---

Adventurer Town Delhurst, Calden Inn, Aria’s Room (Aria POV)

---

I let out a light yawn as the gentle sound of raindrops hitting the window pane slightly roused me from my sleep. A few tranquil moments passed by before I realized that I was holding something in my right hand. I didn’t know what it was, but my hazy sense of touch told me that it was something soft and warm. It was a tender warmth that contrasted my cold right arm and I unconsciously tightened my grip as if I was trying to squeeze out all of the warmth. I pulled the unknown thing under the blanket and brought it close to my chest before holding it with both of my hands. After a while, the heat under the blanket finally enveloped me completely and I dozed off again.

***

The sound of the rain was still there when I woke up the second time, and I let out another yawn as I slowly got out from under the blanket. I shivered a bit after coming into contact with the cold air in the room, and one of my hands was still tightly grasping something while my other hand rubbed my eyes.

When I finally regained my visual clarity, I looked down at the blanket and saw two hands holding each other. The grogginess still hadn’t disappeared and I sat there for a second before realizing what I saw was my hand holding someone else’s. My line of sight moved past the hand I was holding and along the arm it was connected to before I saw a head of white hair peeking at me from over the edge of my bed. Still feeling a bit dazed, I leaned over to look down towards the floor and there I saw Ky there with his arm bent towards me. He was fast asleep while leaning on the side of my bed and I could faintly hear the sound of his soft breathing.

After returning to my original sitting position, I sat on the bed in silence for a few moments and stared at the hand I was holding as my brain finally reoriented itself from the heavy drinking I did last night.

Over the course of the next couple of minutes, I finally put together all of my previous observations and came to a conclusion. The hand that I was looking at, the hand that felt so warm earlier, the hand that I had been holding for the entire night, that hand was Ky’s hand. I stared intensely at Ky’s hand as a slight blush appeared on my face and a few moments passed by as my blush slowly became redder in increments before finally spreading across my entire face.

Eventually, I flung Ky’s arm off my bed and back on top of his body as I held my head in my hands, feeling the blood rush to my face while I desperately racked my memories to try and remember exactly what happened last night. But no matter how hard I tried, all I could remember from yesterday was us celebrating my promotion and drinking as much as we could before everything faded to black.

After giving up on trying to remember what happened yesterday, I ran through my vague memories of this morning and the scene of me hugging Ky’s hand close to my chest while sleeping popped up in my mind. I buried my burning red face in my pillow as I hugged my knees and let out a cute whimper before peeking over to look at Ky’s head.

“...a-augh…” (Aria)

I stared at his snow-white hair as I wallowed in my embarrassment for a few more minutes before finally managing to barely pull myself together. Eventually, I just decided that the best course of action was to pretend like nothing happened and completely forget about it.

I slapped myself lightly in the face with both hands before I got off my bed and started to lift Ky slowly so that he wouldn’t wake up. When I finally picked him up off the floor, he grumbled for a moment, which made me freeze up, but after a few seconds there wasn’t another response from him and I quietly let out a sigh of relief.

After carrying him right next door to his room, I wanted to gently put Ky down onto his bed, but as I was carrying him over, he shifted around in my arms. I instantly panicked thinking that he woke up and unconsciously let go of him so I could use my hands to muffle my yelp. Ky fell onto the floor next to his bed and laid there silently for a while before I calmed myself down and doubled checked that he was still asleep. I quietly closed the door to his room before sneaking back to mine, getting back in bed, and muttering to myself with my face still burning red while trying to fall asleep again.

“Nothing happened last night, absolutely nothing… all that happened last night was we had a party, went back to our rooms after drinking, and... Ky passed out on the floor right before he made it to his bed because he drank too much while I went back to my room to sleep BY MYSELF. I never held his hand, and in a little bit, we’ll both wake up and everything will be normal...ha...ha...ha...ha...” (Aria)

I rolled around in bed with my pillow on top of my face, pretending to be asleep while running through every possible scenario for what could have happened in my head as the sound of my heart racing drowned out the rain hitting the window pane.

---

Adventurer Town Delhurst, Calden Inn, Kyle’s Room (Kyle POV)

---

When I woke up, the sound of light rain hitting the window pane was beginning to die down and I opened my eyes to find that I was on the floor in my room. I shivered a bit from the cold and a funny sense of deja vu bubbled up inside me from sleeping on the floor again like I did for that one week after I met Aria. I slowly rolled over with a groan as I grabbed the edge of my bed frame to hoist myself up.

“Ugh… what happened?” (Kyle)

I rubbed my temples a bit as the slight hangover from last night made my head lightly throb, and after a moment, I ran through my memories again.

