Strike the Blood - Volume 20 - Chapter 3.3

3

“‘Sorry’ she says… What’s up with her?”

Back in Koyomi’s room, Kojou tilted his head as he recalled Yukina’s parting words. He wondered if leaving him behind to meet Avrora alone was weighing on her mind.

“That was cowardly of me, was it not? In the end, I pushed a crucial decision onto her.”

Sitting in her wheelchair, Koyomi Shizuka murmured, seemingly to herself.

The black cat on her lap made a very human-looking shake of her head.

“Well, we can lament all we like, but there was no other choice. All we can do is to do our part.”

“Isn’t the Lion King Agency not allowed to interfere in the Electoral War or something?”

Kojou prompted back, suspicious as he recalled something Yukari had told him previously.

The Japanese government had adopted a stance of noninterference regarding Itogami Island’s internal unrest. As a special government department, the Lion King Agency was thus unable to send fresh reinforcements to Itogami Island.

“I suppose not…provided the Electoral War is a conflict truly confined to Itogami Island’s borders, that is.”

Yukari spoke with a tone laden with implication.

“What do you mean?”

When Kojou pressed for more, the black cat simply replied with “Let’s see,” narrowing her eyes as if smiling.

“We understand The Blood’s objective quite well. Created as a Fourth Primogenitor prototype, he seeks to christen the Fourth Primogenitor as a symbol of fear—absurd as it may be, the logic tracks. And well, given their tedium, you can see why the other primogenitors got on board with this foolish scheme, yes?”

“Yeah.”

“But what about the MAR corporation? They were one of the major financial backers for the construction of Itogami Island. One wouldn’t imagine they would go to all this trouble to start the Blazing Banquet since it would be such a disaster for them. Am I mistaken?”

“So…MAR and The Blood have different goals?”

Yukari’s assertion shocked Kojou so much that he forgot to blink as he lapsed into thought.

“At this stage, it’s mere supposition without any tangible basis. But don’t you think it’s worth looking into?”

The black cat made an amused sound with her throat. Koyomi Shizuka calmly picked up where Yukari left off.

“If the multinational conglomerate MAR is controlling the Electoral War from behind the scenes, they’re clearly infringing upon Itogami Island’s autonomy as recognized by the government of Japan. This serves as an ample basis for the Lion King Agency, an anti-sorcerous terrorism organization, to act.”

“That’s how it is. Just don’t expect too much of us.”

The black cat on Koyomi’s lap closed her eyes. When next they opened, Yukari’s familiar had returned to an ordinary feline. Yukari had severed her connection with the animal.

Then, perhaps freed from tension by Yukari’s parting, Koyomi Shizuka suddenly went limp and slumped forward.

“You all right…? Maybe I should call someone over…”

Kojou rushed over to lend her a hand.

At present, Koyomi Shizuka was gravely wounded and required absolute rest. Despite that, she’d still forced herself to meet him and Yukina to convey the information about Avrora.

“I am sorry. I shall sleep awhile.”

At this, Koyomi Shizuka closed her eyes, still seated in her wheelchair.

The nurse call rang, and multiple staff members hurried into the patient room.

“Please don’t forget this, Kojou Akatsuki.”

Koyomi Shizuka frailly called to him as he tried to leave out of consideration for her.

“I gave Yukina the order. Therefore, please…”

Unable to continue her statement until the very end, she fell asleep, depleted of strength.

The nurses sent him away, and Kojou stood, still bewildered, in the dimly lit corridor and sighed.

Apparently, the date had changed over without him realizing it. In short order, it would be twenty-four hours since he and the others had returned to Itogami Island. The Electoral War would commence on the morning of its fifth day.

Though the Electoral War dragging out grated on his nerves, there was nothing he could about it now.

Frustrated, he stormed down the corridor before he saw Kanon running over from the waiting room. For once, the unflaggingly calm girl betrayed a hint of nervousness on her face.

“Kanase?”

“Akatsuki! Um, have you seen Shizuri?”

Clutching Nina against her chest, Kanon asked this as if clinging to his every word.

“Nah, I haven’t seen her… What’s up with Cas?”

When he answered, Kanon bit her lip for a moment, as though hesitating.

“She’s gone.”

“Gone?”

Knitting his brows, he looked back at the corridor.

Now that she mentioned it, the lab interior was oddly quiet. He would have expected Shizuri to ask him about this and that straightaway after waiting for their meeting to finish.

“Don’t tell me she went off after Yukina?”

Kojou pontificated with a frown. In one sense, not allowing Yukina to head into the Second Primogenitor’s domain all by herself—tagging along whether she liked it or not—was a very Cas-like thing to do.

“I don’t know…but the fact she asked about the route to Keystone Gate before she vanished has me somewhat concerned.”

“Keystone Gate…?”

He tried to wrap his head around Kanon’s unexpected eyewitness testimony.

Shizuri had only just moved to Itogami Island, so she had a poor lay of the land. It made sense for her to ask for directions to the Keystone Gate. The problem was, why would she be interested in that now of all times?

“Anything else? Did she mention anything other than that?”

“Other than…that…ah…!”

Kanon gave an audible gasp. Perhaps she’d realized something. She looked at Nina, who was sitting in her arms.

Indeed, went Nina, nodding back to her.

“She said something like, ‘There can’t be a banquet if the Electoral War ends tonight!’”

“Hmph,” added Nina, turning her breasts away as she declared this in a haughty tone. Apparently, she was trying to imitate Shizuri. Surprisingly, she wasn’t half bad at it.

