Flamm swung her Soul Eater with all her strength
Dain staggered back as Flamm unleashed one slash after another towards Dain’s neck, but as her swings missed, her sword lets out a clashing sound as it hits the wooden floor.
Despite missing her mark, Dain is now cornered with a wall behind him, so he could no longer run.
Even if he wanted to retaliate, he shouldn’t be able to properly aim his crossbow at this distance. Unless he toss aside his main weapon and draw his short sword, he wouldn’t be able to counterattack.
Boldly and bravely, Flamm threw away the doubt that makes her falter and decided—this is it.
Dain held his buckler aloft, gripping it tightly, and as he stretched the band connected to it, a wire came shooting out.
The moment pointed end stabbed itself into the wall, it expands into a hook like a flower blooming.
Dain then pours his mana into the mechanism behind his shield, causing it to reel the wire in and pulling him away as if he’s flying.
Flamm’s blade that was supposed to cut through him went through nothing instead, and the girl immediately turned around to look behind her.
Dain aimed his crossbow towards Flamm and pulled the trigger as he was still hanging on the wall.
“That’s just one shot—!”
I’ll strike it down.
With that thought in her mind, she readied her sword.
“You’re too simple! Spread!”
That was a spell being cast.
She thought the bolt spontaneously combusts midair, but the bolt actually exploded and broke into countless fireballs, all rushing towards Flamm at once.
Knowing that she won’t be able to stave them off with just her sword, Flamm dashed sideways and rolled on the ground.
Dain used that chance and consecutively fired more bolts at her.
“Spread! Spread! SPREAD!! HAHHAHAHAH! I don’t know if it’s a curse or whatever, but do you actually think you can win against me without bringing the Hero with this much difference in strength between us!?”
Flamm desperately ran around amidst the incessant downpour of fireballs. Some of them managed to graze her shoulder, burning her clothes and caused her to bleed. It healed almost immediately, but her face still twists from the pain.
The floor caught on fire, and the smell of burnt wood quickly fills the church. At that time, Dain’s attack slacked, and Flamm wouldn’t let that chance pass.
“—AAAAAHHH!”
Flamm swung her sword through her unstable stance, sending a Prana Slash flying straight towards Dain.
However, Dain pulled another band on his buckler and his grappling hook released its grasp to the wall.
“So what!?”
Aiming for the location Dain is supposed to land, Flamm unleashed another Prana Slash.
“KUHAHAH, your thoughts are still too simple!! Explode!!1”
Dain cast another one of his Fire Attribute spells, and the explosion that burst under his foot caused him to flutter midair.
Flamm’s attack obviously missed and instead it smashed the church wall.
Without even landing back on the ground, Dain fired his grappling hook again and kept firing at Flamm as he moved quickly through the air.
Thinking he was about to cast Spread again, Flamm used her sword as a shield and got into a defensive stance.
“Moron! Burst is up next!”
The bolt he fired did not scatter. It was a spell that made the bolt explode on contact instead.
The very sound of the bolt landing next to her sent a chill up her spine, but on the other hand, Dain flashed a grin.
The bolt then reacts to the impact and exploded—or so it should.
Flamm channeled her mana through her arm and—
“REVERSAL!”
—managed to cast her spell in the nick of time.
The direction of the Burst-enchanted bolt was reversed, and the bolt flies back towards its shooter.
However, Dain had already reacted to it.
Perhaps already taking her ability into consideration, Dain released the hook without delay and landed back on the ground.
Just about a fraction of a second after he landed, there was a powerful explosion in the impact point of the bolt.
“Oooh, not bad. You used it earlier, eh? Is it a spell? It’s a rare attribute, ain’t it?”
Flamm completely ignored Dain who spoke in an overly familiar tone, and instead, she chose to Scan the man and his equipment.
——————————————————————————
Dain Phineas
Attribute: Fire
Strength: 561
Intelligence: 212
Endurance: 409
Agility: 854
Intuition: 633
——————————————————————————
Totaling 2,669 points, he’s a lower B-rank.
As she’d seen, his strength alone couldn’t consider him an A-ranker, yet he was still able to climb up through the ranks through the help of his minions.
However, it feels like he’s a bit different today.
It seems like something is boosting his strength, and it’s likely to be the effects of his equipment.
——————————————————————————
Leather Armor of Insolence
Rarity: Legendary
【Intelligence +442】
【Agility +301】
【Grants immunity to Poisons】
——————————————————————————
——————————————————————————
Buckler of Intelligence
Rarity: Legendary
【Intelligence +375】
【Agility +299】
【Intuition +108】
——————————————————————————
——————————————————————————
Automatic Crossbow
Rarity: Uncommon
【Mana +12】
——————————————————————————
——————————————————————————
Iron Dagger of Ambition
Rarity: Legendary
【Strength +241】
【Intelligence +224】
【Endurance +301】
【Steals the target’s Mana】
——————————————————————————
His equipment alone raises his status by 2,303 points.
Combined with his initial status, his total points of 4,972 puts him on the league of upper B-ranks.
Furthermore, his Mana that was supposed to be low from the start has been enhanced to above 1,000, explaining why he was able to recklessly fire off his spells.
Additionally, it would seem that his crossbow is something he’s really attached to. Considering its rarity, it’s not something an adventurer of the West District would use.
Since adventurers generally avoid “Cursed Items”, they’re usually sold at very low prices (or rather, they won’t be sold in the first place), while “Legendary” equipment are exactly the opposite.
“Did ya just use Scan? Ya know that ain’t gonna change nothin’ though right?”
“Those equipments…are those really yours?”
“‘Course they are. My kind friends gave them to me, so they’re really mine. Ya could say it’s…the bond between them and I.”
“Big words for someone who sold those bonds away along with his soul to the church.”
Dain scoffed at Flamm’s remark.
“Ya really tryin’ to paint me as a bad guy, huh? But think about it; between your life and yer bonds with yer mate, which one would ya pick? Huh? Even a goody two-shoes like miss Flamm ain’t gonna pick yer friendship, right!?”
Recalling Milkit’s smile, Flamm declared; “I’d choose my friends if I’d have to sacrifice dozens of people.”
She wouldn’t hesitate.
