Foreword: Yay, another update. Longer Afterword below. Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 10
At the last moment, disaster is averted.

There wasn't a response, but I didn't need one to see how bad things were. Hackard's armor had completely melted, turned into useless slag from the acid's onslaught. The splotchy burn marks on her back were already turning an ugly mix of purple and black. Parts of her back and her arms had already begun to dissolve, and the dull red fibers of distorted back muscle peeked out from the fleshy sludge.

I moved.

My hands reached into the pouches on my belt, the carrier on my leg, and even the holster on my ankle. 5 Potions and 3 High Potions–everything I had left–splashed into Hackard's wounds, dousing the burns with splashes of red and purple liquid, but it wasn't enough. I didn't know if it would be enough.

The burns were deep. Even though the rate of disintegration was slowing down, smoke continued to drift from Hackard's back. And even with all the potions I had emptied into her, she wasn't healing. The acid continued to eat away at her flesh, only slowed to a crawl compared to earlier as the potions attempted to repair her ruined body.

A faint wheeze escaped from Hackard's mouth. Her breaths were getting shallower by the second. She was going into shock.

Dammit. If I didn't do anything, Hackard was going to die right in front of me. I wouldn't–couldn't– let that happen. Not again.

There had to be some way out of this situation. This was Twilight Manor, Loki Familia's home base; they definitely had healing items aplenty inside of the buildings. So long as I cleared the area with Hackard in tow, I could at least safely search for healing items, with a decent chance of finding them.

It wasn't much, but it was the best bet I had, and I was running out of time anyways. I grimaced, swallowing the smell of rotting flesh as I put my hands under Hackard's arms before I lifted her up by the shoulders and pulled. She gasped a little, but there was nothing else as I began to drag her across the ground, doing the best I could to avoid worsening her injuries.

The courtyard had been decimated with the last volley. Wallenstein must've parried with her wind magic at the last second, since there was a cone-shaped spot where the acid hadn't struck at all in the center of the courtyard that spread out to cover Twilight Manor behind it… but that hadn't done any favors for Hackard.

I shook away the thought. Focus, Hachiman. Get Hackard to safety. Don't let her die.

The sound of a bottle uncorking interrupted my thoughts. I watched as in front of me, Deimne emptied the glass vial he was holding over Hackard's body, dousing her wounds with what could only be an elixir. Her wheezing gasps slowly cleared as the ruined flesh on her back began to knit back together, the acid slowly being purged from her body as it came into contact with the liquid.

"Hikigaya." The pallum had a serious expression as he looked at me. It wasn't hard to guess what Deimne was going to say. "They've pulled back, but I won't be able to follow them. Can you do it?"

"..." My eyes narrowed. I understood Deimne's logic, of course. Even though we had lost the orb, Evilus's widescale attack meant that they wouldn't be able to cover their tracks that quickly. If we followed them, we'd at least narrow down where they had come from. But only for so long. If Evilus managed to make a complete retreat, then we'd be back at square one.

The reason he had asked me was the same as before. One Level 3 wouldn't draw any significant amount of attention when Loki Familia's Level 5s and 6s were on the battlefield. But at the same time, that was the problem.

A Level 3 didn't draw attention because they weren't a threat to a group that could take Loki Familia head-on. If I messed up while following Evilus, everything would be over.

"... It's our last chance. This is all we can do now, Hikigaya." Deimne's soft voice broke through my thoughts. "I know I'm asking a lot when I don't have a right to. But if we lose them here, then we won't be able to follow them at all. Not even a hint of their plans will be left."

–Call it my godly intuition, but if you do this, I think there might be a hint for your own problem, Hikigaya~

Hermes's words echoed in my head, overlapping with Deimne's. A hint… or not even that. I had chosen to get involved because Hermes had claimed there was a chance I'd find something related to going back, but the truth was that there hadn't been any guarantee to his words at all.

He had implied the possibility of a possibility, but in the end, all I did was follow nothing more than the whimsical intuition of a god, grasping at the slightest glimmers of hope that I thought could exist.

There wasn't any certainty to it. But if I gave up now, even that would disappear, and I'd be left with nothing at all. And no matter what, I couldn't let that happen.

Something shifted in my arms, and I looked down to see Hackard stir, her back still half-melted from the acid. Even now, I could still see disintegrating muscle, mixed in with blood slowly welling from her wounds. The elixir had kept her from dying, but it hadn't completely healed her, either.

Deimne had warded off an instant death, but without immediate attention, Hackard would end up bleeding out anyways. If I followed after Evilus, there wasn't a guarantee she would survive the battle still going on in the courtyard.

A choice. Getting Hackard to safety. Or giving chase. Giving up that hint of a hint for the sake of another person, or leaving that person behind for that vague, indistinct chance. The world was always forcing Hikigaya Hachiman to choose.

And every time, I made the choice that I would regret. I bent down, prepared to continue dragging Hackard–

"We'll take care of your friend." I looked up to see Deimne, whose eyes focused on Hackard's prone figure before they flicked up and met mine. "Riveria's inside healing the injured. We won't let her die. So go."

The pallum's words were a reassurance. Hackard wouldn't be hurt any further. With a Level 6 watching over her, she would be safe.

