Strike the Blood - Volume 5 - Chapter 5

CHAPTER FIVE 

FIESTA FOR THE OBSERVERS 

1 

The island creaked. It was the sound of steel rubbing against steel, reverberating like distant, rolling thunder without pause; irregular tremors shook the ground as if buffeted by the waves of the sea. 

Itogami Island was an artificial island that floated on the Pacific Ocean. Its population was 560,000 strong. It was densely packed, with countless building complexes and high-rises, as well as underground shopping districts all over the island, all supported by metal Gigafloats. 

The closest example was a sand castle on top of a floating car wheel. There was nothing remotely sane about the city’s construction whatsoever. 

The plainly unstable island was supported through the use of magic. Buildings had their effective mass reduced through use of spells, and ground plates with multiple layers of magical strengthening, in turn, supported these. The steel, the cement, and even the plastics used for construction were all magical materials. It was no overstatement that not a single building on Itogami Island was unaffected by magic. 

What would happen, then, if all that magic just disappeared—? 

Sections reaching the limits of their strength would gradually break down, and the Demon Sanctuary of the Far East would gently begin to collapse. 

The violent, endless creaking reverberated in Kojou’s ears. His cheeks were hot. Those were the sensations that roused Kojou’s foggy mind as he realized someone was repeatedly slapping his cheek. 

“Oww…” 

Moving to get up in apparent protest, Kojou sucked in his breath as his abdomen conveyed an incredibly fierce pain. 

This wasn’t an ow, ow, ow kind of pain. It felt like a giant blade had slashed him from his right breast down to his lower abdomen. In fact—it took a minute, but Kojou finally remembered that that was pretty much how it had happened. 

The sword of Aya Tokoyogi’s Guardian had impaled him through and through. 

Sayaka noticed Kojou’s conscious agony. “Kojou Akatsuki! You’re awake?!” 

It was Sayaka who was straddling Kojou and continuously slapping his cheek as he lay on his back. But he couldn’t complain about that—not when he saw the large drops falling from her teary eyes. 

When Kojou spoke, his voice was so hoarse that he barely recognized it as his own. “Kira…saka… Where are we…?” 

He sounded like an old man on the brink of death. He found it hard to even breathe—having one of your lungs punctured tended to do that. 

“A clinic room at the ferry terminal. I brought you here hoping I’d find someone here, but…” 

Kojou gave her a frail, strained smile. “…Well, most normal folks would run at the sight of a vampire’s Beast Vassal runnin’ wild.” 

The great wharf where Vattler’s ship was moored was practically on the tip of their noses. No doubt everyone working here had headed for the hills out of fear of becoming collateral damage. 

Sayaka let out a sob. 

“Damage from the fighting cut off the highway, so we can’t get out of the harbor district. Can’t even call an ambulance in… If I could at least use ritual spells…” 

She had a shaken look you wouldn’t expect from a professional Attack Mage. She was Yukina’s senior and constantly showed how talented she was, but mentally speaking, she was surprisingly brittle. 

Kojou wondered if it was because her personality was gentle by nature. 

“Sorry to cause you…so much trouble…” 

Sayaka wiped her tears from her eyes as she yelled, “You really do!” 

“…Himeragi and Sana?” 

Sayaka replied to Kojou’s question with a silent shake of her head. Aya Tokoyogi still had them. 

That so, Kojou thought with a sigh. He’d have liked to go rescue her that very moment, but— 

“Is it really the time to worry about others? You almost died, you know!” 

“Yeah, sure feels that way.” 

Kojou offered limply, “Ha-ha-ha.” He didn’t need Sayaka to tell him that. It’d already been some time since the sword had impaled him. His immortal, immutable primogenitor body ought to have completely healed a wound no worse than that by now. 

Thanks to the Black Bible that Aya Tokoyogi had activated, all unnatural powers had vanished from the Demon Sanctuary. As a result, Kojou’s powers of a vampire had been stolen. An average human being would normally be dead after sustaining a wound like this. In one sense, it was an entirely natural result. 

Sayaka shouted in Kojou’s direction, “—Blood!” 

“Eh?” 

Sayaka spoke as she undid the ribbon and topmost button of her uniform. 

“Here, drink my blood! Yukina and the princess did this to save you when you were on the verge of death before, right?!” 

Moonlight shone down upon her slender neck, giving it a pale gleam. 

“Er, but,” Kojou protested with a shake of his head. 

“This ain’t exactly the same situation… In the first place, if I’m almost dead ’cause I lost my vampire powers, what’s drinking your blood gonna do here?” 

“Shut up!” Sayaka shouted, panicked, as she stood up. 

Looking straight down at Kojou as she stood right over him, Sayaka bit down on her lip hard in visible defiance and grabbed the edges of her skirt on both sides. She then raised them up. 

Sayaka’s cheeks were flushed red with embarrassment and her eyes teary as she demanded, “N-no complaints about this, right?” 

Kojou coughed up blood as he audibly cleared his throat. “What the heck do you think you’re doin’?!” 

It was lust, not hunger, that triggered a vampire’s craving for blood; so, if you wanted a vampire to suck your blood, sexual seduction was entirely logical. 

But why had she settled on exposing her panties as her means to seduce a high school boy? Even girls in grade school could think of higher-class techniques than that. In one sense, though, it suited Sayaka’s naïveté very well. 

In the first place, it was true that making a girl with such high-end good looks like Sayaka’s resort to this had an attractiveness all its own. He gave her high points for averting her eyes in embarrassment. On top of that, Sayaka’s exposed panties were unexpectedly thin on the sides. They were side-tie panties held together by a thin ribbon… 

“K-Kojou Akatsuki…?” 

“Er, well, if I didn’t have a big hole in my gut, I think I’d be givin’ this a big thumbs-up, but… So, ah, Kirasaka, you’re a side-tie kinda girl?” 

“Wh-what difference does it make to you?! I have a holster there so it has to be that way!” 

Certainly, Sayaka’s pale thigh had a band-type holster holding her cursed arrows on it. They’d get in the way of normal underwear, and apparently made stripping them off more trouble than it was worth. It was an odd source of trouble for a Shamanic War Dancer of the Lion King Agency. 

“So what about the vampiric urges?!” 

Kojou felt apologetic as he shook his head. 

“Sorry, and after all the help you’ve been, too.” 

Telling a guy on death’s door to get turned on by the sight of panties was a bit of a hard sell. That said, Sayaka wasn’t willing to give up just from that. 

“S…so panties alone won’t cut it?!” 

As she spoke, she reached to the side ribbon holding them together. Backed into a corner, she’d completely lost sight of all propriety. 

“Hey, wait! Calm down!” 

Kojou was going to add, What do you think you’re doin’? and stop her then and there, but he’d lost so much blood that he couldn’t move properly. 

Then, a moment after Sayaka undid the ribbon on one side… 

“—Hya?!” 

Click. They heard the sound of the clinic door opening and sensed someone coming in. Sayaka, standing over Kojou with her skirt raised as he lay on the verge of death, suddenly yelped as she regained her composure. 

A slender silhouette entered the room, wearing a white gown. 

She had a symmetrical face and a lean, efficient physique. Her hair had curled tips in a short bob style. She had bandages all over her body; thanks to blood loss, her face looked rather pale. Still, her energetic aura remained intact even so. 

“Yuuma?!” Kojou yelped. 

Kojou couldn’t come close to understanding why Yuuma Tokoyogi, who, last Kojou checked, was being treated at MAR for grave injuries, had appeared here of all places. 

Forgetting to put her disheveled clothing in order, Sayaka reached toward her long silver sword. 

“Y-you…! How did you get here…?” 

Her expression showed that she hadn’t yet decided if Yuuma was currently friend or foe. For her part, Yuuma glanced back at Sayaka with the look of someone sporting a guilty conscience. 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t intend to intrude but…oops…” 

“Wh-wha—?!” 

Sayaka’s cheeks went beet red as her grip on the sword slackened. 

Yuuma made labored breaths as she put a hand on the wall beside her. There was a thin coat of sweat on her brow. 

“Even beat up like this, I can still use a spell to find where Kojou is. I couldn’t just teleport over in the blink of an eye, though…” 

Kojou looked over her pale face with alarm. “Yuuma, your body’s all…” 

The white gown covering Yuuma was drenched in fresh blood. She’d opened her previously bandaged wounds from pushing herself so hard. 

