The First Yora (3)
It was nearing nine at night.
The temple's engine room, storeroom, and the cellar that had become a rats' nest all reeked of copper.
Not human blood—goblin blood.
"Kiiieee!"
Kido, gripping his double-bladed spear wide, rolled across the floor; his amber pupils flashed. He spun on his back like an antlion bristling with dozens of blades.
"Jincheon magic."
Anch'al's sorcerous eye flared.
"Giant of monstrous strength."
The ceiling bricks dimpled like droplets, swelled, and became a massive foot that stamped down on Kido.
His eyes bulged and his body sank inward as if pressed into the earth.
Natasha moved.
I blocked it.
Her target wasn't Kido but Woorin, who was pressed tight against the wall.
If she could just kill that one—
The instant she lunged at supersonic speed and drove her thrust for Woorin's nape—
"Krr!"
Kido shoved aside the giant's foot and suddenly materialized in front of her, snatching Natasha's wrist.
He'd not been driven back by the earth-spirit's force, but the sonic shockwave still slammed into her.
"Ugh!"
Natasha twisted her head to avoid the spray of Kido's blood.
"…what an interesting creature." Drenched in blood, Kido bared sharp teeth and radiated ferocity.
"Grrrr!"
"How are you slower than me and still catch me?"
At that, Woorin went pale and collapsed to the floor, gasping.
"Haah. Haah."
She thought she was dead.
Natasha had moved so fast she'd felt the spear cut into her neck.
But…was it an illusion?
Even after having the same experience dozens of times since the fight began, she still couldn't get used to it.
Death—
This couldn't be the end. I have to live.
Shirone.
"Kido."
Words slipped between clenched teeth as Rai slashed at Kido's flank.
"Ugh!"
Kido's pupil wavered, but Rai was frustrated that the strike felt tepid.
He hadn't cut through.
The instant the blade met flesh, Kido activated tremendous suppleness and diverted the sword's path.
More sensitive than me?
No—he'd absorbed the giant's brute force and was even tracking Natasha's speed, the kind that's hard to follow with the eye.
A monster in a different sense.
Woorin asked, "Kido, are you okay?"
"Y-yeah."
"Save me. I must live. You know that?"
"Y-yeah."
Woorin's heart held only Shirone; she felt no disappointment.
But—
Water—
He was thirsty again.
Like when he guarded Andre's labyrinth, there was that gnawing need: if he didn't fill something, he'd dry up.
"Haak!"
Almost on instinct, Kido opened his mouth wide and bit the arm of Natasha he held.
"Slurp! Chomp!"
He tore flesh with his fangs and drank the flowing blood. Natasha didn't flinch.
When Kido lifted his glossy lips and raised his head, she slowly retreated and asked, "…Does my blood taste good?"
"Foolish."
Rai let his sword drop and stepped forward.
"That thing feeds on other people's memories. Its skill is made up of countless others' talents. You handed over your transformation art so easily. Battles from now on will only get harder."
"Really?"
Natasha shrugged.
"But I was curious. I wanted to know what it felt like—my body being eaten by another creature."
There was no reason to cooperate—different nations, different interests—but Rai didn't like it.
"You gave away your talent just out of curiosity?"
"Haha! Is that so?"
Thinking she wasn't someone to be reasoned with, Rai sighed and looked at Kido.
"So it really absorbed them."
His expression had already changed; indeed, Natasha's blood ran through Kido's veins, transferring memories.
This woman—
Kido's nose wrinkled.
"A genius…
…before anything else.
How much did you train?"
How many walls had she had to break through to trigger the Reaper's Dance with her spine already broken?
"Who knows."
It was not something Kido had any business absorbing.
"I just kept doing it until it happened." Rai's face tightened.
"Kept doing it until it happened?"
Isn't that a contradiction?
"If you can just keep doing it until it works, then why is the world unfair? That's why people talk about talent."
Rai stopped, turning the thought over.
Talent, talent, talent.
"Rian—that fool… he was a swordsman with not even a fingernail's worth of talent."
Natasha said, "What? I don't see it. I expected to see a goblin dance, but—then I can start again, right?"
"Cough!"
Blood spurted again from Kido's throat.
"Kido!"
Woorin's frantic voice dragged his mind back from the edge of death.
I know, I know.
He could no longer die at will.
"Grrr."
Kido, gathering his fraying consciousness, was about to leap up when Natasha halted.
"Ah, I see."
She pointed at Woorin and asked, "Do you love this woman?"
It came out as if she were asking how a goblin could possibly love a queen…
"Come at me."
Kido's heart dried further.
Then—
"Yes."
Anch'al's voice sounded.
"Yes, understood. Speak."
Only the bell-shaped earrings trembled, but it was like someone was on the other end of a conversation.
"We haven't finished it yet. But very soon… Yes, understood. Yes, we will do it."
An order to return to the Jincheon sector.
