A mage tower stood in the imperial capital: the Gray Tower, home to astronomers and astrologers.

From the outside, it looked like a tower, but to the mages who lived there, it was merely an observatory for studying the heavens. Today, as always, the mages of the Gray Tower were looking up at the sky.

Reading the movements of the constellations that embroidered the night sky, checking whether new stars had been born or any existing stars were setting—that was their daily work.

Their work, however, was famously quiet and largely unchanging. The constellations in the night sky seldom changed much. It took an event great enough to shake history to send the stars into turmoil...

'How often could something that historic happen, anyway?'

Nayuta, master of the Gray Tower, lounged on a sofa, humming as she sipped her coffee. In her opinion, her position was ideal for living the easy life. The funding was generous, and all the work actually involved was leisurely gazing at the sky, wasn't it?

'Meanwhile, the master of the Platinum Tower next door is working her ass off.'

Nayuta chuckled as she thought of her former classmate, who routinely worked through the night and slogged away on too little sleep. Well, who had told her to join the Platinum Tower? The real winners in life worked less and earned more.

Just as Nayuta was about to enjoy another easy, cushy day no different from yesterday, the Gray Tower shook.

BOOM!

Linked to the celestial bodies, the Gray Tower responded sensitively to the movements of the constellations. A tremor this powerful meant a major change had occurred in the sky. Nayuta's eyes widened as she snapped her head up.

The heavens were in turmoil.

The constellations shifted wildly, pushed aside in both directions. It looked much as it had when Arthur's constellation stirred. The stirring of a vast constellation was enough in itself to shake the heavens.

'Has King Arthur's star moved again?'

No. Something was different this time.

The stars were fleeing in terror. Nayuta's gaze shifted. She might normally spend her days lazing about, but she was an empire-certified first-class astrologer. Her eyes pierced through to the heart of the movement.

Then blood flowed from her eyes.

There was an immense star there, one she could neither observe nor comprehend—one she dared not even look at. The moment she faced that dark-crimson baleful star, the witch's constellation, blood flowed from her eyes and nose. Her eyes trembled.

A constellation that had remained silent for a thousand years.

The constellation of the Witch of the Abyss was there.

The dark-crimson star revealed itself for only the briefest moment before concealing its presence in the darkness. Even that was enough to shake the heavens and leave them in disarray. As confusion engulfed the constellations, Nayuta lowered her gaze.

The place the witch's star had briefly illuminated.

She recalled what lay there.

Stonehenge.

The site of the Dragons' Grave.

2.

The red dragon roared at the sky and began smashing everything in sight indiscriminately. The imperial family's knight order began retreating, and the White Horn adventurers also hesitated and backed away.

Something was wrong.

The situation was no longer what they had been told to expect.

They could accept the white dragon and red dragon reviving without their injuries. They had still seen a way to kill them and thought they could handle the fight. But the red dragon before them now was different. It had grown to two or three times its former size, and its presence had changed.

This was impossible.

They knew it instinctively.

That was not an enemy a force of Sword Seekers could handle. Sword aura did not look capable of penetrating those scales scattering red light, nor did severing that thick neck seem possible. Above all, the oppressive presence the red dragon exuded was real.

If they charged in with their lives on the line, they might inflict a wound or two, but that hardly made it worthwhile. Ultimately, they were adventurers, people who weighed their lives against their profits. Free adventurers, not knights bound by duty.

"This isn't going to work."

"That isn't an enemy we can take on. It's impossible."

"We'd need at least ten Sword Seekers. Four aren't enough for something like that."

"Or we'd have to bring in a Sword Master."

They needed at least ten Sword Seekers.

And that was only the bare minimum. Even with ten, they could not be sure they could kill it. They had no idea where to start or how to go about it.

Muttering among themselves, the three White Horn adventurers backed away. One of their number had already been knocked out of the fight by a single blow. Only fools would keep fighting under these circumstances.

"So you're going to run?"

