“I am not!! Well, our manager is kind of a sadist… Ugh, that Asagi, what’s with that training schedule…?! Is she trying to kill us?!”
“Let’s get to the archery range ASAP. Masochism’s contagious. Any more kinky talk like this and it might spread.”
“Like hell it will!!”
Sayaka, wearing a Saikai Academy uniform, was getting along very well with Kojou. Based on the content of the conversation, Sayaka was apparently Yukina’s senior in the archery club.
I see, thought Yukina, sighing. She thought it’d be nice if she could live in a world like that.
How wonderful it might be if she could.
Kojou looked at Yukina with concern as emotion vanished from her own face.
“Himeragi?”
However, Yukina’s eyes no longer paid him any heed.
“So that is how it is? My dream is to have met senpai as a normal junior high student, with a very kind Sayaka along with me…? A possibility that might exist in another world…”
However, the smile Yukina made as she strongly clenched her right fist was a sad one.
Her fingers conveyed the feel of the metallic spear that shouldn’t have been in her hand, the Schneewaltzer, secret weapon of the Lion King Agency, able to rend any witch’s barrier and nullify all magical energy—no magic could fool it.
“—Snowdrift Wolf!”
Yukina called out the name of her spear. Its tip began to glow, as if responding to her voice.
The purifying light ripped the illusion apart. A dimly lit classroom surrounded by the darkness of late night appeared in its place.
The illusions of Kojou and Sayaka vanished. Yukina was not wearing a school uniform, but rather, the nurse outfit she’d borrowed. It was still dark outside the windows. Apparently, it hadn’t been more than two or three hours since she and Sana had been abducted.
Yukina and Sana were both held in cells the shape of birdcages.
Sana was apparently asleep. The annihilation of magic on Itogami Island had apparently wiped out the backup personality as well.
Even Yukina’s spear could not slice apart the steel cage. It seemed very difficult for her to escape under her own power.
It was then that she heard a voice behind her—the voice of Aya Tokoyogi.
“If you desire it, you can change that dream into reality.”
The sound of compassion in her voice gave the declaration the ring of truth.
Yes. She could do it. Just as she’d erased all supernatural power from Itogami Island, she could alter Kojou’s and Yukina’s destinies.
“So that is the Black Bible’s ability—freely remaking the world according to your own desires. You used that power to make all supernatural power on Itogami Island except yours disappear.”
Aya nodded without hesitation.
“That is…correct.”
“Why have you done such a thing?”
“To prove that it is not we witches who are cursed, but this world.”
“Prove?” Yukina asked, uncertain.
She couldn’t comprehend what Aya Tokoyogi was really after. The annihilation of magical power meant Itogami Island would crumble. What would that prove?
“This is an…experiment. You, Yukina Himeragi, are the experiment’s witness—its assessor.”
Aya smiled as she looked at Yukina’s confusion. As she did so, the ground beneath the campus building creaked. Even then, Itogami Island’s collapse continued.
3
“Please…no more. Have mercy…”
Sayaka was curled up into a ball on the dimly lit clinic room’s sofa.
Her white shirt was completely unbuttoned, almost completely exposing her lean side. Thanks to her skirt having been stripped off, her white skin shone under the moonlight from collar to thigh.
Sayaka resisted as Yuuma forced her down and moved to take off her bra. Yuuma smiled charmingly as she ran a fingertip up Sayaka’s slender collarbone.
“Ahh, Sayaka, you’re so pretty.”
Eeeek, was Sayaka’s silent reply, weakly shaking her head as her entire body shuddered.
“Why are you doing this to me?!”
“Well, you see, I’m embarrassed to be the only one dressed like this.”
Kojou, the odd man out, interjected with a pant, “…Not that you can call that an outfit to begin with…”
The white gown Yuuma wore was a hospital one. The cloth was tied in one place on each side; it was very close to a “naked apron.” Of course, she wasn’t wearing any underwear whatsoever. The only things hiding her bare skin were the bandages covering her entire body.
Yuuma was unapologetic. “Well, I busted right out of a hospital room. Can’t be helped.”
