Strike the Blood - Volume 12 - Chapter 5

CHAPTER FIVE 

RETURN FROM THE FARTHEST REACHES 

1 

There was a great beating of wings bathed in magical energy, sending the enormous dragon flying through the air. 

Kojou, at the mercy of incessant shaking and violent winds, held on to the dragon’s neck for dear life. 

“Glenda, calm down! Where do you think you’re going—?!” 

Kojou desperately shouted, but his voice never reached the agitated Glenda’s ears. Gripped by fear, the dragon girl had no destination in mind in her blind efforts to distance herself from the iron knight. 

“Whoa—!” 

Glenda’s body violently swayed, buffeted by the air currents. The lurch threw Kojou heavily off-balance, sending his body sliding down. Instinctively, he reached out with his right hand to grab hold of the dragon’s back and was in shock at the lack of feeling. That hand, numb from the wound left when Paper Noise impaled it, refused to move. 

This is bad. Kojou groaned inwardly as he was struck by a fickle, floating feeling. I’m gonna fall—! 

Just when Kojou resigned himself to that, someone grabbed his right arm. 

“Senpai!” 

Yukina’s right hand gripped her silver spear, leaving only her left to support the weight of Kojou’s tumbling body. Having used ritual energy to enhance her muscle strength to a reckless extent, she proceeded to haul up Kojou. 

“Himeragi! Sorry, you saved my bacon!” 

In frog-like fashion, Kojou crept up the dragon on all fours, reaching its shoulder once more. With neither able to use one of their hands, Yukina somehow managed to pull him into a stable stance right next to her. 

“Please, hang on tight!” 

“R-right. Er, but—” 

The unfamiliar sensation pressing against his cheek caused Kojou to hem and haw. 

“What is it?” 

“Er, it’s just that your breasts are pushing against my face, Himeragi—” 

Maybe we can shift this a bit, Kojou was about to say when an elbow struck the side of his face. 

“I-idiot, I’m gonna fall. I’m gonna fall—!” 

“It is because you said something indecent, senpai!” 

With Kojou about to fall once more, Yukina grudgingly reached out with her hand. 

Kojou’s cheek was swelling as he sluggishly shook his head and said: 

“Right… What about that Yuiri girl?” 

I haven’t heard her family name yet, he thought as he sought out the other Sword Shaman who should have been nearby. 

When he meekly poked his head out over the large shoulder of Glenda, now in dragon form, his eyes caught sight of Yuiri in the clutches of the dragon’s front claw. The upper air currents were causing her uniform’s skirt to ride way up, dramatically showing off her thighs in tights. 

In spite of this, Yuiri was unable to hide the sight behind a hand as she pleaded to Kojou with tearful eyes, “D-don’t look—!” 

“…Seems like we’re all right.” 

Seeing for himself that she was safe, Kojou returned to his previous stance. Yuiri didn’t exactly have it easy, but her life did not seem to be in imminent peril. 

However, just as Kojou expressed relief, he felt Yukina’s body stiffen right behind him. 

“Not yet, senpai!” 

“Huh…?” 

Before Kojou could grasp the situation, the dragon shook from an enormous impact. 

Glenda’s dragon body writhed, letting out an anguished roar as she endured the pain. 

A pitch-black sphere raced right past her. 

That’s a gunshot! Kojou realized. Someone pursuing Kojou and the others from behind had launched an attack on Glenda. 

“The wyvern from before…!” 

When Kojou looked back, the jet-black-colored wyvern was squarely in his sights. The man in armor was riding on its back. The female magic user was riding the other wyvern a little ways behind him. 

The knight was couching his lance. Kojou realized that the shape of the weapon had changed; at that moment, it was more of an enormous rifle than a lance; it could change according to the characteristics of the machines it came into contact with. 

The lance fired jet-black spheres as bullets. 

Glenda couldn’t evade the attacks with Kojou and the others aboard. The dragon girl howled as she soaked up gunshots all over her body. 

“Miss Glenda—?!” 

Yukina addressed Glenda with genuine concern. Perhaps that had done some good, for Glenda’s panic abated, and Kojou and Yukina avoided the worst case of being flung off her back. But if the attacks persisted, Glenda’s endurance would eventually falter. 

“Sorry, Himeragi—keep me steady a little, okay?” 

As he spoke, Kojou stood up on the dragon’s uneven, rocking back. 

Yukina’s cheeks stiffened when she realized just what it was Kojou had in mind. 

“Senpai, you mustn’t. If you use a Beast Vassal, your wound will—” 

“This ain’t the time to hold anything back— C’mon over, Al-Nasl Minium!” 

Kojou endured the pain hitting him from the backlash as he summoned a Beast Vassal. The air distorted as the incandescent bicorn emerged, howling as it unleashed a shock wave at the flying wyvern that resembled a cannonball. 

However, the man in knightly plate—Azama—anticipated Kojou’s counterattack. Undaunted, he spread out his pitch-black cloak, deploying a giant defensive membrane. 

The scarlet bicorn’s attack was, in fact, a mass of demonic energy in shock-wave form. This was why it generated vast destructive might, but in this case, that energy was a fatal flaw. The defensive barrier created by the knight nullified direct demonic energy attacks. 

“Figures that Beast Vassal attacks wouldn’t work… So how ’bout this?!” 

A smile came over Kojou, visibly defiant as he made the scarlet bicorn raise its altitude. 

Even if the Beast Vassal had managed a direct hit, it would not defeat that wyvern. On the other hand, the pitch-black aura shrouding them had been unable to fend off the anti-tank rocket launched by one of the Oceanus Girls. If the attack didn’t rely on demonic energy, it was possible to inflict damage upon them. 

Kojou made the Beast Vassal dive-bomb, aiming at the two wyverns dancing in the air below. Simultaneously, he completely released the Beast Vassal from its restraints, freeing it of all shackles on its concentrated demonic energy. 

Unable to retain physical form, the bicorn transformed into a colossal mass of vibration and violent winds. It became a raging storm of countless tornadoes, agitating the atmosphere around it. 

The precipitous change in air pressure made Kojou’s eardrums creak. 

Trees covering the surface of the ground were yanked out with their roots, dancing in the air along with a large quantity of dirt. 

It was truly a natural disaster—a calamity, even. 

The overwhelming destruction was akin to carpet-bombing. The line of a mountain ridge was shaved off, with a rockslide down its stony surface as the terrain around them changed as they watched. 

Violent winds gouged the ground below, covering an area rivaling a single city. Were it not an uninhabited area deep in the mountains, casualties would surely have been in the tens of thousands. 

“Wh-what have you…?” 

Yukina’s face went pale as she stared at the Beast Vassal’s rampage. It had been a while since Kojou beheld the true might of a Beast Vassal of the Fourth Primogenitor with his own eyes; he, too, was at a loss for words. 

Had he unleashed such might in the skies over Itogami Island, the entire island would likely have been wiped out without a trace by that point. Good thing I’m not stupid enough to try, he thought, relieved to the bottom of his heart for that. 

There was no way the wyverns ought to have been able to fly amid such violent winds and raging air currents. Even if they could nullify direct demonic energy hits, that would be no help against a stirred-up atmosphere. 

Seeing for himself that Azama and the others had abandoned pursuit, Kojou released his Beast Vassal from its summons. However, once arisen, the tornadoes could not be affected by even Kojou’s will. 

For a while, Kojou stared in amazement as they gouged the faces of the mountains and caused landslides, one after another. The scolding gaze from Yukina stabbing the side of his face stung bitterly. And then— 

“Glenda…?” 

The dragon’s body, presumably outside the range of the violent winds, suddenly lurched. 

Perhaps it was the effect of her wounds. Perhaps her strength had simply been exhausted. Either way, Glenda had lost consciousness. The dragon’s flapping wings lost their strength and were no longer able to support her enormous body. 

Glenda was falling toward the earth, with Kojou and the others riding her along with it. 

“Kyaaaaaaaaaaa—!” 

Yuiri’s death-resigned scream echoed across the gray, wintry sky for quite some time. 

2 

She’d first heard the rumors about the Fourth Primogenitor a little before summer. 

She’d heard that the Fourth Primogenitor was immoral and immutable, without any blood kin whatsoever, with no aspirations to rule, served by twelve Beast Vassals that were calamity incarnate—a cruel, heartless vampire who drank human blood, slaughtered, and destroyed, existing beyond all doctrines of the world. 

If such a monster appeared in a nation of the world, would someone from the Lion King Agency not be dispatched to slay him? Thus, at High God Forest, a Lion King Agency training facility masquerading as a famous primary and secondary level all-girls school, such information spread in the blink of an eye, plunging the students into terror. 

That said, it was an irresponsible, baseless rumor. With the same force with which the rumor had suddenly spread, the topic died away, and it was not long before it was consigned to oblivion. 

It was during that time when Yuiri Haba heard about the Fourth Primogenitor from a most unexpected source: the lips of Koyomi Shizuka, one of the Three Saints of the Lion King Agency. 

From her, Yuiri learned that the Fourth Primogenitor was actually a high school student living on Itogami Island. Furthermore, because Yuiri was the same age, she had been nominated as a candidate for the Sword Shaman to be dispatched to watch him. 

Those facts both surprised and scared her. 

On the one hand, she felt a faint pang of hope. 

If she was sent to watch over the Fourth Primogenitor, a boy, she might develop a romantic relationship with him—such was her sugary hope. Of her peers at the dormitory, no one beyond Shio Hikawa knew this, but Yuiri was an avid reader of romance manga catering to teenage girls. 

But in the end, it was not Yuiri who had been selected to be the watcher of the Fourth Primogenitor. 

The reasons were extremely simple. One was that Yuiri could not skillfully employ a Schneewaltzer. 

