“You deign to command me? I rather like reckless young ones unaware of their standing, Yukina.”
A particularly enormous ball of lightning emerged above the girl’s head, with the static electricity in the air prickling Yukina’s flesh. The giant storm cloud blotting out the entirety of the sky was likely the girl’s actual Beast Vassal.
The girl continued: “I shall not comply, for my objective remains unaccomplished.”
She unleashed a pale beam toward Yukina, but the spear swatted down the attack no normal human could ever have seen coming. The Sword Shamans of the Lion King Agency were able to see an instant into the future with their spirit sight. By reading the future, she had intercepted the Beast Vassal attack occurring literally at the speed of lightning.
Yukina ran toward the girl.
“So you will stop me by force? I like you even more!” the rainbow-haired girl said.
An expression of delight came over her as she unleashed another attack. However, Yukina did not stop. She slashed her way through the scalding lightning strike, making a beeline toward her.
“The purging spear that can rend any barrier and nullifies magical energy—you use it well for someone so inexperienced. But that is not enough to stop me!” her foe declared.
“—Eh?!”
The instant Yukina thought Snowdrift Wolf’s blade had impaled her foe, she let out a sound of complete shock. The spear, able to sever any demonic energy, had been struck from the side, throwing it off course. It hadn’t sustained a blow from the Beast Vassal.
Rather, the girl had knocked Snowdrift Wolf away with her bare hand.
Then she moved to press her advantage with a kick, but Yukina’s spear fended it off. By the skin of her teeth, she dodged the girl’s karate chop. With Yukina now off-balance, the girl launched a ferocious pummeling blow. The speed was too great for Yukina to counterattack; that instant, it took everything the Sword Shaman had just to fall back.
Intense anxiety came over Yukina as she moaned, “It can’t be… Those movements…”
The girl before her eyes was surely a powerful fully fledged vampire. The destructive might of the Beast Vassal she controlled was equal or superior to that of Kojou—of the Fourth Primogenitor’s Beast Vassals. But if that was all, she would prove little match for Yukina with Snowdrift Wolf in her hands.
Yukina was shocked that the girl had overwhelmed her in melee combat. Yukina, who had held her own and then some against a Lotharingian Armed Apostle and beast-man mercenaries, was being dominated one-on-one by a girl her own size.
However, the rainbow-haired girl also seemed to be evaluating her opponent. She gave a large nod of admiration that Yukina had escaped her attacks unscathed.
“Hee-hee-hee, you took that well. But… Go forth, Xiuhtecuhtli!”
A new Beast Vassal emerged at her feet, a pillar of incandescent flame reminiscent of a volcanic eruption. The explosive inferno surged around like a giant serpent and assaulted Yukina from above.
“Snowdrift Wolf…!”
Even as the off-the-charts level of heat struck her with awe, Yukina poured all her spiritual energy into her long spear and intercepted the flowing flames. Even if it appeared to be a fiery torrent, it was still a pure mass of demonic energy underneath. A single blow from the magic-nullifying Snowdrift Wolf caused both heat and flame to vanish.
The rainbow-haired girl declared in a voice that seemed more lighthearted than ever, “…So you leaped in to slice the flames from within. Had you turned your back for a single second out of fear of Xiuhtecuhtli, you and your bones would have been consumed without a trace. Well done. Even if I am being discreet, there are few souls that have fended off my Beast Vassals twice. Take pride in this.”
Her inexhaustible self-confidence wrapped Yukina in a doubt that resembled deep-rooted terror.
“What are you…?!”
The girl before her eyes was different than any foe Yukina had encountered previously. In terms of strength, Kanon Kanase had been closest during the time she had become Faux-Angel, possessing inexhaustible magical energy and absolute immortality, and an overbearing might that rivaled the gods. The girl was a being on a different plateau—compared to normal demons, she was in a different dimension.
What differed from Faux-Angel was that it was not divinity that hovered around her, but an infinite negative life force. Incomplete as he was, Yukina knew only one being similar to her: Kojou Akatsuki, the current Fourth Primogenitor. If he had obtained all the abilities that were properly due to him as primogenitor, that might have made him a being on the same level as the girl.
