“–I cannot stand next to master.”

I muttered to myself in the Great Desert sub-s.p.a.ce.

The thing I heard from Arisa and Mito.

That the purple mounds that have appeared all over the world are the handiworks of G.o.ds, and that they cannot be damaged by anything other than anti-G.o.d magic.

I look down at the dragon spear in my hand.
There is no way I can do anything against something that even master"s ancient dragon fang sword cannot damage.

A huge shadow hung over me just as I was lamenting my helplessness.

『What is the matter my puny rival.』

The huge shadow landed near me while blowing away sand all around.
It"s master"s friend, the black dragon Heiron.

『Deathmatch?』
“No, I do not feel like having one right now.”
『…Curious.』

The black dragon Heiron turned his long neck and looked at me from the front.

『Pray tell your worries to me.』
“I.”

How should I express this.

“I am one greedy lizardkin.”

I want to be useful for master.
I want to be someone master can rely on.

To turn that into reality–.

“I want to become a being capable of harming G.o.ds.”
『Then just be one, why don"t you?』

Black dragon Heiron said that nonchalantly.

“It was a feat impossible even with master"s ancient dragon fang sword. With the much inferior one I have–”
『Not enough spirits.』
“–Eh?”

Black dragon Heiron is looking at me from above.

『I"m saying you don"t have enough spirits.』
“It"s not a gap that can be buried just by spirits–”

Black dragon Heiron interrupted me.

『We did.』

I wait for him to continue.

『After fighting an opponent beyond our reach for thousands, ten thousands years, the result of that was the creation of fangs capable of [Piercing Anything].』
“That"s possible because you are dragons with eternal lives.”

I spout up an excuse like a kid to someone who was trying to cheer me up.
Noticing how spoiled I was being, I hung my head in shame silently.

『Good grief, you got ahold of dragon fang weapons, you got ahold of a strength that could rival me despite being a puny one, yet look at your state now.』

An intense snort black dragon let out almost blew me away.

『O my puny rival, what have you learned from grandmother ancient dragon.』

–Ancient Dragon?

“But I have never met ancient dragon-sama though?”
『No? Fumu, I suppose that was Kuro then?』

Black dragon Heiron"s eyes wandered off.
Something intrigued me more than an opportunity to tease his mistake.

“Please tell me, what did master learn from ancient dragon-sama.”

Black dragon Heiron told me what master learned.
Even while complaining that he didn"t like to do it since it was bothersome, black dragon Heiron still demonstrated creating a goat from sand.

“T-this is primeval magic–”
『Indeed. An ancient magic capable of altering forms by means of strong desires.』

That will be the power that will break my limit.
That"s what black dragon Heiron is trying to convey.

『I see strength have dwelt in your eyes once again. Oppose, o my puny rival. And break the limit.』

Bwoosh, black dragon Heiron spread his wings, and then sprung up in the air while chanting wind magic like he was singing.

I bowed my head to thank black dragon Heiron for giving me the [Realization].

Come to think of it–.

“Tama.”
“Aye~?”

Tama showed up from my shadow on the ground.

“Please fetch Pochi here.”
“Aye”

Tama dived into the shadow and immediately popped back up along with Pochi.
Looks like they were playing in the shadow together.

“You called, Pochi jumped out, jambalaya nanodesu.”
“Pochi, I have a question for you.”

I recalled the story about how Arisa wounded G.o.d Zaikuon with anti-G.o.d magic during the divine punishment and asked Pochi who was present at the site about the details.

“The great weasel demon lord"s Ryuuga Kakujirain went like boom under the yellow giant and blew it away nodesu.”

The shock wave from that explosion chipped holy sword Durandal that Pochi had with her and even pierced through Phalanx.

Ryuuga Kakujirain–if I remember right, it"s the name of a weapon master mentioned once before.
Using the blast from a huge explosion to scatter broken fragments of dragon fangs all around, giving damages while ignoring any kind of defense.
In other words, dragon fangs are capable of harming G.o.ds depending on how it"s used.

Ryuuga Kakujirain might have been ignited using great weasel demon lord"s Unique Skill–the authority of G.o.ds.
But anything that demon lords or dragons are capable of should be doable for us as well.

“Pochi, Tama, I will embark on a quest to train myself now. Would you like to tag along?”
“But of course nanodesu. Pochi will get even stronger and get lots of praises from master nodesuyo.”
“Tama too~?”

The two immediately gave a positive response to my question.

Besides, right now we don"t have to worry about where to train.

『Arisa, I"d like to ask you something.』

I called Arisa through comm magic tool and asked her to send us to an uninhabited place with a purple mound.

There is no better place for trial runs.

I thrust my dragon spear at the purple mound.
As expected, my dragon spear just pa.s.sed through the mound.

“–The me right now cannot stand next to master.”

I raised my face as it was about to hang down.

“But I will definitely arrive at that spot.”

Just like how the dragons changed themselves with determinations, we will also endeavor to be the new us.

With a determination to absolutely pierce it in my heart, I thrust my dragon spear forward.

In order to stand next to master with my head high up.