The days that Abel spent at Aslan Magic Academy were by far the happiest ones in his entire life. Of course, he also had many precious and irreplaceable memories from the time he’d spent with his instructor, Elka, but his time living in the Aslan dormitory changed him. Being there on campus, working hard alongside both friends and rivals, and finding his place among his peers…that was what had finally started to slowly melt away the solitude that Abel felt deep inside at his core. To put it more simply—he had fun. So much fun, in fact, that he almost forgot the despair that he felt that day when he lost everything he ever knew.
The sound of the whistle came out of nowhere and suddenly awakened the darkness within Abel.
“Monsters take everything from us. That’s why I have to kill them. Kill them so they can never take anything from me, ever again.”
“That whistle. You know what it is?”
“…Huh?”
Luke’s question drew Abel back to reality, surfacing from the ocean of his mind.
“S-sure…” Abel replied shakily. “I’ve heard it before, s—”
“Grraaaaaaaaaah!!”
The dragon roared, cutting him off.
Luke glared at the monster in silence. It had a savage look, but almost seemed to be fighting to resist something.
“H-hey, what do we do? It’s not coming to attack us…” asked Lily nervously.
Most of those in the crowd stood frozen, awed by the terrible presence of the ice dragon. They watched and waited, swords up, listening for how Luke would respond to the question.
“Hmph. There’s a chance that thing’s being controlled, yeah?”
“Eh?! Do you really think so, Luke? But, well…it’s possible, I guess. Why didn’t I notice that until now?”
“Huh? Someone’s controlling the dragon?!”
A murmur rippled through the crowd, punctuated by cries of shock.
Luke had only said it as an offhand suggestion, but it made Abel put his head down to think. If what Luke was saying turned out to be true, it would massively change the way that Abel interpreted the events of that day. Abel had subconsciously kept a lid on the terrible memories—or perhaps consciously pushed them down—and that was why the possibility had never occurred to him.
“Dragons can’t blow whistles,” Luke pointed out. “There’s mana in that sound too. Whatever, just forget about it. Now, let me test this theory.”
Given that it wasn’t attacking them yet, Luke figured it was safe to assume that whoever was commanding the ice dragon didn’t have complete control over it.
“Arrow of Darkness.”
The spell was so basic that it seemed a puzzling choice to those who overheard him say the words. Luke’s magic contained his Dark element, but even that surely wasn’t enough. Nobody expected his spell to be capable of damaging the dragon. Luke’s true aim, however, was something else entirely.
“…”
The small Arrow of Darkness hit its mark and was absorbed into the ice dragon’s great body…then it exploded. The ice dragon stopped in midair, no longer raging and struggling as it had been moments earlier, but gracefully flapping its wings to hover in place. Luke’s suspicion proved correct as the Arrow of Darkness swallowed the mana that had been controlling the ice dragon.
“Th-the spell’s been broken?! Wh-where’s that whistle? I gotta—gah!”
Luke heard a man’s voice, panicking and distraught. As everyone watched, confused and disoriented, the ice dragon shook its head. In doing so, it threw something from the back of its neck out into the open air—a man wearing a robe, who seemed to be the root of the problem.
“I-impossible!! Nooo!!”
Chomp.
The ice dragon opened its monstrous jaws and, in a single bite, unceremoniously swallowed the man whole. Shocked silence reigned over the crowd, until it was eventually broken by the booming voice of the dragon itself.
“You humans taste awful,” it informed them.
It glared down at the crowd of humans below, and the look alone was enough to inspire even the bravest knights to suddenly visualize their own imminent deaths. Nobody said a word in reply, but Luke thought he heard shrieks from some of the men—awful wails, as if their souls were being crushed inside their chests.
“Yet what a mistake I have made,” it continued. “To allow myself to be ruled by a human, an inferior being…nothing vexes me more.”
To the dragon, this was merely an expression of simple annoyance. To the humans below, however, it was a harsh lesson in reality. No matter how hard they trained, how strong they grew, how perfectly they refined their techniques—in the end, a human was only a human. No individual human could even begin to measure up to a disaster-rank monster. Men were incapable of reaching the level of power and destruction that an S-rank ice dragon rained down. The rattling of metal on metal sounded louder than ever before, as the knights trembled in their armor.
Th-that thing’s in a different league…in a whole different biological hierarchy from us…
Zack tightened his grip on his sword, feeling the will drain from his spirit and fighting hard to regain it. He knew better than most that if he fell into the depths of despair, there would be no clawing his way back up from the bottom of that pit.
“Even so…I was freed by a human,” the dragon mused. “That is evident.”
Many in the crowd saw hope, as the ice dragon’s rage appeared to dissipate for just a moment. The monster’s words suggested it might have intellect, which meant it could be capable of pitying them. It could just fly away and leave them in peace, or even thank them, perhaps.
Such were the frail, fleeting hopes of those weak human onlookers.
“Regardless, I find you humans unpleasant. There is no reason that I should let you live.”
The ice dragon’s reasoning was incomprehensible and arrogant to the assembled crowd. For the first time, the dragon clearly displayed to them its intent to kill.
The morale that Luke had inspired within the crowd was lost in an instant, leaving only cowardice and fear in its place. Only a portion of the A-rank adventurers and knights who had seen real battle managed to hold on to their will to fight. Some sensed that death was at hand, while others tried to motivate themselves to go on.
There was silence, and then a hearty laugh rang out:
“Mwa ha… Aha ha ha ha!!”
The men watched as Luke stepped forward from their ranks, laughing openly. He appeared to be quite unhinged, and much of the crowd wondered if the boy had finally snapped. Zack had already been planning his retreat for the last few minutes, and now he quickly began considering the logistics of how he could help Luke to escape as well.
How many of us will survive the coming attack? he wondered.
That was the sort of battle that was to come, in his judgement, and Zack began to rack his brain for a way out. Luke was incredibly strong, of course, but at the end of the day, he was still human.
“Master Luke!” Zack screamed.
“Listen up, you lot.”
Luke didn’t even turn to look at them. His back to the crowd, he appeared taller than he usually did.
“I will not allow any of you to intervene. I will fight this dragon alone.”
Luke was likely the only person present who was fully enjoying the situation for what it was. His mind filled with sword techniques and magic spells that he could never think about using against a human opponent. Against such a strong enemy, he might even be given the opportunity to use them all, in fact. Luke was in possession of such great power that he had to constantly regulate and control his abilities, and he wanted nothing more than to let loose completely.
No-holds-barred. This is gonna be fun…a truly exhilarating fight at my full strength.
The thought had him smirking the moment it crossed his mind.
“No matter what, no interferences.”
“Luke…”
Luke just wanted to fight with everything he had—that was all.
Obviously, Abel’s going to use his main character powers to beat this thing in the end, right? What’s the problem with me taking it out instead, then?
Luke’s thinking was simple and self-centered, but to the men at his back who watched him standing off alone against the deadly monster soaring high above his head…
Well, Luke looked like a hero—a real one, straight out of the songs.
“Augh…you really are…!” Zack said in a panicked whisper.
He’d only really been thinking about his own life, which he could hardly be blamed for, given the circumstances. Nobody could have scolded him for self-preservation.