The Roses of Tartarus

by Gakuto Mikumo

  “Aww, sheesh…!”

  Sayaka, too, scattered spell scrolls about, seemingly to spite Shio. The numbers of shikigami produced by the two Shamanic War Dancers totaled just over a hundred. They lined up in orderly rows as they began circling the sky above Itogami Island, tracing the demonic energy from the Roses of Tartarus to search for the caster’s location.

  “Now, then. We need to buy some time until we can pinpoint the caster’s location.”

  “Yuiri, sorry, but I’m counting on your support. Looks like it’ll take a while to charge the ritual energy again.”

  Sayaka and Shio both spoke to their comrade as they poised their respective silver recurve bows.

  The enemy servants Sayaka and Shio had destroyed had already finished regenerating. The pair intended to shoot them down once more.

  “Rosen Chevalier Plus—Boot Up!”

  Yuiri drew her sword from the instrument case she carried on her back. Like Sayaka’s Lustrous Scale, this sword was instilled with a ritual to slash through space itself; it was a holy armament powerful enough to even cut through Beast Vassals. She no doubt intended to intercept any approaching Beast Vassals from the Roses until Shio and Sayaka could ready their spell arrows.

  “I’ll protect Kirasaka and Hikawa. Relax for a bit, ’kay, Kojou?”

  “Er, but…”

  “You must be tired. You’re sweating a lot.”

  When Yuiri pointed it out, Kojou finally realized just how worn-out he had become. He’d been continuously using five Beast Vassals of the Fourth Primogenitor to protect Itogami Island.

  He’d fought December before that, too. Unsurprisingly, his body had reached its limit.

  “Yukii, take care of Kojou, please?”

  Yuiri left those words behind as she raced ahead.

  Reflexively, Kojou began to follow her, but Yukina stopped him.

  “Senpai, I must have a word with you.”

  Looking pressed into a corner, Yukina beckoned Kojou with her hand.

  She practically dragged him toward the stairway of the half-broken building.

  6

  Yukina dragged Kojou into the corridor of the building’s top floor. It seemed to be some kind of import-export company warehouse; perhaps the employees had already finished evacuating, because Kojou couldn’t feel the presence of a single soul around them.

  The walls of the dimly lit corridor were cracked, and from time to time, they could hear the sound of explosions through those cracks. Sayaka and Shio were in the midst of their battle against the Roses’ Beast Vassals.

  When Yukina stopped, still with her back to him, Kojou asked her, “Himeragi? What’s up with bringing me to a place like this? You fine just leaving Kirasaka and the others like that?”

  His words elicited a twitch from Yukina’s shoulders. She trembled. She stared at the ground. A little sigh escaped her lips as she finally settled upon something. She turned toward him.

  “Senpai.”

  “Y-yeah?”

  Yukina came off as oddly more formal than usual, which made Kojou tense. As he waited for her, she silently closed her eyes and clasped both hands together in front of her chest, raising her chin up ever so slightly.

  It was as if she wanted Kojou to kiss her.

  “Errr, Himeragi…?”

  “It is fine.”

  Yukina’s pink lips trembled before his bewildered eyes. Her whisper-like voice sent Kojou’s heart into a somersault.

  “Huh?”

  “I mean, you may drink…my blood… P-please don’t make me say it again…”

  “Blood? Ah, blood… That’s what you meant…”

  Geez, don’t scare me like that, he thought, letting go of a held breath. His feelings were mixed, somehow both relieved and disappointed.

  “Er, wait. You want me to drink your blood—here?”

  “Yes.”

  Yukina still had not opened her eyes. Kojou couldn’t help being captivated by her beautiful eyelashes.

  “Er, but Kirasaka and company are, like, right beside us…”

  “I understand. That’s why I would appreciate if you made it quick…”

  Faint redness speckled Yukina’s cheeks as she made her request, urging him to hurry up. Eyes shut, completely defenseless, she drew closer to him. Kojou spontaneously pressed Yukina back by her shoulders.

  “But why…all of a sudden like this…?” he asked.

  “Do you remember? About Miss December’s ability…”

  “The ability to control Beast Vassals… No… That’s not right…”

  Kojou vaguely mulled the words over. Yukina neither affirmed nor refuted them.

