Strike the Blood - Volume 19 - Chapter Ep

OUTRO

A squadron of gray aircraft carrying cargo landed on Itogami Island. Yume Eguchi bit her lip as she looked up at what seemed like an ominous flock of night crows.

From the headquarters on the roof of Tensou Academy, Yaze climbed the back of the robot tank. “Military cargo planes?! From which country?”

Lydianne was in her pilot suit as she furiously operated a control panel inside her cockpit, ordering her AI to identify based on the target data acquired. “This military identification code… Good heavens! The Fallen Dynasty?! Bogey Number Six is a VC-17 Gray Bayadh, personal aircraft of the Second Primogenitor, Fallgazer—King Aswadguhl Aziz.”

Ki Juranbarada, who’d been napping on pipe chairs lined up in a row, leaped to his feet when he heard Lydianne’s voice. “…So that hermit prick finally showed up. Sure made me wait awhile.” His eyes sparkled as he glared at the cargo planes overhead. His reaction was like that of an elementary schooler eagerly awaiting the return of an old playmate.

“Your Lordship…? What do you mean? Why has the fallen king come to this island…?” Aradahl asked, serious.

Don’t you get it? said the exasperated face with which Ki looked back at Aradahl. “It’s obvious. It’s to join in. To enter Itogami Island’s Electoral War.”

“You…cannot be serious…!”

“Velesh, drop the Imperial Knights. You did bring them, didn’t you?”

Aradahl was trembling as he realized the gravity of the situation in contrast to Ki’s laid-back air. The Imperial Knights under Aradahl’s command were the elite unit of the Warlord’s Empire, directly under the command of its Imperial Parliament. Composed of handpicked demons powerful even by regular army standards, they were granted top-level equipment. If they felt like it, they were strong enough to destroy not only Itogami Island but the Japanese mainland itself.

However, even the Imperial Knights were not the most powerful unit the Warlord’s Empire had to offer.

“Your Lordship, what of the Imperial Guards—the Warlord’s Army?” Aradahl asked.

The Warlord’s Army in service to the First Primogenitor was Ki’s self-created unit, assembled as his personal subordinates. Composed not only of vampires but also beast people, witches, and humans—as well as numerous demons of unknown natures—the scope and details of their activities were completely unknown. The one certainty was that it was the most frightening unit of all. They were the symbol of the First Primogenitor’s power—the Lost Warlord’s trump card.

Ki, leader of that fearsome group, smiled impetuously in response to Aradahl’s question. Then, as if it was some kind of cue, he snapped his fingers.

“They’ve been here for quite a long time.”

“…What?!”

Before Ki’s words were even finished, multiple figures appeared behind Aradahl.

There was no sense that they’d teleported. They’d suddenly appeared as if the darkness of night had taken humanoid form.

They weren’t on the roof of Tensou Academy only, either. At the large-scale commercial facility known as Thetis Mall and the high-class parking facility in the upscale part of town—similar figures appeared all over Island West.

The spectacle declared one thing with a bang—Island West was under the First Primogenitor’s rule.

Ki ignored the speechless, immobile Aradahl and shifted his gaze toward the coast. “Seems like the old hag with too much makeup on managed to land in one piece.”

The sky of Island South was covered by a black cloud. A black-dyed fleet of warships had appeared off the coast. It was a fleet of armored submersible aircraft carriers belonging to the Third Primogenitor, the Chaos Bride.

“So, li’l ruler…” Walking in front of the shaken Yume, Ki kneeled down so that he was at eye level. He respectfully offered his right hand, like a prince inviting a town girl to a dance. “As Ki Juranbarada, ruler of the Warlord’s Empire, I request an alliance with you.”

“An…alliance…?” Yume’s eyes opened big and wide as she stared at Ki.

Taking her small hand, Ki winked an eye with a guileless look.

“For the time being, we’ll take over Island West and guarantee the safety of the citizens. No one’ll lay a hand on them, not the Order of the End, not the other primogenitors. So how about it?”

They moved at a speed of some eight hundred kilometers per hour as violent winds rolled outside the window with a roar.

Sayaka Kirasaka remained seated in the cargo compartment of the plane, narrowing her eyes at a tiny monitor on a military-grade communications device.

On the monitor was a beautiful silver-haired, blue-eyed girl—La Folia Rihavein, princess of the kingdom of Aldegia.

