Leviathan:Volume 4 Chapter 5
Chapter 5 - Battle at the Dragon Palace Court
Part 1
Bound by the dragonslaying chain, Juujouji Orihime became a captive.
The instant she was captured by the gray Draconian by a technique of assured annihilation, her vision went dark, but—
As soon as she opened her eyes, she was greeted by a vast sky filled with stars.
Orihime slowly got up. She did not know how much time had gone by, but it seemed like she had been sleeping. By the time she noticed, she found herself on a stone-paved road. This seemed to be somewhere at a plaza.
In the surroundings were a number of wooden buildings.
Each building was grand and luxuriant. Rooftops were adorned with golden glazed tiles. Carvings of dragons and phoenixes were everywhere. White jade was used abundantly as stone for construction. Evocative of ancient Chinese architecture, the buildings seemed quite similar to the view of the Dragon Palace Court witnessed at the shore earlier.
Next, Orihime began to examine her own body. The bath towel wrapped around her was about to fall off, so she hastily fastened it.
"Sure enough, I've been taken to Kagutsuchi-san's castle...?"
Orihime had just woken up, so her thoughts were still hazy.
Then she noticed. She was not the only one present at the plaza.
The ten-odd-meter long white nine-tailed fox-wolf's massive body was also lying on the ground. A long and thick metal chain was wrapped around her neck and body several times over, imprisoning her securely.
"Akuro-Ou!"
Her partner called out softly in response to Orihime's cry.
Akuro-Ou's voice and demeanor were very grim, clearly not in a good mood. Orihime stood up and tried to walk over to the giant white body when a clang was heard at her feet.
Like Akuro-Ou, she had been restrained too. Not only that, the other end of the prisoner's chain was held in the gray Draconian's hand—
"You have woken? Priestess of the mortal race."
The Draconian chain user spoke in a gloomy voice.
"I am your new owner—The Gray Aristocrat. Offer your body and your life in totality to me."
"Th-The Gray Aristocrat?"
Another elite dragon Tyrannos—or dragon king—had arrived.
Meanwhile, a breeze blew by, carrying the smell of the sea. The gigantic dreadnought-class turtle with a magnificent palace on its carapace was presumably floating leisurely in the ocean under the night sky.
While in doubt, Orihime asked, "You call yourself my owner. What do you intend to do with my Akuro-Ou?"
"A foolish question. The blood of female dragons is a rare panacea. You need not worry about a lack of uses."
The Gray Aristocrat looked at the captured Orihime and Akuro-Ou.
"To confirm the identity of the one making suspicious summons, I tried sending a minion to investigate—and ended up encountering the Tyrannos of the Bow. A rather unfortunate turn of events. However, considering this good opportunity allowed me to obtain precious female dragon blood, I suppose it was fortunate too."
"Blood—"
Orihime remembered. Several months earlier, an elite dragon had captured her cousin Hazumi and her partner Minadzuki, just like her current situation.
At the time, the severely injured Soth had recovered by drinking Minadzuki's blood.
(In other words, this dragon aims to do the same? But he clearly doesn't look injured?)
The questions and thoughts in Orihime's mind accelerated.
Naturally, she had no intention of obediently giving blood to help the Gray Aristocrat. She wanted to find an opening to escape with Akuro-Ou, but the problem was—
The Gray Aristocrat was holding the chain imprisoning Orihime.
His left hand was free but he opened and closed it repeatedly. Every time the Gray Aristocrat opened his palm, the five clawed fingers would move restlessly, as though doing warm-ups. Warm-up exercises for tearing apart the human before him—
Orihime tried to imagine.
If the very mysterious Gray Aristocrat was planning to hold the blood extraction ritual now instead of some day, trying to find an opening would be virtually impossible. Furthermore, he was also staring at Orihime intently with morose eyes like a mad scientist about to perform a dissection experiment!
"Uh, can I ask a question just out of curiosity? When is that ritual scheduled to begin...?"
"The creation of the Ruruk Soun magic circle for performing the ritual is in progress. It might reach completion before daybreak perhaps..."
Orihime asked her question in trepidation but the Gray Aristocrat answered with surprising honesty.
However, what she received was a most ominous result. Orihime hastily tried to make a suggestion.
"I-I think rushing things would be bad, don't you agree? Think about it, Haruga-kun—my friend—might be invading this place to take me back, right!?"
"This possibility is within my expectations. When the time comes, I shall simply intercept him accordingly."
The Gray Aristocrat's low voice was gloomy yet calm and staid.
A crisis with no way out for Orihime seemed to be brewing without impediment. The ritual would most likely be held several hours later. Orihime gulped and held her breath.
After Orihime's abduction and the Gray Aristocrat's retreat, roughly two hours passed. Dawn had yet to arrive.
The Dragon Palace Court slowly advanced across the ocean during the night, gradually leaving the island.
The magnificent palace had been erected on its carapace. Its only illumination was the faint moonlight and starlight cast down from the night sky.
