Dracolich

A relentless feeling of regret rained down in Tsuruko's mind as she made a mad dash through the streets of Luin, unable to think straight. Her train of thought was a total mess; it branched out in any direction possible.

''I'm sorry I ran

I'm sorry I hurt you

I'm scared

Nobody's ever said they loved me before

Maybe I love you too''

A sharp *bzzt* rang though her head as she heard a voice. "...Hey, Tsuruko. Can you hear me?" That voice—it was Giselle's!

Unlike the last two times, Tsuruko didn't really react with surprise, only a lethargic, "...What do you want?"

"Where's Hikari?" Giselle cut to the point.

"With Excellen."

"Where's Excellen?"

"Not with me, for sure."

"....Tsuruko." Giselle's normally cold voice softened. "...Are you okay?"

"Not like you'd understand."

Giselle snapped back at Tsuruko; exasperated. "...I'm your mother. You can tell me anything. I know I'm a brick but I'll be damned if I'm going to let you cry about something I can't help you with."

"...I think I love Excellen." Tsuruko sighed. "Ever since she'd been trying to help me after Gary left...I knew my opinion changed regarding her."

"Are you serious?"

"Yeah."

"What about all those times with that Straights bastard? You didn't feel anything?"

"I did, I did!" Tsuruko continued; somewhat confused, "But I think I love Excellen more than I did him." She, couldn't tell what was with herself.

"Tsuruko, I'm not against you liking Excellen, but think of it this way; you see Excellen every day—you two are best friends. Things are going to get extremely awkward if you don't sort it out."

"Things are already awkward. She said she was in love with me."

"So...what did you say?"

Tsuruko buried her face in her right palm. "...I just ran."

Giselle seemed to lose her patience. "Pathetic."

"...?"

"When somebody tells you something like that, you have to answer, no matter what. If you don't, it hurts more than being rejected. You two are always honest with each other. So just tell her how you really feel, don't fuck around with it."

"You...aren't mad?"

"Nope." Giselle answered her daughter; her tone returned to being somewhat relaxed. "If it's what you want, then do it. I'll be okay with it as long as you're happy about it, too. Now get out of here, I know you've got something more important to do."

"All I do is break everything, even the things I care about. But Excellen cheered me up. She said I saved her. I need to live up to her feelings." A small smile formed upon Tsuruko's lips. "...Thanks, mum. I'm going to tell Excellen."

A harrowing roar ripped through the city of Luin—what was once futuristic was almost reduced to ruin in an instant.

...What materialized from a void was a gigantic skeleton monster with darkish scales which was standing on two legs; thick arms and legs; sharp claws, fangs, and horns. It was spreading its enormously large wings, and it had a thick and long tail.

Perhaps it was more accurate to say that it was a giant which had the features of a dragon; a form which was close to a human. But it had wings, a tail, and its head was completely that of a dragon.

"...Is this the Dracolich Excellen told me about?"

The dragon with sharp fangs opened its jaw. Its eyes glowing in a sickly green colour were bright and sharp, and it was filled with hostility and killing intent.

Flames spewed from its mouth; letting out another howl, the dracolich swung its claw down at a tower, uprooting the building from the ground floor.

Tsuruko wasn't afraid for her own well-being—though she certainly was worried about somebody else.

Immediately, Tsuruko Sejren took off once more; running with all of her might. That beeline sprinting transformed into leaping from roof to roof with her rocket boosters, and finally flying; there was only one thing on her mind:

"I need to tell her."

Earthquakes shook the very foundation of the city of Luin itself.

The tableware and cabinets of the Sejren residence began to come undone, crashing to the carpet.

Hikari waddled over to the now-cracked windows, staring outside...

Her eyes widened and blanked; she called Excellen over; the latter had a hollow expression.

"...Even now?" Excellen wasn't surprised...though a cold sweat rushed across her forehead. "...Hikari, we need to leave."

Without hesitating, Excellen grabbed the little girl's hand, beginning to run as fast as she could.

The 'dragons' that the Dracolich brought with it...they were being that easily exceeded a hundred and fifty meters tall.

They were a bunch of humanoid shaped dragons covered in black aura. In terms of appearance none of them resembled each other. Though the humanoid types stood on four legs, their heads all looked vaguely like a dragon.

Similarly the four legged monsters were also mixed with parts of different creatures.

They continued to progress towards the city with slow steps without showing any signs of stopping.

