Strike the Blood - Volume 21 - Chapter 2.2

2

Zana pulled out the weapon without any fanfare, a dagger whose warped shape evoked a human skull.

Fresh blood gushed out of Kojou’s chest wound as he slowly fell forward. As Yukina watched in a daze, one could almost hear the sound of something snapping inside of her.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaa! Uaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!”

A scream like that of a wild beast surged out of Yukina’s throat as she gave in to her anger and attacked Zana.

“Oh my, I’m so sorry—I might have gone a little too far with the…free…bie…?! Wuhhh?!”

Zana was diverting Yukina’s attacks with ease when her expression hardened from surprise. The flow of Yukina’s movements were fading in and out like film being cut from a reel as she launched lethal blunt attacks with impossible speed. Her strikes were coming from outside time, a flurry of blows using the right of absolute initiative.

“No way—this is bad! This girl might be kinda dangerous when she flips her lid!”

Zana couldn’t keep up with the overwhelming speed of the punches Yukina was dishing out. When she instantly raised both arms in defense, Yukina’s explosive ritual energy blew her guard asunder. She attacked Zana with a flurry of merciless thrusting kicks. Unable to keep up with the blows, the vampire woman went flying.

“Ow, ow, ow…!”

“Idiot, you took it too far when you stuck your tongue in.”

Ki swiftly moved around, catching Zana before she could collide with the wall. “Awwww,” went Zana, pouting in dismay. “I mean, if it’s going to be his last one, I thought I’d give him a good memory… Right?”

“Don’t stomp on the pure hearts of kids going through puberty.”

Ki sighed out of apparent sympathy for Kojou and tossed the pouting woman to the floor. Apparently, it didn’t faze him that his own Blood Servant had kissed Kojou. After spending so many years together, he probably regarded someone like Kojou along the lines of a kindergartner or a pet dog or cat.

“Senpai! Please hang on, senpai!”

Yukina forgot all about pursuing Zana and tried to treat the curled-up Kojou, but with her current treatment ritual spell abilities, there was no way she could remedy someone’s punctured heart. She couldn’t stop the bleeding, let alone close the wound.

“Gu…oa…”

An agonized cry trickled out of Kojou’s mouth. Yukina’s face twisted in despair before immediately changing to shock. Just when she assumed it was only a matter of time before he bled out, something strange happened to his body.

“The wound is… But how?!”

Yukina wore a bewildered expression. The gash in Kojou’s chest had begun to repair itself even as she watched. His completely destroyed heart had regenerated, his severed blood vessels were linking back together, and the deep hole punched through flesh and sinew was filling up.

This incredible healing—no, regeneration—was impossible for a demon body, let alone human flesh and blood. It was a regenerative ability on par with the unrestricted immortality of the vampire primogenitors.

“Told you that I’d give him the power to go up against Shahryar Ren.”

Ki spoke with the tone of an innocent child.

Yukina pressed close to the curled-up Kojou and glared up at Ki with an aggressive look in her eyes.

“Just what did you do to Akatsuki-senpai…?”

“I fed the boy Beast Vassals—by force, as it were.”

Ki calmly spoke the words.

“Beast…Vassals…?”

“You get vampiric abilities by eating Beast Vassals. The thing our kind calls cannibalism allows you to steal the abilities of vampires you consume.”

“As he is now, there is no way senpai could do such a—”

“You wouldn’t think. A normal human can’t cannibalize a vampire. They’re not even the same species to begin with, see.”

Ki nodded with a completely serious look before breaking out into a malicious leer.

“Since when did he become a normal human, though?”

“…Eh? Huh?”

“Kojou Akatsuki gave up the right to rule the Fourth Primogenitor’s Beast Vassals…and nothing more. He didn’t hand back the curse of immortality. In fact, I’m pretty damn sure the eternal life from the gods themselves is still inscribed in his body. That’s because Dodekatos’s—no, Hektos’s—body was built as a vampire to begin with.”

“Ah…”

Yukina’s eyes wavered weakly. So that’s it, thought Kojou, clicking his tongue amid his anguish.

