Strike the Blood - Volume 17 - Chapter 4

CHAPTER FOUR 

THE ANGER 

1 

It was evening, on a street. 

“An impostor who looks exactly like Yukina Himeragi? And she stole the fragments of Snowdrift Wolf?” Shio tilted her head as she asked the question to Yuiri. 

Through no fault of her own, she had trouble believing this. Even Kojou, who’d encountered Fake Yukina in the flesh, felt like he could scarcely believe that the girl really existed. 

“Yeah—probably. The fact the real Yukii was right with me meant she wasn’t arrested instantly, but that didn’t mean suspicion was completely lifted so we were under house arrest,” Yuiri explained, her words stumbling together hastily. She was still a little out of breath. 

Broken or not, Snowdrift Wolf was a secret weapon of the Lion King Agency. It had been robbed during transport by a perpetrator who resembled Yukina so closely, you couldn’t tell the two apart. So Kojou could kind of understand why the Lion King Agency had responded by putting Yukina under house arrest. 

“A-and yet Yukina Himeragi left on her own anyway…! What is the meaning of this, Kojou Akatsuki?!” 

Shio, somehow managing to grasp the situation, closed the distance with Kojou as the color of her face changed. 

“What are you askin’ me for…?” 

“That super-serious Yukina Himeragi would never turn her back on orders from the Three Saints of the Lion King Agency, right?! So the only thing I can think of is that this is somehow your fault! What did you put into that girl’s head?!” Shio grabbed Kojou by the collar and shook him. 

“The hell?! You can’t just claim something like that!” 

Unable to watch and do nothing, Yuiri wedged herself between the quarreling pair. “Kojou, do you have any idea where Yukii might have gone? We don’t really know this island well yet…” 

“Where she might have gone…? Ah, wait…” 

“Do you know something?!” 

Shio strongly pulled Kojou’s face close. The action overwhelmed him. 

“Ah, nah, it’s just, maybe Himeragi realized where the impostor might be?” 

“The impostor’s location?!” 

“Ah… That’s why Yukii flew out the door. She thought she had to catch up to the impostor before she escaped…,” Yuiri quietly murmured to herself, “I get it now.” 

Shio similarly nodded. “So where would the impostor be now?” 

“Er, I don’t really know, but I guess Himeragi noticed something. Plus, she probably felt she couldn’t leave the task to anyone else, so does that mean someplace where you can’t go unless you’re Himeragi…?” 

“I’m asking you where this ‘someplace’ is…!!” 

Shio grabbed Kojou by his collar yet again, trying to cut off the blood flow in his carotid arteries as if it were the natural thing to do, whereas Yuiri hastily tried to stop her. The three of them jostling while pressed against one another looked like a conflict immediately following an outbreak of jealousy in a three-way relationship. 

He felt a cold stare focused on him; a Saikai Academy student who happened to be passing by gazed at the sight of Kojou and the girls. Her hair was white like fresh snow. 

“Just what are you doing out in the open here, Kojou?” 

“…Cas? Why are you here…?” 

“I am in the middle of heading to visit Miss Yuno and company, but…,” Shizuri Kasugaya said, her cheek twitching sourly at being called Cas. 

After that, Shizuri shot Shio, in the middle of wringing Kojou’s neck, an openly suspicious expression. 

“More importantly, who are these people? From the looks of it, they are concealing some rather dangerous weapons… If you intend to lay hands upon Kojou further, would you perhaps like to go through me first?” 

Shizuri narrowed her blue-tinged eyes. Apparently, she was trying to stand up for Kojou, still getting his neck wrung. Shizuri was giving off enough hostility that a normal person would have broken into shivers, but Yuiri and Shio took it in stride. 

“…What is the meaning of this, Kojou? What is your relation to this girl?” 

“Huh?” 

“That declaration to not lay hands on you just now… I cannot simply let that go. It sounds to me as if she is engaged in formal interactions with you.” 

“What? Formal interactions…?!” 

Kojou was perplexed as Yuiri and Shio double-teamed him with questions, backing him into a corner. However, Shizuri was shaken far more than he was. She was completely beside herself, face beet-red to the tips of her ears. 

“I—I am not! By ‘hands on him,’ I meant in the sense of inflicting harm, not in the sense of forbidding fraternization—er, of course I do not accept any such interactions without my permission!” 

“Why do I need your permission to go out with Kojou?” Yuiri prompted back with a blank expression on her face. 

Shizuri’s words caught in her throat. “I-if you must know, it is because…of the danger this man presents…” 

Shio assumed a dead-serious stance. “Put another way, we can interact with Kojou Akatsuki if we have your permission…?” 

Kojou quickly felt a headache coming on as he shook his head. “Hey…you’re all taking this conversation off the rails. More importantly, Cas, have you seen Himeragi anywhere?” 

“Himeragi from school…you mean? Well, I saw her just earlier…” 

Shio and Yuiri swiftly surrounded Shizuri as they questioned her. 

“What?!” 

“Really?!” 

For once, a look came over Shizuri like she was the one overwhelmed by sheer force. “Wh-what…?!” 

Kojou turned to her, far more serious than before. “Where did you see her?” 

Shizuri, still a little bewildered, straightened her posture. “I saw her running in the direction of school. Alone.” 

“School? Saikai Academy?” 

“Er…then, the place you can’t go in unless you’re Yukii, is Yukii’s school?” 

Shio and Yuiri exchanged a glance. They surely felt that the robbery of Snowdrift Wolf and her school were not connected in any way. 

However, it was true that Saikai Academy fit a place that was hard to enter unless you were Yukina. At the very least, there was no mistaking that Yuiri and Shio would attract a lot of attention if they were wandering around wearing the uniform of a different school. 

“At any rate, let us be off. We may still be able to catch up to her,” Shio said. 

“I—I suppose so,” Yuiri agreed. “If we’re with Kojou, we shouldn’t have too much trouble getting in.” 

“Got it. Thanks, Cas. You saved our butts!” 

“Kojou? What in the world is going o—” 

Shizuri reflexively tried to stop Kojou and the others as they hastily tried to break out into a run when— 

Suddenly, the feet of everyone in that place came to a halt. They’d sensed a powerful presence that charged the air and made it shudder. It was not only Yuiri and the other Attack Mages; it was such a powerful wave of spiritual energy that even Kojou, a complete amateur in affairs of magic, could sense it. He felt like his skin was being burned in the rays of a midsummer’s sun. 

“What is this spiritual energy…?!” 

“It’s in the direction of Island North!” 

Shio and Yuiri had grave expressions on their faces as they glared toward Itogami Island’s north side. Looking toward it from South, where Kojou and the others were presently situated, it was on the opposite side of the island—the farthest Gigafloat away, with Keystone Gate smack dab in the middle. Yet, they had keenly felt the spiritual energy coming from there. That alone made them certain that something highly abnormal was occurring. 

“Island North…?!” Kojou exclaimed, uneasy. “Are you saying that demon beast has gone on a rampage?” 

The Unknown’s surfacing point was right there, giving rise to all kinds of trouble as it was. It could not be a simple coincidence. Even if the cause of this abnormality was something else, it was virtually certain that being bathed in such powerful spiritual energy from so close would awaken the sleeping Unknown. 

Clicking his tongue, Kojou turned on a dime. Yukina was very much on his mind, but the abnormality on Island North was higher on the priority list. That said, it wasn’t a distance he could simply sprint across, either. Guess I’ve gotta grab a taxi, thought Kojou as he approached the street. 

“Huh?!” 

What was closing in, filling Kojou’s vision, was the front grill of an enormous tractor trailer. 

Kojou didn’t understand what was going on. What he did understand was the abnormal growling of an engine, and the arc traced by the center pole which had snapped and gone flying. 

The huge commercial vehicle leaping across the center divider was charging straight at Kojou and the others. 

The words traffic accident were all that rose to the forefront of his mind. He was completely blindsided, like some sort of unrealistic plot twist straight out of a bad action movie. 

“Kojou!” 

Shizuri’s plaintive cry was drowned out by the sound of metal colliding against metal. 

The guard rail sustaining a direct impact from the trailer was sent flying just like that, twisting the crossing signal post in the process. 

It was Shio who saved Kojou. Jumping in from the side, she embraced Kojou mid-leap and proceeded to roll with him on the ground, by which Kojou narrowly avoided becoming roadkill. 

Having lost sight of its target, the trailer climbed an incline beside the sidewalk and came to a halt. 

White steam was hovering over the radiator, broken from excessive pressure; oil and brake fluid were coursing onto the ground. From the trailer, rolled onto its side, a metal container tumbled out onto the street. 

Grimacing at the strange scents hovering in the air, Yuiri called out to them. “Kojou! Shio!” 

Shio lightly shook her head as she rose to her feet. “We are unharmed! More importantly—” 

Shizuri’s rage was palpable as she glared at the driver’s seat. “What in the world is with this trailer…?!” 

In spite of the scale of the accident, the trailer’s driver was relatively unharmed. However, the driver showed no sign of revealing his face. There were no tire marks from braking on the road. It was as if he’d been aiming at Kojou and the others on purpose. 

Finally grasping the situation, Kojou warily rose to his feet. 

Before his eyes, a figure slowly descended before him. 

It was a man wearing a thin, white gown. He had a handsome, androgynous face, but thanks to his indifferently lengthened forelocks and the frigid eyes underneath, it was difficult to call his appearance charming. 

As Kojou and the others reflexively went on guard, the man slowly surveyed the area in a theatrical gesture. His expression was an extremely amused one. He looked like a researcher just prior to presenting the results of his painstaking research. 

“Hello. Pardon my rudeness. It would seem I had a little bit of an accident. However, it is my good fortune to find you together, Fourth Primogenitor and owner of Hauras.” 

“What…did you say?” 

The man knew their identities— Realizing this, Kojou and the others were taken aback. 

A cruel smile was carved upon the man in white’s lips as he operated a remote control. The metal container that had tumbled onto the road vibrated, and its lid blasted off with an explosive roar. 

Enveloped by white mist, something inside the container blinked, its eyes darting around. 

They were six gleaming, crimson eyes, like fires blazing amid the darkness. 

“It would seem I have had a minor cargo spill. I would, of course, appreciate your aid in recovering it—” 

The man spoke in a blunt tone as if it was entirely someone else’s problem. 

The next instant, six demon beasts crawled out of three separate containers, howling atop the dusky street as one. 

2 

The battle was at a stalemate. 

The mysterious assailants from the large trailer that had barged in were in combat with the Island Guard. 

However, the standoff was unlikely to continue for long. It was clear to anyone that the Island Guard was at an increasing disadvantage as combat wore on. This was because the assailants displayed no sign of fatigue, nor the slightest disturbance from their comrades’ deaths, nor even any sign of registering the pain of their wounds. 

Realizing the nature of the assailants, Kiriha grimaced in displeasure. “Golems?” 

They were dolls manipulated through use of a spell. The materials used to create them were likely human corpses. This was the truth underlying the soldiers that felt neither pain nor fear. Unable to engage in flexible decision-making, they did not make the best soldiers, but under limited circumstances such as theirs, they became foes troublesome beyond their specs. 

“The robot tank is unmanned as well, isn’t it…? Just what is their objective, I wonder?” Sami said. 

The robot tank the assailants had brought in made no sign of attempting a breakout through sheer firepower, merely suppressing the Island Guard from start to finish. Such passive actions were one reason the combat was stalemated. It felt as if the other side was prolonging combat on purpose. 

“Island Guard reinforcements?” Kiriha asked. 

“The request has already gone out. However, their arrival might be delayed.” 

Kiriha shot a questioning look toward her partner. “Why?” 

“We have received reports that small-scale Unknowns have appeared at the fuel stockpile in Island East and the commercial harbor in Island West. I am still in the process of confirming the fine details, but—” 

“That…is no mere coincidence, is it?” 

“Yes, they are most likely diversions,” Sami stated gravely. 

The fact that multiple Unknowns had appeared was not especially surprising. After all, the opponent had such an absurd life force that even its severed tentacles could regenerate. That it might reproduce in a short span of time was not at all strange. 

However, merely regarding them as natural phenomena was insufficient to explain their appearance in multiple places simultaneously. It clearly reeked of human sabotage. The likely objective was to divide the Island Guard’s fighting strength to thin out the forces available to defend that place. 

“A diversion…” Kiriha turned melancholy. “I wonder, is it proper to hypothesize that the unit attacking here is the main force? In the first place, what is their objective? It does not appear they came to recover the demon beast.” 

Sami touched a finger to her cheek as she thought about it a little. “I…suppose you are right. The enemy’s fighting strength does seem rather short-handed for a main push. This district also has the security unit for the spiritual reactor, so if the Island Guard added them to the fray, I do not think the assailants stand a chance—” 

“…The spiritual reactor?” 

Kiriha lifted her face and looked at Sami. 

It was a mere four hundred meters to the spiritual reactor facility from where Unknown IX-4 was still sleeping. Of course, the Island Guard protecting the reactor had to be keeping a close eye on the assailants that had encroached as far as practically a stone’s throw away. That made its watch over the facility interior that much thinner. 

“What is the security for the spiritual reactor itself doing?” 

“They should be remaining on guard with the bare minimum personnel, but—” 

Sami operated her personal tablet to check on things inside the spiritual reactor facility. However, all that was displayed on the screen was an error message, which meant transmissions had been cut. Transmissions from the security cameras had been severed. Realizing this, Sami’s expression froze over. 

“They really got us good.” 

Kiriha made that throwaway comment. Before she’d even finished her murmur, an alarm rang from Sami’s hands. It was an emergency transmission from the security unit for the spiritual reactor. 

