Translator: Alpha0210
What came after that, he couldn’t quite remember, but they probably exchanged idle small talk.
The sort of words people toss around out of habit when meeting a friend, things that might have been said yesterday or might be said tomorrow.
It would never happen, of course, but if Lukas and Residue both had physical bodies and were leisurely traveling together, this was the kind of conversation they would have had.
A sudden fantasy, or perhaps a wish, became reality at some point.
The moment the sun was at its darkest, yet paradoxically appeared to burn itself most fiercely to the naked eye. A sky stained with sunset, a breeze beginning to carry the night air.
Walking along some hillside path… the one doing most of the talking would be Residue, no doubt. More than ninety percent of the words leaving his mouth would be pointless drivel. Lukas would neither listen closely to the nonsense nor bother to argue back.
The river, dyed crimson, shattered against the rocks. A spectacle like countless glass beads holding the sunset being crushed without end, ankle-high blades of grass swaying and fluttering as they twisted at the waist…
…The two of them would walk the same path, yet see entirely different landscapes.
Lukas would look at the sky, the grass, the river. Around the time the world was swallowed by darkness and wild dogs could be heard howling, he might glance around briefly. To see if anyone was camping nearby, to check whether anyone might be in danger. Just to put unnecessary worries to rest. And if they ran into some thugs, he’d beat them just enough not to kill them.
Residue, too, would look at the sky, the grass, the river. If the darkened sky didn’t suit his mood, he’d briefly consider calling down thunder and lightning to brighten the surroundings, and ponder whether to catch and roast those noisy mutts barking their heads off. Likewise, if they encountered bandits, he’d beat them just enough not to kill them. Or maybe they’d end up dead anyway.
The ‘Dumpsite’ suddenly came to mind.
The place where all abandoned possibilities existed.
More worlds than there were stars, possibilities too numerous to count.
Wouldn’t one of those worlds contain it? No purpose, no destination. Just two men currently at odds walking the same road, taking a dull look around at the world.
Drowning in weary peace, yawning and grumbling, talking about things that had absolutely nothing to do with the fate of the world, or Destruction. What should we eat today? How about that river over there? There might be fish in it. You catch them. If I were to fish, every fish in the entire river would go extinct. Death by electrocution…
Even while grilling fish, Residue would jabber on without pause.
Cleaning up the messes you left behind was absolute hell. Why did you have to go and form bonds with only those kinds of people? Were you deliberately trying to screw me over? By the way, how was life over there? Judging by your face, it doesn’t look like you had a lot of good times. Same for me. Come to think of it, were you watching my situation the whole time?
…Lukas would hardly respond at all.
His lowered eyes would hold nothing but the flickering campfire, and he would only nod from time to time. Very occasionally he’d open his mouth and say something, but as if his voice had been stolen, no sound would come out.
Residue didn’t mind.
Because Lukas was listening to what he had to say. From time to time, he even caught a glimpse of Lukas breaking into an idle smile.
Watching that face, Residue gradually lost the ability to tell whether what he was seeing was a dream or a fantasy.
Was this really Lukas? Was he seeing things right now?
“…You’ve gone quiet, haven’t you? A guy who was already no fun has gotten even less fun.”
Even as he rambled, he could feel his words slurring.
He’d never been drunk, not even once, but if he ever were, perhaps it would feel something like this.
As his consciousness drifted away pleasantly, a feeling that this was the last time drove him to keep talking.
“…Thinking about it again, it really is one damned, messed-up situation. I have no idea how things got this tangled. The greatest hero among heroes ended up becoming the final mastermind who commands Destruction, and the worst villain among villains inherited that body and is now playing at saving the world… If there exists some transcendent being beyond even the gods we knew, that bastard must be spectacularly stupid. To hand out roles like this.”
“……”
“You said I was doing well? Lately, the feeling that it’s not enough has been growing stronger. ‘Doing well’ is from your perspective, isn’t it? Meaning… things are going as you planned, or as you expected.”
“……”
“Are those the expectations of ‘Lukas Trowman’? Or the expectations of ‘Destruction’s Commander’?”
“……”
“The expectations of Lukas Trowman… well, that’s obvious. You wouldn’t have included yourself in your own plan, would you? After all the twists and turns, I kill you, and peace is restored to the world… something along those lines, I’d guess. How close am I?”
