Berserk of Gluttony (LN) - Volume 7 - Chapter 13

Chapter 13:

Snow’s Rampage

I GLANCED AT ROXY, worried whether she was prepared for battle. My worries were entirely misplaced. Her eyes didn’t waver, not even a hint of fear in her gaze. I used Identify on the translucent red monsters that surrounded us.

“Roxy, we need you to take care of the monsters!”

“Understood!”

It was just like the Zodiac Scorpion battle, but we had no other choice. Shin and Snow were both in the Domain of E—too powerful for Roxy. Eris and I stood back-to-back. 

Looking over my shoulder, I asked, “Can you manage Shin?”

“But of course! I guess that leaves you to deal with Snow, then?”

“I need to bring her back to her senses.”

“I’m counting on it.” Eris gave me a smile and a wink. “I’ll buy you some time.”

I chuckled. “You know, I won’t object if you finish him off yourself.”

“What? But I’m so fragile…”

Eris’s voice dripped with sweetness as she cut down one of Shin’s attacks. The crimson liquid stretched out like tentacles floating in the air. Eris truly wasn’t kidding about her training, and it showed.

“Don’t push past your limits,” I said.

“Are you forbidding the use of my arcane eyes?”

“Considering the risks involved, I don’t want you to.”

Eris laughed. “You’re the last person I want lecturing me about being prudent.”

“Touché.”

We leaped into action. I went toward Snow and Eris toward Shin, with Roxy backing us up. Everyone’s roles were set.

“Snow!” I shouted as my sword locked with the blade that was Snow’s hand.

Her body was covered with some kind of pale-blue barrier that could even deflect my black sword. It reminded me of the Zodiac Scorpion. Still, Snow didn’t seem to respond to her name.

“Fate! You have to do what you did back in the desert! There’s no other way!” said Greed.

“So, it’s just as I suspected…”

“You have to knock her out. When you did that last time, her rampage shuddered to a halt.”

“But this time, Libra was involved. Even if we succeed, who knows what’ll happen when she wakes up?”

“Either way, we have to bring her under control.”

Back then, my father helped me against Snow when she was in the form of the Zodiac Scorpion. Now I faced her alone. 

“That barrier’s going to be an issue. Use the black scythe.”

I shoved Snow back. I had the tempo, so as she closed in for another attack, I transformed Greed into the black scythe. 

Now! I thought, trying to rend through Snow’s barrier. 

“Huh?!”

Snow suddenly came to a complete halt and backed off. I’d thought she was in a mindless berserker state. What was the meaning of this?

“Her instincts sensed the danger.”

“Hmph…how troublesome.”

If Snow could rely on her instincts instead of conscious thought, my attacks would always be a touch slow in comparison, and if she could accurately read my movements, I was out of luck.

“This is not an opponent you can take lightly,” said Greed. “Do you still intend to hold back against her?”

“However difficult the battle, I don’t want to hurt her.”

I could almost feel Greed rolling his nonexistent eyes, but instead he gave a hearty laugh. “I knew you’d say something like that. Well then, show me! Show the mighty Greed how it’s done!”

“Just watch.”

Gripping the black scythe tightly, I closed my eyes. If I tried to use my eyes to track Snow, I’d always be a step behind, but if I instead followed the currents of her magical energy, I could predict where she was going. Ever since Aaron taught me this skill, I had practiced it whenever I could. Just as Eris had trained in secret, I had also sharpened my skills. Battle wasn’t the time for warm-ups or practice, but I would make it work. I would prove my worth. I owed that to Roxy, who had helped me practice.

I remembered what my father had told me in the Desert of Extinction. Greed felt it in my heart. 

“It still bothers you, doesn’t it? What he said.”

“I told him I wouldn’t stand idly by. I have to do this.”

“Just when I thought you were showing some maturity, you reveal that you’re still a little kid who misses his dad…”

No matter what my father did, he was still my father. Even if he stole the Philosopher’s Stone, and even if he kidnapped Laine… Even if he was one of Libra’s comrades… Even if there was something from his past that made him try to kill Snow… 

I leaped from building to building, chasing Snow as she soared through the air.

“Snow!”

She moved with incredible speed, but I could predict her movements by the flow of her energy. This time, I would counter her when she tried to attack. I recalled what Aaron had taught me: Keep the soul fiery, but the mind cool. I swung the black scythe, anticipating Snow’s imminent arrival. When I opened my eyes, I saw Snow without her pale-blue barrier.

“Yes!”

“You did it!”

Now the real battle began. I had only made it possible to attack her. I transformed Greed back into the black sword and returned him to his sheath.

“Going to take her without me, huh?”

“Yeah. My fists can do all the talking.”

“Sounds like something Aaron would say.”

“You said it.”

