Inhuman – Part 06
Lisa was right, Cecily thought, squinting against the wind that tousled her hair.
The Clawmark had been left by Valbanill, and it was filled with dense Aetheria. As Lisa had noted, the power of the Infernal Blade had clearly increased. Aria sent a gust to support Cecily’s weary legs, helping her stand.
But that wind sounded almost like it was crying. Aria worried for her injured friend, yet she had to back her up in facing the threat. She felt guilty for putting her in that position.
“This is just who I am.”
Up ahead, the Inhuman growled ferociously, producing a sound reminiscent of a horse’s whinny. Its single golden eye watched them intently, calculating its next move.
Cecily braced herself. She pulled her left side back while advancing her right. She raised her rapier in her right hand, pointing it at the forehead of the mangled quadruped.
“Aria, lend me your strength once more!”
The Inhuman charged just as Cecily thrust her weapon forward. A massive silver shockwave engulfed the creature. The deformed swords canceled out half of it, while the remaining blade of wind sliced through the beast’s skin, leaving countless lacerations across its body. Still, the beast broke through the wall of wind.
I’m not budging an inch.
She couldn’t move, so she abandoned all evasive actions and focused solely on attacking. The beast’s head was now within arm’s reach. Cecily executed a second thrust aimed at its forehead. Aria’s wind helped her every move—the shifting of her lower body, the bending of her arm, the extension and contraction of her elbow, optimizing her power. The tip of her blade, loaded with compressed wind, shot toward the creature like an arrow.
But just before impact, the Inhuman tilted its head slightly. The tip of the rapier plunged into its crushed right eye socket instead of its forehead. Cecily felt a hard, meaty sensation, like penetrating a copper plate. Liquid gushed forth, drenching her right arm, but the Inhuman pressed on, driving the sword deeper into its eye socket without losing momentum. It barreled toward her face.
“Ugh… Ah!”
Cecily felt a heavy blow in her lower abdomen—her side—before the world flipped. Struck by the Inhuman’s spear, her body flew through the air, defying gravity. She bounced, skidded, and rolled across the ground. Lying face flat on the dirt, she wondered how many bones she broke this time. She choked on the ash. It struck her as strange that she could still stay sane while an inexplicable pain drove her to the brink of madness.
Is this the end?
Had she truly run out of options? No, that couldn’t be right. She could still stand. She could still fight. Cecily opened her eyes slightly. She could see the ground, which meant she was still capable of continuing. She lifted her strained neck and noticed something.
Someone had stepped between her and the beast. A girl with her arms spread wide. A very small girl.
“You… idiot.”
“You can call me an idiot all you want.” The tremor in her voice betrayed a façade of bravado, but she declared, “Because I am!”
The girl stood strong, firmly planting her feet on the ground.
“I’m a deceitful, spineless idiot! I talk about how I’m cursed, so I don’t mind dying, but when push comes to shove, I let you and Luke protect me. I’m sick of it! I shape my own fate. Luke told me to be more upfront, so I will. I will change, I will butt in, and I will fight!”
She drew a hammer from her waist and aimed it at the beast. The Inhuman roared in response.
“Come!”
An Inhuman with a rapier sprouting from its right eye socket. Its powerful leg dug into the ground as it lunged forward. With a headlong rush, it quickly closed the distance, launching her into the air. Lisa rolled past Cecily, but she quickly got up.
“Is that all you’ve got?!” she roared.
Covered in dirt, blood gushing from her nostrils, Lisa gripped the hammer firmly and charged ahead. The straightforward swing of the hammer was caught by the beast’s powerful jaws. The Inhuman twisted its neck sharply, swinging Lisa’s body around as she stubbornly held onto her weapon. It shook her up and down and side to side, but because she refused to let go, it finally relented and loosened its grip.
Lisa’s body flew through the air in an arc. She slammed onto her back and rolled like a ragdoll. And still, she bounced back up immediately.
“This… is nothing!”
