From the Warlord's Empire

by Gakuto Mikumo

  Her sword flashed, protecting Kojou from a crimson beam from below.

  The five Nalakuvera that he thought Regulus Aurum had destroyed were on the move again. And on the opposite side, the first unit, destroyed by the bicorn, was getting up, its body still scorched all over.

  “Self-repairing…?! They can come back even from that?!”

  “That’s not all. They altered their damaged armor’s composition to better resist vibrations and impacts. They analyzed your attacks and took countermeasures against them.”

  Sayaka assessed the situation with a calm expression. It was the same as when it had blocked her sword dance. Once sustaining an enemy attack, it learned and altered itself to resist that attack.

  Furthermore, it seemed they were able to instantly trade information to other Nalakuvera units over a joint network. Even if one Nalakuvera was put out of the fight, the other units had already girded themselves against the same attack. And through self-repair of destroyed units, even they returned to the front lines.

  “So the reason they resisted Regulus Aurum’s attack is because they learned it already. Getting stronger from taking hits…how the hell do you beat a thing like that?”

  Kojou realized he felt overwhelmed. No matter how many he destroyed, they regenerated; furthermore, the more one attacked them, the stronger the weapons became. Perhaps they truly did have the power to defeat the primogenitors.

  But as unease assaulted Kojou, Yukina looked up at him and made a gentle smile.

  “No, senpai. It’s all right—we will win this.”

  As she spoke, she brought out a small light purple smartphone.

  She called out to the artificial intelligence that looked like a teddy bear floating on the LCD screen.

  “…Isn’t that so, Mogwai?”

  “Oh yeah. The counterattack’s going all according to Li’l Miss Asagi’s plans.”

  “Asagi’s…?”

  Kojou was beside himself at the mention of the unexpected name. What could Asagi, supposedly a helpless high school girl, do against an invincible ancient weapon?

  “While Aiba was analyzing the Nalakuvera’s command codes, she was secretly putting together a new command code.”

  “It’s a type of computer virus…corrupting the Nalakuvera self-repair function so that they destroy themselves. She calls it, ‘The Final Words.’”

  “A virus… Was it something easy to make?”

  Of course, Kojou was well aware that Asagi was a brilliant programmer.

  However, the opponent wasn’t a personal computer or a game machine. It was a weapon of the gods, not something created by man. For her to have analyzed stone tablets that had resisted the efforts of scholars all over the world and used their weaknesses to plant a virus on the side…

  The word genius seemed inadequate to describe such jury-rigging. This was complete insanity.

  “I’d say that young lady’s the only one who could have done it… The terrorists’ luck ran out when they angered the Cyber Empress. Make sure you don’t get too far on the young lady’s bad side. Ku-ku-ku…”

  Mogwai spoke in what seemed like a teasing tone. Kojou silently shrugged his shoulders.

  “So, what are we supposed to do, Himeragi?”

  “The Nalakuvera are audio controlled. If we get inside the Queen Nalakuvera and use the audio file Aiba made, it should put a stop to all of them.”

  As she spoke, Yukina shifted her gaze to the sea. The large ancient weapon, which should have been at the bottom of the sea, was just surfacing after finishing its own self-repairing.

  “So get inside the big one… Uh, how? They’ll cut us to pieces. If we could just stop ’em from moving for a bit…”

  Kojou groaned as his despairing premonition ate at him. Kojou’s two Beast Vassals had already moved to protect them. They had their paws and hooves full defending against a storm of descending chakrams and ceaseless large-caliber laser fire.

  The Beast Vassals’ attacks would have little effect now that the Nalakuvera had learned them.

  For the moment, they were still pushing the enemy back with overwhelming brute force, but that superiority surely wouldn’t last for long.

  Kojou thought that he and the girls approaching the Queen Nalakuvera in the flesh under these circumstances was nothing less than suicide.

  If they could destroy them even one more time, making an opening while they regenerated, they could manage, but…

  Just as Kojou ground his teeth over his own powerlessness…

  “I’ll pin down the Nalakuvera, Yukina.”

  Sayaka walked forward, her long, beautiful hair swaying behind her.

  “Kirasaka?”

