Chapter 114 - Now It's Your Turn (2)
The elves' forest, Aushrina.
The place was filled with the vicious roars let out by Nidhogg.
ROAAAAAR!
Nidhogg was currently enraged.
Because even now, the arrowhead fiercely buried into its eye was bringing Nidhogg anger and pain.
"Varadis... You take command from now on."
The middle-aged elf gripped his bloodstained shoulder and shouted with difficulty.
Nidhogg's thorn was already deeply embedded in his shoulder.
"We must not... let it break through."
The champion of the elves and the person in charge of this operation.
Even as he handed over command to Varadis, his lips were gradually turning black.
Because the sharp malice of the dragon was piercing his heart through his veins even now.
"... I leave it to you."
Varadis nodded as he looked at the increasingly pale champion.
The champion, said to have been born beneath the Mother World Tree, stared at Varadis with wide open eyes until the very moment of his death.
"Gather around! We will focus our firepower!"
And so, the remaining commander was Varadis, the captain of the rangers.
A generational shift that no one wanted had occurred right at this moment.
"Captain! That bastard is too hard! Even using aura, our weapons can't properly pierce its skin!"
"Unlike our expectations, it seems that dragon is already a fully grown adult. Its immunity to magic is overwhelmingly strong."
Hearing the desperate reports coming from all sides, Varadis bit his lip tightly.
The elves did their best to stop Nidhogg, but the potential of the fully awakened dragon was too overwhelming for anyone to block.
"Are we retreating?"
If so, the only remaining option was to retreat to where the World Tree was and join the main force.
If they pulled out all the strength of the old elders along with the World Tree, there might be a way.
"No. We have to end it here."
However, it was absurd to fight while using the entity they were supposed to protect as a shield.
Even now, young spirits who were not yet ready to flutter their wings were hanging on the branches of the young World Tree.
They could not put those children on the front lines.
"We have to do it."
Varadis locked eyes with Nidhogg, who was growling up ahead.
His own arrow was still hanging in one of Nidhogg's eyes.
It was shallow, so it couldn't finish it off, but the existence of the arrow tormenting Nidhogg right now clearly showed there was a possibility.
"Create an opening for me just one more time."
If the arrow was shallow, he just needed to shoot from closer.
And Varadis was someone more than ready to throw himself into that sharp malice.
"I will make sure to pierce through to its brain this time."
Having made up his mind, a small five-pointed star began to rise within Varadis's eyes.
The Magic Eye, which only a select few among the elves could possess, was burning within his eyes.
Varadis of Aushrina.
His world, heated by anger, was sharpening just as fiercely as Nidhogg.
* * *
"Please help... Please help."
The girl, shaking as if having a seizure, grabbed Vlad's sleeve and muttered weakly.
"The dragon is coming..."
Although the girl's voice was faint, her grip on Vlad was so tight her knuckles turned white.
The Divine Maiden of the World Tree—no, the young World Tree itself—was desperately wanting the knight standing before her.
Because the World Tree, capable of seeing the results beyond the process, knew that only Vlad could protect it.
"So this is, right now..."
"It is a revelation."
A trembling voice came from the escort elf who hadn't opened his mouth once until now.
The Divine Maiden was the conduit connecting the World Tree and the elves.
The revelation of the divine tree, which could look beyond the limits of mortals, was something that must never be ignored.
"... The dragon is coming."
The World Tree and the Divine Maiden had been watching from the very beginning.
The impending threat in the future, the malicious eyes of the dragon.
"... The dragon has come."
That was why the elves were able to prepare in advance.
They stood guard, eliminated suspicious elements, and set up a defensive line.
Because of that, Varadis and the elves were able to face Nidhogg with their own level of preparation.
"But the dragon is still looking."
The dragon is coming.
The dragon is looking.
The World Tree and the Divine Maiden had tried their best to read the impending future, but they were simply young and inexperienced beings.
That was why they didn't realize.
That there wasn't just one pair of eyes looking at the World Tree.
ROAAAAAR!
In an instant, a chilling roar echoed throughout the village.
It was the roar of a dragon coming from the opposite side of the defensive line the elves had set up.
"... Damn it."
Vlad's face began to stiffen upon hearing the ferocious roar.
Now, even without a revelation, anyone could realize it.
CRASH!
The elves' village, which had barely taken root, began to collapse from the boundary line with a thunderous noise.
It was another Nidhogg.
"Please help. Please."
A single tear flowed down the girl's cheek.