... There wasn't anything else I could do here. I was free to follow Evilus without any other reservations about the situation.

Despite that, as I stood up and looked at Hackard's peaceful expression, I had to ignore the rising feeling of reluctance inside of me before I turned away.

~~This is a Line Break~~

I hopped from one roof to another, carefully maintaining my gaze on the retreating group of Evilus members even as I kept my ears open. It hadn't taken long before I had caught up to a massive group of them, and as I watched, they split off into groups of 10 or more as they hit East Main, streaming into the various entrances that led into the residential area just south of the road.

–Daedalus Street.

Were they trying to disappear inside of there?

… No. Even if that was the case, that didn't make sense. Discounting the fact that the place could easily be surrounded at key entry/exit points by Deimne's forces, bottling Evilus into a dead-end, the crowded residential area didn't have nearly enough space to house both the terrorists and the monsters that had appeared at Twilight Manor. Not without drawing suspicion.

Someone would've noticed. Spider would've noticed. And even if none of them could act, they would've at least passed the information on to someone who could. No one liked Evilus; they were bad for business, after all.

There was something more to what they were doing.

Stepping off the rooftop, I landed on the ground, making sure not to draw attention with any unnecessary sounds before ducking behind one of the many crates on the ground. Stealth was of the importance here. I couldn't risk even the chance of alerting one of them, because while the rank-and-file weren't a problem… well, I didn't exactly want to fight one of their executives either.

Once every single white-clad member of Evilus had disappeared, I followed, slipping into one of the entrances. The pursuit continued like that for quite a while–the people I was following traveled as fast as they could move, practically sprinting through the alleyways and backstreet lanes while I quietly trailed behind them.

It was clear they were in a rush, and that made them careless. Despite how little cover there was, I went completely unnoticed as their escape progressed from the outskirts of Daedalus Street into its interior. We passed by a building that I recognized as an orphanage owned by one of Hermes's customers, but Evilus continued to move, finally stopping before all of them collectively filed into one of the dusty, worn-down houses at the end of the street. I, for my part, took cover behind one of the crates littering an alleyway just opposite the street.

I paused and waited, but no more people appeared. Nobody appeared from the building itself, either.

That was a problem. I could memorize the location of the building and return later, but the situation would've undoubtedly changed by then.

Maybe they were hiding in the house. Maybe the house itself was a front, used as a distraction so that they could throw up the pretense of being cut off while escaping through other ways. Maybe the house itself had been fortified against invasion, or maybe they were waiting for someone to enter before blowing everything in the local area sky-high in the name of martyrdom.

Without any information, every move carried a massive amount of risk. None of the outcomes would work without eliminating the element of uncertainty present. And to do that, I had to enter the house.

No choice, then.

The only thing left to do was determine an approach. The door was straightforward, but also the most dangerous. Evilus's escape had been planned and decisive, a complete contrast to their sloppy rampaging earlier. They would've planned out contingencies, including the possibility of pursuit.

Quietly, I dashed across the empty street, sidling up to the door and pressing my ear to it. … Nothing. Not even the silent sounds of breathing, or the quiet shuffling of footsteps across the ground. The entire house had been completely emptied, even though my eyes had been fixed on it the entire time.

Was the house rigged to blow if an intruder entered, then?

I checked the windows, cautiously smashing them open with my sword's handle before peeking inside. It didn't look like there were any traps set up in the windows, at least, so I crawled through the largest one, easily landing on the floor with my sword out and ready.

The house was a single-room hut, practically empty save for a couple pieces of dusty furniture. It had been empty for a long time. The floor was made of stone, covered with a bit of dust, but there weren't many footprints to speak of, and they vanished after a short while, all of them at a certain point of the room.

I had read too many mystery novels to be fooled. They hadn't vanished into thin air or teleported.

To start, teleportation didn't exist; I had looked into anything related to magical transportation in the first few months in Orario, and Spider had been paid to keep an eye out for anything related to it as well, in case it was still a spell that was being kept under wraps. With his extensive connections throughout Orario, it was hard to hide much of anything from him.

Nothing of the sort had appeared, so it couldn't be either of those.

Walking around, I knelt down and looked more closely at the stone; sure enough, there was a single slab that was slightly raised in comparison to the others. An underground passageway.

From how Evilus had split up, there was probably more than one passageway, and they probably all converged at a single location.

The only real question was where that location was. Evilus had been situated somewhere in Orario before, but with Lyon's destruction of their bases 5 years ago, it made sense that the remnants would relocate to somewhere more difficult to find.

Sliding my fingers into the gap between the stone and the rest of the pavement, I lifted the slab of stone up with ease, carefully setting it to the side as the yawning mouth of a stairway revealed itself. A dim light emanated from further down the passageway, and the stairs continued downwards out of sight.

It was completely silent. There wasn't even the sound of breathing, or walking, even as I concentrated and focused my attention down the stairs.

Keeping my longsword out and my other hand on the throwing knives at my hip, I entered. The entire passageway was made of stone, illuminated from one end to the other by the lamps ensconced within the walls.

Not a trace of white clothing was to be seen.

… This wasn't good.

While the hallway was more than wide enough for me to maneuver with my longsword, being overwhelmed by an ambush wasn't out of the question. The rank-and-file of Evilus wouldn't be a problem for me, even without my weapons, but…

Just because all the monsters had hung back at Twilight Manor didn't mean that they didn't have more hidden within here.

