Editing Saijaku Muhai no Bahamut:Volume 5 Episode 4 (section)

===Part 5===

「Wha, what happened!? Why is fire coming from inside──uwah!?」

「Re, retreat! They infiltrated until inside this fortress already!」

「Idiot! Retreat you say!? There are still thirty Abyss remaining here! No way we can run away to the capital at this rate!」

「You are the idiot! We cannot maintain the front line now that the formation has crumbled this far! At this rate it will be total annihilation!」

There was a loud bombing sound and the sound of Drag-Rides’ propulsion devices from above.

Furthermore the screams of the soldiers was mixed with the roars of the Abyss. Lux who only just woke up instantly recognized the graveness of the situation.

「────」

He quickly took the pocket watch that he put on the stand beside the pillow and checked the time.

It was less than two hours since Lux’s consciousness cut off.

He put strength into his lower feet and stood up, then took a deep breath.

Strength returned to his body, but under this emergency situation, not even a single mistake would be permitted.

He opened the door from inside with strong vigilance. When he tried to climb to the first floor from the stone room underground, he caught sight of a wounded person who seemed to roll down from the stairs.

「Get a hold of yourself! What happened!?」

When Lux rushed to the person in panic and lifted up his body, the soldier made a suffering expression and talked with a hoarse voice.

「Re, retreat quickly! We were tricked. Our strategy was leaked to those guys right from the start! That’s the only explanation. We fought the Abyss well at first, but those guys……the Rebel Army that suddenly appeared from inside the fortress, attacked us──」

「……The Rebel Army? How?」

In the Imperial Capital Recapture Plan that the New Kingdom’s spy obtained, the Rebel Army that was the main force shouldn’t attack yet according to the plan.

「I don’t know. But there is only one thing that is clear. It’s already impossible to defend this fortress anymore……」

「…………」

Lux instinctually grasped the true situation.

The fact that Lux heard from the consuls──that the Rebel Army’s main force should still be standing by at a far away base. It was a trap from the enemy that they were caught in.

(However──it’s only natural.)

If a great number of Abyss were found to exist near the capital, anyone would have their attention diverted there.

In order to intercept a hundred Abyss at this hidden fortress, sixty percent of the full strength of the New Kingdom’s army was invested here.

The situation was more pressing than expected.

「Please hide underground and retreat when there is a chance. I’m──going.」

「Wa, wait! What are you planning to do!?」

「I’ll lure away the remaining Abyss and the Rebel Army somehow for sure.」

「Sto, stop acting rashly……!? Such thing, is imposs──!」

Ignoring the soldier who tried to stop him, Lux summoned his Wyvern.

He quickly equipped it and flew, got out of the fortress that was on fire, and headed to the sky in order to grasp the situation.

What he found there was the swarm of Abyss that was climbing over the fortress while destroying it and──around two hundred Rebel Army members behind them.

Until that point it was within Lux’s expectation, but an unexpected face was among that army.

「Hoo, it has been a long time──Lux. O little brother of my best friend Abel Arcadia.」

Lux unconsciously held his breath after seeing the Drag-Knight inside the EX Wyvern flying in the front as though leading that army.

「You are……if I remember right──」

Ragreed Forus.

Five years ago he escaped from the New Kingdom to Heiburg and colluded with the military division there.  The supreme commander of the Rebel Army.

Once, in the Arcadia Empire, he was the best friend of Lux’s older brother, the sixth imperial prince Abel. A man from a great noble family who was arranged to become a member of that Abel’s imperial guard.

His personality and ideology were dyed the same color as the Old Empire. He schemed to put a false accusation on Philuffy who was still a child at that time. To Lux, he was an opponent that he had a tie with.

The subordinates behind him didn’t move, perhaps because he given instructions using Dragon Voice so that they didn’t interfere.

「Strange fate really does exist. We, who have relation as someone who similarly spend childhood time in the imperial court are now reunited like this as fellow enemies. I heard about your story from the strategist you know? Black Hero.」

Ragreed sent a condescending gaze at Lux and grinned.

It seemed that he already heard about the Black Hero and Bahamut from that Hayes.

「Since that time, when you became a hindrance to my scheme, I had a hunch even as a child, that this guy is absolutely──going to be an enemy against me.」

He said that with an annoyed tone before pointing his middle sized Blade towards Lux.

「But, in the end, it’s me who will win. Already, the capital is going to certainly fall. I will succeed the will of the Old Empire──ascending to the throne of this country as the new emperor.」

「──Pitiful person.」

「Wha……?」

Ragreed knitted his eyebrows slightly in response to Lux’s cold gaze towards him.