“Last night we had a party for Aria’s promotion. We drank a lot, and I vaguely remember carrying her back to her room, but after that, there’s nothing…” (Kyle)

After running through my memories to no avail, I decided that I would go check up on Aria to see if she was ok. She did drink enough to pass out last night, so she probably had a huge hangover right now.

I opened the door to my room, which was unlocked for some reason, and walked over to Aria’s room next door as I yawned while knocking on it.

“Aria, you there? I’m gonna be making breakfast soon.” (Kyle)

When I called out for her, there was silence for a moment before I heard a loud crash and a cry of pain from inside.

“...Argh!” (Aria)

I immediately got worried and pushed against the door to get inside. I was prepared to force it open if I needed to, but for some reason, it was also unlocked and I burst into the room with an uneasy expression on my face.

My eyes scanned around the room for Aria, and I found her rolling around on the floor clutching her head with tears in her eyes. I ran over to her and stopped her from rolling to see what was wrong.

“Aria, are you ok? What happened?” (Kyle)

Aria didn’t answer me, but after glancing around again and seeing the small crack on her wooden bed frame along with the bump on her head, I came to the conclusion that she just hit her head like an idiot. I sighed and lifted her up off the floor before placing her back onto her bed.

“Wait here, I’ll go grab some ice.” (Kyle)

Aria gave me a whimper as I left her room and went back to mine. I rummaged through the bags on my desk and took out an alchemy stone from one. It was a monster core about the size of a bottle cap which looked like an icy blue colored crystal and it had a small magic circle carved into it. I held the alchemy stone in my hand and activated the magic circle carved into it.

“【Ice Shard】, single cast, activate.” (Kyle)

The crystal shone with a similar colored light before being replaced with a sharp chunk of ice about the size of my palm. I snapped the sharp edges off the chunk of ice and placed it into a small bag to create a makeshift ice pack before returning to Aria’s room.

When I returned with the ice pack, Aria was covering her face with her pillow and hugging her knees on the bed. I walked over and nudged her in the face with the ice pack.

“Alright, show me where you hit your head.” (Kyle)

“Kyaa!” (Aria)

Aria gave a small shriek from the sudden cold and peeked her eyes out from under the pillow for a moment. A moment passed as she made eye contact with me before immediately covering her face with the pillow again. I heard her muffled voice from beneath the pillow as she rolled over to her side to face away from me.

“T-thanks, Ky. Just leave the ice here, I can do it by myself.” (Aria)

“What are you talking about? It’s ok, I won’t make fun of you. Here, let me see how big the bump is.” (Kyle)

I sat down on the bed next to Aria and ran my hand through her hair as she started fidgeting around. There was a small bump on the back of her head and I gently placed the ice pack on top of it.

“...eek!” (Aria)

“Hey, hold still!” (Kyle)

Aria initially started squirming around in her bed after I placed the ice pack on her head, but after a few moments she calmed down and after about ten more minutes, the swelling had started to disappear. I softly rubbed Aria’s head a bit to make sure the swelling wasn’t too bad before smiling and looking at the clock. It was almost 11 AM, about time to get something to eat.

“Alright, looks like you’re good now. It’s a little late for breakfast so I’ll be back in a few minutes with brunch. Today will be pancakes.” (Kyle)

“...ok...” (Aria)

I stared for a moment at Aria still holding the pillow over her face before shrugging and leaving the room to go prepare breakfast.

“Hmm, did she really hit her head that hard? It didn’t look that bad. Eh, knowing her, she’ll probably be fine once I give her some food.” (Kyle)

When I came back to Aria’s room with a tray of freshly made pancakes, she was sitting on the bed with a slightly red face as she fidgeted around with her hands. I pulled out a small table from the corner of the room and set the tray of pancakes down before taking the chair from under the desk and sitting down across from Aria.

“Hey, Aria, you ok?” (Kyle)

“Y-yeah, I’m fine.” (Aria)

She had a small nervous smile and an unnatural flush on her face as she picked up her utensils and started to eat the pancakes in small bites. A few moments passed as we sat there and ate brunch together, but whenever I tried to make eye contact, she immediately turned her head away to look at the wall or the window. Eventually, I started staring at her to see what was wrong. I noticed that her face was slowly getting redder and I grabbed her hand.

“Wha-” (Aria)

Aria finally faced me and made eye contact as I got a good look at her extremely red face before I immediately put my other hand to her forehead to check what her temperature was. I was starting to suspect that she was sick after seeing her behavior earlier, and right now her face was burning up.

