On a vast mountain range approximately several hundred kilometres away, a loud bestial roar shook the skies.
A large creature with draconic wings and darkish orange scales roared up at the sky in fury.
Its large wings unfurled roughly as it ascended into the air at a tremendous speed, a fierce gale was generated by its ascension.
"How foolish, you are destined to die just like all the others… And yet, you continuously tried resisting time, and time again. It is pitiful when intelligent creatures decide to resist death."
A young youth who stood at the edge of a cliff uttered such things with a small sigh as though he found it bothersome.
ROOAAR!
The dragon roared in fury, it then inhaled, filling its lungs with air, at the same time, its stomach rapidly enlarged and expanded, before releasing a breath of flames towards the young youth.
"... Pointless."
As the flames came within reach of his body, it was blocked by a barrier of magical energy. Then, the youth drew his sword from the sheath at his waist within a beautiful white scabbard with swift and fluid movements. The youth took a big leap, closing the distance to the dragon.
Swish!
With a swift swing of his sword, the head of the dragon was scent twirling through the air, its blood splattering.
After smoothly landing at the peak of a cliff, the young youth, draped in a blue leather coat, flicked his sword indifferently. One beat later, the headless body of the dragon fell noisily to the ground along with its severed head with a loud thud.
His reddish black hair fluttered in the wind, as his cold crimson eyes reflected the sight of the creature he had just killed.
The youth was the infamous dragon slayer, Leo.
Scattered around the surroundings were several corpses of draconic species. They were all slain by his sword, crimson Saber, whose blade was coated in dragon blood. It was one of the five mythical swords.
"I have completed this quest. I suppose I should head back now."
He said in a nonchalant tone, it was as if he had just done something insignificant, and not worth mentioning at all.
Dragon's and their subspecies were all regarded as natural disasters, if by rank they would be special "A" class monsters, and true dragons would be ranked "S" class, or sometimes ranging from the special "SS" class monsters, they were beings of pure power. Unnatural existences capable of wide range disasters.
Normally, they aren't something humanity could handle. Their physical bodies were enormously large, they boasted steel-like skin capable of deflecting almost all attacks, and even magical attacks have hardly any effect on them.
Even the strongest sword, forge by the best sword smithers couldn't deal any significant blows to the tough scales of dragons.
But Leo was from the dragon clan, his knowledge of dragons far outclassed those of ordinary folks.
Not to mention, there was also the evil dragon dwelling within him. Furthermore, he wielded the crimson Saber sword, a mythical sword.
After his clan was annihilated by dragons, he had spent his entire life devoting his life to slaying dragons. He had already lost count of how many he had killed.
He was a dragon slayer, slaying dragons was his only purpose, his new reason for living. His grip on the hilt of his sword tightened as the bitter memories resurface.
<
At that moment, an unpleasant voice spoke to him. It was the voice of the evil dragon. Also known as the curst dragon and one of the true dragons that existed in this world.
ROOOAAARRR!
However, before he could say anything, the sound of a roar echoed through the surroundings. A huge mass loomed over him, covering the area in its shadow.
It was a large draconic creature; its body was completely covered in black scales. Its back adorned with four pairs of draconic wings spanning roughly ten meters in length. Its green draconic eyes were hollowed and filled with a sense of madness.
Leo's expression became increasingly stern, at the extremely unpleasant aura emanating from the dragon that had just shown itself.
The creature releases an overwhelming presence distinct to that of high-ranking dragons, but the miasma which coated its large body also carried a faint demonic presence as well.
"... A demonic dragon, impossible!"
For a moment, he doubted his eyes. He had studied many different types of dragons, but he had never heard or seen anything like this before.
Although there are a wide variety of demi-dragons, there had never been any mentions or sightings of demonic dragons before.
<
The evil dragon explained. Its voice held a smear of anxiety. Currently, it was without a physical body of its own, as such, it was in an extremely weakened state.
It was common knowledge that the demon king, Lucifer could release miasma capable of corrupting living creatures, turning them into demonic creatures.
However, the evil dragon was slightly perplexed at this strange occurrence. From what it knew, the demon king was supposed to be sealed along with his demonic army three hundred years ago, so why was the vile presence of miasma lingering in the atmosphere?
(This situation, don't tell me it's a sign that the demon king will be returning? If so, won't demonic creatures start appearing everywhere?)
If the evil dragon had a physical body, it would probably be grimacing at the foreboding feeling it was experiencing.
"Wh-What did you say?! The hero's seal is weakening!"
The story of the heroes was very popular and well known in this world. Naturally, it would be strange to come across someone who has never heard of its tale before.
Usually, hearing someone say that the hero's seal was weakening would raise doubt and suspicion, but the one who had said that was the evil dragon.
