The Night Our Peace Was Take Away

Shino

There was only one king who ruled this world. He was my target and the reason I had been trying to get close to the woman next to me.

"He's here! I've felt him before! I know it's him!"

The moment Chigira said that, my heart rate doubled.

"The king of this world—and the one who's killed it..."

The moment she confirmed my suspicion, my breathing turned steady once again. It was now time for my mission. No matter how many of those monsters stood before me, I would get to Tyrant and complete the mission.

That being said, the five white mannequins before us seemed plenty troublesome. If push came to shove, my only choice was to leave them behind with Chigira. As long as I could get to Tyrant, she served me no purpose.

I just had to confirm one thing.

"Where is he?" I asked Chigira, placing myself shoulder to shoulder with her.

"He... He's here and there. He's everywhere! He's in all of them!"

When it came to the one who ruled this world, his abilities seemed limitless. He was the one who had cursed this country, so there was no wonder that the cursed ones carried a part of him.

"But that's not what you mean, is it?" I asked Chigira.

She shook her head. I was yet to confirm her relationship to the curse or to Tyrant. In the first place, I knew little about how she'd come into existence. Yet one thing was certain: the monsters had attacked her, so she wasn't friends with them. On that alone, I decided to place my trust in her words.

My decision was right on time, for if there was any doubt that she was on my side at least during this fight, she quickly found the chance to prove herself.

One of the monsters jumped at me. His attack was terrifyingly silent. I saw the white body lunge at my face, but it was pushed back before I could do anything.

Using her green hair that seemed alive, Chigira struck the first attacker with ease. That explained to me how she seemed so unbothered back at the bathrooms.

"Are you okay?" she asked me, but her worry was uncalled for.

"Wasn't I supposed to be the one who protects?" I replied, trying to play off the danger. To my reply, Chigira stared at me with wide eyes, then the corners of her mouth turned into a bright smile. I wasn't convinced that she knew how dangerous the current situation was.

Since one had failed to do me in, the next attack came from all five monsters. They had no eyes to see, no ears to hear, and no mouth to scream—frankly, they had nothing—yet they knew exactly where we were.

"Now!" I shouted. The shout wasn't meant as a signal, but it served to help me use the curse of Kikazaru. The vibrations of my voice traveled through my whole body, so when I grabbed a blunt decorative sword, it became a lethal weapon.

Maybe their senses weren't all that great after all, for when I struck one of the monos with my blunt weapon, it tried to parry my attack with its hand. Using the vibrations to make the sword tremble, I cut the monster's arm as if it were butter.

Wounded, one of them stepped back, making way for another to come at me. It was at that moment that from the floor of my apartment grew a tree in an instant. That tree launched the monster through the roof into the air and threw it so far that I couldn't see where it landed. It was safe to assume that it was dead.

Confused, I looked at the roots of that tree and saw them stretching from Chigira's feet. It was another power that I had been unaware of, but it somehow made sense for her to be able to do that. I even touched the tree, and I could confirm it was hers, because—more than anything else into this world—it felt alive.

The thing that snapped me back to reality was an attack from the mono with only one arm. It was a clumsy attack, maybe because it lacked balance with a missing limb. Even so, I barely dodged at the last moment, twisted my body, and delivered a sword strike to the creature's back. With that, it faded into dust.

Two of the five had been taken care of. Three remained.

I looked around in search of the others, only to see them all gang up on Chigira. The way she fought them back was something I didn't think her capable of. All of her moves were well calculated, and every strike was precise. She used her green hair for both attack and defense, but her body didn't lack in strength either.

Seeing as she was doing fine with three adversaries, I looked out the balcony. I knew that this attack wasn't random. I knew he had to be there.

The second I stepped out through the cracked window, a white fist came my way. I dodged it and kicked the mono who tried to get me back down. Then, when I looked outside, my breath caught.

"We've lost..." I whispered, looking at a horde of white monsters.

"I have to get out of here," I told myself. Just then, another two monos jumped into the balcony. I didn't have too much trouble cutting them down, and judging by their general strength, I could make my way to my motorcycle and get out.

But something was wrong.

"Shino!"

I looked back at Chigira, who was screaming my name. Suddenly, she was having a hard time with the three monsters.

"They're getting stronger!" she shouted. "Keep me safe!" 

It was the first time I'd heard Chigira ask for my help so desperately, but I could do nothing. Going back inside to fight those three was too dangerous, and I was too valuable for the mission. I had to make it out quick.

"Shino!"

With her screams resounding behind me, I jumped off. Just as Chigira said, they were getting stronger. With each mono I cut down, the next one felt tougher and smarter. Running away was the right choice.

I ran for my motorcycle, cutting through the monsters that stood in my way. I reached it and hopped on. It was then that another motorcycle came to block my path. I revved my engine to make the madman move, but instead he took off his helmet.

"No, no, no. We can't have that! You have to save her..." he said, and only when I got to see his face, did memories about this man come back.

"Let me give you a hand then, Mister Tanaka~," he said and pointed towards his left. There, I saw a ramp that wasn't there before—a ramp that led right to my balcony.