Berserk of Gluttony (LN) - Volume 8 - Chapter 18

Chapter 18:

The Cries of the Fallen

IT WAS STRANGE. I knew that I was still technically in the spiritual plane, yet I felt a stifling, humid heat. Perhaps it was made stronger by the fact that the world around us was rendered in shades of burning magma, or perhaps it was the fetid heat emanating from the dead as they lurched toward me.

“Someone’s scared.”

“Look who’s talking.”

“This is so much fun. It’s like a tour of Gluttony.”

This place was a literal hellscape—a world of eternal torment with no escape and no mercy. The souls here writhed in the heat as if they were burning alive or other­wise crawled along the ground. They focused solely on attacking me, their hearts and minds lost long ago. I cut down whatever drew too close.

“They just keep coming.”

“No matter how many I cut down, it never ends…”

“They’re all dead anyway. I feel that they have all ­coalesced into a single entity.”

“Which means what exactly?”

“Cut down one or two, and they’ll simply regenerate. There is only one way to truly fell them.”

“Annihilate this world entirely.”

“Exactly. Though, I doubt that’s even possible.”

If our assumption was correct, then the dead we saw here were little more than fragments of my Gluttony—infinitesimal slivers, no less. They rose again no matter how many I slew.

“Is this a version of hell…?”

“What?”

Envy’s words gnawed at me. So many of those attacking us cried as they did so.

“Are they suffering, or…? Well, I don’t really care either way. Fate, are you prepared?”

“Prepared for what?”

I had my hands full slicing the dead all around me and didn’t understand what Envy was getting at. But as the dead surrounding me fell, I noticed someone approaching. It was the first holy knight I had killed. And with the skills I’d received from him—the skills I’d taken, rather—Aaron had adopted me, and I myself had become a holy knight.

I’d taken everything from this holy knight—his skills, his stats, even his soul. And then, when I’d finally returned to Seifort, I’d found that he had been resurrected as a soulless nightwalker, consumed by a hatred directed solely at myself. He looked the same now as he stood before me. His hatred kept him from being completely consumed by my Gluttony, so he waited here, boiling with rage, for the day I would finally come.

“You just don’t give up, do you?” I muttered.

Let’s put an end to this, I thought. I had places to be, and I would not let him, or anything else, stop me. I will not die here. Not at your hands.

“Hado Vlerick!” I shouted.

“FAAAAATE!”

Hado had lost his human form long ago and was now reduced to a misshapen mess. His mutated body emanated a foul stench. Even his nightwalker form had been better than this. 

He swung arms that were thick as logs, spraying ooze at me. I leaped backward and out of the way. The dead who were hit by the ooze fell to the ground, writhing in agony as they melted into pools of viscous liquid. That liquid then congealed and was absorbed back into Hado’s body.

“Did he devour them?!” I asked.

“It would seem so. It appears that he has perhaps received a portion of your Gluttony skill, or is somehow able to mimic it.”

Hado grew even more disgusting as he spoke. “Fate… Fate… I will…eat you. You will…release me!”

Flailing, haphazard attacks were sent my way as he lurched toward me, devouring more souls as he did so. His body ballooned, and he looked as if he were about to explode from all the hatred within him. At some point, he’d stopped calling my name, and his own cries joined the screaming choir of the dead.

“Such a pitiful thing he has become. What will you do, Fate?”

“I…”

I raised the gunblade and gripped it tighter. Hado continued to pull the dead into himself, absorbing them. He could no longer recognize me. In time, he would be little more than an enormous, fleshy mass. I let the gunblade drop to my side. Hado had even lost the ability to speak.

“He could not control Gluttony, and now he is being consumed himself. How about it? Feeling hungry?”

“Let it go. This is the end. Goodbye, Hado Vlerick.”

We would never see each other again. I watched as he fell into whatever his eternal slumber might be in this place.

Then, I heard another familiar voice.

“My, my, what a coincidence. To think I’d meet you in a place like this.”

The voice came from behind Hado. The man who’d spoken had purple hair, the same color as Hado’s and Memil’s. He was the oldest son of the Vlerick family, and he had perished at the royal capital. He had wished for a collapse of the natural order as we knew it and longed to bring an end to a world that revolved around skills. 

“Rafale…” I muttered.

Rafale Vlerick slowly strode forward until he stood directly before me. He was no longer the undead arch­demon created by Shin’s power. Instead, he maintained his human form and was dressed as a holy knight. 

He kicked the pile of flesh that was now Hado, his face contorting in disgust.

“Right up until the end, that oaf…” he said. “He was like a spurned lover, never able to let you go. You’re so very popular.”

“And what about you?”

“Me? Don’t be ridiculous,” Rafale said as I leveled the gunblade at him. “A battle? You versus me? Now why would we have to do that?”

“Because I killed you…”

“No, you didn’t. I was already dead. Shin had complete control of me by then. All you did was eat some leftovers.”

I said nothing.

“Well, in any case, that battle came to an end, and I ended up trapped in this place. And I must say,” Rafale grinned at me, and though he saw my grip on the gunblade tighten, he didn’t move. “I’m having a wonderful time.”

“You’re what?” I said, perplexed.

“Are you aware you look like a complete idiot right now?”

“Shut up!”

How could anyone say they were having a wonderful time in a place like this?! Had Rafale gone completely insane?

“Every soul consumed by Gluttony is gathered in this place, along with all of their knowledge.”

“Knowledge?”

“Indeed. I’ve always loved researching ancient times, but being born into the Vlerick family meant I was forced into the position of holy knight.”

So that was why Rafale had continued his research in secret, even after becoming a holy knight. And then, of course, he had discovered the slumbering Shin.

“Here, I’m free to live as I see fit. That said, I do wish we could do a little something about all the noise.”

That’s what he’s asking for? A “little something” to be done about the wailing of the dead and their burning souls?

“You’re pretty weird, Rafale,” I said.

“That makes two of us. You look plenty weird from where I’m standing, too, and you can’t even see it yourself.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Oh my. I can scarcely believe it. You’ll never win Roxy’s heart with that attitude.”

“What?!”

“To think I lost to someone like you… How very embarrassing.”

“Those are two different things!”

And why did the subject of Roxy come up anyway? Wait… No way… No way!

“You’ve been spying on me?!” I cried.

“Finally, he gets it. Someone I know recommended it, saying it was interesting. So, I gave it a shot. There’s nothing else to do around here, really. You always leave me rolling around on the floor laughing.”

“Don’t treat me like I’m your entertainment!”

Hmm? What did he mean by ‘someone?’ Who told him that? I gave Rafale a puzzled look.

He turned and stared off into the distance. “I’m indebted to him. He wants to see you, too.”

“Who?”

“You’ll know soon enough. That’s why I’m here. You weren’t going to get to him on your own, so he asked for my help. I couldn’t refuse, even though it meant helping someone I despise.”

Rafale walked through the shambling hordes of the dead. They did not respond to him at all, perhaps because he was one of them. The moment I neared, however, they lurched forward to attack. 

“Do hurry up, would you?” said Rafale.

“Do you have any idea what I’m dealing with here?”

“Enough. Shut your mouth and follow me, or I’ll leave you behind.”

“You damn bastard.”

Here I thought Rafale had finally turned over a new leaf, but he was still a dick. Even now, I couldn’t stand him.