“Cease fire...continue!” With a cry from Starlight, the oppressive gunfire returned. The Reincarnator Dill was attacking also resisted, striking at him with the butt of his rifle as he tried to hold back Dill’s reckless charge.
Dill hurriedly dealt the fatal blow to this Reincarnator and moved on. Without worrying about hitting their allies who stood across from Dill, the Reincarnators’ gunfire followed him.
“Die confidently, and then return! I’ll pay back anyone who dies upon my command for the cost of his body! If you land a hit on the enemy I’ll buy you a drink! Finish him off and get a bonus!” Starlight’s voice carried well. Dill realized something—this man’s method of fighting was similar to his own. In his own unique way, Starlight was rallying his allies. It seemed that the Manager’s double armband was not just for show.
Dill saw an opportunity, took out a javelin from beneath his chain mail cloak, and threw it straight at Starlight. The Reincarnator Manager stopped barking orders and swiftly thrust out an arm. His military coat opened and the galactic hues peeking out from inside it enveloped the spear Dill had thrown; the spear vanished, drawn into the portal, and Starlight stood unharmed.
“The enemy is exhausted. Press upon him now! For R and R, we’re going to a hot spring!” From Starlight’s baton, pointed straight at Dill, extended the red beam of a laser sight. The Reincarnators’ lines of fire focused around this point. Dill gathered his shield and cloak in front of himself, steeling himself for the impact as he knew he could no longer escape without a scratch. As Dill accepted this, there was a sudden change.
“The steward of loyalty, the adjutant who serves the eagle—I, Hathaway, will join you in battle!” Hathaway’s introduction was carried forward by the pounding hooves of his steed. As the man appeared, he was accompanied by a gallant whinny from his horse, which scattered the Reincarnator lines as it galloped through. He then dismounted right in front of Starlight, drew his rapier from its silver scabbard, and held it glittering in the air. At first Starlight tried to engage him, but he soon desisted, opting instead to envelop himself in his teleportation coat.
“The new arrival also has some skill.” Starlight, reappearing far away, looked at the thin blade driven deep into the cobblestone road—as well as Hathaway, who pulled it free and sheathed it in an instant—and made his assessment.
“You saved me! Adjutant Hathaway, to think you’d come to help me...” Dill’s face shone.
“Those were Captain Halberd’s orders. Let’s decide this battle at once!”
Back-to-back, Dill and Hathaway continued the fight. There was a lapse in Starlight’s mechanical command, and the Reincarnators each launched attacks with their individual Skills in a chaotic storm. But this chaos was more to the liking of the mail-cloaks, who had survived the epic Holy War. In this moment, the names of the enemies the two brave warriors slew were...
The reckless Ironblood; the swift Messenger, Coursechange; Observer; and Gunner, who turned to fire at them. With blue blood dripping from his hair, Dill cried, “Forget the past, Adjutant!”
“Stop calling me that. It’s uncomfortable.”
“Why?! That’s what you are.”
“You calling me that after fighting me for the position just sounds like sarcasm.”
The Reincarnator Eastwind, who levitated his own body with his psychokinesis, slid toward the heroes with a bayonet in his hand, but Hathaway ran him through with his rapier. After this, Hathaway turned around immediately and killed Jackboot, who was standing behind him, before weaving through the gaps in the fierce battle and elegantly wiping the blood from his slender blade.
Meanwhile, behind Hathaway, Dill strangled an enemy to death with his bare hands; then using his body as a shield, he dragged the next enemy toward himself. His rusty hair was tangled wildly, even fearsomely, and the will to fight drained from the foe before him.
“To be honest, I didn’t think we’d ever make amends,” muttered Dill, in a calm voice unbefitting of the melee in which the two were embroiled.
Hathaway took a while to respond. “Five years have passed. I’ve changed too. But, such sentimental talk...”
“Right—it can wait until after we’ve killed these bastards!”
The man in the long coat appeared before the two heroes as they stood shoulder to shoulder. The lining of his coat glowed.
“Cease fire!” He gestured to his men by clenching his raised hand into a fist. At this command, silence fell upon the street. Starlight stood alone before Dill and Hathaway, without anyone attending him.
“All hands...at ease! I’ve seen more than enough. I’ll take it from here.” Silence descended. The murderous intent exchanged between the three men was so concentrated one might choke on it.
Their elevated nerves would have snapped with just one more push, the smallest thing capable of shattering the silence.
Just then, there was a heavy thud. A colossal red eye peered into the street, and buildings crumbled at the corners of the intersection as it passed. What emerged was a one-eyed giant, which had swollen to a total of eight meters in height.
“The daughter of Chimera, one of the twelve Titan generals.” Hathaway narrowed his eyes.
“Was I too late...?” muttered Starlight, looking up at the red-eyed monster that had appeared and beginning to show signs of anxiety. He had used his Skill to vanish himself, moving to another location and returning to his position of command. Pursuing Dill did not seem to interest him any longer.
“Metamorphoses. Book One. Cyclops, the one-eyed giant.” This was a special ability even among the Titans, granted only to the Chimera clan. However, the giant that appeared in Vulcan had an ugliness that both did and did not resemble the transformation undergone by the girl’s mother. Its body lacked perfect vertical symmetry. The solitary red eye on its face was off center. The shape of its mouth was also crooked, opening vertically from its chin down to its throat.
Dill, who was defenseless, began to walk toward the Titan.