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Strike the Blood - Volume 9 - Chapter 4




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CHAPTER FOUR 

ANOTHER MIGHTIEST ONE 

In the central section of Demon Beast Park, the Kusuki-Elysée research facility was built on a cape jutting into the sea. The building had a futuristic silhouette, like a silver-colored spiral seashell lodged into the surface of the ground. 

Four boats privately owned by Kusuki-Elysée were moored at a designated seaside pier. Two of these were haulers for transporting demon beasts and their feed. Another was a high-speed runner used as a ferry to Itogami Island. The final one was an odd-looking submarine painted snow-white. 

The Yotaka had a bizarre silhouette, bulging in odd places. The hull was encased in thick metal, with its stern equipped with two giant propulsion screws. Kusuki-Elysée had bought a small prototype submarine originally for military use. 

Developed for reconnaissance, the hull did not even reach fifty meters in length. The cockpit, built for three people, was cramped. At the back of the narrow piloting station was a transparent water tank, resembling a casket, which stood vertically. 

Inside the water tank, filled with blue liquid, was Yume Eguchi, eyes closed, wearing an outfit resembling a swimsuit. 

“—So this is LYL. Unexpectedly small, yes?” 

Kazuomi Kusuki murmured while gazing at the machines packing the space around the water tank. Even though he noticed Yume embedded within, he merely narrowed his eyes with indifference. 

“Properly speaking, ’tis but one part of LYL—the control module.” 

Kusuki, standing on a mobile crane, heard a voice from over the speaker behind him. It was a synthetic voice that sounded like a throaty, middle-aged man. The voice spoke with turns of phrases well behind the times; minor traces of foreign pronunciation lingered. 

Slowly looking back, Kusuki saw an odd vehicle completely clad in red armor. The mass of metal resembled a tortoise, with four short, stubby legs sticking out of it. It was a prototype micro-tank for urban warfare against demons. 

“The calculations required to control the Serpent are being conducted on the mainframe here at the lab. The weak battery of a submarine cannot support a system on the required scale, so ’tis a precaution against unforeseen circumstances.” 

“A wise decision. Perhaps further improvement would allow solo control of the Serpent, however.” 

The robot tank driver’s words did not change Kusuki’s expression; he simply nodded. 

The person secluded inside the tank was a skilled hacker known as Tanker. It was she who had designed the special system Kusuki-Elysée had dubbed LYL. Bizarre appearance notwithstanding, her skill as a programmer was the real deal. And if his underlings were skillful, Kusuki cared nothing about their external appearances. 

“What of Yume Eguchi? You put her to sleep?” 

Kusuki finally asked about Yume, there in the water tank. Tanker, still connected to the submarine via countless cables, slowly turned the camera around. 

“’Tis a half-awakened state, for Lilith shall lose her supply of demonic energy if consciousness is lost. In other words, the girl is dreaming at the moment.” 

“…I see. So only a succubus in her dreams.” 

Murmuring thus, Kusuki snorted, visibly unamused. 

“It is highly ironic that the World’s Mightiest Succubus be a girl such as this. Even I feel a little sorry about sacrificing her like this—” 

“But ’tis what Lilith herself desires. And it is for this purpose that LYL was created, so…” 

Tanker made the statement in her exaggerated tone. 

“That’s right. So the least we can do is ensure that her sacrifice is not in vain,” Kusuki said, a bold smile appearing on his face. 

The next moment, a young Kusuki-Elysée staffer came running over. His face was twitching in fear as he clutched a tablet-style PC. 

“Chairman—we’ve determined the Serpent’s location. It’s nearly fourteen knots southwest of the main isle of Itogami Island. Depth appears to be approximately four hundred meters.” 

“’Tis just as planned.” 

Tanker withdrew the cables, their duty done, and laughed with delight. A thin smile also came over Kusuki as he looked down at Yume, suspended in the water tank. 

“So it has indeed been seduced by Lilith. They may call it a living weapon of the Age of the Gods, but in the end, it is only a beast. Though if it wasn’t, that would make things…difficult.” 

“Th-the Serpent’s speed is estimated at sixteen knots. At this rate, there is concern the coast guard’s monitoring net might detect it in under a half hour, but—” 

“Not a problem. The Yotaka is ready for launch, yes?” 

Kusuki brushed off the worried staffer’s report and leaped aboard the white submarine. Yotaka was the name Kusuki had used to christen the sub. 

“Once the modules finish booting up, any time.” 

Tanker pulled out the final cable. 

When the submarine’s maintenance hatch was closed, lights came on in the cockpit. Yume, wearing a tight-fitting outfit very much resembling a swimsuit, writhed as if in pain, kicking up bubbles inside the water tank. The machines seemingly placed to surround her raised low groans as they activated. 

“Do you really intend to ride in it yourself, chairman? We haven’t confirmed that it’s completely safe yet—” 

“That goes the same for those of you left at the lab, does it not? From its point of view, fourteen knots is barely off the tip of its nose.” Kusuki gently smiled at the staffer addressing him. “Besides, a king must ride a mount fit for a king. No people can zealously follow a ruler that shuts himself inside a castle.” 

“Thou speaketh true,” Tanker replied in good humor to Kusuki’s theatrical words. 

Kusuki gave the robot tank a parting glance before shifting his gaze farther along the pier. There stood a young woman, seeming to bear witness to Kusuki boarding the submarine. 

She had black hair and a black school uniform—Kiriha Kisaki. 

“—I thank you for your cooperation. If I am able to safely tame the Serpent, I shall see that you are richly rewarded,” Kusuki stated in a tone like a dictator making a public address. 

With a cackle, Tanker shook the vehicle around. 

“Your consideration is unnecessary, Mr. Chairman. After all, I am advancing my own schemes as well.” 

“Very frank of you, albeit that makes your words all the more trustworthy.” 

Kusuki nodded in satisfaction and made his way into the submarine. He closed the thick double hatch and entered the narrow, silent cockpit. The main monitor in front of the pilot seat was displaying a 3-D image of the current status under the sea. An enormous shadow was leisurely swimming in the center. 

The white submarine began to submerge. Kusuki’s field of vision was dyed blue. As he gazed at the beautiful underwater sights, Kusuki ferociously laughed to himself. 

“Now, let us be off, king of demon beasts. Show me your power, like the Lost Warlord once did, and bring judgment upon the arrogant human race…” 

The curtains of the girls’ room at the cottage were closed. Smack in the middle of a row of three beds, Asagi Aiba was opening up a mobile PC. Kojou was looking over her shoulder and peeking at the screen. Yukina and Sayaka were planted on either side. 

Even though Kojou was surrounded by girls his own age, he didn’t feel his heart fluttering, thanks to the high-stakes situation: hacking the coast guard’s control room. 

“Here we go… This is probably it. Leviathan.” 

Asagi spoke while tapping into anti-submarine patrol craft. The image displayed was a motley of orange-and-green patterns, much like a fish-finder’s display. 

Kojou craned his neck and watched it for a while. 

“That image’s hard to get a read on. Where is the thing?” 

“I said, this is it. It’s all Leviathan from start to finish.” 

“Huh?” 

Kojou blinked, his eyes going wide as he stared at the part Asagi was pointing at. He looked between it and the surrounding terrain, rechecking the characters displayed with the image several times over. 

“Er, but that’s…a little too big! How many meters is this thing?!” 

“My rough estimate is a total length of about four kilometers. Maybe that’s unexpectedly small for a legendary sea monster?” 

Asagi made the statement in a dry, detached voice. From the point of view of a denizen of the digital world like Asagi, she had to accept what the data displayed, no matter how crazy the numbers. 

Unsurprisingly, Yukina stared at Asagi in bewilderment. 

“Is this really a living creature?” 

“Guess they don’t call it the World’s Mightiest Demon Beast for nothing. Aircraft carriers and nuclear submarines have nothing on this.” 

Asagi casually shrugged her shoulders for all to see. As if to back up her words, Sayaka grudgingly opened her mouth. 