However, Yuuma shook her head with her usual teasing smile. 

“You look closer to buying the farm than I do, Kojou.” 

Kojou gave a strained smile without thinking. 

“I suppose, now that you mention it…” 

Even with both of them in critical condition, Kojou, who could barely move at all, was clearly worse off. 

Sayaka glared at Yuuma. “Your mom’s the one who did this. She kidnapped Yukina, the one who tried to save you, too.” 

Yuuma’s face was the spitting image of Aya Tokoyogi’s; in the first place, Sayaka hadn’t spoken to Yuuma before, being a witch from the LCO. Sayaka had a frosty look on her as she watched their new companion. 

Yuuma stated calmly, gravely, “I know. That’s why we need to begin immediately, Miss Kirasaka.” 

Yuuma’s abrupt declaration threw Sayaka off. 

“Begin…begin what?” 

“Picking up where you and Kojou left off, but this time, with the three of us.” 

“Eh?! Th-the three of us…?!” 

Sayaka’s face burned bright red, possibly from some kind of highly impure image. 

Yuuma looked natural as she drew near to Sayaka’s ear. 

“It’s all right. We will not let Kojou die here.” 

“R-right.” 

“So, that being the case…” 

With a soft whisper that echoed in Sayaka’s ear, Yuuma gently put her hands around Sayaka’s hips. Before Sayaka noticed, Yuuma had undone her hook with a practiced hand. Right before the fallen Kojou’s eyes, Sayaka’s unfastened skirt obeyed the law of gravity and fell. All that remained was her half-removed side-tie panties. 

“Gyaaaaaaaa—!” 

Sayaka’s scream, like silk being ripped apart, echoed in the moonlight. 

2 

Yukina walked alone in a building illuminated by the setting sun. It was the very familiar Saikai Academy campus building, and there, Yukina was wearing her middle school uniform. It was after classes, with no sign of other students inside the school. 

Normally, the grounds would be full of music: voices from athletic clubs and the harmonies from the music clubs. The exception was at a single place—where two silhouettes stood against the shade-covered floor of a classroom. 

Two people glared at each other in the empty classroom: a small, doll-like schoolgirl in her uniform and a young woman wearing a monochrome ceremonial robe. 

The woman in the robe offered to the schoolgirl, “Come with me, my friend.” 

Her eyes were not yet dyed in crimson like that of flame. Thanks to that, she felt far more friendly and sociable, much like Yuuma Tokoyogi. 

“You and I are the…same. We are both pureblood witches whose souls were stolen by devils at birth. I shall alter the destinies they cursed. They shall be destroyed along with their despicable world.” 

The small girl in the uniform asked in reply, “So that’s what the Black Bible is for?” 

A light floated into the girl’s large eyes that rejected the offer from the woman in the ceremonial robe—Aya Tokoyogi. 

Aya’s voice grew ragged in apparent sorrow. 

“Why do you hesitate? Do you sympathize with the people of this island? Do not forget, the corporation lets you roam free only because you are the tool they designed to administer the prison barrier… Someday, you shall sleep forever and be put in another world all…alone. You will not grow old, no one will ever touch you, while you only dream of this world…” 

The girl offered a faint, charming smile to the woman, pitying. 

“…You’re very kind to worry about me like that, Aya Tokoyogi.” 

It was a gentle, considerate smile for an old friend, and also a farewell. 

Aya Tokoyogi produced a book from the sleeve of her ceremonial robe. 

“Hand over the Black Bible, Natsuki. I cannot forgive this insane world, and this is for your sake, too!” 

This was forbidden sorcery that was the exclusive province of the leader of the criminal organization, LCO—the grimoire that controlled one’s personal history, stealing the time and memories of another. 

“So you will steal my memories, Aya?” Natsuki asked with a tone of resignation. 

The grimoire known as the Black Bible was already lost. Natsuki Minamiya had burned it to ashes days before. As a result, the experiment Aya Tokoyogi had conducted, the so-called Black Bible Incident, had ended in failure. 

However, the knowledge of the Black Bible still lived on in the memories locked away in Natsuki Minamiya’s mind. With that knowledge, the Black Bible could be re-created. Even if Natsuki refused to cooperate, all Aya had to do was rob the girl of her memories. 

And so Aya clutched the grimoire for that purpose as she laid down her ultimatum. 

“The classmates you are attempting to protect shall someday become adults and leave you behind. Then, they shall forget you—you, who has nowhere else to go.” 

“Hmph…that’s fine, too, really.” 

Natsuki’s smile seemed desolate somehow. Natsuki Minamiya, the Witch of the Void, and Aya Tokoyogi were enemies because Natsuki was protecting her fellow Saikai Academy classmates. It wasn’t because the Gigafloat Management Corporation employed her as an Attack Mage; it wasn’t because she was a witch—she opposed the leader of a vast criminal organization on the principle of that fickle thing known as friendship. 

Natuski stated, neither out of pride or irony, “Maybe I’ll be a teacher here someday and watch new students grow up…” 

Aya Tokoyogi glared with a look of rage at the somehow sunny expression Natsuki wore. 

To Aya, Natsuki Minamiya’s completely shameless behavior toward those who used and scorned witches was an intolerable charade. 

“You fool.” 

Aya Tokoyogi’s eyes dyed the color of flames. With a sway, the silhouette of a jet-black knight rose from her back. 

Behind the school-uniformed Natsuki, a giant shadow of her own emerged, glittering gold. 

Combat between witches was not a head-on confrontation, smashing one’s magical power against another’s. Instead, they were duels of trickery, creating an opening in the other’s defenses; the first one to land an attack on her opponent, even for a single instant, would be the winner, for the body of a witch was far too weak to block the vast magical energy that witches possessed. Victory and defeat were both settled by whoever could get a spell in first. 

Yukina didn’t need to watch to know how the fight had ended. 

Natsuki Minamiya, not even sweet sixteen at the time, had triumphed; Aya Tokoyogi had been imprisoned in the prison barrier for the last ten years. This memory was from the fight ten years prior. 

Yukina interrupted their battle, asking as she stepped into the classroom, “This is Sana’s—Ms. Minamiya’s dream, is it not?” 

The two witches, glaring at each other, vanished as if mere illusions. All that remained was the classroom in the light of the setting sun. Just before the images of the witches vanished completely, Yukina wondered if it was her mind playing tricks or if she truly heard the voice of Aya Tokoyogi scornfully stating, “No. Perhaps this is your dream, Sword Shaman.” 

Standing all alone in the center of the otherwise empty classroom, Yukina sighed deeply. 

It was such a faithful re-creation that Yukina found it hard to believe, but apparently, this school building was on the inside of the barrier Aya Tokoyogi had erected. It was a dense space that might be better described as another world altogether. Apparently, the line between dream and reality was very thin within it. 

Even if she wanted to get out, Yukina did not have Snowdrift Wolf in her hands. Surely that spear, able to rend any barrier, could break through this world of illusion, but… 

As Yukina stood still, she heard a warm, familiar voice. 

“Himeragi!” 

When she turned, a schoolboy wearing a parka over his uniform was just rushing into the classroom in great haste. 

A moment later, a tall girl entered after him and bear-hugged her. 

“You okay, Yukina?!” 

Yukina hesitated; she felt so alive that you wouldn’t think she was an illusion. Perhaps they, too, were captives in the world Aya Tokoyogi had created? 

“Senpai? Sayaka? Are your wounds all right?” 

“Yeah,” said Kojou, “they’re all right now. Wanna see for yourself?” 

Kojou moved his hands as if readying to suddenly yank the top of his uniform off. Seeing this, Sayaka smacked Kojou in the back of his head, hard. As the dull thud reverberated, Kojou clutched his head. 

“Yeowch! I was just kidding, geez…!” 

Sayaka, rather worked up, strongly embraced Yukina. 

“It doesn’t sound like a joke coming from you, pervert! Stay back, I don’t want you corrupting my Yukina!” 

Yukina became more and more confused as she vividly felt the warmth of Sayaka’s skin and the squish of her breasts. You wouldn’t think that sensation was an illusion… 

Those precious to her were right by her side. Enveloped by a feeling of safety and reassurance, the existence of Aya Tokoyogi and the Black Bible incident felt irrelevant to her. 

