“Gu…oh…!”
Having lost his heart, Kojou could no longer even stand. He desperately tried to remain sitting up, but lifting his head was all he could manage. With Kojou in that state, the bearded man went on the offensive. He stripped a glove off his right hand—a stark, metallic prosthetic.
“That was a hit, Boland! I’ll handle the rest—”
The man turned the palm of his false hand toward Kojou’s head. There was a gun barrel embedded in the center of the palm. At that range, there was no way to escape being shot. And if his head was completely crushed, even the healing ability of the Fourth Primogenitor would surely require considerable time to revive him. Even if Kojou returned to life, he could protect Celesta no more.
“—?!”
A roar rang out as a searing blast grazed Kojou’s cheek.
However, it was not Kojou who was blown away, but rather, the man pointing the gun barrel at him.
“Irrlicht!”
Together with the cold reverberation of the young man’s voice, a giant bird of prey emerged, surrounded by a ray of light. From the sky far above the harbor, the huge creature, its wingspan reaching several meters, blew away the man with the prosthetic hand that was below it.
Though the man escaped a direct hit by a hair’s breadth, the ground at his feet was scorched at very high temperature, instantly melting.
The bird of prey was a vampire’s Beast Vassal—a mass of flame reaching tens of thousands of degrees Celsius.
“That Beast Vassal’s…?!”
Kojou and Celesta gazed in astonishment at the unfamiliar Beast Vassal appearing right before their eyes.
The man who appeared at their side had a handsome face reminiscent of a cold, sharpened blade.
“A disgraceful sight, Kojou Akatsuki—”
The young man looked down at the fallen, bloodstained Kojou, speaking with visible scorn. Kojou knew that face well.
“Tobias Jagan?! What are…you doing here…?!”
“Orders from His Excellency, Vattler. I have been monitoring these people from Zenforce. It seems the protection of Celesta Ciate really is too much for the likes of you.”
Jagan waved his right hand. The incandescent raptor transformed into a beam, racing a distance of several hundred meters to destroy the lighthouse at the end of the pier—the lighthouse where the sniper who’d shot Kojou was lurking.
“Zenforce…?”
“CSA special forces. They’re too tough for you. If you understand that, stay there crawling on the ground like a worm and behave yourself! Anmauth!”
Leaving the sniper to the raptor, Jagan summoned a new Beast Vassal.
This was a steel-colored, humanoid ape reaching a total of four to five meters in height. It was a steel golem, taking physical form via dense demonic energy. It swung down both arms, resembling giant steel clumps, at the man with the prosthetic hand, carving the ground.
The man with the prosthetic glared at Jagan, controller of the Beast Vassal, smiling with obvious delight.
“A subordinate of Dimitrie Vattler? I’m grateful.”
“Grateful…you say?”
“Taking on a civilian brat was making me feel bad. But I can kill a Warlord’s Empire aristocrat with a clean conscience!”
“Cease your prattle, brute!”
Jagan’s expression twisted into anger, perhaps from sensing an air of contempt from the man’s words. As he did so, the man with the prosthetic vanished before him. He’d leaped with such incredible speed not even a vampire’s quick reflexes could keep up.
The attacker appeared behind Jagan and opened fire.
Jagan was too slow to evade it. However, a moment before the shells fired at him would have ripped his body apart, the golem standing beside them reached out with a steel arm, intercepting all the bullets.
“I see… You’ve fused magic objects with cybernetics. You’re the Sorcerous Troopers the CSA is so proud of.”
Even seeing the incredible physical capabilities of the man with the prosthetic brought no major change in Jagan’s expression; it grew a little sharper, but that was all.
“But your brain’s still human, isn’t it? Wadjet!”
Jagan’s crimson eyes unleashed a ghastly, demonic light. This was the glow of the invisible Beast Vassal he had dubbed Wadjet. It invaded the minds of those whose eyes he met, taking them over—
“Mathis—!”
Realizing the nature of Jagan’s attack, the man with a sunglasses device over both eyes called out the name of his comrade. However, the man with the prosthetic did not respond. Jagan’s Beast Vassal had already seized control of his will.
