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Unlimited Fafnir Vol 15 Chapter 4
🕑 Added 2021-03-18 12:58:19 +0000 UTCChapter 4 – Unlimited Fafnir
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Part 1
──Aa, how pretty…….
“It” was always captivated by the world that it created.
“It” never got bored no matter how much it watched the world.
The life that let out its first cry into this world was so lovely.
The people who desperately tried to live their life were beautiful.
Everything that was formed by those with life was a treasure for “it”.
Whether it was love or romance, pain or sadness, anger or hatred, scheme or massacre, everything was artwork that was worthy for appreciation.
Watching them all was just so fun that “it” forgot to move for tens of thousands of years, millions of years even, that its body was fused with a mountain.
And then──the intelligent life forms in that world called “it” who had continued to watch the progressing era as “creator god Angolmois” and worshipped “it”.
Before long, “it” saw Angolmois’s statue that was created by the intelligent life forms──a winged dragon that was covered by silver scales and recalled its own form after millions of year.
──How nostalgic.
In reality, Angolmois wasn’t a god. It was a part of“creator race” that was born in another world, evolved, and obtained the power to flew away to a new land……it was simply an individual from among that race.
That was why Angolmois was waiting.
For the day when its own children evolved to the level of them the “creator race” and left their nest to the wider universe.
However, Angolmois was too overconfident of its own children.
Even when all resources had dried out and the demise of the world was approaching, no life that could become the next generation creator race appeared.
It didn’t understand where did it go wrong, or what mistake it committed.
But the fact was──the people of that world didn’t have the way to escape from the expiring planet.
The mindless animals even ate their fellow species without any care and inevitably perished.
The intelligence lives sought salvation and only prayed to Angolmois.
Angolmois felt disappointed for the first time when it saw its children like that.
It despaired that this billions of years would end in pointlessness.
However, Angolmois didn’t abandon them even then.
Because it loved them, believed in them, it couldn’t accept that there wouldn’t be “continuation” for them.
That was why──it made its choice.
It absorbed all lives in the planet while they were still alive and embarked to a trip of searching for a new world.
If it could find a new land……if it could grant them time, it believed that they surely would be able to reach the level of creator race──.
However Angolmois didn’t notice.
That its own lifespan was about to run out after the long time it had lived.
And then, while it still hadn’t arrived anywhere……Angolmois met its demise in the middle of the dark universe.
──No. NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!
Angolmois rotted in the boundary between worlds while refusing to accept reality. It rejected death and the end.
──I don’t want to end like this. I don’t want to this kind of ending. No no no……I don’t wanna die don’t wanna to end don’t wanna to decay don’t wanna to disappear……!
Its pity and sympathy toward its children was completely painted out with longing toward life before it realized.
──That’s right, inside there is still…….
At the verge of destruction, Angolmois found something that could be turned into its own sustenance.
Its important children that it protected inside its own body preciously.
The descendant of possibility that it loved and believed in.
It devoured them.
In order to keep its own demise at bay as much as possible.
──Aa, how…….
At that time, Angolmois harbored a new feeling for the first time.
──How, delicious…….
Just how luscious the taste of what it created, looked after, and loved dearly.
──More, more……I want to taste it again and again, for eternity…….
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*Shudder*
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“My” consciousness split from Angolmois’s point of view with feeling of extreme revulsion running through my whole body.
There I finally remembered that I was Mononobe Yuu.
──That’s right, this is Angolmois’s memory. The memory of other world that Shinomiya Miyako passed to me.
It seemed that the amount of information was too immense that I lost sight of myself temporarily.
When I peeked into Angolmois’s memory that was flowing like a great river before my eyes, I was able to caught glimpses of the continuation of the scene just now.
Angolmois devoured its children and used that strength to remain behind as End Matter. After that it finally arrived to other world.
It kept demise slightly at bay again by absorbing the people who lived there.
But Angolmois didn’t feel satisfied. Because what it truly wished for was──.
When I understood everything, what welled up inside me was a fierce feelings of rejection and enmity.
──This thing is the enemy of all lives.
『Yes, it’s just as Onii-san said. Angolmois isn’t a monster that is obsessed with living, but with eating.』
The surrounding scenery blurred and changed into golden particle.
Shinomiya MIyako’s faint figure was floating amidst that.
『This thing’s objective is to eat its own children over and over. It mix in the lives from other worlds and change the taste bit by bit while repeating it over and over for eternity──』
She clearly expressed what I felt in words.
Such motive was just too hideous. It was a hobby that was beyond understanding.
『It chose me……an existence other than itself as the core of the new world, might be something like giving a spice. In other words I was also just being used, together with Bahamut and others too. To be honest, it’s pathetic. But──』
She shrugged with a bitter smile mixed in her expression. Her figure was turning transparent.
The effect of Ether Wind would run out soon.
Shinomiya Miyako continued her words with her shrinking form.
『──From here, I’ll help out as Shion. I’ll help you Onii-san……papa. That’s why……fiGht oN!』
The moment Shion’s slightly fragmented voice reached me, the golden light burst──and vanished.
The brief daydream ended and the mass of End Matter that was currently taking shape appeared before my eyes. Shinomiya Miyako’s figure couldn’t be seen anymore. Most likely she had returned to Shion’s body.
Due to losing its last outer shell, Angolmois’s ture form was coming out.
The radiant azure light defined the vague End Matter and determined its outline.
──Of course I’ll fight on.
I responded to Shinomiya Miyako and Shion inside my heart and lifted up my left hand.
I saw Angolmois’s statue inside the memory just now. By peering into its memory, I comprehended its original form and its history.
I didn’t even need to wait to see its true form directly with my eyes.
Now I could define the enemy with more accuracy and clarity.
