Editing Leviathan:Volume 8 Chapter 1 (section)

===Part 4===

"Haruomi, do you find my celestial palace comfortable?"

"Although the scenery is even more desolate than the desert planet where Luke Skywalker grew up, I guess it isn't exactly uncomfortable." Complaining surreptitiously about his accommodations, Hal asked, "What was it you must speak to me about?"

"Fufufufu. What are your thoughts on how I look&mdash;this magnificent form&mdash;to you?"

Princess Yukikaze's answer was unexpected.

They were located at a plaza in the heart of the neighborhood where dozens of stone towers stood. Hal and Asya had just sprinted here with Asya. The two of them were panting heavily.

Fierce and stately, Princess Yukikaze looked at the two humans below.

Her form as a dragon measured ten-odd meters in length.

The white dragon king had landed in front of them in this manner.

"Even if you ask for our opinion... All I can reply is 'so big,' okay?"

The sudden question left Asya confused, who cocked her head and said, "But maybe Hannibal has a slight upper hand in physique and impressiveness, if I remember right."

"You didn't remember wrong. Hannibal is definitely two sizes bigger than her."

Despite the dragon king's powerful body in front of their eyes, the two of them still discussed calmly.

This was a far cry from long ago when the sight of an elite dragon&mdash;Raak Al Soth&mdash;would scare them stiff. For better or worse, they were used to it.

Facing these two rude humans, Princess Yukikaze seemed quite offeneded.

"Tyrannos lass, I did not ask you. Speaking of which, I, Yukikaze, summoned only Haruomi alone."

She was grumbling quietly in a fuming voice.

Nevertheless, even one sentence such as this, when uttered from a dragon king's mouth, would resound all around, shaking the atmosphere like distant thunder.

Even so, Asya remained unafraid despite being a new Tyrannos. Impressive as ever, Asya.

"What does it matter? Haruomi and I have declared war on you."

"Tsk. No matter. In any case, Haruomi, I, Yukikaze, would like you to take a careful look at my majestic appearance."

"Why? I knew long ago how powerful you are."

"Nothing much, because I am unsure whether I will be able to transform next time, when I duel you."

"What do you mean?"

The unexpected answer made Hal jump. The princess proceeded to tell him, "Fufufu. Apparently due to my young age, I cannot successfully take dragon form every time unless I am sufficiently excited."

"I see..."

Princess Yukikaze was probably a human who had turned into a dragon king&mdash;It appears that Hal's earlier guess was correct.

Hal nodded vigorously. The princess continued, "However, I am in excellent shape today, possibly because I invited you here. My transformation succeeded straight away. Hence, this is my reward for you."

"Meaning?"

"Fufufufu. I, Yukikaze, allow you to admire my magnificent form as a dragon. Let the sight of my powerful body burn onto your retinas."

"This is more like mental torture than a reward..."

Princess Yukikaze's unconventional thought process compelled Hal to grumble. The thought of "praising the powerful body of an imminent enemy's" was something a muscle fetishist might have, but not a nerd like Hal.

However.

Observing the princess' dragon form at such close range, Hal could not help but exclaim.

"Well, you look very awesome right now, or maybe pretty is the word. From that perspective, I guess it could be considered a reward."

"Pretty?"

"Yeah. Hannibal is definitely bigger and looks stronger too. But you, Princess Yukikaze, definitely look prettier. White and slender, you resemble those humanoid weapons drawn by a certain designer and manga artist whose settings tend to be overly surreal."

"Haruomi, are you referring to those M●rtar whatevers that were later renamed into Goth●c something or others?"

"Yes, that's right. The designs are a bit similar. My boyish mind is strangely excited by this."

"...What on earth are you talking about?"

Hal accidentally started chatting with Asya about a topic only comprehensible to the two of them, causing Princess Yukikaze to glare coldly. He hastily put on a smile to appease the princess.

"Simply stated, your dragon form is very wonderful, yeah."

Hal's praise was quite clear.

However, the princess simply scoffed and ignored him, remaining in her dragon form. Evidently, she valued power and ferocity far more than intangible beauty.

(Is she an elementary schoolboy?)

