Chapter 395: The Lightning Didn't Fall from the Sky - 14
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 395: The Lightning Didn't Fall from the Sky - 14
Once called the Witherarch, and slated to be called the Goldenarch—though that was now uncertain—Peru, just Peru, trembled at the carnage before her.
Value was collapsing. The principle of value that had once brought her joy, then despair, and had ultimately become her faith, now heralded only tragedy. The Guardians of Thunder were losing their lives like alchemic steel consumed by Wither.
“…It’s hopeless.”
Dozens were already dead. The wounded numbered over a hundred, all of them bleeding from wounds that would not heal. At this rate, the tragic statistic where the number of casualties equaled the number of fatalities would become a reality.
“…This can’t be happening.”
A corpse is a human minus a life, and therefore has less value than a human. It was a simple calculation, but one that was profoundly clear—so clear that she could not look away or allow herself to be confused.
Although the vampires’ arrival had given them a chance to escape, Peru chose to use that precious time for the sake of the value she believed in.
Peru staggered to her feet. Compared to the vampires, she looked not just frail, but pitiful, yet she paid it no mind. With a trembling hand, she did what she could.
She grasped the golden bell and shook it with a desperate heart.
“…O, Golden Lord.”
Ting, the small bell chimed, responding to Peru’s will.
*
Unbelievably, Lunken was winning the exchange against the Juggernaut. The machine’s advance had ground to a halt, its front wheel, meant to crush Lunken, now lifted slightly off the ground, spinning uselessly. Brimming with confidence, Lunken roared.
“Kuh-ha-ha-ha! This is light!”
Blood raged through his body. His powerful hind legs swelled like those of a beast. For an ordinary human, it would be a sign of impending death, but for Lunken, who had already died once, it was proof of life. The closer he came to death, the more life he reclaimed—a true berserker.
Lunken, drenched in blood, pushed back against the Juggernaut. The mass of iron, heavy as a mountain, defied gravity. Lunken was literally unleashing the power to uproot mountains and overturn the heavens.
The Guardians of Thunder screamed. The Juggernaut, the quintessence of alchemy, and the thunder of Claudia—their combined might was being overwhelmed by a single Elder. Along with the Juggernaut, their faith was on the verge of being overturned. Lunken, savoring the humans’ fear and screams, took another step forward….
Just then, he heard a small bell. For a moment, he strained to hear the alien sound cutting through the chaos of the battlefield.
The Juggernaut activated.
Every Juggernaut was a masterpiece of the Golden Lord, the pinnacle of alchemy designed to draw out a Primarch’s unique magic to its absolute limit. Though the Ironclad Primarch, the Juggernaut’s original master, was dead and his legacy had been modified, the performance the Guardians of Thunder could elicit was less than thirty percent of its original potential. But the Golden Lord, the master of alchemy, could manifest their unique magic.
He wasn't using the dead Primarch's unique magic. He was replicating the exact same function and performance through alchemy. The master of alchemy could make it possible.
The heart of the Juggernaut, which had died with its former master, began to beat again. The Guardians of Thunder were utterly bewildered as the machine moved on its own. But not as bewildered as Lunken.
The Juggernaut, which had been rolling on its wheels, suddenly extended its body like a caterpillar and crushed Lunken beneath it. Blood splattered from under the armored vehicle.
At the same instant, Kavila slipped.
She had been watching the massacre, seated upon a Dragonfang Puppet as if it were a throne. While she was elegantly partaking in blood, the puppet supporting her vanished. Kavila felt gravity in a different sense than Lunken had and fell to the ground.
Landing on her rear, Kavila wore a look of bewilderment. She hadn't withdrawn her power, so who could have dispelled her Dragonfang Puppet from such a distance? It wasn't caution in the face of an unknown power that filled her.
“To make me look so unsightly…!”
Enraged by the simple fact that she had fallen on her butt, Kavila scanned her surroundings. The Dragonfang Puppets were crumbling powerlessly as the Guardians of Thunder, letting out a war cry, charged toward her. But Kavila didn't even spare the small fry a glance. Her senses, highly attuned to mana, found Peru beyond them.
Peru, holding the golden bell, was the source of this change. Realizing this, Kavila extended an arm and shouted.
“I'll make you pay for destroying my Dragonfang Puppets by wringing out your blood to replace them!”
Taking aim at Peru, Kavila clapped her hands with a sharp cry.
The bone fragments and pools of blood scattered at the feet of the Guardians, who were finally about to attack Kavila, exploded. Hundreds of bone shards flew through the air, seeking to pierce human flesh.
But the shards quickly lost their edge, and the force of the explosion was weaker than calculated. The power of Wither had even corroded the explosive force. The bone fragments failed to penetrate the Guardians’ Qi Deflection and bounced off.
“Ugh! How irritating!”
Kavila stomped her feet like a child, yet she assessed the situation with an instinctual coolness. She didn't know exactly what this power was, but it was destroying not only her Dragonfang Puppets but also the spears the Guardians of Thunder were wielding. It was a collapse that didn't distinguish between friend or foe. Kavila concluded it was a power that neutralized weapons—a reasonably logical guess. If so, the solution was simple. She just had to attack with her own body.
But not wanting to move herself, Kavila shouted at Lunken.
“Lunken! I finally have a use for you! Capture that wench!”
“How dare you interfere in a fight so cowardly—!”
