Chapter 27: The Leader's Gambit

Back in the main chamber, Luna was faltering. The strain of holding back the dragon's ambient magical pressure was becoming too much. Her Null-Field was flickering like a dying candle.

Ignis, having recovered from his shock, was preparing another spell. This one felt different. More focused. He was gathering all his energy, aiming it directly at Luna.

"We're out of time!" the Grimoire shrieked.

"Kenta, whatever you're planning, do it now!" I yelled.

Kenta took the bag of Glitter Grenades from Chloe. He looked at the dragon, a terrifyingly determined glint in his eyes.

"Hey, Ignis!" he shouted, his voice echoing in the vast cavern.

The dragon, who had been focused on Luna, turned its massive head towards him. Its golden eyes narrowed.

"YOU. THE INSIGNIFICANT MOTE OF DUST WHO TRIPPED," Ignis's telepathic voice boomed.

"That's me!" Kenta said with a nervous grin. "And I've got a question for you. Do you know what my main skill is?"

He didn't wait for an answer. He threw the entire bag of Glitter Grenades. They sailed through the air and exploded in a massive, shimmering cloud right in the dragon's face.

The effect was instantaneous. A shower of pink, purple, and gold glitter rained down, sticking to the dragon's snout, its eyelids, its horns. Ignis, the ancient and terrible Inferno, blinked. He shook his head, trying to clear his vision, but the millions of tiny, reflective particles were everywhere. He roared in frustration, a cloud of glitter puffing out with his breath.

He was a magnificent, terrifying, disco-ball of a dragon.

"WHAT IS THIS SORCERY?!" he bellowed, momentarily distracted.

"It's called psychological warfare!" Kenta yelled back. He then did the stupidest thing I had ever seen in any of my eighteen lives. He ran. Directly towards the dragon.

"What is he doing?!" Rina yelled, having just returned from her fight in the tunnel.

He wasn't attacking. He was running past the dragon, towards the back of the cavern. It was a sheer wall of rock, a dead end.

"I am the leader of this party!" Kenta screamed as he ran, more to bolster his own courage than for any other reason. "And a leader's job is to be the ultimate bait!"

He was trying to draw the dragon's attention away from Luna, to give her a moment to recover. It was a noble sacrifice. A leader's gambit. And it was going to get him killed.

Ignis, enraged by the glitter and infuriated by this tiny mortal's audacity, forgot all about Luna. He turned his massive body, wrenching his tail free from the Tanglefoot Tar with a sickening rip, and charged after Kenta.

Kenta reached the back wall and had nowhere else to go. He squeezed his eyes shut as the dragon loomed over him, its shadow covering him completely. He had successfully saved his friends, at the cost of his own life.