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Strike the Blood - Volume 15 - Chapter 6




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CHAPTER SIX 

HOMECOMING 

The vermillion bullets trailed beautiful, geometric streaks of light as they flew. In truth, these bullets were collections of light particles enveloping magic symbols within. This was The Cleansing—the forbidden spell wrought by the Sinful God for his revenge against the gods. 

The places touched by those bullets were instantly transformed into gold. The Cleansing was a spell that rewrote the world. This was not transmutation of matter; it was rewriting the world so that it had always been gold to begin with . 

Since The Cleansing interfered with the world itself, Snowdrift Wolf’s Ability to nullify demonic energy was ineffective against it. Yukina’s spear could not block the red bullets. 

Even so, Yukina did not falter, slipping her way through the bullets as they poured down like rain. 

“Aiba! Please stop this!” 

Yukina was staring toward the robot tank that Asagi was piloting. It was a bluntly designed machine, a fair bit larger than Lydianne’s Hizamaru. 

The scarlet bullets were being fired from the two antipersonnel machine guns with which the machine came equipped. Unable to use magic herself, Asagi was using the robot tank as a catalyst to draw upon the power of The Cleansing. The attack patterns were more limited compared to ones controlled by a spellcaster herself, but in contrast, the lag between shots was minimal. The mobility and defensive power of the robot tank itself was more menacing still. 

“Provided senpai defeats the Duke of Ardeal, we can save Itogami Island without a war!” 

Using a ritual spell to physically enhance herself to the absolute limit, Yukina chased after the robot tank. Offensive spell tablets she spread in midair transformed into silver-colored wolves. The two wolves grabbed hold of the tank, attempting to crush the antipersonnel machine guns with their jaws. 

“Like I’ve been saying, that makes this all meaningless!” 

Crashing her own machine into the wall of a ruin, Asagi shook Yukina’s shikigami off. Showered in the special bullets, the shikigami lost their supernatural power, returning to the spell tablets from whence they came. 

“Say Kojou becomes king of Itogami Island as the Fourth Primogenitor. What happens to him after?! Can he go back to being a normal high school student then?! Saving Itogami Island by sacrificing his sense of belonging, that’s no solution to anything! Don’t take away Kojou’s home!” 

“Aiba…don’t tell me that’s why you’ve chosen to cooperate with the Duke of…” 

Learning Asagi’s true feelings for the very first time, Yukina’s movements halted for a moment. 

Now that she thought about it, everything made perfect sense. 

Asagi was an ordinary high school girl who just happened to be a little better with computers than other people. There was no reason she’d be capable of deciding to make enemies of half the world just to protect the island on which she was raised. It was not Itogami Island that Asagi was protecting, but Kojou’s place to come home to. From the beginning, she’d been acting for Kojou’s sake alone. 

Yet, even once she knew Asagi’s true feelings, Yukina did not lower her blade. 

“Senpai…! He chose to protect Itogami Island even so! Even if it means his identity is exposed, even if it means shouldering the destiny of its entire populace—!” 

“I told you: I’m not letting that happen!” 

Micro-missiles scattered from the missile pods on the tank’s back. 

The left and right sides of the craft each shouldered a twenty-four-barreled missile pod. From every direction, a total of forty-eight missiles bore down upon Yukina alone. Even the Sword Shaman, with her Ability to peer into the future, could not escape a physical attack from every conceivable angle. 

“Urk—” 

The silver spear Yukina gripped unleashed a dazzling, pale light. The spiritual energy Yukina amplified through her spear coursed backward into her body. The purified spiritual energy opened Yukina’s internal pathways to a higher dimension, and what coursed back through these pathways was vast divine essence exceeding all human limitations. This was a side effect of the Divine Oscillation Effect ritual from within Snowdrift Wolf—Faux-Angelification of its wielder. 

The outpouring of divine essence formed pale wings that mowed down every last missile flying through the air. 

“Sh…she shot down The Cleansing’s bullets…?!” Asagi exclaimed in shock. 

The crimson particles embedded into the missiles were being dissipated by Yukina’s wings. Even The Cleansing could not erase divine essence coursing in from a higher dimension. 

“Whether senpai is Fourth Primogenitor or king of a Dominion, isn’t that fine?! I will protect senpai’s place here! That is why I am in this Demon Sanctuary… That is why I am his watcher!” 

Advancing down the path of Faux-Angelification was a dangerous act that culminated in the final annihilation of the mage. Her pact with Kojou had diminished that possibility, but even its effect had its limits. Yukina had put her divine essence to maximum throttle with full knowledge of that fact, for she knew it was her one and only means of resisting Asagi. 

“What the hell are you…?!” 

Yukina’s declaration made Asagi’s voice tremble. For once, she was genuinely unnerved. 

“And what’s with those wings?! What are you, an angel?! What, you have a cute face, so the rules don’t apply to you?!” 

“Aren’t you the cute one, Aiba?! They say you’re more beautiful than actual idols! And smart! And stylish! And senpai depends on you!!” Yukina retorted, baring her own emotions as well. She no longer had any idea what she was saying. 

Regardless, it seemed to have rubbed Asagi the wrong way, for the tone of her voice jumped higher still. 

“Hey, you’re the one Kojou depends on! I don’t know about this watcher business, but whether it’s the high school or the middle school campus, you’re always together, lovey-dovey, lovey-dovey, lovey-dovey!” 

“Aren’t you clinging to him at high school all the time, Aiba?! You’re always glancing at the side of his face in the middle of class, you eat lunch with him at noon, you even indirectly kiss him by sharing drinks—” 

“How do you know that?!” 

Asagi’s robot tank collided with Yukina. The resulting impact sent sparks flying from the robot tank’s joints. Lubricant flowed out from various parts of the machine, and overheating sent coolant gushing out as white smoke. Both antipersonnel machine-gun barrels were warped in the process, and the remaining missiles were already exhausted. 

Crawling out of the cockpit hatch, Asagi glared at Yukina. “And another thing, I never got anything like a ring from Kojou!” 

“This ring was provided by the Lion King Agency! It doesn’t hold a candle to your earrings!” Yukina retorted. Anyway, she’d already released her angelification. 

“Yeah, you say that, but Kojou put that ring on you, didn’t he?! It’s not fair!” 

“What about you, Aiba? Always calling senpai by his given name like that?!” 

“Oh… That bothers you? Who would have guessed…” 

“Ngh…” 

Realizing her own verbal slip, Yukina’s cheeks flushed as she averted her gaze. 

Without a word, Asagi shrugged, sighing as she put a hand to her cheek. Perhaps she thought it was all pretty stupid. It wasn’t as if arguing with Yukina was going to improve the situation in any way. 

And then… 

“ ? ?!” 

In shock, Yukina and Asagi looked to the sky in the direction where Kojou ought to have been fighting Vattler. Rising high in the sky was a serpent stretching hundreds of meters long. 

Even for a vampiric Beast Vassal, its enormity was off the charts. 

Beast Vassals themselves were concentrated masses of dense demonic energy. When materialized, even the Beast Vassals of the Fourth Primogenitor were dozens of meters long at best. Yet still, they possessed the might to wipe entire cities off the map. Yukina could not even imagine what kind of destruction would be wrought if that serpent released all of its demonic energy at once. What horrified her even more was the vortex of scarlet light swirling around the serpent. 

“—Why is The Cleansing…?! I didn’t program anything like that…!” Asagi shook her head, aghast. 

Yukina was completely at a loss for words. At that point, Dimitrie Vattler had achieved total mastery of The Cleansing. And he had infused that capability into his own Beast Vassal. He was using the world-rewriting power of The Cleansing to augment it. 

To make matters worse, he was not limited to only one Beast Vassal. 

One after another, the curved necks of enormous serpents rose up, scattered across the ruined city. The eight serpentine Beast Vassals that Vattler possessed were emerging all over the artificial isle, haughtily gazing down upon their surroundings. 

It was a surreal spectacle that felt as if they were watching the end of the world. 

As if desperately trying to escape from that horde of Beast Vassals, a single bird danced in the sky. 

No—it was no bird. It was a dragon with a steel-colored mane. 

The dragon’s right and left front claws held a boy and a girl, respectively. Recognizing their appearances, Yukina and Asagi raised their voices. 

“Miss Glenda…?! Senpai?!” 

“K-Kojou and…Yuiri?!” 

Yukina and Asagi could only watch as the dragon, flying at a speed beyond its limits, lost its balance, fluttering as it fell into a gap between some buildings. They faintly heard the sound of girls crying out. 

“…!” 

The two met each other’s faces. Then, they ran toward where the dragon had crashed. 

“To think a New Blood less than two hundred years of age could trade blows with me to this extent… Quite impressive.” 

A giant sword Beast Vassal continued to hover above Velesh Aradahl’s head as he quietly spoke. 

Countless scars had been left in the landscape of the steel-colored ruin, seeming as if invisible fangs had gouged holes into it. These were traces of two vampires wielding vast power having clashed head-on. 

