Strike the Blood - Volume 9 - Chapter 5

CHAPTER FIVE 

THE SWORD OF JUDGMENT 

1 

The boat was moored in a very obvious place. Painted one part white and one part blue, it was a twin-hulled ship that just seemed like it would move quickly. The hull was bigger than Kojou had expected, probably close to twenty meters long. 

There was no sign of Kusuki-Elysée staff nearby, perhaps having evacuated during the chaotic demon beast rampage. With no one to interfere, Kojou and Yukina easily arrived at the ship’s pilothouse. 

Kojou turned to Yukina, standing behind him, and said, “Himeragi, please, stay on the island. We’ve gotten this far. I can do the rest on my own.” 

At that rate, if he went after Yume, the chances of having to face Leviathan head-on were high. The opponent was an enormous living weapon. A careless approach with a warship, let alone a private civilian ship, would get someone sunk in an instant. Kojou might have been immortal, but he could not expose an unprotected Yukina to such danger. 

She shook her head obstinately. “We’re going together. After all, I cannot allow you to go alone, senpai.” 

“Well, that ain’t happening! I might have the World’s Mightiest Demon Beast attacking me. It’s too dangerous!” 

“I am the observer of the World’s Mightiest Vampire, you know.” 

For some reason, Yukina proudly lifted up her chin. 

“Er, no, not even when you put it that way.” Kojou was utterly bewildered. 

Yukina suddenly said in a serious tone, “What would you do without me if the ship did sink? It’s not like you can swim.” 

“I—I never said I couldn’t swim, dammit! I’m just a little bad at it!” 

“And who looked after you when you were seasick, senpai?” 

“Himeragi—!” 

Yukina smiled teasingly as Kojou glared. Yukina looked straight into his eyes and said in all sincerity: 

“Please, senpai. Let me come with you.” 

For a moment, Kojou was taken aback by the desperate look on Yukina’s face. He got weak in the knees when she stared at him with that oddly forthright expression. 

“—Do what you want, geez.” 

“Yes. So I shall.” 

Kojou averted his eyes like a sore loser. Yukina watched him, grinning with apparent relief. 

Kojou took his cell phone out of a waterproof case and dialed Asagi’s number. Naturally, taking the helm of a high-speed, twenty-meter ship was well beyond someone with no nautical knowledge like Kojou. He really had no choice but to lean on her. 

“Yes, yes, hello?” 

Asagi’s reply came slightly delayed. Her voice seemed oddly hard-pressed, like she was right in the middle of something. Kojou felt like he could hear the sound of a keyboard being tapped ceaselessly on the other side of the phone call. 

“Asagi, we’ve reached the ship. The power’s on, too.” 

“Sorry, Kojou. I ran into a real troublemaker, so my hands are full. I’ll send a guide over and you’ll have to do the rest, okay?” 

“…Ah, er?” 

Whaddaya mean by that? he would have asked, but the connection dropped from her end before he could even get the words out. 

“Keh-keh.” Kojou, standing stiff, heard the oddly laughing voice through the cell phone in his hand. On the GPS receiver screen for the high-speed ship’s pilot seat, he saw an odd icon displayed that somehow resembled a malicious teddy bear. It took over the ship’s autopilot, starting the engine up on its own. 

“You’re…right, you’re Asagi’s partner…” 

“Mogwai. Due to circumstances, this isn’t my proper appearance, but oh well. Pleasure doing business with ya.” 

The voice came from the teddy bear icon, laughing with another “Keh-keh” as if to mock Kojou’s and Yukina’s constrained reactions. 

Having distanced itself from the pier, the high-speed ship smoothly turned inside the harbor and began to accelerate, steadily kicking up white sea spray in the process. The comical tone annoyed Kojou, but Mogwai’s driving skills were apparently very sound. However, his driving was high-handed, with zero regard for fuel efficiency or the passengers’ sentiments. The fierce swaying of the hull wracked Kojou with the sudden urge to vomit. 

Somehow, he kept the dizziness at bay as the voyage continued for another five minutes when he sensed Yukina, looking outside through a window, her breath stopping in her throat. 

“Senpai, that’s—” 

“An island…? Was there one in this direction…?” 

In the direction Yukina was pointing, there was an ultramarine mass on the surface of the sea. As the high-speed ship approached, it loomed large enough to blot out the horizon. 

Kojou suspected he was looking at an unfamiliar island when Yukina stared at him with a hard expression and stated: 

“No, that is likely Leviathan.” 

“…Are you serious…?! That’s a little too big, ain’t it?!” 

The all-too-surreal feeling made Kojou let out a hollow laugh. He might have comprehended the words four kilometers in length, but seeing it with his own two eyes was a far ruder shock. He’d heard it was just as much of a living creature as they were, but it just didn’t feel real. Without exaggeration, it was the difference between an ant and a whale. They were just on completely different scales. 

Furthermore, he could see no sign of the submarine Yume was on anywhere around Leviathan. 

“Mogwai, where’s Yume?” 

“If you mean the Kusuki-Elysée sub, looks like it’s inside of the big guy.” 

“It’s inside? We couldn’t catch up in time—?!” 

Mogwai’s blunt reply sent Kojou staring up at Leviathan’s massive frame with a despondent feeling. 

“Can’t you at least figure out which part Yume’s in? If we can’t tell the place, we’ll have to go lookin’ for her inside that monster’s belly—!” 

“Keh-keh… I’d love to tell you that I have no idea, but… Nah, I can tell you where the submarine Yotaka is. Riru is connected to it, after all.” 

“That’s right, data’s passing between it and the lab… So that’s where Yume is…?!” 

“If she wasn’t gobbled up and digested.” 

“Hey, don’t jinx it!!” Kojou yelled, scowling at the icon on the GPS receiver. 

Chances were that the Yotaka had a machine inside it that had been built as part of LYL. If they followed the signal between pieces of the system, they’d be able to roughly estimate the submarine’s position. Yume had to be nearby. 

“Please bring the ship alongside as close to Yume’s position as you can, Mogwai,” Yukina requested, seemingly on behalf of Kojou’s feelings. 

Without being able to submerse, the high-speed ship couldn’t go into Leviathan’s body. If they were to rescue Yume, they had to abandon ship and get aboard Leviathan. It meant they’d have no means of returning to Blue Elysium, but it couldn’t be helped. Getting to Yume’s location was the top priority. 

“That’s easier said than done, Li’l Sword Shaman Miss. One little move by the big guy and you’ll be tasting a big wave right out of the legends… Well, I’ll give it a shot.” 

Following Mogwai’s attempted scare, the ship’s wheel turned. The bow pointed toward the sea’s surface, right in front of Leviathan. That point, which seemed like its enormous torso, was apparently where the submarine with Yume aboard went inside. 

As if sensing Kojou and the others approaching, the head of Leviathan slowly moved. To the monster, it was little more than a tiny stir, but that movement stirred up a ferocious whirlpool on the surface of the water. What seemed like an impregnable wall of high waves battered the high-speed ship over and over. 

“Guoh…!” 

Astride a cresting wave, the high-speed ship’s hull danced in the air, toying with Kojou and the others. The ship’s propulsion gave off a strange noise; the hull contorted, apparently struck by a wave. Considering the force of the impact, it was a miracle they didn’t capsize. 

Leviathan unleashed a wave of dense demonic energy that warped the air itself. Taking the brunt of it at point-blank range, Kojou yelled at the top of his lungs. He didn’t feel any direct pain from it, but the noise in his head felt like fingernails scratching glass. 

“Ugh… What’s with this creepy feeling?!” 

“A demonic energy pulse—! Leviathan is probably using the echo to assess the surrounding area!” 

Yukina spoke while deftly employing Snowdrift Wolf to defend herself alone. Kojou scowled, the demonic energy pulse still ringing in his ears as he said: 

“You mean like a dolphin using sonar to search for food…?” 

“Keh-keh… That means the big guy noticed we’re here, doesn’t it?” 

“—?!” 

Mogwai’s blunt warning made both Kojou and Yukina catch their breath. 

The surface of the sea parted, making way for the emergence of the part of Leviathan’s all-too-huge body they might call the dorsal fin. On the surface of that fin, covering an area on par with a crude oil tanker, a number of deep holes opened up, each resembling the blowhole of a whale. The ultramarine scales around them lit up like electrical circuits, one after another. Dazzling, glimmering demonic energy coalesced inside the holes, almost like giant cannonballs being loaded— 

“Wait a sec… Don’t tell me those are cannons?!” 

Kojou’s voice went shrill as he detected an off-the-charts amount of demonic energy charging up. If something like that fired, surely no trace of Kojou, Yukina, or the ship would remain. Worst case, even Blue Elysium might sink with a single shot. The vile armament brought no shame upon the title of World’s Mightiest Living Weapon. 

All those countless gun ports were trained upon a single, puny high-speed ship. 

With an explosive roar, the unleashed beams instantly vaporized a vast amount of sea water, enveloping them in a huge outpouring of steam as they fell toward Kojou and Yukina’s ship. 

“—Snowdrift Wolf!” 

Yukina, standing on the bow of the high-speed ship, poured all her ritual energy into the thrust of her spear. 

The onslaught of Leviathan’s demonic cannonballs arrived moments later. 

The glow of the Divine Oscillation Effect emitted by the spear nullified the demonic cannonballs’ explosive demonic energy, slicing apart the mighty barrage. The purging spear, able to slay even a vampire primogenitor, could rival even a living weapon from the Age of the Gods. 

The light of the demonic cannonballs winked out, and the shock wave rocked the hull of the high-speed ship. But the ship itself was safe. Yukina’s split-second decision had saved both the ship and Kojou. 

“Himeragi! Are you all right?!” 

“Yes. Somehow… Apparently, demonic energy was concentrated and fired like some kind of beam. The power was extravagant, but…” 

Yukina was breathing hard, down on one knee on the deck. Of course she was exhausted; she’d defended them against an attack from Leviathan all by herself. 

But the attacks showed no sign of relenting. Leviathan was shifting to the next onslaught. Things resembling little fish had been launched from some submerged part of Leviathan’s enormous body. 

Their number had to be over a hundred. 

The little fish left white, frothing waves behind them as they bore down on the high-speed ship with incredible force. Their underwater movements were unerringly forward, like torpedoes assaulting an enemy warship. 

Even “little” fish had to be taken in the context of Leviathan’s size. Each individual one was no smaller than Kojou and Yukina’s ship. If they exploded at point-blank range, there was no way they’d emerge unscathed. 

“Senpai!” 

“Torpedoes this time, geez—!” 

Yukina looked back, her face pale; Kojou nervously gritted his teeth. Snowdrift Wolf could only nullify demonic energy. It was useless against living torpedoes formed of actual matter. 

“Shit! C’mon over, Sadalmelik Albus!” 

