Berserk of Gluttony (LN) - Volume 7 - Chapter 25

Chapter 25:

Entrusted with the Black Sword

“NO…NONE OF YOU should be here… This is all wrong.” Myne dropped her black axe to the floor and held her head in her hands.

“Myne?!”

“Why…? They promised me they’d let you go home if I gave myself to Wrath. And I did it, so…why did this happen?”

“Myne! Get a hold of yourself!”

From within the creature, another girl’s face stirred and revealed itself. She had beautiful hair of pure white, and her skin was equally pale, almost transparent. Her eyes, much like Myne’s, were a deep red. I was so surprised that I almost called out to her first. 

 “Luna!” Myne screamed.

But Luna didn’t answer. She simply stared at Myne, her gaze freezing the girl where she stood and leaving her 

trembling. I grabbed Myne by the shoulders, tried to get through to her, but my words were useless.

“Fate, in this situation, what would you do? What could you do?”

“Kairos?”

Kairos turned away from the creature to face me. Was something wrong? I looked around, worried, then realized time had stopped for everything but Kairos and myself. The creature wasn’t moving, Myne wasn’t moving, and even the steam of our breath floated like motionless crystals.

“Fate, I’ve been watching over you this whole time through Gluttony.”

“Watching me?”

“Yes. You’ve gained the ability to call forth souls through your skill. That’s why I was finally able to appear before you. I wanted you to know.”

Kairos put a gentle hand to Luna’s face before going on.

“This creature, and everything within it, will attack us. Myne will go berserk. She will blame herself, her mental state will crumble, and she will completely lose control of her skill. The only thing I can do when this happens will be to kill the creature that caused this change in her. But the results are devastating. You saw flashes of it through Micuria, didn’t you?”

“So that was…”

“I devoured someone I loved, and I sacrificed them to Gluttony. In the end, the only thing I could ever do was devour.” A tragic grimace flashed across Kairos’s face before he grinned and pointed at me. “But! You have appeared: the heir of Gluttony. You can do what I couldn’t. That’s why…I want you to have this.”

Kairos unsheathed the black sword and held it out for me.

“Kairos…”

“Just as I thought. It suits you. More than me, anyway. Greed’s got a foul mouth and a bad attitude, but use him well. You can count on him.”

“Thank you,” I said, taking the sword from Kairos’s hands.

It felt good. It felt right. I was more confident with this weapon than with any other.

“So you finally reached this point,” said the blade. “Kept me waiting, didn’t you, Fate?”

“Greed… I thought you weren’t supposed to know me at this point.”

“The memories came back the further along we got. But Kairos had me blocked. Kairos! Why’d you do that to me?”

“Didn’t want you meddling,” said Kairos. “Also, I wanted him to know that you haven’t changed a bit.”

“I can see he was just as much of a pain in the ass for you as he has been for me,” I said.

Kairos laughed. “You too, huh?”

We clasped hands in agreement.

“We don’t have time for your bromance,” Greed interrupted. “Luna’s stuck in that thing because of you. So what are you going to do, Fate?”

“I’m going to get her out of there. What other answer is there?”

That was our first order of business: to liberate Luna from the creature ensnaring her within its body. We’d have no way to save Myne otherwise. Kairos nodded and put a hand on my shoulder.

“Looks like this is goodbye,” he said.

“Kairos, your hand!”

The hand on my shoulder had begun to fade.

“It is what it is. Looks like I’m out of time. Once I’m gone, I can no longer control things here. I’ve been keeping Myne’s mental state subdued, but she’ll attack you now. From this point on, you’ll be entirely in her world.”

“The world of Myne.”

“It’s not a bright place.” Kairos gazed at the creature before us. “The darkness in her heart has festered for eons. That creature is the result.”

“That’s the darkness inside of Myne?”

“It is. Her despair, mixed with her Wrath, will only grow larger with time. At first, she might have been able to contain it by herself, but no longer. She can’t do it alone; she needs the help of her friends.”

Myne was still in pain by my side, curled up in a fetal position.

“I’m counting on you, Fate.” Kairos put out a hand.

I gripped it tightly. “I won’t let you down!”

With a sudden sound like shattering glass, time resumed its natural flow once more. Kairos was gone, and the dimensions of the basement were changing. The temperature dropped even lower.

“Fate, this is the cold of Myne’s frozen heart. You can’t get trapped here,” said Greed.

“I hear you.”

Myne remained balled up on the ground, catatonic with terror. In contrast, the once-passive creature transformed as if it now bore Wrath itself and entered a berserker rage. The people who emerged from the creature spat their hatred at Myne. Only Luna remained silent, staring at her sister. After a time, she was pulled back within the creature.

“Luna… Is that what you want?”

“Fate, it’s coming.”

The basement room began to decay and crumble as if it were aging. It corroded and fell apart, and water seeped through the cracks. With its many mouths, the creature roared and hurtled toward Myne. I intercepted to block the creature from reaching its target.