“This is the Bureau of Astrology. Has something happened?” 

“D-demon beast! Unknown of the same type as IX-4 is inside the spiritual reactor facility…!” 

“…!” 

Faced with the worst report she could imagine, Sami was at a loss for words. The situation—that not only had another group of assailants appeared, but a demon beast had invaded the interior of the spiritual reactor facility—was completely beyond her expectations. 

Theoretically, the beings known as spirits were the opposite of a vampire’s Beast Vassals. If a Beast Vassal was a mass of demonic energy possessing a will of its own, a spirit was a mass of spiritual energy in the same respect. A spiritual reactor was a system that artificially summoned a spirit and employed it as a source of spiritual energy. 

At present, the spiritual reactor was in emergency shutdown mode. A barrier had been deployed to sever the supply of spiritual energy from the outside, but the body of upper-planar energy called a “spirit” for the convenience of mankind remained summoned inside the reactor. 

If that seal was broken, a vast quantity of spiritual energy would surely gush out from the reactor’s interior. Damage on par with a vampiric Beast Vassal running amok would doubtlessly be incurred by the area surrounding the reactor. 

The existence of a demon beast of the same type as IX-4 made things all that much worse. There was no longer any way to even imagine what might occur. After all, they devoured magical and spiritual energy alike. 

Sami asked in a frail voice. “An Unknown…? But how…?!” 

“Someone sent an IX-4 in through teleportation—that’s what it means,” Kiriha murmured, her expression turning blank. “The capsule left behind in Cluster Six is proof of that. I should have realized it sooner.” 

The cultivation capsule recovered near the point of IX-4’s first sighting felt to Kiriha like the vestiges of a teleport. Her intuition hadn’t been wrong. 

With the golems’ assault pulling the spiritual reactor security unit’s attention away, a demon beast had been directly teleported behind the short-handed unit’s back. That was the assailants’ true objective. Meaning, this raid was a decoy, too. 

“The seal is being removed! The spiritual reactor is restarting…!” 

Sami’s report caused the Bureau of Astrology staffers around them to waver. One staffer uneasily holding a weapon, seemingly no longer able to bear it, stepped up and questioned Kiriha. 

“Should we charge into the spiritual reactor? We could maybe make it in time—” 

“Futile. Let things be.” 

However, Kiriha punted the bureau staffer’s proposal away. 

“B-but…!” 

“We cannot misunderstand our place. This is Itogami city-state, not Japan.” 

Kiriha’s unexpected words drove the bureau staffers into a seemingly perplexed silence. Kiriha turned a cold smile their way. 

“If they cannot overcome a crisis of this scale, they should not deign to be a Dominion. There is no reason for our hearts to mourn for them. Let us leave mundane counterterrorism measures to the so-called experts. We have our own job to do. Is that clear?” 

An air of understanding spread across the faces of the Bureau staffers. The mission of the Bureau of Astrology was the quelling of demon beasts. Even if, regrettably, the spiritual reactor’s restart was not prevented, the consequence was that they would destroy the awakened Unknown—that was what Kiriha was saying. 

“Understood, Attack Mage Kisaki.” 

The bureau staffers came to attention all at once. Kiriha gave an annoyed wave toward them as she gripped her forked spear. 

The vast spiritual energy leaking out from the spiritual reactor charged the air and caused it to tremble. 

As the demon beast continued to sleep, its tentacles moved faintly, almost like pulsing veins. 

3 

In the staff room wing of Saikai Academy’s campus building… 

For some reason, the office on the top floor, haughtier and grander to the eye than the principal’s office, belonged to Natsuki Minamiya. 

It had a thick carpet and billowing curtains. The furniture was old-fashioned and antique. It was a room that exuded class, coming off as some kind of palace. 

“Ms. Minamiya, are you here?” 

Yukina did not wait for a reply to her knock before entering the room. 

Sitting in an old-fashioned chair, Natsuki regarded Yukina as if she were a fly that had wandered in. She opened her mouth with an air of tedium. 

“Yukina Himeragi, is it? It is well past time to go home from school. Did you forget something?” 

“Yes, you could say that.” 

Yukina slowly nodded. Natsuki did not shift her eyes away during that time. 

“Hmph.” Natsuki smiled scornfully. “Why make such a scary expression? You’ll put that pretty face—one of your few redeeming features—to waste, you know?” 

Unsure whether Natsuki’s statement was praise or disparagement, Yukina bit her lip with a conflicted look. “Where is she?” 

“Where is who?” 

“The girl who pretended to be me here at school two mornings ago.” 

“Hmm, what are you talking about?” 

Natsuki played dumb without the slightest change of her expression. Why, I have no idea what you mean, said her demeanor. 

However, Yukina did not avert her eyes. “She teleported into the girls’ changing room. Some further removed place and via different magic might be another matter, but it is unlikely you would fail to notice signs of teleportation within school grounds.” 

“More precisely, magic of a nature very similar to teleportation. However…” 

Natsuki readily conceded the point. It was not because she thought she could not conceal the truth, Yukina was sure, but merely that she found it too much trouble to do so. 

I knew it, Yukina’s sigh seemed to say. 

“She disappeared shortly after that. Even Asagi was unable to ascertain her whereabouts. That means she left this school without being filmed by the security cameras on the island.” 

In other words, Fake Yukina had been teleporting around the island. 

No matter how high-level the magic user, you couldn’t fire off high-level spells like teleportation one after another…save for one, tiny witch, who manipulated space as easily as she breathed. 

“I’d intended to drop a number of hints, but it took a surprising amount of time for you to notice. Well, I suppose I would give you a barely passing grade.” She added with a shrug of her delicate shoulders, “Goodness.” 

Yukina gave the diminutive teacher a look of open dismay. “Where is she?” 

“If you mean Reina, she is still sleeping. It would seem she is fatigued from demonic energy depletion.” 

“…Reina? Is that the girl’s name?” 

Yukina raised a twitching eyebrow. Natsuki’s reference to depletion of demonic energy tugged at her, too. 

“I have no way of determining whether that is her real name.” 

Yukina sighed once more. “Please allow me to see her immediately.” 

“To do what?” 

“To take back the Schneewaltzer she stole,” Yukina asserted. 

Natsuki seemed beside herself as she broke into laughter. “The broken spear? What do you intend to do with it when you retrieve it?” 

“Well…” 

“Surely that broken staff being stolen en route is no responsibility of yours. What will taking it back change? Is that really want you want?” Natsuki asked, somehow amused. 

Yukina sullenly rebutted, “However, I cannot close my eyes to the fact it is my impostor who took the Schneewaltzer.” 

“It is not as if the Lion King Agency ordered you to recover the spear, did they? What is your reason for wanting to get the spear’s remnants back on your own? Do you think if you have that spear, you can remain at Kojou Akatsuki’s side as you have until now?” 

“That’s not…!” 

Yukina’s voice reflexively went ragged, but it rapidly lost its vigor midway. Even she lacked the confidence to say whether Natsuki’s assertion was off the mark. 

Natsuki observed Yukina’s reaction with deep interest. “I have no duty to stop you, but I’ll ask you to cease your actions. Do you really intend to fight a second-generation vampire without a weapon?” 

“Second-generation…?!” 

Yukina’s eyes widened in astonishment. 

A second-generation vampire meant the generation after a primogenitor—in other words, a child conceived between a vampire primogenitor and his own Blood Bride. Depending on the individual, it was said that the child had abilities rivaling a primogenitor, and some displayed special abilities inherited from the Blood Bride as well. 

If Natsuki’s words were true, that meant one of Fake Yukina’s—one of Reina’s—parents was a primogenitor. 

The one that immediately came to mind was the Third Primogenitor—Giada Kukulkin, the Chaos Bride, who possessed transformation powers. Once, she appeared before Yukina and others in the form of Avrora. Naturally, it was no stretch to imagine that a daughter of Giada would be able to turn herself into Yukina. 

However, that did not ring true. 

Even if she was a daughter of Giada, she would have no reason to go out of her way to turn herself into Yukina. Her motives for aiding them in dealing with the Unknown and stealing the broken Snowdrift Wolf were a mystery. Besides, it didn’t explain the reason she was able to take over Asagi’s brand-new AI. The same went for if she was related to the First or the Second Primogenitor, for that matter. 

Yukina stepped closer. “What do you mean she is a second-generation—” 

For some reason, Natsuki shot an annoyed expression at her student. “Have you really not figured it out yet? She is your—” 

“Aaaah…! Natsuki, you can’t tell her that!” 

Bang! The back door flew open, with Fake Yukina—Reina—leaping forward in a panic. 

Yukina gaped in astonishment at the girl with the same face as her. “Y-you are…!” 

“Oopsie, my bad. Let me take that back… Uhh, not that I suppose you’ll pretend you didn’t see that, huh.” 

“Of course not!” 

When Reina hastily tried to return to the storeroom in back, Yukina fixed a strong look at her. 

“Please return Snowdrift Wolf. That spear belongs to the Lion King Agency. If you politely return the spear, I will guarantee your safety. If you do not heed my warning, I will take it by any means necessary.” 

“Ugh… This again?” 

Faced with that ultimatum, a perturbed Reina stared intently at Yukina. 

The girl’s words took Yukina aback. Was she implying that they’d known each other for a long time? 

“…Again?” 

“You’re always like this. You’re not interested in my side of the story, not even a little.” 

Reina spoke with a defiant tone. For some reason, her demeanor, as if resentment piled upon resentment, ready to explode at any moment, gave Yukina a vague sense of guilt. 

“Your side? What are you talking about? This is what I believe is best for—” 

The rebuttal only enraged Reina further. “Ohh, there it is. That trademark line. You always make decisions on your own without listening to a single word I say! Even though you’re doing it with Kojou at your age!” 

“Wh…what are you speaking of…?!” 

“Vampiric activities!” 

Reina’s overly blunt assertion left Yukina’s words stuck in her throat. Her cheeks became hot and flushed. 

“That has nothing to do with you, does it…?!” 

“I wonder…” Even as a suggestive look came over her face, Reina gave a dismissive shrug of her shoulders. “Well, not that it really matters right now.” 

I must not play her game. Yukina put her breathing in order, all expression vanishing from her face. “Where is Snowdrift Wolf?” 

“If you want it back so bad, why not try and take it by force?” Reina grinned at her, utterly defiant. 

Though vampires possessed immortal bodies with vast life forces and the menace of their Beast Vassals’ power, vampires themselves were physically frail as Demonkind went. Even without using Snowdrift Wolf, Yukina possessed any number of ways of neutralizing an opponent. All she had to do was destroy the girl’s brain before she could summon a Beast Vassal. 

However, just before Yukina launched a preemptive strike, Reina hmm’d with a very suggestive smile. “You sure you wanna take me on?” 

Yukina concealed her inner turmoil as she probed for more. “Are you implying I shouldn’t?” 

Reina turned serious, less aggressive. She looked out the window. “I know you’re really close to me, but can’t you feel it? Kojou seems to be in a bit of a pinch.” 

“—!” 

Yukina’s action was swift. Without any hesitation, she turned her back to Reina and Natsuki, racing out of the room with incredible force. She was likely employing physical enchantment right up against its outer limits. Reina didn’t even have time to mock her. 

“…Hey, wait a… She decides fast…!” 

Reina stood stiff, watching Yukina go as she vanished from sight in no time at all. There was surprise hovering in her eyes, yet also an aura that seemed like…satisfaction. 

“She’s always honest with herself like this. How cute…,” Reina murmured to herself, trying to bite back the joy in her voice. 

Having silently listened to their conversation, Natsuki murmured, “What a troublesome girl.” She sighed. “You sure teased her a lot. You really love her, don’t you?” 

No way! Reina almost replied on reflex, but she swallowed down the words as she stuck her tongue out toward Yukina. 

She smiled teasingly as she shook her head, seemingly at herself this time. 

“Well, I suppose you could say that. I wouldn’t be going through all this trouble if I didn’t, you know?” 

4 

The six demon beasts were each between four and five meters in length. If you ignored their tails, their torsos alone were probably around the scale of a large crocodile. Compared to Unknown IX-4 sleeping over in North, their tentacles were shorter and fewer in number. However, the demon beasts were plainly of the same type. Perhaps they were upset because they were stuffed into cramped containers; they seemed even more ferocious than IX-4 had. 

Yuiri, Shio, and even Shizuri voiced their questions simultaneously. 

“Demon beasts…?!” 

“What were they doing in the trailer…?!” 

“What is the meaning of this?! Who are you?!” 

However, the man in the white gown made no reply. In its place came the demon beasts’ roars, resounding loudly enough to make them want to cover their ears. 

“Shit…!!” 

Kojou grimaced nervously as he stepped to the fore. 

Island South was an educational district, with numerous learning facilities like schools and libraries. It was part of a quiet residential neighborhood. Even the main street Kojou and the others were on was lined with several homes. If a horde of demon beasts was left to rampage in a place like that, the number of casualties would no doubt far exceed that in North. Stopping the demon beasts came ahead of determining the white-robed man’s identity. 

“C’mon over, Dabih Crystall—” 

However, the voice with which Kojou attempted to summon his Beast Vassal was interrupted by a boisterous gunshot. The man in the white gown had taken a submachine gun out from behind his back and shot the Fourth Primogenitor with it. 

“Kojou…?!” Yuiri yelped upon seeing him stagger. 

