City Series:Volume5b Chapter19

Chapter 19: Dragon

07/30/1944

I’m an idiot

I can never make up my mind

Autun Police Station Telegram: To the German Army South France Branch

Urgent.

On our authority, we have taken in 291 of Herlde’s 323 residents. We are working to rescue the rest. Once they are all together, we will begin evacuating them along the mountain pass. One severe injury. They were bleeding badly and are receiving intensive care in the hospital.

Beretta’s Write Bring: Entry in Heavy Barrel Sourire’s Memory Bank

<You can never understand how huge that black dragon is until he’s standing right in front of you.

His face alone is nearly 20 yards tall and he’s charging toward me while knocking trees down. The collisions with the trees injure his scaly black skin, but he instantly regenerates and heals.

All the research books I’ve seen say dragons are the strongest creatures and I have got to agree with them.>

Crap!! I’ve gotta dodge this.

I jump into the mountain. Sourire stands 9 yards tall, so the trees are on obstacle for me as well. But since the trees also slow down the dragon, the pressure is far less than if I were running along the road.

I’m running while down below the canopy of threes. And I jump from time to time.

<Conifer leaves scatter as Sourire soars up into the moonlit night sky.

The black dragon’s face is so close behind me I could swear he was within arm’s reach.>

I twist my body partway around in midair and fire homing shots from the six divine cannons on my back.

<The soaring projectiles are metal arrows that require the least amount of emotion to fire.>

I don’t check if they hit. With an opponent this big, there’s no way I can miss. My accuracy has got to be 100%. Instead of watching that in satisfaction, I need to make sure I hit the ground running.

<I land in the forest.>

Hell, yeah. Time to run. I have pretty nice legs, if I say so myself. Both ability-wise and appearance-wise.

<The leaves rustle to my right.>

Did the black dragon’s foreleg drop down there? Looks like he’s trying to divert me to the left.

But I continue going straight. This way takes me to Herlde’s mountain road and the small shrine at the top of the mountain. That shrine produces a sound outside of the audible range for humans, but the dragon hates it. This should be a little easier if I can get within range of that.

Come to think of it, we could have just evacuated the villagers there. Why did the mayor send them to Autun instead?

<Trees fall to my right in a chain reaction. One knocks over the next, like dominoes.

One of them falls out head of Sourire to block my path.>

It’s in the way, so I prepare the spear in my right hand while I run and thrust it out to the front with a twisting motion. I get a powerful blow in on the trunk while it’s still falling.

<The large tree splinters through the air from the spear strike. I hear that along with the black dragon inhaling behind me.

Within the intermittent but never-ending song of booming footsteps and snapping trees, the raw sound of inhalation sounds much longer, heavier, and more powerful than everything else, filling me with tension.>

Damn. And I might have been able to do something if I could use the Over Emblem.

This Write Bring is incomplete. It might be due to the child in my- no, blaming this on someone else won’t help anything.

The biggest problem is that…yes, I’ve grown indecisive when it comes to Heavy Barrels…no, when it comes to fighting.

I am lacking something and that something is needed to make the final decision here.

Would self-confidence be the best word for it?

Without that, I want to do something but I don’t know if I should.

I want to scream.

<I can see the scene behind me in my wide-range vision.

The black dragon is running like a wolf while felling the forest’s trees and pursuing me.

The shape of his mouth would best be described as a smile.>

Are you enjoying this!?

Is pursuing your prey fun? Oh, that’s right. You can fly, but you’re making a point of chasing me on foot.

But why don’t you slaughter me with a single attack?

I kind of get it. You lost to Sourire once before. That’s it, isn’t it!?

<After breathing in, the dragon closes his mouth.

He curls his back a bit while running, raising his wings and the horn-like fins on his back.

The ends of the black wings and fins glow with a white light.

That is the light of his Dragon Particle Cannon.>

Geh.

<White light surges toward heaven from the wings and hundreds of fins on his back. The hundreds of white curves rip through the dark night as individual destructive lights. They ascend, curve around, and will finally fall.>

Just like my six divine cannons, huh? Damn, I can’t escape this while inside the forest.

I run. I sprint.

But my legs are heavier than I imagined.

My emotions and willpower are not enough. The Heavy Barrel draws out its power in response to my emotions and it is the strength of my willpower that determines if I can control that. Simply yelling isn’t enough, but simply remaining calm isn’t enough either. Those were the two tricks to piloting a Heavy Barrel, but I wasn’t handling either one well right now.

