The Eminence In The Shadow

"Move! Move!"

Again and again, I pound my chest, forcefully trying to restart my breathing.

"MooooOOOVVVEEEE!!"

Then, finally.

"Geho, goho, goho!"

It worked.

My heart, which had stopped, successfully restarts.

Mob-Style Secret Technique: "10 Minute Heart Break Mob"

It is a secret technique that allows the user to maintain an abnormally long period of cardiac arrest without suffering any after effects by using minute amounts of magic to maintain blood circulation to the brain.

This technique is super risky, such that even a single mistake would guarantee death, but there are times when a mob has to act, even with his life on the line.

Today was such a time. That"s all there is to that.

"Owww..."

I examine the wound on my back. This time, there was a high chance that I would be looked at up close, so I had to allow myself to actually get slashed.

Of course, I evaded fatal damage, but to make it look real, the wound had to be relatively deep.

I apply first-aid treatment on the wound with magic. It seems that I can indeed continue using magic when I make it extremely fine. Alternatively, I think it"d be possible to forcefully get rid of this obstruction with brute magical force.

"I guess this is about right."

It would take too long to completely seal off my wound, and it would also be bad if someone looks at it afterwards. Recovering to the point where it won"t negatively affect my movement is good enough.

Then I can just go with the "by some stroke of luck, I managed to hang on to life" excuse.

"Yokkorase."

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(T/N: In j.a.panese, people (more so for older people) sometimes say something meaningless when standing up, sort of as an expression of the effort. Yokkorasho, yokkorase,yokkoisho, and several other variations.)

I stand up while confirming my physical and magical status. I wipe off the blood on my face, and fix my messed up uniform.

A refres.h.i.+ng afternoon wind blows in through the window, causing the white curtains to billow.

Along with the curtains" movements, the strong sunlight and dark shadows change shape accordingly.

Fallen chairs. Disorganized desks. Broken door. And the blood on the ground. All of this speaks of the fact that normalcy has been broken.

I close my eyes and take a deep breath.

"Let"s go then."

Exiting the cla.s.sroom, I proceed down the empty hallway.

◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇

Sherry Barnett was so engrossed with deciphering the artifact that she was late in noticing the commotion.

"This is..."

She peers closely at the artifact in her hands.

Her pink eyes narrow slightly, as if she has noticed something.

"No way... how could this be..."

Even though her eyes are focused on the artifact, the pen in her hand is still moving furiously.

The nearby tumult is not even being registered in her brain.

Both the sounds of explosions and footsteps in the hallway, everything is outside the realm of her consciousness.

"What"s happening?!"

"The academy is under attack!"

"If we can"t use magic, then we can"t move around carelessly."

Even the two knights" conversation is not entering her ears.

"How could this... how could this...!"

That"s how concentrated she is on the artifact.

Even normally, she often gets so concentrated on her research that she doesn"t notice her surroundings, but it"s never been to this level. This artifact has something of great importance that has so thoroughly grabbed all of her attention.

Her quill pen continues moving, with scratching sounds.

Her pink eyes are only a step away from the truth hidden in the artifact.

But at that moment.

Abruptly, the windows shatter, and a single man wearing black jumps into the room.

One of the gla.s.s fragments lightly graze Sherry"s cheek.

"Ow...!?"

"Who are you!"

The two knights bring up their swords.

Due to the pain on her cheek, Sherry finally notices her current situation.

"Eh? Eh?"

Clutching the artifact to her chest, Sherry dives underneath a desk.

When she lightly rubs her cheek, some blood is left on her hand.

"We are, um, Shadow Garden. Wait, was it Shadow Guardian? Ah, whatever. I am Lex, Lex the Treacherous Player. You all can call me Lex-sama."

The man in black laughs behind his mask.

"This is seriously in the way."

Then he throws away his mask. He has dull red hair and a frivolous aura, as well as eyes that look like that of a starving stray dog.

"Hii!"

The mask slides to where Sherry is, causing her to shrink even deeper into her hiding place.

"Shadow Garden... so you b.a.s.t.a.r.ds are the rumored..."

"Regardless of your aim, don"t think you can get away easily after attacking the academy!"

Lex laughs at the two knights" words.

"Yea, they probably won"t get away easily. Shadow Garden, that is. Oh, and by the way..."

There is a break in Lex"s words.

"I"ve already forgotten what our aim is."

Ka, ka, ka, reverberates his laughter.

"Are you s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g around with us?"

"No, I"m not s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g around. Just that I don"t really care about it. I was told to retrieve some pendant-like artifact thing. After retrieving that, then I can do whatever I want, they said."

Lex"s eyes narrow with a sharp glint.

"Do you guys know anything about it?"

He scowls at the two knights.

"!... Not the faintest idea."

"We"ve never heard of such a thing."

The knights" answers brings a big smile to Lex"s face.

"Your faces are saying that you do know something!"

The air vibrates with magic. Lex is applying a huge amount of pressure on the area with a ridiculous amount of magic.

"...!"

Sherry hurriedly clamps her hands over her mouth to hold back the scream that almost escaped, then desperately begins crawling over the floor.

Just a little more, the door is so close!

"Who~ should~ I~ start~ with~ first~?"

Lex sweeps the room with his starved stray dog eyes.

"How about that young lady over there?"

Abruptly, he disappears.

Then suddenly, he is standing before Sherry.

"KYYYYAAAHHHHHH!"

"Bye~"

"NO!"

Sherry clenches her eyes shut and curls up while clutching her head.

But.

"We won"t let you!"

Lex"s downward swing hits the floor.

When Sherry slowly opens her eyes with trepidation, she sees a knight with hair like a lion"s mane holding his sword and standing in front of her.

"Heeh~, to be able to move this well even without magic."

"Magic is not everything. With the difference in our strengths, warding off your attacks is a walk in the park."

"Difference in our strengths... Don"t tell me you actually believe that you are stronger than me?"

Lex glares at the large knight with a vicious glint in his eyes.

"I do indeed."

"Let"s at least hear your name."

"Vice Commander of the Crimson Order, Glen of the Lion Mane."

The other knight stands up beside Glen.

"Marco, also of the Crimson Order."

"No one asked for your name."

Then Marco looks back at Sherry.

"Run."

Then the fighting begins.

Sherry scrambles over the floor, manages to exit to the hallway, then runs away at full speed.

The dying screams echoing from behind her causes her to clamp both hands over her ears.