WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 299: The World Made of Gears - 6

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Even in a situation this unfavorable, Maximilien's fighting spirit still blazed. Seeing that he had no intention of retreating in the slightest, I could only click my tongue.

What was with him? Was he some protagonist from somewhere? Why was he burning so brilliantly?

I wanted to applaud Maximilien's determination to push beyond everything he had already achieved instead of stopping there. If life was a flame destined to go out someday, then no color would remain where he stood after he had burned everything away. Leaving only gray ashes on the earth, he would become the wind and fly as high into the sky as he pleased. Ah, what a fleeting yet radiant life. Everyone, applause.

Still, when I remembered that his goal was "me," the hands that had been clapping awkwardly moved to the back of my head. Watching a fire might be enjoyable, but if that fire was trying to burn me, I had no choice but to run for it.

Or stomp it out.

That was why I liked Maximilien yet had no choice but to kill him. His wish would burn me away.

Probably by turning me into some bizarre being called the King of Sin, something I'd never heard of before.

I responded at once.

"We have to fight! Ria, do you remember the rule where letting your opponent touch you means defeat?"

It had happened so long ago that I thought she might not remember, but Historia answered smoothly.

"Hehe. That rule you forced in because you wanted to rack up points when we first sparred? Of course I remember. Some lanky idiot made an absurd proposal, so I told him to go ahead and try it. Then you shamelessly aimed only for my torso, didn't you? Hehe. I was so annoyed back then that I really wanted to kill you."

"Seeing how you remember even the pointless parts, I guess I worried for nothing!"

As Historia grinned, the ground beneath our feet suddenly trembled faintly. Maximilien was trying to use alchemy to melt the ground beneath us and turn it into a swamp of brass. Just as I noticed and tried to flee,

Boom.

Historia stomped hard on the Steel Beetle. Earth Energy Art, the energy she released through her foot, spread like an earthquake. The steel plate warped slightly, and several gears fell loose from the impact.

To use alchemy, one had to understand the target object almost perfectly. If it changed during the attempt, the alchemy would fail. That was why alchemy was difficult to use in actual combat.

Thanks to Historia's stomp, the alchemy was nullified. The mana that had lost its direction evaporated.

Having instinctively struck at alchemy's greatest weakness, Historia showed no particular reaction to what she had done.

"Why? Are we doing that?"

"Not with you, with the Halberdier!"

Historia narrowed her eyes.

"...What part of an old man like that do you want to touch?"

"I don't particularly want to touch him, and touching isn't the point! I have a way to neutralize him if I lay a hand on him!"

"Hehe, I'm joking. I know. I saw it earlier."

Maybe the drugs were making Historia's words tumble out without passing through her brain. Shouldn't we settle this quickly before she got any worse?

"You understand, Ria? I'll support you and look for an opening. I'm counting on you!"

"Counting on me? Hmm, for free?"

"I get it, so move already!"

Even in this urgent situation, she was smiling with her eyes. Was this really okay?

Fortunately, my concern was needless. Historia closed in on Maximilien in an instant and pressed him hard.

Bang, bang, bang.

Whenever fists and arms collided, they rang like steel striking steel. Maximilien's hand was a steel prosthetic, but I had no idea why Historia's limbs made the same sound.

Historia threw out her arms and legs with ease. Her punches and kicks flowed naturally with her energy arts. When she stepped, Earth Qi Art supported her entire body. When she thrust out a fist, Heaven Qi Art burst forth. The energy arts that had become one with her body made her movements many times nimbler and faster.

By comparison, Maximilien moved with the orderly precision of clock hands. Whenever Historia threw a punch, the joint gears moved at the exact speed and angle needed to block it. His arms and legs shifted at utterly unexpected angles, knocking Historia's attacks aside. He focused entirely on defense, then released all the force he had stored the moment he saw an opening.

Without any warning, his arm clicked apart and extended nearly a meter. It was possible because his elbows and shoulders were gears rather than joints. The sudden attack, impossible to predict without reading his thoughts, targeted Historia's body.

'Just as I thought. I knew he was gathering strength.'

Still, you didn't need to be a mind reader to engage in psychological warfare. Historia spun the gun in her hand and adjusted her grip. Holding the barrel turned the gun into an excellent hammer. She brought the grip down on Maximilien's arm.

Clang!

Alchemic steel made by the military state's finest alchemist collided with steel filled with the military state's strongest energy art. After a clash that scattered sparks, the result was a draw. Force powerful enough to overwhelm their weight collided, sending both of them flying in opposite directions.

But Historia's gun wasn't actually a hammer. It was merely a barrel for firing energy, and gripping it to swing it was only a secondary use.

Energy flashed from the gun she held in a reverse grip. Blue fire reflected in Maximilien's monocle.

Bang.

Maximilien's head snapped backward nearly ninety degrees. His body slid backward after being struck by an energy bullet.

But he didn't fall. Historia lowered her stance and watched him.

'It hit. No, did he block it?'

His monocle was broken and hung loosely from his face. A large bruise had formed on his face. Yet he was still alive.

