Love Letter From The Future

It was a strange sensation. The rampaging magical power flowed through my bloodstream like a beast. My head was spinning. My vision was blurred, and my left arm felt limp.

The current of magical energy forced my veins to widen and poured out. Had there really been this much magical power dormant within my body? The rough flow of magic scraped through my veins.

It hurt. The pounding of my heart echoed in my brain. Every sensation in my body became sharper. The more acute it became, the more vividly I felt the pain.

My body was in tatters. My breathing grew more rapid. The air I urgently gasped in filled my lungs to the brim. Only then did my senses begin to return.

Where am I? Yes, it was the forest south of the Academy. The place where the Hunting Festival was being held.

My eyes turned blankly to the man shaking me awake. It was Senior Permian. My hearing was gradually returning.

“Junior! You need to wake up!”

The gaunt man with sunken cheeks looked down at me with a worried expression. Truly, he looked like a pious monk.

Of course, not all priests are good people; however, those with deep faith are more likely to lead a sincere life according to their doctrine.

That deep faith is what allows them to walk the path of a monk. They endure scorching sand poured over their bodies from childhood to toughen their skin like iron plates, honing their very bodies into weapons.

In a situation where I couldn’t use one arm and was overpowered, he was not an opponent I could handle. The only way to subdue him was through a surprise attack.

I instinctively made that choice. It felt utterly natural.

“… Sr.. Per.. Permian.”

Seeing me mumble those words with unfocused eyes, Senior Permian’s expression grew more urgent. Perhaps it was hard for him to hear my faint muttering, as he leaned in closer to listen.

That was a fatal mistake. I felt sorry for Senior Permian, but there was no other choice for me.

With a crunch, I made the sound of cartilage breaking.

Senior Permian’s eyes were blank as he stared at me. Blood gushed out, and I was biting down on his nose.

Even if he trained by pouring hot sand over himself, it was unlikely he could do so to his face. So, I bit down on the nose, the weakest point. Nonetheless, the skin was tough.

But I bit down on Senior Permian’s nose with all my strength. He screamed in sudden pain and clutched his nose. I took that opportunity to kick him in the solar plexus.

It felt like striking thick leather. Yet, whether the impact reached him properly, Senior Permian staggered back. My body reflexively grabbed an axe.

With a loud crash, the axe struck his temple. Of course, it was the opposite side of the blade, but that was enough.

No matter how much one trains their body, one cannot train the temple. It was merely a matter of withstanding it with magic, but at that moment, Senior Permian was not in a situation where he could use magic.

He collapsed, clutching his face with both hands, screaming.

“Gaaaah!”

The time it took for Senior Permian to fall was barely a few seconds. The series of actions felt so natural. As if my body was moving on its own, as if it had to be this way.

The surging magical power pulsed through my heart. The stream of vigor coursed through my dying body.

My eyes turned to Senior Delphine.

That person is my enemy. A remarkably strong enemy. A woman, strong and beautiful like the sun.

Even in a fair confrontation, I had only matched her with one hand sacrificed. But now, she was in perfect shape while I couldn’t use one arm, and my body was a complete mess.

It should have been normal to falter. Yet, I felt no fear.

Anger erupted, bursting through the gates of my chest and surging to my crown. A vibrant, indescribable emotion filled me. My body moved on its own, throwing the axe.

The blade sliced through the air, narrowly missing Senior Delphine’s face just as she turned around. Then it made a sharp turn and buried itself into the neck of a monster.

The sharp crack of the axe reverberated late in the air beside Senior Delphine. She stared blankly at me.

Blood splattered up like a peacock feather. It was an appropriate display to decorate the beautiful woman known as Senior Delphine.

With a cough, I spat out the flesh from Senior Permian’s nose. I let out a small laugh.

“Let’s have some fun, pink lady.”

And I’m sorry, Senior Permian. I’ll treat you to a meal next time.

