Berserk of Gluttony (LN) - Volume 8 - Chapter 17

Chapter 17:

Gluttony

FROM THE DEPTHS rose moans that echoed around Envy and I as we continued to plummet, sending shivers down my spine.

“Shaking in your boots, huh?”

“Look who’s talking.”

“Me? I’m having a grand old time. So, this is the world of Gluttony, huh? How horrifying. Eris would probably be crying already.”

Flashes of sanguine red pierced the darkness. The farther we fell, the fresher and rawer the color became. I sensed death. Alarm bells rang in my head, urging me not to go any further. If I’d had better wings I might have been able to fly us away from this place, but the wings I had were useless.

Envy said that this place would make Eris cry. She’s been through so much… That’s not easy to imagine.

“You think I’m lying?” This was not Envy’s usual, evasive tone. He spoke with thoughtful gravitas. “We still have time before we hit the bottom. Shall I regale you with a story of the past?”

“As long as it’s not just you bragging about your accomplishments.”

“Then rest at ease, and listen.”

Eris’s past…

I knew that something had happened between Eris and Libra, but I had never learned exactly what. The white knights at the royal capital refused to tell me, and Eris herself was hesitant to speak about it. It was traumatizing for her, and I couldn’t bring myself to push the subject.

“Eris has a timorous side,” said Envy. “She ran from battle. She ran from me. She even ran to a whole new world. But all she realized upon reaching it was that it was not her home. She did not belong there.”

Until I had awakened to the true power of my Gluttony, I, too, had done nothing but run from the world that valued skills above all else. I had never felt like I fit in, and no matter where I went, I had never felt at home. Perhaps Roxy would have found a way to save me if my Gluttony had never awakened, but even then, I still would have felt trapped. I would have continued to feel out of place, like I did not belong. If I had continued to run aimlessly, then things only would have gotten worse. Nothing good would have been waiting for me at the end of that road.

“You intrigued Eris, and she began to change. It is unfortunate that she now has nowhere left to run.”

“Libra…”

“He is her creator, master, and parent.”

In the past, a battle had broken out between Eris and Libra. According to Envy, though, the one who did the fighting was Kairos—the former bearer of Gluttony and wielder of Greed. I had met him once before when exploring Myne’s memories, navigating her past in order to set her free. Kairos had been there, and he helped lead me to what I was looking for. Even now, his soul was somewhere inside of me—somewhere inside of my Gluttony—watching over me. He’d said as much when we parted.

“Kairos gathered allies and fought for independence from the holy beastfolk. Unlike someone I know, he was not a loner.”

“Shut up. I like being by myself. So what?”

“Actually, such solitude is common. Such is the power of those who bear the Skills of Mortal Sin. But a battle against the holy beastfolk cannot be fought alone. You now have allies and friends. Kairos, too, was a magnet for like-minded individuals with his bright, caring nature.”

The holy beastfolk had been small in number, and Kairos’s forces had become harder and harder to control as they’d grown. Their spirits would not weaken, no matter how many were slaughtered. The will of the people could no longer be suppressed. They revolted against long years of oppression, and they wouldn’t rest as long as the holy beastfolk lived.

But the holy beastfolk didn’t simply sit back and watch as the rebellion grew. Instead, they found a way to solve their problem without getting their own hands dirty. They implanted a part of themselves in humans, turning them into puppet-like soldiers that wielded fearsome power.

This was the origin of the holy knights. They were mass-produced, and their powerful skills were immediately put to use in battles against the rebel forces. The holy beastfolk were buoyed by the efficacy of the holy knights and the shifting tide of battle, and they poured even more of themselves into their research. The most passionate in this endeavor was none other than Libra himself.

Libra wanted to breed an even stronger, more beautiful, and more perfect holy knight. He realized that a higher percentage of holy beastfolk essence meant a more aggressive, unstable holy knight, but this was controlled through the use of special collars. 

“And as he continued to produce holy knights, a being that was not a holy knight was born.”

“You mean…?”

“I do. Eris.”

We continued to plummet deeper into the darkness as Envy explored old memories.

“She was a child with a skill nobody had ever seen before, and this intrigued Libra. He was utterly fascinated. He quickly realized that it was similar to Kairos’s skill, so he used Eris as his personal test subject.”

Envy explained that Eris’s magical eye skill had been implanted from a monster. That wasn’t all Libra did, either. To make her stronger, he altered her body in numerous ways.

“Eris is more monster than she is human,” said Envy. “Perhaps that is why she has never had a place where she felt truly at home. The man who saved her life, Kairos, is also gone.”

“Do you know how to release Eris from the collar she wears?” I asked.

“If I did, I would have already told you. All I remember is that Kairos touched Eris’s neck, and the collar came loose.”

“He just touched it?”

“I don’t know what he did. Then he left Eris there and marched toward his final battle with Libra. Neither of us knows what happened next. All Eris found after she was released was a world on the verge of destruction and holy knights who had been released from holy beastfolk control.”

Eris and Envy had then worked together to rebuild. However, the holy knights were conceited and arrogant to a fault. Keeping them in order was no easy feat. Such a task would take a long, long time. However, two holy knights proved trustworthy, and they were made Eris’s kin—the white knights who now reside in the royal capital. But this only served to show how difficult it was to bring order to the holy knights. Only two among their vast numbers had been worthy of the honor.

I myself had been in and out of the capital as a holy knight and knew these troubles firsthand. When I had visited to report that Aaron had made me the lord of Hausen, I had been criticized and had a sword drawn on me during my royal audience.

“To build a new kingdom and unite it, clear and simple rules were a necessity. Even the act of giving the holy knights preferential treatment was in the service of preparing for the inevitable battle ahead.”

“The battle against Libra?”

“Exactly. By creating a harsh environment, one in which skills are valued above all else, we sought to create a new, all-powerful being—another bearer of a Skill of Mortal Sin.”

However, Eris had abandoned Envy and left the kingdom. She had said it was to prepare for the battle with Libra, but in truth, she could not see their plan through to completion.

“Eris couldn’t bear to do to someone else what Libra had done to her. Did she not appear before you when I was trying to kill Roxy?”

“Oh, that…”

Eris had told me not to get in the way of Roxy’s murder, and I’d been furious.

“That was very like her,” said Envy. “Her methods are clumsy.”

“What does that mean?”

“She couldn’t stop me herself, so she used you.”

“Oh…”

So Eris had intentionally angered me in order to have me save Roxy.

“That’s so convoluted,” I said.

“That’s who she is. What she says and what she actually means are often two different things. In comparison, you are very easy to read.”

“Is that a compliment?”

“Does it sound like one?”

“Envy… You and I are never going to get along.”

The voices of the dead grew louder, and the sickening, humid air against my skin grew hotter. I looked down into the darkness and clenched Envy tightly.

“It’s time. We’ll save the rest for later.”

“So we’re finally here, then.”

We were just about to arrive at the core of my Gluttony.