Chapter 17: Escape from Limbo

Chapter 17:
Escape from Limbo

 

“OVER THERE! That arm sticking out right near the middle!”

“I still have no idea which one you’re talking about, but I’ll get you close!”

Nekt grabbed hold of Milkit and teleported onto Satils’ corpse-covered body to make sure it was safe to actually touch it. Once she was certain of their relative safety, she set Milkit down.

Satils’ laugh boomed throughout the village.

“There’s nothing you weaklings can do! You’re nothing more than an afternoon snack to me. Such a disgrace that you have the gall to call yourselves heroes!”

Satils hadn’t caught on yet.

Milkit knelt down onto the spongy mass beneath her and shoved both hands through a small gap between the

bodies. She knew pulling Flum out was impossible, but she could at least pray Flum heard her words.

“Master…it’s me. You’ve done so much for me. It’s my most desperate hope that I can also give back and be of some use to you. Please…please, just listen to my voice!”

She prayed with her entire being for Flum to come back. Nekt felt a sense of envy and admiration wash over her as she watched Milkit, realizing just how close their bond was.

“Hm? What are you doing up there??”

Satils finally took notice of their presence, craning her neck to look back at Milkit praying and Nekt standing over her. She let out a hearty chuckle.

“Oh, so you’re trying to save Flum? Go ahead, pray your heart out! Believe in the power of your bond! I love it, Milkit! I’ll just love crushing your dreams!!”

“I’m not gonna let that happen!”

“All right then, I guess I’ll just have to smash you first!”

A tendril launched toward Nekt, though she was easily able to evade the attack by using her Connection power to throw it off course.

“How can you stand against me?! You only have one core!”

“Heh, there’s more to this game than raw power!”

And yet, Satils’ control over the focal core made her far more powerful than Nekt by a large margin. In a head-to-head match using Origin’s might, it would be no contest.

“Damn you!”

The next blast hit Nekt head-on, throwing her off Satils’ back and through the wall of a nearby building before she finally came to rest in a pile of rubble.

Now Milkit was on her own. Another tendril careened toward her.

“Please, Master…”

“If praying was the answer to your problems, you would’ve never been in this position, girlie!”

“Back off, Satils!!”

“Gadhio, you’re on Milkit. Ice Enchantment!”

Ice formed around Gadhio’s blade as he smashed it into one tendril after the next. Though his Jötunn Blade still couldn’t cut all the way through, he at least batted them off course, keeping Milkit safe for the time being.

As long as they were still standing atop Satils’ back, she could easily attack them from any direction. She should have been able to wipe them out in an instant, and yet, she didn’t. Or perhaps…couldn’t.

Absorbing Flum—and her Reversal ability—had likely dampened Origin’s power. The spot where Milkit stood must have been a spot where Satils didn’t have full control, leaving her no option but to strike from a distance.

“Keep ’em coming, and I’ll keep knocking them out of the way!” Gadhio roared.

“You’re really becoming a pest, Gadhio Lathcutt!”

“I’ll make sure you never forget my name!”

“Why, you annoying, meagre, impertinent low-life scum!!”

Gadhio and Eterna blocked tendril after tendril as they closed in on Milkit.

“Listen, we can’t hold up like this forever, Milkit!”

“That’s what I’m here for!” Nekt rejoined the other two in keeping Milkit safe.

Since destroying the tendrils was out of the question, Nekt grappled them and drew herself to nearby buildings, forcing the tendrils far off track.

“Why are you fools wasting your time like this?! Flum is gone now, and even if she did come back, it’d do you no good! Just give up and let me see the delicious look of defeat in your eyes!”

Milkit only continued her frantic prayers. “Master… Master… Master!!”

Flum’s finger twitched.

 

***

 

“I…”

Discovering one’s identity without any external influence should have been fundamentally impossible. And yet the empty shells lying at the bottom of the ocean of consciousness knew who they were.

“I want to see her again.” “I wish we could have spent more time together.” “I wish he was just left dead.” “I don’t want to ever experience such disappointment ever again.” “I really loved him. I just wish words were enough to get my feelings across.”

The empty shells held only their most passionate desires from when they were still alive. It was their feelings, their love for other people, that allowed them to hold onto some shred of self even in the depths of Origin’s consciousness.

