Strike the Blood - Volume 13 - Chapter 2

CHAPTER TWO 

DECEMBER 

1 

The girl was immersed in a transparent-crimson liquid. 

She was a poor sight. 

Her skin was deathly pale like that of a corpse, no sign of blood coursing through her veins. Her entire body had deep wounds carved into it, openings seemingly made by sewing needles. It was a horrid sight, as if her flesh, after being rent apart, had been haphazardly forced back together. 

And yet, the girl was still beautiful. 

With her eyes closed, the girl’s face was refined. Her slender physique possessed splendid symmetry, and her black hair gave off a luster as it floated in the fluid that resembled fresh blood. 

It was an underground lab chamber filled to the brim with cutting-edge medical devices— 

As the girl floated in the glass container, a baby-faced woman wearing a shabby white coat looked up at her. 

“Mm-hmmmm.” 

With the wooden spoon from a delicious, locally popular brand of ice cream in her mouth, the woman in the white coat hummed. 

This was Mimori Akatsuki, chief researcher at the Itogami Island lab belonging to MAR—Magna Ataraxia Research Inc. She turned to the lapel microphone attached to the collar of her white coat and innocently called out to the girl. 

“Good morning, Princess. Can you hear me…?” 

“A…ga…” 

After a brief delay, the girl covered in wounds opened her eyes. Her hollow gaze jumped about before settling into a glare directed at Mimori as the woman stood before the vat. The girl’s throat quivered, as if she was trying to plead something, but nothing came out save for an agonized groan devoid of meaning. 

“There’s no need to be hasty… You have only just returned to life, after all.” 

Speaking in an airy tone of voice, Mimori smiled softly. The graphs on the measuring devices placed around the vat changed, as if conveying the emotions of the wounded girl in her stead. Mimori checked them as she operated the vat’s panel. 

“…Gaa……?!” 

Metal plugs impaled the girl from two connectors embedded in her neck. The girl’s entire body twitched as she writhed in agony. 

Mimori calmly gazed at the sight, smiling and letting out an amused giggle. 

“You seem to be in a good mood, Chief Akatsuki.” 

A young man wearing glasses on a delicate face smiled as he walked over. He wore black Chinese-style clothing and gave off an air somehow reminiscent of a mystic from ancient times. 

“Oh my, oh my… What is an escaped prisoner doing in a place like this, I wonder?” Mimori smiled ironically as she looked back at the young man—Meiga Itogami. 

“Your cooperation is greatly appreciated. Thanks to you, my life as a fugitive has been quite a comfortable one.” 

The only hard part has been dealing with this witch…, he thought, straining a smile as he politely bowed his head. 

Hmmm, murmured Mimori, unmoved. Behind her back, she hid the cooler box hanging from her shoulder. 

“Even so, no ice cream for you.” 

“That is unfortunate.” 

“It seems pretty busy up top. Is this your doing, too?” 

Mimori shifted her gaze toward the ceiling of the subterranean chamber. She was looking in the direction of Keystone Gate. The earthquake-like vibration had only come from that way a few short minutes prior. 

“Hmm, I wonder. It seems that the old man has something up his sleeves, but…” 

“The old man? Ah… So that’s what it is…” 

Gazing as Meiga shook his head in a suggestive manner, Mimori raised her eyebrows slightly. 

Meiga stared at the crimson vat behind Mimori. Even then, the girl in the vat, wounded all over, was writhing. 

“So this is the trump card the Cleansers were hiding—the other Priestess of Cain, yes?” Meiga inquired, his expression thick with an aura of reverence. 

“Nah, nah.” Mimori smiled, delighted, as she shook her head. “Unfortunately, you are slightly mistaken. This girl is an Oracle. There is another.” 

“Another…? You couldn’t mean…… So that’s it…” 

Surprise registered on Meiga’s face. The young man’s reaction lacked his normal air of composure. 

As if losing interest, Mimori turned her back to him and pulled off the white glove from her right hand. 

There was cable connected to a metal plug on the neck of the wounded girl that extended outside the vat. Mimori maintained her pleasant smile as she touched the cable with her bare hand. 

It was as if she was making direct contact, searching inside the girl’s head… 

“Now, show me what you experienced. Show me your memories of the Cleansing—” 

2 

A few minutes after the explosion at Keystone Gate, images of the incident were broadcast worldwide over the Internet. A giant plume of gray smoke was marring the cloudless blue sky. Kojou gazed at the shocking image on the screen of his smartphone in astonishment. 

“…What do you mean, missing?!” 

Classes were over. In a corner of the classroom, Motoki Yaze was shouting into his cell phone. The other party was doubtlessly his brother who worked at the Gigafloat Management Corporation. He’d finally gotten through after repeated redials. 

“That man? Caught up in a terror bombing? That ain’t like him…!” 

Yaze ranted in a tone of inconcealable panic. 

There was a reason why his normal aloofness had been set astir. One of the casualties of the underground parking lot explosion was the honorary chairman of the Gigafloat Management Corporation, Akishige Yaze—his father. 

Apparently, even at that moment, falling rubble and flooding was making search and rescue a very touch-and-go endeavor. 

“Bro, why?! Let me help look! With my ability… Bro…!” 

Yaze gritted his teeth, staring at his smartphone screen as the call was cut from the other end. 

Apparently, when Yaze had offered to help with the search, his brother had refused, telling him he’d just be in the way. 

“Your dad…?” 

Kojou approached as Yaze slumped against the wall and lowered his head. Kojou didn’t know what look to have on his face at times like these. 

But Yaze forced a smile, lifting his face up as he said, “Seems like he was sent flying along with the parking lot and buried under rubble.” 

He said it in a joking tone. Kojou was aware that Yaze’s domestic environment was a difficult one, and his relationship with his father was particularly tense. Thus, the sight of Yaze bluffing like this was especially painful. 

“Blown away… You mean…?” 

“It’s all right. Don’t worry. Even my family isn’t rotten enough to have anyone happy to see him bite it, me included. It’d just get us involved in a succession war that’d be nothing but trouble.” 

Yaze continued in a tone much like that of a child making excuses. As he did, Asagi tendered a bottle of mineral water in front of him. 

“Motoki, your face is totally pale.” 

“I’m all right, geez.” 

Yaze immediately tried to drink the water; perhaps even he’d noticed the rasp in his voice. But he couldn’t open the PET bottle. There was no strength in his trembling fingers. 

“Oh, lucky thing they canceled the rest of classes for the day, huh?” 

“Hey, Yaze!” 

Listening to the announcement coursing over the school PA system at that very moment, Yaze returned to his own seat, looking ready to make a run for it. As he grabbed his bag, Kojou watched his friend’s back as he nervously called out, but all he got was a one-sided “Later!” from Yaze as he left the classroom. 

Kojou and Asagi watched him go, unable to do anything about it. Even if they chased after Yaze, neither could think of any words to say to him. 

“He’s really pushing himself.” Asagi crossed her arms as she spoke. Kojou grimaced and nodded. 

“I figure even he doesn’t know how to react to this sort of thing. Can’t exactly tell people to stay calm at a time like this.” 

“Even I’m shocked… A terror bombing…” 

Asagi had a gloomy expression as she exhaled. She and Yaze had known each other before primary school. Their fathers were both VIPs of Itogami Island. That alone made it hard to dismiss. 

“Tartarus Lapse, huh…? Can’t act like it’s someone else’s problem after this.” 

“Eh? Tartar sauce… What?” 

Overhearing Kojou’s murmur, Asagi gave him a suspicious look. “Tartarus Lapse,” he corrected. Why would she overhear something in such a banal fashion at a time like that? 

“What? How do you know, Kojou?” 

“I heard about it from Natsuki. There was talk about a Demon Sanctuary wrecking team that might be after Itogami Island.” 

“Demon Sanctuary wrecking team…?” she murmured, taken aback. “The heck.” She still seemed to be trying to digest what she’d heard as she glared at Kojou. “What do you mean, after Itogami Island? Why?” 

“Hell if I know. Someone probably hired ’em.” 

Overwhelmed by Asagi’s onslaught, Kojou gave her that unreliable reply. 

“Then…it’s that Tartar whatever that went after Motoki’s father?” 

“Probably. Apparently, the ship incidents for the last couple of days might be their doing, too.” 

From the way Asagi bit her lip, brooding things over, she might have finally bought Kojou’s explanation. 

“…So Natsuki’s looking for these guys?” 

“Yeah. The guy who put Tartarus Lapse together is this feng shui practitioner named Senga. They’re looking for him right now…and it’s not like there are other leads.” 

“If it’s like that, just say so, sheesh.” 

It felt like Asagi was verbally lashing out as she took an ultrathin notepad PC out of her bag. Apparently, she intended to invade the Island Guard’s information network, which covered the whole of Itogami Island, to search for this Senga. 

