Strike the Blood - Volume 22 - Chapter 3.3

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Brutal combat unfolded in various parts of the isolation chamber with cables stretching through it.

Kojou Akatsuki was running blindly from the arrows of light pouring down upon him like a meteor shower when the rose-colored Beast Vassal controlled by Astarte stretched a giant arm out to try and support him. Shizuri Kasugaya and Yukina Himeragi continued close-quarters combat, literally sending sparks flying from point-blank range.

Also, Yuuma Tokoyogi was taking on Natsuki Minamiya, the Witch of the Void, arrayed in a war of spells on equal terms.

“—Sorry, Teach. I can’t act freely ’cause of my pact with my devil, but there’s just one exception.”

Yuuma unleashed invisible shockwaves wrought from spatial control that assailed Natsuki from four sides.

Tch, Natsuki sullenly clicked her tongue as she teleported, evading Yuuma’s attack.

Undeterred, Yuuma continued attacking. Using her witch’s magical calculation potential to its utmost limit, she slammed shockwaves into Natsuki’s teleport destination. Natsuki engaged in dizzying teleports as she counterattacked as well. The two witches swapped locations at high speed as they unleashed surreal, inhuman levels of magical energy.

“I can attack you, and only you, anytime I want! You’re the one who locked away my mother—Aya Tokoyogi!”

Yuuma’s Guardian roared as it assaulted Natsuki with a blade of void.

In exchange for the powerful magical energy she obtained, a witch was bound by her pact with her devil. If she acted in defiance of that pact, the witch’s Guardian would instantly take the witch’s life.

The pact Yuuma made with a devil was for the sake of freeing Aya Tokoyogi, her biological mother, from her incarceration in the Prison Barrier. Yuuma had cooperated with Natsuki’s investigations into LCO for this purpose, for the Attack Mage Section had promised Aya would be released once LCO was destroyed.

If it was just to spring Aya, though, she didn’t need the Attack Mage Section’s help.

If she defeated Natsuki, the warden of the Prison Barrier, the prisoners therein would be automatically freed. Accordingly, the devil possessing Yuuma did not see combat with Natsuki as a violation of the pact. Yuuma was using this to cooperate with Kojou and try to protect Itogami Island from destruction.

“You think your power is enough to defeat me, Yuuma Tokoyogi?”

Space around Natsuki distorted, from which countless silver chains shot out like bullets. Yuuma manipulated space as well, desperately evading the arcs of Natsuki’s attacks. Unable to avoid all of them, she was forced to teleport to escape. Overwhelmed by Natsuki’s control over space, she’d wound up on the defensive.

“That’s difficult in terms of raw might. If I could beat you, you wouldn’t have captured Mom to begin with.”

Yuuma was breathing a little hard as she formed a strained smile.

Yuuma’s blue knight construct Guardian was her inheritance from her mother, Aya Tokoyogi. However, Aya’s ability as the Witch of Notaria was to reproduce grimoires from memory, making her Guardian fundamentally unsuited for combat. Of course she’d be overwhelmed by Natsuki in a head-on clash.

“That’s if you can use your abilities to their full potential, though.”

The blue knight construct’s rusted sword carved a symbol at its own feet. The next instant, Yuuma vanished from Natsuki’s sight.

“Self-acceleration…! The Witch of the Fall’s time control ritual?!”

Natsuki engaged in repeated teleports as she unleashed a horde of teddy bears. The bears approached Yuuma with unexpectedly agile movements to self-destruct once they came within a set range.

Yuuma, however, evaded every last one of them at speeds beyond human limitations. Then she fired off a pressurized, bladelike shockwave in Natsuki’s direction.

“Demonslayer, Witch of the Void! You can’t use your Guardian’s power to destroy the keystone! That’s because the pact you made with your devil…the wish at the very bottom of your heart, is for humans and demons to coexist!”

“…!”

Unnerved, Natsuki’s doll-like face betrayed human expression for the first time. Grazed by Yuuma’s shockwave, the frills of her extravagant dress tore off and danced in the air.

“When you were young, you had a prayer, a wish so very pure—you paid a heavy price for that off-the-wall pact, and that’s how you got that vast amount of magical energy!”

“Aya Tokoyogi, was it? So she told you about that…”

Landing on top of a wire cable, Natsuki gazed down at Yuuma with emotionless eyes.

