Editing Leviathan:Volume 8 Chapter 3 (section)

===Part 3===

"Oh right, tonight will be the night of the full moon."

Hal glanced at his pocket watch and said softly.

A mechanical pocket watch made with bronze. The time was just after three in the afternoon on September 10th. Furthermore, this pocket watch was also a Clockwork Mage used exclusively by members of SAURU.

For Hal as he was now, it was a redundant tool, but he still kept it by his side.

"Is it that? I recall an event known as the viewing of the mid-autumn moon." Hinokagutsuchi spoke with mockery in her voice.

"If they are going to organize an event, why not hold one where beautiful women are admired under moonlight...? I believe this occurred to me in the ancient past."

"Don't forget you're a former queen. Say something that fits the mood better."

"Hmph, staring at the moon is too boring. Incomprehensible to me."

"Fine. Anyway, it's an event that used to take place on the fifteenth day of the eighth month in the lunar calendar. Since adjustments are needed to fit with the current calendar, it happens on a different day every year."

Hal and Hinokagutsuchi looked up at the night sky together.

There was no full moon among the scattered stars of the night canopy, instead there was a round Earth roughly the size of a coin. The moon was underfoot.

Leaving the moon ruins, Hal walked to another plain on the moon, the Sea of Showers.

The black of "seas" on the lunar landscape was the color of basalt, terrain formed from lava that had erupted from underground then cooled.

Observing from the Earth, one could see a black area on the white moon.

Recalling this, Hal said poignantly, "I never thought I'd spent a night of the full moon on the moon itself."

"Who knows? If you draw your last breath before admiring the moon, then it would not really count as 'spending' the night." Hinokagutsuchi laughed maliciously.

She had come out from the magic gun that she had possessed, materializing into a young girl in a kimono.

This could very well be his last. Three days ago&mdash;at around 3pm on September 7th in Japan&mdash;Hal was taken to the moon.

Princess Yukikaze had told him she would only wait three days.

A quick calculation showed that seventy-two hours had just passed. It would be natural for the princess to come pick a fight any moment.

"Although I've made lots of preparations for this battle, how much difference do you think our struggling will actually make?"

"Against that lass Yukikaze?"

"Yeah. And it's Princess Yukikaze in serious mode."

"Simple. If she is serious about taking your life&mdash;No matter how it happens, Yukikaze is guaranteed to win."

Hinokagutsuchi predicted gravely. She did not look like she was joking.

Since she spoke without thinking, Hal reflexively argued back.

"Uh, this is a contest, you know? There's that saying, you never know who'll get the last laugh, right? Didn't I squeak through last time?"

"Because the battle to defeat Genbu-Ou was 'war.'"

"?"

"Whereas this time is a 'fight.' Do you understand the difference?"

"...I see. Sort of."

Realizing what the self-styled devil was trying to convey, Hal sighed.

In war, one would retreat to regroup once losses mounted to 20-30%.  This was because casualties of this extent would affect an army's tactical plans. It was a general's job to regroup before further losses occurred.

A fight was different.

How far a fight went would depend on both sides' perseverance and will to fight...

"In addition, there is another decisive difference. Brat, you have grown far too strong."

"......"

"Yukikaze might show mercy if it were merely an angry puppy biting her. However, given your current strength, if you were to bite, she would probably intercept with her full power. A cornered beast is not going to hold back."

Neither his childhood friend Asya nor Juujouji Orihime were by Hal's side.

Like the time when he first obtained the power of dragonbane, only Hal and Hinokagtsuchi were present. Once again, Hal argued against the former dragon king's merciless words.

"But if I bite seriously, there's a chance I might kill the princess&mdash;"

"Impossible. No matter how many cheap tricks you pull out, struggling like a pathetic rat to bite the cat to death, your teeth will never tear into a berserk dragon king's throat. And have you forgotten?"

"Forgotten what?"

"You said it yourself. You do not have what it takes to become a true king. Over these past few months, I have come to understand that deeply too."

