Vera heard a knock on their door.
Stockwell and Niven were still hard at work in the laboratory, so she went to answer it by herself.
"Just a second!"
She unlocked the door and was greeted with a familiar sight.
"Seabs-san."
Standing on the porch was the butler that they had encountered a little over a week ago. His bow was immaculate.
"Good morning, lady Vera."
"What brings you here?"
"It's about her."
He stepped aside to reveal a young blonde with an adorable charm. She was wearing a maid moment she saw Vera, she panicked and hid behind the butler once more.
Sebas turned and talked to her gently.
"That isn't polite, Tsuare, she is one of the people who helped to save and heal you"
She nearly cried and bowed sloppily.
"S-Sorry."
Sebas turned to Vera once more.
"As you know, she has had a rough background. She has forgotten how to properly communicate with others."
Vera nodded in understanding.
"Why did you bring her here?"
Sebas's expression turned grim.
"It appears that I'm still being hunted by the Eight-Fingers for rescuing her. I just turned away a man who came to my mistress's abode looking for her."
Vera seemed surprised.
I didn't think Cocco Doll still had men to spare with the Six-Arms gone.
"I-I see."
Sebas continued.
"As much as it shames me to do so after already receiving so much aid, I ask for your help once more. I remember hearing from you that this house was safe from the Eight-Fingers, so I humbly ask that you allow Tsuare to stay here for the rest of the day so that I can resolve this matter with peace of mind that she's safe."
Vera nodded in thought as she looked over the quivering maid clutching Sebas's arm.
Suddenly, she smiled.
"Of course she can stay for the day. I doubt Wesley will have a problem with it."
Sebas nodded to Tsuare, and after several seconds of prodding, the maid finally left Sebas's side.
"Thank you. I'll come around either tonight or tomorrow morning to pick her up."
"Of course."
After bowing one final time, Sebas left down the street, heeding the three assassins hiding in the shadows that were still following him from the moment he left his and Solution's house. He sensed that the three of them were distressed when Tsuare entered the Grey Wolf's home.
He smiled to himself and continued down the street.
After Sebas was long gone, Stockwell eventually came to see what all the commotion was about.
He saw the maid sitting on the couch with Vera next to her, trying to make her feel comfortable.
"Uhhh, Vera?"
"Sebas-san dropped her off for protection, he said that the Eight-fingers are still after him and Tsuare-san."
"Tsuare?"
"Her name."
Tsuare turned a terrified smile to Stockwell and flinched when she felt his judgmental gaze.
"I see…"
"Sebas-san left her and said that he was going to go resolve the matter."
"Huh?"
"I don't know what he means by that either, I think he might be planning on getting Lady Solution involved to storm the brothel."
Suddenly Stockwell's eyes opened in realization.
"Vera, can I have a chat with you in private?"
"Hmm? Sure."
They left Tsuare alone and headed to a back room. After making sure that she couldn't hear, Stockwell continued.
"This might be bad."
"What do you mean?"
"Cocco Doll has absolutely no strength to stand on, he's just boasting his power around. I don't know much about Lady Solution but any noble is sure to have at least some private forces on hand. If she's actually serious about taking Cocco Doll out, she'll probably have no problem doing so."
"How is that bad?" Vera said flatly.
"Well, it's not bad per say, I was planning on dissolving the slave trafficking anyways since it's become such a liability, but if other powers get involved, it means that we might miss a valuable opportunity as well as possibly risk an information leak through Cocco Doll's capture."
After taking a moment, she nodded in understanding.
"Then what do we do?"
"We need to cut Cocco Doll loose ourselves. We should head out as soon as possible."
He came out of the backroom and called out to Niven who was still working quietly in the laboratory.
"Niven! You're on babysitting duty! Make sure the girl doesn't get into the chemicals and hurt herself!"
…
It was early in the afternoon and Stockwell and Vera stood outside the shady looking door; Cocco Doll's last stronghold in the kingdom's capital. The two of them were fully kitted in case the men underneath Cocco Doll were more loyal to him than Stockwell anticipated.
"Are you ready?"
Vera nodded and pulled the gas mask over her face. Stockwell did the same.
He knocked on the door four times in quick succession, as per the password.
After the sound of three separate locks being undone, it slowly creaked open to be succeeded by a hoarse voice.
"Who are you—"
The man looked at Stockwell's mask and whitened. He flung the door open with a shriek.
"R-Rhamnusia-sama! Calico-sama! C-Come right in!"
Stockwell strided in followed by Vera. There were two others in the dark little room, but Stockwell paid them no heed.
"Where's Cocco Doll?"
The man whitened once more.
"H-He s-said that he didn't want to see anyone right now..."
Stockwell drew his rifle and rested it lightly on the man's shoulder. If Stockwell had not been wearing a gasmask, he would've smelt a pungent cocktail of detritus and urine.
"Aiiieeeee, J-Just kidding! Right this way!"
"Thank you."
Stockwell turned to address Vera.
"Investigate the brothel a few blocks down to see if you find anything useful. I shouldn't need any help, go ahead and meet me back at our rendezvous point when you're done."
She nodded and they went their separate ways.
…
After guiding Stockwell through the maze-like building to the aforementioned room, the guide quickly bowed and turned tail to go and change his leaking underpants.
Stockwell didn't bother knocking. He simply forced the flimsy wooden door open and strided in, startling the man inside.
"I said I didn't wish to be disturbed—!"
