Strike the Blood - Volume 17 - Chapter Ep

OUTRO 

It was a ubiquitous corner of Island East. They were in a tiny warehouse built on the bank of a canal. They were Kyle and Keeley, the twin sorcerous engineers wearing white gowns. 

The warehouse’s interior, just large enough to park a pair of buses within, was packed full of equipment for cultivating demon beasts, as well as analytical devices. There were dozens of monitors meticulously hanging from the back wall showing video feeds from security cameras and unmanned video drones set up all across the island. The monitors on the measuring equipment were displaying information from sensors embedded into Unknown IX-4. 

But about one hour earlier, the transmissions from those sensors had been completely cut. Heart rate and blood pressure were both zero. This indicated that Unknown IX-4 had been completely dispatched. 

“Impossible… What method did the Bureau of Astrology use?! To think they could annihilate IX-4 without so much as a single cell remaining…!” 

The man in the white gown, Kyle, punched the still-silent measuring equipment. 

A scant few Attack Mages and a single mere vampire had destroyed the Grade IX demon beast they had created. That fact, one he had never anticipated, left him fiercely irritated. 

“No, the more important issue is the Fourth Primogenitor. Thanks to him, we were forced to interrupt our observation of IX-4. If only, rather than watching these images, we were there to see IX-4’s final moments… Shit!” 

Kyle’s expression twisted in humiliation. In truth, the Fourth Primogenitor hadn’t done a thing to him. He’d merely become afraid due to Kojou Akatsuki’s intimidation. Those feelings of fear remained in the core of his body even then, a slight to his pride as a sorcerous engineer. 

He remained like that as the woman in the white gown, Keeley, gloomily looked down at him. “Calm down, Kyle. The experiment was a success. At the very least, we’ve obtained data on the Bureau of Astrology and the Lion King Agency’s secret weapons. I’m sure the President will be delighted.” 

Kyle nodded as if trying to force himself to accept that. 

IX-4 had been defeated, but the wealth of data gleaned from its development remained. They’d obtained precious combat data regarding Hauras and the Schneewaltzers. If they used that data to make further improvements, it would be possible for them to finally create something beyond Grade IX, a Grade X—equal to a living weapon created by the gods themselves. They could achieve revenge against the Fourth Primogenitor and Itogami city-state going forward. 

It was with such thoughts in mind that Kyle attempted to transfer the combat data to portable storage. However, the equipment did not respond to his input. What’s going on? the twins’ simultaneous furl of their brows seemed to say when, seemingly waiting for that very moment, the speaker for the experiment’s equipment activated. 

“I don’t think getting praise from your boss will be easy when he’s already fled the island.” 

What they heard was the rather frigid voice of a girl they did not recognize. 

“—Who is this?!” Keeley snapped back in fear. However, the voice ignored her as it continued at its own pace. 

“First of all, our employer—MAR Bionics Inc.—has filed lawsuits against the two of you for breach of contract and compensation for damages. The reason being that the data you sent over contained one hell of a nasty computer virus.” 

“A virus…?” Keeley’s voice trembled. 

Kyle reflexively turned back toward the desk, eyes glued to the equipment as he operated it through and through. However, the equipment did not respond even once. The only thing shown on the display was the image of a badly sewn teddy bear. 

The combat data they’d obtained had all been overwritten with meaningless information. The same phenomenon had probably occurred at MAR Bionics proper, thanks to the virus that someone had inflicted upon them… 

“MAR Bionics’s losses are estimated at several trillion yen. Their stocks are worth about as much as scrap paper. Hmm, it’s pretty obvious that if they make one false move, they’ll go bankrupt. You two should resign yourselves to a police investigation, too. You made a lot of money short-selling Itogami city-state stocks, didn’t you? Enough so you can afford restitution for the damages the demon beast caused, even.” 

The girl laughed. Those words made the twins realize just who she really was. 

When they thought about it rationally, it made perfect sense. It was someone who could hijack top-secret MAR lines of communication, which boasted security that met the world’s highest standards. There was only one monster like that. 

“It can’t be… It can’t be—you swapped the contents of the data? Cyber Empress!” 

“Plus, the two of you aren’t getting off this island anyway,” Asagi Aiba firmly declared, letting Kyle’s enraged words glide past. 

The building where the twins were located shuddered with a roar. 