Aradahl’s flesh was covered in cuts. The sleeves of his old-fashioned coat had been cruelly burned black. However, the wounds of Kira Lebedev, standing before him, ran far deeper. He had already lost his right arm, and he bore grievous wounds all over his body. Some looked as if he had been impaled so deeply that the wounds ran all the way to his back. 

Aradahl and Kira were separated by about seven hundred years—the varying degrees in damage reflected the difference in combat experience between them. Nor was further combat likely to alter the course of the battle. 

Even so, Kira had not lost his will to fight. In contrast to Aradahl, whose Beast Vassals outnumbered his, he employed illusions and traps, obstinately hanging on. 

“Why do you fight for Vattler’s sake to this extent, Kira Lebedev? I do not think you are as deeply committed to fighting like Vattler and Jagan, and yet…” 

“I wonder about that…” 

Kira smiled a bit as his own blood drenched his cheeks. Seeing that Kira was hiding his chest under his torn clothing, Aradahl narrowed his eyes with a suspicious air. 

“But what I do bear is a sentiment that…this is the only way I could come up with to be of aid to him… And once more, it would seem I have fulfilled my duty.” 

“What?” 

Upon hearing Kira’s suggestive remark, Aradahl lifted his face. In the direction of the Oceanus Grave II —where Kojou Akatsuki had purportedly been heading—an enormous serpent was being born. 

The serpentine Beast Vassal, shrouded by a crimson vortex, burst into the heavens. Aradahl instinctively knew what it was. 

“Vattler…infused the power of The Cleansing into his Beast Vassals…!” 

As if responding to Aradahl’s words, the serpent Beast Vassal spat out a beam of light. 

The crimson beam stretched forth toward the HGTO Military’s multinational armada. The Beast Vassal’s attack, imbued with vast demonic energy, could probably annihilate even the largest aircraft carrier in one blow. 

But just before that light engulfed the armada, an enormous, irregularly shaped monster split the sea as it emerged. It was a sea monster with malevolent wings and countless tentacles—a Beast Vassal controlled by a primogenitor. 

The Beast Vassal’s wings blocked the beam, altering its course and deflecting it up into the sky. 

The collision of vast demonic energies created ferocious waves upon the sea’s surface, but the warships floating behind it were safe. The primogenitor’s Beast Vassal had just barely managed to protect the multinational armada. 

“That’s our primogenitor for you. He masterfully deflected that blow…but how long can he keep it up?” 

Kira quietly let out a sigh. Was it a sigh of admiration or of pity? 

The enormous wings of the primogenitor’s Beast Vassal, torn off at their base, dissipated. A number of its tentacles seemed to have been lost as well. Even the nigh-invincible Beast Vassal of a primogenitor had been unable to completely withstand the vermillion beam containing the power of The Cleansing. 

The serpentine Beast Vassal was drawing demonic power from the artificial island to unleash a fresh attack. The sources of The Cleansing’s power were the dragon lines that flowed in the seas surrounding Itogami Island. The capacity of that demonic energy was effectively inexhaustible. Even with the might of a vampiric primogenitor, could such power truly be resisted…? 

“Vattler…!” 

Aradahl’s expression twisted as he gazed at the despairing sight. 

“I see… So your duty was to slow me down.” 

Meanwhile, Iblisveil was indeed watching that same preposterous battle. 

Vattler had no doubt required a certain amount of time to completely master the power of The Cleansing. For that reason, he had employed Leviathan and the Nalakuvera to keep the multinational armada at a distance. 

Now that his objective had been fulfilled, there was no reason for Iblisveil to fight Jagan any longer… For even if Iblisveil defeated Jagan and arrived on Vattler’s doorstep, his chances of victory were slim. 

“Victory is ours, Prince of the Fallen Dynasty.” With half his body cruelly mangled, Jagan smiled, clearly proud of his victory. “His Excellency Vattler has obtained power that surpasses that of the Cain of old. Even our primogenitors cannot stop him now.” 

“I do not think those fossils will go down so easily,” Iblisveil replied, unmoved, as if it had nothing to do with him. 

“Either way, it is unproductive to continue our blood sport any further. Nor do I wish to miss the long-awaited fight between Kojou Akatsuki and Vattler.” 

“Kojou Akatsuki, you say…?” 

Jagan’s pain-filled eyes looked up, carefully scrutinizing Iblisveil. He wobbled to his feet on his regenerated legs. 

Iblisveil smiled. 

“Why are you so surprised? Is it not Kojou Akatsuki’s duty to defeat Vattler, who has obtained the knowledge of Cain? For he is the Fourth Primogenitor—a god-killing weapon created for the express purpose of killing Cain.” 

Wrapping his entire body in golden mist, Iblisveil vanished from sight. He seemed genuinely intent on heading off and spectating as Kojou and Vattler battled. 

“I bothered to lend him a hand, after all. I shall be most entertained.” 

Somehow, Iblisveil’s voice sounded distant at the end. 

Jagan pushed up his blood-drenched bangs, murmuring under his breath to no one in particular. 

“Kojou…Akatsuki…” 

“Kojou—!” 

It was Asagi who arrived first at the dragon’s crash site. When the robot tank came to a halt, its strength seemingly exhausted, she jumped down from it and rushed to the injured Kojou’s side. 

“Asagi…” 

Yuiri Haba, supporting Kojou with her embrace, was half in tears as she looked up at Asagi. Staring at Kojou, whose eyes were still closed, Asagi understood what Yuiri’s expression meant. 

Kojou was in a pathetic state. Both his legs had been torn to shreds, and most of what was below his knees was not in its original shape. Muscles of his left arm had been shredded off, exposing the largest bone. The reason there was little bleeding despite that was because the sinews around the open wound had been desiccated like a mummy. 

Glowing vermillion particles were floating around the wound site. Vestiges of The Cleansing were erasing supernatural power, obstructing his vampiric regeneration ability. 

“—This is the High Priestess’s curse,” Asagi murmured as she realized the truth behind the spell that had wounded Kojou. If one thought rationally, it was quite simple. 

Asagi had not written any program to augment Vattler’s Beast Vassals. Someone had executed a program in Asagi’s place. On Itogami Island, there was only one person capable of controlling The Cleansing besides Asagi: the High Priestess, former partner of Meiga Itogami—the Priestess of Abel. 

A guinea pig of MAR research to bring people back from the dead, she hated everything in that world. If she learned Vattler’s objective was to engulf the world in the fires of war, no doubt she helped him with glee. 

“A program that does nothing more than make Cleansing energy amplified from Itogami Island flow into Vattler’s Beast Vassals… It’s so simple that I can’t mess with it from the outside…” 

How can this be? Asagi bit her lip. The calculations the High Priestess had put together were barely worthy of being called a program. All she’d done was create a channel for magical energy to flow into. If this was a computer, it would be like bypassing the circuit board and plugging directly into a high-voltage power source. 

Fine control of such a thing was a hopeless prospect. For that matter, Asagi was skeptical that, once it had begun, it was even possible to interrupt the flow of such an enormous quantity of magical energy. 

The bigger problem being, since the program could not be touched from the outside, Asagi had no way to heal the wounds that had been caused by Vattler’s attack. 

“Senpai…!” 

As she caught up, Yukina drew in her breath when she saw the fallen Kojou. No doubt Kojou’s atrocious state had been a blow to her as well. However, without a word, Yukina shook her head and glanced around the area. 

“Yuiri, where is Shio?” 

“Shio said she’ll be a decoy until Kojou recovers, then she went all by herself—” 

“…!” Yukina’s expression hardened. 

The enormous serpentine Beast Vassals were raging indiscriminately all over the ruined, gray city. Even Vattler, their host and master, was having a hard time controlling their power. Just the squirms of the light-enveloped Beast Vassals were causing enormous damage to the ruined city. 

However, the Beast Vassals’ attacks were not pointed in Kojou’s direction—thanks to Shio acting as a decoy to draw their attacks away. More precisely, there was no one other than Shio who could be a decoy. Only the ritual spell barrages from Freikugel Plus were capable of drawing the serpent Beast Vassals’ attention. 

“Aiba, please take care of senpai—” 

“…Huh?” 

Yukina one-sidedly left those words behind, rushing away before Asagi could reply. She was heading off to support Shio. At present, if there was anything that could block the attacks of Vattler’s Beast Vassals, it was the divine essence from Yukina’s wings as a Faux-Angel. 

She knew that even if she stayed behind, she could not save Kojou. That was why she had left Kojou in Asagi’s care, for she believed that Asagi was the only one who could save him— 

“This is wrong…!” 

The silver-haired dragon girl was squeezing the wounded Kojou’s hand. Wearing Yuiri’s parka, Glenda had countless abrasions over her whole body, no doubt wounds incurred as she fled from Vattler’s Beast Vassals. 

“The Cleansing is Cain’s …! It hurting Kojou is just wrong…!” 

“Glenda…” 

Yuiri lowered her eyes in visible anguish. 

Her silver long sword was half broken, with the remaining body of the blade lacking part of its edge—backlash from fending off an attack from Vattler’s Beast Vassals. The supernatural power-nullifying particles of The Cleansing had passed through the pseudo-spatial severing to inflict damage upon her sword. 