If her life would bring any forms of pain to Milkit, she wouldn’t hesitate to plunge her blade into her chest.
“Fuck, the cringe. THE FUCKING CRINGE!” The man’s hands trembled. Amidst his laughter he continued;
“You’re really just a runt that knows nothing. Khhahah, why the fuck do I have to deal with someone like you…!”
However, Flamm felt that his words were more suited to describe the man himself.
Flamm felt that he didn’t wish to help the church himself, but rather he had no choice but to do so, and that sense of powerlessness resonates with what Flamm felt.
It was a method of roundabout self-harm, like the fake tears of a child who only wished to be cared for.
However, no matter what started this exchange of blows and however much she sympathizes with him, none of those mattered.
Flamm could only think of killing Dain.
“Just imagine that everything you’ve built up over the years are gonna be destroyed by some 8-year-old brat! Funny, ain’t it!?”
Yet the man didn’t stop talking about himself.
Perhaps that’s how badly he wanted to be heard.
“But they showed me an crazy power!”
Dain’s past glories flashed in his mind, but all he can see are either in the past or present.
Right now, he had no choice but to obey an 8-year-old boy from the church that boasted that he’ll “swallow him eventually”. He was nothing but a gofer. A dog.
His pride has been torn to shred.
“You want me to pity you?” Flamm said, as if rubbing salt on his wound.
For the first time, the composure on Dain’s face disappears, and his face lights up with rage.
With his face turning red and his veins popping on his temple, he said;
“Ha…hahahah…as…AS IIIIIIIIIFFFFFF!!!”
Even Flamm understood why.
Dain just wanted to let it out his softer side out, despite knowing that an enemy was in front of him.
He wanted someone…anyone, to listen and understand this irrationality, and feel empathy towards him instead of pity.
Flamm might understand, for she is someone who had witnessed the irrationality of the world as she fell from being a hero to a slave.
“What Spiral Children? What the fuck do you mean Proliferation!? What the fuck do you mean by Connections!? FUCK OFF WITH THAT SHIT! FUCK OFF!”
The man was frenzied.
He has nothing left.
He has no way of taking them back.
The pain of his loss was so unbearable that yelling was all he could do.
“I’M THE KING OF THE WEST DISTRICT! I CRAWLED MY WAY UP OF THE SLUMS WITH THESE HANDS, THIS BRAIN, AND THE CHARISMA I BUILT UP! You get it, right? All that…if I don’t rely on them…and if I don’t kill one little girl…!!”
The eyeballs showed itself crawling in from the hole made by the exploding bolt.
They rushed in as if racing each other, emphasizing its grotesque nature that could send a chill up the spine.
“What’s your point?” asked Flamm after glancing at the hole. She also took a glance at another wall, which apparently was filled with eyeballs with its iris and its front half poking out of them. They all turn and twist, drilling their way out from the wall.
Furthermore, there’s not just one of them.
Tens…no, hundreds of them are all gazing at Flamm from all directions.
At this rate, the eyeballs filling the room is a matter of when.
For an instant, Flamm had thought that this fight between them are his way to buy some time, but seeing Dain’s grim resolve, she immediately brushed it aside.
It seemed that these two are a rather separate matter.
“What’s my point? You don’t get it, do ya……hahah…hahahah. AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!”
Dain’s dry laugh reverberated in the chamber.
“Haha…Haaaah…aaahh.”
However, he soon lost strength in his voice. The man dropped his shoulders and his hands dangle powerlessly.
“…I don’t…I don’t know either. Aaaahh, haaaah…I don’t know nothing. What do I wanna do? I lost to a brat, begged for my life, threw my friends away, got protected by the church just and got my livelihood secured. I was supposed to live a regular life from then. What the fuck was that? That’s fucking boring! That’s the thing I hate the most! The path I don’t want to go the most! Fucking boring! Everything after this will be boooooooriiiiiiinngg!!!”
Dain’s voice echoed.
Even he doesn’t know who that sentence was addressed to.
“AHHAHAHAHA! Haaa…aaaaaa…aaahh…Hey, Flamm…Those morons that were with me…they’re all dead, ain’t they?”
He was probably referring to the 20 adventurers that were chasing after Flamm.
“I’d consider them criminals rather than morons,” Flamm replied without intonation in her voice. “They’re going to be judged eventually. In fact, I actually killed them, but they looked like they’re already dead from the start.”
“Huh…Right…”
Dain replied with a soft whisper.
Light dissipates from his eyes. His mouth opened halfway, as if he’s turning into a corpse himself.
“…no, wait, what’s with that? You said they looked like they’re already dead? You’re tryna tell me I killed them? Do you know anything? Do you actually wanna die here?”
His lips twitched, and with his face still looking dead, he pointed his crossbow towards Flamm.
That was the end of his fate.
Even without killing him, Dain is already dead.
He has reached his end. Perhaps if Gadio didn’t came to save Flamm, she would’ve ended up in the same place.
Perhaps she does have a room in her heart for empathy.
Yet the man didn’t understand that there was an inviolable barrier between him and Flamm since long ago.
“Hey, Dain. Since listening to you, I’ve been thinking.”
“Huh?”
At the moment, Dain wouldn’t pull the trigger.
He was preoccupied with his feelings, or rather, his “expectation”
However, with a scoff, Flamm brushed it away.
“Can you not fawn on me like that? It’s disgusting.”
The man froze.
Not only a 8-year-old child, but a 16-year-old girl also saw through him.
Even after swallowing his own pride, Flamm had crushed what remained of it.
At this point, everything that made up Dain Phineas as a human had been lost.
“I’m…fawning…no…no…!”
He wanted to deny it…yet he couldn’t.
“Aah…so it’s not…wrong…? That’s…that’s…aaahh…AAAAHHH…UWAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!”
That was when his identity crumbled.
As if he chose to reject the reality that he refuses to accept, he rubs his head violently as he screamed and unhesitatingly pulled the trigger.
There are no traces of mana in the bolt.
However, even without twitching, the bolt missed its mark and went away into next Tuesday.
“I’LL KILL YOU!”
The girl remained unmoving.
Yet the next bolt still misses its mark.
“I’LL KILL YOU!!”
He missed again.
