Saijaku Muhai no Bahamut

–

「What is this, just what in the world is going on!?」

「Calm down! Students who can fight, draw your sword! First get out of the building and wear your Drag-Ride!」

Tillfur was raising a loud voice in bewilderment. Beside her, Sharis was also anxious while also raising her voice.

The Academy"s girl dormitory, late at night.

In front of the girls who were enjoying the pa.s.sing night of holy night festival, h.e.l.l manifested suddenly.

Various Abysses suddenly appeared inside the girl dormitory and they began to destroy the inside of the building fiercely.

It was an abnormality that visited without any advance notice.

Bearing Soffice"s case in mind, Sharis and others were on guard against surprise attack from Dragon Marauder, but as expected they couldn"t completely hide their anxiety.

「Where is Noct!? Have her grasp the situation around here with Drake"s radar and request Syvalles to sortie! At this rate we are going to get annihilated!」

Sharis swallowed the scream of terror that was threatening to squeeze out from her throat and gave an order with a firmness that befitted her leader sstatus.

But, the situation was worsening by the seconds.

Finally the Abysses bit a hole into a room of a sleeping female student and swallowed a girl inside.

「……-!? Stop! Let go of her!」

「It"s impossible Sharis! We won"t be able to do anything without Drag-Ride!」

Sharis pulled out her Sword Device and she was going to slash, but Tillfur clung on her and stopped her.

Sharis bit her lower lips hard until it bleed. Then she went out to the entrance of atrium from the girl dormitory"s corridor and drew out her Sword Device.

「──Come, the winged dragon of crest that is the symbol of power. Obey my sword and soar, EX Wyvern!」

「──Come, the dragon that symbolize immortality. Turn into a chain of earth fang, EX Wyrm!」

Both of them wore the strengthened type general purpose Drag-Ride that they were barely able to use due to Lisha"s tuning.

The energy consumption was intense and it was disadvantageous for protracted battle, but in order to overturn the current hopeless situation, they wanted as much power as possible even if just for a little more.

「Noct! Where are you!? Is AIir-chan safe!?」

「……Y.e.s. She is safe. I secured her.」

Sharis and Tillfur were relieved hearing the familiar voice and turned around.

But, the moment they saw that sight, they froze.

「No,ct?」

「Airi, chan……?」

It was Noct there.

But, the girl"s features were obviously different from the usual her.

There was no trace at all of her expression that was taciturn but intelligent. Her face was tinged with emptiness while her pupils were shaking like pendulum.

She wasn"t wearing Drake, but black tentacles were growing from her back as though an Abyss was being a parasite in her.

And then, the girl who was wearing uniform was carefully holding something in her arms. It was the head──of the girl who should be her roommate and her best friend.

「What"s wrong? Where is Lux-san? Let"s gather everyone quickly. If they become like this then──n.o.body else will be killed.」

「──U, AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!」

Cold sweat oozed out from the whole body of Sharis and Tillfur along with a shriek.

Some kind of Abyss acted as parasite in Noct and broke her heart.

Lux"s little sister Airi was killed.

She was beyond help already.

They didn"t have any face to look at them anymore.

She would have to deal with her important childhood friend who had stayed by her side as servant until now with her own hand.

Ruled by that despair and resentment, Sharis swung up her Drag-Ride"s Blade following her impulse.

「What are you doing Sharis? Please return to your senses.」

「Stop! Stop it! I don"t want! Something like this──!」

Sharis swung down her EX Wyvern"s Blade as though to reject the reality.

However it didn"t cut down Noct"s neck. Something deflected it from the side.

「──Stop it both of you! That is a fake!」

A faint green light entered their sight along with a sharp voice.

『……Perception, change.』

Right after that, the field of vision of Sharis and Tillfur warped flabbily and the surrounding returned into the corridor of girl dormitory that was still pristine.

「Wha-……!?」

「Wha, what"s going on!?」

The sight until now that was like a nightmare changed and returned into the proper world.

Even the room that looked like it was broken into now actually only had its wall dented a little.

And then, Noct who was in front of them didn"t look odd anywhere except that she had her Sword Device drawn out while taking a stance.

「What……happened?」

Noct also muttered with a dumbfounded tone.

When they noticed and looked closer, although the warning sound of the bell tower could be heard, the girl dormitory was exactly like normal.

「You all had illusion showed to you. Your mind was eroded by a special sound wave.」

Beside the Triad who were facing each other, there was Coral with his Sword Device unsheathed when they noticed.

He was wearing the military uniform of Vanheim Princ.i.p.ality with his hair braided like usual. His expression was tense.

His appearance was familiar just like before, but one of his eyes looked faintly s.h.i.+ning in yellow green color.

「Mind erosion with sound……? Then, the scene just now──」

「Yes. it was the work of the great demon called Iblis, the Ragnarok that existed in the Garden. It"s heading here from the direction of the practice ground. Surely it"s planning to crush this Academy in this chance──no, don"t tell me……」

Coral"s words halted in the middle and he fell into thought.

「Then, all the students who are affected by this sound wave are dangerous? If we don"t head to intercept the Ragnarok, we will get affected by illusion again later?」

Coral nodded with a serious gaze at Sharis"s question.

「For now plug your ears. If you don"t try to get out from here then fatal damage can be prevented. I will call Lux-kun and the others to exterminate the Ragnarok, so you three, please save the Academy"s students and staffs. Perhaps because a lot of the students are sleeping, there is still no victim, but if the number of people waking up is increasing from the sound of battle after this, then friendly fire will be increasing.」

「N, NOOoOOOO-……! Abyss, Abyss is inside the dormitory──!?」

A shrill scream rose from inside the corridor and a girl wearing pajama could be seen swinging around her Sword Device.

The Triad immediately put their guard up, but the girl suddenly flopped down in the middle.

「──Good grief. Even though I heard that the holy night is a time to be quiet.」

「Wait, Yoruka!?」

Tillfur raised a surprised voice. A girl in only her underwear appeared from the other side of the corridor.

She was in a state where many of her body parts were bandaged due to injury while one arm and one leg were fixed in place with splint, but she knocked down the girls attacking her with the cane supporting her body.

「It seems that thanks to the Baptism that was applied into my left eye, I am able to resist the illusion. Aa, there is no need to worry about the girl. I only made her faint.」

Even though Yoruka herself was seriously injured and couldn"t wear Drag-Ride, she subdued the girl who was rampaging due to the illusion in a flash.

The height of that skill and the precision of her attack caused the Triad to be in admiration once more.

「Then, it will be fine if the four of us make all the students here to sleep correct?」

When Yoruka talked to Coral who was similarly watching in astonishment, the young man nodded after hesitating for a bit.

「Yes──everyone, I"ll leave it to you.」

After saying only that, Coral sheathed his sword and ran outside.

At the same time, the leader of Triad, Sharis gave the order.

「Noct! Call out to the main force of Syvalles with your Drake! As soon as you detect the presence of Lux and others, we will leave the Ragnarok to them and return to suppress the inside of Academy! Let"s go!」

「Yes. Let"s hurry.」

「Rooogerr」

「My my, me too isn"t it.」

When the three and Yoruka nodded, the mission started at the same time.

Noct worn her Drake in order to convey the fact they obtained from Coral.

She confirmed the situation around the girl dormitory using radar while calling out to Syvalles members using Dragon Voice, then quickly there was one reaction.

–

「Ah, AAaAH, AH, DIEEEEEEEE ABYSSS──! Geuh!?」

*Pas.h.i.+-!*, dazzling flash of lightning burst in the courtyard at night. A guard Drag-Knight wearing Drag-Ride fell silent.

Celis was easily neutralizing several people while frowning from hearing Noct"s report through Dragon Voice.

「So it was like that, this sound that feels like splitting the head and the illusion are……」

The guards rampaging from the voice of Ragnarok Iblis began to strike each other, so Celis wearing Lindwurm suppressed them using the Lance of lightning strike.

Of course Celis was also under the influence of the mind attack, but thanks to her habitual mental training, she somehow maintained her sanity.

『Once you finished there, please head to the practice ground right away. Thinking from the movement of the Drag-Rides──Iblis is there.』

「Understood. I also cannot hold on that long. As soon as everyone gathered──」

「There is no need for that, Celistia.」

The instant Celis responded to Noct, a presence arrived beside her.

It was Lisha wearing Tiamat, her blonde side tail fluttering in the wind.

In addition beside her was Krulcifer wearing Fafnir and also Philuffy wearing Typhon on the ground.

A few seconds later, Lux wearing Bahamut and Coral wearing EX Wyvern also arrived.

Excluding Yoruka who was unable to partic.i.p.ate due to her injury from the previous battle, the main force of the Academy was gathered here right now.

「It seems that Airi along with Soffice were taken away by the enemy while we are receiving Ragnarok"s mental pollution. We won"t be able to do anything without defeating Iblis first, but like this we won"t be able to approach it.」

Lux was on tenterhooks because his little sister was taken away once more, but if he lost his calm here it would be just what the enemy wanted.

Thus he suppressed his emotion and turned his gaze to reality.

「Right. If we approach closer than this, then it"s likely even with our ears plugged we won"t be able to resist. This Iblis, it will also launch mental pollution through sight too right? We will be obliterated altogether without some kind of countermeasure.」

Krulcifer also agreed with Lux.

Although it was only by a hair"s breadth, Syvalles had defeated several Ragnarok until now, but as expected they wouldn"t be able to avoid a bitter fight even with their full strength.

Just facing a single Ragnarok was always accompanied with the risk of total annihilation.

「But, there is no time. If the enemy"s mental pollution with its voice is progressing to some degree, it should be heading our way then. No, even if that"s not the case, we have to defeat the enemy while it"s in the practice ground right now!」

「Yeah, it will be no good if it get away to Cross Field! A lot of citizens will get mixed up!」

「……Yes. We have, to stop it here.」

Celis"s statement met agreement from Lisha and Philuffy.

But, while they were unable to find an effective method, Coral suddenly took out four knives from somewhere.

「Everyone, take this.」

Coral threw the knives that were put inside holder to Lux and others. Then following Coral instruction they unsheathed the knives.

Then──a blade with its edge s.h.i.+ning in seven colors appeared.

「This is──Elixir!?」

The secret medicine of Ruin that liberated the hidden ability of human and turned them into Nocturnal.

But, the compensation for that would be a backlash to the body if the power was overused. It was a double-edged sword.

「Why……do you have this?」

Krulcifer asked with a suspicious face. Coral thought for a bit in respond and then answered.

「……I confiscated them when I captured an underling of Dragon Marauder in Vanheim Princ.i.p.ality. I was holding on them just in case, but now there is no other choice than to use them. The amount of Elixir in them is few, so your body"s color won"t change, but if it"s just for around ten-odd minutes, you will obtain resistance against mental pollution──supposedly.」

Even if for example no change would happen at the surface of their body, they would still be reluctant to use it.

Lux and co were all hesitating, but hearing the roar of Ragnarok once more, they resolved themselves.

「……It doesn"t look like there is time to hesitate. If we don"t defeat that thing, everything will be over.」

「Yosh, we"re going to do this!」

Krulcifer sighed, while Lisha also resolved herself and agreed.

Everyone except Coral stabbed the tip of the knife on their skin. Then the liquid of seven colors permeated inside and intense heat enveloped their body.

「Let"s go everyone! The target is the Ragnarok in the practice ground, this so called Iblis! Fight from mid-range at the very least so you won"t get done in by the mental pollution! I and Krulcifer will take care of firepower!」

Lisha took a deep breath and took command with a loud voice.

Krulcifer"s Fafnir had the sniper rifle Freezing Cannon, while Lisha"s Tiamat possessed a main cannon with super firepower Seven Heads as special armament.

Because they would receive more influence of mental pollution the closer they were to the enemy, it was the best to entrust the attacking role to those two.

At the same time when Lisha told that, everyone drove their Drag-Ride and started to move simultaneously──but, the moment they headed to the practice ground and Iblis"s figure came to view, a swarm of Abyss sprang out in front of them.

「……What-!?」

Lisha and others who completely thought that there was only a single Ragnarok were taken aback and came to a stop.

Not letting go of that opening, a single Drag-Ride leaped out from inside the darkness and approached before their eyes.

Clad in Divine Drag-Ride Asp that possessed four legs and claws, it was Dragon Marauder"s division commander Drakkhen Megistri.

