Chapter 2: The Dusk of Moonlight

The grip on my arm gradually tightened until I felt a slight pain.
Suddenly, a pair of pitch-black wings unfurled from behind the girl, the gust of wind they created forcing me to squint.

“Get ready.”

“What? What did you say—ahhh!”

All at once, the wings flapped powerfully, generating immense lift.
The turbulent air roared past my ears, mingling with the drawn-out scream from my mouth.
For the first time, I experienced what it felt like to physically defy gravity.

In a panic, my two long, pale legs kicked wildly.
I wanted to cover my head with both hands but found only one was free; the other was held tightly by the girl.

In a daze, it was as if I was hallucinating.

A man colored like iced black tea¹ revealed a mouthful of white teeth, his smile brilliant.

‘Boss, have you come for me?’²

Unfortunately, the voice that rang in my ears wasn’t a magnetic Los Angeles accent.

“If you don’t want to fall, stop moving.”

“Fall my five-spice garlic-shoot baby-head³! If you drop me, I’ll curse you even in death! I’ll curse you!! Ugh, cough, cough, cough—”
I screamed with my eyes shut, only to be choked by the cold wind.
After a few coughs, I clamped my mouth shut and said no more.

Amidst the fierce, turbulent wind, I managed to open my eyes slightly to look down.
A sense of suffocation from the height constricted my chest.
I tried my best to force myself to calm down, but my heart still pounded wildly.

Suddenly, I felt a cool breeze below.
Looking down, I saw the hem of my black and red skirt dancing wildly, having completely forgotten its duty.
The cool wind brushing against my thighs made me feel very insecure.

I hurriedly grabbed a corner of my skirt and pulled it down, using so much force that my body swayed a couple of times.
Then, a dissatisfied voice came from above my head.

“What are you worried about? We’re both female, and there’s no one else around. Besides, you’re the one who chose these clothes.”

‘I didn’t want to! And I didn’t choose these clothes either!’
Covering my skirt was a completely subconscious action, done without any thought.
I actually agreed with the girl’s point.
If this body was afraid of being exposed, it shouldn’t wear such revealing clothes.

A thousand thoughts raced through my mind.
I wanted to explain my situation to the girl, but what came out of my mouth was:
“Can we change positions? This is very awkward and uncomfortable for me.”

Hearing my words, the other person gave me a faint glance.
Then, her flight suddenly accelerated.
My body was tossed up, and my vision spun.
The snow-white strands of hair behind my head danced in the wind.
I was too scared to even scream.

For a moment, I thought I was going to be dropped.

But just before I started to fall, two gentle hands wrapped around the backs of my knees and my back.
A light, elegant fragrance filled my nose as I fell into a soft embrace.

Was this a princess carry?!

Realizing the position I was being held in, my face gradually grew hot.
But out of fear, I still wrapped my arms around the girl’s snow-white neck.

And that made me even more shy.

Honestly, I had no improper thoughts.
The high-altitude turbulence had shattered all my messy ideas.
But this was the first time I had been in such close contact with a girl, and a girl so beautiful it was unreal, at that.

‘Sigh~ How pathetic.’

That devastatingly beautiful side profile was right in front of me, but I didn’t dare to look at her.
I awkwardly turned my head and looked around instead.

In the city ruins below, the giant fleshy tumors with arms and legs were still wandering about.
There were three of them, and they were constantly spewing out things that looked like skeletons…

My first impression of this world was far from wonderful.
Corpses, thorns, terrifying giant creatures.
The only beautiful thing was this girl, who seemed to harbor some doubts about me and whose attitude was lukewarm at best.

Swoosh—

A sharp whistle that cut through the air suddenly pierced my ears.
I immediately looked in the direction of the sound.
A thick, barbed arrow was whistling towards us, and in the blink of an eye, it was just behind and to our side.

“Watch out behind you!”

Hearing my warning, the girl reacted quickly.
She did a sideways roll in the air, narrowly dodging the menacing arrow.

But, in the corner of my disoriented vision, the arrow began to glow.
The arrowhead quickly turned red, like a branding iron, and then it exploded with a boom!

We were hit by the blast wave.
My head buzzed, my hearing filled with a sharp ringing.
In a daze, I heard the girl let out a muffled groan.
Then, our altitude dropped rapidly, and our speed increased.
She was diving.

A sense of weightlessness swept over my entire body, but I knew this was no time to scream.
So I just held on to the girl tightly with both hands, curling up in her embrace.
But a few seconds later, the whistling of an arrow came again.

It was night! What kind of thing could be so accurate?

This time, I didn’t see the direction the arrow came from.
After another dizzying spin, the sound of an explosion rang out again.
We completely lost our balance and were falling straight to the ground.

“Hey! Are you okay?!”
I shouted anxiously, but there was no reply.
Black and white hair flew about.
The girl’s face, her teeth clenched and brows furrowed, came into my view.
She seemed to have made some sort of decision, and then, with resolute determination, she held me close, positioning herself underneath to cushion the impact.

The next moment, the impact came.
Earth and stone flew, and brick and tile walls shattered.
Most of the force of the impact and the flying debris were blocked by the body in front of me.
But the remaining part scraped my skin and hit me like an iron fist.
Finally, we crashed into a building, hitting a wall hard and stopping our momentum.

“Cough, cough—cough!”
A surge of blood rose in my throat.
After spitting out a mouthful of bloody foam, a face with tightly shut eyes and a trickle of crimson at the corner of its lips came into view.
The girl was injured.

“How are you? Can you still move? Don’t, don’t die…”

I was lying on top of the girl, gently shaking her shoulder.
The girl took a few deep breaths, then pushed my hand away and said through gritted teeth:
“Not dead yet. Get off me first.”

