Today, Coal didn’t ask me to have a practice fight with him, and it looked like he was completely out of energy - exhausted. It wasn’t just him, though. Flint and Dark both seemed down, and Grass’ eyes were so red that it almost looked like they had been bleeding.

Are they that sad about Dust’s death? Well, not that they know for certain that she’s dead, but since she’s been missing for a quarter month, it makes sense they’d think of the worst possible situation.

…I’m a bit envious. If I died, I doubt any of them would feel anything in the slightest.

I wanted to just cast my four Blood Spikes and then leave, but even I can tell that doing that with the current mood would be very strange. It doesn’t make sense to me; I can’t understand. And while I want to ask, I need to keep acting normal for the sake of my further plans.

At the same time, I don’t even know if I’m acting ‘normal’. Sadness… I’ve never felt it before.

Whatever. Rather than trying to act normal for my plan when I don’t know if I can, it’d be better to just leave so that the premise doesn’t fall apart. Coal is almost sure to ask if I’ve seen Dust at all recently or where I last saw her - if not here, and I need that to be when it’s just the two of us.

So, I got up and just began walking away. But maybe I could’ve been more tactful about it.

Feeling a hand on my shoulder, I turned around to see Coal’s gaze. When I tilted my head in a questioning manner, he asked, “Do you have something you need to do right now?”

I shook my head. Ugh, I have a premonition that I won’t be able to get out of this without having to talk. At least my recent actions have involved talking a lot, so my voice won’t sound as bad as it had a couple months ago.

“Then why are you leaving?” Coal seems… different, for some reason. Why is that?

Well, I need to come up with some excuse. Think, Shadow… Oh, that’ll work. “Ah ah,” after a light test to make it seem like I was trying to find my voice, I spoke to Coal for the first time in- I don’t know how long. Over a year, at the least.

“To look for her.”

Coal’s eyes widened, though I’m not sure why. It’s worrying me that I might’ve done something wrong, but what could it be? Isn’t it reasonable to go look for Dust, if her being missing is why these four are acting like the world ended?

He just stood there for a bit, which was annoying. I want to leave already. But eventually… “Do you want to go search together?”

Once again, I shook my head. As for the reasoning, I’m sure he’ll come up with something himself. And, thinking that now was good enough, I began walking away. Coal didn’t stop me this time.

I don’t know what I should do today, however. It’s still morning, I’d say… Hmm, I guess I can go scout out to see which girls are passing by the abandoned district. People tend to take the same path to and from home, so it’ll help me choose a target for tonight.

Maybe it’s a bit arrogant of me to attack two nights in a row, but I don’t plan on using that clearing I’d found anymore. Dust’s corpse needs to be left there and kept hidden until the time comes.

Instead of walking straight to the main road - or at least what I consider the main road through the abandoned district, I went around a bit to come from the other side. The library was on the side I’m coming from, and heading back from that side so early in the morning would draw attention. Not bad attention, but attention in general, which is something to avoid.

So, I walked slowly through the road, taking note of any females I saw and trying to match them to my memories of who was who. It wouldn’t do to target just any Sorceress right now, since if I were to take 0ut a B-Grade, the officials would definitely go all out to figure out what happened.

That’s why I’m sticking to D-Grades for now. Wait, since I’ve killed three…

Shadow, start heading towards an isolated area without appearing strange. Shade’s voice sounded in my head. Mmm, I’d felt it too just then- someone is watching me. It also matches what I’d just thought of.

With three Sorceresses all having gone ‘missing’ in the eyes of the officials, it doesn’t matter what Rank they were. They would investigate regardless. And who's to say that they couldn’t somehow uncover that I was the one who killed them?

At least it seems that they didn’t determine my identity, but rather that they have something that can tell them who did it? I’m not sure, but the fact that I’m just being watched and not quickly captured is sign enough for me.

In other words, to keep myself safe and hidden, all I need to do is kill this person without letting anyone know!

