9

Whenever an explosion rocked the upper levels of the tower, it released a violent shockwave that shook the whole town. It was like a vision into Hell itself, with rubble and screaming people alike plummeting from the upper levels down to the inky depths below.

“Dammit, that old man’s lost his mind…! I need to find Milo, fast!”

“You can’t! The rust is building up again. I must extract it immediately or else the mushrooms will tear you apart first!”

After conquering the Earth Tower, Bisco and Tirol returned to Amrit Healing (along with Kandori, for some reason, now professing himself to be Bisco’s most ardent supporter). Bisco understood the importance of his regular extraction sessions, but the tension was getting to him, and he found himself worrying about his partner more and more.

“You tellin’ me to just close my eyes and go beddy-bye when the whole city’s fallin’ apart—?!”

As Bisco yelled, a glittering Rust-Eater burst out of his collar. As Bisco stared at it in shock, Tirol wrestled him onto his back atop the balcony of the clinic.

“I told ya to keep yer blood pressure down! If I let ya go, Milo’s gonna kill me!”

“Thank you very much, Miss Tirol, ma’am! Now, brother dearest, hold still.”

“You’re welcome, but are ya sure this is hygienic? Rippin’ open his stomach out here where there’s all sortsa germs, I bet.”

“I agree, but if he will not move to the bed, then we have little choice. In any case, I am sure it will be fine. This is Bisco we are talking about, after all.”

“Hmm, yeah, I guess you’re right.”

“An’ what the hell’s that supposed to mean, huh?!”

As Bisco twisted and turned, Amli nodded to Tirol and removed her glass eye.

“It seems we are just in time. Your stomach cavity is nearly full… Won-shad-amrit. Won-shad-amrit-snew…”

For the third time, a pillar of rust rose out of his abdomen with a slurp and disappeared into Amli’s eye socket. Bisco was used to it by now, but when he weakly opened his eyes, he was surprised to see Tirol staring down at him, a satisfied grin on her face.

“Wh-what?! What the hell’s so funny?!”

“Oh, nothing… Just laughin’ at what kind of face the Man-Eating Redcap makes when somebody’s fiddlin’ with his insides. After all the trouble you put me through, it’s kinda nice to see you on the receivin’ end for once.”

“You rotten bitch… You’re the one they should be operatin’ on! To find out what’s wrong with that brain of yours!”

Bisco went red-faced and tried to wrest himself free but couldn’t so much as move a muscle during the operation, not to mention dislodge his head from between Tirol’s thighs.

“Hey! Remember to hold still! Aww, what’s the matter, does it hurt? Ya gonna cwy? You big baby.”

“Y-you… When I get outta here, I’m gonna… Tirol! Behind you!”

“Ha-ha-ha! Yer gonna have to try better than that! Just stay still and—”

Suddenly, Bisco sprang to his feet and hurled Tirol back into the room. Then he scooped Amli up in his arms, still giddy with Bisco’s life force.

“Eek! Mr. Bisco, sir…?!”

Then he, too, sprang aside, narrowly avoiding something enormous that crashed down onto the balcony, splattering blood everywhere.

“…Well, would you look at that…! Mr. Bisco, sir, you saved me!”

“Bleh. Bleeeegh.”

“Oh dear, the rust… Mr. Bisco, sir, be sure to vomit up the rest. It’s a rather unpleasant method, but I’m sure you can stomach it, so to speak.”

As Bisco hurled up the contents of his gut, Tirol approached the balcony with trepidation, peering out to see what had landed there.

“Urgh…what is that? A corpse…? An’ fresh, too!”

Suddenly Kandori appeared, apparently in the midst of an argument with Raskeni. “Lord Akaboshi! What happened?!” he cried. Raskeni followed after him with a “Hold on, Kandori! Listen to me…” Then, “Ah! Th-that’s…!”

As soon as they laid eyes on the fallen figure, they both cried out in unison.

““Kugunotsu!!””

The body resembled a bloodstained rag. It was a wonder they could even tell who it was.

“You knew him, Kandori? Who was he?”

“There is no doubt. He is Kugunotsu, one of the six who defeated Kelshinha, and the leader of the High Hall in the Wood Tower. He kept his strength and magical power even into old age, so I did not expect him to fall to Kelshinha… Hmm. It seems already he is far stronger than we imagined.”

“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you, fool!” yelled Raskeni in a rare outburst of emotion. “With Corpulo and now Kugunotsu gone, there’s only Kyurumon left taking on Kelshinha! If he defeats her, it’s all over, and even if she wins, her ambition knows no bounds; she’s only going to take his place and become a second Kelshinha! That’s why we have to set out at once to steal back the two Scriptures he possesses!”

“A second Kelshinha, you say?” Kandori crossed his arms and stood there like a boulder, glaring down at Raskeni. “And what about you? Tell me, after you obtained the Scriptures under the pretext of helping Lord Akaboshi, what was it you were planning to do with them? You scorn Kyurumon, but to my eyes, the two of you are equally devious. Who’s to say you’re not after the title of Immortal Monk as well?”

“…How dare you…!”

“Drop it, you two,” came a voice from the balcony. “Why do you think you’re always fallin’ behind?” Standing in a puddle of rust, Bisco chastised the two through gritted teeth. His emerald eyes refocused at last, and the glint in his glare and renewed redness of skin showed he was more or less back to normal, given the circumstances. “Whatever. We all know I’m gonna have to take him down anyway. I’ll bring back the Scriptures, then you guys can fight over them all you want.”

“Lord Akaboshi, Kelshinha possesses two of the Scriptures. His might is beyond compare. Pray, take me with you. I shall protect you with my life.”

“No, thanks. I’ll go by myself.”

“Lord Akaboshi!”

“Mr. Bisco speaks true, Kandori,” said Amli, sounding a little proud. “As far as we inhabitants of the towers are concerned, Kelshinha is already unstoppable. Thus, we must rely on outside arts, those that are not beholden to our ways. We must rely on the strength of the Mushroom Keepers.”

Raskeni frowned ever so slightly as she watched Amli happily go on about Bisco. The man himself, however, turned and took up his cloak and bow, staring up at the tower heights where Kugunotsu had fallen from.

“I’ll go meet up with Milo and take down the old man. You two stay here and look after the Scriptures. He might use some kinda magic to get at them from a distance.”

“Goin’ by yerself, Akaboshi? Can you even walk?!”

“I can feel my strength returning. The Rust-Eater wants to break free.”

Bisco drew his bow and fired a volley of arrows, causing a series of King Trumpets to spring out of the side of the tower walls like a staircase.

“You mustn’t! I should go with you in case something happens!” cried Amli.

“You’ll just get in my way! I need my partner! Anyone who doesn’t understand the mushroom arts is just gonna get caught up in them!”

“Bisco, my dear brother…!” Amli ran up and clung to Bisco’s waist. “You…you need me! We don’t know when you might need healing! Take me with you, please! Let me help you!”

“No, Amli! You stay here!”

It was her master who called her back. Amli didn’t even turn around. With a single glittering eye, she looked up at Bisco. For two seconds, he hesitated. Then he picked her up, put her arms around his neck, and leveled an anchor arrow at the nearest mushroom.

“If you let go, you’re gonna die.”

“Eek!”

Bisco nocked his anchor arrow and dashed up into the sky, Amli’s overjoyed cry ringing in his ears. With lightning speed, he ascended the mushrooms to the tower’s upper reaches.

“Lady Kyurumon! We bring word that Lord Kugunotsu of the High Hall has fallen in battle!”

“Kugunotsu is dead…? And the Scripture?”

“It seems to have been taken… Two of the Scriptures are now inside Kelshinha’s body, which means his power has grown even further. I advise we fall back to the Fire Tower and prepare for total war.”

Kyurumon grimaced and muttered a curse under her breath. The anger mask raised its voice and bellowed at the assassin:

“I will return to the Fire Tower and rally the other assassins. The rest of you, go after Kelshinha. Whoever returns with his head will be made my Speaker.”