A self-moving monocle. It was an artifact for seeing what could not be seen, but it was also protective gear he had painstakingly made for himself. The instant he sensed the muzzle light up, he placed the monocle in the bullet's path.

'Was there not enough time to gather energy? What a shame. I thought I caught him off guard.'

Regardless of Historia's disappointment, she still held the advantage in close combat. Unable to win in a brawl, Maximilien slid backward and scratched the steel with his fingers. A brilliant white glow carved itself deeply into the surface, and the steel plate split and flipped over as though cut by scissors.

Through the gap, countless tightly packed gears could be seen. Maximilien reached toward them.

Maximilien's arm became a magnet. Simply by bringing his hand close, countless gears clung to it like a swarm of bees. The gears attached to his arm slipped beyond my control, then spun up his arm and found their places. Each gear remembered its own position and moved, reassembling itself.

In an instant, Maximilien gained an enormous, functional mechanical arm. Its fist was as large as Historia's torso.

'That's strange... His arm looks bigger than before. Am I seeing things?'

Idiot. It really had gotten bigger.

Crash!

The mechanical arm extended as it struck Historia head-on. It was several times larger and several times longer than before. It wasn't something she could knock aside with the gun's grip. Historia crossed her arms and leaped backward.

"...Ugh."

Historia staggered backward under the overwhelming impact.

Now.

I rushed after her half a beat ahead and shouted,

"Ria! Move eight!"

Historia reacted reflexively.

Back when I was still in school, I had exceptional written-test ability and disastrously poor practical skills. Regardless of my true ability, the military state denied opportunities to anyone who failed to receive good evaluations by its fixed standards.

So Historia and I would work together to put on sparring matches several levels above my actual skill.

We decided on moves in advance, and when I called out a number, we moved accordingly. If we coordinated beforehand, even third-rate acting could look like a master's sparring match. Instead of wasting energy doubting or guarding against each other, we could pour all of it into moving.

Like now.

Retreating, Historia pivoted to the right on her left foot. At the same time, I rushed toward her back. We were clearly about to collide. Yet for a single instant, we both twisted our bodies and brushed backs. As we crossed, Historia shoved me with her shoulder and arm.

My body shot forward like an arrow.

I was much faster than I had been in the past, but that didn't matter. Like it or not, Maximilien had no choice but to connect gears to his arm because of his ability. Alchemy was, in the end, a technique for changing matter. It needed a power source to move, and for Maximilien, who had already optimized everything, there was no option besides gears.

Then the moment I touched him, it would be a repeat of earlier. I would turn his innate arcane against him, trace the gears back, and destroy his body from within.

'Something to fear more than Major General Historia. The King of Humanity. Even a fragment of his ability is absurd.'

I reached out. My fingertips were just about to touch Maximilien's mechanical arm. The instant I touched the arm, I would destroy Maximilien's body irreversibly and without fail.

Because my ability was his ability.

'You will trace the gears back and attack me. You will destroy me with my own power, leaving me unable even to resist.'

Maximilien knew that fact all too well.

He was dealing with Historia, but through his monocle, he had been watching only me. Even though I suddenly sprang out from behind Historia's back, he continued to keep his attention on me.

'Then I will cut it off before you touch it. So that power cannot reach me.'

Tch. That was a bust.

I'd have to redraw the board.

Crash!

Maximilien detached the mechanical arm from his prosthetic. He tore it off so hastily that several gears failed to come loose completely and scraped against the inside with a metallic screech. He abandoned something that had cost a considerable amount of mana and gears to make without a trace of regret, retreating at full speed. Without caring about his dignity, he even rolled across the ground to get farther away from me.

Gears poured down before my eyes. I shouted at once.

"Move two!"

Historia swiftly grabbed my cloak. My body stopped sharply in midair, and my raised foot scraped uselessly through the air. The mechanical arm crumbled in front of me, but Historia pulled me away and kept it from hitting me.

"Cough!"

Would it have been better to get hit? My cloak tugged at my neck and shoulder, choking me.

After coughing a few times, I steadied myself and said,

"At this rate, it'll become a battle of attrition. Ria, how much energy do you have left?"

"I don't really know... If I push myself, maybe I can keep firing?"

"And if you don't?"

"Two shots."

So two shots was the end.

If we had been at full strength, continuing the battle of attrition would have been the right answer. To make one mechanical arm, Maximilien was tearing the Steel Beetle's loin out for material. I also had the "traps" I had made while fleeing earlier, so before long, he would run out of gears to use.

But we were close to our limit too. We were the ones in a hurry, so we had to make the decisive move.

"What about your finishing move?"

"If I push myself, I can barely manage it somehow."

"Even once would be cutting it close... We'll have to bet on that. Fine. This time, I'll make an opening."

It was hardly a strategy, just brute force. We had no strength and no choices left, only the will to somehow make it work.

This was normal. Beasts all lived like this. They died running away, died fighting. Or they ate something wrong, became sick, and died.

I didn't want to, but to protect myself, I pulled cards from my pocket.

Footnotes:

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