Helba cast a spell; the Darkness spell Ani Zot
But it didn’t hit, and normal attacks would not work on non-spec enemies.
Skeith passed through the effect of the spell and approached us as if there were no obstacles.
Lios jumped off the bike.
I leaned forward, moved from the luggage carrier to the seat and clung to the steering wheel.
“You can’t, Lios!” I cried out. “We don’t have the bracelet so it’s absurd. You can’t stop him!”
I understood this well, having faced Skeith twice. Somehow, Skeith was exceptional among the Eight Phases.
Lios was keeping pace with the steam bike as though we were a hovercraft.
Behind his folded arms and scowling face there was the nightmarish figure of Skeith who couldn’t be shaken off.
“Kite, you have the bracelet’s divine protection,” Lios said. “It should be that way, but in any case, you’re the only one who has the potential to work with the system. So let me go to Morganna.”
He unfolded his arms and his fists shone with a faint light.
Lios, the King of Light, the strongest middle manager in this world.
For a brief moment, Lios and Skeith stopped moving and glared at each other. As they ran at high speed, time seemed to stop around them.
I got the illusion that their gaze was creating sparks.
The next moment, Lios was striking Skeith.
At the same time, Skeith was wielding his staff.
A terrible smashing battle ensued with each participant striking each other front on.
I managed to stabilize the bike via the handlebars and I watched the fight.
Surprisingly, Lios‘s attacks seemed to work against Skeith. A punch from Lios staggered Skeith momentarily.
I recalled that he and the Pig Squadron had just received Aura’s power. His attacks were going through Skeith. Somewhat.
The fight between the Terror Death, Skeith, and a merchant PC was an absurd story to begin with.
It didn’t take long for Lios to be smashed with Skeith’s staff.
Orca came to my mind.
What a massacre. This was… like what happened to Orca.
Lios fell on his bike, just like a boxer on the verge of being knocked out leans against the ropes of a boxing ring.
Still, Lios did not fall. He kept going.
“Lios, go back to your bike. Don’t fight Skeith.”
His PC body was already cracking and parts of him were beginning to peel away. No matter how much of Aura’s blessing he had received, he was falling apart…
“Listen, Kite. We literally cut our lives short porting and developing The World. We didn’t do it to meet that crazy German’s wild ideas, nor did we do it at the request of a selfish, hysterical system,” Lios said, staring at Skeith.
“What we knew of the original story and setting was stupid anyway, we could have left it for pig slop.”
Skeith approached little by little.
“We wanted to bring a good game into the world. That’s it. Nothing more.”
Skeith’s right hand raised his staff into the air.
“Is there any other reason for us to protect this world?”
The moment the staff was swung down, Lios’s body flew upwards.
“Don’t underestimate a system administrator!”
He was struck by Skeith’s blow and his PC body was deeply gouged by the slashing staff.
At the same time, Lios’s right fist smashed right into Skeith’s face.
Skeith’s body shook immensely. It was proof that serious damage had been done, damage that was different from before.
The damage to Lios was also serious. The fist that had hit Skeith had barely remained in its original shape, and his whole body had many deep cracks.
Someone caught Lios, who was about to fall, from behind.
It was Helba. She had jumped off the steam bike.
“I will delete the irregular data–” Helba said, stretching her right arm around Lios’s shoulder.
“Okay, Lios?”
PhAni Zot, the most powerful darkness spell, burst forth.
An attack that wouldn’t normally bother Skeith, but he was provoked.
It was unlike the damage done to Lios.
The cooperation between the system administrator and the hacker forced Skeith, who had been protected by non-spec parameters, to yield.
I didn’t know what happened from then on, because the steam bike, now running at a tremendous speed, left behind the stopped Skeith, Lios and Helba.
Balmung, who had been watching the battle between Skeith and Lios, sent his Grunty to the side of the steam bike.
“Look, Kite–“
I turned my face in Balmung’s direction.
A huge eyeball was looking down at the two of us.
Balmung and I finally caught up with Morganna Mode Gone.
Now the real battle was about to start.
I soon realized something was wrong.
Morganna had stopped spawning the hordes of Seekers.
