The Roses of Tartarus

by Gakuto Mikumo

  It was not Yukina who had cut the Stone Sentinel’s arm. It was the other Sword Shaman, wielding a long, silver sword.

  “W-we’re here, too, you know…”

  Yuiri landed in front of Kojou and Yukina, meek despite showing up to their aid. As if cheering Yuiri on, Glenda went “Dah!” and energetically thrust a fist into the air.

  December had called forth four Stone Sentinels. These monsters, having trampled the Island Guard once before, were thoroughly thrashed as Yuiri drove them back. Faced with Yuiri’s Rosen Chevalier Plus and its pseudo-spatial severing ability, the steel golems’ armor bore no meaning.

  December stood rooted to the spot, dumbfounded at the loss of her trump card to the unexpected emergence of an ambusher.

  “It’s over, December,” Kojou spat with a glare.

  December replied with an undaunted smile. “Not yet, Kojou Akatsuki! Even with the Roses of Tartarus scattered, the summoned Four Holy Beasts still remain. The power summoned by my teammates—the power to destroy Itogami Island!”

  “What…?!”

  December’s Beast Vassal unleashed its demonic energy, not at Kojou but toward the Four Holy Beasts on standby in the sky above.

  The Four Holy Beasts’ summoning remained incomplete. But even if they were only 70 percent materialized, the demonic energy the beasts possessed was vast. If unleashed indiscriminately, Itogami Island would no doubt sustain catastrophic damage.

  However, with the Roses of Tartarus lost to them, did Tartarus Lapse have any means left with which to control the beasts…? The instant Kojou harbored that doubt—

  “Come forth, Dabih Crystallus—!”

  For the first time, December completely unleashed her own Beast Vassal.

  It was a huge Beast Vassal reaching dozens of meters in length, an ichthyosaur with beautiful, silver crystal scales. It had front legs like translucent wings and radiant, glimmering liquid crystal pillars that spiraled like the horns of sheep.

  The malignant aura enveloping the Beast Vassal greatly resembled those of Kojou’s own. The weight of its presence, making the very air tremble—the density of demonic energy—it had a makeup identical to the Beast Vassals of the Fourth Primogenitor.

  December’s Beast Vassal could control even the Beast Vassals of Kojou, the World’s Mightiest Vampire.

  Of course it could. It was one of them.

  “A Beast Vassal of the Fourth Primogenitor, huh…? I figured it’d be something like that…”

  Kojou snarled, forced back by the increase in the power of December’s demonic energy.

  There existed a being capable of controlling the Beast Vassals of the Fourth Primogenitor besides Kojou, legitimate heir to the power. He knew what she truly was.

  “I should have realized it immediately when you called yourself December,” Yukina said, her silver spear raised. “In ancient Rome, the New Year began with the third month of the year—therefore, their calendar is two months off from that of the current era. December, a word indicating the twelfth month, would then indicate the tenth month.”

  “Tenth… The tenth Kaleid Blood, then?” Kojou murmured, pained.

  In truth, the Fourth Primogenitor was an artificial vampire created in ancient times as a god-killing weapon. With the time of the war known as The Cleansing long passed, the Fourth Primogenitor was sealed, its duty having come to an end.

  The people who feared the revival of the Fourth Primogenitor sealed its twelve Beast Vassals, each in a different place. For the sole purpose of trapping the Beast Vassals inside them, they created new artificial vampires—twelve girls, dubbed the Kaleid Bloods.

  “So, December, you were made to seal the Fourth Primogenitor, just like Avrora…!”

  “You really don’t understand anything, do you, Kojou Akatsuki? Not even who you are…”

  December giggled, smiling teasingly at him. Her face looked just like that of the girl called Avrora Florestina in the past.

  “You might be right.”

  Kojou accepted the girl’s words. The ceremony reviving the Fourth Primogenitor had robbed Kojou of the majority of his memories. That’s why he hadn’t realized December’s true nature until the very end.

  “Unlike Dodekatos, I awoke long in the past, long enough I can’t remember it clearly. Around forty years ago, I learned of the existence of Tartarus Lapse, and together with them, we destroyed three Demon Sanctuaries. I wasn’t part of the Blazing Banquet, because the Third Primogenitor had me in captivity at the time.”