The Demon-Purging Assault Spear Type Seven, secret weapon of the Lion King Agency, could not be tuned to fit its user. Thanks to that, it was compatibility with the weapon, not the skill or abilities of the user, that determined whether someone would be able to master it. In point of fact, even Koyomi Shizuka apparently could not completely draw out a Schneewaltzer’s true abilities. 

The other reason Yuiri had not been selected was because Yuiri had not been an orphan. 

Rare among the girls living at High God Forest, Yuiri still had living family. Both parents were office workers at the Lion King Agency, and she had a younger brother close to her in age. 

Of course, Yuiri had no intention of becoming a Sword Shaman just to be the apple of her parents’ eyes, but it was believed that Yuiri was spared being sent on highly dangerous missions, like being the watcher of the Fourth Primogenitor, out of consideration for her family. 

Hence, even in the present, Yuiri felt indebted to Yukina. 

If she’d only been able to use a Schneewaltzer a little better…and if only Yukina had family, like Yuiri did— 

Then perhaps it would have been Yuiri who would have been assigned the dangerous mission of being the Fourth Primogenitor’s watcher. 

“Oh, you came to, er… Miss Yuiri?” 

The lazy flickering of a firewood stove illuminated the room as that very Fourth Primogenitor called out to her. 

Though the face of the boy was a far cry from the handsome image of a vampire primogenitor she’d drawn in her own mind, he was not without his charms. He was sitting with his legs spread on the floor of an unfamiliar building that was apparently some kind of log cabin. 

“Kojou? Where is this? Where’s Glenda…?!” 

Yuiri slowly sat up as ambiguous memories trickled in. Immediately, she felt a dull pain running through her left arm. It was the wound from when the knight on the wyvern had attacked. Thanks to Glenda shielding her, the wound was not severe, but using her left hand to swing her sword seemed impractical for the time being. 

Beyond that, she recalled being grabbed by the dragon Glenda’s claw and hurtling toward the ground. Then, Yuiri’s vision had been covered in silver mist right before hitting the ground. 

To be precise, she’d been struck by the strange feeling that she herself had transformed into vapor. She also felt like she saw some kind of enormous shelled beast in the middle of the incredibly thick mist. Perhaps that had been one of the Fourth Primogenitor’s Beast Vassals. 

Numerous vampires possessed the special ability to transform their own flesh into mist and move in that form, but she’d never heard of any phenomenon that turned not only the self into mist, but everyone and everything around him. This time, she’d somehow managed to regain her old form, but a shudder went through her at the thought of him losing control of his Beast Vassal. 

That said, Yuiri and Glenda had been saved by Kojou again. 

First, I have to thank him, thought Yuiri, but when she opened her mouth, a conflicted expression came over Kojou when he realized something, turning his face away. 

“Um… Sorry. It’d be a big help if you could…cover up,” Kojou mumbled, never permitting his eyes to meet hers. 

“K…kyaaaaaaaaa!” 

That instant, Yuiri shrieked when she realized she was not wearing her school uniform. Fortunately, she was still wearing her underwear, but that was no comfort to her whatsoever. It was her first experience exposing her flesh so blatantly in front of a boy. She’d never even let her younger brother see her like this. 

“—Senpai, what did you do to Yuiri?!” 

Yukina, hearing Yuiri’s shriek, raced over from the middle of the log cabin with a rapid patter of steps and glared at Kojou. 

Seeing Yuiri in just her underwear, Yukina sighed deeply, grasping the gist of the situation as she said, “Truly, I cannot turn my back on you for one second…” 

“Hey, don’t pin this on me!” 

Kojou put a palm to his cheek as he rebutted, sulking. Actually, it’s not his fault, Yuiri thought, but all that came to her lips was a frail smile. 

Yukina looked at the bandage wrapped around Yuiri’s left arm, inquiring in apparent concern, “Can you move, Yuiri? I applied first aid, but…” 

Apparently, she’d been the one to strip Yuiri’s uniform off. 

“Thank you, Yukii. The wound’s fine. More importantly, where is this…?” 

“I believe it is a mountain cabin meant to receive mountain climbers. It appears to have been empty due to the Self-Defense Forces sealing the area.” 

“That so…” 

Yuiri, seeing that Glenda was sleeping next to her safe and sound, exhaled in relief. 

So Kojou and Yukina just happened to have located a cabin near the point of their crash and were able to carry Yuiri and Glenda to it. Judging from the brightness outside, Yuiri had probably been unconscious for two to three hours. 

“A little bit longer, and Asagi…a friend of ours, will be coming to pick us up. Glenda can’t move yet, either, so it’s probably best we hide out here for the time being. It’ll be nighttime soon, too.” 

“Mm, I suppose so.” 

After Yukina handed Yuiri her uniform, she turned her back to Kojou, dressing as she concurred with his opinion. 

The gray-haired girl under the same blanket as Yuiri stirred, glomming on to Yuiri like a kitten doting on its mother. 

“Hyuiri… Hyuiri…” 

“Glenda, are your injuries all right?” 

“Dah.” 

When Glenda, perhaps not fully awake, addressed her with mysterious-sounding words, Yuiri stroked her hair. Becoming a dragon had sent Glenda’s clothes bursting apart once more, this time wrecking the ones that the Oceanus Girls had provided her. At the moment, the only thing she was wearing was the parka Kojou Akatsuki had been wearing until a short while before. 

Dressed in the baggy clothing, Glenda had no dramatic wounds on her body; seeing this for herself, Yuiri patted her chest in relief. 

“So…what is she anyway? Why’s Azama after her?” Kojou asked. 

“I have no idea, either.” Yuiri weakly shook her head. 

“Figures,” Kojou said, dejection visible in his eyes. After all, without knowing the reason Azama was after her, his next move couldn’t be predicted, and there were limits to how much they could protect Glenda. 

In case it might help, Yuiri did explain all the circumstances before and after meeting Glenda to both of them, but the expressions on both Kojou’s and Yukina’s faces were conflicted. If Yuiri couldn’t understand what was going on, and she was actually there, the two of them had little hope of understanding it, either. 

When she’d finished providing them with all the information she knew, a brief silence descended. 

It was a low, bestial rrrn that broke the awkward silence. 

This was the sound of Yuiri’s stomach, able to endure hunger no longer. 

When Yuiri thought back, she hadn’t had a single bite to eat since that morning. Glenda had robbed her of all her emergency ration biscuits. On top of that, she noticed that a nice scent was beginning to waft inside the mountain cabin. Something was boiling in the pot on top of the woodstove. 

“There was food for emergencies left in the kitchen, so I thought I would try heating it…” 

Yukina spoke in a reserved tone as she served the meal. 

It was vegetable soup with a plethora of ingredients and a variety of sweets, like cookies and candy bars, on the side. For someone nearly collapsing from hunger, it was truly a sight to behold. When she glanced over, Glenda, still half-awake, immediately began munching on the biscuits. 

“Thanks, Yukii. It kinda feels like I’m making you do all the work.” 

“Not at all, Yuiri. You’ve been taking good care of Sayaka and me for ages. I’m glad I could do something to return the favor.” 

“Ah-ha-ha. That’s because Kirasaka and Shio got into a lot of arguments…” 

Yuiri laughed with nostalgia as she brought soup to her lips. Shio Hikawa and Sayaka Kirasaka were both headstrong girls as well as Shamanic War Dancer candidates of the same grade, leading them to compete on every front. It was usually Yuiri, in the same class, or Yukina who ended up having to deal with the consequences. 

“I see… Yuiri, you’ve known Himeragi since you were little kids, huh?” Kojou asked, mystified. 

Yukina had difficulty speaking about her past. A slight blush came over her as she hung her head a little and said, “I suppose so. Although, we were not in the same grade and had few chances to speak directly with each other…” 

“Come to think of it, no one talked to Yukii all that much. She was kind of unapproachable; she was levelheaded since she was really little; and she was a little scary during mock combat, you see…” 

With her beautiful junior right before her eyes, Yuiri stared as she earnestly rambled. Hearing this, Yukina blinked her eyes in apparent surprise. 

“U…unapproachable? Scary?” 

“Yeah. You never smiled even when you won, and you were always blunt when talking to people. I really got bent out of shape when my awesome jokes just sailed over your head.” 

“Th-that is because I was tense before the competition…” 

Yukina weakly defended herself. But the adorable look on her face had apparently pricked Yuiri’s funny bone, for she continued smiling, even letting a giggle slip out. 

“You were really serious and straitlaced, and your grades were top tier, too. So you were, well, hard to socialize with.” 

“You really thought of me like that…?” 

Yuiri reflected a little when she observed Yukina’s genuine shock. She couldn’t help but find it somewhat humorous that even on their reunion after a fairly long interval, her earnestness had not changed a bit. 

“Ah, but I don’t mean people hated you at all. A lot of the younger girls really looked up to you. That’s why, when I heard that Yukii was the one given the Schneewaltzer and made the watcher for the Fourth Primogenitor, I was like I knew it’d be her.” 

When Kojou heard Yuiri’s follow-up to a flustered Yukina, his mouth opened as if he had come to realize something. 

“I see… Yuiri’s a Sword Shaman, too, so it could’ve been her living right next door instead of Himeragi?” 

“Eh? Yukii, you live right next to Kojou?” 

Yuiri gawked at Yukina in surprise. Her junior raised an eyebrow. 

“Yes. It is part of the mission.” 

“Ohh… A-all right.” 

Naturally, half the reason Yuiri was knocked off-balance was from how Kojou had spoken of it like it was nothing. After all, it was an iron rule of the romance novels Yuiri dotingly read: When classmates lived next door to one another, romance followed. 

Yuiri could hardly remain calm at the thought that it might have been herself living next door to Kojou. 

She was indulging herself in such fantasies when Kojou posed his next question to Yukina. 

“So what was Yuiri like back in the day?” 

“Eh?!” 

