The Death of a Brain
The death of a brain is this pathetic. Because it has no muscle to stop bullets. Isn’t that right? If the brain had muscle, it could have been trained. They say the more you use your brain, the smarter or stupider it gets, but neither speed of thought, intellect, nor madness can block a bullet. That was the fatal mistake of the brain hunter. Seriously, who told you to leave your brain hanging out in the open? Don’t you know that the end of all tuning is purity? A fragile brain only becomes complete when it’s fully sealed inside the container called a skull. Besides, if you leave it outside, it’ll rot, won’t it?
“Sssip! Hooah.”
Instead of blowing out the smoke from the gun barrel, I sucked it in through the mucous membrane of my nasal cavity. The drug of explosion and violence. In the brain hunter’s preferred expression, it would be that my brain trembled.
“Krrgh! As expected, the greatest drug the city allows! It’s making me dizzy!”
I was shuddering in front of the brain hunter’s corpse when a white shape slammed against the wall caught my eye. It was the knight, dangling limply from loosened brain tentacles.
“Oops, this isn’t the time for that.”
I approached in a single stride. Ellen looked up at me with cloudy eyes.
“…Ah, aah?”
The sound coming from her mouth wasn’t language. It was probably the final gasp of a mind crushed under the pressure that had been weighing down her head.
I scanned Ellen’s condition from top to bottom and said, “I told you, right? If you see me passing by, pretend you know me.”
Ellen. The moment I fed her wandering brain my name, a faint spark rose in her eyes.
“─Lumen?”
For a moment, a slow thought dragged through my mind. Ah, that’s my name. It’s been so long since someone called me that I’d forgotten.
“How….”
She looked dazed. Her blinking eyes said she couldn’t believe it. “Why are you here─, how─”
Ellen, struggling to squeeze out words through her confusion, was covered in cerebrospinal fluid and bodily fluids. On top of that, her limbs were mangled, her clothes torn to shreds. She was a complete mess.
“H-hallucination? Because I thought of you─. My thought? That’s a comment that makes my shoulders feel a little proud and stirs up some expectation, but now’s not the time.”
Whatever the case, I reached out to support that damp body of hers.
“Ugh, let’s just go home first. Out of the three choices for your homecoming, I think I should start by making you take a shower.”
“N-no─!”
-Swish!
The moment my hand approached, Ellen convulsed violently and slapped it away. Thanks to that, the hand I’d been trying to slip under her armpit flailed in the air. The shock from what she’d just suffered must have been severe. Was this the crushed pride of a knight? Well, Ellen had been pretty brutally broken. The brain hunter’s mental attacks and magic had wrecked both her body and mind, and in the end she’d even been subjected to that extraction show. But it was unavoidable. What was I supposed to do about how disgustingly complicated the alley was?
“Good grief, are you embarrassed of me? Don’t you remember last night? Just get on my back. We need to get out of here quickly.”
“That’s not it─! Urgh!?”
Suddenly a seizure shook Ellen’s pupils, and drool overflowed from the corner of her mouth again. Classic epileptic symptoms. Enduring that, Ellen screamed.
“B-behind youuuu!”
Her convulsing shout pierced me. At the same time, another voice came from behind.
“Remarkable. Your sanity. Why doesn’t my eye work on you?”
-Crunch!
I instinctively twisted my head to the side. A hot sensation touched me along with a shock that rang in my ear. After the instinctive evasive maneuver, I turned around to see the corpse that had been lying down now rising. Brain tentacles extending from beneath the coat were lifting Dr. Morel to his feet. The motion was so elegant it barely seemed to require any effort. Seeing that, I couldn’t help but sigh.
“Ugh, figures. You didn’t die after all?”
-Clatter. The perforated brain squelched and pushed out the crushed bullet. It fell to the alley floor. The brain hunter was stroking his own bleeding brain.
“Wow, so even the brain grows muscle if you train it.”
My knowledge increased. While watching the guy stand up, I touched my ear.
-Squish. Blood flowed from the torn spot. The trace left by the brain tentacle was painfully sharp. The brain hunter was staring at me with great interest. He did so with the eyes attached to his brain.
-Blink.
“You’re not a mage. There’s no binding. Which means this is purely accumulated sanity, yes?”
Morel smiled, overflowing with delight. It was a clear expression. If I had to describe it, it was the realization of a mad philosopher shouting “Eureka.” The brain hunter smiled like he had found a rare specimen.
“Splendid. Who are you? What kind of life have you lived? I’d love to have a slow conversation with you.”
“For someone saying that, you threw the first punch.”
“Didn’t you shoot first? This old man simply returned the greeting in kind.”
The brain hunter, Morel, withdrew his tentacles beneath his coat.
“Now, tell me. How do you endure the eye? Do you possess an eye as well? An eye that finds order in chaos and truth in ignorance?”
