CHAPTER TWO

AN ISLAND DIVIDED

1

Countless sparks rained down, illuminating the sky in the dead of night.

The sight seemed less like thunder strikes than as if storm clouds had gathered upon the ground’s surface. The collision of vast demonic energy made the air creak, and the artificial ground swayed like a leaf.

The runway made of thick asphalt was breaking as easily as a chocolate bar. Seawater was gushing up through cracks all over the place and drawn into waterspouts. The sub-float had begun to collapse.

“Such dense demonic energy…,” Asagi murmured in a daze as she kept looking up, watching the huge Beast Vassals clash.

As facilities on the base were destroyed one after another, the coast guard base building was barely managing to hold together thanks to the barrier Yukina had erected. Wielding her silver spear, she was slicing apart the demonic energy scattering about. Without her barrier, it was beyond doubt that the building Asagi and the others were in would have been vaporized without a trace long before.

However, the demonic energy from the Beast Vassals was simply too vast for Yukina to resist on her own. Plus, her barrier was not enough to fend off the physical effects. She couldn’t stop the raging winds and tremors created as side effects of the demonic energy.

The glass windows of the building were already completely shattered, and the ceiling and walls were shaking. The hole in the ceiling widened farther, and the unpleasant sound of something being ripped open echoed forth.

“This is bad… Everyone outside! The building isn’t gonna hold!” Yaze shouted when he sensed disaster unfolding.

“No! No more! Save me! Kojou! Kojou!” Nagisa clutched her head as she sank down on the spot. To her, already a sufferer of demonophobia, seeing two Beast Vassals clashing so close was shocking enough to drive her into a panic.

“Nagisa! No! Stand up, please!” Yaze tried to force the rigid Nagisa up to her feet and drag her with him out of the building. Then he heard a strange sound behind them.

The very foundation supporting the building had caved in, causing part of one wall to collapse. Yaze saw rubble pouring down from overhead, and he froze, unable to even let out a scream.

From the corner of his eye, he then saw a pale glow, typical of spiritual essence. A beautiful barrier reminiscent of a never-melting glacier deployed, forcing the near-collapsed building back.

“Kanase…?!”

“It’s the Svalinn System of the Royal Family of Aldegia…!”

Asagi and Yaze held their breaths as they watched Kanon, her hands clasped as if in prayer.

The Svalinn System, a defensive barrier drawing on spiritual energy, was among the Aldegian Royal Family’s greatest secrets. No one had taught Kanon how to do this; she’d figured out how to reproduce it on her own.

Of course, compared to the proper Svalinn System employed by Princess La Folia, this barrier was far weaker and less stable. Even so, it was sturdy enough to temporarily prevent the building from collapsing.

“Incredible…,” Ugaki breathed out as if it had touched him right in the heart.

The sight of wings of spiritual energy unfolding while Kanon remained in prayer made her truly look like the popular image of a saint. Apparently, even an uncouth, delinquent troll like Ugaki couldn’t help but be in awe at the display.

“Run while we still can! Asagi, hurry!”

“Wait, Kanase’s…!” Asagi was going to shout back in anger when Kanon vanished from before her very eyes. Rubble falling from overhead had obscured Asagi’s vision. “Kanase…?!”

“Noooooooo!” Nagisa shrieked.

Asagi stood stiff amid the falling rubble. A spiritual energy barrier was protecting her entire body. Had it not, she might have died.

“The barrier’s intact! Kanase’s safe!” Yaze exclaimed with a hoarse voice, spurring Asagi on to flee.

Virtually simultaneously, the barrier that had been protecting Asagi vanished. The building made sounds of collapse behind her, but Asagi didn’t have any time to look back. Huge cracks were running under her feet.

The Fourth Primogenitor’s Beast Vassal and the unfamiliar but similar Beast Vassal had vanished. However, their clash had already inflicted serious damage upon the sub-float’s underpinnings. Its surface was breaking apart like thin ice spread over a lake, turning into multiple fragments that were being split up by the ferocious waves atop the sea. Having lost their buoyancy, portions of the fragments were already beginning to sink.

At some point, she’d lost sight of even Yaze and Nagisa. Asagi was aboard a fragment in a different place, adrift on the surface of the sea. As she tried to search for them, a sight made her recoil, eyes wide.

She had spotted Yukina on top of a sinking fragment of the artificial isle.

Perhaps Yukina’s heavy use of spiritual energy had depleted her strength. She had fallen in a heap, unable to move. If Asagi didn’t do something, it was plain that she would sink along with the fragment into the sea.

“Aw, geez!”

Asagi broke into a run before she could think.

Asagi ran toward the nearly two-meter chasm separating where she was from the fragment Yukina was atop. If she didn’t jump over it, she wouldn’t be able to reach Yukina. Naturally, if she slipped upon landing, she would fall into the sea. However, the gap was gradually growing larger. There was no time for hesitation.

“Himeragi!”

Asagi barely managed to make the jump. She caught Yukina’s right hand just as the Sword Shaman was about to slide down perilously close to the water’s surface.

As soon as Asagi let out a sigh of relief, she heard a destructive sound at her feet. The impact of Asagi’s landing had caused some portion supporting the artificial isle fragment to snap.

“N…no way?!”

The tilting artificial isle fragment turned nearly vertical all at once. Asagi, still clutching Yukina, was helplessly hurled into the sea.

2

Asagi heaved ragged breaths as she floated on the choppy surface of the ocean. She was still clutching Yukina against her chest.

Maybe it was Yukina’s instincts as an Attack Mage, but even unconscious, she refused to let go of her silver spear. That was part of why it was tremendously difficult for Asagi to keep swimming while continuing to hold her. It was all she could do to prop Yukina up and keep her from drowning.

“This is completely messed up…!” Asagi yelled at the top of her lungs.

Fortunately, the raging winds whipped up by the clash of Beast Vassals were finally starting to abate. The roiling waves were not completely merciless. The problem was that the fragments of the destroyed sub-float were beginning to sink one after the other. If their descent created a whirlpool, Asagi and Yukina didn’t stand a chance.

Asagi was buffeted by the waves when, all of a sudden, she heard a synthetic, somehow sarcastic-sounding voice in her ear.

“Heh-heh… Seems you’re in a fair bit of distress, li’l miss.”

The voice was coming from Asagi’s smartwatch, which was linked to her smartphone. Surprised by the oddly nostalgic voice, Asagi angrily shouted back, “Mogwai?! How did you…?!”

“We’ll talk later. We don’t have time for a leisurely chat, you know,” Mogwai teased.

Asagi spat out the seawater that’d gotten into her mouth as she grudgingly nodded. “Yeah. For starters, could you do something about this situation?”

She didn’t have the luxury of getting her smartphone out while swimming with Yukina in her arms. Asagi tapped the touch panel of her smartwatch to summon up a self-written application recorded within.

Asagi could not employ magic except for one exception—the forbidden spell known as The Cleansing.

Properly speaking, The Cleansing was not a spell, forbidden or otherwise. It was the ultimate cheat code, directly altering the God Program that was the driving force behind the world.

Through use of the processing device named Itogami Island, designed as the altar for The Cleansing, Asagi could employ her off-the-charts abilities as the Priestess of Cain to change the God Program. In other words, she could rewrite reality.

All that said, even with Asagi’s abilities, it was difficult to control The Cleansing in real time, especially in a situation where she couldn’t properly control a smartphone, let alone a regular computer.

That didn’t mean she was unable to do anything at all. What Asagi had activated with her smartwatch was a ritual macro she’d finished programming beforehand. She couldn’t finely control things with it, but if it was just transforming a single batch of targeted objects, the fiendish thing could execute it with a single click.

“I would’ve slapped together a more proper macro if I’d known I’d be in a tough spot…!” Asagi sighed deeply as the vermilion particles characteristic of The Cleansing swirled around her.

When the particles dispersed, the sea around Asagi began to shine. The fierce rolling waves slowed, almost like a film in slow motion, before they eventually stopped completely.

However, this was not because the ocean had frozen. Upon closer observation, the transparent surface of the sea was making tiny little jiggles.

It looked almost like faintly red gelatin. No, it looked exactly like gelatin.

