Editing Leviathan:Volume 3 Chapter 4 (section)

===Part 4===

In a violent collision, the dragonslaying arrow finally struck the imperishable protection guarding Hal and his friends.

In that instant, the erupting lightning lit up the sports ground and the surroundings as though it was daytime, meanwhile producing explosive wind and an intense shockwave.

Hal had withstood Galad's technique of assured annihilation before, the "thunder god's sword." This attack was many times stronger than that.

However, the imperishable protection was able to defend Hal's group well. Although everyone inside the pearly light lost balance and fell on the ground due to the severe impact, they did not suffer anything worse than bruises or concussions.

But just like that time against Galad, Haruga Haruomi's heart stopped again.

Hal collapsed on the ground, his body limp and immobilized. His consciousness was also hazy, gathering only a weak sense of the surroundings.

"Hmm... Only this much martial prowess and valor. I'm a bit disappointed."

Riding the surfboard "wand," the princess descended near the ground again. Bored, the white dragon king stared at the unconscious Hal.

"In that case, it can't be helped. I'll hurry up and end everything with a beheading..."

"I-I won't let you do that!"

Listening to Princess Yukikaze's murmuring, Hazumi yelled out, unbelievably.

She was still lying on the ground, perhaps unable to stand after getting hit by the earlier shockwave. But even so, she still mustered all her strength to sit up.

"Please, Minadzuki... Save Senpai!"

"O priestess, please do not make such an unreasonable demand."

Looking up at the emerald serpentine dragon leviathan materializing in the air above the school, Princess Yukikaze said quietly in pity.

"Even an imitation goddess has no choice but to bow down in submission before a dragon king&mdash;O goddess, you have done enough. Take a break."

"Ah..."

Hearing that voice which could even be described as gentle, Hazumi could not find words to speak.

After appearing once in the air, Minadzuki immediately vanished, her massive emerald body disappearing within the blink of an eye. This was due to dispelling her material form.

Princess Yukikaze was wielding stronger control over a "serpent" than the partner she was actually contracted to&mdash;

A dragon king's authority was undoubtedly horrifying. Although Hal already knew this before the battle, the massive gap in power was huge, to the point of despairing. No matter how he thought about it, there was no chance of winning.

He looked around him, only to see Orihime currently lying on the ground.

She looked like she had lost consciousness. Or perhaps, she was suffering from a concussion.

In contrast, Luna Francois and Asya were trying to get up, albeit stiffly. They looked like they had only suffered bruises, probably because they had deployed defensive magic to protect themselves momentarily.

The American witch sighed with a troubled expression.

But even so, Luna Francois still prepared herself a weapon. From under her skirt, she took out a 9mm semi-automatic pistol. Apparently, she kept the holster strapped to her thigh.

Meanwhile&mdash;

Despite heavy injuries, Asya still looked at Princess Yukikaze with eyes of unwavering fighting spirit.

She had not given up hope on seeking victory... Or rather. Hal understood. Asya had already banished all notion of winning and losing, instead putting her determination into fighting their way out of this severe predicament.

At this rate, perhaps they might be able to find a way to survive.

Hal&mdash;or more precisely, Hal's consciousness&mdash;sighed.

"But that's all we could do.  After all, we had no chance of winning from the start."

Modern humans were stuck in quite a despairing situation.

Although the media and the governments of various countries had put in touching amounts of effort to hide this fact, so long as the dragon kings and elite dragons exerted themselves seriously, humanity as a race could very well go extinct within two years.

The dragons had not done so only because they were the ones doing the hunting and exploiting.

It was advantageous for them to allow their targets, the humans, to survive. Coexisting with such unfriendly neighbors, humanity had not choice but to struggle desperately.

Hal mentally committed his resolve. Rushalka must undergo rebirth.

However, even the grand combination of a dragonslaying rune with top-class leviathans had ended up disappointingly ineffective before a dragon king. He needed a little something extra as a trump card...

"I've got no choice but to resolve myself."

"Resolve, is that it...?"

Just as Hal was muttering to himself, Hinokagutsuchi's voice responded.

"Have you resolved yourself to coexist with the dragonslaying bow, to advance along the Road to Kingship?"

"No, I've simply resolved myself to feign participation in that ridiculous game with the ostentatious name, meanwhile devoting myself to researching secret techniques and clever ways to exploit loopholes in the system."

By the time he knew it, Hal's consciousness had fallen into dense mist, obscuring the surrounding scenery completely.

Princess Yukikaze and his companions had vanished too. However, the young girl in the scarlet kimono, Hinokagutsuchi, was nearby.

