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

PROLOGUE

“…It can’t be. Rivaiz Deep Sea, the Lord of the Seas?!” The Dragon Lord’s voice echoed through the empty chamber.

The girl standing opposite Veira—the true master of the Azure Hold—stared her down coldly.

“What brings you here, Dragon Lord?” she asked silently. “As I recall, you were struck down by the Six Heroes, and your carcass was left behind to freeze in the tundra…”

“Huh?” Something menacing shone in Veira’s eyes as she narrowed them at the throne and its occupant. “I should be the one asking you that question.”

Veira’s gaze was intense enough to snuff out a lesser being, yet Rivaiz remained unbothered. She returned the Dragon Lord’s stare with one of her own that could freeze all in creation. Her amethyst-colored hair gave off a faint phosphorescent glow.

A water-colored mantle was draped upon Rivaiz’s dainty limbs, granting her an ethereal appearance. However frail she seemed, no ordinary being could withstand the Dragon Lord’s murderous ire head-on.

No chance of her being a fake, then. Veira gritted her teeth.

There was no mistaking it. The girl sitting on that throne was her peer, one of the eight Dark Lords who sowed chaos and destruction across the world. She was the ruler of the demonic oceans, and a monstrous embodiment of a cataclysm. Such was Rivaiz Deep Sea, the Lord of the Seas.

What is she doing in my Azure Hold? Veira pondered as she watched the usurper of her throne cautiously.

How had the defeated Lord of the Seas returned?

I suppose it’s not so strange. Leo and I survived, after all.

Considering Rivaiz’s exceptional powers, it was baffling that the Six Heroes had bested her in combat to begin with. However, this begged a question: Was she friend or foe to Veira now?

Once, they had been united beneath the Goddess of Rebellion’s banner. Following the demise of the former Dark Lord, Zol Vadis, the new Dark Lords were rivals who competed for dominion. They all sought to take each other’s lives. It was that constant infighting that allowed the Six Heroes and the human forces to defeat the Dark Lords’ Armies.

But Rivaiz and I never competed much.

Veira’s base of operations had been situated in the Demon Dragon’s Mountain Range. No realm could have been more dissimilar from Rivaiz’s. Thus, the Dragon Lord and the Lord of the Seas clashed only on rare occasions.

Just what is she thinking?

Veira had never been able to anticipate Rivaiz’s thoughts. Her face was like a frozen mask, completely devoid of emotion. With no better option, Veira’s only option was to ask directly.

“What are you doing here? The Azure Hold is my castle.”

The Lord of the Seas shook her head slowly. “This is your castle no longer. I have taken this abandoned ruin into my possession.”

“Do you intend to make a fool of me?!” Flame burst to life, and Veira’s crimson hair billowed with it, embers blowing from her locks and dropping to the stone floor. “This is a castle of the dragonkin! The place my minions guarded with their very lives—”

“You were never the rightful owner of the Azure Hold to begin with,” Rivaiz interjected.

“What?” Veira snarled. “And you are?”

Rivaiz shook her head. “…Nay.”

“Huh? What are you saying—?”

Before Veira could finish, the girl on the throne raised her hand gently.

“Sharianos.”

“…?!”

A flurry of countless ice blades assailed Veira, who instinctually defended herself by enveloping her arm in fire and swatting the attack away. The ice blades evaporated into thin air. Veira’s crimson hair raged, casting a heat shimmer around her.

“You fool… Do you want me to reduce you to ashes?” the Dragon Lord spat.

“Your presence here is a violation of providence,” the frigid beauty replied. “I must advance my plans.”

Veira cocked an eyebrow. “What plans?”

Vrrrnnnn! Vrrr, vrrr, vrrr!

Intense tremors shook the chamber as though in reply. Countless tendrils burst from under the stone floor.

“You never could hold a conversation to save your life!” Veira shouted.

Azra-Ael, the Devil of the Underworld, had been an eccentric sort with odd schemes, but at least it was possible to reach an understanding with them. The same could not be said for the Dark Lord of the Seas.

“Fine, then. I’ll just beat the answers out of you.” Veira licked her lips. The flames around her arm solidified into an incandescent broadsword, a feat of sorcery unique to dragons. This was the Blade of Incinerating Light, Varg Varua, a weapon that easily sliced through firm stone walls.

Schlrplrplrplrp!

A flurry of tentacles rushed toward Veira. A horizontal motion with her blade destroyed them all to the last, however.

“Do not underestimate the Dragon Lord, Rivaiz Deep Sea!” Veira roared.

A furious blaze raced for the throne, swallowing the girl sitting upon it.

“Refraia!”

The flame of Veira’s dragon breath, capable of reducing all of creation to ash, was doused by a water barrier.

Fighting here puts me at a disadvantage. Veira clenched her teeth, loath to concede the weakness.

In terms of sheer power, the Lord of the Seas was among the strongest of the Dark Lords. Hers was a wrath not to be incurred. To engage her in the belly of the ocean, at the very heart of her domain, was the height of folly. As bitter as she was to admit it, Veira needed to escape this battlefield.

“Argh Varheiz.” Rivaiz unleashed an eighth-order spell from her spot on the throne.

Bwoooooosh!

A great torrent of water crashed over Veira, but a moment later, the ocean trembled and a terrible howl echoed through the Azure Hold. Rubble was blown into the air, and from within it emerged a gigantic crimson dragon.