<A downpour of light plummets from high in the sky.>

Dammit, no one told me he could fire so many at once.

This thing is way more powerful than the rumors said. I was going to have to jump for it, even though that was a gamble. I crouched down for a split-second and then performed a huge leap to accelerate myself outside the range of destruction.

I jumped.

<I soar through the empty air.

The light explodes on impact behind me and the ground shines as bright as the sun.

The cacophony never seems to end as it roars on and on like a waterfall. The dragon continues running while absorbing all of the hits to himself to make the light part of himself once more. His silhouette stands out in the backlight from the ground and then he rises up into the night sky so the moonlight shines behind him.

He roars and inhales.

Time for a second Dragon Particle Cannon.>

I had a feeling!

<The next inhalation only takes a moment. He takes aim at airborne Sourire and opens his mouth wide.

Then he fires. The light is thicker than a standard Dragon Particle Cannon to make sure he slays his prey. That makes the light less dense, but it is spread out enough to envelop even a small enemy.>

I’m not letting this happen. I fire only the right ones of the six divine cannons on my back. Then I twist around.

<The firing and recoil of the divine cannons alters airborne Sourire’s course similar to a blow from the side. But I’m knocked out of my midair position.

A moment later, I hear the sound of sizzling air while the dispersed Dragon Particle Cannon grazes Sourire’s foot.>

Ow, ow. That feels just like stubbing my little toe, but I’ll manage. I can adjust my attitude to land on my feet. Just like I did when jumping into the old man’s courtyard and when I jumped over Phillip’s shoulder.

I twist around to bring my legs below me and place my center of gravity below my hips.

<But the movement is insufficient.>

Oh, no! Is my willpower really not enough!?

<Sourire lands while tilted slightly sideways from fully upright. My momentum knocks down a few trees while I roll on out of the forest and stop on the mountain road.

But that road is no longer a road.

The collapse from the multiple earthquakes caused the road itself to slide down into the forest below, creating a ravine instead. This explains why the mayor did not choose to bring the people to the mountaintop shrine.>

I was tricked! Wait, but by who? No, this isn’t the time for that. I need to get up and start running or that dragon-

<Something casts a shadow from the moonlight in the sky.

Something enormous passes by overhead, shaking the atmosphere enough to produce a rumbling. It lands awfully slowly about 30 yards ahead of Sourire.

That giant form is the black dragon. The force of its landing causes more of the ground to collapse and slide down.>

I’m screwed. He knew this road was out and he chased me here.

Oh, no. This is bad in more ways than one. Like, really bad. And the worst part is that I might die, which would mean-

<The black dragon advances while kicking up his right leg.>

I raise my shield and brace for impact!!

<The attack did not provide much pain for the intensity of the blow. This great weight – the 20 tons of a Heavy Barrel – is somewhat softly and rapidly accelerated at the instant of impact and blown away in the name of inertia.

The next thing I know, Sourire is airborne.

Sourire flies in a parabolic arc and the dragon opens his mouth and aims for it.

I do not sense a Dragon Particle Cannon. It tries to smash me with those rows of yellow fangs instead.

But that never happens. The mountain road crumbles further below his feet.

He staggers and I see white smoke rising from below him. That is the gas that burned down the inn.

Sourire continues flying toward the village’s entrance.>

Heavy Barrel Sourire’s System Message

Medium impact. Damage confirmed.

Sensors: Undamaged. Will be restored after format.

Skeletal system: Medium damage to left arm, light damage to right leg, both in need of repairs.

Power system: Minor damage.

Fuel system: Extra Tank 2 damaged.

Cooling system: Undamaged.

Support equipment: Starboard divine cannons damaged, only the 3 to port are usable.

Over Emblem: No damage beyond injured areas, not ready for activation due to Write Bringer’s emotional instability.

Summary: Combat mobility is possible, approving continuation of combat.

Beretta’s Write Bring: Entry in Heavy Barrel Sourire’s Memory Bank

Continuation of combat? Don’t be dumb. I can see a bit of the night sky and forest, but I still can’t move. Where am I? Based on the moon’s location, I’m guessing near Herlde’s entrance.

Damn, I can’t move. Does that mean I’m a poor match for this girl? Yes, it feels like I’m some fool who keeps saying I’ll do stuff but can’t actually bring myself to do it.

Ha ha ha. But maybe I should have expected this. I’m an idiot and I can never make up my mind.

