“Thank you, Miss Arles. I’ll handle the—”
Arles’s voice echoing in her head interrupted her train of thought. “No! Let me keep on protecting you! I understand that you want to fight alone, but as a teacher I want to protect my students!”
“Miss Arles...”
“And besides, I think wielding me as you fight will be good training. Someday, we’re going to be fighting something even stronger!” Arles spoke as if she had an idea of what that thing might be.
Inglis, on the other hand, did not, but if it did exist, she couldn’t wait to see it. “In that case, I’d love your help!” She tightened her grip on the golden shield as she watched the mechanical ancient dragon closely.
It returned her gaze as it landed unhurriedly in front of her. Although it had slipped away from their previous head-on clash, it seemed like it might be up for round two.
“We can pick back up from anywhere.”
In response, the mechanical ancient dragon opened its maw wide, showing the cannon within. This was the attack it hadn’t performed before.
“Ooh, I’d love to see that! Thank you!” But Inglis’s joy was fleeting. The mechanical ancient dragon cranked its head around and faced its own tail, then opened fire.
“Wh—?!”
“It attacked itself?!” Even Arles’s voice in Inglis’s head sounded astonished.
A dazzling flash of light shot forth, and then its severed tail rolled along the ground. It was a completely self-inflicted injury.
“Take that. I believe it’s what you need.” The tranquil, soft voice came from the mechanical ancient dragon.
“Wh—?! Human speech?!” These were not the words of dragons, intermediated through dragon lore. They were perfectly formed human words.
“Because I was among humans, and because human hands kept me alive—”
“You learned human speech,” Inglis assumed. “Then you are not Aulglora, but the mechanical dragon from Illuminas?”
“I thank you... Because you suppressed my mother’s strength, my will is sufficient to control this body.”
“Your mother?”
“I am a guardian, birthed forth from Aulglora...”
“I see... So when we were just fighting, Aulglora’s will came forth strongly...”
Its energetic wielding of its might must have exhausted it, allowing the mechanical dragon’s will to triumph over the ancient dragon’s. Thinking back, Inglis realized the change had come when it broke off its attack with its mouth cannon and took to the skies to avoid a raw test of power, when it had avoided fighting altogether.
“That is correct. I have no intention of harming you.”
That was a bit of a problem for Inglis. “I see. But if you don’t mind, could I possibly ask you to change back into Aulglora again?” she asked politely. Arles was already transformed into a weapon; it would be a waste not to spar with the mechanical ancient dragon just a little bit more.
“Hold it right there! What are you talking about, Chris?! Haven’t you fought enough?! Stop causing trouble!” Rafinha’s familiar scolding came from above.
“C’mon, I haven’t had my fill yet, and it was just getting to the good part, and I never get to fight alongside Miss Arles, and—”
“I am sorry, but neither I nor mother have time left...” Even as the dragon spoke calmly, smoke billowed from its body.
“Ah! That’s—?!” It wasn’t normal smoke; it contained an extremely high concentration of dragon lore. This didn’t seem like a simple malfunction of the mechanical parts. It was as if the mechanical ancient dragon’s existence itself was dissipating into mist.
As if to provide proof for this, the dragon’s body itself began to wither away and collapse.
“Wh-What’s going on?!” Arles asked.
“I-It’s collapsing!” Leone said.
“Mr. Dragon?! A-Are you okay?! C-C’mon, Chris! Tell me it’s okay!”
“I... I can’t. Its dragon lore is fading away...”
“Is... Is that what our mechanical dragon wanted...?” Myce asked.
The mechanical ancient dragon slowly nodded. “My life shall calm my mother’s death. Use my tail as you see fit...”
As it trailed off serenely, its body began to collapse. Turned into an undying, Aulglora had combined with the living mechanical dragon, and these two entities had canceled each other out, ultimately disappearing together. That must have been what it had meant by “calming her death.”
“How moving,” Inglis murmured, her heart stirring. It was a pity she couldn’t fight it anymore, but this was the act of a child driven by its feelings for its mother. That feeling transcended humanity or dragonkind. All she could do was solemnly bear witness.
As she did, she thought of her relationship with Rafinha. In Inglis’s mind, they were grandparent and granddaughter rather than the mother and child relationship these dragons shared, but she hoped fervently that her beloved granddaughter would never have to do anything like this for her.
“I thank you. If there is anything else I can leave you, take it freely.” With those as its final words, the mechanical ancient dragon finished its collapse and withered away into a dry fossil. Its sliced-off tail, and only its tail, retained its form.
“The mechanical dragon used its life to free Aulglora from undeath.”
“Couldn’t there have been another way?” Rafinha stepped down from the Star Princess and stood in front of its weathered remains. Her glum expression sent pangs through Inglis’s heart.
“I... I don’t think so. Now, since it did leave that tail behind, let’s hurry up and bring it back to Rochefort, okay?” Inglis held Rafinha’s hand tightly and gave her a way forward.
“Yeah... Let’s.” The way Rafinha held her hand back even tighter made Inglis very happy.
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