Once upon a time, Avrora the Twelfth had passed her own power on to Kojou, turning him into the Fourth Primogenitor. The price she’d paid was the loss of her vampiric powers and immortality. It was said that the instant she was released from its prison of ice, that body would turn to ash and vanish.

That’s why Kojou had thought it was the same deal this time around in reverse: Kojou would relinquish his vampire powers and revert to his original human form. But that wasn’t the case, for there was a fundamental difference between what had happened at Keystone Gate and the moment when he’d become the Fourth Primogenitor.

Unlike Kojou, who was human to begin with, Avrora’s current body—Hektos’s former body—was vampiric from the start. Kojou hadn’t changed her into a vampire. Avrora already had a vampire body, so there was no need for him to pass the curse of immortality to her.

The curse of immortality that made vampires what they were clung to Kojou’s flesh and blood even now. Relinquishing his Beast Vassals, his source of demonic energy, had made it seem like he’d become human again, but that was all. Obtaining his familiars once more would cause Kojou to regain his true vampiric nature. If this was not the case, he’d surely have lost his life the instant Zana plunged her knife into his heart.

“That being said, whether the boy can tame the Beast Vassals I gave him is a different question entirely. These are Beast Vassals with power on par with the Fourth Primogenitor’s twelve, so it won’t be easy, you know?”

Kojou moaned in pain as Ki looked down at him and spoke tauntingly.

His statement made Yukina draw in her breath.

“Beast Vassals on par with the Fourth Primogenitor’s…? Just where did you find such…?”

Yukina turned her gaze toward Zana, who averted her eyes with feigned innocence. Her behavior made Kojou and Yukina understand exactly what she’d done.

There were only two types of beings in the entire world with Beast Vassals equal in power to those of the Fourth Primogenitor, the World’s Mightiest Vampire. These were the real primogenitors, Ki included, and the prototype Fourth Primogenitor who no longer existed—in other words, The Blood.

“So that’s it… You showed up there at Keystone Gate when I was fighting The Blood to get a hold of his Beast Vassals…”

Kojou murmured this in a fragmented, anguished voice.

Zana Lashka had suddenly appeared at the height of Kojou’s fight against The Blood, keeping Yukina and Sayaka at bay throughout. Once The Blood dissipated, she’d vanished from sight without a word.

Now they understood what had motivated her mysterious deeds. She hadn’t been there to lend The Blood a hand. Rather, Zana’s objective was to snatch The Blood’s Beast Vassals away.

“Hee-hee, you got it.”

Zana cutely stuck out her tongue without the slightest shred of guilt. Hovering atop it were geometrical markings resembling a magic circle. The pattern’s pale glow greatly resembled the Divine Oscillation Effect of Snowdrift Wolf.

“I temporarily sealed and preserved the Beast Vassals that should have dissipated along with their host, Kenon. You should thank me while you still have your sense of self.”

Zana charmingly licked her lips. She’d used the magic inscribed on her tongue to send the Beast Vassals coursing into Kojou’s body. Sealing and preserving Beast Vassals was not something any normal magic user could do, but Zana was a Blood Servant of the First Primogenitor. She’d tapped into Ki’s inexhaustible supply of demonic energy to overcome the problem with brute force.

“What do you mean?” Kojou asked, glaring at Zana. It didn’t sound like she was threatening him but rather warning him of an inevitable future development.

“I’m saying, now that you’re little different from a human being, do you really have the power to make twelve Beast Vassals serve you?”

Ki grandly shook his head as if pitying Kojou.

“Zana’s blood will protect your flesh for a little while, but it ain’t gonna last for long. Not when you’re not even a full vampire.”

“Are you saying Kojou needs twelve Blood Servants to hold the Beast Vassals in check?”

Yukina looked at Ki as if she’d just realized something. The Blood had twelve Beast Vassals, and Ki had talked about a dozen Blood Servants—she didn’t think he’d just picked the number out of the air.

“One per Beast Vassal. He should be able to tame those Beast Vassals if he has twelve spirit mediums on your level. Am I wrong, Miss Sword Shaman?”