<I hear something. They’re large footsteps. The ground shakes as something slowly, slowly approaches.>

It’s the black dragon.

I can’t believe this. That thing sure is persistent. Guess that means I can’t just stay here on the ground. He has enough of a grudge against this girl to come back and pick a fight with her while she’s weakened, so this is going to be bad.

<The bottom of my vision sees a truck’s headlights moving in the forest.>

At that distance, the truck must be over toward Autun. If that’s the last one, they’ll reach Autun and begin the evacuation in three minutes or so. I need to keep fighting that long. But unfortunately, I can’t move.

Damn, is this what it’s like to die? How was it for Phillip? Did the fear overpower his willpower like when I screamed during the earthquake?

None of this feels remotely real. Is this what people mean when they say death happens far too suddenly? Was this what it felt like to die for the 4000 Allied soldiers who lost their lives at Normandy?

<The footsteps stop. I hear the deep roar of some great beast rumbling from below my feet.>

The damn thing is rejoicing in his triumph. Meanwhile, I’m half buried in the dirt at a horizontal angle, so-

<“Lady Beretta!? Can you hear me!?”>

What!?

<“Lady Beretta! This is Rosetta. I am inside the small room on your back, but can you hear me? If you can hear this, then stand up. Please!”>

Hold on, wait, what are you doing? And I can’t get up when my body won’t mo-

<“Oh, no. Lady Beretta isn’t answering. Does that mean she has gone crazy again?”>

“What do you mean again!? Don’t just make stuff up!”

Oh, my vocal device is working. I should limit this to just the secondary cockpit.

“What are you doing, Rosetta? Didn’t you evacuate?”

<“I was certain you would defeat the dragon, so I was waiting at the village’s entrance for you to return. Then I saw you flying through the sky toward me. Thinking you were finally returning, I brought our luggage with me.”>

I wasn’t flying; I was sent flying! Huh, this is weirdly relax- wait, now is not the time!!

<The dragon’s face moves into view.>

“You need to get out of there, Rosetta! This girl takes more than three minutes to cancel the Write Bring! If you wait for that, you’ll be killed along with me!”

<The dragon crouches down a bit and then extends his head.

A face far larger than the Heavy Barrel approaches and tilts somewhat.

His yellow eye fills my vision.

His damp breaths are the only thing my auditory devices can hear.

“I will not die, Lady Beretta. Because I know you will protect me.”>

Agh, she’s not listening. Do I need to get after her over this?

“You idiot! Sometimes there are things I just can’t do!! So forget about me and run away!!”

<“Is sacrificing yourself to save me really the most satisfying answer?”

The giant pupil at the center of the yellow eye narrows down to focus on me.

He is determining what exactly his prey is.

After a breath, a clear nictitating membrane blinks to help observe me.

“Don’t you think it is wrong that someone must become sad for someone else to be happy?”>

“…”

<“This is…something that you taught me.”

The dragon takes a single deeper breath. He has apparently finished observing his prey. The muscles around the eye move and the scaly skin bends to narrow the eye and place an expression on the great beast’s face.

Then he slowly raises his head.

He prepares to deliver the finishing blow.>

“Hey, Rosetta. Can I ask one thing?”

<“What is it?”>

“What if…what if seeing this dragon right in front of me makes me scream and give up fighting?”

<“That will not happen.”>

“How can you be so sure?”

<“Because you have always been a true Lourd de Écrivain.”

The dragon quietly opens his jaws and slaver drips from his mouth and fangs like rain and lands all around me. This must have stimulated his hunger.

He rapidly lowers his head. He’s fast.

His fangs move in close, but I hear a voice just beforehand.

“No matter what you might think, that is what I will Ajouter.”>

Heavy Barrel Sourire’s System Message

The Write Bringer’s willpower has grown stronger. Preparing the Barrel’s willpower response.

Beretta’s Write Bring: Entry in Heavy Barrel Sourire’s Memory Bank

Yes!!

Strength fills my fingertips. I can even feel the slight armor attached to the ends of the nails.

I can do this. I clench my fist and find my spear there. I grab it and move.

The enemy is right in front of me. I can’t miss!!

<While standing up, I swing my spear up with all my might, scoring a solid blow to the side of the dragon’s giant canine tooth, breaking it.

With a great noise, the fang flies through the air and the dragon’s head changes course as if pursuing the broken tooth.

His face drops down next to Sourire with enough force to shake the ground and scatter clumps of dirt.>

Whew, that was exciting. And you got my combat dress all dirty, you moron.

