Kojou gaped up at him. “You sure like to live dangerously, old man.”
Certainly, Liana was an alluring beauty, but she was also a powerful vampire with might rivaling an army unit, and yet he’d sexually harassed her. That wasn’t so much bravery as it was stupidity.
Carrozzo continued, “Well, we’ve got the perimeter of the ruins locked down tight, and if anything happens, the army’ll come running. Any looters hunting for treasure won’t get close. Relax. As long as you’re in the camp, no one’s setting one finger on either of you.”
With that firm declaration, Carrozzo gave Kojou a hard pat on the back. The force of it elicited a smile and a nod from Kojou, as well as a cough.
“Gotcha. We’re counting on you.”
“Yep, you leave it to me—”
The young Japanese siblings walked toward the entrance to the ruin. No doubt Gajou and the others were inside, waiting for them to arrive.
Thanks to Nagisa’s ability, the excavation work was about to advance by leaps and bounds. If they could recover what was inside the “coffin,” their work at the ruins would be finished.
Carrozzo stretched his stiff body and scanned the base camp.
“Well, then… Now that I’m all pumped up, I better get back to my post, too.”
It was just past four in the morning, shortly before daybreak—the time when spiritualists’ senses were at their sharpest and, since time immemorial, the ideal moment for a surprise attack. The real job for Carrozzo and his men was just starting.
To begin with, Liana Caruana had deployed a powerful barrier around the base camp. Not even a powerful demon could come near…or rather, the more powerful a demon was, the more difficult it would be to approach the camp. Thanks to that protection, Carrozzo and his men could breathe a little easier and focus their energies on guarding against human adversaries, he thought as he watched the Akatsuki siblings go.
Abruptly, he stopped walking, sensing that something was off. Some kind of straight object resembling the branch of a tree was poking out of the ground, still wet from rain the day before. Carrozzo sucked in his breath when he realized it was actually a shriveled human arm.
“What…is that? A corpse…?”
It was a comparatively recent human corpse buried inside the base camp site. Carrozzo squatted down to discover what he could about the body. At that moment—
“—!!”
What Carrozzo thought was a completely shriveled corpse arm attacked him with incredible vigor.
His throat ripped out, the burly guard perished, unable to even raise a shout.
5
In contrast to the plain vanilla exterior, the stone chamber inside the tunnel had glossy, beautifully polished walls. On the way in, it was hard to miss the rubble from repeated bedrock demolition and vestiges of the giant monster clawing its way out, but the interior was largely unscathed.
It was a mysterious room that suggested it had been constructed sometime long before, only to be completed within the last several years. Small wonder it was baffling the explorers.
Kojou genuinely appreciated his first look at the inside of a ruin.
“It’s really a pretty place. I was thinking an underground tomb would be a little darker and scarier, but…”
The stone chamber’s interior was moderately bright, letting him see the layout without even needing a flashlight. Apparently, the rock walls were made out of something that collected and emitted sunlight.
Gajou, entering last as if he was Nagisa’s bodyguard, explained in an uncharacteristically serious tone, “Seems like this was built more as a temple than an actual tomb.”
“Some ancient god sleepin’ here or something?”
“God, you say?” Gajou made a delighted chuckle in his throat and continued, “Nothing that holy. I suppose if you’re gonna compare it to gods, a fallen god’s not far off.”
“Doc…!” Liana scolded Gajou.
But Gajou laughed without restraint and shook his head.
“No point hiding it now. It’s not like I’m trying to scare you here. It just happens to be the truth.”
Kojou glared at his father. “What do you mean?”
“Where should I begin?” Gajou said, scowling ever so slightly. “Have you heard of the Fourth Primogenitor?”
“The Kaleid Blood thing, the phantom primogenitor served by twelve Beast Vassals, was it…?”
Of course Kojou knew the name. It was an urban legend famous enough that pretty much everyone had to have heard it once. He’s probably pullin’ my leg, Kojou thought, annoyed.
