Nuclear Winter #3
Blacker than the night sky, deeper than the abyss—a snowy darkness blanketed the wasteland.
Right in the heart of it, at the crossroads leading to the tomb of the old world, two mechanical beasts faced off.
Expanded to their maximum size, their camera eyes locked onto each other. But the emotions captured within were worlds apart.
One brimmed with a self-destructive impulse, reeking like the musky stench of a feral beast, clinging stubbornly. The other gleamed with a steadfast protective instinct.
"That's... Black Panther. Why is Lord Bardi's creature targeting Lady Belluna?"
Erhun muttered in a trembling voice. In response, Professor Beltum slammed his staff down, thickening the magical barrier even further.
"People... have an instinct to preserve the status quo."
The turtle professor's sunken eyes fixed on the two standoff mechanical beasts.
Having failed its ambush, [Black Panther] circled slowly to the side, its murderous gaze and cannon barrel pinned on the group like nails.
"Preserve the status quo...?"
Erhun's acorn-round eyes frantically scanned the surroundings.
"Sometimes... the unknown peace feels more threatening than familiar pain. More precisely... it's the fear of things getting even worse than now."
"Even worse than now..."
Learned fear and exhaustion. A past of endless deterioration had shackled their steps forward.
"Belluna... offered wreaths to the departed. That's... the momentum for change. Letting go of those she couldn't release until now."
Moreover. Professor Beltum continued in a heavy tone.
"Belluna... was someone Bardi desperately tried to protect before. But that also means... she's a weakness."
"A weakness..."
Adella bit her lip hard.
"However... this is fortunate."
Professor Beltum's massive eyes unyieldingly pointed at [Peanut].
"It means the protective instinct... is clearly alive."
"But that creature—Peanut's stats are lower than Black Panther's...! If we leave it like this...!"
"That's why we're here."
Two dice materialized above Professor Georgia's finger.
"Erhun, what's Peanut's stat?"
"Uh, 1,800...!"
"Black Panther's at 2,100."
[Black Panther]'s cannon barrel whirred with a mechanical growl, aiming at Adella before spewing fire.
-Woof!
Blocking its path, as always, was [Peanut]. Despite knowing it was outmatched, the four legs guarding Adella didn't waver. At that sight, [Black Panther]'s crimson camera eye narrowed faintly.
It looked almost like a smile.
"Not on my watch."
Professor Georgia rolled the two dice.
Boom!!
A fresh shell mark scarred [Peanut]'s flank as Black Panther's shot hit true.
Yet.
-Woof! Woof!
[Peanut] didn't crumble, merely raising its voice toward [Black Panther].
-Grrr...?
Unable to comprehend, [Black Panther]'s head snapped 90 degrees with a grating screech of confusion.
"Deployed Angel's Dice. That boosted Peanut's stats."
The glowing white die showed a 2, raising Peanut's stats by 400 to 2,200.
Surpassing Black Panther's power in an instant.
But that wasn't all. Professor Georgia had rolled two dice.
Zzzzt... Pssshhh!!
Suddenly, [Black Panther] staggered. Shrapnel from its own shell had lodged in its leg.
Torn machinery sparked wildly, oozing thick oil like pus.
Devil's Dice. The black die, buried in the wasteland's darkness, showed a 4.
Thus, Black Panther's stats dropped by 800 to 1,200.
-Grk, ka, ka, ka, grr.
Its head twisted 180 degrees, emitting an eerie wail. Even collapsed, it stared at the group, its red camera eye contracting and dilating repeatedly.
A murderous intent that refused to fade.
As [Peanut]'s machine gun primed to fire, something streaked from the swirling blizzard behind the group.
A mechanical bird with a sharp horn protruding from under its tail feathers. Its once-pure white, now stained by war's flames, was hideously warped.
"That's..."
"Machinery's White Swan - Cygnus!"
"But that card's stats are 1,900. Peanut still has the edge—"
Crunch!!