It was a giant piece of strawberry gelatin reaching six hundred meters in diameter; Asagi had turned the entirety of the seawater surrounding her into an edible treat.

This was to prevent the still-unconscious Yukina, Asagi herself, and the Rogues Alliance subjects who had fallen into the sea from drowning. She hadn’t had any other usable macros on hand.

“Heh-heh, come to think of it, when you were writing this program, you were eating a gelatin cup in a hurry while you worked, huh?”

“I was soooo right not to make it pudding…,” Asagi murmured weakly as she crawled up, pushing her way through the seawater-turned-gelatin.

Thanks to gelatin having firmness and elasticity, it sat on top of the water, but things would not have gone so well if it had been soft pudding instead. Such a blunder, and she might well have sunken into a bottomless swamp, drowning in a sea of pudding, her corpse a laughingstock the world over.

Heavy metals and concrete would fall to the bottom of the gelatin, but comparatively light human beings would not sink. At the very least, the danger of drowning had passed. The crisis at hand had been overcome.

“That said, it’s still just gelatin. Won’t it dissolve when the temperature rises after daybreak? It’s best for your sake to run while the running’s good, li’l miss.”

“I don’t need you to tell me that. It’s a good thing Himeragi’s so light.”

Standing up as she carried the unconscious Yukina on her back, Asagi slowly surveyed the surrounding area.

On her right was the wreckage of the partly destroyed sub-float, having lost about half of its original mass. Farther to her left, she could see Itogami Island proper. Asagi was smack in the middle of both. They’d apparently been carried a fair way since falling into the sea.

After a moment’s hesitation, Asagi began walking to the left.

She was concerned for Kojou and Yaze, but the Rogues Alliance remnants were prowling around the ruined sub-float. Her immediate concern was for Yukina’s safety.

Mogwai was two steps ahead of Asagi. “About ninety meters straight ahead is the broken connecting bridge. Climb up that, and you should be able to get into Island South.”

It was using Itogami Island’s City Management System to obtain visuals of the area and Asagi’s location data. Just because the Order of the End had taken over didn’t mean that the City Management System had ceased functioning altogether.

“Are Motoki and the others all right?”

Mogwai’s reply was blunt. “Unfortunately, I can’t confirm that as I am now.”

Asagi glared with annoyance at the tiny screen on her smartwatch. “Where the hell have you been?! You should’ve gotten in touch sooner if it was safe!”

“Unfortunately, that just wasn’t in the cards.”

“Why not?!”

“Domains.”

“Huh…?”

“Currently, Itogami Island proper has been divided into eighty-one domains in all. Each one has a ruler with effective rule over that territory—or rather, it’s more accurate to say those with a domain’s right to rule are being referred to as rulers.”

“…What do you mean? What is this right to rule thing?” Asagi asked, perplexed.

The badly sewn teddy bear avatar grinned with amusement as it replied, “I’m saying, it’s the right to rule a domain. All right, to make it easier for the li’l miss to understand, think of it as the right to monopolize control of Itogami Island’s City Management System, including power, gas, water, security cameras, radio transmission—the whole works, but only one part out of eighty-one thereof.”

“They’re dividing it up? There’s no way anyone can do that.”

Mogwai was mystified at her exasperated retort. It tilted its head. “You sure about that?”

“Duh. It isn’t a cookie. If you split the City Management System into two, the system load would double, so that’s impossible. And if some domain was using excess water and power, there obviously wouldn’t be enough for other domains.”

“Well, if you don’t have enough, why not just take it from someone else?”

“Huh?! What are you saying? That’s almost like—”

“War?”

“…Oh. So that’s how this whole Electoral War works.” Asagi ruefully bit her lip.

The ruler candidates weren’t expanding their territories out of simple sport. They were fighting over resources—the supplies necessary for day-to-day life.

Mogwai’s tone abruptly turned serious. “Incidentally, rulers monopolizing the City Management System means that subjects defying the ruler don’t get their rations of food and water. If they don’t like it, they can get under some other ruler’s control. Failing that, they give the ruler they don’t like a beating and become the leader themselves.”

Asagi glared at her partner with half-lidded eyes. “Guess they wanna make Itogami Island’s residents fight one another no matter what. That’s some pretty sick stuff. Why are you carrying out a plan like this?”

“Hey, hey, li’l miss, my physical body’s just a computer system, y’know? If the system administrator gives the order, it has to be faithfully obeyed, right?”

“So how did you come crawling out of the woodwork now?”

“Since the boss of the Rogues Alliance got beat, the domain doesn’t have a ruler anymore. That means I can temporarily move freely, but only one eighty-first of me.”

“So the power of The Cleansing I used was only one eighty-first of the real deal, too.”

Asagi sullenly raised an eyebrow, giving the sea surface beneath her feet a light kick.

The jellified sea only spread as far as the sub-float’s southern coast. The Cleansing’s effect had stopped midway into the sea as if it’d struck an invisible wall. This was why there was no way to cross over to Itogami Island proper except by using the connecting bridge. That cutoff point was probably the domain’s border. If she crossed that, her contact with Mogwai would be interrupted once more, rendering her unable to use The Cleansing.

“Wait. Then what happens if someone rules all eighty-one domains?”

“That person becomes Itogami Island’s new ruler. Of course, li’l miss, if one of your friends takes all the domains, then this stupid fuss ends in an instant.”

“If we can believe what The Blood says, that is.” Asagi couldn’t help feeling suspicious of the whole ordeal. Mogwai didn’t refute it, either.

“Well, you have a point.”

The Blood and the Order of the End had written the rules for this dispute arbitrarily. There was no guarantee that they wouldn’t go back on their word at the last second.

Even so, Asagi and the others were left with no alternative but to make use of those rules at present. Whining about the handicaps they’d been given wouldn’t change anything. It was a game that began with them at an overwhelming disadvantage.

“So how is the ruler decided?”

“It’s the demon who gathers together the most pacts with subjects in a given domain.”

“Pacts… Those magic circle–ish thingies?”

Asagi recalled the spell symbols inscribed on Ugaki’s underlings. Not being a sorceress, Asagi had a poor understanding of the principles by which they operated.

Mogwai spoke in an exceptionally businesslike tone. “It ain’t like you need to meet people one-on-one to get their stamps of approval. If a domain’s subjects recognize you as their figurehead, the pact is complete.”

Asagi’s face turned grave as she asked another question. “And if there are multiple candidates in the same domain?”

“They fight one another, and the one who wins inherits the opponent’s subjects.”

“I see… That’s what Ugaki said.” Asagi sighed wearily.

Ruler candidates clashed together and stole subjects from one another. Victory was the fastest way for a candidate to increase the number of their subjects. The more numerous their subjects became, the greater the demonic energy available to the candidate, and no doubt the greater the damage and casualties their fighting brought as well. This was a war enveloping Itogami Island’s entire population.

Mogwai continued its explanation. “To become a ruler, the subjects have to know the candidate’s identity. Well, at the very least, they have to know their name.”

“The hell…? That’s…”

The chill Asagi felt up her spine brought her feet to a halt.

The conditions were not particularly strange. Magically speaking, revealing one’s identity was standard for pacts.

But it also meant that so long as Kojou Akatsuki continued to conceal his identity, he could not become a ruler. Kojou had only one way of putting the Electoral War to rest—naming himself the true Fourth Primogenitor and becoming the true ruler of Itogami Island.

Did all of the rules of the Electoral War exist to drag the existence of Kojou Akatsuki out onto the public stage?

Asagi vehemently shook her head as if to brush such foolish notions aside.

At that moment, the image of Mogwai on her smartwatch suddenly became garbled. “Sorry, li’l miss. It seems I can’t lend you a hand any further.”

“Huh?! Why not?!” Asagi glared at Mogwai.

The jellified sea surface continued ahead for a little while longer. This should have still been an area where it was possible to communicate with her AI partner.

The badly sewn teddy bear avatar shook its head. “That’s because the sub-float’s been completely destroyed. This domain’s been scrapped, and its domain number is being inherited by another area. So this is where you and I go separate ways for a while, li’l miss… Do be…well until we…et again……n’t die.”

