However, without a word, Yukina evaded them all. She slipped past most of the chains with a minimum of motion, lashing out with her silver spear to knock away the rest.
It was the work of a god.
“Divine possession…in this situation…?!”
Kiriha had goose bumps over her entire body when she realized why Yukina had undergone the abrupt change. To counter the Witch of the Void’s overwhelming combat capabilities, Yukina had opted to call down a god. She had made a powerful divine spirit possess her, and in so doing, she’d obtained power beyond human limit.
A Sword Shaman was at once a swordswoman and also a priestess with superior spiritual power. Even so, this did not mean divine possession was an easy power to employ. A single minor slip in control would cause the destruction of the Sword Shaman’s personality; she would never regain sanity again. Or perhaps the divine spirit’s power would run amok, likely inflicting a grievous calamity on the surrounding area.
Kiriha did not think Natsuki Minamiya was an opponent who needed to be defeated by running such risks—all the more because they only opposed Natsuki for the Fourth Primogenitor’s sake. However, without hesitation, Yukina had resolved to call down a god. Kiriha’s tongue curled at the girl’s determination.
“What is this…?”
Natsuki, standing still before Yukina, scrutinized her with shocked eyes.
Her teleportation magic would not activate. Her materialized familiars had also vanished from sight.
All around Natsuki, white crystals danced like flower petals. Even while Natsuki watched, their numbers increased, filling her field of vision.
“Snow…? No… Divine Oscillation Effect crystals…?!” Natsuki exclaimed when she understood the situation.
The silver spear Yukina gripped in her hand radiated a dazzling glow. With the vast spiritual power from divine possession coursing through it, Snowdrift Wolf had crystalized a Divine Oscillation Wave. The pure-white crystals nullified Natsuki’s magical energy, preventing her magic from activating.
And the fact that Yukina wielded Snowdrift Wolf like so meant that she was employing the spiritual energy gained from possession of her own free will. She was in complete control of the divine spirit she had called into herself.
“This divine spirit… I see… So this is why you were selected as the Fourth Primogenitor’s watcher…”
Natsuki boldly smiled as she narrowed her eyes at the dancing snowflakes.
Yukina gently swung her spear upward.
Her once-emotionless eyes had already returned to normal. Her face, which had been beautiful beyond human measure, had regained the cherubic look befitting her age.
Yukina shifted her gaze toward the golden knight construct standing resolutely behind Natsuki.
The crimson thorns stretching from the knight construct held the Fourth Primogenitor’s wild and ferocious Beast Vassal firm.
When her eyes met those of the lightning lion, Yukina smiled slightly.
It’s all right were the words formed by her lips. It’s all right. Victory is ours—
“—Snowdrift Wolf!”
When Yukina swung her silver spear down, it became a giant blade of light that cleaved the air.
That light blew the golden knight construct away, rending the crimson thorns asunder.
Regaining its freedom, the lightning lion scattered pale thunderbolts and roared.
The pillar of lightning rose to the very heavens, erupting in an incredible electromagnetic wave. It was said that power utilities and machines broke down across the entire island, inflicting damage in the tens of billions of yen—
7
“Goodness… It seems I pushed that hardhead a little too far.”
Natsuki, the adult version wearing a white shirt and a tight miniskirt, gently placed a hand on her forehead.
It was the stone cell inside the Prison Barrier. Outside the window stretched a crimson sky reminiscent of sunset.
From time to time, flashes of light glimmered in the sky, and the building shook from the echo of distant thunder.
Through his Beast Vassal’s senses, Kojou already knew what had happened in the outside world. Regulus Aurum, freed by Yukina, had run amok, and its demonic energy affected even the Prison Barrier.
“Just like before with Yuuma, huh?”
Kojou smiled weakly as he spoke, feeling partially responsible for his Beast Vassal’s rampage.
Yuuma Tokoyogi had once borrowed the power of Kojou’s Beast Vassal to break the Prison Barrier.
