[S2] Chapter 29: White

MIKO

That's just not fair! I can't get close to him. He's already realized his advantage, so this fight will only end when either he or Kajsa and I run out of energy.

I have no plan for how long this cat-and-mouse game has been going on, but my burning lungs are sending me rather worrying signals. The idea of using spells has also crossed my mind, but I don't see myself landing a hit. This beast is simply too agile.

It's a shame that Kajsa and I have never faced an opponent like this before. I have no idea what she thinks… what her plan is to win this fight looks like. The fact that we can't communicate doesn't make things any better. We look into each other's eyes more often, and we've already come so far that we try to give each other breaks by drawing the monster's attention to ourselves.

And I'm definitely glad not to be alone. Without Kajsa, this would probably be a hopeless case. Unlike me, she succeeds in attacking. I don't know how she does it, but somehow, she manages to slip past the blades, letting herself catch a few cuts, but in return, landing punches and kicks every now and then. I doubt that her perception of pain is any different from ours. Images of her dead companion flood my mind, her cries of pain echoing through my head.

It's my turn again. Kajsa looks at me and crouches down, a sign that I'm going to stage an attack. But something is different. Our enemy doesn't react to my approach; instead, it fixes its yellowish eyes on Kajsa. Rather instinctively, I run towards her and see her writing something on the ground with her own blood. She doesn't quite realize that our enemy is ready to lunge at her.

The moment the steel collides, my body feels like a nail being hammered into the ground. My bones and muscles ache, and I scream into the white, soundless space. If I hadn't started running that early, I would never have managed to get between the two of them in time to hold up my sword and parry the two blades he raised over his head to execute a powerful downward swing.

My legs and arms are on the verge of failing me, and at that moment, the monstrous, demon-like creature swings its arms again to repeat the same attack. I hold my guard as best I can and prepare for the blow. But the blow doesn't come. Kajsa grabbed his arms as he swung them back and, unbelievable as it may seem, held them in place with her sheer strength.

Time seems to stand still. Countless thoughts race through my mind in fractions of a second. I can't get into a position to aim at his throat from where I am. Should I try to cut his legs to take away his mobility? He is wearing light armor, but would I be able to cut him in half at waist level?

It takes me too long to decide. The moment I stab him in the chest, he shakes Kajsa off, dropping a sword in the process but gaining a free hand, which he slaps on my shoulder with full force. I smash to the ground as if I were an insect that he was trying to crush with the palm of his hand.

I have to get up, or I'm dead. Unfortunately, I try to support myself with both arms, only to experience unbearable pain in my right shoulder. Still, I manage to get back on my feet. In the great white nothing, it is not difficult for me to find our enemy again. He is involved in a sword fight with Kajsa, who has snatched a weapon from him. But at first glance, it is clear what a big difference there is in skill. I would describe myself as a somewhat advanced amateur in the art of swordplay, but Kajsa is a bloody beginner.

What takes me longer is realizing that my sword is still stuck in that demon. Amazingly, he can still fight like that despite it. I take a deep breath and try to swallow the pain in my shoulder. I need my weapon back. I take a step and almost slip on the blood that is spread out on the ground in front of me.

"Change form" are the two words I read at the place where Kajsa had been crouching earlier.

I could bite my own ass. If I had just made my sword longer, I could probably have decapitated him. But I didn't even think of that, and it probably wasn't the kind of idea that Kajsa had either. But what form would be better than a sword to win this fight? Well, it doesn't matter anyway, as long as my weapon is still stuck in the demon's body.

A sudden inspiration strikes me, and I immediately start running. With only one goal in mind: to touch my sword. My eyes are so focused on the black metal that I don't pay attention to which direction the fight is moving in. If I manage to get my fingers on it, the battle is won.

It is my last reserves of mana that I pump into my legs to reach an inhuman speed, with which I emerge behind the demon within a few seconds. Rather reflexively, he turns around. No idea how you can sense something like that, but at that moment, it occurred to him that I was more dangerous than an armed Kajsa standing right behind him.

Even though Kajsa has no technique, what I realized is the power she wields. With one swing, she slashes off the arm in which the monster holds its sword. The face it makes while it silently screams in agony makes even this creature seem human for a moment.

I touch the blade of my weapon, which is still stuck in the monster, and use my mana to command it to change form. In the blink of an eye, my black sword expands into a giant orb and rips the demon apart from the center out into many small pieces of flesh. I fall to my knees and start to laugh, tears welling up in my eyes. What an absurd end to this nightmare of a fight.