"Hmm&mdash;"

Such opinions were quite unbiased. Hal grumbled softly, "I wasn't hoping you'd recite some kind of spell to stoke my courage, but with the duel about to begin, couldn't you be a little more sensitive about my feelings?"

"Fufu." Hinokagutsuchi smiled maliciously.

"Then you posed the wrong question to ask the wrong person."

"Indeed. Sigh, in that case, I'll just have to make the most of it and struggle to the very end."

Hal shrugged and summoned the magic gun with his right hand.

Hinokagutsuchi vanished. She had returned to the object she was possessing.

"Runes of Ruruk Soun&mdash;I'm counting on you."

The arrangement created by the self-styled devil when she was still a dragon king.

Hal summoned forty-two runes of Ruruk Soun overhead and used the secret technique he had just learned.

"Protect me..."

Muttering to himself, he activated the spell.

Hal's body and the magic gun instantly turned into particles of light and vanished into thin air. This was the same de-materialization used by leviathans and Hinokagutsuchi to suddenly disappear.

However, his mind and magical power had not vanished.

"Crimson Queen!"

Responding to Hal's voice, what materialized was a giant red dragon.

The dragon that once possessed the Rune of the Bow. After a long battle, with irreparable damage inflicted to its heartmetal, she had taken a finishing blow from Princess Yukikaze, the Arrow inheritor&mdash;

"Go!"

With wings outspread, the Queen flew into the sky.

Though slightly smaller than Red Hannibal, the Crimson Queen was quite large. Sixteen or seventeen meters long. Not only was she tall, but she also exuded impressive presence from her powerful musculature.

A contrast to the white dragon king's slender and graceful form.

A giant bow appeared in the Crimson Queen's right forelimb.

The bow was even longer than the Queen was tall. Made of red steel, with light as the bow string, it was the manifestation of the Rune of the Bow as a weapon.

Carrying just the mystic bow, the Queen kept rising.

She slowly but steadily accelerated, escaping the Moon's gravity, finally reaching a spot in the sky roughly a hundred kilometers away from the ground.

This was the same height as the asteroid where Princess Yukikaze lived.

"Okay... Let's begin," Hal said to the Queen.

Even though he was not in human form at the moment, Hal's mind was still linked to the Queen. Under Hal's gaze, the red dragon raised the gigantic bow.

Next, an arrow of light appeared in the left forelimb.

The red dragon notched it on the bowstring and drew hard, firing the arrow forward.

Boom! Imbued with the mystic power to kill dragons by the dragonslaying bow, the arrow flew with a long tail like a comet, tracing out its trajectory as it flew thirty or forty kilometers.

Up ahead was the disc-shaped asteroid where the ice tower was located!

It struck. Explosion. Flash.

The arrow fired by the Queen blew the asteroid to bits.

However, the white dragon king's slender and gallant form calmly flew out from the white light of the explosion.

Both the Queen and Hal used "eye of magic" to watch the white dragon. Suddenly accelerating, they charged straight towards the unharmed Princess Yukikaze.

The white dragon flew nimbly, as though responding to them&mdash;

Merely forty seconds passed.

The two dragon finally met on the Moon's orbit.

"O Haruomi! I never thought you would be the one to start the attack!"

"Because waiting for you to attack could end up puncturing a hole in my stomach. I was thinking might as well get started earlier..."

The voices coming from the two dragon's jaws was the same as produced by their human forms.

Even in space, the absence of air did not have any effect on dialog between dragons. The Crimson Queen was holding a red bow, but Princess Yukikaze was unarmed.

"Fufufufu. In the previous battle, it took me so long to turn into a dragon."

The graceful dragon king smiled proudly.

Hal could tell from a single glance. Her dragon face, which ought to bear no resemblance to a human face at all, showed a slight curl in the corners of her lips&mdash;He was able to discern this change.

He was not sure whether it was because he understood the princess' personality or because he was becoming more and more dragon-like.

"But this time... I have become like this!"

"Oh, that's right."

"This is proof of your efforts. Commendable!"

Unlike Hinokagutsuchi, Princess Yukikaze was not stingy with giving praise.

