Strike the Blood - Volume 20 - Chapter 3.6

6

The roar reached Island East as well.

“Uu…a crazed noise that invites ruin…!”

Hiding herself in the corner of an abandoned warehouse, Avrora covered her ears and made a tearful grimace.

Shio, too, plugged her ears while peering at Keystone Gate through a warehouse window.

The enormous inverted pyramid–style structure sat there quietly, like a giant tombstone But there was no mistaking that something was going on inside.

“That sound… I know that sound.”

A grave look crossed Shio’s face.

It was the vibration from the resonant destruction employed as an embedded weapon by the creatures known as Unknown IX-4—creatures Shio and Yuiri had encountered on a prior visit to Itogami Island.

“Why did Unknowns appear at Keystone Gate?!”

“…Come to think of it, the puppeteers behind the last Unknowns—behind the Gaminodon Incident—were engineers working for an MAR subsidiary, right?”

Motoki Yaze twisted his lips into a sarcastic smile.

Unknown IX-4 had been provisionally dubbed “Gaminodon.” Its full scientific name was Proitogaminodon Magus Nipponix.

There was no guarantee the demon beast that had appeared at Keystone Gate was a Gaminodon, but considering the situation, he figured it was highly likely this was a closely related variant.

“MAR…?!”

Shio looked back at Yaze in surprise.

Up to that point, MAR had acted as a neutral third party, rescuing the injured and paying for damages incurred during the Electoral War. It also managed the provision of food and goods, so many citizens of Itogami City must have felt a debt of gratitude to it. But if that same corporation was participating in the occupation of Keystone Gate, the premise would be turned on its head.

“It’s not so strange, is it? On the surface they might be giving humanitarian aid, but we knew from the start they were in cahoots with the Order of the End.”

“…Who’s fighting the Unknowns?”

Shio asked this with a tone of disgust.

“Who knows… It’d be great if Kojou didn’t get caught up in it, though.”

Yaze casually shrugged. At this, Avrora lifted her face in fright.

“Kojou…!”

“Ahhh, sorry. I’m sure he’s all right.”

Yaze swiftly amended his statement.

Shio giggled as she watched him. Motoki Yaze acted like a sarcastic, detached observer, but apparently, he still didn’t want to worry pure and innocent Avrora.

“Hang tight a little longer, okay? Breaking through the Second Primogenitor’s perimeter is still a no-go right now.”

Crouching to put himself eye to eye with her, Yaze smiled as if conflicted.

Shio listened in on them, suspicious. Despite his flaky tone of voice, she sensed an odd degree of certainty behind his shaky demeanor. It seemed like he had some kind of plan to get Avrora out of there.

“Will things really change if we stay put?”

Shio glared at Yaze as she posed the question. He gave her a little grin to try and placate her.

“Li’l Himeragi’s coming this way. She’s crossing the canal right now.”

“Yukina Himeragi is…?”

Shio blinked hard.

Yukina and her Schneewaltzer were without a doubt the most reliable reinforcements one could depend on in this situation. After all, the Sword Shaman had been dispatched to the island to destroy a primogenitor if necessary.

Yaze, however, couldn’t have had phone or Internet access while he was inside the Second Primogenitor’s domain. Yet he’d still been able to convey his own whereabouts to Yukina. Shio didn’t have the foggiest idea how.

“…That’s it; take a left at the next intersection. After that, you’ll see an overpass; go under that, ’kay? There’s an abandoned warehouse past that, B Wing Number Two…”

Yaze donned his over-the-ear headphones, murmuring to himself from time to time. Shio, however, did not feel any ritual energy rising from his body. This only confused her more and more.

“Who are you, Motoki Yaze? Even if you’re really involved with the Gigafloat Management Corporation, how are you in touch with Yukina Himeragi?”

“That answer gets into privacy territory, so can you please let it slide? Well, it’s a bunch of things.”

“What kind of reply is that…?! Can I really trust that Yukina Himeragi is coming?”

Shio was irritated as she chewed over Yaze’s reply, a little too conveniently vague.

Yaze made a pained smile as he shook his head, shifting his gaze beyond the window.

“She’s here. That’s a Sword Shaman for the Lion King Agency for you. Damn fast.”

“Eh…?”

Shio instantly moved to shield Avrora as she peered outside.