If the hordes had been reinforced, we wouldn’t have been able to do anything.
They had been floating high in the air, but now they were hovering low, as though crawling on the ground.
What was going on? Was she planning something? Or was there a problem?
Perhaps it had something to do with Mr. Tokuoka’s work, as Helba mentioned, but Helba was no longer around to explain.
I shook my head.
This was no time to think too much.
In any case, we were on our way to Morganna. I was thinking so much.
What should we do when we arrive at Morganna?
Should we attack? Should we talk?
Wiseman instructed me to “talk.”
I told Balmung about it.
“That’s impossible. Don’t bother,” Balmung replied.
“We can’t afford to talk. If this happens, we’ll have no choice but to fight. There’s only the two of us. It’ll be over when we ’re done.”
Balmung was right.
Skeith had fallen by the wayside behind us, but a large group of Seekers was approaching us.
From the front, the Seekers formed a cabal and were waiting for us.
If we were to go right to them, we would be caught.
We would have to work a little harder to get to Morganna.
“Okay, go right won my signal,” Balmung said, manipulating the Grunty’s reins.
“I’ll go left. We split up and destroy the Seekers, then attack Morganna at the same time from both sides. Okay?”
“Got it!”
Balmung’s operation went well.
We successfully separated the Seekers’ and met again in front of Morganna.
I slammed my right-hand twin blade into Morganna’s eyeball and Balmung struck his sword into Morganna’s torso.
Morganna screamed in agony.
Our attack was working. She was weakening.
We took another shot at Morganna.
The Seekers couldn’t keep up with our movements.
Morganna was now weak.
If we kept going, we could win this. As soon as I thought this, Morganna’s eyes began to shine. A sequence of data was fired at is and flew ever closer.
It was a Data drain attack.
I barely managed to dodge it by pushing the bike out of the way and jumping to the side, but I couldn’t land as well as Lios. He crashed into the ground, rolled, and managed to bounce back up.
“Balmung!” I yelled.
Balmung was surrounded by a horde of Seekers.
“Damn, is this the end for me?”
I could clearly hear Balmung mutter.
Balmung was drained along with his Grunty and they disappeared.
Morganna’s Data Drain caused mayhem. The Seeker that was created passed through without giving a thought to it.
A sequence of data flew back towards me, forming a strangely regular pattern.
I lost my last companion, Balmung, right in front of me and I was stunned by an indescribable shock and sense of loss.
Everyone had been defeated.
Everyone was killed in front of me.
Just like Orca.
Just like the Net Slum residents.
Just like the system administrators.
And like the friends I met on my adventures so far.
Elk, Wiseman, BlackRose, Lios, Helba, and Balmung.
Suddenly, I was driven by intense emotions that I didn’t fully understand.
I wanted to say something to Morganna Mode Gone, that is to say, Emma Wieland.
“Emma Wieland! Did you forget who you are?“
But I didn’t succeed in getting the words to her. It was useless.
It was a transparent thing to say.
My words didn’t reach Morganna.
I didn’t know much about Harald Hoerwick or Emma Wieland in the first place anyway.
I was a complete stranger to Morganna. No matter what a stranger would say, it wouldn’t be communicated to her.
However…
I had barely avoided the data drain that rushed at me.
Damn, that did it.
“Give it up! Dammit!”
I started running.
I jumped over the Seekers, escaped the data sequence and continued running.
I jumped at Morganna and tried to strike with one of my blades.
From this point on, it was difficult to explain what had happened.
How long had I been there?
Suddenly Aura threw herself in front of me.
I couldn’t stop my momentum, and my blade pierced Aura’s chest and I greatly perturbed Morganna below.
Aura? Why?
She muttered just one word.
“Mother…”
Was that her motive?
Morganna gave a clear reaction.
Morganna bent over Aura as though embracing her, surrounded by a dazzling light.
My senses were drawn to it.
I thought I heard a baby crying somewhere. I didn’t know what that meant.
Was Morganna Mode Gone the individuality of Emma Wieland after all?
That also remained unknown.
But at the last moment, Aura protected Morganna and if I wasn’t mistaken, Morganna tried to protect Aura for a moment as well.
.hack//Translate 