...What on earth is happening?
"Ah...ah...aah..."
The words that couldn't pass my lips merely bounced off my numbed tongue, emerging piecemeal into half-formed utterances.
'Just how strong was he?'
The Ursus Immortal Black Serpent. That epithet was no triviality. But sometimes, a grand title is justified.
'Was he an Arts caster? Or...'
Honestly, I already knew the answer. But I refused to admit it. Never.
'The gap between us...was too vast.'
My fear sprang from that chasm of difference.
'What was I even doing here?'
I couldn't believe he had any hobby of strolling through market alleys. Should I follow?
'Stop it. With your skill, you'd only end up dead.'
'What if you helped?'
'The skirmish might last longer, but your body would break first.'
Damn it—all my weakness feels like guilt. Was there no shortcut to strength? Something like those fateful affinities in martial novels.
'...They're not entirely nonexistent.'
'What...?'
'Well...you could let loose all your claws.'
'Gaaaah!'
No way. Releasing a tiger to hunt a snake. Even more formidable, its power was filthy strong. If it hadn't been limited by the ring, I'd be dead.
'If that fails, only a final self-destruct remains.'
Other than that...was endless training the only path?
"...Life's tough."
For a thirteen-year-old with memories of another life, Terra was a terrifying place.
"I'm back. No results, though."
"Is that so? These things don't drop from the sky..."
Honestly, I'd been lucky so far.
"Is there somewhere better than the Violent Crimes Unit to spar with people?"
"...What?"
"Never mind. Maybe I should ask that damned rat...Boss! I'm heading out!"
"What? Out again? Hey?! Hey!!"
I already knew my Arts were wind-based. And the [Rat King]'s ability was sand—and [Sandstorm].
"So...that's why you came to me?"
"Yeah. You're the strongest Arts caster I know."
I ran straight to the [Rat King] and begged him to teach me [Originium Arts].
"Haha...Even if Lin speaks well of you, and I'm curious about your growth..."
Shraaack!
"..! Damn!"
"Indulgent whimsy toward a child has its limits."
A blade of sand slammed into me. I barely gathered wind around me and deflected it at the last moment. Of course, the [Rat King] had years of practice, so even after the block, I flew several meters and tumbled twice across the ground.
"You're so pampered by everyone that you think you're truly strong."
Then more sand...what to call it? Chunks—three massive sand masses bore down on me without mercy.
"Ugh...!"
The sand crushed me, my lungs collapsing as oxygen drained from my body.
'Wind...! I have no space to breathe!'
I tried generating wind to clear the sand, but the external gusts couldn't penetrate the solid wall, and internally I lacked the power.
'I'm going to die...!'
Was the [Rat King] trying to kill me? I couldn't tell, pinned to the ground and unable to see his expression.
'There must be...something!'
I couldn't give up. Should I use the Bull Wind to blast it away? Or sacrifice an arm and unleash the Four Wheels?
'It's getting heavier...! If I don't break free soon, it'll be fatal!'
My airway constricting, oxygen slipping away, sand growing heavier.
Wind cleared a patch, and sand refilled it.
Rustle...
"...Huh?"
On the brink of unconsciousness, I noticed something odd.
'The sand fills in opposite my wind.'
Where I swept it away, sand rushed back from the other side—with equal force.
"...Alright, this is do-or-die!!!"
Whether I was once nurtured or discarded, I had to muster every ounce of strength now.
I channeled a thin, swift wind to the right, sweeping the surrounding sand. Then a gust from the left met and blocked it.
'Yes, that's it...!'
By cutting the downward wind and again calling a rightward gust above it—since a leftward gale still blew below—a delicate shear emerged between opposing winds. That was where I could forge the "perfect blade."
[Forward Kill-Bandit Stance]
Though I had no sword, that flawless, intangible wind blade became the ultimate weapon itself.
"Cough...Guhh...Waaaah!!"
Sand cracked open with a Poof! and I rolled out, but as the pressure vanished and oxygen rushed back, I vomited what little I'd eaten.
"...Disgusting."
And the [Rat King] stood before me, showing no fatigue.
"Here, drink this. Training begins the moment I say so."
"Ugh...Uhhh...Gahh..."
"Noya, are you alright?"
"Why were you so reckless..."
Noya, Nora, and the others watched me with worried eyes—only then did I notice.
"...Thanks for caring."
Good to see them doing well. Though the damned black fragment still buried in me—no, it's grown more.
'I nearly died.'
'Yeah, you did.'
'...That trick of yours was pretty clever. I'll give you credit.'
'Cut it out. One wrong move and you'll be dead.'
'You're the one doing the things you never did.'
'Shut it.'
Anyway, did I save a teacher—or rather, a master—this time?
"Kid...you're something else."
Back inside, the [Rat King] handed candy to the kids, then told Baekhyun to bring him water and sweets, and settled into a chair.
'I thought I'd knock him unconscious to break his spirit.'
He never imagined I'd use his own wind-refilling against him to escape. It wasn't impossible, but he never guessed a child's unrefined Arts could wield such cutting force, let alone combine two layers of wind—a fairly advanced [Originium Arts] technique.
Actually, when Baekhyun showed up at dawn, the [Rat King] was surprised—though he didn't show it. He'd kept secret from everyone under him that he'd taken these kids. He expected me to come by midday, or at worst the next morning.
'Completely searching everywhere to find me at dawn means it wasn't luck.'
That boldness to barge in and ask for Arts lessons wasn't displeasing to the [Rat King]. In his youth as Lin Gelrei, he radiated that same drive and ruthlessness when he started out.
"...A boy who suddenly craves strength must have a strong reason."
I was already stronger than my peers—or even veterans who'd been around this world a long time—and this relentless youth, bowing even to me to grow stronger, must have a reason.
"A new generation's era is dawning..."
Wei Yenwu—the once fervent cop—had risen to the governor's seat, cold and precise. Now a new bird, with still-downy wings, spread them and was already ready to devour the vast sky.
"...I'm getting old, sentiment just grows."
Lin Gelrei, nearing the back room's elder, wanted to witness the coming storm of youth—and felt himself reawaken the passion of his own youth.
Yet time's cruelty cooled his once-fiery heart, leaving him as nothing but the tail end of this dull era—doomed to watch the talented new age, and the child at its eye, unfold.
'Well, I'll call it my parting gift to the heads of the new age.'
"Hey, take it easy...you'll go into shock..."
"You must eat more. That's how you recover."
"I can't chew any moooore..."
"Nora, he's not breathing."
"...W-what?! Grandpa!!!"
Peering through the window at Baekhyun collapsed outside, the [Rat King] silently prayed that his daughter wouldn't be toyed with by that boy. His lips twitched into a sad smile.