After dropping Jeanne d'Arc Alter and the rest onto the ground, Fafnir shot straight up into the sky, banked hard, and fixed her murderous gaze on Mash Kyrielight, Mash, and Jeanne d'Arc—who were still clashing with the Dragon Witch.
She was about to dive and back her master when—
A searing blue flash exploded right in front of her eyes.
Fafnir slammed to a dead stop mid-dive, barely ten meters above the dirt, to avoid eating the blast head-on. A thick blue beam cannon hung in the air like a wall. She whipped her head around.
There stood a figure she knew by heart… yet somehow didn't.
The intruder bellowed straight at her:
"Fafnir, you evil dragon! I'm right here! Siegfried is right here!"
It was Siegfried.
Fafnir: "?"
She stared, stunned. The same radiant silver armor, the same massive Phantasmal Greatsword on her back, the same glowing emblem on her chest—every detail matched. But what the hell were those two full, unmistakable bulges on Siegfried's chest? And why did her voice sound so unmistakably feminine?
Siegfried didn't notice the dragon's baffled stare. She stood tall, sword planted, chest heaving with pure fighting spirit.
She slammed the flat of her Phantasmal Greatsword against her breastplate, denting the metal slightly, and roared:
"By my justice! By my convictions! I swear I will drive you back into the twilight of the gods once more!"
Confusion flickered across Fafnir's mind, but the second she heard the vow to kill her again, it vanished. Someone wanted her dead? Fine. She'd answer in kind.
"ROOOAR!"
A raw shockwave blasted from Fafnir's maw. It carried no real damage—just pure dominance. Siegfried's long silver hair whipped wildly, yet beneath it her eyes burned with unbreakable resolve.
The evil dragon hovered right in front of her.
Truth be told, Siegfried's stomach was ice. She still didn't fully remember how she'd beaten Fafnir last time. All she knew was that victory had been a miracle built on countless failures. Alone, she figured her odds sat at maybe one win in ten.
But that didn't matter. Adam had told her the Counter Force summoned her to this Singularity for one reason: this exact evil dragon. So for France, for every living soul here, and for the trust her Master placed in her, she would fulfill her duty. She would end Fafnir—no matter the cost.
Siegfried tightened her grip on the two-handed blade, eyes locked on her fated enemy above.
Fafnir's wings snapped open. She dove like a falling star.
Siegfried's muscles coiled. She timed it perfectly—leaped left, cleared the path, then swung Balmung in a vicious upward arc straight into the dragon's exposed belly.
The blade screamed across scales with a high-pitched sizzle.
"ROOOAR!"
Fafnir shrieked in pain, rocketed upward, and fled back into the sky. A few black scales rained down behind her.
She twisted mid-air to inspect the wound. A meters-long gash yawned across her underbelly. Her supposedly invincible scales had barely slowed the Phantasmal Greatsword. The cut ran more than a dozen centimeters deep.
It stung, sure—but for a beast her size it was barely a scratch.
Siegfried never took her eyes off the dragon. She glanced at her sword tip, now glistening crimson, then at the fresh wound she'd carved. A small, dangerous smile curved her lips.
"Looks like I've got a chance."
Her teammates were still tangled in the chaos Jeanne d'Arc Alter had unleashed. No one was coming to help anytime soon. Right now it was just her against the evil dragon.
She'd been worried about fighting solo. But the way that slash landed… maybe her odds weren't as hopeless as she'd feared.
Then Fafnir threw her head back and roared at the sky—a long, earth-shaking bellow that made Siegfried's ears ring.
"ROOOAR!"
Was it a trick of the light, or did the dragon just smirk at her?
Something was wrong.
The unease in Siegfried's gut proved right. Within seconds, wyverns from every direction began pouring toward the battlefield. Dozens arrived in heartbeats. More were coming.