“What are you talking about? I’ve seen worse than that. Seems I’m immune to mental attacks or something.”
-Click! I broke the waist of the revolver. While loading the ammunition, I tilted my head. The moment I was about to unfold the violence manuals soaked in habit—
Suddenly, Ellen, who had collapsed against the wall and was convulsing, caught my attention.
“R-run awaaay. Urgh!?”
Ellen, clinging to the wall, was struggling to stand. She searched for her sword with broken limbs. She was trying to rise again and fight. But with the epilepsy making her tremble, it didn’t seem like I could expect much from her.
Should I run? Or change the battlefield? Intellect rose in the head that had been moving on pure habit.
-Clack!
I finished loading with my decision made. Then I realized it. Slimy things were crawling down the walls and floor of the alley. They were brain tissues spreading like spiderwebs. The space was changing. It was manifesting. Morel was dyeing this space with his own intellect.
-Creak!
The alley’s passages were narrowing like that. With organs and chunks of flesh as their components. The gentleman of the brain commanding that phenomenon added,
“This old man may not look it, but I am a 3rd Tier mage. It’s a simple domain mastery technique. Don’t think of anything else. I can’t possibly let a precious specimen like you escape.”
“Hmm, asking out of courtesy, but do you have any thoughts about settling this one-on-one like a man? That knight over there isn’t exactly a great sample, is she?”
The old gentleman nodded at my words. Oh, would he really accept this? Of course that was just my wishful thinking. Morel spoke with a face that seemed to have realized something.
“I see. So it was you. The one who ejaculated inside her.”
“Eh. You can even tell that? How embarrassing for an old man.”
“A lover, then. Yes, that makes sense why you appeared like this. Though it is rather surprising that someone with intellect like yours would step forward for such a matter.”
Morel smiled gently. It was the refreshing smile of an old gentleman with even teeth, but because his brain was exposed, it wasn’t refreshing at all.
“What does it matter? Without exception, I will collect both her and you. Tonight truly is a fine night. On days when contamination takes root, such excellent individuals appear.”
“Hmm, even if I die, you’re taking Ellen with you?”
“That is correct?”
The brain hunter’s declaration reached my half-torn ear. And that was enough to move Ellen. The knight clinging to the wall struggled to her feet. She gripped her sword with broken limbs.
-Crackle!
“U-urgh! L-Lumen, get behind meee!”
Ellen was accelerating the sigils on her body once more. Crackling electricity embroidered the alley. However, it was faint, as if it would go out at any moment. Weak enough to be swallowed by the slowly growing walls of flesh.
-Flutter!
The brain hunter spread his coat wide. As he stretched out his arms, brains and tentacles writhed within the space. The alley was rotting away with those chunks of flesh. Whatever the case, it was a tremendous crisis. I spat out,
“You’re bleeding.”
“Hm?”
-Click. I aimed the muzzle. A mechanical movement ingrained in my body. Along with the violence manuals unfolding inside, I connected the realization.
“The fact that you’re bleeding means I can kill you.”
Bleeding means I can kill it. I made it that way. The things I can kill right now all bleed. Therefore, that thing can also be killed.
“Don’t make a choice you’ll regret. No, it probably won’t matter anyway. I did warn you.”
“How amusing. Do you truly believe you can overcome this situation? While protecting someone you must safeguard? Then by all means, show me. This old man is also quite curious what you will do next.”
“Well, just watch.”
Why doesn’t he realize that making an immortal your enemy will ultimately lead you to mortality? Just as he said. Even I don’t know what the hell I’m doing.
-Clack.
I turned the direction of the muzzle. I aimed it at Ellen standing beside me.
“Eh?”
She, who had struggled to stand, froze. The rifling spiral aimed straight at her head. The ammunition loaded to shake her brain. As I had said earlier, I had decided to kill my own heart. Without looking back at Ellen, I said,
“Farewell, Ellen. I can’t let you suffer any more terrible things.”
“Lumen, what is this─”
-Bang!
Ellen’s words could not continue. Because along with my finger pulling the trigger, I cut her off. Her head jerked back. The impact that struck her skull stopped her trembling and fear.
-Crunch!
Blood splattered against the wall. The body that lost its strings slumped and collapsed. It was the woman I had spent a night of affection with. In other words, it was Ellen. My heart felt much lighter. Like that, I had killed my own heart as well.
“What?! What have you done─!”
The brain hunter’s shock and rage at losing his specimen rang out. At that honest reaction, I unconsciously laughed.
“Haha! Why are you so angry! Now I’m free!”
Shouting as if to show off, I turned and ran. I leaped over the narrowing walls of flesh and escaped the alley. A flight that even the madness-drenched brain hunter couldn’t stop. I shouted at the brain hunter as if to show off.
“Pffft! If you’re going to follow, then come and get me!”
My mad laughter echoed through the night.