Unlimited Fafnir Vol 15 Chapter 3

Chapter 3 – Demise Angolmois

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Part 1

I felt it throughout my whole body the moment I used Neun’s authority.

Light that was far more immense than before flowed into me.

The darkness’s thickness and spreading speed were increasing after Angolmois One’s End Matter joined it.

However the surging dark wave was pushed back by the dazzling azure light.

──Char.

It felt like a small hand of the one who called me friend was pushing my back.

The End Matter that was spreading through a range of more than 100 km was rapidly getting smaller.

Perhaps thanks to obtaining this immense “light source”, iris beside me wasn’t showing any pain.

Marduk was starting to move forward in match the darkness’s decline.

Everyone else should also advancing toward the center of the End Matter──the main body of Angolmois.

『End Matter has shrunk until a diameter of 5 km. I believe that we will be able to observe the main body’s figure before long.』

Jeanne reported the situation from the communicator.

I also saw the compressed End Matter with my own eyes.

Its outline was distorting eerily.

Eight large necks appeared as though to break through the black shell.

『Angolmois appear! The shackle of adamantine has already been taken off!』

Angolmois’s outline took shape inside the light.

It was just as Jeanne reported, the cube that sealed its movement couldn’t be seen anymore.

Just as Vritra said, with the addition of Angolmois One’s End Matter, the adamantine must have been eroded faster than expected.

「Everyone, stop using “Shamash”! We will continue after destroying the main body’s shell!」

After I yelled that, the blue light that was illuminating the surrounding ceased──the grotesq   ue appearance of Angolmois was exposed writhing between the sea and the sky.

「──It’s not really any different than before. It seems we somehow make it in time.」

Vritra sighed in relieve seeing the form of the death dragon. Next Jeanne’s voice reached me.

『Based from my observation, it doesn’t seem to grow larger like Angolmois One. Most likely it was unable to devour great amount of sea creatures because it couldn’t travel from here. Please be careful to not allow the target to devour our attack so that it won’t grow larger.』

「──We know that. We won’t commit that kind of blunder.」

Kili waved her hand lazily while walking toward the prow.

Vritra also followed behind her with her small steps.

「It’s finally the time to fight the main body’s outer shell. We will take on the necks as planned. We will immediately return after destroying the outer shell, so be at ease. After all using the authority to expose its true body is the cornerstone of this operation.」

Vritra turned around and stared fixedly at Iris.

「Yep! Do your best Vritra-chan! Kili-chan too, be careful!」

Iris nodded with a serious expression, but Vritra smiled in exasperation seeing that.

「Thou still won’t show any fear or hesitation even at this point……thy are either a bottomless fool or a genuinely strong person.」

Perhaps that was Vritra’s way to give praise.

She averted her gaze with a somewhat embarrassed look before her body lightly floated up to the sky.

「I’ll also return here before Yuu goes off. That’s why──just leave it to me.」

Kili met my gaze and smiled confidently.

Surely this was her reply toward my request “I’ll leave Iris to you” that I asked her before.

That was why I also nodded with a smile.

「Yeah, I’m counting on you.」

Kili looked satisfied by my reply and flew away to the battlefield gallantly.

The wind barrier that Kili maintained was dissolved. Because of that powerful wind blew strongly from the front this high in the sky.

「Please don’t let anyone get injured……」

Iris walked a step forward against the wind. She joined her hands together and muttered a prayer.

Iris was able to worry about someone else than herself even in this situation──certainly, that might be true strength.

『Captain, Marduk will move to secure the line of fire for “Noa” from now.』

Jeanne’s voice that was filled with nervousness resounded from the communicator.

「Jeanne, can you aim at the main body’s outer shell in this situation?」

『No──three of the necks are facing this way. The possibility is high that our attack will be absorbed by them in this situation.』

The situation was just like we predicted.

That was why I replied back without agitation.

「Then, as expected we can only rely on everyone for securing a firing line.」

『Yes. Also captain──please leave this sniping fully to me.』

Jeanne asked me with a voice that told me of her strong determination.

「Fully……?」

I didn’t know how far she meant with that and asked back in puzzlement.

『The power of “Noa” is decided by how deep the linker’s mental state can be extracted. We can assume that Naglfar’s Noa Replica compensated the required output using quantity, but based on my calculation──with the extraction ratio and amplification rate of the original, Noa should be able to produce equal strength or even greater than that if it thoroughly extract from my mind alone until its base.』

「Thoroughly extracting until the base……will you be fine if you do that Jeanne?」

I asked in worry. She answered me with a bright voice.

『I think that I’ll be able to leave the control of the ship completely to Shinomiya-sensei after the sniping, but my life won’t be in danger. That’s why, please. Believe in me.』

「──Got it.」

I decided to entrust the sniping of the main body’s outer shell to Jeanne.

She didn’t need to ask me to believe her.

I was convinced that she was the best sniper in the world. I also understood that she wasn’t lying at me.

『Thank you very much, captain. Then I’ll start constructing the psychic warhead now.』

I heard Jeanne’s grateful voice and the eight psychic cannon turrets that were placed on the top front part of Marduk began to let out a low humming sound.

And then a change was also appearing from Angolmois at the same time.

A rainbow colored circle appeared and enveloped its giant body──.

『This is Shinomiya Haruka. Gravity fluctuation is detected around Angolmois’s main body.』

Shinomiya-sensei reported the situation in Jeanne’s place.

That ring was the power of gravity control that Shinomiya Miyako used.

At this rate everyone wouldn’t be able to approach Angolmois. Their attack also wouldn’t reach it.

「Everyone, I’ll use “Anti Gravity” in full strength after this. When I do that Angolmois will have to direct Nova’s power toward the Anti Gravity field. Start attacking when it’s defenseless.」

I instructed everyone through the communicator, then I closed my eyes──and concentrated my mind to my forehead.

I focused to the authority that was residing there and tried to pull out its original strength.

「Wah!? M-Mononobe?」

Iris let out a surprised voice at my side.

Most likely she was surprised seeing my dragonification.

