Chapter 64: I Am the One Who Rings Death's Bell, Part 18
The full moon. A giant blind eye. Its light fell on the blood scattered across the ground and the limbs strewn about. Under the moonlight, that sea of blood didn’t even seem real. As if it would vanish the moment you looked away.
The blood of people who had stopped being people. The blood of those who had come here thinking it would be a simple mission to rescue an aristocratic brat from a madwoman.
But both were merely human.
He was different. Special. He wouldn’t die and disappear in a place like this. In this world, Sam was a completely unique existence, and he intended to keep it that way. That’s why the Antichrist Hunger desired would never be born.
And if it was, he would at least make sure he was there to crush its skull, preventing it from becoming a threat to his special existence.
But now, the fight. War against Hunger. Hunger had called her little sister. And, so far, it seemed that Hunger was indeed much stronger.
It made sense. Wars didn’t happen all the time. Maybe at first, but even then, those conflicts were on such a small scale that they could barely be called wars. And with the progress of civilization, wars would naturally become less frequent.
But everyone felt Hunger.
If things worked like that, it was no wonder that up until now, War had floundered, unable to do anything. The fight couldn’t be more one-sided. Things were going well. Too well, naturally.
If there was a problem with this, it was the fact that they weren’t trying to kill each other. No matter how superior an opponent was, it was much easier to defeat someone trying to kill you if you weren’t willing to respond in the same way. War was holding back for now, but that could change in an instant. And she had more reasons to change than Hunger.
If things kept going like this and War felt cornered enough, Hunger could lose the fight before realizing War had turned into a true enemy.
Therefore...
"We have to do something, but what? What the hell do we do?"
"When we got here, I managed to hit her," said Christina.
"Really?"
"Of course! It’s just... I don’t know how I did it. I’m still trying to figure it out."
"Tell me exactly what happened."
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Christina did.
It couldn’t be because War didn’t see the attack coming, right? That the defense required her to be aware of what was coming, and any surprise attack would work on her? That seemed too simple.
Similarly, the other more obvious possibility—that the key was that Christina hadn’t seen War—was even harder to believe.
He could dismiss that immediately, in fact.
It was something even a fool would think of, so he could safely assume Christina had tested it, closing her eyes and failing.
Beyond the most obvious ideas that anyone would come up with, and therefore wouldn’t be the answer, what did he have?
Sam smiled like a wild beast. His spirit and body filled with vigor once more. After all, he was back in the fight. Now he was a "fighter" again, someone who could hurt his enemies.
His eyes burned anew. The flames of hell flowing through his veins froze the space around him. A dozen, two dozen. The number of ice weapons grew rapidly. Not just "spears." They were no longer just spears. Swords, maces—he gave them all sorts of shapes.
His sisters looked at him but said nothing. It was obvious he was preparing to try something. No. Not try. He had found the answer.
He was sure. He just felt a little embarrassed that it hadn’t occurred to him sooner.
War and Hunger were clashing in the air, making an unnecessarily flashy display of their powers. They couldn’t fly. They had simply jumped and hadn’t yet fallen to the ground. It wasn’t advantageous for either of them, but once again, they were basically playing.
He wasn’t.
He had never known how to lose, not even in, say, a simple video game. He held onto that resentment until the next time. He was petty to the extreme and proud of it.
"War, say hello to daddy dearest when you get to hell."
He didn’t pay for gloating too early. War was too occupied with her sister, and couldn’t know he had found the key.
Sam fired, and this time his attack hit.
Not most of the ice weapons, but enough. War fell to the ground, pierced through her torso, bleeding. She opened her mouth to speak, but all that came out was blood.
"What? How is this possible? You told him! You told him!"
Sam prepared more ice weapons but didn’t fire. He had to wait. War’s defense system, previously so overwhelming, now seemed childishly simple. She couldn’t defend and attack at the same time. That was it.
He had to wait for her to attack again, strike at the right moment. That was all. Just that and nothing more.
"No, sister, I... I didn’t..."
Hunger seemed genuinely affected by what had happened and the accusation. How amusing. He could cross out the word "seemed"—she had no reason to act.
"We had a deal!"
Not anymore. There were two reasons why she hadn’t wanted to tell him War’s secret weakness. She didn’t want her dead because she was her sister, after all. But besides that, it would mean losing her advantage.
She had only been so desperate to make a deal with him because she was the only one who could stand up to War.
Now that things had changed...
"Yes, a deal with the Antichrist. Don’t give me that nonsense. Any of us would’ve taken the first chance to betray the other. I just happened to be the first to find it. I told you. I told you you’d pay for this."
Every time he looked at her, it felt as if he had ants under his skin. He couldn't get rid of the humiliation with which she had marked him. Sam would rape women without thinking twice, so he supposed that taking it so personally would make him a hypocrite in the eyes of someone who knew his true nature. Sam didn't see it that way, however. He was consistent. Everything was acceptable as long as he did it.
In any case, the only way to feel clean again was this.
"I don't need War alive. Get out of my way or you'll die screaming too."
I Am the One Who Rings Death's Bell, Part 18: END