Editing Leviathan:Volume 2 Chapter 4 (section)

===Part 4===

"I sensed the demise of my minion and came to have a look&mdash;So it was you."

Landing on the ground, Galad spoke in his usual beautiful voice.

"However, I am sorry to say that I have already lost interest in you. Even if we stare at each other like this, I cannot muster the slightest shred of fighting spirit."

"I don't want to fight you either..."

Hal was having a conversation with a dragon for the first time in his life.

While engaging Soth in combat, he never tried to communicate actively. This was only natural. Dragonkind and Haruga Haruomi belonged to totally different worlds.

"Is that so? Then I shall show mercy by erasing you instantly."

"I'd be very grateful if you could quietly let us go."

"Is that meant to be joke? I am sorry to say that I am a dragon lacking in the talent known as 'humor,' so a splendid reply truly eludes me&mdash;Then regarding the manner of your death, would you prefer fire or lightning?"

"Forget about no talent, you're showing a lot of promise in playing the fool..."

Hal tried his best to run his mouth off while maintaining his "usual attitude."

However, his throat was very parched due to excessive tension. His heart was also beating rapidly. But right now, Hal was gradually changing his perspective. Despite his reluctance, he had to admit that the world he inhabited was rapidly changing. If he insisted on surviving this moment, he must first alter his mindset thoroughly.

Otherwise, even the two other people present would get swept into a journey to death&mdash;

Hal entrusted Orihime's powerless body to Hazumi while motioning with his eyes for them to retreat.

Although the two girls watched him in worry, Hazumi still tried her hardest to support her stumbling cousin Orihime while leaving.

The two of them were unable to use "serpents" right now. They were probably worried they would be a liability for Hal.

"If you do not have any special requests, then I will choose on your behalf."

"You can choose whatever you want, but I've no intention of accepting quietly..."

Hal and Pavel Galad were separated by a distance of ten-odd meters.

Just as he looked up to gaze at the dragon's gigantic body, the enemy opened his jaws wide. A blue-white fire source could be seen lighting up in his mouth. The hot-blooded dragon had apparently chosen to use fire for the finishing blow.

Hal took a deep breath and thought back to the survival drama last time.

Obtaining imperishable protection by imagining himself to be an indestructible adversary.

"Farewell, successor of the Bow!"

"Screw that! How could I let you kill me so easily!?"

Hal extended his right palm forward with the Rune of the Bow surfacing on it.

A pearly glow enveloped his entire body. From above this light, Galad spewed out blue-white flames. Only after releasing blistering flames for a minute or two, he finally closed his mouth&mdash;

But when the flames ended, Hal had not been burned at all.

"Oh... You have learned imperishable protection in merely a day."

Seeing Hal unharmed, Galad narrowed his eyes.

"Then I have no choice but to draw this."

The silver-white arm reached high towards the sky. It was the right hand whose palm was showing the Rune of the Sword.

Galad intended to use his trump card! Hal stared wide-eyed. In that case, he intended to imitate all the way. If the enemy deployed protection, he would deploy protection too. If the enemy summoned his magic wand, he would summon a magic wand too&mdash;

Hal watched Galad intently and tried to emulate the whole process, to subject his opponent to the same move.

"O trails of the flint star shining in the sky, trace out the secret records of Ruruk Soun."

The instant he activate magical sight, Hal saw.

Macrocosmic darkness was hanging around Pavel Galad's surroundings. An uncountable number of stars were twinkling in the distant far beyond, forming an ocean of stars!

"I offer prayer to the seal in my possession, that of the Divine Sword of the Heavens. Let the dragonslaying sword come to my hand now!"

The instant Galad called out, a group of stars over his head became more dazzling.

This was constellation known to Hal and other humans as Orion. Among them, three stars in a series&mdash;the three stars symbolizing the hunter Orion's belt&mdash;gave off platinum-colored radiance.

Then a beautiful longsword appeared in Galad's right hand.

A rune consisting of three Vs descended upon this sword. The Rune of the Sword. The rune came from over Galad's head&mdash;The Three Stars of Orion.

The instant the sword merged with the rune, Galad's longsword radiated platinum-colored light!

"Is that how that guy's sword, his magic wand, is created!?"

"Hmph. The dragonslaying sword versus imperishable protection, allow me to test which is more potent!"

Galad swung the dragonslaying sword down.

Hal blocked using the power of protection. The instant the gigantic sword's blade struck the pearly radiance, the center of the glow shook from the astounding impact. Hal lost balance and fell to his knees.

However, the pearly radiance displayed excellent defensive power. Hal remained unharmed&mdash;

"Haruga-san...!" "Are you alright!?"

Orihime and Hazumi cried out from somewhere but Hal could not see them.

