A Dragon Idol's Reincarnation Tale

[Music Resonation (Moderate)] [Sanctified Blaze] [Various Spell Buffs] [Symphonie des Feuergottes Movement (Allegro)] inflicted on [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]

Without any further delay, the fight between two giant fire-spitting lizards began in the most appropriate way possible.

“Kriiiaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!”

“Grigriiiaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!”

Streams of crimson and bright red flames exploded out from our respective mouths like rockets, crashing onto each other, clashing together to form a massive fire wall. This only lasted a moment though, as the tides turned against the slazzigula, the severe difference in magical powers making itself known. My flames overpowered the enemy’s fire breath, pushing it back faster and faster as the seconds ticked down.

The slazzigula, realizing that it couldn’t compete against me in this manner, canceled its breath attack and jumped to the side, avoiding my dragon fire from hitting him. Displaying its nimbleness once again, the giant salamander landed on the tips of its feet and used this momentum to sling its body forwards, flames swords forming around its carapace gauntlets.

Stat difference in our Intelligence. A massive one. It knows it and is going for close-combat, where it believes it excels more. Can’t have that. Firing squad, go!

Nine of my parallel minds went into action, each activating a projectile spell from my spell list and blasting it at the slazzigula. Lightning, terra, storm, lava, sacred; my elemental prowess forced the monster to slow down its advance, jumping side to side in an attempt to dodge my attacks, but even Saori can’t dodge everything without using magic once I’m serious.

Sadly, despite its slender form, the slazzigula was actually quite the bruiser according to its profile. Level eight and a focus on Strength, Vitality, Agility, and Stamina to facilitate roughhousing, and even its Wisdom wasn’t too bad. My spells connected, damaging it considering its groans, but it continued charging forward like a raging bull. Just, instead of pointing its horns forward, its twin swords were directed at me, now ready to spill blood.

Can’t fight here. Too close to the others. Build some walls, we’re luring it away!

Although I wasn’t watching their fight, I could hear spells colliding against each other under me. High-pitched grunts, fury-filled shouts, and blood-curdling screams. I had to take off my party bracelet before transforming, meaning I couldn’t spectate as to what was going on their side. I was worried about them, but I had to concentrate on my fight.

Still, two mammoth-sized monsters rampaging around wasn’t good. A normal-sized human only reached up to my knees, meaning I could stomp someone flat just by just stepping on them. This would disrupt the fight below me. To avoid this, I erected multiple [Terra Walls] to slow the slazzigula down, forcing it to either break through or climb over — considering its physical power and how light-footed it was, it should have no problem with either.

Symphonie des Feuergottes Movement (Allegro)

Flames burning as fast as flashfire, increasing the caster’s Agility by half of the base amount. All fire elemental attacks increase in strength

However, that was all just part of the plan. In [Symphonie des Feuergottes]’s first movement, Allegro, my current Agility was about 50% higher than usual, which, when boosted by wind’s [Swift Winds] Agility buff, made me far faster than this slazzigula. Charging in with my flaming tail, I slashed at the salamander with [Hellblade Edge].

Similar to last time, the slazzigula guarded against it perfectly, not letting me move my tail any further despite the Strength I put into it. Still, that was expected. Sliding my tail down the salamander’s guantlets, I slipped through the slazzigula’s arms and used [Wind Blast] while jumping, pushing me onto one of the rock walls I constructed. While I slithered over them like a lizard, my opponent began destroying them to reach me, effectively enabling me to lead it away from the Ellaine’s, the student’s, and Talon’s fight.

Number eight, nine, and ten, music time. Boss battle time!

“Is this the fated battle, the light shines ♫

It’s blinding my sight ♫

But I’ve gotta hold on, the stage calls ♫

The cries of a thousand, the flames of war will descend ♫”

I didn’t need the arena for this fight when this monster only had eyes for me. The place we were fighting in was like the savannah’s fields, flat and wide. This meant, using [Dragon Fire] wasn’t the best choice here, but [The Will to Fight and Survive]. What I needed was sustain.

