Chapter 352: The King Who Kills Others, The God Who Kills Himself - 8
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 352: The King Who Kills Others, The God Who Kills Himself - 8
“Why are you here? And with the Golden Lord right in front of you, no less.”
The Regressor, who had just smashed her way through the Golden Palace, spotted me and asked with a puzzled look. Her face was carefree, as if she didn't have a single worry in the world. She was the type to smash through problems with brute force, and if that failed, she could just kill herself and start over. She would never know the hardships I'd been through.
But that was fine. As long as she was here to save me, she didn't need to know.
For the first time in a while, I was genuinely happy to see the Regressor.
“Shei. I'm so happy to see you I could cry.”
“Really? We just saw each other a little while ago.”
This brat. Even feeling moved by you is a waste.
“More importantly, why are you here? We were supposed to go find the Golden Lord tomorrow.”
“What about you, Shei?”
“I figured I'd find him in advance, just in case he decided not to show himself tomorrow.”
“Same here. I came to scout the area and just happened to find him.”
“Good idea, but you should've said something when you found him. I was searching for a while. I had no idea he'd be this close.”
“I didn't know where you were. And I didn't have a chance. Look.”
While the Regressor and I were sharing our joyous reunion, the other side had assessed the situation. The Golden Lord, shielding Elric with his body, pointed a finger at us.
“Who are you! How dare you invade this sacred place!”
His shout was filled with clear hostility and caution. So he does react when someone breaks down the walls of the little world he's holed up in. He might ignore a nobody like me, but it seems he can't do the same for someone with the Regressor's power.
Unaware of the conversation that had passed between Elric and me, the Regressor let Jizan and Chun-aeng hang loosely and straightened her clothes. As if tidying up would make a difference after she'd just made an entrance by causing an earthquake. Still, I suppose she was trying, so I'll let it slide.
“The Golden Lord? Looks like I came to the right place. I'm a peace envoy. Let's have a truce.”
This is hopeless. Even if she was trying, was that any way to talk? Not that it would have worked even if she'd been more eloquent.
I shook my head and tried to stop her.
“Shei, it's pointless. They've already decided to fight.”
“Huh? What?”
“They have no intention of accepting a truce! We should get ready to run!”
At the same time, Elric shouted.
“Demo! They are my ‘enemies’!”
“E-enemies? All the way here?”
“Yes! For me and for this country! Eliminate them!”
The Golden Lord, though startled, immediately obeyed Elric's command. He placed a hand on the ground. In an instant, the surface of the earth was alchemized into steel. As the Golden Lord swept his hand, the surface curled up, sending a wave of steel surging toward us.
“Huh? Wait a minute! I don't really want to fight!”
The Regressor was flustered, but she reacted to the attack instinctively. She slammed the dangling Jizan into the ground and swung it from side to side. The earth displaced by Jizan created a tremor, and the incoming steel wave shattered and broke against the vibration.
“I don't want to fight! Stop!”
But it was too late. When the Regressor cleared away the curtain of steel, she found the muzzle of a gun aimed right at her.
“My apologies. I did not wish for a fight.”
Click. Dominarch Hector spoke regretfully as he loaded an iron sphere onto the piston he had drawn.
“The Golden Lord is our god. Since he has given the order, I, too, shall obey!”
“Tch!”
Hector aimed the piston, which resembled a cannon more than a gun, and fired. Thwoom. With a dull sound, a heavy iron sphere shot toward the Regressor and me.
Hector was the only living human among them. Having read his thoughts, I immediately rolled across the ground, but the Regressor countered with the Heavenly Counter Domain. Dodging the fist-sized iron sphere by a paper-thin margin without a hint of fear, she shouted mockingly.
“You think you can hit me with something this slow?”
The air of a true master. It stood out even more in contrast to me, rolling on the ground like a dog.
Just then, Hector opened his fist.
“Suppression, release!”
The iron sphere he had fired was a special alchemic steel that had been compressed. When he withdrew his Unique Magic, the pressure suppressing the sphere vanished. At the same time, the shrunken sphere swelled up like a balloon. The rare sight of expanding steel was being used to attack an enemy.
The Regressor, who had dodged the sphere by a hair's breadth, was caught in the steel explosion. Head, shoulder, waist. The expanding sphere battered her entire body.
See? I may not look cool, but at least I'm safe. If she didn't want to get hit, she should have dodged with all her might like me...
'Heavenly Counter Domain Defensive Form, Counter Mirror!'
Well, if you don't mind getting hit, I guess her way is fine too.
The moment the steel touched her body, she infused her Qi through it. She used her Qi to seize and suppress even the repulsive force of the compressed steel. The Unique Magic had been released, but just as the sphere was about to stretch out, it was forced back down by the Regressor's Qi.
The Regressor, having nullified a cannonball-like impact as if it were a mere punch, flared up and shouted.
“So you really want to fight?! Fine, if that's what you want, you'll get it!”
Our Regressor is just as emotional as they are. After being attacked once, she seemed to fly into a rage and immediately took an offensive stance.
“Terra Firma Arts, Furious Strike!”
The Regressor gripped Jizan with both hands and swung it hard at the incoming iron sphere.
Qi Gravitation just before impact, Qi Deflection just after. In the instant Jizan and the sphere made contact, she flipped the nature of her Qi to repel the Dominarch's weapon.
Struck by Jizan, the iron sphere tore through the air with a shriek. Its weight was incomparable to a bullet. A direct hit would rip a person's limbs right off.
However...
“Eliminate.”
The moment the Golden Lord repeated the word, the iron sphere flying toward Hector disintegrated into dust in mid-air. The Golden Lord, who had turned steel into powder, repeated in a somber tone.
“Eliminate. Eliminate. Eliminate.”