  “You understand, Kojou Akatsuki? If they evolve according to our attacks, we have only one chance at this. If Yukina and I are holding you back, we’ll all burn to a crisp.”

  Gripping her sword with her left hand, Sayaka thrust it forward.

  The silver sword blade suddenly split to the front and back. Using the part joined to the hilt as a fulcrum, half of the split blades turned 180 degrees. Pulling a silver bowstring taut, it changed form into an entirely new weapon.

  “…A bow?!”

  Kojou let out a voice of admiration. Sayaka’s sword was now transformed into a beautifully arched, silver bow. It had the modern, occidental shape of a recurve bow.

  Lifting up her own skirt, she drew a metal dart from a leather holster wrapped around her thigh.

  “Der Freischötz. This is Lustrous Scale’s true form.…”

  In one smooth, beautiful motion, she notched an arrow and powerfully drew the bow.

  “…I, Dancer of the Lion, Archer of the High God, beseech thee.”

  A crystal-clear chant flowed out from Sayaka’s lips.

  The ritual energy welling up in her body further amplified the bow’s power as she fired the silver arrow at the heavens.

  Sayaka had said Lustrous Scale had two abilities. The first was to nullify physical attacks with an absolute defensive barrier. If that was so, what was the other…?

  “Most Brilliant Flaming Horse, Illustrious Kirin, He Who Governs Heavenly Thunder, pierce these evil spirits with thy wrath…!”

  Sayaka loosed her silver arrow.

  Soaring with a shrill sound as it split the air, what seemed like a voice of lament that morphed into an ominous thunderclap. This high-pitched sound was the true ability of Der Freischötz, the Cursed Magic Bow.

  “…Sound?!”

  Kojou, too, realized what calamity the magic bullet had wrought. The arrow Sayaka had loosed was not aimed at the Nalakuvera. The silver arrow was in actuality a whistling arrow, a ritual arrow releasing a great sound to banish demons.

  Sayaka had chanted in a ritual as she had used the magic bullet. The cry of the whistling arrow enveloped the entire battlefield in its spell, drawing a giant, invisible magic circle over a kilometer in radius.

  Then, the enormous miasma that spewed forth poured over the ancient weapons, neutralizing their mechanical functions.

  “Senpai!”

  Yukina’s silver spear flashed out as she sprinted.

  The miasma was so grand that even weapons of the gods could not resist it. The life of any normal human bathed in it was surely forfeit. It was unclear if even vampires could withstand it. But Yukina’s spear, able to slice apart any magical power, neutralized the miasma.

  Kojou ran as well, chasing after her. They had one target: the Queen Nalakuvera.

  But it had already learned the attacks of Kojou’s Beast Vassals. Then what should he do…?

  “C’mon over…Regulus Aurum! Al-Nasl Minium!”

  That instant, the sight of Vattler fusing his two Beast Vassals together rushed up from the back of Kojou’s mind.

  As things stood, Kojou was incapable of such a skillful feat. But if it was a simple simultaneous attack…

  The lightning lion and incandescent bicorn rose up, withstanding the miasma, and attacked the Queen Nalakuvera. It was not lightning.
It was not a shock wave. It was an enormous, explosive pressure spawned by the simultaneous attacks from the left and right. That was Kojou’s goal.

  Having not learned this attack, even that weapon of the gods could not endure it. With nowhere to run, the super-high pressure smashed the huge ancient weapon’s armor, loudly crushing its interior frame.

  Thanks to the queen being rendered inoperative, the small Nalakuvera all around them became inert as well.

  It was not a mortal blow. But until it finished repairing itself, they were nothing more than piles of junk.

  “…Ha-ha-ha, war is so much fun, Sword Shaman!”

  Kojou and Yukina heard the voice of Gardos from above them. The bestialized aged officer opened the Queen Nalakuvera’s cockpit, emerging with his body covered in blood.

  No doubt he meant to fight them even in the flesh. Gardos drew his knife with his left hand.

  As the madness of battle held him in its grip, Yukina looked up at him and shook her head, as if pitying him.

  “This is not a war. You are a mere common criminal. Someone like you without a country to protect has no right to speak about war!”

