Editing Leviathan:Volume 7 Chapter 2 (section)

===Part 2===

"We didn't work together to make this special arena," said Hal to Princess Yukikaze, putting aside his strange feeling and crisis awareness for now.

Now that even Princess Yukikaze had shown up, who had time to deal with that kind of stuff?
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"That guy over there seems to be responsible, though I don't know the details either."

"Yes. I devoted a fair amount of effort for the sake of eliminating my fated rival and the white dragon king at the same time. A mighty fine job, if I should say so myself..." Wielding the dragonslaying sword, Pavel Galad declared proudly.

Present here was the Crimson Queen, armed with the dragonslaying bow, and Pavel Galad with his prided massive body of metallic silver. In appearance alone, both of them looked stronger than Princess Yukikaze.

However, the young girl who was stronger than everyone here smiled in leisure.

"Well said, silver dragon! In that case, I, Yukikaze, hereby command you."

Perhaps because she was standing on a flying surfboard, roughly thirty meters off the ground...

Princess Yukikaze was "in a higher position" both physically and mentally, looking downwards at Hal and Galad, issuing a royal decree.

"Defeat Haruomi first then call for me. You must redeem yourself for your past defeat and prove that you have the ability to challenge a king."

"That was my intention all along. O Princess, thank you for accepting my challenge."

"Do not thank me so hastily. It appears that you have learned plenty, but petty tricks of that sort belong more in Haruomi's domain. Whether the dragonslaying sword can reach the same heights as I, Yukikaze... I certainly look forward to finding out."

"Uh, excuse me&mdash;"

Galad looked all fired up with hot blood while Princess Yukikaze brought up Haruga Haruomi's name as though showing off her own toy.

Hal still had self-awareness as a mortal, more or less. He cautiously suggested, "I'd rather join forces with one of you to take out the other opponent first..."

As "members of a warrior race," elite dragons could not possibly agree to such a request.

Hal was merely saying it as a test. Princess Yukikaze scoffed while Pavel Galad showed no reaction, completely ignoring it.

Oh dear. Hal shook his head and changed the subject.

"Then at least postpone the battle until tomorrow. You suddenly asked me to fight, but I'm not mentally prepared yet."

"Oh?"

Pavel Galad's reaction was quite mysterious.

He first stared at Hal then shifted his gaze to the Crimson Queen. After some thought, he muttered "I see now" to himself.

Hal shuddered.

He felt a wave of unease as though he had been stripped naked completely.

"I do not mind. If you have such a need, would you like to change the duel's venue too?"

"......"

How surprising. This small island that had suddenly appeared on the surface of the ocean must have been land created by Galade through magic. In other words, this was completely enemy territory.

It was anyone's guess where the traps were located on this island.

Hal originally thought Galad would naturally want to fight here.

Apparently seeing through Hal's thoughts, the silver dragon said nonchalantly, "We are capable of soaring the skies. After the battle commences, we could fly to wherever we want."

"Well, that's true."

"Then let us set the duel to begin tomorrow morning. Anywhere in Tokyo is fine with me. Just call my name at your preferred location and that would be where the battle begins. Will that do for you?"

"...Nah, this place is fine."

It looked like Pavel Galad intended to treat Tokyo New Town as a battlefield without any restrictions.

Realizing this, Hal rejected the suggestion. Though this small island was suspicious, the fact that it was uninhabited was pretty convenient.

Also, since the day of the duel could be postponed to tomorrow, there was time to come up with countermeasures...

"In exchange, I want to investigate this island and see if you've cast weird spells or set traps. If I find anything, I'll decide whether I eliminate them or postpone the battle further."

"Very well. Investigate as much as you like."

Still the same as always, Galad answered with full seriousness.

Spreading his pair of silver wings, he flew south.

Investigate as much as you like&mdash;True to his word, it looked like Galad did not intend to get in Hal's way. For an opponent demanding a personal duel, he was quite fair and upstanding.

As for the other dragon&mdash;

"Fufufufu. The day of our duel is drawing near... The assumption is that you must defeat that silver dragon."

By the time Hal noticed, Princess Yukikaze had lowered the altitude of her surfboard.

From five or six meters above Hal, she gazed down upon him.

"Do your best, Haruomi. We are the ones who hold the bow and the arrow forming a pair. Muster your full power, bearing in mind that I, Yukikaze, desires fervently to fight you."

Leaving these parting words, Princess Yukikaze flew away too.

She went west&mdash;making a beeline for the Old Tokyo Concession.

