As the star of the “Wish” descended, its light seemed to engulf the entire world,
Wes’s perception of time froze.
He collapsed backward onto the ground and finally managed to see clearly through the fading glow.
Before him, in place of the Void Horror, stood a girl so radiant one might mistake her for the Goddess herself.
Her figure, shrouded in dust, appeared ethereal, as if distant from reality.
Her soft, enchanting golden hair was neatly pinned atop her head,
and her slender frame was clad in a pale blue, light fabric armor.
Though she looked like some noble daughter out on a wild camping adventure,
the aura she exuded was such that just her silent presence summoned an early winter, making everything around solemn and biting cold.
(She… is my Little Guarantee?)
Wes felt an odd detachment.
Under the backlight of the bright moon, the girl turned her head.
Her serene face gave off a chill of aloofness, untouchable.
Her downward glance revealed eyes gleaming with bright emerald green.
In this strangely familiar scene,
Wes almost expected her first words to be, “May I ask, are you my master?”
But even if she had something to say, there was no time.
The next moment, Wes’s eyes snapped wide open, veins bulging as he shouted a warning:
“Look out—watch ahead!”
When the girl turned back, the Soul-Eater Lord had already leapt back into the air.
With the surging black mist bearing down, countless misty hands, manifesting into claws, closed in relentlessly.
The girl took a step back.
Rather than keeping a safe distance or staying alert,
she seemed more like a shield, positioning herself to protect Wes safely behind her.
But that was the Soul-Eater Lord, an intangible Void Horror.
Within its vaporous domain, the mist hands could strike from any direction.
Fully aware of this, Wes scrambled to his feet and urgently asked:
“Do you know any Magic or Spirit Arts? To deal with that thing, you need either magic power or spiritual energy. Otherwise, it’s impossible to kill.”
The girl, facing away from him, shook her head in response.
(Can’t use any… So you’re basically just a fighter?)
Wes craned his neck, scrutinizing her again.
Everyone in the mercenary world knew physical attacks were useless against the Soul-Eater Lord.
He had almost died at the hands of this Void Horror himself, pinning his hopes on the “Wish” to work some miracle.
He wasn’t expecting some world-altering artifact to flip the situation,
just a reliable insurance to help him break free—even if it was just a one-time thing.
But he was deeply disappointed.
After spending so much Wish power, he didn’t get a weapon.
The Little Guarantee turned out to be a young girl, and she couldn’t even use Magic or Spirit Arts.
That’s a useless Guarantee.
Yet what Wes found hardest to accept was not that.
She was just an ordinary girl who had just come out of the “Wish.”
The very first thing she had to do upon arriving in this world was to accompany him into a likely death.
No matter what, he felt unbearably guilty.
“Hey!”
Wes gritted his teeth and pulled out a backup magic bullet.
It contained the Fireball Spell—at least some kind of Magic, something useful.
He whispered:
“I’ll draw its attention; you find an opening and run.”
“And what about you?”
The girl’s voice was calm and still like a serene lake.
Even in such perilous circumstances, there was no ripple in her emotion, as if feelings were an unnecessary burden to her.
“Me?”
Wes gave a bitter laugh, more self-mockery than anything.
“Life and death are decreed by fate; wealth and honor come from heaven. After we split up, it’s every man for himself!”
He clenched the magic bullet,
ready to move forward with a do-or-die resolve.
But the girl raised her hand to stop him.
“No,”
Her raised hand slowly curled into a fist.
Her emerald gaze never left the Void Horror ahead.
She spoke calmly, as if stating something obvious—
“The one who should run away is it.”
With those words, Wes immediately sensed an astonishing aura gathering around her.
Just standing by her side gave the oppressive weight of a boulder atop a mountain peak.
The girl bent her knees slightly into a battle stance, her fist poised.
It wasn’t the grip for wielding an invisible holy sword.
She simply intended to face the Void Horror with her human body,
to fight with her fists.
“Hey, are you serious?”
A twitch crept across Wes’s cheek.
He had already said that physical means were useless against the Soul-Eater Lord.
It was as if she couldn’t understand him and insisted on banging her head against a stone wall.
(So the Little Guarantee isn’t a Saber, but a Berserker, huh?!)
As the black mist thickened, enveloping them both, all escape routes vanished.
“—Haibardura!!”
With a shrill, mental scream directly transmitted by the Soul-Eater Lord,
ghastly arms stretched out from the fog, claws snapping down.
At the same moment,
the girl seized the opportunity to act.
With a burst of cutting wind,
her first strike was a straight punch.
The force tore through space, shaking the surroundings,
like a meteor crashing into the shore, stirring up towering waves.
The swirling air instantly blew apart the black mist.
The elongated arms born of fog couldn’t hold their form, shattered violently and scattered.
“Hai…bar…dura…”
The Soul-Eater Lord’s core staggered briefly.
By common knowledge, a formless Void Horror shouldn’t possess intelligence, and whether it felt shock or not was uncertain.
At any rate, Wes was stunned, nearly losing his mind.
But the girl did not stop there.
She pushed off with her feet, transforming her body into a springing gazelle, a pale blue blur beneath the moonlight.
When Wes looked again, she had already leapt above the Void Horror.
Her fist gathered and flashed with dazzling light.
Just this one punch,
at close range against the enemy’s face, was no less than a cannon blast.
Smoke and dust swirling in the air traced a massive shockwave.
“““Haibardura!!!!”””
Amid the muffled thunder,
the Soul-Eater Lord’s core was shattered.
The countless faces trapped inside wailed piercingly,
but the sounds gradually faded,
as if instinctively sensing the danger.
The Soul-Eater Lord, which had ravaged Static Day Town and claimed countless lives, fled in a mess, shrouded in black mist.
“Not dead, and… won?”
Wes blankly looked around.
With the mist cleared away, the moonlight illuminated the street in detail.
Only then did he realize he was still alive.
“You… okay?”
When Wes came back to his senses, the girl had already approached him.
Her expression remained calm, but there was a hint of concern in her eyes.
“Of course I’m…”
Before she could finish, a vague pain surfaced, gradually sharpening like waking from a dream.
The next second, Wes’s chest was torn open, a remnant black mist arm and a spray of blood bursting out, disappearing under the moonlight.
“—Wait! Mr. Wes?!”
The girl, who had driven the Soul-Eater Lord away with just two punches, now sounded desperate.
(—Ah, the Little Guarantee I finally got pulled out, and I didn’t even ask her name before she’s about to die…)
Wes’s vision tilted sharply,
and his body probably collapsed.
Whether shock, disbelief, surprise, regret, or sorrow,
all these feelings merged with the agonizing pain into a huge wave that washed away his final consciousness.