“…I won’t let you get away…!”
✦ ✦ ✦
He wasn’t even able to stand up, but Sairaorg, down on his knees, had caught hold of Grendel’s tail and was refusing to let go.
“—! Y-yooouuu!” the dragon bellowed in rage.
Again, Grendel stomped on Sairaorg with a massive foot, a hint of fear beginning to show in his bearing.
“Why are you so damn persistent?! You stupid demon! Nggghhh!”
My ears weren’t deceiving me—frustration had entered the Evil Dragon’s voice.
By all indications, he had the overwhelming advantage. Sairaorg had been pushed far beyond his limits, to the point he couldn’t even stand up.
And yet he refused to release his grip on the dragon’s tail.
Sairaorg, his eyes alight with fighting spirit, wore a fearless grin.
“…Pfft. Ha-ha… It seems my tenacity has earned the approval of this notoriously persistent Evil Dragon, Issei Hyoudou.”
Still grasping the dragon’s tail, Sairaorg slowly rose to his feet.
His legs should have long since given up on him, and yet this lion warrior pulled himself together through sheer determination.
“A-aaauuuggghhh!”
Overcoming the pain wracking his body, Sairaorg unleashed a powerful war cry from the very depths of his soul and stood before Grendel.
For the first time, the overconfident dragon shuddered in fear. Here stood a man who should be unable to move, who by all rights should be on the verge of death—and his fighting spirit wasn’t just undiminished, it had grown even stronger.
“…! Damn yooouuu…! Y-you’re really getting back into it?! How the hell are you able to stand?!”
Sairaorg fixed him with a determined glare. “Because I’m going to destroy you.”
“…!”
Those were the words of a dying man. Spoken from anyone else, they might have sounded like a pathetic joke—but they carried such weight that they instilled raw dread into the heart of the Evil Dragon.
“Issei Hyoudou. I can’t finish him alone,” he said. “Let’s do this together.”
I was more than happy to oblige!
“Right! Sairaorg! Let’s take him down!”
I leaped forward and started charging my Crimson Blaster! Meanwhile, Sairaorg continued to hold firm to our opponent’s tail.
“Aaauuuggghhh!”
With a burst of energy, he spun around and hurled him into the air, while I unleashed a colossal explosion of raw aura straight for him!
A direct hit with my Crimson Blaster! Hurling out of control, Grendel couldn’t hope to dodge it—and after a thunderous boom, he started falling to the ground.
Below, Sairaorg prepared his martial arts stance—just like when he had taught the kids to punch in the gymnasium.
✦ ✦ ✦
Listen up! When you throw a punch, you need to drop your hips and launch it from your whole body!
✦ ✦ ✦
“…Awesome, Sairaorg…!” I exclaimed, weeping tears of joy.
Meanwhile, in an act of outright violence, the lion warrior’s strike tore clean through Grendel’s abdomen.
The dragon seemed to spew up every ounce of blood he had left, then crumpled to the ground.
“…Dammit…,” he murmured breathlessly, no longer even moving. “C-come on… First that destruction princess, now this guy… I’m… Ugh… Damn it all to hell… Not like this…”
After waiting to make sure he had finally stopped moving, Koneko jumped forward.
“…I’m going to try a technique I learned from my sister!”
With that, she gathered the surrounding qi energy and synchronized it with her own fighting spirit, causing light to erupt from all over her body. This was her Shirone mode!
Then, transformed into a mesmerizing mature beauty, she summoned a group of kasha fire wheels and unleashed them around the fallen dragon.
She made a sign with one hand, and the kasha wheels began to spin, forming a blinding white magic square with Grendel at its center!
“…I’ll seal the Evil Dragon’s soul! Issei, lend me one of the jewels from your armor!” she urged.
I quickly yanked out one of the gems and tossed it to her. After catching it, she threw it straight for Grendel while making some more signs with her hand.
“Evil Dragon Grendel! May your soul find rest between the realms of eternal darkness and everlasting light!”
The moment that incantation left her lips, the magic square blazed brilliant, casting bursts of light all around.
When finally it ceased, all that remained was a crumbled mound of earth shaped like the fallen dragon and an emerald-green jewel.
Koneko breathed a relieved sigh. “I talked with my sister about how they keep resurrecting themselves with the Holy Grail. And she said, why not seal their souls away instead? There are sage arts techniques that can bind an opponent’s life force, so I’ve been practicing some. But I couldn’t do it alone. She suggested one of the Red Dragon Emperor’s jewels might help… It was a shot in the dark, but it looks like it worked.”
So that was what she did. Impressive, Koneko! If she could seal a target’s soul away, the Holy Grail wouldn’t be able to resurrect it. The only reason these foes were so much of a pain was that they kept regenerating themselves, even from mere fragments of consciousness. Without a soul, did that mean their bodies were reduced to dust…?
…Hold on, was this all we needed to beat these guys?
Koneko must have sensed my unease, as she continued. “When we get back, we should ask Heaven to put multiple wards over the gem to make sure his consciousness doesn’t leak out.”
I see. In that case, maybe Grendel was finished after all? And we could use the same strategy against the other Evil Dragons! With this technique, we wouldn’t have to worry about the Holy Grail bringing them back after we beat them.
Incredible! Thanks to Koneko and Kuroka, we finally had a chance at winning!
With Grendel’s seal complete, Koneko returned to her original form—and promptly collapsed from exhaustion. Nimura helped support her…but with Saji and the parents injured as well, we couldn’t afford to stay for long.
“Sairaorg!” I called out, lifting him into my arms.
“…I’ll be fine…”
He shouldn’t have been able to move at all, but still he forced a smile.
…We won! A total victory! At long last, our unwavering dedication had allowed us to overcome that pesky Evil Dragon before he could get away!
“…The children of the underworld are our greatest treasure. We have to protect them,” Sairaorg said, despite his swollen face.
“…Right!”
Defeating Grendel, the Crime Force Dragon, marked Team DxD’s first victory.
Afterward, Asia and Rossweisse rushed over to see to the injured. Thanks to their efforts, everyone made a strong recovery, though they were all severely exhausted. From what they said, it sounded like everyone else was struggling just as much as we had elsewhere on the school grounds.
It wasn’t long before fresh instructions flew in from Chairwoman Sona.
“Everyone, fall back to the school.”
The mages’ new teleportation square, based on untested techniques, was nearing completion.