Come to think of it, only the members who infiltrated into Atlantis had seen this form directly.

I felt heat on my forehead. It was excessively bright at the other side of my eyelids.

I slowly opened my eyes. There Iris’s face was right before me with white light illuminating her.

「Mononobe, amazing! Horn! There is horn growing you know? It’s shining──waa……it look cool for some reason!!」

Iris’s eyes were sparkling in excitement. Her hand reached out at my horn.

「It become like this when I try to use Leviathan’s ability in its complete state.」

I felt my horn being caressed with a fingertip while explaining to her.

The horn was more sensitive than I expected. I pulled back because it felt ticklish. Did Tia also feel like this when her horn was touched?

「Hee, is that so……wait, ah──sorry Mononobe. I’m getting in your way.」

Iris gasped and apologized.

「No──all of my unnecessary tension is melting away when seeing Iris acting like usual.」

I smiled back at her and moved to Marduk’s prow.

And then I glared at Angolmois’s figure that was covered in a rainbow circle and held up my hand.

The ship had closed the distance while pushing back the End Matter, but we were still quite far from each other. Even the giant monster there could be blocked from my view behind my palm from this distance.

──The End Matter had been fused with the main body, so there was no risk of the Anti Gravity material getting eroded like before. But it was easy to imagine that it would get devoured if I created the material near the necks.

I thought for a bit while raising my arm a little.

The current me who was partially transformed to Leviathan could control the Anti Gravity field with myself as the center. However the effect would decay in proportion to the distance, so I needed to create the Anti Gravity material near Angolmois in order to neutralize its gravity field.

「──Anti Gravity.」

I created Anti Gravity material right above Angolmois.

The Anti Gravity field was created together with pure white light. The rainbow circle covering Angolmois’s whole body was greatly distorted.

The eight necks that Angolmois raised was being pushed toward the sea together with the circle.

The sea surface was greatly dented. It showed the area effect of the anti gravity field clearly.

*GUOOOOOOOOOONNN!!*

The death dragon’s roar reverberated.

The circle that was distorted and looked like it was about to be torn apart was converging right above Angolmois. It was deployed in many layers to act as a shield that blocked the white light.

The white light and rainbow circle opposed each other just right in the middle of the anti gravity material and Angolmois.

Angolmois slowly raised its necks again after pushing back the anti gravity field.

──So this is my limit in this distance. But the gravity field it created is concentrated right above it. It won’t be able to block our attack now.

「I’ll maintain this current situation! The enemy shouldn’t have any leeway to split its gravity field for other thing. Everyone, begin attacking!」

If I closed the distance personally, I could push back using the anti gravity field and Angolmois’s movement would be restricted to some degree. But our attack also wouldn’t be able to reach it due to my own anti gravity field if I did that. Therefore maintaining the current situation was the best choice.

『Roger!』

Everyone’s voice reached me in unison.

「──Kerykeion!」

Iris stood beside me and raised her staff shaped fictitious armament.

If it was her then she could support everyone even from this range using explosion.

Even while maintaining the anti gravity field, I also strove to grasp the situation of each person through the light barrier bits that were following them.

Everyone was fighting hard with their all.

The figures of the girls challenging the giant dragon that was the avatar of death were very awe-inspiring and more beautiful than anything like the valkyries that appeared in the mythology──.

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Part 2

Lisa Highwalker danced beautifully and sometimes sharply in the sky. She was leading around one of Angolmois’s necks by the nose.

The death dragon’s neck opened its giant mouth that could swallow even Marduk in one gulp easily and it rushed through the sky.

Lisa sensed that movement and flipped her body with a twirl. She then readied her spear shaped fictitious armament.

「Scatter and congregate, yellow flame!」

Flame bullets that shined yellow were fired from the tip of her spear. Their number was roughly thirty.

The flame bullets spread to four directions like a blooming flower. Then they converged once more to dodge Angolmois’s mouth.

They hit its head, cheeks, and jaw. The impact diverted the neck’s trajectory.

Lisa twisted in an evasive action. The eerie body that was a gathering of skulls passed right beside her.

But Angolmois immediately bend its neck and chased after Lisa.

(I’m able to accomplish my objective in attracting its attention easily.)

She ran away from the neck in full speed while looking back.

Angolmois had no muscle, skin, and eyeball, but there was something that was clearly radiated from it.

It was a powerful hostility, and hunger.

(Surely it hates living thing. It feels jealous and seek their flesh and life.)

Lisa made use of her attack and rapid turn to dodge once more.

She understood something for the first time after coming this close to Angolmois. There was a rotten smell from it that made her wanted to cover her nose.

(Father once told me──be respectful to the dead. Mother told me to pray for the peaceful rest of the dead……)

She felt even stronger smell of death from the giant mouth of Angolmois that devoured everything.

(That’s why, I don’t hate you’re your death is pitiful, and the way you keep struggling even then is sympathetic. But……I still have no intention to surrender my life to you just because of that!!)

「Curve and gouge──Thousand Blade!!」

Lisa fired a flash from her fictitious armament. It drew a large curve while splitting apart, becoming a barrage of numerous bullets that hit the side the enemy’s face.

It didn’t deal any damage to the outer shell that denied destruction and ruin, but the impact diverted the neck’s trajectory again.

「I’ll survive and return……to invite Mononobe Yuu to a date!」

She yelled to encourage herself and danced in the sky while her blonde hair fluttered behind her.

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Firill Crest was fighting Angolmois’s neck while thinking.

(Mononobe-kun……he didn’t get creeped out right?)

Even though she was in a deadly battle, what occupied her mind was her anxiety regarding the conversation she had before departing.

(Suddenly asking him to model nude is too high of a hurdle isn’t it……perhaps I should ask him for a semi nude at least……but I won’t be able to ask for that unless in a situation like this.)

The death dragon’s jaw mercilessly approached the worrying Firill.

However she lifted up her fictitious book armament without any hurry.

「Freeze Break Octet!」

The pages flipped quickly and eight ice bullets shoot out from the book.

The ices flew while enlarging and swooped down with accelerating speed.

