Hazily surrounding the pair was a silver glow that resembled faint moonlight. The powerful spiritual energy Kanon was emitting coursed into Nagisa’s body. However, even Kanon’s powerful spiritual energy, well beyond the norm, was insufficient to make Nagisa recover. Keeping Nagisa’s crumbling body intact was taking all its combined strength.
“Kanase—!”
“Kano!”
Kojou and Yukina both raced over to Kanon. Kanon’s silver hair swayed as she turned her head toward them, making a frail, relieved smile. The impression given was of a girl who might vanish the moment you looked away. Her endurance was near its limits.
“Akatsuki, your wounds are healed… I’m so glad.”
As Kojou squatted close by, Kanon’s eyes narrowed in visible joy.
“I’m fine. More importantly, you okay, Kanase? Using power like this for Nagisa’s sake—”
When Kojou touched Kanon’s hand, it was as cold as ice. The Beast Vassal of the Fourth Primogenitor sleeping within Nagisa had probably robbed Kanon of her body temperature.
“Kano, get some rest. I’ll take over, so—”
Yukina spoke those words as she touched Nagisa. However, Kanon gently refused.
“I’m all right… This is the only thing I can do…”
“But at this rate, Kano, even you will…”
“I’m all right. We will save Nagisa.”
As if to shield the motionless Nagisa, Kanon embraced her with both arms. Anguish came over Yukina as she lowered her hand. No doubt Yukina was well aware that she could not take Kanon’s place.
It wasn’t that Yukina was all that far behind Kanon in terms of spiritual energy strength. It was an issue of compatibility.
It just so happened that the spiritual power of the Royal Family of Aldegia, specializing in magic of ice and snow, was highly harmonious with the Beast Vassal possessing Nagisa, Alrescha Glacies. Kanon was the only one who could bolster Nagisa’s spiritual energy—
“Shit… What the hell should I do…?!”
Kojou pounded a stone wall, feeling backed into a corner.
For an instant, he considered taking her to a hospital, but Kojou immediately brushed that thought aside. A hospital could not save Nagisa. He’d known that from the beginning.
Kojou couldn’t use his vampiric abilities, either. The Beast Vassals of the Fourth Primogenitor were nigh useless for anything other than indiscriminate destruction. That said, he couldn’t think of any way to save her.
Even while Kojou vacillated, Nagisa and Kanon grew more depleted still.
It was then that Kojou and the others noted a presence gently dropping down among them.
“—Thou mayest rest, priestess of the Valkyries. Thy duty art already fulfilled—”
Amid that empty cathedral, a songlike voice echoed. Suddenly appearing from Kojou and the others’ blind spot, and touching Kanon’s back, was the girl in the yukata—the vampire with blue eyes that radiated like flames.
Light faded from Kanon’s eyes. As Kanon fell into a slumber, her body gently collapsed onto the floor.
As she moved close to the fallen Kanon, Natsuki shot multiple silver chains out of thin air. The silver chains trapped the girl in the yukata’s limbs. However, the girl did not resist in any way.
“A witch’s domain constructed in an otherworld… ’Twas quite difficult to find this place.”
With chains still wrapped around her whole body, the girl smiled faintly as she surveyed the cathedral.
“Hektos… What are you doing here…?!”
After gazing up at her in a reverie for a time, Kojou finally posed that question in a raspy voice. He did not know the reason why Hektos had appeared before Kojou and the others a second time.
It was Hektos who had brought Nagisa to the site of Kojou and Aradahl’s duel. Because of that, Nagisa had summoned a Beast Vassal, thus causing her to drift on the border between life and death.
But it was also she who had ensured Kanon had gone there with them. Meaning, though she had driven Nagisa into peril, Hektos had simultaneously provided a means to save Nagisa.
“— ’Tis it not obvious? To save this one.”
Gazing down at Nagisa, now supported by Yukina, Hektos stated this in a quiet voice.
Still staring at the girl, Kojou slightly drew in his chin.
Hektos smiled, still bound by silver chains.
