Deciding the first order of business would be to bring the dragon down to earth. Having decided so, I forced my failing body to move and leaped at the black and purple mass flying in the sky, proclaiming its dominance over the sky.
I jumped upwards with the help of the foothold of compressed air. The dragon, seeing me approaching it so rapidly, abandoned its plan of breath attack and waited patiently. The moment I came into its range, the dragon brought down its massive claws.
"Left!" shouted Asfi. I stood on another foothold, dodging the sharp claws. The dragon twisted in mid-air, swiping its tail at me.
"From the right!" shouted Ryuu, as I leaped one more time, both her and Asfi working as my eyes as I continued to fight.
"Hold on, I will help!" Asfi activated her sandals, as large and beautiful, white, feathered wings protruding from them as she prepared to fly toward me.
"Andromeda! Take me up!" Ryuu called as they both ascended the skies.
The dragon flung its massive head in my direction; even without the girls telling me, I knew it was intending to ram me to the ground, and so I leaped over its head, while Asfi threw an explosive knife at its face.
"GRAAW!
The beast roared furiously, its balance breaking for but an instant. Taking that as my chance, I stood there preparing my Iai strike. And lunged towards the dragon,
The dragon tried to regain balance, but too late! "Matataki!" I shouted, putting every ounce of my strength that my body and my skill, Astrum Cordis, provided in the strike as the blade cut through more than half of its right wing.
Just then, I felt my body give up for a moment, the effect of the potion fading, before my strength returned. But it was too late. My sword remained stuck in its wings, unable to push forth.
I still didn't panic because…
"I am sorry, Andromeda!" "Eh, what do—Kyaa!" Ryuu used Asfi as her foothold, pushing herself down toward the dragon's back. "Gokkou!" She activated Kaguya's skill. Five continuous strikes bore into the wing from the opposite side, cutting it off completely.
"GROOOOOUUU!" the dragon roared in pain, flapping its remaining wing desperately to continue flying, but to no avail as it fell toward the ground. I caught Ryuu mid-fall, and we landed together.
Asfi too landed near us, her breath ragged as she cried, "That was incredibly reckless!" Asfi snapped, but her eyes were bright with adrenaline!
"I am sorry, Andromeda, but we had no time," replied Ryuu while the others took advantage of the opportunity and bombarded the dragon with attacks, with Ais leading in the frontline like an angel of death as she pummeled the fallen dragon with her precise swordmanship. Alise and Kaguya attacked both its flanks. And Riveria kept it frozen in her ice magic.
The battle continued on the ground once more, and we all fought with everything we had, the girls throwing instructions to help me. "Left flank!" Kaguya called, her katana finding the gaps between scales.
"Opening on the right!" Alise followed up, her crimson flames weakening its anti-magic barrier.
Ais was relentless, her enhanced winds carrying her in precise strikes neck, joints, and any vulnerable point she could find. Each attack calculated, controlled. Different from when she was fighting in rage.
"Its movements are slowing!" Ryuu observed, her own blade flashing as she targeted the dragon's legs.
She was right. The loss of its wing had thrown off the creature's balance. It couldn't fly, couldn't easily evade. But the dragon wasn't beaten yet "GRAAAAAAW!" Raising both its front legs, it slammed the ground, raising a big cloud of ash and displacing the earth, which ultimately forced us all back again. But the dragon wasn't done yet, and a similar light gathered around in its belly.
"Another breath attack?!" cried Ryuu, while Riveria abandoned her attack spell and started chanting her barrier spell. "Everyone, behind—" she yelled, but something …was wrong.
The dragon's jaws clamped shut. The light didn't fade—instead, it intensified, trapped inside the creature's closed mouth. The glow leaked through gaps in its teeth like a dam about to burst.
"What's it—oh no?!" Asfi shouted.
In that instant, I understood. "SCATTER! GET DOWN—NOW!"
