Demon Sword Master of the Holy Sword Academy - Volume 7 - Chapter 8

CHAPTER 8

THE DARK LORDS BATTLE

The crimson dragon sailed into the horizon, leaving a trail of flames in her wake. Her draconic instincts detected the massive being approaching from afar.

She doesn’t even try to hide her presence. The arrogance.

The ocean stirred beneath. At this pace, Veira didn’t expect to meet the enemy for at least another two days. Yet despite that distance, Rivaiz’s influence on the ocean could still be felt.

In all my years, I’ve never had a serious battle with the Lord of the Seas.

Rivaiz was known as the strongest Dark Lord in terms of individual combat abilities. Just what kind of powers did she possess…?

Crack…

A fissure formed in the air directly ahead of the Dragon Lord.

Crack, crack, crack, crack!

The fractures in space soon covered the sky, and a repulsive shadow crept out of the hole they formed. A monster of emptiness shrouded in miasma—a Void. Veira hadn’t known that she’d flown over one of several Void territories that dotted the ocean. Her draconic instincts informed her of the danger, though.

“A nest of those monsters…!”

A more cautious human would have tried to go around the Void territory. An animal would have been spurred to do so on instinct. However, Veira was the Dragon Lord—the strongest of her kind.

“—Irritating creatures. I’ll reduce you to ashes!”

Bwoooooooosh!

Flame surged, burning countless Voids away in the blink of an eye.

Crack, crack, crack…!

More tears formed in space, and the monsters of emptiness continued to emerge from them nonstop, heedless of their comrades’ deaths.

“I don’t have time for you fools!”

“Grohhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”

A howl echoed through the sky. With a flap of her wings, the dragon soared into the swarm of Voids. Gnashing her sharp fangs, she crushed the creatures. Her claws, enveloped in flame, tore into the larger monsters, and her mighty tail bashed their heads. Jets of fire illuminated the night sky, dying the ocean’s surface red.

“…There’s no end to them! Where do these vermin keep coming from?!”

The Voids’ numbers were startling, and no matter how many Veira defeated, they kept coiling around her draconic body, trying to knock her down into the water.

But then…

“Celestial Stars in the Heaven, Judges and Executioners to the Haughty—,” a voice could be heard from somewhere.

…countless powerful magic circles formed in the sky.

“Tenth-order large-area destructive spell—Zemexis Jyura!”

Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom…!

Meteors rained down on all the Voids, wiping them out. Gigantic pillars of water erupted as the sea boiled.

Veira looked up with a snarl, where she saw…

“Hmph. I’ve finally caught up to you. Perhaps I owe these monstrous Voids a word of thanks for slowing you down.”

…a boy holding a staff. He rode atop a skull dragon’s head and looked down at her arrogantly.

“…What are you doing here, Leo?!” Veira’s dragon form shouted at him in the draconic tongue.

“I’ll be coming along. You can’t beat the Lord of the Seas on your own.”

“I refuse. This is my personal battle, as ruler of the Azure Hold.”

“No. This has piqued my interest. I’m curious, not of the Lord of the Seas, but of the one who dominated your mind. They might possess some information on the whereabouts of Roselia’s reincarnated body. Besides, it’d be troublesome if you were mind controlled and went berserk again.”

“…Th-that was just because I was careless!”

“Hmph. We don’t have time to bicker, Veira. More enemies are coming…!”

More tears opened around them, and Voids slithered out. Leonis kicked off his skull dragon’s snout and threw himself into a freefall before landing on Veira’s back with a thud.

“Wh-what are you doing?!” Veira protested. “Riding on the Dragon Lord’s back like I’m some kind of mule?! Blasphemy!”

“My skull dragon isn’t swift enough, but if I borrow the lauded Dragon Lord’s speed, I might make it back in time for the Holy Sword Dance Festival.” Leonis produced a pitch-black bridle from his shadow and wrapped it around Veira’s neck. It was a divine tool for harnessing all manner of demonic beasts.

