Leviathan of the Covenant

Volume 2, Chapter 6 - Sword or Bow Part 5

Collapsed on the ground, Rushalka had reached her limit.

However, Asya ordered her to invoke the pseudo-divinity of the Moon. This was an affinity governing faint moonlight, dark nights and disorientation. To put it further, even insanity was also—

Ever since ancient times, moonlight was something that induced madness in people. The night of the full moon was also what turned ordinary people into werewolves.

"Among our 'serpents,' Akuro-Ou is the only one who can fight right now."

"But the injury suffered earlier is causing Akuro-Ou terrible pain... I don't think she can fight without issue."

Confronted with Orihime's opinion, Asya replied.

"I will use Rushalka's pseudo-divinity to bring about madness, to make Akuro-Ou go berserk temporarily."

"G-Go berserk?"

"Yes. Although it becomes impossible for her to obey trivial commands, at least it'll help her forget the pain, to charge with greater vigor than before."

After Rushalka released her physical form, Asya stood on the ground, looking up at the sky.

Because she had concluded that she and the other witch were going to become burdens.

"Will Nee-sama and Akuro-Ou be fine...?"

"The most we can do is pray for our friends' good fortune. We will now watch quietly to see how things wrap up."

Asya nodded and replied to Hazumi next to her, who was murmuring to herself in worry.

"M-Making Akuro-Ou go berserk huh..."

Realizing this was his childhood friend's idea, Hal muttered.

The berserk Akuro-Ou was astounding in horsepower. No sooner had she ascended rapidly like a rocket than she seized an opening to bite Pavel Galad's throat and even chewed on his neck.

In an attempt to tear Akuro-Ou off him, Galad grabbed the fox-wolf's lower jaw with his left hand that was not wielding the sword.

"Guh...! Stop interfering!"

"I've got to thank Asya and Juujouji," Hal whispered. Now was an opportunity to snipe successfully.

He raised the magic gun and pointed at the silver dragon that was wrestling with the fox-wolf in the air. The target was the heart. Although there was interference from Akuro-Ou on top of Galad's body, that was not a problem.

"Go!"

Hal imagined the ballistic trajectory while firing the magic gun.

A bullet of red light shot out from the muzzle. Its trajectory swerved greatly when flying past the dragon, tracing out a U-shape to attack Galad's back!

However, the valorous warrior of the dragons was no pushover.

"O dragonslaying sword, receiving the sword god's favored affection, become my clone!"

He suddenly tossed away the dragonslaying sword in his hand.

Unbelievably, a technique of assured annihilation, "the sword god's favored affection," was controlling the blade like an invisible swordsman, swatting the dragonslaying gunshot away!

Next, the sword made a rapid descent like a bolt of lightning, aiming for the building's top floor—aiming for the floor that had become the roof after the ceiling vanished—to attack Hal from above.

It looked like Galad intended to kill Hal off before dealing with the vassals. Hal instantly pointed the magic gun at the sky. Now was the time to take a gamble. Hal had already prepared himself.

Instantly, he fired all his bullets in full auto mode. The target—the dragonslaying sword!

"If the weapons of both sides are on the same level...!"

Rather than a collision of spear and shield, this was a clash between two ultimate spears.

However, the dragonslaying sword itself—the Rune of the Sword—had left Galad's hand.

This meant that its magical power should have diminished. In that case—Hal prayed while watching where the bullets went and knew he had made the right gamble.

Shot in the blade by full auto gunfire of assured annihilation, the dragonslaying sword shattered over Hal's head.

Hal exhaled deeply. He had managed to survive, some way or another.

However, his ammunition was completely depleted. Right now, his destiny was in Akuro-Ou's hands. Hal looked up at the aerial battle between giant beasts, only to see that the tide was gradually shifting to one side.

The silver dragon held the advantage while the eight-tailed fox-wolf had fallen into an unfavorable predicament.

Due to casting away the dragonslaying sword, Galad could use both hands to grab Akuro-Ou's lower jaw and pull her off his neck.

Akuro-Ou was trying her best to recover her original posture.

The fox-wolf was pushing her face near the enemy by any means possible, trying to bite and sever Galad's neck.

"Haruga-kun, are you alright!?"

Hal jumped in surprise to hear Orihime's voice. Right now, he was on the top floor of a building that had lost its roof. The serpentine dragon leviathan that had acquired golden wings, Minadzuki, was flying towards him.

Equivalent to arms, the two front limbs had Orihime carefully cradled in her hands.

"I asked Hazumi to send me here!"

After telling Minadzuki to let her off, Orihime finally arrived at the building's top floor.

"I'm safe and sound, although I'm out of bullets again. By the way, what happened to Akuro-Ou?"

"You mean going berserk? Rushalka used magic to put her in that state so that she could forcibly pounce on that dragon... But she won't listen to me at all now."

Orihime sighed.

"I was thinking I'd have a better shot if I went nearer... But it's still no good."

"Figures. But even in a berserk state, you can't really expect a 'serpent' to have the ability to take care of elites like Galad."

Hal sighed and looked at Akuro-Ou and Galad.