Cocco Doll looked at the gasmask like a deer in a pair of headlights..
"—R-Rhamnusia-sama! H-How can I help you today!"
He was kneeling, phallus exposed, over the limp body of a naked adolescent boy, two more kids were lying in the corner, either unconscious or dead. He quickly withdrew and began to redress his lower body.
The room itself seemed to be heavily sound-proofed so wherever occurred in here couldn't be heard throughout the rest of the building.
"J-Just a minute please!"
Stockwell crouched down and sighed.
"...A pedophile and a necrophile. That's quite the profile. Don't mind me, I actually suggest that you continue with whatever you were doing."
"W-wha-"
"It'll be the last time you get to enjoy yourself after all."
"W-what do you mean—"
His eyes opened with realization. He was frozen over the boy's body. He began to shake uncontrollably.
"W-Wait! Rhamnusia-sama! Y-You don't know what you're doing! I can - I can still-"
"You can still do what? Your slave trade has become more trouble than it's worth."
"But—"
"Financially, you're broke, or at least will be soon, there's no economic incentive to keep you around."
"B-But I still have merchandise! We could-"
"Not interested."
"But—"
"Next, security. You're spread far too thin now that the six-arms are no longer around to back you up, it's only a matter of time before someone comes barging down that door."
"But that's your fa—!"
"Were you going to suggest that that's my fault?"
Cocco Doll froze. He felt the demon's murderous gaze.
"N-No. I-I- It's just that—"
"Just what?"
"J-Just that I wouldn't be in this position if you would've been kind enough to lend me some of your magic weapons, like you did for Hilma and the others—"
"—Tough shit. Besides, even if I did lend you support, I doubt you would've been able to keep this place from falling apart anyway, hell, as I hear it, you can't even recapture one single woman."
Cocco Doll gulped. It was all true, he had nothing to offer the demon, and no one to fall back on. He broke down.
"Please, Rhamnusia-sama! Take everything I have! Just don't take my life! You gain nothing by killing me!"
"Oh but that's where you're wrong dear Cocco Doll, you see—"
Agh, this is getting boring.
Stockwell realized he was about to go on a villainous speech about his future plans. But upon seeing the frail man still shivering over the lifeless corpse, he didn't feel like talking anymore.
Bang.
Cocco Doll fell over and went still
Stockwell needed to remind himself every now and then not to get too absorbed into the role of playing a scary demon named Rhamnusia.
..."The brothel is just behind this door. According to the assassin, there ought to be an entrance in the building over there too."
Sebas stood at the entrance to the brothel, in front of the door where Tsuare had been thrown out. Then, he pointed at a building a fair distance away.
Brain and Climb listened to him patiently. Sebas was glad to have the help of the two strangers. Not only did they strike him as good people, they had connections that could take care of any potential victims later.
The two had been present when he was questioning the assassin, but they had not been to the brothel before, and they accepted Sebas' explanation at face value.
"Indeed, that is so." Brain said. "The entrances can also serve as escape routes, and that person said they'd be manned by at least two people. If we're splitting up, we should let you handle the main door, Sebas-sama, while Climb and I take the other entrance. What do you think?"
"I am not opposed to that. How about you, Climb-kun?"
"I have no objections either. Still, what will we do after we break in, Unglaus-sama? Shall we search together?"
"Call me Brain in future. This one also humbly requests you do the same, Sebas-sama. Then… usually, we ought to move in pairs for safety's sake, but there might be secret tunnels which even the assassin hasn't heard of. We should search the interior as quickly as possible while Sebas-sama makes his assault from the front. Also, there are usually passages which only the boss knows," Brain added quietly.
"In that case, should we split up after going in?"
"...We're taking a risk just going in anyway. Might as well try for the best results we can."
Sebas and Climb nodded at Brain's statement.
"Could I ask you to search the interior, Un— Brain-sama? You're stronger than me, after all."
"Very well. Then please watch over the exit over there, Climb-kun."
One was more likely to encounter enemies when searching the inside of the building. It went to follow that the task would thus be more dangerous. Therefore, it was best left to Brain, who was much stronger than Climb.
"So that's it for our final checks, then?"
They had already discussed this matter on the way to the brothel, but there were some decisions which could only be made after seeing the place in person. They would hash out the details here, and nobody contradicted Sebas' statement.
Sebas stepped forward, moving up to the solid-looking metal door of the brothel. Climb would never be able to budge that door, but to Sebas it was little more than tissue paper.
"Then let us proceed. According to the assassin, the secret signal at the other entrance is knocking four times on the door. I doubt either of you have forgotten, but I doubt a reminder will hurt."
"Thank you, Sebas-sama."
Brain and Climb went to investigate the other building. They shook their heads and smirked ruefully when they heard the sound of Sebas plowing through the heavy metal door like a wrecking ball behind them.
…
Brain knocked on the shady looking door four times in quick succession.
Climb clutched his weapon tightly.
The sound of heavy footsteps came from behind the door. Then they heard the sound of locks disengaging — three, to be precise.
In the instant the door opened, Climb pulled it wide open, in accordance to the plan.
Brain had already slashed his way in before the people inside could even cry out in surprise. There was the sound of a body being cut apart, followed by that of a heavy object hitting the ground.
Climb was a step behind Brain as he charged inside.
He entered just in time to see Brain cut down his second man. There was one more person within the room, a man in leather armor and carrying a short sword. For some reason, he seemed to be drying out a pair of underpants. Climb rushed him and closed the distance in an instant.