“Leviathan is a living weapon from antiquity—the Age of the Gods. Previously, all that had been worked out was that it existed, but fortunately it’s been in a dormant state until now. It’s simply been loitering at the bottom of the deep sea along dragon lines. Aside from sinking the occasional unfortunate ship, it hasn’t made any effort to attack humankind.” 

“Wait, so the chairman of Kusuki-Elysée thinks he can tame that thing?” 

“That’s right, using the power of Lilith sleeping inside Yume Eguchi.” 

Sayaka nodded in response to Kojou’s question. Somehow, her expression seemed pained. She no doubt felt responsible for being unable to fulfill her mission to keep Yume safe. 

“Lilith…the World’s Mightiest Succubus, you said?” 

Kojou’s face was hard as he posed the question. 

He knew that a type of demon known as succubi existed, but meeting one in the flesh had been a first even for Kojou, living in a Demon Sanctuary. Even the words World’s Mightiest Succubus didn’t coalesce into any kind of firm image in his mind. That surely went the same for Asagi and Yukina. 

Sayaka, somehow feeling benevolent, politely explained: 

“Succubi aren’t very powerful as demons go. Their mind control only works when their victims are defenseless, such as when they are asleep. Besides, interbreeding with human beings means there are virtually no pure-blooded succubi remaining.” 

If there were no pure-blooded succubi remaining, that meant Yume was likely a mix of human and succubus herself. Small wonder Kojou and the others hadn’t realized she was a demon. 

“But even though their power is generally weak, an exception sometimes appears: a succubus with incredibly powerful mind-control powers. Representative of this group is—” 

“Lilith, right?” 

“Yes,” Sayaka said with a grave nod. “As a race, succubi aren’t unaging and undying like vampires, so their power is inherited via reincarnation. When a previous generation’s Lilith passes away, the next generation’s Lilith is born somewhere in the world. So completely by chance, Yume Eguchi inherited her suitability as a vessel for Lilith.” 

“So she was living as a normal human being when her power as the World’s Mightiest Succubus awakened one day?” 

I can relate to that, thought Kojou, biting his lip. From Kojou’s point of view, having had the “condition” of being the World’s Mightiest Vampire suddenly thrust upon him, he couldn’t help but feel an affinity for Yume. Even more, because Yume was an elementary schooler. She had to have been shaken by it even more deeply than Kojou had. 

“I’m sure she was in shock, and apparently there was friction with both her parents. There’s even a report stating she was subjected to child abuse.” 

“I see… So they ended up trading Yume to Kusuki-Elysée,” Kojou murmured as a look of understanding finally came over him. 

Since meeting Kojou and the others the day before, Yume had not said she wanted to go back to her parents even once. Now they knew why. 

Asagi knitted her eyebrows in displeasure and asked, “So Kusuki-Elysée knew from the beginning that Yume’s power would let them control Leviathan?” 

If Kusuki-Elysée did know that, they must have made the deal for Yume with the intention of using her as a human sacrifice from the start. 

“I’m not so sure about that.” 

Unexpectedly, Sayaka calmly shook her head. 

“Succubi are easily persecuted, so Kusuki-Elysée finances their care and support. After all, succubus abilities are very effective for taming demon beasts, so they might well become future workers at Kusuki-Elysée and staffers at Demon Beast Park.” 

“So they expect a return on investment, huh…? Sounds pretty credible,” Kojou murmured, bewildered. 

Protecting succubi not only bolstered Kusuki-Elysée’s corporate image, it also enabled them to obtain valuable employees as well. To the succubi themselves, support from a major corporation was surely something to welcome. Until now, both had been linked together in a virtuous, symbiotic cycle. 

And so they would have remained, were it not for the existence of Leviathan. 

Asagi sank into thought with a serious expression. “So Kusuki-Elysée didn’t take custody of Yume because she’s Lilith…? Is it possible they didn’t even realize she was Lilith until after the fact…?” 

If Sayaka’s explanation was the truth, it was mere coincidence that Kusuki-Elysée had taken custody of Yume. It didn’t have anything to do with the current situation. 

“Now that I think about it, most people wouldn’t think you can use that power to control Leviathan just because it’s effective for training demon beasts. It’s just too much of a logical leap… In other words, someone whispered into the ear of a higher-up at Kusuki-Elysée and told him that Lilith and Leviathan were connected…” 

Kojou turned to Asagi in surprise. “So someone instigated them using Yume to tame Leviathan, then…?” 

Yukina’s breath suddenly caught. 

“Could it be that the Bureau of Astrology’s—?” 

Kiriha Kisaki—Priestess of the Six Blades of the Bureau of Astrology. It was she, and those with her, who’d guided Kusuki-Elysée and brought about the present situation. By that thinking, Yukina could understand just why Kiriha had brought Yume back with her. 

Sayaka suddenly began to explain, no doubt for the benefit of Kojou, thin on historical knowledge. 

“…Lilith and Leviathan are both symbols of the Seven Deadly Sins. Also, both are deeply intertwined with serpents in myth. Some say that Lilith was the serpent that tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden; others say it was Leviathan. Whatever the truth of the matter, it is unmistakable that the two beings have an affinity for each other.” 

Kojou’s expression hardened at the unexpected connection between Yume and the monster dwelling at the bottom of the sea. 

“So seeing Lilith granted powerful mind-control powers, as the former control unit for Leviathan, a living weapon fashioned by the gods, is a deduction no small number of humans educated in sorcery would make. It is no surprise the Bureau of Astrology noticed, even if the chairman of Kusuki-Elysée did not.” 

“—Ain’t it the job of the Bureau of Astrology to stop natural disasters caused by demon beasts before they happen? If that’s so, them wanting to control Leviathan feels like a pretty strange story to me.” 

Kojou murmured his sudden doubt about the information presented. Yukina and Sayaka glared at him from left and right, seemingly hemming him in. 

“That is indeed strange.” 

“If it was dangerous, sure, but if it’s a monster doing no harm to people, just chasing its own tail at the bottom of the ocean, why go out of their way to poke the bear?” 

“Well, that’s what I wanna know! Go ask that Kiriha chick yourselves!” Kojou tried desperately to deflect, cowed by their vigor. 

Sayaka’s lips tapered like a sulking child. “Well, I sure plan on doing that the next time I see her!” 

“But setting the Bureau of Astrology’s intentions aside, why is Kusuki-Elysée cooperating with them?” Yukina ignored the feud between Kojou and Sayaka, airing the question in comparative calm. 

Asagi tapped her keyboard, dancing only to her own tune. “I have a pretty good idea why. That Kusuki guy, the chairman of Kusuki-Elysée, is the financier behind True Ark.” 

“True Ark?” 

Yukina blinked and cocked her head, having never heard of the organization. Asagi displayed the corporate website on her mobile PC’s screen. 

“—A self-declared environmental protection group, but more like ecoterrorists doing sabotage in the name of saving the environment. They’ve raided scientific survey ships in the name of protecting demon beasts, destroyed anti–demon beast protective nets, interfered with hunting down demon beasts that have attacked human settlements—well, all run-of-the-mill criminal activities.” 

“What’s the chairman of a corp buying and selling demon beasts doing sending money to a group like that?” Kojou grimaced. 

Asagi sighed, as if she, too, found it annoying. 

“People like that don’t pay attention to little things like hypocrisy. They decide their cause is just, and their thought process stops then and there.” 

That sort of thing, huh? Kojou shared her irritation. 

Of course, the protection of endangered species of demon beasts was meaningful work, but that didn’t mean anything and everything was permitted for its sake. Attacking humans to protect demon beasts was beyond the pale, all the more so for Kusuki-Elysée, which captured demon beasts and sold them or used them for its own research. 

His support for terrorist activities was probably his own personal idea, which in Kojou’s mind made his flawed logic seem all the more flawed. 

“Although, it’s a bit of a problem if a radical demon beast preservationist gets his hands on the World’s Mightiest Living Weapon. What’s to stop him from saying I’ll slaughter everyone who harms a demon beast?” 