The walls and ceiling of the warehouse were pulverized and sent flying as if the hoof of some enormous beast had torn them apart. 

A scarlet bicorn, its entire body enveloped by blast winds, gazed haughtily down at the twins with the night sky at its back. 

“A Beast Vassal of the…Fourth Primogenitor…!” Keeley shrieked. 

Even though they understood the simple menace it posed, the awe inspired by seeing such a Beast Vassal up close was off the charts. 

A Beast Vassal of a primogenitor could annihilate the twins any moment it pleased. Resistance was meaningless, and there was nowhere to run. Kojou Akatsuki had purposefully used his Beast Vassal to destroy the warehouse to drive that knowledge into them. 

“This is absurd… What are those damned puppets doing…?!” 

Kyle searched for the golems left to stand watch. He thought to use them to slow the Fourth Primogenitor down and escape in the meantime. 

However, when Kyle looked over his shoulder, all he saw were golem remains piled up without fanfare at the warehouse’s entrance. 

“Doesn’t really feel like enough. I had a lot of stress accumulated from all that hospital life.” 

A beast person girl wearing metal gloves was cracking her fingers as she gazed down at the golems’ remains. Golems only able to obey simple commands were extremely weak in hand-to-hand combat, which demanded snap decision-making. If you destroyed their joints, their ability to take a punch was rendered meaningless. A beast person expert in hand-to-hand combat might well be called puppet soldiers’ mortal enemy. 

“Don’t overdo it, Yuno. You’re still in the middle of recovery.” 

A small-statured teenage boy gunner supported the beast person girl with a flurry of shots from pistol-form Spell Throwers. The spell rounds he shot out without warning accurately destroyed each and every anti-intruder trap Keeley had set inside the warehouse. It was a feat impossible save for someone with excellent technique, knowledge of spellcraft, and a great deal of experience. 

The twins knew their identities. They were the civilian Attack Mages that had encountered IX-4 during its growth phase. They’d thought the pair was insignificant opposition, simple pieces of data for evaluating the demon beast’s combat capabilities. 

But these civilian Attack Mages, supposedly mere pieces of data, levied an aggressive hostility at the twins as helpers of the Gigafloat Management Corporation. The twins understood that they were no longer observers from a position of absolute safety; they were now the hunted. 

Asagi Aiba’s cheerful voice instilled bottomless terror into the twins. “Did you really think you could pick a fight with a Dominion and get away with it?” 

They’d heard that Itogami city-state, having only just achieved independence, had no great combat strength to its name. And yet, in that sparse amount of time since the end of the fight with the Unknown, the Gigafloat Management Corporation had managed to easily send Attack Mages of such caliber into the fray, as if to demonstrate that the Dominion had strength to spare. 

What they should have truly been wary of where Itogami Island was concerned was not the Fourth Primogenitor, but the numerous persons of talent gathered around him. 

“Kyle and Keeley Matsunaga—for suspicion of assault, destruction of property, and violations of the Special District Public Order Maintenance Act—I hereby place you under arrest. Please raise both hands and slowly get down on your knees.” 

As the twins stood still, they heard a voice from directly behind them. 

When they turned, there stood a small-statured girl gripping a silver spear. 

It was Yukina Himeragi, Sword Shaman of the Lion King Agency. The twins might have been excellent sorcerous engineers, but they had no chance of winning in a fight against her, an expert in anti-demon combat. 

“Urk…!” 

Keeley attempted to activate her teleportation ritual. It was virtually impossible for her to flee together with Kyle. But if she was alone, she believed she had a real shot at escape. 

“That is futile.” 

However, as if anticipating Keeley’s action, Yukina thrust her spear out. 

The magical energy-nullifying silver spear erased the magic circle at Keeley’s feet with ease. Then, still with no idea what had just happened, she tumbled onto the floor as Yukina subdued her. 

“Ugh…!” 

Abandoning his captive sister, Kyle began to run. He was heading for the warehouse’s back door. But noticing the figure emerging from it, he yelped. 

“Sorry to keep you waiting. I’m here to crush you as promised.” 

Surrounded by a powerful, malevolent aura, Kojou Akatsuki bared his white fangs with a vicious sneer. 

“Uu…aa…!” 

“It’s over, old man!” 

Kojou put his weight into it as he fervently punched the side of Kyle’s face. 