"Ah! Who the hell are you?!"
The man stabbed at Climb with his blade, but Climb easily deflected it with his sword.
After that, Climb raised his sword high, and brought it down on the man from above.
The man tried to block it with his dagger, but a mere dagger could not withstand a strike with Climb's full weight behind it. Climb's sword deflected the short sword away and his blade sank into the man's shoulder, carving through his larynx.
After verifying the wound he had dealt was mortal, Climb rushed deeper into the room, riding the flow of the battle while remaining alert. No enemies came out from hiding to meet him. He could hear Brain running up the stairs to the second floor behind him.
He then proceeded to check his own floor.
After climbing the stairs to the third floor, he cautiously rounded the corner. He saw that one of the rooms in the hallway had had its door forced open. He tentatively crept up to it and peeked his head inside the room.
His skin turned whiter than his armor.
Inside the room was a man shrouded completely in black. He seemed to be heavily armed, his arms, hands, and back seemingly in full bloom with ominous metal armaments. And on his face—
—a mask that disturbed him deeply.
He had heard about the demon's appearance from several rumors and reports made by Blue Rose, but words did little to convey the true uneasiness of seeing it in person.
The demon's name appears in his mind.
Rhamnusia! So he's working with the Eight-Fingers after all!
The demon was crouched over the lifeless body of an adult male, he seemed to be using a dagger to cut something.
He-He! He's decapitating him!
Climb glanced around the room, there were three more bodies, all young boys. He threw up in his mouth.
This-This is bad! I need to get Brain-sama! According to Blue Rose, this isn't an enemy I can defeat!
He began to pull away from the doorway when—
"Oh, I thought I heard some commotion going on."
The demon's voice scared Climb stiff. He had been noticed.
"Now now, don't be afraid—"
Climb took a deep breath.
"SOMEONE HELP ME!"
He shouted with all his might, as though he were trying to dump out all the air in his lungs.
There was no way he could win if he fought alone. Capturing this person and preventing his escape would count as a victory for him. Allowing someone as strong as this demon— in other words, someone who might know a lot of important information to escape would be a complete loss.
That being the case, why should he hesitate in crying for aid?
Rhamnusia seemed to be taken aback.
Wait, that's Renner's dog isn't it? What's he doing here.I didn't take him for a coward. Oh?
Climb stepped into the doorway and drew his sword, preventing the demon's escape.
He intends to keep me here until his allies arrive.
Climb was shaking like a terrified dog, but he stood stalwart.
Rhamnusia put his hands in the air in a lazy, "I surrender" fashion.
"You know kid, I'm actually on your side."
Climb looked surprised for a second, lowering his sword slightly. He then brought it back up immediately after glancing at the room once more.
"Your tricks wont work on me! I will hold this door! You will not pass so long as I still draw breath!"
Well, that figures, I imagine my argument isn't very convincing considering where I'm standing.
"Climb-kun! I'm here! Where's the enemy—"
Stepping into the door behind Climb was a katana wielding warrior. He paused when he saw the demon's grotesque mask.
"Brain-sama! Be careful, I think he's the demon Rhamnusia. He's dangerous!"
"Get behind me, don't move from that spot whatever you do, I'll handle this."
Brain stepped in front of Climb. He called out to the demon.
"Who are you?"
"Didn't you hear golden boy? I'm a scary demon. Who are you?"
"The name is Brain Unglaus, prepare yourself."
"I wasn't exactly asking for your name, but okay."
Brain crouched into his stance, putting his right hand on the handle of his sheathed sword.
"What is it with you people always immediately resorting to violence?" Rhamnusia brought his rifle to his eye and aimed squarely down the sights at Brain's heart.
Brain did not contest this gesture. This was only because he assumed that the demon was taking a stance in preparation for battle.
The warrior narrowed his eyes. "What sort of stance is that?"
The demon rolled his eyes behind his mask. "Look, I've actually already done you guys a substantial favor—"
Climb interrupted.
"—Don't listen to him! He's the guy that Blue Rose has been after!"
"Thanks for the tip. I won't hold back." I won't underestimate my opponent like last time.
「Ability Boost」 Power flowed through Brain's body.
Rhamnusia sighed. "Are you really sure you want to do this?"
Brain smirked. "You afraid you'll lose?"
Rhamnusia sighed. "No. I just don't want to waste my ammo if I don't have to. I also don't have any reason to kill you and my equipment isn't capable of holding back."
Brain crouched, lowered his stance and prepared for an attack. 「Ability Boost」
"If that sword is all you have to hit me with...Brain, was it?" Rhamnusia chuckled at the name. "If that sword is all you have to hit me with, then you're not going to get very far. We're in a confined space with nowhere to run. Any gas, acid, or bomb I use would be unavoidable. The Golden retriever behind you could also get caught in the crossfire. You're in a very disadvantageous situation."
Brain replied evenly. "Then you should have no issue fighting me."
Rhamnusia sighed. "Fine."
The demon had already been aiming at the warrior's heart, so all he needed to do was squeeze the trigger without hesitation.
Bang.
They were only a few meters apart in the small room, so Brain hadn't had any time to react— though that probably wouldn't have helped anyways. Unlike a bow there was no draw time, and unlike spells, there was no cast time.
Without his 「Field」 prepared, the bullet had simply been a dull gray blur to his heightened senses that he had no chance of intercepting.