Backed into a corner, Kojou summoned a Beast Vassal as his last resort. There was no doubt the vast demonic energy scattered about by a Beast Vassal of the Fourth Primogenitor would antagonize Leviathan further, but Kojou, well aware of that, had no other cards left to play. 

He had summoned a sea monster—a transparent Undine seemingly made up of flowing water. Her top half was a beautiful woman; the lower half, a giant serpent. Her flowing hair was formed of countless snakes. 

The living torpedoes thrust forward as one, their acceleration turning the middle of the sea into a raging torrent. Talons protruding from slender hands mowed the living torpedoes down one after another, wiping them out without even permitting them to detonate. 

The watery maiden’s ability was restoration and regeneration. It could return any object to a previous state—even before it had ever been created. It was a healing power destructive enough to return all to nothingness. 

Protected by the water maid, the high-speed ship broke through the horde of living torpedoes, drawing nearer to Leviathan. Seeming to be hungry for results, Leviathan unleashed a new attack. 

Blue silhouettes—too many to count—were launched toward the sky from the living weapon’s enormous frame. They traced vivid parabolic arcs and accelerated toward the surface of the sea. The sight made Kojou imagine a flock of seagulls suddenly flying up from the back of a whale. 

But these were no seagulls pouring down onto the sea’s surface. The high-speed, flying, living missiles created huge pillars of water wherever they exploded. 

“Anti-ship missiles?! Now they’re coming by air! These living weapons from the Age of the Gods have something for everyone!” 

The ceaseless downpour of living missiles seemed to have a large amount of explosive liquid packed in. If he shot them down willy-nilly, the fluid would scatter around the area and do damage on its own. 

That didn’t mean he could just sit on his hands and watch— 

“Ugh… C’mon over, Natra Cinereus—!” 

Kojou summoned a second Beast Vassal. The shelled beast, enveloped by mist, turned the approaching living missiles into mist one after another, dissipating them. 

Even so, Leviathan’s attacks did not cease. With no letup in the onslaught of the living torpedoes and missiles, even the Fourth Primogenitor’s Beast Vassals were forced on the defensive. 

If they continued to bathe in such concentrated fire, it was only a matter of time until sheer numbers overwhelmed them. 

“Shit, no choice! Regulus Aurum!” 

Kojou called forth yet another Beast Vassal. 

The goal of his attack was to divert Leviathan’s attention. Surely even the World’s Mightiest Demon Beast could not sustain an attack from the Fourth Primogenitor’s Beast Vassals and simply ignore it. 

The lightning lion, shrouded by explosive electrical currents, transformed into a thunderbolt and assaulted Leviathan. “Gyuaaaaaa—!” came the scream-like roar that rent the air; the lightning turned the surface of the sea gold. 

This was the Beast Vassal that had once blithely scorched one of the four gigafloats that constituted Itogami Island. However, against Leviathan, letting it run a bit wild wasn’t a problem. Indeed, the less Kojou had to worry about holding it back, the easier it became to manage the beast. 

The pale beam enveloped Leviathan’s enormous frame, thoroughly scorching its long, huge tail. 

However, Leviathan’s movements did not change. It continued leisurely floating, seemingly heedless of the Beast Vassal’s attack. 

“—No effect?!” 

“It is protected by a demonic energy wall…,” Yukina calmly stated in response to Kojou’s shocked words. 

“Wall? You mean, like a barrier…?” 

“Yes. Furthermore, an extremely powerful one. The Beast Vassals of the Fourth Primogenitor are nominally able to punch through it, but—” 

“The demonic energy wall dampens the power so much that they can’t actually roast that huge thing, huh…?” 

Kojou cursed under his breath. 

Where Leviathan had sustained a direct impact from the Beast Vassal, there was a scar from the attack carved about ten meters deep. That would have been fatal enough against any normal demon beast, but to Leviathan’s enormous frame, such damage was no more than a scratch on its back. 

“We’re…not getting anywhere against this thing from the outside.” 

Kojou looked half-exasperated as he analyzed the situation. On top of a body so huge it was off the scale, it had a stout demonic energy shield as well. Kojou couldn’t even be sure a direct strike with a nuclear warhead would be enough to defeat such a difficult foe. 

Yukina seemed to turn serious as she concurred. 

“Either way, we cannot bring Yume back unless we go inside, can we?” 

There was one kilometer left between them and Leviathan. But it seemed impossible to get the ship there in one piece. 

“Mogwai, is Yume really in there?!” 

Kojou yelled at the GPS receiver screen. 

The malicious teddy bear icon laughed in an irresponsible, very human-sounding voice. 

“Keh-keh, sorry. Either way, the helm’s not working. You’re on a collision course—!” 

As he spoke, the ship accelerated farther. Going to ramming speed was reckless, but if they didn’t, they’d never be able to get through the choppy sea around Leviathan. 

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

Yukina, standing at the prow of the ship once more, held her spear as she danced. Eyes closed, the thick demonic energy wall deployed around Leviathan loomed before her. So long as they could not breach that wall, they could not reach Leviathan. If the ship smashed into the wall, the ship would surely be smashed to sawdust. 

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

Snapping her eyes open, Yukina flashed her silver spear. 

Her Snowdrift Wolf was a secret weapon of the Lion King Agency able to nullify demonic energy and rend any barrier. It tore through even Leviathan’s invincible demonic energy wall with ease, slicing open a path for the high-speed ship. 

“—C’mon over, Al-Meissa Mercury!” 

Fast approaching Leviathan, Kojou summoned a fourth Beast Vassal in its direction. 

The quicksilver, twin-headed dragon was a Dimension Eater, able to consume the space of any dimension. Its enormous maws tore into Leviathan’s stout scales, gouging out a cavity extending into its body. 

And then, enveloped by seawater, the high-speed ship Kojou and Yukina were aboard plunged into Leviathan’s interior. 

Having lost sight of its foe, the gargantuan demon beast unleashed a ferocious, seemingly maddened roar. 

It shuddered with the anger of the very sea, a sight to frighten the world itself. 

2 

Meanwhile, Asagi Aiba was shut inside the girls’ room at the cottage, continuing to tap at her keyboard. 

There was a thin coat of sweat on her glossy skin, for once bereft of makeup. The corners of her tightly pursed lips twitched in visible displeasure. The war was not going well. 

Or rather, it was rich with the color of defeat. 

“We’ve breached the relay server’s firewall, li’l miss. I gave tossing some viruses up to counterhack a try, but it’ll probably buy thirty seconds, tops.” 

Mogwai explained in a carefree voice as if it was someone else’s problem. Asagi’s cheeks sullenly puffed up as she said: 

“Figures that Tanker’s a tough one. How many proxies do we have left on hand?” 

“Twelve thousand left. We’re being totally crushed on attack speed, huh? Li’l Tanker Miss is trying to access every traffic control system on Itogami Island.” 

“She’s trying to steal capacity from you?! That’s hitting below the belt!” 

Tanker’s merciless attack unnerved Asagi. 

Mogwai, Asagi’s partner, was really a set of five supercomputers in the possession of the Gigafloat Management Corporation. Its proper function was maintaining and administrating Itogami Island. From electricity, water, traffic control, and waste disposal to even the temperature of air conditioners—without Mogwai, the artificial isle of Itogami Island would be unable to maintain even basic city services. 

As a part-time employee of the Gigafloat Management Corporation, Asagi held the special right to quietly borrow part of Mogwai’s surplus functionality for personal purposes. Put another way, if there was no surplus functionality, she could not borrow Mogwai’s power. 

Knowing this, Tanker had launched attacks on Itogami Island’s traffic control systems. Diverting Mogwai’s attention meant robbing Asagi of combat resources. 

If Asagi overused Mogwai in spite of that, Itogami Island’s traffic control would be paralyzed; worst case, innocent citizens would wind up in traffic accidents as a result. In other words, Asagi would be taking Itogami Island hostage. To Asagi, already critically short on fighting strength, it was far too large a handicap. 

“At this rate, it’s only a matter of time until your embarrassing poems are leaked, li’l miss. What’ll you do?” 

Mogwai, now reduced to little more than a paperweight, inquired without a hint of responsibility. Asagi tossed her hair back in annoyance. 

“I said already, I haven’t written any poems…!” 

“Keh-keh, maybe it’ll be those drab pictures from when you were younger…” 

“Don’t call them drab! Okay, yes, I was a bit plainer than I am now, but…!” 

Asagi moaned, clutching her head as she remembered herself in black hair and plain glasses before meeting Kojou. She hadn’t thought it hideous or anything, but in hindsight, she found it acutely embarrassing. 

“Finally thinking about throwing in the towel, empress? An honorable warrior knows when to yield with grace.” 

“I’m not a warrior, I’m just a high schooler working part-time—!” 

Asagi listlessly rebuffed Tanker’s advice. 

“Besides, there’s no reason to throw a match I’m gonna win anyway.” 

“At this stage, such bluster is a farce. Empress, I am guessing that thou art the type lacking real experience with men but who pretends to have plenty so that thou need not speak the truth?” 

“You’re just an elementary school brat, so don’t run your mouth like you know—!” Asagi screamed, her face unwittingly turning red. Mogwai’s statement hitting the mark riled her up even more. Then there was also the problem that she had no chance of victory in straight-up combat. Maybe she would against the average hacker, but she was facing Lydianne Didier. After all, she was a genius, a superelite raised at the giant conglomerate Didier Heavy Industries, dispatched to Itogami Island to test a robot tank— 

That’s it, thought Asagi, the corners of her lips curling up in delight. 

“Mogwai, burn up the rest of the proxies. Just hold for a minute and thirty seconds.” 

“Keh-keh… You finally sound like yourself again, li’l miss.” 

Mogwai laughed as if he could read Asagi’s mind. If he was concentrating solely on defense, even Mogwai, now robbed of most of his available functionality, could manage somehow. 

Tanker sighed in apparent dismay at Asagi and Mogwai being sore losers and moved to launch one final attack. 

“’Tis futile to harden thy defenses at this late stage. I shall simply surround and crush y—” 

But she let out a y—naa! sound in surprise. 

Suddenly, like a receding wave, the alert notices burying Asagi’s computer screen vanished. Tanker’s attack had halted. No, rather, she’d been robbed of the ability to attack— 

In contrast, Asagi’s counterattack had breached Tanker’s defenses, bringing the system on the other end crashing down. 

Having lost all her security, Tanker no longer had any combat resources with which to continue the fight. She was practically naked. 

“—Th-this attack is from empress?! From Neustria?” 

Tanker’s voice tumbled out as she finally realized where Asagi’s hack had come from. 

Neustria was a province of the North Sea Empire, a city-state located on the western edge of the European continent. It was a small country that produced precision machinery and weapon systems, and was also Lydianne Didier’s birthplace. 

And it was not through the Kusuki-Elysée lab Tanker administrated that Asagi had attacked her, but through Neustria. 