His earlier innocent demeanor was gone. The Golden Lord now repeated Elric's command in a monotonous voice, just like a machine.
Simply speaking wouldn't be frightening at all. However, in this world, the Golden Lord's words were not just words.
The farmers approached. The silent farmers, who had until now been mere background scenery in the miniature garden, were transformed into a fighting force to carry out the Golden Lord's command.
Prosthetic eyes glinted from under straw hats. One farmer's face was half-covered in steel. Another had steel branches embedded in the fingers of his right hand. The farmers had various appearances, but they all had one thing in common.
They all bore steel on their bodies.
Seeing the legion of homunculi, the Regressor tensed her entire body.
“Those are the Guardians, aren't they?”
“Guardians?”
“They're homunculi of the past Primarchs. The Golden Palace uses them as Guardians! Stay sharp! Every single one of them is on the level of the Fireblastarch!”
“I don't think being sharp is going to solve this problem!”
He was right. As they raised their hands in unison, all sorts of steel creations burst forth. From the sky, a Fireblastarch clad in burning steel shot down like an arrow, while a Mirrorarch adorned with countless steel mirrors aimed at the Regressor. Other, nameless Primarchs drew their own equipment and took aim at us.
“The homunculi can probably use Unique Magic, too!”
Unique Magic? No. If it were Unique Magic, born from an individual's Spiritual World, I would have been able to read it. That's not Unique Magic. It's something 'created' wholesale by the Golden Lord's power, even mimicking Unique Magic! It's possible because the Primarchs' Unique Magic is fundamentally based on alchemy!
I have to run. I can't read their thoughts. I don't know where their attacks are aimed, or how they'll come at us! I need another way to get through this mess!
But to escape...!
“Shei! Aim for the Golden Lord! Those things will just revive even if we kill them!”
“No choice, then!”
The Regressor held Chun-aeng and Jizan in her hands—Chun-aeng in her left, Jizan in her right. Holding the sky and the earth, she touched their ends together. The two relics formed a circle, heaven and earth chasing each other's tails.
Jizan was nearly invincible at close range, but there was no way to use its power from a distance. Unless you threw it.
So, she would throw it. And if she lacked the strength, she would use Chun-aeng to make up for it.
“Aerith Blade Supreme!”
Using Chun-aeng as a rope and Jizan as a shot put, she began to spin. At first, Jizan circled above the Regressor's head, but its range gradually widened, sweeping across the land.
Its speed was no more than a jump rope, but the problem was Jizan's weight. Smashing everything with its irresistible mass, Jizan was like a god of destruction. Steel, earth—anything caught in Jizan's path was shattered to pieces.
When the rotation reached its peak, the Regressor forcefully flung Chun-aeng, releasing Jizan.
“Satellite Crash!”
Whoooosh. Jizan performed no fancy tricks. It simply advanced toward the Golden Lord, crushing everything in its path with its sheer weight. Nothing could stop it unless it possessed a similar mass. Not even the Golden Lord...
But his opponent was the Golden Lord.
“Pressurearch. Wedgearch. Plasterarch.”
An act of alchemy whose principles were difficult to fathom was performed. The ground around the Golden Lord stirred. A 50-meter radius of earth centered on him separated into a hemisphere, rising to block Jizan's path and protect him. The sword that held the weight of the earth collided with the land that had turned to steel.
A structure alchemized from steel. Moreover, every part of it was personally alchemized by the Golden Lord. Even upon contact with Jizan, the alchemic steel only dented slightly. Jizan, which had seemed capable of shattering mountains, gradually lost its momentum.
“Crazy...! It blocked Jizan? That's cheating!”
“I don't think you're one to talk about cheating weapons. Now's our chance! Let's run!”
“For once, we're on the same page!”
The Regressor pulled on the slackened Chun-aeng. Having lost all its momentum, Jizan returned to her side without resistance. Snatching the flying Jizan out of the air, the Regressor quickly turned and ran.
Jizan's power had been so immense that the Golden Lord and his Guardians had lost their rhythm focusing on defense. The homunculi belatedly gave chase.
“Haha! Slowpokes! If you can catch...”
“...Eliminate.”
As we fled, a giant steel cage fell from the sky right in front of us. I faltered and looked up to see the Fireblastarch and numerous other homunculi hanging from Wyverns, looking down on us. Each held dozens of weapons in their hands.
The Fireblastarch muttered.
“You cannot escape.”
“How is that even possible!”
That's not even Unique Magic anymore! The real Fireblastarch can't do that!
We were surrounded—above, below, front, and back. Worse, I couldn't read the thoughts of these homunculi. They took human form, but they were something closer to a system created by the Golden Lord!
It was a true dilemma. The Regressor was clearing away the steel bars, but if we were held up here, we'd never escape the Golden Lord's world. A desperate moment. What should I do...
Just then, tendrils of darkness flowed in through the shattered space. The darkness groped through the air, consuming the space around it before instantly taking the form of Tyr.
“Phew! I finally found you. Where on earth did you go?”
That's my line! Where have you been! I brought you along as a bodyguard, and you're telling me you lost track of me just because I was out of sight for a moment!
But she had to save me right now, so I suppressed my inner thoughts and shouted urgently.
“Tyr! This is no time for that. We have to run! Behind you!”
“Behind me?”
Can't you see behind you? There are homunculi there, too! I can't read their thoughts, so I don't know who they are, but they must be Primarchs as well. If we're pincered from both sides, we're done for!
Tyr glanced leisurely behind her and, even after seeing the homunculi, spoke calmly.
“There is nothing to worry about.”
'They are my retainers.'
What?
While I paused for a moment to process this, the homunculi behind Tyr creaked and charged forward in unison.
Past the Regressor and me, and toward the homunculi that had been chasing us.