HOT NOVEL UPDATES

Strike the Blood - Volume 20 - Chapter 2.5




Hint: To Play after pausing the player, use this button

5

He had a dream. A vision of a little girl with golden hair stuffing gummy candy into her mouth.

“Avro…ra?”

As he awoke, the familiar contours of her face sank into the far reaches of oblivion and vanished.

Feeling a wrenching sense of loss in his chest, Kojou opened his eyes amid the darkness.

He was in a cramped room that had once been constructed as a prison cell. It was the dorm they’d assigned him. He didn’t know at what point he’d returned. His memories of what happened after the shower room were vague.

Kojou’s whole body felt sluggish and heavy, like it wasn’t his own.

Both his arms were numb. His fingers were without feeling. Even so, Kojou shook his body and tried to force himself into a sitting position.

That instant, a strange sensation met his right palm. It was a stretchy, soft feeling, pleasingly cool yet warm at the same time. In fact, it was so pleasant to the touch that he wanted to sink his hand right in.

“What’s this softness…?”

Squinting through the darkness, Kojou almost had a coughing fit on the spot. He was blithely grasping Yukina’s bare breasts as she continued to sleep with her clothes undone.

“Whoa…?!”

His head full of proverbial question marks, Kojou yanked his hand back, quickly tidying up Yukina’s crooked bra to hide the evidence.

However, he had no time to be relieved, for he realized that something soft was embracing his left flank. Lying facedown as she slept, Shizuri’s entire half-naked form was wrapped tightly around his arm.

Moreover, what he’d mistaken for a pillow was actually Kanon in her underwear.

Oblivious to what had happened prior to this, he’d continued sleeping, embracing the trio in their most immodest state as if they were hugging pillows.

On top of that, Kojou himself was buck naked, not a single stitch of clothing on him. Even if they chided him for it later, he couldn’t complain about the spectacle.

“How the hell did I wind up like this…? What happened?!”

Kojou was completely at a loss, but none of the three girls replied to his question. They seemed not so much asleep as unconscious from fatigue.

“I see…all three of them…stopped my vampiric urges…”

Memories started flitting back to him as he became racked with a ferocious sense of guilt.

Losing himself to the urges, he’d attacked Yukina and the others and absorbed their spiritual energy until they were no longer able to move. The trio had spiritual energy far beyond that of any normal person, so the fact they’d passed out rudely awakened him to how reckless he’d been. If it hadn’t been them involved, it wouldn’t have surprised him if someone wound up losing their life.

“Uu…”

Sensing a metallic scent and a throb at the back of his nostrils, Kojou swiftly averted his eyes from all three girls. The sensation of their soft flesh had come rushing back to him, threatening to reinstate his cravings once more.

“I drank that much, and it’s still not enough…?”

Kojou pulled up the blanket to cover their bodies. He had some lingering regrets, but now wasn’t the time to voice them.

Pulling his eyes away from Yukina’s and the others’ sleeping faces, he put on some fresh, folded clothes.

The outfit Nina had provided for him was just like the school uniform and parka Kojou normally wore. They didn’t look any different, but right now he was grateful for that.

“Mm… Sen…pai…”

Abruptly, Yukina let out those bewitching words in the middle of her sleep. This was followed by Kanon and Shizuri also making oddly sexy noises as they slept. His shoulders trembled each time.

Painfully aware that his body would never hold out if he stayed put, he practically fled the room.

It was already the dead of night, but he sensed a fair number of people inside the lab.

Even at this hour, Kensei Kanase and Nina were continuing to treat the injured Astarte. On other floors, lab workers unfamiliar to Kojou and the others seemed to be at work. He could see guards on duty as well.

Opting to walk down a deserted-looking path so that no one would spot him, he easily slipped outside the building. It wasn’t that the security guards were monkeys; they were just that short-staffed.

The outer wall and ceiling Kojou had punched through during his battle with The Blood the night before remained broken and abandoned. Gazing up at the sky from the artificial isle’s bowels, he saw it beautifully packed full of stars.

Kojou continued walking around town, still staring at the silvery moon. The nighttime breeze felt good against his heated body. But this pleasant feeling didn’t last for long.

Sensing an unnerving gaze pricking at his flesh, he ground his feet with irritation. Even he was surprised at how sharp his senses had become.

“Come on out.”

Kojou suddenly called out to the back of the darkness. He behaved rudely and provocatively, making sure not to neglect beckoning whoever it was with his hand.