(I got it. She's the type that would find space-age humanoid military mecha cooler the more feathers it has on its back, like the Str●ke Freedom.)

(Personally, I also like those that attack with maces or wrenches.)

While whispering to Asya, Hal pondered.

Bringing his childhood friend along was for the purpose of drawing the white dragon king's attention together. Meanwhile, their companion was supposed to be using this time to investigate "a certain lunar anomaly."

With the duel against Princess Yukikaze so imminent, perhaps this was pointless curiosity.

However, the lazy self-styled devil had unexpected given Hal a push.

What exactly was the meaning in her words? Hal thought silently, hoping to hear Orihime's report as soon as possible.


"U-Umm, Kagutsuchi-san? Will Akuro-Ou really be alright?" asked Orihime apprehensively.

She was outside the tower that served as their temporary lodgings. Ahead of them was the northeastern sky where her partner Akuro-Ou had flown.

"Even if Akuro-Ou is a leviathan, she is still a creature of flesh and blood after all. Would it be too much to have her fly outside without any equipment..."

"Too much? Nonsense," coldly replied the magic gun that Haruga Haruomi had entrusted to her. "There is nothing to fear from even the void of the sea of stars as long as you have imperishable protection. Furthermore, are you aware that the territory under your feet is this safe only because of Yukikaze's protection?"

"I-I know very well..."

The white dragon king's territory. A mysterious historical site on the Moon.

In truth, this area was secured to an air-tight degree, by a pearly dome-shaped barrier&mdash;imperishable protection.

Outside of the protection lay an endless desolate scenery of white sand and rocks.

The exterior was a zone affected by ''a variety of problems encountered only outside of Earth'' such as vacuum, low gravity, low temperature, ultraviolet light, radiation, space dust, etc.

It was not a place where Earth creatures could venture in the flesh.

However, Akuro-Ou was a "serpent"&mdash;a leviathan.

Orihime was wearing just a school uniform against the Moon's harsh environment.

It was truly surreal. Orihime sighed and shook her head. ''I have to focus and change my mindset.''

"Very well, seeing as I've ventured into the bottom of the sea and alternate dimensions, what is there to fear from the Moon now..."

Telling herself this, Orihime pictured the white fox-wolf in her mind.

Akuro-Ou was heading somewhere on her own. Orihime began to link her partner's soul with her own to enable remote control.

"Akuro-Ou, respond to me!"

The instant Orihime prayed, their souls were successfully linked.

Her soul left her body and flew as though swimming in the sea to Akuro-Ou, who was hovering over the Moon's surface.

They were on the Moon's northern hemisphere, flying in the vicinity of the north pole.

Their location just now was the Sea of Showers on the Moon.

Nearby were the Sea of Serenity, the Sea of Tranquility, Montes Appeninus and Montes Archimedes, etc. As for Orihime and Akuro-Ou's destination&mdash;

"Akuro-Ou, that place is apparently called the Plato crater."

This was the biggest crater on the Moon.<!--this seems off, but that's what the text says-->

It was relatively close to the Sea of Showers, but in more concrete terms, it was about several hundred kilometers away.

"Let's accelerate using magic!"

The white nine-tailed fox-wolf obeyed Orihime's command and invoked the pseudo-divinity of the Sun.

This was the ability that Orihime had obtained through her power up several hours prior. After spending forty or fifty seconds to charge up, Akuro-Ou started to move at the same speed as sunlight.

Whoosh&mdash;They swiftly arrived on top of the gigantic crater.

Practically instantaneous movement.

They were currently a thousand meters or so above the Moon's surface. Under Akuro-Ou was a majestic lunar feature resembling a gaping mouth, the Plato crater, with a diameter of a hundred kilometers and an average depth of a kilometer or so.

"Oh my?"

In spirit form, Orihime drew closer to her partner.

Casting Enhanced Vision on herself, she saw an astonishing sight the instant she activated magical sight.

"Something... is emerging from the Moon!?"

Despite distortions, the Plato crater was essentially round.

Many spheres resembling gas or soap bubbles were emerging like mad from the center of the hundred kilometer long diameter.

"Th-There must be hundreds here..."

