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Strike the Blood - Volume 20 - Chapter 1.1




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CHAPTER ONE

AN AWFUL MORNING

1

A quiet predawn breeze blew across the reflective surface of the sea.

Against the background of the faint white glow of the water’s horizon hovered the mirage-like shadow of a city.

This place was called Itogami Island. It was an artificial isle constructed from carbon fiber, resin, metallic alloys, and sorcery, floating on the Pacific Ocean.

A single demon beast spread its enormous wings, gliding atop the air currents as it approached the heavily mechanized city. It was a dragon covered in metallic scales.

“—Reverberate.”

A Shamanic War Dancer of the Lion King Agency riding atop the creature’s back—Shio Hikawa—chanted the incantation with a solemn tone of voice.

Drawing spell tablets from her breast pocket, she transformed them into seabirds one after another, whereupon they took flight.

These were simplified shikigami possessing no combat capabilities. Their uptime was also short, but it was plenty for reconnaissance purposes.

The materials she’d used to craft the spell tablets by hand weren’t proper gear from the Lion King Agency but instead store-bought ink and paper. That was why the seabirds’ silhouettes somehow looked like scribbles. Shio had a hard time with making spell tablets—or rather, with aesthetics in general.

Nevertheless, they faithfully obeyed Shio’s commands and approached Itogami Island.

Through borrowing her familiars’ vision, she would be able to ascertain the state of the island. That was her objective.

She would have loved to locate Kojou Akatsuki’s whereabouts, then set off to rendezvous with him as soon as possible, but—

The instant that desire crept into her thoughts, pain resembling static electricity grated against her nerves.

The shikigami she’d sent out had come under attack. Since Shio was the caster, the impact of the blow had transferred to her.

After the first one fell apart, it was all downhill from there. In less than thirty seconds, every last one of the twenty shikigami under her control were shot down and annihilated.

“Shio…?!” asked Yuiri Haba, looking back to see Shio staggering and moaning in pain.

Yuiri was cute but earnest-looking and an excellent Sword Shaman to boot; Shio was proud to have her as a partner. To reassure her gentle-hearted best friend, Shio forced herself to smile back.

“I’m just a little numb. No problem…but this is a bind. Itogami Island’s airspace is filled with sorcerers’ familiars. Slipping shikigami past them without getting spotted might not be possible.”

“That figures, with the Dominion armies coming and all.”

Mindful of the sea breeze putting her forelocks askew, Yuiri glared at Itogami Island as it floated on the sea.

Yeah, Shio nodded. Then she shifted her eyes toward the final passenger.

Supported in Yuiri’s embrace while straddling the dragon’s back was a small, blond, blue-eyed girl.

Actually, it would be closer to the truth to say she wasn’t straddling so much as desperately clinging to the dragon to avoid being thrown off.

The girl was wearing a baggy, hooded coat. For some reason, she had a Saikai Academy uniform on underneath it.

Seeing her body shrunken in fear like that, no one would think her the World’s Mightiest Vampire—or at least a single portion of him.

Shio and Yuiri, her escorts, felt like they could scarcely believe it themselves.

“Avrora, are you all right?”

“Uu,” went the girl, trembling slightly as Yuiri swiftly stroked her back.

“Th-this chaotic…shaking is…”

The girl wove her words with a pained, broken voice.

Looking back, Yuiri saw that her face was pale, and her blue eyes seemed lost and adrift. The rumbling of the dragon’s back must have made her dizzy and queasy. In other words, she was car—dragon-sick.

“Just hang in there a little longer. How about you try loosening your skirt? And try to look as far into the distance as you can.”

“…Under…stood…”

Raising a voice so frail it threatened to vanish that very moment, the girl drooped, slouching her shoulders.

Since she was seated in front of everyone else, she would most certainly take down everyone with her if she vomited. For that reason, Yuiri nursed the girl with a look of deadly seriousness. Somehow, the dragon the girls were riding—Glenda—seemed a bit concerned.

“The last Kaleid Blood…huh?”

Gazing at the limp, dragon-sick girl with conflicting feelings, Shio unwittingly mumbled this to herself.

This was Avrora Florestina—the twelfth Kaleid Blood.

Such was the name granted to her. A Beast Vassal of the Fourth Primogenitor, part of the World’s Mightiest Vampire, was sealed inside her body.

Shio and the others were heading to Itogami Island, which had transformed into a perilous battlefield, to link up Avrora with Kojou Akatsuki wherever he might be.

However, Shio quickly began to regret having accepted the role.