Galad had detached the eight-tailed fox-wolf from himself completely.

Thus the two of them continued to fight in the air. Galad swung his silver-white arms and tore through Akuro-Ou's pelt with his sharp claws. Using his long tail as a log, he pummeled Akuro-Ou's body. He even used his dragon jaws to bite back savagely.

With every attack, Akuro-Ou's crimson blood would splatter in the air.

"Akuro-Ou! At least use the Bow to attack!"

Hal did not know if Orihime's thoughts had gotten through, but nine arrowheads appeared above Akuro-Ou.

But before they attacked, Galad swung his five-clawed right hand. The instant the claws lacerated Akuro-Ou's face, the nine arrowheads were dispelled.

"Fufufufu, I cannot allow you to use that. Once I take care of this accursed minion, there will be nothing to bar me from victory!"

Kuohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

In response to Galad's bold declaration and cutting claws, Akuro-Ou roared in wrath.

Hal now noticed. The Rune of the Sword was visible on Galad's right palm—That hand and its claws had turned into a substitute for the dragonslaying sword!

Speaking of which, Minadzuki had been staying quietly by Hal and Orihime's side since just now.

The serpentine dragon with golden wings had her head bowed towards Galad, probably intimidated by the Rune of the Sword.

"Although it's probably not as sharp as the true dragonslaying sword... at this rate, Akuro-Ou can't win."

"If only I could give Akuro-Ou more power..."

"Sigh, if only I could further increase the Bow's firepower..."

Seeing Akuro-Ou at a disadvantage, Hal and Orihime both sounded gloomy.

Power, strength, output, destructive power. Just as both of them sincerely desired the factors that Akuro-Ou needed the most—A thought suddenly occurred to Hal and he stared at the magic gun in his right hand.

As before, the gun-shaped "magic wand" allowed him to understand the method instinctively.

"Eh...!?"

Orihime was surprised probably because the magic gun had also told her how to accommodate Hal.

Then Hal recalled last evening's events.

Touching Hazumi's heart, Hinokagutsuchi had extracted Minadzuki's heartmetal from there.

A witch's heart was possibly the part most intimately linked to her leviathan's heartmetal. In that case, all he needed to do was follow the method told to him by the magic gun—

"H-Haruga-kun..."

"Juujouji..."

This extremely inappropriate method was making both of them blush and look down at the same time.

"W-What should I say...? I guess we'd better give up..."

"H-How unexpected. I was thinking that as a closeted something or other, Haruga-kun, you'd use this as an excuse."

"Don't be silly. Despite how closeted I am, I still have a gentleman's pride."

"B-But now isn't the time for such idle chatter, right?"

This time, they gazed at each other with blushing faces.

Surprisingly, Orihime seemed to be actively saying what could be construed as hurrying words. However, Hal did not have the kind of carnivorous personality that would allow him to accept readily. As a side note, he was completely inexperienced. What a conundrum.

Just as Hal's entire body froze, hesitating over what he should do, Orihime yelled:

"W-Woman is judged by her courage, man by his charm! Haruga-kun, stop thinking and just do it!"

"Y-You've gotten the proverb backwards, Juujouji."

"Quit yammering! Make it quick!"

Orihime suddenly leaned her back against Hal, entrusting her weight to him.

Hal and Juujouji Orihime were in close contact. Feeling her warmth through his body, smelling an abundantly feminine fragrance from her hair and uniform, Hal became extremely flustered.

At the same time, he felt troubled—To go further, even his emotions were getting excited.

"Right now... Only in times like these am I willing to offer you my body and soul. Hence, Haruga-kun, let's defeat that dragon together, okay...?"

Leaning her back against Hal, Orihime spoke with sadness.

She was quoting words that Hinokagutsuchi had used before. Hal could not see her face but he could imagine that it had most likely turned as red as a tomato.

"A-Also, just between you and me here."

"Huh?"

"I-I also feel that going out with you might not be bad. Although it's just a tiny feeling. N-No, just slightly more than tiny."

"Huh!?"

"I worry immensely whenever you take risks, Haruga-kun, but my heart keeps pounding the whole time. My chest feels tight with a slightly painful feeling... Oh, forget what I just said. R-Regardless, I hope the two of us will be victorious together. Together with you, Haruga-kun!"

"Juujouji!"

Listening to Orihime murmur in a voice that could not be more adorable, Hal could no longer think about anything.

He lost his hesitation and embraced Orihime tightly from behind. Then he maneuvered his right hand—the palm where the Rune of the Bow surfaced—in front of her and grabbed fiercely.

What he grabbed was her breast, the left side of Orihime's voluptuous bust—the place near the heart.

This was the softest and most elastic sensation Hal had ever known in the world.

"Mm... Mmmmmm!"

Orihime began to moan. Unlike during Akuro-Ou's birth, she did not sound like she was in pain.

Instead, it sounded slightly bittersweet. This further ignited Hal's emotions that were heightened to begin with. Riding on rising feelings, the rune in his right hand began to output astounding magical power.

