Yujin's immediate plan was to fire his personal defense weapon.
Dodging that last attack had been nothing but luck.
Midir had let its guard down, dismissing him as easy prey.
There wouldn't be a second stroke of fortune.
To Midir, Yujin's movements were no faster than a crawling grub.
Even with Leila calling out the timing, there was no way he could dodge.
Just as he was about to pull the trigger—
A sharp, heavy clank rang out.
The sound of Leila's Nail Gun. By now, he knew it all too well.
"Hgh— haah…."
Only then did Yujin realize he'd been holding his breath.
Had Midir's presence overwhelmed him without him even noticing?
Reason settled back into his mind, which had gone completely blank.
Right. This gun only fires once.
Save it for when it truly matters.
Yujin lowered the muzzle and quickly stepped back.
Even as he did, the crack of the Nail Gun kept firing without pause.
In the darkness, the black shape twisted and lurched.
Then someone landed lightly in front of him.
"Commander. The drones, please."
"Yes."
Naturally, it was Leila.
She swapped out her magazine without taking her eyes off the Erosion Species—
and that focused, serious look on her face felt strangely unfamiliar.
No, this isn't the time for pointless thoughts.
Yujin snapped back to attention and immediately sent the command to the drones.
"Drones, deploy."
Bwwwwmm.
A sound like bees swarming rose from all directions.
Not loud, but audible if you concentrated.
The drones, dormant in power-save mode, rose into the sky as if waking from sleep.
They drifted to their designated positions and held there—
then their lights switched on in sequence, flooding the alley with illumination.
The Erosion Species that had been lurking in the dark was laid bare.
"Kigik…."
Midir let out a sound of displeasure as the darkness was stripped away.
The creature that had been a persistent, wretched thorn in Yujin's side.
His fist clenched hard at the sight of it.
"Going in!"
Leila moved first.
She'd already blocked the exits to keep it from slipping away easily—
but if Midir decided to run in earnest, things would get complicated.
She needed to make it see them as enemies worth fighting.
Clank, clank!
Razor-sharp nails, centimeters long, cut through the air.
Enough force to punch clean through ordinary metal plating.
But Leila's attacks didn't land.
They bounced off Midir's skin without leaving a mark.
How could a living creature be harder than metal?
The result defied all logic, and Yujin's expression went rigid.
"Kirrrrk!"
But Midir's attacks weren't landing either.
As though she already knew every move it would make—
Leila toyed with the creature, slipping past each strike with contemptuous ease.
Sharp claws, thick talons, a crushing bite—
even a tail whipped invisibly through the air found nothing but empty space.
The frustration of flailing alone against nothing.
Something seemed to resolve in Midir's mind. Its body coiled naturally—
and in that moment, Yujin and Leila's eyes met.
*Commander, now!*
*Yes!*
The intent passed between them through the Link, sharp and clear.
The drone lights converged on a single point.
Almost simultaneously, the Erosion Species hurled itself toward the light.
Midir's ability was to slip between shadows.
But what it threw itself into was no longer a shadow.
The ability failed to activate—and in that gap, it was left exposed.
Leila drove into its chest and fired the Nail Gun point-blank.
"Kiiiiik!"
Crack! Crackcrack!
Leila's nails punched through the creature's vulnerable spots.
Not a killing blow, but a solid hit that tore a scream out of it.
The Erosion Species' foul blood scattered in every direction.
The moment Leila confirmed the attack had connected—
she put distance between herself and the creature without a second thought.
Midir was thrashing violently in agony.
She had no intention of getting caught in a blind, flailing strike.
*Commander! Over there!*
*This one, now!*
*Under its feet!*
The fight against the Erosion Species flowed smoothly.
Every time Midir tried to flee into a shadow—
Leila relayed its position to Yujin in an instant.
He immediately erased that shadow with a drone.
Midir's broken ability was what made it dangerous. Strip that away, and it was nothing but a durable punching bag.
*As expected. We can't finish it off like this.*
But watching from the sidelines, Yujin reached a conclusion.
The Nail Gun alone wasn't enough to kill Midir.
Its firepower fell far short of what was needed to put the creature down for good.
And Midir itself seemed to agree it could still win—
it refused to give up the fight even as it bled—
which was exactly the outcome they'd wanted.
—*My unique ability could be the enemy's weakness?*
—*Yes. So I'd like you to avoid using your lightning, if possible, Leila.*
—*Why? If it's a weakness, shouldn't we use it aggressively…?*
—*To prevent it from fleeing, in case it tries.*
The truth was, Midir wasn't fully contained right now.
