Chapter 25:
Entrusted with the Black Sword
“NO…NONE OF YOU should be here… This is all wrong.” Myne dropped her black axe to the floor and held her head in her hands.
“Myne?!”
“Why…? They promised me they’d let you go home if I gave myself to Wrath. And I did it, so…why did this happen?”
“Myne! Get a hold of yourself!”
From within the creature, another girl’s face stirred and revealed itself. She had beautiful hair of pure white, and her skin was equally pale, almost transparent. Her eyes, much like Myne’s, were a deep red. I was so surprised that I almost called out to her first.
“Luna!” Myne screamed.
But Luna didn’t answer. She simply stared at Myne, her gaze freezing the girl where she stood and leaving her
trembling. I grabbed Myne by the shoulders, tried to get through to her, but my words were useless.
“Fate, in this situation, what would you do? What could you do?”
“Kairos?”
Kairos turned away from the creature to face me. Was something wrong? I looked around, worried, then realized time had stopped for everything but Kairos and myself. The creature wasn’t moving, Myne wasn’t moving, and even the steam of our breath floated like motionless crystals.
“Fate, I’ve been watching over you this whole time through Gluttony.”
“Watching me?”
“Yes. You’ve gained the ability to call forth souls through your skill. That’s why I was finally able to appear before you. I wanted you to know.”
Kairos put a gentle hand to Luna’s face before going on.
“This creature, and everything within it, will attack us. Myne will go berserk. She will blame herself, her mental state will crumble, and she will completely lose control of her skill. The only thing I can do when this happens will be to kill the creature that caused this change in her. But the results are devastating. You saw flashes of it through Micuria, didn’t you?”
“So that was…”
“I devoured someone I loved, and I sacrificed them to Gluttony. In the end, the only thing I could ever do was devour.” A tragic grimace flashed across Kairos’s face before he grinned and pointed at me. “But! You have appeared: the heir of Gluttony. You can do what I couldn’t. That’s why…I want you to have this.”
Kairos unsheathed the black sword and held it out for me.
“Kairos…”
“Just as I thought. It suits you. More than me, anyway. Greed’s got a foul mouth and a bad attitude, but use him well. You can count on him.”
“Thank you,” I said, taking the sword from Kairos’s hands.
It felt good. It felt right. I was more confident with this weapon than with any other.
“So you finally reached this point,” said the blade. “Kept me waiting, didn’t you, Fate?”
“Greed… I thought you weren’t supposed to know me at this point.”
“The memories came back the further along we got. But Kairos had me blocked. Kairos! Why’d you do that to me?”
“Didn’t want you meddling,” said Kairos. “Also, I wanted him to know that you haven’t changed a bit.”
“I can see he was just as much of a pain in the ass for you as he has been for me,” I said.
Kairos laughed. “You too, huh?”
We clasped hands in agreement.
“We don’t have time for your bromance,” Greed interrupted. “Luna’s stuck in that thing because of you. So what are you going to do, Fate?”
“I’m going to get her out of there. What other answer is there?”
That was our first order of business: to liberate Luna from the creature ensnaring her within its body. We’d have no way to save Myne otherwise. Kairos nodded and put a hand on my shoulder.
“Looks like this is goodbye,” he said.
“Kairos, your hand!”
The hand on my shoulder had begun to fade.
“It is what it is. Looks like I’m out of time. Once I’m gone, I can no longer control things here. I’ve been keeping Myne’s mental state subdued, but she’ll attack you now. From this point on, you’ll be entirely in her world.”
“The world of Myne.”
“It’s not a bright place.” Kairos gazed at the creature before us. “The darkness in her heart has festered for eons. That creature is the result.”
“That’s the darkness inside of Myne?”
“It is. Her despair, mixed with her Wrath, will only grow larger with time. At first, she might have been able to contain it by herself, but no longer. She can’t do it alone; she needs the help of her friends.”
Myne was still in pain by my side, curled up in a fetal position.
“I’m counting on you, Fate.” Kairos put out a hand.
I gripped it tightly. “I won’t let you down!”
With a sudden sound like shattering glass, time resumed its natural flow once more. Kairos was gone, and the dimensions of the basement were changing. The temperature dropped even lower.
“Fate, this is the cold of Myne’s frozen heart. You can’t get trapped here,” said Greed.
“I hear you.”
Myne remained balled up on the ground, catatonic with terror. In contrast, the once-passive creature transformed as if it now bore Wrath itself and entered a berserker rage. The people who emerged from the creature spat their hatred at Myne. Only Luna remained silent, staring at her sister. After a time, she was pulled back within the creature.
“Luna… Is that what you want?”
“Fate, it’s coming.”
The basement room began to decay and crumble as if it were aging. It corroded and fell apart, and water seeped through the cracks. With its many mouths, the creature roared and hurtled toward Myne. I intercepted to block the creature from reaching its target.