She made out the sight of a girl gripping a silver spear floating in midair against the predawn sky for a brief moment.

Leaping from rooftop to rooftop, she was beelining via the shortest possible route. She was like a supple, ferocious feline beast.

Finally, she landed noiselessly in front of the warehouse where Shio and the others were.

As if someone’s voice was guiding her there, she confidently strode over to Shio and the others.

“Yukina Himeragi! You really came!”

Shio poked out her head from the wall she’d been hiding behind and waved at her.

Yukina smiled slightly, acknowledging Shio through that action. It was a very sad smile.

The silver spear she gripped made a heavy, metallic sound as it changed form. The metal shaft slid to its full length, and the sheathed secondary blades deployed left and right. It was shifting to combat mode.

“…Yukina…Himeragi…?”

Watching Yukina as she slowly approached, Shio narrowed her eyes in alarm.

“Are you alone? Is Kojou Akatsuki all right? How did you know we were here?”

“Hikawa, wait a sec. Something’s not right with her.”

When Shio moved toward Yukina, Yaze grasped her shoulder from behind to stop her. The thin smile had disappeared from his lips, replaced by a sharpness in his eyes.

“Hikawa, I’m sorry. Please hand Miss Avrora over to me.”

Halted, Yukina glanced at Avrora behind Shio’s back. Shio shuddered from the chill she felt from Yukina’s gaze, frigid and betraying no emotion whatsoever.

“Miss Avrora… No, the twelfth Kaleid Blood…you can hear me, yes?”

When Yukina calmly spoke to her, Avrora’s shoulders twitched and trembled.

Her voice had conveyed neither hostility nor anger—only clear lethal intent.

“Please come with me if you wish to save Kojou Akatsuki.”

Yukina quietly continued speaking.

Her face was rather lovely, which made her visible lack of emotion all the more frightening. It was enough to make one think she resembled something other than a human—a beautiful weapon, perhaps.

As if trying to flee from that fright, Shio slammed her perplexed thoughts into Yaze.

“What is the meaning of this, Motoki Yaze?! Is Himeragi being controlled by someone?!”

“Nah, that ain’t possible. The one who sent her here is Koyomi Shizuka, one of the Three Saints of the Lion King Agency.”

Yaze was half-miffed as he made that retort. He didn’t know why Yukina would be after Avrora, either.

“Lady Shizuka’s order…?”

Shio murmured in a daze. She’d just realized that it was possible the Lion King Agency had ordered Yukina to kill Avrora. If Koyomi Shizuka had commanded the assassination, then Yukina was blameless.

Yukina, however, shook her head as if to refute Shio’s doubts.

“You’re mistaken, Hikawa. I have come of my own will.”

“Please explain this, Yukina Himeragi.”

Shio dropped the instrument case on her back.

Her Freikugel Plus was an area-suppression weapon. It was useless in close combat. It would be better not to be weighed down just in case things with Yukina came down to a fight.

Even as she realized the other girl had made that judgment, Yukina’s expression did not falter.

“I’ll do that after as much as you like. So please, step aside.”

“No. I won’t.”

Shio quietly steadied her breathing as she spoke. During the time they’d spent hiding in the warehouse, she’d recovered a fair bit of spiritual energy. She certainly couldn’t say she was in tip-top shape, but it was plenty to take on Yukina alone.

Besides, her pride as Yukina’s senior in the Lion King Agency was on the line.

“Motoki Yaze, take Avrora and run! Reverberate!”

Shio activated all the spell tablets she’d distributed throughout the warehouse beforehand. Shikigami taking the form of birds of prey bore down on her opponent from all directions.

“Snowdrift Wolf!”

Yukina twirled with her silver spear. Her magical energy–nullifying lance was the mortal enemy of all shikigami. The barest touch sliced the familiars apart like they were nothing and reverted them back to spell tablets once more.

But Shio had expected as much.

“Morning Star/Saikyou!”

Sliding into Yukina’s blind spot while the shikigami drew her attention, Shio launched a kick in tandem with a physical-enhancement spell. She was using the art of the Eight Divine Generals—the Lion King Agency’s silent assassination martial art. This was the Shamanic War Dancers’ trump card; its details were even hidden from the Sword Shamans in their own organization.

But Yukina made no effort to evade Shio’s attack.

“—Flaming Thunder!”

“Wha…?!”

