Berserk of Gluttony (LN) - Volume 8 - Chapter 37

Chapter 37:

Level Zero

LIBRA HAD CALLED GREED a “mere” Weapon of Mortal Sin. His black cubes imitated the power of the black spear’s Sixth Level, a power I had inherited from my father.

“Maybe you’re right. Maybe it is little more than a weapon on its own,” I said. “But it can take the hearts and emotions of the souls here, the people they were, and transform them into power, all through Gluttony!”

It was the first time anything like this had ever happened. Gluttony had always caused me suffering, but now, things were different. Now, it led me in a new and better direction. From the moment I was born, it had been an obscure skill, an ill-omen that sometimes drew the ire of others. Now I was glad for all of the hardships. I needed Gluttony.

“Fay, you’re crying,” Roxy murmured.

I hadn’t even realized it, but I felt a tear run down my cheek. I was no longer sad. My tears came forth because of the endless feelings and memories that continued to flow into me. They moved me to my core, and I shouted the name of the Sixth Level secret technique at my partner, Greed.

“Revolt Brionac!”

Greed burst through and overpowered the crowd of black spears as if in reply, annihilating them one after another. Libra’s brow furrowed as he transformed his black cubes into shields to stop Greed’s onslaught. Even those were useless against the Sixth Level attack, though. Greed continued directly toward Libra. He would not let anything get in his way.

The previously moving souls around us stopped as if to bear witness to this moment.

“Unbelievable… How is this happening?” muttered Libra.

Greed’s Revolt Brionac pierced straight through Libra’s chest, leaving a gaping hole in its wake. It was the power of pure extinction weaponized, and yet, even that wasn’t enough to wipe Libra out completely. The wound would have been fatal for any human, but Libra was still alive. His sacred mark grew a deeper shade of red—his Divine Revelation pushed him to fight on.

The vast majority of Libra’s black cubes had been completely destroyed. The few that remained no longer operated properly, letting out loud electrical noises as they flew around haphazardly.

“Fay, we did it!” cried Roxy as she drew closer.

I shook my head. “No, not yet. This is where it begins,” I replied.

Four large souls flew from the direction I’d come from and swirled around the injured Libra as if spurring him to action. I knew instinctively that they were the souls of the holy beasts that had attempted to block our way into the Door to Distant Lands. It seemed like Myne and Eris had somehow emerged victorious in their battle. Eris must have confronted and overcome her fear of and trauma from holy beasts. Nothing could have made me happier.

Unfortunately, Myne and Eris had also unwittingly created a way for Libra to gain a new strength. Perhaps Libra himself had expected this eventuality and had planned for the four holy beasts to be a kind of insurance.

Libra laughed loudly. Perhaps it was the fact that his heart had literally been replaced by a gaping hole in his chest, but it was as if he were laughing at the horribly empty vessel he had become.

“Come. Face the horror I have become.”

Libra’s face rotted away, forming something twisted and wretched. His pristine white outfit discolored before beginning to disintegrate. A putrid liquid seeped from the holes in his clothing. It was his holy beast form, and just as Libra had said, he was horror incarnate. If my father had been the angel of death, then Libra was a mutated plague that spread death far and wide. He was a grotesque creature crafted from all that was awful and putrid in the world. 

I finally felt like I understood why he was so enamored with the purity of Roxy’s Valkyrie form.

“Now I am five holy beasts combined. Time’s up.”

The flow of resurrected souls was coming to a close. Once they were done, Libra would move on to harvesting the souls of the living. There was no time to hesitate. I turned my gaze on the giant sphere of light. I knew I could reach it before the worst were to occur.

“Roxy, this is where it ends,” I said.

“Yes.”

“Greed,” I said.

“Fate, don’t tell me… You’re…”

Roxy still hadn’t realized, but Greed knew. He was my partner, after all. Even then, he didn’t say another word. He knew just as well as I that it was too late for that.

“I’ll keep Libra at bay. Finish it, Fay.”

“Thanks.”

Libra swung his hands and flung his effluvia at us. We managed to evade it, but…

“What the…?” I said.

“My goodness…” added Roxy.

The effects of Libra’s foul gunk made my blood run cold. The souls that were hit by it turned purple and withered into nothingness. That seemed to be Libra’s power—the ability to corrupt and decay whatever he touched. My own Corrosion spell was nothing in comparison; Libra’s decay would even corrode our weapons.

“With the other four holy beasts within him, Libra is more powerful than ever,” said Greed. “And it is exactly as you thought. That putrefying liquid will damage even me.”