“Mogwai! Wait a—Mogwai! We’re in the middle of a conversation!” Asagi stubbornly called out to her smartwatch, but the only thing hovering on its screen was the callous out-of-area indicator.

She had no time to lose heart over that, though. As Mogwai vanished, a huge crack ran across the jellified surface of the sea.

“Geh…?!”

The huge sea of gelatin was splitting apart. Asagi went pale when she realized this.

The effect of The Cleansing that Asagi had used hadn’t expired. The Cleansing was a forbidden spell that rewrote the world itself. Matter that had been transformed did not automatically revert to its former state.

However, once the transformation was complete, the object was affected by the normal laws of physics. Heat gelatin and it melted; apply enough force and you tore it apart. It was breaking down from the effects of the waves as time passed. The phenomenon was occurring before Asagi’s very eyes.

If she had Mogwai with her, she could have utilized The Cleansing once more to mend it, but the AI had already vanished. The only thing Asagi could do at that point was sprint to her destination, the connecting bridge, with Yukina on her back.

Asagi sweated bullets as she desperately made a run for it. The gelatin broke apart as it floated on the water. It was the worst of all possible footings.

Midway she tumbled and crawled on all fours, finally using Yukina’s spear in place of a walking stick as she climbed up a slippery slope. She didn’t care what it looked like. Yukina’s supposedly light body weight was pressing heavily on her shoulders. It was like some kind of horrid game show.

By the end, Asagi was on the verge of collapse when she climbed onto the half-wrecked connecting bridge. The tip of the bridge had sunk into the sea at an incline, making it possible to go up on foot.

Asagi stumbled forward from her momentum, tumbling on the spot.

Fortunately, the bridge’s surface being wet minimized the damage. Her body, accustomed to jiggly gelatin, found the hard asphalt surface downright pleasant.

“Haaah…haaah… Somehow made it in time… I was sure I was a…goner…this time…”

Asagi gazed at the broken pieces of jellified sea surface being carried off by the waves as she tried to catch her breath.

If she’d been even a little slower in reaching the connecting bridge, she would have been drowning in the sea once more. She didn’t think she could swim carrying Yukina with her endurance depleted as it was. She really had escaped by the skin of her teeth.

Gently putting the sleeping Yukina and her spear atop the roadway, Asagi collapsed to join them.

Her entire gelatin-smeared body smelled of strawberry. Her hair and clothes were all a mess. She really didn’t want to be in front of people looking like that.

The conditions were identical for Yukina, but in her case, she appeared fleetingly lovely even like that. There’s something really unfair about this, Asagi complained inside her own mind.

However, Yukina’s entire body was cold, and her cheeks had lost their complexion. This was no doubt from having used far too much spiritual energy. Small wonder—she’d fended off the demonic energy from two primogenitor-class Beast Vassals all by herself.

At least her breathing was stable, but Asagi was worried about leaving her in that state. I have to get her to a safe place, thought Asagi as she prodded her tired body to rise.

Then she sensed someone close by.

“—?!”

The malignant aura, enough to make one shudder, made Asagi reflexively spin about.

A figure clad in a pure-white robe appeared, practically melting in from the gloom, head covered in a creepy-looking mask patterned after a human skull. She heard a voice from beneath the mask.

“Asagi Aiba… The Priestess of Cain…”

“Order of the End…!”

Asagi went on guard, spurred by instinctive fear. Her right hand touched the smartphone in her pocket. Her water-resistant smartphone was functioning just fine even after being immersed in water, but she still couldn’t reach Mogwai. Unable to activate The Cleansing, Asagi was nothing more than the powerless schoolgirl she looked like.

However, even in that state, the Order of the End acolyte trained merciless enmity on Asagi. It was such powerful demonic energy that even Asagi, who lacked spiritual power, could sense it keenly.

“Your existence is dangerous to our plan… Accordingly…”

“Y…you’re kidding me…”

Asagi took a step back, unable to endure the demonic energy blowing her way.

Something squishy wrapped around her left ankle. This was a black, slimy, gleaming tentacle.

Tentacles spewed from the bottom of the white robe, stretching toward Asagi one after another. They were attempting to drag Asagi into the robe’s interior.

“Wah, gross…! Wait a—Cut it o—Stay back!”

Asagi was on her butt as she desperately tried to kick the tentacles away; such resistance was meaningless. In the blink of an eye, both of her legs were held fast, stopping her from moving.

The hem of the robe rose up. Spreading within was pitch-black darkness.

This was likely a gate for teleportation purposes. The tentacles that had appeared from there were trying to return to the other side of the gate once more, still entwined around Asagi’s legs.

The acolyte of the Order of the End made a tiny groan. “Ngh…!”

A silver streak raced like a flash of lightning, and the horde of tentacles trying to drag Asagi into the gate were sent flying. They had been severed by a razor-sharp object.

With agile movements that betrayed no hint of the effects of gravity, a small-statured girl landed before Asagi’s eyes. She was gripping a fully metallic silver spear.

“Himeragi?!”

“I’m sorry, Aiba. I’m all right now.”

Yukina turned her spear toward the Order of the End acolyte. However, the complexion of her face remained pale. She’d probably only just regained consciousness in reaction to the tentacle wielder’s demonic energy. She had to be a far cry from her usual physical condition.

“Yukina…Himeragiii!” the tentacle wielder howled. The demonic energy swelled further as a horde of countless tentacles assaulted Yukina all at once.

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

Yukina made no attempt to evade the horde of tentacles bearing down on her. Honing the little spiritual energy left within her, she kept her spear poised as she wove an incantation. The silver spear shone with a pale light as an aura of tranquility embraced her.

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

Yukina kicked off the ground into a sprint.

The Divine Oscillation Effect barrier shrouding her impeded the summoned tentacles, sending them flying in pieces.

The tentacle wielder’s body recoiled, seemingly shirking in terror, flesh melting into thin air. This was instant movement through spatial control magic.

Nonetheless, Yukina’s attack came before the tentacle wielder could completely vanish from sight. The gate for teleportation was sundered via Snowdrift Wolf’s demonic energy nullification ability, causing the tentacle wielder’s body to reappear in a place a paltry few meters away.

With a crisp sound like a porcelain cup snapping, something fell down to the tentacle wielder’s feet.

This was a portion of the mask. The skull-motif mask had split, exposing the tentacle wielder’s face. Yukina’s spear had rent the pure-white robe, cleanly bisecting the mask underneath the hood.

“You’re…” Yukina’s voice shook with surprise. “…a girl?!”

Asagi’s eyes went wide with shock.

The acolyte of the Order of the End, the tentacle wielder—her bare face was that of a youthful girl. She had pitch-black hair, white skin, and beautiful red eyes.

“So you have seen…my filthy flesh…”

The girl covered the side of her face as if ashamed, glaring at Yukina and Asagi through the gaps in her fingers.

The next instant, a gate activated once more, and this time the girl vanished into the darkness.

“We’re…saved?”

Asagi remained seated on the ground as she murmured weakly.

Her clothes were torn all over, and there were abrasions showing on her arms and legs. That she’d escaped so lightly was no doubt unbelievably good fortune. She could well have been killed.

“Aiba. What happened…?”

Yukina lowered the spear in her hands as she posed the question with an expression of concern. Thanks to being out cold the whole time, she couldn’t have even known where she was.

Asagi wobbled as she rose to her feet. “Right. I wonder where to even begin…”

Though they’d somehow managed to shake off the Order of the End’s pursuit, nothing had been brought to an end. The Electoral War was continuing somewhere on Itogami Island even that very moment. Kojou and the others they’d been split from were on her mind, too. She needed to pass on her information from Mogwai to Yukina and come up with countermeasures as soon as possible.

“First, I want a bath. My whole body’s slimy… Ugh, this really sucks,” Asagi said, smiling but exhausted.

The faint sun began to shine upon the side of her marred face. Daybreak was approaching.

3

The shoulders of the little girl, her back arched like a kitten’s, trembled as she awoke.

Upon seeing this, Motoki Yaze’s face softened with an expression of relief.

It was an underground passage hazily lit by the glow of emergency lighting.