“Let’s leave this idiot here and go to club, Yukina.” 

Yukina shook her head in confusion as Sayaka pulled her by her arm. 

“Club…you say? No, I’m senpai’s watcher…” 

Kojou tilted his head with a mystified look. 

“Whaddaya mean, watcher? You mean you’re comin’ to watch us practice?” 

“Eh?” 

Yukina’s eyebrows rose as she noticed the sports bag Kojou was carrying. The towels and basketball shoes sticking out of the bag felt wrong to her. But it didn’t feel bad. What felt wrong was how much she wanted to accept it at face value. 

“Senpai…did you start playing basketball again?” 

“Whaddaya mean, start…? Our club’s pretty weak sauce, but it’s still alive an’ kickin’.” 

“But your magical power?” 

“Manicle…what?” 

What’s that all about? said Kojou’s grimace. Sayaka made a charming and very amused smile as she seized the opportunity. 

“Manicle powers, huh? So that’s how you roll, huh? What a perv.” 

“I am not!! Well, our manager is kind of a sadist… Ugh, that Asagi, what’s with that training schedule…?! Is she trying to kill us?!” 

“Let’s get to the archery range ASAP. Masochism’s contagious. Any more kinky talk like this and it might spread.” 

“Like hell it will!!” 

Sayaka, wearing a Saikai Academy uniform, was getting along very well with Kojou. Based on the content of the conversation, Sayaka was apparently Yukina’s senior in the archery club. 

I see, thought Yukina, sighing. She thought it’d be nice if she could live in a world like that. 

How wonderful it might be if she could. 

Kojou looked at Yukina with concern as emotion vanished from her own face. 

“Himeragi?” 

However, Yukina’s eyes no longer paid him any heed. 

“So that is how it is? My dream is to have met senpai as a normal junior high student, with a very kind Sayaka along with me…? A possibility that might exist in another world…” 

However, the smile Yukina made as she strongly clenched her right fist was a sad one. 

Her fingers conveyed the feel of the metallic spear that shouldn’t have been in her hand, the Schneewaltzer, secret weapon of the Lion King Agency, able to rend any witch’s barrier and nullify all magical energy—no magic could fool it. 

“—Snowdrift Wolf!” 

Yukina called out the name of her spear. Its tip began to glow, as if responding to her voice. 

The purifying light ripped the illusion apart. A dimly lit classroom surrounded by the darkness of late night appeared in its place. 

The illusions of Kojou and Sayaka vanished. Yukina was not wearing a school uniform, but rather, the nurse outfit she’d borrowed. It was still dark outside the windows. Apparently, it hadn’t been more than two or three hours since she and Sana had been abducted. 

Yukina and Sana were both held in cells the shape of birdcages. 

Sana was apparently asleep. The annihilation of magic on Itogami Island had apparently wiped out the backup personality as well. 

Even Yukina’s spear could not slice apart the steel cage. It seemed very difficult for her to escape under her own power. 

It was then that she heard a voice behind her—the voice of Aya Tokoyogi. 

“If you desire it, you can change that dream into reality.” 

The sound of compassion in her voice gave the declaration the ring of truth. 

Yes. She could do it. Just as she’d erased all supernatural power from Itogami Island, she could alter Kojou’s and Yukina’s destinies. 

“So that is the Black Bible’s ability—freely remaking the world according to your own desires. You used that power to make all supernatural power on Itogami Island except yours disappear.” 

Aya nodded without hesitation. 

“That is…correct.” 

“Why have you done such a thing?” 

“To prove that it is not we witches who are cursed, but this world.” 

“Prove?” Yukina asked, uncertain. 

She couldn’t comprehend what Aya Tokoyogi was really after. The annihilation of magical power meant Itogami Island would crumble. What would that prove? 

“This is an…experiment. You, Yukina Himeragi, are the experiment’s witness—its assessor.” 

Aya smiled as she looked at Yukina’s confusion. As she did so, the ground beneath the campus building creaked. Even then, Itogami Island’s collapse continued. 

3 

“Please…no more. Have mercy…” 

Sayaka was curled up into a ball on the dimly lit clinic room’s sofa. 

Her white shirt was completely unbuttoned, almost completely exposing her lean side. Thanks to her skirt having been stripped off, her white skin shone under the moonlight from collar to thigh. 

Sayaka resisted as Yuuma forced her down and moved to take off her bra. Yuuma smiled charmingly as she ran a fingertip up Sayaka’s slender collarbone. 

“Ahh, Sayaka, you’re so pretty.” 

Eeeek, was Sayaka’s silent reply, weakly shaking her head as her entire body shuddered. 

“Why are you doing this to me?!” 

“Well, you see, I’m embarrassed to be the only one dressed like this.” 

Kojou, the odd man out, interjected with a pant, “…Not that you can call that an outfit to begin with…” 

The white gown Yuuma wore was a hospital one. The cloth was tied in one place on each side; it was very close to a “naked apron.” Of course, she wasn’t wearing any underwear whatsoever. The only things hiding her bare skin were the bandages covering her entire body. 

Yuuma was unapologetic. “Well, I busted right out of a hospital room. Can’t be helped.” 

Then, she gave a furtive glance to the bust of her hospital gown, as if daring Kojou to look. 

However, the man didn’t react. He was used to her teasing; she’d done it plenty of times since grade school. 

“Sorry, Kirasaka,” Kojou apologized. “She’s been like this since waaay back.” 

Sayaka glared resentfully at Kojou. 

“…I’d been finding it strange all this time why a pretty girl like this would be a close friend of yours, but now I get it. Birds of a feather flock together…!” 

Why’d it turn into that? thought Kojou, as he heaved a lethargic sigh. 

Yuuma finished stripping Sayaka’s bra off and reached toward Lustrous Scale. 

“There’s no time, so let’s get this show on the road. I’m borrowing your sword, Sayaka.” 

Then, she touched the blade to her own wrist without any hesitation. Kojou gasped. 

“Yuuma?!” 

“Aya Tokoyogi is using the Black Bible to erase supernatural power from all of Itogami Island. Demons lose their abilities and become normal people; the lives of homunculi and gravely ill patients reliant on spells for life support will be in danger if this continues much longer.” 

Kojou looked at the fresh blood flowing from Yuuma’s wrist and weakly murmured, “Then…the same goes for you…” 

Yuuma, the recipient of healing magic, was in the same boat. Yuuma’s grave, nearly fatal wounds had only been stabilized using the latest medical spells exclusive to MAR. 

“There are exceptions, Kojou. Aya Tokoyogi left her own magical energy intact. Or rather, she couldn’t wipe her own power out because she’s the one activating the Bible.” 

As Kojou lay on top of the bed, Yuuma flung herself all over him. The blood drops flowing from her wrist dropped into Kojou’s mouth. 

“Because of that, and because I’m a copy of her, my power’s intact, too. Right now I don’t have the power to take on Aya Tokoyogi, but if you drink my blood…” 

Realizing Yuuma’s objective, Sayaka forcefully sat up. “Then he might get his vampire powers back…?! But…” 

The Black Bible couldn’t nullify Yuuma’s magical power. Just like how a vaccine was a weakened version of a virus, Kojou taking her blood into his own body might well be a catalyst enabling him to regain his vampiric powers. 

But if Kojou had already completely lost his own supernatural ability, it was too late for him to drink Yuuma’s blood, for nothing happened when a mere human being drank the blood of another. 

However, Yuuma smiled warmly at their uneasy onlooker, as if trying to soothe her nerves. “It’s all right. Yeah, maybe Aya Tokoyogi’s trying to wipe out all supernatural abilities except her own…but Kojou is the Fourth Primogenitor. Do you understand what that means?” 

“…A fourth primogenitor…something that should not exist in our world…” 

The Fourth Primogenitor was an element alien to the world’s very makeup. Yuuma was certain his body held supernatural factors not under the Black Bible’s control. All that the magical power remaining in Yuuma’s blood would do was to serve as the trigger to awaken it. 

And as if to back up Yuuma’s theory, Kojou’s eyes turned crimson. 

