I Became the Childhood Friend Who Commits Sui**de

---

A subtle standoff continued for a moment.

The glimmering blade held at my throat was threatening enough to seem as if it would strike at any second.

Baek Yang remained calm and did not act rashly.

She paused her attack and attempted to engage in conversation calmly.

“Do you want me to take off my mask?”

“Stop playing games. If you don’t remove it now, I’ll cut you down right away.”

“While you say that, you’re hesitating yourself. Why is that?”

“Shut up.”

Si-hyun snapped coldly, but he couldn’t completely shake off the brief moment of hesitation.

The girl did not miss this opening. Waves of light radiated from her center, pushing everything around her away.

Even the opponent threatening her from behind was pushed back.

Si-hyun, pushed back, immediately regained his center and summoned multiple swords of light into the air.

There was fierce determination glimmering in her eyes.

Why is she glaring at him like that?

The girl couldn’t figure it out.

All she knew was the strange discomfort weighing on her heart and the unresolved questions.

No. There was no time for this.

Her companions were still fighting the Priestess, and she had been given a request.

She had to hurry and find the Holy Grail and return.

Of course, she hadn’t forgotten the teacher’s request.

Baek Yang mumbled under her breath, and a burst of light erupted from the ground, completely trapping and sealing the enemies.

The swords that had appeared in the air retaliated.

Following their master’s gesture, they danced beautifully, slashing through the light prison. However, the durability of the prison was considerable, and it wasn’t easily broken.

It quickly became evident even through the brief exchange.

There was a significant gap in skill between the two of them. A one-on-one encounter showed almost no chance of victory.

However, there weren’t only two girls in the temple right now.

Zzzzz!

Blue lightning surged and charged toward the girl.

At once, Baek Yang turned her head and reached her hand out toward the incoming lightning. A divine shield enveloped her surroundings, blocking the lightning. But under the tremendous force, the light began to dim gradually.

Shin Woo gritted his teeth and shouted.

“Yu Hana! If you keep pretending not to know and resist… I’ll take you by force! I won’t let you slip away this time!”

“…”

The circumstances were not favorable for the girl.

She was sandwiched between enemies in front and behind. If the battle continued like this, any variables could arise.

First, she needed to retreat, change her position, and re-engage in the fight.

That meant she had no choice but to target the woman near the exit.

Just then, Si-hyun emerged from the prison, swords in hand, glaring at her.

Baek Yang raised her hand and clenched her fist. Light emerged, stretching long to quickly morph into a staff-like shape.

Thwack!

Simultaneously, the two girls charged at each other.

Swords and staffs clashed violently. Following that, the swords in the air behind Si-hyun shot out simultaneously.

One. Two. Three.

Baek Yang precisely deflected them all. Her response was astonishingly clean. The Yu Hana she remembered was not that nimble.

She felt a powerful aura emanating from the light that surrounded the girl. Perhaps that was enhancing her physical abilities.

Shin Woo wasn’t just standing idly either.

Taking a deep breath, he exhaled forcefully, unleashing a torrent of fiery breath toward the girl.

Without panicking, she tensed her legs and leaped with all her might.

Even if the low ceiling blocked her, it was fine. She grabbed a pillar, spun around, and used centrifugal force to fall to the ground. The light embedded in her staff brightened as it gathered power.

She transitioned from evasion to attack. Her target was the bandaged girl wielding a sword.

Si-hyun calmly gazed upward, lowered her body, and, just at the right moment, swung her sword upwards.

Another clash.

“Ugh…!”

This time, the balance tilted significantly.

Si-hyun tried desperately to hold her ground, but she was pushed back relentlessly, ultimately failing to fully defend against the attack.

The sword of light lost its power and vanished into thin air.

The staff aimed to pierce through the enemy’s chest but—

Yet again, the boy interfered at the critical moment.

The staff’s trajectory was disrupted, grazing along her chest and armpit.

The impact alone dealt considerable damage to Si-hyun.

In contrast, Baek Yang showed little reaction even to the sword that pierced her shoulder.

