Berserk of Gluttony (LN) - Volume 5 - Chapter 23

Chapter 23:

Farewell, Aaron

I WOKE UP EXHAUSTED. I was set to battle Aaron, but sleep hadn’t come easy. For adventurers, rest was of the utmost importance. Battle could arrive at any time and any place. Myne had shown me all too often on our travels that she could sleep almost anywhere. I was a terrible disappointment in comparison. I sat on my bed, dressed in my armor. All that was left now was to clip Greed to my belt and go.

“Well, let’s get to it,” I muttered.

“Morning! How are you feeling, sunshine?” asked Greed.

“Why do you even bother asking? You already know.”

Greed cackled. “Here’s some free advice,” said the black sword. “Remember your past, and fight with that ferocity!”

The past… Greed was talking about the time I’d fought purely for the sake of getting stronger. When I faced the Divine Dragon, I’d thrown all caution to the wind and embraced the heart of battle. Now that I had inherited the Barbatos family name and was head of the estate, there were so many people in my life I wanted to protect. Somewhere in my heart, these things pulled me away from fighting as I once had, and I knew that Aaron could see it too. 

Aaron knew that if I was heading into a battle unlike anything I had ever known, I could never manage it with anything less than my entire being. I slapped myself lightly on the cheek and set my mind to the task ahead. 

“Finally looking switched on, Fate. Don’t forget, this could be your last ever duel with Aaron.”

“Then I’ll give it everything.”

Outside my room, the manor was empty. Memil and Sahara had informed me earlier that Aaron was already at the Goblin Grasslands. They had left together when I told them I would be along later, and I imagined they had already arrived at the dueling grounds.

With Greed hanging from my belt, I left the manor. At the manor gates, I found Roxy, leaning against the wall and staring up at the sky. When she noticed me, she smiled and waved.

“Good morning! You’ve got quite the day ahead of you,” she said.

“Yeah. I think Eris alerted the entire kingdom.” I replied. The woman was crazy. She very literally had told the whole kingdom about it. “She’s acting like it’s some kind of spectacle.”

“Surely there’s a noble reason behind her actions.”

“Yeah, I think she just did it because she thinks it’ll be fun.”

“Fate! Show some respect for our queen, please!”

With Roxy a little annoyed, we left the Holy Knight District. When we entered the Merchant District, it was like a festival. All the shops and stalls that had previously been closed because of the goblins were now open, and customers bustled every which way. People in the main district square were taking and making bets on the outcome of the duel.

“Aaron is a strong favorite,” said Roxy.

“Wait a second. Those gamblers aren’t sanctioned. That’s not legal. I should go and put a stop to it.”

“Fate, sometimes the townspeople need to blow off some steam. Think about it. They’ve been through so much.”

First Rafale had tried to overthrow the kingdom. Then goblins had thrown people’s regular way of life into chaos. And for better or worse, Lord Mason had returned with his army. I could see how life was only growing more and more uncertain for the townsfolk. But with the return of those once thought lost, there was a new energy pulsing through the kingdom. Even if their return was a sign of dire things to come, I was happy for it…for now, at least.

“Then I’ll give them a match worth celebrating,” I said.

“That’s the spirit! I’m going to be watching eagerly from the sidelines. Mother and Father arrived here earlier too. They can’t wait.”

“Oh. That’s…that’s great.”

I tried to look brave and confident, but the idea of fighting in front of a huge crowd was making me nervous. I could already hear my heart pounding in my ears.

“Fate!” came a voice from behind me. “Good luck out there. Give it your best.”

“Mugan!” 

Mugan had arrived back at the castle not long after my meeting with Eris. I’d already told him that my resurrected father had kidnapped Laine. I’d half-expected him to explode into a berserk rage, but he didn’t blame me at all for what happened.

“Like I told you yesterday,” he said, “I was the one who suggested that Laine should analyze the Philosopher’s Stone in the first place. The responsibility for what happened is mine. Don’t act like such a mope. Not when you’ve got a duel like this ahead of you.”

“Still, I’m sorry, Mugan… I promise you, I will find my father, and I will bring Laine home.”

“Your father… It’s hard for me to believe he’d be the type to do true evil. He must have his reasons. I believe in you, Fate, and I’ll be here waiting.”

“Thank you, Mugan.”

Roxy nodded as she listened. I’d filled her in on the situation as well. Mugan had forgiven me, but just as our conversation was wrapping up, a familiar nuisance appeared.

“You’re going way too easy on him, Mugan! You shouldn’t let him off the hook!” Miria yelled.

“I said it was fine, so it’s fine! You stay out of it!”

Miria was as boisterous as ever. Fortunately, she didn’t have her magic sword with her this time. It had been damaged in the battle with the ogres and was still being repaired, so I could at least relax knowing she wouldn’t suddenly spring an attack on me. What a pity. She was quite cute when she wasn’t trying to kill me.

“Fate!” cried Miria. “You’re thinking weird things about me, aren’t you?! I can see it!”

