Ch.28Winter (6)

Sometimes I wished that everything was a lie.

This desperate situation before my eyes—I wished it was just a dream,

and I’d often imagine that if I closed my eyes and opened them again, everything would return to normal.

However.

Nothing changed.

Kalifa laughed. The creature he had created wasn’t something that could be easily cut down even when surrounded by mana.

Even a Master would struggle against his creation.

How absurd—a sword that cuts darkness? Just as one cannot cut water, darkness was a similar concept.

Yet what was this scene unfolding before his eyes?

The darkness was collapsing as if it had suddenly taken physical form.

With just a single slash, it was cut down, and now its massive body was dissolving into the ground.

“…What is this?”

His slightly parted lips couldn’t even form proper words. He couldn’t even see the cutting motion.

He merely recognized that a swing had occurred, and by then everything was already over.

He could only stare blankly at the knight standing before him.

That pure white mana, clearly different from others—what on earth was it?

Evan gazed steadily at Kalifa.

The black form he had cut down was likely something created by the dark mage.

The dense mana he felt at the moment of cutting—clearly the darkness surrounding this area also belonged to that giant.

Soon, a chill ran through his eyes.

He remembered the face of the dark mage who had been laughing maniacally just moments ago.

Despite clearly planning all this, that face which tried to instill despair so nonchalantly—

he had captured it clearly with his own eyes.

Tragedy—if it was the work of that black giant created by him, surely countless people would have died.

He realized it the moment he cut it down. The danger posed by that giant clearly exceeded imagination.

If he had been even a little late, it would have been darkness that engulfed this duchy.

His eyes narrowed. Heightened emotions surged, and he exhaled a heavy breath.

“Dark mage.”

Kalifa’s body trembled upon hearing Evan’s voice.

The intense chill in that voice seemed to seep into his very bones.

The knight’s words echoed in his ears—that it would be him, not the knight, who would die here—making his feet twitch against the ground.

He needed to escape. He needed to flee this place immediately and preserve his life by any means necessary.

How could he not know that the white mana enveloping that sword would soon cut him down!

With a whoosh, blue-black flames rose from Kalifa’s fingertips.

Those flames, burning even darker than the thick darkness around them,

were directed toward the approaching knight with his sword.

The small spark grew and began to cover the path.

A blue-black wave—Evan looked at those flames and raised his sword.

He knew that simply swinging his sword as he did against the assassins wouldn’t be enough to cut through this.

Thump—he felt mana beginning to well up from his heart.

Hot, like burning fire, the mana began to envelop his entire body.

For some reason, his mana was the natural enemy of dark magic.

Disease, decay, and that darkness—they all shrank before his mana.

Soon, Evan’s body leaned forward.

Kicking off the ground, his two hands holding the sword advanced toward the flames.

The white flames on his sword mixed with the darkness, and began to push it back.

Darkness feared light. A characteristic embedded since the beginning of time.

The blue-black flames disappeared, and the dark mage’s figure was seen vanishing, cutting through the murky darkness.

The collapsed giant remained as it was. Would that thing no longer move?

After briefly looking at the giant, Evan turned his steps toward the dark mage.

It would surely disappear once the dark mage was dealt with. Everything seemed to have been created by the dark mage.

The tragedy that befell Yuris, discovering Aileen’s light.

If he hadn’t possessed Evan Fried’s body, Evan would surely have fallen victim too.

That darkness eats away at human bodies. It might not be noticeable at first,

but if exposed to that darkness for a long time, it would be a darkness that would consume even the strongest.

Lord Chris, Rofena too. They must have fallen victim to this darkness.

Was that why Aileen had changed so much? He suddenly realized he was gritting his teeth.

The reason for his anger,

why his heart was beating so fiercely, why the hatred rising in his eyes was directed at that dark mage—what was it?

Perhaps it was the desire for Aileen not to become like that.

Before her heart became twisted like his, before she lost her light trapped in that darkness.

Perhaps that was why he had mourned the death of the villainess.

How could he not grieve for someone in the same situation as himself?

His hand gripping the sword tightened.

The dark mage had disappeared, taking advantage of the moment when the flames were withdrawn, but he wouldn’t be able to escape so easily.

The distance closed. As the distance closed so quickly that his breath could almost be felt, Kalifa’s eyes widened.

‘Damn it!’

This wasn’t the situation he had wanted.

Hadn’t he planned to move his creation without anyone knowing and plant darkness?

It was supposed to be a monumental day, the first step of Kalifa in the great name of annihilation.

With a hiss, dark mist stretched out from Kalifa’s hand once more.

Decay, a power that consumes everything and makes it rot—

when that mist took form and sharpened like arrows,

Kalifa shot them toward the approaching knight.

Even a little would help! If only he could widen this closing distance!

The arrows flew toward him. Evan realized he couldn’t dodge all of them.

His body was already in mid-air—then he would have to dodge as much as possible.

Evan’s sword deflected the arrows as his body rotated once in mid-air.