“Greed…”

“You don’t need to worry. How many times have I told you now, Fate? Have you forgotten? I am just a weapon.”

“You’re more than just a weapon to me!”

“You know how to make an old weapon proud, Fate. But I know that, in your heart, you understand what must be done.”

“Yeah…I do.”

“As it should be. That’s why you are my partner. We’re in this together.”

I had known this time would come. Like it or not, this was the end. Our end. We were out of time. We had to hit Libra hard, fast, and with everything we had.

Roxy cast a protective barrier, but Libra’s power of decay eroded it quickly. As I closed in on Libra, I could tell that it wasn’t just some liquid he expelled from his body. The very air around him was a rancid miasma that stunk of rot.

“I’ll purify the air,” said Roxy. 

She readied her holy sword and unleashed one of her tech-arts. At first, I thought it was the holy sword skill, Grand Cross, but the light that burst from her sword was on a scale I had never before seen. This wasn’t just a cross of light but an eight-pointed star—the Sacred Cross. This was no mere holy sword art. It was a sacred sword art.

The purifying light was effective. Libra’s pestilent body burned under the holy light. It was ironic to think that he was so vulnerable to such attacks in his holy beast form.

“Fay, now!”

“Cover me, Roxy!”

I beat my wings and ascended toward Libra, relying on Roxy to keep his noxious miasma at bay. 

I couldn’t rely on long-range attacks, like the gauntlets and the bow. They wouldn’t have enough power to overcome the malignance that surrounded him. However, we couldn’t just sit here whittling away at him, either. My only option was my trusted sword, the form with which I was most experienced.

I sliced into Libra with everything I had. I felt Greed cut into him, but Libra did not budge. 

It didn’t work?

It was exactly like what had happened with the Revolt Brionac. This strike alone was not enough to bring Libra down. To make matters worse, I heard steam hissing as it rose from Greed. He’d never once been damaged, but Libra was hurting him. My worst fears were coming to pass.

“Greed!” I shouted.

“It’s nothing. Keep going!”

Roxy fired another Sacred Cross to clear the air, and I leaped back so as not to get caught in the crossfire. Libra was no longer concerned with me, instead moving toward Roxy, who he clearly saw as the bigger nuisance. Roxy would not be easily stopped, however. Her six wings carried her through the air as she continued to rain fire down upon Libra, evading his strikes as she did so. 

Meanwhile, I was at a complete loss. I didn’t have the power to go toe-to-toe with Libra. Even my last Revolt Brionac, which had been further strengthened by other souls, hadn’t stopped him. And that was before he’d transformed into a holy beast.

But within the sea of doubt that swirled about me, I sensed another possibility. I needed more. Just a little more. When those souls had assisted me earlier, I’d felt Greed, even though he was separated from me. We were unified to an extent beyond that which we’d experienced during the Crossing. It was like I was him and he was me.

The souls in this world would still help me. Gluttony was sending me the support of souls now that we were united as one. I felt the ceiling of my own personal limits rising. I felt something more. 

I knew then that Greed and I were still capable of greater things. I could feel it. We could surpass even the Sixth Level, which my father had given us. There was a level that existed beyond it, one that only Greed and I could reach. It was for us alone. No one else.

The souls were now unifying not just with me but with Greed, too. They called to us.

“Fate…do you feel it?” Greed asked.

“I do.”

That gigantic sphere of brilliant light was what they called God. But Gluttony had been born of people’s desire to be freed from God’s tyranny. It was up to Greed and I to answer their call. Only, the black sword was not enough. It was time for us to wield the weapon that we truly needed.

Libra had Roxy cornered, but she never once showed a hint of fear.

“Roxy!” I shouted.

“Fay!” she cried in reply.

I gripped Greed tighter. “My Gluttony and your Greed combined,” I said. “Are you ready?”

“You bet.”

Our skills combined into a single Skill of Mortal Sin, a skill born of the desire for salvation. Two heretical skills became one as Gluttony flowed into Greed. It was something only Greed and I could ever achieve—a new Weapon of Mortal Sin.

The black sword glowed as I flapped my wings and sped toward Roxy. The light had engulfed me by the time I reached her, and I sent it out in a flash. Libra screamed in agony. He had completely ignored me in his hunt for Roxy, but he could do so no longer, because I had just lopped off his left arm.

“Get behind me,” I told Roxy.

“Fay, what are those blades?”

It was the black sword’s truest form: Level Zero, the dual blades.