[Dragon Fire]’s effect was weakening water and ice attacks, in addition to improving my fire and dragon abilities while dealing random fire damage to my enemies. [The Will to Fight and Survive], on the other hand, not only makes losing Stamina a non-issue, but it also increases the damage I can deal with fire and holy spells and decreases my enemies’ morale and Wisdom by 5%. And that last part was what I was really aiming for.

By increasing the amount of Mana I invest into [Aerokinesis] to play my song spells, it allowed me to support my teammates. They received the positive effects of my song while their enemies received the negatives. I know I should focus on my own fight, but the Wisdom decrease on the slazzigula was important for me, too.

Dedicating two parallel minds to continuous cast [Wind Blast], I jumped off the last [Terra Wall] and kept myself afloat using wind magic. While I couldn’t fly properly yet, raining down dragon fire and spells while floating overhead was no problem. The monster wanted to get close to me, meaning all I needed to do was to fly.

“Grigri!” Like a ninja, the salamander was dodging right and left, seemingly getting used to my shooting patterns. Flames then erupted from its right hand. While using it as a pivot to dodge through my spells, the slazzigula crushed through the ground when it did so, confusing me when nothing happened. “What was it trying to do?” I wondered, continuing shooting out spells.

“Griah!” The slazzigula groaned when a [Bedrock Blades] pierced the monster’s shoulder, tearing through its scales and spilling blood out. The salamander destroyed the rock blade with a flaming punch, roaring in anger afterwards before beginning to simply punch through all the remaining approaching blades.

Enraged! Opening for me to-

Seeing the monster angered by its mistake meant it left an opening for me to focus fire a stronger spell but my plan was interrupted by what happened next. [Foresight] activated, directing my attention to the ground the moment magma erupted from it, breaking through the magma veins beneath the crevasses. Like pillars, jets of molten rock shot right up at me, forcing me to ditch attacking, for now, and focus on maintaining myself in the air.

My reliance on [Wind Blast] to keep myself afloat showed itself here, when volcanic gases followed the pillars, interrupting the winds around me. Sprays of rock made it impossible for my wings to properly flap, making it even harder for me to keep my heavy body up in the air. I knew I had to escape from this predicament and when I did, the slazzigula reacted.

[Danger Perception] exploded once again, warning me to jolt my head to the side. When I did, I could hear the sharp report reminiscent of a gunshot as a flaming spear was thrown at me. “Fast!” was all I could think as my reflexes moved my body without my input, rolling in the air to avoid the brunt of the attack. It was a glancing hit but it still somehow managed to damage me through my [Draconic Barrier], denting my scales as it passed right by me.

As a B rank fighting against another B rank monster, I should 100% expect its attack to do damage when it’s fighting seriously. It was common sense for me. I was confident in my fire resistance, which had to handle my scale-dust explosions all the time, but I shouldn't underestimate its attacks just ‘cause it’s fire-based. Especially when [Danger Perception] activates.

When the skill didn’t activate when the salamander spit out a ball of fire, I knew I could tank the attack but that relief went out of the window the moment the scale-crown on the slazzigula’s back began shooting out fire. “For the inferno ruler’s true power is restricted by it,” was something I remembered from the slazzigula’s description. An accumulation of fire-potent scales from its slazzanbal days, until they’re broken, the crown lays dormant and supposedly restricts the monster’s “true power.”

After spitting the fireball, the slazzigula jumped into the air with its scale-crown serving as a jetpack, propelling the monster up in the sky and towards me. My response to this attack was a boosted [Draconic Roar] but the wind up I needed was broken the moment the slazzigula formed another flame spear with its [Pyrokinesis] and threw it at me, forcing me off-balance to dodge it.

Scheiße, flying is too hard!

My inexperience with flying showed itself at this moment. The advantage I’d thought I had was invalidated at this moment.

With flaming blades forming around the monster’s gauntlets, I assessed the situation, noting that I couldn’t escape with [Wind Blast] while struggling to regain my balance in the air. If I tried to blast myself away, all I would achieve is another crash landing. My only option here was to blast it with spells and then resort to [Hellblade Edge] and [Scale-Dust Veil] the moment it got close. [Dreadflare Aura] would be for Plan B.

