Editing Saijaku Muhai no Bahamut:Volume 6 Episode 3 (section)

===Part 4===

「Then from here on, it will be the last exam of today. The fourth exam──the test of combat practical skills will begin!」

And then in the afternoon, the last exam was finally started.

When this exam was over, a review would be carried out by the examiners and the examinees’ success or failure would be decided under the basis of each of their total scores.

But, the examiner who was obstructing the New Kingdom in each exam──Buzzheim was finally taking action personally.

「Lux Arcadia, Noct Leaflet, both names are to go to the practice grounds in the northeast block and hold a mock battle with an examiner. Finish your preparations and then standby.」

In order to shorten the time needed and also to inspect cooperation between Drag-Knights that was an indispensable aspect, a mock battle in the format of a pair challenging an examiner would be held.

Lux formed a pair with Noct, and the two of them sat side by side on the spectator seats that were located on the high ground of the outer wall.

「Take care of me, Noct.」

「Yes. I will do my best not to drag down Lux-san. I wish to do every effort that I can.」

The girl was calm like usual, but her voice was a bit stiff. It looked like she was a bit nervous.

「Did Airi look well?」

When Lux asked that to make small talk, Noct was unusually speaking hesitantly.

「──Yes. On the surface……but」

「On the surface……you mean?」

「This is my personal conjecture, but perhaps Airi has been worrying about something from some time ago. But, I don’t know what that crucial something is.」

She muttered matter-of-factly, and before long she leaked out a quiet sigh.

「I tried to probe in my own way through normal conversation, but I didn’t manage to find out anything. My deepest apologies for not being useful.」

Noct made a small bow with a quite tone.

Lux who saw that shook his head in a hurry.

「This isn’t something Noct needs to apologize for. This is like the failure of me, her big brother for not understanding about his little sister. I’m really thankful just from you feeling that concerned about it.」

「Is, that so?」

「Yep. Besides see, Airi making fun of me when in front of someone else, usually that is something that doesn’t really happen. That’s why, for her to do that in front of you, her best friend, surely means that Airi too is letting her guard down around you so──」

Lux talked brightly to Noct who was unusually looking dejected.

「I’m thankful for your consideration. Thanks to that I feel a bit relieved. Then, in the mock battle against the examiner after this, I will lay a barrage of support fire from behind. I’ll entrust the charging role to Lux-san.」

「Suddenly it’s a merciless tactic like that!?」

The change of topic that was just too drastic caused Lux to raise his voice reflexively.

「Is that so? Then, Lux-san is telling me, your junior, to come out to the front as the vanguard using Drake then.」

「No but, I, when I’m using Wyvern, I’m not suited for offense……」

The exam this time was for examining the examinee’s skill purely as a Drag-Knight. Using things like remodeled weapons or a Divine Drag-Ride weren’t permitted.

Therefore, things like Scale Blade that Lisha developed couldn’t be used, they would have to fight using only basic armaments like normal Blade, Dagger, Breath Gun, Wire Tail, and so on.

「I only remembered now by chance but, in the practice ground the other day, Lux-san was peeping at everyone’s underwear from the second floor didn’t you? Even mine──」

「……Please allow me to take on that role by all means.」

Towards Noct who was purposefully talking in monotone, Lux could do nothing but agreeing with a dry look.

「Yes. Thank you very much. But, Lux-san isn’t denying about you staring fixedly at my underwear, so I’m feeling a bit creeped out though.」

「Denying or not, I didn’t stare until that much you know-!? No, that’s, because Noct’s underwear was curious, so I unconsciously almost watched in fascination, but it’s not like I was planning to peek right from the start──」

「…………」

When Lux said that in a flustered state, Noct fell completely silent.

(Wait, this is bad……! I spontaneously said the truth──!)

Lux was in a panic while he fearfully took a peek at the girl’s face thinking of what to do so that she would forgive him, it was then,

「Haa, Lux-san is a really troubling person.」

Her cheeks were vaguely blushing. She averted her gaze while muttering that with reproachful eyes.

The rare reaction that came from Noct who was always taciturn and calm caused Lux’s heart to throb from shock.

While the two were having such a dialogue, the voice of the examiner could be heard.

「Next, Lux Arcadia and Noct Leaflet. Your exam will start in the third block! Make your preparations at the designated place!」

Lux changed his look while Noct’s expression also returned to her usual look after hearing those words.

「Let’s go. Surely Buzzheim’s aim at present is us.」

「Yes. It looks like this will become a fight that is worth doing.」

Noct responded to Lux’s words by standing up from the bench.

They passed through the corridor and stood at one of the rings of the practice ground that was divided into four.

There, Buzzheim was waiting as expected with a challenging grin pasted on his mouth.

「I’m tired of waiting here. That I can take you on personally──is only at this time.」

After Lux advanced to the center of the ring, Buzzheim who was wearing a pilot suit pulled out his Sword Device.

Even without saying anything, his eyes were brimming with enough hostility.

