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Strike the Blood - Volume 10 - Chapter 3




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CHAPTER THREE 

DEITY OF DARKNESS 

Yukina was the first to move. 

A misshapen figure emerged as metal fragments of the pulverized door scattered about. Before the sight fully entered her vision, she leaped, slamming a powerful, ritual energy–infused heel kick into it. 

“—Roaring Thunder!!” 

The intruder’s large-framed body recoiled, accompanied by the dull sound of a jawbone breaking. 

The intruder turned out to be a leopard-headed beast man over two meters in height. The palm strike Yukina subsequently unleashed sent the demon, nearly four times her body weight, flying. 

“Justina, protect Kanase! Astarte, take care of Celesta!” 

Kojou reacted a moment later. In spite of the urgent emergency posed by the demon’s attack, he fretted a little that he was getting entirely too used to these things. 

“By thy will!” 

“Accepted.” 

Justina and Astarte moved, responding to Kojou’s voice. He considered their replies, both equally out of place, all the more reassuring under the circumstances. 

“Please be careful, senpai. This is probably a diversion,” Yukina cautioned while glaring at the fallen beast man. 

Kojou instantly looked behind him. 

“Diversion?! So that’s a decoy op? Then that means—” 

He saw the shadow of a second beast man silhouette behind the lace curtain of the living room window. Kojou noticed that around the same time the glass window cracked and shattered. 

“—this is the main event!” 

Kojou counterattacked against the second beast man leaping in with a large swing and a straight right jab. However, that mighty blow sailed fruitlessly, hitting nothing but air. 

“What the—?!” 

“An illusion?! A beast man using spells?!” 

A look of shock came over Yukina as she watched Kojou stagger. Kojou had tried to punch an illusion created via sorcery. The real one, standing behind the illusion, laughed, his fangs crudely bared. 

Cases of beast men, possessing extremely high combat capability to begin with, going out of their way to learn spell casting were few and far between. But among certain tribes, a precious few possessed such special abilities innately. Many were called a superior breed, and it was known that these retained great power in a completely different league than normal beast men. It was this that was the cause of Yukina’s surprise. 

With Kojou heavily off balance before his eyes, the second beast man swung up with oversized claws. And with Kojou targeted, it was a silver-haired female knight who leaped to shield him. 

“Sir Kojou, get down!” 

Justina drew the sword she carried on her hip. Kojou did as told and rolled onto the floor. The silver light clashed with the demonic energy—enveloping the beast man’s arm just over his head. 

It was the beast man who howled as fresh blood sprayed about. 

The slice from Justine’s blade deflected the left arm the beast man was slamming downward and proceeded to dig deep into his chest. The wound was enveloped in a pale flame; the beast man raised his voice in agony. 

“Whoa…” 

Kojou exhaled in admiration. Even his amateur eyes could tell at a glance that Justine’s swordsmanship was top-notch. She would probably outdo Yukina in a contest of pure swordsmanship. It doubly explained why La Folia dispatched her to protect Kanon, a member of the royal family. She was far more than a simple foreign-born ninja fangirl. 

“This is the treasured sword Nidaros, granted unto me by Princess La Folia. It is said to grant maidens serving at the Aldegian royal family’s side destructive might and the blessing of healing.” 

Justine proudly raised the long sword. The blade, adorned with a golden hilt, glowed with an ethereal blue flame. It looked a little like the pseudo-holy sword La Folia wielded. 

She’s borrowing Kanon’s spiritual energy, Kojou realized. The spiritual energy Kanon possessed, close to an angel’s, was deadly poison as far as demons were concerned. 

“Both of you, please do not move.” 

Yukina held her silver spear as she sharply addressed the two beast men. The tip of her poised spear was pointed at the throat of the first beast man on the floor. 

“I believe further combat would be fruitless, but do you wish to continue?” she asked. 

“…” 

The beast man growled through the jaw Yukina had broken. He pressed on, speaking in a raspy, hard-to-hear voice. 

“We want the…Ciate girl back.” 

“…!” 

Celesta drew in her breath, visibly afraid. 

To the girl with no memory, the beast men’s attack represented the fear of being chased by a past she could not recall. Without knowing why they were after her, all she could do was tremble in anxiety-induced anguish. 

“She is the icon of Zazalamagiu; raised by our hands. She belongs to us.” 

The beast man glared up at Celesta with bloodshot eyes. Yukina gripped her spear harder. 

As if covering for the fearful Celesta, Kojou defiantly rebutted, “Well, it looks like she doesn’t remember either of you.” 

His voice was thick with unbridled rage. 

“And if you really were Celesta’s friends, you could’ve just come to the front door and met her there, right? That you didn’t is practically the same as shouting, ‘We’re the bad guys!’” 

“…I had meant to grant foreigners mercy, but…” 

The beast man chuckled quietly. The odd composure of the intruders, who should’ve been beaten with their backs to the wall, put Kojou on guard. A moment later, Justina shrieked. The beast man she had her sword trained on unleashed an explosive swell of demonic energy, its shock wave slamming her against the wall. 

“…Justina?! What’s with this guy…?!” Kojou shouted as the bizarre spectacle struck his eyes. 

The body of the beast man, already pretty huge to begin with, swelled to over twice its previous size and proceeded to change shape—from humanoid to complete beast. He transformed into a malevolent leopard, reaching four to five meters in length. 

“No, it can’t be—divine bestialization?!” 

The beast man Yukina had her spear pointed toward underwent an identical change. His enlarged frame demolished the apartment’s floor and ceiling. Even Snowdrift Wolf’s ability to nullify demonic energy was unable to stop the transformation—for the change was no illusion wrought by sorcery. 

Divine bestialization was a special ability possessed by a scant few at the utmost pinnacle among the beast-men tribes. This was Yukina’s first encounter with it in person. 

At the cost of incredible exertion diminishing their very life spans, top-level beast men could transform their bodies into divine beasts, beings on par with the phoenix and dragons of mythology. Their combat capabilities were said to surpass even vampires’ Beast Vassals. 

“Invoking right of self-defense in protection of Celesta Ciate. Execute, Rhododactylos.” 

When Astarte stood up, stripping off the white gown over her, wings of demonic energy spread from her back. These transformed into a fist from a giant Beast Vassal, swinging down at the face of the second divine beast. 

The atmosphere creaked from the collision of vast demonic energies. However, it was Astarte who was staggered by the recoil. The man-made Beast Vassal implanted into her body was powerful indeed, but Astarte, the host, was herself nothing more than a homunculus girl with a frail body. There was no way she could endure the oppressive might of two divine beasts. 

“Astarte?! Shit… Himeragi, take care of everyone!” 

“Senpai?! What are you—?!” 

Kojou slid past the feet of the divine beast at the entrance and proceeded to wrap around the foe’s back. If his timing had been off by even a second, he would have been stomped on by the divine beast’s huge body, likely resulting in a fatality. Yukina was rooted in place, dumbfounded at Kojou’s action, rash even by his standards. 

However, Kojou didn’t have any attention to spare for that. He was wholly occupied controlling the vast demonic energy released by his own flesh and blood. 

