CHAPTER FOUR

THE WITCH OF THE VOID

1

Silver sparks buried the midday sky.

A high-pitched roar reminiscent of a scream made Kojou’s eardrums tremble. Metal clashed against metal, creating a ragged sound that resembled the atmosphere of the battlefield itself.

With Snowdrift Wolf, Yukina knocked down the countless chains Natsuki loosed from the void.

“Leap, Fourth Primogenitor!”

“Wh-whoa!!”

Yukina alone could not fend off all of Natsuki’s attacks—Kiriha judged as much in an instant, pushing Kojou’s back and sending him flying. Kojou sailed over the edge of the concrete curb and slid down to the sandy beach below.

Leaping after Kojou, Kiriha drew her own spear from her tripod case. The shaft slid and lengthened, its twin prongs entwined in a spiral until they spun and deployed, becoming like the tines of a tuning fork. With her gray, forked spear thus emerged, Kiriha struck back against new chains aimed at Kojou.

Natsuki employed a teleportation spell to appear in front of Kojou and Kiriha. Yukina leaped after her, landing on the sandy beach. The three on Kojou’s side faced off against Natsuki atop white resin-made sand spread over an artificial coast.

“I see… You did not allow Kojou Akatsuki to escape. You waited for him to move to a place away from prying eyes. Is that not so, Witch of the Void?”

Forked spear poised, Kiriha gazed at Natsuki with a sullen look. She’d gone as far as arranging a getaway car to cover their tracks, but in the end, she had only played into Natsuki’s hands. From Kiriha’s point of view, that had to be a significant dent to her pride.

“Correct, little girl. If that idiot ran riot inside the city, it would be more trouble after the fact.”

Natsuki replied in an apathetic voice. She seemed to barely acknowledge Kiriha’s existence. This got on the Black Sword Shaman’s nerves even more.

“Ugh,” Yukina groaned, gripping her spear with added strength, but even she did nothing reckless like attempting to cut Natsuki down. Of course, Yukina knew full well that Natsuki’s words were only taunts.

“You said you couldn’t let me leave Itogami Island, didn’t you…?”

Instead, it was Kojou who murmured to her in a low voice.

Kojou clenched a fist as faint rage coursed through his entire body. Naturally, her chasing him this far meant Kojou had no choice but to harden his resolve as well. If Natsuki seriously meant to stop him, Kojou had to fight her, too.

“Is that why, Natsuki?! You wanna fight me, for that?!”

“Do not address your teacher by her first name, fool.”

Natsuki dipped the tip of her still-folded fan in Kojou’s direction. That instant, an incredible impact assailed Kojou’s forehead. The Fourth Primogenitor, feeling fierce pain as if he’d been struck with an iron maul, staggered and fell to one knee.

Yukina and Kiriha, standing at Kojou’s flanks, gasped, astonished. Even they, completely on guard, had been utterly unable to respond to Natsuki’s attack.

“Ugh…!”

“I did not come here to play fight you. Unlike that Master of Serpents, troublesome things like this are not a hobby of mine, and I do not do them because I like to. If you go into the Prison Barrier like a good boy, I won’t have to hurt you.”

Natsuki, continuing to elegantly hold her parasol, spat her words like venom.

Kojou gritted his teeth as he lifted his face. “There’s no way…I can do that…!”

“If you will be lonely by yourself, I can send that transfer student to accompany you…or perhaps you would prefer Aiba?”

“I’m not talking about that!” Kojou wobbled to his feet as he howled raggedly at Natsuki. “I’m gonna save Nagisa. After that, extra lessons or Prison Barrier—I’ll do whatever you want. So please let me go for now! Or are you gonna go bring back Nagisa in my place?!”

“Bring back Nagisa Akatsuki…?” Natsuki let out a small sigh as she shot Kojou a stark look. “Do you seriously believe you can do that?”

“What?!”

“Ahh, no. Not in that sense. Of course, Nagisa should be coming home safe and sound—so long as you do nothing rash.”

Natsuki shook her head a little at the sight of Kojou consumed by a primal rage. Then she lowered her eyes in a show of pity and said, “It is you, specifically, who cannot bring her back, Kojou Akatsuki.”

“…What do you mean by that?”

“If that which is at the bottom of Kannawa Lake is what the Lion King Agency expects, you cannot come into contact with it and escape unscathed.”