Confusion flashed through him as sharp pain spread across his chest.
His blood pressure dropped drastically and with it, much of the strength in his arms. Though he could not tell a bullet had entered his heart. It was a wound that would have immediately floored a normal human.
Brain's mind fluttered with confusion but he managed to stay on his feet.
His jaw hung loosely with shock and he gripped his blade tightly. The next move he should take wasn't clear.
Not even a quarter of a second passed before Brain saw Rhamnusia's hand begin to move once more. He unsheathed his sword to defend. 「Instant Draw」 「Fortress」
Bang.
Like last time, there was no cast time or draw time from Rhamnusia's weapon. All it took was a subtle movement of the hand to activate it. Brain was correct to assume this fact and had immediately used his martial art the moment he saw Rhamnusia's finger move.
Additionally, 「Fortress」 was useless if the user could not actually intercept the attack. The projectile was too fast for him to see clearly, so he needed to predict where it would go.
Luckily, Brain had correctly predicted that the demon would target his heart again.
The bullet deflected off the immovable flat of Brain's katana.
"Brain-Sama!" Climb called.
Brain clutched his chest. Blood had begun to pour from the wound.
He fell to one knee.
"Oh? A shot like that would have normally caused hemorrhagic shock to set in immediately. Yet you still seem lucid...did I miss your heart?" Rhamnusia asked. "Ah! You're one of those superhumans! Right?"
That bullet should've gone clear through you but your body stopped it. And you managed to draw your sword so quickly and deflect the second shot with just a thin piece of steel, so you must be! Were Martial Arts? This is great, I've been meaning to test out a couple of things since the strength of my lab rats have plateaued.
Brain stuttered out to Climb with blood dripping from his mouth. "Go! Get help! I'll hold out for as long as I can!"
Climb had not seen clearly what had happened. He only heard two loud explosions from Rhamnusia in quick succession and now suddenly Brain had his sword drawn and was bleeding out from his chest.
Climb did not wish to leave him to fight against a powerful foe alone, but logically, this was the best choice as his presence here would only get in Brain's way.
"Understood!"
He turned on his heel with the intention of finding Sebas.
Rhamnsuia let his rifle fall away from him into its strap. He stretched his right hand out towards Climb. "Not so fast."
A prong trailing a pair of wires ejected from the top of Rhamnusia's hand with the sound of a gunshot and a cloud of smoke. It rocketed towards the retreating climb and dug into the back of his head.
"Wha—!"
His head whiplashed from the recoil of the explosively ejected prongs. Electricity pierced through his body. His muscles tensed and he stopped in his tracks.
Brain propped himself up by his sword. "C-Climb-kun!" His strength was depleting rapidly as his heart sputtered irregularly in his chest
He dragged his sword arm up with great effort and swung at the wires. With a crackle of sparks, Brain felt a jolt of pain race up his hands from the hilt of his sword.
"Climb!- Ahg!"
Regardless, he managed to rip the wires away from Climb's head.
"Run!"
"O-On it!"
Climb recovered from his momentary paralysis and raced down the stairs.
"...damn it." Rhamnusia muttered.
Brain smirked with labored breath as he turned his head back towards the demon.
"Don't worry katana man," Rhamnusia said, "I haven't forgotten about you either."
Rhamnusia was already pointing his left hand at the warrior. "I'm curious to see how your body reacts to this."
Brain briefly heard the sound of a pressure release emitting from the nozzle beneath Rhamnusia's outstretched wrist.
Three options ran through Brain's mind as he saw this gesture. Dodge? Counter attack? Or Defend.
Given the speed of the demon's attacks so far, he doubted his ability to rush him down for a counter attack before the demon's attack initiated. He also doubted his ability to defend against an attack of a similar speed to the weapon Rhamnusia used earlier. He had only been able to do it once because of a lucky prediction, and he doubted Rhamnusia was dumb enough to aim for the same spot again.
So he chose to dodge. If he was lucky, he might be able to throw off Rhamnusia's aim.
Ultimately, the choice didn't matter because of the size of the room.
As Brain dived out of the way, a cone of clear vapor engulfed the room.
Its appearance was akin to a burst of steam, but only its appearance. The liquid vapor was not water but a mixture of concentrated slime bile suspended in sulfuric acid.
The solid stone surfaces of the walls and floors immediately blackened where the vapor colessed, and the section of the wall where the initial cone had collided and rebounded from melted away altogether. Parts of the ceiling melted into a sludge and fell upon them like globs of wet paint while the panels of the floor turned into the consistency of rotted wood.
Brain reeled in pain as the cloud enveloped the room.
「Capacity Building」 He used a martial art in an attempt to soak off some of the damage.
His non-enchanted clothing simply evaporated, as though they had momentarily liquified and flashed into gas. His exposed body twisted into an inhuman shade of pinkish red as bubbles of flesh and puss boiled to the surface of his skin.
In an instant, the cloud of vapor had transformed him into a degloved figure of sizzling flesh draped in a blackened chainmail shirt.
He fell to his hands and knees in pain. He tried to shut his eyes tightly so as not to damage his vision, but the acid removed his eyelids along with the rest of the outside tissue on his face. He could only make out areas of light and dark filtering through his abrazed corneas.
As for Rhamnusia, the pigments in his coat had been destroyed by the acid as well, but nothing else was damaged. His normally dark fatigues were bleached gray. He had designed his equipment specifically to deal with the handling of his own acids so he had not been concerned about his own safety.