It wasn’t because she was unreliable. Of course, that wasn’t to say she lacked uncertainty altogether, but if anything, what Shio felt was a vague sense of fear.

No one knew what would happen when the awakened Avrora came into contact with Kojou Akatsuki. Perhaps her existence might be the trigger for some kind of irrevocable calamity.

On top of that, conditions on Itogami Island were far from normal. It was at the height of the Electoral War—and now that all the primogenitors were gathered, it had turned into an extremely dangerous zone, a veritable powder keg.

The prospect of tossing the last Kaleid Blood into that mess made her wonder if she was tossing a defenseless little fish into a tank full of hungry sharks.

A tiny fish that just might be carrying enough poison to contaminate that entire region of the ocean.

“Say, Yuiri. I wonder, is it really all right to bring this girl and Kojou Akatsuki together?”

Lowering her voice so that Avrora wouldn’t overhear, Shio whispered into Yuiri’s ear.

Yuiri nodded solemnly, as if to say, I was concerned about the very same thing.

“Yeah, it’s kinda worrying… Avrora is really cute and all.”

“Cu…te?”

The unexpected praise from her best friend struck Shio by surprise, causing her to let out her voice like a complete idiot.

For her part, Yuiri’s eyes seemed to glimmer with delight for some reason.

“I’ve always found it strange, you know. I was like, why haven’t Kojou and Yukii hooked up?”

“Hooked up? Yukina Himeragi is Kojou Akatsuki’s watcher, you know? Fraternization… Wouldn’t that be…indiscreet?”

“What are you talking about, Shio? Duty is duty, and romance is romance. I mean hooking up with someone would be hugely advantageous for observing him!”

“Er, something like that isn’t an issue of advantage or disadvantage.”

“I mean, think about it. This is Yukii. He enjoys the company of that adorable creature twenty-four hours a day. It would be impossible to NOT fall in love, right? No way could I hold out if it were me. I’d be proposing to her and scheduling a marriage venue on day one.”

“…You’re turning into Kirasaka, Yuiri.”

Shio sighed, chiding her best friend as the latter breathed raggedly.

“Himeragi is certainly pretty, but the two not dating shouldn’t be any surprise. She has a right to choose her significant other herself, and there might be other people Kojou Akatsuki likes as well—”

“Yes! That’s it, Shio!”

Yuiri seemed worked up as she shouted, thrusting a pointing finger straight at her friend’s nose.

“Eh?”

“I mean the part about Kojou liking other girls.”

Yuiri drew her face close to Shio’s, conveying this in a tiny voice. Glancing to the side, she fixated the tip of her gaze on Avrora’s curled back.

“…You’re not saying she’s the one Kojou Akatsuki is in love with?”

“The odds are pretty high, right?”

“I mean, well…they were close enough she passed on the abilities of the Fourth Primogenitor to him…”

Shio folded her arms, staring at Avrora.

To the average person, this prone blond girl suffering from motion sickness would seem beautiful and utterly harmless.

According to the Lion King Agency’s files, Kojou Akatsuki had apparently spent roughly half a year with her from autumn of his third year in middle school onward.

Shio and Yuiri didn’t know about the pair’s relationship during that time. But if one went by Yuiri’s prior line, Shio found it unnatural for Kojou Akatsuki to spend half a year with an adorable creature such as this and not fall in love for her.

At the very least, there was no mistaking that Avrora was extremely partial to him. Otherwise, there was no way he would have become the Fourth Primogenitor.

“This really is bad, huh…”

Yuiri murmured this in an atypically serious tone.

“Hm? What is?”

Shio prompted back with a questioning look. Avrora and Kojou Akatsuki having a good relationship was hardly a bad thing for them. With Itogami Island currently under the Order of the End’s occupation, they should have welcomed the opportunity for less fuss and muss with open arms.

However, Yuiri seemed even more distressed as she lowered her eyes.

“I mean, if Kojou and Avrora become an item, won’t that break Yukii’s heart?”


“B-break her heart? But we don’t know for sure that Himeragi likes Kojou Akatsuki yet, right?”

Shio’s shaken voice went shrill as she made that rational assertion. Yuiri shook her head, exasperated.

“What are you talking about, Shio? It couldn’t be more obvious.”

“Is—is that so?”

“There’s no doubt whatsoever. You can’t fool a Sword Shaman’s intuition.”

“R-right…”

Somehow, the other woman’s conviction clicked with Shio.

Then Yuiri made a tiny sigh.

