EP.299 A World Made of Gears - 6
Even in such a disadvantageous situation, Maximilian burns with fighting spirit. Seeing him without the slightest intention of backing down, I clicked my tongue.
What's with that? Is he some kind of protagonist? Why is he burning so brilliantly?
I want to applaud Maximilian's attitude of not stopping even after achieving everything, striving to go beyond. If life is a spark that will someday extinguish, there will be no color left in his place after burning everything. Leaving only achromatic ashes on the ground, he will become the wind and fly anywhere in the sky. Ah, a fleeting but brilliant life. Everyone, applause.
However, recalling that his goal is 'me', my clapping hands awkwardly move to the back of my head. No matter how much I enjoy watching a fire, if that fire tries to burn me, I have no choice but to run away. Or stomp it out.
That is exactly why I like Maximilian but have no choice but to kill him. His wind will burn me.
Probably into something bizarre and unheard of, like the King of Sins.
I immediately took action.
"We have to fight! Lia. Remember the 'touching means defeat' rule?"
I asked because I thought she might not remember something from so long ago, but Historia answered smoothly.
"Heh. The rule you forced when we first sparred so you could score points? I remember. Some beanpole made a ridiculous suggestion, so I told you to go ahead and try, but you cowardly only aimed for the inside of my body, right? Keuk-keuk. I was so mad back then I really wanted to kill you."
"Seeing as you remember even the unnecessary parts, it was an unnecessary worry!"
While Historia was grinning, suddenly the ground beneath our feet subtly shook. Maximilian was trying to melt the ground under me and Historia with alchemy to turn it into a swamp of brass. Just as I sensed the sign and tried to escape—
Boom. Historia's foot heavily stomped on a steel beetle. Kun Qi Gong, the qi emitted from her foot spread like an earthquake. The steel plate dented slightly, and with that impact, several gears fell off.
To use alchemy, one must grasp the target object near perfectly. If a deformation occurs in the middle of the attempt, the alchemy fails. That is why alchemy is difficult to utilize in real combat.
Thanks to Historia stomping her foot, the alchemy was rendered invalid. The magic power that lost its direction evaporated.
Historia, who instinctively struck the biggest weakness of alchemy, asked without much excitement about what she had done.
"Why? Do that?"
"Not with you, with the target!"
Historia narrowed her eyes and asked.
"...Where do you want to touch on an old man like that?"
"I don't particularly want to touch him, and touching isn't the purpose in the first place! I have a certain method, so if I lay my hand on him, I can incapacitate him!"
"Heh, it's a joke. I know. I saw it earlier."
Maybe it's because she's high on drugs, but her words are popping out without passing through her brain. Shouldn't we settle the match quickly before her condition gets worse?
"You got it, Lia? I'll assist and aim for an opening. Please!"
"Please? Hmm, empty-handed?"
"I get it, so just for now!"
Even in a hurry, she's smiling with her eyes, will she be okay?
Fortunately, my worry was unfounded. Historia closed the distance to Maximilian in an instant and fiercely pressed him.
Boom, boom, boom. Every time fists and arms collided, the sound of steel clashing rang out. Maximilian's hands are prosthetics made of steel, but I have no idea why such sounds come from Historia's limbs.
Historia swung her arms and legs with refreshing vigor. The martial angles linked with Qi Gong connected naturally and flowed like water. When stepping, Kun Qi Gong supported her whole body, and when thrusting a fist, Qian Qi Gong burst forth. The Qi Gong, unified with her body, made her movements several times more agile and faster.
In contrast, Maximilian's movements were systematic like clockwork. When Historia threw a punch, the joint gears moved at precise speeds and angles to block it. His arms and legs moved at completely unpredictable angles, deflecting Historia's attacks outward. Devoting himself to defense like that, when an opening appeared, he aimed for it and unleashed his accumulated power all at once.
Without any warning, his arm clicked and detached, extending by about 1 meter. It was possible because his elbows and shoulders were gears, not joints. An ambush attack that would be absolutely impossible to predict without reading minds aimed for Historia's body.
'As expected. I thought he was gathering power.'
But even without being a mind reader, one can still play psychological warfare to some extent. Historia spun the gun she was holding and gripped it differently. Grasping the barrel, the gun became an excellent hammer. Historia struck down Maximilian's arm with the grip.
Clang!
The alchemical steel created by the military nation's strongest alchemist and the steel containing the military nation's strongest Qi Gong collided. The result of the sparking showdown was a draw. After the force that overwhelmed the mass collided, they bounced off in opposite directions.
However, Historia's gun is not actually a hammer. It is merely a cannon barrel for shooting Qi Gong, and gripping and swinging it is a secondary use.
Qi Gong flashed from the gun held in her reverse grip. A blue flame reflected on Maximilian's monocle.
Bang!
Maximilian's head snapped back almost 90 degrees. His body, hit by the bullet fired with Qi Gong, slid back smoothly.
But he didn't fall. Historia lowered her stance and assessed.
'It hit. No, he blocked it?'
His monocle was broken and dangling. A large bruise formed on his face. But he was still alive.
