Monthly Bushiroad Short Novels: Cardfight!! Vanguard

2016 Issue | December: The Time of Self-Reliance

"Before the Shadow Paladin, open swiftly!"

The nation with the name "Sanctuary"---the Kingdom of United Sanctuary. Almost all of its territory is protected by the spirits of light. And this nation is known for its small amount of spirits of darkness.

"...Oh, wrong again...? In the name of Shadow Paladin, I hereby order you, open!"

But, this nation is not without its darkness. In the great forest "Sylphalia" where trees could touch the clouds, there are a few areas where light is forbidden to infiltrate.

"Wu, wrong again...? Too bad, I have only one chance left..."

These areas are protected by darkness, and its residents seek protection from the land. For example, "witches", "black knights" and "dark elves", they all study or work away from the ostensible world of light.

"In the name of Shadow Paladin..."

In this deep forest, the high-spirited voice of a boy echoed in front of a massive building. He was not talking to anyone, but a massive gate, which was quite creepy.

"---opren!? Ow! My tongue hurts!"

Perhaps because of nervousness, he bit his tongue.

"...Ah."

The boy's face turned red in a moment, but the fact that the surroundings became darkness made his face turn pale. A slowly moving rock was flung and blocked his sight, and the fear of death stroke him. He saw his short life flash before his eyes, and he could not even scream.

(Ah, I'm dying...)

He could not but close his eyes and waited for his death. But, the expected impact did not come. That was because,

"In the name of Shadow Paladin,"

The boy opened his eyes and saw the massive rock, as well as the young man who easily stopped the rock with only one hand. The young man was so tall that the boy needed to raise his head. Reflecting blonde hair spread from the young man's pitch black clothes, and the young man's left arm was an impossibility of humans, an aberration like one of a "dragon"'s.

"I order you, open, Demon World Castle, Eingang."

"PASSWORD CONFIRMED. STOP ATTACK."

The young man's sentence finished, and the Demon World Castle "Eingang" reverted from attack form to its original form. And then, the closed gates were opened.

"Knies, you had better remember it if you don't want to die."

The young man spoke to the boy, "Knies", who dropped down behind him, with only one sentence. His voice brought Knies back to reality.

"T-thank you very much, Mister Luard..."

When he was trying to stand up and say thanks, his saviour had gone.

"Mister Luard is cool... one day, I'll use Dragshift as awesome as his!"

The recovered Knies didn't notice. The entrance opened by Luard was slowly closing.

"Here I come---"

Later, until another member of the knightly group arrived, Knies had to dodge Eingang's iron fists. But that was another story.

Luard returned to his laboratory deep inside "Eingang", and immersed himself in study as he did everyday. The topic was of course, "Dragshift", the secret arts they "Dragwizards" sought.

"%￥......—%*—...！·#...%￥......—%...—*（—%......*—（*）*...—"

Luard sung the incantations, and his left arm in front of him emitted light and changed into the form of a dragon's front limb. The light spread to his right elbow, and turned that which it touched into a dragon form, but the transformation stopped there. Luard kept singing the incantations for several minutes, but no progress of transformation occurred. He finally stopped, and returned the composition of his arm to its original state. Numberless books were piled up everywhere in the laboratory. He smacked his lips unpleasantly, and laid on the books like lying on a bed, spreading his limbs.