The girl's fingers, desperately clutching his sleeve, looked pitiful.
"..."
Seeing the tears welling up in the girl's eyes, Vlad subconsciously looked back at Auguste.
What should I do in times like this?
"Why are you looking at me?"
However, the person in front of him was neither Joseph nor Jager.
Now, without a liege or a senior knight. In this place, right now, there was only one person who could give orders to Vlad.
"You have to decide."
Only himself.
The master of the knight named Vlad was only Vlad himself.
"... You're right."
The white moonlight shining through the window illuminated Vlad.
On one side of Vlad's chest where the moonlight lingered, a small phrase was written.
Lifting his finger, Vlad quietly wiped away the girl's flowing tears.
On his chest, pointed out by the moonlight, was the honorable phrase written by San Rosino.
"I, Vlad of Soara. I will accept the Divine Maiden's request."
Vlad of Soara.
The knight who protected the breaths of children.
Vlad's now-empty pommel glinted under the moonlight.
* * *
SHRIEK!
"It's a dragon! A dragon!"
"Everyone, run away!"
The massive yet agile body was charging forward, tearing through the elves' houses as if cleaving through waves.
Arrows from the guards were fired from everywhere, but to Nidhogg, their attacks didn't even tickle.
To reach the sharpest dragon, a sword holding a deeper world was needed.
"Why are you following me?"
"Because I want to, of course."
The two knights running after Nidhogg.
Vlad and Auguste were leaping over buildings, chasing Nidhogg from behind.
"The elves are the Empire's enemies, aren't they?"
"Where is the enemy and where is the ally? In this world, there is only the problem and the solution."
To stop the distribution of Epsilon.
And thus, to stop the drug from being unleashed upon the Empire.
Auguste had decided to accompany Vlad solely to achieve that objective.
"I plan to do them a favor and then ask them to only distribute the elven tea. Their insolent wrongdoing can be paid back later."
Rather than arguing over someone's right or wrong, plugging the hole in the bursting dam had to come first.
Because the Empire was in such a weakened state that it couldn't even unleash its rightful anger.
'Where is it?'
The eyes of the former Imperial Enforcer Commander gazing at Nidhogg began to glow with a bluish light.
It was a technique that only Auguste, who had spent his whole life distinguishing between truth and falsehood, could attempt.
"What are you doing?"
"... Discerning weaknesses."
Everyone has parts they want to hide.
Their weak parts, the shameful secrets they don't want to reveal, the kind of fatal weakness where they can never rise again once stabbed.
That is why people try to hide their weak parts with lies and intimidation.
Just like Nidhogg right now.
'The front paw... Inside the membrane.'
Its scales were tough, and its standing thorns were vicious.
The horn standing on its forehead was sharp enough to tear through anything, but Nidhogg was not satisfied with just that.
"The armpit area inside the membrane seems to be the weakness. Target that spot."
The dragon of the East, which had not abandoned its desire for the sky, still possessed remnants of wings.
The messy membrane, clinging on out of stubbornness and obsession, was Nidhogg's weakness.
The aura reflected in Auguste's eyes was saying exactly that.
CLANG!
ROAAAAAR!
In an instant, Nidhogg's advance was blocked with a deafening noise.
Crushing buildings, rocks of the ground being pushed away.
A massive magic circle that appeared suddenly was blocking Nidhogg's advance.
"It's magic!"
Hearing Auguste's words, Vlad quickly turned his head toward the World Tree.
He couldn't see clearly, but he could spot a few elves gathered in front of the World Tree.
They were the elders of the elves.
"Good. Using this opening..."
ROAAAAAR!
The magic circle created by the elders was undoubtedly designed by noble spellcraft.
However, Nidhogg was already a fully grown adult.
Dragons, having fallen away from perfection, were beings not easily deceived by magic that tricked the world.
"What kind of..."
Nidhogg began biting into the magic circle as if it were a chunk of meat.
The magic circle was being torn apart by the dragon's brutal bite force.
"Damn it!"
The magic circles shattering in the sky above.
Vlad gritted his teeth as he watched the remnants of the magic circles falling like shards of glass.
'... Is this a dragon?'
The young Death worm that had not yet reached adulthood.
The Lindworm that had only just realized it was a dragon.
Vlad had fought two dragons before, but the Nidhogg in front of him was on an entirely different level from them.
Have the dragon killer knights truly been facing dragons like this?
ROAAAAAR!
