Leviathan:Volume 5 Chapter 5
Chapter 5 - Pain and Gain
Part 1
Old Manhattan Island was the concession territory ruled by dragon king Hannibal.
Despite the name of "island," strictly speaking, Old Manhattan Island was a vast sandbank on the mouth of the Hudson River. Following the river downstream, one would pass Old Manhattan Island before reaching the Atlantic Ocean.
Further downstream of Manhattan Island was Liberty Island whose biggest and only selling point was the Statue of Liberty.
The giant statue of a goddess bearing a torch was the symbol of the United States of America. Including the pedestal, the Statue of Liberty reached almost a height of 100m.
Hal and his team were on standby, watched over by the Statue of Liberty, a world heritage site.
Governors Island was also located on the Hudson River. With an area more than ten times of Liberty Island, it was easily large enough to contain a large theme park. In actual fact, the island had facilities including grassland, parks and merry-go-rounds for citizens to use for recreation.
Hal's team was on a grassland in the center of Governors Island.
"Hmm. Simply waiting is making me impatient."
"In terms of common sense from the human world, you need to sound even more impatient when saying that," replied Hal to the muttering of Hannibal who was in human form.
The red dragon king was reclining openly in a chair prepared by the humans, delivering his comment with eyes partially closed in a seemingly good mood. He looked a little restless and quite jubilant. The impression Hal gathered was like that of a child who could not wait for an amusement park to open.
The two of them were seated with a conference room table between them.
Five meters behind Hal, three other humans were present. Important people in New York State—the governor, his aide and Christine, respectively. Same people as last time.
It was currently August 16th, just past 11pm.
Together with Hannibal, they were waiting for the outcome of the referendum.
Seeing as they were in a dragon king's company, having armed units on standby to protect the governor would be pointless. On the human side, the only other people present were two pilots in charge of operating the transport helicopter.
—The referendum had lasted from 8am to 5pm.
—Residents could cast their ballot at temporary voting stations all over New York State. More than five hours had passed since the end of the referendum.
At this moment, the governor's cellphone began to ring.
A call. The handsome governor took out his cellphone from the pocket of his expensive summer suit and lowered his voice to take the call. After roughly thirty seconds, he ended the call, wrote a note on a piece of paper and handed it to his aide.
The aide walked over to Hal uncomfortably and handed him the note in question.
His expression was stiff, his fingers were trembling, presumably unable to conceal his nervousness towards the imminent major event. Feeling deeply sympathetic, Hal accepted the note, took a glance then said, "Do you approve of the dragon king, a certain Mr. Hannibal, to run for governor? The outcome of this referendum is as follows: 12% support, 84% against, 4% invalid... Looks like the motion has been rejected by the majority."
"How regrettable. Sure enough, I failed to win the people's trust within a short time," said Hannibal quietly with a nod.
This referendum had been managed and counted by the New York State government completely. Hannibal had not verified the ballots himself, which meant that the government had the chance to tamper with vote counts arbitrarily. That being said, everyone probably believed there was no need to do that.
Hannibal simply grinned and said, "The first chapter of my attempt to seize power has concluded with failure. Now that the situation has unfolded to this point, I have no choice left but to take a massive gamble in the second chapter to mount a comeback. Look forward to my immediate rebound."
"I have many ripostes for you, such as you are taking this far too well," Hal retorted rather tactfully.
"But let's put them aside for now. I've got a question. What will your aforementioned comeback be like?"
"Hmm. I suppose I have to rule all of New York State before holding an election. Neglecting this step resulted in such pain. I have learned not to hold back."
"I believe that forcing people to vote at gunpoint wouldn't be a democratic election. Absolutely not."
"Really? Do you humans not engage frequently in the same kind of election tactics too?"
"That's quite a painful jab, but at a time like this, you should keep quiet and let me apply the principles of democracy. I hereby represent all residents of New York State to express absolute disapproval of using physical force to interfere in politics."
"Then no helping it. I will thn rely on this to proceed."
Hannibal patted his right arm and smiled. Hal looked up at the blue sky.
"Don't you start getting violent straight away. At least enjoy the election game for a bit."
"No rush for that. There is the presidential election later on. At the present moment, I will focus on consolidating my foundation before transforming myself into a politician who values democracy above all else."
Going with the flow was precisely Hannibal's life philosophy.
But no matter how laid back he seemed, in truth, he was always subconsciously pondering the question of "what should I do to win?" before putting ideas into practice without reservation. Judging from this aspect, he truly lived up to his name as one who had ascended to become a dragon king.
Despite his exasperation, Hal still felt impressed and said, "What civilized people like us lack must be that kind of unfounded valor and confidence like yours, definitely... In a contest of the wildness index, I think you have even Asya beaten."