However, this world was different from urban environments. There were no artificial light sources to blind one's eyes.
The Dragon Palace Court's scenery was filled with dreamy light. This was plenty bright enough.
Hal and Luna Francois were on a corner of the Dragon Palace Court—near the giant turtle's hip connected to the left hind leg.
"At first glance, my impression is that the area is roughly fifteen times that of the Tokyo Dome from the last century. At a rough estimate, there are eight hundred to a thousand buildings."
"The scale is comparable to the Forbidden City at Beijing."
Both of them showed very focused expressions. The infiltration operation was halfway through. They needed to search the Dragon Palace Court's interior and rescue the abducted Juujouji Orihime without the enemy discovering them—
Within the premises whose area covered fifteen Tokyo Domes was neatly organized city with perpendicular roads intersecting like lines on a chessboard.
The large number of buildings were sufficiently spaced out, allowing for excellent visibility.
"Anyway, let's first locate Juujouji and Akuro-Ou."
Hal used a number of searching spells such as Enemy Detection and Sense Magical Power.
However, he did not get any result because the entire Dragon Palace Court had been enchanted with magic to interfere with magical means of searching and detection.
"He is called the Gray Aristocrat, isn't he? Of course, he must have cast this magic... Looks like he intends to intercept us inside this Dragon Palace Court," replied Luna Francois.
In fact, back when the Gray Aristocrat vanished, Hal had froze for a minute or two.
'Harry! Let us sneak in over there straight away!' Luna had said to him immediately at the time.
The Dragon Palace Court was capable of moving anywhere freely across the vast ocean. Once lost, it would be very hard to pick up its trail quickly again. If they wanted to rescue Orihime as quickly as possible, there was no time to waste here.
Luna's suggestion was clearly based on this reason.
Hence, Hal and Luna attempted to infiltrate the Dragon Palace Court.
Luna had shrunk Glinda to minimum size for her and Hal to ride. Hal also cast his specialty spells, Sound Suppression, Visual Interference and Olfactory Nullification, contributing to the stealth operation's success.
Haruga Haruomi was in possession of a dragon king-class heartmetal as well as this "wand," the magic gun.
Probably thanks to them, Hal had somehow become able to cast spells at a level approaching the strength of elite dragons, as long as it was magic he specialized in.
Glinda flew silently and approached the Dragon Palace Court that was moving away from the island.
She delivered Hal and Luna Francois to the destination safely.
Furthermore, the three-headed lion had de-materialized and was no longer by their side. Hal said to the only person accompanying him, Luna Francois, "Let's celebrate our successful infiltration of the enemy camp first. If this crazy huge turtle dives into the sea, we're going to be helpless."
"The Dragon Palace Court is quite massive," Hal's magic gun suddenly whispered. It was Hinokagutsuchi's voice.
"Consequently, its movements are very slow too. Simply reaching the outer sea will take a long time."
During the battle against the Gray Aristocrat, Hinokagutsuchi had banished her consciousness to strengthen the magic gun. She had apparently woken up at some point.
At this moment, Hal noticed something.
There was a transparent force field deployed around the Dragon Palace Court, as though shrouding the gigantic body.
Very similar to imperishable protection—Hal recalled the pearly defensive field that he was able to use.
In fact, this seemed to be a similar magical barrier. Once the surrounded by the transparent force field, the Dragon Palace Court started to sink gradually into the sea.
Blocked by the force field, the seawater could not reach the interior of the palace.
By the time they noticed, the Dragon Palace Court's gigantic body was fully submerged in the sea.
Until just now, Hal and company still had the starry sky over their heads. Now, it was replaced by seawater that shone faintly from the moon and the stars' light. The Dragon Palace Court was apparently moving slowly just under the sea surface.
The Dragon Palace Court seemed even more fantastical than under direct moonlight.
Even so, Luna Francois' quiet comment was ordinary and mundane.
"The seawater isn't flowing in despite the entire place submerging. Oxygen is definitely maintained too."
"It's already amazing how wooden buildings from a thousand years ago have been preserved this perfectly. I can't believe the waterproof function and air-conditioning equipment are both flawless. Definitely a great bargain for its price."
"Let me state for the record, brat. Imperishable protection can achieve the same thing."
Hal's comment was equally unimaginative. On the other hand, Hinokagutsuchi provided a piece of trivia.
At this moment, the blonde witch coughed to clear her throat and change the subject.
"It is very likely that the Gray Aristocrat is waiting for us inside the palace, isn't it? Meaning that he reasoned that he could win inside the Dragon Palace Court even though he had clearly avoided a showdown against Harry just now. Why is that?"
"Now that you mentioned it, I think he called himself 'the shadow of a dragon king' or something like that."
"Hmph. A witty way of putting things but simply stated, he is no different from I."
"...Oh!"
Hal nodded after listening to Hinokagutsuchi. Another sloppy hint, but at least the riddle was not too difficult to figure out.