“……”
“And the expectations you have for as ‘Destruction’s Commander’… well, I can’t quite predict those, but they’d be worse than the former.”
Residue stopped there, then suddenly burst out laughing like a madman. Lukas, too, was watching him with a faint smile.
“…In the end, it always comes back to this, doesn’t it? Hm? All we’d have to do is take it easy and shoot the breeze. Even just one day of that would be enough, yet we can’t manage it. How nice would it be to become a fool at times like this? The kind of fool who can spend an entire day debating how best to grill a fish.”
“……”
“You and me both. Maybe we can’t live like that anymore. What can we do? The world demands otherwise.”
Residue rose to his feet even as drowsiness was overwhelming him.
Looking up at the sky on a whim, he saw storm clouds rolling in from far away.
“A storm’s coming. I should get going.”
“……”
“It doesn’t matter which it is. This connects to what I just said. Lukas. Whatever form your expectations take, I no longer intend to live up to them. So rest easy and…”
Rest easy and, what? What should he say?
Rest easy and die? He wasn’t going to die, was he? Rest? He wasn’t going to rest either. They were about to fight, and Lukas would prepare thoroughly and try to screw him over.
While he searched for the last fragment of words he needed to say, the storm had drawn close enough to touch.
“…Eat well and live well.”
The moment he tossed the words out, thunder crashed down.
What expression Lukas made right after, or what words he spoke, Residue didn’t pay attention. He had decided not to place much significance on that anymore.
A white bolt of lightning pierced through his mind.
Residue slowly awakened, accompanied by a thrilling current racing through his entire body.
*
When he returned to reality, it was just after Residue and the Exile had crossed past each other. Wounds appeared on both their bodies simultaneously. Residue had been deeply slashed from his right collarbone to his left flank. A serious injury.
But the Exile’s condition was far worse. That bluish, bloated body now looked as if it had been shredded by countless blade fragments, a gruesome sight.
[Gh, g, gak.]
A grotesque sound leaked out, though it didn’t seem to come from the throat. Residue forcibly ignored the pain stabbing through his entire body. It was an exchange where both parties sustained critical wounds, but Residue had come out slightly ahead.
In that case, he needed to press the advantage.
He couldn’t use One Step Through Time and Space again, so he drew several metal fragments rolling around nearby into his hands and shaped them. He formed them into a crude, one-dimensional club. The smooth surface felt just right.
“You’re not a dog, but I’d like to give you a good beating with this.”
Whether the Exile understood or not, it shrieked and charged toward him.
Almost simultaneously, a pitch-black beam fired from Golden Eye’s pupil.
A pitch-black beam? Even as Residue thought it, he recognized the contradiction, but no better description came to mind. It blazed like a sun dyed black, the core as dark as if painted with ink, while the outer edges shone bright enough to blind.
So Golden Eye was the last Destruction? Residue looked at Futurix. She wore a dazed expression, taking in the entire scene. It looked as though she couldn’t accept the truth that every Void Lord except herself had been a Hide.
Or that could be an act too, but… the mere fact that she wasn’t attacking Residue at this golden opportunity was enough to save some face.
Residue looked forward again.
The beam was faster than the charging Exile. At first he planned to dodge the beam and then deal with the Exile, but suddenly he felt his heart pounding hard.
‘Sun God?’
Residue questioned it inwardly, but naturally no answer came. A flicker of bewilderment crossed his face, but it vanished quickly, replaced by resolve as he thrust his left palm toward the beam.
His mind snapped to attention from the agony of his palm being incinerated. The beam he’d made contact with was closer to a laser than a flame, possessing tremendous output and cutting power, enough to pierce Residue’s skin without difficulty.
But by then, his heart was thrashing so violently it seemed ready to burst.
Fire kindled in the blood his heart pumped. The flames of the Sun God, the Ruler’s fire, gradually spread from the center of his body, and in an instant engulfed Residue entirely. There was no pain. If anything, as if his mind had gone haywire, being wrapped in fire felt… comfortable.
The moment the spreading flames met the beam, the pitch-black beam ceased to be a threatening attack and became nothing more than a wick. The fire devoured its way up the beam like it was feeding on it, reaching its source: Golden Eye’s pupil.
