Strike the Blood - Volume 17 - Chapter 2

CHAPTER TWO 

THE IMPOSTOR 

1 

The emergence of the demon beast on New Itogami Island had been reported on normally in the newspapers and on the local cable and TV channels due to there being no particular reason to cover it up. 

The reports noted that a large demon beast, nature unknown, had assaulted workers of a construction firm, and two workers were missing. They further noted that there had been multiple casualties of varying severity, two civilian Attack Mages included. Furthermore, details concerning the Gigafloat Management Corporation’s disaster countermeasures team, including photographs, were reported upon with ease. The report wasn’t seen as a huge deal; on Itogami Island, mysterious demon beasts weren’t exactly unheard of. 

Actually, the photo of Rui and Yuno that had circulated for a mere instant had made the Civilian Attack Mage Handsome Boy and Pretty Girl Fighter combo a quiet subject of conversation, which would result in a further deluge of contracts heading their way thereafter, but that is another story. 

The missing demon beast weighed on Kojou’s mind, but with Kiriha, a specialist in such matters, on the case, there was nothing for Kojou and company to do. On top of that, it was only the day before that Natsuki had strictly warned Kojou about his attendance and grades now that he’d advanced a grade. He couldn’t go skipping school on the second day of the brand-new term. 

For those reasons, Kojou attended school normally as if nothing were amiss, undertook classes in a normal fashion, and arrived at his normal lunch break, whereupon Kojou clutched his empty stomach as he headed to the cafeteria, Yaze in tow. 

“Shizuri Kasugaya Castiella?” Yaze furled his brows in apparent surprise. “You mean the Ogre who created Onrai Island? The Iroise survivor? You invited her to Dem-Club?” 

“Something wrong with that? Actually she seemed pretty pumped about it…” 

Kojou found Yaze’s critical reaction rather surprising as he bounced a question back. Yaze stared at Kojou as if his friend was some incredible fool, shaking his head with a sullen, bitter expression about the travails that were to come. 

“Nah, it’s fine. I’m totally fine with it, but…it was gonna be pretty prickly with Asagi and li’l Yukina together to begin with, and now li’l Kasugaya’s coming, too? What is this, a plot to divide the Empire into Three Kingdoms…?” 

“…Empire?” 

What kind of war of domination is he talkin’ about? Kojou mused to himself with a dubious expression. 

Yaze sighed, seemingly putting his head back on straight, and said to himself, “Positive thinking, positive thinking,” almost as if it were some kind of spell. 

“I suppose she’s really not a bad choice from an objective standpoint,” Yaze admitted. “It’s kind of normal for a Demon Sanctuary Research Club to have an actual demon in it. She already knows about you anyway… Well, I’ll go sweet-talk Asagi later. You had to work hard to convince Himeragi, huh?” 

Kojou couldn’t understand what Yaze was so afraid of. “It was no big deal. She was with me when I went to invite Cas in the first place…” 

Yaze simply gawked at him for a while. 

“You brought Himeragi with you? Man… And they didn’t get into a big argument?” 

“There was a lot of foot-dragging, but that’s what you’d expect at the start. It’s not like they seriously tried to kill each other like they did a little while back.” 

“I feel like you becoming the Fourth Primogenitor was some kind of cosmic inevitability.” Yaze pressed a hand to his forehead and weakly shook his head. 

The hell does that mean? Kojou sourly narrowed his eyes at the words, which could not be pinned down either as praise or exasperation. 

“Well, better watch your back, or else Himeragi might end up stabbing it.” 

“R-right.” 

Though he didn’t really get it, the reason Kojou politely nodded was because Kiriha had said something similar the day before. Enemies can appear where they are least expected—the fact that Kiriha had said as much left a rather strong impression. 

“Oh, speak of the devil, it’s li’l Himeragi herself.” 

Just as the cafeteria came into view, Yaze returned to his usual flippant tone of voice as he made the comment. From Kojou and Yaze’s location, they could see Yukina heading toward the cafeteria from the polar opposite side of the school yard, coming from the direction of the gymnasium. From time to time, the girl stopped walking, glancing around the area as if it was completely new to her; perhaps she was looking for an acquaintance of hers. 

Gazing at the sight of Yukina in uniform, Yaze gave a drawn-out exhale and said, “With a view like this, she really is one pretty girl. A world where she lives by herself is just wrong. She’s adorable, she’s slender, her face is so small and cute… Well, not as cute as my girlfriend’s.” 

“Y-yeah, I guess.” 

So you haven’t been dumped yet? thought Kojou rather rudely. 

Yaze’s girlfriend was an older girl named Koyomi Hiina. Two years their senior, she had graduated from Saikai Academy the month before, and was apparently attending a university within Itogami City. 

Because there were few things connecting the two together, Kojou had wondered whether she might use entering university as a natural opportunity to part ways, but apparently that had been a needless worry on his part. Though he’d held out the possibility that the presumption Yaze was going out with her in the first place was a simple delusion on Yaze’s part… 

Either way, as Yaze and Kojou watched her, Yukina finished coming down the pathway, entering the cafeteria building. Then, without the slightest reduction in speed, she slammed right into the glass door standing just before her eyes. Thud! came the painful sound after a moment’s delay. 

“…Did I mention she’s also a bit of a ditz?” Yaze casually continued his words, seemingly to cover for Yukina, wincing with her back curled. 

“No, that’s beyond ‘ditzy’…! What the heck is she doing…?” 

Kojou raced over to Yukina, exasperated. Yukina groaned in pain as he called out to her from behind with a voice of concern. 

“Are you all right, Himeragi?” 

“Ah, yes… Somehow…” 

With a hand over her red-nosed face, Yukina lifted her head with teary eyes. As Kojou looked down at her like that, their eyes met, and she drew in her breath, seemingly startled. 

“Er, ah? Kojou?” 

“…Kojou?” 

Kojou narrowed his brows, taking Yukina’s tone of voice, clearly different from the norm, almost like a slap to the face. 

The only ones who addressed Kojou like that were his mother, Mimori, and his little sister, Nagisa—in other words, only his family. Nagisa’s way of talking must’ve rubbed off on her, thought Kojou rather dubiously, when Yukina gasped and shook her head. 

“Ah… I’m sorry. How rude of me, Akatsuki-senpai.” 

“Er, well, not that it really matters what you call me. More importantly, Himeragi, are you okay?” 

“Yes, there is no problem. This door… It isn’t automatic yet, is it…?” 

Yukina shifted a resentful gaze toward the door leading into the cafeteria. Her casual comment made Kojou feel like something was faintly amiss. Ever since Kojou had enrolled, that somewhat old door made out of glass had been strictly manual, and there was no sign of that changing anytime soon. 

“Well, it’s not all that fancy a school,” Yaze replied, walking over in a carefree manner. 

Yukina slowly checked over her shoulder, paying him an astonished expression. Then, her eyes opened wide in surprise. 

“Don’t tell me, you’re Yazecchi… Er, I mean, my upperclassman Yaze? Eh, no way?!” 

“What’s the big deal all of a sudden? Don’t treat me like a stranger, geez.” 

Yukina’s exaggerated reaction left Yaze a little blushy for once as he gave her a pained smile. However, Yukina continued gawking at Yaze’s entire body. 

“I—I mean… You’ve really slimmed down.” 

“Eh? ‘Slimmed down’…? Had I been putting on weight…?” 

Yaze had a rather conflicted expression on his face as he traded looks with Kojou, who tilted his head without a word. At the very least, Yaze’s body type hadn’t changed enough that Yukina ought to be surprised by it. 

“Also, you have so much more…hair…than I remember.” 

“Huh?! Wait a sec, can you stop saying things like that?! You’re making me really concerned about my future!” 

Yaze’s voice was shrill as he ran a trembling hand through his spiky, combed-back hair. That hit home, huh, thought Kojou, finding that somewhat surprising as he gazed at the side of his friend’s face. 

“I’m sorry, but I think it might be best if you take it easy with the hair gel. I mean, it could damage your scalp.” 

“I—I mean…it’s true that the ultraviolet rays are pretty harsh on Itogami Island…” 

Yaze nodded with an earnest face in response to Yukina’s roundabout words of caution. A stern expression came over Kojou as he listened to the conversation between the pair without a word. The doubts he’d been feeling toward Yukina since earlier had only grown stronger and stronger. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but something about Yukina that day felt…off. 

“What is it, Himeragi? You’ve been acting weird lately.” 

Maybe it’s because she bumped her head, worried Kojou as he touched a hand to Yukina’s forehead. However, she had no injury that stood out at all, nor did she have a fever. 

Then, Yukina looked up at Kojou, touching her without the slightest reluctance, with rather deep interest, the corners of her lips curling up into a leer. 

“Ah…um, senpai? You’re touching me as if it’s the most natural thing in the world.” 

“Ahh, sorry. Should I stop?” 

“No, not at all. It is simply, rather presumptuous of…er, rather intimate, I thought. Perhaps I got the wrong impression. Were we always this close?” 

When Yukina posed that odd question, as if she was talking about someone else, it was Yaze who nodded gravely and replied, “Pretty much, yeah. Everyone’s always going, ‘Both of them acting lovey-dovey in front of everyone else—die, Kojou, die!’ and all.” 

“You say ‘everyone,’ but that sounds like your own personal feelings, sheesh!” 

And I haven’t acted lovey-dovey with Himeragi even once, Kojou’s grimace added. 

You’re not even aware of it, went the reaction Yaze displayed, which for some reason came off as quite exasperated, but Kojou ignored it and turned back toward Yukina. Lowering his voice, he brought his lips close to Yukina’s earlobe. 

“Really, what is it? You’re the one always following me around because of your job, right, Himeragi?” 

“I am the one following senpai around… Oho, is that so? Er, yes, that is correct, isn’t it?” Yukina put a hand over her mouth, seemingly holding back laughter as she nodded. Then, her eyes glimmered mischievously as she moved right against Kojou. “I see. By following you around, you mean going home with you together after school?” 

“Er, well, yeah.” 

“Coming and going between each other’s apartments?” 

“Well, sheesh, you barged right into mine when I was sleeping just yesterday.” 

Why did she have to ask about something like that she knows for herself? wondered Kojou. 

“Of course! …And that includes drinking blood, yes?” 

“W-well, that just sorta happened! I was on death’s door. There were all sorts of circumstances at play…!” 

“…I certainly thought as much, but I must say, you are a thoroughly indecent person.” 

For one instant alone, Yukina gazed far off into the distance with a very sober expression in her eyes. Her gaze held a mixture of emotions that could not be put into words, such as rebelliousness and dismay. Kojou looked back at Yukina with suspicion. 

“…Himeragi?” 

“Ah, er. It is nothing. Yes, nothing at all.” Yukina shook her head a bit frantically. 