"The Gray Aristocrat could be considered my longtime friend. I heard that he had met his demise somewhere far away a long time ago... But apparently not."
"So just like you, he refuses to accept death gracefully huh?"
"Indeed. With this, it is now deducible why the Gray Aristocrat has chosen to make this Dragon Palace Court his residence."
"It's more comfortable to stay at a place where magical power is concentrated? Like the Witch Mansion at Shin-Kiba where you used to live before encountering me..."
"Not only that, but he most likely has the Dragon Palace Court's heartmetal in his grasp."
Hal tried to imagine. The Dragon Palace Court was the same kind of super creature as Genbu-Ou, so its heartmetal was able to produce massive amounts of magical power. In other words, was the Gray Aristocrat planning to use this power to intercept Haruga Haruomi?
Luna Francois nodded too.
"This is why the Gray Aristocrat retreated so readily, hoping to lure Harry to this place. He believes that it would be advantageous instead to shift the battlefield to the Dragon Palace Court..."
"Isn't that like a boxer who's bad a footwork...?"
A boxer deprived of the functionality of his legs would be forced to engage at close range in a clumsy exchange of blows. Precisely because of that, the Gray Aristocrat would temporarily retreat from Hal's presence, returning to his home field for an advantage.
"This is all that I have noticed. The rest is up to you two."
The magic gun fell silent again as Hinokagutsuchi's consciousness returned to slumber.
Hal first began to ponder the massive palace's layout.
The Dragon Palace Court was standing on top of a spacious carapace. At the center were several palace buildings that looked like they would be used for administrative purposes. Near the base of the giant turtle's neck were close to ten small palaces packed together densely in a line, probably the harem built for the queen.
"To conquer this dungeon, there's no way to skip through the process."
"Indeed. Orihime-san and Akuro-Ou's situation is worrying, so I really wouldn't want to spend time exploring a maze."
"However, a dragon probably won't be using the captured Juujouji as a hostage."
"It's only during times like these that I feel grateful that elite dragons are so obsessed with battle..."
At this moment, Hal sat down on the ground instead.
Rather than moving recklessly, he needed to think first. Luna probably thought the same thing as Hal. She sat down next to Hal, stretching out her slender and pale legs.
"We should avoid engaging the Gray Aristocrat in combat now that he has returned to home turf. He is probably able to extract magical power from the Dragon Palace Court's heartmetal to fully bring out a former dragon king's power."
"However, this 'reliance on the heartmetal' is also the enemy's weakness," Hal pointed this out and shrugged.
"Although we don't have enough manpower to take advantage of openings."
"Even if you can materialize the Crimson Queen, Harry, the operational duration isn't long."
Luna Francois remarked softly with what seemed like a sulking expression.
She was probably unhappy with the current situation where she still could not contribute to combat potential when facing a dragon king-class opponent. However, Luna's expression suddenly relaxed and she cast a probing gaze at Hal.
"Hey Harry, lately it seems like you've been getting tired easily, right?"
Part 2
"I've been staying up every night because of too many things to do recently."
Hal fell silent for a while before replying.
Hal took care to make his tone as laid back as possible because he had sensed a vague idea of Luna Francois' intent in asking this question. However, the blonde witch continued, "That's something only an older man in his thirties or forties would say. However, Harry, you are only a teenage boy. At your age, you should be able to work for at least half a year sustained by two-hour naps, right?"
"That type of work environment would be too exploitative, right? It's not like I'm a manga artist or working at a game company."
"Rather than overwork or life habits, would obtaining the 'queen's power' be the biggest factor contributing to your state of fatigue?"
"......"
"The start of your tardiness at school also coincided with the conclusion of the battle against Princess Yukikaze."
Luna jokingly directed the conversation in another direction then cut straight to the chase.
Hal himself had suspected the same possibility too. However, he felt very hesitant about discussing the matter with his comrades, which was why he could not make up his mind to bring it up.
Hal fell silent and placed his hand on his chest.
The heartmetal that used to reside within the Crimson Queen was now located here.
"More verification is required for that issue, so let us talk about something else first. However, Harry, when the time is ripe, you must confront this problem properly, okay? I will do everything I can to assist you when the time comes."
"...Thanks."
"In any case, it would be best to avoid using the queen's power indiscriminately. Keep it in reserve as a trump card for critical moments, do you understand?"
The witch who was supposed to be crafty and calculating was being considerate in a very humane manner. Perhaps feeling embarrassed about that herself, Luna Francois sounded slightly displeased in her tone.
Hal found this a little strange. At the same time, he could not help but grin.
More clever than anyone, Luna only showed awkwardness in times like these—
"By the way, Harry, were you looking at my legs just now?"
"Huh!?"
Luna suddenly tossed out a bomb, putting Hal in a state of confusion.
The two of them were seated side by side on a temple's stone steps to chat.