Yet, even incurring such peril, Yuiri and the others had saved Kojou’s life. 

Girls that had been merely swept up in the course of events— 

And Asagi was one of the conspirators who’d involved them in that war. Well aware of this, she strongly clenched a fist. She knew what she had to do. She needed to bring that stupid war to an end. 

“Yuiri, sorry, but can you and that girl move away for a little bit?” 

“Eh? S-sure.” 

A confused look came over Yuiri as she guided Glenda away, putting some distance between them and Kojou. 

In their place, Asagi knelt at Kojou’s side. She took a deep breath to calm her feelings, and gently drew her face closer to Kojou’s. Then, Asagi’s palm smacked the defenseless side of his face. 

“Kojou, wake up! Wake up, dammit!” 

The crisp slap echoed across the ruined city. 

Asagi unleashed her merciless palm strike a second and third time. Normally, this was not how one would treat the wounded, but if Kojou remained unconscious, everything was over, either way. It was no time for her to be choosy about her methods. 

“A-Asagi?!” 

Yuiri’s eyes bulged as she stared at the incredible scene before her. Glenda was rigid with fear. However, neither girl made any move to stop Asagi, who couldn’t quell the tears running down her face. 

“Open your eyes, Kojou!” 

Strength drained from the hand with which Asagi had slapped Kojou repeatedly. She grabbed hold of the collar of Kojou’s uniform, calling out his name in a tearful voice. She remained like that when a frail voice reached Asagi’s ears. 

“…Heya…Asagi…” 

Kojou’s bloodied right hand brushed away the sideswept bangs covering Asagi’s cheek. Through her watery eyes, she stared at Kojou’s weakly smiling face. 

“Crying again, huh…?” 

“Huh? What are you talking about? I’ve never cried in front of you, even o…” 

Asagi vigorously rubbed her eyes but swallowed down her words of rebuke to Kojou midsentence. She recalled the backdrop of a dimly lit hospital waiting room. 

In that room, there was a girl crying in the hospital all alone…and a dense boy who’d gone out of his way to speak to her. Come to think of it, that was when Asagi had begun to think about Kojou often. 

“What the…? Geez, how long are you gonna remember that for…?” 

Asagi wiped away her tears once more. Her smudged makeup must have made her face look pretty terrible, but at least she and Kojou were looking rough together. Asagi gently closed her eyes, placing her lips over Kojou’s. 

“A-Asagi…?” 

Asagi’s sudden action brought a thoroughly perplexed expression over Kojou. Yuiri’s and Glenda’s auras conveyed their own surprise. However, the most nervous one there was Asagi herself. She didn’t know what to do next. If I’d known it would come to this, I’d have asked Tanahara or someone for a detailed, step-by-step explanation , she thought. 

“Sorry… I seriously don’t know what to do… What would make you happy and stuff…? Maybe, touch my breasts?” 

Asagi’s mind was reeling as she spoke those words before undoing the buttons of her school uniform. Next, she unhooked her bra. Then, she forced Kojou’s hand to caress her chest. 

“Huh…?!” 

Light returned to Kojou’s hollow eyes. Perhaps that indicated he was feeling better, but Asagi was in no condition to calmly assess the matter. 

“Eh…ehh…?!” 

Yuiri, incredibly unnerved, instantly covered Glenda’s eyes. 

“?!” 

Asagi’s slightly sweaty skin came into contact with Kojou’s palm, cool to the touch. She instantly let out a tiny voice. It didn’t feel at all like she’d imagined. Kojou’s hand was large, tough and rigid, his fingers strong and a little scary. However, she did not find being touched by him to be unpleasant. 

“What do I do…? This is really embarrassing… My heart really might be all aflutter…” 

“Wait, what’s with you, Asagi…? Why are you doing this all of a…?” 

“Um… I want you to drink my blood. It’s okay if it’s you, Kojou, so…!” 

When she actually put it into words, it sounded like an extremely awkward confession. She was belatedly assaulted by fear that Kojou would dislike her for it. However, now was no time to blush. 

“I don’t understand much about this Priestess of Cain stuff, but if you drink my blood, I think you’ll gain the power to resist The Cleansing, too, Kojou. That’s why—” 

“Asagi… So that’s why you’re doing this…” 

A mix of apparent regret and guilt floated up into Kojou’s eyes. Asagi hastily shook her head. That wasn’t the reason for her actions. 

“M-maybe you don’t want to do it with me after all this time…but I’ve tried my best to…make you really see me as cute, Kojou… That’s why I…” 

“Stop it.” 

Kojou spoke two short words of rejection. For a second, Asagi’s heart stopped. 

“……Huh?!” 

While her face was taut, Kojou gently stroked Asagi’s hair. His previously blood-drained cheeks reddened as his eyes swayed with visible tension. 

“You don’t need to say stuff like that. I mean… I think you’re cute…because you’re you.” 

“…!” 

Asagi covered her mouth. Normally, she’d say something flippant to gently deflect Kojou’s words, but her voice was stuck in her chest. In place of the words, all that flowed were tears. 

“A-Asagi?” 

Asagi’s unforeseen reaction made Kojou nervous. He seemed genuinely flustered, as if he really didn’t understand what was happening. 

“S-sorry… I’m kind of…relieved…” 

 

After a weak sob, Asagi spoke the words in a delicate voice. Kojou deeply exhaled in relief. 

“I’ll be as gentle as I can, but it might hurt a bit at the start.” 

“Yeah, It’s fine. I’ll hang in there. Do what you need to do, Kojou…” 

Asagi brushed her hair back, exposing her pale neck. Kojou’s lips closed around her neck with unexpected strength. The bite merged with gradual pain to form a single sensation that spread throughout Asagi. 

Yuiri’s eyes seemed to sparkle as she stared. 

Her eyes still covered, Glenda tilted her head. “Dah?” she muttered, confused. 

Shio Hikawa stood on the roof of a ruined building, silver recurve bow raised. 

“Let there be light—!” 

Pouring in her dwindling spiritual power, she shot a ritual arrow toward the sky. Her target was a serpentine Beast Vassal shrouded by vermillion radiance, so enormous that missing a shot would take considerable effort. 

The arrow traced a magic circle in the sky, which then unleashed incredible thunder and beams of light. 

Shio’s objective was to lure the Beast Vassals’ attack as far away from Kojou Akatsuki and the others as possible. It was not necessary to cause damage to the Beast Vassals. For that matter, even a direct hit from Freikugel Plus probably would not inflict wounds upon these opponents— 

“Figures, this is rough going…” 

Shio made labored breaths as she counted the few remaining ritual arrows. 

Shio was a Shamanic War Dancer of the Lion King Agency, an expert in curses and assassination. Drawing an enemy’s attention and sniping from a concealed position were some of her specialties. However, that was provided the opponent was human or an ordinary Demon. Naturally, using herself as a decoy against off-the-scale Beast Vassals reaching hundreds of meters in length was a first for her. 

Shio’s attacks were ineffective against the Beast Vassals. However, a single graze from the opponent’s attacks would vaporize Shio without a trace left behind. Even a single momentary error would be the death of her. Furthermore, she was facing eight opponents. The exceptionally harsh situation was whittling down Shio’s mental and physical endurance. 

That said, it would be overly cruel to Shio to blame overwork for the accident that settled it. 

One Beast Vassal had interfered with another’s attack— 

Vattler’s serpent’s attack came into contact with a different serpent, curving the arc of the attack at close to ninety degrees. 

“Oh n…!” 

Shio was unable to evade the vermillion beam flying at her from an unexpected direction. 

In the first place, each attack was strong enough to sink an enormous warship in a single blow. Any single streak of light scattered due to the interference was more than enough to annihilate Shio. All she could do was stand in a daze, her gaze fixed upon the vermillion radiance washing over her— 

“Snowdrift Wolf!” 

A small girl enshrouded by the dazzling light of the Divine Oscillation Effect wielded her spear to protect Shio. Transparent wings formed of divine essence were floating up from her back. 

Surely it was not Shio’s imagination that the side of her already pretty face felt positively divine. In her current state, she was toeing the line between humanity and divinity. 

“Y-Yukina Himeragi?!” 

“Are you all right, Hikawa?!” 

Yukina waited for the Beast Vassal’s attack to subside before looking back at Shio. 

“I shall buy time from here. Please retreat.” 

“No, Himeragi. That divine essence, it’s a side effect of the Schneewaltzer, isn’t it?!” 

Shio’s concerns skipped straight to Yukina’s physical condition. 

The Demon-Purging Assault Spear Type Seven Schneewaltzer was a powerful divine armament with the side effect of transforming its wielders into Faux-Angels. That was why the Schneewaltzer was sealed away and considered the Lion King Agency’s secret weapon. 

It was only recently that Shio and Yuiri had learned of this. And now that she knew, Shio could not expose Yukina to the danger of fading away. Though she didn’t dote on the girl like Sayaka Kirasaka did, Yukina was still her junior in the Lion King Agency all the same. 

However, Yukina continued to grip the silver spear as she made a small but stout smile. 