Seizing the angle so that the two divine beasts were in a straight line, he thrust both hands forward. He concentrated his own power in the meager space created between his hands. He was summoning but a single portion of a Beast Vassal of the Fourth Primogenitor, boasting overwhelming demonic energy of its own. It was the only way to overcome this dangerous situation. 

“C’mon over, Al-Nasl Minium!” 

Kojou summoned the Beast Vassal of wild, raging shock waves. 

The Beast Vassal was a giant bicorn reaching ten-odd meters in length, but Kojou channeled its demonic energy alone to unleash a bullet of highly concentrated shock waves. It was viable in theory, but he had no way to know if he could pull it off until he tried it. It was a dangerous gamble—failure might result in the deaths of everyone present. Even so, Kojou didn’t have the time to worry. 

“Snowdrift Wolf—!” 

“Defense mode. Execute, Rhododactylos.” 

Yukina and Astarte moved simultaneously, realizing what Kojou was doing. The Divine Oscillation Effects released by the two girls formed defensive barriers hemming in Kojou’s attack. 

With the barriers deployed by Yukina and Astarte fulfilling the role of a cannon barrel, Kojou condensed and fired his demonic energy. The two divine beasts, bearing the brunt of the shock wave cannonball, were blown away, shot straight out of the apartment. 

“Shit… Still too soon to completely control it, huh?!” 

Kojou breathed raggedly as he pressed his two bloodied arms against himself, the blood vessels wrecked. He groaned in agony as the back of his brain seemed to boil—the cost of wielding such potent demonic energy. 

“How can you do something so reckless…?! Using one of your Beast Vassals in cramped quarters such as this!” 

Falling limply to one knee, Yukina raised her eyebrows as she glared at Kojou. 

If Kojou had failed to control the Beast Vassal, the apartment would surely have been annihilated, and everything in the area with it. It was natural for Yukina, aware of that danger, to fly into a rage. 

“There wasn’t any other way!” 

Such was Kojou’s frail retort. With their backs against the wall, facing off against two divinely bestialized foes, it was a fact that he had no room to be picky. Even if they were divine beasts with powerful demonic energy, they’d taken a direct hit from a Beast Vassal of the Fourth Primogenitor. He didn’t think they’d emerge unscathed. 

But as if to betray his hopes, Kojou heard the howls of the two divine beasts outside the shattered window. When Kojou leaped onto the half-destroyed veranda, he saw enormous leopards glaring back at them, standing on the apartment building next door. 

“They shrugged that off—?! You gotta be kidding,” he uttered unintentionally. 

The two divine beasts were intact. He would not go as far as to say unscathed, but they had not lost their combat capability. Kojou’s attack with restrained demonic energy had failed to defeat them. 

“It is said that a foe with divine bestialization has power greater than a vampire’s Beast Vassals!” Even Yukina couldn’t contain her concern. “The cost is correspondingly high, and to begin with, almost no beast-man bloodlines remain powerful enough to divine bestialize… To think that two would appear simultaneously…!” 

Enormous demonic energy welled up within the bodies of both divinely bestialized beast men. They intended to unleash a breath attack. The condensed demonic energy flames would likely annihilate Kojou, the apartment, and everyone else. Of course, Celesta, their objective, would not escape unscathed either, but their anger at being harmed had made the divine beasts lose their sense of reason. 

“This is bad,” Kojou muttered, his expression freezing over. “Well, obviously I can’t use my Beast Vassals anymore!” 

“Of course not!” Yukina shouted and glared at him. 

Each and every one of the Fourth Primogenitor’s Beast Vassals were simply too powerful. Fundamentally, they were not the kind of things you summoned in an urban area. 

On top of that, Kojou’s strength was heavily depleted thanks to the reckless summoning from a moment ago. Certainly, summoning a new Beast Vassal would protect them from the breath attack, but there was no telling what a Beast Vassal running amok might do in the course of its rampage. 

“—Both of you, stand back.” 

The nervous Kojou and Yukina heard a strangely confident voice from behind. 

The speaker was a little doll not even reaching thirty centimeters in height. Still carried against Kanon’s chest, she proudly touched her hands to her hips. 

“…Nina? What can you do in a body like that…?!” 

Kojou stared at the impetuous smile of the self-proclaimed Great Alchemist of Yore with a dubious expression. 

As a result of the previous battle with Wiseman, she’d lost the majority of her power. In the first place, an alchemist’s objective was to seek ultimate truths—combat was not her forte. Kojou didn’t think she could battle powerful divine beasts in her present state. However… 

“They ruined the cooking I had poured my soul into. Naturally, they must pay a commensurate price—” 

With that said, Nina turned one tiny hand toward each divine beast. 

Kojou felt an instinctive fear of the dazzling glow sprouting from her fingertips. After all, Kojou had witnessed that glow before firsthand. 

It was not the light of a simple spell. It was the dangerous radiance produced from transmuting matter via alchemy. The discharge of a pale thunderbolt spiraled into an enormous cannon barrel before Nina’s eyes. 

“Fear not. I shall not slay them. Kanon, I shall borrow your spiritual energy!” 

“Yes, director!” 

With Kanon supplementing Nina’s insufficient magical energy, the alchemist unleashed beams from both hands. 

It was a heavy metal particle beam bombardment, scattering incredible heat and vast electromagnetic waves in its wake. An incandescent blade of light that could slice a giant ocean ferry in two— 

The bombardment, reaching close to the speed of light, punched separately through the two divine beasts’ bodies. 

Their cries of anguish made the very air shudder. 

“Hmm. So they escaped…” 

By the time the last vestiges of the beams faded, the divine beasts had vanished, nowhere to be seen. Heavily wounded from their pummeling by the particle cannon, they’d no doubt made a run for it. 

“Wh-why you…” 

Kojou, grimacing from the scent of beam-created ozone, gave an exhausted sigh. 

Certainly, with a precise beam attack, one could snipe at the divine beasts alone without inflicting damage on nearby residential homes. That said, he didn’t think any relatively sane person would fire off a particle cannon in an urban area. Nina Adelard was the Great Alchemist of Yore, some two hundred and seventy years young—it seemed that she, too, was a being far adrift from notions of common sense. 

“So…uh, what are we gonna do with this…?” 

Kojou looked behind him, muttering in a somewhat detached tone. 

Even in the gentlest language possible, Yukina’s apartment could only be described as a hot mess. The causes were the two beast men’s onslaught and Kojou’s counterattack to expel them. The flooring tiles were curled up, the walls were cracked, and not even a trace remained of either the glass window or the veranda. The few pieces of furniture that had been smashed to bits lay scattered over the floor. It looked like the place had been struck by a cruise missile. Clearly, it was not in a livable condition. 

Seeing this for herself, Yukina folded up her spear, sighing deeply. 

“What will I do now—?” 

She looked up at Kojou with a rare forlorn look. 

The next day, on the second day of winter vacation— 

Kojou awoke to an ear-splitting roar and accompanying vibration. 

“Whoa!” 

Despite waking up instantly, he clutched his groggy head, genuinely confused. 

