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Strike the Blood - Volume 22 - Chapter 2.7




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7

A powerful night breeze blew through the enormous cracks carved into the wall.

Bare girders, concrete fragments—Kojou climbed over the rubble piled up in the lobby of Keystone Gate’s topmost floor and climbed onto its half-destroyed roof.

It was after ten PM. Beneath them, he could see the skyline of Itogami Island. The way the moonlight shone on the surface of the nighttime sea surrounding it gave off a luster like a sleek fabric.

When he looked at the night sky, it was covered with strange magic circles. Right at the center of these circles floated a sphere resembling a dark moon—the Necropolis. The Deva castle impeded all intrusion into Nod.

Kojou reached his right hand toward the Necropolis in the sky far above. It couldn’t have been too far for the black Beast Vassals he’d inherited from The Blood to reach it, but Kojou lowered his right hand without summoning a Beast Vassal. At the moment, it was neither Shahryar Ren in Nod nor the Deva Necropolis that threatened the island.

“What an awful sight, huh? The Blood, he just came to someone else’s island and did whatever the hell he liked.”

He suddenly heard a voice below him. Appearing atop what was left of the emergency stairs was a high school girl with an extravagant hairstyle.

“Asagi…”

Perplexed, Kojou reached out with his hand and pulled up the wobbling girl. Deftly stepping on the twisted steel rungs, she managed to find a safe place to stop.

Asagi wore a white T-shirt and a pleated skirt like that of a school uniform. Compared to her usual attire, this look left a rather plain impression. Her makeup was simpler for once, making her seem younger, which made her also seem a little harder to approach. She was a girl with a pretty face to begin with.

“This is the last place you met Avrora, isn’t it?”

In contrast to Kojou hesitating over that gap, Asagi asked Kojou that question in her normal speaking tone.

“Yeah.”

Kojou gave a rather curt reply and nodded. This was the site of Kojou’s final battle with The Blood and so, too, the place where he’d relinquished the Fourth Primogenitor’s Beast Vassals to Avrora.

Right after, though, Shahryar Ren had used a sorcerous device to take over Avrora, using her as a sacrifice with which to open the gate and whisking her away to Nod.

“The Deva Necropolises and the Beast Vassal Warheads… If I hadn’t let her out of my grasp back then, none of this annoying stuff would’ve happened, huh?”

Kojou smiled weakly at his own expense. He knew regrets were meaningless. The instant he’d lost his vampire powers, it was impossible for him to stop Shahryar Ren. Even so, the fact remained: That instant, Kojou let go of Avrora’s hand.

“Maybe so.”

Asagi spoke calmly, neither consoling Kojou nor blaming him.

“But she’s still alive, and we are, too.”

“Ah…”

Her words made Kojou gasp briefly.

She was right. Nothing was over yet. Shahryar Ren didn’t rule the surface. Kojou controlled the black Beast Vassals and had regained his vampire powers. And Avrora was alive. The fact that the gate to Nod was still open served as proof.

Seeing that the spark had returned to Kojou’s eyes, Asagi smiled in satisfaction.

“We got a report from the Island Guard captain who went to Kensei Kanase’s lab. Natsuki and the Lion King Agency people left it a while ago. They upped the number of guardsmen at Keystone Gate, but if Natsuki’s working with them, their odds are pretty bad, to be blunt.”

Asagi took out her smartphone as she spoke. She must have come all the way up to Keystone Gate’s roof just to convey this information to Kojou.

“Natsuki seriously plans to wreck Itogami Island?”

Kojou was asking himself this with an incredulous look on his face. Natsuki Minamiya, the Witch of the Void, was Kojou and Asagi’s homeroom teacher as well as an Attack Mage assigned to Itogami Island. Before Kojou obtained the power of the Fourth Primogenitor, she’d apprehended numerous sorcerous criminals, saving Itogami Island from danger many times over.

Yet Natsuki was an Attack Mage assigned to the Attack Mage Section of the police, a Federal Attack Mage in the employ of the Japanese government. If the government of Japan ordered her to destroy Itogami Island, she had no choice but to obey. The same went for Yukina, an agent of the Lion King Agency.

“It adds up. If there’s no Itogami Island, the gate to Nod can’t be maintained. If the gate vanishes, Shahryar Ren won’t be able to return to this world so no more Beast Vassal Warheads get through.”

Asagi voiced a set of objective facts.