“Aria, we’re going to a doctor right now. I’m 100% sure that you’re sick. Your face is redder than a tomato, your forehead’s burning up, and you’ve been fidgeting around weirdly. Usually, you shove everything you can into your mouth as fast as possible, but you’ve only been taking small bites of your food, and you haven’t even physically or verbally abused me for something unreasonable yet.” (Kyle)

I stood up, moved the table out of the way, and started to drag Aria with me, but once I made it to the doorway, Aria stopped in her tracks and shook free from my grasp before muttering to herself with an angry smile.

“So... that’s how you see me, huh?” (Aria)

I turned around and was about to ask her what was wrong when she kicked me into the hallway and slammed the door shut before locking it. I got up and started to try and open the door.

“I’m glad to see you’re acting more like usual now, but you should still see a doctor! Trust me, it’s for your own good!” (Kyle)

“I don’t need a doctor! It’s your damn fault I’m like this anyway!” (Aria)

“What!? How was it my fault!?” (Kyle)

I cried out indignantly, but that was the last I heard from Aria until she came out for dinner that night looking perfectly normal, albeit slightly depressed.

---

Edge of Civilization, Zolran Mountain Range, Dragon’s Cave (Kyle POV)

---

I felt a light breeze blow across my face as I gazed at the colors in the sky and sat there, leaning against a tree. A few feet away from me, Aria was standing behind a different tree while staring intently at the entrance to the dragon’s cave.

We were hiding behind the trees near the dragon’s cave in the mountain range, and according to our observations, and the guild’s data, this time of the year is when the dragon stays in its cave the most.

You see, a few months have passed and winter has started again, but around this area, the winters are actually pretty warm. It isn’t exactly shorts and sandals weather, but there’s rarely any snow, and it basically just feels like a slightly colder fall. Honestly though, I couldn’t care less about that right now.

Aria and I have been observing the dragon for the past week, and two days ago, we even saw it leave for about five hours before returning, so it should be in its cave for another few days at minimum.

Today was just another normal day of observing the dragon, or well, it would’ve been if it weren’t for the fact that tomorrow is the day we’ve chosen to finally confront it.

Despite the eerie silence of the woods around us and the slowly fading light of sunset, there was a visible tension coming from Aria as she stood there stiffly while taking long deep breaths with her eyes closed, almost like she was meditating. I watched her for a moment before walking over to her silently and whispering to her.

“... Aria, it’s sunset, we should go back soon.” (Kyle)

Aria exhaled and opened her eyes, which gleamed with uncertainty, before turning around and answering me.

“...ok, let's go back...” (Aria)

Aria glanced at the cave one last time before walking past me to lead the way back. I could sense the aura of anxiety surrounding her as we walked down the mountain in silence, and the dim illumination of twilight slowly devoured the last vestiges of sunlight as I stared at her back while we wordlessly trudged on through the mountain woods.

Eventually, we reached the main road back to Delhurst from the mountains. The sound of our footsteps was the only thing cutting through the silence, and the lonely atmosphere was slowly overwhelming me... until I finally snapped.

I couldn’t take it anymore.

I hated the all too familiar sight in front of me.

I hated the emotions it brought up, I hated the things it made me remember, and what I hated the most... was the fact that it was the sight of someone I cared about that was making me feel like this.

What filled my vision was just a single person walking through the darkness by herself. It was a girl who was lost, a girl who didn’t know what to do.

It was a girl who was alone...

Aria’s hands were in the shape of tight fists as she made her way down the road. Her gait was stiff, almost robotic, and she was just staring downwards at the floor in front of her as she walked. I couldn’t see her face, but I already knew what it looked like.

Because it was the same face I made a long, long time ago. A face full of fear and hopeless uncertainty, masked by a facade.

“... I don’t want to see this anymore...” (Kyle)

My right foot stopped moving. It hit the ground and stopped all my forward momentum as I stood still. Aria stopped walking right after I did, and there was a moment of silence before she turned around to face me.

“What’s wrong, Ky? Come on, hurry up or we won’t make it back in time for dinner.” (Aria)

I was right.

Aria showed me a smile. It was a textbook fake smile, one that was as far from a real smile as possible. I’ve seen Aria smile a lot, and whether it was an angry one because I made her mad, a satisfied one because she was eating delicious food, or a happy one because she was genuinely having fun, there was always a sense of life in her eyes. But right now... there was nothing.

I stared into her eyes for a moment before responding slowly in a soft voice.

“...Hey, Aria… tell me the truth, are you afraid?” (Kyle)

Aria froze as she stared back at me with that fake smile before letting out an even phonier laugh.

“No way, I’m not scared at all. Don’t worry, we’ve already prepared a lot for the fight. We’ve got everything on lockdown. We have those two special fireproof cloaks to protect us from the dragon’s breath, we’re fighting in the winter when it’s at its weakest, and you even bought all those ice element monster cores to set up that big alchemy formation outside, right? We’ve already spent a lot of money on this... so just believe in me. We’ll definitely win. And we’ll go back to the capital together afterward, so-” (Aria)

I grit my teeth and cut her off with a low voice after hearing her spew out all this fake garbage.