“That’s right,” Gajou replied. “He has no blood brethren, standing alone as the World’s Mightiest Vampire. It’s said he’s appeared at turning points in history several times, bringing genocide and devastation to the world in his wake.”
“But there’s no actual proof of that, is there? Even elementary schoolers wouldn’t believe occult stuff like that nowadays.”
Gajou pointed to the far side of the stonework room before he answered.
“There is proof, and it’s right before your eyes.”
There stood a thick, stonework door. Kojou couldn’t see any seams or hinges, nor could he figure out how someone was supposed to open it. Trying to blow up the door might bring the whole stone room crashing down, burying everyone alive. It was probably a trap constructed with incredibly high-end technology.
He figured Nagisa had been called in to help them figure out how to open the thing.
Unwittingly lowering his voice, Kojou asked, “So what, the Fourth Primogenitor’s asleep inside that thing?”
Gajou cackled without a care in the world. “That’d be real funny, wouldn’t it?”
Kojou did a double take and shouted at his father, “What the heck?! You can’t go digging up valuable ancient ruins with a ridiculous theory like that!”
“It’s not ridiculous at all!” Liana yelled, pain clear in her voice.
“L-Liana…?”
Kojou looked back at her, dumbfounded. The echo of Liana’s cry reverberated faintly inside the huge stonework chamber. Liana, perhaps embarrassed when she regained hold of herself, said, “I’m sorry” in a small, apologetic voice, hanging her head in silence.
Gajou seemed to be sticking up for Liana as he spoke in a careless tone. “Well, we adults have our reasons. You kids don’t need to sweat the little stuff… This here’s the third strata of the underground tomb, the Room of Reminiscence. There should be one more room to go, but it’s locked up so tight we can’t figure out how to get in. That’s why we brought Nagisa over, so…”
Gajou’s words trailed off as his gaze shifted to the side of the girl’s face. That was when Kojou realized it. The normally ever-chatty Nagisa hadn’t spoken a single word since they’d arrived—
Kojou haltingly called out to his little sister. “Nagisa…?”
However, she didn’t turn toward him. Her irises were open wide as she simply stared expressionlessly at the stonework door.
Kojou suddenly realized that the pale glow from the ruin’s walls had increased. The stone became as transparent as crystal; inside it, something like an electric current was forming giant magical symbols.
Nagisa’s lips uttered words in a foreign language Kojou didn’t know. It was as if she was using those words to communicate with the thoughts that people had left behind in the ruin—
Naturally, the people who’d built the structure knew how to open the stone door. Nagisa was attempting to communicate with their departed spirits to decipher the seal. However, Nagisa had already lost her own consciousness from accepting into herself a being that was simply too powerful.
At the moment, she had no volition of her own. She had become one of the magical circuits making up the control system for the ruin.
Surprised, Liana began to ask, “Doc! What’s…?”
Gajou’s expression contained only the faintest trace of nervousness. “Looks like the ruin’s getting a reboot. Considering the gargoyle, I
had a pretty good idea that the magical power source was still running, but it’s a bigger show than I expected.”
Nagisa remained in a trance. She took a step forward, as if expecting something to happen, and on cue, the light radiating from the stone door grew brighter.
Then, without warning, the door vanished without a trace. Not a single pebble remained.
Most likely, the door had been transferred to another dimension via a spatial control spell. Kojou couldn’t even fathom the level of sorcerous technology required for such a feat.
Liana was beside herself, murmuring as she gazed at Nagisa, still in a hypnotic state.
“It can’t be… A seal that not even the Warlord’s Empire sorcerous engineers could decipher, in but a single moment…”
Gajou shivered violently as a fierce cold blew in from the passage, making even their breath visible.
“Whoa… This thing’s givin’ me the chills!”
The sudden, frigid air caused a dense fog to begin forming within the ruins. Nagisa stepped into the corridor, seemingly melting into the mist.
Kojou hurried to try to stop her.
“Nagisa?!”
Gajou’s voice interceded. “Wait, Kojou! Don’t get close to her!”