Even a randomly tossed comment had such a poetic quality to it. This princess was full of personality as always. Feeling nostalgic while finding her too dazzling to behold, he muttered, "Everyone just talks without listening."

Staring off into the sky where his foes had disappeared, he recalled Funaki-san's report.

Eyewitnesses had spotted Pavel Galad's human form at a number of locations. In addition, the use of investigative magic across New Town resulted in the detection of strange signals recently&mdash;

Was this island actually a red herring while the true trap was hidden in Tokyo New Town?

If that was the case, then sure enough, fighting inside Tokyo would be very risky. Declining Galad's suggestion had probably been the right decision.

"Dragons are clearly battle maniacs, yet they still cause me such headaches..."

Unable to put his mind at ease, Hal thought to himself.

In many ways, the silver dragon Pavel Galad had changed from before. Hal had to wage a great decisive battle tomorrow against such a monster&mdash;What a burdensome feeling.


Three hours later, Hal left the island after conducting various investigations.

In addition to investigative magic&mdash;SAURU's magic&mdash;Hal even made use of Ruruk Soun's magic to investigate carefully. The leviathan Minadzuki also used her sense of smell and a sacred beast's super sensitivity to help search for anything unusual or dangerous.

Other than the surface, deep underground was also included as part of the search.

However, nothing suspicious was found anywhere. It was merely "a small island raised up from the seabed by the magic of dragonkind."

"Anyway, I asked Luna to go over there and take over the investigation in our place."

To return to Tokyo New Town, they had asked the JMSDF to send a small transport ship.

Inside the seventy-meter-long ship, Hal was speaking with Hazumi in a cabin.

"That being said, I'm guessing the investigation won't come up with anything."

"What about Nee-sama and Asya-san?"

"I asked them to investigate New Town because I heard that Galad has been wandering all over the place for the past few months. However&mdash;"

Hal sighed.

"To be honest, I don't think any clues will turn up. If anything could be found, I'm sure one of us would've discovered it long ao. After all, Tokyo is our territory."

"Yes. Minadzuki hasn't warned me this summer."

"I'm putting the odds at fifty-fifty. If he really didn't play any tricks..."

"Or perhaps Galad-san was very cautious and even came up with measures to counter magical investigation when he was setting up his trap..."

"Yes, that's right. You really know a lot, Shirasaka."

"That's because you taught me a lot, Senpai."

Hazumi was smiling demurely at Hal from up close.

This was a cramped cabin inside a transport ship. Hal was sitting on the bed as so was the excessively pure junior student.

Not only was she sitting on the same bed as Hal, but she was leaning very close to him.

Why was she sitting here when there was clearly more space? To be honest, Hal was completely baffled. However, leaning against him, offering support, Hazumi's touch and warmth made him feel very comfortable in mind and body.

Letting this continue might not be half bad&mdash;Just as this notion surfaced in his mind, Hal shook his head.

"Oh&mdash;Shirasaka, shouldn't we give each other a bit more space?"

"But Senpai, you looked so unwell just now."

"Just now?"

"Yes. When the dragon king&mdash;Princess Yukikaze&mdash;showed up, you looked like you were beleaguered by coldness, like you had a high fever, the look on your face was very scary..."

"Oh."

Hal could now understand why Hazumi was leaning against him. However, he found it odd.

Even so, this distance was too close. What was Hazumi thinking? Even if it were out of worry... This was virtually... As his thoughts reached this point, Hal jumped in surprise.

Because Hazumi reached out gently with her left hand and touched his right hand.

The junior student's sudden action made his heart skip a beat. Hal did not know if his adorable protege was aware of his feelings, but she said worriedly, "Also, Senpai, your body is so cold and hard."

"R-Really?"

"Yes. It feels like metal, you know?"

"..."

Metal. Hal recalled the giant lifeform he had been fighting several hours earlier&mdash;the silver dragon&mdash;and could not help but think.

Perhaps he too might turn into something like that...

Try as he might to not think about this, such a possibility was impossible to rule out no matter what.

Just as he was about to be imprisoned in this pessimistic mindset&mdash;

"Senpai, your body is really cold. E-Excuse me!"

Sitting next to him, Hazumi suddenly took off her shoes and moved over the bed.

Kneeling on the bed, she hugged Hal's head. As a result, Haruga Haruomi's face was buried into her bosom&mdash;

"Sh-Shiraska!?"

"Can.. we stay in this posture for a while? I'd like to do something."

Hazumi's voice sounded full of determination.

