Chapter 08 ~ A Hard Battle (1/2)
The breeze whispered low across the grass beneath their feet.
The blades of green bent gently, shimmering under the morning sun.
In the clearing, tension brewed—palpable, heavy.
Not a word.
Not a sound beyond the shifting grass and the soft hiss of wind.
Three figures faced Hikari:
Asaka, dressed in his black ninja gear, his brown hair short, his sharp eyes burning with a grim focus, gripping the curved blade of Fang of the Water Fox.
Kazuki, clad in blue, a sleek cap over messy black hair, twin shadowed shuriken gleaming faintly between his wrapped fingers.
Miryana, her white ninja outfit pure against the lush grass, her long red scarf billowing violently behind her, blonde hair tousled around fierce golden eyes.
And opposite them—
Hikari.
He stood tall, his light brown adventurer gear fitting snug over his slim but agile frame, the worn leather gloves and simple boots giving him a "rookie" look.
Golden hair fluttered gently across his forehead.
His ocean-blue eyes were calm.
In his right hand, he gripped a thin glass vial tightly—transparent liquid swirling inside.
His gaze met theirs under the vast blue sky, broken only by a few scattered clouds.
Suddenly, a soft voice echoed into his mind:
"Rising Star Hikari, I can't believe you've thrown yourself into such chaos during your very first hour."
It was Seniora—his guide, her tone half-exasperated, half-worried.
Without shifting his focus from the trio, Hikari spoke quietly:
"Not the time for lectures, Seniora. You're the only one I can rely on now. Can you help me?"
There was a soft pause.
Then, Seniora replied, teasingly:
"Ara, you must truly be desperate if you're asking me so sweetly. Fortunately… it seems your opponents suffer from overconfidence."
His eyes flickered slightly.
Still, he stood firm, waiting for more.
"They left most of their data visible to public analysis—except for their gold. For example, Miryana—the white ninja at level 13—her primary asset is Stealth Elixirs. Thirty of them. And little else."
A small smirk touched Hikari's lips.
"So she's the skittish type. I should take her out first."
"Hikari," Seniora's voice dipped, serious, "you can still run. The Quick Rush Elixir you're holding would give you a solid escape chance. I highly recommend it. I see no feasible victory here."
He tilted the vial back without hesitation, downing the transparent liquid.
The empty glass bounced once against the ground before vanishing into blue static.
A serious grin stretched across his face.
"Stay with me, Seniora. Keep feeding me enemy data."
"Roger that. I'll guide you through your first death."
Hikari's teeth gleamed as he smiled wider.
The wind picked up, tossing his hair wildly.
A faint, almost invisible gray aura shimmered around him, flowing along his body like mist barely seen.
In the corner of his vision—a timer appeared:
20… 19… 18…
"Only twenty seconds?" he muttered, locking his stance.
He lowered into a sprinter's crouch, muscles tightening.
Across the clearing, Asaka's brown eyes narrowed, his fingers tightening around his curved blade.
"Get ready," Asaka said coldly.
Kazuki spun the twin shuriken in his hands, and Miryana lifted a white Elixir to her lips.
She drank swiftly.
Her body melted into the air, vanishing like a lizard camouflaging with its surroundings—only a faint disturbance in the grass betraying her presence.
Hikari's blue eyes sharpened.
He couldn't allow her freedom.
In an instant—
The grass behind him bent backward in a clean, direct line—
Fwoosh—!
A phantom bolt.
A blur.
A shadow cutting five meters of distance in less than a breath.
Hikari burst forward—
Launching himself into the air—
He twisted mid-leap, body coiled like a spring. His right fist cocked back, prepared to slam into the empty air.
The two visible ninjas turned sharply, wide-eyed, their reactions painfully slow.
Hikari's punch missed—
Only brushing strands of blonde hair in the invisible air.
But he followed through.
His left foot carved a swift, brutal arc behind him—
FWOOSH—!
CRACK!!
A sharp cry of pain pierced the stillness.
Miryana's camouflaged body flickered back into existence, sprawling backward through the grass, her red scarf ripping loose and fluttering away.
225 damage dealt!
"Not bad…" Hikari thought coldly, floating in that heartbeat of silence.
"But it's not enough. Level 13… She must have over 1300 HP. I have to finish it!"
Before he could move—
A tingling chill raced down his spine.
Danger.
A predator's breath on his neck.
"Water Fox's Wrath!!" Asaka roared.
The brown-haired ninja lunged, slashing upward from the ground in a devastating vertical strike, a shimmering blue arc of power trailing behind him.
Hikari didn't hesitate.
He pushed off the ground, rolling sideways without even looking—
A perfectly fluid evasive flip, body low, gliding through the air like smoke.
A cleaving blue blade of energy carved through the space where he had just stood—
So close it severed strands of his golden hair, sending them fluttering into the sky.
Asaka's brown eyes flared wide in stunned disbelief.
Not just because Hikari dodged—
But because of the trajectory he was flying toward.
Miryana.
Still on the ground.
Still trying to recover.
She reached toward her fallen scarf with a trembling hand, unaware of the horror racing toward her.
Kazuki and Asaka screamed:
"DODGE, MIRYANA!!"
She lifted her head, confused—
Just in time to see the deadly reflection of blue light in her golden eyes.
SLAASSSH—!!
The cleaving energy swallowed her.
1133 damage dealt!
Her body shattered into fragments of pixelated blue light, disappearing completely.
On the ground where she had been—only a few scattered elixirs and a small pouch of gold remained.
Hikari landed lightly, crouching, his golden hair shadowing his calm, oceanic eyes.
He flicked a glance at the empty spot where his opponent had been.
"That one slash… would've killed me twice over."
