Two Stars (1)
The Star Sword, Excalibur.
The Sword of Selection that chooses its own master grows alongside that master. Each time its master achieves a great feat and carves a star into the sky, Excalibur grows, engraving its master's star upon the blade.
Forged of starlight.
A sword that feeds on starlight and is strengthened by it.
Originally incomplete, Excalibur was perfected by its first master, the great hero Arthur. The thirteen stars Arthur drove into its blade completed the Sword of Selection. In the end, however, Arthur met her death, and long ages passed after that death.
Ten years ten times over, and those ten times again—
A thousand years have flowed to this day.
By the hand of a certain boy, the holy sword was drawn forth.
Whether the boy had selected the holy sword or the holy sword had selected the boy did not matter. What mattered was that the boy had pulled the holy sword free. And that the boy yearned to hang a star in the heavens.
And as always—
Excalibur answers its master's will.
To the boy's will to overcome his limits, achieve great deeds, and become a hero, Excalibur responds. Thus, in the moment its master claimed a star, and in this present moment as he reaches for a new one…
Gooong.
Excalibur answered its master's call.
The first star engraved upon the holy sword resonated. The shining star was not Arthur's, but Najin's. With a chime like a bell, the first function was unleashed.
Its innate restorative power and the amplification of sword-aura output.
Added to that: Release.
The starlight cloaking Excalibur's blade surged violently. The surging starlight gathered at the tip as if a torrent racing down a narrow channel. The tip buried in the dragon's heart flashed platinum-gold.
Chiiiiiiiik!
Because his body was burning, because his vision was blurred, Najin did not notice Excalibur's change. He merely gripped the sword with the single thought of shattering the dragon's heart before him.
It won't come out.
He had meant to pull the sword free and strike again, but it was lodged fast as if driven into something solid. No matter. Najin changed his plan. He drove the Excalibur in his hand deeper into the heart.
Kkadeuk, kkadeudeudeuk!
The sound of the dragon's heart—hard as ore—being carved away rang in his ears. Relying on that sound, Najin put strength into his hands. Even as the flames consumed his body, he took another step toward the heart at the center of the heat.
Deeper. Still deeper.
At last, with a thud, Excalibur's crossguard met the dragon's heart. The blade was buried so deep it was no longer visible. He had driven it in as far as it would go.
Turn it.
And instinctively—
Like turning a key.
Or unconsciously—
Release the light gathered at the tip.
Najin twisted the hilt.
With all his strength he turned his wrist and twisted Excalibur. Why he did so, he did not know. Only that, just as on the day he first saw Excalibur, a strong voice of conviction rang out: Do it this way.
Release.
The instant he twisted Excalibur, the light gathered at the tip was released. What had coalesced there was not starlight alone. Najin's sword aura—sword aura in the form of a constellation, contracted to a single point—clung to the tip.
Starlight, sword aura, mana—
All of it was released in a single instant.
The light bursting from within could not be contained by the dragon's heart. It was light that nothing could confine. With a crack, fissures raced across the heart. Light leaked through the racing cracks.
Platinum starlight spilled out.
And following it, a platinum constellation stretched its branches through the gaps.
The spreading cracks at last reached their limit. With a sharp crack the dragon's heart split along the fissures. In that moment starlight poured out from within as if exploding. The bursting light finely dismantled the dragon's heart.
Starlight radiating in every direction.
A constellation branching along the starlight.
The released light shattered the dragon's heart and even pushed back the surrounding flames. Starlight filled the world that had been nothing but the Red Dragon's fire. The moment a constellation laden with brilliant starlight filled the Red Dragon's world, it was no longer the Red Dragon's world.
The source was shattered. The world collapses.
The Red Dragon's world began to crumble.
2.
The moment Najin leaped into the dragon's maw, the Red Dragon went berserk. As if in agony it spewed breath in every direction and stamped the ground with its feet.
Kiiiiiiiiiiik!
The roar that had commanded the heavens vanished; only the ugly scream of a beast echoed. Screaming in pain, the Red Dragon roared toward the sky.
"It's thrashing about like mad."
Because it was thrashing so violently they could not approach, the subjugation force watched the Red Dragon from a distance. Then the dragon that had been spewing breath at the sky convulsed briefly. The scream cut off and the flames subsided as well.
And then—thud.
The dragon's head that had been held straight toward the sky crashed to the ground. It merely convulsed and could move no more, as if it had lost something fundamental that allowed it to move its body.
"H-hey, over there!"
Someone pointed at the Red Dragon's belly.
A single sword was protruding from it. Then the blade traced a straight line and the dragon's belly split open. Stepping out from the split belly, breathing hard, was Najin.
Had he truly entered the dragon's mouth, smashed its heart, and come out again? The knights of the subjugation force were astonished at the sight of the boy who had torn his way out of the dragon's belly.
A great feat. A feat worthy of carving a star. The knights were astonished and also admired the boy who had reenacted the myth of the dragon-slayer Siegfried. Yet in this situation they could not voice admiration or cheers.
"Huff, huu…."
