Chapter 308: Final Judgment (Patreon)

"You don't need to worry about that. If something happens to me, I'll sever the connection between us before it's too late. With the bit of Filth left in your Bangboo body, you'll survive."

"That's not what I'm worried about, you jerk!"

Little Geno's voice came through, frustration plain in every word. There was really nothing to be done about a guy like Geno.

Here he was, in a situation like this, still more worried about someone else than himself.

What an infuriating, good-hearted idiot.

Geno let Little Geno's grumbling roll right off him and kept pressing forward. Before long, he found it—the very center of the Hollow.

"Small Hollow or not, this much concentrated Ether... I guess enough quantity really can cause a qualitative change."

Looking at the collapsed, barely-recognizable core region ahead of him, Geno couldn't help muttering the observation aloud.

Then he closed his eyes, stirred the Ether energy inside his body, and condensed a suit of heavy armor around himself.

"Might as well loosen up before the main course."

Geno trudged forward, step by heavy step, toward the center.

The moment he crossed into the core zone, he could feel it—the Ether density in the air here was on a completely different level.

If the Ether in an ordinary Hollow was like air, then the Ether packed into this two-square-meter patch of ground was practically water.

This was the first time Geno had faced Ether energy of such staggering purity, and his body let out something like a groan of protest.

"Ngh—! This hurts. Never thought eating could actually be this painful."

It felt like sinking into an ocean miles deep—everything around him slowed and blurred, while the thick Ether energy poured into his body, and he wasted not a drop of it.

But it came at a cost. A massive one.

Fissures began spreading across his body almost immediately, streaks of rainbow light flickering across his skin until he looked like a giant neon sign.

All of it was the price of absorbing too much Ether energy too fast.

But just as quickly, the Fissures started closing again, his whole body caught in an endless cycle of damage and repair.

Hold on. Hold on. Just hold out as long as you possibly can!

A huge volume of Ether energy was being drawn toward Geno, and the Hollow's expansion slowed—but it didn't stop. One person alone was still nowhere near enough.

Hmm—

While Geno was fully absorbed in dealing with the situation, he failed to notice Tailless, hanging at his waist, give a small shudder—and from within it, a single eye opened, sly and mischievous like some little devil.

The little devil blinked, seeming to think over what was happening, then slipped back inside the blade.

A moment later, the blade's body began radiating a crimson light that wrapped itself around Geno's entire form.

Strangely enough, once the red glow enveloped him, the strain on Geno's face began to ease. The Ether he'd been forcing into himself, refined now by passing through Tailless, became easier and faster to absorb.

Only then did Geno let out a breath of relief. Once he'd steadied himself, he glanced down at Tailless at his waist.

"Huh. I almost forgot about you."

Geno could've slapped himself. He'd just been going on about how useful Tailless's ability was, and then he'd gone and forgotten about it at the worst possible moment.

He quickly drew Tailless, raised it high overhead, then flipped the blade and drove it hard into the ground.

Ether across the entire Hollow surged toward Geno and Tailless at an almost unbelievable speed.

Wave after wave of Ether washed over Geno, and the Hollow finally began shrinking in earnest.

"He did it! Geno actually did it!"

The group watching the Hollow's changes unfold burst into cheers, jumping with joy—except for Twiggy, whose face still carried a shadow of worry.

Nothing was certain until the very last moment. All they could do now was pray Geno would pull through.

And reality proved Twiggy right to worry. Drawing on Tailless's power to absorb and refine the Ether faster also meant Geno's body was suffering even greater agony.

It was like the difference between eating an ordinary cracker and a compressed ration bar. They might look about the same size, but the fullness they left in your stomach was nothing alike.

Soon enough, more Fissures began breaking out across his body.

Sensing this, Tailless instinctively tried to slow the absorption rate, buying Geno some time to recover—but Geno stopped it.

"Don't slow down! Push harder! We don't have much time! We have to go all out!"

Tailless had no choice but to obey, and pushed the rate back up.

"Ngh!"

Thick, heavy Ether energy crashed over Geno's body again and again. He felt like a stone sitting under a waterfall, battered endlessly by the rushing current.

And yet, through it all, his body was growing tougher.

Of course, that was something Geno would only realize later.

Right now, all he could think about was how overwhelming this energy was.

This isn't going to work. If I keep absorbing at this rate, I'm going to burst. Don't tell me my second life is going to end with me exploding? That would be the most embarrassing death in history!

The scattered, half-panicked thoughts running through his head actually helped dull the pain a little. But his fear wasn't unfounded—right now he felt exactly like a battery charged to its limit. Keep charging, and sooner or later, it would blow.

Suddenly, an idea flashed through Geno's mind.

A battery... if I'm a battery, then...

The moment he thought of a way to save himself, energy surged back into him. His body suddenly grew—shooting up from just under six feet to well over nine.

Dead End Butcher mode, activate!

This form, normally a massive drain on his energy in everyday use, was now exactly what he needed to "discharge" himself.

Finally feeling some relief, Geno held Tailless—now shrunk down to little bigger than an embroidery needle—in his hand and let out a quiet sigh of relief.

This should take care of it, he thought.

But it seemed the heavens weren't willing to let Geno off that easily. Just as the Hollow, nearly drained dry by his efforts, seemed almost finished, it suddenly began expanding violently again.

It was about to explode.

"Is this really the limit? But at this scale... can the harbor actually hold against it?"

Geno had given everything he had, reaching his absolute limit, and this small Hollow was still going to explode. Even though its scale had shrunk considerably, he couldn't shake his worry that the blast might still reach the people around it.

After barely a second of thought, Geno left the Hollow just before it detonated, heading out to face the final trial awaiting him.

-----------------

At Port Elpis, thanks to Yanagi Tsukishiro's appeal for aid—and her not-so-subtle threats aimed at TOPS—the defensive works there had already been completed.

Massive quantities of military-grade construction materials meant for siege defense, along with the newest hybrid materials developed by the White Star Institute, had been piled up along the harbor's coastline.

"Let's hope all of this actually does some good."