Editing Saijaku Muhai no Bahamut:Volume 7 Episode 4 (section)

===Part 22===

North of the holy capital.

In front of the collapsed cathedral, Drakkhen leaped toward Lux.

Lux’s limit from his exhaustion of stamina and his bleeding was already noticeable.

But, Drakkhen didn’t let her guard down until the very end.

She had mustered her ingenuity, applied the combat force she had trained and scraped up together, made use of the terrain advantage, and cornered her enemy.

But the powerful enemy before her couldn’t be defeated even after all those. Now she would ruin and plunder from him with her own strength.

For Drakkhen who was used as disposable female mercenary and shunned as someone of low birth, this fight was something that she was able to accept from the bottom of her heart for the first time.

But, she still wasn’t satisfied.

She knew that if a mercenary was defeated in a battlefield, there would be no next time. Thus,

(──As expected, at the end I gotta win.)

For someone who was living in battle, a battle would have value when even victory was included in it.

While she was giving more than a passing thought to that, she saw the opponent before her gripping Bahamut’s Sword Device.

「Tuning, on──」

Right after Lux shortly muttered, images of light emerged around his Drag-Ride.

It was the tuning form that showed various things like numeric and graphics in ancient letters.

Originally it was a function was for the sake of tuning Drag-Ride’s output, configuration, armaments, and so on, but there was a Drag-Knight who made use of it as combat skill.

「……Relying on other person’s technique like that, you’ve run out of plan huh, hero!」

What Lux was going to use was the battle array of Seven Dragon Paladins’ vice captain, Singlen.

If Lux used that technique, then he was bound to use the two techniques that were shown to him at the Class Promotion Exam that was held in Wanheim Principality, the evasion technique──Battle Array – Vicissitudes, and the technique to focus energy into one point, Battle Array – Aeon Fire.

In that case, she could think of countermeasure.

Currently Lux was unable to see through Drakkhen’s preliminary motion when she was attacking. In such condition he should be still unable to use the Quick Shot, the consecutive slash that was launched by accelerating time using Reload on Fire.

The moment she would lunge with random slashes using her sharp claws with the readiness to bring certain death──, Lux’s body suddenly swayed.

「──Reload on Fire.」

Right after that mutter, red flash surged from Bahamut’s frame, and a shudder ran through Drakkhen’s body.

She should have act in the way so her attack couldn’t be seen through but──was she read through already!?

Inside her heart she was sweating coldly like that, but the speed of Lux’s sword was the same like usual.

It was a sharp slash with minimum movement going through the shortest route, but it wouldn’t be able to break through Asp’s defense with just that.

Left arm, right leg, and then wrist, her armor received shallow attacks on three spots, but all of them were all right.

Just in case she leaped backward for the moment and took distance, but as expected she didn’t receive any damage.

Rather than relieve it felt more like anticlimax, after that anger welled up inside.

「──Just when I thought you are going to do something at the end, it’s just a stupid bluff!」

When Drakkhen was going to move into offense, Lux leaped toward her.

「How obstinate, I have prepared countermeasure for all of your attack──……-!?」

When she was going to intercept Lux’s charge, something strange occurred in her Asp.

[[File:Saijaku V7 P291.jpg|thumb|right]]

The three spots that were cut just now flickered with red light, each of them was moving with unexpected ultra high speed.

「U, gu, AaAaaaAAAAAAH……!?」

*MEGIMEGIMEGII!* The sound of metal armor getting squashed struck Drakkhen’s remaining eardrum.

Every moving part of Asp’s armor couldn’t catch up with the speed of the three spots that was too fast and self-destructed.

At the same time, Drakkhen’s body was pulled by the movement of the armor she was wearing. Some part of her bones broke and her muscles were torn.

「Wha, what……! This is!? What is hapening──!?」

Drakkhen shrieked along with blood splash from her body. She leaped backward to escape, but at that moment, a voice came from above her.

「──Violent Strike. The Divine Raiment of compression strengthening is applied to only a part of the enemy’s armor. It forcefully accelerate the Drag-Ride’s part and destroy it, a technique of tuning.」

「Don’t tell me, you──!?」

The secret technique of tuning that he learned from the battle against Singlen, Battle Array.

Lux combined it with Bahamut’s Divine Raiment, and created a new combat skill.

In a flash, Lux pursued the withdrawing Drakkhen.

And then, he unleashed it toward Asp that was still unable to move because of the damage.

「Reload on Fire.」

「──!?」

Right after Bahamut’s armor shined crimson, the armor of Asp that Drakkhen was clad with instantly burst apart into pieces.