Like a ferocious beast, Kojou’s sharp, elongated fangs mercilessly thrust into Yuuma’s wounded neck. Yuuma gently embraced Kojou’s back as he did so, closing her eyes in satisfaction. Yuuma’s firm lips let out a frail, soft, lovely sigh. 

As Sayaka gazed in shock at the sight of Kojou and Yuuma embracing each other, she gasped and partially regained her senses. 

“Hold on a sec. What was the point of stripping my clothes off, then…?” 

“That’s—” 

Yuuma was in the middle of a pained smile when she violently coughed up blood. 

Her strength depleted, she collapsed then and there. Only now did Kojou fully realize just how badly she’d pushed herself to make it this far. 

“Yuuma, you…!” 

She’d used as much healing and buff spells as she could to force her body, which needed absolute rest, to move—all to save Kojou from danger. All to offer Kojou her very own blood— 

Yuuma spoke in a faint, halting voice. 

“Sorry, Kojou…the rest is up to you. Looks like I’m finally at my limits…” 

Kojou bit his bloodstained lip and nodded. 

“…I’ve got this. Have I ever let you down when you sent a pass my way?” 

Kojou firmly pressed his own palm to Yuuma’s and strongly gripped it. 

Anger surged through Kojou’s entire body—anger toward the crazy twist of fate that had put Yuuma through this and anger toward himself for having been unable to protect her. 

Surely the magical energy Yuuma had provided through her blood ought to have caused the power of the Fourth Primogenitor, stolen by the Black Bible, to reawaken. The Black Bible no longer held any sway over him. But it wasn’t enough. It wasn’t enough power to dispel Kojou’s anger. He needed more blood— 

“Kirasaka—!” 

Sayaka, naked except for her white shirt, shuddered as her entire body froze. 

“Y-yes?!” 

Kojou, his body still wounded, rose up, grabbed Sayaka, and pulled her in close. His tone might have been strong, but the hands with which he touched her were tender. His grip was gentle, as if not to frighten Sayaka with her fear of men, handling her as delicately as fine china—but still very bold where it counted. 

Such an artful maneuver was clearly different from the normal Kojou, so unused to women. 

Perhaps a memory from a previous Fourth Primogenitor that slept within his blood was somehow influencing his behavior. 

“W-w-wait a minute. I—I’m not emotionally prepared for…I haven’t even had a shower, and Yuuma’s watching…aah?!” 

In spite of Sayaka’s desperate excuses, her resistance was far weaker than her words. 

Kojou’s fingertips touched Sayaka’s defenseless flesh. Strength drained from her entire body. 

Kojou gently sank his fangs into Sayaka’s pale skin. 

“O-ow! Not…there…I’m not…nn!” 

Though she initially groaned in pain, she, too, let out a frail sigh, allowing Kojou to support her full weight. 

It was the second time Kojou had tasted her blood, but her reaction was that of an innocent virgin. That was just fine with him. The body of the Fourth Primogenitor was very fond of her powerful spirit medium blood. 

Kojou whispered into Sayaka’s ear while her eyes were closed. 

“…n’t let anyone…” 

Sayaka, her pale flesh flushed and her eyes moist, looked back at Kojou. 

“K-Kojou Akatsuki?” 

“I won’t let anyone else die, Kirasaka.” 

Sayaka’s reply was straightforward, even fawning. 

“…I know.” 

Kojou continued to embrace her as he put a hand to his chest. The wound from Aya Tokoyogi’s Guardian impaling him was already completely healed. 

However, the wound in his right breast was intact. 

This was the stab wound from Yukina’s Snowdrift Wolf. So wounds inflicted by that spear indeed couldn’t be healed, even by the power of the Fourth Primogenitor—? 

But someone inside of Kojou had a reply…: 

Yes. This is true. But it is also mistaken. You see only the flesh. Because you see only the flesh, it fails you. Vampires are beyond the boundaries of life and death. They straddle the border between existence and nonexistence. You need but return to the mist of primordial chaos from which emerged all things, holy and unholy, living and dead alike— 

Sayaka gasped in shock. A silver mist had appeared around Kojou, enveloping him. 

“Kojou Akatsuki, what…are you…?” 

Kojou’s physical body was changing into the silver mist from whence it came. Finally, as the mist covered Kojou, the injured Yuuma, and Sayaka, too, they seemed to melt into it… 

Now Kojou understood. 

“I get it…so that’s how it is, Avrora… This is number four, ain’t it?!” 

Beast Vassal Number Four had already been awakened since the moment he’d been impaled by Yukina’s spear. And having emerged to save Kojou’s physical body from annihilation, it ran amok, leaving him stuck that way. 

The fierce sense of fatigue he’d felt was the same as when he’d used his vampiric powers to summon multiple Beast Vassals at once. The unhealing wound in Kojou’s breast was itself the Fourth Primogenitor’s Beast Vassal Number Four. 

Kojou solemnly raised his voice. “Kojou Akatsuki, heir to the bloodline Kaleid Blood, releases thee from thy bonds…!” 

The mist that enveloped him grew even thicker. Kojou himself was transforming into mist. 

“C’mon over, Beast Vassal Number Four, Natra Cinereus—!” 

Finally, mist covered the entire building; the contours of the entire world grew vague. Silver chaos blotted out buildings, people, the air itself—everything. 

Sayaka’s eyes opened wide as she looked above her. 

“A Beast Vassal…of mist…?!” 

The shadow of a giant Beast Vassal floated up from within the thick, silver mist. The creature’s entire body was covered in a gray carapace; its thick, ominous armor made it a veritable moving fortress. However, the only thing that came out of the gaps in the shell was the same heavy, silver mist. 

The shelled beast with a body of mist looked like a ghost— 

The world shrouded in silver mist shuddered from the monster’s roar. 

4 

Silver mist enveloped the artificial city that was quietly collapsing. 

Mist was nothing strange on Itogami Island, floating on the Pacific Ocean. Depending on the season, sea fog became a hindrance to traffic from time to time. However, this mist was different from such mundane atmospheric phenomena. 

The origin point of the silver mist was the city itself. Buildings, transportation facilities, the artificial ground, and the people themselves who lived there turned to mist as the world melted around them. 

From the outside, it looked like the fog had shut the entire city within itself. 

Someone on the coastline observed the scene, one full of dense magical energy. Sitting on the edge of bedrock covered in rubble was a male high school student in uniform. His hair was short and combed back. He was Motoki Yaze, Kojou and Asagi’s classmate—and a spy dispatched by the Gigafloat Management Corporation. 

“—Looks like the collapse of the island’s stopped.” 

He was on the small island called the prison barrier. Only a short distance away from Itogami Island, it had so far escaped the effect of the Black Bible. 

A girl standing behind Yaze whispered, “A Beast Vassal of the Fourth Primogenitor, yes?” 

She was also a high school student, but one who wore glasses and had a book under her arm. Her uniform, like Yaze’s, came from Saikai Academy, but she had an atmosphere of calm wafting around her that made her seem older. 

Yaze nodded at her. “The cliché is for vamps to turn to mist and run from battle, not to turn a whole island into mist. Thanks to that, we’ve been saved this time around…but…” 

“It proves all over again that he could wipe this island off the map at any moment he pleases, does it not?” 

The boy seemed to suppress his own feelings on the matter as he gave a sober scoff. “Hmph. Was this part of your plan, too?” 

A short time earlier, Itogami Island, robbed of its magic, had been on the verge of collapse. But now that everything had been turned to mist, gravity ceased to affect it; since there was nothing solid, the strength of the materials holding it together was no longer a concern. Perhaps it might be said that one could not destroy that which was intangible. 

“I had heard that Kojou Akatsuki was an incomplete vampire who couldn’t pull off misting,” the schoolgirl said. “To think that his first transformation into mist would be on such a grand scale…the Fourth Primogenitor is very much the golden child of calamity.” 

“Pretty much.” 

Yaze didn’t dispute her words in any way. 

Use of transformation into mist was pretty much exclusively for blood relatives of Old Guard vampires and above. However, there was no record of Kojou Akatsuki having turned to mist before that very day. 

Perhaps the very reason for not turning to mist on a whim was that a single slip could wipe away the entire city. It was the kind of insanity that suited the Fourth Primogenitor well. 

