Berserk of Gluttony Vol. 3

by Isshiki Ichika

  As a sudden new voice rang in my ears, I felt myself tumble toward the earth and roll across the ground.

  I knew that voice!

  When I opened my eyes, I saw her: Lady Roxy. She held me tight, the two of us covered in dirt, blood, and dust.

  “What are you…what are you doing?!” Lady Roxy cried.

  “Lady Roxy…” I rasped. “I…”

  I had never imagined she’d run back onto the battlefield, ready to face the Divine Dragon to find me, but that was really just a lack of imagination on my part. Of course Lady Roxy Hart was the kind of person who would never let me fight on my own. Once she’d seen her troops to safety, she had returned.

  And once again, her timing was horrible.

  Now she saw me how I had never wanted her to see me: at my worst. Starving, broken. It was the one thing I had wanted to avoid.

  “I…I could never hate you, Fay! You are who you are, with scarlet eyes or without! You don’t have to do this!”

  Lady Roxy’s tears fell upon my cheek. With their heat, I felt a warmth and peace that I had, for a time, forgotten. I’d been so, so scared—so terrified all this time that, because of my Gluttony, she would grow to hate me. But she had seen my power, my frenzy, and the true depths of my skill, and despite everything, she accepted me. To her, I was still the person she had always known. Fate Graphite.

  I didn’t know whether it was because of Lady Roxy’s acceptance or my peace of mind, but the frenzy of Gluttony began to calm. I’d surpassed its limits, and it was at a point where I could no longer stop or control it, yet Gluttony and its hunger fell suddenly, frighteningly quiet.

  “What…is this…?” I whispered.

  As I tried to puzzle through the extraordinary silence, Lady Roxy reached her hand out to me.

  “Come on, Fay,” she said. “Let’s head back to Babylon, shall we?”

  Her kind face brought to mind a memory I couldn’t forget. It felt like a lifetime ago, when I’d been a mere gatekeeper at the walls of Seifort. After she saved me from Rafale Vlerick’s abuse, Lady Roxy had reached out a hand and looked at me in the same caring way she did now.

  In that moment, I realized. This whole way, every step of my journey, I had claimed that I wanted to save Lady Roxy, to protect her—but the truth was that I wanted her to protect me, just like she had on that day that felt so long ago. I’d wanted her to save me, this contemptible human made wretched by his Gluttonous Skill of Mortal Sin. How had I made it so far ignoring this hope, now so clear and simple?

  I could no longer hide my feelings for Lady Roxy.

  I fell into her arms as my consciousness faded.

  ***

  From somewhere distant, I heard Luna’s voice echo.

  “So, you found your true bastion…”

  When I tried to ask her what she meant, I found myself staring at the ceiling from a bed. I realized I had been asleep. I was in a room I knew well—my room at the inn I’d called home since I first arrived in Babylon.

  I tried to get up, but I crumpled to my left. Then I remembered. In the battle with Northern—Envy’s puppet—I’d lost my left arm. I looked down at my side to find it was neatly bandaged. By the looks of things, Lady Roxy had seen to my injuries after everything was over.

  I looked around, but the room was empty. I stared at the clock hanging on the wall.

  “It’s eleven in the morning…”

  Judging by the time, more than a day had passed. Then I realized something was missing. Greed wasn’t anywhere in the room. Where was he? Where had he gone? Where was the ever-boastful, mighty Greed?!

  I pushed myself out of bed and turned the entire room upside down, but the sword was nowhere to be found. I grew pale at the thought that the black sword might be rolling around somewhere, lost in the depths of Galia…

  There was a knock at the door. It opened, and in walked the blue-haired Eris and the white-haired Myne. With two bearers of Skills of Mortal Sin standing before me, I felt immense power fill the small room.

  “Ah, so he finally wakes,” said Eris.

  “After one whole week,” Myne said. “You sleep too much.”

  A whole week?! Then again, by the time that battle was over, I had been pretty much at death’s doorstep, so the timeline did make some sense.