Tanker had yet to realize what that meant. 

“Whew… I almost broke a sweat. No wonder they call you an interceptor, Tanker—your defenses are really something. If there wasn’t a hole in your security, even I would’ve been in trouble.” 

Asagi stretched atop the bed as she spoke. Her words rocked Tanker. She was still only an elementary schooler; it probably hadn’t sunk in yet how she’d gone from an overwhelming advantage to her own defeat. 

“Absurd… My system cannot have been so fragile…” 

“Is that so?” 

Asagi smiled wryly and shook her head. 

“You’re one of Didier Heavy Industries’ elite children, their pride and joy. That robot tank you’re holed up in is a Didier prototype, too, isn’t it?” 

“…Dost thou sayeth, thou took over the Didier Heavy Industries computers and used them as a stepping stone? ’Tis a manufacturer of military machinery?!” 

“Easier than attacking the Kusuki-Elysée server with you protecting it tooth and nail,” Asagi bluntly declared to a shocked Tanker. 

The robot tank Tanker used was a Didier Heavy Industries prototype. The data gleaned from field testing was regularly transmitted back to Didier Heavy Industries. Asagi’s target was the private communications channel used for that purpose. 

If she could take over Didier Heavy Industries’ computers, breaking into the robot tank was simple. Of course, that meant busting through the security of a major military supplier, but that was no great feat where Asagi was concerned. 

“Empress…from the beginning, thou aimed not at LYL, but at my Hizamaru…!” 

Tanker spoke in a tone like she’d been slapped. Hizamaru had to be the name of her tank. And that Hizamaru was now completely under Asagi’s control. Tanker couldn’t get out of the tank of her own volition, let alone engage in hacking. 

“Don’t blame me… You’re the one who picked a fight with me. Thanks to you, I can get to LYL through the front door. As a warrior’s mercy, I won’t send all of your poems out.” 

Later, concluded Asagi, muting the conversation with Tanker. 

The unexpected interference had cost her time, but Asagi still had the original job—taking over LYL—left to do. 

“Keh-keh… Incidentally, li’l miss, what’s with this program?” 

Having finally regained its proper abilities, Mogwai asked in its usual, humanlike voice. 

Mogwai’s interest had been piqued by the new firewall-breaching app Asagi had used in her attack on Tanker. However, Asagi seemed annoyed at the application, blithely deleting it. 

“Ahh, that. I thought that the existing attack algorithms weren’t gonna cut it for hacking, so I slapped something together on the spot. I think its general practicality might go up with a little more improvement, though…” 

“So you made someone else handle plain defense while you did something interesting like that…?” 

“What are you complaining about? This is what a support AI’s for, sheesh.” 

Asagi and Mogwai casually shot the breeze with each other. To the two of them, this was normal, everyday business. Yet, Tanker—Lydianne Didier—was in utter shock as she listened to the conversation from inside the immobilized tank. 

The girl named Asagi Aiba was not aware of just how ridiculous her ability was. The application she’d slapped together on the spot was worth enough that the intelligence agencies of any nation on Earth would gladly kill to get it. She didn’t even realize that. 

“’Tis no mistake, empress… Thou art truly…” 

Lydianne Didier wrapped her arms around her knees as she sadly murmured. 

But her voice would reach Asagi no more. 

3 

“Mist Lynx—Twin Moons—!” 

The twin-pronged spear, reminiscent of a tuning fork, thrust forward, seemingly carving out the air. 

The spear was enveloped in a pseudo-spatial-severing ritual spell. It was an exceptionally high-level ritual that produced the very real effect of space being sliced apart. Originally, this was the ability of Sayaka’s Lustrous Scale. Kiriha Kisaki’s Ricercare had copied the formula. 

“Lustrous Scale!” 

However, Sayaka was not unnerved as she lashed out with her silver long sword. 

The arc of the long sword created a virtual tear in space, creating an invulnerable defensive wall. The spatial-severing effect lasted but a single moment, but it was plenty to parry Kiriha’s attack. 

“Ricercare, amplifying ritual energy—it’s certainly a troublesome weapon, but when you know what’s coming, fending it off isn’t all that difficult.” 

“…That goes the same for your Der Freischötz, does it not, Sayaka Kirasaka?” 

Kiriha’s frigid statement came as she re-poised her spear. 

“And yet, your taking pride in such a trifling feat reveals much about your character. You are out of shikigami and cursed arrows, are you not? With your ritual energy depleted against the Fourth Primogenitor and the demon beasts, it is impossible for I, a Six Blades, to be bested.” 

Sayaka could feel herself getting flustered over Kiriha’s venomous remarks. 

“Thanks for the warning—but don’t look down on Shamanic War Dancers of the Lion King Agency,” she declared sarcastically. 

The next instant, a deep fissure opened up along the ground at Kiriha’s feet. It was a spatial-severing counterattack with Lustrous Scale. 

Sayaka unleashed slicing attacks one after another, leaving Kiriha no choice but to continue to evade backward. If Kiriha’s forked spear took a square hit from Lustrous Scale as it ripped space, it would be severed for certain. In the end, Ricercare’s ability was a copy—it could not best the real thing. 

And Sayaka was merciless in her attacks on Kiriha. 

When they had first met, Sayaka had hesitated to cut Kiriha down when she was unarmed. That was the downside of Lustrous Scale being too powerful, preventing Sayaka from drawing on her full strength. These circumstances were different, though. The lives of a great number of people visiting Blue Elysium hung in the balance. 

If Kiriha was going to defend Riru, Sayaka had to defeat her. 

Kiriha’s expression grew graver, almost as if Sayaka’s determination grated on her. 

“The fact that Yume Eguchi has chosen death brings your mission to an end, Sayaka Kirasaka. You have no further reason to do battle with us, do you?” 

“Oh, really? I guess this means you haven’t achieved your own objective yet?” 

Sayaka smiled tauntingly as she spoke. 

Kiriha’s expression vanished; her movements stopped. Apparently, Sayaka had hit the mark. 

“Using Leviathan—a demon beast you should normally eradicate—to sink Blue Elysium is a method only the Bureau of Astrology would think of, but if that happens, you being here means you won’t escape unscathed, either. What reason does the Bureau of Astrology have to sink the island, even at the cost of a precious Six Blades?” 

Sayaka posed the question in a quiet voice. 

She hadn’t been able to believe it until then, but having come this far, she had to accept it: The Bureau of Astrology seriously intended to sink Blue Elysium. But Sayaka still couldn’t comprehend the reason why. 

And perhaps thinking there was no longer any reason to hide it, Kiriha readily voiced her reply. 

“The Bureau of Astrology’s primary objective is to eliminate Asagi Aiba—” 

“Huh?” Sayaka’s voice dribbled out in complete stupor. “Asagi Aiba… Eh, that Asagi?! The beautiful girl in Kojou Akatsuki’s class…?” 

Sayaka, rocked to the core, even blurted out the private assessment she’d never meant to share. 

Kiriha made no reply. Her silence told Sayaka that her words were not false. 

“Why kill Asagi…?” Sayaka’s voice trembled in bewilderment. 

She would not have been surprised if they were after Kojou Akatsuki’s life. That teenager was the Fourth Primogenitor, after all; the World’s Mightiest Vampire, throwing the worldwide military balance off-kilter. 

However, Asagi Aiba was a mere ordinary person. She couldn’t wrap her head around how smashing a newly built artificial isle was connected to eliminating her alone. Moreover, Kiriha’s combat capabilities should have allowed her to kill the girl at any moment. 

Kiriha spoke a single sentence, as if that should answer every doubt Sayaka harbored. 

“Asagi Aiba is the Priestess of Cain.” 

“Priestess of…Cain…?” 

“You did not know your romantic rival’s true nature, Shamanic War Dancer?” Then Kiriha giggled. 

Sayaka was finally accustomed to her poison tongue, but that time, she could tell it had a tiny ring of genuine pity for Sayaka mixed in. 

The pity was likely for Sayaka at having lost her rival in such an unsought manner, but— 

“None of your business… And wait, whose romantic rival?!” 

Kiriha continued to speak, heedless of Sayaka’s objections. “—The Priestess of Cain is the being that shall someday trigger The Cleansing. The Lion King Agency and the Gigafloat Management Corporation seem to intend to use Asagi Aiba, but the Bureau of Astrology thinks this to be dangerous.” 

The government’s interior views were not a single monolith—certainly, that is what her words to Sayaka conveyed. Use the Priestess of Cain, or eliminate her; even the top Attack Mages in the government were split. That was the root cause behind the Lion King Agency and the Bureau of Astrology coming to blows. 

“But how do you get from that to sinking Blue Elysium…?!” 

“For we cannot kill Asagi Aiba so long as Itogami Island exists.” 

“…Can’t kill her?” 

Sayaka felt doubtful about Kiriha’s extravagant statement. Even if they called her this Priestess of Cain, Asagi Aiba’s flesh and blood was that of a normal human. How could a Bureau of Astrology Six Blades be unable to kill her? 

However, Kiriha gently thrust the tip of her spear at her feet as she said, “Itogami Island, this Blue Elysium included, is an artificial city constructed in defiance of natural Providence. To Cain, a being cursed by solid earth, the isle itself is a single, giant altar. Everything upon this island is her ally. She shall be protected by any and all contrivances necessary to do so.” 

“That’s absurd…!” 

Sayaka was going to immediately fly into a rebuttal when she suddenly remembered something in a report she had previously set eyes upon—namely, that about one month before, at the height of the Wiseman’s Blood incident, Asagi Aiba had once perished, right before Yukina’s and Kojou Akatsuki’s eyes. But she immediately returned to life by the hand of Nina Adelard, the Great Alchemist of Yore. 

This had been dismissed as pure chance, with no one harboring any doubt about the final outcome. But one could think of this as She had been protected by a chance occurrence. 

“Itogami Island is a stage furnished for the sake of the Priestess of Cain. So long as she stands atop Itogami Island, no one can kill Asagi Aiba. Not even the Fourth Primogenitor, not even the Schneewaltzer—” 

Kiriha’s unemotional explanation sent a chill up Sayaka’s spine. If even Snowdrift Wolf, able to slay a vampire primogenitor, could not kill her—did that mean Asagi Aiba was more of a monster than the Fourth Primogenitor? 

“To kill Asagi Aiba, Itogami Island must first be destroyed. Therefore, the Sixth Branch established a plan to use Leviathan. Fortuitously, the chairman of Kusuki-Elysée arranged all the implements required to control Leviathan.” 

Kiriha gave the half-destroyed Kusuki-Elysée lab a glance. 

Both Yume Eguchi, the World’s Mightiest Succubus, and LYL, to draw out her power, had been provided by Kusuki-Elysée. 

The Bureau of Astrology hadn’t lifted a finger. But they had whispered in the ear of one man, Kazuomi Kusuki, stirring his dream of controlling the World’s Mightiest Demon Beast into motion. Once he died, no evidence would remain. 