Jagan’s opponent did not move when the steel golem went to strike him.
It was an attack from which there was absolutely no escape. However, the man with the prosthetic hand just barely evaded the lethal attack. His movements were unnatural, like those of a marionette manipulated by unseen strings.
“Tch…automated evasion, is it?!”
The mechanical body of the man with the false hand had evaded Jagan’s attack independently of the man’s own will. Jagan clicked his tongue as he realized this.
The man in sunglasses moved, taking advantage of the opening Jagan had left. The flesh over both his shoulders tore open, exposing the magical devices embedded within. The bizarre devices were like countless vertical metal plates arranged sideways.
“You were careless, Count Jagan—”
The man’s magical devices, resembling radiator fins, unleashed a vivid, rainbow-colored shimmer. The ground touched by that shimmer was charred instantly.
The magical devices produced an incandescent luster to eliminate their target, turning it to ash. Kojou didn’t understand how it worked, but there was no doubt it was a magical device built for the sole purpose of killing demons.
“Ugh…”
The unexpected force of the sunglasses man’s attack made Jagan twitch. He hadn’t thought that special forces soldiers, not even sorcerers in their own right, would employ offensive magic to that extent. Compatibility and magical energy of no small measure were required to activate powerful magical devices. Apparently, they’d cleared that limitation through paying the cost of mechanizing their own flesh and blood.
But by the time he understood that, it was too late. Taking advantage of Jagan’s momentary lowering of his guard, the shimmering attack’s large radius left him no room to flee. The rainbow-colored radiance enveloped Jagan—
Or so the sunglasses man thought, when a giant thunderbolt appeared without warning, transforming into the form of a dazzling lion. The lightning lion dispersed the rainbow-colored shimmer, saving Jagan.
“Regulus Aurum!”
On one knee, Kojou had summoned a new Beast Vassal.
His destroyed heart had already regenerated. Properly speaking, rather than an actual heart, it was more like an insubstantial pacemaker built out of a mass of demonic energy, but if it let him move his body, it was good enough for him.
His severed left shoulder had somehow finished reattaching. It wasn’t perfect, but he could fight—the product of the super-healing ability, akin to a curse, that vampire primogenitors possessed.
“Kojou Akatsuki, why you—!”
“I’m…returning the favor from earlier, Jagan…,” Kojou announced triumphantly.
Jagan trembled in humiliation, shooting a glare at Kojou.
“How absurd! I did not require your aid! You’re just in my way!”
“Not only are you all talk, but you’re a sore loser, too…”
Fresh blood trickled down Kojou’s lips as he replied in kind. The wounded state of the Fourth Primogenitor’s body made controlling a Beast Vassal a heavy burden, after all. Still, Kojou’s and Jagan’s Beast Vassals had disrupted the cohesion of Angelica’s unit.
“Senpai!”
The Beast Vassal’s high temperature caused Angelica to lose sight of Yukina, who seized the opportunity to rush to Kojou’s side.
“…You
’re okay, Himeragi…?”
“Yes, I am. But at this rate, your endurance will—”
Yukina propped up the wounded Kojou. Without a word, Celesta lent Kojou her own shoulder.
Controlling the overly powerful Beast Vassals of the Fourth Primogenitor took an incredible toll on Kojou’s endurance. If combat became prolonged, the heavily wounded Kojou would be at an overwhelming disadvantage. Worst case, his Beast Vassal might become uncontrollable and run wild, potentially placing Yukina and Celesta in danger.
“Mathis, can you move?”
With one man drawing off the Beast Vassals, Angelica was getting her unit back on its feet. The man with the prosthetic hand, robbed of his mind by Jagan’s attack, had rebooted, regaining his sanity.
“I’m all right, Major. The proxy bought it, but it’s not a problem.”
“Very good. Team up with Bouiller and take down the vampires. Boland and I will handle the Beast Vassals.”
“Roger—”
Accepting Angelica’s instructions, the male duo began moving against Kojou and the others once more.