"I do not understand what you are talking about. However, I do not mind if you loudly proclaim my greatness."
After making jokes, both sides began to take action on their own.
Reclining in the chair, Hannibal extended his open right hand towards Hal. Hal summoned his gun of a magic wand to his right hand and aimed the steel-colored muzzle at Hannibal.
A pictograph of Ruruk Soun appeared on the red dragon king's palm.
A symbol consisting of a sharp rhombus connected to the end of a straight line, this was the Rune of the Spear. Hannibal was planning to use his dragonslaying rune!
"O northern star of the shining spear, grant me the dragonslaying spear!"
"That seal whose name I've forgotten, the second part of whatever he said!"
Just as Hannibal got up and recited an incantation, Hal stood up as well.
In the next instant, a two-meter-long black spear with a metallic shaft appeared in the red dragon king's right hand. The spear tip was the dull color of steel.
When the black spear appeared, the table between the two of them collapsed like a sand sculpture, pulverized. Clearly, Hannibal had yet to grip the spear properly. All he had done was a light swing with his right hand to the side.
Hal activated magical sight.
High-density magical power surrounded Hannibal's humanoid body and the dragonslaying spear.
"Firing a gun at someone who looks human really isn't my cup of tea...!"
Muttering to himself, Hal still pulled the magic gun's trigger.
The fired bullets of red light struck the high-density magical power surrounding Hannibal—They disappeared, meeting the same fate as the table, collapsing like sand.
"Come on, aren't my bullets dragonslaying weapons at least?"
"Hohohoho. My spear is impregnable... and incomparably powerful too!"
Hannibal cackled at the sight of Hal's expression of surprise.
His smile was filled with childishness, making him seem more like a mischievous child than a dragon king.
Meanwhile, the helicopter pilots on standby had started up the propellers. The governor, his aide and Christine, the three of them had boarded. Hal took a glance at them and nodded. The close-range exchange just now was meant to buy time for them to escape.
Thus the helicopter took off, returning to Brooklyn.
Hannibal did not even bother to look, apparently uninterested in the governor and the others.
The governor and company had left but a great army arrived instead. A meteor shower was falling from the distant sky—Several hundred trails of light were descending upon New York City.
Needless to say, the truth of this sudden meteorological show was the red dragon king's summoning of minions.
Each falling meteor was a lesser dragon—the dragon king's small fry.
"Raptors huh...!"
"Well, they are still useful in large numbers despite their incompetence. O human, fight me this evening!"
Keeping the gun aimed at the dragon king, Hal slowly backed away.
The dragonslaying spear was full of mysteries. Staying vigilant, Hal decided to get himself as far away from the spear tip as possible.
By the time Hal backed away, the meteor shower had already ceased.
The meteor shower had lasted less than a minute. During this brief duration, almost a thousand Raptors had already blotted out the sky over their location, the Hudson River, flying in all directions.
—Naturally, other interception units were on standby apart from Hal.
Surface-to-air missiles were fired successively from Brooklyn in New York City.
Ground forces were stationed all over town, prepared to resist the army of Raptors. Their weapons included self-propelled howitzers and rack-mounted halftrack Stinger missile launchers.
The thickness of Raptor skin was enough to withstand machine gunfire.
Although Raptors were referred to as "lizards" by elites, they were still members of dragonkind after all.
Even so, they inevitably collapsed after taking damage from a few consecutive missile hits. Furthermore, dozens of armed helicopters were flying in to support the ground forces.
On the other hand, New York City's population was roughly a couple million.
80% of them had taken the previous few days of preparation time before the referendum to evacuate out of the city temporarily. No voting stations had been set up in New York City today. All venues were outside New York City.
New York City had turned into a rather empty wasteland.
Apart from the National Guard, the American army, air force and navy were also deployed at various locations.
However, helicopters and ground forces alone were not enough to fight dragons flying in the air. The important responsibility of ensuring air superiority fell upon the leviathans—the witches.
At present, a blue figure was gliding in New York airspace to accomplish this mission.
It was Rushalka in crimson armor. Dragon-like in her Queen Form, the wyvern also had bodyguard knights accompanying her.
These were the four fierce feline leviathans—The "serpents" of the WotC.
Part 2
The US military transport helicopter had taken off from an airbase in the Boston countryside and was circling in Brooklyn's airspace near the Hudson River and Manhattan Bridge. Asya was in the helicopter, controlling Rushalka in Queen Form.
"Witches of the Coast, please focus on controlling your partners in flight. Do not leave Rushalka's side under any circumstances. I will take full command from here."
"Understood. We will focus on backing you up, Asya."
