Berserk of Gluttony Vol. 3

by Isshiki Ichika

  All the same, I wasn’t incredibly enthusiastic about this. But I didn’t have a choice.

  Chapter 20:

  The Black Sword Versus the Holy Sword

  I WALKED OUTSIDE THE SALOON to find Lady Roxy standing a short distance away, in the center of a growing crowd of onlookers. Her soldiers directed people down the street so that they wouldn’t get in the way, moving like men with a plan. It was clear to me now that Lady Roxy had intended to spar with me from the start.

  She really wanted to fight me that badly? I thought with surprise. I hadn’t encountered this side of her before.

  The crowd grew. This whole experience was new to me. Until now, I’d always avoided fighting in front of people. Even during street fights, I tried to leave before there were many bystanders. On top of that, my opponent was Lady Roxy. She was a far cry from the mediocre adventurers I usually faced.

  In this battle, I had absolutely no room for error.

  Worse, I had nowhere to run. No matter where I went in Babylon, Lady Roxy would find me. I took a deep breath and prepared myself to endure what lay ahead. Then I tightened my skull mask to make sure it wouldn’t fall off during battle and leapt into the air, flipping over the crowd and landing neatly in the open space where Lady Roxy waited.

  “This is quite the scene,” I said, straightening to face her.

  “Really?” Lady Roxy asked, unmoved by my entrance. “I simply thought there would be no other way to convince you to spar.”

  “I see…”

  You were right, too. I had to wonder whether she was overstepping her role as the governor of Babylon just a little, all to satisfy her own curiosity.

  “So,” I said, “what do you intend to do if you lose in front of this crowd?”

  “There’s no need to worry about me,” Lady Roxy replied. “I’m not concerned about losing face. That said, I don’t intend to lose, either.”

  Her gaze was serious, and it stayed on me as she unsheathed her blade. Her eyes only made my guilt heavier. To brush that feeling away, I unclipped Greed from my belt and held the black sword at the ready, still sheathed.

  Lady Roxy’s brow furrowed as she watched me take my stance. “You intend to fight me with a sheathed blade? Is this your idea of a joke?”

  “It isn’t. I’m entirely serious. The cutting edge of my blade is a little too sharp, so I’ll fight you like this.”

  I settled into a battle-ready stance. The sheath was the one that none other than Jade Stratos had specially crafted with duskstone I brought back from the great canyon.

  I loved this scabbard. It was a sharply designed black sheath with appealing gold highlights. I’d only wanted a sheath with the barest amount of gold, but Jade was smart, and he had a playful spirit. He’d added a particular capability to the scabbard, and he told me about it with great excitement. Greed and I couldn’t help but admire his genius.

  Lady Roxy looked at me with resigned confusion as she settled into a battle stance of her own. “Don’t blame me if your sheath breaks.”

  That was a natural concern for someone with the strength of a holy knight, but this scabbard was forged with this particular tactic in mind, although not for use specifically against Lady Roxy. This scabbard was strong enough to resist even the strike of a holy sword.

  “Well,” I said, “shall we get started, then?”

  “Very well. Don’t expect me to go easy on you.”

  We dashed in, closing the distance between us. Now it was time to see how strong Lady Roxy had grown. With a quick flash of Identify, I could have seen all her stats and skills with ease, yet…using that skill here felt somehow underhanded. I didn’t want to resort to such tactics against her. She came into this battle honestly and seriously. I would respond to her feelings, strike to strike, blade to blade.

  Greed chuckled. “A ruffian like you, playing the role of honorable knight? Laughable at best.”

  “Oh, shut up.”

  I ignored his stinging commentary as Lady Roxy and I engaged. Our blades clashed. The high-pitched shriek of metal echoed into the air. As I resisted, my boots dug grooves into the street.

  Lady Roxy’s blow was much heavier than I expected, and she wasn’t finished. She launched another heavy strike. I blocked it, but its sheer force opened a crater in the cobblestones at my feet.

  “A bit much, don’t you think?” I muttered.

