Chapter 10 - Mizuko Shirogetsu???Life is often likened to a game – you’ll often find sentiments expressing that “You either win or you lose”, or “You must py others before they py you”, so on and so forth.

  I find these that these derivations, while not entirely inaccurate, are incomplete. Half-truths, if you will, born of fear and anxiety, the need to seize control of whatever you possibly can in order to alleviate those paranoia that lingers in your mind.

  That said, you could argue there is some wisdom in that way of thinking. Perhaps, life truly can be compared to some sort of grand game.

  In that case, I must ask - what exactly is the objective of such a game? To ‘win’? What does winning even mean on a stage as rge as this, with potential opponents lurking around every corner?

  In a game such as this, where there are only so many variables within your narrow scope and even fewer yet under your control, what even were the chances of ‘winning’?

  As the chaotic scene before me progressed ever further, my mind continued to barrel down this train of thought, rotating, spinning, and yawing the idea until there was nary a spot I hadn’t investigated and interrogated thoroughly.

  My ruminations were brought to an abrupt halt when I heard a scream.

  “Watch out!” I heard a voice cry. In the heat of the moment, surrounded by countless bck lumps with only so few of us able to resist, I didn’t need to turn in their direction to know that they were talking to me.

  I allowed my body’s natural survival instinct, alongside my enhanced physical capabilities in this space, to take charge.

  I had spun around, diving backwards, with my back falling toward the ground when I saw what I had been saved from.

  Professional athletes, such as boxers, describe specific moments in the most monumental parts of their careers.

  Moments in which their minds and bodies were so focused, so in tune with one another, that time itself appeared to have slowed down, each moment perceived in slow-motion.

  Here, I began to experience something simir.

  Practically suspended in mid-air, I saw the fangs before anything else; sharp, grey, and terrible, eager to rip into the flesh of myself and my comrades.

  As its red pupils looked down upon me, I found myself momentarily petrified by the sight in its entirety, though the fear, as it often does, led to resolve.

  I thrust the small shard of ice I had formed in my hand through the beasts’ likely ravenous stomach as it was leaping over me.

  It yelped accordingly, and with my back now crashed into the ground, it had begun to fall apart, first melting back into its default bck ooze before fading away into a wispy bck smoke, leaving only my rapid breaths and the sounds of deadly combat elsewhere in its wake.

  In the corner of my eye, I caught sight of another– the threat that Junko had alluded to previous.

  The Noise in question was a particurly humanoid-looking one, with burning orange pupils and triangur hat, its form mimicking the conventional appearance of a fictional magus.

  It was looking right at me.

  Startled, I scrambled to my feet, adrenaline pumping through my veins, spurring me to action.

  As if taking this act as permission, the creature bzed in a burst of fire, before shooting its way toward me, leaving a fming path in its wake.

  I readied my naginata, watching the monster zoom its way across the battlefield, in the process burning away many of its own brethren to ash, until I began to feel its scorching heat assault my skin.

  It had arrived, and as it looked down upon me, it became abundantly clear that if I made even the slightest misstep now, I would not live to regret it.

  I stood my ground, ignoring the thick beads of sweat forming across my body.

  With a shrieking wail, the organism initiated combat, brandishing dark cws before swiping them, thick clouds of fme trailing with every lunge.

  With a deep breath, I silenced my panicking mind to let my body take control once more.

  With perfect execution, I ducked, twirled, and parried the beast’s blows, my limbs warping and wefting their way across my polearm effortlessly.

  It was as though I was back on the ice rink at Molco, refining my axel jump technique, advancing the range and flexibility of my lunges.

  Before long, my precise movements were rewarded, and after another smooth evasion, I span forward, using the momentum to lunge into a forward thrust, enhancing the lethality of my weapon’s front tip with an added icy edge.

  I felt the bde sink in with ease.

  As expected, the creature bawled in agony. I withdrew the bde as quickly as I had pierced it into my opponent, and the rival in question staggered backwards, hand clutching the gash.

  I smiled. Though my breath was bated, and my muscles were beginning to ache, I knew I had gained the upper hand. If I could close things out now, it may yet turn the tide of this battle.

  I set about dashing toward my fallen opponent, seeking to end the duel here. By the time I had noticed the several glowing circles scattered across the floor, it was already much too te.

  I had been deceived.

  With what must have been some kind of smirk, the monster snapped its fingers, triggering a barrage of loud noises, and a sharp, splitting pain across my entire body. I felt my feet lift off of the ground, though my vision had been overwhelmed by the sparks of a massive explosion.

  When I felt my back hit the ground, the little air left in my lungs deserted me completely. I would have writhed in pain if any of my limbs were capable of movement at that point. I couldn’t even shout for help.

  As my sight began to fade into bck, I saw not the creature that had bested me, nor the allies I had been fighting with tooth-and-nail in our short-lived alliance. Nor did I catch a st gnce of my junior sister.

  All I saw was the moon peering back at me, its soft glow a fitting sendoff.

  After some time of lying deathly still, with vision blurred and ears ringing, I admittedly became curious as to why the animal had not yet come to cim my life. I used all the strength I could muster to lean upwards, my weight supported by my weary elbows.

  “HOW DARE YOU!?” Howled Junko, a murderous glint in her silver eyes I had never seen before.

  I knew not when she had arrived, nor how much of my battle she had witnessed. All I knew was that if left unchecked, her anger would nd her in just the same spot my carelessness had led me; if not worse.