Asya issued clear orders and the familiar Christine obeyed.
Apart from this lively and outgoing blonde witch, the other members were also listening to the orders of Asya the master-class witch. This included the youngest witch in the WotC, the twelve-year-old Marie, the dignified and well-bred Maneesha of Indian descent, as well as the African-American witch Kate whose slender figure was like a model's.
Living up to their name as members selected with an emphasis on personality, all of them were very loyal.
Had they been assembled from master-class witches, an impromptu team would definitely have people breaking step. But right now, there was no need to worry about that and Asya could gaze upon their partners with reassurance.
A helicopter was mobilized so that they could supervise this aerial battle from a suitable distance.
In the airspace around Old Manhattan, roughly a thousand Raptors were flying randomly unchecked.
Queen Form Rushalka charged straight into the ranks of the Raptors. The four leviathans of the WotC stood on guard, above, below and flanking the blue wyvern respectively. The silver lynx leviathan Tom Cat, the fierce albino tiger leviathan Tiger Cat, the blank panther leviathan Wild Cat surrounded by electrical sparks, and Bear Cat whose figure was round like a bear despite being a cat—
"Rushalka, expand the range of imperishable protection and enhance defense!"
Asya used Vision Amplification to enhance her sight. Staring intently at her partner with both eyes, she called out from inside the helicopter.
Flying several kilometers ahead, Rushalka heard clearly. Pearly light radiated out from her Queen Form body.
Due to the bond of magic connecting them to each other, Asya's voice could reach Rushalka.
The four leviathans of the WotC were also within the expanded range of Rushalka's protection.
Next, five Raptors flew in with bared fangs, trying to rip Tiger Cat and Wild Cat to shreds.
However, Rushalka's deployed protection bounced the five Raptors far away.
Indeed. The four leviathans of the WotC were actually sent to the field and tasked with other purposes instead of serving as bodyguards.
Then the leader of the fireteam, Asya, looked towards the sixth member—The last witch inside the helicopter.
"E-Excuse me, is it still not yet time for Minadzuki to be summoned...?"
"Don't worry. You just have to summon Minadzuki to assist in defense when we're in trouble. Think of Minadzuki as a bodyguard and a reserve force."
Asya nodded at the worried Hazumi.
Truth be told, one would not place too much faith in the helicopter's armor even when armed with rotary cannons and missiles. Hence, a bodyguard was essential.
With that, everything wa ready—
Recently, Asya had been focusing her attention on conquering her childhood friend. Having Rushalka charge into enemy ranks, surrounded by foes, made her feel quite nostalgic.
Doing unfamiliar things for an extended duration was quite mentally draining after all.
She must go on a rampage to reaffirm her original self. Fortunately, she had plenty of additional weapons on her side.
"Rushalka will maintain the deployment of imperishable protection. Christine, Kate, Maneesha and Marie, you will each activate your partner's pseudo-divinity to launch magical attacks. Since we're surrounded by enemies entirely, there's no need to aim in particular. Just defeat the enemies with all your strength!"
The four witches of the WotC immediately followed Asya's orders.
Christine's partner, the flying silver lynx, Tom Cat, possessed the attribute of Water.
She summoned a tsunami in the sky—the raging waves rushed at dozens of Raptors at once, crushing them with water pressure.
The African-American witch Kate's black panther, Wild Cat, was of the Lightning attribute. Lightning strikes fell madly like rain, incinerating ten-odd Raptors nearby.
The witch of Indian descent, Maneesha, was controlling the white tiger, Tiger Cat, whose attribute was Wind. Tiger Cat shot out a wild flurry of wind blades like a machine gun, also slaying ten-odd Raptors as well.
Then there was the youngest newcomer witch, Marie. Her partner was the ursine feline, Bear Cat. Although her attribute was Gravity, the potency was far less than Luna Francois', of course. Nevertheless, she still tried her best to manipulate gravity, sending flying Raptors crashing into the ground, killing them directly.
—With that, they succeeded in wiping out seventy to eighty Raptors.
Asya nodded approvingly. The WotC's "serpents" were simply considered fire support, but they had proved surprisingly effective in restraining the enemy. After all, the enemies were all minions of Hannibal, hence even the small fry Raptors were empowered by the might of dragonbane.
Given such circumstances, even Luna would have been unable to oppose them prior to establishing her covenant with Hal.
Tactically speaking, treating the WotC as flying artillery was the best division of roles.
"Except for Marie, the three of you please attack using pseudo-divinity again."
The newcomer witch, Marie, was still Level 1, only capable of using pseudo-divinity once a day.
The other members immediately obeyed Asya's command. A tsunami, lightning strikes and wind blades raged across the sky again, instantly killing dozens of Raptors.
