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Kumo Desu ga, Nani ka? (LN) - Volume 14 - Chapter 6.6




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L6 The Lord, Alone

“…I need to talk to Sariel.”

That day, Gülie visited with a deadly serious expression.

Thinking back, this was the day our peaceful lives fell apart.

“…Maybe he’s finally going to confess?”

“It didn’t really seem like he was in that kind of mood to me…”

An excited girl with slightly pointed ears was conversing with a green-skinned boy, who was gazing anxiously at the room where Lady Sariel and Gülie were privately conversing.

I still don’t know what was said in there, as we couldn’t hear them from outside the door.

But I think I can guess what it was about.

Because even as the two of them were talking, the news suddenly hit.

“We interrupt this program to bring a breaking news bulletin.”

A voice came from the TV, which had been left on.

“The dragons have attacked.”

The newscaster sounded flustered as he read the news.

It was too short of a report, too lacking in information to be a proper news bulletin.

But that was only a temporary problem, for as soon as the live footage came on a moment later, all of that information was filled in.

It was enough to tell at a single glance exactly what was happening.

Whether we wanted to or not.

The footage was rough and jittery, possibly taken on a cell phone.

It showed the remains of what had been a large city.

The buildings were falling apart, cars flew through the air like fluttering leaves, and elevated highways had toppled over.

Amid all the destruction, the people were too small to even be seen.

But what was painfully visible, flying in the sky, trampling the ground, was the forces of dragons.

Then the footage suddenly quaked wildly and was abruptly cut off.

“It can’t be…”

As we stared in rapt horror at the screen, Gülie came up behind us and froze.

Lady Sariel was next to him, too.

Without a word, she turned and walked to the door.

“Sariel! Where are you going…?”

“I must.”

It was a short exchange.

And yet it seemed to be enough for Gülie to figure out exactly where Lady Sariel was going.

At the time, I was still in too much shock from the footage on the TV to fully understand what was happening, or the meaning of Gülie and Lady Sariel’s exchange.

The images seemed far too removed from reality for me to fully accept that it was actually happening.

“Sari—”

“Please do not try to stop me. I do not wish to consider you an enemy.”

“……”

Gülie’s hand was reaching toward Lady Sariel, but it froze at her response.

Just like that, Lady Sariel walked out of the orphanage.

“…She doesn’t think that I would take hostages? Does she really…trust me that much?”

Gülie sank into a chair, his shoulders sagging.

The tense news report continued playing out on the TV screen.

Lady Sariel did not come back.

Every TV channel was showing nothing but news, reporting on the dragons.

Even the news media couldn’t seem to get complete coverage; the information was complicated, and it was difficult to tell what was true.

The live footage from the beginning was all they seemed to have from the site of the attack, which they only got because there happened to be a reporter on the scene.

The whereabouts of that reporter were unknown.

Given the situation, the chances of survival were low.

Gülie stayed at the orphanage from that day on.

At the time, I didn’t quite understand why Gülie was spending the night there.

But in retrospect, I suspect he may have been trying to be of use to Sariel.

By protecting the orphanage, which was so precious to her.

That must have been an act of betrayal to the dragons.

I’m sure it was a serious decision for Gülie, but he was gentle with us, trying to distract us from our worries as we waited for Lady Sariel to return.

A day, two days, a week, a month…

We awaited Lady Sariel’s return.

All of the other kids from the orphanage came back.

Even the boy who had become an idol insisted on taking a break and came home.

“This is no time for entertainment. There’s hardly any business anyway, so it was easy to get time off.”

I don’t know how much of that was true, but it was clear that he came back to the orphanage because he was worried about us.

Still, all we could do was hope and pray for Lady Sariel’s safe return.

But…

Lady Sariel never came back to the orphanage…

Not long after, the dragons ceased their attack.

I only learned from the news that Lady Sariel had fought against the dragons and drove them off.

There was footage of their battle on the news, though I don’t know how it was recorded.

That short video was the only recording, but it was shown on the news over and over, with the commentators praising Lady Sariel.