Hal was unsure whether it was due to magical sight but even his own surroundings had turned into the universe. Even though he was standing firmly on the ground, what lay underfoot was a macrocosmic abyss.

Currently, this universe only contained two surviving existences, Hal and Pavel Galad.

"Fufufu! As one would expect, crushing imperishable protection is not that easy!"

Was it the instinct of dragons to delight in the enemy's strength?

Galad swung the dragonslaying sword again. This time, it was a diagonal thrust downwards.

The instant he blocked the attack, Hal felt a powerful impact again but he was not injured. Next, Galad chopped straight, sliced sideways, then slashed as though swinging a golf club.

Every time it was struck, the pearly protection would shake intensely.

Hal's body would shake accordingly, but he did not suffer harm at least. The protection's power was truly an inviolable barrier of defense&mdash;Logically speaking, that was the way it should be, but symptoms began to appear.

Every time the shaking happened, Hal would feel pain in his heart as though getting pricked by needles.

"Urgh...!"

Hal groaned. It looked like he could not rely too much on the protection's defensive power.

Suffering blows at this rate, his heart was going to explode sooner or later&mdash;Hal felt his mind invaded by terrifying certainty. I want a wand. I need a magic wand after all!

"If the Rune of the Sword is Orion, then what constellation is the Rune of the Bow...?"

Stars. Speaking of which, didn't Hinokagutsuchi mention it before?

"Bow Stars&mdash;of the Southern Sky!"

The instant he chanted this name, a group of stars over Hal's head became more dazzling.

Among them, Sirius was without a doubt particularly striking in brightness. It was said that Alpha Canis Majoris in the Canis Major constellation was the brightest among all stars. Was that the Bow Stars of the Southern Sky? ...No.

Diagonally down from it, at the tip of Canis Major, ''an arched bow'' could be seen.

More precisely, there was a series of stars resembling a bow. That constellation was precisely the Bow Stars of the Southern Sky!

At the same as when he realized that, a magic symbol descended from the bow constellation. It was a runic symbol that seemed to embody a "tilted half moon" as a pictograph, the Rune of the Bow.

Next, all he needed to do was find a "bow" for it to inhabit&mdash;

Hal instantly reached his right hand into the waist pouch behind his back.

Then pulling the zipper open, he gripped the heavy sensation of steel. It was the pistol that Hinokagutsuchi had been playing with earlier. Hal pulled the gun out of its holster.

"Oh...?"

Hearing a whisper from the self-styled devil from somewhere, Hal saw it.

After receiving the Rune of the Bow that had descended from the heavens, the gun shone with platinum radiance.

He raised the glowing gun with one hand. In fact, this gun was not loaded&mdash;but filled with confidence, he pulled the trigger.

BANG! Accompanied by a loud noise, the recoil was transmitted to his arm instantly.

The gun shining with sacred platinum light ejected an empty shell that was not supposed to exist in the first place.

Instantly, Hal switched from magical sight to ordinary vision, returning from the starry macrocosm to the Shinjuku wasteland&mdash;

He did not know if the previous scene was the reason, but the surroundings were filled with astoundingly concentrated magical power.

Dressed in their school uniforms, Orihime and Hazumi were watching him with tearful expressions. Hinokagutsuchi was not visible, apparently hidden.

Standing sternly like an intimidating guardian statue, the silver-white dragon was enveloped in pearly light.

He had deployed imperishable protection to guard himself. While praising "Wow...", he gazed down at Hal&mdash;More precisely, he was looking at the steel-colored gun held in Hal's right hand.

It was the weapon that had attacked Galad by firing bullets together with dragonslaying magical power.

"You have materialized a dragonslaying rune into a 'wand'!"

"I finally succeeded by using your method as reference..."

The gun in Hal's hand was the color of dull steel as before.

However, its appearance was giving a different impression now. Its basic shape remained as the 9mm semi-automatic pistol but flowing golden lines had been added in certain places as decoration, adding an element of solemn elegance to this vulgar tool of violence.

A tiny Rune of the Bow was inscribed on the gun's grip in golden lines.

Solid and elegant, rugged yet magnificent&mdash;

This was a "magic wand," a handgun capable of shooting even dragons to death with ease. What an absurd object. While muttering mentally, Hal did not forget to pull the trigger.

And it was four times in succession. Four bullets glowing with red light were fired, all infused with the power of dragonbane.

If struck in a vital, even an elite dragon would die easily. One would expect them to defend desperately using the runes of Ruruk Soun.

However, Galad simply swung the dragonslaying sword.

Just by doing that, pearly radiance enveloped the dragon's gigantic body. The dragonslaying gunshots were all deflected by the light, but did not fail completely in causing damage.

"Gah...!"

This time it was Galad's turn to groan, clutching his chest with his unoccupied left hand.