““Yes, ma’am!”” replied the assassins, before scattering off into the night. Kyurumon’s eye twitched with rage before she leaped across the power lines and headed back to her room.

“What on earth happened here…?!”

Kyurumon, flanked by her guards, arrived to find her room a scene of utter devastation.

“What is all this? Milo! Where’s Milo?! What has she done?!”

“L-Lady… Kyurumon…”

Just as she was about to lay the blame on Milo, Kyurumon heard a weak voice coming from the rubble. She ran over to find him lying there, his body covered in injuries.

“What happened? Who did this to you…?”

“Kelshinha,” said Milo weakly. “He came…to kill me. I fought him alongside the guards, but we were no match for his spear…”

“How dare he come here! …How on earth did you manage to survive?”

“He got away, but I wounded him. He should be out of commission for a while. I didn’t let him take the Scripture…or anything else in this room…”

“You are a stalwart soul. I will never forget your conviction.”

“Your words…are too…kind…”

Kyurumon laid Milo down on the bed and whispered sweetly into his pale ear.

“I surround myself with the strongest and most beautiful. Milo…your beauty, fortitude, and devotion are second to none. You deserve to be by my side always…”

She whispered as if in a trance, completely forgetting her anger from a moment ago.

“Won-lib-aspal-shad-karna…”

In a powerful voice, she spoke the syllables. Soon, the two guards standing beside her cried out, clutching their throats. Two thick streams of blood flowed out of their mouths and into Milo’s, as well as into the cuts all over his body. In mere seconds, the wounds closed and his pallid face became ever so faintly flushed with life.

“This is a miracle cure, a mantra that old fool Kelshinha revealed to me once in the bedroom…”

Kyurumon twirled her finger, and the three masks flew and hovered above the fallen guards. In that short moment, their bodies had shriveled up like mummies, leaving them well and truly dead. The three masks lifted the bodies up by their robes and, one by one, tossed them into the fireplace.

“This is…healing magic?”

Milo stared at his pristine body in disbelief. Kyurumon smiled before her voluptuous body swayed and she fell on top of him.

“L-Lady Kyurumon! Oh no, y-you’re…”

“I have overused the mantras today… Milo, pray your modesty does not become rudeness. Comfort me. It is your duty, too, to please me. Is that not so?”

“W-well…”

From between her blue lips, her crimson tongue traced Milo’s collar. Milo tried hard not to make a sound as he looked into her captivating smile.

“B-but…Kelshinha could return at any time…”

“Heh-heh-heh. It was in this very room that I took his organs… While he lost himself in my body, I cut open his belly. Corpulo took his spleen. Kugunotsu, his liver…”

“…”

“His own students were able to pull the rug out from under his feet. He is a fool and a coward. We have nothing to fear from him now. He can never stand against my power.”

Not heeding Milo’s warning, Kyurumon continued to nibble on his ear. “Milo,” she said between heated breaths. “You did very well to guard my room, but Kelshinha can search all he likes. The Scripture he seeks is not here. It is somewhere far beyond his reach.”

“…Wh-what do you mean…?”

“What I took from him…was his lungs.”

Kyurumon sat up straight and, in the dim light of the room, opened her robe, baring her plump breasts before Milo’s eyes. He could clearly make out the scars lining her chest.

“They are inside me now, and he can never have them. No one can…”

“…You put the Scripture inside yourself?!”

“My breath is the breath of truth… I can bestow eternal beauty upon whomever I choose.”

Her nose brushed against his, and the rings in her ears chimed.

“Be mine, Milo, and I shall grant you beauty everlasting.”

Milo tried to object, but Kyurumon closed her lips around his. Her tongue was like a snake, relentlessly assaulting that of the sweet maiden before her. It was a devilish kiss, one that had enslaved so many women before him. The seductive air that spewed from her Scripture filled Milo’s own lungs. He tried to pull away, but she clasped him in her strong arms. Unable to speak a word, he tried to force her off him.

Suddenly, a sharp pain ran through her long tongue, and she looked down to see Milo’s teeth clamped around it. Before her eyes, what she thought was the young girl simmered with an aura of darkest black.

“Heh. Heh. Heh-heh-heh… Ha-ha-ha-ha!”

The thing laughed cruelly, still holding her tongue in its teeth.

“Y-you!! Ih can’h he…!!”

“You were always such a careful child… What possessed you to put one of my organs inside your own body…?”

With a wicked smile, the girl wrenched Kyurumon’s tongue between her fingers and lifted her off the ground.

“Now you have presented me with the perfect opportunity. I always wanted you, of all people, to feel the pain I felt.”

“On! Vawa! S—!”

But Kyurumon’s mantra was far too slow for the girl, who kissed her once more and squeezed her body with fearsome strength. Her bones cracked, and one by one her organs spurted blood, until blood poured from Kyurumon’s mouth and stained her pure white skin scarlet.

“Ugh… Gblhhh!!”

“Won-shad-mudoshinha-snew. Now pay for your betrayal, you loathsome whore.”

The girl chanted a mantra before placing her lips over Kyurumon’s and inhaling with all her might. Before long, a pair of reddish, glistening organs rose out of her throat, covered in tattoos. They were the Scripture, Kelshinha’s very lungs.

“Now they are returned to me.”

“Gh…hah…!”

Kyurumon coughed up blood and collapsed onto the bed, yet still, with miraculous tenacity, she extended one arm out toward the young girl.

“I—I’ll…”

“Hmm?”

“I’ll see you… in Hell, Kel… shin…ha…!”

Her hand reached his face and her nails clawed at his skin, flaying away the false layer and revealing the grinning face of the old man beneath.

“In Hell? Foolish to the end, girl. Just who do you think sits atop its throne?”

The beautiful skin of the young girl crumbled into rust and fell away, exposing Kelshinha’s full glory. With two Scriptures already inside his body, his muscles and figure were far beyond anything possible for such an elderly man. Kyurumon glared at him with all the hatred her vengeance could muster…before her head fell limp to the ground, and she breathed her last.

“…I had presumed you would put up a little more of a fight than that old fool Kugunotsu, but it seems I was mistaken. The viper’s legendary sense of smell must have declined much if you could not see through the Mantra of Transformation at all.”

Kelshinha looked down at Kyurumon’s body and muttered to himself, “How odd. I feel no emotion whatsoever for the one who was once to be my wife.” Then, with a single finger, he poked a hole in his own neck and tore away his chest. There in the beating, red mess of his insides sat rust-coated organs and a single gleaming stomach.

“Liver. Pancreas. And now, my lungs… It no longer matters who possesses the remaining organs, for none can stand against the power of my mantra now…”

Raising the lungs in front of him, Kelshinha began to chant…

Then, with a Thud! an arrow shot through his mouth, tore a hole in his throat, and embedded itself in the wall behind him. Kelshinha scowled as the Scripture fell from his hand.

“Ngh?!”

From the wall behind him came a Gaboom! Gaboom! as the cactus mushrooms launched a volley of needles. Kelshinha dodged them by leaping off Kyurumon’s bed and onto the power lines outside.

“Grr. You!” he said through gritted teeth. Standing there before him was the blue-haired Mushroom Keeper, the Man-Eating Panda Milo Nekoyanagi. He had changed out of his female disguise and into his usual hunting garb, and even though his pounding headaches still raged and eye socket was all rusted, his eyes blazed like sapphires.

“I wondered who in this city was still fool enough to stand against me.”

“…I’m too late…!”

Ignoring Kelshinha’s taunts, Milo spotted on the ground the ghastly remains of Kyurumon and gently closed his eyes. Then, in a twinkle of azure fire, he shot Kelshinha a deadly glare.

“Impressive. You can still stand despite my meddling in your brain. I ought to commend you, but as I thought, you are nothing more than a demon who would strike back at a god. For you, there can be no salvation.”

“The one beyond salvation here is you, Kelshinha!” Milo wiped the blood from his face and glared at the old man, his eyes quivering with rage. “How dare you disguise yourself as me…to kill someone who practiced the healing arts!”

