Dragon

The dragon crushed the statue of the Virgin Mary underfoot and stomped its way to the center of the church.

I stared, dazed at the enormous dragon before us.

We’re doomed. How are we supposed to defeat this thing?

“Rroooaaarr!”

The dragon unleashed a deafening roar, and the whole class froze.

All of us trembled in despair, unable to move. Save for one.

The next instant, a ball of fire smacked the dragon in its face.

“Healers and those who haven’t figured out their skills, get behind me! Those with defense skills, protect them! Those with attacking and supporting abilities help me out!”

Homura Kisaragi yelled while hurling another ball of fire at the dragon.

Homura was one of the few girls whose full name I had memorized, as she had been the first to talk to me when I was struggling to fit in with everyone.

The voice of the passionate and athletic girl’s softball team captain rose above the chaos.

“Eeayyooonggh!”

The dragon was advancing towards Homura.

I wished I could help her. But having no skills, there was nothing I could do.

“I’m going.”

Daigo, who had been standing next to me, took a deep breath.

He immediately swelled before my eyes and grew to the size of the dragon in no time.

“Daigo!”

Daigo stepped in front of the dragon, using his entire body to block the charging dragon’s blows and act as a shield for Homura.

“Now’s our chance! Everyone, ATTACK!”

Homura threw a ball of fire at the dragon, carefully avoiding Daigo’s body.

“Take this, you son of a bitch!”

Following Homura’s attack, Eiko unleashed an arrow of light.

“Be careful not to hit Daigo!”

One after another, those on the front line flung various skills at the dragon.

“Skriiick, skriiiiiick!”

The dragon thrashed about in pain.

Daigo’s body was covered in scratches from holding down the dragon. Yet, he never once winced in pain, merely enduring its blows.

“Heal.”

Nagisa from the health committee whispered at the back and began singing. As she sang, her voice transformed into glowing notes and gently engulfed Daigo’s body, healing his wounds.

I felt ashamed of myself for not being able to do anything besides hiding in everyone’s shadow.

All I could do was pray and cheer everyone on silently.

“Move, Daigo. I’ll finish him off.”

Homura’s twin sister, Yachiyo Kisaragi, spoke.

Unlike Homura, who was passionate and outspoken, Yachiyo was calm and collected.

In her hand was a sharp spike of ice.

As Daigo stepped away, the dragon howled, opening its mouth wide.

Yachiyo immediately thrust the spike at it, and the icicle pierced its mouth before emerging from the back of its head.

The dragon stopped thrashing abruptly, then slowly crumbled to the floor.

“Did we win?! Did we?!”

“Calm down, find out if anyone got hurt!”

“We’re okay, we’re okay!”

For a split second, everyone breathes out a sigh of relief at having defeated the dragon.

However, this was merely the beginning.

“My, my, you’ve only defeated one creature so far! The battle has only just begun. Time to get ready for the next attack, my Saviors.”

Charlotte clapped her hands, bringing us back to reality.

“Damn it, how many of them are there...?!”

Yuichi, the top student in our class, whispered, as he tapped his thick black-rimmed glasses with his right ring finger. He seemed to possess reconnaissance skills. I wondered if he could find out the enemy’s location with his glasses.

“Be careful, there are over a hundred of them. We’re surrounded!”

The church windows shattered all at once, and hoards of ugly creatures resembling scruffy children invaded the church.

“Goblins!”

As I thought of praying to God, I noticed the broken statue of Mary, and it became clear that God was not with us. All that was left was endless despair.