Editing Leviathan:Volume 1 Chapter 5 (section)

===Part 3===

In the sky above the Shin-Kiba redevelopment zone&mdash;

Under Soth's command, there were close to thirty Raptors gathered like a flock of birds.

In contrast, Asya and Orihime only had two "serpents."

Rushalka spread her wings wide whereas the wingless fox-wolf hovered lightly through the air using her own peculiar flying powers, thus the two leviathans stood on guard over the witches' heads.

Asya said to the junior witch who had arrived by her side, "Akuro-Ou... Is that her name?"

"Yes. We thought up a number of candidate names together and finally decided on the coolest sounding one."

Orihime showed great liveliness in voice and expression and was quite composed as well.

Of course, she also seemed a little nervous with a slightly stiff expression. But for her first time fighting, this was composure beyond normal standards. Where did her calmness come from?

"Fighting... is probably okay. Although I'm not too sure what to do exactly, that child&mdash;Akuro-Ou&mdash;will protect me and she even told me to leave everything to her."

"But that 'serpent' is just a newborn!?"

Asya was shocked after hearing her junior's report but understood at the same time.

The protection of a "serpent" was able to defend a witch from fear and uncertainty to a certain extent. However, Orihime should have no more than one day's experience. Receiving this much protection from a "serpent" required Level 3 power&mdash;

Asya chuckled and decided to forget about this question.

The most important thing now was simply the arrival of apparently dependable reinforcements.

"No time to lose. I'm counting on you. Is that okay?"

"Yes. This is my first time so I don't know how much I can help... But no matter what, please do not hold back with directions. I will do my best!"

Orihime voiced her worries honestly but also expressed optimistic sincerity and fervor.

Hearing an Orihime-style response of honesty, Asya nodded and gave directions.

"If possible, please awaken the pseudo-divinity of the 'serpent' to clear out the Raptors. If that's beyond you, allow my Rushalka to&mdash;"

"No, it's not a problem. Akuro-Ou is currently all pumped up!"

Staring at the group of Raptors in the air, the two girls discussed.

Asya readily gave a great nod. Orihime had apparently succeeded in synchronizing with her "serpent" to establish a deep emotional bond of partnership.

Next&mdash;

The tips of Akuro-Ou's nine serpentine tails suddenly started to light on fire.

A fireball suddenly appeared at the tip of each tail. The blazing flames of red&mdash;Unmistakable. Akuro-Ou was a leviathan possessing the pseudo-divinity of Fire!

In the next instant, the nine fireballs suddenly expanded.

Each mass of flame had grown to roughly the same size as Akuro-Ou before flying towards the dozens of Raptors.

They were as fast as shooting stars.

Like trains smashing little lambs that had accidentally wandered onto railways, the nine fireballs advanced, crushing the Raptors in their path.

The crushed Raptors instantly combusted all over, enveloped in flames.

Then burning, they turned into stone and crashed towards the ground.

Those Raptors were all dead. Not satisfied with killing a single Raptor each, the fireballs continued flying in search of their next prey. Displaying the properties of speed, power and auto-homing, this magical attack was perfect beyond impeccable.

Witnessing the scene, Asya said to her partner, "Rushalka! Of course, our opponent is&mdash;!"

Kyuahhhhhhhhh!

The blue wyvern responded to Asya's call and started to soar.

Her target was Raak Al Soth, of course. The bronze dragon opened his reptilian mouth and recited an incantation.

"O Secret Runes of Ruruk Soun, present the arrangement of scorching heat!"

Hence, an arrangement of runes representing Fire appeared over Soth's head.

This was magic for increasing the power of flames, but Asya and Rushalka were already prepared.

"Rushalka, switch pseudo-divinity to Water!"

This was Asya's third time to order her partner to use magic tonight.

Things resembling gray dust kept flaking off from the blue wyvern's body.

The breakdown of her body still persisted. Making Rushalka use magic would speed up the collapse, but even so, Asya had no choice!

"Turn yourself into ''holy water''!"

"O ''imitation'', burn to cinders!"

Rushalka's massive body turned faint blue. Then the instant this blue color turned even fainter, becoming as transparent as pure water, Soth breathed out blue-white flames.

