“Ooh! Oooh! This pulsation! Welcome back, my beloved Master ********. I’ll release you from there right this instant!”
Immediately following that, the shadow swelled up, then loomed over Foll’s body.
No! I don’t want this! Save me, Zagan! And the last sight Foll saw was...
“I won’t let you!”
The figure of a girl who possessed the same golden eyes as the shadow.
◇
“What... is this?” Zagan muttered. After leaving the temple, he caught sight of a squirming mass of meat and bones, which made him ask, “Are these entrails...?”
That was indeed what it resembled, but the problem was its size. The mass of meat was big enough to cover a large mass of land. It was still quite far away from the temple, but if it reached them, it could swallow the entire town. Where did something of that size come from? What did it want? Zagan had many questions, but knew nothing except the fact that if it moved toward them, everyone was doomed.
“It certainly does remind me of the Demon Lord,” Nephy remarked. However, it was different from the sludge they found before. This time around, it had a clearly defined mass to it.
“Is that... alive?” Chastille asked as she pointed a trembling finger toward it. It was covered in countless veins that were pulsating in a creepy manner, numerous bones were sticking out of it to support its structure, and something akin to blood was dripping out from it.
It was alive. However, it was something so hideous that it didn’t even resemble any creature above or within the ocean.
“Is that a cocoon?” Barbatos asked as he skulked out of Chastille’s shadow with a grimace on his face.
“A cocoon?” Zagan replied as he cast his gaze over it once more. He had a point. It did seem to be encasing something, but Zagan didn’t have the slightest idea what would hatch.
Chastille, the members of the church, Kuroka, Lilith, Selphy, and the elders were all gathered together with Zagan and Nephy.
“Angelic Knights, help evacuate the civilians and the guests. Kuroka, Nephteros, stay with me. We’ll deal with...” Chastille raised her voice as she addressed her subordinates, but then trailed off. She’d lost her train of thought in the middle of speaking because she realized something was amiss. There were two people missing.
“...Hey, where are Foll and Nephteros?” Zagan inquired. He assumed they were nearby, but his adopted daughter and sister-in-law were nowhere in sight.
“Master Zagan, look!” Nephy exclaimed as she pointed at a single bat floating in the air. It seemed to be wounded, and was unsteadily fluttering toward them as if to escape the mass of meat before vanishing into the shadow of a rocky surface. Strengthening his vision using sorcery, Zagan spotted something that looked like a human hand.
“Tch, someone collapsed over there!” Zagan explained. The hand that he saw in the distance was thin and feminine. Zagan leaped down from the temple without hesitation, and ran over to the rocky area where the bat vanished.
“Nephteros?” Zagan called out his sister-in-law’s name, since she was the one who had collapsed there. Perhaps because she was fighting with that mass of meat, she had wounds all over her body.
“Ugh...” Nephteros opened her golden eyes with a groan.
“Nephteros, what happened?”
“Big Bro...?” Nephteros said as she shook her head and got up. Apparently her wounds weren’t all that deep. And by that point, Nephy also caught up with them.
“Are you alright? I’ll heal you...”
“Heal...? Oh, I’m fine! More importantly, what about Foll!?”
Zagan and Nephy exchanged glances.
“What do you mean? Were you with Foll?”
“That child was attacked by something...” Nephteros began muttering as she searched through her memories.
“By something, you mean that monster?” Zagan asked.
“No, that’s wrong. This is just a guess... but I think it was Alshiera,” Nephteros replied upon having the mountain of meat pointed out to her.
“Just a guess? You didn’t see her face or anything?”
“She was covered by a sort of black fog. I couldn’t really tell,” Nephteros said as she grabbed her shoulders and began trembling as she drew back as if trying to get away from the mass of meat. Then, she continued, “I had the same sense of discomfort when I was swallowed by the Demon Lord. I tried to save Foll... but she couldn’t be...” Nephteros trailed off as she lost consciousness.