He was atop his own familiar bed. Aside from the cracks in the window glass, there wasn’t anything particularly out of place. However, the tremors shaking the entire room were probably not figments of Kojou’s imagination. Through the wall, he could hear the sound of a hammer drill in the next room over. 

“I see. They’re repairing Yukina’s room… Wait, this early in the morning…?” 

Checking his clock, Kojou dragged himself out of bed, his shoulders falling. 

Apparently, the Lion King Agency had arranged for the immediate repair of Yukina’s apartment, which had been damaged in the beast-man raid. He’d been told that no expense would be spared on the rush job to restore the apartment before Nagisa got back from the mainland. 

Yukina herself didn’t have much for clothing or belongings, and these had apparently escaped damage. Supposedly, fixtures and cookware identical to those destroyed had already been ordered. Magical camouflage was being used to conceal it, and hypnotic suggestions had dealt with the neighbors’ memories, covering all bases. 

The one remaining problem was where Yukina would be staying for the week or so until the construction was finished. Well, it had been a problem— 

“Good morning, senpai.” 

Stepping out of his own room, Kojou bumped into Yukina, Snowdrift Wolf in hand. For once, she wore something other than a school uniform. Her hairstyle was different than usual, too. It was an unguarded hairstyle with nothing more than a hair tie holding it together. Gently placing her spear upon the floor, she tensely lowered her head. 

“Er, thank you for allowing me to stay here last night.” 

“S-sure… Well, couldn’t help it with all that happened. Couldn’t have Celesta sleeping in an apartment without even a proper glass window, either…” 

“Th-that is true.” 

Kojou and Yukina kept their gazes oddly averted as they spoke, breaking into an awkward laugh. 

Yukina and Celesta, lacking anywhere else to go, had ended up staying at the Akatsuki residence. Given that Celesta was with them, they had nothing special to be concerned about, but seeing one another so early in the morning gave Kojou a creeping feeling nonetheless. He was oddly conscious of getting a glimpse into Yukina’s private life, something of which he was normally unaware. 

 

“Come to think of it, where’s Celesta? Still asleep?” 

Kojou looked around the apartment and forced a change of subject. Yukina returned her spear to its case as she shook her head and said, “No, she’s—” 

Without finishing, she shifted her gaze to the dining table. 

Atop the table was a row of plates with a variety of what appeared to be homemade dishes. There was fish-and-shellfish soup, marinade, and tortillas packed with meat and vegetables. They were probably dishes from Celesta’s homeland. The way she’d arranged the ingredients by hand made them look delicious. 

“Celesta made all this?” Kojou asked, surprised. 

Celesta, standing bored at the back of the kitchen, leaned her face over the counter and challenged, “What, you got a problem with that?” 

“Nah, it’s amazing.” 

Kojou voiced his honest admiration. For some reason, the foreign girl tapered her lips as if she had been mildly insulted. 

“Somehow, I remembered how to make this. If I’m going to be staying here, I should at least cook the food. And if I leave it to you and end up eating something weird, it’ll just put me in a bind. It’s also good practice for when I make something for Lord Vattler to eat.” 

“…So what, we’re his official food tasters now?” Kojou murmured, feeling a little put off by Celesta’s final comment. 

For her part, Celesta pointed at the sink faucet with an odd glimmer in her eyes as she said, “But this thing is really convenient. With one switch you get a flame, just turn a lever and water flows out… Though when water came gushing out of the toilet, I was at a loss about what to do.” 

“…Setting the toilet aside, I’m surprised—it’s rare not to have gas and running water. Is your homeland really that backward a place?” 

“I don’t know. I can’t remember it,” Celesta retorted in visible displeasure. 

I guess not, Kojou seemed to say with a shrug. 

Yukina had probably helped her out, too, but since she’d used unfamiliar cooking devices to make such good food, he could only surmise that Celesta’s cooking skills were remarkable. 

Genuinely grateful, Kojou dug right in. The beast men’s trespassing had spoiled supper, so he hadn’t had a bite to eat since the night before. Thanks to that, his hunger was ferocious. Celesta and Yukina sat as well, the three of them beginning their unusual breakfast. 

“Hey…what was with those guys last night anyway?” 

Just when Kojou was bringing a piece of food to his lips, Celesta spoke offhandedly, as if she’d just remembered something. With the very spicy tabasco still stuffing his cheeks to the brim, Kojou shook his head. 

“Who knows? I don’t think you need to worry about it too much, though,” he mumbled. 

“What’s with you? You think it’s not my problem?” Celesta rested a cheek on her hand, glaring at Kojou in a visible sulk. 

“It’s not that—how they went about it was pretty nuts, but they came to get you back ’cause they need you. If that’s the case, then you don’t have to worry about them hurting you, right?” 

“Well, that might be true, but what are you two going to do? If they attack again…” 

Watching Celesta, still looking at the table as she murmured, Kojou blinked, mystified. 

“…Don’t tell me you’re worried about me?” 

“Excuse me? As if. Why don’t you go and die for all I care?” 

Celesta glared at Kojou with cold eyes as though she was looking at some vile insect. 

Kojou made a slightly hurt expression as he bit down on a tortilla and said, “Oh, shut up. Anyway, that’d be wasting worry on us. Just look at what happened yesterday. Himeragi and I can protect ourselves, at least. Vattler thinks so, that’s why he left you with me.” 

“Call him Lord, you shit-eating insect.” 

“Why you…” 

Celesta and Kojou traded malicious glares across the dining table. Watching this, Yukina silently thrust the knife in her hand into the mass of meat at the center of the table. The quarreling pair stopped, frozen in fear. Seeing this for herself, Yukina exhaled a little. 

“I believe it is likely there will be no further attempts to take Celesta. Our foes have surely realized the Fourth Primogenitor is guarding her, and the Lion King Agency is on the move as well,” Yukina concluded. 

That beast men capable of divine bestialization had illegally entered Itogami Island was a fairly significant issue. Hence, the Lion King Agency had sent its own specialized investigators. Of course, the Island Guard was doubtlessly on the case as well. The beast men had gone from being the hunters to the hunted. 

“And if they do come after you again, maybe we can find out what they know about you. Shouldn’t that put your mind at ease a little?” Kojou remarked bluntly, making Celesta stare at him in mild surprise. Apparently, it was very unexpected for Kojou to show her such consideration. 

“Come to think of it, what’d they say—the icon of Zalalamasala or something…” Kojou tried to recall the beast men’s words. They had referred to her as an icon—an icon they had raised themselves. 

“Zazalamagiu,” Yukina corrected. 

“Hey, I wasn’t that far off.” Kojou grimaced. “You know anything about that, Himeragi?” 

Yukina shook her head. Apparently, it was a name even she, a Sword Shaman, had not heard before. 

“But normally an icon refers to objects within which a deity resides, such as a sacred tree or boulder, weapons, and sacred shrine objects. Aside from that, it is a term sometimes used for a priestess who calls down a god.” 

“…She’s…a priestess…?” 

Kojou turned to Celesta in surprise. You got a problem with that? said the half-lidded gaze Celesta shot back. 

“So maybe she’s a spiritualist like you and Kanon, Himeragi?” 

“I do not know. Right now, I can only say…that is possible…” Yukina vaguely shook her head. 

