Chapter 97: The Meteor Fist
“Krah!”
Just by swinging his fist, Roberto unleashed a shockwave that mowed down the surrounding knights.
What was dreadful was not that it was magic, but simply the magic power kneaded into his raw physical strength. In other words, it could not even be called magic, just a pure force technique. In fact, Roberto’s right fist bore no ring at all.
The blond artificial human, CT-7110, observed the bold and passionate fighting of the man with a calm gaze.
“Well, I’ve taken care of most of the knights. Only you remain, blond knight!”
“It would seem so.”
“Hahaha! You’re calm for someone backed into a corner!”
“I deny that,”
the knight refuted his words. At least in the current situation, there was no reason to affirm Roberto’s statement.
“Oh? Do you have some kind of strategy?”
“The premise is wrong. I was never backed into a corner to begin with.”
The knight activated the magic engraved within him.
Combat artificial humans do not require rings. Their bodies have magic stones developed by Makina-Orchestra embedded within them.
“…I see. A shield.”
What manifested in his hand was indeed a shield, as Roberto had said.
A magical tool developed specifically for the knight CT-7110, whose duty is to protect Makina-Orchestra.
“Interesting! I’ll shatter that shield!”
He channeled his magic power into his fist – the same strike that blew away the other knights effortlessly –
“………..!”
–but the steel shield easily withstood it.
“[Mimicry – Calamity-Dispelling Shield]”
“Terribly unresponsive! This is the first shield I’ve encountered this hard…but still!”
Even faced with this shield, Roberto did not budge an inch.
Rather, he tightened his fist further, pouring even more magic power into his right arm.
“This should do it…how’s this?!”
Clearly on a whole different level from before, he unleashed an undoubtedly full-power strike brimming with magic and physical might.
Needless to say, a direct hit would be fatal – even a glancing blow would cause considerable damage.
It was like a meteor – a fist resembling a rock falling from the heavens.
“–What…?!”
The steel shield swallowed the meteor strike whole, nullifying its full force entirely.
“Not a single reaction…my fist, the impact, didn’t even get a hint of resistance!”
“I have judged your attacks to be completely blockable. [Flame Magic Spear]”
“Guoh?!”
He thrust a spear of flame at point-blank range. Of course, attacking at such close quarters would engulf even himself – especially a fire-attribute spell that would cause an explosion. However, this [Mimicry – Calamity-Dispelling Shield] nullified even that.
In contrast, having taken the point-blank [Flame Magic Spear], Roberto’s massive body was blown away and rolled along the ground.
“…I will eliminate you.”
As he took a step to get closer to the huge body engulfed in flames.
“Ha ha ha! That worked!”
As he took a step toward the flame-engulfed giant, Roberto calmly arose from the conflagration.
“I’m surprised. To still be standing after taking that.”
“I have confidence in my body’s sturdiness!”
It seemed to be no exaggeration or joke. The second prince Roberto’s physique that produced overwhelming physical might was clearly exceptional.
“However, I too am surprised! I never expected that shield of yours could withstand the same force as mine!”
“………..!”
The [Mimicry – Calamity-Dispelling Shield] equipped by CT-7110.
This shield’s function is extremely simple.
At the moment of receiving an enemy attack, it releases the same amount of magic power as the opponent’s attack strength on the shield’s surface, nullifying the attack.
If the attack has a hundred units of power, it releases a hundred units of magic power. If a thousand, then a thousand units.
Striking back with the same amount, nullifying it, and rendering it utterly void.
No matter what attribute it possessed, no matter how absolute its destructive power, no matter how lethal the strike, it could defend against any and all types of attacks – magic.
Roberto’s attacks were no different. If this were an absolutely rigid shield, its durability would have a limit and eventually be shattered. But this shield cannot break. His attacks become void. A void fist cannot damage the shield.
“I’m impressed. I didn’t expect you to see through it this quickly.”
“See through it, you say. It’s a bit different.”
“Different?”
“I can usually sense most things by crossing fists. Whether it’s a sword or a shield, I can feel it through my fists. But…the feeling I get from your shield is like staring into a mirror. It simply responds with the same force as mine.”
“So your sensory perceptions are quite refined.”
