“It ain’t a good thing for ya to be pokin’ around for Sephiroth either. I’d say it’s a Golem more dangerous than you kiddos can even imagine,” Ouka chided.
“You know about Sephiroth?!” Cliff asked, shocked.
“Oh I know about him, all right—I know him REAL WELL.” A dark shadow fell over Ouka’s eyes. “Though there are only a handful of people left at the Church who still know anything.”
Oblivious to his disgust, Lovel happily exclaimed, “Awesome! I’ve finally found somebody who knows about Sephiroth! I want you to tell me what you know.”
“Don’t particularly feel like blabbin’ ‘bout it to you or anyone else.”
“You think refusing will make us back down?” Lovel taunted. “What do you think, Cliff?” She winked at Cliff.
Cliff took her cue and shouted to his partner beside him. “Gandolf, free Lovel!”
Instantly, the still Gandolf came to life. Charging toward the lion pinning Lovel, he swung his fist. But the lion leapt out of the way and stood protectively in front of Ouka.
“So you’re going to force it outta me? Too bad, me and Dram aren’t soft enough to let you get away with that!”
At those words, the Golem called Dram surged into an attack. He swiftly closed the ten-meter gap between him and Gandolf, and unleashed successive strikes with his claws and fangs. The raggedy cloth ripped off of Gandolf, exposing his piecemeal body.
“Punch back, Gandolf!”
Answering Cliff’s voice, Gandolf counterattacked with his fists. Dram hopped out of the way, nimbly evading his punches. But right as Gandolf’s follow-up punch was about to make contact, Ouka forced his way between the Golems.
“Heh. Your Restrictor is ‘can’t hurt humans’? It’s a commendable Restrictor, but sure comes back to bite ya when I do this, doesn’t it?”
He read the Restrictor on Gandolf’s chest! The thought hit Cliff just as Gandolf’s fist stopped centimeters away from Ouka’s face.
Taking the chance, Ouka slipped past Gandolf’s flank and charged at Cliff. He removed the quarterstaff from his waist midstride and lashed out with consecutive, lightning strikes.
“Guah! Gyah! Uaagh!” The quarterstaff slammed into Cliff’s gut, forehead, and chin, bringing him to the ground.
“How dare you hurt Cliff!” Lovel shouted, launching herself into a roundhouse kick. But Ouka smacked down her leg with a single thrust of his staff. “OWWW!” she cried out from the hard blow to her shin and collapsed on the ground, writhing in pain.
“Lovel!” Erie screamed, rushing over to her with Heath.
This time, it was Dram’s turn to get in their way. He slammed into Heath’s side with the full weight of his amber body. Taking the brunt of the blow, Heath flew backward and tumbled onto the ground.
“Heathy!” Erie shrieked, sprinting over to Heath.
“He’s a fine Golem, but he lacks experience. Victory in Golem fights are a matter of teamwork between Golem and Golem Tamer,” Ouka drawled in a lax tone.
Ice-cold sweat trickled down Cliff’s back at seeing his smirk.
He’s strong…!
In a mere few seconds, Ouka had defeated all five of them. Ouka and Dram had crushed everyone—Golem and human alike—as if they were no more a nuisance than flies.
Even Kiriko, who they fought just the other day, wasn’t of his caliber. Was this the strength of a man who had quit being a Rabbi four years ago? Or was this the real strength of the Rabbis that had been lost in recent years?
Whatever the answer, we’re doomed at this rate…! We have to regroup and take a different approach! Right as Cliff came to that conclusion, he spotted something out of the corner of his eye: the rail used to transport excavated ore. An empty railcar that had been left for the night was sitting beside the mineshaft, not too far from the factory.
“Gandolf, carry Lovel and me over there!” Cliff yelled from where he was curled up on the dirt. Gandolf rushed over, scooped up Cliff and Lovel, and bolted toward the railcar where he loaded them in and climbed onto the front ledge where Golems stood on their return trips to the mine.
“Now, now, don’t go thinkin’ I’ll just let you escape!” Ouka quickly mounted Dram and rode after them. As he passed by, Heath jumped to his feet and shot out with a side kick.
“Nngh!” Ouka blocked the kick with his quarterstaff, but the impact was enough to knock him off balance.
“Erie!” Lovel called from the railcar. Following her voice, Erie and Heath made a dash for the railcar. The momentum of their leap into the railcar sent it rocketing down the rail.
“Tch!” Ouka pursued them on Dram.
The railcar sped down the rail encircling the big mine. It rapidly picked up speed; the scenery flew past them, but—
“Don’t ya look down on an Amber Golem’s mighty legs!”
Dram hurtled after them at a speed greater than the railcar. It looked like they’d close in before the railcar had the chance to fully accelerate.
“Oh no! He’ll catch up to us…!” Erie said. Cliff ground his teeth in frustration. But Lovel flashed them a grin; she had just discovered the rocks left inside the railcar.
“We just need to slow him down, right? It’s not the coolest method, but how about we take him down with these?”
Lovel picked up a rock and chucked it at Ouka. He agilely dodged it, but she picked up another rock and invited, “C’mon, Cliff, Erie, Heath! Throw them too! We’ve got plenty of rocks!”
“Nice! Throw enough and one will eventually hit!” Cliff agreed, grabbing a jagged rock.
“O-Okay,” Erie said, taking the rock Lovel handed over to her. The four of them threw the rocks all at once. Ouka blanched when he saw the barrage of rocks flying at him.
“Hey! That’s dangerous!” Ouka exclaimed, having Dram stop in time for him to slide off in a bid to dampen the effects of the hailing rocks. “Even a pebble can kill me if it hits me at this speed!”