Berserk of Gluttony (LN) - Volume 8 - Chapter 23

Chapter 23:

Eris’s Release

MY SWORD WAS LEVELED at Eris’s neck, frozen in place. This was why Envy had been in such a rush to get back, and we had made it just in the nick of time. Eris was on the floor, weak. Beside her lay the horns that had sprouted from my head earlier. 

It seemed that—much like Kairos in my Gluttony—­I had turned into some kind of demon. The overwhelming amount of magical energy in me had caused me to transform and go berserk. Then, I had turned on Eris and attacked her. Perhaps the demon-Kairos I’d faced in the spiritual plane had, in fact, been a reflection of what I’d become in the real world.

I looked at myself in the reflection of the black sword’s blade. Both of my eyes were still a terrifying red.

“Eris,” I said.

There was no response. I looked up at the sky and saw countless pitch-black cubes hovering above us. They must have been part of Mercadia’s defense systems, but they weren’t attacking.

Nonetheless, I took Eris in my arms and moved somewhere with cover just to be safe. I still couldn’t sense Roxy or Myne anywhere nearby. They would have tried to get here as soon as they could, which meant that something may have gotten in their way.

“Dad…”

The black cubes began to form into a geometrical shape. It looked like a magical seal.

“We need to get to safety,” I said.

“How about that building over there?”

Most of the buildings in Mercadia had been completely leveled in the battle against the holy beast and the chimeras…if not by me after I went berserk. The buildings had once been a symbol of the intelligence and wisdom of those living in the capital, but they were now a sorry sight. However, Greed had found a building that was only half collapsed. The front of it had been broken, allowing us a way inside.

I shifted Eris’s weight and noticed Envy firmly in her grip. Even unconscious, she had never let her partner go.

“How admirable,” said Greed.

“What do you mean?”

“Do I have to explain everything to you? In order for Envy to reach the spiritual plane, the gunblade needed Eris’s help. If Eris had let go of Envy, your weapon in the spiritual plane would have vanished. Not only that, but Eris never let that connection slip, even as she fought against the monster you became.”

“Eris, I’m sorry.”

I hadn’t noticed it at first, because Eris was dressed in black, but it was now apparent that she’d lost a lot of blood. She was probably still bleeding.

“Let’s hurry.”

“Yep.”

I slipped inside the building Greed led us to and laid Eris on the ground. Then, I immediately transformed Greed into the black stave.

“Just to be clear, this is what you want, right?”

“Yeah. Do it.”

“All right then. Let me at those stats!”

The Fourth Level secret technique, Twilight Healing. It required an exorbitant amount of stats, but it contained a healing power that otherwise didn’t even exist in this world. 

Just as I thought. Eris had sustained deep wounds trying to keep me at bay. So much so that I had to give Greed 80 percent of my stats to restore her to full health. Losing such a vast amount of stats was dangerous as I still had to face my father. But leaving Eris wounded was simply not an option.

As Greed soaked up my stats, the black stave changed shape. Instead of the destructive flames that usually flowed from it, Twilight Healing produced a restorative flame. I sent the white fire toward Eris, and they enveloped her. The countless wounds hidden beneath her clothes were healed in an instant.

There was only one thing left to do: burn the collar that bound her to Libra.

“Ah, yes. The flames work for that, too.”

“This secret technique is the key to unlocking her collar.”

When Kairos disappeared into me, I experienced his memories. Among them, I saw that he had burned Eris’s collar from her neck with the Twilight Healing technique. Kairos had always been poking his nose into my business, and this was no different. In the end, he’d left me with the answer to our dilemma.

When the white flames had extinguished, the collar on Eris’s neck was gone and color had returned to her face. I breathed a sigh of relief. She’d be fine.

“You used your secret technique to save me,” said Eris, opening her eyes slowly. “I’m sorry you had to use it at such a critical time.”

“Think nothing of it,” I replied, meeting her gaze. “This was a critical time, if you ask me.”

“Fate…”

“I made you a promise when we were in Tetra. I promised I would be there for you when you needed me. But it always seems like I just cause you more and more trouble. I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, that’s true. You’re a real handful, you know that? No more berserker antics!”

It seemed that Eris remembered what had happened while she was under Libra’s control. That meant her heart and mind had been trapped within a body she could no longer control. She pretended to be furious, but eventually, she grinned.

“I caused you just as much trouble. Let’s call it even, shall we?” she said.

“Works for me.”

“Oh, and would you give me your hand for a second?”

“Hmm? Like this?”

“Perfect. Now, don’t move.”

Eris was suddenly in high spirits, and I couldn’t work out why. Still, I figured as long as it was making her happy, that everything was fine as long as she was happy. Then, she took my wrist and put my hand to her neck.

“I never thought Libra would enslave me again. I really screwed up. I did all that research to ensure it never happened again, too. It’s all your fault. You never gave me a chance to prepare.”

“What does that mean?”

“Just forget about it. Roxy and Myne aren’t around, are they? I guess that’s kind of a blessing in disguise.”

“Is this about something good? Is something good happening?” I asked.

“Oh, I’m just talking to myself. Don’t worry about it.”

Eris ignored me and began muttering in a language I’d never heard before. A moment later, a collar appeared around her neck.

“Wait, what the hell? You didn’t!” I cried.

“I did. It’s an enslavement collar.”

“Why?!”

“So Libra can’t snap one around my neck again. You can’t overwrite this.”

“No, no, no! So what you’re saying is…”

I was panicked. Eris loved it.

“Congratulations!” she said, grinning. “I’m your property now!”

“Huh?”

“There’s nothing you can do about it, either. It’s a signed contract, so to speak, so I’m living the rest of my life with you. That won’t cause any problems, will it?”

Eris wrapped me in a tight hug. Apparently, there was no getting out of this. 

Guess I better cast another Twilight Healing!

Well…that was what I had wanted to do, but I couldn’t afford to sacrifice any more stats. At the same time, I couldn’t let Eris fall into Libra’s hands again, either. The only choice I had right now was just to leave things as they were.

How am I going to explain this to Roxy? We were stuck right in the middle of a potential battlefield, and I had a whole other problem to deal with!

“You can order me to do anything at all, Fate. Anything. So, you can have me do this. Or this.” Eris struck a number of very erotic poses in the middle of, yes, a battlefield. 

“Fine. Here’s my first order,” I said.

“I’m so very excited.”

“You are not to do anything that risks your own life.”

Eris looked genuinely shocked. “Ugh, kill the mood, why don’t you?”

“Hey!”

That was Eris for you, though. She played it cool, but she was all too happy to take big risks. My order was perfect for her. I could see that Envy also felt I’d made the right decision.

“Well, then,” I said. 

I looked out from the building. Things were eerily quiet. Far off in the distance, I spotted the black cubes, floating ominously in the air. Except there was now something different about them. They discharged a light of some kind and moved as if they were connected.

I got the feeling that, right now, they were opening the Door to Distant Lands.