Berserk of Gluttony (LN) - Volume 4 - Chapter 22

Chapter 22:

The Crushing Black Axe

THE WARNING SIRENS around Seifort continued to wail. The moon peeked out from a gap in the disorderly mess of clouds above, where I had pulverized the archdemon and its clustered dark matter portals with the Bloody Ptarmigan Cross attack.

I wanted to believe that it was impossible for anything to survive an attack so powerful, but I knew that the archdemon was yet undefeated. The proof lay in the fact that I had heard no metallic voice informing me of its death, or the stats I had devoured, or the skills I had stolen. I focused with my right eye, tracing the flow of its magic far off into the distance.

“It’s still alive…” I said.

“So it seems,” agreed Eris. “It is immortal, after all.”

I could tell from its magical energy that the monster was at least weakened, but that it was also healing as we spoke. It was still so far away. I had sent the beast as far as the modified secret technique would send it, and I had no attacks that went any farther. I didn’t want to let it get away, but I also sensed that it didn’t intend to; it had said itself that it would destroy the kingdom for Rafale. Even so, any enemy that could fly was a bad match-up for both Eris and myself, who were both better against ground-based combatants.

“If only I were as strong as I was at my peak,” Eris sighed, “then we’d still have a fighting chance.”

Apparently, she hadn’t used her Weapon of Mortal Sin in so long that she still didn’t have full control over it, as she had in the past. When Envy had told Eris she “could do as she pleased,” what the gunblade meant was that it wasn’t going to help her. Because of this, Eris only had two support attacks to rely on:

Phalanx Bullet (Charge 5): Creates a magic aura, drastically decreasing an enemy’s attack power for three strikes.

Vanish Bullet (Charge 7): Eliminates all trace of the wielder. Effective until the wielder receives an attack.

They were strong skills, but they couldn’t be used at will. They had to be charged by firing and hitting enemies with magic bullets. In other words, Phalanx Bullet could trigger only after an enemy had been hit by five bullets and Vanish Bullet after seven.

The gunblade held seven bullets at a time, after which it required a thirty-second recharge period. If Eris fired too recklessly, it was hard to unleash her support attacks. In order to use the weapon effectively, she had to balance her bullets with her charge status.

“That’s as good as I’ve got right now,” said Eris. “I’ve got a charge building from my attacks, but nothing I can use for this situation. Well, unless you do what you did earlier one more time.”

“I can’t just fire the Bloody Ptarmigan Cross whenever I want, you know!”

“Surely you can do it at least once more, right? Come on!”

If I continued to use the technique, I’d lose more and more of my stats. Fairly quickly, I wouldn’t be able to fight the archdemon at all. All the same, as I stood here with Eris and fought alongside her, I didn’t feel a hint of anxiety from her. Even at this critical stage in the battle, she looked as carefree as if we were at a picnic. Would the destruction of Seifort actually mean her own demise?

“Why are you looking at me so funny?” asked Eris. Then it clicked. “Ah! My attitude makes you uncomfortable, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah…”

“I’m afraid it’s because I’ve been alive for so long. I think I’ve become a bit desensitized to the concept of death, both for myself and for others. I know what you want to say, but this is just how it goes, so it can’t be helped.” Then, in a stage whisper, she dramatically added, “I used to be such a delicate, fragile young girl…”

I couldn’t help but wonder how much truth there was to this claim. Perhaps her ability to say such a thing was proof that she was no longer the young girl she once had been?

“There is one thing in me that has never faded. Not in the past, and not now…” For a moment, Eris’s eyes stared into my own, and I felt as though she were looking through me, into somebody else.

Just as I thought there was nothing left for us to do but wait for the archdemon to return, a powerful magical energy pulsed through the sky.

“What the hell?”

“The archdemon’s using Undivided Mind. You sent it so far away that it’s pulling out all the stops.”

The sky split. A black space opened up down the middle, a slash of void even darker than the night. The moon and stars disappeared behind it, as though pulled into the darkness that now seemed to break the very sky.

This is what Dark Magic looks like amplified by the power of Undivided Mind…

This time, the archdemon wouldn’t need a lengthy incantation. Rather, this summoning spell just ate up every stat of magical power pushed into it.

Should I do what Eris said? Should I fire another Bloody Ptarmigan Cross?

I looked down at the black bow, but Greed responded with silence. “Make up your own mind,” he seemed to say. I poured energy into the bow, and I felt more magical energy expanding from nearby. Eris felt it, too, and she turned toward its source.

“It’s coming from the top of the castle,” I said.

“Ah…it’s her. Fantastic timing. I have to give her that much.”

Even with my Night Vision skill engaged, I couldn’t see her face. Then again, I didn’t need to. Her white clothing flapping in the wind, her giant black axe…I’d recognize that silhouette anywhere. It was Myne, and she was late.

But if she’s at the top of the castle, then…

Myne stared up into the sky, motionless. Then, without warning, she threw her axe into the clouds like a lance. She moved so fast, I could barely even trace the outline of the axe’s trajectory. The atmosphere itself shook with a rumbling tremor, and in an instant, the expanding dark matter portal vanished. The night sky closed.

As it returned to normal, a black object fell from the clouds with enormous force. It landed not far from us, cratering the ground and sending shock waves through the Military District like an earthquake. In that crater lay the undead archdemon, crushed beneath a huge black axe. The monster was completely still, save for the twitching of its hands and feet.

The black axe Sloth grew heavier with each and every attack. That was its nature. I remembered then that Myne had been sparring with Aaron almost all day. Myne had apparently kept the weight amassed in the black axe since then. She had a bad habit of forgetting to reset Sloth’s weight and leaving it somewhere on the manor grounds, where it would be completely immovable by anyone but her. Myne called it “theft deterrence.” Given the now-twitching archdemon, I couldn’t really fault the strategy. It still hurt to think of the damage she’d done to Barbatos Manor.

With these conflicting thoughts running through my head, I stared down at the archdemon.

“Well? How good did I get him?” asked Myne’s familiar, emotionless voice as she emerged from the darkness.

“Myne… You’re late,” I said.

“Glad you finally made it,” said Eris.

“I was sleeping, but Aaron woke me up.” Myne approached to show me her forehead with a slight frown. “He hit me. It hurt.”

Her forehead was indeed ever so slightly marred with a splash of red. I could imagine that when shouting had zero effect, Aaron must have resorted to more, uh, direct measures. According to Myne, that was exactly what he’d done. In a mad rush, Memil over his shoulder, he’d smacked Myne’s forehead with the butt of his sword.

“But I forgave him,” said Myne with the same flat intonation, “because it was an emergency.”

“I see… I guess Aaron had a rough time too…”

Myne glanced at the spasming archdemon, then turned back to me with a bored face. “I’m disappointed it gave you so much trouble. What do you have to say for yourself, Lust? How could you let this happen?”

“It’s just—it’s been so long since I’ve been in an actual battle, and…I’m sorry.” Driven by Myne’s death glare, Eris shuffled away to hide behind me.

Myne looked over at the archdemon once more to confirm something for herself. “We have to sever the connection. Once we’ve done that, we can kill the undead archdemon. Fate, you have a technique perfectly suited for permanently killing an enemy that will not die by ordinary means. Use it.”

Sever the connection, huh? In other words, with a single glance, Myne had realized the archdemon was possessed by some outside force—the source of the nightwalkers.