The shadowed corridor pulsed with danger. No matter how many they cut down, more erged—clawing from cracks in the walls, seeping out of the floor like tar given form.
Luca’s breaths were steady, blades slick with smoke and shadow ichor.
Lilliane stood beside him, wand glowing faintly, her spells a storm of ice, fla, and light.
But it wasn’t enough.
The darkness crept closer.
That voice returned, slithering through the air like maggots through flesh.
"Jjijiejeijee..."
Luca’s grip tightened. That laugh again.
It wasn’t just mocking—it enjoyed this. Watching them struggle. Like a child ripping wings off a trapped butterfly.
Suddenly—
)
"Hey..."
A voice, small—fragile—cut through the chaos beside him.
"Wh-why d-did you co to save -e?" Lilliane asked, her voice trembling even as her wand launched a streak of fire into an approaching figure.
Luca spun and sliced another creature down in a single motion.
"What do you an?" he asked sharply, though his voice wavered for just a second.
Lilliane t his eyes in that flickering battlefield, and though her hands were steady, her lip trembled.
"You... You said I was a disappointing."
She cast another spell—"Arcus Volt!"—bolts of lightning crashing around her.
"You said I wasted your ti..."
Luca’s blades moved on instinct, carving through the dark. But her words—
They pierced deeper than any enemy.
"I-I tried so hard to b-be able to talk with others, to m-make friends, and I still—"
Another burst of mana left her wand, and a cluster of enemies vaporized.
"Then why..." she whispered, voice cracking.
"Why did you co for ?"
For a heartbeat, Luca’s steps faltered.
Flas danced around them, the battlefield a whirlwind of death and mana, and in the middle of it—
Lilliane stood, eyes glossy, lips pressed tight as if afraid she’d shatter if she said another word.
And still—
"Jjijiejeijee..."
More enemies erged from the darkness. The voice grew louder
They fought on, blades flashing and mana crackling, even as Luca’s words sliced through the chaos between them.
He brought down a shadow with a reverse slash, then pivoted to block another with the flat of his black saber. Dark ichor splattered across the white blade. Without breaking his rhythm, he spoke—quietly, but steady.
"The ssage said—if you want your friend to live, co to the mountain. I couldn’t let you die... I was the one who brought you out of the academy to make a friend."
Lilliane hesitated, wand poised mid–incantation. The next enemy staggered from her barely released spell. She t Luca’s eyes, but they were distant.
"Right," she murmured, voice hollow. "Making a friend... I still don’t understand. Why do we even need friends? What is a friend?"
Luca’s blade flashed once more as he dispatched another creeping wraith. He wiped it with a flick of his sleeve.
"Friend..." he began, voice softer now, almost gentle amid the destruction. He shoved off a charging foe with the haft of his white saber, then slashed clean through the next. "I... I don’t really know, either. I never had friends—until recently." He crushed a shadow underfoot, turning back to her as sparks died on his blades. "Eric is probably my first real friend."
They ducked together beneath a swinging claw of darkness, rising side by side. Luca’s words ca more from the heart than the throat, his tone calm despite the roiling battle around them.
"Friendship," he said, "is more than just fighting side by side. It’s the promise that soone will see you—not just the face you show the world, but the person beneath it. They laugh with you, cry with you, and stand by you even when you feel you don’t deserve it. They push you to be better, not because they demand it, but because they believe in you."
A wave of dark forms closed in. Lilliane raised her wand, and with a determined cry she unleashed a torrent of blazing mana, clearing a small circle of space for them.
Luca’s eyes softened as he watched her courage ignite. He continued, voice low but resolute:
His blade spun, caught the arm of a shadow, and kicked it back.
"Eric didn’t care that I was quiet. Or cold. He just... kept showing up. Calling his friend."
"He listened. Laughed. Argued. Stayed."
A shadow dropped from the ceiling—Luca stabbed upward without missing a beat.
"And that made think... maybe a friend is soone who sees all the parts of you—even the ones you hate—and doesn’t walk away."
"Soone who reminds you that you’re not alone. Not really."
Lilliane said nothing.
But her magic kept coming—smoother now. Calr.
As Luca was saying all this while cutting down the enemies , his inner thoughts were,
I said all that, but... what do I really know?Back in my world... I was always alone.No one sat beside . No one stayed.
The only ones I ever had were characters in a ga.
I watched them fight, protect each other, cry and forgive. They were everything I imagined friendship could be.
Warmth in silence. Laughter in grief. That unspoken ’I’m here’.
I used to stare at the screen and wish—wish I could feel that, even once.
This... this mont, fighting beside soone, standing between them and death—
This is what I always imagined it would feel like.