A single layer, a double layer, a triple layer.
The magic circles that regenerated every time they were shattered were surely being formed by squeezing out the vitality of the old elders.
However, the newly formed magic circles grew increasingly faint, and the projectiles flying in from all over continued to decrease in number.
An opponent that could not be dealt with using magic.
If they even had warriors, they might have tried to find a way, but the elves' decision to intercept the dragon outside before it came in was now coming back as a fatal mistake.
"Vlad! Run!"
"God damn it!"
The massive body finally reached the front of the World Tree.
Old Geronimo spread his arms until the very end to stop Nidhogg, but his aged flesh could no longer manifest a clear will.
A stream of dark red blood that he couldn't swallow trickled down his mouth.
ROAAAAAR!
A brutal predator that had shaken off all hindrances.
Finally, Nidhogg's claws pressed down on the young World Tree.
CREAAAAK!
Branches shaking dizzily under the moonlight.
The girl's body convulsing in pain far in the distance.
Both the young tree and the Divine Maiden were trembling in fear, feeling the greed transmitting from the dragon's toes.
The breathing sound exhaled by ruin was right beside them.
"I will lure it!"
"Understood!"
The young spirits at the edge of the World Tree.
While Nidhogg's gaze was momentarily drawn there, Vlad and Auguste quickly rushed in from both sides.
"Hup!"
Auguste closed his left eye and summoned his world.
The brilliant dawn of morning began to form from his sword.
The former Imperial Enforcer Commander, Auguste.
His light was the dawn that illuminated falsehoods.
"Over here!"
No matter how much you discovered a weakness, it was meaningless if you didn't expose it.
Startled by Auguste's sudden appearance, Nidhogg's snout quickly covered its armpit as it tried to climb the tree.
"My, you're quite ugly."
Facing the fierce breath, Auguste's eyes grew intense.
Still, if he could hold this creature's attention here, Vlad on the opposite side would surely see an opening.
"What?"
However, Nidhogg had no intention of dealing with Auguste.
It simply spewed out sharp thorns and hurriedly tried to climb up.
A downpour of poisonous rain began to spray over the old knight's head.
"Damn it!"
Running in from the other side, Vlad quickly closed his left eye as he watched Auguste being thrown far away.
If possible, he wanted to seize the perfect opportunity, but the situation unfolding was not ideal.
"Before that bastard climbs up..."
Because he didn't have time, he couldn't draw out the Deep World.
However, Vlad securely contained at least the remnants of the voice.
From Vlad's closed left eye, a streak of white lightning began to form.
"You son of a bitch!"
Nidhogg was already stepping on the World Tree, trying to climb up.
At the tips of its pitch-black claws were the shivering young spirits.
A dragon devours potential.
To become more perfect.
And the newly born young spirits were undoubtedly chunks of potential that a dragon would covet.
"Over here! You bastard!"
Realizing Nidhogg's intention, Vlad didn't hesitate to sprint quickly, climbing up the World Tree.
A streak of lightning that started from the ground was digging into Nidhogg's flank.
Fast, sharp, and fiercer than anyone else.
"I got it!"
A perfect timing that made even Auguste, who had rolled on the ground, clench his fists.
There was not the slightest wavering in Vlad's sword as he thrust toward the weakness.
"......!"
However, Nidhogg's movements were agile enough to exceed everyone's expectations.
Vlad's world, which resonated more sensitively than any other world.
Like recognizes like.
ROAAAAAR!
A dark shadow was descending, filling Vlad's vision.
It was Nidhogg's tail, brimming with poison.
SMASH!
The sound of something shattering.
Along with someone's scream, pieces scattered beneath the World Tree.
They were pieces like shattered starlight.
* * *
The deepest part of the World Tree.
Inside the warm roots where the origin was located.
There, with its head bowed, a silver knight was kneeling alone.
...
It lacked an ego, but it had a will.
The silver sword sharply honed its blade at the unpleasant sensation felt from outside.
One was a greedy dragon of the East.
Another was a young dragon that brought the cold wind of the North.
However, the silver sword could not easily judge.
Because an undeniably familiar aura could be felt from the young dragon carrying the cold wind.
That aura was certainly the remnant of someone who had once been with it.
...
I am a talisman protecting the World Tree, but fundamentally, I am a sword.
A sword can only reveal its blade when drawn.
So come to me.
Because you will be able to draw me.
The silver sword, standing under the moonlight, nobly raised its head.
