Chapter 5 The Red Balance

The five riders did not move at first. They looked at Jack, their cloaks shifting in the cold wind. Then, the leader let out a low, rough laugh.

"The dead prince walks," the leader said, raising his heavy black sword. "They said you might be a trick. It does not matter. A piece of meat is a piece of meat."

Jack did not answer. He held his rusty sword with both hands. His fingers were slippery with sweat. His new D-Rank body felt strong, like a spring wound too tight, but he did not know how to fight. He was an accountant. He knew how to hold a pen, not a blade.

The leader touched his horse with his boots. The animal charged forward.

Jack tried to step to the side, but his feet were too heavy. The horse hit him hard in the shoulder. Jack flew backward, his back slamming into the dirt. The breath left his lungs in a sharp gasp. The rusty sword flew out of his hand, landing far in the grass.

"Killian!" Lyra screamed. She tried to lift her sword, but her bleeding arm failed her. She fell to one knee, her silver hair dipping into the mud.

The leader turned his horse around. He looked down at Jack, who was flat on his back, gasping for air. "An E-Rank is still an E-Rank. You cannot even stand."

Jack stared up at the dark sky. His chest ached. The blue screen flickered in his eyes, red lines blinking fast.

[Warning: HP dropping. 80/100.]

[Skill available: Mana Dissection. Use now? Y/N]

"Yes," Jack choked out. "Use it."

The leader rode at him again, lifting his black sword to cut Jack in half.

Jack did not try to get up. He reached out with both hands toward the air beneath the horse’s hooves. In his mind, he did not see a monster. He saw lines of numbers. He saw the energy holding the horse's magic together. With a hard grunt, he pulled his hands down, as if ripping open a thick curtain.

The lines of light tore apart.

The horse screamed. The magic inside its legs vanished, and the beast collapsed forward, rolling into the dirt. The leader was thrown from the saddle, his heavy armor clanking loudly against the stones. He landed on his neck and did not move again.

The other four assassins froze. They looked at their dead leader, then at Jack, who was slowly dragging himself up from the ground. Jack's shirt was covered in mud. His hands were scraped and bleeding. It was not a beautiful fight. It was messy, ugly, and painful.

"He... he used magic," one of the assassins whispered, his voice shaking. "The bastard is a mage!"

"Kill him!" another yelled.

The four men jumped off their horses and ran at Jack together.

Jack panic-swung his arms. He used [Mana Dissection] again, but he did it too fast. The strings of light twisted around his fingers, burning his skin. He managed to tear the energy away from the closest assassin, causing the man to drop to his knees, vomiting blood as his mana grid broke.

But the other three were too close. A blade cut across Jack’s thigh. Another hit his ribs, tearing through his burial shirt.

Jack stumbled backward, his vision turning red. He was losing. His calculation was off. He had the power, but he had no balance.

Suddenly, a flash of silver moved past him.

Lyra had forced herself up. With a loud cry, she used her good arm to drive her sword through the chest of the man who had cut Jack's leg. She kicked him off her blade and stood in front of Jack, her back straight, though she was shaking from blood loss.

"Stand up, Prince," she hissed through her teeth.

Jack wiped the blood from his mouth. He looked at the last two assassins. He didn't use his hands this time. He just focused his eyes on the swords they were holding. He forced his mind to see the data of the metal.

[Target: Assassin Weapons.]

[Deconstruct Mana Core: Active.]

The black blades in the men's hands suddenly turned to gray dust, blowing away in the wind.

The two assassins stared at their empty hands. They looked at the dead men on the ground, then at the pale, bloody prince whose obsidian eyes were glowing faintly in the dark. Fear took them. Without a word, they turned around, jumped onto the remaining horses, and rode furiously back into the dark woods.

The silence returned to the village.

Jack fell to his knees, breathing hard. Every inch of his body hurt. His hands were raw, and his legs felt like lead. He looked down at the red screen.

[Quest Complete: Survive the Purge.]

[EXP gained: 50. Level Progress: D-Rank (50/100)]

[HP: 45/100. Potion needed.]

Lyra slowly sheathed her sword. She walked over to him, her face pale from her own wounds. She stood over him, looking down at his messy, bleeding form. There was no praise in her eyes. Only a deep, serious look.

"You have a lot to learn," Lyra said. Her voice was flat. "You have power, but you fight like a dying dog."

Jack looked up at her. He didn't smile. He didn't argue. He just gave a slow, tired nod. "The math was sloppy," he muttered.

Lyra turned around and began walking away, toward the dark path that led out of the village.

"Where are you going?" Jack called out, his voice rough.

"Away," Lyra said without looking back. "To bind my arm before I bleed to death. If you want to live, Prince, find a place to hide. They will send more."

Her silver hair vanished into the shadows of the houses.

Jack sat alone in the dirt. He looked at his bleeding hands. He thought about the palace. He thought about whoever back home had paid these men to throat-cut him in his sleep. He thought about Mila, his beautiful fiancée, who was still waiting for him in that snake pit of a capital.

He was not on Earth anymore. He could not just stand at the edge of a train platform and let the world end. If he died here, Being X would make him into a mindless beast.

Jack stood up, using a broken fence post to pull his weight up. He looked up at the gray sky, his face hardening into a cold, cynical line.

"You want a monster, Being X?" Jack whispered, his voice dark and steady. "I'm going to take this shit serious now. I am going to fix these books. And then, I am going to delete you."