Hal was sitting cross-legged while Luna had her legs outstretched. During this time, Hal always faced forward with a serious look on his face except that his gaze would unintentionally drift to the side.
Because the blonde beauty next to him kept entering his field of vision.
Luna Francois was wearing her trademark outfit—a black one-piece dress with short sleeves.
Beneath the dress was a purple camisole. The bold low-cut neckline was very seductive indeed, but the high-slit skirt was also very important.
Exposed from the high slit were her pale and voluptuous thighs as well as her striking and slender bare feet.
Furthermore, Luna was wearing cool sandals appropriate for summer instead of shoes. As a result, Hal could also see Luna's toenails, painted beautifully pink and perfectly pedicured...
"Th-This is a man's nature, to be attracted like bees to honey!"
Hal reflexively explained to Luna who was showing an aghast look.
"But didn't you mention before? You said that enjoying skinship was also part of the lovers game. Since that's the case, my behavior just now shouldn't be any problem at all—"
"That was just business talk, merely one of hundred lies I told to deceive you, Harry."
Luna's beautiful face scowled in displeasure, causing Hal to stare dumbfounded.
"You admitted it so readily!? Oh well, I did expect that to be most likely the case."
"Even so, Harry, you still leered at my beautiful legs. Not only that, you even committed the atrocious act of violating my precious naked body with your lewd stares like a beast at the open-air hot spring. Given such truly deplorable behavior, you ought to be called an utter scumbag."
"You don't have to reject my character that much..."
"Let alone reject, I can even assassinate your character without the slightest weight on my conscience, you know?"
Despite the smile hanging on the corners of her lips, Luna's eyes were filled with disdain and silent fury.
"Only if I encounter a man of astronomically unlikely perfection and I happen to be in the mood, would I permit a man to admire my artistic masterpiece of a body... And to think you dared to steal a glimpse under those circumstances, you are truly a thief, Harry. I should simply call my lawyers to sue you."
"It's not like I stole something from you..."
Hal muttered poignantly and asked Luna, "By the way, what kind of man would be okay in your view?"
"I am not picky on appearances. Conversely, a man must not be deficient in any of the following areas: age, talent, quick wits, status, wealth, open-mindedness. Furthermore, I would not even consider anyone who won't allow me to live freely as I please."
"Do men like that actually exist on Earth!?"
"I don't care. Even if I have to spend my life single, I am totally fine with it."
Confronted with the girl and her free-flowing opinions, Hal spontaneously found himself smiling wryly.
The witch's speech was obnoxious and her personality could hardly be described as gentle. Luna Francois had finally abandoned her deliberate facade of friendliness to offer harsh words to Hal.
But incredibly, Hal found it easier to get along with her this way than when her attempts at "seduction."
Probably because this could be considered a state of honesty in a certain sense.
Indeed, whether Hal or Luna, they were mutually—At that very instant, Hal was suddenly certain. It might be possible now.
He extended his right hand at the girl sitting beside him.
The Rune of the Bow appeared in his palm. Looking at Hal's palm, Luna Francois made a look of comprehension. Then after slight hesitation, she silently reached out with her left hand—
Their hands joined together.
Immediately, the Rune of the Bow surfaced on the back of Luna's left hand. The covenant was established.
"Somehow, it feels so easy to the point of anti-climactic..."
"But the process was very convoluted."
The witch whispered weakly whereas Hal shrugged his shoulders. However, his thoughts accelerated all at once now that he had acquired new combat potential.
In the next instant, the two of them got up almost simultaneously and spoke swiftly.
"Luna, perfect timing. Let's reward him with a spectacular attack."
"Harry, let us pressure the enemy by employing an attack with maximum firepower. Even though we don't know the Gray Aristocrat and Orihime-san's location, all we need to do is draw him out."
It was a rare opportunity for them to have been invited to the enemy camp.
In that case, they ought to use this situation to raise hell in the enemy's home ground. Fortunately, they already possessed the necessary firepower for that—The plans that the two of them hatched independently were apparently the same.
Sure enough, Haruga Haruomi and Luna Francois were very alike.
Reminded of this fact again, the two of them smiled simultaneously.
"Looks like there is no need for a prior discussion. Let's do it, Harry!"
Having finally obtained the dragonslaying rune, Luna Francois raised her left hand high.
"O stars! Retrieve my magic from beyond the end of the rainbow! While materializing, Glinda, raise your pseudo-divinity to critical point and prepare to activate a technique of assured annihilation!"
A pentagram appeared overhead, turning into an infinity sigh before transforming into a magic beast.
An orange lion with three heads—Glinda the "Good Witch of the South." On Glinda's right shoulder was a dragon head while the left shoulder had a black goat head. A platinum rune suddenly manifested on each of the foreheads of the three heads.
A line running through a tilted half moon—The Rune of the Bow.
Hovering in midair, Glinda unleashed her magical power completely to enter a combat ready stance. Caught in the wake, the stealth magic that Hal and Luna had carefully cast was dispelled.