「Ninth calamity──”Demise” Angolmois! The creator, the silver winged dragon……the fallen beast of gluttony!! Show yourself in front of us!!」
The dragon crest on my left hand shined and azure light illuminated the End Matter.
The last veil was finally torn down and Angolmois’s true form manifested.
The End Matter that was compressed to the limit rapidly swelled up. Countless protuberances──body parts that seemed to look like bones jutted out and linked with each other.
The body structure had different logic from earth creature……bones with geometrical and multi layered structure were drawing out an organic silhouette.
──No good, this is……!
I immediately realized. That the thing that was illuminated by the light of defining was immensely gigantic.
I held a prejudice that there was no way it would be any larger than Angolmois’s main body but──this was absurd.
What was being constructed before me was……most likely just a single finger.
Just that single finger was as big or even bigger than Angolmois’s neck. Even that Bahamut was incomparable to this.
If something like this manifested within earth’s atmosphere and moved around, a great damage would be inflicted to the whole world just from that. Not to mention that I had to fight it with the same form after this.
「Tsu……Anti Gravity!!」
I deployed the anti gravity field in full force and pushed the manifesting Angolmois to the sky.
I had no choice but to take it away in this situation.
To a battlefield where the damage to the surrounding could be kept to minimum.
I headed toward the sky while maintaining the anti gravity field. Angolmois’s gigantic body was still manifesting during that time.
The temperature was decreasing rapidly. The air was getting thinner. My lung had gone past suffocating to painfully freezing.
The ground was getting further. However the light that everyone radiated was still reaching here without problem.
That was why I didn’t feel scared.
But……my eyes were blurring and my consciousness was turning hazy.
There wasn’t enough oxygen. I would reach my limit at this rate.
I understood that the timing for me to also transform had arrived.
I stared at the dragon crest of my left hand that was pointing to the sky. The edge of the dragon crest that was shining blue was slightly dyed black.
This was the proof of Vritra’s imprinting on me. She and I were connected through this dragon crest.
If Vritra permitted it, I would be able to use the seventh authority fully──performing biological conversion and generating Dark Matter without limit.
──Vritra, I’m borrowing your strength.
When I called inside my heart, a reply reached directly into my brain.
『Right, use it to thy heart’s content──comrade.』
The encroachment of the dragon crest spread out in a flash. Vast amount of Dark Matter overflowed from the dragon crest that was eighty percent dyed in black.
Dark Matter was undifferentiated possibility, a fragment of the future.
If it was now I──could become anything.
Even if it was a dragon of foreign world that was called as the creator.
The sky was already losing the blue color and the darkness of the space was seeping out.
──Space.
It was a territory where people who were born on the planet, in the world originally couldn’t step into.
It was the boundary of world that could only be reached for the first time when you obtained civilization, the power to head to a new land.
The infinite sea that only life form who had reached the level of creator race could possibly traverse.
I declared right before slipping out of the atmosphere.
「Angolmois──what will kill you is yourself.」
I enveloped my whole body with the generated Dark Matter──and converted it to “flesh body”.
I abandoned being a human.
My arms expanded. Changing into wings to swim among the stars.
I expanded my legs. I obtained propulsion device that could fly even in outer space.
My head, brain, consciousness expanded. I formed eyes that could see through planet──even world that was hundreds of millions light years apart, and organs to convert light into energy.
It was a tremendous feeling of omnipotence. It was as though I could perceive everything in the universe.
I even perceived myself from overhead view. I could even clearly see the expression of my comrades on the ground.
Surely Iris and others could also see.
How two monsters that were like mirror image of each other appeared far away in the outer space that left earth’s gravitational sphere──.
──Now, let’s begin. The battle between two monsters.
At the interstice between earth and moon.
The ninth calamity appeared in the space vacuum.
Its form was already a corpse. It had no flesh or skin, a body that was only formed from bones.
However the impression it gave off was different from the outer shell that we fought just now. If I had to give an example that had the closest image to it, it was like a high density polygon frame.
Its outline was exactly like the winged dragon that I caught glimpses of inside the memory. But its epidermis──its texture was peeling off from its body.
Its bones were made from transparent crystal with light flowing at the inside like blood. Angolmois’s whole body was shining bright due to that. It even looked more divine than its past form.
However, I didn’t worship this calamity. I also didn’t acknowledge it.
This thing wasn’t the god that watched over and loved its world anymore. It was a monster that devoured its own children along with other world.
It couldn’t exist. Something like this wasn’t needed for the world of the people who lived in the now.
Therefore──I’d kill it.
With the power to kill my kind, the blade of fatality that was called Code Lost, I’d choke the life out of it.
That was why I descended on space with the form of Angolmois──the form of the winged silver dragon of the bygone days.
Tough muscle fibers and scales covered the crystal skeleton structure. The tips of the wings and legs were emitting the energy that was generated by the body’s internal organs. The overflowing power was radiated from the mouth as azure flame.
──I roared.
Sound didn’t echo in the outer space where there was no air, but my fighting spirit became a flame pillar that was blazing ferociously.
Conversely Angolmois also gahtered the light that was circulating inside its crystal skeletal structure to the tips of its body and ejected it as flame. However perhaps because it didn’t have organs inside its body, the flame was unstable and flickering dark red.
Two monsters of the “same species” faced each other.
The white dragon that was clad in azure flame, and death dragon that was enveloped in dark red flame.
I could feel hatred and fury directed toward me.
It was recognizing me as enemy, an opponent that it had to defeat no matter what.
Hostility tautly filled the soundless world.
──Imagine it. Draw this guy’s “death” inside my mind.
I focused my mind and attempted fate alteration using Code Lost.
The essence of Code Lost was quantum intervention using the fact of being the same species as the common point.
*Crack!!*
──Guh……!?