On the other hand, I wasn't left with much of a choice. If Evilus collapsed or blocked up the passageway, we'd still be left in the dark. Even if Loki Familia tried to dig out the area, they'd be tied down with enough red tape to make a mile-high flag signaling to the enemy exactly what we were planning.

At the very least, I had to figure out where the passageway ended. If we at least had a hint as to where their base was, we'd at least be several steps closer to finding out what was going on.

Keeping my sword up, I moved forward down the hallway. The hallway ended with a large room, made of the same stone as before. On the opposite side, there was a tunnel that led even deeper into this underground area.

As I neared the room, I slowed down. ... Isn't this way too much effort for an escape route?

Even if I ignored the fact that there were lamps set in the hallway and that the passageway had been made out of smooth stone, rather than rough dirt, there was no point to putting a room like this inside of a tunnel meant for a quick getaway.

–An underground base.

If their base had been hidden underground this whole time, then it would explain why they had managed to stay under the radar these past 5 years. It wouldn't even be a stretch to assume that the man-eating plants and acidic caterpillars–Violas, Virgas–that had appeared during Monster Feria and the battle today could've been smuggled through the exact same or similar passageways.

That would definitely account for how everything had suddenly appeared all across Orario within the span of minutes, without anyone noticing at all.

This wasn't good. I had followed this hallway because I had assumed that it was nothing more than an escape route that lead straight to the enemy's base, but if their base was underground, then that meant that I was already inside.

The sounds of shifting footsteps up ahead alerted me to the possibility of ambush, and my suspicions were immediately confirmed as I rounded the corner.

"Die! For the sake of our lord!" I easily deflected the the incoming scimitar aimed for my neck before weaving through a multitude of additional swings from the other enemies there, backing away to the middle of the room and holding my sword up.

There were around 10 of them; most likely, they were one of the groups that had made their escape and been assigned to guard this passageway. Unfortunately for them, numbers wouldn't matter here.

The first two that charged at me swung their swords, but I parried their attacks easily before stepping towards them. My foot lashed out in a kick to the stomach that sent one of them flying backwards, bowling over their companions as I swiftly rotated my body and slammed the handle of my sword into the temple of the 2nd attacker. He dropped to his knees and I scooped up his scimitar as it fell, tossing it offhandedly at a 3rd attacker who had charged in.

Mook #3 was able to knock the thrown weapon out of the air with a swing of his sword, but he couldn't react as I put on a burst of speed, hitting the center of his chest with my elbow. His body folded around the point of impact for a brief second before he was blown backwards by the force of the strike, crashing into the wall behind him.

I knocked aside a strike from a 4th attacker with my sword before using my left hand and punching her directly in the chin, causing her to sag to the floor. A 5th attacker came in with a double-handed swing over the shoulder before I ducked backwards, letting the sword pass by before kicking him in the chest.

The remaining Evilus members scattered as he went flying backwards, forming a loose half-circle around me as I stepped backwards, leaving their unconscious allies where they were. None of them seemed particularly eager to attack.

That was fine. I slowly bent down into a crouch, hunching over just a little as I shifted the position of my sword. My opponents tensed up as I moved forward, all of them closing in as I made a half-hearted run at the leader, who had positioned himself at the center of the circle.

It was a good tactic for dealing with anyone who was actually planning to charge the center and make a breakthrough, but only an idiot or a monster from the Dungeon would've tried that. As they closed in on me, instead of continuing to run at the leader, I abruptly changed direction and dashed at the attacker on the end of the left side of the half-circle. She was unable to react as I rushed her, my knee coming up to strike her jaw.

As she fell to the ground in a dazed heap, more people charged at me from behind. I turned towards my left to regain some vision, ducking down to dodge a swipe before quickly backing away to regain some space.

2 of them charged me as I did so, attempting to swing their blades as they crossed the space between us even as they stumbled over the body of their unconscious ally. They didn't get the chance.

As soon as they came into range, I moved forward just the slightest amount and kicked, my foot solidly connecting with the left attacker's stomach and forcing him back before I sidestepped a scimitar swing and stepped in with a punch. My fist slammed into my opponent's midsection and he collapsed to his knees as I parried a swing from the other attacker and struck his ribs with the flat of my blade, knocking him aside.

Only 2 left.

Both of them attempted to rush me, but I slipped past their swings, stepping into an uppercut that knocked out one of them before bashing the handle of my sword against the back of the other's head and putting him down for the count as well.

Despite how easy that victory had been, if I took a step backwards and looked at the wider picture, the situation was already turning against me.

I needed to leave now. Because after the low-level minions came–

Footsteps sounded out.

"Hmmm…" A figure intersected with my line of sight, casually walking out from the doorway. "Y'know, when they told me I was supposed to bring up the rear, I didn't expect anyone to actually catch up. We left quite the mess behind for you guys to deal with, after all."

My eyes caught a glimpse of long, stringy blonde hair. He had discarded his weapons at some point, but I recognized him. He was the person Landrock had fought earlier.

"Well, it doesn't matter."

