🗡🗡🗡
“SPEAR kidnapper!” a pathetic voice echoed in the sky. “Where are you taking meee? I haven’t done anything! I’ve got no magic left, and…wait, what was I doing again? Right, headed for the Rave Empire! I was supposed to be with Faris! I promised I wouldn’t talk, move, or struggle without her permission, and we even pinky swore!”
Meine scowled as the Sacred Spear hung from its neck; like with Dragon God Rave, the average person couldn’t hear Kratos’s voice. This rule applied to people. Animals and dragons were an exception. Jill gently petted Meine’s neck, encouraging the dragon to ignore the cries of the Goddess as they headed for Lehrsatz.
“And then a group shrouded in black mantles threatened me! They said they’d bully Faris if I didn’t listen to them, and I knew I had to protect her, so I parted ways with her. I-I was sad, but she’s my friend!”
Jill stayed silent as her cheek twitched, hoping not to say anything unnecessary.
“And because of that promise, I stayed still! And then, uh…and then what happened again? They cast all sorts of spells on me. I-It hurt a lot, but I did my best and endured it all! Did I do good?”
“Not at all!” Jill roared back, unable to stop herself. “Why didn’t you fight back? Are you stupid?! I know you’re the victim, but your obedience has its limits. Thanks to you, a huge fuss ensued to search for your whereabouts!”
“Wh-What?! Did I screw up again?”
“Just shut up already. I’ll return you to Queen Faris safe and sound!”
“Really?! That’s a promise!”
Jill was so surprised the Goddess fell silent, she ended up breaking the silence. “You get along with Queen Faris, don’t you?”
“Yep! We’re friends!”
The spear that hung from Meine’s neck jumped to the side of the saddle. It could still move even under the Sacred Treasure’s restraints, implying that the Goddess was regenerating her magical energy.
“Faris said that she’d save me! She said that I’m not at fault at all; it’s the world that’s wrong. She said that we should both have a do-over. I was so happy to hear those words. Faris was still only fourteen, and yet, on her birthday, she…”
Jill already knew which birthday the goddess was referring to—it was on that fated day when she turned fourteen.
“I didn’t want to do it anymore and was having a tough time, but I thought about trying my best one more time. That’s why I turned time back.” The Goddess paused before she innocently said, “You understand this feeling, don’t you? I’m just worried. When I turned back time, Faris did her best to study tons and change the future, even though she’s so frail… Ever since she became queen, she’s been pushing herself. And even Prince Gerald is— Oops.”
The Sacred Spear suddenly went stiff. Jill stared at it.
“I-I probably shouldn’t have blabbed, right?”
“You didn’t think that far ahead?!” Jill cried.
The spear wilted as it groaned that Faris would scold it. The Goddess was clearly feeling gloomy. Damn, Jill thought as she internally swore. I can’t have any unnecessary feelings. Or else, I’ll be a repeat of the other Dragon Consorts who took the Goddess’s side. Jill faced forward, intent on reaching her destination, when a flash of magical energy dyed the scenery in front of her.
“H-Huh? What? What’s going on?”
“Your fake is wreaking havoc in Lehrsatz, I think,” Jill replied. “His Majesty must be fighting back.”
“My fake? Why?”
“The Arks used the energy they sapped away from you to create a fake Sacred Spear.”
“W-Wait, am I to blame?! No! No! I’ll get in trouble—”
The Goddess stopped blabbing as she gazed at the sky above Lehrsatz. Two spears glided through the air as silver and gold light clashed against each other. A deafening boom rang as a silver ray shot out. A blue spear unleashed a magic circle to absorb the attack.
“Huh? Is that my divine crest, but backwards?”
“His Majesty!” Jill cried. “Meine, hurry!”
A red spear flew behind Hadis, and the Dragon Emperor was blown back, unable to push the weapon away. The most beautiful divine sword in the world slipped out of his hands.
“Rave!” Hadis shouted in the distance.
The red and blue spears surrounded the Heavenly Sword and unleashed a magic circle. The shape looked all too familiar. Jill wasn’t sure if it was the real deal, but Roger’s voice echoed in her head.
“Are they trying to replicate the divine crests of the Dragon God and the Goddess?”
