Chapter 3: The mirror world part 2

—(If I didn't need him, I'd definitely kill him, and in a very ugly way too.)

Shoun, in his thoughts, angrily referred to his companion, Kaze, who had forced him to kill a group of Grunt-rank Vestiges. Deep down, Shoun knew that Kaze's line of thinking had some logic to it—a very small and messed-up kind of logic. But he definitely wasn't happy about having to go along with it.

—(I really want to strangle him!)

Inside the wind dome, the two stood side by side, staring at the Vestiges. The creatures were a black so deep it made you question if they were even there, if not for the white glow that enveloped the city.

—I don't even know how I'm going to kill those things. I don't have a weapon.

—Hmmm... that's true.— Without saying much more, Kaze drew his katana from its sheath. The blade shimmered slightly and quickly transformed into a medium-sized dagger, which he handed to Shoun without a word.

—Thanks...— The gratitude was half-hearted, but who could blame him for being ungrateful in this situation? With a blank expression, Shoun decided not to delay the inevitable any longer and began to think about how to approach his fight with the Vestiges. —(Four legs, with long, powerful claws at the end of each toe, a long tail with a dagger-like tip... that massive jaw with equally large teeth must be just as dangerous.)

Shoun analyzed the Vestiges carefully. Slowly, his back began to sweat again. The mere idea of facing a Vestige was already terrifying him. But he really had no other choice—at least not right now.

Accepting this fact, Shoun slapped both cheeks to snap himself out of it and focused on planning a strategy to handle the situation. He didn't completely push aside his fear—that was impossible for him—but he forced himself to move forward.

—(I have very little electricity. That little experiment of mine barely filled 5% of my core.)— After thinking of a solution to this problem, he turned to look at the masked man. —Hey, Kaze, how long can you keep this dome up? I need to recharge my core a bit.

—...You have five minutes.

The masked man didn't seem bothered by the request and simply stated what Shoun wanted in his usual monotone voice. Shoun didn't waste any time and began focusing on recharging.

The process itself was as natural to him as moving his limbs, but it wasn't something he needed to do often, so he had to concentrate. Before he knew it, the five minutes were up, signaled by Kaze gesturing for him to hurry.

Shoun shot Kaze a dirty look and glanced at the dagger in his hand. It was likely an Apprentice-rank artifact, something that should be quite useful for killing Vestiges.

—(I have about 20% of my core filled, an Apprentice-rank artifact... I hope that's enough to kill those things. For the sake of this stupid masked guy, it better be, or I'll haunt him from the afterlife.)

Not daring to delay any further, Shoun picked up a stone from the ground and threw it in the opposite direction from where they were standing. The noise caused the monsters to turn their heads. At that moment, Shoun enveloped his legs in electricity, making him noticeably faster. In just a few seconds, he was close to one of the Vestiges.

One advantage his electricity had over spiritual energy was that it was significantly more potent in the enhancements it provided. According to someone from the government, it might even rival the enhancements of an Apprentice-rank individual. Personally, Shoun didn't put much stock in that claim, but he never had—and probably never would have—the intention of testing it.

As he reached the side of the Vestige, Shoun refused to waste the initiative. Enhancing his right arm, which held the dagger, he slashed at the creature's neck. The cut was far from polished, but thanks to the rank of his weapon, it sliced through the creature's neck like butter, splattering purple blood on Shoun and his clothes.

—Graaaaar!

The Codex sent him a notification, but Shoun ignored the distraction and focused on the remaining creatures, which were now charging at him, growling in anger. Despite some semblance of teamwork, they were still noticeably uncoordinated, pushing and attacking through the same path—a mistake Shoun wouldn't let slide.

Quickly, Shoun ran toward the creatures, feinting to the right and narrowly avoiding a swipe of claws and a tail strike from one of them. Without hesitation, he repeated the motion, cutting off the head of another Vestige.

But not everything went according to plan. Due to his lack of skill with the dagger, his cut didn't fully sever the neck, forcing him to put in extra effort to finish the job. That small delay allowed the creature to retaliate slightly before dying, stabbing the dagger-like tip of its tail into Shoun's lower back.

—Aggggh!— Shoun felt his thick blood spill over his clothes and the pavement. Pain flooded his mind, but he refused to let himself go blank from the agony.

The last Vestige let out another growl and charged at him, pouncing on top of him. Due to his injury, Shoun could only twist slightly to avoid the dagger in his back from being driven deeper.

As the monster landed on Shoun and began clawing at him, the young man protected himself with his enhanced arms. But little by little, the claws left increasingly severe wounds, causing Shoun's mind to grow hazy from the pain.

—(Damn it... Damn thing, just wait a little longer, and you'll join your friends!)— Shoun was in a desperate situation. Every second, he wanted to succumb to fear and pain, to scream for Kaze's help. But he knew at this point it was useless. He decided to channel the rest of his electricity into his legs. With a quick movement, he planted his feet on the creature's stomach and pushed with all his might, finally launching the thing off of him.

Shoun, with what little strength he had left, stood up and pulled the dagger from his back. He was exhausted—not just because his core was empty, or from the blood loss, which would definitely cause him problems even if he won. It was mainly because of the fear—fear of pain, fear of death. It was something that constantly screamed at him to run, to survive.

But Shoun was tired of surviving, of giving in to his fear, of becoming complacent. That was why he ended up in this situation in the first place, and this time, he definitely wasn't going to make the same mistake. He wanted to live, and the first step to that was killing this Vestige.

The young man ran like never before, lunging at the Vestige. Now their roles were reversed. Shoun began stabbing the monster in the chest repeatedly. He didn't care about anything—even as the creature clawed at him or struck him with its tail, he didn't stop.

He stabbed and stabbed with blind fury, covering himself and his clothes in the Vestige's purple blood, but he still ignored everything around him.

It wasn't until he felt a hand on his shoulder that he stopped. Turning, he saw Kaze saying something, but Shoun couldn't understand him—his ears were ringing. In that brief moment of calm, he regained some sense of himself. His entire body ached, especially his arms and lower back.

—Agg!— Without warning, Shoun lost consciousness. Before he could hit the ground, the masked man caught him. Kaze picked up Shoun and carried him away from the Vestige's corpse. He took the dagger from Shoun's hand—even unconscious, the young man was still gripping it tightly.

Throughout this process, Kaze reflected on Shoun's performance during the fight.

—(He was quite capable. It doesn't seem like he has any training, not even basic, given how he handled the dagger. But still, most of his decisions were correct. Then there's his abilities... It seems he doesn't use spiritual energy, as I couldn't sense any during the fight. But that "electricity" of his seemed quite powerful... I see potential in him.)

Kaze looked at his blood-covered weapon. Without a word, he cleaned it with his robe and returned it to its original form before sheathing it. Then he glanced at Shoun. The young man was slowly bleeding out, but that didn't really worry Kaze. He would take him to his hideout and heal him.

Before picking up Shoun again, Kaze took one last look at the Vestiges, which were now disintegrating into ash. The sight surprised him.

—Well... that's a pleasant surprise.