A moment later, they heard someone speaking in a rather boisterous voice. 

“Ah, there you are, Yukina! We were waiting in the cafeteria the whole time, so I was worried when you didn’t show—er, ah, Kojou? And Yazecchi, too, it’s been a while!” 

The speaker was a first-year high school girl wearing a blue necktie just like Yukina. Her hair, long but tied back with some side pieces left to frame her face, bobbed in concert with her movements. 

“Nagisa?” 

“Wha—? Auntie Nagisa?! You’re so young…!!” Yukina exclaimed, her voice heavy with shock as she raised her brows at the very familiar sight of Kojou’s little sister. 

“A-Auntie…?!” 

That single title Yukina spoke upon seeing her made Nagisa freeze. To her, having barely reached fifteen, being called Auntie by a classmate apparently did even more psychological damage than Kojou had assumed. 

“Th-that’s so mean, Yukina… True, from time to time I’ve been told I talk too much like some kind of granny from out in the countryside, but still…!” 

“Ah! I-I’m sorry, Auntie. I… I didn’t mean anything by it…” 

“You called me Auntie again!” 

Struck by Yukina’s repeated use of the term, Nagisa was brought to tears. Yukina not normally being one to say anything bad about anyone surely added to the sting to her psyche. 

“…What’s up? What are you all excited about?” 

Nagisa was shaken and wobbling on her feet when Asagi, who just happened to be passing by at precisely the right moment, caught her. Nagisa, with a face ready to break into tears at any moment, clung to Asagi like a weakened kitten. 

“Asagi, do I come off as an old lady?” 

“Wh-what? I’m sorry, what’s going on?” 

Asagi, completely unaware of the situation, sought an explanation from Kojou. 

“Um, I don’t really get what’s going on, either…” 

Kojou casually shook his head. Of course, by this point he knew Yukina was not her usual self, but he did not know why. He really didn’t think that was the place to work it out, anyway. 

Slipping past the bewildered Kojou, Yukina wobbled to the fore. She was staring right at Asagi with misty eyes, as if she had a fever. 

“Miss Asagi?” 

“…Hmm?” 

Realizing that Yukina wasn’t acting like her usual self, Asagi subconsciously retreated half a step. She had been acting weird for a while now, but this had completely crossed a line. Yukina looked at Asagi with the eyes of a carnivorous beast stalking its prey. 

“Doctor… Why are—? Seriously? No way… S-so cute…!” Yukina murmured absentmindedly as she touched Asagi’s cheeks with both hands. 

“H-Himeragi? What’s with…? Um, hey, Kojou, do something, would you?!” 

Asagi backed away from Yukina bit by bit in apparent fear as she demanded aid from Kojou. 

“Even if you say that…” Kojou hesitated, standing still as his thought process ground to a halt. It was as if Yukina were a completely different person. He couldn’t do anything about it without knowing why she was acting so weird. 

If anything, her being possessed by some kind of evil spirit would make things a lot simpler, but that happening to Yukina was particularly hard to imagine; after all, she was a Sword Shaman of the Lion King Agency, a federally qualified expert in anti-demon combat. 

It was this Yukina who strongly turned toward Kojou. “What do we do, senpai?! Miss Asagi as a high-schooler is way too cute…!” 

Yukina drew close to Kojou, arousal plain on her face, as she spoke in a rapid-fire delivery. 

“Eh? W-well, yeah…” 

“She’s beautiful, she’s young, she’s stylish, she smells nice, she’s beautiful… I knew about the rumors that she’d been an idol, but when I heard she was a bit of a free-spirited loose cannon, I imagined she’d be wearing some bizarre outfit, but…I…I see, no wonder Kojou couldn’t hold back…” 

With the back of her hand, Yukina hastily wiped away the drool spilling from her mouth. When she proceeded to clear her throat with excessive force, Kojou instantly held her back. 

“H-hey? Himeragi, what is it?” 

“I am sorry. I unintentionally became rather worked up… Ah?!” 

Droplets of crimson liquid were dripping from the cracks of the fingers she was using to cover her mouth. It was fresh blood. When he noticed this, Kojou’s face twitched, and Asagi and the others drew in their breaths as they watched Yukina from a distance. 

Yukina’s shoulders trembled frailly after that, but suddenly, she shook off Kojou’s hands without a word, spun on a dime, and broke into a run. She was acting desperate, as if exceedingly fearful of being seen marred by fresh blood. 

“Hey, wait! Himeragi…!” 

“Y…Yukina?” 

“Himeragi?!” 

Kojou made various attempts to stop Himeragi, but she’d vanished before their voices could reach her. Kojou and the others stood stiffly as they were left behind on that pathway, hectic during the noon hour. 

“What the heck was all that just now?” Asagi asked, still in shock. 

“Who knows…? Well, it’s the new school term, and there was the Dem-Club invitation stuff, so whatever front she puts up, Himeragi was probably really stressed…,” Yaze replied sensibly. 

Kojou stared intently at the palms with which he had touched Yukina. 

“Was that really Himeragi just now…?” he murmured. 

It was the very next instant that Kojou felt a violent presence with a hint of bloodlust behind him. 

When he whirled about, seemingly by reflex, a small-statured figure fluttered down right before his eyes. It was a schoolgirl wearing a short-sleeved white training shirt and shorts—the school’s regulation gym uniform. She was carrying a case for a bass guitar in her right hand. 

“Senpai!” 

Leaping down from the emergency stairway, Yukina sharply called out Kojou’s name. 

“H…Himeragi?” 

Kojou stared dumbfounded at Yukina, appearing from the completely opposite direction she’d run off in barely moments before. On top of that, the speed and skill with which she’d instantly changed from her school uniform to her gym suit left Nagisa and the others speechless from surprise. 

But what was on Kojou’s mind far more than that was the guitar case she was carrying. Inside was most likely Snowdrift Wolf—the silver spear, secret weapon of the Lion King Agency. 

“What’s the big idea, carrying something like Snowdrift Wolf inside the school?” 

Yukina greeted Kojou’s question, spoken with an air of reproach, with a short shake of her head, killing it with silence. It was less a matter of ignoring him than not having the moment to spare. 

Busily looking around the area as if she was searching for someone, she drew close to Kojou and asked, her words very swift, “Do you have any idea where I went?!” 

An uncomfortable silence fell over the area. No one could understand what she was talking about. 

However, Yukina didn’t seem to be joking. To the contrary, she was dead serious. 

As a result, everyone present had the same external thought: 

“““…Huh?””” 

I probably should have phrased that differently, said the awkward shake of Yukina’s head. She continued to groan nervously as Kojou stared at her, sighing in exasperation. 

2 

With her right hand still pressed to her mouth, the girl wearing Yukina’s school uniform sat in the shade of a tree behind the campus building, seemingly to avoid prying eyes. The handkerchief in her hand was stained red after soaking up blood. 

Gazing at the Itogami Island sky, she made nn-nn noises with her nose each time she breathed. She then checked to see if her nosebleed had stopped. 

“Ngh, it’s healed up… I think.” 

Giving her lips a little lick, seemingly to check the taste of the blood remaining within her mouth, the girl briefly sighed. 

Bleeding from the nose when she became overly aroused was a physical condition she’d inherited from her father. That it was a shameful display was very much fact, but it certainly wasn’t just an inconvenience. That physical condition served a useful purpose, allowing her to hold other, more precarious urges in check—a check on the exceptionally powerful urges particular to her species. 

“Vampiric urges, I take it?” 

The girl heard a voice in her ear. The voice sounded oddly young, yet in spite of that, it was icy, as if the speaker saw right through her. 

It was a vampire’s destiny to be spasmodically assaulted by vampiric urges. They became governed by the biological phenomenon, a physical craving to drink a person’s blood. 

However, vampiric urges were triggered not by thirst, but by sexual arousal; in other words, lust. Most likely, her powerful sense of affection toward Asagi had triggered vampiric urges within her. 

As the girl lifted her head, space itself swayed like a ripple right before her eyes. 

As if melting out of thin air, a small woman appeared wearing an extravagant dress. Her face was so youthful, the doll-like woman looked like a child. 

“Natsuki…?!” 

The girl raised her voice, her eyes glimmering not in surprise, but inquisitiveness. 

“Wow, Natsuki, it’s really you! It’s like you haven’t grown at all…!” 

“Is that so…?” 

It was not the fact the girl knew her name, but rather the contents of the girl’s words that made Natsuki knit her brows and glare. Even looking at her up close, she resembled Yukina so greatly that the two were virtually indistinguishable. 

However, Natsuki continued to stare at Yukina with unwavering eyes as her hands slowly reached toward her. Then, with her small hands, Natsuki diligently kneaded Yukina’s breasts. 

“This sensation… Why you…!” 

“Wait a… Natsuki, don’t! Cut that out—stop…!” 

Natsuki had a firm hold of the girl’s breasts as she squirmed around and yelped. 

If Kojou had been present, the sight would no doubt have instilled a powerful sense that something was wrong. The cause of that sense would be her bust size. The swell of the girl’s uniform over her chest was oddly large and captivating in a way that did not suit her. At the very least, the real Yukina surely lacked the volume that someone would instinctively want to grab and fondle. 

All the same, it did not seem that Natsuki had touched her in order to ascertain the size of her breasts. 

Pale sparks were scattering across the surface of Natsuki’s hands as she groped the girl’s body, which was imbued with such powerful demonic energy that it was causing a reaction from the magical bulwark covering Natsuki’s own physical form. 

“You’re not Yukina Himeragi, are you?” Natsuki regarded the sparks with a neutral expression. 

“Ah-ha-ha, I guess the cat’s out of the bag. The girl stuck her tongue out a little without a single shred of guilt. White canines were poking out from the corners of the girl’s lips—the fangs distinctive of vampires. 

Just like Kojou, the true nature of the girl resembling Yukina was that of a vampire. 

“You resemble her too much to be mere coincidence. I don’t suppose you are siblings?” 

“Ah, there it is. Getting mistaken for her has become something of a running gag for me, actually…” 

The girl spoke flippantly. For whatever reason, she seemed to know Yukina well. Natsuki gazed at the girl’s reaction with a rather amused look. 

“Well, fine. I presume you are the one who caused the commotion in the changing room?” 

“As expected. You noticed even that.” 

The girl smiled with what seemed to be genuine admiration. Natsuki’s expression faintly grew more precarious. 

“That was no normal teleportation spell. What formula did you use…?” 

“Even if you ask me that, I can’t tell you. I suppose what I can tell you is that I’m on a secret mission.” 

“Why did you enter Saikai Academy and pretend to be Yukina Himeragi? What is your objective?” 