“Think about it. Think how Yukii would feel, having to watch Kojou once he and Avrora are joined as a happy couple.”

“Th-that certainly does seem cruel…”

Shio pressed a hand to her chest as a terribly painful feeling came over her.

She could picture Yukina staring at Avrora and Kojou Akatsuki with melancholy eyes once they’d become a couple. In that mental image, she seemed less watcher and more…stalker.

“On top of that, since we’re the ones bringing Avrora to Itogami Island, she might think we’re directly responsible for that…!”

“Ghh…”

Writhing as Yuiri’s words tossed her an anchor, Shio somehow managed to put her feelings in order.

“Th-that doesn’t mean we can’t just stop and not make her meet Kojou Akatsuki! Relying on him is the only way to put an end to this Electoral War mess…!”

“Uuu…you might be right… The Blood is bad enough as it is, and now we have all the primogenitors gathered here, too. I don’t know what to do anymore…”

At a loss, Yuiri shifted her face toward the heavens.

On top of the Order of the End, commanded by The Blood, Itogami Island was also under occupation by the primogenitors forming the three pillars of Demonkind and their respective military forces. As things stood now, it would be impossible for the Lion King Agency to produce a breakthrough in this situation, even if they invested all their combat capabilities into trying.

No matter the danger, and no matter the unhappiness visited upon Yukina Himeragi, they had no choice but to depend on the power of the Fourth Primogenitor.

As Shio muttered this to herself, Glenda’s huge body suddenly trembled with fright. At some point, they’d arrived at a spot from which they could make out Itogami Island’s buildings with their naked eyes.

Despite the fact it was prior to dawn, birds were dancing in the sky above the island.

To be exact, they were things that merely resembled birds.

Some were flying demon beasts that should not have existed in Japan. Others were airborne creatures produced from magic spells. They comprised a horde of familiars belonging to sorcerers fighting in the Electoral War. These were what had shot down Shio’s shikigami.

“Glenda, lower your altitude! Take the indirect path through the New Itogami Island ruins to hide your route!”

“Dah—!”

Yuiri swiftly issued commands. The dragon sent a short roar back in a high-pitched voice that clashed with its huge, steel-colored body.

During that time, Shio drew out new spell tablets, chanting multiple invocations at once.

The six spell tablets changed into six seabirds that soared upward, surrounding Glenda in the process.

Each of the seabirds held a tiny crystal fragment in its beak. Using those crystals as catalysts, Shio deployed a barrier. She was performing a ritual that fused flying shikigami with a moving obstruction. Although this high-level spell was virtually unprecedented, using multiple rituals in parallel was Shio’s personal specialty.

“This is stealth-type ritual camouflage…?”

Yuiri let out a gasp of admiration as she gazed at the seabird familiars soaring around them.

The barrier Shio had deployed obstructed people’s visual recognition. It would allow them to conceal Glenda’s form on her approach to Itogami Island. Shamanic War Dancers had developed it for the Lion King Agency to use during assassination missions.

“Yeah. But even if it blocks people’s vision, it won’t have any effect on familiars or cameras on drones. We have to rely on your eyes for those, Yuiri.”

“Got it. Leave it to me.”

With a firm nod, Yuiri drew out a spell tablet of her own. As a Sword Shaman of the Lion King Agency, she possessed the Spirit Sight, an ability that let her peer into the immediate future. With this, she could shoot down the drones before being spotted, allowing Glenda to slip through the surveillance net in the sky above Itogami Island. This was the operation Yuiri and Shio had thought up for infiltrating Itogami Island. It was a rash plan with many uncertainties, but this was the only way they could arrive on Itogami Island without Avrora’s presence being detected.

“Let’s go, Glenda…quietly, ’kay?”

Yuiri called out to the dragon with a tense tenor to her voice.

“Dah,” went Glenda’s brief reply as she slowly turned about.

They were several kilometers away from Itogami Island proper. The warehouse district on the coast was clearly visible, even to the naked eye.

But the familiars flying overhead were increasing in number as well.

Shio focused on maintaining the ritual spell camouflage, while Yuiri squinted toward thin air. Perhaps their tension was transferring to their companion, for Avrora’s body clenched and stiffened as well.

Glenda, however, somehow seemed to be enjoying herself as she swayed her enormous body and skimmed the water’s surface. Maybe she thought of the situation like playing hide-and-seek out on a picnic.

“Incoming…!”

Noticing a horde of familiars approaching, Shio put more strength into her fingers to keep the ritual barrier held together.