“DIE, DIE DIE DIE!!!”
His hands were still trembling—he couldn’t properly acquire his target even though Flamm was standing still.
He then decided to hold his right hand that’s pulling the trigger with his left, attempting to stabilize his aim, and this time, he properly aimed to sink a bolt between the girl’s eyes.
“DIEE! It’s all your fault…IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT!!”
There were no reasons behind his fury; he was merely venting his anger.
Flamm swung the black sword lightly with his right hand and easily struck the bolt away and approached Dain.
“S-SPREAD!!” The man regained his sense, just about enough to enchant his bolt before shooting them off.
Flamm lowered her sword as she ran and refined her Prana before infusing her sword with it.
The moment she swung her sword, the Prana she infused bursts, creating a storm that rips apart the floorboard and destroys the approaching eyeballs as it rushed towards Dain.
Of course, the blast also cleared away the scattered flaming bolts, dropping them to the floor harmlessly.
“Guh…!”
Dain covered his face with his arm, and Flamm used this chance to pick up her speed.
She swung her sword once more with a heavy attack which Dain promptly stopped with his crossbow, but as he was unable to bear the strike, Flamm tore the crossbow away from his hands.
It would be difficult for him to take it back, so he decided to abandon it and shoot his hook to attempt to retreat.
Flamm immediately refines her Prana in response, but it would seem that the girl is running out of breath.
“Ha…ah…!”
Continuously firing off her Cavalier Arts is certainly shaving her stamina away, but she was still well enough to be able to force herself to unleash some more.
Flamm thrusts her greatsword that felt heavier than usual.
“GET BACK HERE!”
The Prana Sting, flying like a drill, severed Dain’s wire, and as he lost the force pulling him away, Dain’s body falls.
He didn’t cast Explode where he was supposed to land…no, perhaps he knew that if he did that, he’d only make himself an easy prey for the Soul Eater.
He purposefully dropped himself and pointed his palm towards Flamm.
“Fireball!”
He aimed to stall her with a shot of a simpler spell.
However, the movement of the fireball was a lot slower compared to the crossbow bolts she faced earlier, so she could easily evade them by simply lowering her stance.
As she did, Dain turned his back against her and dashed away towards the entrance of the church.
He wasn’t running away; he sought refuge on the floor that was already covered with eyeballs.
Thus, Flamm is now surrounded with eyeballs.
There’s only one response to Dain’s trickery—Cavalier Arts.
She held her sword with both hands and fully used the momentum of her rush to make a rotating swing.
BWOOSH!!
The swing created a strong gust of wind, and in an instant, Prana turned it into a raging storm.
The eyeballs that were about to surround her burst like water baloons, and even Dain who covered himself with his arms suffered several gashes.
However, even after that, Flamm didn’t stop her attacks.
“HAAAAAAAHH!!”
At last, the blade had cornered Dain.
“I CAN’T DIE JUST YET!!”
Dain fends off the attack with his buckler, but as he couldn’t held the force back, his body staggered sideways. To add insult to his injury, the power of Flamm’s equipment froze his buckler including the mechanism behind it.
“Fuck—”, he cursed on reflex.
As a matter of fact, the buckler’s mechanism can also be used to fire poisoned needles; a trump card he saved as a last resort since he only has one shot. However, that trump card now has frozen over and therefore unusable.
Even as she was against Dain who was cornered, Flamm showed no mercy.
“TAAAAAHH!!”
She thoroughly shattered the frozen buckler with her next attack.
With his defense crushed, Dain fell to the ground as he scampered away, but even then, Flamm continued her barrage of attacks start to injure his shoulder, legs and cheek.
“FIREBALLLL!!!”
Dain desperately cast his spell, which obviously had no way of ever hitting Flamm.
The fireball was evaded just by Flamm tilting her head and it hit the ceiling before exploding in a shrill blast.
“What did you…!?”
Flamm reflexively turned to look above and saw countless rubbles falling.
She immediately jumped back, but as she did, a sharp piece of wood grazed the tip of her nose.
“Hee…heehee, did’ya really think I didn’t set up any traps!?”
The explosion clearly isn’t something that was caused by the fireball.
It’s likely that he’s loaded gunpowder into some of his bolts earlier and spread them across the church as a trap.
“You really don’t know when to give up, huh.”
“No matter how prim and proper one can be, that’s the only way for me to survive!”
As he said that, he cast another Fireball, though this time, it was aimed at Flamm’s feet.
The fireball hits the floor and bursts, activating a bomb embedded under the floor that used a fire-attribute spell as a trigger.
“GAAH—!”
Flamm tried to dodge sideways, but he explosion still swallowed and crushed her right leg and blew her away.
She slammed against the wall, where she then realized that her arms had made contact with the eyeballs.
“Shit…!”
The eyeballs entered her left arm in a disgusting manner.
Even when she stood up and jumped away, it was still too late. Several more arms grew out of her and they intertwine with each other against her will.
By then, another fireball came flying straight to Flamm.
She wouldn’t be able to dodge it, so…she thrusts her mutated left arm forward and took the fireball with it.
The flesh scatters, and a burning pain assaults her, but now, the excess arm she had was burnt away.
“Tch. Don’t be so cheeky, you brat.”
“Kuh…speak for yourself!”
Flamm starts to run again, despite her left arm still stinging as it was still regenerating.
Still full of injuries, Dain tried to move to keep his distance from the girl while trying to recover his crossbow.
Flamm headed for the same place to try and prevent him from doing so.
The two of them leaped at the same time, and Flamm was the one whose hand latched on to the crossbow first. She took it and threw it further away, making it a lot more difficult for Dain to recover it.
Instead, he desperately tackled Flamm.
“Kyah?!”
“HYAHAH! Why’d ya scream like a girl when we’re killing each other!?”
Flamm was stuck with Dain above him. She wanted to push him away, but Dain had locked her wrists with his hands.
“Haah…haah…heheh…how dare you say whatever you like…!”
“I’m just saying the truth.”
“Thinking back to it, it’s all you, innit? Everything goes to shit since the day you showed up. It’s your fault then. That’s right! It’s your fault…!”
Flamm is not responsible for their decision to mess with the church, so all he was saying was a baseless accusation.
