Water poured down onto my head again. I’m completely used to it by now, but I feel like it’s happening more frequently.
“Ugh… it’s cold…”
I continued walking through the courtyard. The people who’ve been bullying me are apparently all from one group. They stood a little ways away, laughing at me. I think they’ve been increasing how often they do this because I haven’t done anything about it. I wanted to read them riot act, but I didn’t want to draw attention to myself.
This might be arrogant of me to say, but I’m pretty strong compared to the students here. After all, I survived in the Twilight for two years. But I don’t want to display my strength since I’m scared that such a display would isolate me from the others. I had more than enough time alone in the Twilight. I was constantly lonely, constantly fearing death, and constantly struggling. That’s why I want to be able to spend time with other people now. If I show off my strength, people will probably keep me at a distance.
Just look at Sherry. It’s plainly obvious how lonely she is as the strongest student at the school.
And, deep down, I’m still the same weak person that I was two years ago. No matter how much better I get at fighting, I think I’ll always be a coward. So, I had no choice but to accept things as they were.
“Ugh… I’m tired…”
School got out a while ago, and it was now dark out. The darkness of night ruled over the skies, not the reddish hues of the Twilight. The moon exists and still shines at night, but it’s still dark. I was studying at the library after school, and I decided to finally go home, but…
I’m being watched?
It wasn’t my imagination. I felt like I was being watched by a wild animal. It felt familiar – just like how monsters and demons would look at me. It might even have been stronger than that. Is there… a monster or a demon in the city?
Imagining the worst, I took off in the direction of whatever was watching me.
“…It was from here.”
I was at a park. It was a completely normal park. However, I’m certain that I was being watched from here. It could’ve been a trap, but I couldn’t ignore that much bloodlust being pointed in my direction. I’m not that nice of a guy. I’d come back to the Barriered City and experienced a little peace, but I still remembered it: the feeling of living in the Twilight, and the ruthlessness needed to reclaim it.
Behind me!
I suddenly felt bloodlust from behind. It was just for a moment, but I got low to the ground and rolled forward, putting some distance between me and the attacker. An exceptionally sharp sword passed over my head.
“…You managed to dodge that. Impressive. Just like our information suggested.”
“A human…?”
“Alright, let’s see what you’ve got.”
There was a man in front of me – someone I’d never seen before. However, I could easily tell that he was strong. He had short, black hair and a beard and appeared to be in his thirties. His thick muscles allowed him to swing his longsword freely at high speeds.
There are some Exorcists who use longswords, actually. However, those swords require a lot of skill to use effectively. They hit hard, but their maneuverability is very low. Shorter, one-handed broadswords are more efficient for fighting battles with monsters.
And yet, this guy had a longsword… no, it was probably a bastard sword, but he swung it around as easily as a broadsword.
“Who are you?”
“We can talk about that once we’re done!”
In a moment, he was right in front of me. He swung his bastard sword again. He’s too fast. I can only admire the amount of skill and physical training required to be this fast.
”
”
A bastard sword can be one- or two-handed and usually has a length of 1.2 – 1.4 meters. But this man’s sword is 1.5 meters… or probably even longer than that. Could it be a Claymore? It has a long reach, and he seems to be controlling inertia to swing it around freely, I thought.
I clicked my tongue, drew my knife, and activated [Invisible Blade]. I took his next strike head-on.
[Invisible Blade] is thin. I use a knife as the starting point, after all. I can extend the blade as much as I want, but I can’t change the width. I never needed to, though. Speed is the most important thing necessary to survive in the Twilight, so I didn’t meet many heavy-hitting opponents. There were a few particularly large monsters I had to fight, though. This man’s strikes are as heavy as theirs.
Somehow… I managed to take it head-on, though. I further increased my physical strength with magic. I could feel my muscles screaming and my skin tearing apart. Strengthening the body beyond its limits causes massive damage. But I can’t worry about that right now.
“…Not bad. You’re the second person I’ve ever met who could take one of my strikes head-on.”
“Thanks for that…”
He praised me for some reason, and I decided to just accept it. Blood was flowing from my arms. My arms felt like they were breaking under the pressure, but somehow I kept blocking. But I’ll only block this one time. I’ll dodge every other strike and take his neck.
I flipped my switch.
I go into this special mental state when I’m hunting. I felt it every time I had a life-and-death battle in the Twilight – what people call “the zone.” I felt my sense sharpen, and I put some distance between myself and the opponent.
About 10 meters… Can I extend [Invisible Blade] that far? I can do it, but… alright, I know what I’m going to do. I kicked off the ground with all my might…
Faster, faster, faster!
“Woah!”
He swung his sword, but I ducked and stabbed the [Invisible Blade] at his throat from below. However, he blocked my strike with his sword. In that case… I thought, activating [Invisible Blade] on the pinky of my left hand.
“Damn it! You can activate that from your fingers, too?”
He can see it? Either he has some kind of special ability that allowed him to perceive it, or… or what, exactly? Could he possibly have learned about [Invisible Blade]? From where?
Since he could apparently see my [Invisible Blade], he just barely dodged it. However, even if he could see it, I was confident that I could end this with my next strike. Controlling inertia, I swung [Invisible Blade] back again, aiming to cut off one of his arms.
Suddenly, there was a wall of ice in front of me. I backed off and felt his bloodlust immediately disappear. The tense atmosphere seemed to be relaxing all of a sudden.
Who on earth is this guy…
“That’s enough, the two of you. Gil, you went too far. You were about to die, you know.”
“Haha, no way. I still had cards up my sleeve.”
“Yes, and so did he. You were about to lose an arm, you know.”
“Guh… well, yeah, I guess that was dangerous…”
A woman appeared, who seemed to be the source of the mysterious wall of ice. She had bright, flaming red hair and an elegant, refined demeanor. But I felt like I’d seen this person somewhere…
“Oh – you were watching my match with Sherry, weren’t you?” I asked, applying healing magic on myself. There was no bloodlust in the air anymore. As a result, we were having a calm conversation.
“Oh? You remember me, Yuria?”
“Um… so who are you the two of you?”
“I’m Gil. I’m a Special Rank Exorcist.”
“I’m Claudia, also a Special Rank Exorcist.”
“Huh…”
It suddenly dawned on me. Now that I think about it, that man’s on a completely different level to regular Exorcists. I was this close to actually trying to kill him, too. After all, since I was able to beat a Rank 1 Exorcist, the only opponents I’d have to get serious about are Special Rank Exorcists… When I realised that, I felt a pit in my stomach.
“You survived in the Twilight for two years… It’s hard to believe at first, but it’s obvious after watching you fight. Hey, Claudia, how many combat hours do you have logged?”
“Hm… over a thousand, I’m pretty sure.”
“I’ve got about the same… If he spent two years out there, that means he’s got over 17,000 hours in the Twilight. I don’t think he’s a full ten times stronger than us… but yeah, this kid is definitely the real deal.”
“I told you so. I told you he was strong.”
“You should’ve explained it in more detail, you know.”
“Well, I wanted to see him fight seriously, toooo.”
”
”
“Don’t give me that ‘tooooo’ crap, you old hag.”
“Wh-?! I’m only 27, you know!”
I stood there simply watching the two of them go back and forth. Then, the guy – Gil – called out to me. “Anyway, you passed. We’ll let you meet him.”
“Wh-who?”
Who on earth are they talking about?
“The highest-ranked Special Rank Exorcist. Cyrus, the strongest human alive.”
And so, I ended up getting a meeting with the strongest Special Rank Exorcist alive.