  “I wasn’t joking when I said I wouldn’t go easy on you.”

  I shoved Lady Roxy up and away with the black sword, and she flipped gracefully through the air, landing out of lunging distance. The power of that first attack had truly been something to behold. It wasn’t the kind of strength that came from any skill. It was pure technique, practiced and honed to deadly perfection, the kind of ability you only got through constantly pushing your performance to the very limit of your stats. With those two attacks alone, Lady Roxy proved how strong she had become.

  I was confident that my stats surpassed Lady Roxy’s, but when it came to controlling those stats, well, that was a different story. Usually, adventurers polished their skills by fighting monsters and strengthened their stats by collecting Spheres to level up. Normally, with that consistent progression, they never found themselves in a situation where they couldn’t control their own powers.

  But in my case, the more monsters I devoured, the more stats I gained, and my only limitation was the size of the stats of the monsters I ate. I had no natural growth curve. My stats grew exponentially, and occasionally plummeted just as quickly when I released them to Greed. That meant that my ability to use and control my own stats was severely lacking.

  I did have something of a shortcut, but unfortunately, it was equally hard to handle. Controlling my skills completely meant engaging the half-starved state of Gluttony. That drastically increased my physical capability, but I also ran the risk of falling into a starved frenzy such as the one in the cavern. I could only rely on Gluttony when I had no other purpose but to obliterate my enemy, body and soul.

  Here, now, facing off with a strong opponent in a battle that was not to the death… This wasn’t a situation I’d prepared for, and even after training with Aaron, I wasn’t very good at this sort of thing.

  Not to mention the minor fact that my opponent was Lady Roxy.

  As I stood there, black sword raised, trying to sort out my approach, Lady Roxy got tired of waiting and moved in for another attack. She dashed toward me.

  “Do you always stand around zoning out in the middle of battle?”

  “I’ve just… I’ve got some things on my mind…” I said.

  “Unbelievable. Perhaps this will give you reason to take this fight more seriously.” With that, she unleashed a flurry of strikes.

  “Wha—?!” I barely had time to backpedal.

  Surely this is against the rules! But, well, it wasn’t. I just didn’t want Lady Roxy to do exactly what she was doing: launch her attacks directly at my skull mask.

  “Let’s see who’s hiding under that mask!”

  “Wai—!”

  Lady Roxy moved even faster than she had at the beginning of the match. In the next instant, she spun behind me. I turned to counter, but her sword lashed out before I had the chance to react, and my skull mask was almost sliced in half. I jerked back, falling into a roll, then used that momentum to flip away to safety.

  I breathed a sigh of relief, but it only lasted a moment. The sound of armor cracking filled my ears. There was a fracture in my skull mask, and it was widening. I hurriedly used Identify to assess the damage.

  Skull Mask

  Durability: 10/20

  Hides the wearer’s identity from others by making them appear as a stranger.

  Internally, I screamed. Agh! The durability is down by a whole half! But her sword barely grazed it!

  I wanted to think it was because this skull mask was practically an antique, something I’d just picked up at a flea market, but I knew the truth—it was the unerring accuracy of Lady Roxy’s bla
de. One more graze, and Lady Roxy would render my skull mask useless. My stomach churned at the thought of losing it, and to Lady Roxy’s blade, no less.

  “What’s wrong?” Lady Roxy prodded mercilessly. “You slowed down for a moment there. Is that how worried you are about revealing your true face?”

  “No…n-no… It…it’s not that at…all!”

  “You’re actually shaken. I wonder why…? Strange, isn’t it? I’ve become so very curious about what’s hiding under that mask of yours, Mr. Corpse.”

  Lady Roxy smiled, playful and teasing. But I knew what that face meant. She was serious.

  I panicked as I fought to protect my mask. “Hey, hey, wait a second. Didn’t you say this was a sparring match?”

  “I did,” she agreed. “And it’s about time you started fighting me for real. Because if you don’t, you’re going to lose that mask you hold so dear.”