Fear crept into Kojou’s face. Thanks to Jagan’s timely aid, their forces were more equal, but protecting Celesta put heavy restrictions on how Kojou could move. And if they took an attack that threatened to envelop Celesta, Kojou had no option besides shielding her with his body. Understanding this, Angelica’s subordinates shifted to a position from which they could aim at Kojou and the others in confidence.
Then, in confusion, they stopped moving, because Celesta had acted contrary to expectations.
“Wait—”
She walked forward, spreading her arms wide as if to shield Kojou and the others. The men could not launch their attacks out of fear of a direct hit on her.
“Stop this! I’m the one you’re after, right?! Then—”
“Celesta! Come back!”
“Celesta, you mustn’t!”
Kojou went after Celesta with his wounded body. Yukina simultaneously leaped after her.
“Do it.”
Seeing that both were defenseless and in their line of fire, Angelica gave her men the order to attack. The man with the prosthetic turned his gun toward them. Then—
“Nuoo?!”
It was the man with the false hand who groaned in agony from being riddled with automatic weapons fire. The unanticipated barrage came from atop the ocean. The large-caliber machine gun’s barrage traveled faster than the speed of sound. They finally heard the gunfire after a brief delay.
“What…?!”
Angelica Hermida looked over her shoulder.
The person manning the machine gun was a woman aboard a small motorboat. She was a young woman wearing yellow-colored “camouflage” that really, really stood out. The woman piloting the boat was wearing blue camo fatigues that were just as noticeable. Both had shockingly good looks.
“Enemy reinforcements? The so-called Island Guard? No…”
Angelica’s eyes narrowed when she noticed new figures coming onto the pier.
The two girls moving to encircle Angelica and her men were teens wearing white and black camouflage, respectively. She didn’t think they were proper guardsmen, but nor were they mere civilians. Their movements were clearly those of trained soldiers. They were probably equal to Angelica’s unit if judged by training level alone.
“Lord Fourth Primogenitor~~. Are you all riiiight?”
The last to land was a girl in crimson clothes. She was carrying a giant weapon embellished with urban camouflage.
“Th…they’re…!”
Kojou murmured in abject shock when he realized just who the mysterious girls were. They were the Maid Brigade from the Oceanus Grave II.
Though he was calling them maids in his mind, they weren’t actually servants; rather, they were the daughters of royalty and key ministers born in nations bordering the Warlord’s Empire. He’d heard that they were originally handed over to Dimitrie Vattler as “hostages” to ensure the safety of their home nations. However, Vattler’s fetish was not hostages or women but combat, so he’d ended up treating the girls as simple guests.
As a result, with an abundance of free time, the girls had done as they’d pleased, attempting to seduce Kojou to move up in the world, and had become famous on video-sharing websites, even transferring to Saikai Academy, but—
“A guided missile launcher?!”
Angelica’s lips trembled with dismay when she looked at the weapon the girl in red camouflage was carrying. Sorcerous Troopers could withstand attacks on the level of rifle bullets with ease, but even they could not shrug off hits from heavy machine guns and missiles. Fighting all that firepower in addition to fending off two noble-class vampires put them at a disadvantage.
“Tch.”
Further combat would be fruitless. Judging this, Angelica Hermida instantly revised her tactical objective.
Namely, from annihilating the enemy to capturing her target.
Trusting in the speed of her machine-enhanced flesh, she would secure Celesta Ciate, who was standing still in a daze, and flee. It was probably possible to shake off enemy pursuit, using her two subordinates as sacrificial pawns if need be.
Having calculated all that in an instant, Angelica lowered her center of gravity, preparing to accelerate. A moment later—
“Oh, no, you don’t. I won’t let you take her, Angelica Hermida.”
Suddenly, the ground around Celesta Ciate was set ablaze.
Angelica clenched her teeth when she realized the density of the demonic energy packed into those flames. An amber Beast Vassal of burning lava coiled around Celesta, apparently to protect her. Naturally, even Angelica didn’t think she could leap into molten magma and recover the girl alive.