“You can find him?” 

“Oh, I’ll find him!” 

Asagi unintentionally snapped as she smoothly operated the keyboard. Behind her outer appearance—that of a flashy high school student—Asagi was a tremendously skilled hacker, known even throughout the corporate world. 

Watching the wavy lines of English letters and numbers flow onto the screen of her PC was like seeing someone cast a high-level spell; Kojou’s eyes couldn’t pick up what she was doing whatsoever. Unable to even blithely get a word in, Kojou felt out of place as he gazed absentmindedly at the side of Asagi’s sober face. Then… 

“—Pardon me.” 

When that clear voice echoed across the classroom, the students still present raised a unified murmur. 

It was a female student wearing a middle school uniform who stood at the entrance to Kojou’s classroom, carrying a black guitar case over her back. She was small, but she had an odd beauty to her that captivated anyone who saw her. 

“Himeragi? What are you doing on the high school campus—?” 

Seeing Yukina suddenly intrude, Kojou let out a bewildered voice. 

Kojou’s reaction seemed to make all his classmates hold their breaths. 

Right after Kojou and Asagi had finished some kind of serious conversation, the rumored transfer student of middle school had appeared. It was easy to understand how they expected that some sort of ghastly conflict might break out at any moment. 

Naturally, the strange sense of tension filling the room brought a look of apprehension over even Yukina. But she immediately hardened her resolve, stepping into the classroom and hurrying to Kojou’s side. 

“I am sorry, senpai. Um, it concerns Nagisa—” 

Yukina’s voice was brimming with nervousness. Kojou’s expression hardened from the unexpected jolt. 

“Nagisa…? Did something happen to her…?” 

“Did she collapse again…?” 

For her part, Asagi stopped tapping her keyboard and looked at Yukina. 

Yukina’s gaze frailly wandered about as she said, “No, it’s… During noon break, she went off somewhere and has not returned to her classroom.” 

“What…?” Kojou knit his brows in bewilderment, his grasp of the situation poor. 

“Her bag and shoes are gone, too, so the students in class thought she might have left early without permission—” 

“Nagisa, skipping classes?” Asagi prompted with surprise on her face. 

Unlike her older brother, Nagisa had a sober, serious, punctual personality. Asagi didn’t think she’d ever slip out of school without a reason. Yukina no doubt thought the same, hence why she had rushed to report as much to Kojou. 

“I tried texting Nagisa, too, but she hasn’t responded.” Yukina’s face stiffened. 

Sweat appeared on Kojou’s fist. “Asagi…!” 

“Yes, yes. I’ll look into this before looking for terrorists.” 

The unexpectedly cooperative sight of Kojou and the others left a dejected air hovering over his classmates, dashing their expectations of an epic clash. However, Kojou had no time to pay them any heed. He felt like a man clinging to hope, watching as Asagi connected to the island’s internal surveillance camera network to search for Nagisa. 

“…Eh?” 

But Asagi let out a small voice. Beep went the brief warning from Asagi’s PC. 

A fresh window popped up, blinking on and off with an error message in red. 

“No way?! How could this…?!” 

The speaker shuddered as unceasing warning sounds rang out. In the blink of an eye, error messages consumed the entire screen. Her keyboard stopped responding. Realizing this, Asagi was the first to react. Without hesitation, she stood up, clutching the haywire laptop, and shouted, “Kojou, move!” 

“Huh?” 

As Kojou stood rooted to the spot, Asagi thrust him aside and smashed her notebook PC against the exposed concrete of the classroom’s veranda. The aluminum composite frame bent spectacularly, parts scattering as she completely wrecked it. 

“A-Asagi…?” 

“Aiba…” 

Kojou and Asagi both timidly addressed her. Asagi breathed raggedly as she gazed down at the wreckage of her beloved laptop. 

“Someone got me good… Pisses me off!!” 

Asagi stood with an aura of anger, furiously running her hand through her hair as she spoke. 

“Wh-what do you mean…?” 

“Hacking. The Island Guard’s network has been infected by a virus. A powerful military type!” 

“A virus…?! You mean it’s a biological weapon?!” 

Yukina’s eyes visibly bulged as she posed a question. Kojou wasn’t sure if she was kidding or if she had simply misunderstood, but its effect was limited to soothing Asagi’s frayed nerves. 

“You can, um, set that clichéd airhead bit aside.” Asagi turned to Yukina with a drained look. 

Yukina blinked, looking like a fox who’d just been picked up as she repeated, “Airhead…?” 

“Ah, er, you’re wrong, you see. A virus is a name we give to a type of program… One used with ill intention to destroy data or cause malfunctions in machines.” 

“Ah… Ohhh…” 

Asagi had apparently come up with an explanation that even Yukina, ill-versed in mechanical devices, could digest. Yukina nodded with a vague expression, her cheeks reddening in embarrassment. 

“More importantly,” Kojou began as he turned back Asagi’s way, “if the Island Guard’s been hacked, that’s bad, ain’t it?” 

“Damn right, it is. With the terror bombing, the chain of command’s in chaos as it is,” Asagi earnestly confirmed. 

If merely accessing the surveillance cameras exposed a system to infection, it was no doubt safe to assume the Island Guard HQ’s main server was pretty much completely thrown for a loop. It was close to a certainty that the Island Guard’s personnel were falling into a panic. 

“It bothered me before that their defenses over there were paper-thin. This’d never have happened if they just let Mogwai and me manage it… Aw, darn it!” 

Asagi’s temple was twitching as she shouted in irritation. The fact that her very own PC had been nailed by a virus had apparently wounded her pride. 

“Meaning that, in the end, we can’t look for Nagisa, either?” 

“Tough to pull off. After all, the island’s anti-crime surveillance cameras are under the Island Guard’s jurisdiction. There’re ways to override the hacking and take back control, but with my computer in its current state…” 

A smile of self-mockery came over Asagi as she gazed at the wreckage—wreckage that had been called a laptop a few scant minutes earlier. Even if she’d done it to prevent the virus from extracting personal information, the cost paid for it was by no means small. 

“Aww, crap. Where the hell did Nagisa go at a time like this…?!” 

Though success seemed remote, Kojou took out his cell phone and dialed Nagisa’s number. 

3 

The girl wearing a letterman jacket was sitting on a bench at a public park along the coast. 

She was standing beside a parked scooter colored white to match her clothing. A girl in a middle school student uniform was sleeping with her head on the other’s lap. 

Thin white smoke was climbing from a building visible on the opposite coast. Everything around it seemed in upheaval. 

The girl gazed absentmindedly at that, not focused on anything in particular, when—without warning—a single man approached and called out to her. 

“So this is where you were, December?” 

“Mm?” 

December, still wearing a half cap–style helmet, lifted her face. 

Looking down at her was a middle-aged man wearing a drab gray jacket. His physique was unexpectedly muscular, but thanks to his long, unkempt hair, he had an air more like that of an artist. A sculptor or an art instructor, perhaps—somehow, that was the impression he gave off. 

“Ah? Takehito?” 

December spoke the man’s name—Takehito Senga of Tartarus Lapse. Once, he had been known as the Pride of the Orient, the genius feng shui practitioner who had taken Europe’s magical societies by storm. 

It was this Takehito who gave December a fond smile as he commented, “Should you be out on a stroll? I would have thought you’d be waiting at the safe house.” 

“You were slow in contacting us, so Raan was getting worried.” 

“Oh, she was worried about me… That’s our Raan for you. So adorable.” December grinned, relaxing as she spoke. 

“Goodness.” Senga shook his head. 

Senga was forty years old, or thereabouts. In contrast, December was fourteen or fifteen at most. Their apparent ages were off by more than two decades. In spite of this, Senga treated December as an equal. Indeed, the impression December gave off was that of someone gazing at a cheeky younger brother. 

“You’ve involved an unrelated civilian?” 

It was then that Senga gave December a reproachful glare as he inquired. 

“Mm? Ah, you mean Nagisa?” 

December smiled with visible delight, gazing down at the side of the face of the girl sleeping upon her lap. Her hand gently stroked Nagisa Akatsuki’s hair. 

“Don’t worry about her; she was surprised by the explosion and fainted. I couldn’t just leave a cute girl like this, now, could I? A bad person might abduct her.” 

“You speak as if we are not bad people ourselves,” he said bitterly, voice dripping with sarcasm. 

December raised her voice in a laugh. “Besides, this girl does have something to do with me.” 

“Oh, really, now?” 

“Yep.” 

“Understood. I’ll let Raan and the others know,” he murmured. 

December nodded once more. Then, as if out of consideration for Senga, she quietly asked him, “Takehito, you’re really okay with this?” 