I whispered my apology to Senior Permian and drew my blade.

When the nose is hurt, blood will spurt and try to block the breath. So, it would take a while before he could return to combat, and if he visited a high priest, his nose could be restored quickly.

It was the best judgment I could make. How did I manage to make such a decision in that short time?

It was a meaningless question. Every time I exhaled my heated breath, memories were jumbled in my mind, as if overloaded.

Don’t forget? What on earth should I not forget?

At that moment, a hulking man with a shaved head blocked my path. The axe was about to cleave me in two.

Taking a step back, the space splintered. The air buzzed with a fierce sound, filled with tremendous force.

As the axe swung, another axe naturally followed.

It was a continuous chain of swinging axes. To make matters worse, in the distance, Senior Aisia was preparing magic while chanting.

Was it auxiliary magic? Or was she planning to strike me directly? Either way, it didn’t matter.

Senior Permian’s movements flashed through my mind.

Before the arm swung, I would suppress that movement and throw my body to the ground.

It was a fighting technique taught only to monks trained in the Holy Kingdom. I didn’t know its exact principles, but even just breaking into the opening while wielding a weapon took long training.

I didn’t know why. I just thought I had to do it. So, in the millisecond gap as the axe swung again.

My body kicked off the ground. Senior Olmar, who had experienced this sudden rush before even entering the forest, naturally tried to step back to prepare for my follow-up strike, but my target wasn’t his body.

With a snap, my hand naturally grasped Senior Olmar’s sturdy arm. The motion was so fluid that Senior Olmar could only stare at me blankly.

After all, he could only use one arm. It was common sense that one could not topple his massive form.

Yet he toppled. It was an unbelievable sight. Senior Olmar’s world flipped, and with all my strength, I slammed that massive form to the ground. My eyes blazed with determination.

Boom, the ground erupted.

Shattered bits of dirt flew everywhere. It felt as if a lightning bolt had struck at the center of Senior Olmar’s giant frame.

“Cough…!”

Blood burst from Senior Olmar’s mouth. Dust rose thickly, obscuring my vision. But I had no time to hesitate.

Senior Olmar’s massive body had sunk somewhat into the ground. With such force, he wouldn’t be able to move immediately.

My blade stabbed into Senior Olmar’s shoulder.

“Gaaaah!”

As the blade pierced flesh with a sickening thud, Senior Olmar’s scream echoed. I did not stop there, pushing down harder on the weapon, driving it deeper.

Another scream escaped Senior Olmar’s lips.

So painful was it that he trembled with his other arm, trying to grasp the blade that pierced his shoulder. Pain was evident in his eyes.

I locked eyes with Senior Olmar. Spitting in contempt, I spoke.

“… This is for Celin.”

With a swift motion, as I withdrew the blade, the pent-up blood burst forth. And I drew a line again, a strike that severed the remaining tendons in his arm.

Screams and blood once again painted the air crimson. Given the accumulated damage from being embedded in the ground, I no longer needed to worry about Senior Olmar for a while.

That was when it happened.

With a loud sound, something was shot. It was an ice spear, Senior Aisia.

I tilted my head slightly and easily avoided it. My gaze naturally turned towards Senior Aisia.

“Oh, Olmar! You, you really…!”

Senior Aisia looked angry. It was understandable; a long-time comrade had been harmed.

I was hot-headed because of her too. When my fierce gaze targeted Senior Aisia, she flinched.

However, it seemed her anger outweighed her fear. She bit her lip and began to fire off the dozens of ice spears she had summoned one after another.

Bang, bang, bang. The strange sound of their firing echoed as the icy projectiles followed bizarre trajectories. They were not merely straight lines. Gradually encroaching on the space, they were spells designed to ensure a hit.

Even if I tried to strike down the ice spears, I’d only end up cornered further. If I attempted to dodge, I would only find myself in a worse situation. It was magic that required meticulous calculations and a keen sense of space.