The Destruction wearing Golden Eye’s form trembled violently, its body consisting of nothing but that single eyeball. As if that weren’t enough, it plunged itself into the fluid and began thrashing about as though it had lost its mind. Naturally, Sun God’s flames could not be extinguished by something as pathetic as this nutrient solution.
Residue was briefly dumbfounded, but he had no time to keep watching that spectacle. The Exile had closed the distance. Up close, the sight was even more horrific. Blood and entrails dripped steadily from the mangled body in every direction. It was a state no living thing should have been able to move in, yet the creature charged at Residue as if carrying out the supreme command of its existence.
“Shouldn’t you take a break? You too. Especially since you seem to have been worked half to death.”
Residue wrapped Thunder around the club.
Then something unexpected happened. The club he’d painstakingly shaped began to change form again, and before long, it became a weapon in the shape of a lightning bolt. It happened so quickly that even Residue was momentarily stunned.
But the shape was quite familiar. It closely resembled the weapon he had bestowed upon Retip long ago: ‘Astrafe’.
…Of course, he had no idea how powerful this one would be.
Residue gazed down at the weapon, which flickered quietly as though it held the fiercest thunder and lightning within, then murmured briefly.
“From now on, I’ll call you Piercing Thunder.”
With that short murmur he took his stance and hurled it at the Exile.
Piercing Thunder lived up to its name, skewering clean through the Exile’s body, and it did not stop there. Lightning writhed from the hole punched through the Exile’s chest. The instant the Exile clutched at itself, the lightning branched into ten thousand streams and spread outward. The Exile’s entire body was scorched black, and before long it began to crumble apart.
In a flash, its body became hundreds of charred meat fragments that splashed one after another into the fluid below.
“……”
Residue stared blankly at the sight, then extended his hand again. Piercing Thunder, which had flown all the way to a wall and embedded itself there, slipped neatly back into his grasp.
“Now that’s convenient.”
It seemed he’d gotten his hands on a decent weapon.
He turned toward Golden Eye, intending to test it further, but the creature too lay half-submerged in the fluid, limp. No signs of life were detected.
Was it over? Something felt off, but for now he’d call it settled.
Exhaustion and drowsiness hit him all at once, but there was no time to catch his breath. Residue looked around. It seemed strangely quiet, and sure enough, Agolet and the Half King were no longer here. They’d been fighting viciously, so they must have smashed through walls and moved the battle elsewhere.
“Futurix.”
“……”
Futurix was staring at the scene with a vacant expression. What the hell. Don’t tell me she broke down?
Residue trudged over and slapped her across the cheek.
Light returned to those vacant eyes.
“…What do you want.”
“Where did Agolet and the Half King go?”
Futurix’s face twisted with indignation.
“Why would I…”
“Have to answer? There are several reasons, but the simplest is this: if you don’t cooperate, you die.”
He had no actual intention of killing her, but he said it anyway.
“I’ve already heard from Agolet the locations of all your cores.”
He hadn’t.
“Do you remember the speed I showed you? Whether you have forty cores or four hundred, it’s no problem for me right now. No matter how far away they are, I can destroy every last one in the blink of an eye.”
He was in no condition to use One Step Through Time and Space.
Yet even this threat failed to shake Futurix. She let out a deep sigh and spoke.
“…Kill me if you want. Our plan is on the verge of ruin anyway. Dying by your hand would be preferable to dying by Destruction’s.”
That was a reaction he hadn’t expected.
Residue deliberated briefly, then changed tactics.
“The Half King, the core of your plan, is still safe, isn’t she?”
“You saw it yourself. She’s practically defective at this point. Honestly, the one who understood the Half King’s mental state best was the Exile. Now that he’s dead… I have no confidence I can fully control her.”
So that’s how they think of the Half King.
It didn’t sit well with him, but having already killed three Void Lords, he couldn’t eliminate Futurix as well.
Residue shook his head and spoke.
“Listen, friend. I don’t know how grand your plan is, but let me say this first: mine is just as ambitious.”
“What is your plan?”
“Not enough time to explain it here and now… ah. Damn it.”
He’d lost the patience to keep persuading her.
