Editing Leviathan:Volume 2 Chapter 6 (section)

===Part 3===

"Still, for a foreign helper to arrive in Japan on the day of the battle, that's far too last minute."

"On the other hand, do note that she is a powerful master-class witch. Cut the grumbling when the Trans-Pacific's most powerful ace has agreed to come over."

On the final morning of the deadline period set by the silver-white elite dragon, two members of SAURU's Kantou branch were having this conversation.

Kenjou Genya was full of complaints while his boss, Hiiragi Yukari answered him.

They were currently at a hotel lobby, sitting on a sofa, having coffee.

"The Trans-Pacific's ace... In other words&mdash;"

"Yes, the one whom Asya-san knows."

"Isn't she the veritable Shootdown Ace as well as an executive in the organization? I'm impressed that you were able to hire someone of this caliber."

"Actually&mdash;I can't claim the credit. Because dragons have showed up in Japan unusually frequently these past few months, she had already made plans to visit Japan to carry out an investigation."

"Even so, it's still something to celebrate."

Kenjou rubbed his bearded chin and whispered. His suit was heavily wrinkled, looking even more uncouth than usual, presumably because he had been busy with the elite dragon incident these past few days.

"She is expected to land in Haneda Airport at 10am via a special plane prepared by the American military."

"Understood. By the way, is Europe's former Shootdown Ace still not ready?"

"Should be soon? She apparently woke up in hunger at five or six this morning."

This hotel was where Asya Rubashvili was staying.

Kenjou and Yukari had come here early in the morning to pick her up, holding a meeting while having breakfast. At this moment, a member of the hotel's front desk staff came over to them, carrying a cute yet solemn brown envelop on a tray.

Yukari took the envelop and read the contents. It was a letter.

"It's common for master-class witches to ignore collaborative relationships and take action on their own... But this is really too sudden."

Written concisely, the letter explained that the battle had to start ahead of time due to tactical reasons. In addition, there was also a brief note that Orihime and Akuro-Ou had been rescued, but without details.

This unexpected development caused Yukari to frown.


Asya entered Old Tokyo before daybreak. Instead of meeting with her comrades, she went to western Shinjuku on her own first then silently observed the battle flow.

Late last night, she had already discussed battle preparations over a satellite phone.

"Haruomi seemed inexplicably thrilled yesterday... His voice sounded a bit excited."

An hour before the date changed at midnight, she had received a call from Haruomi. But after the conversation, the subtle sense of dissonance was arousing Asya's suspicions.

(Haruga Haruomi's emotional changes were caused by the unexpected accident during Orihime's bath, but of course, there was no way for Asya to know.)

Regardless, the problem at hand was the showdown against Pavel Galad.

Asya looked at the back of her left hand, where the Rune of the Bow was currently visible. The Rune of the Bow would naturally appear to accompany heightened intent to fight dragons. Then she looked down at the world below.

Asya's current location was a roof of some building near the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building&mdash;

Holding binoculars, she watched the battlefield and wasteland of western Shinjuku from the edge.

"It's about time to enter the fray..."

She had been told that her childhood friend could now use the Rune of the Bow skillfully.

Presumably due to this, Asya also felt fully confident. She was convinced that she could use that rune of Ruruk Soun even more viciously. By applying the rune's power to a "gun" framework, it became easier to control.

As she was right now&mdash;She could do it! With unshakable confidence, Asya watched the battle before her eyes.

Pavel Galad finally swung down the most powerful blade strike.

The lightning serpent also lifted its head and twisted its long and stout body. Seeing that, Asya nodded. The instant Galad was about to swing his sword, she summoned her partner.

"O ancient divine seal of purity, send the transient blue dragon to the ground!"

Amidst the dark thunderclouds in the sky above, a light shone. Right now, the pentagram was probably transforming in an infinity symbol inside the clouds, then turning into a blue wyvern.

"Rushalka, get it done in one go."

In fact, there was the option of sniping from the stratosphere but Asya did not choose that approach.

To obtain far greater destructive power, she launched a double attack.

"Use pseudo-divinity to change forms. Begin to accelerate!"

The injured "serpent" responded to her covenantee's orders with a roar.

Kyuahhhhhhhhh!

In the next instant, Rushalka flew out from the thunderclouds.

But instead of moving towards the ground, she flew higher up in the sky. Her body exhibited blue transparency.

Water&mdash;She had invoked pseudo-divinity to turn her body into a mass of water.

In this manner, Rushalka began to accelerate and descend. Flying above the thunderclouds was for securing the necessary distance for acceleration.

Accelerating nonstop, she finally broke the sound barrier.

A living body of flesh could not withstand this level of acceleration, but as a wyvern-shaped mass of water, it was a different matter. The mass of water, measured in tons, released shockwaves while descending rapidly at supersonic speed. Then she crashed violently into Pavel Galad's back.
[[image:Leviathan 02 260.jpg|thumb]]

Indeed, she crashed into the dragon who was about to chop Haruomi with the most powerful and biggest slash.

When swinging his thunder god's sword, his back and wings were exposed and completely unguarded.

Rushalka crashed violently there. A thunderous roar, impact and explosive wind ensued&mdash;

"Nu, ohhhhhhhhhhh!"

Despite getting struck in the back by Rushalka's supersonic charge, Galad still withstood it.

Keeping him unscathed in spite of such a hit, imperishable protection was truly terrifying. However, the protection could not dissipate the pressure from the supersonic collision. The silver dragon's gigantic body was sent flying in an instant.

Together with Rushalka, he rolled towards a certain high-rise building's spacious parking lot.

However, Asya's blue partner immediately stood up, prepared to fight.

