The Fugitive Fourth Primogenitor

by Gakuto Mikumo

The giant lightning lion turned into a thunderbolt that slammed into the golden knight construct from the front.

  An incredible explosion erupted, and a supersonic shock wave parted the sea. The fifth Beast Vassal of the Fourth Primogenitor, Regulus Aurum, had once scorched an entire Gigafloat district in an instant. That power remained undiminished.

  In the sky, black clouds began to gather, drawn in by the lightning lion’s energy. The ferocious aftershocks shook the entire island. The electromagnetic waves made digital devices go crazy, and the area around the coast had surely suffered considerable damage.

  However, Natsuki’s Guardian did not fall. Enveloped in dazzling brilliance, it was the lightning lion that roared in anguish.

  Crimson thorns unleashed by the golden knight construct had entwined around the lightning lion, pinning it in place.

  Kiriha, watching how the battle proceeded with an astounded look, murmured, “It is holding back a Beast Vassal of the Fourth Primogenitor…through brute force…?!”

  Put more accurately, the golden knight construct was not pushing the lightning lion back. It used the crimson thorns like a net, preventing the lion from moving. But it had withstood the attack of the Fourth Primogenitor’s Beast Vassal all the same.

  “G…uooooooooo?!”

  “Futile, Akatsuki… Gleipnir cannot be torn apart.”

  Natsuki solemnly smiled at Kojou as he desperately tried to control the lightning lion. And this time, the silver chains she unleashed caught Kojou completely.

  “Fourth Primogenitor!”

  Yukina, collapsed on the sandy beach, had no power left with which to rescue Kojou.

  Kojou’s body was swallowed up by the spatial distortion, sinking into the watery void, and vanished.

  “Senpai!” Yukina, finally regaining consciousness, screamed in a forlorn voice.

  4

  Blast winds swirled around with a great roar.

  The guardrail and lampposts running alongside the coast were mowed down, and the sandy beach was heavily gouged out.

  Two bearers of enormous magical energy had clashed—the Fourth Primogenitor’s Beast Vassal and Natsuki’s Guardian. Surely, it was fortunate that so little damage had been done.

  “So this is the Witch of the Void’s Guardian…Rheingold, that which plunged the demons of Europe to the depths of terror. It would seem the rumors are true… It warps this world’s time and space merely by its presence.”

  Kiriha sullenly swept her sand-smeared black hair as she groggily rose to her feet. Then, she made a weary sigh as she returned her forked spear to its carrying form.

  When Natsuki saw Kiriha abandon her combat posture, she seemed disappointed as she inquired, “Already finished, Priestess of the Six Blades?”

  The Beast Vassal of the Fourth Primogenitor was still materialized. However, its power seemed insufficient to break through the net of thorns, perhaps due to the loss of Kojou, its host. Restrained by the golden knight construct that was Natsuki’s Guardian, all it could do was continue its ragged snarls.

  Seeing this for herself, Kiriha unenthusiastically shook her head and said, “Now that the Fourth Primogenitor is held captive in the Prison Barrier, further combat is fruitless, is it not?”

  “A wise decision.”

  Natsuki narrowed her eyes as she spoke. In spite of the combat that had just taken place, Natsuki wasn’t even winded. She was displaying a margin for error seemingly without limit.

  Even if Kiriha continued the fight alone, there was surely little she could do. The difference in power was simply too great. In any case, her opponent was a monster who’d overwhelmed the World’s Mightiest Vampire.

  “However, it would seem that is not what the girl over there thinks,” Kiriha murmured with apparent delight as she shot a sidelong glance behind her.

  Yukina, presumed flattened by Natsuki’s attack, was rising to her feet, using her spear to support her weight.

  Even at that moment, Yukina’s legs trembled from her wounds. Despite that, the will to fight against Natsuki had not faded from her eyes.

  “So another recalcitrant pupil remains…” Natsuki sighed slightly. Then she turned to face Yukina and said, “It is as you see, transfer student. Your target for observation has been captured. Yet you still intend to fight?”

