[Good boy.]
Seemingly in a good mood, Dad tried to stroke my head.
Avoiding his hand, I complained because we're still in the middle of battle.
[I'm not... a kid anymore.]
[Hahaha. If that's really the case, then you would've defeated the sacred beast on your own.]
[Kuh...Dad!]
I was treated like a child, of course I would get mad. Ever since my dad passed away, I'd been forced to desperately stay alive for as long as five years.
Then he suddenly came back, unaware of what I've been through... Naturally, there will be a big gap between us.
But Dad could see through that feelings of mine as well.
[Oi oi, don't give me that face. We're gonna fight sacred beast together, but we won't be able to cooperate if it's like this.]
[I'm stronger now. More than you might think, Dad.]
[Sure you have a high stat. But isn't that something you obtained from gluttony skill? There is more to that skill than you might think.]
[That is...]
[You can obtain the stats and skill of any enemy you defeated. At a glance it's certainly a powerful skill. But it's not without any price to pay. Fate, the mortal sin skill... do you think why and for whom those skills were originally created?]
I certainly couldn't answer Dad's question. On the other hand, I could hear him mutter [I see...] when I didn't give him any answer.
After that, I kept my mouth shut.
The sacred beast had began to make its move.
Despite everything, I was actually nervous, this being the first time I fight alongside my dad. That caused me to respond too late to the sacred beast' attack. I was about to be struck right on my still recovering side.
[Fate!]
Dad pierced his black spear into the ground, generating huge ice stalagmites that encased the sacred beast in place.
That brief pause gave me enough time to react.
[What's wrong? Do you want to rest on the sideline with them instead?]
[Kuu...]
I grasped the black sword in my hand tighter, and swung at the sacred beast that already managed to break through the icy confinement.
Not to forget, I reactivated "Spirit Union" and clad Greed with fire magic once more.
『Again with the fire ball magic? You really have no sense of art.』
[Wrong. It's the mutated version.]
『Do not overuse the power of gluttony skill though.』
I mutated the fire ball magic, and finely infusing its fire element into the black sword.
The flame cladding the black sword increased its brightness as its color grew even closer to golden. At the same time, blood gushing out from my right eye.
After the fight against Rafal, I was informed that the Gluttony skill is slowly mutating my body. Now it's just up to blood gushing out from my right eye. Later on... I really have no idea.
I had Raine to research on it. But she was kidnapped by my dad before the research reached any conclusion.
The fire clad sword collided with the empowered sacred beast's pincer.
I still couldn't cut through it huh... Even after raising the power this far.
The fire spread out and enveloped the sacred beast whole. My slash didn't really cut through its carapace. Even so, the mutated fire magic, further empowered by spirit union, seemed to inflict some damage to the beast.
Shaking its body left and right, the sacred beast tried to extinguish the fire burning its body. When it realized that it didn't work, it began burrowing into the sands.
[As if I'll let you.]
Dad made a follow up, striking with his spear. Apparently he's building up power while I was attacking.
Pointing his weapon at the sacred beast, the spear tip emitted a freezing light.
[Freeze.]
Transparent icebergs rose up instantly, entrapping the sacred beast.
There shouldn't be not enough water in the atmosphere to produce this much ice. One can even say that Dad had conjured up ice out of nothing.
I instinctively knew that it's a high level ice magic. Slashing with black sword alone won't do anything to it.
Suffering from extreme heat followed by intense cold right after, countless cracks appeared on the sacred beast's carapace due to the sudden change of temperature.
『Not half bad, Fate! Did you really aim to do that?』
[Uu... guess so.]
Greed rarely praise me, so I just let him think that way.
I see... so there is something like that. I learned something today.
Dad and I proceeded to chase the sacred beast.
[Fate, watch out for the stinger.]
[I already knew that.]
[Don't bother attacking the tail and pincers. It could regenerate those back whenever it wants. It's like lizard tail.]
Earlier, when I was still teaming up with Roxy and Eris, our strategy was to get rid of the pincer and the stinger first because that's the most annoying parts of the beast. In the end, we found out that it could easily regenerate it back by absorbing the darknesses.
Dad is really more familiar with this sacred beast...
[Be really careful with the stinger's poison. Even a little quantity can kill someone like me.]
[Yeah, got it.]
Getting poisoned by that kind of thing, must be really bad.
I pierced the cracked part with my flaming sword.
There was something alright.
The sacred beast tried to twist itself away, but couldn't do so due to the encasing ice.
[How clumsy, Snow. This will be the payback from that time.]
After muttering that, my Dad tossed his black spear at the sacred beast's body.
It's obvious to me that the destructive power was so much greater than my attack just now.
