Strike the Blood - Volume 11 - Chapter Ep

OUTRO 

Kojou’s back slammed hard against the white sand covering an artificial beach. 

It had a water-break of bare metal and resin. It had a uniform, artificial skyline. The blue sky spread all the way to the water’s horizon. These were the familiar sights of the man-made isle. 

However, though he had returned from the Prison Barrier, he had no time to feel relief. A dazzling beam scorched his field of vision. The lightning lion, shrouded in a thunderbolt, was leaping right toward Kojou’s face. 

“Dowaaaaaaaaaa!” 

Keenly fearing death from the incredible temperature, Kojou hastily dematerialized Regulus Aurum. 

“I thought I was a goner…” 

It was a Beast Vassal of the Fourth Primogenitor. Perhaps it was just playing with his returning master, but one graze of its claw would make Kojou’s flesh boil away in an instant. 

I wonder if I’d come back if my whole body evaporated? wondered Kojou, not particularly wanting to find out as he feebly sat up. He brushed sand off his entire body before putting his hands on his knees and rising to his feet. Yukina, just as covered in sand as he was, noticed Kojou and rushed right over. 

“Senpai! You were able to escape the Prison Barrier?!” 

“Well, kinda… You managed somehow—right, Himeragi?” 

Kojou awkwardly scratched his head when he saw the look of relief on Yukina’s face. Ensnared by the Prison Barrier, Kojou had been unable to do a thing to the very end. Ninety-nine percent of his getting out safe and sound was Yukina’s doing. He could tell that much from seeing her all beat up. 

“No. I believe Ms. Minamiya truly was holding back. I was unable to compete with her to the very end,” she said, shaking her head in chagrin. 

Kojou gently brushed some sand out of her hair as he said, “Pretty sure you did. Natsuki said we passed, y’see.” 

“…You remember what happened inside the Prison Barrier?” 

People forgot many overnight dreams when they woke; similarly, it was extremely difficult to retain memories of what happened when leaving the Prison Barrier in Natsuki’s dream world. Yukina knew that firsthand. 

“Yeah. I’ll tell you all about it later, Himeragi.” 

Kojou appeared distant while he spoke. 

“Okay.” 

Of course you will, said Yukina’s expression as she nodded firmly. When looking at Kojou, her face suddenly hardened. He felt like emotion was suddenly draining from her eyes. 

At the same time, there was a prick deep in Kojou’s nose, and he tasted metal. Warm liquid was dripping toward the corner of Kojou’s mouth—a nosebleed. 

“…Senpai, what did you do with Ms. Minamiya inside the Prison Barrier…?” 

Yukina asked with a quiet voice stripped of all sense of warmth. 

Kojou felt like it was hard to breathe as he hastily shook his head and insisted, “W-wait, you’re wrong! This was just from Natsuki teasing!” 

“Don’t tell me you felt…vampiric urges…toward Ms. Minamiya…!” 

Yukina, heavily thrown for a loop, seemed to be murmuring to herself. The odd strength in the fingers gripping her silver spear was frightening to behold. 

“Y-you’re wrong! Inside the dream, Natsuki turned into a grown-up teacher to match her age; her breasts were big— Ah, er, not that it really means anything, but…” 

“A grown-up teacher…you say. Big breasts, you say. Is that so…?” 

Yukina spoke in a very frigid tone as Kojou wiped most of the nosebleed away from his lips. To a third-party observer, it would not be clear whether they were arguing or flirting. 

Then, at their feet, Kojou and Yukina heard what sounded like a deliberate throat clearing. 

Kiriha, sitting on the sandy beach with her arms around her knees, looked up at the pair with a pouty look. 

“I’m sorry to ruin the good mood, but aren’t you forgetting something?” 

“Ah, sorry. You were a big help this time around, too, Kisaki…” 

Kojou, realizing that Kiriha was wounded just as much as Yukina, meekly bowed his head. 

They still had to get Kiriha to escort them until they boarded the business jet. Earning her ire at that juncture would be bad. 

Kiriha smiled maliciously, as if she knew she had Kojou over a barrel, and said, “Come to think of it, could you lend me a hand? My legs hurt, so I would be pleased if you could carry me.” 

“Well, fine. I can do that much…” 

Kojou grudgingly nodded, picking Kiriha up as he was told. 

Seeing Kojou carry Kiriha bridal style elicited a look of dissatisfaction over Yukina’s face. Even so, she felt her own sense of obligation toward Kiriha, so she kept her words of complaint to herself. 

As if to rub salt in Yukina’s wounds, Kiriha put her hands around Kojou’s neck and said, “You may touch me somewhat inappropriately along the way. It will be a bumpy ride, so such things are inevitable.” 

“It’s hard to carry you if you’re gonna say stuff like that!” he shot back in a shrill voice. 

Kiriha drew her lips to Kojou’s ear and said, “Incidentally, for reasons related to ritual sorcery, I am not wearing panties today…” 

“Huh?!” 

Unwittingly, Kojou stopped in his tracks, mouth hanging open. 

Not wearing any. So she hadn’t put on any to begin with. That’s crazy. No, wait— If it’s for a sorcerous reason, then she had no choice…? His mind concentrated, attempting to discern whether Kiriha’s words were true from the sensations conveyed by his fingertips. Thanks to this, Kiriha’s body warmth and physical softness weighed even more heavily on his mind. As a result, Kojou completely froze for two long seconds when Kiriha glanced back with a serious expression. 