An explosive shock wave pounded Shio like an invisible hammer. Yukina had shot the pulse out in all directions like bullets after gathering the high-purity spiritual energy within her.

Only Yukina’s ridiculously large reserve of ritual energy could make such a reckless counterattack possible.

“You idiot… Resorting to something that crazy…!”

Slamming into the container behind her, Shio groaned powerlessly as she slowly slid down and collapsed.

Right after unleashing that ritual energy, Yukina’s body became completely, utterly defenseless. Had her timing been off even a single split second, she very well could have died from Shio’s kick landing squarely.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t think I could win against you any other way, Hikawa.”

She looked down at Shio with a neutral expression as she spoke.

Her emotionless, machine-like eyes sent chills down Shio’s spine.

Now that she thought about it, Yukina had seemed a lot more human since meeting Kojou Akatsuki. Clumsy as it was, she showed her emotions and often acted as if she were a completely normal girl.

But the girl in front of her was different. This was the Yukina Himeragi that Shio knew from back during training at High God Forest. This was Yukari Endou’s prodigy, admired and feared by her fellow Attack Mage candidates. When she’d been chosen to be the watcher of the Fourth Primogenitor, everyone had accepted it. Even the Fourth Primogenitor would surely perish at her hand—

This Yukina Himeragi, like a blade polished to a fine edge, shifted her gaze toward the cowering Avrora.

“Sheesh…well, doesn’t this suck.”

Crunch, went the pill capsules between his teeth as Motoki Yaze stepped before Yukina.

Shio gawked as she watched. She didn’t think Yaze would be able to do much against a girl who even a fellow Attack Mage couldn’t hold a candle to.

“Upperclassman Yaze…?”

Yukina must have been as perplexed as Shio. Her eyes swayed ever so slightly from bewilderment.

Yaze, however, just smiled impetuously, spreading his arms wide as if to hide Avrora behind him.

That instant, a gale swirled up out of nowhere and blew Yukina away.

“What are you gonna do, li’l Himeragi? Your spear can’t nullify my power.”

Yaze warned her in a provocative tone of voice. Seeing that made everything click for Shio. This was Motoki Yaze’s true nature—a Hyper Adapter who could freely manipulate the air. He’d used that ability to make his voice reach Yukina and lead her to the warehouse.

Although his ability wasn’t too strong in and of itself, between generating invisible blades using air pressure, destroying cellular structures through use of a vacuum, and so forth, it gave him many avenues to kill as the situation demanded. On top of that, because it didn’t use ritual energy, there was no way to predict its attacks.

“………”

However, Yaze’s unexpected ability only shook Yukina for a brief moment.

She took out some metallic spell tablets, which changed into a quartet of wolves. These swiftly scattered to surround Yaze from four sides.

Yaze’s composure gradually faded. The nature of his ability to control air rendered him unable to strike in multiple directions at once. Beyond that, his air pressure moves were unlikely to have much effect against inorganic matter. Defeating metallic shikigami would be a long shot.

He had only one option left: defeating Yukina, the caster, before her familiars attacked.

She understood that as well. The issue was whether peering into the future would actually let her evade Yaze’s invisible attacks—this was a gamble for her.

The atmosphere between the pair facing off grew so strained that one could scarcely breathe. But then, an unexpected individual broke the tension. Slipping past Yaze’s flank, a girl with golden hair approached Yukina.

“Eh? Hey, Av-baby…?! Don’t! Stay put!”

Forgetting that he was in the middle of combat, Yaze tried to stop the vampire girl.

Yukina, too, seemed to scarcely believe her eyes as her target for elimination drew near.

Looking straight back at the surprised Sword Shaman, Avrora pleasantly smiled.

It wasn’t her usual fearful expression. It was a defenseless smile, the kind you only showed to a trusted friend.

“Yuki…na…”

Avrora spoke her pursuer’s name; a name she shouldn’t have known.

Yukina and Yaze both stiffened as if struck by an electric jolt.

Then the pair remembered. From the time she had been destroyed by Kojou one year earlier until being revived in the body borrowed from Hektos, Avrora’s soul had been possessing Nagisa Akatsuki. She and Nagisa had shared memories.

“Y…Yukina Himeragi…is thy treacherous act in service to Kojou?”

