I Returned with the Cheat Holy Sword

"You’re really not going to back down?"

Leona taunted with a sneer.
"A human challenging me to a duel? You’re a thousand years too early!"
Once again, she planted her hands on her hips and let out an exaggerated ahem. Gray snorted and replied,

"You’re ridiculous. You look like the weakest dragon I’ve ever seen. You’re a desk mage, aren’t you?"
"……"
"You must be pretty smart if you made it to Tower Master, but you clearly suck at combat. If we fought, I could kill you in five seconds."

At that, Leona visibly deflated.
She’d been hit where it hurt.
Even so, she kept muttering, clinging to pride.

"…Sure, as a Hero, you’re allowed to talk like that. But I’m still a dragon, you know?"
And she wasn’t even fighting the Hero—her opponent was Carlyle.
Gray didn’t bother arguing further. She just tilted her head lazily and said nothing.
But she wasn’t wrong. Even most superhumans would struggle to last a single exchange against a dragon.

After all, Gray’s greatest accomplishment—one of the main reasons she’d earned the Holy Sword and the title ‘Strongest of Humanity’—was slaying Arta, the oldest black dragon.
Dragons were beings of pure magical energy. Their inherent ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) power since birth dwarfed that of any human.
No ordinary human could beat them.

"—If they’re ordinary."
Gray grinned like a mischievous brat.
Watching her, Carlyle scratched his head awkwardly.

Half embarrassment, half discomfort. The Holy Sword scoffed.
[If you’re going to cower like a coward, why’d you accept the challenge in the first place?]
Because I believe in you.

[…What? Didn’t I say you’re not using me?]
Yes. But I still believe in you.
Carlyle said it calmly.

I trust you. You’d never push me into something I couldn’t handle.
That applied even to her—the one standing there now.
Carlyle Belfast trusted the Hero.

[You’re facing a dragon just because of something I said?]
Yes.
He smiled.
We’ve been together long enough. Isn’t it natural to believe that much?

[……]
Ow, ow ow ow ow!!
…A sharp jolt shot up his spine.

Why she electrocuted him before the fight, he couldn’t guess.
In any case—
The rules were simple. Since hurting each other would just lead to a mess, they agreed on a single-strike match.

"Hit me once. If you can get through, you win!"
Leona declared, gathering mana into her body, full of confidence.
"If you succeed, I’ll grant anything you want. But if you can’t break through, then you admit you’re a fraud!"

…Hrm.
There was someone nearby who would abuse that promise of “anything” with sadistic glee.
Carlyle glanced sideways—sure enough, the Hero was already grinning wickedly.

"……"
Looking at that made him question whether winning was actually a good idea.
Still—he couldn’t just lose either.

"I pledge to the Great Will—"
As he was thinking that, Leona closed her eyes and began chanting.
Everyone around started watching curiously.
"…What? First time seeing a mage chant a spell?"

"No, it’s nothing."
Ah. Right. That was normal for mages.
He’d gotten used to Vespa, who skipped incantations entirely and just boom—threw out spells.

Seeing this now reminded him just how far outside the norm she really was.
‘We beg the Great Will—’ Long, academic, and boring.
‘Please!’ Short, direct, and memorable.

…No, wait.
Joking aside, Leona’s defensive barrier looked pretty serious.
Even a strong attack might not leave a scratch.

It was just a translucent wall in front of her, but the density of mana and spell control she’d used to form it felt even more refined than Vespa’s current level.
I see.
No wonder she was so confident.

She believed in this barrier enough to declare she’d concede defeat if it so much as cracked.
Even the Hero raised her eyebrows in genuine interest.
As expected of a Tower Master—even among dragons, she wasn’t just any mage.

Alright. To pierce this in one shot…
[Projectile and spiral. The harder the surface, the more you need something small and sharp.]
Huh?

[Try spinning the attack. Use everything you’ve got.]
…Projectile and spiral?
He got the theme. The Hero often used this technique when aiming to penetrate barriers.

I’ll try to copy it.
The base was the Hero’s mana. He crafted a ‘bullet’ near the tip of the Holy Sword, using a sharp sword swing.
Then: rotation.

The small mana bullet began to spin rapidly.
"Hah! You think that will work? My barrier’s solid, you know?"
First enchantment: Eye of Quria.

His bracelet gleamed. Using the mana he’d gotten from Vespa, it gave the bullet a secondary spin at the Holy Sword’s tip.
Rotation speed doubled.
"Trying hard, aren’t you? Still, you’re just hitting a boulder with an egg."