“...Is that all you’re gonna give me?... Just a fake smile, some worthless semantics, and your flimsy facade of confidence?...” (Kyle)

Aria stood there stiffly and we just stared at each other in silence again. For us, the faint night breeze blowing by was the only sound in the world. It flowed along and warmly caressed both our bodies as we stood there until finally, I moved.

I took a single step forward.

And then another step.

And finally, one more.

I stood in front of Aria and lifted my arms to hold her by the shoulders.

“... If you don’t want to tell me anything then it’s fine, just let me say one thing…” (Kyle)

I pulled Aria close and hugged her tightly, almost like I was trying to melt her with my warmth.

“...You’re not alone anymore... So stop acting like you’re the one holding up everything by yourself. I already told you, I’ll cook for you, I’ll set up camp for you, and I’ll help you carry everything... even burdens, because... I’m your partner… so please, don’t lie to me...” (Kyle)

It felt like time had stopped, but eventually another pair of arms wrapped around my back and hugged just as tight as I did. I felt my shirt getting slightly wet, and the sound of Aria’s muffled crying replaced the howling of the dry winter breeze as we stood there under a sea of stars.

---

Adventurer Town Delhurst, Calden Inn, Aria’s Room (Aria POV)

---

The faint sound of a pen scratching on paper was the only thing that could be heard in my room before I finished writing my letter, folded the paper in half, and placed it on top of my desk.

It was a few hours past midnight right now, and I stretched a bit in my chair before turning off the lamp next to me. Darkness flooded the room as the moonlight outside peeked through the window. I stared at the ceiling and sat in silence for a bit until my eyes adjusted to the dim light and I got up.

I picked up the letter and rummaged through my desk to find the extra key to Ky’s room that he gave me. And after staring at the letter in my hands for a few minutes, I made my way over to the door and left my room.

I walked over to Ky’s room and unlocked it using the extra key before gently nudging the door open and peeking inside. The dim moonlight shone through the window and illuminated Ky sleeping on his bed.

I slowly walked over and sat down on the floor next to his bed while I listened to his faint breathing. Then, I leaned against the bed frame and held the letter in my hands as I hugged my knees before my soft voice rang out.

“...Hey, Ky… I think I finally figured out what I want to do…” (Aria)

I turned my head toward the window and looked at the moon gently lighting up the night sky amidst a sea of stars.

“... I’m going to fight the dragon alone… because I’ve finally realized who the most important person in my life is... it’s you... and that’s why you’re the one person I can’t drag with me into danger… I’m scared of the dragon, but honestly... I think I’m even more scared of losing you… You’re irreplaceable to me because you’re... my one and only partner…” (Aria)

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes as I leaned my head back onto the bed.

“... You know… if Max didn’t exist... I definitely would’ve married you… so if I do make it back... I think I’ll turn down that knight captain position… I’ll just settle down in the capital and take it easy… and if I do, I’ll definitely need a personal chef… so get ready, because I’ll be dragging you with me, whether you like it or not...” (Aria)

I slowly got up and turned around to look at Ky as my face eased into a small happy smile.

After a moment, I left the letter on Ky’s desk and had one last look at the room before quietly leaving.

---

Edge of Civilization, Zolran Mountain Range, Dragon’s Cave (Aria POV)

---

The howling of the wind masked the sound of my footsteps as I stepped through the darkness and arrived at the entrance of the cave. The dim light from the faintly glowing crystals lining the inside of the cave shone out and illuminated my silhouette. I held my greatsword in my hands and readied myself as the crisp morning air flowed through my lungs and I stared at the dragon sleeping inside.

“... I have to keep it in the cave. If it gets out and starts flying, I can’t win...” (Aria)

I inhaled and chantlessly cast body strengthening magic on myself like I had done countless times before. My body instantly felt lighter and my legs broke into a sprint as I rushed at the sleeping dragon’s head.

I channeled the mana in my body into my greatsword and activated three sword techniques simultaneously,【Mana Edge】to make my sword sharper,【Reinforce】to harden it, and【Increase Weight】to make it heavier. The hazy white light of mana thinly covered my greatsword, and then… the sound of metal cutting into flesh finally reached my ears. I canceled the sword techniques and channeled ice element mana into my sword before pulling it out from the dragon’s right eye and jumping away as the blood spilling out from the dragon’s eye began to freeze. The dragon let out a deafening roar of pain as it finally woke up and lifted its entire body up to face me.

