Үхлийн Ирэлт

Sunny gritted his teeth and groaned, feeling his whole body being slowly crushed by the monstrous chieftain of the Barrow Wraiths. One of his arms was pressed against his body, and the other one was, too… but just barely.

If only he could free it…

But no matter how hard he tried, the tyrant's hold was just too strong.

…Back in the gymnasium, the terrifying beast was lunging at the defenseless children. Its maw was wide open, the red shine of the ghostly flames burning in its eyes reflecting from the jagged, sharp fangs.

It was flying directly at Rain, moments away from closing its jaw on her throat.

She felt paralyzed by fear, desperately wishing to run, but unable to move.

Was this how she was going to die? No, no… it couldn't be!

But it was...

Suddenly, a spark of a strange, dark emotion ignited in Rain's heart.

'Die? No… not like this… I refuse!'

She was holding a sword, was she not?

Even if that thing was going to devour her, Rain was determined to die fighting, just like she had been taught to. She was going to remain human, not a cowering animal only good enough to be the stronger beast's prey.

She owed that much to her parents, at least.

Knowing full well that her dull training sword was not going to stop a Nightmare Creature, Rain stubbornly made a motion to raise it. Even though her mind was panicked and her thoughts scattered, the body remembered countless hours of practice…

Not that it was going to do her any good.

The hound was already so close that she could see every harrowing detail of its hideous snout and frothing maw. There was no escape...

'Unfair! This is unfair…'

This childish thought appeared in her mind, as it had undoubtedly appeared in the minds of countless people just before they were killed.

...And then, something strange happened.

Suddenly, two beautiful magenta lights ignited in the darkness to the side of the lunging creature.

A moment later, a dark blade of a strange, stonelike sword flashed out of the shadows and easily sliced through the abomination's neck, separating its head from its torso.

A round shield made of something that resembled stone then appeared and swatted the headless body away from Rain, not allowing even a drop of blood to fall on her.

As she froze in shock, a graceful woman wearing menacing black armor stepped out of the darkness, two ruby flames burning behind the visor of her closed helmet.

Rain had never seen someone so terrifying, yet so magnificent.

The woman glanced at her with indifferent calmness, and then turned around to easily pierce another hound with her stonelike sword, then sever one more in half with a swift, vicious strike. It was as though the flesh of the abominations offered her no resistance.

'Three… she just killed three Nightmare Creatures…'

And not only that, but she also killed them in the span of a second, with a confident, relaxed ease.

'Who… who is she?'

Before Rain knew what she was doing, she heard herself saying in a small voice:

"Who are you?"

The beautiful knight did not answer and simply stood between the children and the advancing monsters, her back straight and solid like a stone wall.

Rain stared at that back, feeling as if nothing was going to get past this frightening, taciturn warrior.

A burning desire suddenly appeared in her heart.

She didn't know whether the menacing black knight was a human, a spirit, or a strange Nightmare Creature. But she knew one thing...

'Strong… I want to be strong, someday. Strong like her…'

In front of the gate, Sunny was slowly suffocating in the iron grip of the Fallen Tyrant. He was being brought closer and closer to the three burning red eyes, and as he did, it felt as if life itself was being sucked out of him, his mind balancing on the verge of breaking apart.

'What… the hell…'

There had to be something that he could do… some trick he could employ to wrestle free. A Memory he could summon, an enchantment he could activate…

But no matter how hard he tried, nothing worked.

Sunny's vision was slowly starting to grow dark.

'Dammit! I… I need to…'

He could have summoned the Cruel Sight if his hands were free, but they were not. He could have turned the Mantle of the Underworld too heavy for the tyrant to lift, but it was already as heavy as the [Feather of Truth] allowed, weighing as much as a small mountain… what else was there in his arsenal?!

Sunny was almost ready to panic, and then… a subtle change suddenly happened to the world.

It was easily missed or discarded, more of a feeling than an actual shift. Sunny only noticed it because it felt strangely familiar.

…It felt as though the whole world suddenly became colder by a couple of degrees.

But why would it?

Before he could properly consider the meaning of the subtle change, though, something flashed through the air, and suddenly, Sunny could breathe again.

He could do so because… because the hand holding him wasn't connected to the tyrant's body anymore, the arm severed cleanly at the elbow.

'What…'

Sunny fell to the ground and rolled away as a fountain of seething blood shot out of the stump that used to be a Wraith Chieftain's arm, evaporating and turning into a cloud of scorching red mist.

'What just happened?'

Still reeling, he struggled to stand up and saw someone landing on a piece of rubble next to him.

It was a beautiful woman who seemed to be in her late twenties. She was wearing a dark blue uniform with silver epaulets and leather boots, her short hair as black as a raven's feather, and her skin as white as snow.

Her icy blue eyes were colder than the deepest reaches of a frozen hell.

In her hand, the woman was holding a somber glaive, drops of boiling blood swiftly turning into ice on its slender blade.

She looked like... like Death herself.

'Master Jet!'

Indeed, it was Soul Reaper Jet.

...The cavalry had arrived.