Some people questioned whether the footage was doctored, but either way, the fact remained that the insurmountable threat of the dragons had been driven off, and certainly not by humans.

Many governments also officially recognized Lady Sariel’s achievements, which further lessened the number of dissenters.

But the relief of having escaped the wrath of the dragons did not last long.

For around the same time that their attacks relented, extreme weather phenomena began occurring all over the world.

I don’t know if “extreme weather” is the correct way to describe it, since the changes were too extreme to be summarized with such a simple phrase.

The ground cracked open, oceans began to dry up, and the sky lost its blueness.

It was as if the world was ending.

And indeed, that really was the beginning of the end.

“President Dustin of Daztrudia is about to begin a press conference. We will now cut to a live broadcast from the scene.”

“Good morning, citizens. Without further ado, let us first discuss what information we have gathered about the attack by the dragons. The nations and territories attacked cover such a wide range that it would take far too long to name them all at this time. Our nation’s troops have been dispatched to the sites of the attacks, but we still do not have a full grasp of the total casualties. We also attempted to scout the dragons’ territory to assess their strength, but the dragons were nowhere to be seen. My subordinates are currently investigating where they have disappeared to; however, there have been eyewitness reports on site of lights disappearing into the distant skies. Our current theory is that the dragons have taken off into silence.

“Silence, please! As for the reason the dragons attacked, it is safe to assume that it is because we did not heed their repeated warnings regarding the use of MA energy. The dragons consistently informed us that MA energy is the life force of the planet on which we live, and squeezing it out would weaken the planet. Thus, they asked us many times to stop using MA energy, but as we all know, many nations refused and continued to endorse its use.

“Silence! I am not trying to place the blame on any specific nation! I am simply sharing the information we know! Yes, it’s true! The reason for these abnormalities that have occurred since the dragons left is that the planet is weakening… No, it is heading toward destruction!”

The rest of President Dustin of Daztrudia’s press conference fell into chaos.

People shouted and jeered, and some reporters even tried to push closer to the president to hound him for answers, leading the security guards to hold them back, and turning the press conference room into a riot.

The footage ended abruptly with a shot of the president being escorted out by his security guards.

I imagine most people could not accept what he said at that press conference.

After all, many nations were already completely dependent on MA energy.

There were some exceptions like President Dustin’s nation of Daztrudia, but even they could not completely control the illicit use of MA energy within their borders.

Not to mention that those nations that forbade the use of MA energy still could not stop trading with those that did use it.

The products they imported were manufactured using MA energy.

In other words, every nation benefited from MA energy in some way or another.

Our orphanage too was built in Daztrudia, where the use of MA energy was forbidden, but I’m sure we still benefited from it in some small way from imported products and such.

The dragons hadn’t suddenly turned violent.

It was humanity’s fault all along.

But there were few humans who were willing to admit that.

Other nations held press conferences specifically to assert that President Dustin’s claims were nonsense, or to try to place the blame on other nations or the dragons in general.

But whether they admitted it or not, they couldn’t stop the world from heading toward destruction.

Even as people tried to ignore reality or point fingers at one another, the end of the world was growing closer by the second.

The world grew less safe.

No, I suppose that’s putting it lightly.

As they realized the world was going to end, most people’s actions took a drastic turn.

Many of them decided to use what little time they had left doing whatever they pleased, and the world essentially became lawless.

Riots, injuries, thefts, suicides…

Even the police, who were supposed to prevent such things, were often found participating in the chaos instead.

It wasn’t exactly quiet around the orphanage, either.

When something bad is happening, evidently it’s human nature to want to blame it on someone else and take it out on them.

And as it turned out, the chimeras of the orphanage were seen as the perfect targets.

“It’s all because of them!” “If it weren’t for those freaks…”

There was no real logic behind it.

It was just that we were different from them, and that was reason enough to consider us unlucky, and justify violence against us.

Fortunately, we didn’t have huge throngs of people forming a violent mob to come after us.