But the girl couldn’t be a vampire primogenitor. The girl’s young, beautiful features were completely different than anything she had heard about the three lords of the Dominions. They, and the Fourth Primogenitor, the vampire primogenitor that should not have existed, were the only primogenitors—
If Kojou was the Fourth Primogenitor, then this girl could not be one. If Kojou was the real Fourth Primogenitor—
Yukina’s hands quivered as they gripped her spear.
“That power… Your appearance… No, it can’t be…?!”
It felt less like remembering than being suddenly struck by an unpalatable truth.
The rainbow hair like billowing flames… The blazing eyes of pale blue flame… This was the appearance of the true Fourth Primogenitor, Avrora Florestina, whose name was a synonym for terror.
The vampire whose form was that of a young girl as beautiful as a fairy…
If this girl had only Avrora’s willowy appearance, Yukina would no doubt have deemed her an imposter. However, she used Beast Vassals, and ones so powerful that none but primogenitors could employ them—
With Yukina standing frozen in place, the rainbow-haired girl seemed to lose interest in her.
“Go, Camaxtli.”
The black storm cloud blotting out the sky unleashed a dazzling bolt, but it was not aimed at Yukina. The electric flash ripping through the air struck the building behind Yukina—near the half-destroyed medical wing.
Even if Yukina had bought some time, the staff couldn’t have finished evacuating already. Furthermore, the hospital attached to the laboratory contained numerous patients who could not be moved.
However, the girl’s attack showed them no mercy. The building’s lightning rods had already been destroyed, and Snowdrift Wolf could not protect the entirety of an enormous laboratory. Yukina had no way to protect the people there from the attack—and the attack of a primogenitor’s Beast Vassal wrought destruction and despair on par with a natural disaster.
Yet a low sound of surprise escaped the girl’s lips.
“Hmm?”
The lightning strike falling from the heavens was struck down by another, from the surface. The bolts scattered by the ferocious collision shifted into the form of a giant lion enveloped by lightning. A roar ripped through the air.
Yukina looked up at the lightning lion and shouted:
“Regulus Aurum—!”
The rainbow-haired girl murmured, “So he finally comes,” shifting her gaze with a charming smile. Her eyes reflected Kojou, whom the Beast Vassal served. He glared at the girl without letting down his guard as he stepped forward in Yukina’s place.
With pale lightning wrapping around his entire body, Kojou turned to the Sword Shaman.
“Himeragi, you all right?”
Yukina stared at him, dumbfounded. “Senpai—”
Kojou’s dry voice seemed on edge somehow.
“Substitution. Take care of Asagi.”
Yukina and Kojou weren’t the only ones present. It went without saying that Asagi had seen him call his Beast Vassal forth.
Asagi was probably more shaken by the truth than Kojou was by the revelation of his secret. However, neither Kojou nor Yukina had any time for considering Asagi’s feelings. The only thing they could do was ensure her safety.
“Senpai, this person…”
Kojou made a weak, bitter smile as
he glared at the rainbow-haired girl. “Yeah… She looks a lot like Avrora.”
Yukina hesitated before voicing what she feared was the truth.
“If it is her, does that not make her the real Fourth Primogenitor?”
Kojou’s eyes glowed red.
“Then that’s all the more reason I have to fight her.” His entire body was giving off dense magical energy. He continued, “And if she’s after Nagisa, that’s just more of a reason to fight her! I’m not letting you put one finger on this hospital. From here on, this is my fight—!”
Kojou’s shout was accompanied by the lightning lion’s roar. The giant mass of magical energy bared its fangs toward the rainbow-haired girl. However, there was no fear on her face. The only thing there was a delighted smile.
“Regulus Aurum. This really takes me back—Very well, go, Camaxtli—!”
The two Beast Vassals, each enveloped with enormous electric charges, clashed head-on. The ferocious shock wave became a blast of wind that indiscriminately assaulted the surrounding area. Kojou’s face twisted in nervousness.