Like the bruiser it was, it shielded its vitals using its flame sword while continuing its flight towards me with its flaming jetpack. Clicking my tongue at how well it was wielding its body’s weapons, I placed the sharp, scaled edge of my tail inside my mouth and with one quick swipe, I sharpened and reheated it using my jaw plates. Sparks flew as I snapped my claws against each other, readying myself for a physical fight.

Panzer!

With purple armor protecting my body now, I closed the distance between us with [Wind Blast].

“Kriaaaaaahhh!”

“Grigrigriaaahhh!”

Flames and claws clashed. Scales broke off as flesh was rendered and blood spilled. The slazzigula grew angrier and angrier while white and purple fire began shrouding me more and more. Neither of us even attempted to stay in the sky, knowing this was just a phase of the battle. As we fell ever closer to the ground, neither of us disappointed each other as we dueled like two swordsmen.

The adagio movement made it far easier for me to compete against the slazzigula with my superior Agility, but the monster countered using its skill with its blades. In this match, it was a competition between stats and skill. I had higher stats than the slazzigula while they had to rely on its stronger skill set and ability with its twin blades. None of us could land a decisive blow against the other, but every glancing hit on the salamander meant a step closer to my win while I could heal from the hits I suffered.

Come on! Sustain tank, let’s go!

When the ground came into view, we stomped each other, creating some space to soften our fall.

“Grigri!” the slazzigula seemingly laughed at our clash while I was trying to recover my breathing rhythm. When the slazzigula once again did its “come at me” hand sign, something snapped inside me when confronted against its arrogant personality. Ruthlessly, I ground my teeth against each, creating a small spark in front of me.

… And the scale-dust covering its body blew up like dynamite.

“Griaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!!!” The salamander cried out in pain.

Fighting up close and personal wasn’t my forte, something this slazzigula rubbed in my face with how skilled it was, but I did mention how [Scale-Dust Veil] was part of my strategy. It always was part of my fighting style. Our struggle in the sky was just a way for me to spread the dust around the slazzigula, lodging them into the monster’s scales.

When we landed, a hail of scale-dust was softly falling down, blanketing our environment. When I snapped my mouth shut, everything around me exploded. I was caught up in the explosion as well, but everything could be solved with some healing. I knew the slazzigula had to be well protected against fire and magma since it grew up in these magma chambers, but it should still show some effect.

It was a shame that my Job skills didn’t transfer into my dragon form, since [Crimson-Scaled Dreadgiver] would’ve made this far easier.

Scale-Dust Size Increase

Increase the size of scale-dust expelled from the owner’s body. Increase explosion size

Fire Abnormality Effect: Dread

Adds an effect to all fire produced by the owner through magic or abilities, called [Dread Burn]. [Dread Burn] nullifies all source of Health regeneration on an afflicted target and decrease their fire resistance by 30%

Those were the Job skills I currently had. Unfortunately, besides grimgarians, monsters could not have an active Job while in monster form. That meant I could not benefit from these two skills. If you asked me, it was kinda unfair. Shouldn’t I, the mutant dragon, have these skills naturally? Honestly, if I could buy them using SP, I would have done it already. Whatever the price, I didn’t care. I wanted them badly!

Let’s act spoiled after this fight ends.

[Symphonie des Feuergottes Movement (Adagio)] inflicted on [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]

Symphonie des Feuergottes Movement (Adagio)

Flames burning slowly with powerful notes, increasing the caster’s Strength and Intelligence by half of the base amount. Mana consumption of all spells is reduced by 50%

Perfectly timed, the movement began, reducing my maximum Agility to increase my Strength and Intelligence in return. Honestly, I preferred adagio for this fight but I couldn’t control when the movements switched. This was my “boss battle phases” gimmick.

“GriAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

Speaking of phase gimmicks, the reason why I called it perfectly timed was ‘cause the slazzigula had its phase change, too.

Standing straight like a human, the slazzigula was tall enough to look down at me, showing off its height. As the dust settled, I could see broken scales, blood, and burn scars covering its body. My explosion definitely did damage, but it also triggered the scale-crown on its back to fully unleash its power.

Six wings of pure flames emitted from its back, making the slazzigula look more like a flaming angel than a dragon. Flames began to form beneath it as it somehow slowly began hovering in the air with its flame wings flapping hard. It roared, and the moment it did, five pillars of flames suddenly formed around it before they rushed towards me.

