“You got it? Yule is exhausted now. Repeating the restoration of the sky endlessly, that girl"s dragon spirit is almost empty, her stamina is near the limit as well. She shouldn"t even be able to go into dragon form. With all that, even the immature Aoi can hold Yule down. The first condition is to make Yule submit. Make her use up her power so that she"ll listen. Are your roles decided? About the continuous running, run away and run away until Yule uses all his power. How is it, simple right?”
That rat said something like, but!
“It"s not easy at alllll!”
I was running on the peak of Tusk Crag.
Stopping meant death, you had no choice but to continue to run even if your thighs are bursting.
I could see a dragon spreading its large blue wings in my peripheral vision.
A beautiful blue dragon with large black horns.
That"s right, that is the figure of Aoi that I saw when I first met her.
Yule unpleasantly clicked her tongue.
Aoi rushed Yule who was clad in a black mist-like thundercloud.
Continuous tearing sounds rang out as she rushed through the sky at a tremendous speed and repeatedly attacked Yule.
Yule, who spread her wings and was still in human form, kept avoiding it with a paper-thin margin.
“That"s my daughter, Aoi! Although still green, you can still fight while meddling with my lightning and wind! However, that"s still not enough! At that level you still can"t erase them!”
Yule"s horns and huge wings continued to emit blue light, and from there she fired thin lightning bolts towards me in succession.
Frustration could be heard within Aoi"s roar.
It"s not like I had leeway, and yet Aoi was looking on from the side and doesn"t seem to be getting serious.
Occasionally, she stops moving as if having doubts.
I know that it would be impossible for Aoi to hurt her real mother, for whatever reason.
So one measure we took was to run away, and that"s why we chose a battle of attrition.
However, that"s easier said than done.
“Ow! My ear!”
A thin thunderbolt that landed next to me.
Dry explosive sounds pierced my ears many times.
The reason why I can continue to avoid it is because Yule is tired and she"s not seriously trying to kill me.
Furthermore, because Aoi was obstructing Yule.
And so it"s possible to predict where it"ll land.
“The lightning manipulated by Sky Dragons is actually divided into four stages”
This was the shady rat"s explanation.
“Manipulating lightning is Yule"s forte. The first stage is to develop the spirit of the body. The second step, is amplified by the help of external spirits. The third step to make a path by arranging spirits at equal intervals to the target. And the fourth step is lightning. If you pay attention, you can see the third step right away. Because the luminescent phenomenon of the spirit occurs near the target. Based on this, considering how tired Yule currently is, it is very easy to avoid it. The problem is your stamina, right?”
Right? Of course not!
But I was able to see it right away.
The ground was shining about 2.3 seconds before the lightning struck, and I kept running in zigzags while looking out for it.
However, the problem was the successive rapid fire!
It"s really never-ending.
If you overlook the luminescent spots that occur one after another, a shock that can"t even be joked as an electric ma.s.sage falls on me.
My spirit was gradually being whittled away.
I mean!
I don"t know when Yule"s stamina will run out!
Yule who was flying in the air with plenty of room was swept away by the wind.
Hmm? Maybe the goal is pretty close?
Aoi turned sharply in the sky and charged Yule.
“Don"t underestimate me!”
Yule flapped her right wing powerfully.
“Gah!!”
“Aoi!!”
The wall of wind was so thick that a white layer was visible.
It covered Aoi from above.
A blue dragon that was crushed let out a short scream.
Aoi returned to human form with a faint flash of light.
There were some wounds on her body, but some red smoke came out and they vanished.
Yule suddenly fell to her knees.
It seems that it was even difficult to fly, she folded her wings with a painful expression.
“Aoi!”
I confirmed that figure and ran to Aoi lying on the ground and sat her up.
“I-I"m okay… I "m sorry. My mother is strong after all.”
Aoi looked up at me with a regretful expression.
I don"t know what her state of mind is like.
“No, well done. Yule… san also appears to be near her limit.”
I looked at Yule while supporting Aoi"s head and shoulders.
She hatefully glared at Aoi and me with her mouth shut tight.
Her shoulders were swaying up and down violently, and even her rough breathing could be heard.
“Mother… please listen.”
It hasn"t even been ten minutes since Yule started acting violently.
Despite that, she"s in such a state. Her condition wasn"t normal after all.
“…Do you not understand my feelings?”
Yule spoke with a pained expression.
“My daughter who I thought was still a child, a daughter who didn"t know anything! My feelings when I heard she gave birth! Aoi! You"re still a child! There"s not many thousand year dragons with children! Ah, that"s right! I"m the one at fault, I was too hasty, and I still haven"t taught you anything!”
“M-mother.”
Aoi also had a similar painful face.
“That"s why I came back! I"m worried about you who doesn"t have enough experience! Although I let you become independent, I returned! And what happened! Getting along with a human!? Can you believe it!? Who can even conceive a human becoming the father of dragons!”
“Yule…san”
Yule was crying.
Maybe I haven"t even noticed myself, large drops of tears fell while she dropped down to her knees, glaring at me and Aoi.