  Yukina’s murmur made Gardos’s smile twitch. Kojou realized that a single sentence from a young, “helpless” girl had engraved decisive defeat upon the bottom of the aged officer’s heart.

  Roaring in rage, Gardos charged toward Yukina.

  Yukina did not even poise her spear, making but the slightest movement of her body.

  A soaring, wind-ripping arrow pierced Gardos’s left shoulder, staggering him. Of course, Sayaka had fired the arrow. And furthermore:

  “…It’s over, old man!”

  Kojou powerfully rammed his fist into Gardos’s wide-open belly.

  Kojou punched him again. And again. For having abducted Asagi and Nagisa. And one more for Yukina.

  Finally, Gardos’s tall frame gently fell to the ground, his strength seemingly exhausted.

  The Beast Vassals, too, had finally reached the limits of their robust constitutions.

  “Break thyself, Nalakuvera.”

  Yukina, climbing into the now-empty cockpit, played the audio file Asagi had provided.

  Leaving sounds like frail, lamenting voices behind, all of the ancient weapons fell to the ground like rotted trees.

  Unable to withstand the impacts of the falls, cracks ran all across the Nalakuvera armor. They resembled heavily eroded boulders, finally making a great sound as their giant bodies cracked open. It was the work of the program Asagi had made.

  Sending their self-repair function into berserk, the Nalakuvera had dismantled themselves. Finally, all of the ancient weapons crumbled to dust, carried by the wind into the sea, vanishing.

  The entire process had taken less than five minutes.

  “…Got any problem with this, Vattler?”

  Kojou languidly looked back as he asked his question. The young aristocrat of the Warlord’s Empire, who hadn’t even broken a sweat, had just come close, clapping his hands with a “bravo!”

  “Ahh, not at all. You have quite satisfied me, Kojou. I shall not be bored for some time, I think.”

  “Ah?”

  Kojou’s bloodlust rose at his implication that when he did get bored again, he’d kick up a brand-new incident.

  Vattler made no sign of noticing as he approached the fallen Gardos.

  “Fine if I take the Black Death Emperor Front members into custody? They shall be punished according to the laws of the Warlord’s Empire. They sunk my ship after all; I would feel amiss if I did not do at least that much.”

  “…Do as you like.”

  Kojou acknowledged Vattler’s egotistical statement with an annoyed wave of his hand. If Kojou refused, Vattler would just demand the Japanese government extradite the criminals itself. If he wanted to deal with the fallout, it was best to leave it all in his hands.

  Having lost all of the Nalakuvera, the Black Death Emperor Front no longer posed any threat. For Kojou and the others, their duty was done.

  “Oh yes. Do not be concerned, they shall not be executed. I would find it so boring to kill a mighty foe trying to kill me; they’re quite precious.”

  As Vattler dropped that disturbing statement just before leaving, Kojou felt his headache increasing that much more.

  Apparently that man had learned absolutely nothing. He’d surely search for another enemy to come for his head and kick up a similar incident someday. All Kojou could do was pray he wouldn’t be caught up in it.

  And there was one more reason Kojou’s spirit was weighed down…

  “So you sucked on Sayaka’s blood, didn’t you, senpai?”

  Yukina looked up at Kojou as she inquired, her eyes like a very deep lake.

  Kojou’s breath caught. This was the situation he was most afraid of. In the first place, as Kojou’s watcher, Yukina had been granted the authority to eliminate Kojou according to her own judgment.

  He’d sucked on her friend’s blood where Yukina couldn’t see. It would be natural if Yukina flew into a rage over it. He’d hoped if he said nothing that maybe it wouldn’t come out, but unsurprisingly, that hope was in vain.

  “Ah, er… No, that’s ah, well…”

  “An emergency situation. Yes, it was an emergency situation, Yukina.”

  Side by side, Kojou and Sayaka desperately made excuses. Yukina was expressionless as she looked them over.

  “Is that so?”

  “That’s right. We were buried underground with debris plugging the exit with water coming in on us.”

  Yukina’s unexpectedly calm reaction unnerved Kojou and Sayaka even further.