  She was right. A part of me even enjoyed this. Here with her again, now, I just couldn’t seem to rid myself of my fond memories of the past. But another part of me… I was being sentimental, and that made me slow. My own carelessness had broken my mask.

  In the end, was it possible to throw away that softer part of myself in battle, the way Myne and Aaron did?

  No. No matter what happened, I was who I was. I had to face Lady Roxy with that same honesty.

  “If that’s what you want,” I said, “then that’s what you’ll get.”

  I poured magical energy into the sheathed black sword, and it glowed with a holy light.

  Lady Roxy’s eyes widened in shock. “You—but—isn’t that…?!”

  “It’s exactly what you think,” I said. “The holy skill!”

  It was the holy knight tech-art Grand Cross. I activated it, and before it burst, I channeled the energy into the sword, just as Aaron had taught me. The new scabbard Jade Stratos had forged was an enhanced extension of my weapon, allowing me to use the Holy Sword Technique that, until now, I hadn’t been able to channel through Greed. All the same, I hadn’t expected to reveal this particular ability in front of so many people.

  Granted, it really was the perfect opportunity. If Lady Roxy saw that I could use this skill that only holy swords could channel, then no matter what happened, she wouldn’t possibly think I was Fate Graphite. To her, Fate was one of the forsaken. He was a common person born with a garbage skill. Someone only in need of protection.

  “If you’re capable of using the Holy Sword Technique, then you must be a holy knight of some renown… Or perhaps you were of some renown…?”

  “No, I’m no holy knight,” I said. “Since the start, I’ve only been an adventurer.”

  I charged the black sword with the rest of the spells I knew, and it glowed with power in my hands. Now it was my turn to attack. I didn’t need any schemes, plans, tricks, or tactics. I would show Lady Roxy clearly, and simply, the full power in which I placed my trust and my life.

  Chapter 21:

  A Pendant to Remember

  I BROUGHT MY SHEATHED SWORD down hard, channeling enough strength into my attack to completely shatter Lady Roxy’s holy sword. If I let our fight continue much longer, I’d slip up and reveal another opening for her to take advantage of. I felt bad about it, but there was only one way I could finish this. I was determined to take away her ability to fight.

  However, betraying my hopes, her holy blade withstood my blow.

  The sheer impact of our swords coming together sent the rapt onlookers into a stunned silence. My strike had been so heavy that it cowed even the lowlife adventurers in the crowd, the ones forever heckling me.

  It only took a glance to discover how Lady Roxy had defended against my attack. She’d charged her own sword with the Grand Cross tech-art as well. Somewhere on her way from the kingdom to Babylon, she’d gained experience to match mine.

  “Better luck next time,” Lady Roxy said, still smiling through gritted teeth.

  “I’m not done yet,” I said.

  I was still on the offense. Our battle was far from over. This time, I would force my way through to disarm her. In a straightforward battle of strength, the advantage was in my stats.

  As our blades ground against each other, Lady Roxy’s holy sword wavered under the pressure. A bead of sweat rolled down her cheek as she struggled to hold her ground against strength she wasn’t prepared for. Gritting my teeth as well, I heaved, sending both her and the holy sword flying.

  “Ah!”

  Her startled voice in that moment was unexpectedly cute, unlike the dignified voice of the Lady Roxy I was used to. I felt the weight of guilt on my shoulders once more. The crowd watching us booed me loudly. I was the villain in their eyes, complete with the mysterious skull mask that ensured I looked the part.

  It didn’t matter what they thought. It was time for me to end this match. I launched off the ground, leaping at Lady Roxy as she completed her flying arc toward the building behind her. It would take her a few moments to recover her bearings. I’d use that time to knock her blade from her hand and make sure she couldn’t continue to fight. Our match ended here.

  Just at the moment that I prepared to strike, I spotted a sapphire-blue pendant in flight, a necklace that had been hidden under her chest piece.

  Is that…?!

  For a moment, I was unable to move.

  She’s still carrying it with her.

