Next thing Luciel knew, he was standing on the ground of the Shattered Realm, and it was everything he had expected to be: the stench of the Hollow, the feeling of wrongness permeating his soul, and the withered, desiccated landscape. Moreover, a veil of pale violet fog hung low in the air, blocking the horizon and narrowing their vision to a few wary steps.
Standing in front of him was Belynda, and next to him was Bambi, standing close.
'Too close.'
He didn't mind it, but she was practically sticking to him like glue. At the same time, he thought she had every right to worry about his first fight. This was the Shattered Realm, not some Fracture containment on Tellus.
However, Luciel didn't feel at all nervous or scared. Maybe the adrenaline had shifted into a new gear, or maybe his ego had always been huge. Either way, with Dawn and fire in his hand, he felt confident he could take on these small fries.
In the next few minutes or so, the Discordants would flood in from all sides due to the flat and barren terrain. He had already heard the distant rumble, and it was closing in fast.
"There's a fuck ton of them."
It was Bambi who spoke up first in this tense atmosphere. From the noise alone, he expected at least fifty of them, if not more. Even if the DDs were Class 1 or Class 2, it would still be dangerous. They could charge from every direction and strike their backs if not careful.
"Luciel."
He swallowed.
"Yeah."
Bambi looked at him with worry.
"You remember the Elven swordsmanship I taught you, right?"
Elven swordsmanship… Yes, Luciel remembered. During their yearlong journey, she had taught him the basic forms and techniques of every weapon he could think of: dagger, spear, bow, and the list went on. But the one that had left the deepest impression on him was Elven swordsmanship, mainly because he had no real affinity for any of the others.
The spear felt awkward in his grip, the bow fought him at every draw, and the less said about the dagger, the better. Swordsmanship, however, had come to him like instinct, and even Bambi had raised a brow at how quickly he picked up. For a while, he was quite obsessed with it, but circumstances hadn't allowed him to wield one for at least two months.
Even so, he had kept practicing in his head. Visualization, mental rehearsal — whatever you called it. He never let go of the forms Bambi taught him. If the sword couldn't be an extension of his arm, then it would be an extension of his mind.
Feeling the confidence coursing through his veins, Luciel nodded firmly and gave a thumbs-up.
"Never left my body."
Despite his reassurance, her eyes were still full of worry.
"Stick to me, alright? If you are even an arm's length away from me, I'll beat your ass to the ground."
Luciel tried to hide his chuckle.
'I'm definitely going far from her.'
"I'll definitely stay beside you, so don't worry."
Sometimes, he just had to tell her what she wanted to hear. A white lie couldn't hurt anyone, could it.
Belynda, who had been watching in silence, finally spoke. Her voice clipped and measured as she relayed the Discordants' movements:
"Two minutes."
At that moment, the ground trembled even harder, and a low, guttural chittering rolled through the air — dozens of voices, to be exact. All of them clicked in unison, vibrating through the desolate ground beneath his boots.
Then… Luciel saw it — his first Discordant sighting in the Shattered. It was a low-slung beast the size of a large wolf. Its charcoal hide cracked and dry like dead bark. Its four legs bent backward at the joints, and its split claws gripped the earth with each stride. The head was disturbingly elongated and featureless. The mandible opened and closed rhythmically in provocation as it moved toward them.
Of course, it wasn't just a single beast. Just a few seconds after, the hoard poured in behind in. And they just kept coming.
'Ten. Twelve. Twenty. Damn.'
Belynda walked up to Luciel and rested a hand on his shoulder.
"Those are Class 1 Discordants. Codename: Slitface. Quick on their feet, sharp claws, and they attack in groups only. Weak point is the slit on its face."
Luciel narrowed his eyes, squinting through the pale violet fog to pick out the Slitfaces' repugnant vertical seam on their faces.
"The name says it all."
She nodded.
"Alright, here's a gift from me."
'A gift?'
Without wasting any time, Belynda pressed her heel into the ground, and everything beneath her darkened at once. The cracked earth vanished, replaced by an abyss without end, and within it stirred something so primordial and sinful that Luciel couldn't help but distance himself from her. Cold sweat beaded along his skin, slicking his palms and crawling down his spine.
Slowly, a thick black stain spread outward like spilled ink soaking through parchment, and at the center, that wretched thing rose from its slumber.
