by Takehaya
Clan’s bracelet, linked to the scope of her rifle, had captured the moment when Koutarou’s attack hit the dragon. In the footage, she could see that Koutarou’s sword had been repelled before it even reached the scales.
“A barrier?!”
Though Koutarou was shocked by what Clan said, he continued to evade Alunaya and tried to maneuver into his blind spot without getting too far away. Distancing himself from Alunaya would only put him at a disadvantage, both offensively and defensively.
“Looks like it’s not just flight and fire! He has a third spell!”
Generally speaking, dragons only used two spells. The first was to fly and the second was to attack with their breath weapon. In addition, Alunaya also used a spell to protect his body. It was originally an ability that he had developed to stabilize himself in the air. By wrapping his entire body in a streamlined barrier, he could fly more aerodynamically at high speeds. The protective barrier also granted him the ability to briefly fly at extreme altitudes where there was little oxygen. And although the ability wasn’t initially intended for combat, it made an excellent shield.
“I see! So that’s why he was completely unharmed even with a direct hit from my rifle!”
Though Clan’s bullet had temporarily blinded Alunaya, it hadn’t injured him. The barrier had protected against both the bullet and the following explosion.
“Clan, what do we do?! Don’t you have any good ideas?!”
Koutarou repeatedly dodged Alunaya’s claws while getting in an attack where he could. Each time, however, his sword was blocked by the barrier. Since things were basically at a standoff as they were, Koutarou turned to Clan for advice.
“Use your left hand!”
“My left hand? You mean Kiriha’s gauntlet?”
“That’s right! Even though that barrier can block physical attacks, it shouldn’t be able to block electricity or magnetic fields! Aim for its nervous system at point blank!”
Clan’s plan was to use the gauntlet built into the armor’s left arm. Physical attacks were blocked by the dragon’s barrier, but electromagnetism that had no physical form might be able to get through. If things went well, they might be able to shock him inside of his barrier. If not, they could still expose Alunaya to an electromagnetic field.
Alunaya’s nerves operated through minute electrical signals just like any living creature. Striking him with a powerful electromagnetic field should be enough to interrupt those signals and keep him from moving properly. If they aimed for the cerebellum or cerebrum, they might even be able to knock him unconscious. Closing in and using the gauntlet at point-blank range seemed like the best option they had right now.
“Got it! I’ll give it a try!”
“I’ll try using optical weaponry! It’s not as powerful, but it just might work!”
Clan could see Alunaya, so there was a chance that using an attack that relied on light might do the trick. Barriers in present-day Forthorthe were designed to block both physical attacks and the light from lasers, but Alunaya’s barrier had never been exposed to lasers before. It was quite possible that they would work against his magical protection.
“Let’s do this, Clan!”
Koutarou pointed the tip of Saguratin at Alunaya once more. This time, he held the blade with his left hand and generated an electromagnetic field. The field expanded past the tip of the sword, turning it into an invisible spear. Under the influence of the powerful electromagnetic field, electrons began gathering a few centimeters from the tip of the sword. They began a huge, negative discharge, and the sword began sparking and glowing.
As Koutarou was about to charge forward, several more people appeared around him. They all looked like Koutarou, dressed in blue armor and wielding swords.
“Is that your doing, Caris? Thanks!”
“It’ll be hard for me to do any damage with my magic, so I’ll be in charge of defense and diversions. I’ll leave the attacking to you, Blue Knight!”
Koutarou was surrounded by eight mirror images of himself. They were all illusions created by Caris. She had determined that her spells wouldn’t have much offensive power against the dragon, and defending against a dragon’s claws or flame breath would be quite an undertaking even with defensive magic. She figured her best bet was to keep Koutarou from getting hit at all, so she’d chosen to shield him in a collage of illusions.
“Veltlion, here he comes!”
Clan squeezed the trigger while warning Koutarou. As she did, the barrel lit up for an instant. What was fired wasn’t a bullet, however, but light imbued with incredible energy. And since lasers moved at the speed of light, by the time the attack could seen, it had already hit. No matter how mobile Alunaya was, he wouldn’t be able to dodge that.
