Chapter 74: You're my sun!
Leon's heart went crazy, beating so fast that he no longer cared about other guild members and even Winterborn.
With his natural defenses warning him about the dragon's roar, telling him he might die from the brunt of it, Leon only focused on Louise and Celes, the girls close to his heart.
He knew them well, too.
Louise didn't deal well with the water. She could more or less cope with that element in her killer mode, but that wouldn't be enough against the water dragon, whose roar threatened to summon a tsunami the world had never seen before.
Just looking at the skies, Leon didn't need anyone to tell him that Alexandra wanted everyone to drown in his roar.
She floated high in the skies, with her jaw widely parted and a water bubble coalescing before her face. That water bubble was already bigger than her dragon's head, and it kept growing in size, for the dragon called forth all the split spirit realm's water to assist her.
The formations she had left in the fortresses, the rivers, lakes, and even oceans turned into thick streaks of copious water going up to the dragon's mouth.
While her bubble increased in size, Alexandra's eyes pierced through Leon. She locked him as the main target of her roar, not letting him run away from her senses. She proved that her nickname wasn't a coincidence, for Leon couldn't escape from her grasp, no matter how he used his hiding skill.
At this moment, Leon could only do one thing. "Louise! I'll turn you into a card! You can't deal with this mass of water!"
"No!" Louise instantly replied, sounding stern.
Leon's heart grew angry, and he wheeled to her, only to see Louise standing with [No Pass] in her hands. He never expected to see that card in such a scenario — in a situation where their lives were at stake.
How could Leon allow her to even use that? "Stupid! This is not a fucking blue crocodile! It's a fucking dragon! Don't play around and slip it back into your inventory!"
Louise shook her head, convinced of her choice.
Leon gritted his teeth and threatened his fox friend. "I'll forcefully put you into a card, Louise! Don't make me go against your wish!"
"Master won't do it! I'm loyal to master, and he's loyal to me. He respects me and his promises! That's why you haven't turned me into a card already, Master! You know you can't do it! And I know what I can do!" Louise ran to Leon's side, took his front, and offered her body as a shield.
Leon's heart nearly jumped out of his chest. He couldn't believe that this girl had such an idea! But even he didn't have any special skills to protect himself and could only rely on his body.
But if Leon, whose class and the body were above the legendary grade, felt the imminent death from the dragon's roar, what about Louise? Of course, she felt the same, if not worse. And yet, she stubbornly took out [No Pass] card, reminding Leon about his promise to her.
People broke promises, though.
[You don't fear death, Leon Blade.]
Leon put his hand on Louise's shoulder, wanting to push her away and use his own body to protect her. He didn't fear death but his heart sinking into that coldness of losing his precious beloveds. That girl and Celes had already become close to his heart, and though they hadn't filled the hole Athena had left in him, Leon knew that it surely would happen in the future.
At some point, he'd drop all his common sense and just follow his heart, right?
"Move-" Leon put strength to his hand, then aimed to push her aside. Alas, Louise's body heated so much that even Leon couldn't keep his hand on her.
She kicked him away.
Feeling like this girl wouldn't listen to him regardless of what he said, Leon took out the dwarf card. He couldn't think of any other reason for drawing the dragon's attention.
But as the dwarf appeared and followed Leon's wish, the dragon's priority didn't change.
Thus, Leon summoned all of his slaves. Monsters and humans lined up before Louise, protecting her with everything they got, including their weapons and skills.
Leon even used the new gains, black asura, to ensure that the roar wouldn't reach his scarlet fox.
"Celes! Stay next to master! Always!" Louise called out the vampiress, telling her deepest wish to keep Leon's ambitions high and his new life safe from his past trauma. She recalled the fond memory of her talking with Leon about it. Now, she felt happier about the vampires being with them. "I forgive you all your teases! Your nose and face are safe!"
Celes didn't misunderstand the scarlet fox, so before Leon could make any rash move to betray the girl's feelings, she wrapped her arms around him from behind, not letting him make any movement.
Louise looked up and noticed that the dragons' roar was already pointed at them. "Master. Remember what happened in the cave when the black skeleton hurt me."
Leon bit his lips, thrashing in Celes' embrace.
"I'll always return as long as there's the sun!" At that moment, the dragons' roar swept through the skies, going down at the party of three and the slaves before them like a laser beam. While the latter easily crumbled into nothingness, Louise didn't even flinch and remained on the ground, with her arms spread wide.
The water hit her and evaporated. But because the dragon had used her whole strength and resources of the split spirit realm, she had an abundant amount of mana, which kept splashing and disappearing on Louise, hacking away her health points.
Louise lit up in a ball of flames, the skill that Leon had seen once.
Then, the familiar reaction unfurled and threatened to take over the world. Everyone lost sight of each other, swathed in the thick and frowzily fog.
But Leon still easily saw his scarlet fox, gazing at her with widened and trembling eyes. With each drop of her health point and blood slipping away from her, Leon felt like someone peeled off his heart.
He couldn't take it.
"You're my sun, so don't die, Master," Louise said with the last drop of her strength, straining to utter those words. But as she did, she smiled, and her body turned into raw energy.
She nearly lost her life, so she couldn't come back like she had done before.
She needed the sun.
Thus, Louise sank into her master's heart, soothing his pain.
This 𝓬ontent is taken from fre𝒆webnove(l).𝐜𝐨𝗺