Lunken, having crawled out from under the Juggernaut after his tactical loss, went berserk and charged. The Juggernaut hastily gave chase, but it was too slow. The only reason it had been a contest was because Lunken had engaged in a needless power struggle; with similar strength but a body hundreds of times lighter, he was too fast for the Juggernaut to catch. In the blink of an eye, he was upon Peru. The startled woman gasped.
“Lady Witherarch…!”
A Guardian of Thunder blocked his path, having instinctively realized that Peru’s power was their only hope. It was ironic that this led him to volunteer for death, but the Guardian thrust his spear at Lunken.
It was feeble resistance. Lunken sneered and charged, not caring if he was struck by the spear. Hit or not, he would trample both Peru and the Guardian in a single rush.
If only he hadn't been interrupted from the side.
Lunken was intercepted. An unidentified assailant slammed into his side, causing his body to swerve violently. Not stopping there, the attacker pressed on, sending Lunken’s body flying.
As they tumbled together in a heap, the assailant bit down hard on Lunken’s shoulder and thrashed him about. Like a beast.
“Hnngh!”
Even as he was flipped upside down in the chaos, Lunken clenched his fist. He extended a thick arm and struck the attacker’s abdomen a few times with tremendous force. When the grip on his shoulder didn't loosen, he grabbed the attacker’s leg, ready to rip off his own shoulder if he had to, and slammed them into the ground. CRASH. The attacker, landing on their back, yelped and rolled across the ground.
Ears and a tail, clearly not human. A dog beastkin. But this only raised more questions. What kind of dog beastkin could send Elder Lunken—the strongest of the boar beastkin and a terror to humanity—flying like a toy?
Amidst the chaos, Lunken’s eyes widened as he saw the beastkin who had attacked him. Instinctively recognizing his opponent’s identity, Lunken roared with joy at the prospect of a worthy adversary.
“The Dog King—!”
Ptoo. Spitting out the vampire’s blood, Azzy howled in displeasure.
“Awooooooooooo—!”
“So you are my rival! Good, you are a worthy one!”
All beastkin are descendants of the Beast Kings, creations born from the terrible sin committed by Muhu Agartha long ago. The inexplicable sense of longing a beastkin feels upon seeing a Beast King is likely because their roots are connected.
But such feelings were distant for Lunken. His blood had undergone an irreversible change long ago. Gathering a massive amount of blood energy, Lunken roared at Azzy.
“You are not my king—!”
“Woof! Grrrrrrr!”
In response, Azzy let out a ferocious growl.
She ignores fights between humans. She doesn't intervene because she cannot bring herself to harm either side. But for vampires, she applies a harsher standard. Is it because vampires are alien? Or is it because they cannot be truly hurt, no matter what?
Because she loves all humans, the Dog King entered the fray to stop the tragedy of their deaths.
Azzy and Lunken fought, tearing up everything around them. Each time their bodies collided, it sounded like a drum the size of a house was being beaten. When Azzy tore off Lunken’s limbs and chewed on the bones, Lunken would smash Azzy’s head with his remaining ones. When Azzy pinned him down with her front paws, about to rip him apart, a newly regenerated arm would slam into her side and send her flying. Both of them, soaked in blood, would clash again. Ferocity and madness raged like a storm.
If Lunken had been a little smarter, or perhaps more cowardly, the fight would have ended quickly. He could have simply grabbed any nearby human and used them as a shield, and Azzy would have been powerless. But Lunken stubbornly persisted in the fight, as if the battle itself were a blessing to him.
*
Valdamir, the Lord Sanguine, understood the situation but did not stop Lunken. All Elders are equal. Just as siblings are all the same children to their parents no matter how they compare themselves, the Elders who received the Progenitor’s blood directly may have an order, but no hierarchy. That was Lunken’s life and his death, and Valdamir respected it.
Instead, he questioned the Thunderarch, held fast in his grip.
“The Dog King. A pitiful creature, rendered helpless the moment a human is used as a shield. That can't be the only card you have up your sleeve. What else is there?”
[To a… vampire… like you…!!]
“A pointless question, I see.”
There was no need to ask. If he tried to kill him, he would find out soon enough. And if no other card appeared and he simply died, that was fine too.
Valdamir immediately put his thought into action. As one would wring a chicken’s neck, he gripped the Thunderarch’s throat tightly and swung his greatsword with his other hand. The man-sized blade moved to cleave the Thunderarch in two.
“Skyblade Art, Thunderclap Strike!”
Just then, a bolt of lightning fell. Lightning harvested from the Thunder God struck both the Thunderarch and Valdamir. For the Thunderarch, it was power; for Valdamir, an attack. He could have taken the hit, but after a moment’s thought, Valdamir changed the direction of his sword and deflected the attack.
“Is this it? Your final card?”
*
Shei, the Regressor, was still confused. The situation had spiraled out of control without her knowledge. Tyrkanzyaka and Feruel had fought, and immediately after, the vampires of the Duchy of Mist had attacked Claudia. Both of them could have been allies. Even if she couldn't reconcile them, she could have mediated to keep them apart until the King of Sins was defeated. The picture she had painted in her mind was dissolving into nothing.
But it was fine. Shei was a Regressor. She would learn more, and with that information, she would do better in the next timeline. So, for this timeline…
“…Lord Sanguine. Don't act rashly. Wait for Tyrkanzyaka. We can still turn this around.”
Even if she knew nothing, she would do what she believed was best in the moment. Shei intervened to stop the fight.