Destroying the last of the bears, Yuuma wiped the sweat off her brow as she nodded.

Few knew of the wish of the Witch of the Void, feared by her other alias of Demonslayer. Aya Tokoyogi, Natsuki’s friend from long ago, was among these few.

“That’s why you can’t destroy Itogami Island. This is a Demon Sanctuary where humanity and demonkind live side by side—this place is the realization of your wish.”

“You have me there.”

Natsuki quietly murmured.

Bound by her pact with her devil, Natsuki could not destroy Itogami Island. This was the reason why the Gigafloat Management Corporation could trust her to act freely despite her being a witch.

“That doesn’t mean I have no means of sinking the island. The duty of destroying the keystone fell to the Sword Shaman of the Lion King Agency to begin with.”

Natsuki declared this with a frosty air. Floating around her were strange-looking magic circles made out of magical symbols. This was a ritual unknown to Yuuma.

“Figures… You’re not soft enough to go down easy…”

Yuuma’s cheek twitched nervously.

Natsuki summoned three black-haired dolls, finely crafted marionettes looking exactly like Natsuki. Aside from the colors of the ribbons on the dresses, there was no way to tell them and Natsuki herself apart—or rather, the Natsuki in the real world was herself a marionette. In other words, the three dolls she’d just summoned had the same abilities wielded by Natsuki herself.

“Of course not, little girl. As an educator, I have to give uppity brats like you a proper spanking.”

The four Natsukis spread out to surround Yuuma.

“…Er, I think corporal punishment is frowned on nowadays, Teach…!”

Yuuma smiled impetuously, hiding her inner unease. She’d known from the start her power wasn’t enough to beat Natsuki. Yuuma’s job was to keep Natsuki busy—to buy Kojou and others enough time to neutralize Yukina. She wasn’t going to last long against Natsuki like this, though.

Please, Kojou— Making that tiny plea under her breath, Yuuma glanced at Kojou in her peripheral vision.

“—Er, yikes!!”

Letting out an earnest yelp without any shame, Kojou leaped and rolled sideways to evade the arrows of light pouring down. He had no time for relief, though—fresh arrows flew to drive Kojou into a corner.

“Ms. Kitty’s spirit archery thingy, huh…! Not knowing where they’ll fly in from makes this rough.”

Kojou breathed raggedly, spitting out the words as he fled to the blind spot of the pillar.

Back when he’d fought Yukari once before, Kojou had been neutralized in a single instant by her Spirit Archery. This was a little better compared to then because he had some grasp of the opponent’s hand. Besides, Yukari’s ability had to be greatly constrained when using it via a cat’s body. In spite of this, Yukari’s voice still felt very confident.

“The offensive power of The Blood’s black Beast Vassals is too great. They are unsuited to defense. Surely you understand this yourself, Fourth Primogenitor lad.”

Yukari calmly warned Kojou while looking down at him from atop one of the cables stretching through the chamber.

“Well, in that body, you don’t have enough power to smash the keystone, do you?!”

Ghh, grunted Kojou, drawing in a breath as he pretty much snapped at her. He felt like the black cat was grinning with scorn.

“Hmm, I wonder?”

“…?!”

A moment later, Kojou was assaulted by a sense of unease that defied words. A sound like silence torn apart echoed in his ears—a sound that should not have existed.

Someone had jammed nonexistent time within the temporal flow.

Time with which to unleash an attack—

“Let there be light!”

“Wha…!”

Kojou drew in his breath, dazed when he noticed the girl in front of him, recurve bow raised. At some point, the supposedly wheelchair-bound Koyomi Shizuka had appeared before Kojou with a drawn recurve bow.

Paper Noise, the right of absolute initiative attack—by the time Kojou noticed her presence, Koyomi Shizuka had already loosed a cursed arrow toward Kojou.

The roar of the whistling arrow generated the same effect as a long-form ritual incantation, forming a ritual spell artillery attack with destructiveness on par with a vampiric Beast Vassal. Slow to react, Kojou had no way to evade it.

Yet the anticipated impact did not strike Kojou.

A giant, rose-colored Beast Vassal arm intervened, blocking the ritual spell artillery attack right before Kojou’s eyes.

“Astarte!”

“There is no problem. My Beast Vassal has neutralized the—”

Enveloped in her humanoid Beast Vassal, the homunculus girl spoke with a flat, emotionless voice, but Kojou was uneasy for an entirely different reason.