  Then I saw the black stave held casually in Eris’s hand.

  “Greed?!” I cried.

  “Yes, we finally got him back from Galia. Myne forgot to fetch him after your battle.” Eris cast a sidelong glance at Myne, who pointedly ignored her. Eris sighed and went on. “Not only that, but apparently some monster got hold of Greed and carried him off somewhere. A harrowing experience that took him all the way to the heart of Galia.”

  Eris cast another glance in Myne’s direction, but Myne was intent on ignoring her completely. It was very much in character for Myne, yet I got the feeling that these two just didn’t get along very well. I hoped they wouldn’t come to blows. In my current state, between these two, I’d probably end up asleep for another whole week.

  I took Greed from Eris with a shaky, nervous hand. He was in his Fourth Level form, and the stave felt different from any of the other weapon types—almost delicate. It was detailed in a way that seemed decorative, so I didn’t think it would work at all like a club. As I turned it over in my hand, Greed came through loud and clear to make his feelings known.

  “FATE! You idiot! You absolute moron! How could you do something so reckless?!”

  “Don’t be mad,” I said. “All’s well that ends well, eh?”

  Greed was infuriated, despite my apologies. He lectured and he shouted, and at one point I thought he would deafen me with his howling.

  When he was finally done, he added, “I was carried in the jaws of that monster forever! That journey was so harrowing that I thought I’d never make it back!”

  “So it seems.”

  “In any case…there’s something important you have to know. You should ask Eris about it.” Greed’s voice was suddenly serious, and I felt him urge me to turn toward Eris.

  When I did, she looked at me with a bright smile. “So, you killed the Divine Dragon. In doing so, you showed me proof. I didn’t think you were ready yet, but since Roxy is alive, and the crowned-human experiment is over, we need your power. Actually, we need your help.”

  “Help with what?” I asked hesitantly.

  “Well, you probably won’t have a choice in the matter. As another bearer of a Skill of Mortal Sin, it’s unavoidable. But before that, we have to return your arm to what it was. Without it, things will only be harder for you.”

  Huh?! You can do that?! Recovery magic isn’t that powerful, is it? Is it even possible to heal what isn’t there anymore?

  Eris’s words defied the logic of everything I knew, but she went on.

  “Yes, it’s possible to restore your arm,” she said. “But we have to leave before Roxy gets back. It’s much too dangerous for you to see her as you are.”

  For some reason, the mere mention of Lady Roxy’s name made my Gluttony growl in a way that it hadn’t before. I had a very bad feeling about that.

  Myne, who had been silent through Greed’s lecture and Eris’s request, held something out for me to take. “Here…” she said. “It’s your trademark.”

  She handed me the crumbling remains of my old skull mask. Trademark, huh?

  All the same, I put it on and got ready to leave. However, I made sure to write a letter before I did.

  The letter contained all the things I wanted to tell Lady Roxy. It was composed of words I wanted to say myself, but…

  I believed Eris when she said it was better for us not to meet. Not yet.

  Chapter 33:

  A Letter from Fate

  ROXY’S POINT OF VIEW

  THE UNBELIEVABLE BATTLE finally came to an end with the fight against the Heavenly Calamity, the Divine Dragon.

  It had begun with a death parade. The sirens of the sentinel city of Babylon spurred us to acti
on, and the kingdom’s army marched toward our border with Galia.

  Just before that, I had sparred with a certain skull-masked adventurer known as Corpse. I was certain he was the man Aaron Barbatos had told me of, a mysterious adventurer who carried a black sword. When I looked at Corpse, I saw the young man whose future Aaron was so concerned for.

  Corpse struggled with a power he couldn’t control, a power so great that it threatened to consume him. When I journeyed to the great canyon of Galia, I first noticed it when Corpse coincidentally came to travel with us. It made itself clear in our battle with the chimeras.

  However, outside battle, Corpse was gentle and sincere. He reminded me of someone I knew—so much so that I once murmured his name without realizing.