Natsuki readily switched questions. It wasn’t that she had lost interest in the girl’s spell; she had simply changed to a question that took greater precedence. 

“Well, half of it was curiosity, see. I really wanted to meet them, so…” 

The girl gave a surprisingly direct answer, perhaps judging that it would not touch upon her “secret mission.” 

“You wanted to meet who? Kojou Akatsuki?” 

“I suppose so. I mean, well, a bunch of other people, too.” 

Natsuki prompted in a casual tone of voice. The girl smiled evasively and shrugged her shoulders. 

“And the other half?” 

“Well, you see, that’s… Whoa! This is bad!” 

The girl was on the verge of proudly saying something when she nervously pulled Natsuki with her into the shadow of the campus building. 

At the tip of the girl’s gaze were Kojou, plus Yukina Himeragi in her gym clothes. The girl was clearly hiding so that they wouldn’t find her. 

Crouching and suppressing her breath, she waited for the pair to pass by. Finally, Yukina and Kojou passed completely out of view. The girl finally breathed out. “Safe!” she said, spreading both arms wide. 

Natsuki gazed at the girl expressionlessly, seemingly bewildered. 

“If you wish not to be found by Yukina Himeragi to such an extent, shall we change locations? I know a good place.” 

“Oh?! Really?” 

The girl beamed at Natsuki, who gently nodded and smiled. It was a beautiful, artificial smile. 

“I would like to take my time speaking with you in a place where none may interfere.” 

“—Wait, don’t tell me you’re talking about the Prison Barrier?” 

The girl moved away from Natsuki, sensing a threat. However, in no way did this mean she was possessed by fear. She slightly lowered her center of gravity, entering a combat pose that greatly resembled that of the real Yukina Himeragi. 

“Hmm, I wonder?” 

Natsuki made a leering smile as a giant sway emerged in the space around her. 

This was the entrance to the alternate dimension known as the Prison Barrier, constructed amid Natsuki’s own dream. This world was an endless dream, where not even the passage of time existed. Accordingly, escape from that prison was absolutely impossible, making it a specialized barrier for containing the vilest sorcerous criminals. Natsuki had become the warden of that prison through her witch’s pact with a devil. And so, she intended to haul the girl off to the inside of her dream. 

“I knew it!” 

Silver chains shot out from thin air, bearing down on the girl from four directions as she raised an objecting yelp. 

The silver chains were actually ancient sorcerous devices wrought by the hands of the gods. These chains, intended to capture the vilest of divine beasts, could not be easily broken no matter how much demonic energy one possessed. But… 

“I must, ahem, politely decline your invitation.” 

A golden flash raced right before the girl’s eyes. The silver chains attempting to bind her entire body completely broke apart in that single instant. In addition, they had lost all of their magical energy, leaving the pieces to seemingly rot into nothingness. 

“What…?!” 

Natsuki’s expression contorted into shock. However, that shock immediately shifted to deep comprehension. 

“You, that ability… I see. So that is what this is…” 

“Well, pretty much, yeah.” 

The girl gave Natsuki a bashful smile that made her white canine teeth poke out ever so slightly. Then, in front of the girl’s face, she brought both hands together, asking Natsuki to go easy on her in a pleading tone. 

“I have a formal request. Could you shelter your adorable pupil for just a little while?” 

The brazen spin the girl put on her words made Natsuki slightly curl her lips. 

Natsuki had no memory of making a girl like this her adorable pupil, let alone the real Yukina Himeragi. However, she did not think that the girl’s words and gestures were complete fabrications, either. 

The Witch of the Void stared the girl down. “I believe I have yet to hear your name.” 

The girl glanced upward, mulling it over a little, then replied briefly with nothing but her name. 

“Reina.” 

3 

Shizuri and Yuno were living in a temporary housing complex for expatriates in Cluster One of New Itogami Island. Though they called it temporary housing, it was really an experimental facility for ensuring people could settle in the fortress city known as the Ark of Sin, treating those who moved in, like Shizuri and Yuno, sort of like guinea pigs. 

Because of that, the rent was cheap, plus the apartment had a kitchen, a bath, a toilet, and so forth. All the furniture and electrical appliances, etc., required for daily life came included from the start. 

Between riding the monorail and the water bus, it was approximately one hour each way to and from Saikai Academy on Itogami Island proper. It wasn’t exactly close, but it wasn’t enough of a distance to be a hindrance to attending school. However, even that brief span of time coming back from school wore thin on Shizuri as she raced back to her own home. 

“It is fortunate that classes ended quickly. I do not wish to be absent from school so soon after admissions.” 

Murmuring this in front of a mirror, Shizuri brusquely stripped off her Saikai Academy uniform. In its place, she retrieved her other uniform from the back of her closet. 

This was a long coat with metal epaulettes. It included a cobalt blue wimple. This was her school uniform from the College of Magical Arts, a school that no longer existed. To Shizuri, this was her proper uniform as a Paladin of Gisella. 

The sword belt wrapped around her hips held a long sword sheathed within a gold-colored scabbard. Checking how the outfit felt on her, Shizuri nodded toward the mirror. 

“Bene!” 

Middle school lessons had finished before noon, but high school apparently had classes in the afternoon as well. In other words, that meant Kojou and the others would not notice Shizuri’s actions. 

She’d taken care of visiting Rui and Yuno in the hospital on her way back from school. That left only one thing for Shizuri to do—she would dispatch the demon beast that had harmed Rui and Yuno, her precious squadmates, in their stead. But… 

“May I have a minute?” 

“Nyah?!” 

Addressed by a girl standing before her the very instant she opened the door and stepped out, Shizuri let out a silly-sounding shriek. 

She had long, old-fashioned hair and a sailor suit uniform that was primarily black. Her skin was white, and her lips were a glossy red. It was not so much the overwhelming sense her looks gave off that surprised Shizuri, but the fact she had not detected the girl’s presence whatsoever before physically seeing her. 

“Y-you are…the one from yesterday…!” 

Keeping a hand on her sword, Shizuri somehow managed to regain her composure. The girl in black giggled a “tee-hee,” smiling in a bewitching fashion. She was blessed with comely looks to begin with, so that smile was frightening enough, reminiscent of some kind of inhuman monster. Shizuri couldn’t tell which one of them was the real demon. 

“Yes, Shizuri Kasugaya Castiella. I am Kiriha Kisaki of the Bureau of Astrology.” 

“How do you know my name?” 

Shizuri locked eyes with the other party, not lowering her guard in the slightest. She did not recall her name being given when encountering Kiriha at the hospital the day before. She was rather sure Kojou had only spoken his nickname for Shizuri out loud. 

“I’m sorry, I looked into your background…or so I would like to say, but it is not such a grandiose tale. You are a celebrity, after all. Is that not so, Miss Last Paladin of Gisella?” Kiriha replied with a sardonic tone. 

Sensing the teasing echo in her words, Shizuri drew her eyebrows together, irritated. An angry, demonic energy–infused aura beyond her ability to constrain was wafting up from her entire body. 

“If you have come to pick a fight, I am happy to take you up on it.” 

“Though that would be quite amusing, I believe you are mistaken in which party is picking the fight.” Kiriha smiled serenely, letting Shizuri’s anger wash over her with ease. 

“What do you mean by this?” Shizuri shot back. 

“Early this morning, I had a skirmish with the unknown demon beast.” Kiriha raised her left arm, showing it to the girl. Her wrist was wrapped with a fresh, white bandage. 

Shizuri’s eyes opened even wider. “The one that attacked Yuno and Rui?” 

“Yes, in a sense.” 

Kiriha prevaricated, her words vague. Shizuri’s brow formed a sullen crease. 

“…In a sense?” 

“The opponent I fought was an individual entity, the result of a regenerating, self-propagating tentacle that Rui Miyazumi or Yuno Amase had severed from the unknown demon beast. In other words, a demon beast offshoot.” 

“Merely an offshoot?” 

Bewilderment floated into Shizuri’s eyes. Even just from speaking to her like this, she could tell that this Attack Mage possessed considerable strength. She was both scornful and deadly serious to a fault—the pair’s personalities might be polar opposites, but the fighting spirit she sensed from Kiriha greatly resembled that of Yukina Himeragi. Their mutual might in combat must have been nearly equal. 

And yet, this Kiriha claimed to have been wounded by a demon beast’s offshoot. 

“Then, the demon beast’s main body—” 

“I suppose it is still lurking somewhere on this island.” 

“Wha…?!” 

Kiriha’s blunt reply left Shizuri at a loss for words for some time. 

“Y-you are saying you let it go…?!” 

“I hardly let it go. Our staff are fully mobilized, searching for the Unknown this very moment. However, even if they determine its location, that does not mean we can hammer out effective countermeasures against it.” 

“…Why not?” 

“One reason is the regenerative capability possessed by the Unknown. From demon beast cellular samples we recovered, we have confirmed that it will propagate at explosive speed under particular conditions.” 

The term propagate made Shizuri grasp the cause of Kiriha’s injury. 

There was no mistake. A piece of demon beast flesh Rui and Yuno had cut off had rapidly regenerated and propagated in a brief span before the night was even done, growing to a size sufficient that even Kiriha had a hard time with it. 

That said, the opponent was not nearly as off-the-scale as a vampire primogenitor or similar. She didn’t think such regenerative speed could be maintained without any limit. 

“What do you mean by ‘particular conditions’?” 

“That is the other reason we have not hammered out effective countermeasures. It absorbs magical energy.” 

“Wait, it consumes the magical energy…?” 

Realizing the true import of the words Kiriha had casually spoken, Shizuri felt sweat course down her back. 

No matter what type of spell one employed, a commensurate amount of magical energy was required to make it effective. However, this demon beast fed on magical energy itself. That was a far more troublesome nature than merely nullifying magical energy. 

“Correct. Attack spells merely drive the Unknown into a more active state. Physical means of attack are required to do damage to it.” 

“However, the demon beast’s regenerative capability means that…” 

Kiriha’s expression did not change in any way as she nodded. “That’s right. We cannot send the opponent’s cells flying with gunfire and bladed weapons.” 

Her words, spoken as if this were someone else’s problem, put Shizuri on the verge of losing it. 

“Then how do you intend to eliminate the creature?” 

“I believe I told you at the beginning, we have not determined effective countermeasures.” 

“Ugh…” 

Shizuri swallowed her words, unable to rebut the girl, falling into a mortified silence. Kiriha suddenly looked back at her with a grave expression. 

“That is why I have come to meet you, Shizuri Kasugaya Castiella. It is said that the Paladins of Gisella passed down a secret armament known as Hauras. And as the last survivor of Gisella, it is only natural that you are the current possessor of Hauras—am I mistaken?” 

“You are saying you wish to employ Hauras to cut down the demon beast?” 

