Why do I still wander this world?

I did not know. Countless religions and spiritual beings spoke of the world beyond death. They proclaimed that when living creatures died, they returned to the embrace of the nine goddesses and seven chief gods. They also warned that those who violated the laws established by the gods would suffer forever in Hell deep beneath the earth. Yet I could neither ascend to heaven nor descend into Hell. I merely wandered the mortal world, a ghost.

"..."

Was this the will of a god?

Was it their exalted will that I remain in the middle realm and fulfill the purpose I had failed to achieve? Perhaps my resolve, bordering on obsession, had become a lingering resentment and turned me into a restless spirit. The sinister shamans of the east said that those with powerful lingering attachments could not depart even in death, and wandered this land.

There was nothing I could know for certain.

As I stood in bewilderment, I saw a burning land. A land trampled into ruin. The people I had taken in wandered, lost. The Age of War tormented my people, and those who had once laughed and chattered now sobbed in anguish.

But.

"I ask you, Founding Ancestor."

Even amid that ruin, there were stars.

Stars still glittered in the thick darkness.

"What must I do?"

Children who had lost their parents sobbed. Hungry children baked mud over campfires, cut tree bark, and soaked it in muddy water. Among the little children huddled together were a girl they called big sister and a boy they called big brother. The boy and girl willingly surrendered their meager food to the children younger than themselves. They must have been hungry too, yet they gave up their portions without hesitation.

Then the little ones, who could barely speak, would gobble down the mud and bark without so much as a word of thanks, and quench their thirst with muddy water full of floating filth. After eating those pitiful scraps, they wiped their dirty mouths and beamed. The boy and girl would clutch their bellies, conceal their hunger, and smile along with them.

"I do not know."

The Age of War.

Swords, spears, and shields once again stained this peaceful land with blood. Yet stars glittered even in a world steeped in darkness. There was light even in this dark world. Yes, the stars had not vanished.

"I do not know how to lead those poor, lost souls."

Humans were still beautiful.

They were still lovable.

They shone dazzlingly.

"So please teach me."

I could not turn away from them.

I could not let that light vanish.

"Teach me how to illuminate the world."

I looked at the boy in royal dragon robes.

The boy who resembled me.

"Teach me how to become a lantern."

I answered his questions.

And so the world grew a little brighter.

The wandering souls came to smile a little more.

Thus,

before I knew it, I had remained for hundreds of years.

* * *

I spat out the blood pooled in my mouth.

The Beastfolk stood before me, on guard.

He was in bad shape.

But so was I.

'I should have finished him with that last attack.'

The workaround of deliberately regulating my breathing to use 「Lantern」 was certainly effective. Even if I burned an entire handful of Mana, another breath would quickly replenish it. Using 「Lantern」's arcane power did leave me briefly defenseless afterward, since it exhausted all the Mana in my body, but that was no great problem. The vulnerability lasted only a very short time.

The state in which all strength drained from my muscles and my vision went black lasted only an instant. Besides, a single breath could resolve it. One handful of air instantly revived my emptied 「mana heart」 and withered 「paths」.

The real problem was not that vulnerability.

'... How many more times can I use it?'

Regulating my breathing had spared me the catastrophe of dying after a single swing. But it had not eliminated the side effects entirely. Burning up every last bit of Mana was fundamentally unnatural. The 「mana heart」 and the 「paths」 extending through my body like blood vessels were much like actual organs. The more I overworked them, the more damage accumulated.

Every use of 「Lantern」's arcane power forced my 「mana heart」 to withstand a shock equivalent to being destroyed once. The 「paths」 within my body likewise had to withstand the shock of every blood vessel in my body being torn to shreds. Burning up all my Mana was tantamount to burning up all the blood in my body. A 'handful of breath' was merely the amount I could currently endure—not an amount that caused no damage.

Master had said as much.

Without my heart and paths of steel, my body would have burst and I would have been dead long ago. This was not a power some mere 「sword walker」 could handle.

'Four more times at most? No, probably only three.'

One saving grace was that 「Lantern」 was not my only weapon. I still had plenty of weapons I could bring out. But apparently, the same was true of the Beastfolk.

"—!"

Rather than retreating after losing a leg, the Beastfolk fighter charged even more fiercely. This charge was faster than the last. Biting my lip, I barely managed to defend myself, only for a spray of blood to obscure my vision. It came from the Beastfolk fighter's severed limb.

