Chapter 293: This is our passion-filled combo move! (Patreon)

"Geroy?!"

The white in front of Geno's eyes was the exact color of Geroy's shell coating.

But there was no relief in Geno's voice at the sight of Geroy, no joy at spotting a savior. He sounded panicked.

He really was happy that Geroy had come for him. But Geroy's body was in terrible shape right now. Frostfire had crawled over its entire chassis, and it could fall apart on the spot at any moment.

"Hang in there, Geroy! Just a little more!"

That voice, tinged with a faint echo, reached Geno's ears again. Then he saw a yellow hand? No, a bucket?!

A bucket had dug its way into the calamity beast's mouth and was reaching straight for him.

"Found him! We'll get you out of there right now!"

The voice rang out again, that familiar voice echoing in his ears.

Only then did Geno notice that this looked like Hans's bucket.

"Big Bro Geno! We'll have you out in no time!"

Yes, it was Hans. But the voice was different from usual. It carried an echo, as if the other two machines were speaking along with him.

Outside, the calamity beast looked like some poor unmarried maiden being bullied. Geroy had forced its jaws open, and though the frostflame's Corruption kept eating away at Geroy, Geroy didn't care what happened to itself. It just held that mouth open with sheer stubbornness.

If that were all, it might have been bearable. But a huge, misshapen lump of scrap iron was also sprawled across its back. It was about as long as the beast's own body, with ten legs clamped around its four limbs like a padlock. And that thick, enormous, hard, ice-cold bucket kept rummaging around inside its mouth. Disgusting.

"Hehehehe! This is our gear-grinding, sparks-flying fusion technique!"

The machine was a patchwork fusion of Hans, Greta and Friday. The three of them had joined together whatever parts of themselves were still in decent shape, and with their three logic cores working in parallel, they had somehow gotten this strange body moving.

But that alone wasn't enough to keep the calamity beast suppressed.

Its limbs were bound and it couldn't move, yet it blazed the frostflame on its body with everything it had, trying to burn both machines to death.

"Ugh, that hurts!"

The machines cried out in pain as the frostflame scorched them. Their shells began to turn brittle and their parts started to snap. Still, they didn't stop. They clung to the beast's body for dear life and pushed the bucket deeper into its mouth.

The bucket dug toward Geno's position and scooped him up, along with Tailless behind him.

But when it tried to pull back, that tachi caught on something again and wouldn't budge an inch.

"Damn it! Why is it so tight?!"

The voice outside grumbled. They were trying as hard as they could, but it wasn't enough.

Badly timed as it was, Geno couldn't help feeling like a rotten tooth being pulled by two dentists working together, one that wouldn't come out no matter how hard they yanked because it was stuck to the healthy teeth around it.

"Zzzt—Geno?! Can you—zzzt—hear me?! Zzt—Geno!"

While Geno was finding humor in his misery, Yanagi Tsukishiro's voice came in fits and starts inside his head. It seemed the beast's mouth was interfering with their link too.

"Tsukishiro?"

"Thank goodness, you're still—zzzt—alive! Listen to me! Tail—zzzt—is conscious, so if you can—zzzt—help, you'll be able to get it out of—zzzt—!"

What the hell was that? The signal was terrible!

Geno was completely lost, but he did pick up some key information. Tailless seemed to have a consciousness. In that case, could it be that Tailless didn't want to leave this place, and that was why Geno couldn't take it with him?

With that thought, Geno craned his neck around, stiff as it was, and spoke to Tailless, which was still planted firmly in the ground beside him.

"Brother Tailless, what's so great about this place? Light pollution everywhere, and it's hot one minute and freezing the next. Why not come out with me? Then you can go wherever you want."

Looking at Tailless, which didn't react at all, Geno felt like an idiot for trying to talk a sword into anything.

But right now, this really was the only hope he had.

"Tell you what, Brother Tailless. Looks to me like you've been stuck in that blade for ages. Once we're out, how about I find you a body? One with hands and feet, guaranteed to satisfy."

Geno was thinking of what had happened with Little Geno earlier. Tailless was probably confined to the blade too, so it shouldn't be able to turn down an offer like that.

But it was only a long shot. He had no idea whether Tailless could hear him at all, let alone understand what he was saying.

Tailless still wasn't moving, and Geno was completely out of ideas. Watching Geroy and the others, already nearly burned to nothing by the frostflame, all he could do was hope they'd give up on him soon instead of all going down here together.

'I've walked on thin ice my whole life, and I still end up freezing to death. Or, uh, burning to death? Never mind, can't tell.'

Geno could already feel the Ether energy in his body beginning to disperse. If this went on, he'd vanish.

Thinking back on this second life, which had basically fallen into his lap for free, Geno didn't have many regrets. It was just a shame. He had two beautiful girlfriends, and he wouldn't live to see the day he married them.

"I can almost see them in wedding dresses. They'd look so cute, absolutely."

Geno murmured to himself. He could even picture the expressions Twiggy and Alice would wear on that day, though a wedding for the three of them would probably scare a lot of people.

Just then, Tailless, which hadn't stirred at all until now, suddenly started to shake without any warning. Then it let out a series of ringing blade tones, and Geno's attention snapped to it at once.

"Yes! Brother Tailless! You're finally awake!"

Geno was overjoyed. Now that Tailless was responding, he might actually be saved.

He immediately began to struggle with everything he had, trying to touch Tailless's hilt, but he was always just a little short.

As Geno kept stretching his hand forward, the bucket kept pushing Tailless toward him too. The movement was tiny, but Geno could feel it. The distance between him and Tailless was closing.

"Almost there! Come on, Geno!"

The voices outside kept cheering him on. Only the last little bit remained when Geroy finally couldn't hold on any longer. The frostflame in the beast's mouth Corrupted both of its mechanical arms until they snapped, and then the beast bit down and crushed them to pieces.

With a crunch, the calamity beast's jaws snapped shut again, burying Geno's hope along with them.