"Either way, it makes no difference if you are a demonic dragon, you'll still be one of the many corpses scattered around here."
Leo declared fearlessly. Indeed, it didn't matter whether it was a demi-dragon, true dragon, or demonic dragon, his objective wouldn't change regardless.
At that, red aura began oozing from his body. His sword, crimson Saber, began emitting a bright glow.
"Secret art, slashing blade!"
He roared, releasing a crimson slash of energy towards the demonic dragon.
…
Meanwhile, inside the clearing of a vast forest, both Haruto and Nikita continued their daily sword training.
They moved around nimbly at high speed, exchanging attacks with each clash of their swords. They both raised their guard while attacking, cautiously closing the distance and searching for an opening in their opponent's defence.
Nikita swung her ice sword repeatedly; the sound of metal rang out each time the blade of her sword struck against Haruto's sword. However, Haruto had enhanced his physical body. But even then, he was being overwhelmed by her outrageous physical strength.
If he wanted to turn the tides into his favour, he'd need to strengthen the degree of his physical body enhancement.
(Tch, her attacks are so fierce, blocking them with my sword doesn't seem to be the most effective method, should I counter with flame spirit arts, or perhaps I should use lightning?)
As Haruto kept deflecting the blade of her sword, many thought raced through his head. For a moment, he failed to make a decisive decision.
(N-No, I should keep my defence strong for now, I'll get my chance.)
He told himself, patiently waiting for an opening. He released his magical energy and converged it into the blade of his sword, seeing that, Nikita ceased her attack out of caution.
(I see… He is strengthening the forces of his attack by compressing his magical energy onto his blade, in that case.)
Nikita's rosy, lips curved upwards as lightning converges onto the blade of her sword. At that moment, two blinding lights glittered as both Haruto and Nikita closed the distance in the blink of an eye, swinging their swords once they came within reach of each other.
The air exploded violently as light, and lightning collided against each other. Amidst the thunderous explosion, the metallic sounds of their blades clashing reverberated across the clearing of the forest.
Fierce shockwave shook the surroundings. A cloud of dust was raised by the wind pressure, obscuring their vision. Haruto stood his ground against the heavy wind by enhancing his physical body even further.
Crack!
Suddenly, there was the faint sound of something breaking. As the cloud of dust dissipated and receded, Nikita furrowed her brow as she lightly leapt backwards, in her hand there was only the exquisite handle of her ice sword left behind, the blade had completely shattered under the collision of their swing.
"I'm not surprised, naturally against your condensed magical slash, my ice sword isn't capable of enduring the force behind a single strike."
Nikita smiled wryly at the difference in their weapons. Haruto's sword was made by Alya using spirit arts, its durability goes without saying.
While on the contrary, Nikita's ice sword was simply solid ice in the form of a sword, she could raise their durability, but it doesn't change the fact that it was merely constructed from ice.
Even with magical energy infused within it, it was still not enough to strengthen the fragility of the sword to withstand continuous heavy blows consecutively.
"Hmm… Ice creation isn't exactly the most reliable weapon to use against heated attacks, but even then—!"
Nikita firmly held the hilt of her sword in a natural stance, ice and frost swirled together, using her magical energy, reforming the blade of her sword. However, this time she raised its durability slightly higher.
"Let's keep going until one of us collapses from exhaustion."
Haruto suggested, he also got into a stance with his sword.
"Fufu, do not underestimate the stamina of a silver fox."
Nikita uttered as she closed the distance, she swung her sword into a vertical slash, Haruto braced his sword and struck using the flat side of his sword. The metallic sound of their blades rang out once more.
After deflecting the blade of her sword, Haruto twirled his body, at the same time, he swung his sword horizontally, taking advantage of the centrifugal force of his swing.
Nikita's eyes sharpened faintly, at the last moment as their blade was about to make contact, one of her silver tails swiftly moved forward, striking his sword and veering the trajectory of the blade of his sword off course.
She then stepped forward into his space, rapidly swinging her ice sword.
Haruto grunted, his body was thrown off balance slightly after his movement were altered by her sudden tail strike, but he hurriedly blocked the blade of her sword with the flat side of his blade.
Nikita didn't let up on her attack, countless slashes hurled towards him mercilessly, his eyes moved rapidly, following the trajectory of each of her blade, and countering them accordingly.
Whenever the path of trajectory of their swords intersected and made contact, he would step backward to lessen the force behind her swing.
"Hehe, marvellous!"
Nikita's soft, glossy lips were curved into a crescent shape. With each swing of her sword, her beautiful snowy-white hair danced behind her slender back.
"Tsk."
Haruto groaned slightly as he received Nikita's attacks. His hands were gradually starting to get numb as he parried her strikes.