“Hahaha! I’m often called a sensationist!…By the way, blond knight!”
“What is it?”
“As you can see, I’m sturdy! So don’t hold back! Let your true feelings, your heart, out and strike me with them! I’ll withstand them all!”
“…I fail to understand the meaning.”
Roberto’s sudden words left him delayed in reacting. His words somehow caused his body to stiffen.
“I’m merely an empty artificial human.”
“Oh? You don’t have a ‘you’ inside you?”
“Affirmative.”
“Don’t lie.”
For some reason, he felt as if a sword had been thrust into his chest.
The word ‘why’ whirled in a storm of noise inside the knight’s head.
“I told you. If we cross fists, I can usually sense most things.”
“…What are you trying to say?”
“You are wavering in your way of being.”
“What basis do you have? What can you understand with just your fists?”
“A truly empty person would not describe themselves as an empty artificial human.”
“—-“
Just sensationist. His pride was undermined from the depths.
“……Are you trying to disturb me?”
“Hahaha! I’m an idiot, so I’m terrible at strategies using my head!”
However, Roberto clenches his fist.
“I regret it! The wall, the anguish I sensed from my brother. I knew it existed, but I didn’t try to break through that wall! Thinking that a dimwit like me couldn’t help and would only end up hurting my brother’s heart out of mischief, I ran away! And when I heard that my brother went berserk and lost his arm, I regretted it so much I thought I would die! So I decided! I will never again use my stupidity as an excuse to run away! If there is someone suffering like you, I will become their strength!”
“I do not suffer.”
“Hahaha! You’re quite stubborn too! But I’m also stubborn!”
Roberto makes the only ring he’s equipped glow.
Golden magical power resonates through the ring, reverberating into the world like sparks.
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“Let the beginning be declared! [Polydeuces]!”
The high-ranking ring held by royalty. Drawing out the power of the contracted spirit, the [Royal Garment Ring] that adorns their body. Many of those currently confirmed were the type that used weapons, but no such armaments have manifested in Roberto’s hands.
“My weapons are these fists! This body! And here has become our arena!”
Roberto shouts as if reading the knight’s heart.
There’s no doubt he’s going to engage in hand-to-hand combat, but according to information from Lucile, the power of his [Royal Garment Ring] is not just this.
In fact, he can already perceive that the surrounding area’s space is distorting, the entire area coming under the dominion of a different truth.
A wall of magical power tingling against his back. Trapped in a magically constructed space.
“You’ve constructed a magical space and imprisoned both of us inside. I can nod in understanding that you remained alone to guard the entrance. A suitable magic for containment.”
“Indeed! I can’t just let you through the entrance! More importantly, this lets me fight you to my heart’s content!”
“I have no objections. The true order I received from Lady Lucile was also to contain you here.”
“Hahaha! No, I said I get to fight you!”
This man Roberto is intent on fighting fist-to-fist to the very end. Abandoning a defensive stance of raising his shield.
(……Impossible)
He is a puppet. An empty artificial human.
Orders are absolute, and with orders, even the master he serves can easily change, just a puppet.
“Here I come!”
“………!”
Immediately after the signal, a fist strikes the shield without a moment’s pause. The originally exceptional physical strength combined with the magic of the [Royal Garment Ring] delivers a blow far swifter and heavier than before. However, the enhanced physicality and eye and reaction speed of the combat-type artificial human allows for perfectly timed defense.
“Not yet!”
A storm of fists, no, a meteor shower of fists assails him, but the nameless blond knight blocks them all with his shield. Exerting equal magical power against each fist, negating their force.
“It’s useless. You cannot break me.”
“It’s not useless! You cannot stop me!”
He has no leeway to unleash offensive magic attacks like the [Flame Magic Spear] from before. However, it’s not as if he cannot be stopped by just defending.
“Hahaha! I can feel it through my fists! Your anguish, through your shield!”
“Nonsense.”
“You are anguished over your way of being as a knight!”
He has ample magical power to maintain the shield’s defensive magic.
Combat-type artificial humans are designed with functions to increase their magical reserves.
“You harbor anger towards serving your current master!”
“………ugh!”
“Yes……anger! I’m starting to understand! The heart contained in your anguish is anger! Blond knight!”