No. No, no, no! The Arks aimed to eradicate the gods. But humans could never kill a god!
“Brother!”
The Goddess of Love shot out. Jill transformed her Sacred Treasure into a sword and jumped off Meine’s saddle.
✦ ✦ ✦
🗡🗡🗡
HADIS felt like something was off the moment he engaged in battle. He expected his magical energy to be sapped away, but he felt like he couldn’t use his powers as he wanted. He only noticed that the red spear was to blame when he saw its magic circle right in front of him. That’s Rave’s divine crest! Hadis thought. He’d never seen it before, yet he recognized the shape all too well—was it because he was a Dragon Emperor and the Dragon God’s vessel? His body also intuitively fled from the magic circle.
“Aw, crap,” Rave muttered.
He sounded calm, but his tone was tinged with panic. The Dragon God had never sounded so unreliable during combat.
“What is that? What’ll happen?” Hadis asked.
“No clue. The shape’s a bit off, but it’s pretty darn close… I can’t believe they replicated it so well.”
“Don’t sound impressed. Think about what might happen.”
“The divine crest is a door I used when I manifested in this world. It’s supposed to be used when we go to and from the sacred land. It’s not supposed to have any effect when humans use it, but…”
Hadis fired another ray at the blue spear he parried, but it was quickly absorbed.
“Isn’t that a flipped divine crest of Kratos? Then they’ve become awfully close to replicating the real thing. If my crest is the door, her divine crest is the key to go to and from the sacred land. This is bad…”
“What is?” Hadis asked.
“If we just get forcibly returned to the sacred land, that’s the best-case scenario. We can’t return there anyway. But if the two crests actually align, it becomes a spell to kill deities.”
A red spear launched an attack and scratched Hadis’s cheek.
“Can you rewrite it using logic?” he asked.
“That crest isn’t an exact replica. And because it’s not the same thing, it doesn’t affect logic. And its effect won’t be as potent either—I’m guessing it’ll throw us down into a space between this world and the sacred land. It’s a deity seal. No matter the case, we have to do something. And killing deities is the right of humans if their logic and love have grown to an absurd degree.”
A sliver of blood ran down Hadis’s cheek to his jaw.
“Listen, Hadis. Worst case, let go of me. You’re human. The real divine crest shouldn’t affect you, but I’m not sure right now. If I’m alone, only I’d get sealed.”
“No,” Hadis replied
“Don’t be so selfish. You might be a Dragon Emperor, but you’re still human. If you fall into the gap between the sacred land and this world, your body won’t last. I don’t know how long it’ll take until you can return.”
“No.”
“Hadis!”
Rave roared angrily—he rarely got genuinely furious, and that alone attested to just how serious he was. Even so, Hadis continued to shake his head stubbornly as he tightened his grip around the Heavenly Sword.
“No means no!” he shouted. “Why do I have to let go of you? I don’t even know if you’ll actually fall there yet!”
“Hadis…”
“It shouldn’t work on humans, right? When Jill comes, I’m sure we can…”
“Why the hell are you in a daze in the middle of battle?!” Billy bellowed.
Hadis was kicked down to the roof, and Margrave Cervel was blown into the walls of Lehrsatz manor by the blue spear instead. It flew through the air and again launched itself straight for the Heavenly Sword. That was the spears’ goal from the start—to seal Dragon God Rave.
They took the magical energy from the Goddess’s Sacred Spear, stored it, researched the divine crest that had no precise shape known to man, and created a spell that only deities could use. This obsession was a product of love, and the research was a form of logic, but Hadis refused to admit it.
The right of humans? Logic and love growing? Hadis had never been spared by any of these, and the first bit of warmth that he’d ever felt in his life was the scales of his beautiful adoptive father. The deity’s golden gaze had first advised and admonished Hadis. The Dragon Emperor unleashed another ray of magic, but the red spear absorbed it. His breathing grew haggard, and it was now a battle of stamina.
“Hadis!”
The red spear went behind Hadis as it attacked from below. The blue spear was waiting for him to launch another blow. Rave had acted before Hadis could. As the guardian and weapon of the Dragon Emperor, the deity usually never moved on his own, but the god soon slipped from Hadis’s blood-soaked hand.
“Rave!” Hadis shouted.