Leviathan:Volume 3 Chapter 1
Chapter 1 - The World Where There Are Dragons
Part 1
It was taking place in a dream.
However, Haruga Haruomi aka Hal already knew.
Rather than a simple dream, this was a battle to the death that had actually happened. It was in the past, centuries or millennia ago, decisive battles that had taken place repeatedly with the stratosphere as the stage.
Down below, the blue ocean and the earthen-colored land stretched afar.
The altitude was approximately forty thousand meters.
A mere glimpse into the distance and one would easily see the horizon's curvature. The fact of the Earth's round shape could be confirmed as soon as one reached such a height.
At this superlative elevation that human fighter jets had yet to make their battlefield, two super lifeforms were currently facing off.
"How exciting. Long have I waited for this moment, Queen!"
"Hooh... As someone only worthy of running errands for me, you are displaying too much vitality."
The challenger was colored as white as snow, her voice filled with acuity.
The challenged bore the color of crimson, magnanimously smiling with faint wryness.
This was a showdown between dragons, adorned by the contrasting colors of white and red respectively. Both dragons had massive bodies on the order of twenty meters in length.
However, the white dragon was more slender, giving an overall impression that was more agile.
The outspread pair of large wings on her back was displaying the grandeur befitting one who dominated the skies. The skin over her chest and arms had ossified, looking like armor forged from blue crystals.
In contrast, the red dragon's physique looked stronger.
Not only a size bigger than the white dragon, she was also more built more muscularly. Similarly, the chest was ossified into golden armor. Furthermore, the nine horns on her head were also gold in color.
Like their contrasting appearances, the two dragons' stances were also polar opposites.
"I hereby decree to my emblem, the Arrow of Sirius, I, Yukikaze, will now transform into the dragonslaying arrow!"
"My emblem, the Bow Star of the Southern Sky, manifest the dragonslaying bow in my hand immediately!"
The white dragon held the Rune of the Arrow whereas the red dragon possessed the Rune of the Bow.
Both parties chanted their respective mantras to issue orders to the runes of dragonbane residing in their right palms. In the next instant, the Arrow user's entire body glowed with blue-white radiance as she started flying upwards. At the same time, the Bow user summoned a golden longbow in her red left hand.
Hence, a supernatural battle began.
Just as the white dragon flying above had attained sufficient altitude and distance—
She flew straight at her enemy in a straight line. Accelerating fiercely and relentlessly, she easily broke the sound barrier, hurtling towards the target with speed faster than the eye could follow.
Flying like an arrow, the white dragon's body, glowing blue-white, had turned into the Arrow!
Confronted with this supersonic assault, the red dragon counterattacked with the Bow.
Placing the golden arrow that had manifested in her right hand onto the golden bow held in her left, she fired it. Simultaneously, a meteor rain—or rather, thousands of lights resembling meteors—descended from the sky. This rain of light was a barrage intended to pierce the white dragon.
Having turned into an arrow, the white dragon effortlessly evaded the golden barrage.
But in order to dodge the downpour of a thousand lights while flying at supersonic speed, she had to make split-second decisions in the air to perform all kinds of maneuvers, zigzagging left and right, swerving at high speed and moving up and down.
Her speed had reached the realm of lightning.
Continuing to evade with lightning speed, the white dragon soared through the sky, trying to penetrate her target.
Meanwhile, the targeted red dragon fired a second arrow.
As soon as it left the bowstring, this arrow turned into flames in the form of a nine-headed dragon, flying to incinerate the white lightning.
The flame dragon extended its necks fiercely, closing on the enemy from nine directions.
The white lightning flew circuitously so as to evade this attack.
—This was the showdown between the white dragon, who turned herself into a projectile weapon, versus the red dragon, the archer wielding the divine bow. Even among the runes of dragonbane, the bow and the arrow formed a special pair of runes.
Perhaps due to this reason, the successors of these two runes would tend to be more conscious of each other than necessary.
Hence, this battle was special for both of them.
Hal had no way of knowing this, but the mastermind causing him to experience this dream—the the "magic wand" leading Haruga Haruomi the mortal along the path of unorthodoxy—had informed him.
However, this battle, supposed to be an extremely special occasion, ended up concluding in an exceedingly anticlimactic manner.
Because just as the two combatants were locked in an intense aerial battle with the stratosphere as the backdrop, the red dragon suddenly stopped moving.
The golden bow and arrow vanished from her crimson hands. Even the "imperishable protection" guarding her body disappeared as well.
Then the white dragon charged in a straight line like lightning. Enveloped in blue-white light, that massive white body was like an artillery shell.
Then came a violent impact. The crimson dragon was knocked away forcefully.
Perhaps due to the massive damage inflicted, the golden exoskeleton protecting her chest shattered, exposing what lay beneath. A huge hole had opened up on the red dragon's chest.
In truth, she was already heavily injured even before the battle began.
The red dragon managed to stop herself from crashing to the ground. Remaining hovering in the air, she stared at the white assailant with determined eyes. However, the magical power residing within her massive body had diminished greatly. Simply to remain hovering was already taxing her limit.
"So my path of conquest has reached an end here..."