He coughed, and blood spilled from his mouth. The man in the white gown had used anti-demon bullets tipped with silver-iridium. These inhibited the special abilities vampires possessed, and a burning pain ran through Kojou’s open wounds. He could not attempt to summon his Beast Vassals now. 

Satisfied, the man said, “We have already acquired data on your Beast Vassals, so…this time, Fourth Primogenitor, I would like you to contribute to our research in a different way.” 

Kojou grimaced in anguish. “Data…? …Who the hell are…?” 

The man in the white gown backed away from Kojou’s glare in silence; the demon beasts pressed forward in his stead. The scent of the vampire’s scattering blood had agitated them. 

“I won’t—” 

“—allow that to happen!!” 

Shio and Shizuri respectively activated ritual spells. Shio had deployed a barrier to protect against demon beast intrusion. Shizuri had deployed a physical bulwark to defend against gunfire. 

Realizing this, the man in the white gown scoffed loudly, “I am grateful that you would employ your magical energy. Thank you.” 

“What?!” 

“Oh n…!” 

Shio and Shizuri’s expressions contorted. IX-4 consumed magical energy. Barriers and bulwarks were nothing to them save food—the pair had just remembered. 

A demon beast trampled the barrier like it was nothing, eating through the physical bulwark. Their spells broken, Shio and Shizuri were left defenseless as countless tentacles bore down toward them. 

“Tch…!” 

It was Kojou who shielded the immobile duo. Thrusting both aside, he jumped in front of them, blocking the demon beast’s attacks with his own body. 

“Kojou?!” 

Shizuri’s eyes opened wide as she noticed the fresh blood flying in all directions. 

Unable to block the demon beast tentacles, they thrust straight through Kojou’s torso. He groaned in agony. 

The tentacles ferociously writhed in an attempt to widen the wounds they had made by impaling him. The slimy tentacles pulsed as they became bathed in a dazzling glow. They were draining the demonic energy of the Fourth Primogenitor straight from Kojou’s flesh. 

The vast torrent of energy made the demon beasts’ bodies swell in the blink of an eye. What looked like blood vessels bulged all over the demon beasts’ bodies, and their cells turned charcoal-black. As the demon beasts continued to swell, their contours became twisted. Then, pushed beyond their limits, their cells blew apart as if typhoons had spawned from inside their own bodies. The demon beasts’ bodies had been unable to endure the torrent of a primogenitor’s supposedly inexhaustible demonic energy. 

“Ha-ha, that’s the Fourth Primogenitor for you! Not even IX-4’s cells can withstand that volume of demonic energy influx…!” 

The man in the white gown laughed wildly as his entire body was painted by the fragments of flesh pouring down like rain. It was the broken laughter of a man possessed by excessive inquisitiveness. 

The remaining five demon beasts fought over the flying fragments of their kin’s flesh as they devoured every last morsel. By consuming those fragments, they took into their own bodies the vestiges of Kojou’s demonic energy left within. 

“Rosen Chevalier Plus, boot up!” 

Surprisingly, it was Yuiri who first recovered from her initial fright. Drawing her long sword from the musical case on her back, Yuiri charged straight into the horde of crazed demon beasts. 

Severed demon beast tentacles danced in the sky. 

Yuiri’s silver long sword was inscribed with the ritual for pseudo-spatial severing. What the blade severed was space itself, never coming into direct contact with the actual demon beasts. Naturally, this left the demon beasts unable to absorb its magical energy. Yuiri’s Rosen Chevalier Plus was one of the few effective weapons against Unknown IX-4. 

However, the area cut by Rosen Chevalier Plus was too narrow to compete with the abnormally high regenerative ability of the demon beasts. The slime-slicked wounds immediately closed and healed. Thanks to that, Yuiri’s attacks did not inflict fatal damage. It was all she could do to slice the demon beasts’ tentacles down and impede their ability to attack. 

“—Verify request! Freikugel Plus Proto Three, unlock!” 

Shio raised her silver recurve bow to support Yuiri, who was surrounded by the demon beasts. 

She knocked a whistling arrow. These ritual arrows chanted high-density spells impossible for humans to reproduce, turning them into an immensely powerful ritual spell artillery barrage. 

Yuiri warned, “Shio, ritual spell barrages against these demon beasts—” 

“Understood!” 

Shio let her ritual arrow fly. 

A roar imbued with ritual energy transformed into a shockwave cannonball that assailed the demon beasts. 

A ritual spell barrage would backfire against demon beasts able to absorb magical energy. However, the explosive sound and the shockwave generated by the ritual arrow had destructive power all their own. At the very least, they were sufficient to give a demon beast a good smack. 

One of the demon beasts took the shockwave to the head, bowling it over. Using that opening, Yuiri was able to escape from the demon beasts’ encirclement. 

“If it was going to be like this, I should have been walking around with Hauras!” 

For her part, Shizuri aimed at the man in the white gown, who seemed hell-bent on watching from a high vantage point. With one hand, Shizuri picked up the road sign pole broken off when the trailer collided with it, swinging it upward and smashing it toward the man in white like a club. The man’s eyes opened wide at the feat of strength from what looked like a delicately built girl. 

“That arm strength… Are you an Ogre?!” 

“So what if I am?!” 

Shizuri swung the pole down with all her might, but it bounced off right before the man’s eyes as if it had struck some kind of invisible wall. It was a spellcrafted barrier, the same sort that Shizuri had used just earlier. 

Back at you, said the leering grin on the man’s face, making Shizuri bare her teeth as it burned her inside. Then, as if sensing something was amiss, Shizuri tossed away the warped pole and retreated. 

“Could he be aiming to slow us down…?” 

“Slow us…down…?” 

Kojou, still down on one knee, wiped his bloody lips. The bizarre surge coming from Island North increased in force anew. Even someone as ill versed in magic as Kojou could distinctly tell what it was: a surge of spiritual energy leaking out from a spiritual reactor. 

“The spiritual reactor’s gone active…? Then, the Unknown will…” 

“I do not think it will sleep through all of this.” 

Kojou’s and Shizuri’s expressions both contorted uneasily. 

In the previous battle, they had been able to oppose Unknown IX-4 only with Kojou’s Beast Vassal, Shizuri’s Hauras, and Yukina’s Snowdrift Wolf. Now that Snowdrift Wolf was lost, Kojou and Shizuri might be able to slow it down, but it was effectively impossible to neutralize IX-4. 

“Then, this is to keep us from being able to go to Island North?” Yuiri speculated, grasping the situation. 

Shio understood as well. “More than us, the target being slowed down is Kojou Akatsuki…!” 

Even as Kojou and the others dawdled there, North was careening toward the worst possible situation. If combat dragged on, that would be plenty so far as the man in the white gown was concerned. 

He was surely well aware of the fact. The man in the white gown displayed confidence to a detestable extent. That was why he did not launch further attacks on the wounded Kojou. Stop playin’ games with me, thought Kojou, audibly clenching his teeth. 

“Shio, can you do one of those people-repelling barriers, so people with nothing to do with this don’t get involved?” 

She nodded. “Y-yes. I do not think that is a significant problem…” 

The barrier had a wide area of effect, but the amount of ritual energy employed was scant. Even if the demon beasts absorbed the magical energy, the effect wouldn’t go beyond a rounding error. 

“Yuiri, Cas, shut that guy up for a while, would you?” 

Both were a little perplexed as they looked back at Kojou. 

“Sure, but—” 

“What do you intend to do about the demon beasts, Kojou?” 

He got to his feet. “Please. I’ll deal with ’em somehow.” 

Shizuri and the others hesitated for only a single moment. If they didn’t do something, the situation would only worsen. Worried as they were, they could only trust Kojou—no doubt that was the conclusion they all reached. 

“Freikugel Plus!” 

Shio released a ritual arrow toward the upper sky. The roar that seemed to split the very air apart was the catalyst for carving a giant magic circle into thin air. It was a powerful person-repelling ward created via ritual artillery barrage. A fair number of onlookers noticing the demon beast ruckus had gathered around, but then fear had sent them running. 

Seeing this for himself, Kojou smiled ferociously. Stripping off his blood-drenched jacket, he walked toward the demon beasts. 

“All right, Unknowns— Time to show you how a real monster plays!” 

As Kojou howled his taunt, the demon beasts bore down upon him. Countless tentacles and thick limbs launched attacks that pressed upon him like billowing waves, yet Kojou charged amid it all. 

“Ah, Kojou Akatsuki…?!” 

Seeing Kojou act so recklessly—as if he wanted to be eaten—made Shio blanch. 

Then, amid the roars and tremors of the demon beasts, the vast torrent of demonic energy that came without warning made Shio do another double take. From the very center of the scattering demonic came Kojou’s voice. 

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

A demon beast opened its mouth to tear its prey asunder as Kojou thrust his right arm into it. 

The pressure of the demonic energy gushing forth left the demon beast unable to close its jaw. Having rendered it defenseless, Kojou summoned his own Beast Vassal at the back of the creature’s throat. 

“—C’mon over, Cor-Tauri Succinum!” 

A minotaur composed of incandescent magma materialized inside the demon beast. 

The demon beast’s body swelled as it attempted to swallow the Beast Vassal’s demonic energy whole, every cell in its body going into a restless state. 

But this was for only a single instant. Unable to withstand the vast amount of demonic energy being shoved down its throat, the demon beast’s body burst apart, with countless pieces of flesh sent flying, only to be absorbed by the scalding lava, vaporized without a trace. 

“He fed the demon beast demonic energy…? On purpose…?!” 

Shio exhaled in a daze when she realized what Kojou’s plan had been. 

He’d hurled a mass of demonic energy into the body of the energy-consuming demon; far more than it could handle. It was a reckless attack that was practically suicide. Caught up in the demon beast’s explosion, Kojou’s own body suffered grievous wounds. His endurance had to have been depleted to a tremendous extent, yet… 

“Overeating isn’t good for the body, y’know…? Not for humans, and not for demon beasts!” 

Even as he wobbled, Kojou flashed an impetuous smile. There were four demon beasts left. The surviving demon beasts attacked Kojou, showing no sign of fear over their kin being burned away. 

“C’mon over, Cor-Tauri Succinum! Natra Cinereus! Regulus Aurum! Sadalmelik Albus—!” 

Once more, Kojou summoned Beast Vassals and launched them at the demon beasts. 

He called forth Vassal after Vassal and plunged them directly into the demon beasts’ bodies. Unable to withstand the surplus of concentrated demonic energy, the creatures burst apart again and again. It was a spectacle that might well be called “demonic energy bombs.” 

Burned to a crisp, the demon beasts’ huge bodies were reduced to ash, leaving dense demonic energy whipping about, warping the air like a mirage. A normal, untrained human being might well have lost consciousness just from being in the area. That was how malevolent and savage the energy was. 

“So this is the Fourth Primogenitor’s true power…!” 

“You overdid it, Kojou, you idiot!” 

Yuiri’s and Shizuri’s voices painfully trembled. Struck by Kojou’s demonic energy, neither could properly breathe. The fact they could continue to move even so was proof of both being excellent Attack Mages. 

“Who would have ever thought you would neutralize the IX-4s by such absurd means… Ah-ha-ha-ha, that is the Fourth Primogenitor for you. Thanks to this, I have obtained some very interesting data!” the man in the white gown exclaimed as his eyes gleamed with delight. His right hand was holding a tiny measuring device. He’d no doubt remained in that place so that he could collect combat data from Kojou. 

“Stop fooling around!” 

“Do you truly think you can take that data and leave in one piece?!” 

Yuiri and Shizuri moved into a pincer formation, attacking the man from left and right. Yuiri’s long sword powerfully cleaved apart the physical bulwark, leaving Shizuri to leap through the tear in the wall. It was splendid coordination that did not look like the work of an impromptu duo. Shizuri grabbed hold of the man’s throat and proceeded to slam him back-first onto the ground. 

“But of course.” 

The blow was sufficient to make someone lose consciousness instantly, but the man was calmly chuckling. The bizarre lack of resistance made Shizuri’s expression freeze over. The man’s skin cracked like some kind of clay pot, and the scent of volatile gases wafted into the air. It was a golem under precision remote control. It had a self-destruct mechanism. There was a sound like a click. 

“Why, you little…!” 

Shizuri’s voice was engulfed by the blast winds. 

Flames and flashes of light exploded all around her. All Kojou and the others could do was watch, helpless. 

5 

“Caaaaasss—!” 

Forgetting his own wounds, Kojou tried to leap toward the center of the smoke. 

However, before he had advanced several paces, his legs came to a stop, for he noticed the silhouette of a girl standing at the center of the explosion site wearing an expression of disappointment. Koff, koff, went the sound he heard that bore not a single hint of tension. 

“C… Cas?” 

“Goodness… What a terrible thing to undergo.” 

As Kojou and the others watched dumbfounded, Shizuri pressed down upon her disheveled forelocks and sighed. 

It most certainly was not a half-hearted explosion. That was plain from a single glance at Shizuri’s scorched, rent, and tattered clothes. Not even a trace remained of the golem that had been the source of the explosion. 

However, Shizuri herself was virtually unharmed. At most, her face and limbs were grimy from soot. 

“Did that explosion not hurt her at all…?” 

“Because…she’s an Ogre?” 

Shio and Yuiri were perplexed, unable to conceal their surprise. Shizuri gave her own version. 

“’Tis the blessing of a Paladin.” 

Shizuri calmly asserted this with a proud puffing of her chest. It was then that the buttons of her blouse—reduced to ash—crumbled and fell off. Rustle, went her shirt as it parted right and left, exposing her pure undergarment which bore a cute design. 

“—Wait, you saw, didn’t you?!” 