Shizuri turned her right flank toward Kiriha, subconsciously trying to hide the sword on her hip. That was as good as telling Kiriha that Hauras was right there, but it was too late for regrets. 

“I have heard that Hauras is a mystical blade that increases its own power by stealing the opponent’s magical energy, yes? If magical energy puts the Unknown’s cells into a hyperactive state, I had reasoned that robbing it of its magical energy might nullify that effect…” 

“What you say does make some sense.” 

Giving up on concealing the nature of her mystic blade, Shizuri responded to Kiriha’s words with a nod. Considering the disposition of the Unknown, Hauras was the most suitable weapon against it. For that matter, it might well have been the sole means of dealing with the creature. That was no doubt the real reason Kiriha had come to visit Shizuri, an outsider as far as she was concerned. 

“The Bureau of Astrology will handle pursuing and encircling the demon beast. We will gain the means of facing the demon beast. You will avenge your friends by your own hand. How about it? Are you willing to cooperate with us?” 

Kiriha was requesting Shizuri’s assistance. Shizuri felt like she could read her mind. It was both sweetly seductive and a logical, realistic plan. 

Even if placed in the identical situation, Kojou and Yukina would surely never bring Shizuri this kind of deal. The reason was simple. Kiriha’s operation would expose Shizuri to physical peril. 

Kojou and Yukina absolutely would never accept a way of operating that made others fight in their place. The possibility Shizuri might be injured only added to that. They were soft but also foolish. 

However, it was that very softness and foolishness that made Shizuri so fond of them… 

That was why, to protect the island upon which they dwelled, she decided to strike down the demon beast with her own two hands. 

“I had intended to strike down this Unknown before you even asked. That said—” 

“What is it, I wonder?” 

Kiriha tilted her head seductively. With the girl still staring at her, Shizuri let out a sigh. 

“Somehow, I have come to understand why Kojou and Yukina do not get along well with you.” 

“Oh, is that right?” 

Kiriha tapered her lips ever so slightly, as if the statement had hurt her feelings. 

4 

“You were knocked out by an impostor—?” 

Kojou stared at Yukina as he asked, sipping Kitsune udon broth that had gone lukewarm by then. 

Having done one round searching inside the school for the Yukina impostor, they were just having a rather late lunch. Sitting at the same table as Kojou and Yukina were Yaze, Asagi, and Nagisa, too. 

According to Yukina, the fake Yukina had suddenly appeared in the girls’ changing room and attacked her from behind. 

This meant that by the time Yukina regained consciousness and hastily gave pursuit, Fake Yukina had already fled the scene. 

Nagisa had her cheeks stuffed with sandwich bites like some kind of chipmunk as she asked, “So the girl we were talking to before wasn’t Yukina at all?” 

Yaze let out a “hmm,” plucking the peppers he disliked away from his Chinese fried rice and resting his chin on his other palm. “I gotta say, the resemblance is uncanny.” 

“Yeah. That match is way too close to just be a bunch of makeup…,” Asagi murmured, wiping her mouth after cleaning her third pizza slice off her plate. 

“Yeah, I guess.” Kojou had to agree. Even Yukina herself acknowledged that she and her impostor were practically cut from the same cloth. “I didn’t sense illusion magic. It didn’t feel off when I touched her forehead, either.” 

“…You touched her? The impostor’s forehead?” 

Yukina, still in her gym clothes, stared at Kojou in surprise. Why were you acting so intimately with a fraud? the reproachful impression she gave off seemed to say, but Kojou figured he was just imagining that. 

“Ah, well, the conversation was weird, so I just…” 

Kojou vaguely excused himself, but Yukina’s gaze remained frosty. The pasta salad she’d ordered had remained largely untouched. 

Suddenly, from Yukina’s side, Nagisa embraced her. It was a strong hug and bewildered Yukina. 

“Yukina! I don’t want you to die!” 

“O-oh? Die, me?” 

Nagisa’s ominous and foreboding statement left Yukina stiff and unable to react. However, Nagisa was not joking around. She looked at Yukina with an earnest, serious expression. 

“I mean, it’s often said that people who meet their living ghost or doppelgänger die really soon after…!” 

Asagi, her interest piqued, said, “Now that you’ve mentioned it, I’ve heard of that, too. I have no idea how they explain it in ritual spell terms, though.” 

Addressing rumors with little tangible basis as something worth her interest was typical coming from her, having lived in a Demon Sanctuary for many years. 

However, Kojou was doubtful. 

“You’re saying Fake Himeragi from before was a living ghost? For an apparition, she felt pretty darn lively to me.” 

Yukina calmly pointed out as counterevidence to Nagisa’s speculation, “I do not believe she is a spiritual entity. She knocked me out with a physical blow, after all, and she stole the uniform I was changing into…” 

Kojou nodded. “Gotcha. She did appear in the girls’ changing room completely naked and all…meaning… Fake Yukina is wearing your underwear, too?” 

“W-well, yes…but what does that have to do with anything…?!” 

Yukina was beet-red, covering herself with her hands as she spoke. If Fake Yukina had stolen her underwear, did that mean she wasn’t wearing anything under her clothes at that moment…? 

I’d better stop while I can, Kojou thought. 

“It’s not like I deployed Soundscape in the girls’ changing room… Guess that’s my mistake?” Yaze murmured thusly, quietly so that others might not overhear. 

Meanwhile, Asagi looked sour, wearing the expression of a test-taker faced with a difficult problem. “Himeragi, you don’t have siblings? You don’t have some kind of twin separated from birth or a cousin around the same age?” 

“That is… At the very least, so far as I am aware of, I do not,” Yukina replied in a rather awkward-sounding tone. Having lost both her parents at a young age, she had difficulty declaring with absolute certainty that she was without sisters. 

Certainly, the twin-sister-separated-at-birth theory came off as much more realistic than a living ghost. Still, simple sisterhood could hardly explain how the impostor knew so much about Yukina’s relationships with the people around her. After all, Fake Yukina knew that Kojou was a vampire. 

“How about this?” Yaze offered, oddly confident. “It’s possible that wasn’t a human being, but a robot modeled after li’l Himeragi. Or maybe she’s some kind of clone.” 

Asagi shot a scornful look Yaze’s way. “Good grief, Motoki. That’s just stupid. Take this a little more seriously.” 

“I’m totally serious! How is that different from a twin separated from birth?!” Yaze replied sullenly, genuinely hurt. 

I’m pretty sure that wasn’t a robot, thought Kojou with a quiet exhale. 

“Setting Fake Himeragi’s identity aside,” he said, redirecting the conversation back on topic, “what the heck was she after anyway?” 

“I didn’t sense any particular malice,” Asagi said. “It’s not like she was actually trying to hurt someone or to ruin Yukina’s reputation, either.” 

Nagisa wasn’t convinced. “Oh really…?” Her tone wasn’t pushy, but her opinion was clear; she still held something of a grudge against Fake Yukina for having called her “Auntie.” 

“At the very least, she didn’t impersonate Himeragi to do us any harm. That’s what it felt like anyway,” Kojou said, recalling Fake Yukina’s actions. She’d said a fair number of thoughtless things, but she was largely amiable to Kojou and company. 

“I wonder, how did she know about us in the first place?” Asagi asked, staring directly at Kojou. 

He shrugged flippantly. “Guess there’s no way to find that out except to nab the girl and ask.” 

Asagi sighed quietly. “I suppose. For now, how about we split up and look for her? Ah, Himeragi shouldn’t act on her own as much as possible. She might need an alibi in case something happens.” 

“Understood.” Yukina nodded. 

“Yeah… It’s possible Fake Himeragi might kick up some kind of incident in an unrelated place…” 

Certainly, Fake Yukina was amiable toward Kojou and company, but that didn’t necessarily extend to all human beings. So long as they remained ignorant of their objective, there was no such thing as being overly wary. 

“I’ll have Mogwai use the surveillance cameras in the city to search. If we find her, I’ll contact you immediately.” 

Asagi was holding her favorite smartphone as she rose to her feet. The chime announcing that lunch break would end soon had started to ring. 

With their meals over, Nagisa was cleaning up the plates when she spoke to no one in particular. “But really, who was she? The Yukina from earlier looks just like her…” 

Without a word, Asagi stared at the side of Nagisa’s face, almost like she’d suddenly realized something. 

“Asagi? Something wrong?” 

“Nah.” 

Noticing her gaze, Nagisa blinked, seeming rather mystified. “Don’t worry about it,” Asagi insisted, shaking her head. 

Then Asagi grimaced, seemingly brushing her own imagination aside. As an afterthought, she murmured to herself alone: 

“‘Auntie Nagisa’…… There’s no way…right?” 

5 

In the end, Fake Himeragi did not appear anywhere at school from that point until the end of afternoon classes. 

Even Asagi’s search using surveillance cameras had not gleaned any information about this person. She had casually vanished, not leaving a single trace behind. One might almost conclude that they had all shared the same daydream. 

But, Fake Yukina was obviously no illusion. The very fact she’d walked off with the real Yukina’s school uniform was proof of her physical existence. 

All the same, that in no way meant Yukina could remain in her gym clothes forever. Fortunately, Yukina possessed a wealth of spare uniforms. Due to her work with the Fourth Primogenitor, her uniforms frequently got dirty and damaged through combat. 

For that reason, Yukina had changed into a fresh school uniform by the time she met up with Kojou when it was time to leave school. The fact the uniform’s tie was the school regulation string tie was no doubt because she hadn’t obtained any spares for the ribbon tie, an article of personal clothing. 

Immediately afterward, they received word that Rui, who had been unconscious, could receive visitors. 

“Miyazumi, you here?” 

When they entered the patient room through the open door, they saw the only occupants were Rui, in bed, and an unfamiliar woman in a business suit. Rui’s patient room was large enough for four, but the three other patient beds had curtains drawn over them. 

“Akatsuki. And Miss Himeragi, too.” 

Rui, sitting on the bed, waved when he noticed the pair. 

Wearing light blue pajamas, Rui came off as a frail, sickly pretty boy just begging to be taken care of. The pallor of his face wasn’t quite healthy yet, but his physical condition seemed better than Kojou had expected. The IV tubes had already been taken out of him. 

The woman in the suit seemed to be about twenty years old, and her long bangs obscured her left eye under her glasses. She was beautiful. 

She turned to Rui and said, “Well, then, I shall take my leave.” 

“Yes. You have been a great help.” 

Nodding to Kojou and Yukina briefly, she left the patient room without a word. From appearances alone, she gave off the impression of a capable businesswoman whose conduct was beyond reproach. 

Making sure she was gone, Kojou asked, “Who was that?” 

He got the sense she hadn’t been there merely to visit a patient. 

“She’s from the civilian Attack Mage agency. I asked her to deal with the formalities about the current job.” 