But that was fine because they no longer intended to hide their tracks.
Glinda flew lightly and moved to the sky over the center of the turtle's carapace.
Directly below was a particularly magnificent palace.
Using the Forbidden City at Beijing for a comparison, it would probably be analogous to the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the center of the imperial court where numerous rituals had been held in the name of generations of Chinese emperors throughout the Ming and Qing dynasties.
"The target is the heartmetal of Dragon Palace Court—inside this overly huge turtle."
"However, the Dragon Palace Court is a creature belonging to the same lineage as Genbu-Ou but ten times bigger... Since the same ratio might apply to its durability too, we must use the strongest trump card after all. Harry, let me use that."
"Don't tell me you want to use the 'sun-shooting divine bow'? But that'll consume a ton of your magical power too, you know?"
Among all the techniques of assured annihilation available to them, the sun-shooting divine bow was undoubtedly the strongest single attack.
"Even by ordering Rushalka to Double Cast pseudo-divinity, Asya barely squeezes out enough magical power required to meet the minimum requirements. Luna, I think it'll render you unable to fight afterwards."
"But this is essential. Besides, I believe you have an ace up your sleeve, Harry, don't you?"
"What are you referring to?"
"Orihime-san is a Level 3 witch. Unlike Asya and I, who are Level 5, she shouldn't be able to Double Cast freely. By my reasoning, there is some kind of secret skill to allow her to use the sun-shooting divine bow—Am I wrong?"
Hal did not expect Luna to have noticed a secret privy only to Hal and Orihime.
Nothing less should be expected from the brilliant Luna Francois. Hal was very impressed.
"I must not exhaust my power at a time like this. Please, Harry!"
Faced with Luna's repeated requests, Hal hesitated.
Her point was very right and logical. Hal had no reason to object at all. However, to put that method into action on Luna's body...
Doubt and reluctance shook Hal in the inside intensely.
However, Luna still continued to prepare for the attack during this time.
"Glinda! On my mark, fire a magical shot with maximum firepower!"
Ruohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...
Glinda growled from overhead to respond to her partner.
Despite being her low voice, there was unshakable willpower conveyed. The three-headed lion seemed very happy for the chance to strike back at last. In that case—There was no choice but to do it.
Making his decision, Hal positioned himself behind Luna.
He slowly reached out with his right hand, circling his arm around to Luna's front side.
Then he grabbed the bust that the American-born witch frequently showed up—its left side—using his right hand with the Rune of the Bow appearing on his palm.
"Huh?"
Luna Francois reacted very uncharacteristically—she mumbled in shock.
Meanwhile, Hal squeezed harder with his right hand.
The soft sensation and the volume tightly pressed against his palm. The size was unbelievable. Not only that, it was pushing Hal's palm and fingers back with its wonderful elasticity.
Most likely, it had reached a realm that required the English letter "G" to describe...
Hal analyzed with heartfelt emotion while transferring massive magical power through his right palm.
Naturally, the destination was Luna Francois' heart in her left chest.
"Kyahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!?"
The ear-splitting scream emitted from Luna's lips became the signal.
Hal's magical power was transmitted to Glinda through the witch's heart. Including the black goat head and the dragon head, the lion leviathan's heads roared in unison.
Ruooooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
In the next second, the gigantic lion's entire body became enveloped in burning flames.
Two black arrowheads, almost the same size as Glinda, manifested on her left and right. Also wrapped in crimson flames, the arrowheads turned into gigantic arrows of fire.
Next, the blazing Glinda and the arrowheads flanking her charged forward like three arrows.
Towards the ground where Hal and Luna were standing—the super gigantic turtle monster, Dragon Palace Court. To penetrate the incredibly hard carapace, Glinda burrowed deeply into the humongous body's interior.
As though digging a tunnel to reach the Dragon Palace Court's heart, to pierce the heartmetal—
That was the job required of Glinda and company.
Part 3
"Hmm. One set of preparations is completed."
The Draconian user of the dragonslaying chain, the Gray Aristocrat, muttered to himself.
He was still at the plaza where Orihime and Akuro-Ou were imprisoned. However, something that previously did not exist on this plaza had been born.
A transparent triangular prism, roughly thirty meters tall.
After meditating for a long time, the Gray Aristocrat had slowly used high-level magic of Ruruk Soun. The triangular prism suddenly grew out of the plaza's stone-paved floor.
Orihime had seen a structure in a triangular prism like this before.
It was a magical pillar that had captured Shirasaka Hazumi's "serpent"—Minadzuki.
By absorbing the serpentine leviathan's blood, the transparent triangular prism, which could be considered a mini-Monolith, took on a deep red color to become a mystical elixir for healing the elite dragon Soth—
"Y-You're planning to use that thing to suck Akuro-Ou's blood after all!?"