“In this situation, how could anyone not see?!” 

With a yelp, Shizuri covered her breasts as Kojou hastily averted his eyes. 

At any rate, based on that, Shizuri truly seemed to be safe and sound. Kojou wasn’t sure if it was her lineage or because she was a Paladin, but surprise slammed into him either way. 

In the first place, it was this hard-as-nails Shizuri that Yukina had beaten senseless with her bare hands. Belatedly, Kojou keenly understood the reason Shizuri regarded Yukina with such fear. 

“More importantly, are you all right, Kojou?” 

Shizuri borrowed the outer garment of Yuiri’s uniform, putting it on as she posed that question. 

“Yeah,” he said, but the instant he tried to nod, his knees buckled. He slumped against a broken roadside streetlight, then proceeded to slide until he was sitting on the ground. 

“Kojou…?!” 

“It’s all right. I’ll heal after I get some rest.” 

It was Kojou’s shaky smile that stopped Shizuri from rushing right over. The wounds over his entire body plus the depletion of his demonic energy left him unable to put strength into his legs. 

“I’m fine, Cas, so please, go to Island North and help Kisaki. At this rate, Miyazumi and Amase’s hospital’ll be in danger, too.” 

Shizuri’s expression went taut as she nodded. “I—I understand that!” 

Unknown IX-4 would doubtlessly awaken due to the effects of the restarted spiritual reactor. And Shizuri’s Hauras was the only weapon able to inflict damage on IX-4 with no risk. That was why the man in the white gown was trying to slow Shizuri down as much as Kojou. 

“Shio, we should go, too.” 

“I—I suppose. If this demon beast incident is a creature made for terrorism, it’s under the Lion King Agency’s jurisdiction. We have to at least confirm the situation.” 

Shio agreed with Yuiri’s suggestion without hesitation, but then she came to a halt as she worriedly stared at the wounded Kojou. 

“But what about him? Unless someone stays here to watch him…” 

“I see… I suppose that’s still important. What to do…” 

Yuiri murmured with a conflicted look as she and Shio traded glances. They couldn’t leave Kojou unattended, but splitting their fighting strength up was not a good plan—they had no answer to that dilemma. 

“In other words, we merely need to keep this man from doing anything reckless like just earlier, I take it?” 

In place of the anguished Yuiri and Shio, it was Shizuri who approached Kojou. 

The girl was audibly dragging along a metallic cable more than sufficient to wrap up a single person. Apparently, she’d picked up the cable, sufficient for towing a rather large commercial vehicle, from the remains of the tractor trailer. 

“Hey, wait. Cas? What are you doing with that cable…?!” 

“Stop with Cas this and Cas that! Do you wish these people to mistake that for my real name?!” 

Shizuri levied her belated objection as she tied the wounded Kojou to the pole of the streetlight. She resorted to brute strength to tightly tie the cable—nearly two centimeters in diameter—making sure that Kojou could not move. 

“There—all better.” 

“What’s good about this?! Isn’t this unlawful confinement?! For that matter, you tryin’ to leave a prisoner to fry in the desert sun?!” 

“If you recover enough to summon a Beast Vassal, you can surely escape from this with your own strength. Until then, I want you to behave yourself.” 

Satisfied with her solution, Shizuri no longer paid Kojou even a glance as she raced down the main street. Yuiri and Shio were still a tiny bit hesitant. 

“W-well, if that’s how it’s going to be…” 

“I’ll leave a shikigami to observe him just to be safe.” 

Yuiri and Shio nodded to each other in a forced acceptance of the situation. 

Shio pulled a spell tablet out of a pocket of her uniform, chanted a brief spell, and transformed it into a bird. It was a bird of prey about sixty centimeters long covered in silver feathers. 

“Why a vulture?! That’s too scary, geez!” 

Kojou let out a fervent yelp when he saw the wicked bird, the same as was said in mythology to have devoured the liver of Prometheus when he was confined by chains. 

However, Shio smiled at him. “Relax. The ward from earlier is still in effect. There is little chance of ordinary citizens seeing you like this.” 

“Sorry, Kojou. We’re off.” 

Yuiri placed her hands together toward the incredulous Kojou in apology, and then the two of them raced off after Shizuri. 

Left behind inside the people-repelling barrier, Kojou wilted and hung his head. The instant he did, he was assailed by dizziness strong enough to make his consciousness feel distant. 

“Guess I really did bleed out too much… Shit…” 

It’d probably be easier if he just drifted off to sleep, but it wasn’t the time to lose consciousness. He could still feel a powerful spiritual essence coming from the north side of Itogami Island. He was pretty certain that Shizuri and company’s battle against Unknown IX-4 would be a difficult one. 

He’d have liked to go off to help them that very moment, but he couldn’t do a thing while firmly tied up by the cable. At present, Kojou couldn’t even move, let alone go off to save someone else. 

Kojou tried to shake his body enough that he could somehow slip out from it, but that wasn’t enough to make the cable Shizuri had so powerfully tied even twitch. All it accomplished was getting the cable to bite deeper into his flesh. 

He continued his futile struggling for a time before exhausting his strength and coming to a halt. He really was at the limit of his endurance. Thanks to pushing himself too far, he was out of breath, and his entire body pleaded in agony. 

“What are you doing, senpai?” 

From overhead, he heard a clear-yet-perplexed voice. 

“Hime…ragi…?” 

Kojou seemed to be staring into the distance when he looked up at the girl who had appeared before his eyes. Even though they had been apart for only half a day, it felt like it had been a long time since last they had met. 

Yukina sullenly glared at Kojou, as if reproaching him for being wounded all over. I take my eyes off you for one second and look what happens, her expression said, a mixture of anger and exasperation. 

“Himeragi, what are you doing here? Didn’t you go after the impostor?” 

“We will speak about that later… More importantly, what happened? This shikigami… This belongs to Hikawa, yes? Why has she done such a thing?” 

Yukina asked as she stared at the vulture perched on Kojou’s shoulder. Perhaps Shio felt some responsibility for Kojou’s wounds; even her shikigami somehow seemed to be uncomfortably averting its eyes. 

“Shio and the others went to Island North ahead of me.” 

“Island North…” 

Immediately, Yukina grasped the outline of the circumstances. After all, she had of course sensed the spiritual reactor restarting as well, so there was no reason for Kojou and the others to come under attack with timing like that save for the sake of slowing them down. 

Kojou thrashed his body around as he pleaded, “Himeragi, please, do something about this cable. Kisaki and the others are in trouble.” 

Yukina stared at the cable keeping Kojou tied down. For whatever reason, she seemed to be treating it with admiration. 

“Could it be, this was for the sake of not letting senpai push himself while wounded…?” 

“I’m begging you. Can you stop with the ‘What a great idea!’ face already?!” 

Yukina giggled, a faint smile coming over her as she crouched before Kojou. This put them at just the right height to face him eye to eye. 

“Someone rebooted the spiritual reactor, yes?” she asked, serious now. 

Kojou nodded. 

“Senpai, do you remember the words you once said to me? From before when you gave me this ring, when it seemed like I might disappear—” 

Yukina lifted up her own left hand. 

The silver ring she wore on her ring finger was a sorcerous device creating a spiritual pathway between them. This made her a Blood Bride, granting her a balance between spiritual and demonic energy—thus, Yukina was able to control a vast quantity of spiritual energy beyond what any normal person could withstand. If not for that sorcerous device, Yukina would surely have long since turned into a Faux-Angel and dissipated. 

“You said just being on this island is fine, didn’t you? Even if I wasn’t a Sword Shaman and I wasn’t senpai’s watcher.” 

Kojou nodded without a word. When Yukina asserted she was fine with vanishing, Kojou had told her, “Don’t vanish!” Even if it meant her losing the strength to fight— 

“But I was right; that will not do. Senpai, if there is no one keeping watch at your side, you’ll end up hurt all over like this, won’t you? Without Snowdrift Wolf, I cannot protect you. I…do not want that. If Yuiri could protect senpai in my place—” 

Yukina pleaded with him with a desperate look in her eyes as Kojou gazed at her, finally understanding her. Now he comprehended the reason Yukina had so easily accepted the possibility of being removed from her duty as his observer once she had lost Snowdrift Wolf. She wasn’t afraid of being unable to stay on Itogami Island so much as of Kojou getting hurt. 

Kojou made a soft, wry smile as he exhaled, speaking to Himeragi in a subdued tone. “…Sorry, Himeragi. Could you take one step closer?” 

“Yes? Like…this?” 

Dubious as she was, Yukina did as she was told and came closer. Their noses were likely to touch at any moment. 

Kojou strongly pursed his lips, closing his eyes. 

Then he smacked Yukina’s forehead with his own. 

Bonk, went the dull sound that reverberated as he was struck by an unexpectedly powerful recoil. It had not been a serious headbutt, yet it was quite painful, nonetheless. 

Apparently, despite her foresight ability, due to being a Sword Shaman of the Lion King Agency, even she hadn’t seen the surprise attack coming. Yukina wobbled, backing off with tears in her eyes. 

“…Oww…senpai?! What do you think you’re doing?!” 

“I’ve been angry with you this whole time…!” 

“Wh-what did I ever do to you?!” 

“Getting all bent out of shape over a spear being broken, talk about leaving the island, can’t protect me—that isn’t for you to decide all alone! Think about the feelings of the people around you, dammit!” 

“…Huh?” 

When, for once, Kojou slapped her right in the face with his anger, Yukina blinked several times and stared at him. 

The surprise in her eyes was palpable. 

“Does that mean you do not like the idea of me being gone?” she asked delicately. 

“That’s obvious, and not in a funny way, dammit. And Nagisa and the others’ll miss you for sure.” 

Yukina’s eyes went wide as she stared straight at Kojou. 

“You would miss me, too, senpai?” 

“…Well, yeah.” Kojou acknowledged as much, his gaze wandering all about as if making a blush. 

The expression that then came over Yukina was a mysterious one. It wasn’t explicit worry or joy. With both hands, she briskly wiped away the tears still in the corners of her eyes. 

“Himeragi?” 

“I apologize. Do not be concerned.” 

Yukina pressed a hand to her reddened forehead as she shook her head a little. It was as if she was suppressing a broad smile threatening to come over her lips with all her might. Even so, her expression was amused to a rare extent, and her narrow-eyed, teasing look reminded Kojou of Fake Yukina. 

After deep, repeated breaths to somehow calm her emotions, as she touched Shio’s shikigami, Yukina said, “I am sorry, Hikawa.” 

The metallic vulture changed back into the ritual tablet. Yukina had broken Shio’s spell. It was as if she was declaring she was Kojou’s watcher. 

Then, Yukina strongly concentrated upon the spell tablet, swinging it down toward Kojou’s chest without warning. The steel cable binding Kojou made a creaky sound as it was severed. 

Having regained his freedom of movement, Kojou pushed his way out of the remaining cable. “You’re sure about this?” 

He meant if she was fine letting him go to quell the demon beast. 

“If you must, then you must,” said Yukina, making a sigh of resignation as she surveyed Kojou’s wounded form. “Do you intend to battle the Unknown in that state?” 

“I’ll manage somehow, right?” 

Kojou spoke those words as he forced himself onto his feet. Maybe it was the silver-iridium-tipped bullets shot into him, maybe it was the depletion of demonic energy, but his wounds were healing slower than usual. Even moving his body slightly caused ferocious pain to run through him, as if knives were piercing his entire body. 

Yukina gazed with apparent exasperation as Kojou let out an anguished groan and went down on one knee. Then, raising her right hand high, she gave Kojou’s forehead a merciless bonk. 

“Ow…!” 

Kojou bent back without the slightest resistance, proceeding to pathetically land on his butt. The intense pain of the recoil from the blow made him let out an incoherent yelp. 

“Th-the hell?!” he objected, teary-eyed. 

“Payback for earlier.” 

Yukina looked so serene. 

“…Huh?” 

“I am also angry. Surely you understand exactly what it is you need to do right now to protect everyone on this island, senpai?” 

Yukina’s smile vanished. She gazed straight at Kojou as she asked him that. 

Chewing on her words, Kojou exhaled, drained of strength. 

“You do have a point.” 

When Kojou strained a grin, conceding defeat, Yukina gently nestled against him. Her slender clavicle was visible through the gap of her uniform. She brushed her hair upward, exposing her small, shapely ear and the nape of her slender neck. Through her skin, white like virgin snow, her narrow blood vessels floated into view. 

“Let me drink your blood, Himeragi,” Kojou whispered into her ear. It seemed to tickle her a little, making Yukina squirm defenselessly as she closed her eyes. Her cherry-colored lips quivered slightly, seeming tense. 

“Yes, senpai.” 

Kojou embraced Yukina’s delicate body. The softness and the sweetness of her scent soothed his pain. Kojou’s lips brushed against Yukina’s skin. She let out a tiny gasp. 

The hearts in their respective chests beat as one. It felt like they were melting together. 

Then, his entire body savoring those pleasant sensations, Kojou buried his fangs in her flesh. 

6 

Clouds illuminated by the rays of twilight slowly coursed above the sea. 

A gentle sea breeze made Yukina’s hair sway. 

Leaving the weight of her body against Kojou’s chest, Yukina had her eyes closed with a satisfied expression on her face. She had long eyelashes and cherry-colored lips. Kojou felt a soft throbbing at the core of his head as he gazed absentmindedly at the side of Yukina’s comely face. 

Their vampiric activities were already at an end. The wounds all over his body had healed during their course. The blood of Yukina, an excellent spirit medium, became the priming water that caused a vortex of dense demonic energy to course through his body like lava once more. 