「Don’t you understand that you are only being used as a pawn by Heiburg’s military division and that strategist? By the time you become the emperor only in name, you will be nothing more than a puppet that rules this country obeying what those guys ordered you to. Are you planning to become a clown who is only acting like a ruler because your eyes are blinded by greed?」

「……Fuh, fufufu. KukukukukukukuHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!」

When Lux pointed that out, Ragreed covered his face with his right hand while laughing loudly.

「You haven’t changed at all, huh. You, are you stupid or are you an idiot──or are you drunk?」

Ragreed made a vulgar grin on his mouth while tapping on his own head *tap tap* with his finger.

「A propped up figurehead? A clown who is only acting? So what? Isn’t that just fine? I will be able to wield the authority of this country publicly as the emperor under the banner of Heiburg. I’ll be able to toy with this country’s fortune and foolish masses, and act as tyrannical as I please. After all, I’m a modest and clever person. The qualifications as an emperor or the recognition of others──I don’t have any interest in anything like that from the start. It’s all fine if I can just live easily and make you all submit.」

「…………」

Lux listened to that and let out a small sigh.

This man before his eyes, originally, he was a man from a great noble family at the level that allowed him to come and go even inside the imperial court, but right now he looked uglier than any kind of Abyss.

「──Only you, I absolutely won’t allow you to do that. 」

Lux quietly took a breath, then he looked forward with a chilly gaze.

And then he took a stance with his Scale Blade positioned horizontally at the same height as his eyes. In response to that, Ragreed also moved his EX Wyvern.

「Kukuku! You sure can talk, huh, ruined prince! ──Then, I’ll make you beg!」

He flew drawing a sharp curve while saying that and unleashed a slash from his rush towards Lux.

It was an attack that made use of the EX Wyvern’s mobility, but that was all there was to it.

Lux saw it and then reacted. He intercepted using Critical Hit by means of the Scale Blade.

With that, the opponent’s attack power should be reflected back onto a single point and destroy the weapon and armor, but──

*BACHIIN!*

「-……!?」

Instantly a dazzling light burst at the point of contact and both sides were blown backwards.

The Critical Hit should have been executed perfectly, but the EX Wyvern was unharmed.

No, rather than that──

(The Drag-Ride’s movement, at midway……it changed?)

There wasn’t just a powerful repelling force just now, right before Lux blocked the attack, the enemy’s movement changed subtly.

It happened at the timing that absolutely couldn’t be changed if the Drag-Ride was only controlled normally.

「──What’s up, is that everything you got? You seriously think you can protect this country when you cannot even beat me alone?」

Lux’s Critical Hit ended in failure wasn’t because Ragreed’s movement was exceptionally excellent.

Certainly he had the skill that was near the level of a High Class Drag-Knight, but that was all.

The Drag-Ride he was wearing had the appearance of a simple EX Wyvern but──it contained some kind of secret.

「You aren’t going to use Bahamut against the likes of me? Then I’ll teach you something good. About right now a bigger calamity is approaching the New Kingdom. A tremendous force that is even more dangerous than that Ragnarok.」

「What……!?」

Ragreed’s fearless grin didn’t show any signs of falsehood.

No, leaving that aside Lux had a clue about it.

If his worst imagination, that normally should be absolutely impossible, was right on the mark──

「──Howling Howl!」

Instantly Lux emitted shockwaves from his armor’s head aiming at Ragreed in front of him.

Right after the EX Wyvern was sent flying before his eyes, Lux moved backwards and took a wide distance.

Lux took position at the shadow of a large rock behind him, then he quickly dispelled his Wyvern.

「Fuh! Finally you got motivated huh? Then──I’m going to go at full power too!」

Ragreed who saw that also pulled back temporarily before pulling the horn flute on his neck towards his mouth.

Along with the dissonant chord of the horn, the command towards the Grimoire was rewritten and the remaining thirty Abyss stopped attacking the fortress. All of them simultaneously changed direction towards Lux. Furthermore with that as the signal, the Rebel Army’s Drag-Knights who were colored in grey also directed their weapon’s aim towards Lux.

The current Lux could only use Bahamut for the time limit of twelve minutes.

Using it for more than that would cause the Drag-Ride to be forcefully dispelled  and become unusable.

The remaining thirty-odd Abyss and approximately two hundred Drag-Knights of the Rebel Army.

The greatest threat currently approaching the royal capital.

There was already no other way except making a gamble here in order to stop all those threats.

Lux quickly muttered the passscode and equipped a jet black armor.

「Kuku, finally showing up huh Black Hero! User of the violent dragon Bahamut! Now, show me! Just what can you do with that few remaining time and strength!」

Ragreed yelled and lifted his Blade high towards the sky.

Instantly, the Abyss and the Drag-Knights he was leading simultaneously started attacking.