G Legend Deck 2: The Overlord blaze "Toshiki Kai"
He is "Dragonic Overlord", the mightiest warrior of Dragon Empire and the leader of the biggest battalion of Assault Troop "Kagero", one of the two Main Armies of the Empire. During the time of this form, there is a well-known rumour in the Empire, that he refused the Emperor's edict of promotion into the upper command, in order to stand on the frontline. The upper command spoke to the Emperor that Dragonic Overlord should be imprisoned for disloyalty, but the Emperor turned down their proposal. The dragon has continued to fight on battlefields for a long time since then. Even cutting down heads of fierce generals and burning every bit of famed troops could not grant him the excitement of that time. The rival in the past---even though they had exchanged blades many times, the man disappeared before their rivalry is settled. The mightiest rival "White Swordsman", after all, is a human, and cannot escape from senescence. Perhaps, he has already passed away. But the raging dragon's soul could tell, that the two rivals would eventually meet again for sure.
Monthly Bushiroad Short Novel (April 2016 Issue)
Encounter with the Legend
"Haa, haa..."
"Chrono Dran" was running. He knew neither his location nor destination. Then, why was he running?
"Goooooorrrrgggghhhh!"
"Urgh!?"
Accompanied by thunderous explosions, the road he had passed was destroyed. From the cracked ground, a massive dragon emerged like a mountain rising in dust and debris.
"You've been chasing me for too long!! You bone-bone---!!"
"GoooGooorrrggghhh!"
The pursuer was a moving skeleton, a type of undead. It was the unliving cadaveric dragon "Bone Dragon", the largest of undead skeleton ever observed.
"Dang! Why did things turn out like this---!"
"GoooGoooGooorrrggghhh!"
"Urgyyyyaaaa---!?"
Behind the fleeing Chrono Dran, Bone Dragon stomped. Luckily, or unluckily, the impact blew Chrono Dran away at a speed several times faster than his running pace. "Why did things turn out like this"---the view of the barrens was spinning like a merry-go-round, but he saw the approaching bone dragon accurately. He became surprisingly calm, and recalled what had happened that day.
Several hours ago, Chrono Dran invited his guardians "Melem" and "Ul-gir" to play hide-and-seek. He searched for the best spot to hide.
"I have hidden here before~ over there... Uluru would get angry, no way."
He skated on the ground with his roller-like feet, and he turned around curiously.
"Hmm...?"
He found something interesting, and stopped using the roller on his tail spinning in the opposite direction.
"Was there a crack before?"
He found a crack on the wall of the ruined site. It was large enough for a small kid to pass through.
"...I could enter here."
That was a perfect spot for hiding. Chrono Dran walked sneakily like a crab.
"Oh, it's quite wide here."
The crack was connected to an open space. Chrono Dran could not tell the details due to lack of light, but he could predict the size of the space from the echoes.
"Cough, cough, so much dust~!"
He walked along the walls, with his hand swinging in front of his face to wipe off the dust. After more than ten steps, his foot hurt something.
"It hurts!? So hard! What's this!?"
The end of his foot hit something, like how a human's little toe hit furniture. With tears almost bursting from his eyes, he jumped while holding his injured foot. As he lost balance, he tried to regain balance with his hand, and his hand touched something.
Kachi... Booooooon!
"Kachi?"
He felt that he pressed something like a button. A moment later, he heard a thunderous sound like that of an engine. Three seconds later, he found out what he hit, due to the light emitting from that object. And, at the same time,
"Waaaahh!"
A rainbow-coloured space appeared on the ground he was standing on, and engulfed him... he screamed as his butt hit the ground.
"It hurts... where is this place!?"
When he opened his eyes again after several seconds of surprise, he saw no ruined site, but a vast landscape of barrens.
"Gwuargh!"
Chrono Dran's recollection ended as his face almost hit the ground. He was blown far away, and he heard the cracking sound approaching. He turned to the origin of the sound, and saw Bone Dragon, seemingly a lot smaller than watching it close. But, the form of Bone Dragon was magnifying gradually, and it was only a matter of time for Bone Dragon to catch Chrono Dran.
"Enouuuuugggghhhh!"
He had been fleeing when he could not figure out what was happening. But, as he could calm down and think about the situation, he found it irritating.
"Wuuu.... Dah!!"
Chrono Dran unleashed his power, and a mysterious magic circle emerged beneath him. The magic circle's light covered his body, and his body recomposed into a new form.
"Time to blow you away!"
Chrono Dran had taken the form of a mature dragon---"Chronojet Dragon". He stepped firmly on the ground, and prepared to counter-attack the charging Bone Dragon.
"I, it's really huge!"
Chrono Dran had taken a form several times larger than his baby dragon form, but he was still smaller than Bone Dragon. He noticed it as Bone Dragon was approaching, and his eyes needed to rise up to see the whole body of Bone Dragon.