"You know of it, Priestess? Indeed you are correct. I shall use this to store female dragon blood, which will undoubtedly prove useful when I resurrect my past body..."
Her suspicions confirmed, Orihime was greatly shaken.
However, a minute or two after the mini-Monolith appeared, she noticed a familiar magical beast in the air.
It was Glinda. Furthermore, she was equipped with black arrowheads—weapons formed by manifesting the Rune of the Bow's power—and enveloped in flames completely!
Of course, the Gray Aristocrat also noticed Glinda's flaming lion form.
"Tyrannos of the Bow, you came as expected."
Glinda and the two arrowheads were hovering two hundred meters over Orihime's location.
Directly underneath her was a magnificent palace, ostensibly the Dragon Palace Court's cardiac chamber. Thus, Glinda and the two arrowheads suddenly rushed downwards like arrows.
Wrapped in flames, the lion first collided with the palace below.
The ancient Chinese-style building exploded, blown away by Glinda. Without losing speed or momentum at all, Glinda continued onward underground—or rather, the interior of the Dragon Palace Court's carapace.
"In that case, I must intercept in full force..."
The Gray Aristocrat muttered gloomily to himself before his entire body crumbled into dust.
In the next instant, the ground began to shake intensely. Standing there, Orihime went "kyahh!?", lost her balance and fell on her bottom.
Judging from the intensity of the tremor, it was probably 5 or 6 on the Richter scale.
However, the earthquake only lasted for ten-odd seconds.
"Owwwwww... Haruga-kun and Luna-san have come to rescue me."
Enduring the pain from her bottom, Orihime felt greatly relieved.
Also, she noticed that the chain binding her ankle had disappeared. It had apparently vanished at the same time as when the Draconian Gray Aristocrat collapsed his form.
Taking a closer look, she noticed that the chain restraining Akuro-Ou had suddenly disappeared too.
"Is that gray dragon no longer nearby? What do you think, Akuro-Ou?"
The white fox-wolf shook her nine tails, stood up and went "kuoooooo!" As her partner, Orihime understood that Akuro-Ou was responding in affirmation.
"Then with that, there is only one thing to be done..."
Orihime nodded at Akuro-Ou.
Although she had no idea what exactly had happened, in any case, she was free. More importantly, her friends had come to this Dragon Palace Court to pick her up. She must find a way to meet up with them!
"Akuro-Ou, try firing a beam into the air! Also howl at the sky like a dog to tell them we're here. Thanks!"
Hal and Luna Francois finally fired the sun-shooting divine bow.
Before shooting the divine bow, twenty-one runes of Ruruk Soun had appeared behind Glinda's back, signifying "I will fire the sun-shooting divine bow at the sky, to exterminate the sun."
This was ultra advanced scripture that served as a mantra for recording this technique of assured annihilation.
In this manner, Glinda and the two arrowheads shot through the Dragon Palace Court's sturdy carpace while enveloped in scorching flames, drilling deep into the Dragon Palace Court's depths like digging a tunnel.
Meanwhile, Hal was standing on the ground—more precisely, on the turtle carapace.
However, even though the scorching arrows were out of sight, Hal still knew that it was hurtling towards the Dragon Palace Court's heartmetal as though he were seeing it with his own eyes. This was also a privilege enjoyed by the marksman of the divine bow.
Glinda and the two arrowheads reached the Dragon Palace Court's cardiac chamber.
Matching the size of a kilometer-long super creature, it was as big as the Tokyo Dome in the human world. At the very center was a sphere roughly ten-odd meters in diameter.
The sphere was dark green. This was the Dragon Palace Court's heartmetal.
Thus, using Glinda and the two arrowheads as arrows, the sun-shooting divine bow fired at the heartmetal.
However, a counterweighted chain suddenly appeared in front of the heartmetal. Naturally, this was the dragonslaying chain of the Gray Aristocrat. The chain traced out a evil-vanquishing symbol of the pentagram. The pentagram turned into a barrier, blocking Glinda and the two arrowheads to withstand the divine bow's power.
Raging wind and blazing fire scattered. Despite Glinda's best efforts, trying to break through the pentagram chain—
She still could not prevail.
The pentagram chain was probably imbued with a technique of assured annihilation that particularly strengthened magical defense.
Eighteen runes of Ruruk Soun also appeared nearby as though surrounding the pentagram.
The arrangement signified "O guardian stars, grant me protection swiftly." Even the divine bow could not possibly obliterate the chain's magical barrier after piercing the Dragon Palace Court's carapace.
Ruohhhhhhhhhhhhhh...
Unable to destroy the target despite being fired as an arrow, Glinda growled in frustration.
Then Glinda vanished immediately. Dispelling her materialized form, she returned to her covanantee's side.
"Either way, I expected it to be blocked with 80% certainty."
Hal opened his eyes and shrugged.
In order to visually keep track of the siege battle inside the Dragon Palace Court, Hal had closed his eyes on purpose. Haruga Haruomi's body was currently still outside the Dragon Palace Court, at the palace on top of the shell.
