Strike the Blood - Volume 19 - Chapter 2.4

4

A pungent scent pricking at the nose and white steam gushed up from the melted asphalt.

It was the runway strip at the coast guard base. Kojou was standing alone at the blast site where the two Beast Vassals had clashed. The rows of buildings and equipment nearby had collapsed, leaving nothing behind save their ruins.

The acolytes of the Order of the End and the boy claiming to be The Blood had vanished along with the beast people of the Rogues Alliance. Kojou was the only ambulatory person in the place.

“Himeragi, where are you?!” Kojou yelled as he meandered about the rubble.

The heavily damaged sub-float had divided into several units, and many of them had begun to sink. The unit connected to the blast site was still intact, but he didn’t know how long it would hold together.

His voice became hoarse as he continued to yell. “Yaze! Asagi! Nagisa! Kanase! Answer, someone! Please!”

The damage was greater in the surrounding areas than near to the blast site, where the two Beast Vassals had canceled out each other’s demonic energy. In particular, the damage to the coast guard station that had sustained the brunt of the raging winds was severe. The cheaply made building had completely collapsed, for the most part simply pushed beyond its limits.

Unease racked Kojou as he approached the remains of the structure.

He unwittingly brought his feet to a halt due to the sweetness hovering in the air around him. It was an artificial yet somehow nostalgic scent.

“What is this smell…? Strawberry…?”

The particularly out-of-place scent left Kojou fiercely confused. There was no single source for the scent. It had mixed in the sea breeze characteristic of Itogami Island, blowing the sweet berry aroma his way.

The thinly illuminated surface of the predawn sea was a pretty, light red color, almost as if some edible dye had dispersed within.

The seawater was hard as if it had been frozen, but it occasionally jiggled instead of making waves.

It was bizarre, completely surreal. It was ridiculous, yet he felt no fear. The seawater around the sub-float had changed into strawberry gelatin.

And Kojou didn’t even have to think about the identity of the culprit behind the phenomenon. Only the girl who could employ The Cleansing was capable of such ridiculous handiwork.

“Asagi…? To stop the people in the sea from drowning…?”

Why strawberry gelatin, though? Kojou thought dubiously, but he was relieved nonetheless. At the very least, the fact she’d used The Cleansing meant that Asagi was safe.

He didn’t know how she had managed to get back in communication with Mogwai. If she had retaken her power as the Priestess of Cain, he didn’t think she’d let even the Order of the End get the better of her. Chances were high that she’d already walked across the jellified sea and escaped to Itogami Island proper.

Kojou took out his own smartphone, holding out hope that all phone lines were back. Yet, the reception status indicated he was still out of range.

Suddenly, he sensed that someone was calling out to him from nearby. He could faintly hear a girl’s voice coming from the wreckage of the collapsed building.

“Akatsuki! Akatsuki, is that you?!”

“…Kanase?! Where are you?!”

“Akatsuki…! I am here.”

Relying on the snippets of Kanon’s voice reaching him, Kojou climbed over a mountain of rubble.

He saw a small, silver-haired girl sitting on the ground. Her entire body was caked with dirt and dust, but she did not appear to be injured. However, he felt that her expression was distinctly somber even so.

“You all right, Kanase?!”

“Yes, I am fine. However…”

Nodding in response to Kojou’s question, Kanon shifted her eyes shifted her eyes downward. A large man wearing rugged clothing was there in a heap. Ugaki, all a mess and smeared with blood from wounds, was lying facedown.

Noticing Kojou’s approach, Ugaki lifted his face and listlessly smiled in apparent relief. “Big Bro…I’m glad yer all right. That was amazin’…”

“Ugaki?! You…!”

Kojou was at a loss for words.

Ugaki’s lower body was pinned under the structure’s wall. His upper body had a broken piece of rebar piercing him from his back all the way to his chest. Had he not been a troll with such a resilient life force, it would have been no surprise for such grave wounds to have killed him instantly.

Kanon continued holding Ugaki’s hand as she lowered her eyes in anguish. “He shielded me when the building collapsed. He’s hurt…because he saved me…”

Kojou was a little surprised. He hadn’t expected a man like Ugaki to put his life on the line for Kanon, someone they’d barely met.

“Got it. Kanase, move back a little.”

Kojou issued a warning as he entwined a cloud of crimson demonic energy around his right hand.

Kanon politely yielded. Ugaki was plainly afraid, but he was immobile and unable to do anything about it. Nor did Kojou have any words to spare for him. It was far more difficult to finely control the demonic energy of the overpowered Beast Vassals of the Fourth Primogenitor than to unleash it without limitations.