I need to stand up. Where’s my shield?

<It is still in my left hand.>

Okay, let’s do this.

Rosetta was right. I am a Knight Striker.

I might be weak, but I still want to protect someone.

That willpower is what I need, so it allows me to move. I’ll never accomplish anything sitting there worrying over whether I win or lose without actually doing anything about it.

Knight Strikers protect people; they don’t worry over whether or not they can protect people.

So I need to move. I need to find my answers. What does it mean to protect people? What is the strongest power for me? I need to figure that out.

<My vision rises up all at once.

We are now at the site of the burned-down inn. That means the dragon knocked us nearly 400 yards away.

But the Barrel is almost entirely functional and the power output has even risen somewhat.

The engine roars as it bathes in moonlight.

The dragon responds to that noise by rising up to our left and opening his eye wide.

His black pupil focuses in on us and his forehead wrinkles in a very human way.>

Okay, okay. We’re not getting any recovery time. Time to start fighting again.

At the very least, I’m not about to lose to you and die.

First, I’ve gotta stop you and protect the people of Bourgogne.

“Rosetta, keep a solid grip on the luggage and sit in the cushion-like thing at the center of the secondary cockpit. That’s actually the nicest component of this Barrel.”

<“Sorry. All this movement made your stripped-off skirt-”>

“Just sit down. I’ll also apply some inertial damping, so just sit still.”

I started running without waiting for a response. The Heavy Barrel was moving differently from before. But of course it was. I felt a world of difference in myself compared to about 10 seconds ago.

<A few paces bring me to the road.>

Running down that road will bring me to that mountaintop shrine.

That’s fine. I want to buy some time and the forest isn’t the best place for some intense fighting. I can’t think of any reason to stop running now.

<The dragon runs alongside me in the forest on the left. He knocks down the trees, sending them toward the road.>

Really!? Those are gonna be in the way! I’ll fire the three surviving divine cannons on the left side!

I need to hit those falling trees!

<My shouting willpower becomes flaming arrows that express my rage. They produce a solid sound as they are fired.

They fly in a slight curve and crash into the rapidly falling trees. The trees are instantly burned to ashes.>

I splinter them with a shield bash and keep going while raising my speed.

In my mind, I can run even faster than this. I trained my body a lot living in Herlde. No matter how stingy and harsh reality could be, it was bound to throw me at least a small bone.

I move forward and think.

I wonder how much power I have right now.

<Sourire runs faster than the dragon. The wire cylinder legs were said to be overpowered during development, but they are giving me exactly the power I need now.>

I can do this! I can!! What was wrong with me before? Just look how well I can use a Heavy Barrel.

<I feel my armor slicing through the night air.>

That reminds me of how I could feel the rain while piloting Protected Empress. No, it had always been that way. I’m just aware of it now. Now I know exactly what it means to Write Bring into a Heavy Barrel. It’s no longer just some vague idea.

I run.

I can feel that action alone directly linking my body, my willpower, and my emotions to the machine.

My emotions explode, my willpower sharpens it, and I can’t stop. The Heavy Barrel uses that strength and sharpness to decide how much of its power it can give me.

<The dragon changes course. He bursts out onto the road behind me.>

That won’t cut it. Flying is the only way you can catch up to me.

<The previous collapse is visible on the far end of the mountain road.

As soon as the dragon sees that, he spreads his wings.

And he flies.>

Are you going to do the same thing as before!?

Fine. You don’t own the sky. My willpower and emotions are strong.

Let’s do this, HLT-001X XX-HL Mk. II – Sourire. I don’t know if you can repeat what you did when you fought off this black dragon before, but I’ll show you my full power. So you do the same for me, okay? If you were built to protect people and if you were given the strongest power to do that…

“Armor Transformation: Normal Mode → Full Power Attack Mode – Sign.”

I shift the power output mode to max.

“Power system entering full power mode – Sign.”

I further open up the part of the power system used for attacks.

“Full Drive ready – Sign.”

Ether light emerges from my entire body, even over the combat dress. I am ready to enter Full Drive mode.

Sourire’s Over Emblem is Haute Ange. That was created during the Age of Flight and it allows the Heavy Barrel to fly.

So I imagine it.

I strongly and sharply imagine impressive wings blossoming from my back and me soaring up into the sky.

I imagine myself holding the greatest power I can think of.

If there is anything more to say, it has to be this.

Begin Full Drive of all armaments and all abilities to respond to this enemy attack. Begin counterattack.