I was running out of time. Even if I could take him in a head-on fight, which wasn't likely considering he had gone up against Landrock, that gave the enemy more than enough time for reinforcements of any kind–monsters, humans, or otherwise.

My potions had been used up, and anything I would've used had been in my backpack during the fall. At most, I had my throwing knives and the knife at my hip as a backup weapon, along with my sword, and that wasn't nearly enough for something like this.

I needed to deal with him quickly if I wanted to get out of here.

"This won't be a problem–" His eyes widened and his hand flashed out, knocking the throwing knife that blurred towards him out of the air.

I didn't wait for his next move. Instead, I turned and kicked off the ground, bursting into a sprint directly for the exit behind me.

"Woahhh, not so fast." Before I could even reach the exit, a blur overtook me, skidding to a stop in front of me and turning around in an instant.

That acceleration–that was definitely Level 4, no doubt about it. Outrunning him would be near-impossible. I'd have to fight my way past him.

I didn't stop. Instead, I continued to accelerate as I closed the distance, lunging at him and swinging my sword in a slash from right-to-left that would've cut him down at the hip. Instead of blocking, however, he bent backwards with a surprisingly smoothness, easily avoiding my swing.

"... not even going to let me finish?"

I responded by angling my blade at him and stepping into my next stance.

"Not one for conversation, huh? You're not too bad, to be honest–" he ducked as he spoke, my stab missing his eye by less than a centimeter and scraping past his hair "–but you're certainly not that old dwarf, or Braver, thank the gods for that." he backed away some more, but I had predicted that.

My sword slashed downwards as I stepped in, stopping just before it hit the ground as I reversed the trajectory and swung upwards. However, the slash didn't even come close, his palm shooting out to lock against my wrist and stopping me cold instantly. I struggled for a bit, but it was clear that I wouldn't be able to push through.

Change of tactics.

Pulling back my sword hand, I stepped in as he lost a bit of balance, caused by our deadlock abruptly ending in his favor. My free hand reached out, firmly grabbing the side of his head before I pushed downwards, snapping my right knee up and forward at the same time.

There was a dull thwack as my knee struck him, but he had put up an arm in time to block the hit with his elbow. In response, I dropped my knee, sliding back a step of my own before kicking out with my left, my foot shoving him down and away onto the ground. He recovered with a backward roll, coming up onto his feet, but that had given me more than enough time to reach for the throwing knives.

The first knife quivered as it moved through the air, my throw bouncing off his armor as he blocked. The second one flew straighter, forcing him to knock it aside with a swing of his arm. That left him open, and my foot plowed into his gut with a solid thwump, sending him reeling backwards even as I continued to close the distance between us.

I didn't let the opening pass. Spinning towards my right, I brought my sword up and over my head, bringing it downwards in a heavy slash as I stepped in.

Even though he blocked the blow from reaching his body with his arms, my sword sliced through both armor and flesh alike with ease, only coming to a stop as the blade violently halted against bone before I pressed further downwards. As the blade was forced deeper, there was a grating sensation before my opponent understood what I was trying, tearing his arm away and retreating to a safe distance.

Blood splashed out onto the ground, but he only hummed appreciatively as he held his arm up and examined the wound.

"That was close. If you had moved just a little quicker, I might've lost my arm." As he spoke, he waved his arm up and down carelessly, the folds of flesh flapping around loosely as he did so. More blood spilled to the floor, but he either didn't notice, or didn't care. "Not bad… not bad at all. More than just an average Level 2, at least. But you probably know how good you are, right? You don't look like the overconfident type."

In response, I simply flicked my blade to the floor before stepping into another stance.

"Not a talkative one, huh?" A lopsided smile found its way to his face.

"... Not really." He didn't seem to be one of Evilus's. Unlike the devoted fanaticism of those 3-bit antagonists that could've been in any light novel, he actually seemed more interested in talking then fighting. At the very least, he was attempting to hold up whatever semblance of a conversation we were having.

"That's a shame. Willing to make an exception?" His tone was loose and casual, as if he were making small talk. For all I knew, he could've been.

After all, he wasn't taking any of this seriously. So far, he hadn't even thrown out a single attack, merely content to evade or block my own attempts to break past him. And with his speed, he could've backed away from the attack that wounded him–but instead, he decided to take it head on. Whether that was to gauge how strong I was or because it amused him, I didn't know–but it was enough to tell me that I couldn't approach him carelessly.

This person was at least Level 4, if not higher. I had suspected the possibility, since I had seen him willingly pick a fight with Landrock, but everything else so far had only confirmed it.

Even if I pulled out all the stops right now, winning against him was nearly impossible. But that was fine. After all, I didn't need to win. I just needed to escape.

"Really not talking, huh?" In front of me, my opponent sighed, before a smile snuck onto his face, as if he had been struck by some sort of realization. "... Hey. What do you think the soul is?"

"... ?" What was he talking about?

"Like…" he made a vague, sweeping gesture with his arm. "When we die, our souls go to Heaven, where the gods live. And then we're supposedly washed clean of all our experiences and reincarnated. But what are these souls? Are they our minds? Are they our bodies? Or do we actually have some sort of spirit inside of us that we can't see or interact with that's actually our soul? That's what I want to know."

