A ten meter large dragon slowly appeared from the purple colored pillar of water.

  「That’s…Katarakta!」


  The Purple Water Dragon. For it to appear just like that…


  Katarakta glared at Dianeia who stood surprised on the stage and…


  「GAAAAAAAA!」


  It roared, firing a purple colored water ball towards her.

  It was aiming at both Manaril and Dianeia. Dianeia began to cast her barrier magic, but before that…


  「All members, protect Manaril-sama and Dianeia-sama!」


  「Ha!」


  The Knights that had been in the audience all gathered, assembling their shields in a defensive posture to block the attack.

  Some of them were sent flying by the power of the attack, but even so…


  「Oooo….!」


  The other Knights in the formation quickly closed the gaps that were formed. At that time, Dianeia was thanking these quick moving knights in her mind as she readied her staff and stepped in front of Manaril who was still singing.

  「Mana-dono! I’m going to fight!」


  Manaril didn’t answer with her voice. She was singing so it was obvious why. But instead…


  『Aim for the core!』


  A sound echoed directly inside her mind.

  Manaril was making use of the communication magic 『Air Contact』.

  「Yeah……I’ve read everything I could find about Katarakta. I’m aware of its weakness Manaril-dono!」


  Dianeia said while nodding.

  After reading so much about this dragon, Dianeia had a general plan on how to fight it.

  Katarakta’s body closely resembled that of a water golem’s. Within it would be a crystal core. It was a crystal filled with bad magic, but if it was broken it should be unable to maintain its bodily form. So…


  「I see the core…!」


  Katarakta’s throat had a large black crystal that was shining.

  『My song is causing the core to glow in reaction. So aim well….!』


  Manaril said and cut off communication.

  She was probably trying to focus on singing.

  The song got more powerful and louder as it reverberated. Then,

  「———-Oooooooooo!」


  Katarakta started winding around and going wild.

  「Th-the song is working!」


  「As expected of Manaril-chan’s song ze!」


  The knights cheered.

  It seems like they’re getting fired up.

  「Ok, let’s keep it going!」


  Dianeia said as she hoisted her staff and concentrated.

  …….the opponent was water. Her flames had poor compatibility with that….!」


  But, in the months since she’d met Daichi, she had tried to chase after him. She aimed to be powerful like him and trained as much as she could. Now was the time to show the results. Now she would unleash.

  「Divine fire, Melt all barriers that obstruct me and purify all—『Magna Flame Trident』—!」


  At that moment a giant flame trident was born in front of her staff and flew forwards.

  「——!」


  Katarakta fired a water ball to meet it. But the trident pierced through without losing momentum.

  「I’ve got you!」


  It flew in Katarakta’s open mouth and pierced into its throat. And like that the flaming trident stabbed into the crystal within, burning it. Then…


  「Aa………!」


  Katarakta’s body began crumbling.

  It appeared that the destruction of its core was a success.

  「UOOOOOOO! That’s our Princess!」


  The Knights cheered again.

  「We did it…!」


  The backlash of fatigue from using powerful magic finally arrived. Even so, Dianeia was relieved that she had been able to drive away the threat. At that moment…


  「——-Dianeia that’s, not it!」


  A voice said from above. It was the voice of a Dragon King she knew…


  「Hesty-dono!?」


  The moment she said that, Hesty swooped down from the sky. She said…


  「It’s too soon to be, relieved. That wasn’t, Katarakta’s true body!」


  「N-not its true body? But I pierced the core!?」


  「n, I saw. It’s true that one was broken. But that, was just one, created from fission. There are, more.」


  Hesty said, looking at the collapsing form of Katarakta.

  From that location another purple colored pillar of water began to rise.

  「It’s coming again!?」


  「It is. The proof is, Manaril hasn’t, stopped singing.」


  Certainly, Manaril had continued to sing.

  Now that she thought about it, it was obvious.

  If that degree of attack could defeat it, then only one Dragon King would be needed to deal with it. It wouldn’t be troublesome enough that even today there were still records left about it.

  「In short, Katarakta has many cores and we’ll need to repeat this process many times?」


  「Yes. Katarakta’s scariness is not, it’s attack power. Instead, it is stamina, and tenacity.」


  「I see…..how many cores are there?」


  「If you look, you’ll understand.」


  The moment Hesty said that, the purple water pillar climbed into the sky. It was bigger than the one that preceded it.

  It grew larger and larger. Then it appeared.

  「Is this the real Katarakta?」


  「n, yes. This is Katarakta. The enemy that we fought, and fought, yet couldn’t defeat totally. As long as there is one, core left, it can revive.」


  What appeared in front of them was a water dragon that exceeded 100 meters. Its body shone with the light of over one hundred glowing crystal cores.