“Ha-ha-ha… Kyurumon never showed me so much affection in the bedroom as she did you. I wonder what she saw in that waifish figure of yours… Quite an enlightening experience, I must admit.”

“…You’re still looking down on me…” Milo’s sapphire eye became tinged with black, and a dark smile spread across his lips. From his throat came a deep, crushing voice. “You think I’m just Akaboshi’s sidekick? …Fine, look down on me all you want. But I’m warning you, it’s not my dying partner you should be afraid of; it’s me.”

Milo smoothly unfastened the emerald bow from his back and aimed it at Kelshinha. Even someone wholly unfamiliar with the Mushroom Keepers could see the skill his stance exuded. He stood proudly and confidently, a paragon of his kind.

…You worm…!

Perhaps reevaluating the threat Milo posed, Kelshinha coiled like a snake and launched the iron pipe in his hand straight toward him like a javelin. Behind that feint, he began to chant a mantra.

“Won-shad— Gblh!”

A streak of light pierced the old man’s face. Milo’s mushroom arrow tore apart the iron pipe in mid-flight like a scrap of paper and continued on right between Kelshinha’s eyes. His head swelled like a balloon and burst, but though the body staggered, it did not fall. The fountain of rust that burst from his neck gradually stopped and began to reshape into the form of a head once again.

“Grr… you…weasel!”

“On—shad—vacurer—snew…Restrain target.”

“…?! Impossible. How did you know the components?!”

“How, you ask?” Milo gave a smile as he tapped his rusted eye socket. “You think you’re the only one who benefits from being inside my head? I can see you, too, you know. I know what mantra you’re about to use, the rules…even the meanings of the words.”

“…So the lunatic act was just that—an act. All to fool me while I was in your brain!”

“There’s two parts to being a Mushroom Keeper. To watch closely, and to believe.” Milo spoke without emotion, and from his gently parted lips came a breath as hot as fire. He fixed two arrows to his bowstring and aimed them at Kelshinha. “Right now I have them both. It doesn’t matter how many times you can regenerate; I will keep firing until your energy runs out.”

“Y-you…you worthless imp! You simpering child!”

“Well, that child is about to tear you to pieces, Kelshinha!” Then, just as Bisco always did, Milo flashed his opponent a toothy grin. “I hope you rot in Hell, old man!”

Using the King Trumpets and his wire arrows, Bisco scaled the tower in an upward spiral, with Amli’s arms wrapped tightly around his neck as the wind ran through her close-cropped hair. Her eyes glittered as she took in the wondrous sight.

“You are like a hawk, brother dearest! What a show, to spin around and see the other five towers like this…”

“Even though there’s only two of ’em left? Heh, if I were you, I’d ask for my money back!”

“Mr. Bisco, sir, you travel all over the country with Mr. Milo, correct?” Amli whispered dreamily into Bisco’s ear. “You must get to see such marvelous sights. Someday, I would wish to be free of these darkened streets and see the whole wide world for myself…”

Somewhere in her innocent voice, it sounded like she didn’t truly think it possible. Bisco paid her no heed, however, instead plucking a chunk of smoked hippo meat hanging from the window of a nearby restaurant before leaping into the night toward the neighboring tower.

“Ah! Brother, what have you done?” cried Amli, looking over her shoulder at the red-faced shopkeeper behind her. “You have to pay for that, you know!”

“I’m on my way to rid this city of its cancer. The least they could offer me is one piece of hippo meat.” Bisco bit into the meat as he leaped between the buildings, and soon it was completely gone. “Besides, my stomach’s been startin’ to feel better. The more I eat, the stronger I feel.”

“…That’s strange. The treatment is not yet over. Perhaps Kelshinha himself is getting weaker…? Ah! You did it again!!”

Amli cried out once more as Bisco swiped a string of five cow-liver buns and wolfed down four of them. The fifth he handed to Amli, who puffed out her cheeks in displeasure but still took the bun and popped it into her tiny mouth.

“You’re still eatin’ it, I see.”

“It was you who stole it. My conscience is clean.”

“Ha!”

Bisco gave a surprised chuckle when suddenly a body fell straight toward him from above. Dodging it, he saw that it had been one of the Fire Tower’s assassins, and his face grew grim once more.

“That was one of Kyurumon’s guards. She may be in trouble. Or perhaps she is already…”

“That means Milo might already be fighting the old man! We gotta hurry!”

Spurred on by the strength slowly returning to his body, Bisco quickened his pace, firing arrow after arrow into the walls of the tower.

“…We gotta be careful of his weird regeneration power,” muttered Bisco with a frown, casting his mind back to the night his stomach was stolen. “You take an arm or a leg, and they just grow back like nothin’ happened. It’s kinda like my power, but way better. He can even survive havin’ his head blown off.”

“Your power is Regeneration, dear brother. It is different than Kelshinha’s power of Restoration. His body is created from Rust, which keys off the original form stored within the Scriptures, and he has set up a mantra command to revert to a previous state whenever the brain detects considerable damage to the flesh.”

“???”

Amli’s utterly incomprehensible explanation left Bisco lost for words, yet he continued to ascend the tower at breakneck speed.

“All you need to understand, big brother, is that unless the power of the rust stored within the Scriptures is exhausted, then Kelshinha is truly immortal in every sense of the word.”

Suddenly feeling concerned for the well-being of his partner, Bisco hastened his step.

“Well, he sure sounds like a monster, as you say, but here in the real world there ain’t such a thing as infinite power. Where does the rust inside the Scriptures come from?”

“Mr. Bisco, sir. You are not quite so dumb as Mr. Milo makes out,” said Amli with a giggle.

“What’s he been sayin’ about me? That dick!”

Then Amli lowered her voice and whispered into Bisco’s ear.

“I was taught it is faith that fuels the power of the Scriptures. Humans possess the power to live, to depend on others, and to believe in something. I was told this was called ‘Evolution.’ The will of all creatures to adapt and fight for survival. This will is what gives birth to the Rust.”

“Evolution…?”

“Yes. Here at the towers, we have chosen the power of faith. All those who come seeking immortality, their prayers, their desires… All of them are stored within the Scriptures, down to the last line of verse. There, they become rust. That is what I was taught.”

“…Huh. So this old man is just usin’ everyone’s prayers to do what he wants? And he built this massive tower to do it. Pathetic.”

Bisco turned to see Amli staring silently at his face with a curious look… Then, in a quiet voice, she asked, “Mr. Bisco, sir, I hear you seek to cast away the Rust-Eater’s power.”

“What’s this all of a sudden? Did Raskeni tell you that?”

“You are very strange, sir. Everybody fears the Rust, fears death. That is why they come here. Why would you go to such lengths to abandon the power of immortality?”

Bisco looked into Amli’s twinkling eyes, then he turned away and sniffed.

“’Cause I promised.”

“You promised…?”

“A while back, to my partner. I dunno if he still remembers, though.”

Bisco slowed down a little as he reminisced.

“He asked if partners stay united until death. And I said…” He paused. Amli awaited his next words with bated breath. Bisco looked a little uncomfortable, but continued. “…Yes. I said yes. Even though there ain’t no rule that says that.”

“…You said…you would die together?” asked Amli, the astonishment clear in her voice. “With Milo? And for that…you want to give up your immortality?”

Bisco looked uneasy at Amli’s words. With faltering speech, he tried to explain himself.

“I already broke that promise once. I died before he did…and it made him cry. A lot. He cried…and got mad…and told me to never leave him behind again. So…”

Bisco paused as if trying to find exactly the right words to express himself, but the Man-Eating Redcap’s limited vocabulary proved to be woefully insufficient. Amli blinked and turned her attention toward Bisco’s scar-riddled face, and the tattoo around his eye, without saying anything.

…Bisco Akaboshi.

You are a gentle hawk. True of course and steady of wing. Shining, brave, and noble.

Her violet eye twinkled with a new determination, charmed by Bisco’s mien.

Bam! Bam!

“Eek! Mr. Bisco, sir!”

