But Trihexa will eventually start moving again, right? It doesn’t seem like it’s over with just that.”
Indeed, the feeling of a premonition still remained. He could still feel a strange pressure being exuded from Trihexa, even though it had been stopped. Not only Azazel, but his other nakama also turned their gazes towards Trihexa with eyes of caution. Azazel said to everyone
“If everything ended just like this, then the Imperial Beast of the Apocalypse would really be too kind. It doesn’t matter, I’ll think of a countermeasure when the time comes. For now, just wipe out all of the Evil Dragons and fake Sekiryuutei around us. Can you guys do it?”
Everyone strongly answered with ‘Yeah!’ in response to the Fallen Angel. When the battle resumed again, Vali noticed that Azazel’s attitude was concerning. —Absolute determination. That was all he could feel. Of all the people present, he was the only one who could understand that. Although they had not spent more than ten years together…he was able to read something out of Azazel’s expression. He would notice his facial expressions and attitude when interacting with Azazel rather naturally. He never understood what he wanted to do. He was unable to fully understand that genius who naturally loved mischief. But—. Whenever Azazel wanted to do something, he could feel it. Vali felt that the current Azazel ‘felt satisfied by being resolutely prepared for something’—. For those who don’t already know, kanji are the characters used to define the meaning, whereas furigana (kana) is used as the intended reading, or to clarify the specific usage of the kanji. In order to chase after Apophis, who landed on the uninhabited island, I, Hyoudou Issei also landed on that island. On top of a rock ridge of that island, I faced a tan-skinned youth who was wearing vestments. Based on his appearances alone, he looked human…but the aura that I felt from him was unusually powerful. It was an aura unique to dragons. Apophis smiled as he welcomed my arrival. So my opponent is you, Sekiryuutei. This is truly a great honour.>>
“Yo — Apophis-san. You’re supposed to be one of the strongest Evil Dragons, right?”
Fufufu, at the very least, I’m a lot stronger than that barbaric Grendel.>>
…Well, talking this way made him really easy to understand. In other words, he was as strong as a Super Devil. Well, that’s something that I understood already. After all, he was an Evil Dragon on par with Crom Cruach. I didn’t answer and nor did I have a reply as I readied my stance — and then charged towards him in a straight line! The first to strike gets the upper hand! Although I’m not like Xenovia, it’s better to attack from the front myself, instead of waiting for the opponent to prepare their first move! Lately, the opponents that I’ve fought against have been monsters that use difficult techniques, so just the thought of waiting for them to use those is terrifying! I fired out several Dragon Shots as I flew towards him. Apophis remained still, and showed no intention of dodging. Just when my Dragon Shot hit him — in that instant, some kind of darkness appeared in front of Apophis. My Dragon Shot and the magic energy that was emanated from the darkness eliminated each other at the same time! …Sensei had spoken about it before. Apophis was able to manipulate darkness and shadows. He was able to utilise his full strength under the shade of darkness. If he began to control the weather, then I definitely had to stay on guard against it. In other words, the darkness that appeared in front of him just now absorbed my Dragon Shot and then eliminated it. —At that time, darkness appeared behind me, and on both my left and right sides. A black aura darted out from it! I felt danger, and immediately flew into the air to evade it, but…a part of my dragon’s wing touched the darkness and was melted by it! This darkness was capable of dissolving its opponent simply upon contact! Oh, I absolutely don’t want to touch it! After that, I moved to put some distance between us. I then launched a continuous bombardment of Dragon Shots from the air. Apophis conjured up darkness in front of himself, and erased all of my shots of demonic energy. Apophis then called forth a surge of darkness to surround me and fired projectiles from the darkness towards me. I immediately dodged them so that I wouldn’t be hit…those bullets of darkness dissolved anything without reservation as soon as it touched them, and upon seeing that, cold sweat trickled down my entire body. It’ll be too dangerous if I take even a single direct hit. Using darkness to cancel out my attacks, and using darkness to melt everything—. It was an ability that was very easy to understand. But precisely because of this, it was very difficult to deal with! Looking at things from this perspective, he was certainly much stronger than Grendel! If that rampaging Evil Dragon was struck by these attacks, it would also have been melted and would cease to exist! Damn it! I’ve got absolutely no clue! Reducing our distance for close-quarters combat…was also very dangerous. My fist would probably be sucked into the darkness and my entire arm would be erased! Seeing that I had stopped attacking, Apophis began to laugh. Our compatibility seems to be quite poor.>>
“Well I’m sorry! Anyway, my compatibility with any technique-type opponents is rather bad!”
In response to my sarcasm, Apophis’ reaction was the exact opposite. No, that’s not what I meant. What I wanted to say was that our compatibility is quite poor. I’m also not very good at dealing with strong opponents who attack me directly. If I take a hit from a single punch, I’ll definitely suffer a lot of damage. That’s why I have no choice but to use an ability like this to protect myself from exposing any openings, and then counterattack.>>
…His overly calm speech and behaviour surprised me for a moment. “I never thought that there could exist such a calm Evil Dragon.”
That was because all of the ones that I encountered were abnormal bastards like Grendel that rampaged agressively. Although there were Evil Dragons like Crom Cruach, Apophis was also an exception. I also deeply and passionately enjoy fighting. However, if I’m compared to brutal fellows like Grendel or Níðhöggr, then it makes me feel a little disappointed.>>
No matter what he said, this guy was completely abnormal. He controlled Trihexa, and travelled to various factions to cause trouble. This couldn’t be called a normal mentality. From my perspective, his unconventional way of thinking could already be regarded as the same type as Grendel. …If it was Vali, I’m not sure what he would think either. Apophis asked me
Current Sekiryuutei. You — are you interested in another world?>>
…Are we starting to talk about the matters of another world now? Well, I did actually communicate with one of the gods on that side once. Thinking about it right now made my head hurt again, so I didn’t really want to think about it too much….