For the moment, however Dain couldn’t care less about reasons.
He only wished to deny and reverse Flamm’s remark against him and kill her.
“Heeeheehee, would’ya look at that, those cute widdle eyeballs are all coming closeerr! Even if they won’t kill me, they’ll turn you into a monster you knoow…!!”
Flamm was completely unable to move.
She lets out a huge sigh. Perhaps thinking that Flamm had given up, Dain showed a big smile as if he was insane.
However—
Flamm whispered; “Reversal” and her expression changed completely.
With a dull cracking sound, everything beyond Dain’s wrist started twisting around to a direction it’s not supposed to go.
“GA…AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!”
Dain involuntarily rose as he screamed.
Flamm finally broke off from his restraint and swung her sword, aiming for his neck, but it only managed to gouge a part of his shoulder as he was leaning back.
“GI..IIIHH……GAAAAHH! You bitch…YOU BIIIIITCHH!!”
However, Dain’s movement did not slow down, as if his pain had failed to reach his brain. He forcefully smashed his wrists to the ground trying to turn his hands back to how it was. The strength of his grip had weakened, but it was still enough to for him to be able to grab his knife from his waist.
“GUUAAAAAAHHH!!!”
Dain approached Flamm like a beast possessed.
Flamm expected him to attack, but noticing the approaching eyeballs, she leapt away.
“Wha…!? He’s rushing over!?”
“GUOOOOOOHHHH!!!”
Dain rushed towards her chest and thrusts his knife forward.
With a fleshy sound, the blade sinks into Flamm’s abdomen and Dain twisted it by the grip.
“Ka…h…!”
‘FLAAAAAAAMMMM!!!”
His tenacity brought fear into the girl.
The man who had nothing left to lose had finally threw away his human nature, struggling to at the very least bring the girl down with him.
Flamm removed her Soul Eater and used both her hand to tear the man away from her, which pulled the now bloodied knife off her torso.
However, right now, Dain would not stop after just that. Once again, he lets out a strange bellow and rushed towards the girl again.
Flamm kicked the man on his guts with her sole in retaliation.
“Guh…!”
Dain held his stomach in pain.
Flamm then grabbed the man by his hair and drove her knee into his face.
As the man staggered, she once again drew her sword and went for his head—but Dain recovered quicker than she had expected; he was able to rush towards Flamm and swing his knife once again as she was still summoning her sword.
He sliced Flamm on her chest, exposing her underwear before sending another thrust that drove straight into Flamm’s upper left arm. Hitting her ulna, Dain shaved off a part of her flesh along with a scratching sensation on his blade.
The eyeballs are still approaching.
Time is running out, and Flamm felt the rush to quickly put an end to this fight.
Flamm held her right fist aloft and drove it into his vulnerable cheek.
It should be a clean hit, one that should send a normal human staggering and retreating.
However, despite having gone through his mental and physical limit, Dain didn’t even flinch. He kept glaring at Flamm as he stretched his hand, still gripping his knife.
Aiming for her heart, Dain rushes forward again.
“I GOT YOU NOW, FLAAAAAMMM!!!”
Perhaps for him, it was the roar of victory.
As a matter of fact, it wouldn’t be unthinkable for him to win.
He is the one with advantages in status and combat experience.
Not to mention, being surrounded by eyeballs and traps, Flamm was in an overwhelming disadvantage.
That’s why…That was why—
Neither Dain nor even Flamm could’ve thought…
A white sphere came rolling.
It rolled through the man’s shoulder and sunk itself into his upper arm.
“……ah…?”
As Dain looked at his arm, his movement stopped.
Why him?
The eyeballs should’ve targeted Flamm and not him, an ally, so—
“N…No…”
Dain was left dumbfounded.
“Aah…I get it…”
Flamm finally realized the answer.
The eyeballs are part of Origin’s power controlled by Ink.
They certainly are something the little girl creates.
Thinking back, when she passed by Dain earlier during the day, there are eyeballs that gazed upon her. If Dain was to pick a fight with her at that time, he wouldn’t have lived through the day.
In other words, Flamm was saved by them.
There were no need to think who did. There’s no one but her.
It was her wish.
A wish powerful enough to overwhelm the will of a God.
A subconscious, desperate wish, to protect Flamm against God’s will, from the little girl called Ink.
“NNOOOOOO!!!!!”
Dain’s arm begins to multiply, and the man was thrown into dismay.
His hand that was supposed to drive his knife into Flamm’s heart stopped moving against his will.
The next moment, his body was blown away, leaving him in a staggered state.
Flamm raised her Soul Eater with difficulty, perhaps signalling the limit of her stamina. Simply gripping the handle caused her hands to tremble.
Thus, she had to collect all her remaining strength, just like when she had to destroy the Origin Core.
“HAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!”
She thrusts her blade right in Dain’s center of mass.
However, her strike did not split the man in half; it didn’t even go through the man’s bones. That alone shows how much stamina Flamm had left.
“A…ah…?”
Then…what was the meaning behind the wound she had given him?
Perhaps Dain himself, the one suffering from the injury she gave him, would be the one who understands it the most.
“S…to…p…A…gah…ga…gg…a…AAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!”
Slowly, starting from the wound in the middle of his body, his skin and his flesh starts to peel away from his skeleton.
His bones are exposed, and even they start to turn inside-out. exposing what’s usually hidden within the bone.
“Kill…me…at least…while I’m still…hu…ma….AAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!”
If it were to be given a name, it would be Cavalier Arts Expansion—Prana Slash: Reversal.
His body had been turned inside-out; that spell, without a doubt, brings certain death, though it would only be thus since Dain was already greatly weakened.
“GYA…AA…AGGHH…!”
The base of his neck also begins to turn inside-out, drowning out his death throes, while in return, his vocal cords emerged from the lump of flesh, creating an uncanny noise.
“…suffer and die, Dain”, whispered Flamm after taking some distance.
She turned her back against the dying man and headed for Ink.
Left alone in the chapel, Dain completely turned inside-out. His internal organs and his brain was laid bare and left as is, though in truth, his body was uninjured.
His heart and internal organs kept working despite being exposed, keeping him alive an unimaginable suffering without having even the option to die.