“…You’ve gotta be kidding me! You mean that Kusuki bastard’s gonna sacrifice Yume for the sake of self-centered ‘justice’ like that?!” 

Kojou was breathing raggedly. Between the cracks of his clenched fingers, irrepressible demonic energy leaked out, scattering pale blue sparks about. 

No doubt, the man named Kusuki intended to use Leviathan for terrorism. If Leviathan’s power was the real thing, he could challenge entire nations to battle. He’d try to intimidate those who captured and hunted demon beasts by forcing his own beliefs onto them. 

“It really does feel like a bad joke. I’m a tolerant person, and even I’m pissed!” 

Apparently, Kojou wasn’t the only one feeling heated. Asagi’s angry fingers vigorously tapped the keyboard; the mobile PC’s LCD screen became buried in countless English characters and numbers. 

Perhaps Asagi’s hostile demeanor made Sayaka feel concerned, because she timidly asked, “A-Aiba…? Er, ah… What are…you doing?” 

However, Asagi didn’t even glance her way as deciphered data popped up on the screen and she said: 

“…LYL? In Leviathan’s control module… Yotaka, huh…? I see. So they’re running the operation itself out of the lab. It’s like a control room for a space shuttle.” 

“Wait, don’t tell me you broke into Kusuki-Elysée’s computers? H-how…?” Sayaka froze in obvious shock, forgetting even to blink. 

Asagi was invading Kusuki-Elysée’s internal corporate network. It was completely illegal access—a blatant felony. More to the point, Asagi had taken no more time to do such a thing than crossing an intersection during a red light. Nor was it likely she was clumsy enough to leave any evidence. 

“Kojou!” 

“Yeah?” 

“Yume’s on a submarine heading for Leviathan. Kusuki’s aboard, too.” 

“Submarine? Are they trying to latch onto Leviathan’s back?!” 

That’s bad, thought Kojou, groaning in the back of his throat. Naturally, he and the others had no means of getting Yume back if she was submerged at the bottom of the sea. 

“The real control system for Leviathan is this LYL system at the Kusuki-Elysée lab. If we take that over, we’ll squish Kusuki’s plans, at least.” 

“LYL…you said?” 

Kojou’s face hardened, for the words had a familiar ring to them. Asagi, unaware of Riru’s existence, suspiciously looked back at Kojou’s reaction. 

“To safely draw out the succubus power, a piece of Yume’s consciousness has been transferred to a computer, kind of like an artificial intelligence. It feels like an artificially created, wired doppelgänger. So this LYL takes control of Yume and draws out Lilith’s power.” 

“So that’s the so-called Riru personality cooperating with Kusuki-Elysée…huh? I get it now.” 

Kojou remembered the words Riru had spoken to explain her own existence: that even if Riru was controlling Yume’s body, she was a separate being, split off from Yume. Now, too, he understood why Riru was able to fully employ Yume’s succubus power when taking her over: LYL was a system built expressly for that purpose. 

So long as that system was operational, Kojou and the others could not rescue Yume. Even if they brought her back by force, the Riru personality would doubtlessly emerge once more and attempt to cooperate with Kusuki. In other words, they couldn’t just go and rescue Yume, who was headed Leviathan’s way; they had to do something about the system at the Kusuki-Elysée lab, too. 

Though it annoyed him, the problem was too big for Kojou to tackle single-handedly. 

“—Asagi, can I leave LYL to you? I’ll go bring Yume back.” 

Kojou gently rose to his feet as he posed the question. Naturally, dealing with an artificial intelligence was way outside Kojou’s field, and even that of the two girls from the Lion King Agency. He had no choice but to leave it in Asagi’s hands. 

“Wa… Don’t just decide on your own, you two!! This is my mission, you know?!” 

Listening to the exchange between Kojou and Asagi, a visibly nervous Sayaka wedged herself into the conversation. However, Asagi ignored her, looking up at Kojou as she said: 

“I planned to handle that from the start, but what are you gonna do, Kojou? How do you plan on chasing a sub to get her back?” 

“I figure Kirasaka can manage that somehow.” 

“Eh? Me?” 

Sayaka, suddenly the subject of the conversation, pointed to the tip of her nose and froze. Kojou shifted an expectant gaze toward her. 

“It is your mission, after all.” 

“S-springing this on me all of a sudden, though…!” 

“Excuse me. Perhaps Kusuki-Elysée has a spare submarine?” Yukina modestly inquired as Sayaka broke into a cold sweat for all to see. 

“That’s it,” Kojou said, snapping his fingers. “If we can nab one and go after Yume in it, fantastic.” 

“Yes. That is, if there is one—” 

Asagi fished her tablet PC out of her traveling bag and brought up an overhead map of the lab grounds before handing it to Kojou. 

“…There’s no submarine, but there is a high-speed boat. I think I can control it from here through the autopilot. You might or might not catch Yume and Kusuki before they get there, but you might have a shot at them while Leviathan surfaces.” 

Just how many computers did you bring here? thought Kojou in exasperation, accepting the tablet. Apparently, the dock was in the deepest part of Demon Beast Park. Just getting there looked like it’d be a bit of an ordeal. 

“Well then, it would be good to depart as quickly as possible.” 

“…Himeragi, you’re coming, too?” 

Kojou looked back in surprise as Yukina rose to her feet, calmly gripping her spear. “Ahem,” Yukina said, deliberately clearing her throat. 

“I watch over you, after all. Of course I am going with you, senpai. Besides…bringing Yume back was my responsibility.” 

“Er, um… This is my…mission and all…” 

Sayaka hugged her silver long sword, asserting her own existence in a frail voice. However, her earnest assertion of self was promptly erased by the sound of the door suddenly bursting open. 

“Yo… Hey, ah, where are you guys goin’? All up and at ’em this early in the morning…” 

It was the freshly arriving Yaze, entering the girls’ room without so much as a knock. They’d left him asleep out in the corridor, but apparently he’d just woken up. 

“Nothing at all! Just go sleep!” 

Explaining everything struck Kojou as a great deal of trouble, so he roughly tossed a pillow, smacking Yaze in the chest. 

The time was shortly after seven AM. Considering he’d stayed up late the night before, the order could not have been that unreasonable, but— 

“Nah, I mean, you say that, but there’s gotta be a juicy secret behind a big fuss in the morning like this.” 

Why did Yaze have to choose that moment to make sensible arguments? 

Asagi, hearing that petty declaration, looked back at him, visibly irritated. 

“Just shut up and make my breakfast. Go to the convenience store and buy something!” 

“Wait, what…?! Convenience store? You’re at a barely set-up resort, you kn—” 

“Shut up! Get going!” 

The despotic command from his childhood friend sent Yaze scurrying out of the cottage, grumbling all the while. Kojou and the others exhaled with relief as they saw him go; then, they hurriedly prepared for Yume’s rescue. 

Kojou and the others boarded an automated electric cart and headed for Demon Beast Park. 

In anticipation of shipborne combat, Kojou wore a minimalist outfit: a T-shirt and swimming trunks. Yukina covered her swimsuit with a large nylon parka and wore a black case for a bodyboard on her back. Of course, Snowdrift Wolf was inside the case. Beyond that… 

“Huh, you brought a swimsuit, Sayaka?” 

Kojou posed the question while looking at Sayaka, who’d changed clothes at some point. 

Sayaka was wearing a pink bikini with ribbon at the edges. She did happen to wear a shirt along with it, but if anything, the open shirt only served to further pronounce the swimsuit, which greatly accentuated her breasts. 

“I, ah, borrowed it from Aiba. I mean, I couldn’t go walking around covered in blood, right? There wasn’t anything else that’d fit me… It—it looks weird, doesn’t it…?” 

Sayaka gave him little sideways glances as she reacted. 

“Ah? Er, I don’t think there’s any special problem concerning your size…,” Kojou replied in a businesslike tone. 

Sayaka’s eyebrows rose in annoyance. “What’s with that sudden politeness?!” 

