“You don’t have to pretend to be okay, you know?” Yin says to me with a sniff as we hustle down the side alley. Behind us, the noises of the crowd get further away. “I saw him, Jian really laid into you, with full plate armor on! Where did he even get stuff like that?”

“Trust me…I’ve had worse.” I smile ruefully. The beautiful girl at my side doesn’t believe me. It’s true, I haven’t got smashed quite like that in a while, but compared to being torn apart, or boiled alive this is nothing. “Alright, I think we’ve gotten far enough away. Hopefully those newcomers don’t give Tatsuya and Andie too much trouble for letting us go.”

“Aish…so many problems for this thing!” Yin’s hand comes up and she reads off a description. “System Skill-“

“Shhh!” I hastily reach forwards and cover her mouth. “Not so loud! System Skills are usually locked to a specific Hunter, but people will still get angry if they know you have something they don’t!”

“O-Okay, okay!” Yin squeaks as she yanks my hand off her lips. “Sheesh, you’re so careful, Hei! Though to be honest…you’re right sometimes.” She smiles coyly, acknowledging that her viewpoint has changed. Nodding at her, I lean in close.

“So what is it? This System Skill of yours?” I rub my hands together nervously. Why am I sweating? I’ve seen hundreds of System Skills from way higher level places than this. But even still…this is insanely early to get one. If it’s useful, we hit the jackpot!

“System Skill: Ghostblade Asura!” She tells me the name and my breathing grows heavy. My mouth goes dry and I try to swallow. It comes out as a gulp. That sounds strong! Yin looks at me strangely, as if questioning whether I should really be so excited. “Concentrate to mark an enemy with each strike on the same target and then activate this ability to summon the power of an Asura to slay your foes! Additionally, gain bonus experience towards your skill with all sword class weapons!” She squints, before moving her eyes away from the invisible screen in the air. “Is this good?”

“Holy…” I’m at a loss for words. Grabbing her shoulders, I shake her roughly, losing my cool, “Is this good? Are you kidding me! What god fell in love and blessed your luck to be like this! Go on, tell me so I can try praying to them too! The power of an Asura? And a built-in passive which helps you learn sword mastery? Insane…” My breath runs out and I heavily gulp in air as Yin’s head bobs back and forth in my hands, “Thou who art in heaven, this lowly mortal has sinned and worshipped a false god all this time! Please allow this one to humbly convert and bless me with the same goddamn luck!”

“H-Hei! Stop, you’re going to shake the experience out of me!” Yin breaks out of my grip with a glare. Smoothing a strand of hair back, she works on retying her ponytail which has come loose in the epic battle. “So, it’s good? It was worth it?”

“Uh...how do I put this?” I mutter to myself. “Let’s just say, that in a little bit, when System Skills become more common, this is the kind of ability you wouldn’t expect to appear for a long time. We’ll have to test it, but an Asura is a terrifying monster. Far stronger than anything we’ve encountered so far. If you truly can summon even a tiny portion of its power, then this System Skill will become a godlike talisman against evil! Seriously, I thought you’d get the ability to summon a little water-ball or something, not a demonic ability!”

“Ohoho so in other words…this is when I finally become more powerful than you!” Yin’s face grows happy and while she says something that sounds kind of stupid, I’m so goddamn ecstatic as well that I don’t even say anything. Just hug her tightly. She gives a soft gasp and then sinks into me. Even after a strenuous battle, as a Hunter, she has a pleasant smell. Or maybe that’s just Yin. “Hahaha, I told you I was going to be protecting you soon!”

“Uhuh yup! I never doubted it!” Smoothing my expression, I pull away and take her hand. “Let’s go try it out!” I’m genuinely delighted that she received something so amazing. It’s almost too good to be true. For a second, all the pressure of knowing the truth, that we’re all probably going to die, it fades away. I shouldn’t get my hopes up so much. In my past life someone probably got this System Skill too and it didn’t save them as far as I know. But I want to believe in something.

