Berserk of Gluttony (LN) - Volume 4 - Chapter 17

Chapter 17:

The Flashing Black Spear

RAFALE DEFTLY SPLIT my arrow in half with his black spear. As expected, straightforward attacks were no use against him. Nightwalkers piled out of the research facility, and Aaron cut them down as he fought to hold back the immortal Hado. Rafale turned his gaze toward the holy knight and sent his spear flashing through space—straight for Aaron’s back.

As I pulled back to reload the bow, Greed cut in.

“Charge your next magic arrow with Sandstorm and aim for the tip of the black spear!”

I did as directed and released the arrow. Wrapped in swirls of elemental earth magic, it flew straight for the tip of Rafale’s spear. Rafale spotted the arrow and deflected it as though it were an annoyance before directing his next attack at me.

“What?!” Rafale exclaimed.

The earth magic had encased the tip of Rafale’s spear in stone, interfering with his ability to send it wherever he pleased.

“I’d appreciate your words of wisdom a little earlier next time,” I muttered.

“Sorry, but I’m not too familiar with that spear. It’s changed since I last saw it. And that was a long time ago—I couldn’t be sure it was the same one at first. But those portal jumping attacks are a telltale sign. Fate, Rafale’s wielding a prototype Weapon of Mortal Sin. That one is called Vanity.”

“A prototype?”

“Unlike the rest of us, Vanity doesn’t have a soul, or…to be more accurate, our souls are a sort of safety mechanism. Lacking one of its own, in order to unleash its power, Vanity drains the life of its wielder.”

Rafale glared at the end of the black spear in disgust and drove it into the ground. The stone and sand broke off and dissipated into the air. I saw then that the hand with which he held the spear was bleeding.

“Wait, by ‘drains the life,’ do you mean Vanity drains his blood?”

“Yes, and it uses the life energy contained within that blood to power its portal-jumping attacks. Any ordinary person wielding that spear would quickly find themselves essentially mummified. All out of the red stuff!”

“So the reason Rafale can continue to wield it without issue is because he also has the power of the nightwalkers within him…”

“Exactly. He’s made of even sterner stuff than Hado. What’s the plan, Fate?”

“We eat or we die!”

“That’s the spirit!”

With the black spear momentarily stuck, I closed in on Rafale only to find my path blocked by more nightwalkers. Rafale was controlling them, using them to herd me back. I transformed the black bow into the black sword and wove around the nightwalkers as they tried to bite me, occasionally chopping off their legs to keep them from overwhelming me.

Just as Rafale attempted to skewer me with his black spear again, I broke free of the horde and blocked with my sword, stopping the spear in place.

“I see you have a few annoying tricks up your sleeve,” Rafale snapped.

“Did you manage to get all that sand off? Guess not, if you’re actually facing me yourself. What’s the matter? Did I mess with your spear?”

“That’s rich coming from scum like you. As I recall, not so long ago, you were begging for your life—from beneath my boot.”

Our two weapons—the black sword and the black spear—were locked in place as we pushed against one another. But getting stuck here put me at a disadvantage. The nightwalkers still surrounded us, and they lumbered forward, their eyes locked on me.

Greed had warned me that one bite would leave me cursed. One bite that could cut straight through the Domain of E and turn me into a nightwalker. That would make me a mindless slave to Rafale’s whims. Hence why he so strove to keep our weapons locked together. He wanted to add me to his horde of underlings.

As far as I knew, at least two other people in the kingdom were in the Domain of E: the two bodyguards who protected the king, who wore white armor from head to toe. If they followed the king’s orders, it stood to reason that the king was no ordinary person either. That meant that if Rafale really did intend to overthrow Seifort, he needed control of similarly powerful individuals—namely Aaron and myself.

“Where are you going to run now, Fate?” A crazed grin spread across Rafale’s face as he pushed his spear harder. The nightwalkers behind me moaned.

However, my eyes remained on Rafale, assured and confident. “Seems you’ve been alone so long that you’ve forgotten some of us have allies, Rafale.”

“What?!”

From behind, I heard the sound of nightwalkers being sliced into pieces, and through it a voice bellowed. “Fate!”

As Rafale’s eyes momentarily darted to Aaron behind me, I parried his spear to the side and kicked him in the head with the Brawl skill’s tech-art, Ruinous Strike. Chunks of Rafale’s face splattered through the air as I leaped backward, swapping places with Aaron. Behind Aaron came Hado, flying in on the strength of his black wings. But Hado had eyes only for me. It was only thanks to Aaron that he hadn’t yet reached me.

“Sorry to keep you waiting, Fate!”

“Faaaate!” Hado roared.

I unleashed Gluttony, plunging myself into my half-starved state. I felt my right eye stain with a deep red that would send most cowering in fear.

Hado had literally been decapitated, yet still he did not die. He was a monster. A human who had lost his own heart and soul, all that he once had been ruined to bring his body to the Domain of E. He swooped in low, his two holy swords primed to strike. I dodged around the first and sliced off Hado’s left arm at the shoulder before the second blade could find its mark. I didn’t stop there either.

“How about this?!” I shouted.

Ducking Hado’s strikes, I raised my sword into a high guard, then brought it down from the top of Hado’s head all the way through him, slicing him cleanly in two. Both halves rolled along the ground and slammed into the walls of a nearby facility.

As I heaved to catch my breath, I turned to see Aaron with his sword through Rafale’s chest. Rafale’s head was still crushed. Aaron’s holy blade had pierced his heart. Aaron lifted the sword up into the air with Rafale skewered on it and shouted. “Grand Cross!”

All the magical energy Aaron had poured into his blade was unleashed in an instant, and the darkness of the night was suddenly illuminated. From within the blinding light, I felt Aaron pour even more magic into the attack. Rafale took the entirety of the Grand Cross from the inside out, through the sword that had impaled him.

It was an attack of unbelievable power—one I didn’t think I myself could stand, were I on the receiving end.

When the holy light finally subsided, Rafale stood unmoving with a gaping hole in his chest. The hole was like a frame through which I saw all the rubble and shrapnel and bodies from our battle through the Military District. A cold wind cut through the air and snow gently floated down from the sky.

Aaron’s eyes were saddened as he stood facing Rafale. “Is this not enough to stop you, Rafale Vlerick?”

“I don’t have enough blood,” Rafale rasped. “I need more blood. But tell me…is this really the best a holy sword can do? It’s…laughable, at best.”

Abruptly, Aaron released his sword and crumpled to the ground with a cry of pain. Rafale’s black spear had jumped through a portal and plunged deep into Aaron’s side.

“Once you join me, all that pain will vanish, and you will be released of all your worldly responsibilities. Rest easy and be at peace, Blessed Blade.” Rafale lumbered forward and opened his mouth wide to bite deep into Aaron’s throat.

“Not while I’m around!” I gripped the black sword tight and flung it toward Rafale’s mouth.

But with a speed I couldn’t comprehend, Rafale’s mouth erupted into a mess of ragged fangs. He snapped his teeth over Greed’s blade, catching it in a vicious bite.