“Well, you looked like you’d slice me out of the blue if I made a careless comment… More to the point, you have a nice body, so you should just stand taller. If you lean forward like that, you emphasize certain things, and it gets pretty far-out, so…” 

“Huh? Lean forward?” 

Sayaka looked down at her own breasts, her cheeks instantly turning crimson. She hadn’t realized it, but thanks to Asagi’s swimsuit being one size too small for the Shamanic War Dancer, Sayaka’s cleavage was on full display. When she leaned forward like that, Kojou couldn’t help but get an eyeful. 

When Sayaka realized that, she silently shifted a hand around her back, pulling her long sword out of the newspaper print she’d been using as camouflage. 

“I-I’ll kill you! I should kill you right here!” 

“And there you go, doin’ that again! I was just giving friendly advice!” 

“Shut up, you Pervogenitor—!” 

Sayaka moved to smack Kojou with a hearty uppercut swing of her long sword. Suddenly, a spear glimmering in a frigid silver color was thrust before their eyes. 

“Is this really the time for you two to fool around?” 

Kojou’s and Sayaka’s faces both froze at Yukina’s voice, drenched in quiet hostility. 

“H-Himeragi…?!” 

“You’re wrong, Yukina. Th-this is all the Fourth Sex Offender’s do—” 

“And I’m not fooling around at all, geez! This chick blew her lid all by her—” 

“—What? You are dissatisfied with something?” 

Yukina turned a stare as cold as ice toward Kojou and Sayaka as both continued making excuses. The Sword Shaman’s uncharacteristically imposing demeanor made them both shudder and lower their heads. 

“S-sorry.” 

“I’m sorry.” 

“It’s fine,” Yukina said. She puffed her cheeks and glanced down at her chest, covered by her parka, as she let out a light sigh. 

Huh, it’s not often Yukina gets ticked off like that, thought Kojou, thinking it a little odd even as he looked ahead. They had finally arrived at Demon Beast Park’s front gate. 

 

The area around the park was surrounded by high-voltage electrified fencing, with heavy shutters lowered over the entrance. The equipment was probably installed to prevent a demon beast breakout, but they doubled as serious impediments to human beings trying to break in. 

Kojou grumbled as he glanced at his watch. 

“Oh yeah, it’s still closed at this hour… How the hell do we get inside?” 

Kojou, an incomplete vampire, had virtually no “vampiric” special abilities. He could neither turn into mist to get around nor fly through the air. 

Busting through the fencing was a simple matter, but he was of course hesitant to engage in destructive activities unrelated to their proper goal. He wanted to keep a low profile and not involve regular staff, if at all possible. 

“When I brought Yume Eguchi out of here, I went into an underground drainage pipe, but…it’s not usable anymore.” Sayaka also appeared conflicted as she glared at the fencing and groaned. 

“You mean Kusuki-Elysée is watching it now?” 

“No. It’s just that I kind of broke it when I was escaping…” 

Yukina and Kojou stared with blank faces at Sayaka’s casual confession. It was a rather sloppy escape for a so-called expert assassin. 

“Sayaka…” 

“For an honors student, you sure don’t act like one.” 

“No, I…! You’re wrong! That Six Blades woman attacked, so I had no choice but to…” 

Kojou let Sayaka’s words professing her innocence wash over him as he listlessly scratched his head. 

“Well, if you think about it calmly, breaking into a corporate lab and running off with a sub are run-of-the-mill crimes, even if it’s not Sayaka doing it… If we get arrested, that’ll be bad, right?” 

“What do you mean, even if it’s not me doing it…?!” Sayaka’s cheeks puffed up as she objected to being pegged as a criminal. 

While Kojou and the others were standing around talking, Yume was getting closer to Leviathan. Thinking about that made Kojou nervous. 

“Er, I mean, I’m not really emotionally prepared for barging in and hijacking a ship like this—,” he said. 

“Goodness, what kind of man are you? Weren’t you supposed to be a cruel, heartless vampire primogenitor, never shedding a tear?” 

“Well, excuse me! I’m not the kind of big shot who runs his own Dominion. I just wanna live in peace like a regular city citizen!” 

Kojou’s voice grew coarse toward Sayaka’s irrational criticisms. Suddenly, the group heard a cry not from Kojou but from somewhere farther away. 

“Wait, senpai… Something’s off in Demon Beast Park…” 

Yukina rushed toward the park’s fencing, for the anomalies had occurred within Demon Beast Park itself: violent ground tremors, discordant cries, the sounds of heavy things crashing against something, and the screams of people fleeing in panic— 

Kojou was shaken when he realized what was wrong. 

“The demon beasts are going berserk…?!” 

From top to bottom, the demon beasts of Demon Beast Park were running amok all at once. The schools being fed outdoors, the species being trained inside pens and buildings, and even the aquatic demon beasts in outdoor pools were completely panicking. 

Even from the outside, Kojou and the others were keenly aware of the emergency situation. 

Sayaka went pale as she murmured, “They’re scared. They can sense Leviathan approaching—” 

On a whim, Leviathan had unleashed a massive wave of demonic energy. The demon beasts’ keen senses had detected this and had become terrified, fearful of death. 

“…How many demon beasts are kept here, anyway?” 

“Three hundred species; twenty-two hundred beasts in total,” Yukina sternly answered Kojou. 

The hopeless figure sent Kojou’s vision spinning. 

“This is bad… If they get out of Demon Beast Park, there’ll be nothing we can do…,” Kojou murmured to himself as he painfully grasped the gravity of the situation. 

Certainly, Demon Beast Park was designed to stop demon beasts from escaping, but those precautions were mainly created with fierce demon beasts in mind. But now, even peaceful demon beasts, ones never expected to harm a human being, had fallen into a state of terror. If they all started going berserk without regard for self-preservation, such measures couldn’t hold them all back. 

Already, demon beasts had begun running wild and breaking the fences all over the park and inside the lab. Flames flickered in a number of locations. Some of the pens had been destroyed, and the first demon beasts to escape had already wrecked the park’s interior security systems, further exacerbating the chaos. 

Even if all three hundred species would not escape the park, it seemed only a matter of time before nearly half that number broke out. Kojou couldn’t even conceive of the damage if they raged through the tourist-filled amusement park and pool areas. The Demon Beast Park staff couldn’t put a stop to that on their own. 

Yukina stared at the silver long sword held by the Shamanic War Dancer of the Lion King Agency and asked, “Sayaka, can you use Lustrous Scale?” 

The Lustrous Scale was a Der Freischötz, a suppression weapon. High-density curses woven by whistling arrows activated high-end curses beyond the vocal cords of human beings. With the power of such cursed arrows, neutralizing several thousand demon beasts at once was surely within its capabilities. 

However, Sayaka looked helpless as she shook her head. 

“I have suppressive curse arrows left, so I think I can put them to sleep, but it’s just not possible to cover an entire area this large. If we at least had them in a single area, then maybe—” 

“Gist being, gotta gather them in one spot, huh…?” 

Kojou seemed to mull over and repackage Sayaka’s words with a low groan. It wasn’t the time to be picky. Crimson mist surged out of the fingertips he thrust above his head, and with it, enormous demonic energy. 

“Kojou Akatsuki?!” 

“—C’mon over, Al-Nasl Minium!!” 

Heedless of the surprised Sayaka, Kojou summoned a giant Beast Vassal that flickered like a mirage. It was a bicorn with a scarlet mane. Its huge body, over ten meters in length, was a mass of raging oscillations. 


The twin horns protruding from its head resonated like a tuning fork, unleashing a fiendish wave of vibrations. Then, the roar became a shell formed of shock waves, pulverizing Demon Beast Park’s front gate without a trace. 

“Shit, so it comes down to this—!” 

Kojou agonized over the wreckage wrought by his own Beast Vassal as he headed into Demon Beast Park. 

The emergence of fiendish demonic energy rivaling even Leviathan’s began to send the demon beasts inside the park into an all-new panic. 