“With what?” 

“You have a history with this island, don’t you?” 

December’s nonchalant words made Senga sink into silence. With a pained expression, as if she’d touched on wounds that remained fresh, he shook his head. 

“It is because I have this history that I cannot forgive them.” 

“Ah. I suppose not…” 

Narrowing her goggled eyes, December smiled, albeit a lonely one. 

Without a word, Senga proceeded to turn on his heels and walk away. It was only several paces before all signs of his presence vanished. He had employed feng shui to melt the sight of him into the very landscape. 

A moment later, Nagisa Akatsuki, clinging to December’s knees, began to stir as if her sleep had been disturbed. 

“Mm…” 

Letting out a frail breath, Nagisa gently opened her eyes. December’s eyes narrowed as she noticed the faint chill hovering about the girl. 

“Hiya. You awake?” 

“Ah…” 

With unnatural movements that seemingly defied gravity, Nagisa’s state slowly changed. The irises of her hollow eyes stared at December, dumbfounded. Her long, unbound hair gently coursed downward. 

“Thou art…” 

“It’s all right, it’s all right. You don’t need to worry. This is my war, after all.” 

December gently embraced the startled Nagisa. She whispered into the girl’s ear as if soothing a little child. 

The cold swirling around Nagisa increased in force. A thin frost came over December’s entire body. 

“…Why am…I…? At a time like this…” 

“Go ahead and nod off again. After all, that is what we desire, too.” 

Nagisa’s entire body was drained of strength even before December finished speaking. 

Simultaneously, the powerful cold enveloping the pair vanished. December sighed in visible relief as she wiped off her chilly, foggy goggles. 

By the time she brushed off the ice spread over her stadium jumper, Nagisa awoke—crisply this time. 

“Ah… Er? Why am I in a place like…? Wha—?!” 

Noticing that December was hugging her and holding her up, Nagisa nervously pulled away from her. She hastily surveyed the area, visibly gawking as her eyes came to rest on the opposite coast. 

“Keystone Gate’s…!” 

“Yeah. Some kind of accident, apparently.” 

“Accident…?” 

Nagisa’s memory before her collapse was vague. The intermittent sounds of emergency responder vehicle sirens passing to and from the area around the explosion were a relief to her. 

“Um, by any chance, did I cause trouble for you at all?” she asked timidly. 

December shook her head. “Of course not; it was no trouble at all. I had fun.” 

“But…” 

“Phone.” 

“Huh?” 

“It’s ringing. Your phone.” 

December pointed at Nagisa’s bag as she spoke. Nagisa could hear the faint sound of the cell phone’s vibrator trickling out. A little surprised, she reached toward the bag at her feet. 

“Wow, it really is. Eh, Kojou? Why…?” 

Did I get busted for slipping out of school? she wondered as she grabbed her phone, conflicted. 

As she did, December gave Nagisa a secret smile. 

4 

“And because the weather was nice, you nodded off before you knew it—yeah, right!!” 

Kojou was indignant as he walked through the schoolyard illuminated by the evening sun. With Kojou stubbornly continuing to call, it was only a short time before that Nagisa had responded. Though relieved, Kojou could not contain his irritation at the innocent excuse Nagisa had provided. 

“Dammit, don’t work people up like that. Geez…” 

“Worked up or not, you two jumped on the worry train all by yourselves, sheesh.” Asagi shot a look of muted scorn Kojou’s way. It wasn’t as if this was a recent thing, but Kojou’s supposed sister complex exasperated her nonetheless. 

“Regardless, I’m pleased Nagisa is all right.” 

Yukina worked to somehow put the best spin on it, probably feeling somewhat responsible for unnerving Kojou to begin with. 

“Well, yeah,” he said bluntly, hiding a blush. “So, Asagi, you’re gonna head straight to the Gigafloat Management Corporation, right?” 

“Pile of trouble, but no choice, really. It’s not like we can leave the Island Guard servers hacked like that. I need to get a new PC, too.” 

Asagi’s shoulders sank in dejection as she spoke. Time and again, she’d been the recipient of urgent calls when the Gigafloat Management Corporation was under heavy attack and pushed into a corner. 

“The Corporation said it’d send a car to pick me up, so how about I give you a lift to the station?” 

“Nah, it’s fine, we’re supposed to wait for Nagisa here anyway.” 

Kojou thought a bit before shaking his head at Nagisa’s invitation. 

Even if he nominally knew she was safe, he’d made Nagisa promise to meet up with him ASAP just to make sure. The rendezvous point was a supermarket along the street halfway to school. 

“More importantly, find out where that Senga guy is and tell Natsuki as soon as you can, ’kay?” 

“Mm, leave it to me.” 

Asagi spoke in a lighthearted tone. 

It was just then that a black-painted sedan, the courtesy car sent by the Gigafloat Management Corporation for her, pulled up to the school gates. The driver got out of the courtesy car and opened the door for Asagi. It was fairly VIP treatment. 

However, the instant Asagi saw the driver’s face, she froze, completely coming to a halt. 

“Sorry to keep you waiting, Miss Asagi.” 

Standing there, clad in a black suit, was a young-looking woman with no visible hint of makeup—Sumire Aiba. 

“S-Sumire?! Why is Sumire driving the…?!” 

Asagi’s voice came out shrill as she stared in astonishment at her own stepmother. 

It absolutely wasn’t that they got along poorly, but mother and daughter were fairly close in age, which complicated the relationship between Asagi and Sumire. More to the point, it was Asagi who had a tough time dealing with Sumire. 

Whether aware of her daughter’s feelings or not, Sumire replied with a carefree look on her face. “Mr. Sensai asked me to get youuu! I mean, there are horrible terror bombings going on, you know?” 

“Ugh…” 

“And the monorail has been stopped to conduct a safety inspection…” 

“Ugh… Uuugh…” 

“Come on, get in, get in. Kojou, if the two of you want to, I can—” 

“W-we just finished speaking about that, so let’s get going, please?” Asagi cut her off brusquely and climbed into the back of the courtesy car. 

Her cheeks were red in an apparent blush, perhaps embarrassed at the prospect of her mother conversing with her friends. 

“My, my.” Sumire smiled wryly in the driver’s seat. She gave Kojou and Yukina a friendly wave as she smoothly set the car into motion. 

“Now, then. Guess we should head home, too…” 

When Kojou, somehow feeling drained, addressed her, Yukina nodded without a word. 

Not prone to speaking in excess to begin with, Yukina was more silent than usual that day. Perhaps she had the barrier via feng shui and the bombing incident on her mind. Even so, like a faithful canine following its master, Yukina maintained the exact same distance as she followed Kojou like always. 

After walking for a while, the billboard of the supermarket they were heading for came into view. The parking lot was their rendezvous point, but Kojou couldn’t locate any sign of Nagisa just yet. 

“Right, Himeragi. Sorry, but could you come shopping with me? Nagisa asked me to buy milk, so…” 

“Of course, I do not mind at all—” Yukina’s feet abruptly came to a stop. She looked up at Kojou, seemingly hardening her resolve, and said, “But are you fine with this, senpai?” 

“Mm? Ah, well, it’s sort of of a pain in the butt, but I can handle a little shopping; I’ve been sticking Nagisa with all the cooking for a while now, and all.” 

“No, not that. I mean Tartarus Lapse.” 

“Huh?” 

Kojou looked at Yukina, finding this surprising. She paid no heed and continued. 

“Senpai, aren’t you actually thinking about them?” 

“Well, I mean, it’s hard not to, with Yaze’s dad and stuff.” Kojou put a hand to his neck as he sighed. 

“But that doesn’t mean I can do anything about it. Besides, Natsuki just finished telling me not to get involved where I don’t belong. We don’t even know where that Senga guy is.” 

“I…suppose not…” 

An easy-to-read despondent expression soured Yukina’s face. She must have been feeling pangs of guilt, knowing about Tartarus Lapse’s existence yet being unable to do anything about it. That was probably the cause of her being oddly quiet for the last little while, too. It was her fundamentally sober and serious personality at work. 

“I mean, if we at least had a lead on Tartarus Lapse…” Kojou nonchalantly voiced the thought as it came into his head. 

“Eh?” 

“If we had some idea where they’d strike next, we could go ahead of ’em and ambush ’em, right?” 

“Tartarus Lapse’s next move… Meaning that assassinating VIPs and locking out naval and air traffic is only the groundwork for the real terrorism?” 

“Isn’t it? People calling themselves a Demon Sanctuary wrecking crew aren’t gonna stop at just blowing away a parking lot. There’s no way.” 

“Yes. Certainly…” 

Yukina’s expression grew grave. At times like these, it was easy to understand what she was thinking. 