For some reason, the conversation had taken an extremely strange turn. I was now listening to a full-blown, real-life Villain Monologue™, if there ever was one.

"Confused, aren't you? It's simple, really." As he continued to speak, he put his injured hand over his eyes. "I heard that there was a Goddess of Beauty in Orario with special eyes that could see a mortal's soul. It's the whole reason I decided to even show up, you know? I just… wanted to see if I could compare notes, is all. Looks like this'll be my only chance to use it, though, so… might as well."

"Fruit of the flesh, freely offered." My eyes widened as I heard the beginning of a chant and I hurled 2 throwing knives at him immediately, but he knocked the projectiles out of the air with his free arm as the chant continued. "Transcend this unworthy vessel, traverse the unreachable path, and open the forbidden gate. Heed my desire and grant upon me sight of that luminous body of light."

Ethereal light began to gather around his body, but there wasn't anything I could do now. My attempt to force an Ignis Fatuus had failed, and the length of the chant and the spell's effects were unknown–if I tried rushing him now, it was possible he'd finish his chant first and take me out. All I could do was wait as he finished. "Augeoides Eye."

As I watched, the light that had gathered around his body coalesced around his head before dissipating entirely. His hand lowered, and when he looked up, I realized that his eyes had turned into a shade of shimmering gold.

A chill crawled down my spine. It wasn't quite the same as Vidar or Hermes's gaze, but… it felt similar. Memories of poker games with Flova and her near-divine intuition rose to the top of my mind.

It was the same feeling… the sensation of being read like a book.

"That purple… uneasy, huh?"

"..." At my non-answer, he sighed.

"Right, not talkative. Well, whatever. Let's do this." At those words, I readied myself.

I had better reach with my sword, but he was a full Level higher with a spell activated, so closing the distance wouldn't be an issue for him. Overextending with my sword would lead to a fatal opening. Fleeing was out of the question, since he could keep up with ease. That left only one option.

I waited.

Sure enough, he broke the standoff between both of us and charged, closing the distance in mere seconds. I slashed at his midsection, my sword sweeping in just as he committed to his approach to force him to pause for a moment as I backed up to put more space between us.

It wasn't enough.

The moment my slash finished, he dashed forward and instantly closed the gap, his fist already blurring through the air. I managed to get my guard up, but the punch slammed into me with enough power to force me off my feet, dull pain spreading across my arm as the punch connected.

I stumbled for a step before recovering my footing and retaliating, a downward slash carving through the air even as he retreated several steps backwards, putting himself just outside of my range. My arm throbbed as I shifted into a defensive stance. It wasn't broken, but if this kept up and he slipped past my guard, it wouldn't be long before I took a hit that I couldn't recover from.

At least the attacks were somewhat predictable. With his right arm already wounded to such an extent, he would probably keep the damage minimal and stick to attacking with his left arm.

He again made the first move, kicking off the ground and charging me in a straight line, covering almost half of the distance before I responded by whipping my sword upwards. He dodged, sidestepping towards my right as the blade narrowly passed by before stepping in and pulling a fist back.

Even though I anticipated it, I was barely able to respond. My foot slid across the stone floor as I drew it back before pivoting and slashing, my blade intercepting his arm and knocking it to the side as it clashed against his armor. The exchange left both of us off balance, but he recovered faster, arm already pulling back into position.

I only managed to dodge by forcing myself to continue turning and tilting my head to the side, slipping his punch by mere centimeters. I was too close to use my sword, so instead I shifted my body weight even more to my right leg before snapping my left knee up and forward, aiming towards his side.

The strike connected with a thwack against an open palm that had risen up to block, but it was enough to briefly stagger him, letting me follow up with a slash. The sword had aimed for his midsection, but he was able to dodge, bending over backwards as the blade passed before his foot left the ground in a kick aimed for my head that I was able to duck away from before I backpedaled, putting even more space between us. He was slower to recover this time, wincing as he propped himself up with his still-injured arm, but even so, I didn't approach.

Even with my reach advantage, even down an arm, he was relentless, exerting an overwhelming amount of pressure up close. If I rushed in carelessly, I'd more than likely find myself caught in a brawl I had no chances of winning. If I wanted to outmaneuver him, I had to play defensively, sticking to well-timed interruptions and precise counterattacks.

"Damn. You really are tough. If that's the case… then how about this, for a change?" As I watched, my opponent smiled before lifting his foot high into the air and slamming it down into the ground, heel-first.

Beneath me, the ground shook violently, the shockwave from his stomp causing part of the floor to cave in towards his foot as the stone broke around the point of impact. I pitched forward just as he kicked off, rushing directly at me. I briefly considered interrupting him with a slash, but discarded the idea almost immediately. If he slipped past my attack and landed a punch directly, the consequences would be disastrous.

Against my better instincts, I braced my elbow against my free hand and attempted to block his punch.

Even though I had guarded against it, the punch still hit like a hammer. Pain spiked outwards in my hand from the point of impact as the force drove my elbow into my stomach and I was blown backwards. I managed to recover, landing on my two feet, but it was too late. He would've already caught up by now.

–But he didn't. Instead of pressing his advantage, my opponent stood where I had been mere seconds ago, breathing heavily. It took me a second, but I quickly realized that his leg was quivering. Even a Level 4 couldn't break an entire floor made of solid stone without incurring some degree of injury, I guess.