Flamm swung her Soul Eater with all her strength
Dain staggered back as Flamm unleashed one slash after another towards Dain’s neck, but as her swings missed, her sword lets out a clashing sound as it hits the wooden floor.
Despite missing her mark, Dain is now cornered with a wall behind him, so he could no longer run.
Even if he wanted to retaliate, he shouldn’t be able to properly aim his crossbow at this distance. Unless he toss aside his main weapon and draw his short sword, he wouldn’t be able to counterattack.
Boldly and bravely, Flamm threw away the doubt that makes her falter and decided—this is it.
Dain held his buckler aloft, gripping it tightly, and as he stretched the band connected to it, a wire came shooting out.
The moment pointed end stabbed itself into the wall, it expands into a hook like a flower blooming.
Dain then pours his mana into the mechanism behind his shield, causing it to reel the wire in and pulling him away as if he’s flying.
Flamm’s blade that was supposed to cut through him went through nothing instead, and the girl immediately turned around to look behind her.
Dain aimed his crossbow towards Flamm and pulled the trigger as he was still hanging on the wall.
“That’s just one shot—!”
I’ll strike it down.
With that thought in her mind, she readied her sword.
“You’re too simple! Spread!”
That was a spell being cast.
She thought the bolt spontaneously combusts midair, but the bolt actually exploded and broke into countless fireballs, all rushing towards Flamm at once.
Knowing that she won’t be able to stave them off with just her sword, Flamm dashed sideways and rolled on the ground.
Dain used that chance and consecutively fired more bolts at her.
“Spread! Spread! SPREAD!! HAHHAHAHAH! I don’t know if it’s a curse or whatever, but do you actually think you can win against me without bringing the Hero with this much difference in strength between us!?”
Flamm desperately ran around amidst the incessant downpour of fireballs. Some of them managed to graze her shoulder, burning her clothes and caused her to bleed. It healed almost immediately, but her face still twists from the pain.
The floor caught on fire, and the smell of burnt wood quickly fills the church. At that time, Dain’s attack slacked, and Flamm wouldn’t let that chance pass.
“—AAAAAHHH!”
Flamm swung her sword through her unstable stance, sending a Prana Slash flying straight towards Dain.
However, Dain pulled another band on his buckler and his grappling hook released its grasp to the wall.
“So what!?”
Aiming for the location Dain is supposed to land, Flamm unleashed another Prana Slash.
“KUHAHAH, your thoughts are still too simple!! Explode!!1”
Dain cast another one of his Fire Attribute spells, and the explosion that burst under his foot caused him to flutter midair.
Flamm’s attack obviously missed and instead it smashed the church wall.
Without even landing back on the ground, Dain fired his grappling hook again and kept firing at Flamm as he moved quickly through the air.
Thinking he was about to cast Spread again, Flamm used her sword as a shield and got into a defensive stance.
“Moron! Burst is up next!”
The bolt he fired did not scatter. It was a spell that made the bolt explode on contact instead.
The very sound of the bolt landing next to her sent a chill up her spine, but on the other hand, Dain flashed a grin.
The bolt then reacts to the impact and exploded—or so it should.
Flamm channeled her mana through her arm and—
“REVERSAL!”
—managed to cast her spell in the nick of time.
The direction of the Burst-enchanted bolt was reversed, and the bolt flies back towards its shooter.
However, Dain had already reacted to it.
Perhaps already taking her ability into consideration, Dain released the hook without delay and landed back on the ground.
Just about a fraction of a second after he landed, there was a powerful explosion in the impact point of the bolt.
“Oooh, not bad. You used it earlier, eh? Is it a spell? It’s a rare attribute, ain’t it?”
Flamm completely ignored Dain who spoke in an overly familiar tone, and instead, she chose to Scan the man and his equipment.
——————————————————————————
Dain Phineas
Attribute: Fire
Strength: 561
Intelligence: 212
Endurance: 409
Agility: 854
Intuition: 633
——————————————————————————
Totaling 2,669 points, he’s a lower B-rank.
As she’d seen, his strength alone couldn’t consider him an A-ranker, yet he was still able to climb up through the ranks through the help of his minions.
However, it feels like he’s a bit different today.
It seems like something is boosting his strength, and it’s likely to be the effects of his equipment.
——————————————————————————
Leather Armor of Insolence
Rarity: Legendary
【Intelligence +442】
【Agility +301】
【Grants immunity to Poisons】
——————————————————————————
——————————————————————————
Buckler of Intelligence
Rarity: Legendary
【Intelligence +375】
【Agility +299】
【Intuition +108】
——————————————————————————
——————————————————————————
Automatic Crossbow
Rarity: Uncommon
【Mana +12】
——————————————————————————
——————————————————————————
Iron Dagger of Ambition
Rarity: Legendary
【Strength +241】
【Intelligence +224】
【Endurance +301】
【Steals the target’s Mana】
——————————————————————————
His equipment alone raises his status by 2,303 points.
Combined with his initial status, his total points of 4,972 puts him on the league of upper B-ranks.
Furthermore, his Mana that was supposed to be low from the start has been enhanced to above 1,000, explaining why he was able to recklessly fire off his spells.
Additionally, it would seem that his crossbow is something he’s really attached to. Considering its rarity, it’s not something an adventurer of the West District would use.
Since adventurers generally avoid “Cursed Items”, they’re usually sold at very low prices (or rather, they won’t be sold in the first place), while “Legendary” equipment are exactly the opposite.
“Did ya just use Scan? Ya know that ain’t gonna change nothin’ though right?”
“Those equipments…are those really yours?”
“‘Course they are. My kind friends gave them to me, so they’re really mine. Ya could say it’s…the bond between them and I.”
“Big words for someone who sold those bonds away along with his soul to the church.”
Dain scoffed at Flamm’s remark.
“Ya really tryin’ to paint me as a bad guy, huh? But think about it; between your life and yer bonds with yer mate, which one would ya pick? Huh? Even a goody two-shoes like miss Flamm ain’t gonna pick yer friendship, right!?”
Recalling Milkit’s smile, Flamm declared; “I’d choose my friends if I’d have to sacrifice dozens of people.”
She wouldn’t hesitate.