“I am not! I was just thinking it’s nice to see you a little less keyed up than usual. And that you’re cute when you don’t have your magic sword.”

“Huh?! Don’t act all friendly just because we fought together that one time!”

“We couldn’t have won without you, Miria. Really. You have my thanks.”

“I thought I just told you to stop doing that!”

Miria’s face flushed red, and she ran off into the crowd. She wasn’t used to receiving compliments, so she ran away whenever I said something remotely nice. I thought of going after her, but Roxy, who had remained strangely taciturn this whole time, suddenly blocked my way.

“Fate, may I ask you something?”

“Uh…yes…?”

“When we swapped bodies, what happened between you and Miria?”

“Er, well…”

Miria had told me of her past, but that felt like a secret she had entrusted to me. Perhaps Roxy knew about it all, but still, I didn’t want to betray Miria’s confidence—I didn’t want to be the sort of person that did that. Seeing no other options, I ran away.

“Fay! Wait! Did you two do something inappropriate?”

“Of course not! I can promise you there was nothing like that!”

“Then why are you running?!” Roxy chased after me. 

From behind her, Mugan yelled, “I finally return to the kingdom only to find that nothing has changed! Young people today… So unruly.”

Roxy grabbed me by the collar when I reached the Goblin Grasslands. If I had really intended to escape, she wouldn’t have been able to touch me. I slowed down, overwhelmed by the sight of the gathering crowd.

“This is incredible. So many people…” I muttered.

“More than I expected,” said Roxy. “Oh, look over there!”

She pointed to the huge, majestic stands that had been built. Eris and her white knights lounged upon them with magnificent poise.

“Ugh, she’s putting on such high-and-mighty royal airs…” I said. 

“She really is royalty, you know.”

I noticed Aaron standing a short distance away from the stands, quietly awaiting the beginning of our duel. Even from where I stood, I felt the strength of will he radiated, and I was almost overwhelmed by the pressure of it. 

Roxy, sensing that the battle had already begun, took a few steps away from me. “Give it your best, Fay,” she said. “I’ll be cheering for you over there.”

“Thanks…”

She ran off. Behind her, I saw Lord Mason, Lady Aisha, Memil, and Sahara, along with Mugan and Miria. Even the barkeep from my local tavern sat with them. He had probably pulled some strings with a certain member of the Hart family to snag himself a good seat. He waved at me, bottle of wine in hand, as if telling me “Win, and we’ll celebrate with a bottle of the good stuff!”

“Let’s not keep everyone waiting, Greed!”

“To battle!”

I strode toward Aaron, who stood silently with his eyes closed, focusing his spirit. When I got closer, he opened his eyes slowly.

“So, you’re finally here, Fate.”

“Sorry to keep you waiting. I’m ready when you are.”

“Then let’s get straight to it,” he said, and turned to Eris. “Your Majesty, if you could please signal the start of the duel!”

Eris rose from her grand throne. Her booming voice echoed through the crowd.

“We are here to bear witness to a duel between two holy knights. The match will last until one competitor yields or can otherwise no longer fight. You, the competitors, are thusly warned: Do not allow your battle to spill into the crowds. Doing so will result in a severe penalty. Am I understood?”

She spoke with perfect oration for such a public event. Aaron and I knelt before her.

“Yes, my queen!” we said.

As for the battlefield, we had the whole Goblin Grasslands before us. Even so, I wanted to stay at least five hundred yards away from the crowd. When two people in the Domain of E clashed, the shock waves were something else.

“Competitors,” shouted Eris, “let the duel begin!”

As the crowd roared, we both shifted into combat stance in the center of the Goblin Grasslands. Aaron unsheathed his holy sword, and I did the same with Greed.

“Fate! If you won’t come to me, then I will bring the battle to you!”

Aaron’s blade pulsed with holy light. He was charging it with the holy sword tech-art Grand Cross, enhancing both its strength and durability. On its own, his holy sword couldn’t stand up to Greed’s blade, so he needed to reinforce it with his skills.

But I wasn’t about to back down. I followed the arc of the holy sword as it approached and swung Greed to meet it directly. The swords clashed with the loud clang of blade against blade, and a shock wave burst out around us. The grass at our feet went flying into the crowd.

“Is this the best you’ve got, Fate?”

“I’m just getting started!”

“Show me!”

I put my power into the blade and pushed Aaron’s holy sword backward, only to suddenly feel a shock to the side of my head. Through my dazed vision, I saw Aaron’s left leg raised in the air. The kick sent me skidding along the ground as swiftly as a bullet fired from Envy’s gunblade.

This is bad, I thought. I’m going to crash into the audience!

I plunged Greed into the ground to slow myself, then noticed a black shadow quickly closing in. Contorting my body at the last possible moment, I narrowly avoided Aaron’s blade as it plunged from above.

“How about this?!”

Without any hesitation, Aaron’s holy sword slashed toward me from the side.

“Gah!”

I grunted as I blocked the attack, but I was caught flat-footed. This time, the blow sent me flying in the opposite direction. 

“What the hell are you doing, Fate?!” Greed shouted. “What is going on in that head of yours?!” 