Kojou meticulously steadied his aim to minimize damage to the surrounding area and released his demonic energy. The deep red mist transformed into a raging wind that blew away the building wreckage pinning Ugaki, along with the surrounding rubble with it.

“Heh-heh… Incredible…”

A voice of admiration trickled out of Ugaki, even while coughing on the dust lingering over him. Kojou put his arms around Ugaki’s huge frame and sat him up. He was still impaled by a piece of rebar almost two centimeters thick, but Kojou judged it better not to yank it out. Pulling it out would just make the bleeding that much worse.

Albeit, there was no guarantee that he’d be all right with it left in him, either.

“Hey, Ugaki! Pull yourself together! What happened to that healing ability you’re so proud of?!”

“Urgh, that’s a tall order with this much blood loss, even for me. Plus, my buds all ran away.”

Kojou lent him a shoulder and lifted up his huge troll frame. It seemed Ugaki had a broken leg and was unable to walk on his own.

“Shit… There’s no way to call an ambulance. You just wait; I’ll get you to a hospital right away!”

“Heh-heh… Sorry, Big Bro…”

Kojou walked forward, wobbling from supporting Ugaki, who was around twice his own weight.

Kanon’s eyes turned skyward as if something had taken her by surprise. “Akatsuki!”

“What?” Kojou narrowed his eyes, perplexed.

A strange sound was echoing overhead. It sounded like the buzzing of a giant bee. The noise grated on the ears.

A number of white synthetic objects were descending from the morning sky that had only just begun to brighten. It was a rare sight on Itogami Island—a platoon of large helicopters.

Kojou stood stiff in bewilderment. “What’s…up with that…?”

In total, there were six helicopters in the air. Each was descending to a different sub-float, stopping in midair and hovering just short of landing. Descending from ropes dangling from each craft were people wrapped in white, magically protected clothing.

Some of them were armed, but it didn’t seem that seizing control over domains was their objective. They examined the Rogues Alliance casualties and began to render assistance and healing.

Finally, one group among them noticed Kojou and company and approached with a radio in one hand. “…Participants in the Electoral War? Ruler candidates?” the apparent leader of the paramedic team asked.

Kojou pointed at Ugaki. “This guy is. We were just passing through.”

The team leader nodded with a neutral expression. “Goose One to Goose Leader. Three survivors discovered. One is gravely injured. Requesting recovery unit.”

“Goose Leader, roger. Sending the duck your way.”

“…Who are you people?”

Kojou posed the question as he listened in on their conversation over the radio.

They didn’t look like ordinary people, either in gear or in level of organization. But he didn’t think they were Island Guard or Japanese government Attack Mages. He was surprised that a group like theirs existed on Itogami Island at all.

“We are the Electoral War Administration Committee.”

“…The what?”

“A neutral organization assigned to work related to administering and regulating the Electoral War. Please think of it as exercising the same functions as the Gigafloat Management Corporation while it is shut down.”

Kojou’s wariness was raw as he glared at the team leader. “So you’re with the Order of the End?”

“You are mistaken. We have been contracted to carry out support for the residents of this Demon Sanctuary, nothing more.”

“Support how…?”

“In tangible terms, we dispense water, food rations, clothing, and so on. We secure and treat the wounded. We also carry out maintenance of the demon registration bracelets. It is mostly employees of MAR in charge of the actual work.”

“MAR’s doing that?”

Surprise spread further across Kojou’s face. But some part of him accepted it as well.

MAR—Magna Ataraxia Research Inc.—was the leading face among East Asia’s giant corporate concerns. It researched and developed a wide range of products, from pharmaceuticals to fighter aircraft, and constituted one of the world’s few sorcerous manufacturing conglomerates.

It was unthinkable that people from any corporate concern except MAR were even capable of replacing the Gigafloat Management Corporation’s operations, if only partially. This also resolved the mystery of why the Electoral War Administration Committee was so well supplied and well organized.

“You said you were hired to do this work, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Who’s the client?”

“Trade secret.”

The team leader replied to Kojou’s quick follow-up in businesslike fashion.

During that time, a subordinate of his on the rescue team was pressing a small, flat device against Ugaki.

“I have finished identifying the casualty. Mark Ugaki. Island South, domain fifty-seven. Troll—do you forfeit the Electoral War?”

The rescue team member’s question brought a weak nod from Ugaki.

Ugaki was prone and lying on a stretcher as he looked up at Kojou and laughed like they were buddies.