“It wants to consume her…”

“Hold it back! You can’t let it touch her!”

I roared as I struggled against the creature, slowly pushing it back. 

“Don’t underestimate it!” shouted Greed.

The creature reached out with tentacle-like hands and began pulling me inside itself.

“Fine,” I said. “Let’s see who’s stronger.”

Myne had told me once before that Gluttony was the gravest Mortal Sin. If this creature enveloped itself in Wrath, then I would separate them by force.

“Ha ha! The old face-off between Skills of Mortal Sin, huh?”

“Yep.”

I was up for the challenge. If this creature thought it could consume me, then let it try! Its slithering tentacles wrapped around me and pulled me inside. The feelings of countless people were bound within, their cacophony of voices too muddled to understand.

“What’s wrong? Can’t do it?” I said.

The creature was trying to consume me, to make me a part of itself, but it couldn’t. I had never imagined that Gluttony would aid me in this way, not when all it ever seemed to do was cause me anguish, but the darkness of Myne’s Wrath reacted immediately. 

Something changed within the creature as it unsuccessfully attempted to absorb me. It writhed and wriggled, struggling to spit me out. Now was my chance, and I called her name with all the feeling I could muster.

“Luna!”

I reached out with all my might and waited for her. Without Luna, we couldn’t go on, and I was intent on making sure we all returned together. Just as I was about to be spat out, I heard her answer.

“Fate!”

Luna’s hand seized mine as her voice met my ears. I would not let it go. 

Once we were outside of the creature, Luna stood before me.

“Glad to see you,” I said, still holding Luna tight.

“Ow… You can let go now. I’m fine.”

Luna’s eyes were still trained on Myne.

“You’re not the Big Sis I know, you ’fraidy cat,” she said.

Without a care for the creature behind us, Luna strode toward Myne. 

I was worried. Is it okay to leave it be? That’s the darkness of Myne’s heart.

“It’s nothing to worry about. Your Gluttony has drained it of its power. The real problem is elsewhere.”

It was in Myne, still curled up on the ground. Luna kneeled down and pulled her into a soft embrace.

“It’s okay, Myne. You can take the mask off. You don’t have to pretend to be strong. It’s okay.” Hers was the one voice that could truly reach Myne’s heart. “None of it was your fault, Sis. And none of us hate you for it. I’m sorry it’s taken so long for me to tell you.”

Luna had told me that Myne was perpetually haunted by her regret. Only Myne had attuned to Wrath, and this had made her feel like she’d abandoned Luna and her sisters.

“Only one of us could ever have made it out of there, and that person happened to be you.”

“But…”

“They lied to you, Myne.”

Tears rolled down Myne’s cheeks.

“But it’s okay. Now you know. No matter what you do, none of them will come back. That itself is proof that the others forgave you. I love you, Sis.”

The Door to Distant Lands was opening, yet there were those who would not return to life. Those who died without regret had no reason to do so. My father had come back, but my mother hadn’t. Luna was right.

“But if it opens all the way, everyone can come back,” Myne said. “I’ve been saving money for it. Lots of money. I made a promise. We’ll build a village just for us, where we can all live together.”

“Sis…listen to me. It’s okay. That’s what I’m here to tell you. I wanted you to know that, in this place, the last time we meet.”

“No, Luna!”

Luna pushed Myne from her chest. “That’s not like you at all. Where’d the sister we all looked up to go?” Luna glanced at me. “I’m not the friend you need right now. You have to live in the present, not the past.”

“Luna…”

Though Myne’s body existed in the present, her heart and soul were trapped in the past, and the two seemed to exist independent of each other. Myne suffered terribly from this separation. Yes, she was a battle-hardened warrior, a prodigy, but she had borne this pain for countless years, and it had twisted within her. Myne’s head drooped, and tears rained down on the icy floor.

“I’m scared…” she said.

Luna smiled and looked over at me. “You’ll be fine. Even now you’ve got friends who would come all this way just for you. So…be good to Fate, okay? I won’t forgive you if you aren’t.”

Luna stroked Myne’s head. As she did so, her hand began to fade. I opened my mouth to say something, but Luna shook her head.

“Fate, you take care of my big sister, okay?”

“I will…”

I wanted to take hold of Myne’s hand, but Luna reminded me that there was still unfinished business.

“You have to kill it,” she said to Myne, gesturing at the monster behind us.

The creature swore under its breath, but it didn’t have the same impact anymore. Myne hefted her black axe above her head, aiming at the creature.

“You’ve always protected us, Sis. Thank you…” Luna said.

Myne’s axe came hurtling down. The creature disintegrated, turning into motes of light that vanished a moment later. The freezing air suddenly thawed around us. As this world faded, Myne looked at me with a bright, sincere smile. Something about her expression made me want to smile too.

“It’s you…Fate…” she said.

If she said something after that, I didn’t hear it.