But the image that I tried to construct suddenly cracked. Intense pain ran through from my forehead to the inside of my head.
──Don’t tell me, I’m getting repelled?
Perhaps an existence that had reached a level where it was called as creator race possessed resistance against quantum interference.
But I didn’t despair.
This wasn’t my first time getting into a fight against someone else who could interfere with causality.
If I couldn’t determine the fate with my imagination, I just needed to draw in its death with action.
Just like in the past──when I fought Major Loki in Midgard.
I roared and rushed through space.
Angolmois also moved at the same time.
Our fangs targeted each other’s throat.
I made flame jetted out from my wings while charging forward and twisted my body forcefully. That movement was for dodging Angolmois’s attack.
However Angolmois also dodged my fangs with almost the same action.
We crossed each other without touching each other at all──however the distance between us was only a hair’s breadth. Angolmois and I switched position in high speed.
Angolmois maintained it momentum and flew through space. It spread open its wings with the moon behind it.
The light that was flowing through the crystal skeletal structure converged into its wings and twinkled like countless stars.
──That guy……!
My back felt chilled.
Right now earth was behind me. If I dodged Angolmois’s attack, the earth surface would be scorched.
──I won’t let that happen!
I also spread open my white wings and focused the power circulating inside my body.
No matter what kind of attack came my way, I wouldn’t let this planet get a single scratch.
This was the place where we lived.
That was why I’d face it.
Just like when I challenged Hecatoncheires in order to protect the city where Mitsuki lived when she was small──.
Red flash was fired from Angolmois.
It was a rain of death that poured on earth.
I grasped its trajectories that numbered more than several thousands, analyzed them, calculated, predicted.
The current me should have that much spec.
Form circuits inside my brain and transmitted electrical signal effectively. Accelerated the calculation. Just like Tia who ruled over Akashic Record──.
The more I concentrated, the faster my calculation speed increased. I finished the trajectories prediction instantly.
I spread out a barrage of azure flame to intercept the attack.
I wouldn’t miss a single one.
Pierce through them with surety──just like Jeanne.
Red and blue flame clashed.
Flame blast scattered in the dark outer space. Countless lights fell to the planet.
I didn’t miss──but because the enemy got the jump on me, I didn’t make it in time to intercept all the bullets time wise. Three shots got through. I caught them with my own body.
──Guuh!? AAAAAAAAAH!?
My flesh was gouged. The intense pain that was burning my body from under my skin disoriented my mind.
However I mustn’t faint. I had to block the sense of pain and didn’t let my connection with the flesh body weakened.
It was necessary to accept any kind of pain in order to use this body masterfully.
Endure, endure, endure……!
Kili’s face crossed the back of my mind.
Surely if it was Kili she would laugh off this kind of pain. She would always try to be strong no matter when.
I fired flame propulsion from my wings in reverse to control my body that was almost got blasted toward earth.
I somehow fixed my posture and looked up to the space that was covered by flame blast.
Don’t falter, don’t be scared. Remember Shion’s courage when she volunteered herself in the battle against Bahamut and Nyarlathotep.
I didn’t know what Angolmois was doing because of the flame and shockwave.
But the same also held true for the other side.
──Next is my turn.
I gathered power using the flame blast as smokescreen.
Angolmois fired its energy as several thousands of heat rays, but I focused my energy and created five fire balls.
I imagined Firill’s technique.
──Flare Burst Quintet!!
Five blue flame balls fired off simultaneously.
The flame blast was dispersed by the shockwave and Angolmois’s figure came into view.
Angolmois saw the approaching fire balls and enveloped its body with its wings. It judged that it wouldn’t make it in time to intercept the attack and took a defensive posture.
The fire balls burst and Angolmois was enveloped in flame blast.
But I still didn’t let down the intensity of my attack. Quantity was power.
I recalled Ren’s figure.
I was always helped by Ren’s overwhelming Dark Matter generation capacity. I had witnessed her might and effectiveness many times.
Therefore I liberated the immense energy that was seething inside my body and continued the saturation attack.
I mustn’t give Angolmois an opening for counterattack.
There was no guarantee that I would be able to block another large scale attack that could also drag in earth.
──I’ll keep attacking here!
I continued attacking with flame balls while converging surplus energy in my mouth──into a single point.
Gather, gather, compress.
And then when the energy reached an amount that could make my body burst, I stopped the flame bullet’s rapid fire.
Angolmois opened its defense and moved to counterattack──I aimed right at that timing and fired the azure flame I gathered.
Just like the beam that Lisa fired with her Gungnir.
──Pierce it!!
This was the strongest attack that this body could perform.
The light rushed while leaving behind blue ripple behind it.
The pitch black space was dyed bluish white.
The tip of that sharp light slipped in through the slightly opening gap of Angolmois’s wing.
Angolmois’s giant body was swallowed in light blast.
But I charged toward Angolmois without confirming the attack’s effect.
──That attack might not be able to kill it.
My expectation was proved true. Angolmois’s silhouette appeared inside the light.
Its body snapped back from the explosion’s impact, but there wasn’t any standing out damage on its body.
It was the same like the outer shell that didn’t get wounded by normal attack.
To engrave “lethal attack” on it that was sufficient to draw the fate of death, it was necessary to also deal mental damage to it.
──Can I use it in this state? No, it’ll be the end for me if I can’t use it.
I shook off my hesitation and focused my mind into my heart.
──Ether Wind!
The authority responded to my will.
Golden particles flowed out from my whole body. I gathered them to my own fangs and enveloped them.
The outer shell could be smashed with Ether Wind, so these fangs should also prove effective.
I targeted its neck with my fangs that were covered with golden particles.
Angolmois also noticed my approach and opened its jaw.