This was Veira Dragon Lord’s combat form.

Veira opened her jaws wide, breathing silvery heat and light upward.

Booooooom!

The blast tore a large hole in the ceiling. Spreading her massive wings, the crimson dragon soared away. She burst through the barrier surrounding the Azure Hold and disappeared into the dark depths of the ocean.

The Dark Lord climbed through the water, wreathed in undying fire. Her breaching the surface formed a great whirlpool, and she continued higher into the storming sky above.

The heavens belonged to dragons. Veira was out of Rivaiz’s grasp here.

Something dark like shadow moved beneath the waves—a mass of writhing tendrils that rivaled a continent in size. This was the Lord of the Sea’s main body, the great creature that had sunk the Oceanic Kingdom of Giran’s invincible fleet and destroyed the underwater civilization one thousand years ago.

I’ll destroy you! There won’t be a speck left of you, Lord of the Sea!

Gnashing her fangs, Veira prepared to cast the strongest dragon tongue spell at her disposal.

The Flame of Ruin, Herald of the End Times! Feel my roar, fool! Dei Argh Dragray!

A white flash blotted out the sky, gouging into the ocean!

Bwoooooooooooosh!

A giant pillar of fire burned to the heavens, blowing away the storm clouds. The sea boiled over, with the remains of marine life floating up to the surface. Fading mana glow streamed from Veira’s jaws. For all of the attack’s intensity, the Dragon Lord didn’t expect that it had defeated Rivaiz, her equal.

Let’s see how well you handle another hit!

As Veira prepared another powerful strike…

WHIIIIIIIIIISH!

…a luminous bolt streaked from the water, penetrating Veira’s wing. Sizzling dragon blood spurted like blossoming flower petals.

What?!

Was this a counterattack from Rivaiz?!

No… This is something else.

Another massive shape rose from the depths. A long-abandoned palace surfaced, glowing deep blue. It was the aerial fortress that had fallen during the Six Heroes’ savage attack a millennium ago.

The Azure Hold is active?!

Veira’s golden eyes widened in the face of this impossible event. Only she, the master of the castle, could command it. That power should have been beyond a mere usurper like Rivaiz.

But that flash was surely the Azure Hold’s main armament—the Ragva Cannon!

Bwoooooosh!

The raging sea did nothing to slow the Azure Hold’s ascent into the sky. Its climb caused the air to tremble and sent powerful waves in all directions.

Then Veira noticed a figure standing beneath the Azure Hold’s gate.

A human?! Veira growled, furious and disbelieving.

Yes, a human. A tall, middle-aged, dignified man clad in what looked like an army uniform.

Is he the one who activated the Azure Hold?

Veira’s draconic instincts warned her that this was no ordinary mortal.

That he would attack me makes it clear he is an enemy!

Veira opened her jaws again, preparing to unleash another scorching breath. However, her raging flames were blocked off by an invisible wall.

The Azure Hold’s defense mechanisms!

Veira roared in indignation. The human employed the Azure Hold’s functions better than she ever had.

“…”

The man’s mouth moved, but Veira couldn’t hear the words over the sounds of the sea and the wind. When he had finished, he leveled his index finger at the great dragon.

What is he—Kuh, aaaaah!

Suddenly, everything went white, and Veira’s consciousness became muddled.

He’s trying to…dominate my mind…?!

This wasn’t sorcery; normal spells had no effect on dragons. This power was different.

Is this…the goddess…Roselia’s power…?

There was no resisting it. Veira’s consciousness dimmed, and as it did, she recalled his features for some reason.

Why…why am I…remembering his face…?

“Grr… Grr… Ooooooooooooooooooooh!”

The crimson dragon’s howl shook the heavens.

“That one truly was mighty enough to be called a Dark Lord,” the white-haired hero whispered as he watched the Dragon Lord fly off. “To think she broke through my Holy Sword’s power.”

Even a Dark Lord wouldn’t normally be able to oppose his Holy Sword’s abilities. That much was certain, for he’d been able to subjugate Rivaiz Deep Sea. Yet somehow, the Dragon Lord had eluded his domination.

How she had achieved it was unclear. Perhaps it was the result of a mystic power unique to the dragons. Yet while he’d failed to dominate her, the Dragon Lord would still be driven to a wild, berserk state.

Next time, he wouldn’t fail.

Events have strayed too far from the goddess’s prophecy. I imagine the apostles are starting to panic.

The white-haired man had beaten the goddess’s apostles to the punch and claimed the Azure Hold and the Lord of the Seas. He’d anticipated that the Dragon Lord would come after she awoke from the ice block, but encountering her so soon was a stroke of luck.

Or perhaps it was the goddess who influenced this course of events. I must obtain the Dark Lords before the apostles do…

Only four Dark Lords remained. The Lord of Rage had been consumed by the maddened Swordmaster of the Six Heroes, and the Undead King was still missing after his supposed resurrection in Necrozoa. Perhaps his reincarnation had failed, leaving his soul no shell to properly adhere to.

The man fixed his eyes on the distant sky. Where was Veira Dragon Lord headed in her frenzy?

“Pursue her, Rivaiz Deep Sea,” the white-haired man commanded of the Dark Lord who ruled the vast oceans below.