  In that pendant was set the jewel I’d given her back when I was still a servant at Hart Manor, during our undercover adventure. I remembered the day Lady Roxy left on the military expedition to Galia with bitter clarity. She’d turned to me and said she’d treasure the jewel always—that she would craft it into a pendant.

  And she had.

  Even now, she wears it against her heart…

  Greed barked at me through Telepathy, interrupting my sentiment. I snapped back to focus, but it was too late. Lady Roxy swung her blade as we flew through the air, knocking the black sword skyward, out of my grip.

  “Huh?!”

  It happened so suddenly that my shock made me yelp. As Greed left my hand, I heard his frustrated cry fade into the distance.

  “You idiooooooo—”

  It was only a sparring match, but that single lost moment cost me dearly. Eris, who had at some point made her way into the street with the rest of the crowd, doubled over, clutching her stomach as she laughed. No way would she let me live this down the next time I visited the saloon.

  I hit the ground before Greed did. As he fell from the sky, the remains of my skills and the force of Roxy’s heavy blow sank the sword, scabbard and all, into the cobblestones several yards away from me. I hesitated to recover the black sword, however. I’d be in for an earful the instant I touched the hilt.

  Lady Roxy stood over me as I stared at the sky, her blade pointed directly at my mask. I slowly put my hands up in a show of surrender.

  Thus, the victor was decided.

  Lady Roxy sheathed her sword, but she didn’t look satisfied with her victory. She handled the pendant with great care as she tucked it back within her chest plate, then let out a sigh as she turned to me once more. I kept my hands up as I rose to my feet.

  “Why did you do that?” she asked. “Why did you go easy on me at that moment?”

  “What are you talking about? I…”

  “I might have won, but I’m not at all satisfied with how that went! Get yourself together so we can settle things in a second round.”

  “Please,” I said, “spare me this.”

  I just…couldn’t bring myself to fight her. Not even when sparring. Our match had literally beaten that realization into me.

  “I think that was more than enough,” I said. “I’m out of here.”

  “Hey… Wait a moment!”

  The crowd cheered for Lady Roxy and booed me as I walked to Greed and yanked him from the ground where he was stuck.

  “You pitiful wimp, you loser…” he muttered.

  “Sh-shut up, you!”

  Ign
oring the commentary, I made to leave. The sparring match was settled, and I’d avoided being thrown into the dungeon. It was best for me to vanish for a time. Sticking around would only earn me another shower of insults. Yet Lady Roxy continued to call out as I walked away, and when I didn’t listen, she darted forward to block my path.

  “I have one thing I want to ask you,” she said.

  “What is it this time?” I asked, exhausted.

  “Where did you learn that swordsmanship? I felt the same thing when we were in the canyon, but now I’m sure of it. You fight like Lord Aaron Barbatos. Your footwork, your bladework—you’re practically a mirror image of his techniques.”

  Something was bothering her. A sudden serious look crossed her face as she went on.

  “On my way to Babylon, I met Aaron Barbatos. He was rebuilding the once-fallen castle of Hausen. He had long ago retired and given up being a holy knight, but…” She stared into my eyes. “He told me an encounter with a particular young man gave him reason to retake his holy sword.”

  Ah, so Lady Roxy had met Aaron too, after he and I cleared Hausen of the monsters roaming its streets. If I’d lingered in Hausen a little longer, perhaps Lady Roxy and I would have reunited earlier. I shouldn’t have been surprised at this coincidence. Our destinations had always been the same, as had the paths we walked to get there.

  Lady Roxy reached out for my hand. I pulled it back in refusal. I wasn’t in control of my own skills right now, and if she touched me, I’d only end up unintentionally reading her mind.

  “Aaron wouldn’t tell me that young man’s name,” she said. “But he did tell me the young man was headed for Galia. And he told me another thing, too—that the young man suffered from a power he couldn’t control. If you are that young man, then please, let me…”

  “I don’t know what to tell you,” I said, cutting her off. “Even if I were, that problem would be mine to deal with. Alone. It wouldn’t be one for you to trouble yourself with. Here in Galia, the first person you should worry about protecting is yourself.”