Objectification
The battle between the dragon, the Legion Commander, and the Saintess had begun.
The moment Simon summoned his mummies, Karissa drew out its own army as well. A freezing breath swept across a stretch of the desert, encasing it in ice — and from that ice, monsters rose.
Soon the ground below erupted into hand-to-hand carnage between mummies and ice monsters, while above, the Ice Dragon Karissa and the white dragon Ran traded breaths across the sky.
Blue and white blasts collided again and again in the air, and their falling debris rained down on the armies fighting below, at times shifting the tide of the entire battle.
"So persistent!"
Star-shaped pupils flared in Lethe's eyes as she rode on Ran's back. She pressed her index and middle fingers together and swept her palm downward — and a meteor shower came pouring out of the heavens, one after another.
KWAAAAAAAANG!
KWAAAAAANG!
Craters bloomed across the desert one after another. The sheer force of it shook the very earth to its core.
Karissa writhed through the air like an eel, twisting its serpentine body to slip past the oncoming meteors.
[Hey! Braaat!]
Herseba was shrieking from somewhere above.
[Are you insane?! Rein her in! There won't be a dungeon left to save!]
She had shouted with her actual voice rather than through a telepathic link, so Lethe understood instantly and held off on the bombardment.
This much destructive power, even inside a dungeon. Simon had invoked the World of Sand with two purposes in mind — to cut off Karissa's escape and to let Lethe unleash her Authorities freely — but even the dungeon couldn't contain her firepower.
[What good is power you cannot even control!]
Sneering, Karissa loosed another torrent of freezing breath.
Ran answered with a burst of divine breath, holding the line — but it was visibly starting to falter. Ran was still a growing divine beast, not yet in its full adult form.
"The moment you fall into my hands, you die in a single strike."
Lethe raised her arm.
"All that yowling won't change a thing!"
FWOOOOOOOSH!
A single meteor came screaming down, splitting the night sky in half. Karissa tilted its head aside with lazy grace and evaded it.
"Usele—!"
⟨ La Corde ⟩
In that instant, Karissa's body was wrenched toward the plunging meteor.
Lethe had activated a gravity-class white magic spell, channeling the divinity of the falling star itself.
[WHAT—!!]
KWAKWAKWAKWAKWA!
The comet slammed into the ground, gouging out an enormous crater.
Dragged along with it, Karissa barely managed to avoid being crushed on impact —
SHRRRRIP!
SHRRRRRRIP!
— but as if they had been waiting for exactly this moment, hundreds of bandages erupted from the desert floor and coiled around the dragon's body.
"Nice one! Lethe!"
Simon came sprinting with the Doom Greatsword in hand. Joining an aerial battle was beyond him — but the ground was his domain.
He vaulted high, landed squarely on Karissa's thrashing tail, and drove the greatsword deep between the dragon's scales.
Just like that.
"Forward!"
Simon charged along the dragon's body with the irrecoverable blade buried in its flesh. Karissa let out a shriek of pure, maddened agony.
KWAKWAKWAKWAKWA!
Ice spikes the dragon had flung out came raining down. Simon was running with the greatsword still embedded, with no room left to dodge.
"Pier, please!"
[Kheheh! On my way, boy!]
Every bone in Simon's body save his right arm and shoulder armor peeled away from him and flowed into Pier's frame.
"Catch!"
Pier, left arm only, caught the longsword Simon hurled to him from subspace.
[Ahh, this takes me back!]
And then he began swinging, running in perfect lockstep at Simon's side.
SWSH! SWSH! SWSH! SWSH! SWSH!
One-handed, he cleaved every shard of ice hurtling toward Simon clean out of the air.
"HRAAAAAAGH!"
Right hand locked around the Doom Greatsword, driving forward.
Identical strides. Identical speed.
It was coordination on the very edge of perfection.
[HOW?!]
Even as it howled in torment, Karissa wrenched its eyes wide open and glared at Pier.
['That woman' was one thing — but YOU as well! Why do you immortals keep prostrating yourselves for these insignificant mortals!]
[KUAHAHAHA! O foolish dragon!]
Pier's roar thundered out as he pulverized every last ice shard in his path.
