Editing Leviathan:Volume 4 Chapter 4 (section)

===Part 2===

"Like us, the enemy wields the power of dragonbane&mdash;"

"Meaning that my Glinda is unable to fight it head on..."

"!? That monster's face is getting close!"

Hal, Luna Francois and Orihime were guarded by imperishable protection, but tentacles imbued with a dragonslaying rune were wrapped around the pearly shield, gradually pulling the trio towards the octopus head's beak.

Confronted with her own helplessness and expressing her anguish through her voice was Luna.

The blonde Shootdown Ace snapped her fingers with a look of frustration. Glinda instantly vanished, apparently de-materializing after receiving her partner's command.

This was a wise decision. It was not yet time to give up.

With the battle situation up in the air and an opponent wielding the power of dragonbane, it was possible to receive a fatal injury any moment. Such an outcome must be avoided no matter what.

"Akuro-Ou, come fight by my side!"

On the side, Orihime shouted words of summoning without a moment's delay.

Looking above the enemy, she kept staring at the air over the strange octopus head. Soon after, a glowing pentagram appeared at that space then turned into an infinity symbol, finally transforming into a nine-tailed fox-wolf.

The leviathan, Akuro-Ou, materialized.

Motionless in the air, Akuro-Ou exhaled a breath of flame at the enemy from diagonally above.

Cthhhhhhhlllsh!

The octopus head roared in pain. The tentacles dragging Hal's trio also stopped.

"Haruga-kun, I am ready any time!"

"Okay. Looks like ''that side'' is almost ready too. We should hurry and make our getaway."

Responding to Orihime, Hal looked over to "that side."

Rushalka was currently flying at high speed. Riding the wind as light and agile as a swallow, she sliced through the air.

The second dragon subspecies was pursuing her. Writhing restlessly, the tentacles extending from around the octopus beak chased the blue wyvern. Although Rushalka's speed was superior, the enemy was able to use dangerous runes of Ruruk Soun. The situation looked bleak.

Hal summoned the emblem appearing in his right palm.

It was a pictograph shaped like a fully drawn bow&mdash;The Rune of the Bow.

"Grant the rune's power to Juujouji and Asya&mdash;!"

The Rune of the Bow instantly appeared on the back of Orihime's right hand. Not far away, surely the same thing happened to Asya's right hand.

"Akuro-Ou! Use fire magic to finish it in one go!"

Orihime issued an attack command again. This time, the Rune of the Bow appeared on the tips of Akuro-Ou's nine tails then shot nine projectiles of flame.

Struck by the scorching assault, the first dragon subspecies' entire body turned into a fireball.

The octopus head, the dozens of tentacles and the body similar to an elite dragon, all was devoured by tongues of flame.

On the other side was Rushalka with a long horn on her forehead like a unicorn.

Until just earlier, the situation had consisted of an aerial battle with the wyvern relentlessly pursued by the second octopus head, but now, the Rune of the Bow appeared on both of Rushalka's wings at the same time.

In the next instant, the blue wyvern performed a swift aerial turn, circling to her enemy's back within an eye's blink.

A blue-white beam was fired from her horn. Undoubtedly, it was a beam capable of slaying dragons. Skewered, the octopus head began to crash.

However, Hal did not lower his guard. He stared intently at the flames released by Akuro-Ou.

The crimson blaze incinerated the sea surface, producing quite a surreal scene. In the depths of this sea of flame, Hal could sense the "巳"-like dragonslaying rune shining with brilliant splendor.

Apart from that, the imperishable protection defending Hal and his two companions&mdash;the pearly defensive shield&mdash;

The five tentacles ensnaring this layer of protection remained intact despite bathing in the intense flames.

In that instant, Hal understood the meaning represented by the rune resembling the "巳" character.

"...A chain!?"

No mistake. This was the Rune of the Chain.

At that moment, as though in response to Hal for discerning its true identity, the tentacles entangling the imperishable protection suddenly transformed into steel chains.