“Dimitrie Vattler—,” Angelica murmured when she caught sight of the man controlling the new Beast Vassal.
Enveloped by golden mist, a blond, blue-eyed vampire appeared at the end of the pier. Wearing a three-piece all-white suit, a handsome smile came over him as he gazed at Angelica.
“Retreat. Boland, cover us.”
Angelica Hermida ordered her subordinates before leaping away herself. Landing on the rooftop of a warehouse outside the harbor, she vanished from Kojou’s sight. The men under her had already finished pulling out, too. Seeing that the enemy had completely bugged out, Kojou released his Beast Vassal from its summons.
Relief came with the simultaneous return of pain over his entire body, and Kojou collapsed on the spot once more.
“Aww… Is it over already?”
The girl in the red camouflage suit lowered the missile launcher, having lost her opportunity to let it loose.
2
One of Vattler’s subordinates must have set up a person-repelling barrier. In spite of combat that extravagant, there was no sign of the Island Guard rushing to the pier. Or perhaps Angelica Hermida’s people had interrupted communications or taken some other measure beforehand.
When it came to destroying evidence, the Oceanus Girls were apparently no slouches. The girl wearing blue camo was hacking the crime prevention cameras with a notepad PC she’d fished out. Kojou, still propped up by Yukina, watched the scene, feeling like he’d seen such a thing somewhere before.
“Heya, Kojou. It seems you protected Celesta just as I had hoped. As expected of my beloved.”
Vattler addressed Kojou with his annoying, theatrical manner of speech.
“That’s really creepy, so don’t say that even as a joke,” Kojou vented indifferently without even looking at him.
Vattler studied Kojou’s reaction, chuckling in even greater apparent delight.
“You also did well, Tobias. What of Bloodstained Angelica?”
“…All was as you anticipated. They are indeed tenacious—however, on a squad level, not opponents requiring your personal attention. The fool of a Fourth Primogenitor ended up like this, though.”
Jagan stood ramrod straight as he replied. The edges of his words oozed with enmity toward Koj
ou. He was no doubt dissatisfied that Vattler had entrusted the protection of Celesta not to him, but to Kojou.
“The problem is how the CSA intel branch will move. They must be using a civilian corporation as a front for operations on Itogami Island—”
“I see. If Angelica Hermida requests support from them, it might get interesting,” Vattler said, smiling as if he was licking his lips in anticipation.
Kojou exhaled painfully. It seemed nothing good would come of leaving the man to his own devices.
“Wait, Vattler.”
“…Mm? What is it?”
A charming smile came over Vattler as he glanced over his shoulder.
Kojou felt Celesta’s breath catch behind him. But to Kojou, who knew what Vattler was like on the inside, that smiling face was just fishy.
“Would you mind explaining what’s going on here? All of it.”
“Of course. However, let’s change locations first. Setting aside treatment, you will require a change of clothes, won’t you?”
Vattler pointed in the direction of the docks as he spoke. His very own Oceanus Grave II was docking at the harbor right around that time. Certainly, Kojou couldn’t exactly go out on a stroll wearing bloodstained clothing. The invitation to Vattler’s cruise ship seemed his only option. Besides, with Angelica Hermida after her, Celesta would find the interior of the ship to be the safest location on Itogami Island.
However, she remained hidden behind Yukina’s back, seemingly unable to meet Vattler’s eyes for some reason. If anything, she appeared to be avoiding him.
“—Hey, Celesta. What’s wrong?”
Kojou found her behavior odd. Celesta made a start and shivered a little. She awkwardly turned her head, moving like a gear that had run out of oil.
“Wh-what?”
“Whaddaya mean, what? You’ve finally been reunited with Vattler, your idol, right? Be happy and stuff.”
“I—I am happy. Vattler looks as handsome as always… Ahh… So cool…”
“So say hi to him or something.”
Kojou slumped his shoulders in exasperation. Even his left shoulder, sliced off by Angelica Hermida, had recovered to where it could move that amount.
Bride of the Dark God Page 13
