Editing Saijaku Muhai no Bahamut:Volume 12 Episode 6 (section)

===Part 6===
「U, ku……. Everyone, how are-, you……?」

Under the seventh Ruin, Moon──the Academy’s practice ground.

The simultaneous explosions of Oil Slimes that approached stealthily due to Drakkhen’s tactic caused the practice ground and even the audience seats to become tattered.

Lisha who woke up confirmed that her limbs were still attached. She looked around at the surroundings where the flame blast had settled down.

It seemed because Lisha was the farthest from the explosion, her injuries were relatively light.

Three girls were lying down at the audience seats that had already crumbled without leaving any trace of their original shape.

She could see Celis, Philuffy, and then Coral through the smoke.

With Coral, blood was flowing from his whole body. His four limbs also broke and his breath was faint.

「……Can you, tell Lux-kun for me? Tell him I’m sorry, that I can not meet him anymore with this appearance.」

Coral muttered with a faltering voice. When his gaze met Lisha, Coral’s reached out hand fell powerlessly.

Then light vanished from his eyes and he stopped moving altogether.

「Damn, it……──!?」

Lisha cursed at her comrade’s death, at the same time she felt a strange sense of discomfort.

If it was Philuffy and Celis, then it felt like they would be able to avoid lethal wounds even in that situation, but──

「……Both of them, had too much burden piled up. Both of them are the type to pretend to be okay no matter their actual condition after all.」

「Krulcifer, are you safe!?」

A voice that was oozing exhaustion came from the other side of a huge mound of rubble.

After Lisha collapsed the rubble with Tiamat’s gravity control, she became speechless seeing the figure of Krulcifer who was standing there.

Fafnir’s armor was already dispelled. Blood was flowing from her forehead and limbs.

「Celis-senpai held back the Ragnarok……Iblis by herself, so she received its powerful mental pollution the most than anyone here, her defense was also weak because she purged a part of her armor. That was why at the moment of that explosion, she was unable to use her Divine Raiment of instant teleportation right away.」

*Cough-*, Krulcifer vomited blood from the backlash of forcing herself to talk.

It seemed rubble fragments tore her pilot suit and hit her body. Her internal organ was injured.

The defense membrane of the barrier should be transmitted to the pilot suit too, but the explosion’s impact surpassed even that defensive power.

「Philuffy too, something similar also happened to her. She resisted both the sound of horn flute Drakkhen manipulated and Iblis’s mental pollution while fighting Vine and the Abyss without losing against them. She endured and forced herself too much──, uu……」

「Stop! Don’t talk anymore!」

Lisha yelled in panic seeing Krulcifer vomiting out blood again.

But, Krulcifer shook her head slightly in rejection with her face losing color.

「No, there is still something that you have to hear. We are at our limit already. And then those Dragon Marauders should be tired too, but they still have spare strength left. If we don’t decide what to do from here──we will be annihilated.」

Seeing Krulcifer telling her that with feeble breath, Lisha noticed something.

She who should be in long range just like her was totally ruined like this. It was strange.

Fafnir’s Divine Raiment could do future prediction, and its special armament Auto Shield should be able to protect her automatically. And yet why did she receive this much injury?

Considering how Tiamat’s armor was unexpectedly undamaged, she reached a conclusion that she didn’t dare to believe.

「You, did you protect me!? Why!? Why did you do such thing──」

「Actually, I also didn’t have any leeway to save you though……. In my future prediction, I saw that you will be unlucky and got directly hit with rubbles, receiving a lethal wound from that──cough-……!」

Right after Krulcifer showed a cool smile to bluff, she collapsed on the spot.

When Lisha caught her with Tiamat’s armored arm, strength left Krulcifer’s body.

「You idiot! Did you need to do that until you almost died yourself!? There isn’t any reason for you to protect me!」

「……That might, be so. But, I don’t feel bad doing it. Surely the person who I loved, also won’t want to see you die……that was the hunch I got.」

With that Krulcifer closed her eyes and lost consciousness.

Krulcifer who saw the future prediction stood in front of Lisha and poured all her strength into defense so that she wouldn’t be fatally injured.

「Even though you usually always made fun of me, damn Krulcifer……」

It was also like this when they fought Celis together in the Academy.

She was her classmate with whom she always quarreled with in regards to Lux, and sometimes she would speak to her frankly without consideration, but she would lend her strength when it was crucial.