Speechless, the man in the white gown danced in the sky, making a half turn before falling face-first to the floor. 

Kojou watched as the unconscious man’s body twitched. 

That was how the demon beast incident that shook Itogami city-state came to an end. 

“Kojou fused Beast Vassals?” 

La Folia Rihavein, crown princess of the Kingdom of Aldegia, was listening with deep interest to the classical-looking phone brought in resting upon a silver tray. 

She was in a villa belonging to the Aldegian royal family. It was a small but beautiful building surrounded by forest and snowy plains. 

“…He is growing far too quickly… I see, so that is his aim…,” La Folia murmured to herself as she stared at the blue glacier visible through the window. “Do continue your surveillance,” she added, gently putting the phone receiver down. 

“Princess La Folia… That call just now…?” 

The question came from Sayaka Kirasaka, Shamanic War Dancer of the Lion King Agency. 

This time, Sayaka was acting not as the princess’s bodyguard, but as an emissary to the Kingdom of Aldegia from the Japanese government. Of course, the contents of the message Sayaka had brought concerned Kojou Akatsuki. 

It was because that very Kojou Akatsuki was the subject at hand that she could not let the matter pass without comment. 

“The demon beast uproar on Itogami Island seems to have come to an end.” 

Dismissing the female attendant in male clothing who had brought the phone in, La Folia slowly leaned back in her tall chair. 

Perhaps thanks to not being in public, she was wearing personal clothing rather than her usual ceremonial outfit. Her simple nightgown had a plunging neckline, exposing both her cleavage and her back. The way her silver hair was tied up left her neck exposed and engendered an atmosphere like it was some masterpiece by a famous painter. She wasn’t called the Second Coming of Freya for nothing. 

“A demon beast that had taken a spiritual reactor inside of it—such a shame I was not able to see it with my own eyes.” 

“Princess…!” 

Just when the report that the incident was at a close gave her a moment’s relief, La Folia’s indiscreet words made Sayaka grimace without thinking. 

“MAR Bionics Inc. has denied all connection to the crime,” La Folia continued. “However, all employees have been dismissed, and the enterprise is being dismantled. Kojou and the others have done well.” 

She was content. They had demonstrated to the entire world the sorry fate that awaited any who might seek to bring harm to Itogami city-state. 

To a corporate conglomerate the size of MAR, the smashing of one or two associated companies would surely be no great loss to it, but at the very least, the demonstration’s effect sufficed. 

“Things should calm down on that island for a little while. This is most fortuitous for us as well.” 

“Um…Princess. Are you serious about this?” 

Sayaka meekly gazed at La Folia with upturned eyes. 

With a conflicted expression, Sayaka was peering at a set of papers resting in her own hands. They were tickets for a flight to Aldegia, issued in the name of the royal family. 

“Yes, of course.” 

La Folia nodded with an earnest look on her face. Sayaka had known it was pointless to prod from the start. This princess’s words were always serious—no matter how much they might sound like a very bad joke. 

“I expect a positive reply, Sayaka.” 

The princess met Sayaka’s gaze with a grinning smile. 

A thoroughly lost expression came over Sayaka as she clenched the invitations addressed to Kojou Akatsuki. 

The girl stood alone in the otherwise empty early-morning classroom. 

She was holding a little paper bag against her chest. Looking at the seating arrangement map, she confirmed the location of Kojou Akatsuki’s desk; she gently tried to push the paper bag into the desk. 

However, the girl stopped when she noticed that the classroom door had quietly opened and someone had come in. 

“Finally found ya. What are you trying to do this time?” 

Kojou called out to the girl with the face just like Yukina’s—to Reina. 

Reina’s eyes bulged in apparent surprise as she turned back to Kojou. 

“You sure figured out I was here, huh, Kojou?” 

“That’s ’cause Yaze gave me a call. I rushed over.” Kojou sighed, showing off his own cell phone. 

When Reina had vanished without a trace immediately following the fight with the Unknown, Kojou and others had spent the whole night looking for her. Thanks to that, he was criminally short on sleep. 

“Oh yeah, Yazecchi’s Soundscape… It’s not a spell, which is a real pain…” Reina teasingly stuck out her tongue. “Well, fine… I meant to give you a present before heading back anyway, Kojou.” 

“A present?” 

“Yeah. I figured, giving this to you is the best way to return it.” 

