“Dy—”
Before I could even call her name, something massive—almost like a tidal wave—slammed against me. The ground disappeared from underneath my feet, and a bizarre floating sensation enveloped my body.
It took me a split second to realize that I’d been flung into the air like a rag doll.
“Urgh! Gravity!”
With gravitational magic, I swiftly pinned my body to the ground and firmly rooted myself like a tree. This gave me some space of mind to regain my bearings. My gaze immediately turned to the source of the ongoing surge of power—the two dragons who had begun fighting.
Lardon had returned to her dragon form, whereas Dyphon remained in her human form, her pigtails fluttering wildly behind her. Their powers clashed violently, trampling their surroundings with shock wave after shock wave. That must’ve been what had sent me flying.
“Wow...”
I was overcome with awe. Only seconds had passed since the start of their fight, yet the surrounding terrain had already been leveled. Trees had been blasted away, and the ground was littered with craters and crevices, exposing bedrock underneath. In no time at all, they had stripped the land bare of all its vegetation and life.
But this was just the beginning.
“Ugh...” I winced.
Thanks to my gravitational magic spell, I was able to get by without being impacted by the shock waves and blasts. As I was getting used to it all, I managed to detect something amid the onslaught of chaos: pure, boiling malice. It was neither a physical attack nor mana, yet the torrent of raw killing intent emanating from those two was so dense, so heavy, that it nearly felt tangible.
This was all so new to me. It sent cold sweat running down my back.
“They’re going at it...”
“Whoa! P-Paithon?!” I jolted at the girl who suddenly appeared before me. “When did you get here?!”
“I came ’cause I sensed them fighting,” she mumbled. “They’re annoying me.”
“Huh?”
“I’m going to kill them.”
“What?! Stop, stop! Hang on a second!” I hurriedly grabbed her arm. It was so slender that my hand fully circled around it, my index finger and thumb even touching.
Contrary to her looks, however, this girl was one of the divine dragons, and the hatred she felt for the other two was just as intense. Things would get even more out of hand if Paithon jumped into the fray. I couldn’t stop her fire once it got blazing, so I needed to stop it from igniting at all.
She turned to me. “Hmm?”
“If you join them, I’ll, uhh... I’ll never help you sleep again!”
“Oh no...”
“So please, could you just stay back this time?”
Paithon hung her head. “Fine. I won’t fight.”
I breathed a sigh of relief. She just got here, but I was already exhausted dealing with her. At least I managed to stop her, though.
“Why are they fighting?” Paithon asked.
“Oh, uh...”
I wasn’t entirely sure how to explain it, so I settled for recounting everything from start to finish. After all, my judgment for matters outside magic was incredibly poor. It was probably better for me to give her an objective summary than my own subjective explanation. Ultimately, letting others do the thinking always proved most effective—this was a method that I’d learned to adopt from all my time with Lardon.
“So, basically...” Paithon hummed. “They’re kind of like suitors fighting for your love and affection?”
“No!” I exclaimed by pure reflex, then paused and blinked. “Wait... Maybe?” My eyes swirled in confusion. That...wasn’t entirely off?
“I’m joking,” she said impassively. “Anyway, I really do hate her.”
“Uh... Which one?”
“Lardon.”
“Why?”
“She acts so high-and-mighty. Always hits where it hurts,” Paithon muttered. “Dyphon really wants to have your kids. That’s why she took on a human form. Look—she stays that way even in this fit of blind rage. Lardon messed with you because she knew that would make Dyphon really mad. Mad enough to wipe a dozen or so countries off the map.”
“Th-That’s a very catastrophic fit of rage...”
“But Lardon still made sure to prod Dyphon in a way that ultimately benefits you,” Paithon continued. “She’s a nasty one.”
I sensed her anger bubbling back up as she spoke. I’d felt that way before too, knew how it was—but I couldn’t let her act on it. “Hey, remember what you promised,” I hurriedly cut in.
Paithon was silent for a concerningly long moment before finally muttering, “I know.”
