“Did you see that, foolish Tereans? No matter how many of the Seven Generals you defeat, it’s no use! As long as the golden kingdom of Krios still has my father—as long as it has Prodotis, the silver mountain, we can always recover no matter what!” Even as Kranos, Prodotis’s son, wept, still he smiled. No sooner had he said this than he slashed at Halberd before him with a sword of steel, bringing his opponent, far greater in stature, to his knees.
The giant, who had weathered a long battle with the hero, posed him a question, his shoulders heaving as he panted for breath. “Have you never thought...of surpassing your father? All you do is worship him and sing his praises. You may call yourself a hero, but you fall short in my reckoning... How disappointing. Gah...gah hah...ga-hoo!”
“I have no need to surpass him. Father will live forever. He will naturally remain above the likes of me and continue to climb to even greater heights. My only mission is to help him in that journey. He will become a god, surpass the gods...and create his own! Worms such as you cannot stand in the way of his supremacy!” Giving into passion, Kranos brought his sword down upon Halberd, and the giant blocked it with his lump of iron. The complex machinery within was overwhelmed by the hero’s preternatural strength and the weapon was cut in twain. And without losing any momentum, Kranos’s sword carried on toward Halberd’s left arm, which held up the iron lump—and cut it clean off.
“Lord Halberd!” cried Hathaway, his adjutant. But Papus of the Seven Generals would not allow Hathaway to run to Halberd’s aid. “Is this the end for us?”
Meanwhile, Mace fought the hero Itimenos. All forces who were available to join the effort to strike down Prodotis had already been committed. Mace readied what was left of his club, which was broken in half, and muttered, “As an employer, he was generous with his money. I made quite a lot in his brigade...but, in the end, I never had the time to spend my earnings on debauchery...oh?” Mace strained his ears, listening to a faint sound through a gap in his chain mail hood. The hero in front of him had noticed the sound a moment sooner and stayed his hand, seeming to perk up his own ears.
“Is that...singing?”
✦ ✦ ✦
“The Metamorphoses, is it not? That takes me back. That form...would be the Siren, wouldn’t it?” The Siren—a monster of the sea which lured sailors off course to bind and kill them. Nue Kirisaki had gone through yet another transformation. While Dill, Sid, and others had fought against Prodotis, Nue had lain low and prepared herself. When that transformation reached its intended result, she took flight once again.
At first glance, this form didn’t appear too different from that of the Harpy. Her arms had changed into birdlike wings, allowing her to fly through the air. But now, from her haunches there hung a fish’s tail. The cacophonous blinking of her black feathers had finally ceased. The eyeballs with red irises spilled out of her feathers, and the empty sockets transformed into lips. Nue was now an aberration with countless mouths.
The lips buried in her wings each began to tremble, emitting a low-frequency sound. This same sound also flowed from Nue’s own lips.
“The blood of transformation, different from either Nectar or Ichor... Though a Titan, you are also not far from the primordial race. Thy being is the key, O Princess Chimera.”
Nue’s song had no words—it was more of an amorphous moan. Those who heard the waves of sound flowing across Krios were unconsciously drawn to its source. All thoughts of battle left Sid as he began to go to Nue, but Dill grabbed his shoulder and shook him to his senses.
“Focus. Nue is laying a trap. We need to wait for her signal.”
“...Yes, Master.”
“The rain has stopped, and the power of Rei and the other Reincarnators has waned. It’s up to us now. Pull yourself together, Orestes!”
“Yes, Master!”
The primeval song continued. Prodotis watched closely. There was no need for the hero to be hasty—time was on his side. The sun orb continued to grow. Soon the Chimera girl would be engulfed by it, and his favor would reach its perfect apex...
“What?!” At first, Prodotis thought his eyes were playing tricks on him. But this wasn’t the case—the sun orb was moving. “So her power is not only to seduce human hearts and draw their bearers to her, after all... Objects too, and in the end, even celestial phenomena...!”
The hero set forth to solve this new problem. The sun orb was descending, drawn to Nue’s song, and Dill and Sid slid into Prodotis’s path. Prodotis swung his spear to mow both of them down, but the pair raised their own weapons and withstood his assault. Dill’s sword, the first to receive the hero’s blow, shattered into tiny shards.
