by Aneko Yusagi
“No way . . . That means . . . I . . .”
Ren was stumbling over his words. Wyndia glared at him.
“Your brooding is so annoying! Just shut up for now!” she shouted.
Ahh, so that was why she glared at him every now and then. And that was why his masochistic desires annoyed her so much.
“It’s extremely rare, but it’s not unheard of. There are stories of wild monsters raising human or demi-human children. Usually it’s either a wolf-type monster or a dragon,” said Rat.
“Oh jeez, don’t tell me you have some kind of wolf-boy here too . . .” I mumbled.
“Stop this, already. Father, there’s nothing left here. I know you probably feel hatred for the hero that stole everything from you. But that doesn’t mean it’s okay to hurt others. Stop this before you do something that you’ll regret!”
“GU . . .”
Gaelion let out a tortured groan and backed away. He covered his ears with his claws, as if to say he didn’t want to listen.
“I refused to let it go before now. I couldn’t bring myself to forgive the heroes. They stole my happiness. They stole Father’s happiness. But the Shield Hero is . . . different. He’s kind to everyone at the village. He’s not like the other people in this country. The people that whipped me. He’s not like the villagers that stole your treasures and laughed about it!” Wyndia explained.
She was crying as she told Gaelion about what she’d been through, in an attempt to get through to him. The reason he was covering his ears was because it was working . . . or was it?
But to think a dragon would raise a demi-human child . . . Maybe he’d planned on taking advantage of her after she’d grown up. Did the fact that I was even considering that just prove I’d spent way too much time playing games?
“Please. Return that body to its owner. That baby dragon is named Gaelion, just like you, Father. And he’s still alive in there! Return the power that you stole from Filo too. Father . . . You don’t belong in this world anymore!”
“GYAOOOOOOO!”
Gaelion started clawing at his forehead. Had she convinced him?!
But just when I thought it had been a success . . .
“Watch out!”
Ren leapt forward and guarded Wyndia from Gaelion’s claw.
“Gaelion!” she shouted.
Her attempt to talk some sense into Gaelion had failed. Of course things wouldn’t work out so smoothly. He still had Filo trapped inside of his body, after all.
“I guess that didn’t work. Wyndia! I—”
“Let me go! Gaelion! Listen to me! Please!”
And then Wyndia suddenly fell motionless, as if she’d just seen something unbelievable.
“Who . . . are you? You’re not Gaelion!” she shouted.
“Huh?”
Wyndia glared at Gaelion with hostility burning in her eyes.
“Gaelion and Father were just there! What did you do with them?!”
Wyndia’s demeanor changed completely. She was seething with rage now. I looked over at the massive dragon that had been Gaelion. Its black body began to turn purple, and the mass of black sludge that had been surrounding it began to disappear.
“Oh? So you noticed my presence, did you, little girl?”
The dragon spoke, and I joined Wyndia in glaring at him. I thought it might be the voice of the dragon that had been her father before he died, but that wasn’t the case, judging by her reaction. I needed to figure out who this new enemy standing before us was.
But wait . . . I’d heard this voice before. It was the same voice that had whispered to me when I cast All Sacrifice Aura.
“Who the hell are you?!”
I shouted at him with menace in my voice. The enormous dragon slowly puffed his chest up proudly. After a brief pause, he replied calmly.
“Hmph. I guess I should introduce myself,” he muttered.
The dragon placed a hand on his chest and gave a patronizing bow.
“I come from another world. There, I was the Dragon Emperor. I’ve been referred to as the Demon Dragon as well. I am the ruler of all monsters. Shield Hero, this should all sound familiar to you.”
That brought to mind what had happened in Kizuna’s world and the weapons that Raphtalia and I were always using. They both had “demon dragon” in their name.
The Demon Dragon had asked me a question. If there was any chance of talking things out, maybe this was it.
“Yeah. You’re the dragon that tried to take over Kizuna’s world, right? I’m pretty sure Kizuna said she defeated you.”
