“For me, the risk posed by having that fool stand as my witness would be far too great.”
Aradahl spat out his words as if he’d crushed a bitter bug between his teeth. Kojou nearly broke into a laugh, but it seemed Aradahl had not in any way meant that as a joke.
“But thanks to him, no time has been squandered calling over other witnesses. The prince of the Fallen Dynasty, the princess of Aldegia—surely you are not dissatisfied to have them see this through.”
“Well, I suppose not.”
Kojou politely acknowledged his words. He didn’t think Aradahl would pull any kind of underhanded trick to begin with. He was more worried about what suspicious actions Vattler might pull. However, even that man would probably have to behave while under the public’s eye.
Only one problem remained: whether Kojou could win against Aradahl. In the end, it all came down to that.
“What about the signal to start the duel? Is someone gonna ring a gong or something?” Kojou asked calmly.
His whole body was tense, as if brimming with static electricity. It reminded him of how he felt before a game back when he was in the basketball club. This was a kind of anxiety Kojou hadn’t felt in quite some time. But this was no sporting event. There was no room amid the tension to be enjoying things: Glenda, Yuiri, Shio, and Kojou himself all had their destinies on the line.
“I will leave that to you. Launch any attack you wish,” replied Aradahl.
At a glance, he appeared to be wide open. No doubt it was intended less a display of composure than a concession for having requested the duel in the first place. He was an uptight vampire to the bitter end.
That said, Kojou was under no obligation to follow suit.
“Oh, you’re sooo considerate. I’m grateful. I’ll go with this, then.”
Kojou wore a sinister grin as he retrieved a single coin from his pocket. He waited for Aradahl to nod, flicking it high into the air with his thumb.
Anyone who’d ever seen a country western film knew the drill: You drew your gun the instant the flicked coin fell to the ground. Aradahl surely intended to do just that.
But Kojou had no recollection of saying the duel began when the coin hit the ground—
Just before the coin, dancing in the sky, reached its zenith, Kojou vanished from Aradahl’s field of view. Even if the opponent didn’t completely lose sight of him, his reaction speed had definitely dulled. Not letting that instant go to waste, Kojou kicked off from the ground.
Aradahl noticed Kojou’s motion, but it was too late. Kojou, his center of balance low, had already crept into his flank.
“?!”
The dark-haired vampire looked alarmed. That was because no demonic energy was flowing from Kojou’s body. That was why Aradahl, on guard against the Beast Vassals of the Fourth Primogenitor, reacted late to that one move.
“Gu…oah…!”
Wide open from shock, Aradahl’s pupils wavered, appearing to have lost their focus. The swing of Kojou’s powerhouse left hook had apparently grazed the tip of Aradahl’s chin.
If he couldn’t defeat Aradahl with a Beast Vassal, then he just needed to not use a Beast Vassal—after much hesitation, this was the conclusion Kojou had reached. Vampires had such vast amounts of demonic energy that attacks not reliant upon that energy were a blind spot in fights between one another. Immortal body or not, if you shook a vampire’s brain enough, it would surely take a suitable amount of time to recover. At the very least, enough time to create a momentary opportunity for another attack—
“—C’mon over, Beast Vassal Number Two, Cor-Tauri Succinum!”
With Aradahl’s movements halted, Kojou unleashed a Beast Vassal right at him. However, the attack was not unleashed on the surface, but beneath it. The Fourth Primogenitor’s second Beast Vassal was a minotaur with a body of magma. Its attack became an incandescent stake, stabbing up from under Itogami Island’s artificial earth to completely envelop Aradahl.
The torrent of magma erupting like a spire mercilessly rent the vast breakwater asunder, changing the very landscape. “Ohhh!” stirred the spectators of the Oceanus Grave II in a show of praise.
Feeling like sports spectators, several had made their armed escorts carry cameras, turning them into commemorative photographers for the occasion. It was like they were confusing the destruction wrought by Kojou’s Beast Vassal with some kind of great natural spectacle.
Naturally, Kojou had no time for such enjoyment. He grimaced as he searched for Aradahl’s whereabouts from within the hot, glimmering magma flying apart.
