Chapter 8

Episode 8: Crimson Eyes Flashing in the Dark Night <2>

“Yo, bro, looks like you’re having a lot of fun there.”

The trio of men, along with the hooded woman, turned their gaze toward a man standing on the rooftop of a building lining the alley, silhouetted by the moonlight.

The man, who was now the focus of all four pairs of eyes, was none other than Shion Kurosaki. He stood with one hand in his jumper pocket, his figure dramatically backlit by the moon, exuding an air of coolness as he wore a fearless smile.

At that moment, his normally black eyes were dyed a deep crimson, faintly glowing.

Those glowing eyes in the darkness emitted an eerie sense of intimidation.

However, his eyes weren’t like this due to some side effect of an active magic spell.

He was currently using a spell that simply “changed the color of his eyes and made them glow.”

If asked what purpose this spell served in this situation, the answer was obvious: none.

He was doing it purely to look cool.

In the deserted night streets, Shion had fantasized countless times about swiftly taking down villains and gallantly rescuing those in distress.

How many times had he imagined this exact scenario, standing under the moonlight, looking down at the villains?

The men, who had been licking their lips in anticipation just moments ago, were now visibly shaken, their eyes darting toward Shion.

Shion, perfectly immersed in his ideal fantasy, was at the peak of excitement.

And so, seeking even greater ecstasy, he leapt down from the rooftop with a flourish.

However, the height from which he jumped was about five meters. Upon landing, he felt a sharp pain in his legs, almost making him want to roll on the ground in agony. But he didn’t let it show. He had an ideal version of himself to uphold.

With his crimson eyes glowing faintly and a fearless smile on his face, he addressed the three men who were now staring at him in shock.

“Mind if I join in?” he said.

“(—It’s decided.)”

The situation, timing, and tone were all perfect.

This was the exact moment he had fantasized about.

Shion Kurosaki was living his most self-indulgent moment.

“W-what the hell are you?!” one of the men shouted.

“You planning to get in our way?!” another yelled.

The leader of the group, standing in the center, and the man to his right raised their voices.

So far, this was playing out exactly as Shion had imagined.

…But from here on out, things would be different.

In his fantasies, Shion was always the strongest. In his fantasies, he would effortlessly take down the three men and deliver a cool one-liner.

But this wasn’t a fantasy—it was reality. Shion didn’t possess any overwhelming strength. In fact, he was just a student who could only use C-rank magic at best.

“And if I said yes… what would you do?” Shion replied.

“W-who the hell are you…?” the man stammered.

Despite the men’s clear hostility and wariness, Shion remained calm. He wanted to keep living out his fantasy. He didn’t want this moment to end.

“Don’t get too cocky, kid…! I’ll show you what happens when you stick your nose where it doesn’t belong!” the leader growled.

Ideally, Shion hoped the men would back off in fear, but reality wasn’t so kind.

“Do it,” the leader ordered, and the man to his left immediately conjured a magic circle about the size of his upper body.

Shion recognized the spell inscribed on the glowing pomegranate-colored magic circle—it was Fire Attribute Magic: “Flame Thrower,” a B-rank spell by general magician standards.

Needless to say, for Shion, a C-rank student, this was high-level magic.

Yet, even as the spell was aimed at him, Shion didn’t flinch, his fearless smile still intact.

For Shion Kurosaki, was the magic of the man before him truly nothing to fear?

The answer was “no.”

Internally, Shion was half-panicking, thinking, “Ah, this is bad… hehe…”

From what he had seen earlier, he had assumed the men chasing the woman were just ordinary thugs.

If they were just street punks, Shion figured he could take them on with his decently trained physique and some magic, even if they outnumbered him.

In fact, if they were just ordinary thugs, it might have been possible. Even if he couldn’t defeat all three, he could at least help the woman escape and get away himself.

But one of the men chasing the woman turned out to be a magician—and a far more powerful one than Shion.

