10.3 Gatekeeper

I tried to put in more power as the point of contact between my katana and his armor was showered in more and more sparks with each passing second. It was like I was trying to pierce a two-by-four with a small pin back in my first life, my strength being easily rebuffed by the tin can in front of me without even breaking a sweat as I tried to force the issue.

"To think that I expected a Dirt Eater to play by the rules," I heard the Dezimal sigh as I gave my attack one more push in an attempt to break through. "I suppose a Dirt Eater will always be a Dirt Eater."

*SMACK!*

I tumbled onto the ground once more, the side of my ribs stinging as the uncommon soldier pushed me aside with the strength of an ambulance.

"W-what the hell..." I cursed to myself as I picked myself off the ground using my katana as support. "Why didn't it..."

I didn't even have time to finish my thought as the impossible happened right before my eyes. A bright blue hum emanated from the Dezimal's location, and all of a sudden, what was once an armor full of chinks and imperfections now looked relatively brand-new. From the smooth pauldrons to the shiny gleam of the chest plate, I couldn't fathom just what the fvck happened in front of me. I knew that magic was at play here, but what kind of Seigel witchcraft was at play here to achieve such an... impossible result like reversing damage?!

"Surprised?" the Dezimal chuckled humorlessly. "This is what a true Nenner can produce. The true strength of the Empire."

I strained my eyes as I barely managed to catch a glimpse of the Seigelwork that was still glowing on the Dezimal. Aside from the basic stuff that I could easily make out and replicate, what baffled me was the fact that there was an honest to god 'f' symbol inscribed directly onto the damn thing!

"While the common Dezimal only wears the simplest of armors available, those that excel could get some of the equipment that most of the lower Zahlers can afford."

I didn't even listen to the guy talk as I fixed my eyes solely on what seemed to be... some kind of mathematical formula? I mean, I could make out a few 'x' and 'y's but... Why was there a 'Sigma' symbol in there too?!

"This is simply a taste of what you could've been doing with your time, Dirt Eater."

What the hell?! It was like I was back in high school all over again. The best I could make out was that... Was it a physics formula or something?

"All this time, you flirted with the thoughts of freedom and rebellion when you could've been serving the Empire for the same amount of time and yielded more out of your futile efforts."

I rubbed my head at the nagging memory itching at my brain, the foreign feeling of not being able to understand making my head spin in a manner that I was deathly afraid of even feeling. This was... I knew I recognized this set of symbols from somewhere. Sure, I was a steel fabricator, but I also took basic Algebra in high school!

I don't care anymore. I needed to remember what those symbols were! "What the hell are you even talking about!?"

"What?"

I almost laughed as I imagined what was assuredly the confused look on this tin can's face as I practically went down on my knees and looked like a pitiful nerd. I didn't even care that we were in the middle of the battlefield as I clutched my head in agonizing confusion. The signs and symbols were so naggingly familiar to me and yet so woefully foreign at the same time that my brain couldn't handle the dissonance.

I just... I know what these symbols meant!

"The symbols..." I panted. "Your armor... How does it work?"

"You... You don't even know?" the Dezimal asked in astonishment. "How incompetent can you be, Dirt Eater?"

I didn't have the heart in me to refute the tin can's statement. I knew that I still had a lot to learn in terms of this whole Seigalcraft stiff. That was why I'm asking my question in the first place. "Just answer the question," I ground out as I struggled to get back to my feet, my knees still wobbling from the earlier blow I ate.

"Pathetic," the Dezimal chuckled in a strangely... knowing manner? "You strive to fight like your betters, and yet you know nothing about your own craft?"

The Dezimal towered over my form, his halberd towering even higher as I felt like I was being judged by the heavens for my own incompetence. All the while, my head throbbed in its self-inflicted migraine, the burning need to understand making my brain work in ways that I had no idea it could still do after I started getting too lazy to even study.

"Hah.. Hahahaha!"

I grimaced in my own embarrassment as the Dezimal laughed in a way that made me feel so insignificant. He sounded like he actually knew the answers to heart instead of simply knowing them due to proximity. He wasn't even a Nenner!

"What a riot!" he howled in a curiously demented way, a hand going to his stomach as he savored my apparent stupidity. "You're supposed to be the ringleader of this rebellion, correct?"

Okay, that actually hurt.

"How are you this stupid then?!" he cackled, much to my own irritation. "Do you honestly think that the Empire would take your little resistance antics lying down?!"

For fvcks sake, just answer the question! "Shut up, already!" I bit back, my head still throbbing in its failed attempts at analyzing the damn thing in front of me. "Tell me how it works!"

"How presumptuous of you to think that I'd give away such Imperial secrets for free, Dirt Eater," the Dezimal... cooed? "Maybe if you surrendered to my blade, then perhaps I'd give you some form of clarity."

This was ridiculous...

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