Editing Leviathan:Volume 7 Chapter 5 (section)

===Part 3===

The white dragon king, Princess Yukikaze.

Of all the dragons that had attained the rank of dragon king, she was the youngest. Her age was probably less than a thousand. Possibly because of that, there was a slight instability in her powers.

Namely, the ability to transform into a dragon.

Princess Yukikaze usually went around in human form.

However, she was unable to transform into a dragon on her own volition. Only when excited with raging emotions did she naturally turn into the white dragon. Apart from her, there were no dragon kings like that ever.

The Flame Emperor&mdash;Red Hannibal&mdash;could transform at will.

Pureblooded dragon kings such as the Black Lightning Emperor or the Blue Sea King were incapable of taking human form to begin with.

The youthful Princess Yukikaze's constitution was a little unstable as a dragon. Perhaps it reflected her free and unfettered personality?

However&mdash;Instability did not imply it was her weakness.

Princess Yukikaze's unstable constitution was due to her unfettered, outgoing, and whimsical personality. These traits also served as the origin of ambition, vigor, and animated spirit.

Especially when she was also the dragon king who had inherited the Rune of the Arrow.

Some measure of instability did not pose any problem at all, because an arrow's specialty was to fly far, fast, and incisively.

"...I hereby decree to my emblem, the Arrow of Sirius." Finally in dragon form, the white dragon king murmured.

Until two minutes ago, she had been in the sky over Tokyo New Town, engaged in an aerial battle against Pavel Galad who had defeated Haruga Haruomi.

But now, Princess Yukikaze was overlooking the entire islands of Japan, not just Tokyo.

Using her specialty of hyper acceleration to speed up, she reached the boundary between space and the atmosphere all at once. Below her was the blue Pacific Ocean and white cloud cover, as well as the landscape of the eastern Eurasian continent.

Descending from this height for a sneak attack, she would instantly turn her enemy into dust...!

"I, Yukikaze&mdash;will now transform into the dragonslaying arrow."

As soon as she spoke, Princess Yukikaze began to descend at high speed.

Instantly breaking the sound barrier, she descended from the sky like lightning.

From the perspective of a ground observer, it would probably be like a blazing meteor crashing down from the sea of stars. The silver dragon occupying New Town's airspace was about to meet her in battle&mdash;

At that moment, Pavel Galad was in the sky at an altitude of roughly four hundred meters.

Wielding the dragonslaying sword, he was motionlessly waiting for the dragon king's arrival!

"Choosing to take on my attack instead of fleeing, huh? Silver dragon! How foolish!"

"No, princess! I am convinced that this is the only method to defeat you!"

Princess Yukikaze was rushing in with supersonic speed.

The white dragon king's entire body was enveloped in the pearly glow of imperishable protection. All she needed to do was smash directly into Pavel Galad, then surely the silver dragon's body would be pulverized, turned in billions of scraps of flesh, scattering all over Tokyo New Town.

Pavel Galad swung the sword in his hand down to intercept the supersonic attack of white.

"Sever with haste the inauspicious instruments that begrudges dragons!"

Runes of Ruruk Soun encircled the dragonslaying sword.

"I am the user of the sword of divine alacrity." Increased to godlike speed literally, the sword succeeded in chopping Princess Yukikaze's supersonic descent head on.

Furthermore, the blade was burning with blue-white flames.

Against Princess Yukikaze, Galad was also using strengthening magic with flint as a catalyst!

Unfortunately, the result was rather tragic.

The blazing sword had clashed head on against Haruga Haruomi and the Crimson Queen without losing, despite their increased power. But because Haruga Haruomi had attained a level extremely close to a dragon king's, Pavel Galad did not manage to neutralize the impact completely at the time.

Besides, this time he was up against Princess Yukikaze at maximum speed and momentum.

The destructive power of her charge was probably the highest among all dragon kings&mdash;A direct clash between the dragonslaying arrow and sword. Without any suspense, the sword proceeded to lose and blown far away.

He fell. Falling to the ground.

Pavel Gald crashed into a commercial district in New Town.

Sliding along the road with the friction producing sparks, he knocked over a number of buildings and houses&mdash;And finally stopped.

"Guh&mdash;hahh!?"

Pavel Galad groaned.

The silver dragon also had imperishable protection deployed but when struck by a violent attack, the damage would pass onto the user. In order to sustain the barriers only available to dragon kings and Tyrannoi, the heartmetal was put under heavy strain.

Galad's heartmetal suffered an impact that was painful enough to think his heart ruptured.

Also, the silver dragon was mercilessly wounded by the dragonslaying arrow's residual power that imperishable protection had failed to block. His right forelimb, the one wielding the dragonslaying sword, was severed at the shoulder, blown away to parts unknown.

His right wing and everything below the knee of the right hind leg were also blown off.

Broken, contorted, then fallen off like the forelimb.

"Hohohoho. Even though it was only a single strike, the match has been decided, hasn't it?"

In her white dragon form, the princess landed gallantly, speaking with pride.

Princess Yukikaze was not unscathed either. Swung down with godlike speed, the dragonslaying sword had struck her, though imperishable protection managed to block all of its power. The damage inflicted to the barrier was transmitted to the heartmetal, turning into waves of sharp pain...

That being said, the silver dragon was in no shape to continue the fight. It was Princess Yukikaze's overwhelming victory. However&mdash;

"Oh?"