“But Nagisa’s…!”
“Leave it to her. At the very least, she’s channeling successfully. It’s more dangerous to shake her out of it.”
“Ugh…!”
Kojou stayed in place and bit his lip. He hated to admit it, but his father was right. All he could do at that moment was desperately follow Nagisa so he didn’t lose sight of her.
When he came out the other side of the clouded passageway, the final chamber lay ahead.
It was a room with high, nearly cylindrical walls. The altar at the chamber’s center resembled a giant block of ice, like a glacier from the farthest reaches of the world. In that icy coffin slept a petite figure—a girl about Nagisa’s size.
Her skin was so pale you could almost see right through it. Her youthful facial features were inhumanly symmetrical, and her faintly pigmented blond hair seemed to reflect light so that it glittered like a rainbow.
Kojou looked up at the girl. “That’s the Fairy’s Coffin…? Is…she dead?” he murmured.
Certainly, the girl sleeping in the ice coffin formed the picture of a fairy trapped in a piece of clear amber. Somehow, the beautiful being felt ominous.
Even if she was the Fourth Primogenitor, the World’s Mightiest Vampire, he wouldn’t think she could be alive in that condition. However, everyone in the stone chamber had already realized—it was this very girl in the coffin who was the source of the magical energy coursing through the ruins. And it was she who had called Nagisa.
“We’ve finally found you… The twelfth Kaleid Blood…!” Liana muttered to herself.
Kojou didn’t understand what she meant. But somehow, he felt like that sterile title didn’t fit the ephemeral girl sleeping in the coffin.
Countless sharp icicles covered her resting place, fending off all who would approach. They resembled a wall of thorns meant to protect the dormant girl.
Kojou unwittingly said out loud the words that came to mind.
“It’s like she’s a sleeping princess…”
Yes, the girl trapped alone in the coffin of ice seemed less a vampire than a tragic princess out of a fairy tale.
Apparently, Kojou wasn’t the only one to think that. Liana glanced sideways at Kojou’s face as a pure smile welled up from inside her, like a white flower taking bloom.
“Sleeping princess… Then, Avrora Florestina…daughter of King Florestin?”
Gajou offered uncharacteristic words of praise.
“That’s great. It sounds a hell of a lot more poetic than just naming her after a number.”
Kojou felt acutely embarrassed at his father’s lack of concern. “This isn’t the time to be so laid-back! At this rate, Nagisa’s gonna get frozen with her!”
“Ah…yeah…”
Gajou didn’t exactly refute his son.
A cold mist shrouded Nagisa, who stood in front of the coffin. At the rate things were going, she would be pulled into the ice, the same coffin that kept Avrora trapped.
Or, perhaps Avrora herself would suck Nagisa’s spiritual energy dry in order to return to life—
Yet Gajou, fully aware of these concerns, made no move to rescue Nagisa. To the contrary, he said, “Miss Caruana, do you mind if I leave this in your hands?”
This time, Kojou’s mouth hung open as he watched his father suddenly turn his back on Nagisa.
“Dad—?!”
His body moved before he realized it. He leaped, his small clenched fist aimed at his father’s face.
But it was not Gajou who stopped him. Before Kojou could smack him in the face, the entire ruin shuddered. It was as if a giant hammer had smashed down, with a shock wave shaking the earth, causing Kojou to lose his balance and fall over.
“…An earthquake?!” he exclaimed.
The whole stone chamber cracked ferociously, and scattered pieces of rubble rained down on them. The shaking did not continue for long. A powerful wind blew in its place—a blast with the scent of explosives.
Perhaps that shock wave pulled Nagisa out of her trance. Without a sound, her petite figure in its shrine maiden outfit crumpled to the floor.
Liana wore a grave expression as she looked behind her.
“Doc, just now…!”
Gajou took up the rifle he had been carrying over his back, flipping the safety off. It was a bullpup-style automatic weapon for military use.
“Yeah… Looks like we’re running into a bit of trouble.”