However, Kate and Maneesha were only Level 2 witches and this meant the end of their offensive.
Level 3 witch Christine continued and summoned a third tsunami, thus depleting the final usage of pseudo-divinity by the leviathans of the WotC.
They ended up destroying almost 30% of the enemy forces in total, leaving roughly seven hundred of them.
"I'll handle the rest. Please call back your 'serpents' from Rushalka's side!"
Basking in the protective radiance deployed by the blue wyvern in Queen Form, the WotC's four leviathans suddenly vanished. The witches had followed Asya's request to withdraw their leviathans. Now, Asya had free rein to employ tactical mobility.
Asya instantly commanded, "Rushalka, equip the Rune of the Bow."
A pair of arms made of ruby were equipped on Rushalka.]
A crimson longbow manifested on the left arm while eight arrows, made of ice from arrowhead to the fletchings, beautifully sculpted like artwork, appeared over her head.
The arrows, like exquisite ice sculptures, were products of Water pseudo-divinity.
Rushalka's right hand grabbed an arrow, nocked it and extended the bow.
"Shotgun, fire!"
The arrow was shot on Asya's command.
After being fired, the ice arrow shattered into over three hundred fragments, turning into small and sharp arrowheads to attack the Raptors.
This hail of projectiles was more akin to the output of dozens of rotary cannons than a shotgun shell.
The Raptors caught in this storm of ice were instantly destroyed—They vanished in the blink of an eye.
This was thanks to the dragonslaying power residing within the shards of ice. This one attack was enough to wipe out roughly a hundred Raptors, but Rushalka was not done firing.
"Second shot, fire!"
Rushalka fired the second arrow out of the eight arrows she had just summoned.
The second shotgun blast of ice took down another hundred Raptors or so.
In the end, Asya and Rushalka repeated this for a total of seven times, completely annihilating the Raptors summoned to the New York sky.
Furthermore, her ammunition was not completely consumed.
Eight arrows had been created just now. Rushalka nocked the final arrow on the bow.
"Target enemy reinforcements. Rushalka!"
Asya's blue partner fired the eighth arrow on her command.
There was not a single Raptor remaining in Rushalka's vicinity but other reinforcements were showing up in the distance. Salamander-shaped flames were appearing in the sky over the Old Manhattan Concession—
The minions known as Hannibal's personal guard—The Army of Fire.
Numbering roughly three hundred. The salamanders descended upon the darkness that was New York City, lighting up the entire metropolis.
The shotgun blast of ice arrived after the reinforcements arrived.
However, it failed to work. The ice shards were all destroyed before they could reach the Army of Fire.
"As expected of his personal guard..."
Unlike Hannibal, Asya was not the type to take delight in fighting a powerful foe.
With the arrival of enemies that could not be defeated by the same tactics, Asya frowned inside the helicopter.
"So you were hiding such a powerful trump card. Well played, Tyrannos of the Bow."
Not too long ago, the Raptor army in the air had been wiped out by Rushalka in Queen Form.
However, this scene was nothing more than an exotic side show performance for Hannibal. He spoke quietly in a calm tone while using his right hand to slowly thrust his spear in front of him.
This was not done to pierce Hal but to aim the spear tip at Hal's heart.
"I never expected a counterfeit dragon king... O Queen, so it turns out that you offered ideas to help him?"
"Ludicrous. Do you believe that I am a woman who would be so considerate as to look after this guy?"
"Fair enough point. It is truly wonderful to see that death has not changed you at all."
Hal's magic gun was replying using Hinokagutsuchi's voice. Hannibal snickered.
Meanwhile, listening to the conversation between a former dragon king and a current dragon king, Hal was in no mood for chatting. He aimed his magic gun at Hannibal while Hannibal in human form had the spear pointed at him.
There was a gap of five meters between them.
Even so, Hal still could not move. The dragonslaying spear—its tip—was giving off magical power that enveloped Hal entirely, turning him frozen.
Twelve runes of Ruruk Soun had appeared on the spear tip.
Under this arrangement, the runes signified "O spear of mine, gather the northern star's power to advance with ferocity."
"A technique of assured annihilation...!"
Hal deployed imperishable protection. The pearly light enveloped his entire body.
However, his body still remained stiff. This was probably a special attack that he could not defend completely against using protection alone. Hal realized he was exceedingly afraid of the dragonslaying spear. His entire body was withered and frozen as though he were encountering sleep paralysis.
Due to the fear and pressure, his throat was parched.
...By the time Hal came to his senses, he noticed Hannibal approaching him and making a thrust with his spear.
"Wahhhhhhh!?"