Through the intersecting worlds, it was quietly calling out to the young dragon harboring starlight.
The moonlight today was blue.
Blue eyes harboring stars.
The shattered fragments were loudly scattered across the night sky.
Along with that, the brilliantly shining protection of the white snake.
And right in front, a single magic circle cracked in a mess.
'This is...'
Beyond the dizzily shattered magic circle, the pale-faced Geronimo was reaching out his arm.
The red blood staining his stark white lips was vivid.
"Vlad! Pull yourself together!"
His vision couldn't focus properly.
Something hot flowing down his forehead suggested that he had taken a hit.
"Damn it!"
Auguste's voice, as he dragged him away, sounded like it was coming from far away.
Through his slowly returning vision, he could see the elves rushing at Nidhogg.
"Ughhh..."
"How many do you see? How many fingers am I holding up?"
Tough, sharp, and also cunning.
The most powerful being he had faced so far.
To Vlad, Nidhogg felt like an insurmountable, massive wall.
"I'm not sure about the fingers, but that bastard's claws had three."
"... Good. Get up."
Looking at the blue eyes that had shaken but regained their focus, Auguste pulled Vlad to his feet.
This young knight had not yet lost his spirit.
"The beast is climbing up!"
"Throw the lassos!"
Along with the shouts, lassos were thrown from all around.
However, a mere few dozen elves were not enough to stop Nidhogg's violent advance.
ROAAAAAR!
With Nidhogg's echoing roar, the elves tumbled helplessly.
Ropes tangled around its neck, feet, and everywhere else, but it was nowhere near enough to block the momentum of Nidhogg, who was crazed with hunger.
The elves pulling the ropes were being dragged around mercilessly.
"Can you do it?"
"... Maybe about one more time."
At Auguste's words, Vlad quickly checked his condition.
His armor was half-destroyed, but the protection of the white snake was still glowing faintly.
Rutiger's sword, trembling ominously, was creaking, but it had not yet lost its sharpness.
It could probably fulfill its role just one more time.
"Do you know how to climb trees?"
"I'm from the city, so..."
"Then it would be good to learn this time."
Auguste and Vlad's eyes were looking at the same place.
The horrifying creature climbing the World Tree under the moonlight.
The screams of the spirits heard from up there were pitiful.
"Now!"
The elves shaking back and forth while holding the ropes.
Between them, the old and the young knights dashed out.
Starting from the ground but keeping their eyes on the sky, the two simultaneously closed their left eyes.
Behind the dragon crawling up toward the sky, two starlights were twinkling.
"You bastard!"
Riding a straight line, Auguste arrived first, quickly leaped up near Nidhogg's tail, and drove his sword in.
It couldn't be called a weakness, but it was the weakest part available.
Perhaps here, he could divert the creature's attention.
ROAAAAAR!
Feeling the stinging sensation from behind, Nidhogg's pupils narrowed vertically.
"Kugh!"
The dizzyingly approaching tail was fierce.
In a situation where he already had to hold onto the tree with one hand, Auguste tried his best to evade.
SMASH!
He barely dodged Nidhogg's tail.
However, through the relentlessly flying wood splinters, thorns came flying at him.
Auguste let out a slow breath as he watched Nidhogg's attack, which he had already experienced once.
"I was wondering why that wasn't coming out."
Auguste's wide-open eyes were glowing blue.
The original intent of discerning weaknesses was precisely to find the optimal path.
In Auguste's eyes, a single shining path appeared between the densely flying thorns.
It was the only path to dodge Nidhogg's incoming thorns.
"Hup!"
The old body creaked between the malicious thorns.
Auguste's movements, skillfully dodging thorns faster than arrows, were already bordering on the divine.
"......!"
Vlad, who had taken a large detour along a curve.
Arriving above Nidhogg, Vlad saw Auguste's movements through his closed left eye.
The roar of the dragon and the trembling of the World Tree.
And his world, shining beneath the mournfully descending moonlight, came across as a powerful scene.
It was deeply engraving itself into Vlad's world.
"Now is the time! Vlad!"
"......!"
Auguste's afterimage still remained.
Before the afterimage disappeared, Vlad swiftly dropped down toward Nidhogg's head.
ROAAAAAR!
I can see it.
It was faint like a shadow, but the path leading to you.
Vlad's wide-open right eye began to harbor a blue light.
"What?"
Regardless of Auguste's panic, Vlad calmly charged toward Nidhogg's horn.
CLANG!
