Natsuki spoke with a tone that somehow sounded amused. She seemed intent on cornering Kojou bit by bit, as if strangling his neck with silk lace.
When he glanced at Yukina, she was paralyzed with a pale look on her face. Having been raised to take being an honor student for granted, this situation was probably hitting her pretty hard.
This is bad, thought Kojou with a cold sweat.
It was already approaching midnight. Even if it was a game machine at the head of the store, We were playing at a game center wasn’t any excuse. This was totally against school regulations. And he had a middle schooler with him.
“What’s wrong? If you’re going to be stubborn about turning around, I have ways to make you comply—”
It happened right after Natsuki spoke with a tone like she was toying with her prey.
Thump. A low vibration rocked the entire man-made island. A moment later, the sound of an explosion thundered.
“What the—?!”
Natsuki, also an Attack Mage, turned around in reaction to a strange presence.
Sounds of explosions continued to roar without end. No simple accident or natural phenomenon could account for this.
Someone was engaging in deliberate destruction. That was also conveyed by the fierce wave of magical energy that even normal people were able to sense. The moment Natsuki’s attention was fully drawn away by that…
“Himeragi, run!”
Kojou instantly grabbed Yukina’s hand and broke into a run.
“Eh, ah… Right!”
Understanding Kojou’s intent, Yukina gripped his hand back.
“Ah, wait, you two—”
Natsuki yelled something at their backs, but both Yukina and Kojou possessed athletic ability incomparable to that of a normal person’s. Kojou sensed a flash from Yukina, destroying the barrier Natsuki instantly stretched before them. Natsuki, taken completely off guard, no longer had any means with which to follow.
We made it, thought Kojou with relief. That moment…
“I’ll remember this, Kojou Akatsuki!”
Natsuki’s words, like those of a recurring villain, echoed throughout the night.
However, her voice vanished as the intermittent sounds of huge explosions continued once more.
Kojou’s expression twisted as they ran. It wasn’t that Natsuki’s words bothered him. It was that he realized the true nature of the strange explosions occurring within the city.
This was a mass of sentient, overwhelmingly strong magical power running wild. An incarnation of destruction.
And a being all too close to Kojou Akatsuki’s current existence—
A vampire’s Beast Vassal.
5
“Senpai… Those explosions…”
Having continued to run all the way to the Gigafloat’s cliffs, Yukina finally came to a stop. Her breathing was largely regular, but her cheeks had a slight redness to them—perhaps because she’d realized she was still holding Kojou’s hand.
But she did not pull her hand back. From her posture, she seemed concerned Kojou would pull himself out of her grasp.
“Yeah. That was a Beast Vassal. Plus with that magic energy… The master’s probably pretty up there.”
Kojou spoke as his face continued to grimace. The next moment, a huge explosion erupted once more.
In the sky above the Gigafloat, a fireball several meters in diameter appeared; a sudden gust assaulted them a moment later. It was like a nighttime storm when white waves crashed against the artificial ground, making it creak and shake.
Bathed in exploding flames, they saw a jet-black bird-phantom rise up.
Kojou only saw it for an instant, but that was enough to know for certain: It was indeed a summoned beast born from dense magical energy. A vampire’s Beast Vassal.
It wasn’t a little one like the one Yukina had fought a few days before. Based on its having enough destructive power to shake the whole island, no doubt it was the familiar of someone from the Elder Days, with a name even wise men and nobles dared not speak.
It had been given form and was now on the rampage. A vampire was fighting someone.
Island East’s warehouse district had become a battlefield. Though a largely unmanned industrial area, even from a distance Kojou could see damage equivalent to a large industrial fire taking place.
However, even with so much damage occurring, combat continued.
That fact could mean only one thing—whoever the vampire from the Elder Days was fighting also had combat capability equal to one from the Elder One itself.
So right now, someone somewhere in the city Kojou and Yukina lived was hunting down a powerful Elder vampire.