  “The Third Primogenitor… So Giada protected you from all that…”

  “Protected… I suppose that was the end result. Thanks to that, I was able to reunite with Raan and the others.”

  December lowered her eyes, laughing. Besides her, and the as-yet-unseen Hektos, the other sealing units had all vanished due to the Blazing Banquet, enveloped in the very same Fourth Primogenitor revival ceremony that had laid waste to Island Old Southeast—

  “The Third Primogenitor released me and told me to go to Itogami Island. She really likes you, Kojou Akatsuki. I think, just a little, I understand why.”

  “December—your body’s…”

  The small-statured girl’s body was enveloped by golden particles and began to crumble away. This was not the normal vampiric transformation into mist. Her very being was vanishing from the world.

  “We, the Numbered, are the very seals of the Fourth Primogenitor’s Beast Vassals—when the seals are released, we can only vanish. I was prepared for this from the moment I decided to come to this island. I am a little disappointed, though. If the Roses of Tartarus had activated fully, I wouldn’t have had to release the seal.”

  December smiled with a sunny expression. Then, proudly, she pointed a finger overhead. “I sealed—and in some sense, I myself am—Beast Vassal Number Ten, Dabih Crystallus, the Beast Vassal governing the Charm ability vampires possess. That’s why I can do…this.”

  The Four Holy Beasts that had appeared in Itogami Island’s sky gathered around, seemingly protecting December.

  These Four Holy Beasts had been summoned via Itogami Island acting as a sorcerous device; they were Beast Vassals without any host. With the Roses of Tartarus lost, there ought to have been no one able to control them.

  But December’s Beast Vassal could dominate even them.

  “You say you want to protect Itogami Island? Come and beat me, then. If you can do that, I’ll recognize you as the Fourth Primogenitor!”

  “December, wait—!”

  When Kojou tried to stop her, she collapsed, drained of strength.

  The quartet of Holy Beasts controlled by her Beast Vassal moved to take her place.

  The target of their attack was Kojou—no, it was the very artificial ground upon which Kojou and the others stood. With the demonic energy the Four Holy Beasts possessed, the backlash from attacking Kojou alone was enough to leave Itogami Island in ruins.

  “Shit! C’mon over, Natra Cinereus—!”

  Kojou summoned his own Beast Vassal. Enveloped by dense silver mist, the shelled beast intercepted one of the Four Holy Beasts—a pitch-black crocodile with a great maw that seemed to part the very sea as it charged in.

  Kojou had no room for holding back, and against these enemies, he didn’t have to. Unleashed without limitations, the two masses of demonic energy collided, greatly rocking the already largely destroyed ground of the artificial isle.

  The shark’s maw tried to bite apart the shelled beast, but, bathed in glimmering demonic energy, it dissipated. Kojou’s Beast Vassal held more power than the incompletely materialized Holy Beast.

  However, December had more than one of the Four Holy Beasts at her command.

  While Kojou’s thoughts were on the shark, a crimson bird of prey breathed fire from behind him. That fire transformed into an incandescent fireball, dropping toward Kojou’s head.

  “Rosen Chevalier Plus—!!”

  It was the arc let loose by Yuiri’s sword attack that halted the Holy Bea
st–unleashed fireball in its tracks. It was a wall generated from pseudo-spatial severing. The wall only remained in effect for a single second. However, that was plenty of time for Kojou to regain his balance.

  Saved my bacon, Kojou conveyed to Yuiri with a glance as he ferociously bared his fangs.

  “C’mon over, Al-Nasl Minium!”

  The scarlet bicorn Kojou summoned charged straight into the Four Holy Beasts’ bird of prey. Eating the mass of shock waves head-on, the fiery bird of prey’s wings scattered in every direction.

  However, there was no time to take a breath, for the two remaining Holy Beasts had begun their descent. A pure-white tiger—Byakko—headed at Kojou from above. And the divine dragon—Seiryuu—aimed at Itogami Island itself.

  The Four Holy Beasts possessed enough might that even a single direct hit on the center of the artificial isle could sink the entirety of Itogami Island. The other Holy Beast attacks were decoys. Itogami Island had been December’s only real target from the start.

