Chapter 364: The King Who Kills Others, The God Who Kills Himself - 18
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 364: The King Who Kills Others, The God Who Kills Himself - 18
A crumbling path formed before the Golden Lord. Peru, having created the path with the power of Wither, spurred her mount onward. As Aurea galloped madly with Peru on her back, she strained to shout over the rocking motion.
“…Your Majesty, the Golden Lord!”
Even in that moment, Peru had no intention of antagonizing the Golden Lord. Her demeanor was closer to that of a loyal retainer, risking her life to stop her king's misguided judgment.
The Golden Lord was the Divine of Alchemy. The creator of the Fallen Dominion system, its undisputed ruler.
Whether one liked it or not, he was the origin, the master, and the god of all alchemists. The same was true for Peru, whose ability negated alchemy. In fact, having reached one of the pinnacles of alchemy precisely because she loved it so much, Peru’s loyalty to the Golden Lord was greater than anyone else’s.
Peru raised her voice, hoping to change the Golden Lord’s mind.
“…Please, reconsider! They have done nothing wrong…!”
-But her words did not reach the Golden Lord.
The Golden Lord registered Peru’s presence, but only because her ability was a threat. To the Golden Lord, who sought to create the Golden Empire, Peru, who could destroy it, was the highest priority for elimination. Shifting his target to Peru, the Golden Lord wielded his godlike power to kill a single person.
A massive structure shot up from the ground before Peru as she charged toward the city. It was a round, pitch-black steel structure whose purpose was difficult to guess. Even I couldn't tell what it was, so all I could do was remain wary. I couldn't read the Golden Lord's thoughts, after all.
However… my lingering bestial instincts were screaming danger.
That thing is dangerous.
Peru must have felt the same, as she used her ability on the black sphere. The power of Wither began to corrode the steel from the outside in. But the moment her power touched it, the black surface swelled as if to explode in response.
“Look out!”
The Regressor shouted urgently, but it was too late.
The black sphere detonated. It was a force incomparable to the power of the Fireblastarch. A visible shockwave of pressure spread out, disgorging its contents. Inside the sphere were millions of sharp steel fragments. Each one traced its own trajectory as it rained down upon the earth.
Death spread. A rain of steel that created a spray of blood wherever it touched. 99.9% of the fragments struck the ground uselessly, but the remaining 0.1% was more than enough to reap a grim tally of death. Even if Peru used her ability, she could only slightly dull their sharpness; she couldn't stop their speed and weight.
Patter-patter-patter. It sounded like a heavy monsoon pelting the ground. Any human struck by the cruel raindrops had a part of their body burst open. The Dhole trying to flee the city were slaughtered en masse by the fragments pouring down from above. Before a Divine, ordinary lives vanished like trash.
It was a horrific tragedy. What was even more horrific was that to the Golden Lord, those countless deaths were merely a secondary achievement. He had unleashed the rain of steel for the sole purpose of killing Peru.
The rain of steel poured down on Peru with a density that was incomparable to anywhere else. It was like water droplets falling from a burst water balloon. With no special equipment or Qi Arts, she had no way to block it. A frightened Aurea reared up on her hind legs, but… what good would that do?
The fragments closed in to kill Peru. Just then.
“Woof.”
Azzy leaped in like the wind. With her fur standing on end, she took the shower of steel fragments with her entire body.
The steel fragments were certainly lethal enough to kill a human, but they were far from enough to injure Azzy. Thanks to being on horseback, Peru was also safe from the pieces that ricocheted off the ground. In that one instant, thanks to that fleeting help, death passed Peru by.
Having miraculously survived, Peru offered her thanks to Azzy.
“…Thank, you.”
“…Woof.”
But Azzy’s expression was grim. She stared blankly at the humans dying in the distance. For a dog who liked people, it was too visceral a sight.
In the brief moment Peru’s horse paused, the Regressor, who had dashed forward, landed in front of her and shouted.
“Witherarch! Watch out! More is coming!”
The Golden Lord’s second attack followed immediately. The fallen fragments turned pitch-black, then crumbled one by one, billowing up like smoke. The iron dust spread on the wind, instantly obscuring our vision.
The power of Wither was good at breaking down structures, but it was difficult to reassemble them. Even if she could break down this fine dust, she couldn't make it disperse. Seeing him choose only attacks that would be tricky for Peru, it seemed the Golden Lord was quite wary of her.
“Is he trying to block our sight? Tch, and with iron dust of all things!”
Even the Seven Colored Eyes couldn't see through metal. While the Regressor was grumbling, I felt a vibration from the ground and shouted urgently.
“Shei-ssi, something's coming!”
“I know! Terra Firma Arts, Furious Strike!”
A large iron sphere came rolling through the storm of steel. The Regressor reacted instantly, striking it with Jizan. With a loud clang, the man-sized iron sphere flew into the distance like a baseball.
