What is the Path of Destiny?
...
A devout believer.
A warrior who hungers for battle.
One who thirsts for knowledge.
A lost stranger.
Those who possess conviction and dreams step onto the Path governed by the Aeons, whether consciously or unconsciously.
From there, they become Pathstriders, carrying out the ideals of the Aeons.
Those who act upon those ideals each carve out a unique existence among thousands of possible paths.
Unlike the ignorant masses.
That is why they are special.
Most live lives unlike any other.
A crane among chickens.
Like a solitary crane standing amidst a flock of hens.
Even a human who has only just begun walking the Path of Destiny already possesses something extraordinary that sets them apart from the rest.
2.
My field of vision shifted violently.
I had no weapon, only my bare hands, but things were different now.
Perhaps it was because I was on the verge of losing everything. Even as my perspective blurred and whipped around, I adapted and threw a punch.
“Ghk!!”
“Ren!!”
I drove my fist deep into the stomach of the man wielding the katana.
Unable to react, the man was sent reeling, the blade slipping from his grip.
Ah.
I’d finally grasped the core of Pleasure!
Blood still seeped from my cuts, but my mind had never been clearer.
“Silver Wolf.”
“Adrian, how in the world did you—?”
“Just trust your big brother.”
The man called Ren staggered to his feet before me.
I’d hit him square in the solar plexus, right where the liver sits.
It looks like those augmentation procedures really were something.
I picked up the katana that had fallen to the ground.
I’d never used a weapon like this before, but it was better than nothing.
I’m sorry, ancestors. I’ll try fighting with a samurai spirit just this once.
“You... you bastard! I’ll kill you!”
“Ren, don’t let your guard down. That movement just now was...”
The 7th-rank thugs stared at me, their alertness spiked to the maximum.
Neon signs from the city bled into the dark alleyways.
The 8th-rank thugs lined up behind the 7th-ranks wore vicious expressions.
Crunch
I didn’t really know the proper form, but I lowered my center of gravity and took a rough iai stance.
“Sky Leap.”
“Block him!!!”
Apparently deciding they couldn’t hold back any longer, the 8th-ranks rushed forward, swinging a chaotic array of weapons.
But so what?
What, exactly, did they think they were doing?
Could a pack of wild dogs truly beat a tiger?
Three of them charged at once, but I swung the katana like an axe, hacking them down in one sweep.
The acceleration granted by the technique, combined with a body reinforced to withstand that force, triggered an immediate, instinctive response.
It was as if I had stepped into an entirely different world.
My body reacted instantly, a perfect extension of my will.
For a split second, a flash of red light flickered behind the front line.
I knew it.
If they wanted to kill me, that was the only way.
The 7th-rank thug’s arm glowed red, and a spear was launched. With a shriek as it tore through the air, the projectile hurtled toward me.
“Sky Leap.”
Instead of charging across the ground, I literally leaped into the sky.
The ascent was absurd, far beyond the limits of a normal jump.
Shit. I jumped too high!
I dodged the spear, but as I plummeted back down, I made the mistake of trying to land in style.
Crack
My ankle made a sickening sound upon impact.
“Superhero landing, you bastards!!!”
“...What the hell?”
Even my enemies snorted in disbelief.
Seeing that, I grew even angrier.
You’re laughing?
You’re actually laughing.
You’re dead.
Based on the earlier conversation, that attack only had one use left.
If I could dodge one more time, those guys wouldn’t be able to stop me.
The 7th-rank thug in the back kept sending out 8th-ranks, likely hoping to find an opening.
There looked to be about five left.
The fear in the eyes of those charging me was palpable.
It felt as though they were only attacking because they had no other choice.
“Hey, you guys.”
“...”
“If you run now, I won’t chase you.”
They froze.
The 8th-ranks didn’t move.
“...What are you doing, you idiots!!!”
“Haa, seriously.”
Where were we again?
Neon City, the paradise of betrayal.
The 8th-ranks, sensing instinctively that fighting me meant certain death, squeezed their eyes shut. Ignoring the shouts from behind them, they bolted past me.
“S-shit! We’ve done enough...!”
“If fighting means dying for sure, would you actually do it?”
It seemed their bonds weren’t all that strong.
One little wedge and they turned tail and ran.
“That leaves just two, right?”
“...Damn it.”
Two 7th-ranks.
For me, now that I’d realized the core of Pleasure, that was a perfectly manageable number.
After a brief silence, both of them charged without another word. One was barehanded; the other held a short spear.
The katana in my hand wasn’t in great shape either.
One or two more collisions and it would definitely shatter.
Besides, my vision was growing blurrier by the second.
I was certain that once this fight ended, I would likely die.
The worst conditions. The worst situation.
In a situation where I should have been turning tail and running, the reason I kept fighting was...
Because of you, Silver Wolf.
You should be grateful.