Rather than a stab from a spear, this strike felt like being violently bashed by a giant battering ram.
Such was the power behind Hannibal's one strike.
Since the location was a wide open grassland without any obstructions, Hal was blown away entirely, falling forty or fifty meters away. The only reason he survived was due to deploying imperishable protection in advance.
However, Hal still experienced an impact that felt as though all the bones in his body shattered.
He still showed confusion on his face after getting up. Hal's lifeline—the pearly defensive barrier—had rapidly disappeared as a result of one attack from Hannibal in human form.
Even Pavel Galad's technique of assured annihilation was nowhere this potent!
"Were you a true dragon king, I would expect far more trouble... In the case of a counterfeit, breaking such protection is effortless for me."
The strongest dragon king-class enemy spoke casually with a smile.
Furthermore, he was walking slowly to Hal. I must hurry and escape. However, Hal's body turned paralyzed again. At this rate, death was all but assured.
"In that case!"
Hal focused all his strength in his right index finger. Controlling the physical body with single-minded focus was the only way to forget the fear and pressure. Hal concentrated his mind completely on pulling the magic gun's trigger.
Baaaaaaaaaaang!
A red bullet of light shot out. Hal was firing straight at Hannibal in front of him, but the twelve Ruruk Soun runes of "O spear of mine, gather the northern star's power to advance with ferocity" continued to glow, displayed in front of the dragon king.
Hal's bullet of light vanished the moment it struck this arrangement of runes.
The magic gun told Hal that this was the dragonslaying spear's technique of assured annihilation, Thrusting Skyrocket.
"So it's not a special move that's only for offense..."
"Didn't I tell you? My spear is impregnable."
Hannibal smiled proudly and approached, aiming the spear tip at Hal.
In no rush to run forward, he strode step by step to approach Hal, unhurried in his pace. Rather than charging at high speed, this exemplified a dragon king's dignity and majesty instead. Such was a king's march forward.
Hal trembled. Unless he found some kind of solution, his body was going to freeze up again.
Hannibal was roughly ten meters away from Hal. The fear of death drove Hal to activate full-auto mode and fire all the bullets in the magic gun. This was his technique of assured annihilation.
Gat-gat-gat-gat-gat-gat-gat-gat-gat-gat-gat-gat-gat-gat-gat-gat-gat-gat-gat-gat-gat!
"Wow, what potent firepower, Tyrannos!"
The runes of Ruruk Soun saved Hannibal the effort of defending again.
Even shooting all remaining ammunition in full-auto mode could not breach the twelve-rune arrangement of "O spear of mine, gather the northern star's power to advance with ferocity."
All the bullets vanished in midair. However, Hannibal halted too.
It was this instant. The firepower of twenty-eight consecutive shots finally managed to block the dragon king's continued advance.
Although the achievement was meager, in such circumstances, some achievement was better than none!
"Counting on you, Juujouji!"
"Very well! Akuro-Ou, please!"
Hal suddenly shouted. The hidden girl responded to Hal's call.
The white fox-wolf, Akuro-Ou, also raced forward like cavalry. Akuro-Ou had shrunk down to her smallest size of roughly three meters, allowing her partner to ride on her back.
Juujouji Orihime had not gone off with Asya and the other witches, instead staying here on standby to support Hal in case of emergencies.
The dashing Akuro-Ou used one of her tails to pick up Hal nimbly, allowing him to mount her snow-white back. Thus, Hal was seated right behind Orihime.
Akuro-Ou then used her momentum to take a leap. Orihime immediately issued orders, "Use the Rune of the Bow and fire magic... Punish him!"
Kuohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
Pseudo-divinity was activated simultaneously as Akuro-Ou took flight.
Akuro-Ou's nine tails each fired a shot, a total of nine black arrowheads. The arrowheads all exploded just before striking Hannibal, turning into crimson flames to attack the dragon king.
"Hahahahaha! What a grand welcoming party. Looks like I must get serious too!"
Despite the blazing flames scorching him, Hannibal laughed heartily.
However, Hannibal's figure, engulfed in flames, disappeared from Hal's sight—For only several seconds.
The blazing conflagration swirled into a vortex. A red elite dragon suddenly appeared inside it. His body length was roughly twenty meters. The exoskeleton around the chest resembled armor. Holding a long black spear in his right hand, he was standing upright sternly...
Needless to say, this was precisely the dragon form of Red Hannibal.
The most powerful dragon king-class opponent was finally fighting in his true form.
ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!
ROOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!
ROOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAR!
The red dragon king opened his gigantic jaws and kept roaring fiercely. Hearing these roars while in the air, Hal and Orihime gulped at the same time.