Then, she gave a furtive glance to the bust of her hospital gown, as if daring Kojou to look.
However, the man didn’t react. He was used to her teasing; she’d done it plenty of times since grade school.
“Sorry, Kirasaka,” Kojou apologized. “She’s been like this since waaay back.”
Sayaka glared resentfully at Kojou.
“…I’d been finding it strange all this time why a pretty girl like this would be a close friend of yours, but now I get it. Birds of a feather flock together…!”
Why’d it turn into that? thought Kojou, as he heaved a lethargic sigh.
Yuuma finished stripping Sayaka’s bra off and reached toward Lustrous Scale.
“There’s no time, so let’s get this show on the road. I’m borrowing your sword, Sayaka.”
Then, she touched the blade to her own wrist without any hesitation. Kojou gasped.
“Yuuma?!”
“Aya Tokoyogi is using the Black Bible to erase supernatural power from all of Itogami Island. Demons lose their abilities and become normal people; the lives of homunculi and gravely ill patients reliant on spells for life support will be in danger if this continues much longer.”
Kojou looked at the fresh blood flowing from Yuuma’s wrist and weakly murmured, “Then…the same goes for you…”
Yuuma, the recipient of healing magic, was in the same boat. Yuuma’s grave, nearly fatal wounds had only been stabilized using the latest medical spells exclusive to MAR.
“There are exceptions, Kojou. Aya Tokoyogi left her own magical energy intact. Or rather, she couldn’t wipe her own power out because she’s the one activating the Bible.”
As Kojou lay on top of the bed, Yuuma flung herself all over him. The blood drops flowing from her wrist dropped into Kojou’s mouth.
“Because of that, and because I’m a copy of her, my power’s intact, too. Right now I don’t have the power to take on Aya Tokoyogi, but if you drink my blood…”
Realizing Yuuma’s objective, Sayaka forcefully sat up. “Then he might get his vampire powers back…?! But…”
The Black Bible couldn’t nullify Yuuma’s magical power. Just like how a vaccine was a weakened version of a virus, Kojou taking her blood into his own body might well be a catalyst enabling him to regain his vampiric powers.
But if Kojou had already completely lost his own supernatural ability, it was too late for him to drink Yuuma’s blood, for nothing happened when a mere human being drank the blood of another.
However, Yuuma smiled warmly at their uneasy onlooker, as if trying to soothe her nerves. “It’s all right. Yeah, maybe Aya Tokoyogi’s trying to wipe out all supernatural abilities except her own…but Kojou is the Fourth Primogenitor. Do you understand what that means?”
“…A fourth primogenitor…something that should not exist in our world…”
The Fourth Primogenitor was an element alien to the world’s very makeup. Yuuma was certain his body held supernatural factors not under the Black Bible’s control. All that the magical power remaining in Yuuma’s blood would do was to serve as the trigger to awaken it.
And as if to back up Yuuma’s theory, Kojou’s eyes turned crimson.
Like a ferocious beast, Kojou’s sharp, elongated fangs mercilessly thrust into
Yuuma’s wounded neck. Yuuma gently embraced Kojou’s back as he did so, closing her eyes in satisfaction. Yuuma’s firm lips let out a frail, soft, lovely sigh.
As Sayaka gazed in shock at the sight of Kojou and Yuuma embracing each other, she gasped and partially regained her senses.
“Hold on a sec. What was the point of stripping my clothes off, then…?”
“That’s—”
Yuuma was in the middle of a pained smile when she violently coughed up blood.
Her strength depleted, she collapsed then and there. Only now did Kojou fully realize just how badly she’d pushed herself to make it this far.
“Yuuma, you…!”
She’d used as much healing and buff spells as she could to force her body, which needed absolute rest, to move—all to save Kojou from danger. All to offer Kojou her very own blood—
Yuuma spoke in a faint, halting voice.
“Sorry, Kojou…the rest is up to you. Looks like I’m finally at my limits…”
Kojou bit his bloodstained lip and nodded.
“…I’ve got this. Have I ever let you down when you sent a pass my way?”