The Demon Dragon confirmed my suspicions with a nod.
“I’m glad you seem to understand. That’s right. The Hunting Hero and her party crushed my aspirations once.”
“And why would that Demon Dragon be here now?”
“Hmph . . . Shield Hero, are you really going to pretend like you have no clue?”
I had a really bad feeling about this. Romina told me that the dragon emperor core she used in my Barbaroi Armor had been created by combining fragments of the dragon emperor and dragon zombie cores. And going by what Rat and Wyndia had said, as well as Gaelion’s current state, the corruptive tendencies of dragon emperors extended even to their consciousnesses. As a result, the remnant of the demon dragon in my core fragment, which had commandeered Gaelion’s body, went out of control. It made sense.
“So your consciousness remained in the core fragments, which I used in my shield and armor. And now you’ve taken over Gaelion’s body.”
“Very good. You catch on quick, Shield Hero,” he replied.
“And? I’m guessing you’re not here because you decided to help us out by suppressing my rampaging twit of a dragon.”
“You guess correctly. I’ve finally found a body that will allow me to act freely! Surely you don’t think I’m going to just relinquish it to you, do you?”
The dragon clearly didn’t have friendly intentions. In that case, dealing with this opponent would likely be even more dangerous than fighting a dragon that was merely causing a violent disturbance.
“What have you done with Filo?! Return her at once!”
Melty stepped forward and shouted at the dragon angrily.
“You must be referring to the monster that people call a filolial in this world.”
Rip!
I heard a tearing sound and the demon dragon’s chest split open. Something crept forward into view. I could see Filo being held in place by tentacles or something. Her arms and legs were tied down. It looked like she had been stitched onto the dragon’s beating heart, as if she were now a part of his body. Filo seemed to groan with each beat of the heart. The tentacles were pulsating and glowing, as if to signify that they were stealing her power.
“Ugh . . . ughhh . . .”
“Filo!”
Melty started to take a step forward. But before she could move, the Demon Dragon cast a spell instantly, without even reciting an incantation. A black beam of light shot out toward Melty’s feet.
“Watch out!” I yelled.
I instantly grabbed Melty and pulled her back. It was clear that the dragon didn’t intend for the beam to hit her, but the way she had lunged forward made it a close call.
“Naofumi! Let go! That’s Filo!”
“Calm down! Charging at him recklessly is not going to convince him to give her back!”
The Demon Dragon placed a hand on his chest, as if to signify his agreement.
“Ugh . . . Mel-chan . . . Master . . . It hurts . . .”
Filo opened her eyes ever so slightly and called out to us. But the Demon Dragon clearly had no intention of returning her. He smirked.
“The Shield Hero is correct. The filolial is a sacrificial offering that gives me power. Do you really think I’ll just hand her over to you?”
“Nooo . . . Ugh . . .”
With a cracking sound, the Demon Dragon slowly drew the exposed Filo back, deep into his chest.
“Filo!”
Melty reached out toward Filo and grasped at the air. I held her back and glared at the Demon Dragon.
“Do you really think we’re going to just accept that and leave?” I asked.
“I have no plans of letting you leave like this, of course. However, perhaps we can make a deal.”
“What do you want?”
Whenever there was mention of negotiating in a situation like this, it always ended up being a ludicrous proposal. It reminded me of that famous line from a certain dragon: “If you want to be my ally, I’ll give you half of the world.” Even if you accepted the offer, things turned out badly.
But there was always a possibility that the Demon Dragon might be reasonable. It wouldn’t hurt to hear him out.
“My aspiration is to rule the world. Humans are weak, stupid, and selfish. Why should the world belong to them?”
“Such a cliché. You’re going to complain about humans being unfit to rule the world?”
How predictable. The triteness of it all made me roll my eyes.
“But surely you understand, Shield Hero. You were selfishly summoned to this world, and then framed and persecuted simply because someone didn’t like you. Surely you understand the arrogance of the people of this world.”