「This woman-!? Where did she appear from!?」

Lisha"s eyes snapped open in surprise while she barely deployed a reinforced barrier and blocked the steel claw attack.

Beside her Krulcifer quickly intercepted using her sniper rifle, but Drakkhen leaped backward and escaped.

When Lisha and others who lost sight of her figure were perplexed, Drakkhen had instantly moved at far behind the practice ground.

「──No. That"s a misunderstanding you know, new kingdom"s Academy raid force, ladies of Syvalles.」

When the members of Syvalles were going to chase after her, a thick male voice came.

「We didn"t appear here. We were waiting, for you all to come here.」

Thanks to the torches that were prepared here and there in the practice ground, they could see the figure of three Drag-Knights at the deepest area within the swarm of Abyss.

「You three, if I"m not mistaken──」

「Sorry for the late introduction princess of new kingdom. My name is Dragon Marauder"s Heaven Dragon division commander, Gatouhan Barres.」

A large man with tanned skin, muscular body build, and masculine impression first introduced himself like that.

「Similarly, Earth Dragon division commander, Vine Hachettes.」

「Similarly, Human Dragon division commander, Drakkhen Megistri. I"m indebted to you guys from that time.」

Furthermore, the young boy who looked conspicuously young among the three, and the woman of blooming age dressed like bandit also introduced themselves.

The group of Drag-Knights who had repeatedly held skirmish in regard to Ruins until now.

These three who were the main force of Dragon Marauder finally appeared altogether.

「Just when I thought that the bunches who were sneaking around until now are finally coming out, they have guards of Ragnarok and Abysses. As expected huh, don"t you even have courage to fight properly?」

Lisha glared at the three and provoked them. Drakkhen responded with a wry smile.

「Royal family member don"t know about mercenary work huh. For us, result is what matter. What"s more when it come to a scramble for Grand Force that is related to Avalon, fighting in honest way is foolish right?」

「Besides──you all are strong. The speed of your growth is also not common. I believe that this much supplemental battle force is the minimum requirement to fight you all you know?」

After the boy called Vine said that indifferently, Celis readied her Lance and gazed at the opponents.

「Praise from outsides is unnecessary. After defeating you all and the Ragnarok, I will listen to your story from inside the prison.」

「Dealing with us while taking out Grand Force from inside the Ragnarok while you are at it. Spreading Iblis"s mental pollution to the whole Academy so that we cannot escape, forcing us to partic.i.p.ate in this battle……is it correct to consider that as your plan?」

In addition Krulcifer also stated that while overlooking the area from the sky.

「Nice conjecture. Incidentally we are planning to catch you alive. After all Key"s Supervisor is a tool that might be still necessary.」

Gatouhan grinned fearlessly. Lisha snapped and yelled.

「Enough with the tedious talk, we"ve got no time here. We aren"t going to hold back!」

The tension was slowly rising. At that moment when the opening of hostilities would start, Philuffy who was staying quiet until now muttered quietly.

「Lu-chan, is gone. How?」

"Now that she mentioned it", thinking that, everyone looked around searchingly.

When they noticed, the figure of Lux and Bahamut who should be acting together with them had vanished completely.

「How mysterious. Perhaps it might be related somehow with how I suddenly appeared at the beginning isn"t iiit?」

Drakkhen"s grin that was making fun of them caused everyone to be on their guard, but right after that Coral quietly spoke.

「There is one thing that I want to ask to you three. The one who kidnapped Soffice and Lux-san──your current master, who is it?」

「……? What do you mean? They came here in order to save Dragon Marauder"s employer, Soffice Xfer isn"t it?」

Krulcifer was puzzled. In respond Coral shook his head slightly.

「No, I also stood watch over Soffice and Re Plica, but they vanished from the prison after Iblis moved. The Moon"s function can give instruction to Ragnarok──such feat should be impossible with Dragon Marauder"s authority. In other words……the enemy mastermind who moved that function is somewhere.」

「A mastermind existence who can move Ruin……you say?」

Lisha showed a dubious expression, but right after that the Wyvern division commander Gatouhan drew out his Sword Device.

The back wings of the Divine Drag-Ride with poisonous purplish red color were tinged with light and he instantly took a fighting stance.

「──The talk ends here. Become the sacrifice for a brand new kingdom that we will obtain!」

The trigger of the battle was pulled.

Great amount of Abysses, three division commander of Dragon Marauders, and then a Ragnarok Iblis at the back. The curtain of a deathly battle against those lineups was opened.

–

「This place……where in the world──!?」

Lux woke up from his interrupted consciousness.

Even though he should be in the Academy"s practice ground just a moment before, he wondered just what had happened.

A spherical s.p.a.ce that was surrounded with silver colored metallic wall.

The s.p.a.ce was as s.p.a.cious as the Academy"s practice ground. There was no one there except Lux with his Bahamut.

But, there was a gigantic mechanical pillar in the middle of the room.

At first Lux thought it was the main pillar of this room, but something was different.

The pillar changed shape with complicated and mysterious gears" movement. It grew limbs and took a stance like a fortress.

「-……!? Don"t tell me, this thing!」

「That"s right you d.a.m.n idiot. Deus Ex Machina──I called it here using the Moon"s instruction. It"s the Ragnarok that protect Ymir Theocracy"s Hall!」

The mysterious voice echoed inside the s.p.a.ce.

When Lux searched for the voice"s origin with his gaze, he found a small gla.s.s window from viewing at a room above.

「──Airi!?」

Lux glided with Bahamut and looked inside the neighboring room that could be seen through the gla.s.s. He unconsciously raised his voice.

Airi in her uniform was unconscious while being tied at the corner of the room.

Furthermore beside her there was also Soffice who was in a worn-out state.

Her usual expressionless face that was like mask had crumbled. She was sweating while looking uneasy.

Someone wearing robe with hood that was hanging low over her eyes was standing before the two girls. That person abruptly snapped her fingers.

Then the wall of the room where Lux was at was projecting image with window frame of light.

The window frame was showing the students running riot inside the girl dormitory in the night of holy night festival, and the predicament of Lisha along with others who were surrounded by a great amount of Abysses.

「This is, the happening in the Academy!? What is going on!? Why am I──why is Soffice beaten up like that?」

「That is, because she is not needed anymore desu.」

Inside the room at the other side of the gla.s.s, the Automata Re Plica was muttering with eyes that had lost their light.

And then, she grabbed Soffice"s neck with both her hands and lifted her up on the air.

「This place is inside the Moon that is floating above the Academy desu. Following mywatas.h.i.+ master"s command, it moved for the sake of getting rid of the Arcadia siblings.」

The abundant emotional expressions from Re Plica until now were vanis.h.i.+ng.

She only coldly carried out her order and completely changed into a pure machine.

Soffice who guessed that bit her lips in frustration while her usual blank expression crumbled.

「How……. Why did the Dragon Marauder betray me!? We should have a contract!」

「That"s obviously because you became unnecessary desu, fool.」

Re Plica who was manipulated by someone told that with her mouth splitting open into crescent shape.

「Just like how you didn"t seriously believe in them, just how you had no intention to hand over Avalon to them, the three Dragon Marauders also weren"t trusting you. If there is another person who can move the Moon, then the rest doesn"t matter for them, do you understand desu?」

「Uh, a……!」

Soffice endured the pain from having her throat constricted and she barely shook off Re Plica"s arms.

After she coughed *geho geho*, tears oozed out from the pain.

「You can feel happy desu. Your name will remain in history as the villain who declared war to the world. This new kingdom will perish……you can be useful as a p.a.w.n of this meore in obtaining this world!」

Re Plica"s voice was mixed with a strange nuance of male way of speaking.

It sounded to Lux as though she was speaking as proxy for someone who wasn"t here.

「I, won"t……let you. What I wished for, isn"t such conclusion──uah!」

「Soffice!?」

Soffice"s face was kicked by the Automata. Lux raised his voice seeing that.

When he drove his Bahamut to help her right away, the gigantic steel pillar suddenly moved and thrust its huge arm that was like a lump of iron.

In contrast with its slow and dull appearance, the fist attack launched with a speed that eye couldn"t follow.

Different from the fifth Ruin Gigas, its size was only a fragment of it, but in exchange its speed was incomparably fast.

The attack that was launched like a battering ram instantly smashed Bahamut"s solid barrier.

The moment Lux barely parried it by using his great sword as s.h.i.+eld, the pillar suddenly circled behind Lux and swung down its huge arm like an iron hammer

「Tsu……!? ──Reload on Fire!」

Lux activated his Divine Raiment not on himself, but on the Ragnarok, Deus ex Machina that was attacking him.

The Divine Raiment was deployed in wide range, enveloping the gigantic mechanical body.

It was a battle technique called Violent Strike that compressed the next five seconds, dealing continuous strikes during that compressed time, and then in the remaining five seconds the ama.s.sed slashes would be liberated all at once, increasing the destructive power.

Lux swung his great swords and concentrated ten slashes into one point, but the impact was deflected and the enemy didn"t even twitch.

「Wha-!?」

When Lux was taken aback, the counterattacking iron arm punched through the air and mowed him down.

The barrier of Bahamut was easily smashed and Lux crashed on the far away metallic wall behind.

「Guh……! What, hardness……!」

It wasn"t that Lux"s attack didn"t work.

The surface of Deus ex Machina"s body had thin lines carved on it like countless scratches.

It showed that the answer was the enemy"s hardness was merely in different dimension.

The hidden technique that boasted the greatest offensive power even among all his skills──Recoil Burst, surely damage wouldn"t be inflicted without using it.

(Everyone isn"t here. I have no choice but to do it alone……!)

All the Ragnarok he had faced until now were all similarly mighty without equal, but at those times his reliable Syvalles comrades shaved the enemy"s strength for him.

But this time he had no such support.

Could he win alone against this unprecedented monster by himself?

「Ku-ku-ku……. So you still have some leeway there. Is it okay that you are resting your attack like that?」

「What……?」

Lux took distance while forming strategy, but the mocking laugh of Re Plica who was speaking as proxy for someone else came from above.

「If you hesitate and stop attacking, Deus ex Machina will a.s.sist with the battle below y"know?」

The countless light frames floating on the surrounding wall──inside the image that was showing the sight on the ground below, he could see the figure of Lisha and others under attack.

It seemed, Deus ex Machina was using its instant teleportation ability to back up the battle of Dragon Marauder.

Even though there was also Iblis below there, the battle would be unmanageable if one other Ragnarok was helping out.

He had no time to run away.

Ho could only continue attacking in order to not let the Ragnarok before him to a.s.sist with the battle below.

「──That"s right. Come.」

Lux let out a heated sigh and glided toward the Ragnarok.

He put his strength into the fingertips holding the control stick and threw his body into a reckless fight for the sake of diverting the enemy"s attention.

–

「s.h.i.+t, what is going on from some time ago!? The enemies" positions are changing constantly!?」

Below the Moon where Lux was fighting inside.

A deathly battle against Dragon Marauders was continuing in the Academy"s practice ground.

Perhaps it was difficult for Iblis to activate its ability to only specific targets, because it wasn"t really attacking with its mental pollution.

But, its attack using its six arms that was unleashed when it was approached was sharp and heavy.

In addition the scorching heat breath attack it blew out couldn"t be blocked with Drag-Ride"s barrier, so it was extremely dangerous.

Thus, Celis who possessed outstanding skill even among these members would close in and served as the Ragnarok"s opponent mainly by using her Lance"s lightning attack from mid-range.

「This is a terrible miscalculation──no, we were careless. The enemies are also deeply knowledgeable about us.」

In order to decrease the effect of mental pollution, Lisha and Krulcifer sniped at Iblis from long range.

──But, the swarm of Abyss that crowded the practice ground became s.h.i.+eld and they couldn"t aim. Because both Lisha and Krulcifer were constantly targeted by multiple Abysses, it was next to impossible to support Celis who was unfolding a high speed midair battle.

On the ground, Vine and Philuffy, the fellow users of land battle type Divine Drag-Ride were fighting.

It seemed that Philuffy was a cut above Vine in skill, but the Abysses on the ground were mostly focusing on Philuffy alone, because of that she was currently being pushed back.

「Strange. Something is odd. The Abysses here are too powerful, there are even some that I have never seen before──uah!?」

Coral was also undertaking the role of facing Abysses using his EX Wyvern, but he was gradually receiving attack from all directions.

The Abysses in the air were of familiar types like Gargoyle, Chimera, Diablos, and so on, but their appearance was different from before.

