez atop the Bambi Winged Bird, Kairos finally found a suitable place.

“This will do.”

A building on the verge of collapse came into view.

Nothing particularly special—just leaning more than the others. The moment he spotted it, Kairos leapt off the creature’s back. Cold night wind struck his face as he looked down at the approaching ground. No mines, no debris that could impale him—just solid earth.

Thud!

The summoner landed.

It wasn’t a low height, but he had often jumped from the back of a Fire Dragon. He was well-versed in landing.

Touching down safely, he immediately entered the building he had marked.

A narrow space faintly lit by the bluish glow of the battlefield.

Everywhere else swallowed by darkness...

“A creature’s nest?”

Valdez stepped inside slowly.

“So you’re planning to use whatever creature lives here. No idea what it is, but... not a bad choice.”

Kairos didn’t respond.

Instead, he remained still, buried in the darkness. Concealing his presence, he watched the mage entering with a crooked grin.

A hand twisted from battle.

A cloak stained with creature blood and flesh. He himself was in no better shape, but Valdez wasn’t unscathed either.

If he wished, the mage could retreat. He could escape. Being intelligent, he could pretend to be human and live on. With his rare talent as a mage, even surrender would likely be accepted.

But Valdez rejected all those possibilities.

And chose revenge.

A path that inevitably led to death.

Kairos had no intention of persuading him.

Because persuasion would be useless.

And because he believed he should respect the way Valdez chose to live.

Born a nomad, Kairos had always been the odd one in his tribe.

But that didn’t mean he failed to understand their values.

Nights filled with the cries of animals. Sitting beneath star-filled skies, listening to elders recount the tales of their ancestors.

You must always choose what you carry with you.

For those who rode horses and wielded weapons, life was often short. And so, in Kairos’s tribe, one choice always shone brightly.

Not comfort, but glory.

Not life, but honor.

Kairos had no interest in honor or glory.

But neither did he care for comfort.

And, more than Kyle believed, he loved his people.

So he always respected those who chose honor and glory.

And he had upheld that attitude all his life.

If this is how you choose to live, mage—

If you cannot forgive the hardened humans who pointed guns, the three bullets embedded in a child’s body.

If you cannot forgive those who cast aside others the moment eternal youth was achieved, nor the naïve humans who never even imagined such a future.

If the names of those slain by their own kin still linger beside your pillow...

“Man who knows nothing of honor.”

Three magic circles appeared inside the building.

Larger than before.

Their light began to fill the interior. If spells of that magnitude rained down, the building would surely collapse.

Kairos knew this.

But he did not move.

Having summoned every creature coiled within the building, he waited.

“I still don’t understand you.”

As the light intensified, Valdez’s face became clearer.

“You weren’t particularly devoted to Hildebert.”

That’s true.

Back then...

“Everything you loved wasn’t even on Earth.”

Soon.

It comes.

“And yet, in the First War—!”

BOOOOM!

The magic circles fired.

At that moment, dozens of Human-Faced Serpents clinging to the ceiling dropped down.

Kairos commanded the swarm to intercept the spells.

BANG! BOOOOM! BANG!

The spells exploded.

The human faces on the serpents’ heads were crushed to pulp.

As expected, they weren’t enough to withstand Valdez’s magic.

RATATATAT!

Blood and flesh burst apart in the cramped darkness.

Eyeballs flew through the air. Broken teeth scattered across the floor. The serpents collapsed, lifeless, their green bodies piling up thick across the ground.

Valdez scoffed.

Though as many survived as died, these creatures were no match for a mage.

Kairos knew that too.

And with three magic circles active, there was no opening for them to exploit.

“When you run out of things to summon, I’ll bury you with the building.”

Valdez unleashed another barrage.

“Kairos!”

“Valdez.”

Kairos called his name.

“You fought well.”

Thud.

Blood sprayed.

Kairos quietly watched the mage, whose eyes widened more in surprise than pain.

The dagger in his hand sank into the other’s chest, soaked in blood.

A familiar length.

Before becoming a citizen of the Empire, this was the kind of blade he had always worn at his waist.

He, too, had been a tribesman.

He knew battle.

How to approach silently.

How to pierce a heart in one strike.

“Hah.”

Valdez glanced down at the blade lodged in his chest and laughed.

“I... forgot.”

His hand moved toward his heart.

“You were... one of them too.”

“To hold back, to ask for surrender, to leave you alive at my whim—those would all be insults to you.”

Kairos spoke quietly.

Valdez coughed up blood.

Wiping his mouth with an irritated expression, he twisted a smile.

“Seems... you understand that much.”

The mage reached inside his cloak, as if to retrieve something.

But as his body swayed forward, Kairos caught him.

Blood soaked into him.

Holding the dying man, Kairos slowly sat down.

A fleeting memory of the Empire war long ago passed through his mind.

“Any last words?”

Valdez answered faintly.

“Not really.”

“I see. It was a good fight. I enjoyed it.”

“The Commander...”

Valdez murmured, his face resting against Kairos’s shoulder.

“This time... revenge...”

His life was fading.

Even now, Kairos felt a strange sadness that he couldn’t sense the other’s presence through leaf veins.

The breaking of a life always left a sense of loss.

“I hope... it succeeds...”

Those were his last words.

Kairos sat in silence for a while, then gently closed the mage’s eyes.

As always, taking a life was not to his liking.

He was no warrior, just as the elders had said.

“Rest well, mage.”

But a man accustomed to death did not cry.

For a moment, he thought of Noya—how, if she were here, they could have cremated him with fire.

Since that wasn’t possible, he carefully laid the mage in a corner of the building.

Then Kairos walked outside.

The war continued.

It was time to support the Badgers who were being pushed back.

***

[If there’s no Blood Injection B, then even type O—!]

Carl Dow’s urgent voice came through.

[Do you have any?]