The magical power was sent into Orihime's heart, transmitting to the heartmetal of Akuro-Ou who was fighting desperately in the air—

Kuohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

The white eight-tailed fox-wolf roared with unprecedented intensity.

While Hal and Orihime were having their little argument, the silver-white dragon had vicious tore into Akuro-Ou's body repeatedly, covering her with slash wounds. However, the fox-wolf's ferocity now increased explosively.

A gigantic Rune of the Bow appeared in front of Akuro-Ou.

Naturally, Pavel Galad instantly swung his right hand and the Rune of the Sword, to rip apart the bow's enchanted crest—Or rather, he attempted to rip it apart.

However, the Rune of the Bow deflected Galad's claws this time.

"What?"

The silver dragon stared in wide-eyed shock.

Because Akuro-Ou was currently shrouded in crimson flames. The flames burned all at once then exploded greatly. At point blank range, even Galad was blown away by the explosion's power and fell towards the wasteland.

"Those are... runes of Ruruk Soun?"

Amidst flames and the explosion, Hal saw twenty-one glowing magic symbols.

This arrangement implied "I will fire the sun-shooting divine bow at the sky, to exterminate the sun." A technique of assured annihilation infused with the dragonslaying bow, the sun-shooting divine bow—

"Use my vassal... Turn Akuro-Ou into an arrow to be fired...!?"

The instant Hal realized this, arrowheads appeared around the burning Akuro-Ou in the air.

Nine black arrowheads. Previously, they were each roughly the size of the fox-wolf's head, but now, they were almost as large as Akuro-Ou's own body—

Thus leading nine arrowheads, Akuro-Ou rapidly descended upon the wasteland, charging at the massive body of Galad who was trying to get up.

"Nu, guooooooooooooh!"

Then the flames rose. A gigantic pillar of fire appeared in a corner of western Shinjuku.

It was as gigantic as this area's landmark, the former Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building.

A pillar of fire exceeding two hundred meters in length. The intrepid silver dragon was burning inside it, helpless before the divine might of fire. His entire body was ravaged by the conflagration.

Currently, Pavel Galad was like a piece of iron that had been thrown into a furnace.

The crimson flames swirled in a vortex, incinerating the silver dragon's gigantic body with temperatures almost high enough to drive one insane.

"Ohhhhhhhhhh!"

In the end, the silver dragon exploded, leaving a parting scream—He literally met his demise in a glorious death.

But after witnessing this scene, Hal and Orihime did not even have excess energy remaining to rejoice.

"We won...?"

"Probably. But since the enemy was crazy strong, it doesn't feel real to me at all..."

"Me too. That dragon was a bit too strong, too troublesome..."

Orihime was resting her weight on Hal. Hal was embracing Orihime from behind.

In this posture, the two of them collapsed on the floor together.

This was because they were utterly drained, unable to stand. These were symptoms similar to anemia, which appeared whenever witches severely depleted their stamina. In addition, the two of them were panting heavily.

Both of them were completely exhausted, as though they had completed an intense athletic competition as partners.

Then there was Orihime's supple body. Hal knew that her weight and warmth were surprisingly pleasurable, but if he did not hurry and get away...

Just as Hal felt anxious because his body could not move, Orihime suddenly apologized.

"Sorry, Haruga-kun. Umm... I-I'm very heavy, right?"

"O-Of course not. You're amazingly light. Yeah, I'm speaking the truth."

"B-But I'm not as slender as Asya-san. All over my body, uh, I suppose there's a lot of meat...? Anyway, there ought to be a certain level of weight..."

"No no, it's the opposite. Isn't this great?"

"Hey—Haruga-kun, you are a pervert after all!"

Despite the argument, their dialogue finally started to become familiar.

Just as the two of them found it inexplicably funny and laughed at the same time...

"You two won a great battle!"

"So amazing. I'm so touched!"

Asya and Hazumi's voices. The two of them were panting heavily.

They must have gone out of their way to climb the building's staircase to arrive, happy about the victory. However, Hal and Orihime received them with embarrassed feelings.

After all, for a boy and a girl to be lying lethargically on the ground in such a posture—

As expected, Hazumi's gaze wandered left and right while she spoke, "Eh? Haruga-san, Nee-sama, what on earth is this...?"

She was completely flustered, unsure what to do.

Then the veteran witch and Europe's former Shootdown Ace glared and yelled, "H-H-H-Haruomi and Orihime-san, what are you doing heeeeeere!?"

"N-No, it is not what you think, Asya-san. Hazumi too, calm down and listen to me. This was a necessary evil, unavoidable for the sake of fighting dragonkind...!"

Orihime desperately tried to explain.

On the other hand, Hal simply looked up at the clear blue sky as though escaping reality.

A helicopter rose into the air, accompanied by the noise of propeller blades. More than likely, it was carrying personnel involved with the MPD or the SDF, or possibly Hiiragi-san and her men.

Regardless, these organizations had probably monitored the battle.

"Explaining to them will be such a pain too..."

Hal could not help but grumble. However, this was all because he had survived.

As this thought crossed his mind, feelings of joy finally surged in his heart.