Yukina wasn’t opening her eyes, but it seemed that she had not lost consciousness in any way. When Kojou attempted to rouse her, he belatedly realized that his own right hand was snugly grasping her left breast. Restrained as they were, an indescribably sweet sensation was conveyed to him through her uniform. 

Sweat drenched Kojou’s back. Even if these were exigent circumstances, they would have no doubt brought an outburst of anger from the normal Yukina. However, that day, her reaction was somewhat different. 

With a sigh of resignation, she asked her question. 

“Come to think of it, senpai, you really do prefer girls with big breasts, don’t you?” 

“Whaddaya mean by that?” 

Having Yukina stare at him from point-blank range made Kojou nervous for no tangible reason. 

Yukina pouted and looked away. “It is something I somehow sensed on my own. I am sorry that I do not secretly have huge breasts like Miss Yuiri does.” 

“It’s not like you need to apologi… Wait, Yuiri has big boobs?” 

Yukina gave him a reproachful glare. “So you do prefer them…!” 

“No, this is something that’d be on anyone’s mind! If you just say something like that out of the blue…!” 

“It is fine. I knew long ago that this is the kind of person you are, senpai.” 

“That’s some messed-up logic…!” 

Kojou desperately tried to excuse himself as Yukina distanced herself, disappointed. 

Watching as she put her disheveled clothes back in order, Kojou shook his head. Well, fine, he thought. 

When Yukina had finished grooming herself, the look in her eyes suddenly sharpened. “Please go, senpai.” 

It came off as an aggressive gaze, but the hostility in it was not trained toward Kojou whatsoever. 

“Himeragi?” 

“I will catch up in short order.” 

“…Got it.” 

When he locked eyes with Yukina, Kojou gave up on searching for any additional explanation. He understood that she had good reason to stay behind. 

Kojou kicked off from the ground into the air. This was not a physical enchantment; he was drawing on a portion of his Beast Vassals’ demonic energy to force himself to accelerate. The burden was heavy, and the means violent, but it was fast. He vanished from sight in the blink of an eye. 

After watching Kojou go, Yukina directed a question behind her. 

“How long have you been there?” 

With a conflicted look, a small-statured girl poked her head out from the shadow of the trailer rolled onto its side. The girl with the same face as Yukina still had red cheeks, keeping a hand pressed to her mouth as she held back a laugh. 

“I juuust got here! I didn’t see aaanythiiing.” 

“Why tell such obvious lies?!” Yukina snapped as the girl tried to play dumb. 

Reina nervously backed down at the severity of Yukina’s response. “Wait a… Hold on a sec! This isn’t the time to pick a fight with me, okay?!” 

“Ugh…!” 

Yukina was genuinely on the verge of pouncing on the girl when Reina’s assertion forced her to keep still. Reina’s claim certainly was correct. It was not Reina whom she needed to deal with first, but the Unknown. 

“Er, where do you think you’re going?” the girl asked, amused, as Yukina seemed set to ignore her. 

“To defeat the Unknown.” 

Yukina regarded her coldly. Reina shrugged. 

“Even though you’re unarmed?” Reina teased. 

But Yukina smiled. “I am the watcher of the Fourth Primogenitor.” 

Her reaction blew Reina away, who fell silent for a moment, enraptured. 

“Stubborn as usual. Well, fine. You did show me something really nice after all…” 

She then let out an impetuous laugh as she seemed to remember something, earning a sharp glare from Yukina. 

“Wh-why you—” 

“You need this, don’t you?” 

Just as Yukina was on the verge of an angry shout, Reina headed her off by picking up something from behind. 

It was a mass of metal about a meter long, give or take, in a form that strongly resembled a bass guitar—a divine armament in sheathed form. 

“…Snowdrift Wolf… But how?!” 

When the silver spear was presented to her without fanfare, Yukina reflexively accepted it. Recognizing its wielder’s spiritual energy, the Schneewaltzer in resting form activated. 

The extending shaft slid forward, and with a metallic sound, the main central blade deployed together with the shorter blades to the left and the right. It had changed into a long, beautiful metal spear. The motion was even smoother than before it had been broken. Its movements were lighter, too. This was not a function of its mass; its reactions to Yukina’s spiritual energy were swifter. She could tell that it was converting the spiritual energy coursing from Yukina into the Divine Oscillation Effect without any resistance. Its capabilities were clearly above what it had been prior to being damaged. 

“If you must know, it was Miss Nina who repaired this. You should thank her later,” Reina noted, pleased. 

“Miss Nina did this…?” 

It all made sense to Yukina then. Nina Adelard, the Great Alchemist of Yore—she, able to freely manipulate metal on an atomic level, was surely capable of restoring the destroyed Snowdrift Wolf to its original form. 

But that alone was no explanation for the upgrade in Snowdrift Wolf’s capabilities. She had little doubt that Reina had been involved somehow, but that wasn’t the issue at hand. The only important thing was the fact that Yukina had once more obtained the power with which to oppose the Unknown. 

“You…stole the broken Snowdrift Wolf so that…you could get Miss Nina to repair it?” Yukina asked as she returned the spear to its sheathed form once more. 

Reina seemed conflicted. She gazed far into the distance. 

“If you’re gone from this island, it puts me in a bind, too. You might even call it an issue of life and death for me. I’d be really happy if you didn’t ask me any more about that, though.” 

“…Understood.” 

After some minor hesitation, Yukina decided to accept Reina’s wish. She couldn’t exactly interrogate Reina about it either way. If she wasn’t willing to speak of it, Yukina was left without other options. 

Besides, she didn’t think Nina would help someone with ill intentions. Even if she was somewhat flighty and aloof, Nina was not anyone’s fool. If anything, her long lifespan had made her very sensitive to lies from others. That Nina had cooperated with her was proof enough for Yukina that Reina was not her enemy. 

Perhaps sensing that Yukina had lowered her guard, Reina closed the distance in a very chummy fashion. She wrapped her own arm around Yukina’s. “Let’s go.” 

“Go? Go where?” 

The strangely comfortable feeling of the girl being so close threw Yukina off a little. 

Well, that’s obvious, Reina’s cheerful smile said loud and clear. 

“To go save Kojou, of course.” 

7 

The spiritual reactor for magical experimentation was a sphere not even three meters in diameter. It was a silver-palladium alloy with special magical processing, the entirety of its interior surface etched with a magic circle. 

The spirit summoned into the reactor’s interior slowly collapsed with the waxing and waning of the moon, emitting vast spiritual energy in the process. The complexity of the technology involved and the cost of construction meant that mass production was impossible, but a spiritual reactor was an incredibly high-efficiency power source that did not leave waste, heat, or pollutants behind. 

However, given that it employed a spirit, or rather, a body of unknown upper-dimensional energy, it was difficult to state that safety was wholly assured. If a spiritual reactor really were to run amok, no one knew what kind of damage would occur to the surrounding area. For this reason, Itogami Island’s spiritual reactor site was covered by four thick magical bulwarks, in addition to the four-meter-thick protective concrete barrier that covered them. The safety measures constituted an iron wall that could withstand even strategic-level magical attacks. 

Even so, this resilient protective wall had begun crumbling from within; not from the spiritual reactor running amok, but from but a scant few unknown demon beasts… 

“Sami, get the Island Guard to withdraw. At this rate they’ll only exhaust their fighting strength. They need to retreat temporarily and regroup,” Kiriha ordered via her microphone. 

It was pretty much a worst-case scenario. Because the spiritual reactor had restarted, the slumbering Unknown IX-4 had awakened, charging the Island Guard encampment seemingly out of pique that its sleep had been disturbed. The chain of command had been severed, and they’d lost many of their heavy weapons, armored cars, and so forth. 

The one saving grace was that IX-4’s attacks had not been levied against the Island Guard alone. The demon beast was mercilessly trampling the puppet soldier assailants and their robotic tank. 

“Roger that! Bureau of Astrology personnel, assist the Island Guard’s withdra—” 

Sami tried to convey Kiriha’s orders to her subordinates, but she swallowed down her words suddenly. An abnormality even more urgent than Kiriha’s command was happening right before her eyes. 

“Kiriha, the spiritual reactor’s protective wall is collapsing! Large-scale Unknown confirmed from inside the facility!” 

“What did you say…?!” 

Kiriha swung around toward the spiritual reactor facility behind her. From the outside, the battened-down spiritual reactor facility’s concrete wall looked like a dam. That thick wall was being sent flying by some kind of explosion from within. 

Crawling out from the rupture in the wall was a new Unknown even larger than Unknown IX-4—taking its place as IX-5. 

Kiriha’s expression contorted into shock. “Did the demon beast absorb the reactor core into itself…?!” 

IX-5’s body was likely over twenty-five meters long. No matter how skilled the magic user, no one could teleport something of that size into the spiritual reactor facility. 

This, therefore, left a single possibility Kiriha could think of: IX-5 had grown while inside the spiritual reactor. Having internalized the reactor core itself, the new demon beast was consuming energy straight from the core, even at that very moment. 

As Kiriha stood still, IX-4 bellowed right before her eyes. 

It was probably angry at its territory having been violated. Without the slightest sign of faltering, it attacked its even larger kin with a thunderous roar. 

But having absorbed the spiritual reactor’s energy, IX-5’s power against IX-4, having only just awakened from its slumber, was overwhelming. 

Its tentacles, bearing the power of resonant destruction, were pulverized by even more destructive resonance; a giant maw clamped down on IX-4’s throat. As IX-4 moaned in agony, IX-5 entwined its body with countless tentacles and proceeded to consume it then and there. It was internecine struggle—no, this was cannibalism. 

“Great, now things are even worse.” 

The carefree voice, audible from right beside her, snapped Kiriha back to her senses. 

A black-painted robotic tank had come to a stop right beside her. Descending from the tank was a short-haired high school boy with headphones hanging from his neck. The individual was clearly out of place, yet mysteriously, no ill feeling was sensed by those who beheld him. Perhaps he’d received training in how to erase his aura. 

“Well, it is a demon beast made from vampire cells. No great surprise it inherited the cannibal trait, huh?” 

The youth spoke with the air of a soliloquy. 

These words were plenty to prove that this was no ordinary schoolboy. Few were those who knew the true nature of IX-4’s cells. Still, he possessed the right to know such top-secret information. 

“And you are?” 

“An errand runner for the Gigafloat Management Corporation. Call me Heimdall. You’re a Bureau of Astrology Priestess of the Six Blades, right?” 

“Yes, indeed I am, Motoki Yaze.” 

“I told you to call me Heimdall, dammit!” 

Kiriha’s malicious reply made the young man’s voice go shrill. It seemed she’d realized his true identity from the start. 

“Anyway, listen to me. Right now, the Corporation is working on cutting Island North Block B7 away from the main Gigafloat.” 

“Do you intend to cast IX-4 and this entire area out to sea?” 

The words from Yaze—self-styled “Heimdall”—brought an expression of admiration over Kiriha. She was surprised at how swiftly Itogami city-state had come to such a decision. Indeed, there was probably no other means to contain the damage from the new Unknown to a minimum. 

“Fortunately, the surrounding area’s pretty empty…and it’s not like we can let a monster like that reach built-up areas. If it’s above the ocean, we can use weapons of mass destruction to burn it down so that there isn’t a single cell left.” 

“Do you think that demon beast will politely cooperate until then?” 

Yaze’s buoyant tone earned him a frosty look from Kiriha. 

The surrounding area being empty lots equally meant that there were no obstacles blocking the Unknown from invading. Kiriha thought that it was unlikely the demon beast, in a spry state from incorporating the spiritual reactor, would behave itself in a place like that. 

However, I know, Yaze’s nod indicated. “So this is our request to the Bureau of Astrology. Please keep that monster pinned down so that it doesn’t go beyond the canal at the edge of this block. There are a lot of hospitals across that canal with intensive-care patients who can’t be moved.” 

“You make it sound so simple. The opponent is a monster continuing to propagate after swallowing a spiritual reactor, you know?” Kiriha, weary, shot back at Yaze. 

The Island Guard had already lost the lion’s share of its combat capability. The only fighting strength left rested with Kiriha and the Bureau of Astrology. On top of that, they had no sorcery effective on IX-4 types. The dangerous mission of pinning the demon beast in place was too great a burden for Kiriha and her people at present. 

“It’s not like I was gonna pin all the responsibility on just you. I did bring some reinforcements.” 

“Reinforcements?” 

Yaze grinned, mischief beneath the expression. “Well, don’t tell everybody!” 

Kiriha dubiously drew her brows close. 

A moment later, two high school girls, looking terribly out of place, entered Kiriha’s vision. 

“Shio! That person!” 

“Kiriha Kisaki! The Bureau of Astrology, huh?!” 

Kiriha stared at the pair, murmuring with surprise, “The Lion King Agency…” 

She’d seen their faces in files at the Bureau of Astrology. They were Yuiri Haba and Shio Hikawa. The silver weapons they carried were Type Six demon-slaying armaments, according to the Lion King Agency’s classification system. It was surely safe to view the pair’s combat capabilities put together as on par with Yukina Himeragi. They were, in other words, usable. 

“Well, it’s better than nothing.” Kiriha bitterly shrugged her shoulders. 

“Of course, I don’t mind if you can actually take out the demon beast here. I’ll leave that call to you,” Yaze said, trying to provoke her. 

Kiriha blatantly ignored Yaze as she turned to face Yuiri and Shio. “It is as you just heard. Are you prepared to lend a hand? Nothing beyond that.” 

