“Hey! Hey! Don’t go there! You can’t use magic!”
Julio thrust straight into the enemy's dragon knight formation. Louise screamed,
“Hey! Ah! Magic spell! Nooooo!”
All nine dragon knights shot spells one after another. Shining blades and fireballs flew towards them. When she started to recite magic too, Julio shouted at her.
“Don’t let go!”
When the magic was about to hit… the wind dragon suddenly pulled an unexpected movement. It twisted it’s body and suddenly shot up in the air, avoiding spells one after another.
Unbelievable. A wind dragon was moving at a speed that was unimaginable for such body. It was moving like a small bird, surprising even their enemies. For a moment, their speed decreased.
“Breath! Azuro!”
A big breath of fire escaped the wind dragon's mouth. It hit the dragon knight in the front making him crash down.
Then, passing through the other, it used its nails to tear up another dragon's wings. Another one headed down.
Dumbfounded, Louise stared at the spectacle.
How can a wind dragon release such a big breath?! Unbelievable!
The remaining enemy dragon knights, whose number had decreased to seven, turned around and headed back at them.
As one would expect from Albion’s dragon knights.
Though for a moment they were surprised by Julio’s wind dragon's movements, they regained their composure now. Dividing into two lines, they flinchingly moved forwards.
They started forming and closing a circle around them.
Seems like they closed their retreating paths carefully, planning to kill them.
In a movement that could be called casual, Julio's Azuro entered the circle. The enemy in front, tried to run, keeping a considerable distance.
But once Azuro turned a head towards that enemy, another one flew from the back. Seems like the one in front was just a decoy.
“Behind you! Behind you!”
Though Louise screamed, Julio, with a smile on his lips, kept on running after the decoy.
The enemy from behind, thinking that Julio's attention was surely focused on the decoy, started closing in steadily.
At the same time, when the enemy from behind released the spell, Azuro twisted around. Following the enemy’s movements from behind, dodging the attack with a wild somersault, Azuro spewed another breath.
Wrapped up in the breath, the attacking dragon knight fell down.
Shocked, Louise stared at the sudden development.
The movements of the dragon were unbelievably vivid, without making any unnecessary movements.
“H-how can you make a dragon move like that?!”
“Don’t talk, or you’ll bite your tongue.”
Julio’s tone of voice remained perfectly composed.
With three of them gone, the atmosphere around the enemy changed. Louise ducked her head, feeling the bursting anger. The encirclement loosened for a moment, and then, all dragon knights at once, plunged at them.
For a moment, Louise rocked up and down, side to side. Her body felt like a ball in the hands of juggler. Forgetting to keep her eyes open she closed them... Louise was clinging to Julio.
Every time Azuro turned, he was doing a severe damage with his fangs and claws to the opponent‘s wind dragons. To avoid the enemy‘s attacks, he himself attacked.
In only four seconds, six of them were beaten and fell down.
“The end. Let's return then.”
Julio said in a nonchalant voice.
“Wh-what happened?”
The wind dragon together with rider, were a single movement.
No, it was beyond any explanation, the movements of the unbelievable Azuro,
“I just brought out the true ability of the dragon. Everyone else’s dragons were making too many useless movements. That’s all.”
Julio said casually. And Louise understood… why he, not being a mage, had become the commander of the third squadron.
Chapter Four: The Secretary and the Emperor
In Albion's capital city Londinium, there was a heated discussion going on over the sortie at White Hall.
Because the Albion army was attracted to Dartanes by Louise's “Illusion”, they let the chance to defeat the enemy army at the coast escape. If they had properly assaulted the enemy as they landed in Rosais, it would have been possible to chase the enemy from Albion to Halkeginia...
“Now that the enemy has finished disembarking and set up camp, it would be suicidal to attempt a counterattack from this side.”
At a round table where about fifteen people sat, a young general sitting on the north side said in exhaustion. It was just like he said. Half of Albion's air force, that had forty vessels left, were sunk in the battle the other day, while the remaining ships had received heavy damage. They couldn't even sortie ten ships.
On the other hand, Tristain and Germania's combined fleet lost twelve vessels and eight received heavy damage, but there were still forty able to fight. They had complete air superiority in this situation.
On top of that, the number of people in the Albion army were decreasing. At the battle of Tarbes, they lost three thousand, and the loss the other day caused the morale of the entire army to drop; some groups ended up deserting. The vigor shown during the revolution was no longer there.
Against the sixty-thousand who claimed air superiority, there was no way they could continue attacking. Stares of blame were focused on Cromwell, the Holy Albion Republic Chairman and first Albion Emperor, who was sitting in the middle.
Because after failing many strategies, he had let the enemy land.
However, Cromwell shook off the stares... and remained nonchalant.
General Hawkins, who was substantially taking command of Albion's main force, spoke,
“The inversion is my miss. I let the opportunity to annihilate the enemy in one move, escape. There are no words to apologize.”
“Our army is in rags,” Cromwell smiled.
“And the operation to take the children at the academy hostage failed as well.”
Even though he failed, it didn't seem like he was troubled over it.
With a sigh and in a tired voice, Hawkins said,
“The magic weapons the enemy used were stronger than we imagined.”
“Miss Sheffield.”
The black-covered secretary behind Cromwell, Sheffield, nodded and read the report written on the parchment.
“The 'Illusion' that appeared near Dartanes stayed for thirteen hours and suddenly disappeared afterwards.”
“It is just a makeshift magic that creates illusions. What is there to fear?”
“It had an enormous effect.”
Hawkins said, closing his eyes. Confusion through illusions caused the army to be brought back... In other words, it was creating an effect that was no different from a military force of tens of thousands. He couldn't make light of this as just an illusion.
“To be honest, I am afraid of the enemy. Besides the illusion at Dartanes, the enemy uses many unknown magic. That magic light which destroyed our fleet...”
Cromwell faced Sheffield and nodded.
Sheffield once again read the parchment in a well resounding voice, like a choir singing a hymn in a temple.
“It is concluded... that the enemy is not in the condition to attack with the light that annihilated our fleet at Tarbes.”
“Why is that?”
“If they were to use it, they would have used it in the fleet battle before landing the other day.”
“The possibility they are reserving it for later?”
“The enemy army would have been in a devastating situation if they lost that fleet battle. If they were to use everything they could, then, most certainly, they would have released that 'miraculous light'. But the enemy fought conventionally. Though our army lost regardless.”