A faintly pained smile came over Rui as he spoke. He and Yuno had been injured on the job and brought to a hospital. Troublesome business work like negotiating with the client and paying expenses no doubt remained. 

Feeling like he’d insensitively asked about something he really ought not have, Kojou awkwardly shook his head. 

He changed the subject, voicing his thoughts from earlier to try and paper things over. “Pretty, isn’t she?” 

As if seeing the melancholy in Kojou’s heart, Rui smiled warmly and nodded. “I suppose she is. I do not believe her age matches her appearance, however.” 

“…What, like Natsuki?” Then Kojou murmured a quiet “I see,” as if a mystery had been solved. 

If she was some sort of witch or sorceress, he could understand how the capable air about her clashed with her youthful appearance. It figured that people working for a civilian Attack Mage agency wouldn’t be your everyday sorts. 

“Is everything all right with work? If there’s anything I can do to help, I’d be happy to.” 

“Thank you. But it’s all right. The construction company only hired us to search for people. Dispatching an unknown demon beast was not part of the contract, of course. They properly paid the fee, and there is no breach of contract penalty, either. The agency’s insurance is covering the hospital expenses, too.” 

“Oh, that’s good… Er, well, it’s not good, but the silver lining in the cloud, I suppose?” 

Even as he hastily corrected his own slip of the tongue, Kojou was relieved. While officially Kojou was the sovereign ruler of Itogami city-state, he was no more than a broke high schooler. Even if his friend had been short on money, he wouldn’t have been able to offer any tangible help. 

“Um, Akatsuki-senpai and I brought some things for you. If you like, please share them with Miss Amase.” 

Yukina offered the hospital visit gifts to Rui, which included a bouquet of flowers, a box of sweets, and multiple varieties of board games for killing time. 

“Thank you. I was getting rather bored, so this is wonderful.” 

Rui gazed happily at the exterior packaging of the board games as he spoke. In truth, Rui was quite the tabletop games fan. 

Kojou was surprised to learn Rui was bored. “Cas hasn’t been here to visit today? I thought we might run into her here.” 

“The squad leader already left. She said she had business she had to take care of after this…” 

“Business?” 

Vaguely, Kojou had a bad feeling about this. I already have a headache with this Fake Yukina thing, so please don’t add to my problems, thought Kojou. He felt like he was praying. 

“Well, fine. If you need anything else, just say the word, ’kay? There’s some stuff it’s hard to ask Kasugaya for— Er, I don’t mean anything weird by that, just, like, normal stuff. Needing underwear and things like that.” 

“Weird how?” Yukina asked, mystified as she stared at Kojou. 

Fleeing from the purity of that gaze, Kojou hastily changed the subject. 

“Incidentally, are you okay?” 

“Yes, because unlike Yuno, I was not heavily wounded to begin with.” 

Rui pulled up the sleeve of his pajamas to show Kojou abrasions well on their way to healing. 

“I heard that your vitality got stolen or something…?” 

“I suppose so. My memory of the moment I was attacked is vague, but I believe it is a fact that I was temporarily stripped of all my internal ritual energy. But compared to that, the issue of the demon beast consuming the Spell Thrower spell rounds I pumped into it is graver, I think.” 

The gentle smile vanished from Rui’s eyes as his Attack Mage persona came to the fore. 

Yukina leaned forward in shock before Kojou could even grasp the meaning of the words. “It consumed spell rounds? You are saying that it absorbed the ritual energy shot into it?” 

“Yeah. In other words, it is possible it does not simply nullify spells, but that attacks via magical energy inherently have no effect… Perhaps even from a vampire’s Beast Vassal.” 

Kojou finally realized the gravity of the matter. “…A Beast Vassal? But even if they’re called demon beasts, they’re still living creatures, right? Even if they eat magical energy, I wonder if they don’t have a limit to how much they can eat at once…?” 

Rui quietly shook his head. “Perhaps that is the case, but we cannot say that for certain, for we do not understand the principles by which it absorbs magical energy.” 

“So no letting your guard down, huh?” 

It was possible that the unknown demon beast that had appeared on New Itogami Island could absorb even a Beast Vassal’s demonic energy. Until that possibility could be firmly refuted, it wasn’t exactly appropriate to recklessly slam one of the Beast Vassals of the Fourth Primogenitor into it… For if the Unknown truly could absorb a Beast Vassal of the Fourth Primogenitor to the last drop, it would become an uncontrollable monster that not even Kojou could lay a finger on. 

“It might be best to get this information to Miss Kisaki,” Yukina suggested, as serious as always. 

Kojou concurred. He didn’t expect Kiriha would come right out and express gratitude, but it wasn’t a situation for worrying about something like that. 

Rui looked up at Kojou and Yukina from his bed. “By Miss Kisaki, you mean the Attack Mage from the Bureau of Astrology?” 

“Miyazumi, you’ve met her?” Kojou asked, surprised. 

“She came in right as the squad captain was heading out. Come to think of it, she seemed to have an interest in the squad leader, too.” 

“Kisaki was checking Cas out?” 

Accustomed to doing so during his Onrai Island days, Rui called Shizuri “squad leader” even now—but that wasn’t the point. The problem was that Kisaki was sniffing around for information on Shizuri. Though he had no particular basis for this, Kojou couldn’t help but get a bad feeling about it. 

“I replied to her as harmlessly as possible, though.” Rui seemed slightly constrained as he smiled. No doubt he didn’t completely trust Kiriha, either. 

“It may be possible Miss Kisaki…intends to bring Miss Kasugaya with her to quell the demon beast,” Yukina murmured. 

Kojou found her hypothesis somewhat surprising. Shizuri was a powerful Attack Mage with a wealth of actual combat experience, but on paper, she was nothing more than a simple middle schooler. Even when you considered that she was an Ogre possessing high combat capabilities, he didn’t think Kiriha would go out of her way to bring Shizuri into the fold. 

“Why would she bring Cas along for demon beast quelling…?” Kojou gasped, eyes wide. “…I get it! Hauras…!” 

Against an Unknown that absorbed magical energy, they’d slam a weapon into it of an identical nature—it was absurdly simple, but one might also call it the most effective method with the least risk attached. Furthermore, Shizuri was highly motivated to avenge Rui and Yuno. She’d almost definitely go along with Kiriha’s invitation. 

However, that also meant Shizuri would bear the full brunt of the battle with the Unknown. It would be close combat against a demon beast of unknown provenance. It was a risky plan indeed. 

Yukina noted, “Miss Kasugaya’s demon registration bracelet’s location information can surely be used to determine her whereabouts. If it was Aiba, then—” 

“Got it! Sorry, Miyazumi. I’ll be in touch later—” 

With a nod to Yukina, Kojou tried to rush out of the patient room. He thought that they had to stop Shizuri before she and Kiriha came into contact with the demon beast. 

But his cell phone rang before he even left the room. The name of the caller indicated was Asagi. Forgetting that he was in a hospital, Kojou accepted the call. 

“Asagi?! Great timing. There’s something I want you to check…” 

“This isn’t the time to say that!! Aren’t you seeing this on TV?!” Asagi shouted angrily from the other end of the line. 

“Huh? What’s on TV?” 

As Kojou was perplexed and overwhelmed by the force of Asagi’s words, Rui pressed the switch for a little television that came as part of the patient room. 

The first thing the screen displayed was smoke—black smoke, and a lot of it. It overtook the entire screen. Red flames were showing from the gaps between it. Apparently, this was footage from an urban area of Itogami City. 

“The heck…? Some accident…? Some kind of fire?” 

“It’s the demon beast. A large, unknown demon beast emerged in Island North. At the moment, the Island Guard Disaster Countermeasures Team is heading to the scene, but we should— Er, Kojou? Kojou, are you even listening?!” 

At some point, Kojou had stopped listening to Asagi. A familiar girl momentarily cutting through the corner of the screen was the cause. She wore a long white coat and a blue wimple. Beneath her wimple was white hair— 

“Senpai!” 

Yukina called out to Kojou in a stern voice. Kojou covered his eyes and groaned. 

“Demon beast… Dammit, this isn’t funny. Shit!” 

Rui pursed his lips with concern as he watched Kojou and Yukina hurriedly race out of the patient room. 

6 

Island North was a laboratory district, a collection of academic and corporate facilities, where research and development on demonic biology was conducted, making the section the manifestation of the Demon Sanctuary’s stated purpose. 

It was a multi-stratum city, with a vast underground space under the rows of numerous buildings. The landscape’s bare construction materials gave it an inorganic feeling, and it was the area most reflective of the massive-scale construct that was the artificial isle beneath it. 

The Unknown had surfaced from a point in the second stratum of the four-stratum district. It was in a water drainage canal located virtually at the center of the gigafloat. 

The demon beast advanced toward the center of the district, demolishing every building and facility in its path. 

The most troublesome part was that the gas leaking from pipelines destroyed in its wake had ignited, causing a large-scale conflagration. It was a district with no small number of troves of dangerous materials and pharmaceuticals. The Island Guard’s main force had been dispatched to evacuate the populace and suppress the fire, splitting up its fighting strength with nothing to spare. As a result, they’d pushed countermeasures against the Unknown down the road, not even taking proper steps to slow it down. It was right in the center of such utter chaos that the Bureau of Astrology Unknown Countermeasures Squad arrived, with Shizuri Kasugaya there to assist them. 

Narrowing her eyes at the hovering smoke, Shizuri scolded Kiriha with a twinge of anger. “Was the demon beast not confirmed to be on New Itogami Island?!” 

The Bureau of Astrology’s search radius for the Unknown had been centered on New Itogami Island Cluster Six, the source of the eyewitness reports. Itogami Island proper was completely outside of their search. Thanks to that, their arrival at the present site had been considerably delayed. 

However, Kiriha made that statement without altering her expression. “As the crow flies, it is twenty-two kilometers from Cluster Six to Itogami Island proper. Even human beings could swim such a distance if they truly wished.” 

Kiriha and the others were on Island North’s route for incoming supplies. Island Guard Guardsmen were already positioned on an empty lot some two hundred meters away. Not only were there armed guardsmen in augmented combat suits, but armored cars and anti-demon robot tanks were visible as well. Heavy firepower weapons suitable for anti–demon beast combat were few in number, but it was fairly heavy gear, nonetheless. 

“Haste or no, our turn only comes after we receive a request for aid from the Island Guard. Let us first see what they are made of. If it can be captured with normal weaponry, it would be the best outcome, after all.” 

“That might well be the case…” 

“Also, unless someone has a rather miserable time of it first, the common people may not be particularly grateful for our assistance.” Kiriha displayed a quite sardonic smile. 

Her words, perhaps to conceal her blush, perhaps her true thoughts, elicited a deep sigh from Shizuri. 