But people did throw rocks at us, or even shoot at us, on several occasions.

I imagine they didn’t attack us directly because they were still somewhat afraid of us chimeras, and because of the existence of Lady Sariel.

It was well-known that Lady Sariel had driven away the dragons, and everyone who lived nearby was aware that Lady Sariel managed the orphanage, too.

So the good people who were grateful to Lady Sariel would never think of laying a hand on the orphanage.

I suppose the fact that we were shot at anyway is proof that not all people in the world are good.

Normally, we would depend on Gülie to defend us at such times, but unfortunately he disappeared not long after the news broke that Lady Sariel had stopped the dragons’ attack.

At the time, I sulked that he wasn’t there when we needed him most, but later I learned that he was desperately trying to save Lady Sariel then.

There is far too much that I only learned after the fact.

Back then, I was always so powerless, so ignorant, nothing more than baggage…

At any rate, we couldn’t depend on Gülie to save us.

We holed up in the orphanage and managed to survive, but we did discuss strategies for the worst-case scenario.

Our intention was only to try to escape, not to fight anyone.

Aside from a few exceptions like me, most chimeras are very powerful.

Even if our opponents were armed, we were fairly confident that we could still charge head-on and escape intact.

We even had a large vehicle that could fit everyone, which one of our number drove in when they returned after the dragon attacks.

I had scoffed at the time, wondering why they would bring such a ridiculous vehicle, but maybe they’d anticipated that something like this might happen.

In other words, they had foresight that I lacked.

I still remember feeling embarrassed for how I’d scoffed at it before.

Those oddly tension-filled days continued for a while.

We had no idea when something might explode.

It could be one of the nearby residents, or one of us, or perhaps even the world itself would be the first to go.

But something else changed instead.

“We’re going to go see Lady Sariel.”

One of the orphanage residents, a boy who was almost as sickly as me, suddenly made that declaration.

He was physically incapable of sleep, which meant that there were permanent dark circles hanging under his eyes, and a general lack of energy about him.

But something unusual was secreted in his brain, and he could never settle down unless he was doing something.

Although he constantly declared that he didn’t want to do anything, by nature he always had to be doing something.

He was usually holed up in his room doing some kind of activity, so it was unusual for him to say he was going out.

In fact, this might have been the first time.

Normally his eyes looked glazed over, but this time they were blazing bright.

The others seemed to be just as taken aback by this as I was, and soon, we all loaded into the big car and headed out.

Since time was of the essence, he said he would explain on the way.

We planned to use the car to escape if the time came, but no one attacked as we drove away.

There was plenty of time to talk on the journey.

Daztrudia was an entire continent functioning together as one nation.

It was enormous, and took a long time to travel across, which meant we had all the more time for talking.

But in fact, very little of that time was spent on the explanation.

All he told us on the way was simply, “Lady Sariel is trying to sacrifice herself to get the world out of this situation.”

Of course, he also explained her actions and reasons, how she intended to accomplish this, and so on, but that wasn’t important to the rest of us.

When we heard that Lady Sariel wanted to sacrifice herself, that was all we needed to know.

We hardly even questioned how he knew all this.

He was always up to something strange in his room, so we just assumed he’d acquired this information through some dubious means as an extension of that.

But while little time was spent on the explanation, the conversation that took place within the car afterward was very long indeed.

“We have to stop Lady Sariel.”

“And then what would we do?”

We all felt the same way on an emotional level.

We didn’t want Lady Sariel to sacrifice herself.

But if she didn’t, the world would end.

“What, so you want to sacrifice Lady Sariel so you can keep living your precious life?!”

“Of course not! But Lady Sariel chose this path herself, didn’t she?! What right do we have to stop her, huh?!”

It was pandemonium.

I had already accepted that I wouldn’t live for much longer.

My death might come a little sooner than expected, but I was prepared for that.

…If it were just me, that is.

I didn’t care if I died.

But if everyone else from the orphanage was going to die, too?

Even if there was a way to prevent that?

I wanted the others to live.