Zagan’s heart started to pound out of worry for his daughter. And, as he stared at his enemy, several bats wrapped around the mountain of meat. It looked like they were sinking their fangs into it as the bats tore several chunks of it away, which revealed Foll wrapped in what appeared to be a rib.
“Foll!” Zagan screamed. She was far enough away that his voice wouldn’t reach her, but Foll faintly opened her eyes, looked at him, and moved her lips.
S A V E M E
Zagan could definitely tell that was what she was trying to say. However, at that exact moment, the mass of meat began moving as if it had just woken up.
“Barbatos! Take Chastille along and save Foll!” Zagan slammed his fist into the ground as he barked out those commands. Even in his weakened state, a small fissure formed in the bedrock at the bottom of the ocean. And in response, the shadow at his feet wriggled.
“... Tch, fine. You ready, crybaby?”
“Don’t call me crybaby. If I don’t put in some work at times like this, I’ll never finish repaying my debt.”
Crossing over the shadows, Chastille and Barbatos emerged directly above where Foll was trapped.
“Shine — Sacred Sword Azrael!” Chastille roared as her Sacred Sword cast a light and tore apart the bone and meat surrounding Foll’s body.
“Now Barbatos!”
Foll’s body was now detached from the meat, so Barbatos stretched out his hand, but...
“Whoa, the hell!?”
An enormous claw pierced out through the meat, which made Barbatos take evasive action.
Huh? It changed form...? Left with no foothold, Chastille began descending the mountain of flesh.
“Chastille! Don’t fucking touch it! This is bad!” Barbatos exclaimed. However, Chastille wasn’t a sorcerer. Plus, they were at the bottom of the ocean, so she had no means of preventing her descent... Luckily, Zagan didn’t throw them in without a plan.
“Master Zagan, that’s...” Nephy gulped as she noticed the irregularity. The fissure that Zagan formed with his fist began stretching out and chased after Barbatos and Chastille as if it had a will of its own. Looking at it again, it seemed to almost look like a massive magic circle.
“Heaven’s Scale Snowfield,” Zagan called out that name, and the magic circle engraved at the bottom of the ocean began shining as countless lights appeared around the mountain of meat.
In my current form, I need an enormous magic circle to perform any sorcery... What a bother... This was the Snowfield that Zagan improved using Nephy’s advice. And if not for her input, he wouldn’t have been able to activate it as he was now. Zagan extended his snowfield to run beneath Chastille’s feet and caught her right before she touched that ominous mound.
“We’re falling back, Chastille,” Barbatos stated as he picked up Chastille, passed through the shadows, and appeared next to Zagan. However, in that mere instant, the mass of meat finished its transformation. And Zagan’s group was left completely speechless upon witnessing its completed form.
It had wings large enough that it felt like they covered the skies, jaws big enough that it looked like it could swallow houses whole, fangs peeking up from under its lips, and was covered in black scales. A black dragon.
“Black Dragon Marbas...?” Nephy muttered like she couldn’t believe her eyes, but Zagan had never heard that name before.
“What’s that?”
“Miss Lilith just told us a story about it. Marbas is a dragon in Liucaon’s legends that Foll’s father defeated...” Nephy
muttered. That was confusing. Why did the monster who swallowed Foll take that form?
No, that’s not it... Zagan pinned down his chest upon realizing the painful truth.
“That’s just Foll’s current dragon form. The blackness is likely my... or rather, the Sigil of the Archdemon’s color. It mixed with Foll’s power and took on that shape.”
“Then, you’re saying that’s also an extension of your curse?” Nephteros asked, gulping audibly as she heard his explanation.
“...We’ve been trying to keep the flow of power balanced this whole time, so something must have tipped the scales,” Zagan stated. This definitely wasn’t a natural occurrence. Something out there caused this.
Hm, is that thing different from the Demon Lord...? When he first saw it, he felt it was the same as the Demon Lord he fought on the boat. However, once it gained a form, it seemed far too different. There was also the possibility that Orobas fought something other than the Demon Lord in Raphael’s dreams. After all, none of them knew anything about the Demon Lord in the first place...