For some reason there was also Gargoyle that was transparent like Phantom. In this situation where there was no Drag-Knight using Drake type that had radar, they would fall behind in dealing with such enemy no matter what.

「It"s strange as expected! Strange Abysses that I"ve never seen before until now are among mixing in!」

Lisha was also using Legion and hit back the Abysses, but while she was defeating her opponent, she was bewildered when she discovered things like slime floating in the air.

Due to the appearance of things like chaff slime that would restrict Drag-Ride"s movement, the strength of her special armament was damped.

「Calling them strange──that"s a bit rude. Fusing them like that was really hard you know?」

「……What-!?」

Lisha showed an opening from feeling shocked. At that instant, Gatouhan"s Divine Drag-Ride closed in and slashed.

「Watch out-!」

Coral immediately cut in and blocked it, but that Blade vanished.

「……What!?」

「──Hmph」

Gatouhan didn"t overlook the opening of the shaken Coral and swung down his Blade.

Lisha who saw that immediately threw her Dagger and dealt an impact from the side, diverting the slash"s trajectory.

But, right when the dagger hit Gatouhan"s armor, the Dagger was absorbed into the armor as though it was melting.

「-……!? What the h.e.l.l with this guy"s Drag-Ride!? It"s taking in the very weapon of me and Coral……!?」

「So you noticed. Well, it"s a trick that will get exposed sooner or later anyway.」

「So that"s, the power of the Divine Drag-Ride you"re wearing……!」

Coral who took distance pointed that out. Gatouhan responded with a bold smile.

「My Divine Drag-Ride"s name is Hydra. Its Divine Raiment"s name is Re-AliveSacred Eclipse Toxin, the power to 『fuse』 fellow things that are in contact with this armor and weapon.」

「Fuse──then, these unfamiliar Abysses too, don"t tell me!?」

They weren"t just new types that were refined with Ruin"s power, but combined creatures that were made by Gatouhan"s Hydra in large quant.i.ty.

「It"s impossible to fuse living thing and inorganic matter though, but it can take away your weapon and break them down──haah!」

Hydra brandished its Blade right overhead, and then unleashed a sword flash along with a breath.

At that moment, fragments of broken Blade and Dagger were fired at the same time. The buckshot of metal fragments made Lisha and Coral to falter.

The weapons that were fused and absorbed just now were shot out as metal fragments.

「U, guh……Legion-!?」

Unable to endure, Lisha intercepted with Tiamat"s special armament──the projectile weapon Legion.

「Hahahaha! Do you feel like giving me strength?」

*Pakii!* The weapon was taken in by Hydra"s Divine Armament as soon as it came into contact.

But at that moment, Gatouhan was struck down instantly from midair to the ground of the practice ground.

「Nuuh!?」

Purple gravity field──Tiamat"s Divine Raiment Suppressor.

「Just now was only bait you idiot! The sin of stealing two of my important weapons……I"ll make you pay for them in full! Seven Heads!」

Lisha aimed at Gatouhan right below and fired the thick beam of her main cannon.

The torrent of dazzling energy was going to swallow Gatouhan along with Hydra, it was then his figure vanished instantly from the ground.

「Chih──don"t tell me!?」

「Behind you! Be careful!」

Krulcifer yelled, at the same time she sniped using her Freezing Cannon toward Gatouhan who was teleported behind Lisha.

The freezing bullet splendidly hit Gatouhan"s Hydra using the future prediction that was Fafnir"s Divine Raiment, but the frozen part was immediately fused and changed into ice that covered the armor"s skin.

「……So even coagulation of water fluid is treated as inorganic matter. That"s troublesome.」

「Hahaha, it"s you girls who cannot be underestimate. It would be dangerous without our employer"s backup there.」

Gatouhan took a distance for the moment. Then his figure suddenly vanished at the same time with his bold smile.

Right after Lisha lost sight of Gatouhan"s figure, Hydra with its Blade readied was falling from above as though it was stabbing its fang.

「Ku……! It"s strange since just now! Strange teleportation is happening in timing that is disadvantageous for us. Someone is teleporting these guys!」

「Instant teleportation……Deus ex machine! The other Ragnarok is helping them from the Moon above! Most likely, Lux-kun and Soffice are also there──uah!?」

Phantom──invisible Abyss attacked Coral midair and staggered him.

For a moment, Lisha thought it strange that Coral could guess the situation right away, but she had no leeway to think deeper about it.

Right at the beginning the battle situation looked even, but the advantage was gradually leaning toward the enemy.

「──Haah!」

*BAs.h.i.+!*, Lindwurm that Celis piloted thrust her Lance with the momentum of her flight behind it.

The great demon with huge six arms──Ragnarok Iblis could only be held back by the Academy"s strongest Celis right now.

If she looked at Iblis"s eye, she would receive mental pollution from its flickering eye glint, so she could only measure its movement from the motion of its limbs and wings──or from the wind pressure after it moved.

The opponent was a monster that was too much to be faced alone even when fighting normally. Against such enemy, Celis raised her fervor and displayed a battle where she didn"t take even a step back, but even that was rapidly approaching the limit.

Each time Celis received the bizarre sound wave that Iblis would emit sometimes, her brain would be stirred up, threatening the heart of Celis who had ama.s.sed tenacious disciplining.

──Terror, anxiety, hatred, rage, grief.

The mental disturbance that was induced by the sound wave caused the listener to imagine various negative emotions and gave birth to disorder in mind.

The strengthened resistance from Elixir was also in the process of running out.

There weren"t many chances remaining for her.

She had no choice but staking all her strength in the remaining offense and defense that she could only execute several more times and brought the enemy down!

『Lizsharte, is it possible for you to back me up?』

『I can anytime! Right now Krulcifer is facing the big man. The airheaded girl is facing the boy while Coral is taking on the female bandit.』

Of course, they were doing so while also defeating the Abysses that were being manipulated by horn flute sound that was played by the Divine Raiment of Drakkhen"s Asp, but they were finally reducing the number of Abysses until dozens of them.

They perseveringly whittled the hindrances one by one while holding back the three Dragon Marauders.

In order to crush Ragnarok Iblis, they preserved the stamina of Lisha who possessed the greatest firepower in long range while the other members shouldered the burden.

「What terrifying bunch, to persevere in a situation that is this disadvantageous. Vine! Can you back me up here?」

「It"s impossible. Unfortunately, even the petrification of my Basilisk is defeated by Typhon"s Divine Raiment. It doesn"t look like I"ll be able to hold out that long.」

Vine who wielded a Blade to fight was avoiding lethal damage also due to the reinforcement from the Abysses, but due to the irregular attack from Philuffy that was weaving fist and kick together, his armor was starting to be broken in some places.

「If you"re going to surrender then do it quickly. We"ve no leeway, to go easy after all.」

In order to use Typhon"s Divine Raiment, Philuffy activated her Abyssfication and ama.s.sed fatigue. She closed the distance with Vine and declared so.

Each fight was approaching the conclusion. It gave the premonition that the end of this battle was near.

Celis who saw her comrades" exhaustion resolved herself to settle the battle here.

Divine Gate would be effective in offense and defense, but here she suppressed her strength and didn"t use it as much as possible.

「The enemies" instant teleportation isn"t happening since some time ago. Surely Lux is holding back the Ragnarok that is in the Moon. Then──!」

Celis faced the great demon Ragnarok Iblis and closed in.

The Ragnarok spewed out h.e.l.l fire and consecutive attacks from its six arms. Celis fired her own armor like a buckshot in a counter.

「Break Purge!」

The technique functioned as smoke screen as well as creating an opening. It threw away one"s own defense and transformed the Drag-Ride into a shape that was specialized for offense.

The thrust of Lightning Lance that was unleashed from the minimum frame motion was sucked deeply into Iblis"s chest.

「──U, UaaaaAASU!」

Iblis that only emitted sound of roar until now raised a pained scream for the first time.

Using that opening, Krulcifer who shook off the pursuit of the Abysses sniped the mouth of the demon that was opened and froze it for the sake of their counterattack.

「Now! Philuffy!」

「……Got it.」

Philuffy"s Typhon kicked away Vine"s Basilisk. At the same time Pile Anchors fired from every part of her armor, entangling Iblis with wires and restraining it.

In addition she skated on the practice ground"s ground and swung around Iblis who had its chest stabbed.

Even if Deus ex Machina that was inside the Moon above tried to use teleportation, it would be obstructed in advance by constantly moving the enemy. That was the aim.

If the target was moved irregularly, the enemy would also become unable to narrow down the coordinate for teleportation.

The plan was for Lisha to fire the finisher in that timing with certainty.

「──UU……UaaAaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAa.s.sU!」

It seemed Iblis intended to resist. A shriek of terrifying mental pollution thundered while Iblis was starting to struggle.

「Ku……! Airheaded girl! Don"t you dare let go of the enemy!」

Lisha endured that pain while calling out to Philuffy.

So that other Dragon Marauders wouldn"t be a hindrance, she activated the Divine Raiment of future prediction Wise Blood while pinning them in place with her sniping.

And then,

「──Ei」

With a bland voice, Philuffy reeled in Iblis close and kicked it up to the sky with Typhon"s armored leg.

The wire binding was disconnected and Iblis floated in the air with its back facing the night sky. Right after that, Tiamat"s main cannon fired.

「This is the end Ragnarok! Seven Heads!」

An extremely thick pillar of light.

The flash of impact and high heat punched through the atmosphere and attacked with wave motion.

The defending six arms, the chest, and in addition the lower jaw with fangs growing from there were smashed altogether. The core inside its body, the Grand Force was exposed.

「Va, Aa……」

Iblis raised a pained scream with its chest and lower jaw blown away.

Its remaining huge body was turning to ash from receiving the after wave of the cannon shot"s might.

With this everyone in the Academy would stop getting affected by mental pollution for the time being.

It was great they could defeat the enemy"s main battle strength in this timing where the effect of Elixir had run out.

Of course there was still one Ragnarok remaining so they still couldn"t let their guard down, but they were released from the extreme nervousness and a slight relaxedness was born.

Even so they didn"t avert their gaze from the remaining members of Dragon Marauder and kept up their guard but──.

「It"s only you three remaining you know? This will be the last time I permit you all to surrender.」

「That"s really awesome. Defeating that Iblis without the Black Hero here──」

In respond to Celis"s gaze and announcement, Drakkhen clapped and sent them words of praise.

Her armor had been damaged, but despite that she was showing a composed smile for some reason.

「Even though you girls have that much strength, but you all are naïve. We mercenaries aren"t like that. We won"t have mercy even if it"s an opponent who is in the verge of defeat.」

「Can I take it to mean that any consideration is unnecessary for all of you?」

Celis pressured once more. Drakkhen smiled wryly to that.

「Yeah, that ain"t necessary. We are the victor after all.」

「──What?」

Lisha who was far in the back frowned hearing that. At that instant, the voice of Philuffy who was standing on the ground could be heard.

「──Be careful! There is strange smell from the surrounding!」

Philuffy raised an urgent voice that was unusual for her who usually was following her own pace.

Right after that, the figures of Dragon Marauder who were gasping tiredly from the battle until now vanished one after another.

First Gatouhan and Vine vanished, leaving Drakkhen alone at the end.

「Teleportation!? You are planning to escape to the Moon?」

「Wait! The situation is strange! Certainly there are presences from the surrounding.」

Krulcifer said that and activated the Divine Raiment of future prediction.

At that moment, she was speechless from the sight of a few seconds in the future that was reflected in her eyes.

「For what reason we chose this s.p.a.cious practice ground as battlefield instead of near the Academy where we can get the students involved. Can you understand why? The power will decrease if there are obstacles, and in the first place they cannot be led there well with how slow they are. The oil type slime Abysses that can explode, that are fused with Phantom so they can become transparent I mean.」

Right after Drakkhen told that with a wicked smile, intense spark leaked out from the dying Iblis.

「I"ll also say this, Iblis was purposefully weakened a bit so it could be killed instead. It"s so that it can ignite the fire for us you see. Well then everyone of new kingdom. Adieu.」

Right after she finished saying that, Drakkhen"s figure vanished from there.

The teleportation by the other Ragnarok that was remaining in the Moon.

Lisha yelled when she understood the meaning of the three"s disappearance.

「Everyone! Run away from here! Go to the Academy right──」

*Bachii-!*

Iblis that was floating in the air spewed out fire from its inside, blowing out fire from its bursting and scattering.