The red dragon murmured, her tone of voice conveying self-deprecation and wryness.
She already knew this outcome before the battle. Due to the excessive damage accumulated in her heartmetal over her long life as a dragon king, she had already reached what was equivalent to the endpoint of longevity.
On the other hand, Hal was quite impressed that she could fight to such an extent using this body that was on the verge of death—
"My apologies, little lady. I cannot play with you any longer. Do not blame me for heartlessly passing away first. After all, it would be an insufferable insult to me as the great queen."
Confronted with assured death, the Crimson Queen was joking nonchalantly.
This fortitude made the white dragon pause. Originally intending to follow up the attack, the Arrow user murmured "hmm" and silently gazed at the enemy's majestic figure.
"Whether handing this head of mine to you or leaving my remains to lowly scum, I am loath to accept either outcome. If you desire it no matter what, find it using your own strength. This is my parting gift as the Crimson Queen!"
Smiling, the red dragon plunged her right hand into the hole in her chest.
What she drew out was a glowing red jewel. Roughly the size of a dragon's fist, it had a massive crack in it. This was the heartmetal of an elite dragon's—no, a great dragon king's.
"Farewell, Princess Yukikaze, youngest of the dragon kings, wielder of the dragonslaying arrow!"
The red queen threw the red jewel downwards. Like a meteor, the red jewel fell straight down.
Ahead of it was a blue ocean and earthen-colored land. Having abandoned her most important organ, the dragon king's gigantic body began to gradually collapse and scatter like sand...
The instant the battle between fellow successors of the bow and the arrow concluded in an unexpected manner—
Hal suddenly woke up.
He was on the driver's seat of a light vehicle. Due to staying up the previous night, he could not hold back his drowsiness, so he said "I'll sleep for twenty minutes," parked the car on the roadside to take a brief nap.
An the front passenger seat, the underclassman serving as Haruga Haruomi's "assistant" smiled.
"Have you slept your fill, Senpai? It has not even been ten minutes, you know?"
"Hmm... Yeah, I'm okay now. I already feel much more awake."
Hal suppressed a yawn and answered.
In fact, thanks to this brief nap, he had completely recovered the ability to think. More importantly, there was Shirasaka Hazumi's angelic smile.
Ahhh, she is so cute today too. Such inexplicably rude thoughts were making his mind operate at a higher speed.
Hal nodded firmly then gripped the steering wheel again. After lessons at school ended today, he had gotten changed at SAURU's New Town branch, Mirokudou, then set off on an "expedition" to the Old Tokyo Concession.
Currently, the two of them had passed the checkpoint at Ryougoku Bridge to reach the neighborhood of Kodenma inside the concession territory.
Half a month had elapsed since the battle against Pavel Galad.
It was now the latter part of May. Humidity was increasing in the air, heralding the arrival of the plum rain season. For Hal who had lived abroad over such an extended period of time, Japan's plum rain season was something he had not experienced in a long time.
"So all I need to do is fill these bags with the sand here?"
"Yeah. Don't bother sorting it out, just fill the bags up. By doing something akin to gold panning, we'll find what we need after we get back."
The place where he had brought Hazumi was the entrance to what was formerly Tokyo Station.
This was both the location where he had obtained the rune of dragonbane as well as the venue of Akuro-Ou's birth ritual. Activating magical sight, Hal took out the Clockwork Mage. Then invoking a spell to search for magical power, he gazed intently, capturing even the slightest of magical power.
Finally, he targeted a large pile of white sand in a corner and began to gather the sand.
While opening the vinyl bag he had handed to her, Hazumi asked, "Umm, how are we going to carry out the gold panning you speak of...?"
"By sifting with a fine filter. The ancient Greeks even had a method using sheep. Ever since ancient times, the sheep has been a creature that symbolized wealth and gold."
"U-Using sheep to find gold!?"
"First they use fleece to line the riverbeds of rivers where gold sand can be found. Then they gather the gold sand that adheres to the wool, thereby amassing a fortune of gold. And sheep are easy to raise. That's why the more livestock you have, the wealthier you'll naturally be."
Whenever he imparted trivia to her, Hazumi would keep nodding, feeling very touched.
She looked so cute that it would inevitably bring a smile to one's face. Hence, Hal would spontaneously bring up knowledge he had acquired as a "treasure hunter" whenever an opportunity presented itself.
Then for a long while, the two of them gathered "sand" using the same method.
After securing a sufficient amount, Hal and Hazumi left the former Tokyo Station and returned to the light vehicle.
"Are we going back directly to carry out the filtering you mentioned just now?"
Hazumi looked like she really wanted to say "Please allow me to accompany you." However, Hal offered a different suggestion to the underclassman who was sitting in the front passenger seat.
"If you don't mind, do you want to practice 'that' first?"
"M-May I...?"
"Of course. And it won't cause anyone trouble either."
"Then please allow me to practice!"
Hazumi's eyes glimmered with joy.
Recently, Hal had been taking her frequently to Old Tokyo—
There was one time when sitting next to her upperclassman, a high school student who gripped the steering wheel and did whatever he wanted, Hazumi had murmured "I'd like to get a driving license when I grow up. It must be very fun, being able to go anywhere you want."