However, it was that insane power that had saved the Demon Sanctuary from peril. Kojou Akatsuki probably wasn’t even aware of what he’d done. 

Yaze glanced up at the girl with a sharp look. 

“More than that, I wanna ask what the hell is going on here. You people knew darn well why Aya Tokoyogi was so hung up on a ‘useless’ grimoire like the Black Bible, didn’t you? What’s her objective here?” 

The girl smirked as she shook her head. “Yes, I wonder. Perhaps she desires to save the world?” 

“What the heck does that mean?” 

As Yaze snapped in annoyance, a self-deprecating, desolate smile came over his companion. 

“By that I mean…the witch is frightened, just as we are frightened,” she said. 

Without a sound, the girl turned her gaze toward Itogami Island, now shrouded in mist under the sunless sky, and began walking toward the sea. 

From behind her, Yaze asked, “Wanna watch till the credits roll?” 

The girl shook her head shortly. 

“Unfortunately, I have other business to attend to.” 

The glasses girl headed toward a rock wall where a small coast guard patrol boat awaited. When she got there, the sailors dutifully attended to her, guiding her onto the boat. 

Yaze’s shoulders slumped in exasperation as he watched the girl go. 

“A cold fish as always… Well, that is part of her charm, I suppose,” he muttered as he shifted his gaze toward Itogami Island once more. 

The silver mist enveloping the man-made island silently covered the moonlight-bathed sea. 

5 

Yukina was still trapped in the birdcage. 

“What do you mean, this world is cursed?” she asked the fire-eyed witch. 

The woman, listening with comfort to the sounds of Itogami Island’s collapse, looked at Yukina with delight as she smiled. 

“Do you not find it…strange, Sword Shaman?” 

Aya Tokoyogi’s monochrome robe fluttered as she turned to the tiny prison she’d constructed. 

“I ask you, do you believe the world to be correct as it is? This world, where vampires and beast men strut about, and humans employ magic without a second…thought?” 

The question made Yukina slightly uneasy. She thought it strange that a witch like Aya Tokoyogi would embrace doubts about her very existence. 

“…There are many mysteries that remain concerning the rules that govern the world, but the fact that magic and demons exist is undeniable. In the first place, this Demon Sanctuary exists to research those mysteries, does it not?” 

“You are a fine pupil, Sword Shaman.” 

There was a faint hint of sarcasm in Aya Tokoyogi’s tone. 

“Do you not question why magic and demons exist, then? A single vampire is granted the power to destroy a giant city—can you really call such an unbalanced state how the world should truly be?” 

“That’s…” 

Yukina’s words caught on her tongue. It was a doubt natural for anyone familiar with the menace of a primogenitor to hold. Why were they, and they alone, granted such titanic might—? 

The fire-eyed witch shifted her gaze outside the window. From the side, her face brimmed with great intellect, not at all the image Yukina had of an inhumane sorcerous criminal. 

“I have always believed that magic and demons are not things that should exist except in human imagination. I believe that the only proper world is one where they do not exist.” 

Yukina glared at the witch. “And yet supernatural powers do exist. Even if that is some kind of mistake…” 

The corners of Aya’s lips rose into a smile. “Indeed. Therefore, as I have stated, this world is cursed.” 

“Perhaps you are correct. However, this is the world humanity has lived in for thousands of years.” 

Upon hearing Yukina’s words, the fire-eyed witch inclined her head, demeanor serious. 

“For thousands of…years. Is that truly so?” 

“What do you mean by that?” 

“Are you familiar with the so-called five-minute hypothesis?” 

Yukina shook her head. Those were strange words, ones she had never heard in her life. 

Casually, without a hint of mockery, the woman went on to explain: “The hypothesis states that the world, as it now exists, came into being a mere five minutes ago and never existed previously; that someone created human memory, history, records of the past, buildings—everything—but five short minutes ago.” 

Yukina mixed in a sigh as she retorted, “…Then it’s only a hypothesis…a thought experiment that can be neither proven nor disproven.” 

She could not scientifically refute the hypothesis. However, at the same time, there was no way to prove it was the truth, either. She did not think it bore any meaning beyond a philosophical exercise. 

However, Aya gave her an amused smile, as if she’d expected that rebuttal. 

“Certainly, it is a hypothesis. However, there is a way to prove it. Surely the fact that I am recreating the world as I desire establishes beyond a doubt that it is possible?” 

Yukina’s cheeks went pale. 

“You don’t mean…you’re using the Black Bible to…?!” 

“I am,” the fire-eyed witch declared without hesitation. “My rewriting of the world according to my desires is an experiment for that very purpose.” 

The young woman’s shoulders shook as a chill shot up her spine. 

Erasing all supernatural power was not the objective of Aya Tokoyogi, the Witch of the Notaria. 

Her objective was to rewrite the very world into the shape she believed to be correct. 

“Why subject Itogami Island to such a dangerous experiment…?!” 

Aya’s response was to explain the matter as if she found it a trifling one. “This is a Demon Sanctuary—a man-made island that would not even exist without magic. In other words, it is a symbol of the mad world. Surely there is no more suitable stage?” 

Her expression seemed to say, Why ask me something so perfectly obvious? 

Yukina glared at her with pent-up rage. 

“And you would kill hundreds of thousands of people for the sake of that?” 

“It is what they deserve for mocking us witches as abominations and using us as they…please!” the fire-eyed witch shouted with sudden vehemence. 

It was the first time Yukina had seen emotion in those red eyes. 

“That is how you see me, is it not, Sword Shaman? Do you even comprehend how they have treated my friend, Natsuki Minamiya…!” 

“Aya Tokoyogi…you…” 

Yukina looked at Aya, her breath ragged from irrepressible hatred, in bewilderment. 

Aya had not killed Natsuki during the fight at the prison barrier. Though she’d stolen Natsuki’s memories, she’d made no sign of pursuing Natsuki when she fled to safety. Even now, with Natsuki captured in the form of the powerless Sana, Aya had left her alone. 

Perhaps Aya Tokoyogi had not wanted to fight Natsuki until the very end. Perhaps, even while held in the prison barrier, she’d been concerned for Natsuki, left behind all alone. 

Perhaps, to Aya, Natsuki truly was a friend. 

Somehow calming her breathing, Aya returned to her original, composed tone of voice and spoke. 

“The Black Bible required the ley line spiritual energy that flows into this Demon Sanctuary and borrows the power of the stars. I remained in obscurity these past ten years to await the proper alignment of the stars. When this night ends, and the Hollow Eve Festival with it, my world shall cease to be.” 

This was unexpectedly useful information to Yukina and her allies. When morning came and the heavenly bodies shifted, the Black Bible would cease to function. However, she didn’t think Kojou, gravely wounded and without his vampiric powers, could last that long. For that matter, she didn’t know if Itogami Island, in the process of collapse, could hold out, either. 

“Of course, this island should sink into the sea before then. Experimental results of at least such a scale are necessary to prove that my hypothesis is indeed correct.” 

“Ugh,” Yukina groaned as she clutched her spear. However, trapped in the birdcage as she was, the Sword Shaman had no way to stop Aya. 

Watching Yukina poise her spear, the fire-eyed witch suddenly altered her tone. 

“That spear…the Schneewaltzer, is said to…nullify magical power and rend through any barrier. But is that the truth?” 

Yukina gave her a thorny look, taking this as a slight against her beloved weapon. 

“…What are you talking about?” 

“Rather than nullify magic, might it not return the world to its proper form?” Aya stated with an air of composure. “I do not believe the might to nullify even a primogenitor’s abilities can be explained in any other fashion.” 

Her fiery eyes gazed upon Yukina with careful scrutiny. 

“If that is so,” Aya continued, “who are you, who can wield it at will? Are you truly a human of this world?” 

“Is wild speculation like that the reason you brought me here?” Yukina replied, though her voice was far calmer than she felt. 

She’d been wondering the whole time why she’d been abducted; she finally had the answer to that riddle. Aya Tokoyogi was interested in her, the wielder of the Schneewaltzer. Now that she thought about it, the witch had shown interest in Yukina’s spear even during their first encounter at the prison barrier. 

“Speculation, you say?” Aya mocked. “Tell me, then, why you alone have escaped the effect of the Black Bible and are still able to employ ritual magic?” 

