Editing Leviathan:Volume 3 Chapter 5 (section)

===Part 2===

"Target discovered. Developments are unfolding as predicted."

From the back seat, Asya suddenly opened her eyes and spoke.

She had kept her eyes shut all this time, focused on controlling Rushalka remotely. At this moment, Minadzuki had just used the Rune of the Bow to snipe from long distance, clearing out the almost sixty Raptors all at once.

The 4WD vehicle driven by Hal exited the coastal road and entered the Loop 7 main route.

They had already reached Minamikasai. From the front passenger seat, Orihime asked Asya in the back, "The shelter is nearby, isn't it? What is the damage situation over there?"

"I was worried about the same thing, which is why I sent Rushalka ahead of us... But it seems fine for now."

A blue wyvern descended gracefully in front of the speeding 4WD vehicle.

This was Rushalka, returning after being sent ahead to scout and rescue lives if necessary. Her flying form was agile yet powerful. Having worked with her for so long, Hal knew very well.

The "serpent" on the verge of death had completely recovered the speed and agility of her peak condition.

Rushalka was flying slightly above the Loop 7 route, so as to lead the way. Driving the 4WD vehicle, Hal followed the blue wyvern. Soon after, they arrived in front of the community center.

This facility was located near the Edogawa river mouth.

Just by crossing the road, one would immediately reach the river's wide and grassy shore.

Currently, the sky above had turned into a battlefield where two dragons were locked in a duel. As one would expect, one of them was the silver dragon, Pavel Galad.

Bathed under the illumination of starlight and street lamps, his gigantic body of metallic silver shone with luster.

The other side was the old dragon, Exhos. Having pledged allegiance to Princess Yukikaze four days earlier, this dragon was all bones except for a pair of steel wings.

'Hahahaha. Lord Tyrannos of the Sword, as I suspected, that body of yours cannot fight to your heart's content, can it?' it?' it?'

"Curse you&mdash;!"

Mocked by the old dragon Exhos, the young Galad angered immensely.

Resembling a bone specimen, Exhos was riding a bronze discus hovering in the sky. This discus suddenly accelerated, flying towards the silver dragon.

With the wings on his back spread out, Galad was motionless in the air.

In his right hand, he was holding the dragonslaying sword&mdash;a longsword materialized from the Rune of the Sword. Galad swung this sword in an attempt to chop apart Exhos' discus that was approaching at high speed.

However, the dragonslaying sword shattered, accompanied by an acute sound akin to breaking glass.

Then Galad's damaged gigantic body was blown away violently, crashing to the ground.

He fell next to the shore of the Kyuedogawa. As a clearing consisting of a large stretch of lawn laid with pedestrian trails, it was able to withstand the impact from an elite dragon's massive body.

Seeing the silver dragon putting up a pathetic fight, unworthy of the formidable foe he once was, Hal muttered quietly, "So his wounds haven't healed yet...?"

"Not only that. What the old emaciated bag of bones is riding is also 'the power of dragonbane.' Of course, it is an imitation and not the real thing&mdash;But I do concede that it is quite well done."

"An imitation of dragonslaying power. So that guy really can use it too."

Listening to Hinokagutsuchi's voice echoing in the car, Hal nodded. Compared to before when she would only offer vague hints, she was providing guidance at opportune moments now.

This was probably the way the self-styled devil showed her care after merging with the magic gun and entering an alliance.

Hal stopped the car at the bus terminus in front of the community center.

There were three microbuses parked there as well. Furthermore, Rushalka was currently circling in the air slowly, waiting for her partner's instructions.

Just as Hal, Asya and Orihime disembarked together, planning to head to the shore...

"O-Oh my? Why are all of you here?"

"Uh, Haruga-kun, why can you drive!?"

Hal looked back, only to see his classmate Funaki-san in shock. Mutou-san was also staring wide-eyed.