"Damn it…"
Siegfried watched them circle, face grim. That tiny spark of hope died instantly. One-on-one had already been dicey. Now, with a swarm? Her greatest edge—the Armor of Fafnir that made her body harder than steel everywhere except her back—would be useless once they hit her from behind.
In a straight duel she could angle, tank, and trade blows. Against dozens, maybe hundreds, she'd be forced to expose her weak point.
Her chances cratered from ten percent to less than one.
She spun inside the growing swarm, Phantasmal Greatsword flashing in wide arcs, carving wyverns apart while constantly tracking Fafnir's aerial dives.
Her stamina bled away fast.
The wyverns never thinned. Hundreds now. Every time she cleared a patch, more flooded in.
She was gasping, lungs burning, splitting her focus between the ground horde and the dragon's constant strafing runs.
That's when she saw it—Fafnir's eyes carried a cruel, almost human sneer. The dragon was mocking her: no allies, no way out, completely helpless.
Siegfried's brow twitched. Her next swing came down with twice the fury, flattening a whole cluster of wyverns. But the rest just piled on harder.
No. She couldn't keep grinding them down. Every kill only drained her faster and left her worse off for the real fight.
She had to end this now.
One gamble. All or nothing.
Siegfried glared up at the agile dragon, face set like stone, and poured what little mana she had left into her sword. The blade flared bright blue.
A weak beam swept the nearest wyverns clear. The rest would need a few seconds to close the gap.
That was all the time she needed.
She dumped every last drop of mana into Balmung and began the chant.
"Evil dragon, fall—the world welcomes its twilight."
"Strike it down!"
The Phantasmal Greatsword erupted with raw power. A colossal blue beam cannon rocketed skyward.
"Phantasmal Greatsword—Felling of the Sky Demon!!!"
Siegfried swung with everything she had, hurling the desperate shot straight at Fafnir.
The dozen-meter beam screamed upward.
But the dragon had been watching. She beat her wings once and shot higher. The beam grazed her belly, clipped a claw—nothing more.
A scratch. Not even a flinch.
Siegfried's face fell. She'd known the odds were bad—Fafnir was too mobile in open sky without anyone pinning her down. But she'd had no choice. If she waited, she wouldn't even get the Noble Phantasm off.
Failure.
Mana gone. Stamina spent. Siegfried dropped to one knee, using her sword as a crutch just to stay upright. Wyverns closed in from every side.
Fafnir hovered above, eyes glittering with triumph. She folded her wings and dove for the kill.
Siegfried bared her teeth, refusing to look away even as the dragon filled her vision. She had nothing left—no mana, no strength to dodge or keep swinging.
In that final heartbeat she still thought of her allies. Could they win without her? If she fell here, Adam couldn't risk those cataclysmic beams with everyone tangled in melee. And no one else in the team carried anti-dragon power. Without her, the massive evil dragon would slaughter them all.
"…At least… I'll leave a few more scars on you."
"…Give my Master and the others… one last edge."
She forced herself back to her feet, teeth clenched, ready to meet the dive head-on.
She wouldn't survive it. The nearest wyverns were already five meters away, jaws open.
Then everything changed.
Two streaks—one crimson, one azure—blasted in like meteors from nowhere, slamming into Fafnir mid-dive.
"Get the hell away from her, you filthy mongrel dragon!"
"Iron Fist Saint Judgment!"
The twin impacts rocked the dragon sideways. A deep slash and a massive dent marred her huge body as she tumbled through the air.
In that split second Siegfried saw exactly who they were.
Her eyes flew wide.
"Kriemhild!"
The red figure was Kriemhild.
The blue was Martha (Ruler).
In the heat of the moment Kriemhild had seen Siegfried in mortal danger and ordered Martha to hurl her straight at the dragon like a living cannonball.
Fafnir crashed hard, shook her head, and started climbing back to her feet. She still had fight left.
The wyverns around Siegfried hadn't stopped either—hundreds still closing in.
Then the battlefield gained something new: a three-headed dragon and one absolutely terrifying figure.
***
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