Kojou partially understood the cause of her bewilderment. Beast men in the divine bestialization class were far more precious than any mere spiritualist; that fact was throwing Yukina off. The pros and cons of exposing two precious, high-ranking beast men to secure a single spiritualist weren’t aligned in Yukina’s mind. 

Kojou took out his cell phone and tried running an online search for Zazalamagiu, but it didn’t produce any hits. He tried altering the spelling several times, but the results remained the same. 

“In the end, the fastest way to settle this would be to get in touch with Vattler somehow…” Kojou sighed with an unenthused expression. 

Celesta glared sidelong at Kojou and spat, “I said, call him Lord, would you—!” 

“Like hell I will!” 

As Kojou glared back, lighthearted music suddenly emanated from his person. It was his cell phone’s ringtone. 

“Wh…what the…?” 

Celesta shrank, staring at the cell phone in visible fear. To her, surprised at seeing gas stoves and running water, a cell phone was surely a menacing piece of super-advanced technology. 

Heedless of Celesta, Kojou took the phone in hand when… 

“—Kojou?! Are you all right?!” 

As soon as the line opened, he heard Asagi’s voice, vaguely tense with urgency. At a loss, Kojou stared at the phone. 

“…Huh?” 

“Don’t ‘huh’ me! I heard a bomb went off at your apartment building! When I looked on a surveillance camera, there was a crazy-big hole!” 

“What are you doing looking at my building with a surveillance camera, geez…,” Kojou groaned in a low-pitched voice. “You hacked stuff again, didn’t you?” 

Apparently, the Lion King Agency’s concealment measures could not best Asagi’s information-gathering ability. 

“Well, fine. Anyway, relax; I’m okay. It wasn’t my place that got blown up; it was Himeragi’s.” 

“…Huh?! Himeragi? Wait, what the hell? What’s going on?” 

Asagi raised her voice in apparent confusion. Kojou sighed listlessly. 

“We don’t get much of it, either. Beast men suddenly attacked, and in the end, they ran off, so…” 

“…Beast men… Don’t tell me you two stuck your noses into another weird incident?” 

“Hey, it’s not like I wanna get wrapped up in these things… Oh yeah, Asagi. Do you know anything about Zazamalagila?” 

“Uh, what? Zalaralagi? That some spell in a video game?” 

Asagi’s voice turned displeased at Kojou’s question. Perhaps she thought he was dodging the question. Yukina corrected him silently, mouthing Zazalamagiu. 

“Sorry, I got it wrong. Zazalamagiu. The name of some icon and some priestess and stuff.” 

“I haven’t heard of it, but what about it?” 

Asagi still seemed a bit suspicious. 

Kojou tried to sound casual. “Er, I sort of wanted to know about it… Couldn’t find anything on the Net, though.” 

“Hmmm… I’ll be at my corp part-time job in the afternoon, so if you need me to, I can look then.” 

“Sorry, could you, then?” Kojou asked, his faint hopes riding on it. 

The Gigafloat Management Corporation’s database archived exacting information on the Demon Sanctuary that was not available to the public. The odds were high that a clue about the icon of Zazalamagiu could be found there. 

“That’s fine, but you’re gonna owe me for this, you know?” 

Asagi stated that in a buoyant voice, seemingly driving a nail into the careless Kojou. It was in a joking tone, but Kojou knew well enough that he couldn’t laugh it off. 

“Yeah, yeah… So is that all you wanted?” 

“W-well, yeah… This isn’t really a big deal, but Nagisa’s with family right now, isn’t she?” 

“Yeah, since yesterday.” 

If anything, the sudden softening of Asagi’s demeanor made Kojou feel tenser. Perhaps a mixture of past experiences and vampiric intuition was warning him of impending danger. 

“What are you doing for meals, Kojou? If you’re in a bind, I can go over and make something.” 

“Wait… You cook?” Kojou’s breath caught. 

Even by the most generous assessment, Asagi’s cooking skill was a weapon of culinary destruction. Kojou, despite being an unaging, undying vampire, wouldn’t be safe after eating her cooking and would likely be unable to move the next day. 

“What’s with that anxious reaction…?” Asagi lowered her voice. 

Kojou felt acute nervousness as he shook his head and said, “N-nah, thanks for the sentiment, but I’m all right. I’ve got meals covered for now, so—” 

“Hold on a sec. There’s a hole from an explosion in Himeragi’s place, right?” 

Asagi’s grave tone made it seem like she’d suddenly realized something very important. 

“—So where did she stay last night…?” 

“Well… For now, she’s staying at my place… I mean, neighbors have to help each other in a pinch, right…?” 

Kojou’s voice became shriller as he desperately made an excuse. Asagi was silent for a brief time. 

“So even though Nagisa’s not there, you have another girl staying over with you… Hmm… I see. That means she’s cooking your meals, too?” 

“No, it’s not Himeragi making the food, it’s another girl, so, ah…just relax.” 

Kojou testified to the plain facts. That instant, he heard the strange sound of something breaking on the other end of the line. It was probably the sound of Asagi’s cell phone cracking, unable to bear the power of her grip. 

“That’s even worse! What are you thinking?! Go die, you idiot!” 

Asagi shouted and hung up. Kojou put a hand on his ear, annoyed. Thanks to Asagi’s loud voice, his eardrum hurt. Yukina covered her eyes in silence. 

“That hurt. What’s she so angry about…?” 

“Senpai…” 

Staring at Kojou’s expression of dismay, Yukina let out an exasperated sigh. 

After finishing breakfast, Kojou and the others immediately headed for Island West, a commercial district where restaurants and shopping malls and so forth were gathered together—Itogami Island’s very own downtown. 

Their reasons were not particularly good ones; if Kojou had to explain, their objectives were sightseeing and shopping. Further to the point, they couldn’t stay at the apartment because the construction noises from the Himeragi residence were rather severe. Besides, there was also the fact that they couldn’t have Celesta continuing to wear one of Kojou’s T-shirts indefinitely. Having Celesta, with a rather curvaceous figure for her age, walk around lightly dressed was awkward—especially for Kojou. 

“This is…Itogami Island?” Celesta murmured curiously as she looked at the glass-covered landscape around her. 

They were on the topmost floor of a shopping mall—the restaurant floor. The group was taking a break after finishing a brief shopping trip where they bought Celesta a change of clothes. 

Celesta had picked out a pair of leather sandals and a short, colorful, embroidered dress. The vibrant color scheme, reminiscent of a distant culture, suited her rich brown skin very well. Thanks to her long, slender limbs and striking visage, anyone was likely to mistake her for a model on a magazine photo shoot. 

If only her personality was even a little bit cute, Kojou couldn’t help but think offhandedly. 

“It seems squalid somehow. There are so many people, and it is so noisy…” Celesta grimaced as she voiced complaints about the scenery. Apparently, the futuristic landscape Itogami Island boasted did not make a very good impression on her. 

“Well, I guess so,” Kojou acknowledged. “That’s because this is a commercial district. It’s a little quieter in Island South and Island North, though.” 

“Hmm…what is that big building over there?” 