Her reluctant tone shook Kojou faintly. He sensed seriousness from Natsuki’s explanation that went beyond a simple attempt to intimidate.

“And what makes you say that?”

“That’s how these relics of The Cleansing are. You have experienced this for yourself, have you not?” Natsuki smiled sadly.

What is she talking about? thought a perplexed Kojou when countless, fragmented images crammed into the back of his brain without warning. A rock-strewn, sun-swept land. A coffin of ice. Within it, a girl with hair spanning all the colors of the rainbow. Then, the scent of blood—

“G…uoa…?!”

“Senpai?!”

When Kojou moaned, stricken by a powerful headache, Yukina instantly put an arm around him to support him.

Kiriha appeared perplexed. She did not know that Kojou’s memories had been consumed or that fragments of those memories were causing Kojou this pain.

“It seems the conversation has come to an end,” Natsuki cruelly murmured as she looked down at the anguished Kojou.

One way or another, he no longer possessed the strength to resist her. It took all his mental strength to remain conscious in the face of the torrent of onrushing memories.

“We will speak more of this inside the Prison Barrier…provided you truly wish to know, that is.”

Natsuki quietly raised her left hand. A ripple-like distortion occurred in the air above her head, with silver chains unleashed from within.

“Don’t mess…with me…dammit…!”

Kojou glared at Natsuki as the chains entwined around his right arm. With all his vampiric muscular strength, he somehow shook off the chains trying to drag him into the midair distortion.

“If the existence of the Fourth Primogenitor’s connected to The Cleansing, what the hell is the Lion King Agency involving Nagisa for?! She’s not connected to any of it!!”

“Not connected…? Do you truly believe that?” Natsuki smiled scornfully at Kojou’s rebuttal, speaking the words in a tone rich with implication.

Kojou did not understand the meaning of her words.

Nagisa was not a vampire. She’d already lost her spiritual powers. So, of course, the Fourth Primogenitor and The Cleansing had nothing to do with her. She couldn’t be connected.

“…?!”

But Natsuki’s question clearly unnerved Yukina. The expression Kojou saw on her face was one of naked fear.

“It would seem this strikes a chord with you, transfer student,” Natsuki commented calmly. She would not let Yukina’s consternation slip by.

Yukina continued gripping her silver spear, nodding affirmatively without a word. “You don’t mean…Avrora…?”

Her terrified reaction forced Kojou to realize the truth.

Avrora Florestina, the twelfth Kaleid Blood—Kojou had inherited the power of the Fourth Primogenitor from her. Moreover, Avrora was no more. To save Nagisa from the wicked soul called Root Avrora, she had sacrificed herself, perishing in the process.

But what if Avrora’s soul remained, even to that day?

It was not impossible—if a powerful enough spirit medium kept her soul connected to the world. No, it was not out of the question for someone with abnormally high spirit-medium power, such as Nagisa Akatsuki once possessed—

“Avrora’s still inside Nagisa?! They’re trying to use Avrora to check out that relic of The Cleansing thing?!” Kojou, completely recovered from his confusion, shouted in raw anger.

It wasn’t that he’d subconsciously known all along; it simply made too much sense. It provided a reason for Nagisa, a powerful spirit medium, to have lost her spiritual abilities. It explained why she had deteriorated without an identifiable cause. If that was the cost of keeping Avrora’s soul connected to the world of the living, it answered a number of Kojou’s unanswered questions.

Nagisa probably wasn’t using her abilities on purpose. However, if the result was to give Avrora’s soul peace, Kojou could hardly blame his little sister. If anything, it made him proud of her.

I won’t forgive anyone for using Nagisa and Avrora’s soul for their own convenience, thought Kojou. Not even if it was the work of the Lion King Agency.

Natsuki bore the brunt of Kojou’s anger head-on, stating in a matter-of-fact tone, “I shall set your mind at ease about just one thing. The Lion King Agency has no intention of putting Nagisa Akatsuki in peril. It is the reverse. For the sake of their objective, they shall surely protect your little sister, even unto death.”

“Yeah…? Hearing that puts me at ease.”

Kojou stripped off the parka he wore as he unwittingly cracked a small smile.

“You’re cooperating with the Lion King Agency ’cause you know they’re not trying to put Nagisa in danger, right, Natsuki?”

“Of course. Your sister or not, she is one of my pupils all the same.”

Natsuki replied without hesitation. Kojou, expecting that reply, nodded with satisfaction.