“Big Bro, take care of the rest, ya hear me? Become the true ruler of Itogami Island…in my place… Heh-heh…”

“Hey, Ugaki…!”

I don’t remember making a promise like that— Before Kojou could speak his retort aloud, a recovery robot carried away the stretcher Ugaki was on top of.

He’d been a brazen, self-centered troll from start to finish, but somehow Kojou couldn’t hate the man. And more than that, Ugaki had put his life on the line to save Kanon. I owe him one, huh? Kojou thought, feeling unsettled by that.

“Are you a ruler candidate of this domain?” the team leader asked.

Kojou stood stiffly, feeling out of place. “Nah… I’m…” He shook his head. He didn’t remember applying to be any such thing, but his presence may well have resulted in both Ugaki and the Rogues Alliance having to forfeit.

“Hmm.” The team leader nodded, handing something out toward Kojou. It was a thin data card meant to be inserted into a demon registration bracelet.

“This is the data extracted from his demon registration bracelet. I am handing it to you.”

“…Got it. I’ll take it.”

Kojou took the card with a sigh. Then, he watched as Ugaki was loaded onto a helicopter. “Where do you plan on taking him?”

“An MAR infirmary ship. It’s moored at a provisional harbor on New Itogami Island.”

With a sudden thought, Kojou pointed beside him at Kanon. “Can you take that girl into your care, too?”

He thought it might be far safer to leave her in MAR’s care than for her to remain on Itogami Island now that it was the stage for the Electoral War.

The team leader said coldly, “We are contractually prohibited from accepting any such request.”

Kojou felt like he had no one left to turn to.

“It is a ruler’s duty to protect his subjects. If you have no confidence that you can protect her, you should find another ruler candidate to rely on.”

“…!”

The team leader’s statement was so one-sided that it spontaneously ticked Kojou off, making him want to argue. Kanon strongly clung to Kojou’s right hand. It was the reaction of a puppy fearful of being abandoned by her owner.

“I shall go with Akatsuki. Until death do us part.”

“Um, ah, that’s…”

Aren’t those words supposed to mean something else? thought Kojou, bewildered as he looked at Kanon. He gave up on convincing her when he sensed a powerful will behind her earnest expression.

“…Got it. We’ll look for Nagisa and the others together. Either way, there’s no telling how far we can trust these Electoral War Administration Committee types.”

“Yes.” Kanon happily nodded.

The rescue team of the Electoral War Administration Committee was using expensive-looking equipment and robots without compunction as they searched the entirety of the sub-float. It was clearly far more efficient to leave that task to them than for Kojou and Kanon to wander about. If they couldn’t find Yukina and the others, it was probably safe to assume that they were no longer in the immediate area.

“Maybe they crossed over that gelatin to get to the main island…or maybe they ran away with Rogues Alliance survivors after them.”

Kojou exhaled with annoyance as he gazed at the still-firm surface of the sea. Based on Asagi’s use of The Cleansing, the odds she and the others had already reached Itogami Island proper were quite high.

The problem was that there wasn’t a single clue remaining as to their current locations.

“Akatsuki, there is…a wolf!”

When Kanon shouted while gazing at the jellified sea, Kojou stared in a daze in the direction she had pointed. “…Huh? A wolf? Why would a wolf be on Itogami Isla…?”

Kojou’s doubt-filled murmur fell silent. What was standing on the translucent sea surface illuminated by the light of daybreak was definitely a wolf. It had silvery fur giving off a metallic luster.

“That’s one of Himeragi’s shikigami!”

Kojou’s expression brightened when he realized the wolf’s true nature. It was a remotely controlled familiar created by ritual magic identical to ones Yukina had used previously.

“It seems to be telling us to follow.”

The silver wolf looked toward Kojou and Kanon, then it turned around and broke off in a run toward Itogami Island proper. It seemed to be there to invite the pair just as Kanon had asserted.

Kojou leaped down to the hardened surface of the sea to chase after the shikigami. Kanon immediately followed suit.

The shikigami increased its speed even as they watched. It was as fast as the form of a wolf suggested. If they were careless, they’d immediately lose sight of it.

“Shit, it’s fast! Kanase, hold tight for a bit, ’kay?!”

“Yes?”

Though Kojou hesitated for a single instant, he put a hand around Kanon’s hips. Then, he picked her right up. He’d judged that a demonified Kojou running while holding her in his arms was faster than matching Kanon’s pace.

“Don’t let go!”

“O-okay…!”

Kanon’s cheeks reddened as she firmly wrapped her hands around Kojou’s neck.

Her pleasant softness threw him off a little as Kojou increased the speed of his running.