Inside the Prison Barrier was Natsuki’s dream world, and even the power of the Fourth Primogenitor could not break out. However, outside the Prison Barrier was another story. If you slammed it with enormous demonic energy, slapping Natsuki’s sleeping body awake, the dream world vanished, and the Prison Barrier became corporeal again.
If Regulus Aurum continued rampaging in the world beyond, the same phenomenon would inevitably reoccur. For that matter, there was a greater than zero chance it would reduce all of Itogami Island to cinders.
The only way to prevent that was to send Kojou, the Beast Vassal’s host and master, to put an end to the rampage. In other words, Natsuki had no choice but to set Kojou free.
“Well, fine. You pass.” She smiled wryly.
Kojou quietly patted his chest in relief.
He’d achieved his objective of escaping the Prison Barrier, and it was fair to say he’d done it on his own power. Had Natsuki not accepted her defeat, he’d end up busting out by force.
“So you’ll…let us go?”
“It would be troublesome if the barrier broke again, and Aya and the others were freed, so yes. Go wherever you wish.”
With that timid reminder, Natsuki gazed at him, listlessly crossing her arms. Kojou unwittingly averted his eyes, for this made her eye-catching bust stand out even more.
Natsuki, gazing at Kojou’s reaction with visible amusement, suddenly rose to her feet.
“But before you go…I suppose I will give you a special going-away present.”
“N-Natsuki…?”
Kojou’s voice went shrill when Natsuki’s body drew unnaturally close.
Cleavage that did not rightfully exist poked out from the top of her white shirt. Natsuki gave her long hair an upward stroke, seemingly showing off her slender neck on purpose. From any angle, the situation looked like a female teacher seducing her pupil while giving a private lesson.
Thanks to Natsuki’s body having grown so much, the fact that she still had the baby face just seemed wrong. Kojou gulped, swallowing as he gazed at her beautiful, doll-like visage.
He did have some idea why Natsuki was seducing him like this. “I will give you a special going-away present,” she’d said.
She probably means drinking her blood, he thought.
If he crossed over to the mainland, there was no telling what dangers awaited him. It was better than not, if he could use even a single Beast Vassal once more. If he drank Natsuki’s blood there, the chance was high that he could claim a Beast Vassal that had not yet acknowledged him as its host. However:
“W…wait a sec! You’re an educator and stuff…!”
Kojou desperately tried to hold Natsuki at bay.
Even if she was all grown-up, Natsuki’s real body looked like an eleven- or twelve-year-old girl’s. He just couldn’t bring himself to drink her blood. After all, the trigger for vampiric urges was lust.
He felt that if he gave in to Natsuki’s seduction and drank her blood, he’d lose something precious to him as a person.
“What, this situation holds no appeal to you? In other words, you prefer my usual form to my buxom female-teacher form?”
“Er, the issue isn’t whether I like this look or not…!”
“Well, fine, here you go.”
That said, Natsuki pulled up a roll of photocopied sheets from the cleavage of her breasts.
Where did that come from? thought Kojou, thrown off as he accepted the papers.
&nb
sp; “Um… What is this anyway?”
“I told you, didn’t I? A going-away present. You intend to skip the rest of your winter break extra lessons, yes? So I prepared your homework in advance. You should thank me. It’s due the next day of classes.”
Natsuki giggled, explaining with her usual vainglorious look.
“Ah… So that’s what it is…”
For reasons not clear even to him, Kojou sank into disappointment, hanging his head as if all his strength was spent.
Apparently, Natsuki had been teasing him from the beginning. Maybe losing the bet had gotten under her skin. Either way, it was the sort of thing she would do.
“What? Did you think I would let a sex-starved brat like you drink my blood?”
Natsuki looked down at the crestfallen Kojou with amusement, insulting him for good measure. Then, with her usual haughtiness, she arched her bust, smiling coolly as she said, “Well, I’ll think about it if you actually graduate.”
“Thanks a bunch.”
Kojou half-heartedly parried Natsuki’s words, unable to take her seriously by that point.
