The Shield of Miracles

by Sakon Kaidou

  Needless to say, it was caused by Heaven’s Weight. Vermin was sunk to the bottom and held there by the ultra-powerful gravity.

  Barbaroy looked down on him and said, “PKing ain’t all about duking it out. Even if your defense is huge, you can still lose HP and die by suffocating. And that’s why your ‘perfect’ defense is flawed. You’re screwed the moment someone tries to hurt you with somethin’ other than physical damage.”

  It was hard to tell whether Vermin was hearing her words. All he did was lie immobile at the bottom of the aqueduct and leak air out of his lungs with an anguished expression on his face.

  “By the way, I’m speaking from experience here... suffocation is pretty bad,” she said. “Unless you mess with the settings, this game turns all pain into basic impacts, but it can’t do the same for suffocation. This does wonders to break people’s spirit. That’s been confirmed by both me and the Over Gladiator. Sure, diving without a parachute was pretty damn bad, too, but I can’t pull it off as well as that guy. Also, I dunno if you can even hear me, but a faker like you deserves a fifth pointer.”

  As the original, she felt that there was something she just had to say.

  “Whether you’re studying, doing tea ceremony, or playing a game, starting by imitating someone else ain’t a bad thing. Everyone begins as imitators, but as they put effort into polishing the art, it gradually becomes their own.”

  It was the like the concept of Shuhari. In fact, Barbaroy’s own build and tactics included many features from the builds of those who’d come before. She’d imitated them, using her gathered data to polish her config, and eventually made it complete.

  That was why, even though she’d found it malicious, she wasn’t actually mad about Vermin faking her shape. The things that had made her mad were the devaluing of her clan and the fact that they’d gotten in Ray’s way and ridiculed him, even though she was aware that she’d probably have said similar things as the leader of Mad Castle.

  “But get this...” she’d said. “Effortless imitation won’t get you anywhere.”

  Vermin had the form, but not the substance. He wasn’t giving his all to the falsehood; he was satisfied with just using Barbaroy’s name and appearance while imitating the target’s crudeness.

  In her eyes, that was exactly why he’d ended up at the bottom of this aqueduct.

  There was one other thing Barbaroy wanted to add. “Oh, yeah, about the way you fought... Though all your ultimate skill does is imitate, it was clearly an original tactic you made up to make the most of it. There are flaws, sure, but it has good synergy with your Embryo. If you polish it a bit, you could...”

  But Vermin wasn’t there to hear it anymore. His body had changed into particles of light, leaving behind a significant amount of items.

  “The suicide function, huh?” she murmured.

  Indeed. Instead of suffering suffocation for a few more minutes, he’d chosen to escape it by suicide. Vermin’s spirit had been shattered.

  With the last one of them having received the death penalty, the battle between the real Barbaroy and the fake Barbaroy’s Sol Crisis now reached its conclusion. Despite being outnumbered, the real Barbaroy had achieved an overwhelming victory.

  The only thing that had damaged her was Dum-dum’s ultimate skill, and that hadn’t hurt her for as much as a tenth of her HP.

  Despite it all, Barbaroy came out with the impression that Sol Crisis wasn’t a weak bunch. She had no idea how the battle would’ve gone if she hadn’t started by taking out the offensive casters.

  If she hadn’t incapacitated the AGI builds, they might’ve held a bit longer, too.

  If Dum-dum had had more attack power or a special reward with strong debuffs, the tides might’ve been completely turned around.

  If Vermin had had a better grasp of Barbaroy’s powers and had done more research on how to wield them, she might’ve ended up thoroughly defeated.

  And most of all, things would’ve been completely different if they’d had the cooperation and tactics of a proper PK clan.

  Those, among others, were the reasons why they’d lost.

  What Vermin and the rest of Sol Crisis had done could all be fixed if they listened her fifth pointer. If they truly wanted to be a big-shot PK clan, they had to put effort into their imitation.

  Sol Crisis had gotten too big with too little work and ended up being crushed because of it. As the one who’d done it, as a PKer, and as an ex-leader of a clan, Barbaroy felt slightly conflicted about it overall.