Nikita's small dainty arms swung again, and again each of her swings were packed with an absurd amount of physical strength.
Furthermore, not only does he have to worry about receiving the blade of her sword, but her nine silver tails would also attack with tricky manoeuvring occasionally as well.
Thanks to his heightened senses, due to the effects of his spirit arts, he could at least keep up with her onslaught of attacks momentarily.
The blade of his sword created afterimages as he swung faster than what could be physically perceived with the eyes.
"Fufu, not bad, you're reacting to my attacks way better now. As expected of you, master!"
Nikita grinned with elated joy. Although Haruto was handling her attacks perfectly, she didn't seem to mind it at all.
She was having so much fun simply enjoying their battle that she didn't seem to care about anything else.
"Heh, I'm starting to get the hang of it now."
After distancing himself, Haruto's eyes gleamed with excitement.
Although it was faint, the more his body got use to the sensation of battle, something burned softly within him, it was a distant feeling that felt both foreign and familiar to him at the same time.
If he kept going, he had a vague, no perhaps a slight inkling that he could grasp whatever that strange feeling was.
"That's good, although your reaction time is still slightly delayed, you are reacting better than when we first started."
Nikita added. She raised her hand; several spears of ice materialized and was sent hurtling towards Haruto at an unbelievable speed.
"They're fast."
He narrowed his eyes. The blade of his sword glowed with a resplendent light, as he cut down each ice spears as they approached.
Nikita took that chance to close the distance, charging towards him at a tremendous speed.
Naturally, Haruto had noticed her from the corner of his eyes even as he cut down the ice spears.
He sent his energy into the ground, manipulating the soil.
Nikita's eyes widened slightly as lumps of dirt rose up from the soil, hindering her vision.
"Heh, like that'll help."
She fearlessly charged straight ahead; her nine tails slashed outwards like sharp swords.
Bang!
The dirt wall seems as fragile as a sheet of paper before Nikita's nine tails, it exploded and crumpled as her tails slashed out in a brutal manner. But Haruto's lips gradually curved into a sly smirk.
The scattering crumpled lumps of dirt became sharp blades, stabbing towards her slender body from all directions.
"Tsk, freeze!"
Sensing the impending danger, Nikita promptly released a wave of chilling cold air, freezing the lumps of dirt in place.
Swish!
With her attention drawn towards the lumps of dirt, Haruto took that moment of distraction to close the distance, swinging his sword.
But Nikita took his attack head on, parrying his attack with her ice sword. The screeching sound of metal echoed as their blades clashed.
"Honestly, I really can't understand her crazy obsession with fighting."
A beautiful young woman who was endowed with otherworldly beauty comparable to that of a goddess muttered such things with an exasperated sigh.
Her long green gown danced in the wind as her beautiful gem-like eyes sparkled like emeralds.
The spirit of wind, Alya observed their battle with a board face. Strands of her long silky green hair swayed gracefully behind her slender back.
After watching them for some time, she got to her feet and started floating until she was several meters above the trees.
"I'll see what's happening in town."
She muttered beneath her breath, glancing at the two, before flying into the direction of the nearest city.
…
At the same time, at the castle gates of the kingdom of Albanian. The princess, Sofia Albanian and the hero, Katsumi Aiuchi were visiting the capital city.
The purple-haired princess wore a black dress. Katsumi's long black hair was tied into a long ponytail, she wore a dress for light travel.
"Are you sure you want to come along, Lady Katsumi? If it's too much of a hassle, you are more than welcome to stay within the castle walls."
Princess Sofia said, a slightly worried expression on her face.
"No, it is fine. Honestly, staying inside the castle can get quite dull… If anything, I'm glad for a chance to see the city."
Katsumi said with a wry smile, but then her expression contorted into a stern look.
"At any rate, is it fine for you to move around alone? You didn't even bring along any of your royal guards, princess."
Katsumi uttered, expressing her concerns.
"Fufu, please do not worry about that. I assure you; I'm more than capable of taking care of myself."
Sofia smiled gracefully. Her beautiful purple eyes seem enchanting. Katsumi, however, furrowed her brow slightly in doubt.
"I see… Well, if the worst happens, you can also count on me, princess."
Katsumi smiled faintly as she caressed the katana at her waist. It was the legendary weapon of the heroes.
"Hehe, in that case I'll depend on you at that time."
While they were discussing such things, a luxurious horse drawn carriage arrived at the two-sided gate. After they had entered the carriage, the horses began moving.
"I'm surprised, after witnessing it from atop the balcony, I knew it was vast, but it seems much bigger than expected."
Katsumi mumbled, as she observed the scenery from the carriage window. Outside showed an extremely beautiful scenery, along with the city which was bustling with activity.
