Unlimited Fafnir:Volume 2 Chapter 3

Chapter 3 - Calamitous Flames of Muspelheim

Part 1

The girl stared blankly, sitting collapsed in front of a pile of white ash.

Without crying audibly, her tears flowed nonstop.

The home where she had been living happily had turned into ash completely. On the floor were fragments of window glass that had melted then solidified into round shapes.

Black smoke was billowing from the fields whose harvest were originally looked forward to.

—The happiness she had finally obtained... The happiness which that person had given her, all of it disappeared.

Filled with irrepressible sorrow, the girl could only shed tears nonstop.

"You don't need to be sad, because it was not real."

This was what the fire witch, responsible for everything, told the girl. With icy eyes, she looked down at the white ash on the ground. Then fluttering her smoking black coat, she walked towards the despairing girl.

"Not... real?"

Not understanding, the girl asked hoarsely. The hot air in the surroundings was making her mouth dry.

"Yes, because you're not human. Abandon all that old and fake stuff to become the real you. Oh right—Let me give you a new name."

Saying that, the witch placed her hand on the girl's head. Frightened, the girl huddled herself in fear.

"From now on, you will be called Tia. Tia as in Tiamat, the name of the silver dragon that Marduk vanquished in the past. You have great potential and will surely become something worthy of that name."

Written off as not human, receiving the name of Tia, the girl trembled and asked the witch:

"...What am I?"

"Tia, you are a dragon."

Hearing the girl's question, the witch replied in a forceful tone of voice.

"Dragon..."

"Indeed, and our mother is 'Black' Vritra. You have not lost anything. Even now, our mother continues to watch over us."

The girl widened her eyes.

"...Mama?"

"Yes, as a dragon, Tia, you are not alone, because you have a mother and many sisters."

Feeling a sense of solitude impossible to bury, the girl could only rely on the witch's whispers.

Even though she knew it was wrong—

Part 2

Having deployed a dragon-shaped fictional armament, Tia's gigantic body was making the spacious underground training site look like a cramped cage. Hovering in midair, the massive body had a destructive storm swirling around it.

Countless lightning strikes were tearing into the training site's inner walls. The fierce wind was sealing our movements.

Just as Lisa lost balance from the strong wind, a bolt of lightning descended upon her.

"Lisa!"

I was nearby so I slammed myself against Lisa to help her evade the lightning. Immediately finding my face buried in a soft sensation, making me unable to breathe, I moved my head. A sweet fragrance instantly filled my nostrils. Even my ears heard a seductive voice.

"Mmm.... No... M-Mononobe Yuu! W-Where, where do you think you're touching!?"

"Oh... S-Sorry!"

Realizing I had my face in Lisa's voluptuous bosom, I frantically separated from her.

"N-Normally speaking, I would have punished you mercilessly by now, understand? However... Since you seem to have rescued me this time, I shan't pursue the matter...... Thank you."

Blushing, Lisa thanked me quietly.

"Wow, Lisa thanking me, it's gonna rain today, no wait... A storm is already blowing."

To prevent myself from getting blown away by the strong wind, I lowered my posture while looking up at Tia who had become the eye of the storm.

"...What on earth is happening? That dragon is Tia-san... isn't it?"

"Yeah, it must be Tia's fictional armament. If by tracing out the 'outline of the mind,' Tia created that kind of fictional armament... Then perhaps she totally believes she's a dragon right now."

When I thought of it that way, it could explain why she suddenly went out of control.

"I-If that is the case, we must hurry to bring her back to normal!"

"Yeah—But how to get close...?"

Raging wind and lightning were ravaging the surroundings. On the other hand, Tia was hovering ten-odd meters above the floor.

"Mononobe!"

Just as I was wondering how to approach Tia, I heard Iris' voice. At the same time, the wind blowing us suddenly stopped.

I looked back to see Iris and Firill. Since they were training relatively nearer to us, they had come over to assist us.

Firill lifted the fictional grimoire shaped from her dark matter. She probably performed air transmutation to create a barrier of wind.

No longer suffering from the storm's pressure, I now had the luxury of observing my surroundings. I could see Mitsuki, Ren and Ariella gathered around Shinomiya-sensei next to wall on the far end. From what I could see, they were probably using transmuted air to neutralize the wind like Firill. Since they were too far away, it was impossible to join forces with them.

"...Are you two alright?"

Firill asked us.

"Yeah, we're alright but... Tia's a messy situation. Can you two help me?"

"...Sure."

Firill nodded.

"Yes, of course! Mononobe, what should I do?"

Iris nodded vigorously and sought my directions.

"Firill, try to expand the wind barrier as much as possible. And Iris, I want you to make explosions to divert Tia's attention."

"Got it, I'll try!"

Saying that, Iris manifested her fictional armament—Caduceus.

"—Mononobe Yuu, then I shall be heading over to Tia-san."

Raising her Gungnir, Lisa turned her gaze to Tia above.

