The True Form of Kal
[You've gone too far, Nirti.]
At Simon's words, Nirti curled her lips into a cold sneer.
"Gone too far, you say?"
Her interest in Simon drained away, and a look of contempt rippled through her eyes.
"What, are you planning to preach some pitiful little sermon about how revenge is bad and all that?"
[No.]
Simon shook his head slowly.
[I'd rather not even try to understand what drove you to commit such carnage, but I do know that forgiveness and repentance won't solve everything. Even if every soul in Tarados begged for your forgiveness from the bottom of their hearts, your hatred wouldn't fade.]
"Then what on earth—!"
[But.]
Simon brushed her voice aside.
[As far as I can see, you've already completed your revenge. And instead of stopping there, you declared you'd destroy the kingdom—and beyond that, the Federation itself.]
Scrrrape—
Simon's greatsword dragged hollowly across the dungeon floor.
[What kind of fool would just stand there and do nothing while someone screams that he's going to destroy the people and places precious to him, right before his eyes?]
Nirti had gone too far.
Not just the direction of her vengeance.
Its target, too—everything.
[And what's truly beyond the pale is that you proposed that I—a complete stranger—join hands with you. Simply because I seemed useful. Because I might become a tool serving your idea of some grand cause. My goals and my intentions meant nothing to you. You aren't prepared to persuade anyone. No—you never even had the will to try.]
Simon's eyes sank into bleak desolation.
[What you're doing right now isn't revenge, Nirti.]
His murmuring voice settled over the floor like frost.
[What you're doing isn't revenge. It's just venting.]
"……"
A long, heavy silence wrapped itself around the two of them.
By now, Simon and Nirti both understood perfectly that neither could ever truly understand the other.
Which meant only one thing: the stronger one would simply decide.
Simon re-gripped his greatsword and poured jet-black into the chimera arm Nirti had modified.
"We're back to square one, then."
Nirti said.
"But what exactly do you think you can accomplish alone at this point? As time passes, our Society's victory only grows more certain."
[Starting right now, piece by piece—]
Simon's lips curled upward.
[—I'm going to change that, until my victory is the certain one.]
Shaaaaaaa—
The instant those words ended, a vast quantity of sand began spreading across the empty air.
[Forgot, did you? That we took the Dungeon Master with us.]
The duration of the dungeon Herseba had created had run out. As the sand settled, Herseba herself came into view, slumped with exhaustion, leaning on her staff.
Behind her lay the shattered body of the Dungeon Master. Countless black feathers and sand were mingled throughout its scattered flesh.
Nirti's expression hardened.
'The Dungeon Master I strengthened with my own research—!'
'Of course I knew Herseba and Akemus would win.'
They had carved the Dungeon Master into chunks of meat, but the dungeon itself had not been destroyed.
She had suspected as much ever since she saw that taking the Dungeon Master to a separate space didn't crack the dungeon.
And the Dungeon Master was still alive. Its undead ability had activated and its flesh was trying to regenerate—but Akemus's curse feathers lodged throughout it were sealing that power shut.
'If it can be made incapable of recovery entirely—!'
Thud!
Simon kicked off the ground and charged at the Dungeon Master.
Nirti, too, kicked off jet-black and soared upward, cutting off the Dungeon Master's path.
BOOM!!
Greatsword and chimera arm collided head-on.
With a thunderous crash, both of them were driven sliding backward, and Nirti spread a magic circle with her left hand.
"Halt all research. Release the codes. Full activation!"
The moment she triggered the circle, glass shattered all around with sharp crack after crack—every test tube in the lab bursting at once.
Then the chimeras trapped inside the tubes came swarming out.
-Grrrrk!
-Keeeeeeeh!
Barely free of their cages, the chimeras surged toward Simon, spilling malice from every pore.
'Well, obviously she plans to bury me in sheer numbers.'
Simon shouted a battle cry and leapt forward.
Shing!
He swung the greatsword up and over his shoulder, and a chimera split cleanly in two.
Shunk! Shunk! Shunk! Shunk!
White arcs carved through the air again and again, slicing monsters apart.
But a bull-like chimera wedged itself into the blade's trajectory and slammed into Simon. His body went flying with a tremendous crash and smashed into the wall.
