“Grr. You!” he said through gritted teeth. Standing there before him was the blue-haired Mushroom Keeper, the Man-Eating Panda Milo Nekoyanagi. He had changed out of his female disguise and into his usual hunting garb, and even though his pounding headaches still raged and eye socket was all rusted, his eyes blazed like sapphires. “I wondered who in this city was still fool enough to stand against me.” “…I’m too late…!” Ignoring Kelshinha’s taunts, Milo spotted on the ground the ghastly remains of Kyurumon and gently closed his eyes. Then, in a twinkle of azure fire, he shot Kelshinha a deadly glare. “Impressive. You can still stand despite my meddling in your brain. I ought to commend you, but as I thought, you are nothing more than a demon who would strike back at a god. For you, there can be no salvation.” “The one beyond salvation here is you, Kelshinha!” Milo wiped the blood from his face and glared at the old man, his eyes quivering with rage. “How dare you disguise yourself as me…to kill someone who practiced the healing arts!” “Ha-ha-ha… Kyurumon never showed me so much affection in the bedroom as she did you. I wonder what she saw in that waifish figure of yours… Quite an enlightening experience, I must admit.” “…You’re still looking down on me…” Milo’s sapphire eye became tinged with black, and a dark smile spread across his lips. From his throat came a deep, crushing voice. “You think I’m just Akaboshi’s sidekick? …Fine, look down on me all you want. But I’m warning you, it’s not my dying partner you should be afraid of; it’s me.” Milo smoothly unfastened the emerald bow from his back and aimed it at Kelshinha. Even someone wholly unfamiliar with the Mushroom Keepers could see the skill his stance exuded. He stood proudly and confidently, a paragon of his kind. …You worm…! Perhaps reevaluating the threat Milo posed, Kelshinha coiled like a snake and launched the iron pipe in his hand straight toward him like a javelin. Behind that feint, he began to chant a mantra. “Won-shad— Gblh!” A streak of light pierced the old man’s face. Milo’s mushroom arrow tore apart the iron pipe in mid-flight like a scrap of paper and continued on right between Kelshinha’s eyes. His head swelled like a balloon and burst, but though the body staggered, it did not fall. The fountain of rust that burst from his neck gradually stopped and began to reshape into the form of a head once again. “Grr… you…weasel!” “On—shad—vacurer—snew…Restrain target.” “…?! Impossible. How did you know the components?!” “How, you ask?” Milo gave a smile as he tapped his rusted eye socket. “You think you’re the only one who benefits from being inside my head? I can see you, too, you know. I know what mantra you’re about to use, the rules…even the meanings of the words.” “…So the lunatic act was just that—an act. All to fool me while I was in your brain!” “There’s two parts to being a Mushroom Keeper. To watch closely, and to believe.” Milo spoke without emotion, and from his gently parted lips came a breath as hot as fire. He fixed two arrows to his bowstring and aimed them at Kelshinha. “Right now I have them both. It doesn’t matter how many times you can regenerate; I will keep firing until your energy runs out.” “Y-you…you worthless imp! You simpering child!” “Well, that child is about to tear you to pieces, Kelshinha!” Then, just as Bisco always did, Milo flashed his opponent a toothy grin. “I hope you rot in Hell, old man!” Using the King Trumpets and his wire arrows, Bisco scaled the tower in an upward spiral, with Amli’s arms wrapped tightly around his neck as the wind ran through her close-cropped hair. Her eyes glittered as she took in the wondrous sight. “You are like a hawk, brother dearest! What a show, to spin around and see the other five towers like this…” “Even though there’s only two of ’em left? Heh, if I were you, I’d ask for my money back!” “Mr. Bisco, sir, you travel all over the country with Mr. Milo, correct?” Amli whispered dreamily into Bisco’s ear. “You must get to see such marvelous sights. Someday, I would wish to be free of these darkened streets and see the whole wide world for myself…” Somewhere in her innocent voice, it sounded like she didn’t truly think it possible. Bisco paid her no heed, however, instead plucking a chunk of smoked hippo meat hanging from the window of a nearby restaurant before leaping into the night toward the neighboring tower. “Ah! Brother, what have you done?” cried Amli, looking over her shoulder at the red-faced shopkeeper behind her. “You have to pay for that, you know!” “I’m on my way to rid this city of its cancer. The least they could offer me is one piece of hippo meat.” Bisco bit into the meat as he leaped between the buildings, and soon it was completely gone. “Besides, my stomach’s been startin’ to feel better. The more I eat, the stronger I feel.” “…That’s strange. The treatment is not yet over. Perhaps Kelshinha himself is getting weaker…? Ah! You did it again!!” Amli cried out once more as Bisco swiped a string of five cow-liver buns and wolfed down four of them. The fifth he handed to Amli, who puffed out her cheeks in displeasure but still took the bun and popped it into her tiny mouth. “You’re still eatin’ it, I see.” “It was you who stole it. My conscience is clean.” “Ha!” Bisco gave a surprised chuckle when suddenly a body fell straight toward him from above. Dodging it, he saw that it had been one of the Fire Tower’s assassins, and his face grew grim once more. “That was one of Kyurumon’s guards. She may be in trouble. Or perhaps she is already…” “That means Milo might already be fighting the old man! We gotta hurry!” Spurred on by the strength slowly returning to his body, Bisco quickened his pace, firing arrow after arrow into the walls of the tower. “…We gotta be careful of his weird regeneration power,” muttered Bisco with a frown, casting his mind back to the night his stomach was stolen. “You take