“You really do have a terrible personality…” 

“Do I now?” 

Surely she was well aware of that, but Kiriha seemed to go out of her way to look surprised. Then, with an entirely casual gesture, she turned her eyes toward the long sword on Shizuri’s hip. 

“That sword is Hauras, yes?” 

“It…is indeed…” 

Shizuri politely nodded, deeming that there was no value in hiding it any further. 

Kiriha, replying with a silent nod of her own, drew her spear from the case on her back. With a smooth, metallic sound, the spear lengthened, and its tip spread into an odd configuration that resembled a tuning fork. Kiriha gently touched that spear tip against the sword on Shizuri’s hip. Ting, went the high-pitched ring that pricked at her ears, yet nothing more occurred. 

“As I thought,” said Kiriha. She murmured as if she had expected nothing else. “It is just as with Yukina Himeragi’s spear, I see. Ricercare cannot copy it.” 

“Copy?” 

“That sword’s core employs a holy relic from the Devas as well, I imagine. Current technology cannot reproduce such components, or even decipher the principles by which they operate.” 

Goodness, Kiriha thought, making a pained smile as her eyes remained set upon Shizuri’s sword. 

“If possible, I did not wish to rely upon such a suspicious device, but this is no time to be picky, is it? Let us be off, Shizuri Kasugaya. Sami, I entrust command to you.” 

Kiriha called out to Sami Arashima through the communicator attached to her ear, but Sami’s reply, presumably Roger, was drowned out by the demon beast’s ear-splitting roar. 

The Island Guard unit had come into contact with the Unknown surfacing from the water drainage canal. 

“That…is the Unknown…!” 

Shizuri stiffened and audibly gulped down as she set eyes upon the demon beast for the first time. 

The demon beast was probably fifteen meters in total length, looking like some kind of bizarre cross between an eel, a lizard, and some ferocious, carnivorous insect. The surface of the demon beast’s body was covered neither in scales nor feathers, but in a tough hide resembling that of a rhino. Its carapace, undulating like a pair of bellows, was enveloped by dozens of tentacles. 

It was bizarre, but by no means grotesque. She felt as if it still maintained a precarious balance as a living creature. It resembled a frontline weapon and had what she might call a type of artificial beauty. 

In any case, Shizuri felt no fear toward this Unknown. She did not sense the immense power disparity she had from the Rose Beast Vassals of Tartarus Lapse, which had destroyed her homeland, the Demon Sanctuary of Iroise. 

Even the Island Guard members seemed to feel much like Shizuri did. They did not falter as they commenced their attack on the Unknown that had invaded the empty lot. 

“Liquid nitrogen…?!” Shizuri exclaimed in surprise when she saw a colorless liquid spraying from the Island Guard’s armored cars. She realized the nature of that liquid. 

Bathed in liquid, the surface of the demon beast’s body was gradually being covered in white frost. Finally, this changed into a thick layer of ice, obstructing the demon beast’s movements. The nitrogen, liquid at an extremely low temperature, was being used to freeze the demon beast’s entire body. 

“They intend to freeze the Unknown?” 

“That is by the book. Neither tranquilizers nor electric currents are effective—making this the appropriate plan.” Kiriha exhaled in a sign of admiration. 

The Island Guard was continuing the liquid nitrogen attack at that very moment. By then, the demon beast’s enormous body was frozen solid, its movements completely halted. There was no place on this stage for Hauras. It had ended with a whimper, leaving Shizuri feeling dejected that she’d shown up at all. 

“…Why did the Unknown surface in Island North, I wonder?” Kiriha murmured offhandedly as she gazed at the frozen demon beast. Her breaths froze white, too. The liquid nitrogen had also caused the surrounding temperature to plummet. 

“If it was for ease of surfacing, the mesh of canals covering East and South is the part facing Cluster Six. If it was to assault human beings, would not West, with the largest population midday, be more appropriate? North is full of manmade things. I cannot call it a pleasant environment for a living creature.” 

“Perhaps it was simply on a whim? It might have rather peculiar taste,” Shizuri said, looking back at Kiriha. 

“I suppose so. That would be good, but…” 

Kiriha surely disagreed with Shizuri’s words, but if the Unknown could be quelled right there, her question was meaningless either way. 

“It seems that we will not get our turn after all.” 

Shizuri had by no means lowered her guard, but she sounded defeated, nonetheless. Kiriha shot her a suspicious glance with a reproachful air. 

“I wonder about that. Why do you think these creatures are called demon beasts?” 

Before she finished speaking, an ear-grating, high-pitched soundwave pierced Shizuri’s and Kiriha’s ears. The Unknown’s enormous frame was enveloped in vast demonic energy, enough to cause the air itself to tremble. 

“The Unknown is casting a spell…?!” 

Shizuri was aghast at the incredible spectacle before her eyes. 

It was not that she was unaware of creatures that manipulated demonic energy. But she hadn’t thought that a demon beast equipped with such a stout physical body and a powerful life force, and even the special ability to absorb magical energy, would be able to employ spells on top of all of the rest. 

The layer of ice covering the demon beast shattered. At some point, even the supposedly frozen flesh-and-blood body of the beast had regained its freedom. 

The demon beast moved with agility that belied its enormous frame. Countless tentacles audibly snapped out like whips, mowing down the obstructions surrounding it. 

“A barricade and—blasting… No, resonant destruction, I wonder… It cannot activate this save through direct contact, but I see… So this ability is how it tunnels underground.” 

“Is this the time for leisurely analysis?! With that, it can blow away even an armored car without a trace!” Shizuri yelled at Kiriha. 

The Island Guard’s armored cars pulled back, with the robotic tank unit coming to the fore in their stead. They attempted to use the bulldozer blades with which they were equipped to push the demon beast back by force. 

However, this was a particularly risky act. In an instant, the Unknown’s enormous frame smashed flat the four robot tanks surrounding it, trampling and pulverizing them with ease. The tanks’ anti-magic armor was completely powerless before the overwhelming demonic energy from the Unknown. 

The one saving grace was that all the robotic tanks in the Island Guard’s possession were unmanned, AI-controlled units. Had this not been the case, anyone aboard the tanks would doubtlessly have met a cruel fate. 

“Kiriha, the Island Guard has requested support.” 

From the command post in the rear, Sami was calling Kiriha and company with an emergency message. Judging that it was impossible to quell the Unknown with their current equipment, the Island Guard was ceding on-site command to the Bureau of Astrology. 

“I’d hoped to see a little more of the cards in the opponent’s hand, but it’s come to this,” Kiriha said, her tone rather malicious. “Sami, prepare Ritual B.” 

“Roger. Activating Ritual B at expected point in sixty seconds. All hands, take up position.” 

Receiving their own orders from Sami, the Bureau of Astrology personnel spread out, seemingly surrounding the demon beast. Each and every one of them had a mechanical sorcerous device in their hands resembling jackhammers used in road construction. 

“Ritual B?” Shizuri shot Kiriha a suspicious look; that ritual name was unfamiliar to her. 

“A ritual for a highly viscous fluid, the Bureau of Astrology’s trump card for sealing a demon beast’s movements. Cleaning up after the fact is a real pain, so I had hoped not to use it if at all possible, but—” 

As Kiriha finished her explanation, the bureau personnel slammed their devices into the ground’s surface. Six of them surrounded the Unknown numbered six. With the creature caught in the center of the formation, an enormous magic symbol appeared on the ground’s surface. 

Will such a spell really work upon this Unknown? Shizuri wondered, but that doubt immediately melted away. Ritual B was magic targeted not at the demon beast’s body, but at the ground at the demon beast’s feet. 

The Unknown’s enormous frame slowly…sank. 

The surface of the ground had softened into something akin to clay. No, not clay—rather, some kind of sticky gum. The gel-like surface of the artificial isle had turned into glue, sealing the demon beast’s movements. It was probably a transmutation ritual employing some sort of alchemy. 

“Wait, the B in Ritual B stands for birdlime…?!” Shizuri exclaimed. 

“Oh my, you actually know what birdlime is? Allow me to praise you.” Kiriha shot her a teasing smile. 

Shizuri puffed out her cheeks. “That does not make me happy at all!” 

There was now a swamp of glue dozens of meters in diameter. It might have been effective at capturing the demon beast but cleaning it up afterward would be an ordeal. Small wonder Kiriha had not wanted to use it. 

“First, we must neutralize the tentacles. Take care you do not touch Ritual B!” Kiriha instructed. 

“I do not need you to tell me that!” Shizuri’s words came out in a hurried stream as she drew her sword. 

The demon beast’s movements might have been sealed, but its many tentacles were still in peak condition. Even if they were “just” tentacles, each individual one possessed the strength and size equal to that of the typical demon beast. They were absolutely not opponents to be underestimated. 

It was Kiriha who sent the first tentacle flying. As if she were rending space itself, she severed a tentacle as thick as a log with seemingly zero resistance. 

“Hauras—!” 

Right at the edge of the swamp of glue, Shizuri thrust Hauras into the severed tentacle. The crimson, undulating blade resembled a glowing flame. The mystic blade had stolen the demonic energy remaining inside the tentacle. 

The tentacle convulsed as if it was a living creature in its own right, but it soon wasted away as all activity ceased. This proved Kiriha’s theory that Hauras’s attacks would be effective upon the Unknown. 

Kiriha grinned. “You are more skilled than I thought, Shizuri Kasugaya. Would you care to work for the Bureau of Astrology part-time?” 

Shizuri shook her head without hesitation. “I must decline. I appreciate the invitation, but I already have other business.” 

The corners of Kiriha’s lips curled. “Oh my. Was it Kojou Akatsuki who invited you?” 

“Th-that is none of your business!” 

It was nothing to be particularly bothered about, but Shizuri was rather violently thrown off as she retorted. Tee-hee, went Kiriha, breaking into laughter and even more visibly delighted. 

“You like him?” 

“Wh-what are you implying…?! If you toy with me, I shall cut you down!” Shizuri turned her sword toward Kiriha in earnest. 

Naturally, even Kiriha abandoned teasing Shizuri at that point, turning her gaze toward the Unknown once more. It was not the time for engaging in silly conversation. Kiriha poised her twin-pronged spear to sever a second tentacle. 

It was the moment right after that when they heard the rather nervous-sounding voice of a girl. 

“Oh, darn it…! It’s already started?!” 

The voice, launched from surprisingly short range, made Shizuri whirl around in shock. 

Standing there was a schoolgirl wearing the familiar uniform of Saikai Academy. The girl was lightly clutching her head as she stared at the demon beast stuck in the swamp of glue. 

“Yukina Himeragi? Where did you come from…?!” 