“It’s nothing.”

“He’s still coming!”

Aaron moved faster than I’d ever seen him. He fought at the very peak of what his Domain of E stats allowed. His combination attack was so fast it seemed like he held two swords. Though I managed to deflect some of his swings, the power behind his last strike opened craters in the ground beneath my feet. The sheer force sent earthen debris flying into the air. 

I knew I was never going to find an opening as long as he controlled the pace of battle, so I waited for the tiniest pause between Aaron’s strikes and countered. But Aaron saw it coming.

“Your movements are simple. One note. You’re no better than an ogre. Focus, Fate!”

“I am focusing!”

“No. You’re not. You may think you are, but your blade tells no lies. I’m disappointed.” 

I gritted my teeth. Aaron’s words angered me because they echoed my own feelings. 

“It’s your father, isn’t it, Fate?”

I said nothing, but Aaron could feel the truth in the clashing of our swords.

“I knew it,” said Aaron. “You speak of going into battle, but in your heart, you don’t want to fight.”

“I—”

“Do you think you can solve things by talking with him?” 

The Domain of E required careful stat control. To fight my father, could I maintain that control? 

“You are afraid.”

“I…”

Aaron was right. I was afraid. And Greed was right. You have to remember the past…lose yourself to the battle. 

I wasn’t scared because my opponent was strong. I was scared by something far more terrifying. Aaron knew this terror all too well—his heart had despaired once before, when his family was stolen from him by the Genesis of Death, the lich lord who infested his home with corpses. In Aaron’s attempts to release his loved ones, they had been used as puppets to torment him. Though he’d known they were dead, he had been unable to raise his sword against them. He was the Blessed Blade, and yet even he, a legendary hero, had been powerless. In truth, it was because he was a hero at heart that he hadn’t raised his sword.

“It will be hard,” Aaron said. “It was hard for me. If your father becomes your foe, it will be even more difficult. This you cannot avoid. But you gave me the power to stand again when I was in the depths of despair.”

“Aaron…”

“For this reason, I want you to stop your father. No, not want… Fate, you must stop him.”

“But I…”

My heart was torn. My control over my stats was slipping. Greed was overwhelmed, pushed back by the force of Aaron’s holy sword.

“Through this battle, you will remember, Fate. The time we first met, your bladework was nothing like it is now. It was like you’d learned to fight from goblins.”

“I was so dismayed when you said that…”

“You have come a long, long way since then. I am proud of you. Isn’t it time you believed in yourself too? Back then, when we fought the Genesis of Death, you gave me the power to confront it, and to confront my own family… And now I will return the favor!”

I felt Aaron’s magical energy surge. At the same time, his holy sword lit up as it were growing in strength. Then he twisted his wrists as if unlocking a door and unleashed his power.

“Can you stand before this, Fate?”

“This is—”

I thought it was the Grand Cross, but I was completely wrong. It had never occurred to me that he would use the modified tech-art: the Eternal Grand Cross. It was a close-range tech-art with a low success rate. Now that Aaron was in the Domain of E, the success rate had risen dramatically.

Four huge crosses of light surrounded me. I tried to escape, but it was too late. Holy light began to circulate through the four illuminated crosses.

“Looks like you weren’t expecting me to use this. I suppose I couldn’t use it on the ogres because it can only target a single enemy. Well, what will you do now, Fate?”

I loosed an anguished cry. Every movement trapped me in the endless torment of the attack. As long as I was trapped in the tech-art, I would continue to take damage as if I were being attacked by the Grand Cross. I knew how fearsome this attack was because I had used it before in the battle against the Divine Dragon.

A cheer erupted from the crowd watching our battle. They were all in awe of the Blessed Blade’s attack, a tech-art they had never seen before. I was trapped, helpless, and I heard Greed howl at me.

“Concentrate, you fool! Focus on the battle! Is this what you want? To throw away everything Aaron has done for you?!”

Greed was right. Aaron had gone to great lengths to teach me this lesson. Ours was not an ordinary duel. I owed it to Aaron to respond with all I had. 

“Greed,” I muttered. “I’m sorry. Somewhere in my heart, I wanted these peaceful days to go on forever. That’s why I was frightened when my father appeared. I never imagined I would have to fight him. I know I helped Aaron do something similar in the past, but can I do it myself?” 

“You can give him the answer he deserves.”

I no longer felt the pain of the Eternal Grand Cross. I had unleashed half of my Gluttony, and in my half-starved state, my control over my Domain of E stats had risen dramatically. Not only could I read the flow of magical energy, but I could also make full use of my stats, rendering Aaron’s prison of holy light meaningless. With just my strength alone, I pushed against the powerful crosses of holy light. My magical energy collided with them, pouring into the space where the tech-art was weakest. The crosses began to fracture and break, then shattered completely.

Once I was free, I charged. “Aaron!” I shouted.

“Fate!”

We cried out in unison as our swords clashed, holy sword against black blade. Light burst from Aaron’s weapon, dancing in the sky as our swords collided.