Berserk of Gluttony (LN) - Volume 8 - Chapter 12

Chapter 12:

A Power That Rivals the Gods

I WASN’T GOING TO WAIT for Gemini to finish its transformation. I fed another 50 percent of my stats into the black bow. It was all too easy to make up for any stat losses here in monster-infested Galia. The Bloody Ptarmigan Cross I’d just fired had slaughtered a huge number of monsters alone. For better or worse, the monsters’ persistent bloodlust did me a huge favor here.

“You won’t transform on my watch!” I shouted.

This time, Gemini did not fire back. Without anything blocking the way, my arrow was sure to strike true. I rooted myself in place, readying for the shockwave as the arrow flew into Gemini’s center, the exact spot my Gluttony wanted to consume most.

I felt the weight of the bow through my entire body. Black streaks of spiral lightning seared the sky. But the transforming Gemini didn’t even move a centimeter. At this rate, the Bloody Ptarmigan Cross would leave a ­gaping hole in its gigantic body. And yet…

“I just knew something like this was going to happen…” I muttered.

Gemini wasn’t a sitting duck at all. The Bloody Ptarmigan Cross dissipated the moment it impacted the holy beast, splitting into thinner arcs that spiraled off behind Gemini and devastated Mercadia’s long-abandoned buildings. The light from those explosions only served to illuminate the now-transformed Gemini.

Six golden wings sprouted majestically from the holy beast’s back. Its body was shaped like an egg, the translucent form glimmering with a rainbow iridescence in the light. At its core, a strange pattern moved like a living creature all its own. I sensed the Gemini was planning something. Two halos appeared above the holy beast when the pattern finally stopped moving, one of which spun at incredible speed.

“Here it comes!” said Eris, realizing it signaled an attack.

Her arms trembled slightly. Even though she was no longer completely herself, her fear of holy beasts still presented itself physically, whether she wanted it to or not. Nevertheless, Eris raised her gunblade to the sky and fired a single shot. The two of us were instantly showered in a green light, which wrapped around our bodies. It was similar to Eris’s Phalanx Bullet, which drastically reduced the damage the target received from the next three attacks.

We leaped backward to put some space between ourselves and Gemini. The monster moved quickly with its new wings, but we needed a little time.

“Your prey…is behind you.”

The voice inside of me spoke just as I felt Gemini behind me.

“Wha…?”

“Master Fate!” cried Eris.

The holy beast immediately fired a blinding light at me from point-blank range. In an instant, I moved in front of Eris and transformed the black bow into the black shield. 

That wasn’t flight. It’s like the holy beast teleported.

I grunted, fighting to keep hold of the shield. Eris hit me with another defense buff. 

“Damn it…” I grunted. “My feet are slipping…”

It wouldn’t matter how sturdy my shield was if Gemini’s blast eroded the ground I stood upon. Eris pushed against my back to try to keep me steady, but we couldn’t hold on. The ground crumbled beneath our feet, and we were thrown into the depths of the imperial capital. Momentum carried us through buildings that stood in our way that crumbled and collapsed until we finally slammed into one and came to a stop.

“That would have torn me to pieces if I didn’t have all these stats,” I said.

“Thank you very much for protecting me…” said Eris.

“Don’t mention it.”

Right before we collided with the Galian architecture, I’d made sure that Eris was in front of me, so I took the brunt of the impacts. We were both strong enough to handle it, so it wasn’t really necessary, but I wanted to do it anyway.

“More importantly,” I said, “how does Gemini move like that?”

“I believe it may be making use of portal jumps.”

“That again…”

I’d dealt with portal jumps back when I’d fought Rafale Vlerick, who had used them with his black spear. The difference was that he’d only been able to send his spear through the portals he made. This half of Gemini could portal its entire being, and it could use the ability over a much longer range.

“In that case…maybe this will be effective,” I said.

Greed had taught me how to interfere with portal jumping. Maybe it would work here, too. I changed the black shield into the black bow and readied an ­arrow. Then, I added sandstorm magic to it, aimed where my Gluttony demanded, and fired. The arrow zipped between the Galian buildings and made straight for the Gemini.