  “I believe I stated it at the beginning. This is my fight as well.” Yukina quietly readied her spear.

  Snowdrift Wolf, able to nullify magical energy and rend any magical barrier, was the mortal foe of witches like Natsuki. In terms of pure combat ability, Natsuki was overwhelmingly superior, but if Snowdrift Wolf’s edge even grazed her, their positions would be immediately reversed.

  Of course, Natsuki was no doubt well aware of this. She coldly looked back at the wobbly Yukina, and slowly raised her left hand. She gave the fan she held within it a small flutter.

  The air screeched, violently being torn asunder as Natsuki launched chains out of thin air.

  However, Yukina knocked all the chains down with a bare minimum of movement. Her reaction speed suggested she knew the course along which each of the countless chains would fly.

  “The Spirit Sight of a Sword Shaman of the Lion King Agency… Divining the future, then? I see. You are well trained.”

  For once, Natsuki praised Yukina.

  Meanwhile, Yukina sprinted toward her. Pure-white sand swirled up as she approached within her spear’s reach in one go. With a light tap, Natsuki kicked off from the ground and danced in midair. Yukina leaped in pursuit.

  Then, a charming smile came over Natsuki as the air warped before her eyes—a shock wave cannon produced via spatial control.

  “But you rely on your Spirit Sight too much… Hence why you fell for such a simple trick.”

  “Ugh…!”

  Natsuki’s lecturing words made Yukina’s expression harden. Even her Spirit Sight could not see the invisible shock wave. Even if she knew in advance the shock wave was coming, she didn’t know when—or what course it would take.

  In any case, it was impossible for Yukina to evade a launched shock wave while in the midst of her leap.

  Therefore—the only way left for her was to slice her way through.

  “Snowdrift Wolf!”

  Yukina poured all the spiritual energy she had into the silver spear. The enchantment inscribed upon Snowdrift Wolf activated, causing it to radiate a pure-white light. This was the light of the Divine Oscillation Effect that nullified magical energy.

  “So you blocked the spatial control spell creating the shock wave with a Divine Oscillation Effect barrier…”

  Realizing that her attack had misfired, Natsuki instantly retreated.

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

  Yukina landed with her spear at the ready. She pursued Natsuki once more as her lips wove a solemn incantation.

  Amplified by Yukina’s spiritual energy, the Divine Oscillation Effect grew more radiant still. The light collected at Snowdrift Wolf’s spear tip, forming a single, giant blade.

  It was a radiant blade of light reaching several times her height.

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

  Yukina swung the blade horizontally, finally catching Natsuki’s body. It grazed Natsuki’s slender torso, gouging a deep wound that reached nearly to her spine.

  However, the lack of feedback from the blow caused Yukina to gasp in shock. Natsuki’s body, which should have been nearly cleaved into two, vanished without a trace.

  “An illusion—?!”

  “Did I not tell you? You rely too much on your Spirit Sight.”

  Natsuki’s statement came from behind the confused Yukina—her disappointment apparent.

  Silver chains shot out from thin air. Having focused all her spiritual strength into her attack, Yukina had no strength left with which to fend off the chains. The chains wrapped around her four limbs, rendering her unable to
move or act.

  “How immature. Relying on a toy like this while losing sight of what is important.”

  Natsuki spoke in a pitying tone as she opened the gate once more.

  She meant to bring Yukina to the Prison Barrier, too. Once dragged into Natsuki’s dream, it would be impossible for her to escape on her own power, even with the capabilities of Snowdrift Wolf.

  Yukina desperately struggled, but the chains mercilessly pulled her body toward the gate.

  “It’s over,” the Attack Mage said dismissively.

  “No, not yet.”

  A moment later, a girl in an old-fashioned sailor uniform swung down a gray blade from Natsuki’s defenseless back.

  Natsuki easily evaded the attack, but she had not been Kiriha’s target. Her pseudo-spatial severing blade rent apart the silver chains binding Yukina’s limbs.

  “What are you playing at, Kiriha Kisaki?”

