Chapter 476 - The White Star Clad in Red, The Blue Star Clad in Black, Part Two
A Recall—and then a trigger.
The moment I fired the second [Ruby Bullet] I’d summoned as a propellant, a waterfall of information, swollen to many times its normal volume by my thought acceleration, came crashing down on me.
Acceleration, trajectory deviation, posture transition, etcetera. Setting aside all the elements I needed to grasp, the one unknown I had to seize above all else had already been made known by my golden right eye.
The blade of Helia, which had targeted the “dragon” I had identified as my enemy and closed in on, shot through the night sky—but it still failed to catch the final star.
It dodged again. But my right eye caught the trick.
I saw how the massive creature, whose wingspan likely reached ten meters, instantly shrank down to the size of a marble and slipped past the blade of ‘Red’ with the speed of a shooting star.
What kind of ability is that? If you have wings, flap them and fly, and a dozen other retorts welled up from the pit of my stomach, but there was no need for excessive surprise or concern.
—Once I open my closed left eye, it will never escape again.
I lifted my eyelid, opening a silver eye. The monochrome vision of my left eye blended with the view from my right, slamming my brain with an indescribable, intense sense of wrongness, but I ignored it completely.
All I had to do was aim, and…
"Look On."
…keep my eyes fixed on the enemy I had sworn not to let escape.
Then, within my distorted vision where monochrome and color mixed, only that starry sky floated in sharp focus… and the next instant, its form blurred into a double image.
—Eight seconds left. Let’s ramp it up.
Recall and trigger. The effect of [Floating Leaf] had long since worn off, so I couldn’t hope for the same initial thrust, but being able to steer in any direction was still an exceptionally useful option.
In parallel with fine-tuned postural control via [Hare Real], I kicked off the carpet of scattered daggers, sending sparks of Desperate Crimson’s phosphorescence into the air as I soared.
I already knew a straight charge would just be dodged, and I had no intention of hoping for a third time’s the charm—so, all I had to do was preemptively chase the future shown by my predictive eye.
The translucent afterimage born from the blur shrank to a size that would be difficult to perceive with the naked eye and shot through the air at incredible speed.
The trajectory it drew masterfully slipped past the route I had shown as a feint.
Its instantaneous speed was on par with my own, but to achieve a perfect evasion not just once, it must have had some other factor… something special, just like my “eye.”
That I was closing in meant that, in terms of sheer speed, I was definitively superior.
If that was the case, and I had evened the odds on that special something by opening both my eyes—the result was clearer than day.
I followed the predicted route to the letter, arriving at the spot where the compressed starlit sky spread its wings once more. The “dragon,” which had turned its head toward the direction it predicted the “enemy” would be, suddenly froze its massive body in midair, caught by two unexpected developments.
One was that the “enemy” was not where it had turned its head.
The other was…
“—Hah, I’ll take that as a sign you were surprised.”
…that it felt the weight of a small being on its back. And before its body could become a mote of starlight again—my “right arm” moved on its own.
The explosively expanding crimson brilliance of ‘Red’ slammed into the starlit dragon.
『—』
The silent scream of the Stardust Beast reached me from the dragon, which had been struck down by a merciless slash of the greatsword. It was falling… meaning it was still moving.
In other words, it wasn’t dead yet.
As expected of a presumed boss enemy—in that case, I’ll finish this off perfectly.
"[Destruct]."
From the palms of my hands aimed at the heavens behind me, I released the wind power that had easily reached its critical point during my aerial maneuvers. I plummeted, chasing the “dragon” I had struck down but which was still very much alive.
In that moment, I canceled [Alv Call]. There were still a few seconds left on the contract time, but I was sure it had had its fill of battle result—well, you know, it’s that thing.
I gotta look cool and finish this with my own hands!
"[Parabellum—"
Regaining control of my right arm from within the shattered ‘Red,’ I released the star sword and simultaneously activated [Mistlurade].
"—Bullet]."
As I fell, I scattered a rain of crimson blades, then deactivated [Mistlurade] while overtaking them. Next, I summoned two new [Ruby Bullet]s to my hands—and triggered them.
I then switched the acceleration multiplier of [Eyes Oculus] to five times.
Even in my rapidly slowing perception of the world, my MP began to vanish at explosive speed, but it would likely last for another ten seconds or so. I only needed five. More than enough.
I generated thrust by rapidly switching and firing the cannons, accelerating sharply. I finally caught up to… and overtook the massive body of the “dragon,” landing on the ground.
Then, I equipped [An=Ru Galta (Hypothesis: The Wedge-Armor that Sings of the King's Road)]—Kesshiki Ittoryu, unarmed technique.
"[Trembling Transmission]."
I placed my left palm on the belly of the “dragon” as it hit the ground a moment later and activated [Rocket]. With the help of my thought acceleration, I precisely adjusted the output to fifty percent.
What’s lacking, I’ll make up for with a multi-stage boost from Matoi. Now fly!
It was surprisingly light for its size. Even so, it easily felt like it weighed several hundred kilograms, but in any case, the “dragon” was launched into the air, and the stage was set.
As I caught the flying star sword with my right hand, my left had already drawn the blade of [Samidorizuki]. All that was left was to swing both hands.
I reactivated [Rocket].
I kicked off the ground and soared back into the sky, where my body, the “dragon” I had launched ahead, and the rain of daggers I had previously sent down all converged at a single point—
"[Kiraboshi]."
In the starless night sky, for a single moment, seven flashes—and in a second, countless stars—shone with brilliant light.
◇You have successfully tamed the [Stardust Beast]◇
◇Contractor, please give a name to the [Star]◇
One of the conditions was “someone who can catch me.” That guy is ranked #1 on the ‘Arcadia Tag Opponents You Should Never Challenge’ list.