“Why the hell does she know about the banquet?”

Blood drained from Kojou’s entire body. If Shizuri knew he might trigger the Blazing Banquet, she would absolutely try to stop it, even if she had to get reckless.

“Wait, don’t tell me she overheard me talking with Ki Juranbarada…and then…!”

Maybe, just like Yukina rushing out when she’d noticed Kojou’s Beast Vassals running amok, Shizuri had rushed out of the lab next, only to eavesdrop on Kojou and Ki’s conversation.

But she’d hidden that from both him and Yukina.

And if Shizuri of all people was pretending not to know something, her goal was probably to—

“Akatsuki…?”

He went blue in the face. Kanon directed a look of concern at him.

Giving into his nerves, Kojou slammed his fist against a wall.

“I’ve gotta stop Cas… She’s planning to take out The Blood all by herself!”

“Mm…how rash of her.”

That even got Nina down. Kanon was speechless.

Kojou exhaled shakily.

“Nina, take care of Kanase and Astarte for me. I’m sorry.”

“Where are you planning on running off to?”

“I’m gonna bring back Cas!”

With that, Kojou set off with long strides.

Now that he thought about it, learning Shizuri was heading for Keystone Gate had been a stroke of good fortune. With his vampiric physical abilities at full tilt, he might still be able to bring her back before she got there.

The problem was how long his Beast Vassals would play nice.

“When your body’s running wild?”

As if she’d read his thoughts, Nina called out to him from behind. Kanon, too, was chasing after him in a little run as he headed outside the lab.

“I’ve gotta bring her back! I don’t have a choice!”

Kojou retorted dismissively, turning back to them. Nina, however, calmly received his rebuttal.

“Indeed. But setting that aside, there’s something odd flying this way.”

With that, she gazed upward, feigning ignorance.

“…Huh?”

This caused Kojou to lift his head as well.

The predawn night sky peered through the hole in the ceiling that Kojou had created while fighting the day before. It was gray, with nary a trace of starlight remaining.

An ear-piercing noise like the buzzing of bees blared from overhead. They were hearing the exhaust sounds from aviation turboshaft engines.

“The heck? Helicopters…?”

An ominous feeling came over Kojou as he narrowed his eyes at the sight of the aircraft flying through Itogami Island’s sky.

There were five helicopters in total. They all belonged to MAR, just like the one Kojou and Kanon had encountered the previous morning.

Oddly, they were engaging in tight turns and rapid descents, as though they were jostling with one another. From time to time, dazzling sparks showed in the vicinity of their torsos—muzzle flashes from machine-gun barrels.

“MAR choppers doing air-to-air combat against one another?”

The unexpected sight grabbed Kojou’s attention.

More accurately, it wasn’t so much air-to-air combat as a one-sided pursuit. One craft seemed to be fleeing from the others as the four chased after it, unleashing a hail of bullets.

The helicopter being chased was firing back, but the difference in firepower was overwhelming. And unlike its pursuers, the craft being chased was out of ammo.

At this rate, it’ll get pummeled to oblivion. The instant that morose thought entered Kojou’s head, the craft on the run unleashed a single silver light. With a roar, the radiance drew a giant magic circle in midair.

Then the magic circle generated a miasma—a cursed mist that destroyed electronic devices and threw people into chaos. Kojou knew the nature of this attack.

“That magic circle…?! Kirasaka?!”

He made out a girl wielding a silver bow inside the helicopter on the run. The MAR helicopter unit was after Sayaka Kirasaka, Shamanic War Dancer of the Lion King Agency.

“Nina!”

“Indeed. Close your eyes for a moment, Kanon.”

From Kanon’s arms, Nina seemed to instantly pick up on what he’d been thinking.

Two of the aircraft enveloped by Sayaka’s ritual spell artillery attack pulled away, abandoning the chase. However, the other two stubbornly continued their pursuit of Sayaka’s vehicle.

Nina pointed a finger gun toward the enemy helicopter.

After carefully taking aim, she instantly released an incredible torrent of light from her fingertip.

She’d fired a heavy metallic particle gun employing alchemy—a charged particle-beam cannon attack.

The shell of charged particles rocketed at sublight speeds to blast through one of the helicopters, causing it to decelerate. Nina followed up with a second beam attack and gunned the remaining vehicle down.

“Wasn’t that a little overkill just now…?”

Kojou asked Nina reproachfully, gazing at the helicopters bursting in flames as they lost altitude.

“Do not be concerned. I shot through the power unit only. Even if their generators halt, I’ve heard that something called autorotation shall allow them to land safely.”

“You know that much about ’em, huh?”

“I saw it on an overseas drama on cable TV.”

“…Well, fine.”

For a second there, he’d been in danger of respecting Nina for exhibiting a surprising amount of knowledge; he rectified that as he murmured and shrugged. Whatever the case, the fact remained that she’d succeeded in driving off the pursuing helicopters.

“Kirasaka and whoever should be safe for the time being, right?”

Kojou looked up at the helicopter Sayaka was aboard as he sighed with relief.

“Aa…”

Just then, Kanon shouted in surprise.

Black smoke suddenly spewed from the helicopter Sayaka was aboard, whereupon it seemed to lose speed, swaying as it lowered its altitude. Riddled by the pursuers’ ferocious attacks, her craft had already been driven past its limits.

The aircraft left an almost comedic bang behind as it vanished from their sights.

“Huh. It crashed.”

Nina murmured indifferently.