“So after using Kusuki-Elysée like that, you’ll pin the whole crime on their shoulders.” 

“I feel sorry for him. Though, when you think of what Kusuki meant to use Leviathan for, I believe it is just deserts?” 

Kiriha shrugged her shoulders in the face of Sayaka’s reproachful gaze. 

“In the first place, the Lion King Agency seems to have realized the Bureau of Astrology’s plan. Thanks to their bringing Asagi Aiba to Blue Elysium, we were able to remove the destruction of Itogami Island proper from our objectives. At this rate, if all goes well, the damage might be contained to a minimum.” 

“…Unfortunately, that plan will fail.” 

Sayaka exhaled, finding it all troublesome, somehow. 

“Mm.” Kiriha furled her brows. “And why is that?” 

“Because Kojou Akatsuki and Yukina are going to stop Leviathan and bring Yume Eguchi back. While we’re at it, I’m going to kick your ass and toss all you Bureau of Astrology higher-ups out on your butts for thinking up dumb stuff like this.” 

“You speak loftily of goals beyond the capabilities of a mere Shamanic War Dancer of the Lion King Agency. I shall kill you—!” 

Kiriha thrust her spear forward before she had even finished her threat. 

Sayaka leaped to the right. Kiriha saw the move coming. Six Blades Spirit Sight: Like Sword Shamans of the Lion King Agency, Kiriha was able to peer a moment into the future. Kiriha’s attack could not be avoided. 

But Sayaka evaded that purportedly unavoidable attack. She had moved even faster than the future Kiriha could read. 

“Shaking Cosmos/Judgment!” 

Sayaka’s kick assailed Kiriha. Kiriha blocked it with the shaft of her spear, but the force of the explosive kick sent the guarding Kiriha flying. 

“Wha…?!” 

Kiriha cried out as her wrists went numb. Sayaka might have been blessed with a tall figure, but she was far from a bodybuilder. A kick from her slender leg shouldn’t have had the force to overwhelm Kiriha. 

“That speed…! Physical enchantment?! How could it possibly be this str—” 

“Shamanic War Dancers of the Lion King Agency are experts in curses and assassinations. Of course, that includes a thorough education in how to curse yourself.” 

Sayaka stated it like it was nothing special. Physical enchantments were basic skills used by many Attack Mages to temporarily boost their physical strength and reaction speeds using ritual energy. 

However, the rate of physical enhancement Sayaka had used far surpassed the bounds of Kiriha’s knowledge. Sayaka had woven a curse on herself so dangerous that the slightest lapse of control would cause her to destroy herself. Save for Shamanic War Dancers, experts in curses, such a tactic was beyond absurd. 

“Sayaka Kirasaka! Are you saying you can move faster than Six Blades Spirit Sight—?!” 

Kiriha’s counterattack did not connect. Even peering into the future, she could not catch up to Sayaka’s speed. “That’s not all, though,” said Sayaka, coldly shaking her head. 

“There has to still be damage from when Yukina nailed you, Kiriha Kisaki. As you are now, I’d be one hundred to zero with you. Besides, it’s probably kicking in right about now?” 

“—?!” 

Kiriha’s spear fell from her hands. With a look of shock, Kiriha stared at her right hand, suddenly lacking all gripping power. 

Kiriha’s right hand had taken the brunt of Sayaka’s kick, but that was not the cause. It had merely been the signal that had triggered the curse placed on it beforehand. 

“A binding ritual… When did you—?! You have not even…touched me!” 

Shamanic War Dancers were experts in curses and assassination. Knowing this, Kiriha had taken great pains to avoid being touched by Sayaka. Sayaka shouldn’t have had any opportunity to cast a curse on Kiriha. 

“I suppose not. Not directly, anyway.” 

As she spoke, Sayaka thrust her silver long sword into the ground. Seeing this, Kiriha drew in her breath a little. 

“Contagion curse! You had a curse planted on the hilt of Der Freischötz from the beginning?!” 

Kiriha had not been touched by Sayaka. But Kiriha had touched her sword. That, by itself, had cast Sayaka’s curse upon her. If Sayaka had been serious, she surely could have slain Kiriha via the curse then and there. It was Kiriha who had been shown mercy back then. 

That fact was a great stain upon Kiriha’s pride. 

“Black Thunder—!” 

Kiriha leaped, her entire body brimming with her remaining ritual energy. Sayaka was not the only one who could use physical enchantments. Kiriha amplified her physical strength and reaction speed beyond her limits to unleash a killing blow. Kiriha’s physical abilities were now Sayaka’s equal. Even if she could not use her right arm, Kiriha was a Six Blades, an expert in hand-to-hand combat. Her victory was assured— 

“Saturn/Saiha!” 

—but Sayaka did not pick her long sword back up; instead, she lunged into Kiriha’s flank. Then, she unleashed a blow to a vulnerable spot at point-blank range. Kiriha, already moving beyond her limits, could not fend off the blow. 

“Eight Divine Generals School… The Lion King Agency’s silent assassin technique…!” 

Struck in her eardrum, Kiriha wrung out a painful-sounding voice. 

“Did you think you could beat a Shamanic War Dancer in hand-to-hand? I’m an expert assassin, you know?” 

Sayaka exhaled in exasperation. 

In point of fact, there was no gap between her and Kiriha’s combat abilities. Certainly, the damage she’d taken from Yukina was dragging her down, but Sayaka was more depleted still; nor was a Shamanic War Dancer’s physical enchantment convenient enough to be used for a long period of time. Sayaka’s show of superiority over Kiriha was all bluff, a tactical ploy. 

But Sayaka’s bluff had gotten to Kiriha, throwing her off her game. 

Kiriha was an anti–demon beast combat expert. And Sayaka was an assassin… 

Bluffs went nowhere with demon beasts, but they worked wonders against human opponents. Sayaka’s victory over Kiriha had hinged on that single component: her having experience against opponents on whom such ploys actually worked. 

“Certainly, my underestimating you seems to be my undoing, Sayaka Kirasaka. But you are too late. Even if you destroy Riru now, that can no longer stop Leviathan’s attack—” 

Though Kiriha discerned she had lost, she forced a faint smile out as she spoke. 

“You might be right,” Sayaka admitted, her shoulders falling. 

Over the distant horizon, she could already faintly make out Leviathan’s enormous shadow. Even if she destroyed Riru immediately, it didn’t mean that monster would just let Blue Elysium go. 

“I enjoyed our bout, Sayaka Kirasaka. Thank you, for stopping me…” 

That was the last Kiriha said before losing consciousness. 

Even if it was her mission, perhaps even she had anguished over taking the lives of a great many innocent people. Somehow, Kiriha’s face seemed more at ease now that she had been relieved of the heavy burden of seeing Blue Elysium’s final moments through. 

Sayaka felt a little envious at her satisfied demeanor as she said, “What’s this thank you… I’d rather you didn’t bury us all just yet!” 

Dragging her tired body along, Sayaka walked toward the laboratory. 

Sayaka hadn’t given up on destroying Riru. 

Even if Kiriha had told her it wasn’t in time, she had a reason not to give in. 

Sayaka wasn’t fighting alone. Kojou and Yukina were headed for Leviathan. 

Though she didn’t doubt Leviathan’s magnitude, she still believed without a shadow of a doubt that they’d manage, somehow. 

“…You’ve made even me believe in you, Kojou Akatsuki… You’d better pull this off!” 

Sayaka subconsciously put a hand to her own neck as she murmured. Sayaka couldn’t help but believe in the teenage boy whose gut she’d stabbed with her sword, but who’d saved her nonetheless. 

So Sayaka couldn’t give in. She had no reason to. 

4 

It wasn’t long before Kojou and Yukina could tell that something had happened. 

Along with a sense of deceleration, the pulses that had continued inside the living weapon at regular intervals came to a halt. All that remained was a gentle sway, as if floating on a wave—Leviathan had stopped swimming. 

“Leviathan…stopped?” Kojou muttered, staring into the sky. 

For her part, Yukina seemed bewildered as she surveyed the area. 

They were inside Leviathan’s interior cavern. It was a huge open space, resembling a hangar on an aircraft carrier— 

It was unclear whether the gods had designed it that way or Leviathan had evolved in that fashion on its own, but Leviathan, a living weapon itself, came with a cavity for loading small-scale living weapons for its own defense. 

However, in that moment, Kojou and Yukina were the space’s only occupants. 

The high-speed ship that had gotten them that far had been smashed when they broke into Leviathan’s innards. The twin-hulled ship was split right down the middle, completely unable to sail farther. 

Yukina, with her absurd reflexes, had come out largely unscathed, but Kojou had taken damage all over his body and looked on the verge of death. If possible, he would’ve loved some R & R to heal his wounds, but unfortunately there was no time for that. 

Considering Leviathan’s enormous frame, it was close enough to Blue Elysium, several kilometers removed, to reach out and touch the isle. They had to get Yume back before the World’s Mightiest Demon Beast sank the subfloat. 

With their backs against the wall, they were grateful for Leviathan’s sudden halt, but it still felt eerie. Kojou was still bewildered, ignorant of the cause, when the cell phone in his pocket began to ring to announce an incoming call. 

“Kojou, can you hear me?” 

“Ah… Asagi?” 

Kojou was a little surprised when he heard Asagi’s voice over the communication app. Even though the sea’s surface had nothing to obstruct electromagnetic waves, it was still too far from shore. They should’ve been too far out for cell phones to be usable. 

“I’m using that Yotaka sub as a relay. Sounds like you made it safe and sound.” 

“Yeah, somehow.” 

Kojou replied over the com channel, which seemed fairly laggy. His cut lip still hurt, but he could still handle a phone call. If Asagi was using the submarine’s equipment, that suggested she’d finally managed a thorough hack of the Kusuki-Elysée laboratory. 

“You took Riru over, Asagi?” 

“Somehow. Kirasaka seems to have made it to the Kusuki-Elysée lab, too.” 

“That so.” 

He felt Yukina give off an air of relief now that she knew Sayaka was safe and sound. Sayaka had to have been run-down from firing curse arrows one after another, but she’d apparently managed to send Kiriha packing. 

With this, he could finally make out a faint ray of hope for saving Blue Elysium. All that remained was for Kojou and Yukina to bring Yume back. 

“At any rate, I’ve managed to make Leviathan behave for now. But I’m just pulling the wool over Riru’s eyes so it might not last very long—at best, five, ten minutes?” 

Asagi spoke with a faint twinge of nervousness. Kojou’s expression grew graver still. 

“So we’d better find Yume and get her out before then, huh.” 

“If I can’t keep Riru pinned down on this end, I’ll have Kirasaka take out the whole system. That should take away Leviathan’s reason for attacking Blue Elysium, after all.” 