“Okay, okay,” I said as I got up.
“What was that just now? Are we being targeted by something?”

Before I could finish, the sound of chaotic footsteps approached from a distance, mixed with a few particularly clear, dull thuds.
Turning to look outside, I saw a group of people in white masks and black coats surrounding the building.
Among them, a figure as large as a small mountain slowly emerged.
The dull thuds from before were his footsteps.

Was that… human?? A three-meter-tall human??

You’ve got to be kidding me!

That person was covered in silver armor, carrying a giant hammer made of steel on his shoulder.
A large bow that matched his size was slung across his back.

The arrows from before were the handiwork of this “lump of iron”!

Then this group of people… they probably didn’t come in peace…

“Go.”
The girl behind me stood up unsteadily, shielding me.
“The city gate isn’t far from here. Find a chance to get out of the city. I’ll deal with them. We’ll regroup later.”

Before I could react, red electric currents flowed around the girl’s body.
Black scales covered the joints of her limbs.
She stomped heavily on the ground with one foot and shot out like a cannonball.

The crowd was scattered and thrown into chaos.
The slender black figure charged straight at the silver-armored giant.
Immediately, various explosions and harsh, grating sounds erupted.
I covered my ears and ran out of the building, heading for the city gate along the road.

But I hadn’t run more than a few steps before several white-masked men noticed me and started shouting and chasing after me.

“She’s suspicious! Don’t let her get away!”

“That looks like the witch mentioned in the mission briefing!”

“Use the firelocks to break her legs!”

What?! Firelocks⁴??

I tried to look back at the group, but a curtain of snow-white hair completely blocked my view.
I had to ignore the pain of stepping on rubble and just run headlong towards the city wall.

‘Better to be in pain now than to get caught.’
Although I didn’t know why those people wanted to catch me, it definitely wasn’t for anything good.
What kind of good person gets a gun pointed at them!

Bang, bang, bang—

A series of explosions from ignited gunpowder rang out.
The sound of projectiles whizzing past my scalp filled the air.
Some bullets hit the ground, sending up sparks.
Seeing this, I ran even faster.

The city wall in my vision grew larger.
I was less than a hundred meters away.
The sound of gunfire behind me never stopped.
Perhaps because of the darkness, their aim was terrible; they hadn’t hit me once.

The city wall was getting closer and closer.
I was almost there.

Just a little further… just hold on a little longer…

The city gate… the city gate…

Wait a minute, the city gate… is shut tight?

On the iron-and-wood gate, dense black and red thorns were interwoven, leaving no gaps.
There was no way to open it in a short amount of time.

It’s over…

Bang—

In that moment of distraction, a bullet hit my calf.
My leg instantly gave way.
After stumbling a few times, I fell to the ground.
Staring at the gate, the sound of footsteps behind me grew closer.

A sense of despair began to creep into my heart.

Boom, boom—

From the other side of the city gate, a huge sound suddenly erupted, deafening like thunder.
The shock caused my ears to ring.
The crowd behind me was also drawn to the sound.
They stopped approaching me and all stood still, staring at the gate.

What happened?

That sound just now… what was it?

Boom, boom, boom—

The sound was earth-shattering.
The iron-and-wood gate in front of me began to stir, making the sound of splintering wood.
Then another explosion rang out.
The thorns shattered, and the ruined city gate collapsed with a crash.

Click-clack— click-clack—

Amidst the uproar, the crisp sound of high heels on the stone pavement was particularly clear.
I raised my hand to wave away the dust and smoke, looking into the gate’s opening.
A figure slowly walked out.

A woman in a white robe and hood, carrying a greatsword, strolled leisurely.
She was flanked by two groups of people, all wearing silver-white masks and black trench coats.
Then, the woman shouldered her greatsword and spoke in a loud, passionate voice.

“Honorable Inquisitors, this city has been tainted by the Broodmother! Go, and purify it! The gods are watching us.”

“Yes!”

After the masked people responded in unison, they drew their respective weapons and firelocks.
They walked past me without a second glance, joining the group that had been chasing me before and heading deeper into the city.

This sudden turn of events left me at a loss.
I tried to stand up, but my leg had no strength.

Click-clack— click-clack—

Suddenly, black high heels entered my vision.
I looked up to see the woman looking down at me, silent.

“What do you people want?” I asked warily. “You were chasing me before, and now you’re ignoring me. What are you—”

Thwack—

The high heel rapidly enlarged in my vision, striking me hard in the eye socket.
The blow left me dazed, completely unaware of what had just happened.

I only heard the woman speak coldly:
“Witch, prepare to face your judgment.”

Footnotes:

¹ Iced black tea配色 (Iced black tea coloring): This is likely a reference to a specific character or meme from Chinese internet culture, possibly related to a popular brand of iced tea. The description evokes a certain aesthetic, perhaps tan skin and a bright smile.

² 牢大 (Láo dà): A Chinese internet slang term, literally meaning “Prison Boss.” It’s a nickname for Kobe Bryant, originating from a meme culture that humorously twists his name and legacy. Here, it’s used as a moment of black humor, as if the character is seeing a legendary figure coming to take them to the afterlife.

³ 五香蒜苗娃娃头 (Wǔxiāng suànmiáo wáwá tóu – Five-spice garlic-shoot baby-head): This is a nonsensical, humorous curse. It’s a string of random, slightly absurd words meant to convey frustration without using actual profanity, similar to saying “fiddlesticks” or “son of a biscuit” in English. The translation aims to capture the absurdity rather than the literal meaning.

⁴ 火铳 (Huǒchòng)(Firelock): An early type of firearm from China, essentially a hand cannon or arquebus. “Firelock” is a suitable translation to convey an early, somewhat primitive gunpowder weapon.