Immediately, I followed up with a spin to control the momentum, then a hard swing to its wide open chest. My sword lit up again as I activated【Mana Edge】and sparks flew from the blade while it ground through the dragon’s scales. I pushed against the ground with my left leg as I dashed past to the dragon’s right side.

However, once I ran past its wing, I stopped in my tracks, clenched my teeth, and stacked【Reinforce】as I barely held up my sword in time to block the tail flying straight at me.

The tail collided with the flat part of my greatsword and I was blasted away about a dozen feet into the cave wall. Shards of crushed rock and crystal tore cuts and scrapes into me as the wind was knocked out of my lungs and my entire body rattled in my armor from the impact. My vision blurred for a split second before the image of the dragon’s gaping maw filled my line of sight.

I instantly reacted and pulled the fire-proof cloak covering my armor to shield my body as a mass of flames poured out from the dragon’s mouth. The flames singed the edges of my armor, but the cloak blocked most of the fire and I jumped out as fast as I could before slipping past the dragon to its right side again as it tried to claw at me.

Slamming my foot against the ground, I rolled past the swipe from the dragon as I activated【Mana Edge】again and stabbed my blade into the dragon’s flank as hard as I could. The scales shattered from the kinetic force and my blade tore into the tough flesh. I canceled【Mana Edge】and began to pump in ice elemental mana again as my sword gradually glowed with an icy blue aura.

The faint crackle of ice crystals forming echoed throughout the cave as I grit my teeth and pumped more and more mana into my body strengthening magic to push my sword forward. The blade ripped through the scales and froze the dragon’s flesh as it sliced a gaping wound into the dragon’s right flank.

Another roar of pain echoed out as it swiped at me again with its tail. I put strength into my legs and kicked against the ground to jump over its tail, but the dragon spun around and its head shot at me to try and bite me.

I held my sword horizontally and activated【Reinforce】to harden my sword as I waited until the dragon’s maw was right in front of me before I channeled a large amount mana into my body strengthening magic again and smashed its jaw closed from the bottom to push the dragon’s head above me.

When I landed, I spun again and followed the momentum of my greatsword to slash low at the dragon’s right leg.

I activated increase weight and reinforce as I strained every muscle fiber in my legs to push forward on this swing.

“Uwwooohhhhhhh!” (Aria)

My greatsword smashed against the dragon’s leg and it felt like I was whacking at a steel pole as the impact from the collision shook my arms, but along with that impact was the sound of bone and scale being crushed. I let go of my sword with my right hand and held it in my left as I quickly pulled out one enchanted knife from the pair I had on my belt before activating【Mana Edge】and【Increase Weight】. The knife drove itself through the dragon’s foot and impaled it to the ground as I channeled my mana into the enchanted knife to activate it.

The dragon desperately swiped at me again and I held my blade against my arm and activated【Reinforce】again right before it blew me back towards the entrance of the cave while the knife encased the dragon’s right leg in ice, freezing it to the floor.

I bounced and rolled against the ground a few times before I smashed against the cave wall again and the dragon sent another blast of fire at me. I quickly covered myself with the cloak and strained my bruised body to get up from the floor and run towards the dragon again.

It bit at me a second time as I dashed towards it and slid under the chomp to its left side. I activated【Reinforce】on my sword again and held it at an angle against the ground to block the dragon’s left arm smashing down at me on the floor as the impact rattled my arms before being deflected. I grabbed the second knife while rolling over before casting【Mana Edge】and【Increase Weight】to impale the dragon’s left hand to the ground just like it’s right leg. I activated the enchantment while getting up and kicked against the ground to lunge away before rolling to stop my momentum.

The dragon’s left hand was similarly encased in ice a moment later, and it roared towards me with a mixture of pain and anger while it was stuck.

I stood there with ragged breathing as I took a moment of respite and leaned on my sword like a cane. The dragon flailed its limbs violently to try and reach me, and although it was still immobilized for now, the sounds of the ice beginning to crack told me it was going to escape soon

“... Still not dead?...” (Aria)

It was clear to me that it wouldn’t die so easily, but I knew I wouldn’t win in a battle of attrition, so my only choice was to kill it in one attack. I thought for a moment about what my options were before deciding that the only thing I had that could possibly kill the dragon instantly was the strongest sword technique I had, my half completed sword truth.

It’s a fire dragon, so it has some natural resistance to the lightning-based sword techniques I normally use... but a sword truth is something on a completely different level.

I’ve been training in swordsmanship for as long as I can remember... My entire life, I’ve been living with a sword in my hand, and even though I haven’t reached the peak yet, I’m, at the very least, close to it.

My sword truth might not be a real one yet, but it’s still the strongest attack I have. Once I do use my sword truth, I definitely won’t have enough energy to move anymore, but the dragon isn’t going to be stuck forever and I’m running out of stamina, so it’s now or never.

