Глава 10

We actually... got inside? Why has this wall turned so soft?

Not bad! For an instant back there, I thought I was gonna get my head painted over Londinium's walls!

It was Misery's Arts. He wouldn't see us hurt.

Right... Kal'tsit told me your brain was an important asset to Rhodes Island.

My hands don't come cheap either, c'mon!

After that, I'm never asking to hitchhike with you again... Blaze carrying me everywhere is a way smoother ride than your Arts!

Am I right or am I right, Doctor?

Your hands are always busy. That's gotta be something.;I wouldn't say the Blaze Express is THAT comfortable.

You'd better take a breather, Misery.

I agree. Misery, I saw it clearly... Manfred almost impaled you with that thrust.

That was just a desperation blow. He had no other move.

You successfully provoked his rage, and that made him overlook my approach. I didn't even think I could fool him twice.

I didn't at all intend to...

When he asked me that, I definitely felt his anger. That rage of his rushed at me like a heatwave.

If Manfred uses all his strength, anyone nearby would have trouble lasting for long. Best I... *cough* *cough* *cough*...

Misery, I know you want to help that Victorian officer, but using large-scale matter-transformation Arts several times in one day is too taxing on your body.

It's okay, Amiya.

I won't drop dead for a while yet. Besides, I promised Kal'tsit...

You elite operators... make plenty of promises to Dr. Kal'tsit, don't you?

Inject these emergency meds into yourself. The fight in Londinium's only just begun, and I don't want to see you off somewhere alone again, swallowing down all the blood you're practically throwing up.

Amiya, enemies inbound.

Amiya, cut them off!

Feist, tie up six ziplines to me.

Closure, let's plant the bombs.

Hm. Misery found us a weak point in Londinium's defense system... We need to see this control room destroyed.

Blistering speed—White Wolf, this was your true aim, wasn't it?

Fangs and claws as fierce as these, yet tamed by Victoria's noble etiquette... Was it really worth it?

Sarkaz, wasn't your present appearance once packaged in so-called culture?

I hear your people used to look very different.

You can try your hardest, but you still cannot kill me. So long as this city's defenses continue to churn—

No. Wait. White Wolf, you're only stalling me!

You—You and Rhodes Island are collaborating again.

Do you know who they are? Do you know what that Cautus leader...?

I only know—that they can stop you.

White Wolf, should you miraculously succeed today... you will witness a corner of Londinium's walls collapse, with your own eyes.

Is that what you want to see? From this moment on, the legend of Londinium everstanding may well no longer—

From this moment on?

The fact you can be stood here means... the idea that Londinium has never fallen is nothing more than a self-reassuring joke.

Damn you! If those dukes outside take note of this—

Are you aware? You're finally showing a hint of panic in your face.

That goes to show my decision was the correct one.

If this wall... only exists to smother the screams of the Victorians from within, then it's already lost its founding purpose.

You ought to let those dukes hear!

Hear... how our fellow citizens cry out under your slaughter!

How... How much longer until we can go outside?

Oh... it feels like this passage is about to collapse... are we all going to die here?

Don't look down, and don't look back.

If the fear gets too much, just stare at the way ahead.

The signal light's still on. This is our hope that our soldiers lit for us.

We wait for the light as it turns bright... and then we can catch sight of the sun in Londinium once again.

Their firepower's too strong—

Rockrock, we can't get any closer to the train.

The bombardment hasn't stopped... Can the people down below still hold out? How much time do we have left?

There's been no word from the commander's end...

I... I believe in my family.

That's the one and only reason I've kept on this far.

Bloody hell, I can't get these things off me!

That's not it... You saw how fast they were a moment ago?

He's slowing them on purpose, like he's... just watching how long we can run for...

What kind of sicko is he?

Mmm... listen to the sound of your breaths, your pulses. Are you finally tired out?

Is this... the honor of the Sarkaz?

This isn't fit to be called a battle.

...Battle?

You seem to have the wrong idea.

The 'King of Sarkaz' isn't here, so I'm left with no matching opponent at all.

Would you converse with a meatbeast about glory or honor? When you know full well that hunting them serves to do nothing but excite your senses, that their only ultimate service is as an entrée on your dinner table?

You treat us... as prey?

You may be a Sarkaz, but slaughtering like this out of pure personal taste is still far too barbaric.

Do not appraise me by your understanding of culture. It would be the most hideous kind of slander to me.

Try and resist me, before the filthy rubble pummels you into mincemeat here.

I will borrow your blood to record your feelings at death's door... all your fear, unwillingness, anger... Let them burst forth upon me to your heart's content!

Vina, get over here—

No.

Vina!

Morgan, you fall back too.

Urgh...

You're going to stand in front of all of us, and resist him?

Yes.

You're no match for him.

I know.

And you're not planning to turn and flee, even if you'll be shredded in an instant, have your flesh leave the dullest stain in this whole tunnel?

Only if... you can all run faster than I can.

Why?

Because...

There is no because. I just want to do this.

When the city above us falls towards us, I want to be the first to embrace it in that instant.

If that's so...

The signal light in the passage seems to glow brighter.

Are her eyes failing her? Why is there starlight in Londinium's underground? No... how long have they gone without seeing the stars behind the clouds, even on the surface?

Siege blinks.

She suddenly realizes that is no star.

It is a button.

The detritus that caked it has been shaken off, and now it is shining, and she has the exact fortune to know what it does.

She was first brought underneath the palace at three years of age.

Her mentor carried her upon his back, using a tremendous paw to guide her in pushing this button.

Londinium's subterranean sprawled about its own muscle and bone, exposing to the future liege its veins and arteries, filled with life.

Over twenty years later—

She has found it for the second time.

Bombs mounted at all nodes!