Strike the Blood - Volume 21 - Chapter 2.1

CHAPTER TWO

BLACK BEAST VASSALS

1

“See you later, Kojou. Take care of him, Yukina.”

Changed into her uniform, Nagisa waved to Kojou and Yukina before busily heading out. She’d said she was heading to Saikai Academy to meet Minami and Sakura. Nagisa hadn’t been able to see her friends since returning to her home country. Her classmates’ condition must have been weighing on her mind.

“No need to worry about your little sis. The Chaos Zone hag has no reason to lay a hand on that girl, and I assigned Aradahl as her escort just to be on the safe side.”

For some reason, Ki Juranbarada seemed amused by the worried stare with which Kojou had watched Nagisa go as he spoke.

Kojou glared at him with blatant wariness.

“Why are you going that far for Nagisa?”

“Because she’s so cute. I love her!”

It was Zana who replied to Kojou’s question. She was hugging the cushion on her lap in Nagisa’s stead, rubbing her cheek against it pretty hard. That ain’t a reason, thought Kojou with a twist of his lips, but of course he lacked the courage to actually say that out loud.

“Well, have a seat. Your little sis’s cookies are pretty tasty stuff.”

Ki nibbled on some sweets as he leaned on the couch with a relaxed demeanor. From the way he was reaching for one cookie after another, his words did not seem to be mere flattery. Given he was the sovereign of a Dominion, one would not assume he’d scarf down any old meal, but there was a certain ramen maniac prince as a precedent. Maybe simple confections like this felt unexpectedly fresh to him, not that Kojou really cared either way.

“Why the hell do you seem more at home than I do…?”

Kojou sighed in annoyance as he sat down opposite Ki.

Now that he’d lost the power of a primogenitor, maybe he wasn’t in any position to speak to the First Primogenitor on equal terms, but they were interacting normally regardless. He got the impression Ki wanted it that way.

“First, let me say my thanks. Congratulations on putting the spirits of the departed to rest.”

A satisfied smile came over Ki as he moved his face closer to Kojou.

He looked back at the First Primogenitor without any timidity whatsoever.

“By spirits of the departed, do you mean The Blood?”

“That’s right,” Ki affirmed bluntly.

“We couldn’t wipe him out ourselves because the whole pretext for us coming to this island was to be guests in the Electoral War. I’m sure he wished to die at the hands of the Fourth Primogenitor anyway.”

“…So what the hell was up with Zana getting in our way? If she hadn’t done that, Shahryar Ren wouldn’t have taken Avrora…!”

Kojou turned his gaze toward Zana. She grinned with narrowed eyes.

Since Zana had slowed Yukina and Sayaka down, Kojou had needed to fight The Blood all on his own. This resulted in a prolonged engagement that wore the girls down so much they hadn’t been able to stop Shahryar Ren from closing in. Kojou had good reason to glare at her.

Ki, on the other hand, went “hmm” as he stroked his chin.

“I wonder about that. If Zana hadn’t been there, that rich bastard might not have let you walk away at all.”

“—Are you trying to say she pretended to help The Blood but was really protecting us instead?”

Kojou gave both vampires a suspicious stare. Though the claim struck him as self-serving, after calmly considering it for a moment, he couldn’t say for certain the man was just making it up.

Shahryar Ren hadn’t shown his face when Zana Lashka was fighting with Yukina and Sayaka in spite of the fact that he would have caught Kojou and the others completely by surprise if he had done so.

“Of course, that wasn’t the only reason. I genuinely wanted to fight two cute girls, on top of other important business.”

Zana gave Kojou and Yukina a sexy wink. Her slippery attitude annoyed Kojou a little.

“Business?”

“That’s what we came to talk to you about today, boy. Wanna make a deal with me?”

Ki Juranbarada reseated himself deeper into the sofa with a generous puff of his chest. That alone was enough to strike Kojou with the sense he was seated upon a regal throne. He felt like he was learning all over again that this man was the primogenitor who reigned supreme over the Warlord’s Empire.

A little overwhelmed, Kojou shook his head as he gave a self-deprecating reply.

“Hold on a sec. I’m not the Fourth Primogenitor anymore. Hell, I’m not even a demon, just a plain old human being. I’m not in any position to make a deal with the ruler of a Dominion.”

“I suppose not. Who’d have thought you’d give up the abilities of the World’s Mightiest Vampire that easily? Even I couldn’t see that one coming. You got me good.”

