Chapter 76. Kin, Radiation (2)
Sitting on the toad's head, Radiation looked coldly down at the goby, which had been roasted so thoroughly that it was now turning into ash.
Radiation, who had suddenly become much quieter, began trembling.
"Hiss. Haaah. You bastard, you look like you haven't been soaked in nearly enough radiation..."
It was anger.
Judging by his reaction when the goat's leg had been cut off, Radiation seemed to care deeply about the children he had brought with him.
"You killed my child while I was talking about my ambitions?"
His excited voice echoed through the gas mask.
"Make up your mind. Are you pissed off because I interrupted your story, or because I killed that mutant? Pick one, you spineless piece of trash."
Michael's constant provocations caused Radiation's gaze to darken.
"Croak... Croak..."
The toad's three heads trembled, clearly sensing just how furious their master had become.
"Children."
Radiation spoke in a low voice.
The strange creatures that could only be described as mutants turned their attention toward him.
"I don't think I'll feel better until that bastard has been contaminated with radiation."
The creatures turned toward Michael, directing their menacing gazes at him.
"So make him kneel before me right now!!"
"You call them your children, but all you do is order them around. You'll never make a good parent..."
WHOOSH!
The four-legged chicken charged at Michael and brought its beak down, trying to shut his mouth.
CLANG!
However, Michael swung his raised Durandal in a semicircle and deflected the pecking attack.
"Did you put metal in that thing? It's ridiculously hard."
The chicken's beak was harder than metal, and the impact was much stronger than Michael had expected. The unexpected force sent a shock through his arm.
His arm slightly numb, Michael took half a step back and faced the chicken, whose eyes glowed green.
"Cluck! Cluck! Cluck!!"
When the chicken drew its head back again, Michael lowered Durandal diagonally toward his lower left.
He intended to cut off its neck the instant it tried to peck him again. However,
WHOOOOSH!
The goat, which had already finished regenerating, sent its four tentacle-like legs rushing toward Michael.
SLURP!
And that wasn't all.
The three heads of the toad carrying Radiation simultaneously shot their tongues toward Michael.
"You're getting on my nerves."
Facing attacks from three directions, Michael gripped Durandal firmly in his right hand. Then he pulled back his left arm as White Flame began rising from his free hand.
Fwoooosh!
The white flames burned with increasing intensity.
"If something's too hard to cut, I'll just burn it to death. ignícŭlus [Igniculus]."
Just as Michael was about to launch a stream of White Flame toward the approaching chicken,
WHIP!
One of the toad's tongues wrapped around the chicken's neck.
"CLUUUUUCK!!"
The chicken let out a strange scream as its neck was suddenly twisted, but the tongue continued pulling it away.
CRASH!
The chicken fell to the ground, and Michael's white flames swept harmlessly through the empty air.
Feeling dissatisfied at missing his target, Michael looked toward the top of the toad's head.
There, he saw Radiation patting the toad's head as though praising his own child.
Radiation had understood Michael's intention and ordered the toad to save the chicken's life.
"At least you catch on quickly."
"I don't think you should be looking over here."
Just as Radiation said in his relaxed voice, the attack wasn't over yet. Michael had no choice but to push off the ground and leap into the air.
BOOOOM!
The toad's tongues and the goat's legs became tangled together where Michael had been standing and slammed deep into the ground.
Holding Durandal in a reverse grip, Michael brought it down on one of the goat's legs.
CRUNCH!
The goat's soft, wriggling leg was pierced by Durandal and pinned to the ground like a piece of wood secured with a nail.
"MEEEEEEEEH!!"
The goat let out a scream filled with pain. Its cry was even more piercing than before, going beyond hurting Michael's ears and actually damaging his eardrums.
Riiiiing!
Blood flowed from Michael's ears, accompanied by a ringing sound. However, Michael merely frowned and didn't stop moving.
He pulled Durandal out of the ground and swung it diagonally upward to cut through the two approaching tongues.
SLASH!
He succeeded in cutting off one tongue.
SLURP!
However, the other tongue twisted in a different direction and wrapped around Michael.
His body was trapped by its sticky surface, leaving him unable to move.
"The toad's stomach constantly contains radiation exceeding ten sieverts. Just entering it and coming back out would be enough to make your skin rot and melt away, while your organs would stop functioning properly."