“You think you can control me with this thing?” the Dragon Lord snapped.

“No, it just helps set the mood,” Leonis replied coolly.

“…I’ll shake you off.”

“That sounds like fun. Try it if you can. However…” Leonis directed his attention to the swarm of Voids before them. “We need to take care of these pests first!”

Gentle rays of sunlight shone in through the window.

“Mmf… Mmmfleo…?”

Lying atop her soft, fluffy bed, Riselia hugged her pillow tightly. Still half asleep, she sank her small fangs into the pillow. She wouldn’t get any blood from it, but kept at it anyhow.

After biting the pillow for some time, she woke up with a start. Leonis was nowhere to be seen.

Right, he left.

Riselia hugged and buried her face in the pillow. She then glanced at her terminal, but there were no records of his position. He was somewhere the mana network couldn’t reach.

He’s doing fine, right…?

She’d pushed him to aid Veira, yet now she felt anxious. The thought of him embarking on some dangerous battle was an unpleasant one. Maybe if she’d begged him not to go, he’d have stayed behind with her.

Shaking her head to stave off the unpleasantness, Riselia rose from bed. She changed from her sleeping gown to her academy uniform and checked her schedule. Only six days remained until the Holy Sword Dance Festival began.

I should prepare formations that don’t use Leo, in case he doesn’t make it back in time…

She left for the shared kitchen to make herself some hot milk. However, something rustled in the kitchen.

“…?”

Riselia regarded the noise dubiously. Elfiné had rented out the entire floor for them, after all.

Maybe Regina’s making breakfast? Riselia thought. It was dark yet, though—too early for breakfast.

“Regina?”

“Om nom non nom…”

“…”

There was Leonis, clad in his uniform, munching on doughnuts. Sakuya had bought those doughnuts as a present yesterday, and the paper bag was currently open in his hands.

“L-Leo?! Wh-wh-wh-what are you doing?!”

“Mha?!” Leonis jumped at Riselia’s shout and tumbled off the footstool he was sitting on.

“A-are you all right…? I mean, what are you doing here? What’s going on?” Although still confused, Riselia reached out to help Leonis to his feet.

“…Ah, erm…I am…fine…Miss Riselia,” Leonis answered clumsily.

There was clearly something off about the way he spoke. Leonis’s response felt oddly different from how he usually acted. After all, he never called her Riselia. To him, she was Selia.

“You’re not Leo,” she stated right away.

“Wh-what are you talking about, Miss Riselia?” Leonis asked evasively, averting his gaze.

“Leo always calls me ‘Selia,’” Riselia pointed out.

“Ah…” Leonis looked flustered, having realized his mistake.

It was obvious this was an impostor from how much he fidgeted when questioned. Riselia peered at the copycat suspiciously.

The fake Leonis gave up and sighed. “…Fine. It appears I’ve been had.” Getting to his feet, he straightened out his uniform and coughed dryly. “I am my lor—I mean, Leonis’s subordinate.”

“Leo’s subordinate?” Riselia echoed. She knew he called upon bone monsters at times. After all her training, Riselia was very familiar with the Three Champions of Rognas. But based on the way this person spoke, they weren’t one of those skeletal warriors.

“I have been ordered to act as my lor—as Leonis’s body double until he returns.”

“His body double…” Riselia nodded, convinced.

Leonis did occasionally use bone dolls to take his place. Mostly to skip out on lectures at Excalibur Academy.

He probably thinks I didn’t notice, though.

“And in the event he doesn’t return in time for the Holy Sword Dance Festival, I am to participate in his place,” Leonis’s body double explained.

“Oh?” That part was a surprise to Riselia.

It seemed Leonis had planned for every contingency and taken measures in case of his absence.

“Understood.” Riselia held out her hand. “Let’s do our best to work together, then.”

“…” Leonis’s body double stared at Riselia’s palm for a moment. “Thank you, Miss Selia.”

The body double shook Riselia’s hand in a very reluctant manner.

He dreamed.

