I nodded and stepped outside.
I joined the seniors who had finished their preparations and were waiting. They simply acknowledged me with nods—no words exchanged. I returned the gesture with a bow.
The cold dawn air carried the scent of iron.
I inhaled the sharp air and climbed the wall.
As we walked along the rampart, Yehyeon suddenly stopped at a spot without any distinguishing features.
“I’ll drive,” he said.
Then he leapt down.
The others followed without hesitation. I too jumped down after him. A black military vehicle was waiting below.
We climbed in silently, and the car started smoothly. Each of the seniors held their weapons, silent and focused.
I kept my mouth shut as well, all my nerves taut.
It would still take a few hours before we faced him.
Even so, the distance was closing fast. I could already feel the presence of my kin growing sharper.
My fingertips prickled.
“Carl.”
After a long stretch of silence in the moving car, Yehyeon’s voice came.
“When you find a suitable spot, set up and report.”
“Yes.”
The vehicle slowed.
As soon as I got out, I looked around. Summer wasn’t entirely gone; even in the early dawn, the sky was bright. Pale light colored the abandoned ruins.
A slope began just a few steps ahead. Corroded high-rises stood beside the main road.
It was a good place to meet the enemy.
We made preparations.
“Drones,” murmured Ami, pulling out a swarm of unmanned units from the vehicle.
Yehyeon gave a faint smile.
“If we’re pushed back, we’ll retreat through the portal in that orange building.”
When the drones were ready, Yehyeon pointed to the structure behind him.
The others turned their heads.
There was a plain, low, weathered building—unremarkable enough to escape notice.
The recapture team must have installed a portal there earlier.
“The portal inside connects to the one behind the fortress. If the retreat order is given, don’t hesitate—run for it.”
“Yes.”
“Let’s eat.”
The Commander spoke calmly, gazing down at the city spread below the slope.
His black ponytail swayed in the wind.
“The Core will open in about an hour. It’ll take another thirty minutes for them to arrive.”
Accurate as ever.
I was gauging the distance to Kyle and was quietly impressed by his words. At this pace, in about an hour and a half I would stand face to face with my kin. The Creature front line, however, was advancing faster than they were.
He’d let the front wave pass.
Indeed, while chewing on the bland combat rations, Yehyeon said,
“Don’t engage the Creatures.”
The seniors all answered in unison, “Yes, sir.”
“Hilde will take point. The rest of you provide support. If Hilde is pushed back by Kyle, I’ll step in.”
You said you’d stay behind, I thought—but didn’t voice it. With everyone watching, I couldn’t question his orders.
I obeyed quietly and stuffed down my rations. Carl, who had finished first, was already gone.
Then came the waiting.
Battles were always like this.
“I’ve sharpened the blade,” said Yehyeon as he stood.
The nearly transparent morning sunlight spilled over the lined-up drones and Badgers on the road.
I felt the still, pale air and nodded.
“Thank you.”
After so long, the sword had come back to me.
The blade that had pierced Rei’s body.
I sat on the road with the sword in hand for a long time.
***
Suddenly, the air grew restless.
The ground began to tremble faintly. Those who had been idly sitting sprang to their feet. Everyone had sensed the Creatures approaching.
Yehyeon walked toward a nearby building and ordered,
“Hide your presence.”
The seniors swiftly slipped inside.
I moved to the building opposite Yehyeon’s, stepping under the ceiling. My senses flared chaotically.
The surge was coming.
The ground quaked. The air shook.
The view ahead filled with Creatures.
“Wow,” Ami whispered beside me.
“There are so many.”
Indeed.
The ground was gone.
Flying Creatures cut across the sky, while ground types stampeded along the asphalt.
The drones resting on the road all lifted into the air at once. As they scattered like insects, the Creatures stormed over the asphalt, crushing it underfoot.
It was like watching a migration of buffalo—only louder, far more violent.
Dust and wind lashed my cheek.
“Think they’ll hold out?” Ami muttered.
Feeling the massive presence speeding away, I answered,
“If we hold our line, they’ll be fine.”
Then a tremendous sound ripped through the air.
A strange sound—one I had never heard this loud before. I had heard it once, faintly, in the past. But now it was deafening, monstrous.
The sound of the Core opening. The same bizarre noise I’d heard at the Safe Point that day.
It reverberated through the ground and sky.
Ami and I stepped outside.
The sight that met our eyes stole my breath.
The translucent shell covering the Core was dissolving.
The lid that had sealed the sky was slowly opening.
A swarm of flying Creatures soared toward it.
And as if to meet them, the fighter jets launched.
“Ugh!”
I flinched, covering my ears as the roaring ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) air shattered the quiet.
I thought my hearing was gone.