Yukina was shocked into silence. 

Her doubts grew ever so slightly. Perhaps what the fire-eyed witch had said—about her and about the world—was the truth…? 

Yukina’s voice turned hard. 

“So…you are saying that this world’s current state was created by someone?” 

“I am. Though I would argue that a more proper term would be…‘cursed.’” 

“Then who did such a thing?” 

“I know not.” Aya bluntly shook her head. “Perhaps a being that can create worlds in his own image should be called God, but in this case, it’s surely nothing so enlightened.” 

It was then that she seemed to remember something and smiled pleasantly at Yukina. 

“It is said that vampire primogenitors were born by being cursed by the gods themselves.” 

“What of it…?” 

“If that is so, who or what is the fourth of the primogenitors, a being that ought not exist in this world…? By whose will does such a being exist? Perhaps understanding that might shed light upon the secrets of this w—” 

Aya’s soliloquy broke off. She looked outside in clear surprise. 

Yukina, too, realized why Aya was in shock. 

“…This magical energy?!” 

The very air inside the school shuddered from a surge of incredibly dense magical power—air governed by Aya’s world. 

“Insanity,” spat Aya as she teleported to the schoolyard, with the birdcage holding Yukina in tow. 

A silver mist had the campus completely surrounded. 

Dense mist obstructed their view; they could see nothing beyond it whatsoever. No, that wasn’t it—the city itself had turned to mist. 

With her Spirit Sight, Yukina’s eyes made out the contours of a monster lurking in the center of the fog. 

It was a ghostlike shelled beast without physical form. The mist was a vampire’s Beast Vassal—a Beast Vassal of mist, wrapping itself around the entire island. 

The Demon Sanctuary only contained a single being served by Beast Vassals of such a scale. 

Obstructed by invisible walls, the particulate cloud had not yet entered the school grounds. The wards Aya had deployed were blocking its entry. 

However, a crack suddenly ran down the thick wall. The barrier and the very space it occupied were being ripped apart as someone invaded Aya Tokoyogi’s world. 

“C’mon over, Beast Vassal Number Three, Al-Meissa Mercury!” 

It was the dimension eater, the being that consumed space itself. Employing the quicksilver-colored two-headed dragon and himself wearing a bloodstained parka, the World’s Mightiest Vampire breached the walls around the school— 

Kojou Akatsuki, the Fourth Primogenitor. 

6 

The giant silver dragon with two heads bit apart the birdcages holding Yukina and Sana. 

Yukina desperately fended off the remainder of the attack with her spear. She was grateful that the barrage had shattered her cage, but it was undoubtedly excessive. 

“Sen…pai…!” 

Yukina’s mutter had more of a hint of reproach than relief. That Beast Vassal, able to erase space belonging to any dimension, was one of the worst in the Fourth Primogenitor’s repertoire. It wasn’t the sort of thing you let loose willy-nilly. 

Unsurprisingly, even Kojou recalled the danger it posed to them and quickly dematerialized the Beast Vassal. The dragon gradually vanished as it made a roar of displeasure, as if saying it had not yet had its fill. 

Aya Tokoyogi’s fiery eyes narrowed and glared hatefully at Kojou. 

“How dare you consume my wards and invade the core of my world? So this is how it feels to have one’s own bedroom trodden…upon.” 

Kojou turned to face her gaze head-on and smiled fearlessly, his white fangs bared. 

“Just so you know, this is our school. From our point of view, Aya Tokoyogi, you’re the trespasser.” 

“…Nn!” 

Kojou’s words had shaken Aya slightly. It had been ten years since she and Natsuki had last exchanged words at this very school, but perhaps it hadn’t really sunk in until that moment. As Yukina shielded Sana, who was down on her knees, she raised her head when she heard Sayaka call out her name: 

“Yukina! Are you all right? She didn’t do anything strange to you?” 

Sayaka had entered the schoolyard while lending her shoulder to the injured Yuuma. 

Yuuma looked defenseless with only a paper-thin patient’s gown covering her; Sayaka’s clothing was disheveled, like someone’s after an amorous encounter. Yukina could largely piece together what had happened from their external appearance alone. And for no reason, merely imagining such inappropriate behavior brought pangs to Yukina’s chest. 

She felt genuinely grateful for Sayaka and Yuuma coming to rescue her, no matter what they might be dressed like. She was very glad that Kojou was alive. Even so, she wondered why the annoyance and sadness in her just wouldn’t go away. 

Utterly refusing to recognize that a watcher like her could experience the emotion known as jealousy, Yukina focused on just the facts, stating casually, “Sayaka…your shirt’s buttoned wrong…” 

“Eh?!” 

Sayaka, her cheeks bursting red, hastily put a hand over her cleavage. Sayaka was still like that when Yukina handed Sana over to her and adopted a posture meant to shield them. 

Sayaka had not regained the powers stolen from her by the Black Bible. With Yuuma now too injured to move on her own, only Yukina and Kojou had any means with which to oppose Aya Tokoyogi. 

For her part, the witch called out the name as if it was cursed. 

“Yuuma…is it?” 

It was the name of the “daughter” the fire-eyed witch had prepared as a tool for her escape from the prison barrier. Her role complete, Aya had tossed her aside and had probably forgotten that she’d even existed, but Kojou had saved her. 

And now, they were here to destroy Aya’s plan, a fact that made Aya highly indignant. 

“I see. You drank the blood of the doll based on me. That’s how you regained your demonic power.” 

As the witch shook with rage, Kojou watched her coldly. 

“Yeah. Thanks to that, I’m about to kick your ass. Thanks to your usin’ Yuuma, she’s all a mess…Natsuki’s been turned into a grade schooler…Asagi, Astarte, everyone on the island who wanted to have fun at the festival, they’re all sufferin’ ’cause of you.” 

Without warning, Kojou marched forward, closing the distance between him and Aya Tokoyogi. His body was emitting and being enveloped by lightning and its gale of wind. The Beast Vassals sleeping within the blood of the Fourth Primogenitor were reacting to Kojou’s anger. 

“So you’ve really pissed me off. I don’t care if you’re Yuuma’s mom, and it’s got nothin’ to do with you bein’ a prison barrier inmate. I don’t care about the why! You’ve hurt lots of important friends of mine! From here on, this is my fight!” 

“Nng…!” 

The beautiful face of Aya Tokoyogi twisted in hostility, even as she bore the brunt of Kojou’s rage head-on. 

Even though Kojou had recovered his magical strength, the Black Bible’s power was still intact. Furthermore, this was the very center of the world that Aya had created. Kojou’s power was half-depleted, while Aya’s power was at its zenith. Even against a vampire primogenitor, surely Aya, as she was now, had every chance of victory, and she was well aware of that… But— 

It was Yukina who wedged herself into their standoff. 

“No, senpai. This is our fight.” 

Kojou looked at Yukina in surprise. Normally, it was Yukina who was counseling Kojou to use restraint, but this time, she was trying to stop Aya of her own free will. 

Yukina glared at the witch with sadness. 

“You said that the people of this world look down upon witches and use your kind like tools. What is your treatment of Yuuma, then?!” 

Perhaps the fire-eyed witch really did want to change the world. If supernatural power vanished from the face of the earth, there would no longer be any reason to fear witches. Perhaps that was indeed her wish. 

But in the process, she was hurting people weaker than herself and walking all over them. 

Yukina couldn’t accept that as just. Someone had to stop her. 

“If people curse you, it’s not because you’re a witch. No one will accept you so long as you use the fact you’re a witch as an excuse to hurt others. Shut off the Black Bible and surrender immediately!” 

Aya gazed intently at her, anguish in her eyes. “To think I am being scolded by a brat of so few years, as if she knows of what she speaks.” 

The witch’s expression, filled with despair and denial, was like the one she’d worn ten years prior, when Natsuki had decided to part ways with her. 

“However, do not forget that you are still in my world!” 

Aya used a fingertip to air-write symbols. From that twinkle, she summoned human silhouettes out of thin air one after another. Kojou knew the faces of a number of them: Bruté Dumblegraff the Georgius; Schtola D; Gigliola Ghirardi; Kiliga Gilika; the red-and-black witch team, the Meyer Sisters… 

“You re-created the sorcerous criminals from memories…?!” Yukina gasped in shock. 