“Have to say, it’s rare to hear this stuff coming from your end, Himeragi.” Kojou smiled weakly. 

“Is… Is that so?” 

“If I stuck my neck into a terror incident, I figured you’d be first in line to complain, Himeragi.” 

“That is natural. I am the observer of the Fourth Primogenitor, after all. I have a duty to see that you do not do anything rash, senpai.” Yukina clenched a fist, speaking as if the words were for her sake. “However, if I do not do it in senpai’s place—” 

“Ah, no, that logic’s messed up. That’s not what observing means, y’know.” 

When Yukina, for some reason, became exceedingly invigorated, Kojou unwittingly made light of the matter. 

However, Yukina shook her head with a firm look as she said: 

“That will not do. The Lion King Agency exists to prevent large-scale sorcerous terrorism from coming to fruition.” 

“If that’s so, other people are already on the move, right? Like that Paper Noise chick from a few days ago. No one like you needs to do anything, Himeragi.” 

“No one…like me…? I suppose not…” Her expression appeared wounded. She tapered her lips like a pouting child. “After all, I couldn’t lay hand or foot upon her…” 

“Er. Well, yeah…” 

This conversation’s become a lot of trouble, Kojou thought, gazing up at the heavens. 

When they’d sought to escape Itogami Island, Yukina fought Paper Noise, one of the Three Saints at the head of the Lion King Agency. To be more accurate, the actual situation wasn’t as much a straight fight as it was a huge loss without any idea of what was happening. Yukina still harbored a grudge about that. 

“Anyway, let’s leave it to them for now.” 

“Please do not say that and then run off somewhere without telling me, okay?” 

When Kojou sank his shoulders, seemingly ready to walk off without forewarning, Yukina immediately caught his arm. To anyone watching, they looked like a close couple holding hands. 

“It’s all right, sheesh. I wouldn’t do something troublesome like that even if you begged me.” 

“I wonder.” 

Kojou and Yukina were arguing while holding hands in the middle of the sidewalk when the driver of a light truck who just happened to be driving nearby looked at them, the truck making a cold whoosh as it passed. Yukina’s cheeks reddened, yet, she did not move away from Kojou’s side. 

To avoid standing out any further on a city street, Kojou headed into the supermarket in apparent flight. 

Instead of the usual, fairly catchy background music, the inside of the store was playing a news channel on the radio. Unsurprisingly, everyone probably had the shipping incidents and the parking lot bombing on their minds. 

However, they could not read any particular worry or visible sadness on the shoppers’ faces. 

“Everyone is surprisingly calm about this,” Yukina noted, mystified. 

“I suppose so,” Kojou agreed with a nod. “Well, residents of a Demon Sanctuary are used to this level of ruckus. I suppose being too relaxed might be a problem in itself…” 

In the first place, Demon Sanctuary cities easily became terror targets. Furthermore, Itogami Island suffered damage from typhoons and coastal flooding with particular frequency. The public-order and disaster-management countermeasures were thus well-developed. Stores of food and fuel were also quite sufficient, things that the residents of Itogami Island were well aware of. 

“No, that is far more reassuring than falling into a panic. After all, it is said that one of a normal terrorist’s objectives is to instill fear in the populace and fan the flames of social instability.” 

“Fear, huh…?” he murmured. 

Picking a place that stood out, like Keystone Gate, as the site of a terror bombing to fan people’s anxieties was something he could comprehend. 

So far as he could tell from the state inside the supermarket, the residents of Itogami Island were just managing to hold it together against the terrorists’ attacks, at least as things stood that moment. 

Having finished the intended shopping, Kojou carried a plastic bag as he headed out to the front of the store. 

“Come to think of it, the lady said the monorail had stopped, so how does Nagisa plan to get home?” he wondered out loud, suddenly gripped by a rather basic doubt. 

Who knows? Yukina seemed to say with a tilt of her head. 

Right after that, they heard a vroo-vroo-vroom, the puttering of an obnoxiously loud engine. 

The old-fashioned scooter, sporting a gasoline engine that was quite rare nowadays, climbed up the pedestrian ramp and entered the parking lot. 

“Ah… There they are! Kojou! Yukina, over here!!” 

Nagisa was waving from the back seat of a scooter. In front of Nagisa and gripping the handle was an unfamiliar woman wearing windbreak goggles. “Who’s that?” Kojou asked, knitting his brows. 

During that time, the white scooter stopped in front of Kojou and Yukina. Nagisa hopped right off. Removing her helmet, she turned toward the scooter’s driver and bowed her head. 

“Thank you for the send-off, Miss December.” 

“Hey, hey. I told you, no ‘miss’ necessary.” 

The girl named December spoke to Nagisa in a flustered tone. Then, she shifted her eyes toward Kojou and said: 

“You’re Nagisa’s big brother?” 

“Y-yeah. I am, but…” 

When the bewildered Kojou replied, December shot him an amiable smile. Even with the big goggles still on her, it was clear she was quite a beauty. On top of that, she was far younger than he’d assumed. 

Then, December gazed at Yukina with apparent deep interest and said, “And over here is your…girlfriend?” 

“Nah, this is Nagisa’s classmate and our neighbor.” 

“I see, your neighbor…” She smiled in amusement before offering her hand to Kojou. “Call me December. Pleased to meet you.” 

“Ah, same.” 

Kojou gave the girl’s pleasantly cool hand a shake. 

Nagisa stood at December’s side, for some reason proudly puffing her chest as she said, “She was a help in all kinds of ways. You know there was an explosion at Keystone Gate, right? She was with me right around then, and she looked after me when I fainted, then sent me off all this way, so she really took good care of me. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for December.” 

“Th-that so?” 

Kojou winced a little in the face of his rapidly speaking little sister. She seemed like a completely different person than the gentle Nagisa that morning, but if push came to shove, this was what he would call the real her. 

He was relieved that Nagisa had made a complete recovery. He wondered if that was due to her encounter with December. 

“Sorry, seems like my little sister caused you some trouble. Thanks.” 

“You are very welcome. It was my pleasure to take care of such a cute girl.” 

Returning Kojou’s words of thanks, December teasingly curled up the corners of her lips. Then she shifted her gaze to the interior of the glass-walled supermarket. 

The store, having a tidy and functional layout, was packed to the brim with various food products. The empty fresh-fish shelf stood out, but even so, that was nothing that impacted people’s everyday lives. 

“How peaceful.” 

“Ah?” 

“Even after an incident like that, they’re lined up in front of a store, buying groceries like nothing happened… A reassuring sight, don’t you think?” 

“Mm, yeah…” 

The way December murmured as if it wasn’t her problem made Kojou uneasy, but he showed he was listening anyway. 

December made a little giggle as she turned her scooter’s key in the ignition. Pruu! With an unstable rhythm, the engine started, letting out the tinny, trademark sound of its exhaust. 

“Later, Nagisa. We’ll meet again. Kojou and Miss Neighbor, too. Bye-bye!” 

With a loud putter and a boisterous noise from the vehicle, December took off. For a while, Kojou and Yukina watched the rising white exhaust smoke in a daze. 

“Ohhh, Kojou, you actually bought the milk, didn’t you? Okay, let’s head home. We’ll have stew tonight!” Nagisa’s characteristically boisterous voice had returned now that she was in high spirits. She turned to Kojou once December vanished from view. 

Following after his little sister, who was practically skipping with each step, Kojou let out an exasperated sigh. He couldn’t mentally reconcile this rambunctious girl with the seemingly separate person who’d behaved so demurely that morning. 

“She’s the usual Nagisa, huh?” 

“So it would seem.” Yukina’s face brightened. “I’m so glad.” 

Yukina, being in the same class as Nagisa, might have been even more thrown off by the sudden change in her than Kojou had been. 

“More importantly, senpai, did you notice? Miss December, she’s—” 

“Yeah,” Kojou cut in, nodding along. He’d felt something like a jolt of static electricity when shaking December’s hand. It was a stimulus he specifically felt when there was strong demonic energy. 

“A demon… So it wasn’t just my imagination…” 

“I believe she is likely a D-type—a vampire. She was not wearing a demon registration bracelet, though…” 

“So an unregistered demon like me…” His expression grew conflicted. 

In Itogami City, a Demon Sanctuary, there was no discrimination or stigma toward demons. Through registering as demons via the Gigafloat Management Corporation, they acquired not only voting rights, but subsidies for housing and medical care, assistance in finding work, and a variety of other types of support. All you had to do was show the demon registration bracelet on your wrist at any convenience store or supermarket, and your purchases were discounted and tax-free. 

Put conversely, it was illegal to enter the special district unregistered without a very good reason. 

Even so, there were some who rejected demon registration. There were two types: wild cards like Kojou who, for political reasons, were tolerated in silence by the government and watched but treated as if they didn’t exist—and criminals. 