The magic circle the man was conjuring was about 70 centimeters in diameter. In contrast, the largest magic circle Shion could conjure was only about 40 centimeters.

While the power of a spell isn’t solely determined by the size of the magic circle, a larger circle requires a significant amount of magical energy. Moreover, the “Flame Thrower” the man was about to cast was a higher-level and more potent spell than anything Shion could handle.

From the information at hand, it was clear that the man before him had far more magical energy and was a stronger magician than Shion.

In this dire situation, Shion’s expression remained frozen in a fearless smile.

There was almost no time left before the spell was unleashed. In those brief moments, Shion thought.

If he used all the magic he had, he might be able to escape on his own.

—But behind him was a person trembling in fear. Behind him was someone who needed help.

If he didn’t help, that person would suffer a cruel fate, brutally killed.

“(Running away—is not an option.)”

From the start, there was no choice in his mind to abandon the woman and flee.

But even so, he had no way to defeat the men before him.

Before even thinking about defeating them, Shion had no way to defend against the “Flame Thrower” about to be unleashed.

The alley he stood in was so narrow that three adults standing side by side would barely fit, but Shion alone might have been able to dodge the “Flame Thrower.”

However, that would mean the woman behind him, still unable to stand, would surely be hit.

“(What do I do, what do I do…! Think, Shion, think…!)”

In that brief moment, he considered all the options and strategies he had, but none seemed viable. No matter how many plans he came up with, there was no way to protect the woman behind him against a magician stronger than himself.

—But then.

The leader suddenly smacked the head of the man conjuring the magic circle and shouted angrily.

“You idiot!! If you use a spell that big, the woman’ll be burnt to a crisp!! We haven’t even had our fun with her yet!!”

“! Oh, right… my bad,” the man said, grinning awkwardly as he stopped channeling magic, and the circle in front of him vanished.

“(That was close…)”

Though he had narrowly escaped death, Shion acted as if he had it all under control, smirking and chuckling through his nose.

“Enough, you do it,” the leader ordered the man to his right, who nodded and drew a dagger from his coat, slowly approaching Shion.

“Let me show you what happens when you act on some stupid sense of justice,” the man said, gripping his blade confidently.

Three against one.

The man, convinced he was the hunter, prepared to strike Shion—when suddenly.

“—Haah…”

“…?!”

Shion let out a deep sigh, causing the man to instinctively halt.

Shion tilted his head slightly and scratched his neck, as if utterly bored.

“You can’t even tell the difference in our strength at this distance… you’re quite the optimistic bunch, aren’t you?”

“…What?” The man with the dagger frowned, but Shion paid him no mind and continued.

“I wasn’t really in the mood to kill anyone today, but I guess I have no choice…”

With a weary tone, Shion slowly brought his palms together in front of his chest.

In the man’s line of sight, lightning crackled between Shion’s palms, and a sharp plasma sound echoed through the silent night alley.

The lightning was an eerie glow, with the denser center a deep black and the thinner edges a faint purple.

“!! Hey, back off…!!”

Seeing the bizarre lightning, the leader instinctively pulled the dagger-wielding man back.

The leader’s instincts were screaming danger.

…Come to think of it, the man before them hadn’t been normal from the start.

He had suddenly appeared in this deserted alley, standing before them without a hint of fear, even as they pointed magic and blades at him.

And most of all, those crimson eyes glowing ominously in the dark.

“(This guy… he’s dangerous…!)”

The man before them didn’t seem like some random passerby.

The leader watched Shion’s hands intently, on high alert.

As Shion slowly began to spread his palms apart horizontally, a thin, silver plate-like object started to form between them.

“(This is… bad. I don’t know what it is, but—I have to stop it…!!)” The leader was on edge, but the intense lightning crackling from Shion’s palms only heightened his fear, making him hesitate to approach.

Ignoring the leader’s caution, Shion continued to spread his hands apart, the silver plate-like object gradually taking shape.

A few seconds later, as Shion fully extended his hands, a small “crack” of plasma sounded, and the lightning disappeared.

