Happy Life
Shaking himself off and overcoming his gradually darkening vision, Vargas assesses the battlefield situation: a fierce battle is raging on all fronts. Being himself an expert in combat poisons, he understands that his clock is ticking, which means he needs to try and strike as early and as accurately as possible.
His eyes latch onto the company commander, dancing with Alaria, and lock onto him like a predator. The armor is perfect — no fault to be found — but no armor can perfectly protect the face — a well-known flaw that hasn't changed for millennia.
At one moment, the warrior turns away to bark an order at one of his subordinates, and Vargas doesn't miss this chance. Leaping out of the crater like a silent whirlwind, he rushes at the general, synchronizing his trajectory so as not to enter his field of vision. In the end, the old man never gets to understand whose strip of razor-sharp steel struck him in the eye slit.
Having taken the enemy commander's head — a quite worthy feat by his own standards — the rogue notices the looks of his subordinates: some furious, some stunned, some full of tears.
"The Order of the Iron Bastion... famed for its invulnerability" — the intelligence data comes to mind.
Suddenly, he recalls a funny dialogue from some work of fiction:
"— What a majestic mountain fortress. They say it's absolutely impregnable.
— Give me a dozen capable lads with climbing gear, and I'll take its virginity."
The corner of Lester's mouth under the terrible mask rises a few millimeters.
"Milady," — a brief nod is conveyed to Alaria, after which the assassin scrapes his foot across the ground, raising a cloud of impenetrable dust. When it finally settles — he is gone without a trace.
During the redeployment, he involuntarily asks a question that had never occurred to him before: I wonder, what does this kind of fighting style look like from the outside?
A memory flashes through his mind like lightning...
In your second decade, you're lying across the couch, your mighty legs thrown over the backrest and your head hanging down, in your hands — a foreign picture magazine. The art style is strange and very unusual for your taste, but pleasant. Overly emotional, big-eyed characters fight in various formats: there are mage battles, warrior battles, and large-scale struggles with overcoming against vastly superior enemy forces.
This particular series was dedicated to the battles of mysterious, elusive warriors from different villages. They wore light, inconspicuous clothing and short, unusual-looking swords, constantly striking different poses and stances, running fast and dodging excellently.
The current scene could be described as follows: an exhausted but determined-looking fighter, his face covered in scars, stands in a field, weapon at the ready, and before him are about a dozen ragged men, behind whose backs another hero grins nastily — smaller, but quite menacing in appearance, hatred blazing in his eyes — for the reader's convenience, it was labeled with a special "sound" effect near his head.
"You were my brother, Shikikaki Ken. All those moments when we trained. And when we secretly ran away from Sensei. Remember how we finally reached that forbidden clearing, at night, tired and exhausted, and looked at the stars?.." — says the battered warrior on the next slide. "But by joining these scoundrels, you caused my father's death. I don't want to do this, but I must."
"Ha-ha-ha-hah!" — the second one laughs heartily, throwing his head back to the heavens. "As if you can do anything, Senpai! Your story ends here and now. But you know what, Senpai? It was all a lie. I've always worn a mask. I was waiting for you to slip up so I could take what's mine, and now it's finally happened."
The elder warrior raises his blade:
"Prepare yourself!" — and disappears from sight, as if dissolving into thin air.
"Heh... did he just ninja-vanish and bail?.." — one of the thugs scratches his head, the next second being struck in the heart by the suddenly appearing Senpai — instantly vanishing again.
The bandits scratch their heads, the warrior appears behind the second one, slits his throat with one motion, and disappears again.
"Idiots, he's right there!" — the younger fighter waves somewhere into empty space. "Open your eyes!" — an ironic phrase, given the book's art style.
It doesn't help — one by one, the scoundrels are taken by an invisible and intangible reaper.
Finally, the elder and the younger remain alone — face to face.
"My Geijutsu is stronger than yours. It's always been that way, and nothing has changed. You will lose," — the Senpai says with an expression of grim determination.
"Go to hell!!!" — Shikikaki Ken rushes at the opponent without any ceremony, their blades clashing...
You turned the last page — the issue ended, as always, on a cliffhanger.
"Oh, for crying out loud! Another month to wait for the next one!" — you throw the magazine aside in disappointment and exhale heavily. "...but how cool was that! They sure know how to come up with stuff! Too bad this isn't possible in real life!"
You jump off the couch and start practicing the fighting stance you yourself would like to have.
"Sha... Ha..." — you apply the techniques that, according to the plot, develop Geijutsu, helping to open the secret sight and achieve superhuman abilities.
Suddenly, you hear the key scraping in the lock. Darting from your spot, you run to the front door — your mother has returned from work, and not empty-handed, but with a couple of shopping bags.
"Mom! Let me help!" — you snatch the bags; there's groceries in them. "Oh! This is very timely, I was just about to grab a bite."
"Hello, son. I'll change clothes, rest a bit, and make everything," — a not-young but pleasant-looking tired woman smiles, taking off her shoes.
"No, no, you sit down, I'll whip something up myself," — with an armful of food, you run off to the kitchen, where you unload it and deftly chop it with a kitchen knife.
"How lucky I am with my son," — wiping away a tear, the mother mutters under her breath in the hallway, thinking she can't be heard. "Good thing I managed to get him out of the army again..."