Глава 10

But Amiya's not here...

That's good.

Um, fair. Even she might not cope best with this monster of a thing.

Wonder if her and the Doctor've almost won... *sigh* What am I thinking? Even if they can shut the city artillery down, we're about to be torn to scraps here.

Vina, what's our plan?

Run.

I don't want to... and I CAN'T die here.

So run, Vina.

Run into the darkness before you. Don't think.

These tunnels will take you anywhere you wish to go.

We can't keep this deadlock up anymore.

Doctor, step back.

I'm going to condense stronger energy. I have to defeat Manfred as quickly as possible.

No.

Doctor, please trust me. I've matured a lot since the last time I removed my inhibitors.

I knew I wouldn't let myself fall, just as we entered Londinium.

He's hoping you'll do this.

Ugh... his energy is densifying! It's like... like a net, from head, to toe... it's everywhere!

The air's... full of invisible Originium crystals! He's scattering them as beacons for his attacks!

No wonder! It's like invisible drones are throwing bombs all about!

Mr. Feist, you and Closure have to get away... if you get caught up, there'll be nowhere to hide!

You can use more strength than that, Cautus.

I'm forcing my Arts... against this energy flow...

Savor it. I formed this cage myself.

Am I less able to shake it... the more I struggle?

Cautus, you said my mind wasn't set on this battle with you. You were only half correct.

I'll deliver you bound before Her Majesty. The Sarkaz in Londinium... are loath to see an outblood flaunting her borrowed power from the King.

I can't, and I don't want to command them.

Of course you can't.

But they shouldn't be commanded by Theresis either.

When I stayed in Kazdel, I saw so many Sarkaz warriors. Plenty of them were mercenaries. After that, at Chernobog... I met them again.

Even when they were being exploited by Talulah, at least they knew who their enemy in each battle was, and knew they were giving up their lives for a future.

But now? You've trapped them inside a foreign city. Ever since the moment I came, I've sensed their frustration, their anxiety, their bewilderment...

You read my warriors' emotions?

The net's... tightening? Are you angry?

Cautus, has anyone ever told you you're too conceited? You're no more than an Infected. You've never experienced for yourself what truly constitutes a Sarkaz life.

You simply sit on the side and watch. What makes you think you can truly comprehend our pain, our resentment?!

It's true, I might not be able to comprehend.

But... the fire that blazes in your hearts, it's burned since the distant past into the present, from the first razing of Kazdel to today in Londinium, and even now, it's still within me.

It burns. It burns incomparably true, truer than any illusion that words or Arts could conjure.

Say your piece as you please, Infected.

I know how this power of yours originates.

Once a lie is spun, it will not be any less of a lie, no matter how convinced the liar is of it.

Sarkaz, Infected...

No matter how you identify each one of us, we're all just ordinary people wanting to live through the unjust circumstances we're put in.

But Theresis has brought everyone into a hopeless war—look at the Victorian dukes' armies outside the city.

All it takes is for them to point their lances the same way—it could be Kazdel, it could be Londinium, but all that awaits the Sarkaz then is ruin.

No matter what you're using to spur them on—bloodlines, authority, renown... it's those that are the total lies!

When did you reform your energy and make some scant space?

I was not wrong, Cautus.

—You are very dangerous.

Your power, your speech... It may be unable to shake our mightiest soldiers, but it certainly brings our enemies the delusion of hope. I don't want them struggling any further.

You have no choice but to stop here. I won't ever let you enter this city again—

But I will crush flat this cage of yours!

Cage? I'm not even sure it lives up to that.

Huh...?

Someone's altering the density of my Arts?

Wait, it's you again...

Doctor, am I a little late here?

Finding a route through Londinium's city walls, well... that's tough, even for me.

Lucky I found a few outstanding helpers.

Appreciated. Thank you, Misery.

Amiya, we're switching battlefields.;Closure, position drones.;Feist, zipline.

And now, we jump.

Minutes before...

Doctor, I've locked onto Manfred.

Uh, barely anybody's with him...

He's not scared of us approaching him.

You think he's overpowered? He looks like he eats fights for breakfast. Maybe Theresis taught him a bunch of moves.

Can we seriously pound him into stopping the artillery like a good boy with just five minutes?

No, scratch that, no I in this we. At this point, you can't count me and Feist as part of your combat force. Throwing Logistics guys into this fray'd be a hell of a way to waste lives.

Amiya, you're all we've got...

Manfred is a powerful enemy.

But we've faced powerful enemies to come all this way... and we'll surely face more still.

Amiya, you keep all of Manfred's attention.;Closure, Feist, ready our retreat from the tower.;The one we're waiting for is almost here.

Reprising old tricks? Did you really think I'd let you all escape a second time?

A thread of energy comes rushing in, as if it's locked onto some position in the air.

You almost feel the point of that sword slice at the tip of your feet.

Until a shield comes down in front of you all.

Drop any thoughts of pursuing them, Sarkaz.

Your fight is right here.

White Wolf. I didn't imagine you would come face me again.

So this passage is bidirectional, what a surprise. You sent them away, and brought yourself in at the same time?

It wasn't me... It was us.

Behind Horn, a soldier stands up.

And then a second, and then a third.

And now over a dozen Victorian soldiers block the Sarkaz general's way.

All of them, camouflages dropped.

They wear a dizzying array of different uniforms, the majority scarred in the roiling flames of war, some covered in mud and cobweb, some splattered by the blood of their own comrades.

Their weapons are just as motley, some still holding regulation swords, some instead toting self-fashioned crossbows.

But their faces all bear an identical vigor.

This time, they stand firm or fall once and for all. They will never retreat.

A gaggle of leftover forces thinks they can beat me?

You aren't fit to fight me, even with a weapon.

Have you forgotten you owe your last escape from my grasp entirely to that Rhodes Island Sarkaz meddler?

You can stop checking all around, Sarkaz.

When you don't respect your opponent on the battlefield, you're the first to fall.

Your blabbering may well be more stubborn than your shield.

Hrrgh––

Watch the enemy's attack angle! Assemble behind me!