Labyrinth of the Blue Witch

by Gakuto Mikumo

  Vampires, in general, were called the strongest of all demonkind. Though there were many caveats, they neither aged, nor died of natural causes. Surely, most people would think that stealing the body meant stealing the power that came with it. But Kojou was unaware of the existence of any human being capable of obtaining a vampire’s power.

  Indeed, the result of trying to consume a higher being than oneself, such as a vampire, ought to be having one’s own existence consumed instead.

  Yukina was dead serious as she gave him a textbook answer.

  “Magically speaking, taking over another person’s body is not particularly difficult. All you need to do is put the other person’s mind to sleep and mentally control them from a distance.”

  Even Kojou could follow that logic. This was controlling another person’s body from a distant location… In other words, the type of curse known as “possession.”

  “Theoretically, switching souls—in other words, mutually possessing the other’s physical body—is hardly impossible, I think. However, there are exceptions.”

  “…Exceptions?”

  “Yes,” said Yukina with a nod before saying something he didn’t expect. “It is not possible for another human being to control a vampire’s body like that.”

  “Why’s that?” wondered Kojou aloud, full of doubt. Why were vampires such a special case?

  “It is because vampires are created via a curse from the gods themselves.”

  Kojou’s lips twisted as she bluntly stated the unpalatable fact: Vampires were beings cursed by the gods themselves. He’d heard the words many times over, but having them said to his face still hurt to no small degree.

  “No one exists who can use a spell that can overwrite a curse cast by a divine being. Such a spell would almost certainly be ineffective, and even if it were, the caster would likely suffer a backlash from the curse, bringing the vampire’s blood into himself. In other words, his ego would be consumed and he would become an empty shell.”

  Kojou felt a sharp chill from the exceedingly simple and heartless analysis.

  “Huh…?! Then how the heck did Yuuma steal my body?”

  Yukina’s voice grew harder.

  “I believe that she has not actually stolen your body, senpai. Yuuma is merely warping space. By swapping your five senses for hers through a spatial link, she can exchange what would normally be your own nerve pulses to your physical body with her own.”

  Kojou murmured while touching his own cheek—or rather, Yuuma’s. “…In other words, you’re saying I’m hallucinating that I’m seeing what Yuuma’s eyes are seeing, and when I try to move my own limbs, I’m controlling hers instead…?”

  Yukina silently nodded.

  “As that does not involve direct interference with a vampire’s physical body, there will be no backlash from the curse. And so, she has achieved an effect superficially identical to swapping one another’s souls.”

  It had been hard for Yukina to explain, but the more he thought about it, the logic was very simple.

  If you can’t take over a vampire’s body magically, take it over using physical means—

  Human beings couldn’t see their own souls. Even if you cracked your own skull open, there was no practical way to confirm whether you actually had one in you or not. Put another way, people had no self-awareness of whether they had souls in them or not. It wasn’t that Kojou’s mind was actually in Yuuma’s body. Even now, it was still in his body; he just didn’t have any perception of it.

  “It’s like switching the wiring of a kitchen appliance, huh? But doesn’t that mean controlling space every waking moment she’s got control of my body? You can do that?”

  “That is beyond human limits,” said Yukina with a shake of her head.

  “Spatial control is top level magic. Even stabilizing a single ‘gate’ requires an enormous amount of magical energy and a ritual performed by a high-level practitioner. It is impossible for a normal human being to connect a countless number of nerves one by one between two people.”

  “Isn’t…that some kind of paradox?”

  If you couldn’t link nervous systems through spatial control, how had Yuuma taken Kojou’s physical body?

  “I am saying it is not possible for a normal human being.”

  Yukina looked just a little torn as she conveyed her words. Kojou, a resident of a Demon Sanctuary, instantly grasped the meaning of those words.

  “So Yuuma’s…not a normal human being?”

  Yukina’s reply made Kojou reel.

  “Senpai…who do you know who is a master of spatial control?”