"H, height isn't everything!"
His body almost fell back, but he kept his body standing with his willpower, and concentrated his strength. Finally, Bone Dragon was going to trample him with its foot.
"Dooooryaaaa!"
Chrono Dran stopped the trample with his body, the parts below his knees were pressed into the ground.
"Taste this!"
Accompanied with a warcry to excite himself, Chrono Dran released his mana from his palms. He had been undergoing "practice" with someone recently, and the fruit of his practices worked out. Bone Dragon lost balance, and fell on the ground.
"I've done it! Mentor, I've done it!"
Chrono Dran was cherishing like a kid, but,
"Ah, I've returned to normal form..."
His transformation into a mature dragon ended. His transformation consumes his mana several times faster than normal. In other words, his mana runs out quickly.
"I'm hungry~... Wanna return asap..."
As he let down his guard, he heard an ominous creeping sound behind him.
"I, it can't be..."
Turning his head in fear, he saw Bone Dragon stand up again. It did not roar, as it did not have a set of voice cords, but it vibrated all its bones to produce a sound of "Gooorrrggghhh" like roaring. That sound was big enough to overshadow the mana-depleted Chrono Dran's little scream.
"Goooooooooooooooorrrggghhh!"
Like before, Bone Dragon raised its foot and attempted to trample on Chrono Dran. But, Chrono Dran had no way to stop it this time. When he thought that was his end, at that moment,
"Hah!"
The shadow of a man slipped between the massive foot and Chrono Dran, blocking the foot and counter-attacking by swinging his sword only once. The man blew away the dragon many tens his size.
"You can no longer walk."
"Gooorrrggghhh!"
No, he did not simply blow away Bone Dragon. The right frontal limb of Bone Dragon was shattered into smithereens. The root of that severed foot had numberless wounds. That counter-attack had been imbued with a great amount of impact.
"A, awesome..."
"Any severe injuries, boy?"
"T, thank you! Old man, you're really strong!"
"I am no old man. I am Nehalem, a genuine dragon knight of the Empire. "
"Understood, old man!"
"...Why are you in this place?"
Nehalem frowned at a certain level, and Chrono Dran recalled his current situation.
"...I don't know. When I was playing at home, suddenly..."
"Hmmm..."
(He might be a victim of Dark Zone's experiments. I shall keep him here first...)
At that moment, Bone Dragon suddenly moved. It tried to jump with its remaining limbs.
"Goo... GooGooGoorrrggghhh!"
However, its attempts were futile. The dragon undead was engulfed by flames. The ivory-coloured dragon was charred in a blink of an eye, and did not move again.
"You didn't settle things well, Nehalem!"
"I cannot resent. You have my gratitude."
"As always, kidding with you is no fun... not interesting at all."
"Ah, Aermo! It's me, it's me! I haven't seen you for a long time!"
"Hmm, who's this over-familiar brat?"
The boy who released the flame called himself Aermo, and Chrono Dran had met him before. However, Aermo looked at Chrono Dran surprised. But, Aermo figured out it was not the time to be surprised, and turned to Nehalem.
"Anyway, leave this place quickly."
Aermo's face turned strange, totally opposite to that when he came. Nehalem looked at Aermo, and waited for the coming words.
"A swarm of dragon undeads are approaching this place."
"F, fleeing? Both old man and Aermo are strong, why don't you simply fight them?"
Nehalem's dragon partner was flying quickly in the sky. On the dragon's back was Nehalem, carrying Chrono Dran who complained reflexively.
"Ahh. Even we could not stay safe if engulfed."
They were attempting to leave the vast barrens as soon as possible.
"Engulfed, you're talking being engulfed by the swarm of bone-bones?"
"No, you fool."
Aermo, flying at the same speed as the dragon, teased Chrono Dran.
"We're talking about the flame of apocalypse, which would incinerate the bones in the blink of an eye."
Chrono Dran wanted to ask Aermo about the meaning of those words, but as he opened his mouth, fire lit up in the barrens, and shone all three of their faces red.
"It's begun."
"That means, everything meets the end."
Numberless fire pillars raised from the ground and penetrated the sky. They flew high and carefully, and left the barrens.
"Wow..."
Chrono Dran looked down at the barrens, and saw an epic scene. The swarm of dragon undeads were nothing but a charred mess.
"That, who has done that?"
"Even in the far-reaching Empire, only the great one can accomplish this."
"Who's that great one?"
When Chrono Dran asked,
"Our Lord."
Nehalem answered immediately.
"That lord of yours did this by himself!?"
"Of course. My Lord is the strongest general of the Empire!"
"The strongest! Sounds awesome!"
"Fufufu, not only the Empire, my Lord is the strongest general in the world!"
"T, the strongest in the world! Awesome!"