“…Gh. And the more strength I regain, the wilder the Rust-Eater becomes.”

Gritting his teeth, Bisco tore out the glittering mushroom that sprang from his chest. Its base was drenched in his warm, wet blood.

“That broke my rib. The next one’s gonna pierce my lung.”

“Mr. Bisco, sir! Let me extract the rust again! We have to keep it under control or else…!”

“Nah, not now. Milo needs me.” Even when he was faced with his own death, Bisco’s emerald eyes glittered and burned. “Let’s go. If I’m gonna die anyway, I at least wanna put that old man in the ground first.”

It seemed Bisco only grew stronger the closer he was to death. The glittering orange spores of the Rust-Eater floated around his body, enveloping him in a warm glow. To Amli, it seemed she was gazing upon the makings of a legend yet to be written.

You came into my life like a storm… Your legs, free of chains.

You made me feel like I could also be like that.

No, not just me. I’m sure anyone looking at you would feel the same way.

Amli’s eyes quivered as she held on to Bisco, and she pulled her arms tightly around his neck.

Fwip! Fwip! Fwip!

Milo sneered and fired his arrows, leaping backward across the power lines as Kelshinha followed in fierce pursuit, iron pipe in hand. While the power of his shots was nothing compared to Bisco’s, he was several steps ahead in reading the old man’s movements, and the arrows faithfully skewered his arms and legs.

Bam! Gaboom!

“Groooaaargh!”

Kelshinha let out a roar of anger and pain and plucked the mushrooms from his body one by one, ripping out chunks of flesh with them. He swung his spear with fearless persistence.

“Kah!”

Shwf!

Milo deflected the spearhead with the edge of his blade and pulled his bow taut. His arrow just grazed Kelshinha’s neck and landed in the tower beyond, exploding into a burst of red oyster mushrooms. Kelshinha gouged out the flesh before the mushrooms could even take root and gnashed his teeth in such anger that he looked ready to blow.

“You thinking of your next mantra?” shouted Milo. “I can hear it coming in my head!”

“Won-shad-varuler-snew!”

Kelshinha leaped back, irritated, and muttered his spell. From out of thin air, dozens of Rust kunai appeared and flew toward Milo in unison.

Shwip!

Milo cast off his cloak and fired an arrow toward it. As it struck the cloak, the tip of his wire arrow exploded into a spiderweb of threadlike filaments that engulfed the kunai.

“Slice target. I saw that one coming, too.”

“You insolent child!”

The steelspider thread wrapped up Kelshinha until he was completely paralyzed. Using all the strength he could muster, Milo tugged on the wire arrow and hauled the cocoon of silk overhead.

“Rrraaaaaaargh!”

With an almighty Crash! Kelshinha collided with the upper levels of the Fire Tower, and he slid down the wall before landing with a smack on the balcony of Kyurumon’s bedroom.

“Hahh… hahh… hahh…!”

As he felt the wire go slack, Milo broke out sweating.

…That was close. Thank goodness I was able to rile him up…!

Even Milo could see that in terms of ability, Kelshinha far surpassed him. That was why he had to be crafty. Despite the fact that Amli’s treatment had been completely effective, he had to pretend he was still of unsound mind.

No, it’s not over yet. I have to reclaim Bisco’s stomach…!

Wiping the sweat from his brow, Milo leaped from the power lines to where Kelshinha was freeing himself from the net and crawling along the ground.

“If… If I can just get to…the lungs…”

Kelshinha writhed on the floor, every bone in his body shattered. His endless torture at the hands of Milo had exhausted his regenerative capabilities. In fact, in this short time, his muscular body had completely shriveled up and reverted to that of a mere old man. He groped around for the Scripture, which Milo’s arrow had knocked out of his hand.

“You miserable wretch… I’ll tear you…apart…”

When he spotted the Scripture lying at the base of Kyurumon’s bed, drenched in blood, Kelshinha’s face lit up.

“Ah. There it is. There it is!”

As he slithered through the blood and reached out with one spindly arm to grasp it…

Gaboom!

A mushroom arrow exploded from beneath the bed, sending it and Kelshinha flying.

“Eee! Waargh!”

As the old man collided with the wall and fell to the ground, the sound of the Mushroom Keeper’s footsteps echoed around the room.

“So this is the Scripture. The source of your mantra powers.”

Milo held Kelshinha’s lungs up to his eyes and gazed curiously at the tightly packed letters tattooed around them.

“Is this what I’ve been hearing in my head all this time…?”

Noticing a pattern of some kind in the letters, he squinted closer.

“…These are no ordinary verses… If I had to guess, they look more like program code. So theology has access to some sort of technique that can harness the power of the Rust.”

“…Heh-heh-heh. Clever boy…,” said Kelshinha, scowling up at Milo. Weak as he was, somewhere within Kelshinha’s eyes still lurked a glimmer of intelligence. “…As you have so rightly discerned, the Rust can be commanded through specific sequences of sounds… That is what we call mantra. And I was not the first to uncover this wisdom; there were others—”

Fwip! Milo’s arrow whizzed through the air and grazed Kelshinha’s cheek. He readied another one as he placed the Scripture in his pocket.

“I don’t want to let you speak too much. You could be hiding mantras in your words, after all.”

And I don’t want to hear another speech like Kurokawa’s, he added under his breath.

“Just answer my questions. Where did you come across this technique?”

“I deciphered it myself,” said Kelshinha. There was pride in his voice, even as he crawled along the ground. “Long ago. Over a century, perhaps. It was I who discovered the workings of the Scriptures, back when they were mere holy texts. The people of this city were nothing more than livestock…offering up their power over the Rust to God. Thus, I overwrote the target of that power. From God…to me…”

He changed the target of worship to himself…?! By tattooing the Scriptures onto his own organs…?!

Milo gazed in wondrous fear at the old man writhing on the floor before him, trying not to let his emotion show on his face. As evil as he was, he must have been one of the few people in the world who understood the Rust.

“Why is it worship that gives birth to the Rust? Doesn’t the Rust bring sickness and death to people?”

“No. The Rust is the fulcrum of evolution. It is those who refuse to adapt who die out, as is natural.”

“…”

“Those who can adapt, and harness the Rust, survive. Have you not witnessed the mutated creatures across the land? They are the next generation of life in this world. Those who have successfully aligned themselves with the Rust. You humans still fear the Rust. That is why you are inferior.”

“‘You humans’? So are you saying you’re not human?”

“That’s right. I’m not. The mantra grants control over the Rust. It is the next step in human evolution. I have transcended humanity and taken a step toward divinity.”

…If what he says is true, then using the mantra, I could control the Rust, and maybe even eradicate the disease from Japan entirely…!

Milo knew he was treading on very dangerous territory, but his curiosity as a medical professional would not let this lie. His bowstring still pulled taut, he pressed on with his questions.

“Could it be possible…to rid a person of the Rust?”

“Without killing them? Perhaps. However, if there is such a mantra, I do not know it.”

“There are mantras even you haven’t mastered?”

“I can use any mantra if I know the words. It simply does not interest me to discover them. I would sooner hunt for the mantra to wipe my ass after taking a shit.”

Kelshinha grinned a toothy smile as the tide of conversation appeared to shift in his favor.

Milo ground his molars in frustration. “Then, what about Bisco’s immortality…?”

“Akaboshi…is not…immortal,” replied Kelshinha between labored breaths. “He has not evolved to be above the Rust. He simply regenerates boundlessly and ages more slowly. He will probably die if his head is removed. If the flesh is destroyed, so, too, is he. However…”

Kelshinha calmed down a little as he started talking about Bisco. He muttered in a low voice, as if he had completely forgotten Milo’s presence, and dark flames resided in his eyes.

“However… However, while it is the Rust’s exact opposite, the Rust-Eater is still fearsome in its limitless power… This one stomach generated in a single day what would take ten thousand worshipers a year to produce! Akaboshi…possesses the divinity entitled only to me! He must be dealt with… He must…!”

