The night deepened, and a black curtain covered the red earth of the Rasia Plains.
They said the Kingdom of Belkain had been cursed by the Constellations so that not even the faintest starlight existed there. But because they had not yet passed within the wall, the stars had not vanished entirely.
Even so, the night could not have felt more ominous. The scattered stars were far too faint to illuminate the pitch-black darkness, while violet poisonous fog flowed low over the ground like a river.
Crackle, crackle......
The campfire squeezed out the last of its strength as it consumed the branches. Whenever the flames flickered, the shadows surrounding the carriage danced grotesquely.
Yuto sat motionless in the driver's seat, watching the campfire. Beside him, Flokiro slept beneath a blanket, while Levian's steady breathing came from inside the carriage.
It was a peaceful moment, but Yuto's senses were as taut and sharp as a drawn bowstring. This was a land where death lingered close. The instant the warmth of the living appeared, the starving creatures hidden in the darkness would bare their fangs.
“......”
Yuto quietly turned his head. At the same moment, the sleeping Flokiro's ears pricked up. It immediately rose and growled low toward the darkness.
The sound of feet treading on dry ground came from every direction. This was no mere movement of wild animals. A steady rhythm was slowly encircling the carriage. Yuto lightly jumped down from the driver's seat and spoke.
“Levian, wake up.”
Yuto's short, forceful shout rang through the darkness. The carriage door immediately flew open, and Levian burst out gripping her staff. He had thought she was deeply asleep, but she reacted quickly. She must have gone to sleep deliberately keeping herself alert.
“W-what is it?”
Though disheveled, Levian kept her voice steady and tried to assess their surroundings.
“We have guests.”
Yuto surveyed the darkness as he spoke. They had traveled exclusively on public roads until now, so they had neither been attacked at night nor encountered bandits. From this point onward, however, they were in a perilous lawless land under the control of no nearby kingdom or city.
Red glints appeared one after another in the darkness. One, two...... ten...... more than twenty pairs of eyes.
The creatures emerging from the darkness were wolf-shaped Evomon as large as bears. Blood Wolves. They normally lived in the mountains, but they appeared to have smelled prey camping outside the wall.
[Grrrr......]
Their dark-red fur, the color of dried blood, stood on end. Violet saliva hung in threads from their jaws, dripping between exposed, razor-sharp teeth. Most roads leading to Belkain had checkpoints restricting access. The Blood Wolves were delighted and excited to encounter the rare prey of humans.
Watching them, Yuto opened his hand. WHOOSH—! The obsidian dagger shot out of Void Storage and landed in his palm.
The closer he came to Belkain, the more Yuto's heart alternated between cold as ice and hot as flame. This journey had stirred his emotions in many ways, leaving an unresolved pressure that made him deeply uncomfortable.
Put simply, Yuto wanted to ‘explode.’ Anything would do. He wanted to rampage and pour out the frustration, irritation, rage, and hatred choking him. The black sky and the faint stars hanging overhead as if in mockery only provoked him further.
So the arrival of these guests pleased him. Murderous intent saturated Yuto's eyes, and his lips twisted into a grotesque smile. It was neither pleasure steeped in ecstasy nor the composure of certain victory. It was an emotion closer to a scream, born as the terrible emptiness and hatred swelling from deep within his chest erupted together.
[SKREEE—!]
A massive Blood Wolf that appeared to lead the pack kicked off the ground and leaped. Its bear-sized bulk cast a deep shadow over Yuto's head. The fangs in its gaping jaws were about to swallow him whole.
The pitch-black haze pouring from behind Yuto instantly formed a gigantic hand. CLENCH—! The manifested Void Hand seized the wolf's muzzle. After forcing its stinking jaws shut, Yuto swung his own arm and slashed with the dagger.
CRUNCH—! The obsidian dagger split the Blood Wolf's tough hide and hard bones. Yuto's Strength at Level 9 surpassed that of an adult man. With his body reinforced by aether as well, gutting the wolf with his small body was effortless.
Blood and entrails spilled from its split belly. The Blood Wolf was still alive and struggling, but trapped in the Void Hand, it could not even cry out. CRASH—! The Void Hand hurled it to the ground.
Yuto's shoes splashed through the pool of blood. Levian's mouth fell open at the gratuitously violent and brutal act.
“Yu......”
Before Levian could call his name, Yuto vanished from before her eyes. Using Void Step, he boldly plunged into the pack of Blood Wolves. THUNK—! Yuto drove the dagger down into the head of the nearest one.
[SKREEE—!]
The Blood Wolf whose brain had been pierced twisted as it released a grotesque shriek, but the Void Hand moved once more and crushed its body down. CRUNCH—! Its spine shattered, and the wolf collapsed flat against the ground.
[GRAAAH—!]
Another Blood Wolf lunged at Yuto, but he did not use Void Step. In place of the motionless Yuto, another Void Hand moved. THUD—! The hand struck the Blood Wolf and sent it rolling across the ground.
That was all. Yuto had merely knocked the Blood Wolf aside without killing it, because he wanted to swing the dagger and kill it with his own hands.
“Y-Yuto!”
Levian finally came to her senses and shouted. Aether flowed into the staff in her grip. WHOOSH—! A sphere of flame formed at its tip and illuminated the darkness.