In that dry, artificial space, the effects of the collision of Beast Vassals were nowhere to be felt.

Just before the sub-float collapsed, Yaze moved to Itogami Island proper with the girl in tow. He’d leaped across the canal separating the two artificial isles.

The Yaze family line was one of hereditary psychics known as Hyper Adapters. Yaze himself was one of those natural-born psychics. His main abilities were powers to control gases and molecular motion.

Normally, it was a weak power that could only be used for eavesdropping, but if he set aside his subconscious limiter, he could freely manipulate the flow of the wind. Yaze had succeeded in using the raging winds kicked up by Kojou and company to make an enormous leap of nearly forty meters. If he hadn’t used an underhanded trick like that, he had no doubt escaping with a fainted girl along for the ride would have been impossible.

“Hey, Nagisa. Awake already?”

“Yazecchi…?”

The just-awakened Nagisa Akatsuki slowly lifted her head, looking around the area suspiciously. Then, the girl’s lips suddenly stiffened. The clash of two Beast Vassals, the collapse of the sub-float—those were fresh in her mind.

“Where are we? And Kojou?! What about Asagi and Yukina and Kanon…?!”

“No use worryin’ about Kojou,” Yaze responded confidently and without hesitation. “That ain’t anywhere near enough to kill the likes of him. I mean, his Beast Vassal didn’t go berserk, and that The Blood guy wasn’t serious this time, either.”

In reality, Yaze wasn’t nearly as certain of that as his words would imply. Kojou being safe was nothing more than Yaze’s own deduction. Still, his hypothesis that The Blood had not been serious was probably right.

If he’d really wanted to eliminate Kojou, he wouldn’t have needed to go through the trouble of putting together the stupid event he was calling an Electoral War.

Having Kojou participate was convenient for turning it into an even bigger spectacle. That was why The Blood had gone out of his way to reveal himself before Kojou. Showing off his own power and cruelty, he thereby backed Kojou into a corner, involving him regardless of whether Kojou liked it. It was all to provoke Kojou.

“…And the others?”

“If Kojou’s alive, well, the others are probably fine, too. If anything, from all of us there, the biggest scrubs were you and me, Nagisa.”

Yaze’s self-defacing frivolity brought an awkward smile to Nagisa’s face. “Yeah… Yeah, you’re right. Yukina, Kanon, and Asagi are all strong.”

“See? So we have to make sure we don’t slow ’em down at least.”

“I suppose you’re right. Sorry, Yazecchi… Because I went into a panic…” Nagisa’s shoulders drooped. She no doubt remembered herself hyperventilating earlier.

Don’t worry about it went Yaze’s shake of his hand. “No, no. That’s the reaction any normal girl should have. Asagi and the others just have nerves of steel, that’s all.”

“But…!” Nagisa quickly rose to her feet. There was a dull gong noise coming from the top of her head. “Ouch… What is this?”

Clutching her head with both hands, Nagisa looked up with tearful eyes. There rested a PVC pipeline. It was already a low underground passage without the multiple pipes and cables running in a tidy row close to the ceiling.

“Those are probably gas pipes. This is an underground passage for city utility maintenance. The ceiling’s low, so it’s tough to walk through, but hey, it’s a lot safer than trying to move around topside.”

“But where does it go? Do you have a map?” she asked, concerned as she squinted down the dimly lit passage.

Yaze looked a little proud of himself as he pointed at his own temple. “I have most of the layout stuffed in here.”

“Whoa! That’s amazing, Yazecchi! I think you’re cool for the first time ever!”

“First time ever?!” Nagisa’s all-too-blunt praise brought an expression of dismay over Yaze. “Well, that’s fine and all. I have an older girlfriend and everything.”

“…You actually have a girlfriend? She’s not just a figment of your imagination?” Nagisa asked, full of doubt.

“Yes, she really exists!” Yaze shot back. Then, in a voice too low for her to hear, he added, “If she’s alive, that is.”

He didn’t think Koyomi Shizuka, one of the Three Saints of the Lion King Agency, would sit back and watch as the Order of the End and The Blood carried out their misdeeds, but Keystone Gate had been wrecked and Itogami Island’s City Management System had been hijacked. There was only one possibility he could think of—even Koyomi had been unable to defeat The Blood.

The safety of his defeated girlfriend weighed on his mind, but at present Yaze had no way to find out what had happened to her. Ensuring Nagisa Akatsuki’s safety had to come first.

“Nagisa, how are you feeling? Can you walk?”

“Yeah. I’m fine, but—”

Nagisa looked down at her body to check for wounds. There were no obvious injuries apparent to the eye, though she had bumped the top of her head earlier.

And yet, Nagisa grimaced when she noticed the scent of blood hovering around her. Her already large eyes became larger still when she noticed a smear of blood on Yaze’s shirt spreading outward.

“Yazecchi? What’s with that cut?!”

“Ahh, this? A little thing happened when some leftovers from the Rogues Alliance caught up in the middle of our running away.”

Yaze made a pained smile as he pressed a hand on his left shoulder. It was a wound from a beast person’s claw attack. It had breached his air pressure defenses and gouged him from his shoulder blade all the way down to his hip.

Fortunately, it had missed his vitals, but he was still bleeding at that very moment. That was why Yaze was hiding in an underground passage rather than being on the move.

“Don’t tell me that’s because you were carrying me…?” Nagisa asked in a fearful tone of voice.

Yaze fervently shook his head. “No, no. Apparently that bunch mistook us for being pals of the Order of the End, so it’s not your fault. If anything, it’s entirely possible they let me go because I was carrying you.” He forced himself to his feet.

“…Yazecchi, wait.” Nagisa’s tone was serious. Hovering in her eyes was a look of determination that concealed the worry in them.

“Huh?”

“Take off your clothes.”

“…M-my clothes?”

When Nagisa grasped the hem of his shirt, Yaze hesitated. Aw crap went the shake of his head as he put a hand on the belt of his pants.

“No, no. I’m grateful you want to thank me, but this is bad, ’kay? I have a girlfriend I love, and having Kojou calling me brother-in-law would be kinda…”

“What are you talking about? Um…and why are you loosening your belt? I meant take off your shirt! I’m going to treat your wound!”

“O-oh…?”

With Nagisa scornfully glaring at him, Yaze politely did as she told him. Grimacing from the pain he’d been concealing, he stripped off his bloody shirt.

“But how…? Even if you wanna stop the bleeding, it’s too much of an area to cover, right?”

“Never mind that. Show me your back. This might hurt a little but try to endure it.”

Yaze sat then and there as Nagisa touched a hand to his back. She did not flinch whatsoever from the bleeding wound as she closed her eyes and regulated her breathing.

Nagisa slid her fingertip along Yaze’s back. Yaze scowled from powerful pain. Incredible spiritual energy was flowing into Yaze through his back.

“This is…a healing ritual…?! How do you know how to…?!” Yaze’s voice was shrill from the pain.

“I learned it. From Mimori. Way back in elementary school,” Nagisa answered. She was too focused on what she was doing to be able to hold much of a conversation.

“I see… Mimori’s a physician with her own Adaptation, right.”

Yaze murmured in apparent comprehension.

Mimori Akatsuki, mother of the Akatsuki siblings, was a sorcerous physician working at the medical branch of the giant conglomerate Magna Ataraxia Research. As rumor would have it, she was a medical psychometrist with considerable successes under her belt.

Yaze had also received intel that Nagisa had inherited this ability from her mother. However, this was the first time he’d actually seen her use it in person.

Nagisa didn’t sound very confident. “Yeah. Also, I learned a little about ritual healing from my grandmother. I only know the basics, though, so don’t expect it to work too well. I learned it because Kojou was always getting hurt when he was a kid.”

Quietly, Yaze mentally curled his tongue. Nagisa’s grandmother, Hisano Akatsuki, was one of Japan’s top spiritualists. In other words, Nagisa was one of the precious few Hyper Adapters able to use both psychic and spiritual energy.

That was why Nagisa’s healing ritual was this powerful despite Nagisa’s skills being rough.

“…That so? Gotta give Kojou my thanks, too, then.”