It was a vision of the time before he became the Undead King, when he was still a human boy. One day, he was charged with the mission of slaying a vile dragon and arrived at the Demon Dragon’s Mountain Range.

Just as he successfully slew a vile dragon, thunder crackled all around him, and she appeared before his eyes. A crimson dragon sailing proudly over the storm clouds.

The boy was exhausted and powerless. To him, that sight was the very symbol of death. Yet the moment he laid eyes on that dragon, a single thought crossed his mind.

What a…beautiful creature.

The dragon landed before the beaten and bruised child and opened its gaping maw. Leonis was prepared to die. But at the same time, he thought…

Maybe perishing to one so lovely isn’t that bad…

Perhaps she found his lack of fear in the face of death strange. Maybe it was just a whim. Whatever the reason, the dragon flew off.

Later on, Leonis’s master told him that dragon was the greatest on the peaks.

That moment may have been the boy’s first love.

It was a story from before she became a Dark Lord, and she likely didn’t remember it anymore.

“Nn… Ugh…”

Leonis awoke to the bright light of dawn. Strong sunlight wouldn’t have roused him when he was undead.

My word. A human body can be so inconvenient, Leonis grumbled. The only way to stave off fatigue in this form was to sleep. And sleep means experiencing meaningless dreams.

He and Veira had spent forty-eight hours flying over the ocean. This was the third time he’d seen the sun emerge on the horizon. He protected himself with a barrier of wind and used his shadow to stick himself in place, so there was no risk of falling off Veira, but a dragon’s back wasn’t exactly a comfortable place to sleep. Leonis sat up on Veira’s hard, rough scales.

I hope Shary’s doing well.

With the Three Champions of Rognas stationed at the Seventh Assault Garden, Shary was the only one he could rely on to serve as his body double for prolonged periods of time. Shary herself seemed quite pleased with the prospect of being free to eat Regina’s sweets, though.

Leonis doubted she’d be exposed, yet he couldn’t help feeling anxious.

“Are you up, Leo?” Veira spoke to him in the draconic language.

“Yes. I had a dream of the past.”

“…A dream?”

“Of the day I first saw you.”

“You mean the Dark Lords’ Armies formation ceremony. The Six Dark Lords gathered before the goddess’s altar and—”

“No. Not then.”

“Was there a time before that…?” Veira asked pensively.

“If you don’t remember, that’s fine.” Leonis shrugged.

“What are you saying? Well, forget it, we’re almost there—”

“Yes…” Leonis got to his feet atop Veira’s back.

He could see a vast landmass growing nearer. On second glance, he realized it wasn’t a landmass.

“I hope you’re ready, Leo,” Veira said with an indomitable smirk.

“Of course I am,” Leonis said, summoning the Staff of Sealed Sins from the Realm of Shadows. “I can fight without restraint. No need to worry about being seen here.”

“Grohhhhhhhhhhhh!” Veira roared to mark the beginning of the fight.

It was as if the sea itself had a will of its own and was preparing to swallow the world. Its full length was imposing enough to match an Assault Garden’s linking float. Tendrils, reminiscent of a squid’s, writhed.

A destructive calamity that had consumed the ancient world’s fleets in a single night.

“Rivaiz Deep Sea.” Leonis muttered the Dark Lord’s name with a hint of respect in his voice.

Circling in the sky, Veira approached the gigantic shadow charging through the water. The Lord of the Seas was surely aware of them but didn’t seem to change her actions.

“Is she just going to wait and see? Then let’s greet her, shall we?” Leonis said. Mana converged at the top of his staff. “Eighth-order fire spell—Al Gu Belzelga!”

Bwoooooosh!

A direct hit. Leonis’s spell burst over Rivaiz’s body. Pillars of fire billowed up with a rumbling sound. However, the Lord of the Seas didn’t seem fazed in the slightest. She simply continued on her way.

“It didn’t do anything,” Veira commented.

“That’s absurd! There’s nothing to indicate she erected any defensive spells!”

