A Dark Fantasy Spy

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Before parting ways with the group and heading to the fitness center.

“Wait a minute, just a second.”

With a serious expression, Camila threw a question my way.

“You’re saying you’ll face the terrorists alone?”

“Yes.”

“Are you out of your mind?”

Camila shouted, her cheeks flushed. The moments before when she had been banging her head on the table seemed like a distant memory now.

“Do you even know how many there are? You should let everyone…”

“That’s not happening.”

I interrupted Camila and answered.

“If you all get taken hostage or are in life-threatening danger, Abas will face severe diplomatic backlash from abroad. The situation is already dangerous. The security failed, and you’re all trapped in a department store.”

“Is politics really what matters right now!?”

“The government is important.”

Diplomacy is an essential element of governance, whether during the Cold War, Detente, or a new Cold War. Unless you possess the capability to do it all alone, diplomacy is a necessity, not a choice.

Camila was well aware of this.

She’s a conflict studies major, after all.

“If you really want to help me, you need to establish communication with the outside world as quickly as possible. You also need to neutralize the cargo. Even if you capture a significant number of terrorists, it’s unpredictable what could happen if outside support doesn’t arrive.”

“…Is there really no other way?”

“If you distract them for a moment, I can take them on. Otherwise, we can tackle them one at a time. There are plenty of methods.”

“…How about this?”

After thinking hard, Camila placed her hands on her hips and raised her head.

“Instead of just distracting them, what if we draw their attention completely? While we keep the terrorists occupied, we can clean up everything.”

“Isn’t that too dangerous? Simply drawing their attention won’t neutralize all the terrorists—”

At that moment.

“Fire.”

“…….”

“What if we just turned off the lights?”

“Turn off the lights?”

Camila nodded, continuing her train of thought.

“If we shut off all the lights in the department store, the confused terrorists won’t be able to move until the emergency power kicks in or they adjust to the darkness.”

“…….”

That sounded plausible now that I was hearing it.

But there was a problem.

“How will you find the equipment to maintain the department store’s power? And how do you plan to destroy it?”

“Uh… I’m not sure about finding it, but surely I can break it?”

-Whirr…

“Hey, I’m a magician right now.”

“…….”

Camila manifested a bright flame. I looked at the flickering fire at my fingertips, sighed softly, and replied.

“…The equipment is likely in the underground. Even though the building codes and fire regulations have changed, such equipment is usually kept underground, due to vibrations and noise.”

“Vibrations and noise…?”

“Yes. It’s the vibrations and noise created when the equipment is operational. Given that the facility is still functioning normally, it’s likely still operational. It should be deep underground, in the most secluded area.”

“Then we just need to find our way there.”

Camila, now seemingly understanding, nodded, and I threw her a question.

“Are you confident?”

“Pardon?”

“I was just wondering if you might be doing something you don’t want to do under pressure. You don’t necessarily have to take on risks yourself, right?”

At that, Camila, the former muggle from England and current magician, beamed a bright smile.

“You can’t live your life only doing what you want. Besides, you can’t do everything alone either!”

“…….”

“And it’s cool!”

You idiot.

“…Fine. Just don’t get hurt. I’ll give you a radio, so if things get dangerous, just contact me and retreat. And stick together, the three of you.”

“What should I do with the radio?”

“I’ll just find whatever’s lying around. So, how do you plan to draw their attention? Please explain in detail.”

With that, I sent Camila, Lucia, and Francesca off to find the power room and situation room.

If luck was on their side, they might reach the situation room and make a radio transmission. Otherwise, they could hide without getting caught in the crossfire. I figured I could handle the terrorists on my own.

I never imagined I would actually succeed.

—

Episode 8 – Say Hello To My Little Friend

Camila pulled it off. At a truly spectacular moment.

The inside of the department store was engulfed in darkness in an instant. The magical lights that had been glowing lost their power, and the natural light coming in through the windows was blocked by a curtain.

Complete darkness. Not a single beam of light, that’s pure darkness itself.