The seven high speed consecutive slashes that came from the compression strengthening of time instantly destroyed the remaining armored arm, the joints of the four legs, Force Core, and the Sword Device, cornering the opponent into a powerless state in no time at all.

It started with taking initiative using Violent Strike to accelerate the enemy’s Drag-Ride, destroying it, and then connecting the move to accelerating oneself and launched Quick Shot.

The acceleration of oneself using Bahamut’s Divine Raiment would cause the slowing of the user’s own time at the beginning, because of that the user had to completely predict ahead the opponent’s movement when using it.

Thus, the combat skill this time transcended the weak point of being unable to execute 『sure kill attack』 at the first move.

It was a technique that was newly created, that even Drakkhen who had obtained detailed information about Lux didn’t know about it until just now──.

「Haha……, what a man. No matter how many countermeasures I stacked up, it’s still insufficient……no, that’s not it. So I finally meet a man that is impossible to be prepared against huh.」

Even more than his skill, what was truly terrifying from him was the speed of his growth, Drakkhen realized.

──’But, the battle is still not over yet.’

Lux wouldn’t kill her in order to capture and obtain information from her.

She herself was already worn out too, but she wouldn’t give up the match until the very end.

Lux also reached his limit, and Bahamut’s armor was finally dispelled too.

The moment he adjusted his breathing with a large exhale ‘fuu’, Drakkhen’s body that was lying down on the ground sprang up.

She used one leg to kicked on the ground toward the opponent that was ten ml away.

Originally her Drag-Ride couldn’t move properly because of the impact from the armor getting smashed, but if it was she herself, she could still move.

「Lux!? Watch out──!?」

When Drakkhen was going to stab a blade into Lux’s chest with broken right arm──,

「That’s, not permitted.」

A dignified voice resounded from somewhere, and the knife attack was blocked by Celis’s rapier.

At the same time, Philuffy who appeared from behind a building twisted Drakkhen’s arm from behind and sealed her movement.

When her joint was dislocated *gokiri* after that without pause, Lux became a bit flustered.

「Celis-senpai! Also Phi-chan too!」

「I’m sorry for being unable to help in the battle Lux. But, we were also pursued, so it couldn’t be helped.」

「Just now, all the people walking around, were finally taken care of.」

It seemed after the two broke through the encirclement and lured away some enemy, they became unable to use their Drag-Ride. After that it seemed they then faced the Dragon Marauder members who were concealing themselves in the flesh.

However, for them to be able to overwhelm even infantry in a battle without wearing Drag-Ride, as expected from these two.

After taking care of the infantries Dragon Marauder, it seemed the two were observing the situation, wondering whether they could somehow support Lux even without Drag-Ride.

「Chih, this is also unexpected for me. For my subordinates to lose against noble young ladies in hand-to-hand.」

Drakkhen was rolled over by Philuffy and she smiled in self-depreciation. Celis silently turned her face toward her.

「Before this you said to us, that we are overestimating our own strength and looking down on the enemy. Certainly it might be just as you said. But──」

「I see. So I was also similarly underestimating my enemy huh. The aristocrat daughter Drag-Knight users, and the ruined prince protecting them. So, you all aren’t just bunches of girls resting on your laurels getting drunk with your position and armed might……. Even though you girls are noble, until now I’ve never met that kind of noble even once.」

「I sympathize with your environment but, your sin won’t be redeemed with that. We will take you back to the new kingdom and interrogate you there.」

「……So far as a defeat goes, being able to survive even as prisoner is still one of the better way it can go. I hate torture though.」

The lamenting Drakkhen was tied with rope and she was delivered to the guards.

When the relief for the people in the cathedral began, Yoruka showed up while carrying the fainted Lisha.

「More importantly, is Krulcifer all right? I heard that she was in the middle of battle against Ymir’s Seven Dragon Paladins, Mel Gizalut……」

「Before my Drag-Ride dispelled, I received Dragon Voice from her. It looks like there is no more need for worry.」

Lux showed a smile at Celis’s words and he answered her.

「──In that case, there is also no need to force ourselves to go there to join up with her then.」

In respond to Yoruka’s refreshing mutter, Philuffy slightly turned her serious face.

「That’s not it, we are being tactful, right?」

‘As always, even though she is looking really absentminded like that, Philuffy is sharp huh’, Lux thought with a wry smile.

Lux slowly turned his face and spoke as though telling Krulcifer who was right now at another place.

「Right. I want to let Krulcifer-san, to be with her family without any outsider intruding for a  while, so──」

He prayed that Krulcifer would have a happy time.

No matter what Krulcifer actually was, Lux was convinced that he would be able to wish her to be happy.

He wanted that if possible, the number of people who could think like that would also increase inside her family.

With that wish in mind, he looked up the sky where snow was starting to fall.