“ROOOAAAAAAARRR!”
The laser burned the crimson dragon’s hide. As Clan anticipated, Alunaya’s barrier couldn’t block lasers. Not even a dragon could block something it didn’t even know existed. Alunaya writhed in pain and howled as the laser bored through his scales and into his flesh.
“It’s working! Now, Veltlion!”
Since Clan’s laser was designed as an anti-personnel weapon, it didn’t have enough power to fully penetrate Alunaya’s body. However, the pain and surprise of the attack gave Koutarou an opening.
“Taaaaakeeeee thiiiiisss!”
Koutarou charged in with his sword thrust out in front of him. Since he was already in close range, it was only a matter of seconds before he was upon Alunaya. While his sword was repelled yet again, the electromagnetic field passed through the barrier with ease. As it did, the gathered electrons scattered, though they immediately gathered back up once on the other side.
“How about thiiiiisss?!”
The moment the electromagnetic field came into contact with Alunaya’s body, Koutarou focused on his left hand. As he did, his spiritual power—enhanced by Sanae—began flowing into his left hand and extended the electromagnetic field, which in turn created an enormous difference in electric potential between the tip of the sword and Alunaya’s body.
The white flash that followed prevented Koutarou from seeing anything. At the same time, a sharp snapping sound, as if someone had cracked a large whip, shook the atmosphere around him. Though it might have sounded like a whip, it was much, much louder. It was the sound of the electric current flowing into Alunaya.
“ROOOAAAAAAARRR!”
The artificial lightning bolt created by Kiriha’s gauntlet struck Alunaya and ran through his body. It was an effective attack, even against a dragon like Alunaya. Doubly so since it had hit a gathering of nerves. The AI in Koutarou’s armor had guided Koutarou’s aim after analyzing Alunaya’s anatomy. And just as they’d hoped, Alunaya lost control of his own body.
“Uwaaah!”
The only miscalculation was that Koutarou had failed to dodge Alunaya’s swinging tail while he was momentarily blinded by the flash of light. Not even his spirit sight could have helped him since Alunaya had flailed his tail out of reflex in response to the shock. It wasn’t an intentional attack. The heavy blow, however, sent Koutarou flying.
“Veltlion!”
Koutarou was disoriented from the hit and spinning out of control. He’d lost his bearings and was having trouble recovering.
“Leave it to me!”
Caris began chanting a spell to use on Koutarou.
“Gather, spirits of the wind! Like the gusts that fill great sails, show us your tremendous power! Become as a whirl! Dance with him and correct his rhythm!”
Caris cast a spell that would use the wind to slow down Koutarou’s rotational speed. It activated at the same time the armor’s control system kicked in, using gravity controls and boosters to slow the spinning. So between Caris and his armor, Koutarou was able to stop spinning altogether and stabilize himself.
“Ugh, d-damn it... What...?”
But even though his body might have stopped spinning, his eyes hadn’t. His armor kept him upright, but he had no sense of bala
nce. He shook his head repeatedly to try and regain his equilibrium. As he did, his armor let out a warning.
“Alert: High-density energy reaction detected. Immediate evasive maneuvers required.”
The shock from before apparently hadn’t been enough to defeat Alunaya. Now recovered, he was shooting flames from his mouth at Koutarou again.
“I’ll leave that to you!”
“As you wish, my lord. Evading using irregular algorithms.”
Unlike Alunaya, however, Koutarou was still reeling. Realizing that it would be difficult to evade on his own, Koutarou left that job to his armor. The AI began accelerating and decelerating at sporadic intervals and angles to dodge the flames. However, since the armor couldn’t see the attack’s trajectory like Koutarou could, he didn’t escape the attack unscathed. Although he avoided any direct hits, he was burned several times by the flames.
“Veltlion!”
“I’m fine! Don’t worry!”