「Those beast bastards fight by pouring out everything they have. Quite different from that martial artist—the Monk—you fought before.」

"..."

「Monks, those ascetics, fight by trusting in their tough bodies and tenacious ability to recover... but Beastfolk truly are beasts.」

My field of vision narrowed. Rather than relying on that limited view, I closed my eyes and focused on my keen senses. A power exclusive to 「sword walkers」: combining every piece of information to trace a 「path」. I swung my sword along the 「path」 flashing through my mind.

But the blade failed to reach the Beastfolk.

The instant its tip touched his skin, the Beastfolk fighter reacted, twisting in midair. The weapon Beastfolk possessed: instinctive evasion through the 「Blood Paths」. It was incomparably faster than dodging after recognizing an attack by sight. He evaded the instant he sensed danger. Inflicting a fatal wound was impossible. The blade merely nicked him.

Immediately after I left that scratch, an impact struck my armor with a thud. It shook my entire body. Nausea surged through me. Dizzy, I lost my balance, and a succession of blows followed with a heavy clang. It felt as though a bolt of lightning had fallen on my head.

「Be careful.」

I nearly lost consciousness.

Barely managing to step back, I drew a deep breath. My body's disrupted balance returned, and my heart of steel beat once more, clearing my mind.

「That attack disrupts your vital energy.」

"What's vital energy?"

「To put it simply, think of it as an attack that strikes the Mana within your body rather than the body itself. Since it attacks you internally, even your heart of steel won't withstand many such blows. You'll burst from the inside out.」

"..."

「I've heard that martial artists train by striking watermelons.」

His movements made it hard to believe I had cut off one of his legs. Didn't the bastard even feel dizzy from blood loss? I could have at least guessed his condition from his complexion, but the special helmet still concealed the Beastfolk's face completely.

「To be recognized as a true martial artist, they must be able to leave the rind intact while shaking the insides into a complete mess.」

"... Hah."

「In other words, your current condition is probably much like one of those training watermelons. A watermelon that looks fine on the outside, while its insides are being shaken apart...」

Fuck.

Not a pleasant comparison.

And even without it, I could feel my condition for myself. The 「paths」 within my body were twisted into a mess. If I took any more blows, I really would burst like rotten fruit.

"—!"

But the enemy did not wait.

With another sharp footfall, the beast lunged. I stamped hard on the winter-steel sword rolling across the floor. Stepping on its tip sent the long blade spinning several times into my hand. The instant I caught the hilt, I thrust forward. The Beastfolk moved the same way again. Instinctive evasion.

"Bastard—"

But this time, I had expected it.

Suspicion.

After endlessly questioning how I could kill that beast bastard, I had reached a conclusion. The 「Blood Paths」—a danger-sensing ability that bordered on cheating. It seemed perfect, but it had a weakness.

'It can detect any danger. But it can't distinguish a real attack from a bluff.'

That was a definite weakness.

It couldn't tell the fake from the real?

"...!"

I released my sword in the middle of the thrust. At the same time, I ducked, rolled once, and kicked with the heel of my armored boot. My hand-to-hand skills were pathetic compared with his. But what did that matter? Even an attack like this would look like a 'threat' to him. And a beast that recognized a threat would always flee.

'Just as I thought.'

It went exactly as expected. The Beastfolk fighter retreated again. My heel struck the floor with a heavy thud. I immediately drew the dagger from my thigh and threw it. This too would look like a threat to him. Another drawback of the 「Blood Paths」.

'It doesn't know how to take a wound to deal a fatal blow.'

The 「Blood Paths」 the Beastfolk saw offered no option of accepting a small loss for a greater gain. It truly was a beastlike ability. Moreover, that ability could not even detect my steel blood.

'If he'd predicted that I would use 「Lantern」, he'd have reacted in advance. Yet for some reason, the one who reacted as though he could see the future was late that time.'

Tiny clues.

From the information available to me, I deduced the 'truth.' My endless Suspicion had finally answered the question within me: 'How do I win?' Metal clashed with a clang, throwing sparks. His fists rained down. I swung my sword to meet them.

A brief exchange.

I was the winner of that clash.

"Whew..."

The Beastfolk could not detect bluffs.

Only after his weakness was exposed did the beast bastard begin mixing bluffs into his own attacks, or acting as though he intended to deliberately take mine. But he could not beat me in that kind of fight. At the slightest oddity, the slightest change from before, my Suspicion flashed.