“I lied.” 

“That was a lie?!” 

“Senpai…” 

When Kojou, with a deeply wounded look, shouted, Yukina had sighed, staring at him in visible disappointment. 

Kiriha giggled, at last seeming somewhat satisfied, but then— 

“—?!” 

—Kiriha’s expression suddenly contorted out of fear. 

Noticing the sharp change, Kojou asked, “…Kisaki?” 

However, his words went unheard. The sound of the sea breeze, the calls of seagulls—he could not hear them, either. They were surrounded by complete silence. 

It was all over in a second. Sound returned to the world as if someone had pressed a switch. 

“What…was that just now…?!” 

Kojou groaned in pain as he had the uncomfortable sense of being dragged to an unfamiliar place. 

His mental process had been disconnected, almost like someone had torn a page out of a book. It was different than déjà vu or jamais vu. The discomfort was like watching a film that had missed a frame. 

“Paper Noise…!” 

Kiriha raised a shrill voice. Her entire body was trembling like a child who was afraid of the dark. Kojou could hear her teeth clattering. 

“Hey, Kisaki?!” Kojou shouted in surprise as an unfamiliar figure wedged her way into his vision. 

A lone woman was standing in the middle of the road leading from the beach to the next level higher. She wore a thin, veil-like silk, so he could not see her face, but it was clear that she was still young, probably little older than Kojou and the others. 

She was wearing a luxurious priestess outfit adorned with countless gemstones. Even on New Year’s Day, one could not walk outside in an outfit like that without turning heads. 

And yet, until she had appeared close to them, neither Kojou nor the others had been able to detect her presence. 

“Have we…met before? For that matter, where did you come fr—?” 

Kojou asked, feeling like he knew this woman somehow. However, the woman in the priestess outfit did not reply. 

She simply murmured in a gentle voice as if speaking to herself. 

“The Witch of the Void is softer than expected. No…perhaps that is simply her nature.” 

“Why, you…?!” 

Kojou’s look became grave as he snarled. He didn’t think she was some innocent bystander if she knew Natsuki Minamiya’s alias. 

“Senpai, please, get back…!” 

Yukina drew her silver spear and raised her guard. 

If the woman had used sorcerous means to suddenly appear, chances were high she’d used a teleportation spell or something along those lines. If so, chances were equally high that she was a formidable foe on par with Natsuki Minamiya. 

Yukina glared, defensive against any kind of sorcerous sneak attack. However, the woman did not employ any spell. In a dignified voice, she merely levied a command Yukina’s way. 

“Stand aside, Yukina Himeragi—” 

That instant, the Sword Shaman’s entire body shuddered as if struck by an electric jolt. The tip of her spear, pointed toward the woman, swayed heavily from bewilderment and fear. 

“That voice… You cannot be…!” 

Yukina was petrified as the woman ignored her question, shifting her gaze. 

Concealed behind the veil, the woman’s lips loosened into a slender smile as she stated: 

“It is a pleasure to meet you, Fourth Primogenitor. I am called Koyomi Shizuka, one of the current Three Saints of the Lion King Agency.” 

“…Three Saints…of the Lion King Agency?!” 

Kojou’s level of wariness rose by leaps and bounds when he grasped just who this dignified girl was. With Kojou on the verge of leaving Itogami Island, there was only one reason someone from the Lion King Agency, besides Yukina, would appear. She stood before Kojou as his enemy. 

The woman in the priestess outfit stated calmly, “Unfortunately, by unanimous decision of the Lion King Agency, I have come to bind you to this soil.” 

“Senpai! She’s dangerous—get away from—!” 

“Flee, Kojou Akatsuki!” 

Yukina and Kiriha shouted simultaneously. 

For her part, Yukina thrust her silver spear into the ground, deploying a magic-nullifying defense ward around them. Kiriha leaped out of Kojou’s arms and deployed her gray forked spear. 

The next moment, the world was governed by silence once more. 

Kiriha’s body was sent flying as if struck by an invisible maul. 

Pure-white sand scattered all about as Yukina collapsed to the ground. 

Then Kojou was slammed into the concrete water-break hard enough to half bury him in it. 

“Wha…?” 

Kojou coughed, a large amount of thick blood pouring out of his throat. 

Meanwhile, sound returned to the world. 

Kojou didn’t know what had happened. What he did know was that this was a completely different kind of attack than any normal spell. It wasn’t like Natsuki’s teleportation. The fact that the woman called Paper Noise had not walked a single step was proof enough. 

It wasn’t that time had stopped. It wasn’t that she’d moved it frame by frame. It was more like… 

…she was able to insert time that shouldn’t exist, anytime and anywhere she wished— 

Paper Noise. 

“Please forgive me—” 

At some point, Paper Noise had moved in front of Kojou. She held a silver spear in her right hand. 

This was the secret weapon of the Lion King Agency that had rightfully been in Yukina’s hands mere moments ago. In the hands of Paper Noise, Snowdrift Wolf—the primogenitor-slaying holy spear—glowed with a dazzling pure-white light. 

Then, without any hesitance, without a sound, she swung that spear downward. 

Gently, under afternoon rays of sun like those of midsummer, silence befell Itogami Island—