[It is because they are mortal that their lives are sublime — and ferocious!]
Pier broke apart once more into Bone Armour and reforged himself across Simon's body.
Now Simon gripped the Doom Greatsword with both hands.
[You, who live for eternity — has even a single moment of your endless existence ever been—]
Simon planted his feet and hauled the greatsword forward in a sweeping arc.
[—FEROCIOUS?!]
SHRAAAAAAAAK!
A snow-white slash tore out from the midpoint of the dragon's torso and smashed into Karissa's face. The Ice Dragon vomited blood and crashed to the ground.
"Herseba! Pin it down!"
At Simon's shout, long golden structures rose up all around, anchoring the fallen dragon in place. Mummies came spilling out through doors that yawned open in their walls, winding fresh bandages around its body.
"We finally got it."
Lethe smiled and rode Ran over.
[Heh. Hahahaha...!]
Even as the golden structures cinched tighter and tighter around its body, Karissa was laughing.
[How utterly foolish! Look to the SKY!]
WHIIIIIIIIIIINE!
Simon and Lethe's heads snapped upward.
The same brutal cold that had raged outside the dungeon was surging in.
'Why is there a cold snap inside Herseba's dungeon...? Huh?'
KRRAK!
KRAK!
Space itself was splitting apart. Simon shouted in alarm.
'Herseba! Are you okay?!'
[Gahk! That damned dragon...!]
Her telepathic voice was trembling violently.
[It's the same as me...!!]
Her words cut off right there.
CRASH!
The World of Sand shattered completely, and the entire Golden City along with every mummy unit vanished. Simon and Lethe were swept out of the collapsing dimension as if caught in a raging current.
The world spun dizzily, then inverted entirely —
— and when Simon came to, they were outside. Eskyle Village.
"Teacher Sean!"
"The— the Saintess has returned!"
People had come spilling out of their homes. The moment Karissa had been dragged into Herseba's dungeon, the cold snap had broken, and they'd dared to step outside.
Lethe screamed at them.
"What are you DOING?! Everyone get back inside, now!"
KWAAAAAAAAAH!
Freed once more, Karissa surged into the sky with an earth-shaking roar. In the blink of an eye, the clear, peaceful heavens were swallowed whole by bitter cold and howling blizzard.
At the same instant, freezing breath coiled at the dragon's maw — and poured down toward the villagers.
"Argh! Damn it!"
Lethe kicked off the ground and threw up a Divine Barrier just in time.
[Admit it, mortals! You are beings capable of dragging me to my death!]
In that moment, Karissa wheeled around and fled.
[An unexpected turn of events — but I shall simply hasten my plans! Right now, this very instant, I will blanket this world in my power!]
Karissa tore off through the freezing gale, and Lethe, dismissing her barrier, leapt onto Ran's back.
"Si— no, Sean! You stay here and protect the people! I'm going after it!"
With nothing more than those parting words, she shot away after Karissa. Before Simon could get a single word out, the chase between the two dragons had already begun.
A short while later, light rippled across the horizon and the rumble of the earth quaking reached his ears — Lethe was unleashing her Authorities.
For now, Simon woke Herseba.
'Herseba! Are you okay? Snap out of it!'
[Ugh! My head! Headache! Hnnngh!]
Herseba, back in her wand form, cracked open her eyes.
'Why did the dungeon suddenly come apart?'
[That creature. It's the same Dungeon Lord type as me!]
Herseba pressed on, her voice strained.
[My Authority creates a dungeon and drags the enemy into it, remember? Its power simply converts someone else's world into its own dungeon!]
'Then the reason the dungeon broke...'
[Yeah. It layered its own dungeon on top of mine and crushed it. We're natural enemies. Uuugh!]
'You did great, Herseba. Leave the rest to me.'
Simon opened his subspace to let her rest.
[Keep this in mind, brat.]
Herseba's voice turned grave.
[If you can't stop that thing's rampage, this entire world could be swallowed by the cold. You have to catch it NOW, before it holes up somewhere!]
'...Understood.'
Simon sealed Herseba into subspace and began preparing his next move.
The Roca region.
"S-snow! It's snowing!"
"Out of nowhere?!"
The Belesgo region.