“Got it. That’d be good—” 

The line cut out before Asagi even said Leave it to me. Apparently, Asagi’s mind was so busy keeping Riru under wraps that she couldn’t spare any of it even for talking over the phone. 

“Let’s go, Himeragi. There’s no time.” 

“Yes.” 

Kojou dragged his painful body as he walked forward; Yukina followed without objection. Leviathan’s interior was too huge to settle everything in five minutes. There was no time to address Kojou’s wounds. 

Yukina stepped on the hard, armor-like interior wall as she said, “I had imagined more of a living thing, but this truly is a weapon…” 

It was dark inside Leviathan, but Kojou, being a vampire, had keen nocturnal vision. Yukina, with her spirit sight, apparently also had no trouble. 

Leviathan’s interior gave off an air that was less simple life form, and more manufactured product with an organic-looking design, kind of like the hood of a sports car. 

“Not looking very alive is kind of a saving grace. I don’t plan on eating eel for a while, though.” 

Kojou grimaced as he recalled that Leviathan resembled a gargantuan serpent. Naturally, the thought of being in the monster’s belly gave him chills. 

As he advanced into the gently curved cave, he could make out a faint light. 

The source of the plainly artificial white glow was a submarine’s floodlight. A snow-white submarine was moored there, as if enshrined by Leviathan’s interior. 

“Senpai…” 

“Yeah… It’s that Kusuki-Elysée submarine, ain’t it…?” 

Not bad, thought Kojou, internally thanking Mogwai for his precise directions. 

The submarine’s identity was crystal clear even without the characters YOTAKA engraved into the hull. There was only one submarine that’d be sitting in a place like that. 

The submarine’s hatch was open. Moving as if she weighed no more than a feather, Yukina leaped onto the submarine’s hull, calling out to Kojou as she peered in. 

“Senpai. There’s someone inside…” 

A middle-aged man wearing a blue diving suit was lying on the floor within. His eyes were firmly closed; the expression he wore looked like a man terrified of something. 

“That Kusuki guy. Don’t tell me he’s…dead?” 

Yukina shook her head at Kojou’s question. 

“No, he would appear to be asleep. However, whether he will ever wake again is…” 

“Either way, at this rate, he’ll die if we just…leave him like this…” 

Why’d it have to be like this? Kojou put a hand over his eyes. 

He couldn’t just let the guy die like that, but even so, he didn’t have any time to spare looking after him. He was the only one in the submarine. Yume was nowhere to be found. 

Where’s Yume—? thought Kojou, shifting his gaze about. 

Suddenly, he felt strange demonic energy surging behind his back. 

“Senpai—!” 

Yukina, reacting a moment quicker, tried to warn Kojou. 

But it was too late. Before she could manage, a pitch-black whip reached out, severing the darkness as it hit Kojou hard. 

Kojou was sent flying without even time to groan in pain. 

The whip that had hit Kojou so hard was actually a tail with a sharply tapered tip. When he looked at the black tail, imbued with demonic energy, rising high above, he saw the figure of a small-statured girl. 

She was wearing a thin, skintight outfit like a swimsuit. Black wings were protruding from her back. 

“Shit, that hurt…!” 

Kojou wiped off his bleeding forehead as he looked up at the girl sitting on top of the submarine. 

With Kojou unable to get up, Yukina hopped down and raised her spear to cover his back. However, there was hesitation in Yukina’s eyes as she stared at the girl. Yukina could not turn her spear upon the girl sitting on top of the submarine. 

After all, it was she whom they had come to bring back with them— 

Kojou, finally getting back up, called out to the girl with the black tail. 

“Yume!” 

But the girl with the same face as Yume went “Ah-ha-ha,” laughing as she defiantly spread her arms wide. 

“Did you think I was Yume? Sowwy. It’s Riru.” 

“…Riru, you say?” 

Kojou was aghast as he stared at the girl calling herself Riru. 

The unexpected situation left his thoughts disjointed. Asagi was supposedly weighing down the Riru inside of the Kusuki-Elysée laboratory. There ought to have been no way the artificially constructed personality could be in control of Yume. 

However, the succubus girl looked down with visible scorn at the shaken pair beneath her. 

“You sure are stubborn to follow me all the way out here. Didn’t you hear from Kiriha? Yume wants to die inside this monster. What, you plan to drag her back against her will? Does that get you anything, Mr. Kojou? Maybe you wanted to do perverted things with Yume…?” 

“I did not—!” 

Kojou tried to get closer to the girl when a purple firecracker went off at his feet. Kojou’s face froze over when he realized he was being shot at. 

“Senpai, please be careful! We’re surrounded!” 

“What the—?” 

Kojou looked all around in response to Yukina’s words. A horde of countless creatures were wriggling in the darkness everywhere his eyes could see. Physically, they resembled giant hermit crabs. Instead of having proper crab pincers, they came equipped with cylindrical arms that somehow looked like machine guns. The shot had probably been a demonic energy round coming out of one of those. 

Though there was a certain amount of individual size difference, the creatures averaged a couple of meters in length. It was a brigade of small living weapons, each encased in a hard shell. Just from what he could count, their numbers surpassed a hundred. 

The horde of living weapons welled up from the floor and the walls, filling up the supposedly unoccupied cavern to surround Kojou and Yukina. 

“Did you think you were safe once you got in Leviathan? This part’s totally weaponized, too, you know?” 

The succubus girl was coldly rebuffing Kojou and Yukina, as if to say If you don’t wanna die, leave me here and get lost right now. 

“I can read minds, you know, and boy, does yours annoy me. All that sympathy and hypocrisy… You just want to be filled with self-satisfaction from saving the poor widdle girl, don’t you? Or maybe you really do lust for Yume? Oh no, Mr. Kojou, you’re such a lolicon!” 

For a while, Kojou listened unemotionally to Yume’s slander. Then, having waited for her words to trail off, he made a heavy sigh as if he was brushing the whole thing aside. Then, a cold smile came over him, seeming to be expressly meant to rub the girl’s pride the wrong way. 

“Who’s a lolicon here? Don’t go sticking weird fetishes on other people. I ain’t interested in a little kid’s body!” 

“Wha…?! I—I do not have a little kid’s body! Even I have—” 

Perhaps Kojou’s taunt had wounded her, for the succubus girl became annoyed, replying without thinking. The entirety of her words gave him a good, hard look at the real her. 

Seeing her cover her mouth, conscious of her own slip of the tongue, Kojou let out a strained, listless laugh. 

“Figured. Cut the bad acting. There’s no need for that anymore, so let’s go, Yume.” 

“It…it’s not acting…” 

Yume desperately scrambled to find a rebuttal, but Kojou cut her legs out with ease. 

“Riru would never call me something like ‘Mr. Kojou.’” 

“Eeek!” Her throat trembled as she realized the jig was up. 

Her eyes wavered as tears welled up within them. She bit her lip, desperately trying to hold back tears as she spoke in a broken voice. 

“How…? Why…?” 

The wings at her back vanished. With a slight delay, the tail dissipated as well. 

All that was left was a helpless girl, her shoulders trembling. 

“You’ve barely met me. I’m not a friend or family, yet you came for me in a dangerous place like this! You had no guarantee of leaving alive!” Yume yelled shakily, sobs escaping her. 

Having accepted Riru within her, she now knew everything—including that she had gone to Leviathan to die. If Yume died there, Leviathan’s demonic energy wall would prevent Lilith’s soul from reincarnating again. Therefore, there would never be another child suffering the same misfortune from Lilith’s power. 

Hence, why Yume had not wished to involve Kojou and Yukina, both unrelated to her. So she’d earnestly pretended to be Riru to drive Kojou and Yukina away. 

Kojou understood how she felt. So, too, did he understand her desire for a gentle death. 

But Kojou could not accept that wish. He had a reason why he could not. 

“Way back, I knew someone who was a lot like you.” 

“Huh?” 

Kojou’s abrupt confession made Yume blink like she’d been slapped. 

The gaze he turned toward her was as if Kojou was looking far into the distance. 

“She was an ordinary girl, too. She wanted to go to school and have fun. But she’d had the Accursed Soul of the World’s Mightiest Vampire pushed onto her, and with that in her arms, she went off and died on me. To save me, and to save Nagisa…” 

Then, Kojou gave off a bitter, seemingly self-berating smile. 

Yes. That was why Kojou had to save Yume. He’d only finally regained a single, vague, partial fragment of his memories of her. The memories throbbed within him like an icy thorn jabbed into the core of his heart, pleading to Kojou to save Yume, for her sake. 

“It’s exactly as you said. I’m a hypocrite for doing this. I want to save you when I couldn’t save her, just to soak in the self-satisfaction of it! Even so, I’m savin’ you anyway!” 

“Why—?!” 

Yume shouted in a sad voice. 

Kojou seemed to erase that sadness with his own roar. 

“You’ve never been so happy that you thought, ‘I could die right now,’ have you?!” 

“—?!” 

Yume was at a loss for words, seemingly cowed by Kojou’s shout. As the girl stood petrified, Kojou gently reached his hand out toward her. 

“Let’s go back, Yume. It ain’t just me and Himeragi, Kirasaka and Asagi and that bastard Yaze are waiting for you. Nagisa’s working hard to make curry, for your sake. There’s still fireworks left from last night, and you’d better get some fun in at the pool and amusement park. Once we get back to Itogami Island, don’t worry, I’ll ask Natsuki to find a school for you to go to.” 

“There’s…no way you could do that… After all, I’m…” 

Yume shook her head, desperately trying to defy Kojou’s invitation. 

“Oh, shut up,” Kojou growled, coarsely baring his fangs. “Lilith or World’s Mightiest Succubus, it doesn’t matter to me. You’re gonna live a happy life till the day you die. I don’t care if it’s the Bureau of Astrology or Leviathan, if anyone gets in the way, I’ll smash every last one of ’em! You’re not alone anymore. From here on, this is my fight!” 

“…Mr.…Kojou…” 

For a single moment, a truly happy expression seemed to come over Yume. But even so, she immediately shook her head, as if to say even if Kojou accepted her, it wasn’t enough for her to be able to go with him. 

“No, senpai. This is our fight, yes?” Yukina’s eyes were gently narrowed as she extended a hand to Yume, almost as if to assert that it wasn’t just Kojou who accepted her. “So let’s go home, Yume. Together.” 

“Yukina…” 

Finally, tears flowed from Yume’s eyes. Yume kicked the roof of the submarine and rushed toward Kojou and Yukina. Both spread their arms wide to welcome her. And that instant— 

“Aaah—!” 

—Yume’s diminutive body suddenly bent backward, as if shocked by a live wire. 

Kojou and Yukina barely managed to catch Yume as she fell, unconscious. 

“Yume?! Shit, we’re out of time—?!” 

Kojou exclaimed as he held the limp, immobile girl in his arms. 