It hit Angolmois’s head that was in the verge of swallowing Firill.

(I hope he doesn’t think of my request in a strange sense……because this time my request is really just for drawing practice……)

Firill took some distance while the enemy’s head was shaken from the impact. She calmly continued her attack even while thinking.

「Earth Grave Nonet!」

Nine huge rock lumps flew out from another page.

They crashed on several spots of the neck and delayed the death dragon from recovering its balance.

(Well, it’s……it’s not like I’m not interested with Mononobe-kun’s body though……rather I’m really interested but……this and that are a bit different from each other……I wonder, how should I word it to clearly convey my meaning……)

Firill’s body was moving naturally even while her mind was fully occupied with those questions without answer.

Because she was good in doing something even while thinking.

Rather the more she thought of unrelated things, the more her brain was able to instinctually process the situation before her eyes and took action without hesitation.

Firill was aware that she had a disposition to fail completely the more she thought deeply.

Even so, she couldn’t accept taking action without first thinking about it. She would regret it if she did that, so she fundamentally put importance to the conclusion that her mind guided her to.

She entrusted her body to her excellent instinct that she usually didn’t use──only when in battle.

(But as expected, if he get naked……it will become that kind of atmosphere won’t it? And then what will happen……I’ll get misunderstood that I have that kind of objective……but it’s not like I’ll hate it if things develop to that direction……)

Firill lifted her Necronomicon high in the air while her anguished thought was fully occupied by her imagination.

「Aurora Harmonics Orchestra!!」

Flame, wind, ice, and light──countless bullets of various elements were fired to the sky. They then became colorful rain that struck Angolmois’s neck.

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「First arrow, Fork Wind!」

Mononobe Mitsuki fired wind arrow toward the giant Angolmois’s head that was assaulting her.

The arrow of compressed air split into several hundred arrows, drew trajectories that were exactly like what she imagined during the material conversion, and landed on the right side of the head while avoiding the enemy’s front part.

(──Now!)

Mitsuki intentionally closed the distance seeing the enemy’s speed falling due to the impact.

And then she passed right in front of the head’s eye in an almost touching distance.

Her body trembled from the presence of death and the rotten stench that drifted up from the bone body right beside her, but she suppressed her fear with her willpower and drew Angolmois’s attention.

(──This is one of the necks heading toward Marduk. I have to attract its attention more!)

*GUOOOOOOOOONN!!*

The death dragon roared in hatred and anger. Then it chased after Mitsuki.

She lured the approaching fangs until it was right behind her──then she somersaulted while still maintaining her top speed.

「Second arrow, Night Breath!」

Mitsuki took position above the head and fired an arrow of flame that was blazing red.

The top of the head was enveloped with flame blast when it hit. Mitsuki rode the explosion blast and smoke that surged toward her and took some distance away.

However the enemy would change target if she got too far away.

Therefore Mitsuki intentionally circled to in front of the enemy once more and readied her bow.

「Third arrow, Luna Eater!」

The fired grey arrow hit the bone’s outer shell, but it could only disintegrate the membrane and muscle fiber that were thinly covering the surface and went no further than that.

(Even attack that spur on disintegration doesn’t affect the outer shell just as expected. But──)

*GUooooOooooooooooooOooOoooNNNN!!*

Angolmois’s neck reacted to Mitsuki’s attack and howled with a voice that shook the air.

It was angry──.

The death dragon was showing a very strong resistance of having the thin layer of flesh covering its body being shaved off from it.

「Fourth arrow, White Out!!」

This time she froze a large area of the neck with an arrow of extremely low temperature.

Angolmois twisted its body to shake off the ice, but fragments of necrotized flesh fell off from its body surface.

Surely it wanted to live. Surely it wished to obtain new life to a maddening degree.

(But I……will prevent that. In order to survive……in order to live together with Nii-san-!!)

「Final arrow, Last Quark!!」

The arrow of Anti Matter that she fired together with a sharp voice blew away the scraps of “life” that were clinging on the outer shell──.

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Ariella Lu’s thought was racing toward what was happening in the middle of battle──of the thing that was going on all over the world right now.

(That much light gathered just now, it was because a lot of people are calling out our names wasn’t it.)

She toyed with Angolmois’s neck using varied fast and slow tempo in her movement. She felt a prickling pain in her chest.

(I wonder if those children……also heard my name. If they heard it……what would they think.)

What crossed her mind was the faces of the children who lived together with her when she still belonged to the dragon boycotter organization.

Even though Ariella should be their family, the moment she became a “D”──she became their enemy.

She was subdued and sold off to a lab in Japan. That day the children threw stones at her instead of parting words.

For the children who lost their family in dragon disaster, “D” was also a target for their hatred like the dragons.

However they were still family for Ariella.

That was why she was still secretly sending aid back even now so that the children could go to school.

(Will those children feel thankful if they learn that I have fought dragons? Will they accept……support me even just for a little?)

Ariella smiled bitterly when her thought reached that point.

「──Wind!」

She swooped down to dodge the approaching Angolmois’s head and fired wind bullet at its jaw.

(Expecting compensation at this point, I’m also really greedy huh. But──it doesn’t really matter. Even if they didn’t forgive me, even if they didn’t have any expectation to me, my wish to protect those children is still the same. Besides……)

Ariella danced in the sky while looking at her comrades who were fighting the other necks at other locations.

There were people who forgave and accepted her even after knowing that she was a traitor.

She had a little sister who relied on her as a real family.

There was a boy who she wanted to know better and compete with.

(I’m happy now. That’s why, I can fight with all my strength to live!)

「Aegis Ray!!」

In order to grasp the promised tomorrow, Ariella fired an attack that bundled up seven flashes in it.

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Ren Miyazawa cowered in front of the death dragon’s neck.

Angolmois’s nec had absorbed the planktons and sea water. Most of its outer shell was still exposed, but some places were covered by thin membrane and there were also spots that had muscle fiber stuck on them.

The decaying stench that was drifting from there fanned up her instinctual feeling of repulsion. The hostility and murderous intent that was directed toward all living things made her shrunk into herself.