“Beginning Full Drive activation – Sign.”

Heavy Barrel Sourire’s System Message

The thought connection with the Write Bringer was severed for 0.0002 seconds to enter Full Drive.

Reconnecting.

Beretta’s Write Bring: Entry in Heavy Barrel Sourire’s Memory Bank

<My entire body has been transformed by solidified ether.

The joints are still wire cylinders at their base, but they now look like a sculpture. The arms and torso have become skin-like armor with feminine curves and that armor shines as it grows soft to respond to the movements required of it.

The face still has the same base facial devices, but it now looks like a slender-faced woman and hair has grown out behind it.

And that is not all. Ether was emitted as if enveloping the secondary cockpit, extra fuel tanks, and divine cannons on the back and that transforms into two giant wings. Those offensive wings are meant to beat the air and give me flight.>

The transformation only took an instant. My emotions and willpower burned for that brief moment.

<The female angel runs through the Bourgogne forest while looking up into the sky, placing the moon in her vision, and opening her mouth to unleash a cry.

The high-pitched and clear cry spreads out through the vast empty space known as the sky.

As if in response, the dragon roars while flying up above her.>

Ha ha ha. Trying to fight back!? This is the form that beat you before, isn’t it?

With the Over Emblem fully active, my power output increased a dozen-fold and the machine took control. As I sharpened my runaway imagination, the machine would take that imagination in as its own mind and use it to power its own movements.

The human imagination and the machine’s full power have fused together. We can actually fight the dragon like this.

Time to fly.

Once I’m up there, I can decide what it is I want to do with this power to protect. What should I do if I’m going to protect as many people as possible?

<“L-Lady Beretta, I can’t see anything outside.>”

“Sorry, but the secondary cockpit is going to stay like that. We’re about to fly.”

<“Eh?”>

I heard something like a sob, but I ignored it. Sorry. She would be fine no matter what I did as long as she was in that seat.

I spread my wings in the wind.

<The wings are shaped somewhat oddly.

Sourire’s specs say it should have a double wing on either side.

But for some reason, one side has five wings, some of them smaller.

What does that mean? Was the Over Emblem remade?

But that’s fine. I can fly all the same and it’s gotta mean that I’m the strongest. The wing shape was the same as the deformed double wings often seen with Non-Fallen Angels (or Disdemons as some people call them) and I knew how they flew.

The vertically-split wings had to be raised up until they were fully open and then closed again to beat at the air and launch yourself up into the sky.

<My wings are currently fully open.>

I run. My heavy feet kick up the dirt and carry my body forward. I can feel the wind on my body and my wings.

While Signing my imagination, I change the angle of my wings to satisfy myself and to fly. My passage disturbs the flow of air and it swirls around behind me. That forms a mass of air and a wall.

That wall of air forms behind me as I run and I slam my wings into it.

<My body starts to float.>

I kick off the ground to assist it.

I imagine my willpower higher and my emotions sharper to take myself toward he moon.

I fly!!

<After a short time lag, the air explodes and the forest’s trees are blown away.

With a soaring sound, the female angel flies up into the sky.>

<“L-Lady Beretta, did we just…?”>

Ha ha ha. You’ll have to stick to your imagination.

<I tear through the air and ascend.

Bourgogne’s forest and mountains shine bluish-white in the moonlight below me.

I see the horizon in the distance and I can see the lights of some village or another there.

After a mere three flaps of my wings, I am high enough to look down on the dragon.

I spread my wings further to stop myself in midair with the moon behind me.>

The moonlight is beautiful. The Over Emblem ether reacts to the bluish-white light by shining even brighter.

<The high-altitude wind blows through.>

My entire body is tense. I can feel the wind flowing between each and every feather on my wings.

I know now what I want to use his power to do. I had found so many reasons to deny it before, but this was my one desire.

“I want to liberate France.”

I had gained so much here. I don’t want to make Phillip a lie and I want my child to live in this era – in this France.

There are sure to be problems, but I can think about those later.

I’ve decided now that I will liberate this place.

I will make it all real so no one must feel any regrets.

And the first thing I must do is fulfill one of my duties as a Knight Striker.

I ready my spear in my right hand and my shield in my left.

“Device – Heavenly King Mk. III – Third Evolved Form – Syncing for Full Activation – Sign.”

Again, what is this about evolving? Meh, it doesn’t matter.

<The Device spear in my right hand glows.