"Kill him!"
At Nirti's roar, every chimera in the laboratory plunged into the cloud of dust boiling around Simon. At the same moment, his arm rose.
Simon Original – Royal Guard
Shrrrrrring!
The dust cloud was shredded into countless emerald streaks of light, then blasted apart by the shockwave.
Step! Step! Step! Step!
Twenty skeletons, each clutching a cyan-bladed sword and cape fluttering, strode out of the dust to flank Simon.
[Follow me.]
Simon took the lead, and the Royal Guard followed, tracing cyan arcs through the darkness. Every time a fluorescent gleam flashed through the gloom, chimera bodies split apart, chunk by chunk.
'How is he carving up chimeras with mere skeletons?'
From Nirti's standpoint, it was a sight beyond belief.
The chimeras were being butchered one-sidedly, like slabs of meat fed into a grinder.
Unable to watch any longer, Nirti sent some kind of signal through a magic circle, and the chimeras converged at the center, erecting a solid formation.
[I've been waiting for you to do that.]
Simon opened a subspace pocket. At the same instant, Cloud flowed out of the bodies of several Royal Guards and spread itself before the subspace in the shape of a magic circle.
[Come forth, Skeleton Knights.]
Five Skeleton Knights emerged from the pocket, extending outward as they spun at ferocious speed.
And the moment they passed through the magic circle made from sacrificed Royal Guards—
Simon Original – Royal Guard & Blade Storm
KWAAAAAAAAM!
The cyan vortexes roared forward in a frenzy, grinding every chimera caught in their path to pieces. Nirti's mouth hung open.
"What in the world is THAT?"
Concentrating her forces in one place to stop the Royal Guard had been a fatal mistake.
The colossal vortexes ravaged the enemy line without hesitation, and Simon and the remaining Royal Guards passed safely through behind them.
As the bulk of her fighting force evaporated before her eyes, Nirti shrieked like a nightmare, clawing at her own hair.
"All of you—FIRE!"
FWOOMP!
WHUMP!
The artillery-type chimeras in the rear unloaded flashes, jet-black projectiles, and organic shells into the vortexes. The recoil stopped the Skeleton Knights' spin and sent them crashing down.
[Kgh!]
When the Royal Guard took damage, the damage flowed back to their master, Simon.
'A limit like this—'
Simon's eyes flashed, blood still smeared across his lips, unwiped.
'I'll break through it as many times as it takes!'
He recalled the Cloud wrapped around the Skeleton Knights, and every bone of the other Royal Guards converged into Simon's body.
The strength of the Royal Guard was its limitless versatility.
Simon kicked off the ground and soared into the sky.
Royal Guard – Flight Mode
The Royal Guard's flight mode layered itself over Pier's Bone Armor. Cloud erupted from behind Simon's back like boosters, launching him skyward.
A long cyan arc zigzagged through the air, and in the blink of an eye it reached from the very front of the battlefield to the rear, cleaving dozens of artillery chimeras down in a single stroke.
"You—!!"
Her most vital chimeras had been sliced into unrecoverable pieces. Furious, Nirti whirled around.
Simon charged even as he gathered the Cloud into the shape of a bow.
Simon Remake – Blood Arrow
A black arrow streaked like a ray of light and buried itself in Nirti's arm, immediately erupting into an explosion of pitch-black ink that swallowed everything around it.
"Grrrgh!"
Nirti weathered the attack at the cost of her chimera arm hanging in tatters, sliding backward—and in that gap, Simon closed the distance with a thunderclap.
The white greatsword drew a straight line down from above her head.
CRANG!
Nirti raised her shredded chimera arm and blocked it.
[Keheheheh!]
'!'
Something was off.
The downward force was weaker than before. Now that she looked, the Bone Armor held its shape—but its core was missing.
'Don't tell me—again—!'
Her head snapped around.
'A double fake!'
The real body.
Simon, stripped of the Bone Armor, stood behind it in a flawless throwing stance. His lead leg stepped forward, shoulder and hips twisting, his whole body coiling to hurl with every ounce of strength he had.
Simon Original – Chaos Spear
KWARRRRRNG—!