The firepower was on a completely different level compared to the previous night's&mdash;

Even Rushalka would not be able to survive a direct hit.

But this time, Rushalka received almost no damage despite taking on the conflagration head on. At most, only a slight portion of her body was vaporized into steam.

"Hmm!?"

Soth muttered then immediately stabbed with his "spear."

This attack also struck Rushalka. The spear's tip penetrated deeply at the location of the heart, but Rushalka still remained completely unharmed.

This was because Rushalka's body had already turned into holy water by the time Soth struck her.

Through the Blessing of Holy Water, the body of the "serpent," composed of scales, flesh and bone, had transmuted into a liquid mass possessing Rushalka's outline.

This was no ordinary liquid but holy water capable of extinguishing evil dragon flames&mdash;

Simply stated, Soth's attack had simply plunged the "spear" into water.

No matter how great the force, water would not be destroyed by such an attack.

Once in the form of holy water, Rushalka would not suffer any damage even if Raptors interfered in her duel with Soth. She could simply ignore them.

Also, turning into water did not mean she was unable to attack.

"Rushalka!"

Following Asya's order, Rushalka instantly accelerated.

Still maintaining her holy water form, she pounced at Soth. This was a colliding attack using her body. Using such a large volume of water to strike at super-high speed, the water pressure would be quite powerful.

"Guoh!?"

Unable to invoke the Shield in time as previously, Soth suffered a direct hit and reeled back greatly.

However, this did not seem to have inflicted too much damage. The dragon said nonchalantly, "Fufufufu, you fight quite well for a body on death's door..."

Soth glared viciously at Rushalka who was now transparent after turning into holy water.

Then he swung the "spear" lightly with a whoosh. He already knew that the "spear" was useless as a weapon but used in its original purpose&mdash;as a magic wand&mdash;that was a separate matter.

"O Secret Runes of Ruruk Soun, claim the invisible hand!"

Five runes appeared above Soth's head and gave off blue light.

This arrangement of symbols were the runes for Telekinesis. Next, the "spear" in Soth's hand released a telekinetic pulse from its tip, surging towards Rushalka like a ripple!

Kyuahhhhhhhhhh!?

Rushalka was instantly surprised. Having turned liquid, she was not supposed to be affected by physical attacks.

However, a mysterious attractive force was now trying to pull Rushalka's massive body towards Soth! That was why the "serpent" cried out.

"Rushalka!"

Asya instantly issued a command, ordering her partner to accelerate in flight&mdash;

Hence, the blue wyvern started to fly in a different direction, still in her holy water state, with speed incomparably faster than before. Like water flowing from a ruptured dam, Rushalka flew.

Fortunately, Asya's partner escaped the telekinetic pulse and regained her freedom.

However, how long could she elude capture?

The runes of Telekinesis continued to flash and glow above Soth's head.

Asya was a Level 5 witch, meaning she could invoke pseudo-divinity five times a day. This usage counter was not going to reset until the following night's arrival.

She had used divinity thrice tonight already. As the covenantee, Asya felt a premonition.

Most likely, during the instant when she used it for the fourth or fifth time, the collapse of Rushalka's body was going to accelerate all at once, resulting in sudden death.

The trump card equivalent to the value of her partner's life&mdash;She must absolutely use it at the right moment.

The true critical moment was coming up next. Asya took a deep breath.



Meanwhile, retracing time a little further back&mdash;

Hal and Orihime were traveling by car from the Old Tokyo Concession to the vicinity of Shin-Kiba. As a member of SAURU, he was able to pass without any questioning from traffic restrictions. In the distant sky, Rushalka had finally started the battle against Soth.

Then Hal watched as Orihime hurried over to Asya.

(That girl has Akuro-Ou following her. At the risk of sounding like I am praising my own handiwork, the little one is amazing and will not let the priestess die so easily.)

"Even if you say that, I don't really feel it..." replied Hal to Hinokagutsuchi who was simply whispering without showing herself.

As a side note, the name of "Akuro-Ou" was one of the suggestions offered by the dragon ghost.

"By the way, is it really okay for an unfriendly guardian angel like you to be here, making irresponsible comments? But if you really want to help, I don't mind if you serve as a volunteer."

(Do not be ridiculous. Compared to taking care of others, I love myself more.)