Looking similar to the [Inferno Magic Lv. 2] spell [Blazing Twister], those tornados approached me. [Danger Perception] didn’t warn me about them, so I think I could safely stay inside them without incurring too much damage, but what did catch its attention was slazzigula itself. Flame blades formed around its gauntlets again, but instead of jumping or running, it flew towards me with those six fire wings.

What the fuck?!

With both swords drawn back, it slashed at me the moment it could, prompting me to dodge. Magic circles began to flicker around me as spells were prepared, but the slazzigula left no time for me to breathe, striking relentlessly at me. This was where not having allegro’s speed buff was an issue, since its current form seems to be stronger and faster. I couldn’t keep up with it!

“Kriargh!” I growled as the monster landed a proper hit on my wings, ripping the membrane apart and piercing through my [Panzer] armor to expose the skin on my limb. My projectile spells were hitting it, but it seemed it was ignoring them, only focusing on attacking me.

“Grigrigrigri!” it crackled a laugh as it suddenly changed its attack pattern. Extinguishing its flame swords, the slazzigula sucker-punched me right in my head before grabbing my neck. Grappling my neck with both arms now, it mounted my back. I had no idea what it was trying to do but fear got to me, not knowing what it was doing made me slightly panic.

Dreadflare Aura!

Scale-dust exploded from inside my scales, creating a super-hot aura that exploded right in front of the slazzigula. Caught unawares, it let go of my neck and was blasted back. Using this chance, I shot multiple [Banishment Beam]s at it, but it dodged them like an insect with its wings.

Materializing another flaming spear, it blasted itself forward with the spear tightly gripped in its hand, slamming the spear down where I’d just been standing. Dodging further away, I noticed the spear exploding into a pillar of flames, sending a small shockwave forward. It seemed this attack required some recovery time, so I managed to counter-attack with a [Hellflame Breath].

It blocked my breath attack in time with its arms, but it still growled as it was being pushed back. I had to press my advantage!

Rumbling Might! Levin Core! Warp Point: Entry!

The ground shook strongly as the slazzigula lost balance. A lightning ball appeared behind the monster, buffeting it with strong lightning bolts, weakening its guard in the process. It roared out in pain as the flames hit its head, melting through its scales as it struggled to keep its legs standing with the earthquake I was creating.

Flame swords erupted from its arms, shielding it from my attack long enough to slip past, storming at me missing half the scales on its face. When I snapped my mouth shut, instead of attacking back, I chose to avoid it.

Warp Point: Exit, now!

After having my parallel minds place a grey magic circle behind the slazzigula, the air suddenly ruptured right in front of me and my opponent. Unable to stop its charge, the slazzigula entered through the portal and reappeared a bit further away; however, instead of facing me, it had its back toward me.

Fuck, this Mana cost is insane! Why must these two shitty spells cost so much Mana every single time?!

My decision to expend more mana than I wanted was ‘cause of my worry of the surface. This slazzigula was tenacious and seeing how it still had over half of its Health left, I wasn’t liking the situation at all. My ears picked up on the sounds on Ellaine’s side, which seemed to be facing some trouble. I wasn’t sure if this was the better choice, but if this slazzigula continuously beats me in melee, then that would prove an issue.

My scale-dust was dealing damage thanks to my song, so it was time to go overdrive.

Solar Beam!

Scale-dust inside my scales exploded into action, flaring up underneath them as my solar core shined with a bright yellow glow. For a whole week, I have been holding onto my solar energy for this very moment. If I couldn’t stop the spider from entering the surface due to all the delays from this fight, then I had to end it now and hope the sun was currently up in the sky to refill later. I was running out of time. “It’s all or nothing, I’m ending this fight right now,” was my thought when I shot out the beam of concentrated heat.

When the slazzigula turned around, it let out a growl of surprise, widening its eyes as it scrambled to dodge the beam. However, I still had enough juice to continue shooting it. Turning my head around, the slazzigula seemed to sense my desperation to end this fight, right now, but it couldn’t capitalize on my rashness, knowing instinctively it would not survive getting hit by my beam directly. Unfortunately for it, I could turn my head around faster than it could dodge. It was beginning to tire.