“Yes, yes, seizure of administrative rights is complete.” 

Asagi hummed to herself as she assumed control of the Kusuki-Elysée laboratory’s network. It hadn’t taken even a minute—but Asagi looked dissatisfied. 

“That took more time than I expected. If it was gonna be this much trouble, I should’ve brought something more powerful than a little laptop. The bandwidth just isn’t cutting it… Mogwai, how’s your end?” 

“I’ve found this ‘LYL’…but you said this is a doppelgänger…?!” 

Asagi’s partner and support AI replied in an oddly human-sounding tone. Its sarcastic, synthetic voice was shrill, as if to demonstrate that, for once, its interest had been piqued. It sounded a little worked up at realizing just what LYL was. 

The results of Mogwai’s analysis of LYL’s capabilities popped up on the computer’s LCD screen. LYL’s AI strength score was extremely high, displaying that she could nearly completely simulate a human being’s personality. 

She’d been patched into the system by hooking Yume Eguchi’s consciousness to a magical device. She was capable of taking over Yume’s physical body and stably drawing out her powers as a succubus. That much, Asagi had expected. 

It was not LYL’s capabilities that had Asagi and Mogwai bewildered. Rather, it was the nature of the data from which the artificial intelligence had been created—in other words, it was her memories and personality traits that shocked them. 

“What is this…? It’s like a big blob of hatred toward humankind…!” 

Asagi cleared her dry throat. 

Rage, malice, jealousy, resentment, destructive impulses, and suicidal desires—LYL contained all the evil thoughts human beings possessed. Even at a young age, no doubt Yume was no exception to that rule. 

Someone had taken out only the wicked parts inside Yume and embedded them into an artificial intelligence. 

“Keh-keh… This is incredible. Use this thing as a control system for the World’s Mightiest Living Weapon? Someone’s got some guts.” 

Mogwai laughed in apparent delight. Asagi rudely brushed her bangs away from her eyebrows. 

“I see… Those inheriting the soul of Lilith receive a concentrate of negative emotions… So they took out, condensed, and digitized only those parts.” 

The moment after Asagi murmured quietly, a bizarre voice began to flow through the computer’s speakers. It was a digitized, synthetic voice, sounding like a throaty middle-aged man speaking in unnatural Japanese, like out of a historical drama. 

“Ka-ka… Thou art correct, empress. And you are in good health as well, Mogwai?” 

“You’re…!” 

Asagi glared at the ID of the person intruding into her voice chat with Mogwai, clenching her teeth in frustration. 

“That silly way of talking…! Lydianne Didier, is that you…?! What the hell are you doing here, Tanker?!” 

“Hmm, if thou must ask, I shall answer thy words verily. I have been assigned to administer this system by my client, the Bureau of Astrology.” 

The owner of the voice, known as Tanker, replied in apparent defiance. Lydianne Didier was a freelance hacker traveling in the same circles as Asagi. She was employed part-time by the Gigafloat Management Corporation because she was an exceptional interceptor, locating intruders and sending them packing. 

However, in real life, she was a foreign girl barely twelve years old. Furthermore, she was an elite raised at Didier Heavy Industries, a large corporation based in Neustria in Western Europe. 

“You’re LYL’s administrator…?! Don’t tell me the design of this system is your work, too?” Asagi accused, her voice oozing hostility. 

The artificial intelligence was a succubus’s malice in concentrated form, and nothing else. Asagi was angered by the fact that it was administered by a little girl hacker no older than Yume. 

“Indeed. Though more precisely, I merely provided the vessel for transferring the personality.” 

“Don’t you understand how dangerous a thing like this is?!” Asagi warned in a low voice. 

If LYL, a concentrated mass of wicked intent, gained complete control of Leviathan, it would probably kick up an incredible storm of destruction on the surface. The matter was no mere child’s play. 

However, Tanker calmly laughed. 

“Of course I know. However, I possess an objective of my own.” 

“Excuse me? Your objective?” 

“Indeed. For instance, seriously engaging the empress in a contest of arms like this—is it not a rather rare experience—?” 

Asagi shook her head in annoyance at Tanker’s taunting words. 

Though an unfortunate fact from Asagi’s point of view, she was known in a certain part of the corporate world as a legendary hacker, dubbed with the rather embarrassing nickname of Cyber Empress. If Tanker could drive Asagi away, her name fame would doubtlessly rise by leaps and bounds. In the first place, given Tanker’s personality, she’d probably been eagerly awaiting an opportunity to go toe-to-toe with Asagi. 

“Aw, geez! Of course it turns into something like this… So annoying…!” 

Asagi violently tapped her keyboard, activating hacking tools she’d crafted herself. 

Even if she was a little girl, Lydianne Didier’s hacking skills were the real deal. Asagi had no guarantee she could beat her. 

“How’s it looking, Mogwai?” 

“Honestly, you ought to be running around now, if you could. The PC spec disadvantage is too steep.” 

“Well, I can’t do anything about that. I never thought I’d have to deal with that Tanker idiot in a place like this—!” 

Even though Asagi shouted at her atypically timid partner, Mogwai’s assessment was sound. All Asagi had on hand that moment was a low-end mobile computer, a far cry from her usual equipment. Though she was able to remotely control the Gigafloat Management Corporation’s main computer system, the resulting time lag from the transmissions was a fatal flaw. 

“Do not be concerned, empress, for I have filed a report to the police suitable as a warrior’s mercy. Thou shalt at least be spared the embarrassing poems on thine computer being spread far and wide.” 

With Asagi backed into a corner, Tanker seemed to pity her, gazing down at her from above. Asagi made a high-pitched kiii. 

“I don’t have poems like that! Don’t go inventing fake hobbies for other people! And for that matter, say that line to me after you beat me!” 

“Hmm, those words—I should see them as thy having accepted my challenge, yes? ’Tis good, indeed!” 

“Ugh…!” 

Asagi had no rebuttal for Tanker taking her words as a commitment. She’d completely cut off her own line of retreat. 

“Sheesh,” went Mogwai, seeming beside itself as it shook its head on the screen. “What are you doing, li’l miss? Falling for an elementary schooler’s taunt like that…” 

“Oh, shut up! We have to do something about her either way if we wanna stop LYL, dammit. There’s one last thing I want to ask you, Tanker.” 

“And what would you ask of me?” 

Tanker’s voice was full of laughter. Asagi held her ragged breathing in check and turned toward her headset’s microphone. 

“You said you’re working for the Bureau of Astrology, not Kusuki-Elysée, right? What the hell does the Bureau of Astrology want to use a stupid system like this for?” 

“—The Bureau of Astrology’s objective is to destroy Itogami Island. Of course, Blue Elysium included.” 

“Huh?” 

Tanker’s reply, veering well away from her expectations, left Asagi momentarily at a loss for words. 

“Wait a second. Isn’t the Bureau of Astrology an agency of the Japanese government for stopping sorcerous disasters?! How did they go from that to sinking Itogami Island?!” 

“’Tis best that thou know not. For thy sake.” 

There was no hint of playfulness in Tanker’s voice. They were seriously trying to destroy Itogami Island. 

The LCD screen of Asagi’s computer was red with warning indicators. Tanker, LYL’s system administrator, had apparently begun efforts to repel Asagi’s invasion. 

“Wha—?! W-wait up, Lydianne!” 

“Parley is over, empress—en garde!” Tanker frostily declared. 

Asagi cursed under her breath and began to mount her defense. 

Quietly, with no one the wiser, the curtain rose on the battle, with Itogami Island’s survival hanging in the balance. 

The white submarine seemed to glide forward over the water’s surface. The current location indicated on the navigational map was about twelve knots from Blue Elysium’s coast. Already, there was no sign of the island’s silhouette; there was only the blue surface of the ocean as far as the eye could see. 

The submarine’s propulsion screws slowly came to a halt. The narrow cockpit was filled with silence, with only the sound of bubbles in the water tank remaining. 

