«This is bad… he has taken control of… my Spirit Body Threads…« As a seasoned Beyonder and half-god-half-man who had dealt with — and even fought — «Faceless«, «Mystery Puppet Masters« and «Marauders«, Chunas Kolger was not unfamiliar with his current predicament; on the contrary, he knew it rather well and had some grasp of it.
So he understood quite clearly: he had fallen into a deadly trap, and the time he had left for self-rescue would not exceed fifteen seconds!
And in those fifteen seconds the sluggishness of his thoughts would only grow worse, the working of his mind ever slower. By the end it might take several seconds merely to come up with an idea, and a stiff, dulled body would take no short time to put a thought into practice — that is, the time Chunas Kolger really had for self-rescue was at most a little over ten seconds!
Of course, he had thought beforehand of how to respond in those last few seconds: it was simply to abandon control over himself altogether, manifest his mythological-creature form, prolong by that means the time of his being puppetised, and through his very presence disturb the enemy and inflict on him a certain shock.
Yet in that case, even if he successfully shook off the puppetisation, even if he defeated the enemy, Chunas Kolger had no great confidence in being able to go on living.
He was not the kind of demigod who could freely switch between human form and mythological-creature form; he had no real confidence in keeping his sanity in the mythological-creature form.
In other words, the probable result of casting off the puppetisation by releasing the mythological-creature form would be: Chunas Kolger the «human« dying on the spot, and the monster bearing the same name taking over his body.
Precisely for this reason, unless he truly had no other way out, Chunas Kolger would not attempt it.
Taking advantage of the fact that the sluggishness of his thoughts had not yet grown too bad, taking advantage of the «Despairing Scream of Revere« now sounding in his ears, this military demigod swiftly hit upon a first self-rescue plan.
At a not-too-slow speed he moved his right thumb a little.
«Corrupt Baron«, «Amplify«!
What Chunas Kolger meant to «Amplify« was not a state of his own or the attack of some sealed artefact — it was the negative effect of «Revere's Despairing Scream«!
This peculiar revolver caused its bearer to hear, from time to time, that despairing scream. To a creature without divinity this was very serious, and one easily lost control, went mad, suffered mental rupture or simply went blank from it. But at Sequence 4, since the bearer already had one side of a mythological creature in him, the scream's effect was much diminished.
For Chunas Kolger this scream could at most cause a little mental blurring and some manic feeling — nothing too significant — and he had even, in a preliminary way, grown used to it.
But here and now he meant to amplify this «Despairing Scream« to the point that even a demigod could scarcely bear it — so that his own mind would suffer the pain of being pierced, and would thereby be freed from the control of the «Spirit Body Threads«!
Since «Amplification« required no conspicuous gesture and took effect very fast, the floating Gehrman Sparrow opposite, holding the «
Yet what the next second brought Chunas Kolger was not a more terrifying «scream«, but a quiet stillness.
Even the normal «scream« that had been there before vanished too!
This was the random mutation brought by the «
How… unlucky… The thought flickered slowly through Chunas Kolger's mind; he had no time to feel discouraged and immediately began his second self-rescue.
Bit by bit he raised his right hand, levelling «Revere's Despairing Scream« at Gehrman Sparrow within 150 metres, about to pull the trigger.
At the same time, the violent wind blowing straight at his right hand suddenly broke up from within and quickly collapsed into scattering currents of air.
«Corrupt Baron«, «Disorder«!
Chunas thus held off Gehrman Sparrow's interference.
Then a string of bang-bang-bangs broke out: «Revere's Despairing Scream« was like a machine gun, madly spitting out dangerous bullets, not pausing for a long time.
The Gehrman Sparrow in the black overcoat juddered continuously, but was not hit.
The bullets grazed past his outline and flew far, shattering the windows and walls of Meige Manor and bringing down one of its buildings in silence.
Bang bang bang bang bang!
The follow-up storm of bullets continued — and at last Gehrman Sparrow was struck, again and again!
Sprays of blood flew up, and Gehrman Sparrow, like a paper man in a gale, swung and struggled, ready to be torn apart at any moment.
Bang! Bang! Bang! The peculiar handgun at last ended this round of «Scream«; apart from his head, every part of Gehrman Sparrow's body now sported one ghastly red hole after another.
By all reason this should be the state of a dead man — yet Gehrman Sparrow, as though unaffected, went on manipulating the «Spirit Body Threads«.
The lurid wounds on his body, meanwhile, healed slowly but with firm purpose.
This was the effect of the «Ring of Blood«.
This Gehrman Sparrow was, in essence, «Winner« Enuni!
The reason he had not perished in the previous storm of attacks was that he had spent the «luck« he had accumulated, and that Chunas Kolger was already sufficiently «unlucky«!
And the «Despairing Scream« carried by the bullets meant nothing to a mystery puppet.
Seeing that his violent assault had not produced the expected result and that the time for self-rescue was growing ever shorter, Chunas Kolger, with almost no thought, slowly relaxed the five fingers of his left hand, in keeping with the plan he had just decided on.
That «tin-cased« pocket watch slid out of his palm and fell downward.
At this critical moment Chunas Kolger had resolutely abandoned the «Concerto of Light and Shadow«, letting it leave the battlefield, in order to avoid the impact of the random mutations.
Next, he would probably have only one or two more chances at self-rescue; if another unfortunate mutation occurred, there would be no remedying it!
As the sealed artefact, half order and half chaos on its dial, fell rapidly, Chunas Kolger, facing the Gehrman Sparrow whose wounds were rapidly healing, with difficulty moved his fingers.
He should have had two options: one was to act, as in his original third self-rescue plan, without any thought at all; the other was to «Amplify« the wounds of his enemy and let him die on the spot.