Speaking those words, Reina held out the paper bag. It was barely big enough to put baked sweets inside. 

Kojou had his guard up as he warily accepted it, though it wasn’t particularly heavy. He was slightly relieved that it didn’t feel like something dangerous. 

“Going back? Where’d you come here from anyway?” Kojou asked, abruptly recalling what she’d just said. When he thought about it, he didn’t know a single thing about her identity, why she looked so much like Yukina, and why she’d assisted them in dispatching the demon beast. 

However, Reina seemed a little conflicted as she turned her eyes beyond the window. 

“If you ask me where, that’s a little tough to answer. Well, it’s a bit far away from here. At the speed of light, separated by, oh, twenty light-years or so?” 

“What are you…? Some kind of space alien?!” 

“Well, maybe it’s best we leave it at that.” She giggled at his surprise. “Come to think of it, Mo…Yukina isn’t with you?” 

“She’ll be here shortly. She came in from the back, you see.” 

“Wow, she wanted to pincer-attack me? Figures she’d try something underhanded like that…!” Reina knit her brow. 

It was at that exact moment that Yukina entered the classroom. 

“What do you mean, it figures?” said Yukina as she suddenly drew her silver spear. From the start, she was ready to fight. 

Reina hid in Kojou’s shadow, fearful. “Er, well… Yeah, Snowdrift Wolf looks like it’s in good shape. You’re continuing as his watcher for sure, right?” 

“Well, yes.” 

Yukina grudgingly nodded. She understood that Reina was trying to change the subject, but unsurprisingly, she was unable to ignore the matter of Snowdrift Wolf being repaired. 

The formal order for her to continue her duties arrived from the Lion King Agency late the night before. 

Just recently, a scandal had broken out concerning a certain politician on mainland Japan. He was a major figure in the governing coalition, enough that he was called the lynchpin of the political world, but a report had come out that he had a circle of young lovers around him. 

Though it became known that this politician was peerless in the political world for his love of huge breasts, it would not become known that this was the same politician who’d strongly asserted that the observer of the Fourth Primogenitor needed to be changed. 

For the sake of Yukina’s dignity, perhaps it was best that his wish—for the watcher to employ her female charms to seduce the Fourth Primogenitor—had been consigned to the darkness. 

“All’s well that ends well. Maybe I can rest easier now, too?” Reina breathed a sigh of relief. 

Yukina regarded her with suspicious eyes. “What relationship does my mission have to you?” 

“The heck? You don’t need to be so hostile and stuff. And I thought we’d part ways on good terms and everything—” 

The naked hostility in Yukina’s demeanor left Reina tapering her lips in a pout. However, before Reina could complete her objections, Yukina launched her attack. 

“I will not let you go! This time I will make you speak about everything!” 

Reina fended off the merciless blunt attack that Yukina launched her way. “Wait a… Are you still holding a grudge about the beating I gave you when I first…?!” 

It was a practiced movement, as if she knew Yukina’s attack patterns through and through. Realizing this, Yukina’s eyes grew sharper still. Now she was completely serious. 

“W-wait, Himeragi. Any way you slice it, that’s—” 

Seeing Yukina poise her silver spear, even Kojou was shaken. 

Up until that point, Reina’s misdeeds amounted to some minor acts of violence, but she hadn’t substantively hurt anyone. No matter how he looked at it, he thought suddenly thrusting a spear at her was overkill, let alone a holy spear able to slay even a vampire primogenitor. 

“Geh?! Wait, Snowdrift Wolf?! Hang on a sec! Anything but that! That’s the one thing you absolutely cannot use!” 

“Then stop resisting!” 

Thanks to having undergone the terrible ordeal of having her uniform stolen, there was no hesitation in Yukina’s actions. 

Reina instantly backed up to evade the silver blade as it thrust forward, rending the air. However, Yukina had read her move. An expert in anti-demon combat to begin with, Yukina employed Spirit Sight to peer an instant into the future. A few strands of Reina’s hair were severed, gently falling away. 

It was the very next moment that the abnormality occurred. 

The vampire girl’s entire body was enveloped by pale sparks. Her form grew hazy, swaying like a mirage. 

The girl had been substantial in their world without ever truly being there. It was through abusing demonic energy rivaling that of a vampire primogenitor that she had forced her body to remain. 

However, Yukina’s spear had destroyed the spell barrier deployed over her. 