Responding to his taunt, figures emerged from the shadow of the building one by one. There were three in all. Each wore a metal bracelet around a wrist.

“What, yer still a brat ain’tcha? Tryin’ to act all cool.”

A demon man glared at Kojou as he spat that out. He was large—the spitting image of a hoodlum.

Most likely he was a gigas variant able to use spirit magic. But it was all the same to Kojou.

“Alone, huh? You’ve got guts.”

“Vampire…are you the ruler candidate of this domain, brat?”

“Huuuh? Whatever weird ideas you got in your heads, I don’t look anything like Natsuki, okay?”

Kojou grimaced in annoyance at their questions. Apparently, they hadn’t even gotten the memo that the ruler who’d subjugated the vicinity was none other than the Witch of the Void. That meant they were rogue ruler candidates, recent arrivals in Island North that just happened to be inspecting the premises.

“Never mind all of that; just get out of here…!”

Kojou warned them in a low voice. The beasts inside him were reacting, egged on by the hostility of the men. He couldn’t contain the ferocious emotions that were pouring out from him.

Watching him agonizingly grit his teeth, the men broke into scornful laughter.

“Ahh?”

“I’m telling you to get away from me! You got a death wish?!”

Glaring back at them, he shouted in fury. Kojou had already reached the limits of his self-control.

For a moment, the men were shocked into silence; the next instant, however, it was evident he’d fanned the flames of their ire. They no doubt felt Kojou was taking them for weaklings.

“You brat!”

“Don’t get ahead of yerself!”

“—You stupid jerks!”

Kojou watched with a desperate expression as the group activated spirit magic spells.

Then a torrent of demonic energy shimmering like black flames gushed out from his back.

Adopting the form of wings, they mowed down the men’s huge bodies.

A burst of wind raced down the street, digging into the surface of the ground. Several roadside trees blew away, roots and all, and streetlight poles bent and broke.

The rogue demons were unable to even raise a cry as the gale slammed them into the building behind them. The ominous sound of their bones breaking reverberated as fresh blood spilled from their mouths. Then the wings sprouting from Kojou’s back became giant blades and impaled them.

The pitch-black wings undulated with delight as they sucked fresh blood and demonic energy from his foes’ bodies.

“Senpai?! That demonic energy just now… What in the world was…?!”

He saw Yukina rush out of the laboratory, gripping her silver spear. By all rights, she shouldn’t have been in any condition to move yet, but she’d no doubt diligently pursued Kojou as soon as she’d noticed his absence.

“That’s…?!”

Noticing the things protruding from him, Yukina found herself aghast, unable to move.

Exhausted of strength, Kojou went down to his knees then and there as the pitch-black wings vanished. Since they’d completely consumed the demonic energy of the gigas men, they had lost their reason to remain materialized.

Kojou’s entire body was drenched with sweat as he breathed raggedly over and over.

It wasn’t because he was feeling pain. Quite the opposite.

He’d brandished overwhelming power to trample his foes. And he’d stolen the very life force from them.

The incredible pleasure he’d felt throughout the process filled him with terror, made his thoughts grow distant. He was awash in cravings and urges; at this rate, he felt as though he would cease to be himself.

“Senpai…”

Though Yukina’s expression was stiff with fear, she raced to Kojou’s side.

A moment afterward, a booming voice reverberated across the city just as it had quieted once more. It was a laughing, jovial tone.

“Ohhh, ohhh… My, you’ve done something brutal yet again, boy. Scary, scary.”

Looking down upon the fainted gigas was a tall and athletic foreigner. He wore baggy cargo pants and work boots, topping off the rugged getup with a black tank top.

“You’re…!”

“The First Primogenitor… Lord…Ki Juranbarada?!”

Kojou and Yukina exclaimed at the same time. The tall man—Ki—seemed somehow sullen, now bearing a resentful look.

“What, you figured out who I really am already? Must’ve been Aradahl’s doing… Damn him for stealing a man’s fun. And I thought I’d surprise you and everything.”

Ki kicked away a clod of earth, acting like a child whose prank had gone sour.

Kojou and Yukina continued to stare, taken aback at seeing the First Primogenitor like this. He looked genuinely rueful, nothing you would expect from the ruler of the Warlord’s Empire, the oldest and mightiest of the Dominions.

“Well, fine. Thanks to this I got to see something real interesting.”

Shaking his head ever so slightly to ward off his thoughts, Ki smiled in a leering, impetuous manner. He wasn’t what you’d call a pretty boy, but strangely, the man’s every gesture made him look attractive.