Her usual self, polite and reserved self, was nowhere to be found. Next, the junior student began to stroke Hal's head gently. Round and round, it seemed like her motions intended to massage and soften the hard surface.

During this time, Hal's face remained buried in Hazumi's chest.

For a fourteen-year-old, Hazumi was "very well developed" and fairly busty. Hal never thought he would ever get a chance in his life to confirm the sensation of her chest in this manner&mdash;

"Oh, Senpai, you're relaxing a little now."

"I-I see. That's good to know."

Damn it. Form is no different from emptiness, and emptiness is no different from form... Exercising self-control to prevent his mind from having inappropriate thoughts, Hal mentally thanked Hazumi for her care and concern from the bottom of his heart.

The kind-hearted junior student was probably doing this out of worry for Hal's health.

Of course, Hal felt very embarrassed that he was being held and comforted in this posture like a baby. However, Hazumi's kindness and her voluptuous&mdash;were soothing his heart even more. Both his mind and body were relaxing...

Feeling an indescribable sense of comfort, Hal's consciousness gradually faded.

"Oh right..."

On further thought, he had made the Crimson Queen use the sun-shooting divine bow by his own power alone.
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This was his first time to attempt this. His magical power was surging to the point of overflowing. His entire body felt unusually hot. Conversely, he must have accumulated a lot of fatigue too.

Now that Hal finally obtained reprieve for his tensed mind, his exhausted body was attacked by the onslaught of drowsiness.


"Senpai, did you fall asleep...?"

With his face buried in Hazumi's bosom, Haruomi-senpai drifted into slumber.

She could hear gentle breathing. Trying to avoid waking him up, Hazumi kept her movements as light as possible while shifting her arms and body to lay Senpai down on the bed.

Having confirmed that he was sleeping peacefully, Hazumi reached out again.

She touched Senpai's face. Not only was Haruomi-senpai not fat, his physique was on the skinny side. However, his cheeks were very soft and fleshy to pinch.

Then she even touched Senpai's head, right arm, left arm, feeling his body nonstop.

"Thank goodness. Looks like what I just did is working." Hazumi exhaled in relief and a smile finally surfaced on her face.

After that&mdash;after the Crimson Queen had used the technique of assured annihilation&mdash;Hazumi had felt bothered ever since.

Today, Haruomi-senpai was wearing a t-shirt with pants.

After using the technique of assured annihilation, the parts of his skin not covered by clothing, such as his face or his arms, would reflect sunlight from time to time, shining brightly. It did not seem like an illusion at all.

It shone as though the surface was covered by a layer of glass.

Worried, Hazumi had stuck closely to Senpai as soon as they had entered the cabin, so as to confirm the texture of his skin, and was greatly shocked.

In addition to appearance, even the tactile sensation was like glass.

Cold and hard.

Furthermore, Haruomi-senpai himself had failed to notice this. Most likely, this was one of the symptoms of transforming into a dragon&mdash;Hazumi felt certain of this. Just as he had been unaware of his memory loss, it was also very difficult for him to notice the hardening of his body.

Hence, Hazumi had forcibly suppressed the shock in her heart to prevent Senpai from noticing. However&mdash;

"I shouldn't have pointed out Senpai felt like metal to the touch..."

As soon as he heard these words, Senpai's face turned dark.

Hence, to make up for her mistake, she had hugged Haruomi-senpai's head. She guessed that such intimate contact might possibly cause Senpai's body to change in a positive direction.

After pressing her bosom against Senpai, she found the change she was hoping for.

Haruomi-senpai's hardened body gradually turned soft, recovering a human body's "pliable" texture.

"Fortunately, it's just like what Hinokagutsuchi said..."

Hazumi currently breathed a sigh of relief from the bottom of her heart. She even felt overjoyed.

"Senpai recovered... Does this mean that even a body like mine is able to make him happy?"

At New York during August, the former dragon queen had said, 'Obtaining combat power and the wisdom of the unorthodoxy would lead Tyrannoi and hybrids to become more like dragons...'

'Conversely, the opposite situation can happen too. Pleasures that could only be enjoyed as a human would occasionally cause someone farther along the path of becoming a dragon to revert back to human appearance.'

Indeed. According to this logic, Senpai would derive intense satisfaction as a closet pervert from erotic behavior and revert slightly to being human.

Hence, Hazumi mustered her determination to give it a try this time.

If only things would continue to be this easy&mdash;Hazumi sighed with worry and suppressed the uncertainty in the bottom of her heart.