Rhamnusia's voice filtered through Brain's burning ears.
"Fascinating." The demon said. "Bile of that concentration has been observed to completely vaporize my toughest rats to the bone in a matter of moments, and then dissolve the bones a second later. Yet you're still intact. You might even be as resilient as that monk. Clearly this needs more study— ah."
Rhamnusia was interrupted by the sound of wooden boards snapping beneath him and Brain's body weight.
If the cloud of acid was strong enough to dissolve the stone and plaster walls, It was only natural that the wooden floor and the beams that supported it would also weaken to the point of failure.
"Uh-oh." Stockwell quickly hardened his ignonick shield into a hook shape to claw into the side of the exposed floors to slow down what he assumed was about to be a painful fall.
"—Shit."
Brain too realized what was about to happen and braced himself. He felt his body go weightless. He tried to grab onto something, but without vision the attempt was futile. He stabbed his sword into the darkness, but whatever he stabbed fell away with him.
He counted two impacts and sounds as he crashed through what he imagined was the second floor of the building and onto ground level.
The air was forced from his lungs as he landed on his chest.
He thought he had heard Climb's voice shout out to him.
"C-Climb…" He wheezed out as a wad of blood collected in his throat.
"—Ouch." He heard the demon land a couple seconds after him.
Stockwell was able to slow his fall a little, but the landing still hurt him nonetheless. His legs went numb for a moment before being replaced with an aching sensation. Were it not for this armor and the magical items of the six-arms, a fall of that manner would've likely broken one or both of his legs.
Strangely enough, the landing itself wasn't actually as hard as it could've been by account of the third and second floors being little more than wood paneling and some furniture, and by account that they were landing atop of several soft human bodies that Climb and Brain had so courtesy left on the ground floor.
What's more, Stockwell was happy to see that this accidental collapse happened to take care of his Climb-running-away problem.
He saw the boy's lower body peaking out from beneath the rubble beside him. He probably wasn't dead given the amount of material that must've fallen on him, so he was likely just unconscious.
At least, Stockwell hoped so. Renner was scary enough as is.
He approached Brain to get a closer look at the warrior's condition.
"Rest easy, I won't kill you. I just want to examine the effect of the acid on your body. Could I trouble you to faint for a little while? Or at least stay still for a moment?"
Stockwell assumed that with a bullet piercing his heart, his flesh melting away, and recovering from a nasty fall that the warrior was in no condition to retaliate. But even so, Brain was still a super human in Stockwell's eyes, it was only logical to prepare his countermeasures for dealing with swordsmen before getting too close.
Afterall, it looked like Brain was still managing to get back up to his feet.
Stockwell used his ring of telekinesis to psychically actuate a device in his left gauntlet which visibly did nothing. And though it visibly did nothing, it was actually quite powerful and Stockwell's hand began to heat up as a side effect.
Next he activated the gauntlet's integrated oxy-acetylene torch. The small tank of gas he kept on his back made a soft noise and an automatic spark igniter triggered near the noseles sprouting from his gauntlet. A small but hot flame burst to life. It projected from the side of his hand like a sixth, blue finger.
Finally, he inhaled a small ampule of gaseous potion of haste through the filter of his gas mask. This potion was concentrated by a factor of five and transformed into oxygen gas so that he could inhale it through his gas mask. Curiously, when buff potions such as haste potions were concentrated, their duration was decreased in proportion to the amount they were concentrated. This one would last about ten seconds.
He had an even more concentrated one, but that was a trump card he was saving for a do or die scenario.
As the greenish gas met his lungs, time slowed down. His senses and reflexes sharpened.
Brain heard the demon's footsteps approach him. His head felt light. The demon had completely overwhelmed before he had even had the opportunity to fight back.
Just trying to put strength into his arms hurt. The flesh had melted off his arms and pooled at his feet. His exposed muscle fibers twitched and convulsed like an layered network of pulsing red cables.
As his mind flickered, he felt that he would only have one chance to strike before he would lose consciousness from the lack of blood pressure.
He calmed his mind. Focus. You're training to overcome Shalltear Bloodfallen. A monster of monsters. This demon is just a single step on the road. You can overcome this.
「Field」.
He did not need to see his enemy to know where they were.
He would strike as quickly as possible before the demon could react. It would be an underhanded surprise attack like the demon had done to him, so it was only fair that he returned the favor.
He waited for Rhamnusia to step into the threshold of his 「Field」.
Now!
Brain launched his attack 「Wind of the Great Forest!」, It was his trump card, a combination of 「Field」 and 「God Flash」.
In one motion, he got up from his hand and knees and drew his blade. It contained all of the power he could muster, concentrated into one flash of movement.
The blade moved at indescribable speeds. In Brain's mind's eye, time had slowed down to a crawl. His blade unsheathed and he launched at the demon in slow motion.
His blade sailed through the air towards the demon's neck.
Rhamnusia's body began to move.
Does he intend to defend with that blanket?
He saw what looked like Rhamnusia trying to swing the cloth draped around his right arm in front of him to defend.
Given the speed at which time had slowed down in Brain's eyes, his opponent was reacting rather quickly all things considered. Regardless, hope welled up in Brain as it seemed that Rhamnusia was too slow to intercept the sword.
Your head is mine!
Brain moved at a startling speed. The warriors movements were so quick, that had he not consumed the potion or was wearing magic items that enhanced his reflexes, the warriors movements would have seemed like instantaneous motion.