an arm or a leg, and they just grow back like nothin’ happened. It’s kinda like my power, but way better. He can even survive havin’ his head blown off.” “Your power is Regeneration, dear brother. It is different than Kelshinha’s power of Restoration. His body is created from Rust, which keys off the original form stored within the Scriptures, and he has set up a mantra command to revert to a previous state whenever the brain detects considerable damage to the flesh.” “???” Amli’s utterly incomprehensible explanation left Bisco lost for words, yet he continued to ascend the tower at breakneck speed. “All you need to understand, big brother, is that unless the power of the rust stored within the Scriptures is exhausted, then Kelshinha is truly immortal in every sense of the word.” Suddenly feeling concerned for the well-being of his partner, Bisco hastened his step. “Well, he sure sounds like a monster, as you say, but here in the real world there ain’t such a thing as infinite power. Where does the rust inside the Scriptures come from?” “Mr. Bisco, sir. You are not quite so dumb as Mr. Milo makes out,” said Amli with a giggle. “What’s he been sayin’ about me? That dick!” Then Amli lowered her voice and whispered into Bisco’s ear. “I was taught it is faith that fuels the power of the Scriptures. Humans possess the power to live, to depend on others, and to believe in something. I was told this was called ‘Evolution.’ The will of all creatures to adapt and fight for survival. This will is what gives birth to the Rust.” “Evolution…?” “Yes. Here at the towers, we have chosen the power of faith. All those who come seeking immortality, their prayers, their desires… All of them are stored within the Scriptures, down to the last line of verse. There, they become rust. That is what I was taught.” “…Huh. So this old man is just usin’ everyone’s prayers to do what he wants? And he built this massive tower to do it. Pathetic.” Bisco turned to see Amli staring silently at his face with a curious look… Then, in a quiet voice, she asked, “Mr. Bisco, sir, I hear you seek to cast away the Rust-Eater’s power.” “What’s this all of a sudden? Did Raskeni tell you that?” “You are very strange, sir. Everybody fears the Rust, fears death. That is why they come here. Why would you go to such lengths to abandon the power of immortality?” Bisco looked into Amli’s twinkling eyes, then he turned away and sniffed. “’Cause I promised.” “You promised…?” “A while back, to my partner. I dunno if he still remembers, though.” Bisco slowed down a little as he reminisced. “He asked if partners stay united until death. And I said…” He paused. Amli awaited his next words with bated breath. Bisco looked a little uncomfortable, but continued. “…Yes. I said yes. Even though there ain’t no rule that says that.” “…You said…you would die together?” asked Amli, the astonishment clear in her voice. “With Milo? And for that…you want to give up your immortality?” Bisco looked uneasy at Amli’s words. With faltering speech, he tried to explain himself. “I already broke that promise once. I died before he did…and it made him cry. A lot. He cried…and got mad…and told me to never leave him behind again. So…” Bisco paused as if trying to find exactly the right words to express himself, but the Man-Eating Redcap’s limited vocabulary proved to be woefully insufficient. Amli blinked and turned her attention toward Bisco’s scar-riddled face, and the tattoo around his eye, without saying anything. …Bisco Akaboshi. You are a gentle hawk. True of course and steady of wing. Shining, brave, and noble. Her violet eye twinkled with a new determination, charmed by Bisco’s mien. Bam! Bam! “Eek! Mr. Bisco, sir!” “…Gh. And the more strength I regain, the wilder the Rust-Eater becomes.” Gritting his teeth, Bisco tore out the glittering mushroom that sprang from his chest. Its base was drenched in his warm, wet blood. “That broke my rib. The next one’s gonna pierce my lung.” “Mr. Bisco, sir! Let me extract the rust again! We have to keep it under control or else…!” “Nah, not now. Milo needs me.” Even when he was faced with his own death, Bisco’s emerald eyes glittered and burned. “Let’s go. If I’m gonna die anyway, I at least wanna put that old man in the ground first.” It seemed Bisco only grew stronger the closer he was to death. The glittering orange spores of the Rust-Eater floated around his body, enveloping him in a warm glow. To Amli, it seemed she was gazing upon the makings of a legend yet to be written. You came into my life like a storm… Your legs, free of chains. You made me feel like I could also be like that. No, not just me. I’m sure anyone looking at you would feel the same way. Amli’s eyes quivered as she held on to Bisco, and she pulled her arms tightly around his neck. Fwip! Fwip! Fwip! Milo sneered and fired his arrows, leaping backward across the power lines as Kelshinha followed in fierce pursuit, iron pipe in hand. While the power of his shots was nothing compared to Bisco’s, he was several steps ahead in reading the old man’s movements, and the arrows faithfully skewered his arms and legs. Bam! Gaboom! “Groooaaargh!” Kelshinha let out a roar of anger and pain and plucked the mushrooms from his body one by one, ripping out chunks of flesh with them. He swung his spear with fearless persistence. “Kah!” Shwf! Milo deflected the spearhead with the edge of his blade and pulled his bow taut. His arrow just grazed Kelshinha’s neck and landed in the tower beyond, exploding into a burst of red oyster mushrooms. Kelshinha gouged out the flesh before the mushrooms could even take root and gnashed his teeth in such anger that he looked ready to blow. “You thinking of your next mantra?” shouted Milo. “I can hear it coming in my head!” “Won-shad-varuler-snew!” Kelshinha leaped back, irritated, and muttered his spell. From out of thin air, dozens of Rust kunai appeared and flew toward Milo in