3 bar menu

Last Embryo Volume 2 Chapter 8 Part 1

Translator: DarkHeartedAlchemist

The first one to notice the abnormality happening at the Labyrinth made out of white chalk stones as she sat on the throne at the top of the altar and watched all of the battles with great enjoyment was Kurma the World King.

「Ah~~ How nice it must be to be young~~」

She muttered that as she held her knees while rocking back and forth, although looking at her appearance, no one would probably expect her to say such mature words. But than, she furrowed her brows as she noticed a new and unfamiliar sensation spreading throughout the Labyrinth ground at an abnormal speed.

「My oh my, the wind’s direction seemed to have changed. I wonder if one of the Winning Conditions has been cleared?」

She pouted her lips, visibly upset, most likely because she had to wait so long for it to happen. When she stood up, she notice that everything in her surroundings was now pulsating just like a living human’s heart, sending out waves of sound that was pretty much indistinguishable from a heartbeat.

As for what that change signified, the World King had absolutely no idea because she never managed to read that far into the Game’s rules. The only thing she was absolutely sure of was that the area around the Labyrinth’s throne was now going through some kind of abnormal change.

「It’s ashame that the fun couldn’t last just a little bit longer, but whatever, there’s no helping it now. I guess I’ll just have to proceed with my original goal of catching the 『Bull of Heaven」.』

(It would be way more fun if the Eighth Avatar was here as well.)

Her gown fluttered about as if it was made out of feathers as she looked over the tear in space that served as a gateway. At the other side of it, the clear blue sky sprawling over the Mediterranean Sea could be clearly seen.

「Fufufu, I wonder if the winner of this Game is going to crawl back through it, or will the be able to make a triumphant return with glory seized in their hand? Either way, I’m so looking forward to it.」

Brushing her long, smooth hair to the side, they rose up in the shape of a cone and gave rise to a gentle wind. But before they finished their motion, the young-looking World King disappeared with that gentle breeze as well.

Some distance away from that place, Izayoi and Demon Bull King, who were still locked in combat also noticed the change that occurred, but it didn’t stop them from continuing their exchange of blows in the slightest. Since they were going against one another with their senses and abilities stretched to their utmost limits, they simply had no room to spare for taking their eyes off of their opponent for even a single second, because that one second could spell all the difference between victory and loss, or to be more precise, life and death.

Izayoi deflected the Demon Bull King’s fist which was coming towards him with the back of his hand and dodged it to the side. Hitting tha ground instead of Izayoi’s body, that fist made a huge crater in the Labyrinth’s ground that continued to spread in all directions. Any normal human being would die simply from being exposed to that fist’s pressure and the shockwaves it created with its every punching motion, but Izayoi was never a normal human being to begin with, so in terms of raw strength he was not staying behind the Demon Bull King. The moment he was about to be blown away by the impact, he took hold of his horns and used that chance to knee him straight in the face so strongly that it send him flying back through several layers of the Labyrinth’s walls.

「Ha! How did you like that, you shitty Demon Lord…?!」

While panting, he wiped the beads of sweat trickling down from his forehead with a swift movement of his hand. Even though he was the one attacking just now, the exhaustion from the fight that was dragging on more than he would have liked was beginning to catch up to him.

Both of their fists were strong enough to destroy buildings and reshape landscapes, and they have been continuously clashing with one another for some time now. But in their case not only their fists, but their entire bodies were lethal weapons, so even if his enemy was one of the Demon Lords, he should still receive a critical damage after being kneed directly to the face like that…

「Hooo boy, you almost had me there, not gonna lie! I have to give it to you kid, you’re even better warrior than I thought you were! No one ever told me that you’ll be so good with martial arts, Sakamaki Izayoi! I always thought you were more of a street brawler, but apparently I was mistaken, and I couldn’t be happier about that!」

The Demon Bull King sent the debris that fell on to of him flying away and stood back on his feet as if nothing happened to him, unbelievable as that might be. He was now standing up in a cocky pose with both hand s on his waist, while I stark contrast to him, Izayoi was leaning against one of the Labyrinth’s few walls that remained intact, bruised all over with blood welling up inside of his mouth. The unusual situation around them wa sone thing, but right now, Izayoi simply couldn’t comprehend just how can one Demon Lord possess so much physical strength.

(There’s no sugarcoating it, that guy is simply too strong! What kind of Gift is he using, exactly?!)

Despite receiving Izayoi’s kicks and punches, which have been compared to many things in the past, including meteorites, it didn’t look like they had any effect on the Demon Bull King at all. It has been a first time in three years where he has found himself in the middle of such a hopelessly one-sided fist fight.

Recalling the details about the legend of the Demon Bull King, he possessed superhuman strength and was imposing enough for even mountains to cover in fear before him, and in that case it shouldn’t be strange that he was so tough, but there was still one thing that Izayoi couldn’t help but to be surprised about.

According to some rumors circulating around the shadier parts of Little Garden, this guy was supposed to possess a Gift that allowed him to 「freely use any kind of weapon in the world」. In other words, he still wasn’t taking this battle seriously. Without even using his most famous Gift, he was able to drive Izayoi firmly into a corner.

「Heh, looks like when it comes to hand-to hand combat you really are superior to me. You’re quite something, I’ll give you that.」

「Ha! Says the one my punches had literally no effect on!」

Saying that, Izayoi spat out blood from his mouth. The wounds the Demon Bull King inflicted on him still hurt, and he will probably feel them even after a few days of solid rest. Demon Bull King simply put his hand on his chin and stared at him in an amused manner. Izayoi had no idea what was so amusing about the sight of his sorry ass being all bruised and exhausted, but apparently this guy has been like that with everything he was doing. Does he have a reason for acting the way he does, or is he simply a battle maniac incapable of thinking about anything else?

Whatever the case may be, things were not looking good for Izayoi. He tried to fixed his breathing, which was becoming increasingly more ragged, and take a battle stance again, but the Demon Bull King stopped him with a simple hand gesture.

「Okay now, listen. While I would like nothing more than to stay here and fight you, it looks like the situation has changed and there is another place where I need to be and another job I have to do. And besides, that change in the Labyrinth… I believe something might have happened to Saigo Homura’s group, so you should go to the immediately to check if they are okay. After all, those kids still need your protection.」

「What?!」

Once again, Izayoi was shocked speechless, because the current words of his enemy were friendly ones, and on top of that… he was concerned about not just Izayoi, but also Homura, Suzuka and the others? He knew that he was also famed for being on of the most skilled users of transformation magic in China, but… but could it be possible that Izayoi met this guy before somewhere in the past? Nah, if it would be just about Izayoi would have been fine, but how did he know about the other two? The number of people from Little Garden who knew Homura and Suzuka should have been severely limited.