Yaze spoke glibly as he endured the ceaseless pain. However, Nagisa nervously raised her eyebrows.

“You mustn’t. Don’t say one word to Kojou about this.”

“Why not? I think he’d be happy. He really loves his little sister and all.”

“That’s exactly why! It’ll really bother Kojou if he knew he put the healing ritual I learned to waste. I mean, because he became a vampire and everything…”

“Ah…well, got a point there,” Yaze agreed.

Having turned into a vampire primogenitor, Kojou had regenerative abilities that made him nigh immortal. The healing ritual Nagisa had learned no longer held any meaning for him.

Kojou would no doubt be saddened to learn that. He would not lament becoming a demon, but rather having made his little sister’s hard work futile. It was because Nagisa understood this that she’d hidden her own ability.

But that was the same thing Kojou had once done. He had hidden his having become a vampire for the sake of one person—his demonophobic little sister.

“Wait a—Yazecchi, why are you laughing?” Nagisa puffed up her cheeks in dismay.

Yaze silently shrugged. His muscles and tendons felt a little on the tight side, but he no longer felt any pain. Yaze’s wound had largely healed over in less than fifteen minutes.

“Amazing. Thanks so much. I’ll hold together a little while longer.”

“I’m so glad…”

Nagisa patted her chest as she saw Yaze was back to his old self. Her breaths were a little shallow due to using an unfamiliar ritual, but it didn’t seem to have drained her endurance any. By rights, Nagisa had spirit energy of sufficient strength to internalize even Avrora’s artificial vampire soul, so this had to be a piece of cake for her.

“So what’ll we do from here?”

Yaze explained his plan while putting his arms through the sleeves of his torn shirt. “Good question. First, I think we should head to the nearest Island Guard station. I’d like to find Kojou and the others, but it’s dangerous for us to wander around by ourselves, so—”

Suddenly, his words broke off midway. Yaze sank into silence, the gravity on his face increasing as she watched.

“…Yazecchi?”

“Not good. They followed us.”

“By ‘they,’ you mean…”

“Yeah. Survivors from Rogues Alliance.”

Nagisa’s expression stiffened. “But I don’t hear anything…”

“It’s ’cause my ears are special. Call it the boon of a bottom-feeder. Let’s hurry.” Yaze led Nagisa by the hand and set off in a rapid walk.

The underground passage’s ceiling was pretty low for someone tall like Yaze to go walking around, but complaining wouldn’t change anything.

Around four beast people had crept into the underground passage. He was pretty darned sure they were Rogues Alliance scrubs. They’d apparently noticed the entrance to the passage while following Yaze’s trail of blood.

Fortunately, thanks to Nagisa’s healing ritual, Yaze’s bleeding had already stopped. Yaze’s ability allowed him to erase the echo of their footsteps in the underground passage as well.

However, he didn’t think the beast people had broken off their pursuit. Amid the labyrinth-like network of underground passageways, they were pursuing the shortest route without the slightest hesitation.

“So they’re tracking us by scent? Shit…!”

Nervousness came over Yaze. At this rate, it was only a matter of time until the pursuers caught up.

Nagisa took notice of how he was short of breath. “Yazecchi…if you push yourself, your wound will…!”

Ritual healing was first aid at best. It didn’t recover the person’s endurance or blood loss, and there was no guarantee that a just-closed wound would not reopen.

On top of that, Yaze and Nagisa’s pursuers boasted endurance far above that of human beings. With both of them worn down, the chances of a clean escape were slim.

“Sink or swim, huh? Let’s go topside. Better than being backed into a corner in a place like this.”

“…Got it.” Nagisa nodded.

Yaze used his ability to leave decoy footprints as he headed toward the underground passage’s exit. He climbed a metallic ladder and opened the lid of a manhole cover. He felt a sharp pain in his back again, but the situation didn’t allow him to cry about that.

When he crawled to the surface, Yaze’s eyes blinked and went wide.

This was because the state of things around Yaze was a far cry from the Itogami Island landscape he knew.

There were beds of meticulously maintained flowers in full bloom. There was a mysterious, unfamiliar lane lined with trees.

The buildings were all light pastel colors, and the vibrant street was packed with multicolored tiles.

The site’s streetlights and signs were decorated with elaborate carvings, engendering a fanciful atmosphere like something straight out of a fairy tale. It looked like a theme park catering to children or perhaps an educational facility. It was an odd place.

“…Where the heck is this?”

Even while perplexed by the strange sight, Yaze gave Nagisa a hand, pulling her up to ground level. Unsurprisingly, Nagisa too was shocked by the surrounding sights hitting her in the face, but that expression immediately grew stiff.

Seven figures with spiked outfits completely unsuited to the fanciful scene emerged from the shadows of the buildings and surrounded Yaze and Nagisa.

“Yazecchi!”

“Dammit… The scrubs below were a diversion to drive us up here…!”

Yaze groaned as he noticed the flurry of noise leaking up from a subterranean ventilation shaft. This was high-frequency sound largely undetectable to the ears of human beings. These were actually howls the beast people were using to communicate with one another. They’d been using the sounds to coordinate with their pals on the surface. That was how they’d lured Yaze and Nagisa into their net.

“Aaaaaah!”

Nagisa let out a shriek of fright when a beast person dropping from a treetop ripped her jacket apart.

“You bastard!”

Yaze swallowed a pill to boost his abilities and attacked the foe assaulting Nagisa.

He used an invisible blade created from the air itself. It wasn’t an ability with great destructive power, but it nonetheless had enough force to rend a beast person’s resilient hide with ease.

With both arms exposed and his face torn up, the beast man wobbled back, but this only served to drive his comrades into an even greater frenzy.

“You braaaaat! How dare you do that to one of ours!”

“For an Ugaki bootlicker, you sure got us good, huuuh?!”

“Revenge for the boss—kill ’immmm!”

Angry voices scattered from the infuriated beast people as they bore down toward Yaze.

Yaze groaned in despair. His airflow control abilities weren’t geared for close combat. At this range, he couldn’t even use Aerodyne, the ace up his sleeve. Shoving Nagisa behind him to shield her, Yaze indiscriminately released blades of air, resigned to his own demise.

A particularly large booming sound reverberated all around them.

“Guaaaaaaah!!”

“Gaaaah!!”

Countless sparks scattered across the lane packed with colorful tiles.

Fresh blood spewed from the beast people’s legs as they were sent flying.

It was burst fire from an antipersonnel machine gun. Bathed in gunfire from an unexpected direction, the Rogues Alliance remnants fell into a panic.

Yaze was speechless as he gazed at the spectacle. He didn’t know what was going on.

“Thou art contemptible villains to raise a hand toward a frail maiden.”

The lines Yaze heard from overhead were theatrically old-fashioned.

A machine like a giant tortoise appeared, looming from atop one of the pastel-colored buildings. It was an anti-demon personal weapon—a Micro Robot Tank painted crimson.

A beast person covered his wounds with both hands and shot a glare at the machine overhead. “What the hell’s your problem?!”

The answer to this question came from a youthful but frigid voice belonging to a diminutive figure standing on the tank’s round back. She was a little girl wearing the uniform of a famed elementary school and a beret upon her head.

“You people are quite rude, trampling upon someone else’s domain only to ask what our problem is.”

The beast people’s feet shifted restlessly when they noticed her presence.

“Someone else’s…domain?”

“Tensou Academy…! This is bad; the ruler here… Oh no…!”

Wings spread from the girl’s back before the beast people finished their words—jet-black wings woven from demonic energy.

This served as the signal for a horde of dozens of demon beasts to emerge from behind her.

Harpies, hellhounds, vargheists, mythical apes called zhuyan—all were fiendish demon beasts that absolutely never grew attached to human beings. Yet, these demon beasts, precious few in number and raised by Itogami Island corporations purely for lab purposes, served this girl.

“The World’s Mightiest Succubus…! Lilith!”

The Rogues Alliance remnants let out a terrified shriek.

Their wounded bodies were practically crawling as they began to flee. Yaze and Nagisa felt incredulous as they watched the bunch pathetically turn tail and leave.

Obeying an unspoken command from the girl spreading pitch-black wings forth, the demon beasts left for parts unknown.