“What should we do?” Yuiri asked, not missing a beat. The way she got straight down to business made Kiriha quietly take a liking to them. They were well aware of exactly what kind of situation they found themselves in. 

“We will delay the demon beast here. You two will serve as decoys and lead it to the center of this block. Is that clear?” 

“Decoys?” Shio groaned as she took in the enormity of the Unknown’s frame. “Doesn’t look like half-hearted attacks are going to attract its attention, either.” 

Having completely consumed IX-4, the new model had grown further in that brief span of time. Its senses would surely have dulled proportionately. Cutting it with a sword likely wasn’t enough to make it feel pain. 

Yuiri stared at the side of her partner’s face. “Shio, use it.” 

Shio pursed her lips and lowered her eyes before meeting Yuiri’s gaze. “Got it, Yuiri.” 

“Motoki Yaze—or rather, Heimdall. I am sorry, could I have you transport these girls as far as the other side?” Kiriha ordered, pointing to the girls. 

“Huh? Even I have to help out…?” He dramatically faced the sky in a show of flaky behavior before grumbling, “Seriously?” 

He climbed into the black robotic tank. Circling around the back of the demon beast’s enormous body was necessary in order to pin it down in that block. 

“And what will you do?” he asked. 

“I shall employ a device that requires a little time to prepare. Buy me fifteen minutes.” 

“Roger that.” 

Nodding to Kiriha’s words, Yaze closed the robot tank’s hatch. Yuiri and Shio wore apprehensive expressions as they climbed onto the tortoise-like tank’s carapace. 

“Hold on tight, ladies. We’re gonna fly!” 

“Kyaa…?!” 

“U-uwah!!” 

The growl of one motor and the yelps of two girls echoed as the robot tank leapt toward the field of battle. 

Watching them go without a word, Kiriha thrust her beloved forked spear into the ground, seemingly casting it aside. 

8 

Kojou, arriving at the futuristic underground city of Island North, felt a chill up his spine when he keenly sensed the demon beast in the rubble. 

“What the hell is that?” 

Kojou groaned from deep in his throat. The Unknown already towered over the surrounding buildings. Compared to when he’d encountered it a scant few hours prior, it now weighed nearly ten times what it had then. 

Of course, no normal creature’s skeleton could withstand such mass. What it lacked in skeletal strength, it made up in demonic energy. With its skeleton as well as its musculature fortified, it could shrug off even cannon rounds. Attacks via magic were already ineffective. It was a monster truly deserving of the label of DEMON BEAST. 

He saw a single robotic tank slip past that monster’s attacks and circle around its back. Shio and Yuiri were riding on the tank’s back. The two of them were trying to challenge a demon beast that had sent even the Island Guard packing. 

“Dammit!” 

Feeling uneasy about his late arrival, Kojou tried to break into a sprint toward the demon beast. 

Suddenly, he realized the presence of a male and female pair close at hand. They were watching the demon beast from the cliff made where the floor of North’s second stratum had been destroyed. They did not feel like mere sightseers to him. The warped smiles on their faces were the expressions of those delighting in the destruction and chaos they had perpetrated. 

“You’re—!!” 

Kojou snarled as he stared daggers at one of the people—a man in a white gown. He had the same face as that of the golem Kojou and the others had fought on the main street; this was probably the original. 

Calmly glancing back at the heated Kojou, the man smiled with amusement. “Oh my, welcome, Fourth Primogenitor. How fortuitous that you’ve arrived just in time for the climax.” 

Kojou instinctively knew he was the one really controlling Unknown IX-4. 

“Hold on, do you really intend to attack an unarmed civilian? You, the sovereign ruler of this Dominion?” 

Kojou was set to reflexively beat the man in the white gown down when the latter scornfully put a stop to him. Kojou aggressively clenched his jaw. 

“A civilian…? You?!” 

“Yes, that’s right.” 

The man grinned and laughed. He spread both arms wide, as if to emphasize the fact that he really was unarmed. 

Though Kojou was annoyed, all he could do was ruefully shake his fist. He couldn’t punch a defenseless human out of disgust or anger. The man before him was right. 

“More importantly, behold!” he bellowed theatrically. He fixed the melancholic Kojou with a stare. “That incredible vitality, and its limitless hunger to continue consuming magical energy. Soon, that monster’s threat level will exceed IX, and it will take its rightful place beside Leviathan, Weapon of the Gods!” 

The woman in the white gown then spoke. “Just how great a monster shall be wrought by human hands? Do you not think a Demon Sanctuary or two is a small price to pay…?” 

The two were twins—probably. The glimmering light residing in the woman’s eyes greatly resembled that of the man in white. 

Kojou forgot his anger as he gazed at the pair. They’d created an artificial demon beast to exceed a threat of Grade IX—to them this was merely an experiment. They didn’t particularly desire the city’s destruction. They only cared about their data. The lives of the people sacrificed by their excess didn’t exist so far as they were concerned. They had guileless faith in their own righteousness. Kojou found the extent of their foolishness…pitiable. 

“A monster created by human hands…? What a coincidence. I know someone made for a reason a lot like that… They say he’s the World’s Mightiest God-Killing Weapon.” 

“…?!!” 

The twins in the white gowns did not exclaim, So what?! Kojou’s anger had cowed them into silence, making them subconsciously back away several steps. Perhaps neither could understand him, but they had realized one thing—they had earned Kojou’s wrath. 

“He destroyed the Devas that made him, too—burned to ashes by the anger of their own God-Killing Weapon!” 

Kojou took a single step forward. 

The demonic energy gushing from him slowly spread out of his back like a pair of wings. The twins gasped as air leaked out from their throats. In awe of Kojou, they were unable even to properly breathe. 

“We’re gonna save that demon beast. When this is all over, we’ll crush you. Mark my words. You’ll regret laying your hands on this island.” 

“Ngh…ghk…” 

The woman in the white gown activated a spell she’d had standing by. It was a spatial control ritual. Even with Kojou’s demonic energy interfering, a magic circle floated up under the twins’ feet, opening a teleportation gate. 

Geez. Kojou exhaled as he watched the twins vanish from sight. 

Chasing them off would have no effect on the raging Unknown. Nothing had been resolved yet. 

“Spatial manipulation… Rather high-end sorcerous engineers, it would seem.” 

As Kojou languidly stood still, he heard an overly serious voice come from behind. 

Turning around, he saw Yukina standing there. For some reason, Fake Yukina was with her. 

Yukina drew a spell tablet from the breast of her uniform; this transformed into the shape of a vulture. It then proceeded to take off toward the sky. 

Kojou grimaced in the face of Yukina’s mysterious action. What he noticed more than that was the silver weapon she gripped in her right hand—she was holding the supposedly damaged Snowdrift Wolf. 

“Himeragi, that spear…” 

Kojou was perplexed. 

Yukina did not reply to his question. Instead, she met the eyes of her impostor, standing off to her side. The two simultaneously broke into mischievous laughter. The girls’ oddly harmonious gesture left Kojou more perplexed still. 

“Let us go, senpai.” 

Yukina glared at the demon beast beneath their eyes. 

Feeling exhausted somehow, Kojou exhaled, his attention falling to the lone, rampaging Unknown. 

9 

Yuiri and Shio gazed up at the back of the growing demon beast. 

IX-5 had already largely finished digesting IX-4. The two fused demon beasts had resulted in a near-doubling of body mass in that scant amount of time. 

Even at that very moment, the spiritual reactor the demon beast had taken into its body continued supplying it with energy. If IX-5 continued growing, it would become a writhing natural disaster beyond humanity’s reach. 

They had to defeat the demon beast then and there. That’s what Yuiri’s and Shio’s premonitions as spirit mediums told them. 

Shio’s face was hard and tense as she called out to her best friend, “Yuiri, your sword.” 

“Yeah.” Yuiri nodded with a hard expression of her own. 

Similar to how Sayaka Kirasaka’s Der Freischötz had a hidden trump card, namely an ultra-long-range ritual spell artillery attack, Yuiri’s and Shio’s Type Six-Plus weapons came equipped with a hidden function. 

However, among the attack mages of the Lion King Agency, none had ever employed it in actual combat. 

Of course, this was a first experience for both Yuiri and Shio. Furthermore, this was their independent judgment without obtaining permission from up the chain of command. They couldn’t help but be tense. 

Even so, there was no other way to stop the demon beast— 

“Rosen Chevalier Plus—disarm!” 

Responding to the spiritual energy coursing from Yuiri, her long sword changed shape. 

Its edge separated, leaving only the length of the blade. The cross of the hilt also cocked at a forty-five-degree angle, changing to a form adequate for using it as a pistol grip. It looked a lot like a rifle without a barrel. 

When Yuiri handed off her sword, Shio attached it to her own bow. A metallic sound echoed as they snapped together in various places, changing the recurve bow’s shape in turn. Sword and bow became one as it transformed into a cross-shaped shooting weapon. The weapons had combined together to form a new weapon—a giant crossbow. 

“Certify request! Freikugel Plus, arbalest mode—unlock!” 

“Registered shooter Shio Hikawa, registered pointer Yuiri Haba—recognized. Freikugel Plus arbalest mode, active.” 

When Shio chanted the activation code, the crossbow responded with a synthesized voice. Sword and bow—the ritual spell mechanisms within both were active simultaneously, weaving together a formula of incredible breadth. 

Shio lowered her center of gravity and poised the crossbow. She aimed at the back of the demon beast trying to cross the canal, squeezing the trigger— 

“…!” 

Something struck Shio’s right shoulder. 

In an instant, the beam of light spat out by the crossbow pierced the demon beast without a sound. It was a spear of light that reached hundreds of meters in length. 

By the time that spear of light vanished, there was a yawning cavity some two meters in diameter that had been opened in the demon beast. It was a perfect void, leaving not blood, nor flesh, nor even a speck of dust behind. After a moment’s delay, the cavity was filled with fresh, gushing blood, and the demon beast let out a roar of agony. 

“Pseudo-spatial severing… They stripped away space itself, huh…!” 

Yaze, poking his head out from the robot tank, had a twitch on his face as he made a low groan. 

The attack from Freikugel Plus in arbalest mode tore out any and all matter existing along its firing line along with space itself. It was truly the most powerful ritual spell gunnery attack of all. 

Theoretically, there was nothing physical that could withstand such an attack. It was virtually impossible to fend it off with magical defenses. Likely the only things that could defend against such an attack were the spatial-severing powers of a vampire primogenitor’s own Beast Vassal or the magical-energy-nullifying Divine Oscillation Effect of a Schneewaltzer. 

It was because of the excessive might of this attack that the Type Six weapons were split between sword and bow, assigned to two separate Attack Mages. Yuiri and Shio always operated together in case they needed to use it. The principles might differ from a Schneewaltzer, but the Type Six-Plus was a weapon capable of destroying a vampire primogenitor in its own right. 

“Shio…?!” 

Yuiri swiftly raced over as the recoil from firing drove Shio to her knees. 

Shio forced herself to smile to put Yuiri at ease. “I’m all right, but this really does take a lot out of me.” 

To begin with, the recoil from the arbalest mode was as intense as its might. Even with physical reinforcement by way of a ritual spell, it was impossible to completely check the impact. On top of that, the amount of spiritual energy depletion was also heavy. At best, she could manage only one or two more shots at full power. 

“But it sure packed a punch,” Yaze cheered on the nervous Shio. 

The Unknown, who’d paid no heed to a single attack from a human being, whirled around, glaring at Shio and the others with a rage-filled look. Even with its enormous body, Shio’s single blow represented a menace it could not ignore. At the very least, they’d succeeded in their minimum objective of slowing the beast down. 

“Not good. We’re getting out of here!” 

The demon beast headed toward Shio with agility that was unfathomable given its enormous frame. Realizing this, Yaze shouted. The robot tank’s running wheels crudely kicked the ground, backing away with Shio and Yuiri aboard. 

“So fast…!” 

Yaze froze with fright. The demon beast’s acceleration exceeded the robot tank’s maneuverability. At that rate, they wouldn’t last ten seconds before the demon beast trampled them— 

It was Yuiri who, making that instantaneous judgment, leaped down from the tank. 

She drew a two-handed sword from her back with a blade spanning over a meter in breadth. 

“Heidenröslein, boot up!” 

Right around when the demon beast was thirty meters away, Yuiri held the two-handed sword above her head. 

Even a great sword’s attack could not reach at that distance. However, heedless of this, Yuiri unflinchingly swung the sword at a downward angle. 

That instant, the great sword’s blade elongated and distorted. This was not from centrifugal force or air resistance. The lead-colored great sword’s blade was changing shape in response to Yuiri’s will. 

The spectacle resembled a beautiful fountain of metal. 

The blade, not even a single meter in length, transformed into an elongated whip dozens of meters long. It was less than a millimeter thick. It had become a whip with a polished blade. 

The whip entwined around the demon beast’s four legs, whereupon it transformed a second time. 

It transformed into countless needles reminiscent of fish spines— 

“Wiseman’s Blood… No, a ritual spell reactive alloy…!” Yaze exclaimed with a whistle at the end. 

The great sword in Yuiri’s possession was actually an extremely dense liquid-metal weapon that changed shape in accordance with the wielder’s intent. If thinned and drawn out, the blade could reach hundreds of meters; if thickened, its durability would rival steel plate. However, the metal’s true fearsomeness rested in its ability to seep into the body of any opponent it sliced, destroying its target from within. 