None of that matters now! Zagan shook his thoughts off and glared at the black dragon.
“I’ll have you return my daughter!” Zagan proclaimed. And then, the lights of the Snowfield converged onto a single point. This sorcery wasn’t completely developed. It was still just a stepping stone toward his true goal.
Take a good look, Foll. This is the power I meant to grant you! Zagan wove together something he designed for Foll alone.
“Heaven’s Scale Dragon Form!”
The lights suddenly took on the shape of a golden dragon. It seemed the thousands of lights that made up the snowfield were merely components that made up the Dragon Form. He was certain it would ensure his victory, but then something odd happened.
“Huh...?” Zagan mumbled as his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth all boiled over with blood.
“Master Zagan!” Nephy screamed as he collapsed to his knees without even understanding just what had happened. And after being caught by Nephy, he couldn’t even move a single finger.
“Hey, Zagan! What’s going on!? The hell’d that monster do!?” Barbatos exclaimed, demanding answers.
“...You’ve got it all wrong. The number of circuits he constructed surpassed his limit... This is what happens when you use sorcery after exhausting all your mana,” Nephteros responded. It had only been half a month since Nephteros was left on the verge of death due to her overuse of sorcery. And precisely because of that, her judgment was swift.
“Nephelia, treat him now! Your mysticism can handle it, right?”
“Okay!” Nephy replied as she embraced Zagan and closed her eyes to offer a prayer. And, as she did, her body glowed faintly and the pain building up in Zagan’s body lightened. This wasn’t sorcery, but mysticism.
I’m holding everyone back right now... Zagan wanted to lament his powerlessness, but found himself unable to even speak. He was falling into despair over being able to do nothing when his precious daughter was in mortal danger.
“Chastille, you take the front. I’ll amplify your Sacred Sword with my celestial mysticism,” Nephteros ordered as she started taking command of the situation.
“The technique that brought down the chimera, huh...? Are you certain it’ll work against a dragon?” Chastille asked. Though, honestly, they didn’t have any other options.
I shouldn’t have left Gremory and Kimaris behind... They were the only two people Zagan had taught Heaven’s Phosphor.
No, Foll would get caught up in Heaven’s Phosphor anyway... In any case, they were the only people not present that he could’ve relied on.
“[Thou art he who rules over terror. Accompanied by the god of war, become he who brings about—!]” Nephteros began chanting her celestial mysticism, but the black dragon interrupted her by flapping its wings. And that single flap turned the ocean currents into a whirlpool, causing a vortex of destruction that reduced even the huge rocks at the bottom of the sea to dust. That scene was just like...
“A tsunami inside the ocean...?” someone muttered in a trembling frightened tone. And, judging that her celestial mysticism wouldn’t cut it, Nephteros searched for other possible solutions.
“Barbatos!”
“It’s no good. Didn’t I say I can’t use the shadows well here!?”
The Holy Treasure of the sirens that protected their city obstructed sorcerers, preventing them from fully manifesting their power. That was why Zagan crumbled to the ground and couldn’t invoke his sorcery... It seemed they had no means of escaping the black dragon’s tsunami.
This is my fault... I never should’ve relied on them... They were all going to die because Zagan asked them for their help. If he had never done that, they would have been safe and sound. And, just as Zagan was overwhelmed by his own sense of powerlessness...
“Neptunia’s Ainselph so sings. Hear me, Holy Treasure, Neptune’s Tear!”
A dignified voice suddenly rang out of nowhere, followed by a melody with no words.
Is this... Selphy? Right when Zagan realized that, a whirling tide rose before the black dragon. And, as the slender whirlpool coiled around it like a tornado, the black dragon’s tsunami dissipated. However, it simply opened its jaws and began gathering mana in response.
Is it planning on unleashing its breath!? If it combined Foll’s mana with that of the Sigil of the Archdemon, then the entire town would be annihilated. Having failed to construct the Dragon Form, Zagan possessed no means of blocking it. Or at least, that should have been the case, but...