At the same time, Shion’s right hand now held a single-edged sword with a beautifully patterned blade. He let the tip of the sword droop lazily as he quietly turned his crimson eyes toward the men.

“—!!”

The leader’s eyes widened as he saw this.

—When he saw those crimson eyes, he had a faint, bad feeling.

But he had dismissed it as impossible, refusing to even consider the possibility.

His instincts didn’t want to entertain such a thought.

But seeing Shion now, holding a sword, the leader couldn’t deny the truth of his suspicions.

Realizing who the boy before him truly was, the leader uttered the name.

“『Crimson-Eyed Blade of Calamity』…!!”

“You know him? That guy?” the dagger-wielding man asked, confused by the leader’s shaken voice.

“Haven’t you heard? I’ve never seen him before, but they say he’s the strongest swordsman in the underworld… a swordsman with red eyes…!!”

“The strongest swordsman in the underworld…!! You mean, from that 『Cursed Specters』 group…?!”

“Y-you mean that dark guild where each member is said to be as strong as an entire brigade of the kingdom’s knights…?!”

The men were all terrified, their faces twisted in fear.

“What kind of monster have we picked a fight with?” they thought.

…Yes, the boy standing before them in black.

Normally, he played the role of an ordinary student at a magic academy, but his true identity was said to be a member of the 『Cursed Specters』—a group where each member was as strong as an entire brigade of the kingdom’s knights—and he was feared as the strongest swordsman in the underworld, known as the 『Crimson-Eyed Blade of Calamity』… or so they thought. In reality, no such fact existed.

Yes, it was all just a misunderstanding on their part.

They had vaguely heard stories and, upon seeing Shion, convinced themselves that he must be that legendary figure.

A swordsman with red eyes might exist somewhere.

That person might indeed be called the strongest swordsman in the underworld.

There might be an organization called the 『Cursed Specters』, and its members might each be as strong as an entire brigade of the kingdom’s knights.

And that red-eyed swordsman might be a member of the 『Cursed Specters』.

The men had some vague, half-remembered information that might have been partially true.

But the Shion Kurosaki standing before them was far from such a figure—he was, in fact, a genuine C-rank magic student.

Shion had simply created a sword using the “Weapon Creation” spell because he thought he might have a chance in a sword fight.

Incidentally, the “Weapon Creation” spell Shion used was a relatively low-level one, capable of creating only very fragile swords. The black lightning that had appeared earlier wasn’t part of the spell—Shion had just used some Lightning Magic to look cool.

The deep sigh, the bored gestures, and the overwhelming demeanor were all just acts to buy time to create the weapon.

However, Shion’s actions, so out of place for his actual abilities, had severely clouded the men’s judgment, leading them to inflate their own misconceptions and turn the ordinary C-rank student before them into the strongest swordsman in their minds.

Misunderstanding and terrified, the leader spoke to the two men beside him in a trembling voice.

“H-hey, let’s get out of here…”

“B-but what about the job? We already took the upfront payment…”

“Idiot!! You think we can fight this monster for a bit of cash?!”

Of course, no amount of money would make them take on a job where death was certain, so the leader urged the others to flee.

But the next words from the boy before them froze them in their tracks.

“What are you talking about? You think I’d let scum like you get away?”

…Shion Kurosaki was completely riding the high.

Faced with a threat that would have left on its own, Shion, wanting to live out his fantasy, stopped them. His abnormal behavior had no brakes left.

“W-what do you mean, scum…? Hehe, even the 『Cursed Specters』 don’t do jobs they can show to the sun, right…?”

“Huh?”

“Eek…!”

The leader had started groveling before Shion.

There was nothing left to stop the men’s misconceptions or Shion’s pathological behavior.

Shion glared at the man with a voice full of menace, and the man let out a terrified cry.

“Don’t get the wrong idea. Sure, some in the 『Cursed Specters』 would kill without hesitation if the job called for it.”

“But,” he continued.