A towering figure pulled itself free from the ink. Its broad, plated body was entirely covered in thick, dark brushstrokes. The strokes were layered and overlapping with each other, and each one of them was visible as a distinct mark, as if someone had painted a knight into existence with unruly, sinister hands.
These strokes of ink bled into one another where the joints supposedly met, pooling at the shoulders, knees, and elbows in dense, swirling knots. It wore a black close helm saturated with smooth strokes to emphasize its featureless intensity while glistening under the black moon.
The greatsword and shield it carried also dripped the same dark substance, reshaping and swirling with every subtle movement.
'Holy mother of Tellus.'
The pressure rolling off it was suffocating. Luciel tightened his grip on Dawn just to keep his hands from shaking. It reminded him of the dread he'd felt when he saw the painted canvas in Belynda's office.
It was a monstrous disaster in its own right.
'No wonder she can only summon five of them.'
If every one of her minions were on the same level as this black knight, then her opponents would basically be facing six Belyndas. He shuddered even thinking about it. Not to mention, if his theory was correct, each minion would have distinct traits to assist her in any situation. She could also empower herself with those traits, making her an extremely versatile fighter.
Soon, after calming down a bit, he turned to Belynda.
"I underestimated you, Captain. The word minions is quite misleading for this monster."
Bambi chimed in behind him.
"You don't need to fight, Luciel. That thing can wipe out these mobs in five seconds."
Belynda shook her head in disapproval.
"I'm only assigning it to protect his back. He needs fighting experience if he wants to survive here."
The monsters were closing in, yet these two didn't seem to care, casually conversing amidst the bellows of rage.
After the conversation had wrapped up, Belynda gave them one last glance, nodded, then turned toward the oncoming wave on her flank.
Without any word, the three of them sprung into action as the first wave hit.
Well, four. That colossal knight followed Luciel to the swarm of monsters with heavy steps, one at a time, while carrying that devilish greatsword. With a bodyguard like that, he could focus on the front without worrying about any monster creeping up on him, but he also wanted to see the knight in action.
"Here they come!"
Bambi's shout snapped him into focus. The first Slitface was ahead of a pack of three, and it closed the gap faster than he expected.
'Calm down. Calm down.'
The mania of killing permeated his body as the beast launched itself low, tearing up the ground with its sharpened claws.
Luciel stepped into the assault and brought Dawn down in one motion. The blade caught the creature across the skull and split the slit wide open like a book. Black blood sprayed across his forearm. The Slitface crumpled at his feet, twitching once before going still.
'Dammit.'
He got his first kill, but he wasn't happy about it. He'd almost lost his balance, his grip was too tight, and he'd failed to summon fire along with Dawn. He hadn't had a chance to practice controlling the flame when it would actually matter in battle. The most he could muster was a small burst, and he didn't think it would be enough.
The Slitfaces gave him no time to experiment and react either, as two more were already on him, flanking him from both sides. Luciel sidestepped to evade the first one, and then slashed Dawn upward, killing the other. He swiftly closed in on the remaining one and stabbed the blade into its repugnant face. It collapsed the moment Luciel wrenched the blade free, black blood spilling from the open seam.
'There we go. Much better.'
He was surprised by how fluid his movements were for a first real fight. Still, he didn't delude himself into thinking it was all skill. Dawn played a major part in his methodical kills, its sharp edge carving through the Slitfaces like clockwork.
Luciel glanced toward Bambi, ready to show her he was fine, but the sight before him silenced him completely.
Corpses were heaped like a morbid monument of a cult. Colorless crystals protruded from their ruined faces, while black crystals had fused into a single massive spike that skewered the beasts in place.
"Haha."
He nervously laughed it off and bit his lip to break himself from hysteria. Bambi was a wolf in sheep's clothing and a menace. Now that they were fighting side by side on a battlefield crawling with Discordants, she let more of her power unleash, and Luciel realized she was far more skilled than he'd ever imagined.
Just then, a sudden surge of heat flared in his chest. It spread deep and fast through his flesh, eventually dipping his entire body into lava.
'Argh... Not right now!'
Luciel staggered, breathless as he attempted to hold balance.
At that moment, a series of voices rang inside his head.
[The embers have rekindled the dying star.]
[Your star burns brighter.]
In the end, he lost his footing.