“Even with what happened to Alissa, I have never hated other races! But I"m afraid! It"s difficult for dragons to be born, that"s why we deeply deeply love out children! That"s why having our children s.n.a.t.c.hed away is scarier than anything! Our treasure…”
Yule faced the ground.
Her quivering shoulders told everything.
Her overflowing tears stained the dry rock surface of Tusk Crag.
“You guys…! I"ll take them away!”
“Mohter!? Noooo!”
Yule roared facing the sky.
“Kunpei! Run away!”
Father shouted at us from a distance.
My father should be holding Jaja and Nana and watching us from the entrance of the nest.
Strong wind spinning.
Rumbling thunder.
p.r.o.nounced black clouds filled the sky, completely blocking off the sunlight.
The wind gathered towards Yule.
Yule slowly floated as her huge wings were spread to the limit.
“Aaaaaah!!!”
“Mother! Calm down! I"m begging you!”
“Woah! Aoi! What the heck!?”
A strong wind gathers to Yule while rampaging uncontrollably, and I held Aoi"s shoulder while shaking my body.
“M-mother! You can"t hold down the spirits! The spirits are suffering!”
I shifted my attention towards Yule.
She was still facing the sky, and she hasn"t stopped screaming.
I spotted something familiar to me above her head.
“T-that"s…”
The ball of light that struck the kidnapper when I first met Aoi.
The same thing was floating in the sky, but much larger than that.
“A thunderball …! That big !?”
Aoi opened her mouth in astonishment.
“Use the eggsh.e.l.ls!”
I heard Alba Germain"s voice from on top of my head.
I felt a heavy weight and sensed that the rat was there.
“Haaa!?”
“It"s not so bad if a dragon takes it, but if a human receives that, you wont stand a chance! I"ll protect your father and the twins! Eat that sh.e.l.l!”
“B-but!”
“There"s no time! Hurry!”
Alba"s voice suddenly disappeared without answering my doubts.
While confusing over my lighter head, I hastily took out two fragments from my trouser pocket.
Jaja and Nana"s eggsh.e.l.ls.
If I ate it, I"ll quit being human for a bit.
“Run away Kunpei-san! I"ll manage somehow, but if a human takes that, there won"t even be dust left!”
No, I probably can"t escape anymore.
The ball of light that suddenly grew bigger was about twice as big as before.
Even if I ran from the nest right now, there is no guarantee that I will make it in time.
“Alright, I"m counting on you!”
I tossed the two pieces into my mouth.
And swallowed without chewing.
“Kunpei-san! What is that!?”
“It"s the kids eggsh.e.l.ls! I"ll become stronger if I eat… gah!!!”
My head!
My head is splitting!
“Gu, gah!”
“Kunpei-san!? What happened?! Kunpei-san!!!!”
I clutched my head.
Pain that felt like it was splitting my head in half came from the center of my head.
It felt like hot oil was flowing in the back of my eyes.
It was like something protruded out of my back.
It hurts.
It hurts as if I was about to die.
The blood pumped from my heart was flowing violently throughout my body like it was trying to burst my arteries.
The temperature of the breath I exhaled felt hot enough to melt iron.
“Kunpei-san!! Hold on! Kunpei-san! Uncle! What did you make Kunpei-san do?!”
“Guuuuuuuuuaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”
I jumped.
It was because I thought that if I didn"t do that, my head would be forcibly torn off.
Everything was whited out and I couldn"t see anything.
I didn"t know where I was or what I was doing.
『 Kazamachi Kunpei waits for the wind… 』
Who"s voice was this?
『 Smell the aroma of the wind… 』
This gentle voice, who was it again?
『 Anytime, anywhere, when I want to fly… 』
What is this voice that makes me want to surrender yourself?
『 Fly with a woosh 』
Ah, that"s right.
『 …Remember this spell whenever something tough happens 』
How could I forget.
『 Kunpei is a child that won"t surrender, right? 』
I wanted to see you.
『 Mother"s proud child 』
Mother.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAh!”
The air from my lungs, my strength, everything escaped from my body.
“AaaaaAAAAaaah….”
Exceptional power returned with a deep breath.
“K-kunpei-san…”
I lowered my head.
My whited out field of view suddenly cleared up.
“W-what was that …?”
My heartbeat slowly began to recover.
Unbelievable and calming.
“… mother”
“E-eh?”
Aoi"s startled voice reached my ears.
I raised my head and looked at Aoi.
A color of astonishment was projected on her eyes that were wide open.
“… hm? Huh?”
What happened now?
Where did that tremendous pain and headache go?
“aoi… what happened to me?”
“Eh, Kunpei-san, do you not know?”
Know what?
“T-that"s…”
Aoi was nervously pointing at my head.
I followed the trajectory and raised my right hand to my head.
Next to the head above the ear.
There was something that felt out of place.
“W-what is this…”
There was something hard and smooth on my head.
“That"s probably…”
Aoi opened her mouth while her finger that was pointing at me was still trembling.
“a horn.”
“Eh?”
“And it"s splendid.”
“Eh?”
I raised my left hand and checked the opposite side.
It was there.
Something hard and smooth.
“That"s the horn of the dragon.”
“Huh?”
I don"t understand what you mean.