"This game… is unforgiving."
Behind him, Asaka and Kazuki stared—frozen, wide-eyed.
Fury twisted their faces.
But Hikari…
He just smiled—
a cold, almost playful grin beneath the rising sun.
The wind whispered sharply through the open field, bending the tall grass under its gentle but persistent hand.
The blue sky above stretched wide, broken only by thin wisps of white cloud.
It was a battlefield bathed in morning light—and deathly tension.
Asaka and Kazuki glared at Hikari, rage burning in their eyes.
Hikari smiled faintly.
Asaka's face twisted with silent fury.
"You're smiling... of course you're smiling," he growled. "You have every damn right to, you bastard!"
Without warning, Asaka lunged—
The Fang of the Water Fox blade gleaming blue, slicing horizontally through the air, aimed to take Hikari's head clean off.
But Hikari was already moving.
In a swift, almost supernatural motion, his body dipped low—nearly brushing the grass—as the almost-invisible aura wrapped tightly around him.
The blue arc of Asaka's blade sliced cleanly through the space above where Hikari's neck had been.
Planting his right palm firmly on the ground, Hikari coiled his legs and launched a double kick straight into Asaka's gut.
[Damage dealt: 325!]
Asaka flew backward, spiraling through the air.
But he wasn't down yet.
With ninja agility, he twisted mid-air, planting one hand on the grass before flipping back to his feet.
Brown eyes sharpened as he searched for Hikari—
Expecting him to be where he left him.
But—
There he was.
Hikari, a golden-haired phantom wrapped in muted energy, already closing the gap.
Shock rippled across Asaka's face.
In that split-second, he saw his own reflection in Hikari's icy blue eyes.
BASH!!
A brutal punch slammed directly into Asaka's face—
Sending him rolling across the grassy field like a broken puppet.
[Damage dealt: 275!]
Hikari landed lightly, his legs touching down with grace, aura flickering slightly.
Five seconds left...
No time to waste.
Without pause, he surged forward, a silver shadow across the green.
But—
SSSZZZTTT!!!
A sharp, electric whine tore through the air.
Hikari's sharp gaze snapped to his right.
Kazuki—
the blue-capped ninja—
came rocketing in like a bolt of lightning, his body crackling with raw electricity.
CRASH!!
Kazuki's heel smashed brutally into Hikari's side—
The force sending him sliding and grinding across the grass, blades snapping under him.
Still, Hikari gritted his teeth, forcing himself to stabilize his roll into a crouch, boots digging into the earth.
[Damage received: 230!]
His HP bar dipped sharply—
from 500 to 270.
Rising slowly, Hikari looked up—
and found Kazuki already charging at him, electricity trailing like tendrils of doom.
Hikari's aura shimmered urgently.
He backflipped, soaring through the air—
dodging Kazuki's wild lunge by mere inches.
But Kazuki wasn't done.
With a crackle and flash, Kazuki twisted mid-air, flipping upside down above Hikari.
Hikari's pupils constricted.
From above, Kazuki grinned viciously, his silver-blue hair snapping in the current, his pale blue eyes wild.
"You can't beat my speed with that pathetic elixir!" he roared.
Kazuki's foot came crashing down—a thunderbolt descending from the heavens.
Hikari crossed his arms instinctively, catching the electrified kick on his forearms.
[Damage received: 50!]
Another chunk shaved off his HP—
Down to 220 now.
The pressure mounted.
Only three seconds left on Quick Rush…
Without thinking, Hikari pushed back, sliding over the grass—
eyes locked on Kazuki, who crouched low, muscles bunched, ready to spring again.
At the same time—
Asaka, still seated dazedly in the grass, clutched his head between shaking fingers.
"Damn it… even at this low level, he's throwing me around like a toy…"
"The HP loss isn't serious, but… this dizziness…"
Vision stabilizing, Asaka looked up—
and saw Hikari darting toward the remnants of Miryana's fallen loot—
the cluster of glimmering Elixirs and coins.
Asaka's eyes sharpened.
"He's going for the Stealth Elixir...!! Like hell I'll let him!!"
He tightened his grip on the Fang of the Water Fox, the blade pulsing with blue, aqueous energy.
He swung upward with a mighty roar—
"Water Fox's Wrath!!"
A roaring arc of azure water surged through the air—
ripping through the grass, shredding earth and stone alike.
Hikari saw it coming.
Fast.
Deadly.
Inevitable.
"This is bad."
"Only one second left on Quick Rush."
Two options flashed before him:
Dodge: Leap over the loot and avoid the attack—but abandon the Stealth Elixir.
Stop: Let the attack pass ahead—but expose himself to Kazuki closing in from behind.
Then—
SZZT!!
The shrill crackle of lightning at his back.
Kazuki was coming.
"If I stop—I die."
Hikari clenched his teeth, compressed his legs—
FOOSH!!
He launched forward with every ounce of remaining speed.
He blurred past the loot—
missing the Elixir entirely—
as a massive water blade carved through the spot he had been a heartbeat ago.
But—
The price was brutal.
The Quick Rush aura flickered—
and vanished.
Gravity reclaimed his body with a vengeance.
He staggered, stumbled—then crashed to the ground, rolling messily across the grass, struggling to catch himself.
At the same moment—
Kazuki, still electrified, raced into Asaka's unleashed water wave.
Snarling, Kazuki kicked at the watery crescent—
his foot bursting through it in an explosion of blue mist and static.
SPLASH!!!
Water droplets sprayed the field, catching sunlight and scattering sparks of blue lightning through the air.
Kazuki landed hard, snarling back at Asaka.
"Asaka...!!" he growled through gritted teeth, sparks snapping at his fingertips.
The tension climbed.