"No wait, it's better if I reached to Tia."

"True that may be... But can you fly?"

Lisa looked at me uneasily. The method of using wind to fly required created a huge amount of air through transmutation.

My dark matter generating capacity was extremely low compared to everyone else, which meant I could not use that method. However—

"If it's just that kind of height, I'll manage. Lisa, could you please create lightning rods in the surroundings to divert the lightning?"

"...No helping it, leave it to me—Rise, towers of steel!"

Four masses of dark matter were ejected by Lisa's Gungnir, turning into four steel rods in the air, then embedded themselves into the ground as though surrounding Tia's position.

The random lightning strikes gathered towards the four lightning rods.

"My turn!"

Iris pointed Caduceus' tip at Tia and started concentrating.

"Come, come, fragments of the Far Beyond..."

As though surrounding Tia, dark matter manifested in multiple spots.

"Iris, don't hurt Tia."

"I know—O raindrops, scatter!"

Transmuted into water, the dark matter all exploded together.

Iris possessed the special talent that made everything explode no matter what she transmuted. Furthermore, she had high-level spatial awareness, allowing her to aim at the target without deviation. Hence, the accompanied steam explosion did not harm Tia directly.

Ruoooooooooooooooooooooo!

Frightened by the explosions, Tia used the dragon's stout limbs, formed from dark matter, to attack the steam shrouding her. But the limbs were worn down instead upon contact with the steam.

Eroded, the limbs rapidly recovered but it made me certain that this was just a dragon in nothing but appearance only. Before undergoing transmutation, dark matter was extremely fragile, vanishing whenever it touched matter apart from the person who had summoned it. In that case, touching Tia who was supposed to be inside should not be that difficult.

"Firill, just try your best... Help me to open up a path!"

After saying that, I instantly rushed towards Tia.

"Understood—Air Road."

I heard Firill's voice behind me. Then a favorable wind propelled me from behind. Firill's wind ran past me and helped me to block the raging wind coming from Tia. Meanwhile, Tia's attention was caught by the explosions so she did not notice me approaching.

While running, I concentrated my mind to manifest my fictional armament.

"Siegfried."

Appearing in my right hand was a mass of dark matter shaped like a large-caliber ornamental gun.

By using this fictional armament, I could fire dark matter as bullets, allowing me to perform powerful transmutations three times. After using three shots' worth, the fictional armament would disappear, but manifesting it again would create a huge opening, hence—

—I have to finish this in three shots.

Without slowing down, I pointed the muzzle at Tia above and pulled the trigger without aiming carefully.

"Smoke Bullet."

The fired bullet transmuted into tiny particles of dust and air. The red dragon was instantly engulfed by the puff of smoke. The countless dust particles wore away the dark matter, peeling off Tia's outer garment of a dragon for a brief instant.

—I see her!

As soon as the storm blew the smoke away, the dark matter dragon would revive again, but I had already captured Tia's location in my sight.

The left breast... The heart's location!

Arriving under Tia, I stopped running. This time, I aimed precisely and shot the ground.

"Air Bullet!"

Transmuted into a large volume of air, the dark matter struck the ground and exploded, blowing me towards the sky.

In this manner, I charged into the dragon's interior. Although my view turned completely red, there was no tactile sensation or feeling of resistance. Prior to transmutation, dark matter was equivalent to not existing and could not impede my advance.

"Tia!"

I yelled while reaching out with my empty left hand. My aim had not deviated, as long as I reached enough height, this hand should be able to touch—

After my fingertip felt a tiny sensation, I found Tia in front of my eyes. Her eyes were blank and did not reflect anything. As expected, she was not conscious.

Perhaps we were... the culprits for turning Tia, who believed she was a dragon, into a real dragon.

"Pull yourself together! Tia!!"

I yelled loudly while embracing her with my left arm.

"—Ehhh? Yuu...?"

The light returned to Tia's eyes as she called my name.

Then holding Tia in my arm, I started to fall, traveling through the dragon's body.

Seeing the ground gradually approaching, I aimed Siegfried downwards. This was the last shot.

"—Air Pressure Bullet!"

I used an explosion of air to cancel the falling impact. Landing lightly, I immediately check Tia's condition.

"Are you okay, Tia?"

"..."

Having regained consciousness just now, Tia still did not respond. She had fainted, her limp body leaning against me.

Due to manifesting such a gigantic fictional armament and performing large-scale transmutations continuously, her mind and body must be thoroughly exhausted.

"Mononobe!"

Iris and Lisa ran over to me. From the distance, Mitsuki and the others also hurried to our side.

The classmates all showed worried expressions. But amidst all this, only Shinomiya-sensei was watching us with a harsh gaze.

Seeing Shinomiya-sensei's expression, I knew that time was short.

Turning my gaze to Tia, who had fallen asleep from exhaustion—I steeled my determination to face off against the monster invading her heart.

Part 6

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