“You’re already wearing the face of someone about to die. How hard is it to just tell me where the Half King is? Spit it out.”
If she still wouldn’t talk after this, he’d planned to simply tear through the surrounding area and find them himself.
Futurix regarded Residue with sunken eyes, then sighed and pointed in a direction. Residue headed that way without a word. Just before he left, a low voice reached him.
“If you die like this, then what am I supposed to…”
*
It was called the Future City, true, but Residue had been unable to find anything remotely city-like about the place. At best, there were nauseatingly long white corridors and sweltering rooms where the nutrient fluid rose to ankle level. That was all.
When he headed in the direction Futurix had pointed, something more city-like finally began to unfold. The structures, almost entirely white, looked as if they’d been formed by mashing together jelly or marshmallows. Meaning they were infuriatingly simple in design.
The vehicles that had presumably raced along the ground or flown through the air were more complex than the buildings, but unfortunately most of the visible machinery was wrecked, making it impossible to tell what principles they operated on.
CRASH, CRASH…
The closer he got to the city center, the louder the sounds of battle grew.
The explosions were enormous, as if the fighters intended to demolish the entire Future City, and it wasn’t hard to locate the Half King and Agolet.
The surrounding area was a wreck.
Collapsed buildings, shattered machines, flames, smoke. …No matter what a city looked like, the aftermath of destruction always ended up more or less the same. This ridiculous-looking city was no exception.
Agolet appeared to be struggling. His face was still unreadable as ever, but he must have hit the ground rolling several times, because his once-immaculate appearance was streaked with soot and his armor was cracked in many places. The only thing still intact was his shield, though the radiance surrounding it seemed considerably weaker than before.
Even at this moment he was being pushed back, but Residue didn’t join in immediately. Instead, he sat atop a crumbling structure and watched.
“Not bad.”
So that was the man called the White Knight, the master of defensive combat, the Knight Commander, the mightiest shield? Loath as he was to admit it, their compatibility in battle was excellent. A format where Agolet covered the openings created after Residue used One Step Through Time and Space or Piercing Thunder at maximum output…
Just then, Agolet’s gaze turned his way. A distinct light flickered in those eyes.
“Your Majesty, you’ve arrived?”
“Ah, yeah.”
After Agolet spoke and Residue nodded, the exchange of blows paused for a moment.
The Half King stopped her ferocious assault and looked up at Residue with a blunt expression. It seemed she, too, was curious about how things had turned out.
“Did everything go well?”
“Hard to say. Won some, lost some.”
“I see. Then now…”
Before Agolet could finish, the Half King attacked him again. Even Agolet couldn’t fully react to this sudden strike. His shield came up a fraction too late, and the Half King’s blow grazed his head. That alone tore a deep gash across his forehead, and Agolet staggered back several steps.
“Would you please, give me a hand.”
“…!”
This unexpected statement genuinely left Residue with a look of utter surprise.
Residue stared at Agolet with that expression.
Did this guy just ask me for help?
Does he really not understand the situation?
“Golet.”
Agolet belatedly realized that was a shortened form of his name, but he could hardly complain about it. Residue continued immediately.
“That’s a funny joke.”
“A joke?”
“Help? Me, help you? Ah, I see. This is another one of your tests, isn’t it?”
“Huh?”
“Don’t worry. After all, I am the king you serve, am I not? I would never disappoint a loyal subject.”
Residue delivered this with a solemn face, but couldn’t hold it and burst out laughing. Then, looking at Agolet’s still-bewildered expression, he spoke.
“You are a powerful being.”
“……”
“And you will face countless crises in the days to come.”
“…Your Majesty?”
“Compared to those, the hardship before you now is, what, a small puddle of an obstacle, wouldn’t you say?”
These were words pulled from memory.
Agolet’s expression hardened.
“And what else was it… ah. I trust that even without my help, you have already found a way to break through this situation. My greatest subject, White Knight Agolet.”
Residue clenched both fists.
“You can do it.”
“……”
After a silence, Agolet spoke slowly.
“That is truly childish, Your Majesty.”
“Thanks.”
“It was not a compliment.”
“I know.”
Agolet’s cheek twitched for the first time, but there was no time for anything more.
The Half King crashed down upon them with ferocious force.
*****
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