They weren’t real... but to , they were all I had.
Luca took another step forward, pushing through the next swarm, blades carving arcs of protection around her.
"A friend isn’t soone who just shares your good days. It’s soone who stays when things fall apart. Who doesn’t need you to be strong. Just honest."
He cut down another, then glanced her way—not to demand a response, but simply... to be seen.
"It’s not about blood. Or duty. Or usefulness.It’s about choice. Choosing soone. Again and again.That’s what I think a friend is."
The corridor narrowed.
The darkness pushed harder.
But the two of them moved together now—wand and blades, ice and fire, light and steel.
Lilliane didn’t say a word.
But her steps never wavered.
Her spells no longer trembled.
The clash of steel and shriek of shadows still filled the air. Magic howled like a storm, and each heartbeat felt like borrowed ti.
Lilliane’s hand trembled mid-spell, eyes glinting in the chaos-lit corridor.
"T-Then..." she whispered, voice barely audible over the roar of combat. "I don’t think... our goal today was a failure."
Luca blinked, parrying a lunging wraith. "Huh?"
She bit her lip, cheeks flushed from exertion and sothing more fragile.
"Y-You talk with ... even when I don’t know how to."
Her wand glowed. A swirl of ice wrapped around an enemy’s limbs, freezing it mid-strike.
"You helped ... in the dungeon. You spoke to even when I was awkward. You agreed to help with Aiden—without asking for anything back."
Luca cleaved two shadows with a spinning slash. The words hit him harder than the monsters ever could.
"In the cave, you saved . You even got hurt." Her voice cracked as she blasted another dark form into embers. "And today—today you didn’t even have the ti, but still ca to help ... to help make a friend."
Another wave surged from the walls. They fought shoulder to shoulder, every movent synchronized now, like the rhythm of a bond slowly born.
"You were angry," she continued, voice shaking. "You said harsh things. But even then... when you knew I was in danger, you still ca."
Luca’s breath caught for a beat. He blocked a blow with his black saber and swept the white one clean through the attacker’s chest.
"And then... didn’t the ssage say, ’If you want your friend to live, co to the mountain’?"
Lilliane looked at him through shimring eyes. Her final words were soft, yet rang louder than the battlefield around them.
"Doesn’t that an... you’re my friend?"
Luca’s arms faltered for just a mont. His blades nearly dropped—but his heart surged.
Friend... I said that, didn’t I? I thought of her like that... even without realizing.
A stunned laugh escaped his lips—light, relieved, almost boyish.
He turned to her amidst the chaos, eyes warm beneath the blood and soot.
"That’s right," he said softly, smiling as he deflected another shadow’s blade.
"Friend."
Lilliane’s breath hitched. A bright smile blood across her face, one that outshone even her magic.
"Mm." She nodded, voice small but clear. "Friend."
They didn’t need more words.
Around them, the dark still surged.
But now, they stood back to back, magic and blades in harmony—not just as comrades-in-arms, but sothing rarer. Sothing real.
Friends.
As they were talking happily with a smile.
The monsters didn’t stop.
No matter how many they slashed, pierced, froze, or burned—the shadows poured endlessly from cracks in the walls and spilled like black waves from the earth itself.
Luca’s breath had grown shallow, shoulders rising and falling with strain. Blood streaked down his temple, his uniform tattered, and his grip on the dual blades tight, but shaking.
Lilliane’s spells still sparked, but slower now—each one more forced than the last. Her knees buckled slightly, and a fresh gash bled across her arm. Sweat dripped from her chin as her wand faltered for a mont too long.
And still—
"Jjijiejeijee..."
That voice, crawling like rot beneath the skin, echoed again.
The shadows laughed with it. A mockery of all things human.
"You’re slowing down," the voice hissed. "The despair’s setting in, isn’t it? That creeping little thought whispering: ’Maybe we won’t make it out.’"
Luca’s blade slashed one more monster down, but another lunged before he could recover. Its claws grazed his ribs, a line of pain flaring across his side. He winced but didn’t cry out.
Beside him, Lilliane collapsed to one knee, her wand barely deflecting the blow that nearly took her head. Her shield spell cracked—visibly.
"Hahahahaha!" The voice shrieked now, madness unchained. "Yes! YES! THAT’S IT! DIE FOR —SLOWLY! BLEED AND CRY AND—"
BOOOOM!
A thunderous blast of golden light exploded across the battlefield, obliterating a swath of creatures in a single searing flash.
The dark voice stuttered mid-cackle.
And then—
A silhouette landed, boots cracking the floor with divine force.
A confident voice rang out—calm, sharp, yet laced with fury:
"Who dares... to hurt my fiancé?"
User Comments
0 comments from readers