Seeing a gigantic golden blade descend from the sky is not an everyday occurrence.
From her position on the Overlook Bridge - a seemingly popular date spot judging by the amount of hearts made of mana print that cover the surface - that extends over the upper noble district, it's almost as if she were picking out a painting spot rather than evacuation choke point.
Even amid such a backdrop as a burning city at midday, the sight is astounding.
"It's like something out of an anime." Winter says from beside Aki.
She jumps in surprise, whipping out her stone amulet in a defensive position.
"Winter! I thought I told you to stay back there and make sure everyone got to safety." Aki grips her amulet tighter as she speaks. "Why are you out here? It's too dangerous here for you to be alone!"
"Says the one that went out alone."
"Hmph." Aki lowers her amulet. "I'm an Acolyte. That's different."
Winter shakes his head. He looks up at her, fists raised before him.
"Look, just because I'm a kid here doesn't mean I can just let go of my past life. I died and that's that, I get it. But if that's really Kokone… My Kokone… then I have to figure out what happened."
Winter looks up at Aki with a serious, dead set look in his eyes. Whether it is because of the firelight reflected there, or the sincere longing she felt from him, Aki hesitates.
Before her, she not only saw the glow of the future video game love interest he was, but also of a plain-looking yet earnest and hardworking man hoping to see his greatest love once again.
Aki scratches her head, ruffling her hair from the conflict.
"Fine." She raises a finger to curtail his joy. "But we need to get everyone with us first. She might not be her. It could be the necromancer Vira from your world's game."
"This is still a part of Carnia, if it really comes down to it, I am the unbeatable boss, remember?" Winter is already dashing away.
"Hold it! Winter!"
"Don't worry Aki!"
He pauses at the railing at the far side of the bridge to take in the view.
Aside from damaged goods and lightly scarred building faces, it looks no different than the empty streets of the cities he'd often travel to.
How picturesque it is, to see the off-white colours of the stones and pillars contrasting with the brilliant array of colours that dye the city in a way Winter recalls seeing associated with astronomy and the fictitious astrology.
The empty buildings and clean flagstone still shine with a glow of whimsical beauty fitting the unofficial fan name: City of Stars.
Even vacant, New Pinacca is truly what one would expect from a location found within an otome game.
Now if only the city wasn't besieged by Dead, littered with destroyed architecture from battles both recent and ongoing, or covered in flames.
"Given the chance, players will optimise the fun out." Winter reassures himself quietly. "Just need to do that and this will be no problem."
Confidence raised, Winter leaps from the bridge and heads into the city.
***
Or so Winter had said. He leans against a building cradling his left arm. It has been roughly an hour since he saw Aki and aside from a stray group or two of civilians, he'd mostly run into Dead.
Dispatching them was easy enough with his shadow magic. Its rarity and power, an exceptional ability that allows the wielder to use it without conduit. As expected of the superboss of the impossible ninth path.
That is until he ran into serious trouble ten minutes prior. Without perfectly calm and controlled emotions, conduitless shadow magic has the same repercussions as any other kind of magic.
Painful, self-destructive, and ineffective.
Being caught by surprise resulted in his left arm having a chunk of skin peeled right off. If he hadn't lucked into a foci shop and grabbed a wand, he loathed to think of what would have become of him.
Winter looks down at the wand, a stone-carved black wand with a white gradation going down to the tip. Pretty in appearance and the only reason his own arrogance didn't kill him.
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[MP: 870/1000]
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"It's not enough. Winter was always a prodigy before his backstory and I have my own knowledge but… Vira in the game had around 36,000MP."
Winter scans his surroundings searching for any possible threats that he has yet to notice.
"I maximised mana efficiency as much as I could and have more than double what a kid this age should have." He holds the wand with white knuckle grip and taps his damaged arm to try and mitigate the pain with mana.
"From what I saw with Analysis, the Silver Sword otherworlders have around 20,000MP each but all their spells are super expensive."
Winter grinds his teeth together and pushes off the wall to keep walking. He stops briefly to observe a pile of corpses that were used to make a barricade of sorts on the wide street.
"I couldn't see Aki's MP but she's really capable for her age so maybe around 2000? That means, even with my efficient mana use, I have the least!"
A tingle of dread crawls up his spine. The power of another necromancer - an extremely powerful one - has manifested slightly Northeast of him.
"That way is… Wish Park. Kokone's favourite place in the game." Winter looks away from the corpses to follow the scent. "I don't have the strength of the 9th yet, but this guy was considered a prodigy even before he got super powerful. I'll show you what the knowledge of a player can do, Kokone."
"I don't have any summons, damnit. Necra's tracking that changeling and Ogre was destroyed…" Winter's shadow darkens as he collects mana around himself. "Shadow magic is my only option, huh?"
Winter sprints down the streets, searching inside buildings and alleys, cautiously calling out for people while on his way to Wish Park. However, he does find corpse after corpse, recently deceased and the previously raised Dead alike.
Raising a deceased human without consent is a crime that carries isolation as punishment.
Winter wonders for a moment if he could get away with it if he pleaded ignorance since he's a child but shakes his head. He already told a room of people he's an otherworlder.
Not only would he be considered a fully realised person but otherworlders face harsher punishments as well.
Maybe using a state of emergency as justification? Does this country have a war-time policy he could use or do cities operate with a hands-off policy from their kingdoms?
He curses himself for not having spared the time to ask someone or look it up on his own..
Contemplation is cut short by a mass of shadows opening up around him. Shadowy hands grab hold and pull him down faster than he can call out.
The next thing Winter knows, the sound of water hits his ears and a mildly cool wind tickles his skin.
Opening his eyes, he finds himself in front of the picturesque fountain he was all too familiar with. A prime date spot the player could take the capture targets during the day on the school trip to rack up the most amount of affection points with the right dialogue.
The small park area is enclosed by multistory buildings on one side and a railing overlooking a section of the canal that opened into the Star Sea on the other. The centrepiece of the park is a large fountain that brings the place together and makes it an outstanding view.
At least it would have been, Winter thinks, if not for the many dead bodies of New Pinaccan guards that littered the ground all leading to the most beautiful woman he could ever imagine sitting on the edge of the fountain.
Kokone, wild-haired and with a cruel look in her eyes, stares at him.
"I planned on killing you," She says, "But then I remembered you said that name."
"Kokone, I-"
"My name is Vira!" She rises from her spot and grabs Winter by the chin to look at him. "I want to know how you ever heard that name. You're too small to be a vibrash look-alike."
She squeezes his face together and stares at him with a discerning gaze. "You're unmistakably Winter Estril but also not him."
"Because I'm an otherworlder just like you. Your fiancé to be exact." Winter says roughly, his cheeks being pinched tightly by her.
She lets go of Winter as a humourless laugh escapes her.
"Fiancé? Fiancé!" She says through laughs. "A truck ran me over when I ran away from my parents at 13! I never had a boyfriend, stars, I didn't even graduate middle school!"
Winter takes a half-step back, confusion clear on his face.
"Th-that's impossible."