If her life would bring any forms of pain to Milkit, she wouldn’t hesitate to plunge her blade into her chest.
“Fuck, the cringe. THE FUCKING CRINGE!” The man’s hands trembled. Amidst his laughter he continued;
“You’re really just a runt that knows nothing. Khhahah, why the fuck do I have to deal with someone like you…!”
However, Flamm felt that his words were more suited to describe the man himself.
Flamm felt that he didn’t wish to help the church himself, but rather he had no choice but to do so, and that sense of powerlessness resonates with what Flamm felt.
It was a method of roundabout self-harm, like the fake tears of a child who only wished to be cared for.
However, no matter what started this exchange of blows and however much she sympathizes with him, none of those mattered.
Flamm could only think of killing Dain.
“Just imagine that everything you’ve built up over the years are gonna be destroyed by some 8-year-old brat! Funny, ain’t it!?”
Yet the man didn’t stop talking about himself.
Perhaps that’s how badly he wanted to be heard.
“But they showed me an crazy power!”
Dain’s past glories flashed in his mind, but all he can see are either in the past or present.
Right now, he had no choice but to obey an 8-year-old boy from the church that boasted that he’ll “swallow him eventually”. He was nothing but a gofer. A dog.
His pride has been torn to shred.
“You want me to pity you?” Flamm said, as if rubbing salt on his wound.
For the first time, the composure on Dain’s face disappears, and his face lights up with rage.
With his face turning red and his veins popping on his temple, he said;
“Ha…hahahah…as…AS IIIIIIIIIFFFFFF!!!”
Even Flamm understood why.
Dain just wanted to let it out his softer side out, despite knowing that an enemy was in front of him.
He wanted someone…anyone, to listen and understand this irrationality, and feel empathy towards him instead of pity.
Flamm might understand, for she is someone who had witnessed the irrationality of the world as she fell from being a hero to a slave.
“What Spiral Children? What the fuck do you mean Proliferation!? What the fuck do you mean by Connections!? FUCK OFF WITH THAT SHIT! FUCK OFF!”
The man was frenzied.
He has nothing left.
He has no way of taking them back.
The pain of his loss was so unbearable that yelling was all he could do.
“I’M THE KING OF THE WEST DISTRICT! I CRAWLED MY WAY UP OF THE SLUMS WITH THESE HANDS, THIS BRAIN, AND THE CHARISMA I BUILT UP! You get it, right? All that…if I don’t rely on them…and if I don’t kill one little girl…!!”
The eyeballs showed itself crawling in from the hole made by the exploding bolt.
They rushed in as if racing each other, emphasizing its grotesque nature that could send a chill up the spine.
“What’s your point?” asked Flamm after glancing at the hole. She also took a glance at another wall, which apparently was filled with eyeballs with its iris and its front half poking out of them. They all turn and twist, drilling their way out from the wall.
Furthermore, there’s not just one of them.
Tens…no, hundreds of them are all gazing at Flamm from all directions.
At this rate, the eyeballs filling the room is a matter of when.
For an instant, Flamm had thought that this fight between them are his way to buy some time, but seeing Dain’s grim resolve, she immediately brushed it aside.
It seemed that these two are a rather separate matter.
“What’s my point? You don’t get it, do ya……hahah…hahahah. AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!”
Dain’s dry laugh reverberated in the chamber.
“Haha…Haaaah…aaahh.”
However, he soon lost strength in his voice. The man dropped his shoulders and his hands dangle powerlessly.
“…I don’t…I don’t know either. Aaaahh, haaaah…I don’t know nothing. What do I wanna do? I lost to a brat, begged for my life, threw my friends away, got protected by the church just and got my livelihood secured. I was supposed to live a regular life from then. What the fuck was that? That’s fucking boring! That’s the thing I hate the most! The path I don’t want to go the most! Fucking boring! Everything after this will be boooooooriiiiiiinngg!!!”
Dain’s voice echoed.
Even he doesn’t know who that sentence was addressed to.
“AHHAHAHAHA! Haaa…aaaaaa…aaahh…Hey, Flamm…Those morons that were with me…they’re all dead, ain’t they?”
He was probably referring to the 20 adventurers that were chasing after Flamm.
“I’d consider them criminals rather than morons,” Flamm replied without intonation in her voice. “They’re going to be judged eventually. In fact, I actually killed them, but they looked like they’re already dead from the start.”
“Huh…Right…”
Dain replied with a soft whisper.
Light dissipates from his eyes. His mouth opened halfway, as if he’s turning into a corpse himself.
“…no, wait, what’s with that? You said they looked like they’re already dead? You’re tryna tell me I killed them? Do you know anything? Do you actually wanna die here?”
His lips twitched, and with his face still looking dead, he pointed his crossbow towards Flamm.
That was the end of his fate.
Even without killing him, Dain is already dead.
He has reached his end. Perhaps if Gadio didn’t came to save Flamm, she would’ve ended up in the same place.
Perhaps she does have a room in her heart for empathy.
Yet the man didn’t understand that there was an inviolable barrier between him and Flamm since long ago.
“Hey, Dain. Since listening to you, I’ve been thinking.”
“Huh?”
At the moment, Dain wouldn’t pull the trigger.
He was preoccupied with his feelings, or rather, his “expectation”
However, with a scoff, Flamm brushed it away.
“Can you not fawn on me like that? It’s disgusting.”
The man froze.
Not only a 8-year-old child, but a 16-year-old girl also saw through him.
Even after swallowing his own pride, Flamm had crushed what remained of it.
At this point, everything that made up Dain Phineas as a human had been lost.
“I’m…fawning…no…no…!”
He wanted to deny it…yet he couldn’t.
“Aah…so it’s not…wrong…? That’s…that’s…aaahh…AAAAHHH…UWAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!”
That was when his identity crumbled.
As if he chose to reject the reality that he refuses to accept, he rubs his head violently as he screamed and unhesitatingly pulled the trigger.
There are no traces of mana in the bolt.
However, even without twitching, the bolt missed its mark and went away into next Tuesday.
“I’LL KILL YOU!”
The girl remained unmoving.
Yet the next bolt still misses its mark.
“I’LL KILL YOU!!”
He missed again.