The terms of the duel were to fight until the opponent was rendered incapable of combat. Naturally, he’d lose sleep if his opponent died. Kojou also didn’t really bear any ill will toward Aradahl. If he could cool and harden the magma, trapping Aradahl inside, that would be best for Kojou’s peace of mind. But—
“I guess things aren’t gonna be that easy, huh…!”
Kojou’s cheeks twisted in unease. The stake of magma rent apart, and appearing from within a shimmer was a vampire silhouette shrouded by a vortex of demonic energy.
“What has it been, centuries…? It has been so long since I have been robbed of consciousness for even a second…”
A low voice devoid of emotion echoed amid the burning wind. The exceptionally clinical tone of voice made Kojou shudder as he felt a chill.
Finally, Aradahl revealed himself, his entire body clad in pitch-black armor.
Formed of countless, sharp-edged blades, it was a huge suit of full plate armor. The silhouette made Aradahl look like some evil ogre, as if his very body had been transformed into a monster made of steel.
“Armor…?! No… You’re wearing your own Beast Vassal?!” Kojou exclaimed as he realized the true nature of the pitch-black armor.
It was just like Astarte’s Rhododactylos, a symbiotic type of Beast Vassal that fused with its host. Encasing his entire body in that Beast Vassal was how Aradahl was able to endure the magma that could burn even a vampire’s body to ashes.
“Using a coin to divert my line of sight… A surprise attack employing flesh and blood rather than demonic energy… Then an attack from the blind spot beneath my feet. First, allow me to say that your strategy was splendid. I acknowledge that I underestimated you.”
Still equipping his armor, Aradahl summoned a new Beast Vassal, Ghoula, the black short swords he summoned during their last encounter.
Kojou gawked at the sheer number of them. There were hundreds—no—thousands, perhaps. The pitch-black Beast Vassal horde was large enough to blot out out the entire twilight sky. Like starving piranhas, the swarm of Intelligent Weapons turned the tips of their blades toward Kojou as one.
“Accordingly, I shall defeat you with all my power, Kojou Akatsuki. Farewell.”
There was no time to form a plan.
Kojou’s entire body, impaled by the blades, was helplessly sent flying.
CHAPTER THREE
ALRESCHA GLACIES
1
The artificial earth trembled.
Scattered concrete fragments poured down onto the sea’s surface like rain. The sun’s afterglow dyed the hovering cloud of dust red. The horde of over a thousand Intelligent Weapons unleashed by Aradahl charged over and over, blotting out Kojou completely.
Yukina and the others gazed at that ghastly spectacle from a lifeboat on the deck of an extravagant ship.
“—Oh my, a scathing attack from Chairman Aradahl. The Fourth Primogenitor has been sent flying—!”
The beautiful blond in a ring-girl outfit was doing live commentary from the center of the deck. Listening to her announcements, the guests aboard the ship let out a stir of admiration. Even they had rarely seen such relentless combat between vampires.
The artificial isle’s construction materials were laid bare from ceaseless Beast Vassal attacks tearing up the ground in all directions.
Kojou just barely managed to endure Aradahl’s ferocious assault. To fend off the pitch-black
short swords, he had deployed a bulwark in front of him that appeared to be made of diamond.
However, Kojou had no room to counterattack. His entire body was riddled with lacerations, and a mist of fresh blood sprayed into the air. The concrete fragments sent scattering about by Aradahl’s attack were surely what had wounded Kojou much like shrapnel. The amount of blood lost was slight, but Kojou’s face was twisted in agony and nervousness.
“Sen…pai…”
Staring at Kojou wounded all over, Yukina clasped both hands as if in prayer.
Standing at Yukina’s side was Natsuki, her lace-rimmed fan spread wide. Sitting in a chair placed in front of the girls, Glenda was cringing in visible fear.
The reason for other guests on the deck to send inquisitive gazes in her direction was likely because they knew Glenda was the prize of the duel. But Yukina realized that there was a whiff of bewilderment mixed with those gazes.
So they truly did not know the real reason Aradahl was after Glenda either—
“What are you doing, Kojou Akatsuki?! Get it together already…!”
In contrast, in a place largely removed from Yukina and company, Sayaka was raising a loud voice. She was leaning over the deck’s handrail, quite worked up as she waved around the sword in her hand.