In the midst of the terrorists’ chatter in the pitch-black void.

I aimed my pistol in the direction of the sound.

And then.

-Clack.

“AAAH! My eyes!”

As the bright light flickered on, a terrorist jumped in surprise, covering his face with his hands—like a deer caught in headlights just before being run over on a country road at dawn.

A perfectly natural reaction.

The human eyes can’t easily adapt to strong light and darkness. That’s why the lights situated at the entrances and exits of long tunnels are usually dimmer than the lights inside the tunnel, to help the eyes adjust.

Of course, what I was facing was neither a truck, nor a car, nor an SUV.

-Urgh!

As the terrorist moaned, shielding his eyes from the blinding light, a bullet flew through, piercing his palm before hitting his head directly. I fired at the stunned terrorists, who hadn’t regained their senses yet, and they collapsed like marionettes with cut strings.

“Shoot! Shoot him!”

Amidst the screams and curses, one terrorist, having grasped the situation, yelled from the left. Suddenly, the sound of metal clanging echoed from all directions. Both the left and right had terrorists still standing.

Quickly pivoting, I focused on the left side. With the light shining, one terrorist was startled and pulled the trigger.

“G-Goddamnit-!”

Bang! The fired bullet struck a merchandise display. Naturally, it didn’t brush against me. The terrorist hadn’t even aimed properly from the start.

From the sound of his voice, it was the same one who had been shouting. He was surprisingly close, yet couldn’t see me properly, possibly due to the light.

I fired two shots into the terrorist’s hips, then pressed my pistol firmly against his chest. Pulling the trigger, blood and what appeared to be lung tissue exploded from the terrorist’s back. Given the metallic sound he was making, it seemed I had pierced his lungs. I shot the terrorist’s chest again, kicked him, and fled.

However, it seemed I was also struggling to adapt to the darkness, so I couldn’t run far. Plus, the emergency power that should’ve activated was out, and the guiding lights didn’t turn on either.

I knew that much.

That’s why I hadn’t planned to run away in the first place. I had something else in mind.

I concealed myself behind the heavy shelter created by stacked weights that had previously protected me.

And then.

Just as I predicted.

“There! Over there!”

“Help! That guy’s shooting at me!”

“Shoot!”

“Aahk-!”

The terrorists started firing indiscriminately into the darkness.

—

One issue with nighttime is that you can’t secure the time. That’s the main difference between daytime and nighttime combat.

In other words,

moonlight,

street lamps,

torches,

flashbangs,

illumination shells,

thermal imaging equipment,

night vision goggles.

To fight properly at night, you need to secure a light source. You have to see something to be able to hit it. With things being sensitive as they are, if you can’t tell friend from foe, everything could go sideways.

The problem was that there was nothing in the department store to illuminate it.

The power and magical supply had been cut, leaving the lights off. Some dark curtain-like presence exuding the energy of black magic was blocking incoming light, and the emergency lights that should’ve activated in case of a crisis were simply not turning on.

That was the root of the problem.

“Shut that bastard down right now!”

“Marco! It’s over there! Over there!”

“Die!”

In the thick darkness, one terrorist aimed his old-fashioned firearm toward the opposite side. As he pulled the lever down, the spent shell ejected, and as he pulled it up, a new cartridge was loaded into the chamber.

“That son of a bitch is shooting at us!”

“Shoot together! Don’t just sit there, shoot!”

“Duck! Don’t point that around recklessly!”

A terrorist hiding behind a wall aimed his shotgun and pulled the trigger. Click, as he pulled back the loading bar, the shell rolled to the floor, and pushing the bar forward brought up a new shell.

While the terrorists were united in their attempt to kill me, none were able to discern the faces around them.

“Up ahead! That bastard keeps moving!”

“Damn…!”

I navigated the store as bullets rained down, picking off the terrorists one by one.

A terrorist who had been kneed to the floor slumped down, clutching his hair with one hand and fiercely snapping his neck with the other. Hot blood splattered on my face. The red liquid emerged rhythmically, matching the beats of my heart.