Shizuri blinked hard, eyes wide at the unexpected timing with which the acquaintance had emerged. 

The girl with the same face as Yukina noticed Shizuri staring like that, at which point she went Geh! and reeled heavily in apparent fear. 

“Oh my gosh! Sh…Shizuri?!” 

“Wh-what?! What’s with that reaction?!” 

The overly intimate finger from this Yukina unsettled Shizuri. 

“Well, fine. Pull back, Shizuri! Everyone, run—now!” Yukina called earnestly, swiftly recovering from her surprise. 

Shizuri glared at Yukina. “Huh…? What are you saying? We were finally able to capture the demon beast after so much trouble—” 

“Capture? You’re kidding, right?! The vibrations can travel even through the swamp!” 

Kiriha’s cheeks stiffened at Yukina’s angry shout. 

“—Incoming blast attack! Everyone, retreat!” Kiriha ordered. 

“R-retreaaat!” 

Though Kiriha was quick, the Bureau of Astrology’s staff reactions were nearly instantaneous. In combat against demon beasts, quick, sound judgments were the difference between life and death. The elites Kiriha had brought with her understood that well. 

And the demon beast was faster still. 

A shockwave resembling an enormous explosion made the artificial isle’s ground quake. 

The powerful vibrations released by the Unknown were so quiet that Kiriha and her people had not noticed them slowly but surely encroaching upon them from the swamp of glue, and as those waves overlapped, their power was amplified. At the moment they exceeded a critical juncture, they created another explosive shockwave. 

The artificial isle’s crust could not withstand such force. Its stout framework materials snapped; the thick steel plates were wrenched apart. A powerful wave of demonic energy neutralized the magic reinforcing the joints of the crust without a trace. The sorcerous devices maintaining Ritual B were sent flying, and the swamp of glue dissipated. 

The surface of the ground had caved in. An enormous hole had opened in the second stratum of Island North. 

Having fallen down to the third stratum, the demon beast seemed proud of its victory as it roared. 

All that could be seen in its wake was the pulverized ground, the remains of robot tanks, and the wounded and fallen personnel of the Bureau of Astrology. 

7 

Putting their hands to a nearby wall, Kojou and Yukina felt a ferocious ground tremor that resembled an earthquake. A weighty, explosive sound that seemed to gouge into the ground’s innards made the entire underground passage quake. 

“The heck was that just now?” 

“This demonic energy… Could it be…a magical attack by the demon beast…?!” 

The magical aftershock pressing against them seemed to charge the air with electricity. Kojou and Yukina exchanged a glance and then set off running toward the epicenter of the powerful demonic energy. 

By chance, the second stratum of North where the demon beast had appeared wasn’t particularly far from the hospital Rui and Yuno were in, which meant Kojou and Yukina could rush to the site quickly. Thanks to the suddenness of the demon beast’s emergence, the Island Guard’s blocking of traffic couldn’t exactly be called complete. Using shortcuts only natives would know, Kojou and Yukina reached the field of battle without anyone getting in their way. 

“An explosion? The demon beast did this…?” 

Noticing the enormous crater left in the ground by the explosion, Kojou could only stand dumbfounded. 

It was probably a clear sign the Island Guard and Bureau of Astrology had engaged with the demon beast. The ground of the second stratum had caved in, and an enormous hole had been opened that reached down to the third. The remnants of destroyed steel girders were strewn around the area, enough that you could hardly guess their original shape. 

However, there was no scent of gunpowder or any other explosive on-site. It had not been an attack using any conventional weapon. The only assumption to be made based on the destruction was that it was a shockwave generated by magic. 

“Miss Kasugaya!” 

Yukina raced over to a girl seemingly half-buried in rubble and sat her up. The girl with white hair, holding a long sword, frailly moaned as she opened her eyes. Her entire body was covered in mud and soil, but she didn’t seem to have any major injuries. Apparently, she’d simply been rendered immobile from the shock of being sent flying. 

“Cas, you okay? What happened?” Kojou asked. 

Shizuri shook her head, sitting up on her own. Her eyes were still a little unfocused. “I am all right…because she shielded me…” 

“Miss Kisaki?!” Yukina exclaimed. 

Shizuri pointed toward a girl in a black sailor uniform. Just like Shizuri, she wasn’t bleeding, but the shockwave had clearly affected her more than it had Shizuri. In spite of Yukina calling out to her, there was no sign of her regaining consciousness. 

“She is breathing. She may have a concussion due to suffering the impact from the shockwave up close.” 

“She used the same technique as Kirasaka, huh…?” 

Kojou noticed the vestiges of a ritual spell on the ground. As if obstructed by some invisible wall, only the place where Kiriha had fallen had been spared direct destruction from the shockwave. A barrier created via pseudo-spatial severing had blocked the demon beast’s attack. 

However, the pseudo-spatial severing ritual lasted for only a single second, and it could be deployed in one direction at a time. In shielding Shizuri, it was Kiriha who had borne the brunt from the blast winds that followed. To have avoided grave physical injury in spite of that… Perhaps that was simply a Priestess of the Six Blades for you. 

“Where is the demon beast?” Kojou warily surveyed his surroundings. 

Shizuri did not reply to his question. She looked at Yukina with a perplexed expression. “…Yukina Himeragi? What are you doing here?” 

“Huh?” 

“What do you mean?” 

Yukina and Kojou stared at Shizuri, prompting her for more. Shizuri seemed even more perplexed as her eyes flitted back and forth between Yukina and the massive hole hollowed out from the ground. 

“I was certain that you descended underground together with the demon beast…” 

“Himeragi? With the demon beast…?” As he realized the reason for Shizuri’s confusion, nervousness ran across Kojou’s face. “Don’t tell me this means—” 

“It’s her?!” Tense, Yukina pursed her lips. Shizuri had mistaken someone else for Yukina. It was a safe bet she’d seen the same Fake Yukina who had appeared at Saikai Academy. 

Kojou’s voice hardened. “Cas, can you stand? Take Kisaki with you and get out of here right now!” 

Shizuri’s voice went ragged in the face of the powerful will glimmering in Kojou’s eyes. “What do you intend to do?! It devours demonic energy, you know!” 

Her tone was aggressive, but her concern for Kojou was loud and clear. Likely, Beast Vassal attacks would not be effective against the energy-absorbing Unknown. That not only meant Kojou could not defeat the Unknown, but he would not even be able to keep himself safe from it. 

“That doesn’t mean we can just leave it alone…” 

Kojou got up with a pained, uncertain smile on his face. With the Island Guard and Bureau of Astrology personnel close to being wiped out at present, it left Kojou and Yukina as the only ones able to act. Even if they could not defeat the demon beast, if they could minimize the damage somewhat. Standing and doing nothing was not an option. 

“Kojou…?! Please, Kojou, stop!” 

Shaking off Shizuri’s efforts to stop him, Kojou headed toward Yukina, who was at the center of the traces of the explosion. Even with the rubble all around, the large hole formed by the demon beast was configured like a gentle slope. Mindful of the uncertain footing, Kojou and Yukina descended to the third stratum. 

“…Which way?” 

Thanks to the blackout caused by the demon beast’s attack, darkness entirely encased the underground city that was North’s third stratum. As a vampire, Kojou’s nocturnal vision was keen, but the hovering dust particles and black smoke obscured even his vision. It was all he could do to make out the terrain, let alone confirm where the demon beast might be. 

“I see it! Over there!” 

Yukina was the one to spot the demon beast first. With a terrain of cables and pipelines strewn over it, the third stratum of North resembled an oil refinery. At the place where those complex paths met, the demon beast with a ferocious external appearance awaited them. 

However, contrary to Kojou’s expectations, the demon beast was acting docile. He couldn’t call the surrounding area unharmed, but the damage to the surrounding buildings was minimal. That did not mean the demon beast’s movements had come to a halt, though. With an unhesitant gait, its enormous, grayish-black frame slowly continued to pace. 

Standing in front of the demon beast, seemingly guiding it, was the girl who looked exactly like Yukina. 

“There, there. Okay, good girl. Yes, this way,” she said gently, staring into the demon beast’s six eyes. Seemingly seduced by her words, the demon beast changed directions as the girl commanded. 

Kojou came to a dead stop, watching the bizarre spectacle. “Is she…talking to it…?” 

A small girl had tamed the demon beast all by her lonesome. It was a surreal scene that sounded straight out of a fairy tale. 

The girl’s eyes, still on the creature, were glowing crimson. Realizing this, Kojou drew in his breath; Yukina’s reaction was even more dramatic. 

“That power—!!” 

“Eh…?! H-hey! Wait up, Himeragi…!” 

Kojou hastily tried to stop Yukina as she set off running with her spear at the ready. However, Kojou’s voice did not reach the indignant Yukina’s ears. Slipping past the demon beast’s feet, she stood in front of her red-eyed impostor. 

“Do not move! By right of a Sword Shaman of the Lion King Agency, I am placing you under arrest!” she coldly declared to her lookalike. 

“…Geh?! No way?! Why are you here…?!” 

Fake Yukina had clearly been thrown off. Surely she never expected the real Yukina to appear at the site so quickly. 

“That ability is Charm, is it not? The mind control ability that vampires possess—” 

“W-well, it is, but… Uh, wait. We can have a nice chat about that later—” 

Fake Yukina didn’t deny it. That was basically confirmation that she was a vampire. However, the impostor’s words only served to further fan the flames of Yukina’s wary heart. 

“You were the one controlling this demon beast, weren’t you?!” 

“Er, um?” she stammered, taken aback. 

“Wait a minute. What makes you think that?!” Kojou exclaimed. 

Turning her head back and glancing at the destroyed ground of the artificial isle, Yukina made her anger clear. “You hurt Miss Kasugaya and Miss Kisaki… How dare you…!” 

“This isn’t funny,” said Fake Yukina, ferociously shaking her head like an unreasonable child. “Just listen to me! You’re always, always like this!” 

“Before I do anything, stop that demon beast!” 

“That’s what I’m doing, you blockhead! You’re so stupid, Mom!” 

“M-Mom…?” 

The strange word coming out of the girl’s mouth made Yukina stiffen, the poison seemingly draining from her spirit for a moment. 

As if to fill that silence, a flash scattered amid the darkness. 

Fire enveloped the back of the previously calm demon beast, which slammed a roar into everyone’s ear canals. 

Yukina and her impostor shouted simultaneously. 

“An attack…?!” 

“No way?! Who the hell would…?!” 

Someone lurking in the darkness of the urban area had attacked the demon beast with a large-caliber rocket. The impact released it from the power of Fake Yukina’s Charm; the demon beast reverted to its violent nature. 

Furthermore, the rocket attack did not cease there. However, this time, the demon beast was not the target of the attack. Rather, it was a pipeline stretched across the urban area of the third stratum—and so, that single pipeline was destroyed. 

