“Fire is divinity.”

When facing an aggressive wild animal in its natural habitat, fighting back would be the worst possible advice. Compared to most such beasts, the human body is weak and breaks easily.

“Fire is the source, the foundation, and the container of all energies.”

But this…thing in front of me, is no beast. It is no predator. I am not the best judge of people, but its small eyes and twisted, broken tell me that it wants my death.

“Fire is sevenfold.”

This is not a movie zombie hungry for brains. It merely kills.

“Fire is life. Ergo, prana.”

I feel its warmth, gathered around my raised left hand. My magical energy, my life, has ignited and become flame. It is not yet manifested physically, but it already exists. Magic is weird like that.

But the zombie does not attack. It does not close the distance to lunge at me.

The zombie stopped its ascent at some point.

Did it mirror my action? Did it stop in response to my chant? Was it merely a coincidence?

It is not particularly looking at my hand, so this is not some absurd, magic-sensing undead. But taking into account all these weird circumstances, let’s assume the worst case scenario and act accordingly. No matter what, the fact remains that I shouldn’t let this monster get too close.

There is a weird sound in the distance. Or rather, a sound my brain doesn’t want to understand.

I slowly raise my right leg. When the knee is about the same level as my navel, I quickly drop it back down, planting the sole of the foot and pushing my weight onto it. It is like the throwing motion of a baseball pitcher, and the blaze manifests in my hand right before I release the fastball—

It dodged!

With the speed of a martial artist, it jerked its body to the side and dodged the fireball. Now it rushes upstairs—this zombie’s speed is in no way inferior to a living human’s—, but I had planned for this possibility.

Day 1 Afternoon 04 - VS Zombie