Celesta pointed to the building standing at the center of the island. Even on the man-made island, the enormous, wedge-shaped building stood out from the rest. 

“That’s Keystone Gate, the center of Itogami Island. The airport and harbor are in that direction, so if you’re gonna meet that Vattler guy, it’ll probably be over there. Either way, we’ll know pretty much right away when he comes back on that crazy-big ship of his.” 

“Ship?! Lord Vattler’s?!” 

Celesta’s voice rose as she bit on the change of subject. Her easy-to-read demeanor elicited a slightly unpleasant look from Kojou. 

“It’s a cruise ship with the tasteless name of Oceanus Grave II,” he said. “It’s crazy decked out on the inside, though. The bath alone is about the size of this whole restaurant.” 

“You sound very familiar with it.” Celesta gave him a look of displeasure. 

Yukina, listening in silence until that point, noted, “Come to think of it, senpai, you’ve been in that bath on his ship, haven’t you? With Aiba.” 

“W…wait a minute! Why do you know about that, Himeragi…?!” 

Yukina’s testimony, bringing up a forgotten incident like an unexploded bomb, left Kojou thoroughly rocked. Of course, Kojou had no idea Yukina had used a shikigami to monitor that part of the night’s affairs from start to finish. Then, Celesta, the look on her face changing, pressed the point with Kojou. 

“Why were you in Lord Vattler’s bath?! What kind of relationship do you two have?! Explain—in detail!” 

“There were circumstances beyond my control! No way would I go in ’cause I wanted to! In the first place, he’s my enemy! I’ve told you that time after time since yesterday!” 

“What? Never mind that! Tell me more about Lord Vattler! What does he like to eat, what’s his favorite music, what’s his type of girl?” 

“Is it just me, or did your goal switch at the end?!” 


Kojou clicked his tongue with an exasperated look. Vattler didn’t have any interest in girls to begin with, but he couldn’t exactly tell Celesta that— 

“…Well, I get why you’re hung up on Vattler, though. He is your one clue about who you are and all that. Even Asagi couldn’t tell me about that Zazazalagiu thingy.” 

“Zazalamagiu, senpai,” Yukina corrected once more, her tone resembling that of an old home tutor. “Please remember it already.” 

Seeing Yukina and Kojou like that, Celesta watched him closely. “Hey, what are you two, really?” 

“Ah?” 

“You really aren’t retainers of Lord Vattler?” 

“Pretty sure I said that from the start,” Kojou replied in an even tone. 

At first glance, Vattler might have appeared to be a flawless, handsome young man, but in reality, he was a wily schemer with a fetish for battle. If Kojou had a top-ten list of people he didn’t want to work under, Vattler would be number one by a wide margin. 

“Hmph.” Celesta snorted in visible dismay as she asked, “Then, why are you looking after me like this?” 

“That sure puts me on the spot… Do I really need a reason? It’s not like we’re doing that much.” 

“Well, beast men attacked, didn’t they?” Celesta murmured. Her expression contorted in pain. 

Because of her, Kojou and Yukina had come under attack. It was only then that Kojou realized Celesta had been secretly bothered that their lives had come into peril. 

“It’s not your fault they attacked. Plus, even if this was dumped into my lap, I dunno what I’d say to Vattler if I couldn’t protect you.” 

“And you…Plain Girl. You’re fine with this?” 

“Me…?” 

Yukina inclined her head, a little at a loss from the conversation suddenly bouncing her way. 

Celesta’s cheeks reddened a bit, and she averted her eyes as if it was something hard for her to say. 

“I am sorry that because of me, your night together alone with Kojou was interrupted…” 

“Wh-what are you saying?! J-just because it was only the two of us, it wasn’t…like that…” Yukina shook her head with incredible vigor. She then cleared her throat and righted her posture. “I am merely senpai’s watcher, after all. If anything, Celesta, it is my duty to watch over a dangerous individual like senpai to ensure he does not lay a hand upon you…!” 

“Th-that so…? Th-thank you.” 

Celesta covered her own cleavage with both hands, putting a little distance between her and Kojou. 

Kojou, finding his treatment as a dangerous person to be exceedingly irrational, raised his voice in protest. “Hold on! How’d this end up with you thanking Himeragi?!” 

“Besides, I am somewhat concerned as to just what the Duke of Ardeal might have in mind,” Yukina murmured, completely ignoring Kojou’s objection. 

A faint hint of worry crossed Celesta’s eyes. “What do you mean, concerned?” 

“No, please pay no heed. I believe I am merely overthinking things.” 

“O-okay.” 

“Incidentally, senpai— Have you noticed?” 

Yukina drew the case containing her spear closer as she spoke to Kojou quietly. Her expression looked less like it was guarded, and more like she was wholly at a loss. 

“Huh?” 

“It seems we have been tailed since a while earlier, but…” 

“Ah……that.” 

Kojou gazed sidelong at a box seat near the restaurant’s entrance. Figures were sneaking peeks at the trio from the shadow of the translucent partition. The small size of the pair of silhouettes notably stood out. 

“Well, I suppose we can’t just let them be.” 

“I suppose not.” 

Sighing together, Kojou and Yukina rose to their feet. They then proceeded toward the box seat. The stalker duo hurriedly ducked their heads, but that could not possibly suffice to hide them. 

Kojou stared down at the two people huddled under the table, speaking with obvious weariness in his voice. 

“What do you two think you’re doing…?” 

“Ah…” 

The stalkers raised their heads. One was a silver-haired, blue-eyed middle school girl, and the other was a blue-haired homunculus girl. Both stood out even in the Demon Sanctuary. They were the two people most unsuited for covert surveillance. 

“A-Akatsuki… Wh-what a coincidence…” 

“Shock.” 

Kanon Kanase and Astarte spoke with correspondingly forced tones of voice. Kojou snatched away the red plastic-framed glasses Kanon was wearing. 

“Like it’s a coincidence you’re wearing these? What, is this supposed to be some sort of disguise?” 

“Ah, g-give those back please…” 

Kanon stretched her hands toward the glasses and whined. Nina, who Kanon had been holding against her chest, tumbled down as a result. Then, Yukina reached out with a hand, catching her a moment before she collided with the floor. 

“Might you have come to keep an eye on Celesta?” 

“Indeed. We thought we ought to keep watch so that Kojou does not lay a hand upon her,” Nina said in an all-too-pompous tone while she climbed onto Yukina’s shoulder. 

“…Geez, it’s coming from all sides. What kind of guy do you think I am…?” Kojou murmured, hurt. 

Certainly, Kojou had drank Yukina’s and Astarte’s blood, an act both Kanon and Nina had witnessed. However, in the end, those were emergency circumstances, situations where it could not be avoided. He absolutely didn’t assault girls indiscriminately. 

Though, he himself was not ignorant that it sure looked like it— 

“Come to think of it, did you ever get in touch with Natsuki?” Kojou asked. 

“Affirmative. I reported the information concerning Miss Celesta,” Astarte replied. 

The information came as a relief to Kojou. 

“That so. What’d Natsuki say, then?” 

“She said, ‘I am busy, you take care of it.’” 

“What kind of reply is that?!” 