With the sound of the air itself tearing, two violet spears shot forward like beams of light and punched through Nirti's abdomen.
KEHAK!
Black blood poured from her mouth.
'Just how many Originals does he HAVE?!'
"Still a long way from done!"
Simon pulled Chaos Spears out one after another and hurled them.
The third, then the fourth spear punched into her abdomen and chest—and only then did chimeras throw themselves in front of her as shields, too late.
TAH!
Abandoning ranged attacks, Simon charged in bare-handed.
Pier, who had played the decoy for Nirti, broke apart once more into countless bone fragments and latched itself piece by piece onto Simon's body.
The instant the Bone Armor sheathed him, Simon's speed quintupled.
KWAKWAKWAKWAKWAM!
Every chimera that moved to block the Greatsword of Ruin in his hands was knocked sprawling.
'What IS this man?!'
Nirti's pupils trembled.
'His eye for reading the flow of battle, his combat sense—both are far beyond even professional level!'
What she'd seen when he shed the Bone Armor earlier. There was no doubt—this man's identity was the Student Council President, Simon.
'Lack of experience? Hardly! How many life-and-death lines, how many limits has this man crossed to get here?!'
Screeech!
Watching her chimeras being butchered mercilessly by the unrecoverable greatsword, she bit down hard on her lip. But when it came to the number of times she had crossed her own lines, she was second to no one.
"Come forth!"
With her left hand she raised a fresh syringe and drove it into her neck, then triggered the eternal magic circle embedded in her abdomen.
SLLLLRRRP!
SLRRRP!
Tentacles erupted from her stomach, seized the chimeras around her, and began fusing them onto her body, one after another.
Simon, who had been carving his way through the chimeras toward Nirti, stopped dead.
'So this is the trump card Nirti was hoarding until the very end.'
This was on a completely different level from swapping out limbs for chimeras.
Giving up on ever returning to her original body—and fusing with over a hundred chimeras. Her whole body now seethed with every variety of grotesque flesh, leaving nothing but her head.
[Keheheh! They say madness is a necromancer's virtue, but this is truly beyond sanity!]
Even Pier clicked his tongue.
Simon gripped the greatsword, gasping for breath. He had to sever her head before her body finished growing larger and more complete—
'The backlash from pushing myself too hard—!'
He had commanded legion after legion all the way down to the third basement floor, poured everything into Cloud techniques and even Chaos. There was nothing left to give.
Simon barely forced strength into his legs and made himself move.
But a few steps was all he managed. And Nirti was only growing bigger and stronger.
'Any moment now.'
Simon panted and looked up.
'It should be time.'
Of course, Nirti wasn't the only one hiding a trump card.
While the two of them fought in a frenzy, a massive crack had been spreading across the ceiling of Nirti's laboratory.
Simon had kept up a constant roar of battle noise so she wouldn't be able to spare a glance upward.
Exactly one more blow.
KWAAAAAM—!
Perfect timing. With a deafening crash, the laboratory ceiling blew apart entirely, revealing a boy with his fist punched out through the rubble.
[Hahahaha! Missed us, Simon?]
Prince and Kazhan, who had gone upstairs to search for the sword, dropped down. Beside them floated a single enormous test tube.
"Glad you're in one piece, Simon!"
[We found the sword!]
The two landed on the floor.
Prince immediately clenched his fist and smashed the tube. Yellow fluid streamed out, and a viscous, slithering liquid splashed free from within.
The sword's true body. It writhed and undulated ceaselessly, as if yearning for something.
[Boy! Now! Draw out the remaining half of the sword!]
"Yes, sir!"
Simon opened his subspace and drew out the body of the sword he'd carried all along. Almost as if they had been waiting, the two halves flowed together and began merging.
GRRRRRRRRR!
As the two bodies became one, something that looked like a core shimmered at their center. Around it, four sturdy legs planted themselves against the floor as the mass transformed into the shape of a colossal hound.
'This is—!'
Simon clenched his fist.
'The plague beast Kal—its TRUE form!'
It looked as though it were wreathed in green gas and green flame. Contrary to expectations, its body's shape seemed hazy, blurred at the edges.
[O being I meet for the first time! I thank you for freeing me from endless torment.]