(……Scary.)

Angolmois opened its mouth that was like a bottomless pit to devour the “living thing” flying around before it and closed the distance to Ren.

「Nh!」

Seeing that she made use of her vast reserve of Dark Matter and formed highly compressed air──she rapidly accelerated.

Fortunately even if her body couldn’t move from fear, she could fly in the sky as long as she could perform material conversion.

But, she couldn’t “fight” if she still cowered.

(Why……I’m feeling this scared? Even though usually I was fine……)

Her body never trembled until now even when she challenged the dragons in the past or when fighting Angolmois One.

But for some reason a thinking filled her mind now.

If she was swallowed into that big and dark mouth, she would be gone from this world.

If she fought an opponent that wasn’t affected by her attack, she would get cornered sooner or later.

(Onee-chan……!)

She looked around to look for help.

However everyone who was fighting the other neck was far away from her.

Angolmois was too huge, so even the distance between its necks was far apart. With this she was unable to ask for help from other people right away.

She noticed it then. That this was her first time fighting in a situation where she couldn’t rely on anybody else.

Usually there was her big sister who was worrying for her. There were her reliable comrades around her.

(But now I’m alone. That’s……)

Ren tightly gripped her hammer shaped fictitious armament.

(──That’s only natural. If I’m scared because of something like that……Onee-chan will laugh at me. Onii-chan……won’t praise me!)

Ren learned the true identity of her fear and faced it head on. She subdued it with her willpower.

And then she looked back and faced the approaching neck──she lifted up Mjolnir.

「A lot of……stars in the sky-!!」

Numerous fireballs that were shining bright red were formed around her.

They followed the movement of her fictitious armament that she swung down, becoming shooting stars toward Angolmois.

*GUOOOOOOOOOOOONN!*

Angolmois opened its mouth to swallow the shooting stars.

「Nh!!」

However Ren swung her hammer horizontally. The trajectory of the shooting stars changed and they avoided the head’s mouth to crash at the middle of its neck.

A terrific flame blast rose up. Ren circled to the front of Angolmois while that happened in order to attract its attention.

Her body──wasn’t cowering anymore.

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Tia Lightning was dancing together with lightning.

When Angolmois’s neck that was chasing her closed the distance, she fired lightning from her wing shaped fictitious armament that was spreading on her back.

The lightning tore through the air and left behind zigzagging trail behind it while impacting the side of the head.

Right now she had the assistance of Akashic Record and could completely control the electricity she formed.

Attacking while avoiding the enemy’s front was easy.

(……But, it will be dangerous at this rate.)

The flesh growing on the neck Tia was facing was increasing.

Because of that sometimes something like bone would fly out at her from the gaps of the outer shell. The speed and power of the bone fragment could even pierce her wind barrier.

(Tia might get taken down if Tia doesn’t react and shoot down the attack quickly. That’s why──)

Tia focused her mind.

(Tia surely can also do it……!)

The two horns growing on her head slightly flickered with electric illumination.

The change was only that. There was really nothing else that happened.

And then when Tia dodged the neck’s rush in a hair’s breadth, a sharp bone fragment shot out from the outer shell.

Tia’s distance with the enemy was close. She wouldn’t make it in time to dodge.

「Tsu!?」

However the moment Tia noticed that attack, lightning surged and shot down the bone fragment.

Originally such speed was impossible due to the process required to form Dark Matter and then carrying out the material conversion.

(Tia did it! It’s just like what Kili did……Tia can finally do it!)

Yes──she was already forming Dark Matter.

She deployed tiny amount of Dark Matter that couldn’t be seen with naked eyes in a wide area. By performing material conversion to them, her reaction speed was heightened.

In other words it was the same concept like Kili’s Muspelheim.

「That kind of attack isn’t scary anymore!」

Tia flew around. Angolmois fired bone fragments at her rapidly, but all of them were blocked by lightning.

That sight looked like the girl was standing in an isolated world by herself.

「It will sting when Tia soak in bathtub together with Yuu if Tia get injured──so Tia will protect my skin with this barrier!!」

Tia yelled that and fired the lightning of counterattack.

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Kili Surt Muspelheim was feeling anxious.

(I......often pulled out the short end of the stick huh.)

Kili faced an Angolmois’s neck while feeling bitter.

This neck was the same like the neck that Mitsuki was fighting. It was one of the three necks that were on guard against Marduk. She had to somehow attract its attention and lured it away from Noa’s firing line.

(Well, it’s easier than Okaa-sama’s role to lure the neck right in front of Marduk but……it’s still troublesome.)

「Levateinn!!」

Kili slashed at the base of the neck with her flame sword that was a compression of heat rays.

However she couldn’t cut apart the outer shell. The neck was only shaken from explosion.

Angolmois roared angrily at Kili who attacked it, but it wouldn’t divert its gaze from Marduk.

(This neck, even though it’s irritated at me──it’s still prioritizing Marduk. Does it mean that it doesn’t care with my attack?)

She could see the radiant light of what seemed to be Anti Matter’s explosion from far away.

With such might, it might be possible to divert the neck’s attention forcefully, but Kili couldn’t do the same thing.

(Thinking carefully, my firepower is unexpectedly insufficient isn’t it? But, it’s pointless asking for something that I don’t have. I have to manage somehow with my own cards……)

Kili continued fighting without stopping her thinking. Then her mind reached a single possibility.

(That’s right! If it’s damage to the mind that’s required in order to break the outer shell──)

Kili caused large explosions to occur using Muspelheim that she deployed at the surrounding and then she circled behind the neck using that as smokescreen.

(The authority that I got from Yuu……using this “Ether Wind”!!)

She placed her hand on her left chest and focused. Then her whole body became covered with golden particles.

「Here I go.」

She charged using flame as propulsive force.

She changed the Ether Wind──her own mind that was materialized into the shape of sword and swung it strongly.

(I already goes this far, so I’ll name it. Yuu’s fictitious armament is Siegfried, so this sword is──)

「Balmung!!」

The golden blade was swung down on the neck’s outer shell with a sharp yell.

