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Last Embryo Volume 2 Chapter 9 Part 5

Translator: DarkHeartedAlchemist

He was well aware that before he will have the next wave of weapons ready, he will be opened for a counterattack, so expecting that, he assumed a defensive stance and waited, purposefully prolonging the opening period, hoping that he might lure Suzuka in and then finish her off from close distance, but that didn’t happen. Suzuka continued to keep her distance from him without coming forward with her own offensive, and Ayato didn’t look like she was intending to move from the spot she was occupying either, intending to keep protecting the Giant Spirit Train to the very end.

Why are they so devoted to defending that train? The Minotaur thought. They should have realized long ago that such tactics would be meaningless against him since right now he was the living incarnation of the concept of the Labyrinth itself, so trying to endure his attacks to best him in a war of attrition would do nothing but prolonging the state of a stalemate until their frail human bodies would crumble from exhaustion. Also, they were wrong if they thought they can simply make him use up all the rock he made his weapons from, because even if they missed or were shut down, they will simply turn back into stone out of which they were made of, and that stone will simply return back to him to merge with his body once more, causing the cycle to continue.

If they knew all that, then what exactly was their aim here? As he wandered about that, his sight, which has been optimized for battle purposes was able to instantly grasp every last corner of the Labyrinth, detected a new signature indicating that a huge amount of highly-concentrated energy was being gathered in the Giant Spirit Train, and it was not just any amount of half-hearted power either. Based on the readings he was picking up, that energy was of the highest class from among all of the warriors who were currently gathered in the Labyrinth.

If they were to release something like that all at once, they would undoubtedly destroy not only the Giant Spirit Train in its entirety, but also Ayato who was in font of it and Suzuka all the way in the sky. No matter how he looked at it, whatever they planning to do with that mass of energy seemed like a move that was too risky for them to use with all the possible casualties they would inadvertently cause to themselves.

Feeling impatient and not wanting to give them any chances if he could help it, the Monster of the Labyrinth made out of chalk stone faced the Giant Spirit Train, intending to obliterate it with his full power. However, that decision of his came out as being made just a bit too late, because from inside of the 『Sun Thousand』, Saigo Homura, who was finally done finishing his preparations, screamed out:

「All right, I’m all done over here! Now, send me away, Suzuka! As high as you can!」

「Gotcha! We will leave the rest to you then, Bro!」

「I’m counting on you, senpai!」

. They must have planned this all along, because with those words, Ayato’s figure disappeared, and instead of her, a lone boy now found himself before the imposing Minotaur’s eyes, and it was not a figure of speech by any means. Suzuka really teleported Homura right in front of the Bull Monster’s face, so close that he could have touched him with his hand if only he reached out with it.

It was at this moment when Asterios finally realized the full extent of his opponent’s plan… and just how badly he fucked up just before reaching the finish line.

That golden-haired girl acting as the defense was nothing more but a decoy. While she did possess the superior abilities from among all of the three who were now facing him, she was meant to bolster up their defenses and make him lower his guard along with Suzuka as Saigo Homura, the true vanguard of the group gathered his power and increased the value of his Spirit Rank. Now that he was done doing that, he would be sent by the Teleportation-using girl to deliver a decisive strike from a point-blank range where it would be impossible for the Minotaur to avoid it. It was a unique surprise-attack strategy made possible only because they have all combined their powers together while complimenting their weaknesses and shortcomings at the same time.

It was a plan where they had the absolute control of the Game’s flow from start to finish.

(. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . )

Instead of trying to avoid the strike that was inevitable coming his way, Asterios instead directed his gaze towards the weapon that Saigo Homura held in his hands.

『Proto Keraunos』.

A double-edged battle axe said to contain the highest destructive power among all of the weapons of the Twelve Constellations governing the power of the sun itself. With just one swing, it could easily level mountains to the ground and split the seas apart.

Being the prototype of the lightning itself, it could accumulate it and turn it into divine energy without limit. Even if it was for a short while, as long as there was enough energy stored for its edges to shine red, it would be able to destroy this Labyrinth without any difficulties.

Prepare yourself, was what Homura’s eyes were telling to him.

Asterios accepted his fate without protesting, and simply looked at the sky for the last, final time. The roar of the waves of his beloved Mediterranean Sea was so far away that his hands would never reach them even if he tried for all eternity.

But perhaps that is how it was meant to be.

Dust to dust, ash to ash, and the dead back to the earth where they belonged. For that is their fate.

He closed his eyes and simply accepted the Divine Lightning as it rained down upon him in thousands upon thousands of bolts. The battle axe was swung only once, but it was a slash that went above and beyond the concept of a slash. Upon coming into contact with him, it burned him up, turned into molten lava and then immediately evaporated him. That one attack which didn’t leave even a single spec of him behind, was what could well and truly be called the Lightning of the Gods.

And just like that, Man-eating monster of the Labyrinth – the Minotaur, Bull of King Minos and the scourge of the island of Crete – has been reduced to ashes by the lightning that shined so brightly that its radiance could rival even that of the stars themselves.