On a mountain shrouded in night, an ailing knight and a girl were climbing a rugged trail.

“Keh, kehack! Young Lord... Arhan... just how far have you gone?”

The knight, Petel, gasped for breath, coughing up blood again and again. It was laughable. Even before taking up the sword, he had always been confident in his stamina. Yet here he was, panting like an old man merely from climbing this little mountain.

While he caught his breath, Seolyun came over to support him. Petel found himself leaning on a girl far smaller and younger than himself. Truly laughable.

“Are you all right? Don't push yourself too hard.”

“I'm... fine. I was only... catching my breath for a moment.”

He could not show weakness. That was one of the few scraps of pride Petel had left.

Looking at the exhausted knight, Seolyun asked, “Do you really have to follow him?”

“Yes. Didn't they say he was a deserter knight? He isn't an enemy young Lord Arhan can face. I told him they were merely a band of brigands...”

Unlike Petel, who was dying, Arhan was a rising sun. Hadn't he even glimpsed an extraordinary talent in the boy? As a fellow traveler on the way of the sword, Petel could not let Arhan die so pointlessly. Absolutely not.

“Besides... what if the knightly order pursuing them mistakes young Lord Arhan... for a bandit and attacks him? He has splendid talent, but he's still only a novice.”

Petel struggled onward, forcing his limping legs up the slope.

“Hmm.”

After hearing him out, Seolyun stopped for a moment instead of following. Puzzled by her sudden halt, Petel turned his head.

“Why have you stopped?”

“I don't think so.”

She didn't think so? The words had come out of nowhere. Petel looked at her, his expression asking for an explanation. Seolyun answered in a steady voice.

“The Little Gladiator isn't a novice.”

Her eyes sparkled.

“The Little Gladiator's talent has already begun to bloom.”

* * *

I set Needle aside and gripped a dagger in each hand. At a glance, they looked like an animal's teeth. Like fangs gleaming sharply on either side, ready to tear out an enemy's throat.

The reason I had set Needle aside was simple. A long, slender blade would only get in the way of the assassin's arts I was about to use. Fang was exactly the right size—a short blade that felt like a slight extension of my hand. This would be enough.

From now on, 「Fang」 would move as part of my body, just as its name suggested.

“Whew.”

Breathing shallowly, I slipped silently into the deep darkness. This was the concealment technique Fang's former owner had used.

『Darkness was my friend.』

This concealment technique was neither magic nor a special skill powered by Mana. It was a simple trick that created a kind of illusion.

『To face enemies stronger and more numerous than myself, I had to borrow my friend's strength.』

『I had to become darkness.』

I held my breath and made not even the slightest rustle of clothing. I walked like a ghost, without a single footfall.

“... What... fucking trick are you pulling now—”

That alone concealed my position.

“What the hell are you?”

Of course, this required preparation. Beforehand, I made my breathing excessively loud as I moved, drove my 「mana heart」 to beat especially fiercely, and deliberately brushed against bushes or rubbed my clothing together to create noise. I deliberately amplified and flaunted my presence, so that when I suddenly erased it, I would seem to have vanished like a ghost.

“What are you?!”

Human senses could sometimes be astonishingly keen, and sometimes astonishingly dull. This was an illusion created by a moment of contrast. The assassin called it ‘becoming darkness.’

“...”

The leader's breathing echoed through the air, and a terrible silence settled around it. I had killed every one of his men nearby, and all the noise I had been making moments before had vanished. The mountain at night was utterly silent, without a single stray sound.

In such silence, people inevitably grew excessively tense. Even superhumans were no exception. I knew that very well.

『The enforcers were human, too, in the end.』

I picked up a pebble from the ground and threw it toward the leader's blue 「path」, visible through the darkness. The feebly tossed pebble touched the 「path」, and his head whipped around. His sword reflexively followed it.

“Got—”

His sword cleaved the pebble with a swift, powerful stroke.

CRACK!

The pebble shattered. At the same instant, I saw his face twist.

“—you?”

He had swung with all his strength, and I saw his balance collapse. I did not miss the opening. Aiming 「Fang」 at the leader as his waist twisted around, I pushed off the ground and flew through the air like a circus performer.

『Like a hawk hunting, you must strike in a single thrust and snatch away a life.』

I thrust Fang forward. I could see 「paths」 around his vital points, including the back of his neck. The instant the blade's tip touched a blue path, his body began twisting at tremendous speed.

His head should have been facing the other way, yet he reacted precisely and counterattacked as though he had eyes in the back of it. This was a 「path」. The power of a superhuman.

The instant Fang's tip touched the back of his neck, his sword came rushing toward me.

“You bastard! I've got you!”

I saw his bloodshot eyes, every blood vessel burst red. They were the eyes of a beast—a terrifying beast hungry for blood. His sword came at me along a grotesquely twisted trajectory.

Was it impossible to break through a 「path」 after all? No. It wasn't.