BOOM—! The fireball struck a Blood Wolf aiming for Yuto's back. Wrapped in flames, the creature rolled across the ground. But Levian did not stop. SWISH—! Blades of wind rose around her. SLASH—! The wind blades carved apart the Blood Wolf as it writhed in the flames.
Her boast that she excelled in offensive magic at Maria Academy had not been empty. Pressure from the real battle made her fingertips tremble, but Levian's magic was precise and lethal.
“Yuto! Don't fight so recklessly!”
Yuto's body flinched to a stop at Levian's shout. At that moment, his obsidian dagger was stabbing repeatedly into another Blood Wolf's neck. He shuddered as he looked at his hand. Blood spraying from the wolf's wounds had drenched it.
“......”
Yuto's eyes wavered at the sight. CRACK—! A dull noise sounded nearby. It was Flokiro crushing the head of a Blood Wolf after charging into the battlefield.
Flokiro's eyes turned to Yuto. He read the emotion within them. The two of them had shared the same failure and despair. Flokiro understood Yuto's desire to run wild, yet rebuked him because the act was wrong.
Raging like this would provide only a moment's release. It would not even leave him refreshed. If this manner of venting became a habit, madness and violence would accumulate in his heart.
Yuto bit his lip. His body, heated by the Blood Wolves' blood and the atmosphere of battle, cooled. His heart, which had pounded violently while murderous intent consumed him, recovered its normal rhythm.
‘This isn't like me.’
Anyone swept away by emotion and robbed of reason was unfit to be a knight. Bitter self-reproach washed over him at the fact that the cool judgment built over countless battlefields before his regression had collapsed so easily before the remnants of the past.
“......Flokiro, Levian. Let's finish the rest.”
Reason had returned to Yuto's voice. Flokiro quietly nodded.
It did not take long to annihilate the remaining Blood Wolves. Yuto was no longer brutal. He used Void Hand to end his enemies efficiently and did not needlessly swing the blood-soaked dagger.
Some Blood Wolves were terrified and tried to flee, but Flokiro and Levian's magic blocked them, and they fell one after another.
The battle ended.
Yuto wiped the blood from his dagger as he walked among the corpses. Levian followed with a complicated expression. Her gaze lingered on his bloodstained shoes. With every step Yuto took, footprints of blood appeared across the wasteland.
“Yuto.”
Flokiro, now sitting near the carriage, spoke first.
“That wasn't like you. You know that, right?”
“I know.”
Yuto nodded in agreement. He looked down at the dagger and his hands. He had wiped them clean, but...... the stickiness, the metallic smell, and the red stains remained like ink.
“I...... don't know much about you, but.”
Levian spoke hesitantly.
“I could tell that what you just did wasn't like your usual self. You looked like someone possessed...... no, like a monster driven beyond endurance by hatred for someone.”
Concern mingled with a trace of fear in Levian's voice.
“Is something wrong? The closer we come to Belkain...... the more dangerous you seem, far more than when we first met.”
Yuto did not answer immediately. Instead, he tossed another piece of wood onto the dying campfire.
“I was only on edge from smelling blood. The atmosphere around here is so murderous that it made me tense.”
Yuto answered after a brief silence. It was an obviously flimsy excuse. Levian bit her lip and glared at him, but before she could say anything more, Yuto addressed her first.
“Was that your first real battle?”
“Y-yes......?”
“A real battle. I suppose it was. The young lady of Marigold could hardly have experienced a battlefield...... and the academy's training can't have amounted to more than sparring under an instructor's supervision.”
“That's...... right. That was my first real battle.”
Levian answered hesitantly. Yuto chuckled and looked at her.
“You did well for your first battle. Maria Academy's training wasn't wasted.”
“Thank you...... for the compliment. Ahem.”
She wanted to beam and boast, but the circumstances made that impossible. The corpses of the slaughtered Blood Wolves still lay scattered around the carriage.
“I...... never want to grow accustomed to this smell. Wouldn't it be better to clear away the bodies?”
“Leave them. Other Evomon will come and eat them. Then they won't bother us.”
Yuto opened and closed his sticky hand as he spoke. Levian sighed at the sight and raised her staff. WHOOSH, a floating sphere of water flew toward Yuto.
“You fought like a man desperate to be drenched in blood. Now that it's on you, you don't like it?”
Yuto smiled bitterly and washed his hands in the water.
“Thank you.”
“There's no need to thank me. It wasn't difficult.”
Despite her answer, Levian's eyelids drooped slightly with fatigue. With the tension of battle gone, exhaustion appeared to have struck her all at once.
“I'll take the rest of the watch. You should get more sleep.”
“But......”
“Don't argue. You need rest for your aether to recover, don't you? A mage entering a battlefield while depleted of aether is suicide.”
Tomorrow, the group would pass through Belkain's gate. In the end, Levian relented and nodded.
“All right. Thank you for being considerate.”
Levian nodded and entered the carriage. Yuto remained alone with Flokiro before the campfire.
“You really are all right, aren't you?”
Flokiro asked carefully. Yuto watched the flames for a moment before answering quietly.
“Who knows.”
He knew he could not let himself be shaken, yet he could not stop it.
Not being shaken at all would have been inhuman.
Yuto swallowed a rising sigh and covered his face with his cold hands.