Nightmare Mythos

The bridge, which was an entryway at some point before the city was declared a red zone, was corrupted hence other routes were used. Unfortunately, the bridge is the very main road of the city. With it being blocked, the road of transportation has become hard. However, there\'s nothing to do and cry about it as one will just have to find other ways.

Vermillion\'s Painted Hand, on the other hand, looked like it had been corrupted with the shape of a hand that mostly affected the northern part of the city.

No one was guarding it nor everyone dared to, mostly because its red land looked like it was frozen through time from afar. As if it were a picturesque stationarity painting that someone made and left it just like that.

Lastly, their tour came to an end after they visited the last area called, Mendeleev. This particular area was named like that because it was once a manor for the previous city mayor, Mendeleev.

It was also his tomb as he was the only victim of that corrupted area. His family had already escaped while he, for some reason, didn\'t join them and suffered such a pitiful end. No one ever retrieved his body for the same reason as they were corrupted.

"Sir, after this case, we\'ll do the operation cleansing, right?"

Jacqueline who had been all quiet throughout the time, finally raised a question to Vin, who merely gave her a glance. With a blank expression, he replied.

"This protocol is something we\'ve been considering, knowing we already enclosed the corrupted areas as possible but the army hasn\'t given much word about it. It\'s probably because this city isn\'t such a state anymore. In fact, it might already be used as an army base after we\'re done here. Hopefully, no matter what happens, we\'re alive at the end of it,"

"Oh…"

In the end, even if the city has been cleared and redeemed as yet another safe area, the bad history it contained will make other people avoid it as much as possible.

That\'s only natural to happen while there are rare instances where a place goes back to its former glory after being surrendered to such a state. Vin wasn\'t going to consider this to be a rare situation though.

"Okay, that\'s all for today. You are free to do whatever you want for the day,"

Finally, after the mention of the day\'s ending, Cesar was relieved and immediately approached Jacqueline as others left them because they needed some rest after the continuous riding to get to their deployment base.

After all, on the incident at Harden City, their only stop was when they needed to go to the comfort area to change or regulate their bodies. They immediately follow Vin\'s instructions to introduce them to the city after realizing that time is of the essence.

But Cesar was different, and he realized that Jacqueline as well isn\'t as tired as others.

"Hey, can we spar?"

Cesar asked in an appealing tone that almost sounded like an order to Jacqueline, who observed him for a moment and gave a curt nod.

"I\'m available right now,"

Cesar chuckled, "That\'s what I\'m talking about,"

…

After being led by a group of men inside an available training area, Cesar and Jacqueline immediately changed their academy uniform to a standard military attire where almost everyone from the base was wearing.

It was loose yet neat uniform but elastic enough for them to perform to their best once they faced a dreaded situation. And with its dark green colors, it suited well for stealth actions like hiding and moving through silently.

"Why did you suddenly ask a spar?" Jacqueline scoffed mockingly, "Don\'t tell me you realize that you\'ll need to change something after what happened a few days ago? Ah, of course, it is about that. Well, if this will do something, I\'ll gladly accompany and join this sparring session,"

Cesar grabbed a pair of daggers from the available weaponry cabinet from the side which were only hanging, ever-present. It seemed these weapons were only there for designs but it was only because there weren\'t any situations where someone could use them.

He then looked straight ahead and replied, "I don\'t take you as a talkative person. Is this the kind of change you\'re talking about?"

Jacqueline chuckled and snatched a sword hanging from the wall before retorting back, "I don\'t talk much because nothing in our year interests me… except you, of course. But in this place, outside of that cramped place where I could go wild, the only one speaking here is my skills,"

Cesar stared at her for a moment before clicking his tongue, "Weirdo,"

Suddenly, Jacqueline lunged forward, not even saying if the battle had already started. But in such situations, enemies wouldn\'t just say they are good to fight.

After all, the moment they set foot on the battlefield, the fight already began.

Holding the daggers in a defensive stance, Cesar shifted his footing sideways before defending himself against the incoming sword that came straight to his face.

Their weapons kissed as both of them stared at each other\'s eyes.

There were no words that came after.

Jacqueline vanished from her position, immediately targeting Cesar\'s blind spot. However he didn\'t just wait around just to receive all the beatings as he also started to do his own thing.

When Jacqueline targeted his blind spot, Cesar threw one of his daggers to Jacqueline\'s figure who immediately dodged it, momentarily losing the momentum he had built up.

Cesar counterattacked.

Dashing forward, Cesar slightly bent down and grabbed the dagger earlier and engaged in a close quarter\'s battle to Jacqueline, bombarding her in a fury of combined dagger attacks. He kept pushing, persevering and relentlessly lunged.

Yet in the end, everything was parried by Jacqueline who kept showing her finesse when it comes to swords and honed battle techniques. As if Cesar\'s hard work throughout the time he was in the academy was nothing but a mere façade that only bullies the weak.

A true powerhouse like Jacqueline wouldn\'t fall for such crap.

\'I need more…\'

Cesar stepped up and tried to change his game by adding elements that might disrupt any other kinds of tricks and swordplay Jacqueline had stored.

Thud—!

But once more…

Clang—!

He was met with the same futility.

Whoosh—!

Cesar wanted to gain an advantage firsthand, knowing Jacqueline was in a pinch after performing various kinds of attacks but he only made a mistake. It wasn\'t even a mistake but merely something that a person should normally do.

It was just a silly mistake, but Jacqueline managed to clutch it within her hands and use it against him.

Cesar only breathed a little longer after performing an insane amount of attacks on Jacqueline but it disrupted the insane flow he was getting at and she used it to turn things around.

"You think too much,"

Jacqueline vanished at his front once more and cut a bit of Cesar\'s arms, inflicting slight injury which Cesar immediately moved to protect himself.

But alas, after just a second, Jacqueline was already behind his back, pointing the tip of her sword at his neck.

"Did this distract you?" Jacqueline spoke evenly, "Do you know why you\'re never going to be at my level?"

Cesar glanced back, his smile twisting upwards in the most ridiculous way possible as if he was amused by this scenario.

"Tell me,"

Jacqueline removed the sword from his neck and retorted, "It\'s because you have no will. A desire to do something,"

"…"

Jacqueline then added, "As if you\'re merely here just to survive in this cursed world we live in. You attended the academy because you wanted to survive. You study and learn new tactics and prowess just to survive. Everything about you is survival and not desire,"

Cesar chuckled, "Isn\'t that all people think about?"

Jacqueline swiftly shook her head, denying his statements, "Most people but fortunately, I\'m not part of those most people. Believe me, survival isn\'t a goal in this world. You must set direction on whatever path you\'re walking through. Until then, you\'ll never be able to kill Nightmare on your whole life, much more a Corrupted Human. Worse, even a Heretic,"

Jacqueline waved her hands as she started moving away, "That\'s all. Take my advice to your heart,"

Cesar watched her back away after putting the weapon she used down and left. Once he was alone in the training room, he couldn\'t help but chortle in ridicule.

"Conviction, huh? That\'s one way to die early in this world, bitch,"