Fortunately, Koutarou was finally able to recover before taking any serious damage from the fire. He used his spirit sight to read where Alunaya was going to attack, and then took over dodging.
“All this just because I let my guard down for a moment...”
Now that he’d made it through the immediate crisis, Koutarou looked at the damage he’d taken and pulled himself together. The blue plates of his armor had scorch marks here and there from the flames and a dent from when he had been hit by the tail. Any one of those attacks could very well have been lethal.
“Theia... The real Alunaya is far stronger than the one you imagined...”
Koutarou gripped the handle of Saguratin firmly while looking at Alunaya’s gigantic, intimidating figure.
Alaia prayed as she looked up, watching Koutarou and the others battle.
Koutarou-sama...!
Koutarou’s opponent was a monster well over twenty meters long. He was brave to face it, but it was like a cat challenging a lion. No matter how strong Koutarou was, there was no way for him to overcome the sheer gap in strength between him and an opponent over ten times his size. Even though Clan and Caris were helping him, it seemed it was all for naught.
At this rate, Koutarou-sama will die...!
That dreadful thought slowly creeped over Alaia. When it set in on her, she realized that she was feeling insecure for the first time in a long while. Ever since she had met Koutarou, she had always felt safe. She was certain that even if something were to happen to her, Koutarou would protect Charl and support the country. That certainty had brought her great comfort in desperate times.
But more than anything else, after losing her parents, Koutarou was the only one who knew Alaia’s heart and truly understood her. And knowing her situation—all of the details and all of her emotions—Koutarou had told her that she was doing the right thing. Regardless of how she felt as a princess, that comforted the girl named Alaia.
Losing Koutarou would mean losing both those pillars of support at the same time. Just the thought was terrifying. And now that it seemed like an imminent danger, her delicate, pale hands began to tremble.
“I should have broken the seal on that sword before this happened...”
Alaia uttered those words in her anxiousness. Upon hearing them, Fauna, who was next to Alaia, looked troubled.
“Your Highness... that’s...”
As a priestess of the Goddess of Dawn, Fauna knew the true weight of those words. It was something she never would have said were it not for her impassioned concern for Koutarou.
“You can do it, Blue Knight! I’m with you!”
“Please refrain, Princess Charl! It’s dangerous to lean out like that!”
“Let go, Mary! I won’t hide any longer! Our knight is out there fighting! How can we not cheer him on?!”
Charl’s heartfelt words helped ease Alaia’s worries.
“Charl... you’re so strong...”
At first Charl was worried and didn’t want to let Koutarou go, but once she did, her belief in him was unshakable.
“Sister! You should be cheering for the Blue Knight too! If you do, he will surely return home safely!”
She believed in him, and she was willing to do whatever she could to support him. In her position, all the young Charl really could do was cheer, but she was determined to do it with all her heart and soul.
Charl... you might be more suited to be empress than I am...
Charl’s unrelenting will dazzled Alaia. Seeing her like this was like looking at the sun or watching a large flower bloom at dawn.
“You’re right, Charl... I’ll cheer for him too.”
Alaia decided to take a lesson from Charl. She would put all her faith in Koutarou and cheer for him from the sidelines. Everything else could wait.
“Sister! Over here!”
Charl smiled and beckoned for Alaia to stand with her. Alaia nodded and walked over next to Charl.
“Blue Knight! You can do it! Alaia is cheering for you too!”
“Layous-sama! Stay strong!”
They had no way of knowing if their voices could actually reach Koutarou or not, but they chose to believe they would and continued to shout with all their might. It was all they could do to support him now. Following their lead, the soldiers nearby began shouting as well, and before long, the entire fort was shouting the Blue Knight’s name.
Koutarou was fighting several hundred meters away from the fort, and between the wind, his boosters, and the dragon’s roaring, he never heard Alaia and Charl.
“Tch, I definitely can’t lose! Her Highness and everyone else are waiting for me to come back!”
However, even though their voices never reached him, their feelings certainly did. Koutarou knew that everyone at the fort was cheering for him. Having played baseball for years, Koutarou knew exactly what it felt like to be cheered for even when you couldn’t hear any distinct voice in the crowd. And feeling that now lit a new fire within him.