Puffing up her chest and striving to maintain all the dignity she could, Avrora asked the other girl that question. Her tone of voice had returned to that of her usual self, but it was crystal clear that she had inherited memories from Nagisa.

She closed in on the bewildered Yukina and touched the tip of Snowdrift Wolf, thrust toward her, with her own chest.

“Then I permit thee. With this purging spear, usurp mine soul.”

“…?!!”

Yukina’s hand trembled around her lance. Avrora closed her eyes and waited for her to strike.

“Don’t, Av-baby!”

“Himeragi…stop…!”

Yaze and Shio shouted. But even if they’d tried to stop Yukina, the range between her and Avrora was too close. All it would take for her to destroy Avrora was the slightest thrust of her spear.

And yet, Yukina did not move. She kept still, as though frozen solid. Her voice trembled.

“Why…?”

Yukina watched Avrora submit with moist eyes that seemed on the verge of tears. Poking out of the collar area of the vampire’s coat was a Saikai Academy middle school uniform.

Itogami Island was a Demon Sanctuary, where even the World’s Mightiest Vampire could attend school like any normal person. It was easy to imagine that Avrora Florestina was wearing that uniform because of how deeply she yearned to spend her days like that.

This threw Yukina astray. After all, she was trying to kill Avrora to protect Kojou Akatsuki’s everyday life.

“Even…if I don’t destroy you…Akatsuki-senpai will continue to suffer all alone…”

Strength left her hands. The silver spear clattered to the floor.

Speechless, Shio stared at Yukina.

That island really had changed her underclassman. Perhaps this was a change one shouldn’t have hoped for in an Attack Mage. But as a person, as a friend, Shio was fond of her.

“Thou need not be concerned, Priestess of the Sword. I have already been destroyed once.”

Picking up the lance, Avrora held it out to Yukina. Her blue eyes spoke loud and clear: If she had to be eliminated to save Kojou Akatsuki, then Yukina should destroy Avrora without hesitation.

The Sword Shaman frailly shook her head. The next instant, she snatched the spear out of Avrora’s hand. The pale glow of the Divine Oscillation Effect enveloped the spear as Yukina swung it about.

“—?!!”

“Himeragi!”

Yaze and Shio sharply inhaled. But they had no time to stop Yukina as she thrust the lance forward.

It sheared off several strands of Avrora’s blond hair and sent them dancing into the sky.

The spear nearly grazed her slender neck, running right past it. Then two metallic objects collided, sending a high-pitched sound echoing throughout the warehouse.

Yukina’s lance had blocked a silver long sword swinging down at Avrora from behind.

This was the Lion King Agency’s Rosen Chevalier Plus—

It was this divine armament, swung to rend Avrora asunder, which Yukina had fended off.

“Why did you stop me, Yukii?”

The long sword’s wielder glared at Yukina with a reproachful look. She was a serious-looking girl with a crisp, tidy atmosphere about her. But in that moment, the gentle impression she normally gave off had vanished.

“…Yuiri?!”

Shio exclaimed, baffled at the sudden interloper. Despite just witnessing it with her own two eyes, she couldn’t believe the girl had just tried to do Avrora in.

“I’m glad you’re safe, Yuiri! But why…?!”

“Sorry, Shio.”

Keeping her back to Shio, she spoke like a girl on the edge of a cliff.

“Don’t get in my way, either, Yukii. If you do, an outbreak will destroy the island.”

“Outbreak…?!”

Shouting so hard she practically spat blood, Shio descended into utter confusion.

“What do you mean by that? Explain!”

“I see…the Blazing Banquet…”

Yaze’s face twitched as he made a low groan. Undiluted fear hovered in his eyes.

“The Blazing Banquet? Why would the ceremonial ritual to awaken the Fourth Primogenitor happen now of all times…?”

Shio asked back, dumbfounded. With Kojou Akatsuki already claiming the role of the Fourth Primogenitor, she couldn’t see why the ritual to revive the Fourth Primogenitor would activate.

Yaze, however, shook his head with an anguished look.

“Right now, Kojou’s an incomplete Fourth Primogenitor. He’s one short of the Beast Vassals he needs to return to his proper form.”

“…Then Yukina Himeragi attempted to kill Avrora to make Kojou Akatsuki a complete Fourth Primogenitor, and therefore prevent an outbreak…?”