“Master, please… Master…Master…Master!”

She heard a voice. But whose?

She felt something. Her body started to respond. In the back of her mind, she knew she had to protect the person behind that voice.

“Mil…kit?”

It all came back at once. The name, the girl she cared for so deeply, and her own name.

“That’s right, I was swallowed by…something. Am I inside it?”

Even with her newfound awareness, she couldn’t move freely. It felt like an immense weight rested on top of her.

The man in front of her began to speak. “You’re…Flum, right?”

“Dafydd Chalmas…”

“So, it is you. I guess you got dragged in here too, then.”

“Where are we?”

“I don’t know. Perhaps we’re inside Origin’s consciousness, or maybe this is where all dead people go.”

He spoke weakly, overcome by how helpless he was.

“All these people suffered because of me. And probably others, too, assuming there are any survivors.”

“I don’t think all the blame rests at your feet.”

“Maybe. Maybe not. In any case, it was my own arrogance that caused this disaster. I want to apologize for that, Flum.”

“This is a pretty big departure from how you acted right up to your death.”

“I’ve had time to think, and to wonder if I could have done anything differently. Living in a world without Susy was worse than hell.”

Flum had no response. She didn’t want to completely let him off the hook, but giving him some platitude about finding another reason to live also didn’t seem right.

“You still have a reason to live. There’s someone back in the other world that needs you to keep her safe.”

“I…suppose you’re right. She sounds like she’s already crying for me.”

“I’m jealous. I wonder if Susy would have done the same for me? Right now, you’re being punished for the same sins I committed. But you have the power to reverse the curse.”

“Lots of things. Not just curses.”

“There’s one favor I’d like to ask of you.”

“Kill Satils?”

“Right. You’re…still…alive. May…be you can…pull it off. Just…use all the weight of our grief.”

All of the bodies opened their eyes in unison in response to Dafydd’s call and looked toward Flum. They cried out mournfully.

If she could just reverse all of this cursed energy, she might stand a chance at breaking free.

“I was thinking the same thing. I’ll break out of here and kill Origin and that woman.”

“Thank you…for granting such…a selfish request. I feel like…I’ll…be with Susy soon.”

Dafydd’s eyes drooped closed, and he fell still.

Flum felt power surge through her. It wasn’t her imagination. Her fingertip twitched as she regained her sense of touch. Something small and cold deep inside Satils’ body had made contact with her.

Her stats rose steadily.

“Right…that’s…”

She felt a powerful curse on the object. All of the hatred flowing from Dafydd and everyone Origin had betrayed after being brought back to life, along with the many victims in Sheol, was gathered here.

Flum clasped her fingers around it, clenching so tightly her palm began to bleed.

“Haaaaah!!”

A power unlike anything she had ever known coursed through her.

“Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaugh!!”

All of her prana and reversal magic blasted out in a massive explosion that burned a hole through all the bodies in her way. She squeezed Milkit’s hand tightly and pulled herself out before pulling Milkit into a warm embrace.

“M-master!”

“I heard you, Milkit. Thanks.”

Tears pooled in Milkit’s eyes as she buried her head into Flum’s chest. “I’m…so happy to hear that.”

“Where did that power come from all of a sudden? You were completely stuck!! Why, I’ve never heard of anything so absurd as a prayer making someone stronger! It’s absolutely preposterous!”

There were few things in this world Satils hated more than justice delivered and a happy ending. Beside herself with rage, she sent another volley of tendrils flying in Flum’s direction. Their tips angled toward her and spun like drills.

Flum hefted up her Souleater in both hands and engaged them head-on.

“Why…why did you get so powerful all of a sudden?! None of this makes any sense! This kind is the kind of nonsense reserved for fairy tales!”

Flum’s hands shook as she returned the tendrils’ attacks blow for blow. She was holding her ground. “You brought this all on yourself, Satils!”

“Don’t speak such nonsense, dearie! I am perfection! Everything goes my way!”

“Everything you’ve done is out of hatred for humanity! You’ve crushed hopes, dreams, people’s love for their family and friends…all for your own twisted desires!”

“So what? What does that have to do with you getting more powerful??”

The tendrils spun even faster. The only way that she could stand so close to such a powerful enemy was thanks to her reversal power sapping their strength. Anyone else would have been ripped to shreds.