Twenty or thirty apparently ordinary people, encompassing both genders and a range of ages, were standing in front of the community center aimlessly. Orihime spoke to her classmates, "You two... were taking shelter here, I guess?"

"Y-Yeah. Along with others, we're holed up in the main hall here, discussing stuff like when to escape. There are still a lot of people inside the building."

"With so many flying dragons gathered here, going outside is scary too. But&mdash;"

Compared to the distraught Funaki-san, Mutou-san was evidently far more calm. Pointing at the sky, she said, "A beam of light flew in from somewhere and took care of a whole load of dragons... That's why we took the chance to go outside to check out the situation. Besides, someone's gone missing."

"Missing, you say?"

"Yeah. But more precisely, that's not quite the right description..."

Confronted with Hal's question, Mutou-san hesitated, so Funaki-san interrupted, "U-Umm, there was a handsome guy who transformed right before our eyes. Transforming instantly like those red and silver giants in children's shows. That's right, he turned into that dragon!"

" " "......" " "

Hal, Orihime and Asya could not help but fall silent.

Funaki-san was pointing at the shore where the silver dragon was trying to get up. Compared to a Giant of Light, Pavel Galad ran out of strength and fell on his knees.

In the end, the dragon glared viciously at Exhos and the dragonslaying discus with seething rage in his eyes.

Meanwhile, Mutou-san shook her head with an expression of disbelief.

"Well, I'd like to say it was our imagination or mistake, but both Funaki-san and I saw it happen clearly. Our memories are definitely not mistaken... Although he had been glaring at us with a very scary look, as soon as that bone specimen monster showed up, he transformed..."

"Say, was that guy someone in the shelter with an unknown identity by any chance?"

"Wow, you're amazing, Haruga-kun. Right on the money!"

As suspected, he had taken on human form after all. Hal nodded.

Then Asya shrugged and said, "I get the basic gist of things now. Since there's no time, I'm going to give simple instructions. You two, please return to the building over there and tell everyone to evacuate. As for the Raptors&mdash;dragons&mdash;It's fine to ignore them."

At this moment, the three-headed leviathan happened to be flying overhead.

Luna Francois had sent her as agreed in advance. To fight the few Raptors remaining in this airspace, Glinda pounced with claws and teeth ready.

However, the blue variant Raptors were supposed to carry emulated power of dragonbane.

Wouldn't that put Glinda in a difficult fight or even a risk of dying?

Hal could not help but worry&mdash;But it turned out to be unnecessary paranoia. The orange-furred lion leviathan was leading a pentagram magic circle behind her as though drawing a carriage.

This magic circle suddenly jumped in front of Glinda.

It was almost like a shield. The blue Raptors spewed bronze-colored flames at the approaching lion. Hal could tell from sight that these were dragonslaying flames. However, the black pentagram blocked these flames reliably. This was a gravity shield that blocked physical attacks completely.

The power of dragonbane infused in the bronze-colored flames seemed to be relatively weak.

The gravity shield proved fully effective, protecting Glinda's massive body properly.

"Since pseudo-divinity cannot be invoked while controlling remotely, I sent her along with this first..."

Effortlessly defusing arduous situations, she obtained victory single-handedly.

Hal was thoroughly awed and impressed with Luna Francois' brilliance, worthy of her title as the Shootdown Ace, as well as her underlying strength as a master mage.

Protected by the gravity barrier, the hovering Glinda opened the jaws of the green dragon and black goat heads. Then she breathed out scarlet flames, incinerating the bodies of Raptors.

Inflicted with fatal injuries from the flame breath attack, blue winged dragons kept crashing down.

It looked like there was no need to worry about things on that front. Hal turned to face his classmates anew.

"Then I'm counting on you two to handle things on the shelter side. We still have business to attend to."

"See you in school. Bye!"

Hal made his request briefly and Orihime cheerfully bid them goodbye.

The two female classmates nodded in response with stunned looks. Seeing that, Hal and company immediately started to sprint, advancing towards the riverside.