“I was really surprised.”

Kojou thought that would have soured Ki’s mood, but instead he nodded with what seemed to be genuine praise. Zana smiled with amusement. Kojou grimaced as he took in their reactions.

“You know all that, and you still want to make a deal with me?”

“You have a point. You finally went back to being a normal human, so you can back out and do whatever you like. You’ve both amused us plenty enough as it is.”

Ki made a strained smile. Kojou felt like there was a sharp, aggressive glint coming from the back of his eyes.

“But if you want to save Dodekatos, I’ll lend you a hand. I’ll give you the power to go to Nod and face off against that rich bastard.”

Hrk, went the sound of Kojou’s throat. Ki was tempting Kojou with the words he wanted to hear most.

When Kojou subconsciously leaned forward, Yukina instantly reached her arm across his chest to stop him.

“This is what you meant by a deal?”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

Yukina had checked out of an abundance of caution. Ki nodded back with a daring look on his face.

“And how would we repay you?”

“I want to avoid Nod becoming a threat to the world on this side. I want it so no nation or organization can lay a hand on the place, not just MAR.”

“So we won’t just bring Avrora back but send all of MAR packing, too?”

Kojou lifted his brows in surprise.

Ki seemed to be saying he wanted to give Kojou the power to save Avrora and have him use it to stop Shahryar Ren’s scheme in its tracks. He felt like this was Ki using him, but it was a far better deal than any he could have imagined. After all, snatching Avrora back meant clashing with MAR Inc.’s units either way.

“MAR’s not necessarily your only foe. This agreement covers any and all nations and forces trying to use Nod for themselves. If worse comes to worse, I’d rather you lay waste to the city itself.”

“…Why place that duty upon senpai’s shoulders? Could you not order your Warlord’s Empire subordinates to take care of it…?”

Yukina pressed further with even greater care. It was an impolite question to ask, but Ki didn’t take it badly whatsoever as he shook his head with apparent regret.

“I’d do that if I could. Things would be a lot simpler if I could blow Nod away myself, but there’s a reason my hands are tied.”

“A reason… Meaning?”

“You can’t use Beast Vassals in Nod.”

“Huh?”

Zana Lashka’s reply in her king’s stead left Yukina wide-eyed and perplexed.

“Hmph,” went Ki’s curt snort.

“Yep, that’s how it is. Beast Vassals are summoned creatures from another world, after all. But over in the world of Nod, the host vampire is an anomaly. An already unstable existence summoning an even less stable Beast Vassal is simply a bridge too far…with one narrow exception.”

“Exception…?”

Yukina gasped and looked at Kojou.

Ki leered, lifting his lips to reveal his sharp canine teeth.

“There’s one, right? The artificial vampire made for the express purpose of sending it into Nod.”

“You don’t mean…the Fourth Primogenitor?”

Kojou’s face stiffened. Thanks to Ki’s detailed explanation, even someone as ill-versed in demonic affairs as Kojou could catch the drift. After all, he’d been that artificial vampire himself until a few short hours prior.

“That’s right. The Fourth Primogenitor, the god-killing weapon developed to destroy Cain the Sinful God, can use Beast Vassals even in Nod. That’s what it was made for. After all, those Beast Vassals were birthed there by feeding them the grudges of Devas.”

Ki squinted with distaste. “I see,” Kojou murmured to himself.

“So that’s why Shahryar Ren took Avrora with him…”

The Fourth Primogenitor’s demonic energy was certainly vast, but that wasn’t to say comparable power sources didn’t exist. Spiritual reactors, dragon lines, or even ancient dragons—you could use any of them to simply open a gate to Nod.

Shahryar Ren, however, had gone through the onerous process of the Electoral War in order to obtain the Fourth Primogenitor specifically. This was because he knew the Fourth Primogenitor’s Beast Vassals were the key to invading the city.

“The artificial vampire known as the Fourth Primogenitor was designed with all kinds of safety features to keep it from harming its Deva creators. One of these was the aggressive mock personality, Root Mode. Another was called Logic Bomb and was implemented to protect its secrets, and there also seems to be a Ransom Mode, which completely deprives the vampire of free will so it can be used as a pure demonic energy generator.”

Ki counted on his fingers as he continued his explanation.

Kojou was deeply familiar with the danger posed by Root—the personality governing the Fourth Primogenitor’s weapon side. On top of that, the presence of Logic Bomb suggested there were additional functions hidden within the Fourth Primogenitor. What Ki referred to as Ransom Mode seemed to be another one of these features.