『There is always a way out.』

I resumed the breathing I had held back, drawing in air with all my strength. My entire body shuddered, and my 「mana heart」 beat. My blade grew harder, so that it would not yield, no matter what it struck.

『Yes, always.』

Veins stood out on my wrists. Strength welled up—a strength different from before.

『Even with death right before me.』

With that, powerful memories poured out of 「Fang」.

『I had always wanted freedom.』

『That desire must have found its way into my blade as well.』

It felt as though my heart were growing cold. Like ice.

『Because someone had to stain their hands with blood to reclaim freedom.』

* * *

The Free City of Crowd did not live up to its name. This city had lost its freedom long ago, and someone had to stain their hands with blood to reclaim it. I willingly chose to take on that role.

“Citizens of Crowd, behold! Behold the end of an assassin maddened by blood and slaughter!”

But now, as my end approached, a question arose. Would the citizens recognize my efforts?

“Look upon the Ghost of Crowd, who hid his face like a rat in the back alleys and made our diligent enforcers and citizens tremble!”

I had learned to fight through struggle after struggle in the Arena of the Iron Kingdom of Chervil, and learned the importance of freedom from scholars of the Heavenly Empire. Through all those lessons and experiences, I had told myself this was something I did for myself, and that I would have no regrets even if I died a futile death someday. Yet I, too, must have been a weak human being. As the end drew near, this thought came to me.

Did they—the citizens watching me with frightened eyes—know that I had willingly made myself a villain for the sake of freedom?

“A wretched end awaits those who defy order! Citizens, understand this well. All you need do is obey the established order. Do not try to resist, unless you wish to die a miserable death!”

No, they would not know. The victors would distort the truth. Once I died, the citizens would forget my efforts, forget the blood I had shed, and live once more as slaves without freedom.

I could not let that happen. Even if I died here, there was something I wanted to leave behind. I wanted to break their shackles and witness freedom returning, even if only briefly. Perhaps choosing to let darkness stain me had been something I did for myself after all.

“... Enforcer.”

I slowly raised my head and looked ahead. It was midday, with no darkness in which to hide. Every direction was a dead end, and the excellent enforcers had surrounded every escape route. I could feel the 「paths」 of death encircling me. I could also feel the certain fate soon to reach me. They would execute me. Then what should I do?

“Enforcer.”

There was nothing to consider. What I had to do was clear. I had to stain my hands with blood. I had to sear the fact that resistance was possible into their minds. Only then...

“Enforcer!”

...would those left behind remember for the rest of their lives the freedom I had briefly shown them. Only then would they finally understand that they could gain what mattered only by resisting, and free themselves only by struggling.

“You will die here.”

With my body covered in wounds, I raised Fang. The enforcers laughed. They sneered as though watching a mangy dog bark.

Without a word, I raised my blade. Then I leaped into the 「paths」.

“Huh—”

The instant I entered a path, an enforcer's longsword severed my arm. Ignoring it, I advanced and drove my dagger into the back of his neck.

“Gah—”

A blade plunged into my chest. Ignoring it, I moved forward and killed again. Another blade pierced my side. My shoulder was hacked away, my ear severed, and the skin on half my face peeled loose and dangled, yet I walked steadfastly onward. No one laughed at me anymore.

“Listen.”

Covered in blood, with death eating away at my body, I looked at the last enforcer, who had collapsed to the ground trembling. The citizens gathered around were watching me.

“Do not bow your heads. If they take what you ought to enjoy, if they cross the line and insult you, if they defile your lives, resist them without fail. Show them clearly that you, too, have teeth.”

There was no strength left in my body. I squeezed out the last of it to speak.

“Only then can we be free.”

“...”

“The Free... City of Crowd... does not live up to its name. I think so... and so do you. Then do you know... what we must do to reclaim... our freedom?”

It felt as though my entire body were crumbling like sand. For some reason, the citizens watched me as though spellbound.

“To reclaim... freedom... someone must stain their hands with blood. Whoever... that may be.”

With that, my consciousness collapsed. Through my fading awareness, I heard the citizens' fervent cheers.

It was not my Fang that killed the last enforcer. The feet of the surging citizens, the clubs they carried, and the men's fists finished him off. To my eyes, the citizens who had crouched and poured out their pent-up anger were finally baring their teeth and tearing into their enemy.

“Freedom! Freedom!”

The citizens lifted my fallen body. Everyone gathered in the square was advancing somewhere. As though they had all agreed beforehand, they wore hoods concealing their faces and carried daggers suited only to simple tasks. As though honoring me.

“Restore freedom to the Free City of Crowd!”

At the moment of death, for some reason, I felt truly free for the first time in my life. Amid that upheaval, the assassin closed his eyes, his face relieved.

I had lived under oppression, leaped into darkness, and lived steeped in it. Yet my death, at least, was astonishingly bright. I died looking up at the sky, where the midday sun blazed.

For some reason, I did not want to call my end death. I had become completely free.