"Hinokagutsuchi... That thing I told you about, can't you pick up the pace?"
"Then give me slightly more power. Fortunately, it is quite close now, so I should not require too much."
Hal touched the magic gun and asked, prompting Hinokagutsuchi to answer immediately.
Power—Naturally, that meant magical power. Starting the previous night, Hal and the dragon queen had been secretly using a certain magic continuously. It looked like their efforts had been rewarded.
In order to output a new pulse of magical power, Hal focused his awareness on his heart.
Part 3
The Army of Fire had appeared over the Old Manhattan Concession.
A great army consisting of roughly three hundred salamander-shaped flames, they were all minions under Hannibal's command.
Unlike Raptors, the Army of Fire did not fly all over the place. Instead, they hovered neatly in the air like soldiers awaiting the commander's orders.
"If we rush into that army, it'll be checkmate for us like how they took care of the Raptors last time. That being said, we have no choice but to attack. What troublesome enemies... Hazumi-san."
"Y-Yes!"
The obedient junior witch instantly responded in a stiff voice as soon as Asya spoke to her.
Shirasaka Hazumi was like an angel and did not like conflict. However, she must have felt how terrifying dragon king Hannibal was, thus making her more nervous than during the usual battles.
Currently, Asya and Hazumi were the only witches remaining on the transport helicopter.
After the salamanders showed up, Asya immediately instructed the members of the WotC to meet up with ground forces. Even without the ability to use pseudo-divinity for now, four "serpents" still stood as valuable combat potential.
"First Rushalka and I will test out the enemy. Minadzuki is important backup, so please don't carelessly enter the combat zone."
"Understood."
No good would come out of throwing all their available forces into the front lines.
Looking back at history, many battles were won through the efforts of reserve forces. After predicting possible mistakes that the still inexperienced Hazumi might make and warning her about them—
Asya looked at the aerial battlefield again from her vantage point in the helicopter.
Rushalka was in the sky over Chinatown in the southern part of Old Manhattan. The Army of Fire were in a formation at the center of this wasteland—above Central Park.
They were separated by roughly ten kilometers.
The Army of Fire moved in unison and flew towards Rushalka. In addition, the hands of the three hundred salamanders had gained weapons without anyone noticing earlier. Using the four fingers on their right forelimb, they were wielding black spears dexterously!
Runes of Ruruk Soun were arranged in front of all the salamanders.
The runes were all the same, reading "O spear of mine, gather the northern star's power to advance with ferocity" in every case.
"—!? Rushalka, evasive maneuvers. Hurry and circle to the back of the enemy!"
Asya issued emergency orders but a surprising result awaited her.
Despite always following orders faithfully, Rushalka did not respond this time. She did turn herself to dodge at least, but that was as far as she could go. As her partner, Asya instinctively guessed the reason.
"Overwhelmed by the enemy's pressure?"
In that case—Asya yelled.
"Retreat, Rushalka! Leave the city and withdraw to the riverside!"
If attack orders could not be executed due to pressure, perhaps a retreat command was possible?
Asya was correct. Continuing to face the Army of Fire, Rushalka started flying backwards.
Ruahalka flew from Chinatown in the south of Old Manhattan to the city's entrance, Manhattan Bridge.
Directly below her was the great river flowing north-south in New York State—The Hudson River's mouth. Rushalka continued to back away, retreating to the sky over Liberty Island, the Statue of Liberty, Governors Island, etc.
Asya nodded.
Ruashalka's retreat speed was faster than the Army of Fire's advance. Hence, their separation had lengthened, reducing the pressure Rushalka somewhat. Asya immediately command, "Invoke pseudo-divinity. Wall of Water!"
Kyuahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
Pseudo-divinity activated together with the roar. In the next second, the surface of the torrential Hudson River rose up, forming a gigantic towering pillar of water—
The great volume of river water was enough to form a sphere surrounding Rushalka in all directions.
The sphere's diameter was roughly sixty meters, resulting in a protective layer sufficient to cover the gigantic body of the "serpent" with no blindspots.
"Add the enchantment of imperishable protection!"
The shield of water guarding Rushalka began to glow with pearly radiance.
This was the strongest defensive formation, a combination of pseudo-divinity and a Tyrannos' power. So long as she persisted in sniping the enemy forces while under protection—
"Rushalka, although I'm not Orihime-san, we'll have to fight a Battle of Nagashino here!"
The partner in Queen Form readied an arrow of light on the crimson bow and shot swiftly.
This arrow pierced a salamander squarely—That was supposed to happen but the arrow of light disappeared as soon as it struck the arrangement of Ruruk Soun runes reading "O spear of mine, gather the northern star's power to advance with ferocity."