Right after that, the great amount of Oil Slime that was crawling between the audience seats so they wouldn"t get noticed caught fire. The practice ground was swallowed by intense light and h.e.l.l fire.

–

「N, nn……」

The tied Airi woke up due to the explosion sound from the ground below that reached even until the Moon.

Within her dazed consciousness, the silver colored metallic wall came into her view.

On a part of that wall surface, countless rectangle windows of light were floating.

There, the scene below the moon──the practice ground that Airi was familiar with was projected. It was currently being blown awawy with a destructive blast.

「-……!? Everyone!? What is──」

When she raised a voice of incomprehension, she noticed the presences inside the room.

Airi held her breath in surprise. There the three division commanders of Dragon Marauder wearing their Divine Drag-Ride were standing.

「Haa, haa……. I"m tired, really.」

「We are also nearly at our limit……. Those girls, as expected they cannot be faced with normal means.」

「Right. But with this, the preparation is finally in place.」

A part of their armor was broken, but their flesh body was mostly unharmed.

Furthermore beside them there were the figures of Re Plica whose eyes were blank and office who was prostrating on the floor.

「I before this, was kidnapped in the Academy……. ──Soffice-san, please hang in there!」

Airi who fainted just a little while ago was unable to grasp the situation accurately.

But from this tense atmosphere, the control of Re Plica as Automata was stolen by someone.

And then the Dragon Marauder bared their fang toward their employer Soffice. Those were the only things she could imagine.

「……Why, did you betray me?」

Soffice slowly stood up and asked with a murmur while keeping her head down. Drakkhen turned an exasperated gaze toward her in respond.

「……Mercenary business isn"t philanthropic work. The most important thing is to stick on the side that looks like the winning side. We are different from a servant that is serving n.o.ble. There ain"t any meaning in being dutiful. You cannot comprehend the common sense for this kind thing huh.」

「At the very least, I should have given you all your reward as stipulated by the contract. You betrayed me even then?」

Shadow covered her eyes, even so Soffice formed her words imploringly.

It was the last remaining thread of hope for her.

As though to desperately reel in the chance for turning the table no matter how thin and unreliable the thread was.

But,

「Unfortunately, we had gone back to our past employer. Besides you had opened the door to the deepest part of the Garden already right? You are left alive because your authority as Key"s Supervisor is useful but, our business with you is mostly finished now.」

Soffice lost her words at the blunt rejection of Vine.

The control of Re Plica who was like her little sister was stolen, and she was also betrayed by the mercenaries who she hired through negotiation──all her hopes were completely severed.

「Sorry, Uruk. I"m unable, to accomplish the mission……」

Soffice spoke her repentance toward her dead little sister.

──What awaited trust was betrayal and murder.

That was why she tried to fight alone until now, and yet she couldn"t do even that.

She also wasn"t able to grant the wish of Uruk who said that she wanted friend, and she wasn"t even able to accomplish her mission as a Key"s Supervisor.

Besides, what was the most painful above all else was how Re Plica got taken away.

Even though till the very end, only her should be the one──who would stay as her ally until her death.

「It"s pitiful but, this is also what they call fate. If you are going to hold grudge, then resent yourself for lacking the caliber to obtain comrade who is worthy of trust.」

After Drakkhen who calmed her breathing said that over her shoulder, beside her Vine looked down on the spherical shape at the side from the small window in the room.

Inside the battle s.p.a.ce that was for use of virtual battle, Lux and Deus ex Machina were unfolding an intense battle.

「Even so, that Lux Arcadia is a really terrifying man. He is able to contend against that Ragnarok until this far with just that Bahamut.」

Lux was breathing hard with his front hair trickling sweats.

He had cut wound from the fragments of the enemy body that he smashed, but other than that his armor was mostly unharmed. But he couldn"t hide the color of exhaustion in his face.

If his movement stopped for even a moment, Lux himself would be teleported by the enemy"s ability, so he continued to move without resting. This was the result.

And then above all else, Lux had no deciding move.

He was lacking firepower to destroy the Ragnarok which possessed hardness that was several times more than Myhtrildite.

When he struck a hundred consecutive slashes with End Action, the countless overlapping sh.e.l.l of Deus ex Machina dispersed the impact.

「With that huge mechanical G.o.d as opponent, an attack without concentrated power behind it won"t work properly.」

Gatouh added an explanation after the calm impression of Drakkhen.

Having said that, if Lux launched an attack with extraordinary power like Recoil Burst, such attack that was using large swing and moved in a straight line would be completely dodged with teleportation.

Thus, his stamina was reduced without being able to deal decisive damage.

Lux was fighting a Ragnarok by himself inside a battle s.p.a.ce that could be looked down from this room.

Airi who heard that desperately struggled with her body that was tied by rope.

Luckily or unluckily, the restrain wasn"t that strong, perhaps because they thought she wouldn"t be able to escape from here anyway.

She took out the knife that she was covertly carrying within her pocket and secretly began to cut the rope.

There was almost nothing that she could do right now.

Even so, there was no way she could just stay quiet watching the predicament of her big brother and everyone else.

「Enough with the pointless talk you mongrels. The explosion below has settled down. Recover Iblis"s Grand Force and finish off those trashes there.」

「Yeah, with this our a.s.sociation with those bunches will be over.」

Right after Drakkhen replied to Re Plica"s words, the three division commanders were enveloped by light. A teleportation by Deus ex Machina occurred.

After the three vanished, the controlled Re Plica slowly walked toward Soffice with a knife in hand.

「I"ve no more business with you. Now you"re only a disposable key──so I"ll cut the tendons of your limbs.」

The looking Soffice down didn"t even twitch, let alone resisting.

The Automata brandished the knife emotionlessly and then swung it down toward the girl.

Fresh blood danced in the air along with the sound of torn flesh.

But, Soffice was embraced along with an impact that suddenly came from the side and she was pushed down on the floor.

「──Airi! What, are you doing?」

Soffice"s emotionless eyes that were blank as though she had died already opened wide, and light returned into them.

Seeing that, Airi endured the pain from her slashed back and smiled stout-heartedly.

「That"s my line. Why aren"t you resisting? Why aren"t you running away? Are you going to be done in silently without fighting?」

「……It, doesn"t matter, anymore. It"s impossible for me. I cannot, do anything……」

「Are you going to give up just because you got betrayed twice? Even though you tried to save the world by going as far as making the world your enemy. Aren"t you succeeding the dying wish of your little sister!?」

「Stop with the pointless struggle. The entrance of this room is already locked. There is no escape.」

Re Plica seemed to use her function as Gear Leader to lock the room and declared so while approaching.

Airi stood up, pulled on Soffice"s arm, and desperately hit on the door.

「You can be desperate because your comrades are still alive. I have nothing anymore. Whether it"s Uruk, or Dragon Marauder that I hired──」

「That"s wrong.」

Airi took a stance with the knife she brought and faced Re Plica who was closing the distance bit by bit.

Airi who was a civil official cadet didn"t even learn basic self-defense satisfactorily, even so she stood to protect the unarmed Soffice.

「My big brother, it was a short time that wasn"t even a week but, I believe that you also understood. He was always getting dragged into troubleunnecessary incident, just a softhearted and simple fool. He is really a hopeless brother. But, even such big brother who is beyond help, has a really good side in him. Just one, something that even I recognized.」

「……That"s──」

「Once he decide on something, he will surely carry it out no matter what.」

Saying that, Airi brought her face closer to the window inside the small room.

She exchange glance with Lux who looked up her way for an instant, and she twirled her finger quietly.

It was as though she gave some kind of signal to Lux.

「Around Nii-san in the past, there wasn"t anybody who would become our ally. Even so, Nii-san fought no matter how many years. In order to make a country that we can like and stay at, in order to find comrades, he didn"t give up. That"s why I"ll also fight. After all I am──Nii-san"s little sister.」

Soffice lost her words hearing the words of Airi who resolved herself.

「I won"t let Re Plica-san kill you. Because, I don"t want to let your friend, be forced to do something like that.」

「My, friend……?」

Hearing that, Soffice stared at the Automata before her.

The figure that completely lost her heart and got controlled by someone.

The memory of family who had stayed with her until now longer than anyone.

「I……」

Beside the wavering Soffice, Airi told Re Plica who had came before her──more accurately, to the someone who gave her order and talked through her.

「……You, should be unable to kill me. You brought me here to use me as hostage toward Nii-san at the critical moment right? Then, you won"t be able to lay your hand on her with me covering her like this.」

「Hah……hahahahaha!」

Re Plica"s mouth twisted into an arc and she laughed loudly.

「You talk like you know who is manipulating this doll huh, former princess-sama?」

「I know who are you. Even I haven"t keep observing people for so many years just for show. Because I was treated like nuisance in the old empire and given criminal status in the new kingdom, I need to carefully watch everyone"s expression in order to live until now. I have become skilled only in that kind of unpleasant aspect.」

「……I see. But you know, you miscalculate. I"ve got no more need for hostage or anything for your big brother! It"s over for that guy already! No matter what kind of technique he use, something like a method to win against that Ragnarok──」

*Pakii-!*

Right after Re Plica boasted her victory, the window beside her was pierced through.

What was thrown into the room through there was a Sword Device sheathed inside a white scabbard.

While fighting Deus ex Machina, Lux looked for a chance and threw it.

Airi broke into a run and picked that up.

She slightly pulled out the sword from the sheath before returning it right away.

「Just when I thought what you are going to do, are you planning to fight with general purpose Drag-Ride at this late? Just try it. It"s pointless though.」

「U, kuh……!?」

But, Re Plica ran toward Airi and grabbed her neck. She hung her up midair.

Airi dropped the sheath and it slid on the small room"s floor. It stopped near Soffice"s foot.

「As I thought, it"s……impossible.」

The hopeless situation didn"t change.

No matter how hard Lux tried, no matter how much courage Airi summoned, in the end it became like this.

Lux had that kind of fate, which Soffice didn"t have.

And then, even that possibility would soon come to an end.

But──, seeing the Automata who was constricting Airi"s neck with an expression that was warped in delight, a twinge of pain was created inside Soffice.

『These people are surely, not bad people desu.』

『The people of Syvalles, all of them are good natured people.』

『You lie desu! Even though the truth is──you want comrade more than anyone! You are only running away because you are scared to get hurt desu!』

The pain in her chest that she should have forgotten flared up hotly.

She was unable to protect her betrayed little sister.

However, Uruk, she put her life in the line and resisted.

In order to not let bad people used the power of Avalon to rule over people and hurt them.

『That"s why I"ll also fight. After all I am, Nii-san"s little sister.』

「I──」

As though being pushed on her back, Soffice pulled out the Sword Device from the white sheath.

Soffice would be unable to summon Lux"s Wyvern, even so she would be able to fight with the sword. When she made that determination, she noticed.

「This is!? This Sword Device──」

「……U, a!?」

Re Plica lifted up Airi with one hand. Her other hand was holding a knife.

「I can how him his little sister"s corpse. That guy"s suffering will be a sight to see for sure. Hahahahaha!」

Re Plica pressed Airi on the window intentionally so that Lux who was fighting in another room could see.

Right after that, the blade the Automata lifted up was swung down toward Airi"s chest.

–

「U, ku……. Everyone, how are-, you……?」

Under the seventh Ruin, Moon──the Academy"s practice ground.

The simultaneous explosions of Oil Slimes that approached stealthily due to Drakkhen"s tactic caused the practice ground and even the audience seats to become tattered.

Lisha who woke up confirmed that her limbs were still attached. She looked around at the surrounding where the flame blast had settled down.

It seemed because Lisha was the farthest from the explosion, her injury was relatively light.

Three girls were lying down at the audience seats that had already crumbled without leaving any trace of their original shape.

She could see Celis, Philuffy, and then Coral through the smoke.

With Coral, blood was flowing from his whole body. His four limbs also broke and his breath was faint.

「……Can you, tell Lux-kun for me? Tell him I"m sorry, that I cannot meet him anymore with this appearance.」

Coral muttered with faltering voice. When his gaze met Lisha, Coral"s reached out hand fell powerlessly.

Then light vanished from his eyes and he stopped moving altogether.

「d.a.m.n, it……──!?」

Lisha cursed at her comrade"s death, at the same time she felt a strange sense of discomfort.

If it was Philuffy and Celis, then it felt like they would be able to avoid lethal wound even in that situation but──.