Already convinced of his victory, Radiation began talking excitedly.
"For killing my child and trying to interfere with Lord Marbas's plan, I hope you die while suffering the worst pain you've ever experienced in your life!"
"Croak, croak."
WHIP!
The toad's middle head rose as though someone were pulling back a fishing rod, and the tongue wrapped around Michael began returning to its mouth.
"Ah, you bastard. What a disgustingly long tongue."
Even without Radiation's explanation, Michael clearly understood that he was in a dangerous situation. Yet, with his head slightly lowered, he was wearing a faint smile.
A moment later, he disappeared into the toad's wide-open mouth.
Gulp.
After swallowing Michael, the toad's middle head flicked its tongue out and licked its lips.
Now that the troublemaker was gone, all that remained was to revive the White Horseman according to Marbas's wishes.
However, Radiation couldn't shake an unpleasant feeling.
Was he smiling?
Just before the toad swallowed him, Radiation had briefly seen the smile on Michael's face.
Why?
Did Michael have no idea how painfully someone would die after being exposed to radiation?
Even if that was the case, he should still have been experiencing the pain of having every bone in his body crushed by the toad's narrow esophagus.
Michael's smile was something Radiation simply couldn't understand.
"Croak, croak, croak... CROAAAK!!!"
His confusion was suddenly resolved when the toad's face turned pale. It stuck out its tongue and began struggling with its feet, as though trying to shake something loose.
Of course, nothing came out. Michael had already traveled deep inside its body.
If the toad was still retching despite that, it could only mean one thing: Michael wasn't dead, and he was doing something inside it.
"What's wrong with this creature...? Don't tell me?!"
At that moment, Radiation felt intense heat coming from the skin of the toad he was sitting on.
Through the moisture-covered lenses of his gas mask, he could see the toad's skin turning red. Sensing danger, Radiation immediately leaped away.
FWOOOOOSH!
A towering pillar of white fire pierced through the toad's back and erupted into the sky.
BOOOOOOM!!
The blast that followed sent pieces of the toad's flesh flying everywhere, sticking to the surrounding trees, soil, and rocks.
Radiation had barely managed to avoid the pillar of fire, but he was caught by the force of the explosion and sent flying.
"You bastard!"
Tap!
Despite wearing an outfit that greatly restricted his movements, Radiation managed to regain his balance in midair and land on the ground.
However, part of his tent-like clothing had been burned away after being brushed by the flames.
"So you had a plan all along!"
His eyebrows, visible through the lenses of the gas mask, rose sharply.
Furious, Radiation glared at the figure crawling out of the shattered remains of the toad.
Grab!
Someone grabbed hold of the toad's remaining lower body and struggled to pull himself free.
Step, step.
Covered in saliva, Michael emerged from the white flames and slowly began walking forward.
"Ugh. That was a close one."
More than any of the strange mutant creatures, Michael had been cautious of Radiation himself.
He didn't know what Radiation's ability was. Furthermore, since it was a disease that even Marbas was still researching, Michael had intended to keep his regeneration ability hidden until he understood it better.
That meant he had to deal with the three mutants while avoiding injury as much as possible. However, they had worked together better than he had expected, making the fight troublesome.
It would've been difficult to deal with all three without taking a hit.
That was why he had come up with a plan that took advantage of the toad's habit of immediately swallowing anything its tongue caught. He would allow it to swallow him and then destroy it from the inside.
If he could kill Radiation at the same time, that would be even better.
It might have been dangerous, but things worked out reasonably well. I can't complain.
When the toad swallowed him and he entered its esophagus, his bones had nearly been crushed. Fortunately, Harmonia had exploded just in time.
Now that the toad had been dealt with, Michael and Radiation were finally facing each other properly.
"You bastard. My toad..."
Radiation was on the verge of being consumed by rage, but he snorted and regained his composure.
"Even so, it doesn't change the fact that you'll be dead soon. You've been contaminated by radiation, so you'll gradually lose control of your strength before dying."
Just as Radiation said, the strange energy Michael could feel in his arm was deeply unpleasant.
Judging by how slowly his arm was recovering, if he suffered serious radiation exposure, he might have to spend several days doing nothing but recuperating.
"Your insides are quite impressive too. Just how many things have you been eating? Did that toad get reincarnated as you?"