“When people have their futures ripped away from them, it births an immense hatred in their hearts—a curse!”

The entire village of Sheol was cursed.

If Flum weren’t here, this sense of anger over unfulfilled dreams and stolen futures would likely have ended up coalescing into petty cursed equipment.

“All of their cursed energy is in this ring!”

All of their hopes and dreams were now left with Flum, coalesced into Dafydd Chalmas’ wedding ring.

 

Name: Wedding Ring of Loss and Lies

Tier: Epic

[This equipment lowers its wearer’s Strength by 1,012]

[This equipment lowers its wearer’s Magic by 1,072]

[This equipment lowers its wearer’s Endurance by 1,053]

[This equipment lowers its wearer’s Agility by 1,088]

[This equipment lowers its wearer’s Perception by 1,039]

 

This gave Flum a combined stat value of 12,693—an S-Rank.

“This isn’t a coincidence…this is the natural conclusion to you and Origin’s heinous acts!” Flum batted a tendril away and unleashed a storm of prana that cut away at Satils’ body.

“Ow…oww, it hurts! But you’re still too weak! Whatever curses you may have working for you, it’s not enough. I already told you once, girlie: there’s no one stronger than me. You’ve just been fighting weakened reanimated corpses so far. You’re back, but you still can’t scratch me!”

She wasn’t boasting—the Prana Storm failed to do any damage to the focal core or to Satils herself.

Nekt was up next. “Well then, what if we all attack together?”

She flickered in and out of the scene, gathering Flum, Milkit, Eterna, and Gadhio all in one place.

“Whoa… Could you at least give me a heads-up next time? Anyway, I guess I know what to do. Ice Enchantment!” Eterna wreathed Flum’s sword in frost.

“Right. I’ll give you my Earth Enchantment and prana, Flum!” A layer of rock formed over Flum’s blade. Prana suffused the whole thing. The blade was now nearly as long as Satils’ entire body.

“Hnng…!” Flum struggled to hold it aloft.

“So this is what you meant by coming together? Ha! And what do you plan on doing with that stupidly huge sword? You can’t even move it!”

“Let me help with that.”

Nekt ignored Satils’ taunts, teleporting Flum and Milkit high into the air. Flum knew what to do next. Milkit glanced over at Flum in confusion but decided to trust her and cling tight.

“Hang on!!”

“R-right!”

Nekt tightened her grasp. “Connection!”

She connected the Souleater with the focal core, drawing them together at blinding speed—with Flum along for the ride.

“Hyaaaaaaaaaaaaaugh!!” Flum picked up speed until she hit terminal velocity moments before making contact with Satils.

“You think dropping down on me will do you any good?!”

Flum’s reversal-infused blade made contact with the focal core. A shock wave shook the entire village.

Satils was forced into the ground with such force that the earth under her gave way, carved out into a massive crater. All the surrounding buildings were blown away or reduced to rubble.

And yet, Satils still absorbed the blow, thanks to the power of the focal core.

“Was that your best shot? Heh, and you call yourself a hero! You’re nothing more than a West District street rat! You never stood a chance against me, Satils Francois, brilliant business mogul of our fair kingdom!”

“Get over yourself! You’ve only gotten to where you are by using others as stepping stones!”

“Is that alone not proof of my true strength? Ha!”

A crack began to form in the outer layer of prana encasing the Souleater.

“Who needs love, dreams, or hope for the future anyway?! Look at you, you even need to drag Milkit around everywhere you go! You’re a little punk pretending to be a hero!”

The prana layer gave way, and the stone blade made contact with Satils. The prana didn’t merely dissipate—it managed to further suppress Satils’ power and finally brought a pained look to her face.

“You know nothing! If there is a hero known as Flum, she only exists through Milkit and my combined strength! We’re a hero…together!”

“What are you going on about? Your bond? Friendship? You make me sick with all your fanciful talk!!”

Satils transformed her rebuff into a renewed attack. The stone blade twisted before it, too, gave way and shattered.

“I see you made that little plaything just for me to destroy! There’s really no difference between you and that lovesick Dafydd. You’ll end up dead, just like him!”

With the Earth Enchantment gone, that left Eterna’s coating of ice to stab down into Satils.