The nature of the buildings around Yaze came to him. This was a school constructed according to the difficult-to-grasp refined tastes of a famous architect from overseas. Yaze and Nagisa had blundered their way into one of a handful of renowned private elementary schools within Itogami City.

Yaze and Nagisa stood in a daze as the girl with the beret fluttered down before them.

“So you’re…the ruler of this domain…?” Yaze asked, surprised.

“Yume…!” Nagisa called out.

“It has been some time, Nagisa. Also, Mr. Spiky Hair.”

The succubus girl, Yume Eguchi, bowed meticulously as she greeted Nagisa before pointing at the building behind her as she spoke with pride.

“Welcome to Tensou Academy.”

4

A pungent scent pricking at the nose and white steam gushed up from the melted asphalt.

It was the runway strip at the coast guard base. Kojou was standing alone at the blast site where the two Beast Vassals had clashed. The rows of buildings and equipment nearby had collapsed, leaving nothing behind save their ruins.

The acolytes of the Order of the End and the boy claiming to be The Blood had vanished along with the beast people of the Rogues Alliance. Kojou was the only ambulatory person in the place.

“Himeragi, where are you?!” Kojou yelled as he meandered about the rubble.

The heavily damaged sub-float had divided into several units, and many of them had begun to sink. The unit connected to the blast site was still intact, but he didn’t know how long it would hold together.

His voice became hoarse as he continued to yell. “Yaze! Asagi! Nagisa! Kanase! Answer, someone! Please!”

The damage was greater in the surrounding areas than near to the blast site, where the two Beast Vassals had canceled out each other’s demonic energy. In particular, the damage to the coast guard station that had sustained the brunt of the raging winds was severe. The cheaply made building had completely collapsed, for the most part simply pushed beyond its limits.

Unease racked Kojou as he approached the remains of the structure.

He unwittingly brought his feet to a halt due to the sweetness hovering in the air around him. It was an artificial yet somehow nostalgic scent.

“What is this smell…? Strawberry…?”

The particularly out-of-place scent left Kojou fiercely confused. There was no single source for the scent. It had mixed in the sea breeze characteristic of Itogami Island, blowing the sweet berry aroma his way.

The thinly illuminated surface of the predawn sea was a pretty, light red color, almost as if some edible dye had dispersed within.

The seawater was hard as if it had been frozen, but it occasionally jiggled instead of making waves.

It was bizarre, completely surreal. It was ridiculous, yet he felt no fear. The seawater around the sub-float had changed into strawberry gelatin.

And Kojou didn’t even have to think about the identity of the culprit behind the phenomenon. Only the girl who could employ The Cleansing was capable of such ridiculous handiwork.

“Asagi…? To stop the people in the sea from drowning…?”

Why strawberry gelatin, though? Kojou thought dubiously, but he was relieved nonetheless. At the very least, the fact she’d used The Cleansing meant that Asagi was safe.

He didn’t know how she had managed to get back in communication with Mogwai. If she had retaken her power as the Priestess of Cain, he didn’t think she’d let even the Order of the End get the better of her. Chances were high that she’d already walked across the jellified sea and escaped to Itogami Island proper.

Kojou took out his own smartphone, holding out hope that all phone lines were back. Yet, the reception status indicated he was still out of range.

Suddenly, he sensed that someone was calling out to him from nearby. He could faintly hear a girl’s voice coming from the wreckage of the collapsed building.

“Akatsuki! Akatsuki, is that you?!”

“…Kanase?! Where are you?!”

“Akatsuki…! I am here.”

Relying on the snippets of Kanon’s voice reaching him, Kojou climbed over a mountain of rubble.

He saw a small, silver-haired girl sitting on the ground. Her entire body was caked with dirt and dust, but she did not appear to be injured. However, he felt that her expression was distinctly somber even so.

“You all right, Kanase?!”

“Yes, I am fine. However…”

Nodding in response to Kojou’s question, Kanon shifted her eyes shifted her eyes downward. A large man wearing rugged clothing was there in a heap. Ugaki, all a mess and smeared with blood from wounds, was lying facedown.

Noticing Kojou’s approach, Ugaki lifted his face and listlessly smiled in apparent relief. “Big Bro…I’m glad yer all right. That was amazin’…”

“Ugaki?! You…!”

Kojou was at a loss for words.

Ugaki’s lower body was pinned under the structure’s wall. His upper body had a broken piece of rebar piercing him from his back all the way to his chest. Had he not been a troll with such a resilient life force, it would have been no surprise for such grave wounds to have killed him instantly.

Kanon continued holding Ugaki’s hand as she lowered her eyes in anguish. “He shielded me when the building collapsed. He’s hurt…because he saved me…”

Kojou was a little surprised. He hadn’t expected a man like Ugaki to put his life on the line for Kanon, someone they’d barely met.

“Got it. Kanase, move back a little.”

Kojou issued a warning as he entwined a cloud of crimson demonic energy around his right hand.

Kanon politely yielded. Ugaki was plainly afraid, but he was immobile and unable to do anything about it. Nor did Kojou have any words to spare for him. It was far more difficult to finely control the demonic energy of the overpowered Beast Vassals of the Fourth Primogenitor than to unleash it without limitations.

Kojou meticulously steadied his aim to minimize damage to the surrounding area and released his demonic energy. The deep red mist transformed into a raging wind that blew away the building wreckage pinning Ugaki, along with the surrounding rubble with it.

“Heh-heh… Incredible…”

A voice of admiration trickled out of Ugaki, even while coughing on the dust lingering over him. Kojou put his arms around Ugaki’s huge frame and sat him up. He was still impaled by a piece of rebar almost two centimeters thick, but Kojou judged it better not to yank it out. Pulling it out would just make the bleeding that much worse.

Albeit, there was no guarantee that he’d be all right with it left in him, either.

“Hey, Ugaki! Pull yourself together! What happened to that healing ability you’re so proud of?!”

“Urgh, that’s a tall order with this much blood loss, even for me. Plus, my buds all ran away.”

Kojou lent him a shoulder and lifted up his huge troll frame. It seemed Ugaki had a broken leg and was unable to walk on his own.

“Shit… There’s no way to call an ambulance. You just wait; I’ll get you to a hospital right away!”

“Heh-heh… Sorry, Big Bro…”

Kojou walked forward, wobbling from supporting Ugaki, who was around twice his own weight.

Kanon’s eyes turned skyward as if something had taken her by surprise. “Akatsuki!”

“What?” Kojou narrowed his eyes, perplexed.

A strange sound was echoing overhead. It sounded like the buzzing of a giant bee. The noise grated on the ears.

A number of white synthetic objects were descending from the morning sky that had only just begun to brighten. It was a rare sight on Itogami Island—a platoon of large helicopters.

Kojou stood stiff in bewilderment. “What’s…up with that…?”

In total, there were six helicopters in the air. Each was descending to a different sub-float, stopping in midair and hovering just short of landing. Descending from ropes dangling from each craft were people wrapped in white, magically protected clothing.

Some of them were armed, but it didn’t seem that seizing control over domains was their objective. They examined the Rogues Alliance casualties and began to render assistance and healing.

Finally, one group among them noticed Kojou and company and approached with a radio in one hand. “…Participants in the Electoral War? Ruler candidates?” the apparent leader of the paramedic team asked.

Kojou pointed at Ugaki. “This guy is. We were just passing through.”

The team leader nodded with a neutral expression. “Goose One to Goose Leader. Three survivors discovered. One is gravely injured. Requesting recovery unit.”

“Goose Leader, roger. Sending the duck your way.”

“…Who are you people?”

Kojou posed the question as he listened in on their conversation over the radio.

They didn’t look like ordinary people, either in gear or in level of organization. But he didn’t think they were Island Guard or Japanese government Attack Mages. He was surprised that a group like theirs existed on Itogami Island at all.

“We are the Electoral War Administration Committee.”

“…The what?”

“A neutral organization assigned to work related to administering and regulating the Electoral War. Please think of it as exercising the same functions as the Gigafloat Management Corporation while it is shut down.”

Kojou’s wariness was raw as he glared at the team leader. “So you’re with the Order of the End?”