*GAGIIIIIIIIINN──!!*

There was a hard collision sound and a heavy recoil.

(It’s not severed──it’s not even cracked. It’s only obvious that the mind of a single person like me can’t break this colony of the dead. But……!!)

The corner of Kili’s lips curled and she laughed in satisfaction.

The psychic sword was slightly digging into the neck.

The outer shell that denied destruction was certainly getting distorted.

*GUooooooooooOooooNN!!*

Angolmois let out a roar of fury and hatred, then it turned toward Kili.

「You finally look at me. Now, come. I’ll take you on as much as you want.」

Kili smiled fearlessly and pointed her sword’s tip toward the death dragon──.

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Vritra was facing it.

The giant skull that formed the head of a neck by itself.

The other heads were formed from a fusion of countless corpses, but this neck was different from the others.

「”Eternal Longevity” Bahamut……how do thou feel about being reduced into a part of some dead rabbles? Do thou still want to continue to live even then?」

Vritra called the name of the skull.

*UoooooNNNN!!*

The answer of her question was a roar that was dyed in killing intent. Protuberances that looked line cannon barrel grew from the gaps of the outer shell and they fired cannon shell of high energy at Vritra.

However Vritra laughed amidst that barrage.

「Hmph──a foolish question I guess. That way of life of thee is already that of a slave of life.」

Vritra blocked the attack with barrier while lifting up her small hand.

Then a giant cube suddenly manifested at the middle of its neck.

This was the metal crystal of adamantine that sealed Angolmois’s movement when it first manifested.

However for some reason the manifested adamantine didn’t harden  and flowed down to the sea surface while still in its liquid shape.

(As I thought it won’t work anymore. It’s not preventing the material conversion with electromagnetic wave, instead it’s comprehending the composition of adamantine and secrete a substance that obstruct its hardening.)

Vritra couldn’t bind the opponent, but she didn’t lose her composure.

Angolmois One also had countermeasure against adamantine, so she hadn’t expected that she would be able to manage the main body with it.

「But……this is a bit troublesome.」

The neck Vritra was facing was located right in front of Marduk.

It wouldn’t be enough for her to just attract its attention. If she didn’t also bind its movement, it would react against the sniping.

(The effect will only be temporary even if I hold it back with my attack. Furthermore there is a risk that it will eat my attack.)

The neck became impatient and rushed to directly eat Vritra.

「Kuh!」

Vritra tried to take distance, but then──silver explosion enveloped the side of the enemy head.

The neck was greatly shaken by the explosion’s impact. Vritra escaped from it and glanced backward.

Ahead of her gaze there was Marduk that was entering sniping preparation.

The cover fire just now must be from the girl on its deck.

(Iris Freya……)

Vritra made a conflicted expression before she glared at Bahamut’s skull with a determined gaze.

「It can’t be helped. I don’t really wish to perform biological conversion excessively but……I shall make use of the likeness of thy form once more.」

After Vritra declared that, a great amount of Dark Matter appeared around her.

They enveloped her and converged. Her silhouette was changing while letting out a faint phosphorescence.

Mankind would never forget that form.

It was the dragon that first appeared twenty five years ago. The beginning of the dragon disaster.

Black wings spread out.

*OoooooooooOOoooooNN!!*

Dragon’s voice reverberated.

A gust of wind blew. The jet black dragon whirled up to the sky. Her wings hid the sun temporarily. Submerging Angolmois’s giant body into shadow.

What manifested was the one that locked the sky──”Black” Vritra.

That form was modeled after Bahamut. She swooped down with that form.

She tackled the giant neck and held it in place.

(I shall cut open the path of my comrade with all my strength! O thee who refuse the end──I won’t let thee devour this planet!!)

Her feeling became a roar that shook the atmosphere……everybody in the battlefield understood──right now the path was opened.

.

Part 3

Going back slightly in time, inside Marduk’s bridge, the place was filled with tension.

The monitors displayed the images of the girls fighting against Angolmois’s necks. A simple three dimensional image that displayed their position relatively to Marduk was also being showed.

Jeanne Hortensia was doing the preparation to fire Noa. She looked toward Shinomiya Haruka who was working hard controlling the ship and grasping the situation from the sea beside her.

「Then Shinomiya-sensei, I’m going to enter deepest level of tuning with Marduk now.」

Shinomiya Haruka was straining her eyes to look at the monitors without any composure in her expression, but she put on a teacher’s face when she heard Jeanne’s words and nodded with a smile.

「Right. Leave everything else to me, you just concentrate on the sniping.」

「──Thank you very much. Also……please don’t stop me no matter what even if it looks like I’m in pain.」

Jeanne said that and leaned on her seat before closing her eyes.

Metal implements jutted out from inside the chair and locked Jeanne’s neck and limbs in place.

Shinomiya Haruka looked like she said something in respond to Jeanne’s words, but all inputs from her body senses were blocked after she entered the deepest level of tuning.

Jeanne felt her whole being assimilating with Marduk.

Marduk’s detection function right now was no different from her own eyes and ears.

She could even watch all the images that were displayed in the monitors simultaneously right inside her brain.

There was 14.5 kilometer until Angolmois’s main body. Three necks were getting in the way. There was 72% of chance that her shot would be blocked if she fired now.

The calculation result that Marduk produced flowed into Jeanne’s thought.

(I still can’t fire with this probability. There won’t be a second chance, so I need to hit the target without fail and smash the outer shell. But……)

Jeanne moved her point of view to the bridge.

By becoming a part of Marduk, she was able to look down at her own body that was fixed in place on the bridge’s chair.

(When Naglfar smashed Angolmois One’s outer shell, the observed psychic energy was abnormal. I’ll have to put my whole soul on the line to produce something that rivaled that.)

There was multiple layer of domain in human mind. The deeper one went in──the closer it was to the core of the soul, the greater the energy that was contained by multiple amount.

But originally it was something that constructed one’s own self.

If they were used carelessly, it was unknown what kind of after-effect it would leave behind.

A wound to the mind would also influence the flesh body.