Reina’s visible form rapidly thinned as it became insubstantial. It was as if she was being forced back to the place where her body of flesh and blood belonged… 

“Grr… You really don’t listen to what anyone says!! You’re so stupid, Mom!! You dummy!!” Reina shouted like a spoiled child at the glaring Yukina. 

Those were the last words she spoke. 

The dazzling glow of lightning was all that was left behind as Reina completely vanished. 

Kojou and Yukina stared, dumbfounded by the sight. The aura of the girl greatly resembling Yukina had completely vanished without a trace. There was no longer any way to find out who she was. 

The only clue left was from the last words she had spoken— 

Kojou turned to Yukina. “…Mom?” 

The vampire girl greatly resembling her had clearly spoken that word in Yukina’s direction—a stupid mom, at that. 

Yukina swiftly shook her head. 

Of course, she had no idea what that was all about; she most certainly had no children, let alone a daughter as big as that. 

Yes. For the time being, at least… 

Enveloped by a pale light, a naked girl appeared. 

She was the vampire daughter bearing the same face as the girl once known as Yukina Himeragi. 

The room was akin to a corporate laboratory. 

As the girl rested on one knee, there were countless metallic sorcerous devices and complex magic circles constructed all around her. The cables extending from the sorcerous devices were meticulously bundled together, connected to a terminal on top of a table. 

Sitting in front of that terminal was another girl. She wore a white gown on top of her school uniform. 

She was a high school student with a comely face and an extravagant hairstyle. It was no exaggeration to say that she was beautiful, but the sarcastic smile on her lips didn’t feel particularly sexy. 

“—Welcome back, Reina. You returned a bit sooner than I expected.” 

That high school girl with the extravagant hairstyle was sipping on some tomato juice as she called out to the naked girl. The girl had a straw in her mouth as a tiny, white fang poked out of the corner of her lips. 

“Moegi, I’m baaaack. Oh, where’s the doctor?” 

Reina stretched her back slightly as she stood up, surveying the lab interior. The two girls were the only people therein. The desk at the back of the lab, surrounded by countless monitors and keyboards, was vacant. 

“My mother left earlier. Some sort of trouble at the Imperial Parliament, she said.” 

The girl in the white gown called Moegi handed Reina clothes fresh from the laundry. They included a pair of underwear and strapped high socks—the school uniform of Saikai Academy’s middle school, remodeled only recently. 

“Is that so? I guess the Empire’s greatest technological advisor has it tough, too,” Reina said nonchalantly as she got dressed in the underwear handed to her. Moegi waited for when she’d finished putting on her shoes to present some cold tomato juice to her. 

“That goes for your mom, too, doesn’t it, Reina? Want a drink?” 

“Yeah. Thanks.” 

Reina wolfed down the tomato juice she’d accepted. Whew, came her sigh. 

“How are you feeling physically? Any side effects from the transfer ritual?” 

“I was better off than I thought I’d be. I wasn’t sure what’d happen when I got cut by Snowdrift Wolf, though.” 

“Cut?” 

Moegi looked back at Reina, astonished. 

“Don’t tell me they realized you were using a temporal transfer ritual?” 

Reina’s shoulders sank as she replied to her concerned older half-sister’s question, “Mm. It’s probably all right. Seems like Natsuki picked up on it at some point, though.” 

Natsuki was a powerful witch who specialized in spatial control. There was no question that all it took was a single instant of touching Reina’s body to realize the nature of the barrier deployed over her. 

“Oh well,” said Moegi, letting out a murmur of apparent praise. “So you managed to repair Snowdrift Wolf, then?” 

“Of course.” 

“I see. It would be good if The Blood gave up on interfering, but…” 

“I suppose so.” 

Moegi’s melancholic-sounding murmur made Reina’s expression tighten for a single moment. When she was serious, the side of her face looked even more like Yukina’s than usual. 

Moegi immediately returned to her normal tone of voice as she asked, “So how was that world?” 

“It was fun. I met all sorts of people, and I got to talk to Kojou when he was in good health before he, y’know, died and stuff,” she murmured with a forlorn smile, staring into space. 

For a moment, Moegi fell silent, her breath having seemingly caught. 

The two girls gazed into each other’s eyes in silence for a little while longer, and then… 

“No, no, no, he’s not dead. And it’s not like he’d stay dead if you killed him anyway…!” 

