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Since arriving at Shadow Garden, Zeta had shown astonishing persistence.
Whatever training Shino assigned, Zeta completed at double the required amount.
Outside of eating and sleeping, she did nothing but train.
If she wasn’t training to collapse, she was training until she dropped.
She was nothing like a normal girl her age.
Zeta’s eyes burned with hatred.
Alpha noticed.
But she remembered how the Gold-Panther tribe had been wiped out by the Cult.
She could guess where that hatred came from.
Don’t judge others unless you’ve walked in their shoes.
That was something Shino often said.
Alpha understood the principle.
She didn’t say much to Zeta, who was consumed by hatred.
She just felt this state wasn’t good for Zeta, body or mind.
Shino didn’t know how to raise Zeta’s favorability either.
So he stuck to normal training.
The training plan originally scheduled for one month?
Zeta finished it in two weeks.
It was obvious.
She really wanted to get stronger.
“Zeta, since you’ve completed the training plan, let’s move to actual combat training.”
“I’ll be your sparring partner.
I’ll match my magic power to yours.”
“Without further ado, let’s begin.”
“Lord Phantom, forgive my impertinence!”
Zeta gripped her Slime Sword and charged straight at Shino.
Shino deflected the attack easily.
“Your intent is too obvious!
Too much killing intent!”
“You’re moving too fast, your center of gravity’s unstable!”
Shino suddenly relaxed his stance and sidestepped.
Zeta had put too much force behind the swing.
With no enemy in front of her, she crashed face-first into the ground.
Shino didn’t go easy just because she’d fallen.
He swung his sword down at Zeta on the ground.
Of course, she controlled her strength.
Zeta wouldn’t be seriously hurt, at most a few scratches.
Zeta spotted the attack and rolled to dodge.
Shino chased after her, slashing, not giving her a second to breathe.
After a few rolls, Zeta got hit.
Pain shot through her waist.
“In a real fight, your enemy won’t give you any breathing room!”
“Get up.
Again.”
Zeta adjusted her stance and stood.
Her waist throbbed.
Shino’s slash hadn’t done serious damage, but it still affected her.
Shino saw the problem.
He waved his hand.
Blue-violet magic enveloped Zeta.
The pain in Zeta’s waist vanished.
Her stamina returned.
“Round two!”
Having learned her lesson, Zeta didn’t rush in this time.
She kept her balance and held back her full strength.
Shino met her head-on.
Their swords clashed.
Then Shino freed one hand and threw a punch.
Zeta hadn’t expected a fist.
She scrambled backward to dodge.
“Don’t focus only on the sword!
Your enemy won’t fight fair.
They’ll ambush you anytime!”
As he spoke, Shino completed two and a half rotations in the air at blinding speed.
Using the spin’s momentum, she swung her sword down from mid-air.
Zeta knew she couldn’t block it.
She dodged, then counterattacked the moment Shino’s swing missed.
Shino reversed his grip, retracted the blade, and parried.
The instant the block connected, Shino grabbed Zeta’s wrist, yanked her close, and threw her to the ground with a shoulder toss.
“In battle, watch every move your enemy makes!
Never let your guard down!”
They fought from day until night.
Zeta’s growth was visible.
Her strength climbed steadily.
Three weeks later, Zeta was ready to graduate.
Shino handed her over to Alpha.
Zeta would follow Alpha on intelligence gathering.
Around that time, Cid contacted Shino.
……..
……
“Look at her, playing with that lump of iron again.
Instead of learning magic control to become a magic swordsman, she fools around with scrap metal all day!”
Epsilon ignored the other elf children’s taunts and kept tinkering with her machine.
Then a stabbing pain spread across her body.
Black patterns crawled over her skin.
An elder who’d seen such things before recognized it.
“She, she’s Demon Possessed!
Children, get away from her!”
Epsilon stared blankly at the marks on her body, completely lost.
After that, she was captured.
The villagers she’d lived with cursed her with the vilest words.
They beat her too.
They called her filth.
Someone who deserved to die.
Someone who shouldn’t exist.
Epsilon didn’t know what she’d done wrong.
She’d always been an outcast.