A moment later, his vision wavered—a sign of teleportation.
When he suddenly came to, the Natsuki in the white-shirted female-teacher look was gone, and the young-looking Natsuki stood before Kojou. Apparently, she was escorting Kojou out of the Prison Barrier.
“Do ensure you make it in time for classes after winter break.”
Natsuki made the statement in a quiet voice, almost a whisper. The atypically gentle voice felt like a command to Kojou.
Make sure you come back.
“Natsuki…”
Without thinking, Kojou called out her name, speaking it like a word of thanks.
As he did, his face was assaulted by ferocious pain, almost like being punched.
“Do not address your teacher by her first name, fool.”
Somehow, Natsuki’s indignant voice sounded…distant.
Then Kojou awoke from her dream—
OUTRO
Kojou’s back slammed hard against the white sand covering an artificial beach.
It had a water-break of bare metal and resin. It had a uniform, artificial skyline. The blue sky spread all the way to the water’s horizon. These were the familiar sights of the man-made isle.
However, though he had returned from the Prison Barrier, he had no time to feel relief. A dazzling beam scorched his field of vision. The lightning lion, shrouded in a thunderbolt, was leaping right toward Kojou’s face.
“Dowaaaaaaaaaa!”
Keenly fearing death from the incredible temperature, Kojou hastily dematerialized Regulus Aurum.
“I thought I was a goner…”
It was a Beast Vassal of the Fourth Primogenitor. Perhaps it was just playing with his returning master, but one graze of its claw would make Kojou’s flesh boil away in an instant.
I wonder if I’d come back if my whole body evaporated? wondered Kojou, not particularly wanting to find out as he feebly sat up. He brushed sand off his entire body before putting his hands on his knees and rising to his feet. Yukina, just as covered in sand as he was, noticed Kojou and rushed right over.
“Senpai! You were able to escape the Prison Barrier?!”
“Well, kinda… You managed somehow—right, Himeragi?”
Kojou awkwardly scratched his head when he saw the look of relief on Yukina’s face. Ensnared by the Prison Barrier, Kojou had been unable to do a thing to the very end. Ninety-nine percent of his getting out safe and sound was Yukina’s doing. He could tell that much from seeing her all beat up.
“No. I believe Ms. Minamiya truly was holding back. I was unable to compete with her to the very end,” she said, shaking her head in chagrin.
Kojou gently brushed some sand out of her hair as he said, “Pretty sure you did. Natsuki said we passed, y’see.”
“…You remember what happened inside the Prison Barrier?”
People forgot many overnight dreams when they woke; similarly, it was extremely difficult to retain memories of what happened when leaving the Prison Barrier in Natsuki’s dream world. Yukina knew that firsthand.
“Yeah. I’ll tell you all about it later, Himeragi.”
Kojou appeared distant while he spoke.
“Okay.”
Of course you will, said Yukina’s expression as she nodded firmly. When looking at Kojou, her face suddenly hardened. He felt like emotion was suddenly draining from her eyes.
At the same time, there was a prick deep in Kojou’s nose, and he tasted metal. Warm liquid was dripping toward the corner of Kojou’s mouth—a nosebleed.
“…Senpai, what did you do with Ms. Minamiya inside the Prison Barrier…?”
Yukina asked with a quiet voice stripped of all sense of warmth.
Kojou felt like it was hard to breathe as he hastily shook his head and insisted, “W-wait, you’re wrong! This was just from Natsuki teasing!”
“Don’t tell me you felt…vampiric urges…toward Ms. Minamiya…!”
Yukina, heavily thrown for a loop, seemed to be murmuring to herself. The odd strength in the fingers gripping her silver spear was frightening to behold.
“Y-you’re wrong! Inside the dream, Natsuki turned into a grown-up teacher to match her age; her breasts were big— Ah, er, not that it really means anything, but…”
“A grown-up teacher…you say. Big breasts, you say. Is that so…?”