Kojou’s relief turned into despair. He’d hoped that Natsuki, at least, would be able to do something about the crazy situation he was in, but that had apparently proved futile. 

“Ah…” Kanon let out a little voice. 

“Addendum. I have a message from Master to the Fourth Primogenitor,” Astarte calmly continued, gazing at the dejected Kojou, who lifted his face, his breath catching. It seemed that all hope might not yet be lost. 

“Message? What?” 

“That should you encounter the woman named Angelica Hermida, flee with all haste.” 

“…Who’s that?” Kojou prompted. 

However, the homunculus girl shook her head in silence. When Kojou shifted toward Yukina, she also silently shook her head. As he’d thought, apparently the name didn’t ring a bell with Yukina, either. 

“Um…” Kanon spoke once more, timidly raising a hand. 

“Run away if we meet her, she says… How do we do that when we don’t even know what she looks like…?” Kojou complained, conflicted. 

No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t understand whatsoever why Natsuki had entrusted Astarte with such information. 

The instructions—namely, to flee—also bothered him. Natsuki was well aware that Kojou was the so-called Fourth Primogenitor. In other words, Angelica Hermida was a fearsome enough foe that even the World’s Mightiest Vampire was unable to defeat her. 

Nina, looking up to see Kojou starting to worry about it, suddenly spoke, interrupting his thoughts. “Incidentally, Kojou. The ‘flee’ part has been bothering me since earlier, but—” 

“Where did Celesta Ciate go?” 

“…Huh?” 

Responding to Nina’s words, Kojou reflexively looked behind him. Celesta, who’d been sitting where Kojou and Yukina had been until just earlier, was nowhere to be found. She’d vanished at some point. 

Seeing that there was no uproar within the restaurant, it did not seem that she’d been kidnapped, but— 

“Um…Miss Celesta left the restaurant by herself a little earlier,” Kanon said, meekly opening her mouth as she pointed at the emergency exit at the back of the restaurant. 

Kojou and Yukina gawked when they saw the still half-open emergency exit. Kojou and the others hadn’t noticed it, which was apparently why Kanon had been desperately trying to inform them for a while. 

At any rate, Celesta had vanished. She’d left without a single word to Kojou and the others. 

“That…idiot! What the hell is she thinking?!” 

At the same time that Kojou voiced his frustration, Yukina broke in a run toward the emergency exit. 

Visibly worried, Kanon and Astarte watched her go, a sense of responsibility evident on their faces. 

Running down the emergency exit stairs, Kojou linked up with Yukina at the shopping mall entrance. As an added measure, he’d asked Kanon and the others for their help, specifically having them search the lingerie shop and the women’s restrooms. However, as of yet, no word had come that they had found Celesta. 

“Himeragi, did you find her?” 

Yukina, the guitar case still on her back, shook her head at Kojou. “I am sorry. I should have cast a surveillance spell upon her as well in case of this.” 

“‘Her as well’… Wait, don’t tell me you have that spell cast on me?!” 

That brought a faintly anxious expression over Kojou as he looked all over his own body. 

“Senpai, right now Celesta is more important than—” 

“Yeah…you’re right…” 

Kojou nodded vaguely. But immediately afterward, he abruptly stopped. 

“Senpai?” 

When Yukina looked over her shoulder with a questioning expression, Kojou gently shook his head. 

“Ahh… Nah, I was just thinking, maybe we shouldn’t be trying that hard to find Celesta. Maybe she doesn’t want us to, and stuff.” 

“Do you really think that?!” 

Yukina’s eyes widened, seemingly taken aback. However, Kojou’s lips merely trembled a little in regret. 

Celesta vanishing made even Kojou feel empty to a surprising degree. It could even be said that it depressed him. Certainly, he knew Celesta didn’t trust him, but he’d intended to clear that up somehow. That alone made the damage of the betrayal all the greater. 

“Isn’t that true, though? Celesta wasn’t abducted by someone… She left of her own free will. She doesn’t have any reason to be with us in the first place. We don’t even know what that Vattler guy had in mind when he sent her to us.” 

“Senpai—!” 

Yukina shot Kojou a look of despair. The hurt expression she wore was as if Kojou had abandoned Yukina herself. 

Kojou did not know the reason why she was so indignant, but now that he thought about it, Yukina had been partial to Celesta from the very beginning—particularly when Celesta had been called an icon. Kojou felt like Yukina had been patiently watching over Celesta, even when the latter called her plain. 

When Kojou tried to open his mouth to ask Yukina about that, the phone in his pocket rang. 

“Aw crap, who could it be at a time like this…?!” 

Coarsely clicking his tongue, Kojou took out the vibrating cell phone. The number on the screen was one he knew well—Asagi’s. 

“Kojou, I know what Zazalamagiu is!” 

“Asagi, sorry, right now I’m in the middle of s— Wait, you do?” 

Kojou, trying to interrupt Asagi’s words, hastily pressed the phone firmer to his ear. Though anxious about Celesta’s whereabouts, the true nature of Zazalamagiu wasn’t unrelated by any stretch. 

“Right, Asagi—tell me. What the hell is that Zaza thingy?!” 

“Zazalamagiu…is a god.” 

“What? A god…?” 

Kojou knitted his brow, visibly thrown off by the exorbitant term Asagi had uttered. However, Asagi continued in a dead serious tone: 

“Yes. It’s a forgotten god, because the people who worshipped it died out. It also goes by the Deity of Darkness—a dark god, in other words. He’s the king of the underworld, slaughter, and destruction. There’s a record of him being worshipped in a little city in Central America some twelve hundred years ago.” 

“I don’t really get it, but what—it’s a minor god no one even remembers?” 

Kojou grasped the gist of the situation. Zazalamagiu truly being the name of a god would explain why Celesta had been called his icon. The city-states of Central America worshipped a wide variety of deities. This Zazalamagiu had probably once been a god among many. 

“I suppose. The problem is, the data on this ‘minor’ deity is heavily protected in the Demon Sanctuary archives. Apparently, once in the past, this Zazalamagiu made an appearance.” 

“Appearance? You mean someone summoned him?” 

Kojou’s expression grew graver. Summoning a god and making him take physical form was not a story he could easily believe, but he couldn’t just dismiss it as nonsense, either. 

From ancient to modern times, traditions of gods descending to answer people’s prayers had been passed down all over the Kansai region. And moreover, Kojou had once battled an artificially created “angel.” Even if incomplete, an angel had been made to take physical form, so who was he to say it was impossible to do the same with a god? 

“Probably. No precise information remains, so I don’t know the details, but at any rate, thanks to Zazalamagiu appearing, every urban area in a five-hundred-kilometer radius was wiped out, extending from the city of Ciate that worshipped him. It’s said over two million people lost their lives in a single night—” 

“The city of Ciate…?!” 

Kojou gulped, feeling a cold chill run down his spine. The woman named Celesta Ciate was referred to as the icon of Zazalamagiu. He didn’t think it was mere coincidence. 

“That’s right. On current-day maps, it’d be right around the border of the Chaos Zone. Of course, the Chaos Zone was only established after the city-state of Ciate was destroyed.” 