  An image came into the back of his mind of a small female teacher who wore stifling gothic dresses on an Island of Everlasting Summer—someone who could control space with about the same apparent effort as most people spent breathing. She was called an ominous title by some—the Witch of the Void.

  “You don’t mean, she’s…the same as Natsuki…?”

  Yukina nodded gravely.

  “A witch is a woman who makes a pact with a devil for power to grant an otherwise impossible wish, but the price she pays is her very soul…”

  Kojou recalled the sight of the faceless blue knight that had risen from Yuuma’s back the night before. Was that creepy shadow truly what people called a devil?

  Yukina decisively wove the words with her lips, gripping her silver spear strongly all the while.

  “Yuuma Tokoyogi is a witch…a witch of the same type as Ms. Minamiya.”

  5

  Motoki Yaze was on the high school building’s roof with a donut in one hand and a notebook PC spread before him. His face showed heavy signs of fatigue, which was natural—he hadn’t slept a single wink since the day before.

  Spatial distortions had occurred continuously over the preceding twenty-four hours, covering virtually the entire city even at that moment, causing chaos in a variety of ways. Between using emergency health laws to address problems and shove word of them under the rug, researching the cause, making plans to deal with the hidden danger threatening the Demon Sanctuary, and to top it off, preparing for the opening of the Hollow Eve Festival, the Gigafloat Management Corporation was pretty much operating under wartime conditions.

  Yaze the spy was doing his part, working on his own to try and find out who was pulling the strings behind the ruckus.

  As Yaze was using his notebook screen to check for rumors on the Net, a 3-D hologram of a badly made stuffed bear cut right in.

  “Huh. Looks like things are getting a little rough out there.”

  This was the avatar of the supercomputers that controlled all of Itogami Island’s urban functions.

  Yaze scratched his head as he shot a question to the overly chummy AI.

  “It’s you, Mogwai? What happened to Asagi?”

  Yaze didn’t like Mogwai. The sly artificial intelligence was too smart for everyone else’s own good; even though it was public property, it was a touchy, dangerous thing only Asagi had proved able to master.

  Since Yaze was keeping his own spy activities secret from Asagi, he felt like the creature had blackmail material on him. He really didn’t like dealing with the thing.

  “She just got to sleep. Even for the mistress, rewriting the Gigafloat network’s back end from scratch in one night was a miracle. Her face is so cute and defenseless when she’s asleep. Want a picture?”

  “Don’t need it. Send it to Kojou’s cell phone.”

  “Heh-heh-heh… Sounds like a plan. I’ll set it as his wallpaper while I’m at it.”

  This thing really is something, thought Yaze as he clicked his tongue. For a machine, the AI seemed more human than the real thing.

  “I don’t follow the tech talk much, but I gather the corporation’s systems have been stabilized for now?”

  “We’ve pretty much isolated all the errors caused by spatial distortions. Our revised topographical scans are accurate to within a few millimeters now, and effects on commuters are down to long waits
at traffic lights. That doesn’t help pedestrians who get lost, but all we can do ’bout that is bump up staff at lost and found centers.”

  “That so,” Yaze said, exhaling. Apparently, Asagi’s having recreated the traffic control system overnight was the only reason it was operating sanely under insane conditions caused by random spatial distortions. It was typical of her peerless talent.

  “Is the airport operating, too?”

  “Yep. The agents you requested arrived, too.”

  “I’d like to say I’m relieved to hear that, but we’re up against some tough competition this time.”

  “The Meyer Sisters from LCO’s First Branch, Philosophy?”

  “Yeah.” Yaze laughed ruefully as he looked over the data on the screen.

  They were high-level sorceresses, even for a giant criminal organization composed only of witches. The organization was several thousand members strong. They possessed a large number of powerful grimoires, to the point that they were often referred to as the Library. The Meyer Sisters were known as militants even by LCO standards.