I sighed. “Is it really that annoying to you?”
“The same thing happened to you recently. It’s human nature to get angry when something precious to you is trampled on.”
“Oh...” She was, I realized quickly, referring to how I snapped when the Duchy of Parta forced Amelia to seduce me.
“Dyphon’s trying her best to be as human as she can—even modifying her own body and brain—so she can have your kids. She’s learning from you. What that singing girl is to you, you are to Dyphon.”
“Hmm...” I had to admit, it was all starting to make sense to me. I guess she would feel like destroying a few countries after what Lardon pulled earlier.
✦ ✦ ✦
“What now?” Paithon suddenly asked. “Need my help?”
“Huh? You’re willing to help?” Paithon, volunteering help? Now that was unexpected. Naturally, a certain possibility came to mind. “Are you just trying to come up with an excuse to fight them?”
“No,” Paithon said breezily. “I don’t need an excuse to kill them. I can do that whenever I want.”
“O-Oh...” Well, that was awfully blunt—but also very much like her. “All right, then. So, why...?”
“No reason. You’re in trouble, so I wanna help. Then I can ask for a better pillow as thanks.”
A very Paithon-like reason. That drew a dry chuckle out of me. “Thanks. But I’ll have to decline.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah. I think things will end faster if I step in myself.”
With Paithon’s help, we could probably form that strange material much sooner, but it also risked all of them getting too riled up and losing sight of the original goal. No matter how casually Paithon was planning to fight, I could easily see things escalating into a three-way struggle anyway. In other words, we’d be welcoming round two of the Tri-Draconic War. While I was grateful for Paithon’s offer, I’d much rather she didn’t stick her neck into this.
“What will you do, then? Fight them yourself?” Paithon asked.
“Me?”
“I think even you would have a tough time dealing with both of them at once.”
I chuckled dryly. “Now that’s the understatement of the century... I’d have to be a special kind of arrogant to actually believe that.”
I appreciated her sugarcoating it for me, but saying I’d have a “tough time” against them was putting it far too lightly. In actuality, Lardon and Dyphon were so much stronger that it was near impossible for me to get in the way of their fight to the death.
Paithon tilted her head. “So?”
“I’m going to support them,” I told her. “Lardon did all this for me. Instead of putting a stop to it, we should see it through to completion.”
“Mm-kay. Will you give them shields or heals?”
“No... I’m not going to provide defensive support.” I’d been debating this ever since we started our conversation, but the longer I dawdled, the closer those two got to killing each other. So, I made my decision. “I’m going to provide offensive support.”
Paithon looked at me in confusion, but I no longer elaborated.
I turned away from her and chanted an aria. Ideally, I’d first call Amelia over to sing for me and amplify my mana to its limits, but I didn’t want to drag her to this hellscape. I had to manage this on my own.
Once my mana was sufficiently boosted, I cast a wide-area spell. It enveloped our surroundings within a kilometer radius, including the two fighting dragons.
“Boost Converter!”
The power surging from Lardon and Dyphon jumped significantly, further ravaging the already devastated terrain. A single step into the vicinity would kill an ordinary human, but the two dragons continued to clash without a care. Despite everything, this tremendous sight left me in awe.
Paithon, meanwhile, didn’t so much as bat an eye. “You boosted their strength?”
“I did.”
“Was that a good idea?”
“We’re doing this to produce something from their clashing powers. We may as well go all the way for good measure than to hold back and waste all this effort.”
“Hmm... Makes sense.”
“I just hope it goes well...”
“But what about after that? I don’t think they’ll stop.”
“Oh, well—”
Before I could answer her, a change came about the battlefield.
Amid this clash that left nothing but destruction in its wake, something was born. At first, I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me—but then I saw it again, and again, and again, sparkling in the air like snow on a cold winter’s day. The devastated terrain was blanketed by these strange, fluttering particles that seemed entirely unaffected by the storm of powers all around.
There was no mistaking it.
“There it is... That’s the thing Dyphon was talking about!”