Yume Eguchi was in the water tank, but her vacant eyes were rolled upward. The personality LYL had taken her over, extracting the power of the World’s Mightiest Succubus without restraint and using it to lure Leviathan, loitering at the bottom of the sea. 

“This is the Yotaka… We’ve arrived at the point of contact for the Serpent.” 

Kusuki, sitting in the pilot’s seat, spoke to a transmitter. He heard the calm, collected voice of Kiriha Kisaki coming from the speaker. 

“All is as anticipated, chairman. Proceed to docking phase.” 

“Roger,” Kusuki murmured, sitting deep in his seat, completely satisfied. 

They might have called it the docking phase, but it was not for Kusuki to implement. The submarine Yotaka was to enter the interior of Leviathan’s body and become the control unit for the World’s Mightiest Demon Beast. 

The living weapon from the Age of the Gods would move according to Kusuki’s will. At the very least, there would be no one defying Kusuki remaining on the seas. Island nations, like Japan, would find all their lifelines at Kusuki’s mercy. 

Of course, Kusuki did not desire fruitless slaughter and destruction. Kusuki just thought that the present world was wrong and needed correcting. 

Wars, violence, racial discrimination, environmental pollution—the present world had far too many problems. Among them, the one that Kusuki could least forgive was the treatment of demon beasts. It was said that there were between ten and twenty thousand species of demon beasts in the world on the verge of extinction. In spite of this, various peoples robbed demon beasts of their habitats and food sources, and continued the slaughter they called “eradication.” Such heresy could not be forgiven. 

His plan was to awaken humankind from its arrogant ways to achieve peaceful coexistence with demon beasts. Surely it was not much of a problem if one or two hundred million humans died for the sake of such a lofty goal. 

At present, humans and demons coexisted under the terms of the Holy Ground Treaty—but to bring that treaty into existence, the Lost Warlord had instigated a war that threw the world into incredible chaos. He’d made humankind recognize the rights of demons by piling countless corpses atop one another. In the end, Kusuki was simply doing the same. 

He would display the power of the World’s Mightiest Demon Beast to make them recognize the rights of demon beasts. Kusuki was the only one who could make it happen. Kusuki was the sole person who could rule the living weapon from the Age of the Gods. Kusuki was the chosen king, he who would set the world right. 

And before the eyes of Kusuki, he who would be king, a great shadow emerged. 

“Ohh…” 

The sea parted, and an enormous, ultramarine monster came to the surface. This was Leviathan, the World’s Mightiest Demon Beast—so huge that he could not accurately grasp its full length. However, its shape certainly did resemble a serpent. Or perhaps, the legendary dragon and the ichthyosaur, a dinosaur that lived on Earth in prehistoric times, were one and the same. 

At the same time, it looked like a weapon. Its sleek, glossy torso resembled the latest nuclear submarines, and its translucent scales were indistinguishable from armor plating. 

Perhaps due to the passage of many tens of thousands of years, Leviathan’s entire body was covered in barnacles, with a number of old scars remaining. Its appearance was terrifying, and at the same time, divine. 

“I see… So this is Leviathan. Truly, this is the greatest of beasts forged by the gods; ferocious, yet beautiful indeed. Do you not think so, Yume Eguchi?” 

Kusuki, his voice shrill from irrepressible excitement, spoke to the girl inside the water tank. Face-to-face with the enormity of Leviathan, he no doubt finally grasped the true extent of the power of Lilith that controlled it. There was a glint of pity in Kusuki’s eyes as he gazed at Yume. 

“You are no mere human sacrifice to Leviathan. Take pride, for with this, you and I have gained the right to control the beast—together.” 

However much Kusuki might have egotistically called out to her, Yume did not reply. Instead, what he heard was the sound of the propulsion screws starting up. The white submarine was beginning to move once more, heading toward Leviathan’s enormous body. 

Waves from Leviathan’s rise had rocked the sea, making its surface choppy, but the sub accelerated in spite of this. Then, as Leviathan loitered on the sea’s surface, a great gap opened in its body, as if to welcome the approaching submarine. A deep cavity continued far within. The space was as large as a fighter hangar on an aircraft carrier. 

“It is just as Attack Mage Kisaki said. There is a breathable space for humans inside Leviathan’s body…a natural design feature for a weapon, I suppose…” 

As they entered the interior of Leviathan’s body, he sighed in admiration as he looked all about. Finally, the snow-white submarine halted midway in the cavity. The water filling the area around them drained away, and a space was created, within which a human being could breathe air. 

The submarine’s floodlights illuminated a cavern some fifteen meters in diameter. The length was probably over two hundred meters. Using that cavity as a hangar and packing it with weapons, one would surely be able to dispatch soldiers to battlefields the world over. 

However, in that moment, Kusuki was the only one inside of Leviathan. All the power of the World’s Mightiest Demon Beast was monopolized by him alone. 

Filled with a childish feeling of utter omnipotence, he was dragged back to reality by the annoying sounds of electronics echoing across the cockpit. 

“—I have confirmed that docking is complete. Henceforth, Riru shall activate.” 

The sound of electronics was being emitted by the control module for LYL attached to the rearmost part of the cockpit. The fluid filling the water tank flowed out, and Yume Eguchi, who should have been floating within, curled her lips up in a leer. 

“You started the module on your own…?!” 

In front of the shocked Kusuki, the lid of the water tank slowly opened; the girl’s slender fingers slipped through the cracks. Beneath her soaking-wet bangs, Yume Eguchi’s face was smiling. 

The girl called the World’s Mightiest Succubus smiled with a malicious expression. 

“—Attack Mage Kisaki, what is going on?! Lilith has awakened!” 

Instinctively gripped by fear, Kusuki called out to the transmitter. From the other side, over the static, he felt like Kiriha Kisaki was making a strained grin. 

“All is precisely as planned, Chairman Kusuki. I told you—Riru shall activate.” 

“What?!” 

“—You understand what it is you must do, Riru?” 

Kiriha was not speaking to the flabbergasted Kusuki, but rather, to the girl standing behind him. 

Riru swished back her wet hair and smiled. A tail and a pair of wings, infused with demonic energy, extended from her back. 

“Of course, Kiriha. I just need to destroy that shitty artificial island, right?” 

“—That’s crazy! Stop LYL now, Attack Mage Kisaki! This wasn’t the deal! Do you understand what you people are doing?!” 

Kusuki sent spittle scattering about as he yelled. But Kisaki’s tone of voice did not change. 

“Of course, chairman. This is the Bureau of Astrology’s goal, after all.” 

“What did you say…?!” 

“We knew from the beginning that you plotted to use Leviathan for terror activities. Normally, it is our mission to prevent such things before they take place, but we had reason to use your plan in this instance.” 

“So you deceived me from the start… You conniving fox!” 

Kusuki leveled insults at Kiriha as she continued speaking casually. “Kya-ha!” Riru, upon hearing this, laughed in apparent mockery. 

“I don’t think you have any right to criticize Kiriha when you planned to use Yume as a human sacrifice for your goal. Hey, how does it feel to know that the real human sacrifice is you?” 

Kusuki reddened from head to toe, hatefully glaring at Riru with bloodshot eyes. However, even if she looked like a little girl, he was still face-to-face with the World’s Mightiest Succubus; Kusuki was nowhere near her league. 

“Oh no, what’s with that face? Awww, are you gonna cwy, Mister?” 

Riru peered with amusement at Kusuki’s face, shuddering from humiliation and helplessness. Then, she snatched the transmitter’s microphone from Kusuki’s hands. 

“Kiriha, thanks for granting Yume’s wish. I really liked how you acted all calm while you suffered from a tortured conscience.” 

Kiriha was not shaken even by Riru’s malice-filled words. In a gentle, desolate voice, she stated to Riru with just a tiny measure of compassion: 

“Farewell, Riru…and to you, chairman, may you have sweet dreams—” 

“…I, Dancer of the Lion, Archer of the High God, beseech thee.” 

Sayaka’s solemn voice echoed, cutting through the air of Demon Beast Park, filled with shouts and screams. 