Asagi, unaware of Celesta’s existence, explained in a leisurely tone of voice. However, Kojou only half heard the words. 

“Got it. Thanks, Asagi. You’re a lifesaver.” 

“Oooh… Wait a minute! Kojou, why do you know the name of a dark god…?” 

Ignoring Asagi’s attempts to inquire, Kojou met the eyes of Yukina, right beside him. 

“Himeragi, you got all—” 

“Yes, I heard.” 

Yukina, drawing her face near to Kojou’s ear, nodded with a sober look. 

“If Celesta truly is the icon of a dark god, the beast men after her could be descendants of Zazalamagiu worshippers. If so, their objective might be—” 

“To bring Zazalamagiu back?” 

Temple. Icon. Priestess— Only now did Kojou feel like he understood these isolated snippets of information. 

The beast men had said they’d “raised” Celesta. They’d probably meant that she’d received special favor as the priestess of a dark god. 

If that was true, he could understand why they’d pursued her. Celesta was no mere priestess. She was a precious ritual object for summoning the dark god—a “sacrifice” difficult to replace. 

Kojou didn’t know why the beast men hoped for Zazalamagiu’s advent. However, if summoning Zazalamagiu was their goal, they would surely move to take Celesta back—whatever the cost. 

Moreover, Celesta herself was not yet aware of this. She’d be in danger if they didn’t find her as soon as possible. 

“I’ll save her,” Kojou murmured in a suppressed voice. 

Yukina blinked, seemingly struck by surprise. 

“Eh?” 

“I’m just a brat, I don’t know anything about the Fourth Primogenitor’s power, Vattler’s an annoyance, and I’ve got no interest in a dark god.” 

Kojou clenched his teeth. 

The image of a little vampire girl, sleeping in a coffin of ice, emerged in the back of his mind. 

It was joined by the self-proclaimed Great Alchemist of Yore, the watcher for a liquid-metal life-form, and a junior of his made into an artificial angel. I won’t let there be any victims like them again. If I’ve gotta make an enemy of a god, so be it, he thought. 

“But what bothers me more than any of that are guys who think they can treat a brat who doesn’t know nothing like a tool—icon this, sacrifice that—and the idiot who just gives up and accepts it as fate! Lend me a hand, Himeragi! We’ll save that stupid Celesta! Count on it!” 

“Yes, of course!” 

Yukina’s eyes sparkled as she nodded with vigor. It was as if Kojou’s words had saved Yukina herself. But naturally thinking it an inappropriate thing to say given her position, she immediately hurried to restore her look of composure. 

“Ah…n-no… By that, just now, I meant I would accompany you as your observer…” 

Heedless of Yukina’s halting murmurs to herself, Kojou returned the phone to his ear. 

“Asagi, look up one more thing. Where is the Oceanus Grave II?” 

“Why you…” Asagi, completely ignored for the last little while, raised her voice in an apparent sulk. “Well I don’t need to look up whose ship it is. Vattler’s, right? It’ll be coming into port any minute.” 

“Huh…?!” 

“You don’t need to be that surprised, sheesh. It went off somewhere for a little while, but it’s been on its way back, right? I think you should be able to see it with the naked eye by now—” 

“…” 

Kojou silently shifted his gaze in the direction of the harbor. From his current location, he couldn’t see the harbor due to Keystone Gate being in the way. However, what about the view from the restaurant on the topmost floor of the building Kojou and company were at just a little earlier…? 

It was surely a fair distance from there to the harbor, but still— 

“Don’t tell me she saw Vattler’s ship…? What kind of eyesight does that girl have…?” 

Murmuring this, Kojou hung up. He heard Asagi’s protesting voice for one last moment, but he didn’t have any time to care. 

Kojou was the one who’d told Celesta about the Oceanus Grave II. It seemed plausible that, noticing Vattler’s return, Celesta was rushing to his side without a thought to the consequences. From her perspective, Vattler was an individual worth hurrying for—and in the first place, beyond Kojou and the others, he was the only person on the island she could rely on. 

Right around then, Kojou and Yukina saw Kanon and Astarte running toward them. Both were out of breath, probably from running around searching for Celesta. 

“—Sorry, you two. We probably know where Celesta is. Kanase, Astarte, can you head home now? We’ll be in touch when things settle down.” 

Having said this, Kojou brought his hands together toward the pair. 

In reality, they didn’t actually know where Celesta was. Even narrowing it down to the harbor left a wide area to search, and to start with, they had no proof Celesta was really headed there. Nonetheless, he’d decided he could not expose Kanon and the others to further danger. 

With Kojou in that pose, Kanon lifted Nina up and presented her to him. 

“Um, I’d like you to let us help…just a little more. I believe the director might be helpful.” 

“Nina…?” 

Kojou stared at Nina’s little body with a half-doubting look. He didn’t think the liquid-metal doll not even thirty centimeters tall would be much help at that point. A look of incomprehension came over Nina, perhaps wondering why Kanon would say such a thing. 

“It’s all right,” Kanon said, smiling. “Miss Celesta put on a ring made of Wiseman’s Blood, so I believe the director should be able to find out where she has gone.” 

“…Ohh!” Nina exclaimed, snapping her fingers in admiration. “I see.” 

Wait, you didn’t even realize it, Kojou wearily thought as he looked down at the self-proclaimed Great Alchemist of Yore. 

Celesta Ciate was standing on a pier outside the harbor. 

She was wearing leather sandals and a colorful, embroidered dress. Her trademark honey-colored hair was flapping in the strong ocean breeze. 

She leaned over a rusted railing as she gazed absentmindedly at a ship floating in the bay. It was an extraordinarily large, privately owned cruise ship, the Oceanus Grave II—if the words of Kojou Akatsuki proved true, Dimitrie Vattler would be aboard. 

I want to meet Dimitrie Vattler, she had thought. He is the savior who rescued me from despair in that blood-drenched temple. But…I don’t want to meet him, she also reflected. I feel like, if I meet him, everything will come to an end. All of this tranquility, like a brief, happy dream— 

“Celesta—!” 

Kojou called her name. With annoyance, Celesta looked over her shoulder in the direction of the voice. Kojou, out of breath from running, saw for himself that Celesta was all right, so he stopped, seemingly exhausted of strength. Yukina, standing still at his side, took a handkerchief out and began meticulously wiping his sweat-covered brow. They’re acting intimate even in a public place, thought Celesta, twitching an eyebrow. 

She’d figured they’d probably catch up eventually, but it had been much faster than she’d anticipated. 

They’ve probably been looking for me pretty desperately. Grudgingly, she could not fail to acknowledge that this made her just a little bit happy, but she covered up that emotion with a glare at Kojou. 

“What did you come for?! Are you a stalker?! You really are a pervert, aren’t you?!” she accused. 

“Oh, shut up! What do you think you’re doing?! Running off on your own like that—what would you do if you couldn’t meet Vattler, huh?!” 

Kojou replaced Celesta’s barbs with one of his own. 

“Th-that doesn’t have anything to do with you!” 

“Like hell it doesn’t, idiot.” 

“I-idiot…?! Did you just call me an idiot…?!” 