"Rushalka, come to me. Prepare to fight!"

"Akuro-Ou, we will be starting a decisive battle too. Arrive instantly!"

Asya ran while summoning her partner. Orihime also raised her voice to chant a song of summoning.

The blue wyvern instantly responded to Asya's summon and went on the move. The white nine-tailed fox-wolf also appeared in the air suddenly. Witnessing the witches controlling "serpents," Mutou-san and Funaki-san were dumbfounded in surprise.

However, these matters would have to be dealt with later&mdash;

Hal and company arrived at the spacious lawn on the river bank.

In the air, the old dragon Exhos had summoned eleven runes of Ruruk Soun over his head, signifying "false weapon."

'Come, royal authority of dragonslaying. Give me even more power&mdash;!' !' !'

Exhos was riding the bronze discus and hovering in the air.

Eight identical discuses suddenly appeared behind him. Were they all made of dragonslaying power? Hal immediately summoned the magic gun to his right hand. Aiming at the old dragon skeleton, he fired.

One of the new discuses swiftly moved as a shield and deflected the magic gun's bullet of red light.

'Hohohoho... I was thinking it was about time for you to arrive, now that the winged lizards are all gone.' gone.' gone.'

Riding a discus, Exhos rotated his skull, pointing his empty eye sockets at the river bank. He was staring at Hal.

'Welcome, Lord Tyrannos of the Bow.' Bow.' Bow.'

"Sorry, I need the guy with the sword for something, so I've got nothing to say to you."

"W-What did you say...?"

Hearing Hal's declaration, Pavel Galad groaned.

The silver dragon was still kneeling on the ground, only turning his eyes to look at Hal. However, that already seemed to be taxing his limit. His gigantic body suddenly shrank.

Ten-odd seconds later, the silver-white dragon turned into a handsome human young man.

He was kneeling on the riverside lawn, a pained expression on his face while holding his hand against his heart.

"Hmph, to think you are weakened to the point of being unable to move a dragon's massive body. A body forcibly revived without using a secret ritual of resurrection will not heal so easily."

The magic gun whispered in mockery with Hinokagutsuchi's voice.

"Listen up, brat and priestesses. Hurry up and take care of this old geezer of a curtain raiser who has been a nuisance, making noise nonstop. It should take no more than a single arrow."

"Don't make it sound so easy just because you don't need to do the work yourself."

"And it feels a bit disrespectful to the elderly..."

Hal and Orihime bore serious expressions, joking only in speech only.

The enemy was an elite dragon and controlling emulated dragonslaying power to boot. Although his physical body was quite fragile, being bones only, he was probably the most experienced in magic out of all the enemies they had encountered so far. There were probably very few elites capable of controlling such a massive number of Raptors.

However, of Hal, Orihime and Asya, not one of them was afraid of Exhos.

They were vigilant, of course, but remained calm and composed. They knew that they had already obtained power surpassing the elite in front of them.

This was probably thanks to their mutual link to the Rune of the Bow through the bonds of their covenants.

"Putting questions of morality aside, Hinokagutsuchi's opinion definitely cannot be more right. Then let's eliminate him quickly. Use me&mdash;and Rushalka."

Asya delivered her words with stern dignity.

At merely the age of fifteen, she was already a seasoned veteran of a witch. Having suffered hardship countless times in the face of the elite dragons' overwhelming power, this girl had finally obtained the privilege to strike back.

This time, they were the ones in a position to trample the dragons&mdash;

However, Asya did not get carried away or lose herself to rapture. She simply maintained a warrior's calm and issued a declaration as though the enemy's defeat was set in stone.

This was Europe's former Shootdown Ace. Hal nodded greatly and shouted sonorously, "Then Asya, I entrust the queen's power to you!"

"Leave it to me. Rushalka!"

The instant they breathed in unison, a giant red body appeared in the air.