“Himeragi…that means the Lion King Agency didn’t betray you, right?”

“Ah…!”

Yukina looked at Kojou, large eyes opened wide. Kiriha snorted, unamused.

To Yukina, caught between her loyalty to the Lion King Agency and her friendship with Nagisa, Natsuki’s words were salvation. The Lion King Agency wasn’t trying to use Nagisa as some sort of sacrifice. Knowing this, Yukina could trust in the Lion King Agency. Half the reason for her anguish had vanished.

“Thanks to that, I’ll keep on respecting you, Natsuki. Even after I beat the crap out of you, so you’ll let me go to— No, I’m going to the mainland, no matter what it takes!”

Dense demonic energy coursed out of every pore of Kojou’s body like lava from a volcano.

“If the Fourth Primogenitor’s power is needed to get some relic of The Cleansing thingy, that’s not Avrora’s job. It’s mine. Whatever reason people have, I’ll crush anyone using Nagisa and Avrora for their own convenience! From here on, this is my fight!”

“Hmph…”

As Kojou came rushing in with a demonic energy-infused fist, Natsuki held him in check with a single lash of her fan.

New chains unleashed by Natsuki assaulted Kojou from four directions. Kojou unleashed his demonic energy like an explosion, shooting them down one after the next. However, Natsuki’s attacks did not relent. Then, when an attack came from Kojou’s blind side that he didn’t think he could dodge, a silver spear lashed out, knocking it down with a ferocious shower of sparks.

“No, senpai. This is our fight—!”

Yukina, wearing a dazzling smile free from worry, landed at Kojou’s side.

“—Himeragi?!”

“I now understand very well why the Lion King Agency left me at your side, senpai.”

As Yukina stared at Natsuki, her eyes held the powerful glint of restored confidence.

“To stop senpai from running amok, he requires a watcher who will act in concert with him until the very end, no matter where he might go—even if, as a result, the Lion King Agency itself stands in the way. That is why they did not inform me, so that senpai would not see me as his enemy—”

“That is quite a self-serving interpretation, but certainly, it is far from impossible. Unlike a relic of The Cleansing that may or may not even exist, the Fourth Primogenitor is a clear and present danger. He cannot be left to his own devices.”

A faint, pained smile came over Natsuki’s lips.

Though not the Agency’s unanimous opinion, Yukina had been left as Kojou’s watcher. She had not been abandoned; it was the opposite. Yukina had been isolated from all information to keep their trump card, the one-and-only World’s Mightiest Vampire, in a controllable state.

“And now that you know this, what of it? Will you become my enemy, Sword Shaman of the Lion King Agency?”

Natsuki’s tiny body floated softly in defiance of gravity. The space around her distorted irregularly, much like flames. Magical energy, so vast that it rivaled Kojou at his most serious, circulated around Natsuki’s flesh.

“Move aside, Natsuki! Even you can’t take Himeragi and me when we’re serious!”

“Quite an interesting thing you’ve just said, student of mine.”

Whoosh! went Natsuki’s left arm, lashing out.

Immediately, Yukina, purportedly gripping her spear, was sent flying back, unable to even raise her voice. With a ferocious sand cloud rising, she slammed into the beach some four to five meters behind him.

“Himeragi?!”

Kojou stared, scarcely believing his eyes as Yukina went down without breaking her fall. He had never seen her get taken down in such a one-sided way before. Neither her Spirit Sight nor Snowdrift Wolf’s ability to nullify magical energy had been able to block Natsuki’s attack.

“Gah?!”

The instant Natsuki’s gaze shifted toward him, Kojou’s vision went blurry. There was neither pain nor impact, but Kojou lost his equilibrium, almost like he was intoxicated.

Kojou instinctively realized teleportation magic had been used to directly shake his brain. Vampiric healing ability was of no use unless it was an actual physical injury.

Feeling his mind grow distant, inching past the point where he could resist, Kojou desperately held on to his senses.

“You think the two of you can defeat me? You shouldn’t underestimate your elders.”

With his vision in pieces, like he was looking through a kaleidoscope, Kojou saw Natsuki looking down at him with scorn.

Then, with a twirl of her parasol, Natsuki unleashed countless chains toward the immobile Kojou.

2

“You, the girl over there, halt! Halt!!”

The men, clad in black body armor, ran down the connecting walkway inside the airport.