“I’m here because I want to save you! Come with us already!” 

“What the hell?! That doesn’t make sense!” 

Celesta continued giving Kojou an annoyed glare, even while feeling overwhelmed by his unnerving bluster. However, he did not avert his eyes. 

Finally, Celesta seemed to relent, her cheeks puffing up in a pout as she belatedly murmured, “I remembered.” 

“Ah?” 

“Memories from before Lord Vattler rescued me. Just a little, though.” 

“Then that means…” 

Kojou broke off what he was going to say halfway. He knew that Celesta’s last memory had been of someone trying to kill her in that temple. 

“They…abducted me from my village and took me to a run-down temple deep in the forest. They meant to use me as a sacrifice.” 

Celesta put her fragmented memories into words. 

The silhouette of the Oceanus Grave II had triggered the return of her memories. She’d seen the ship once before, probably right before being transported to Itogami Island after the tragedy at the temple. 

“By them, you mean the beast men? Zazalamagiu worshippers?” Kojou asked belligerently. 

However, Celesta shook her head. “You’re wrong… Those were the people…trying to protect me…” 

“…What?!” 

“The people trying to sacrifice me were…soldiers. A woman…was giving them orders.” 

Celesta closed her eyes as she remembered the scene. 

A large number of beast men had gathered at the temple to rescue the kidnapped Celesta. Then they were killed—by soldiers bearing modern equipment and using bizarre tactics. 

If Dimitrie Vattler had not appeared at that moment, the beast men would have certainly been annihilated, and then Celesta would have been killed, too: offered as a sacrifice to a dark god— 

“A woman…? Soldiers…?” 

Celesta’s confession shocked Kojou. His reaction was so intense that it confused her. 

“Wait, don’t tell me it was that Angelica Hermida chi—” 

With a sober expression, Kojou pressed Celesta further, and the next moment… 

“—Senpai!” 

With a ram to his side, Yukina shoved Kojou—hard. 

Kojou, having no clue what was going on, was bowled over on the spot. Then, with incredible force, something sailed just past him into the area he’d stood but a moment before. 

Concrete fragments blew into the air, scattering as far as fifteen meters from where they’d been standing. 

He’d taken gunfire—from a faraway sniper. 

“Himeragi?! Was that—?” 

Kojou got up, whipping his head around in astonishment. 

“We are surrounded! But…when did they…?!” 

Yukina drew her spear from the case on her back. However, before she could deploy her weapon, several figures appeared around Kojou and the others: a woman and two men. They were probably all foreigners. 

Though they wore plain gray clothing, the pair of men oddly stood out. Both men had shaved heads and were nearly two meters tall. One had a beard, and the other wore a sunglasses-shaped device over both of his eyes. 

For her part, the woman’s appearance stood out even more than the men’s. She had a tall, model-like figure and an artificial kind of beauty. Even though she wore an extravagant, fur-trimmed coat, Kojou could tell that it concealed a well-honed physique underneath. 

The woman drew a compact submachine gun from under her coat. 

Even to Yukina, possessing Spirit Sight that allowed her to glimpse an instant into the future, the submachine gun’s high rate of fire was a grave menace. The woman, well aware of that, trained the barrel onto Yukina. The failure of the initial sniping attack had allowed her to accurately assess Yukina’s capabilities. 

“Don’t move, any of you.” 

The woman spoke in fluent Japanese. The instant Kojou lowered his posture, seemingly about to come punching, she riddled the ground in front of his toes with several bullets. 

It took a few moments for it to sink in that the woman had aimed and shot instantly. Her shooting was fearsomely quick and highly accurate. 

“That was a warning. The next shots won’t miss.” 

The woman calmly continued to speak in a businesslike tone, neither a bluff nor intimidation, simply stating a fact. 

“You’re…Angelica Hermida?” Kojou glared. 

“Hmph.” The woman narrowed her eyes in displeasure. “To think someone in the Far East Demon Sanctuary would know my name… It would seem you are no mere civilian.” 

“So you are,” Kojou said, accepting the fact. 

Angelica Hermida had probably been monitoring Kojou and the others for a good while. Perhaps they’d been looking for the right time to abduct Celesta. However, their plans had changed, and they’d come after the girl hastily. That was because Kojou had spoken Angelica Hermida’s name. 

Now that he knew her identity, the odds were high that he would take some sort of countermeasure against her. She had no doubt thought, if that were the case, better to execute the abduction of Celesta before such preparations were in place. 

Though truthfully, Kojou was in no position to stop her, having no idea who or what Angelica Hermida was, but— 

“Well, fine. We have but one demand. Hand over Celesta Ciate. I wish to avoid unnecessary combat. I would be grateful if you simply complied,” Angelica stated. 

Kojou bit his lip. They were facing three opponents, all armed with guns. Even with Yukina’s combat capabilities, it was impossible to take them on and protect Celesta. 

The Sword Shaman was an expert in anti-demon combat. The gear the Lion King Agency had provided her was intended solely for fighting demons. Fighting trained soldiers was outside her expertise. 

If Kojou used his Beast Vassals, it was probably possible to overcome the predicament, but he didn’t think Angelica Hermida would just stand by and watch until he finished summoning one; more likely, they’d turn him into Swiss cheese the instant he moved to summon one. They were between a rock and a hard place. 

“What do you…plan to do with Celesta?” 

Kojou, backed into a corner, spoke in a wrung-out, broken voice. However, all he received in return was Angelica’s scornful gaze. 

“We’re the ones asking the questions.” 

“…What?!” 

“I’ll say it once more. Hand over Celesta Ciate.” 

Kojou silently shifted his gaze and looked at the expression on Celesta, who stood right beside him. What hovered in Celesta’s eyes was pure fear toward Angelica and the others. 

The instant Kojou saw that, his resolve hardened. No, he’d decided long before: The whole reason he’d chased after Celesta was to keep her from making a face like that. 

“I don’t wanna.” 

Kojou boldly smiled as he spoke. That was his answer at that moment, and probably, too, the answer Yukina hoped to hear— 

“Is that so? A pity.” 

Without fanfare, Angelica Hermida waved her left hand—not the right one holding the submachine gun, but the left, purportedly holding nothing. 

In that instant, a giant, invisible blade swung down on Kojou and Yukina. 

Yukina blocked the unseen slash with her silver spear. Angelica’s blade, woven from magical energy, dissipated as soon as it came into contact with the magic-nullifying Snowdrift Wolf. 

However, even Snowdrift Wolf could not erase the kinetic energy from Angelica’s slash. The recoil from warding the blow sent Yukina flying several meters nearby before she somehow landed on her feet. 

Kojou, however, had been unable to evade or block Angelica’s attack. 

“—Senpai?!” 

Yukina’s breath caught when she saw Kojou stagger. 

Then, before her very eyes, fresh blood gushed from Kojou’s neck. 

A deep gash ran from his left shoulder down to his right flank. 

It was as if a giant ax had chopped into him, with the wound running all the way to Kojou’s back. 

“Noooooooooooo—!” 

A scream gushed out of Celesta’s mouth. 

Then, Kojou slowly fell to the ground. 



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