The heat of Leonis’s attack had carbonized parts of Rivaiz’s body, but she swiftly regenerated.

“This is going to get me nowhere… Veira, let’s go for a saturation attack!”

Veira answered Leonis’s call with a howl. She entered a nosedive toward the Lord of the Seas, breathing incandescent dragon fire. The crimson flames burned the water’s surface.

“Darkness, reduce my foes to ashes—tenth-order destruction spell, Azram!”

Bwoooooosh!

“Belze Farga!”

Leonis called upon the strongest spells in his arsenal, adding a series of explosion spells to the mix. Clouds of smoke hid the Lord of the Seas from sight.

“Don’t let her regenerate! Hit her with everything you’ve got!” Leonis cried.

“I know…!” Veira answered.

She soared up into the air and began chanting in the draconic language.

“Flames of ruin, heralds of world’s end! Ye fools, hear my roar—Dei Argh Dragray!”

A bright, shining beam of light blotted out the world.

Bwooooooooooooooosh!

The wind raged, and Leonis felt waves of heat wash over his skin. The sea seethed at once, evaporating into white stream.

“Hmph. How do you like th—”

Slash!

A blade of ice came flying and cut into one of Veira’s wings.

“Veira?!” Leonis exclaimed.

“…I’m fine! Hang on to my scales, Leo!”

Rivaiz’s tentacles loosed a barrage of spells, forcing Veira to avoid the storm of ice blades by making sharp turns in the air. The mana-laced frozen projectiles had been produced by a sixth-order spell—Sharia Shiez. And while a dragon’s scales could deflect almost any spell, they weren’t capable of completely blocking physical cuts.

Leonis clung to his shadow for dear life, struggling not to fall off. Veira went from nosedives to sudden ascents to sharp turns, making the inner parts of Leonis’s ears scream in pain.

“Ngaaaahh!”

“Leo, counterattack!”

“…Don’t ask me for the impossible!”

Even if his body was reinforced by sorcery, he was still a ten-year-old. He could further bolster himself using Blackas’s dark flames, but since the prince was still recovering, he’d left him to guard the capital.

Blades of ice that looked like translucent glass skimmed the red dragon’s scales, cutting some free and sending them flying before they turned to flame and vanished.

“…Don’t underestimate me!” Veira roared.

Shaking her head wildly, she loosed a horizontal barrage of fire. Rivaiz’s charred tentacles fell into the water, kicking up great plumes. Yet those severed limbs restored themselves almost immediately.

“We’re getting nowhere! Let’s go…!” Veira exclaimed.

“You’re going to charge her?!” Leonis exclaimed in disbelief.

“Yes. I’ll gouge out her heart in one go…!”

Veira spread her wings and raced forward. The wind howled in Leonis’s ears as they rapidly approached the Lord of the Seas.

This is reckless, but she’s right. We won’t stand a chance at this distance.

Holding the Staff of Sealed Sins in one hand, Leonis began chanting spells. He used an explosive third-order spell, Farga, to create a smoke screen. Concealed by the blasts, Veira continued her dive.

The Azure Hold hasn’t appeared.

Leonis looked all around. The hostilities were well underway, but the true opponent hadn’t appeared yet.

Are they observing from afar?

Perhaps they were hanging back to gauge Leonis’s power, as he was an unexpected participant in this battle. Either way, Rivaiz had to be eliminated before they came to help her.

The Dragon Lord swept over Rivaiz’s gigantic form, gouging into it with her claws. Leonis hopped off Veira’s back and landed on the sea monster’s body. But the moment he did, countless tentacles spouted and rushed at him.

“Frozen death, ye shadowy blades—Shaze Refisca!”

Leonis swept the Staff of Sealed Sins horizontally, unleashing a flurry of keen darkness that silently cut away the tentacles. Veira then breathed again, incinerating the limbs as they attempted to mend themselves.

“Come forth, Zolgstar Mezekis!”

