When Ahab's attempt at reconciliation ended in failure, Ms. Ishmael, who had been waiting for the right moment, stepped forward and snapped at her.
"Ahab, you... haven't changed at all since before. No... you've only become more disgusting... We struggled, and yet... even this time, you had us in your grasp... Once again, you made yourself the master of the ship, and before we knew it, you had turned us into its crew..."
"Shut up!! Be quiet. This... is the most important moment..."
What...
- Boom!!Rumble—!
Right after Ahab spoke, the path to the heart began to open.
"Hahaha, hahahahahaha!!!!"
Ahab, looking happier than ever, was the first to enter the passage.
So this is... really the end.
I looked at Dante. A signal asking permission to go inside.
"Let's go in too."
At the easy permission, the prisoners hurriedly moved their feet.
The first thing we saw upon entering was... a gigantic heart, with a warm golden light shining from its center.
Ahab, who had already gone in ahead of us, began explaining with an ecstatic expression.
"Do you see it? This is... the heart. One thing formed from everything swallowed by the pale whale. This is what makes the pale whale beat with living breath and spew evil. Look, it's spewing evil again! Again! Again! Again!! Hahahahaha—!!"
"Don't laugh like that as if you're happy. You led countless sailors to their deaths just to get here. I suffered my whole life. My dream and my comrades sank before my eyes. You!! You were the one who did that. You!!!"
"That's right! I led the sailors to their deaths. So what? Once you entered this whale, if it hadn't been for me, they would have turned into mermaids long ago, wandered this place, and died! I only repaid their lives by extending them even a little!"
Honestly. She was the one who dragged them into this hell in the first place.
Ahab, brazenly turning her own crimes into achievements, soon began praising herself even more.
"Because I cared for them and led them here... I got that gratitude back. It was always me who lit the fire in those worthless lives, the fire to live! When you boarded my ship with dead eyes that had lost all light, you were more miserable than rafts drifting without direction! I gathered you useless lot, put you aboard the Pequod, and gave you a reason to live!"
"No... the sailors were swallowed. They were painted over by you. You, like the other whales—no! Above all, just like this pale whale, you turn everything into your own... into whatever suits your taste. You must have known. We didn't board the ship just to catch that one whale."
"I don't know. No, I don't care. The moment they boarded my ship, they should have had only one goal: catching the whale! No... rather, you should know better than anyone that they were weak of heart! They were devoured because they were flimsy, and they were swept away because they were frail."
Ahab, having lightly turned her subordinates into her slaves, placed a hand over her chest and shouted with the most heated expression she had shown yet.
"In the end, the most important thing in this world is me—myself! What matters is that I declared that thing evil, and that is my decree, my values, my religion, my conviction! If I die, the world dies too. Then my life and way of existence are the world itself! I decided it!! No one else will take responsibility for a life, nor live it for you!"
Too bloated. Her ego was grotesquely swollen.
So enormous I couldn't even bring myself to approach, afraid I'd be crushed beneath it.
"To me, good and evil are clear! I know them better than anyone else! That's why I won't be swayed. I made it that way. So I will never break. I can stand firm and preach my beliefs without wavering. I will define the world's good and evil so that you will never doubt it! And carve it into you! So you can walk on, strong!!"
"......"
After hearing Ahab's words, Starbuck smiled with relief and stood beside her.
And then...
"......"
Queequeg, too, slowly walked over and stood at Ahab's side. Her face was hidden beneath her mask, so I couldn't read her expression, but her shoulders looked heavy.
Seeing that, Ms. Ishmael... stared straight at Ahab and declared,
"...Then! To me, you are evil. My every hatred, my every purpose, my every failure, my every past, my every... loss...! You made all of it. Ahab!!"
"Good! Come clash with me! Let's make our worlds collide! Let's see whose evil is more tenacious!! More powerful!! Let's fight!!"
At the signal of Ahab pointing her harpoon this way, the battle began.
"Protect the Manager! If they target him, it's over!!"