“What the heck are you doing here…?”

Kojou stood up and went on guard.


Previously, they’d unexpectedly crossed paths at an airport in Aldegia and that was it, but now things were different. Ki was revealing to Kojou that he’d come to Itogami Island as a participant in the Electoral War.

If Ki, the First Primogenitor, genuinely wanted the seat of Itogami Island’s ruler, a clash between him and Kojou was inevitable. It wouldn’t be surprising if he started up a duel to the death on the spot.

However, Ki simply stood there defenseless, smiling with delight as he gazed upon Kojou.

“Don’t give off all that bloodlust, boy. I came all this way to see you ’cause I was worried.”

“…Do you know what’s going on with my body?”

Keeping his guard up, Kojou prodded him back for answers.

He must have noticed the abnormal changes in Kojou’s body if he was saying he was worried. There was a slim chance he might have had an idea about what was causing it. After all, as a vampire primogenitor, he was Kojou’s senior by leaps and bounds.

“Ahhh, well of course I know that. Haven’t you realized it yourself by now?”

Ki replied with an easygoing tone.

Kojou went ghh as he clenched his teeth. The First Primogenitor’s assertion was true. He already knew the cause of the transformation. He was just afraid to acknowledge it.

“Senpai?”

Yukina shifted a bewildered gaze toward Kojou.

When he remained silent, Ki called out to him in an amused manner.

“At this rate, it’ll start up again.”

“Start? What are you…?”

Concerned, Kojou turned back to Ki. The towering First Primogenitor tilted his head for dramatic effect.

“What did they…? All that thing… Oh yeah, the Blazing Banquet.”

“The Blazing Banquet…you say…?”

The blood drained from Kojou’s entire body. “Blazing Banquet” was the name of a ceremonial ritual performed to revive the sealed Fourth Primogenitor.

In truth, however, that was simply a moniker for an indiscriminate plundering of memories over a huge target area. Anyone within the banquet’s area of effect, human and demon alike, had their memories stolen and their ability to reason stripped, which ultimately resulted in their deaths.

“Strictly speaking, it’s not exactly the same. Though admittedly the principle is pretty similar.”

Staring at the pale Kojou, Ki smiled ferociously.

“What’s different is that last time, it was Root Avrora kicking up the banquet, while this time, Root ain’t here. That’s about it.”

“If Root’s gone, then why’s the banquet happening…?!”

Kojou closed the distance with Ki.

“Hey, hey, use your head a little, boy. You should know that without even having to think, right?”

He shook his head theatrically.

“You’re starting the banquet. Or more precisely, the Beast Vassals inside you are.”

“The Beast Vassals…?”

Yukina murmured that with skepticism. After all, she’d never encountered Root Avrora. She didn’t know the horror of the banquet.

“But senpai should have the Fourth Primogenitor’s Beast Vassals under his rule…!”

“Ruling Beast Vassals?”

Surprised, Ki raised an eyebrow. This immediately gave way to a fit of laughter. He bent his tall frame forward, clutching his belly as he continued to guffaw. Kojou and Yukina watched in silence while he wiped tears from his eyes.

“That’s one hell of a good joke. Even I couldn’t pull that off.”

“Huh…?!”

Yukina’s eyes widened, as though she found this beyond belief.

Ki Juranbarada was the First Primogenitor, among the most ancient of vampires. He wasn’t like Kojou, who’d turned into the Fourth Primogenitor, an incomplete vampire, through a twist of fate. And now he was claiming Kojou couldn’t even rule his own familiars.

“Are you folks mistaking vampire Beast Vassals as tools to be used at your convenience? Beast Vassals aren’t a vampire’s weapons or possessions, let alone obedient pets. They’re shitty, rampaging beasts that just happen to inhabit our bodies, y’see? If they think they’re not getting enough to eat, they’ll go off hunting on their own for sure, understand?”

“To eat…?”

Yukina narrowed her eyes.

“Demonic energy.”

Ki bore his white fangs and chuckled. Then as Kojou stood there frozen, Ki pointed straight at his heart.

“The ‘Fourth Primogenitor’ is an artificial vampire built to become the World’s Mightiest Vampire served by twelve Beast Vassals. Thing is though, boy, you’re missin’ one of ’em at the moment. And when you’re missing something, ya have to make up for it—your Beast Vassals know by instinct.”

“…Then how has this not happened once before this?” rebutted Kojou in a quivering tone.

Good grief, went Ki as he shrugged his shoulders.