「The exam time limit is ten minutes. It’s a real battle format where combat skills and coordination of the pair are evaluated. The fundamental rule will conform to the rules of official mock battles. Are you ready?」

「──Come, the winged dragon of crest, the symbol of power. Obey my sword and soar, Wyvern.」

「──Come, the dragon of illusions that arrives at the origin. Establish a flickering form over and over again, Drake.」

Lux and Noct pulled out their Sword Devices almost at the same time and pushed the trigger on the handle while muttering the passcode.

The faint phosphorescence converging before their eyes formed shape and two Drag-Rides were summoned.

「Connect – On」

Right after the two equipped those, Buzzheim also similarly deployed his Drag-Ride and equipped it.

At a glance, his Drag-Ride was similar to a Wyvern, but its armor was a cut above the common Wyvern.

「EX Wyvern……is it? You’re using a powerful Drag-Ride just for a mere test.」

Noct pointed that out without letting her agitation show on the surface.

SpecialEX general purpose Drag-Rides were fundamentally given only to humans of High Class or above.

Just from this it showed that this man wasn’t only all about position, but that he was also a powerful person of higher order.

「After all I’m taking on two opponents here. I heard that the Drag-Knights of the New Kingdom are excellent. Surely I’m not going to be able to take on you two without at least this much right?」

Buzzheim bared a smirk, perhaps in sarcasm towards the good results that the New Kingdom had scored until now.

Lux once again sensed that as expected, this wasn’t just a mere practical exam.

「Drag-Ride’s equipping is confirmed. The combat practical exam will begin after this……」

The voice of the officer who took the role as the referee resounded in the ring. The atmosphere was tensing stingingly.

The moment the tension heightened to the limit, Buzzheim’s arm moved slightly.

「──Battle, Start!」

Right after the referee’s yell resounded, the back wings of Buzzheim’s EX Wyvern shined and a vortex of air whirled on his back.

「Hah!」

Buzzheim accelerated until maximum speed in one breath along with a terrific eruption of light and he charged ahead.

「──!?」

It was only for a few second, but he had controlled his Drag-Ride before the match started to take his opponents by surprise.

Lux noticed the fact that the referee was someone under Buzzheim’s influence and he was overlooking the foul play but──too late.

The enemy was already approaching right before Lux’s eyes, swinging down a medium sized Blade.

「……Ku!」

Buzzheim’s rule violation and violent assault that was unthinkable for an exam.

The attack of the great sword that had the weight of an accelerating Drag-Ride put behind it drew a sharp trajectory.

The moment Lux strengthened his barrier and took a stance with his Blade to use it as a shield to parry the attack──he noticed that.

「──!?」

In a timing of a mere instant, Lux quickly used the Blade that he readied as a shield for blocking to sweep horizontally. With that motion, he was barely able to divert the trajectory of Buzzheim’s slash that was feigning to attack him while aiming at Noct.

「Uu, aa……!」

──But, that attack which had maximum energy filled into the Blade couldn’t be completely blocked. The Drake’s barrier was shaved and a part of the shoulder armor broke.

Unable to endure, Noct leaped backward and escaped from Buzzheim’s range.

Using that opening Lux laid out a barrage with his Breath Gun and cut off the flow of a pursuing attack.

「Oops…… aren’t you better than I thought. I might have done something bad making my subordinates trying something on you guys……. For those idiots this is something over their head.」

Buzzheim was blocking the barrage using his barrier while showing a smug smirk.

As expected, a Wyvern that wasn’t even tuned was a little in a disadvantage against the output of an EX Wyvern that was a strengthened version of general purpose Drag-Ride.

Buzzheim’s composure was exactly because he knew that.

In this situation where Lux was unable to use Critical Hit using Scale Blade, destroying the enemy using normal method was next to impossible.

The only method to breakthrough this was to make use of the opponent’s low aptitude for Drag-Rides because he was a male, and waited it out for him to run out of breath, but because this was an exam, the time limit was short, so that method couldn’t be used.

If Lux was alone, he would be able to continue to defend without problem.

(But, what do I do in case he continued to aim at Noct?)

The match result itself shouldn’t be directly related to their exam’s success or failure, but there was no way he could let the enemy injure them.

「What’s wrong? It won’t be an exam if you just defend you know? Show me the skill of you two.」

「…………」

After hesitating for a few seconds, Lux advanced forward by himself just like he had arranged beforehand with Noct.

『Please be careful Lux-san! This man is──serious!』

Noct who had a part of her armor broken urged for caution using Dragon Voice from behind.

『Please don’t worry about me! If you recklessly start attacking from your end, you will be overcome from the spec difference. In the worst case that Lux-san gets hurt, I won’t have any face to look at Airi.』

Noct’s prediction wasn’t wrong. ──But,

『You’re wrong, Noct.』

Lux talked to Noct behind him with a calm voice without any fervor or unease.

『If I let him hurt you more than this, it’s me who will be the one that cannot face Airi.』

『Lux, san……』

『Let’s fight together. If it’s us──we can surely win.』

『……Yes. Then──can I ask you for instructions?』

「You guys aren’t coming? Then it can’t be helped. I’ll use all the remaining time──to crush you!」

Buzzheim who exposed a wicked look flew aiming at Noct once more.

The remaining time limit was approximately seven minutes.

The enemy’s Drag-Ride danced in the sky in order to settle the match during that time.