“It’s all right. I have this ring, after all—” 

“This isn’t the time for fairy-tale talk like that!” 

Naturally, Yukina showing off the ring made Shio indignant. Maybe such a thing made her feel better, but she hardly thought a mere ring could prevent Faux-Angelification. Yukina’s large eyes blinked several times in mild nervousness. 

“It—it’s not a fairy tale! What I mean by a connection between senpai and me through this ring is a magical link, so—” 

“That explanation is totally straight from a fairy tale… I’ll do you a favor and not tell Yuiri about it.” 

“Eh? Yuiri…?” Yukina blinked and tilted her head. 

As they spoke, one of the serpentine Beast Vassals turned its head in the pair’s direction. Its emotionless, enormous eyes caught sight of Shio and Yukina, and its maw opened to unleash a scarlet beam of light— 

An instant before it could, an enormous magic circle was drawn against the sky, spitting out countless thunderbolts to blind the serpent’s vision. 

“A ritual spell barrage! Kirasaka…?!” 

Shio exclaimed as she realized which caster was behind the attack. The only casters capable of unleashing such large ritual spell barrages were Shio and her fellow Shamanic War Dancer, Sayaka. 

With the Beast Vassal bathed in that ritual barrage, its attack was delayed. A woman with beautiful silver hair used that brief span of time to walk in front of Shio and Yukina. Shio was very familiar with her, a worldwide celebrity: Princess of Aldegia, La Folia Rihavein— 

The beautiful princess extolled as the Second Coming of Freya wielded incredible spiritual energy to deploy a clear-blue bulwark in front of Shio and Yukina. 

“Yukina, please lend me your strength.” 

“Y-yes!” 

Yukina, deducing what the smiling princess had in mind, infused her bulwark with divine energy. Originally, becoming a Faux-Angel was a ritual passed down within the Aldegian Royal Palace. The compatibility between the bulwark spread forth by the Aldegian princess and Yukina’s divine essence was exceptionally high. 

The girls’ bulwark deflected the vermillion beam of the serpent Beast Vassal, sending it bouncing off at an angle. 

“Yukina, what of Kojou Akatsuki? Is he safe?” 

Sayaka gripped her silver recurve bow as she asked Yukina the question. Yukina was still reinforcing the bulwark when she looked back a little hesitantly, as if trying to choose her words. She wasn’t sure whether to convey the extent of Kojou’s wounds. 

“He is…in Aiba’s hands for the moment.” 

“Eh?! Is—is that going to be all right…?!” 

Yukina’s roundabout explanation made Sayaka’s expression cloud over. She gave off the impression of being worried about something that didn’t quite pertain to Kojou’s physical condition. 

“Yes…well, probably… Um, senpai was on the verge of death, so…I really cannot take issue with…” 

A similar expression came over Yukina as she made that fractured reply. It sounded like a wife and a mistress discussing a cheating husband. Don’t make this so hard for Yuiri , thought Shio, sighing. 

“With the Priestess of Cain… I see, that may well prove a wise decision,” La Folia said, giving a little “tee-hee” and an amused smile. 

Then, she shifted her gaze to the serpentine Beast Vassal standing tall on the other side of the bulwark. Realizing that its attack had been warded off, the serpent was trying to unleash a red beam toward Shio and the others once more. 

“The issue being: Just how can we get ourselves out of this situation…?” 

However unyielding La Folia and Yukina’s bulwark, it could not block a Beast Vassal’s attack over and over. Shio and Sayaka had few ritual arrows remaining. She did not think there was any way to flee from Beast Vassal attacks that could reach all the way to the water’s horizon. Shio desperately searched for an escape plan while they endured the despairingly overwhelming power being unleashed by the enormous Beast Vassals. 

Then—that overwhelming power suddenly dissipated. The air, creaking under the dense demonic energy, relaxed, and color returned to the world. 

Gradually, the eight serpentine Beast Vassals thinned, melting into thin air. 

“The Beast Vassals…vanished?” 

Shio murmured in a daze at how the curtain had so suddenly fallen. 

All that was left was the skyline of the ruined city. 

It was several minutes later when Kojou completely regained consciousness. He suddenly realized that Asagi, who had so boldly undone her school uniform, was lying upon Kojou’s chest, making cute noises in her peaceful slumber. 

It wasn’t that he was unaware of what had happened. Indeed, that was the problem. 

He felt like he’d woken up from a very pleasant dream, but apparently, the dream was real. Kojou went beet red as he recalled the conversation he’d had with Asagi from those vague memories. 

As Kojou sat up, he heard an almost deliberate throat clearing from right beside him. 

Yuiri Haba, wearing a swimsuit, was sitting next to Glenda, whose eyes were still covered. For some reason, he felt like Yuiri, with her honor student ambience, had a slight redness to her cheeks. 

“Oh… Yuiri…?” 

“G-good morning, Kojou. B-been a while!” 

Yuiri spoke to him, deliberately wearing a composed, smiling face. Then, she awkwardly let her gaze wander. 

“I-it’s all right. I didn’t watch. I didn’t see a thing. Glenda neither.” 

“R-right.” 

Wow, she’s a really bad liar , thought Kojou, but he was grateful Yuiri was considerate. Apparently, she was going to act like she hadn’t seen anything that happened between Kojou and Asagi. 

“Er, Yuiri, why are you in a swimsuit…?” 

“Eh?!” 

Yuiri checked her own outfit and let out a brief yelp. She was wearing a frilly bikini with a rather pretty design. It wasn’t particularly exposing, but it still felt like an odd outfit to wear in the middle of a ruined city. 

“Y-you’ve got it all wrong. It’s the same outfit I was wearing when I was captured on Blue Elysium. I actually wanted to wear a plainer swimsuit, but I thought that’d make me stand out even worse at Blue Ely, and… S-see, I lent it to Glenda for now, but I was wearing that parka over it until just earlier… It—it doesn’t look weird?” 

“Nah, I think it’s cute…” 

Kojou voiced his honest appraisal without thinking too hard. Indeed, the fairly restrained design of the swimsuit suited Yuiri’s trim appearance nicely. 

Yuiri, covering her breasts in embarrassment, glared at Kojou with upturned eyes. 

“ Haaah… Kojou, you’re such a villain… So naughty.” 

“What for?!” Kojou’s voice went ragged at being blamed for no good reason. He was still in that state when Glenda came close and hugged him tight. 

“Kojou…! Does it hurt? Do your wounds hurt?” 

“Sorry for making you worry, Glenda.” 

Kojou stroked Glenda’s head with his left hand, which had finally healed. His pair of ravaged legs had finally mended to the point of being able to stand on his own two feet. Torn flesh cried out in unending agony across his entire body, but everything seemed tolerable in one way or another. 

“Kojou, can you move?” 

A serious look came over Yuiri as she peered into Kojou’s face. Kojou froze when the cleavage between her surprisingly bountiful breasts, contrasting her neat and tidy appearance, leaped into his vision. 

“Yeah, seems to be all right… I’m still a little short on blood, though, so I’m a little wobbly.” 

“Um, ah, Kojou.” 

“Mm?” 

“If…if my blood will suffice, you could…” 

“—Yuiri!” 

Just before she was about to say something, someone called out Yuiri’s name. When Kojou lifted his face, his vision beheld a girl with a short bob wielding a silver-colored recurve bow. 

“Sh-Shio?!” 

Yuiri backed away from Kojou and Glenda in a panic. 

Yukina had returned along with Shio. La Folia and Sayaka followed in their wake. Apparently, the girls had rendezvoused together somewhere unbeknownst to Kojou. 

“Senpai, you’ve regained consciousness? Are your wounds…?” 

Yukina began rushing over to Kojou in concern, but partway, her movements came to an abrupt halt. Emotion vanished from Yukina’s gaze as it fell upon Asagi, sleeping against Kojou’s chest with her clothes disheveled. 

“………” 

“H-Himeragi… Wait, you’re wrong! I didn’t strip her; this was…out of my hands… You’re assigning blame based on a misreading of circumstantial eviden— Witness! I demand the right to call a witness!” 

Kojou’s eyes were full of desperation as he sought support from Yuiri. 

Shio glanced at Yuiri with a questioning look. 

“What happened, Yuiri?” 

“Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha…” 

Yuiri tried to paper it over with a frail laugh. Asagi, still in Kojou’s embrace, might have sensed the ominous atmosphere flowing through the area, for she opened her eyes, rubbing her neck in the process. 

“Mm… What is it…? What’s wrong, Kojou……? Hyaa?!” 

Asagi still seemed a bit sleepy when she lifted her face, but let out a yelp when she noticed Yukina and company’s presence. Realizing her uniform was still askew, she emitted a brief, odd-sounding Nyah! and hurriedly righted her clothes. 

“Er, ah, Himeragi? Why are you…? What about Vattler’s Beast Vassals?” 

A perplexed expression came over Asagi as she looked up at the sky. Yukina, too, seemed conflicted as she gave a little shake of her head. 

“They suddenly vanished…” 

“…Vanished?” Asagi murmured, sharply narrowing her eyes. 