Simon blinked.
'First time meeting me?'
Apparently the main body had no memory of what its clone had done.
"How is it? Are you holding up all right?"
[No.]
Kal shook its head in silence.
[I am already too late.]
"Hm?"
[They wrung every last drop of power from me. The fact that I can maintain even this form is a miracle in itself. Soon I will fade away entirely.]
Simon's pupils shook violently.
"That's not what your clone told me!"
[My apologies. My clone knew nothing of the situation. Its sole priority would have been rescuing me, its main body.]
Kal's gaze turned toward Pier's skull.
[Pier. I will soon be gone. You know what must be done, don't you?]
[……]
A fire kindled in Pier's eyes.
[You mean it? Kal.]
[Woof! Don't play the innocent! You saw this coming to some degree, didn't you, of all beings?]
KUUUUNG!
Towering dozens of stories high, Nirti raised a colossal fist and bellowed at Simon's group.
[What are you all DOING?! I understand it's been a while since you saw each other, but is this really the time to stand around chitchatting?!]
Prince rocketed skyward and hurled his Hidden Card Punch—but their strength and mass were simply on different scales. Prince's body was flung backward into the wall instead.
"Prince!"
[Hurry, Pier! And you, human!]
Kal opened its mouth.
[As things stand, it all ends here! To defeat that woman, there is only one way!]
"Pier! What is it we have to do?!"
[……]
Pier conveyed the situation to Simon through a rattling impression. This time it was Simon's pupils that shook—but he soon closed his eyes and steeled himself.
There was no time to buy.
"I'm sorry, Kal."
Simon raised the Greatsword of Ruin.
"I wanted to talk with you so much more."
[Woof! So you're Richard's son, the one Pier chose? How sentimental—not like you at all!]
Kal stepped in front of Simon.
[They exploited me without end and drained me dry! I am weary, so weary. If you truly wish to save me—then reap me with your own hands!]
Simon nodded. Kal's chest split open, exposing its core.
Kal couldn't hold on much longer. But there was a way to reclaim Kal's power.
"Goodbye, Kal."
The Greatsword of Ruin pierced through Kal's core.
Kal let loose a smile of pure relief, and its body dissolved into liquid.
Shuuuuuuush—
Then it began pouring itself into the Greatsword of Ruin in Simon's grip. He could feel a tremendous power flowing into him.
'What the—!'
Simon's arm trembled violently.
'I can't contain this much power.'
Soon Kal's body had vanished without a trace, and a faint green light settled over the Greatsword of Ruin.
[I'll explain this only once, so listen well, Boy!]
Pier said.
He could see Kazhan being sent flying by a kick from the colossal Nirti. And now she was closing in on Simon.
[From this moment on, we can wield Kal's power!]
FWOOOOOOOM!
Green mist began rising from the Greatsword of Ruin. It gathered into the shape of a hound howling toward the heavens.
"Hup!"
The technique wasn't all that difficult. Simon concentrated jet-black into the greatsword and slammed it into the ground with all his might.
GLUB—GLUB—
A radius around the greatsword transformed into an eerie swamp of poison.
Nirti's steps slowed as she sank into the mire, and in that same moment, hundreds of tiny hounds—Kal's clones—surged up out of the swamp.
Simon shouted.
"Fire!"
Blurt! Blurt! Blurt! Blurt!
The hundreds of clones spat poison-soaked disease pathogens from their mouths in rapid bursts.
The moment the venom splashed over her, the chimera bodies that made up Nirti began screaming in agony, each in its own voice. Nirti lost control of her own body entirely, thrashing about wildly.
'Now!'
Simon drove the tip of his greatsword into the swamp and sprinted, then wrenched it up into the air with all his strength.
The poison swamp surged out in the direction he swung, coiling around Nirti's massive frame like a serpent and forcing her crashing to the ground.
"Th-that's incredible!"
Simon cried out in awe at the new power. Pier chuckled.
[This much is nothing! The true heart of Kal's power lies elsewhere! Surely you haven't forgotten?]
Pier's gaze turned toward the shattered corpse of the Dungeon Master.
[Destroy the Dungeon Master with that sword, and claim this dungeon for your own! Boy!]