The pope and king attacked Linus and Maria, extending their exposed spine. Linus shot down his targets one after another, as if playing a fairground game. But no matter how many targets he hit, the spine would split and branch, sprouting new heads.
“The ability to multiply… The Origin core should be somewhere inside their body.”
“Maria, stand by and wait for the right moment!”
“Yes…!” Maria nodded vigorously in response, and Linus shot the heads of the approaching pope and king once again.
“Linus, no matter how much of a hero you may be—”
“—if you are human, you will eventually reach your limit.”
“Yeah, and because humans have got limits, you became monsters, is that it? That just sounds like loser talk to me! Like the grumblings of cowards!”
Faced with not just two but now dozens of heads, after they’d multiplied, Linus intentionally took but a single arrow in his hands and took aim. “And I’m still far from my limits!” Then, when the arrow was released, it suddenly exploded in midair. The fragments pierced the pope and king’s foreheads with precision, as if guided to those spots.
Taking advantage of that opportunity, Maria approached the throne.
“Now… Judgment!” A sword of light pierced the enemy’s torso and burned it with the heat emitted by the light. Watching this, Linus was reminded of something.
These Reversal cores are amazing. Even though our enemies are supposed to be reinforced with Origin cores, we can just easily penetrate them. If my attacks can get through with even slightly less power, then it’s better to focus on numbers, like earlier.
In terms of Reversal power alone, Flum was far, far stronger. However, the heroes had a high degree of potential inherent in their physical bodies to begin with. Even if their Reversal power was microscopic, they could easily pierce through physical bodies strengthened by the power of the Origin core. However, even if they could pierce through their opponent’s defenses, that did not mean that their own defenses had become stronger. It was entirely conceivable that, if they carelessly got their head even just grazed by an enemy’s attack, they could get killed instantly, their brains splattered all over the place. To make matters worse, many monsters often couldn’t be defeated simply by “destroying” them.
“Saint, human flesh has no meaning.”
“We thought that you of all people would understand that.”
In place of the charred torso, a lump of flesh swelled and bulged and grew at the top of the spine. From there, a new spine was grown, and the number of heads multiplied.
“I had been hoping the core would’ve been in the torso, but it appears I was wrong.”
“Their original heads have been obliterated, and their torso was burned away. Even so, we can’t find that core anywhere…which means that these things can freely move the Origin core within their body, I wager.”
“Do you think that you have seen through our power?”
“How idiotic. Those who defy Lord Origin are all fools.”
“That’s a bluff if I’ve ever seen one.” Linus had a look of exasperation on his face, fed up with this pope and king who seemed to pick holes in every single little thing. However, just then, the two of them suddenly spoke in unison.
“Look toward the truth with your own eyes.”
After they made that proclamation, a single thread extended from the area around Linus and Maria’s hearts, seeming to connect them.
“Huh? Wait, my Maria and I are…connected by a red thread? Hey, now that’s a tasteful effect eh?”
“Linus, I don’t think that’s—”
Of course, Linus was just being sarcastic. Immediately afterward, a voice echoed within his mind.
“Heh heh heh. Well, I suppose you can indulge your fantasy for a moment.”
“Wait, just now, that was Maria’s voice…?”
Just as Linus thought that, the figure of Maria appeared in his field of vision.
“Do you want to…do something like this with the Saint?”
Not only that…he was witnessing a scene she had been present in once. And the figures of the people who had been with her.
“No… No, don’t…” Maria, understanding what the pope and king were trying to do, shook her head. She tried to tear the thread that extended from her chest, but it was incorporeal, and she couldn’t touch it.
“Saint.”
“The time for dreaming is over.”
The pope and king proclaimed those words coldly, cruelly, and without shame. Before anyone knew it, Linus was standing there, dazed and blank-faced, as if he had lost consciousness. The “visions” flowing into his mind were being forced upon him—forcing him to see.
Maria, on the other hand, was forced to be the source of the visions he saw. Her eyes were vacant, unable to see her surroundings, but she was still conscious.
“Stoooop!”
The girl clutched her head and crouched down, and her heart-wrenching cries reached no one who might offer her a helping hand.