Instantly, the clanging noise of chains colliding sounded all around.

Kuoooooooooh!? Perhaps feeling fear, Akuro-Ou howled in surprise. By the time Hal noticed, chains had extended towards the nine-tailed fox-wolf, tying her up.

The surrounding scenery also changed dramatically, from the surrounding waters of Sagaminada to a pitch-black space.

The chains constricting Hal's imperishable protection vanished, leaving darkness to spread continuously in Hal and company's surroundings.

"W-What on earth is going on...!?"

"Enemy magic. Looks like they intend to capture us. Be careful, Harry!"

Within the pitch-black darkness, Orihime was bewildered while Luna issued a warning.

Hal also noticed something new: this was not simple magic but a technique of assured annihilation&mdash;A finishing move belonging to a dragonslaying rune.

In that case, they might lose their lives if they were to react a moment too slow.

Hal immediately summoned his magic gun and chose fully automatic fire. At the same time, he simultaneously cast Enemy Detection and Aim magic to locate and snipe the Rune of the Chain's main body in the darkness.

Hence, his right arm moved autonomously then settled in front of Hal.

He pulled the trigger. Since the enemy had used a technique of assured annihilation, he had to respond in kind with fully automatic fire to sweep away all restraining enchantments. The magic gun's thirty bullets turned into crimson flashes of light, released all in one go.

&mdash;I feel a hit.

The surrounding darkness swiftly dissipated as the group returned to the same sea as before.

"Wahhhhh!"

Suddenly falling into the sea, Hal cried out without thinking.

He saw Luna Francois and Orihime also falling into the sea nearby. Hal thrashed his arms and legs desperately to prevent his body from sinking while maintaining a water treading posture.

Due to his clothed state, it was impossible to swim well like yesterday when they were playing in the sea.

"I suppose it's natural for us to fall into the sea once the chains trapping us disappeared..."

"I-I can't see the SDF ship and Rushalka... Where are we!?"

Luna Francois accepted the current situation with resignation. Orihime was showing a stunned expression.

Hal tread water while looking at the dusk sky. Although the enemy had clearly attacked at noon, the sun was already setting now.

"Looks like we're in for some trouble..."

Fortunately, amid all the misfortune, the nine-tailed fox-wolf was casually floating on the water.

Ensnared by chains earlier as well, Akuro-Ou had been forcibly dragged here too.

Not confined to land or sky, leviathans were also capable of moving freely in water. Even a sacred beast, dozens of meters long, could still frolic gracefully in the water like a whale. Hal and the two witches began to swim in order to hold on to Akuro-Ou's white fur.


"Looks like we'll have to spend the night here," muttered Hal while walking on a paved concrete path.

Thanks to the scorching summer heat, his drenched clothing was almost dried out.

The sun was about to sink completely into the ground. The sky was dyed orange by the rays of dusk. At this moment, night was about to fall upon this remote island.

Roughly an hour had passed since Hal fell into the sea with Orihime and Luna Francois.

After that, the trio had mounted the totally drenched fox-wolf's back and discovered an isolated island several hundred meters away.

They had to hurry to find dry land before night.

Flying through the air towards the target, Akuro-Ou landed swiftly.

Judging from what they could observe before landing, this island had a fair amount of area.

Apart from that, they could see a few rooftops. While pondering that the total population could be less than a thousand, Hal asked Orihime to land at the pier, but...

After circling around the pier's immediate area, Hal came up with an idea.

Meanwhile, walking by his side, Orihime smiled cheerfully.

"Fortunately, there was an inhabited island nearby, thank goodness. Although I have no idea where this island is at all, it should be within Japan's borders, right?"

Orihime pointed at the stop sign reading "tomare." It was undoubtedly something from Japan.

Hal looked at the sky. The darkness had intensified. Even though it was still early in the evening, he could recognize the Summer Triangle constellation whose corners were defined by the stars of Vega, Deneb and Altair.

Incidentally, although it had been cloudy at noon, the sky was clear now.