“GriaaaGGRHHHHHHHHHH!” it howled like a banshee as it blocked my beam with its carapace gauntlets. Sturdy as they were, they began to melt in front of my [Solar Beam]. The slazzigula formed its blade again, allowing it to escape and blast itself into the sky with its wings.

Once my beam was over, the stored solar energy inside my solar core went into this “overdrive” mode I liked to call, causing my body temperature to skyrocket to the point that my scale-dust exploded non-stop. Although its gauntlets were falling apart from the super-heat, the slazzigula only dedicated a small groan as he flew at me to continue the fight, looking even more alive than before.

That was when it dawned at me.

Hold on… couldn’t I do the same? Why do I need wind when I can create my own force with… fire?

Call it stupid, call it crazy, call it a waste of Mana and Stamina. It’s not like I didn’t have a high amount of the former and a near-infinite supply of the latter. When the idea of the slazzigula using its scale-crown as a jetpack entered my mind for a split-second, I wondered, couldn’t I imitate that? Solar core allowed me to control my body heat, [Pyrokinesis] helped me morph and control my fire, and as long as I had scale-dust inside my body, I had fuel.

Oh boy, after this whole shitfest, I’ll be hungry as fuck. Hope your meat or the spider’s tastes good.

Increasing my body heat even further, I could feel more flames blasting out of my scales, tiring me the longer I kept it going. Regardless if I was a fire dragon or not, being in overdrive mode was uncomfortable, outright impossible to relax in since it felt like I was cooking myself from within. I have sweated before in my new life, but I have never felt as if my organs were being grilled before. It burns.

Wha-?!

This pain… it only lasted for a few seconds, replaced immediately by elation the moment it felt like something was pushing me forward. Turning my head around, I thought I was seeing a rocket engine shooting out fire. The thrust created by this action was unbalancing me, fighting against gravity and friction. I could feel my mind “sweating,” but I honestly couldn’t stop smiling.

What the fuck did I just find out?!

[Foresight] and [Danger Perception] activated. I knew what was coming. My only response to these warnings was to let it all out. Flames exploded from my scales, granting me a significant boost in speed as I swerved under the slazzigula’s flame swords, narrowly dodging it.

While it sounded all amazing, I was as much of a beginner with this movement style as my usual “flying” method, using too much power and sending me shooting right past the slazzigula, unable to counterattack like I wanted to. I knew I put in too much energy, used too much Mana and Stamina to grant me that super burst in speed. Mana was needed to fuel my body to increase its temperature while manipulating it with [Pyrokinesis], on the other hand, I needed Stamina to continuously make my body produce scale-dust to keep this up. I’m gonna starve myself before getting [Exhausted].

The slazzigula followed behind me with its wings, while I was trying my best to keep myself balanced. Sadly, at this point, I realized my experimentation went awry quickly. My control over this new ability was as horrendous as when I first started flying or using [Wind Blast] floating. You know how story heroes quickly learn new abilities they gain mid-fight? Well, I’m failing to do so… hard.

Fuck!

“Gri? Griaaah!”

Unable to properly handle this new ability, I once again put too much power into my turbo boost, crashing against the slazzigula, unintentionally body slamming against it. As the both of us grabbed onto each other, the slazzigula managed to support my flight using its wings, balancing us. I could see the slazzigula wanted to slash at me, but the heat I was emitting made it literally burn itself on me.

It kicked me away, and I could see its hands sizzling once it let go. At this point, I had to choose between stopping my overdrive mode to regain my ability to shoot spells or continue this madness. The amount of Mana I was consuming while keeping [Symphonie des Feuergottes] and [Solar Beam]’s overdrive mode active was draining me at a worrying rate. Without a source of Mana regeneration, the smart choice was to stop this insanity now.

Well, speaking of the devil…

[Symphonie des Feuergottes Movement (Minuet)] inflicted on [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]

Symphonie des Feuergottes Movement (Minuet)

Flames burning like a dance, lively as the finale approached, increasing the caster's Vitality and Wisdom by half of the base amount. Health, Mana, and Stamina regeneration from all sources is increased by 50%

Wisdom increased not only your magic resistance but also the natural rate of Mana regeneration. Minuet, usually the third movement of a symphony shared with the scherzo, was the light-hearted dance part following the slow and rhythmic second movement. This was the first time I managed to activate this movement, since I never had the mana or need to keep [Symphonie des Feuergottes] going for this long. I thought it would increase my Agility again, but it seemed to act like a “refresher,” to help you settle down a bit before the final movement.

