Kamaku had sacrificed its life and put everything it had into one final attack.
The massive fireball it unleashed was like a condensed mass containing all of its hatred. The attack narrowly missed me as I stood there in Fourth Field.
Oh, crap.
The moment I realized what was happening, I dropped Fourth Field and tried to recover in time.
“Jupiter!”
Please make it. Please make it, I thought, turning back toward her.
I didn’t expect such a weak attack to cause any serious harm to Jupiter, but if she felt like she was being attacked for even a moment, we were in trouble.
It wasn’t a matter of whether she could defend it, or a question of how much damage she would take.
The instant she felt like she was in danger—
“Ahh…!”
—it would be consumed by rage.
“AWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!”
An angry roar shook the very world around us.
The sky turned dark and jet-black bolts of lightning came crashing down to the ground.
A beast of darkest black had manifested.
It was the incarnation of a father—one hell-bent on eradicating any and all threats to his daughter.
The modified Sublime spirit, which had paternal emotions forcibly installed into it by a heartless group of scientists, had been unleashed on the world, and at the worst possible time.
This is really bad.
I tried to call out to Haruka, but I was too slow.
Or, perhaps more accurately, it was far too fast.
The change that came over the fifteenth floor happened as fast as a flash of lightning.
First, the beast absorbed Jupiter into its body. It opened its darkly shrouded maw and devoured the dazed girl whole.
But it wasn’t eating her—what it was doing was quite the opposite. It was trying to protect its daughter—it wanted to do what we had failed to accomplish.
It realized that it was the strongest being present, and that by absorbing her, she would be protected from all harm.
In a way, it was the ultimate display of paternal love. But its daughter’s feelings on the matter were of no concern—its warped desire to protect her was one-sided.
“AWOOOOOO!”
It let out a dark roar and trampled the bird’s fireball underfoot.
It was like watching a lit match be crushed by a piece of heavy machinery. And so, the Doomquill Condor’s final desperate attack was snuffed out by one movement of this mighty beast’s front leg.
The difference in strength almost seemed unfair—poor Kamaku never stood a chance.
And then—
“AWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!”
—the beast began its purge of the offender.
Its second roar brought with it a rain of black lightning bolts. But those bolts had now been transformed into weapons with deadly aim.
The bolts consumed the beast’s hated foe—the one who had dared to put its daughter in danger. The countless bits of flesh that had once made up Kamaku were torched by the bolts of enmity and reduced to ash.
The weather raged and the land became desolate—the beast’s rage was a veritable natural disaster. And that calamity continued unabated even after the threat had been eliminated.
The creature was larger than a truck. It looked like an amalgamation of every carnivorous animal imaginable.
If it weren’t for the jet-black fur standing on end all over its body and the endlessly flowing black lightning bolts that surrounded it, it would simply look like an incredibly fierce wild beast.
Goddamn it…
“…Keraunos. You damned bastard!”
I really wanted to avoid you if possible.
But we had unleashed the beast. This was our own fault.
In other words, the fact it had shown up meant that we had failed to protect Jupiter. My heart clouded with guilt. I wanted to punch myself in the face for being so useless. But—
“Haruka! Intercept the black thunderbolts and make your way over here.”
“Got it!”
—there wasn’t even a second to waste on self-pity. This was an emergency.
We ran across the black bolt-laden battlefield and met up. Then we huddled together in a defensive formation.
“I’ll use Fourth Field to protect us from attacks from the front. You use Azure Skies to protect us from lightning from above. You’d better cast Shield and Lessen Impact on yourself for protection. Especially to guard your ears from the sound. Any questions?”
“Uh, are you okay? You look really pale, Kyou.”
“I’m just a bit sleep-deprived is all. Sorry. I’ll make sure I’m well-rested next time,” I told her, hoping my made-up excuses were enough to dispel her concern. Then I immediately activated Fourth Field.
The world turned monochrome as my body changed into a fourth-dimensional entity.
I held Eckesachs in its great sword form at a diagonal angle to improve the width of my defenses and had Haruka stand behind me. I had to be ready to intercept an attack at a moment’s notice.
C’mon, you damn beast.
Just as I had expected, the creature moved.
Keraunos’s gaping maw glowed black. Light swelled around its mouth. Lightning crackled. Thunder rumbled.
The attack it was charging was so massive that its spiritual power was visible to the naked eye. Keraunos stooped down, turned to face us, and—
“AWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!”
—the moment his spiritual power reached its peak, my monochromatic vision went black.
It unleashed a spray of lightning breath capable of extinguishing any and all living organisms in range.
The lightning beast wasn’t going to let anyone that might cause its daughter stress survive.
Its thirst for murder was bottomless. Insatiable.
The beam it fired was murderous rage, incarnate. And all I could do was stand there and take it head-on.
I stood in that quiet, colorless realm, completely unable to move.
“Hmm. I’ve heard of toxic parents, but this is truly something else.”
A beautiful voice, full of fourth-dimensional logic, reached my mind.
Himinglaeva Albion. Only she, the goddess of time, was able to act freely in this fourth-dimensional realm.
I responded—not by vibrating my vocal cords, but instead by vibrating my very soul.
“This is on another level than toxic parenting. This guy’s a monster.”
“Hmm. A fair point. I’m surprised that you of all people would make such an astute observation, Master.”
She was always saying one thing too many.
But even if this wicked goddess was quick to fling insults, it was a relief to hear her voice. The world inside Fourth Field was terribly lonely. There was no sound. There were no colors. There was no anything. So being able to talk to anyone at all while I was being overwhelmed by this pitch-black force made me feel a bit better.
It was such a relief that I even opened up to her.
“I failed.”
My heart ached. Guilt and powerlessness poured out of me like so many tears.
“I wasn’t able to stop Keraunos from showing up.”
Despite how harsh I’d been with Jupiter the day before, I had failed to live up to my promise to her.
I felt so ashamed. I hated myself.