Kids her age bullied her, but why were the adults bullying her too?
She was too young to understand.
In the end, she was handed over to the Holy Church.
The Cult locked her in a cage and shipped her to the Church for research.
During transport, Epsilon heard a demon’s whisper.
Do you desire power?
Do you want freedom?
“I want power!
I want freedom!”
Epsilon prayed.
Then, as you wish.
Cid appeared.
He sliced through the cage in one stroke and killed the Cult soldiers in an instant.
Shino arrived only then.
He reached out his hand.
Blue-violet magic flared.
Epsilon’s Demon Possession visibly receded.
Shino told her about the Cult’s crimes.
About the origin of Demon Possession.
About Shadow Garden’s mission.
“Are you willing to join Shadow Garden and fight the Cult with us?”
Shino extended his hand.
“I am.”
Epsilon took it.
“Welcome to Shadow Garden.
I’m Phantom.
The one who saved you is Shadow.
He had things to do, so he left first.”
“From today, you leave your old self behind.
Your new name is Epsilon.”
“I understand.”
Shino brought Epsilon back to Shadow Garden.
Epsilon had no talent for combat.
But Shino still trained her so she could protect herself.
The same training course took Epsilon two months to complete.
Once she could handle herself, Shino started teaching her other things.
The mechanical principles of a camera.
The power principles of a steam locomotive.
Anything Shino could think of, he explained to Epsilon.
Epsilon grabbed a notebook and wrote down every piece of knowledge Shino gave her.
Then she started building a simple telegraph machine.
With Shino’s guidance, Epsilon avoided countless detours.
In one month, she successfully developed a working telegraph.
They could now communicate remotely.
Shino also personally taught Epsilon to build a bicycle.
It wasn’t as fast as a magic swordsman, but it was convenient and energy-efficient.
Using the bicycle as a base, Epsilon started researching how to make it fully automatic.
Seeing her so absorbed, Shino didn’t interfere.
Time passed quickly.
Before they knew it, nearly a year had passed since Shadow Garden was founded.
One day, Shino finished his usual training and returned to base.
At the entrance, she sensed it.
The Seven Shadows were all inside.
All hiding.
Shino pretended not to notice and pushed open the door.
Pop!
A party popper went off.
“Happy birthday, Phantom!” Alpha said.
“Happy birthday, Lord Phantom!”
The Seven Shadows shouted in unison.
Shino had almost forgotten.
Today was his birthday.
On the table sat a large cake, handmade by the Seven Shadows.
“Thank you all.”
Shino hadn’t expected them to celebrate.
Everyone sat together and shared a warm meal.
“Oh, right.
Most of you haven’t met Shadow yet.
Let me call him so you can all meet.”
“He’s the founder of Shadow Garden.
If you ever run into danger and happen to cross paths with him, ask him for help.
He’s incredibly strong.”
At that moment, Cid sensed through magic that Shino was looking for him.
As Lord Shadow’s benefactor, he came whenever called.
Cid pushed open the door to the Shadow Garden base.
He wore pitch-black clothes and a black cloak.
His face looked completely harmless.
“This is Phantom, also called Cid.
He and I are twins.
Today’s technically his birthday too.”
Some of the Seven Shadows had seen Shadow before.
Some hadn’t.
“Hello,” Cid said, neither warm nor cold.
“Greetings, Lord Shadow,” Alpha said.
“Greetings, Lord Shadow!”
The Seven Shadows followed Alpha’s lead.
“This is a small gift.”
Cid released magic from his hand, slightly boosting everyone’s strength.
Shino could use the same technique, but it drained his own power, so he rarely bothered.
Cid ate a quick meal with them, then left.
Most people didn’t have much of an impression of him.
They just thought he was strong.
A powerful leader.
That was everyone’s take on Cid.
Shino, in their eyes, was a powerful and admirable leader.
Cid didn’t want to get tangled in daily affairs.
So he left.
To him, becoming an Eminence in Shadow was all that mattered.
Aside from Alpha, everyone here was still a child.
Shino had them well taken care of.
Cid could just be the absentee boss.
Unless there was a reason, he couldn’t be bothered to show up.
➤ Next: The City of Mist