He had already had a plan to take down the swordsman, but by pure panic and reflex, he simply put up his shield and hands to defend his face as was the natural human instinct.
Brain crouched low and sliced his blade at a slightly upward angle. And to the omniscient observer, it looked like it was still too fast for Stockwell to intercept.
Brain's blade flew beneath the hastily deployed ignonick shield, just clipping its bottom before it could harden at the end. A tangle of spider silk clung to the blade but did too little to slow its advance.
Brain celebrated inside.
Your head is mine!
However, at some point in the blade's arc, it began to alter its trajectory.
A slight magnetic pull changed the trajectory of the blade and guided it into Rhamnusia's armored left hand. Metal crashed into metal with the sound of thunder.
And then…
What—
Brain was speechless.
Rhamnusia had stopped the blade dead in its tracks, his hand gripping it roughly a third of the way up.
Stockwell's mind recoiled in a sudden lapse of focus caused by his perception of time returning to normal due to the haste potion running its course. He was brought back to the task at hand by a screaming pain from his left hand. Fuck!
The pain felt as though several of the bones in his hands rearranged themselves from the shock. Had he not had the benefit of the six-arms's equipment, it was probable that his entire left arm would've been broken. And he still cut me!
The blade was lodged firmly into the metal of his gauntlet, just barely deep enough for the jagged, corroded edges of the blade to dig into his skin underneath Had the edge of the blade not been corroded by the acid, that may have actually cut all the way through.
Brain struggled, but not only were his muscles weak having not received blood for almost half a minute now, the electromagnet was still on, trapping the katana in an iron fist.
And as the blade was held in Rhamnusia's grasp, the blue flame projecting from his gauntlet tore into it.
"This is a very nice katana you have there, Mr. Brain Unglaus. Would be a shame if something happened to it."
Brain instinctively knew what was about to happen.
In the south, far from the Kingdom, there was a city in the desert. Stories of blades that carved steel like mud came from there, weapons which were far superior to weakly enchanted magic weapons even without any enchantments of their own. Such swords commanded staggering prices, enough to make one's eyeballs pop out when one heard of them. Those weapons were what Brain wanted.
And in the end, he had finally obtained one, his very own 「Katana」
"No—"
Brain's consciousness was fading and could only think of saving his precious sword. He grabbed the blade with his other hand to help pry it from Rhamnusia's grasp.
Stockwell felt his body lurch forward with Brain's tug. Wow, he's strong. Even in his current state he can still muster so much force. I'm scared to find out what he could've done in perfect condition.
"Oh no you dont."
He brought his other hand on to the blade as well and activated the taser.
The electricity conducted through the steel and arced into Brain's hands.
It was not that Brain had failed to hold on, rather, his hands had instinctually let go of the sword without input from his brain, such as when one put their hands on a hot stove.
Rhamnusia yanked it from his grasp.
Brain fell forward to his knees, like a puppet whose strings had been cut. His body felt unbelievably weak.
His wavering eyes watched helplessly as the image of sparks billowing from Rhamnusia's hands seared into his mind.
"Please…"
At least when Shalltear had defeated him, his sword was spared, he was at least able to bounce back because of it. But now...
Snap.
...Rhamnusia snapped the weakened blade in half.
He dropped both pieces to the ground along with the warrior's soul. Brain closed his eyes, as his lack of blood pressure finally took effect.
He fell to his face with a thud.
His body went silent, albeit just barely alive.
The room was finally quiet once again.
...
"...Alright."
Stockwell emitted a relieved sigh.
This guy was so much stronger than I thought he'd be; on par with Zero. Glad I handled that the way I did. Putting a bullet in his heart right away was the right play.
Given what Brain had said to Climb earlier, it was likely that they had allies somewhere nearby. If they were near Brain's strength, then it would not be wise to stick around for long.
Their fight had lasted 20 seconds at most, so he figured he had a little bit of time to examine Brain's body so long as he was quick about it.
He withdrew a vial from one of his many pockets and used it to scoop up some of the residue of Brain's melted flesh.
He then withdrew a notebook and wrote down a few observations about Brain's body. His gauntleted fingers felt around Brain's exposed tendons, scrutinizing their toughness and consistency
Hmm… they seem normal enough. I wish I had a pair of calipers and a way to accurately measure their elasticity…
He made a few more notes in the notebook and rolled Brain's body over.
What skin still remained on his face had begun to turn pale.
He's still breathing, just barely. As expected of a superhuman… surviving in your condition.
He put a finger on his carotid artery and felt a weak, uneven pulse. He's fibrillating, to be expected…
His eyes suddenly fell on Brain's hair. He had noticed it when the warrior had first made his appearance, but had been too preoccupied to give it any conscious thought.
Blue hair… Really? Is it dyed?
He rustled briefly through Brain's hair before realizing he was matting it red with blood from his hands. He clicked his tongue.
Tsk… Blood just gets everywhere, doesn't it? Shize. Got on my journal.
His hands were already drenched in blood from the bullet wound.
Annoying. Got to be quick about this. I can't examine the healing process if he dies.
He eventually found Brain's scalp where a small length of his naturally colored hair was exposed.