  The bare visage December had hid behind a helmet and goggles was the spitting image of the girl Kojou had seen countless times in his dreams.

  Avrora Florestina. The previous Fourth Primogenitor who had granted Kojou her power and vanished.

  The twelfth Kaleid Blood—

  December looked just like Avrora.

  “If my guess is correct, it will be simple to seal Miss December’s Beast Vassal.”

  Yukina opened her eyes, staring straight at Kojou from right in front of him.

  “Senpai, you simply need not grant her the right to control the Fourth Primogenitor’s Beast Vassals. If your power as a vampire is strengthened, you should be able to nullify Miss December’s ability—”

  “Ah… So that’s why you’re telling me to drink your blood all of a sudden.”

  “Th-this time is a special case—an emergency situation, so…”

  Cheeks still red, Yukina couldn’t hide her concern.

  Her gaze fell to her own breasts, and after that, she looked at Kojou with upturned eyes.

  Yukina was a pretty girl, but not the type you could call sexy. Her slender body still looked much like that of a child’s, something she herself was no doubt well aware of.

  And vampiric urges—a vampire’s thirst for blood—was triggered not by hunger, but by lust. In other words, for Kojou to drink Yukina’s blood, he had to feel sexual arousal toward her.

  “Am I not…good enough?” Yukina asked in a tiny voice.

  “No, no.” Kojou shook his head. “It’s not that you’re not good enough, Himeragi… It’s just, this situation is a little, you know…”

  He grimaced as he stared at the cracked walls and the stairway behind him. He was in a bind; practically right beside them, Sayaka and the others were engaged in deadly combat with ferocious Beast Vassals that would not cease, yet, he was being asked to drink a girl’s blood.

  The best example he could think of was if you were commanded to eat a meal on a battlefield with cannon fire being exchanged overhead. No matter how grand the feast before your eyes, it just wouldn’t seem very tasty.

  “So you are heedful of what is around us and cannot concentrate, then?”

  Yukina nodded, accepting his words. Guess she understands, thought Kojou, sighing a little in relief.

  “Understood. Then, senpai. Please close your eyes.”

  “R-right.”

  Kojou did as Yukina told him and closed his eyes. Once Yukina saw he had done so, Kojou felt like she was moving somehow. All he could hear was the faint sound of fabric shifting. Of course, he knew that there had to be some reason behind her actions; he just hadn’t the foggiest idea what she was thinking.

  When an unexpectedly long period of time passed, and Kojou naturally began to feel anxious, he felt some kind of soft fabric covering his eyes. Kojou realized he’d been blindfolded.

  “Himeragi? What is…?”

  “Please pay no heed. It is my uniform’s interior. My handkerchief was not long enough, so…”

  “Eh? By uniform interior, you mean…?”

  Realizing that it was the camisole Yukina had been wearing all that time, Kojou was ferociously thrown into confusion. He was being blindfolded by a girl’s camisole— What kind of situation is this supposed to be?! he thought.

  “It smells kind of nice, actually… Like soap.
”

  “Please do not smell it! I do not need an explanation, so…!”

  “Uh, even if you tell me not to… After— Wait, what’s this…?”

  Kojou tried to wrap his head around it all as he realized Yukina had grasped his hand. She proceeded to guide Kojou’s fingertips so that they touched something.

  What he felt seemed highly magnetic—a smooth softness that seemed to wrap around something. Amid the coolness, he felt a faint warmth residing within, the comfortable temperature specific to human flesh. His palm was unwittingly drawn in.

  “H-Himeragi… Don’t tell me this is…”

  The realization that he was touching Yukina’s bare waist left Kojou at a loss for words.

  Perhaps the blindfold robbing him of his sight had made his sense of touch far more acute than normal. The pleasant tingles from the touch of his flesh against hers were transmitted through the nerves of his fingertips.

  “How…is it…?” Yukina asked, fervently suppressing the shyness in her voice.

  Kojou tried to come up with a reply, but he was too moved to easily put it into words.

  “Yeah, it’s amazing. I’m not sure what to really say, but I feel like I could do this forever.”

