Two zombies burst out from a side street, moving faster than the earlier ones, their intent clearly aggressive. Leon registered it without panic, more like another item on a very long checklist than an immediate threat. After everything he'd been through since the bus, something in his head had switched into a constant operating mode, one that no longer dramatized every sudden movement.
He lowered the sword almost automatically, resting it briefly against his hip, and extended both hands forward. His focus wasn't on the zombies themselves, but on the shadows they cast across the cracked asphalt, long, jagged shapes twitching in rhythm with their run. He imagined the same thing as before, only faster now, more decisively. He knew it wasn't about gestures or words, just whether his mind could impose its will on the shadow.
Darkness answered almost instantly.
It thickened and rose from the ground, forming two black chains that shot forward and wrapped around the arms of both zombies. They snapped tight the moment the creatures tried to change direction or accelerate. Leon felt that familiar, light resistance in his head, the signal that the skill was active, draining mana, but not in a way that felt dangerous or overwhelming.
He grabbed his sword the instant the shadows secured their hold and sprinted forward without slowing. Two quick, technical movements, nothing flashy, just efficient. He took the first zombie's head with a clean upward cut, then drove the blade into the side of the second one's neck, exploiting the unnatural stretch of its restrained arms. Both bodies collapsed almost simultaneously. The shadows unraveled and sank back into the asphalt as if they had never existed.
[Essence Record – Kill Confirmed]
[Target: 2× Normal Zombie (LVL 6)]
Dry system messages flickered before his eyes, but Leon didn't look at them. He studied the corpses for a brief moment, then his own hands, still faintly tense from using the skill. He nodded to himself, everything had worked exactly as it should. No surprises. No chaos.
"Well…" he muttered softly, a short, tired smile tugging at his lips. "That's a pretty nice skill."
"You're right," a calm, surprisingly sweet female voice said suddenly, right behind him. "It's quite interesting."
Leon reacted purely on instinct. His heart jumped into his throat, his legs shifted sideways on their own, and his body sprang back as if someone had fired a gun next to his ear. He spun around with his sword raised halfway, only to see her.
Valeria stood a few steps away, leaning casually against the wall of a building. She was in her more human form now, no spread wings, no crushing aura, looking almost normal.
Almost.
Even now, there was something about her that didn't belong on a dead street smeared with blood.
Leon stared at her for a moment, as if checking whether exhaustion had finally pushed his mind into hallucinations after everything he'd lived through in the past several hours.
"You…" he started, then stopped and swallowed. "Weren't you supposed to leave?"
Valeria tilted her head slightly and nodded, calm as ever.
"I was," she replied without denying it. "But fate has a habit of playing tricks."
She straightened slowly, like someone who'd been standing in one place just a little too long, the movement more habitual than necessary.
"Apparently, it decided we should meet again sooner than even I expected."
Leon kept watching her, tension obvious in his posture. She sighed softly and stretched her arms, as if mildly travel-weary.
"I've decided to stay on this planet for a while," she said. "And since I don't know anyone here except you… I thought I'd keep you company for a bit."
Before Leon could even begin to process that, Valeria changed the subject as casually as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
"By the way," she added, glancing at the dead zombies and the shadows on the ground, "shadow chains are a very practical ability, especially once you reach Phase Three. That's when a rather interesting weakening effect appears."
Leon blinked.
Once.
Twice.
"…Shadow chains?" he asked slowly, clearly thrown off. "That's the first time I've heard that name."
This time, Valeria raised an eyebrow.
"First time?" she repeated, studying him more closely. "Then what skill did you just use?"
Leon hesitated for a second, then answered honestly, gesturing vaguely toward where the shadows had formed moments ago.
"Darkness Manipulation."
A brief silence fell.
Valeria didn't speak for several seconds. Something shifted in her gaze, somewhere between surprise and a deeply unsettling interest, as if she had just stumbled upon something she absolutely hadn't expected to find here.
She looked at him again, slower this time, more carefully, as if confirming she'd heard correctly.
"You're serious about Darkness Manipulation?" she asked plainly, her tone almost too calm for the weight of the words.
Leon nodded without hesitation. To him, it was just a name from a system window, nothing legendary, nothing dramatic. Just a line of text he'd read and then tested in practice.
Something changed in her eyes.
It was no longer simple curiosity or surprise, but genuine intrigue, the kind that appeared when someone encountered something rare, unplanned, potentially very troublesome… and very interesting. After a moment, she smiled, soft, sweet, almost innocent, as if the conversation had suddenly shifted to something light.
"Then you're truly lucky," she said. "And you'd better take good care of that skill."
She paused, wrinkling her nose slightly, searching for the right word.
"It's very…" she hesitated. "Useful. Yes, that's probably the simplest way to put it."
And right then, something clicked inside Leon.
A second ago he'd been focused, cautious, in control, but now it fully hit him what her presence here actually meant. Standing beside him. On the same street. In the same world. Among zombies and ruins.
Excitement surged through him before he could stop it.
"I mean, " he started, the words spilling out faster and faster. "If you're with me, then none of these damn zombies or mutated animals should even get close to us, right? And even if they tried, you could probably kill them with a flick of your hand, couldn't you? So basically, "
He cut himself off only long enough to breathe, then kept going, quicker, more enthusiastic, like someone who'd just spotted the simplest solution to every problem.
Valeria listened in silence, her smile never fading. When he finished, she lifted a hand and traced a small circle in the air with one finger, light, almost teasing, then spoke calmly, with clear amusement.
"My dear…" she said softly. "Life is never that easy."
A shiver ran through Leon, completely uninvited, at the way she said those words, but Valeria didn't give him time to dwell on it.
"Even if I could," she added without hesitation, "I still wouldn't help you that way."
Her gaze grew a touch more serious, though the smile remained.
"So don't expect my presence to magically erase your problems, or for someone else to solve them for you."
She stepped aside, looking down the street, at the zombie corpses and empty buildings, as if they were stage props rather than a battlefield.
"I'm only a spectator in this world," she said calmly. "Someone watching a film."
She turned her head back to Leon.
"And the actor… is you."
Leon's expression tightened almost reflexively. He understood what she meant, but beneath that understanding came an unpleasant realization: the easy shortcut he'd almost believed in had just been taken away. There was no anger in it. Just quiet frustration mixed with disappointment, like realizing something that looked like an obvious answer never really was.
Valeria noticed immediately.
She chuckled softly, without malice, more like someone watching a much less experienced person and finding their reaction genuinely endearing.
"Don't make that face," she said. "I'm not trying to be cruel."
She stepped a little closer, still keeping a deliberate distance, as if carefully respecting a boundary she didn't intend to cross.
"Every being governed by the Essence Record," she continued, "is bound by its rules as well."
Her tone was matter-of-fact, almost dry, like she was explaining a law of physics, not something that had just redefined his future.
After a moment, she shrugged lightly.
"And besides," she went on, "I truly believe it's better for you to learn how to solve your own problems instead of relying on someone else to do it."
She looked at him steadily now, without a smile, but without harshness either.
"The hope that someone will save you is comforting," she said, letting the words settle. "But in this world…"
She paused.
"…it's usually the fastest route to the afterlife."