“Impossible! This should be the only Seraphic! Why? Why does another one exist?!” Gould’s mechanical voice trembled as he looked at Gold.
Based on his reaction, it seemed he hadn’t known about Gold. Had he lost his memories in the way Gold had? No, that would make no sense—if he’d lost his memories, he wouldn’t have said those words.
“I don’t know what’s got you so rattled, but I need you to stay still for now. [Prison]!”
I cast the confining magic as I’d done on Indigo. Now there was no escape.
“Hm?!”
Gould took one of its tiny fists and tried to break the barrier.
It’s useless. This barrier isn’t so flimsy that a pathetic little punch like that will damage it.
“Veraenderung.”
“Huh?”
After Gould muttered some short word, the armor of its right hand began to warp like melted candy. The soft gold plating enveloped his right hand and then morphed into a conical shape, almost like an ice pick.
“Lanze.”
Gould turned and tried to stick his gold ice pick into the [Prison]. The sound of metal striking rang out, and then suddenly, my [Prison] cracked.
“No way!”
As surprised as I was, Gould paid me no mind as he thrust his ice-pick arm back into the barrier again. This time, my [Prison] shattered into pieces.
You’re kidding! Is there wicked divinity in that thing’s body?!
We were the furthest away from the sacred treasure, but the distance was about ten meters at most. Even if its power wasn’t completely neutralized, he shouldn’t have been able to destroy my [Prison]! He’d have to have the same amount of divinity as a mutant to do that!
We knew for a fact that our Gold contained no divinity—the research team examined him and found nothing.
That means Gould’s been modified in some way, huh?!
Now free of the prison, Gould charged toward me with his ice pick.
“Envelop, O Wind! Gentle Embrace: [Air Sphere]!”
“Mmm?”
Gould’s right hand lost its momentum about fifty centimeters away from me, coming to a stop against the air cushion I had created. The next moment, his small body was sent catapulting into the opposite wall. My [Air Sphere] broke at the same moment.
That was close!
If he’d been charging any more fiercely, I’d have been turned into a shish kebab.
“Veraenderung: Axt.”
Gould stood back up, turning his ice pick into an axe.
Ugh, he’s got more forms!
I took out my Brunhild and changed it into Blade Mode, using it to block the golden axe he swung down toward me. The strike was so heavy that I couldn’t help but wonder where such strength was hiding in such a small body.
“[Power Rise]!”
I increased the power of my muscles and pushed the axe away from me. Gould was once more flung toward the wall, but this time he kicked his feet into it and spun around in the air as he landed lightly on the ground like a cat. His red camera eye fixed in on me, and then it turned to Gold behind me.
“Tell me. Are you the master of the Seraphic?”
“No. Gold’s master is someone else.”
It wouldn’t be good for him to learn that Steph was his master, so I tried to avoid the topic.
“Gold... Seraphic Gold? High Master, Code 1876239. Unlock: emergency shutdown, Seraphic Gold.”
Suddenly, what came out of Gould was a smooth male voice. Not a mechanical one, but one much closer to a human’s. Was it some recorded audio?
Before I could stop and wonder what was happening, the same voice spoke to us.
“High Master, Code 1876239. Unlock: emergency shutdown, Seraphic Gold... No reaction. Probability of initialization process activation having occurred: ninety-eight percent.”
Initialization process? As in, the initialization process that Steph had accidentally activated in Gold? Did that mean he was saying some sort of command code toward him?
God, this could’ve turned out much worse if Steph hadn’t wiped his data.
“I’d appreciate it if you didn’t do anything too crazy here. If you make Gold’s master cry, then I won’t let you get away with it,” I threatened.
“I do not care.”
Suddenly, a loud bang, as if a metal ball had collided with something, rang through the room. When I turned around, the inside of the [Iron Wall] I had put up was all warped. Another similar sound rang out and the wall further warped, caving in toward us. Was someone trying to enter the room?!
Don’t tell me there’s one more wicked devout!
No, there was no way. I’d searched the whole Ark, so there shouldn’t have been any more of them around. That said, there was a chance [Search] didn’t pick them up because they looked nothing like the wicked devout!
I stayed on high alert as the metallic wall I had created came flying inward. What flew in was a golden bird with four wings. A mechanical one, at that. Was it a bird Gollem?!
“Come, Cherubim.”
The gold bird Gollem twirled in a drill movement as it maneuvered through the room toward Gould. It then circled behind Gould, tilted its head against his back, and its feet then folded into its body as it attached to the enemy crown.
Is this what the research team was talking about?! The Gluttony Slime that was turned into orichalcum and used to craft gear for the gold crown?!
With his four wings spread out, Gould floated into the air. Due to the glass ceiling, he could only go about two meters, however.
“Gluttony Feather.”
Four golden feathers, one from each wing, shot out toward me like missiles. I was about to strike them down with Brunhild, but suddenly, I was hit by a sense of unease that made me change my weapon to Gun Mode at the last minute and shoot them down with phrasium rounds instead. The moment my bullets hit the feathers, they began to morph and wrapped around the bullets.