"Judging from the position of the stars, we probably haven't gone too far away from the sea near Izu. Let's pick a random home to enter and gather information."

"Why not ask a resident directly?" Orihime asked with a wry smile after listening to Hal's analysis.

"Well, we'll probably get treated as weirdos if we ask these types of questions. But I guess it's still necessary to ask around. Moreover, we must take care of lodgings for tonight... Oh, but I didn't bring my purse," said Orihime, suddenly making a pensive look as though something had occurred to her.

"It would be a bit shameless, but do we have to resort to the 'please let us stay over for one night' approach...?"

"If it's only accommodations, I do have enough money for that."

"You are amazing, Haruga-kun!"

"Rather than a work habit, it's more like a occupational disease. It comes in handy once in a while."

Haruga Haruomi was both a student and a treasure hunter.

Hence, as a precaution against emergencies, he had already developed a habit of carrying bank notes of large denominations in various currencies including US dollars and credit cards in a waterproof container, hidden in either a shoe or a secret pocket in his pants. Doing this allowed him to enter all kinds of venues without money troubles as long as he was not trapped in some kind of uninhabited wilderness.

"But it still hurts that I didn't bring wireless radio or a satellite phone. Based on the current situation, they might be more useful after all..."

Listening to Hal's muttering, Orihime made a questioning look.

In any case, he did not expect the beautiful and resilient Japanese beauty to have any major problems in either mental or physical stamina. Even confronted with this type of situation, she remained lively as ever. Although some level of unease was unavoidable, given who she was, she would probably overcome it straight away.

On the other hand, whom he needed to worry about was the blonde Shootdown Ace instead.

"Although I am not Asya, I still would like to have dinner first, if possible..."

Luna Francois grumbled in exhaustion.

Hal did not know if she was tired or conserving energy, but she had given up walking on her own. Instead, she had materialized Glinda in her smallest size, riding on her back for transportation.

No matter what, the trio had just experienced various ordeals including fighting, swimming and drifting in the sea.

Perhaps Luna Francois was the normal one for feeling utterly exhausted.

"I must take a bath or a shower later. Ideally, a hot spring would be best... Followed by an air-conditioned room. Japanese summers are hot and stuffy, simply staying outside for too long makes me fatigued..."

"After all, we had so much sweat today and even fell into the sea."

Orihime smiled and concurred with the Luna Francois' complaining.

"Let's hang in there a little longer, Luna-san. Even if there isn't any air-conditioning, I think they'll surely have electric fans."

"I suppose you're right... I must pull myself together even if we've arrived on an isolated island filled with obstinate, malicious and anti-social senior citizens. Look forward to it, Orihime-san. I shall make full use of my abilities to deceive encountered islanders and secure a cool and comfortable night for us!"

"That's the spirit. Although I can't agree with everything you just said, that's more like the Luna-san I know!"

However, five minutes later, their hopes were dashed completely.

Finally coming across a village where ten-odd homes were gathered, they could not see the slightest bit of lighting. The houses were separated by at least ten minutes of walking distance from one another. It seemed like a farming or fishing village no matter how you looked. More importantly, it did not feel like anyone was living here at all. They were all derelict and empty houses.

Hal nodded.

The fact that they could let Glinda walk openly on the road indicated several symptoms:

First of all, they had not encountered a single islander on their way to this village. Secondly, it was already dark but no streetlights were lit. Thirdly, the few fishing boats moored at the pier were all in damaged and abandoned states. Fourthly, there was a subtle atmosphere of desolation on the island, etc&mdash;

Overhead, the night sky was so beautiful.

The black night finally shrouded the desert island completely.

Hal took out a penlight and made an inauspicious prediction.

"Judging from appearances, island might've been uninhabited for many years already. Or due to population loss caused by dragon attacks nearby, it finally turned into an uninhabited island... That's what it looks like."

Lifelines such as water, electricity and gas had presumably stopped operating.

Quite suddenly, the trio began a desert island adventure.