  Perhaps what caught my eye the most, however, was the fact that she was not alone. Circling the creature were the redhead – Kozuki, I believe – Hoshino, and Cunningham. Had they abandoned their own posts – risked their very safety – in order to support me?

  The answer had become abundantly clear when I felt a soft touch on my left shoulder. I looked up.

  “Shirogetsu-san!” Furusawa whispered, concerned. “W-what happened? You look terr- ah, sorry, sorry! Allow me…”

  As I slowly felt the pain splintered across my being slowly repced with strength, I managed to catch my breath.

  Rusuban and the others were nowhere to be seen, though that was fine. The portion of our party I had avaible with me now would do.

  Once I had strength enough to stand, I nodded gratefully toward my healer, directing him to stay back and hide, the sluggishness in his movements all but delineating his understandable exhaustion.

  To the rest, I unched back into the fray, uttering only a single command.

  “Follow my lead!”

  We needed to act quickly and precisely, with pnned, coordinated movements. Considering most of us had practically just met each other for the first time, you didn’t need to tell me how unlikely a task this was.

  Even so – as I careened into danger, with my allies covering my fnk, I felt a strange sensation nuzzle in my heart, an experience so distant, and yet somehow always in close proximity.

  I suppose, to look at it from a rational perspective – you could call it camaraderie.

  First was Junko.

  I called her name, a communication that conveyed much more than what the ear could perceive, and in response both her and Kozuki dropped out of my periphery.

  The creature was getting ever closer, and for a while, the expression it had dispyed looked like one of panic.

  “It will attempt to protect its head!” Kozuki cried, her predilection of foresight coming through as hoped. “Aim for the lower chest!”

  Without warning, two long, sharp glints of silver sailed through the air like bullets, soon enough finding their mark. The beast howled in pain as Junko’s odachi, as well as Kozuki’s cymore, protruded from its middle, the metal of both coursing with electricity.

  It floundered and filed to no avail under the force of electrocution.

  Excellent – next was Cunningham.

  No verbal cue needed, the hulking werewolf descended upon the creature, curling its hefty paws along the handles of both bdes before ripping them out as violently as possible. I almost felt sorry for the pitiful animal.

  Arthur lifted both weapons into the air, before thrusting them into the pyromancer’s feet, rewarding us with another shrill cry of pain as well as pinning down its movement.

  Next, the lycanthrope danced around the creature, finding its hands and binding them together. There was a fsh of light, and then emerged Hoshino, swinging her hammer back on forth onto the monster’s head with violent smashes and pummels whilst Cunningham held it in pce.

  “Now!” I yelled. It was time to end its suffering, and more importantly, ours.

  Heeding my call, Cunningham allowed Hoshino one st downward swing of her mallet, resulting in a sinister crack that resounded throughout the street corner, before biting into the creatures neck, bck ooze spilling onto the storefronts and pavement.

  Eiji, now having retreated, took my hand, with a burst of illumination we were rising through the air. Once we had enough height, she span me once, before sending me shooting diagonally downward toward our target like a meteor.

  As I descended, I readied my naginata in front of me.

  I saw one st gleam of its orange eyes, though what I saw in them almost made my heart stop once I had nded a final thrust of my frozen naginata tip through its head, using its broken body to break my fall, sending it into the ground with a crash.

  It was past fear, dread, or even despair.

  It was acceptance.

  Were animals even capable of comprehending the idea, the concept of death? Let alone their pce in it?

  A few hot, inexplicable seconds passed as I stood over the being’s crumpled body, which was now fading away into a smoky nothingness.

  I heard my own tired, frantic breaths begin to calm down, though the stress of the entire situation had stolen my ability to stand, feeling the hard concrete punch my knee.

  “We…we did it!” Cheered Cunningham, who had sat on the ground beside me at some point. Nearby were Junko, Kozuki, and Hoshino, all equally as exhausted.

  The night’s numerous battles had taken their toll, but I suppose this was the straw that broke the camel’s back, even if comparing that struggle to a ‘straw’ was a gross understatement.

  Judging from Furusawa’s own condition, I highly doubted we were in any shape to deal with the straggling noise, or any at all for that matter.

  Looking around for any signs of the others, a glowing orb had appeared on the floor, adjacent to where my naginata had dropped after the demise of our foe.

  “What is that?” Junko inquired after watching me pick it up.

  As I moved to inspect it, my eyes wandered slightly to something that had moved in my periphery, and then the world turned red.

  Everybody around me had vanished, save for Junko, who had suddenly stood up, but was gazing at me with a vacant expression.

  There was something odd about her expression, and when my vision narrowed onto the knife that had been thrust into her chest, leaving a red blotch spreading across her torso, I began to shake uncontrolbly.

  “This is all your fault.” She whispered finally, before falling backwards and vanishing into the ground.

  I tried to scream, tried to shout, tried to make sense of what was happening, but all that were coming out were choked, strangled sobs.

  I struck the ground repeatedly in anguish, but my arms became scked once I heard her voice reaching out to me again from somewhere distant.

  “Sis…! Sis! SIS! SNAP OUT OF IT!” Junko cried. Instantly, the vermillion had been drained from my vision, and she was there, in front of me, just as I’d left her.

  I looked up, following her gaze, and then I froze.

  His carmine eyes bore into mine, an enigmatic glint shining in them as he held up the same white orb I had just dropped. Before I could utter a word, his lips curled into a knowing smile.

  “Thanks for the gift, Vice-Prez.” Kurogane leered. “I’d say it suits me just fine.”