Kojou remembered seeing Vattler’s Beast Vassals just before losing consciousness: enormous serpentine Beast Vassals that had absorbed the power of The Cleansing. Even if Vattler had released them from their summons, he didn’t think masses of demonic energy of that extent would just vanish without a trace. 

It would be like trying to put out an oil-field fire. Even if the summoning was simple, there should have been no way to release the demonic energy unless it was done gradually over several days. 


Even La Folia, with her extensive knowledge, and Sayaka, with her expertise in assassination, seemed unaware of why the Beast Vassals had dissipated. 

As if to smash that momentary silence asunder, the small sound of a phone ringing hailed from the robot tank Asagi had been driving. Asagi tilted her head as she rose to her feet, doing a little heave-ho sound as she stuck her head into the tank’s cockpit. When she came down from the tank once more, she had her usual pink smartphone in hand. 

The smartphone’s screen was displaying the face of a classmate Kojou knew very well. 

“—Yo, Asagi. Nice expression. Did something good happen?” 

Motoki Yaze was addressing Asagi in his usual flippant tone. Kojou felt like there was a slight lag to the conversation; maybe the line was running through a Gigafloat Management Corporation orbital satellite. 

“Sh-shut up. This is normal, totally normal. More importantly, what the hell do you want?! I’m kind of in the middle of something—” 

“Hey, hear me out. This is about that Vattler guy’s Beast Vassals vanishing.” 

“…?!” 

Asagi drew in her breath with a start. Kojou and Yukina unwittingly perked up their ears. 

“Why do you know about that?” Asagi asked in a small voice. 

“ Nothing big ,” said Yaze, as if he was puffing his chest proudly. “About ten minutes ago, we cut off the dragon lines flowing around Itogami Island. I can’t say it’s completely down to zero, but the threat of The Cleansing should be at a bare minimum right about now.” 

“—Yaze? Why do you know about The Cleansing…?” 

Kojou wedged himself into the conversation. He knew Yaze was deeply related to the people running the Gigafloat Management Corporation, but it was still news to him that Yaze knew top-secret information like that about The Cleansing. 

“I’ll tell you all about it when this is all over, Bro.” 

Yaze seemed just a little guilty as he looked back at the surprised Kojou and smiled. Kojou groaned and swallowed down the countless questions rising in his mind. In their place, he asked the one thing that mattered right then. 

“Cut off the dragon lines… You can do that?” 

“—That is what I came to do.” 

Speaking those words, a girl with light-olive skin and honey hair moved her pretty face in front of the camera. A youthful, slightly saucy smile suited to her age came over her glossy lips. 

Kojou knew her face well. 

“Celesta…?!” 

“Making a pathetic face as usual, Kojou Akatsuki. Is Plain Girl there with you? And who is that girl with the awful hair? Have the girls in your entourage grown even plainer in my absence?” 

Speaking in the same haughty tone as when they first met, Celesta Ciate poured on the insults. Overhearing this, Asagi’s temple twitched. The air seemed to crackle. 

“Excuse me?! Who the hell are you, some acquaintance of Kojou’s?! Just because your hair is a bit pretty, your eyelashes are nice and long, your eyes are big, and your breasts are huge…… Wait, what the hell’s with this girl?!” 

“Hey, don’t blame me!” 

Unable to come up with words she could use to disparage Celesta, Asagi grumbled a “Grrr” as she wrung Kojou’s neck in outrage. 

“Celesta Ciate…the Bride of the Dark God. I see…,” La Folia murmured as if she understood. 

That was when Kojou remembered, too. Once, Celesta Ciate was known as the Bride of the Dark God; this was an alias given to a great calamity born from a distortion of dragon lines. Similar to Beast Vassals, sentient masses of dense demonic energy, spiritual energy accumulated by dragon lines manifested as the Deity of Darkness to spread calamity across their world. 

Celesta had been its icon—a special priestess with the power to amass destructive dragon-line energies into the so-called egg of the Deity of Darkness. 

“Don’t tell me…you’re planning on creating a new Deity of Darkness?” Kojou stared at Celesta with wide eyes. 

Certainly, if she employed her abilities, she could plug the dragon lines in Itogami Island’s environs. All she had to do was temporarily take the energy coursing along those dragon lines and fill her own body with it. However, this was a dangerous gamble that potentially risked giving birth to a new Deity of Darkness. 

“I most certainly am not! Therefore, I can only cut off the dragon lines for forty, fifty minutes longer at the most. Please stop Lord Vattler within that time. I do not wish to see him start a war.” 

“…Got it.” 

Kojou nodded. It wasn’t that Celesta was ignorant of the danger of creating a new evil deity in the Deity of Darkness’s place. Even so, she had lent her power for Kojou’s and Itogami Island’s sakes. 

“Thank you, Celesta. That’s a big help.” 

“I do not remember doing this for the sake of your appreciation! Lady Giada asked nicely, so I must help; that’s all this is…! Besides, you and Yukina…helped me, so…thank you.” 

The last two words came so quickly that they could barely hear them before Celesta cut off the call from her end. 

Celesta’s current guardian was Giada Kukulkin, the Third Primogenitor—apparently, she’d seen this coming, so she had lent Celesta to the Gigafloat Management Corporation beforehand. 

Using The Cleansing, the Forbidden Ritual of the Sinful God, required the altar dubbed Itogami Island. And what made Itogami Island that altar was the presence of dragon lines flowing through the nearby seas. 

During the time they were cut, Vattler could not employ the power of The Cleansing. 

The brief span of time during which Celesta’s power could hold was their last chance to defeat Vattler, who’d obtained power that rivaled the primogenitors’. 

“Forty to fifty minutes left… That’s pretty tough.” 

Kojou murmured as he stared in the direction of the sea. It was hard to imagine that the wrecked Oceanus Grave II could move on its own power, but even so, it was a fair distance between there and Vattler’s ship. With the remaining time so limited, he wanted to expend as little time changing locations as possible. 

“Use this, Kojou.” 

Asagi, seeing right through the reason for Kojou’s gloom, spoke those words as she operated her smartphone. A six-legged mechanical life-form that looked like a beetle emerged, climbing over the top of a mountain of ruin rubble. 

“A Nalakuvera…!” 

“This one’s more of a taxi than a weapon, though.” 

Asagi puffed out her chest in pride. It should have been obvious, but the Legacy of Cain included not only weapons but ordinary means of transport as well. 

“Riding that, though…kinda freaks me out…” 

“No complaints,” Asagi said. “I’ll remotely control the remaining Nalakuvera and tanks to slow Mr. Vattler down. While I do that, take the others and go after him, Kojou.” She entered the broken-down robot tank’s cockpit. 

Kojou nodded as he put his hands on a leg of the parked transport Nalakuvera. Gripping her silver spear, Yukina followed Kojou like it was the most natural thing in the world. 

“Uhhh… Himeragi?” 

“What is it, senpai?” 

Yukina bounced the question back at Kojou, finding his surprise rather mysterious. 

“No, uh…” Kojou shook his head. “You don’t have to come with me, Himeragi. This time, the opponent’s way too dangerous…” 

“There is no time, so please get on board.” 

“Uh, but—!” 

Briskly dismissing Kojou’s consideration, Yukina climbed into the Nalakuvera before him. As Kojou watched in shock, Yukina glared back at him in a pout as she showed him her silver-colored spear. 

“I watch over you, senpai, so of course I will be with you to the end. Besides, please do not forget. Right now, the only thing that can defeat the Duke of Ardeal is Snowdrift Wolf.” 

“Well, that’s—” 

I suppose she’s right , silently conceded Kojou. Her spear, able to nullify demonic energy and rend any barrier, was a purging spear able to destroy even a primogenitor. The trump card against Vattler had rested in her hands since the beginning. 

“Certainly, the rest of us would only slow you down…” 

La Folia sank her shoulders in visible dismay as she looked up at Kojou. With a little hop, she leaped onto one of the Nalakuvera’s leg joints, stretched her back, and gently kissed Kojou on his cheek. 

“La Folia…” 

“Go, Kojou— I shall make preparations for our wedding and await your return.” 

“Uh, no, do not make preparations! You say some pretty scary stuff, y’know?!” 

Kojou took the princess’s teasing seriously. Her tone was jovial, but La Folia was scary enough that he couldn’t treat anything she said as a joke. 

“We’ll be Asagi and company’s bodyguards, then.” 

“Dah!” 

Yuiri and Glenda met each other’s faces and nodded. 

“Well, if Yuiri and Glenda say so…,” Shio said as her shoulders sank. 

“Kojou Akatsuki. Here.” 

Walking with great strides, Sayaka produced a little box with a ribbon around it, seemingly out of nowhere, and thrust it at Kojou. The scent of cocoa bean was wafting up from gaps in the wrapping. 

“Th-these are emergency rations, so eat them with Yukina, okay?!” 

Sayaka’s cheeks were extremely flushed as she spat the words out. Upon hearing them, Yukina cast her eyes downward, embarrassed for some reason. Good grief , said Asagi’s exasperated expression as she turned to Kojou. 