「……Both of them, had too much burden piled up. Both of them are the type to pretend to be okay no matter their actual condition after all.」

「Krulcifer, you are safe!?」

A voice that was oozing exhaustion came from the other side of a huge mound of rubble.

After Lisha collapsed the rubbles with Tiamat"s gravity control, she became speechless seeing the figure of Krulcifer who was standing there.

Fafnir"s armor was already dispelled. Blood was flowing from her forehead and limbs.

「Celis-senpai held back the Ragnarok……Iblis by herself, so she received its powerful mental pollution the most than anyone here, her defense was also wewak because she purged a part of her armor. That was why at the moment of that explosion, she was unable to use her Divine Raiment of instant teleportation right away.」

*Cough-*, Krulcifer vomited blood from the backlash of forcing herself to talk.

It seemed rubble fragments tore her pilot suit and hit her body. Her internal organ was injured.

The defense membrane of the barrier should be transmitted to the pilot suit too, but the explosion"s impact surpa.s.sed even that defensive power.

「Philuffy too, something similar also happened to her. She resisted both the sound of horn flute Drakkhen manipulated and Iblis"s mental pollution while fighting Vine and the Abysses without losing against them. She endured and forced herself too much──, uu……」

「Stop! Don"t talk anymore!」

Lisha yelled in panic seeing Krulcifer vomiting out blood again.

But, Krulcifer shook her head slightly in rejection with her face losing color.

「No, there is still something that you have to hear. We are at our limit already. And then those Dragon Marauders should be tired too, but they still have spare strength left. If we don"t decide what to do from here──we will be annihilated.」

Seeing Krulcifer telling her that with feeble breath, Lisha noticed something.

She who should be in long range just like her was totally ruined like this. It was strange.

Fafnir"s Divine Raiment could do future prediction, and its special armament Auto s.h.i.+eld should be able to protect her automatically. And yet why did she receive this much injury?

Considering how Tiamat"s armor was unexpectedly undamaged, she reached a conclusion that she didn"t dare to believe.

「You, did you protect me!? Why!? Why did you do such thing──」

「Actually, I also didn"t have any leeway to save you though……. In my future prediction, I saw that you will be unlucky and got directly hit with rubbles, receiving lethal wound from that──cough-……!」

Right after Krulcifer showed a cool smile to bluff, she collapsed on the spot.

When Lisha caught her with Tiamat"s armored arm, strength left Krulcifer"s body.

「You idiot! Did you need to do that until you almost died yourself!? There isn"t any reason for you to protect me!」

「……That might, be so. But, I don"t feel bad doing it. Surely the  person who I loved, also won"t want to see you die……that was the hunch I got.」

With that Krulcifer closed her eyes and lost consciousness.

Krulcifer who saw the future prediction stood in front of Lisha and poured all her strength into defense so that she wouldn"t be fatally injured.

「Even though you usually always made fun of me, d.a.m.n Krulcifer……」

It was also like this when they fought Celis together in the Academy.

She was her cla.s.smate with whom she always quarreled with in regard to Lux, and sometimes she would speak to her frankly without consideration, but she would lend her strength when it was crucial.

「But, I won"t let your decision ended as a mistake.」

In the situation just now where the defeat of Celis and Philuffy became certain, it would be hard for Krulcifer whose main method of battle was long range sniping to take on the three Dragon Marauders by herself.

Then, Lisha could only produce result to respond to the Krulcifer"s act of using all her strength to protect her.

Even so, Lisha only had one dissatisfaction.

「There is no need to decide what to do from here. Defeat those guys, also please take care of Lux……it would be fine if you just say that to me. After everything that they did to you guys──I"m not someone who will just stay quiet and unable to do anything about it.」

「Heee, I want to see you try that.」

When Lisha turned around toward the voice that suddenly came from behind, three Drag-Knights were standing at the destroyed practice ground before she knew it.

The core of Dragon Marauder, the three division commanders Gatouhan, Vine, and Drakkhen.

It was only for a few minutes but they seemed to have taken rest. They were gazing at Lisha with leisurely eyes that were convinced of victory.

「Lux Arcadia who is fighting the other Ragnarok in Moon──Deus ex Machina is already defeated. If you surrender right away then I"ll at least spare your life. I return your words before this right back at you.」

The boy called Vine calmly said that. In respond Lisha filled her gaze with rebellious spirit and glared fiercely.

Drakkhen seemed to feel her intention and shrugged her shoulders in exasperation.

「You all had fought that hard in such disadvantageous situation. It"s not like I don"t understand your feeling, but the action that a princess should take is to give priority to the safety of your comrades right?」

Lisha thought toward that question.

Although she still had spare strength remaining, the battle situation was overwhelmingly disadvantageous.

She mustn"t make a mistake with her choice here.

When she thought like that, she noticed a certain fact that she couldn"t see until now.

At the same time, there was also a Dragon Voice from the Academy that reached her just now.

「──You are wrong there, lowly bandits.」

「What?」

Gatouhan who acted as leader among the three glared at Lisha with questioning eyes.

「If I"m thinking of my comrade"s life as the priority, then that is even more reason why I must not surrender to people like you. At the battle just now, although you guys are also strengthened by the Baptism whatever, you guys also didn"t get away unscathed.」

Even without looking closer, she could see that the three Divine Drag-Ride the Dragon Marauders were wearing were quite damaged.

There wasn"t any heavy damage, but at the very least they weren"t so unharmed that they could use their full power.

「Besides, you guys don"t understand me. If you want to threaten me to surrender, it will be useless unless you bring Lux himself to here. There is no way that guy will lose that easily. In other words──it"s the opposite. You guys are trying to take us hostage because you want to do something somehow about Lux.」

「……Hee, I thought that the princess of the new kingdom has personality that is like a wild boar, but looks like you can use your brain a little. But, is it okay? Those girls cannot be left alone with treatment like that for long, or perhaps──you think you can win against us three by yourself?」

「Us three also have no leeway. It"s three against one but, we will finish you off without holding back.」

After Drakkhen, Basilisk that Vine was wearing took a stance with its medium-sized Blade.

At that moment, three Drag-Ride silhouettes could be seen heading this way from behind Lisha.

「Enemy reinforcement huh!」

Gatouhan pointed out while clicking his tongue, but Drakkhen snorted.

「──No, they are just small fires. They aren"t Divine Drag-Ride user.」

The people who rushed here as reinforcement were the Triad who suppressed the students infighting as well as the guard Drag-Knights due to the mental pollution.

But, after accomplis.h.i.+ng that, the girls were exhausted and they were also nearly their limit.

Thus Sharis and others weren"t wearing the strengthened type Drag-Ride, but the general purpose Drag-Ride.

「Princess! Is everyone safe!? What about Ragnarok──and Lux-kun!?」

「Lux is in the middle of fighting the other Ragnarok inside the Moon above. The Ragnarok on the surface here is already defeated. You guys take Krulcifer and others and return to the Academy! Treating them is the priority!」

「Ueh, how did these three get done in──!? Rather, the Dragon Marauders are still here ain"t it!」

「Yes. Three versus one will be impossible. We will also join──」

「Noct! Do you bring what I asked you!?」

「is it this sword belt? Certainly it was inside Lisha-sama"s room but……」

That custom made sword belt had three Sword Devices fastened together on it.

Two swords on the waist, and one on the back.

But, every one of those Sword Devices was for general purpose Drag-Ride.

They couldn"t be used together, and they could only exhibit an output that was far away from Divine Drag-Ride Tiamat.

It was completely unthinkable that it was a trump card that could break through this situation. But,

「Leave the rest to me. I"ll show the result of me immersing myself in Drag-Ride research until now.」

Lisha quickly equipped the sword belt while calmly glaring at the Dragon Marauders.

The Dragon Marauders were on guard that the Triad would join in, but they were gradually closing the distance toward the side of rubbles where Iblis"s Grand Force was buried.

「Listen well. Protect those three no matter what! This is the royal command of the princess! Get it!?」

「──Got it. We will save them no matter what, princess.」

Sharis nodded in respond to Lisha"s tone that was filled with determination.

The Triad moved simultaneously in order to rescue the three who collapsed on the rubbles.

「Hah! You think we will let you?」

Drakkhen yelled, at the same time the other two Dragon Marauders also moved.

Drakkehn leaped with her Asp toward Noct who was going to rescue Krulcifer. She brandished the steel claw on her armored arm from above.

But, at that instant, Lisha"s Legion flew in an arc and aimed toward Asp"s flank.

「Chih……!」

While Drakkhen deflected the Legion, Noct"s Drake held Krulcifer in its arms.

Without pause she erased her figure with camouflage function and escaped in full speed.

On the other hand, Vine brandished his medium sized Blade and aimed at Philuffy. But his armored leg sunk into the ground.

「So this is Tiamat"s Divine Raiment──gravity control. With this I also cannot use my Divine Raiment huh.」

The Divine Raiment of Basilisk that was worn by Earth Dragon division commander Vine was Curse Fader that would paralyze the material it touched.

But, it couldn"t block the gravity force field.

Tillfur"s Wyrm picked up Philuffy at that opening before she accelerated the wheels of her armored legs in full speed, skating away.

「──I see, so you properly pick the right method for the right opponent huh? Looks like you"ve got some brain there huh?」

Lisha didn"t send Legion toward Gatouhan so that her weapon wouldn"t absorbed by Hydra"s fusion ability.

「However, how are you planning to block my action?」

Conversely speaking, Lisha didn"t have any weapon that was suited toward Hydra.

Gatouhan who saw through that a.s.saulted toward the collapsed Celis with large sized Blade in hand.

But, at that time, an unexpected situation occurred.

Lisha who should be holding back the other two at afar instantly stood in front of Celis──right before Gatouhan"s way.

「……-!? What!?」

「Eat this──Howling Roar-!」

Gatouhan"s eyes snapped open in agitation. Lisha released a Howling Roar with all her strength toward him.

Compressed shockwave surge sent Gatouhan flying along with Hydra.

The moment he crashed onto a mountain of rubbles that were dozens of ml away, Lisha aimed Tiamat"s huge cannon and gathered energy.

「Gatouhan! Get away!」

「Seven Heads-!」

Gatouhan could hear the voice of Earth Dragon division commander Vine, but it wasn"t in time.

The impact from his back cras.h.i.+ng on rubbles caused the back wings that were the flying device to become slow. He was aimed at that timing.

「……Gu, OOOOH!?」

The flash with extreme power that was focused into one point.

The huge pillar of light that was fired became the roar of a raging dragon, smas.h.i.+ng and piercing everything in the way.

When the wave of blast that shook the air was settled, Hydra was half destroyed, with the arm blown away along with the right shoulder that was covered with armor.

「──U, guhgo, AAaaAAH……!」

Gatouha screamed in agony with a pained expression.

Sharis who was carrying Celis flew away and retreated to the direction of the Academy, but the remaining two Dragon Marauders didn"t pursue.

Their ability to think was stolen for a while by the reality occurring before their eyes.

Not just because the leader of Dragon Marauder was injured, but because of the distinct transformation.

「What"s……that, that Drag-Ride"s shape!?」(Drakkhen)

Drakkehn muttered. Vine was also dumbfounded after her.

There, the shape of Tiamat that Lisha wore was completely changed from before.

Above the thick shoulder armor, another gallant back wings that was a size larger were covering it.

The conspicuously large flying device and the body balance that was compensation for it.

A sublime form that realized high speed mobility made Lisha"s movement just now possible.

「Above Tiamat"s armor, one more……Wyvern is covering it further?」

「Do you want explanation? Then ascertain it with your body! The power of 《Wyvern Wing》 that I created!」

When Lisha touched the Sword Device of Wyvern on her waist, the huge armor of back wings s.h.i.+ned and Tiamat accelerated like a bullet.

Vine Hachettes who was picked as the next attack target immediately closed his mouth and put up his guard.

「You targeted me because of your confidence that you win against me in mobility huh. But……, it won"t work against my Basilisk!」

Vine backed away in full speed to run away from Lisha while he sharply swung his medium sized Blade.

Even while being pressured by that overwhelming mobility, he skillfully controlled his armored legs that had sliding wheels attached to wave left and right, getting out from the targeting of Lisha"s cannon muzzle.

And then──, after he fired several of his weapons to hold back his opponent, he suddenly went forward to take her by surprise.

「Right here! Curse Fader!」

Basilisk"s Divine Raiment──the force field of instantaneous binding that petrified the enemy"s movement was showering Tiamat.