He could not properly defend against my attacks. And so the Beastfolk fighter's blood now flooded the rectangular room. His armor bore numerous marks, and tufts of animal fur poked through its broken gaps.

Victory was tipping my way.

However great a Beastfolk's stamina might be, he would not be able to keep fighting after losing that much blood. The victor of this fight was as good as decided. An uneasy standoff ensued. I had no reason to hurry. At my leisure, I leveled my sword at him.

And then...

"... Uh."

Sensing his defeat, the Beastfolk fled through the window without hesitation. He ran with all his might, never looking back.

"..."

Left alone in the room, I stared in bewilderment at the Beastfolk fighter's receding back. I had won. But this...

'This victory leaves a bad taste in my mouth.'

As I stood there awkwardly, Liam spoke.

「Didn't I tell you? Those beast bastards are fucking awful.」

Only now did I understand what he had really meant.

「So, will you pursue him?」

Liam asked.

I shook my head.

"Are you crazy?"

Going outside in this condition would be like shouting for someone to kill me. Now was the time to tend to my battered body and bring my breathing under control.

「A wise decision.」

Liam nodded at my answer.

「Someone else... will deal with that beast anyway.」

"Someone else?"

「Someone who would never let a beast that charged him escape.」

For some reason, Liam was still staring intently out the window.

「A sword incomparably more dangerous than that cowardly beast.」

Very intently indeed.

* * *

After leaping out the window, the Beastfolk fighter turned and ran until he was breathless. Again and again, he looked back to check behind him. What about that strange fighter he had just faced? Fortunately, there was no pursuit.

'That was almost a disaster.'

The Beastfolk's heart was still pounding.

「Blood Paths」.

A power that distinguished the weak from the strong by scent and warned of every kind of danger in advance. Through that power, the Beastfolk had caught a sweet scent. The scent of delectable prey. Of a creature easily trampled, easily killed. That was why he had ambushed it straight through the window. But that fighter was strange.

'Did I hurt my nose? Or has something gone wrong with the Blood Paths?'

The scent had changed during the fight. Each time the fighter swung a sword, the appetizing fragrance of prey became a foul stench. Not the scent of prey, but the stench of a predator. The longer they fought, the stronger it grew. After losing one leg, the Beastfolk finally smelled the dreadful scent of death. At that instant, he lost the will to fight.

So he abandoned the fight and fled.

For Beastfolk, that was nothing to be ashamed of. Beasts of the plains always hid in the brush to await another day. In the wild, flight was no disgrace, and wins or losses did not matter. In the vast ecosystem, whoever survived longest was the winner. That was why the Beastfolk ran and ran with every ounce of strength.

'A scent changing during a fight? I've never even heard of it. What was that? It was like encountering a ghost...'

If he were to give it a name, it would be Sword Demon.

As he thought that, the Beastfolk felt he had heard the term somewhere before. Sword Demon... Hadn't the humans of the steel city mentioned it several times? After briefly putting his dull brain to work, the Beastfolk stopped. A strange smell was coming from ahead.

"...?"

An unbearably, horrifyingly foul stench. At that odor, the Beastfolk slowly raised his head and looked ahead. Blood was spattered everywhere, as though red rain had fallen. Atop the scattered droplets lay a mountain of dismembered corpses.

"Uh..."

At the very top of the mountain sat a fighter clad in black, head bobbing as though drowsily nodding off.

"..."

The moment he saw that fighter, the Beastfolk's body froze like ice. As he stood motionless, the fighter's head slowly moved. Soon, the fighter's face turned toward him. At that same moment, the frozen Beastfolk caught a terrifying stench unlike anything he had smelled in his life.

"Why do you keep coming here...?"

A natural enemy?

No. No, that word could not describe it.

"I'm tired to death."

The ecosystem's food chain was shaped like a pyramid. This was the scent of a creature at its very peak. A natural enemy of every living thing, with no natural enemies of its own to fear.

"Yaaawn..."

An apex predator.

The moment those words came to mind, the Beastfolk's body moved of its own accord. Desperate to put even a little distance between them, he hastily turned his back and fled in an ungainly scramble, as though swimming over the ground. But—

"Where are you going?"

Mere prey could never dare escape before an apex predator.

"But you... where did you run away from?"

Never.