My blade had succeeded in piercing a hole in this goddamned Free City. Everyone would escape through the opening I had made, in search of freedom. Onward. Ever onward.

.

.

.

CLANG!

Once I had fully digested the assassin's memories, my heart grew cold as though winter had arrived. Like metal heated to its limit, cooling rapidly outside the furnace.

“—What!”

The dagger meeting the leader's savage sword did not yield. Even after colliding head-on with his 「path」, it held its ground. The leader looked disbelieving.

“What the hell are you?!”

Instead of retreating, I stepped closer. At a distance where we were almost touching, vicious attacks flew back and forth in an instant.

CLANG!

Fang collided with the thick sword. Sparks flew. I spun the deflected Fang in midair, caught it in a reverse grip, and stabbed holes into his thigh and side.

SPURT!

Red blood sprayed up. Through it, I thrust Fang again and again. Sliding my leg forward along the ground, I hooked his leading foot with mine and tried to trip him.

“Cheap tricks! A novice like you dares try sword wrestling on me?”

But he did not fall. His legs were like pillars. I contorted my body unnaturally, moving like a snake.

“...!”

I used the concealment technique that erased my presence. In the darkness, its effect would be even more dramatic. I repeatedly erased my presence, then amplified and flaunted it. To the leader, I would look like a ghost.

Appearing and disappearing from different angles, I thrust Fang without pause. Its blade was now stained entirely red. Still, I did not stop. I pierced flesh, tore muscles, sliced away skin, punched holes into his body, and whittled away his life.

“Aah, aaaaaah—!”

The leader swung his sword wildly through empty air like a madman. Then, without warning, he did something unexpected. He abandoned his sword and lunged at me bare-handed.

It was stupid. But it was an attack I could not predict.

'You crazy bastard.'

The leader seized both daggers as I thrust them at him. His palms ran red and scraps of flesh fell away, but he did not care. Gripping the blades in his bare hands, he wrenched my daggers away.

“Your head... I'll burst your head, you wet-behind-the-ears brat!”

Like a true beast, he hurled his body at me and knocked me down.

THUD!

My back struck the dirt. Pain flared in my lower back, and a heavy weight pressed against my chest. The leader had pinned me beneath him.

“I'll crush your skull and scatter everything inside it! And then! In that village! I'll put it on display!”

Through the darkness, I saw his face consumed by madness. My two fangs lay on the dirt. Both my hands were empty.

“Khh, hahahahaha!”

Drooling, the leader glared at me with bloodshot eyes. Then he raised both hands high, preparing to smash my head. Those savage fists would smash my skull to fucking pieces in an instant.

Yet at that moment, I did not despair. Like a lightning strike, a faint line appeared in the world before my eyes.

「Once again, my words have been proven true, young descendant.」

It was the line I had glimpsed now and then throughout my battles. Faint at first, it became clearer and sharper in the next instant than anything else I could see. As though dividing the world before me in two.

「That is a ‘path.’」

THUMP.

My 「mana heart」 was beating more fiercely than at any time since its birth. With every beat, I felt something strange flowing through my body. As though a waterfall had formed inside me.

「It will be different from what you knew. As I told you before, nothing about us Caravans is like anyone else. This, too, is one of the things that makes us special.」

「Our ‘paths’ differ from those of ordinary sword walkers.」

Watching the sharp, straight line, I brought my hands to my waist as though entranced. I had not bought two daggers in the steel city of Perma. I had bought four in total. In other words, I had two spares concealed at my waist. After all, a beast naturally has four fangs.

「A Caravan's ‘path’ does not bend, no matter what other path it collides with. It always heads where its wielder wishes, mercilessly piercing any obstacle.」

「The Caravan path is a path of steel.」

I bucked my hips. The leader's body lifted for a moment, and I raised my legs in that instant to tilt him downward. That gave me space.

I whipped both hands to my waist. Drawing my hidden fangs, I thrust them with every ounce of strength I had. I saw the leader's eyes waver. But his confusion soon turned into a sneer.

“Go ahead, you—”

He wrapped his raised arms around his neck and head to protect them. At the same time, his 「paths」 wrapped around him as if guarding him. He seemed willing to sacrifice flesh to take bone.

But...

「Others used to call our path this.」

...that was a mistaken judgment.

「A line.」

Light flashed for an instant. The fangs moving along the clear line's trajectory became a single flash. Nothing along that trajectory could block the ray of light.

Thick skin tore, and the leader's arms were pulverized like bursting balloons. Red blood poured in every direction. Stark white bones shattered and sent fragments flying, and I saw crimson muscles rip apart. His 「paths」 broke mercilessly and scattered. At last, the line reached the back of his neck, which they had concealed.

“Ghh...”

A choking gasp reached my ears.

With two fangs buried in the back of his neck, the leader stared in disbelief. Soon, the light began fading from his maddened eyes. Covered in blood, I stared hard at the dying bastard.

「No one can block the line of steel a Caravan extends, young descendant.」

That was the very first moment I stepped into the realm of superhumans.