It made sense. After six months of training under her teacher and battling monsters within the gate, she had sustained far worse injuries than this.

Such a minor wound was nothing to her.

When she placed her hand over it, it felt as if time turned back; the injury vanished completely.

Newly emerged white swords swirled around the boy.

They flew in a straight line like a rain of arrows, but once again, they were all blocked by the girl.

In the highly competitive nature of battle, she continuously showed no strong reaction and mechanically engaged in combat.

But then, for the first time, the girl had a clear response.

She seemed to have sensed her opponent’s intentions, murmuring in disbelief.

“…Are you imitating my ability?”

The boy, eyes closed, seemed to focus on something.

Gradually, holy light began to bloom around him.

*

“Ugh, it feels like you have a rather unsettling ability.”

That was something I heard from a classmate on my first day at the academy.

I understood the intent behind those words. It wasn’t strange to think so.

However, those words had somehow lodged deep into my heart, haunting me whenever I had almost forgotten.

Ability replication.

That was the ability I awakened.

As the name suggests, it meant I could imitate others’ abilities.

But even so, it was regarded as potentially limitless in usability and potential.

Because of this, I always attracted attention.

Even when I was unable to properly handle my ability in the first year, just the potential for growth was enough to earn me much praise.

Of course, it wasn’t a flawless ability.

The bigger the return on the ability, the more demanding the conditions for using it.

First, I couldn’t replicate multiple abilities at the same time.

That felt obvious. After all, every ability user had only one ability.

The second condition was crucial; I had to know the person whose ability I wanted to replicate very well.

The important part here is not the “ability” but the “person” themselves.

In other words, even if I understood the abilities of a well-known S-rank hero perfectly, if I didn’t know the person personally, I couldn’t replicate their ability.

The abilities I used were all from people close to me.

They were abilities of classmates and my teacher from whom I learned.

Additionally, the more I knew them and the closer our relationship, the better the performance of the ability would be.

In other words, if there was an ability that could perform almost perfectly at 100% rather than at a degraded state, it would only be the ability of someone I had been with for 18 years, my childhood friend, Yu Hana.

“So, if you are Yu Hana…”

Then I should be able to use your ability. For sure.

Praying desperately for my ability to activate once again, I attempted to replicate.

I closed my eyes as the dark space around me began to brighten with the glow of light.

At the same time, I started to grasp the principles and usage of the masked girl’s ability.

Brilliant light embraced my body.

A warm feeling filled the surroundings.

I sensed the opponent’s surprise, but I remained focused on understanding the ability.

Joy surged deep within my heart.

I was replicating her ability. It would be completely impossible if I didn’t know her name or face.

In other words, the enemy right before me was someone I had known all along.

“Yu Hana. It really was you.”

“…”

“You are… Ugh!”

I couldn’t finish my sentence; I clutched my head.

A sudden headache struck, accompanied by a vividly engraved image in my mind.

This is…

The golden chalice I had seen earlier.

The one that Hana called the Holy Grail.

Why is this suddenly popping up?

The light emanating from the Holy Grail pushed away all the darkness from the spiritual world.

Light enveloped the world, even the light created from the ability I was replicating.

And someone’s hand raised the Holy Grail.

I couldn’t see whose hand it was as it remained blurry, but something…

When I opened my eyes, it felt as if the ability I had come to realize had distanced itself to a faraway place.

The light blooming around me had also faded as if it had never been there.

I failed at ability replication.

But this failure felt entirely different from my previous attempts.

I was clearly able to succeed. Why on earth did the Holy Grail come to mind at that moment?

Why?

“Honestly, I was surprised. When you imitated my ability, I felt strangely nostalgic and sentimental.”

The girl’s nonchalant tone sounded as if she was shyly confessing her true feelings.

However, the gruesome reality before me was far too discordant and surreal.

Si-hyun, collapsed on the ground, bleeding and dying.

The girl with the white mask, stained with red droplets of blood, spoke.

“I’m curious. Who is Yu Hana?”

Was she truly Hana?