Tiamat backed away in a flash so it didn"t get hit in full, but Tiamat"s red armored arm along with the weapon the arm was holding turned stiff.

「Good job Vine! With this──, that princess-sama cannot use her two special armaments.」

On the other hand, Drakkhen who was watching the battle development while conducting minimal treatment to stop the bleeding of Gatouhan whose arm was blown away yelled in exultation.

But, at that instant she saw something that made her shudder.

The huge armor that was covering Tiamat"s back wings was called off and Lisha sheathed Wyvern"s Sword Device.

In addition she quickly unsheathed the Sword Device of Wyrm this time.

「What are you planning to do? Did you give up and cancel──wha-!?」

Drakkhen noticed Lisha"s trick.

The reason why Lisha was carrying three other Sword Device other than Tiamat"s.

「Over UnitTranscendental Armor – On!」

「She is, equipping another Drag-Ride on top of her Divine Drag-Ride……!」

Drakkhen raised a voice of wonder, at the same time a Drag-Ride"s high speed summoning──a connection was started.

Converged light particles summoned a remodeled Wyrm in midair, and it transformed into armor that combined with a part of Tiamat.

In exchange of cancelling the back wing"s strengthening, this time new two armored arms were added into the shoulders.

「This is, what in the world……!?」

Vine who was witnessing that was dumbfounded. During that time, the two new arms that weren"t receiving Basilisk"s binding moved.

「《Wyrm Claw》! Try to receive this Dragon Marauder!」

「Ku……Curse Fader-!」

Even the calm and collected Vine was anxious toward the completely unexpected development.

He immediately attempted to reactivate his Divine Raiment, but Lisha instead aimed at that moment.

The brunt of Wyrm Claw was aimed at the shoulder of land battle type Drag-Ride Basiliks that Vine wore──the place where Force Core that could also be called the power source of Drag-Ride existed.

If an impact was dealt there, the Drag-Ride output would be temporarily lowered and the Divine Raiment would be weakened due to that.

Of course Vine was also aware of that, but because he had never included the calculation of fighting Lisha in close range until now, he mistook the timing.

「Impossible……!? A drill!?」

The tip of the Wyrm Claw"s right arm that Lisha sharply thrust out──had a rare part which was a Drill rotating in high speed. It flicked away the medium sized Blade that Vine used as s.h.i.+eld.

The spiraling spear easily pierced through the barrier and penetrated into Basilisk"s shoulder.

「Gu……AAAAAAAH!?」

The Drill didn"t directly hit his flesh, but that intense rotating impact was transmitted from the armor frame into his flesh body. The boy"s body screamed as though his inside was grilled.

Naturally Basilisk"s second Divine Raiment misfired. Its armor was half smashed and torn off──and fell silent completely.

「……What, a thing.」

Drakkhen who saw that felt a trickle of cold sweat flowed down her nape.

Lisha surpa.s.sed Gatouhan in mobility when he who owned a flying type Divine Drag-Ride, and she got the better of Vine in close quarter combat when he owned a land battle type Divine Drag-Ride.

Although the two of them had been injured to a certain degree, they were still beaten up by Lisha just now in the field they specialized at.

Over Unit.

General purpose Drag-Rides were disa.s.sembled and then each was remodeled as strengthening parts.

Wyvern Wing strengthened Tiamat"s back wings, increased the mobility and Howling Roar"s power by large margin. Wyrm Claw added up two additional arms, in addition the tips of the arms were installed with Drill and high frequency Blade respectively.

In addition, the supplemented front armor was also showing reinforced barrier.

「Then──」

In order to save Vine, Drakkhen fired Asp"s claw tips and checked Lisha in place.

The explosion before this extinguished almost all the torches in the practice ground, but in exchange the remaining flames from the explosion were illuminating the surrounding here and there.

As though to melt into the shadow where there was no light, Drakkhen used the camouflage function of her special equipment type Divine Drag-Ride and vanished but──.

*Kashan, kashan!*

Inside the darkness, she could hear the sound of Tiamat"s Over Unit changing shape further.

「-……!? What is she doing……!?」

Drakkhen s.h.i.+vered while using Asp"s Radar to find Lisha"s position.

When she leaped from the darkness using her four legs and attacked, she obtained a strange feedback.

What was stabbed by the claw she swung down, was a mere rubble.

There was nothing in Lisha"s position that was searched by Asp inside the darkness.

「──Wha-!?」

「You got drowned in your scheme huh, Instrumentalist of Battlefield?」

Drakkhen swung Asp"s claw while turning around, but it was easily blocked by the armored arm of Tiamat.

The Drag-Ride"s shape was different again from before.

The armored arms of Wyrm Claw had been dispelled. The armor on Tiamat"s shoulders, back, and head were reinforced, with a horn that was like an antenna attached.

「Over Unit──《Drake Horn》. This equipment doesn"t only have Drake"s special ability, it"s also supplemented with jamming function to bewilder the opponent"s radar.」

「Ku, AAAAAAAAAAAAH!」

She was too late in noticing.

The last one remaining, Drakkhen would use the darkness to camouflage herself and aimed for a surprise attack. Lisha had seen through that.

Due to the trait of Over Unit that strengthened the ability of Drake, Drakkhen became the one who was ambushed instead. Even while noticing that, she desperately attempted to counter.

If it was hand-to-hand combat in close range, she who had her last trump card would win.

Using the sound of horn flute from Asp"s Divine Raiment h.e.l.l Choir, she made a Chaff Slime to be attached on her own Drag-Ride.

She planned to directly rub the new type Abyss that could dull Drag-Ride"s movement and lowered the output, but the striking claw slashed empty air.

In that opening Lisha escaped from Drakkhen"s range and activated her Divine Raiment"s gravity field.

「Suppressor!」

「──Uguh!? AGAAAAaaAAaAA……!」

The gravity field that was nearly heavier by twice compared to before covered Asp. Its armor creaked and became squashed.

The pressure that felt like tearing apart her whole body caused Drakkhen to twist in agony and she let a loud shriek.

「Haa, haa……. Drake Horn doesn"t only have special ability. It also increase the maximum output of Tiamat itself by a large margin. I almost killed you there huh……. I still need to have you guys, spat out what you know later. About this so called original employer that is……」

「Since, when……you became this strong? For a mere Drag-Ride modification, to be this applicable for battle──」

Drakkhen lied spread-eagled on rubbles while still wearing Asp that had become ragged.

The Moon was s.h.i.+ning brightly on the cold and clear sky.

「Haaa, haaa……how"s that? You see now, my strength……!」

Lisha who dispelled Over Unit and returned to the shape of normal Tiamat was breathing hard.

Lisha"s technique and tactic that she newly learned completely overwhelmed Dragon Marauder, but as expected this function"s burden to the body was great.

She didn"t just develop Drag-Ride, she also trained her stamina and mental strength, even so fighting for a few minutes using it in full power was her limit.

「That"s, what I want to say but, half of it isn"t my achievement. It"s thanks to Lux──and my comrades.」

Lisha slowly formed her words to sort her breathing.

「My stamina is able to handle Over Unit thanks to Celis training me. Because Krulcifer brought back materials from Ruin, and Airi deciphered them for me that I was able to do the remodeling. Because Philuffy and Yoruka accompanied me in the test run, I was able to learn even the close range combat that I was not good at. And then──」

Lisha suddenly paused her words and looked up to the Moon in the sky.

「I was able to work hard because Lux was there for me. Because he became my knight, I was able to continue working hard to become a princess who is worthy for him. That"s why, I"m able to defeat you guys──is thanks to those guys.」

Drakkhen kept her four limbs spread out powerlessly while hearing Lisha"s words.

「If it"s Lux he won"t lose. Even if his opponent is a Ragnarok, that guy won"t lose. Surely he will Soffice too. After all he is the personal knight of the new kingdom"s princess who I recognized!」

When Lisha puffed up her chest proudly, Drakkhen"s lips abruptly slackened.

In the practice ground where the music of battlefield had stopped, the heat that was like embers was swaying.

–

Inside the Seventh Ruin Moon.

A girl was walking alone in a cold corridor that was illuminated by bluish white lamps.

Below, a deathly battle in progress against Ragnarok was unfolding in the virtual battle field that was separated from this location by countless walls.

A silver haired girl was walking by talking advantage of that distraction.

The part.i.tion wall toward the deepest part that normally would be solidly closed was opened.

「As I thought, it"s opened……」

This must be because the Key Supervisor Soffice used her ancient authority to unlock the area and then left it alone as it was.

And then right now the Gear Leader Re Plica was also being controlled by the mastermind who once hired the Dragon Marauder at the beginning.

She was also worried about Lux and other girls who were fighting Ragnarok, but right now she had no leeway to focus to them.

This was a chance that she finally grasped after infiltration for a long time.

Thus right now she was moving in order to investigate the Ruin"s secret because she had slipped away from the mark on her due to her death.

「If there is a clue, it will be here but──」

The silver haired girl murmured and the Moon"s facility──the door of the 『Study』 was opened.

She weaved through the gap of the cluttered bookcases and touched a locked box that seemed to store important doc.u.ment.

Normally, the lock inside a Ruin could be opened by the authority of Key"s Supervisor, but there was no trace of this box being opened that could be seen.

The lock of ancient race was undid, but there was one other lock that needed pa.s.sword that couldn"t be opened.

It numbered very few but, this kind of box existed inside the Ruins.

In order to heighten the secrecy, this kind of box needed Key"s Supervisor and Lord──the knowledge of the two sides to open.

The girl inputted the number and unlocked it.

And then, she put her hand on the history book inside and flipped the pages. She muttered keenly.

「I finally, found it──」

The path to reach the truth of the locked past.

The reason of the very existence of this Ruin and the secret of Avalon.

Why did Sacred Eclipse exist?

Why did the Ruins were abandoned and the ruler of the past became gone?

「I……have to know the truth.」

What was she, and what she had to fight for.

After the girl woke up, she grasped the situation in general through the data and history she could obtain.

But, just from that there were still a lot of existing puzzles that she couldn"t comprehend.

She had a mission to deal with a lot of people from here on, exactly because of that she wouldn"t be able to accept it without knowing the truth.

Thinking that, by her own judgment the girl was moving in order to know the hidden truth.

The girl possessed gentle moral value that was different from her big sister and little sister. But, after coming here with expectation, she harbored regret for the first time.

「Elixir, White Hero……, Sacred Eclipse. Don"t tell me……! How can such thing──」

Her well-ordered face warped into grief and she shuddered.

The content of that book where the true ident.i.ty of Avalon was written.

The reason why the thing that was the greatest even among the ancient technologies and legacies was sealed.

It wasn"t anything like a wisdom that would bring wealth for the people.

「It"s the opposite──! What we are searching isn"t anything like a legacy to save the world!」

She held her finger on her eye that changed color due to Baptism and raised a groaning voice in anguish.

She put her hand on her chest to hold down her breathing that became rough from agitation and squeezed.

「If the people of the world right now know this, everything will end. We──no, everyone won"t be able to stop it anymore……!」

The ideal coexistence that she personally discovered was fiction.

The girl yelled when that fact was thrust on her.

There was no room for choice.

There was already no more path except to lock the matter away so no one would know it.

「Lux-kun, Iboku──」

The girl squeezed her hand tightly on her chest as though to harden her determination.

The yellow-green pupil in her right eye s.h.i.+ned, and she pressed her lips on each other hard.

–

──*GIINN!*

A high pitched metallic sound resounded inside the small room.

Inside the room where one could look down to the spherical s.p.a.ce where Lux was fighting against Ragnarok, Soffice who received a Sword Device pulled out the blade.

What was hidden inside the sheath of Wyvern that Lux had, was the Sword Device of Soffice"s Divine Drag-Ride Vritra.

「What the……?」

The mysterious person who controlled Re Plica let out her doubt with blank voice.

In the next instant, Soffice quickly recited the pa.s.scode.

「──Born from the flame, is the abhorred G.o.d. Devour the hatred and reason and transcend, Vritra!」

Particles of light whirled in high speed in front of the girl along with the pa.s.scode, forming a turmeric colored armor that possessed slender form.

Re Plica"s body that was reflexively swinging her knife floated in the air and then she got crucified on the wall behind.

Furthermore Vritra threw Dagger and Wire Tail consecutively and entangled Re Plica"s body, automatically binding her.

Trajectory control──Vritra"s Divine Raiment to freely control an object"s movement subdued Re Plica in the blink of eye.