These were no doubt replicas of the fiendish criminals Aya had summoned from her own memories. The Black Bible’s power to rewrite the world according to one’s desires apparently included creating humans themselves. These were dolls that would move according to Aya Tokoyogi’s will. 

However, they were mere soulless shadows of the origins. Even if they had abilities identical to those of the originals, their threat level was still far lower…for there was no reason to hold back against illusions. 

“You really think a bunch of cookie cutouts are gonna stop me, Miss Monochrome?! C’mon over, Al-Nasl Minium—!” 

The new, giant Beast Vassal that Kojou summoned bore an incandescent, scarlet mane and twin horns. It was a formidable mass vibration that wavered like a mirage. 

The two horns protruding from its head resonated like a tuning fork, releasing a high-pitched shock wave. The shattering of all the school’s windows was no more than a side effect. After that, the Beast Vassal roared, its shock wave turning into cannonballs that poured down on the prisoners surrounding Kojou and the others. 

The knight’s sword, the invisible psychic slash, the Old Guard’s Beast Vassal, even the Efreet—all were powerless before the bicorn’s destructive rampage. With a Beast Vassal of the Fourth Primogenitor released without restraint, overwhelming power poured upon them, annihilating the shadows in a single blow. 

It looked more like being mowed down by a giant tornado than anything one could call combat. 

The incandescent bicorn, governing violent winds and shock waves, was destruction incarnate. It was something that had little use outside of destroying a giant military force. At this rate, Saikai Academy’s campus building would itself be blown away— 

The instant the thought crossed Kojou’s mind, a series of shining symbols emerged out of thin air and blocked the bicorn’s blast winds. That momentary opening was enough for Kojou to bring his Beast Vassal, on the verge of going berserk, back under full control. 

“Her magic symbol wall, huh…?!” scoffed Kojou. 

Even as he thought, Just in the nick of time, Kojou’s expression hardened. Aya’s power had suppressed his Beast Vassal. That meant that, in her world, Aya could indeed wield power on par with a goddess. 

However, Aya’s face revealed no excess confidence, for Kojou was not her only opponent in this fight. 

Yukina’s silver spear lashed out toward the wall of symbols surrounding Aya. 

“Snowdrift Wolf—!” 

The wall that had endured even a Beast Vassal’s onslaught popped like a balloon, vanishing that very instant. Yukina wielded a purifying spear that could rend any barrier. A magical barrier could not fend off her attacks. 

Knowing this, Aya drew new magical symbols into thin air. In response, a transparent, glass-like wall appeared before Yukina’s eyes. 

“A crystal wall?!” the Sword Shaman exclaimed as the tip of her spear bounced off it. 

Even her spear, able to nullify all magic, was powerless against a simple physical wall. Aya, the creator of that world, was able to summon solid matter as she wished. 

Kojou ferociously bared his fangs. “Get back, Yukina—!” 

A mere wall was no match for a Beast Vassal. Unable to withstand the bicorn’s ferocious oscillation wave, the thick crystal wall shattered. 

“The primogenitor Beast Vassal defeats the physical wall… The Sword Shaman’s spear smashes the magical…wall. To think a pair of heretics rejecting my world would be so troublesome. Very well…” 

A black tentacle sprung out of thin air from behind Yukina and wrapped tightly around her. 

“Oh n—?!” 

The knotted tentacle that bound her entire body was identical to the one Yuuma’s Guardian had once used to attack her. Unable to move her spear, Yukina was utterly incapable of freeing herself—! 

“Unfortunately, I shall help myself to your memories, Sword Shaman! L’Ombre!” 

Aya Tokoyogi called forth her own Guardian, a faceless knight encased in jet-black armor. 

The black knight drew its blade and sliced toward the immobile Yukina. It was just like when Natsuki had been turned into a grade schooler. She was trying to render Yukina powerless by robbing her of her personal history. 

Kojou sprinted toward his comrade. “Himeragi!” 

His Beast Vassal, overpowered as it was, could not save Yukina without harming her. However, the black knight’s attack reached her quicker than Kojou’s feet could. 

Just as deep despair struck Kojou, he heard a loud clang, like metal violently colliding against metal. The black knight’s sword bounced back. 

A golden gauntlet had appeared out of thin air, repelling the black knight’s attack. 

“A golden Guardian…?!” exclaimed Aya. 

A new witch’s Guardian had emerged from space that wavered like a beautiful ripple. It was humanoid in shape, its body encased in golden armor. 

Its malevolent, giant form looked more like a demon than a knight. It was a clockwork demonic knight. 

Aya heard a lisping, adorable voice from behind her. 

“So you finally whipped that book out. I’ve been waiting for this moment, Aya!” 

The master of the golden Guardian stood behind her: a little girl in an extravagant dress. However, the expression on her face was full of arrogance and charisma that completely belied her childish appearance. 

“Natsuki?!” Aya shouted. “You’ve regained your ma—” 

“I’ll be taking my time back now.” 

Without warning, Natsuki Minamiya, in Sana form, snapped her fingers. Countless chains shot out of nowhere, wrapping around Aya’s arms and ripping her grimoire out of her hands. 

Taking advantage of the slackening of the tentacle holding her, Yukina repositioned her spear. She could only move her right arm freely, but she nonetheless swung Snowdrift Wolf and swept away the tentacle holding her captive. 

“…So you have your magic power back, Natsuki?” Kojou asked, gazing at the little girl displaying cool composure and a puffed-out chest. 

Natsuki’s lips curled up the tiniest bit in apparent delight. “I have just enough saved up to use spells temporarily, all thanks to some primogenitor who happened to bleed all over the bath from his nose. I really must thank Asagi later…” 

Kojou spontaneously clutched his head. 

“You still have your memories from grade-schooler mode?!” 

The blood from Kojou’s nose left in the group bath on the Oceanus Grave II was full of the Fourth Primogenitor’s magical power, however faint. Apparently, while immersed in the bath, Natsuki had absorbed that power to regain some of her energy. “My blood ain’t a bath bomb,” mumbled Kojou in visible displeasure when Yukina sullenly glared at him. Apparently, her sharp intuition had quickly deduced what made Kojou bleed in the first place… 

Aya stood, dumbfounded, as she gazed at Natsuki, now recovered, and her Guardian. She hadn’t gotten the memo that Natsuki was using a backup to restore her memories. 

Natsuki had started restoring her memory before the Black Bible had activated. And now that she’d regained them, the Black Bible’s magic nullification no longer affected her, because it was through Natsuki’s memories that the Black Bible was being read. 

However, Natsuki had pretended to be a powerless little girl to keep the wool pulled over Aya Tokoyogi’s eyes, making her careless while Natsuki herself waited for a chance to regain the time that had been stripped from her. 

For a single moment, the shaken, fire-eyed witch looked at Natsuki with something like pity. 

“Yukina Himeragi, distract Aya Tokoyogi—I only need a moment. You! Ponytail! Is Aya’s daughter still conscious?” 

“P-ponytail…?!” 

Though not exactly fond of the nickname Natsuki had pinned on her, Sayaka immediately nodded. 

Apparently, Natsuki remembered that the only one who could save the wounded Yuuma was another witch—Natsuki. 

“So you turn against me to the very end, Natsuki?!” Aya roared bitterly. 

Along with the lethal aura that erupted from her, countless symbols drew themselves in the air. Illusions of sorcerous criminals emerged from them, all at once. 

When it came to witches using spatial control magic, Natsuki was without peer. Aya, who specialized in the manipulation of written symbols, couldn’t lock on to Natsuki’s coordinates. 

“Blow ’em away, Al-Nasl Minium—!” 

Kojou’s Beast Vassal went about annihilating the illusions Aya had created with glee. Then, it brandished its twin horns and charged toward the defenseless fire-eyed witch. 

Aya redeployed her wall of symbols to defend against the assault. However, Kojou dematerialized the Beast Vassal just short of colliding with the wall. The incandescent bicorn had been a decoy for drawing Aya’s attention. Breaching the wall and leaping through was not the Beast Vassal, but a girl wielding a silver spear. 

“Roaring Thunder!” 

Yukina’s right leg leaped up and caught Aya Tokoyogi’s chin. 