The demon beasts resembled huge eagles and owls and had wingspans between two and three meters. Their sharp talons and horns indicated that they could fight just as well as they could soar through the skies. They were probably familiars of well-known sorcerers.

The familiars went right past Glenda’s huge frame as the trio slipped by.

For an instant, Shio was too tense to breathe—

Ultimately, however, the demon beasts never noticed the dragon’s presence thanks to the ritual camouflage.

In subsequent encounters, other creatures passed over Shio and the others without noticing them. Their success wasn’t solely on Shio’s barrier. It was Glenda’s ability to fly through the sky without scattering heat, demonic energy, or a single sound around her that also made pulling the wool over their eyes possible.

“Those emblems… They’re from the Fallen Dynasty Sorcery Corps…!”

By observing the forms of the familiars zooming by, Shio had deduced their master’s identity.

A creepy symbol was engraved on each demonic beast’s collar: six eyes placed in circular patterns. Apparently, this was the unit insignia of the Sorcery Corps under the direct command of Fallgazer, the Second Primogenitor.

It was obvious that the place they’d chosen as their landing point was under the Fallen Dynasty’s rule.

While they wouldn’t have been able to survey the area via shikigami beforehand, this was the absolute worst scenario they could have stumbled into. Even among the three Dominions, the Fallen Dynasty was the nation most shrouded in mystery, and the Japanese government had virtually no interaction with it. Aside from the Second Primogenitor being someone with a moody personality, Shio and Yuiri completely lacked any knowledge of it.

They didn’t have a clue how anyone would negotiate their release if the Second Primogenitor captured them.

“Minus ten seconds! UAV two kilometers in front!”

Yuiri’s sharp cry disrupted Shio’s distressed hypothetical. There was nothing in the airspace before their eyes. However, Yuiri had made out an unmanned aerial vehicle that would appear there ten seconds hence with her Spirit Sight.

“Got it. Let’s get a little dramatic!”

Shio drew a silver recurve bow from the instrument case on her back. Nocking a ritual arrow into place, she pulled the drawstring.

“—Let there…be light!”

The ritual arrow that Shio loosed composed a giant magic circle in the middle of the sky. It instantly unleashed incredible, thunderbolt-like rays of light. A dazzling orb suddenly appeared in midair, then enveloped the UAV that came flying in, jamming its internal electronic devices. As the magical energy flew apart with a roar, it snagged the attention of all the familiars on patrol nearby.

Using that opening, Glenda busted through the surveillance net, penetrating Itogami Island’s airspace in an instant.

“We slipped through!”

Confirming that things were clear as far as she could see, Shio let out a sigh of relief.

Looking down, she noticed Island North’s warehouse district drawing closer. If they could slip into the shadows of the buildings, they wouldn’t need to worry about the familiars’ surveillance anymore.

“I’m so glad—…good work, Glenda!”

As if to reward the steel-colored dragon, Yuiri gave her a stroke on the neck.

However, the beast made no reply. Instead, she folded her enormous wings and suddenly accelerated. Shaken by the unexpected plummet, Avrora shrieked with a “Hii!”

“G-Glenda… What’s wrong, Glenda?!” asked Yuiri in bewilderment, on the verge of falling off.

The next moment, a shroud fell over their vision.

“Wha…?!”

As Glenda glided through the sky, a huge silhouette danced above Shio and the others’ heads, practically on top of them.

It was a fantastically shaped bird.

The creature’s enormous body rivaled that of a dragon. It had the efficient wings characteristic of birds of prey and a spectacular tail resembling that of a peacock. But its ferocious, bestial hind legs were more like a lion’s, and its head resembled a fearsome canine.

“The Simurgh?! What’s such an impossibly rare divine bird doing in a place like this?!”

Shio’s voice quivered with shock.

The Simurgh was a legendary demon beast said to dwell in the Spirit Mountains of the Middle East. It was the king of all avian creatures, possessing great intelligence and an immortal body; apparently, almost no one had ever caught a glimpse of it.

An unfamiliar figure was on the back of that proud, immortal divine bird.

They were small, poorly matched to the demon beast they rode as a mount.

By appearance, the figure looked in their teens at most—virtually no different from Shio or Yuiri.

In spite of this, they exuded an overwhelming sense of presence.

The figure wore a magnificent dress of crimson and gold. She had long violet hair tied in pigtails, with a refined visage and fair skin.

Her blood-colored eyes narrowed with delight as she smiled.

It was a smile filled with bloodlust and joy, so disturbing that none seeing it could fail to be aghast.



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