This was because the former queen of dragons had now invaded Hal's consciousness.

"Hmph. You are uttering bizarre things as usual."

"Say, the more I understand the situation, the more I've become convinced of this... From an RPG perspective, that Road to Kingship has really piss-poor balance. If you dutifully resolve matters in sequence, you'll surely die somewhere in the early or middle stages, right?"

Hal glared viciously at Hinokagutsuchi while he spoke.

This was an exchange between minds. If one were to calculate the actual duration in physical terms, one or two seconds probably elapsed at most. Hence, they were able to converse like this while disregarding what was happening "outside the mist."

Guided by the magic gun&mdash;his "magic wand"&mdash;Hal understood this as well.

"Judging from Galad's and my strength, it seems like we're at a level where we could still get taken out by elite dragons no matter how much we rack our brains, right? Like running into a dragon king this time where the enemy is insanely strong. It's impossible to beat the boss no matter how I think about it."

"Fufu. Disregarding this while aiming to become "king" is precisely what it means to be a dragon."

"Unfortunately, I'm a human."

Hal grumbled at the snickering Hinokagutsuchi.

However, the man in black, Sophocles, had given out the biggest hint. There were indifferent participants who had unintentionally become dragon kings.

In other words, didn't that stand as evidence that making a serious attempt would be a shortcut to death?

"That elite named Galad really should rein in his hot-blooded fervor. He clearly understands better than me what the game is about, so why does he still want to take the challenge head on like a hero...?"

"That is because he is capable to begin with. According to your theory&mdash;"

Hinokagutsuchi's face revealed a diabolical smile that suited her extremely well.

"His caliber probably allows him to survive until the midgame. So long as his luck holds out."

"Then it's even more impossible for someone like me. I knew it, taking the secret techniques route is my only choice."

Hal looked up at the sky. Then he recalled the matter of the red agate.

At that moment, the divine treasure that was formerly Hinokagutsuchi's heartmetal appeared in the right hand of Hal's conscious entity. As expected of the mental world, things could be conjured by imagination alone. How convenient.

"Sorry, but I'm going to use this thing now."

This was the only thing he could use as the ace up his sleeve. Hal declared firmly, "As the representative of weak humans, I'm got no choice but to become the proverbial fox that borrows the tiger's&mdash;or rather, the dragon's&mdash;clout."

"So this is your intention after all."

Hinokagutsuchi shrugged haughtily.

"Because you saw 'my past self'..."

"It suddenly occurred to me when I was making detailed inquiries to my gun about whether the birth ritual could be held without you. What would happen if I tried to use this to conduct the ritual?"

It had been half a month since he had obtained this "magic wand" of a magic gun.

Although this tool included many uses including combat and ability control, what Hal held in greatest regard was actually its function as a "guide to the unorthodox path." Thanks to that, he found the space to ponder secret techniques.

The likes of Pavel Galad probably would never think of this.

But as a weak human, Hal had no choice but to ponder how to survive beyond today.

"But even if the ritual were to succeed... Will you be able to command the 'queen'? That red heartmetal remains intimately linked to my soul&mdash;the soul of the former sovereign."

"......"

She had a point. Hal silently nodded.

This could be foreseen based on the fact that after he obtained the rune, Hinokagutsuchi had immediately resurrected ''that'' in the ruins of Tokyo Station&mdash;a place where her heartmetal was not at hand.

"If I were to interfere... What would you do?"

"It's already a gamble. But no matter how stacked the odds are against me, my only choice is to keep gambling," Hal replied while looking straight at the ghost of the former dragon king.

If that situation were to arise, they would probably need to confront Hinokagutsuchi before facing off against Princess Yukikaze. He must exhaust the limits of his wits and magical power and use every means possible to stop the self-styled devil from interfering.

"Then go ahead and try."

Hinokagutsuchi responded with something like a taunt. However, she was smiling.

This was not her usual smile of arrogance. Rather it seemed like the expression of a sacred guardian, watching from up high while powerless humans struggled in desperation. It was a smile belonging to a goddess with a young girl's appearance.

"I already know that you are craftier than I can imagine. Show me your caliber by taking action next!"

Hal nodded and gripped the heartmetal of red agate harder.

At the same time, he focused more attention on his own heart. Magical power began to pour from his heart like flames, spilling out of his body. Furthermore, it seemed endless like an eternal spring.

The intense magical power was in no way inferior to what was present at Akuro-Ou and Minadzuki's births.