“Come back safe and sound, you hear? To our island. ” 

Returning Asagi’s serious stare, Kojou smiled. 

His response was brief. 

“Leave it to me.” 

With Kojou and Yukina on its back, the transport Nalakuvera sprinted. 

Despite its large size, riding atop its back was an unusually comfortable ride. It felt very much like riding a horse—only faster. To be blunt, riding on the back of a giant beetle sprinting through ruins at nearly a hundred kilometers per hour was frightening. The odd smoothness of the ride only made it more eerie. 

Kojou and Yukina were sitting shoulder to shoulder atop the Nalakuvera’s cargo bed. 

No words passed between them. It didn’t feel necessary. When Kojou wanted her, Yukina would always be there for him—such went his strange sense of trust. 

“I see him.” 

Yukina’s black hair flapped in the wind as she spoke. 

She was staring at a blond, young aristocrat standing in a plaza in front of a tall tower. 

Fallen all around him were the remains of robot tanks and Nalakuvera, no doubt ones Asagi had sent to slow Vattler down. 

Seeing Vattler standing unharmed from a horde of Nalakuvera, which Kojou had previously defeated with so much difficulty, was a slap in the face, as if to drive home one last time just how frightening the man was. 

But really, it hadn’t been necessary to slow him down. After all, Vattler had clearly been waiting in that place for Kojou’s arrival… 

“Vattler…!” 

Kojou leaped down from the cargo bed of the halted Nalakuvera. Yukina immediately landed at his side. 

The youthful aristocrat slowly raised his face up, looking at the pair with warm eyes. 

“So you have returned, Kojou. I’ve been waiting.” 

Kojou nodded, stepping one foot forward. 

He remembered the sight displayed before him. The remnants of a highly distinctive building. The markings written with unfamiliar characters. The efficient monorail surrounding the island. Kojou knew this landscape. 

He had seen the man who had once stood among these ruins, making his lament. 

“This is…” 

“Yes. This is where the Fourth Primogenitor killed Cain. Now that I have obtained the power of The Cleansing, is this not a suitable stage on which to fight you?” Vattler cheerfully curled up his lips. 

Kojou quietly stared, pitying him. “Vattler, stop this already… This isn’t what Cain wants. Not revenge against the Fourth Primogenitor—and not war.” 

“…I see. So you have obtained the memories of The Cleansing.” Vattler smiled and nodded. 

“Right. Cain did not desire war. It was the ancient superhumans—gods known as the Devas—who desired unending war,” Kojou gravely pressed. “To those immortals, creating various weapons and causing humankind to slay one another in the glorious act of war was their entertainment.” 

“…So Cain created The Cleansing to bring those wars to an end.” Vattler nodded without a word. Via his knowledge of The Cleansing, he, too, had inherited Cain’s memories. 

“In fear of this, the Devas placed a watcher over Cain to seal The Cleansing, a god-killing weapon able to slay the immortal Cain—the Fourth Primogenitor.” 

Vattler’s gaze shifted toward Yukina. Perhaps he felt the irony of history repeating itself. The very Fourth Primogenitor that she watched was once Cain’s own observer. 

“But the Devas miscalculated. His observer, the Fourth Primogenitor, became Cain’s one and only friend. And in turn, Cain embraced the Fourth Primogenitor’s friendship.” 

“That’s what the gods called Devas were afraid of,” Kojou murmured. 

“Just so. Hence, they cast a curse upon the Fourth Primogenitor, the program known as Root—and controlled by the personality Root, the Fourth Primogenitor consumed Cain.” 

“Yeah,” said Kojou, biting his lip. Within the memories of Nod, a lonely man had stood amid the ruins. Had that been Cain, or had that been the Fourth Primogenitor who had consumed Cain—? 

“Despairing at having slain his friend Cain with his own hands, the Fourth Primogenitor rebelled against the Devas who had created him. Then, he was torn into twelve pieces and sealed away.” Vattler spread both arms wide, deliberately shaking his head in a show of pity. “Though in the end, the activation of The Cleansing destroyed the Devas all the same… Such a sad and pathetic tale.” 

“Not at all,” said Kojou in a strong voice, stopping the young aristocrat’s words short. 

“Hmm,” said Vattler, giving Kojou a look of apparent surprise. 

“Avrora’s alive. Hektos saved her and Nagisa.” 

The artificial vampires dubbed the Kaleid Bloods were the vessels of the Beast Vassals ripped from the Fourth Primogenitor. From among those dolls, born from despair and continuing to live while desiring only to die, emerged one final hope—the Twelfth, Avrora. She lived. She had wanted to live. 

That was all Kojou needed to firmly declare that their existence had not been in vain. 

“Glenda granted me Cain’s dying wish. He left this ark for the sake of his friend, the Fourth Primogenitor—the power…to stop war.” 

“But it will become the spark of a new war,” Vattler said, smiling sardonically. 

“I won’t let that happen.” Kojou bluntly rejected his words. “I’m sure you’ve already noticed. You can’t use The Cleansing anymore. Right now, you’re just a vampire.” 

“Celesta Ciate, is it? The work of Motoki Yaze and the scary grandmother from the Chaos Zone, I take it.” 

Vattler raised his voice in an amused chortle. An explosive level of demonic energy exploded from every pore, enough to make even Kojou wince. 

“But none of that matters to me now. At long last, I can fight you in earnest. It would be boring to use The Cleansing, would it not? ’Nanda! Batsunanda…!” 

“What?!” 

The two serpents summoned by Vattler spiraled and intertwined, transforming into a single, enormous dragon. 

It was a dragon with scales of swords and a mane of flames. The dragon spun its serpentine body as it descended, and Kojou and Yukina split up to evade its forelegs. The place the pair had stood but a moment before split apart with a great rumble. A crevice had been gouged down into the ground dozens of meters, so deep that the bottom was not visible. 

“What’s with that strength?!” 

“The Duke of Ardeal’s Fusion Beast Vassal…!” 

Shocked expressions came over Kojou and Yukina. 

This was a special Ability belonging to Vattler alone: that of fusing two Beast Vassals to create a new Beast Vassal. The Fusion Beast Vassal thus created might equal to a primogenitor’s Beast Vassal, or perhaps more— 

In the past, Vattler had employed that power to devour higher-ranking vampires several times over. 

“I’ve been bored all this time. I was sick of it. The foolish repetition of history. The unchanging landscape of the world. A work of art or a culture, however magnificent, shall fade and turn to dust in time.” 

Flames spewed out by the dragon Beast Vassal dyed the ruined city red. The serpentine body carved more deep fissures in the ground as it undulated. Within the burning ruin, Vattler’s loud laughter continued. 

“Suffering and blood, screams and death, conflict in defiance of truly crippling fear…only these can heal my boredom! Show me how brightly you shine as I destroy you, Kojou!” 

“—Regulus Aurum!” 

Kojou’s summoned lightning lion collided with the draconic Beast Vassal. The dragon’s head seemed to snap back as it rose up, scattering flames as it roared in anguish. 

“I feel sorry for you, Vattler—” 

“What…?” 

“What are you afraid of …? The loneliness of being left all alone in the world? The sadness of losing someone you love? Or what, all of your emotions, your joy, getting warped into despair?!” 

Demonic energy erupting from Kojou’s body became pitch-black wings that swept Vattler’s flames away. This was the same power that Root Avrora had used once upon a time—the power of the genuine Fourth Primogenitor. 

“You’re like some little kid. When things don’t go your way, you throw a tantrum and make trouble for other people ’cause you don’t know any better. You don’t build anything. You’re just chasing after momentary pleasure to forget about your boredom—if you think you can keep doing that forever, you’d better think again!” 

“Ha-ha…!” 

Vattler’s expression twisted into delight as the air at his back warped, with fresh Beast Vassals appearing one after another. 

“Marvelous, Kojou. Your words are so refreshing! In all my years, not one of my enemies has said such a thing to me. Not even the other Primogenitors—! Manashi! Uhatsura! Anabadatta!” 

“Shut up,” said Kojou with a low growl. “You’re not taking anything from anyone. I’m protecting the world you’re trying to destroy. From here on, this is my fight!” 

One after another, Kojou’s wings transformed into Beast Vassals of the Fourth Primogenitor. A scarlet bicorn, a bighorn sheep with a body of diamond, a minotaur, a silver-colored shelled beast—these collided with Vattler’s serpents head-on, scattering incredibly destructive impacts all around. 

Fire and kicked-up dust obstructed Kojou’s field of vision. In an instant, an enormous shadow covered the area above Kojou’s head. 

It was one of Vattler’s serpent Beast Vassals. It had employed protective coloration to hide from sight and sneak its way over. In a certain sense, the attack bore the cunning of a snake. However, Kojou’s expression showed no haste. 

There was a flash of a silver blade above Kojou’s head, thrusting deep into the serpent Beast Vassal. 

“—No, senpai. This is our fight!” 

The skirt of Yukina’s uniform danced with a flutter as she landed at Kojou’s side. 

“Future Sight of a Sword Shaman of the Lion King Agency? No, rather, you read my intent—” 

Vattler raised his eyebrows in a show of admiration. He genuinely seemed to find it praiseworthy that Yukina, a mere human, had managed to drive his Beast Vassal back. 