Flum gripped the handle of her sword so tightly her hands began to discolor and bleed. The only thing that let her push through the pain, through the aching in her arms as the energy coursed through them, was the warmth clinging to her side.

“No…we won’t lose!”

Milkit was all too aware of just how ineffective and weak she was, but she also knew Flum needed her. She had no idea just how much help she could be to Flum, but as long as Flum wanted her by her side, then she would give it all she had. She promised herself this much from the bottom of her heart.

“And what makes you so positive? Just look at what happened to Dafydd! He loved Susy right to the bitter end. Even with all your strength, I’m still chipping away at you!”

Flum groped for words, but Milkit chimed in first.

“That’s because I love my Master… I love her more than you could possibly hate. That’s why she won’t lose to you!”

They held each other up, gave each other strength, trusted one another unconditionally, and were always at one another’s side. Love. That was the emotion Milkit had spent her entire life searching for.

Satils cackled. “And what are you basing that on? Nothing! You think you can beat me with something silly like that? Don’t make me laugh!!”

“I don’t need any proof. You’ll just see for yourself!!”

“Go ahead and give it your best! Look at what you’ve achieved so far! Your blade is breaking apart at the seams!”

A crack crept through the ice. It was only a matter of time until it, too, shattered. That would leave only the Souleater itself.

“Look, just look. It broke! With the last of your blades gone, it looks like you’re pretty much at your end. Love has been defeated, and now the world will hear the intermingling of your cries and my laughter! Say goodbye to your happy ending!!”

“We’re not done yet! Reversion!!”

Flum anticipated that it might come down to this. Satils was so powerful that she might not be able to break the core that easily. She had spent her time coming up with one last gambit.

She would reverse the eradication of everyone’s combined powers.

“Gyaaaaaaaaaugh!!” Satils’ body shuddered as she let out a shrill cry. “There’s something…something stabbing my back! Those… Did those fragments come back?!”

After all the time she spent focusing on her test of strength with Flum, the battlefield now stretched to cover her entire back. Or, rather, all of the strength she used earlier was now coming back in force.

“This little magic trick of yours still isn’t enough to turn things around!”

Even as she said the words, she could feel her concentration fading as the damage mounted. Each wound was quickly filled with a characteristic swirl—her control over Origin was weakening. This put her in an incredibly precarious position; she became less and less able to maintain the delicate balance between her own core and the focal core.

“Maybe it shouldn’t be possible, but I won’t let that stop me from turning the tables! I’m bringing the hopes of the living and the curses of the dead with me!”

Flum would put their magic, Nekt’s connection power, and Gadhio’s prana into this. And if that still wasn’t enough, she still had one last card left unplayed.

The only problem was that she was getting weaker by the second. She got right up to the focal core and poured all her remaining prana into her sword.

“You’re done, Satils!” The moment the tip of the blade made contact with the black crystal, she unleashed all of her magic into it to reverse the spin of the spiral deep within. The ensuing burst of negative energy let the Souleater find more purchase and sink into the weakened focal core. A crack formed along the surface with a loud pop before the entire core shattered.

Flum tumbled down to the ground with Milkit.

“Yeah!”

“You did it!”

Eterna rushed over on Fenrir and scooped up the two girls. With her focal core gone, it was just a matter of time until Satils died…

Or at least, so they thought.

“You…destroyed the focal core…”

With her power source gone and her ability to coordinate the hundreds of corpses lost, her outer body began to fall apart. But Satils still had her own core. The one embedded within her that brought her back from the dead.

She let out a shrill laugh.

“But you see, my core is still very much intact! I can still bond with the bodies and… and… huh?!”

Satils suddenly arched her back and vomited blood. Her body was falling apart from all her earlier exertion.

Pieces of organs joined the fountain of blood pouring from her mouth.

As Satils’ condition degraded, the focal core underwent a transformation of its own as a result of Flum’s reversal. Were it any normal core, it would simply self-destruct, but a crystal this big began to implode, sucking things into it like a black hole.

Satils groaned in pain as her insides continued to pour out of her mouth and her body was ever so slowly pulled back toward the focal core in its vacuum-like grip. Her face distorted in a cruel mockery of its former self as her death began to unfold.

Flum and Milkit watched from their perch atop Fenrir’s back.