My eyes shone with resolve for a moment before I closed them and calmed down my breathing. I emptied any chaotic thoughts from my mind and picked up my sword with an expressionless face as I slowly put my body into a stance.

The tip of my greatsword was pointed towards the dragon as I inhaled. After completely canceling my body strengthening magic, every last drop of mana I had in me moved through my hands into my sword before rebounding back into my body. The flow of mana formed a raging cycle as the speed of the revolution started to slowly increase before I finally opened my eyes again to reveal that they were glowing with a hazy red light.

My voice resonated in the cave as I began to chant slowly.

“May life itself revel in the edge of my blade,” (Aria)

... I need to make it back...

“For the sword I know of is one of singularity,” (Aria)

... I have things I need to do...

“One that exists not for the end, nor the beginning,” (Aria)

... I have people I need to see again...

“One that exists only for a moment,” (Aria)

... I have promises that I need to keep...

“It is an unstoppable surge, an imperceivable flash, an instantaneous strike,” (Aria)

... I have a friend to return to...

“That will once again return to serenity.” (Aria)

This is everything I have. This is my resolve!

My sword shone with a solid crimson light as scarlet bolts of lightning revolved around me and my sword like vicious serpents. My body turned ethereal as the crimson light enveloped it and the sword in my hand was slowly replaced with a blade of red lightning.

I struggled to hold my sword as I took a single step forward and before I could even react myself... I was behind the dragon facing the wall, and it was over.

I had instantaneously burst forward in a single point the moment I took that step and pierced through the dragon. It tore open a gaping hole and cauterized the wound immediately afterward. The lightning even kept going after I stopped. It crushed both stone and crystal, ripping a clean hole into the wall as the area around it crumbled into broken chunks from the pure force.

I dropped to my knees as the deafening sound of thunder reverberated behind me and I realized that my sword had shattered from the strike. All I was left with was the smoldering remains of its handle... and it was then that the sense of unease that I had been suppressing finally broke out. I desperately tried to fool myself into thinking that I had actually killed the dragon, but a moment later, I was finally forced to face reality when a crazed roar sounded out behind me.

It wasn’t that my sword truth wasn’t strong enough, or that the dragon was able to unnaturally resist it. In fact, my sword truth cut through its flesh and bone with ease, and the dragon scales were basically akin to paper against a strike of that caliber. Even if my sword truth wasn’t complete, it was still extremely powerful, and I know that better than anyone.

So why didn’t it work? Well, the answer was quite simple really.

I just missed.

Yes. That’s right, I missed.

You see, the reason I didn’t want to use my sword truth wasn’t only that it would drain me of all my energy, it was also because I couldn’t control it. I can barely even aim it in the right direction and just keeping it in a straight line is my limit. Otherwise, even if it drained me of all my stamina, I would’ve just used it at the start to kill the dragon instantly while it was still sleeping.

In the end, I took a gamble that I could control it, and I lost the gamble.

I forced my exhausted body to move with what little energy I had left and collapsed with my back against the wall. I looked up and what greeted me was the sight of a badly wounded dragon. There was a large hole through its right shoulder and its entire right arm and wing had been torn off. But, although it was struggling to move, it was still alive, and it was about to break free from the ice.

I stared at the dragon struggling for a moment, hoping that it would just die right there, but in the end, it just barely got up again, and the ice encasing its limbs broke. I closed my eyes and blocked out all the noise around me as my consciousness was beginning to fade.

So… this is it huh?...

Guess I’m not gonna make it back after all…

It looks like this is my limit…

I’m sorry, Ky…

But as the darkness began to slowly invade my mind, I suddenly felt a familiar feeling envelop me. It was soft and warm just like Ky’s hand, and the moment I felt that familiar feeling, it was like a jolt of electricity instantly cleared the fogginess in my mind. I came back to my senses and opened my eyes just in time to see a face in front of me.

It was a face that I had seen a million times before, a face that made me happy when I saw it, and it was also the one face that I didn’t want to see here. It was Ky’s face. He had a relieved expression on his face when he saw me open my eyes and he picked me up, but right after picking me up, he suddenly pulled my head to his chest and hugged me close to his body with his right arm. Then I heard the dragon roar followed by the sound of bones breaking as a strong impact shook me.

Ky held me tight as we bounced off the floor a couple times and flew across the cave. Once we stopped rolling, Ky loosened his grip on me and got up while still carrying me.

And it was now that I could see his left arm. It was mangled and broken with blood dripping down the side as it hung loosely off his shoulder.

No.

No!

NO!

This is the one thing that I didn’t want to happen! Why are you here!?