「But, I won’t let your decision end as a mistake.」

In the situation just now where the defeat of Celis and Philuffy became certain, it would be hard for Krulcifer whose main method of battle was long range sniping to take on the three Dragon Marauders by herself.

Then, Lisha could only produce results to respond to Krulcifer’s act of using all her strength to protect her.

Even so, Lisha only had one dissatisfaction.

「There is no need to decide what to do from here. Defeat those guys, also please take care of Lux……it would be fine if you just said that to me. After everything that they did to you guys──I’m not someone who will just stay quiet and unable to do anything about it.」

「Heee, I want to see you try that.」

「──!?」

When Lisha turned around towards the voice that suddenly came from behind, three Drag-Knights were standing at the destroyed practice ground before she knew it.

The core of Dragon Marauder, the three division commanders, Gatouhan, Vine and Drakkhen.

It was only for a few minutes but they seemed to have taken a rest. They were gazing at Lisha with leisurely eyes that were convinced of victory.

「Lux Arcadia who is fighting the other Ragnarok in the Moon──Deus ex Machina is already defeated. If you surrender right away then I’ll at least spare your life. I return your words before this right back at you.」

「…………」

The boy called Vine calmly said that. In response Lisha filled her gaze with rebellious spirit and glared fiercely.

Drakkhen seemed to feel her intention and shrugged her shoulders in exasperation.

「You all had fought that hard in such a disadvantageous situation. It’s not like I don’t understand your feelings, but the action that a princess should take is to give priority to the safety of your comrades right?」

Lisha thought towards that question.

Although she still had spare strength remaining, the battle situation was overwhelmingly disadvantageous.

She mustn’t make a mistake with her choice here.

When she thought like that, she noticed a certain fact that she couldn’t see until now.

At the same time, there was also a Dragon Voice from the Academy that reached her just now.

「──You are wrong there, lowly bandits.」

「What?」

Gatouhan who acted as the leader among the three glared at Lisha with questioning eyes.

「If I’m thinking of my comrade’s life as the priority, then that is even more reason why I must not surrender to people like you. In the battle just now, although you guys are also strengthened by the Baptism whatever, you guys also didn’t get away unscathe.」

Even without looking closer, she could see that the three Divine Drag-Rides the Dragon Marauders were wearing were quite damaged.

There wasn’t any heavy damage, but at the very least they weren’t so unharmed that they could use their full power.

「Besides, you guys don’t understand me. If you want to threaten me to surrender, it will be useless unless you bring Lux himself here. There is no way that guy will lose that easily. In other words──it’s the opposite. You guys are trying to take us hostage because you want to do something somehow about Lux.」

「……Hee, I thought that the Princess of the New Kingdom had a personality that was like a wild boar, but looks like you can use your brain a little. But, is it okay? Those girls cannot be left alone without treatment like that for long, or perhaps──you think you can win against us three by yourself?」

「Us three also have no leeway. It’s three against one but, we will finish you off without holding back.」

After Drakkhen, Basilisk that Vine was wearing took a stance with its medium-sized Blade.

At that moment, three Drag-Ride silhouettes could be seen heading this way from behind Lisha.

「Enemy reinforcements huh!」

Gatouhan pointed out while clicking his tongue, but Drakkhen snorted.

「──No, they are just small fries. They aren’t Divine Drag-Ride users.」

The people who rushed here as reinforcements were the Triad who suppressed the students as well as the guard Drag-Knights’ infighting due to the mental pollution.

But, after accomplishing that, the girls were exhausted and they were also nearly at their limits.

Thus, Sharis and the others weren’t wearing the strengthened type Drag-Rides, but the general purpose Drag-Rides.

「Princess! Is everyone safe!? What about the Ragnarok──and Lux-kun!?」

「Lux is in the middle of fighting the other Ragnarok inside the Moon above. The Ragnarok on the surface here is already defeated. You guys take Krulcifer and the others and return to the Academy! Treating them is the priority!」

「Ueh, how did these three get done in──!? Rather, the Dragon Marauders are still here ain’t it!」

「Yes. Three versus one will be impossible. We will also join──」

「Noct! Did you bring what I asked you!?」

「Is it this sword belt? Certainly it was inside Lisha-sama’s room but……」

That custom made sword belt had three Sword Devices fastened together on it.

Two swords on the waist, and one on the back.

But, every one of those Sword Devices was for a general purpose Drag-Ride.

They couldn’t be used together, and they could only exhibit an output that was far away from the Divine Drag-Ride Tiamat.