One would have to be skilled enough to accompany Senior Delphine on her journeys.

I bent my upper body to evade the fired ice spears. And as my hand scraped the ground, it grasped the axe that Senior Olmar had dropped.

My response was simple. I would throw the axe.

The axe spun through the air, slicing through the gaps between the ice spears. Its trajectory was precarious as it darted towards Senior Aisia.

Senior Aisia’s expression turned visibly flustered. She must not have expected the axe to break through the ice spears and come flying toward her.

But even if the axe was fast, it was already in her line of sight. One of the ice spears shot toward the axe and successfully collided with it at an angle.

With a thud, the axe flew skyward, tracing an arc. Watching the axe sail over her head, she finally relaxed a bit.

Until the axe struck her calf.

“Ugh…?!”

Senior Aisia’s posture crumbled instantly. Her eyes widened in disbelief as they looked down at her calf. The axe was embedded there, having come from behind.

How? Senior Aisia looked at me with that expression. The answer was simple.

The axe, which had flown in an arc, returned like a frisbee, striking Senior Aisia’s calf from behind.

Unfortunately, there was no time to respond to that. I dodged the ice spears and swiftly collected the remaining axe from Senior Olmar. In the moment Senior Aisia’s posture faltered, it was already as good as over.

My foot struck the ground. My crouched body propelled forward, accelerating. In the blink of an eye, the distance between Senior Aisia and me closed.

In desperation, Senior Aisia fired off the remaining ice spears. However, the trajectory of those spears, shot from a collapse posture, was a complete mess.

That much could be deflected with my blade. In the brief pause, a silver aura burst forth from my sword like a brush, leaving an afterimage.

Bang, bang, bang!

With a single swing, the ice spears shattered one by one, leaving behind beautiful debris. The light that refracted through the ice fragments created a mystical atmosphere. However, the longer Senior Aisia gazed at that surreal sight, the paler her face grew.

There were no longer any ice spears left to block my charge. As I burst forth through the swirling debris of ice, Senior Aisia huddled down, screaming.

“Don’t, don’t come! Stop! No… Gyaah?!”

Without hesitation, I stabbed at her remaining leg. With a thud, her scream echoed once more. Then I raised the axe and swung it at the side of Senior Aisia’s head, where it had no blade.

With a loud thwack, the light vanished from Senior Aisia’s eyes. Now there were no more screams. Her body crumpled to the ground like dry straw.

“This is for Senior Elsi.”

At my cold voice, Senior Elsi seemed confused, stumbling over her words as she pointed at herself.

“… Uh, me? Me?”

Now that I thought about it, Senior Elsi’s ankle was still shackled in ice. I wasn’t sure what had happened, but it seemed she couldn’t use magic either, so I was about to approach her first.

Freeing Senior Elsi should have been my priority. If it weren’t for that voice tickling my ear, I would have gone directly to Senior Elsi.

“… What did you do?”

My steps froze abruptly. In silence, my eyes turned toward the source of that voice.

It was Senior Delphine. She looked at me with slightly narrowed eyes, as if she couldn’t comprehend.

She had always been calm and dignified. The mere shift in her expression was an unmistakable display of her emotions. It indicated how much she had lost her composure.

I looked at Senior Delphine as if to say, “What do you mean?” My arm still throbbed, my body ached in every corner, and perhaps I was overexerting myself in my exhausted state, as my breath came in shallow gasps.

I was only pretending to be composed, trying to reassure both Celin and Senior Elsi.

“That martial arts technique that brought down Olmar, it’s the Holy Kingdom’s vision combat technique, isn’t it?”

“Well, maybe.”

“And the strange trajectory of the axe thrown at Aisia… Did you learn it from the Sword Circle?”

“I don’t know.”

Senior Delphine’s brow furrowed with dissatisfaction.

Without saying a word, gold and blood clashed in the air. Then her hand moved toward her waist.

It was just before the collision.

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