Ki spoke as though he were saying the obvious. Yukina bit her lip without a word.

The First Primogenitor’s calculations were very crude, but they weren’t completely groundless. After all, there was the case of Nagisa Akatsuki, who’d kept a Beast Vassal sealed even after it had possessed her. But Nagisa had only been able to work miracles because she was an absurdly powerful spirit medium, and even then, the act had whittled away at her life force. If asked if she could manage the same, even Yukina couldn’t immediately reply with a yes. Assembling twelve spirit mediums of a class equal to hers was a task so far beyond unreasonable that it bordered on hopeless.

“This is for you.”

When Yukina fell silent, Zana tossed the dagger she’d been holding toward the girl. It was the silver hunting knife that had pierced Kojou’s heart.

The instant it left Zana’s hands, however, the blade’s contours seemed to melt and contort. Though it was still composed of gleaming silver metal, it had transformed into a beautiful chain roughly the length of a necklace.

“Alchemy…?!”

Yukina was shocked as she caught the chain. Kojou’s face twitched with surprise as well.

Zana didn’t show any sign of boasting, but turning a knife into a chain in a single second was frighteningly high-end alchemy. Her close-combat abilities had been enough to overwhelm both Yukina and Sayaka, yet she’d achieved a high level of alchemical mastery; both Yukina and Kojou felt as though the unfathomable might of the First Primogenitor’s Blood Servants were being rubbed in their faces all over again.

“It seals Kojou Akatsuki’s raw flesh and bone fragments to serve as a catalyst, no doubt the same materials as in the ring you wear. If you ask a high-level alchemist nicely, you can have it changed to whatever form you like. Make it as cute as you can.”

Zana pointed at the chain in Yukina’s hands, grinning as she explained.

The necklace Zana had created had eleven links. Give those catalysts equal to Yukina’s ring out to eleven people was the subtext.

“And hey, if you don’t wanna gather any Blood Servants, that’s cool with me. Your Beast Vassals can blow away this little artificial island real easy if they go berserk. Without Itogami Island, the gate will vanish, and the guys who went to Nod won’t be able to make it back here. It’ll be a little more boring, but I guess it can’t be helped.”

Ki made a deliberate shrug of his shoulders as he curved his lips into a ferocious smile.

The fact that he’d opted to implant the Beast Vassals into Kojou by force made it clear his words were no empty threat. The man was genuinely fine with Itogami Island being wiped off the map. If he thought it was necessary, no doubt he’d do it himself without any hesitation whatsoever.

He’d gone through the trouble of capturing The Blood’s Beast Vassals to give Kojou this chance purely because it was more interesting this way.

“I won’t let you lay a finger on this island.”

Kojou spoke in a low, grating voice. “Oho,” said Ki, dubiously raising his eyebrows.

Kojou ferociously bared his teeth as he defied the sense of regality coming from the man before him. The hazy demonic energy radiating from his body gave off black sparks resembling static electricity.

“I’m grateful for the power you gave me, but your job’s done. From here on out, you just shut up and watch while I go smack Shahryar Ren out of Nod just like we agreed.”

“Fine by me, boy. Wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Ki received Kojou’s belligerent gaze with a satisfied nod.

With nimbleness that belied his body weight, Ki stood tall, scooping Zana up in the process. Cutting across the room, he let himself out onto the veranda. The Akatsuki residence was on the seventh floor of the apartment building. Kojou and Yukina’s hair swayed in the ocean breeze blowing in through the open window.

“Claw and scrape, Kojou Akatsuki. I pray we will meet again.”

Bathed in dazzling sunrays, Ki and Zana’s contours swayed like a mirage and faded.

The First Primogenitor and his Blood Servant were turning into mist, melting into the noonday sky.

Kojou and Yukina watched this without a word. They knew trying to stop the pair was futile. Ki and Zana were neither friends nor allies.

“Bye-bye,” said Zana’s receding voice with a laugh. Finally, they completely vanished from sight.

That instant, the wounded Kojou collapsed on the spot, seemingly depleted of all strength. Yukina let out a sharp yelp.