There was no way they could speak a word of that to Nagisa, who adored December. 

“Himeragi.” 

“Yes?” 

“You said a terrorist’s objective is to cause social instability, right?” 

“Ah yes. Of course there are exceptions, but as a rule of thumb…” Yukina appeared curious as she replied to Kojou’s seemingly aimless question. 

His cheeks twisted, as if he’d just been forced to eat vegetables that he hated. “You remember what December said? It’s reassuring to see people lined up buying food.” 

“Eh…?” Yukina’s eyes widened as she realized something. 

The reason people could remain calm after so many shipping incidents was because these events hadn’t directly impacted their own day-to-day lives. Even if there were some shortages of goods, the supermarket outlets were still brimming with food. This was because Itogami Island had a vast store of food supplies. 

Then, if something more was to happen, and those stores too were lost— 

“Tartarus Lapse’s next target… It couldn’t be…” 

“It’s just a wild guess, but I’ve got a bad feeling about this…!” Kojou muttered in a quiet voice so Nagisa, walking ahead of them, would not overhear. “Their next target’s the large-scale food stockpile—Island East’s Great Pile.” 

5 

The black car for public use in which Asagi rode was driving on a road that looped around the exterior of Itogami Island. 

Being on an artificial isle, the roads inside Itogami City itself were a complicated labyrinth of curves—and multiple vertical layers at that. The construction left car navigation systems largely worthless, and driving inside Itogami City was itself often said to be as difficult as piloting a jet fighter. 

Sumire Aiba was smoothly driving along this complex assembly of streets. She had been a pro driver for a bodyguard service company right up until she married Asagi’s father. 

Asagi thought that her smooth driving, to the point that you didn’t even feel her accelerate, was exceedingly pleasant and all the more frightening for it. Rumor had it that no matter how tangled the route, Sumire during her career arrived at her destination within 0.1 seconds of the appointed time, give or take. Just trying to imagine what kind of driving she’d do if she was actually serious gave Asagi a chill. 

“Coming home late tonight?” 

That one and the same Sumire turned toward Asagi, sitting in the back seat, and gently struck up a conversation. 

Asagi awkwardly nodded. “I believe I probably will. The Island Guard’s server seems to have taken quite a bit of damage…” 

“That so? I made lunch for you, so eat it if you like, ’kay? I made sandwiches so you could eat one-handed if need be.” 

“Um, thank you very much.” 

Asagi spoke her thanks as she noticed the heavy box-shaped parcel on the seat. Programming work employed physical endurance, and superb was the worst one could call Sumire’s cooking. Asagi was genuinely grateful for the boxed lunch. 

“Did Pa…Father say anything? About today’s incident.” 

“Mmm. Nothing. He’s not one to speak lightly of such things, after all.” 

She continued to drive as she spoke in a slightly lonely sounding tone. 

“I suppose he isn’t,” Asagi agreed. 

“But he was worried about you, Asagi. He wondered if this work of yours might involve you in an incident like this.” 

“Oh, come on… Him? Worry…?” Asagi murmured in a nonchalant manner. “No way.” 

It was the next moment that the rear tires let out a loud screech as the car forcibly changed lanes. Struck by the ferocious acceleration, Asagi was shoved into the seat behind her. It was rough, very un-Sumire-like driving. 

“S-Sumire…?!” 

“Don’t speak. You mustn’t bite your tongue, after all—hold on tight!” Sumire shouted, speaking with a sharp tone that sounded nothing like her normal, gentle self. 

With a blow that seemed to toss them upward, the public-use car danced in midair. The scenery Asagi saw through the front window was scrolling in a seemingly impossible direction. 

Sumire had deliberately rammed her front wheel into roadside concrete blocks, making the car jump. 

Doing a U-turn, Asagi and Sumire’s car leaped over the central divider, landing smack in the middle of the opposite lane. 

And then— 

The world shuddered, accompanied by a great boom. A huge explosion had occurred right beside them. 

“Wha…?!” 

Smacked around while bathed in the blast wind, the car’s body audibly vibrated. 

The impact ferociously shook the road itself. Asagi’s insides were struck by the unpleasant feeling of being hoisted upward. 

The cause of the explosion was a broken-down car parked on the road’s shoulder. The broken-down car had burst into smithereens, as if aiming for the precise instant Asagi and Sumire were passing by. 

“Wh…what the hell…?!” 

“A car bomb. A trick often used by guerillas in conflict zones. If you eat one at point-blank range, even antiballistic armor won’t hold up.” 

The car powerfully slipped along its way, with Sumire using precise counter-steering and accelerator control as she regained her poise as if nothing had happened. The car proceeded to accelerate swiftly as it evaded the metal fragments pouring down. 

The aftereffects of the explosion had left a crater in the road surface, with the surrounding asphalt enveloped by flames. Road signs and guard rails that took direct hits from scattering fragments were in tatters. 

“A car bomb… You don’t mean that this car was the target…?” 

Asagi went pale as she asked. If not for Sumire’s reckless change of routes, their car would surely have charged right into the center of the explosion. And engulfed by it, the two would have surely died instantaneously. 

Goosebumps covered her entire body as that fact finally sank in. Her fingertips wouldn’t stop shaking. 

“It’s quite possible. This is a Gigafloat Management Corporation public vehicle, after all—” 

Despite all that was happening, Sumire was quite calm. “We’ll have to take the long way,” she murmured in apparent dismay, heading for the exit of the beltway. It was composure unthinkable in a human being, especially after narrowly avoiding an attempt on her life. 

“Sumire, how did you know? That it was set up as a car bomb.” 

“Hmm, how, I wonder? Intuition, maybe?” 

Sumire tilted her head as she replied, fully serious. Apparently, even she couldn’t put it into words very well. Astonished by her mother-in-law’s reaction, Asagi felt a whiff of fear. 

Somehow, she felt very stupid for being the only one who was afraid. 

“Don’t tell me, this is why you came to pick me up, Sumire? Because you thought I might get involved in another terror bombing—” 

“Is the boxed lunch all right?” 

Sumire did not reply to Asagi’s question as she checked on something else. It was only then that Asagi finally realized she had been clutching the boxed lunch against her. 

“Ah yes. I think it’s all right.” 

“That so? I’m very glad.” 

Sumire gazed at Asagi’s face through the rearview mirror, a big grin on her own. Then there was a vroom as she pushed on the accelerator once more. 

“Let’s leave cleaning up this mess to the Island Guard. We’re gonna fly.” 

6 

Takehito Senga gazed at Itogami Island’s sunset from an abandoned factory near the harbor. Itogami Island—a Demon Sanctuary both a mass of cutting-edge construction technologies and a sorcerous construct. 

Formed of four gigafloats, each was designed to move independently to absorb the effects of typhoons and tsunamis and to keep damage from flooding to a bare minimum. 

One of each was located east, west, north, and south—each with a sorcerous purpose. 

The east was Seiryuu, the west was Byakko, the south was Suzaku, the north was Genbu—in other words, a feng shui Four Heavenly Kings arrangement. Itogami Island itself was placed according to one giant feng shui ritual. 

By using Itogami Island’s own construction, his tactical qimen could reach its very pinnacle. This was the truth behind the Eight Trigrams Formation Takehito Senga had employed. It had a radius of over a hundred kilometers by using Itogami Island itself as the power source. 

The barrier would last another four days, but the island would surely be wiped off the map before then. 

Wiped clean by the Roses of Tartarus— 

Teacher, can you hear me? 

He heard a boy whose voice had yet to crack over the earphone mic on his left earlobe. The speaker was a homunculus teenage boy—Logi. 

“I hear you, Logi. I saw the smoke from the explosion.” 

The light of the explosion on the beltway allowed Senga to clearly see it for himself, even from his location. It was the flash of light from the car bomb Logi had set. The metal fragments scattered by a car bomb could not be easily fended off, even by a military armored car. 

Three years. Back then, when certain circumstances brought Logi into Tartarus Lapse’s fold, it was Senga who had taught him how to use car bombs. Logi had addressed Senga as Teacher ever since. 

About that, sorry—I failed. 

Logi spoke with a tone oozing with angst, like a child who had failed to pull off a prank. 

“Failed?” 

Yeah. Driver with good intuition. Escaped just before the bombing. 

“Is that so? That’s a Demon Sanctuary for you—normal methods will not suffice.” 

Senga’s murmur was calm and composed, not rebuking Logi in the slightest. 

Bombs were a simple but highly reliable method of assassination. Also, it was impossible that Logi would have slipped up on the detonation timing. For someone to escape from the boy’s attack in spite of that meant they were not dealing with any normal foe. 

I really am sorry, Teacher. 