Not like I would complain. That was exactly what I needed!

While it still wasn’t enough to offset my Mana consumption, it drastically slowed down the rate at which I drained my Mana pool. When I locked eyes with the slazzigula, it made me feel like I could continue this fight. It might be a fight to the death against this thing, but this third phase activation made me feel like I could win this. Yeah, I can win this.

Adjust the power. Parallel minds, help me out a bit more.

I didn’t learn how to fly alone, I had my parallel minds help me in the process. All ten of my parallel minds should have had enough time to adjust and learn how this rocket boosting worked. Learning how to do it in such a short time with one mind was hard, but with ten? Easy!

… Just kidding, I still couldn’t do it.

Waaaaaahhhhhhhh!

As the slazzigula and I approached each other with our respective fire transportation method, I accidentally put too much power in it again and I lost balance while flying. Anxiousness filled my mind as I saw the slazzigula drawing its flaming sword at me while I couldn’t respond properly.

I’m gonna get cut! Scheiße!

As the blade drew closer and closer, the unexpected happened.

“Shriiiiiieeek!”

It was deja vu. Just, instead of appearing underneath us, the ceiling suddenly broke, raining giant spiders. The slazzigula noticed this, canceled its attack as I flew past it like mentos erupting from inside a coke bottle. Comically crash landing on the ground, I quickly reduced my energy consumption to slow myself down, recovering my footing in seconds.

When I jolted my head towards the slazzigula, instead of seeing it attack me, the giant salamander used its flaming swords to pierce an elephant-sized spider’s head, instantly killing it before attacking the next one falling from the ceiling. Like a nightmare, giant spiders fell from a crack in the ceiling.

“Grigrioooooooarrrrrrrrrrrh!” The slazzigula roared in rage after killing the second spider. It gave me a short glance before its fire wings grew in size, helping it fly up and into the hole.

As I was trying to process what just happened, my focus switched from the slazzigula and spiders towards Ellaine and the students.

“Argh! Shit!” I heard an echo curse. Approaching it, the sight of a scorched battlefield came into view. Numerous followers of Shiterno laid on the ground, either dying or dead in a field of fire and broken rocks. In the middle of all of this, six humans and a garm caught my attention.

Oh no!

Nishio was cursing uncontrollably with blue-purple-colored skin, shooting out magic as he screamed in pain. Kazumi, Kohaku, and Ellaine were standing up, stalwart, but parts of their armor were burned black from fire, as well as the body parts it defended. Misaki and Tamae were the only ones looking healthy, but I could already see signs of arcane corruption creeping up, similar to Nishio. Quatre, despite the numerous wounds on him, continued defending everybody behind him, undeterred by the fire its body blocked for everybody.

“Do not give up now! The enemy lies weakened, we must press on to preserve our faith!” The large congregation of Danterno, on the other hand, was drastically thinned down from everybody's efforts. From the spells they shot out, the ones left were the [Inferno Magic] mages.

Heal, I need to heal them! Quick!

This was all I could think of. I pushed my body forward with this single goal. Nothing could stop me.

“This is a trial we must complete! We must do this for our God! With the honor and dedication of all our brothers and sisters who fell on this day, we must persevere! If we cannot pass this trial, how can we free our God Danterno?! Fire mages, we must fight!” Cries of desperation came out from those fire mages but all I heard was the rattling noises of vermin. When I saw them preparing spells to finish off the students, I knew I had to stomp them out.

As I was preparing a flame breath to kill them off, another cracking sound came from the ceiling, however, instead of spiders, four giant wolves came shooting down.

“Graaaaaaahhhhhhh! Graaahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!” The leading wolf, clad in black and white fur, growled with a blood mist emitting from its eyes. Black lightning wrapped around its body for a moment before it shot straight at the leading mage, frying him to death.

Saori!

It was Saori and her garms!

