But after taking a brief glance at Cliff, the boy dispassionately said, “You. Who are you?”
“What?! It’s me! Cliff! You can’t tell who I am, Master?!”
“I don’t know you.”
“How can that be?!”
Cliff couldn’t believe it. The boy’s face and voice were the same as Master Roche’s, but his tone and word choice sounded completely different.
Jair locked Cliff in his deadly gaze. “It’s a pity you happened to be present at this exact time and place, but I have my orders. I’ll dispose of you with the rest,” he announced coldly.
At those words, a gigantic Golem lumbered through the refinery entryway behind Jair.
“Wh-What the hell is that?!”
Cliff and the girls stood aghast at what they saw. Vaunting a massive body over three meters high was a distorted Stone Golem. Its outrageous shape seemed to come from someone taking all the rubble and debris lying around the mine and mishmashing it into a Golem.
Jair ordered the debris giant, “Eben, capture Lovel and kill everyone else.”
The words froze Cliff in place, like icy hands wrapped around his spine.
The giant of debris named Eben lumbered toward them with ground shuddering steps. Erie and Heath readied themselves by switching to fighting stances.
Lovel prepared herself for the incoming giant and whispered to Cliff beside her, “Cliff, run away…!”
“B-But! This might just be Master’s bad joke or—”
“That guy isn’t your master!” Lovel shouted, taking the lead charging at Eben. “URYAAAAH!”
Her vertical kick struck Eben’s knee—but it was Lovel whose face distorted with pain after the impact. Her physical attacks were incapable of damaging a body built of stone debris.
“Lovel, aim for the letters on his forehead! Damaging them will—”
“Unfortunately, that’s not possible!” Lovel shouted back. Cliff understood why when he focused on Eben’s forehead.
“There aren’t any letters on his forehead…?! I’ve never heard of a Golem moving without ‘emeth’ engraved on it!”
“If it doesn’t have any letters on its forehead, we just have to tear it limb from limb!” Erie concluded, as Heath launched into an attack next. He drew the knife from his scabbard and rapidly slashed Eben.
Hard grinding noises echoed through the building until Eben’s finger was severed. The damage didn’t seem to faze the giant, because he easily grabbed Heath and chucked him at Erie.
“Agh!” Heath collided into her, and they fell into a heap on the floor. Eben reached forward and slapped Lovel with his open hand next.
“Gyah!” With a single blow, Lovel was blown away too, and she tumbled across the refinery’s floor. Cliff watched all of that happen before the danger finally dawned on him.
Master isn’t in his right mind! He might have his reasons for this, but I’ve gotta stop him either way!
“Defeat Eben, Gandolf!”
Gandolf broke into a fierce run at Cliff’s command.
Eben threw a jab straight at the oncoming Gandolf. Gandolf blocked the fast, straight jab and countered with a powerful cross punch.
BANG! An explosive sound shook the room as a wind hole opened in Eben’s abdomen. Even a giant surpassing Gandolf’s size was no match for his iron fists. Eben stumbled two steps backward, on the verge of falling over, when—
“…?!” Cliff’s breath caught in his throat. The hole in Eben’s gut closed up with an eerie sound, and as they watched, the finger Heath had cut off regrew.
“It regenerated…?!” Cliff was flummoxed.
Jair shot Cliff through with a piercing glare.
✦ ✦ ✦
Ouka
OUKA was spying on the battle from the refinery’s entryway.
A-Am I drunk…?! How the heck did that young guy master the cube?!
Ouka had come running to check out what had caused the loud bangs and crashes, only to be confronted with the unbelievable. He recognized neither Jair nor Eben, but he’d witnessed the dragging movements and regeneration Eben exhibited in this battle many times before.
Beyond a shadow of doubt, that Golem was made using a black cube, the result of the research Ouka had devoted his life to during his Rabbi days.
That’s impossible…! We concluded that it was uncontrollable!
But the verdict they came to four years ago was being refuted at this very moment by what he was witnessing right before his eyes.
Eben swayed as he shambled toward Cliff and the other children.
Eben’s jerky movements overlapped with images from Ouka’s past—with the monster that stole everything from him.
In that instant, a fierce rage surged in his chest. His blood boiled as violent emotions dominated every fiber of his being. Spite filled his impulses, gushing from his lips in a guttural roar.
“GRAAAAAAAAHHHHH!”
Together with Ouka’s crazed shout, Dram burst into a sprint. Tossing Ouka onto his back, the amber lion ran like the wind for Eben.
“Ouka?!” Lovel shouted, drawing Jair’s attention. Eben swung his huge fists down at Ouka.
Dram evaded them by jumping to the side, then he rammed into Eben’s lower back. Ouka ignored Eben’s labored staggers and kicked off Dram’s back.
He saw Jair’s face right below him. Drawing his quarterstaff, he brought it down on Jair with the full force of his descent.
“…!” Jair blocked the blow with his sledgehammer. Then, glancing at Ouka when he landed behind him, Jair calmly said, “Ouka Baraki, is it? I hadn’t planned for you to be here too.”
“What?! How do you know my name?!” Ouka barked, grinding his quarterstaff against Jair’s sledgehammer.
“I’ve researched every Golem Tamer who could possibly get involved. I’ll be eliminating you from the pool of possibilities.”
Eben caught his balance at last and turned to attack Ouka.
As he spun around, Ouka shouted, “Dram, go for the chest! Attack Eben’s chest!”
Dram obeyed his voice and lunged for Eben’s chest, targeting the sole weakness of a Golem powered by a cube instead of Engrave Incantations.
But Eben defended himself against Dram’s full-speed assault. He caught Dram’s foreleg and easily swung him in circles.
“…!”
Brandishing Dram like a weapon, Eben bashed Ouka with his own Golem. Intense pain seared through Ouka’s side as he went flying. He crashed into a wall of the refinery and crumpled onto the floor below.
Damn…it…! Can I…just not…win…against this thing…?!
Beyond his blurring vision, he could see Eben looming over him. Ouka stared up at the figure beside Eben—Jair—from where he laid in a broken heap on the ground.