  Impeded by the white tiger’s attack, Kojou could not stop the blue dragon. There was no way he’d make it in time—

  That instant, when everyone with Kojou shared that despair, a beam of light assailed the divine dragon in its flank.

  Another attack immediately followed. Sayaka and Shio were using their ritual spell cannon attacks.

  Of course, even area suppression weapons from the Lion King Agency did not have enough power to defeat the Four Holy Beasts. Even so, the attacks had enough effect to make the blue dragon falter for a second. That second determined Itogami Island’s fate.

  “Al-Meissa Mercury—!”

  With the blue dragon stopped in its tracks, the twin-headed dragon Kojou summoned ripped into its throat. This was a blow from the Dimension Eater, which shaved away space itself. The blue dragon’s giant body vanished, unable to even let out a death cry.

  Only one of the Four Holy Beasts remained. With the white tiger pressing on him before his very eyes, Kojou turned his right arm, bathed in demonic energy, toward it.

  “I, Kojou Akatsuki, inheritor of the Kaleid Blood, release thee from thy bonds!”

  The enormous white tiger was brought to a halt, seemingly blocked by an invisible wall. The vast demonic energy unleashed by Kojou had staved off the white tiger’s advance. The collision of vast demonic energy caused the very air to creak, filling the surrounding area with pale lightning bolts.

  But then, Kojou’s spell chant halted.

  He dropped to his knees then and there, his entire body assaulted by pressure it could not endure.

  The abnormal demonic energy of the Four Holy Beasts was attacking Kojou with a mental attack rivaling even the Fourth Primogenitor’s magic resistance. It was Dabih Crystallus’s mind control. The Charm power of December’s Beast Vassals was impeding Kojou from summoning one of his own.

  Still, Kojou continued unleashing the power to fend off the white tiger, even as he sustained December’s mental attack. It wasn’t like back during the battle at the warehouse district. This time, Kojou had overwhelming domination, complete control over his own Beast Vassals. Even December’s power could not break that control. It was the effect of the powerful spiritual energy Kojou had taken into his body—thanks to Yukina’s and Yuiri’s blood.

  “—I, Maiden of the Lion, Sword Shaman of the High God, beseech thee.”

  Across that battlefield, with vast demonic energy swirling about, a girl’s serene voice echoed forth.

  It was Yukina, raising her glowing silver spear high as she broke into a sprint. Her eyes were set upon the Beast Vassal of the Fourth Primogenitor covered in quicksilver scales.

  “O purifying light, O divine wolf of the snowdrift, by your steel divine will, strike down the devils before me!”

  The purging spirit spear with the power to destroy even a vampiric primogenitor impaled December’s Beast Vassal.

  The pressure binding Kojou’s entire body vanished, and the air was filled with a pale beam of light.

  “C’mon over, Beast Vassal Number Five, Regulus Aurum!”

  The Beast Vassal, enveloped by a golden radiance, emerged in front of Kojou. In an instant, its roar pulverized the final remaining Holy Beast, burning it down to the last fragment.

  This time, the fragmented magic circle swirling in the sky above Itogami Island vanished.

  The tremors in the artificial isle halted, and a gentle coastal breeze of stagnant air washed over them. The dazzling rays of the sun illuminated the side of Kojou’s face. Gloomily gazing up at the merciless sunrays, he let out a long sigh.

  “Senpai!”

  “Kojou!”

  “Dah?!”

  Yukina and Yuiri, and Glenda, too, rushed toward the wobbly Kojou. Don’t worry, spoke the languid smile Kojou shot toward the girls wearing such worried faces.

  Seemingly dragging his exhausted body along for the ride, Kojou stood up and slowly walked forward.

  His gaze was trained upon the girl enveloped by golden mist.

  Looking back at the approaching Kojou, she made an ephemeral smile.

  “I guess you win… Kojou…”

  “December—”

  “I have one final request, Kojou. Raan and the others…Carly and Logi… I want you to get them to a proper research agency. At this rate, those kids aren’t going to live very long…”

  “…Got it.”