  Fay…

  But Fate didn’t carry such power. He was a servant at the Hart family estate, safely back in Seifort. With those two beliefs in mind, I refused to conclude that Corpse and Fate were linked. Later, I realized that was only because I had seen them in the way I wanted to see them.

  If I had only realized sooner…then events might not have unfolded as direly as they did.

  As my troops and I fought against the death parade, the Divine Dragon appeared. In the face of its overwhelming power, I was ready to join my father in honorable death. The roar of the monster sent an energy beam across the lands, disintegrating the creatures in its deadly path as it cut toward my army. Just as all hope was lost, Corpse arrived as if from nowhere. He placed himself between my troops and the Divine Dragon.

  Corpse carried with him a black shield, which he used to hold off the roar of the beast. His actions awed the entire army, myself included. Not a single one of us had believed it possible to defend against an attack from such a monster, and none of us ever imagined someone could do it alone.

  I hurried toward Corpse as if drawn to him. Then his mask, damaged in the battle, fell from his face. When I saw his face, I knew. I finally confirmed the suspicion I’d pushed down for too long.

  The adventurer Corpse was indeed Fate Graphite.

  In his red-stained eyes, I saw fear. I knew by his expression—and how he looked at me—why he had used his mask to hide who he really was. He was afraid that no one could ever accept him for what he had become.

  I wanted to tell him that it wasn’t true. Trapped in the gaze of his red eyes, however, my body refused to move, and I couldn’t even squeeze out a whisper. I despised my inability to take action. It was like I was seeing Fate leave for someplace far, far away, and I was powerless to do anything more than watch as tears streamed down my face.

  Even after he turned his back and released me, I couldn’t follow him as he moved toward the Divine Dragon. I reached out because I wanted to say, Please, wait for me, Fate.

  In the distance, I saw the Divine Dragon. Fate stood before it and fought without hesitation. But I couldn’t bring myself to take a single step forward. I could only retreat to preserve the lives of my soldiers.

  In that moment, I became painfully aware of my own powerlessness. The world in which Fate fought his battles was somewhere further than I could ever reach.

  Right there, I made up my mind. I would focus on doing what was still within my control. I would start with Fate’s suggestion and evacuate the kingdom’s army. I searched for the commanders scattered across the battlefield and gave them their orders: retreat to Babylon, and give Fate room to fight his battle.

  When the troops made it through the gates of Babylon, we watched in awe as the Divine Dragon plummeted from the sky. We witnessed the end of the Heavenly Calamity, a beast we had long thought invincible, an act of the gods that we could only ever flee.

  That joy only lasted a moment. I felt a worrying pang in my heart as the dragon stilled, and I rushed back to find Fate. I was shocked and saddened by what I found, though I knew Fate must have his reasons for seeking death.

  Yet I wanted to know what those reasons were. I wanted to share his burden, to let him know that he wasn’t alone.

  After the battle with the Divine Dragon, I brought Fate to the medical facilities of the Military Sector to have his wounds tended. He slept in a bed there. Once a full week had passed, he still showed no sign of waking. He had lost his arm in that battle. Looking at his wounded side filled me once more with a feeling of helplessness.

  ***

  Once my duties for the day were done, I walked through the medical facilities to check on Fate. As I did, I noticed something different about the soldiers there. They were all looking toward the ceiling, as if their souls were elsewhere. Even when I called to them, they replied as if lost in a daze.

  “What in the world is going on here?” I asked.

  I opened the door to Fate’s room with worry in my heart.

  Fate’s bed lay empty.

  “No… Why…?”

  I frantically checked the rest of the facilities, but Fate was nowhere to be found. All I could find was a letter, addressed to me, that sat on the small table by Fate’s bed.

  My hands shook as I picked it up. I was afraid of what it would say. If it contained parting words, I didn’t know what I would do. But I knew I had to face the words, whatever they said, so I took a deep breath and steadied myself.

  I opened the neatly folded letter and let my eyes scan the words inside.