The oppressive aura from Kojou’s father told the boy loud and clear that something had suddenly taken a turn for the worse.
“Sorry, Kojou. Take care of Nagisa. I’ll be back soon.”
“Dad!!”
Left behind, Kojou stared dumbfounded at Gajou’s back.
He remembered the imposing atmosphere at the base camp guarded by Carrozzo and the others. They’d known from the start that someone was after the ruin. Kojou was the only one who hadn’t. And Gajou had called Nagisa over to such a place, fully aware there would be danger—
Kojou forcefully pounded the floor with his fist.
“Shit! What the hell is that man thinking?!”
Liana looked down, wincing, as she squatted beside Kojou.
“…I apologize for dragging you into all this. However, please don’t blame Doc. This has been harder for him than anyone else.”
With Liana close to him, Kojou asked her, “What the hell’s with this ruin? It’s not just an underground tomb, is it? Twelfth Kaleid Blood, what is that—?!”
Liana quietly released a deadly aura, seemingly to cut Kojou off and brush aside his concerns.
“Let’s save that conversation for later. Kojou, please get back.”
“Eh?”
Liana glared toward the ruin’s entrance as she removed the bracelet on her left wrist. Her eyes glowed crimson as fangs poked out between her lips.
Kojou remembered her true nature. Liana was a noble from the Warlord’s Empire, an Old Guard vampire.
“—Enemies have arrived.”
Before Liana even finished speaking, an avalanche of human silhouettes poured into the stone chamber.
The sight left Kojou at a loss for words. He knew them, the faces of the “enemy” soldiers that had blown open the entrance to the ruin, forcing their way in—
They wore flak jackets and were armed with automatic weapons; they were the very Private Military Corporation guards that had been protecting the camp.
6
Flames engulfed the examination team base camp. The rows of vehicles and heavy machinery were wrecked, and even structures and tents well removed from the ruins had been meticulously torched.
Gajou, heading outside the underground tomb, ground his teeth audibly.
“Man… Really making a mess out here…”
He didn’t know who the enemy was. There were simply too many possibilities. It wasn’t just humans who were opposed to the revival of the Fourth Primogenitor, but plenty of demons were, too—even inside the Warlord’s Empire.
“Did they break Miss Caruana’s barrier? The only ones able to do that ought to be vampires of the same class as the Caruana family… Wait…”
That’s odd, Gajou thought, raising an eyebrow.
Liana Caruana had three Beast Vassals in her care. The barrier protecting the base camp was no doubt one of them, altered into a different form. There was no way the host, Liana, would be unaware of an attack powerful enough to break it.
Also, the low number of casualties nagged at his thoughts. For all the damage that had occurred, he saw virtually no corpses aboveground. It was possible that the examination team’s scholars might have been able to evacuate someplace, but he didn’t think the private military guards would collectively abandon their posts.
In the first place, he couldn’t see any enemy soldiers—
Gajou kept his guard firmly up as he headed out of the ruin. He was greeted by the unexpected sight of a burly, bearded guardsman.
“Gajou! Thank goodness you’re safe.”
Gajou glared at Carrozzo, who’d emerged from the shadow of some boulders. “Carrozzo… What happened here?!”
Carrozzo seemed to be injured. The combat outfit he wore was marred with black streaks of blood.
“Sorry, they got us by surprise. They breached the barrier, and you can see the state the camp’s in. We managed to drive the enemy off somehow, but we took heavy casualties. Can you lend us a hand, Gajou?”
Gajou listened to his friend’s untrustworthy report, gazing at him with a hint of sadness. Then he lifted the barrel of his rifle, aiming it squarely at Carrozzo’s chest.
Carrozzo’s eyes opened wide in shock.
“Gajou…?!”
But Gajou paid him no heed and pulled the trigger. The bullet hit its target in the right side of the guard’s chest, sending fresh blood and pieces of flesh scattering. The gun in the man’s hand dropped to the ground.
Strike the Blood, Vol. 7: Kaleid Blood Page 4