Asagi had said her restraint of LYL would not last more than ten minutes, at most. Kojou half suspected they’d gone past the time limit and that the Riru personality had hijacked Yume once more. 

However, no matter how much time passed, Riru had shown no signs of awakening. Furthermore, even if LYL had rebooted, it was strange for Yume to have fainted. Perhaps it was not LYL rebooting that caused Yume’s loss of consciousness. The phenomenon was as though the succubus power purportedly controlling Leviathan had been thrown right back at her. 

“Senpai, the living weapons are—!” 

Yukina’s shout interrupted Kojou’s thought process. Her voice was blotted out by ferocious gunfire. Yukina lashed out with her silver spear to defend against the purple demonic energy rounds flying at them. 

The horde of small-scale living weapons surrounding Kojou and the girls had begun moving all at once. Yume, who had been controlling them, had collapsed, with no sign of Riru awakening. 

Who was controlling the horde of small-sized living weapons, if not Yume? Who was their rightful master? 

“No way…” 

Kojou moaned as he looked down at his own feet. 

The next moment, the roar of Leviathan, shaking with rage, filled the air. 

5 

The angry roar Leviathan unleashed reached even Itogami Island. 

“—What’s with this demonic energy wave?! Is this LYL’s doing?” Sayaka exclaimed, sensitive to the ferocious outpouring of demonic energy. 

The shock wave was like a speaker cabinet blaring right into her ear. 

Sayaka was right in the middle of Demon Beast Park—the innermost part of the Kusuki-Elysée lab. The demonic energy wave bombarding her had passed through thick concrete walls like they were nothing. 

Pale blue sparks began to fly from the giant machine dubbed LYL, apparently unable to take the backflow of demonic energy. All Sayaka could do now was gawk. 

“Kirasaka, run! Get out of there—quickly!” 

She heard Asagi’s voice over the cell phone through which they were keeping in touch. The way even she was in a panic made Sayaka expect the worst. 

“B-but what about destroying LYL?!” 

“Leviathan’s slipped free of Lilith’s mind control on its own power—” 

“What?!” 

“I guess that’s the World’s Mightiest Living Weapon for you… Leviathan’s been building up resistance to the mind control without any of us noticing. LYL’s power can’t stop it anymore.” 

Sayaka felt blood drain from her entire body as the meaning of Asagi’s words sunk in. 

Leviathan had slipped free of Lilith’s mind control. Furthermore, Leviathan had gained the power to defy that mind control of its own free will. 

“Then, the demonic energy wave it sent out indiscriminately is…” 

“Feels like an angry roar. It’s probably pretty ticked off at LYL and Riru for putting it on a leash.” 

“Th…this isn’t funny—!” 

Rushing out of the laboratory, Sayaka saw the head of the enormous “dragon” soaring above the water’s horizon. If that overly titanic demon beast was capable of facial expressions, it would likely have worn one of unbridled rage. 

Leviathan had defied Lilith. It was beyond question that the World’s Mightiest Demon Beast had found one-sided mind control to be deeply unpleasant. And having slipped from that control, the demon beast had moved on to its next action—revenge. 

While the demon beast floated on the water’s horizon, something like a flock of ultramarine birds flew up from its back. But this could be no flock of harmless birds; after all, the opponent was a living weapon from the Age of the Gods. 

“—Don’t tell me those are missiles?!” 

With one glance, she understood just what role the creatures had; also, that no one was coming to save her. Giant living missiles were tracing parabolic arcs and pouring down on Blue Elysium. Their number was not quite a hundred in total: enough merciless firepower not only to avenge itself against LYL, but to reduce all of Blue Elysium to ash with room to spare. 

“Urk, L-Lustrous Scale—!” 

She had no time to hesitate. Sayaka raised her recurve bow, nocking one of her few remaining cursed arrows. 

However, the range of a normal bow was woefully insufficient against missiles. Sayaka was left with a single option—using both of Lustrous Scale’s abilities simultaneously. 

By firing a cursed arrow through the rip in space created by its special severing ability, the arrow could instantly vault to the surface of the sea several kilometers ahead. It was a practical application of spatial-control magic, the specialty of Natsuki Minamiya, the Witch of the Void. 

The reason for granting Lustrous Scale, nominally a firing platform for cursed arrows, a bizarre ability such as spatial severing was to enable such ultra–long range sniping attacks. It was a Shamanic War Dancer’s last resort. Using it without permission would mean letters of apology, but she was, of course, too hard-pressed to pay that issue any heed. 

The arrow Sayaka launched used a rip in space to teleport. A giant magic circle was created over open water several kilometers off Blue Elysium. The lightning and flames spewing out of the magic circle intercepted the living missiles, enveloping the stream of missiles in one explosion after another. 

Sayaka fired a new arrow to destroy missiles that had gotten through, but she had reached her limit. There were simply too many missiles for one individual to shoot down. 

A single living missile slipped through Sayaka’s curses, flying straight and true toward the Kusuki-Elysée lab. 

“I can’t stop it—!” 

Sayaka let out a cry of despair, gazing blankly at the oncoming missile above her. Lustrous Scale’s defensive effect only lasted for a single instant. It was not so user-friendly that she could withstand the heat and blast of a missile. 

But before the living missile could reach the Kusuki-Elysée lab, it suddenly split apart and exploded. A single cannon round, fired from a tank on the ground, had shot down the living missile midflight. 

A huge, metallic silhouette came running, seemingly to shield Sayaka from the downpour of flames and missile fragments. It was a micro robot tank, not even reaching the size of a small passenger vehicle. 

An industrial manipulator arm stretched out, and the robot tank scooped up the surprised Sayaka against her will. When she looked over, she saw the unconscious Kiriha Kisaki being carried by the other manipulator arm. 

“Y-you’re…?!” 

“I am called Tanker. I am a friend of empress—Asagi Aiba.” 

Sayaka’s question, made in a trembling voice, was answered by Tanker in a very stiff manner of speaking. 

Even during that span of time, the robot’s main gun opened fire once more, shooting down a new living missile. 

“As all Kusuki-Elysée personnel have been evacuated, nothing remains, save for us to make our own escape—though, I knoweth not if that titanic foe can be shaken off.” 

Cackling loudly, Tanker accelerated the robot tank. 

Behind Sayaka and the others, living missiles finally arrived, their explosions scattering rubble all about as they engulfed Kusuki-Elysée in a sea of flames. 

6 

Kojou and Yukina sought refuge inside of the Yotaka, bringing the still-unconscious Yume with them. The entire area was surrounded by small-scale living weapons, leaving them nowhere else to run. 

From time to time, the hermit crab–style living weapons seemed to remember to bathe them in purple demonic energy rounds, but somehow the submarine, developed for the military, withstood the attacks. 

“Figures it was built pretty tough. At this rate, it might hold up for an hour or two more, but…” 

Kojou sat close to Yukina in the cramped cockpit, murmuring in an unenthused tone. Thanks to having one piece of trouble thrust on him after another with no time to rest, his endurance was close to finally giving out. If possible, he would’ve liked to stay right there and rest like that awhile. 

However, Yukina thrust reality into his face, almost as if to quash Kojou’s faint hopes. 

“Blue Elysium shall no doubt be destroyed before then. Worst case, even the Itogami Island main isle—” 

“Figures… No time to take it easy, huh?” 

“Shit,” Kojou weakly spat out, sluggishly lifting up his head. 

He’d already gotten the gist of the situation straight from Asagi. Namely, that Leviathan had slipped out of Yume’s mind control and was attacking Blue Elysium in a fit of rage. 

In the end, if they left Leviathan to its own devices, everything would go as the woman from the Bureau of Astrology wanted. Their efforts would be a drop in the ocean. 

“If the big guy’s just one demon beast, all we have to do is hurt it enough and it’ll go back to the bottom of the sea, right?” 

Kojou formed that deduction after sorting out everything he knew about Leviathan. If succubus mind control was ineffective, that left physical action as the only option. Completely destroying the giant living weapon was a tall order, even with the Fourth Primogenitor’s power. But if they just had to beat it up to a certain point, it would lower the hurdles considerably. 

“You might be right. It may be angry right now, but unlike human beings, it is unlikely to pursue revenge to the point of endangering itself,” Yukina concurred. 

Even though it had been built as a living weapon, Leviathan was not a belligerent demon beast. That was amply backed up by the fact the demon beast had minded its own business at the bottom of the sea for untold millennia. 

They had to fight Leviathan and send it packing. 

When put in those terms, it was unnervingly simple, but it seemed to be the only way Kojou and Yukina could resolve the impasse. And only the power of the Fourth Primogenitor could bring that about. 

Although, Yukina seemed somewhat disheartened as her shoulders fell. 

“However, it is impossible to fight it on the sea’s surface for long periods, senpai. After all, you cannot swim.” 

“Never mind me, there ain’t anyone who can swim with a monster like this thrashing around in the sea!” 

Kojou looked wounded as he made the rude retort. 

As a matter of fact, Kojou could use the power of his Beast Vassals to get out of Leviathan with ease, submarine and all. The problem came after that. No matter how stoutly the Yotaka may have been constructed, there was no way it could withstand Leviathan’s attacks. A single demonic energy cannon round, and it was all over. 

Therefore, Kojou and Yukina’s only chance of victory was settling things before it came to that. 

“The gist is, I’ve gotta do a decisive amount of damage to this thing in one hit, right?” 

“Can you do it? If not for the demonic energy wall, I think you might be able to manage, but Snowdrift Wolf’s effective range is several meters, at best.” 

“…This thing’s just way too big in the first place…” 

Kojou sighed deeply as he recalled his first skirmish with Leviathan. To a certain degree, Leviathan’s powerful demonic energy wall could even fend off the attacks of Kojou’s Beast Vassals. Breaking through that with a single blow and making the demon beast lose its will to fight seemed beyond any sane measure. 

That said, he couldn’t summon a Beast Vassal right in the belly of the beast. After all, the vast numbers of living torpedoes and missiles there constituted a huge stockpile of living explosives. Furthermore, a non-trivial amount of demonic energy was needed just to maintain the beast’s giant frame. 

If Kojou was to detonate all that with a Beast Vassal, the shock wave from the explosion would wipe Blue Elysium off the map with ease. That would render the effort meaningless. 

He needed an attack that could make Leviathan combat-incapable in one blow, yet would also avoid the risk of a chain explosion. Those were very difficult conditions, indeed. He couldn’t think of anything that existed on the Earth’s surface that qualified. Yes, such a thing did not exist—on the Earth’s surface. 

“I see. That might be worth a try…” 

“…Senpai? Have you found a way?” 

Hearing Kojou murmur to himself, Yukina turned to him, her eyes filled with hope. 

He hesitated for a brief moment before nodding. 

“Yeah. You’ll cooperate with me, Himeragi?” 

“Yes. I shall do anything that is within my power.” 