Leonis held up his staff, forming a magic circle over his head. Innumerable swords appeared in the air. These were fragments of Zolgstar Mezekis, one of the Arc Seven, the Dark Lord–slaying weapons, which Leonis had shattered during his battle with Veira. He’d used sorcery to melt and reforge them into these weapons.

They were inferior, mass-produced versions of one of the Arc Seven. But even weakened as they were, they were still part of a weapon produced by the Luminous Powers to combat Dark Lords. Leonis swung down his arm, and…

Slash, slash, slash, slash, slash!

Thirteen swords enveloped in a malevolent glow stabbed into Rivaiz.

“Black lightning, smite down my foe—Vraz Go!”

An eighth-order lightning spell, the Cursed Lightning Storm.

“—Drag Deiraima!” Veira followed up his spell by launching a lightning spell of her own in draconic speech.

Black electricity joined with white. Balls of plasma burst with a deafening sound, and then…

“Ooh, ohhhhhhhhhhhh… Nng…!”

A moan issued from the horizon, as though the sea itself groaned. It wasn’t the sound of death, but a war cry. An animalistic roar meant to intimidate an enemy.

“Here she comes,” Leonis said.

“Yes,” Veira growled from the depths of her throat. She could tell that the strongest Dark Lord had fully awakened.

A mass of flesh as large as a gigantic island undulated and throbbed, producing a bud of sinister-looking tentacles. They unfurled like a disgusting flower. And at the heart of this blossom was a girl.

Blue eyes as cold as the absolute zero of the ocean floor. Amethyst-colored hair, slightly glowing with mana.

“You finally show yourself…,” Leonis whispered with a dauntless smile.

This was Rivaiz Deep Sea’s true form. However, calling it her original form would be more apt. A sea sprite girl and a gigantic leviathan. The latter were sea monsters that stood at the apex of all life. They were capable of swallowing up anything in creation but lacked intelligence. Meanwhile, sea sprites were graced with high intellect and mana, yet they were physically frail creatures.

It was a combination of those two creatures that became known as the strongest Dark Lord.

“The Dragon Lord and…a human child?” The amethyst-haired sprite, Rivaiz, regarded Leonis with raised eyebrows. “Who are you?”

“I have no obligation to answer. Al Gu Belzelga!”

Leonis chanted the strongest eighth-order fire spell he knew, as if to say he wasn’t going to bother with words. Massive fireballs surged in a spiral, consuming the tentacle flower and Rivaiz.

“Wintertide of swords, frozen blades of demonic ice—Sharianos!”

There came an incantation like a song.

“…?!”

The flames were snuffed, and a flurry of razor-sharp ice sped at the boy.

“Leo!” Veira moved to take the blow for Leonis.

“Grahhhhhhhhhhh!”

Veira’s scales shone with incandescent heat, evaporating the deadly ice.

“Get on, Leo!”

Leonis immediately jumped to Veira’s back, and the Dragon Lord kicked off against the leviathan’s rumbling form and took to the skies.

“I’ll give this girl a taste of the Dragon Lord’s strongest spell!” Veira snarled.

Leonis stopped her, though. “Wait. There’s something odd about the ocean.”

Rivaiz extended her hands to the sky and began chanting a song in the fae language. As though in reply, several massive tornadoes of water formed in the air.

“What?!” Veira exclaimed.

These were no ordinary twisters, of course. Each of them was charged with vast amounts of mana. And the next moment, the tornadoes all moved to converge on Veira and Leonis, like hunters pouncing on prey.

“Al Gu Belzelga!” Leonis hurled another powerful fire spell in retaliation. However, the crimson flames were swallowed by the tornadoes.

“What?!” Leonis exclaimed.

“Hang on tight, Leo!” Veira spread her wings wide, darting and turning to avoid the twisters.

The raging pillars of water had a greater attack range than expected, though, and they mercilessly gouged into Veira’s wings.

They can cut through a dragon’s wings with a mere touch?!

These tornadoes must have been a unique, personal spell formed from Rivaiz’s vast mana. Were they caught up in that, Veira would likely survive, but Leonis’s chances were far worse.