  “Um, please do not touch too much… It tickles.”

  Yukina’s tone relaxed as Kojou’s words put her at ease.

  Perhaps it was tension that made Yukina breathe just a little faster. Kojou’s refined senses conveyed her body temperature, the smell of her hair, her breathing, and even the beats of her heart.

  Yukina’s lithe, supple body was both taut and soft. Her musculature drew beautiful body lines and an exquisite physique, and under that glossy skin stretched blood vessels, and within them coursed sweet blood—

  The instant he traced that image in the back of his mind, Kojou’s entire body was stricken with carnal thirst.

  “S-senpai?!”

  Kojou put his arms around Yukina and enthusiastically drew her in. Both his hands were free to stroke Yukina’s entire body to his heart’s content. He rubbed his cheek against her ear, and breathed in the sweet scent of her hair. Then he gave her defenseless earlobe a soft nibble.

  “That’s—not…!”

  Yukina arched back as if struck by a powerful electric jolt. Kojou’s right hand held her close by her exposed shoulder blade. Simultaneously, Kojou’s left hand gently wrapped around the swell of her breasts.

  “W-wait, please… You mustn’t… N-no…”

  Yukina earnestly engaged in defiant behavior. However, behind those words, her resistance was frail. Still blindfolded, Kojou’s lips sought out Yukina’s neck, largely guided by instinct.

  Kojou’s sharp, elongated fangs broke Yukina’s skin and sank into her—

  “…!”

  Within his arms, Yukina’s shoulders trembled slightly. Kojou politely lapped up her blood as it flowed out. Yukina was a Sword Shaman—a priestess possessing great power. As he took in her blood, infused with spiritual energy, his own demonic energy boiled throughout his entire body.

  Kojou felt as if the beasts sleeping within his blood had let out a cry of joy.

  Even so, Kojou’s thirst had not abated. His vampiric instincts wanted to consume more of Yukina’s blood.

  Desperately defying the craving, Kojou pulled back his fangs. He sensed that if he continued any further, Yukina would be in grave danger.

  Embracing the consenting Yukina, it was a moment later when he felt both her hands wrap around his back.

  “No, senpai… Don’t stop… Please, drink more…”

  She pressed her entire body against him to stop him from pulling away. Kojou felt throbs of joy from the last traces of Yukina’s blood as he weakly shook his head.

  He had already taken quite a bit of her blood. She had to be near her limit.

  It wasn’t as simple a matter of the dangers of excessive blood loss, either. There was even danger of Kojou’s vampiric acts causing a permanent change in her anatomy.

  That danger was of pseudo-vampirization, transmitted through blood—turning her into Kojou’s Blood Vassal.

  “No, Himeragi… Any more, and your body’ll…”

  “But at this rate, you might not be able to defeat Miss December… So…”

  Yukina’s body underwent tiny spasms several times before strength rapidly drained from it.

  Blood was rushing to her flushed cheeks, and she continued to breathe raggedly. Her endurance was indeed at its limit.

  “Himeragi…”

  Kojou removed the makeshift blindfold. He laid Yukina’s body down on top of a nearby sofa.

  Having taken off her uniform and camisole, Yukina’s breasts were covered only by a simple bra. Her skin was so fair it was almost translucent; the faint-pink hue made it surprisingly pretty.

  Thanks to that, Kojou’s vampiric urges were stimulated once more. The unbearable dryness in his throat drew out a moan. Then—

  Clatter! went the loud, suspicious sound Kojou heard from immediately behind him.

  “Dah…?”

  “Glenda, don’t…!”

  When Kojou looked back, he caught sight of Glenda and Yuiri, poking out only half of their faces from a pillar’s shadow.

  They’d probably been peeking, watching Kojou drink Yukina’s blood the whole time.

  Yuiri’s face was beet red to the tips of her ears from arousal.

  For her part, Glenda looked like she’d tried to view Kojou and Yukina from closer range, and Yuiri had put her in a headlock to stop her. The earlier sound had been caused by Yuiri’s sword when she’d fallen over in the scuffle.

  “Miss…Yuiri…?”

  Yukina slightly opened her eyes and looked at Yuiri, who nervously shook her head.