That's because the sturdy body of the sacred beast actually got bent into U shape by that spear throw. Not only that, the impact also destroyed the ice restrains.
Both the pincers and tail were shredded by the speeding shards of ice broken down by my Dad's attack.
Strong... Moreover, Dad didn't seem to be fighting seriously.
The Sacred beast seemed to have taken major damage, as it moved groggily, before finally stopped moving altogether.
But Dad didn't stop just yet. Retrieving his black spear, he struck once more at the sacred beast's side.
[Is that all... Snow?]
Roaring aloud, it rolled around on the sand.
The sacred beast shouldn't have any more energy left to fight back.
When I approached Dad to help finish the sacred beast, something unthinkable happened. That giant of a beast disappeared all of a sudden.
[Eh?]
Ignoring the perplexed me, Dad walked forward.
Then, in front of where he stopped, I saw a red haired girl lying on the sand. There were countless wounds on her body, from where blood profusely seeped out.
Could it be, the sacred beast was originally a human? That never crossed my mind.
Dad stood right next to the girl, and raised his spear.
[Appearing this young... I guess she had lost much of her original power. Once again, return to the other side.]
He was aiming for the heart. A sure kill if it hit. The black spear dropped down without mercy.
But on the next moment...I stopped the spear with my black sword.
[Fate, what are you doing?]
[Dad...]
Sparks erupted from our interlocking weapons as we tried to overpower each other.
I shook my head as I looked at Dad's face. Once I saw that red haired girl, I've lost my intention to continue fighting.
[You shouldn't kill a helpless kid. I can't just overlook this.]
The girl was shedding tears when I laid my eyes on her. But not because she's begging for her life or anything.
She rampaged because she lost her reasoning. If she lost her consciousness during our battle just now, then the meaning behind that tears is only obvious to me.
Me and Dad tried to overpower each other for a while, until,
[Do what you want.]
The weight bearing down on my sword loosened up as Dad seemingly gave up.
He then turned around and told me.
[This kind of thing, you really are like your mom. Anyways, her name is Snow. She appeared to be resurrected by the Door to that Land, just like myself. But for some reason she lost a lot of her power, and probably turned wild because of that. That's all there is to it. Fate... she's still a sacred beast. Keep that in mind.]
Dad left without waiting for my answer. On his way, he stopped by to have a little talk with Roxy who was supporting Eris at the moment.
Afterward, he disappeared into the darkness of the desert.
I sat myself down next to that red haired girl named Snow. The exhaustion finally set in, so I let my body relax under the cold night breeze. There were a lot of darknesses when we began fighting the sacred beast, but there was nothing left now.
All I could hear was the sound of sand swept by the wind. As my breathing relaxed, I noticed that Roxy approached with Eris in tow.
[Fai, are you alright?]
[Yeah, I think I'm okay. How about Eris?]
[She has calmed down... but not so good overall.]
[I see.]
Roxy looked at me, then to the unconscious red haired girl. Knowing what she's curious about, I explained about what happened to her.
[This little girl's name is Snow. She's the sacred beast we fought earlier, and it seems Dad's acquaintance in the past.]
[I was also watching from a distance. But... to think that beast was originally a human. And such a little young girl as well...]
[She might look young, but that's probably not the case. Take Myne for instance; she looks like a kid but is actually a hundred years old.]
I told Roxy to take Eris back to Lishua's mansion.
We couldn't afford to bring back the still unconscious Snow as well. Just in case, since the town might turn into ruin if she turned back into the sacred beast once she woke up.
[I'll stay around as a watch overnight while waiting for Snow to wake up. Once we can confirm that she's friendly, I'll take her back into the town.]
[What if, she is not?]
[That's... in any case, I have a feeling that things will somehow work out.]
The sacred beast fought based on its instinct to survive. There was no malice there.
I could understand why Roxy was worried, but when I remember that tears Snow shed, I simply couldn't see her as a threat anymore.
Either way, the decision has been made when I chose to protect her from my Dad's killing blow.
I had to take responsibility and take care of her somehow.
I could also hear the astonishment in Greed's tone when he spoke to me via "Mind Reading".
『As if you haven't had enough problems as it is. That girl is the sacred beast!』
[I'll still take responsibility.]
『You do understand the meaning of what you said just now, right?』
[Yeah... of course I understand.]
Dad may not say it implicitly, but I knew that he missed Snow.
If something bad really happened, then I won't pull my punches.
As she is the powerful sacred beast, it may not be something that can be resolved by talking.
Roxy left with Eris soon after, leaving me alone as I quietly waiting for Snow to wake up.
Speaking of which, I wonder. What did Dad say to Roxy earlier? Normally, she would've told me if it's something important. But she didn't this time around. I couldn't help but to think that something is afoot here.