「……How!? Why was that Sword Device there!? You shouldn"t have any time to bring it here!」

「That"s why, you are wrong.」

Airi who was freed from the choking coughed *keho-keho* while adding more words.

「From the beginning, Nii-san was carrying it by pretending it was his own Sword Device. He planned to return it to Soffice-san at the very end──to persuade her.」

「Why, did you intend to return this? Even though I might run away──」

Soffice turned toward Airi wearing her Vritra and asked.

「That"s, because it"s Nii-san. Because he believes that you aren"t a bad person. He is doing his all in order to have you trust him.」

「If you escape, Nii-san will jist challenge you to a fight to persuade you again. That"s the kind of hopeless person Nii-san is.」

Airi muttered, seeing the figure of Lux outside the broken small window, who was continuing to fight desperately even now.

Soffice too also chased after Airi"s gaze and looked down toward Lux with a blank face.

「I see.」

Lux was unable to use Over Limit because he forgot the pa.s.scode for some reason, but right now he attempted any trick he could do many times and struggled to overcome Deus ex Machina.

「……You"re going to cling on the family of traitors? You who was tricked by the imperial family of the old empire that killed your little sister!」

Re Plica yelled while being tied by Wire Tail and crucified by Dagger.

But, Soffice activated the Divine raiment of Vritra. The Wire Tail moved by itself and plugged Re Plica"s mouth.

「Don"t keep talking as you please using that face and voice. I won"t run away anymore. Even if I get betrayed again, it"s fine……I won"t give up believing, in someone who want to believe.」

「Soffice-san……」

「Thank you……young man"s little sister. Thanks to you, I can take back my wish.」

A faint smile surfaced inside Soffice"s nihilistic expression.

Right after that, Soffice held her Sword Device once more and lifted it high above while strongly sending her thought.

「──Full Connect - On.」

Right after she muttered, the armor of Vritra that was wrapping her body s.h.i.+ned intensely.

A part of it covered her limbs, changed into minuscule mechanical particles that a.s.similated with her flesh.

Her body surface became similar like the surface of Sword Device, geometrical pattern made from silver line ran on the surface like tattoo.

The clan of the beginning that created the Ruins and produced Drag-Ride.

This was a form that was possible only for the Xfer who possessed the greatest apt.i.tude value.

Soffice who was half transformed into machine lifted up her hand, and the gla.s.s before her was smashed apart due to Vritra"s Divine Raiment.

She took a stance with a middle sized war hammer in her hand and leaped outside.

「Soffice!? That form──no, is Airi safe!?」

「The little sister is safe. Leave the rest for later. Prepare your full power attack for the Ragnarok. My Vritra"s firepower is lacking.」

「But, Deus ex Machina has teleportation! Even if I continue to move, the enemy will teleport and evade──」

「It"s fine just attack. If it"s the enemy"s teleportation, I won"t let it.」

「Eh……?」

「Don"t you, believe in me?」

Lux smiled wryly hearing Soffice"s voice that sounded somewhat sulky.

「──Got it. I"ll leave it to you, Soffice.」

After a short exchange, Lux touched Bahamut"s Sword Device.

Drag-Ride"s mind control operation and body control operation.

By giving contradictory orders of holding back and releasing at the same time, strength was gathered like a drawn bow.

The variable frame of Mythrildite creaked, and the armor began to tremble as though it was going to distort.

It was one of Drag-Ride control"s three hidden techniques, Recoil Burst.

But, against Deus ex Machina that could teleport itself and other, until now it would always escape and the attack couldn"t hit.

Even so Lux──believed in Soffice who said 「I"ll do something」.

He squeezed out his little remaining stamina, and at the timing when he was going to prepare, the Ragnarok moved.

It held up its huge steel arm like a destruction hammer, and then released a thrust that even eye couldn"t follow.

Lux who was transitioning to the act of gathering strength was bewildered by the Ragnarok that began to boldly move forward and he couldn"t switch to attack.

「Perhaps it is guessing our attack, it"s coming to stop us without using its ability.」

「No, that"s not all. Be careful Nii-san! The enemy"s body is s.h.i.+ning.」

The s.p.a.ce in front of Lux distorted flexibly at the same time with Airi"s voice.

Lux immediately leaped backward and escaped from the danger, but a broken gla.s.s fragment from just now that was at that spot was annihilated into powder.

「It"s compressing the s.p.a.ce to squash the target. Anyone in its range will be killed instantly no matter what kind of defensive power they have.」

「No way……!」

The Ragnarok was attacking consecutively with its huge arms while also using special ability of compression in offense. Lux was forced into one-sided defense.

Lux continued to escape round and round inside the spherical s.p.a.ce, with Deus ex Machina chasing him.

It was only for dozens of seconds, but that pattern was continuing. Soffice who was measuring the timing from a bit of distance away became anxious.

「This is bad. Ragnarok is starting to predict his movement. At this rate──he will be caught.」

「Please wait, Soffice-san.」

Soffice said that and she was going to fly in a.s.sistance, but Airi stopped her with a calm voice.

「Please believe in Nii-san"s strength. That face isn"t the expression when Nii-san is being cornered.」

「……What do you mean?」

Airi who was gazing at the movement of Lux and Ragnarok from above muttered.

「Nii-san"s most excellent point is his strength to see through his opponent"s movement and predict their action. Then his quickness in forming plan and his courage to execute it. Nii-san isn"t just running away while doing useless thing repeatedly.

「Nii-san will surely turn to counterattack soon. At that time, please carry out your plan without fail. The trump card for the sake of defeating Ragnarok──」

–

「Ku, kukukukuku……hahahahahah!」

Around the same time, right below the Moon.

On the mountain of rubbles of the practice ground where the Dragon Marauder was seemingly defeated, a man stood up while laughing loudly.

The large man who was the Wyvern division commander, the leader of Dragon Marauder, Gatouhan.

But, his Divine Drag-Ride Hydra was half destroyed, and he also lost his right hand starting from his right shoulder. He was all but dead.

Lisha who saw that hid her exhaustion and warned the man.

「Stop it, you"ll really die if you force yourself with that body. Just stay there quietly.」

What Lisha said was a fact.

Lisha too had her stamina exhausted from doing Over Unit repeatedly and she didn"t have any strength left to use it again.

As expected she wasn"t so worse off that she would be done in by the current Dragon Marauder, but she was undoubtedly wounded all over.

「A knight you can trust? Becoming a master who is worthy of that……? Kuhahaha! Now you said it. The way you are talking sounds like it"s only you guys who are walking the correct path.」

「Does it sound like that?」

「You all b.a.s.t.a.r.d n.o.bles, using your authority to persecute us. Those people are unforgivable. Such path like that──isn"t available for us right from the start……!」

*Pakii*, there was a high-pitched sound like ceramic breaking, and Hydra"s shoulder began to s.h.i.+ne.

His Divine Raiment should be unable to even activate properly anymore, but──.

「If it"s your grudge then I"ll listen to it later! If you move more than that……──!?」

The moment Lisha aimed her Cannon"s muzzle toward Gatouhan, the other two division commanders Vine and Drakkhen moved.

Lisha put up her guard thinking that they would attack her for sure, but they only took position beside Gatouhan.

「You guys don"t mind right, Vine, Drakkhen?」

「Yeah, I too don"t want to become prisoner like this and survive on shamelessly.」

「We"ll leave it to you. We"ve got to show them too, our pride as mercenary……」

「You b.a.s.t.a.r.ds, what are you planning-!」

Lisha immediately raised her voice to stop them, but at the same time Hydra"s armor began to s.h.i.+ne ominously.

That flash blinded her eyes. When the light vanished before long, a shadow of beast emerged from inside the jet black darkness.

「……What the!?」

The repulsive figure that appeared before her eyes caused Lisha"s shoulders to tremble.

That wasn"t a person, or an Abyss, or even a Drag-Ride.

It was a form of ominous armor that distorted unsightly.

A different arm grew from the armor"s arm, claws and fangs poked out from it back. An irregular shape.

It was a form of a poisonous monster, while at the same time it was baring the fang of overwhelming killing intent.

What appeared before Lisha"s eyes was Gatouhan who was clad in three-headed Drag-Ride. Even the part of his body that was lost was shut and healed.

In exchange the other two division commanders Vine and Drakkhen vanished.

It wasn"t just the Drag-Rides they wore, but even their flesh body inside the armors.

「──You, fused them!? The body of you three, and even the three Divine Drag-Rides!?」

The fusion ability of Hydra"s Divine Raiment──Re-Alive.

It was applied to his own comrades, combining their half-destroyed Divine Drag-Rides, and even stopped the bleeding of Gatouhan"s own body.

He devoured the very existence of his comrades who accompanied him until now and sacrificed them──.

「What the h.e.l.l are you doing! Those guys are……!」

Lisha s.h.i.+vered toward that strategy that sacrificed even themselves while glaring at the enemy before her.

In contrast the tan-skinned large man lifted his Blade along with an inhuman grin of abyss.

「Let"s go……! To blow away those who hinder us, the royalty and n.o.bles who proclaimed the path of righteousness! Burn into your eyes, the power of the dragon who is taking revenge to the world!」

The outrageous armor of darkness color s.h.i.+ned. Hydra that was the fusion of three Drag-Rides flew.

While being pressured by that killing intent, Lisha fired her Cannon to intercept.

–

Above Lisha and Dragon Marauder.

Inside the virtual Battle s.p.a.ce that existed inside the seventh Ruin Moon.

After obtaining Soffice"s cooperation, Lux was forced into disadvantage facing Deus ex Machina.

Soffice who was watching that sight from above along with Airi in the neighboring observation room tried to a.s.sist, but Airi stopped her believing that it was Lux"s plan.

「Got it.」

Seeing Airi"s serious gaze, Soffice nodded.

「If the worrywart you believe until that much, then surely it"s not wrong.」

Replying like that, Soffice lifted her Sword Device once more and sent her thought.

The instant kill attack that was impossible to defend against, the s.p.a.ce compression that Deus ex Machina unleashed.

The moment Lux leaped backward and escaped from that, the Ragnarok stretched out its huge arms in pursuing attack.

The offensive of Ragnarok was gradually quickening and Bahamut"s armor started to get grazed.

And then finally Deus ex Machina caught up to Lux"s movement.

「Nii-san──!」

Airi clenched both her hands tightly and prayed.

The surrounding s.p.a.ce of Lux warped and he was going to get crushed. In that instant, crimson flash surged out from Bahamut.

「──Reload on Fire!」

In a radius of several ml with Lux as the center──which was the place that had just become the target of the s.p.a.ce compression, the Divine Raiment of compression and strengthening was applied.

The time of s.p.a.ce compression that was unleashed by Deus ex Machina was lengthened. In that timing, the fist that the Ragnarok shot out thrust in.

「──iOOoooOOON」

The moment it caught Lux with a blow and it became convinced of victory, Lux was sent flying from that place by the impact. In exchange Ragnarok moved forward.

At that moment, the s.p.a.ce compression that was decelerated by Reload on Fire operated with several times more speed. Ragnarok"s main body that was in that s.p.a.ce was squashed like cotton candy.

「……GI, iOooOoOOOOONN!」

It raised a high pitched shriek that sounded similar like creaking metallic sound. Deus ex Machina came to a stop.

Because the s.p.a.ce in front of it was compressed along and it got hit by its own ability, even the hardy sh.e.l.l that was comprised from dozens of layered Mythrildite couldn"t do anything.

「Making it got hit by its own attack……. So that"s his aim.」

Soffice who understood Lux"s strategy watched in fascination and muttered.

He was an absurd young man just like the rumor said.

Understanding that he would be unable to destroy the Ragnarok alone in this situation, he skillfully led it into a tactic that made it self-destructed.

The ability to discover that possibility in short time and the guts to carry it out.

The discernment to grab the perfect timing.

「Airi. Right now I understand your feeling that put your trust on your big brother. Mahapurana!」

At the same time, Soffice who was staying still until now to gather strength activated Vritra"s Divine Raiment.

Trajectory control──with the power that governed over material"s movement, the half-destroyed body of Deus ex Machina was pulled away from Lux.

「……GI, OooOO-!?」

The Ragnarok was sent flying in high speed inside the spherical s.p.a.ce and crashed strongly on the wall behind.

It fell face up from the impact. At that moment, it was accelerated once more to the front without any time to land first.

「So, it"s like that.」

Airi who was watching from the broken window of the observation room muttered. At that time Lux was already finished preparing.