It was the reenactment of its first attack. However this time I mustn’t miss.
Master the use of my body. Control it. Move it perfectly. Sharply, flexibly, just like when Ariella fought──.
Accelerate, and charge.
I tackled it with my body while lengthening my neck.
Angolmois was also aiming at my throat.
Our fangs sunk in to each other almost at the same time.
Intense pain ran through me. The sound of neck bones breaking echoed in my ears.
However my──fangs that were enveloped in Ether Wind deeply sunk into Angolmois’s neck.
──I can kill it.
That wasn’t a hunch but a feeling of surety.
I would surely die if my neck snapped.
My human body wasn’t my main body. Right now this flesh body was me.
But I didn’t falter. I also didn’t cower. I absolutely wouldn’t withdraw.
I mustered my strength in order to crunch Angolmois’s neck first.
Look only to the front. Head toward the future.
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Just like how──Iris always do so!!
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My brain felt scorching heat of pain.
Strange noise was transmitted through the fangs and bones that touched each other. Perhaps it was proof that either one of them was breaking.
*Crack──.*
A sound of destruction came together with an image of flashback. Fragments of memory flowed in like a revolving lantern.
The small back of Mitsuki who faced Hecatoncheires.
The side face of Iris who rejected and fought Leviathan.
The fight against Kili who came to take away Tia.
The figure of Lisa who attempted to snipe Basilisk from the back of a volcano.
The dignified expression of Firill who decided to engage Hraesvelgr.
The face of Ren who tried her best to synchronize her mind with me in order to form a lot of Ether Wind.
The back of Tia who flew away in order to control the core of Yggdrasil.
The desperate voice of Jeanne who called out to Kraken Zwei.
The decisive battle against Major Loki who gave it his all.
The smile of Ariella who protected Midgard from Naglfar’s bombardment.
Vritra who called me comrade.
Shion’s earnest look when firing Anti Matter at Nyarlathotep.
Shinomiya Miyako who stood on our way as enemy but entrusted her hope to us at the end──.
I had overcome various dangers until now.
I had witnessed a lot of battlefields. I had a lot of encounter.
Me being here right now was through a path that seemed like a miracle.
But……this moment wouldn’t be the end.
I had a talk about the future with everyone. I exchanged promises for tomorrow with them.
That’s why──I won’t fall here!
*Crack!!*
A fatal impact resounded.
It was conveyed to me through my fangs.
The crystal skeletal structure that circulated light inside it was smashed. The fragments scattered all over.
Angolmois’s fangs that sank into my neck lost strength.
Perhaps the difference was very slight.
I didn’t know what decide who lived and died, who won and lost here.
But my──Fafnir’s fangs had definitely engraved lethal wound on Angolmois.
The dreg of life that was clinging on to remain in this world was killed by Fafnir.
Angolmois’s head was separated from its body.
It rotated in the zero gravity space while scattering sparkling fragments and crumbled down in the blink of eye.
My fang reached Angolmois’s fate.
The causality of death for Angolmois had been determined. It wasn’t permitted to cling on to this world anymore.
Its already dead body was meeting its true destruction.
──Did I, win?
While I was thinking of that in a daze, Angolmois’s crumbling torso moved.
It restricted my body with its arms and legs and flame jetted out from its wings.
──This guy, what is it……!?
Angolmois pushed me until the earth’s gravitational sphere. It was pushing my body to earth surface.
Conveyed through the scattered Ether Wind was fierce hatred, jealous, fury──.
Angolmois was trying to take revenge to me even while it was crumbling as every second passed.
The most important thing to me was──this planet, and my comrades on it. It was trying to drag all of us to accompany it in its death.
──It planned to slam my body to the surface and caused a great disaster.
The energy of that collision most likely would rival a meteor impact.
Angolmois understood. The feeling of someone treasuring someone else──because it itself had dirtied that and gorged itself fat with them that it correctly chose the method that would hurt me the most.
──Shit!?
I tried to shake it off, but intense pain ran inside my body and it wouldn’t listen to my command.
There was foreign reaction inside my body. Most likely the fragments of Angolmois’s crumbling body──they entered inside my body from the wound on my neck and obstructed the transmission of my will.
I tried to fire out flame from my wings to stop my descend to earth, but Angolmois converted its breaking down crystal bones to dark red flame to push my body to the atmosphere.
──Anti Gravity!!
I focused my mind to my forehead anxiously and deployed anti gravity field.
However rainbow circle──Nova’s graivty field immediately enveloped Angolmois and me, reducing the effect of anti gravity field.
──It still have that much strength……!?
My body was pulled by the planet’s gravity and accelerated.
Our descent didn’t stop.
My tough silver scales were enduring the friction with the atmosphere, but that meant that I would collide to the surface with my full weight.
──That’s right, if I return back to human!
If I used Neun’s authority, I should be able to return to my original form.
If I became human sized at the timing when we decelerated enough, the earth surface wouldn’t be damaged. Angolmois would also crumble completely before it reached the surface.
──E, h……?
However I realized.
For some reason I couldn’t draw the picture of my human self. I couldn’t even recall my name.
Even though I remembered everyone, things about myself were hazy.
What kind of face I had? What kind of voice I had?
I didn’t know──that was how much I had changed.
Different from when I partially transformed to Hraesvelgr or Leviathan, I had completely lost my nature as human.
I consciously abandoned being human and became the same kind of Angolmois.
Then it was inevitably that my ego, consciousness, and memory as human turned faint──.
With how I recognized this body as myself, I couldn’t return back to be human with my own strength.
The only possibility to achieve that was surely only the lights of those who had been watching the human me……the people who were remembering me──.
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Part 2
Iris Freya was looking up to the sky from Marduk’s deck.
