“Huh? It stopped again. What the hell is in there...?” Spiralblade peered into the wound rent open by her chainsaw, then screamed. Myriad red eyes were crammed into the gaping gash, and every one of them met Spiralblade’s gaze in perfect unison.
The Titan transformed again. The wounds all over its body squirmed, then round objects from inside of its flesh protruded out of the wounds, filling them up. They were eyeballs. From each laceration, an equally sized eyeball with a red iris emerged to the surface of the Titan’s body.
Metamorphoses. Book Two. Argos, the hundred-eyed giant.
“Stand firm! Kill that monster!” The resolute Red Lotus barked orders, while he himself slashed at the Titan with his red-hot weapons. The many-eyed monster was engulfed in a maelstrom of gunfire, the eyeballs that had just emerged bursting open. From each of the now empty sockets, something else immediately crawled out.
This time, it was arms. Innumerable arms, big and small, none matching another in length, girth, or number of joints surged forth like a swarm of insects and seized the nearby Spiralblade and Red Lotus. In the first moment, the Reincarnator Chiefs resisted, but they were soon pulled inside the empty eye sockets, and all was silent.
Metamorphoses. Book Three. Hecatoncheir, the hundred-handed giant.
“I mean...what is that? For crying out loud!” Starlight could now only stand there stunned, smiling dryly.
“Nue Kirisaki. My daughter.”
The Reincarnator troops were unable to hold out against the Titan as it began to move once again. Its absurd series of transformations had instilled fear in them, even though they would certainly not be permanently killed. They cast aside their weapons, abandoned their posts, and fled. Any stragglers were seized by the many-eyed, many-handed Titan and swallowed whole. The Manager, Starlight, who should have rallied their spirit and issued orders, was unable to return to his command. This time, it was Dill who stood in Starlight’s way. He would not allow the Reincarnator to raise his voice to give orders, pressing upon him with sword and shield.
Starlight knocked aside the shield with the tonfa on his arm as Dill bashed him with it. He then dodged the sword swinging up toward him from the ground and used the momentum from his dodge to counter with a roundhouse kick. Dill tilted his head to one side, then sandwiched Starlight’s leg in between his head and shoulder. The force seemed to concuss Dill, but his rust-colored eyes remained fixed firmly on his enemy.
A second swing from Dill’s sword sent Starlight’s defensive tonfa flying into the air with a satisfying crack. Starlight twisted his body around and escaped, then charged at Dill while staying low to the ground, his dagger in hand, but Dill stomped down hard on the wrist behind the dagger, crushing both limb and weapon.
In the next instant, Dill’s foot swung up into Starlight’s chin, and the Reincarnator Manager’s back slammed straight onto the road’s surface. His arms and legs splayed out, Starlight looked at his broken wrist and smiled in resignation. “Hey, now. You’re not allowed to use modern martial arts. The time period for this setting is only supposed to have advanced up to around the Greco-Roman era.”
“I know you Reincarnators claim to have come, metaphorically, from the future...but there’s nothing to be surprised about here. Where once gods walked the earth, heroes walked after them; now, this place is inhabited by ordinary humans. Those born in later ages are naturally inferior to those who came before. You have no chance of winning here.” Dill swung his sword once more toward Starlight, who no longer tried to defend himself, to deliver the killing blow.
“Ha ha ha. The olden days were great. I agree.” Starlight took something out from the portal in the lining of his coat—it was a lit cigarette. “Well, you win. I surrender. Kill me.”
Dill did just that.
“Looks like it’s over,” said Hathaway, the brigade’s adjutant. He must have fought a fair number of enemies, since he was uncharacteristically covered in blood. There were no survivors to be found among the Reincarnators; those around Hathaway had either been slain by him, or they had fled. “So, what do you want to do about that?” Hathaway gestured at the Titan. Unspoken were the words, Shall I kill it?
“There’s nothing to be done.” Dill sheathed his sword and approached the Titan. Hathaway became agitated.
“Stop—stay back! We can’t lose you too, you bastard! Have you forgotten the battle of Notos?! That’s...”
“Nue is my daughter. Sorry to keep you waiting... It’s me, papa—the one you’ve been waiting for. Nue, let’s go home.”
Upon hearing Dill’s voice, the savage giant bristling with many eyes and many hands suddenly froze. Its hands, which had repeatedly smashed a truck driven by Reincarnators against the ground like a child throwing a tantrum, were still. Countless red eyes turned to look at Dill—and then, one by one, began to shed lukewarm tears.
Dill looked back at Hathaway. “You see, Adjutant? My daughter is a good girl.”
“I can’t believe what I’m seeing...”
The Titan’s body started to rapidly wither. Like dried bean husks, its skin turned a pale brown, losing its moisture and turning hard. The skin started to peel off in little pieces, crumbling to dust and falling to the ground. Dill stretched out both his arms, and a single large mass fell straight toward his open embrace. It was a young girl with black hair.
“Welcome back, princess.”
The girl coughed. She resigned herself to having her naked body covered with clothes taken from one of the fallen Reincarnators. After a while, once she could finally speak again, she asked guardedly, “Are you mad?”
“Of course not. Why would I be?” Dill’s voice was gentle.
“I broke our promise again.”
“You did it to protect Cirulia, didn’t you? I was the one at fault for not being there by your side.” Dill and Nue gazed at each other, and Nue’s red eyes were wet with tears.
“Steel-Link. I know you two are reluctant to part again, but could we head to the Acropolis now?” Hathaway coughed, and interrupted. “The evacuees are gathering up there. It seems that they were guided there intentionally. The Reincarnators look to have something in mind, and we’ll need your strength to stop them.”