unison. Shwip! Milo cast off his cloak and fired an arrow toward it. As it struck the cloak, the tip of his wire arrow exploded into a spiderweb of threadlike filaments that engulfed the kunai. “Slice target. I saw that one coming, too.” “You insolent child!” The steelspider thread wrapped up Kelshinha until he was completely paralyzed. Using all the strength he could muster, Milo tugged on the wire arrow and hauled the cocoon of silk overhead. “Rrraaaaaaargh!” With an almighty Crash! Kelshinha collided with the upper levels of the Fire Tower, and he slid down the wall before landing with a smack on the balcony of Kyurumon’s bedroom. “Hahh… hahh… hahh…!” As he felt the wire go slack, Milo broke out sweating. …That was close. Thank goodness I was able to rile him up…! Even Milo could see that in terms of ability, Kelshinha far surpassed him. That was why he had to be crafty. Despite the fact that Amli’s treatment had been completely effective, he had to pretend he was still of unsound mind. No, it’s not over yet. I have to reclaim Bisco’s stomach…! Wiping the sweat from his brow, Milo leaped from the power lines to where Kelshinha was freeing himself from the net and crawling along the ground. “If… If I can just get to…the lungs…” Kelshinha writhed on the floor, every bone in his body shattered. His endless torture at the hands of Milo had exhausted his regenerative capabilities. In fact, in this short time, his muscular body had completely shriveled up and reverted to that of a mere old man. He groped around for the Scripture, which Milo’s arrow had knocked out of his hand. “You miserable wretch… I’ll tear you…apart…” When he spotted the Scripture lying at the base of Kyurumon’s bed, drenched in blood, Kelshinha’s face lit up. “Ah. There it is. There it is!” As he slithered through the blood and reached out with one spindly arm to grasp it… Gaboom! A mushroom arrow exploded from beneath the bed, sending it and Kelshinha flying. “Eee! Waargh!” As the old man collided with the wall and fell to the ground, the sound of the Mushroom Keeper’s footsteps echoed around the room. “So this is the Scripture. The source of your mantra powers.” Milo held Kelshinha’s lungs up to his eyes and gazed curiously at the tightly packed letters tattooed around them. “Is this what I’ve been hearing in my head all this time…?” Noticing a pattern of some kind in the letters, he squinted closer. “…These are no ordinary verses… If I had to guess, they look more like program code. So theology has access to some sort of technique that can harness the power of the Rust.” “…Heh-heh-heh. Clever boy…,” said Kelshinha, scowling up at Milo. Weak as he was, somewhere within Kelshinha’s eyes still lurked a glimmer of intelligence. “…As you have so rightly discerned, the Rust can be commanded through specific sequences of sounds… That is what we call mantra. And I was not the first to uncover this wisdom; there were others—” Fwip! Milo’s arrow whizzed through the air and grazed Kelshinha’s cheek. He readied another one as he placed the Scripture in his pocket. “I don’t want to let you speak too much. You could be hiding mantras in your words, after all.” And I don’t want to hear another speech like Kurokawa’s, he added under his breath. “Just answer my questions. Where did you come across this technique?” “I deciphered it myself,” said Kelshinha. There was pride in his voice, even as he crawled along the ground. “Long ago. Over a century, perhaps. It was I who discovered the workings of the Scriptures, back when they were mere holy texts. The people of this city were nothing more than livestock…offering up their power over the Rust to God. Thus, I overwrote the target of that power. From God…to me…” He changed the target of worship to himself…?! By tattooing the Scriptures onto his own organs…?! Milo gazed in wondrous fear at the old man writhing on the floor before him, trying not to let his emotion show on his face. As evil as he was, he must have been one of the few people in the world who understood the Rust. “Why is it worship that gives birth to the Rust? Doesn’t the Rust bring sickness and death to people?” “No. The Rust is the fulcrum of evolution. It is those who refuse to adapt who die out, as is natural.” “…” “Those who can adapt, and harness the Rust, survive. Have you not witnessed the mutated creatures across the land? They are the next generation of life in this world. Those who have successfully aligned themselves with the Rust. You humans still fear the Rust. That is why you are inferior.” “‘You humans’? So are you saying you’re not human?” “That’s right. I’m not. The mantra grants control over the Rust. It is the next step in human evolution. I have transcended humanity and taken a step toward divinity.” …If what he says is true, then using the mantra, I could control the Rust, and maybe even eradicate the disease from Japan entirely…! Milo knew he was treading on very dangerous territory, but his curiosity as a medical professional would not let this lie. His bowstring still pulled taut, he pressed on with his questions. “Could it be possible…to rid a person of the Rust?” “Without killing them? Perhaps. However, if there is such a mantra, I do not know it.” “There are mantras even you haven’t mastered?” “I can use any mantra if I know the words. It simply does not interest me to discover them. I would sooner hunt for the mantra to wipe my ass after taking a shit.” Kelshinha grinned a toothy smile as the tide of conversation appeared to shift in his favor. Milo ground his molars in frustration. “Then, what about Bisco’s immortality…?” “Akaboshi…is not…immortal,” replied Kelshinha between labored breaths. “He has not evolved to be above the Rust. He simply regenerates boundlessly and ages more slowly. He will probably die if his head is removed. If the flesh is destroyed, so, too, is he. However…” Kelshinha calmed down a little as he started talking about Bisco. He