The self-moving monocle. It was an artifact for seeing the unseen, and at the same time, a protective gear he had poured his heart and soul into making to protect himself. The moment he sensed the muzzle flashing, he placed the monocle in the bullet's trajectory.
'Was there not enough time to gather qi? Too bad. I thought I caught him off guard well.'
Regardless of Historia's disappointment, close-quarters combat itself was in Historia's favor. Maximilian, having no chance of winning in close combat, slid backward and scratched the steel with his fingers. A pure white light carved deeply, and the steel plate was cut and flipped over as if snipped by scissors.
Visible through the cracked gap were countless gears packed closely together. Maximilian reached his hand toward them.
Maximilian's arm became a magnet. Just by bringing his hand close, countless gears swarmed like bees and stuck to it. The gears that stuck to his arm escaped my control, and rode along Maximilian's arm, spinning around to find their places. Each gear remembered its position and moved to reassemble.
In an instant, Maximilian gained a very large and functional mechanical arm. The fist was as big as Historia's torso.
'That's strange... His arm seems bigger than before. Am I seeing things?'
You idiot. It definitely got bigger.
Boom! The mechanical arm extended as it was and struck Historia's front hard. It was several times larger and several times longer than before. It wasn't on a scale to be knocked away with a gun grip. Historia crossed both arms and leaped backward.
"...Ugh."
It was when Historia staggered and was pushed back from the overwhelming shock.
Now. I clung to her half a beat faster and shouted.
"Lia! Movement number 8!"
Then Historia reacted reflexively.
In the past, when I was in school. I had excellent written test skills and disastrous practical test skills. Regardless of my true abilities, the military nation deprives you of opportunities if you don't receive good evaluations based on their set standards.
So I colluded with Historia to show off sparring sessions several levels higher than my actual abilities.
We set the movements in advance, and if I say a number, we move accordingly. If we coordinate in advance, even third-rate acting can look like a spar between masters. Because instead of spending spare energy doubting or guarding against each other, we put all our strength into moving.
Just like now.
Stepping back, Historia turned to the right with her left foot as the pivot. At the same time, I also jumped toward Historia's back. It was a movement where we would clearly collide soon. But for just a single moment, both of us twisted our bodies and brushed past each other's backs. In the fleeting moment of crossing, Historia pushed me with her shoulder and arm.
Thanks to that, my body shot forward as if fired.
It's much faster than in the past, but it doesn't matter. Like it or not, because of his abilities, Maximilian has no choice but to connect gears to his arm. Alchemy is ultimately a technique that alters matter. To move, power is needed, and for Maximilian, who has already undergone optimization, there is no other choice than gears.
If so, the moment I touch him, it's a replay of earlier. By reversely utilizing his Innate Demon Art, I just need to go against the flow of the gears and break his body from the inside.
'The thing I must be more wary of than Director Historia. It is the King of Men. His ability is unreasonable even in fragments.'
I reached out. My fingertips were just about to touch Maximilian's mechanical arm. If I just touch it, I will irreversibly and certainly break it. Because my ability is his ability.
'You will climb up against the gears and attack me. Ruining me with my own power, unable to even resist.'
Maximilian knew that fact all too well.
He was dealing with Historia, but behind his monocle, he was only looking at me. Even though I suddenly popped out from behind Historia, he continued to pay attention to my side.
'If so, I will cut it off before it touches. So that that power cannot reach me.'
Tch. It's ruined.
I need to redo the plan.
Crash. Maximilian detached the mechanical arm and his prosthetic. He pulled it out so hastily that the gears that hadn't fully slipped out scraped the inner wall with a metallic screech. Abandoning it without any lingering attachment, something he created by consuming considerable magic power and gears, he retreated with all his might. Without caring for dignity or anything else, he distanced himself from me even if he had to roll on the ground.
Gears poured down right before my eyes. I immediately shouted.
"Number 2!"
Historia swiftly snatched my cloak. My body stopped abruptly in the air, and my raised foot scratched the empty air. The mechanical arm crumbled down right before my eyes, but thanks to Historia pulling me, I avoided being hit.
"Ack!"
Would it have been better to just get hit? The cloak pulled on my neck and shoulders, choking me.
After coughing a few times, I straightened my posture and said.
"If we keep going like this, it'll become a war of attrition. Lia, how much qi do you have left?"
"I'm not sure... If I push myself, maybe I can keep shooting?"
"And if you don't push yourself?"
"Two shots."
So it means two shots is the end.
If we were fully prepared, continuing the war of attrition would be the right answer. Maximilian is tearing out the core of the steel beetles to use as material to make even a single mechanical arm. There are also the 'traps' I set up while running away earlier, so the gears he can use will soon be gone.
But right now, we are also close to our limits. The urgent us must make a decisive gamble.
"What about your ultimate technique?"
"If I push myself, somehow barely."
"Even for just one time, it's a close call... I guess we have to bet on that. Alright, I'll create an opening this time."
A brute-force clash without even a strategy. Without even being given the choice of strength, there is only the will to do something somehow.
This is normal. Beasts all originally live like this. Die while running away, die while fighting. Or even die from eating the wrong thing and falling ill.
Unwillingly, but still to protect myself. I pulled a card out of my pocket.