Ahhh, I’m nervous. This will be the first time I’ll engage in a true conflict. All those times I captured girls were just that - captures. I don’t know how strong the person following me is. They could be just as strong as me, but that’s unlikely.

But they’re probably from the officials, and thus probably - I’m almost fully certain - at least a peak Rank 1, maybe even Rank 2. If it’s the latter, I might as well surrender and hope that I can use my potential for growth or even Steal Yin itself to avoid dying.

Shadow, take deep breaths.

Are you trying to calm me? Hah, I’m not nervous… Fine, I am. But I can’t take deep breaths or the fact that I know they’re there might become apparent. A faint smile appeared on my face before I quickly got rid of it; I don’t know where this observer is looking at me from.

There’s no need to be nervous. They’re not an actual Sorcerer. Just an Apprentice, like you. Alright. Just an Apprentice, just Rank 1. But that still means that I’m dealing with a peak stage one.

I wish I had more time to think and prepare. But… Sensing something behind me, I immediately spun on my foot. Time to fight, is it?

“So you managed to sense me, somehow?” Standing there was a tall man - still youthful looking - in grey robes. Although I say youthful, he still has rugged features that make him look more mature… So he’s the serious type, then? No, I shouldn’t base things on appearance.

More than his looks, my eyes were drawn to a black thread held in his left hand. It was unnatural, not hanging straight down but instead pointing at me. Is there… Is that a needle on the end? I can’t see well at this distance.

There’s no need to talk, so I remained silent while taking advantage of my oversized robes to cast Blood Spike. With my hands in my sleeves and if I played it just right, it’d seem as if nothing was happening with them.

As for the target… Well, who said that you can’t just set Blood Spike to go in a straight line?

On the other side, the man shook his head at - presumably - my lack of response. “Well, it seems I’ll just have to capture you. I can be almost fully certain that you’re the one who killed those three girls, and you’ll definitely talk when we get to confirming it.”

Is he threatening me with torture? Hmm, he only has so much time to talk because I have to spend more time casting in order to prevent the motions from showing on the outside.

Honestly, the hardest part was making a wound on my palm for blood to flow. But it just took a bit of work. I’d recently sewn sharp pieces of metal into the sleeves, so that I could make wounds at will instead of having to pull out my dagger first.

…No matter how fast Blood Spike is, it means nothing if he reacts to my hand motion. Also, I need to be wary of him casting a spell. I lack a perspective for how fast a peak Rank 1 can cast spells, so there’s no saying for certain that he couldn’t cast one before I can react.

So, just before Blood Spike finished, I shifted my gaze. My eyes were no longer on my opponent, but looking slightly past him - as if there was something there.

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Even if it were me and I knew that the other party might be trying to trick me, I might still end up looking. It’s an instinct to be wary of something behind you. That same instinct caused the Sorcerer to turn his body slightly in preparation to react to something from behind.

And that was my chance to attack.

Blood Spike launched forth just as my right hand finished moving up. It was precisely in preparation for cases like this that I’d trained my accuracy with a single hand.

With how large the attack was, it didn’t matter where I hit him - just that it hit. Thus, I aimed for the largest part of the body, the upper torso, and slightly to the side where I anticipated him to dodge.

“Fucking Hell!” A foul curse rang out as he dodged to the right - the opposite of what I’d wanted.

…He’s experienced. Even being distracted and having to suddenly react, he was still able to guess where the spike would go and got as far away from it as he could in less than a second. It must’ve missed by just a hair’s breadth, damn it.

Was my intention to catch his dodge obvious or something? I don’t get it…

And now, the aspect of surprise was lost. “Tsk.”

With my left hand, I reached into my sash and pulled out my dagger. With the other, I took hold of the loose end and pulled. It started loosening, but not fast enough.

On the other side, I saw the man’s right hand form a seal. The thumb and ring finger had their ends touching, and the other three fingers were in a straight line. The initial hand seal for Earth Law, is it?