“I don’t mind. It does not impede the plan. If they think it was indiscriminate terror, it will serve as a distraction.” 

…Yeah. 

Logi let out a dejected voice. He felt a strong sense of responsibility by nature. 

Senga spoke to him gently. “I don’t think there will be a problem, but just to be sure, perhaps some help from this end? Tell Carly and Raan to remain on standby until December instructs otherwise.” 

Understood. I’ll head there right away. 

Then Logi cut off the call. 

Senga removed the earphone mic, stuffing it into his pocket without fanfare. Then, he slowly lifted his face. Spread around the abandoned factory site were what seemed like mountains of rusted scrap metal. Among them stood a small-statured girl, her youthful beauty like that of a Western-style doll, with the warehouse district immersed in dusk at her back. 

“It seems I have kept you waiting.” 

“I don’t mind. I overheard an amusing conversation.” 

When Senga spoke to her, the girl shook her head with a sway of her long hair. Her tone was quite adult, but her lisping voice was appropriate to her apparent age. Senga fondly narrowed his eyes as he broke out in laughter. 

“Natsuki Minamiya… Fifteen years it’s been, yes? You never change.” 

“And you’ve grown old, Takehito Senga. Yet, what is inside you seems not to have grown at all.” 

Natsuki wore a cold expression, her scorn apparent. 

The last time he had seen her in Europe, Senga had been in his mid-twenties. At the time, Natsuki was an ordinary human being, her age exactly what it appeared to be. It was Senga himself who had taught Natsuki how to form a pact with a devil, thus providing the impetus for her to become a witch. 

“I haven’t changed, you say…but I could say the same about you. The demon-slaughtering Witch of the Void—” 

“That is not so.” Natsuki snorted, bored of the conversation. “Tartarus Lapse—a Demon Sanctuary wrecking crew with a fancy title, but even now, you’re just using children for your own ends, Takehito?” 

“I am offended that you would characterize my work as ‘using’ them. I merely teach them how to employ their powers, just as I once did for you.” 

“You claim the children destroy Demon Sanctuaries of their own will?” Natsuki’s voice carried a faint whiff of anger. 

Senga nodded deeply as he acknowledged, “That I am not even Tartarus Lapse’s leader is proof by itself. It is another who leads them.” 

“However, if I defeat you, the Eight Trigrams Formation will be broken… I will take my time questioning you about the rest afterward.” 

Natsuki held her parasol before her as she gave it a gentle flourish. As if this was a signal, a group of armed guards appeared, surrounding Senga. They were members of the Island Guard, around the size of a two-squad unit—probably forty-odd people in total. 

“I see… Certainly, you have somewhat changed.” Senga smiled thinly in apparent praise. 

The old Natsuki would probably have killed Senga, no questions asked. For her to attempt to capture Senga alive—let alone employ the assistance of others to do so—was something the Natsuki of old would never have done. 

Senga determined that acquiring things she needed to protect had made Natsuki weak. 

“As you are now, you cannot halt the Roses of Tartarus, Natsuki Minamiya!” 

Senga, sure of victory, declared as such as he pointed a gun toward the members of the Island Guard. The next moment, an earthquake-like roar echoed across the ruined factory. 

“What…?!” 

The abrupt flow of explosive ritual energy, filling the area around her, made Natsuki’s expression harden. 

The mountains of scrap metal left to rust inside the abandoned factory’s grounds flowed and swelled upward like sentient, living creatures. Finally, these took the form of giant humanoids, howling with the dusky sky at their backs. 

7 

The sun had just finished setting by the time Kojou and Yukina arrived at Island East’s warehouse district. With the bombing incident making the monorail late and heavily congested, moving there had taken longer than they’d anticipated. 

Fortunately, Nagisa had gone to visit their hospitalized father, so it wasn’t very difficult for Kojou to slip out of the house without telling her. Incidentally, he’d also asked Nagisa to check on their mother, who remained camped out at the corporation. At the very least, that ought to have been enough to let them act freely without Nagisa noticing for that night. 

“Figures that it’s pretty cold after the sun goes down.” 

Kojou’s shoulders sank as the merciless nighttime coastal wind blew upon them. 

Though Itogami Island was located in the tropics, the temperature still dropped a fair bit at night in the dead of winter. The desolate atmosphere of the warehouse district, not a soul in sight, seemed to only add to the chill. 

“I was right to bring my coat.” 

Yukina, wearing a coat over her usual school uniform, pressed a hand to her hair, astir from the strong wind. It was a brand-new coat Kojou had never seen before. 

“Well…it certainly is pretty. Bit of a fresh look—won’t get old anytime soon.” 

“Wh-what?” Yukina’s body froze as Kojou’s abrupt murmur threw her completely off. “Senpai…what are you saying out of the blue like that…?!” 

“Himeragi, I thought you didn’t like that kind of stuff.” 

“On the contrary, I do like it…and it’s the design Nagisa picked out for me…” 

Yukina grasped the collar of her own coat, whispering in a subdued voice so quiet that her words might go unheard. Her cheeks were red from the setting sun shining on them. 

However, Kojou twisted his neck as he listened, a questioning look on him as he asked: 

“What are you talking about…?” 

“Eh? What were you speaking about…?” 

“Er, this area was only recently reopened, right? So I was like, it’s fresh nighttime scenery.” 

“Huh…? Nighttime scenery?” 

As Kojou gazed at the seemingly rare Itogami Island nighttime landscape, Yukina somehow seemed to have a wounded look as she glared at him. She sighed deeply as she soon switched to despondency. 

“Is that so? I suppose you’re right.” 

“Well, I was thinking, too, who’d have thought I’d be looking at this landscape at night with you again?” 

Not noticing the apparent sulk on Yukina’s expression, Kojou’s eyes narrowed in nostalgia. He had visited that area along with her once before. 

It had been a little more than four months ago. A series of assaults on demons had been taking place on Itogami Island. 

“And because you couldn’t control your Beast Vassal, senpai, you burned the whole area down to the ground…” 

Surveying the large number of brand-new warehouses, Yukina spoke with a slightly teasing expression. Of course the buildings in that area looked so tidy—they’d only been rebuilt very recently. It was none other than Kojou himself who had annihilated the old warehouse district and turned it into a parking lot. 

“Himeragi, if I hadn’t done that, I couldn’t have saved you at the time, right?” 

“Eh? You’re saying it was my fault?” Hearing Kojou’s retort, Yukina’s eyes went wide in surprise. “Wait just a minute. Certainly, the effect was that I was saved by you, senpai, but it’s not as if I asked you for such a thing—” 

“Well, you were on the verge of being killed, weren’t you?” 

“That may be true, but in the first place, had you not failed to control your Beast Vassal, senpai, there wouldn’t have been that kind of damage!” 

“Couldn’t be helped. It was before I’d had any of your blood.” 

“I suppose you’re right…” 

For some reason, Yukina’s expression suddenly went blank as she replied. She drew her silver spear from the black guitar case she carried on her back. The spear tip contained within deployed, and the metallic shaft slid to its full length. 

“Though, nowadays, it seems you drink not just from me but from a great many other girls as well—” 

“Wait just a… Why are you taking your spear out now?!” 

Kojou recoiled in fear. However, Yukina was not looking toward Kojou but to a huge factory building somewhat removed from the warehouse district. It looked like an alchemical plant that had been shut down. 

The purportedly abandoned site was radiating powerful magical energy. Even Kojou, ill-versed in magical matters, could clearly sense the powerful waves it was giving off. 

“Himeragi! That’s—” 

“The Island Guard! Is that…gunfire?!” 

Amid the darkness of dusk, there were flashes of light that seemed to come from firearms. 

They could hear sounds like gunfire, too. It was an active gunfight. Members of the Island Guard were in pitched combat against someone. 

“Tartarus Lapse’s target wasn’t the food stockpile…?!” 

Through Astarte, they’d reported their theory of targeting the Great Pile to Natsuki, too. 

Hence, it was no surprise that the Island Guard would have located Senga and company before Kojou and Yukina. 

However, the site of the factory-turned-battlefield was close to a kilometer removed from the warehouses built in long rows. Yukina, too, seemed bewildered by the unexpected turn of events. 

“How could…anyone activate a ritual with that kind of range…?!” 

Countless crevices, resembling glowing arteries, rose up from the warehouse district ground surface upon which Kojou and Yukina stood. Vast ritual energy assembled through the use of feng shui was coursing through the entire area. 

Finally, that ritual energy was absorbed, and masses of stone and metal buried within the artificial ground began to move. They were humanoid monsters some seven to eight meters at full height—giant stone golems. 

At the same time that the monsters emerged, a dense mist came over the warehouse district, swirling around and creating gusts like a tornado. The walls of the brand-new warehouses cracked, and debris blown off by the winds danced in the sky. 