“Not that! Above!”

A moment after the artillery attack was finished, Koyomi Shizuka leaped above Kojou’s and Astarte’s heads. Her left hand gripped a silver long sword, Rosen Chevalier Plus—the pseudo-spatial severing its slices generated were not something even Astarte’s Beast Vassal could block.

Driven by vampiric survival instincts, Kojou’s body moved faster than his mind. Drawing on a portion of a Beast Vassal’s abilities, he rent space and intercepted Koyomi Shizuka’s sword.

The collision of twin spatial severings made a high-pitched sound like grating metal echo around them. Koyomi Shizuka, blown back by the recoil from the collision, landed atop a cable with a dance-like flutter.

Her movements resembled Yukina’s, but the degree of polish was off the charts. Even without her Paper Noise ability, Kojou could tell she truly was a supreme Attack Mage.

“So you deflected a pseudo-spatial severing slice with a slice by Primus Iris? That’s quite something.”

Koyomi Shizuka smiled as if praising Kojou. Kojou’s lips twisted slightly.

“What…you faked being hurt that bad? You had me totally fooled…”

“No, I am quite gravely injured. However, I healed myself with willpower. One of the Three Saints of the Lion King Agency cannot remain off duty indefinitely.”

“Is that so…?!”

Sweat oozed from Kojou’s back. Whether Koyomi Shizuka’s words were truth or lies, the girl who supposedly couldn’t stand on her own power was fighting him just the same. To be blunt, having one of the Three Saints join the battle was a very unhappy surprise.

“It is over, ruler lad. Give up.”

Circling around Kojou’s back, the black cat stated this as countless arrows of light hovered around him. Aw shucks, Kojou seemed to say with a touch of his hand to the back of his head.

“You got me… I’d be in a real bind if I didn’t bring extra help along.”

“Extra help…?”

The black cat’s whiskers twitched in surprise. The next moment, the cover of the lowest stratum’s maintenance hatch blew open, and a crimson robot tank leaped in from it.

“—It would seemeth I have arrived in time! I am sorry to have keptest thou waiting, Sir Boyfriend!”

Lydianne Didier announced her arrival in a loud voice as she launched smoke rounds. A scent similar to pesticide pricked Kojou’s nose, spreading around him and the others.

Yukari Endou instantly loosed her arrows of light—yet her aim was slightly off, each and every one falling short of Kojou and Lydianne.

“No, this smell, this is…catnip…!”

The black cat wobbled and tottered, rolling onto its back as if it was flat-out drunk. Even a superb Attack Mage like Yukari Endou couldn’t put up a proper fight when her familiar’s body was intoxicated. Lydianne had loaded her tank’s smoke discharger with catnip rounds as a counter to Yukari’s black cat.

“Yukari!”

Gracefully dropping from the wire cable, Koyomi Shizuka sliced down at Lydianne’s tank.

Faced with Rosen Chevalier Plus’s slashes in space, the robot tank’s fiber-reinforced plastic armor didn’t stand a chance, but Koyomi’s slash never reached Lydianne’s tank, for a figure leaped out from within the smoke barrage to parry Koyomi’s sword.

“Wha… Sayaka Kirasaka…?!”

“—Lustrous Scale!”

Shaken by the unexpected interference, Koyomi was physically forced back by Sayaka. Sayaka’s and Koyomi’s weapons had identical characteristics. The two swords’ abilities canceled each other out, causing the naked blades to cast off sparks.

“I was right to bring along Miss Sayaka.”

“Truly, one’s own kin often proveth the greatest of foes!”

Yume, riding the tank’s back, and Lydianne, in the driver’s seat, respectively let out satisfied impressions.

“—The Witch of the Night’s mind control, is it?”

Brushing aside the blatantly hostile Sayaka’s slices, Koyomi Shizuka quietly murmured with irritation.

Once before, Yume had controlled Sayaka, making her attack Kojou and company. Yume was simply repeating history—but this time, as Kojou’s ally.

“We asked Kirasaka to protect Itogami Island. I hear from Yume that even a succubus’s power can’t make someone obey an order they don’t really wanna, though?”

Kojou was holding down the now-immobile black cat as he explained.

“In fact, given an order reflecting the person’s desires, all doubts vanish, causing her to exhibit greater than normal strength… What a troublesome thing you’ve done.” Koyomi Shizuka calmly replied.