However, his hand was holding the method to attack the interior of the Dragon Palace Court.
He casually pointed the magic gun in his right hand at the sky to use Enemy Search and Aim magic.
Hal pulled the trigger, firing in triple burst mode. Three bullets of light flew out swiftly from the muzzle, entering the Dragon Palace Court's cardiac chamber through the hole opened by Glinda.
Only a magical gun could carry out such a ridiculous long-distance shot.
Instead of the Dragon Palace Court's heartmetal, the three bullets of light were targeting the spiritual body hanging around next to it—invisible to the naked eye, a spirit entity that could only be seen using magical sight.
It was the soul of the Gray Aristocrat, a ghost of a former dragon king like Hinokagutsuchi.
Hal closed his eyes again to confirm the bullets' whereabouts. The three bullets of light had been struck down by the iron chain just before piercing the former dragon king.
Naturally, it was the Rune of the Chain. The enemy's defense was ironclad.
"Looks like the Gray Aristocrat intends to hold position for now, standing guard by the heartmetal..."
A tactic abandoning mobility to focus on defense.
Perhaps because the enemy had retreated to the final defense line and gathering all magical power there, it now became possible to use investigative magic inside the Dragon Palace Court. Precisely because of that, Hal could use Enemy Detection to sense his opponent underground.
"Harry, could you lend me that gun?"
"Oh sure. But putting that aside, Luna, now we should be able to find Juujouji—"
As soon as Hal agreed to Luna's request on reflex, Luna Francois snatched the magic gun from Hal's. Raising the gun with both hands, she aimed the 9mm muzzle right at Hal's heart.
"Please finish within thirty seconds should you have any last words. I will abide by your wishes as much as possible. That is, after I shoot and kill you."
"U-Uh, w-why are you doing this!?"
"Do you really need to ask? You have done the unforgivable. You have rudely groped, violated and defiled my chest—my bust—the sacred territory that I have never allowed anyone to touch! To atone for this grave sin, die obediently by my hand!
"Now that you mention it, I did actually do that..."
Breathing heavily, Luna's wrath was clear to see.
Although not as severe as Double Casting, the method used just now would still have consumed plenty of magical power. She should be resting instead. Be that as it may, Luna still used her exhausted body to take the gun and aim at Hal.
On the other hand, Hal was not as tired probably because he was used to it. He instantly explained, "I'd be truly grateful if I could earn your forgiveness by groveling and prostrating myself on the ground while you hit and kick me as much as you like. If possible, let's rule out shoot and kill..."
"After all, Harry, your body won't die from getting shot a few times, right!?"
"You're right... Oh, then please don't at vitals at least..."
Groping so suddenly was overdoing it, as one might expect.
Seeing Luna Francois' eyes flashing with anger, Hal replied subconsciously.
Regret and guilt surged in his heart. Furthermore, he definitely had a ridiculous body such that even falling from hundreds of meters high would only get an "owww..." reaction from him.
Perhaps it did not count as atonement unless he suffered stabs or gunshots.
"Excellent resolve. Then I shall not hold back—!"
"Y-You're acting just like how I predicted, no hesitation at all!"
Luna immediately switched her target to Hal's ear and pulled the trigger.
However, the magic gun's trigger did not budge the slightest. Speaking of which, this handgun was a weapon that only Haruga Haruomi could use.
Holding the useless magic gun, Luna Francois was taken aback in surprise, then—
"Good grief... I can't believe I still cannot take revenge after being subjected to that..."
The blonde witch collapsed helplessly on the ground and began to cry!
"L-Luna?"
"I was molested... Not only that, but groped this way and that so forcefully, a-a-a-a-a-and in the end, there was even a strange feeling—"
"Huh?"
Luna Francois hung her head and silently wept.
Speaking of which, after using the technique of assured annihilation and Hal's hand had released Luna's heavy bust...
She had gone limp as though intoxicated with alcohol and sat down on the floor. The pale complexion of her beautiful face was faintly blushing while she panted and stared blankly at Hal for quite a while with moistened eyes—
From Luna's expression at the time, Hal could read several kinds of emotions.
Confusion, discomposure as well as something akin to ecstasy. Regardless, Hal decided to apologize to her first.
"Umm... Anyway, I'm sorry. Because I needed to transfer magical power from my rune to Glinda through your heart, it couldn't be helped—"
"You touched my chest for a reason of 'couldn't be helped'!?"
"T-To be honest, I can't deny that I also felt it was a 'rare chance'... But no matter what, you're very pretty and attractive, also—"
"What 'also'!? Regardless, it's a perverted and closeted motive, isn't it!?"
"Oh no. Actually, I really like your personality and true nature. Your ways of thinking are similar to mine, so I feel like we're kindred spirits. And even though you're clearly the same type as me (yet different from Asya), you're a reliable girl and elegant young lady. That's something I find very interesting and refreshing."