muttered in a low voice, as if he had completely forgotten Milo’s presence, and dark flames resided in his eyes. “However… However, while it is the Rust’s exact opposite, the Rust-Eater is still fearsome in its limitless power… This one stomach generated in a single day what would take ten thousand worshipers a year to produce! Akaboshi…possesses the divinity entitled only to me! He must be dealt with… He must…!” “Don’t get ahead of yourself, Kelshinha!” roared Milo, losing his patience. “If you can’t turn Bisco back to normal, then I don’t need you anymore. Give me back Bisco’s stomach!” “I’ll exchange it for the Scripture. The one inside your pocket.” “You must be joking.” Milo’s sapphire eyes looked down on Kelshinha without pity. “I’m going to kill you and rip it out of you myself. It won’t hurt; the blade is coated with numbshroom oil.” Milo unhooked the purple shortsword from his waist and tossed it to Kelshinha. He scowled and looked back up at Milo but only met his cold eyes and the point of his arrow. After a while, he obediently took the blade, poised it over his own stomach, and took a deep breath… “Raaaargh!” Kelshinha suddenly leaped to the side. Milo’s mushroom arrow landed in his thigh, and bloomed, but that didn’t stop him. “On! Shad-lib-va—” Thud! Just as Kelshinha chanted his mantra, an even stronger arrow tore off his tongue and pierced his throat, pinning him to the wall. “I warned you…!” Gaboom! Gaboom! Gaboom! The slightest bit of regret showed on Milo’s face as the oyster mushrooms tore the old man apart. His body floundered with the force of the expanding mushrooms before falling to the ground, motionless. Milo looked down and bit his lip in remorse. Remorse at losing the chance to learn the greatest healing arts the world may ever know…but more than that, remorse at taking the life of another sentient creature. There was…no other way. I had to kill him…for Bisco. “Lib-varuler.” As soon as he heard the warm, sickly voice murmuring in his ears, Milo sprang back, shocked. Then, from out of his pocket came a Shwing! as spears of rust shot out in all directions, piercing his body. Milo failed to land neatly and slipped on a pool of his own blood, falling onto the bed. The attack had come from the Scripture itself. Sharp lances of Rust extended from the lungs, puncturing his delicate skin. Milo braved the intense pain and tried to stand up, when Kelshinha rushed toward him and delivered a roundhouse kick that caught his neck, sending him flying across the room and colliding with the far wall in a cloud of dust. It was a decoy…this whole time…! Blood flowed from Milo’s mouth as he looked at the dead body, pinned to the wall by his arrow. Now it was not Kelshinha’s, but that of the high priestess Kyurumon. “You demons are all fooled by the same trick. First this woman…and now you.” As Kelshinha approached, Milo frantically tried to get to his feet, but found no footing in his own puddle of blood. Kelshinha stepped before him and snarled. “You worm.” The old man’s kick landed in the pit of Milo’s stomach. The pain was so unimaginably strong that he could not even breathe. All he could do was clench his fists and grit his teeth as Kelshinha grabbed him by the neck and slowly lifted him off the ground. He grinned a wicked smile as he gazed into Milo’s beautiful panda face. Then he grabbed the Scripture, still embedded in Milo’s body, and twisted. “Waaaaarghhh! Graaaargh!!” “The Immortal Monk…no, Kelshinha, the Rust Lord, is a benevolent god. I am willing to overlook your insolent behavior, your treacherous conduct, and allow you to surrender. Kneel before me and swear your eternal devotion.” “Who would ever swear devotion to you?!” “Heh-heh-heh. Very well. It would be most tedious for you to give in so easily. Tell me… which is more painful. This…or this? I can’t hear if all you do is scream.” “Gaaaaaaagh!! Gaaaaah! Gyaaaaahhh!!” With each of Milo’s ghastly screams, the blood bubbled and spilled from his open mouth as if he was gargling it. Just as he was about to pass out from the sustained torture, Kelshinha finally pulled the Scripture from his body, drawing thick, black blood. Before Milo’s now-empty eyes, he recited another mantra, and the rust spikes extending from the Scripture crumbled away. Then he opened his mouth impossibly wide and slowly gulped the Scripture down. “…Now I have finally reclaimed three of them.” Kelshinha proudly stroked his own chest and felt the power flow into his body. Milo could only watch, powerless, as Kelshinha lifted him up once more. “Your organs have been torn to shreds. If left alone, you will soon die…without the powers of the Rust Lord, Kelshinha, that is.” “…” “The people of this city are not deserving of the immortality they seek. They are fools, little more than robots who rub their hands together in prayer and fill the Scriptures with Rust. However, you are different. You gazed back at me through my domination, and you unraveled the mysteries of the mantra by yourself. There is value in letting you live.” “…” “Rejoice. Once I am whole again, I will grant you immortality through the power of the Rust and make you my new high priest. Already, it is beyond your ability to kneel. If you wish to live, simply say the word… Make me a god, and pledge your allegiance for all eternity…” Milo listened to him speak with empty eyes, and just as Kelshinha was starting to get irritated, he opened his mouth. “You…are…” “That’s right. Say it. I am Kelshinha, the Rust Lord…!” “You…are…not…my…god.” At Milo’s suddenly clear voice, Kelshinha’s eyes went wide with shock. “My god is strong. He will…never break. And he’s kind…even though he can be a bit dumb at times… I already have a god. And there’s nothing left in me to devote to anyone else, because I already gave my everything to him.” “You spurn me? Here, on the verge of death? When I am your only salvation?! Where is your god now?! He cannot save