WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

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Chapter 300: The World Made of Gears - Finale

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I jerked my arm. Of the Clover Deck I had taken out beforehand, eight cards remained in my hand, excluding the 1 I had used to escape Amitenggrad and the 6 I had just thrown. I ran a finger along their edges and carefully chose my cards.

It hurt my pride, but I had to admit it. No matter what card I used, I couldn't deal Maximilien any meaningful damage. Maybe I could kill him if I shoved the whole deck into his stomach and made it explode? Though if I got that far, I had already won.

All right. Change the objective.

I wanted to create a single opening. Even if it was as thin as a thread, it had to be certain.

Fire? Not a chance. Wind? He'd probably make a fan out of gears and blow me away. Alchemy and decomposition magic? My opponent was an alchemist several times better than I was. Exploding the mana stored in the cards wouldn't work, either. You didn't show off in a specialist's field in front of a specialist.

Then there was only one thing left to do.

Make a decision.

I slid one card out with my finger, then another. At the same time, I loosened the cloak around my shoulders and wrapped it around my hand to hide the cards. So he would be even a little less wary...

'Cards? They definitely contained magic. The magic itself isn't especially dangerous, but I have to keep him from getting close anyway.'

Humans were creatures that learned. Maximilien didn't let his guard down in the slightest.

Maximilien no longer insisted on using gears. He chose a reliable method, even if it was somewhat crude.

He crushed a handful of gears flat. A simple form of alchemy performed with the palm. The tiny gears were sharpened into throwing stars.

With the fingers of his other prosthetic hand, he scraped the Steel Beetle's back. Five fingers split the steel covering lengthwise as though it were bamboo. Maximilien fashioned the long strips of steel into spears.

'Until now, I deliberately avoided blades because I was afraid you might die... But I won't care about methods any longer.'

The director of the military state's Weapons Development Bureau created every weapon within his capability. Throwing stars, blades, spears, the remaining gears, and more.

Then he fired all of them at me with everything he had.

He threw spears with a launcher made of gears and flicked his fingers to fire throwing stars. Every one of them carried his full power.

'If you are the King of Humanity, you won't die here. No, even if you do die, it can't be helped. Otherwise, I will die!'

Blades flew toward me. Sharp glints filled my vision.

I couldn't block or dodge them.

Historia rushed over to help me. She intended to grab my cloak and throw me away entirely. It was the most reasonable option available.

But it wasn't enough.

Right before Historia's fingers touched me, I gave her an order.

"Move eight."

The same movement as before, where we passed each other and switched positions.

Historia acted on reflex. She put her thoughts aside and ran toward my back as we had planned. I twisted my body as well, making room for her to pass. Our positions reversed as easily as turning over a hand.

For an instant, a path opened between Historia and Maximilien.

At the same time, weapons of steel rained down on Historia.

Her thoughts followed a beat later.

'If we switch places like this, I'll have to take all of those with my body to save Hui. I could somehow block them all with Rebounding Energy Art, but then...'

She would lose the momentum of her charge, and the energy needed for Gun-Sword Total Intent would be spent.

The faint chance of victory we still had would reach zero.

There was only one way to win.

Historia gathered energy in the hand gripping her gun. Energy filled the firearm. Historia's Explosive Shot art swirled and gathered behind the improvised bullet.

She ignored defense and poured every bit of energy spread through her body into the gun. The tightly compressed energy swelled strangely...

It reached beyond reason.

The impossible image of a bullet's slash was dragged into reality.

Maximilien's defenses were thinner than ever, having just turned his gears into weapons and launched them. Historia, a born warrior, spotted that opening.

She also realized why I had ordered move eight.

'This was what you were after, Hui? You're really too much.'

Without energy arts, Historia's body was nothing more than that of a somewhat sturdy woman. Red-hot throwing stars, makeshift steel spears that looked all the more threatening because they had been hastily made, blades carved from steel plates. If they struck her, she wouldn't be all right.

No. She would definitely die.

Yet I had proposed using Gun-Sword Total Intent. I had said I would use myself as bait.

Historia didn't think deeply, but she wasn't stupid.

She smiled faintly and whispered, "I'll still do it, Hui. But this is the last time, right?"

'...There probably won't be a next time.'

No.

There would be a next time.

What did you take me for? I wouldn't care about methods, but I still had some humanity. There was no reason to let you die here.

I needed to keep you alive so you could keep helping me.

One of the cards I had drawn was the Clover 8. A simple compass spell. During military training season, the military state gathered children and taught them compass magic. To read a map, they at least needed to know where north, south, east, and west were.

And it was a fairly well-known fact that a compass was really a magnet.

That completed it.

An unorthodox spell, modified by pouring in every bit of mana I had and far removed from its original purpose.

"Compass Gausus!"

I released the mana stored within it.

The mana rising from the Clover 8 resembled a whirlpool, yet it was different. It was difficult to compare it to anything, but the shape where its beginning and end joined was somewhat like a whirlpool.

The swirling mana spread outward, touched the Queen of Cloth, amplified, and spread even more fiercely until it reached the steel.

'Do you think a spell enlarged in scale alone will work on me? No matter what kind it is?'

Maximilien thought.