It was completely unthinkable that it was a trump card that could break through this situation. But,

「Leave the rest to me. I’ll show the results of me immersing myself in Drag-Ride research until now.」

Lisha quickly equipped the sword belt while calmly glaring at the Dragon Marauders.

The Dragon Marauders were on guard that the Triad would join in, but they were gradually closing the distance towards the side of rubble where Iblis’s Grand Force was buried.

「Listen well. Protect those three no matter what! This is the royal command of the Princess! Get it!?」

「──Got it. We will save them no matter what, Princess.」

Sharis nodded in response to Lisha’s tone that was filled with determination.

The Triad moved simultaneously in order to rescue the three who collapsed on the rubble.

「Hah! You think we will let you?」

Drakkhen yelled, at the same time the other two Dragon Marauders also moved.

Drakkehn leaped with her Asp towards Noct who was going to rescue Krulcifer. She brandished the steel claw on her armored arm from above.

But, at that instant, Lisha’s Legion flew in an arc and aimed towards Asp’s flank.

「Chih……!」

While Drakkhen deflected the Legion, Noct’s Drake held Krulcifer in its arms.

Without pause she erased her figure with camouflage function and escaped at full speed.

On the other hand, Vine brandished his medium sized Blade and aimed at Philuffy. But his armored leg sunk into the ground.

「So this is Tiamat’s Divine Raiment──gravity control. With this I also cannot use my Divine Raiment huh.」

The Divine Raiment of Basilisk that was worn by the Earth Dragon division commander, Vine, was Curse Fader that would paralyze the materials it touched.

But, it couldn’t block the gravity force field.

Tillfur’s Wyrm picked up Philuffy at that opening before she accelerated the wheels of her armored legs at full speed, skating away.

「──I see, so you properly picked the right method for the right opponent huh? Looks like you’ve got some brains there huh?」

Lisha didn’t send Legion towards Gatouhan so that her weapon wouldn’t be absorbed by Hydra’s fusion ability.

「However, how are you planning to block my action?」

Conversely speaking, Lisha didn’t have any weapon that was suited towards Hydra.

Gatouhan who saw through that assaulted towards the collapsed Celis with a large sized Blade in hand.

But, at that time, an unexpected situation occurred.

Lisha who should be holding back the other two at afar instantly stood in front of Celis──right before Gatouhan’s way.

「……-!? What!?」

「Eat this──Howling Roar-!」

Gatouhan’s eyes snapped open in agitation. Lisha released a Howling Roar with all her strength towards him.

A compressed shockwave surge sent Gatouhan flying along with Hydra.

The moment he crashed onto a mountain of rubble that was dozens of ml away, Lisha aimed Tiamat’s huge cannon and gathered energy.

「Gatouhan! Get away!」

「Seven Heads-!」

Gatouhan could hear the voice of Earth Dragon division commander Vine, but it wasn’t in time.

The impact from his back crashing on rubble caused the back wings that were the flying device to become slow. He was aimed at that timing.

「……Gu, OOOOH!?」

The flash with extreme power that was focused into one point.

The huge pillar of light that was fired became the roar of a raging dragon, smashing and piercing everything in the way.

When the wave of blast that shook the air was settled, Hydra was half destroyed, with the arm blown away along with the right shoulder that was covered with armor.

「──U, guhgo, AAaaAAH……!」

Gatouhan screamed in agony with a pained expression.

Sharis who was carrying Celis flew away and retreated to the direction of the Academy, but the remaining two Dragon Marauders didn’t pursue.

Their ability to think was stolen for a while by the reality occurring before their eyes.

Not just because the leader of Dragon Marauder was injured, but because of the distinct transformation.

「What’s……that, that Drag-Ride’s shape!?」(Drakkhen)

Drakkehn muttered. Vine was also dumbfounded after her.

There, the shape of Tiamat that Lisha wore was completely changed from before.

Above the thick shoulder armor, another gallant back wings that was a size larger were covering it.

The conspicuously large flying device and the body balance that was compensation for it.

A sublime form that realized high speed mobility made Lisha’s movement just now possible.

「Above Tiamat’s armor, one more……Wyvern is covering it further?」

「Do you want an explanation? Then ascertain it with your body! The power of 《Wyvern Wing》 that I created!」

When Lisha touched the Sword Device of Wyvern on her waist, the huge armor of back wings shined and Tiamat accelerated like a bullet.

Vine Hachettes who was picked as the next attack target immediately closed his mouth and put up his guard.