One arrow lodged in his shoulder was unavoidable. So be it.

Ignoring the pain from his shoulder, he raised his sword again.

Kalifa’s eyes widened. He couldn’t block this—this couldn’t be blocked.

With a slash, blood spurted from Kalifa’s suddenly cut shoulder.

The blood gushed like a fountain, momentarily obscuring Evan’s vision by wetting his face.

As Kalifa writhed in pain, his body began to fall below the roof.

Redirecting the mana from his sword to his legs, white flames erupted from his toes,

and Evan threw himself down after the falling dark mage.

“Don’t… come!”

Kalifa’s face twisted grotesquely. What on earth was this guy!

He couldn’t understand. Not only the sudden appearance of a knight of this caliber,

but also how he could find him in this darkness was incomprehensible.

This darkness was his domain. A place where no one could intrude, solely for himself!

Yet how could that light cut through this darkness? He could no longer see any movement.

No matter how well he wielded dark magic, the sword that had cut through that magic was now pointing its blade at him.

With a thud, his spine tingled as he hit the ground. He realized he could no longer move.

Struggling further would only result in his death. However, he could still make one last desperate attempt.

In the distance, he looked at his collapsed creation. It could surely move once more.

The source of disease at its core was still intact.

One moment of vulnerability from the guy—Kalifa deliberately closed his eyes tightly and squirmed.

As if consciousness was fading, he waited for the knight to completely let down his guard.

As Evan descended to the ground, Kalifa held his breath. He would not open his mouth.

The knight’s vulnerability—that was the only way to overcome this situation.

“…Seems like he’s still alive.”

Evan frowned. The dark mage’s squirming movements had stopped.

All he had done was cut his shoulder. Why had the movement stopped?

Listening closely, he could tell the dark mage was still breathing.

“Ha.”

A laugh escaped. Was he pretending to be dead?

If he wanted to exploit a vulnerability, it would have been better to divert attention elsewhere.

The rising mana began to make his senses more acute.

In this quiet stillness, the movement of something quietly moving reached his ears.

Creak—the ground was scratched by a subtle movement.

The dust raised by the ground created wind again, and the wind touching his skin conveyed the direction of that movement.

‘Probably behind me.’

There was no need to turn his gaze. The wind was telling him the direction.

He just needed to raise his sword to block.

With a whoosh, flames once again flowed along the sword, cutting through the darkness.

He had done this countless times during training.

Blocking all attacks aimed at his neck, heart, and vital points.

It was familiar because he had trained even with his eyes covered.

Even if it would be impossible with just a few months of training, this talent made it possible.

Crash!

The extended sword collided with something behind him and began to penetrate.

Probably the fist of that giant form.

The penetrating sword began to break the giant’s body.

The light that had penetrated the darkness was gradually raising its radiance.

“It’s useless. Such things.”

Bang-!

The broken body of the giant began to scatter in all directions.

Kalifa’s eyes, looking at the black pieces falling to the floor, had long been empty.

There was no more hope. He would not survive this encounter with the knight.

Evan pointed his sword at Kalifa’s neck as he looked at his empty eyes.

He didn’t intend to kill him, but he had mountains of questions to ask.

First, the organization he belonged to.

“Do you know about Annihilation?”

“…An-Annihilation?”

“The organization you belong to.”

“I-I don’t know about that! Really!”

Kalifa desperately shook his head.

Annihilation? That was just the name of the plan he had created!

“Do you really not know?”

“It’s just the name of a plan I came up with. To spread disease here, uh, that’s all it was!”

‘…As I thought.’

Evan’s eyes grew cold as he looked at Kalifa.

It seemed clear that the tragedy that befell Yuris was created by this dark mage.

Spreading disease—perhaps that black giant was the disease itself.

Although he had cut it with his sword, there was definitely something off about it.

If it hadn’t been him, it probably couldn’t have been cut down.

Although he didn’t know exactly what this mana was.

But somehow he was certain. Certain that the disease would no longer occur.

There was much to learn from this dark mage. If they studied that giant,

they could overcome similar incidents in the future.

Surely in novels, they created vaccines for diseases using such methods.

“Hiiik!”

As Evan’s gaze fell on Kalifa, he screamed and felt the coldness of the blade against his neck.

The blade dug into his skin, drawing blood.

Kalifa’s eyes rolled back as he looked at that red color, and Evan slowly opened his mouth.

“I have so many questions.”

Why he did this, why specifically Yuris, why, just why such a thing.

But these weren’t issues that would be resolved by his questioning.

To extract information, there were appropriate methods.

Disappointing as it was, he had to accept that this was as far as he could go.

“But it would be pointless for me to ask.”

Torture.

“Ah, no!”

As that word flashed through his mind, Kalifa screamed.

That, at least, he had to avoid at all costs.

He didn’t want to experience the pain of flesh being carved and nails being pulled out again!

Green!

Kalifa writhed at those green eyes looking at him. He wanted to live, he wanted to live—

“Farewell.”

