“Nngh…” Leonis crawled out from under the rubble.
“My lord, you’re safe!”
“What kind of maid drop-kicks her master?!” Leonis scolded Shary, still coughing.
“M-my apologies, my lord! But it was an emergency…”
Leonis raised his head, and saw that Gisark’s flash of heat had burned through the entire area. Had Shary not kicked him into the shadow in the last second, he would have been blown to bits.
“…Hmm. True. My apologies, Shary, you saved me.” Leonis got to his feet and glared at the Divine Dragon.
Gisark’s flesh was dripping and falling apart like sludge. He no longer even looked like a dragon anymore.
…That’s because you planted the Holy Tree in undead flesh. Fools.
If left alone and given time, Gisark would probably fall apart and die on his own before long, but Leonis wasn’t sure the Seventh Assault Garden would last until that happened.
Either way, its abnormal regenerative powers are a problem…
Defeating the Divine Dragon would require him to completely destroy its entire existence with one strike. Nothing short of a full power, tenth-order destruction spell could defeat someone in the class of one of the Six Heroes. If he joined forces with Veira and managed to chant an eleventh-order spell despite his child’s body, he could possibly defeat the Divine Dragon with the Archsage fused together.
Losing Dáinsleif really puts me at a disadvantage… Leonis dropped his eyes to his left arm.
Leonis had awakened to his own Holy Sword, the Excalibur XX. But that power was now sealed by the goddess’s curse.
■■■■■■…!
Gisark raised his head, a glowing heat once again forming in his jaw.
“Leo, we need to finish this soon or we’ll be in trouble!” Veira, who was soaring in the sky above him, spoke into his mind.
“…Yes, I know.”
Arakael extended his tendril-like roots at Leonis.
“—My lord!” Shary picked up Leonis’s body.
She leaped away from the shadow corridors a split second before it was cut into pieces, and began racing perpendicularly up a wrecked building’s wall.
“…And what kind of maid carries her master in her arms?!”
“My apologies! But right now, you are a mere ten-year-old boy…”
“Gah, put me down…!” Leonis thrashed for a moment but then paused, realizing something. “Shary…I need to ask you for something.”
“What is it, my lord?!” Shary replied in a flustered manner, still weaving and turning to evade Arakael’s roots.
Leonis swung his staff, unleashing a flurry of flames that burned away the roots. Shary touched down on the rubble-covered earth and put down Leonis.
“Shary, can you connect the shadow corridors to the inside of this monster?”
“Huh?! My lord, I can’t, not without a Shadow Gate set inside its body—”
“I’ll see to that.”
“W-well, if the gate is set, it would be possible… Wait, you’re going to do it?!” Shary looked at him in surprise.
But there was no time to argue about it.
“I’m counting on you…!” Leonis said and bolted toward Gisark.
“Ah, my lord!” Shary called after him.
He chanted a gravity control spell and floated up into the air.
“Veira, keep him pinned down. I only need you to do it for a moment,” he told the crimson dragon circling overhead.
“How many times do I have to tell you not to order me around?! Who do you think you are…?”
But despite her complaints, Veira swooped down, diving at the Divine Dragon.
■■■■■■…!
Gisark unleashed a beam of sizzling light at the sky, but Veira parted her jaws and began chanting in dragon tongue.
“Dei Argh Dragray!”
The two blasts collided in midair, producing a deafening, blinding explosion.
“…!”
Leonis produced a barrier, blocking the billowing flames and pieces of rubble that went flying with all the intensity of a barrage of bullets, and proceeded to bolt toward the Divine Dragon.
“Leo…niiiiiiiiiiiiiis…!”
The roots of the Holy Tree surfaced, the face of the old man appearing on them, and rushed toward the boy.
“—You think you can stop a Dark Lord, Archsage?” Leonis summoned his copies of the Evil Rending Sword, Zolgstar Mezekis, from his vault. “My swords, danse macabre alongside the fallen—Vaas Rest!”
The swords were possessed by undead souls and began moving independently, slashing and cutting down the approaching tendrils. Leonis continued his advance—Gisark’s massive form was right before his eyes. The servitude seal etched into his forehead glowed bright.
Can you feel my presence now, Undead King?!
Leonis smirked victoriously, and plunged into the Divine Dragon’s gigantic maw. He thrust his staff into his rotting flesh and pierced the shadows.
“Now, Shary!” Leonis shouted.
As soon as he did, the shadow of his staff’s tip was connected through a shadow corridor to the main Realm of Shadows.
“—Unleash!”
The moment Leonis said the word, the shadows within the Divine Dragon’s mouth produced a large number of magical apparatuses. This was the wreckage of the Machina Soldiers that filled Ur-Shukar. They couldn’t move without their commanding unit, Schwertleite, to lead them, but they were still machines containing small mana furnaces. And the furnaces were still intact and operational in many of these machines.
“Break…!”
Leonis flooded one of the inert machines with as much mana as he could, and instantly plunged into the shadow corridor. The overloaded Mana Furnace became critical and exploded. The explosion went on to trigger the other nearby furnaces, inducing a chain reaction.
With an ear-splitting roar and a blinding flash, the furnaces all exploded. The destructive blast blew up the Divine Dragon from the inside out.
I’d have hoped to use these powerful mana furnaces to power my army’s forces…
“Le…o…niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis!”
Was that Arakael’s agonized last cry, or Gisark roaring in his death throes? From within the rising flames, the Divine Dragon used the last of its power to swing his claws down on Leonis.
…Blast?! Leonis’s eyes widened in shock.
But before the claw could descend on him, some kind of blade whizzed through the air and chopped off the Divine Dragon’s arm.
What?!
Leonis turned to look, and for a moment, he saw a figure standing there.
…Who’s that?
“My lord!” Shary shouted, forcing Leonis’s attention back to the Divine Dragon.
As Gisark crumbled to the ground, glowing mana swirled inside his mouth…
“—Undead King. Next time, come fight me personally instead of sending your minions to do your dirty work.” Leonis held up his hand to the roaring Divine Dragon. “Perish—Meld Gaiez!”
Leonis’s tenth-order spell hit the undead Divine Dragon—which, this time, fell silent for good.