you!!” “If faith…is only about being saved… Then I don’t need it.” Milo’s face was by now as pale as a sheet, and yet he mustered up a tiny smile. “There is nothing I want, except to offer myself, and to live my life in his service. And to fight for him…even if that means I must die for him…” Kelshinha was struck dumb by the boy’s devotion, an acceptance of death so blindingly clear. While everyone else threw themselves at his feet and begged for eternal life, this boy simply stared in silence at his own approaching death and awaited what lay beyond. It was something Kelshinha had never seen in over a hundred years of life. “You fool…! You think death will save you from me?! You will rue your words this day as you burn in the pits of Hell for all eternity!” “Death…will save me…?” Milo muttered with vacant eyes and chuckled. “You’ve got it all wrong, Kelshinha. Your time’s up. I’ve won.” Kelshinha tilted his head as he struggled to understand the meaning of Milo’s words. Just then… Kerrashhh!!! Like a bolt of lightning, an arrow tore into the room and pinned Kelshinha to the wall. Almost no time later, a cluster of oyster mushrooms sprang into being and launched him back in the other direction, sending him crashing into the opposite wall with enough force to shatter every bone in his body. “…?! Gblaaaargh!” Kelshinha growled as he writhed on the floor and trembled with fear at the dark shadow standing over him. “Don’t think you’re the only one who keeps comin’ back, old man.” “A…ka…bo…shi…!” “Before I kill you, I want you to undo what you did to my partner. Stand up, old man, and tell me where you want me to open you up.” “Khaaah!!” Kelshinha sprang to his feet and leaped back, plunging the metal pipe in his hand deeply into his own stomach. When he saw the blood dripping down the corners of Bisco’s lips, an evil grin spread across his face. Boom! Boom! A great big pair of Rust-Eaters, larger than ever before, sprang out of Bisco’s back and his side, tearing through his flesh. The Rust-Eater antibodies had finally broken their fetters and started blooming without regard for Bisco, their host. However, Bisco did not stop. Though the explosions rocked his body and blood dripped from his mouth, he let out not a single cry of pain. He simply walked, step by step, closer to Kelshinha, that same jade-green glimmer in his eyes. As the old man watched him approach, the very incarnation of wrath, he trembled and whimpered in fright. “There, huh?” “U… uggh… Ughuuh…” Kelshinha stabbed the pipe into his Rust-Eater stomach, and every time he did, blood flowed from Bisco’s mouth, and another huge mushroom grew from his torso. Still, Bisco’s glare was unchanging, set calmly on Kelshinha’s face, as he stepped closer and closer. “S-stay back…! Gr…grblh!” At last, blood erupted from Kelshinha’s own mouth. Bisco looked at the quivering old man and grabbed on to the hand in which he held his spear. Then, with all of his might, he plunged it back in. “Ggraaaaaargh!!” “This is how you use a spear, old man. Keep your back straight.” “H-have you gone mad, Akaboshi?! That’s…your own stomach!” “That’s great. It means I can tell how much it hurts you… Milo was screaming much louder than that… It was enough to make my ears bleed.” “S-stop! Stop it! Nooooo! Ghaaaaargh!” Bisco seized Kelshinha’s neck so he couldn’t run away and pressed his forehead right up against the old man’s. Boom! Boom! Boom! The Rust-Eaters burst forth all across his body without pause, crushing his organs, smashing his bones, and yet granting his muscles more and more strength. Bisco and Kelshinha stood opposed, spurting blood, each drenching the other in sticky crimson. But their eyes were different. Kelshinha’s eyes were dark and muddy as he shivered in panic, while Bisco’s emerald eyes, staring down his partner’s enemy, gleamed with resolve, and even pain. “Wanna make this an endurance match, old man? If you can hold out until I die, you’ll win.” “O-on! Kerd-uleshinha—!” “…?!” Kelshinha could bear the pain no longer and tried through his bloody throat to speak a mantra, when suddenly the spear embedded in his torso slipped out into Bisco’s hand. Planted on the tip, Bisco’s organ glittered like the sun, surrounded by gently glowing orange spores. “Ah. My stomach!” “Die, Akaboshi!” The moment Bisco was distracted, Kelshinha launched a spinning kick into his neck. It sliced into the flesh like a knife, drawing blood, but stopped there, halted by Bisco’s muscles, before it could chop his head off completely. Kelshinha simply stood on one foot, his other caught in Bisco’s neck, trapped in his steely gaze, and began sweating all over. “I—I thought…even you…should die…if…if I cut off your head…” “Oh? With that rusty old kick of yours?” Bisco’s eyes seemed to leave trails in the air as he somersaulted, spinning his glittering golden body like a whirlwind and unleashing a rolling kick as deadly as the swing of a great battle-ax. The kick struck Kelshinha in the neck, too, and smashed his body into the ground. The floor cracked, and the Immortal Monk bounced back up, high into the air, and lodged into the ceiling. M-my bones… The restoration cannot keep up… Kelshinha groaned, embedded in the ceiling by the inhuman power of the Rust-Eater Bisco. Just then, Amli finally caught up, landing in the room and shouting, “Mr. Bisco, sir! Now’s our chance to take back the Scriptures! Open a hole and I’ll suck them out!” “Got it!” Bisco replied. “…?! Y-you miserable worm! You mean to blaspheme against a god?!” Schwip! Bisco unsheathed his bow and fired an anchorshroom arrow, cutting off Kelshinha’s indignant roar and piercing his stomach, pinning him to the ceiling. “Won-sharmada-kon-zen-mudoshinha-snew!” The anchorshroom burst out of Kelshinha’s belly and expanded to full size. Then, at Amli’s mantra, it began to dislodge the three Scriptures from within his body. Seeing the source of his powers being stolen away, the