With the witch’s attention focused on deploying the wall, she had no way of evading the attack. With the defensive magic enveloping her breached, Aya’s brain was scrambled by Yukina’s ritual energy-infused kick. 

Aya lost consciousness for one brief moment, severing her link with the Guardian that served her. Not letting that moment go to waste, Natsuki unleashed her magical chains. 

“Faceless knight protecting the spiraling abyss, emerge from thy prison of frozen anguish—” 

Silver chains bound the black knight’s entire body. 

The black knight thrashed violently to shake off the chains hindering it, acting like a wounded beast. However, the magic-infused chains did not break; instead, they ate into the black knight’s armor. 

Natsuki continued to chant her spell. 

“My name is Void. With the Eternal Flame, I burn away thy Oathbreaker Curse. Shatter thy black-blooded yoke and return to thy proper form. Raise thy sword for she who is blessed by the spirits, the Blue Maiden!” 

Natsuki channeled her magical energy through the chains; it visibly coursed through the black knight’s entire body like electric shocks. The armor encasing the Guardian’s form cracked all over; from beneath, a new suit of armor emerged. 

Blue armor like the deep sea. 

Kojou’s group instinctively understood. 

The curse Aya Tokoyogi had cast upon the Guardian had been lifted. 

“Yuuma!” Kojou called. 

That was the most Natsuki could accomplish. 

Only one more thing was needed to save Yuuma: the will to sever herself from her mother’s control. The will to live, even if Yuuma knew her own existence was without “meaning.” 

Something in Yuuma’s hazy consciousness caused her to shout. 

“Le Bleu!” 

The now-blue knight howled. The ripped-up spiritual pathways had been restored; her connection to her Guardian had been reestablished. 

Yuuma had regained her powers as a witch. 

In turn, that meant Aya Tokoyogi had lost her own Guardian. 

Blood dripped from the corner of Aya’s mouth as she panted and spat out, “So the doll that I created defies my rule…!” 

It was the same thing she had herself done to Yuuma. Her spiritual pathways had been ripped apart from having her Guardian forcibly taken away. 

As the fire-eyed witch fell to her knees, Natsuki looked down at her and calmly stated, “It’s over, Aya… Return to the prison barrier. Your dream is over.” 

As she was the mastermind plotting the destruction of Itogami Island and thereby plunging its entire population into crisis, Aya’s crimes were most grave. The circumstances differed from when Eustach had illegally entered Itogami City and caused an incident. It was barely conceivable that the sentence awaiting her would be as lenient as the death penalty. 

But if she was sealed inside the prison barrier, she would be beyond the reach of the Gigafloat Management Corporation. It was the best option Natsuki had for the sake of her old friend. 

Even understanding how Natsuki felt, Aya slowly shook her head. 

“Solitary confinement? To think that my turning on LCO’s sorcerers would come back to haunt me like this…” 

Aya herself had already cut ties with the organization she had governed, the criminal organization LCO. She didn’t need them anymore, regardless of whether her experiment succeeded or failed. 

But as a result, she’d lost a great many usable pawns. Aya had few options left. 

But even though she was backed into a corner, Aya said with thorough amusement, “However, Fourth Primogenitor, surely you must be suffering, controlling other Beast Vassals while having summoned one powerful enough to support the entire island. How much longer before you lose control? If I can endure until then, I win. The effect is the same.” 

Kojou silently grimaced. He didn’t care to admit it, but Aya was right. Just like his other Beast Vassals, Natra Cinereus, the Beast Vassal of mist, was frighteningly difficult to control. One slip and it’d completely run amok. 

At the moment, he had it behaving while supporting the man-made island, but that wouldn’t last for long. If that Beast Vassal went berserk, no doubt Itogami Island would literally go up in a puff of smoke. 

Yukina posed her spear and stated, “We shall defeat you before that happens.” 

Aya narrowed her eyes and smiled. 

“Can you do it, Sword Shaman?” 

Her expression somehow seemed darker than before. 

Realizing that something very wrong was happening to Aya, Natsuki became visibly shaken, her tiny body shuddering. She shouted up, her voice almost shrieking: 

“Stop! Don’t do it, Aya!” 

The next moment, Aya Tokoyogi’s entire body was enveloped by fire. It was not fire in a physical sense; these were ominous, black flames that seemed like they came from the pits of hell itself. 

Aya’s body, completely enveloped in flame, was no longer visible from the outside. Only her fiery eyes were visible, blazing amid the darkness. The magical power trickling out from her became a frightening torrent, now rivaling that of Kojou’s own Beast Vassals. 

“Wh-what the hell…is this?!” Kojou shouted. 

Sayaka, the only one observing the battle with a cool head, was the first to identify the calamity. “She’s losing her soul!” she shouted. “It’s a witch’s final stage—her soul is consumed by her devil, while her flesh becomes that of a true demon—” 

Natsuki bit her lip in despair. 

“…At this point, no one can stop it. Aya is beyond saving…” 

No one could appreciate the fear of losing one’s own soul more than a fellow witch. 

Kojou nervously clenched his fists. “No way…” 

His control over his Beast Vassals was at its limit. If they couldn’t stop Aya then and there, Itogami Island would be destroyed by Kojou’s own hand. 

However, now that she’d become a full demon, Aya’s magical power was off the scale. How could he defeat a monster like that if he had such a hard time even keeping his Beast Vassals on a leash—? 

As Kojou brooded over the matter, Yukina gripped his hand firmly. 

“No, senpai. We will stop her. For Yuuma’s sake, too—” 

Yukina’s eyes were filled with unshakable determination. She knew what she had to fight for. 

They couldn’t abandon Aya with the injured Yuuma watching. They couldn’t let the mother perish before the eyes of the daughter who’d spent a lifetime waiting to meet her. 

Yukina was functionally an orphan; she had not known her own mother. That was why she wanted to save Aya. It was thinking well suited to the considerate, deeply serious Yukina. 

“Guess there’s no helpin’ it, then,” Kojou replied, gripping her hand back. 

That was enough to tell each other how they felt: Whatever it takes. 

“She herself stated,” began Yukina, “Snowdrift Wolf does not nullify magical energy, but rather, it returns the world to its proper state. If that is so—” 

“Got it. I’m about at my limit, anyway.” 

“Yes. It’s now or never!” 

Yukina raised her spear and charged. 

The being that was once Aya Tokoyogi traced symbols with her fire-enveloped fingertip. From these, she created amorphous monsters not known to them. They were probably creatures from the demonic realm. 

The monsters rushed toward Yukina, as if to block the witch from her. 

“C’mon over, Regulus Aurum—!” 

It was a lightning-shrouded golden lion that blew the amorphous monsters away, the fifth Beast Vassal of the Fourth Primogenitor. Its lightning, infused with incredible demonic power, burned the creatures to ash. They’d blazed a trail for Yukina. 

The girl danced through, her silver spear held high. 

“I, Maiden of the Lion, Sword Shaman of the High God, beseech thee.” 

As she made her solemn chant, her spear was enveloped by a white glow. 

The witch losing her soul stopped moving, as if she feared that glow. 

“O purifying light, O divine wolf of the snowdrift, by your steel divine will, strike down the devils before me!” 

A single flash of the silver spear bisected the black flames that enveloped the witch. 

Aya’s body, bathed in the magical light, lost her divine power. This also meant that the pact with her devil had been broken. Her corrupted witch’s body had been severed from the demonic realm. 

From behind, they heard the lisping voice of a very young girl… 

“Well done, my students!” 

Silver chains shot out from thin air to pluck Aya’s body right out of the black flames. 

Having lost their reason for manifesting in the world of men, the demonic flames twisted and burned savagely but for a single moment before puffing out and vanishing. 

Then the ward enveloping the school and the effects of the Black Bible vanished. 

Kojou and the others were instantly assaulted by a feeling akin to color returning to the world. Magic had returned to Itogami Island. With that, Kojou dismissed his mist Beast Vassal. 

The silver fog slowly lifted, and the entirety of Itogami Island and the blue sea that surrounded it came into view. 

Kojou groaned as the first dazzling rays of light poked over the horizon. 

The rays of the morning sun shone upon their tired, beat-up bodies. 

At some point, night had yielded to dawn.