  “R-right. At that rate, I thought we were gonna drown underground. Feeling we should keep it secret from you was just…”

  “Why are both of you so nervous?” Yukina asked them in a calm, composed tone of voice. Then, Yukina unexpectedly shifted her gaze toward Sayaka.

  “Come to think of it, Sayaka, that’s senpai’s parka, isn’t it.”

  Sayaka made a “hiuu” sound as her entire body froze.

  “You’re wrong, Yukina. This man suddenly forced his parka on me against my will…”

  “Now hold on,” Kojou said loudly in her direction.

  “I didn’t have to work that hard to get it onto you! And didn’t you like getting the royal princess treatment?!”

  “You idiot! Why are you saying something like that now?!”

  With a sound of annoyance, Sayaka began smacking Kojou’s forehead. Yukina stared for a while as both engaged in what could only be thought of as a lover’s quarrel.

  “I’m glad both of you are getting along so well. Though I’d be quite upset if you’d sucked on Sayaka’s blood against her will, senpai.”

  Finally, she made a very deep sigh. Kojou awkwardly turned his head and looked at Yukina.

  “Then…you’re not angry now…right?”

  “No. Not at all. Not even a little.”

  Yukina made a strained smile. Seeing it, Sayaka was so relieved that she limply slumped to the ground.

  It was a show of weakness that made her earlier valiant fighting seem like a mirage. As Sayaka clung to her, saying “I’m so glad,” Yukina gently petted her head, going “There, there.”

  When, seeing the two of them so intimate, Kojou breathed a sigh of relief, he suddenly met Yukina’s eyes as she looked straight at him. Yukina had a pretty grin on her face as she spoke.

  “…It’s not as if I’m thinking whatsoever about how senpai called me cute when he sucked on my blood!”

  OUTRO

  It was a high-class hotel inside Keystone Gate, the central section of Itogami Island. Dimitrie Vattler was sitting easily in an elegant chair, watching the guests in the lobby come and go.

  He sensed someone slowly walking behind him. It was a small person, no doubt. Making light steps that felt like they had no weight to them, the person sat in a chair with its back facing Vattler.

  As a little time passed without anything occu
rring, the person finally asked Vattler with a murmur as if speaking to oneself. “…Have you concluded your inquiries?”

  It was a young girl’s voice. Though the tone of voice was respectful, it didn’t sound formal.

  It sounded as if she was smiling as she teased.

  “Oh yes. Being a diplomat has its advantages.”

  Vattler did not look back, either, replying as if to no one in particular.

  “It has been a while, ‘Paper Noise’…or should I address you as foremost of the Three Saints of the Lion King Agency?”

  “You are free to use either.”

  She let out what seemed like a self-effacing exhale in response to his exaggerated formality.

  Vattler made a sarcastic laugh as he bounced a question back at her.

  “So what brings you today? Though if you have come to kill me, I welcome you to try?”

  “Unfortunately, that must await another opportunity. Today, I simply came to bring the document you requested… And if I may ask just one thing?”

  He sensed her taking out a thin envelope. “Hmm,” went the young aristocrat, urging her to continue.

  After a momentary, silent pause, she asked her question. “Did he put this Black Death Emperor Front plot into motion?”

  It was as if she was afraid of forming the name with her own lips.

  Vattler sat back, closing his eyes, and chose his words very carefully.

  “I caused this entire uproar for my own personal amusement. Let us leave it at that. It’s all right, there’s still a little time.”

  “Is that so?”

  A weight seemed to be lifted from her shoulders as her tone returned to its normal flourish. She was about to get up on that note when Vattler called out to her nonchalantly, “Incidentally, is it safe to say you won your wager?”

  “My,” she murmured, her voice sounding like a child caught playing a prank.

  “So you indeed noticed.”

  “Oh yes,” Vattler went, making a sound of pride with his throat.

  “She fell for him surprisingly quickly. When I heard she hated men, I wasn’t sure what might happen.”

  “If you knew our objective, why cooperate?”

  She inclined her head ever so slightly.

  “If one desires a tasty meal, one must at least fatten the game appropriately. Such a rarified feast ought not be consumed before it’s properly grown.”