“You are mistaken. We have been contracted to carry out support for the residents of this Demon Sanctuary, nothing more.”

“Support how…?”

“In tangible terms, we dispense water, food rations, clothing, and so on. We secure and treat the wounded. We also carry out maintenance of the demon registration bracelets. It is mostly employees of MAR in charge of the actual work.”

“MAR’s doing that?”

Surprise spread further across Kojou’s face. But some part of him accepted it as well.

MAR—Magna Ataraxia Research Inc.—was the leading face among East Asia’s giant corporate concerns. It researched and developed a wide range of products, from pharmaceuticals to fighter aircraft, and constituted one of the world’s few sorcerous manufacturing conglomerates.

It was unthinkable that people from any corporate concern except MAR were even capable of replacing the Gigafloat Management Corporation’s operations, if only partially. This also resolved the mystery of why the Electoral War Administration Committee was so well supplied and well organized.

“You said you were hired to do this work, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Who’s the client?”

“Trade secret.”

The team leader replied to Kojou’s quick follow-up in businesslike fashion.

During that time, a subordinate of his on the rescue team was pressing a small, flat device against Ugaki.

“I have finished identifying the casualty. Mark Ugaki. Island South, domain fifty-seven. Troll—do you forfeit the Electoral War?”

The rescue team member’s question brought a weak nod from Ugaki.

Ugaki was prone and lying on a stretcher as he looked up at Kojou and laughed like they were buddies.

“Big Bro, take care of the rest, ya hear me? Become the true ruler of Itogami Island…in my place… Heh-heh…”

“Hey, Ugaki…!”

I don’t remember making a promise like that— Before Kojou could speak his retort aloud, a recovery robot carried away the stretcher Ugaki was on top of.

He’d been a brazen, self-centered troll from start to finish, but somehow Kojou couldn’t hate the man. And more than that, Ugaki had put his life on the line to save Kanon. I owe him one, huh? Kojou thought, feeling unsettled by that.

“Are you a ruler candidate of this domain?” the team leader asked.

Kojou stood stiffly, feeling out of place. “Nah… I’m…” He shook his head. He didn’t remember applying to be any such thing, but his presence may well have resulted in both Ugaki and the Rogues Alliance having to forfeit.

“Hmm.” The team leader nodded, handing something out toward Kojou. It was a thin data card meant to be inserted into a demon registration bracelet.

“This is the data extracted from his demon registration bracelet. I am handing it to you.”

“…Got it. I’ll take it.”

Kojou took the card with a sigh. Then, he watched as Ugaki was loaded onto a helicopter. “Where do you plan on taking him?”

“An MAR infirmary ship. It’s moored at a provisional harbor on New Itogami Island.”

With a sudden thought, Kojou pointed beside him at Kanon. “Can you take that girl into your care, too?”

He thought it might be far safer to leave her in MAR’s care than for her to remain on Itogami Island now that it was the stage for the Electoral War.

The team leader said coldly, “We are contractually prohibited from accepting any such request.”

Kojou felt like he had no one left to turn to.

“It is a ruler’s duty to protect his subjects. If you have no confidence that you can protect her, you should find another ruler candidate to rely on.”

“…!”

The team leader’s statement was so one-sided that it spontaneously ticked Kojou off, making him want to argue. Kanon strongly clung to Kojou’s right hand. It was the reaction of a puppy fearful of being abandoned by her owner.

“I shall go with Akatsuki. Until death do us part.”

“Um, ah, that’s…”

Aren’t those words supposed to mean something else? thought Kojou, bewildered as he looked at Kanon. He gave up on convincing her when he sensed a powerful will behind her earnest expression.

“…Got it. We’ll look for Nagisa and the others together. Either way, there’s no telling how far we can trust these Electoral War Administration Committee types.”

“Yes.” Kanon happily nodded.

The rescue team of the Electoral War Administration Committee was using expensive-looking equipment and robots without compunction as they searched the entirety of the sub-float. It was clearly far more efficient to leave that task to them than for Kojou and Kanon to wander about. If they couldn’t find Yukina and the others, it was probably safe to assume that they were no longer in the immediate area.

“Maybe they crossed over that gelatin to get to the main island…or maybe they ran away with Rogues Alliance survivors after them.”

Kojou exhaled with annoyance as he gazed at the still-firm surface of the sea. Based on Asagi’s use of The Cleansing, the odds she and the others had already reached Itogami Island proper were quite high.

The problem was that there wasn’t a single clue remaining as to their current locations.

“Akatsuki, there is…a wolf!”

When Kanon shouted while gazing at the jellified sea, Kojou stared in a daze in the direction she had pointed. “…Huh? A wolf? Why would a wolf be on Itogami Isla…?”

Kojou’s doubt-filled murmur fell silent. What was standing on the translucent sea surface illuminated by the light of daybreak was definitely a wolf. It had silvery fur giving off a metallic luster.

“That’s one of Himeragi’s shikigami!”

Kojou’s expression brightened when he realized the wolf’s true nature. It was a remotely controlled familiar created by ritual magic identical to ones Yukina had used previously.

“It seems to be telling us to follow.”

The silver wolf looked toward Kojou and Kanon, then it turned around and broke off in a run toward Itogami Island proper. It seemed to be there to invite the pair just as Kanon had asserted.

Kojou leaped down to the hardened surface of the sea to chase after the shikigami. Kanon immediately followed suit.

The shikigami increased its speed even as they watched. It was as fast as the form of a wolf suggested. If they were careless, they’d immediately lose sight of it.

“Shit, it’s fast! Kanase, hold tight for a bit, ’kay?!”

“Yes?”

Though Kojou hesitated for a single instant, he put a hand around Kanon’s hips. Then, he picked her right up. He’d judged that a demonified Kojou running while holding her in his arms was faster than matching Kanon’s pace.

“Don’t let go!”

“O-okay…!”

Kanon’s cheeks reddened as she firmly wrapped her hands around Kojou’s neck.

Her pleasant softness threw him off a little as Kojou increased the speed of his running.

5

“Urk… So tight…”

Asagi Aiba was pressing down on her belly with both of her hands, wobbling and teetering as she flopped against a wall. They were midway on the long, hilly path that led to Saikai Academy.

“Aiba?!”

Yukina, walking ahead of Asagi, looked back with a bit of surprise.

Asagi audibly loosened the metal fastener of her skirt, at which point she finally let out a more comfortable-sounding sigh. She looked back at Yukina with an air of exasperation and envy hovering in her eyes.

“Ahh… No way, it just won’t work! Himeragi, you’re too slender! What the hell is your waist?!”

Asagi was wearing a Saikai Academy uniform as she spoke. However, this was not Asagi’s uniform—it was one she’d borrowed from Yukina.

Having escaped from the sub-float, Asagi and Yukina had gone straight to Yukina’s apartment building. It had been closer, and Yukina needed to get her gear in order regardless. Accordingly, Asagi had showered in Yukina’s apartment and changed out of her battered personal clothes.

There was no particularly deep meaning involved in borrowing a Saikai Academy uniform. Yukina had a large stock of brand-new uniforms on hand, so thanks to that, there was virtually no necessity for her to have personal clothes besides.

The hard part was that the size of Yukina’s uniform was markedly smaller than Asagi’s.

“Can you use a safety pin?”

Seeing that Asagi had a hard time moving like that, Yukina posed her question with delicacy.

“Nah. It’s all right. If I leave all the adjusters open, I can manage. Makes a girl feel awful, though…”

“No, pay it no mind. You are taller, Aiba… Also, your bust is…”

“You don’t have to sugarcoat it. More to the point, thanks for lending me the uniform. Thanks to you I got to take a shower, too. I wasn’t sure what I was gonna do if I smelled like artificial strawberries any longer.” Asagi strained a smile. She sounded tired.

It would soon be 10:00 AM. It hadn’t even been six hours since the pair had returned to Itogami Island, and far too many things had happened in that brief span of time. Until now, they’d barely had any time to even take a breath, making Asagi feel like she had several days’ worth of accumulated fatigue.

“It would be good if senpai and Nagisa read that letter…,” Yukina murmured with her spare guitar case on her back. Asagi nodded.