I grabbed the shotgun from the dead terrorist’s hands and fired at another terrorist. A terrorist, whose revolver had just been loaded, slammed his grotesquely bloodied head against the store wall before collapsing.

Certainly, there were no one-sided fights.

“Hey, I found him! Over here!”

Amidst the hail of bullets, one lucky terrorist found me out. I shot the terrorist who was about to pop me but had to take cover due to the bullets surrounding me.

The terrorists who had grasped the situation began retaliating.

There were still some idiots firing at their own team without realizing the situation, but most were directing their fire towards my position. Though I was certain their firepower wasn’t as good as before.

About three or four of them. After blasting a few shots towards the darkness, I adjusted my grip on the shotgun and dashed forward.

Then I slammed a terrorist’s head.

-BAM!

As a terrorist loading up was struck hard, he toppled over. Blood gushed and spilled from his shattered head, looking like it might be spurting from a ruptured anterior cerebral artery.

I threw the shotgun that had just smashed the terrorist’s head at another one, and grabbing the terrorist who had lost his gun, I rolled him onto the ground.

It was a woman.

“AAH! What the hell—”

Hearing her voice, I realized it was the same woman who had been threatening to kill me earlier. The terrorist, who had rolled over, was starting to push herself up and reached toward me, stooping down as if to choke me.

Not a chance.

I swatted away the hand that lunged towards me and firmly grabbed the woman’s coat collards with both hands.

I squeezed.

“GACK…!”

The terrorist, choking, widened her eyes and let out a strangled noise. Her sharp nails dug into my hand. I kicked her knee hard, causing her to lose her balance, and as she leaned to one side, I climbed on top of her using my thighs and waist to pin her down. In an instant, I was squatting on her chest.

“Gah…!”

Releasing the collar, I pressed my forearm on the terrorist’s neck, bearing my weight down while drawing out my pistol from my waist.

My target was her head.

Just as I was about to press the muzzle against the terrorist’s head and pull the trigger.

“Don’t you dare!”

“Damn it!”

A crazy guy rushed at me, shoving me off with his body.

Bang bang bang! We tumbled to the floor, clashing like wild boars. A sharp pain shot through my left side; maybe I cracked a rib. I could taste blood in my mouth.

Grinding my teeth, I struck the terrorist’s back. I swung down hard with my gun hand, but the terrorist who had tackled me didn’t budge, even after several attempts to strike him down.

At that moment, the terrorist I was choking, moments away from death, regained her senses.

“Ahh, Marco…!”

“Irina, take the teacher and run!”

The terrorist called ‘Marco’ shouted to the one named ‘Irina.’

The half-crazed ‘Irina’ was crawling on the ground, tears and snot streaming from her face, while ‘Marco’ swung his fists, struggling fiercely to keep me pinned down.

Could it be? Were they actually trying to escape?

Not on my watch.

Clenching my teeth, I seized the terrorist’s hair and forced her to look up. Then I swung the grip of my pistol down hard against the side of his head.

“Die!”

The terrorist slumped down, barely conscious. She wasn’t dead yet, but the convulsions and blood pouring from her head indicated she had likely blacked out.

I pushed the head of the limp terrorist down to the ground and fired into her, then unloaded another five to six rounds into the back of the retreating terrorist.

After a prolonged moment of pulling the trigger, I finally paused when I touched the empty slide, realizing the bullets had run out.

Sitting there in a daze, I surveyed my surroundings.

The department store, shrouded in darkness, was eerily silent. Deadly silent. My eyes still hadn’t fully adjusted, and the world remained dark; aside from my ragged breaths, not a sound echoed.

I sat in the dark store, vigilant for quite some time.

Finally.

-Tick, tick.

Perhaps the emergency power had kicked in as the magical lights began to flicker back on, slowly illuminating the department store. Once the emergency lighting chased away the darkness, I could finally see the scene around me clearly.

Propped against a column, the terrorists lay frozen in death all around me.

“……”

No one was left alive.