“Then let us prepare. ’Tis the time of the final Feast—”
7
Sergeant Major Spani of the North Atlantic Empire’s Sorcerous Airborne Squad raised his voice and laughed as he listened to the report from the comms operator. The content of the message was that two Holy Ground Treaty Organization Military destroyers had come under attack.
“Leviathan…?! A living weapon from the Age of the Gods?! That’s the Warlord’s Empire’s Master of Serpents for you. He sure brought out the big guns!”
Spani shifted his eyes behind him, toward the sea. His squad’s current location was the mysterious artificial isle that had appeared in the environs of Itogami Island. Via high-altitude parachute drops, his squad had reached Cain’s legacy a step ahead of other nations’ landing units.
“Bursa and Crossley both unable to sail. Ducane currently in retreat.”
The comms operator, wearing headphones communicating with an orbital satellite, continued his report.
“…Well, that figures. So they’re telling us to search for the succubus controlling Leviathan?”
“A more sensible choice than war against a monster out of myth and legend, I’m sure.”
“Ha! Damn right it is.”
Spani carried his beloved machine gun as the corners of his lips curled up in delight.
They, the North Atlantic Empire’s SAS unit, had been given two orders. The first was to gather information as members of the Holy Ground Treaty Organization Military. The other was to race ahead of other nations in seizing sorcerous technology possessed by Itogami Island. Capturing a succubus would simultaneously achieve both objectives.
They would eliminate the threat Leviathan posed to the Holy Ground Treaty Organization Military, and the North Atlantic Empire would obtain the means to control Leviathan. The plan was perfect.
Spani felt a rush of emotions as he imagined the promotion and medals awaiting his return to his home nation.
“—Corporal, can you determine the source of the succubus’s mental wave?”
Spani posed the question to a female soldier wearing a robe. She was a witch specializing in search capabilities. It was thanks to her guidance that they could enter and move around in the mazelike artificial isle without getting lost.
“North… Roughly two kilometers… Atop a tower…”
The corporal pointed to a building in the distance. It was a steel-colored tower standing in a ruined city. Spani chuckled.
“Close. All right, have Finn’s and Coate’s squads circle around left and right. We’ll be taking the front. And keep an eye out for snipers.”
Once he issued rapid-fire orders to his subordinates, Spani began his own maneuver. The squad under Spani’s command was a mere thirteen people, but all were demons or magic users. Hence, they possessed direct striking power unavailable to any normal special forces unit. Of course, he’d prefer to avoid a head-on confrontation with Dimitrie Vattler or Natsuki Minamiya, the Witch of the Void, but Spani figured he was capable of wiping the floor with a succubus and any Island Guard escorting her.
However, not even two minutes after they began walking, the somber witch called Spani to a halt.
“I have located…an incoming…craft.”
“What?!”
“Direction, ten o’clock. Range, four hundred—”
Before the witch had even finished speaking, Spani and the others were assailed by a shower of gunfire—large-caliber machine-gun rounds.
These meaninglessly shot through the ground at Spani’s and the others’ feet, forming a line. It was as if a dotted line had been punched into
the ground to say Entry Prohibited.
“An anti-demon UFV, is it? You’ve got some interesting stuff here, don’cha?!”
Spani smirked as he caught sight of his foe.
It was a gray robot tank that had launched the attack on Spani and the others, an unmanned weapons system intended for anti-demon warfare in urban areas. One might call it a fairly effective weapon in the streets of that ruined city.
Maybe that would work on sorcerous criminals in a city district. However, such a small craft was far too powerless to be attacking the Sorcerous Airborne Squad, able to fight a heavy tank squadron on equal terms.
Spani’s subordinates moved to counterattack. The SAS’s primary weapons were 20 mm barrel anti-materiel rifles and 7.62 mm electric shotguns. Employing electrum-tipped bullets, their firepower was sufficient to penetrate the robot tank’s FRP armor with ease.
Black smoke blew out of the robot tank’s right leg. That instant, the robot tank gave up on combat, beginning to retreat without even a glance at them. A subordinate of Spani’s pumped Gatling-gun bullets into it, wrecking the poor tank. An easy win. Spani hadn’t even needed to bestialize.