Both she and Sayaka had weapons of equal potency. In combat skill, Koyomi had the edge, but she was in a great deal of pain, so Sayaka had a chance if the fight became prolonged.

Knowing this, Koyomi activated Paper Noise. A momentary silence was followed by a roar. With preparations to attack complete, Koyomi appeared from Sayaka’s blind side, smashing her sword hilt in without hesitation, but—

“Wha…?!”

It was an unavoidable blunt strike, yet Sayaka stopped it just short of hitting. Shock hovered in Koyomi’s eyes as Sayaka drew from her latent potential to its utmost limit, raising her reflexes to a superhuman level above Koyomi’s attack speed.

“Leave this to me, Kojou Akatsuki!”

Sayaka spoke these words strongly as her swordsmanship dominated the shaken Koyomi.

“R…right…”

Kojou nodded, somewhat overwhelmed by Sayaka’s oddly high level of fervor, probably owing to Yume’s mind control. He then turned around.

That very moment, Yukina and Shizuri were locked in genuine mortal combat in front of the keystone to Itogami Island.

“Sayaka…why…?”

Yukina was heavily thrown off when she noticed Sayaka fighting with Koyomi Shizuka.

Sayaka was a Shamanic War Dancer, an elite in the Lion King Agency assigned even to the protection of figures of national importance. It was utterly unthinkable that Sayaka would turn against Koyomi, one of the Three Saints.

“So your vision strays even against an opponent like me, Yukina Himeragi!”

Not letting Yukina’s opening slip past her, Shizuri unleashed a savage slashing attack.

Shizuri’s crimson long sword was a demonic blade that increased in power using the demonic energy absorbed from the opponents it cut. It could also release demonic energy accumulated in its blade as a kind of shockwave. It wasn’t a weapon any human in the flesh could stand up to, but Yukina was the sole exception.

“Snowdrift Wolf—!”

Yukina’s spear caused the demonic energy covering the crimson long sword to dissipate.

Snowdrift Wolf, able to nullify demonic energy, was the mortal enemy of Shiziru’s Hauras. Losing the demonic energy stored within, Hauras was nothing more than a long sword with an unorthodox shape. In a fight of sword versus spear, having the weapon with the longer reach surely gave Yukina an advantage.

In spite of this, Shizuri swung down her long sword with a ferocious smile.

“It is futile! Hauras!”

“Wha…?!”

Yukina barely blocked the demonic energy blade Shizuri’s long sword unleashed a second time.

Hauras’s dissipated demonic energy had returned. Yukina knew the true nature of that black, malevolent demonic energy. After all, Yukina and the others had fought Beast Vassals with the same auras the night before.

“That demonic energy, it couldn’t be, the black Beast Vassals’…!”

“…It is the blessing of a paladin.”

When Yukina inquired, Shizuri averted her eyes and replied in a flat tone. Yukina’s voice ran ragged despite herself.

“Liar! You’re drawing that demonic energy straight from Akatsuki-senpai, aren’t you…?!”

“Th-this is my right as Kojou Akatsuki’s Blood Servant!”

Shizuri defiantly shouted back as she pointed the tip of her sword at Yukina.

Shizuri was an ogre, a rare species of demon. Provisional or not, her pact as Kojou’s Blood Servant provided her a far greater boon than Yukina’s prior case. She was able to use her supply of demonic energy from Kojou to unleash demonic energy from Hauras effectively without limit.

“Lay down your arms, Yukina Himeragi. Having betrayed Kojou, you cannot draw upon sufficient spiritual energy. You have no chance of victory!”

“…Eh?”

Yukina’s mouth stopped moving as she murmured. Shizuri’s casually spoken words drove a fact into Yukina that she’d desperately tried to ignore.

“Betrayed…I, betrayed…senpai…”

“Ah…no, wait…wait, please!”

Seeing how Yukina hung her head, shoulders trembling, left Shizuka unnerved. She thought Yukina might burst into tears. Keeping her crimson long sword raised, Shizuri looked around awkwardly.

“I admit that I went a little too far just now…! In other words, what I wished to say is, this battle is fruitless, so I wish for you to listen to reason…”

“…Even I understand that this battle is meaningless!”

Yukina screamed, interrupting Shizuka’s words.

Yes, this battle was meaningless. Shizuri and Kojou weren’t even Yukina’s enemies.