The white dragon king narrowed her eyes.

Something was gathering around the battered Pavel Galad.

These were some of the remains of the thousands of golems wiped out by the Crimson Queen's use of the sun-shooting divine bow. Asphalt, concrete, iron bars, steel plates&mdash;The fragments of the minions that the silver dragon had created out of various construction materials.

The remains of the golems began to combine and transform.

This was to reconstitute the right forelimb, hind leg, and wing that the silver dragon had lost.

The final product consisted of ugly limbs and a wing in mixed colors of black, gray, and steel. Pavel Galad's physical body had recovered it original shape for now.

This was alchemy magic that processed the remains of his minions to be reused!

"O silver dragon, you created a new body!?"

"I do not have minions capable of using healing magic. I could not continue the fight unless I resorted to such crude measures."

Pavel Galad was the silver dragon that had inherited the dragonslaying sword.

Previously, he had been a beautiful silver dragon.

But now, the limbs and the wing created from artificial stone and steel were rough in texture with unpleasant colors. There was no unity to speak of and one could even apply the description of ugly. Although he had used alchemy magic to enhance hardness while adding flexibility, thus presenting no problems with functionality...

Princess Yukikaze looked upon his ugly body with pity instead.

Narrowing her dragon eyes, she sighed in praise.

"You wish to fight me to the bitter end, going so far as to pick up the corpses of minions? I, Yukikaze, acknowledge your mettle."

"Furthermore, princess, this is also the only strategy capable of bringing about your demise."

"What are you talking about?"

"Admittedly, taking on your attack resulted in my dismemberment. However, back then... It is true that the dragonslaying sword struck your body."

"......"

During the violent clash just now, Princess Yukikaze had charged, using her own body as the dragonslaying arrow. Pavel Galad had intercepted her using his sword of godlike speed.

A frontal clash. As a result, the silver dragon's body was worse for wear, smashed into a number of pieces.

However, the princess' heartmetal also suffered damage and was still hurting.

"I just have keep repeating the same move until your heartmetal shatters. In this manner I shall obtain victory."

"Hahahaha. Every time you use your sword to strike me when I have turned into an arrow, your body will gradually crumble, you know? Before my heartmetal ceases to function&mdash;"

Princess Yukikaze laughed coldly at her foolish enemy.

"Your body will turn into dust from head to foot, leaving not even a single scale behind. Do you intend to create a new body to swap into every time?"

"Precisely. So long as I can defeat you, giving up my body is nothing to worry about."

"Foolish."

"For me, one who is not a dragon king, to challenge you, Princess Yukikaze, this is the only way."

"Hahahahahaha!"

Princess Yukikaze laughed. Unlike the cold laugh earlier, this was laughter of delight.

For elite dragons, the head and the brain were considered ''fairly'' important organs.

Even if their heads were blown away in one go, so long as the soul and the heartmetal were intact, it would still be barely possible to use the secret arts of Ruruk Soun. Then as long as "a substitute for the brain" was created at super-high speed to replace the lost head, it would still be possible to fight.

However, chances of success were probably no more than 50%.

What a foolish strategy, but if pulled off without a hitch, the gamble would pay off with great efficacy.

For Pavel Galad to challenge Princess Yukikaze right now, this was definitely the only method.

Because unlike Haruga Haruomi, a real dragon king would never be naive enough to be caught unprepared by a bit of trickery...

"Fufufufu. I really enjoy the small acts of cleverness from Haruomi, though your foolishness entertains me too&mdash;Hmm?"

Princess Yukikaze did not know if it was because she said his name.

But she suddenly felt a "certain presence." It was the bond with the man of her destiny, which could only be sensed by the successor of the Rune of the Arrow.

"Not only the silver dragon, but did I underestimate you too?"

The young man she sought single-mindedly was apparently recovering his strength rapidly.

To be frank, despite her acknowledgement of his wit and resourcefulness, Princess Yukikaze rated him poorly on the aspects of durability and willpower to live. Hence, Princess Yukikaze gave up on him the moment she saw him defeated.

Never did she expect&mdash;

"Then allow me to offer you another chance. You must satisfy me properly this time, Haruomi," said the white dragon king quietly.

The holder of the dragonslaying arrow was extremely sensitive when it came to the presence of the complementary bow.


Princess Yukikaze used the Rune of the Arrow.

The seal was an oval shape surrounding an acute isosceles triangle.

In fact, this was a pictograph of the star named Sirius by humans on Earth. Incidentally, the Rune of the Sword was based on the three stars in Orion's Belt. The Rune of the Twin Katana was the cross-shaped constellation of Cygnus.

Then there was the Rune of the Bow. Also called the Bow Stars of the Southern Sky.

Its prototype was Canis Major.

The ancient Greeks interpreted the constellation as shaped like a "dog" while the secret archives of Ruruk Soun viewed it as a "bow with a nocked arrow."

Of this bow and arrow in the sky&mdash;the part corresponding to the arrowhead was actually Sirius.

Sirius, the brightest star in the sky, was also known as Alpha Canis Majoris.

The constellation, recorded in the secret archives of Ruruk Soun as "a bow and arrow," was viewed as a set even by humans.

Shining together in the sky, that was how close together the two were in position.

Who was going to emerge as the victor? Pavel Galad? Or the one who shared a destiny with the arrow's holder? The time for a decisive battle was drawing near again.