"I'll pry open that clock and take the [Golden Bough] inside!!"
The moment the battle started, six prisoners moved to shield Dante.
In the case of an Abnormality battle, you could keep the enemy at a distance and defend with only a few prisoners, but this kind of fight was different.
They knew Dante was our core too, so we had no choice but to play defensively.
That said, I, who looked like I'd be on defense, was going on the offensive this time.
What I'm good at is evasion and handling variables, not standing firm and blocking.
Which Identity is the most effective? Dieci is a madman's game. Once the reach is lost, it becomes guaranteed close-quarters combat, and then I'd be done in from a single harpoon strike from Queequeg.
Dongrang is decent. But because of the nature of his ability, which requires someone to be turned into nourishment, he's likely weak in a battle like this against elites.
I do have a few remaining sailors, or that kid Pip, if necessary, but still. That number won't recover much.
Then it's Liu... tch, do I have to use a sword? I don't really like it, but I don't have a choice.
The moment I made up my mind, I signaled Dante with my hand.
I hadn't exactly planned it out, and it was all rather rough, but he'd understand.
Hoo... the last one. I steel myself and swallow most of the remaining painkillers.
I feel my head clearing.
At the same time, a red coat settles over my body.
The one-handed sword I drew from my chest points straight at the enemy.
"I'm going."
The target is Starbuck.
Queequeg is a bad matchup for me. Given that my offensive power isn't very high to begin with, damage will just keep piling up in heavy chunks at unavoidable moments until I self-destruct.
Besides, there's no room to reach Ahab herself.
Then... a bizarre, fast combat style just like mine, one that lands precise damage.
Right. It's a mirror match between two combat styles that are almost identical.
- Clang—!
"Fast..."
"Tch, you're more agile than I expected?"
The first strike I sent out as a probe was lightly blocked.
Not good. The white-flower phenomenon has slowed the body itself, but his natural agility and explosiveness remain.
I'm ahead in numbers without question, but the other side has the edge in raw reaction speed... can I win?
In the gap between thoughts, a spear suddenly thrust toward my side.
- Krrrk...!
I spin the blade once and hold it reverse-grip, letting the spear slide away.
I took a slight wound, but I don't feel it. No problem.
In the same posture that blocked my attack, Starbuck drove his left elbow toward my face and forced a hand-to-hand exchange.
No, not just fists. He's trying to sweep my leg too? Is this really the same man who fought mermaids?
I shift my sword hand slightly to block the attack. And hand-to-hand combat is purely a matter of reading moves. If you know what the other side is about to do, it becomes much easier to respond.
I twist my leg to stop the trip, then use the other leg to kick Starbuck in the abdomen and throw him off.
- Thud! Wham—!
"Hoo..."
"Impressive... I didn't... think you could do this much."
Stay focused. In a battle where only a small number can participate because we must protect Dante, each person's life matters.
I let the other side take the first move once, so now it's my turn.
I kick off the ground hard and close in on Starbuck.
The attack that follows is a two-hit combo, swung high and low.
As expected, it's blocked by Starbuck's spear. That was the bait from the start.
The instant the second strike ends, I slam my heel down onto the top of Starbuck's foot.
"Gah...!"
"...One, at least."
The wide sweep of Starbuck's spear that followed immediately after forced me back, but so what.
This was my first effective hit in the exchange. And the one who took it was Starbuck, who can't recover.
"Short, and with a little damage... you're trying to... accumulate damage."
"That's right. It's a strategy that makes the most of my strengths. What do you think?"
"Excellent... Your ability to read the situation... I can't... help but praise it."
"...The way you're praising me like that is making me uneasy."
"Your intuition... is good."
While I was focused on Starbuck, a thunderous voice rang out from the other side, and a harpoon came flying in.
- Whoosh——!!
"Pursue that bastard to the end!!"
Ahab's order to exterminate.
The target is... me.
"Ha, doesn't this look kind of familiar?"
"I'm... sorry."
From the side, Queequeg approaches me at terrifying speed.
Damn it, run first...!