The ones Yukina should have been fighting were the Devas seeking to rule humanity through the fear known as Beast Vassal Warheads—Shahryar Ren and his coconspirators.

In spite of this, on top of Yukina’s own powerlessness, here she was trying to sacrifice Itogami Island’s innocent populace.

Kojou and Shizuri were blameless for trying to stop Yukina. Yukina understood this, yet there was nothing she could do about it.

Shizuri was suddenly assaulted by silence as Yukina vanished from her sight.

“Y-Yukina Himeragi?!”

Subconsciously sensing that something was wrong, Shizuri instantly backed away and went on guard, but by then, Yukina’s attack preparations were already complete using Paper Noise, the right of absolute initiative attack—

“But what’s right… What I should do… I don’t know any of that!”

“Nyaaa?!”

Yukina’s mighty thrust caught Shizuri’s unguarded right shoulder. She’d thrust with the butt of her spear but hadn’t held back at all. It was enough power to shatter the collarbone of even a resilient ogre.

She should have expected Shizuri would instantly twist her body and avoid taking a square hit. Even so, she surely had not escaped unscathed. Shizuri was thrown heavily off-balance, leaving her chest wide open.

“So this is the only thing I can do!”

Letting go of her spear, Yukina activated Paper Noise once more. Using blank time that did not properly exist, she moved right in front of Shizuri, placing both hands upon her heart to pound a decisive palm strike into her at point-blank range.

“Distort!”

“I thought that was coming!”

When Yukina appeared right in front of her, Shizuri, who should have been completely off-balance, slammed her own forehead into Yukina’s. The incredible blow sustained right between the eyes sent Yukina flying with ease.

“Gaaah…?!”

“…If it’s against humans, I can trade hits with the best of them!”

Covering her own chest as she coughed, Shizuri triumphantly curled up the corners of her lips. Yukina finally realized Shizuri had lured her in.

Shizuri hadn’t been off-balance at all. Knowing she couldn’t block Yukina’s attack, she’d immediately aimed for a mutual strike. She’d deliberately baited Yukina to attack from a direction she could counter with ease.

The damage was still heavy on both sides, and Shizuri had already played the ace in her hand. Shizuri would never be able to evade the next Paper Noise.

Instantly calculating as much, Yukina leaped in the direction of her relinquished Snowdrift Wolf. With the damage to her right shoulder, Shizuri could no longer use Hauras to emit demonic energy. She couldn’t attack at that range—she shouldn’t have been able to, at least.

“Radia—!”

From behind her uniform, Shizuri’s left hand drew out a second weapon. After the crimson Hauras, this was the second demonic blade belonging to the royal family of the ogres—the blue curved blade once wielded by Izea Nios, ogre acolyte of the Order of the End.

“Gaah…!”

Taking the hit from the demonic energy shockwave, Yukina cried out as she was blown into the air. She enveloped her entire body with ritual energy to defend herself, but the impact was still enough to roll over a small car. Her vision constricted, and her mind grew distant. Her body was numb, leaving her unable to stand.

For Shizuri’s part, she fell to one knee and cringed after launching the attack.

Yukina’s blunt strikes were still having an impact. In the first place, that afternoon Shizuri had seemed too gravely wounded to even walk on her own power.

In spite of this, she was firmly carrying out her role of stopping Yukina, her role of protecting Itogami Island as Kojou Akatsuki’s Blood Servant—

“If I…if I don’t destroy the keystone…a great many people…will be sacrificed…”

Yukina’s mind was hazy as she grabbed her fallen spear and stood up.

Natsuki was engaged in combat with Yuuma. It was grueling for Yuuma, but she was tying down Natsuki and buying plenty of time.

Yukari’s black cat familiar was limp and immobile, captured by the machinations of Lydianne’s tank. It seemed the cat had fallen into a drunken sleep.

Unbelievably, Koyomi was being pushed back by Sayaka. Even if she was one of the Three Saints, she was in a state of great pain, and Astarte’s support had to make it very difficult for her to neutralize Sayaka. Meaning Yukina was the only one able to destroy the keystone at the moment.

“I must…do this…”

Dragging herself with the silver spear as her crutch, Yukina moved close to the anchor for the keystone.

Yukina no longer knew why she had to do this. Perhaps she believed it was her duty for the Lion King Agency. Perhaps she truly believed this was for the sake of the many.

