The Knight of the Sinful God

by Gakuto Mikumo

  Maybe I’m dreaming, thought Nagisa, touching her cheek. There was nothing alarming about her breathing or body temperature, but naturally, the circumstance of being submerged and floating in a body of water was surreal.

  However, Nagisa was certain she wasn’t dreaming.

  The scenery before her eyes was simply too detailed, full of realism not associated with mental imagery. Nagisa’s own consciousness was crystal clear. If anything, she felt even more aware than when she was normally awake.

  Nagisa’s heightened senses detected someone nestled against her as she floated in the water. A white-haired girl’s small-statured body was supporting Nagisa from behind.

  “So…you’ve awakened, Nagisa?”

  “Shirona?!”

  Nagisa turned her body toward the voice of the girl called Shirona Kuraki. Suddenly, she lost her balance. Just as she was about to go under, Shirona caught her arm and pulled her close.

  “Are you not cold?”

  “Ah, no.”

  Actually, the warmth of Shirona’s skin feels really good on my back, thought Nagisa, a hairsbreadth from speaking her internal thoughts aloud. She still didn’t know if what she was experiencing was reality, but the supple feeling of Shirona’s skin was exactly like the first time they’d met.

  “Where is this?” asked Nagisa.

  “Kannawa Lake. Just as they said, it is easier to stabilize a spirit body in the water.”

  “In…the lake?”

  “Only your mind, disconnected from the body. It resembles…an out-of-body experience.”

  “Huh? Out-of-body experience?”

  Surprised by Shirona’s explanation, Nagisa looked down at her own faint, translucent body. Her having become a ghost didn’t feel real, but once it was pointed out to her, a lot of things started making sense. Of course, a ghost wouldn’t feel cold from the water or have trouble breathing within it.

  “So that means you’re a living ghost, too, Shirona? Where are our actual bodies?”

  “Right now, they’re…at the altar of Kannawa Lake.”

  “Altar?”

  Nagisa shifted her mind above her head. She could not directly see it from that distance, but thanks to her out-of-body experience, she immediately sensed the altar’s presence.

  Atop the surface of the sunlit lake, an altar floated, resembling those used for prayer through dance. It was a simplified altar built on a wooden raft.

  Occupying the altar was a girl in a school uniform with a long, silver sword—seemingly watching over Nagisa, wearing priestess attire as she lay there.

  She looked much like she always did. But the one difference from the usual Nagisa was the color of her hair. It was blond, varying in color from time to time depending on the flow and ebb of the light. It was colored like the rainbow, as if from a billowing flame.

  “No… That…isn’t me…”

  “Correct. That is Avrora Florestina, she who was once the Fourth Primogenitor…the twelfth Kaleid Blood, Avrora. You should know her far better than I… However…”

  Shirona’s words became murmurs and melted together, and something coursed into Nagisa’s mind. Her ethereal body wailed at the vast torrent of information. However, at the same time, she felt like some kind of invisible chain binding her mind was being torn away bit by bit. Memories sealed off were resurrected, and she could vividly see scenes that had been locked away in darkness.

  Black wings. Beast Vassals. A vortex of blood. The Blazing Banquet. Root Avrora—these were the abominable memories she had purportedly erased by her own hand.

  The memories of the Twelfth that slept inside of Nagisa—

  Buffeted by fragments of onrushing memories, Nagisa looked up at Shirona and asked, “What are you trying to do with her…?”

  Shirona looked ready to break into tears as she pointed toward the bottom of the lake.

  Nagisa’s eyes wavered as they followed in the direction Shirona indicated. She shuddered, feeling a chill, assailed by a shapeless fear. A black, multifaceted object resembling a spiral shell rested there, seemingly buried at the bottom of the lake.

  Its surface resembled a black jewel’s, shimmering in irregular ways like a mirage. It was a bizarre object that seemed both man-made and born as a living creature—it was unlike anything on the Earth’s surface.

  “What…is that…?”

  “It is the ward that seals the calamity that sleeps within the land of Kamioda. The people of the Self-Defense Forces call it Avalon.”

