Pavane for Living Girls, Part 5

The instant Azu's body registered the Skeleton, it moved before her mind could catch up.

From a seated position, her right hand drew the sword and cut diagonally upward in a single motion.

The exact movement she'd drilled countless times.

In that moment, Azu proved she was a warrior.

It was the fastest opening strike she could manage. And it still wasn't enough.

Two bony fingers pinched the blade and held it fast.

From Azu's side, no less.

Azu had drawn and slashed, and only then had the Skeleton's fingers caught up to intercept the blade.

The speed was overwhelming.

Even when Azu gripped the sword with both hands, it didn't budge.

She pushed. She pulled. Nothing.

The Skeleton, which had been sitting and watching them, rose to its feet with the blade still pinched between its fingers.

Azu's body lifted off the ground.

With the barest flick of those pinching fingers, the force hurled Azu into the wall.

The impact jolted Kazusa awake.

"Azu?!"

"Ugh…"

Azu couldn't move from the shock.

The Skeleton gripped the hilt of the Sealed Sword Grungaus and studied the blade.

It examined every inch, then swung at the wall with deliberate slowness.

The Skeleton's magic poured into the Sealed Sword Grungaus. The sword pressure and magic alone gouged the wall along the arc of the swing.

A power utterly beyond anything Azu possessed.

If that force were turned on her, she'd be helplessly cleaved in two.

The blood drained from Azu's face.

It wasn't even a contest. The gap was that vast.

Kazusa threw herself between Azu and the Skeleton, shielding her.

The Skeleton stood motionless, still gazing at the sword.

Its appearance was peculiar.

It wore unfamiliar clothing and had a weapon at its hip that wasn't quite a sword.

Azu had no way of knowing, but the Skeleton was dressed in the style of a samurai, a warrior from a distant foreign land.

It wore straw sandals, and inexplicably still had white hair, loosely tied back.

The Skeleton returned the sword to Azu, then drew its own weapon: a katana.

The katana radiated a sinister aura.

How much blood and how many lives had it consumed to become like that?

Cursed blade was the only way to describe it. The moment Kazusa laid eyes on the katana, she lost consciousness.

Azu, too, felt crushing terror radiating from the Skeleton's katana. And the instant the Skeleton took its stance, she saw a vision of her own head being severed.

If the Skeleton actually moved, that vision would become reality.

An overwhelming gap in power, in skill, in the very weight of their existence.

It made sense now, why this floor had no monsters. Anything that encountered this thing would flee.

Every kind of thought raced through Azu's mind. And still, she raised her sword.

If she wanted to survive, she had to fight for it. Azu knew that.

Let the current sweep you along and you'd lose everything.

Even if the result was the same, she'd chosen to resist before she died.

She faced the Skeleton in the Ash King's stance.

The Skeleton's skull tilted slightly.

It was studying her stance.

It made no move to attack.

Simply holding her stance against this thing was draining Azu at a terrifying rate.

They faced each other in silence. Then the Skeleton lowered its weapon.

"To think I would see the Ash King's stance."

A voice. The Skeleton was speaking, apparently.

Its jawbone moved faintly, but without vocal cords, it must have been producing sound through some other means.

"…?"

"A disciple of the Ash King? No… he would no longer be among the living."

In the time it took Azu to blink, the Skeleton had closed the distance.

She hadn't even seen it move.

"How does a girl as green as you know the Ash King's sword?"

"I… saw it. I've been copying it ever since."

"Oh? Saw it, you say."

The fighting intent vanished from the Skeleton.

Cold sweat running down her back, Azu lowered her sword and sheathed it.

If the Skeleton wanted her dead, her head would already be gone.

There would be no point in a surprise attack.

"You have my interest. I will let you live. Speak."

"Alright… If I talk, you'll let me and this girl go?"

"I do not break my word. Follow."

The Skeleton walked away.

Kazusa was still unconscious.

Azu hoisted Kazusa onto her back and followed.

The Skeleton headed for the last passage they hadn't explored.

The density of magical energy climbed with every step.

Kazusa woke up along the way, but there was still the matter of her leg.

If Azu fell behind, the Skeleton might change its mind. She kept carrying her.

Azu's strength was more than up to the task.

They were about the same build, so it was more awkward than heavy.

They walked further until they reached a gate.

The Skeleton opened it and passed through.

Azu followed, and the moment she stepped inside, a nauseating disorientation washed over her, like the world going dark.

Kazusa groaned, apparently feeling the same thing.

"You okay?"

"Yeah. Don't worry about me. If things go bad, leave me behind and run."

"I… can't do that."

When Azu raised her head, the landscape had changed completely.

A pure white space. A single building stood within it.

To Azu, it looked like a temple.

A Skeleton walking into a temple looked somewhat out of place, though.

The howling wind had stopped. The dense magic that had saturated the air was gone.

All she could feel from this space was a profound, sacred stillness.

Azu swallowed once and stepped inside the temple.