“. . .”
He wasn’t wrong. The countless injustices that I had suffered were all a result of that arrogance.
“Those fools reign over this world like it belongs to them. Deep down, you know that their savage deeds are unforgivable. I could feel it when I was in your shield.”
“Well, you’re not wrong.”
It was a selfish, rotten world where they relied on the heroes to fix things any time something went wrong. If I could, I’d abandon my mission, immediately return to my own world, and forget it all. Like it had all been a bad dream.
“Of course, I will take care of the waves as well. Having the world destroyed is no good for me either. But that’s only if the world belongs to me.”
His offer sounded good so far. But there were always strings attached when things sounded too good to be true. He’d referred to Filo as a sacrificial offering, and he was sucking away her power. He’d hijacked Gaelion’s body. That was plenty of evidence that things wouldn’t all be so rosy.
“Mr. Naofumi . . .”
Raphtalia had been trying to calm the frantic Melty down. She placed her hand on my shoulder. I knew what she wanted to say. It was a dirty, rotten world, but there were still people here trying their best to do what was right. I couldn’t care less if the worthless fools all died. But there were people that deserved my protection too. Of course I understood that.
“What an arrogant creature! I should defeat that thing, right, Atla?!” Fohl shouted.
He started to step forward, but Atla stopped him with a quick poke in the stomach.
“Ugh . . . Why did you do that, Atla?”
“We’re not strong enough to face that creature yet. Our opportunity to act will come, but right now, we need to wait for Mr. Naofumi’s instructions. We should focus on mustering up as much power as possible until then.”
Atla began focusing her awareness as soon as she finished speaking.
“A . . . Atla?”
Her focus was incredible. She stood there motionless, as if she could no longer even hear Fohl’s voice. Her position was somewhere around two meters behind me.
“That’s enough of a prelude. Let’s hear your conditions already,” I announced.
Even if the negotiations were going to end in failure and we had to continue fighting, it still made sense to hear him out. This enemy was too strong to just try and settle things our own way, without considering what he had to say. Ren’s and Raphtalia’s attacks were ineffective.
Such incredible strength. There had to be something to it. If I could find out what that was by talking to him, I was sure I could figure out a way to deal with him.
“Right down to business. I like that. These are my conditions. Everyone here — other than the Shield Hero —will pledge their allegiance to me and become my minions. And then you will snuff out the Hunting Hero and her companions who shattered my aspirations once before!”
What a joke. Was he really going to present it like that and still expect us to agree? He might have been a powerful dragon, but he had absolutely zero potential as a politician. And what did he mean by everyone other than me pledging their loyalty?
“Do you really think they would agree to that? And why did you specify everyone other than me?”
Everyone around glared at the Demon Dragon and nodded. In situations like this, it was only normal to force the leader, which was me right now, to pledge their loyalty too. The Demon Dragon stared at me. The look in his eyes . . . It wasn’t quite contempt. It sent a shiver down my spine. His eyes reminded me of a starving monster staring at its prey.
“Like the filolial offering, you are nothing but another source of power. I need no pledge from you. You, too, will become a part of my body and continue to supply me with power for all eternity. In return, I will exact revenge on the rotten humans for the both of us!”
“Huh?!”
So the bastard intended to make me a part of his body and use me as a power source, just like Filo!
“Surely you didn’t think that the filolial was my only source of power. Take a good look at the situation. It is your rage that gives me power!”
“That must be what Atla was talking about when she said there was some kind of power leaking out of you and amplifying something,” said Raphtalia.
“No wonder the dragon is so strong . . .” Rat mumbled.
She had a look of annoyance on her face. Wyndia glared at me.
I looked at my shield. My rage . . . I pulled up the Shield of Wrath on my status screen. The screen was all fuzzy. A lot about the dragon reminded me of the abilities of my Shield of Wrath, including the breath attack Gaelion had used before turning into the Demon Dragon. In other words, the Demon Dragon must have been using me as a medium to sustain such massive power. And since I was the source of that power, he wanted to assimilate me into his body to continue leeching that power.
