The moment Rita had said those exact words, she had bolted the other way, her feet dragging through the snow as she ran at her best.
For a mage, she was extremely fast, able to cover several meters by the moment Kyle knocked himself from his dazed state.
Kyle turned around and followed, running right next to Lord Roach, unable to fathom why Rita had called for a hasty retreat.
He even took a few glances back at Karciel as they ran, the strange hunter still performing the strange hand signs and ancient dancing movements from earlier.
He couldn’t help but think this was the best time to kill this man — distracted, practicing whatever strange ritual he was doing mid-battle.
He even contemplated turning around with Lord Roach and trying to sink the end of his sword into the man’s throat.
Yet... considering how things would turn out if he was utterly wrong.
He would end up as cannon fodder and nothing more than a distraction for Rita to escape.
The right choice for the benevolent and honourable.
And Kyle was anything far from those two words. He kept his pace up and hurried through the snow to catch up to Rita, while still keeping an eye on Karciel, who slowly started to shrink into the distance.
At this rate... it might even be possible for them to escape and...
Kyle had imagined far too soon.
He glanced back to where Karciel had stood earlier, and what he saw caused his heart to plummet in fear.
"Damn it!"
In place of Karciel was nothing more than a smoke screen.
Worse, something dark and fast was quickly approaching him, in the most horrific, grotesque manner, closing meters that had taken Kyle so long to cover within a mere second.
"Shit!" In a blink, the black figure reached him, and a flash of white tore down towards Kyle’s skull.
If not for Lord Roach, which had jumped at him and tackled him to the ground just in time, the sword would have carved him in two.
As both Kyle and Lord Roach crashed into the white snow, he instantly caught the petrified look in Rita’s eyes and swallowed hard.
’Is this a fucking demon...’
Lord Roach rose from beside its master, clenching its fist, ready to face the monstrosity that had threatened to kill its master just now.
Kyle followed right after, his sword tightly clenched with both hands, his eyes narrowing at Karciel.
The ruthless hunter’s eyes were pitch black, his forearms down to his fingers the same — like something had been poured into him and hardened — his long black hair flowing in the air, carried by some sort of mystic breeze that shouldn’t have existed in this dead calm.
"Nice makeover, I guess..." Kyle wrenched from his mouth.
Karciel chuckled at this. "Sorry, but I wasn’t prepared to let my prey get away."
Kyle frowned. ’He’s even faster in this form. Can I really kill him, even with the iron giant out? Who even knows how many people he’s killed, how many fragments are rooted deep in that wretched heart of his? What sort of monstrous acts did he commit to become who he is right now... He isn’t even human anymore.’
Kyle swallowed hard at his odds and then eased into a battle stance. For a moment he scanned around for Rita — the young girl had, unfortunately, stuck to her own advice with full sincerity and hadn’t hesitated to leave him behind.
He sighed, then fixed all his attention on Karciel, preparing himself for what would come next.
Since he was fighting a very fast opponent, he needed to be extremely careful.
A few seconds went by, and then, after what felt like an eternity of waiting, Karciel finally made his move.
He sprang forward with immense speed, reaching Kyle and hacking at his throat.
The attack was fast and grazed Kyle’s skin before he could react, blocking with his sword.
Lord Roach dove in almost immediately, throwing a fist at Karciel’s face.
The ruthless hunter pulled his blade back from Kyle and swung at the fist before it could reach him, and unlike the first time, the bloody blade of the katana severed the hand of the Roach completely off, green blood dripping onto the cold ice.
Yet Lord Roach did not hesitate. It immediately sent its next fist flying towards Karciel’s gut.
"How persistent," the ruthless hunter said, jumping back to avoid the blow entirely, then grabbing onto the arm of the Roach and, with all his might, hurling the loyal summon meters away.
Kyle gritted his teeth at it. The strength and speed of this man was just overwhelming.
He attempted to attack, but that... did not end well for him.
Slashing at Karciel, his sword met with nothing but aimless air, as the brilliant swordsman ducked under the blow.
Then Kyle felt a sharp pain in his gut, his eyes widening at the irony of it.
He blinked a few times and then dropped his gaze from the hunter down to his gut...
"Oh God... oh no..." he said weakly as he stared at it.
His stomach had been sliced open, warm blood pouring out with pieces of his organs spilling alongside it.
His gaze flickered in and out of focus a few times, but he struggled to hold on and stared into the cold eyes of his killer.
Karciel frowned. "You aren’t much of a kill. Don’t look at me like you’re actually worth something."
Karciel spat in disgust, straightening himself, then thrust his sword into Kyle once again.
The blade tore right through his chest, striking his heart.
Kyle’s eyes grew wide, and he could only convulse in that final moment, his senses fading just as he collapsed onto the pure white snow, his life draining out of him into the red-stained white.
He had been killed.