That was a pretty big deal.
“I’m sorry, Senpai. We part ways here. Please go on ahead back home.”
Yukina, speaking one-sidedly, released his hand as she spoke. Kojou looked at her, dumbfounded.
“Himeragi?”
“I will go investigate what is happening. Once I confirm things are safe, I will return immediately.”
“Hold on, Himeragi. If you’re heading to take a look, I’ll go w—”
Kojou called out to Yukina in a hurry. Yukina looked back at Kojou with an exasperated look.
“And what will you do if you go, Senpai? Please have a little consideration for the position you are in.”
“P-position?”
“Yes. I mean your position as the Fourth Primogenitor, relative to the vampire who is fighting, Senpai.”
“Um, er…?”
“What do you think will happen if you clumsily lay a hand on either side in an effort to stop them? If the Fourth Primogenitor attacks a vampire of another bloodline, it is a very large problem. The same would apply if you took his side.”
Under Yukina’s sharp glare, Kojou hemmed and hawed.
“The heck is all that… Well, what should I do, then…?!”
“You need not do anything at all. Please go home—you are in the way. I am here so that you do not do anything dangerous like that, Senpai.”
“Hold on, that’s no reason for you to force yourself to go, Himeragi. Watch me so I don’t get involved, then!”
This time Kojou glared at Yukina as he spoke. However, Yukina shook her head without hesitation.
“If you were truly going to be cooperative, I would do just that, but…that is impossible, isn’t it? After all, people you know might get drawn into combat, Senpai—”
As Yukina calmly pointed that out, Kojou went silent.
Even if the current battleground was outside of urban areas, there was no guarantee civilians wouldn’t be caught up in it given the scale of the battle. And there were many people Kojou knew on the island. If he could at least guarantee their safety, Kojou would feel some measure of relief, but—
“I will go confirm things. It’s connected to my assignment.”
As he watched Yukina firmly cut off her words, Kojou unwittingly raised his voice.
“Why do you have to go that far, Himeragi?! Isn’t upholding law and order in the Demon Sanctuary the job of the police and the Island Guard?!”
“Unless they have an Counter-Demon Attack Mage of no small strength, they cannot enter a battlefield with a Beast Vassal running wild. However, because I have this…”
As Yukina spoke, she drew her weapon from the guitar case on her back.
Making a tidy, metallic sound, the silver spear’s blade deployed.
“This is equipment granted to me for fighting Primogenitors. A Beast Vassal of that level is no match for Snowdrift Wolf.”
“Himeragi…”
“Therefore, please be by Nagisa-san’s side, Senpai.”
As an even more concerned expression came across Kojou, Yukina showed him a gentle smile.
That fleeting, smiling face gave Kojou pause.
“Eh?”
“The Holy Ground Treaty specifies the right to self-defense. If it is to protect your family or others who dwell under your protection, even if you use y
our power there’s no problem at all, Senpai.”
Thrusting through the opening made by Kojou’s hesitation, Yukina broke into a hard sprint.
No doubt she’d chosen her timing from the beginning. As she vaulted down from the artificial island’s cliff, there was a freight monorail passing beneath her feet. Yukina landed safely atop of the moving train. The automated monorail was heading toward Island East, where the combat was taking place.
“Himeragi…!”
Kojou, left alone atop the southern district’s cliff, violently punched the fence standing before his eyes.
Combat in the warehouse district continued even now. The Beast Vassal floating up amid the blazing flames was pierced by an attack from someone, letting out a screaming howl.
After that, all that remained was a huge explosion—
6
A large-scale fire had erupted all over the warehouse district.
Streetlights extinguished, the district glowed crimson from the blazing flames. The automated fire-fighting gear was active, but the fire showed no sign of abating.
Fortunately, there was no sign of people within the district. It was a low-population sector to begin with; the people administrating the warehouse district seemed to have finished evacuating.
