Berserk of Gluttony (LN) - Volume 8 - Chapter 21

Chapter 21:

The Real Me

I WAS DEEP IN MY GLUTTONY, but this was not the sanctuary of white Luna had created for me. It was a place of strife and tension that threatened to corrode my mind. It was something I had to get used to.

Even though I was surrounded by a world of terrifying, magma-like red, I felt my heart calming little by little. Perhaps I was just imagining it, but I felt myself slowly becoming a part of the place, as though we were becoming one and the same.

“What are you doing?! Prepare yourself!” shouted Envy.

Envy’s shout ripped me from my reverie and reminded me that I was locked in battle against Kairos.

“Damn it,” I spat, annoyed that my concentration had slipped.

“Something’s happening to you, Fate. I need you to stay focused right now.”

“Yeah, tell me something I don’t know.”

The more I fought Kairos, the more I felt myself slipping into my Gluttony. It wasn’t something I could consciously control. It was more like I’d been brought here for it to happen. If Envy hadn’t been controlling my body, I would have been long dead, too. The gunblade was not impressed at my lack of fighting ability.

“I am not going to die down here with you. We have to get back to Eris. And soon!”

Envy had already told me the situation in the real world wasn’t good back in the real world. And it was because of something much more dangerous than the chimeras and the holy beast we had killed. I knew I had to focus on the battle at hand, but I had to ask… Who or what was back there on the surface?

Kairos unleashed another Bloody Ptarmigan, which I met with an attack of my own. It was then as the explosions rang out, that Envy answered my question.

“You’re going to kill her.”

“What?!”

That couldn’t be… Could it? My consciousness was here in my Gluttony, but what was happening to my body back in the real world? Whenever I’d been with Luna, her world of pure white protected me, and my body in the real world simply slept. Circumstances were different now, though. My body was up and awake.

“The imperial capital has regained its functions, and its defense systems are growing stronger,” explained Envy. “The battle is growing fiercer. More than that, it is you who is putting everyone’s lives in danger.”

“You mean…back in Galia, I’m…”

“You’re going berserk. I told you before. It’s not good for us to be here.”

I was a starved monster ready to devour any and every soul I could find. It seemed I had become the very thing I had always feared.

“You turned into a monster when you devoured the holy beast. The Door to Distant Lands is the least of our troubles now. Not only that, but the imperial capital has awakened.”

The gunblade seemed to be enjoying all the chaos even though it was supposed to be worried about Eris. But we couldn’t just sit here chatting with Kairos attacking with growing strength and ferocity.

“Eris felt you inside of the monster, and she sent me here as her last hope.”

“So, right now…”

“She’s fighting you on her own.”

Eris specialized in support skills. She wasn’t capable of keeping up a sustained battle against me, especially when I’d turned into something monstrous.

“What about Roxy and Myne?” I asked.

“As far as I’m aware, they still haven’t reached Eris.”

Hold on, Eris.

Eris was still under Libra’s control. After spending time with her, I knew that, even now, she fought to free herself from that very control. And on top of that, she had me to deal with. Eris was the type of person who was always outspoken except for when it came to what was most important. That was something she kept under lock and key. 

“She’s got so much to deal with already, and now she has to fight me, too,” I muttered.

In Tetra, I’d told Eris that I would support and help her, but I ended up doing the exact opposite.

“So, what are you going to do, Fate? Push forward or stop?”

“There’s only one answer to that question.”

“As I thought. Why else would I be here?”

I cut through the incoming Bloody Ptarmigan. Kairos didn’t stop to rest, though, and fired Bloody Ptarmigan after Bloody Ptarmigan. Retreating never once crossed my mind. 

That strange, mysterious sensation once again flowed through me as I cut down his attacks. I felt it fill in the gaps in my weaknesses and where I was totally lacking. I was no longer afraid of it. My body filled with power as I united with the world of Gluttony. The feeling only grew stronger as Kairos transformed the black bow into the black gauntlets.

The countless black thread that shot from his fingertips to form a shield around their wielder had the power to cut through anything. I had used the weapon myself and knew exactly how powerful it was. If I made even one misstep, I would be on the receiving end of innumerable attacks that would wrap around me like a spider’s web around its prey.

“Fate!”

“Let’s do this, Envy!”

Before the black threads overwhelmed me and we ran out of room to move, we rushed directly toward Kairos himself. Black threads moved like waves as I closed in, and I knocked them away with the gunblade. I fired countless times. The threads shot out in every direction. Within the chaos, power swelled within me.

We were so close to reaching Kairos. However, he knew that just as well as I did. He let out a roar that made my ears ring, and the black threads glowed a golden hue.

“This is so very, very bad,” muttered Envy.

“The only way out is through!”

I was not going to back down. But if Dimension Destruction were fully engaged, we would have no way to escape.

There’s still time. There’s still a way.

The black threads glowed gold as they cut through the world of Gluttony and reached for me. I fired Catastrophe Rain in response, but the bullets were entirely out­numbered, and more and more threads gathered.

This way, said a voice in my head.

I followed the direction of the voice and saw a path to Kairos open before me. I took off without a moment’s hesitation. The path would not remain open long.

Run through it.

I knew that voice from somewhere. It felt like ages had passed since I’d last heard it, but it hadn’t actually been very long at all. My legs moved as if powered by it. 

I closed the distance to Kairos in an instant. From here, he wouldn’t be able to properly control his gauntlets. It was so powerful that minute, precise movements were extremely difficult. At this range, he was in danger of wrapping himself up in his own attack.

Kairos let out another roar as he canceled the secret technique and transformed the gauntlets into the black shield. 

He canceled Dimension Destruction in the middle of activating it! Is that even possible?! But he hadn’t merely canceled one secret technique. He’d chained it right into another. Kairos’s ability with the black sword clearly surpassed my own. He used the third level secret technique, Reflection Fortress, which would allow him to reflect any attack back onto his enemy with its power multiplied.

But I wasn’t done yet. I held the gunblade in a low stance.

Knock it away.

It was the voice again, a voice I knew well. It was always so arrogant and conceited, but it was always there for me when I needed it most.

You can do it. You know you can, Fate.

When I heard those words, I felt confident and in control of my power, just like always. 

Just you watch me.

I roared as I aimed at Kairos’s shield and swung the gunblade with everything I had. It didn’t matter what kind of wall he put up; I was going to knock it down. The only person capable of wielding Greed was me.

The shock of the strike was more than I could have imagined, and it ran through my entire body to my very core. Wrapped in that energy, I struck the shield again.

“I hear you loud and clear. Come back to me, Greed!”

I pushed into the Reflection Fortress and knocked it free. The world around us rumbled, and the world of Gluttony beyond the Reflection Fortress shook wildly. High above us, the black shield flew out of Kairos’s grasp and through the air.