Immediately, Hal had invited Hazumi to take the driver's seat, then started to "instruct" her.
It was like how rural families would let their children drive on private farmland. Precisely because this was a dragon concession territory where there were no pedestrians or vehicles driving on the road, they were able to practice like this. Although Hal had indulged her in such an impulsive act simply because he wanted to see Hazumi's happy face, driving was something that needed as much practice as possible.
Besides—
In the case of an emergency, this skill might save Hazumi's life perhaps.
While this inauspicious thought secretly went through Hal's mind, the "training" ended and they returned to Tokyo New Town. Hal drove her home directly because Hazumi wanted to be back for dinner, then they parted ways.
Then the next day arrived. Hal went to school as usual because it was a weekday.
While eating his lunch of rice cakes and udon noodles at the cafeteria, Hal suddenly noticed.
"Now that I think more deeply about it, I've already spent my time after school with Shirasaka for ten-odd days already."
" "......" "
As soon as he muttered that, two gazes shot at him from girls who looked like they had something to say.
Sharing the same table as him, these two girls were Anastasya Rubashvilli, aka Asya, and Juujouji Orihime.
"Y-You've been quite close to Hazumi-san. That's so unlike you, Haruomi."
Asya spoke in a slightly vicious tone of voice.
"I thought it was basically your policy to avoid troublesome human relationships as much as possible, wasn't it, Haruomi?"
"You're right, but Shirasaka is just so cute."
"C-Cute—how can the likes of Haruomi sound so much like a normal person with a fulfilling social life..."
"Moreover, she's obedient and doesn't cause any trouble. That's why I've decided to indulge her as much as possible."
"And a 180-degree change in personality to boot!?"
Next to the shocked Asya, Orihime sighed.
"Then Haruga-kun, I have something to say as Hazumi's 'elder sister.'"
After finishing the special of the day, a grilled fish set lunch, she put down her chopsticks and spoke.
"Isn't it time for you to show some restraint in teaching Hazumi weird things...? Guess what? Every night, she writes down your teachings as notes, Haruga-kun, to study over and over again."
"That's Shirasaka for you. She really is a wonderful and hardworking child."
"I asked her to give me a brief look. I can't believe I saw stuff along the likes of cosmetic surgery and injecting Botox..."
"Oh that. We were watching television together a couple days ago when Shirasaka was curious about why a certain female artiste's facial expression was unnaturally stiff, so I gave her a brief explanation of the technique's pros and cons."
"S-Stop deliberately pouring that kind of evil knowledge into Hazumi's pure soul!"
"No no no, it'd be more worrying if she were completely ignorant of things like that."
"You might have a point but she almost finished an entire notebook in merely half a month. Isn't it time you held back a little!?"
Hearing Orihime's honest warning, Hal scratched his head and went "Oh I see."
Perhaps he might be teaching Hazumi too many random things on whim. Since he never had an assistant or apprentice before, Hal had no idea how to keep things in moderation either.
"Got it. I'll try my best to be careful."
"H-Hmm. I am really grateful to hear that from you."
Despite thanking him, Orihime continued to show a gloomy expression.
"Is there anything else worrying you, Juujouji?"
"N-No, it's nothing, just that—Oh right, because Asya-san's lunchbox is such a rare sight, I am quite curious where it was bought!"
For some reason, Orihime changed the subject in a joking manner.
Despite finding it strange, Hal still turned his gaze to his childhood friend's lunchbox. Creative Japanese cuisine. Inside the plastic container were all sorts of fried food that seemed to be vegetable tempura, Japanese-style rolled omelet, California rolls, yellow-colored rice that looked like it had been cooked with turmeric, etc.
"Nothing less expected of you, Orihime-san. How observant."
Asya finally calmed down, possibly because the discussion had turned to the topic of food.
"I bought this at the Little Buddha, my top recommendation among all the shops near the school."
"Huh? Isn't that an Indian curry shop?"
"It is, but the head chef is actually a Nepalese who learned his craft at a Japanese restaurant in India. Compared to curry, his specialty is 'imitation Japanese food.' It's only because curry sells better that he started his business with a curry shop as the main draw. This is something I fond out after frequenting the shop for about a week continuously."
"So you ordered a custom-made lunchbox..."
Since this was very much something that Asya would do, given her obsession with food, Hal could not help but nod in acknowledgement.
On the other hand, Orihime made a look as though she had difficulty accepting the idea.
"Advertising Indian curry when the head chef is clearly Nepalese, is that really okay...?"
"But not all Indian curry shops in Japan are opened by Indians either."
"From what I can see, there are many chefs who originated from Nepal or Pakistan."
"This actually involves all kinds of issues related to brokering Japanese work visas for these people, so it's unexpectedly complicated."
"Both of you are at fault for always bringing up this kind of trivia and being a bad influence for Hazumi..."
After Hal and Asya commented one after another, Orihime expressed her opinion.
Judging from her look of mixed feelings, she seemed to be having trouble deciding whether to feel surprised or impressed.
Part 2
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Part 3
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Part 4
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