Kajsa throws the enemy's sword, which she is still holding, to the side and goes over to the remains of the demon. In this calm moment, I allow myself to think for the first time that Kajsa and the monster looked very similar. Purple skin, horns, white hair. Someone of her own kind tried to kill her.

She reaches into a pile of meat and pulls out a ball the size of her hand, glowing in the colors of the rainbow. The dungeon core was inside the creature. But that guy was not made of mana; otherwise, he would have disintegrated long ago. Since when can living beings carry a core within? Before I can continue my train of thought, Kajsa bursts the ball in her hand with her fingers, and suddenly I am overwhelmed by the sounds of the city from where we entered the dungeon this morning.

I try to take a deep breath, but the burning in my chest and the stabbing pain in my shoulder don't allow for much more than a short gasp. As I try to lie down on my back carefully, my muscles fail, and I fall rather roughly onto the asphalt. I do hear voices, but my brain is still a little overwhelmed by being able to perceive sound again.

But even through my tear-filled eyes, which blur my vision, I recognize Kayla bending over me and starting to pump me full of her healing magic. It gets easier to breathe with every passing second, and my racing heart also relaxes, but my crying gets worse than before. I hide my face behind my arms and start sobbing. I have no idea how many people are standing around; it is embarrassing, but I just can't restrain myself.

Kayla helps me to stand up, and without being able to see anything, I let her walk me away. It just doesn't get better; I can't stop bawling.

"I'm... I'm sorry... I don't know what's wrong."

I almost choke on my own words. I can't remember ever having wept so much. My head is shouting at me to calm down, but I can't. I feel Kayla's arms around my body, one hand caressing my back gently, my face pressed against her chest.

"Everything is fine, don't hold it back. I'm here for you."

Her words make my sobbing even worse, but luckily, my tears seem to be running out. What remains is a trembling lip and uncontrolled breathing. My eyes burn, but I regain control of my breathing as I follow the rhythm of the gentle petting of my back. I want to sink into the ground. There is hardly anything more embarrassing than having a crying fit as an adult.

I gently push Kayla away from me and look at her uniform, which is damp with my tears, before looking up at her and into her face. It breaks my heart a little. The area around her eyes is all red. She looks even worse than I probably do right now. When she suddenly looks at me with her stupid smile, I can't help but grin, too. I take another deep breath and exhale before I give Kayla a big hug.

"I hope you haven't worried too much."

"Oh, come on, why should I? The last few days were great." It's not the irony in her tone that confuses me.

"Days?"

"You were missing for three whole days."

A cold shiver runs down my spine. I know that my sense of time had suffered somewhat, but that didn't feel like 72 hours without sleep. It's more likely that the passage of time in the dungeon was completely different. However, I've never heard of anything like that either. But I don't want to think about that now.

I'm a little sorry that Kajsa was also hurt, and Kayla took care of me first because I ended up with a lot fewer injuries than she did. After some minutes, we leave the alleyway where Kayla had dragged me and return to the rest of the guild. I look for Kajsa and see her being smeared with the contents of healing potions by Luna. That's another way to trigger the potion's effect. After all, they don't taste particularly good, which is why not everyone is keen on drinking them.

Lilith is already on the phone, and Eliza is sitting on a foldable chair. It seems that they have set up a small camp around the gate to watch it non-stop. It feels like shit to be such a burden to others. Not that I want to have anyone else in my position.

"Don't be so glum, everything's fine."

Kayla is right. I should be relieved, but I doubt that these incidents are the end of the line. It seems that Kajsa has become the target of her former comrades, and unfortunately, we play no small part in her being with us now.

"Let's get out of here. I've reported the dungeon as cleared."

Lilith smiles at us, and we start packing everything up and putting it into Eliza's car, which is parked nearby on the sidewalk. After we are finished, we only have one small problem. With all this extra equipment on board, we don't fit in the car.

"I can lie down in the footwell. I used to do that all the time," Kayla suggests, a bit too eagerly. Eliza waves it off, and Kajsa raises her hand cautiously.

"I can walk." This time, it is Luna who shakes her head in disapproval.

"You're not doing anything else today except going to bed and getting some rest."

It's a bit hard to tell, but it looks like Kajsa is blushing a little. Finally, I take Kayla's hand and take a step away from the car. Although it's not the same day, we had plans as far as I know. Lilith waves goodbye to us, and we walk toward the city center.

"We wanted to go out for dinner, didn't we?"

"Oh, you must be starving, right?"

