Does the Assassin Girl Dream of the Mana Doll?

“…I’m surprised. I didn’t think you’d noticed.”

As the voice spoke, a figure emerged from behind the door—it was Ghost.

“So you really were there…haha, I’m impressed with myself.”

“… Was that just a wild guess?” Said Ghost shocked..

“Pretty much. I just had a bad feeling about something… And these guys were gone, so even if I was wrong, no big deal. If I got it right, that’s a nice bonus.”

He laughed with an air of carefree confidence.

Despite having just killed his comrades and now standing face to face with someone trying to assassinate him, his attitude was oddly relaxed.

Ah….. So they were the same kind, the ghost realized.

Ghost understood. A being that was broken somewhere, somehow. An extraordinary power coupled with a mind outside human logic. It was something she was all too familiar with.

“I see… I’ve lost this round of the game… But the real fight starts now.” Ghost said and slowly, quietly… without a sound, she approached him.

Curtis twitched his brow slightly. He knew she was getting closer, but the odd sense that clung to her movements unsettled him.

It took him a few moments of observation before he realized—he couldn’t see her movements. To be precise, he couldn’t see the initiation of her movements.

Most humans exhibit some preparatory motion before they move. Even just walking requires a subtle shift in one’s center of gravity. But with her, there was none of that.

She moved like a puppet controlled by invisible strings, with no beginning, no weight, and no regard for gravity. She glided towards Curtis as if walking casually, yet unnaturally.

“I see… so this one’s a real deal!”

Once he understood, there was no need to fear, though he remained cautious. Her movements were smooth, but all he had to do was crush her with a blow faster than she could react.

… The distance between them was far beyond the range of his sword. But the moment she stepped into that range, he exploded into motion.

There’s a concept known as the ‘distance of one step and one sword’. the distance in which a single step brings you within striking range of a sword. For ordinary people, this might be about one meter and with a step, another meter for the sword’s length, and for a master, maybe three meters at most.

But Curtis was a being beyond Human . He closed a distance of over five meters with terrifying speed, raising his sword high and swinging it down with enough force to cleave through iron.

However, Ghost was also far from ordinary. Through her earlier observations, she had already gauged the range of his attacks. She anticipated this strike.

She saw it coming.

Despite the tremendous speed of his sword, she met it with her short sword. Her motion seemed slow in comparison, but her strike parried his sword just before it reached her head, tangling with its side and deflecting it away.

Though her movements were far slower than Curtis’s, they were unnervingly precise, honed through countless repetitions to the point of mechanical perfection. It was this exactitude that bridged the gap in speed between them.

Curtis knew before the blow was deflected that it would be. Rather than fight against it, he allowed his momentum to be redirected, and because he had anticipated it, he was able to stop his blade abruptly. He reversed his grip and slashed horizontally.

Sensing she couldn’t fully neutralize the shift in momentum, Ghost made a slight shift in her center of gravity. Curtis’s sword stopped much faster than she had expected.

Before she had time to think, her body moved instinctively, leaping backward. In the next instant—no, in half an instant—the sword passed through the space where her torso had been. The blow tore a chunk out of her rigid leather chest guard.

She backed away several paces, reestablishing her stance with the small blade.

“Well, well, you’re something else. No one’s ever made me use two strikes and still survived,” Curtis said with an amused grin. But his eyes weren’t laughing. Behind the amusement was frustration. He hadn’t managed to finish her off despite all that.

“Yes, the feeling’s mutual,” Ghost responded casually while controlling her breathing. For someone like her, who specialized in ambush tactics, a direct fight was far more draining. It wasn’t an issue yet, but if this continued, she’d eventually be overpowered.

“Good to know. So if I take you down, that means I’ve got no more enemies to worry about for a while!”

With that declaration, Curtis charged again, this time even faster than before. He still had reserves of strength after all.

But Ghost had already understood that the previous attack wasn’t his full strength. His strike had been slower than the worst-case scenario she had already imagined. Even now, she still expected his attacks to be within her predictions.

…However, this one was at the upper limit of those predictions.

“Can you dodge this too? Well then, how about this?!”

He brought his sword down with a mighty blow, which she barely managed to parry. As she deflected it, a follow-up strike came from below, forcing her to leap over it.

During that brief moment when her movements were restricted by the jump, Curtis closed the distance. She deflected his thrust with her short sword and rolled away to escape.

As she quickly got to her feet, Curtis was already closing in again, this time feinting with a horizontal slash. But it wasn’t his real strike—the real attack was the thrust that followed, delivered after folding his body inward.

Ghost barely sensed it in time and dodged with a large sidestep, rolling to put more distance between them.

“Would you just hurry up and die already?” Curtis said, a trace of irritation creeping into his voice.

He hadn’t even broken a sweat, despite unleashing a relentless series of attacks. Meanwhile, though Ghost’s expression remained calm, her breathing was clearly labored.

“This is my job, I can’t fail, after all,” she replied lightly.

She took a deep breath. It wasn’t enough to fully recover, but her opponent wasn’t the type to give her time for that. This time, she decided to close the gap herself.

“Oh? Now that’s gutsy!” Curtis said, clearly not expecting that move. But with his natural instincts, he immediately braced himself, ready to meet her charge.

Or at least, that’s how it seemed.

In one instant, Ghost stopped, then accelerated sharply.

She’d disrupted his rhythm. With the long sword and short sword combination, she had the advantage in range.

This will end it.

With perfect timing, she unleashed a strike too fast for a human to react to.

**Next: “The Reason Why She’s Called ‘Ghost’**