My eardrums already throbbed from the Core’s resonance, and the engines pounded them without mercy.
The fighters rose together, drawing gray lines across the sky. Streaks dividing the blue above the fortress.
I watched those lines break apart and scatter in every direction.
The roar of engines.
The air raid had begun.
Bang, BOOM, KWAANG!
“It’s started,” Ricardo muttered as he stepped out of the building.
“Let’s see how long we last....”
His words were swallowed by the sound of missiles.
The air reeked of blood and iron. The once-peaceful space was now consumed by blinding light. Flesh, blood, and fragments of bombs scattered everywhere. Even though the battlefield was some distance away, its breath reached us.
Kyle’s presence was closer now.
I could feel exactly where his eyes were fixed.
“Commander.”
I turned from the wall.
“Please fall back.”
All eyes turned to me.
I didn’t explain further. Instead, ready to draw my sword at any moment, I walked down to the start of the slope. When I reached the spot I wanted, I pushed Yehyeon back by the forearm.
He yielded without protest.
Ami, Sophia, and Ricardo stepped forward to guard him.
Sensing their presence behind me, I fixed my eyes ahead.
“They’re coming.”
I murmured it while staring down the steep slope and the long road stretching below.
“Watch for sword strikes.”
The words had barely left my mouth when the asphalt split open.
KWA-GWA-GWA-GWAANG!
A fissure tore through the cracked road—a blade strike.
A white slash climbed the incline, aimed straight for me.
Sophia loaded her gun at the same moment I drew my sword.
KWAANG!
The shockwave collided.
The impact hit my body like thunder. My whole frame vibrated from the backlash as I looked down.
From the end of the road where the strike had begun, I felt the weight of his presence.
And those burning eyes.
He hadn’t changed at all.
That pale skin, those leonine golden eyes, the waves of black hair—so familiar. He had always reminded me of a black lion. Born with elegance he’d never lost, arrogance that seemed inherent. A charisma that bound people around him. Those irises burning with fury.
Kyle looked up at me with blazing hatred.
Our eyes met in midair.
I could feel my own gaze turning cold.
“Kyle.”
It was always the same.
You raged like fire; I raged like ice.
We were opposites even in our anger. Our judgments differed, our views of the world, our ways of dealing with it—all opposite.
Is that why we ended up divided like this?
Ah.
The resentment coiled inside me was larger than I’d expected—matching the guilt. I thought it would only be pain, like when I thought of Rei.
But I couldn’t take my eyes off Kyle.
I didn’t even glance toward Hekate, Sequoia, or Sion.
“Hilde.”
My sharpened hearing caught Kyle’s voice.
“Hildebert Taleb.”
Why do I feel so much hatred for you?
I’m the one who betrayed you. So why does the sight of your golden eyes make my insides twist?
I narrowed my eyes at the tip of his sword rising toward me. Sunlight glinted sharply on its edge.
A well-honed blade.
And it was aimed at me—just like before.
Kyle approached, his eyes never leaving mine.
“If you hadn’t joined the battle back then, we would’ve won.”
His voice, thick with anger, carried on the wind.
Even human ears would catch it now; he was that close.
“If you hadn’t sided with them....”
The air grew taut.
“If you’d just put down your sword and watched.”
No.
A voice rose from deep inside me—
That’s not it.
Confusion swirled in my chest as Kyle’s voice roared again, full of blame.
“If you hadn’t stood on their side!”
“I begged you, didn’t I? I begged you not to start this!”
“Don’t act noble, Hildebert! You think you stood with humans out of compassion!?”
Kyle’s fury erupted.
“You coward!”
KWA-GWA-GWAANG!
A far more powerful slash surged toward me, and I swung my right arm.
KWAANG!
It collided—neutralized.
KWAANG!
A second blow came, laced with silver thorns, and I deflected it again.
I turned my head sharply toward the source of those thorns.
The human who had inherited my sword.
Yehyeon now stood silently at my side.
“I’ll assist,” declared the Commander, eyes locked on Hekate.
“Let’s push them back.”
He entered battle stance.
From beneath his feet, silver spikes burst upward, their tips blooming into silver butterflies.
It was my first time seeing Yehyeon in full combat mode.
The morphing weapons that had once struck the back of my head—those silver butterflies carrying blades—spread through the air, sliding down the slope like a wave of light.
The moment Ami soared into the sky, the battle began.
Hekate and Sequoia’s sharp voices.
The gunfire from the seniors.
Kyle’s sword.
Ricardo’s spear.
I raised my blade and charged forward.
Pouring all the resentment, grief, and guilt I couldn’t name into the sword.
Forcing the fragments of the past back into a corner of my mind.
On the day the sky opened,
I faced Kyle.