Glancing down, Leonis saw Rivaiz continuing her chant. The ocean heaved, and more water cyclones formed.

If I could use Dáinsleif, I’d be able to cut them down along with the leviathan itself, but…

That weapon was bound by the goddess’s contract. It couldn’t be drawn against other Dark Lords.

A large-scale, top-class destructive spell might be effective against her…

The issue was, Rivaiz wasn’t giving Leonis the time to invoke any magic. Both of his greatest weapons were unusable.

This is a deadlock…

It was then that Leonis recalled he possessed another power. The only question was whether he could actually call upon it now.

Veira flew through the air, weaving between the approaching water tornadoes. Razor-like liquid flew over Leonis’s head.

“This is bad,” Veira said, all the confidence gone from her voice. “We’re surrounded.”

Veira, with her dragon’s high magic resistance, could force her way through those tornadoes without much effort. She knew that Leonis was more fragile, however, and thus she ignored that option.

This is a pretty unfavorable gamble. Still, Leonis made his choice. Their only means of survival was his mysterious new power. Leonis tossed the Staff of Sealed Sins into his shadow.

“Leo?” Veira questioned, puzzled by her fellow Dark Lord’s actions.

“Veira, I need you to buy me some time.”

“Do you have a plan that can beat her?”

“It’s probably too loose to be called a plan. But I think it’s worth betting on.”

“Really? Well, I do love gambling,” Veira replied, something like a smile in her tone.

Crimson mana enveloped Veira’s gigantic form. She sped up, avoiding the tornadoes closing in from every direction.

Meanwhile, Leonis fixed his feet to his shadow, closed his eyes, and concentrated. His life was already in Veira’s hands, so whether he saw what was coming or not was pointless. He brought his hands together and imagined its shape forming in his right hand.

His Holy Sword—the weapon he used to defeat Shardark Void Lord.

“Hmm… Well, you need to imagine it in your head. The shape of the Holy Sword and the way you would look holding it. Like, aiyah!”

Recalling how his minion had tried her hardest to explain it to him, Leonis couldn’t help cracking a wry smile.

It was a pistol, a different sort of firearm from Regina’s Holy Sword. This one could be gripped in a single hand. The first time Leonis saw a weapon like it was when he met Riselia in the Grand Mausoleum. Her back had been turned to him, argent hair flowing. A frail, weak human bravely stood to defend Leonis from the Voids, even though she’d only just met him. In her hand had been a mass-produced weapon based on Holy Swords.

When I fought Shardark, I wished for power from the bottom of my heart… The power to save Riselia Crystalia…!

“Activate!”

In answer to Leonis’s cry, something formed in his outstretched hand. Luminous motes converged, forming his Holy Sword.

It worked…

He could feel its weighty texture in his grip. It appeared unchanged from the last time he’d seen it. Shining blue letters were carved into its barrel, inscribing his Holy Sword with the name Excalibur XX.

Double X… A double contract, perhaps?

If so, then what did those agreements refer to? Who were they between?

Whether the name carried any significant meaning was still unknown, and there would be time for deducing that later. Leonis leveled his Holy Sword at Rivaiz Deep Sea below.

“Veira!” he shouted.

Realizing his intent, Veira swooped down into a nosedive. Weaving between the water tornadoes, she closed in on Rivaiz, who was standing at the leviathan’s center. All the mana in Leonis’s body converged in the gun barrel’s tip.

Seeing Leonis hold up his Holy Sword, Rivaiz narrowed her eyes. Perhaps she sensed something.

“Lord of the Seas! Feel the power of my Holy Sword!”

Booooom!

The shot lanced forth, and a white mana glow overtook Leonis’s field of vision. It bore a gigantic hole in the leviathan’s massive body. Sizzling blood flowed like lava into the surrounding sea.

“Haah, haah… Nng, haah…,” Leonis breathed out painfully.