The most painful thing about this...was the fact that all of them were creating smaller dragons by themselves as they progressed towards their targets. Body parts of the gigantic dragons started to swell up, and lots of smaller dragons were born by ripping out from their flesh.

They were only the size of humans but there were simply too many of them. Thousands of them were created at a single time.

They destroyed the forests, mountains, and landscapes that they passed through and devoured the animals that lived there.

It seemed like the civilians who lived in the towns and villages along the monsters path were evacuated with minimal casualties.

But entire towns were trampled down. After they left the place, it looked so ghastly that there was nothing left.

This was the power of a dragon...

Excellen's hold on Hikari tightened—she wasn't going to let her go. "Hikari!" Excellen reasoned, "I'm going to get you out of here, then I'm going to find Sejjey."

As dragons swooped down to the two...

Excellen held her hand out, quickly charging magical power within her palm, sending a powerful blast of azure energy that sent a few back into the skies, before they crashed down to earth; she withdrew her scythe—sending a current of air across the ground, she split the ground before them, releasing several fragments of rock that she telekinetically flung at a few beasts.

More dragons began to swarm Luin—Excellen, immediately reacting, hoisted Hikari over her head. "Hikari, I'm going to launch you to Hargeon. If I extend my telekinesis, you should be able to get enough air to reach the outskirts of the port town."

"Are you sure it'll work!?" The small child flailed her arms and legs about, terrified.

"Hey," Excellen gave her a half-confident smile. "I've got exalt blood and I'm part of a race whose main skill is magic. Stuff like the laws of physics doesn't matter."

Without wasting any more words, Excellen Kilekion launched Hikari Zanna with all of her might into the skies—her small body vanishing in the blink of an eye.

Excellen initiated her psychic magic once more; focusing it solely on her limbs to activate a form of tactile telekinesis.

"...Damn dragons!"

This area was filled with bright red flames and blazing heat rather than the brilliant white of the outdoor lights. A single girl stood in the middle of the blazing forest.

She had grayish purple hair pinned up at the back with a purple bow with side braids and rose eyes.

This was Marisa Sejren.

She was here for a very simple reason.

She pulled the lever on her Driver Belt.

A purple aura washed over her—transforming her into a purple and black armour that appeared as if a bike exploded and attached to random parts of her body, along with scarlet bug-eyes. A knuckle-like weapon manifested in her hands.

Marisa swung her clenched fist forward.

That was all it took.

An overwhelming blast of wind blew out the almost volcanic blaze like it was a simple candle.

The dozen or so dragons surrounding her were destroyed simply by being near the attack. Marisa, on the other hand, paid those beasts no heed whatsoever. Her gaze was fixed on a tiny flickering flame that remained.

"Almost done...."

A loud roar exploded out and several dragons collapsed to the ground. Several dozen dragons were surrounding a lone man. This purple-haired, well-built man was wearing a black leather jacket. Despite facing just that one enemy, the dragons had yet to so much as scratch him.

On the other hand, over half of the original dragons surrounding him had already been lost. Due to the weak bonds between the beasts, some of those lost had simply left the group to pursue a different target.

"...How is...a mere, human...defeating us?"

The man in the black jacket smiled when he heard that.

His smile split across his face like a crescent moon.

The most frightening part was that the man had not done anything that indicated he was using magic.

He had done all of this unarmed. And in that case, what would happen once he started using his power?

"A true man fights with naught but his fists! Listen here, you flying lizards! I'll smash you all into dust!"

With that silly-sounding shout, he simply jabbed his clenched fists forward.

His stocky arms fired punches on the level of heavy machinery.

And Derrick Sejren charged toward the dragons surrounding him without using any sort of magic power.

Within the body of Excellen Kilekion was the blood of an exalt and an esper.

There was no doubt about it...!

Excellen slammed her foot into the ground; a dragon slowly came into view. The lightly treading shadow that appeared without making a sound, its blank face and empty eyes paradoxically let Excellen sense that this was a dangerous person, trying to attack straight away. Like some puppet being controlled by its strings, without any warning. But Excellen easily killed the thing.

One dragon.

Two dragons.

Three dragons.

Four.

She killed the draconic figures who with an easy grace that made it look like she was dancing. There were no useless motions in that dance. Before long the streets were full of dragon corpses. For the first time—with a face full of hatred Excellen ran, stepping over the corpses of the crowd she had murdered before advancing down the street.