And when I considered that Lady Sariel might feel the same way, well, it didn’t seem right to stop her…

But it was still hard to accept the idea of her sacrificing herself because of that…

I think the others all had similar thoughts to mine, too.

In the end, there was no right answer.

So opinions clashed, with none being in the wrong, unable to meet in the middle…

“Enough already, you kids! Stop throwing pathetic little tantrums!”

The director put a stop to all this with a single shout.

“What good is babbling at one another about it going to do? No matter what you kids say, it all comes down to Lady Sariel’s decision. If you’ve got something to say to her, you better go say it to her face!”

She was right, of course.

In the end, we were still just powerless kids, and none of our arguments could make a bit of difference.

The director’s rebuke stopped the fighting, and for a while after that, the car was almost eerily silent.

But there was still a long way left to travel. Eventually, we couldn’t help talking quietly among ourselves.

From incoherent rambling to deep discussions about the future, I feel certain that we talked about many things, but I can’t remember any of the specifics.

Most likely, it’s because my mind was churning with too many thoughts to fully pay attention.

I don’t remember the details of those thoughts, either.

Perhaps that’s only natural since I couldn’t make sense of any of it myself.

But there is just one thought that I remember quite clearly.

Namely, that I had to give Lady Sariel the handkerchief when I saw her.

A variety of issues had delayed the completion of my embroidered handkerchiefs, but I finally managed to finish one for every member of the orphanage.

I didn’t know what would happen after this, but I had a feeling that either way, I needed to give Lady Sariel the handkerchief this time or I would never get the chance again.

And that premonition proved all too accurate.

Finally, we arrived at what was essentially the center of the Daztrudian government: the executive office.

Somehow, we were allowed in easily, even though ordinary citizens are banned from entering.

I still don’t know how we managed to get permission, even now.

But we didn’t question it at the time, since it meant we could meet with Lady Sariel as we hoped.

Yes, we successfully saw Lady Sariel.

“I am glad you all seem to be in good health.”

That was the first thing she said to us after all this time.

It was a slightly off-the-mark statement, completely oblivious to how much we had worried, and utterly typical of Lady Sariel.

After that, we spoke with her for as long as time would allow.

We tried to convince her to rethink her decision.

But Lady Sariel’s position was firm.

“It is part of my mission.”

In the end, we couldn’t change her mind at all. No matter what we said, she always shot us down with that same statement.

When we realized there would be no talking her out of it, the conversation naturally shifted toward reminiscing instead.

The nights right after she took us in, when we couldn’t sleep and all gathered together to get Lady Sariel to read us stories.

The way that when a child was struck with terrifying flashbacks to the trauma of Potimas’s experiments, Lady Sariel would hold them and gently stroke their head for as long as it took until the shaking subsided.

The days when Lady Sariel would teach our classes because we couldn’t go to school.

That dinner when a kid was served a food they hated and tried to push it off onto the child next to them, only to be caught by Lady Sariel and have the food shoved into their mouth as she informed them, “It is not good to be a picky eater.” (Incidentally, that just made the child in question hate that food even more.)

Then there was the time when flipping girls’ skirts was a popular pastime among the boys, until Lady Sariel confiscated all the boys’ pants and forced them to spend the day in their underwear. There was no more skirt-flipping after that.

Around the period when we were growing out of our early childhood and entering puberty, Lady Sariel made us watch adult videos in the name of health education without an ounce of shame. As she blandly explained the nature of sexual relationships, the director burst into the classroom, yelling, “What are you showing these kids?!” Lady Sariel was subjected to a lengthy lecture of her own after that.

Since none of us knew when we were born, we all celebrated the day the orphanage was opened as our birthdays. Each year, the entire day was a lavish party. Lady Sariel gave every single child a present.

When we needed advice about romance and such, we went to the director, not Lady Sariel. After all, Lady Sariel was of little help when it came to matters of the heart. But she still always seemed a little sulky when she wasn’t consulted about these things.

We all had plenty of good memories, difficult memories, and embarrassing memories.

