His vision swam as the agony radiated from his side. Just as his knees buckled, a grip clamped around his bicep. Shane had caught him and hauled him up.
Shane didn’t say a word, but his hard eyes darted to the backline. Henry could feel he was telling him to fall back.
Pain, sharper than the wound, surged through Henry. If he fell back now, Shane would have to go on alone.
Henry shoved himself off Shane’s support, staggering forward as he forced himself to run again.
“No, I can still do this…!”
To his surprise, moving wasn’t as hard as he’d feared. The shock of the injury must have dumped a massive amount of adrenaline.
Then he had to finish this before his body gave out. Before the adrenaline crash hit.
He forced his legs to pump, matching Shane’s stride. But as he watched the captain’s back, a chilling realization began to creep into his mind.
Thanks to the [Fear] curse, the atmosphere was oppressive, making it feel like running through deep water. Every step Henry took required a conscious battle against the command telling his brain to freeze.
But Shane... seemed completely unshaken.
Henry watched the way Shane ducked under a flying piece of debris. His movements were still fluid, precise, and instantaneous.
Was he completely unaffected by the curse?
Maybe Shane wasn’t just gritting his teeth and pushing through the curse like Henry was. There were, in extremely rare cases, Awakened had a passive skill called [Curse Resistance].
But it’s Resistance, not Immunity.
Henry’s face went chalk-white as the [Fear] spiked again, and he caught Shane looking at him with a frown.
Shane was a man of few expressions, and by now, Henry knew that look meant he was worried. His eyes kept darting to Henry’s face, then dwon to the bleeding wound in his side. He clearly thought Henry was pale from blood loss.
He didn’t realize Henry was struggling not to get paralyzed by the soul-crushing terror because Shane felt no terror at all.
That was what made it so insane. The only logical conclusion was that Shane Ashwell was feeling absolutely nothing.
He was moving through the [Grave Call] freely, completely untouched by the curse… exactly like the monsters.
CRACK. The tombstones were erupting from the ground faster now, the intervals shortening as they got closer to the boss.
Shane grabbed Henry’s arm and pulled him along, forcing him to sprint even faster to match the new, lethal pace.
Henry stumbled along, his heart hammering against his ribs.
Watching Shane push forward—drenched in his own blood, and eyes dead to the horror around them—felt like watching a corpse walk.
The supernatural fear from the curse mingled with a new, very real terror.
He knew it made no sense.
Shane was on humanity’s side, he had to be. He’d saved them. Saved them all.
But right now, he just didn’t seem human.
And Henry couldn’t stop the irrational feeling wash over himself.
Just then, the Heaven’s Executioner, which had been standing motionless like a marble statue amidst the destruction, lowered its colossal head, the stone grinding against stone.
Its gaze fell directly upon Henry.
Goosebumps erupted all over his skin. Its glowing red eyes met his, and Henry felt an ancient malice directed entirely at him.
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“Now.”
Shane’s voice snapped him out of it.
Henry instinctively clasped his hands together and threw up his [Shield].
At the exact same instant, Heaven’s Executioner cried out its [Hymn of Light].
Just as the name implied, it had a melody. With the song, dozens of complex magic circles materialized in the air all around them.
A heartbeat later, they all detonated in an overlapping explosion of holy light.
Unlike the tombstones, which had gaps and delays, there were no blind spots. The radiance instantly vaporized the asphalt and turned the dust into glass.
A series of crimson pop-ups flooded Henry’s vision, confirming the horror of what he had just blocked.
Hearing the song with your bare ears caused a stun effect. And getting hit by two magic circles in a row was instant death for any A-rank or under.
Fortunately, the skill’s area of effect wasn’t as wide as the tombstones. The only things caught in its radius were Henry, Shane, and the surrounding city blocks, which were currently being erased from existence.
But inside the golden cube of Henry’s [Blessed Shield], the air was still.
Henry lowered his hands as the light faded, letting out a ragged breath.
He had blocked it perfectly. But as soon as the relief came, a terrifying question soon replaced it.
How in the world did he predict that?
Shane had said “Now” before the boss even opened its mouth.