"What a great answer, simple and easy to understand. I'll do as I see fit next."

Hinokagutsuchi seemed to behave diligently only during "deals."

Since this type of selfish mindset seemed to fit her style more, Hal could not help but nod.

(But brat... If assistance were required, you could have taken the opportunity to persuade the priestess to become a vassal when you were parting ways earlier, yes?)

"Persuade...?"

(Yes. Or do you mean to say you have not noticed?)

Hal frowned. This self-styled devil was talking in riddles again...

(Fufu. After all, you did witness the instant when such massive magical power was employed for a serpent's birth. To you, this might have been excellent stimulation.)

"Cut the crap. If you just want to talk shop, shut up."

Hal started running. A different direction from Orihime's.

Soth's target was said to be Haruga Haruomi. For this purpose, Soth had used strange magic to create a mini-Monolith and captured Orihime's cousin and her "serpent."

Of course, since Hinokagutsuchi was the one who said it, total veracity was as yet unconfirmed.

Even so, Hal was feeling even more unpleasant than if he had an eel stuck in his throat. Also, if a girl younger than himself were to be sacrificed&mdash;

"Asya and Juujouji are fighting so near here. Who knows if the Mansion might get caught up in the destruction at some point..."

Slightly turning his gaze towards the other end of the sky, Hal saw Soth and Rushalka's aerial battle enter his view.

Rushalka had gone as far as to invoke Moon pseudo-divinity. This was truly all-out war and Hal hoped to rescue the girl inside the Mansion before anything unpredictable happened.

Even if he could not fight Soth, this was something he had to accomplish at least&mdash;



Finally reaching the Mansion's entrance, Hal exhaled greatly.

"I managed to survive..."

Relief, resignation, surprise. These emotions were mixed in his sighing.

On the way here just now, the air within roughly a kilometer of the Mansion felt extremely cold. His skin also stung as though pricked by needles.

Even though it was clearly spring, it felt as chilly as midwinter in a cold region because of entering the Death Curse's area of effect. Also from time to time, he discovered the cold corpses of SDF and police related personnel.

Nevertheless, Hal still managed to reach the Mansion safely.

Just as the severe chill felt unbearable and he was convinced that he was destined to become a frozen corpse on the roadside, Hal gritted his teeth and thought, ''How could I possibly die here just like that?''

Then he immediately stopped feeling the cold air.

His supernatural resilience(?) had apparently triumphed over the elite dragon's magic.

That being said, it was quite a nerve-wracking challenge to sneak into a dangerous place without tangible protection.

(Sigh, brat. Has anyone ever told you that you are a nice guy to a fault despite your twisted personality? Without any guarantee of safety, why do you need to go so far to rescue this girl whom you have never met before&mdash;)

"Quiet, just shut up..."

(Fufu, do know that I am praising you. Men need to be a little idiotic in order to be adorable.)

The girl who called herself the devil was chuckling while exaggerating things on purpose.

Hal did have some self-awareness of how misfortune gravitated towards him. Frowning, he entered the Mansion.

Walking inside the building, he took out his pocket watch.

Not his father's memento but another Clockwork Mage.

Hal performed Heat Sensing magic. With the magic of death occupying the indoor environment, objects exceeding a certain temperature were limited. Living humans like Hal, for example.

Holding the chain, he dangled the pocket watch from his hand, advancing through the building in this manner.

There was no reaction on the first and second floors. When he reached the third floor, the watch began to swing nonstop.

It oscillated particularly intensely in front of a certain door. Something with an elevated temperature was apparently inside.

Hal reached for the door handle&mdash;The door was not locked. He opened the door.

Inside was a bedroom with a bed, a table and a closet. All household items were expensive without exception. The room was clean without a speck of dust and organized with immaculate attention to detail. For someone like Hal, staying in this kind of room actually felt uncomfortable instead.

This was most likely the personal room belonging to the witch in charge of this Mansion.

Hal made his deduction based on the room's expensive tastes. Then he subconsciously looked at the bed&mdash;And jumped in surprise.

"She's really a girl who's like an angel..."

The beautiful girl was so pure and adorable that one could almost mistake her for an angel.

The witch, whose photo Orihime had shown Hal, was lying asleep on the bed.