Chapter 11: Comrade in Arms
Cliff
“NOOOOOO!” Kiriko shrieked. She stood paralyzed at the end of the bridge screaming hysterically. Gandolf locked on to her and struck with a backhand strike.
“KIRIKO!” Ouka lunged to protect her. Gandolf’s metal hand grazed his side. “Guh!”
Just the brush of Gandolf’s fist sent Ouka and Kiriko slamming into the bridge guardrail. The collision was likely headfirst, because they both lay limp and immobile.
“URAHHH!” Lovel burst into a run, ramping up speed with a war cry. She swung the quarterstaff down on Gandolf’s forehead as he bent over and reached for Ouka. He blocked the attack and punted her away.
Metal clanged throughout the area. Lovel had blocked his kick with the quarterstaff, but even that hadn’t provided enough friction to prevent the hit from blasting her backward and tumbling on the bridge. Cliff watched on, flummoxed by what he saw.
“…Gandolf.”
He would no longer answer. The red Engrave Incantations coursing through his body rejected Cliff.
Gandolf looked at Cliff and lumbered toward him. Watching the red metal giant come for him brought a surge of memories about the times they had shared.
They had done everything together. Gandolf was Cliff’s sole hope for crawling out from the bottom of society on Chest Island. He was the comrade in arms Cliff fought beside and drew strength and courage from, who helped him stand up and fight.
How… How did it come to this?!
Even though Cliff knew he needed to run, his legs were shaking so hard he couldn’t move them.
Gandolf came to stand right in front of Cliff. And he drew his fist back—
But before he could bring it down on Cliff, an amber lion jumped on his back. The full brunt of Dram’s attack sent him toppling onto the ground.
Without a moment to spare, Dram pinned him and bared his fangs, about to rake off the “e” on his forehead. Gandolf slammed his head against Dram’s open mouth with explosive force.
The pieces from Dram’s broken fangs clattered on the ground. Neither his claws nor his fangs could do any damage. Even so, Dram fought hard to keep Gandolf pinned.
“Boy…!” Ouka’s voice came from somewhere. Cliff looked around and found him still on the ground, staring at him. “Die once…with a bullet from this tranquilizer gun…”
Ouka’s hand was fastened around Kiriko’s tranquilizer gun—the gun capable of putting a Golem Tamer into suspended animation.
“This gun was originally created for this purpose… To cut the Tamer’s link and stop a Berserker Golem…”
“You’ve got the wrong idea! Gandolf isn’t going berserk—”
“That ain’t your Golem, kid!” Ouka forcefully cut him off. Continuing over a stammering Cliff, he said, “Please…if you don’t die temporarily, everybody here’s gonna die for real…”
“…!”
“He’s the life you created. It’s your duty to put an end to it… Don’t be a piece of shit who doesn’t take responsibility and abandons the life he made…!”
Cliff’s thoughts went to his street friends living together in the underground station. They had all been abandoned by their parents, irresponsibly neglected and tossed aside like dogs. If Cliff gave up on Gandolf here, he would be the same as those horrible parents.
Cliff had been abandoned too. But he’d at least received a proper name. That was a show of good faith on his father’s part.
So he had to take responsibility in the best way he could. Coming to that conclusion, Cliff replied, “But…I can’t die, not here, not now.”
“What?! Don’t be a spoiled brat! How’re you gonna fix this without dying?!”
“Who’ll protect Lovel if I die here and now?! I can’t just die and exit the fight! That’s why, I’ll…” Cliff rallied his resolve and continued, “…destroy Gandolf.”
Ouka answered him with silence. Cliff ran over to where Lovel lay flat on the ground.
“Sorry, Lovel… He finally came to life thanks to you, but I have to do this.”
Her eyes went wide, and she shook her head faintly, wearing a terribly sad expression. “…I won’t put the entire burden on your shoulders alone.” Lovel thrust the quarterstaff against the ground and staggered to her feet. “You’re Gandolf’s Tamer, so he’ll target you the moment you get close. So, I’ll be the one to hit him with this to destroy him… Let’s end our child’s life together.”
Cliff nodded and walked toward Gandolf aside Lovel. He didn’t know if destroying him here was the right choice or not. But he had no other options available at the moment.
“Ouka! Please have Dram use his claws to hold down Gandolf’s neck!”
Ouka didn’t answer, but Dram did as Cliff requested. Gandolf’s violent thrashes slowed as Dram’s claws pierced into the nape of his neck.
Yes, the neck was one spot Cliff had failed to find the perfect solid material to protect and the frailest location on Gandolf’s otherwise solid, metal body. The place Cliff kept thinking he wanted to do something about.
Gandolf couldn’t move if his neck was pinned. Cliff was well-aware of that. He knew everything there was to know about Gandolf. After all, Gandolf was his comrade in arms, his combat buddy, who he had been through thick and thin with.
Lovel tightened her grip on the quarterstaff. Gandolf looked at Cliff then. Their eyes met. The emeth on his forehead seemed to be oozing red.
For a second, it seemed as if Gandolf purposely stopped struggling.
“I’m so sorry…!” Cliff squeezed out. Lovel brought down the staff.
A sharp metal shriek ripped through the air and Gandolf stopped moving altogether. His body trembled as the Engrave Incantations covering it disappeared in succession. Once every last Engrave Incantation had vanished, only the letters spelling ‘meth’—death—remained on his forehead.
“Gandolf!” Cliff held Gandolf’s hand. Cracks split the metal hand. Fissures spread until they ran throughout his entire body.
And then Gandolf quietly crumbled away.
Only an iron finger was left in Cliff’s hand. His eyes locked on that finger as tears burst forth. Lovel pulled his head to her from behind. Cliff let the tears run their course in her arms.
After a while, Ouka pushed off the ground with his injured body. He picked up Kiriko and said, “Let’s go… We’ll only get caught if we hang around here. I’ve got a boatload of questions for you.”
He put Kiriko on Dram’s back. Cliff and Lovel nodded and followed behind him.