It was not physical matter which gushed out from the pipeline. It was a flickering cloud of pale light—crystallized ritual energy at such a high concentration that it could be seen with the naked eye. 

Nervousness hovered over Fake Yukina’s expression. “A spiritual reactor is activating?! Why now…?!” 

Hearing those words, Yukina felt the same inner turmoil. “A spiritual reactor?!” 

Kojou glanced at both of their surprised faces. “Spiritual reactors—you mean the stuff Aldegian airships have onboard?” 

“Yes. By calling forth spirits with a mass of pure spiritual energy from the upper dimensions, such devices supply the energy required for magical rituals.” 

Kojou nodded at her explanation. Naturally, he didn’t understand the finer points of the logic, but he did grasp that these spiritual reactor thingies were systems built to supply a vast amount of spiritual energy. 

Dread dripped from Fake Yukina’s words. “It was never publicly announced, but Itogami Island’s North is equipped with a large-scale spiritual reactor for use in experiments. It should have been under emergency shutdown when the demon beast came close…!” 

“Wait, don’t tell me the demon beast is after that spiritual reactor! And you were trying to stop it from…” 

The Unknown consumed magical energy. Kojou had just recalled that. 

Magical energy and spiritual energy were opposing poles by nature, but that was like the positive or negative of an electric current; the total amount of energy you could draw from either was roughly equal. If the demon beast could absorb magical energy, it wouldn’t be so strange for it to also be able to bring ritual energy inside itself. 

“But if that happens, my Charm might not be able to stop it anymore…” Fake Yukina frailly shook her head. 

By no means had the girl commanded the demon beast to attack Itogami Island. It was actually the reverse. She was trying to control the demon beast to prevent Itogami Island’s destruction. 

Having thrown off Fake Yukina’s control, the demon beast slowly moved its head around. Bathed in the ritual energy from the broken pipeline, the demon beast’s flesh and blood were entering an agitated state. The enormous building its six eyes were glaring at was likely the spiritual reactor proper. With agility that belied its enormous frame, the demon beast approached the building. Its appetite whetted by the trickle of spiritual energy coursing through the pipeline, it aimed its efforts toward the spiritual reactor itself. 

Kojou turned toward Fake Yukina and asked, “If it sucks the spiritual reactor’s magical energy dry, what happens?” 

“It might be for experimental use, but the reactor’s spiritual energy is off the charts. Feels a little like we won’t be able to lay a hand on it…!” Her usual sunny demeanor remained despondent. 

That voice was blotted out by a ting, a high-pitched soundwave reverberating, followed a moment later by an enormous explosion. The Unknown’s tentacles thrashed about, smashing into smithereens the annoying buildings blocking its path. 

“Kojou, those tentacles—” she started to warn. 

“Yeah. I’ve got a really bad feeling about ’em…,” Kojou interrupted, nodding with a bitter expression. Even without knowledge of the resonant destruction magic, it was plain at a glance that those tentacles were dangerous. 

The impeding buildings vanished, leaving less than a hundred meters in a straight line between it and the spiritual reactor. For a demon beast with an enormous frame, that distance was practically on the tip of its nose. 

“No way except stopping it here and now, huh… Crap. C’mon over, Mesarthim Adamas!” 

Kojou summoned a Beast Vassal, a bighorn sheep that was Beast Vassal Number One of the Fourth Primogenitor. Its ability was to create an imperishable defensive bulwark made out of diamond crystals. 

No matter how powerful the Unknown’s blasting magic, it was impossible to destroy the diamond crystals wrought from a Beast Vassal’s vast demonic energy. And yet— 

“Kojou, don’t!” Fake Yukina exclaimed in a panic, clinging to him. 

It was the next moment that the demon beast’s tentacles enveloped the diamond wall one after another. The supposedly indestructible bulwark of Mesarthim Adamas crumbled and vanished, as frail as a sandcastle. The Beast Vassal’s demonic energy maintaining the barrier had been stolen by the Unknown. 

“It ate the demonic energy…?! So even defense is no good?!” 

Kojou rued his own carelessness. The Unknown’s ability had exceeded his wildest dreams. Not only was he unable to directly attack the main body of the monster, but it could rob the demonic energy of any barrier deployed in the area, too. 

“The spiritual reactor…!” Yukina let out a brief yelp. 

While Kojou and the others had been rebuffed, the demon beast’s tentacles, bathed in blasting magic, had destroyed the exterior wall of the spiritual reactor. 

The reactor itself remained undamaged, but high-density spiritual energy gushed out on a scale comparable to when the pipeline had been destroyed. Absorbing this, the demon beast became more active still. 

“Urk…!” 

“Hey, that’s my cell phone…!” 

“—Kikimora, shut that spiritual reactor down!” 

Stealing Kojou’s cell phone, Fake Yukina shouted to a listener of which Kojou was unaware. Her sudden action threw Kojou for a loop. Maybe there was some kind of process to control the spiritual reactor, but surely stopping it was beyond the scope of a single cell phone. And if anything could pull it off, it’d be the AI that served as Asagi’s partner—Mogwai. 

But as Kojou suspiciously watched in silence, the building shuddered. The pale radiance leaking out of the reactor ceased, and an intermittent vibration sound rang forth. The spiritual reactor’s vents had been shut. 

Just because the spiritual reactor had been stopped didn’t mean that the spiritual energy the demon beast had absorbed had vanished. But the demon beast would no longer be supplied with fresh spiritual energy. 

Having been robbed of the food right before its eyes, the demon beast howled, mad with rage. 

“Kojou, call Dabih-doo, quick!” Fake Yukina ordered, still gripping the phone, 

“Dabih-doo…?” Kojou twisted his neck, mulling the girl’s all-too-vague words. “Ohhh! C’mon over, Dabih Crystallus!” 

Kojou summoned a fresh Beast Vassal covered in quicksilver scales. It was a beautiful aquatic dragon with translucent, radiant wings and a spiraling horn. This was the tenth Beast Vassal of the Fourth Primogenitor, with the ability of mind control. Dabih Crystallus was the Beast Vassal that symbolized the vampiric ability of Charm. 

He didn’t know the reason why Fake Yukina knew about it, but it wasn’t the time or place to question her about that. 

Neither attacks nor defenses wrought from magical energy were effective against the Unknown, but it couldn’t be too resistant to mental attacks. Fake Yukina had proved as much by keeping the opponent in check with a simple Charm power. At present, among the cards in Kojou’s hand, the Beast Vassal that controlled the mind was his only means of opposing the Unknown. 

However, by then, the Unknown had added both the demonic energy it had stolen from Mesarthim Adamas’s crystals and the vast amount of spiritual energy it had absorbed from the reactor. The demon beast demonstrated resistance against even the mind control ability of Kojou’s Beast Vassal. 

“What the—?!” 

Kojou’s expression contorted in unease. The next moment, the Unknown swung its tentacles up at him, the one controlling the Demon Beast. Kojou, busy keeping control of his Beast Vassal, didn’t have time to respond. 

“Kojou!” 

Fake Yukina spread both arms out in an attempt to shield the immobile Kojou. The Unknown swung its tentacles to mow down Kojou and Fake Yukina. 

It was Yukina who fended off the attack. Leaping forward to shield both of them, she spun around her silver spear, blocking the demon beast’s tentacles head-on. 

The impact reverberated fiercely, as if a hard boulder had been slammed into metal. 

Yukina’s spear nullified magical energy. The resonant destruction spell controlled by the Unknown dissipated the instant Yukina blocked it. 

However, Snowdrift Wolf could not nullify the physical blow itself from the enormous tentacles. To handle that, Yukina brazenly deflected it by strengthening her body via a ritual spell and the martial arts drilled into her. 

“Himeragi…?!” 

“Wait a…?! That’s crazy…!” 

The vampire girl was aghast at Yukina’s reckless actions, but she surely understood the fact that Yukina had saved her. Her voice held no echo of reproach toward Yukina. 

The Sword Shaman raised her silver spear once more. “Senpai, please continue your Beast Vassal summons for just a little longer.” 

“Wait! What do you plan on doing all by yourself…?!” Fake Yukina cried out. 

Yukina looked back, mystified by the expression coming over the impostor, who seemed like a worried child. However, she said nothing in reply, her gaze already returned to the demon beast. 

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

Yukina quietly wove a chant. Her body was enveloped by pure, divine essence, and her metallic silver spear was enshrouded by a dazzling radiance. It was the radiance of the Divine Oscillation Effect that nullified demonic energy and could dissipate any barrier. 

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

Slipping through the storm of countless onrushing tentacles, Yukina closed the distance right before the demon beast’s eyes and plunged the spear deeply into the tiny gap afforded by the demon beast’s throat. 

For the first time, the demon beast that had displayed no sign of pain bellowed in anguish. 

Dazzling wings of light spread forth from Yukina’s back. Pouring all the spiritual energy coursing from higher-dimensional space into Snowdrift Wolf, she transformed the resulting D.O.E. into a blade, slamming it inside the demon beast’s flesh. 

“She nullified…that much demonic energy…?” Fake Yukina murmured frailly, completely at a loss. 

The vast demonic energy the Unknown had accumulated within its body had vanished. The cutting off of the supply of energy caused the demon beast’s hyperactive cells to weaken. Yukina’s spear, said to be able to destroy even a vampire primogenitor, had stripped away the Unknown’s demonic energy root and branch. The depleted demon beast no longer possessed the power to resist a Beast Vassal of the Fourth Primogenitor. 

Kojou commanded the Unknown to sleep. Using the mind control of Dabih Crystallus, the demon beast fell into a deep sleep from which it could not awaken. 

With a tremor, the demon beast’s enormous frame collapsed to the ground. All of its tentacles had already come to a halt. 

The menace had not been completely removed, but at the very least, the danger before their eyes had passed. 

However, Kojou and the others had no smiles on their faces. 

Yukina slowly returned with her back to the prostrate demon beast. Naturally, she looked fatigued, but she had no obvious injuries. Even so, Kojou stared dumbfounded at her right hand. 

There, the silver divine armament she was gripping— 

“Himeragi…The spear…” 

“Yes.” 

Yukina nodded briefly in response to Kojou. She made a lonely smile. 

The long spear she was gripping scattered glowing silver particles here and there. Countless cracks were carved onto the surface of its three-pronged blade—a main blade and two sub-blades to either side. From there, fragments began falling away. Gradually, those cracks spread from the tip of the spear to the very base of the shaft. 

Kojou stared, completely at a loss for words. Feeling hopeless, Yukina let out a weak murmur. 

“I broke it.” 

That instant, the spear known as Snowdrift Wolf shattered with a beautiful, serene sound reverberating amid the darkness.