“There’s no one in our group who’d gang up on a woman like you scum.”

Shion glared at them fiercely.

His eyes, now a deeper crimson than before, might have been due to him adjusting his magic to enhance his anger, or perhaps it was a response to his boiling rage.

However, despite having never even heard of the 『Cursed Specters』 until moments ago, Shion was now fully immersed in his role as the 『Crimson-Eyed Blade of Calamity』, even speaking about the imagined group’s morality.

“Guh…!!”

Despite everything he said being complete nonsense, the leader was at a loss for words.

And now, faced with the boy he had convinced himself was the strongest swordsman, the leader trembled in fear.

“…Maybe, if you three split up and ran with all your might, one of you might escape. But the 『Cursed Specters』 would definitely find the one who got away. We’d chase you to the ends of the earth. No matter where you hide in this world, even if you crawled into a dragon’s mouth, we’d find you. And we’d make you suffer ten times what you’ve done to others. We wouldn’t kill you quickly. But we’d definitely kill you in the end. That’s what the 『Cursed Specters』 are.”

“A…ah…”

Shion was completely in the zone.

While Shion had been updating his personal record for exhilaration over the past few minutes, the men’s faces were painted with bottomless despair.

And no matter how much they didn’t want to accept it, they had to admit that they were fated to die, with no escape.

—It was a mistake to take on a killing job for petty cash.

—It was a mistake to chase the woman around like it was some game instead of finishing her off quickly.

—It was a mistake not to retreat the moment they sensed something off about the boy who appeared.

—It was a mistake to point their blades at a member of the 『Cursed Specters』.

—No, the real mistake was getting involved in the underworld in the first place.

No matter how much they regretted it, it was too late.

The men, who had lived in the underworld and survived numerous dangers, now faced something incomparable to anything they had encountered before.

In this world, there existed individuals so extraordinary that no number of ordinary people could ever hope to defeat them.

The men realized that the boy before them was one such individual.

Unable to muster the will to flee or resist, the men collapsed in various ways where they stood.

Their faces were filled with despair, terror, and resignation.

…And at that moment, Shion spoke.

“Just kidding.”

The sudden, anticlimactic tone made the men weakly turn their gazes toward Shion.

With a light tap of the sword’s back against his shoulder, Shion began to speak.

“I’m not gonna kill you. After all, you haven’t done anything wrong in front of me.”

“…?”

“Not gonna kill you,” Shion repeated, but the men couldn’t quite grasp the meaning.

Perhaps they were too afraid to hope, fearing the despair that would follow if that hope was crushed.

Receiving no reaction, Shion sighed and continued.

“Look, in front of me, all you did was chase that woman back there and maybe scare her a bit. Nothing too extreme.”

As Shion spoke in a relaxed, non-hostile tone, the men began to understand.

“If that’s all you did, there’s no need to kill you. And you’ve already felt the fear she felt, right?”

“…! …!”

Finally, the men seemed to fully grasp Shion’s words.

Desperately clinging to the faint hope before them, they nodded vigorously, their faces drenched in sweat.

“Then it’s fine. I don’t care if you’ve done other bad things. It’s not the 『Cursed Specters』’ job to judge that—it’s the kingdom’s security forces. Right?”

The men nodded even more forcefully, their bloodshot eyes wide.

“Besides, like I said, I’m not in the mood to kill anyone today. So, it’s fine. Get lost.”

“…!”

Hearing Shion’s words, the men stood up, confused.

But they didn’t move immediately, instead casting uncertain glances at Shion, as if asking, “Are you sure…?”

However,

“Before I change my mind, get out of here.”

Hearing the low, sharp voice that sent chills down their spines, the men cried out in relief and ran off at full speed.

“…………”

…The men’s hurried footsteps gradually faded, and within seconds, they were gone. Watching them leave, Shion stopped channeling magic into the sword he had created with the “Weapon Creation” spell, causing it to vanish. His crimson eyes also returned to their normal black.