With lightning wrapped around her body, Saori’s landing caused a shockwave of black electricity, stunning all the mages around her. With her powerful arms, every stomp she did with them was like a punch, shaking the ground as she mercilessly smashed men and women alike into pulps of viscera. Once her garms landed with her, this fight turned into a one sided rabbit hunt, as none of the mages could stand against the unwounded wolves crushing their skulls with their bite.

Tasianna! Grimnir! You guys are all safe! Urgh, Sacred Field

With the enemies in front of me gone, I cast [Sacred Field] under Ellaine, the students, and Quatre, healing them of their wounds as my fighting instincts suddenly stopped completely. I felt relief, causing me to unintentionally deactivate [Symphonie des Feuergottes] and let my body cool down; that said, overdrive was still active and I had to release this pent-up energy somewhere. Looking at the horde of giant spiders that dropped down, crawling away when they saw me, I remembered I still had a job to do.

There were two ways to cancel [Solar Beam]’s overdrive mode, and that was either through a supernova explosion or another solar beam. The idea was to drain all the remaining solar energy with this last move. Choosing the latter method, the area where I fought the slazzigula which was now swarmed by spiders became my target.

With a beam hot enough to instantly melt rock, I ensured none of the spiders lived to tell the tale. Once it was all over, my body just slumped on the ground, exhausted. Even my music stopped playing.

[Starvation (Minor)] [Starving Weakling (Minor)] inflicted on [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]

Wow, looks like I got too invested in my fight against the slazzigula. That booster rocket was a bad idea…

Before the adrenaline went away completely, I opened up my storage, letting numerous dismantled cuts of felgheist meat drop onto the scorching ground, instantly grilling in the process, even some turning right into charcoal.

“Aifli eir Vintral.” A soothing voice entered my ears, white snow came into view. It was Tasianna’s custom spell. “You did a fine job, Lady Hestia. Allow me to serve you.” While drinking a Mana potion and dragorade simultaneously, she picked up a slab of meat with an ice plate and put it inside my mouth.

Forcing myself to chew it, I could only think about how lacking in spices the meat was… but it was better than nothing. Hunger was a wild thing. It made everything taste better.

“““““S-Sensei?””””” Five voices, almost in tears.

I could hear a mist dispersing as I mindlessly chewed anything Tasianna set inside my mouth. “…I-I…I’m sorry for being late for homeroom. I lost my way here.”

“““““Sensei!”””””

Thank goodness… Huh?

As I tuned out of Saori’s and her student’s heartful reunion, a woman clad in white armor suddenly came into my vision. She had white hair and features resembling a Scandinavian woman in her late twenties or mid-thirties. Tasianna wasn’t reacting to her as she approached me, giving me a short bow before mana mist suddenly was being released from her body.

Her armor made clanking noises as two limbs erupted from her back along with a third appendage from her butt. White scaled wings, an ivory-colored tail, two short beige horns, and marble-like scales covering her face and hands. Her face was still that of a human, but her race certainly wasn’t.

She bowed before me the moment her transformation ended, smiling as she addressed me, “It is an honor to finally meet you, Princess Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor, youngest daughter of the imperial family of Kargryx. My name is Yorshka Nordor and I am your terribly older niece.”

Confusion. Nordor? Yorshka? My mind was still processing what just happened but something was preventing me from connecting the dots together. Sometimes, compassion could become an issue.

Where is Talon?

**********************************************

What is that explosion? Why did the ceiling just crack open? Where did those spiders come from?

My mind was hazy. I couldn’t express my confusion to anybody around me. Pain. The pain was the only thing keeping me awake. For twenty years, I have become accustomed to living with burn scars, tormenting me in the first few years whenever I tried to sleep. No, that wasn’t the pain I was feeling.

Keith?

I looked around. A corpse of a man. His face was burnt and his eyes lifeless. He could not speak anymore. A knife with a wavy blade was stuck in his chest. It was the cause of his death.

The sound of thunder. The crackling entered my ears but I eventually lost the ability to hear. I looked up at the ceiling. Four giant wolves jumped down. My vision became hazier.

Keith. What could our lives have become if we had chosen a different path?

My heart ached. Was this sadness?

See you soon… old friend.

With that last thought, my mind went blank.