When she came out to the corridor, there were already five or so dragons on the ground. As if instinctually, Excellen was cutting down beings like nobody's business. It was overwhelming. For some reason these didn't seem like they came the heavens, but they didn't move slowly like the zombies you see in movies.

With a superhuman-like quickness they leapt towards the esper. Regardless, Excellen didn't bat an eyelash and easily took care of them. The sole reason they weren't bleeding was because they weren't normal. Killing beings without spilling a drop of blood, Excellen looked like a white goddess of death as she opened a path to the Dracolich.

With the monstrous dragon in front of her, Excellen ground her teeth together, making a gnashing sound. She raised her scythe defiantly.

"Even if Sejjey isn't here...I'm going to fight for what she believes in." Those words pained her; her smile was broken. Even so...she'd still fight.

The dracolich let out another roar; releasing a sphere of smouldering flame towards her as it unleashed flames from above.

With a single swing of her scythe; the sheer wind pressure cancelled the dragon's fireball; Excellen leapt forward into the next set of flames, swinging her weapon around in an attempt to ward off the intense heat.

Focusing the power of Demonic Materialization over her left leg, Excellen manifested an azure armoured limb.

It was a clean hit, and she felt some resistance. …But the sensation she felt was dull.

The dracolich was so heavy that it was impossible to kick it away!

From what Excellen gathered, the thing's defense was high; which, along with its quick movements and power...

The dragon slammed its claw down towards Excellen's body...

....Only for an azure tengu-like armour to manifest around her figure, defending against its attack with an enormous katana. This was one of the three great esper skills; Demonic Materialization once more.

Excellen put all of her spirit into this next attack. Magical energy gathered and converged around her body—condensing it into a physical form—the visage of a glob of pure power. Excellen used the Demonic Materialization to take ahold of the undead creature, leaping to the top of the giant.

"Star of Ruin!" With those words, Excellen unleashed her ultimate spell.

The sphere moved slowly; however, as it traveled through the atmosphere; it showed its power as it simply moved the air since it trimmed away the ground and surroundings.

...However, the sphere began to crackle violently with black lightning and scarlet flames.

The dracolich's body was being pulled little by little by it; though the beast attempted to resist, its body simply stumbled, taking a few steps forward; eventually, its whole body moved.

KER-CRACK!

The dragon scales shattered in an instant as the Star of Ruin tore away the dragon's wings and immolated the beast.

Letting out a terrified howl, the enormous sphere of destruction enveloped the Dracolich in its entirety.

"It's a mass of destruction that eliminates everything. It has no weaknesses or drawbacks. This is my power...the power of an exalted esper!"

The huge sphere of destruction increased its shine and devoured the Dracolich...

Excellen plunged her scythe into the ground; exhausted from utilizing that last spell. Her breathing was extremely audible as she struggled to catch her breath.

What was left after the sphere of destruction disappears was—the beast only had half of its head left.

It was terrifying, but the Dracolich was still alive even when it lost its body.

Screeching, the Dracolich called its minions to its aid—the remaining side of its head began to devour its cronies...

...And just like that, the beast formed a new body—made of a mish-mash of colours and parts, with a beat of its six demonic wings, it almost uprooted Excellen from her position.

Excellen took her weapon from the earth, attempting to charge forward...

...And in return, the dragon's energy gathered in its mouth transfigured into a cascade of shining beams reminiscent of shooting stars, which locked-on to Excellen, the entire volley shooting towards her at supersonic speeds.

Her vision blanked as the blasts looked like they impacted upon her body; shattering her weapon...

SMASH!

The dragon let out a harrowing screech as it received a vicious fist to its stomach, sending the beast careening through the air at an immeasurable velocity.

It was like an invisible shotgun—so much power, yet impossible to detect.

Suddenly, Excellen opened her eyes.

The impact...didn't happen.

That person who saved her…Her back was to her, so she couldn't see her face- though she knew who this was.

Azure and silver armour—with a red fang-like visor.

"Ah, ahh…!" Her tears began to fall. "...Sejjey...?"

"The one and only." Casually, Tsuruko extended her hand to her friend. "Can you still fight?"

All Excellen could really do as Tsuruko helped her up was weakly nod.

"Alright!" Tsuruko gave her a thumbs up. "Let's defeat this jerk together." Tsuruko casually tossed Excellen her gunblade. "I missed your birthday. So here's a belated present."

Excellen and Tsuruko, side to side, assumed a fighting stance.

The voices of the destined pair reached the heavens.

"Now, it's OUR showtime!"