“This is a map of the current array of forces on Itogami Island according to our operatives on the ground.” La Folia shared a map of the island, divided into four large sections. “Island East is under military occupation by the Fallen Dynasty, West by the Warlord’s Empire, and South by the Chaos Zone. Currently, they are countering the Order of the End acolytes, and no casualties among the citizenry have been confirmed. However, the Order of the End is still occupying Keystone Gate.”

Sayaka felt dizzy as she listened to La Folia’s explanation.

The rulers of every Dominion that existed on Earth—all of the vampire primogenitors—were gathered on that tiny island. It was a disastrous situation. Until a few hours ago, no one would have predicted this. It wouldn’t be strange for a global war to break out, putting even the war of the primogenitors to shame. Sayaka couldn’t wrap her head around this emergency.

“Is Kojou Akatsuki safe?” she asked, maintaining her composure anyway.

La Folia shook her head slightly. “The Fourth Primogenitor’s whereabouts are unknown. However, just prior to sunset, a report came in confirming a clash between two primogenitor-class Beast Vassals underground in Island North.”

“Island North… Hmm.”

Sayaka firmly pursed her lips. If the other three primogenitors had the west, east, and south floats locked down, the chances the Fourth Primogenitor was in Island North were high. Yukina was probably there with him.

“I am very sorry that I cannot do more than this to assist at such an amusi…such a terrible time, Sayaka. I cannot dispatch Aldegian Knights to Itogami Island. They are not qualified to participate in the Electoral War.”

La Folia lowered her eyes. By the end, she really sounded dismayed from the bottom of her heart.

From Sayaka’s perspective, though, she had one good piece of news. With Itogami Island in utter chaos, having that black-hearted, scheming princess further involved would make the situation truly unsalvageable.

“No, it is quite enough that you are transporting me as far as Itogami Island,” Sayaka said. “Stopping sorcerous terrorism on Itogami Island is the Lion King Agency’s job, after all.”

Sayaka looked down at her own outfit.

She was wearing a thick pressure suit, reminiscent of an astronaut’s, as well as an oxygen mask. On top of that, she had a large backpack. La Folia’s subordinates had forced her to wear it when loading her into the cargo plane’s hold.

“Um, Princess… Incidentally, what is this equipment for? Why a pressure suit? And what is this baggage on my back?”

“It is equipment for a HALO drop.”

“Halo…drop?” Sayaka tilted her head over the unfamiliar term.

La Folia grinned. “It means High Altitude, Low Opening. It is a parachute drop method developed for infiltrating enemy territory during wartime. The cargo bay hatch will open at an altitude of ten thousand meters above Itogami Island. At that time, please engage in free fall until an altitude of three hundred meters.”

“Pa…parachute?!”

Sayaka’s eyes bulged as she looked at the pack on her back. The sleek, refined design made her fail to realize it, but when she looked harder, it couldn’t be anything but a parachute.

“F-free-fall from ten thousand meters—you mean I have to jump out from this aircraft?!”

“Well, you can hardly land at Itogami Island’s airport facility now that the Fallen Dynasty has occupied it.”

La Folia spoke with a serene air. However, her blue eyes were narrowed in a teasing fashion.

Sayaka began sweating bullets. She might have been a Shamanic War Dancer of the Lion King Agency, an expert in curses and assassination, but parachute drops were beyond her forte.

“P-p-please wait. It is not that I am afraid of heights, but ten thousand meters is a little…”

“Don’t worry. I went ahead and made midair posture control and the opening of the parachute automatic.”

“Princess?! Princess, you’re definitely doing this for your own amusement, aren’t you?!” La Folia twitched.

La Folia elegantly waved a hand at her. “Oh my, it would seem you are at the drop point. Well then, Sayaka, I pray for your good fortune in battle.”

Thud. A dull sound echoed as the rear hatch of the cargo plane opened. Frigid air from an altitude of ten thousand meters blew into the plane, washing over Sayaka’s slender physique.

What she saw below was total darkness. There was only the surface of the night ocean.

“W-wait! I’m not emotionally prepared for…! N-nooooooooo! Save me, Yukina! Yukinaaaa!”

Sayaka dropped, seemingly hurled out of the completely open hatch.

The last of her screams vanished, heard by no one as they were absorbed by the night sky.