Therefore mental energy was extracted from the surface part where it wouldn’t affect the human’s ego domain. In Naglfar’s case, it was also its limit technologically to reach that deep.

However by removing the limiter in Marduk, it was possible to extract the energy until the deep layer of the soul.

(I’m sorry captain. I thought that you would surely stop me if you know, so I didn’t tell you everything.)

Jeanne apologized in her heart.

She whispered weakly, so that there wouldn’t be any chance that it would be transmitted through the linker’s connection.

She wasn’t lying by any means.

Perhaps she wouldn’t die.

But──she didn’t know whether she would be able to stay as herself like before.

(But……I, think that right now is the time. That I’ was born for this moment──that my “eyes” existed in order to perform this one shot.)

The information that she could obtain with Marduk’s detection ability was vast. Originally it wasn’t something that could be processed by one person.

But due to the special eyes that Jeanne possessed, she was able to see a lot more than other people. Her brain was able to grasp all the information from Marduk due to that.

Rather it felt like that even her specials eyes only had low spec, and now her brain was exhibiting its true capability after obtaining Marduk’s detection function.

It seemed that humans in this era who had special ability were the descendant of the soldiers of Atlantis(ancient era) who were modified to suit their role.

(Perhaps right now I’m becoming the true me.)

Jeanne held that conviction while staring at her body that was fixed on the seat. She then ordered Marduk.

(Begin extracting the mental energy. Extraction depth level 7──permitting interference to the soul core domain.)

Then the metal implements restraining her flesh body shined. Jeanne made an anguished expression.

The information from her body senses was disconnected, but its influence also showed in her ego that was fused with Marduk.

(It hurt──cold. It feels like I am getting reduced──I’m getting smaller. Is this what it mean to have your soul extracted?)

However Jeanne didn’t stop the energy extraction.

She transformed her soul into cannon shell and waited for the timing to fire it.

Mononobe Mitsuki fired Anti Matter bullet and the shockwave pushed away one of the necks. It seemed that Kili also succeeded in luring away a neck.

The remaining one was only the front neck that Vritra was in charge of.

Silver explosion burst up at its side. Most likely it was the support fire from Iris Freya on Marduk’s deck.

And then it became some kind of impetus. Vritra flew up to the sky and transformed into the form of black dragon.

The “Black” Vritra became the size that was almost as big as one neck. She pushed down that head to the sea surface with brute force.

──Firing line clear.

Angolmois, torso center part, lock on. Releasing the final safety measure.

Psychic cannon turrets, eight of them, firing preparation finished.

(Captain said, that this will become the final battle. In other words, this is also the last chance for me to be able to work as his subordinate.)

Knowing that the moment had arrived, she imagined herself holding a sniper rifle and put her finger on the trigger.

The virtual body that Jeanne imagined synchronized with her senses as Marduk.

Right now, Marduk itself was her body. The gun in her hands were connected to the eight cannon turrets.

She perceived the target far away with her “eyes”.

(Captain……as I thought, captain is my good luck. Thank you very much……for giving me this moment!)

Her consciousness, emotion, feeling, she wrung them out from her soul, scraped them off, compressed and hardened them──and packed them into the cannon shell.

(I don’t need any promise for after we return. As long as captain recognize my work……recognize me……I don’t need anything else!!)

Jeanne yelled inside her heart and pulled the gun’s trigger.

(Psychic cannon turrets Noa, all eight──Linker Break Burst(Soul Conversion Simultaneous Bombardment)!!)

The cannon turrets fired radiant light that was slightly tinged with purple.

Surely that was the color of her heart.

However the moment she pulled the trigger, Jeanne became empty and didn’t hold any thought at all.

She was simply staring from inside Marduk’s bridge, on the chair where she was restrained.

She stared at where the fired cannon shell went.

The purple flash pierced Angolmois’s torso without anything getting on its way──streaks of light overflowed from inside the outer shell.

The bursting out purple lights smashed Angolmois’s outer shell and also broke down its eight heads from the foundation.

Jeanne watched that sight with a blank gaze. A satisfied smile was tugging on her lips──.

.

Part 4

Angolmois’s outline was swallowed by an explosion of purple light and vanished.

──Jeanne, you are the greatest sniper just as I thought.

I narrowed my eyes from the dazzling light and thanked the girl who had accomplished her role magnificently.

Something was heading this way with the purple light on its back. It must be Vritra who was in her dragon form. Most likely Kili was also withdrawing back to Marduk right now.

「Iris──I’ll be going when Vritra and Kili return.」

I erased the anti gravity field I deployed above Angolmois and looked toward Iris.

「The main body’s End matter will overflow soon. We will combine our strength and expose its true body for sure this time. And then I’ll put an end to this.」

If Neun’s light could reach until the deepest part of the darkness, the End Matter should be formed with Angolmois’s original figure.

After that I would change my form to be the same like Angolmois using the seventh authority that I obtained after Vritra imprinted on me. With that I would be able to destroy it using Code Lost, the power to kill the same kind.

That was why I would use my authority while also needing to approach its location now using this chance.

If I flew in high speed using an application of anti gravity field, even the distance of more than ten kilometer could be traversed in the blink of eye.

「You are wrong, Mononobe.」

Iris stood on the deck while hugging her fictitious staff armament. She stared straight at me and said.

「It will only end when you return here. Let me say welcome back to you……no matter what, Mononobe.」

Iris held out her hand while smiling and her pinky raised.

「……I should be the one telling you that. Let me say I’m back to you later.」

I nodded and held out my hand. I entwined my pinky with her pinky.

Both of us were shouldered with dangerous role. That was why we didn’t know what would happen.

It was exactly because we didn’t know──that we exchanged promise with each other.

「You will need to swallow a thousand needles if you lie okay?」

「Ou」

We smiled together and our pinky parted.

「Mononobe, take care.」

「Yeah, I’m going.」

After exchanging greetings, I took a step back from Iris and concentrated to the horn on my forehead.

I deployed anti gravity field around me and floated to the sky.

When I turned toward the bow, Vritra’s giant body was already approaching until very near. I could also see Kili.