Asagi listened to their footsteps behind her as she dashed down the stairs. The men were part of the Island Guard airport security unit and, on top of that, an Attack Squad armed with anti-demon firearms.

Of course, there was no reason for such men to be targeting Asagi, yet they were, in fact, chasing her nonetheless.

“If you do not obey this warning, we will use force in accordance with Demon Sanctuary law!”

“Huh?!”

Asagi looked back without thinking when glass shattered above her head. It was a simple warning shot, albeit extremely accurate.

“Wait a— Mogwai, what’s going on?! They’re seriously shooting at me!” Asagi shouted at her AI partner as she desperately avoided the glass shards raining down.

“Keh-keh.” Mogwai laughed, his demeanor clearly amused. “They’re adhesive polymer rounds for capturing demons. Glue rounds, in other words.”

“Capturing?! They cracked glass just now like it was nothing, you know?!”

“Well, I suppose getting pumped with glue rounds still hurts a lot.”

“What the hell?! Why are they coming at me with stuff like that?!”

“The bottom line is: Someone doesn’t want you to leave Itogami Island, li’l miss,” Mogwai responded calmly to Asagi’s worked-up shouting.

Asagi had ended up being chased by the Island Guard just before embarking on an airplane headed for the mainland. It was plain that no one had been after Asagi prior to that point; after all, Mogwai had his paws on every surveillance camera on Itogami Island, so no one could have been using them to tail her.

“So they’re involved in that whole Nagisa thing?!”

Asagi’s breath was ragged as she ran down a freight hoistway alongside the parking lot. It was supposed to be off-limits, but fortunately, there was no sign of an airport employee to scold her. The Island Guard people seemed to have driven them off beforehand.

“Left at the next corner, li’l miss.”

Mogwai was reading the guardsmen’s movements and giving instructions accordingly. Asagi, no longer aware of even her own current location, shut up and did as he told her. But—

“—Wait, this is a dead end?!” Asagi exclaimed as she was suddenly driven into a cul-de-sac.

A despairingly high steel fence blocked her path. The fence had several layers of barbed wire laid on top, so climbing seemed out of the question.

When Asagi nervously looked back, Island Guard guardsmen had already surrounded her. Asagi stood in place, shocked as their glossy-black gun barrels were trained on her as one.

“Nah, I’ve got it handled. I thought this might happen, so I called a bodyguard over, you see.”

Asagi’s surprised ears heard Mogwai’s voice—a voice seemingly proud of victory.

“Bodyguard…?”

Just when that word left Asagi feeling conflicted, there was a dull, explosive roar behind her. The impact was reminiscent of a direct hit from a missile; she was sent flying. She hit the ground and collapsed.

A section of the concrete foundation smashed apart, rending the iron fence to pieces. Rolling over the wreckage, a spectacularly gleaming crimson weapon of land warfare emerged. It was an anti-demon, four-legged, micro-robotic tank designed for urban environments that seemed almost like a living creature. Its targeting camera whirled around to look at Asagi.

Without a moment’s delay, the armed Island Guard guardsmen attempted to engage, but antipersonnel submachine guns had no hope of penetrating tank armor. In contrast, the robot tank opened fire with antipersonnel machine guns embedded in its front legs, mowing the guardsmen down. Even if they were nonlethal rubber bullets, the might of the 7.62 mm machine guns was tremendous, nonetheless. The guardsmen cried out as they were sent flying—antiballistic vests and all.

“Seems that I made it in time, Empress.”

“You’re…Tanker?!”

Asagi’s mouth dropped open as she heard the voice flowing out of the tank’s external speakers. The voice with a lisp; the anachronistic, over-the-top verbiage—she knew only one person with those defining features.

“Indeed, I am. I, Lydianne Didier, hath arrived in accordance with Sir Mogwai’s request,” replied Lydianne Didier, Asagi’s peer from her part-time job and a rare hacking genius in her own right, in a roundabout, grandiose manner.

“…Hey, what do you think you’re up to?! This is totally an act of terrorism, isn’t it?!”

Asagi nervously pressed the point as she surveyed the flattened armed guardsmen.

It seemed that the tank-riding girl was the bodyguard Mogwai had arranged. For whatever reason, Lydianne had some kind of crush on Asagi, so she was no doubt happy to be called upon…and this tragic spectacle was the result. When added to blowing away the iron fence with the tank’s main gun, no matter how you sliced it, this was well beyond the realm of protecting.

