Editing Fangaku:Volume1 Act1 Chapter2

==Chapter 2==

[[Image:fangaku_position_dragon3.jpg]]

●

I saw it coming straight for us.

Between the dragon’s red throat and us.

[[Image:fangaku_dragon.jpg|50px]]

“––––!!”

This roar went beyond noise.

The stone pavement was torn from the ground and the curb was blown away.

The sidewalk split along its seam with the street and floated up from the ground, but…

[[Image:fangaku_deko_awate.jpg|50px]]

…''Whoa!?

I couldn’t even hope to avoid it.

Which meant it was going to hit me.

I knew it was going to happen. But in that moment…

[[Image:fangaku_scene_school_shiroma.jpg]]

[[Image:fangaku_shiroma_awate.jpg|50px]]

“Eh? Whoa, whoa, watch out!”

A girl rushed in from the side and held out her hand.

Even though this was just after the dragon cannon was launched.

[[Image:fangaku_deko_awate.jpg|50px]]

“Look out!!”

The dragon cannon hit before my warning could reach her.

●

The result was clear.

The girl’s brown hair blew in the wind.

[[Image:fangaku_shiroma_awate.jpg|50px]]

“Wow, that was a close one.”

She stood in front of us, giving me a view of a tail covered in nearly golden fur.

[[Image:fangaku_position_dragon4.jpg]]

The dragon’s blast roar had definitely been flying straight toward her. And yet…

[[Image:fangaku_deko_akire.jpg|50px]]

“Eh?”

The girl in front of me was unharmed.

And the three of us behind her were equally unharmed.

[[Image:fangaku_deko_awate.jpg|50px]]

“Huh?”

The force of the dragon’s blast roar had passed to either side of us.

[[Image:fangaku_shiroma_warai.jpg|50px]]

“Good. That did it.”

With her outstretched hand as the breaking point, an upside-down V “sandbank” emerged in the stream of destruction.

That had protected us and…

[[Image:fangaku_shiroma_tere.jpg|50px]]

“Okay, you’re good to go. So go get that thing.”

Right after that carefree comment…

[[Image:fangaku_hanako.jpg|50px]]

“Well, if you insist!”

A short figure suddenly stepped past us on the side.

[[Image:fangaku_scene_school_hanako.jpg]]

●

[[Image:fangaku_deko_awate.jpg|50px]]

…''Where do these people keep coming from!?

The short redhead seemed to have appeared out of nowhere.

She stared straight at the dragon.

[[Image:fangaku_hanako.jpg|50px]]

“Hey, hey. What makes you think you can barge in and cause a scene on my front step? Not that this is my house.”

Her gait was light.

Her every movement seemed weightless.

She tossed aside the red backpack she wore and used her right hand to swing around a case as long as she was tall.

She fearlessly approached the dragon and, on the third step, broke into a sprint.

She ran.

[[Image:fangaku_position_dragon5.jpg]]

And from behind us…

[[Image:fangaku_kuroma_akire.jpg|50px]]

“Hey! Stay out of my line of fire, idiot!!”

[[Image:fangaku_hanako_awate.jpg|50px]]

“Huh!? How bout you change your line of fire!? Are you the star!? Does the world revolve around you!? No, it doesn’t! Everyone knows I’m the star of the show!!”

[[Image:fangaku_kuroma_akire.jpg|50px]]

<span style="font-size:125%">'''“Shut the hell up!”'''</span>

Now they were arguing.

●

But the redhead still moved out ahead.

While the gunner provided covering fire from behind, she raised her empty left hand toward the enemy.

[[Image:fangaku_hanako_warai.jpg|50px]]

“Door bash!”

With those words, a glowing “wall” shot from her palm.

And then another.

[[Image:fangaku_deko_awate.jpg|50px]]

…''Oh.

I recognized this.

These were the “walls” used for the earlier counterattack.

They were shields made of ether.

This time, I noticed they had handles.

And based on my memories…

[[Image:fangaku_deko_akire.jpg|50px]]

…''Are those bathroom stall doors!?

Both doors hit, one after the other.

