Chapter 126: The Tollbearer (7)

At the edge of Misha’s vision, the Observation Channel erupted. She did not read most of it, only fragments caught her attention while she moved.

<Observer from the War Magus’ Channel> The blond cub wastes no thunder.

〔FAVOR +80 → War Magus〕

「 Mental focus sharpened. 」

As she ran, the Primarch’s upright head tracked her. Its lower jaw cracked open far wider than bone should have allowed, black strands stretching between the hinges. Then it screamed a guttural, scraping shriek.

「 Trajectory predicted. Dodge window: 0.5 second. 」

She ducked under a chain, the links passed close enough that rust flakes brushed her hood. Then she dropped into a slide. Broken stone shredded the outside of her thigh through the combat layer, but momentum carried her beneath the reach of the Primarch’s lower arms.

Then she came up inside its guard, close enough to smell the rot, burned metal, old blood, and something acidic underneath.

Misha drove Twinfang into the edge of the gong.

SKREEE–

Steel screamed against bronze. One dagger slipped, the other bit not into the metal itself but into the fleshy ridge anchoring the disk to the Primarch’s chest.

Misha planted her boot against its leg and twisted. The blade sank deeper. Black fluid sprayed across her hand and the creature convulsed.

<First Mourner Beneath Creation> The living remain most beautiful when death is close enough to touch.

〔FAVOR +45 → Gravekeeper〕

"Come on–"

The upper-left arm moved.

「 Enemy movement prediction enhanced. 」

She saw the shadow, that was all.

「 Shock response reduced. 」

「 Impact path detected. 」

She ripped Twinfang free and threw herself backward.

A hand the size of her torso slammed into the street where she had been standing. Stones erupted and a chunk caught her shoulder anyway.

Pain flashed hot and immediate. She spun with the impact and hit the ground, rolled, then came up on one knee. Her shoulder screamed when she raised the dagger.

「 Grip stability maintained despite impact trauma. 」

"Fuck," she muttered through clenched teeth as she flinched.

A figure burst through the ruined wall. Hiiro came back out with trailing dust, still alive because apparently gravity had personally given up on killing him.

Blood ran from his temple, his shirt was shredded across one shoulder. But that was not what caught Misha’s attention.

Black scales had spread over both arms and forearms. Dragon-like plates layered over his skin from his knuckles nearly to his elbows, each scale catching the dirty daylight in hard ridges. Mana surged through the gaps. Brown-gold light gathered around his fists, not bright but they were dense and heavy.

Misha pointed at him. "Do not–"

Hiiro charged.

"–rush it alone!"

Too late. Of course it was. By now, Hiiro sprinting directly toward obvious danger was less a behavioral flaw and more a recurring natural phenomenon.

<Observer from the Grandmaster’s Channel> THAT’S IT! THAT’S MY CUB! KEEP FIGHTING!

〔FAVOR +100 → Grandmaster〕

<The Last Survivor of an Unwritten World> Such delight. I have watched men twice his age spend fortunes trying to purchase the courage the youth wastes freely.

The Primarch swung, Hiiro slipped beneath the first arm, pivoted around the second, but the third caught him across the ribs. He grunted, stayed upright, then drove his fist straight into the center of the gong.

BOOM.

The sound was completely different. It was not the deep resonance of the Primarch’s mallet, this was blunt force. Bronze carved inward around Hiiro’s knuckles and a fracture appeared. Thin, but visible.

Hiiro’s blue eyes widened. "Yes!"

"Same point!" Caius shouted as purple current gathered around the blade of his weapon. His arms trembled since was forcing too much in it.

The lighting crawled past the weapon and over his forearms, burning tiny black marks into his sleeves.

"Cai, don’t burn yourself out!"

"I’m fine."

Misha stared at him. ’Oh, good. It’s contagious.’

The Primarch screamed, its chains lifted. All of them.

Misha’s blood went cold. "Hiiro, move!"

The chains were too fast. It snapped inward, one wrapped around the boy’s ankle, another caught his waist, and a third coiled around his right arm.

His grin vanished. "Seriously?!"