“Heidenröslein was built to seal a vampire primogenitor. It is another one of the Lion King Agency’s secret weapons. The minute grains of metal from which that sword’s blade is comprised are divine armaments in and of themselves, able to immobilize their target and obstruct regenerative abilities—” 

Now that it’s been seen, it can’t be helped, Shio’s explanation implied. It wasn’t that she was telling him out of special kindness. Its might being known far and wide, serving as a check on criminals, was part of the weapon’s role. 

“The same logic Chairman Aradahl of the Warlord’s Empire used to back Kojou to the wall, huh?” Yaze smirked, the right side of his mouth curling up. 

Velesh Aradahl had sealed Kojou’s physical movement by thrusting countless blades into his opponent’s body. Yuiri’s Heidenröslein could achieve an identical feat all on its own. 

“Yes. Until now, it was kept stored away due to being inhumane, but such is the opponent we currently face. However…” 

Staring at Yuiri’s back as she wielded the unfamiliar sword, Shio gripped her crossbow with unease. 

Gloom rose over Yaze’s expression, too. “This opponent is simply too large, I guess?” 

Yuiri was employing the Heidenröslein well. Yuiri’s personality, more oriented toward defense than offense, was appropriate for the Type Thirteen, meant to seal an enemy’s movements. 

For the objective of pinning the demon beast down, the weapon was fairly well suited. 

But the demon beast was simply too enormous for its movements to be completely contained. 

The demon beast, its four legs immobile and seemingly sewn to the ground, used the countless tentacles protruding from its back to attack. 

Yuiri, using Heidenröslein to pin the foe in place, had no means of defending herself. 

“Yuiri—!!” Shio shrieked. 

“Eh?!” 

Yuiri froze as she saw the tentacles crashing down toward her from overhead. 

But they did not assail Yuiri. What was displayed in Yuiri’s eyes, wide open in despair, were severed tentacles dancing in the sky, and the back of a white-haired girl swinging down with a crimson undulating sword. 

“Hauras!” 

Shizuri thrust her sword into a severed tentacle that was still writhing on the ground. The magic blade that consumed magical energy robbed it of its strength, and this time, the tentacle stopped moving altogether. 

Shizuri was wearing a long, white coat in place of her scorched uniform. “Oh-ho-ho-ho!” went the girl’s high-pitched laughter. “That was a close one, yes? I was right to entrust Hauras to Yuno at the hospital not far off. Be at ease. Now that I, Paladin of Gisella, have arrived—” 

“Cas?!” 

“…C-Cas…?” Shizuri had a pathetic look as she wobbled as if punched in the side of the face. 

Though she wanted to complain, Shizuri understood Yuiri didn’t know her real name to begin with. Shizuri, unable to complain, sliced into the demon beast tentacles one after another, seemingly to vent her rage upon them. 

Heidenröslein pinned the demon beast in place while Hauras provided defense—this gave Shio and Yaze a momentary hope that the combination could hold the creature at bay. 

As if to dash their hopes, the demon beast’s entire body was enveloped by a phosphorescent light. It was the glow of the essence gushing from the spiritual reactor. 

“It’s still growing…?!” Yaze blurted out. 

The demon beast’s entire body audibly creaked as its contours swelled. 

Yuiri let out an anguished voice as she gripped the hilt of her sword. “No… I can’t hold it anymore…!” 

The very next moment, the blade of Heidenröslein twined around the demon beast’s four legs cracked all over. The divine armament had not been able to withstand the sudden growth of the demon beast. 

Shizuri let out a cry of her own. “No matter how much I cut, it avails nothing!” 

Certainly, Hauras was capable of cutting the Unknown, but it was being wielded by Shizuri herself in the flesh. No matter how resilient her Ogre body, one solid hit from the demon beast and she wouldn’t last another second. And yet, the demon beast’s unbelievable speed of propagation added even more of the tentacles she was purportedly slicing away. 

“—Nyaah!” 

Finally exceeding her limits, Shizuri made an unsteady yelp as she was blown backward into the air. Though she’d just managed to fend off a direct blow, pieces of concrete rained down on her, blasted apart by the creature. 

“Cas?!” Yuiri exclaimed. 

However, the demon beast’s attack was faster than Shizuri could wobble her way up to her feet. Shizuri’s eyes were glazed as they watched the giant tentacle pressing close to slam her from the side. 

Then, a dazzling silver flash raced across Shizuri’s vision. 

The severed tentacle’s own centrifugal force sent it flying far off into the distance. 

In front of Shizuri, gasping while still on one knee, a small-statured girl landed with a tiny flutter. She was gripping a silver spear enveloped with the glow of the Divine Oscillation Effect. 

“Yukii?” 

“Yukina Himeragi?! That spear…?!” 

Yuiri and Shio both exclaimed in astonishment. They never expected to see Yukina wielding the assuredly broken Snowdrift Wolf. 

However, Yukina merely looked back at the surprised Yuiri and Shio for one moment, seeming slightly conflicted. 

“It was fixed.” 

“Eh?! Wait a…” 

“What do you mean, fixed…?” 

That’s easier said than done, implied Yuiri and Shio, left completely at a loss. 

However, it took only a second for the pair’s astonishment to redouble, for emerging from within the dust cloud stirred up by the demon beast’s attack were Kojou and the girl who could pass as Yukina’s twin. 

Of course, she was wearing the same uniform; in terms of face and physique, they looked so alike that you could hardly tell them apart side by side. The one difference might have been the mischievous glint residing in the impostor’s eyes. 

Though, when the girl stared at Yuiri and Shio, she cried, “So young…!” as if she was more surprised than they were. 

Yaze called out to Kojou from the back of the robot tank—his voice casual, as if they had bumped into each other on the way back from school. “You’re late, Kojou.” 

“Sorry I made you wait,” Kojou calmly replied in kind as he turned to face the Unknown continuing to grow. “The situation?” 

“It’s not good,” Yaze said in a pained tone. “The demon beast’s cellular propagation is too fast for us to deal with. No choice but to stop the spiritual reactor it’s taken into itself, but—” 

Kojou grasped the gist of the situation from that explanation. 

The Unknown taking the spiritual reactor into its own body made it grow rapidly, hyperactive to an absurd degree. Meaning, as long as they didn’t do something about the spiritual reactor, still gushing a vast amount of spiritual energy, it was impossible to make the demon beast behave, let alone defeat it. 

“If it’s just the spiritual reactor, my Freikugel Plus can annihilate it,” Shio said, “but its body is so huge, I don’t know the reactor’s location.” 

Kojou nodded. “The gist is, all I gotta do is rip that reactor right out of it?” 

He got the general idea, but either way, it wasn’t a situation where they could hash out a detailed plan. If he knew what he had to do, that was plenty. 

“Suicide attacks like you pulled earlier won’t work this time!” Shio warned, clearly worried about him. 

“Yeah, I get it.” Kojou made a pained smile as he looked back at her. 

Now that the demon beast had grown that much, of course he couldn’t beat it just by pounding a little demonic energy inside its body. There was even a valid concern that, worst case, it might absorb a Beast Vassal of the Fourth Primogenitor in its entirety. 

All that said, he couldn’t think of any other effective plans. What to do? Thought Kojou, mulling it in his head when Shizuri, remembering something, posed a question. 

“More importantly, Kojou. Is your body healed already?” 

“Huh? Um, well, yeah, pretty much.” 

So soon? Thought Shizuri, skeptical. Kojou forgot to gloss things over, blithely replying in complete seriousness. 

“Kojou…you didn’t…,” Yuiri murmured with a suspicious expression. She watched Yukina’s back as the latter continued combat, then returned her gaze to Kojou, who put a hand over his mouth and averted his eyes. 

The girl with the face just like Yukina’s suppressed her giggling voice as she smiled. 

10 

The demon beast that had once been called Unknown IX-4 was in pain. 

The programming assigned to it was twofold. One, to continue consuming demonic energy. Two, to continue to grow. That was all. 

And it had faithfully executed that programming to the letter. Having surfaced on Itogami Island in search of more powerful magical energy, it had taken a spiritual reactor into its body. It had consumed its comrade, and had been consumed in turn, with the two fusing together to arrive at new growth still. 

It knew, at present, it was the mightiest life-form on that island, yet its programming demanded that it become even stronger. 

Of course, it did not understand what would become of it if it continued growing without limit. 

Why did it exist? Who had created it, and how? For what purpose did it need to continue growing? It understood nothing. So far as its programming was concerned, these were worthless questions. And yet, its flesh felt annoyance at there being no answers to its questions. Its own life held no value. It felt anguish over this fact. 

The Unknown roared. 

The precipitous, massive growth in its body from the spiritual reactor’s energy had engendered distortions within it. 

Its flesh and blood were so great that it could no longer defy the pull of gravity without magical energy. Just squirming around made its entire body plead in agony. The precipitous growth had caused its cells to rapidly age, yet its excessive regenerative ability did not permit the cells to die. The Unknown was at once Itogami Island’s mightiest living creature, yet at the same time, the most fragile. 

The agony of its flesh and the emptiness in its mind—these two things tormented the Unknown. 

That was why it had decided to destroy everything its eyes surveyed. 

It would trample the smaller creatures and consume everything to the last. If its own life was worthless, all it needed to do was make everything else in the world worthless, too— 

It was upon the head of the demon beast that had resolved these things that a strange something appeared. 

Then, realizing that it was a source of powerful demonic energy unknown to it, the Unknown was filled with the will to fight. 

Just as its cells had been programmed. 

“C’mon over, Kiffa Ater!” 

Kojou howled at the giant hole bored into the underground city’s ceiling, turning his face toward the twilight sky. 

The demonic energy scattered about contorted the air, and finally, an enormous sword was borne from the void. 

Even at an altitude of several thousand meters, its form was distinctly visible to the naked eye. It was a stupidly huge great sword with a blade well over a hundred meters in breadth. Its shape was properly described as an ancient armament known as a Vajra sword. These were said to be demon-felling swords employed by the gods themselves. 

It was the seventh Beast Vassal of the Fourth Primogenitor, an Intelligent Weapon—the Sword of Judgment. 

Shio hastily tried to stop him. “No, Kojou Akatsuki! Even an Intelligent Weapon is a mass of materialized demonic energy. If you cast a Beast Vassal into the Unknown, it will only get absorbed!” 

The sword Beast Vassal that Kojou had summoned possessed the ability to control gravity. Added to its enormous body, it could precisely control the acceleration with which it dropped. The shockwave generated by its mass and acceleration half destroyed a Gigafloat of Itogami Island once upon a time. Even with that much destructive power, its odds of defeating the Unknown were low. 

“I suppose you’re right…if it were nothing but an Intelligent Weapon, that is.” Kojou made a suggestive smirk. 

“What…?!” 

This time the additional demonic energy gushing out from Kojou’s entire body left Shio aghast. The Unknown had already obtained a spiritual reactor. If it took into itself even a fresh Beast Vassal of the Fourth Primogenitor on top of that, she couldn’t even conceive of what kind of monster would be spawned as a result. If it was not one but two Beast Vassals, the level of danger would multiply by leaps and bounds. 

Say something, will you? Pleaded the eyes Shio turned toward Yukina, but all Yukina did was smile serenely. Surely Kojou had not told her beforehand just what he was attempting to do. She clearly trusted his decision. 

When she glanced over, Yuiri and Shizuri looked much like Yukina, with expressions over them that might have been resignation or trust… Shio couldn’t tell the difference. What the heck is going on here? She thought, perplexed. Could it be that I’m the one who’s wrong…? 

“C’mon over, Shaula Viola!” 

The second Beast Vassal that Kojou summoned was a manticore enveloped in purple flames. Its tail was that of a scorpion, and it had wings on its back. Shio was seeing this Beast Vassal for the first time. 

However, Kojou made no effort to launch the manticore at the Unknown. Instead, he commanded it to ascend toward the sky. The path of the sword Beast Vassal’s gentle descent crossed that of the manticore. 

The contours of both Beast Vassals distorted. 

Purple flames wrapped around the pitch-black sword. The enormous blade seemed to have a scorpion’s tail etched into it like an embossed carving. The two types of demonic energy entwined with each other, mixed together, and transformed into a new Beast Vassal. 

“This is the Duke of Ardeal’s technique…!” 

“He fused two Demon Beasts together…?!” 

Yuiri and Shio shouted simultaneously. Fusing two Beast Vassals together to create a new, more powerful Beast Vassal—this was a skill said to be used by Dimitrie Vattler, aristocrat of the Warlord’s Empire, alone. Vattler had once used that ability to push Kojou to the very edge of annihilation. 

“This is the first time I’ve smashed two together, but it went pretty well, huh. You showed this off in front of me so many times, Vattler, even I could learn how to do it!” 

Even as the backlash from the powerful fusion left his brow drenched with sweat, Kojou bared his fangs and grinned. 

The great sword accelerated. However, by the standards of the sword Beast Vassal’s proper capabilities, one might even call the acceleration gentle. Even if it was a demon beast, the opponent was a living creature. There was no need for force enough to destroy the Gigafloat, but the acceleration posed menace enough, and the great sword shooting toward the ground’s surface rent the Unknown’s giant body with ease. 

Shizuri let out a murmur of joy. “We did it…” 

The manticore wreathed in purple flames—Shaula Viola—was a Beast Vassal that used poison to steal demonic energy. Kojou had fused the pitch-black great sword with the manticore to grant it that ability. 

The Unknown could not steal demonic energy from this Beast Vassal which possessed the very same ability. Its torso was run through, and it was pinned to the ground. The venom created by the manticore coursed through its entire body. The Unknown tore its own flesh as it tried to shake free from the great sword, seemingly to flee from the agony. 

Its skin ripped open. Its muscles tore, and part of its innards were exposed to view. 