“DIE, DIE DIE DIE!!!”
His hands were still trembling—he couldn’t properly acquire his target even though Flamm was standing still.
He then decided to hold his right hand that’s pulling the trigger with his left, attempting to stabilize his aim, and this time, he properly aimed to sink a bolt between the girl’s eyes.
“DIEE! It’s all your fault…IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT!!”
There were no reasons behind his fury; he was merely venting his anger.
Flamm swung the black sword lightly with his right hand and easily struck the bolt away and approached Dain.
“S-SPREAD!!” The man regained his sense, just about enough to enchant his bolt before shooting them off.
Flamm lowered her sword as she ran and refined her Prana before infusing her sword with it.
The moment she swung her sword, the Prana she infused bursts, creating a storm that rips apart the floorboard and destroys the approaching eyeballs as it rushed towards Dain.
Of course, the blast also cleared away the scattered flaming bolts, dropping them to the floor harmlessly.
“Guh…!”
Dain covered his face with his arm, and Flamm used this chance to pick up her speed.
She swung her sword once more with a heavy attack which Dain promptly stopped with his crossbow, but as he was unable to bear the strike, Flamm tore the crossbow away from his hands.
It would be difficult for him to take it back, so he decided to abandon it and shoot his hook to attempt to retreat.
Flamm immediately refines her Prana in response, but it would seem that the girl is running out of breath.
“Ha…ah…!”
Continuously firing off her Cavalier Arts is certainly shaving her stamina away, but she was still well enough to be able to force herself to unleash some more.
Flamm thrusts her greatsword that felt heavier than usual.
“GET BACK HERE!”
The Prana Sting, flying like a drill, severed Dain’s wire, and as he lost the force pulling him away, Dain’s body falls.
He didn’t cast Explode where he was supposed to land…no, perhaps he knew that if he did that, he’d only make himself an easy prey for the Soul Eater.
He purposefully dropped himself and pointed his palm towards Flamm.
“Fireball!”
He aimed to stall her with a shot of a simpler spell.
However, the movement of the fireball was a lot slower compared to the crossbow bolts she faced earlier, so she could easily evade them by simply lowering her stance.
As she did, Dain turned his back against her and dashed away towards the entrance of the church.
He wasn’t running away; he sought refuge on the floor that was already covered with eyeballs.
Thus, Flamm is now surrounded with eyeballs.
There’s only one response to Dain’s trickery—Cavalier Arts.
She held her sword with both hands and fully used the momentum of her rush to make a rotating swing.
BWOOSH!!
The swing created a strong gust of wind, and in an instant, Prana turned it into a raging storm.
The eyeballs that were about to surround her burst like water baloons, and even Dain who covered himself with his arms suffered several gashes.
However, even after that, Flamm didn’t stop her attacks.
“HAAAAAAAHH!!”
At last, the blade had cornered Dain.
“I CAN’T DIE JUST YET!!”
Dain fends off the attack with his buckler, but as he couldn’t held the force back, his body staggered sideways. To add insult to his injury, the power of Flamm’s equipment froze his buckler including the mechanism behind it.
“Fuck—”, he cursed on reflex.
As a matter of fact, the buckler’s mechanism can also be used to fire poisoned needles; a trump card he saved as a last resort since he only has one shot. However, that trump card now has frozen over and therefore unusable.
Even as she was against Dain who was cornered, Flamm showed no mercy.
“TAAAAAHH!!”
She thoroughly shattered the frozen buckler with her next attack.
With his defense crushed, Dain fell to the ground as he scampered away, but even then, Flamm continued her barrage of attacks start to injure his shoulder, legs and cheek.
“FIREBALLLL!!!”
Dain desperately cast his spell, which obviously had no way of ever hitting Flamm.
The fireball was evaded just by Flamm tilting her head and it hit the ceiling before exploding in a shrill blast.
“What did you…!?”
Flamm reflexively turned to look above and saw countless rubbles falling.
She immediately jumped back, but as she did, a sharp piece of wood grazed the tip of her nose.
“Hee…heehee, did’ya really think I didn’t set up any traps!?”
The explosion clearly isn’t something that was caused by the fireball.
It’s likely that he’s loaded gunpowder into some of his bolts earlier and spread them across the church as a trap.
“You really don’t know when to give up, huh.”
“No matter how prim and proper one can be, that’s the only way for me to survive!”
As he said that, he cast another Fireball, though this time, it was aimed at Flamm’s feet.
The fireball hits the floor and bursts, activating a bomb embedded under the floor that used a fire-attribute spell as a trigger.
“GAAH—!”
Flamm tried to dodge sideways, but he explosion still swallowed and crushed her right leg and blew her away.
She slammed against the wall, where she then realized that her arms had made contact with the eyeballs.
“Shit…!”
The eyeballs entered her left arm in a disgusting manner.
Even when she stood up and jumped away, it was still too late. Several more arms grew out of her and they intertwine with each other against her will.
By then, another fireball came flying straight to Flamm.
She wouldn’t be able to dodge it, so…she thrusts her mutated left arm forward and took the fireball with it.
The flesh scatters, and a burning pain assaults her, but now, the excess arm she had was burnt away.
“Tch. Don’t be so cheeky, you brat.”
“Kuh…speak for yourself!”
Flamm starts to run again, despite her left arm still stinging as it was still regenerating.
Still full of injuries, Dain tried to move to keep his distance from the girl while trying to recover his crossbow.
Flamm headed for the same place to try and prevent him from doing so.
The two of them leaped at the same time, and Flamm was the one whose hand latched on to the crossbow first. She took it and threw it further away, making it a lot more difficult for Dain to recover it.
Instead, he desperately tackled Flamm.
“Kyah?!”
“HYAHAH! Why’d ya scream like a girl when we’re killing each other!?”
Flamm was stuck with Dain above him. She wanted to push him away, but Dain had locked her wrists with his hands.
“Haah…haah…heheh…how dare you say whatever you like…!”
“I’m just saying the truth.”
“Thinking back to it, it’s all you, innit? Everything goes to shit since the day you showed up. It’s your fault then. That’s right! It’s your fault…!”
Flamm is not responsible for their decision to mess with the church, so all he was saying was a baseless accusation.