“This is so fun, Kojou. Such a beautiful battle. Show me more… Ananta…” 

“What the…?!” 

As he stared up at the final Beast Vassal summoned by Vattler, a vacant, flabbergasted look came over Kojou. It was not so much fear that struck him, but the urge to laugh out loud. 

Before him stood an enormous tree stretching to the heavens. 

The closest image he could liken it to was if the so-called World Tree had become a reality. However, the root of the tree, thrusting into the ground, was the wriggling tail of a snake. The trunk of the tree was the snake’s body. Its enormous branches ended in nine serpentine heads. 

The nine serpentine Beast Vassals had intertwined to create a “serpent tree” reaching hundreds of meters in height. Its vast trunk and snake branches completely surrounded the ground upon which Kojou and Yukina stood. It was a virtual barrier of serpents. 

“Such strong demonic energy…” 

The sheer power radiated by the serpent tree threatened to overwhelm Kojou. 

Dimitrie Vattler controlled nine Beast Vassals, but it was said that no one had actually seen the ninth in reality. Kojou finally understood why. 

There was no way anyone had fought this Beast Vassal and lived— 

Vattler also possessed the Ability to fuse his Beast Vassals. And they drew upon the inexhaustible magical energy of the Earth. With this, he had likely achieved an overwhelming Ability that probably surpassed the Beast Vassals of the primogenitors. Vattler’s words—that he didn’t need The Cleansing to fight Kojou—hadn’t been all talk. 

“Senpai!” 

“Stay back, Himeragi!” 

The miasma emitted by Vattler’s Beast Vassal spread throughout the barrier. The beautiful, golden miasma encroached upon Kojou’s body, inflicting terrible pain upon it. With her Divine Oscillation Effect barrier deployed, Yukina was enduring the miasma, but the vampiric Kojou could not enter her barrier. 

Vattler stood atop a serpent’s stooped head, leisurely looking down at Kojou. Kojou’s lips twisted in nervousness. The dragon lines Celesta had severed would likely recover within the next few minutes. Once that happened, Vattler would regain the power of The Cleansing, and then he would be impossible for Kojou to defeat. 

However, Kojou could not defeat him with Beast Vassals. 

“No, that’s not…” 

Gently closing his eyelids, Kojou laughed. In the back of his mind arose the eleven girls with identical faces, the eleven Kaleid Bloods. Through the Fourth Primogenitor’s Blood Memories, their vast combat experience was teaching him how to defeat Vattler. 

“I, Kojou Akatsuki, inheritor of the Kaleid Blood, release thee from thy bonds!” 

Opening his eyelids, Kojou’s eyes radiated the color of pale-blue flames. His hair turned into the hues of the rainbow, billowing like fire. 

“—C’mon over, Beast Vassal Number Eight, Shaula Viola!” 

Wringing out his remaining demonic energy, Kojou summoned a new Beast Vassal. This was a manticore with wings and a scorpion’s tail, enveloped by violet flames. 

Kojou’s body, invaded by the miasma, began recuperating at an incredible rate. The manticore that governed all poison produced antitoxins within his blood, making his body recover from the miasma’s encroachment on its own. 

Furthermore, the manticore’s abilities were not limited to poison alone— 

The manticore sank its fangs into the enormous, serpentine trunk. Through those fangs, a near-infinite quantity of demonic energy coursed into Kojou’s body. 

Just like Vattler’s serpent drained magical energy from the Earth, Kojou’s manticore stole the Beast Vassal’s demonic energy from it . 

The manticore intercepted the serpents attacking it with wings turned blades, violet flames, and its scorpion tail. The demonic energy coursing into them increased the might of Kojou’s other Beast Vassals as well. A stake of magma thrusting up from the ground tore the tree roots to shreds, and shock waves and blast winds mowed the branches down. 

“To think you could resist Ananta to this extent!” 

Vattler’s smile cruelly twisted. The enormous serpentine “tree” sent all its branches bearing down upon Kojou in a combined, multi-wave attack. He no doubt meant to squash Kojou flat—and the Beast Vassals of the Fourth Primogenitor along with him. 

“My beloved Fourth Primogenitor, you are indeed the greatest of all! Now, die—!” 

The swirling sea of enormous snakes encircled the space around Kojou and tried to constrict him. The Beast Vassals of the Fourth Primogenitor resisted this, but the overwhelming mass of the serpents pressed upon Kojou tighter and tighter. 

Unable to use Fusion Beast Vassals, Kojou could not win against Vattler. 

Not Kojou alone, at least— 

“Senpai.” 

The nervous Kojou heard a voice in his ear. 

Yukina, clutching her silver-colored spear against her chest, was standing extremely close to Kojou. Knowing that death was closing in before them, her eyes were gentle and serene. 

Untying the ribbon of her school uniform, she opened the collar of her sailor suit, revealing the distinct, delicate collarbone and pale flesh under it. Then, before the surprised Kojou, she exposed her slender neck. 

“I am returning to you the Beast Vassal that Miss Hektos lent to me,” Yukina said as she pulled up the hair over her ear. The side of her face stole Kojou’s eyes. 

“Himeragi…” 

“You are mistaken.” Yukina sullenly glared at Kojou with half-lidded eyes. 

“Huh?” 

Her unexpected reaction threw Kojou for a loop. Making a small pout, she hung her head, speaking in a small, embarrassed-sounding voice. 

“Just once is fine, but please, call me by my first name… Just like you do with Nagisa, with Aiba, and with Miss Avrora.” 

For an instant, Kojou was taken aback; then he let out a tiny burst of laughter. 

Here they were, with their own lives and the fate of the world hanging in the balance, and that was what bothered her. Somehow he thought it was just like her. Probably, save for them being in such a situation, she would absolutely never have spoken such selfish words. 

For but a single second, they stared at each other in silence. Then Kojou reached his hand out to Yukina’s delicate shoulder. 

“—Come, Yukina !” 

“Yes!” 

Which came first? Kojou moving to embrace her or Yukina leaping into his arms? 

Enveloped by a sweet, flowery scent, Kojou sank his fangs into Yukina’s neck. 

It was the very next moment that Vattler’s serpent Beast Vassals bore down upon the pair. 

Without touching either of them, the onrushing serpents were sliced into pieces and vanished. Dazzling, rainbow-colored flames glowed and enveloped Kojou and Yukina. 

The flames flickered, transforming into the form of a beautiful Valkyrie. 

“C’mon over, Minelauva Iris—!” 

Gripping her rainbow-colored sword of light, the Valkyrie soared into the sky. 

The sixth Beast Vassal of the Fourth Primogenitor, Minelauva Iris, wielded the power of Severing. Slicing apart the serpents, their fully charged demonic energy and the miasma alike, it kept going, arriving in the sky above the serpentine tree. 

“It’s useless, Kojou,” Vattler declared, proud of impending victory. The holes Kojou’s Beast Vassal had gouged in the barrier were instantly sealed, buried by the undulating serpents. Escape from the serpentine barrier was impossible. 

However, Kojou gave a relieved smile. 

“C’mon over, Kiffa Ater!” 

“…?!” 

That wiped the smirk off Vattler’s face. 

Kojou’s newly summoned Beast Vassal was an elegant and stupidly huge great sword, its blade surpassing hundreds of meters in length. 

More precisely, its form was that of an ancient weapon known as a Vajra sword. It was said to be a Demon-slaying blade used by the gods themselves. 

Due to its enormity, precise control was nigh impossible. It was an Intelligent Weapon useless for anything save smashing by using the raw force of gravity. 

But it was not a human being wielding that great sword. 

The Valkyrie Beast Vassal gripped the enormous sword, taller than she was, easily swinging it as if it weighed no more than a feather. 

The enormous black blade’s Ability was Gravity Control, and the rainbow-colored Valkyrie was the Beast Vassal of Severing. 

With a mighty roar, a black flash of light mowed down the dragon tree. 

The Valkyrie’s Ability of Severing sliced apart what tied Vattler’s Fusion Beast Vassal together. 

Split apart, the nine serpents, unable to withstand the volume of demonic energy amassed inside them, exploded. Kojou’s own Beast Vassals formed a shield to protect him from the incredible storm of demonic energy raging about. 

“Kojou Akatsuki—!” 

Having lost his Beast Vassals, Vattler, wounded all over, leaped at Kojou. 

His beautiful features completely transformed. His lips split, and a forked tongue poked out from them. His flesh became covered in hard scales, and his neck lengthened. His lower body had already transformed into a serpent’s—bestialization. 

“A…transformation?! So that’s the ace up your sleeve—!” Kojou’s voice shook with unease. 

He was aware that some among the vampires possessed the Ability of bestialization. It wasn’t rare for legends to speak of vampires changing into the form of a wolf or a bat, and Giada Kukulkin had once transformed to appear before Kojou’s eyes in the form of Avrora. 

However, Vattler’s transformation took Kojou completely by surprise. The Beast Vassals of the Fourth Primogenitor were too powerful to be of much use in close combat. Vattler was exploiting that weakness. 