  Shirona gave a subdued explanation in response to Nagisa’s palpable fear.

  “That’s…a ward…?”

  “Everything is…okay. A great many people are working to quell it. Attack Mages of the Lion King Agency and a special unit of the Self-Defense Forces have gathered together under Miss Hisano’s command.”

  “Granny’s in charge…?”

  “The original duty of Kamioda Temple was to watch over and subdue the calamity sleeping within…so please…”

  “Subdue…?”

  Nagisa trained her gaze upon the black mass at the bottom of the lake once more. The outer shell, shifting in an irregular manner, resembled a thin membrane sealing a vast amount of demonic energy within. One could not look at it without wondering Would, at some point, the pressure grow past the membrane’s limit, popping it like a paper balloon…?

  And just how would you subdue a thing like that? Such were the doubts Nagisa harbored.

  “Avalon’s seal was strengthened by offering priestesses with superior spiritual power… This was the holy duty Kamioda Temple was established to fulfill. The last ceremony was conducted long before, over seventy years ago…”

  “Offering…?”

  Nagisa had a powerful, dramatic reaction to the vague statement Shirona gave in reply.

  For an instant, an image rose into the back of Nagisa’s mind—an image of a girl asleep in a block of ice in a ruin of a foreign land. She, too, had been offered to subdue a calamity.

  Roused by anger even she could not control, Nagisa’s lips trembled as she glared at Shirona.

  “You can’t mean… Human sacrifice? You’re going to offer a living person…?!”

  “I am saying that is what they did in the past. A pure maiden was submerged into the lake to avert calamity—identical ceremonies have been conducted in all corners of the world.” Shirona’s rebuttal was weak against Nagisa’s heated interrogation. “However, this ceremony will be different. The sacrifice is a demon, not a person. Furthermore, she is already…dead, her mind loitering in the living world through nothing more than your power.”

  “Shirona, that sounds like… Don’t tell me, you’re going to use that girl…?!”

  Nagisa looked overhead with a despairing thought.

  Why was her body lying on the altar? And why had only her soul been separated from the flesh like an out-of-body experience?

  She had already grasped the answer.

  It was because Shirona and the others were after the soul of Avrora that slept inside of Nagisa.

  The altar established on top of the lake was probably for the purpose of extracting the sacrificed soul and transferring it to Avalon at the bottom of the lake. However, Shirona’s ability had already temporarily separated Nagisa’s spirit body from her flesh. They were going to use the soul left behind in Nagisa’s body for the sacrifice—in other words, Avrora’s soul only.

  “The sacrifice is an artificial vampire created to seal one of the Beast Vassals torn away from the Fourth Primogenitor. That is Avrora Florestina’s true nature. There is no more fitting sacrifice for quelling calamity. Nagisa, surely you understand this.”

  Shirona wished to confirm Nagisa’s intuition.

  In a certain sense, it was a well-polished operation.

  When Avalon became active, spiritual energy was provided from the outside to strengthen its seal. The source of that spiritual energy was offering up a person—a human sacrifice. And then, Shirona and the others had set their eyes on Avrora.
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  They would use the soul of the deceased Avrora as their sacrifice.

  Furthermore, to begin with, Avrora was a vampire constructed as a vessel to seal away the soul of the Fourth Primogenitor. Even if she had already lost her flesh and blood, her spirit still contained off-the-charts demonic energy. If the goal was to strengthen Avalon by providing it with demonic energy, she certainly was the most suitable sacrifice possible.

  And if Avrora’s soul was destroyed, Nagisa would be relieved of the duty of being her icon. Hisano knew this; hence, she was complicit in such a cruel plan to save Nagisa, her own granddaughter, whose body had grown frail from overuse of her spiritual energies. But—

  “No, Shirona. You mustn’t…!”

  —Nagisa spread both arms wide, as if to shield Avrora, sleeping atop the altar above.

  However, in her current state, this was all Nagisa could do. Even if she tried to return to her own body and obstruct the ceremony, there was no escape from the blinding white spirit threads extending from Shirona’s hair; they would entangle Nagisa’s spirit and keep her under the water’s surface. The spirit threads were no doubt the catalysts through which she exercised her ability to freely manipulate the spirits of others.