Beyond the sky where the blue color stretched on──two giant dragons were fighting in space, a territory that she couldn’t possibly reached even if she stretched out her hand.
Those very far away figures were hazy, like the figure of moon at noon.
「Fight on……!」
Iris prayed for the victory of her precious person. Kili was also there beside her.
「It will be fine. There is no way my mate will lose.」
After Kili said that, the black dragon hovering beside Marduk──Vritra in her dragon form agreed with her.
『Naturally. My comrade will definitely obtain victory.』
And then the time of conclusion finally arrived.
One of the giant dragons crushed the opponent’s neck with its bite.
「Tsu──which dragon is that……!」
It was impossible to differentiate the dragons from the earth surface, so Kili spoke anxiously.
『That’s comrade.』
Vritra who had sight that was incomparable to human instantly answered.
「Really!? Hooray!!」
Iris cheered hearing that, but Vritra’s grim black dragon face twisted.
『Aa, there is no doubt that it’s comrade who obtained victory. But this……』
Vritra’s voice was bitter. Ahead of her gaze, the two giant dragons looked like they were entangled with each other.
「Don’t tell me, they are falling!?」
Vritra nodded with her long neck at Kili’s words.
『Furthermore it seems……comrade can’t push it back. I can’t read his mind clearly because my link with his dragon crest is severed but……it seems he attempted to return back to human to reduce his mass but failed.』
「Then──we just need to return Mononobe back to normal!!」
Iris clenched her fist and looked up to the sky.
Vritra opened her mouth in hesitation to that.
『Certainly……that’s a more realistic approach compared to trying to stop that mass physically. If I generate air in the amount that can stop partner’s fall, that act itself might greatly damage the planet. However……』
The black dragon looked at Iris with her large eyes.
『Although there is light source supply from the world, it’s already a miracle that thou can endure until this long. Going any further than this will most likely make thee──』
「It’s fine, Vritra-chan.」
Iris smiled and cut off Vritra’s words.
There was no optimism or resignation there.
Iris spoke with hope to the future and unwavering resolve in her voice.
「Because this is what I want to do right now. Because this is something that I have to do no matter what──so that I can say welcome back to Mononobe!」
『I see……』
Vritra narrowed her eyes as though she saw something dazzling and averted her gaze.
Kili tried to say something, but she bit her lip after hearing Iris’s words.
「Kili-chan, please. I──can’t fly in the sky, so can you carry me?」
Iris held out her hand toward Kili with a smile.
Kili stared fixedly at that white and slender hand.
「……Let’s go pick him up.」
「Yep, because even if Mononobe return back to human, at this rate he is going to splash into the sea.」
Iris nodded. Kili ascertained that there wasn’t any shred of fear in her face and grabbed her hand.
「I get it, let’s go.」
Kili generated air and flew to the sky with Iris in tow.
The black dragon flew beside her.
『Get on my head. Thou will be able to focus on using thy authority if thou have stable footing.』
Kili looked hesitant for a bit, but she followed the suggestion from Vritra and landed on the head of the black dragon──the spot between the horns where the surface was relatively flat.
「Thank you Vritra-chan!」
Iris thanked her, but the black dragon casted down her eyes.
『……No need for thanks. It’s really──unnecessary.』
And then Vritra circled and raised her altitude. Kili was deplying air barrier, so there was no wind and the two wouldn’t fall even if Vritra’s head tilted slightly.
「Everyone! Let’s use Neun’s authority at Mononobe! So that Mononobe can remember about Mononobe──let’s call out his name together!!」
Iris called out to their comrades through the communicator. She stretched out both her hands toward the silhouette of the falling giant dragon.
Blue light overflowed from the dragon crest on the side of her stomach. It enveloped her whole body.
「I’m right here──Mononobe-!!」
The ninth authority was activated together with the words that were filled with her feeling.
The light of definition was burning the “light source”, the life inside her.
The blue light──rushed to space.
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「Nii-san……nii-san……no──Yuu-kun!!」
Mononobe Mitsuki yelled to the sky. She called her big brother with the same way when he was still her childhood friend.
She radiated the authority’s light together with her words and flew in full speed toward the direction where the giant dragon was falling, using Vritra’s form as landmark.
「Yuu-kun──I’m coming to you now!」
.
「Yuu! Tia is always──looking at Yuu closely! That’s why Tia will remind Yuu……that Yuu is Tia’s really cool husband!!」
Tia Lightning was flapping her fictitious wing armament and headed to where he was.
.
「Mononobe Yuu! You won’t be able to go in a date with that form! That’s why quickly─you’re your usual look……to report your victory to me! I won’t forgive you unless you do so!!」
Lisa Highwalker raised her voice to the azure sky so that it reached him.
.
「Mononobe-kun! I remember Mononobe-kun really well because I have observed you really closely. But, I want to know you more──anything and everything about you……w-we also haven’t done our wedding night……there are a lot of things that I really want to do with you! That’s why come back……Mononobe-kun!」
Firill Crest continued calling out to the giant dragon in space.
.
「You did it Mononobe-kun, you defeated Angolmois. But──not yet. Unless you return back safely……I won’t accept that as victory. I believe in you. That you are a strong person who can win with a smile!!」
Ariella Lu charged to the atmosphere while confessing her feeling to the giant dragon.
.
「Onii-chan……Yuu, onii-chan! I……don’t wnana. I don’t want Onii-chan to be gone……absolutely not! That’s why come back……and pat my head again……actually that’s not all……more, more──!」
Ren Miyazawa desperately called out. She let out her voice and light to the space to illuminate him.
.
(────)
Jeanne Hortensia was powerlessly leaning on her seat. She was staring at the monitor with a blank gaze.
She became unable to think or feel anything after her mental strength was scraped off until the depth of her soul.
