Just This Once (1)
A temporary alliance.
Friga's face twisted into a bizarre grimace the moment she heard Iver's proposal. What in the world was this blue lizard spouting?
Join forces? A dragon hunter like her forming even a temporary alliance with a dragon?
"Ha! You've got to be kidding me."
Absurd. Completely, utterly ridiculous.
Iver listened to Friga's snort of contempt and turned her gaze toward the oncoming avalanche. The white mass that was overturning the earth as it advanced already looked like a vast, living sea.
A colossal theater of violence, rising white and swallowing everything on the ground.
Even a ducal domain would not come through unscathed if something like that rolled over it.
My dear foe. I would like to point out that this is not such a terrible arrangement for you either. And you and I both have reason to stop that avalanche, do we not?
"That—"
Time will not wait. Come now. Choose.
Iver settled onto the snowfield and presented her back. A perfect, unguarded posture.
If Friga so much as decided to, she could swing her axe right then and take the dragon's neck.
"...Damn it."
She did not like this one bit.
She could not explain it, but Friga simply hated the entire race of dragons. It was something close to instinct.
Just looking at one made her skin crawl and her fists itch. Perhaps that was exactly why the gods had given her the Dragon Hunter's Axe in the first place.
Even so—this time.
This once, the damned lizard was right.
"...Tch. Just this once."
A wise choice, my dear foe.
First they had to protect the city from the avalanche.
For reasons Friga did not understand, the lizard was also far smaller than her true size. She was probably unable to draw on her full power for some reason Friga could not fathom.
In her original form she would have frozen the entire avalanche solid with a single breath, without any need for Friga's help.
Friga forced her reluctant feet forward and climbed onto Iver's back.
The cold touch of scales against her thighs sent a shiver racing through her whole body. She could feel the solid dragon muscle shifting beneath her as well.
M-Maiden! Are you truly all right?!
"My lady! It could be dangerous!"
Worry filled the eyes of both the Unicorn and Kenis.
The sight of her riding out to stop an avalanche looked nothing short of reckless.
"Hey, lizard."
Speak, my dear foe.
"Who the hell is your 'dear foe,' you bastard. You wanna die? You brought this up first, so you've got some kind of plan, right?"
Do not worry. Even in this form of mine, I have one rather decent method.
"...Fine, then. Even a small, pathetic lizard ought to be some help."
Small and pathetic... Enough. I will hold my tongue.
"Success rate?"
...Perhaps half. Possibly lower if things go poorly.
"Huh. Not bad."
Friga grinned at Iver's answer and glanced back at Kenis, the Unicorn, and Number Five.
Sitting still and taking the hit was not in her nature.
Even if she only thrashed around in an ugly struggle, at least she would feel better afterward.
"I'm heading out for a bit! You guys go on ahead! Tell Dad I'll be right back—!"
Whoooosh—!
Iver beat her wings hard and shoved off the ground. Her massive body shot into the air and then climbed skyward.
The dragon flew lighter and faster than any bird.
Only Friga's parting words lingered faintly in the empty space she left behind.
"...Uh..."
W-We should return as well! Quickly, let us go!
"...Agreed. Hero! We must hurry back!"
The Unicorn and Number Five dragged Kenis away as they fled the city.
Number Five melted into the shadows; the Unicorn kicked off into the sky and put distance between themselves and Montegras.
Behind their hurried retreat—
Rrrrrumble—!!
—a vast, white wave of avalanche came surging toward the city walls.
Standing against it were a blue-scaled dragon and the single girl astride her back.
All she held was one axe that shone with golden light.
Gulp.
As the avalanche drew nearer, the sheer presence of it prickled across her skin like electricity.
From the far left edge to the far right, everything was pure white snow, so enormous it felt like a barrier that blotted out the sky itself.
The feeling of an ant staring down a tidal wave.
"Hey. Lizard... you really do have a plan, right?"
Trust me, my dear foe. I know you despise me, but this once you must place your faith in me.
"Damn it. What am I supposed to do if I don't trust you now, for fuck's sake..."
Heh heh. Could it be that the great Dragon Hunter is afraid? If so, I shall set you down far away even now.
Iver gently needled Friga's pride.
It was a shallow trick, yet Friga fell for it simply because the speaker was a dragon.
"Who the hell is afraid?! Ha! We're all dead anyway. Hey—what do I need to do?! Just say it!"
Haha! You look far better than you did a moment ago.
In an instant Friga's fighting spirit flared back to life as she glared at the approaching wall of snow.
"Tch. Fine. You only die once, not twice. Fuck it—we're all dead."
Fear had vanished from Friga's eyes; a hot light now burned deep within them.
Something hotter than mere courage, a shade cooler than pure recklessness, was blazing there.
Watching her, Iver slipped into a deep memory.
That look... how long it has been...
It was the same light she had once seen in the eyes of dragon hunters who charged at her in ages past.
The fleeting sight of a human rushing a foe larger than themselves was exactly like a moth flinging itself into a bonfire.
Iver did not particularly care for the human race, yet the dragon hunters all shared one peculiar trait.
That brilliance of burning everything they had as they advanced.
They leapt in with foolish recklessness at times, yet they fought with valor and never retreated.