  “Please, Nagisa. Listen to me. It is too late. If you recklessly approach her now, your soul will be caught up in the ceremony as well… So please…”

  The number of spirit threads increased, and with these, Shirona further bound Nagisa’s spirit.

  The sacrificial ceremony at the altar above the lake had begun. Countless, huge magic circles covered the entire surface of the lake, and a bundle of spirit threads resembling a giant tree stretched toward Avalon, resting on the lake bed.

  It was through these spirit threads that they meant to send Avrora’s demonic energy to Avalon.

  “In the first place, it was reckless to have a Kaleid Blood possess you for several years. No matter how excellent a priestess you may be, the continued possession only whittles down your own life span… Please, this is for your own good.”

  “No, Shirona! I’m not talking about that!” Nagisa shouted, twisting her face in fear. Neither Shirona nor the others had noticed yet.

  Nagisa was indeed a powerful priestess, inheriting the spiritual strength of her grandmother, but at the same time, she’d inherited the knack of a natural psychometer from her mother. That was why Nagisa alone had arrived at the truth that the Attack Mages, Shirona included, had yet to realize: the true nature of that they called Avalon—

  “That’s not a seal. It was there to protect her. You shouldn’t have awakened her!”

  “Nagi…sa? What…are you saying…?!”

  Shirona looked bewildered for the first time. But by then, it was already too late.

  The trunk of the spirit tree stretching from the altar arrived at Avalon; it pulsated as the demonic energy remaining in Avrora’s spirit coursed into it.

  “What…is this…?!” Shirona’s voice trembled as she detected the sudden change occurring at the bottom of the lake.

  Cracks ran across Avalon’s surface. Countless figures emerged from the crevices. These forms had the appearance of living creatures with flesh that glinted like steel. They had the compound eyes of bees and long serpentine tails.

  Their silhouettes were clearly those of organic life-forms; yet, they were creatures with man-made characteristics.

  The appearance of those creatures was no doubt contrary to even Shirona’s expectations. Nagisa could feel her unease through the spirit threads through which she entwined Nagisa’s body.

  However, the surprises did not end there.

  A giant figure appeared in the water, seemingly to strike back against the steel creatures.

  It was a mass of sentient, demonic energy—a summoned beast from another world. Its upper body resembled a woman, and the lower, a fish. Wings sprouted from its back, and it had talons like a bird of prey’s.

  Perhaps it was a mermaid; perhaps a siren—it was a vampiric Beast Vassal, its flesh as clear as a glacier. It was the alter ego sealed inside of Avrora.

  “…No… Don’t…”

  Nagisa looked up at the watery Beast Vassal, pleading as if in prayer.

  But her voice did not carry.

  Cut off from her own body, Nagisa had no way to convey her thoughts to Avrora.

  The vast demonic energy emitted by the siren’s wings were freezing the entirety of Kannawa Lake. This was a destructive cold, a flash freeze that made any kind of matter brittle, reducing it to dust.

  Even the vast magical power contained within Avalon could not withstand such a blow.

  That was why Nagisa shouted:

  “Avrora! Dooooon’t—!”

  In an instant, Nagisa’s vision was arrested by a dazzling blue light.

  All of Kannawa Lake was transformed into a giant crystal of ice.

  White mist and icy snow would cover the mountains all around.

  Dimly aware of this in a far corner of her mind, Nagisa felt the light swallow her spiritual body.

  5

  Shio Hikawa was sitting face-to-face with Gajou Akatsuki, separated by the iron bars of his cell.

  “I’m not sure what…‘doing it my way’ really means…”

  Head bowed, hands holding her knees, Shio put the philosophical question to her lips. Her tone of voice seemed stout, but at the margins, it was immersed in gloom without an outlet.

  Gajou Akatsuki, bound within the cell, listened to Shio’s confession.

  Shio had ignored him at first, but with the obstinate Gajou continually shooting the breeze, her luck had run dry the instant she’d responded. It started with talking about their favorite foods and spread to the topic of which astrological sign they were born under. Once logic quizzes to test one’s personality began, it switched at some point to her talking about her problems. Shio was levying complaints all on her own, with Gajou playing the role of good listener to the hilt.