The number of Beast Vassal Warheads was ten at most, and probably fewer than that, in reality. If they closed their eyes to significant casualties, these weren’t numbers the vampire primogenitors were unable to deal with. Even if several large cities were wiped out, at least some would surely find that preferable to the Devas ruling the world.

“At the very least, the Holy Grounds Treaty Organization has no reason to object to the operation. They meant to sink the island to begin with. Even if Natsuki and her girls fail, they don’t lose a thing either way.”

Asagi’s detached commentary sent a shiver down Kojou’s spine. The thought of Natsuki destroying the island seemed preposterous, but it was swiftly sounding more and more real.

“She’s gonna sink the island…”


Kojou murmured softly as he looked down at the Itogami Island cityscape spread beneath them.

The lights of the city shone amid the darkness of night. Each and every one of those lights represented the living, breathing people dwelling on the island. These were the lives of residents of a Demon Sanctuary, where humanity and demonkind coexisted without conflict.

If the keystone was destroyed, Itogami Island wouldn’t last more than a few hours. It would be like a suspension bridge losing its anchorages. Without any support for their mass, the four gigafloats—North, South, East, and West—would capsize, collide, or maybe start to float adrift. Of course, the populace would lose their former lives, and the scenery they remembered, forever—

As Kojou pictured this worst possible future, emotions hovered in his eyes: despair, apprehension—and anger.

Asagi looked toward Kojou with a soft gaze. Then she spoke with a gentle smile.

“I love you, Kojou.”

“Eh?”

Kojou blinked his eyes in a daze. He didn’t immediately grasp what she’d just said to him, the reason being that Asagi’s tone was just that unnatural, that unburdened.

“I’ve loved you since way back, and this island, too.”

Asagi peered directly into Kojou’s eyes. Kojou was breathless as her unwavering gaze shot right through him. Asagi softly narrowed her eyes. Then she continued with crisp, clear words.

“That’s why I won’t let anyone destroy this island. No way, no how.”

“Asagi…what are you thinking?”

Gazing at the small but ferocious smile on Asagi’s face, Kojou followed up uneasily. He’d seen that look of hers before. It was the same look on her face when she’d kicked off a war with the HGTO all by herself for the sake of protecting Itogami Island.

“Itogami Island is the one place the Devas can’t lob a Beast Vassal Warhead at. The island is their one and only route into Nod. They can’t sink us, like it or not.”

“In other words…we’re the only ones who can oppose them…?”

Kojou felt a shiver run up his spine.

The government of Japan couldn’t defy Shahryar Ren, or the Kingdom of Aldegia, or the primogenitors’ Dominions. Their homelands and the citizens thereof had been taken hostage by the Beast Vassal Warheads.

For Kojou and other Itogami Island residents, however, this was not so.

MAR couldn’t use the warheads on Itogami Island. That’s why they feared Kojou and company. Only the residents of Itogami Island could defy Deva rule, because they were able to make enemies of MAR. Ladli Ren had entered into negotiations to purchase Itogami Island for this very reason.

“Ring.”

As Kojou stood still and defenseless, Asagi thrust her left hand toward him.

“Eh?”

Kojou blinked hard and looked at Asagi. She breathed raggedly.

“You still have rings from the ones Zana Lashka gave you, right? Gimme.”

“But that’s…”

Kojou took out a silver-colored ring. This was a pact ring magically sealing a piece of Kojou’s body—a catalyst with which to create a vampiric Blood Servant.

Kojou fiercely hesitated before handing his friend Asagi such a ring. As he hesitated, Asagi grabbed him by the collar and drew her face close to his.

“Even if you can’t forget about Avrora, hell, even if you love someone else, that’s fine with me. If it takes a hundred years or a thousand, I’ll make you love me the most—so give me the chance.”

Asagi whispered into Kojou’s ear.

Her long lashes, her eyes full of triumph, her glossy lips, her white skin, her sweet scent prickling at his nostrils—Kojou felt a great thirst, and his canine teeth were stricken with a terrible ache.

“You’re…really fine with this, Asagi…?”

Doing as she insisted, he slid the ring onto her delicate finger.

As she gazed at the silvery glow of the ring, a satisfied smile came over Asagi, after which she used that left hand to push up her side bangs. Offering her slender, exposed neck, she lifted her chin, gently closing her eyes.

“You and me, Kojou. We’re gonna save the world.”

Hearing these words, a vow spoken like a magic spell, Kojou plunged his fangs into Asagi’s neck.

Asagi let out a pained breath as sweet, crimson fluid coursed into Kojou’s throat.

Along with the blood memories of the Priestess of Cain—



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