Yuiri felt distinct unease when she suddenly became the topic of discussion, all the more because it was just after Yuiri had babbled all about Yukina. 

Then, thinking she should honestly reply to Kojou’s question, Yuiri’s overly serious junior opened her mouth and said, “Let’s see. The first time I remember meeting her, it was nighttime right after a field exercise—” 

“Yukii, please, anything but that!” 

The sight of Yuiri desperately bowing her head made Kojou and Glenda raise their voices in laughter. 

A benefit of the entirely trivial conversation was that Yuiri could feel her depleted willpower gradually recover. Her sense of tension and wariness toward Kojou Akatsuki, the Fourth Primogenitor, was vanishing as well. 

However, at the same time, she felt a single doubt within her. 

When she thought about it rationally, Kojou had no duty to save Yuiri or Glenda. He’d come to that land to protect his little sister; he had no reason to fight Azama. 

Why, then, had he gone so far to protect Yuiri and Glenda? 

The one thing she did understand was this: It was no doubt because Kojou had that kind of personality that Yukina—this very earnest girl next to him—trusted him, enough that Yuiri wondered if Yukina trusted him a little too much… 

“Senpai, your manners are poor.” 

She glared at him and voiced her complaint when he audibly slurped his soup. However, Kojou shrugged his shoulders, failing to concede the point. 

“I can’t move my right hand, so I don’t have much of a choice.” 

“Goodness. Give me that… Here you go.” 

Having had enough, Yukina stole the dish from Kojou’s hand and brought the soup to his lips with a spoon. It was the sort of pose where you’d expect someone to go Say aah. Kojou merely went “Mm” as brief thanks, sipping the soup from Yukina’s spoon as if it was no big deal. 

Then, when he took a bite from a cereal bar between sips, he said, “Hey, this is pretty tasty.” 

“Is that so? Somehow, it looks rather odd…” 

“Yeah, that’s what surprised me. I think you’ll like the taste, too, Himeragi. Here.” 

Kojou tendered the partially eaten cereal bar in front of Yukina as he spoke. Without hesitation, Yukina leaned forward and nibbled at the tip like a little bird. 

“It really is tasty…” 

“Told ya.” 

Kojou nodded as he glanced around the surrounding area. Yukina, watching him, picked up a PET bottle at Kojou’s feet and said, “Water? Here you go.” 

“Ah, thanks.” 

With a very natural-looking demeanor, Yukina opened the lid of the bottle, and Kojou accepted it from her without the slightest hint of suspicion. The reason Kojou did not move away from the chilly windowsill was apparently because he was letting Yukina sit in front of the woodstove, the most comfortable place in the cabin. 

For a while, Yuiri gazed at the frighteningly natural interaction between the pair with a neutral expression. Eventually, she was seized by the abrupt impulse to exclaim, “Are you two husband and wife?!” 

She ended up blurting it out at the top of her lungs. 

“Th-the heck?!” 

“Yuiri?” 

Kojou and Yukina looked at Yuiri with surprise, as if the pair could not understand why Yuiri had said that all of a sudden. No doubt they never even dreamed that their own behavior was somehow untoward. 

But seeing Yukina and Kojou in such intimacy melted Yuiri’s sense of guilt just a smidgeon. 

The fact Yukina had undertaken a dangerous mission in Yuiri’s place had not changed. However, in so doing, she had gained something that Yuiri did not possess— 

“I’m sorry, it’s really nothing. I just felt like yelling it out.” 

“R-right.” 

She appeared unapologetic, but Kojou nodded nonetheless. 

Maybe stuffing her belly had made Glenda drowsy again, for she was already curled up on the blanket, asleep once more. However, the low moans and the small twitches of Glenda’s ears made it seem like she was having a nightmare. 

At the same time, Yuiri noticed something else—a possessor of strange magical energy was approaching the cabin. The instant Yuiri tried to tell Kojou and Yukina, she saw the latter already stretching her hand to the spear standing beside her. 

“Senpai… A wyvern.” 

“So they found us… That didn’t take long. Shit.” 

Kojou stuffed the rest of the cereal bar into his mouth and quickly rose to his feet. 

When Yuiri looked more closely, both Kojou and Yukina were still wearing their shoes. They might have looked relaxed, but both had been prepared if Azama and the others came raiding. 

Yukina, seeing Yuiri rush to go after them, calmly told her, “Yuiri, please take care of Glenda. If worse comes to worst, please, leave us and run.” 

“Yukii…” 

When Yuiri watched Yukina head out of the cabin, a strained, spontaneous smile came over her. 

She repeated the words Yukina had spoken as if it was the most natural thing in the world. 

Us, huh…? 

3 

The gunmetal wyvern landed a short distance away from the cabin. 

Riding on it was Azama wearing knightly plate, all by himself. There was no sign of the other wyvern or the gunmetal magic user that mounted it. 

Perhaps the wyvern had been entangled in the attack from Kojou’s Beast Vassal. It was heavily wounded all over its body, with bare metal visible underneath where the scales had been stripped off. The wyverns, too, were golems created by the sorcerous devices of the Sinful God. 

“Major Azama…right? You’re alone?” 

Kojou posed the question as the man in knightly plate dismounted his wyvern. 

Azama did not have his lance in hand; he’d taken off one of his sorcerous devices—his knight’s helm. He was unexpectedly young, a weathered man reminiscent of a hunting dog. 

“Kojou Akatsuki…… I would like a word with you.” 

“With me?” 

Kojou dubiously knit his brows at Azama’s unexpected words. 

“Yes,” said Azama, nodding gravely as he continued, “Due to my position, I am aware of many of the circumstances surrounding your becoming Fourth Primogenitor—information largely unknown even to the Defense Forces brass.” 

“What are you getting at?” 

Kojou grimaced. There was nothing comforting about someone he didn’t know or had even seen before saying I know about your past. 

“Do you not wish to know the reason why we are attempting to capture Glenda? Or rather, just what Glenda, a so-called dragon, truly is…” 

“…I’m listening,” Kojou replied after some hesitation. After all, that was exactly the information he sought. 

Having clearly expected that answer from Kojou, Azama smiled as he continued. 

“You probably understand from mythology that the ancient superhumans known as Devas quarreled with the otherworldly god known as Cain. We call this conflict The Cleansing.” 

“I’ve also heard that it’s not accepted as historical fact by scholars,” Kojou rebutted. “Isn’t that just a myth?” 

He wasn’t making light of Azama; he just found it hard to believe such a serious a man would act based on such vague information. 

“But the fact remains that, on the other hand, much of the sorcerous technology has vestiges from this Cleansing as their foundation. Sorcery, ritual magic, alchemy, and sorcerous devices—even the Schneewaltzer employed by the Sword Shaman next to you was constructed with an ancient treasured spear as its core. This also applies to you, Fourth Primogenitor.” 

“So what of it? What does this have to do with Glenda?” Kojou squinted, his irritation evident. 

“Even if The Cleansing was something that really happened, didn’t it end thousands of years ago?” 

“Wars repeat themselves, even if both sides originally waging it have perished… It is said that the Devas were wiped out, but sorcery and demons remain in this world.” 

Azama spun his words in his baritone voice with an odd degree of reverence. 

“…Demons?” 

“It is said that Cain is the creator of all demons. It is also said that he taught sorcery and science to humankind. In other words, the legacy of Cain, the Sinful God, is the law that governs this world.” 

“Well, you’re free to believe that if you want, but…” Kojou sighed and shook his head. “That doesn’t mean it has anything to do with the here and now. Or do you plan to take God’s place and rewrite the laws of the world?” 

“Of course not. Humans cannot become gods,” Azama said with a self-critical smile. Then, he shifted a defiant gaze Kojou’s way. 

“But it is possible to resurrect a once-destroyed god…and to control it.” 

“Control…a god…?” Kojou glared. “Are you crazy?” 

In response, the Knight of the Sinful God smiled as he merely shook his head. 

Kojou had heard that the Cleansers were heretic terrorists that worshipped Cain. However, if Azama’s true objective was to control that god, the meaning behind all their actions was turned on its head. The Cleansers were not mere worshippers of Cain—quite the reverse. Their actions were inspired by repudiation of Cain and everything the Sinful God had wrought. 

“Glenda, Dragon of the Marsh, is the guardian of the legacy Cain left. She is the vessel for the god’s information. She is neither demon nor demon beast; in other words, merely one component of a system. This system was set to awaken when a particular condition is fulfilled.” 

“Particular condition…?” 

Kojou felt like the words Azama had spoken constituted a slight lead. What was the true reason behind the Lion King Agency using Nagisa Akatsuki as a sacrifice? What if the key to waking Glenda, a relic of The Cleansing, was the knowledge—the memories—of another relic from the same conflict that only Nagisa possessed? 

Kojou arrived at an answer. “I see… The awakening of the Fourth Primogenitor…!” 

Azama exhaled at length in recognition. “Certainly, Glenda poses little threat by herself. In spite of this, she is a relic that we Cleansers must obtain by whatever measures necessary. The Lion King Agency used that to set a trap and flush us out, but even if the greater portion of my brethren must be sacrificed, obtaining Glenda makes it all worthwhile.” 

“…Why are you telling me all this?” Kojou had some serious misgivings; whatever the Cleansers’ objective, there was surely no need for Azama to tell Kojou. 

However, Azama trained a mysteriously earnest gaze toward the Fourth Primogenitor. 

“Because, Kojou Akatsuki, you have a stake in this as well. You, once a human being, surely understand that demons possess extraordinary abilities—and just how easily they distort the world around us. A large city can be destroyed on the mere whim of a single vampire. What do you think the true form of this warped world would look like?” 

“So what, you want to wipe out Demonkind…?” 

Kojou twisted his face in disgust. He’d use the god that created demons to exterminate every last one. Azama’s goal was twisted, but Kojou could see the logic behind it. 

