Chapter 26:
Arcane Eyes
THE UNDERGROUND CITY of Grandol sprawled out before me. We were back in the real world. Myne stood in front of me, horns still jutting from her head.
“Fate!” said Greed. “Myne’s heart is back, but she’s still under the influence of Wrath!”
“Then let’s stop her.”
I took a quick look at Shin’s progress. Fortunately, barely any time had passed since we’d entered the spiritual plane. Greed was right; time passed differently in that place.
Myne had no reason left to fight. Her movements had grown sluggish. The fervor of Wrath was the only thing pushing her toward battle. Now was my chance. Just like on the spiritual plane, I would use the power of Gluttony to free her. I contorted out of the way of her black axe and saw my chance. She’d left an opening. I swung my sword at her ribs.
“Greed, take the edge off!”
“Leave it to me. Put her down, Fate.”
I’m sorry, Myne.
The horizontal slash landed cleanly, and the rage in Myne’s eyes immediately dimmed.
“You did it!” Greed shouted.
The black axe slipped from Myne’s hands. Her eyes gradually returned to the eyes I knew.
“Myne!”
I took her in my arms, relieved to have her back. I never wanted to go through a battle like that again. Fractures began to form throughout the horns on her head.
“I’m so glad you’re back,” I said.
“Fate…I…”
“You don’t have to say anything. Not right now. I always depended and relied on you, Myne. Now it’s my turn: you can lean on me.”
“Fate…”
“What I mean is…we’re in this together!”
Myne’s eyes widened, and she nodded silently.
The cracks on her horns fractured further until the horns shattered into dust. Having used up a lot of her power during the battle, she slipped into unconsciousness in my arms. It resembled the exhaustion I felt after using Gluttony at full strength.
Where could I leave her to rest? The city was a war zone.
“Fate, over there! That building!” said Greed.
Looking around, I saw a single ghost gesturing to me with a hand. “Can we trust them?”
“They’re a fellow Galian, by my guess. Ghosts like these can’t affect the real world anyway. I’d say it’s fine. You know better than anyone how strong she is.”
I laid Myne down to rest and thanked the ghost. I still couldn’t believe this girl was able to fall asleep in the midst of a fierce battle. But she was always prepared, even in her sleep. That was who she was. Greed was right about her strength. If Shin tried anything now, she’d respond in kind.
“You did good, Fate. You won.”
“I wouldn’t call that a victory. That battle wasn’t about winning or losing.”
“I hear you. But the battle ahead definitely is.”
“Shin.”
I could hear the gunshots ringing in the sky. Eris had never stopped fighting. We had to stop Shin before he reached the surface, where he could make all those living in Hausen his sacrifice.
“I’ll be back, Myne,” I said.
I left Myne in the care of the ghost and exited. Shin’s writhing body reached greater heights than before.
“Greed, are you ready?” I asked, transforming him into the black bow.
“I’ve been aching for this. Give it to me.”
“Take ten percent!”
I recalled Kairos—I knew that I could master Greed’s First Level secret technique just as he had. I felt his motions and his focus as if they were my own. The bow grew ominously in my hand. I never lost sight of my target, but I wasn’t aiming at Shin himself. I trained my bow on the translucent crimson trunk from which he grew and probed for the surface.
No matter how many bullets she fired, Eris couldn’t stop Shin. Whenever she perforated him, his flesh simply grew back over those ragged wounds. Only something with enough power to outpace his regeneration could hope to hurt him.
“This sensation!” Greed uttered. “Fate…you…”
I had to maintain my concentration. I was drawing the very limits of power from the bow. Then I loosed a single shot that flew like a bolt of black lightning, riding on the current of the world’s magic.
“This is it!” I shouted.
I owed Kairos a debt of gratitude. He’d shown me how to use Gluttony in a fight. It had made me more capable—it had given me more freedom.
The arrow coursed through the air, struck Shin’s roots, and obliterated them.
“Yes!”
“Press the attack!”
As Shin splintered and began to crumble, he looked at me from above with an expression of purest agony.
“Gluttony! You’re always…always stealing from me.”
I loosed a relentless barrage of arrows. Seeing an opportunity, Eris joined in, spraying bullets with reckless abandon.
“Damn it. You felled Myne?” Shin demanded. “How? Barely a moment has passed.”
“Myne never wanted this. Not even from the start. She’s not on your side anymore. She’s on ours!”
When I came in range, I took the next opportunity to transform the black bow into the black scythe, then sliced through the red monsters Shin had summoned as a fleshy palisade. If they were created by Shin, they stood no chance against the scythe’s edge. I wasn’t going to lose to any skill, no matter how powerful.
“To think I’d come so far only for you to meddle once more. Everything was going so well… All I wanted was to grant her wish, and you had to get in the way!”
“I’ll do it as many times as it takes. The people of Hausen don’t live to serve you.”
“Well…I haven’t lost yet.”
Shin’s crimson eyes glowered at me, trying to freeze me in my tracks. He’d done this to me once before when he’d first taken Myne from me.
“What?!” Shin exclaimed.
His gaze once had the power to paralyze me and render me helpless, but that had been a long time ago, and he no longer had the power to stop me.
“So I suppose I’ve no other choice…”
As expected, Shin turned his back to me in an attempt to flee.
“Think you can get away?!”
“I am infinite and timeless; there are limitless opportunities for one such as I. I may lose this battle, but this is not the end.”
Red monsters once again appeared between us. There seemed to be no end to them as more and more continued to manifest and intercept my path. However, Eris blocked Shin’s egress.
“Lust, you can’t stop me. You’re the weakest of the Skills of Mortal Sin,” said Shin, his words dripping with disdain and malice. “However, you’ve given me the perfect chance to steal something from Gluttony for once.”
His hand morphed into a blade as he leaped at Eris. But Shin found himself paralyzed. I slaughtered the last of the monsters in my way and saw the red of Eris’s eyes as I drew near. She was using a magical eye skill to stop Shin from moving.
“Fate, hurry,” she said as blood flowed from her eyes. “I can’t hold this for long.”