Geno suddenly realized he'd seen Tailless inside the calamity beast's head earlier, so he turned to check.
Sure enough, buried in that still-unrepaired skull was a gleaming blade. It was Tailless.
"So if I can just pull that blade out, I can beat this monster, right?"
"In theory, yes."
Yanagi Tsukishiro wasn't willing to give him any firm guarantee, but at the moment there was no better option.
"In that case, leave the rest to me."
"What? Wait, Geno, don't be rash! Our reinforcements will be here any minute, so first—"
Geno hung up before she could finish.
He understood what Yanagi Tsukishiro meant: hold out a little longer, wait for reinforcements, and then work out a proper plan.
But Geno understood something else even better. Right now was the best chance he'd get to settle this. Pulling Tailless out while the beast's head was still mending was the best solution there was.
Besides, even if they waited for reinforcements, it was doubtful their firepower would do any good. And by then, Geno wouldn't get another shot like this.
"Groy, do me a favor and cover me."
"Happy to."
With that, Groy swung around on the ice, pulled off a showy super-V drift, and tore toward the calamity beast.
Geno summoned another great hammer and heavy armor, ready to repeat his earlier move: use thick plating to withstand the frostflame's burn and force Tailless out by brute strength.
Only this time, the risk was far greater than before.
Machine and beast charged straight at each other without slowing. Geno's face was dead serious. He had to seize a fleeting opening to succeed, so he focused with everything he had, eyes locked, unblinking, on the beast's slowly closing head.
A thousand meters. Five hundred. Two hundred. One hundred…
Soon only about fifty meters separated them, and a collision was seconds away. Geno leapt from Groy's back and sailed toward the calamity beast.
Groy, meanwhile, put his masterful driving on display again. His treads spun wildly and he wrenched his chassis sideways by force, scraping past the beast's body and avoiding contamination by the frostflame.
Then his weapon systems roared to life once more, pouring fire onto the beast. But this time, before the frostflame could freeze the ordnance, Groy detonated the munitions himself.
The force of the blast sent them both flying apart. Groy's treads were too heavy, and he nearly toppled over.
The calamity beast, though, was barely affected. It just staggered a little and faltered for a moment.
And Geno seized that moment.
"Eat my hammer!"
Geno raised the great hammer high and brought it down on the calamity beast's head just as before, bellowing as he swung.
"Eighty!!!"
Bonk!
The skull, not yet healed, took another heavy blow.
Thank goodness the calamity beast was an Ether lifeform. Otherwise, that hit would've left it dazed at the very least.
Having landed the blow, Geno didn't press his luck. He dropped the hammer, turned, and jumped onto the beast's head, making straight for the short stub of hilt that was all that showed of the blade.
Whoosh!
But things were never going to be that easy. Before long the calamity beast shook off the daze from the hammer blow and grasped what Geno was after.
Frantic, it worked its body to lash out streams of flame tendrils to cut off Geno's path, while speeding up the healing of its head. It meant to wrap Tailless back inside and keep Geno in there with it, burning him to ash.
Geno found the interference maddening. He swayed left and right, throwing out move after move.
But the heavy armor on his body was simply too bulky. It could block the frostflame's Corruption to the greatest possible extent, yet it hampered Geno's agility.
"If I can just reach that spot! Damn it! Cast Off!!"
Without hesitation, Geno discarded his heavy armor. It lightened his load, and the shattered plating scattered in every direction, blocking a good deal of the flames and buying him more time.
Geno used the opening to push a long way forward.
"Almost there! Blink!"
With only a little distance left, Geno unleashed his Blink skill and finally got his hand on Tailless's hilt.
"I did it! Now I just have to pull it out!"
He gripped Tailless's hilt with both hands and heaved, but no matter how hard he pulled, he couldn't budge it in the slightest.
"What's going on?"
Refusing to give up, Geno tried again. It still didn't move.
"Damn it!"
Geno cursed under his breath. He'd spent everything he had to get here, and this was the result.
Suddenly, a sense of danger struck from behind. Flames surged in. Geno noticed and instinctively tried to dodge, but he'd shed his armor too early. Without the heavy plating's protection, the frostflame's Corruption had already sunk into his body and slowed his movements, and the attack hit him dead on.
"Guh!"
A lance of flame ran through Geno's chest. Golden blood poured from the wound, but before it could hit the ground, the frostflame froze it and shattered it, turning it into a haze of gold dust that danced upward with the rising fire.
Thunk-thunk-thunk!
More spears of flame flew in, pinning Geno firmly in place. He struggled but couldn't break free at all. All he could do was watch helplessly as the calamity beast's flames slowly engulfed him, and his consciousness began to blur.
'Damn it… so I still couldn't do it…'
The world in his vision began to spin. The last thing he saw before he lost consciousness was the beast's fully repaired head sealing off the last thread of light from the outside, leaving only endless flame and azure light.
And with that, Geno's blitz plan ended in complete failure.
But was that really the end?
A tremendous rumble made Geno, whose eyes had already closed, jerk his head up.
Inside the calamity beast, Geno's frost-corrupted body felt a tremor. It seemed the beast's core was under attack.
"Come on, Groy! Just a little more!"
One line, spoken in three different voices, reached Geno's ears and left him puzzled.
Why did those voices sound so familiar?
But his mind was still foggy, so he couldn't place whose voices they were.
Then, all at once, a streak of black cut into the world that had been nothing but azure. It was the color of night, the color of the outside world.
Geno had never longed for darkness so much. Right after, he saw an enormous white figure appear before his eyes.
"Groy!?"
____
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