The sea sprite girl was nowhere to be found. The rumbling, swirling water tornadoes began to fall apart.

“You did it, Leo…,” Veira said. “What was that power, anywa—”

“No. Not yet,” Leonis cut in, his eyes fixed upon the crater beneath.

Rivaiz had realized the power of Leonis’s Holy Sword and retreated into the leviathan’s body. She hadn’t escaped completely unharmed, however.

Veira landed atop the leviathan. Tentacles whipped out to intercept her, but she easily slashed and chopped them away.

“We can’t let her recover. We need to finish her off while we can.”

Bwooooosh!

Gigantic shadows appeared in the water around Leonis and Veira—quadruped dragons made entirely of water.

“Sea dragons?!” Leonis exclaimed.

“No. These are minions of the Lord of the Seas,” Veira clarified.

They were Origin Spirits that guarded Rivaiz’s Underwater Stronghold. Each of them individually was as strong as one of the Luminous Powers’ subordinate gods, placing them on the same level as Raijinki, the Sakura Orchid guardian deity whom Leonis had fought in the Seventh Assault Garden.

“This is bothersome.” The shot from his Holy Sword had greatly depleted Leonis’s mana.

“I’ll handle them,” Veira said. “You go after Rivaiz.”

“Very well.” Leonis nodded and threw himself into the crater.

The interior of the leviathan’s gigantic body rumbled eerily. Using a gravity spell, Leonis slowed his descent.

This Holy Sword’s power is much too challenging to control.

During the battle with Shardark, Leonis had unconsciously focused all his power into the attack, but this time, he was more cautious. Even so, his body screamed in pain and exhaustion.

Instructors at Excalibur Academy asserted that using a Holy Sword consumed the power of one’s soul. Describing it as such was terribly vague, illustrating how little humanity understood about Holy Swords.

Excalibur XX seemed to be a Holy Sword that drew upon mana, but that wasn’t the only thing it consumed. Leonis couldn’t tell if the other thing was his soul or his mental fortitude.

It’s ironic that I, who once lost my soul and became undead, was granted such a weapon.

Leonis finally reached the bottom of the chasm his attack had gouged into the leviathan. The stench of burnt flesh hung heavily in the air.

“Holy Swords—weapons given to humanity to fight the Voids.”

Leonis stopped in his tracks when he heard those words. Through the darkness, he spied a girl with amethyst-colored hair watching him expressionlessly. Her watery raiment was torn, and she was covered in wounds.

“What are you?” she demanded. “Are you…human?”

Leonis took a step forward, not bothering to answer. “Lord of the Seas, why have you returned? Who’s pulling your strings?”

“It is I who am asking the questions here, insolent human…!”

A silvery light flashed for only a moment. Leonis reacted on reflex, moving to evade.

“…?!”

A shallow cut appeared on his shoulder, sending blood spurting from the wound.

…Was that her raiment?!

The watery garment hanging over the girl’s body had become transparent blades, which shot forward to slash him.

“Tch…”

Leonis immediately began firing his Holy Sword in rapid succession. After repelling Rivaiz’s attacks, he jumped back.

Wasn’t Rivaiz unskilled in close-quarters combat…?

Leonis groaned and took a sharp breath. He hadn’t thought using Excalibur XX would exhaust him this much.

Still, she’s wary of my Holy Sword. That much is for sure.

In other words, this Holy Sword was a weapon capable of defeating the Lord of the Seas.

Rivaiz swung an arm, and her raiment became an invisible sword, which sped toward Leonis. Again, he fired repeatedly. Sparks popped in the air between the two Dark Lords.

The water blade protected her?!

It seemed this raiment was made to defend its wearer automatically, regardless of its master’s will. It was likely a powerful item similar to Riselia’s Bloody Sword.

“Then let’s give it more opponents to defend against.”

Leonis chanted his personal spell, Create Undead Army. Magic circles formed around him, summoning an army of undead—Elite Skeleton Warriors, Elite Skeleton Knights, Elite Skeleton Assassins, and Elite Skeleton Hounds.