“That means the guys you’ve fought till now didn’t require the Fourth Primogenitor getting all serious. Don’t make me spell it out. Even that brat Dimitrie ended up like ‘that’ when he fought with ya.”

Ki seemed almost nostalgic as he uttered the name of the vampire Kojou had once defeated in the war of the primogenitors—the name of the Warlord Empire’s aristocrat said to be second to the primogenitors in power.

“But this time it’s a little different. On this island there’s me, that Fallgazer bastard, and even the Chaos Bride, that old hag. Your Beast Vassals realized that it’s bad stuff, stayin’ incomplete as ya are right now.”

“That’s why they’re craving demonic energy? To make up for the twelfth Beast Vassal…?!”

“Demonic energy? Honestly, it’d be great if they stopped at just that.”

Ki curled his lips sarcastically.

“Even if you sucked up all the power from every demon on this island, there’s no guarantee it’d be equal to even one of the Fourth Primogenitor’s Beast Vassals. That’s why they’ve got no choice but to directly consume the sources of that demonic energy. Anger, jealousy, hate, ambition, sadness, tenacity, and the thing all these strong negative feelings coalesce into—”

“Memories, huh…”

Kojou spat the words out with a sigh. Ki nodded.

“That’s right. They consume other people’s memories to make up for the demonic energy they’re lacking. That’s the mechanism behind the Blazing Banquet—the ceremonial ritual for awakening the World’s Mightiest Vampire.”

“Then The Blood’s reason for gathering all the primogenitors upon this island…,” Yukina muttered, realizing something.

“Was to back me into a corner and make me start the Blazing Banquet whether I like it or not…?”

Kojou suppressed his anger as he finished her thought with an even tone.

Raising up the Fourth Primogenitor as a symbol of terror—according to The Blood, that was the purpose of the Electoral War.

In that case, he would certainly want to reenact the Blazing Banquet.

If the Fourth Primogenitor destroyed Itogami Island, his own territory, his infamy would be unshakable for all time.

On top of that, with his power boosted by the banquet, he had a golden opportunity to prove he deserved the title of World’s Mightiest Vampire by defeating Ki and the other primogenitors.

That was how The Blood wanted this to end. This was the truth behind the stupid mess known as the Electoral War.

“What should I do to stop this…?”

Kojou looked up at Ki and asked this. The First Primogenitor let out an exasperated sigh.

“Like I said, use your head. What’s the reason your Beast Vassals want demonic energy in the first place?”

“To compensate for the missing Beast Va…”

Midway through, Kojou swallowed the words he was on the verge of voicing.

His mind was colored with anger and despair. There was a way to stop the banquet. But Kojou didn’t accept it. He absolutely could not accept doing that.

“You realized?”

Ki Juranbarada shot him a look resembling pity.

“If you take the twelfth Beast Vassal into you and become a complete Fourth Primogenitor, the banquet will end. Consume Dodekatos and obtain your final Beast Vassal or gain power by robbing memories wholesale from everyone on this island—pick whichever one you like.”

“I…”

Kojou’s lips trembled meaninglessly.

Taking the twelfth Beast Vassal into him meant breaking the seal of the last remaining Kaleid Blood—Avrora’s seal.

Since she was constructed for the sole purpose of sealing one of the Fourth Primogenitor’s Beast Vassals, she would vanish once he broke the seal.

But there was no other way to stop the Blazing Banquet.

“This time, I only came to tell you that. Once you get your power, let’s take some time to play, all right?

“Later,” said Ki with a casual wave of his hand, his entire body enveloped by black mist.

He thinned and vanished from sight, melting into the darkness.

“Wai…”

Kojou reached out to try and stop Ki, but he ended up futilely clenching his fist without having gotten in a single word.

There was nothing left to ask him or anything left to say. The man wasn’t Kojou’s mentor or even his friend. He’d just come to explain the rules, to give him some advice so that the game called the Electoral War would grow even more exciting. That was the role he’d adopted tonight.

“Senpai…”

As Kojou stood there with an agonized expression, Yukina gingerly called out to him.

However, he didn’t even notice her before he walked off, wobbly and without a destination. Stumbling over a broken roadside tree, Kojou fell to his knees, crouching down on the spot.

“Aaaaauuuuggghh!!”

Pounding the ground before him, Kojou howled toward the sky.

All Yukina could do was sadly gaze at him from behind.



Share This :


COMMENTS

No Comments Yet

Post a new comment

Register or Login