The Over Emblem engraved into the Device itself syncs with the Barrel and activates.

The ether surrounding the spear emits light while spiraling around and taking the form it desires.

That form is a giant glowing spear measuring more than 30 yards long.>

I swing its shaft around in one hand, stop it, and check how it feels.

<It is light but has a solid weight in my hand.

Light similarly envelops the shield. It seems to grow thicker but lighter.>

This will work. This is pretty much ideal. The shield feels nice too, so I can put up a real fight.

<The black dragon’s entire body glows down below.

He is using his multiple Dragon Particle Cannon.>

All right, then. I’ll show you how a spear user like me attacks.

With a flap of my wings, I flip upside down in midair.

Then I raise my spear in front of my face and stick the spear strongly out from the side of that. This is the perfect assault form of a spear user. Now I only have to move forward.

<Sourire enters free fall. The female angel uses the gravitational acceleration to fall from that great height.

For more speed, I powerfully strike the air with my wings.

I accelerate swiftly, strongly, and sharply forwards.

<In an instant, an explosion of water vapor appears at the tip of the spear.>

I’ve broken the sound barrier.

<The dragon’s multiple Dragon Particle Cannon flies up into the heavens.

Sourire slips through the gaps. A few graze me or strike the shield, but my speed does not drop. I charge down with even more speed and weight. White clouds trail behind the tip of the spear and the points of my wings and shield.

Those are vapor trails.

The light of the Dragon Particle Cannon disappears behind me. I broke through the barrage.

That just leaves the moonlight, the dragon, and my attack.>

Gooooooooooo!!

<The dragon has closed its jaws and Sourire does not attack his head. Instead, the Barrel pierces his two wings.

A scream immediately erupts from him.>

I perform some attitude control just before colliding with the ground.

I flap hard and flip around in midair like I was repelled by something. That avoids a crash into the ground.

My vision spins around.

I see the sky, the moon, the sky again, and then the forest below. I spread my legs and land.

<My feet are planted firmly on the ground within the forest. I do not slip, making it a successful landing.

A moment later, the dragon collapses over onto his side in front of me.

He knocks over the trees in the process and the shockwave from Sourire’s supersonic movement crashes into him.

The impact and the dragon’s scream sound in unison.>

That’s not enough. You’re still up for more, aren’t you?

<The dragon hops back up and immediately rushes in toward me without warning.>

I take flight. I soar gallantly into the sky behind me.

<The dragon jumps up as well. Without wings, he can only leap with bestial movements.

He opens his jaws toward airborne Sourire.>

Is he using that dispersed Dragon Particle Cannon?

I have one way of responding to that. I trust in Heavenly King Mk. III’s attack and flap forward.

<The light approaches.>

Let’s settle this, black dragon. Which is stronger, your light built from resentment or my light meant to protect people?

I charge in.

I move in the direction of my gaze. The result is found in an instant.

<Heavenly King Mk. III’s tip tears through the dispersed Dragon Particle Cannon’s light.

Light bursts out like spraying water and Sourire’s female angel form accelerates through while breaking the sound barrier.

In less than the span of a breath, the spear-equipped mass of attack power pierces the dragon’s head and bursts out the other side.

The dragon does not even scream as he falls. At this point, the center of the village is below us.

The female angel remains in the heavens while the dragon falls to earth.>

That is the finale. All of the people have probably been evacuated by now.

<Below, the dragon writhes around while releasing a breath that is not quite a scream. The fatal-looking wound through his head and the wounds to his wings are being regenerated by gathering the surrounding Lives.

His yellow eyes stare at Sourire up in the sky while he withes in pain.>

Are you still going to fight? But it’s already over. All that writhing is causing the village to collapse from your weight, revealing the crust below.

You must not know what has caused all these recent earthquakes. There is a large amount of pressurized flammable gas below Herlde and it is about to burst out to the surface.

The village has been gathering that up to use it as fuel, but when some people entered the village on trucks earlier, I asked them to reverse the process.

In other words, they’ll be sending air into the gas below the village.

<The dragon’s throat completes its regeneration and he roars once more.>

I really am thankful. I might have never figured this all out without you.

<The dragon opens his jaws toward me. I can see light in his mouth.>

Too late.

Prepare to fire divine cannons!

I imagine fire. Give me the red flames needed to burn it all away!!

<The wings on my back open up. The six divine cannons have apparently become a part of the wings.

At the same time, the dragon fires its Dragon Particle Cannon.>

Goodbye.

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