“Master! Take this!” Sid pulled a spear and shield toward himself with psychokinesis, then handed them directly to Dill.
In that brief window of time, Prodotis had already unleashed another attack. Sweeping his spear up from the ground as if scooping up the earth at his feet, he delivered a low strike. Sid...stepped onto the spear! Once again, his fearless advance had thrown off his enemy’s calculation of when he would be, and the head of the spear he had stepped on sank deep into the mud!
Prodotis decisively abandoned his spear and turned his gaze away from Sid. He had a premonition—almost a kind of trust in his enemy’s skills—and guessed where the next attack would come from.
“My name...is Dill Steel-Link!”
The hero blocked Dill’s spear with the palm of his hand and seized the weapon. Though the iron spearhead had pierced his flesh, this fixed the spear in place—and contrary to Dill’s expectations, this worked in Prodotis’s favor. The wound was healed by the Ichor that gushed forth, presenting no obstacle to his next move.
Prodotis turned his wrist with the intention of breaking the spear while he still held it, but Dill’s left hand came forward with his shield aimed at Prodotis’s face. The shield roared as it parted the air, but the hero pushed it back with a fierce headbutt.
The impact that transferred through the shield left Dill’s arm numb, and the head of Dill’s spear succumbed to the strength of the hero’s grasp, snapping in two. Dill threw away the broken spear and grappled with Prodotis using his bare hands.
“Orestes!”
“Yes, Master!” A phosphoric blade sliced at Prodotis, whose movements were now limited by Dill. Phosphors pushed Sid from behind, exploding from the soles of his boots—even in her weakened state, Rei was giving her all to support him.
“Go get him, Sid!” cried Rei, who, unwilling to dedicate any more power to maintaining her own body, had become as insubstantial as mist.
“My name is...Orestes!” They collided with a fearsome smashing sound. The blade failed to overcome the hero’s flesh, though, and shattered into smithereens. The fragments and phosphors sparkled in the light of the sun.
“There’s more where that came from!” Even with his weapon shattered, Sid’s charge did not end. Following Dill’s example, he grabbed onto the hero and began to push him back. Prodotis’s body, which felt as heavy as lead...little by little...began finally to move. Between the two of them, Dill and Sid managed to push the hero away. But what was their ultimate aim?
The Siren’s song resounded throughout the air—and now it was Prodotis who was being sucked in. The pull of Nue’s song lifted the hero into the air and drew him toward her—he flailed with his arms and legs, trying to grab hold of the earth. Prodotis looked down and saw the present-day heroes—Aegisthus and Orestes, now unarmed—each move to the left and right of him. And then, they threw their fists toward him in perfect synchronization.
“Ohh...” The heroes drove their fists into him as one. His bronze skin didn’t sustain so much as a scratch, but his body was pushed back, higher into the air. And...he did not fall back down. Prodotis, in a state of weightlessness, continued to rise skyward.
“Ohh...!”
As Prodotis was blown back, he bent over backward to see where he was headed. His destination was the very flaming orb he had birthed into existence—and just beyond it, appearing like a dark spot on the sun, was the black-winged girl. She continued to sing.
Prodotis willed the Skill that had generated the sun orb to stop—but he couldn’t do it. All around the hero was a barrier of glowing phosphors, shutting off his telepathic link to the castle giant. This was an imitation of the maze of fire Prodotis had revealed, as well as an adaptation of it.
His flight continued. The sun grew closer. The hero, whose body no spear or Skill could destroy, would most likely be consumed by the sun he had created himself. And the spectacle of it...was more beautiful than he could have imagined.
“I seem to remember that, long ago...among the heroes of the Golden Age, there was one who was destroyed by the sun. Were the Ex Machina, or even the Titans themselves, ever such powerful or gargantuan foes? The honor of Prodotis’s death goes to... The name of the one who slew me is...!”
What had been his true purpose in seeking eternal life? What was the true reason for his rage, at his friend’s betrayal or the stones thrown by the Tereans? He no longer had time enough to ponder these questions. The hero spread out his arms and welcomed his destruction.
The light swallowed everything.