A sharp jolt of pain alerted me to my own injuries. My arm was trembling from taking that hit, but the real damage was in my hand. Several joints in my index, middle, and pinky fingers were already swelling up slightly, the appendages twisted at a crooked angle. That explained the sharp pain from the punch, at least.

Dislocation. Solvable enough, even if I didn't have any potions on hand I could use right now.

Slowly, methodically, I positioned my fingers against my side, lining them up carefully before forcefully pressing with my hand. There was a moment where the pain in my joints intensified sharply before something gave way and there was a quiet crack as my finger bones clicked back into place. I repeated the process for my other 2 injured fingers before carefully flexing my hand, ignoring the aches in the injured joints as I kept my eyes trained on him before quietly slipping a throwing knife into my hand as I returned to a ready position.

Even after all that, he still hadn't moved. Instead, he seemed content to wait for his leg to recover, keeping his eyes on me as his leg slowly stilled. I felt a chill as his gaze focused in on me, but I suppressed the instincts that flared up in my body to run.

He hadn't seemed to notice the throwing knife, but I couldn't afford to assume. If he really could see through my soul as he had claimed, then it wouldn't matter how deadpan my expression was. The throwing knife would, at best, be a distraction.

Something was off about this. I couldn't exactly place it, but something felt distinctly wrong. Out of place. I didn't have time to figure it out, though. The longer I stayed here, the more likely it was that reinforcements would appear.

If he was stalling for time, then I'd have to press the attack. Playing defensively only worked if your enemy was willing to take the initiative, after all. If there was some sort of trap involved, I didn't have much of a choice aside from springing it. At least I wasn't a Jedi.

No time to waste. I attacked.

My first slash was short and compact, keeping my sword close to my body as I stepped in towards him. He dodged backwards, immediately dashing in to follow on the opening before abruptly jerking away as my second slash crossed the space between us in a left-to-right sweep as I kicked backwards in the same step, retreating to put distance between the two of us.

He smirked as I backed away. "The same move gets old when you repeat it, you know." And just like before, he waited for just a split second before closing in.

But I had expected that. As my opponent took the bait, I whipped my left arm forward from the side and released. There was a twinge of pain in my fingers as the knife left my hand, but it flew straight and true, blurring through the air directly at his face.

His eyes widened in visible surprise as his right hand shot up, stopping the projectile from reaching his head as it sank deep into his palm instead.

I didn't let the chance pass by. Stepping in with one foot, I gripped the handle of my sword with both hands and swung downwards at full force.

Rather than the sensation of my blade slicing into flesh, however, the blade came to a violent stop, a painful shock vibrating against my hand as the screech of metal against metal was heard.

… This was ridiculous. Just how high was his pain tolerance?

Even though he was on one knee, my opponent continued to hold my sword back with the throwing knife that was still sticking out of his right palm, gripping it with his left hand to maintain the stalemate between the two of us. The knife had cut even further into his hand, but he endured the pain, keeping me at a stalemate even as blood dripped to the ground and I attempted to force my blade further downwards.

Change of tactics.

Rather than continuing the blade-lock, I shoved my sword forward and upwards, abruptly ending our struggle. With his arms temporarily knocked aside, he was unable to react before my forward kick connected with his knee, twisting it to the side with a crack and causing his balance to crumble.

As he fell backwards, I stepped in and swung, the pommel of my sword cleanly connecting with the side of his head in a blow that sent him tumbling across the ground. I attempted to follow up, but his foot flew out in a kick that I was forced to duck away from before he rose to his feet, handily recovering and putting some distance between the two of us.

A thin stream of blood trickled down the side of his head as he looked down at the knife that he had pulled out of his palm before nodding, switching it over to his left hand and holding it up in a reverse grip.

It wasn't hard to tell what he was thinking. Now that he also had a bladed weapon, he would be able to contend against my sword without risking being cut. Even if the knife was just a throwing knife, a blade was a blade. With enough force, he could still slice through my insides if given the chance.

But even if he had a blade, the side from which attacks would come from wouldn't change at all. It'd still be his left arm.

He lunged at me, and my downward slash met his upward swing midway with a clang that sent a jolt into my fingers before he adjusted, angling his knife so my sword would slide down across its edge before making another swing aimed for my neck.

The knife sliced through the air as I ducked, letting the blade pass by the side of my head before clenching my free hand and countering with a punch that slammed into his guard. He winced as the blow connected before retreating backwards and raising his left foot high into the air.

He was hoping to catch me off-guard with the ground pound. There was one difference from before, however: I knew what was coming.

This time, as his foot drove into the ground, I was ready. As the shockwave passed underneath my feet and I once again tipped forward, I attacked first, aiming a slash directly at his left side. He blocked with the knife again, and as both of our blades locked, he did something completely unexpected.

Rather than pulling away to reset our positions, he instead pressed inwards, sparks flying as the throwing knife in his hand scraped against my own blade. It was clear why: at closer range, he'd have the advantage.

There was just one problem with that, however. His left hand was still occupied with my blade, while his right arm–

My eyes widened as I watched my opponent pull his right arm backwards with an expression on his face that was half-grimace, half-grin. He couldn't possibly be–

I moved to guard, but I was too late.