"Rushalka, use pseudo-divinity to attack&mdash;Ice Storm!"

The real attack was next. Asya immediately issued orders.

Rushalka dispelled her transformation, returning to a wyvern's physical body as usual. Furthermore, dozens of white arrowheads of stone appeared behind her.

An enchanted weapon similar in appearance to Akuro-Ou's arrowheads, this was Rushalka's "Bow."

"Also use the rune's magical power for full burst!"

Asya ordered Rushalka to perform what was equivalent to the full auto attack of Haruomi's magic gun.

Dozens of white arrowheads flew towards the dragon. However, they rushed about in a flurry to generate a tornado instead of striking directly.

An ice tornado with ice, snow and cold air in a swirling vortex.

The arrowhead's tips repeatedly fired blue-white flashes of light at Galad in the center of the tornado.

These were dragonslaying lasers that could puncture even elite dragons. The lasers attacked Pavel Galad from all directions like fully automatic gunfire from heavy machine guns.

"O blue imitation, I was thinking you would make your appearance sooner or later..."

Bathed in the full burst attack of ice, Galad groaned.

He was unharmed thanks to imperishable protection. However, he was down on one knee with his left hand clutching his chest. Just as Asya had heard from Haruomi, his heartmetal was currently under immense strain.

In that state, it should be difficult for him to counterattack. But in spite of that, Galad still roared ferociously.

"Do you think I would not make preparations for an ambush!?"

"A rune of Ruruk Soun!?"

A magic symbol appeared in front of Galad.

A rune implying "swift execution of instructions." Watching the battle from a rooftop, Asya jumped in surprise. Galad was not holding the dragonslaying sword in his hand!

By the time she noticed, the sword had floated up into the air. It was also accompanied by white lightning.

Next, the dragonslaying sword turned into the thunder god's sword and flew rapidly at Rushalka!

"Akuro-Ou!"

However, the white fox-wolf rushed out, guided by Orihime's voice.

Indeed, she rushed to Rushalka's side. At the last moment, Akuro-Ou curled one of her extended tails around Asya's partner and dragged her away.

Consequently, the dragonslaying sword missed its target and stabbed into the ground instead...

"In that case!"

This time, Galad opened his jaws wide and expelled blue-white flames.

Naturally, the conflagration's target was Rushalka. Unless Asya invoked pseudo-divinity to defend, her partner would face certain death&mdash;

However, what came out of Asya's mouth were completely opposite instructions.

"Rushalka, using the pseudo-divinity you're currently using&mdash;Perform a Double Cast!"

Ignoring the advice of rationality, Asya followed instinct to abandon defense.

Kyuahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! The blue wyvern howled. Repeatedly launching attacks from the arrowheads and pseudo-divinity, she further strengthened the barrage of blue-white lasers.

"Ooh&mdash;Gahhhhh!"

Asya felt entirely drained of strength. Her body felt as cold as ice.

These symptoms resembled anemia. Witches would suffer from frightening consumption when performing a Double Cast of pseudo-divinity. Control of the "serpent" also became difficult.

Even so, Asya still gritted her teeth and forced herself to sustain the full burst attack.

The frontal showdown between the flames and the laser barrage ended in a draw.

"Gahhhhhhh!"

Galad roared loudly and collapsed. The pearly radiance vanished suddenly while lasers descending from all directions viciously sliced his gigantic silver-white body.

However, Rushalka also fell down with a cry of "kyuahhhhhhhhhh!"

With both sides collapsing on the ground, the lasers, blizzard and conflagration all vanished.

"Rushalka!"

Spurring her staggering body, Asya made her way to the roof's exit.


"A-Are you really alright? Haruga-san!?"

"Yeah, well enough... Urgh. How many minutes was my heart actually stopped...?"

Back when Pavel Galad had swung the thunder god's sword...

Despite withstanding the direct strike from the sword itself, the massive lightning had severely damaged the imperishable protection, causing its user, Hal, to collapse from cardiac paralysis.

Even so, he was still hazily conscious and did not faint. This was truly absurd.

Having witnessed everything at close range, Hazumi cried and ran over to hug him tightly. But during this time, Hal was still able to watch the entire process with glazed eyes despite his immobile body.

Once he was finally capable of speaking, he opened his mouth to comfort Hazumi.

"B-Because you stopped breathing all this time, I thought it was over for you&mdash;"

"Me too. I'm surprised I survived..."

Under Hazumi's tearful gaze, Hal finally got up.

Meanwhile, the silver-white dragon and the blue wyvern were collapsed on the ground. Asya had come to Hal's aid the moment before he was going to be struck by a fatal blow.

"It was worth being bait to serve retribution to that Galad..."

Hal exhaled in relief because the plan went off without a hitch.

Using the most durable unit to lure the enemy away first, then flanking the enemy using units with excellent mobility and striking power to ambush, surround and attack the enemy's side and back&mdash;These were tactics that humans had already developed since the time of the ancient Greeks and reportedly put to good use by Alexander the Great and Hannibal, the famed Carthaginian general.

Usually in ancient times, infantry was used as bait while cavalry forces were in charge of assault.

"The protection is clearly more durable than 'serpents' after all, so I guess this is playing to strengths... But it's really bad for the heart, in various ways..."

"Yes... My lifespan has been shortened too..."

Having shared the role as bait, Hazumi nodded as well.

It was truly wonderful that she was safe and sound. Hal thought that from the bottom of his heart and exhaled deeply.

Then driven by a certain sense of premonition, he turned his gaze to the enemy. During the battle just now, Rushalka was knocked out completely. But the other side was about to push up his upper body now.

Next to Hal, Hazumi gasped "!?"

Indeed, Pavel Galad was gradually recovering like Hal.