But we never ran out of memories to talk about.

Lady Sariel had always been a part of our lives.

She was the person who saved us from Potimas’s experiments and made us from test subjects into real humans.

For all of us, talking about our memories of Lady Sariel was virtually the same thing as talking about our entire lives.

So of course we didn’t run out of things to talk about.

“…It is almost time.”

Just like that, we were out of time.

The time had come to say goodbye.

“Lady Sariel, here.”

As this would be my last chance, I gave out the handkerchiefs I made.

First, to Lady Sariel, then to everyone else from the orphanage.

I thought that if she knew everyone had the handkerchiefs I gave them, then she would feel we were always by her side.

I still don’t know if my feelings got through to her.

Lady Sariel was always a little clueless about people’s feelings.

But I still want to believe that she understood…

“All of you. Please, live happy lives. Happy, but peaceful.”

Those were Lady Sariel’s last words to us.

But how can we be happy if you’re no longer here?

I’m sure I’m not the only one who had that thought.

But Lady Sariel left, without looking back.

Once she was completely out of sight, and we were alone, we started crying.

Maybe I was the first one to burst into tears, or maybe it was someone else.

We all sobbed like children, to the point where it was impossible to tell who started first.

Either way, we just kept on crying.

“Humans. Can you hear me?”

As we continued crying, a voice suddenly spoke directly in our heads.

It was the familiar voice of Gülie.

“My name is Güliedistodiez. As some of you may have noticed, as of this very moment, the world has changed.”

We were all sobbing to the point where we were barely aware of what was happening, but unbeknownst to us, the entire world had just been altered.

“From now on, this planet will be managed by the new system. And I will be an administrator of that system.”

Yes, in that moment, the system was constructed.

“As you all know, this planet is at the end of its life due to the foolish behavior of humans.”

But at the time, we had no way of knowing what exactly that meant.

“You are attempting to sacrifice Sariel to restore the planet to life. In other words, the plan is to resolve the problem you yourselves caused by sacrificing someone else.”

While we were traveling in the car, we had no access to the news, but evidently President Dustin had announced that they would be sacrificing Lady Sariel to save the planet.

And that very day was when this plan was put into action.

I only learned later that President Dustin took care to avoid our seeing Lady Sariel’s final moments.

Evidently, he questioned whether to allow us to stay by her side, but ultimately determined it would be too cruel to allow us children to witness the death of our parental figure.

“Do you not think that humans should be the ones to atone for their own crimes?”

At the time, we had no way of knowing any of that information, nor any idea why we were hearing Gülie’s voice in our heads.

“So we have decided to give you humans a chance. The system that will overrule this planet is a means to that end.”

But as we listened to Gülie’s explanation, the reason became clear.

“We will have you humans fight. By doing so, you can now increase the energy of your souls. You will become machines for fighting, winning, and gaining energy. And when you die, we will recover the energy you have earned, and assign that energy to heal the planet.”

That was the explanation of how the system works.

“However, that alone would end once you have died. So as long as you are within this system, we have made it so that you will be reborn here on this planet. After you die, you will eventually live again, and you will fight and accumulate energy once more.”

Fight, die, be reborn, fight, and die again…

Exhausted from crying, we could scarcely wrap our minds around this hellish system.

“Right now, this planet is being kept from destruction by Sariel’s power. You attempted to sacrifice Sariel, but now you must save her. You yourselves will carry out the role you attempted to force upon her. Simple, is it not?”

But the command to “save Sariel” stuck out in our minds.

There was a way to save Lady Sariel.

That was like a beacon of hope to us.

“This is your sin, humans. Atone. Atone. Atone. Atone. Atone. Atone. Atone. Atone. Atone. Atone.”

To humanity, that voice must have been a painful reminder of their sins, one that made them want to cover their ears.

“Fight. Fight. Fight. Fight. Fight. Fight. Fight. Fight. Fight. Fight. And then die.”

But to us, it was like a song of salvation.

From that day forward, our fight began.

The fight to save Lady Sariel.