That was precisely the location of a dragon's heart&mdash;on top of the heartmetal. Like Hal just now, his heart, or equivalently, his heartmetal, must have felt a sharp pain.

"Hoo&mdash;So defense alone is not enough!?"

Then Galad swung the dragonslaying sword with lightning speed.

In that instant, Hal guarded his head using his gun, deploying pearly light immediately.

Imperishable protection once again guarded Hal from the sword's strike. However, Galad did not stop there. Swinging the dragonslaying sword nonstop, he attacked again and again.

One slash, two slashes, three slashes. The flurry of attacks did not pause.

With every impact, Hal's heart would suffer sharp pain. It felt almost suffocating.

If this pain were to persist for two or three minutes, Hal feared his heart would rupture and result in his death. Hal gritted his teeth and stared at the gun in his hand.

"If possible... Increase the firepower a bit!"

In the next instant, mechanical action could be heard. It came from the interior of the gun&mdash;Was it responding to my thoughts!?

Hal endured the pain and pointed the gun's muzzle at Galad. Then he pulled the trigger only once.

As a result, three red glowing bullets were fired consecutively. A triple burst&mdash;The magic wand had switched to burst mode to fire thrice per trigger pull. These three shots sent Galad flying.

The silver dragon's massive body landed on its back.

However, the attack did not succeed in breaching the protection. The enemy remained unharmed too. Galad swiftly got up and raised the dragonslaying sword again.

Equally ready to fight, Hal pointed the muzzle at Galad.

With imperishable protection deployed, the two of them glared at each other for dozens of seconds continuously.

"I see now. Defeating a dragonslayer requires a more powerful sword..."

"So I guess it's better if I fire multiple bursts each time...?"

Dragon and human, the two living beings of different species spoke simultaneously.

Both sides quietly confirmed the basic abilities of their own weapon.

Like Hal, Pavel Galad was still learning about how to use the power of dragonbane. Hal could deduce this from his various comments. In that case&mdash;Hal took a deep breath.

"How about a proposal from me?"

"Successor of the Bow, what is it?"

"It looks like both of us were testing our weapons just now. In order to put this knowledge to practical application, how about we resume this battle later?"

"Oh...?"

"You've lost that slimy minion while I want to let my friends rest. I think both sides stand to gain if we schedule a rematch..."

Despite saying that quietly, Hal was secretly in trepidation.

Galad actually had a winning tactic&mdash;Just continue fighting. Although their weapons were equally matched, the original power gap was too wide. Hal was supposed to lose badly.

However, if the battle could be postponed, Hal could expect to receive Orihime and Asya's support&mdash;

He was relying on Galad's "hot-blooded temperament" next. After all, Galad had even felt sorrow because Hal fled.

This dragon probably liked to fight fair and square. Please act like a whimsical elite dragon, Hal prayed to God whom he had never believed in.

"Hmm..."

Galad bowed his head to look at the magic wand in Hal's hand&mdash;a weapon that could be called a magic gun.

A 9mm semi-automatic pistol. Hal had fired with one hand almost every time today. Given Hal's arm strength, doing that should result in extremely low accuracy and severe arm pain.

However, Hal was able to control the magic gun easily despite firing with corresponding recoil.

'That magic just now was finally brought out by that little lady on her own when cornered without options, after exhausting both her body and mind. That is precisely why it could be used with such ease and naturalness&mdash;'

Hal recalled what Hinokagutsuchi had said. So that was what happened.

At the same time, Galad lowered his blade.

"Very well, successor of the Bow!"

The silver dragon spoke sonorously in a beautifully masculine voice:

"Although I was very disappointed with you in the beginning, things have changed now. For a moment, I even felt elated for a showdown against you. I will acknowledge you as a candidate foe formidable enough to make my blood boil in excitement!"

"Thank you very much..."

"Then when will the rematch take place?"

Galad finally asked the decisive question. Hal took care not to reveal his joy on his face while replying:

"You originally set the deadline for sundown on the fifth day, right? Tomorrow happens to be that day. How about a rematch tomorrow at dusk?"

"That would be too slow! Much too slow!"

Galad yelled ferociously in almost a roar.

"I wish for a duel tomorrow at daybreak. I cannot wait any later than that."

"...Very well, then it is decided."

In any case, he had succeeded in buying time. Hal could not have hoped for more. He nodded.

Then Pavel Galad spread his silver-white wings and flew into the sky again.

"Let us meet again tomorrow in these parts when the sun rises. Between the successors of the Sword and the Bow, whose valor proves to be greater&mdash;It shall be decided then!"

Leaving these courageous words as a parting gift, Galad flew away.

Meanwhile, Hal had no desire for a contest of valor at all. Sighing, he slumped his shoulders greatly.

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