  Yaze didn’t think agents from the mainland with little actual combat experience would be of much help against them. No doubt the damage would be severe if it came down to a frontal engagement. It was foolish to try and drown powerful witches with numbers. The only good way to do it was to dispatch practitioners at or above the same level.

  Mogwai lazily pointed out an inconvenient fact.

  “It’s strange, though. Large-scale techniques such as spatial distortions are said to be the methods of Seventh Branch, Arts, and Fifth Branch, Science.”

  Yaze murmured as if blowing him off. “If the Witch of Notalia is the goal of all this, they probably have an alliance or two going. The Black Bible she has is worth it.”

  “So the Gigafloat Management Corporation shares Li’l Miss Asagi’s opinion, I take it? Meaning, the reason the witch sisters are causing spatial distortions all over the area is to…”

  “Yeah. They’re looking for it. Looks like it’s still out of their hands at the moment.”

  Spatial distortions without rhyme or reason across the entire island—indirectly, that made the witches’ objective crystal clear.

  The spatial distortions themselves were beside the point. The witch sisters were using spatial distortions all over Itogami Island to search for something hidden within. At the pace the distortions were spreading, finding it would only be a matter of time.

  “I see. So that’s why Natsuki Minamiya can’t move on this, heh-heh,” said Mogwai with a gossipy tone.

  Yaze scratched his face with an anguished look. “I don’t like admitting it, but thanks to that we’re short on manpower. Someone tough enough to take out the Ashdown Witches would be a vampire noble or a Lion King Agency Sword Shaman, but…”

  Surely, Yukina Himeragi could face the witch sisters on even terms. Her spear, able to rend any barrier and neutralize demonic energy, was pretty much a witch’s mortal enemy.

  But if Yukina got involved, that meant involving Kojou in the incident, too. He had to avoid that at all costs. Bringing out a Beast Vassal of the Fourth Primogenitor in an area with serious spatial instability was pouring a whole tanker full of oil on the fire.

  The vampire aristocrat was out of the question. If that combat maniac realized what the witches were really after, he’d cheerfully lend them a hand. That was the worst outcome he could think of.

  Mogwai spoke as if to make light of Yaze’s difficulties. “Incidentally, the Knights of the Second Coming bodyguard unit is requesting permission to land.”

  “Escorts for the Aldegian princess, huh? More useful than agents from the mainland, I bet. Makes me jealous,” Yaze said with a heavy sigh.

  The knights of Aldegia, a country sharing a border with the Warlord’s Empire, had a wealth of combat experience against demons. Plus, they had the pseudo–Holy Blades as their trump cards. Even if it wouldn’t be an easy win, they’d still count as a serious factor against witches.

  “The princess said she’s happy to help settle the situation down. It comes with a condition, though.”

  “Condition?”

  Mogwai sent the e-mail from Princess La Folia to the perplexed Yaze’s notebook screen. The silly emoji in the text gave him a bit of a headache, but it was the content that made Yaze’s eyes widen.

  “…Is she sane?”

  “She’s an even wilder mare than the rumors say. Heh-heh. I like.”

  Mogwai smiled, as if pleased from the bottom of his heart. Maybe the fact it had been built to analyze complex problems accounted for how the AI seemed to find the troubles of others very funny.

  In any sane situation, the contents of La Folia’s plan were something to reject out of hand. If things went sour, it’d become an international incident between Japan and her nation. “But,” said Yaze, rubbing his chin.

  “Princess La Folia has a Shamanic War Dancer from the Lion King Agency keeping an eye on her. If we pull this off right, we might settle this much easier than I expected. We should give it a shot.”

  “Heh-heh…”

  Yaze took out his cell phone as he listened to Mogwai’s laughing voice.

  Yes. Against witches, you had to send witches or sorcerers of an equal or greater level. Fortunately, this was a Demon Sanctuary. Even Yaze had at least one person in mind who’d fit the bill—

  6

  There existed a type of book known as a grimoire.