Najin's condition was grave.
His body was covered in burn marks and flames still clung to him. Even breathing looked painful. The skin of his arms had melted and was hideously warped.
Ziiik, ziiiik…
Najin, who had been dragging his legs as he walked out, soon collapsed to the ground. He tried to push himself up with his hands but could not raise his body with a broken arm.
It was then.
Richard Polschen stepped toward Najin. He supported the fallen boy and helped him up. Even as the flames clinging to Najin's body burned him, Richard paid no mind and moved while supporting him.
"……"
Then, wordlessly, the knights followed behind. Richard poured water the knights had fetched over Najin's body. With a hiss the fire went out, and Richard took a potion from his coat and poured it over Najin's head.
"Are you conscious?"
He wanted to speak, but only ash-filled breath came from his mouth. In the end Najin nodded.
"It seems your fight is not yet over. Am I right?"
Najin nodded once more.
At that, Richard smiled.
"I had a feeling it would be so."
Supporting Najin, he walked to the front of the dragon's neck. Arriving there, Richard set Najin down and stepped back several paces.
No one approached the dragon or Najin.
They merely kept their distance and remained silent.
A dragon crumbling away after losing its source. The moment a sword was driven into that neck the dragon would die, and even if left alone it would meet death. Ending a dying dragon was something anyone could do.
But no one did so.
Stealing another's finished prey was not the way of adventurers, and snatching another's merit was not a knight's honor. Those who knew duty and honor quietly watched Najin finish the dragon.
"Huu…."
Najin heaved ragged breaths and raised his sword before the dragon's neck. Unable to move its body, the Red Dragon stared at Najin with fearful eyes. No longer was there rage in those eyes.
Only terror.
Meeting the dragon's gaze, Najin brought down the raised sword. Because the sword aura had completely faded, because strength would not properly enter his hands, even the crumbling dragon scales he could not cut properly. Najin raised the sword and brought it down again.
Once, twice, thrice….
When he reached the fifth blow, Najin severed the dragon's neck. Dragon blood gushed from the cut. Through the spurting blood Najin lifted his head and looked at the sky.
The light source he had shot upward with the light cannon was already shattered.
Most of the mineral lamps he had scattered on the ground were shattered as well.
Yet the surroundings were not dark. Because the stars of that night sky were shining. Among the countless, countless stars embroidered across the heavens, Najin found his own star. The star he had so longed for was shining in one corner of the sky.
And then.
Right beside his own star, another star rose.
The Star of Dragon Slaying granted to the boy who had reenacted the myth.
3.
A new star appeared.
Amid the chaos of the sky, Nayuta watched the newly born star with interest. Sudden births of new stars happened from time to time, but that star was scattering far too brilliant a light.
That was an omen.
An omen that another star would be born.
A newly born nova seizing one more star? Nayuta had never seen such a case. It was not in the records left by successive Grey Tower Masters. Going back to the mythic age might be another matter….
At the very least it had not happened in the empire's thousand-year history.
King Arthur who had suddenly moved after a thousand years, the Witch's constellation that had revealed itself after a thousand years—at the center of these historic great events the nova was flaunting its presence.
Could it be.
Would it truly seize another star?
The star shining pure white reached its critical point. Then, with light bursting forth as if exploding, another star rose beside it.
Two stars rose at once.
The risen stars shone pure white.
Nayuta gazed at the shining stars in a daze. The thought that she herself stood at the center of a historic moment filled her mind.
At the sudden appearance of the Witch's constellation the Grey Tower was in an uproar, and the voices of mages and imperial officials seeking her filled the office, but… they did not reach Nayuta's ears.
"Heh."
She let out a laugh.
It was the role of the Grey Tower Master to count the newly born stars and give names to the nova. As she gazed at the stars, a story she had once heard from the previous Grey Tower Master circled in her ears.
"Nayuta."
Her master, a mage thick with old-fogey airs. The old man, handing the Grey Tower Master seat to Nayuta, had said this.
"Someday the day will come when you too name a star."
"That day will surely come."
"Not some common star, but the day you name a brilliant star. On that day you will realize."
Sword Saint Caron.
Empire's First Horn, Gerd.
Murderer, Yuel.
The old man who had named the stars of the three Sword Masters stroked Nayuta's head and smiled.
"Master of the Grey Tower."
"This seat that holds the right to name the stars—that is the most blessed seat of all."
What she had thought the old man's empty talk.
What she had regarded as an old fogey's mutterings.
"How do you know if the risen star is such a star?"
"Foolish disciple, do you mean to become Grey Tower Master without even the eye to count the stars? When the time comes you'll just know."
"That that star is precisely that star."
There was no need to ask why that story came to mind now. The intuition struck. A powerful intuition. Nayuta stretched her hand toward the stars hanging in that sky. Between her pure white fingers the stars shone as if they might be grasped.
In the shaken sky they had taken their places, two stars shining brilliantly.
The Grey Tower Master counted the stars.
Challenge, and Dragon Slaying.
The great feats the boy had achieved were shining in the sky.