They could stop it from diving into shadows—
but there was no way to physically hold it in place.
If it decided it couldn't win against Leila?
There was a real chance it could cause significant damage to the city.
So the plan for a clean victory was this:
pin Midir's legs with the Nail Gun—
then pour everything into a single decisive strike with her unique ability.
*Good. I can start to see the winning move.*
And that outcome was slowly becoming real.
Whether because Leila had been quietly targeting its legs—
Midir's movements were growing slower and more sluggish.
Once it lost its mobility entirely—
that would be checkmate.
No more kneeling before despair.
He could build a future where Leila didn't die.
The moment he found hope in this fight—
Yujin locked eyes with the black Erosion Species.
"Tch!"
"Kiik!"
In that brief, split-second exchange of glances—
Yujin's face twisted into a sharp grimace.
It had noticed him operating the drones.
He could tell immediately that it had figured it out.
*Of course it comes to this….*
He'd anticipated this possibility.
Midir was an Erosion Species with genuine cognitive ability.
And Yujin couldn't move far because of the Link.
The longer the fight dragged on, the more inevitable it was that his presence would be noticed.
Which meant the situation had just changed.
If Midir decided to come after Yujin with intent, things would get messy.
Leila would have to move to protect him—
but if he went down, they'd lose control of the lighting drones.
Yujin had no choice. He called out to Leila at full volume.
"Leila! It's onto me!"
"Ugh! Got it!"
She emptied the Nail Gun's entire magazine into the creature, forcing it to stagger back.
Then she stepped back and scooped Yujin up with one arm, lifting him like she was cradling him.
A tall man hoisted in the arms of a small girl — a bizarre sight by any measure—
but neither of them, locked in the fight, paid it much mind.
"Commander! Focus only on the drones!"
"Understood!"
It was a grueling task for Leila.
Fighting an Erosion Species already demanded intense concentration—
and now she had to do it while keeping Yujin from getting hurt.
But her eyes stayed fixed straight ahead, locked on Midir.
Naturally, fighting with Yujin in her arms was anything but smooth.
Until now she'd been conserving stamina, barely threading through each attack—
but with Yujin to protect, her movements had to grow larger—
and Midir was slowly starting to seize the initiative.
"Ugh…!"
"Leila!"
"I'm— fine! This is just… a graze…!"
The biggest problem was that Yujin was barely any different from a civilian.
When Midir raked its tail across the ground and sent sharp debris flying—
Leila had to wrap herself around him and take it all directly.
Fresh blood began to trace lines across Leila's body, which had been unmarked until now.
Meanwhile, Yujin, shielded inside her arms, remained completely unscathed.
He tried to look unbothered, but a quiet unease was building inside him.
Then he glanced at her face—and the anxiety faded.
Leila's eyes, fixed on Midir, blazed with fighting spirit.
The wavering in Yujin's chest steadied in an instant.
*Right. Focus on my role. Leila is going to win.*
From that point on, it was a brutal, grinding fight.
Leila relentlessly targeted Midir's legs—
Midir threw itself at them, bloodied and snarling, trying to bring them both down—
and Yujin kept erasing its shadows with the drones, one after another.
Through it all, both Leila and Midir deteriorated rapidly.
The already filthy ground became a slick mess of spilled blood.
"Hah, hah…."
"Almost there!"
"Got— it!"
Even so, the slight advantage still belonged to Leila and Yujin.
Damage had been piling up on Midir for some time now—
and one of its knees had a nail driven through it, leaving it limping.
Now was the moment. Leila could pour her unique ability into a single blow.
Yujin had just shouted that they were almost there—
when Midir, cornered and desperate, did something bewildering.
It drove its own razor-sharp tail through its own abdomen.
*What… is it—?*
Even for an Erosion Species, that was a lethal self-inflicted wound.
Why would it hurt itself in a situation like this?
Yujin couldn't begin to read its intent.
Then the body holding him gave a violent lurch.
A sound like a bitten-back groan escaped from Leila.
"Ngh—!"
"Leila?!"
Leila's body, which hadn't stopped moving for a single moment, went still.
Yujin reflexively looked down to check on her—
and what he saw made his mind go blank.
*What… is that—?*
Something pitch-black, growing from Leila's shadow.
Thick and sharp as a human forearm, it had driven straight through her thigh.
Just looking at it made his heart seize — an unmistakable, grievous wound.