She was holding a silver bow in her hands. Enormous ritual energy flowed into the cursed arrow loaded into it as she drew the bowstring. 

“Most brilliant flaming horse, illustrious Kirin, He who governs heavenly thunder, pierce these evil spirits with thy wrath…!” 

Fired with a roar, the cursed arrow, surrounded by a ferocious whirlwind, sailed into the sky. The violent reverberations of the sounds blown by the whistling arrow covered the air in an invisible magic circle. The thick miasma spewing out of it became a black cloud that descended upon the ground’s surface. 

Hundreds of demon beasts had been gathered to a single corner of Demon Beast Park’s plaza. Kojou’s scarlet-maned Beast Vassal had herded the ones that had escaped their cages to that place. Like a sheep dog herding its flock, the Beast Vassal of the Fourth Primogenitor, boasting enormous destructive power, had led the demon beasts within the cursed arrow’s effective radius. 

“S-so tired…!” 

Having fired cursed arrows one after another, Sayaka looked totally drained as she crouched limply. She’d used tranquilizing curses to paralyze the demon beasts that had been raging about; then she put them into a deep slumber. She’d surely bought enough time to salvage the situation. 

“We managed somehow, huh…?” 

Kojou exhaled raggedly as he released his summoned Beast Vassal. 

Yukina nodded with a hollow look, somehow, like she was trying to avert her eyes from reality as she said, “I believe some of the demon beasts may, of course, prove debilitated from being bathed in this much ritual energy, but…I believe we can only assert that we prioritized human life.” 

“Suppose so… We did our best to keep the damage to a minimum. Right, Kirasaka?” 

“I…I’d rather you didn’t include me in ‘we’ here!” 

When Kojou prompted Sayaka for agreement, she leaped to her feet, glaring back at him. 

“Minimal?! Why did you have to smash buildings to drive the demon beasts here, anyway?!” 

Upon saying this, Sayaka pointed at the sorry sight of Demon Beast Park’s interior. It looked like a war zone. The beautiful, green-filled plaza was gouged out; the aquarium building was half-destroyed. Canals were buried in sand, and virtually nothing past the entry gate had escaped unscathed. 

Of course, it was Kojou’s Beast Vassal that had inflicted such a calamity, having engaged in a little too much enthusiasm midway through herding the berserk demon beasts. 

“The Beast Vassals are too strong, so I couldn’t help it! I was trying as hard as I could, you know!” 

Sayaka shot him a reproachful glare, and Kojou desperately offered a rebuttal. Though it was regrettable that the park had been destroyed as a result, the demon beasts might have inflicted even greater damage if Kojou hadn’t used his Beast Vassal. 

“I suppose so. Given senpai’s involvement, we should think it most fortunate that the damage was limited to this…,” Yukina said, sounding like she was struggling to convince herself that was true. 

Sayaka took firm hold of Yukina’s shoulders with a worried expression. “Yukina, this man is brainwashing you! This is horrible damage by any normal standard! You’ve just been desensitized!” 

“Whaddaya mean desensitized?! It was an emergency situation, no matter how you slice it…!” 

“I’m not the bad guy here,” Kojou insisted, asserting his own innocence. 

A moment later, Kojou and the others heard a serene voice, in polar contrast to the heated argument between them. 

“Truly, you are an even more frightening person than I had heard, Fourth Primogenitor… Even if it was to bring the demon beast rampage to a halt, to think you would destroy Demon Beast Park without hesitation. It would seem this is your true nature.” 

“It is not—!” 

Don’t decide that all on your own, Kojou grumbled to himself, looking back to the voice’s source; at that point, his face tensed. A girl was standing there with black hair, a black school uniform, wielding a two-pronged spear. 

“Kisaki—!” 

“Perhaps I should offer thanks, even so? We were unable to prepare a countermeasure against the demon beasts running amok, after all. But because of you, we had enough time to evacuate the visitors.” 

“Evacuate…?!” 

Bewildered looks came over Kojou and the others as they glared at Kiriha. 

The demon beast rampage had already been taken care of. There should have been no further reason to evacuate Blue Elysium. At the very least, it wasn’t necessary to escape from the demon beasts— 

“In the first place, the coast guard has doubtlessly detected Leviathan’s approach. Arrangements had already been made, so the order to evacuate came out immediately. I recommend that you, too, evacuate before the harbor is overtaken by crowds.” 

“Leviathan…?” 

Kojou was even more confused by Kiriha’s words. Run before Leviathan comes, she was warning Kojou and the others. Her demeanor was as if she’d known from the very beginning that Leviathan would be attacking the island. 

Yukina drew her silver spear, poising it so she could fight at any moment. Similarly, Sayaka took up her own combat posture. However, Kiriha made no move. She had no intention of engaging in combat. To the contrary, she looked like she was paying Kojou and the others genuine consideration. 

“Wait. Why do the humans on Blue Elysium need to evacuate? The Kusuki-Elysée lab is here, right? Ain’t that where they’re controlling Leviathan from?” 

“I suppose so… What of it?” 

Kiriha lightly raised a single eyebrow as she bounced the question back at him. Her calm and composed act was grating on Kojou’s nerves as he asked: 

“Why would Kusuki put Blue Ely in danger?! That’s messed up!” 

“That is a misconception on your part, Fourth Primogenitor.” 

“Huh…?” 

“Kusuki is not controlling Leviathan. Riru is.” 

“Riru?” 

Kiriha’s unexpected reply instantly ground Kojou’s thought process to a halt. 

“Wait… Wasn’t Riru Yume’s other personality, reproduced by a computer?” 

“Ah, that conception is not necessarily mistaken…” Then Kiriha giggled, smiling in admiration. “Certainly, Yume Eguchi’s mind includes malicious portions she inherited from Lilith. Yet, they are incomplete, insufficient to be called an independent personality. What we call LYL is a support system derived solely from the wicked components of Yume’s mind.” 

“Supporting with an incomplete personality… Then you’re saying that, in the end, Riru is still a part of Yume?” 

Kojou recalled the words Riru had spoken back at the cottage. Yume had shoved all the icky stuff onto her, Riru had said. When he considered that Riru’s behavior was an artificially constructed second personality, the description didn’t seem wrong. 

She was an artificial, incomplete soul composed solely of the malicious parts inside of Yume. And now, she had taken over Yume and was purportedly controlling Leviathan. 

“Certainly, destroying Kusuki-Elysée’s computers means Riru’s annihilation. I suppose you could think of it merely as one piece of Yume returning to her, but to Riru, it is no different than death.” 

“If she understands that, why is Riru attacking Blue Ely?” 

Kojou started to feel irritated about how they were talking around each other. 

She’d said it was Riru, not Kusuki, controlling Leviathan. Well, that was no big deal. In the first place, Riru had been created as a tool for controlling Leviathan. If he closed his eyes to the problem of her being an AI composed solely of wickedness, Riru running Leviathan didn’t even count as an emergency. 

But her attacking Blue Elysium didn’t make any logical sense. After all, if the Kusuki-Elysée lab was destroyed in Leviathan’s attack, Riru herself would be annihilated with it. 

Kiriha gazed with deep interest at the befuddled Kojou, but finally, she’d had her fill and voiced a reply. “Because that is what Riru desires.” 

“What…?” 

“She wants to be completely erased from the world. That is Riru’s—no, Yume Eguchi’s wish. After all, Yume Eguchi has endured many hardships, thanks to the power of the World’s Mightiest Succubus awakening within her.” 

That’s crazy, Kojou nearly murmured, but then he suddenly remembered: “That will make everyone hate you—” Riru had definitely spoken those words to him, since Riru’s other half, Yume, had already gone through that experience. 

“For instance, even now, both of Yume Eguchi’s parents, and her classmates, are in a hospital, in comas. The cause of this is Yume Eguchi’s succubus power running amok to protect her from their abuse.” 

Satisfied that Kojou had fallen silent, Kiriha continued: 

“Yume Eguchi surely reproached herself very deeply for this. She no doubt thought of taking her own life several times. However, she could not permit herself to die. Do you comprehend the reason?” 

