Akatsuki Translations

The pitch-black something swam through the sky as if flowing.

The pitch-black something was long, large, and terrifying.

Its jet-black body gleamed dully with scales, and along its back, several pure white wings lined up, incongruous with its fearsome form. From its massive mouth peeked sharp fangs and an elongated tongue.

『AAAAAAAAAGAYYAYAAYAAHHAHAHAHAAAAA!!!!』

The distorted dragon mocked everything in the heavens.

“…What!?” came the gasping voices of the warriors. It was clearly a sound of intense agitation.

Victor, the knight captain, keenly sensed the crumbling morale that had been rising until just moments ago. The timing couldn’t have been worse. It was right when the 【Seven Heavens】 had strongly demonstrated their power!

The power of 【Heavenly Prayer Sua】 was the key to maintaining this battlefield, both practically and psychologically. And it had been targeted. Perhaps even the Flame Demons had aimed for this?

But he couldn’t leave things as they were!

“Pull yourselves together!!” Victor raised his voice, thoroughly cracking the whip into the air that had gone slack and was on the verge of dying.

“Sua-sama won’t be defeated by something like this!! Everyone, steel yourselves!!! This is where we must stand firm!! We must rescue her!!!”

“O-OOOOH!!!” The warriors, seeming to grasp his intent, raised their voices in response.

For now, the immediate danger of the battle line collapsing had been averted. However, fundamentally, nothing had been resolved. 【Heavenly Prayer】 was still swallowed by that enormous mysterious dragon. If they couldn’t rescue Sua in this situation where hordes of monsters from Proudia continued to attack, the battle line would soon be overwhelmed.

“But what is that dragon… 【Gluttony】? No, the wings are 【Vanity】?!”

“It’s Proudia’s specialty, a 【Hybrid Dragon】. A nasty one’s shown up!”

“Just mixing things together doesn’t always make them stronger! We’ve got to subdue it somehow…!?”

The warriors who had been resting their bodies now readied their weapons, hurriedly preparing for battle. Everyone understood that losing Sua had to be avoided at all costs. Hence, they were also in a rush.

And because of that, they were forced to widen their eyes at the dragon’s subsequent movement.

“No way—————!?”

After swaying in the sky for a moment, the dragon suddenly turned its back to them.

“It’s… running away!?”

Fleeing. The dragon was fleeing. With Sua still in its belly!!

“Stop it!!!!” Victor shouted.

This time, he couldn’t even manage to inspire them valiantly. They had to prevent that at all costs.

The forced withdrawal of their greatest fighting force from the battlefield was far too fatal.

　　　　　　　　◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆

The behavioral principles of the monsters in the 【Sun-Devouring Ceremony】 had not changed since the beginning of this battle.

First, the elimination of the 【Wise Heavenly King】.

Second, the elimination of threats that serve as barriers to that goal.

It was truly simple. However, their methods of elimination were not necessarily limited to destruction. They tormented the defense forces with various techniques. This had become clear through the numerous repetitions of the 【Sun-Devouring Ceremony】.

But it was indeed the first time they had employed such a means of elimination as this.

To kidnap 【Heavenly Prayer】 and then flee with her.

“What a cunning trick!!” Begude cried out bitterly while focusing power into his right eye. He activated his own magical eye.

“【Fixation!!】”

As the word implied, it was a magical eye that could fix other targets in place within his field of vision. He directed it towards the sky. After endless training, he had become able to “immobilize space” at will, allowing him to fix “air” in place and move freely through the sky as if climbing stairs.

“Leader!!”

“You lot, hurry and call for reinforcements!! I’ll hold it back!!”

Issuing rapid-fire instructions to his subordinates, Begude leapt into the sky.

He raced through the air fixed in place by his magical eye’s power. The dragon was drawing near. A dragon leisurely swimming through the sky. A dragon that still held Sua captive. He had to detain it at all costs, or the battle line would collapse!

The dragon was already trying to exit through the hole in the 【Solar Aegis】 opened by its dragon underlings. No matter how reckless, if he didn’t stop it here, everything would be over!

“【Fixation—】”

Though unsure of the extent of its effectiveness, he attempted fixation. His magical eye was less effective on targets possessing greater magical power than himself. Therefore, rather than the dragon itself, he aimed to fix and restrain its surroundings.

An invisible prison created by spatial fixation was his specialty. For a moment, he was certain it had worked perfectly—but

『KA——!!』

“What!?”

The black dragon, which should have been immobilized in mid-air, broke free from the prison he had created in the next instant and began to rampage. Begude realized that the power of his magical eye had been repelled.

But how?

It wasn’t brute force. Begude’s binding technique was designed to be layered in complex, multiple levels to prevent such simple breakouts. It wasn’t something that could be destroyed by mere force.

『AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA————!!』

“What…!?”

Looking closer, he saw the dragon’s side was glowing. At first, he thought it might be the scales reflecting light, but that wasn’t it. It was emitting the same pale black glow and magical power as Begude’s own.

In other words, those were magical eyes.

“Neutralization through a similar type of magical eye…!?”

Along the dragon’s side, numerous magical eyes were lined up in rows.

One of those had neutralized Begude’s magical eye.

“The magical eye of 【Greed】…!”

The characteristic of these magical eyes was that of the Dragon of Greed. This dragon soaring through the sky was a hybrid, incorporating three traits: Greed, Gluttony, and Vanity. It was excessively wicked.

Moreover, there wasn’t just one eye that appeared to be a magical eye.

Which meant, of course, that the types of magical eyes weren’t limited to just 【Fixation】.

“Gh!?”

Several of the magical eyes on the dragon’s side, crimson in color, began to emit light. While magical eyes came in various types, in most cases, the power concealed in crimson ones was ignition. Begude felt the surrounding temperature rising explosively against his skin and immediately leapt away from that spot.

『KYAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!』

With mocking laughter, the sky ignited. A sea of fire was born in the night sky. The effect range of the magical eyes was immense. A hell that made the previous Flame Demon’s fire seem tame was born in the sky.

“Guh!?”

The evasion wasn’t quick enough. Begude suppressed a scream as he felt one arm burning in the flames.

The range was too wide!! There wasn’t time to escape!!!

Begude desperately tried to kick off the air to distance himself. But the dragon twisted its body, beginning to move in a way that surrounded the falling Begude. Simultaneously, the magical eyes lining its sides began to glow again. All of them were about to capture Begude——

“Cover your eyes!!!”

A voice echoed from behind. Seeing the magic-sealing orb thrown in at the same time, Begude grasped the intent and closed his eyes.

At that moment, the flash of light sealed within the magic-sealed orb exploded, sealing the dragon’s magical eyes with its intense light.

『GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!???』

“That was reckless.”

The arm wrapped around Begude’s falling body in midair was familiar. Looking back, he saw Ikaza supporting his half-scorched self, rescuing him. Begude let out a sigh.

“…I got impatient and rushed ahead.”

“No, it helped. You bought us time.”

As they fell, Ikaza looked up at the sky. Following his gaze, Begude saw an enormous amount of magical power condensing above the dragon writhing from the flash. The shape formed by that magical power was utterly simple.

A fist, clenched tightly, strongly, and relentlessly.

“【Heaven’s Swift Vengeance】”

The divine iron fist unleashed by the Wise Heavenly King struck the dragon floating in the sky.