  Natsuki folded her fan and shifted a sour look toward Kiriha. Yukina, freed from the silver chains’ bondage, also looked up at Kiriha in surprise.

  “I changed my mind. I’m so sorry.”

  However, Kiriha’s pleasant smile contained not even a hint of shame. She twirled her forked spear around, turning the twin tips toward Natsuki. The gesture was a clear declaration of war.

  “Even if she is an apprentice, seeing a Sword Shaman from the Lion King Agency proper so easily defeated makes me, a Priestess of the Six Blades, sometimes referred to as a Black Sword Shaman, sick to my stomach. I shall thus render a touch of aid.”

  It was unclear just how much of Kiriha’s declaration was how she really felt.

  Natsuki replied with apathy, “Do as you like. The result will be no different.”

  “I wonder about that. You’re awfully stuck-up for a mere witch. Perhaps death will humble you.”

  Speaking those words in a belligerent tone, her true nature bared, Kiriha glanced over to Yukina.

  Yukina nodded without a word, readying her spear at Kiriha’s side.

  Natsuki gazed tediously at the light and dark Sword Shamans, supposed enemies now fighting side by side, and sighed.

  5

  When Kojou came to, he was standing in a Spartan room featuring stonework.

  The walls were built with uneven, natural stones, and there was a small, iron-barred window. It was what you’d expect from an antique prison straight out of the Middle Ages.

  “Here again…”

  Kojou squatted down and looked up at the ceiling. The sunrays shining in from the window were the color of blood. He faintly remembered the scenery. Kojou had been in this room once before. The fact that his memories of it were uncertain was likely because this was inside the world of dreams.

  This was the Prison Barrier, the world Natsuki had constructed out of her own dream.

  The walls appeared rugged and thick, but not so thick that a Beast Vassal of the Fourth Primogenitor could not break them.

  Kojou tried to call a Beast Vassal over, but the results were as he expected. He felt no sign of a Beast Vassal appearing. For that matter, he could no longer sense his own demonic energy.

  “Give it up. You cannot employ your Beast Vassals within this space. It is my dream, after all.”

  As Kojou continued his futile efforts, someone spoke to him from behind.

  At some point, a luxurious reclining armchair had appeared in the center of the room. Seated upon it was an adult woman wearing a white shirt and a tight miniskirt.

  She was about 165 centimeters tall; she was probably about twenty-six years old.

  She had the delicate beauty of a doll, but her vainglorious eyes, seemingly looking down on all before her, made that impression go to waste. The woman, characterized by long, black hair, was holding an elaborate lace fan.

  “And you look like that because it’s a dream, too?”

  Kojou sighed deeply, as if wholly exasperated by the sight. “Hmm-hmm,” went the woman in the tight miniskirt, smiling proudly as she said, “I matched appearance with my actual age.”

  “Well, you certainly do come off pretty grown-up with that look…”

  Kojou voiced his half-baked appraisal.

  Her appearance might have changed, but the woman’s tone and personality were all Natsuki. Thanks to that, he didn’t feel put off very much. If anything really stood out, it was the extremely large difference in bust size, but pointing that out would only anger her, so he kept his mouth shut. This was Natsuki’s dream world after all.

  “Your face says you have not yet given up on going to the mainland, Kojou Akatsuki.”

  Adult Natsuki recrossed her legs, highlighted by her pumps and black tights.

  Kojou kept sitting cross-legged on the floor, nodding like a sulking child as he said, “Of course not. I still haven’t heard from you why you’re trying to stop me.”

  “An explanation, is it? Would you be dissatisfied to hear that I do not wish to lose you?”

  Natsuki’s expression was oddly serious as she made the statement. That really threw Kojou off.

  “Lose…? You mean, dying? I am a vampire, you know…”

  “A vampire primogenitor cursed with immortality by God…yes?” Her tone was most unamused. “Hmph. And if, on the mainland, you met a being who could slay that very God? Could you really speak of your own immortality so casually then?”