“We merely seek to return the world to its proper form. Surely, these words must be gospel to your ears, Kojou Akatsuki—you would be released from your curse of immortality and granted death as a human being.” 

Azama spoke with a stark tone. 

He was telling Kojou to die as a human being rather than live on by himself for hundreds, even thousands of years. 

That logic was stupid. 

On the other hand, the proposal had its appeal. 

To be blunt, the prospect of an uncertain future of eternal loneliness was too great for any single being to bear. Azama could free Kojou from such never-ending anguish. 

So don’t get in my way was his message to Kojou. 

“Depending on how you look at it, well, it’s not such a bad deal…if what you say is true.” 

Kojou accepted the righteousness of the man’s claim. Kojou hadn’t obtained the power of an immortal vampire by choice in the first place. He had no reluctance to cast it aside. After all, immortality truly was a curse. 

“Senpai…!” 

Yukina trembled with anger when she heard Kojou’s murmur, seemingly devoid of self-preservation. Seeing Yukina like that, Kojou let out a vague, pained smile. It was none other than Yukina who had been assigned the mission of continuing to watch over the Fourth Primogenitor—and if necessary, slay him. Her anger wasn’t very rational. 

“Hand Glenda over, Fourth Primogenitor. The vessel is necessary to us, so that we may oppose the Gigafloat Management Corporation.” Azama’s demand almost sounded businesslike. 

Kojou gasped, his face going stiff. “The Gigafloat Management Corporation…?! What the hell does Itogami Island have to do with this…?!” 

A moment later that he heard a boom like distant thunder. A huge flying object descended from the clouds loitering overhead, looking just as large as a passenger plane coming in for a landing. 

“Senpai! That’s…?!” 

“The heck?! Is that a cargo plane…?” 

The airplane, dabbed in a grayish color, greatly resembled a military cargo plane, but the countless gun ports built into the fuselage’s sides meant it could not possibly be any mere transport. 

The enormous, malevolent craft was descending from a high altitude toward the cabin where Glenda and Yuiri remained. 

“This is the trump card of the Self-Defense Forces Special Attack Mage Regiment… An AC-2 gunship. Now it belongs to us, however,” Azama stated calmly and without boasting. 

The aircraft, its design based on a cargo plane, was packed with a vast quantity of arms and ammunition, granting it heavy weapons and high firepower impossible for a normal aircraft to wield, turning it into an attack aircraft for ground suppression—and the one piloting it was the woman in the gunmetal robe. 

“You mean to tell us…you used the aircraft as material for a golem—?!” Yukina explained, her expression freezing once she realized Azama’s intentions. 

The gunmetal magic user could transform a weapon of war into a golem based on the original specs. Even the golems based on armored personnel carriers had possessed fortitude and offensive might far beyond what was normally possible for them. This being the case, she couldn’t even conceive of the firepower a monster born from a gunship would possess. 

Furthermore, they were able to nullify the attacks of Kojou’s Beast Vassals. Snowdrift Wolf, their only means to defy magic-nullifying barriers, could not reach a golem flying through the sky. 

“The discussion is over, Kojou Akatsuki. Leave Glenda here, and withdraw.” 

Azama put on his knightly helm. Behind him, the wyvern spread its enormous wings. 

“Your story had a bit going for it, Major Azama.” Kojou smiled ferociously, fangs bared. “But I’ve seen you kill one of your own men and not even blink. Thanks to you Cleansers, a whole lot of innocent troops got hurt, too. I can’t trust you, and I ain’t handing Glenda to anyone I don’t trust.” 

“I see… Most unfortunate, Fourth Primogenitor.” 

Azama couched his lance once more, pointing it toward Kojou’s heart. 

Next he announced, with raw emotion in his voice for the first time— 

“Then die as a filthy demon!” 

4 

With a roar, the iron knight’s couched lance opened fire with the same pitch-black spheres that had wounded Glenda. 

Kojou could not evade the attack. If he stepped aside, the sphere would strike the cabin, and Yuiri and Glenda would suffer as a consequence. Therefore, Kojou raised his right hand high and howled: 

“—C’mon over, Beast Vassal Number One, Mesarthim Adamas!” 

Kojou endured the fierce pain hitting his right hand as he summoned a divine sheep that radiated light. The innumerable diamond crystals encircling the Beast Vassal formed a shield to fend off the knight’s attack. 

Like pool balls, the trajectory of the jet-black spheres was altered as they slammed into the crystals, one after another. Various crystals turned into bullets of their own, assaulting Azama from various directions. The absolutely inviolate divine lamb was a frightening Beast Vassal of retribution. 

However, Azama deployed his jet-black aura to impede those diamond bullets. 

Though the black membrane lacked the slightest depth, it seemed to permeate thin air, encroaching upon and repainting the very world itself. Without a sound, the attacks by the Fourth Primogenitor’s Beast Vassal were swallowed up by the darkness. 

“That black curtain thingy again…!” 

Kojou felt nervous that the knight’s power was neutralizing his Beast Vassal, but also, he was quietly relieved. 

Even if he was armed with relics from The Cleansing, Azama himself was just a human being. If he was showered in attacks from a Beast Vassal, he was a dead man. The fact that his opponent was a murderer didn’t constitute a reason for Kojou to kill him…even if his objective was the slaughter of all Demonkind. 

“—Senpai, please protect Glenda and Yuiri! I shall take Major Azama!” Yukina said, leaping forward in his hesitation as she poised her silver spear. 

Kojou had no time to stop her. He was striking down all the bullets fired by the iron knight as Yukina instantly closed the distance. 

“You are in my way, Sword Shaman!” 

Azama commanded his wyvern to attack. The flying gunmetal demon beast obstructed Yukina so her attacks would never reach the iron knight. With the wyvern whipping about almost at ground level, its mass alone was a menace. Yukina’s Snowdrift Wolf, lacking additional physical effects, could not fend off such power. 

“Himeragi—! Get down!” 

When Kojou rushed forward to protect Yukina, the gunship roared. 

The enormous silhouette circling in the sky above no longer retained the form of an aircraft. It had adopted the form of a nine-headed mock hydra, its enormity far greater than that of the dragon Glenda or the wyverns. The multiheaded monster, inheriting the gunship’s firepower, spewed pitch-black flames with incredible force. 

“A black…cannonball…?!” 

Kojou’s Beast Vassal deployed its defensive wall. But the countless diamond crystals boasting great density completely broke apart in the face of the mock hydra’s attacks. It was the same as the gunfire from Azama’s lance: The mock hydra’s cannonball had been granted the ability to nullify demonic energy. 

With the Beast Vassal’s wall smashed, the pitch-black cannonball assaulted the now-defenseless Kojou. 

Just before that enormous sphere swallowed him whole, a dazzling beam sliced across thin air. 

“Rosen Chevalier Plus—activate!” 

Yuiri, silver long sword in hand, landed in front of Kojou. The rift in space created by her sword strike fended off the pitch-black cannonball. The cannonball’s magic energy-nullifying ability made the pseudo-spatial severing effect end, but by that time, the cannonball itself had dissipated. 

“Yuiri…?!” 

“I’m sorry! But I thought hiding against an opponent like this wouldn’t be any help—” 

“Ah, nah… I suppose you’re right. You saved me. And Glenda?” 

“Dah!” 

When Kojou looked around, the parka-wearing Glenda leaped onto his back with an audible puff against his parka. The feel of the girl’s light body brought a perplexed look over Kojou, whereupon Yuiri lowered her eyes. 

“Er… Kojou, I thought the safest place for her was probably behind your back, so…” 

Apparently, Glenda was clinging to Kojou on Yuiri’s instructions. Perhaps Yuiri hadn’t expected Glenda to be quite that close behind him. 

“That part’s fine, but this ain’t good. At this rate—” 

Kojou felt distinctly uneasy as he looked up at the hydra overhead. If he soaked up the next attack from the hydra, he was pretty sure Yuiri wouldn’t be able to block it. If he didn’t defeat that giant golem before that happened— 

“Shit!! C’mon over, Regulus Aurum! Al-Meissa Mercury!” 

Kojou summoned two new Beast Vassals—the lightning lion and the quicksilver, twin-headed dragon. These attempted to pummel the hydra dancing overhead and shoot its giant frame down. 

The gunmetal magic user standing atop one of the hydra’s heads blocked their attacks. The pitch-black aura spreading from the openings of her robe covered the hydra’s entire body. 

The hydra shuddered from the collisions, but that was all. If sealed off from demonic energy, even the Beast Vassals of the Fourth Primogenitor could not destroy the enormous creature. 

That said, he couldn’t resort to the same means he’d used to strike down the wyverns before. The hydra was simply too close. If he let his Beast Vassals run amok in that situation, Kojou and his allies would not emerge unscathed, and this time, he’d most certainly kill Azama and his companion. 

“No good, then…!” 

The hydra unleashed its flames with a roar. Kojou’s Beast Vassals unleashed their respective attacks to counter the flying pitch-black cannonball. Even so, they could not stop it, leaving the cannonball to bear down on Kojou and the others from overhead— 

“—Snowdrift Wolf!” 

It was Yukina who struck it down right before Kojou’s and the others’ eyes. 

“Are you all right, senpai?! Yuiri?!” 

“Yukii…!” 

“Himeragi! The wyvern…?!” 

Seeing that they were safe, although shaken, Yukina gently pointed in front of her. The wyvern she’d been fighting was writhing on the ground, one wing and its torso deeply gouged. The hydra’s cannon fire had struck it. 

No—rather, Yukina had lured it into a position where the hydra’s attack would make it a victim. Yukina had used herself as a decoy to make one enemy shoot the other. With Snowdrift Wolf, she’d shredded the pitch-black aura that would have otherwise protected the wyvern. 

“…A Schneewaltzer of the Lion King Agency…a troublesome weapon indeed. I had heard it could rend any barrier, but to think it would even sever the encroachment of Nod,” Azama murmured in a low, half-admiring tone. 