Now that her barrier was gone, I could try to grab Snow’s hands. I dodged her kicks and chops, trying to get close enough, when a heavy kick slammed into the side of my head, rattling me. As the blow jolted my body, my vision blurred and I nearly lost consciousness.

“Fate!” Greed cried. “You sure you don’t need me?”

Greed’s voice brought me back to my senses, and I once again closed the distance on Snow.

“I’ll. Be. Fine!”

I took hold of both of Snow’s hands, and she struggled against my grip. Now I had to make it back to the ground. As I was thinking about how to do so, I found myself surrounded by winged, crimson monsters.

“Just when things were going my way!”

The monsters closed in, but they weren’t aiming for me—they were aiming for Snow. The monsters were clearly weaker than either of us, but when I saw the wicked fangs in their mouths, it brought back memories of the monsters called nightwalkers. With a mere bite, they could deny a human the mercy of death and transform them into one of their own. Even those in the Domain of E couldn’t resist those bites. According to Greed, Shin’s powers made this possible. Now those fangs were headed straight for Snow and me.

“Grr!”

Should I release Snow’s hands and try to draw the black sword? But the monsters didn’t give me time to think as they closed in. This was no time for second-guessing. Could I unsheathe the sword in time?

“Fay!”

All my worries vanished when that brave voice cut through the air. In the next moment, the holy sword tech-art Grand Cross seemed to cleave the very air that separated me from the monsters. 

“Roxy! But how…?”

I couldn’t hide my surprise. Roxy’s attack easily destroyed the red monsters. They were not in the Domain of E, but each one of them was at least on par with a crowned beast. Roxy had obliterated them in mere seconds.

“I don’t understand it either,” Roxy said. “Perhaps I’m especially effective against their sort?”

“If that’s the case, Eris could use your help.”

“I’m on my way.”

Even Roxy didn’t know why, but it seemed that she had an advantage of some kind against Shin. Perhaps this would allow us to bridge the huge stat divide that separated us from him. My heart soared to see Roxy proving her worth, but right now I had to grapple with Snow, still trapped in my arms.

“I’m not letting go this time!”

Snow growled in response. “Rrrr…”

Without loosening my grip, I pulled Snow toward the ground.

“Take it easy! Snow! It’s me!”

The words weren’t reaching her, but I kept shouting her name, hoping that at some point she would understand me. Struggling wildly, Snow bit my neck.

“Ow! Huh?”

In that instant, my Telepathy engaged with Snow for the very first time. Though we’d been in contact many times before, the skill had never worked. Just as with Myne, I had always thought that some unknown power blocked the skill. I was stunned to find that it worked here, of all places.

Fragments of Snow’s memories began to flow into me. I saw her as an adult, much older than her current form. Her body was bruised and beaten; she looked to be racked with pain. She was clearly dealing with a heavy wound, and a great deal of blood flowed from her as she walked.

Snow was stumbling through a great forest, alone. At the limit of her endurance, she collapsed near a cliff. The memories flew by for a time, so when she next opened her eyes, a boy stood before her.

No way, that’s impossible…

But if it was, then I was seeing the impossible with my own eyes. If this memory was real, then I had met Snow when I was just a boy! But that was impossible! I had no recollection of any such memory. I felt sure that I would’ve remembered seeing someone with such heavy injuries. No matter how much I tried, I could not recall any such encounter. I wondered if this was one of the memories Libra said he had given her.

Even if these memories were fake, I couldn’t fathom what possible worth Libra saw in them. So does that mean…these really were Snow’s memories? As I tried to work through it all, the memory continued to play out.

“Are you okay?”

Snow did not answer the boy’s question. This was only natural; her injuries were so severe that she couldn’t speak. The boy soon realized this and grew flustered. I knew this personality. It really was me.

Snow mustered the last of her strength to try to run away, but the boy stopped her. 

“You shouldn’t move when you’re hurt like this. You’re in luck. I’ve been gathering medicinal herbs for my dad; they might help.”

Snow maintained her stony silence. She glared at the boy, but he seemed not to mind. His lack of skill was evident in how clumsily he dressed her wounds.

“I’m sorry,” the boy said. “I’m still not very good at this. But Dad is always getting hurt, so I really want to get better at it.”

The boy looked at the wounds under Snow’s clothes and put a hand to his mouth in shock. In the next moment, his eyes became resolute, and he got to work. First, he cleaned and debrided the wounds with water from his canteen, then applied a poultice of medicinal leaves. Finally, he tore off strips of his tunic to use as bandages.

“There,” he said, “that looks pretty good. But this is the best I can do, lady. I’m sorry I can’t do anything more.”

When those words were spoken, the memory ended. In the present, Snow had exhausted herself completely. I tapped her cheek a few times, but she didn’t stir. 

“Looks like she fainted,” said Greed. “She’s a bundle of trouble, isn’t she? Hm? What’s wrong, Fate?”