The handle of the hammer she used as a crutch snapped, and she staggered briefly. Tossing the broken handle aside, she managed to push herself up onto her knees. In her hand was the head of the hammer, missing its shaft. Weakly, she hurled the iron mass at the Inhuman. It traced a slow arc through the air and struck the creature squarely in the forehead before rolling across the ground. The beast didn’t move an inch.
Her weapon was gone. Still, Lisa balled her fists, refusing to back down.
Cecily couldn’t bear it any longer. “Lisa, stop! You’re being reckless!”
“I’m not done yet. I still have this body. My body is my weapon.”
The Inhuman’s roar drowned out her words. Lisa’s skin prickled at the piercing sound. Her eyes glistened with tears, either out of pain or fear.
“If you think I’m a pushover, think again,” she growled. “My name is Lisa, the demon left by Liza Oakwood, assistant to the blacksmith Luke Ainsworth, and friend to the Infernal Blade Aria and renowned knight Cecily Campbell!” Once more, she stood in front of Cecily. “I will return to Luke, alive, no matter what!”
A rapidly spinning circle emerged from nowhere and sliced through the curtain of ash. It slipped between the girl and the Inhuman, piercing the ground and blocking the creature’s path as it attempted to lunge forward.
A single katana, embedded deep.
It was a complete surprise, but Lisa recognized it instantly. Without hesitation, without thinking twice, she reached for the blade.
As she watched, Cecily understood one thing: this was what it meant to be in perfect sync. The blade, thrown from afar, carried one clear message.
“Use it.”
“Understood.”
In a heartbeat, Lisa grabbed the katana and brandished it toward the Inhuman. Her right hand gripped near the guard, her left at the pommel.
“Hah!”
Lisa widened her stance to anchor herself, and in one smooth motion, raised the katana high above her head. She didn’t bring it down with brute force. Instead, she let the weight of the blade guide the motion as it sliced downward.
“It took Lisa three years to get the hang of this.”
Lisa’s movements mirrored the form that Luke had demonstrated to Cecily before. A series of fluid, almost elegant motions. With the same finesse she used to wield her sledgehammer, Lisa brought down Luke’s sword in a vertical slash.
A line appeared across the creature’s left side. A moment later, that line turned black, and it spewed forth bodily fluid. Both of the Inhuman’s eyes—its right and left—were now crushed. It let out an ear-splitting scream.
Ignoring Lisa’s confused grunt, Cecily summoned the last of her strength and charged forward.
A roar erupted from her crimson lips, a rallying cry to embolden herself. She lunged at the staggering Inhuman and reached for the rapier still lodged in its eye socket.
“Shine forth!”
For a split second, the Inhuman’s massive form seemed to swell, then exploded outward as wind tore through it. Every laceration on its body ripped wider, and from those wounds, silver torrents gushed forth. Cracks spread across its body, geysers of blood spraying in every direction.
The beast didn’t even have time to let out a dying shriek. It collapsed into a pool of its own blood, lifeless.
“We… did it.”
As Cecily watched the creature fall, her strength left her, and she collapsed. An arm caught her from the side.
Their familiar scent brought her a profound sense of ease, and Cecily’s world went black.
Luke handed the unconscious Cecily over to Hannibal, while Lisa stood by, watching absently.
“Get her treated, now.”
“You don’t need to tell me twice.” Hannibal hoisted Cecily onto his back. “I’ll send another knight soon,” he said, then hurried back the way he came.
“She’ll be fine with the geezer. He’ll do whatever it takes to help her recover, and she’s not dying from Aetherial sickness either.” He extended his hand toward Lisa, who had collapsed in exhaustion. “You all right?”
Lisa stared at his rough hand, and her face crumpled.
“Waaahhh!”
She threw herself into his chest, sobbing uncontrollably.
Luke wrapped his arms around her and held her tight.
“I-I was so scared.”
“Yeah, I’m glad you’re okay. Cecily Campbell saved you, didn’t she?”
“Yeah… But if you hadn’t thrown that sword…”
“I heard your voice.”
“I-I tried my best!”
He gently patted her head. “You did.”
Lisa wiped her tears with the back of her hand, sniffling repeatedly. After catching her breath, she asked, “Will you really accept everything about me? All of it?”