A clenched fist slammed into me at full force. Pain radiated outwards from the point of impact in a jagged wave, the air in my lungs driven out of my body as I was blown backwards. I managed to land with both feet and stay standing, but almost immediately, my knees buckled and I retched violently as white-hot pain rolled through my insides.

… He had completely fooled me.

Regardless of whether or not he had taken that deep cut intentionally, he had used it to his advantage and tricked me into letting my guard down.

I slowly assumed a defensive stance, each breath sending painful tremors through my body. Something inside of my body scraped unpleasantly, sparks of pain firing off inside of my ribcage as I tried to steady myself.

That last hit had done a lot of damage. If he capitalized now and pressed into close-quarters, I would be forced to retreat or else get crushed.

In front of me, however, my opponent once again refused to press his advantage. I watched as he limped forward shakily, his right arm falling limply to his side. The pain was apparent in his expression, but after what had just happened, I couldn't afford to assume that he couldn't do it again.

Neither of us moved as we stared at each other. Neither of us could gain an advantage over the other. We were at a stalemate.

The pieces clicked together.

… That had been what felt off. Why hadn't I realized it sooner?

If he really was a Level 4… would we really be in this situation? Even if he wasn't taking this seriously because I was one Level below him, a clean hit from a Level 4 had the capacity to knock out a Level 3 without issue, let alone someone who was injured. Source: Personal experience.

He was undoubtedly stronger than I was. He hit harder and recovered faster. But not to the extent of a Level 4. I had sparred with Anya enough times to know.

It wasn't like I could shake off his blows like they were nothing; they could still inflict enough damage to kill me if I wasn't careful. But… a Level 4's punch would've shattered my already-injured ribs. His hadn't. His speed had gone down, too. Aside from the start of our fight, where he had easily reached the exit before me, he hadn't accelerated like that again. His reflexes weren't that of a Level 4's, either–he was keeping pace with me, but a Level 4 would've done more than that.

There was probably a reason his speed had dropped that much, but that wasn't important right now. What I needed to focus on was the fact that if my opponent really wasn't a Level 4… I had a chance.

Even assuming that he was slightly faster,so long as he didn't suddenly accelerate like before, I'd be able to secure an escape. All I needed to do was gain a substantial headstart and find a way to stop him from catching up.

The fluttering of white cloth at the edge of my vision caught my attention. I watched as one of the unconscious people on the ground stirred, their clothes shifting to reveal the device beneath their robes.

… It was risky, but that would definitely stop him from catching up. All I had to do left was to make that headstart.

I drew another throwing knife, aimed, and released. He deflected it out of the air before meeting my charge with his own attack, my lefthanded swing colliding with his blade and sending a jolt down my left arm. He backed up, but I swiftly stepped into another slash, following up with a short-ranged stab that he knocked aside with his knife.

"Trying to throw me off by switching hands?" His eyes glittered in amusement. "Sorry, not gonna work." We exchanged several more attacks, but I was steadily forced to give ground, backing away as he stepped in and jabbed at me repeatedly.

He was right, of course. My left-handed sword techniques were good enough to fight against monsters in a tough spot, but those were monsters. Not people. Against the opponent in front of me, it wasn't even good enough to be a distraction.

But that was fine. I hadn't swapped hands to throw him off, after all. I had done so to lure him in.

I parried his attack before falling back several steps. He responded by lunging in before I stepped forwards and timed a thrust just as he committed, forcing him to immediately dodge as my stab shot past the side of his head. Despite that, he continued to close in, his weapon gleaming in the light as he pulled it backwards.

One more step, and he'd be in range.

His foot made contact with the ground, and I moved.

In the fraction of a second before he could start his own attack, I reached behind my back, drew my knife out in a reverse grip, and swung at his throat in a single motion.

The blade carved through the air in a metallic arc as his eyes widened in surprise before he shifted his arm with unnatural speed, preemptively angling the blade to deflect my strike. However, instead of letting my arm fully extend outwards to finish the swing, I folded it close to my chest, letting the momentum of the "missed" attack guide my next move, turning towards the left and ducking low towards his exposed right side.

My opponent tried to adjust to the sudden shift in motion, but I had effectively forced my way into a temporary blind spot that couldn't be covered by any counterattacks from his left side.

As I swiveled to the left, something moved in a way it shouldn't have, grinding along the sides of my ribs and leaving white-hot sparks in its wake. However, I gritted my teeth and forced myself to move even as pain flared through my body and my vision flickered. I felt my right foot plow into the floor as I drew my arm back even further, winding myself up like a tightly-coiled spring before I kicked off the ground with my left leg and let go.

On release, my right arm snapped outwards, the knife blurring through the air as its previous line of motion abruptly reversed. The rest of my body followed through on the motion as I uncoiled, violently rotating through the air and adding my own power to accelerate the blade further as it slammed into my opponent's right leg.

The knife connected with a SHNK, the impact of the blow vibrating through my palm as it struck. Momentum carried me forward and I tore the knife out with a wrench of my arm as I continued to move, sliding past and away from his body.

I didn't wait to see his next move. Instead, I sheathed the knife and took off in a sprint, headed for the hallway.