Evan quietly looked at Kalifa, and eventually struck his head with the scabbard.

As the writhing dark mage fell with a death cry, he finally exhaled a heavy breath.

Now there was no darkness. The suffocating darkness that had covered this area was gone.

The sky was once again showing its brilliant moon.

“…Haah.”

He frowned at the pain from his shoulder.

Due to the arrow that had pierced through earlier, blood was still flowing.

Aileen had told him not to get hurt, what would she say seeing him injured like this?

Suddenly, laughter escaped. It was amusing that the first thing that came to mind after such a battle was Aileen.

When had she invaded his thoughts so thoroughly? But it wasn’t a bad thing.

That they had grown somewhat closer, that she now worried about him too.

The moon visible as he raised his head looked particularly blue, and he closed his eyes tightly for a moment and took a breath.

His hand holding the sword felt unusually heavy.

Perhaps due to drawing up so much mana, his shoulder trembled with fatigue.

He wanted to rest.

Sincerely.

#

“The moon is visible now!”

The darkness was lifting. The knights who saw this cheered.

Evan Fried had done it. Even knights who didn’t know his name well raised their hands and shouted.

“…Evan.”

Between narrowed eyes, blue eyes finally began to regain their light.

Her chest, which had felt like it would burst with anxiety, returned to normal, and she raised her head, exhaling a labored breath.

“It seems Evan has succeeded.”

“Thank goodness.”

Truly, it was a relief.

Lord Chris, perhaps proud of Evan, smiled as he stared intently in the direction Evan had gone.

Was he injured somewhere? Although she had asked him not to get hurt,

she knew that avoiding injury in a battle with a dark mage was quite difficult.

“He’ll be fine. Evan is much stronger than I know.”

“……”

Her gaze was still directed beyond that darkness.

Although Lord Chris had said not to worry, she couldn’t help but be concerned.

What if he had suffered a fatal wound? What if he had met the same fate as his opponent?

As she was considering moving herself due to her anxious heart, a knight’s voice reached her ears.

“Evan has returned! He has captured the dark mage!”

“He seems unharmed. Isn’t that fortunate?”

But the uneasy feeling didn’t disappear. Even as she looked at the faint figure visible beyond that darkness,

the anxiety rising from a corner of her heart didn’t fade.

“Evan, making people worry…you.”

As Evan’s figure became visible, Lord Chris’s face, which had been smiling broadly, gradually hardened.

The anxiety grew. Her brow furrowed slightly, and finally Evan’s figure seemed to appear from the darkness.

Red.

Seeing the blood flowing from Evan’s shoulder, her eyes widened involuntarily.

Her breathing quickened. The rising breath reached her chin, and she quietly murmured after exhaling a heavy breath.

“Evan.”

She had told him not to get hurt, yet what was this blood flowing from his shoulder?

Before she knew it, she was approaching her knight. Despite saying there would be no injuries, that it would be different from before.

“…My lady.”

With a complexion that anyone could see was fatigued, he looked at her and smiled faintly.

She didn’t want him to smile.

What she wanted wasn’t for him to smile at her. She had only wished for him not to be hurt.

“Didn’t I clearly say?”

Her voice was quite cold. Despite not wanting it to be, even she was surprised by the anger in her voice.

Evan was still smiling. That smile made her heart ache.

“You told me not to get hurt.”

“…Then what is that shoulder?”

The hole, with black traces visible beside it, was clearly not a small wound.

Had he been affected by dark magic? She closed her eyes tightly for a moment, then opened them to look at Evan.

“I got hurt during the fight.”

“Don’t say it as if it’s so natural. I clearly told you not to get hurt.”

“I’m sorry.”

Her knight bowed his head toward her. Was this what she had wanted?

No, she had only wished for his safety.

She should have been grateful just for his safe return.

She gritted her teeth. Exhaling a heavy breath through her teeth, she quietly raised her head.

Dong-

And the bell rang. The bell that rings in this city at midnight,

announcing the arrival of the next day—a thought flashed through her mind.

Birthday.

Today was her knight’s birthday, wasn’t it?

She rubbed her face as emotions welled up.

On his birthday, he had bloodied his sword.

She regretted speaking sharply to him when she should have been grateful that he returned to her with an injured body.

She hadn’t been angry at all.

She was so relieved that he had returned like this, it was almost like throwing a tantrum at him.

“If you wish to punish me, I will gladly—”

“…Why would I punish you?”

Laughter escaped without her realizing. She couldn’t even understand her own heart anymore.

What was this strange feeling?

She was angry that he was hurt, yet strangely, when she saw his face, that anger melted away like snow.

As if under a spell, she couldn’t define this confusing heart.

She could only quietly recite to Evan who was looking at her.

“…Happy birthday.”

There was much she wanted to say, but somehow only these words came out.

She wasn’t angry.

No, it was clear that she could never be angry at her knight again.

No one would know the reason. Not until the day came when this feeling was named.

No one, not even herself, would know.