Kojou firmly pressed his own palm to Yuuma’s and strongly gripped it.
Anger surged through Kojou’s entire body—anger toward the crazy twist of fate that had put Yuuma through this and anger toward himself for having been unable to protect her.
Surely the magical energy Yuuma had provided through her blood ought to have caused the power of the Fourth Primogenitor, stolen by the Black Bible, to reawaken. The Black Bible no longer held any sway over him. But it wasn’t enough. It wasn’t enough power to dispel Kojou’s anger. He needed more blood—
“Kirasaka—!”
Sayaka, naked except for her white shirt, shuddered as her entire body froze.
“Y-yes?!”
Kojou, his body still wounded, rose up, grabbed Sayaka, and pulled her in close. His tone might have been strong, but the hands with which he touched her were tender. His grip was gentle, as if not to frighten Sayaka with her fear of men, handling her as delicately as fine china—but still very bold where it counted.
Such an artful maneuver was clearly different from the normal Kojou, so unused to women.
Perhaps a memory from a previous Fourth Primogenitor that slept within his blood was somehow influencing his behavior.
“W-w-wait a minute. I—I’m not emotionally prepared for…I haven’t even had a shower, and Yuuma’s watching…aah?!”
In spite of Sayaka’s desperate excuses, her resistance was far weaker than her words.
Kojou’s fingertips touched Sayaka’s defenseless flesh. Strength drained from her entire body.
Kojou gently sank his fangs into Sayaka’s pale skin.
“O-ow! Not…there…I’m not…nn!”
Though she initially groaned in pain, she, too, let out a frail sigh, allowing Kojou to support her full weight.
It was the second time Kojou had tasted her blood, but her reaction was that of an innocent virgin. That was just fine with him. The body of the Fourth Primogenitor was very fond of her powerful spirit medium blood.
Kojou whispered into Sayaka’s ear while her eyes were closed.
“…n’t let anyone…”
Sayaka, her pale flesh flushed and her eyes moist, looked back at Kojou.
“K-Kojou Akatsuki?”
“I won’t let anyone else die, Kirasaka.”
Sayaka’s reply was straightforward, even fawning.
“…I know.”
Kojou continued to embrace her as he put a hand to his chest. The wound from Aya Tokoyogi’s Guardian impaling him was already completely healed.
However, the wound in his right breast was intact.
This was the stab wound from Yukina’s Snowdrift Wolf. So wounds inflicted by that spear indeed couldn’t be healed, even by the power of the Fourth Primogenitor—?
But someone inside of Kojou had a reply…:
Yes. This is true. But it is also mistaken. You see only the flesh. Because you see only the flesh, it fails you. Vampires are beyond the boundaries of life and death. They straddle the border between existence and nonexistence. You need but return to the mist of primordial chaos from which emerged all things, holy and unholy, living and dead alike—
Sayaka gasped in shock. A silver mist had appeared around Kojou, enveloping him.
“Kojou Akatsuki, what…are you…?”
Kojou’s physical body was changing into the silver mist from whence it came. Finally, as the mist covered Kojou, the injured Yuuma, and Sayaka, too, they seemed to melt into it…
Now Kojou understood.
“I get it…so that’s how it is, Avrora… This is number four, ain’t it?!”
Beast Vassal Number Four had already been awakened since the moment he’d been impaled by Yukina’s spear. And having emerged to save Kojou’s physical body from annihilation, it ran amok, leaving him stuck that way.
The fierce sense of fatigue he’d felt was the same as when he’d used his vampiric powers to summon multiple Beast Vassals at once. The unhealing wound in Kojou’s breast was itself the Fourth Primogenitor’s Beast Vassal Number Four.
Kojou solemnly raised his voice. “Kojou Akatsuki, heir to the bloodline Kaleid Blood, releases thee from thy bonds…!”
The mist that enveloped him grew even thicker. Kojou himself was transforming into mist.
“C’mon over, Beast Vassal Number Four, Natra Cinereus—!”