“Don’t get ahead of yourself, Kelshinha!” roared Milo, losing his patience. “If you can’t turn Bisco back to normal, then I don’t need you anymore. Give me back Bisco’s stomach!”

“I’ll exchange it for the Scripture. The one inside your pocket.”

“You must be joking.” Milo’s sapphire eyes looked down on Kelshinha without pity. “I’m going to kill you and rip it out of you myself. It won’t hurt; the blade is coated with numbshroom oil.”

Milo unhooked the purple shortsword from his waist and tossed it to Kelshinha. He scowled and looked back up at Milo but only met his cold eyes and the point of his arrow. After a while, he obediently took the blade, poised it over his own stomach, and took a deep breath…

“Raaaargh!”

Kelshinha suddenly leaped to the side. Milo’s mushroom arrow landed in his thigh, and bloomed, but that didn’t stop him.

“On! Shad-lib-va—”

Thud!

Just as Kelshinha chanted his mantra, an even stronger arrow tore off his tongue and pierced his throat, pinning him to the wall.

“I warned you…!”

Gaboom! Gaboom! Gaboom!

The slightest bit of regret showed on Milo’s face as the oyster mushrooms tore the old man apart. His body floundered with the force of the expanding mushrooms before falling to the ground, motionless. Milo looked down and bit his lip in remorse. Remorse at losing the chance to learn the greatest healing arts the world may ever know…but more than that, remorse at taking the life of another sentient creature.

There was…no other way. I had to kill him…for Bisco.

“Lib-varuler.”

As soon as he heard the warm, sickly voice murmuring in his ears, Milo sprang back, shocked. Then, from out of his pocket came a Shwing! as spears of rust shot out in all directions, piercing his body. Milo failed to land neatly and slipped on a pool of his own blood, falling onto the bed.

The attack had come from the Scripture itself. Sharp lances of Rust extended from the lungs, puncturing his delicate skin. Milo braved the intense pain and tried to stand up, when Kelshinha rushed toward him and delivered a roundhouse kick that caught his neck, sending him flying across the room and colliding with the far wall in a cloud of dust.

It was a decoy…this whole time…!

Blood flowed from Milo’s mouth as he looked at the dead body, pinned to the wall by his arrow. Now it was not Kelshinha’s, but that of the high priestess Kyurumon.

“You demons are all fooled by the same trick. First this woman…and now you.”

As Kelshinha approached, Milo frantically tried to get to his feet, but found no footing in his own puddle of blood. Kelshinha stepped before him and snarled.

“You worm.”

The old man’s kick landed in the pit of Milo’s stomach. The pain was so unimaginably strong that he could not even breathe. All he could do was clench his fists and grit his teeth as Kelshinha grabbed him by the neck and slowly lifted him off the ground. He grinned a wicked smile as he gazed into Milo’s beautiful panda face. Then he grabbed the Scripture, still embedded in Milo’s body, and twisted.

“Waaaaarghhh! Graaaargh!!”

“The Immortal Monk…no, Kelshinha, the Rust Lord, is a benevolent god. I am willing to overlook your insolent behavior, your treacherous conduct, and allow you to surrender. Kneel before me and swear your eternal devotion.”

“Who would ever swear devotion to you?!”

“Heh-heh-heh. Very well. It would be most tedious for you to give in so easily. Tell me… which is more painful. This…or this? I can’t hear if all you do is scream.”

“Gaaaaaaagh!! Gaaaaah! Gyaaaaahhh!!”

With each of Milo’s ghastly screams, the blood bubbled and spilled from his open mouth as if he was gargling it. Just as he was about to pass out from the sustained torture, Kelshinha finally pulled the Scripture from his body, drawing thick, black blood. Before Milo’s now-empty eyes, he recited another mantra, and the rust spikes extending from the Scripture crumbled away. Then he opened his mouth impossibly wide and slowly gulped the Scripture down.

“…Now I have finally reclaimed three of them.”

Kelshinha proudly stroked his own chest and felt the power flow into his body. Milo could only watch, powerless, as Kelshinha lifted him up once more.

“Your organs have been torn to shreds. If left alone, you will soon die…without the powers of the Rust Lord, Kelshinha, that is.”

“…”

“The people of this city are not deserving of the immortality they seek. They are fools, little more than robots who rub their hands together in prayer and fill the Scriptures with Rust. However, you are different. You gazed back at me through my domination, and you unraveled the mysteries of the mantra by yourself. There is value in letting you live.”

“…”

“Rejoice. Once I am whole again, I will grant you immortality through the power of the Rust and make you my new high priest. Already, it is beyond your ability to kneel. If you wish to live, simply say the word… Make me a god, and pledge your allegiance for all eternity…”

Milo listened to him speak with empty eyes, and just as Kelshinha was starting to get irritated, he opened his mouth.

“You…are…”

“That’s right. Say it. I am Kelshinha, the Rust Lord…!”

“You…are…not…my…god.”

At Milo’s suddenly clear voice, Kelshinha’s eyes went wide with shock.

“My god is strong. He will…never break. And he’s kind…even though he can be a bit dumb at times… I already have a god. And there’s nothing left in me to devote to anyone else, because I already gave my everything to him.”

“You spurn me? Here, on the verge of death? When I am your only salvation?! Where is your god now?! He cannot save you!!”

“If faith…is only about being saved… Then I don’t need it.” Milo’s face was by now as pale as a sheet, and yet he mustered up a tiny smile. “There is nothing I want, except to offer myself, and to live my life in his service. And to fight for him…even if that means I must die for him…”

Kelshinha was struck dumb by the boy’s devotion, an acceptance of death so blindingly clear. While everyone else threw themselves at his feet and begged for eternal life, this boy simply stared in silence at his own approaching death and awaited what lay beyond.

It was something Kelshinha had never seen in over a hundred years of life.

“You fool…! You think death will save you from me?! You will rue your words this day as you burn in the pits of Hell for all eternity!”

“Death…will save me…?” Milo muttered with vacant eyes and chuckled. “You’ve got it all wrong, Kelshinha. Your time’s up. I’ve won.”

Kelshinha tilted his head as he struggled to understand the meaning of Milo’s words.

Just then…

Kerrashhh!!!

Like a bolt of lightning, an arrow tore into the room and pinned Kelshinha to the wall. Almost no time later, a cluster of oyster mushrooms sprang into being and launched him back in the other direction, sending him crashing into the opposite wall with enough force to shatter every bone in his body.

“…?! Gblaaaargh!”

Kelshinha growled as he writhed on the floor and trembled with fear at the dark shadow standing over him.

“Don’t think you’re the only one who keeps comin’ back, old man.”

“A…ka…bo…shi…!”

“Before I kill you, I want you to undo what you did to my partner. Stand up, old man, and tell me where you want me to open you up.”

“Khaaah!!”

Kelshinha sprang to his feet and leaped back, plunging the metal pipe in his hand deeply into his own stomach. When he saw the blood dripping down the corners of Bisco’s lips, an evil grin spread across his face.

Boom! Boom!

A great big pair of Rust-Eaters, larger than ever before, sprang out of Bisco’s back and his side, tearing through his flesh. The Rust-Eater antibodies had finally broken their fetters and started blooming without regard for Bisco, their host.

However, Bisco did not stop. Though the explosions rocked his body and blood dripped from his mouth, he let out not a single cry of pain. He simply walked, step by step, closer to Kelshinha, that same jade-green glimmer in his eyes. As the old man watched him approach, the very incarnation of wrath, he trembled and whimpered in fright.

“There, huh?”

“U… uggh… Ughuuh…”

Kelshinha stabbed the pipe into his Rust-Eater stomach, and every time he did, blood flowed from Bisco’s mouth, and another huge mushroom grew from his torso. Still, Bisco’s glare was unchanging, set calmly on Kelshinha’s face, as he stepped closer and closer.

“S-stay back…! Gr…grblh!”

At last, blood erupted from Kelshinha’s own mouth. Bisco looked at the quivering old man and grabbed on to the hand in which he held his spear. Then, with all of his might, he plunged it back in.