Rutiger's sword eventually shattered into pieces.
Seeing Vlad lose his thorn, Nidhogg's lips curled up tightly.
A sneer directed at a human.
However, the target of that sneer simply continued to glare at it coldly.
The human was not stopping.
"......!"
Even though it was creaking, I thought it would hold out for one more time.
That was the only path I saw.
"Haaah!"
Amidst the scattering shards of the sword, Vlad's right hand began to sparkle.
The white lightning that started from Vlad's hand mercilessly struck down toward the greedy eye.
"Try sneering again!"
The sensation of a blade digging in sharply.
An intense sword precisely because it was short.
Jorge's dagger, drawn at some point, was digging into Nidhogg's eye.
ROAAAAAR!
Finally, Nidhogg's agonizing howl echoed high among the World Tree.
The blue-eyed knight finally managed to make a single scratch on the being striving for perfection.
It was Vlad's swing toward the massive wall blocking his path.
"Die---!"
Vlad of Soara is me, but Vlad of the back alleys is also me.
Vlad did not hide the dark memories that formed his roots.
The gleaming dagger of Jorge.
With a single flick of Vlad's hand, Nidhogg's eye was bursting apart.
ROAAAAAR!
Die, you bastard!
Within their respective wounds, the two dragons were roaring at each other.
I will kill you today.
I swear I will kill you!
"Damn it!"
Its painful thrashing was intense, and its panicked movements were massive.
Due to Nidhogg thrashing about while unleashing everything it had, Auguste ended up losing his path.
Stripped even of the space to step on, Auguste could no longer assist Vlad.
"Be careful!"
With a single sharp warning, one starlight that had opened the path for the young knight was falling beneath the World Tree.
Along with the dark red blood dripping from the place he had slashed last.
"Damn it!"
Vlad didn't even have time to worry about the falling Auguste.
Because Nidhogg's remaining eye was glaring fiercely toward its one remaining enemy.
BANG! CRASH! BANG! BANG!
The World Tree was shaking mercilessly.
Utterly unable to pry Vlad off its head, Nidhogg was ramming its sharp horn into the young World Tree.
Blood scattered from the ruptured eye along with the violently shaking Vlad.
"Kugh!"
Vlad fluttered about like a flag, relying entirely on the barely embedded dagger of Jorge.
The fragments of the World Tree exploding from behind him stung.
"You son of a bitch!"
Jorge's dagger had done its best, but it was shallow.
It would have been good if there was a sword that could reach a bit deeper, but this was Vlad's best.
CRASH!
Eventually, Nidhogg's head pierced through the trunk of the World Tree.
He was stubbornly holding on, but the dagger's handle, slippery with blood, was not something he could hold onto for long.
Under the continuous, intense impacts, Vlad finally fell off Nidhogg's head.
"......!"
Feeling a dizzying sense of falling at that moment, Vlad ended up flailing both his arms.
The inside of the World Tree he had seen with the girl back then was empty.
The World Tree that emptied itself to receive the sunlight and moonlight falling all the way to its roots.
A single starlight was falling toward those divine roots.
The dragon's roar echoing from high above was gradually fading from Vlad's ears.
* * *
The air wrapping around his hair felt cool.
"..."
What Vlad saw as he struggled to open his eyes was not the fiercely glaring eye of Nidhogg.
"... Here is."
Fluttering bright red maple leaves.
What was welcoming Vlad now was the autumn scenery contained within the amber.
["Does it hurt a lot?"]
Vlad turned his head toward where the voice was coming from.
Someone standing under a large maple tree.
Although it was only a view of his back, and though they had never met even once, it was a figure he felt he could recognize.
A young knight covered in wounds.
The man's voice, looking at Vlad, sank low.
"... I did my best. But it didn't work out."
Vlad slowly got up and limped toward him.
But no matter how much he walked, he could not get any closer to him.
"Is it still not enough?"
[...]
As if the time was not yet right, the gap between the voice and Vlad could not be narrowed.
I walked so hard, but I still can't reach you?
The young knight felt deeply sorrowful about that.
"No matter how hard I try, it doesn't work. Whatever I do, it doesn't work."
A boy from the back alleys had become a knight and was fighting a dragon.
Every single step was a walk of bone-crushing pain and perseverance, but there was still nothing but high walls and a massive world in front of Vlad.
The young knight finally became exhausted by the fact that no matter how high he climbed, all that was handed to him was a meager handful of success.
[...]