The sensation of the pave streets as the carriage smoothly traversed through the bustling city gave the atmosphere a soothing feeling.
Although the Zestril kingdom had just threatened the Kingdom of Albanian into a one-sided demand only recently, the common folks seem to have already forgotten such things, or perhaps they didn't want their usual peaceful life to be ruined, so they had put such things in the back of their mind.
Either way, the streets were filled with the sweet laughter of children along with the sounds of drunks.
"Fufu, why of course, our nation is one of the largest. We also have over thirty different cities."
Sofia chuckled; her rosy lips curved slightly in amusement.
Before her summoning, Katsumi lived in Japan which was also a fairly large country. If she were to compare this nation to Japan there would be no comparison to make, but she couldn't help but have her breath taken away by the bustling city.
"I'd hope this peace could last a while, just a little while longer."
Sofia murmured to herself. A slight shadow fell across Sofia's face when she recalled the matter of the Zestril Kingdom.
Sofia's voice was so low, Katsumi had failed to register her words even from a close proximity. She tilted her head slightly in doubt.
"Did you say something?"
"N-No, not at all."
Sofia replied, smoothing over her troubled expression.
"By the way, where are we going?"
Katsumi shifted her gaze towards Sofia, who was seated before her as she asked.
"We are going to the temple of worship."
Sofia replied.
"The temple of worship?"
Katsumi tilted her head slightly. Her curiosity piqued.
"Yes, you remember when I told you about the elemental goddesses, right? The goddess our nation worships is the goddess of water, Aqua. We had received an urgent message from the priestess in charge there. Since father couldn't make the trip himself, due to his position as king. As first princess, I was entrusted with that duty instead."
Sofia explained, succinctly.
The king of Albanian also had to deal with the threat of the Zestril kingdom, so he was currently involved with each of the noble lords who ruled over different parts of the kingdom.
The Zestril kingdom couldn't be taken lightly, and they had to take the utmost care when considering the potential of war.
There had been many different opinions thrown around on how to deal with the Zestril kingdom, but with the crushing defeat of the Alberta kingdom.
There were many who expressed their doubts about resisting, if they could settle things by surrendering, it was the most logical option to take if you consider the casualties war could have.
But if the kingdom of Albanian surrendered without putting up a fight, they would be smearing mud on the honour of their nation and be made light of by the other nations. Nevertheless, they had no way of knowing how they would be treated afterwards by the king of Zestril.
There was still no way of knowing how the Watanabe kingdom would respond to the news of the Alberta kingdoms fall. Depending on how the king of Watanabe responds, the kingdom of Albanian would be moving into the direction of what was most beneficial for the kingdom.
"I see… Does the priestess also have a high position in this country as well?"
Katsumi inquired, curiously. Although she was aware of the existence of priestesses, she wasn't given much information on them.
"Yes, the priestesses are believed to be the only way for humanity to get messages from the goddesses. As such, their status is probably not that far off from royalty."
Sofia added, fluently. Her beautiful face contorted into a look of contemplation for a moment.
The priestesses had a direct connection towards the elemental goddesses. On some rare occasions they could receive the divine will of the goddesses.
As such, each priestesses held a great deal of status within the Kingdom. They were seen as messengers of the goddesses and were treated with great importance.
"In the past, during the era of my great grandfather, our nation was once at war with a distant country, we had temporarily placed all our attention on the kingdom of Lumani, we ended up neglecting the situation with the sea. At that time, the high priest received a divine revelation from the goddess, warning us about the attack of a demi-dragon that would appear."
Sofia explained, her brow furrowed as she recalled the incident of the distant past. The Kingdom of Albanian was surrounded by water, as such, their fishing industries were very prosperous.
But at the same time, attacks from sea monsters and water type demi-dragons were frequent.
In fact, it happens so often that many fishermen are always on high alert for another attack whenever they go out at sea.
"I see... Those goddesses could actually communicate with the priestesses."
Katsumi uttered, her beautiful onyx-like eyes widening in shock.
"Yes, I don't know the details, but those who receive visions are usually brought to the temple of worship to become priestess. As for what are the requirements for receiving the revelation of the goddesses, unfortunately I don't know."
Sofia said with a slight frown.
In the first place, it is believed that those born with this gift are those chosen by the world, the same way those born with special blessings are known to be loved by the world.
Although there was no confirmation on this, it was the conclusion the kings of each nation had come up with.
As for what the elemental goddesses each thought, there was naturally no way of knowing.
"Your highness, princess Sofia, we are almost there."
The knight driving the horse drawn carriage reported solemnly.
"Yes, we should be able to see it any time now."
Sofia said with a bright smile. She directed her gaze outside the carriage window, Katsumi naturally followed her gaze.
What reflected in her eyes was a beautiful well-made building which towered high above their heads.