Before Professor Georgia's calculations finished, Cygnus's horn pierced Black Panther's nape.
Weeeeen...! Ding—! Ding—! Ding—!
Distant wails echoed from [Lost World] and [Rusty Factory].
At the same time, a blood-red magic circle ignited beneath Cygnus and Black Panther.
"What...?"
[United Operation - Tactical Fusion: Red Line].
Crack, thud! Screeech!!
The two machines forcibly merged under bloody mana, unleashing a cacophony of agony.
The distorted swan's head became a beast's tail. Oil gushed from the horn's wound. Wings unfurled backward, lifting the mechanical beast's body.
It bit off its useless leg with its 180-degree twisted head, then tore it away like a drumstick.
[Machinery Frenzy - AC-130 Chimera]. Ricardo's destructive impulse, born from war's memories, bared its maw at the group.
Drooling madness thicker than blood from its severed leg.
"It fused...?"
"Incoming!"
Rat-tat-tat!! -Grk, ka, ka, ka, grr!!
The Chimera's turret spewed frenzied flames, heedless of its glowing red-hot barrel crumpling.
Simultaneously, its twisted form plummeted toward the group.
Manifest malice—with fangs and claws sharper than a demon's, flailing wildly.
-Woof!!
In defiance, [Peanut]'s machine gun bullets sprayed upward, but even with Angel's Dice enhancement, it couldn't halt the Chimera's charge.
It barreled through, ignoring the shredding rounds.
Thud! Craaaack!!
-Yelp...!!
Claws sank into Peanut's chassis. The flank scarred from a past life's shell began to crumple.
-Grk, ka, ka, grr!
The Chimera's maw split impossibly wide, like torn flesh.
Grrrrumble...
A hunger's echo reverberated. Erhun flinched at the familiar sound from the Glontes battle.
Acidic drool dripped, corroding and melting Peanut away.
The group, caught off-guard by the blitz, instinctively moved to save Peanut.
But one acted first, emanating leaf-green mana.
Adella.
"Sure, I got kidnapped in a daze and all."
Her eyes shimmered with an elf's noble gleam as she smiled faintly.
"But I don't wanna be your weakness, Ricardo."
Her slender fingers flicked, and thick vines erupted from the ground, binding the Chimera tight.
"I prefer walking side by side over being carried."
-Grk, ka, ka, grr!
"Now's your chance, pup!"
Peanut's blurring camera eye snapped into focus.
-Woof!
Aimed at the suspended Chimera's belly, Peanut unleashed its machine gun.
Craaaack—!!!
Writhing under the barrage, the Chimera's waist gradually eroded... then snapped clean.
Its torso tumbled to the ground, overheating mechanical guts spilling like innards.
Adella snapped her fingers. The vines gently lowered it.
She gazed at it with subdued eyes, then approached Peanut and stroked it.
"You okay, pup?"
-Pant...!
Peanut accepted the touch meekly, its mechanical tail wagging furiously.
Then.
-Mom...? Dad...?
A voice leaked from the sprawled Chimera's maw.
-Wh-where, where are you...?
Static-laced, like a broken radio.
-C-can't... find you. H-home... Mom... Dad... too. H-here, bombs... bombs... falling... Why? Why? Why? Why?
The voice sounded just like Ricardo's.
-Wh-where... are you? M-Mom? D-Dad...?
Like a beast murmuring its death throes, the Chimera's camera eye slowly contracted and dilated.
-A-answer... answer... ans...wer me...
Then, finally, its left eye melted under internal heat.
Like blood tears.
-Je... wel...—
With those final words, silence fell over the group.
Peanut slowly rose, limping toward the Chimera, then extended its rubbery tongue to lick the melted left eye.
For a long while, no one spoke.
§
And then—in the blizzard's darkness the group hadn't noticed.
Plop...
A droplet darker than the abyss bubbled up like a tumor.