For the moment, however Dain couldn’t care less about reasons.
He only wished to deny and reverse Flamm’s remark against him and kill her.
“Heeeheehee, would’ya look at that, those cute widdle eyeballs are all coming closeerr! Even if they won’t kill me, they’ll turn you into a monster you knoow…!!”
Flamm was completely unable to move.
She lets out a huge sigh. Perhaps thinking that Flamm had given up, Dain showed a big smile as if he was insane.
However—
Flamm whispered; “Reversal” and her expression changed completely.
With a dull cracking sound, everything beyond Dain’s wrist started twisting around to a direction it’s not supposed to go.
“GA…AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!”
Dain involuntarily rose as he screamed.
Flamm finally broke off from his restraint and swung her sword, aiming for his neck, but it only managed to gouge a part of his shoulder as he was leaning back.
“GI..IIIHH……GAAAAHH! You bitch…YOU BIIIIITCHH!!”
However, Dain’s movement did not slow down, as if his pain had failed to reach his brain. He forcefully smashed his wrists to the ground trying to turn his hands back to how it was. The strength of his grip had weakened, but it was still enough to for him to be able to grab his knife from his waist.
“GUUAAAAAAHHH!!!”
Dain approached Flamm like a beast possessed.
Flamm expected him to attack, but noticing the approaching eyeballs, she leapt away.
“Wha…!? He’s rushing over!?”
“GUOOOOOOHHHH!!!”
Dain rushed towards her chest and thrusts his knife forward.
With a fleshy sound, the blade sinks into Flamm’s abdomen and Dain twisted it by the grip.
“Ka…h…!”
‘FLAAAAAAAMMMM!!!”
His tenacity brought fear into the girl.
The man who had nothing left to lose had finally threw away his human nature, struggling to at the very least bring the girl down with him.
Flamm removed her Soul Eater and used both her hand to tear the man away from her, which pulled the now bloodied knife off her torso.
However, right now, Dain would not stop after just that. Once again, he lets out a strange bellow and rushed towards the girl again.
Flamm kicked the man on his guts with her sole in retaliation.
“Guh…!”
Dain held his stomach in pain.
Flamm then grabbed the man by his hair and drove her knee into his face.
As the man staggered, she once again drew her sword and went for his head—but Dain recovered quicker than she had expected; he was able to rush towards Flamm and swing his knife once again as she was still summoning her sword.
He sliced Flamm on her chest, exposing her underwear before sending another thrust that drove straight into Flamm’s upper left arm. Hitting her ulna, Dain shaved off a part of her flesh along with a scratching sensation on his blade.
The eyeballs are still approaching.
Time is running out, and Flamm felt the rush to quickly put an end to this fight.
Flamm held her right fist aloft and drove it into his vulnerable cheek.
It should be a clean hit, one that should send a normal human staggering and retreating.
However, despite having gone through his mental and physical limit, Dain didn’t even flinch. He kept glaring at Flamm as he stretched his hand, still gripping his knife.
Aiming for her heart, Dain rushes forward again.
“I GOT YOU NOW, FLAAAAAMMM!!!”
Perhaps for him, it was the roar of victory.
As a matter of fact, it wouldn’t be unthinkable for him to win.
He is the one with advantages in status and combat experience.
Not to mention, being surrounded by eyeballs and traps, Flamm was in an overwhelming disadvantage.
That’s why…That was why—
Neither Dain nor even Flamm could’ve thought…
A white sphere came rolling.
It rolled through the man’s shoulder and sunk itself into his upper arm.
“……ah…?”
As Dain looked at his arm, his movement stopped.
Why him?
The eyeballs should’ve targeted Flamm and not him, an ally, so—
“N…No…”
Dain was left dumbfounded.
“Aah…I get it…”
Flamm finally realized the answer.
The eyeballs are part of Origin’s power controlled by Ink.
They certainly are something the little girl creates.
Thinking back, when she passed by Dain earlier during the day, there are eyeballs that gazed upon her. If Dain was to pick a fight with her at that time, he wouldn’t have lived through the day.
In other words, Flamm was saved by them.
There were no need to think who did. There’s no one but her.
It was her wish.
A wish powerful enough to overwhelm the will of a God.
A subconscious, desperate wish, to protect Flamm against God’s will, from the little girl called Ink.
“NNOOOOOO!!!!!”
Dain’s arm begins to multiply, and the man was thrown into dismay.
His hand that was supposed to drive his knife into Flamm’s heart stopped moving against his will.
The next moment, his body was blown away, leaving him in a staggered state.
Flamm raised her Soul Eater with difficulty, perhaps signalling the limit of her stamina. Simply gripping the handle caused her hands to tremble.
Thus, she had to collect all her remaining strength, just like when she had to destroy the Origin Core.
“HAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!”
She thrusts her blade right in Dain’s center of mass.
However, her strike did not split the man in half; it didn’t even go through the man’s bones. That alone shows how much stamina Flamm had left.
“A…ah…?”
Then…what was the meaning behind the wound she had given him?
Perhaps Dain himself, the one suffering from the injury she gave him, would be the one who understands it the most.
“S…to…p…A…gah…ga…gg…a…AAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!”
Slowly, starting from the wound in the middle of his body, his skin and his flesh starts to peel away from his skeleton.
His bones are exposed, and even they start to turn inside-out. exposing what’s usually hidden within the bone.
“Kill…me…at least…while I’m still…hu…ma….AAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!”
If it were to be given a name, it would be Cavalier Arts Expansion—Prana Slash: Reversal.
His body had been turned inside-out; that spell, without a doubt, brings certain death, though it would only be thus since Dain was already greatly weakened.
“GYA…AA…AGGHH…!”
The base of his neck also begins to turn inside-out, drowning out his death throes, while in return, his vocal cords emerged from the lump of flesh, creating an uncanny noise.
“…suffer and die, Dain”, whispered Flamm after taking some distance.
She turned her back against the dying man and headed for Ink.
Left alone in the chapel, Dain completely turned inside-out. His internal organs and his brain was laid bare and left as is, though in truth, his body was uninjured.
His heart and internal organs kept working despite being exposed, keeping him alive an unimaginable suffering without having even the option to die.