“Encroachment of Nod…?” 

Kojou mulled over the unfamiliar words Azama had let slip from his lips. 

“Nod is another world, that where Cain, the Sinful God, was exiled. So, too, is it a hollow world where, through The Cleansing, the god lost his omnipotence…” 

Surprisingly, Azama came right out and replied to Kojou’s question. 

I see, thought Kojou as he made a wordless nod. If all demonic energy in the world was the product of Cain, and Cain’s power did not function in Nod, it meant Nod was a world where demonic energy did not exist. 

The black aura that nullified demonic energy was actually traces of Nod leaking into their world. 

“So that antique-looking armor is a sorcerous device for controlling the encroachment of Nod, then? I thought you just liked dressing up.” 

“I hardly desire to dress up like a jester, but—I accept it as a necessary evil. After all, thanks to this, I am able to obtain the power to wipe demons like you off the face of the Earth in one fell swoop.” 

Azama spread his jet-black mantle. However, the night-colored aura that oozed forth covered not thin air but was instead silently absorbed by the ground at Azama’s feet. 

Perplexed, Kojou watched as the black shadowlike marring spread beneath his own feet. This smear became countless blades lacking any depth, emerging from underground to pierce Kojou’s body— 

“What…?!” 

At once, Kojou was stricken by fierce pain and dull impacts. 

“Senpai?!” 

“Kojou?!” 

Yukina and Yuiri looked over, eyes wide in shock. Even with their ability to peer into the future, the girls had been unable to respond to the invisible subterranean attack. 

“Gah… Haah…!” 

The blades, the color of night, impaling Kojou’s entire body had dampened his vampiric powers. Kojou coughed up blood, unable to speak a word, thus robbed of the ability to summon Beast Vassals. It took all the strength he could muster to save Glenda by thrusting her off his back. 

The darkness spreading at Kojou’s feet proceeded to encroach on space itself, swallowing Kojou’s entire body. 

“Yuiri, don’t… Take Glenda…and run…” 

Just as Yuiri rushed over, Kojou put a stop to her with a look alone. At that point, if Yuiri carelessly touched Kojou, she would be dragged into the void with him. 

Yukina thrust out her silver spear, but the encroachment of Nod was swifter. Kojou completely melted into the darkness, leaving only a black ooze behind. 

“Primary objective accomplished. Captain Okiyama, take care of the rest.” 

“Copy that.” 

Accepting Azama’s instructions, the gunmetal magic user descended from atop the hydra. Azama intended for her to take Yukina and Yuiri on by herself while he captured Glenda. 

“I shall buy time! Yuiri, please take Glenda and go!” 

“Yukii…!” 

Watching from behind, hesitation ran through Yuiri’s eyes as she watched Yukina enter a combat stance. 

It was impossible for Yukina to take on Azama, Okiyama, and the hydra all by herself. Having them take one another down with friendly fire like she’d done with the wyvern probably wouldn’t work, either. 

That said, if Yuiri went down with her, it would leave no one to protect Glenda. 

What should I do? anguished Yuiri when, before her eyes, a completely unexpected act came from Glenda. 

“Uu?!” 

Of her own will, Glenda leaped into the pitch-black stagnation remaining on the ground’s surface—the hollow darkness that had swallowed Kojou. A moment after Glenda, too, vanished, the darkness continued to shrink until it dissipated altogether. 

With a flapping sound, only the parka she had worn fell onto the ground. 

“G…Glenda?!” 

“What…?!” 

It was not only Yuiri and Yukina who were surprised. Azama, himself the one supposedly controlling the encroachment, gazed dumbfounded at the unexpected turn of events. He exclaimed in a flabbergasted tone, “The vessel herself…swallowed…by Nod…! How can this be…?!” 

The despair of his quivering voice rammed home the stark truth. 

Even the power of the Knight of the Sinful God could not bring back that consumed by the darkness. 

5 

A city of never-ending summer— 

There, over the pacific, floated a tiny island. 

A man-made isle surrounded by a sea that was red like blood. 

The sky was scarlet, as if just after sunset. The ruin of an enormous building towered against the background of the vermillion sky. The broken and battered buildings of the surrounding area had been destroyed, burned to the ground. It looked like a scene right after a great natural disaster had struck—or the immediate aftermath of being razed in the midst of armed conflict. 

“What…is this place?” 

Kojou frailly murmured as he surveyed the ruins that somehow felt familiar to him. The voice was mixed with an anguished groan. 

Azama’s attack led to his entire body being impaled and swallowed by the hollow darkness. When Kojou came to, he was all alone in a strange world. 

The raw wounds left all over his body were proof that this was neither a memory nor a dream. The clothes on his body, and even the ground at his feet, were drenched in his own blood as it flowed down his body. 

Having lost his vampiric regenerative abilities, it was probably only a matter of time before he died from blood loss. But in that moment, it was not his own life or death that he noticed, but the world itself. 

“Don’t tell me this is…Itogami Island…?!” 

Kojou was bewildered when he realized that the rubble of the wrecked building bore an uncanny resemblance to Itogami Island’s Keystone Gate. The layout of the streets—and the monorail-like overhead structure that surrounded the artificial isle—greatly resembled those of Itogami Island. But— 

“No, it’s different…” 

Perplexed, Kojou shook his head when he realized the signs and billboards bore characters he’d never seen before. 

As he suspected, this world was not Itogami Island. Though greatly resembling it, this was a different land altogether. 

The encroachment of Nod should’ve swallowed me up, so what am I doing in a place like this? That was what Kojou asked himself. 

It was the next moment that he sensed someone else approach. 

“Who’s there…?! Is someone out there?” 

When Kojou turned back, his eyes caught sight of a single man standing in the rubble of a ruined building. 

The evening sunrays at his back rendered Kojou unable to get a good look at his face. 

What Kojou did recognize was the broken spear he held against his chest— 

And beyond that, he noticed the presence of twelve hazy, black wings floating behind his back. 

The man looked like he was in mourning—or perhaps singing… 

“?……?” 

Finally, Kojou realized that the man’s lips were trembling, as if he was trying to tell him something. 

But before those words could be voiced, the man faded and then…vanished. 

At the same time, Kojou realized that the island in ruins had begun silently dissipating as well, turning into minute particles of light. 

It had begun to fade and vanish, like a memory from long ago— 

“Remnants of thoughts…or something like that?” 

Kojou felt acute nervousness as he surveyed the landscape being consumed by darkness all around him, for the artificial ground beneath Kojou’s feet, and even Kojou’s own flesh and blood, had slowly begun to dissipate as well. 

Everything was emitting a pale light as it melted, vanishing into the void. 

“Ugh… This ain’t good…” 

Kojou gritted his teeth as he suffered the ferocious encroachment of Nod. 

Am I gonna vanish in a place like this? he thought, resentment and anger spreading within. 

But as he currently was, Kojou had no power with which to resist his annihilation. It would be the same if he still had his vampire powers. After all, only the Divine Oscillation Effect of Snowdrift Wolf could oppose the encroachment of Nod. 

The silver spear only Yukina possessed— 

“What the…?!” 

The instant the sight of Yukina and the spear dubbed Snowdrift Wolf arose in the back of his mind, ferocious pain ran through Kojou’s right hand. 

It was as if he’d received a sudden jolt from an invisible circuit embedded into the back of his hand, sending electricity coursing through him. 

The next moment, the assault on Kojou’s body…stopped. 

All around Kojou, he was enveloped by a transparent, radiant membrane that resembled a soap bubble. That membrane protected Kojou from the black void. 

“A barrier? This light… It’s the same as Snowdrift Wolf’s…” 

Kojou murmured, beside himself as he realized the true nature of the glowing membrane that had halted the encroachment of Nod. 

Without question, it was a Divine Oscillation Effect barrier that had rescued Kojou from the danger of annihilation. He’d seen and remembered Yukina employing similar techniques several times over. 

Yet, Yukina wasn’t there. And yet, such a powerful Divine Oscillation Effect had been embedded into Kojou’s right hand—he could only think of a single possibility. 

“Paper Noise… Back then, she must have…!” 

The bizarre wound purportedly still carved into his right hand had vanished. The lost feeling in his right hand had returned. In the final instant of their clash, Koyomi Shizuka had sealed Kojou’s right hand with a barrier ritual. 

Realizing that she couldn’t stop Kojou from leaving Itogami Island, she’d taken out an insurance policy. She’d secretly planted a trump card into Kojou that could save him from annihilation should he encounter an enemy that could manipulate the encroachment of Nod—without Kojou ever suspecting. 

Kiriha Kisaki had identified what had been carved into his right hand as a sealing ritual. However, seals were not limited to ensuring your opponent could not escape. Depending on the circumstance, seals were employed to protect what was on the inside. It was the latter which Koyomi Shizuka had carved into Kojou. 

Thinking back upon it, the wound in Kojou’s right hand hadn’t hurt when he’d summoned his Beast Vassals. Without exception, Kojou’s wound throbbed right after someone had used a sorcerous device of the Sinful God. That wound had reacted to the encroachment of Nod. 

Even so, thought Kojou, sighing. 

Thanks to Paper Noise’s spell, he’d escaped instant annihilation, but that didn’t mean he’d returned to his own world. The Divine Oscillation Effect barrier wouldn’t last forever, either. 

Unless he could find a way to slip out from Nod, annihilation really was only a matter of time. 

Kojou thought What should I do? and clutched his head— 

“Dah… Kojou…!” 

A dragon’s roar made the air inside the barrier tremble. 

An enormous dragon seemed to be swimming in hollow darkness, heading straight in Kojou’s direction. 

By the time he began to fear he would be squished flat by its overwhelming mass, the dragon transformed into a girl. 

Glenda slipped right through the Divine Oscillation Effect barrier and glommed on to Kojou’s back. 