Finally, mist covered the entire building; the contours of the entire world grew vague. Silver chaos blotted out buildings, people, the air itself—everything.
Sayaka’s eyes opened wide as she looked above her.
“A Beast Vassal…of mist…?!”
The shadow of a giant Beast Vassal floated up from within the thick, silver mist. The creature’s entire body was covered in a gray carapace; its thick, ominous armor made it a veritable moving fortress. However, the only thing that came out of the gaps in the shell was the same heavy, silver mist.
The shelled beast with a body of mist looked like a ghost—
The world shrouded in silver mist shuddered from the monster’s roar.
4
Silver mist enveloped the artificial city that was quietly collapsing.
Mist was nothing strange on Itogami Island, floating on the Pacific Ocean. Depending on the season, sea fog became a hindrance to traffic from time to time. However, this mist was different from such mundane atmospheric phenomena.
The origin point of the silver mist was the city itself. Buildings, transportation facilities, the artificial ground, and the people themselves who lived there turned to mist as the world melted around them.
From the outside, it looked like the fog had shut the entire city within itself.
Someone on the coastline observed the scene, one full of dense magical energy. Sitting on the edge of bedrock covered in rubble was a male high school student in uniform. His hair was short and combed back. He was Motoki Yaze, Kojou and Asagi’s classmate—and a spy dispatched by the Gigafloat Management Corporation.
“—Looks like the collapse of the island’s stopped.”
He was on the small island called the prison barrier. Only a short distance away from Itogami Island, it had so far escaped the effect of the Black Bible.
A girl standing behind Yaze whispered, “A Beast Vassal of the Fourth Primogenitor, yes?”
She was also a high school student, but one who wore glasses and had a book under her arm. Her uniform, like Yaze’s, came from Saikai Academy, but she had an atmosphere of calm wafting around her that made her seem older.
Yaze nodded at her. “The cliché is for vamps to turn to mist and run from battle, not to turn a whole island into mist. Thanks to that, we’ve been saved this time around…but…”
“It proves all over again that he could wipe this island off the map at any moment he pleases, does it not?”
The boy seemed to suppress his own feelings on the mat
ter as he gave a sober scoff. “Hmph. Was this part of your plan, too?”
A short time earlier, Itogami Island, robbed of its magic, had been on the verge of collapse. But now that everything had been turned to mist, gravity ceased to affect it; since there was nothing solid, the strength of the materials holding it together was no longer a concern. Perhaps it might be said that one could not destroy that which was intangible.
“I had heard that Kojou Akatsuki was an incomplete vampire who couldn’t pull off misting,” the schoolgirl said. “To think that his first transformation into mist would be on such a grand scale…the Fourth Primogenitor is very much the golden child of calamity.”
“Pretty much.”
Yaze didn’t dispute her words in any way.
Use of transformation into mist was pretty much exclusively for blood relatives of Old Guard vampires and above. However, there was no record of Kojou Akatsuki having turned to mist before that very day.
Perhaps the very reason for not turning to mist on a whim was that a single slip could wipe away the entire city. It was the kind of insanity that suited the Fourth Primogenitor well.
However, it was that insane power that had saved the Demon Sanctuary from peril. Kojou Akatsuki probably wasn’t even aware of what he’d done.
Yaze glanced up at the girl with a sharp look.
“More than that, I wanna ask what the hell is going on here. You people knew darn well why Aya Tokoyogi was so hung up on a ‘useless’ grimoire like the Black Bible, didn’t you? What’s her objective here?”
The girl smirked as she shook her head. “Yes, I wonder. Perhaps she desires to save the world?”
“What the heck does that mean?”
As Yaze snapped in annoyance, a self-deprecating, desolate smile came over his companion.
“By that I mean…the witch is frightened, just as we are frightened,” she said.
Without a sound, the girl turned her gaze toward Itogami Island, now shrouded in mist under the sunless sky, and began walking toward the sea.
From behind her, Yaze asked, “Wanna watch till the credits roll?”
The girl shook her head shortly.
“Unfortunately, I have other business to attend to.”
Fiesta for the Observers Page 19