  However, it wasn’t the time to think about that.

  “Well, I’m done here, so I’ll just hurry to Ray now.”

  It wouldn’t be long until Monochrome’s attacks restarted.

  Barbaroy herself had no means of dealing with the UBM, but she figured that she’d be a good tank for her junior.

  A man like him, so kind and prone to getting in trouble, could definitely use some protection from his senior, she thought as she rushed into the village to search for him.

  Chapter Six: The Shield of Miracles

  Torne Village, Windmill

  It was difficult to tell just how long Louie had been holed up in the windmill. Perhaps the minute hand on the clock hadn’t finished a single rotation yet. However, Louie felt like he’d been in there for many hours now.

  All he saw were stony walls and floor, and all he heard was the laughter from above.

  Whether it was a coincidence or a side effect of Monochrome’s influence upon the environment, no wind was blowing upon the village. So, naturally, the boy couldn’t even hear spinning from the windmill he was in.

  “...?” Louie became confused as the laughter from above suddenly stopped. The monster’s malicious laughter could no longer be heard.

  Louie wondered what had happened to it.

  It could’ve been defeated, or it might’ve flown off to a different area.

  Regardless, with the laughter gone, Louie was now sitting in absolute silence.

  The one thing he could almost hear was his own heartbeat.

  “This reminds me of that time...” he murmured, recalling the morning when Shijima disappeared.

  ◇

  On that day, Louie happened to wake up before sunrise.

  It was the first time he’d ever awakened before the cries of the village’s roosters.

  Too early for anyone to be awake, yet too late for nocturnal birds and bugs to make their sounds, this time of the day had a kind of silence to it that made it feel like the whole world was asleep.

  The were two beds in the house’s children’s room. One was occupied by Louie and the other by Juno, who was still sleeping soundly, wholly unaware that he’d woken up.

  Outside the window, he saw Gringham asleep, spreading his large body upon the ground.

  There was nothing strange about that scenery, but a short distance further, on a slightly taller hill near the house, there was a person he knew very well — Shijima.

  He was standing still, all alone, as he observed the panorama of Torne before dawn.

  Louie was somewhat concerned, so he walked out of the house, making sure not to wake up Juno or his mother.

  When he opened the door, Gringham woke up and silently raised his head as if to ask, “What’s wrong?”

  Louie gestured to him to not mind him and keep sleeping, then walked up to the tall hill Shijima was standing on.

  Once there, he called out to him, “What’s the matter, Dad?”

  “Oh, Louie,” Shijima said, slightly surprised. “You’re up early. Good morning.”

  “Good morning,” Louie replied. “Why are you up so early?”

  “...It’s nothing. I just felt like looking at the village.”

  “Mh?” Louie tilted his head in confusion.

  “I’ve been living here for more than two years, but I’ve never had the chance to take a good, long look at it. So I felt like burning it into my memory while enjoying the gentle wind here.” Shijima looked down at Torne, which
was still shrouded in darkness.

  All Louie could see was the village’s outlines, so he said, “But you can’t see anything. Shouldn’t you wait for morning?”

  “Ha ha,” Shijima laughed. “Don’t you worry. I see well in the dark. Once, I even had to ride Gringham through a forest at night. It was the time I fought a UBM that’d wandered into Noz Forest.”

  “That happened?” Louie asked.

  “Yes, it did. I was with many other Masters back then, but the enemy was very tough. He looked like a normal goblin, but he was faster and stronger than Gringham. And if you lost sight of it, it could attack you after transforming into something else, like a wolf or a bat. It was a very hard battle for all of us, but we were able to surround it and give a chance for Tsukikage — a person I know — to finish it off.”

  “Wow!” Louie exclaimed. Although brief, Shijima’s story was enough to move and intrigue a child like him. “Hey! Do you have any more stories like that?”

  “Ha ha. Of course I do,” Shijima laughed. “Now, which one to tell next...? Here’s a good one. It happened after I married Farica, but my friends called me over to help defeat the Tri-Zenith Dragon!”