“G-Glenda?! How the hell did you get here…?!” 

Kojou looked back in astonishment at the side of the naked, innocently smiling girl. 

Glenda touched one of his bleeding wounds and asked, “Does it hurt? Kojou, does it hurt?” 

“If you understand, then don’t touch like that…” He grimaced and weakly groaned as she nonchalantly stroked his wound sites. 

Of course, he had no idea why Glenda had appeared in that place. He was mindful of Yukina and Yuiri as well, both left behind in their original world. Either way, Glenda’s appearance meant that waiting for annihilation was no longer an option. He had to bring her back to the real world by any means necessary. 

“Shit, why the hell did you have to come here, too?” 

“Bring…Kojou back. Make Yuiri…happy,” replied the girl with hair the color of steel. 

“Ah, so that’s what it is,” Kojou said quietly, sighing. She must have leaped into that world of emptiness solely to make Yuiri happy. 

“Glenda, do you know what we’ve got to do to get outta here?” he asked as he gingerly held the girl in his arms. 

In any event, the fact she was naked meant her moving away from him posed a number of problems. Also, he wanted to avoid carelessly letting go of her and letting them get separated. As a result, the girl was pressed right against Kojou’s body. 

Glenda’s beautiful, hematite-like eyes stared right back at Kojou. 

“Glenda…understands… Glenda…is the vessel for the information… Must reach…the priestess…” 

“…Priestess?” 

Kojou was perplexed as he listened to Glenda’s terribly fragmented words. The warmth of humanity was gradually vanishing, and her innocent expression shifted to one that almost seemed robotic. 

Glenda was enveloped by a faint glow, and her contours became vague and blurred. 

“Bring back…Kojou… Everyone will be…happy…” 

Glenda, wreathed in blue light, transformed before Kojou’s eyes. 

Kojou was on guard for her to become a dragon, but what appeared was an unexpected girl’s face. 

She had silver hair and blue eyes. She had a face as gentle as a saint’s—Kanon Kanase. 

“Kanase…? How…?!” 

Before the surprised Kojou, light surrounded Glenda once more. The next to appear was Yuuma Tokoyogi’s androgynous face. Then, La Folia’s regal visage. Then, Sayaka Kirasaka’s elegant figure rose to the fore. 

That was when Kojou finally realized the reason why Glenda knew what they looked like— 

“You’re…sifting through my memories…?” 

She was displaying the girls whose blood Kojou had once drunk. 

An indigo-haired homunculus girl appeared, and after that, Glenda changed into the final girl. 

Yukina Himeragi. The small-statured Sword Shaman whose blood was the first Kojou had drank of his own will— 

“…My…blood… Please, drink my blood…” 

Speaking those words in Yukina’s form, Glenda offered the nape of her neck. 

Yukina’s voice, Yukina’s appearance—both were straight out of Kojou’s memories. 

“Senpai, through vampiric action, you will gain the memory of the blood… I will grant you the power of the information inside me. The power to defy the encroachment of Nod.” 

Glenda—or Yukina—took Kojou’s hand, gently guiding it to her own bosom. 

She pressed it over the faint bulge of her chest, so that he might feel the beating of the heart beneath. 

“Wai… What are you…?!” 

The sensation of smooth flesh and soft firmness he had never touched before blanked out Kojou’s thoughts. His canines throbbed, and his throat was struck by a powerful sense of dryness. 

Heavy breathing. Heartbeats. Body warmth. The comfortable presence of her touch—her scent. 

Azama had called her a vessel. Glenda had said she was a vessel for information. 

Then who filled her with that information…? he wondered. 

A song trickled out from Glenda’s lips. A tune of lament that the boy had sung, clutching the broken spear to his chest in the light of dusk. 

“I get it… Glenda, you’re…” 

Kojou murmured as his eyes were dyed scarlet. Glenda was no longer in Yukina’s form; she’d already returned to her own. However, Kojou obeyed his own vampiric impulses and sank his fangs into her slender neck. 

He felt a little guilt toward Yukina, but even so, he had to bring Glenda back with him. 

Back to their own world… To the world of the living. 

“Ah…” 

The girl squirmed in Kojou’s arms, letting out a slender, frail breath. 

And then— 

6 

The hydra’s attack hollowed out the ground. Yukina and Yuiri just barely managed to evade it. 

Azama, encased in the gunmetal knight’s armor, deployed the nullifying aura over the surface of the ground once more. 

He no doubt meant to open the once-closed passage to Nod anew. Perhaps he hoped that Glenda would return on her own power. 

In that case, Yukina and Yuiri’s presence was a nuisance to him. Hence, the gunmetal magic user—Mikage Okiyama—was playing her support role for Azama by attempting to eliminate the pair. 

“Yukii! I’ll draw off the big one, so while I do that—!” 

“Right!” 

Yukina left Yuiri to take on the hydra as she aimed at the gunmetal magic user who’d disembarked onto the ground. Either way, Yukina’s Snowdrift Wolf could not defeat the armor protecting the hydra. 

But if she defeated Mikage Okiyama, the thin film of nothingness covering the hydra would vanish. If that happened, Yuiri could surely destroy the hydra afterward. 

“—?!” 

Yukina’s spear rent the magic user’s robe. But the pitch-black aura enveloping Okiyama did not dissipate. Indeed, she stripped off her own robe, employing it as a shield to obstruct Yukina’s vision. 

Then, from a blind spot behind the robe, the rod hurtled toward Yukina. A gleaming, glossy-black rod— 

Yukina just barely parried the blow. Had she not blocked it, the impact would have blown her back quite a distance. Mikage Okiyama, seeing that Yukina had not even lost her balance from such a blow, smiled in a show of admiration. 

Her expression was composed to an irritating extent. 

“So that is your sorcerous device, Captain Okiyama,” Yukina spat with a glare. 

The armor that Azama wore was a sorcerous device from the Sinful God capable of controlling the encroachment of Nod itself. Yukina had thought that the woman’s robe functioned as a sorcerous device as well. 

It was not so. The magic user–style robe was a simple fraud. 

Thanks to her realizing that so late, Yukina’s first attack was spectacularly foiled…even though any delay in defeating Okiyama would put Yuiri in that much more danger. 

“Yes, that’s right. Let’s see, you are…Yukina Himeragi, the other Sword Shaman?” Mikage Okiyama twirled the rod in her hand as she glared at Yukina. “Please rest at ease. This sorcerous device is a mere replica. Creating golems and covering things in a veil of nothingness is the upper limit of what it can do. However—” 

A second later, Mikage Okiyama grew hazy within Yukina’s field of vision. 

Okiyama bounded forward with incredible speed. She thrust her rod. Even with Yukina’s quick reaction, all she could manage was barely evading the arc of the attack. The bayonet attached to the tip of the rod slid just past Yukina’s shoulder. 

“Bayonet weapon arts—?!!” 

“Do you really believe you can defeat me in close combat? I am from the Special Attack Mage Regiment, you know?” 

Mikage Okiyama’s ceaseless flurry of attacks gradually pushed Yukina back on her heels. 

She was unimaginably strong. In terms of raw hand-to-hand skill, Mikage Okiyama far outstripped Yukina. 

The magic user’s rod was inferior to the Sword Shaman’s spear in reach, but it was far easier to swing in confined spaces. Okiyama was challenging Yukina to a battle of blunt attacks at point-blank range to employ this advantage to the utmost. Yukina, inferior to her in size and musculature, couldn’t grasp a foothold with which to counterattack. 

“That spear is claimed to be invincible against demons, but against a human being like me, it is nothing more but an anachronistic melee weapon! And your Sword Shaman’s Spirit Sight is useless against the encroachment of Nod covering me!” 

“Ugh…!” 

Mikage Okiyama rammed her body into Yukina’s, sending the latter flying. Although, to Yukina, this constituted an opportunity, for she’d finally obtained the room with which to get her spear back into a proper posture. 

At the same time she landed, she put her ragged breathing in order and lifted her face. Then, Yukina saw Mikage Okiyama retreat with a backward leap of her own. Why? thought a confused Yukina, and during that momentary opening, Okiyama issued an order to her golem. 

“AC-2, open fire!” 

“Oh n—!” 

A moment after Yukina touched down, the nine heads of the hydra spewed flames toward her all at once. 

“Yukii, get down!” 

With Yukina frozen in place, Yuiri jumped in front of her. She swung her long silver sword downward, deploying a pseudo-spatial severing bulwark, but the hydra’s initial attack easily smashed that absolute barrier to pieces. 

Rosen Chevalier Plus could no longer be used until it had been recharged with ritual energy. Yuiri laughed dryly, seemingly at her own expense, as the hydra took aim for another volley. 

We’ll never dodge it— 

Yukina and Yuiri made small gasps as they simultaneously grasped that fact. 

A moment later, the hydra was engulfed in flames. 

The impact from the direct hit of a tank cannon greatly staggered the golem’s enormous body. 

“Uu—?!” 

It was not Yukina nor Yuiri who was shaken by the sight, but Mikage Okiyama. 

A scarlet-painted micro-robot tank had emerged from the dense evergreen forest. Its main gun had sniped Mikage Okiyama’s golem. 

With binoculars in one hand, a girl with an extravagant hairstyle poked her head out of a hatch and shouted: 

“It felt that one, Tanker! Give it another!” 

“’Twas most fortuitous that I upgraded the firepower!” 

As soon as the auto-loader finished, the pilot of the robot tank fired the next round. Simultaneously, a large barrage of anti-tank missiles sailed into the air from the missile pods on the back of the tank. 

The hydra’s enormous body crumbled in a great mass of scattered metal fragments. 

Mikage Okiyama’s gunmetal rod was a sorcerous device for transforming modern weaponry into demon beasts. Its offensive power was inherited by the resulting demon beast, but at the same time, the resilience of the demon beast’s defense was no greater than that of the weapon from which it had come. A gunship design based on a cargo plane wasn’t tough enough to hold up against tank artillery. 