Roberto’s words are just attempts to disturb him, to unsettle him.
Even if he understands that rationally, the fists of his words pierce through the shield into his heart.
The CT-7110 combat-type artificial human.
He was created to protect Makina-Orchestra. Created to be her shield.
As necessary for information gathering to fulfill his role as a shield, even in hibernation he constantly received information from the active [Makina-Orchestra]. The months, days, daily life she spent. Her thoughts, everything, was sent to him as information.
Makina-Orchestra. An empty artificial human, just like himself.
But CT-7110 witnessed her becoming human, that journey.
Breaking out of the framework of an artificial human, cultivating a heart day by day.
He wanted to protect her. Not out of any pre-programmed orders, but as a knight, to serve and protect this master.
—-When he awoke from that dream, the one there was the master who had toyed with the heart she had cultivated.
With rewritten authority, he found himself serving the demon who had shattered Makina-Orchestra’s heart.
He obediently followed as a matter of course. And he was furious at himself for doing so. Yes, furious. This is fury.
Fury at the demon woman who toyed with Makina-Orchestra’s heart. Fury at the puppet that so easily serves such a demon. Fury at being an artificial human.
“No!”
He must not harbor such things. He is an artificial human, so he just needs to obey orders faithfully.
“No way!”
A roar-like scream. The fist that struck pushed the shield back. The balance of exerted power against the attack broke.
“If you have anger, scream it out! Let it loose! Lay it bare! I’ll catch it for you now!”
“I am……an empty, artificial human……!”
“For someone empty, you sure talk a lot!”
The loss of balance won’t stop. His magical power is falling behind the opponent’s offensive might.
“An empty artificial human? If that were the truth, words wouldn’t overflow from you! You must have something you want to say! Something you’re hiding in your heart! Otherwise, would words spill out?”
“……..! But I……!”
“If anguishing, raging, shattering your heart is what it means to be an artificial human, then discard being one!”
His shield’s magic is in disarray. The fists constantly surpass his defenses. The fists of words fill his heart.
“Why……why are you going this far……!”
“It’s because you’re a good person!”
“………eh!?”
“You’re surely a good person, anguishing as you defy the malicious for the sake of your former master! A good person needs to be helped!”
Just that. That’s the only reason he is boldly clashing with him here.
“You are currently in the midst of a battle with the fate of the world at stake.”
“That’s right!”
“The Night Witch, the sworn enemy of the royal family, your highest priority foe must be there.”
“That’s right!”
“You could surely have defeated me and moved on without exerting your full power.”
“That’s right!”
“And I am your enemy.”
“That’s right!”
“And yet—-you extend a hand to me at the cost of expending yourself, just because I’m a good person in need of help. That’s the only reason?”
“That’s right!”
He stated it definitively, without hesitation.
“Because that is the way of being as a king that I aspire to!”
“Ha…………”
I inadvertently let out a laugh. Not a mocking one. His utter simplemindedness caused a heartfelt smile to spill out.
(Ah, I’m envious)
Of the man before me, able to outpour his heart so directly.
I ended up feeling envious.
Pitiful, I ended up feeling.
That even at this juncture, I cannot defy orders, a mere puppet.
“I am a shield. A shield does not defy. A shield does not harbor anger. I am a shield. As long as I am a shield, I will suppress this anguish and anger, and remain a shield. That is the duty given to me as an artificial human.”
“You truly are stubborn!”
“I cannot help myself. As you said, I do harbor anger towards Lucile. Anger at being a puppet. But that is what it means to be an artificial human. The chains of authority. The curse of orders. If commanded to be so, I can only be so. Makina is an irregular. I cannot become free like her.”
“Then I’ll shatter it! That shield! Those bindings!”
This is likely the final clash. The golden magical power swelling in Roberto’s fist becomes the destructive force of his all-out attack.
“And I will command you! From this moment, this instant onward, you are a warrior I have recognized, a human! I have decided it!”
Enveloped in an illuminating radiance, Roberto charges straight ahead. His form is like a meteor, a shooting star through the sky.
“Knight! Follow my command and become free!”
The fist he unleashes shatters the shield and pierces through the knight’s heart.
And he felt it. A yearning towards the man Roberto that shattered Lucile’s orders without a trace.
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