“In this state, again…… [The World Is Mine].”
“Mashiro! Here!”
“Mn……!”
A black curtain of darkness spread to envelop the capital.
Even using dark-element magic now without aptitude — Floné fully empowered.
“Defeat me before the curtain fully falls, or it ends.”
What do I do……!?
[Magecraft Funeral (Delete)] can’t cover the range and power; even if I tried, enhanced-Floné wouldn’t allow the opening.
I’ve already felt [The World Is Mine]‘s power. Can’t take it again.
I hadn’t anticipated her empowerment.
Why does fortune smile only on her……!
”—— Ouga.”
Her voice raised my face.
…… Right. A goddess far more reliable than some unknown one stands with me.
No need to panic.
”…… It’s okay. Whatever the outcome, I’m here.”
“You give me the greatest courage. Thanks, Mashiro.”
She gripped my right hand as if reading my heart.
Her support alone — how grateful. Her mana warmth flowed through [Dragon-Slay Fist · Shin]; mana-stones glowed in darkness — ah.
”…………!”
There. One method to deceive Floné and reverse this.
But I must definitely close in.
Think, think……! Maintain composure; pursue victory step by step……!
“To be the fang cutting obstacles. We swore, friend.”
“Gauss……!”
Dragon-humanoid Gauss laid his hand on my shoulder.
He sensed the next strike decides it.
He’d give his all there too.
“My fallen kin’s vengeance…… let me clear it!”
“Loser’s babble…… off to where your kin wait!”
He charged, drawing Floné’s attention.
She wouldn’t fully look away from me, but I didn’t want her thinking comfortably.
“I’ll char you! [Dead-End Breath]!!”
“Your kin’s technique — fitting! [Dead-End Breath]!”
“Guuuuu!! Not yet……not yet!”
“Tch! Stubborn…… dying-types are like this……!”
Through the breath stalemate Gauss made, I closed in.
Floné dominates dragon-power, gained new abilities.
Same — I’ll use everything I have to the max……!
My greatest weapon isn’t [Magecraft Funeral] or [Gear Change · Hard]. The most precious thing in my life……!
Whose mana stored in [Dragon-Slay Fist · Shin]‘s stones now? — Mashiro’s.
…… Then!
“Don’t forget me, Floné!”
“Skittering around my vision — fully visible, brat!”
Mid-air-fight style, I raised a fist; Floné didn’t extend hand.
She’d watch my choice of attack and react.
—— But was this option in her head?
“[Frost Hurricane]!!!”
“Wha!? Magic!?”
In [Dragon-Slay Fist · Shin] — Mashiro’s magic-aptitude mana.
Magic — phenomena caused by giving mana to invisible spirits.
Magicless = my mana doesn’t appeal to spirits.
Then with spirit-loving mana……? I can use magic too……!
“Aaaaaa!?”
Floné anticipated physical attack; the hit caught her clean.
A magic option my position fully excluded.
Why hadn’t I thought of it? Because I-cannot-use-magic was bedrock.
History has no magic-aptitude-less wielders.
That common-sense is engraved more deeply in decades-older Floné!
“A loser since birth — magicless……!”
A near-direct [Frost Hurricane] at fist-distance — devastating; froze parts of her body.
She rose unsteadily, eyes lifeless.
Her dead heart driven by decades of obsession. A living corpse.
The sight pathetic. As if she were……
”…… Who’s the loser, Floné.”
“What……?”
“What you have left is an ugly self that’s neither human nor dragon. You’ve lost pride, dreams, surviving as a loser.”
She gained strength as dragon, yet we’re about to defeat her.
Without guidance, what value in more sacrifice?
She’s just throwing tantrums.
The kind I most despise — third-rate villain leaking desires.
Floné and I aren’t on the same stage now.
“We have firm conviction. Unlike you.”
“I have conviction too! Long-pursued! Don’t pretend you understand!”
“I understand and say it. Your future…… holds only ruin.”
I readied a fist.
A fist holding Mashiro’s and Gauss’s feelings.
“With this fist, I close the curtain on you!”
“I’ll restart from zero! Like my shining era!”
She charged with claws.
Far longer reach than human — wielding dragon-humanoid form skillfully.
She’d been a famous battlefield warrior; sharp moves. Without [Frost Hurricane]‘s slowing effect, I’d struggle harder.
Above all, the woman who trained me equaled her skill.
“My eyes are used to this speed! [Gear Change]!”
I caught her claws with the [Gear Change]-hardened [Dragon-Slay Fist · Shin], then drove a left fist into her exposed flank.
“Ogo……!?”
Spit and blood on the earth.
I spun, struck her face with a backfist.
“M-me!?”
She fell, rose unsteadily.
The hatred in her eyes brighter — clear goal to kill me.
“Don’t joke…… how can this be……!”
“From the start. You were wrong from the start, Floné.”
“What do you know of my life……?”
“I do. The result of accumulated life is our current relationship.”
She on knees looking up; I, chest puffed, looking down.
Without conviction’s trunk, she has no support in pinch.
“For a third-rate, let me teach. At least carve it for next life.”
”……! [Dead-End Breath]!”
I broke through with [Magecraft Funeral] instead of dodging, stood before her.
“My and your essence is the same. Toward dreams, with overwhelming skill, do as we please. ……The one difference — I have conviction, you don’t!”
I drew a fist back to hip, drove upward from below the chin.
The three commandments of evil I’d set for this life.
“One! Don’t bend conviction!”
She’d just bent hers for survival.
“Two! Never neglect honing charm!”
She overestimated herself forever.
“Three! Don’t let anyone decide your life’s future!”
“Gaaaaa!”
A three-blow combo to engrave.
She’s clearly exhausted; no comeback.
She still tries to stand from desperation.
“If only you…… without you my plan would’ve gone……!”
”…… [Gear Change · Hard].”
All remaining mana to the right arm.
The final blow.
“The life you chose and walked! That’s your defeat, Floné Milfontiii!!”
“Damn damn damn — Ouga Veretttt!?”
Her impotent fist crossed with my red-glowing [Dragon-Slay Fist · Shin], hitting her nose.
Cracking sounds.
“UoooooooaaaaA!”
For everyone she’d tormented — pain and grief — I swung through.
She had no strength to support herself, slammed back-first.
The ground caved; her cheek imprinted with my fist, she lay in the crater.
“Ah…… ape…………”
Eyes rolled, blood from mouth, twitching like a fish out of water.
But her mana hadn’t vanished.
Without the dragon body’s toughness, she’d be done.
A flame like a candle still burns.
”…… Even now alive — your obsession is respected, truly.”
If that perseverance were directed differently, your life would’ve changed.
I knocked her out with a chop to safely capture.
◇ Two chapters left in the main story. ◇