“I’d say that’s a fitting end for such a despicable woman.”

“I agree.”

Gadhio watched with interest as the focal core sucked in all the other corpses as it slowly destroyed itself.

“And it looks like we won’t even need to take care of the bodies,” he said.

“But isn’t your wife’s body in there, too?”

“A part of me wishes I could give her a proper burial, but there’s still a risk that her body might be used for nefarious purposes again. This is probably the most fitting end. It was Origin’s power that brought her body back in the first place.”

Tia’s body was almost completely ripped to shreds when she originally died, so it was only thanks to the power of the Origin core that her organs and brain even existed in the first place. Now that they were robbed of Origin’s power, Tia—much like Lukoh had done earlier—would likely devolve back into a mass of flesh and muscle.

A small smile came to Gadhio’s lips.

Besides, it won’t be long until we’re together again. There’s no need to spend time thinking about where her body rests.

Shortly after the outpouring of negative energy died down, Ottilie brought Ink back to the village.

“Are you okay, Eterna? Were you hurt?!”

“I’m fine, no worries. I’m glad to see you’re okay, too.” Eterna pulled the younger girl into a tight embrace and stroked her head.

“That was quite a battle! I was watching it all unfold from under cover, but wow! I’ve never seen anything like it!!” Welcy approached the group, practically bursting with excitement.

“You stayed in the village?!”

“Of course I did. A scoop like this doesn’t just fall on your desk every day. Once I get this all written down, this will spell the church’s doom, I’m sure! I mean, sure, I almost died, but that’s part of the job.” Judging by her soiled clothes and mussed hair, she’d been fairly close to the action, too.

“I’m not sure if I should be impressed or aghast that you can maintain such high spirits,” said Ottilie.

Flum looked toward Ottilie and cocked her head to the side. “Hey, Ottilie…what are you doing here, anyway?”

She knew nothing about their earlier arrival, so her confusion was only natural.

Werner explained their mission. “Henriette ordered us to keep an eye on you. We were keeping watch from the outskirts.”

“Sis is really good at gauging things like this, you see.”

“So she gave that order after I met with her…? Well, either way, thank you.”

“I’ll be sure to pass that message along.”

As far as Ottilie was concerned, it was Henriette they should be thankful to.

Gadhio glanced over at the members of the royal army. “But how did you guys get hurt? Now that I think about it, you were already pretty beat up before you escorted the survivors to safety.”

Ottilie’s smile faded. “Right around the time when the dead began to attack, we were assaulted by a horde of monsters.”

“They had these nasty, fleshy spirals where their faces should’ve been.”

“We got held up dealing with them.”

“Hmm, those were no mere monsters—they’re the Chimera project’s work. It seems like they were planning to wipe everyone here out while destroying the Necromancy team.”

“Echidna Ipeila really is a cruel, ruthless woman.”

Flum had heard Dafydd say something incredibly similar before. Assuming she was the one playing Gorne and Satils, Echidna truly was a force to be reckoned with. Now that Flum and the rest had drawn her attention, they would need to be more careful.

“Speaking of Chimera, I seem to recall Satils mentioning that there was a traitor inside the Necromancy team.”

Milkit’s words jogged Flum’s memory. “Aah, right. Gorne…Forgan, I think. He was selling information to Echidna.”

“That was the guy Dafydd referred to as his friend, right?”

“I remember running across his wife and kid when we were battling through the facility, but I don’t recall seeing him at all.”

“Makes sense that the traitor would run.”

“If he left the village before things went south, he must still be pretty close. You might still be able to catch him if you give chase now.”

Ottilie agreed with Eterna’s suggestion and turned to Werner. “Werner, following people is your specialty.”

“You want me to chase down some guy? Off in the woods? Gah, what a drag…”

Usually, Ottilie would bark back with some harsh words of her own at his attitude, but she seemed too emotionally exhausted after the day’s fight to do that this time. “All right then, I’ll do it.”

“Wait, what?”

“Why do you look so surprised? You said you didn’t want to do it, so I’ll go instead. You can look after the survivors, then.”

“H-hold up! Look after them? You’ve gotta be joking! Gah! She’s already gone…looks like I messed this one up big time.”

Werner ran a hand through his hair in annoyance. Fortunately, no one in the vicinity knew what he actually meant.