For one, brief moment, the spiritual reactor embedded within became visible. 

“I see it!” 

Shio poised her crossbow, loaded with spiritual energy. 

The space-erasing ritual spell artillery attack of Type Six-Plus could safely destroy the spiritual reactor. However, the absolute condition for this was a direct hit on the center of the reactor. Half-hearted damage to the reactor core might cause the spiritual energy leaking from the spirit to come out in a single, explosive burst. 

“No. It’s regenerating too fast!” 

As Shio tried to launch her attack, Yaze stopped her from the robotic tank. The torn flesh of the Unknown was regenerating with incredible force, covering the spiritual reactor once more. 

Shio made a small, rueful groan. 

Because he was not yet accustomed to fusing Beast Vassals together, performing the technique had run Kojou ragged. Shio didn’t think he could launch another attack of equal force. If the Unknown finished regenerating completely, their opportunity to defeat that demon beast would be well and truly gone forever. 

Shio tried to force down her fear, but beside her, Kojou Akatsuki smirked. 

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

As if singing a song, a clear voice wove a beautiful chant. In one brief instant, the aura of the Divine Oscillation Effect, vivid like never before, made Shio forget her nervousness. 

“Yukina…Himeragi…” 

Yukina danced like a priestess heralding victory. An elaborate magic circle traced by the tip of her spear floated up, emitting a beautiful light. It was a phenomenon Snowdrift Wolf had never displayed prior to being damaged. And then, the purging light emitted by the spear in that state was far more dazzling and serene than it had ever been. 

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

Yukina’s body danced in the sky. Racing up the Unknown’s enormous body, she drove the silver spear deep from the blind spot behind its head. The unexpected blow wrought by the hands of a puny human made the Unknown’s gargantuan frame writhe. 

“I see, she’s nullifying its demonic energy to hinder regeneration…,” Yaze commented, his voice light. 

The demon beast’s regenerative ability, impossible for any normal living creature, was due to the demonic energy stored within its cells. However, that demonic energy had been annihilated. As a result, the regeneration speed of the demon beast’s wounds had markedly diminished. 

“No, that’s not all!” Shio shouted as she glared at the wound site the sword Beast Vassal had slashed open. 

The Unknown’s skeleton was audibly creaking, and its skin and musculature had begun tearing away. With its supply of the demonic energy cut off, the Unknown’s gargantuan body was no longer able to defy the power of gravity. At that rate, the Unknown would destroy itself, crushed by its very own mass. 

Unable to bear the agony of being robbed of its demonic energy, the demon beast ferociously bellowed. Its tentacles attempted to strike at Yukina, still plunging the spear into its back. 

“I won’t let you!” 

“Thou shalt not interfere!” 

A liquid metal blade moving like a whip, and a crimson blade undulating like a flame, glimmered at Yukina’s back. 

It was the supposedly wounded and exhausted Yuiri and Shio who saved the immobile Yukina. The more they swung their swords, the more demon beast tentacles assaulting them in waves were severed, flying off into midair. 

With Yuiri and Shio providing rear support, Yukina increased the spiritual energy she sent coursing through the spear. The demon beast’s blood vessels went white from the Divine Oscillation Effect flowing through them, and the cracking spread to all over the demon beast’s body. 

The sword Beast Vassal absorbed demonic energy as the silver spear nullified more. With the great sword impaling the center of its body, its engorged flesh creaked under the force of gravity. 

Still, the demon beast did not fall. 

“After all this, it’s still not enough…!” Kojou’s voice was filled not so much with surprise as with admiration. 

Relying on the energy supplied by the spiritual reactor, the demon beast was slowly but surely continuing to regenerate. Its vitality and resilience bordered on the unbelievable. That moment, he could sympathize with the feelings of pride held by the twins in the white gowns. 

However, it wasn’t a situation for polite admiration. 

One step more and they could neutralize the Unknown. But that one step was beyond their reach. The depletion of Kojou’s own endurance was pushing him to his limits. 

“Ohh, everyone’s really putting on a show,” Fake Yukina said. She sounded carefree, perhaps knowing nothing of what rested in Kojou’s thoughts. 

“You…!” 

What, you’re still here? said the angry glare Kojou leveled at the girl. However, Fake Yukina looked back at Kojou’s resentful eyes with even greater amusement. 

“I’ve already done what I came here to do, but maybe I should pitch in a bit… Let’s call it a freebie.” 

“What…?” 

As Kojou watched her in astonishment, Fake Yukina approached the demon beast with the agile gait of a dancer. She was still like that when dense demonic energy suddenly swirled around her right arm. 

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

The blast winds from the raging demonic energy erased Fake Yukina’s murmur so that it never reached the other’s ears. However, it was plain to anyone’s eyes just what she was trying to do. 

She was a vampire—Kojou recalled that fact. 

“C’mon over, Hasta Aurum!” 

Raising her hand above her, a Beast Vassal appeared in Fake Yukina’s hand. 

This was a single spear with a gold radiance. A Beast Vassal in the form of a golden spear. 

“Another Intelligent Weapon…!” 

“That’s riiight!” 

With a smile, Fake Yukina leaped forward. She went in the direction opposite that Yukina did—plunging her golden spear right into the ferocious demon beast’s throat. The golden glow increased still, and the demonic energy within the Unknown’s body vanished as if it was swallowed by that radiance. 

The spear Beast Vassal’s ability was to nullify demonic energy—the same ability as Snowdrift Wolf’s. 

“The spiritual reactor!” Shizuri shouted from the Unknown’s back. 

The wound Kojou’s Beast Vassal had torn into the demon beast’s back was opening. The loss of such a vast quantity of demonic energy finally left its pace of healing unable to keep up with that injury. 

From a slender crack in its rent flesh, the spiritual reactor inside its rib cage came clearly into view. 

“Shio!” Yuiri called out the name of her best friend. 

Shio nodded, pouring all of her remaining spiritual energy into the crossbow. “I, Dancer of the Lion, Archer of the High God, beseech thee!” 

Shio sprinted as she chanted. 

She sprinted to a place where she could shoot through the spiritual reactor for certain—namely, under the belly of the beast. 

She turned the crossbow loaded with all the spiritual energy she could muster toward the exposed spiritual reactor. Shio put strength into the finger on the trigger. The divine armaments’ two sets of ritual spell circuits activated, and its gunbarrel spewed out light. 

“Let there be light—!” 

The bolt of light extended without a sound, precisely impaling the core of the spiritual reactor. 

There was no explosion. All that remained was the sphere-shaped exterior of the core. The spiritual reactor, along with the upper-dimensional energy surrounded by that core, had vanished. 

The Unknown roared in anguish as it fell onto its side. This time, Shio and the others’ attacks had been effective. 

Shio was in danger of being squished under the falling demon beast, but Yaze shielded her with the tank. Unable to withstand the demon beast’s mass, the walking tank was crushed. But the scant single second before the robot tank was crushed gave Yaze and Shio just enough time to successfully escape. 

Kojou released his summons of his Beast Vassal. His control of the fused Beast Vassal was already at its limit. 

Yukina landed at Kojou’s side. She’d pushed her own limits of her spiritual energy; even her breath was labored. Of course, Shio had also exhausted her energy, and Shizuri and Yuiri were at the limits of their endurance. 

For its part, having lost the spiritual reactor, the Unknown did not simply remain silent. 

Seemingly stripping off the wounded, weakened cells like shed skin, an undamaged Unknown crawled out from inside the Unknown’s body. This was Unknown IX-4, supposedly consumed by its brethren. It was less than half the length the larger Unknown had been, but it seemed all the more ferocious for it. The severed tentacles were reviving, too. 

“So even without the spiritual reactor, the Unknown itself is still in fine shape? I suppose that figures.” 

Kojou clicked his tongue with clear annoyance. Yukina poised her spear, but it was clear as day that she was in no condition to fight. That went for Shizuri and the others, too. 

That didn’t mean they could let the demon beast reach the surface. The Island Guard’s fighting strength was just as depleted as theirs. 

There’s no other way, Kojou thought as he extended his right arm. He was trying to summon a new Beast Vassal. Without warning, Fake Yukina grabbed that arm from the side. She shook her head, seemingly reading Kojou’s mind. 

“No, Kojou. If you swallow something that huge with Mercuriri, the dimensional hole it’ll make will be no joke! One wrong move and it’ll affect the whole world!” 

Kojou had no response. She’d accurately discerned the identity of the Beast Vassal that Kojou was attempting to summon. 

The Third Beast Vassal of the Fourth Primogenitor, Al-Meissa Mercury, possessed the same ability as Type Six-Plus: to shear away space itself. More precisely, Kojou’s Beast Vassal’s attacks were effective not only upon space per se, but applied to any and all dimensions in existence. 

No matter how powerful the Unknown’s regenerative ability, so long as the demon beast’s body was comprised of physical cells, Kojou’s Beast Vassal was surely capable of slaughtering the opponent. 

However, Kojou’s Beast Vassal was so overpowered that its effects upon its surroundings were equally pronounced. He couldn’t even conceive of the backlash created by the dimensional hole gouged by completely swallowing a body that enormous. 

If a distortion of space were to affect the Earth’s crust and even the power of gravity, it would inevitably cause calamity on a global scale just as Fake Yukina had pointed out. That was why Kojou did not attack the Unknown with his dimension-eating Beast Vassal. 

“But is there another way to beat the thing?” he grimaced. 

She grinned, her expression devoid of all tension. “I wonder, maybe it’s best to leave rice cake to the rice cake bakers?” 

“Rice cake bakers?” He looked at her in confusion. The heck? 

Fake Yukina silently raised her right hand. Ahead of where she pointed, Kojou saw a black-haired girl wearing a black sailor suit. It was a Priestess of the Six Blades of the Bureau of Astrology—an expert in quelling demon beasts. 

“Kisaki!” 

Kojou was perplexed as he watched Kiriha advance toward the demon beast from the front. She wasn’t gripping the usual forked spear in her hand. Instead, she was carrying an enormous lance with a steel tip. The lance’s total length was over twice Kiriha’s height, and its diameter was about fifty centimeters at its widest point. It had to weigh over a hundred kilograms. 

He didn’t think that even Kiriha could wave that thing around indefinitely. However, with the Unknown’s enormous body before them, the lance’s very weight and thickness made it feel oddly dependable. 

“You have my thanks, Kojou Akatsuki. The same goes to the Lion King Agency.” 

The fact that Kiriha of all people had expressed gratitude toward them felt like a jolt to Kojou like few before it. 

However, she only demonstrated such a laudable attitude for one, brief moment, as if it had only been a mirage. 

Bloodlust welled in her enchanting eyes, and Kiriha’s beautiful lips curled up into a smile. 

“Thanks to you, I get to slaughter the beast! Flat!” 

“Wha…?!” 

Whipped around by blast winds that felt like a punch to the face, Kojou wobbled backward. 

This was an explosive shockwave generated by a supersonic cannonball. The lance wielded by Kiriha had fired it, accompanied by a beam of light. It was all in a split second, so much that Kojou’s demonic vision could not keep up. 

“An electromagnetic railgun, huh…?” Yaze exclaimed, intrigued. 

This was a shooting weapon that fired a bullet via electromagnetic guidance rather than explosives. The Bureau of Astrology’s Flat had likely taken the electromagnetic railguns developed for military warships and miniaturized them for anti–demon beast purposes. 

In one sense, penetrating resilient flesh augmented by demonic energy with an overwhelmingly fast bullet was a simple concept. Accordingly, the weapon was highly effective. 

“The curse contained within Flat’s rounds employs the target’s demonic energy to activate and fragment it—in other words, it is by IX-4’s own demonic energy that it shall perish.” 

Now that its duty was complete, Kiriha violently discarded the lance’s shaft—the launching mechanism—and nonchalantly flipped her hair. 

“Naturally, I could not employ it while it was being supplied with inexhaustible demonic energy due to the spiritual reactor… That would cancel out the curse. But now—” 

Before Kiriha could finish her words, there was a dull shaking of the ground. The Unknown, seemingly having lost the power to remain standing, had fallen. 

The demon beast attempted to roar, but no sound came from its throat save a frail, plaintive wheezing. 

Its cells had lost all color, falling away like sand. Thanks to its heightened ability to propagate, the curse that had begun to circulate throughout its entire body made its cellular destruction all the swifter. 

The demon beast weakly closed its eyes, almost as if falling into a deep sleep, and didn’t move again. 

The tips of its tentacles convulsed a few final times, and then, it went stone silent. 

“Is it over…?” 

Shizuri slumped to the ground with a plop. 

“In the end, it feels like she just waited for the ripest moment to act, huh?” Yaze teased her resentfully. Certainly, he’d been asked to buy time, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that he’d been deftly used. 

However, Kiriha smiled without the slightest hint of guilt. 

“Quelling demon beasts is the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Astrology. You have your own jobs awaiting, yes?” 

Kojou turned to her with a tired but relieved expression. 

Yes. Kojou still had opponents remaining with which he had a score to settle… Both as the sovereign ruler of a Dominion, and as kinsman to the poor demon beast that had been created as a weapon. 

“Yeah, I suppose you’re right. From here on, this is my fight.” 

There was a fire burning in Kojou’s eyes. 

Yukina stood at his side, smiling as she nestled close to him. When she stretched her left arm out, a single bird fluttered down to it—a vulture made of metal. 

“No, senpai. This is our fight.” 

She stroked the shikigami bird of prey. 

For some reason, the girl with the same face as Yukina gazed at them acting in sync with an amused grin on her face.