“Golems that control storms and waves… Could they possibly be—Stone Sentinels?!” 

“Stone Sentinels?” Kojou inquired to Yukina, who was dumbfounded at the sight of the swarm. “What’re they?” 

“A master-level art within tactical qimen. It is said that long ago, Zhuge Liang, military strategist of the Emperor of Shu, used emplacements of them to destroy an army of fifty thousand under the banner of Wu.” 

“An army of fifty thousand… Seriously?” 

Kojou finally came to understand just how frightening feng shui could be as an instrument of war. A single exceedingly skilled feng shui practitioner could rival a force of tens of thousands. Drawing on the dragon lines, he could employ ritual energy to manipulate giant stones and alter the weather as he willed. No wonder they called them large-scale military rituals. 

“Even your spear can’t manage, Himeragi?” 

Kojou glared at the course of the enchantment floating up from the surface of the ground as he made sure. Yukina regretfully shook her head. 

“After all, Stone Sentinels are animated by the energy currents of the Earth itself… Even Snowdrift Wolf cannot…” 

“Figures even it can’t neutralize the whole thing! Then no choice but to do this by force.” 

Kojou ferociously bared his canine teeth. If they could not prevent the feng shui from activating, there was no choice but to stop the monsters created by it. Using the power of the Fourth Primogenitor in poor visibility was a risk, but he had no time to hesitate. 

“C’mon over, Al-Nasl Minium!” 

Kojou’s blood seemed to boil within his body as he released a great amount of demonic energy, summoning an enormous beast out of thin air. Manifesting was a scarlet-maned bicorn, raging winds and vibrations of the air incarnate. This was a Beast Vassal of the Fourth Primogenitor—the World’s Mightiest Vampire. 

Vampires were served by the beasts that dwelled in their own blood. 

A Beast Vassal was an amalgam of pure demonic energy. One’s very existence warped the laws of physics, consuming the host’s life force with incredible power. It was said that only vampires, with infinite negative life forces, could summon and employ Beast Vassals, making vampires the mightiest of all Demonkind. 

The bicorn Kojou called forth mowed down the Stone Sentinels with its hooves. Even the golems’ solid bodies were blown to pieces, as if constructed of fine sand. 

Excess force also spectacularly gouged the artificial isle’s ground, but Kojou pretended not to see. The Beast Vassals of the Fourth Primogenitor, comprised of overly vast power, were exceptionally difficult to control. Precise use was nigh impossible. Even if some sacrifices had to be paid, his top priority was to whittle down the golems’ numbers. But— 

“They’re regenerating…?!” 

In place of the destroyed golems, the clumps of rubble scattering about rose up in humanoid form anew. The more the bicorn destroyed them, the effect was a net increase in the golems’ numbers. 

“So this is how they wiped out a force of fifty thousand…?! This ain’t gonna cut it!” 

Kojou breathed raggedly over and over. The warehouse district, with its densely packed buildings, was ill-suited to combat employing Beast Vassals. The longer the battle, the more the rate of damage would accelerate. 

“I shall defeat the caster! Senpai, buy time here while I—,” Yukina shouted as she broke into a run. She no doubt thought it was not the regenerating Stone Sentinels, but Takehito Senga in the ruined factory who ought to be defeated first. 

However, Yukina had run only a few strides when she stopped in surprise. 

A petite girl was leaning against an old scooter, lying in wait, seemingly to obstruct her path. 

“Sorry, but I can’t let you do that.” 

The girl in the letterman jacket flashed a pained smile as she gently brushed a hand against her helmet. 

Astonished, Yukina called out to the girl. “Miss…December…?!” 

“You remember me. I’m so happy. But you don’t need to add ‘miss.’” 

December was so carefree, just like the first time they’d met. 

“So you really are a member of Tartarus Lapse…?” 

Kojou glared at the girl during the slight pause before the golems regenerated again. Even though he saw her appear on the battlefield, her being here still felt unbelievable. 

“Member? Hee-hee, that has a nice ring to it.” 

December gave him an amused smile. 

“Kojou Akatsuki, the Fourth Primogenitor—if you like, would you become a member, too? Of course, you can bring Miss Neighbor with you. I’d happily welcome you both.” 

“Like hell we will!” Kojou’s voice went ragged. “Did you get close to Nagisa because you knew she was my little sister, too?!” 

“Nah. That’s not why. I’m not saying it was pure coincidence…but, hmm, when push comes to shove, I wanted to meet her more than I wanted to meet you. Either way, it’s not something you need to worry about.” 

“Why did you drop us that hint? That the Great Pile would be attacked—” 

“Hmm… Why, I wonder…” December shook her head, as if to say she did not truly understand it herself. 

Then the girl removed her goggles. Her eyes, blue and radiant like flames, gazed at Kojou. 

“It’s probably because I wanted to see you one more time.” 

December bared her white fangs as she spoke—with large, sharp canine teeth particular to vampires. 

8 

“Himeragi, I’ll stall December.” 

Kojou virtually whispered the statement to Yukina, who was at his side. 

An incredibly ghastly aura was emanating from December’s small-statured body. But this suited Kojou just fine. After all, if his opponent was an unaging, undying vampire, he didn’t need to worry about restraint. 

Yukina nodded, instantly discerning Kojou’s intent. 

“Understood. During that time, I shall go after Senga—” 

“I told you I can’t let you do that.” 

As December leisurely called out, a huge shadow gently swayed behind her. It was a transparent phantom beast that seemed to be clad in thick armor. The incredible sense of might emanating from it was in no way inferior to that of Kojou’s servants. 

“A Beast Vassal?!” 

Yukina was about to break into a run, but her movements halted, wary of December’s overwhelming demonic energy. Even among the vampires Kojou and Yukina had encountered to that point, December was clearly abnormal—it was no exaggeration to say she possessed truly enormous power. Even as her Beast Vassal scattered around a vast sense of foreboding, Kojou could not make out anything of its nature. 

“Shit…! Al-Nasl Minium!” 

Kojou commanded the bicorn to attack. However, a second faster than it could, December’s radiant eyes caught Kojou straight in their sights. 

“Withdraw, Al-Nasl Minium—!” 

“What…?!” 

Struck by powerful dizziness, Kojou dropped straight to his knees. 

The scarlet bicorn howled, unleashing an oscillation wave shell. However, the destructive roar was not aimed toward December’s Beast Vassal. A building of the nearby Great Pile was mercilessly shattered to smithereens. 

“Senpai?! What are you…?!” 

Yukina’s voice trembled as she shouted in fright. However, Kojou did not answer. His entire body was drenched in thick sweat as he let out anguished breaths. 

“Gu…o…!” 

“Senpai?!” 

Realizing that something was wrong with him, Yukina gasped and glared at December. 

However, Yukina could not approach her in any way, for above her, the bicorn descended from the sky, standing as if to shield December from Yukina. 

A huge hoof, swaying like a mirage, attempted to stomp Yukina flat, with Kojou, its host and master, along with her. 

“Urk! Snowdrift Wolf—!” 

Yukina thrust out the silver spear, filling it with all the ritual energy she could. The pale glow of the Divine Oscillation Effect blade seemed to cleave the scarlet Beast Vassal’s attack apart, halting it in its tracks. 

“Not bad, Miss Neighbor.” 

December praised her. Even if it was by borrowing power from the spirit spear, Yukina, a mere human being, had fended off a Beast Vassal of the Fourth Primogenitor. Of course December was surprised. 

“But I have no room for restraint. I’d prefer if you withdrew before you got hurt…” 

“That’s not…!” 

As Yukina tried to reject the offer, she felt new, powerful demonic energy emerge behind her. The source of the demonic energy was Kojou, groaning in pain, last she checked. Under December’s quiet gaze, Kojou was attempting to summon a new Beast Vassal. 

A minotaur materialized, its flesh formed of molten amber. This was Beast Vassal Number Two, Cor-Tauri Succinum— 

“Wha…?” 

Yukina let out a murmur of despair. Even Snowdrift Wolf’s ability could not fend off two servants of the Fourth Primogenitor at the same time. 

Its entire body enveloped by scalding magma, the minotaur Beast Vassal swung the battle-ax that was equal to its own height. Its target for attack was a building in the center of the warehouse district. 

However, just before the battle-ax swung downward, the minotaur Beast Vassal’s movements quietly came to a halt. 

Scarlet thorns stopped it. 

Suddenly, countless thorns emerged out of thin air, wrapping around the Beast Vassal and binding its movements. 

“I thought I told you, transfer student… Don’t involve yourself where you do not belong.” 

The voice came from right beside Yukina. The youthful voice clashed with the haughtiness of its tone. Thin air wavered like a faint ripple, and a petite figure emerged, wearing an extravagant dress. 