Yukina replied instantly and without hesitation, her face full of a sense of responsibility. Reassured by her strong reply, Kojou’s face brightened into a smile. 

“All right, then. Please take off your clothes.” 

“—Huh?” 

Yukina froze, seemingly dumbfounded as an awkward silence fell for a brief moment. Then, Kojou’s vision blurred and shuddered. Without warning, Yukina had released the back of her fist, striking Kojou hard in the temple. 

“Ooooo—!” 

Reeling from the brain-scrambling blow, Kojou fell prostrate against the wall of the sub. 

Yukina nervously reached toward Kojou’s back. “I—I am quite sorry. But…it is because you spoke so frivolously at a time like this, senpai…” 

“It wasn’t frivolous! I was totally serious!” 

“Then, that is even worse—!” 

Yukina glared at Kojou with a stern expression. Kojou held a hand to his temple, dull pain coursing through it as he wobbled to his feet. 

“Not like that. I want to drink your blood. I figure it’s still not enough to wake up that. Besides, when I drank Sayaka’s blood, it was with a big hole in my gut—” 

“That…? Ahh, now I see what you mean…” Yukina sighed deeply, finally discerning what Kojou was getting at. 

Twelve Beast Vassals served within the blood of the Fourth Primogenitor. However, not even half would respond to his summons, for they did not recognize Kojou as their host. Kojou was still a very incomplete vampire, a mere human being until inheriting the power of the Fourth Primogenitor a short time ago. 

Sacrifices had to be offered for the difficult-to-please Beast Vassals of the Fourth Primogenitor to recognize him as host. In other words, he had to drink the blood of a powerful spirit medium and take it into his own body—that was, at any rate, the fastest method for taming his Beast Vassals. 

The blood of a Sword Shaman of the Lion King Agency, like Yukina, more than qualified as a sacrifice. All that remained was for her to deliver Kojou the proper stimulus so that he was struck by the urge to drink blood, but— 

“But I refuse.” 

Yukina drew the collar of her parka tight, concealing her neck. 

“Eh?!” 

Her unanticipated reaction left Kojou lost at sea. 

The trigger for vampiric impulses was not hunger, but lust—in other words, sexual desire. Put another way, if Kojou was not in a state of arousal, he couldn’t consume blood no matter how much he wanted to. 

They were trapped in the belly of a gargantuan demon beast, surrounded by a horde of living weapons. On top of that, there was an elementary schooler sleeping right beside him, and also an older man he didn’t know on the floor by his feet. 

Even with a pretty girl like Yukina up against him inside a cramped submarine, the circumstances were simply too much of a turnoff. Put bluntly, sexual arousal was difficult to come by in this situation. 

“—Er, Miss Himeragi. You’ll cooperate with me to wake up the Beast Vassal, won’t you?” 

“I suppose so. I did promise, after all. If you want to drink, drink as you please.” 

Yukina spoke those somehow frosty words as she turned her back to Kojou. She was acting apathetically, like a wife tired of her marriage. 

“Then at least take the parka off. You’re wearing a swimsuit under it and everything, right?” 

“—I suppose I am. Still, I refuse.” 

“Why?!” 

“After all, you will not be pleased to see a swimsuit such as mine, senpai.” 

Speaking those words in a pouty tone, Yukina glanced sideways, catching Kojou’s eyes. 

“You said seeing a middle schooler’s swimsuit would not please you. That it was no big deal to you.” 

“Er… Did I say something like that?” 

Bewildered, Kojou groped through his memories. He couldn’t crisply remember the details, but somehow, he felt like he knew the reason Yukina was so atypically uncooperative. 

That said, he was a little unsure what someone would think of a guy overjoyed to see his own little sister and her classmate in swimsuits, but— 

“I am insufficient for your vampiric impulses, senpai. After all, I do not even have to deal with drag in the water—” Yukina averted her face once more, speaking like she was berating herself. 

Kojou scratched his head in exasperation. He thought that any outsider would see Yukina as blessed with almost unfair looks, but she was surprisingly unaware of that herself. 

Certainly, he could understand why being close to a straight-up babe like Asagi and a stylish girl with a model-level face like Sayaka would give a girl a few anxieties, but… 

“Well…if that’s how it’s gonna be, guess I’ve gotta use just the Beast Vassals I have on hand…” 

Kojou gave up on convincing Yukina and shifted his eyes to what lay beyond the window. 

Put plainly, stopping Leviathan with his available resources was going to be difficult. Even if he could fight without any concerns, the beast had a huge home-field advantage in combat at sea. He couldn’t waste any more time moping around. 

“Senpai, that wound…!” 

That was when he sensed Yukina gasping heavily behind him. She was staring at Kojou’s back. It was pierced with several deep wounds, his T-shirt drenched with blood. 

“Ah, that. Took a few hits when we were getting into the sub…” 

They ain’t that bad, Kojou seemed to say with a careless shake of his head. The injuries had been caused by the small living weapons surrounding the Yotaka. He’d taken a number of demonic energy rounds when they’d fled into the submarine with Yume. 

“Did you get those while shielding Yume? Why did you not say anything—?!” 

“Hey, don’t worry about it. Stuff like this’ll close real quick. More importantly, gotta stop Leviathan ASAP…” 

Kojou firmly broke off the exchange. 

In point of fact, they weren’t deep wounds. If Kojou was in pristine physical condition, wounds of that level would have healed already, but he’d simply lost too much blood. 

He’d been run through the gut by Sayaka’s sword, and his internal organs had taken a real beating when they charged Leviathan. On top of that, he was low on demonic energy from using multiple Beast Vassals. Along the way, the damage had piled up bit by bit, impeding Kojou’s ability to heal. But it wasn’t the time to worry about any of that. 

“Goodness, senpai… You truly are an incorrigible vampire…” 

Yukina exhaled with a strained smile, perhaps beside herself that Kojou had hidden the wounds from her. 

Kojou felt like he heard the sounds of a button opening, and fabric sliding down. 

“It is fine, senpai. You may look this way.” 

“…Eh?” 

When Yukina addressed him, Kojou looked behind him. His movements stopped, as if he was frozen stiff. 

What flew into his field of vision was skin so white, you could almost see through it. 

Slender shoulders, the indent of the collarbone, the modest swell of her breasts, her tight, lithe hips… Flesh was exposed all over Yukina’s body, right down to the sockets of her hips. 

“Er, ah… It is a little embarrassing to be stared at so intently…” 

Yukina seemed to blush as she squirmed under Kojou’s seemingly fixed gaze. Those words finally brought Kojou back to his senses. 

Yukina was wearing a pastel-blue bikini. Upon closer inspection, she was wearing a skirt; her level of exposure was not as high as it had first seemed. Even so, Kojou’s gaze was stolen by the sight of her in something she normally wouldn’t be caught dead in. 

“I…only just bought this swimsuit. I have not yet shown it to anyone else, senpai.” 

Yukina spoke in a tense tone. But Kojou, captivated by her, could say nothing in reply. 

With Kojou maintaining his long silence, Yukina lifted her face up with an entirely natural look of concern and said: 

“Does it look…odd?” 

“N-no… It really suits you. I think it looks cute,” Kojou said in a raspy voice. His throat was so dry he couldn’t speak properly. 

Even so, Yukina seemed happy, smiling bashfully as she said, “Tee-hee… This is the first time you have praised someone’s swimsuit, isn’t it, senpai?” 

“Y-yeah. Come to think of it, you might be the only one…” 

He couldn’t remember making any special comment to Asagi or Sayaka, even Yume, never mind Nagisa. He remembered them being angry with him, though. 

“Only me, is it…? Is that so…?” 

Somehow, Yukina seemed satisfied as she murmured, closing the distance with Kojou. Apparently, her mood had completely rebounded at some point. 

Yukina’s sweet smell filled Kojou’s senses. The hand Kojou wrapped around her back touched her bare, defenseless flesh. The feeling of human skin was cool and comfortable to the touch. 

Yukina’s bare neck was right before Kojou’s eyes. 

“Himeragi…” 

Kojou’s fangs bit down, breaking Yukina’s soft skin. 

Fresh, glossy blood flowed down Yukina’s neck. Her voice escaped her lips. She seemed to endure the pain, easing every inch of her tense body as she leaned softly into Kojou’s. 

In the dim cockpit, illuminated only by emergency lights, two silhouettes pressed together and ceased to move. 

Their breaths and body heat intertwined, quietly melting to become one. 

7 

The girl sat alone on the roof of a pure-white cottage. 

She was an early teen giving off a mildly childish impression—Nagisa Akatsuki. Her long dark hair, worn down, flapped in the gunsmoke-scented wind; a significant departure from her usual, energetic self. 

The current Nagisa’s smile was so cold, one might have thought her entire body was shrouded in ice. 

Her wide eyes were trained on a giant silhouette floating on the horizon. 

Inside the cottage, Asagi was facing her computer. Leading Blue Elysium visitors to safety, requesting assistance from the coast guard, sending warnings to nearby ships at sea—Asagi was doing all these things single-handedly. Leviathan’s emergence hadn’t created a panic inside Blue Elysium largely thanks to her efforts. 

She is really something…, Nagisa Akatsuki mused. 

The cost of Asagi’s heroic efforts was that the hacker had lost her chance to evacuate. Although, she surely didn’t feel like a martyr or anything of the sort. It needed to be done, so she did it. That was all it was. Yes, just like the boy who had calmly exposed himself to gunfire to save his little sister in the Demon Sanctuary of a different land— 

She thought, if it was possible, she wanted to help that proud girl. But as she was now, Nagisa had no power to drive off the enormous living weapon. 

Yet, she didn’t worry, because she sensed that one of her dear companions had woken anew. 

“I see… So you are next…” 

These words spoken, Nagisa looked up at the sky—to the clear, blue sky spread above the sea that the living weapon from the Age of the Gods had set astir. 

“Good War Dancer, art thou all right—?!” 

Tanker’s overbearing lament was broadcast at full blast by the external speaker. 

Sayaka was sitting listlessly on the semispherical armor reminiscent of a land turtle as she said: 

“I’m done for. I’m out of cursed arrows, and even my endurance is at its limit…!” 

“Ha-ha-ha! ’Tis understandable. My cannon is also out!” 

The robot tank spun around on the tires embedded into the front legs and accelerated. 

With Tanker’s assistance, Sayaka had already shot down nearly three hundred of Leviathan’s living missiles. In that sense, the two girls were the main reason damage to Blue Elysium had been limited. 

Sayaka didn’t know why Tanker, purportedly in the employ of the Bureau of Astrology, had lent her aid. Her hacking duel with Asagi had probably led to a change of heart. 

However, their weapons were now depleted. In the first place, it had been reckless for them to challenge a living weapon from the Age of the Gods with man-sized weaponry. 

“—Next round, incoming!” Tanker announced loudly, whirling the main camera around. 