Michael refused to be outdone and mocked him in return.
Under Michael's gaze, Radiation's bizarre outer garment continued burning until the body beneath it was exposed.
Because it was partly concealed by shadows, Michael couldn't see it clearly. However, Radiation's body appeared to be covered in strange bulges.
"...Lord Marbas told me to keep this outfit on at all times, but if I want to kill you for certain, I suppose I'll have to take it off."
Flap!
Radiation removed the outer garment, which had become little more than a rag with an enormous hole burned through it.
"Haa. You really are disgusting. Calling you revolting doesn't even come close."
Michael frowned at the sight of Radiation's exposed body.
His skin had been damaged by oxidation and necrosis. A human face was embedded in his chest, an arm protruded from his stomach, and the upper body of something else hung from his waist. His appearance was even more grotesque than that of the mutants.
The monster, seemingly created by cramming an entire group of beings together, resembled a mass of evil spirits struggling to force open the gates of Hell.
"It's been a long time since I revealed this appearance. Come to think of it, these ones were connected to Cell as well, weren't they? Probably."
Michael froze.
"What did you just say?"
Unable to believe his ears, Michael asked again.
"What? Did you think Infection only brought Cell with him? There's no way that would be true, is there?"
"..."
Michael couldn't speak. It felt as though someone had struck him hard on the back of his head.
What the hell is this bastard talking about?
There were things mixed into Radiation's words that Michael didn't want to understand. His thoughts became as tangled as a ball of thread.
"And those flames of yours are unpleasant and unnatural. They're very different from the aura used by other priests. Hmm. I think I've heard about them somewhere. Perhaps Infection told me about them."
Pretending to be uncertain, Radiation deliberately brought up the connection between Cell and Michael, trying to get under his skin.
"Ah, or perhaps the ones inside my stomach told me about them?"
If Radiation's goal was to provoke Michael, his plan was a complete success.
He had changed Michael's priorities.
CLENCH!
Michael bit his lip so hard that it nearly bled before the wound regenerated.
His fingernails dug into the palm of his clenched fist, but those wounds regenerated too.
I don't need anything else.
Michael's eyes, now filled with a poisonous intensity, remained fixed on Radiation.
He no longer cared about understanding what Radiation's ability actually was.
I need to find out who that bastard Infection is.
A new obsession took hold of Michael.
It was no longer merely an interest in a traitor. It was an interest in a sworn enemy.
Unaware of the change in Michael, Radiation continued talking.
"Lord Marbas never mentioned anything about this... Ah. Now I finally understand why he sent Cell to you."
His gas mask concealed his mouth, but his eyes were smiling behind the lenses.
"You're the commander of all this food, aren't you?"
CLAP!
"Cluck! Cluck!"
As soon as Radiation finished speaking, he clapped his hands.
The chicken, which had been waiting for a signal, excitedly charged forward and began pecking at Michael with its beak.
STAB!
Michael opened his palm to block the descending beak.
In the process, half of his arm, from the lower part of his palm to his elbow, was torn away. However, it didn't matter.
He only needed to regenerate the destroyed portion.
WHOOOOSH!
Once his arm had regenerated, Michael firmly grabbed the chicken's beak.
"Regeneration?!"
Radiation's eyes widened in shock at Michael's unexpected ability.
"Originally, I was planning to gather a little information before killing you..."
Michael spoke quietly as he gathered aura into the hand gripping the chicken's beak.
"But you've crossed the line far too many times."
His grip on the beak grew stronger. Even when the chicken tried to pull its body away, the aura creeping out of Michael's hand interfered with its movements.
"You might end up struggling and begging me to kill you. But you won't be allowed to die. Not until you've told me everything you know."
"Cl, cluck! Cluck, cluck!!"
Panicking, the chicken curled its body and tried to scratch Michael with its claws.
However, the aura in Michael's hand ignited before it could do anything.
"The toad's dead too, so you don't have any more tricks left, do you?"
Fwoooosh!
White flames capable of purifying all evil rose from Michael's hand.
"ignícŭlus [Igniculus]."
"CLUCK!! CLUUUUCK!!"
The beak of the trapped chicken was engulfed in the heat of White Flame.
FWOOOOOM!!
The sacred fire, capable of destroying all evil, swept across the chicken's entire body.