However, Lydianne let out a cheerful laugh and said:

“’Tis not a problem. If we make a clean getaway, they shall cover it up after the fact. They have no more interest in this going public than thee.”

“Well, you might be right about that, but…!”

“More importantly, Empress, gaze upon parking spot 404 on the south side.”

“Eh?”

Using a manipulator for hands-on work nestled in the tank’s torso, she deftly pointed to a parking lot flanking a runway. Sitting there was the Pandion—a tilt-rotor, multi-role transport plane made by Didier Heavy Industries.

“I humbly took the liberty of putting that transport on standby. With it, thou may flee to the mainland. ’Tis best to run in this case.”

“Well, I suppose I do have to get on an airplane here…”

Asagi slumped her shoulders as she accepted the inevitable. It wasn’t like she could just go back to the airport terminal and board her passenger plane like nothing had happened.

That said, staying on Itogami Island presented its own dangers. Even if the Island Guard concealed what had happened like Lydianne had said, that required things cooling down.

“Indeed, ’tis so. Now then, quickly, straddle me.”

“Straddle…er, where?”

Asagi looked back with concern as the robot tank minimally lowered itself. The robot tank was heavily curved to defeat incoming rounds; it had no obvious place for a human to ride.

However, without hesitation or warning, Lydianne used the manipulator arm to pick up Asagi.

“Hey, you…! Wait a… E-every-everyone can see!”

The robot tank rushed to the parking lot, heedless of Asagi’s efforts to hold down her skirt.

However, the robot tank did not go even ten meters before it stopped with a clunk. The joints of the four limbs supporting the tank’s body lost their tensile strength; the armor scattered sparks as it crashed against the ground.

“Nn?! Gah…?!”

“What now?!”

Sounds of frustration over losing control of her tank trickled out from Lydianne’s lips. When Asagi looked harder, she saw glowing symbols of light emerging from the ground at the tank’s feet. The semi-corporeal familiars these summoned were clinging to the tank’s joints.

“Gremlins. Island Guard Attack Mages.”

Mogwai calmly analyzed the situation.

Gremlins were a special kind of spirit for military use that excelled at making machines and electronic devices go on the fritz. They were of little value for attacking fellow Attack Mages, but against modern weaponry, like a robotic tank, they were tremendously effective.

“What the hell are they sending Attack Mages after a high school girl with a legit part-time job for?!”

“Setting virtue or legitimacy aside, using magic against a tank seems to have been a good call.”

Mogwai replied casually, like it was no problem of his. The fact was that making its electronic devices run amok had put Lydianne’s tank out of action. However heavy its weapons, a robot tank that couldn’t move was no different than a paperweight.

“Mogwai, can’t you do something?!”

“No can do. Thanks to the gremlins, there are malfunctions in electronic devices all over the area. To be honest, just maintaining this connection is getting…tou…gh…”

“M… Mogwai?!”

The AI’s sarcastic voice had a frail, broken ring to it. The gremlins were affecting even Asagi’s smartphone.

Cut off from digital networks, Asagi was rendered nothing more than a powerless high school girl.

During the time Asagi was unable to move, Island Guard reinforcements arrived, and Asagi found gun barrels trained on her once more.

“This is bad…!”

Asagi unwittingly closed her eyes in the face of desperate peril. The very next moment, Lydianne’s tank suddenly restarted. With a heavy whirlll, the tank turned, protecting Asagi from the armed guardsmen’s gunfire; in contrast, the machine-gun rounds unleashed by the tank mercilessly gunned down the careless guardsmen.

“—Tanker?!”

“I am sorry to have caused you concern. ’Tis disgraceful.”

She heard Lydianne’s bashful voice over the speakers once more. At some point, Mogwai’s signal had come back, too. The gremlins had vanished without a trace.

“How did you break the spell…?”

“’Twas not I. Rather, it was—”

As Lydianne spoke, her targeting camera moved. Asagi turned her head the same way.

A man in a black Chinese garment was standing atop the grass of a taxiway. He was a bespectacled young man with delicate features. His right hand was holding a long, strange-looking spear with tips on both ends.

And someone from the Island Guard was lying faceup at his feet—the Attack Mage controlling the gremlins.

“You’re…the fugitive who was at MAR!” Asagi shouted, tensing up.

The man in the black clothes resembled some kind of ancient mystic. Asagi had met this man once before.

The young man had casually appeared, seemingly to test Asagi’s abilities firsthand. He departed after overwhelming Yukina with his combat capabilities.