old man bellowed. “Wroooaaarrgh! You…! Youuu…!!” “Looks like you’re back to being a coward again, old man.” “Give me back the Scriptures! I’ll let you stand at my side, Akaboshi!” “Hah. I’m honored.” Bisco nocked another anchorshroom and fired it at Kelshinha’s chest. The lead mushrooms exploded all over his body, pulling him out of the ceiling and sending him crashing down onto the ground once more. There, the incredible weight of the anchorshrooms shattered the floor, and the floor beneath, and so on, and so on, sending Kelshinha plummeting down to the lower levels of the tower, until at last he traveled through the entire building and collided with the solid ground far below. “AAAKAAABOOOSHIIIIIII!” “Enjoy your climb outta Hell, you son of a bitch.” As Kelshinha’s voice faded into the darkness, Bisco cracked his neck and plucked a Rust-Eater from his collar… Then, he looked down at his mushroom-riddled body and sighed. …So this is it, huh? Among all the golden mushrooms birthed by the Rust-Eater as it scrambled to repair Bisco’s body, one extended proudly from his left breast. He could feel its roots digging deep into his heart, and he knew that death was not far off. He cracked his neck, and then, suddenly noticing the body of his fallen partner, he ran over to check on Milo. Amli was already there, sitting over him, her eyes filled with tears. “…Amli.” “Mr. Bisco, sir…!” She threw herself into Bisco’s chest, her tears staining his clothes. Around Milo’s bloodstained body were dozens of empty vials, showing he had not given up on life until the very end. In fact, it gave Bisco hope. He crouched down and examined Milo’s body. Locking away his negative thoughts, he slowly drew closer and seated him up gently in his arms. “…Milo.” “…” “Can you hear me?” His arm was damp with Milo’s warm blood. His partner’s body was stained completely red, and his face was deathly pale. Slowly, he turned to Bisco and gently opened his eyes. He blinked a few times upon seeing that emerald gaze staring back at him and smiled, like a child in his father’s arms. “Yeah, Bisco…I can hear you…” “…You gonna make it?” “…I don’t think so… I’m sorry, Bisco… I tried…” “…” “…Oh, Bisco…I…I…” “You already saved the world once. You’ve done enough. You can rest.” “Bisco…I’m sorry. I’m so sorry… I just wanted…” “It’s okay. I’m your bow, and you’re my arrow. I may have broken my promise once, but I’m not gonna let that happen again. We’ll be together always, Milo.” “…” “…” “…I’m sure…” “…” “…I’m sure the two of us are headed for Hell, Bisco…” “…Then let’s swim through the sea of fire together. We can do anything, as long as we’re together.” “…Yeah, Bisco… We can…” As the blood spilled from Milo’s mouth, he rested his head in Bisco’s arms with a half-happy, half-sad smile and squeezed his partner’s hand back. Bisco, seeing his partner at peace, turned back to Amli, who was staring at the two with an expression of rapt attention, and he muttered, “Well, there you go. This is the end for us. I don’t care what you do with our bodies, but I think you better move ’em unless you want a bunch of mushrooms in the middle of your city.” “Y-you cannot be serious!” Amli ran up to Bisco, the tears streaming down her face. “I-it is too soon to give up! There must be something we can—!” “It’s perfect timing; we can both go out together,” said Bisco. Then, suddenly noticing it, he pointed to the golden stomach in Amli’s hands. “You can keep that. I ain’t gonna need it no more.” “M-Mr. Bisco, sir…!!” Bisco was so ambivalent toward his own death… Or rather, he was so determined to die alongside his partner that Amli’s gentle heart couldn’t take it. You can have only one partner… It’s someone to whom your very life is connected. That is what you call a partner. It’s a very simple thing, but so beautiful, and yet… I can’t let you go, Mr. Bisco, sir! It’s too sad…! Amli’s tears pooled on her cheeks and fell in great droplets…but when they landed on the stomach in her hands, Bisco’s organ scattered brilliant orange spores into the air. Amli was captivated by the sight, like falling petals, when… Mr. Bisco’s stomach…it’s…?! All of a sudden, Amli had an idea. Wiping her tears away, she set about collecting the Scriptures that Kelshinha had vomited up. “Mr. Bisco, sir. There’s still a way that— Aaah! What are you doing! Stop! Stoppp!” Amli looked over to see Bisco with his dagger to his stomach, poised and ready. She ran over and tugged his arm away, gasping for breath. “What?” he said, annoyed. “This is the way, ain’t it? Aren’t you supposed to disembowel yourself at times like this?” “Just how determined are you to die, Mr. Bisco, sir?! You’re giving up too soon! I just thought of a plan! A great one!” “What is it now? You’ve done enough. You should get home before the mushrooms start growin’.” “Mr. Bisco, sir.” Amli placed both hands on Bisco’s head and turned it around, staring straight into his jade-green eyes. “There’s a way to bring Milo back to life if we combine the power of the Rust with your power…the Rust-Eater’s. You have too much regeneration while Milo has too little. If we balance them out, we might yet save both of you!” “Use my life to help Milo…?!” “By feeding him the Rust-Eater’s power,” explained Amli, her face serious. “If this works, it might mean that you and Mr. Milo become half immortal, but it’s still worth it, right?” At this, Bisco faltered. He looked at his dying partner then back at Amli again, and he nodded. Amli had already anticipated his response and begun chanting. “Ule-shad-shouki,” she intoned, unusually determined, sweat forming all over her body. “Shouki-add-kon-zen-mudo-amli-bisco…” As she spoke the syllables, Kelshinha’s Scriptures glowed with a purple light and levitated ever so softly into the air. Then Amli’s and Bisco’s bodies, and even the golden stomach, were all bathed in the same violet aura. “…The mantra is rejecting the Rust-Eater…! I must force it