“Fool. Deploying such weak troops against me is meaningless!”

The invisible water blades shot forth, crushing the undead fighters. Countless bones shattered. However, this was exactly as Leonis had intended.

“True. But your raiment will have to react to every single one of those soldiers, won’t it?” Leonis remarked as he sprinted forward, firing his Holy Sword nonstop.

“What…?!”

If Leonis’s soldiers truly were weak cannon fodder, the water raiment wouldn’t have acknowledged them as a threat. While these skeletons were no match for the Three Champions of Rognas, they were still elite undead, and all of them were equipped with mass-produced copies of an Arc Seven.

Imitations of Zolgstar Mezekis were unquestionably weaker, but Rivaiz was injured. Even facsimiles of an authentic piece of the Arc Seven would be enough to wound her. Leonis used her raiment’s traits against her.

A water blade nicked Leonis’s neck, but he only ran faster.

“Hrahhhhhhhhhh!”

He fired repeatedly and without taking the time to aim properly. The raiment’s attacks were broken, and shots were deflected with a flash. By using the skeleton soldiers as shields, Leonis gradually stripped Rivaiz Deep Sea of her defenses, pushing closer all the while.

Lord of the Seas, in the past you were certainly the strongest of the Dark Lords. Leonis sneered as he crept closer to her. But that title is by now a thing of the past.

The Undead King, Leonis Death Magnus, had known many defeats. They had granted him an awareness of his weaknesses and the capability to overcome them.

You grew far too confident in the leviathan’s absolute power and, in your conceit, neglected to push yourself further.

“Eighth-order spell, Argh Varheiz!” Rivaiz chanted.

A massive whirlpool of water, capable of cutting through anything, ripped into Leonis’s flesh. However, crimson flames erupted out from under his torn uniform! A red, glowing dragon scale deflected the eighth-order spell…!

This scale carried powerful magic resistance, for it belonged to Veira Dragon Lord! Leonis had taken it during the aerial battle and hid it underneath his clothes.

“…?!”

Rivaiz’s eyes widened, with shock and marvel.

“Your conceit is why you will lose, Lord of the Seas!”

Loading the last of his mana into Excalibur XX, Leonis unleashed his final shot.

Leonis resurfaced to the sight of Veira ripping into an Origin Spirit with her fangs. The creature shaped like a water dragon disappeared with an agonized roar. Leonis had hurried back with the intent to help the Dragon Lord, but evidently, that was unnecessary.

Noticing Leonis’s presence, Veira let out a victorious roar.

“Did you defeat Rivaiz, Leo?”

“Yes. I couldn’t annihilate her completely, but she won’t be doing much of anything for a long time,” Leonis explained.

He’d never intended to slay her. There was still the matter of who was pulling her strings, after all.

With Rivaiz defeated, the leviathan stopped moving. They couldn’t very well leave it here unattended, but if they attacked it now, it could go berserk, and that would be troublesome.

Just as it seemed the battle was over at last…

…Leonis heard a shattering sound, like a fissure running through glass.

Crack, crack, crack, crack…!

A massive crack had formed in the sky.

“Leo, that’s…,” Veira growled.

“So they’ve decided to make an appearance at last,” Leonis muttered, confident.

A massive, deep-blue-colored structure emerged from the tear in space. The Azure Hold—Veira Dragon Lord’s castle—had arrived.

However, the palace had not arrived alone. A lone figure floated ahead of it, a middle-aged man with a grizzled air about him. He peered down at the pair of Dark Lords with the sharp eyes of a hawk.

Gasping, Veira cautioned, “Leo, that’s him.”

“…”

The words went unheeded, for Leonis was staring wide-eyed in disbelief at this hovering man. He’d seen this person’s visage once before, at Riselia’s estate in the Third Assault Garden.

It can’t be! How…? Why would this man be here…?!

Duke Crystalia—Edward Ray Crystalia.

The one who arrived with the Azure Hold was the spitting image of Riselia’s father.