Yukina spoke in a very frigid tone as Kojou wiped most of the nosebleed away from his lips. To a third-party observer, it would not be clear whether they were arguing or flirting.
Then, at their feet, Kojou and Yukina heard what sounded like a deliberate throat clearing.
Kiriha, sitting on the sandy beach with her arms around her knees, looked up at the pair with a pouty look.
“I’m sorry to ruin the good mood, but aren’t you forgetting something?”
“Ah, sorry. You were a big help this time around, too, Kisaki…”
Kojou, realizing that Kiriha was wounded just as much as Yukina, meekly bowed his head.
They still had to get Kiriha to escort them until they boarded the business jet. Earning her ire at that juncture would be bad.
Kiriha smiled maliciously, as if she knew she had Kojou over a barrel, and said, “Come to think of it, could you lend me a hand? My legs hurt, so I would be pleased if you could carry me.”
“Well, fine. I can do that much…”
Kojou grudgingly nodded, picking Kiriha up as he was told.
Seeing Kojou carry Kiriha bridal style elicited a look of dissatisfaction over Yukina’s face. Even so, she felt her own sense of obligation toward Kiriha, so she kept her words of complaint to herself.
As if to rub salt in Yukina’s wounds, Kiriha put her hands around Kojou’s neck and said, “You may touch me somewhat inappropriately along the way. It will be a bumpy ride, so such things are inevitable.”
“It’s hard to carry you if you’re gonna say stuff like that!” he shot back in a shrill voice.
Kiriha drew her lips to Kojou’s ear and said, “Incidentally, for reasons related to ritual sorcery, I am not wearing panties today…”
“Huh?!”
Unwittingly, Kojou stopped in his tracks, mouth hanging open.
Not wearing any. So she hadn’t put on any to begin with. That’s crazy. No, wait— If it’s for a sorcerous reason, then she had no choice…? His mind concentrated, attempting to discern whether Kiriha’s words were true from the sensations conveyed by his fingertips. Thanks to this, Kiriha’s body warmth and physical softness weighed even more heavily on his mind. As a result, Kojou completely froze for two long seconds when Kiriha glanced back with a serious expression.
“I lied.”
“That was a lie?!”
“Senpai…”
When Kojou, with a deeply wounded look, shouted, Yukina had sighed, staring at him in visible disappointment.
Kiriha giggled, at last seeming somewhat satisfied, but th
en—
“—?!”
—Kiriha’s expression suddenly contorted out of fear.
Noticing the sharp change, Kojou asked, “…Kisaki?”
However, his words went unheard. The sound of the sea breeze, the calls of seagulls—he could not hear them, either. They were surrounded by complete silence.
It was all over in a second. Sound returned to the world as if someone had pressed a switch.
“What…was that just now…?!”
Kojou groaned in pain as he had the uncomfortable sense of being dragged to an unfamiliar place.
His mental process had been disconnected, almost like someone had torn a page out of a book. It was different than déjà vu or jamais vu. The discomfort was like watching a film that had missed a frame.
“Paper Noise…!”
Kiriha raised a shrill voice. Her entire body was trembling like a child who was afraid of the dark. Kojou could hear her teeth clattering.
“Hey, Kisaki?!” Kojou shouted in surprise as an unfamiliar figure wedged her way into his vision.
A lone woman was standing in the middle of the road leading from the beach to the next level higher. She wore a thin, veil-like silk, so he could not see her face, but it was clear that she was still young, probably little older than Kojou and the others.
She was wearing a luxurious priestess outfit adorned with countless gemstones. Even on New Year’s Day, one could not walk outside in an outfit like that without turning heads.
And yet, until she had appeared close to them, neither Kojou nor the others had been able to detect her presence.
“Have we…met before? For that matter, where did you come fr—?”
Kojou asked, feeling like he knew this woman somehow. However, the woman in the priestess outfit did not reply.
She simply murmured in a gentle voice as if speaking to herself.
“The Witch of the Void is softer than expected. No…perhaps that is simply her nature.”
The Fugitive Fourth Primogenitor Page 17