“Ggraaaaaargh!!”

“This is how you use a spear, old man. Keep your back straight.”

“H-have you gone mad, Akaboshi?! That’s…your own stomach!”

“That’s great. It means I can tell how much it hurts you… Milo was screaming much louder than that… It was enough to make my ears bleed.”

“S-stop! Stop it! Nooooo! Ghaaaaargh!”

Bisco seized Kelshinha’s neck so he couldn’t run away and pressed his forehead right up against the old man’s.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The Rust-Eaters burst forth all across his body without pause, crushing his organs, smashing his bones, and yet granting his muscles more and more strength. Bisco and Kelshinha stood opposed, spurting blood, each drenching the other in sticky crimson.

But their eyes were different. Kelshinha’s eyes were dark and muddy as he shivered in panic, while Bisco’s emerald eyes, staring down his partner’s enemy, gleamed with resolve, and even pain.

“Wanna make this an endurance match, old man? If you can hold out until I die, you’ll win.”

“O-on! Kerd-uleshinha—!”

“…?!”

Kelshinha could bear the pain no longer and tried through his bloody throat to speak a mantra, when suddenly the spear embedded in his torso slipped out into Bisco’s hand. Planted on the tip, Bisco’s organ glittered like the sun, surrounded by gently glowing orange spores.

“Ah. My stomach!”

“Die, Akaboshi!”

The moment Bisco was distracted, Kelshinha launched a spinning kick into his neck. It sliced into the flesh like a knife, drawing blood, but stopped there, halted by Bisco’s muscles, before it could chop his head off completely. Kelshinha simply stood on one foot, his other caught in Bisco’s neck, trapped in his steely gaze, and began sweating all over.

“I—I thought…even you…should die…if…if I cut off your head…”

“Oh? With that rusty old kick of yours?”

Bisco’s eyes seemed to leave trails in the air as he somersaulted, spinning his glittering golden body like a whirlwind and unleashing a rolling kick as deadly as the swing of a great battle-ax. The kick struck Kelshinha in the neck, too, and smashed his body into the ground. The floor cracked, and the Immortal Monk bounced back up, high into the air, and lodged into the ceiling.

M-my bones… The restoration cannot keep up…

Kelshinha groaned, embedded in the ceiling by the inhuman power of the Rust-Eater Bisco.

Just then, Amli finally caught up, landing in the room and shouting, “Mr. Bisco, sir! Now’s our chance to take back the Scriptures! Open a hole and I’ll suck them out!”

“Got it!” Bisco replied.

“…?! Y-you miserable worm! You mean to blaspheme against a god?!”

Schwip!

Bisco unsheathed his bow and fired an anchorshroom arrow, cutting off Kelshinha’s indignant roar and piercing his stomach, pinning him to the ceiling.

“Won-sharmada-kon-zen-mudoshinha-snew!”

The anchorshroom burst out of Kelshinha’s belly and expanded to full size. Then, at Amli’s mantra, it began to dislodge the three Scriptures from within his body. Seeing the source of his powers being stolen away, the old man bellowed.

“Wroooaaarrgh! You…! Youuu…!!”

“Looks like you’re back to being a coward again, old man.”

“Give me back the Scriptures! I’ll let you stand at my side, Akaboshi!”

“Hah. I’m honored.”

Bisco nocked another anchorshroom and fired it at Kelshinha’s chest. The lead mushrooms exploded all over his body, pulling him out of the ceiling and sending him crashing down onto the ground once more. There, the incredible weight of the anchorshrooms shattered the floor, and the floor beneath, and so on, and so on, sending Kelshinha plummeting down to the lower levels of the tower, until at last he traveled through the entire building and collided with the solid ground far below.

“AAAKAAABOOOSHIIIIIII!”

“Enjoy your climb outta Hell, you son of a bitch.”

As Kelshinha’s voice faded into the darkness, Bisco cracked his neck and plucked a Rust-Eater from his collar… Then, he looked down at his mushroom-riddled body and sighed.

…So this is it, huh?

Among all the golden mushrooms birthed by the Rust-Eater as it scrambled to repair Bisco’s body, one extended proudly from his left breast. He could feel its roots digging deep into his heart, and he knew that death was not far off. He cracked his neck, and then, suddenly noticing the body of his fallen partner, he ran over to check on Milo. Amli was already there, sitting over him, her eyes filled with tears.

“…Amli.”

“Mr. Bisco, sir…!”

She threw herself into Bisco’s chest, her tears staining his clothes. Around Milo’s bloodstained body were dozens of empty vials, showing he had not given up on life until the very end.

In fact, it gave Bisco hope. He crouched down and examined Milo’s body. Locking away his negative thoughts, he slowly drew closer and seated him up gently in his arms.

“…Milo.”

“…”

“Can you hear me?”

His arm was damp with Milo’s warm blood. His partner’s body was stained completely red, and his face was deathly pale. Slowly, he turned to Bisco and gently opened his eyes. He blinked a few times upon seeing that emerald gaze staring back at him and smiled, like a child in his father’s arms.

“Yeah, Bisco…I can hear you…”

“…You gonna make it?”

“…I don’t think so… I’m sorry, Bisco… I tried…”

“…”

“…Oh, Bisco…I…I…”

“You already saved the world once. You’ve done enough. You can rest.”

“Bisco…I’m sorry. I’m so sorry… I just wanted…”

“It’s okay. I’m your bow, and you’re my arrow. I may have broken my promise once, but I’m not gonna let that happen again. We’ll be together always, Milo.”

“…”

“…”

“…I’m sure…”

“…”

“…I’m sure the two of us are headed for Hell, Bisco…”

“…Then let’s swim through the sea of fire together. We can do anything, as long as we’re together.”

“…Yeah, Bisco… We can…”

As the blood spilled from Milo’s mouth, he rested his head in Bisco’s arms with a half-happy, half-sad smile and squeezed his partner’s hand back.

Bisco, seeing his partner at peace, turned back to Amli, who was staring at the two with an expression of rapt attention, and he muttered, “Well, there you go. This is the end for us. I don’t care what you do with our bodies, but I think you better move ’em unless you want a bunch of mushrooms in the middle of your city.”

“Y-you cannot be serious!” Amli ran up to Bisco, the tears streaming down her face. “I-it is too soon to give up! There must be something we can—!”

“It’s perfect timing; we can both go out together,” said Bisco. Then, suddenly noticing it, he pointed to the golden stomach in Amli’s hands. “You can keep that. I ain’t gonna need it no more.”

“M-Mr. Bisco, sir…!!”

Bisco was so ambivalent toward his own death… Or rather, he was so determined to die alongside his partner that Amli’s gentle heart couldn’t take it.

You can have only one partner…

It’s someone to whom your very life is connected.

That is what you call a partner.

It’s a very simple thing, but so beautiful, and yet…

I can’t let you go, Mr. Bisco, sir! It’s too sad…!

Amli’s tears pooled on her cheeks and fell in great droplets…but when they landed on the stomach in her hands, Bisco’s organ scattered brilliant orange spores into the air. Amli was captivated by the sight, like falling petals, when…

Mr. Bisco’s stomach…it’s…?!

All of a sudden, Amli had an idea. Wiping her tears away, she set about collecting the Scriptures that Kelshinha had vomited up.

“Mr. Bisco, sir. There’s still a way that— Aaah! What are you doing! Stop! Stoppp!”

Amli looked over to see Bisco with his dagger to his stomach, poised and ready. She ran over and tugged his arm away, gasping for breath.

“What?” he said, annoyed. “This is the way, ain’t it? Aren’t you supposed to disembowel yourself at times like this?”

“Just how determined are you to die, Mr. Bisco, sir?! You’re giving up too soon! I just thought of a plan! A great one!”

“What is it now? You’ve done enough. You should get home before the mushrooms start growin’.”

“Mr. Bisco, sir.” Amli placed both hands on Bisco’s head and turned it around, staring straight into his jade-green eyes. “There’s a way to bring Milo back to life if we combine the power of the Rust with your power…the Rust-Eater’s. You have too much regeneration while Milo has too little. If we balance them out, we might yet save both of you!”