Shinomiya Haruka was also inside the bridge, but she had no leeway to pay attention to anything else because she had her hands full with piloting Marduk alone. She hadn’t noticed Jeanne’s condition.
(──────)
The monitor was displaying the current situation.
However even when she witnessed the battle against Angolmois in space and Mononobe Yuu obtaining victory……even when she saw her comrades rushing to save him, Jeanne didn’t think of anything about it.
That should be the case──.
「Mama-!!」
However the voice that entered her ears, the small strength that was shaking her body, they created a ripple in her heart.
Jeanne felt it.
Strength was flowing into the vessel of her soul that was empty, bit by bit.
Jeanne used that strength to move her gaze. There……a little girl with purple hair──Shion Zwei Shinomiya was there. She had entered the bridge without anyone noticing.
Jeanne didn’t know.
That the soul of Shinomiya Miyako and Shion had been liberated and returned to their body.
And then mental energy flowed in from Shion who had the soul of two people. It healed her deficient soul──her dried up heart.
However, even without knowing that……she understood of what she had to do.
She lifted up her arms and hugged the girl who had tears gathering at the corners of her eyes.
「Good morning……Zwei.」
「yEs-! gOod morNing, mAma.」
Shion smiled and nodded. She pulled Jeanne’s hand.
「lEt’s gO! quIck!」
Jeanne was confused of where she wanted to go, but she recalled Shion’s face──and the image she was watching until just now and gasped.
(That’s right……I have to go. I’m going too……to where captain is!)
「──Yeah.」
Jeanne mustered her strength and stood up from her chair.
When she looked toward Shinomiya Haruka who was concentrating in piloting the ship, she sent her a reliable expression and said 「Leave this place to me」.
And then Jeanne and Shion started running while holding hand. Strength was rapidly welling up inside her.
「Captain……I’ll stay at your side forever!!」
「mE tOo……togeTher witH pApa!!」
The two of them went, to the blue sky where everyone gathered.
.
(Aa……as I thought, it come to this.)
Kili Surt Muspelheim was using Neun’s authority even while focusing on Iris.
Iris stood on Vritra’s head while continuously sending her voice and light to the space. An irregularity was clearly showing up in her state.
Small black stains were forming on her arms and legs──the sign of demise was gradually spreading over her.
And yet Iris kept mustering out her light.
She was doing nothing except staring at the giant dragon, Mononobe Yuu who was falling from space. She had no other thought except to return him back to human and welcome him back.
Because of that no other thing entered her eyes. She didn’t even notice that the end was approaching.
But Kili understood.
Even if Iris accurately grasped her condition, there was no doubt she would still continue to use her authority.
(What should I do here──!)
Kili yelled inside her chest.
If Mononobe Yuu didn’t transform back to human, a giant dragon would crash on the surface with the force of meteor and brought destruction. Besides it was also necessary for Mononobe Yuu to regain his original form so that she could continue being his mate.
(If the choice is between Yuu and Iris-chan, then I’ll choose Yuu over her. That’s just natural! But……there is no way I can accept that kind of result!!)
The ninth calamity was already defeated. Vritra had no reason to continue supplying Iris with Dark Matter now. Even if Iris ran out of strength to return Mononobe Yuu to normal, Vritra wouldn’t help her.
Vritra had declared that she would prioritize the planet’s future over Iris.
Vast amount of Dark Matter was required to stop Iris’s fall to demise, but the world’s lifespan would be shortened if that was done.
Therefore Vritra weighed Iris and the world and chose the world.
Kili couldn’t accept that choice and challenged Vritra to a fight but……in the end she couldn’t harbor killing intent toward her and failed.
(Even though Yuu left Iris-chan in my care……I’m really pathetic. I wonder──why I am this weak.)
If she was stronger……if she had the strength and resolve to kill Vritra and plundered her authority……she would be able to save Iris even at the cost of the planet’s future.
Because human who lived with limited time only had the present──they could just think about the future later.
However the current Kili had no power or even the right to choose her path.
『──There is no need to cry, my daughter.』
Vritra’s voice slipped into Vritra’s ear at that moment.
There Kili noticed for the first time that she was shedding tears.
She saw that Iris who was right beside her wasn’t showing any reaction and thought that this voice was formed through the air to reach only her.
『It’s my loss. No……perhaps I should say that I’m also the same like thee.』
「……The same?」
Kili asked back in a whisper. A feeling of a wry smile came back in respond.
『I can’t allow Iris Freya to end here. I can’t accept that. That’s what I mean.』
Kili noticed an abnormality at that moment.
Vritra’s──the black dragon’s body that they were using as foothold was starting to let out small bubbles of Dark Matter.
The formed Dark Matter headed straight toward Iris and entered her body.
And then the black spots──the sign of demise spreading on Iris’s arms and legs was vanishing.
Iris who was concentrating in using her authority still hadn’t noticed the change, but Kili held her breath seeing that impossible sight.
「Don’t tell me Okaa-sama……you’re planning to save Iris-chan?」
Kili asked in disbelief.
『Indeed, but I have no intention to go back on my words to prioritize the planet’s future. I shall not crush the possibility that will form this Gaia from here due to my personal emotion.』
「What do you……mean? Isn’t the choice between the planet’s future or Iris-chan?」
Kili couldn’t hide her cponfusion and asked with a lowered voice.
『I also thought the same. However──there is Dark Matter that can be used without needing to use the future possibility. With this body of mine.』
「Tsu──!?」
Kili was speechless as she noticed what Vritra was trying to say.