Sayaka ground her teeth when she looked up and saw a flock of living missiles filling the sky to the brim. The numbers were well in excess of what was needed to burn Blue Elysium to a crisp. It was a sight one might attribute to the end of the world. 

But suddenly, that very flock of living missiles vanished in a shining ray. A giant, glimmering, dazzling thunderbolt had engulfed the countless living missiles, causing them to explode. 

“What?! ’Tis a grand spectacle!” 

Heedless of the tension, Tanker raised her voice in admiration. 

Flames filled the sky, reminiscent of fireworks at a festival, with a delayed boom afterward. 

Surrounded by gun smoke, a lightning lion emerged, scattering thunderbolts all about. 

“A Fourth Primogenitor…Beast Vassal…! That means—” 

As if responding to Sayaka’s murmur, a small explosion erupted from Leviathan’s surface. 

A sonic wave shell had pulverized its thick scales. From the open cavity within, a beat-up white submarine emerged, seemingly shot out by a scarlet, twin-horned horse. 

The submarine was in a tailspin as it fell, kicking up a tall spout of water as it landed on the surface of the sea. 

The scarlet Beast Vassal had scattered blast winds throughout Leviathan’s interior; the submarine Yotaka used the resulting recoil to fly outside. 

The shock wave made the hull audibly creak, smashing the floodlights and ripping the stabilizing fins off. In spite of this, the submarine itself was safe. Even as everyone was jostled around in the cramped cockpit, Kojou sprung up from Yukina and the others, who’d ended up on the floor under him. 

“—You all right, Himeragi?!” 

“Yes. Yume is fine as well!” 

Yukina, who’d shielded the unconscious Yume, stood up, too, spear in hand. 

The hull of the Yotaka, designed to withstand water pressure in the deep sea, defied even the whirlpool kicked up by Leviathan’s giant frame. The submarine was uncontrollable and buffeted by tall waves, but Kojou used the blast winds scattered by the bicorn to somehow get it to a safe distance. 

“Just hold for a little longer!” 

Kojou called out to the helplessly creaking submarine as he opened the hatch and climbed up from the boat. 

Leviathan had scattered its own living torpedoes and missiles about, but when it came to destructive power, Kojou’s Beast Vassals had the edge. So long as the defense held, he didn’t need to worry about going down easy. 

The problem was Leviathan’s enormous body itself, protected by a stalwart demonic energy wall. Even Kojou had no means to bring something that massive to a halt. If it pressed ahead full force, Blue Elysium could not endure. 

Kojou had to settle things before Leviathan arrived at the subfloat. 

“…Living weapon from the Age of the Gods…the World’s Mightiest Demon Beast, huh…?” 

Kojou murmured while looking up at the ultramarine monster. 

The head of Leviathan glared down at Kojou, seeming to be annoyed at the insect it could not manage to squish. 

Such awe-inspiring might was enough to make one hallucinate that he faced no demon beast but an uncontrollable force of nature, like a tornado or a volcanic eruption. 

But when it came to global threat levels, Kojou’s was no less. After all, the twelve Beast Vassals serving the Fourth Primogenitor, too, were calamity incarnate. 

“Now that I think of it, you might be the biggest victim in all of this. You were sleeping comfortably at the bottom of the sea when someone slapped you awake and controlled you however she wanted—so I get why you wanna let loose.” 

Even though Kojou knew that his own voice would not reach, he addressed Leviathan with what seemed like pity. 

Then, his eyes glowed crimson as he coarsely roared: 

“It’s too much to ask for you to just let it all go, Leviathan. So if you’re gonna hate someone, hate me—!” 

Demonic energy resembling pitch-black miasma spewed from Kojou’s entire body. 

He glared at the blue sky far above his head as he raised both hands high. It was as if he were drawing a giant, invisible sword from its earthen sheath. 

“I, Kojou Akatsuki, inheritor of the bloodline Kaleid Blood, release thee from thy bonds—!” 

The miasma unleashed by Kojou warped the air, finally creating a cavity in the form of a sword. 

It was thousands of meters tall, yet clearly visible to the naked eye. It was a ridiculously huge sword with a blade over a hundred meters wide. 

Properly speaking, its shape replicated an ancient weapon known as a Vajra sword. It was said to be a blade used by the gods to smite devils. 

“…An Intelligent Weapon?! A Sword…of Judgment…!” Yukina exclaimed, realizing the true nature of Kojou’s Beast Vassal. 

Yukina still didn’t know one thing: The girl known as Root Avrora had once summoned that vile Beast Vassal forth to sink a portion of Itogami Island. 

“—C’mon over, Beast Vassal number seven, Kiffa Ater!” 

Responding to Kojou’s call, the enormous sword began to fall. 

The blade was enveloped by incandescent flames as it accelerated via gravity’s pull. The sight was like a meteor falling to Earth. The atmosphere roared and trembled; the sky became as bright as if a new sun had emerged. 

Leviathan, doubtlessly sensing the bizarre presence, began to turn its head. It was attempting to escape from the black sword’s landing point. 

But before it could, the black sword fell faster still. Kiffa Ater was no mere giant sword. It was a Beast Vassal possessing a will of its own. 

That servant’s ability was the control of gravity. The sword, accelerating from many times the normal force of gravity, became a supersonic bullet sailing toward Leviathan’s gargantuan frame. 

“Sorry, Leviathan. That big body of yours can’t get away.” 

Kojou made a thin, frail smile, as if pitying the World’s Mightiest Demon Beast. 

The next instant, the sword Beast Vassal became a ray of light impaling Leviathan’s enormous body. 

Even the stalwart demonic energy wall, the pride of the living weapon from the Age of the Gods, was powerless in the face of the kinetic energy from such overwhelming speed. The giant sword, its blade more than a hundred meters wide, completely ran Leviathan through and plunged straight into the sea. 

But the destruction wrought by Kiffa Ater did not end there. The true destructive might engendered by the black sword was the explosive shock wave right after the arrival of the sword blow. 

The impact of the falling Beast Vassal, rivaling a meteorite, pounded into Leviathan’s giant frame and parted the very sea. An incredibly tall spout of water spewed forth. The surface of the sea swelled up like a tsunami, and beyond that, the reaction gave rise to an enormous whirlpool several kilometers in diameter. 

Naturally, Kojou and the others did not escape unscathed, either. 

Being so close to Leviathan, they took the brunt of the shock wave. This time, the Yotaka was simply sent flying. Had Yukina not immediately dragged Kojou inside and closed the hatch, she would most certainly have sunk. 

“You overdid it, senpai! Are you trying to sink Blue Elysium as well—?!” 

The vestiges left by the sword Beast Vassal’s destruction made Yukina’s face pale as she glared at Kojou. 

“C-couldn’t help it. Holding back ain’t exactly an option here…!” 

Kojou’s own expression twitched as he broke into a sweat. It was actually the first time he’d summoned that Beast Vassal, but it was far harder to control than he’d imagined. It was a creature so vile that there was no use for it, save spreading indiscriminate destruction. Kojou prayed in his heart that he would never need to summon it again. 

Seeing that the waves had calmed, Kojou and Yukina went outside the Yotaka once more. 

“—Did we get it?” 

Kojou surveyed the white, swirling surface of the sea in search of Leviathan. 

Naturally, their own submarine had reached the limits of its tensile strength. The thick window was cracked, and the cockpit was beginning to flood. It was unlikely to sink immediately, but it could not withstand further combat. Kojou desperately hoped Leviathan would retreat right about then. 

However, the demon beast’s enormous body rose to the sea’s surface, disregarding Kojou’s wish. 

“—He still wants to go at it?!” 

Kojou audibly ground his teeth as he glared at the wounded Leviathan. 

The demon beast’s wound was not shallow. It would not have been strange for it to turn tail as Kojou and Yukina had hoped. But Leviathan had not lost its will to fight. If the battle continued any further, it would not end until one side was dead. 

“No, senpai! Blue Elysium cannot withstand another attack like the last one!” 

Kojou was on the verge of resummoning his Beast Vassal when Yukina called on him to stop. 

Truthfully, Blue Elysium’s coastal section had suffered quite a bit of damage as a side effect of the first attack. If it took another shock wave of equal force the next time, it was very likely to sustain fatal damage in the process. 

“But at this rate—” 

Kojou exclaimed as he looked up at the raging beast. 

If the wounded living weapon challenged him to a mad fight to the death, Kojou had no room to hold back. The next attack would determine who lived and who died. 

No doubt, Leviathan instinctively understood that as well. 

Kojou and the demon beast charged up their strength, waiting for the right time to launch their final attacks— 

Then, without warning, a diminutive silhouetted figure gently walked before their eyes. 

“Wha—?!” 

“—Yume?!” 

Kojou and Yukina shouted simultaneously. The supposedly unconscious Yume was standing on the bow of the submarine, staring at Leviathan. 

She awkwardly stretched out both hands, silently calling out to the enormous demon beast. 

“Stop it, Yume! Your mind control won’t work on Leviathan anymore, so—” 

Realizing what Yume was trying to do, Kojou called out to stop her. She meant to use her succubus power to control Leviathan again, returning it to the bottom of the sea. 

Certainly, if she could do that, they could avoid such a meaningless battle, but that was no longer possible. Leviathan, the living weapon, had become resistant to her power and would obey her no longer— 

Spreading black wings, Yume looked back at them, smiling, for one brief moment. Then, she took to the air, as if slipping away from Kojou’s outstretched hand. She headed right before Leviathan’s eyes. Lacking wings of his own, all Kojou could do was watch her go, dumbfounded. 

“No… Senpai. This is—,” Yukina murmured, watching Yume. 

Kojou realized what she was trying to say. 

A faint voice echoed inside his head. 

The reverberation was like a whale calling out to its own kind. 

It had a simple timbre that went beyond words. A gentle, heartrending melody… 

“A song…?” 

Yume was singing. Properly speaking, it was not a song; a melodic voice was simply how Kojou and Yukina heard the mind control pulse that Yume was emitting. 

It had to have reached Leviathan, too. 

Anger faded from the World’s Mightiest Demon Beast. The waves of demonic energy scattered about by its mad rampage were abating. 

“She’s…convincing it, the living weapon from the Age of the Gods…” 

The sea’s surface began to stir. Leviathan’s ultramarine body started to submerge. Its movements no longer revealed any enmity for Kojou or the others. The demon beast had accepted Yume’s persuasion. 

“…They call Lilith the Witch of the Night…?” 

Kojou narrowed his eyes as he looked up at the radiant sight of Yume. 

The wings on her back were fading and vanishing; perhaps it the result of using her power to convince Leviathan. She fluttered lower and lower, and before she could return to the submarine, she fell into the sea. 

Yukina, clutching a life vest, dove into the sea to retrieve the young girl. What witch? Kojou mused, reaching out with his hand as the two earnestly swam back. 

She was like a goddess of light.