  “EEH?!”

  Thus, Shijima and Louie talked.

  The man spoke of his memories, while the boy listened with wonder, surprise, and a gleam in his eyes. The conversation fully befitted a father and son, and it lasted until the sun began to rise.

  “...Oh. It’s the sunrise,” said Shijima. He’d just finished speaking one of his tales, and now he merely watched the sun rise from the eastern sky, looking both dazzled... and regretful.

  “Dad? What’s wrong?” Louie asked, worried about his father.

  Shijima looked into Louie’s face, seemed to think of something, and tried weaving the words. “Louie. I...” he said, but then fell silent again.

  “Dad?”

  “Louie... Juno, Gringham, and I have to go somewhere for a while.”

  “Will you fight another UBM?” the boy asked, still thinking of the tales he’d just heard.

  Shijima shook his head, “No, but... it’s an even bigger adventure.”

  “Really?! Then do your best!” At this moment, Louie felt nothing but admiration for his father.

  The fact that Shijima was going on an adventure gave the boy relief. After all, being a Master, his dad was immortal, so he would come back home, no matter what.

  He’d even died a few times in the stories he’d just told, yet he was still standing before the boy, alive and well. There was no reason for Louie to worry.

  But...

  “Yes... I’ll do my best,” Shijima said with a weak smile on his face.

  The man’s expression, combined with the sight of Juno riding Gringham up the hill, made Louie feel like something was off.

  “Grooaoh,” Gringham added.

  There was nothing strange about the situation itself. It was only natural for Shijima to head out on adventures along with his trusty mount and Embryo.

  Yet, for some reason, watching them prepare made Louie feel uneasy.

  Spurred by the feeling, he held Shijima by his sleeve, looked up at his face and said, “You’ll come back, right?!”

  The boy didn’t know why he was acting with such urgency. The worry coming over him was just so strong.

  When asked, Shijima looked like his expression was about to crumble, but then, he formed a smile and patted Louie on the head. Then, with a voice as though he was doing his best to not to sound teary, he said, “Of course. I’ll surely... I’ll surely come back here. I’ll return to you and Farica... no matter what.”

  Louie could tell that his voice was dense with emotion.

  “Okay... All right,” he said as he let go of his sleeve.

  He saw the man off with the words, “Later, Dad.”

  “I’m off.”

  The words weren’t rare or special in any way.

  They were what people commonly said when a family member was going out somewhere.

  However, they left an impression on Louie, as they were the last words the two had ever exchanged.

  ◇

  Being in this silent windmill reminded Louie of that time before dawn.

  No light was leaking inside, and no sounds could be heard.

  But Louie hadn’t feel nearly as helpless then as he did now, which was surely because he didn’t have his family with him this time.

  As Louie thought about things like that...

  “Someonnne! Anyonnne! I’m here to helllp!” a voice came from the outside. “Heeey! Anyonnne! Are you heeere? Come out if you aaare!”

  It was a loud voice calling out for survivors in the vicinity.

  “It’s all fine nowww! The monster is gonne! Run while you caaan!”

  Hearing that relieved Louie, as it made him certain that the laugh had stopped because the monster in the sky was gone.

  “I’m saved... Oh right, if it’s gone, I have to go find Mom!” the boy cried. As glad as he was that he was saved, he found it more important to go to his mother and show her that he was okay. “I’m sure they kept her safe...”

  Louie was certain that his mother was unharmed. After all, she was with Ray, Nemesis, and B3. Those three had accepted his search request when no one else had. Not to mention that they’d taken care of all the trouble they’d encountered on the way to Torne. To Louie, they were heroes who almost matched Shijima.

  “Heeey! Someonnne! Are you therrre? Say something if you aaare!”

  “Ah, yes! I’m right here!” Louie replied to the voice and left the windmill.

  The boy had failed to realize that, despite the laughter stopping, the sky was still dark.

  “Eh?” The boy went outside and voiced his perplexity. He’d expected to see the person searching for those in hiding, but he saw no one.

  There were no people, the sky was black, and...