The one thing she knew was that if she destroyed the barrier before her, everything would be over. She would sacrifice her precious friends on Itogami Island to save people around the world whose faces she did not know. Even though Yukina knew this, there was no going back.

The silvery spear she was accustomed to wielding felt so very heavy. The spear was enveloped in a pale glow as Yukina raised it, an emotionless, machinelike expression on her face.

The next moment, Yukina gasped, for a boy with a languid air about him stood before the tip of her raised spear.

“Looks like you’re having a hard time, Himeragi… It almost looks like you’re crying?”

Kojou Akatsuki looked back at Yukina with pity in his eyes.

“Sen…pai…I am sorry…”

Yukina exhaled in a daze. Seeing Yukina shaking like that, Kojou made a strained, exasperated smile.

“You’re righteous heroes smashing Itogami Island on the government of Japan’s orders, right? Then you should be up front about it. I’m the big villain defying the decision of the great Holy Grounds Treaty Organization, y’know?”

“I am…sorry…senpai…I’m sorry…I’m sorry… I’msorryI’msorryI’msorryI’msorryI’msorryI’msorry!”

Unable to stop the emotions pouring from the bottom of her heart, Yukina gave off a high-pitched scream.

“When this mission is over, I can never be by senpai’s side again…so!”

Ritual energy beyond her limits surged out from Yukina’s entire body. There was no longer any demonic energy supplied from Kojou to offset the spiritual energy. Pure white wings with a radiant glow spread from Yukina’s back. She was angelicizing, resolved to vanishing, never returning to the ranks of humans again.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa—!!”

With a cry of sorrow, Yukina sprinted. Charging at speeds beyond human limitations, she meant to destroy Kojou’s body and the keystone barrier behind it both. She was driven by the thought that Itogami, Kojou, and Yukina herself should all vanish together.

Kojou made no attempt to evade Yukina’s attack.

Kojou stood defenseless as Yukina mercilessly thrust her silver-colored spear toward Kojou’s heart.

The purging spear nullified demonic energy and rent any barrier. Even Kojou’s Beast Vassals could not stop it. Even an unaging, undying vampire would turn to dust and vanish, yet—

“Wha—?!”

The strange feedback conveyed through her spear made Yukina’s expression freeze over. The right palm Kojou thrust forward emitted a crimson glow. The membrane of light generated by that glow stopped Snowdrift Wolf’s attack cold.

“That light?! Senpai, how could you use The Cleansing…?!”

Yukina desperately poured strength into the hands gripping her spear, but the spear would not move. The glow of The Cleansing, the forbidden spell able to rewrite the physical laws of the world, was completely holding Snowdrift Wolf’s Divine Oscillation Effect at bay.

Yet this was impossible. It took vast demonic energy to activate The Cleansing and extremely complex magical calculations—and deep knowledge of The Cleansing itself.

Even if Kojou could pull it off on the demonic energy side, the knowledge and magical calculations weren’t things he could do on his own. Yes, were it Kojou by himself, that is—

“Sorry, Himeragi. But…”

Aiba Asagi, poking her head up from the shadow of the destroyed maintenance hatch, held her favorite smartphone in one hand as she spoke in a somber tone of voice. A glow was coming from the plain silver-colored ring on her left ring finger.

The instant she saw this, Yukina understood. Kojou had consumed Asagi’s blood memories of The Cleansing by taking her as his servant.

“I’m not giving you Kojou. Not when you’re like this.”

Asagi crisply spoke those words to Yukina. Yukina stopped moving as if she’d been slapped in the face.

Kojou slowly raised his left hand. The pitch-black bloody mist gushing from his arm transformed into an enormous beast: a mass of demonic energy so dense as to possess sentience, a summoned beast from another world—

“C’mon over, Primus Crystallus!”

“…!”

Appearing in the isolated lowest stratum of Keystone Gate was a beautiful, obsidian-like gleaming aquatic dragon.

Kojou had inherited this pitch-black Beast Vassal from The Blood. Its giant, gemstone-like eyes entered Yukina and Koyomi’s vision.

That instant, strength drained from Yukina’s whole body. Her mind was growing distant, seemingly enveloped by white mist. Yukina’s silver-colored spear left her hand, tumbling onto the floor. Yukina herself fell to her knees then and there.

“…Senpai…I am sorry…”

Murmuring without conscious thought, Yukina closed her eyes, completely depleted of strength.

A single tear slowly rolled down her cheek.