●

Light scattered from the dragon’s nose as it took a double whammy.

[[Image:fangaku_deko_shinken.jpg|50px]]

“Did that do it!?”

The dragon took a half step back. But…

[[Image:fangaku_dragon.jpg|50px]]

“…!!”

It had been ready this time.

Because it had dealt with this attack once already.

[[Image:fangaku_tutorial.jpg|50px]]

<It held its ground.>

Exactly.

The dragon didn’t just try to stop the flying doors.

It crouched low and made a short charge to run through them.

It accepted some level of damage to smash the two doors and approach us.

It got through.

The glowing doors broke and the ether light shards washed across its body as it came for us.

It was coming.

And I noticed something else.

[[Image:fangaku_deko_awate.jpg|50px]]

…''That girl is gone!?

●

She had vanished.

She had been there between us and the dragon.

But now the short redhead was nowhere to be seen.

She was absent.

[[Image:fangaku_deko_awate.jpg|50px]]

…''Where did she go!?

Had she run away? Or had she been hit when the dragon charged forward just now?

[[Image:fangaku_ushiko.jpg|50px]]

“Look up.”

I did as Ushiko whispered in my ear.

Up high in the sky, the redhead was soaring nimbly after making a great leap.

●

The redhead had launched a double door bash.

Just as the first door was destroyed, she had caught up to the second one and kicked off the upper edge to launch herself skyward.

[[Image:fangaku_hanako.jpg|50px]]

“––––!”

She flew high.

●

[[Image:fangaku_tutorial.jpg|50px]]

<This sudden leap was vertical movement. Before that, she had only used horizontal movement. With the door walls blocking its view and drawing its attention, the dragon would have had a hard time tracking her.>

That was true.

I could tell the dragon had lost sight of its prey.

It looked to us, looked to the sides, and only then started looking up.

[[Image:fangaku_kuroma.jpg|50px]]

“…!”

But a cannon blast hit it.

From head on.

The attack was aimed for the exact moment the dragon stopped the short charge meant to destroy the walls.

The blast was just as powerful as before.

But where it hit was different.

Instead of hitting the dragon’s body, this one hit the lower jaw, which it had lowered for its charge.

The blast reflected destructive light off the stone pavement below and launched the dragon’s jaws upwards.

The dragon leaned back.

[[Image:fangaku_kuroma.jpg|50px]]

“It’s up!”

●

[[Image:fangaku_deko_awate.jpg|50px]]

“Eh!? You want it looking up?”

[[Image:fangaku_shiroma.jpg|50px]]

“Yes, we do. The anatomy of that type of dragon forces it to always lean forward. If it does bend back and stand up, it can no longer use the muscles usually used to support itself, so its armor relaxes and it forms a straight vertical line from its nose down its spine. Like that, the force of an attack from above has nowhere to go.”

[[Image:fangaku_tutorial.jpg|50px]]

<…That about sums it up.>

Apparently the girl explained it all before Tutorial could.

And out ahead, I saw the fangs and jaws knocked upwards by the attack.

Another attack was dropping down toward it.

The redhead spun around to gather momentum as she dropped.

And she spoke.

[[Image:fangaku_hanako.jpg|50px]]

“I saw your combo before. You knock them into the air with your tail before devouring them, right!? Then how about this!?”

●

Up in the air, the girl changed form as she dropped.

[[Image:fangaku_deko_awate.jpg|50px]]

…''What is that?

The redhead girl’s white sailor uniform was reconstructed using an auto-tailoring spell.

Her uniform automatically changed form.



■'''Tactical Form

[[Image:fangaku_tutorial.jpg|50px]]

<Allow me to explain. The tactical form is a reverse transformation based on a ‘backwards reading’ protection. Think of it as a uniform with increased defenses. It is publicly referred to as a ‘transformed uniform’, but it is actually a form of armored uniform given a Kotodama-based divine protection.>



I watched as her uniform became “something else”.

The black became white, the white became black, and defense and boosting spell circles spilled from all over it while it became a jacketed armored uniform.

Simply put, she transformed.