A very, very long fight.

…It has been a long, long, terribly cruel fight indeed.

“Ah!”

Suddenly, my eyes flash open.

I lost consciousness for a moment there.

…Oops, that’s not good.

Did my life just flash before my eyes?

“Whoa?! That was close!”

Just as I regain consciousness, I avoid an attack flying toward me.

That was far too close.

I almost went from flashback mode straight into death.

But I can’t die. Not yet.

I take a quick backstep to put distance between myself and my opponent.

Luckily, my opponent doesn’t try to chase me.

Once I’m at a safe distance, I catch my breath.

Touching my head lightly, I feel something wet and sticky.

A fair amount of blood is trickling from my head.

I focus on it, and begin healing that wound.

This must be why I passed out for a second there.

Then I focus on my enemy again.

It’s a simple, humanoid hunk of metal.

It would almost look like an overly simplified, life-size, ball-jointed doll, if it weren’t for the fact that its arms both end in drills.

Frankly, at a glance, it sure doesn’t look like Potimas’s ultimate weapon.

But that’s exactly what it is.

Gloria, Type Ω.

That’s apparently this thing’s name.

Potimas made a point of telling me before the fight.

This “Omega” thing abruptly vanishes.

I shouldn’t have taken my eyes off it.

In fact, I swear I’ve been focusing on it without even blinking.

Yet I’ve somehow lost sight of the thing.

Instantly, I trust my instincts and dive to one side.

A moment later, my instincts are proven spot-on, as the Omega’s drill comes flying in from the opposite direction.

If I’d dodged even a nanosecond later, I would’ve been on the receiving end of that drill.

My heart threatens to pound out of my chest.

“You bastard!”

I swing my leg to hit it with a counterattack, but my kick slices through thin air.

By the time I moved to strike, the Omega was already out of my attack range.

“…Not bad.”

In spite of myself, I mutter something that sounds too much like an admission of defeat.

But I can’t help it—I have to acknowledge it.

How long has it been since something moved faster than my eyes could follow?

It’s not that I underestimated it because of its appearance.

…Okay, I can’t say that I didn’t at least consider it, but Potimas did bother to tell me its name and all.

So I knew it wasn’t an enemy I could take lightly.

And yet, the Omega’s first attack moved faster than I could follow, and hit me squarely in the head.

Then I had to watch my whole damn life flash before my eyes…

The Omega’s speed is abnormal, to say the least.

It’s probably on the same level as me at my best, or maybe even faster.

I’m not saying that to be a sore loser or anything.

But unfortunately, right now, I’m a whole lot weaker than I should be.

It’s that damn anti-technique barrier.

Potimas’s special barrier is stretched over this whole area.

Obviously, he had this Omega here lying in wait for me.

Of course it was a trap.

This is Potimas’s kill zone, and I walked right into it.

But I knew that going in, of course.

I don’t just want to defeat Potimas.

I want to crush all of his forces, traps and ultimate weapons alike, and plunge him into despair before he dies.

That’s why I jumped right in knowing full well that this was a trap, but I kind of regret that now.

This Omega thing is easily as strong as I am in my prime, if not stronger.

I’m totally confident that I could crush most enemies even within the anti-technique barrier, but this one might be a tall order.

It looks like it’d be weak, but it’s crazy powerful.

…No, I guess that’s not right.

Its simple appearance is because it’s pared away anything that isn’t absolutely necessary.

This thing has been built with performance as the sole deciding factor, nothing as mundane as whether it looks cool or not.

It’s a masterpiece by a man who normally seems like the type to worry about aesthetics, focused solely on power.

No wonder it’s so strong.

Knowing that, I alter my approach.

This isn’t a challenge I can take on half-assed.

Yes, I’ll admit it’s a challenge.

I’m the weaker one here.

I have to fight it with that perspective in mind.

Really, how long has it been since I fought something that was out of my league?

I honestly can’t remember.

So much time has passed since I was at a disadvantage in a fight that I can’t even tell you when it last happened.

And to think I used to be so weak and powerless back then.