The little, scarlet robot tank had delivered a one-sided stomping upon the huge golem. By the time the tank had exhausted all its shells, the hydra had become a pile of scrap on the verge of death. 

“Aiba—!” 

Yukina briefly stood dumbfounded before calling out to the girl atop the tank, which came to a stop right beside Yukina and Yuiri. 

“Sorry I’m late, Himeragi. Where’s Kojou?” 

“He’s—” 

Yukina awkwardly stopped speaking as her eyes shifted toward the gunmetal knight. 

Azama, caring nothing for the destroyed golem, gazed at the thin film of nothingness still spread over the ground. 

“So he was swallowed by the encroachment of Nod? Heh-heh.” A foreign boy riding atop the tank, seemingly grasping all from the sight before him, laughed in amusement. He had an abnormally dense level of demonic energy. 

“Iblisveil Aziz, I presume…? And the Priestess of Cain. At a time like this…” 

Azama drew his lance as he glared at the boy. 

Yuiri gawked and looked up at the boy when she heard the name Iblisveil Aziz. For her part, simple bewilderment floated into Yukina’s eyes. Naturally, Yukina, too, knew the infamy of Iblisveil Aziz, evil prince of the Fallen Dynasty. He was an ultra-dangerous individual in the league of Dimitrie Vattler. Yukina couldn’t even begin to understand how such a vile vampire prince had come to act in concert with Asagi Aiba. 

“Captain Okiyama.” 

“Yes, Major. I shall dispose of the tank—” 

Azama and Mikage Okiyama readied their respective sorcerous devices for battle. 

Yukina and Yuiri went on guard as well. Even if they’d lost the hydra, Azama still had the encroachment of Nod on his side. Even with the aid of Iblisveil Aziz, they could not afford to be careless. 

However, in contrast to the lethal antagonism between Yukina and the rest, Iblisveil’s expression was gentle. 

The vampire prince bared his teeth as he gazed at the emptiness left on the ground. “Do not be hasty, Underling of the Sinful God—I am not your opponent. Not yet, at least.” 

“What…?!” 

Azama’s face was hidden by the knightly plate, but Yukina somehow knew it had twisted from shock. Though he had doubtlessly relinquished control over the encroachment of Nod, far from dissipating, it was slowly coalescing. 

It was as if someone was prying open an invisible doorway— 

The demonic energy erupting from within the darkness was absolutely not Glenda’s. It was the far more ferocious, far more malevolent demonic energy of the World’s Mightiest Vampire. 

“That’s crazy! Does this mean a demon…a mere demon broke through Nod’s barrier on his own power?!” 

An echo of bewilderment was mixed into the tenor of Azama’s voice. To he, wishing to subdue Cain the Sinful God, Nod had to be a world that rejected the existence of all supernatural power. A demon returning from that place simply could not be possible. Even the Fourth Primogenitor could be no exception. 

“Why are you so surprised? There is one who successfully returned from Nod. Only one, in the very distant past…,” Iblisveil said solemnly, pouring scorn on the rattled Azama. 

Azama’s entire body froze, seemingly beside himself. 

“You cannot mean he consumed the memories of Cain?! Such a thing would be absurd—” 

Before the echoes of Azama’s broken voice, the darkness parted. 

Along with an incredible torrent of demonic energy, a pair emerged: A boy and a girl tightly embraced. The boy somehow had a languid expression; the girl was petite and wore a rather baggy parka. 

“Senpai! Miss Glenda!” 

“K-Kojou?!” 

“Glenda! Kojou—!” 

Yukina, Asagi, and Yuiri let out surprised voices from their respective lips. Then… 

“Fourth Primogenitor?!!” 

…clad in gunmetal armor, the Knight of the Sinful God bellowed. 

7 

“Yuiriiiiii!” 

G-Glenda?!” 

With incredible force, the steel-haired girl leaped, and Yuiri hastily caught her. 

Glenda’s slender thighs were poking all the way out from the baggy parka’s bottom. Asagi’s face twitched as the sight stole her eyes. 

“Wh-who’s that?! And why is she with Kojou…?!” 

“Ohh, those art lovely legs indeed. A feast for the eyes.” 

Where Asagi was nervous, Lydianne casually let out words of admiration. 

Seeing the long stares coming from the girls, Kojou made a weary sigh. He was glad that Yuiri and the others were safe, but things seem to have become problematic, too. 

As Kojou stood his ground like it was nothing special, the gunmetal knight malevolently howled, “Why, Fourth Primogenitor… Why did the vessel choose you…?!” 

“I’m not really sure what you’re blabbing on about, Major Azama.” 

Kojou specifically chose his words to get under Azama’s skin. Kojou finally felt real anger toward Azama, the man who’d put Glenda and the others in peril by brandishing his own, self-serving idea of justice. 

“Glenda’s the one who saved me. You tried to use her as a tool, but she loaned me her strength of her own free will. Maybe a guy like you who kills his own men like it’s nothing would never understand.” 

“How dare a traitor turned demonic down to his very soul speak this way to…” Azama glared with utmost scorn. 

“Shut up, old man.” 

Without fanfare, Kojou cut Azama’s insults short. 

Kojou watched the angry, despairing Knight of the Sinful God with an icy look of pity. 

“Maybe you have a point. Maybe this world is warped, just like you said. But if changing the world to its proper form is right, and your ideals are just, what’d you become a terrorist for? Don’t hide behind a mask! Go find a peaceful way to make the world the way you want, like the vampire primogenitors did with the Holy Ground Treaty!” 

“Why you little…” 

Even through the knightly helm, it was distinctly clear that Azama had rage painted on his face. 

Observing this, Iblisveil made a gloating little laugh. 

The words Kojou had spoken so nonchalantly had ripped the largest hole in the soft tissue inside of Azama. He’d kept averting his eyes from the truth, pretending that he had not realized it himself. 

“You can’t do that, and that makes you lower than any demon. It’s got nothin’ to do with race or abilities. You lost to demons on justice. It’s not the world that’s twisted… It’s you for not being able to look the truth in the eye!!” 

As Azama fell silent, Kojou took a step toward him. 

The so-called Holy Ground Treaty was formed with the aim of coexistence between humans and Demonkind—and it was the vampire primogenitors’ powerful backing that had made it come to fruition. During the time the Cleansers had asserted the world could only be righted by the extinction of all demons, it was that very alliance of demonic lieges that had shown the world an achievable path to peace. 

From that time onward, the Cleansers had lost all right to speak of justice. 

That was why they were deemed terrorists and criminals. 

“C’mon, old man. If you’re still gunning for Glenda in the name of justice, then I’ll be the one who stops you! From here on, this is my fight!” 

“Kojou…Akatsukiiiiii—!!” Azama howled. 

Once more, the encroachment of Nod was unleashed from the knightly plate. Once more, it stretched under the ground. 

But the instant it turned into blades that attempted to run Kojou through, a silver flash stopped the thin film of nothingness in its tracks. 

Surrounded by a pale radiance, Yukina’s spear thrust into the ground at Kojou’s feet. 

“No, senpai. This is our fight!” 

Yukina stopped the encroachment of Nod as she landed at Kojou’s side. 

The subterranean onslaught of the Knight of the Sinful God’s attack was a grave threat, but advance warning made anticipating it no great feat. From the time Azama had first played that hand, he’d lost its original element of surprise. 

“Sorry to keep you waiting, Himeragi.” 

On his own initiative, Kojou apologized for Yukina’s sake, thinking she’d probably been really worried. However, the gaze Yukina tossed his way was far frostier than Kojou expected. 

“—You drank Miss Glenda’s blood, didn’t you, senpai?” 

Kojou’s voice went shrill at Yukina’s flat tone. 

There shouldn’t have been any telltale trace remaining, but Yukina had apparently realized it long before. 

“Y-you’re wrong. Er, I mean, you’re not wrong, but, well, properly speaking, that was both Glenda and…not Glenda, so…” 

Yukina listened, unmoved by the meandering, clear-as-mud explanation Kojou offered up. Then, lining up beside Kojou, she spun her silver spear around. 

“Really? Then we will have a nice, long discussion about it afterward.” 

As he listened to Yukina’s quiet statement, Kojou felt a small sense of despair. She won’t let this go, will she…? 

During that time, Mikage Okiyama rushed to Azama’s side, rod in hand. “Major Azama—” 

“I entrust the rest to you, Captain Okiyama.” 

Halting Okiyama with words like a man about to retreat, Azama pointed his lance toward his own heart. Its tip thrust toward his sternum. 

The lance easily penetrated Azama’s chest. There was neither blood nor a cry of pain. But the gunmetal knightly plate turned into pale particles of light as it swallowed the lance. 

“Not good…!” 

Kojou went pale when he realized what Azama was after. The Knight of the Sinful God possessed two sorcerous devices. One was the knightly plate that controlled the encroachment of Nod. The other was that lance—the sorcerous device that stole characteristics from a weapon, fusing its information to itself. 

“He wants to have one sorcerous device of his consume the other…!” 

“Huh?!” 

Yukina’s eyes went wide in shock. Having consumed the knightly plate, Azama’s lance changed form, proving Kojou’s prediction. Now that the two sorcerous devices had completely fused, they changed into a new, humanoid sorcerous device—in spite of the knightly plate Azama had worn swallowing up his body up in the process. 

“Oh no… If he fuses with the sorcerous device, his mind will be lost in the process…” 

Yukina clenched her silver spear as she spoke. Kojou kicked off the ground and leaped forward the moment he heard the words. 

“Let’s stop him, Himeragi!” 

“Yes!” 