And there was one such fool here.

Roselin Ascalo, silent until now, tossed out the question. She stood her ground without taking a single step back. At her words, the White Horn adventurer Richard Paulsen frowned and spoke.

"Retreat is the right choice. Until imperial reinforcements arrive..."

"Seems to me that big red dragon will hit Cambria before any imperial reinforcements get here. Come on, old man Richard. You know that, don't you?"

Roselin sighed.

If they fled now, the red dragon would head for Cambria, the nearest city. Killing humans and destroying civilization was, fundamentally, what drove dragons.

And Cambria could not stop the red dragon.

The strongest fighters in Cambria were here. Even if every adventurer left in the city joined forces, they could not kill a dragon. Without power on the level of a Sword Seeker, they could not even scratch its scales.

"Are you saying you're going to fight, then, Roselin?"

"Well, what other choice is there? I suppose I could just run away and pretend it's none of my business, whether the people in the city die or not..."

She shrugged.

"I've got a lot of money tied up in Cambria, old man. I just set up a new base for my mercenary company, and I bought myself a house, too. Do you know how hard I worked to pay for all that...? It'd be a bit much to lose it all, wouldn't it?"

"And letting my men die wouldn't sit right with me, either."

Muttering those words, Roselin twirled the Masterpiece in her hand.

"Of course, that's my problem. If you and the two back there want to run, go ahead."

"But," she added with a grin, "then you don't get to complain when I call you a bunch of cowardly fucking losers later."

Roselin struck her twin swords together.

SCREEEECH!

The instant the eardrum-piercing sound echoed, the red dragon, about to pursue the retreating knights, whipped its head toward her.

"That's right. Over here, you fucking lizard."

Roselin Ascalo curled her lips into a grin.

"Us red-eyed types ought to play together, don't you think?"

She tapped the skin beside her eye.

Those swirling red eyes were the mark of a witch. Born of a witch and a human, Roselin glared at the red dragon, whose eyes were just like hers.

ROOOOOAR!

The red dragon roared.

As though answering Roselin's taunt, it recognized her as an enemy and charged at her. Watching it approach, smashing everything in its path, Roselin clicked her tongue.

'Yeah, this is going to be fucking rough.'

She could never kill that thing alone.

She glanced behind her at the three White Horn adventurers. If those bastards joined in, they would surely have at least a slim chance, but they remained silent and motionless, as though weighing something.

Well, running away would be difficult for them, too.

They must have grown attached to Cambria, and their bases were there as well. They were merely hesitating because they did not want to stake their lives on a fight with no visible prospect of victory. In other words...

If the situation tipped even slightly in their favor, they would join in.

What Roselin needed to show them now was a possibility. However small, she had to create a situation that let them see a chance of victory. Naturally, that would not be easy.

'Tch. At a time like this, I need at least one bastard willing to charge in with me.'

Normally, there would have been someone like that here.

Someone who stepped in first and charged ahead without weighing the consequences. A rookie exactly to her liking. But he had been sent flying by a single blow. She did not even know whether he was alive or dead.

"Phew..."

Roselin sighed and took her stance.

She would have to make do on her own. Just as she adjusted her grip on her Masterpiece, Echo, and prepared to step toward the red dragon—

CRASH!

A pile of stones flew into the air in the distance.

At the sudden thunderous noise, Roselin turned toward its source. A boy holding a sword burst out, smashing through the debris of a fallen stone pillar. Her eyes widened at the sight, then she burst out laughing.

"That bastard's completely insane."

He could move already after taking that hit head-on?

Still laughing, Roselin tipped her head. Her gaze met Najin's across the dragon. No words were needed. The moment she pointed right and ran, Najin charged to the left.

A beast from the age of myth.

A living, breathing Mystery.

Two sword wielders sprinted toward the enormous monster. Compared with the dragon's bulk, the two humans were insignificant—but the sword aura rising from the blades in their hands was not.