Under such conditions, platinum-colored flames surrounded the heartmetal in his hand.

"Please, use this... use Hinokagutsuchi's heartmetal&mdash;to perform the birth ritual!"

Hal instructed the Rune of the Bow residing in his right palm as well as its manifestation, the magic gun.

Indeed&mdash;He had considered this before. By putting her heartmetal through rebirth, Minadzuki's physical body was also resurrected. In that case, what if he did the same thing using Hinokagutsuchi's heartmetal?

Back then, Akuro-Ou and Minadzuki had borrowed the wombs of witches to undergo birth.

But as a man, Haruga Haruomi did not have the ability to conceive and bear a child. Then what could he use as a substitute?

Taking the heartmetal that was burning with platinum flames, Hal pressed it hard against his own chest.

The objective was to merge it with Haruga Haruomi's heart.

Without any resistance, the heartmetal entered his chest swiftly.

Indeed. Since he was unable to give birth to life, his only recourse was to share out his own life!

Hal's heart absorbed Hinokagutsuchi's deceased heartmetal. Furthermore, it began to beat anew. At the same time, blood, life and magical power flowed into the dead heartmetal.

This also meant that Hal's body was starting to meld with Hinokagutsuchi's remains.

The living heart and the dead heartmetal merged into one, resulting in a transformative rebirth of new life&mdash;

Hal literally experienced the miracle occurring in his body. At the same time, he also tasted excruciating agony. Perhaps this was the so-called pain of childbirth when a baby was pushed out of its mother's body.

this pain caused Hal to scream as loud as he could.

"Uwahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

Hal did not know how long his pain lasted.

This was inside his mind, where the passage of time differed from that in the real world. Regardless, Hal's heart and Hinokagutsuchi's heartmetal were slowly taking on a new form, turning into one life.

Thump. This was the beating of the new heart, and equivalently, heartmetal.

Next, the surrounding mist suddenly dispersed, because Hal had recovered consciousness.


By the time he regained his senses, Hal found himself lying on the school sports ground.

Orihime and Hazumi were lying collapsed nearby. Asya and Luna Francois had forced themselves on their feet in preparation to fight. Their gazes were directed towards Princess Yukikaze.

Riding the surfboard "wand," she was hovering above ground at a height of roughly four meters.

"Luna! Buy me a bit of time no matter how little!"

Despite getting up quite stiffly, Hal still yelled as hard as he could.

His body still could not move in full accordance with his will. But he had no choice but to say those words. Next, the witch carrying the 9mm semi-automatic pistol responded just as he predicted.

"Affirmative! Glinda, Invisible Walk!"

Luna Francois released astounding magical power from her entire body.

A witch's heart could not possibly generate magical power of this magnitude. It was almost as great as the magical power released when a "serpent" activated pseudo-divinity.

Clearly, her partner, Glinda the Good Witch of the South had yet to materialize!

"Gravity Cannon!"

Luna Francois called out while invoking the pseudo-divinity of Gravity.

After pouring in magic for gravity manipulation, Luna fired her pistol consecutively. Instead of 9mm Parabellum bullets, spheres resembling concentrated darkness were fired from the gun's muzzle.

Numbering seven in total, the dark spheres all flew towards Princess Yukikaze in the air.

"Hmm&mdash;!"

Pearly radiance manifested around the princess in the white dress.

Imperishable protection. Almost at the same time as the appearance of the light, the seven spheres fired by Luna&mdash;magic bullets for compressing targets through gravity control, thereby crushing them&mdash;arrived en masse.

However, even as many as seven shots of gravity bullets still could not crush imperishable protection, simply squeezing the pearly defensive field.

However, Princess Yukikaze frowned from behind her power of protection. She probably found it incredible for a witch to suddenly use pseudo-divinity.

Then the princess glared sharply behind Luna and Hal's group.

"Hiding over there, are you...? Show yourself."

At the dragon king's command, the gigantic body of a "serpent" instantly appeared in the school sports ground.

It was a fierce lion with orange fur. However, there was also a green dragon head on her right shoulder and a black goat head on her left&mdash;

Naturally, she was Glinda the Good Witch of the South.

By using the Invisible Walk command, master mage Luna Francois had summoned her partner while maintaining invisibility.

Secretly, she had used Glinda's second pseudo-divinity, Illusion.

This was probably a trick she thought up after witnessing Hazumi's failure. Nothing less expected from the abilities of someone certified as master-class.

"No need to hide yourself anymore, Glinda, go all-out&mdash;Gravity Wall!"

Ruooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

The lion, dragon and black goat heads all roared simultaneously from behind Hal and company.

Hence, four black magic circles&mdash;each roughly Glinda's size&mdash;suddenly appeared above, before, behind and below the maiden dragon king who was standing in midair, applying pressure from four directions.

The four magic circles were precisely walls of gravity for crushing Princess Yukikaze!

Apart from that, the seven gravity bullets released earlier also applied pressure on the princess at full force.

Nevertheless, none of these deadly sources of gravity were able to touch Princess Yukikaze.

"Now that I know the method, it's nothing to be concerned about. Disappear."

While shielding herself with imperishable protection, the princess casually issued the order.

In that instant, Glinda's massive body, the seven gravity bullets and the four black magic circles all instantly vanished without trace matter-of-factly.

Even a Level 5 master-class witch could not prevail against a dragon king's authority.

However, Luna Francois had succeeded in stalling for a minute or two. This duration was as precious as gemstones. Back when the gravity bullets were fired, Hal was already taking action.

Hal focused his awareness on his heart&mdash;or rather, the heartmetal.

Abundant magical power instantly surged from his heart and began to fill up the school sports ground.

Thus, the ''conditions'' were fulfilled. Next, Asya looked at Hal.

From the moment Hal had spoken, his childhood friend had been like this. She instantly rushed to him, but not to celebrate each other's safety.

During the practice ritual earlier, their minds intents had already become one.

"Haruomi! Rushalka and I are ready any time!"

"Thanks, Asya!"

Asya arrived behind him and Hal reached his right hand into her chest.

Instead of grabbing her petite breast, his hand was sucked into his childhood friend's body to grab her strong and vigorous little heart. In that instant, as a mysterious effect of birth magic, the interior of Asya's body became linked to that of her partner Rushalka's.

At the same time, Asya's heart was switched with Rushalka's heartmetal.

Holding the heartmetal, Hal moved it downwards towards his childhood friend's lower abdomen.

"Mm... Mm, ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

Asya could not help but scream loudly. It was probably quite painful.

Since Orihime and Hazumi had experienced overwhelming pain in the past, the ritual needed to be conducted with utmost care. However, there was no time now. He had to swiftly and urgently finish everything.

"I'm okay... So hurry...!"

Tearful from the pain, Asya panted while she spoke.

Using human birth as an analogy, this situation would be akin to an emergency Caesarean surgical operation. Although Hal seemed to hesitate out of consideration for his suffering childhood friend&mdash;He must not stop now.

Instead, Hal used his free hand, his left, to hold Asya's left hand.

Asya gripped his hand tightly as though seeking help, to the point of hurting him.

Then in the next instant...

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

The instant he drew his hand out of her body, Asya screamed loudly.

Instantly, she collapsed, utterly drained. After all, the ritual was extremely harsh despite its short length. Sitting limply on the ground, exhausted, his childhood friend's shoulders shook while she panted heavily.

However, her eyes were staring proudly at the object held in Hal's right hand.

A blue sphere&mdash;the heartmetal of the reborn Rushalka.

Burning inside was a tiny flame.

Leaving Hal's hand, the heartmetal floated into the air on its own.

At this moment, Princess Yukikaze had just eliminated Glinda from the sports ground. As though taking her spot in line, the blue heartmetal showed up and ascended towards the sky.

With flame residing inside it, Rushalka's heartmetal was glowing with dazzling radiance in the air.

This light turned into a wyvern's strong and massive body. The wings sprouting from the two shoulders were long and majestic, the head was adorned by a blue mane, while a long horn protruded from the forehead&mdash;

The wyvern with a single horn like a unicorn's, Blue Rushalka.

Finally, she was reborn in a perfect state of health. However&mdash;

"The imitation from earlier? Although it looks slightly more lively, it's ultimately still a loser. You'll only repeat the same mistake, you know?"

Standing on the flying surfboard, the dragon king spoke with boredom.

Of course, Hal understood her logic. Rushalka and Akuro-Ou were both vassals of dragonslaying power, which prevented them from submitting even if the princess commanded. However, that was all as far as differences went.

There was an unbridgeable gulf between a dragon king and "imitation dragons."

Nevertheless, Haruga Haruomi's heart had now absorbed a former dragon king's heartmetal&mdash;Hinokagutsuchi's. Hal focused his consciousness on this new internal organ of his.

Immediately, a giant crimson appeared in front of him.

"&mdash;The Crimson Queen!?"

For the very first time, the dragon king on the magic surfboard showed an expression of surprise.