“I can’t believe it…” I muttered. “Do these monsters not fear death?”
The monsters didn’t let up their attempted assault. They kept coming in waves even as they were swallowed in the flames of a burning sea. Even the stampede that had formed when I’d fought the Heavenly Calamity had eventually fled in terror. Perhaps ancient beasts were made of sterner stuff.
“They’re choosing to run to their own deaths?!” I cried.
I couldn’t believe what I saw. The voice in my head droned on endlessly. The hand that gripped the black stave felt different somehow, and I looked at it.
I was trembling. I was afraid.
Could I keep this up? What would I do if my Gluttony crawled up to get me, right here and now? All the worries I kept in the back of my mind suddenly rushed to the forefront. I clasped my right hand with my left in an attempt to control my trembling.
“Now I truly know how important you are,” I said to the silent Greed. “You always knew what to say to keep me on track in times like these.”
The sword had a foul mouth, but he kept me steady whenever I felt lost. He said whatever he wanted—often too much—but in the end, he always assured me that I was capable of facing our foes. In the battle against the Zodiac Aquarius, he’d said that all he ever did was sit back and watch. That was all he’d said, but even that alone made me feel like we could overcome the battle ahead.
“The capital is in sight,” I said. “We’re almost ready to start our search for the other half of the Gemini.”
“Understood.”
I’d lean on my Gluttony for that. But I needed a deeper connection to get an accurate location.
“I need more,” I said. “Give me more power!”
I had never been deeper in my Gluttony than this.
“Master Fate, your eyes!”
She was no doubt talking about the crimson that filled both of my eyes. I had gone beyond my starved state to forge an even deeper connection with my Gluttony.
“Hrngh…” I groaned.
A deep pain shot through the vestigial wings on my back, but I ignored it and kept searching for the other half of Gemini. Mercadia was filled with delicious scents. I felt chimeras finally moving again after centuries of dormancy. Things I’d never eaten lurked in the capital. Among these souls, my Gluttony was drawn to one in particular. I focused on it. My heart leaped. It was my father.
He’s underground?! Is he trying to open the Door to Distant Lands from there? I focused harder. As I did so, my father turned toward me. He noticed me?!
“Do you really have time to concern yourself with me?”
His words rang like a warning, and I turned my attention to the presence I thought was the other Gemini.
“It’s been waiting…all this time.”
I had thought it was too quiet, and there was a good reason for it. It was ready and waiting, charging its power until we were in range. And it was just about to unleash it all. Could I stop it with the black shield? I thought back to the Zodiac Aquarius, the Artillery of God. If this holy beast was capable of something similar, let alone more, I wouldn’t be able to protect Eris. A defensive strategy would wear away at me. The best defense, then, was a good offense. I wasn’t about to adopt Myne’s style completely, but I knew I’d be at a huge disadvantage playing long-range defense.
I changed the black stave to the black bow and gave it half of my stats. The bow transformed ominously in my grip. I didn’t have Greed to assist in aiming anymore. I had to do this on my own. But thanks to my friends and their tutelage, my archery skills had greatly improved. I could also use my Gluttony to change the nature and elemental attributes of my arrows. Now, I’d prove that I was even more accurate than when Greed guided my aim.
I took aim at the Zodiac Gemini from within the searing black flames. Much like its other half, it was translucent, like a slime. The Gemini was in a location completely opposite my father’s. It looked down on us from upon the tallest of all the black buildings that filled Mercadia.
“Master Fate,” said Eris.
She pointed her gunblade at me and fired. I felt the buff—a temporary stat boost and an accuracy increase—flow through me. When my bow had reached its limit, I unleashed its power.
“Bloody Ptarmigan Cross!” I shouted.
The instant I fired, I was hit by an incredible recoil. All the monsters trying to attack us were sent flying. Had I not been imbued with Eris’s buff, I, too, would have been hurt.
The same moment I fired, Gemini unleashed a beam of pure white light. The two attacks collided. A spiral of black lightning met a pure white light, and I expected a battle of strength to ensue. But because the attacks were both so strong, or perhaps because the powers repelled one another, they deflected off each other.
Huge plumes of dust surrounded us in the aftermath. When they finally cleared, I found that the ground to the left of where I stood had been carved into a gargantuan crater, while the building the Gemini once sat upon had disappeared without a trace.
The Gemini didn’t fall to the ground, however. It instead remained in the air, floating. Huge, angel-like wings appeared as the holy beast began to change form.