"Not really. It felt like only a few hours had passed inside the dungeon."

"So, you're not hungry?"

"I didn't say that, silly.

"Don't call me silly."

"But you are."

With her cheeks puffed up, Kayla pulls her hand away from mine, and when she tries to grab it again, I skillfully evade her. I laugh a little about our stupid interaction. It's weird how quickly I can switch from fighting for my life to goofing around like this. After a brief back and forth, I take her hand again and, on a whim, direct her to the nearest WcDonald's. I just have a craving for burgers and overly salted fries.

In the reflection of the entrance door of the building, I can see for the first time how beaten up I look even though I've been healed… crying seems to do more damage to me than fighting.

At least I avoided being bathed in the demon's blood, which would certainly have made for a bizarre picture. I try to quickly fix my hair a little, sigh, and set off with Kayla to one of these order terminals.

"What do you want?" I whisper and start clicking through the menu.

"A spicy chicken burger, fries, and a chocolate milkshake."

I manage to put everything together surprisingly quickly before I put together my own order. Meanwhile, Kayla starts scrolling on her phone.

"And I have a coupon for a 20-pack of chicken nuggets."

"Sounds good."

I would say yes to everything right now, even though I'm not super hungry. The moment I smelled the scent of the WcDonald's, I felt like I wanted to get whatever they serve. After Kayla has scanned the code for the nuggets and I have paid by card, we look for a free seat in the restaurant. As expected, we attract a few critical glances, probably because of our uniforms, which can hardly be mistaken for a fashion statement. The residents of the city are well aware that there are more mages and witches around than usual. But today, I really don't care about anything, just get me my food and leave me alone.

Kayla is so friendly to pick up our order at the counter when our number is called. With a tray full of unhealthy delicacies, she walks back to our table, looking all smiles. Just seeing her makes me happy, and it's not because she brings me food.

"Enjoy your meal."

"You too."

And so, for some seconds, we both fall into a voracious silence. Just some moments later, Kayla holds a milkshake-drenched fry out to me, which I quickly munch before it starts to drip. It almost annoys me how pleased Kayla is that I let her feed me. But today, she is allowed to.

How are you doing?

"Better."

"I'm glad. I guess food helps."

"Apparently, but it also makes me sleepy."

"I've already researched which tram will take us back to the hotel."

"How long does it take to walk?"

"Almost an hour."

"Damn, we definitely take the ride."

I'm basically a fan of taking walks, but after I've been craving food, it's now our soft bed that I want to get into. I have no idea when and in what kind of dungeon our guild wants to go next, but somewhere, I don't care either. If I want to sleep for the next 1-2 days, I'll do just that.

Once we arrive at the station, I notice that Kayla is still sucking on her milkshake, or rather, the straw.

"How do you still have any left?"

"I don't, I'm just sucking that cardboard."

It's hard not to be disgusted because whatever she's sucking on sounds pretty wet and is probably mainly her own spit. As if she could read my thoughts, she shows me her smug face and holds the cup out to me.

"Want a sip?

I shudder, and for a moment, I feel like snatching the cup from her and throwing it in the trash.

"Since when do you read my mind? It was always the other way around."

With a pout, I wait for Kayla's answer, but then the tram we have to get on pulls up. One look inside is enough to make me not want to board it at all. Big cities are scary and way too packed, but there's no time to hesitate, Kayla takes my hand and drags me along.

"Don't make such a face. We're only driving for 10 minutes," she says, her face just a few centimeters away from me, as we are literally trapped between other passengers. Her back is pressed against a wall, and I stand in front of her.

We are far too close right now, and my heart is starting to race a little. The most reasonable thing to do right now would probably be to turn away a little or to lower our heads, but we stay as we are and gaze at each other. We both smell like burgers and fries while surrounded by a bunch of strangers. Still, we close the distance between us for a moment and let our lips touch gently.

My heart skips a beat, but not in a worrying way. In fact, I feel better than ever before. Our first kiss wasn't as romantic as I had imagined, but that didn't make it any less memorable. Not that I could compare it to any other one. Maybe the next one will feel different, I think to myself as I press my lips against hers again.

Damn, my cheeks are glowing, I can't stop thinking about the fact that we are surrounded by strangers, but I can't resist her. Kayla's lips feel soft and somewhat greasy, and I can taste a slight hint of salt.

After we get off the tram and walk to the hotel, we remain silent. My mind is completely blank. I wouldn't exactly describe that as being on cloud nine, but I no longer feel like I have both feet on the ground, either.