Chrono Dran was excited, and that cheered up Aermo. Aermo spoke proudly, and as he tried to speak further.
"Aermo, that's enough."
That cool sound calmed Aermo down. The speaker---the beautiful lady was riding a dragon, and flying in the sky right to them.
"Mu... Monica."
"I understand your happiness from hearing others praise the Captain, but you shall not boast."
"Fuu, got it."
Aermo was distressed and flew past them. Monica shrugged her shoulders, and spoke to Nehalem.
"As Captain comes, he can solve everything on his own."
"Dragon undeads do not really die. The aftermath is another thing."
"Right. Now they are nothing but a charred mess, but they will rise up again centuries later. "
"Really... they seldom show up in the Empire, making these undeads trouble to be dealt with."
Chrono Dran had been seeing the two have a friendly chat, but,
"W, w, w, what's happening!?"
"What's this...!"
Light radiated from his body suddenly. He was shocked and struggled, making him fall from Nehalem's arms.
"Ah... waaaarrrrrgh!"
"K!? No!"
Chrono Dran was falling from a height of several hundred metres. Usually, he could protect himself by transforming, but his mana was depleted at that moment. Nehalem urged his dragon to catch Chrono Dran, but he could not meet the speed of free-falling.
"Gyaaa! I'm falling! I'm dyiiiiinn... eh?"
Chrono Dran mistook the impact of hitting the ground. But, he did not sense the expected pain. He fell on someone's palm. He looked around, and everyone seemed to be kneeling before him. But that was not the truth.
"Captain. We shall deal with the aftermath."
Monica was lowering her head obediently, not for Chrono Dran's sake, but for he who caught Chrono Dran with his arm. Chrono Dran raised his head, and saw that.
"Ah... ah..."
Fear was brimming in his mind. His whole body fell in terror from witnessing an overwhelmingly mighty being. Chrono Dran even forgot his body was emitting a mysterious light, for he could do nothing but tremble.
"..."
Hearing Monica's words, "Dragonic Overlord", the strongest general of the Empire, nodded silently. Noticing his actions, the kneeling warriors turned back and headed to the barrens, to deal with the "aftermath" spoken by Monica.
"Auu... auu..."
Remaining in that place was Dragonic Overlord, and Chrono Dran trembling in fear. And, when Dragonic Overlord opened his mouth, a powerful flash radiated from Chrono Dran, and engulfed the baby dragon's body.
"..."
Lowering his empty palm slowly, Overlord looked up at the sky. What he was thinking when looking up at the sky, why he had saved Chrono Dran. Only Overlord himself knew the reasons.
"Ugyyap!"
Chrono landed on his face once again. When his eyes were filled with tears, he heard a familiar voice.
"Ah! Dran, I found you!"
Looking around, the image of his home and the victorious smile on Melem's face made Chrono Dran realize that "he had returned".
"Wuuaaarrrggghhh! Melem!"
"W, what? What happened all of a sudden?"
Chrono Dran cried and threw himself at Melem. Though surprised, Melem still embraced Chrono Dran gently. After that, Chrono Dran told Melem his adventure, but Melem didn't believe at all and teased Chrono Dran for telling a dream story. Chrono Dran was unhappy and did not speak to Melem for a while... but that is another story.
By the way, Melem was busy patting the crying Chrono Dran, and the hide-and-seek game ended without a result. With one player forgotten.
(Fufufu... come on, this is the most beautiful and completely flawless hiding spot, can you find me?)
Ul-gir, hiding in an old wall clock, was only found in starvation one week later by other members.
"I'd been lost when the newcomer turned it on as he pleased, but anyway, I got unexpected data."
The secret chamber found by Chrono Dran during his hide-and-seek was in fact the laboratory of a weirdo of "Gear Chronicle".
"The era of time leap was perfect... but the coordinates went wrong, that's surprising. Failed, it is."
He has been covering the entrance with papier-mâché to disguise it like a wall, but he had left the place to get new raw materials and forgot to put up the disguise, and Chrono Dran strayed into the laboratory.
"The staying time was approximately four hours, and that may change according to the space and time of the destination. I must check it in later."
He was so happy that he inputted the results into the terminal, without noticing the footsteps of doom creeping behind him.
"The power output has no problem for bringing the target afar to Dragon Empire. Next time..."
"There is no 'next time', Merkar."
"U, Uluru? Why're you here!?"
"Recently, you have been exhibiting suspicious behavior. Therefore, I have requested Elul to monitor your actions."
"H, hey, wait! The research this time is awesome indeed! If we can utilize this..."
"No more quibbling. Unauthorized production of an experimental device installed with multiple Time Engines and unnecessarily exposing another member to harm are serious crimes. Elul, do it."
"Understood."
"A, hey, wait..."
Merkar's laboratory became but a mound of debris, and the severely injured Merkar was put under Elul's tight monitoring.
That's life.