As if saying it needed more information, the armored monster once called Azama stretched a hand toward the wreckage of the destroyed hydra. The lance sorcerous device could extract properties even from destroyed weapons. Indeed, that was how Azama had stolen First Lieutenant Ueyanagi’s information. 

However, without its wielder, the hydra’s information was simply too great for a single sorcerous device to control. Kojou didn’t think a single, coherent personality would be left behind once Azama’s thoughts had been diluted amid a vast influx of information. 

The one possibility of saving Azama was to destroy the lance, the key to the transformation, before he had completely fused with it. But— 

“I won’t let you!” 

—as Yukina readied her silver spear, Mikage Okiyama thrust her bayonet right at Yukina’s eyes. 

She was Azama’s subordinate. She intended to honor his final command to the bitter end. 

“Urk…!” 

Yukina barely managed to evade Mikage Okiyama’s attack from dreadfully close range. 

By then, Azama completely merged with the wreckage of the supposedly destroyed hydra, giving it new life as a new demon beast. It was a bizarre monster resembling a mix between a ferocious crocodile and an oversize serpent. The knightly plate seemed like a carapace; it looked much like the legendary demon beast known as genbu, the black tortoise. 

The opponent was now a monster over thirty meters in length. It was beyond Yukina’s power to fight. 

“Oh no, you don’t, Sword Shaman—your Spirit Sight cannot fend off my attacks. In pure combat experience, you are nothing compared to me. You have no chance of victory.” 

Mikage Okiyama, boasting superior endurance, had practically called for Yukina’s surrender. 

Certainly, it is as you say, Yukina mentally conceded. There was probably no way Yukina could beat her one-on-one. But Yukina was no longer fighting alone. 

“Haaaaaaa—!” 

Mikage Okiyama thrust the rod forward with an earsplitting cry. With Yukina’s movements dulled from fatigue, the tip of her bayonet stabbed deep into the girl’s throat. 

The instant she thought her attack struck true, Yukina’s figure flickered like a mirage. 

An afterimage. No—an illusion spell. 

“Absurd… A Sword Shaman of the Lion King Agency—using an illusion…?!” 

Yukina’s unexpected tactic brought Mikage Okiyama’s series of attacks to a halt. 

There was good reason for Mikage Okiyama to be rattled. Sword Shamans were heavily focused on anti-demon melee combat; they were not specialists in any area of magic. That was simply common sense. As a matter of fact, Yukina’s illusion spells were strictly novice level. 

But for making an opponent misjudge the range ever so slightly in the midst of melee combat, it was plenty. 

Yukina had that lesson painfully beaten into her by the fight with Natsuki Minamiya a few days prior. 

Combat…? 

No, thought Yukina, shaking her head at the idea. 

That was not something that deserved to be called combat. 

Now that she thought about it, what Natsuki had conducted was better called sparring. This was Natsuki’s parting gift—so that her pupils leaving Itogami Island might return safe and sound… 

“Black Thunder—!” 

Yukina leaped, countless afterimages in tow, all moving with agility well beyond human limits. 

Her silver spear glimmered as it took aim at the rod in Mikage Okiyama’s hands. 

“Physical enchantment?! However—!!” 

Mikage Okiyama responded to Yukina’s raylike attack. As if to say I see what you’re aiming at, her bayonet thrust out to counter. If Yukina had aimed at her sorcerous device with moronic forthrightness, the match would most likely have been decided then and there. 

However, Yukina did not thrust out her spear. Without fanfare, she thrust only her weaponless left hand forward. With Mikage Okiyama off-balance, Yukina took aim, unleashing all her stored ritual energy at once. 

“Fiery Lightning?!” 

“Gah……!” 

Mikage Okiyama was defenseless when a mass of ritual energy, much like a transparent hammer, struck her as soon as she finished her attack. Instantly, Okiyama became unable to breathe as her entire body went rigid. 

“…Seeing a Sword Shaman from the Lion King Agency so easily defeated makes me…sick to my stomach.” 

Kiriha Kisaki’s barbed words echoed in the back of Yukina’s mind. 

It was Kiriha’s technique to whip out a ritual spell and use it to launch a surprise attack. Normally, it was a tactic of the Priestesses of the Six Blades of the Bureau of Astrology, but it was easy enough to learn for Sword Shamans of the Lion King Agency, practitioners of common ancestry. 

And then— 

“Distort!” 

Finally, Yukina unleashed a blunt attack at point-blank range. This basic Sword Shaman attack was Yukina’s foremost specialty. By rights, it was a fiendish anti-demon technique that destroyed one’s internal organs, but being a barehanded attack unleashed at point-blank range, it had the advantage of being easy to restrain. 

Mikage Okiyama gaped at Yukina’s face with an expression of disbelief as she slowly crumpled. 

Separated from her hand, Yukina easily destroyed the sorcerous device with Snowdrift Wolf. 

In terms of pure combat experience, Mikage Okiyama far outstripped Yukina—but that was all. 

From the beginning, Yukina had not been fighting alone. There was the Lion King Agency that raised her, the many people she’d met on Itogami Island—she was supported by the strength that they had granted unto her. This was strength Mikage Okiyama had lost when she betrayed her comrades and organization and became a terrorist. 

She could see it from the sorcerous devices the Cleansers employed. They stole and discarded others, nothing more. 

From the moment they cut themselves off, becoming the enemies of all beings beyond themselves, Mikage Okiyama’s combat experience became a perishable commodity. She’d abandoned the opportunity to grow as a person. That was the cause of Mikage Okiyama’s defeat. 

And there was one more person at Yukina’s side—a boy bolstered by the feelings of many. 

“Fourth Primogenitoooooor!” 

The giant tortoise roared with Azama’s voice. 

Like a storm, a volley of cannonballs spewed out of the mouth of the monster that was once a gunship. They targeted not only Kojou, but the nearby Yukina and Mikage Okiyama, threatening even to involve Glenda in the attack. 

But an amber-colored wall erupted up from the ground to impede that indiscriminate attack. 

“What?!” 

A voice of shock sounding much like an earthquake trickled out from the genbu’s mouth. 

A wall of seething, incandescent magma interceded between Azama and Kojou. The high temperature it gave off warped the air, and the genbu’s giant frame retreated from the oppressive feeling generated by its vast mass. 

“I think you’re pretty pathetic, you know,” Kojou quietly said from within the shimmering mirage. His eyes flared red with anger. “You don’t flinch at sacrificing anything for the cause. You’ll use up and throw away the lives of your own people like it’s nothing—I guess your own life counts as part of those sacrifices, huh?! That’s way too twisted, even for you!” 

“Shut up—” 

The genbu unleashed its fusillade once more. Then, with the magma scorching his entire body, Kojou charged forward. 

“You’re not dying here on my watch. I’ll make you reflect long and hard on where you went wrong—! C’mon over, Beast Vassal Number Two, Cor-Tauri Succinum!” 

The demonic energy erupting from his entire body made a new Beast Vassal take physical form. 

This was an enormous minotaur with a molten body. Lava spewing from the earth seemingly without limit constituted the Beast Vassal body proper. Giving off an amber glow from its entire frame, it towered over ten meters tall and gripped a thick battle-ax that was taller still. 

The tortoise deployed its aura of emptiness to defend against that incandescent weapon. The encroachment of Nod blotted out space itself. 

No matter how great the mass or how high the heat of the minotaur’s body, the fact that it was wrought from demonic energy meant it could not breach the Nod bulwark. 

However, Kojou and the others knew that already. They knew that the encroachment of Nod could nullify the laws of sorcery reliant upon Cain the Sinful God. And so, too, did they know it was powerless against simple physical attacks. 

An incandescent glow spread across the ground at the genbu’s feet. 

Vampires were demons closely associated with the earth—to the point of superstitions passing around that they slept in coffins sprinkled with cursed earth of the grave from which they had crawled out. And there was one more symbol associated with vampires— 

Countless stakes of lava erupted from the ground below, breaching the encroachment of Nod and piercing the genbu’s giant body— 

“Stakes made of…lava…?!” 

A human-shaped figure enveloped by blue particles of light rose to the surface of the tortoise’s wrecked head. 

It was the knightly plate, its breast impaled by the lance—the sorcerous device of Cain was discarding the destroyed information, attempting to escape with the true body alone. Of course, Azama’s flesh-and-blood body had to still be inside. 

“—I, Maiden of the Lion, Sword Shaman of the High God, beseech thee!” 

Using the shattered genbu carapace as a stepping stone, Yukina leaped over the searing lava. With ritual energy coursing into it, the silver spear let off the dazzling glow of the Divine Oscillation Effect. Now that the sorcerous device was exposed, the blade of Snowdrift Wolf could reach it. 

“O purifying light, O divine wolf of the snowdrift, by your steel divine will, strike down the devils before me!” 

The sorcerous device deployed the encroachment of Nod to protect itself. However, Yukina’s silver spear rent the barrier as if it were mist, penetrating the gunmetal device. 

“The armor of Cain… You’ve…!” 

Robbed of its magical energy, the relic of The Cleansing simply broke apart, exposing Azama’s bloody figure. 

Seemingly switching places with Yukina, Kojou stood before him. 

“—It’s over, old man!” 

Azama’s face twisted with surprise and hatred as Kojou bashed it with his fist. 

Azama’s body danced in the sky; then, it slammed into the ground, and didn’t move again. 

Seeing this, Kojou took a deep breath. 

He felt no sense of accomplishment. He didn’t feel like he’d finished anything. That was natural; from the beginning to the end, Kojou and Yukina had been in places far removed from the center of the incident. We just had to stop Azama, he believed, and that was something, at least. He still didn’t know if it was the right choice. 

But when Kojou and Yukina turned around, their eyes were greeted by the sight of relief coming over Yuiri’s face—and Glenda doting on her with an innocent smile. 

Guess it’s fine, then…, he thought. 

From the pocket of his school uniform, someone laughed with delight. “Heh-heh.”