Just how many times would he have to land a hit on this hero?
“Nue!” cried Dill, causing Sid to look in the same direction. Night had fallen more quickly above the ruins of Krios. What appeared at first to be a flock of birds was most likely a cloud of fallen black feathers. A pair of bizarre wings was molting even as they were flying through the sky—but the trajectory of their flight was unnatural. Rather than flying in a straight line, their motion was serpentine. As the wings beat furiously to gain altitude, they looked to be missing the majority of their feathers, as if they were shedding their feathers to hide themselves in an attempt to escape.
Something long and thin launched into the sky—a spear thrown with frightening speed, whose trajectory connected with the girl tracing a complex path through the sky and sent her plummeting out of the air.
“Nue is—” Without thinking, Sid leaned in Nue’s direction. Then a shadow fell over his head. Falaina, who had judged that he should vanquish Sid first of all, clenched his fists together and brought them down toward the boy.
An arrow, a spear, an iron lump, a club, a rapier, and a shield—all of these collided with Falaina’s colossal arms to halt their descent. Dill, who raised his shield and slammed into Falaina with his entire weight behind it, was sent flying back, tumbling across the wasteland. The combined attacks of all the mercenaries were eventually able to slightly slow the progress of Falaina’s fists, allowing Sid to just barely escape.
Shaking sand from his long hair, Dill shouted, “Orestes! Focus! If we lose you, we’ll have no chance of winning!”
“...Yes, Master!” Sid’s voice trembled at Dill’s reprimand. He sniffled, feeling absolutely hopeless. As long as Falaina still stood, he couldn’t go to help Nue, and she could not escape under her own strength. Sid had no choice but to defeat this hero!
Falaina’s ferocious assault continued. The giant’s pillar-like arms slammed against the earth, and without stopping swept toward the brigade, grinding against the ground as they came. Evading this incredibly far-reaching attack, Mace climbed atop Falaina’s arm, and Sid stepped forward courageously to pass between the giant’s legs. To allow his comrades to escape, Dill drew out Falaina’s attacks, running away at the last second, but he proved unable to evade each impact entirely. Again, he was sent tumbling across the wastes.
Sid set phosphors filled with rage along his blade and struck at the giant. Falaina, who had sustained a cut to his inner thigh, still moved with characteristic agility, pulling his leg back and bringing his fist down upon Sid—a blow from the mighty fist of Falaina, the white whale, the likes of which was said to have once toppled the walls of Vulcan!
Sid spread out his phosphors thinly over a wide area in order to conceal himself. At the moment Falaina’s aim wavered, Sid dropped to the ground and dodged the attack. Halberd, who was no longer marked for death by Falaina, and Dill, who had just returned to the battlefield, each delivered a blow to Falaina’s tough hide!
“Damn...damn it! Fall! Hurry up, I’m begging you—just go down...!” Sid wielded his sword as he prayed, each blow decisively landing on Falaina’s body. But no matter how much damage he took, none of it amounted to a mortal wound due to his colossal stature. Thanks to his size, Falaina had inexhaustible stamina and maintained a nightmarish agility. There was no end in sight.
“Ah!” A gasp escaped Sid’s lips. At the edge of his vision, he saw Dill tumble. He had repeated that exploit countless times already, presenting himself as bait to give Sid opportunities to attack.
Raising a battle cry, Rick fired his crossbow wildly. Halberd threw down his lump of iron and charged ahead, grappling with an opponent twice his height in an effort to hold him back.
The arrows could not pierce Falaina’s skin, and he paid no mind to the detonation of the explosives attached to the arrowheads. He peeled Halberd off his body with ease and tossed him away casually.
The end was approaching. Long before the hero, Falaina, ever fell, the mortal men who fought him would reach their limit. Falaina was now in front of Dill, who lay on the ground unable to stand; the giant raised one foot in the air and brought it down toward Dill. It was an utterly inglorious motion, an act of execution—but Falaina’s foot stopped in midair. It was as if a massive, unseen hand had grabbed and held it there.
“Are you having some trouble, gentlemen...?” A pompous voice resounded throughout the wasteland. Dill recognized the theatrical manner of speech, more than the voice itself. The same was true for Whitehead and Mace. A keen sense of hostility started to surge through the members of the Halberd Brigade.
