Berserk of Gluttony (LN) - Volume 8 - Chapter 8

Chapter 8:

To the Land in the Sky

I COMPLETELY LOST TRACK of time as I honed and polished my still-silent sword. Hours flew by. The sword was in amazing shape when I finished. Even Greed would have had nothing to complain about. The blade was like a mirror, and in its reflection, I saw my own face.

My left eye glimmered red.

“Damn…” I muttered.

I hadn’t slept a wink due to fear. I didn’t want to face off against that other me on the spiritual plane. If I tried fighting it on my own, it was possible that my Gluttony would swallow me completely. I was terrified of facing it without Luna and Greed. I’d told Roxy I’d do my best, but it was still too reckless to do anything without some kind of plan.

I studied the red eye staring back at me from the black sword. I had not activated my half-starved state of my own volition. It had simply happened before I even realized it. This meant that the other version of me wasn’t going to just sit back and wait, even if I avoided the spiritual plane.

“You couldn’t sleep, huh?” asked Roxy.

I groaned in response.

Roxy had been asleep for some time. Her angel form really took a toll on her, and she’d collapsed on the bed not long after we arrived back at our room. I was pretty worried.

“How are you feeling?” I asked.

“As good as gold,” she replied. “The other two are still fast asleep.”

“Same as always.”

Myne and Snow made me think of the saying “a well-slept child is a well-kept child.” It was like they didn’t even care that they were. They were asleep in the tiger’s den, in a sense. How could they not be a little nervous? I chuckled wryly at the thought.

“What happened to your eye?!” Roxy asked, getting closer for a better look.

“Oh, this? Uh…”

Roxy listened quietly as I gave her the rundown, based on what I knew.

“So this is different from when your Gluttony is starved?” she asked. “It won’t settle down once you’ve killed some monsters?”

“This seems like it’s something different. If it was just my Gluttony, I’d have been hit by a really strong urge to eat, but I don’t feel that way at all.”

It was so strange. When my half-starved state kicked in on its own, the ravenous urge was usually there as well, but I didn’t feel any hunger at all this time. Something wasn’t right.

“Does this have something to do with the other Fate you mentioned? The one that attacked you in the spiritual plane?”

“Possibly… He could be plotting something.” I put my sword back in its sheath and stood up. “Huh? Wh-what the hell?!” I stammered. My body felt so much lighter than usual.

“What is it?” asked Roxy.

“I feel fantastic,” I said. “I’ve got the physical boost that comes with my half-starved state, but there’s also a power welling in me beyond even that.”

“I wish I could say that’s a good thing…” said Roxy.

“It’s too good to be true, and it creeps me out, even though it’s my own body. This feels like the calm before the storm.”

“I daresay some things are best left unspoken, no matter how you feel.”

“Good point.”

For better or worse, I was going to be in the best shape of my life heading into Galia.

Just as Roxy and I were about to wake Myne and Snow, the door to our room opened.

“Good morning. Master Libra awaits,” said Eris, bowing politely. She waited by the door in a dignified manner, still wearing the maid’s uniform from yesterday.

“Got it,” I said. “Just give us a minute.”

I turned to wake Myne and Snow, but I needn’t have bothered. Myne was prepped and ready to go, her trademark black axe in one hand. Snow yawned, but she, too, was on her feet. Myne was a warrior with a storied history, and we’d traveled together a lot, so it didn’t surprise me that she was ready for action in an instant. But Snow had changed since the battle at Hausen. She was just as childlike as ever, but she occasionally showed signs of deep contemplation and spoke like someone much older than her youthful appearance let on.

“Fate, let’s go!” Snow cried, leaping at me.

I caught her in my arms and did my best to smooth her unruly hair. “All right, all right,” I said.

The four of us nodded at one another and left the room. We followed Eris back to the airship’s main deck.

“I trust you’re all well rested?” said Libra, greeting us.

“You’re the last person I want worrying about our well-being,” I said.

Libra laughed. “We’re on the same side, Fate,” he said. “Let’s try to get along.”

“The same side? You don’t really believe that. You’re not even coming with us, are you?”

“Don’t be like that. Look, I’ve prepared a proxy.” Libra pointed at Eris. “You know for yourself how strong she is. And I’ve reconfigured her parameters a little, so she’s even more powerful now.”

“Libra…” I glared daggers at him.

But Libra was unfazed, remaining perfectly calm as he pretended to consider things for a moment. “Well, if Eris alone isn’t enough, then how about I throw this in with her?” Libra pulled a black weapon out of thin air.

“But that’s…”

“Envy, yes, which I also reconfigured. I only turned my back for a second, and look at all the mischief this weapon has gotten up to. Here, take it.”

Libra tossed the weapon to me as though it were no more than a piece of garbage.

“It’s only a support weapon, all told, so it’s not particularly powerful,” he said. “But Eris should be able to make full use of it now.”

“And you’re just going to watch from a safe distance?”

“You make me sound like the bad guy, Fate. I’ll be praying to the Lord Almighty that everything goes well. Rest assured, you are in very safe hands.”

“Don’t get in our way,” I spat. “Or I will send this ship plummeting to the ground.”

Libra laughed. “Oh, you say the most interesting things. Do that, and Eris’s head will plummet to the ground right along with it.”

I grit my teeth. There was no use talking. I picked up Envy and tried to reach it with my Telepathy skill. Nothing. Perhaps it was because of the “reconfiguring” Libra mentioned. Perhaps it was just as trapped as Eris.

“Eris, here,” I said, passing over the gunblade.

Once she had the weapon in hand, I turned my gaze toward Galia, which grew closer with each moment. It was incredible. To think that such a huge chunk of the earth now floated in the sky. Even from a distance, it was an intimidating sight, but I felt an even greater pressure from it now that we were up close. My skin prickled—­a reaction to all the magical energy amassed by countless monsters.

“Looks like you’ll have quite the feast,” said Libra.

“I really don’t want to hear another word out of you.”

Libra shot me a satisfied grin and pointed down at Galia. “We’ll land there,” he said. “It’s always peaceful and quiet, no matter the era.”

“I know that place…” I murmured.

“It’s the great canyon,” said Roxy.

It was a place she knew firsthand. Rare ores were mined there and sent back to the royal capital. That was where Greed had asked me to go to find duskstone for his sheath. Roxy and I had gone to the canyon for unrelated reasons back then, but coincidence had drawn us together, and we’d ended up fighting side by side. The canyon looked like a lone oasis among the Galian wasteland from a distance, but in reality, the canyon was built on the piled-up fossils of monsters.

“Is the canyon really safe?” I asked. “A mountain of monsters sleep beneath it.”

“Nothing to concern yourself about,” replied Libra. “They all lost their souls and turned to fossils. They will not resurrect.”

“They lost their souls?”

“In other words, it’s safe.”

It was clear Libra had no intention of giving a detailed answer. But at the same time, he was telling the truth. I didn’t sense any monsters in the canyon. I glanced at Myne, who had remained completely silent this whole time. She nodded.

“So it is safe,” I muttered.

“Oh my. Don’t trust me, Fate?”

“Not a bit.”

Libra looked up at the sky for a moment, then grinned at me. “Prepare for landing,” he said, turning his eyes on Snow. “I have such high hopes.”