CHAPTER TWO

OMENS FORETELLING A FEAST

1

Against a pure blue ocean and sky in the tropics spread forth a steel city resembling a ruin.

It was an inorganic cityscape, like a sooty metropolis from just after the Industrial Revolution or perhaps a factory that was quiet in the dead of night. This was the horde of gigafloats surrounding Itogami Island—the ruin nicknamed New Itogami Island.

Originally constructed in the land of Nod by Cain the Sinful God, these fragments of a fortress city had come from another world.

Transported here thanks to the sealing dragon “Glenda,” research on the island had continued apace as part of the Demon Sanctuary.

Since the ruin was so vast, however, not even 5 percent of the total structure had been surveyed yet.

Apparently, most of the island was still abandoned and out of reach.

Despite that, temporary housing had been placed on part of the island, and corporate labs and factory sites had sprung up there as well. Unsurprisingly, developers placed an especially high priority on completing harbor facilities, roads, and other infrastructure.

Standing in a corner of one of these incomplete harbors was a slender figure.

A youthful Japanese girl clad in the uniform of a well-known girls’ school in the Kansai region.

Her figure was long and graceful. She exuded a flowery elegance and had a beautiful face. Across her back, she carried a large instrument case. Her name was Sayaka Kirasaka, Shamanic War Dancer of the Lion King Agency.

“—Figures that there’s water and electricity to be found even this far out.”

Wind toying with her long, ponytailed hair, she exhaled, her expression somehow bright.

Behind her was a brand-new harbor administration facility building.

“Civilization is wonderful,” Sayaka murmured, deeply moved as she cleaned off her hands with a handkerchief. Though incomplete, the new harbor facility had a women’s washroom furnished with hot water, lavatories, and toilet seats.

A few hours ago, she’d been practically hurled out of a kingdom of Aldegia airplane before parachuting down and wandering around the island. Finally locating a lavatory and toilet made the place seem like an oasis in the desert.

“Just hope I can find a way to cross over to Itogami Island proper from here on out…”

Sayaka let out another sigh as she looked around the deserted harbor once more.

Since her smartphone was out of cell tower range, she didn’t know her exact coordinates. But she’d heard that New Itogami Island and Itogami Island were separated by seven kilometers at the narrowest. Naturally, it would be hard to swim over. She’d need some other form of transportation like a boat as an alternative.

Currently, however, she couldn’t see a single soul, let alone a ferry. The Electoral War had completely severed all freight and passenger traffic between the islands; Sayaka was stranded all alone on a desolate gigafloat.

“Uu…that black-hearted scheming princess… Why do I have to go through this…?”

Face turned toward the heavens, she stood there dumbfounded.

Of course, Sayaka hadn’t dropped onto New Itogami Island because she’d wanted to. The original drop point had been the northern environs of Itogami Island proper, the place where Kojou Akatsuki was likeliest to be.

When she’d arrived, however, the airspace above Itogami Island proper was chock-full of magic users’ familiars. While trying to shake off their pursuit, she’d been thrown off course toward New Itogami Island. That was better than plummeting into the ocean, so she couldn’t call reaching land alive and well anything but good fortune. Nevertheless…

“A helicopter…?”

Noticing the boisterous sound of an engine audible overhead, Sayaka looked behind her on reflex.

A tail rotor–model vertical-takeoff-and-landing plane was hovering in the blue afternoon sky. You wouldn’t catch any airlines in mainland Japan using this model. The tail of the vehicle bore the MAR logo.

“…I see, MAR is securing people wounded in the Electoral War…so they should be able to carry things from New Itogami Island to the main island, too!”

Sayaka’s eyes glimmered as she remembered information she’d heard beforehand.

MAR had signed a contract with the Order of the End to participate in the administration of the Electoral War as a neutral party. Its chief roles were compensating for combat damages, provisioning food and other supplies, and rescuing and treating the injured.

“Securing the wounded” meant transporting them by hospital ship to an anchorage somewhere on New Itogami Island. She had no doubt that the MAR transport plane was heading toward that barge.

Fortunately for her, the transport helicopter was landing in a place not so far removed from the harbor where Sayaka was.

Sayaka “borrowed” a scooter left for getting around the harbor site and rode it toward the transport plane’s approximate landing point.

“Found you…!”

On an open piece of land about five kilometers away from the harbor, she caught sight of a tilt rotor aircraft in the immediate aftermath of landing.

Apparently, the place was some kind of MAR Inc. supply base. Three other aircrafts of the same model were parked there.