To let go of a fish already caught.
If it had been Kashan's queen, it would've been a major catch—yet Anch'al had no objection to the order.
Really? To Parma Brightstar… because there was nothing more important than saving Jincheon's princess, Jinseongeum.
"Your Majesty."
Anch'al, who had been about to say something to Woorin, shook his head as if it were pointless and backed away.
"Princess, endure a little longer." A bleak earthen portal formed and Woorin's body seemed to be sucked into the spirit world as she vanished.
Breaking the silence, Natasha said, "I'll stop too. The time Valkan mentioned has passed. Tormia will take the queen."
Rai said nothing.
Gustaf IV was hardly in his right mind to begin with, but he was still a soldier who obeyed orders.
The problem was—
There was no way they could defeat Kido by their own strength alone.
"Let's go. We need to flee now."
Kido grabbed Woorin's arm and, watching the others, slid away.
Natasha waved a hand.
"Cheer up. Honestly, she's not exactly the sort most women would fawn over, but the heart matters."
She had no eyelids, so she couldn't show a smile—but it felt like a smiling eye.
"Kiiiiii."
Kido vanished into the darkness, leaving a threat behind, but Natasha felt unburdened.
"Shall I go too?"
"Wait."
Rai called.
"Hm?"
"You said, 'if you keep at it until it happens'?" Natasha, knowing what Rai meant, looked troubled.
Daphne.
After being cut by Rian, she now understood a little of what defeat felt like.
"Sorry. I didn't mean it like that. I was just speaking from my own case."
Rai bristled.
"No need for pity. What I want is a fact—a truth. Do you really believe that?"
"Hmm, if you press me that hard…yeah. I did it until it happened. Honestly, I think that's all there is. After fighting that person, I was even more sure of it."
"That person?"
"Ozent Rian—" Rai's eyebrows twitched.
"Right, if he's a fellow swordsman you'd know. I hear he's peerless with the blade."
"Of course I know. He's my brother."
"Oh?"
Natasha pursed her lips.
"Really his brother? But he's completely different."
"What do you mean?"
"Like this. He puts everything into a single line of speech. That guy was the opposite. He even looks different—different hair—and he just didn't click in my head, so I said it." She tapped her chest. "I lost to Rian."
I see.
Natasha had seen his strength with her own eyes; she knew how high Rian stood.
"For the first time I learned what defeat felt like. Maybe that person could beat me because he aimed higher than I did."
Everyone dreams of being the best swordsman. But not everyone can be the best. I don't think my effort was less than his. If 'keep at it until it happens' is all it takes, then why can't everyone get stronger?
Natasha snorted.
"You really don't know anything."
"What?"
"Sorry. I don't mean to belittle you. I'm from a different field—a dancer—but I think 'keep at it until it happens' isn't just about hard work or efficiency."
"Then what is it?"
Natasha lifted a finger.
"It means doing everything you possibly can." Rai blinked.
"To learn something is to carve that skill into your body. With what do you carve it? As far as I know, there's only one thing—pain."
She continued, recalling years of endurance.
"People are selfish and tend to repeat mistakes. So you engrave it with pain. Because…humans never repeat the exact same pain twice."
Rai frowned.
'Are you calling me lazy?'
Maybe he was. But after being overtaken by Rian he had never sought comfort.
"I—"
"Yeah, I know."
Natasha anticipated his protest.
"But you keep repeating that grueling work. If what you did could be done again, that means it wasn't painful enough. Skill grows, of course, but that alone won't break the wall."
A wall.
One Rian had and Rai did not.
Is that so?
That man—every single moment—
"Do you want to break the wall?"
Natasha asked.
"If so, burn the technique into your body. Make it so unbearably painful you could never do it again. So agonizing that you're certain you can never repeat it…
She drew an arc in the air with her index and middle fingers.
"Humans surpass their limits."
That man, in every single moment—
Was he pushing himself into a realm that couldn't be repeated?
Seeing Rai's stunned face, Natasha turned away.
"Then—farewell."
"Wait."
"Again?"
Natasha spun back with a pout.
"Why tell me this? Tormia is Gustaf's enemy, and we're in the temple—"
"What's complicated about it? Wouldn't it be good to share and help one another? You like swords too, don't you?"
Rai still stood there, bewildered, and she sighed.
"You really are different. Even though you're brothers."
A bitter smile touched her lips.
"…Maybe because you don't feel like family?"
Rai's jealousy and restlessness had called up the image of his long-time friend Daphne. Even though she had broken Natasha's waist, Rai had secretly hoped for another outcome.
"I hope it goes well. Then truly—farewell, Mr. Sensitive."
She vanished into the dark, and Rai mumbled in the empty cellar.
"Mr. Sensitive?"
Then he suddenly scowled, planted his sword into the hard stone floor, and hissed, "Damn it! Don't look down on me!"