The battle on the surface was approaching its climax. The artificial rain that never ceased falling began to pour down even harder. The half-real tower, unperturbed, simply continued to loom high above Krios. The group of eight colossal girls watched over the tides of battle impassively.
What were the names of those who slew and those who were slain in this conflict? Kranos, slayer of champions and the eminent son of Prodotis, butchered Spiralblade and Sinker, while Papus the wise seized and killed Fleetfoot. Hovering in the sky above, the helicopters sent by Panopticon continued to obstinately rain gunfire upon them, but the ingenious Itimenos dropped them one by one with a series of thrown spears, fighting off the Manager Toiler with his other hand. Finally, one of the two archer-saints Krios could boast within its ranks—Diros of the swift arrow—pierced both Blusterer and the mail-cloak Rick with his darts.
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“My name is Aegisthus! The shield raised high above the heavens, the defender of all Terea!”
“My name is Prodotis! The sun that shall never fall, he who burns with everlasting life!”
The two heroes, emerging from the other side of the teleportation gate, competed as they announced their names from the moment their weapons crossed. Rick overheard their great clash.
“Rick! Are you okay?!” Blusterer, who was shot through by the hero Diros’s arrows at the same time as Rick had been, approached at a crawl. His right leg, pierced by Diros’s homing arrows, was torn to shreds, and it would no longer bear his weight.
“Hmm...I’m not feeling great.” Rick’s wounds were even more severe. The last arrow that had hit Blusterer had carried on and punctured Rick’s abdomen. “Blusterer, old fellow...do you have some kind of medicine that can heal wounds instantly or anything like that? I had some of the blood of Prodotis, so I drank it all, but I don’t know if the regeneration can keep up... I think I may be dying.”
Blusterer opened his mouth in shock, then shook his head from side to side. “Rick...I’m sorry, but our Liquid Computers don’t work like that... If you do use one, your wounds will heal, but...!”
“My personality will be overwritten, right? That makes sense, I suppose. If they only healed wounds, we would have stolen them for our own use long ago. Is that what you people call ‘copy protection’? I suppose it must be... I guess I’m done for, then.” In fact, Rick was right. Blusterer did not attempt to correct him, and Rick smiled in resignation. “While we’re sharing information, perhaps you can tell me—bodies used by Reincarnators don’t last more than five years, do they?”
“...How did you...?” Blusterer didn’t directly confirm or deny this, but his expression said everything. Rick gave him a wry smile.
“Blusterer, you’re being far too obvious about it. So I was right. When we use the blood of Prodotis, for each vial used our life is shortened by a year. It’s difficult to imagine that the blood of Reincarnators, the same kind of substance, poses no risk to the body...in other words, the reason attacks became more frequent this year was...” Rick suddenly paused. His eyes sparkled, taken in by the battle between Dill and Prodotis.
“Ahh...Steel-Link! You really are...so damn cool...!”