Upon seeing this with her own eyes, she immediately got off the scooter on impulse rather than logic.

As a Shamanic War Dancer of the Lion King Agency and an expert in curses and assassinations, she sensed an ominous aura from the base.

Hiding her ride in a gap between some rubble, Sayaka approached the base on foot. The base was positioned between various decaying ruins, so she had no lack of hiding places. She didn’t even need to resort to ritual spell camouflage.

“What is this…?”

Sayaka drew in her breath a little as she peeked at the base’s layout from the window of a ruin.

It was a makeshift facility pretty much as she expected, but the atmosphere was far more sinister than she’d imagined.

Countless military field tents and armored vehicles were stationed at regular intervals throughout the premises. Barbed wire lined the exterior, while guards armed with firearms patrolled the interior. The transport planes had been loaded up with anti-demon robot tanks. It was like a military encampment.

“They have MAR markings…but this isn’t a medical facility by any stretch of the imagination, huh,” Sayaka muttered to herself, confused.

The soldiers assigned to that base were clearly equipped to a level that went far beyond simple self-defense. There was no reason to pour this kind of gear and personnel into a game to select the next ruler where people competed for the greatest number of subjects.

In other words, it meant that MAR had assembled these troops for a purpose other than the Electoral War.

Maybe I should dig into their objectives, thought Sayaka, but when she began to dither, a voice suddenly echoed right beside her.

“Well, look at that… Got some wild stuff packed down there.”

“…?!!”

Sayaka turned around and tensed up as if she’d been slapped.

A tall, middle-aged man was looking outside the window above Sayaka’s shoulder as she squatted.

His loose, unkempt shirt and the stubble on his face gave the man a slovenly quality. Although he was in decent shape for his age, Sayaka found him none too intimidating.

Despite this, she was utterly aghast; she’d been trained as an assassin but hadn’t even noticed his approach.

“Troop transport helicopters and robot tanks—and the soldiers are decked out with powered suits with ritual spell camouflage and anti-demon large caliber carbines, huh? Typical special forces stuff. All geared up for land ops on Itogami Island by the looks of it.”

Tossing his voice her way, he spoke in an oddly amicable tone.

Sayaka inched back, gasping as she suddenly remembered to draw her sword. Pointing its tip toward the man’s chest, she glared with all the hostility she could muster.

“…Who…are you?!”

“Calm down, sweetie. Stay. Stay. I’m not anyone suspicious.”

“Not suspicious? What about you isn’t suspicious…?!”

Sayaka’s voice went ragged from being addressed like a domesticated dog.

“Getting this close without me noticing…! Who are you?! Depending on your answer—”

“Get down!”

Before Sayaka could finish her statement, he tackled her to the ground. Her back slammed against the ruin’s floor, knocking out her breath. The scraggly man covered her mouth with his hand as Sayaka squirmed in anguish. Her eyes were moist from humiliation and fear.

“Mghh…gggghh…!”

“Quiet. They’ll notice us if you keep…ow?!”

He yelped slightly as Sayaka bit his hand as hard as she could. She tried to use the time the man spent reeling to launch a counterattack before her eyes widened, as the man suddenly produced a rifle without the slightest warning.

“!!”

Seeing the fiendish firearm up so close made a tripwire go off inside of Sayaka’s head.

All emotion vanished. Sayaka activated a physical-enhancement ritual spell exactly as had been drilled into her latent consciousness. Like a programmed machine, her body moved on its own against the man she needed to kill standing before her. Slam a blow into his vitals, put pressure on his carotid artery, and break his cervical vertebrae while both strikes whittled away at his awareness—she’d repeated that sequence against training dummies innumerable times.

It was only thanks to the man’s total lack of hostility that Sayaka managed to avoid launching into her assassination protocol. His back was against a wall while he trained his gaze beyond the window.

In the direction he was looking hovered a small, spherical machine—a drone that survived the encampment’s vicinity.

It momentarily revolved in the sky above the ruin Sayaka and the man were in before flying off in the direction of the encampment. Seeing this, he lowered his firearm and released her.

“So it left. That’s Aldegian-made jammers for you. Damn effective stuff.”

He smiled proudly as he touched a device hanging from his neck resembling a security buzzer.

“Sorry I surprised you. That was ’cause I saw the recon drone puttering around.”

“You saved…me? I…um…”

Finally grasping the situation, Sayaka looked up at him awkwardly.

The man gazed in apparent delight at the clear bite marks she’d left in his hand.