「You targeted me because of your confidence that you win against me in mobility huh. But…… it won’t work against my Basilisk!」

Vine backed away in full speed to run away from Lisha while he sharply swung his medium sized Blade.

Even while being pressured by that overwhelming mobility, he skillfully controlled his armored legs that had sliding wheels attached to weave left and right, getting out from the targeting of Lisha’s cannon muzzle.

And then── after he fired several of his weapons to hold back his opponent, he suddenly went forward to take her by surprise.

「Right here! Curse Fader!」

Basilisk’s Divine Raiment──the force field of instantaneous binding that petrified the enemy’s movement was showering Tiamat.

Tiamat backed away in a flash so it didn’t get hit in full, but Tiamat’s red armored arm along with the weapon the arm was holding turned stiff.

「Good job Vine! With this── that Princess-sama cannot use her two special armaments.」

On the other hand, Drakkhen who was watching the battle develop while conducting minimal treatment to stop the bleeding of Gatouhan whose arm was blown away yelled in exultation.

But, at that instant she saw something that made her shudder.

The huge armor that was covering Tiamat’s back wings was called off and Lisha sheathed the Wyvern’s Sword Device.

In addition she quickly unsheathed the Sword Device of a Wyrm this time.

「What are you planning to do? Did you give up and cancel──wha-!?」

Drakkhen noticed Lisha’s trick.

The reason why Lisha was carrying three other Sword Devices other than Tiamat’s.

「{{furigana|Over Unit|Transcendental Armor}} – On!」

「She is, equipping another Drag-Ride on top of her Divine Drag-Ride……!」

Drakkhen raised a voice of wonder, at the same time a Drag-Ride’s high speed summoning──a connection was started.

Converged light particles summoned a remodeled Wyrm in midair, and it transformed into armor that combined with a part of Tiamat.

[[File:SaijakuBahamut v12 03.jpg|thumb|right]]

In exchange for cancelling the back wing’s strengthening, this time two new armored arms were added into the shoulders.

「This is, what in the world……!?」

Vine who was witnessing that was dumbfounded. During that time, the two new arms that weren’t receiving Basilisk’s binding moved.

「《Wyrm Claw》! Try to receive this Dragon Marauder!」

「Ku……Curse Fader-!」

Even the calm and collected Vine was anxious towards the completely unexpected development.

He immediately attempted to reactivate his Divine Raiment, but Lisha instead aimed at that moment.

The brunt of Wyrm Claw was aimed at the shoulder of the land battle type Drag-Ride Basilisk that Vine wore──the place where the Force Core that could also be called as the power source of the Drag-Ride existed.

If an impact was dealt there, the Drag-Ride output would be temporarily lowered and the Divine Raiment would be weakened due to that.

Of course Vine was also aware of that, but because he had never included the calculation of fighting Lisha in close range until now, he mistook the timing.

「Impossible……!? A drill!?」

The tip of the Wyrm Claw’s right arm that Lisha sharply thrust out──had a rare part which was a Drill rotating at high speed. It flicked away the medium sized Blade that Vine used as a shield.

The spiraling spear easily pierced through the barrier and penetrated into Basilisk’s shoulder.

「Gu……AAAAAAAH!?」

The Drill didn’t directly hit his flesh, but that intense rotating impact was transmitted from the armor frame into his flesh body. The boy’s body screamed as though his inside was grilled.

Naturally, Basilisk’s Divine Raiment reactivation misfired. Its armor was half smashed and torn off──and fell silent completely.

「……What, a thing.」

Drakkhen who saw that felt a trickle of cold sweat flow down her nape.

Lisha surpassed Gatouhan in mobility, he who owned a flying type Divine Drag-Ride, and she got the better of Vine in close quarter combat, he who owned a land battle type Divine Drag-Ride.

Although the two of them had been injured to a certain degree, they were still beaten up by Lisha just now in the field they specialized in.

Over Unit.

General purpose Drag-Rides were disassembled and then each was remodeled as strengthening parts.

Wyvern Wing strengthened Tiamat’s back wings, increasing the mobility and Howling Roar’s power by a large margin. Wyrm Claw added two additional arms, in addition the tips of the arms were installed with a Drill and a high frequency Blade respectively.

In addition, the supplemented front armor was also showing reinforced barrier.

「Then──」

In order to save Vine, Drakkhen fired Asp’s claw tips and checked Lisha in place.