[[Image:fangaku_scene_school_hanakotactical.jpg]]

She also held a weapon in her right hand.

She pulled it from the long case.

[[Image:fangaku_shiroma.jpg|50px]]

“That’s her collapsible war hammer.”

The striking weapon was shaped like a sledgehammer rather than an ice axe.

She swung it up and clearly accelerated in the air.

Accelerated downwards.

Toward the dragon’s raised head.

But the dragon took an action of its own.

It swelled out from gut to throat for…

[[Image:fangaku_deko_awate.jpg|50px]]

“A dragon cannon!?”

[[Image:fangaku_shiroma_akire.jpg|50px]]

“Huh? That thing’s a real fighter.”

It released the blast a moment later.

Straight up.

Its power flew up toward the power of the redhead’s spell-propelled descent.

A direct hit looked unavoidable.

But…

[[Image:fangaku_hanako.jpg|50px]]

“Eat this!!”

●

[[Image:fangaku_deko_akire.jpg|50px]]

…''Wow.

I saw the result before my eyes.

The counterattack from above hit just as the dragon tried to devour its prey from below.

The overhead attack ignored all else.

And it came as a solid blow.

The redhead used her full body to swing the war hammer around and she kept her speed as she dropped toward the dragon.

[[Image:fangaku_hanako.jpg|50px]]

“–––––!!”

She hit.

She slammed the hammer straight down like she was trying to pierce a blade through.

This struck the dragon’s blast as a physical object.

Several sign frames opened at the impact boundary.

It broke through.

A spell “materialized” the dragon’s roar, and…

[[Image:fangaku_dragon.jpg|50px]]

“––––––!!”

The roar lost.

The hammer strike made it through to the dragon.

●

Ether light burst horizontally from the striking surface and broke through with a sound like shattering glass.

Next came a series of rumbling sounds.

[[Image:fangaku_hanako.jpg|50px]]

“Piercing strike!”

The warm hammer struck straight down, much like driving in a nail.

The impact traveled from the dragon’s snout and down its spin, shattering its bones and fangs along the way.

Launching that dragon cannon had been a mistake.

Fixing its body in place hadn’t left any play in its joints, allowing the damage to pass through entirely intact.

The dragon-smashing blow shook the stone pavement and the stressed stone ran away while rattling loudly.

After the piercing attack passed through, the dragon still roared.

It kept struggling.

Even as a lesser variety, it had its pride as one of the greatest categories of creature.

[[Image:fangaku_dragon.jpg|50px]]

“…!”

But its cry was never completed.

It ran out of strength.

The redhead pulled back the hammer and swung it around by rotating her entire body.

She fully smashed the dragon’s great jaws and slammed its body into the ground.

And when she landed, she raised her voice.

[[Image:fangaku_hanako.jpg|50px]]

“End this!!”

That was the end.

●

[[Image:fangaku_deko_awate.jpg|50px]]

“–––––”

I was left speechless by what I had witnessed.

[[Image:fangaku_deko_awate.jpg|50px]]

…''What did I just see?

What had happened to my slow life?

As the dragon’s massive body crumbled to the broken street, its weight caused it to bounce back up.

And…

[[Image:fangaku_shiroma.jpg|50px]]

“Watch out, okay?”

The girl standing nearby wasn’t speaking to us.

I realized I could see other students here and there in the woods.

Most looked relieved and a few raised their hands to greet the girls here.

So did they know each other?

Maybe so because the dog-tail girl waved back to them while making a flourish with her right hand.

[[Image:fangaku_shiroma.jpg|50px]]

“Now, then.”

A defense barrier opened on the street.

It wasn’t torii-style or cross-style.

It was witch magic.

It opened so as to surround the unmoving dragon.

The redhead girl who had defeated the dragon looked back our way.

And…

[[Image:fangaku_hanako_bakawarai.jpg|50px]]

“Okay, time to scram!”

The dragon exploded.

●

When they started running, Ushiko released the dark elf from her protection.

The dark elf took off running in a panic, so Ushiko ran after her and asked her a question.

[[Image:fangaku_ushiko.jpg|50px]]

“So what do you think?”