“To see those in need and not help shows a lack of courage! Please welcome to the stage a band of Reincarnators who love justice!” A pair of shiny leather shoes stepped firmly upon the sands of the wasteland. As if acting in a pantomime, the Project Manager called Toiler stepped through a teleportation gate with both hands raised in the air, stopping for dramatic effect.
Next to him appeared a man wearing a camouflage coat—the Manager known as Starlight. The lining of his coat was connected to another dimension and sparkled as if stars were scattered throughout it. On this occasion Starlight carried a large waterproof sheet, which fluttered like a battle standard. This sheet of fabric, predictably, also received the influence of his Skill, turning it into another teleportation gate.
The overlapping roars of several engines could be heard resounding from within the wide sheet, and in the very next instant, a group of motorbikes leaped out of Starlight’s portal. Leading the convoy was Repeater, an expert in combat and pyrokinesis. Igniting flames on both of her bike’s wheels, she exceeded its normal top speed and thus was the first to arrive in front of Falaina. She then jumped off her bike, her leap assisted by an eruption of flames, and once she was high enough to be level with the giant’s nose she unleashed a merciless flurry of six strikes—right, right, left, right, left, left!
Falaina, who still had one leg in the clutches of Toiler’s unseen hands, wavered noticeably under these impacts. Even a hero of such colossal stature could be toppled if he lost his footing...and he had begun to tip over. The resurrected hero, Falaina—the castle crusher, the white whale—slammed into the ground on his back.
“What...what is the meaning of this, Reincarnators?!” Dill cried, glaring at Toiler. His reaction was only natural. It was only yesterday that, in pursuit of the body of his lost friend Apollonius, he had met these same Reincarnators in the interior of Ex Machina Amputation and fought against them. On that occasion, Toiler had used psychokinesis to seize a Vulcan soldier right in front of Dill’s eyes and proceeded to kill him as if wringing out a rag.
“Whoa now! I think you’re getting a little overexcited. You’ve picked up some bad habits as a rabble-rouser, Aegisthus, worthiest opponent of my lifetime! We’re just particularly passionate members of Project Re-Earth. It’s not as if everyone in the Project is cooperating with you.” Toiler spoke quickly in a bombastic, jocular tone.
As this scene unfolded, the tide of battle shifted. Falaina rose to his feet and with the intent of disposing of these new enemies he threw his colossal body back into battle. He solely targeted the Chief-class Reincarnator Fleetfoot, who toyed with Falaina using the superior mobility granted by a series of short-distance teleportations.
While watching this scene with satisfaction, Toiler strode up to Dill and whispered in his ear. “Let me be frank. At present the Project is breaking apart. Having lost Shiden and Yuujin, our leaders, we have broken up into those who watch quietly, thinking only of self-preservation, and us, who seek self-preservation by using our powers to settle things down.”
“Sounds like both groups are yammering fools,” said Dill disdainfully.
“That’s harsh! But don’t you think our purposes have aligned for now?” Toiler dropped his voice lower still.
“There is no room for negotiation. Now die.” Dill’s arm moved swiftly and seized Toiler by his fancy necktie, drawing him closer as he brought the tip of the sword he held in his other hand against his opponent’s neck. The blade dug shallowly into Toiler’s skin.
The few Reincarnators who had not joined the fight against Falaina readied their Skills and faced Dill. Toiler was visibly agitated. He gestured for his subordinates to stand down. Sweat ran down his brow.
“Wait! Just listen to me!”
“I have no interest in listening to the words of you damned Reincarnators.” Dill was surprisingly calm in his rejection of Toiler’s offer. Seeing the color of his eyes at point-blank range, Toiler understood. Dill’s anger was not a fleeting whim—but that being said, it was not based on reason either. Reincarnators would die. Dill had already reached that conclusion. I’ve misread him. Just as this man said, there’s no room for negotiation...
“M-Master! I know how you feel, but right now we need their strength too!” Sid interrupted their exchange. Toiler, who was about to motion to his subordinates to attack without restraint, stopped at the last second. Dill did not look in Sid’s direction, continuing to stare coldly at Toiler. Toiler could feel his throat begin to tremble, and his lips started to curl.