Hearing Vlad's tearful voice from behind, the voice ended up biting its lip.
How could he comfort the sorrow of not attaining something despite challenging it?
["Still, I am proud of you."]
The world is a place where there are more things you cannot do than things you can.
Even so, the boy from the back alleys never stopped reaching out toward the star hanging above the smithy.
The voice could never forget the light that reflected in the boy's eyes back then.
["Even when no one acknowledged it, I am proud of you for looking up."]
The world is more massive and cruel than you.
But you must not forget.
That the place you look toward will soon become your world.
So raise your head. Young knight.
"... Was I doing well?"
["Of course."]
"It's too hard. I want to stop now."
["You have done well enough so far. You just have to keep doing exactly that."]
With every encouragement from the voice, the young knight's head lifted.
Because I have already walked that path once, I know exactly how hard it is for you.
Young knight. You are doing a truly splendid job.
["You are right, and you are correct."]
With those words, the voice tossed the scabbard hanging from its waist over to Vlad.
A silver sword.
It was the sword of the Swordmaster that emitted a noble light.
"This is..."
Vlad raised his head and looked at the voice.
The man who had somehow turned around to face him.
Although the man's face was obscured by thick shadows, his lips were visible.
He was smiling.
["So now, it is your turn."]
Maple leaves scattered in the wind.
The bright red leaves that had suddenly filled his vision were spreading out like fingers, saying goodbye.
The figure of the man smiling beneath the tree was gradually fading away.
"... My turn."
Along with the fluttering maple leaves, the autumn in the illusion passed.
What Vlad saw as he opened his eyes again was not the autumn scenery, but today's moonlight floating in the sky.
The stark white moon fully formed within Vlad's blue eyes.
* * *
ROAAAAAR!
Nidhogg finally climbed up to the top of the World Tree.
Its greedy gaze was staring at the young spirits hanging between the branches.
Seeing the numerous young spirits terrified, Nidhogg burst into loud laughter as if amused.
A ruptured left eye.
A tail half cut off.
Although it climbed up looking pathetic, it didn't matter.
Now, it would take those children's potential and become an even more perfect version of itself!
"That's not going to happen."
At that moment, a resolute voice rang out from somewhere.
There was a being daring to throw a cold sneer toward it, the one about to become perfect.
GRRRR-
A blue-eyed knight.
An entity whose wide-open eyes resembled a fierce dragon, yet what he wielded was a knight's sword.
His name, harboring two incompatible worlds.
Vlad of Soara.
ROAAAAAR!
Nidhogg erupted in violent rage as it looked at Vlad standing in front of it.
Clinging back onto it no matter how many times it tore him away.
The young blue-eyed dragon was terrifyingly tenacious.
"Get down from here. You son of a bitch."
The only ones standing at the highest peak of Aushrina were Vlad and Nidhogg.
Now, behind him, there was no one left to protect the spirits.
Now, it is my turn to do this.
'... A bit deeper.'
Vlad slowly took a deep breath and opened his closed left eye.
A slightly deeper world.
Because he knew that it was in his heart, not in his eyes.
Now it is my turn.
Now it is my turn to protect.
A single light originating from his heart began to shine alongside the silver sword.
"HAAAAH!"
ROAAAAAR!
Leaving the young spirits behind, a single starlight began stretching out toward the dragon.
Faster and more intense than anyone else.
Containing only his own will.
"......!"
Evading the sharp horn with the nimble footwork taught by the one-eyed knight.
Withstanding the rapidly flying thorns with the protection of the white snake and his armor arts.
"Kugh!"
Though pushed back slightly, enduring through his ankles strengthened by body arts.
And so, finding the most optimal path shown by someone today.
The worlds of others, layered upon the Swordmaster's swordsmanship, were opening the path for Vlad.
ROAAAAAR!
Nidhogg glared with wide eyes at the young dragon charging at it.
To become perfect, one had to rise by trampling on someone else's potential.
However, the blue-eyed young dragon was jumping over the wall using solely his own potential.
In a manner that would make anyone proud just looking at it.
ROAAAAAR!
Between the tearing membrane, the vicious thorns were breaking off.
The ragged potential that couldn't fly on its own was splitting apart along with the starlight.
The voice of the dragon that dreamed of perfection was fading away with a scream.
"Now, it is my turn!"
A newly risen star was shining at the highest point of Aushrina today.
So that anyone could see it, so that anyone could look up at it.
That light was the starlight the boy had harbored in his heart all this time.