And Shahryar Ren had used it to control Avrora and draw demonic energy out of her.

“Twisted or not, that rich bastard is still a descendant of the Devas. It’s not strange that he’d be aware of that function. And with it, he can use the demonic energy of the Fourth Primogenitor in Nod, a place you shouldn’t be able to summon Beast Vassals at all. I take it you can imagine what a bad situation this is?”

Kojou nodded without a word. An unlimited release of the Fourth Primogenitor’s demonic power was said to be on par with an army or perhaps a large-scale natural disaster. So long as Shahryar Ren remained in Nod and could wield that destructive power without anyone to challenge him, he was invincible.

“So me going to Nod…will change this somehow?”

“There’s no guarantee, but I’ll give you a chance at the very least.”

Ki gazed at Kojou as if to test him.

Kojou casually shrugged his shoulders and nodded.

“Got it… I’ll take your deal.”

“—Senpai! Just like that…!”

Yukina seemed unnerved as she tried to admonish Kojou, but he had no intention of reconsidering. The only way he could turn things around was to accept Ki’s deal.

“Good answer.”

Ki smiled with satisfaction when he saw that Kojou had made up his mind. Just then, he slapped his forehead like he’d forgotten something important.

“Ahhh, sorry. I forgot to mention this, but this agreement comes with a condition.”

“Condition?”

What now? Kojou thought, scowling. An atypically serious expression came over Ki as he lowered his voice, almost like he was teasing Kojou.

“You need Blood Servants. Since you’re not a vampire right now, you’ll need them to make up the difference. Use whatever term you like, but you need spirit mediums ready to offer their fates to you.”

“Blood…Servants?”

Kojou murmured this in a small voice as he unwittingly glanced at the side of Yukina’s face. She was touching the ring on her left ring finger, probably subconsciously.

Even if it was an emergency measure to avert a situation of life and death, Yukina had technically become Kojou’s Blood Servant. That pact was no longer effective now that he had relinquished the power of the Fourth Primogenitor, but even so, his mind first went to her when Blood Servants were brought up.

When Yukina looked at Kojou, he was anxious about how she would react. If you insist, I would be willing to assist, her expression seemed to say.

Ki, though, calmly continued without bothering to appreciate the delicate exchange between the two.

“Right, right. It’ll take twelve at minimum.”

“T-twelve…?!”

“Whaaat…?!”

Kojou and Yukina raised blunt, incredulous voices. Ki looked back at their surprised faces as if mystified.

“You can handle that?”

“No way in hell I can! How the heck did you come up with that crazy number…!”

“Oh, really? Too bad, boy. I kinda liked you.”

Ki sighed with what seemed like genuine dejection as he made a tiny, desolate shake of his head. Beside him, Zana Lashka rose up without a sound, then went around to Kojou opposite from Yukina.

When she sat down on the same sofa, Zana cuddled up to Kojou so that her ample breasts pressed against him.

“Uh…?”

Enveloped by her sensual, fruit-scented perfume, Kojou was practically paralyzed. Zana beheld him with her gemstone-like eyes as she smiled teasingly.

“Sorry about this.”

“Huh…?”

The sensation of her soft lips pressed against his made the inside of Kojou’s head go blank. Her captivating tongue entwined with his own, bringing with it a strange, undefinable pleasure. His brain was melting down.

“M-Miss Zana?! Wh-what are you…?!”

When Yukina saw Kojou’s and Zana’s tongues intermingle, she rose in fury. Her face was pale, and her eyes were bloodshot, and she was so enraged she could barely get a word out. It had been a long time since Kojou had seen her that incensed.

As if putting on a show for Yukina, Zana sucked on Kojou’s lips a little and licked them, then followed that up with a cruel leer. Yukina’s expression grew even angrier when she realized that something was coursing from Zana deep down into Kojou’s throat. Robbed of his bodily freedom, he could do nothing but swallow.

Her objective accomplished, Zana released Kojou with what seemed like slight lingering regret, licking her own moist lips.

“Why…did you do…something like…?”

Kojou groaned as Zana thrust him away. Fresh blood was trickling from his lips.

Deep crimson oozed and spread from where the silver blade had impaled his chest. Zana had unhesitatingly stabbed him in the left side of his chest with the large knife she’d held in her right hand.