  In the past, these were used to record the processes for spells, magical rituals, recording experiments in controlling spiritual entities, and so forth. However, after accumulating vast knowledge to excess, books resulted that were imbued with powerful magic in their own right. Finally, they became able to grant power beyond the reader’s comprehension, and thus call forth great calamities—

  These were grimoires: books of power.

  Everyone engaged in the pursuit of magic wanted a grimoire for his or her own. However, precious few could actually control the enormous magical power stored within. Over the course of history, researchers beyond counting had lost control of their grimoires to be destroyed by them. In several cases, entire cities had been destroyed, contaminating tens of thousands of people’s souls. Many grimoires had thus been lost in the process.

  Despairing at the situation, a number of sorcerers and witches established LCO—the organization known as the Library. They assembled grimoires from every corner of the earth, strictly classifying them according to their uses and sealing them away. Then, they lent the grimoires out, but only to the selected few.

  They did this not for the development of magic, not to protect the peace of peoples the world over, but strictly to satisfy their own curiosity and avarice—

  The Library was an exceptionally arbitrary and self-righteous organization of sorcerous researchers, well suited to being a criminal organization from the moment of its inception.

  LCO’s Grimoire No. 539 was being unleashed at the top of Keystone Gate, the place at the very center of the Demon Sanctuary.

  An enormous scarlet magic circle had been drawn on the rooftop of the huge building in the shape of an inverted pyramid. This was a ward set up to protect the grimoire.

  The magic circle had been drawn using the blood of the Island Guard’s guardsmen. The fresh blood from the wounds they had sustained while guarding Keystone Gate served as the foundation of the magical ritual.

  The wounded guardsmen moaned in anguish before being discarded without a thought like broken crayons.

  The oldest of the Meyer Sisters, Emma, stood in the center of the magic circle, dressed in black.

  “Do you not think it is beautiful, Octavia? I feel I will be blessed with a life-changing encounter today.”

  She watched as the ancient text absorbed the vitality of the guardsmen sacrificed to it and released a powerful magical surge. The sisters had not killed the guardsmen so that they could serve as fuel for the grimoire.

  The scarlet witch—Octavia Meyer—seemed
scornful somehow as she gazed at the bloody magic circle.

  “How marvelous, sister, reading fate from meaningless things just as the ancient Stoics did.”

  She did not partake in her older sister’s hobby of looking at dead humans for amusement. Her interests laid more in the spectacular strewing about of brains and guts, splatter in the pursuit of slaughter.

  “Ah, sister. Are these peons remaining atop the tower not an eyesore?”

  The scarlet witch looked above her head, seemingly pleading to her older sister, Is it all right if I kill them now?

  The witch was looking straight at a steel cell tower and a glass-enveloped viewing hall around it. Thanks to the sisters having taken over the rooftop, the tourists were trapped inside the hall, unable to escape. All they could do in their hall-turned-prison was helplessly gaze dumbfounded down at the unfolding tragedy.

  The black witch reproached her sister.

  “Let them be, Octavia. Their fear and despair shall only make the moment we realize our goal more entertaining.”

  The scarlet witch sighed in apparent disappointment as she replied, “…That is a splendid idea, sister. It is a wonderful test of Deism—there shall be no miracle from God here no matter how much they pray.”

  It had been nearly half the day since they’d occupied the top of the building; it was only natural they were getting bored.

  Emma murmured as she carefully flipped through the grimoire’s pages.

  “It feels good to make space cry out.”

  Though invisible to the eyes of normal human beings, the space all around Itogami Island had countless cracks running through it, making it resemble a spiderweb. The cracks slowly continued to grow, searching for something like the feelers of an ant.

  The cracks chiefly affected those who possessed a high level of magical energy, but this was a simple side effect. Even if people were caught in spatial distortions and flung somewhere, or even if someone was pulled in from another point in time, these were minor trivialities. They barely counted as entertainment to stave off boredom when compared to the great chaos that approached.