A moment later, the ground began to shake as the roaring continued. The vibrations grew from one, to two, and then to a number too great to count.
“Shei-ssi! Hundreds of them are rolling this way!”
“Tch, the Golden Lord must feel personally threatened! He’s not holding back, trying to eliminate her himself. Let's regroup for a moment!”
If this were the Golden Lord who was role-playing in the Golden Palace, he would have just sent his homunculi to attack. But the current Golden Lord was personally wielding the alchemy of all the Primarchs. Its scale and functionality were greater than all the other Primarchs combined. It was only thanks to Peru that a good portion of it was rendered useless; otherwise, something far more terrifying than fragments and iron spheres would have come flying at us.
…I still had no idea what the Regressor, who had experienced that in the last timeline, had done to survive it.
The Regressor pulled at Peru. But Peru held onto Aurea’s reins and resisted.
“…Not yet. There are still people over there.”
“Calm down, Peru. Anyone who could escape already has. It’s too late for the rest.”
The people still left in the city were those who couldn't escape. They were the Dhole who had no mount, or who had been left behind with fatal injuries. There was nothing more we could do for them.
Peru understood that with her head. But her heart couldn't accept it, and she looked on with lingering attachment.
Her heart was noble, but that wasn't enough. I presented her with the cold reality.
“It’s fine if you want to charge headfirst into the Golden Palace without a plan or the ability to succeed. That’s your choice. But remember this one thing.”
The Fallen Dominion was not a place that inspired words like belonging or loyalty. Few people wished to save this imperfect nation, and among them, only Peru possessed both the ability and the will to do so.
In other words, if Peru died, the Fallen Dominion would truly be finished. No one, not even the Regressor, would be able to stop the Golden Lord.
“If you fail, a disaster hundreds of times worse than this will occur in Claudia. Calculate it coolly.”
If one could put a price on objects, one could put a price on lives. As a citizen of the Fallen Dominion, Peru performed such calculations naturally.
Were the lives of a few dozen people, already as good as dead, more precious?
Or were the tens of thousands of innocent children and the city of Claudia, which provided their foundation, more precious?
It was an obvious choice. The latter. Claudia might not be the entirety of the Fallen Dominion, but losing it would mean the end of the nation’s future. Peru lowered her head and turned her horse around. Aurea, who had been anxiously bobbing her head up and down, gladly followed her master’s command.
While the Regressor covered our backs, Tyr enveloped us in darkness. As we escaped the Golden Lord’s sight, the attacks subsided. Once we had put enough distance between us, the Golden Lord went back to cleaning up the city as if nothing had happened. Before a few minutes had passed, all the thoughts coming from the city had vanished.
Not that there were many to begin with.
Only after securing a safe distance from the Golden Lord did we have a chance to collect ourselves. Unlike Peru, Aurea, who hadn't been fully shielded by Azzy, had been pierced in several places by the steel fragments. Peru dismounted and stroked the injured Aurea.
Depending on the breed, a trained horse wouldn't be in mortal danger from being pierced by fragments. Still, a wound was a wound. A full-speed sprint would be impossible. I examined Aurea from all angles and spoke.
“Retreating now is meaningless if we don't have a way to stop the Golden Lord. The horse is injured, what should we do? Peru will need a living mount to reach him…”
Don't tell me she has to ride Azzy? We could try, but a dog wouldn't let a human ride on its back. As I was seriously pondering this, Peru muttered.
“…The Golden Ark.”
“What?”
Peru had placed the lives of the Dhole on one side of the scales, and the fate of Claudia on the other. It was said that a Primarch could cheat the scales, but that was only in the realm of alchemy. Peru had made a harsh choice, and the scales had tipped honestly.
However… just because the scales tipped to one side didn't mean the lighter side could simply vanish without a trace. Peru, who had made the choice, had to bear the weight of those she had abandoned. A king who kills others must use their lives as nourishment to fatten himself and his kingdom. No matter how disgusting or horrifying it might be.
That is the responsibility of a king.
Only a god is free from responsibility. Like the Golden Lord, one cannot hold someone who is already dead accountable for anything.
Peru had made her choice. And to fulfill her duty, for the sake of those who died because of her choice, she found a possibility to stop the Golden Lord.
Of course, it was only a possibility, not a certainty. She could fail. Even amidst that uncertainty, Peru found a sliver of hope and, with firm resolve, made her request to me.
“…With the Golden Ark. I can reach the Golden Lord. Help me.”
She was asking me to die with her for the sake of the country.
Of course, I had no intention of dying. I was a mere animal, and it was all the humans who had wished for this. What kind of foolish animal would walk into the jaws of death on its own?
“The Golden Ark is a Juggernaut made by the Golden Lord, isn't it? How are you going to fight him with that? Are you just going to ram into him?”
“…Yes.”
Now that’s a plan I can get behind.
If you're not a fool, you're not an animal. Fine, I guess I'll help. As long as I don't die.