Chapter 9:

  The bird cut through the high skies above the city in a smooth, steady glide. Beneath its wings, the towering skyscrapers looked like dull gray squares, colliding with sunlight only to reflect it back lifelessly. From this height, the city seemed to have lost its features—reduced to nothing but silent geometric shapes.

  Rin looked at Moli with a curiosity she couldn’t suppress, her eyes tracing his profile before she spoke.

  “I know this probably isn’t my business, but… who are you, really?”

  He tilted his head as if about to answer, then pulled back at the last second and replied curtly,

  “Yes, it isn’t your business.”

  Rin frowned, knitting her brows in annoyance.

  “You’re mean.”

  He didn’t look at her, but after a brief silence, he added,

  “But I’ll tell you when the time is right.”

  “What do you mea—”

  Rin didn’t finish her sentence. An arrow sliced through the air just above Moli’s head. It veered away—then suddenly turned, like a sentient creature, and lunged back at them with even greater force. Moli smiled then, a strange excitement lighting his face.

  “A blood-form!”

  He barely finished the word before the arrow exploded in his face. The blast hurled him off the bird and sent him crashing onto one of the lower rooftops. He hit hard, lifted his head with effort, then gestured for the bird to flee. His gaze swept quickly across the clustered rooftops and towering windows as he muttered tensely,

  “This is bad. His crystal energy is strong… and this blood-form is really annoying.”

  He leapt sideways, narrowly evading another arrow that shot toward him. The arrow turned again, stubbornly refusing to abandon its prey, and dove straight at Moli. He flipped backward to dodge it—but it kept chasing him. Moli raised two fingers skyward. The rooftop split open, and a brown, beaver-like creature burst forth, swallowing the arrow whole. Both exploded in the same instant.

  Moli scanned his surroundings cautiously and muttered,

  “I can’t spread my magical energy to locate him. I don’t know if he can read me.”

  At that moment, a distant voice reached him, laden with artificial coldness:

  “It’s nothing personal. Just leave the girl behind… and disappear forever.”

  Moli drew an arrow from a bow he created in an instant, spun around, and released it. The arrow shot like a bullet, covering hundreds of meters in the blink of an eye—piercing a mobile phone that rested against a wall on a nearby rooftop.

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  The voice laughed mockingly.

  “Don’t take me for an idiot!”

  Moli stopped chasing the echo of the voice. He closed his eyes, pressed his palms together, then sealed them with a precise, practiced motion.

  “First spell… Crystal Projection.”

  He opened his eyes—and his perception flipped. He was seeing through his enemy’s eyes.

  The boy shut his eyes immediately, breaking the effect. He was a teenager, barely of age. Gripping his ornate blue bow, he leapt from a nearby window, muttering in disbelief,

  “Projection?! How can he master a spell like that?!”

  He added while hopping between closely packed rooftops,

  “It doesn’t matter. By changing my position like this, he won’t know where I am from that distance—”

  A voice came from behind him, terrifyingly close.

  “But I’m not far.”

  The boy froze. His eyes widened in shock. He looked ahead—where Moli had been—only to see his body beginning to fade.

  “Was that an illusion this whole time?!”

  He didn’t finish the sentence. Moli slammed into him with a powerful punch, sending him flying across the rooftop. The sorcerer scrambled to his feet as Moli advanced.

  “Your blood-form is very practical,” Moli said calmly. “An arrow that follows the target’s crystal energy—and accelerates every time it’s dodged.”

  Then he added, almost puzzled,

  “But it seems you haven’t mastered anything else?”

  The boy raised his bow again and said with forced confidence,

  “I’ve mastered enough to subdue you.”

  He clasped his hands into a circle and whispered,

  “The Bubble.”

  Moli laughed, clearly flustered.

  “Seriously?! You’re my first fight since I woke up! Take it easy on me!”

  He didn’t finish speaking before an arrow appeared right before his eyes. He hardened himself with a pink crystal-energy shell and absorbed the explosion. Before he could regain his balance, five arrows surrounded him from all directions. He didn’t move—he hardened himself again and embraced the blasts.

  Blood streamed from his mouth as he muttered,

  “Just one more time…”

  Moli leapt, narrowly dodging one arrow—but collided with another midair. He crashed down, gasping, blood seeping from his battered body. The boy stepped toward him and said coldly,

  “All an archer needs is to ensure the hit to win. It doesn’t matter who the opponent is.”

  He stopped suddenly—as if time itself had frozen. He couldn’t even move his mouth.

  Moli stood up, brushing dust from his clothes, and said calmly,

  “You’re good at offense… but terrible at defense.”

  Breathing heavily, he added,

  “You should keep your distance from your enemies’ magical range by extending your firing radius.”

  He sat down, exhausted, then said,

  “As for the Bubble… that was an unexpected surprise today. How old are you? Sixteen?”

  Moli continued in a low but confident voice,

  “You chose well by focusing on the Bubble instead of spreading your time mastering other spells and forms. It contains me within your body’s magical range—meaning every attack is guaranteed to hit, and your movement becomes instantaneous inside it. Yes… the perfect environment for an archer like you. But the more you focus on offense, the weaker your defense becomes. The Bubble contains me within your body’s magical range, correct? That means you exposed yourself to me completely. It’s like food you’ve eaten—it can either be digested forever, or it can poison you to death. That’s why I could read you so easily… and then lock you.”

  The boy whispered with difficulty,

  “Why…? Why are you helping me?!”

  Moli looked down at the ground, lost in thought, then raised his head and said,

  “Maybe these times of peace made you forget who the real enemy is.”

  He formed horns with his fingers and added mockingly,

  “But they’ll never forget who their favorite prey is.”

  He walked away, and when he reached the edge of the building, he stopped.

  “Oh… I almost forgot.”

  He asked coldly,

  “Why are you so desperate to get Rin?”

  There was no answer.

  Moli raised an eyebrow in resignation, then said before jumping off the rooftop,

  “Just tell your leaders that the Court Heralds have arrived.”