Shio Hikawa abruptly stared at the night sky above her head.

She was on a small, fan-shaped sub-float some eighteen kilometers removed from Itogami Island; it was the coast of Blue Elysium.

Since it was nothing but a resort facility, the artificial isle had not been included in the Electoral War, nor had it come under assault by acolytes of the Order of the End. Due to the suspension of ferry service, some of the tourists were inconvenienced from being unable to return home, but things had been largely peaceful beyond that.

Shio stood upon that sub-float’s sandy coast and twisted her neck in curiosity.

Yuiri Haba turned to her. “Shio? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” Shio curtly shook her head. “It’s my mind playing tricks. I thought I heard Kirasaka screaming.”

“Oh reeeally?” Yuiri smiled with a suggestive leer. She no doubt found it amusing that Shio, who normally bickered with Sayaka, had the girl on her mind.

“It’s really not as if I’m worried about her, okay?” Shio insisted.

Yuiri’s smile widened. She was even more amused than before.

“It’s all right. I’ll keep this secret from Kirasaka.”

“I said I’m not worried about her!”

“Yeah…” Yuiri’s expression tightened. “It’s Kojou and Yukii we should be worried about, huh.” She gave the hilt of the long sword she clutched against her chest a strong squeeze.

Shio made a weighty nod of her own.

Though they were removed from Itogami Island proper, they had heard about the current situation through various media. In particular, information from Yukari Endou through her own familiar had proven swift and accurate.

They knew that Koyomi Shizuka of the Three Saints of the Lion King Agency had been injured, that Kojou Akatsuki had confronted The Blood, and that his whereabouts thereafter were unknown. Naturally, they also knew the current state of Itogami Island.

“Who would have thought the other primogenitors would march on Itogami Island?” Yuiri muttered.

“Even the Lion King Agency can’t lift a finger in this situation…” Shio sighed.

As a result of the three primogenitors joining the Order of the End’s Electoral War, the Japanese government had been left without an opportune moment to intervene. It was unable to dispatch more Attack Mages from the Lion King Agency; the same surely went for the Bureau of Astrology and Federal Attack Mages from other branches.

Excluding Yukina, permanently stationed as the Fourth Primogenitor’s observer, Shio and Yuiri were the only Lion King Agency Attack Mages on Itogami Island. Shio and Yuiri had used their vacation time to come to Blue Elysium’s Demon Beast Park to see Glenda and have fun.

Being off duty to begin with, Shio and Yuiri were rather short on gear. Nor were they confident that they could oppose the Order of the End and vampire primogenitors. But given that there were no other Attack Mages able to make a move, they had no choice but to go save Kojou and Yukina themselves.

Besides, Shio and Yuiri weren’t the only ones who wanted to be of assistance to Kojou and Yukina both.

“Glenda, how about it? Think you can manage?” Yuiri asked the girl with steel-colored hair in shallow water as the waves lapped against her.

“Dah!” Lifting her head, Glenda affirmed with a powerful tone.

Glenda’s existence was one reason why Yuiri and Shio had decided to go to Itogami Island. The dragon girl was able to fly as far as Itogami Island proper with the two of them on her back.

A dragon able to glide without making a sound or using demonic energy could probably slip past the Order of the End and the primogenitors’ surveillance to infiltrate Itogami Island.

Of course, deep down Shio and Yuiri didn’t want to involve Glenda in such dangerous acts, but she wanted to be there.

Additionally, there was one more person they were taking with them, and it was someone whom Shio and Yuiri were meeting for the first time. However, they’d known her name from long before. They knew little about her beyond her name and that her power was necessary for Kojou Akatsuki’s victory over The Blood.

That girl was hiding behind Glenda’s back, watching the approaching waves in surprise and fright. She wore a men’s white parka over her diminutive frame, concealing her face under its deep hood.

A few short tufts of hair spilled out from the hood’s neck. It was pale blond hair that seemed to change color depending on the angle you viewed it, almost like a rainbow.

“You’re all set? We’re all going to ride Glenda,” Yuiri said. “There will be some shaking, so try to hold on tight.”

The girl tensely lifted her face and looked at Yuiri. Her big blue eyes showed how scared she was. Even so, she awkwardly nodded, wringing out all the courage she could muster as she spoke with a serene voice.

“I—I permit it.”