[[Image:fangaku_deko_awate.jpg|50px]]

“About what!?”

[[Image:fangaku_ushiko.jpg|50px]]

“Your whole life changed overnight and this is the result.”

The dark elf looked up into the sky for a bit. And finally…

[[Image:fangaku_deko_komari.jpg|50px]]

“Did it really have to change quite this much?”

Ushiko smiled bitterly and pushed on her back as she ran. And in a whisper…

[[Image:fangaku_ushiko.jpg|50px]]

“I wish you a happy future.”

She must not have heard.

Which was for the best.

Because this place was an exciting enough place for a wish of happiness to seem insignificant.

●

The Tachikawa Police Department (TPD)’s Central Depths Unit (CDU) was a field unit tasked with keeping the peace in the Depths Region.

This morning, their main team had responded to the appearance of a lesser dragon at Tama Tech, so it was the backup team that had hurried to Tokyo Depths Academy.

The lesser dragon had been detected there.

It had already appeared and the school had requested assistance with defense and preservation, not with battling the dragon.

The Central Depths Unit prided themselves in being the ones who kept the peace in the Tokyo Depths Region, but…

[[Image:fangaku_shokuo.jpg|50px]]

“Those students always complicate matters!”

[[Image:fangaku_sub.jpg|50px]]

“As a TD alum, I’m looking forward to seeing what they can do.”

The backup team ignored that divine transmission from their superiors as they arrived on the scene a little late.

But once they arrived on the street through the main gate, they found…

[[Image:fangaku_backup.jpg|50px]]

“It’s being contained by a defense barrier!”

It exploded.

When a large enough being had not fully materialized and was not fully defined, a few different things could happen when it vanished.

An ether explosion was one of the worst options.

If the creature was destroyed by force, the shock could trigger an explosion.

That was what had happened here.

The emblems on the surface of the armored truck glowed in response to the explosion.

A defense barrier activated along with a three-tone PSG Shinto prayer.

At the same time, a gust of wind and ether light blast blew by, rustling the forest’s trees.

[[Image:fangaku_backup.jpg|50px]]

“The dragon is done for!”

Were they only imagining that the explosive blast sounded like a dragon’s roar?

But after the light and wind passed by, they only saw the badly damaged stone pavement and…

[[Image:fangaku_backup.jpg|50px]]

“Captain! The lesser dragon’s reading is gone! It has already been slain!”

[[Image:fangaku_scene_street2.jpg]]

●

“Damn,” muttered Shokuo atop the armored truck in front of Tama Tech.

[[Image:fangaku_shokuo.jpg|50px]]

…''And I explicitly told them not to let any students interfere!

This was bad.

Now the CDU looked like nothing more than some “fairly useless police officers”.

''But I can’t exactly complain about a peaceful resolution.

[[Image:fangaku_shokuo.jpg|50px]]

“Okay, time to leave! We can grab some breakfast when we get back!”

The rest of the team laughed a little at that.

But they weren’t making fun of him.

It was always like this.

Their bitter laughter contained a hint of relief that a possible crisis had been averted. And…

[[Image:fangaku_daida.jpg|50px]]

“It was Hanako.”

Shokuo could not agree.

[[Image:fangaku_shokuo.jpg|50px]]

“No, it wasn’t! The thing disappeared on its own! On its own! …That’s what’s going in my report anyway!”

Honestly.

[[Image:fangaku_shokuo.jpg|50px]]

“Angel Stare has a new member! The Depths Region is never seeing a moment’s peace now!”

===Preview===

[[Image:fangaku_kuroma_warai.jpg|50px]]

“We are Angel Stare, one of the units participating in the Tokyo Depths Speedrun.”

[[Image:fangaku_hanako_bakawarai.jpg|50px]]

“Okay, let’s give our new dark elf a taste of a vanilla Depths Speedrun. By which I mean slaying a wyvern!”

[[Image:fangaku_shiroma_warai.jpg|50px]]

“Next time: ‘How About You Try Dying Just Once?’ I know the title sounds scary, but don’t worry. Now, let’s make this exciting!”


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