They had shoved a letter with all the information they knew into the mail slot for the Akatsuki residence next to Yukina’s apartment. Also written within was that the pair was heading to Saikai Academy.

If Kojou and others read it, they’d all be able to group up at Saikai Academy, provided everyone was safe and sound.

“Well, at the very least, Kojou wouldn’t give up even if you killed him. Thanks to you and Kanase protecting them, Motoki and Nagisa are probably all right, too. And if any of them were hurt, they should get rescued by the Electoral War Administration Committee,” Asagi said, keeping her spirits up.

“Yes,” Yukina said with a little nod. Then she sullenly lowered her eyes. “MAR…was it?”

“Yeah. That’s right,” Asagi replied curtly. They continued walking in silence for a while.

Asagi had established the mechanisms of the Electoral War and the existence of the committee from data Mogwai had left on Asagi’s smartphone. The conspiracy was a massive operation underpinned by a scrupulously laid-out plan.

Of course, a considerable amount of time had been necessary to make preparations beforehand. In other words, MAR having created all of this with prior knowledge of the Order of the End’s existence.

This fact cast a dark shadow over Asagi’s and Yukina’s hearts. After all, Mimori Akatsuki, mother of the Akatsuki siblings, was an MAR employee herself. They didn’t want to think that she was lending support to this conflict, but they had no basis for summarily ruling it out.

“W-well, MAR is a huge company. It wouldn’t be strange for workers in one division to have no idea what another division is doing.”

“I—I suppose so. The establishment of the Electoral War Administration Committee likely advanced in the greatest of secrecy.”

“Right, right. Besides, maybe Mimori is helping out the medical staff treating the wounded. That’d be good news for Kojou and Nagisa. It’s way safer than if she stayed inside Itogami City.”

“Yes. It would be good if that was truly so.”

Saikai Academy was located in Island South, a residential area with numerous homes, schools, hospitals, and the like. Normally, a holiday would have been filled with much greater liveliness at that time of day as people enjoyed their leisure time.

However, signs of human life in the city were sparse, and the level of traffic was bizarrely scant. People were surely holed up in shelters and their own homes out of fear of getting involved in the violence.

Even so, compared to the area with the Rogues Alliance prowling about, they felt little bloodthirstiness in the air. Nor was there any eye-catching damage to city facilities or buildings.

Apparently, the ruler candidate of that domain was comparatively dependable.

Yukina’s feet stopped at a curve just past a broad intersection. The Saikai Academy campus had come into view. “Aiba.”

“So we’ve finally arrived.” Asagi languidly relaxed her shoulders.

Thanks to the halt of public transportation, it had taken quite a bit of extra time to get there. They had nonetheless arrived at their destination.

“I am glad we were able to avoid unnecessary combat.”

“Yeah… Somehow, this area has a pretty peaceful atmosphere, but…”

Asagi and Yukina hid in the shadows of roadside trees as they observed the campus. They were on guard against the possibility that a candidate akin to the Rogues Alliance was occupying Saikai Academy.

Still, Asagi had a reason to visit Saikai Academy even with the risks involved. That was the room for the Saikai Academy Demon Sanctuary Research Club—Dem-Club for short.

Placed within that Dem-Club room was a cutting-edge workstation able to access the Gigafloat Management Corporation’s systems. Yaze had brought it in as a hedge against exactly this kind of emergency situation.

To be blunt, even with the equipment in the Dem-Club, she probably wouldn’t be able to take back control of the City Management System occupied by the Order of the End. Even so, surely it would allow her to gather information to lend Kojou support.

However, that meant infiltrating Saikai Academy first.

Asagi squinted to try and see into the school buildings, but there were simply too many obstructions to see anything. The only thing she could tell was that there wasn’t anything visibly out of place outside the school buildings.

“Figures, but we really can’t tell what’s going on inside the school from here.”

“I shall release a reconnaissance shikigami. There is a chance the ritual energy will be traced back to us, however.”

Yukina lowered the guitar case on her back and took out a silver ritual tablet from within. When she tried to summon and release the shikigami, her expression stiffened as if she’d received an electric jolt.

“Aiba, get down—!”

“Huh?!”

Asagi, suddenly sent flying by Yukina, rolled onto the ground.

When Asagi looked back in shock, Yukina’s shikigami exploded before her very eyes.

Upon seeing this, Asagi finally grasped what was occurring. Someone had sniped at them—with magic as opposed to a normal bullet, no less.

“Don’t tell me, a ruler candidate’s attacking?!”

“Please do not move!” Yukina warned, drawing her spear.

Having determined where the sniper was lurking from the angle the round had flown from, she attempted to close the distance. However, Yukina was just leaping out from the shadow of a roadside tree when her movements halted, for she had noticed the fresh enemy silhouette attacking her from above.

“A beast person?!” Asagi muttered in fright at the assailant’s leaping ability, utterly unthinkable from any normal person.

The person was small but had incredible speed. Furthermore, she bounced off buildings and roadside trees to close the distance from unexpected angles.

“White Rabbit Kick Number Two, Jeweled Moon!”

“—Raw Lightning!!” Yukina cried.

Sensing that she had no time to defend with her spear, Yukina used an unorthodox hook resembling an uppercut to intercept the assailant’s kick.

Their mutual attacks struck each other, one infused with demonic and the other ritual energy. In contrast to the midair assailant, Yukina had both feet planted on the ground. This apparently added some force to Yukina’s blunt strike.

“Nyaa?!”

The assailant made a somehow silly-sounding cry as she heavily lost her balance.

Yukina lowered her posture, spear in hand to make a follow-up attack the instant her opponent landed. As if waiting for this moment, incredible demonic energy blew her way from the blind spot behind her.

The initial sniping attack and the assault from overhead were simple diversions.

This was the third enemy, the heavy hitter.

The fighting spirit was far too blatant to come as a surprise. Yukina was a bit perplexed as she responded with time to spare.

The third assailant was an individual clad in an eye-catching white coat. Her appearance made one think of the Order of the End. She was gripping a gleaming crimson long sword in her hands. Its flame-like blade was imbued with almost unbelievably vast demonic energy.

“Prepare yourself, invader! I shall avenge Yuno!”

“Snowdrift Wolf!”

Yukina blocked the crimson long sword’s attack with her spear. Snowdrift Wolf’s Divine Oscillation Effect neutralized both the cutting attack and the explosive demonic energy it unleashed.

She felt odd feedback, from which she gathered that the girl wielding the long sword was shaken. It was a beautiful girl with white hair and wearing a long cobalt-blue wimple.

“You blocked Hauras?! Invader that you are, I praise you for that much! But—”

The girl stubbornly put strength into her sword to shove Yukina’s guard aside and cut her down. Yukina stared at the girl’s face and let out a voice of surprise.

“…Eh?!”

“Eh?”

They recognized each other at the same moment. The girl’s already large eyes opened even wider, and her movements came to a halt as if she’d frozen solid. Their weapons remained locked together as she and Yukina stared at each other without a word.

An awkward silence fell between the pair.

“Miss…Kasugaya?”

“Yukina Himeragi? You’re…the invader of this domain…? Eh?”

The ogre attending middle school at Saikai Academy, Shizuri Kasugaya Castiella, drew back her sword, a confused expression still on her face.

“…Domain? Eh?”

Yukina was just as perplexed as she lowered her spear. It hadn’t even been fifteen seconds since the initial sniping attack. Too much had happened in that brief span of time for her comprehension to catch up with it all.

Judging that combat had ended, Asagi brushed dust off herself as she rose to her feet. “Uhhh…what’s going on exactly?”

Yuno Amase was crawling out from bushes by the roadside, smiling awkwardly as she lifted her bestialization. “Um, Shizurin, I’m still alive…”

The last to emerge was Rui Miyazumi, carrying a sniper rifle–type Spell Thrower.

Asagi and Yukina stood stiffly as Rui turned toward them with a crisp smile. Then, with a spell symbol hovering on the surface of his hand, he held it out as if seeking a handshake as he spoke to Asagi.

“Hiya, welcome back, Cyber Empress. I welcome you both to the Kasugaya Domain.”