“Ahhh, don’t worry about this. Getting bit by a cute sweetheart like you is a prize in itself.”

“R-reward…”

Goose bumps spread across her entire body. Maybe this guy really was dangerous after all, she decided. A man his age couldn’t act any creepier if he tried.

“Hold on. If I lick this wound, does that make it an indirect kiss with a babe?”

“?!”

“Heh, I’m kidding, I’m kidding. It’s a joke—so, uh, could you lower Rosen Chevalier Plus now? Er…no, that’s the original Type Six, isn’t it?”

“…Who are you?! What’s your objective?”

Sayaka’s Der Freischötz was a Lion King Agency prototype area-suppression weapon. In her mind, anyone who knew about it couldn’t possibly be an innocent civilian.

The man, however, just gave a laid-back chuckle as he put up both of his hands.

“Me? I’m exactly what I look like, a passing archaeologist—”

“In what world are there archaeologists as shady as you running around?!”

“Um, well, I grant you that it’s only half of me in the world on this side, though.”

“Huh?”

Sayaka’s gaze grew serious at the lack of clear meaning in the man’s testimony. Despite that, he kept his expression of feigned innocence on as his gaze shifted outside.

“Let’s set stuff about me aside for the moment. The issue is the army over there, right? There’s an underside to this Electoral War thing.”

“That might very well be the case but…”

“—Dammit, that Fourth Primogenitor is so pathetic. What kind of World’s Mightiest Vampire lets uninvited guests come onto his island and trample it any way they please? Maybe I saw too much in him or maybe he was just overrated, but it seems like it’s too much for him, don’t it? He’s one puny bastard—not a lick of talent whatsoever.”

The man spat as he pushed her long sword away.

That instant, something seemed to snap inside of Sayaka as her expression tensed. For some reason, his arbitrary way of speaking really grated on her nerves.

“J…just to make this clear, the Fourth Primogenitor was not on Itogami Island when the Electoral War began, you see. So this situation isn’t his responsibility whatsoever, I’ll have you know!”

“Oh reaaally…”

The man turned back at Sayaka’s annoyed retort with deep interest.

“But it’s undeniable that he didn’t raise hand nor foot and left the chaos as is when he got back on the island, right?”

“Who decided that?! He’s gotten dragged into so much shit he didn’t ask for up until now, but he still put his body on the line to protect this place anyway. And he’ll absolutely take care of this mess, too! I mean he has Yukina at his side…and m-me, too…!”

“Hmm… I see. You’re very dependable.”

Unexpectedly, the man readily accepted Sayaka’s assertions. Feeling a little disappointment over that somehow, she thrust her chest out in satisfaction.

“W-well, of course I am.”

“He’s lucky to have a sweetheart like you caring this much about him.”

“Um, er? C-caring about… I…didn’t mean to make it sound like I…”

The man’s unforeseen assumptions made her shrill voice go soft.

“Sweetie, could it be…? Have you and that Kojou bastard done it already?”

“Done…?! Wha…? O-of course n…”

“Hey, it’s nothing to be embarrassed about. It’s only natural for two people who love each other to do that, right?”

“I have no reason to be taking lectures on that from the likes of… Wait, how did you know Kojou’s name…?!”

“Hold on. That has to wait.”

Forcing a change of subject, he glared in the direction of the base. A new tilt rotor plane had landed, and the passengers it had ferried were disembarking.

“That’s…?”

Sayaka muttered that question to herself as she watched the men coming out of the tilt rotor.

The men were dressed in white, but they gave off a shady vibe for some reason. The group seemed way too brutal for mere doctors and researchers. Perhaps she felt as much because of the armed soldiers that had come along with them.

“MAR Lab Number Nine—MAR’s infamous black ops section dealing with inhuman experiments on live demonic subjects.”

“MAR…black ops? Ah…!”

Upon hearing his observation, Sayaka suddenly blurted out in surprise. That was because the soldiers were dragging along someone she hadn’t expected to see as they disembarked from the transport plane.

“That’s Kojou Akatsuki’s mother…?! Why are they treating her like…?!”

Bewildered, she pressed the man for answers.

Mimori Akatsuki, chief researcher of MAR’s medical branch, was being led along in handcuffs. She wasn’t only Kojou’s mother but also an acquaintance of sorts to Sayaka herself.

Even though she was a fellow MAR employee, they were treating her like a prisoner.