  “Y-Yukii, I’m not… I didn’t mean to peek… Um, Shio and Sayaka seem all right, and Glenda was tired, so I thought I’d let her rest with you and… I didn’t mean— I didn’t see anything!!”

  As Yuiri continued her excuses, a deep-crimson fluid trickled over her mouth and dripped from her lips. Her own blood.

  Perhaps it was from shaking her head too hard; perhaps it was due to mental agitation and arousal. A line of blood ran from her nostril.

  Seemingly drawn by the scent of that blood, Kojou walked in Yuiri’s direction.

  “K-Kojou… Wait… Eh?”

  As Yuiri inched away, for some reason, Glenda was pressing on her back. It was as if Glenda was appealing to Kojou to put on a new show.

  “Senpai… This is an emergency, so this time only, I shall grant a special exemption. This time only…!”

  Yukina’s cheeks puffed up in dismay as she haltingly spoke in a resigned voice.

  Those words unshackled Kojou, and he drew close to Yuiri.

  “Y-Yukii…?! Permit what? And Glenda, what are you grabbing me for?!”

  Kojou chased Yuiri, bewildered, into a corner. As if to indicate her resignation, Yuiri raised both hands up to her shoulders and shook her head as she said, “Wa…wait, um… It’s not that I don’t want to; it’s just my first time… I’m not emotionally prepared for…”

  “Sorry, Yuiri. Just bear with it a few moments.”

  With Yuiri abandoning resistance, Kojou gently lifted up her small, fine chin.

  Kojou harshly thrust his fangs into her quivering, slender neck.

  “N-no way… D-don’t look, Yukii… Ah…”

  After initially stiffening from momentary pain, Yuiri finally sank her body into Kojou’s. Her voice had begun to mix with sweet, outward breaths. The fresh blood coursing into the Fourth Primogenitor’s body quenched his thirst.

  Gazing at Kojou and Yuiri with half-lidded eyes, Yukina let out a soft “Goodness,” sighing and pouting.

  7

  Even then, the magic symbol covering the whole of the island’s sky continued summoning Beast Vassals.

  Sayaka and Shio dispatched the still-descending horde with their ritual spell cannons. Finally, additional servants were created, and these, too, intercepte
d. The cycle repeated over and over.

  Though they were holding up tactically, Sayaka and Shio of course understood that they could not keep fighting forever. Even with the aid of holy armaments, the pair’s ritual energy had limits. On top of that, few spell arrows remained. When either one was exhausted, they would have no further means of defying the Beast Vassals from the Roses of Tartarus. There was only one way to save Itogami Island—they had to find the caster controlling the magic circle and neutralize her.

  “Kirasaka, how many spell arrows do you have left?”

  Shio kept her silver recurve bow—Freikugel Plus—poised. Her breathing was slightly ragged, and her expression was thickly colored with fatigue. Consecutive uses of the ritual spell cannon attack had taken quite a toll on Shio’s body.

  The same went for Sayaka. The might of her Der Freischötz made the extraordinary rate of spiritual energy depletion that much worse.

  Even so, Sayaka hid her fatigue and replied as if she was fine.

  “With the spares, six left! You?”

  “Same here. Feels like I can hold out for about three, maybe four more minutes.”

  “Aww geez… There’s no end to them…!”

  Even as she complained, Sayaka unleashed a fresh spell arrow. The sight of its beautiful arc seemingly flowing through the air captivated even Shio.

  That was why there was a momentary pause in Shio’s thought process.

  “…?!”

  She suddenly realized that the maw of a creepy Beast Vassal resembling a deep-sea fish was drawing near above her head.

  It was far too close for Shio to reload a spell arrow in time. Knowing this, her expression froze over.

  It was completely her own fault. An apprentice Attack Mage, Shio knew her lack of real combat experience was the culprit. If a vampiric Beast Vassal squished her flat, as a flesh-and-blood human being, she would be taken out with ease.

  “Shio Hikawa—!”

  She saw Sayaka look back and shout, but Shio felt like she was watching the action in slow motion. Sayaka’s expression contorted out of urgency, leaving Shio calmly gazing at it. So even she can make a face like that, Shio thought, feeling introspective.