And then there was the ominous shadow behind them. The jet black shadow was trying to swell up to push back the purple light.

──I better go already.

I was about to fly away from the deck, but Iris’s voice reached me just before that.

「-……Mononobe!!」

I turned around. There Iris shouted as loudly as she could.

「I love you-!!」

Her words, her feeling that was placed inside them, they made a hot feeling welling up inside my heart.

I rose to the sky while also expressing the heat inside my chest fully through my voice.

「Me too──I love you Iris.」

That might be a feeling that had resided inside my chest since we first met.

It would become complex if I tried to compare or measure it, but there was no emotion any simpler than this when I voiced it out.

It wasn’t my first love but, I definitely loved Iris.

My heart was stolen by her stark naked figure that appeared from the blue sea.

My heart was inside Iris.

Surely Iris’s heart was also inside me.

The words juts now were most likely to ascertain that.

It wasn’t a promise or an oath.

Therefore it also had no clear meaning.

But──I wanted to meet her again.

I wanted to meet her, because I loved her.

I carved that feeling strongly into my chest and flew away.

I raised my hand to greet the returning Vritra and Kili before passing through beside them.

Ahead of me was the darkness where Angolmois’s true body was lurking.

I told everyone through the communicator.

「Resume illuminating it with “Shamash”! We’re going to expose its true form!」

『Roger!!』

Everyone’s voice overlapped with each other.

I flew while lifting my arm to the front and let out the words that were filled with the light of definition.

.

Part 5

「I’ll fight. I’ll speak the name of the heroes and participate in this decisive battle! What about you all? Are you fine with staying uninvolved until the fight is over? Can you feel proud with that way of living──try asking your heart once more right now!!」

Charlotte B Lord was yelling inside the headmaster office in the clock tower.

She was continuing to appeal to the world even while Mononobe Yuu and others were trying to destroy the main body’s outer shell.

Charlotte’s secretary Mica who was standing beside the camera that was capturing her figure was watching her while faintly muttering the name of the boy and girls inside her mouth.

「Lisa Highwalker, Firill Crest, Mononobe Mitsuki, Ariella Lu, Ren Miyazawa, Iris Freya, Mononobe Yuu, Tia Lightning, Kili Surt Muspelheim……everyone, please do your best.」

Mica was also continuing to pray in order to join the fight herself.

「And then even if the world doesn’t know──Jeanne Hortensia, Shion Zwei Shinomiya, and Vritra are also this academy’s students. They are members of Brunhilde class. Both Charlotte-sama and I are also praying for your safety. Haruka, please support them.」

Naturally Charlotte’s broadcast was also aired inside Midgard’s academy and dormitory.

The “D” girls who helped with Marduk’s construction and saw off the members of Brunhilde class were watching the broadcast with rapt attention.

In their own room, cafeteria, through personal tablet, or in the shared space of the dormitory……each of them was responding to Charlotte’s call.

「President, President Mitsuki──I have been rooting for you the whole time」「Lisa-oneesama, please stay safe!」「Chief Firill, show us the way──」「Ariella-san, I’m your fan all this time……」「Ren-chan……I’m thankful this whole time to you for fixing my computer before this」「Iris-san, Kili-san, Shion-san, I never talked with the three of you even once, but anyway fight on!」「Yuu-sama, Jeanne-sama, please let me see both of you again safe and sound」「Tia-chan, do your best, do your best……」

The light that was shining inside them was radiated to the far distance together with those words.

.

Japan, Nanato city, Mononobe house──.

「Yuu……Mitsuki……if saying your names will really help you two, I’ll keep saying them no matter how many times.」

Mononobe Yuu’s father, Mononobe Kai muttered while watching Charlotte’s broadcast.

Then Mononobe Yoshimi who heard his words looked taken aback and stood up vigorously.

「Dear, I’m──going to visit the neighbors. I’ll ask them to respond to this broadcast!」

She rushed toward the entrance after saying that. In order to send as much light as possible even for just a bit more to the children.

.

「So the data I sent is being used effectively huh……」

Miyazawa Kenya muttered in the basement of the first laboratory of Asgard’s Far East branch.

The monitor in front of him was playing Charlotte’s speech together with the data that he provided.

「The unanswered puzzles has increased again from the case this time. I’ll be troubled if the world ends now. And so……though I don’t have the qualification, allow me to call out those names too.」

He spoke a sentence that sounded like an excuse to himself while looking up to the dark ceiling.

「Ren──I’m not asking for anything from you. That’s why, you can also freely live as you please without yielding to anyone.」

.

「Lisa……Lisa……Lisa……」

In the villa of Highwalker family, Linda was calling her daughter’s name repeatedly in prayer. Rather than responding to Charlotte’s request, it was more like she was doing that because that was her only choice as a mother.

「──This is CEO’s order. Notify all the group’s employees. All of them are to join this “battle” without exception.」

On the other hand, Mark was using his position to the maximum to move many people.

However that action too was more because he wanted to save his daughter rather than for the sake of mankind.

However they stuck to their own emotion without any hesitation at all.

And there was nobody──who laughed at their action.

.

「Right now, my daughter──Firill is standing in the battlefield. She is fighting in order to protect us! But I’m not asking all of you to be thankful of that. That child is most likely giving her best effort to do what she can, that’s all. That’s why I……wish to follow the example of that wholehearted effort of her.」

Elria Principality’s king, Alfred was giving a speech toward the people who gathered in the open space in front of the palace.

「I’ll continue to call the name of Firill, and the names of those “D” in the frontline. Even I don’t know whether doing that will really help them and save the world. However……I’ll do that even without any proof. That’s all that I will show to everyone of you.」

The king had no right to directly command the people in this democratized country.

However he stood at the “forefront” even then.

Just like the previous king who insisted for the human right of “D” and changed the world.

.

NIFL’s Middle East fourth branch.

「Please don’t think that you all have any time to rest. The battle is still going on even now. Your next mission is to call out the names of the people who are fighting in the frontline right now. Now, repeat after me! First is the name of the respected former captain of my Sleipnir squad──Second Lieutenant Mononobe Yuu!」

Kunato Ktinos carried out the order from his superior while the many NIFL soldiers were still lying on the ground.