I want to believe in her.

“Alright! Time for the dead to taste my Ghostblade!” Yin and I run off to find some zombies.

#

*Shing!*

*Shing!*

*Shing!*

Yin’s slashes cut into the Daemonic Hellspawn with a vengeance.

Is it me or is her swordsmanship already starting to look better?

Three lines open up in the toad-like creature’s stomach. I’m not sure if it’s a beast brought over by the System, like the Daemonic Minotaur, or if it’s simply the result of the virus corrupting some sort of tadpole in the sewers of Tiendas City.

“Activate it! Let’s see what you can do!” I say, watching eagerly as the man-sized red toad-beast, which Yin told me was Lvl. 14, angrily shoots out its tongue at her. Dodging backwards, Yin snaps her fingers. A crimson glow appears in her eyes and a wisp of dark smoke leaks out from the back of her neck as there’s a strange noise.

*Shing!*

An invisible blade slash appears from nowhere, like an Asura’s blade ripping through the void! Each of the three cuts on the Hellspawn’s belly splits open deeply! Guts start falling out as it croaks one last time.

“Ribbit!”

Then Yin leaps over and plunges her sword into its soft head.

“Ri-“

The creature flops over, dead. Yin withdraws her blade and turns to me with a huge grin on her face.

“I learned Basic Swordsmanship already. Is that like your Basic Combat Skill?” She asks while flourishing the blade to get the slime off. The impressive strength of a Lvl. 15 Hunter is enough to instantly flick the toad’s guts off.

“Pretty much, though it only applies to swords. The skill must have given you enough bonus experience to trigger the System to give you the passive. Do you feel…different?” I explain. Yin slants her head as she moves about strangely, testing her fingers.

“Yea…YEA! I think I know how to…!” She whirls suddenly, disappearing and then reappearing next to me with her sword on my neck. A perfect swordsman’s lunge. “Oh my god! I actually did that!”

*Tch*

I gingerly put up two fingers to pinch the blade and remove it from under my chin.

“Nice. This will make things a lot easier. Don’t get overconfident though. The Passive System Skills only do so much. Also, how much mana did you use? That little blue bar under your level?”

“Currently I’m at 70%. That sound, right?” Yin asks. I put a finger to my lips while thinking.

“Hmm…well, mana is just a representation of your body’s spiritual willpower. Once it runs out, you’ll be in danger of passing out or even dying if you continue to use System Skills. That being said, the bar isn’t absolute. I’ve seen people use skills even when the System no longer is capable of measuring the amount of mana you have left. If you have a strong enough willpower it’s possible.” Musing to myself, I don’t notice Yin’s eyes narrowing suspiciously at me when I mention I’ve seen other people using System Skills before. “Anyways, my guess is that your limit for activating Ghostblade Asura right now is about ten hits. Make sure you don’t try to apply more marks than that or else you could kill yourself by mana exhaustion.”

“Hehe…I wonder what it looks like if I hit something ten times before activating it?” Yin looks at her sword in wonder. The childish joy of discovering that you’re capable of doing something new has filled her face once more. It blows me away how pretty she is, even after fighting a monster. Concealing my smile by looking away, I start to move on.

“Alright, how’s your mana? Is it regenerating? You’ll need to learn how fast it comes back and make sure not to overly exhaust yourself. The lower it gets, the longer it takes to regenerate. Try not to let it get below 20% unless it’s an emergency!”

“It’s back to 80% now!”

We journey deeper into the city, slaying foes as we go. I have Yin take every kill to learn how to use her new power. Well…use is probably the wrong word. Staring at the destroyed body of a Daemonic Undead which we used to test a seven-slash combo on, I try to hide my shock. It looks like a monster tore it apart. Abuse would be more appropriate. How is this even considered fair? She’s destroying them! If we manage to get out of here, won’t Yin actually become strong enough to become a new Death Goddess?