“Sky Leap.”
Using a technique that seemed too taxing even for a healthy body, my legs creaked in protest.
My field of vision shifted in an instant, and I swung the katana.
I easily sliced the arm of the first man who rushed me.
But whether he was numb to pain or simply insane, the bastard swung his remaining arm like a whip and snapped the blade in half.
“Kill him!!!”
“I’m on it!!”
In a coordinated combo attack, the man clinging to me twisted his body slightly to clear a path for the spear.
The other attacker seemed intent on killing me by firing the spear at point-blank range.
He probably thought that by firing from such a close distance, he could avoid hitting his comrade.
“You thought you won, you bastards?”
“You...!”
I lifted one foot and slammed it into the stomach of the man holding the spear.
It wasn't quite a kick, but more of a deep, forceful shove.
“You think something like this can stop me!?”
As if it didn’t matter, his arm swelled. His final, decisive strike. The spear was about to launch toward my head. If it hit, I was dead.
“Get lost, you moron.”
The thing I was standing on wasn’t the ground, but a human stomach.
In an instant, I shifted my perception and looked directly at him.
“Sky Leap.”
Boom!
The leap was so powerful it cracked the pavement beneath us.
What happens if you drive that force straight into a person’s stomach?
The answer: their waist folds in half and they go flying.
With the recoil, I was launched backward, and the guy stuck to my foot bounced away like a soccer ball.
In the narrow back alley, the man who had been grabbing me was shoved back by the force and slammed violently into the wall.
“Ghk!”
Then he collapsed.
And thus, I, Adrian Servet, had proven beyond all doubt that I was the king of the 7th-ranks.
“Haa...”
Just as I was about to slide over to Silver Wolf to celebrate my victory—
“Adrian!! No!!!”
I heard a loud crack from my foot and toppled over.
My vision went white as I face-planted into the ground.
It felt as if the blood vessels in my brain were swelling and bursting.
The nosebleed I hadn't even noticed began to drip heavily onto the pavement.
“I was supposed to... celebrate...”
A ringing sound filled my ears.
I tried to crawl forward a few inches, then slammed my face back into the dirt.
Fuck...
If I’d realized it from the start, I could have won by teaming up with Silver Wolf.
Anyway, nothing ever comes easy.
I struggled to hold onto consciousness.
I wanted to leave Silver Wolf some final words, at least.
But the last thing I felt was something soft hugging me, and then the world went black.
3.
I died again.
My consciousness drifted through a black void.
Even when I tried to move, I simply floated as if I were swimming in ink.
“At least this time I didn’t die in pain...”
Maybe it was the dopamine rush from awakening the new technique.
Until the moment I ran toward Silver Wolf at the end, I hadn’t really felt the fear or the cold sensation of death.
Or maybe I was just getting used to it, since this was the second time.
“I awakened a new technique! I figured out the core of Pleasure! So just save me already!!!”
This is unfair. So incredibly unfair.
Even the technique I’d painstakingly realized was one that put a massive burden on my legs.
Use it three times in a row and my legs would be so wrecked I’d need a wheelchair.
My body had been strengthened, but not enough to endure that kind of strain.
In a panic, I hadn’t had time to think of anything else and had improvised a technique for basic physical enhancement and rapid acceleration.
Maybe next time I could create something more sustainable?
“Am I really going into a third run like this?”
If time were to rewind and I regressed again...
This time around, I’d probably at least have a rough sense of where the save point was.
As I was grumbling and turning it over in my head, I felt something different from regression.
It wasn’t the sensation of consciousness slowly rising as I was pulled back. It felt more like someone had grabbed me by the collar and yanked me up roughly.
That hurts!!!
At the same time, pain exploded through my entire body.
Especially in my legs and ankles.
Even my once-clear consciousness began to blur under the agony as I woke.
“Just a little longer, just a little longer... I can save him.”
I heard a faint voice, but I couldn’t tell who it was.
Honestly, between the pain and my muddled awareness, I couldn’t even make out what was being said.
“Hrk, haa, nghhh...”
As a pained voice rang out, the agony throughout my body slowly began to dull.
It felt as if a missing puzzle piece inside me was being slotted back in, restoring my body.
“...Why is the ankle bent like this again? Bear with it a little, even if it hurts.”
Huh?
Crack, crack
What?
“And the leg is weird too... is this right?”
Crack-crack-crack!!!
No, what the hell!!!
How are you bending my leg, you crazy bitch!!!
Even through my muddled consciousness, the pain surged up like a blade.
The sensation was like having my leg twisted 360 degrees and then forced back into place.
As I ground my teeth so hard I could barely move a single finger, the pain making my whole body seize up—
Thud
“Adrian? Adrian!!!”
Didn’t they say pain beyond a certain limit can shock a person unconscious?
I ended up exactly like that; my brain simply cut out like a blown fuse.
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