“I am. Please forgive my reluctant and prolonged silence, Priestess of Cain.” The youth in black clothes put a hand to his chest and politely bowed toward her.

“What did you…do to that person…?!”

“You need not be concerned. The recoil from the spell being broken merely rendered the individual unconscious. There is no value in shedding the blood of such a lowly caster where thy eyes may see.”

“So you came to save us, then…?”

Asagi looked wary as she glared at the youth holding the spear in his hand. She’d heard that the black spear he called Fangzahn could annihilate magical and spiritual energy in the area around it.

The youth in the black outfit had used that spear’s power to defeat the Island Guard Attack Mage.

“I only did what was expected. After all, thy wish is also the wish of my King.” The youth shot Asagi an adoring gaze as he spoke in a gentle tone.

Asagi felt a shudder through her entire body and stated with annoyance, “What the hell…? You can’t just leave that hanging out there…!”

“He is waiting for you. All is according to the will of our King—”

The youth in black lowered his head with reverence and backed away, clearing the path for Asagi.

“There’s no time, li’l miss. Island Guard reinforcements will arrive within five minutes.”

“Empress!”

“I get it. Let’s go, Tanker.”

Spurred by Mogwai and Lydianne, Asagi sighed and issued her instructions.

The tilt-rotor transport Lydianne had arranged was already prepared for liftoff. Once she and Asagi reached it, they’d be able to fly to the mainland almost immediately.

The youth in the black outfit smiled with satisfaction as he watched Asagi and Lydianne go.

“Someday, we shall meet again. Until then, have a pleasant journey.”

3

The damage from distorting Kojou’s brain had robbed his body of its freedom of movement. He was essentially punch-drunk. Though he saw the silver chains sailing toward him, Kojou could not move a single step.

“Sh…it… C’mon over, Natra—!!”

Kojou instantly summoned a Beast Vassal. Natra Cinereus—the Fourth Primogenitor’s fourth Beast Vassal—symbolized the vampiric ability of transformation into mist. However, the ability’s effective range was not limited to just Kojou; at minimum, solid matter would lose its cohesive power for tens of meters in a radius around him, transforming it all into silver mist. The fact that there was no guarantee it would return to its original form intact made Natra an extremely troublesome Beast Vassal.

Even so, that destructive power was all he could rely on to fend off Natsuki’s silver chains—

“Too late.”

However, Natsuki’s silver chains caught hold of Kojou before his Beast Vassal could materialize. Laeding, the name granted to that relic of the Devas, sealed Kojou’s demonic energy, obstructing the summoning of his Beast Vassal.

“Natsuki… Stop this…!”

“It is not Natsuki to you.”

Visibly sour, Natsuki waved her fan with her left hand. Kojou’s chain-bound body was being dragged into the teleportation gate floating in midair with overwhelming force. The gate no doubt led straight to the Prison Barrier.

Kojou no longer had the power to shake off Natsuki’s chains. Furthermore, Yukina was still lying on the sandy beach.

The tension of the silver chains stretching from thin air increased, and Kojou’s body was sure to be swallowed by the spatial distortion. The instant Kojou grasped this and began struggling in desperation…

Ting—went the high-pitched sound as Natsuki’s silver chains were severed entirely.

“Dwaa?!”

Kojou, suddenly freed from the chains, hit the sand headfirst with great force. As he did, a black-haired girl wearing an old-fashioned sailor uniform landed beside him with a small flutter.

“If even two on one is insufficient, how about three on one?”

Whoosh! Kiriha’s forked spear cut through the air, leaving a sound behind as she turned to face Natsuki.

Kojou stared up at her in surprise. If her own words were to be believed, Kiriha’s objective was to spite the Lion King Agency. There should have been no reason for her to expose herself to the danger of fighting Natsuki.

Naturally, Natsuki seemed to harbor the same question as Kojou. She knitted her brows, glaring at the Black Sword Shaman with a sour look as she said, “Kiriha Kisaki…Priestess of the Six Blades of the Bureau of Astrology. What do you think you are doing?”

Natsuki unleashed an attack before she heard a reply.

The Witch of the Void assaulted Kiriha with the same invisible blast of wind that had sent Yukina flying. She created an explosive shock wave by vibrating space itself. Even if it was produced via a spell, the shock wave alone was a simple physical phenomenon, which was why Snowdrift Wolf’s magic-nullifying ability could not defend against it. Of course, it was impossible for a slender spear to parry a shock wave of pure force.