He applied additional mana control skills he’d learned.
Rotation speed increased fourfold.
Next, the second enchantment.

Let’s see…
He couldn’t use Panhyma’s eastern-style spellcraft, but he’d learned a little about focusing mana in one spot.
It was buried somewhere in his previous life’s memories.

–Clear Mind, Single Point. Focus your calm mind in one place, comrade.
Haaah—
He exhaled slowly, white vapor trailing from his lips.

He wasn’t as graceful as Panhyma, but he focused all the mana flowing through his body into that one bullet.
It now spun at 16x speed.
"H-hmph. Well, that’s starting to look a little—"

Finally, he activated the Tear of the Stars.
The very item that had led Leona to come here.
Just for a moment, it supplied him with an output of mana approaching the infinite.

All of that mana poured into the spinning bullet.
The mana bullet now spun at 256x speed.
"……"

Leona went quiet.
Her face had started turning visibly pale.
The Hero’s mana, clustered at the sword’s tip, now spun so violently that the air around it distorted and pushed back objects from the pressure.

Sure, it still wasn’t as powerful as the real Hero’s version.
But—
It looked usable enough.

[…Even a small hexagon is still a hexagon.]
The Holy Sword chuckled softly.
[Compared to me, the ‘big hexagon,’ that is.]

To everyone else, it was still a damn catastrophe.
"I’m coming."
Carlyle nodded as he spoke.

Leona’s face was now turning a sickly gray.
"W-wait! If you’re going to power up that much, then at least give me more ti—"
Before she could finish—

With a boom that shattered the sound barrier, Carlyle fired the mana bullet from the tip of the Holy Sword.
The spiral ripped through the air, tearing space apart—
-⋯⋯
-⋯⋯!!!!

It shattered Leona’s barrier like glass and struck her dead on.
But just before the impact—
As Leona froze and collapsed to the ground in fear, a figure suddenly moved between her and the mana bullet.

Without hesitation, it intercepted the blow head-on.
Shockwaves, explosion, and recoil slammed through the surroundings.
"…Professor Shiona?"

Carlyle stared in disbelief at the woman who’d stepped in.
Shiona lowered her mangled arm and scratched her head.
She’d apparently only transformed her visible form; her arm, still scaled like a dragon’s, was shredded from taking Carlyle’s attack.

"I saved her, just so you know. I swear, Leona’s got the worst attitude for someone who can’t even fight."
Shiona sighed, scratching her head again.
Her slit reptilian pupils were now visible, the signature of a dragon.

And the moment her eyes glinted—
The torn-up arm regenerated instantly.
"……"

Holy crap.
Not even the Hero could pull that off.
That wasn’t mana-based, was it?

[…She just used her physical body. She consciously accelerated her metabolism. Only dragons, as magical lifeforms, could do that.]
Controlling even their basic metabolic functions with mana—now that was a high-level magic being.
As he thought that, Shiona bowed her head toward Carlyle.

"Apologies on behalf of this troublemaker. She’s the kind of reckless brat who storms into her sister’s workplace unannounced."
"…Wait. Sister?"
"Yeah, she’s my younger sister. Technically."

"……"
Technically?
Carlyle didn’t know why she added that, but her tone held layers of tangled emotion.

So much that Carlyle hesitated to ask further.
While he was still unsure what to say—
"Well, first of all…"

Shiona, back to her usual squinty-eyed smile, scratched her cheek.
She clearly didn’t want to say it, but there was no avoiding it.
"…You should probably clean that up."

"…Huh?"
Leona blinked blankly. Shiona pointed at the floor beneath her.
"That. Right there. Seriously, if you’re such a scaredy-cat, why pick fights with people?"

"……"
Leona tilted her head in confusion, then looked down.
And the moment she saw it—

Her whole body went stiff with a crack.
A puddle of fluid had spread out beneath her dress.
It had clearly come from her.

"……"
"……"
Everyone went silent.

Even Shiona scratched her cheek awkwardly and looked up at the sky.
Leona, meanwhile—
Was frozen in place, unmoving.

She looked like she couldn’t even begin to figure out what kind of expression to make in the face of such extreme humiliation.
And then—
"U-uuuu…"

Her body began to tremble.
Her eyes welled up.
"Uwaaaaahhhh…"

Tears as big as pearls streamed down her face.
"……"
"……"

As the full-grown dragon sobbed pitifully, everyone remained silent.
[…Carlyle Belfast, made a female dragon piss herself.]
"……"

[Also, made her cry within a day of meeting her…]
Stop phrasing it like it’s an achievement.