open…! Perhaps this will do it…!!” “H-hey! What the hell is that?! I’m… I’m…!” “The Mantra of Rebirth is only supposed to be performed with all five Scriptures, as it requires a vast amount of rust to function.” Screwing up her face in concentration, Almi clutched her breast as she attempted to press on with the mantra. “But we only have three of them here, so I am using myself and you in place of the other two…!” “Me…and you?! Amli, you’re crazy! Stop!” “Mr. Bisco, sir, take Mr. Milo’s hand! We only have one chance!” Bisco did as she said and grabbed on to his partner’s hand, and Amli spat out the rest of the verse, a ferocious expression on her face, blood pouring from her eye socket. “Shouki-shad! Kon-zen-mudo-amli…” “Stop, Amli! You’ll kill yourself!!” “Add-bisco-snew!” But just as the mantra was on the verge of completion, Bisco was suddenly engulfed in a gust of wind, and his heartbeat hastened, as fast as an alarm bell, pumping boiling hot blood all around his body and turning his skin a mottled orange, like the sun. “Wh…what the hell?!” cried Bisco. His hair was bright as blazing fire. He looked just the same as when he’d first crawled out of the pits of death, at the miraculous rebirth brought about by the Rust-Eater. The mushrooms covering his skin disintegrated into glittering spores, and the skin beneath was as good as new. Those spores then followed Bisco’s arm to Milo’s hand. There they stopped, probing him for a while, before interpreting him as part of Bisco and suddenly rushing to cover his whole body. They slipped inside and, with incredible speed, set about repairing all his damaged organs. “…Wh-whoa! Milo! Can you hear me?” “…” “Damn, he’s out cold. Hey, Amli! That’s enough; you can stop the mantra now!” But Amli kept chanting, even as blood dripped from her eyes and nose. “Amli… Wh-what…?!” She was unconscious. Even so, the words continued to form on her lips. Bisco was struck dumb at the little girl’s endurance but wrapped his arms around her and whispered in her ear. “Amli…don’t die! Come back, Amli!” “…!!” Amli gasped as the light returned to her eyes, and the wind stopped. The rubble in Kyurumon’s bedroom had all been blown away, and the three sat, panting heavily. “A-Amli! Your eyes…there’s blood…! Your head…it’s…!” “…Mr. Bisco, sir…Mr. Milo…sir…I had…to…save you…” “You idiot! Who cares about us?! Why does a kid like you have to die for us?!” “He’s right, Amli! Stay still, I’m going to inject you with a lurkershroom medicine. It seems like you might have suffered cranial trauma, too, so I’ll administer an eggshroom injection. After that, I’ll sew up the damage around your glass eye.” “Of course. Milo’ll have you better in no— Hmm?” Bisco turned and gazed in shock at the sight of his partner, quickly setting about tending to Amli’s wounds. “Stick out your tongue for me. Say ‘Aaah’… Okay… I’m sorry I was so rough before, Amli, I really needed the act to be convincing… Okay, I’m all done for now!” He completed Amli’s treatment in the blink of an eye, then turned to see Bisco’s complete look of astonishment. Milo stared at him, confused for a moment, before flashing him a cheerful smile. Slap! “Owwww! What did I do?!” Milo whined. “Gimme some warning before you come back to life! You’re gonna give me a heart attack!” “H-how am I supposed to do that?! Anyway, you did the same to me!” “W-wait a minute, what happened to your hair…?” Of all the things to be surprised about, that was the most notable. Instead of its usual sky-blue color, Milo’s hair now shone a brilliant emerald green. “What the hell happened to you…?” Bisco grabbed a broken mirror off the floor of Kyurumon’s bedroom and held it up to his partner. Milo ran his hands madly through his own hair, trembling in shock. “I guess it got mixed with the orange of the Rust-Eater,” said Bisco. “Gonna take some gettin’ used to, but it looks fine, don’t it? Nothin to get worked up about.” “B-but… No! I don’t like it! It makes me look like a punk!” “What, and blue don’t? How’s that work?” “Ahem, ahem…! Excuse me, I’m glad you two are friends again, but we must hurry,” said Amli. “We have little time before the Flamebound’s assassins start sniffing around here, and we must be gone by then.” “That’s right, we need to get Bisco’s stomach back! I’m sorry, Bisco, I thought I could beat Kelshinha and—” “You messed up, bud. But don’t worry, I already beat him and got it back; it’s right here.” “You… Whaaat?! You beat him?!” Milo sprang to his feet. Spotting Bisco’s golden stomach lying on the end of Kelshinha’s spear, he breathed a sigh of relief. “Th-thank goodness. I don’t know what I’d do if I came back and you didn’t, Bisco…” “Nothin’ to worry about. There ain’t no way I’m losin’ to someone you were on equal footin’ with.” “…Bisco, can I borrow it for a sec?” “?” Squeeze! “Gwaaagh!!” “Stop flirting, sirs! We need to get out of here!!” bellowed Amli, her usual gentle face rosy-cheeked with anger. Just then, a large figure landed behind her with a thud. As she turned to look, Amli paled a little, and her lip began to quiver. “M-Master…!” “Oh, hey! Raskeni! You’re just in time!” said Bisco, wresting his stomach back from Milo at last and flashing her a grin. “I just got my stomach back, and the rest of those Scriptures, too. An’ we would have died, too, if Amli here hadn’t saved us.” “With the Mantra of Rebirth.” Raskeni’s harsh voice cast a silence over the room. Bisco cocked his head in confusion while Milo took a step forward in his defense. “Amli,” Raskeni continued. “You used the power of the Scriptures. Power meant for Lord Mashouten alone.” “B-but Master, if I didn’t, they would have—” “Silence, fool!! Have you no sense whatsoever?!” A merciless backhand from Raskeni struck Amli across the face and threw her against the wall. “…?! Raskeni!! Have you lost your mind?!” yelled Bisco. “I had thought you smart enough not to let down your guard around these demons. And yet not