  “Someonnne! Ａ ｎｙ ｏ n N ｎｅ! Ａ ｎＹ ｏ N n Ｎｅ...!” the voice calling for the people became distorted and dense with a familiar malevolence. “Ｆ Ｏ Ｕ Ｎ Ｄ Ｙ Ｏ Ｕ... Ｋ ｙ Ａ Ｈ ａ ｈ Ａ ｈ ａ Ｈ ａ Ｈ Ａ ｈ Ａ ｈ ａ Ｈ ａ ｈ!”

  It soon became the evil cackle from before.

  Void of the Black Sky, Monochrome’s laughter ignored distance and differences in speed as it reached the most far-off of creatures. That was all it did — it could neither deal damage, nor protect the monster.

  However, it could be used for more than just ridiculing those below.

  300 years ago, Monochrome had developed the skill to lure out the people in hiding, just so that it could burn them.

  “Ah...” Louie uttered as he looked up at the sky and saw a beam coming from beyond the clouds go straight towards him.

  A moment later, he felt an impact, a sudden heat, and smelled the reek of burning flesh and blood.

  ◇◇◇

  Paladin, Ray Starling

  “Louie! Where are you?! I’m here for you!” I shouted as I ran around Torne in search of the boy.

  All I got as a response was the crackling sound, coming from the burning buildings all around me. For some reason, a moment ago, Monochrome’s annoying laughter had stopped.

  No matter how much I called, I couldn’t hear anyone.

  “Shit!” I cursed. “I could cover so much more ground if Silver were all right.”

  Sol Crisis’s ambush had deactivated my trusty steed, and he was still in that state. I was doing my best to run with my own two feet, but with my level and AGI, I definitely wasn’t very effective.

  “That thing’s about to be able to attack again, damn it!” I swore.

  Monochrome was almost back at the altitude from which it could fire its beams.

  There was basically no time anymore. Every second counted. I had to find Louie as soon as possible.

  “Ray!” Nemesis appeared out of my crest. She’d been inside because she’d been focusing on analyzing the third form’s skill, and the fact that was out now could only mean one
thing.

  “Nemesis! You’re done analyzing?!” I asked.

  “Indeed I am! I’ve finished it!”

  We’d gambled on the skill being something that could deal with Monochrome, and now, the results were in.

  As we still ran around and searched for Louie, Nemesis gave her report.

  “I will start with the conclusion,” she said. “The third form’s skill gives us a chance to win against Monochrome.”

  “...For real?!”

  “Yes. But be ready for yet another gamble. What the skill does is...”

  Nemesis went on to give me the details of the third form’s skill.

  Sure enough, it was capable of reaching Monochrome, but Nemesis was very right that it’d be a gamble. It would be a battle that would test my and Monochrome’s limits.

  “It might reach it, or it might not,” said Nemesis. “It all depends on how long we can—” Her words were cut short by a flash in the sky.

  A phenomenon like that could only mean one thing.

  I’d become all too familiar with it and stupidly sick of it back during our rise to the sky.

  It was a sign that Monochrome was attacking, meaning that the surface was finally within range.

  “Ray!” Nemesis cried as she became the shield and tried to protect me.

  But the beams didn’t head towards me — they were directed at a stone-built windmill about a kilometer away from us.

  “No way!” I’d shouted. The sight made a chill go down my spine, and I didn’t hesitate to rush towards the building, pleading for Louie to not be the one there.

  ◇◇◇

  Torne Village, Windmill

  Louie couldn’t understand what had happened to him.

  A voice had lured him outside, the sky had flashed, he’d felt an impact, a sudden heat, and then smelled charred flesh.

  The change was so sudden and bewildering that he still couldn’t grasp the state he was in.

  All he knew so far was that he was lying on the ground.

  He couldn’t open his eyes because of the soot in them, but he felt the cold surface on his back, and a heat caressing his cheeks.

  Louie had never been burned before, so his hazy mind could only assume that this was how it actually felt.

  But... he thought as he realized he felt not just heat, but warmth, as well.