Ky started running towards the exit while carrying me with his right arm, but the dragon swiped at us from above, and it was then that time slowed down for me.

STOP! GET OUT OF HERE! JUST LEAVE ME TO DIE!

Ky let go of me, and as my body floated freely in the air for a moment from the momentum, he sent a solid kick to my stomach. The kick knocked the air out of my lungs and launched me out of the cave. I reached out weakly towards the cave as the last thing I saw before my consciousness faded to black was Ky barely dodging the dragon’s claws.

---

Adventurer Town Delhurst, Calden Inn, Kyle’s Room (Kyle POV)

---

I yawned as I slowly woke up. Maybe it was because of the anxiety, but I didn’t sleep for very long today, and after rubbing my eyes for a bit, I got out of bed to turn on the lights since it was still dark out. I looked over at the clock and saw that it was really early in the morning.

Well, I don’t think I can go back to sleep, and I don’t feel tired or anything, so I guess I’ll double check all the equipment.

I walked over to my desk and sat down when I noticed something strange. On my desk was a piece of paper that was folded in half. I tried to remember if I had placed something like that on my desk yesterday, but after a moment, I unfolded it suspiciously.

I expected a list or something, but inside was a letter addressed to me, in what looked like Aria’s handwriting.

Dear Ky,

If you’re reading this, then that means I didn’t make it back. I know you said that we’re partners, that you’d share the burden with me, but in the end, I just couldn’t bring myself to risk losing you. So I just want to say one last thing to you. Thank you, Ky. Thank you for cooking for me all the time, thank you for traveling with me all the time, thank you for everything you’ve done for me, and thank you for being my friend for so long. Just do me one last favor, forget about me and go live a happy life.

From,

Aria

After I read the letter, I stood there for a moment before ripping it into pieces, grabbing the bag of alchemy stones on my desk, and rushing out of my room as fast as I could. I jumped down the entire flight of stairs, put pressure into my legs when I landed on the first floor and boosted my body forward towards the door as fast as I could. My legs pounded against the ground as I ran through the streets and left Delhurst to run towards the mountains.

Hey, what is this garbage? Aria, you can’t just give me this lousy death flag of a letter and leave so easily. I don’t care if I have to drag you back kicking and screaming, I’ll make damn sure that I bring you back. Even if I have to run to the end of the world to bring you back, even if it’s the last goddamn thing I do! Some partner you are, huh? You can’t risk losing me? Well, do you think I can risk losing you? Stop being so selfish!

I bolted past the trees as my legs propelled my body forwards and tore through any branches in my path. I ran and ran and ran until I even forgot how long I had been running for, but with every single step I took, there was a part of me that just screamed at my body to go even faster. And eventually, I made it to the dragon’s nest, where I heard a crack of thunder and saw a brilliant flash of red light shine from inside.

I put strength into my legs again as I pushed against the ground hard enough to crack it and shoved myself into the cave.

The first thing I saw was a severely injured dragon with cracked ice encasing it’s right leg and left arm. It was missing its right arm, right wing, and most of its right shoulder, but honestly, I couldn’t care less about that for now because behind it, sitting against the wall, was Aria. I ignored the dragon and instantly dashed over to Aria before picking her up. She was injured all over and almost unconscious, but there were no severe fatal wounds, and I could still hear the faint sounds of her breathing.

She’s still alive, thank goodness. I don’t know what I would’ve done if I lost her just like that.

Aria faintly opened her eyes to stare at me blankly as I finally came back to my senses and I just stared at her for a moment to make sure she was ok before the dragon tried to claw at me with its remaining arm.

I hugged Aria tight against my chest with my right arm as I brought up my left arm and tensed up my body to block the swing. The dragon’s arm snapped the bones in my arm as it made a direct hit and we shot across the ground to the side of the cave.

When we finally stopped rolling, I got up and held Aria again as the dragon stared at me.

I have to get Aria out of here first, I can’t fight while protecting her. If I’m holding her, I can’t even divert the impact to the ground when I get hit. Her body isn’t like mine, the vibrations would rip her apart and rupture her internal organs if I tried to minimize the force of an attack like that.

I kicked my leg against the ground and sprinted towards the exit, but the dragon lunged at us and swiped again from above.

I won’t make it out in time... Sorry Aria, this might hurt a bit.

I decided to get Aria out first. I let go of her then kicked her out of the cave while she was still in mid-air as I barely dodged the dragon’s claw.

So now it’s just the two of us, huh?

When I landed again, I took a deep breath, and my face turned emotionless as I stared at the dragon and talked to it in a low voice.

“Well then, you’re not gonna let me just leave that easily, right? But that’s fine... After all, I never was good at protecting people... ln the end, it looks like all these bloodstained hands can do is kill.” (Kyle)

I inhaled before closing my eyes.