The explosion before this extinguished almost all the torches in the practice ground, but in exchange the remaining flames from the explosion were illuminating the surroundings here and there.

As though to melt into the shadow where there was no light, Drakkhen used the camouflage function of her special equipment type Divine Drag-Ride and vanished, but──

*Kashan, kashan!*

Inside the darkness, she could hear the sound of Tiamat’s Over Unit changing shape further.

「-……!? What is she doing……!?」

Drakkhen shivered while using Asp’s Radar to find Lisha’s position.

When she leaped from the darkness using her four legs and attacked, she obtained a strange feedback.

What was stabbed by the claw she swung down, was a mere rubble.

There was nothing in Lisha’s position that was searched by Asp inside the darkness.

「──Wha-!?」

「You got drowned in your scheme huh, Instrumentalist of the Battlefield?」

Drakkhen swung Asp’s claw while turning around, but it was easily blocked by the armored arm of Tiamat.

The Drag-Ride’s shape was different again from before.

The armored arms of Wyrm Claw had been dispelled. The armor on Tiamat’s shoulders, back, and head were reinforced, with a horn that was like an antenna attached.

「Over Unit──《Drake Horn》. This equipment doesn’t only have a Drake’s special abilities, it’s also supplemented with jamming functions to bewilder the opponent’s radar.」

「Ku, AAAAAAAAAAAAH!」

She was too late in noticing.

The last one remaining, Drakkhen would use the darkness to camouflage herself and aimed for a surprise attack. Lisha had seen through that.

Due to the trait of Over Unit that strengthened the ability of Drake, Drakkhen became the one who was ambushed instead. Even while noticing that, she desperately attempted to counter.

If it was hand-to-hand combat in close range, she who had her last trump card would win.

Using the sound of horn flute from Asp’s Divine Raiment Hell Choir, she made a Chaff Slime to be attached on her own Drag-Ride.

She planned to directly rub the new type Abyss that could dull a Drag-Ride’s movement and lowered the output, but the striking claw slashed empty air.

In that opening Lisha escaped from Drakkhen’s range and activated her Divine Raiment’s gravity field.

「Suppressor!」

「──Uguh!? AGAAAAaaAAaAA……!」

The gravity field that was nearly heavier by twice compared to before covered Asp. Its armor creaked and became squashed.

The pressure that felt like tearing apart her whole body caused Drakkhen to twist in agony and she let out a loud shriek.

「Haa, haa……. Drake Horn doesn’t only have special ability. It also increases the maximum output of Tiamat itself by a large margin. I almost killed you there huh……. I still need to have you guys, spit out what you know later. About this so called original employer that is……」

「Since, when……you became this strong? For a mere Drag-Ride modification, to be this applicable for battle──」

Drakkhen lied spread-eagled on rubble while still wearing Asp that had become ragged.

The Moon was shining brightly in the cold and clear sky.

「Haaa, haaa……how’s that? You see now, my strength……!」

Lisha who dispelled Over Unit and returned to the normal shape of Tiamat was breathing hard.

Lisha’s technique and tactic that she newly learned completely overwhelmed Dragon Marauder, but as expected, this function’s burden to the body was great.

She didn’t just develop Drag-Rides, she also trained her stamina and mental strength, even so, fighting for a few minutes using it in full power was her limit.

「That’s, what I want to say but, half of it isn’t my achievement. It’s thanks to Lux──and my comrades.」

Lisha slowly formed her words to sort her breathing.

「My stamina is able to handle Over Unit thanks to Celis training me. Because Krulcifer brought back material from the Ruins, and Airi deciphered them for me that I was able to do the remodeling. Because Philuffy and Yoruka accompanied me in the test run, I was able to learn even the close range combat that I was not good at. And then──」

Lisha suddenly paused her words and looked up to the Moon in the sky.

「I was able to work hard because Lux was there for me. Because he became my knight, I was able to continue working hard to become a Princess who is worthy of him. That’s why, the reason I’m able to defeat you guys──is thanks to those guys.」

「…………」

Drakkhen kept her four limbs spread out powerlessly while hearing Lisha’s words.

「If it’s Lux he won’t lose. Even if his opponent is a Ragnarok, that guy won’t lose. Surely he will save Soffice too. After all he is the personal knight of the New Kingdom’s Princess who I recognized!」

When Lisha puffed up her chest proudly, Drakkhen’s lips abruptly slackened.

In the practice ground where the sounds of a battlefield had stopped, the heat that was like embers was swaying.