"Look, Dad! Snow!"
"Snow in Belesgo? The world's finally lost its mind."
The Galli region.
"What in tarnation is all this? What's happenin' round here?"
The Ice Dragon Karissa's power was already spreading its influence across every corner of the continent. It was still in its infancy — but how far that power would reach was anyone's guess.
THUMP!
Simon was racing across the land on Akalion's back.
Meteors streaked down and the earth heaved. High above, the cries of two dragons tearing at each other echoed through the sky.
'That's Lethe for you!'
She was holding Karissa down better than he'd expected — but her divinity wasn't infinite. And judging by the way Karissa slipped between the falling meteors, it wasn't going to sit still and take hits, either.
'I want to join her, and fast!'
Never in his life had the ability to fly felt so desperately necessary. Akemus the Ancient Undead did have wings — but he was off fighting somewhere else entirely.
-Uung!
"What is it, Akalion?"
Simon looked ahead. A sheer, dizzying cliff face loomed before them, with a path winding along it some distance away.
Going around would take far too long.
"Akalion! You can fly, right?"
Simon activated the divine magic circle Lethe had painted onto Akalion's back. Moments later, circles flared to life on all four of the bear's legs as well.
-Uung...!
Akalion's response was decidedly unsure of itself. Simon stroked its head, back and forth.
"You flew last time, didn't you? You can do it!"
-Uuung.
"Come on, you CAN! Believe in your own strength!"
Simon rummaged through his subspace and pulled out a single piece of fruit.
"Remember this?"
-Uung!
Akalion's eyes lit up.
"Get that feeling back — the one from back then!"
Simon hurled the fruit with all his might, high over the cliff.
"Even if you drop, I'll catch you! Go!"
-UUUUUNG!
Thunder-drum of paws. Akalion tore forward, kicking up a storm of dust.
THWOOM!
It planted its hind legs and launched.
The massive body soared into the air, divine sparks crackling and popping across all four legs.
"That's it!"
Simon cheered.
"Now move your legs and step on the empty air—!"
CHOMP!
But Akalion snapped the flying apple out of the air far, far too quickly. With its target suddenly gone, all four paws began flailing perilously at nothing.
-Uuung!
And just like that, Akalion fell — short of the far edge of the cliff.
-Uung! Uuung!
For all its enormous bulk, it was an enormous coward.
Simon recalled Akalion's divinity, shrank it down, tucked it into his arms — and flung out his right arm.
A rope of emerald light shot out and anchored itself to the edge of the cliff.
Except—
-Myaow!
-Nya!
The instant Akalion shrank, Whitey and Blacky came tumbling out of nowhere, falling.
"Yikes! When were you two out here?!"
They must have been hiding secretly in Akalion's fur — since coming out uninvited would only get them scolded.
Simon killed the Cloud in a panic and threw himself off the cliff, Akalion clamped around his waist, plummeting with it.
'Cloud!'
Another flash of emerald burst from his arm and snatched both kittens out of the air. Simon slammed both feet against the cliff face and surged Jet-Black through them.
SHRAAAAAAAK!
Bracing against the sheer rock, grinding out friction to brake his fall, Simon then tore open his subspace.
'Open Gate!'
Overlord's tentacle blades burst forth and coiled around Simon's body — blunted edges inward, wrapping him safely.
His descent ground to a halt, barely.
"Phewwww."
With Overlord's help, he hauled himself and the divine beasts back up over the cliff.
-Myaow!
-Nya! Nya!
Akalion, back in its small form, hung its head with a thoroughly deflated expression. The two kittens, on the other hand — utterly oblivious to any wrongdoing — hopped about in place, begging for divinity.
"You two, honestly...!"
Simon was just about to give the cats a good scolding when—
"..."
-Meow!
-Nya! Nya!
The kittens weren't begging for anything.
As if trying to convey something urgent to Simon, they were gesticulating wildly, pawing at the air, explaining with their entire bodies.
"..."
A spark of interest kindled in Simon's eyes. At last, he rose to his feet.
"Alright."
He had long since lost sight of Lethe and Karissa anyway. If this didn't work, his odds of ever catching up were exactly zero.
"Let's do this — Objectification."