Even as he released the skill, the sound of the earlier explosion still echoed in Henry’s ears.
[Precognition]?
Sure, [Precognition] skills existed. But they had long prep times and were notoriously inaccurate when used solo, so no hunter could use one in the middle of a battle.
But Henry had no time to wonder.
They had to start running again. Dodging and blocking the alternating tombstones and hymns, they closed the distance.
The towering legs of Heaven’s Executioner were now right in front of them, looming like skyscrapers.
Suddenly, a heavy, seismic thud shook the entire block.
Instantly, a gale-force wind erupted from the boss. It was a physical wall of pressure, designed to clear the area. Seeing the two of them so close, it had lifted its massive staff with both hands and slammed it into the ground.
“Gah!”
The range was small, but the wind was so sudden and intense, that Henry was swept off his feet. He was weightless for a terrifying second before being catapulted backward, tumbling end over end through the air.
The world spun dizzyingly—sky, asphalt, giant, sky.
Through the chaos, he caught a glimpse of the boss. Standing amidst the swirling dust and wind, the Heaven’s Executioner looked like a holy priest purging the world of demons.
Henry grit his teeth, forcing his body to react. He couldn’t just fly away.
He aimed at the ground behind him and slammed his [Shield] into the tearing asphalt, using it as an anchor against the wind. His back hurt like hell, but he finally stopped being tossed around in the air.
Henry let out several breaths as if he was hyperventilating, his head spinning. He fell to his knees, then frantically scanned the area.
Where was Shane?
He expected to see the captain blown back too. Maybe tumbling further down the street or smashed against a wall.
Henry’s eyes went wide.
Unlike Henry, who had been swatted away like a fly, Shane was somehow above the destruction.
He was suspended in the air, directly over the boss’s head.
Completely bypassing the wind with his [Blink], he hung there at the apex of his dropping point, a dark silhouette against the sun, droplets of bright red blood scattering in the wind.
He didn’t warn me on purpose…!
Henry instinctively realized that Shane had not warned him because he wanted Henry to be blown away.
Shane used the knockback to separate them, pushing the tank to safety while launching himself into danger.
He had planned to face it alone from the moment they stepped out of the alley.
“Captain!”
The scream tore from Henry’s throat without thinking.
With the wind slowed down, he ran with all his might, ignoring the pain in his side. But the distance between him and the boss was already too great. And the residual, howling wind still pushed him back.
He actually meant it when he said to just get him close… that absolute madman!
Time seemed to slow to a crawl.
Maybe it was the adrenaline, or maybe it was the sheer absurdity of the sight. Perhaps that was why. He could see Shane in perfect detail, dropping out of the sky against the backdrop of the sun.
And for the first time since they met, Henry saw something change in the man’s face.
The bored, numb detachment that Shane wore like a second skin was gone, and in its place was a feral vitality. His eyes were focused and burning with a manic intensity.
He’s smiling.
The screams of the Paladins, the roar of the wind—it all fell away into a vacuum of silence.
The only thing that existed was the man and the executioner.
The broken stump of the sword in Shane’s hand began to ignite.
As the fire became the steel, a blade of condensed crimson fire erupted from the hilt, extending the reach of the weapon to its original, glorious length.
In complete form, restored to what it was meant to be.
Shane held the sword high and fell, aiming for the crown of the Heaven’s Executioner.
He was a red comet, a streak of judgment screaming toward the earth to challenge a god.
“Captain! No!” Henry screamed, his voice raw.
Who’re you calling captain?
Shane grumbled a retort in his head as the wind whipped at his clothes, threatening to throw off his aim, but his focus was sharp.
He couldn’t mess this up. If he poured the mana he had gathered through [Bloodcraft] carelessly, he would fail.
He had to compress it. Shape it. Force it into the shape of the blade.
He funneled every drop of the pain-filled mana into the [Fireball] enveloping his sword.
For the first time since he’d held it, the blade felt whole. No longer a broken relic of a failed knight, but it now demanded something.
The sword waited, alive and humming in his grip, vibrating with hunger.
[Weapon evolution condition has been temporarily met.]
[The
has awakened.]
[State your vow to activate