However, Hal still carried a heavy heart. He was thinking "I'd rather you act careless or underestimate me, and give me the gift of an opening I could exploit to attack, than praising me"...



"Hazumi-san, it is time to begin at last."

"Really!?"

The altitude was 4205 meters.

Luna Francois walked over with a solemn expression to inform her. Shirasaka Hazumi looked up at the night sky, dotted with stars. The stars were so numerous that they felt intimidating. They seemed so near.

This was thanks to the altitude, which exceeded Mount Fuji's height, as well as the clear air.

There was also the fact that they were far away from urban areas. There were no light sources to overwhelm the starlight.

Hazumi's location was excellent for stargazing. After the summer expedition, this was her second time to America&mdash;the Mauna Kea volcano in Hawaii.

Near the peak were thirteen observatories from eleven different countries around the world.

One of them was the Hawaii Observatory of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan.

Hazumi was sitting on a lawn in the observatory's premises.

The stars were so numerous that they looked like they were about to fall out of the sky. But tonight was a full moon. The bright moonlight meant that it was not ideal for stargazing.

"Senpai and the others are there..."

"Yes. Roughly fifteen minutes ago, the red dragon and the white dragon apparently started fighting on the Moon's orbit. The battle is shown live on the monitor in the observation room."

Hazumi recalled the observation room mentioned by Luna.

Inside a space that could not be considered large at all were LCD displays of all sizes and even quite a number of laptops. Several members of staff were there, checking images taken by the observatory's infra-red optical telescope.

The two girls had been given a tour as soon as they arrived at the observatory.

"The situation appears to be unfolding in Harry's favor. We managed to complete support preparations too."

"All of the credit goes to you, Luna-san. Thank you."

It was currently September 6th in Hawaii, just after 8pm.

It was nighttime. However, the time and date at Tokyo New Town in Japan was September 7th, 3pm. This was due to the nineteen hours of time difference between the two locations. Dawn arrived at Japan first.

The duel against Princess Yukikaze would begin at this time&mdash;

Yesterday, this message had reached Luna Francois and Shirasaka Hazumi through Ruruk Soun magic.

This was also how they received the astounding news of "Haruga Haruomi and company were on the Moon."

After receiving Hal's message, the Trans-Pacific Area's genius Shootdown Ace had taken immediate action.

Mobilizing all of her connections and political capital, she requested full cooperation from the Mauna Kea observatory and staff, forcing them to comply.

Next, Luna and Hazumi hurried to the scene.

Taking a plane prepared by the Japanese American armed forces, they then reached the top of Mauna Kea via Cessna and helicopter. Although Mauna Kea was located in Hawaii, the island of eternal summer, due to the high altitude of 4205m, night temperatures approached zero and the air was quite thin.

This sort of environment imposed quite a burden on the body.

"I know you are probably quite uncomfortable, Hazumi-san, but your power is necessary."

Luna Francois spoke, looking at Hazumi's face.

"Please endure for a while. For our Harry and Orihime-san's sake, and Asya too."

"I-I am fine. Although the environment is harsh... I am still okay!"

She was not putting on a brave face.

Hazumi was definitely not physically strong and her health was worrying, but&mdash;Surprisingly, she was not suffering much. Perhaps because she was very motivated.

Or maybe her physical stamina had improved a bit with her increase in magical power...

To insulate against the cold, Hazumi was wearing a white double coat even it was September, along with a knitted cap, a scarf and even gloves.

Luna Francois was wearing a black cashmere coat with a black Russian hat.

Traveling from late summer in Tokyo New Town to Hawaii, then ascending to this peak that was higher than the clouds, what an unexpected expedition. However&mdash;

"Compared to Senpai and the others who went to the Moon, this is nothing!"

"Indeed. We must use our power to help Harry. Moreover..."
[[image:Leviathan 08 127.jpg|thumb]]

"Yes!"

"There is ''that''. Madam M offered a profound and mysterious suggestion. We must find a way to inform Harry."

Prior to the two girls' departure to Japan, President M had paid them a special visit just to tell them.

Remembering that advice, reassuring despite its short length of a few words, Hazumi nodded firmly.