  Why am I talking to a man like that? the hostile Shio thought, but before she knew it, she was blurting out all kinds of things about her private life to Gajou. As shady as he looked, Gajou had the silver tongue of a host club top pick. Though she had the vague sense it was a bad idea, Shio just couldn’t stop herself at that point.

  “So even I think it’d be good if I can just be like Yuiri. Yuiri’s really cute, I mean. She’s so cheerful, so honest, so feminine… I really like Yuiri, but compared to her, I think I’m pretty pathetic, really…”

  “But Yuiri likes you, too, doesn’t she, Shio? She trusts you completely, right?”

  When the conversation threatened to break off, Gajou murmured with perfect timing. His words, surely with precious little basis behind them, took Shio by surprise, flustering her.

  “That’s just because my ritual spellcraft scores happen to be better than hers… But Yuiri’s the one who’s really amazing. She was the one who was going to get a Schneewaltzer.”

  “Heh, seriously…? That’s really somethin’, then…”

  “Yeah.”

  Shio felt a small sense of satisfaction at seeing Gajou genuinely impressed. For all her complaints, it made Shio happy to hear Yuiri complimented.

  Gajou made no clumsy effort to console her. Instead, he accurately responded to Shio’s real wish, the one she herself didn’t realize. That both irritated Shio and, at the same time, felt oddly pleasant.

  “You’re really something, Shio.”

  Gajou topped it off by praising Shio as well. She soured and asked, “What, are you making fun of me?”

  “No, no. I mean, you try so hard to be someone who measures up to Yuiri, the friend you really like, that you get down in the dumps about it.”

  “W-well, that’s… Of course I do…”

  “Oh, it’s really something that you think this is normal. No wonder Yuiri trusts you.”

  Gajou spoke with an odd degree of confidence. Even as Shio was mildly put off by his know-it-all way of speaking, her cheeks faintly reddened.


  “D-don’t talk about Yuiri like that…!”

  There was no strength to Shio’s rebuttal. Even if she understood this was Gajou Akatsuki’s technique at work, she couldn’t possibly think of being praised like that as a bad thing. Thanks to the one-sidedness of the initial battle, she’d had a rather poor impression of Gajou, but she began to think Maybe he’s not such a bad person. In fact, he was surprisingly easy on the eyes. She might even grudgingly admit that he was rather attractive—

  “Um… Th-thank you…for hearing me out.”

  Shio wrung every last smidgeon of courage out of herself to say those words. Her voice was small, almost a whisper, but they were close enough that Gajou had to have noticed.

  However, he did not reply. Suddenly, his face went blank as he glared outside.

  “Ah… Gajou Akatsuki?”

  “Hey, Shio… Doesn’t the air feel…strange to you?”

  “Eh…?!”

  When Gajou asked, his face dead serious, Shio turned her attention to the surrounding area. An abnormal chill was coursing inside the storehouse. It was too cold, even for the middle of winter. The air had gone white from the precipitous drop in temperature.

  Shio gasped, breathing in hard as she realized the cold air throbbed of demonic energy.

  “What’s this…unpleasant feeling…?”

  A moment after Shio let that murmur trickle out, the land of Kamioda District shuddered.

  It was not an intermittent shaking like an earthquake. It was an instantaneous jolt, as if a giant weight had fallen close by.

  The source of the tremor was probably Kannawa Lake—the direction from which Yuiri and the others were conducting the ceremony. However, the hindrance of the demonic-energy-infused cloud of cold air prevented Shio from learning just what had happened at Kannawa Lake. All she had to go on was the vague unease in her chest.

  “This tremor… It doesn’t feel like just an earthquake… I guess the old hag messed up?”

  Gajou spat insults as he rose to his feet within the cell. Something clattered to the ground. Shio looked down, gawking.

  “Wait a… Why are your manacles off?! How did…?!”

  At some point, the metal manacles purportedly binding Gajou to the cell had come off. The supposedly double-constructed lock components fell away in pieces.