  The contents of Fate’s letter shared all that had happened before he arrived in Galia, and all that had happened after. He told me that he had lied to me, and that he was the one at the center of the chaos at the northern canyon on the Hart family estate. He had damaged the valley to kill the raiding kobolds. He also said he had killed the holy knight Hado Vlerick, who was buying trafficked “forsaken” children so he could torture them to death. That was likely not the only foul deed Hado had committed, as the Vlericks were behind my assignment to Galia.

  As I read Fate’s letter, I sensed that each lie he’d told pained him. Although he said that it hid his identity, I felt that the skull mask Fate wore was also a way for him to run from what he thought of himself.

  Fate also wrote in detail of his Skill of Mortal Sin, Gluttony, and how it differed from other skills because of its dangers. It had awakened back when bandits attempted to sneak into the castle, all that time ago, which meant I had been present.

  I’d never realized a thing.

  Gluttony hungered for the souls of the living, and its bearer had to feed it periodically in order to live. Fate wrote that, if his Gluttony broke free, he would end up as he had been at the end of the battle with the Divine Dragon—ravenous and uncontrolled. Because his Gluttony was still unstable, he said it was impossible for us to meet again anytime soon. It made me worry that he would forever be wandering, with no place to call home, all because he had been born with this skill.

  Finally, Fate wrote that, when his skull mask was no longer necessary, he would find me and apologize in person.

  “Fay, it’s okay. Y-you can’t carry something so heavy all on your own. I just want to say thank you. That’s all I want to do… Why do you have to be so far away…?”

  My feelings overwhelmed me, and I scrunched the letter in my hand.

  Still, if Fate said he would one day come to find me, then I would wait for that day to arrive.

  The Fate Graphite I knew was not a man who broke his word. I chose to believe him. I uncreased the letter, folded it, and placed it in my breast pocket.

  For now, I would do what I could as the governor of Babylon. The city was in chaos with the death of the Divine Dragon, and I needed to settle that ruckus.

  “Until we meet again, Fay,” I said to the stillness.

  We would meet again. I knew it.

  I opened the door, and I left the empty room.

  Side Story:

  Of Greed and Myne

  FATE HAD DEFEATED the Divine Dragon. After devouring the soul of a beast in the Domain of E, he could no longer control Gluttony, and he was mere moments from losing himself to his skill. Imagine my surprise when right at that momen
t, that jerk decided to give me all his stats.

  Being a weapon, it wasn’t like I had any way of stopping him. I just had to take them. In doing so, I transformed into my Fourth Level—the black stave—and was summarily thrown from his grasp.

  I figured it was in character for Fate to do something stupid like that.

  Right as he’s about to lose himself to his Gluttony, he weakens himself by giving me all the stats he has left, then he throws me away. Yeah, that’s very much something a ridiculous guy like Fate would do.

  Usually, when I hit a new level, I’d take some time to explain to the boy just how the weapon worked. Usually, we had a little time for me to do that. It was a pity we didn’t this time around.

  It was also a pity to think that this moment might be the end of our journey.

  To me, Fate looked to be at his very limit. As I rolled along the ground of the Galian wasteland, there was nothing I could do but watch him.

  This situation was far from what Myne had hoped for when Fate asked for her help. But she was also painfully aware of the consequences when a person could no longer control their Gluttony, so I knew in the end she would do what she had to.

  As I expected, Myne took her black axe Sloth in hand, and she prepared to bring it down upon Fate’s neck as he knelt on the ground.

  So long, Fate… It was a short time, but hell, it was a good one.

  Just as I thought my parting words, a blonde girl dove in, tackling Fate before Myne’s axe found its target.

  “You can’t!” she cried.

  It was Roxy, who should’ve evacuated with her troops. She grabbed hold of Fate, and together they rolled along the ground, kicking up clouds of dust. They came to a stop right by my side.

  What happened next could only be called a miracle. Fate’s Gluttony reacted to some part of Roxy, and it began to calm. That showed that Roxy was now Fate’s bastion. But to think that Fate’s reason for coming here was his bastion… It meant that Gluttony would once again desire that which was most important to its bearer.