『My body exist in higher dimension. This body is made of Dark Matter itself. If I use up all of them, it’s possible to give enough future as human to Iris Freya.』
「W-wait a second──if Okaa-sama do that then you will……」
『Of course, I’ll vanish. Therefore my daughter, I have a request to make. To be honest this dragon form is just a papier mache with only solid surface. It will crumble at the same time when my Dark Matter run out. It will help if thou can fly together with Iris Freya before that happen.』
Kili didn’t know what to say back to Vritra who one-sidedly asked her that. She clenched both her hands so strongly that her nails dug into her skin.
And while Kili was rooted on the spot──dazzling light twinkled at the space far above their head.
The light of authority that Iris and others radiated reached the falling giant dragon.
『Now, Mononobe Yuu should regain his original form soon. Go and pick him up, my daughter.』
「Okaa, sama……」
Kili didn’t move even then. Vritra spoke with a kind voice.
『Right now, I can understand thy feeling of love. Thou wish to meet with comrade aren’t thou? Thou wish to embrace him correct? Then go without hesitation. I shall entrust──my feeling to thee too.』
「────tsu」
Kili bit her lip. She grabbed the arm of Iris who was continuing to emit light and jumped off from Vritra’s head.
「Eh!? K-Kili-chan?」
Kili turned a confident smile that she made with all her effort to the surprised Iris.
「Come on, let’s go Iris-chan! We got to catch Yuu securely.」
「Ah──yep!!」
Iris immediately smiled and nodded energetically.
Iris didn’t notice Vritra’s crumbling figure behind her.
Kili too didn’t look back anymore.
She would move forward just for now, because there was something that was entrusted to her.
Because surely, that was what it meant to be strong.
.
Part 3
I was falling toward the blue planet.
I was pushed by the decaying corpse of Angolmois, pulled by the gravity of earth, and couldn’t stop falling.
However I didn’t fear scared anymore.
Because there was light that was illuminating me from the surface.
It was warm……pleasant…….
I remembered my silhouette as “human” that I forgot from becoming the same form like Angolmois──this giant silver dragon.
「Mononobe!!」
「Nii-san──Yuu-kun!!」
「Yuu!」
「Mononobe Yuu!!」
「Mononobe-kun!!」
「Onii-chan……Yuu, onii-chan!!」
「Mononobe-kun!!」
「Yuu-!!」
「Captain!」
「Papa-!!」
Iris, Mitsuki, Tia, Lisa, Firill, Ren, Ariella, Kili……there were even Jeanne and Shion’s voices.
No, that wasn’t all. I couldn’t hear it well but, I felt a lot more people were calling me.
Most likely this was the voices and lights of people all over the world who responded to Charlotte’s speech and called our names.
There was no way I could forget my name if I was being called this loudly.
There was no way I would lose sight of my human form if light this radiant was shining me.
──I am, Mononobe Yuu. The human Mononobe Yuu.
I was enveloped by a dazzling light and took back my silhouette as human.
I felt strong wind pressure on my whole body.
The sky was already losing the blackness of space and changing to deep blue color. Looking up I saw the white moon of noon.
Thanks to decelerating with all my strength when I was in the giant dragon form, my body wasn’t burning from friction with atmosphere.
Fragments of crystasl bones that seemed to be the corpse of Angolmois was falling together around me.
However those fragments broke in the blink of eye, turning small, and rapidly decreased in number. Most likely they wouldn’t even reach the ground.
──!?
However a chill ran through my whole body.
I reflexively twisted my face. Right after that I felt a sharp pain on my cheek.
Red blood scattered in the sky.
Angolmois’s flying bone fragment cut my cheek.
It wasn’t a coincidence.
My instinct told me there was danger. I understood that I still couldn’t let down my guard yet in this situation.
Yes──although only a fragment, Angolmois still existed.
Even if it was going to perish in several more seconds, it was still here at present……it was directing hostility and killing intent at me.
Surely Angolmois couldn’t forgive me.
Perhaps it wasn’t because I destroyed it. It simply couldn’t tolerate that I was alive.
I devoured other and lived──it was exactly because it knew the joy of such activity that it hopelessly feared losing that. It felt unbearably jealous, envious that other people would obtain that happiness.
That was why, this was just malice. A deep hostility not for surviving, but to drag down other people into the same hell with it.
The small remaining remain of Angolmois gathered and formed a sharp spear tip.
It was a murderous fang that Angolmois created with its last strength to kill me.
「I……won’t go to the same place like you!」
I also struggled in order to survive.
I formed Dark Matter on my palm and constructed fictitious gun armament.
──Siegried.
I aimed the fictitious armament that Mitsuki named and targeted Angolmois’s fang that was heading my way.
I had a place to return to.
Everyone was waiting for me below.
I yelled, in order to arrive there.
「Plasma Bullet!!」
What I fired was the technique that I first learned in order to defeat dragon. The attack that I successfully performed by incident in the actual test after having special training with Iris.
The air that was compressed to the limit turned into plasma after it was fired and became a bullet of super high heat.
The flash climbed to the blue sky.
The sharp light pierced through Angolmois’s fang that flew at me with terrific speed.
There was no sound.
Angolmois already had no strength to deny destruction and death. Its corpse cracked from the gouged up bullet damage, broke, and vanished to thin air.
Even the killing intent, hostility, and deep hatred that were filling the surrounding were blown away by cold wind. They grew thinner and couldn’t be felt anymore.
It was the end for real this time.
The incident where Mitsuki’s parents lost their life…..the battle that began since that time for me had finally been concluded.
Perhaps because I was relaxing, I couldn’t put strength into my body.
I stared at the midday moon while continuing to fall down face up with my hands spread out.
I knew that there was no need to worry of my body crashing onto the sea.
Because the voices calling out to me had approached until right beside me.
Gently a wind caught my body.
It was a warm wind that also drove away the coldness of the high altitude. Thanks to that the sky became a sea where I could swim freely.
I entrusted my body to the pleasant sea wind and turned around.