  “Kill God… You’re tellin’ some tall tales at your age…”

  Kojou turned toward Natsuki, who was giving him a look that was a little like pity. Sure, Kojou’s title of the World’s Mightiest Vampire was far-flung in itself, but he thought Natsuki’s words far too great a leap.

  However, Natsuki calmly ignored Kojou’s rudeness and said, “By God I mean in the sense of the creators of the system we know as the world…a God at least on the level of the ancestor of all humankind.”

  “Ancestor of humankind… The first human, then? That sounds pretty mythological, but…”

  “I suppose so. One can view the mythos from every corner of the globe in various ways… He did as the God that created him commanded, or perhaps, he slew that God, and the children of this later God became the rulers of a new world?”

  “So that’s what you mean,” said Kojou, accepting Natsuki’s words.

  Like vampiric primogenitors, the original human brought to life by a mythical Creator was said to be unaging, undying, remaining himself in myths the world over.

  “But in the end, which side is this founding god the founder of?” Natsuki muttered the words, almost like she was asking herself that question.

  “What do you mean, which?”

  “Isn’t it obvious? Humans or demons?”

  Natsuki seemed bored as she pressed her chin against her hand.

  “This is not a matter of which is superior, but humankind and demonkind differ immensely. Though they speak the same languages, and it is even possible for them to crossbreed, they differ too much as living beings. Is it not unnatural to think of the two as descendants of the same gods?”

  Kojou began to sense an ill premonition as Natsuki readily continued.

  Why did the race known as demons exist in the world…? Scientists and theologians the world over continued to pose that question, and to that day, no final answer had been found. It was said that Demon Sanctuaries existed to unravel that very mystery.

  “And if, say, the ancestors of humans and demons turned out to be brothers, would there be a problem with that?”

  Kojou aired a rather naive question. After all, if the two had been created by the same God, the two ancestors were equals. The descendants—humans and demons—had no supremacy over the other. Neither race was evil. And yet—

  “It is the other way around,” Natsuki answered, smiling with scorn. “There will be conflicts so long as different peoples exist. It goes the same for the gods.”

  “So a war among the ancestors, huh?”

  “It is something that happened long enough ago to make the mind grow numb. No proper records of it
remain.”

  “Oh… Okay…,” Kojou murmured at Natsuki’s words.

  Just because two sides were equal didn’t mean they would get along. If anything, it was because they were equal that enmity between them deepened. Now that she mentioned it, such things were all too typical, and the same apparently went for these ancestors.

  “So in the end, what happened to them? The battle’s over, right?”

  “Who knows? Even I do not know the truth about The Cleansing in any detail. Perhaps they destroyed each other, were both sealed away, or even slain by weapons built to slay the gods.”

  “…Weapons?”

  The disturbing echo of that word made Kojou’s look turn grave. Natsuki gazed at his expression, cruelly curling up the corners of her lips as she said:

  “Within the memory of Avrora Florestina, the Fourth Primogenitor was called a god-killing weapon, yes? The gods were warring against one another. Is it strange that weapons for slaying gods would be constructed? And the Fourth Primogenitor is not necessarily the only god-killing weapon that still exists.”

  “……”

  Kojou’s silence was like a lament.

  He was remembering Leviathan, which he had previously encountered at Blue Elysium. According to scripture, it was the Serpent of Jealousy, the mightiest of all creatures fashioned by the gods. The demon beast was off the charts, several kilometers in length, and was called a living weapon from the age of myth and legend.

  What if, like that monster and the Fourth Primogenitor, other god-killing weapons had been built and still existed?

  And so—

  “You’re saying the relic of The Cleansing at the bottom of Kannawa Lake is one of those god-killing weapons?”

  “We do not yet know. Nor, for that matter, which side it belongs to.”

  “Which side…?”

  “There are two types of relics of the so-called Cleansing. In other words, there are weapons to kill the ancestors of demons, and weapons to kill the ancestors of humankind.”

  “…!”

  Natsuki’s nonchalant explanation sent a cold shudder up Kojou’s spine.

  “Both would be dangerous beings, but if they obtain a weapon for annihilating the ancestors of humankind, less so… Far less than the alternative,” she continued.