only did you do exactly that, you helped them, using power meant for our Lord.” Drawing a shortened spear and pointing it at Bisco and Milo, Raskeni took Amli’s chin and stared into her eyes. She was bleeding from the nose and trembling in fear. “…Fear not. I know it was only a momentary lapse in judgment. You understand that all we have belongs to our Lord. That we cannot allow ourselves to be distracted. Don’t you?” “Hic… I’m sorry… I’m sorry… Please forgive me, Master…” “Oh, my poor dear. Don’t cry. You were just misguided, led astray by a fleeting dream, that’s all. Now, drop the formality… Call me…Mother…” “Mother… Please, don’t leave me… I’ll never listen to them again…” “…Raskeni! I knew it!” yelled Milo. Behind him, a fiery aura almost burned the very air with its intensity. Raskeni peered over to see Bisco’s jade-green eyes flashing like gems. “So you’re Amli’s mom, huh…?” he growled, with a voice that seemed to leak fire from his lips. “What kind of mom treats her kid like that…?! And at a time like this?! You’re gonna break her heart!!” “Are you trying to tell me how to raise my child, Mushroom Keeper?” sneered Raskeni, pointing her spear at Bisco’s nose. “Before we are parent and child, we are Lord Mashouten’s subjects. Of course we should act in line with his wishes lest we receive divine punishment… She still loves me, don’t you, Amli? Say it.” “Hic… I…I love you, Mother… I love you, Lord Mashouten…” “This is fucked up!!” In a flash, Bisco swung the frame of his bow time and time again at Raskeni’s neck, but she deflected the blows with her spear and countered with a devastating spinning kick that launched Bisco back. “Gwargh?!” “Won-shad-valo…” “Watch out, Bisco!” Milo jumped in and pushed Bisco aside the instant before countless rust spears launched upward out of the ground, ripping the ends of their cloaks. “Urgh, what’s happening?” said Bisco. “I feel so weak!” “It’s because you’ve given me half the Rust-Eater’s power! I’ll fight her, get down!” “How are you gonna do any better? You were dead five minutes ago!” Raskeni calmly stepped toward the two, a gentle smile on her face, and in front of her appeared several of her subordinates, clad head to toe in robes, forming a circle around the wounded duo. “I must thank you for disposing of the other priests and bringing me the Scriptures… Next,” she said, pointing her spear in Bisco’s face, “I will take your stomach and all your other organs. I am sure Lord Mashouten will be very pleased.” “This was your plan all along!” Bisco yelled. “Of course it was. I never knew you earthly folk were so gullible.” “It is because the Mushroom Keepers are mere barbarians,” said one guard. “Yes, I suppose the mushrooms ate away all their brains,” added another, and they all began to laugh. “I’m not gonna let you get away with this…!” “Well, you must admit, you are far too trusting. That is why you keep having the rug pulled from under you like this.” “Don’t talk like you know me… Huh?!” Bisco roared at Raskeni, baring his fangs…then he realized something. The voice he’d just heard was not hers. In fact, it sounded oddly familiar. “But allow me to issue a correction,” said the new voice. “The red one aside, my brother at least is no fool.” The subordinates all turned to face the speaker. “…?! Who are you?! Identify yourself!” “How did it take you this long to spot me? Even Akaboshi isn’t this oblivious.” “Enough jokes! Kill the impostor!” At Raskeni’s order, her lackies readied their spears. The figure leaped up as they lunged, somersaulting through the air, her long black hair trailing behind her. “A…a woman?!” “Kiraaaargh!” The woman swung her hexagonal staff, mowing down all the underlings around her in a single sweep. Some hit the walls, while others were not so lucky and disappeared off the edge of the tower and plummeted toward the city below. Raskeni herself moved to protect Amli and the Scriptures and chanted as the figure leaped into the air once more. “Won-shad-varuler-snew!” Spears of rust formed on the inner walls of the room and hurtled toward the figure. The black tornado hopped across the rubble and brandished her iron staff once more. “Rrraaaargh!” With a mighty swing, the woman snapped every last one of the spears in half. Then, quickly following up, she swung back at Raskeni. “What?!” Raskeni barely blocked the attack, like a steel bullet, with her spear, and the force launched her across the room, blasting a hole in the far wall. “I-impossible. Just who are you…?!” Raskeni peered through the clouds of dust at the imposing figure standing before her. Peeling off her robe and casting it aside, the woman swung her staff, ripping the air and flicking blood against the carpet. She wore a business suit far from what one might expect to wear on the battlefield (though several of the top buttons were left undone). When her appearance was combined with the unmatched combat potential she had just displayed, it was impossible to tell if she was supposed to be a warrior or an accountant. “I am former Imihama Vigilante Corps captain and Imihama governor, Pawoo Nekoyanagi!” The air vibrated as she whipped her staff around and pointed it between Raskeni’s eyes. “You speak one more syllable against my brother…and I’ll detach your wretched jaw from your head.” “Pawoo!!” “Blegh!” Milo was ecstatic to see his sister swooping in like a superhero to save them, shaking his partner violently by the shoulders. Bisco’s eye twitched. “W-why the hell are you here?!” he shouted. “Ain’t you supposed to be in Imihama doin’…I dunno, governor stuff?” “That is exactly what I am doing,” said Pawoo, looking down at her suit with a sigh. “Otherwise I wouldn’t be dressed like this. Alas, my aides advised me to ‘cover up’ and ‘look professional.’” “I ain’t askin’ about your clothes, lady! How did you even know where we were?!” “I told you, didn’t I? There’s a tracking device in Milo’s ring.”
Chapter 47
42 min read