“I won’t let you do as you please in someone else’s home!”
The next one to fly out of the temple was Lilith, who had the mirror they were shown before in her hands. It was likely quite firm as a shield, but it was far too small to stop the breath of a dragon. However, in an unexpected turn, the light from the mirror spread out.
“In the name of the Silver-Eyed King, demonstrate your power. Holy Treasure, Hades’ Mirror!”
The light spread out as if to cover the entire temple, then transformed into something akin to an enormous crest in a magic circle. The black dragon’s breath collided it, breaking through it slowly. And yet, Lilith had a confident smile on her face.
“Have a taste of your own medicine!”
Immediately following that, a crest of light spread out directly above the black dragon, and a mass of mana descended down upon it.
It bent space and sent the breath back at it? Zagan finally understood why Lilith’s Holy Treasure looked like a mirror. Mirrors reflected light, much like how their Holy Treasure could distort mana and any physical substances.
And as the black dragon’s posture collapsed, Kuroka took the lead.
“Here we go... Moonless Sky!”
Kuroka’s paired sword seemingly resonated with the other two Holy Treasures. Light stretched out from them toward the heavens, like towers, and she swung them down right at the dragon’s neck.
“HAAAAAA!” Kuroka let out a yell, and her blades easily tore through the black scales, sending blackened blood bursting out. However, the one wielding those blades was Kuroka, who would never stop at a thin cut to the skin. And so, she moved to strike at its torso, then its neck. Without letting her swords’ momentum slow, she twisted her blade from its throat to its body, and unleashed a barrage of continuous strikes.
The miracle brought about by her twin swords of light resembled an enormous blooming flower. And before long, when Kuroka’s swords came to a stop, the black dragon collapsed to the ground with a thud.
These are Liucaon’s Holy Treasures... Upon witnessing the destructive power of Kuroka’s twin blades, Zagan felt that there may have been something in these lands that strengthened the power of the Holy Treasures. Or perhaps they were just stronger when used together. Whatever the case, they seemed to be far more powerful than Chastille or Raphael’s Sacred Swords.
“Please take a rest, Mister. It looks like I can finally pay you back here,” Kuroka said as sh
e lifted up her swords with a smile on her face.
“Yeah! I’ll, like, totally give it my all too! We can’t, like, have Mister Zagan do all the heavy lifting in our home!” Selphy added. Then, she pushed Lilith’s back and continued, “Come on, you too Lilith.”
“Huh? Um, I’m not trying to make up for failing to fulfill my promise or anything, but I’ll properly pay back the debt we owe you for lending us your power.”
With that, the three girls went on to challenge the black dragon.
“Come on, we have to help them. You aren’t just going to let a bunch of amateurs face that thing alone, are you?” Nephteros asked as she stood up and stuck her hand out to Chastille.
“I get it. You’ll accompany us, won’t you, Barbatos?”
“...Fine.”
The three of them joined in on the battle as well.
They’re all fighting, so why am I moping around? His daughter was begging for his help, but he couldn’t answer her hopes and was even clinging to his bride for comfort.
What the hell kind of parent am I!? Unfortunately, Zagan’s body had been torn to shreds already, so any attempt to move was in vain. His mana was flowing wildly in random directions, and even breathing sent pain shooting through his body to the point where he felt ready to faint. However, he couldn’t just remain in such a pathetic state.
“I’m... alright, Nephy... Go help them...” Zagan mumbled. There was more mana flowing at the bottom of the ocean than above land, which meant the power of spirits Nephy used was bound to be more effective. He was sure that her power would be more useful when it came to saving Foll, but Nephy embraced Zagan and wouldn’t let him go.
“...Master Zagan, I’m sorry,” Nephy replied in a regretful voice, then added, “To be honest, I thought it would be fine if your curse wasn’t dispelled.”
Nephy made that confession as if she had betrayed him.
An Archdemon's Dilemma: How to Love Your Elf Bride: Volume 6 Page 18