“…Regulus Aurum’s being pushed back…?!”
It was an unbelievable sight. Regulus Aurum’s charge halted before it could touch the girl. The lightning lion, priding itself in its invincibility, was being overwhelmed by the might of the girl’s Beast Vassal.
The raging gale swept the girl’s hair as she shouted wildly, “You call yourself the Fourth Primogenitor, yet you indeed still lack full control of your Beast Vassals! Do not disappoint me so!”
A pillar of fire erupted from the girl’s feet, changing into an incandescent torrent that assaulted Kojou.
“Go, Xiuhtecuhtli!”
“Ugh! C’mon over, Al-Nasl Minium!”
Kojou shot down the scorching torrent with a blast from the Beast Vassal he had summoned. The girl released the summons of her own Beast Vassal to avoid the fiery backlash.
“Hee-hee-hee… You defended well! Then—!”
She suddenly leaped off the ground with monstrous speed only achievable with a vampire’s raw physical strength. A distance of several dozen meters turned to zero in an instant as the girl thrust her right arm at Kojou. Vile claws that seemed unsuited to the girl’s slender hands extended from her fingertips.
“Why you!”
Intuitively judging that he could not dodge the girl’s attack, Kojou summoned a new Beast Vassal. His entire body transformed into mist, and the girl’s right arm, on the cusp of impaling him, turned to mist as well.
“The Beast Vassal of Mist, Natra Cinereus—not a bad choice, but a careless one!”
The girl used her own demonic energy to materialize the right arm that had been turned to mist against her will.
This action seemed to drag Kojou back, releasing him from his own mist form, tearing his left breast and sending fresh blood scattering. Apparently, Kojou’s Beast Vassal, able to transform any kind of physical matter to mist and annihilate it, was ineffective against a vampire equal or above his own level.
He moaned as he glared at the girl’s bloodstained right arm.
“Guo…a…!”
The girl’s arm had transformed into a beast man’s even though she was a vampire—
“I…see! You’re—!”
“So you finally realize it. But it is too late! Go, Xolotl!”
She summoned her third Beast Vassal. This was an enormous, skeletal giant. Its eye sockets, having lost their eyes, were large hollow cavities; the gaps between the exposed ribs were filled with a dark space that did not reflect even a single ray of light.
The rib cage opened like a door, unleashing the overpowering darkness as if firing a cannon. It was a ravenous black missile that consumed space itself.
This is bad, thought Kojou as his whole body froze. The skeletal giant’s target was not Kojou, but rather, the building behind him. As if the rainbow-haired girl’s aim was to goad Kojou, the target was the medical wing!
But how was he to stop an attack that consumed space itself?!
“C’mon over, Al-Meissa Mercury!”
Kojou summoned another Beast Vassal, a two-headed dragon covered in quicksilver scales. Its giant maws opened wide, swallowing the surrounding space, and the black cannonball, whole.
Still, taking the brunt of the attack from a Beast Vassal of equal class brought visible strain to the two-headed dragon known as the Dimension Eater. Its demonic energy evaporated, and Kojou dropped to his knees.
It was plain that the rainbow-haired girl was just as depleted. Perhaps she was satisfied at having used her power so much, for she released the summons of all her Beast Vassals with a pleasant, satisfied smile.
“—Splendid. To think you would gouge out Xolotl’s annihilation space and the dimension with it instead. I see, such quick-wittedness is how you survived the Blazing Banquet…”
“Blazing…Banquet…?!”
Those words, ones Kojou felt he had heard before, made him feel like his chest was tightening. He felt a stabbing pain from the purportedly lost memory.
At long last, the dazzling sunbeams returned and made the girl grimace as she said, “I had hoped to size you up a little more, but it seems I am out of time. That’s all well and good, for I have fulfilled my objective.”
She looked at the medical wing building. Even if Kojou had interfered, her Beast Vassal had gouged out a great deal of its exterior wall, ripping open the experimental facility constructed deep underground.
It had thick metallic interior walls reinforced with steel girders. There were high-voltage cables, devices for circulating liquid coolant, and countless monitoring instruments. It was as sterile as a factory floor.