“Go to hell! Do you really think anyone would agree to such terms?!”
“Oh, not at all. I fully understand that you will try to resist. This is not a negotiation. This is the strong exploiting the weak.”
The Demon Dragon let out a fierce roar. When he did, a rain of magical attacks poured down upon us.
“Damn you! We won’t let you take Naofumi! Shooting Star Sword!”
“That’s right! We won’t let Mr. Iwatani fall sacrifice to such wretched aspirations!”
Ren intercepted the Demon Dragon’s magical attacks with his Shooting Star Sword skill, and Eclair cast a spell that formed a shield of light. It formed a barrier around me that would help protect me, even if only a bit.
“We will let you do no such thing!” shouted Raphtalia.
She used Light Stardust Blade with her magic sword to help crush the onslaught of magical attacks.
“Give Filo back!” cried Melty.
She must have summoned up some great, latent power in the face of imminent danger. She started rapidly casting spells and firing them off at the dragon’s magic.
“Damn it . . . Even if our attacks hit him, they only send sparks flying!” grumbled Ren.
Ren’s attack power must have been higher than the Demon Dragon’s, because he was successfully quashing the dragon’s magical attacks. But Ren’s attacks weren’t powerful enough to pierce the Demon Dragon’s armor.
“Mr. Naofumi, please protect the others. Ren, let’s take the fight in close quarters,” said Raphtalia.
“Got it!” Ren replied.
Raphtalia gave Ren the signal, crouched down low, and then sprang at the Demon Dragon.
“Hiyaaaa!”
She thrust her katana at him with incredible force. Ren followed her lead and swung his sword.
“Thunder Sword!”
Lightning shot out o
f Ren’s sword and went hurtling at the Demon Dragon. But it failed to even scratch the dragon’s scales. Raphtalia’s attack, on the other hand, made a sharp slicing sound, as if she had cut through something. There was a cloud of black, noxious gas surrounding the Demon Dragon and it looked like she had cut through that.
“Ugh . . . I suppose I should launch a counterattack too. Try not to die. I’d like to try to gauge my own strength.”
The Demon Dragon didn’t have a single scratch on him, and yet he had groaned in pain. Just what had Raphtalia cut? I had no idea, but it certainly seemed to have an effect. The Demon Dragon flapped his wings and lifted up off of the ground. He began to shine as brightly as the sun, and a cloud of black flames filled the air.
“Raphtalia! Ren! Get back!”
I summoned my Air Strike Shield and Second Shield in front of Raphtalia and Ren to protect them from the attack. As instructed, they both fell back. Good. That should be enough.
“Experience my power firsthand! Flames of Purgatory! Solar Prominence! Dark Nova!”
The Demon Dragon’s mouth snapped open, and near his chest a black sun took form. Black flames showered down toward us. I held my shield up toward the sky and cast E Float Shield, Shooting Star Shield, and Dritte Shield.
“Melty! Sadeena! Anyone! Cast whatever defensive magic you can!”
“O . . . okay!”
Melty nodded and began casting along with the others. Scorching flames poured out of the black sun and exploded.
Ugh . . . The intensity of the attack was even greater than when I’d been hit with the ceremonial magic spell Judgment. On top of that, the flames would curse anything they touched, and now they were engulfing my body. Bit by bit, my skin melted away. The pain followed moments later.
“Little Naofumi! Keep holding on! Saint Aqua Seal!”
Sadeena used the holy water to reduce the amount of damage I took. I could tell that the flames would delay any healing. There was no doubt about that since my Shield of Wrath was the source of their power. The holy water was clearly very effective against curse elements. Healing wouldn’t be a problem as long as the curse effects weren’t delaying it. Thankfully Rat was helping a bit by casting her own healing magic.