“It’s nothing…” I said. I still didn’t know if the memories I had seen were real. It was pointless to worry about them now, so I put them out of my mind. “But more importantly, this wasn’t Snow’s fault. It was—”

“Libra. He’s always been like this, going way back. Doesn’t like to get his own hands dirty.”

“Once this is all over, I hope you’ll be candid about that too,” I said.

“All right. But focus on the next fight first. She talks a big game, but Eris has a real trial on her hands.”

I looked over at the battle between Eris and Shin. It was clear Eris was on the back foot. She was facing off against a huge wave of Shin clones.

“Roxy, can you look after Snow for me?”

“Understood.”

It seemed like Roxy was prepared for just this eventuality. As soon as she heard my voice, she wiped out the monsters around her with a tech-art and hurried over.

“You did it,” she said.

“Somehow. But I sensed that she wasn’t fighting with any intent to kill me.”

“Of course not. Snowy would never do such a thing.”

There was something genuinely convincing in Roxy’s tone. It made me feel how obvious it was that Snow wouldn’t want to hurt us. For me, Roxy’s words always rang the truest.

“It’s going to get serious from here on out,” I said. “You need to get clear of the immediate area.”

“Okay…”

She was disappointed, but a fight between those in the Domain of E was too dangerous for Roxy. There was a time when I’d considered forming a bond that would grant her access to those powers, but…I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I just couldn’t. She carried Snow in her arms as she walked away.

“You are truly spineless,” said Greed.

“No, I’m not. I just can’t help thinking about Aaron.”

“You mean about entangling her in the web of Skills of Mortal Sin?”

Aaron was kind and generous—he always helped me. I was forever in his debt. But the course of his life had been permanently altered by the Skills of Mortal Sin. If we’d never formed the bond that we had, he could have led a much more peaceful life. When I imagined that world…I knew that I didn’t want to bring Roxy any deeper into this than she already had been.

“Let the mighty Greed tell you something.”

“What?”

“That girl is never going to give up. You know that better than anyone.”

I did. That was why I was terrified.

“Anyway, let’s get on with it, Fate!” shouted Greed.

With Greed’s call to action, I leaped into the battle between Eris and Shin. First, I sliced my way through the Shin clones that surrounded her. Even cutting them cleanly in half, I felt little resistance. I didn’t hear the metallic voice in my head either, meaning none of these Shins were the real one.

“Could you be any slower?” asked Eris. “A bit later and I would have been in a real spot of bother.”

“Sorry, it took more effort than expected. Besides, what happened to all your bluster from earlier?”

“I think that should be fairly self-evident.”

We were surrounded by countless clones of Shin, in addition to the horde of red monsters. It was like two against an army of thousands. We stood back-to-back and cut down the Shins as they attacked.

“You could have handled this with all that training you did…”

“Don’t push me, boy. I’ll use this magic eye if I have to.”

“I said I was sorry! But all jokes aside, we’re getting nowhere cutting down these clones,” I said as Eris put a bullet right between the eyes of one.

“Exactly right!” she said with a nod. “They’re all connected to the real Shin, hidden somewhere beneath the ground. They’re little more than puppets. Cut them down and they’ll spring back up.”

I was stunned by how relaxed she was in the heat of battle. It seemed like the longer you lived, the more your feelings and senses became dull. It made me think of what Myne had said about losing her sense of taste.

“Beneath the ground… Is there some way to trace his magical energy to pinpoint his location?”

“Nope. It’s because of how he’s formed. He’s a bizarre sort of organism, you know?”

From the beginning, Shin had slumbered underground, his body shattered into pieces. Those parts were special stones referred to as Philosopher’s Stones. So he was less like a living organism and more like a mineral or ore. It was possible that he had found a safe haven deep underground from where he could send his clones and monsters, marionettes to do his dirty work.

“After all the bragging you did, that’s all you can say?”

Eris laughed. “Shin’s scared.”

“What do you mean? Of what?”

“Of you. The bearer of Gluttony. He tried to fight the last Gluttony bearer too. He tried and failed, again and again. I wonder if that’s why this is the only way he knows how to fight.” Eris had an amused, proud look on her face. “So what about you, Fate? What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to do exactly what the last guy did. What else is there?”

“Always reliable, aren’t you? In that case, I’m going to have to improve my game too.”

“Hey—”

I started to say something, but Eris’s eyes already gleamed with a dull luster. She had activated her arcane eyes.

“Relax,” she said, “this is on the low end of the spectrum. However…”

“I got it. Let’s go pull Shin out of hiding fast.”

“I’m counting on you to cover me, Fate.”

She wouldn’t be able to fight and concentrate on her arcane eyes at the same time. As she ran north, I cleared a bloodred path for her through the monsters that stood in our way.