A small girl slept atop the metal bed placed at the center. The girl, wearing nothing but a thin medical gown, looked like a human sacrifice lying upon an altar.
Kojou stood rooted in shock as he gazed at the sight of his still-sleeping little sister.
“Nagisa…?!”
Lying beside Nagisa, another girl slept; it was as if they were mirror images. This girl was enveloped in a clear, pale blue mass of glacier-like ice.
Kojou stared wordlessly at the block of ice that was once called the Fairy’s Coffin.
10
Apparently, Kojou’s battle with the rainbow-haired girl had been tentatively settled. A silence descended, and what abruptly broke it was Asagi’s question.
“So Kojou’s really the Fourth Primogenitor?”
Asagi’s question was addressed to Yukina, who had doubled back to protect her. Seeing her sullen expression, Asagi clutched her head.
“What the hell…? That idiot became the World’s Mightiest Vampire? And you’re a watcher assigned by a special federal agency? None of this makes sense. What’s with all this…? Aw, geez!”
Yukina solemnly lowered her head. “I’m very sorry. I apologize for hiding it until now. However…”
There was a faint echo of bewilderment in Yukina’s voice. Even if it was natural that Asagi was upset, her reaction was a little different than she had anticipated.
“Er, you do not seem especially surprised…,” she timidly pointed out.
Asagi puffed up her cheeks as she stroked her hair back.
“I’ve lived in a Demon Sanctuary for over a decade. I’m not going to scream just because people I know turned out to be vampires and Attack Mages. Now that you mention it, a lot comes to mind. In the first place, I can’t exactly not believe you after seeing that firsthand.”
“Yes…I’m very sorry.”
By rational thinking, Yukina had no reason to apologize, but she lowered her gaze nonetheless, cowed by Asagi’s aggression.
“And another thing, Himeragi!”
“Y-yes!”
Yukina’s whole body seemed to shrink as she lifted her head. Before Yukina’s eyes, Asagi brought her face very close, staring at Yukina’s slender neck.
“Have you done it with Kojou yet?”
“P…pardon me?”
Asagi violently p
ounded the table close at hand.
“I’m asking if he drank your blood!”
Yukina’s head went blank at the girl’s provocative question.
“Eh?! Er, that was… I mean, there were exigent circumstances…!”
“You have?! How many times?!”
“Th-that’s—”
Yukina began meekly counting on her fingers. Her heart having been completely unprepared, she was unable to think of any way to gloss this over.
The corners of Asagi’s eyes rose as she watched Yukina bend her fingers.
“Why, that guuuy…!”
“Ah, Aiba…?”
Apparently, the important thing from Asagi’s point of view was not whether Kojou was human, but whether he’d placed his lips upon Yukina’s flesh.
Yukina tried to find the words to smooth things over, but her face abruptly hardened.
“I’m very sorry, Aiba, but we must leave this for another time—”
Yukina turned her silver spear around and walked forward without a sound. She headed toward the young man who had unexpectedly appeared out of nowhere, a youth with delicate features wearing black clothes.
Asagi, having a bad feeling about the man’s presence, adopted a guarded stance.
“Who’s that…?”
“An escapee from the prison barrier.”
Asagi’s face stiffened at Yukina’s curt explanation.
“The prison barrier?!”
She had a very good reason for not laughing off that barrier as a mere urban legend. Back on Harrowing Festival night at the end of October, Asagi had engaged in a lethal running battle with one of its escapees. She knew better than anyone just how frightening they were.
The man in black, Meiga Itogami, laughed wryly at Yukina in a show of scorn.
“Ah… You are the Sword Shaman from back then.”
Meiga gripped one short spear in each hand. Then he powerfully fused them together to create a single long spear. Yukina’s eyes widened in surprise at the eerie glow of the pitch-black weapon.
“That spear, it can’t be—”
“So you have indeed noticed that this is Fangzahn—a failed, ‘rejected weapon’ of the Lion King Agency.”
Strike the Blood, Vol. 7: Kaleid Blood Page 12