“Use my life to help Milo…?!”

“By feeding him the Rust-Eater’s power,” explained Amli, her face serious. “If this works, it might mean that you and Mr. Milo become half immortal, but it’s still worth it, right?”

At this, Bisco faltered. He looked at his dying partner then back at Amli again, and he nodded. Amli had already anticipated his response and begun chanting.

“Ule-shad-shouki,” she intoned, unusually determined, sweat forming all over her body. “Shouki-add-kon-zen-mudo-amli-bisco…”

As she spoke the syllables, Kelshinha’s Scriptures glowed with a purple light and levitated ever so softly into the air. Then Amli’s and Bisco’s bodies, and even the golden stomach, were all bathed in the same violet aura.

“…The mantra is rejecting the Rust-Eater…! I must force it open…! Perhaps this will do it…!!”

“H-hey! What the hell is that?! I’m… I’m…!”

“The Mantra of Rebirth is only supposed to be performed with all five Scriptures, as it requires a vast amount of rust to function.” Screwing up her face in concentration, Almi clutched her breast as she attempted to press on with the mantra. “But we only have three of them here, so I am using myself and you in place of the other two…!”

“Me…and you?! Amli, you’re crazy! Stop!”

“Mr. Bisco, sir, take Mr. Milo’s hand! We only have one chance!”

Bisco did as she said and grabbed on to his partner’s hand, and Amli spat out the rest of the verse, a ferocious expression on her face, blood pouring from her eye socket.

“Shouki-shad! Kon-zen-mudo-amli…”

“Stop, Amli! You’ll kill yourself!!”

“Add-bisco-snew!”

But just as the mantra was on the verge of completion, Bisco was suddenly engulfed in a gust of wind, and his heartbeat hastened, as fast as an alarm bell, pumping boiling hot blood all around his body and turning his skin a mottled orange, like the sun.

“Wh…what the hell?!” cried Bisco. His hair was bright as blazing fire. He looked just the same as when he’d first crawled out of the pits of death, at the miraculous rebirth brought about by the Rust-Eater.

The mushrooms covering his skin disintegrated into glittering spores, and the skin beneath was as good as new. Those spores then followed Bisco’s arm to Milo’s hand. There they stopped, probing him for a while, before interpreting him as part of Bisco and suddenly rushing to cover his whole body. They slipped inside and, with incredible speed, set about repairing all his damaged organs.

“…Wh-whoa! Milo! Can you hear me?”

“…”

“Damn, he’s out cold. Hey, Amli! That’s enough; you can stop the mantra now!”

But Amli kept chanting, even as blood dripped from her eyes and nose.

“Amli… Wh-what…?!”

She was unconscious. Even so, the words continued to form on her lips. Bisco was struck dumb at the little girl’s endurance but wrapped his arms around her and whispered in her ear.

“Amli…don’t die! Come back, Amli!”

“…!!”

Amli gasped as the light returned to her eyes, and the wind stopped. The rubble in Kyurumon’s bedroom had all been blown away, and the three sat, panting heavily.

“A-Amli! Your eyes…there’s blood…! Your head…it’s…!”

“…Mr. Bisco, sir…Mr. Milo…sir…I had…to…save you…”

“You idiot! Who cares about us?! Why does a kid like you have to die for us?!”

“He’s right, Amli! Stay still, I’m going to inject you with a lurkershroom medicine. It seems like you might have suffered cranial trauma, too, so I’ll administer an eggshroom injection. After that, I’ll sew up the damage around your glass eye.”

“Of course. Milo’ll have you better in no— Hmm?”

Bisco turned and gazed in shock at the sight of his partner, quickly setting about tending to Amli’s wounds.

“Stick out your tongue for me. Say ‘Aaah’… Okay… I’m sorry I was so rough before, Amli, I really needed the act to be convincing… Okay, I’m all done for now!”

He completed Amli’s treatment in the blink of an eye, then turned to see Bisco’s complete look of astonishment. Milo stared at him, confused for a moment, before flashing him a cheerful smile.

Slap!

“Owwww! What did I do?!” Milo whined.

“Gimme some warning before you come back to life! You’re gonna give me a heart attack!”

“H-how am I supposed to do that?! Anyway, you did the same to me!”

“W-wait a minute, what happened to your hair…?”

Of all the things to be surprised about, that was the most notable. Instead of its usual sky-blue color, Milo’s hair now shone a brilliant emerald green.

“What the hell happened to you…?”

Bisco grabbed a broken mirror off the floor of Kyurumon’s bedroom and held it up to his partner. Milo ran his hands madly through his own hair, trembling in shock.

“I guess it got mixed with the orange of the Rust-Eater,” said Bisco. “Gonna take some gettin’ used to, but it looks fine, don’t it? Nothin to get worked up about.”

“B-but… No! I don’t like it! It makes me look like a punk!”

“What, and blue don’t? How’s that work?”

“Ahem, ahem…! Excuse me, I’m glad you two are friends again, but we must hurry,” said Amli. “We have little time before the Flamebound’s assassins start sniffing around here, and we must be gone by then.”

“That’s right, we need to get Bisco’s stomach back! I’m sorry, Bisco, I thought I could beat Kelshinha and—”

“You messed up, bud. But don’t worry, I already beat him and got it back; it’s right here.”

“You… Whaaat?! You beat him?!”

Milo sprang to his feet. Spotting Bisco’s golden stomach lying on the end of Kelshinha’s spear, he breathed a sigh of relief.

“Th-thank goodness. I don’t know what I’d do if I came back and you didn’t, Bisco…”

“Nothin’ to worry about. There ain’t no way I’m losin’ to someone you were on equal footin’ with.”

“…Bisco, can I borrow it for a sec?”

“?”

Squeeze!

“Gwaaagh!!”

“Stop flirting, sirs! We need to get out of here!!” bellowed Amli, her usual gentle face rosy-cheeked with anger. Just then, a large figure landed behind her with a thud. As she turned to look, Amli paled a little, and her lip began to quiver.

“M-Master…!”

“Oh, hey! Raskeni! You’re just in time!” said Bisco, wresting his stomach back from Milo at last and flashing her a grin. “I just got my stomach back, and the rest of those Scriptures, too. An’ we would have died, too, if Amli here hadn’t saved us.”

“With the Mantra of Rebirth.”

Raskeni’s harsh voice cast a silence over the room. Bisco cocked his head in confusion while Milo took a step forward in his defense.

“Amli,” Raskeni continued. “You used the power of the Scriptures. Power meant for Lord Mashouten alone.”

“B-but Master, if I didn’t, they would have—”

“Silence, fool!! Have you no sense whatsoever?!”

A merciless backhand from Raskeni struck Amli across the face and threw her against the wall.

“…?! Raskeni!! Have you lost your mind?!” yelled Bisco.

“I had thought you smart enough not to let down your guard around these demons. And yet not only did you do exactly that, you helped them, using power meant for our Lord.”

Drawing a shortened spear and pointing it at Bisco and Milo, Raskeni took Amli’s chin and stared into her eyes. She was bleeding from the nose and trembling in fear.

“…Fear not. I know it was only a momentary lapse in judgment. You understand that all we have belongs to our Lord. That we cannot allow ourselves to be distracted. Don’t you?”

“Hic… I’m sorry… I’m sorry… Please forgive me, Master…”

“Oh, my poor dear. Don’t cry. You were just misguided, led astray by a fleeting dream, that’s all. Now, drop the formality… Call me…Mother…”

“Mother… Please, don’t leave me… I’ll never listen to them again…”

“…Raskeni! I knew it!” yelled Milo. Behind him, a fiery aura almost burned the very air with its intensity. Raskeni peered over to see Bisco’s jade-green eyes flashing like gems.

“So you’re Amli’s mom, huh…?” he growled, with a voice that seemed to leak fire from his lips. “What kind of mom treats her kid like that…?! And at a time like this?! You’re gonna break her heart!!”

