Berserk of Gluttony (LN) - Volume 8 - Chapter 31

Chapter 31:

Where Souls Go

I TREKKED ON. Huge chunks of debris floated in the air that reminded me of ancient Galian edifices. Bottomless chasms sometimes yawned before me. This place didn’t seem particularly stable. Whatever the case, the floating debris made for a handy means to avoid ­falling in.

I leaped onto the largest chunk of debris in the area and surveyed the path ahead. Souls flowed toward the horizon. The world around us may have been red, but a variety of other colors made it quite vibrant. As individual souls touched one another, they turned blue, yellow, and green, sparkling in a number of different shades and tones. When the souls were thicker in density, the colors they emitted grew stronger and more vibrant. Past the horizon everything blended into a rainbow. It was a sight unlike anything I’d ever seen. I was so astounded, so awed, that I couldn’t help but stare.

“Did all this debris come from our battle earlier?” I asked.

“Yes. It’s since stopped, but a ton was swallowed.”

“And what about now?”

“Now that the Door is completely open, it’ll pull in something different, something it was always meant to harvest.”

The skills had been planted, and it was time to reap the stats. Under normal circumstances, this was something that happened slowly. Skills were allowed to grow on their own, and the stats they generated were gathered upon death. If Greed was right, then this natural process was now being sped up. Even souls that weren’t yet dead would be drawn to this place.

“Right now, all the souls present are meant to be here. But when this parade of souls ends, souls in the outside world will be absorbed.”

“Are you serious?”

“This is just Micuria’s hypothesis, but it all fits with what we’re seeing. I think she was right.”

Micuria? Oh, yeah. The researcher who was close with Kairos. Back when I’d fought to free Myne from her past, I’d met Kairos and glimpsed his memories. That was where I’d met Micuria and learned of her research into the Door to Distant Lands. From what I’d gathered, she’d died by Kairos’s hand, even though her soul was not within my Gluttony. 

I focused my senses and searched for her, but she was nowhere to be found. “Where is she?” I asked.

“Micuria was never devoured by Gluttony,” replied Greed. “She took her own life in order to journey to the Distant Lands.”

“She killed herself?”

“Indeed. There were two reasons. First, Kairos didn’t want her devoured by his Gluttony, so she opted for a death on her own terms. But I think she also knew… She knew that this day would come.”

“That light…”

A soul whose light shone differently from the others ignored the flow of souls and drifted toward us. It began to orbit me. 

Micuria… Fancy meeting you here like this.

I heard Kairos’s voice inside of me, and as if in response to him, the golden soul glimmered and took on human form.

“Hello there, Gluttony. I am Micuria.”

“Er, hello…”

I was stunned to have the person I was just talking about appear before my eyes. Kairos seemed just as surprised as I was. Micuria looked a little awkward in front of my puzzled expression.

“I’m sorry, Kairos,” she said, “but this was the only way. We cannot come to this world in our physical forms, only as souls. I have been able to get a lot of research done since arriving here, though.”

“You came here for research?!” I said, stunned.

That’s why she died?! 

I had to wonder if all researchers were eccentric. Laine was another person who would do almost anything for the sake of her research, and being around her meant nothing but stress and worry. I don’t know how her father endured it without the anxiety eating a hole in his stomach. I sensed something similar in Micuria.

“I bet you thought I did for a moment, didn’t you? I’m not that crazy,” said Micuria.

“I can’t believe we came all this way just for you to joke around,” I said.

“Actually, I’ve been waiting for you.”

“You have?”

“Yes. Think of me as a kind of insurance. I knew Kairos’s successor would come one day. What’s your name?”

“I’m Fate Barbatos.”

“Ah, so that’s what Dean named his son. Fate… It couldn’t be more fitting.”

“You know my father?”

I figured she had to know him pretty well if they were on a first name basis. That meant she knew both a bearer of Mortal Sin and a holy beastfolk. 

“I, too, am a holy beastfolk,” she said, staring at me. “Oh, you’re not surprised? That’s disappointing.”

“I had a feeling you had to be.”

“Well, that makes things easier. Having died and now existing as a soul, I am no longer bound by any sacred mark. I was able to discover that the Divine Revelation does not extend that far. It’s strange to think of death as a form of freedom, however.”

Micuria was no longer among the living, and yet, there was something lively in her expression. It reminded me of the look in my own father’s face when he was finally free of his sacred mark. It showed just how absolute the power of the Divine Revelation was over the holy beastfolk.

I had yet to receive any kind of Divine Revelation myself. Perhaps that was something my other half shouldered. He was the one who had inherited the power of the holy beastfolk, which left me an ordinary human, ­albeit one carrying the skill of Gluttony. But I knew he was inside of me, even now, eagerly awaiting any opportunity to take control.

Micuria’s expression saddened as she looked at me again. “Fate, what will you do if all that has passed was the natural consequence of a predetermined future?”

“You mean if everything from Kairos’s battle to today unfolded the way it has because it was destined to be that way?”

“Yes, that’s what it would mean.”

“Even me talking to you here?”

“I am little more than a minor, fleeting resistance. My being here cannot turn the tables. You can dam things up, but that will only buy you time.” Micuria looked over at the flow of souls. “As long as that flow of souls remains in motion, it will eventually break free. That’s what you’re up against.”

“Then I’ll keep fighting, right until the end,” I said. “Even if all I get us is just a little more time, like Kairos, then at the very least, I can pass the baton. Perhaps my failure will lead to the next person’s success.”

Just as Kairos had entrusted me with the black sword Greed, I, too, may have to entrust another the same way.

“I promised that I would make it back,” I said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s impossible. I will stop Libra, and I will return home with Roxy.”

Aaron still fought to protect the royal capital. If the soul harvesting reached him, we would never make it home. But there was no turning back. Not anymore.

“You remind me of Kairos,” said Micuria. “It’s very reassuring.”

“Really?”

I thought we were completely different, but even Greed agreed.

“You really are alike. Neither of you ever gives up.”

“Exactly! No matter the circumstances, they’ll go down kicking and screaming, if they go down at all.”

“Uh, is that a compliment?” I asked.

“He taught me tenacity. That’s how I managed to wait here,” said Micuria. “It feels like it’s been an eternity.” She raised a hand and tapped me on the forehead. “We’ll restructure your soul and unchain you using the knowledge you’ve gained from the souls of others.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re a mix of human, Gluttony, and holy beastfolk. You were born a being unlike any other. All those parts of you are meant to be one, but you exist outside of the world’s defined system and can’t access your true power. Use my soul to bridge the gap.”

She was giving me her soul, and I could do nothing to stop her.

But was it even possible to unify the two sides of myself? I didn’t think my other half was open to the discussion.