Gazing rather coolly from behind her was La Folia.
“Please sit, Sayaka. You are interfering with the other guests’ ability to watch the duel.”
“But, Princess… At this rate, if Kojou loses…”
A conflicted look came over Sayaka as La Folia scolded her with a smile. It was La Folia herself whose destiny had been wagered on the outcome of the duel.
However, in contrast to Sayaka’s inability to settle down, the princess’s elegant smile did not falter.
“It is not a problem. And the battle has finally become quite thrilling, has it not?”
“Thrilling or not, this is nothing but Kojou Akatsuki getting thrashed, isn’t it—?!”
“Is it, now—?”
La Folia made a suggestive shake of her head. The very next instant, Kojou, supposedly backed into a corner, suddenly launched a counterattack. What appeared in midair, contorting the atmosphere like a mirage, was a bicorn, its entire body shrouded in raging winds. Its roar became a destructive shock wave that indiscriminately mowed the surface of the ground.
“Here, the Fourth Primogenitor summons a new Beast Vassal. This is incredible; what amazing power—!”
The announcer’s tension became more heated all at once. The guests on the ship’s topside also looked on in surprise at the destructiveness of Kojou’s Beast Vassal. The shock wave made the surface of the sea choppy, shaking even the purportedly barrier-protected hull of the Oceanus Grave II.
“—No, that won’t do.”
Natsuki spoke in a voice bereft of emotion. Yukina turned to her in surprise.
“Ms. Minamiya…?”
“It is impressive to the eye, but that’s merely the demolition of the artificial isle. No matter how much demonic energy is scattered about, no indiscriminate flailing will defeat the likes of Aradahl. He is wasting his Beast Vassals.”
“…”
Natsuki’s words, delivered with such indifference, prompted Yukina to bite her lip in silence. If unleashed without limit, the Beast Vassals of the Fourth Primogenitor possessed the power to wipe Itogami Island itself off the map. Certainly, Aradahl was a powerful vampire, but she didn’t think he outstripped a true primogenitor in total demonic-energy capacity. Perhaps he could be pushed back through raw force—but Yukina’s fleeting hope was erased by the announcer girl’s voice.
“After coming this far, Chairman Aradahl counterattacks once more! The Fourth Primogenitor is in a daze!! In the face of the chairman’s fierce attack, the Fourth Primogenitor—endures! He endures! He endures! What defensive power! So this is the World’s Mightiest Vampire’s true specialty…or is it?!”
Clad in the dark armor, Aradahl threaded his way through a gap in the shock wave spat out by the bicorn. Kojou, his vision clouded by gray-colored dust, did not realize this.
As Aradahl raced like the gale, his right hand gripped one of the dark short swords. Personally poising the Intelligent Weapon he had summoned, Aradahl sliced at Kojou. With control of his Beast Vassal taking up all his concentration, Kojou had no chance of evading the attack!
“To think that Chairman Aradahl would launch a direct assault! Is this payback for getting punched at the start of the match?! The Fourth Primogenitor’s severed right arm dances in the sky!”
Snatching his own severed arm out of midair, Kojou retreated. Perhaps because his vampiric powers were so active, when he reattached his right arm, it healed in the blink of an eye. Nevertheless, the mental reeling and the depletion of his endurance had not been restored along with it. An unmistakable air of fatigue colored Kojou’s glowing crimson eyes.
The moment she saw this, Yukina subconsciously gripped the spear holstered in its case.
From nowhere in particular, a silver chain appeared, entwining around her wrist.
“Calm yourself, Yukina Himeragi. In his case, a little spit and polish, and a wound like that will be healed in no time.”
A thin smile came over Natsuki as she spoke, seeing right through Yukina’s unease.
“However, if senpai continues losing blood, his consciousness will—”
“And how does your anxiety help with that?”
“Urk…”
Yukina held her tongue. Aradahl had specified that the duel with Kojou was to be one-on-one. If Yukina interfered, that in itself would be considered Kojou’s defeat. Such an action would trample underfoot the battle for which Kojou was risking his life.
“I understand you being concerned at seeing the man you’ve fallen for hurt, but it is a futile concern.”