But I’m not that powerless little kid anymore!

I step forward with renewed resolve.

It’d be bad news to let the Omega set the pace with its crazy speed.

Because of the anti-technique barrier, the only abilities that will function are the ones that activate inside my body.

That means skills that activate outside my body, like long-distance attacks, won’t work at all.

I can’t use magic or thread.

So my only remaining option is close physical combat.

Basically, if I want to negate the Omega’s speed advantage and stand a fighting chance despite the barrier, I’ve got to stick close to it.

“Hiyah!”

I throw a punch at the Omega, which is crouched and waiting for me.

The Omega dodges my punch easily, swirling to the side.

But I saw that coming.

I follow after it with a volley of rapid punches.

It’s a nonstop barrage, too quick for the Omega to counter!

But it sees through all that, too, lunges toward my side when my guard is down for a fraction of a second, and drives its drill into my stomach.

“Nngh?!”

The drill blade spins, paring away my flesh.

I know I have to stay close, but in this case I have no choice but to back off.

I jump away to escape from the drill.

Owww… I guess Suffering Nullification isn’t working because of the anti-technique barrier, huh…

My breath grows ragged.

But even when I try to breathe steadily in and out, it doesn’t get any less painful.

In fact, each gulp of air makes me feel even worse.

I know this wound is deep, but no, it’s more than that…

This must be poison.

The system is supposed to cancel out the effects of any scientifically poisonous substance over a certain concentration, but knowing Potimas, I wouldn’t be surprised if he found a way around that.

I’m in trouble now.

Poison, on top of the anti-technique barrier…?

I can’t believe I’m getting screwed over by one of my own specialties…

It’s taking much longer than usual to heal my stomach wound, too.

Normally, even if half my body got blown away, I’d regenerate in seconds.

But it’s dangerous to fight based on how things normally go.

I have to be more careful than usual about avoiding getting hit.

Since I’ve got high resistance to most attributes, I guess I’ve been starting to fall out of the habit of dodging attacks…

Most things won’t damage me even if they do hit, and I can usually use Gluttony to consume anything before it hits me anyway.

Even getting stronger has its negative effects…or pride, I suppose.

When you fight someone stronger than you, it makes you realize all your weaknesses, much like I’m doing right now.

It’s been a long time since I felt this way.

So maybe I should try something I wouldn’t “normally” do… A little roll of the dice, for instance.

Otherwise, I don’t see how I’m going to beat this thing.

The Omega charges toward me.

Head-on!

Its speed is insane, but at least I’m not going to lose sight of something that’s coming straight toward me.

As the straightforward drill attack charges toward me, I brace myself and let it hit me in the chest.

“Aaaaah!”

A huge hole opens in my torso.

“Got…cha…”

But in exchange, I managed to grab the Omega’s body with my left hand.

Then I clench my right hand tightly.

I’ll put everything I’ve got into this one attack!

A critical right hook!

My full-powered punch hits the Omega square in the face, shattering its head, and blowing away its upper body with the aftershocks, too.

On top of that, even most of its lower body gets scattered by the impact.

“Well? How d’you like that?”

So much for being more careful to avoid getting hit.

But I think this was the only way take down the Omega.

If I kept staying away out of fear of getting hurt, I’d probably have been outmaneuvered by the Omega’s speed and gone down without ever landing an attack of my own.

So instead I let myself get hit, caught the Omega, and brought it down in one blow.

A short, decisive battle.

This was probably the best way to conserve energy.

I’m deeply wounded, but I’ll heal with time.

It probably would consume more energy to try to accelerate the injury’s recovery rather than let it heal gradually over time.

“I hate to break it to you, but it’s not over yet.”

But just as I’m savoring a moment of victory, Potimas’s voice ruthlessly interrupts.

The shattered pieces of the Omega flow together like liquid metal, and form back into its original shape in a matter of seconds.

“Round two is just beginning.”

As I stare in shock, Potimas’s amused voice echoes around me.

Then the Omega charges toward me again.



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