The explosions must have taken out the power supply. The monorail came to a halt the moment it arrived at Island East.
Yukina leaped down from the roof of the now-motionless train and headed to where the Beast Vassal was currently raging.
The Beast Vassal in combat was a ghostly, jet-black bird, resembling a giant raven.
Its wingspan easily exceeded ten meters. From time to time, its huge body, as if solidified darkness, glowed as if molten amber, bursting into a fireball that spawned ferocious explosions all around it. Its entire body was wrapped in a blast wind. Apparently this Beast Vassal was the incarnation of explosion itself.
The one controlling the Beast Vassal was a tall vampire in an expensive business suit standing on the roof of a building.
He looked like he was thirty years of age, give or take, but looking at his incredible magical energy, there was little doubt he’d lived several times that number. His overwhelming, intense presence was worthy of the moniker “Elder.”
He could have been a manager in the employ of one of the corporations within Itogami City, a mercenary, or even a military officer dispatched by a Dominion. He was big game whatever the case.
However, in spite of the vampire unleashing such formidable attacks over and over, there was no sign combat was coming to a halt. To the contrary, signs of impatience and strain were clearly visible on the man’s face.
He was an Elder, but he was being overwhelmed.
“That’s…”
Yukina’s bewildered voice came out as she noticed a flash tearing through the sky.
It was a giant, translucent arm, shining like the colors of the rainbow.
It wasn’t flesh and blood. This was a mass of magical energy given physical form, just like a Beast Vassal. However, it had an aura that differed from any Beast Vassal that Yukina knew of.
That arm, some several meters long, made contact with the jet-black ghost bird in midair.
And the next moment, the ghost bird made an anguished howl.
The ghost bird’s black wing had been ripped from its socket, sending fresh, magma-like incandescent blood scattering.
And, with the ghost bird’s huge body having lost its balance, the rainbow-colored arm tore it apart as if feasting upon it.
Unable to maintain its physical form, the ghost bird fell to the ground as a simple mass of magical energy. However, the rainbow-colored arm did not halt its attacks. Like a scavenger, it violated the destroyed Beast Vassal’s corpse.
“It’s…eating the magic energy?!”
Yukina shuddered at the bizarre sight. Consuming a defeated Beast Vassal’s magic energy—so far as Yukina knew, no one had ever heard of the existence of such a Beast Vassal.
And, when Yukina beheld the master controlling the Beast Vassal, she was further unnerved.
For the master of the rainbow-colored arm was a girl even smaller than Yukina. She was an indigo-haired girl wearing a cape coat over bare flesh. She had an artificially beautiful face. And those pale blue, emotionless eyes—
“She’s…not a vampire?! It can’t be… How can a homunculus control a Beast Vassal?!”
As Yukina stood in a daze, there was a heavy thud sound of something falling behind her.
Turning around in surprise, Yukina beheld the tall vampire, who had collapsed onto the ground and was gravely wounded.
The deep, slicing wound from his armpit stretched all the way to his heart.
A human being would have died instantly. The same went for the average vampire. To even be still breathing was testament to the hardiness of an Elder.
However, where normally he would have instantly begun to regenerate, his body showed no change. Surely it was not solely because he was weak from the loss of his Beast Vassal. He had taken damage from an attack that used extremely powerful magic.
The only type of human being capable of such an attack was a Counter-Demon Attack Mage—and even then, only those of the highest ability, known as Exorcists, but that simply wasn’t possible.
An exorcist was, in other words, a holy man of the highest rank. Such men held the status of priests and bishops. There was no way one would willingly engage in a duel in an urban area. There was no way such a thing could be excused.
“—Hmm. A witness. Unexpected.”
Hearing a low, male voice, Yukina gasped and lifted her face.
Standing with blazing flames at his back, he was a large-framed man more than a hundred and ninety centimeters tall. The blade of the bardiche held by his right hand, and the vestment he wore over his armored augmentation suit, were smeared red with fresh blood. Blood spatter from the vampire.