 

***

 

Within the hour, Ottilie made it back to Sheol with Gorne in tow. It had been a relatively uneventful capture. Once she was on the scene, Werner made his way back to the capital in order to secure resources for the survivors from Henriette.

Under normal circumstances, the royal army had no right to enter privately owned land without permission, but the impending emergency changed things. After performing triage and handling the survivors’ injuries, destroying the remaining cores, and conducting a brief interrogation of Gorne, reinforcements arrived with the dawn.

In light of Chimera’s involvement, Flum was concerned that the church knights might beat the royal army to the punch, but she was glad to see Lieutenant General Herrmann heading the royal forces. According to him, the church knights had shown no signs of mobilizing.

It made sense, in a way, that the heads of the church would choose not to involve themselves in the dispute between Chimera and Necromancy. It was for the best.

Flum decided to leave the rest up to the military and began preparing to leave.

“You know, I never would have imagined you would have done so much to help us,” she said to Nekt once she found her sitting atop a pile of rubble. Even after the battle was won, Nekt had hung back to help with the cleanup, not keen on being seen by the royal army. Considering Ottilie and Werner already saw her, though, this seemed a moot point to Flum.

“I wouldn’t be able to call in any favors from you guys if I left.”

“So, you’ve made up your mind?”

“Yeah. During the battle, I couldn’t help but see just how annoying Papa is. He didn’t care about us at all; he was just obsessed with you and Satils. He’s no different from Mother. I’ve got no place with them anymore.”

Not having a place you belonged wasn’t so different from not having a reason to exist, under the right circumstances. Nekt must have figured out her own way to give her life meaning.

“I’m going to go talk to the others. I’m pretty sure it’ll take some time to win them over.”

It sounded like she was sold on the idea of undergoing surgery to remove the Origin core implanted within her. There were still many challenges ahead she would need to face; Mother not the least of them.

“Well, let me know if you run into any trouble,” Flum said. “I’ll do whatever I can to help you break free of the church.”

“You’re pretty impressive, Flum. I hope I won’t need to rely on you. I really don’t want to have to kill anyone.” Nekt stood up and beat the dirt from the seat of her pants.

“You don’t want to talk with Ink about this?”

“I don’t have the other Children on board yet. Besides, every time I see that bright smile on her face whenever she’s with that Eterna lady, it just doesn’t feel right for me to talk to her.”

“I’m sure she doesn’t mind.”

“She’s just such an airhead, ya know? You let her know that if she doesn’t want to get teased all the time, she really needs to fix that about herself.”

Flum could only chuckle at the annoyance in Nekt’s voice.

Suddenly, her tone turned serious. “But…ya know, I really don’t look down on her like I used to. We were always told she was a failed project, but she’s achieved much more than any of us. Besides getting away from Mother, she’s made her own place to call home. She’s shown me what it’s like to have a future to look forward to.”

“Do you consider her an older sister now?”

“I always thought of her like a goofy, flawed older sister. I just had a really twisted way of expressing it.”

Twisted seemed like an understatement. Nekt also seemed to realize there was something she needed to change.

“Anyway, I suppose we should probably make it official.”

“What are you talking about?”

“This.” Nekt extended her right hand toward Flum. Her cheeks went pink, and she ran her left hand through her hair out of embarrassment.

Flum smiled gently at Nekt as she squeezed her hand.

“Looking forward to working together, Nekt.”

“Just remember that we’re just helping each other out. It’s not like we’re friends or nothin’.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“You’re gonna forget, aren’t ya?”

“If we’re lucky.”

Flum could only hope they would never need to clash again, especially after they’d made it this far.

“See you again.”

“Later.”

“Connection!” With that, Nekt was gone.

Milkit approached Flum as soon as Nekt disappeared. “Did Nekt really go back?”

“We’ll see her again; of that much I’m sure. It seems like she’s finally made up her mind to remove her core.”

Now all they had to do was think up a way to source a heart between now and then. Gruesome though the topic may have been, Flum was fairly confident they would be able to figure something out.

“Well, we did everything we set out to do. Let’s get going home.”

“I think that’s a good idea. Let’s go home!”

The long night finally came to a close.

Flum left the tragic remains of the town behind and made her way back to the capital.