“I can do this! It’s not like he hasn’t taken any damage!”
Koutarou glared at Alunaya, his newfound will to fight burning in his eyes, and pointed his sword at the giant dragon. Just as Koutarou had said, Alunaya was weaker now than when the battle first began. The damage from Koutarou’s gauntlet and Clan’s laser had gradually taken its toll on the dragon’s body. And having been flying at full speed for several minutes now was taxing Alunaya’s stamina. Alunaya may have been a legendary dragon, but Koutarou no longer saw him as unbeatable.
“Veltlion, only a third of the propellant is left! The entire frame has taken considerable damage too! There’s no time to slack off!”
However, Alunaya wasn’t the only one worse for wear. And since he was much smaller, the damage Koutarou had taken was much more significant. The armor had taken hits from both Alunaya’s flames and claws, and each blow put him more at risk. The armor’s systems were currently making up for the damage, but if he took any more, he would be in danger.
“My mana is running low as well. I’m restricting healing magic to serious injuries only.”
It wasn’t just Koutarou’s armor that had been a target, either. Koutarou had suffered everything from cuts, bruises, and burns to dislocation and fractures. Caris had used her magic to heal them all, but now that her mana was running out, it was getting harder to take care of Koutarou.
“Don’t worry. Just focus on what you can do.”
“Let’s all do our best then.”
“I am kicking it into high gear here, just for the record.”
“You’re just reckless.”
“This isn’t exactly the kind of opponent I can beat without being reckless!”
Koutarou readied Saguratin with both hands, pointed it towards Alunaya, and charged. The eight illusionary Koutarous created by Caris surrounded him. The nine of them swapped positions repeatedly as they closed in on Alunaya.
“Grrrrrrrr!”
Alunaya bared his fangs to intimidate Koutarou, but he wasn’t bothering to use his breath we
apon like before. He was well aware by now that the majority of the Koutarous were fakes.
Not good. He’s learning.
Koutarou clicked his tongue in his mind. Alunaya was calm. In Koutarou’s experience, the winner of a fight was always the one that could keep their composure the longest.
“Blue Knight, if you want to finish this faster, I have an idea.”
Sensing that Koutarou was beginning to panic, Caris came up with a proposal.
“Tell me.”
Alunaya waited for Koutarou to close in before swinging his massive tail at the nine Koutarous. Koutarou responded to Caris while defending with his sword. The moment he did, the armor’s AI inundated him with alerts.
“The first and third top left drive units as well as the load-bearing right elbow joint have exceeded the maximum tolerance. Bypassing circuits. Readjusting balance of drive units. Left arm output reduced by 20 percent. Mobility of the right elbow joint decreased by 14 percent. In addition―”
In addition to reporting the situation, Koutarou’s armor displayed a hologram mapping the damage. It was littered with red marks.
“That’s enough with the detailed report! I know I’m in trouble! Just tell me what won’t move!”
“As you wish, my lord.”
The next moment, the red marks on the hologram all disappeared, leaving only a yellow mark on the right elbow indicating a loss of mobility.
“Are you okay, Blue Knight?!”
“Veltlion!”
“I’m still fine! So what’s this idea, Caris?”
The illusions around him vanished, leaving Koutarou all alone. If he backed off from Alunaya like this, he would inevitably go for the fire breath again. Koutarou figured he was better off sticking close and trying to attack. He put his left hand on his sword and generated another electromagnetic field. He was planning on attacking with that again.
“A strange gathering of mana is focused in the back of that dragon’s neck. Attacking there might be a good idea.”
Caris had already used a spell to determine what kind of magic Alunaya was using, and she had detected several spells doing so. There was the strengthening spell surrounding his body that assisted with flight, the defensive spell that worked like a barrier, and the spell that turned his breath into a pillar of flame. Caris had expected that much, but she’d used a detection spell to try and discern their exact power, hoping that information would be of use.