The dragon's mouth couldn't contain the pressure. Thin, concentrated beams of superheated energy began punching through the gaps between its teeth—dozens of them, maybe hundreds, shooting out in every direction like deadly searchlights. And then the dragon started shaking its head violently. The beams became a whirling storm of death, sweeping across the battlefield in chaotic, unpredictable patterns. Impossible to dodge. Impossible to predict.
"Damm it!" I created a huge dome of wind magic shield as the beam collided with it, resulting in a loud shriek as the barrier of wind I hastily prepared started to crumble. My fingertips were burning under the intense heat until finally the barrier fell completely, and a loud explosion threw us all away. I slammed into the ground with bone-jarring force, bounced, tumbled, and finally skidded to a halt near Asfi in a cloud of ash and debris.
Barely keeping my consciousness, I sat up and looked down at my body. The adrenaline potion was failing; I could feel it in my bones. My vision was getting darker and darker at the edges. My heart was racing so fast it felt like it would explode. The pain was becoming overwhelming, breaking through even the chemical boost.
I had a minute left. Maybe less.
My hand fumbled across the ash, finding a healing potion that must have fallen from Asfi's pack during the explosion. I knew it could save me, could let me keep fighting.
But...
The adrenaline potion was still in my system. Unstable and reactive. I'd told Riveria myself mixing potions with it could cause a rejection. Could cause...
I looked at the dragon. Then, my companions, all broken and bleeding.
Then, at Ais, who was trying to stand, trying to keep fighting despite everything.
"Damn it," I whispered. "Arin, don't—!" I heard Asfi's warning, but I ignored it and uncorked the healing potion and drank. For a moment, nothing happened.
Then an unimaginable pain hit me like a truck; every bone, every nerve, every cell in my body screamed in agony as the two potions reacted violently inside me. The healing magic, trying to repair, and the adrenaline, forcing everything into overdrive, both fighting for control of my biological systems. The pain rendered me immobile as I lay on the ground. I heard voices in the background, but the pain didn't let me focus on anything else. And in that moment, I wanted to just give up. To stop. To let the darkness take me, and rest my exhausted body…. Just for a moment…
But I can't do that.
The dragon was still alive, the girls had already gotten up and started fighting back, so how could I just lie here like it wasn't my problem? I had promised that boy, Bell, I would be the greatest hero. I had promised Ais, we would take the dragon down together. And most of all, I had promised myself to always protect them and to make them happy.
So how could I abandon them now?
But despite my will, the world spun. My consciousness flickered in and out. But through it all, through the worst pain I'd ever experienced, I felt my body healing.
Not completely. But functional.
For endless seconds, I existed only in pain. Couldn't think. Couldn't breathe. Couldn't do anything but endure.
Then, gradually, agonizingly, the reaction began to stabilize. The pain receded from "unbearable" to merely "excruciating." My heart rate began to slow, still dangerously high, but no longer immediately fatal.
I lay there, gasping, every muscle trembling, covered in blood both old and new. When I opened my eyes—both eyes, this time, vision blurry but present—I could see again. The healing potion had partially repaired the damage; I could see more clearly now. And I could fight.
My hand found my sword hilt. Gripped it. I used it to lever myself up—first to my knees, then, with a groan that might have been a scream, to my feet
"Arin," Riveria spoke, putting a hand on my shoulder, forcing me down. "You have done enough, just rest, you are not even healed yet," she said, but I refused to stay down, shaking my head like a child.
"No, I have to fight," I replied, standing up straight with extreme difficulty. For a moment, she just looked at me. Then her expression hardened with acceptance and something more I couldn't discern. Even with the health potion, my body still screamed with every move, but I stepped forward nonetheless. Riveria didn't argue further. Instead, she pulled out another healing potion, her last, I realized—and without ceremony, poured it directly over my head. The liquid was cool against my burned skin, already working to seal wounds that should have killed me.
"Thank you," I managed.
"Don't thank me yet," she replied grimly. "Just don't die."
"I won't!" I said and rushed back into the fight. Riveria too started to weave a magic spell. Neither of us noticed the subtle change in my Astrum Cordis threads that circled my The silver and golden light that had always surrounded me was different now. It shone brighter, pulsing with desperate need.