Iver liked that.
It was a heat she could never find in those who had grown dull and buried under the weight of long life.
Rrrrrumble—
The avalanche was right in front of their noses.
A little excitement now stirring in her, Iver beat her wings hard and charged straight into the boiling cloud of the avalanche.
"Wh-Whoa—!! You crazy lizard bastard! What the hell are you doing?!"
Haha—! Hold on tight so you do not fall!
"Khh—!"
Friga clamped both arms around Iver's neck and pressed her body flat. Cold scales met her skin all over.
Normally she would have recoiled from scales in disgust, but if she did not do this she felt she would be thrown off at any second.
"Hey—! What's with the sudden—! Ugh! What are you doing?!"
Without a word of explanation Iver had plunged into the blizzard, then instantly changed direction and shot skyward.
It was a lightning-bolt rise from earth to heaven. Friga, hanging from the dragon's neck, was the only one suffering for it.
The wind slapped her face and body again and again like a giant's palm; she could barely keep her eyes open. Because they were climbing vertically she had locked every muscle in her arms and legs, and they were already stiffening.
Iver, who had been racing toward the sun, suddenly flared her wings open with a whoosh and came to a halt.
They had climbed so high that clouds floated beneath their feet.
My dear foe, close your eyes now.
"What? What's that supposed to mean all of a sudden?"
Feel the weight of riding a dragon. Look upon the world with a dragon's eyes, and feel what I feel as well.
Complete nonsense.
Friga scowled at Iver's bizarre words.
She had no idea what the dragon was talking about.
"What the hell does that even mean?! Explain it so I can understand!"
Ugh... I am not certain how best to put this.
After a moment's thought Iver spoke again.
Very well. Let me say it this way. Close your eyes and focus on the axe. The axe will serve as the medium that links us. And trust me. Unbar the locked gate so that we may feel everything of each other.
"Hey, you can't just spring something like that on me—"
We truly have no more time, my dear foe! Quickly!
"Damn it. Making me do this ridiculous crap."
Friga muttered under her breath, yet she obediently closed her eyes. There was no other option left.
Iver carefully moved a sharp claw and took hold of the axe.
We begin.
Darkness arrived.
Focus on the axe... focus...
She repeated the words inside her head. She poured her entire mind toward the axe in her hands. Gradually her sense of self grew hazy.
Woom! Woooom—!
The golden axe began to vibrate fiercely and pour out light.
Thump—
She felt the muscle beneath the cold scales. Below that she felt the thick vessels and the hot blood surging through them. A vast sensation she had never known in her life slammed into her soul.
The whisper of the wind, the silent drift of the clouds, the brilliant light of the sun, the sound of her own heartbeat and the rush of blood through her veins.
She could even hear the sound of her bones growing.
Everything swelled larger and larger; her five senses ran wild.
Everything felt so vivid she could almost reach out and touch it.
Her senses expanded far beyond what any human should bear.
"Ugh..."
Almost there! Just a little more!
Iver did not show it, but she was deeply astonished.
She had deliberately thrown her mind wide open, yet even so the link was succeeding far faster than she had expected.
In the worst case she had thought it might fail completely.
A pleasant miscalculation.
"F-Fuck... what the hell is this...?!"
Mmm...
Iver let out a small groan. She felt a tiny spark of fire flowing into her cold heart—a spark that had never been permitted to a dragon.
Its warmth slowly spread through her entire body. A thrill and a living, breathing vitality lifted her soul.
Her heart, which had been beating so slowly, began to pound with force. A spirit that had grown dull and rusted over endless ages blazed alight.
Hahaha—!! Hahaha! Success! Success, my dear foe!
Iver cried out, drunk on the rapture.
A human's spirit for the dragon; a dragon's senses for the human.
That had been the gambit Iver intended.
At the same time it had been a gamble she herself could not be certain of.
A mad act of linking two minds. Without the divine weapon as medium it would have been impossible.
"Ugh, uhh! Fuuuuck! Say it quieter!"
Haha—... Ah, my apologies.
Friga, currently experiencing the world as a dragon felt it, clapped her hands over her ears and squeezed her eyes shut. Everything was far too vast and far too sensitive for her to endure.
Fuck. Even with my eyes closed I can still see everything around me?
Even with her eyes shut the surroundings remained vividly clear. Touch mapped the world; hearing layered living detail on top of it. She felt exactly like a bat.
Did dragons live with this kind of sense all the time?
It's a miracle they don't go insane.
Hahahahaha—!! My dear foe, we go! Hold on tight!!
High on the surge of exhilaration, Iver let out a wild laugh and plummeted toward the ground. Already knowing what was coming, Friga locked her grip around the dragon's neck and braced herself hard.
Rrrrrumble—!!!
The axe that linked their minds blazed with light, leaving a long trailing tail along their path.
They began to fall like a single comet toward the avalanche.
Iver opened her jaws wide and roared.
Hahaha! Match me, my dear foe!
Even in the urgency there were things that had to be made clear.
"Bullshit! You're the one who matches me!"
Hahahahaha—!!
Together with Iver's great laughter—
KRAAAAAANG!!
—blue flames erupted with enough force to set the world ablaze.