The second and third arrows met the same fate.
"The enemy side has iron-clad defense too... It's like a phalanx of spearmen."
The Army of Fire arrived while Asya clicked her tongue.
The three hundred salamanders scattered in front of Rushalka all at once, closing in from all angles, using the spears in their hands to stab the water sphere. No matter which direction, there were salamanders everywhere.
Kyuahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
The blue wyvern roared again, but this time was due to pain.
Rather than pulling out their spears, the three hundred salamanders pushed their spears deeper into the shield of water. Tormented by pain, Rushalka screamed even more acutely.
Hannibal's technique of assured annihilation was capable of inflicting physical damage even with imperishable protection in the way!
"Rushalka!?"
Her partner was enduring the pain of being stabbed by three hundred drills.
Realizing this, Asya looked grim. Considering Rushalka's current condition, she should be able to completely block even Pavel Galad's technique of assured annihilation.
However, this solid defense was being tragically obliterated by Hannibal's minions.
"If the general shows up now...!"
"Asya-san! P-Please look at that!"
Inside a helicopter circling over the Hudson river, the two witches watched the battle situation.
Asya looked in the direction indicated by Hazumi and gasped. What she feared had come true.
On Governors Island where Hal and others had met the red dragon king—
The island's ground was ablaze from a magical conflagration. Amid the sea of flames, a gigantic elite dragon—no, Manhattan's king—was getting ready to rise.
Dragon king Hannibal opened his great jaws and roared repeatedly.
ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!
ROOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!
ROOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAR!
One could call it a great noise that shook heaven and earth.
This howling further granted the Army of Fire more power. The salamanders stabbed deeper with their spears, immediately breaking the protective shield.
The sixty-meter-diameter water sphere barrier guarding Rushalka—
It began to collapse with water splashing.
The sphere shrank progressively. In merely a minute or two, its volume had been reduced to half of its original. Hannibal came forward personally, flying slowly to approach Rushalka and deliver the final blow.
Naturally, the dragon king himself was wielding a spear too. All was lost—Just as everyone thought that...
'Please... Hang on a bit longer!'
Asya seemed to hear the voice of her childhood friend. Rather than her ear, it was the Rune of the Bow surfacing on the back of her left hand that had transmitted the message to her.
"Rushalka, use the Water Cannon and the Rune of the Bow simultaneously!"
This was her third time invoking pseudo-divinity today.
The Hudson River's water surface bulged up violently again, spewing a water pillar upwards.
This is a technique using the river below as artillery to fire several hundred tons of water as ammunition. Together with the Rune of the Bow's firepower, it was upgraded into a dragonslaying attack.
This attack was evidently effective.
Water extinguished fire. This time, a natural law of the universe took effect.
Swallowed by the great flood of water from the Hudson River, the three hundred salamanders disappeared with a sizzle.
"Unable to withstand attacks from below—or rather, flanking attacks. Sure enough, their strengths and weaknesses are the same as a phalanx..." said Asya quietly after realizing the properties of the Rune of the Spear.
The water cannon earlier had also allowed Rushalka to bolster her defenses.
Having shrunk to less than half its size, the defensive water sphere replenished its moisture, returning to its original diameter of sixty meters.
Used as a cannon, the river water gushed up to a height of seven or eight hundred meters.
The water pillar then fell swiftly into the Hudson River like a gust of violent wind—In the next second, Red Hannibal charged in just as this momentary downpour ended!
"Although I have forgotten how many millennia I have fought with the dragonslaying spear by my side..."
Hannibal made a straight forward thrust with the dragonslaying spear, flying to make beeline towards Rushalka in the air over Governors Island.
"This is my first time fighting an imitation dragon king!"
"Rushalka!"
The dragon king tried to pierce the defensive water sphere with the tip of his spear.
The sphere guarding Rushalka barely managed to block Hannibal's thrust.
As a result, the sphere vanished in that instant. Hundreds of tons of river water spilled into the Hudson River.
"How about that? Your petty tricks end here, right!?"
Hannibal resumed flying towards Rushalka. The red dragon king extended his spear. Now, the imitation queen no longer had any defensive shield. Asya roared, "Rushalka, retreat first!"
The partner obeyed Asya's command and back away swiftly.
Hannibal gave chase. Fortunately, their initial speeds were different. The blue wyvern had an overwhelming advantage in speed.
The time needed for Rushalka to start accelerating from rest was extremely short.
Within only ten-odd seconds, Rushalka was able to reach maximum speed, displaying her agile and nimble flying form. In contrast, Hannibal glided slowly first before speeding up gradually.
In a certain way, Hannibal's leisurely appearance was more fitting of a king's style.