In just the time it took me to recognize what seal it was, he’d already formed another two. So, I was right to exaggerate a peak Rank 1’s casting speed as much as possible. Of course, that doesn’t mean I’ll just let him cast it in peace.

The dagger in my left hand switched to my right, cut across the palm since I was about to lose all means of making wounds, and then was flung across the makeshift hallway towards the Sorcerer.

I didn’t - couldn’t - pay attention to his reaction. Instead, I fully undid my sash in five seconds while circling to the left to maintain distance with him. I can’t be sure if his spell will be one that has a small range up close and large further away, or the opposite, so the best choice was to stay at middle range!

Now looking up, I saw that he’d gone further to the left. His hand seals were a bit slower, likely since he’d had to slow down his essence flows while focusing on dodging the dagger. As for how accurate my throw had been, I don’t know.

I’m at 45% right now. Blood Spike costs 5%, Blood Chains takes 10%. I need to pace myself, but I also need to be unrelenting, not giving this bastard time to recover! I sped through the seals for Blood Spike with my right hand, while holding my robes in place of my sash with my left.

Once again, the massive Blood Spike formed on my hand. This time, I’d actually bound the region where the target is in, so the Spike doesn’t need to be so accurately aimed by me.

Yet, when I felt my legs shake and give out under me, I realized it wasn’t so-

…In my eyes, there’s the dirty ground and not far away, a large Blood Spike melting back into blood.

Shade, what just happened? For some reason, all I remember is casting the spell, and then being on the floor! And, what was I doing…? This can’t be normal! Still, I picked myself up while trying to regather the chaotic thoughts in my head.

You’re in the middle of a fight, Shadow! That man cast a spell that shook the ground. You fell and hit the ground, the spike missed, and anything else can wait until later! Shade’s words caused my eyes to constrict, but I still reacted immediately instead of trying to make sense of things first.

Seeing the light grey color that could only be the robes of a Sorcerer, I forced myself onto my feet. Speaking of robes, mine feel loose… Ah, that’ll work!

I walked - stumbled - backwards while turning in a full circle. In that motion, my right arm left the sleeve, followed by my left. My right hand took hold on the robes’ fabric and then… flung it outwards!

The grey robes got caught in the strong breeze being focused into the narrow region and billowed out, going from just the size of me to almost three times that. With my makeshift vision-blocker spanning almost the entire hall-like space, neither of us will know what the other is doing.

Instincts say to be cautious, so what I need to do is charge forward and catch him off guard! With my hands going through the motions for casting Blood Chains, I forced my legs to carry me forward-

Shadow, stop. Keep casting, and he won’t do anything. Shade’s words were odd, but ah, I’m lacking in battle experience. All I can do is trust it!

The robes were already falling to the ground, and the other Sorcerer’s rugged face came into my view. But just as quickly as it had, it was gone - he’d turned his head away for some reason.

How odd, but it’s something I can take advantage of!

Blood Chains was the spell I could cast the fastest, since it was the one I practiced the most for the sake of capturing others. In less than three seconds, before the man had even turned back to face me, I felt the nauseating feeling of blood being drained from my body.

Ten chains formed and flew out from my hands, enveloping the Sorcerer and anchoring onto the walls and floor. I thought he’d be forced to the ground by them, but somehow he was able to remain standing. In fact, one of the chains actually snapped as a result!

Some sort of spell to let him keep his footing on the ground? Unfortunately, it was a total counter to Blood Chains! The man finally recovered his senses and took a step forward. The sound of the ground and walls breaking as the anchored chains were yanked out deafened my ears.

But it seems he’s still not looking straight at me, which will definitely affect his aim. So it’s not all bad news, at least.

Although the chains were losing to him, they were slowing him down, and I quickly began making distance while casting Blood Spike for the third time. Ugh, my head feels extremely hot…

I’d only gotten halfway through casting before he made it out of the chains. The way he’s charging at me at full speed… Even if he doesn’t have any physical enhancements - and it seems he does - it’d basically be like getting hit by a boulder.