Most of the people couldn’t even stand up after supplying their mental energy to Naglfar.

However when Kunato saw the unconscious people, he mercilessly woke them up──to be more accurate he kicked them awake──and forced them to respond to Charlotte’s broadcast.

「You are merciless……」

Captain Sherry watched that happened while sighing. Rank wise she was above him, but she didn’t say anything because the young boy had received special duty.

(I guess there won’t be any problem. The people whose condition is really bad has been carried to the infirmary after all.)

Sherry thought that and left that place without Kunato noticing.

She was heading to the facility that was adjacent to the base, the place where the children who were taken into custody when the dragon boycotter organization was still active was living.

She thought that there was something that could be done──that had to be done only now.

(If the children watch this broadcast……perhaps their feeling toward Ariella might change.)

She knew that her sin wouldn’t be forgiven even if she did such thing. Pushing the truth to the children at this point of time would hurt the heart of the children──she understood that even Ariella wouldn’t want that.

In the first place Sherry took the initiative to make use of Ariella for the sake of herself and the organization. She didn’t even have the qualification to feel regret.

However, she thought that the children should know, that she should tell them.

That their big sister had really fought dragons until now. That she had defeated the “enemies” they hated.

However she realized when she arrived near the facility.

(……It’s unnecessary huh.)

Sherry smiled wryly and let out a huge sigh.

The voices of the children sounded loudly from inside the facility.

They were yelling so loudly that it could clearly be heard even from outside.

They were desperately calling out their big sister’s name with everything they had──.

.

Part 6

Everyone’s light was exterminating the darkness completely this time.

「────!!」

I flew straight inside the radiant and also warm light.

Clad in the anti gravity field, I lifted up my left hand and radiated Neun’s authority──”Shamash” while heading at the center of End Matter.

──Yuu……Mononobe Yuu.

People close to me, people nostalgic to me were calling me.

Someone……perhaps people whose face I didn’t even know were calling my name.

I didn’t actually hear any voice.

But, I felt them. I felt the voices inside the light flowing into me.

Surely my comrades were also feeling the same sensation.

The swelling up light was reducing the End Matter’s territory in a very fast rate.

The End Matter was squirming and trying to resist, but everyone’s voice──the light of defining was mercilessly cutting through the darkness.

The outline of a nine headed dragon formed up just for an instant, but it immediately distorted and vanished.

What we were trying to make appear wasn’t that kind of false form. It was just a single corpse──Angolmois’s true body that became its core. We were mustering out our voice and light in order to expose that.

──A little bit more.

I matched my advance with the compression of the darkness and pushed the End Matter from close distance.

The darkness was losing its ground inside the blue light. It was compressed into a spherical shape before gradually turning smaller.

But the compression stopped when the sphere’s diameter reached around ten meters.

Angolmois’s true body still hadn’t appeared.

──What’s going on?

Anxiety and puzzlement welled up inside my chest.

However I focused my eyes from near the darkness and noticed.

I could see glimpses of white bone at the center of the wavering and whirling End Matter.

──So there is still another outer shell that has to be smashed.

That was clearly a humanoid skull.

I pondered why it was a humanoid skull and immediately reached an answer.

──Aa, I see. Right now Angolmois’s core is “her”…….

The figure of Mitsuki’s best friend who could also be called as the other Shion crossed my mind.

Shinomiya Miyako……her skull was the last remaining outer shell. The core of the ninth calamity that was trying to resurrect.

As long as the outer shell was remaining, we wouldn’t be able to expose Angolmois’s true body. At this rate the End Matter would be compressed into the form of Shinomiya Miyako.

However if this skull was smashed, Shinomiya Miyako’s path to become the god of the new world would be closed and she would be unable to obtain new life.

However I didn’t hesitate.

──Shinomiya Miyako……Shion, I’ll take you two back!

Because Shinomiya Miyako had said.

Break this fake vessel──she said. Furthermore she said that if I did that……Shion would be able to return.

I put my hand over my heart and focused my mind. I released Hraesvelgr’s authority──Ether Wind.

I converged the overflowing golden particles into the shape of gun.

Just now, Kili used a sword of Ether Wind to deal an effective blow on the outer shell. She didn’t manage to break the shell, but I saw that moment through the barrier bits.

Angolmois’s main body that was a colony of the dead was too hard and it couldn’t be pierced unless we used Noa’s maximum firepower, but right now it was one on one.

Surely even the heart of just me alone could work through.

──Shion, come back! To our……to Jeanne’s side! Shinomiya Miyako……come back! To the side of Mitsuki──the best friend who you wanted to protect!!

I poured in that feeling, that wish, and pulled the trigger.

The Ether Wind that took shape of a gun was then converted into a bullet. It became a streak of light that pierced the darkness.

The bullet accurately gouged the center of the skull.

A crack appeared on the last shell and then it spread to the whole surface──then the skull broke into pieces.

Vast amount of End Matter tried to burst out from inside the skull, but the blue light enveloping the surrounding immediately pushed it back.

Golden snow floated down inside the light.

A silhouette formed in the sky where black, blue, and golden colors mixed together fantastically. It was the outline of a slender girl.

『──Thank you, Mitsuki’s onii-san.』

Shinomiya Miyako’s voice reached inside my heart.

『If it’s now……I think I can return. But before that……while our hearts are connected……』

She desperately moved her body that was formed from Ether Wind to swim through the sky and reached out toward me.

I noticed that she was trying to tell me something and grabbed her hand that looked like it might vanish anytime now.

In that moment, an image──the feeling of someone flowed into my head.

『I’m sending you what I saw……Angolmois’s heart……memory……and the record of the world.』

My field of vision was dyed pure white. My consciousness was slipping down into an immense amount of information.

──Angolmois’s heart? But this is……I’ll get swallowed if I’m not careful──.

*UOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONN!!*

When I struggled to somehow determine my own point of view and position somehow, a howl that shook the world reverberated.

The roar was extremely ominous and filled with pain.

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