A casual glance revealed over three hundred spheres.

The spheres were all transparent and colorless, glinting iridescent like soap bubbles. However, their surface seemed hard, resembling crystals a little.

"Is this what you wanted us to see, Kagutsuchi-san!?" Orihime cried out to the accompanying Hinokagutsuchi who resided in the magic gun. "What on earth is&mdash;"

"Hmph. Confirm with your own eyes now that you are already here."

"I-I suppose you are right. Akuro-Ou, get closer!"

Hinokagutsuchi sounded a little impatient. Orihime nodded in agreement and ordered Akuro-Ou to speed up immediately.

The white nine-tailed fox-wolf swiftly descended. Even if they were not on the Moon, only spiritual entities would be capable of flying at such high speeds.

Thanks to that, Orihime was able to witness a shocking scene soon after.

"Aren't these Raptors!?"

Sleeping inside each sphere was a Raptor.

There were slight variations in body size, ranging from seven to eight meters in length. These were the small dragons called "winged lizards" by the elites.

They lacked forelimbs for grasping objects and the ability to speak or use magic.

The three hundred or so spheres were hovering inside the Plato crater, with dormant dragons hidden in them.

"Oh my? They... seem smaller than usual."

Orihime nodded. There was no mistake.

The Raptors sleeping in the spheres were half as big as usual.

Furthermore, their color was different, not the steel gray Raptors usually seen. The small Raptors on the Moon were clearly lighter in color.

Upon closer examination, even their facial features were less sharp...

"They seem to be juveniles?"

Orihime commented based on intuition, then a thought came to her.

Hundreds of crystalline spheres with young Raptors sleeping inside them. They were like the eggs of amphibians, insects or reptiles...

"......"

She focused her senses as a witch.

Don't think, feel. This was the ''trick to magic'' that Asya had taught her before. The wise words of a great martial arts master. Orihime followed Asya's advice and felt the flow of magic that filled the entire crater. Below&mdash;

What Orihime focused her attention to was not the hundreds of "eggs" hovering throughout the air, but below&mdash;the Moon's surface.

She concentrated, squeezing out the necessary power.

Magical power whooshed out, causing Orihime's senses to become even sharper. As a result, she saw the gigantic rune near the center of the crater.

It was an infinity sign.

"I've seen this design before..."

In fact, this was a very familiar symbol for witches like Orihime.

When summoning a leviathan, a pentagram magic circle would first appear in the sky. Then the pentagram, signifying evil exorcism, would immediately transform into an infinity sign.

"Please do not compare this with the ''imitation'' you humans use. For dragonkind, this is the one and only source of life, the Rune of the Mother Dragon."

However, the former dragon king residing in the magic gun, Hinokagutsuchi, spoke softly as though mocking her idea.

The Rune&mdash;of the Mother Dragon.

The instant Orihime's heart was shaken by these words, the situation changed.

Every "egg" started to crack all at once.

The small Raptors sleeping in them hastily opened their eyes, spread their wings and flew unsteadily.

Some flew off to elsewhere on the Moon while others headed to the Earth.

There were also a few Raptors going off in completely different directions. Furthermore, some of the small Raptors immediately formed flocks.

"Are you stunned? Priestess, this is birth for dragonkind."

"Kagutsuchi-san!?"

Orihime looked to the side, only to see that Hinokagutsuchi had manifested in the air at some pointin earlier.

It had been a long time since the young girl dressed in a red kimono left the magic gun.

"There are no so-called women among pure-blooded dragons, no females. What gives birth to them is the land itself, with the Rune of the Mother Dragon carved upon it."

"I see now..."

The Crimson Queen of the past then said to the astonished Orihime, "Most of the newborn winged lizards will encounter death somewhere. But over decades and centuries, individuals might accumulate enough wisdom and magical power, suddenly awakening into elites. Disregarding hybrids such as Hannibal, this would be the likely origin of Pavel Galad."

"A rune giving birth to pure-blooded dragons...!"

The polar opposite of dragonslaying runes.

The secrets of life were truly too profound. Having witnessed this scene with her own eyes, Orihime was stunned speechless.

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