The question took him by surprise. Luke raised an eyebrow but nodded.
“I’ve always intended to.”
“You won’t get mad if I grumble?”
“I won’t.”
Her eyes filled with tears again, but she managed to hold them back.
“When we first met, you were horrible. You couldn’t stand me, and you didn’t even hide it.”
“I know. Sorry.”
“And that’s not even the worst part! You’d yell at me out of nowhere, even when I could barely talk. I couldn’t say anything back. I felt so guilty.”
“I took my frustration out on you. I’m sorry.”
“You wouldn’t even look at me! It’s not like I asked to look like Liza!”
“Yeah, I know. I’m sorry for that, too.”
“And then, when I finally learned how to talk, you dismissed me with a single sentence: ‘You’re nothing like her.’ It hurt so much! What do you want from me? Do you want me to look like her or not?!”
“Ah… yeah. Sorry.”
“I forgive you! For everything!” she snapped, then softened her voice. “So, please… forgive me.”
For taking away the person he loved.
“You idiot,” Luke rasped, cupping her head in his hands.
“Wha…?”
“Don’t you dare die before me.”
“Wh-What?”
“Promise me. Don’t die.”
His gaze was intense, unwavering, cutting straight through her. Tears welled up again in the corners of Lisa’s eyes.
“I promise!”
An easy task. She wouldn’t die.
I’m allowed to be assertive.
Instead of staying back and reading Luke’s expression, she could take the plunge. Her beloved would catch her.
Lisa pulled away, smiling through her tear-streaked face. Luke smiled back, though his was more strained.
“Anyway,” Luke said, glancing at the center of the pool of blood, “what was that thing?”
A lifeless Inhuman lay there, shriveled and disfigured, its fluids drained. None of the swords protruding from its back remained intact. They were either crushed, bent, or broken.
“…”
Aria stood before the body, gazing at it with a pained expression. She didn’t care about the wet ground beneath her feet. Lisa wondered why she didn’t accompany Cecily.
“Luke, are these Infernal Blades?” Aria asked, pointing to the twisted swords. “They neutralized my wind. I know there are swords like that, but are these the same?”
Luke approached the corpse and knelt beside it. “No, this isn’t an Infernal Blade,” he said, examining it briefly. “It’s jewel steel. First-rate, from the First Tatara Workshop. The same material I use to forge my katanas.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means these swords were crafted by human hands. They’re fundamentally different from Infernal Blades.”
Jewel steel, rich in Aetheria, had the ability to disperse them as well. This neutralizing effect, where similar properties cancel each other out, was historically referred to as “exorcism.” Katanas were considered the foremost weapons endowed with this ability.
“They’re trying to replicate the power of a Sacred Sword. It’s likely that swords made of jewel steel were implanted into the Inhuman. The question is, who did this, and why did it show up in the city?”
An uneasy silence fell over them. Even without knowing all the details, it was clear that this was a vile act. Only the wicked would implant replicas of a Sacred Sword into an Inhuman.
“Come to think of it,” Lisa said, “it said something about a smell. That I smelled.”
“A smell?”
Lisa recalled the beast’s dying words.
“Why do you smell the same?”
“A smell of what?”
“I’m not sure, but it sounded like it wanted to meet someone. That’s the impression I got when I think back on it.”
“Maybe it just thought you smelled. Like, physically.”
“What?! How rude!”
“I think that woman’s rubbing off on you too.”
Meanwhile, Aria silently stared at the corpse. She had come to a realization. She knew why the Inhuman came to the city.
You wanted to meet Valbanill.
The creature had been desperate. Aria shared a similar desire, though for a different reason. This beast had traveled all this way just to see Valbanill.
Why it had reacted to Lisa, she couldn’t say.
“Ah.”
Seized by a sudden impulse, Aria looked up. Through the veil of ash, she gazed toward the volcano where Valbanill was sealed.
A shiver ran through her. Hugging herself so tightly it hurt, she tried to suppress the dark impulse stirring within.
Kill him.
A voice seemed to whisper in her mind, but she shook her head to push it away.
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