Completely transformed into the form of a snake, Vattler coiled his torso around Kojou’s body. Fangs bared, his enormous head pressed toward Kojou, as if to swallow him whole from the head down. 

“You and I shall become one, Kojou. As a new Fourth Primogenitor—” 

Employing every last ounce of his vampiric strength, Kojou desperately tried to force back Vattler’s head. However, Vattler’s bestialized power overwhelmed Kojou. Vattler’s jaw widened to encompass Kojou’s upper body, the glossy, gleaming fangs bearing down before his eyes. 

Kojou no longer had any means of escaping Vattler. 

But this meant that Vattler could not move, either. 

“Sorry, Vattler— we win .” 

As Kojou smiled impetuously, the serene voice of a girl making a ritualistic chant reached his ears. 

When Kojou needed her, Yukina would always be there for him. After all, she was his watcher— 

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

“Ngh…” 

Vattler’s serpentine body tried to flee from Kojou. But Kojou did not let him escape. A sinister smile came over his lips as he poured strength into the two hands holding Vattler’s maw. 

In the corner of Kojou’s vision, Yukina danced beautifully. 

She danced like a swordsman praying to the gods for victory or, perhaps, a priestess receiving a prophecy for that victory… 

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

“It’s over, Vattler—!” 

Kojou smashed a lightning-wreathed fist into Vattler’s lower jaw. 

Vattler’s serpentine body reeled as Yukina’s silver spear ran through him. 

Engulfed by the pale light that erased demonic energy, the serpentine body dissipated. 

The only thing that remained was Vattler, wearing a bloody three-piece suit. 

Lying on the ground, a silver spear impaling his heart, a smile of pure satisfaction was plastered across his face. 

The ruined buildings drawn into Kojou and Vattler’s fight had turned into a mountain of rubble in a radius of several kilometers around. Even the distinctive tower building and the elevated, monorail-like bridge had vanished. 

Cain would probably be angry to see the legacy he’d bothered to leave reduced to such a state—at least, so Kojou imagined. Or perhaps he’d be pleased that the war had come to an end. 

“You wouldn’t rather finish me off, Kojou?” Vattler asked, the silver-colored spear still piercing his heart. 

Yukina’s Snowdrift Wolf was continued to send its demonic energy-nullifying Divine Oscillation Effect into his body. That Vattler was tough enough to speak calmly in spite of that made Kojou coil his tongue. 

“I don’t hate you that much.” Kojou gave an annoyed sigh. 

With the sea separating them, he could see the still-undamaged Itogami Island floating on the opposite shore. 

Vattler had managed to attack even the multinational armada on standby far at the water’s horizon. It wouldn’t have been strange for Itogami Island to have been wiped off the map at his whim. Even so, when Vattler had sent his Beast Vassals on a rampage, they had never attacked Itogami Island. 

Slaughter was not what Vattler had desired. To the very end, he had acted only for the sake of the high-stakes combat he craved. 

“The way you do things is ridiculously selfish, self-righteous, and a pain in the ass, but I do understand you were being serious.” 

“What a pity. I was thinking that if it was you, being consumed would not be so bad…” Despite the serious tone of his words, Vattler cackled. 

Kojou grimaced. A certain way of killing an unaging, undying vampire was to rob the opponent of his very existence—cannibalism. Even if someone begged him, no way in hell he was taking Vattler’s Blood Memories. 

That said, he couldn’t just leave Vattler pinned to the ground forever. What should I do? thought Kojou with a headache when the air before him shifted. 

Silver-colored mist increased in density, transforming into a pair of young men, wounded vampires of the Warlord’s Empire. 

“Kira… Jagan…!” 

Kojou went on guard, moving his body in front of Yukina, who couldn’t move while she kept Snowdrift Wolf embedded in Vattler. 

However, even seeing this did not make Kira’s and Jagan’s expressions change. Both bent on one knee right there, deeply bowing their heads toward Kojou. 

“We apologize profusely for our rudeness, Fourth Primogenitor. We have no desire to do battle against you any further.” 

“For granting His Excellency’s desire, you have our appreciation.” 

Their surprisingly reverential demeanor left Kojou frozen, unsure of how to react. 

Kira and Jagan drew closer to the fallen Vattler. 

Kojou gave Yukina a glance, whereupon Yukina withdrew. The Fourth Primogenitor trusted that Kira’s and Jagan’s words had no ill intent and were not false. 

As if it was no big deal, Vattler slowly sat up, spreading out his right palm as he did. However, nothing happened. Seeing this for himself, he laughed in visible amusement. 

“So my power of The Cleansing has been sealed. As one might expect of the Priestess of Cain… She is quite powerful, worthy of being the Fourth Primogenitor’s Blood Concubine.” 

“Concubine…?” 

Kojou blinked hard as he parroted the word back. He didn’t remember the Priestess of Cain—Asagi—becoming his Concubine. However, the fact remained that he couldn’t have defeated Vattler without her cooperation. 

“Am I mistaken?” 

“Ah…you’ve got it wrong…” 

Kojou’s words awkwardly trailed off as he recalled the taste of Asagi’s blood, which he had consumed only a short time prior. As he did, Yukina watched Kojou with a complex expression. 

After laughing to himself for a time, he drew something small and metallic out of his breast pocket. It was an old key that was about the size of a small knife. The metallic glow it gave off resembled the sorcerous devices of the Sinful God that Kojou had once seen at Kannawa Lake. 

“Regardless, I have enough power left to achieve my final objective.” 

Vattler stabbed the sorcerous device into the ground. In that instant, hollow darkness, swallowing all light, spread like a wave beneath their feet. 

Realizing the true nature of that darkness, Yukina shouted, “The encroachment of Nod?!” 

“Vattler… Why, you…!” 

“I intended to lose to you, you see. From the beginning.” Vattler looked back at the surprised pair with a cheerful smile. 

The encroachment of Nod created by Vattler was not the incomplete version employed by the Knight of the Sinful God. If anything, it resembled the teleportation gates wielded by Natsuki. 

Vattler intended to transfer himself to Nod, to the otherworld where the gods had once exiled Cain— 

“The other-dimensional Earth to which Cain was once exiled, from which he obtained the knowledge of The Cleansing… I shall enjoy seeing what enemies await. It seems I shall not be bored for some time…” 

The handsome vampire was pulled into the dimensional travel gate, vanishing from sight. Kira and Jagan followed suit. 

The pitch-black gate that had swallowed them gradually faded and vanished. In the end, the only thing left was the Key stabbed into the ground. Finally, it became weathered and decrepit, and it crumbled. 

For a while, Kojou stared blankly at what was left of the destroyed Key. However, stare for however long he might, Vattler and the others did not reappear. They had traveled to an unknown otherworld in search of new battles, a nuisance to others to the bitter end. 

If, someday, they returned to the world on Kojou’s side once more, they would likely be even more powerful foes, even further beyond the reach of others. But for the moment, the threat had passed. Strength drained from Kojou’s entire body as he internalized that fact. 

“S-so tired…” 

“I imagine so.” 

Putting down her silver spear, Yukina lent the wobbly Kojou her support. 

The pair ended up leaning on each other as they glanced up at the passing clouds. At some point, the sun had waned, granting the twilight sky a golden hue. The breeze blowing through the ruined city felt pleasant against Kojou’s tired body. 

“ —Kojou, can you hear me? ” came Asagi’s voice from the wreckage of a robot tank. 

The communications system was still receiving power. What appeared to be the cockpit had been crushed, so Kojou’s and Yukina’s voices could not reach her, but Asagi surely understood the pair’s situation, more or less. And so, they continued to listen. 

“Notification from the Holy Ground Treaty Organization. It says ‘Recognition of Itogami Island as a large-scale sorcerous device has been revoked. We hereby recognize it as the territory of the Fourth Primogenitor—’” 

“Good…” 

Kojou and Yukina met each other’s faces, sighing in relief. The HGTO had kept its word. Somehow, they had avoided both the annihilation of Itogami Island and the world being drawn into an all-out war. 

“So hurry up and get back here. I’ll be waiting—” 

There was static as Asagi’s voice cut out. 

Kojou looked behind him. An Aldegian armored airship was floating against the dusk sky. La Folia had called for a pickup. 

“Let’s go, Himeragi .” 

Kojou called out to Yukina. However, Yukina did not reply. Still clutching her spear, she simply stared at Kojou’s face as if there was something she wished to say. 

“Himeragi?” 

“………” 

“What’s wrong, Himeragi ?” 

Kojou drew his brows close, staring at Yukina, confused. It was obvious that Yukina was in a sour mood, but he had no earthly clue why. 

“Er… Miss Himeragi ?” Kojou nervously revised his address. 

Yukina, unresponsive to that point, finally uttered a deep sigh of resignation. Glaring at Kojou with a resentful look in her eyes, she spoke with a visible pout. “Nothing at all, stupid senpai—!” 

What the hell was that for?! Kojou lifted his face toward the heavens. 

Then, the two stood shoulder to shoulder and walked out into the ruined city. 



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