With this, whether he looks right at me or not won’t affect his ability to hit me, huh.

The left side of my vision started to turn red- Ah Hell, my head must be bleeding. Did I really hit the ground that hard?

Good thing I’d started backing up as soon as I saw that first chain snap. The Blood Spike flew forth and impaled right into his right shoulder bone, not far from his neck. That should’ve killed him outright but…It didn’t go far into his body.

Ah, damn physical enhancements! Did he use some spell to make his skin be like stone?

Since he didn’t come to a halt, I was forced to jump to the right with all the might my unstable legs would muster, but I still ended up hit on the left side. A sickening feeling echoed across my body, pain flared up from my arm, and the entire left side of my vision was now red.

But somehow, that didn’t stop my right hand from taking on a claw shape while my wrist made a full twist to the left. Four more seals in less than three seconds, while my essence dropped by 5%.

I couldn’t hear it, nor see it, but I knew that the walls must’ve just been splattered red as that Sorcerer’s torso was torn apart from the right shoulder. And as expected, when I turned to look after sitting up on the floor, I saw his body collapsed on the floor.

Not just blood covered the ground and walls, but also flesh and even pieces of bone were there. Ugh, there was probably some of it on me…

But- thank God I chose to learn Rupturing Blood Spike. It was so simple, but so effective! If the Spike doesn’t take out the target, then just use the additive spell that only consists of five seals and blow it to pieces! And with my pure yin, it was like a bomb literally being put inside the spike…

I don’t know how long I sat there, but soon enough, a heavy panting began filling my ears. What is… Oh, that’s my own breathing. Deep breaths, I need to take deep breaths, yeah.

Shadow, you need to cast Wound Heal on your head. Now!

Ah, right… Right. It felt like my entire body was quaking with each heartbeat. The red left side of my vision started blurring, and I felt something wet and warm - is that blood? - flowing down my right cheek.

My hands were jittery, but I still managed to get through the seals. It didn’t help my vision since the left side of my face was caked with blood, but at least the blood loss was over. Ah, I should cast it twice more on my hands. Ah, I can’t. Not enough essence left…

Oh, of course my hands were jittery. My left shoulder is fucked up. Can’t tell if it’s broken, but if it isn’t, then it sure is dislocated.

For your first battle, you did good, Shadow. Well, isn’t that kinda obvious? If I hadn’t done good, then faced with a peak Rank 1 who almost certainly has some battle experience, I’d be dead.

I just sat there for I don’t know how long, letting my body finally calm down from the blood rush. And when it faded…

I’m scared. “Ah,” I was so, so scared, I just couldn’t tell because of the rush. It was too intense… I thought I was going to die! “Hah, gah,” ugly sounds kept coming out of my mouth as my heart began racing.

Only now did I notice that earlier, tears had poured out from my eyes. And with that realization, more tried to come out; but my body didn’t have the water for it.

Shadow, you need to take that black thread and leave now, before anything happens. Shade’s words made sense, and so I forced my body to move. My legs were weak and shaking, my left arm hung limp and flared with pain with every motion, but I used my right to take the thread from the man’s corpse.

But at least my heart is finally calming down. Yeah, I’m safe now. I’m safe.

As I looked down like that, I realized that I was completely naked. Right, I’d taken off my robes to block his vision. …Is that why this guy wouldn’t look straight at me? I don’t know how to feel about that, but I’ll keep this in mind as a valid tactic against men, hah.

Um, will there be any problems with my blood being all over here? Looking at the scene of carnage that was about equal parts my blood and not, I couldn’t help but worry.

Shade remained silent, which worried me, but… I’ve cut the connection. Now, leave.

Mysterious as always, but I welcome it this time. I made my way over to where my robes laid and - painfully - put them back on, followed by painfully tying my sash back up. Finally, I recovered the dagger and left the area for good.

Ah Hell, how am I going to deal with my shoulder…