Consequently, this battle of pursuit was initially in Rushalka's favor—
"Rushalka, please keep your distance and continue to escape. Don't fight Hannibal head on. You must flank him!"
Asya kept issuing detailed orders.
Despite the slow start, Hannibal's flying speed was quite high once given enough time to accelerate.
Furthermore, he continued to exude pressure that stiffened Rushalka's movements. He was not an opponent easy to escape from.
Rushalka fled to the sky over Liberty Island where the Statue of Liberty was located with Hannibal in pursuit.
However, after two or three minutes of chasing the blue wyvern, the red dragon king suddenly halted in the air and started to laugh.
"Hahahahaha! I will need helpers to catch a swift swallow. Then I shall summon some shrikes!"
Flames—Salamander-shaped flames appeared one after another in Hannibal's surroundings.
Roughly three hundred salamanders. With that, Asya understood. Rushalka's earlier attack had simply extinguished the flames. The Army of Fire was not vanquished. After a while, they would revive like this...
As expected of a dragon king, the gap in power was too great. The worst-case scenario appeared in Asya's mind.
Would she be able to continue? Most likely, she was going to run out of options—
"Asya-san, please look at this!"
At that moment, Hazumi, who had been on standby the whole time, handed her a memo.
Due to focusing on the battle, Asya had not noticed that Hazumi had been in wireless communications with someone. Written on the memo was an instruction from the other person.
"Rushalka, retreat to the bridge quickly!"
Rushalka started flying according to Asya's demand.
With her back to Hannibal and his great army, she flew north swiftly, in other words, towards Old Manhattan.
There were only two kilometers to Manhattan Bridge and it would not take the wyvern's wings very long to get there.
Hannibal's army was out in full force, chasing after the fleeing Rushalka.
The dragon king took the lead with the three hundred salamanders behind him. The king and his pawns each wielded a spear, giving off vibes of determined slaughter.
Hannibal's flying in the lead was still sluggish.
Hence, Rushalka was not going to be caught straight away. But once Hannibal got up to speed—and this time, with a great number of salamanders as hunting hounds—any slight mistake and all would be lost.
Meanwhile, the transport helicopter carrying Asya and Hazumi was also flying towards Manhattan Bridge.
This was due to Hazumi asking the pilot to do so.
Seeing Rushalka only seconds away from arriving over the bridge, Asya said, "Release Queen Form. Next user up!"
Rushalka flew over Manhattan Bridge.
The ruby armor and arms vanished. This time, the one who obtained armor and entered Queen Form was Akuro-Ou, on standby at the bridge since a while ago—
The white nine-tailed fox-wolf was equipped with Queen Form's armor.
There was a golden cannon on her back as well.
Kuohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
Akuro-Ou barked sonorously and fired the golden cannon on her back continuously. Shooting out of the barrel were flashes of red light, targeting the Army of Fire pursuing Rushalka.
However, with Hannibal as the vanguard, the spearmen used that power again.
Once again, the runic arrangement of "O spear of mine, gather the northern star's power to advance with ferocity" appeared in front of the dragon king and his soldiers.
The cannon shots disappeared upon striking the runes.
Hence, what took credit for halting the army's advance was not Akuro-Ou but a gigantic "box" descending from the sky.
Moving towards the ground from the starry sky—
As a rough description, it was rectangular in shape but enormous enough to serve as a coffin for a thirty to forty-meter tall giant.
The box was colored white, making it especially conspicuous against the darkness of night.
It seemed to be made of wood. Indeed, it was a gigantic wooden ship.
At first glance, it seemed to be descending slowly, but the white ark was actually moving at the river at over fifty kilometers per hour. However, the water surface remained calm without any ripples.
It looked like the ark's descent was guided by gravity control magic.
The landing was quite similar to Genbu-Ou's arrival in Tokyo New Town two months prior. Perhaps this level of similarity was only natural. After all, the giant turtle Genbu-Ou and the white ark were both created for the same purpose.
Minions for serving a dragon king or Tyrannos. A mode of transportation to take their masters to the sea of stars—
"So that's Solomon's ark..."
Asya murmured while looking out of the helicopter at the white ark below.
The landing site was not far from Manhattan Bridge. This was no accident, because Akuro-Ou was not the only one on the bridge. Hal, the one who had summoned the ark, was there too with Orihime.
"Oh?"
Meanwhile, Hannibal muttered while leading his flying army of salamanders.
"Handiwork related to Ruruk Soun huh? Hohoho, Tyrannos, what exactly are your intentions...?"
Despite expecting a trap, Hannibal continued to march his army forward.
The fearless dragon king wished to crush Hal's group, trap and ark included.
Part 4
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Part 5
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Part 6
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