And when I opened my eyes again, they were terrifyingly sharp with a glint of crazed anger as I exhaled while releasing my bloodlust.

Dragon breath from the front.

The dragon roared in fear and exhaled a breath of fire at me as I pulled out an alchemy stone from the bag and activated it with a cold voice.

“【Frost Shield】, wide cast, activate.” (Kyle)

My right arm whipped out as I threw the stone at the burst of flames and a bright ice blue light shone from it. A large circular shield made of ice appeared in midair and covered the entire area around me. The flames slid off the surface of the ice like water, and once the fire stopped, the shield shattered. The glint in my eyes grew even sharper, and I dashed straight at the dragon through the countless broken ice fragments and residual flashes of fire. My eyes picked up on the slight initial movements from the dragon’s body and I reacted accordingly as I ran.

Low swipe from the side, followed by the tail.

I pulled out a palm-sized alchemy stone and put power in my legs as I kicked against the ground and leaped over the swipe. I held the alchemy stone in my hand towards the dragon’s side while midair as the bloodlust in my eyes sharpened.

“【Ice Shard】, full power cast, activate.” (Kyle)

Another ice blue light shone and a gigantic shard of ice the size of the dragon’s tail shot forwards and impaled the dragon’s torso.

It blew the dragon’s body away from me slightly and when I landed, I leaned back as the tail hit nothing but air inches away from me.

The dragon roared again in pain before rushing at me in complete desperation.

Pincer attack with a bite from my left followed by the swing from the right.

I put strength into my legs again as I was about to dodge it again, but then, I realized that I was standing in front of the entrance with Aria right outside.

Dodging this one isn’t an option. I only have two stones left, and one of them is the unengraved monster core for the big formation outside.

I grabbed my last alchemy stone and gripped it tightly in my left hand as I thrust my broken left arm towards the dragon’s mouth.

You want this arm? Fine, then you can have it!

“【Frozen Burst】, full power cast, activate.” (Kyle)

I tensed every muscle fiber in my left arm as the dragon’s mouth crunched down and I heard my bones shatter even further as my arm barely managed to stay connected. The forward momentum from the bite traveled throughout my body before I diverted it past my legs and into the ground, as the rock beneath me fractured into chunks. I grit my teeth and grimaced from the pain for a moment before countless ice shards the size of my arm shredded through the dragon’s mouth from the inside, tearing open multiple holes in its snout.

The dragon immediately opened its jaw to roar out in pain as blood poured out from its wounds and I pulled my mangled arm out. I stood there breathing heavily as the dragon stumbled backward, smashing the sides of the cave while it flailed around in its death throes.

“Still not dead yet, huh? Fine, how about this then.” (Kyle)

I grit my teeth as I dipped my finger in some of the blood dripping down my left arm and began to draw a magic circle on the ground.

You see, the thing I’ve found out about modern alchemy is that it has evolved with the aspects of control and versatility in mind so that it can be used in everyday life. And subsequently, the complexity of the magic circles has increased along with the need for specific enchanted ink or dust to draw the circles.

But back in my day, we didn’t fret the details so much about control or versatility because just like magic or swordsmanship, alchemy was used as a weapon. The alchemy that I know wanted to find the most simple, streamlined magic circles that only had one thing going for them, they were strong enough to kill. We didn’t care about control as long as it did its job, and we used anything that could leave a mark to draw the circles... even blood.

I pulled out the fist-sized monster core, dropping it on the magic circle drawn below in my blood, and finally, my cold voice rang out like a death sentence to the dragon as I activated it.

“【Ice Nova】, full power cast, activate.” (Kyle)

A brilliant ice blue light shone through the cave and a wave of mana pulsed out in all directions from the edges of the magic circle. Anything the pulse of mana touched was instantaneously frozen as large chunks of ice covered the ground, walls, and eventually, the dragon.

It was finally quiet again as the only thing that could be heard now was the sound of ice crystals cracking. Everything in the cave except me was frozen solid, and the ice sculpture that was once the dragon crumbled into pieces from its own weight.

After a moment, I dragged my cold exhausted body over to Aria as the relatively warm air outside enveloped me. When I finally got to Aria, I checked again to see if she was ok, but luckily, she was still warm and there were only a few deep cuts on her while her breathing was steady.

I finally let out a sigh of relief as I realized she just got knocked out, and all the tension from before disappeared as I collapsed next to her in a mess of tears.

“...Really... thank god you’re still alive...” (Kyle)

After a while, I ripped part of my shirt off to tie up my broken left arm and picked up Aria with my right arm before silently making my way back to town as the sun peeked over the horizon and dawn broke.