“…You don’t mean…because Yume, Lilith…?” 

It was Yukina who let out a murmur. Kiriha nodded slightly at her answer. 

“Correct. If Yume Eguchi dies, the power of Lilith she possesses shall no doubt be inherited by another suitable person somewhere else in the world. To prevent another child from repeating the same misfortune, Yume Eguchi could not choose death. It is childish self-sacrifice, but laudable at the same time.” 

With that, Kiriha lowered her eyes. Her tone was cold, but Kiriha was likely honoring Yume’s strength of will in her own way. 

“However, if she dies inside of Leviathan, that is a different story. Leviathan, a living weapon of the gods, is covered with a powerful demonic energy barrier. Without a physical body, Lilith’s soul would be unable to pass outside the barrier, and it would finally be absorbed by Leviathan and vanish altogether.” 

“…You’re saying Yume planned to pick the place where she’d die? She meant to die inside that thing from the beginning—?!” 

Kojou’s voice shook as a wave of anger with no outlet ripped through him. Finally, Kojou understood what Yume’s final words meant. 

“I’m going to end it all…” 

She certainly was trying to end it all: not just her own life, but the eternal chain of loss from the reincarnation of Lilith’s soul— 

“It is doubtful Yume Eguchi is consciously aware of this, hence why she attempted to escape together with Sayaka Kirasaka. But Riru knows. Riru is cooperating with Kusuki-Elysée to fulfill Yume’s subconscious wish.” 

“So that’s what this is… That’s why you woke up Riru’s personality back then, to get Yume back from the cottage.” 

“Yes, precisely. That is why I said the same thing then: I seek no conflict with any of you.” 

Kiriha made a pained smile as she pointed the two-pronged tip of her spear toward Yukina. 

Certainly, Kiriha’s words were accurate. She was not Yume’s enemy. Kiriha’s actions had been to fulfill Yume’s wish. 

However, whether Kojou and the others could forgive where those actions led was another matter entirely. 

“Leviathan is already under Riru’s control. And she is coming to attack Blue Elysium to annihilate herself—to annihilate LYL. After all, LYL is part of Yume Eguchi, who wishes every part of herself dead.” 

Kiriha turned her gaze toward the sea as she spoke. They could not yet see Leviathan. Yet, they keenly felt the oppressive presence of the enormous living weapon beyond the horizon, which seemingly made it hard to breathe. 

“And what happens to Yume if Riru is destroyed?” 

“Without LYL’s support, Yume Eguchi’s succubus power cannot be drawn out stably. It shall surely be difficult to retain control over Leviathan. Once outside her control, Leviathan shall sleep at the bottom of the sea once more. It would be good if the main isle of Itogami Island suffered no damage in the meantime, but…” 

“With Yume inside its belly, you mean…?! Like I’m gonna let that happen!” 

Kojou glared and shouted at Kiriha, who stood right before him, blocking his path. Now that he understood Yume’s goal, he had to bring her back without a single moment to spare. Every second speaking to Kiriha there was a second wasted. 

With Kojou in a hurry to go, Kiriha stared at him with a look of astonishment and asked, “You intend to stop Leviathan? Your opponent is a living weapon from the Age of the Gods.” 

“Hah,” spat out Kojou, smiling ferociously. “Like I care. If I’m gonna call myself somethin’ stupid like the World’s Mightiest Vampire but can’t cut it at a time like this, I’d be one hell of a laughingstock!” 

“I see… Then, I shall pass this on to you.” 

Kiriha fished a key holder out of her uniform’s pocket, tossing it to Kojou. Kojou caught it by reflex. It was a very mundane key holder, with a very mundane key attached to it. 

“This is…?” 

“The key to Kusuki-Elysée’s private high-speed ship. The dock’s door is open.” 

Kiriha explained in an unemotional tone. The gift from a most unlikely source made Kojou forget his caution as he looked back at Kiriha, dumbfounded. 

“You’re not gonna stop us?” 

“I am not conceited enough to think I can stop the Fourth Primogenitor in close combat,” Kiriha said, albeit in jest. 

Kojou cursed under his breath. “I suppose I should thank you for this?” 

“I expect no such thing. Though, I must say, having the Fourth Primogenitor owe me is quite amusing.” 

“Like hell. Half our problems here are your own doing!” 

Glaring as he spoke, Kojou turned his gaze to the back of Demon Beast Park. According to the map Asagi found, the ship was at a dock at the end of the cape farther ahead. 

“Senpai, please wait—” 

However, just as Kojou was set to run off, Yukina suddenly called him to a stop from behind. As she faced Kiriha, an anguished expression came over Yukina. It was as if a difficult choice had been thrust upon her. 

“Himeragi…?” 

“Listen to me, senpai. Kiriha’s objective in handing that key over to you is—” 

Kiriha’s cheek twitched slightly at the mention of her name, however— 

“Go, Yukina.” 

It was Sayaka who interrupted Yukina’s voice with those words. Having already returned Lustrous Scale to sword form, Sayaka pointed its tip toward Kiriha. 

“But, Sayaka…!” 

“I know. I’ll handle this. Take care of Yume Eguchi. Go, and save her—” 

Yukina was about to say something, but she held back the instant her and Sayaka’s eyes met. Understood, conveyed the silent fall of Yukina’s eyes. She rushed to Kojou’s side. 

“Let us be off, senpai.” 

“R-right.” 

Kojou remained at a loss as he nodded and ran off, with Yukina right behind him. 

For a time, Kiriha and Sayaka silently watched the two with neutral expressions on their faces. 

“What a pity, Sayaka Kirasaka. You would have saved me a great deal of trouble had you gone with them…” Kiriha broke into a bitter smile. “Hmph.” 

The tip of the spear she wielded made a tiny shudder, like a tuning fork’s. Its resonance washed over her, amplifying her ritual energy. 

“You handed Kojou Akatsuki the key to that ship because that man going wild here and smashing Riru is inconvenient for you, isn’t it?” Sayaka asked after sighing. She surveyed Demon Beast Park, half-turned into a ruin. 

If Kojou had challenged Kiriha to battle, there was every chance his summoned Beast Vassals would run wild and that Riru would be caught up in it. Kiriha was afraid of that. After witnessing the pathetic state of Demon Beast Park, she keenly empathized with Kiriha’s wariness. 

“Yume Eguchi hates herself. Of course, that applies to Riru, a part of Yume. That’s why she’ll come attack this island—to ensure Riru is annihilated, yes? Put another way, if someone else destroys Riru first, she won’t have any reason to attack this island anymore.” 

Sayaka glared at the Kusuki-Elysée lab as she spoke. If saving Blue Elysium was the only goal, destroying Riru would be sufficient. 

However, if they destroyed Riru, and Leviathan returned to the bottom of the sea, they’d forever lose their chance to rescue Yume. 

That was why Yukina couldn’t tell Kojou to use his Beast Vassals and destroy Riru. 

Kiriha poised her spear and advanced a step. 

“I suppose so. Hence, I have remained behind—to protect Riru.” 

“That makes it simple, then. I will wipe the floor with you here and smash Riru to bits.” 

Likewise, Sayaka narrowed the gap between them. 

The first time they’d met, Kiriha had launched a surprise attack; this time, Sayaka knew what was up her opponent’s sleeve. The conditions were equal. She couldn’t allow herself to lose to the same opponent twice. 

By sending Kojou and Yukina off to rescue Yume, Sayaka had made it her job to destroy Riru. For the sake of that goal, she had to defeat Kiriha then and there. 

“This time I shall show no mercy, Shamanic War Dancer—” 

“You’re going to be embarrassed at having said those words when you lose, Priestess of the Six Blades.” 

The two lobbed insults back and forth as they approached each other. 

Between them, all was silent, as if the flow of time itself had momentarily halted. 

Then, an instant later, their ritual energy collided. The resulting roar echoed across the fresh ruin of Demon Beast Park. 



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