“Hey, now, is that it? This ain’t even gonna slow us down—”
Spani felt a bit disappointed as he exhaled.
The next moment, an incredible flash of light raced before their eyes.
It was a torrent of incandescent light reminiscent of a giant blade. Piercing through the ruined city from a distance of several kilometers away, it carved a deep gully into the artificial ground. It was a laser gun of incredible might.
“What was that just now…?!”
Spani’s entire body froze in fear. Even cutting-edge cruisers did not carry optical weapons of such might. And what made Spani even more afraid was that the laser attack had flown in on a path not even minutely different from that of the initial machine-gun fire. That gunfire really had been a warning shot—a warning that any further progress would be greeted with certain death.
“Sergeant Major… It’s an ancient weapon! It’s Kristof Gardos’s…!”
He heard a scream over the communicator. Spani slowly lifted his face. Then, he confirmed with his own eyes the sight of That Which Spits Spears of Flame.
Possessing thick armor over its body, it was a creature somewhere between beast and insect, resembling no weapon system that existed in modern times. In spite of that, it conveyed an aura that was overwhelmingly malevolent.
“Those are…Nalakuvera…!”
Spani audibly clenched his teeth. Artificial monsters emerged from the steel-colored ruined urban landscape one after another.
The Nalakuvera were protecting the succubus. The Legacy of Cain, materialized by Vattler and his cohorts, included an army of Nalakuvera as its defense force.
“This ain’t no joke! Retreat! All hands, disperse and retreat!!” Spani shouted in anger toward his subordinates.
With their beams, the creatures dyed the night sky over the ruined city red.
8
Kojou held his sleeping little sister as he walked out of the cathedral.
Yukina was strongly gripping Nagisa’s very cold hand. She was giving Nagisa the spiritual energy required to maintain her vitals.
However, this was merely an act of desperation, like using a ladle to sprinkle water over a parched desert. The spiritual energy sent over immediately faded, doing nothing to heal Nagisa. It was clear that they were only delaying the inevitable.
“Hektos…you can save Nagisa?”
Kojou posed the question toward the back of the girl in the yukata walking ahead of them.
Natsuki had transported the depleted Kanon to her own home for treatment. The only ones left in the Prison Barrier were the Akatsuki siblings, Yukina, and Hektos.
“Nay. ’Tis not I who shalt save this one, but thee, Kojou Akatsuki, and thy Blood Concubine.”
Looking back, the girl in the yukata narrowed her blue eyes as she gazed at Yukina.
Hektos’s unexpected words brought a perplexed expression over Yukina.
“What do I need to do…?”
“Come hither with Nagisa Akatsuki—”
Stripping off her lacquered clogs, Hektos descended a rock-covered hill.
Perplexed, Kojou and Yukina followed suit. The Prison Barrier was a small island artificially formed from a mass of rocks. They arrived at the water’s edge in no time. They were greeted by a desolate, sandy beach and a decrepit pier for mooring small boats. Waves from the dark surface of the sea quietly crashed against it.
“’Tis a pleasant night,” Hektos said as she gazed up at the sky.
The predawn sky glimmered with stars, and the humid tropical wind rustled her rainbow hair.
“You can do that Feast thing in a place like this?” Kojou asked in an annoyed tone.
Hektos turned to him with a smile. Her sharp canine teeth were poking out from between her lips.
“Indeed. Wherever thou and I art, it shall become the stage for the Feast—”
“H-Hektos…?!”
Kojou’s eyes widened in shock. Hektos had put a hand to the belt of her yukata, loosening it without a word of warning. Then, showing not even the slightest hesitation, she stripped off her clothing.
That instant, Kojou’s eyes were stolen by the sight of the girl’s pale, naked skin beneath the moonlight.
“You weren’t wearing anything under that yukata…?!”
“Senpai, this really is not the time,” Yukina asserted, albeit in a level tone. She was just as perplexed as he was.
Heedless of Kojou and Yukina being rooted to the spot, Hektos turned her back to them with a little twirl. Then, without the slightest pause, she entered the sea. Her confident steps drained the color from Kojou’s face.
“Is she trying to kill herself…?!”