That was when I felt it. I knew Gemini was going to portal jump again. And if everything went according to plan, my arrow would shut it down.

“Ngh! Eris, get out of here! Quick!”

The arrow shattered into fragments before it hit Gemini, just like the Bloody Ptarmigan Cross.

“My attacks aren’t hitting!”

But this wasn’t like Myne and Roxy’s fight with the other Gemini twin. We couldn’t touch that one at all. This portal jumping Gemini in front of me was protected by something I couldn’t see.

“It’s warping what I throw at it somehow. I don’t like this.”

I couldn’t hit the holy beast, but thanks to my Gluttony, I was getting better at anticipating where Gemini would teleport next. It wouldn’t take me by surprise again. 

If long-range attacks aren’t effective, how about getting up close and personal?

I transformed the black bow into the black scythe and sliced at Gemini right as it was attempting to fire off another blast of light. If the holy beast had a barrier powered by a skill, the black scythe would slice it in two.

My hands went numb as a high-pitched scream pierced our ears. I was knocked away. Or more accurately, my attack was completely denied. I scanned the area around Gemini with my blood-red eyes, seeking the flow of its magical energy. As I suspected, I found nothing.

The barrier wasn’t powered by skills or magical energy. Was this a power unique to this holy beast?

“Master Fate, look out!” cried Eris.

She fired another buffing bullet at me, which knocked me out of the way of Gemini’s blast. The attack opened a huge hole in the building behind me, through which we could now see the setting sun. I leaped to the buildings to the east, once again putting some distance between myself and Gemini.

“How can it keep firing such powerful attacks?” I asked. “Does it ever run out of energy?”

“I don’t sense any magical energy in it, even with my magical eye. This is a different kind of power.”

“What does that mean?”

“My future sight is being altered moment to moment.”

“Future sight?”

“A magical eye that allows me to glance a few seconds into the future.”

Eris has been using her magical eye? But that puts a huge strain on her vision. I could see that strain firsthand as blood dripped from her eyes like tears.

“This is an emergency,” Eris said. “Do not concern yourself with my well-being.”

“I guess that part of you hasn’t changed at all…” I muttered. “So you’re saying Gemini is altering the future?”

If it were, that would mean our chances were practically zilch.

Eris shook her head. “I said altered, but it’s more accurate to say that moments in time are wavering,” she said.

“I’m going to need more detail.”

“My best guess is that it does not have complete control over the future. It cannot alter it entirely. If it could, we would both be dead.”

“Makes sense. So the beast’s ability to alter the future is limited?”

We had managed to defend or evade all of Gemini’s attacks so far, which meant that it couldn’t apply its control of the future to its offensive abilities. Otherwise, we’d be nothing but ash already. This meant that Gemini’s control of the future was limited to defense. It was doing something the exact moment my attacks were about to connect.

“Master Fate, please fire another arrow at Gemini,” said Eris. “I will not let it out of my sight this time.”

“But any more and your eyes…”

I could tell that Eris’s future sight put more strain on her eyes than anything else she’d used previously. Even now, the whites of her eyes were beginning to grow bloodshot. If she used that magical eye again, she might go blind.

“It is of no concern. Gemini is analyzing us, too. Now fire!”

I glanced at Eris, but I knew it was no good arguing. Some things would never change. She was terrified of holy beasts—she even told me as much—but when it really mattered, she was as powerful as they came.

I took aim at the Gemini with my black bow and let loose another sandstorm arrow. Just like all the other times, the arrow shattered into particles that glimmered in the air as they were lifted by the wind.

Eris clutched her right eye as blood gushed forth from it. 

“Eris?!” I shouted.

But as I tried to get close to her, she put up a hand and stopped me. “I saw it,” she said. A crooked grin crept across her face. “I know how Gemini works.”

Eris’s emotions were supposed to be suppressed due to Libra’s reconfiguration, but I could tell that something deep inside of her had fired up. Even now, she fought to regain control. Eris was doing everything she could to break the mental fetters that the holy beasts had bound her with.