However, without a word, Kiriha lashed out with her forked spear. The next moment, with a great roar, the invisible shock wave barreling toward Kiriha dissipated.

Kiriha had blocked the shock wave with a physical wall invisible to the naked eye.

“How unfortunate, Witch of the Void. I had hoped to establish a favorable rapport between us, but…”

Kiriha spoke in a frigid tone as she waved away the rising cloud of sandy dust.

“Pseudo-spatial severing. I thought that trick belonged to the Lion King Agency’s ponytail girl?”

“It appears I was correct to copy that abominable Shamanic War Dancer’s ritual just in case…”

“I see… The Bureau of Astrology’s Ricercare… A rather convenient toy.”

Natsuki voiced her words of praise in a largely disinterested tone.

The ability of Kiriha’s forked spear was an emulation of ritual spells used by others. To the Priestesses of the Six Blades, experts in anti-demonic beast combat, switching among several abilities according to the circumstance was far more advantageous than a single, powerful ability.

Kiriha was using this ability to re-create the ritual used by Sayaka’s Lustrous Scale, employing an enchantment to copy the effect from severing space itself—thus, a pseudo-spatial severing ritual.

The crack in space created by these attacks obstructed any physical attack. It was this slice in space that had fended off Natsuki’s shock wave.

“But being a copy, it has surely inherited the weaknesses of the original.”

The shock wave could not defeat Kiriha. Having made that judgment, Natsuki reacted quickly.

Like an extraordinarily skilled juggler, Natsuki scattered about tiny creatures from inside the parasol she held. At first glance, they resembled teddy bears. It was a horde of adorable, two-headed beasts.

With agile motions belying their appearance, the beasts surrounded Kojou and Kiriha.

“What the heck are those things…?!”

Kojou could not hide his bewilderment at being surrounded by the cluster of cute critters. Maybe their adorable appearance is supposed to rob us of our will to fight, wondered Kojou in the back of his mind.

However, Kiriha glared hatefully at the beasts and said:

“Witch’s familiars. If you let them touch you, they’ll send one or two of your legs flying.”

“…Are you serious?!”

“…The pseudo-spatial severing cannot defend against an attack from all directions at once.”

“Don’t tell me that was her plan…?!”

Kiriha’s calm murmur made Kojou’s face go cold.

Lustrous Scale’s seemingly invulnerable bulwark had a number of weaknesses. One was that the crack in space only faced a single direction. A second was that the effect only lasted for an instant. If Natsuki’s familiars rushed them all at once, Kiriha could not fend them off alone.

“Fourth Primogenitor!”

“I know! C’mon over, Al-Meissa Mercury—!”

The horde of beasts leaped at them from all sides. Kojou summoned his Beast Vassal before even seeing the creatures. The vast demonic energy he scattered about solidified into a quicksilver-scaled, two-headed dragon, the Dimension Eater. With its enormous maws, the two-headed dragon swallowed Natsuki’s familiars—and the very space they occupied—whole.

“—Reverberate!”

Kiriha launched an attack through the crack between the overwhelmingly destructive attacks. She fished out thin metal sheets from the cleavage of her uniform, and these transformed into a pair of black leopards.

Simultaneously, Kiriha herself leaped into action, spear in hand.

Thanks to Kojou’s Beast Vassal’s rough eating habits, the space around them was torn asunder. Even Natsuki could not teleport under those circumstances. She’d no doubt judged this was the time to strike Natsuki down.

And Natsuki made no move to elude the attack. Rather than evade it, she opted to counterattack.

Wind coiled around her with a heavy roar as new chains shot out. However, the thickness of these chains was far greater than Laeding. These were steel anchor cables tens of centimeters in diameter thick. Each and every single link of the chain was now its own, vile weapon. Dromi, launched with all the force of a cannon, became a giant cudgel that came swinging at Kiriha’s familiars from the side.

The black leopard shikigami were smashed into pieces with ease.

“Oh n—!”

Using her forked spear as a shield, Kiriha barely managed to fend off a square hit by the chain. However, she could do nothing about the shock wave created by the chain’s sheer mass.

“Kiriha?!”

When Kiriha was blown away, Kojou tried to rush over to her, but Natsuki’s Dromi—the accursed chains—assaulted him. Kojou just barely managed to evade them, and though his balance was heavily thrown off, he subconsciously threw up both his arms, half out of instinct and half out of fear.