  Kojou gave a strong nod that seemed to say It’s a promise. There was no need to even say it out loud. He couldn’t just let them die. Their crimes were too numerous for that. On top of paying for those crimes, they would get another chance. A chance for them, demonic abuse victims, to live happy lives…

  Surely, on Itogami Island, that would be possible. After all, the island was a Demon Sanctuary—

  “I made a promise, Kojou. I grant you the power of the tenth Beast Vassal.”

  “Wait, hold on… December… I never asked for…”

  Kojou picked up her small, fading body. Kojou hadn’t fought her to take her power for himself. He didn’t want her to disappear.

  But all December did was narrow her eyes in amusement.

  “It’s all right. You don’t have to make a sad face like that. After all, I’ll always be by your side… So before my mind vanishes, I choose to be inside of you—”

  “December…!”

  Strength faded from December’s fingertips as they reached out, touching Kojou’s cheek. She transformed into golden mist, vanishing within his arms.

  “You protected the Twel… Avrora, Kojou Akatsuki. She is your hope… That’s why I…”

  Those were the final words of the tenth Kaleid Blood—the final words of December.

  From behind Kojou, without a single word, Yukina and the others watched as Kojou silently bit his lip.

  12

  “So you are no more… December…”

  Takehito Senga quietly murmured as he sensed the auras of the Four Holy Beasts dissipate.

  The lines of power coursing in and around Itogami Island were returning to their normal state. The Roses of Tartarus had disintegrated, and Senga’s Eight Trigrams Formation lay broken. It was safe to assume that December had fought the Fourth Primogenitor and lost, already absorbed by Kojou Akatsuki.

  He knew for certain that Carly, Logi, and Raan had already lost. Tartarus Lapse had been defeated.

  “The Fourth Primogenitor’s power rivals even that of the Four Holy Beasts… It seems he is not called the World’s Mightiest Vampire for nothing. But this, too, serves Tartarus Lapse’s objectives. Isn’t that right, December?”

  Senga was murmuring to himself, just for his own benefit, as he stepped into a corridor. The place Senga headed toward was the nucleus of Itogami Island—Keystone Gate’s bottom floor.

  This was where the keystone linking Itogami Island’s four gigafloats together had been placed. Once, an Armed Apostle of Lotharingia had assaulted that place with a particular objective in mind. Had he destroyed the keystone, Itogami Island’s own ma
ss would collapse upon itself. It was Itogami Island’s greatest vulnerability.

  The block was strictly sealed away, and one hand was excessive for counting who could step into the chamber. Even the vaunted Natsuki Minamiya, with the power to control space, could not enter without advance permission. The interior of Keystone Gate was covered in powerful walls, and numerous barriers had been layered atop one another to repel intruders. It was said that the only ones able to lift those barriers were Senra Itogami, designer of Itogami Island, and his famously close friend, Akishige Yaze.

  “Ah, that’s right. There was one more exception.”

  “—?!”

  The voice suddenly reverberated in the supposedly desolate corridor, causing Senga to halt in surprise.

  It had echoed from Senga’s intended destination. In other words, it reverberated from Keystone Gate’s bottom floor.

  “Senra Itogami’s sealing ceremony was performed by an influential feng shui practitioner working at a university in Europe at the time… Your mentor, I suppose? Naturally, you would have access to that data. Isn’t that right, Takehito Senga?”

  “How…did you know I would come here…? No…”

  Senga howled as he glared at the figure appearing before him. He subconsciously drew his concealed pistol.

  A man wearing traditional Japanese clothing gazed up with a sharp look in his eyes, watching Senga’s consternation with visible delight.

  He was about fifty years old. He certainly was not a large man, but his presence felt incredibly powerful. He gave off an air reminiscent of a sword master from the middle ages.

  “How are you alive, Akishige Yaze?!” Senga asked in a raspy voice.

  Because there stood a man who should have been buried under a pile of rubble from an underground parking lot set to explode.

  It was Akishige Yaze, the Honorary Chairman of the Gigafloat Management Corporation…and the one man standing in the way of Tartarus Lapse’s plans.

  Senga didn’t wait for Akishige Yaze to reply before pulling the trigger of his pistol. However, Senga’s bullets were deflected before ever reaching his opponent’s body, sparks scattering in their wake.