'It will not. Every piece of alchemical steel I possess is a high-cost alchemical material of level four or higher. They all possess basic resistance to enchantment magic. Magic will not work. Unless the alchemist is stronger than I am, or it reaches beyond reason!'

I knew.

Magic wasn't all-powerful. It only accelerated changes that already existed in the world, and even then, it often faced desperate resistance. This alone couldn't defeat Maximilien.

That was why I drew one more card.

The Spade 10.

I overlapped the two cards.

* * *

Iron, which had once been one with the earth at the beginning of time, recalled an ancient longing.

It was a nostalgia that could only be remembered when it came suddenly, like a dream from childhood. If it was forgotten, there was no promise it would ever return.

Iron struggled to grasp that faint longing. It was the struggle of something yearning to become whole again, as though it had left half of itself somewhere in the world.

Then, like a gift, 'that' appeared in the world.

At last, I found it. At last, I found it. At last, I found it.

Every piece of iron that found 'that' changed its target. Instead of flying to tear apart the skin of a weak beast, they twisted their course to quench an unresolvable thirst.

To become one whole with 'that.'

* * *

The blades headed for Historia all changed direction at once. They sped up, but as long as they missed, they weren't dangerous.

Historia's view opened up.

'...So this won't be the last time. Honestly, you keep raising and dropping people's hopes.'

Historia hadn't seen what I did. Even if she had, she wouldn't have understood it.

But how wasn't important.

What mattered was that I had solved the problem. And now it was Historia's turn.

'Hui gave it everything, so I need to give it everything too. But I'm a little... short.'

Historia was troubled. She had said she could somehow manage it, but she had even less energy than she expected.

It couldn't be helped. Making an accurate judgment in an extreme situation, especially while intoxicated by mana herbs, was impossible. Even if I read Historia's mind, it was useless if her judgment had been impaired.

'If I can gather it somehow... Pull it all together and focus it somehow.'

But Gun-Sword Total Intent, the Li Historia had newly grasped, could not be performed with an ordinary amount of qi.

The first Li, Zeroing. The fourth bullet would always hit its target. It was the art Historia, whose main weapon was a gun, had reached after endless effort to hit her target.

The second Li derived from it, Gun-Sword Total Intent. The target of "certain hit" changed from a point to a line. It was the image Historia had conceived while considering the difference between Skywarbler and a gun during her battle with the regressor. To bring about that result, however, Historia had to swing her gun like a sword and use several times more energy.

Then Historia found inspiration.

'Does it really need to be a line? What if I concentrate it into a single point instead?'

Wait. Then it wouldn't be any different from a bullet. It wouldn't differ from Zeroing, no, it wouldn't be different from simply firing a gun!

Someone had gone through all the trouble of becoming bait and clearing away every obstacle. What kind of stupid thought was that?

'Do humans awaken when they're on the verge of death? That's a good idea... Let's test it right away.'

What awakening? It was the effect of the stimulant! This was why I shouldn't have trusted someone who did drugs!

But I couldn't move right then. Countless blades were changing direction toward the Spade 10 in my hand. If I let go before their direction fully turned, Gaia Ego would come undone and Historia would be attacked.

Unable to do anything but watch, I spotted Maximilien shielding his front with a cloak.

What was that called again? The Mantle of Infinite Interlocking? It had blocked the regressor's slash.

A cloak that actively defended against attacks as countless gears turned while meshing together without gaps. Its interlocking distorted space, so it specialized in blocking attacks involving space or wind. Of course, that only meant it was especially good against those. It would probably block other things well too.

Could Historia, weakened by drugs, get through that?

This was also difficult to learn through mind reading. Even if I read her thoughts, I couldn't know until it happened.

Still.

'Gun-Sword Total Intent. Thrust.'

I had a feeling I knew.

Historia pulled the gun far back, then pulled the trigger and thrust it forward. It was the posture of driving in a blade or thrusting with a spear.

At the same time, the drawn-out gunshot characteristic of Gun-Sword Total Intent rang out. A hazy afterimage connected the muzzle to the cloak.

It hit.

And it was blocked.

Maximilien's cloak caved in, and several broken gears scattered in every direction. Perhaps because it had an actual bullet, it seemed to have done more damage than it had during the fight with the regressor.

Even so, it didn't penetrate the cloak. Historia's principle also interfered with space. Though there was a physical bullet, it was at a disadvantage against a cloak that distorted space through countless interlocking gears.

Of course.

Just as I became disappointed, I noticed something strange.

The gunfire hadn't ended.

Not rapid fire. Continuous fire.

One gunshot continued without end.

The bullet hadn't lengthened, nor had Historia fired dozens of shots. Yet the cloak continued to cave in, and the gears broke until there were no more left to break. The crack that began at a single point gradually grew larger.

The power that followed kept adding force to the first shot that had struck.

At this point, it was neither a gun nor a sword.

It had finally reached a spear.

Gun and spear. Which was superior?

Here was the answer to Absolute Spear's long-standing question.

A somewhat trite answer.

All paths led to the same destination.

At last, the cloak was pierced.

Crash!

Maximilien's body was impaled by invisible gunfire and sent flying through the air. The gears that were his strength and life scattered like blood.

Footnotes:

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