As a side note, the bracketed words were only said in Hal's thoughts without being sounded aloud, because he felt that it would be inappropriate to bring up other girls in this kind of situation, even if it was Asya.
Hearing Hal's confession, Luna sighed deeply.
"...You are truly a weirdo after all, Harry. Most boys would say 'I was deceived!' as soon as they discover my true nature then flee or lose their temper and cry themselves to sleep."
"It's not like I can't sympathize with them..." said Hal to Luna Francois, whose tears seemed to have ceased.
He glanced at the neckline of Luna's dress—the boldly low-cut part—then said, "Besides, you're probably creating problems by toying with the hearts of those kinds of boys and deliberately wearing revealing outfits to provoke them."
"I don't care! It's fun to toy with those kinds of boys, to have them in the palm of my hand!"
"Just as I thought, your personality is lovely."
"Hmph. And yet you said earlier that you really like me this way."
"I do like you. I consider this aspect part of your charm."
"—!?"
Luna widened her reddened eyes and stared at Hal.
However, what her gaze conveyed was not anger but the light of sensitivity, intellect and passion.
"Age and talent, no problem. Quick wits yet to be confirmed but promising. Status and wealth would surely grow dramatically henceforth. Unexpectedly open-minded, perhaps. As someone who likes freedom himself, Harry's' chances of excessive interference in my life are quite low..."
"L-Luna, what's with you?"
"I am appraising you."
"Huh?"
"Didn't you tell me you 'like' me? I am assessing whether I ought to respond to your proposal and build a stable relationship with you."
"Ehhhhhh!? Y-You misunderstood me, I meant I 'like' you as a friend!"
When Hal explained himself after the fact, Luna Francois responded coldly, "You dare say that despite ogling me with lustful eyes?"
"......"
"Despite groping my chest and making me feel that way?"
"F-Feel what way exactly!?"
"...Not."
Turning her face away with a blush like a child, Luna Francois was adorable to the point of cheating. Hal could not help but stare mesmerized.
"Probably due to the shocking experience that came without warning, I was struck by an illusion as though our distance had shrunk all at once. I must have mistaken it for fluttering in my heart. Combined with the 'like' word taking advantage of the opening in my mind, it caused me to start having weird thoughts..."
"I-If you've already analyzed yourself to that extent, let's just drop the matter, okay?"
"But I have a feeling that it might not be bad to try allowing myself to take action and go along with this mistaken feeling... Also because of that, I'm starting to feel that it might not be so unthinkable to seriously consider going out with you, Harry."
"......"
"On further thought, I am someone with a twisted personality apart from my scheming ways. Don't you think that we would get along very smoothly if I go out with a unique boy like you?"
Luna Francois was apparently the very decisive type when confronted with issues on this front.
Leaving Hal speechless, she looked at him skeptically.
"However, Harry, you subjected Orihime-san to the same action."
"Oh, how should I put it—Yeah. Pressed by the battle situation, we reached a consensus on many different areas... By the way, isn't it time for you to return my gun?"
Despite her inability to depress the magic gun's trigger, Luna still pointed the muzzle at Hal's heart again. Her gaze was unfocused, which implied that this was more driven by the subconscious than intent to kill.
"No. Lend it to me a while longer. So Harry, I shall tell you this from the start."
"O-Okay."
"I am probably richer than you imagine, Harry, so if you need to pay her alimony, I will fund all of it for you. But suppose you intend to maintain this relationship, then I would request that you and Orihime-san refrain from entering the stage of official marriage. If the two of you were to produce children, I could adopt them into the Haruga-Gregory household."
"W-What?"
"I am a realist. I also know what perverted creatures men are. Forbidding two-timing could end up causing affairs behind my back, which would be infuriating too."
Luna Francois stared intently at Hal and said, "Consequently, I won't force you to break up with her. Conversely, please draw the line properly between you and everyone else. Otherwise, I may very well shoot and kill women who rub me the wrong way. In the event that I fail to control myself, I may even kill you as well, Harry."
"......"
Luna made her declaration while aiming the gun at Haruga Haruomi's heart. On the other hand, Hal simply stood there stunned. At that moment, a beast's call was suddenly heard from afar.
Kuohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh—
A canid beast was howling from several hundred meters away. They had heard this sound before.
"It's Akuro-Ou!"
The instant Hal shouted, a beam of red light shot from a corner of a palace to the sky.
It was like a flare. The light looked as though it was shooting out from near the neck of the giant turtle that was the Dragon Palace Court. A breath beam released from a leviathan's mouth.
"Juujouji must have ordered Akuro-Ou to do that to tell us their location."
"As expected of my rival, I suppose I should say? Hey Harry, I don't want to unnecessarily lose someone like her whose bright future knows no bounds. Please think over what I just said very carefully, okay?"
The headstrong and unreasonable Luna Francois was displaying a refreshingly prim expression.
Part 4
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Part 5
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