“Are you trying to tell me how to raise my child, Mushroom Keeper?” sneered Raskeni, pointing her spear at Bisco’s nose. “Before we are parent and child, we are Lord Mashouten’s subjects. Of course we should act in line with his wishes lest we receive divine punishment… She still loves me, don’t you, Amli? Say it.”

“Hic… I…I love you, Mother… I love you, Lord Mashouten…”

“This is fucked up!!”

In a flash, Bisco swung the frame of his bow time and time again at Raskeni’s neck, but she deflected the blows with her spear and countered with a devastating spinning kick that launched Bisco back.

“Gwargh?!”

“Won-shad-valo…”

“Watch out, Bisco!”

Milo jumped in and pushed Bisco aside the instant before countless rust spears launched upward out of the ground, ripping the ends of their cloaks.

“Urgh, what’s happening?” said Bisco. “I feel so weak!”

“It’s because you’ve given me half the Rust-Eater’s power! I’ll fight her, get down!”

“How are you gonna do any better? You were dead five minutes ago!”

Raskeni calmly stepped toward the two, a gentle smile on her face, and in front of her appeared several of her subordinates, clad head to toe in robes, forming a circle around the wounded duo.

“I must thank you for disposing of the other priests and bringing me the Scriptures… Next,” she said, pointing her spear in Bisco’s face, “I will take your stomach and all your other organs. I am sure Lord Mashouten will be very pleased.”

“This was your plan all along!” Bisco yelled.

“Of course it was. I never knew you earthly folk were so gullible.”

“It is because the Mushroom Keepers are mere barbarians,” said one guard.

“Yes, I suppose the mushrooms ate away all their brains,” added another, and they all began to laugh.

“I’m not gonna let you get away with this…!”

“Well, you must admit, you are far too trusting. That is why you keep having the rug pulled from under you like this.”

“Don’t talk like you know me… Huh?!”

Bisco roared at Raskeni, baring his fangs…then he realized something. The voice he’d just heard was not hers. In fact, it sounded oddly familiar.

“But allow me to issue a correction,” said the new voice. “The red one aside, my brother at least is no fool.”

The subordinates all turned to face the speaker.

“…?! Who are you?! Identify yourself!”

“How did it take you this long to spot me? Even Akaboshi isn’t this oblivious.”

“Enough jokes! Kill the impostor!”

At Raskeni’s order, her lackies readied their spears. The figure leaped up as they lunged, somersaulting through the air, her long black hair trailing behind her.

“A…a woman?!”

“Kiraaaargh!”

The woman swung her hexagonal staff, mowing down all the underlings around her in a single sweep. Some hit the walls, while others were not so lucky and disappeared off the edge of the tower and plummeted toward the city below.

Raskeni herself moved to protect Amli and the Scriptures and chanted as the figure leaped into the air once more.

“Won-shad-varuler-snew!”

Spears of rust formed on the inner walls of the room and hurtled toward the figure. The black tornado hopped across the rubble and brandished her iron staff once more.

“Rrraaaargh!”

With a mighty swing, the woman snapped every last one of the spears in half. Then, quickly following up, she swung back at Raskeni.

“What?!”

Raskeni barely blocked the attack, like a steel bullet, with her spear, and the force launched her across the room, blasting a hole in the far wall.

“I-impossible. Just who are you…?!”

Raskeni peered through the clouds of dust at the imposing figure standing before her. Peeling off her robe and casting it aside, the woman swung her staff, ripping the air and flicking blood against the carpet.

She wore a business suit far from what one might expect to wear on the battlefield (though several of the top buttons were left undone). When her appearance was combined with the unmatched combat potential she had just displayed, it was impossible to tell if she was supposed to be a warrior or an accountant.

“I am former Imihama Vigilante Corps captain and Imihama governor, Pawoo Nekoyanagi!”

The air vibrated as she whipped her staff around and pointed it between Raskeni’s eyes.

“You speak one more syllable against my brother…and I’ll detach your wretched jaw from your head.”

“Pawoo!!”

“Blegh!”

Milo was ecstatic to see his sister swooping in like a superhero to save them, shaking his partner violently by the shoulders. Bisco’s eye twitched. “W-why the hell are you here?!” he shouted. “Ain’t you supposed to be in Imihama doin’…I dunno, governor stuff?”

“That is exactly what I am doing,” said Pawoo, looking down at her suit with a sigh. “Otherwise I wouldn’t be dressed like this. Alas, my aides advised me to ‘cover up’ and ‘look professional.’”

“I ain’t askin’ about your clothes, lady! How did you even know where we were?!”

“I told you, didn’t I? There’s a tracking device in Milo’s ring.”

“This one,” added Milo helpfully.

“Take that damn thing off already!!”

Tired of watching the boys’ farce play out, Raskeni lunged with her spear, but Pawoo brushed it away with a single sweep of her staff.

“Grrh! How can a woman be so strong…?!” Raskeni muttered.

“Careful,” replied Pawoo. “If I heard that in the office, I’d deem it gender discrimination.”

Pawoo’s staff was far weightier than Raskeni’s spear, roaring whenever it tore through the air and battering its opponent’s tip to pieces in just a few brief exchanges.

“You still want to continue?” said Pawoo. “Surrender and I’ll let you live. Just hand over the girl.”

“D-dammit…I was almost there. Who the hell are you…?!”

“I told you, I’m the Governor of Imihama. Or what, are you trying to tell me I don’t deserve that title?”

“I don’t think she cares, gorilla lady!”

“Shh, Bisco! She’ll hear you!”

But Pawoo whipped around with an expression of pure wrath. “I can hear you!! I’ll speak to you later!!” Spotting Milo, she smiled, but then she noticed the emerald color of his hair.

“Mi…Milo!! What…what happened to you?!”

“I-it’s okay, Pawoo, now’s not the time…”

“No, now is the time! Was it Akaboshi? Did he make you do it? I won’t allow it! It makes you look like a punk!”

As Pawoo was distracted, Raskeni suddenly scooped up Amli in her arms and leaped out of the bedroom along the power lines with the five Scriptures in tow. In moments, she had disappeared into the darkness of the city.

“Aaah! You…you let her get away!”

“Relax, Akaboshi. I know what I’m doing. We must let her go, for now.” Pawoo flicked her staff and replaced it on her back. Then she squinted at the golden stomach in Bisco’s hands. “She may not have put up much of a fight, but I suspect she could have killed me had she relied on the power of those things she called Scriptures. Perhaps she was conserving their power… Regardless, right now, we need Milo to…and I can’t believe I’m saying this, put your stomach back inside you. I will fend off that woman’s assassins while he does so.”

“No need. First priority’s gettin’ Amli back…”

“Only you are strong enough to do that, Akaboshi. And only with your full strength. Calm down and let us return to base for now.”

“Base?” asked Milo. “Do you have something in mind, Pawoo?”

Pawoo frowned a little at Milo’s green hair but continued.

“Not me, but Tirol does. That woman is a very smart young lady. She knew you two would get tangled up in trickery, so she got in contact with me. Actagawa is there at our base as well. It was tough finding somewhere large enough to keep him, let me tell you. In any case, let us go… Come, Akaboshi, grab on to me.”

“Who’d accept help from you—? Grh! Dammit…!” Bisco winced and grunted in pain. Pawoo leaned close enough that their noses were almost touching.

“If you’re going to be an ass about it…,” she whispered, and a devilish smile danced across her beautiful face. “…Come on, I’ll let you tell me what to do again. You’ve grown, Akaboshi. Gained a few scars… You’re looking more and more grown up by the day.”

“W-waaah…”

Bisco’s face burned bright red, and he turned away, shutting his eyes tight. Pawoo laughed, hoisted Bisco up onto her shoulder, and nodded to her brother, before leaping off into the dark city below.

“…He’s like a tiger most of the time, but when Pawoo is around, he looks more like a hamster.”

Milo chuckled at their relationship before following his sister’s gloriously fluttering hair into the night.