So it is dyed. Though, I guess it isn't the strangest hair color I've seen, Earth had some pretty eccentric characters… where the hell do you even get blue hair dye in Re-Estize? I thought blue pigment was prohibitively expensive before the invention of ferric ferrocyanide. Or maybe it's that copper based Egyptian blue? Is the binder petroleum based? It's bonded to the keratin well. Some very modern looking hair dye here…
He heard a small rustle in the distance as Climb began to stir beneath a pile of rubble. He realized he was getting distracted.
You're up fast. Couldn't have been more than a minute. Just be patient, I'm almost done here.
He dug the bullet out of Brain's chest. The hardened steel core had deformed when it had bored its way through Brain's tissues.
I'll need to match this to a ballistic analog later.
He tucked the bullet away in one of his pockets.
Let's see here…
He withdrew a large canteen from his waist. A deep, lapis-blue liquid sloshed about inside.
It would have been very costly for even a moderately wealthy person to buy this much high quality healing potion, but he had money to spare. Adamantite was still far more pricey in comparison.
He poured a large volume of the healing potion over Brain's wounds and his body slowly began to heal. However, whatever healing that was occurring was not apparent to the eye nor was it happening in real time. Brain's wounds were far too grievous for such a thing to occur. The only immediate effects were that the bleeding stopped and his breathing returned to normal.
Stockwell jotted down a few observations in his journal.
Hmm… about what I expected, though the potion does appear to be having some effect.
He placed a finger back on his carotid artery. His heart has started to beat normally again. He might be able to pull through with his innate endurance. It would be helpful if I could take him back to Moot and closely analyze his body's recovery over the next few weeks, but the logistics of such a thing sound like a headache.
I should just see what kind of items he has and call it a day. But first…
He splashed some of the potion onto the deep cut the warrior had made in his left hand. He felt immediate relief as the throbbing subsided. He put the canteen away and resumed examining Brain.
He felt around for a little while and found a ring on Brain's finger. This looks like something of note…
He continued searching for more magic items…
…
...Climb slowly opened his eyes.
The boy's head throbbed with pain and he realized his cheek was on the ground.
As the fog in his mind cleared, he saw Rhamnusia hunched over Brain in front of him.
Brain-sama… Brain-sama!
It became clear to him what had transpired. Brain had been defeated. He prayed that he was still alive, but couldn't know for sure.
Curses!
Climb cursed at himself for having been disabled so easily. He softly got to his feet.
He did his best to make sure that the demon wouldn't hear him get up. That way, he might be able to slip away and retrieve Sebas. Unfortunately for his plans, the demon had already heard him stirring earlier and knew that he was about to wake.
"Welcome back to the land of the conscious." Rhamnusia chuckled. "The floor is hard, be careful not to bump your head next time"
Shit! He heard me!
Climb froze in place. Thoughts raced through his head.
Do I try to run- no! There's no way I could get away from someone like him. Then— Do I stay and fight!? Impossible! So then I need to flee! But—
His eyes grew wide with alarm as he saw Rhamnusia pluck an item from Brain's body. A necklace of some kind.
Stockwell eyed it closely.
"H-Hey! Wait! Don't touch him!" Climb shouted at him from the doorway.
"Science waits for no one." Rhamnusia replied coarsely. He stood and pocketed the necklace.
Climb's resolve steeled over. Allowing the demon to continue looting Brain's body would be far too disgraceful. I can't just leave Brain-sama alone!
"I said don't touch him!"
Climb charged, his sword held rigidly before him. "Ahhhhhh!"
Traces of acid still lingered in the air and stung his eyes as he neared the demon. Still, he pressed forward undeterred.
A crisp blue flame extended from Rhamnusia's hand. "Easy there."
Climb did not expect to defeat the demon, far from it. His goal was simply to keep him busy and hopefully stall long enough for Sebas to arrive of his own accord.
He raised his sword high and brought it down on the demon.
「High Vertical Strike!」
Rhamnusia had just caught a blade ten times as fast and a hundred times as powerful. It was almost laughable. He didn't even need martial arts to intercept this one. But from Climb's perspective, it looked like he might actually score a hit on the demon.
Rhamnusia's magnetized hand caught the blade with ease.
Climb was stunned. It was as though his blade had moved on its own.
He had also not expected the demon to try and catch the sword in the first place. If anything, he expected an immediate counter attack or some kind of dodge.
The acetylene torch dug into Climb's sword.
Climb tried to free it but could not pull it from Rhamnusia's magnetized grasp. Seeing as he had no other choice, he executed a special maneuver.
He channeled strength into his foot and brought up hard into the demon's groin-
—Climb's face recoiled with pain.
"Really?" Rhamnusia scoffed. "Did you really think I wouldn't be wearing groin protection?"
Climb's toes crumpled together with the force of his own kick, as though he had hit a wall of metal. He was foolish to have tried that with his normal civilian boots instead of his armored mithril greaves.
Rhamnusia snapped the heated sword where he held it and Climb stumbled away on to one knee. His foot throbbed in pain.
"Are you done?" Rhamnusia said. He tossed the broken tip of the blade aside in a casual manner.
He walked over to the body in the corner of the room he had been working on earlier. He picked up something that Climb couldn't see.
"H-Hey!" He scrambled to his feet and held the broken hilt of his sword before him. "What are you…?"
It was obvious that the demon was entirely uninterested in him.
Rhamnusia walked back towards Climb and shoved an item into his chest.
"Here, give Renner my regards."
"What?"
Rhamnusia strided out of the building but Climb could not find the reason or will to pursue him.
The demon disappeared into the alley.
"...he just left…"
He frantically went to Brain's side.