Natsuki turned a sarcastic gaze Yukina’s way. Yukina proceeded to hold her silence for a whole three seconds.
“—He is merely my target for observation!”
“Surprisingly rational of you. I am relieved.”
Looking back as Yukina “corrected” her, Natsuki heaved an exasperated sigh.
“Yet, it’s all the same in the end. Do not get focused on the wrong person, Yukina Himeragi.”
“What…do you mean by that?”
Yukina, slightly thrown off, knit her brows. Natsuki gently stroked Glenda’s steel-colored hair.
“According to the information I coaxed from this dragon girl, when she was attacked on Blue Elysium by Aradahl, apparently it was Kira Lebedev who aided her in her escape.”
“Lebedev— The Duke of Voltislava helped Glenda?”
With deep wariness, Yukina surveyed the topside of the Oceanus Grave II. Kira Lebedev was nowhere within view. However, the fact remained that he was known to be an aristocrat from the militant faction, and he was Vattler’s loyal cohort. There was no question that his actions were connected to Vattler.
“Of course, upon fleeing to Itogami Island, the dragon would rely on the Kojou Akatsuki of whom she was so fond. That she traced Kojou Akatsuki’s demonic energy to reach Saikai Academy proves the theory correct.”
“And since the Duke of Severin was chasing after Glenda, he would come into conflict with senpai as a matter of course…”
“It was no doubt anticipated that Aradahl would demand Kojou Akatsuki fight him in a duel…by someone well aware of Aradahl’s stiff-necked personality, that is.”
Yukina’s back trembled as she thought back to the uproar on the rooftop that very morning. Kira had aided Glenda, courting conflict between Aradahl and Kojou as a result, with Yukina and Natsuki intervening. Perhaps all of it had been scripted beforehand. All to make the duel between Kojou and Aradahl a reality—
“Why would someone go through all that trouble?”
“I have a fair idea what the Master of Serpents is thinking. He is using Aradahl as feed, a stepping-stone to hone Kojou Akatsuki. In doing so, Kojou Akatsuki will draw closer to becoming a complete
Fourth Primogenitor.”
“…He wants senpai to defeat the Duke of Severin?”
“If Kojou Akatsuki cannot, it means he was not meant to be anything more,” Natsuki coolly explained.
However, if one looked at it another way, it seemed as if she was certain of Kojou’s victory. The same went for Vattler. If Kojou did not defeat Aradahl, having set up the duel between them would prove meaningless.
“You are paying attention to the wrong person, Sword Shaman. The issue lies not in Kojou Akatsuki—”
Natsuki was toying around with Glenda’s hair as she spoke. However, Glenda was concentrating on Kojou’s battle so much that she didn’t even notice.
On the breakwater, the lethal duel between Kojou and Aradahl continued. The battle was heavily tipped in Aradahl’s favor. Kojou’s Beast Vassal attacks were spectacular, but they had inflicted virtually no damage upon Aradahl. In contrast, the Intelligent Weapons wielded by Aradahl had definitively whittled Kojou’s endurance. His own blood had dyed Kojou’s clothing crimson, which only whipped the spectators into a greater frenzy.
“Do you not find it strange? Do you think a big shot on Aradahl’s level would come to Itogami Island for one little girl, even if she is a dragon?”
“That’s—”
Yukina hesitated midreply. In one sense, it was highly abnormal for a man bearing the title of chairman of the Imperial Assembly to visit the Far East Demon Sanctuary for the sake of a single dragon. If his objective was capturing Glenda, it would have been better had he commanded Vattler, already residing on Itogami Island, to do so.
“You mean the Duke of Severin had some kind of separate reason for coming to Itogami Island?”
“This little dragon girl’s existence posed an impediment to his achieving that objective. Do you find my reasoning odd, Yukina Himeragi?”
“No.”
Yukina shook her head. Natsuki’s thinking was likely correct. However, in the end, it was nothing but speculation. The only way to find out Aradahl’s true objective was for Kojou to beat him. If Kojou lost, Glenda would be taken from them, and they would forever lose the opportunity to learn Aradahl’s true motive.
A War of Primogenitors Page 11