Shio stared at Yukina in surprise. If those were the stakes, then she could certainly understand why Yukina had suddenly attempted something so wicked. Small wonder that Koyomi Shizuka had ordered her to eliminate Avrora.

And now, Yuiri was trying to kill Avrora for the exact same reason.

Shio no longer knew what to do. The same probably went for Yukina.

“Back off, Yukii. Or do you want to make Kojou kill her instead?”

Yuiri posed that barbed question to Yukina, as though goading her hesitance.

“That’s…!”

It was plain as day that Yuiri had shaken her.

Taking advantage of that opening, Yuiri struck.

“—Mist!”

Yuiri’s form became vague and hazy as it splintered apart in a body-splitting attack, a mixture of illusion and high-speed movement. This was the secret technique she’d inherited from her master.

Normally a boon, Yukina’s Spirit Sight had now become the very thing preventing her from defending against the blow. The production of countless clones resulted in a quantity of branching futures far greater than what she could process, which left her immobilized.

“Nn…!”

Sustaining Yuiri’s mighty body ram, the small-statured Yukina could not help but go flying. Even Shio spontaneously covered her eyes at the tragic sight.

“That girl has a cute face, but man, she’s brutal…”

Yaze murmured that scathing critique. He wasn’t referring to the body-splitting technique that had overwhelmed Yukina; he was talking about how Yuiri had invoked Kojou’s name beforehand. The latter was the target of his assertion.

“If she didn’t do that, there’s no way she could put Yukina Himeragi out of commission.”

“She didn’t have much of a choice,” responded Shio in Yuiri’s defense.

If two Sword Shamans with superhuman combat capabilities clashed head-on, it was highly probable that one would sustain grave wounds from which she would never recover. Yuiri had opted to shake her opponent mentally to avoid that.

It was a choice that was very much like her, kinder to her junior than anyone.

And it was out of that very kindness Yuiri would slay Avrora by her own hand.

“Sorry, Avrora.”

She slowly raised her blade high.

The vampire made no move to flee. Offering a fleeting smile, she closed her eyes, awaiting the downswing of Yuiri’s weapon.

Her attacker bit her lip hard enough to make blood ooze out and strengthened her grip on her sword; the next instant, a girlie, high-pitched voice reverberated throughout the abandoned warehouse.

“—Primus Minium!”

Suddenly, a pitch-black whirlwind blew Yuiri away, sword and all. Its momentum proceeded to destroy the abandoned warehouse building itself. Containers were flung up and broken apart one after another, and the walls and ceiling were pulverized in an instant. The move was incredibly destructive; it was as though cannon shells had poured down into the building.

“Wha—?!”

“Yuiri!”

Yaze and Shio exclaimed as they rolled onto the floor.

The wind showered Yuiri head-on before she collapsed, bleeding from the head.

Staring down at her was a pitch-black bicorn flickering like a mirage. A Beast Vassal of the Fourth Primogenitor—no, of The Blood.

“Unfortunately, I cannot permit you to harm her.”

A boy dressed in a tailcoat stood where the main entrance to the warehouse had once been.

By his side was a large man wearing a mask patterned after a reptilian skull—member of the Order of the End.

“The Blood…”

Collapsed, Yukina lifted her wobbly head as she invoked his name.

“The Blood…?! That kid’s really him?!”

Shio’s eyes widened in shock as she poised her silver recurve bow.

The instigator of the Electoral War and the mastermind of the Order of the End was standing right before their eyes. But even if they understood that in their heads, they couldn’t help but feel like something was off upon actually encountering him in person. They were staring at The Blood’s true form, a young boy strongly resembling Avrora.

“I have come for you, Sister.”

The boy spoke reverentially as he extended a hand toward the girl.

Avrora was the only one standing normally amid the warehouse being ravaged by the whirlwind. Only the air around her was calm; it was as if she was enveloped by an invisible wall. The Blood was protecting her.

“Now, Sister. Come.”

The Blood repeated himself to hurry her along.

But Avrora didn’t budge. All she did was give a tiny shake of her head as if to defy him.

“Sister, please.”

Apparently at the end of his rope, The Blood raised a stronger voice.

“Uu, uuu…”

Avrora gingerly backed away. A white mist started to envelop her body.

The frigid miasma seemed to be freezing her over. Demonic energy was leaking out from Avrora’s body.

Transparent snow crystals danced in the wind, gently melting in the dawn sky.