“Ms. Minamiya…?!” 

“Hmph… Cute to think someone could put the Fourth Primogenitor under mind control… Who are you?” 

When Natsuki Minamiya posed the question, December smiled without a word. Behind the vampire girl, the only thing that faintly swayed was her Beast Vassal’s shadow. 

“Mind…control…,” Yukina said unwittingly. “It couldn’t be…” 

A vampire’s body possessed powerful resistance against all manner of sorcery. Kojou had been the only one unaffected by the mind attack of Yume Eguchi, the Witch of the Night and World’s Mightiest Succubus. 

On top of that, Kojou was a vampire primogenitor. Even if December was a fellow vampire, it ought to have been impossible for December to seize control of Kojou’s mind. 

However, in actuality, Kojou had fallen under her control, as well as his Beast Vassals. 

“Do not concern yourself with Kojou Akatsuki’s servants, transfer student. That woman is your opponent.” 

Natsuki spoke to the hesitant Yukina. Without a word, Yukina nodded, putting strength into the hands gripping her spear. 

December raised her eyebrows. Controlling the scarlet bicorn, she commanded it to attack Yukina and Natsuki. However, before she did, a solemn chant was already trickling out from Yukina’s lips. 

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

The surface of the silver spear was enveloped in a multilayered magical circle. It was the glow of the Divine Oscillation Effect that could rend any barrier in existence and nullify demonic energy. This transformed and deployed between them and December—not as a blade, but as a wall. 

“O divine wolf of the snowdrift, let the echoes of thy thousand howls become a shield and repel this calamity!” 

December’s eyes glowed brighter, and a torrent of dense demonic energy flooded into the air. However, Yukina’s wall became a shield of light that wiped the torrent clean. 

“Gah… Agh…!” 

Kojou exhaled in agony. The two materialized Beast Vassals vanished from sight. 

“Senpai…!” 

“It seems the mind control has been broken.” 

Yukina raced to Kojou’s side as Natsuki spoke in an unmoved tone. 

Kojou wiped the sweat off his brow as he asked Natsuki in a broken voice, “What happened with…Takehito…Senga?” 

“Unfortunately, he escaped. The Island Guard is in pursuit, but it is meaningless. He is a decoy.” 

“Decoy?” 

“To draw the Island Guard’s eyes away from the warehouse district here. And the same no doubt goes for your vampire?” Natsuki, sour, glared at December. “I should have realized it sooner.” 

December adorably stuck out her tongue and shot her a smile. “You still wanna do this? We’ve achieved our objective, so I think any further fighting is fruitless.” 

“Achieved…your objective?” 

Kojou felt a chill of fright at December’s odd degree of composure. Did I make some kind of mistake that can never be undone…? he wondered, gripped by worry. 

That instant, the artificial isle swayed with a tremor. 

Kojou and the others were struck by an impact strong enough to leave them unable to stand. 

Flames spouted up, illuminating the night sky. Even the warehouses—previously assumed undamaged—were enveloped by an orange flash of light and blown asunder. 

“The stockpile warehouses are…” 

Kojou looked up, dumbfounded at the sight of the Great Pile’s buildings going up in flames one after another. 

The reason for Takehito Senga appearing in a ruined factory removed from the Great Pile, employing the large-scale ritual known as Stone Sentinels, and why December had used her ability so spectacularly before Kojou and Yukina—they were all decoys, misdirection. 

“A pyrokineticist…is it?” 

Natsuki emotionlessly glanced behind her as she murmured. 

At the center of the warehouse district engulfed by flames was a small-statured individual, wearing cutesy clothing. It was an indigo-haired homunculus teenage boy. The flames spewing from both of his hands were setting the remaining warehouses aflame one by one. 

The hardest thing about using bombs wasn’t using explosives in and of itself. Rather, it was meticulous emplacement and accurately setting them off with the intended timing. If you prepared a good enough detonation device, you didn’t even need explosives—fertilizer or even powdered wheat was enough. 

When investigating and analyzing explosives, the presence of a detonator became a critical lead. Naturally, the Island Guard had no doubt been sweeping inside the food stockpile warehouses for hidden detonation devices. 

However, they had found none. It was a Hyper Adapter with pyrotechnic abilities, not a device, that was the explosive that Tartarus Lapse had furnished. 

“So he’s the real culprit behind the Keystone Gate terror bombing, too? Small wonder the dangerous substances sensors in the underground parking lot were useless. They don’t call you a wrecking crew for nothing. However…” 

Natsuki exhaled in visible admiration. Without fanfare, she shifted the tip of her closed parasol toward December. Golden chains spewed out of thin air, wrapping around December’s entire body. 

“…you cannot escape any longer.” 

Natsuki turned a very frigid gaze toward December. December’s body writhed about but could not break free of Natsuki’s chains. The homunculus boy with pyrotechnic abilities was caught by identical chains. 

For some reason, December, seeing this for herself, smiled sadly. 

“Goodness, it cannot be helped. I had hoped to go without injuring Takehito’s friend, but…” 

Still bound by chains, December turned toward the ear microphone under her helmet and murmured, “Carly, please—” 

Before her words were even finished, Kojou caught glimpse of a flash from very far away. 

Someone was watching them from the top of a building over a thousand meters away. 

“—?!” 

Yukina’s expression froze over as she looked at Natsuki. 

Without a sound, Natsuki’s small body danced in the sky, blown into the air. 

She’s been sniped, Kojou realized. One of December’s comrades, an operative of Tartarus Lapse, had shot Natsuki from such a long distance that even Yukina’s Spirit Sight had been unable to predict it. 

“A…spell round…?!” Natsuki murmured, astonished. 

A thick magical energy wall protecting her entire body had been smashed into transparent fragments, vanishing. The round, instilled with vast magical energy, had penetrated Natsuki’s protective shell. 

“Natsuki?!” 

“Ms. Minamiya!” 

Natsuki’s body rolled on the ground. Kojou’s hands shook as he picked her up. Yukina held out her spear to shield both of them and glared at December. 

The top of Natsuki’s dress was ripped to tatters, leaving Natsuki’s wounded chest exposed to plain view. 

Deep cracks ran across inorganic flesh, reminiscent of a doll’s. In place of blood, what trickled out were fragments of tapered ivory. Natsuki’s body in the world on “that” side was not one of flesh and blood. It was an avatar animated with magical energy. 

However, Natsuki’s body, bearing a deep wound sufficient to kill a normal person instantly, did not budge an inch. 

“Hit confirmed. Prepare next round—” 

December called out to her sniper comrade. 

The golden chains binding her had already slackened, allowing her to fall to the ground. With the caster, Natsuki, no longer conscious, the chains had lost their magical energy. 

“I will ask you again, Kojou Akatsuki. Won’t you join us?” 

December looked down at Kojou. Her question had been voiced frailly, almost like a prayer. 

That instant, the Tartarus Lapse sniper was preparing her rifle. If he refused December’s invitation, the next round would doubtlessly come for Kojou and Yukina. 

Even so, Kojou bluntly shook his head. 

“Why?” December asked, narrowing her eyes forlornly. “If you knew Tartarus Lapse’s objective, I’m sure you’d understand.” 

“I don’t know what your reason is, but I don’t intend to help out a bunch of murderers.” 

“Is that so? How unfortunate…” 

December’s shoulders sank with a sigh. Her lips, meant to give the order to snipe, quivered. 

But before that, Kojou summoned a new Beast Vassal. The enormous body of the servant, swaying like a mirage, swelled up to Kojou’s rear. 

“C’mon over, Natra Cinereus—!” 

“Carly……?!” Heedless, December tried to order the snipe, when her breath caught a little. 

Kojou’s summoned Beast Vassal was a huge, illusion-like, shelled beast that spewed mist from its entire body. The dense mist, infused with demonic energy, blotted out the sight of Kojou and the others in the blink of an eye. 

Accurate fire was impossible under those conditions no matter how good the sniper was. 

“Ah… A smokescreen of mist… As expected of the boy she chose, I suppose…” 

Sensing Kojou and the others’ presences growing distant, December gave up pursuit with a sunny smile. 

The power of the Beast Vassal of Mist had extinguished the fires in the warehouse district as well. The vast majority of the foodstuffs stockpiled there had surely been already burned away. Tartarus Lapse’s objective had been achieved. 

“We’re pulling out, Logi, Carly. We’re ready for the Roses,” December stated to her comrades. 

For but a single moment, she turned back, gazing at Itogami Island’s nighttime landscape. 

No one was likely to ever see that scenery again. That fact left her feeling just a tiny bit sentimental. 

Nonetheless, their plan would not cease. 

The Roses would awaken—and then no one could halt Itogami City’s destruction.