Candlelight (Double Chapter, Please Vote)

"Wright, you can't kill me!"

Amid the wind and snow on the streets of Novitt District, Lutz stood among the ruins of shattered buildings, his body blackened all over. Clutching the wound in his chest, he glared ferociously at the middle-aged man before him. "My Mercenary Group is an external affiliate of the Rockville Conglomerate. If you kill me, you'll offend the Rockville Conglomerate. The foundations of an old conglomerate like that are beyond your imagination."

"Mm."

Wright spun the Short Sword in his hand and watched Lutz. His clothes had long since been torn to shreds, and wounds covered his entire body. "Your Mercenary Group doesn't have a federal license, does it? You're with the Rockville Energy Group."

He paused, a smile on his face. "In other words, the Rockville Energy Group has privately maintained an unlicensed Mercenary Group and even had it collude with a cult to enter the largest city in the northwest. What is the Rockville Energy Group trying to do? Conspire to overthrow the Federation?"

Lutz's threatening, savage expression froze the instant he heard those words. "Don't talk nonsense. I never said that."

Then, as though he had thought of something, he slowly raised his hands, lifted the scythe over his head, and dropped to his knees. "I surrender. I'm willing to accept the Federation's judgment."

Wright watched him, Short Sword in hand, and cautiously stepped forward.

But almost the instant he took that step, Lutz, who had been kneeling on the ground, drove his knees down like a toad and sprang forward like a cannonball. His scythe carved toward Wright's neck.

As he flew through the air, the entire world seemed to suddenly dim. Even the falling snow lost its crystalline color, while countless identical figures surged toward Wright from every direction.

Holding his