My sight switched from the blue sky to the blue sea.
Looking up at me amidst the vast blue color──were my precious comrades.
Heated up feeling welled up from inside my chest.
I only noticed now how bad I wanted to meet with everyone.
「Welcome back, Mononobe!」
「Nii-san, welcome back!」
Iris and Mitsuki welcomed me back with a smile even though their eyes were wet with tears.
「Yuu, welcome back!」
「Good grief……you are late, Mononobe Yuu.」
「Mononobe-kun, thanks for your hard work.」
Tia looked really happy. Lisa looked slightly pouting. Firill looked extremely relieved. They showed me those expressions while catching my falling body.
「Onii-chan……thank god……」
「Mononobe-kun, you’re alive aren’t you? You’re safe and sound right?」
Ren and Ariella touched all over my body to confirm my condition.
「pApa! welCome Back!」
「Captain……I believed in you the whole time.」
Shion was smiling radiantly. Jeanne was staring at me with a face that was filled with trust.
However beside her, Kili who was supporting Iris’s body was the only one who was looking down with a dark expression.
「Kili……?」
I called out to her in confusion. Then she slowly lifted up her face.
「Welcome back……Yuu. I’m really happy, that you return alive. But──right now……there is something that I have to tell all of you, even though it will pour cold water to everyone’s happiness.」
Everyone looked at each other because of Kili’s grave tone and serious expression.
I felt an ominous premonition while urging Kili to continue speaking.
「Something that you have to tell us?」
「Yes……actually, Iris-chan’s body was at its limit when trying to return Yuu back to normal. But Okaa-sama, she saved Iris-chan by using the Dark Matter that made up herself. And then……she vanished.」
Kili casted her gaze down and clenched her fists tightly.
「Vritra-chan……so, you saved me again. Err, but……」
It seemed that Iris wasn’t aware by that fact. She was making a surprised expression. But the color of bewilderment occupied the majority of her expression.
Everyone else was also making a commotion while looking at each other’s face.
I also didn’t know how to regard this situation. I hesitantly talked to Kili.
「You know, Kili……」
「What?」
Kili replied without lifting up her gaze. I hardened my resolve and pointed out to her.
「If it’s Vritra……she has been over there all this time though.」
I pointed at behind Kili.
「Heh? Even if it’s you Yuu, I won’t forgive that kind of malicious joke──」
Kili looked behind while anger rose in her expression.
But her movement stopped still.
It was just as I said, a young girl who was two sizes smaller than Kili was floating quietly there.
When her gaze met mine, she placed her hands on her waist and smiled.
「Comrade, good job in returning back! Good job in eradicating the ninth calamity.」
「Y-yeah, Vritra’s assistance was really a great help. But more importantly, is what Kili said just now true?」
I asked the question in the place of the speechless Kili. Then Vritra scratched her cheek slightly awkwardly.
「It’s true. My true body that existed in the higher dimension and my dragon vessel has completely vanished. However this……human vessel, thanks to it being completely materialized, I can remain behind without vanishing.」
Hearing that, Kili lifted up her face and drew near to Vritra.
「Why are you still here! You should tell me that right from the start if that’s the case! I entrust my feeling to thee──because Okaa-sama said something like that, I completely thought that Okaa-sama really……!」
「W-wait, this is an unexpected situation even for me. Even though my human vessel still remain, if my higher dimension true body vanished, I thought that my consciousness would also vanish──」
Vritra made excuse with a flustered look, but she fell silent seeing Kili’s expression.
I couldn’t see Kili’s face because her back was turned toward me. However Kili was most likely making an expression that only her mother could see.
「Aah geez……the inside of my head is all messed up! If it’s like this then at least I should get the first one. My feeling won’t settle down unless I get that.」
Kili wiped her eyes with her arm and turned back this way. She glared at me with a cold gaze.
「F-first?」
When I asked what she meant, Kili turned a bewitching smile at me.
「I mean of course──the welcome back kiss.」
Kili leaped at me after saying that.
However everyone else also moved at the same time. Perhaps they had anticipated her action.
「Wait a second Kili-san! Please stop acting as you please! Even I want Nii-san──」
「W-welcome back kiss!? That’s……it’s embarrassing to do it in front of everyone, but if it will make Mononobe happy then me too!」
Mitsuki immediately got in front of me. Iris who was pulled by Kili went bright red even while also trying to hug me.
「Everyone! Mononobe Yuu is tired, so I think that you should put off such thing until later!」
「Hee, so Lisa plan to do it later. But as expected I don’t want to give up the first spot……right, Mononobe-kun?」
Lisa was backing up Mitsuki while Firill hugged me from behind.
「Noooo! The welcome back kiss belongs to the wife!!」
Tia clung on my head with her small body to prevent everyone from kissing me.
「……That’s, good tactic. I’ll protect, Onii-chan’s lips.」
Ren also tried to guard my head.
「Mononobe-kun, at this rate things will get even more chaotic so how about kissing someone for now……what do you thing? Like with Ren……I’m also fine with it you know?」
Ariella whispered such thing into my ear.
「C-captain, are you alright? I’ll save you now!」
「I’Ll alSo Save pApa!」
Even Jeanne and Shion also charged into that chaos. I was getting jostled around in the sky.
It was soft and warm, but suffocating.
Vritra’s anxious voice came at that timing.
「O-oi, all of thee! If thou all are getting too spirited like that, the generated wind will get out of order──」
Right after that, the gentle floating feeling vanished and it felt like my internal organs were floating up from dropping down.
「Kyaah!?」
Iris’s scream echoed in my ear.
Below was the sea surface that we had gotten closer to until there were only several meters remained without noticing.
And then all of us fell together into the blue sea──to the blue planet that escaped destruction with a splash.
