Earth's SSS Pornstar to SSS Combat God in Another World-Chapter 31: Automaton Fourteen Escapes

"You should have stayed down," Fourteen said, voice warped through torn gears and wet laughter.

He walked toward them as if time belonged to him. Jaime’s remaining arm shot out and clasped Fourteen’s leg.

"Let them go. You want me, right?"

"Tsk. Tsk. Tsk." Fourteen looked down like a man judging mud on his boot. "You think too lowly of this one."

He kicked. Jaime’s huge red orc body rolled across the stone.

Black blood sprayed from the missing arm and from the torn torso, spilling in thick ropes that steamed in the mana light.

Alaric did not waste a breath on disbelief. He shifted his stance and gripped the estoc with both hands.

His aura was scraping the bottom, eyes bloodshot, sweat pouring off his brow.

His gaze kept flicking to the knight core pulsing on Fourteen’s abdomen.

Each bright green pulse was a mockery of the difference in power reserves.

Joji sprinted to where Jaime’s severed hand lay and snatched the fallen sword.

He threw himself back into range with it.

Steel met steel again.

Fourteen’s remaining four arms moved with precision, catching and redirecting.

Alaric poured full strike after full strike, trying to force one mistake.

Fourteen gave him none.

Alaric became the focus, and the price showed fast.

Cuts opened across his body. His steps slowed by a breath, then another, each breath heavier than the last.

The fractured arm was bruising purple, because Alaric had no regenerative factor like Joji.

Still, Alaric kept trusting Joji to find the crack.

They drew Fourteen toward the center of the chamber.

Joji and Alaric suddenly pushed hard and ducked together, pinning three estocs down for one heartbeat, trying to bind the automaton’s rhythm.

A fire lance burst from behind the door.

Crimson flame speared through the air and hit Fourteen dead center in the mage heart.

The core flared once, then the whole torso went up in roaring red.

Fourteen vanished behind flame.

Joji and Alaric stared as the fire climbed, bright enough to paint the chamber in bloody light.

Footsteps rushed in behind them. Kobto and Kobluk had done it. They had brought her.

Still, their state was not good. Clothes bloodied and ripped, fur showing through in patches. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Lilina rode slumped on Kobto’s back, asleep, the kind of sleep that came after spending yourself empty.

She had clearly exerted herself healing them.

Mary Cathryn ran to Jaime and fell to her knees, arms wrapping around his ruined body like she could hold him together by force of love.

Tears streamed down her face.

"My son. I’m sorry I’m late," she said, voice breaking on every word.

Jaime’s jaw trembled. He tried to lift his head like a knight still had pride.

"Mom. Don’t cry. I’ll be able to see the Pinnaclers in heaven, right?"

"Son." Mary shook her head hard, refusing the shape of goodbye. "What if. What if we look for a solution. What if we..."

"I’ll see dad after this. What should..."

His voice cut off.

"Awww. So sweet." The sound came from inside the flames, playful and cruel. "Look at you. Mother and son. Ki. Ki. Ki."

Joji’s spine tightened. Alaric’s grip reformed on his weapon.

"Too bad. Just too bad," Fourteen said, voice echoing as the fire started to collapse inward.

"Mary, oh Mary. You ruined my fun. But this isn’t the end."

Something slipped out of the fire.

Three steel spheres, linked and spinning as one, darted through the air.

In the middle, suspended like a trophy, was a man’s brain.

It moved too fast, fueled by both magic and aura.

Alaric surged to chase. Joji clamped a hand on his arm.

Alaric hissed and nearly cried out from the pain in Joji’s grip. His nerves were already screaming from battle.

"Where did you get your bravery?" Joji growled.

He smacked Alaric on the head, once, twice, sharp enough to sting.

"Alright. Alright. My fault," Alaric snapped. "Stop. Stop hitting me."

Joji released him. His jaw was tight. He remembered the helplessness that had chased him ever since he came to this world.

If he had gone into this alone, he would have come back in a coffin, if anyone bothered to find the pieces.

His eyes slid to Jaime. The demon heart was exposed in the torn chest, pulsing weak and wrong, bleeding out its last strength into air.

Joji swallowed the next thought and did it anyway.

’This is for me. If I get stronger, lunatics like Fourteen become manageable,’ he thought.

"Jaime," Joji said, voice low and steady. "I’m sorry to interrupt. You were given a demon heart. Are you aware of this?"

Mary’s head snapped up.

"Will he be able to use it? Will it save him?"

Joji built the lie fast, shaped it into something she could hold.

"No," he said. "And without that mage sustaining him with mana, he’ll dry up. You know that, don’t you?"

Mary’s mouth opened. Nothing came out.

It was true. She had seen dark mages back at the Everhart Estate. She knew he was asking the impossible.

Joji handed the sword to Jaime, hilt first.

"You were once an Elite Knight. If that lunatic returns and gains control of you, you’ll slaughter your own town. And they will call you the monster. Not him."

Jaime’s eyes softened for a second, human under all the stitched wrongness.

"Knight Joji is right," he said. "Mother, it’s too dangerous. Look at me. Who would believe I’m not the one who killed them."

Mary shook, grief shaking her bones. Then she nodded, once, like a woman signing a contract with death.

"Thank you," Jaime whispered. "Thank you, fellow knights, for letting me die with dignity."

He raised the sword and cut his own head off in one clean motion.

Mary made a sound that did not belong to language.

She caught his head against her chest and rocked, sobbing into dead hair and dead skin.

Alaric stood rigid, eyes wet, but he did not look away. This was how the world worked.

Mercy was sometimes just choosing the shape of an ending.

Joji turned to Mary and forced his voice gentle.

"Mistress Lacrosse. Don’t worry. He saved us earlier. I will speak of his heroics. I dare not lie about an Elite Knight."

Mary looked up, tears streaking her face.

"Thank you, sir knight. Thank you. I knew you were just."

Joji nodded once, then pressed the next knife in carefully.

"I need you to keep secret what you saw here today. No panic. No rumors. Let the guards sleep. I hope you understand."

Mary swallowed and nodded, clutching her son’s head tighter.

Joji looked at Alaric.

"Accompany Mistress Lacrosse. Stay with her for now. I will catch up. Give me this moment."

Alaric hesitated, then obeyed. Kobto and Kobluk moved with him. Mary stumbled after, carrying his dead son’s head.

Joji watched them go until their footsteps faded.

Then he moved. He shoved heavy cabinets against the door and wedged them tight, wood scraping stone, until it would take a team to break through quickly.

He breathed once, slow.

"Sir Engine," Joji said into the empty air. "What can I eat here that will help me get stronger?"

{There are two prizes you may consume. The first is the revived demon’s heart. The other is the dungeon core.}

Joji stared at the darkness, then back at the room, at the blood, at the torn chest that still held power.

"Can I keep those," he asked, "or should I eat them right away?"

{The demon’s heart is even now shedding its strength. It is most advisable to consume it at once.}

{The dungeon core, however, need not be taken straightaway.}