The Primarch jerked backward.

Hiiro left the ground. "WHY IS IT ALWAYS ME–?!!"

He flew toward the creature.

Misha sprinted, not because she had a plan. Plans were a luxury for people whose companions did not routinely get reeled toward monsters like particularly loud fish.

"Hiiro!"

He twisted midair, his free hand caught the chain wrapped around his waist.

Misha expected panic. Instead... he grinned.

Her steps nearly faltered. ’There’s something fundamentally defective about that kid.’

"You absolute–"

He didn’t fight the pull. Hiiro used the Primarch’s own force as the chain dragged him straight toward its chest.

Misha realized what he was doing. "Oh, you idiot."

Then he slammed both feet into the gong.

CRAAANG!

The fracture widened and a burst of crimson light spilled through.

The Primarch screamed with all three partially formed voices at once. "KRAAAAUUAAAHHH!!!"

<Observer from the Grandmaster’s Channel> YES! IF THE ENEMY OFFERS MOMENTUM, IT HAS ALREADY DONATED THE WEAPON!

〔FAVOR +200 → Grandmaster〕

<Observer from the Grandmaster’s Channel> The boy is either blessed by battle or personally hated by consequence.

"CAIUS!"

Caius thrust his staff-spear forward. Lightning condensed into a single violet-white line and punched directly into the crack Hiiro had widened.

Krak-BOOM!

The gong exploded inward, not completely but enough. Crimson light burst out in a violent spray, making the monster reel.

Its arms went wide, chains loosened, and Hiiro dropped.

Misha ran beneath him, caught the black of his shirt, and immediately regretted every decision that had led to this moment. His full weight crashed into her.

"Why are you so heavy?!"

"Sorry, mini boss."

Her brow twitched. Mini boss? Gerbaut got ma’am and she got mini boss.

Apparently respect was directly proportional to whether or not Gerbaut happened to be borrowing her face.

She shoved him away. "Call me that again and I’ll let the chains keep you."

Hiiro stumbled one step. Then he looked down at her–because, insultingly, he was considerably taller. A crooked grin tugged at his mouth. "Gerbaut was nicer."

"He barely spoke."

"Exactly."

Misha’s expression became murderous. "You..."

<The Saint Buried Upside Down> Ah. The ancient ritual of surviving death only to be murdered by one’s companion.

<Observer from the Grandmaster’s Channel> Worth it~

〔FAVOR +12 → Grandmaster〕

Misha dismissed everything since she did not have enough attention left to be publicly humiliated by higher beings.

For half a second, the street became eerily quiet. It wasn’t silent since there were still fires crackling somewhere behind the buildings, and the faint scrape of bodies moving through alleys. But the Primarch–

Following Hiiro’s gaze, she looked toward its chest and saw the crimson pulsing had stopped.

For one another second, hope hit. It was quick and stupid. Then black threads crawled across the fracture. The strands came from inside, hundreds of them. Thin as hair at first, then thicker. They spread across the damaged bronze in branching patterns and hooked into the broken edges.

The gong began pulling itself back together. The pieces Caius had blasted inward dragged themselves back into place.

Hiiro stared. Then, impossibly, he huffed. "See? I told you we’re gonna have phase two! Defeating it would be too easy without a phase two!"

Misha slowly turned her head toward him, she was staring at him in disbelief. "You are enjoying this entirely too much."

"I accepted the quest!"

"That explains nothing!"

The Primarch straightened, its heads rolled along its shoulders. The damaged one cracked back into alignment before one arm lifted and the mallet rose with it.

Misha’s stomach sank. ’Again?’

「 Combat pattern recognized. 」

"Scatter!"

The mallet fell.

GOOOONNNG.

Misha threw herself sideways. The pulse rolled over the street. This time, she knew what was coming. But knowing did not help.

Pressure slammed into her spine, her boots lost traction, and she hit the ground shoulder-first.

「 〔SYSTEM NOTICE〕

[Deathly Oppression] has intensified.

Physical performance reduction increased.

Fear resistance deterioration accelerated. 」