The water had already reached Hektos’s hips. Her tiny body swayed as the waves quietly pressed upon her. She seemed amused by this from the bottom of her heart. As she sank into the water, she straightened her slender shoulder blades; her unbound, golden hair swayed on the surface of the sea like a fish’s tail.
As Kojou stared dumbfounded, Hektos’s body melted and vanished before him. She had submerged into the sea.
“Senpai!”
“Got it. Take care of Nagisa—”
“Okay!”
Handing Nagisa over to Yukina, Kojou stripped off his parka. He proceeded to leap into the sea to save the sunken Hektos.
“Hektos! Where are you?!”
Kojou searched for any sign of Hektos as he violently forced his way through the waves.
The nighttime sea was dark; he could not see its bottom. When he squinted and really stared, he shuddered as he wondered just how deep she had sunk. Even so, he couldn’t see Hektos anywhere.
A fair bit of time had passed since Hektos had submerged herself. Was Hektos going to simply vanish…? Just as he felt that fear gripping him, sea spray suddenly assaulted his face.
“Bwah?!”
Soaking up the unanticipated assault head-on, Kojou vigorously coughed. The pain of seawater coursing backward deep into his nose brought tears to his eyes. Hektos watched this, at first only poking her nose out of the water.
“Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!”
Finding the sight of Kojou thrashing about to be remarkably funny, the girl floated up and burst into laughter. It was the innocent laugh of a little girl.
Kojou was caught in a daze as he stared at this side of Hektos. He felt a dull pain deep in his chest, remembering a girl who had the very same face.
“Senpai, are you all right?” Yukina worriedly asked while she carried Nagisa over her shoulder to the withered pier.
“Somehow, yeah…”
Kojou pushed up his drenched bangs as he sighed irritably. He was extremely confused, unable to grasp Hektos’s goal.
The girl was playing in the waves without a care. Arched back, her bare breasts heaved and fell, illuminated by the moon all the while. M
ysteriously, the scene did not register as indecent. It was ethereal, like something out of a European painting.
Finally tiring from swimming, Hektos gently got to her feet. As she stood up, water droplets rolled down her white flesh.
“Priestess of the sword, take my hand—”
Approaching the pier, Hektos extended her hand toward Yukina, who stood there with Nagisa still on her back. Yukina accepted Hektos’s exceedingly natural gesture.
Suddenly, Hektos made a leering grin, forcefully pulling Yukina close.
“—Hyaaaa?!”
Artificial facsimile that she was, Hektos was still a vampire. Unable to resist her strength, Yukina lost her balance and fell into the sea. Naturally, the same went for Nagisa. A very large pillar of water rose up, with the three girls intertwined as they floated back to the sea’s surface.
“Himeragi! Nagisa! Hektos, why, you— What are you thinking?!”
After confirming that Yukina and Nagisa were safe, Kojou ran at Hektos. As he got close, she wrapped her arms around his neck. His mouth fell open at the sensation of her naked breasts against him, and Hektos watched, observing him with a mischievous smile.
“Do not stir, Kojou. Lend thine ears to the wind, sense the warmth of the Sea Mother. Thou art king. The whole of the world is thy blood, thy vassal. Strip away thy boorish garments.”
“Hektos…?”
“Alrescha Glacies, the twelfth Beast Vassal, rests within this one. Thou knowest this much?”
“Y-yeah.”
Hektos’s question drew a nod from Kojou.
Naturally, Kojou, too, knew the reason behind the abnormality occurring in his little sister’s body. On that day—on the night Kojou shot the Twelfth, Avrora—Nagisa accepted Avrora’s soul, and her Beast Vassal, into herself. The great power as a spirit medium she had possessed since birth had made that possible.
In the momentary gap between Kojou destroying the previous Fourth Primogenitor and becoming the new one, Nagisa had altered Avrora’s fate. Avrora’s soul, which should have been consumed by Kojou, had been snatched away by Nagisa, saving Avrora from annihilation.
“Saving the life of Nagisa Akatsuki… ’Tis simple. Thou needst only strip the twelfth Beast Vassal from her.”
A War of Primogenitors Page 18