As Kojou did so, his face was struck by an invisible shock wave. The Dromi attack had been a simple decoy. Natsuki’s real attack was the blow from his blind spot a moment later.

“Hmph… It would seem you have learned a little.”

Natsuki spoke in apparent praise as her chains returned to the unknown void from whence they came.

“I’m against…corporal punishment…dammit!” Kojou wheezed raggedly as he glared at Natsuki.

His having blocked her shock wave was mostly the product of coincidence. If he hadn’t guarded his chin, this vibration to his brain would have surely finished him. But even if he hardened his defenses, he couldn’t picture that helping take her down. There was no way forward except engaging in a reckless attack.

“Come to think of it…your body that’s here is a clone made with magic, isn’t it?”

Kojou put his breath in order as he posed the question. Natsuki was not a simple sorceress, but a witch. A witch’s ability to freely manipulate a vast quantity of magical energy was granted to her via a pact with a devil. And that pact came with a cost. Natsuki was no exception to that rule.

The cost imposed on Natsuki was “sleep.”

As the warden of the Prison Barrier, she had to continue to sleep—and dream—for all eternity. She was never to grow old, never to touch the flesh of others, simply to continue to dream—

The Natsuki standing before Kojou and the others was a doll she had made using magical energy. In other words, it was nothing more than part of her dream.

“And what of it?”

Natsuki calmly inquired as if to say Why bring that up now?

Certainly, the Natsuki there was a clone. That was also why she was invincible. Even if they defeated her clone, they could not inflict a single scratch on Natsuki’s real body. Even Aya Tokoyogi, a fellow witch, had needed to create a massive upheaval involving all of Itogami Island and pry open the Prison Barrier to attack Natsuki’s real body.

Of course, Kojou could do no such thing. Nor did he need to.

The gist was that all he needed to do was destroy Natsuki’s clone and temporarily render her powerless. During that time, Kojou and the others would reach the airport and get off the island.

“I just wanted to know for sure. In other words, there’s no point holding back, is there?”

“That is tantamount to claiming you could beat me if you didn’t hold back.”

Natsuki spoke with an exasperated tone. The majesty surrounding her threatened to crush Kojou flat, but—

“Sorry, but I have a lot riding on this, too!”

Kojou swept aside that fear and summoned a new Beast Vassal. This was a solemn, ferocious beast over ten meters long, a lightning lion scattering electric flashes everywhere.

The chains Natsuki wielded were convenient from Kojou’s perspective. Electricity would pass through the chains to Natsuki. Even if Natsuki engaged in attack, the lightning lion could use those chains to transfer damage to her.

However, Natsuki’s expression did not change. She gazed down at Kojou’s Beast Vassal, turning to her own shadow and issuing a single, solemn command.

“—Awaken, Rheingold.”

That instant, a giant emerged behind Natsuki that towered over even Kojou’s summoned beast.

It was a humanoid figure clad in golden armor, rich in both elegance and savagery—a golden, clockwork knight.

Its malevolent presence made the very man-made ground shake.

From inside the thick armor, seemingly locking darkness itself within, Kojou could hear the rumblings of giant gears and motors that sounded like a monstrous roar.

“What the hell is that…?!”

Kojou subconsciously backed up a step as he looked up at the giant knight.

It was not that the quantity of magical energy overwhelmed him. Certainly, the golden knight was emitting incredible magical energy, but the same went for Kojou’s Beast Vassal. The nature of their power was simply…different.

The golden knight construct gave off an air that was clearly not of that world. It was black, devilish power that consumed light.

“Don’t tell me…this is your Guardian, Natsuki?!”

Kojou finally arrived at the golden knight construct’s true nature.

A Guardian was a devil’s vassal granted to a witch as compensation for the pact with the devil. As the word suggested, the Guardian protected the witch and granted her the power to fulfill her wish. And should the witch abrogate that pact, it became the executioner that would reap the witch’s life—

In other words, a so-called Guardian was the physical manifestation of the pact with a devil. Accordingly, its strength was proportional to the weight of the contract. Considering the cost Natsuki had paid, Kojou imagined that her Guardian must be mighty indeed.

Even so, the malevolence of the golden knight construct was twisted far beyond Kojou’s expectations.

And yet, that didn’t change what Kojou had to do.

“Regulus Aurum—!”

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.