「Recoil Burst-!」

Lux charged with Bahamut and released the gathered strength toward Deus ex Machina that was sent flying in high speed.

The flash of great sword that was produced from the acc.u.mulation of strength until the utmost limits penetrated the half destroyed sh.e.l.l and smashed the core.

Distorted shriek and metal fragments scattered inside the Battle s.p.a.ce, and before long silence returned.

–

At the same time when the Cannon"s blast burst out, the Hydra of Gatouhan that had absorbed his two comrades leaped toward Lisha.

The jet black practice ground that had been gouged and frayed until it looked like ruins.

Illuminated by the few remaining fire there, a Drag-Ride with repulsive and distorted form accelerated.

「──Howling Roar!」

Now that she couldn"t use Over Unit because her stamina was at the limit, Lisha fired a shockwave to open distance between Tiamat and the opponent.

But, Gatouhan seemed to have predicted that. He twisted his body and dodged. He made use of his spiraling momentum and dispatched Wire Tail.

「U, guh……!?」

Tiamat"s armor that received it creaked. The piercing impact caused Lisha to lose her breath.

Originally Wire Tail would be used to entangle the opponent rather than as weapon, but for some reason it possessed astounding striking power here.

When she looked closer, the whip was fused with countless rubbles and turned into a striking weapon that looked like a flail.

「Fusing weapon and rubbles into one to make an improvised striking weapon……!?」

Lisha got hit further with a mowing down strike from the whip and her balance crumbled. She concentrated her mind in order to activate Tiamat"s Divine Raiment.

「──……uh!?」

But, in that instant a discordant sound that stirred up her brain rang out, disturbing her concentration.

It was a discordant sound that harmed human body, coming from the Divine Raiment of Asp that Drakkhen wore.

The ability to manipulate sound was also absorbed as it was by Hydra.

「We won"t lose to you b.a.s.t.a.r.d. Someone like you who is allowed to do what is right, who is allowed to attain righteousness, there is no way we will lose against you!」

Furthermore, the Divine Raiment Curse Fader of Basilisk that was also absorbed was sealing Tiamat"s armored arm.

No, Tiamat"s armored leg was also glued to the broken audience seat below. Even its movement was sealed.

Consecutive attack of whips showered down from above like a heavy rain. Even when Lisha deployed Tiamat"s barrier in full, she was struck mercilessly from above.

Her concentration was disturbed by discordant sound, and she was unable to use Divine Raiment.

She also had no leftover stamina to use Over Unit. There was also no comrade who could still move.

Within that hopeless situation, even so Lisha didn"t yield.

「You b.a.s.t.a.r.d royalty and n.o.bles stole it! Until now you all always stole from us the path where we can be righteous! You saw us as nuisance and drop us down to become criminal, you used every kind of privilege to exploit us! That rule, it won"t change as long as we don"t take away this world! We will be able to obtain it! The power of Avalon that can make all of you prostrate before us!」

Gatouhan should be similarly wounded all over like Lisha, but even while blood was spurting out from all over his body, his momentum wasn"t weakening.

He was showering her with attacks that were like surging wave as though he was burning his remaining life as fuel.

A suicide attack that wouldn"t be reluctant to throw away one"s own life.

Lisha who was nearing her limit was pushed back by the spirit that was prepared for one"s own death.

──But, the sparks that fluttered up from the remaining fire in the practice ground.

The red radiance floating in the darkness was firing up Lisha"s heart.

『……If you did, then kill me right here as well.』

Lisha"s childhood past.

The sight of the castle of old empire that was felled and enveloped in flame was resurrected inside Lisha.

『If the empire is going to fall, then I don"t have any other place where I belong to──』

As a daughter of a n.o.ble, she was taken hostage toward her father who was trying to achieve revolution. She was then abandoned by her father and resolved herself to defect to the old empire.

In order to survive, and because she was abandoned by the person who she loved the most.

Even so in the end her fate was still that of complete ruin.

It wasn"t an easy path by any mean.

She didn"t even know when it would be the end for her.

Even when she became the princess of new kingdom as the memento of the great man that was her father, it was agonizing for her all the time.

At that time, the side of Lux"s face emerged inside Lisha.

Lisha whose own father wouldn"t save her, was saved by that young man even at the risk of his life, that figure of his──.

「Don"t, SCREW WITH MEeEEE-!」

Lisha pulled out her Sword Device and controlled Tiamat inside the discordant noise.

What she activated was the remaining ten projectile weapons, Legion.

She fired them to the ground below her and smashed the audience seat that was glued to her by the enemy"s Divine Raiment, tearing off the binding.

In addition she fired her Cannon from zero distance to Hydra, and she took distance from the enemy using the impact backlash.

Lisha herself received large damage from the backlash in that range, but she didn"t hesitate.

As expected the enemy also defended, but just for a moment the enemy was bewildered with shock.

*KiiN*, the fanning shockwave that burst right before her caused her eardrum to be torn painfully.

But at the same time the discordant sound that bound Lisha until now was cut off.

「What are you doing? You feel like blowing yourself──?」

「──I"m also resolved! Though you won"t get it! Suppressor!」

「What-……!?」

The Divine Raiment was activated from Seven Heads" muzzle along with Lisha"s loud roar.

The unexpected happening caused Gatouhan to hesitate in making decision. It sealed his fate.

Purple gravity sphere that was hyper compressed was fired.

The moment it impacted Gatouhan, it pulled in the curved armor of Hydra and fixed it in place.

*Baki-baki* It mdae dry sound and Hydra"s frame creaked, warped, and broke.

「Gu……nu, OOOOOOooOOOAAAAAAAAH!?」

Hydra burst and scattered along with Gatouhan"s scream.

Right after that, Lisha who arrived at her limit also got her armor automatically dispelled.

「Chih……good grief, that was uncool……」

An extreme exhaustion that felt like burning her nerves took away strength from Lisha"s limbs.

When she collapsed on top of rubbles like that, she could hear the voice of someone dear.

–

「──Lisha-sama! Hang in there!」

「……Nn, u」

Hearing the young man"s voice who shook her slightly and seeing the gray colored eyes peering on her face woke up Lisha.

Was it only a few minutes since the battle just now?

Lux wearing Bahamut held Lisha in his arms.

「Lu, x……you"re, safe.」

Seeing Lisha patting her chest in relieve, Lux also showed a relieved smile.

「The Ragnarok in the Moon is defeated. We also obtained the Grand Force.」

It seemed the original employer of Dragon Marauder had escaped a step ahead, but for now there was no worry that Avalon would be seized away.

And then, Soffice was standing behind him.

Her face was blank just like usual, but she was staring at Lisha without hostility in her gaze.

「I see, so that girl is saved too huh……」

「Yes. I was saved, by you too.」

Soffice nodded honestly. Airi also showed her face from beside Soffice.

「Noct and others are guarding our surrounding. Krulcifer and others, also everyone in the Academy are currently safe.」

「Lisha-sama has fought well. Even though originally I have to protect you no matter what……I"m disqualified as Lisha-sama"s knight.」

Lux hung his head down apologetically, but Lisha shook her head slightly with her weakened body and smiled.

「……You are saying nonsense. Haven"t you protected me? You properly fought together with me.」

「That"s──」

「It seems her head got hit in the fight. She should be carried to the medical room right away.」

「Err……Soffice-san. I think that"s not it.」

Airi retorted at Soffice who was muttering somewhat in bewilderment.

At the side, Gatouhan who lied down as though he died raised a groan.

「Is this, fate……. We who was unable to choose the respectable path by birth, are we fated to be no match against you all even after throwing away everything……」

Tension ran through Lux and others for a moment, but they immediately comprehended that there was no need to be on guard.

Vine and Drakkhen who were fused with Hydra"s Divine Raiment had already been separated back as corpse.

The remaining Gatouhan also had his flesh starting to crumble. It was clear that death was approaching him.

「──Something like a respectable path, do you think it can be traveled on when you don"t even try to walk on it.」

Lisha spoke with her feeble breath.

Lisha herself was extremely fatigued. Her voice was faint.

But, she declared to Gatouhan with a strong voice that didn"t shame the mettle of a princess.

「What, did you say……?」

「Why were you all unable? You had respectable path stolen from you by power and got reduced into bandit. Even so you obtained comrades who you could rely on your own way, and you obtained strength. Why didn"t you try to return to the respectable path then? You all were simply running away. You surrendered yourself to anger and revenge, and picked the same path like those bunches you hated──by your own choice, that"s all.」

「You guys are scared that what you have would be stolen again. Even if you try to walk the respectable path, someone else somewhere will consider you all as nuisance again. They will steal from you. That"s why this time you will be the one in the ruling side. That"s everything you all can think about. You all only tried to repeat the same thing just like the bunch who stole the respectable path from you!」

「Shut, your mouth! A mere decoration princess! You b.a.s.t.a.r.d who simply got placed into the seat of princess by accident after the old empire was destroyed……. You b.a.s.t.a.r.d who got the respectable path laid out before you without any suffering or hesitation!」

「There is no such thing!」

Airi responded to Gatouhan"s angry yell.

「The path Lisha-sama walked wasn"t such easy path! She was caught by the old empire as hostage, she was considered as dead, and turned traitor. But──she worked hard as the daughter of Count Atismata, as the new kingdom"s princess! No matter how painful she felt, she didn"t do anything like averting her eyes from anything inconvenient like you all!」

「Airi……」

Soffice"s eyes snapped open in surprise, while Lisha silently breathed in.

Within Lux"s embrace, she looked down on the leader of Dragon Marauder with eyes that were filled with pity somewhere.

「……I"m the same like you. All I had was stolen and stolen, that I got convinced that there is no other way. That"s why I also cannot say anything self-importantly.」

Lisha put her hand on her chest and continued with a docile face.

「But, that"s right. Even if for example I meet the same experience like you guys, if Lux will stay beside me, then I think I"ll be able to stay in the right path. If it"s this man who keeps looking ahead even when he is cursed as evil imperial family of the old empire or called as ch.o.r.e prince, I believe that"s what I would do. That"s, the difference between me and you all.」

Gatouhan lost his words after Lisha spoke.

He only kept staring at Lisha"s straightforward eyes for a while his flesh was crumbling.

「──So that"s why, you didn"t waver. You actually fought with stronger determination than our tenacity……. No wonder we lose.」

"Fuh", a dry smile emerged on his lips, but even that crumbled down.

He wasn"t resigned, it was a strange feeling of satisfaction from defeat, and loneliness that were emerging from inside.

「Vine, Drakkhen, sorry. If only this me was a bit more decent. If only I have, a proper caliber as leader……」

He reached out his hand toward the remain of his comrades that had crumbled into ash, but it didn"t reach.

「Even so──even if it was a mistaken path, the two of them must be thankful to you who gave them a place to belong.」

Soffice who was watching until now raised her voice toward such Gatouhan.

「I who was alone and unable to reach understanding with anyone, know it.」

「……You who were betrayed by us shouldn"t have any worthless sympathy to us. Stupid.」

「I guess. It was a short a.s.sociation but, sayonara.」

At the same time when Soffice told that, Gatouhan"s presence vanished and he became a corpse.

Lisha was seeing off that death while strength left her body completely.

「However, it"s a bit unfortunate. I couldn"t show off my active role to you. Even though if you watched, then you will surely get a better opinion of me──」

Lisha let out a long sigh while showing a wry smile.

In respond Lux replied back with an earnest smile.

「I won"t get even better opinion of Lisha-sama than this. Lisha-sama is really a lovely princess.」

The moment Lux smiled widely, the face of Lisha-sama who was being held in princess carry by Bahamut"s armored arms was dyed bright red.

After looking completely fl.u.s.tered, she stared still into Lux"s eyes and,

「I, I see! The, then, you can give me something like a bit of reward or──」

「……Lisha-sama. Do you remember about the pact?」

In respond to Lisha whose eyes was brightening, Airi whispered with a lowly voice into her ear.

Until the battle regarding Avalon was over, any approach from the girls toward Lux was forbidden.

「Guaah! Tha, that"s right! Even though the atmosphere is finally nice! Why is the timing is bad only when it"s my turn!」

「This young man is a teasing type? As expected he might be a bad guy.」

「Yes, if I take my eyes off him, he will woo a new girl right away. Nii-san is really a bad man.」

「Wai-, why are you two in agreement like that!?」

Lux retorted while walking toward the Academy with Lisha in his arms.

The promised date with Magialca was going to arrive right about now.