"He's breathing. Thank the gods. We're alive."
Even though the demon had escaped, it seems like there was nothing they could've done about it in the first place considering his strength. He considered himself lucky that he and Brain had been spared
He shook the shock and fear out of his head, they still needed to find Cocco Doll.
He realized that he was still holding the item in his hands.
He looked down.
"AhhH!"
His hands recoiled and it dropped it to the ground with a *plop*. The earlier release of acid had nearly melted the entire thing down to bone. He had found Cocco Doll.
...
After Sebas plowed the door down, he took two steps into the dark room.
He noticed that something was off. No one was there to meet him.
This room stinks of death.
A strong scent of blood permeated the room. It did not take long for his acute scenes to accurately determine the source. He turned his attention to a trapdoor in the corner that had been flung open.
He walked over and examined it.
My.
There were three dead bodies cramped underneath the trapdoor.
I see
The trapdoor opened into a corridor underneath, but it seems that someone had destroyed the staircase.
They must have been trying to escape from whoever did this and were killed quickly after realizing the staircase had already been destroyed.
He hopped down into the corridor, taking a moment to kick the blood off his shoes after landing in the puddle oozing from the corpses. He examined the splintered and charred remains of the staircase.
A lightning spell did this.
He turned back towards the rest of the dark corridor. The scent of death filled his nose.
The doors of the small rooms had all been opened. He came to the first room and looked inside.
It was a small room, with only a cabinet and a bed as furnishings. His senses picked up that there were still several living people inside. He saw a group of terrified women huddled in the corner.
Laying on the bed was the bloodied corpse of man. A bullet had passed through his forehead and left a crater on the wall behind him.
"Fascinating..."
It seemed that before he had been shot in the head, he had been shot in the crotch.
He quietly pulled away from the room. He trusted that Climb and his people would take care of the women afterward, so he continued to the next room.
He was met with a near identical scene: A man with two bullet holes, through the head and through the crotch.
As he continued down the brothel's many rooms, he was able to get a picture of what had happened. Someone had come through here and mercilessly shot every man in the crotch before finishing them with a bullet to the head.
He found himself slowly becoming impressed with the shooter. He was already silently praising the shooter for their initiative at serving justice on the brothel's users, but as he examined each body, he was impressed for a different reason.
"What superb accuracy…"
Every single shot had landed in exactly in the same place. From the positions and orientations of the bodies, it was clear that there was a mass panic and people were running all over the place trying to escape. Nevertheless, the shooter had been able to shoot every single one of them in the same two places.
After taking the time to clear the whole place and confirming that there were no survivors save for the women, he respectfully headed back to the trapdoor and leapt back to the ground floor.
...
Sebas exited the building and headed towards the place a few blocks down that Brain and Climb were clearing out.
He was met by Climb who was also exiting the building. Brain was slung across Climb's back.
"Sebas-sama…"
"What's wrong?"
Sebas noticed Brain's state of injury.
Climb laid Brain down and collapsed to the ground with nervous exhaustion. He continued after nodding to Sebas that they were okay.
"We ran into Rhamnusia."
Sebas's eyes lit up. He immediately sprung to the mouth of the building that Climb and Brain had just come out of.
"He's already gone, you just missed him."
Sebas silently reproached himself. If he hadn't been so captivated by the scene of the massacre in the brothel, he probably would've made it in time.
He sighed and went back to Climb, even if he didn't make it in time, he would still at least be able to gain some information on the demon who was supposedly in control of the Eight Fingers.
"Tell me what happened."
...
Stockwell came back to the Rendezvous point. It was a vacant warehouse that connected to their house via a back alleyway. It was rather convenient because it meant that they could safely get in and out of kit in relative secrecy.
He found Vera sitting alone on a broken crate, unmasked in the middle of the empty warehouse.
He came up behind her and took off his gas mask.
"You seem troubled."
Vera wordlessly nodded, she was hugging her shoulders and staring into space.
"I killed them all."
Stockwell nodded.
"Fair enough."
"I've killed many people in my life, but.. That for the purposes of collecting souls, negative energy, materials and stuff like that. For the cult. But this..."
She took a breath and continued.
"I did this purely because I wanted to...I enjoyed it."
She turned her eyes to meet Stockwell's. He looked into her mismatched eyes, the marble of pyrite and the marble of onyx, there was clear distress behind them.
"I'm not sure if that's right."
Stockwell gave her a shrug.
"Maybe, but I'm not in a position to judge. Violence is inevitable in this world. You have a talent, Vera, planting bullets in skulls is your calling, I think you should embrace it."
"Really?"
He shrugged again. "Really. I mean, we're on a pretty dark path as it is. If taking enjoyment in it wherever you can will keep you sane then so be it. Vera—"
He looked at her. "—Regardless of what happens, you saved my life. I'm on your side, 100%. I can't morally fault you for anything. Just do what you feel is right and I'll support you."
"Sane, you say…"
She hugged him and buried her face into his chest. This was actually rather dangerous considering all of the poisons and explosives he was carrying that were ready to go off at a moments notice.
"...got it."
Stockwell paused for a moment. He had only been in the position to emotionally comfort someone a scant few times back on earth. And even then, his time on earth now only seemed like a distant memory.
He just simply went with what felt natural. He put his hand on her head and brushed his fingers through her hair.
He reminded himself that humanity still existed in this new world.
He had nearly forgotten what species he belonged to.