Right before I passed through the entrance, my free hand shot out, snatching one of the unconscious Evilus people by the collar before I cleared the doorway and shot down the stone passage as fast as I could go.

But I wasn't alone. Footsteps rapidly sounded out behind me, and I turned my head just enough to see my opponent giving chase, even as blood flowed from the cut in his thigh. The only indicator that he was even injured was a slight hitch to his movements as he put weight on his injured leg, but he was slowly gaining on me.

"Taking a hostage?! You're just slowing yourself down!" His gleeful shout echoed down the hallway, but I ignored him, focusing instead on the person I had dragged along with me and sheathing my sword to make use of both of my hands as I scanned their body.

The detonator tucked into their white robes was enough to confirm it.

I hadn't taken this person for their value as a hostage, of course. Tearing their clothes open with my right hand, I was promptly rewarded by the sight of an Inferno Stone strapped to their body, wired up to the detonator.

I didn't hesitate.

Grabbing the setup, I separated it from the person in my grip with a hard pull before whirling around, yanking on the string and throwing it directly at my opponent.

The last thing I saw on his face was an expression of delighted surprise before the explosives detonated.

Light seared its way into my eyes as I was blasted backwards, accompanied by a deafening roar in my ears. An intense wave of scorching heat buffeted my entire body as I floated through the air, weightlessness overtaking me for a split second before I slammed hard into the ground and rolled several times, my arms and legs flailing through the air before I finally came to a stop face-down, cheek awkwardly pressed against the floor and limbs haphazardly splayed across it.

There was a RUUUUUMBLLLE, and I lifted my head to watch as chunks of stone fell from the ceiling of the hallway before it caved in on itself entirely. Dust billowed outwards, but I refused to look away, keeping my eyes focused on the pile of rubble in front of me as I kept a hand on my sword.

No matter how long I waited, however, nobody emerged from the rubble in the collapsed hallway. It was only when the dust slowly settled to the ground that I finally allowed myself to relax, letting go of the sword and focusing instead on the unconscious person I was still holding in my other hand.

I let out a sigh before turning away from the scene, slinging the still-unconscious Evilus member over my shoulder and walking up the stairs. Deimne would probably want to interrogate them.

Somehow, I had made it out. Somehow, everything had turned out fine.

Afterword: There will be a longer Afterword for the end of Volume 2. But yeah, at least the fighting is over, for now.

V2C9 and V2C10… well, I only actually started work on them at the start of March 2022. I had it planned out, but just couldn't bring myself to write it… so yeah. There's that. Sorry for the delay!

I wanted to pull out all the stops I currently had for these last 2 chapters, sort of as a big "climatic battle" thing, because an attack on Orario from Evilus is a pretttyyyyy big shakeup of the current status quo. Buuuuuut, I don't know… I was expecting maybe 6-7 thousand words at most for everything in the chapter, only for things to clock in at an almost-stunning 14 thousand words. That's what I get for cramming nearly back-to-back-to-back fight sequences in these 2 chapters though, I guess.

I hope you enjoyed V2C10's main selling point, which was obviously the big fight between Hikigaya and Oslac (the blonde guy). Did it drag on? I don't know and I hope not, because I certainly had a lot of fun choreographing and planning everything, even if that took quite a while and the writing of the fight was tough. You would NOT believe how many times I rewrote the fight sequences, interactions, etc. before I finally arrived at something I thought was good. At least 3 dozen wholesale toss-out revisions were made before this version. And it's also the first time I've ever written such a long, continuous, intense fight scene–it clocks out at almost 5000 words, which is absolutely insane for me, I've never written that long of a one-on-one before.

It's also an experiment for me, I guess, trying to see how a duel between high-level adventurers at Hikigaya's tier would go. What do you guys think? Too much fight scene that made the chapter drag? Or did you guys enjoy watching Hikigaya fighting in this intense one-on-one duel?

I hope that at the least, you've gotten a better sense of how Hikigaya fights and what he's like as an adventurer.

I'm always nervous that I'm deviating from his character, and I recognize that the recent chapters have been way more serious in tone, with a lot less of the classic Hikigaya-jokes thrown in… I just, I dunno, don't feel like Hikigaya would snark as much with how bad the situation is. But when I'm writing, it sometimes doesn't feel as Hikigaya-ish as it's supposed to, in part because it's missing the light-heartedness that Oregairu has to balance out its serious moments. It's been serious, serious, serious so far, but let me know what you think. Should I keep on this track? Is it fine if I swap back to a lighter tone later on, when things are less harrowing?

Pacing, too. There's so much going on this chapter, so I feel like it might seem rushed. Or maybe Volume 2's just been slow in comparison? I don't know… maybe it's just the troubled production of this chapter and the next one messing with my mind. Regardless!

Let me know what's good and what's not daijoubu, and what I can do to fix things and make em better.

Oreo the Cookie

Postscript: Has anyone ever seen an Evangelion and Oregairu crossover with the Oregairu trio as the Eva pilots, or the Oregairu trio at all? I feel like it would've been a really interesting crossover to see.

–Also, one more thing. These are the 2 chapters I have prepared, so I don't know when the next chapter is gonna finish. I'm trying my best to hammer away at it, so hopefully before June it'll be done and published and I'll have started planning and work for Volume 3.