A translucent dragon king&mdash;The Crimson Queen. Thus, the queen merged with the blue wyvern in midair again.

Rushalka became equipped with chest armor and a pair of arms made of ruby material.

Speaking of which, this was the "Queen Form," right? Witnessing this sight, Pavel Galad's human appearance panicked noticeably.

"To think an imitation could... transform? What is that power&mdash;!?"

'Hmm, it seems that some bizarre little trick is being played.' played. played.'

Skeptically, Exhos stared at the "serpent" in Queen Form.

However, he still continued to attack, probably driven by a dragon's nature. Of the eight discuses summoned by the old dragon, two flew towards Rushalka at super high speed.

However, this attack did not work. It was deflected with futility.

The blue wyvern's entire body was enveloped and protected by pearly radiance. Identical to what surrounded Hal and Princess Yukikaze, this was imperishable protection.

'Hmm&mdash;!? But that is the protection only dragon kings and usurpers can use!' use!' use!'

"Rushalka, high speed flight!"

At Asya's command, the wyvern in Queen Form instantly took flight.

Her target was above the scattered clouds in the night sky. With astounding acceleration, she reached sonic speed in merely a few short seconds.

Breaking past the cloud layer, she ascended rapidly with momentum to reach the heavens.

However, Exhos' eight discuses also sped up violently, rising rapidly to chase after Rushalka.

The discuses also showed amazing speed. Looking absolutely determined to catch the blue wyvern, they finally arrived right behind her.

However, Asya issued commands at this point.

"Accelerate further! Pull ahead, Rushalka!"

The wyvern in Queen Form responded to these commands in calm composure&mdash;Or rather.

She broke the sound barrier matter-of-factly, emitting sonic booms while she flew, easily shaking off the eight discuses' pursuit behind her.

After creating a certain level of distance, Rushalka turned around with a twist of her body and stared at the arriving discuses with calm eyes.

Her left arm of ruby was holding a crimson bow with a blue-white arrow of light in her right.

Soaring the sky with her back turned, she nocked the arrow to the bow at the same time.

"Freeze and Crack!"

The arrow released by the ruby arms immediately split into eight to intercept the approaching discuses.

The attacks met their marks completely. Struck by the arrows, the discuses were all frozen, then shattered like ice sculptures. They exploded.

This battle, taking place in the far end of the sky&mdash;Hal was cognizant of it as though it was happening right before his eyes.

This was thanks to his link to Rushalka through the vassal covenant.

'Tsk! A mere imitation!' tion!' tion!'

This time, Exhos attacked using the discus he was riding.

Instead of Rushalka, his target was Hal's group on the riverside.

Hal calmly deployed imperishable protection. The pearly light enveloped not only himself but also Orihime and Asya.

Colliding with this layer of protection, Exhos was sent flying together with his bronze discus.

Furthermore, Hal fired his magic gun thrice&mdash;in triple burst mode. Struck by the bullets, the skull of the old dragon Exhos shattered.

But the all-bones dragon remained impressive as ever. He was still capable of speaking from his rib cage.

'Curse you. Do not believe that this is over!' over!' over!'

"Akuro-Ou, finish him!"

Responding to Orihime's command, Akuro-Ou descended rapidly from her standby position in the air.

Then using this momentum, she pounced with reckless abandon, knocking the bronze discus away. Riding on it, Exhos&mdash;the skeleton specimen with the missing skull&mdash;was sent flying too.

Without a moment's pause, Akuro-Ou instantly lunged at the ancient specimen, thoroughly crushing the rib cage within her jaws.

In addition, Rushalka flew back with lightning speed&mdash;

And swung her right forelimb at Exhos' back, stabbing dragon claws of ruby into his spine.

'GAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!' ' '

Ra Exhos' bones screamed in a deathcry, crumbling and scattering.

One could say that an old dragon had finally met his nihilistic demise. This was the moment of complete victory for Hal and company.