“…Are those the powers you stole from the White Dragon Emperor?” Euclid asked. “Speaking of which, I crossed swords with the one known as Vali Lucifer not too long ago. Invigorating though the fight was, he never went all out with his Juggernaut Overdrive. So I asked him why he didn’t show his true form. Do you know what his answer was?”
“…”
Next, he started parroting Vali’s remarks back to me—words that I would never have seen coming.
“I’ll only use my Juggernaut Overdrive against the Red Dragon Emperor, Issei Hyoudou. My pride won’t allow me to waste it on a fake red dragon… You aren’t the Red Dragon Emperor I want to do battle with.”
—.
Did he really say that…?
So this was what it meant to have a rival, huh? I couldn’t say I liked it when guys threw compliments my way, but I couldn’t help but feel a little flattered by this one. Bring it on, Vali.
I didn’t want to be lumped in with the thing in front of me, either!
Well, I might as well give these borrowed powers a try. They were a little different to the last time I used them, though!
I delved into the depths of my Sacred Gear to figure out the best way to use them… Right, this was something else… Depending on how I did it, this technique could be quite powerful indeed…
I imagined those tiny white dragons dancing around in my head… Was this what I was supposed to do? I started visualizing some pretty outlandish movements…
“Hmm. Give the order, partner!” Ddraig said.
I decided to put them to the test! At that moment, the Roman numeral X floated up onto the jewel in my gauntlet.
“Go, little flying dragons!” I shouted—and they darted toward Euclid at breakneck speed!
They were much faster than I thought! What a pleasant surprise!
The small dragons soared gracefully through the air as they encircled Euclid, who in turn scanned his surroundings, trying to gauge their next moves.
At that moment, I unleashed a Dragon Shot straight at him!
“Eat this!”
A huge mass of demonic energy shot forth from my hand! He moved to the side to dodge it, and yet—
“Reflect!”
A voice sounded when the Dragon Shot struck one of the white dragons, and the projectile bounced against a wall of condensed light!
The reflected attack hit him square in the face! Yes, one of the abilities these mini dragons had was to reflect attacks!
It could reflect attacks up to a certain power level, even my own. That being said, they would shatter if hit with exceptional force…
Euclid, caught off guard, scrambled to regain his footing, but I unleashed a barrage of Dragon Shots one after another!
“Gooo! Reflect Dragon Shot!”
The attacks fell on him from all angles! Realizing he had lost the upper hand, Euclid raised his gauntlet, when—
“Reflect!”
All at once, the small dragons flitted about, swooping to snatch my Dragon Shots and reflected them at him with pinpoint precision!
Reflected from all directions, the chaotic barrage converged on Euclid!
“Reflect!” “Reflect!” “Reflect!” “Reflect!” “Reflect!” “Reflect!” “Reflect!”
With each ricochet, more Dragon Shots barreled toward him! He kept on dodging, but that only meant they were reflected back at him again from new angles! The ones that hit definitely caused damage!
“Gah!”
Abandoning any attempt to dodge or deflect my attacks, he decided to try neutralizing my Dragon Shots instead.
Yeah, that would be the best course of action. But you know what, Euclid? I’ve learned a thing or two from my encounters with Cao Cao!
I unleashed yet another Dragon Shot, when—
“Tuuurrrnnn!”
I made it change trajectory! It skimmed past him just moments before it would have struck, drawing a wide arc!
“Reflect!”
The next moment, it suddenly bounced back and hit!
Red smoke billowed from Euclid’s body, his armor tattered and worn.
…Well, I was almost at my limit over here. The energy level on my gauntlet gem had fallen to II.
That number wasn’t referring to the length of time I could maintain my armor—rather, it was the limit of those white dragons. The more I used them, the faster the number dropped.
I wouldn’t have many more chances to use their reflection ability, which meant it was time for decisive action!
The next moment, Euclid’s demonic aura swelled by several orders of magnitude.
“…It seems my defenses aren’t up to par. No matter. Let’s send out an even greater force this time! And unlike your bombardment, there’s no need to charge this one!”
“Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost!”
A voice sounded from his replica Sacred Gear for a third time, causing his aura to swell formidably.
Then, without so much as pausing, he unleashed a devastating surge of demonic energy.
It was quite something, certainly too dangerous for me to take on directly. And yet—
I sent commands to my small dragons, and they darted around to line up and intercept the attack!
His strike came straight for me, when—
“Divide!” “Divide!” “Divide!” “Divide!” “Divide!” “Divide!” “Divide!” “Divide!”
I took that wave of energy head-on, dividing its strength again and again!
Each time it hit one of my miniature dragons, the barrage diminished in potency. By the time it reached me, it was so weak I could simply flick it away with my hand.
“…”
Euclid was left stupefied by this result.
This was another of my miniature dragons’ abilities—the power of reduction. Basically, this was the White Dragon Emperor’s original ability. And with these dragons able to fly through the air at will, there was no better means of defense!
A large number of the dragons disintegrated from the force of the damage, but they weren’t lost forever. I could just summon them again whenever I needed them.
Come to think of it, this was Albion’s innate ability. Did that mean the reflection power came from him, too…?
But why were they surfacing now? It wasn’t like I awakened these new powers or anything, right? I couldn’t say I felt like I had grown in any way. It was more like they were flowing from Ddraig himself…