“Please end this fighting.”
Yukina warned the man in the vestment with a glare.
As she did so, the man gazed at Yukina with contempt.
“Young, aren’t you? An Attack Mage of this nation, yes… Not an ally of the demon, it would seem.”
He spoke calmly, appraising her.
Feeling the bloodlust the man’s body exuded, Yukina lowered her center of gravity.
“Atrocities toward incapacitated demons are forbidden by the Offensive Magic Special Measures Act.”
“And do I have reason to obey laws passed by apostates that consort with demons?”
As the man easily dismissed her words, he raised his huge battle-axe high.
“Ngh, Snowdrift Wolf—!”
Spear in hand, Yukina sprinted. She ran under the battle-axe as it swung down toward the wounded vampire, just barely blocking it.
“My…!”
The man whose battle-axe had been thrown back murmured in apparent pleasure. Leaping back with agility unimaginable given his huge physique, the man faced off toward Yukina.
“Is that spear a Schneewalzer?! The Lion King Agency’s DOE-inscribed secret weapon! To have a chance to see one here of all places!”
A delighted smile came over the man’s lips. A red light pulsed from the eyepatch-like monocle he wore. It seemed to be projecting information directly into the man’s field of vision.
“Very well; a Lion King Agency’s Sword Shaman is a worthy opponent. Young woman, I, Rudolf Eustach, Lotharingian Armed Apostle, request a duel. Save this demon’s life—if you can!”
“A Lotharingian Armed Apostle?! What is an exorcist of the European Church doing hunting demons—?!”
“I have no obligation to answer!”
The man’s huge body kicked off the ground and fiercely accelerated. The battle-axe swung down, assaulting Yukina with the force of a guillotine. The force of the slice, assisted by his augmented armor, was sufficient to rip apart an armored car with ease. However, Yukina perfectly anticipated the strike, and slipped by it by a paper’s width.
Then she counterattacked. The spinning Yukina stretched her spear toward Eustach’s right arm just after it finished its attack.
Eustach, unable to evade the attack, blocked it with his armor-encased left arm instead.
The clash between enchanted weapon and armor sent pale sparks scattering.
“Hnng!”
As the man’s left arm’s armor plates were smashed apart, Yukina took the opportunity to put some space between them. With such a large, resilient man as her opponent, she was at a clear disadvantage in close combat. She judged she should bring him down with hit-and-run tactics.
“My holy armor’s ward destroyed in a single blow?! I’d expect nothing less from a Schneewalzer… A truly fascinating enchantment. Splendid!”
Gazing at his destroyed left arm’s armor, Eustach licked his lips in satisfaction. His monocle restlessly switched on and off.
Sensing a sinister aura from Eustach, Yukina’s expression sharpened further.
I must defeat him here and now, she resolved. Her Sword Shaman intuition told her that if she let this Armed Apostle be, he would bring a great calamity down upon this land.
“—O purifying light, O divine wolf of the snowdrift, by your steel divine will, strike down the devils before me!”
“Hnn… This is…”
As Yukina chanted her solemn prayer, the ritual energy honed within her body amplified the Schneewalzer. Eustach’s face twisted at the powerful ritual energy surge emitted from the spear.
The next moment, Yukina launched a ferocious attack against Eustach.
“Nuo…!”
The Armed Apostle blocked the beam of light that came from the silver spear with his battle-axe. A shocked look came over him at the impact conveyed to his arm. His augmented armor, able to easily fend off the attacks of a beast man, was pushed back several meters, unable to withstand the small girl’s attack. Sparks flew from every joint from the intense strain.
Furthermore, Yukina’s attacks did not end with that. She pressed on with a series of attacks at point-blank range like a storm, putting Eustach completely on the defensive. This fact shocked the Armed Apostle.
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