“How am I? Is it good enough?” She says as she sees my face. I almost choke, pretending that I coughed.

“Heh…uhm, yea it’s good! Just be careful to conserve your mana! For now, focus on learning your limits and leveling up!” Taking on the role of a wise master, I continue walking onwards. Secretly though I’m thinking. Maybe this isn’t such a disaster after all. I mean, what if in my past life, they never managed to slay the Daemonic Minotaur because I wasn’t here? And thus, they never acquired this broken skill? The System does usually leave a way out after all. Maybe my presence here has changed fate? Perhaps we have a shot at surviving this death game now?

Yea…probably not.

“When you think that hard you look like you need to crap.” Yin grumbles as she realizes I wasn’t watching when she killed another Hellspawn which crawled out of the subway entrance. “What are you thinking about that’s so important?”

“N-Nothing!” I make sure to calm my features. “I just think you’re progressing nicely is all. You’ve grown a lot, now that you don’t even need my help to kill these things.” Yin turns around from the body of the Daemonic Undead she just cut into. As she snaps her fingers, the thin slash in its neck suddenly gushes blood and it falls over.

*Shing*

“Worried I might abandon you now that I can take care of myself?” She grins, leaning in. Her superior speed makes her blur slightly. Then she kisses me on the lips.

W-What?

Sweet.

Her mouth tastes like honey that’s been warmed in the sun. I’ve kissed girls before, but none of them managed to make me feel like Yin does. Butterflies dance in my stomach, fluttering around for just an instant before she pulls away. My fingers reach out unconsciously trying to keep her with me. It’s that good. But she just shakes her head coyly, catching my hands and linking her fingers in mine.

“Relax, Hei! I know who really helped me kill the Daemonic Minotaur. You’ve been looking out for me all this time. No matter what, I will never leave you. I’m sorry, I’ve been so irritated at all this. I thought we could find my cousins in this place. Someone from before, someone I know. But then I found out it was impossible because the System decided to play with out lives again. Even if you piss me off sometimes, I know you’re always thinking of how to keep us alive.” Yin sighs, her fingers squeezing my hand gently. It’s like being caressed by an angel. Despite the incredible strength behind them, she already knows how to control her strength to this degree.

“Just…just don’t forget to relax sometimes okay? You don’t have to do this all alone. I’m getting…stronger. Slowly, but surely. I’ll keep my promise. One day soon, I’ll look after you!”

“I…” My voice trails off as I remember the kiss. But unwanted thoughts intrude in this beautiful moment between us. No matter how optimistic I am about Yin’s newfound skill, I know this Secret Dungeon will be anything but easy. Surely some of the previous Hunters in my past managed to kill some of the Eight Servants, and obtain System Rewards. Yet no one survived to tell the tale. Unless they hid themselves and never revealed the truth. But I think that unlikely considering how low-level this dungeon was. They wouldn’t have had any need to hide their achievements once other Citywide Dungeons appeared. Blinking, I bring my sleeve up to wipe away some suspicious moisture in my eye.

All this damn sand must be getting inside.

“I hope one day, you can confide in me. I will keep working hard until I’m strong enough to carry your secrets!” Yin says, full of fire. She spins on her heels, ready to march off to fight the dead once more. Her unwavering confidence should fill me with hope. But for some reason, a pit of dread forms in the bottom of my stomach while I stare at the back of her determined shoulders. So beautiful. And yet so small…I wonder, if you knew what spilling my secrets would turn me into, would you still be so eager to stay?

“We’ll keep going.” I murmur to her back. “Just remember, one day, if I can’t keep up. If it looks like I’m going to die for any reason. You have to kill me. Protect me all you want, but if ever you should fail, then that must be your other promise. A blood oath between us two Hunters. I expect you to keep it.”

Yin stiffens. Her hand trembles imperceptibly on her sword. She looks back for just an instant, her smile turning sad as she contemplates my face.

“I wish you wouldn’t say such things.”