Fragments of transcendence grasped by human bodies.

Light capable of piercing a dragon's scales blossomed brilliantly.

3.

Running toward the red dragon, Najin steadied his breathing. His breaths were ragged after being struck by its tail. His body creaked with pain, but not so badly that he could not move.

'Merlin,' he said inwardly as he ran. 'That was the witch's star just now, wasn't it?'

"Yes."

'Did the witch interfere?'

This was the Inner Lands: a stable region where Constellations could scarcely intervene. Yet the witch had found some means of doing so.

"That bitch did interfere. Normally, the red dragon would never attack the white dragon. They were split from a single being, so they treasured each other."

The witch had controlled the red dragon.

She had made it swallow the white dragon and become complete. Merlin said that in the process, she had tampered with the dragon's very essence.

"I don't know what means she used, but she won't be able to use it again. Bedivere has mobilized the Round Table."

Merlin was looking at the sky.

She would be seeing the constellations rearrange and align. It must have been a magnificent sight, but Najin had no time to look up now.

He could not concern himself with the beings of Camlann, the Round Table, or anyone else high in the heavens...

Not with a dragon roaring right in front of him.

His battlefield was here. His opponent was the red dragon roaring with its feet planted on the ground. That red dragon alone was what he had to focus on. Najin widened his eyes as he drove his aching legs against the ground and ran.

'Heavy. Fast. Difficult to cut.'

The red dragon had grown several times larger.

Taking that earlier blow, Najin had known instinctively that he could not cut it by ordinary means. He had to find a way to tear through those scales and drive his sword in.

No longer a mere half, the red dragon was now complete—a beast of Mystery possessing all the draconic traits Merlin had described.

It would take at least a Sword Master to sever that neck in a single strike. As he was now, Najin could barely scratch its scales. Could he cut through if he struck the same spot dozens, hundreds of times? He could not be certain.

Even with his life on the line, his chances against this opponent were unclear. Feeling his heart pound, Najin steadied his breath.

'The basics of dragon hunting.'

What Merlin had taught him.

No matter how strong his opponent had become, what he had to do remained unchanged. First, he had to rob it of that absurd mobility. His eyes turned toward the red dragon's wings.

Once it took flight, they would not be able to bring it down.

He had to tear those wings while it was still worked up and moving along the ground. Roselin, who had exchanged glances with him, seemed to be thinking much the same thing. The two slipped around to the sides of the charging dragon.

Najin tightened his grip hard around his sword hilt.

A constellation of white and gold wrapped around the blade. He knew that this provoked the dragons' wrath. Merlin had told him so.

Platinum sword aura resembling Arthur's.

Light capable of piercing the dragons' Mystery.

Turning Merlin's words over in his mind, Najin recalled a scene from the storybook: Arthur charging without hesitation at the enormous monsters of the age of myth, at giants and dragons. At the end of that battle, Arthur had hung a star in the heavens.

A star. A great feat. The first step toward becoming a hero.

Najin did not know whether his sword would work against that dragon. But he had decided. He would bring it down, no matter what. He would accomplish a feat greater than Arthur's and inscribe his star.

'Without fail.'

He had made his decision. All that remained was to act.

Najin kicked off the ground and leaped into the air. His sword aura flickered in a great, brilliant flash. As though answering it, Roselin leaped from the other side and struck her twin swords together.

"Hey, Najin."

Roselin called his name.

Not rookie, but Najin. As though showing respect for his unhesitating leap into the battlefield, she willingly addressed him by name.

"I don't do this for just anyone."

The echo she had sent out.

A wave produced by the Masterpiece rippled right before Najin's eyes, as though she had prepared a place for him, too.

"Hit it. With everything you've got."

Najin chuckled.

Then he swung his sword with all his strength at the wave rippling before him. The strongest blow he could deliver. The instant his sword aura mingled with the wave—

SCREEEEEEEEEECH!

The echo rang out in overlapping layers, carrying the sword aura of them both.