It was Moegi who broke the silence with a joke first. 

I’m kidding, Reina seemed to say with her tongue stuck out. Then, having finished dressing in her school uniform, she approached the laboratory’s windowsill, strongly pulling up the blinds covering the window. 

Spreading beyond the window was a vast cityscape glowing in the morn as far as her eyes could see. 

There stood the land once known as Itogami Island. It was a Demon Sanctuary wrought from metal, resin, and magic. It was the fourth Dominion in the world. 

Looking down at the long shadows cast over the giant imperial capital by the morning sun, Reina murmured, seemingly nostalgic. 

“Empire of the Dawn, I’m home.” 

The only thing left fallen in the place from which the vampire girl vanished was her uniform, stripped off and abandoned. 

The pale sparks that had scattered about and the vestiges of magical energy had already vanished. 

“She’s really gone…?” 

Kojou asked as he surveyed the classroom’s interior. Yukina made a hesitant shake of her head. “I don’t know. It did not feel as if she fled via teleportation, however…” 

“Figures.” He nodded. 

Reina had not fled of her own will. It felt more like some spell tethering her to that world had been broken, and the recoil had returned her to the world from which she came. 

“This school uniform is…?” 

Kojou warily touched the school uniform left lying in the classroom. The only evidence that demonstrated Fake Yukina had really existed was the faint, vanishing warmth remaining in that uniform. 

“It’s mine. As I mentioned, she stole it from me when she attacked me while dressing in the changing room,” Yukina replied with an indignant tone as she gathered up the scattered pieces of the school uniform. She seemed to have been genuinely sore about being taken by surprise and rendered helpless. 

“I’ve gotta say, though, she really did look like you. Enough you’d think you were her actual mother. She called you Mom and everything,” Kojou murmured with no real thought behind his words, remembering Reina’s appearance. 

Yukina made no move to deny that part. However, she knit her brows, seeming slightly perplexed. “But she was a vampire…wasn’t she?” 

“Huh?” Kojou stiffened. 

Natsuki had apparently said that Reina was a second-generation vampire. If she really was Yukina’s daughter, it meant her father had to be a vampire primogenitor. 

Furthermore, Reina seemed to know Yaze and Asagi, and on top of that, she’d called Nagisa Auntie… 

Amid that stifling silence, Kojou and Yukina met each other’s eyes. 

“No way, right?” 

“I—I suppose not.” 

The pair hastily averted their eyes and laughed with dry voices. Yukina’s face was red to the tips of her ears. 

An uncomfortable silence fell once more, making Kojou sigh, exhausted. 

Reina had really given them the runaround, but strangely, he couldn’t hate the girl at all. He thought he’d have liked to talk to her a little more. Even so, he didn’t have much of a desolate feeling. Somehow, he sensed that he’d be able to reunite with her someday. He sensed that he’d definitely be meeting her again. 

“Come to think of it, what the heck was this…?” 

Remembering that Reina had handed him a so-called present, Kojou opened the paper bag he was carrying. 

Wafting up from the paper bag was a whiff of perfume from small articles of clothing. 

Without any thought, Kojou pulled these out, unwittingly spreading them before his eyes. 

He’d completely thought they were handkerchiefs, but they were actually a small pair of underwear. A freshly washed bra and panties—these comprised Reina’s present. 

Reina had said she was returning them. In other words, she was returning them to their proper owner, just like the school uniform she had worn. He didn’t even have to think about it; it was obvious who that was. 

“…Senpai…!” 

Yukina’s deeply resentful voice left Kojou blue in the face. 

Having gone rigid, still clenching the panties in his hands, Kojou weakly shook his head. 

“W-wait…I can explain, so put the spear away…!” 

“Just how long are you going to look at them spread out like that, stupid senpai—!!” 

In that early-morning classroom, Yukina’s enraged shouts echoed along with the shrieks of the World’s Mightiest Vampire. 

Amid the chaos of history, they still had great travails before them. 

Their faint glimpse into the future had vanished like a midsummer night’s illusion, illuminating nothing to them about where their future might lead. Even so, that day, too, the Demon Sanctuary of Itogami Island continued quietly floating on the surface of the sea. 

The morning sun made the water’s horizon shine white. 

A new day had begun, bringing the future just a tiny bit closer.