“They’re handling her as a wee bit of a traitor. Can’t really be helped, given how she let Avrora Florestina, the twelfth Kaleid Blood, escape from MAR custody.”

“She… She helped Twelfth Kaleid Blood Avrora escape?”

His causal treatment of such a crucial piece of information left Sayaka totally shocked.

During that time, the man pulled an anti-tank rocket launcher and an RPG ammunition bag almost out of nowhere. She didn’t feel the aura of a spatial-control spell being used. He didn’t even look like a magic user to begin with. Nevertheless, he picked them up casually, as though he’d placed them right there beforehand.

“—So I’m gonna go give her a wee bit of a rescue. I’d be pretty grateful if you helped out, but what are you gonna do? This might be your future mother-in-law, you know?”

Sayaka wasn’t able to interpret his weird sleight of hand as the man asked her that question. In fact, she was so confused that she forgot all about making a comeback to his assertion that this might be her future mother-in-law.

“Saving her—that’s your objective? Why?”

“Well, I mean, she’s my wife and all.

“We’re separated, though,” the man amended before breaking into a “Wa-ha-ha” laugh.

Sayaka stiffened up as if she were frozen and fixed her stare upon the man’s face.

“W…wife? You are the spouse of Kojou Akatsuki’s mother…?!”

“Indeed I am. Gajou Akatsuki. Pleased to meet ya.”

Gazing at Sayaka’s surprise with obvious delight, the man gave her a playful wink.

“Wh-whaaaaaaat—?!!”

Shaken, her shriek echoed throughout the ruin on New Itogami Island.

Apparently taking this as his cue, Gajou fired the rocket launcher toward the MAR encampment.

2

What returned Kojou to consciousness were the sweet aromas of simmering soy sauce, mirin, sugar, beef grease, and long green onions fried into a single harmonious form. The scent of Kansai-style sukiyaki.

He was in a broad underground chamber with numerous sorcerous devices along the edges. A number of people had gathered in a section of the room. They were surrounding a frying pan placed upon a workbench.

“Akatsuki, are you awake?”

Adjusting the output of the gas-controlled flame, Kanon Kanase called over upon realizing Kojou had roused.

Kojou looked back absentmindedly at the sight of Kanon wearing an apron over her school uniform. It was so surreal that it felt like a very convenient dream.

“…Kana…se?”

“The meal will be ready very soon.”

“Eh?”

Not realizing he was still befuddled, she excitedly went off to fetch fresh utensils.

Approaching in her stead were Shizuri and Yukina. They bore chopsticks and bowls, so they were probably in the middle of a meal of their own.

“Kojou, you’re awake!”

“Where are…?”

He gazed up at Shizuri as he asked. The instant he saw the two girls’ faces, Kojou remembered what had happened prior to him passing out. Just before the power of the Fourth Primogenitor made him go berserk, Natsuki had teleported in out of nowhere and blown him away nice and good.

“This is Kano’s father’s lab. We couldn’t think of another place where you could be treated and examined, senpai.”

This time, Yukina replied to Kojou’s question.

Heaving a sigh, he glanced around the subterranean chamber.

Itogami Island Sorcery Lab Number Six, located in the lowest strata of Island North. Since it was completely isolated from the outside world, the place was closer to a prison than anything else. It was one of the few Gigafloat Management Corporation facilities spared from the effects of the Electoral War.

“So in the end we wound up back here…”

Kojou sat up sluggishly and examined a clock on the wall.

It was past six PM. Based on that, he’d continued sleeping for nearly half a day, probably because of how his rampage had affected him more than the damage from Natsuki’s attack.

“How do you feel, Fourth Primogenitor?”

The man in charge of the lab, Kensei Kanase, posed that question in his usual gloomy voice.

“So far as I can tell from this data, there is nothing wrong with your body. That being said, a primogenitor’s body cannot accept magic spells, so I can only rely on standard medical practices, which may be small comfort.”

“Nah, I’m grateful. Guess that’s another one I owe you.”

Rotating his limbs, Kojou checked his physical condition. Thanks to the particular healing abilities vampires possessed, his external wounds were all healing. There was a strange emptiness in his stomach and a dryness in his throat, but considering that he hadn’t had anything to eat since the night before, it was a normal response if anything.

“Come to think of it, how are we able to cook sukiyaki in a place like this?”

“That’s, erm… These are meat and vegetables the subjects provided to us, you see.”

Yukina shifted her eyes to the food on the table as she spoke.

“…Subjects?”

Whose? went Kojou with a tilt of his head. Presently, the only ruler candidate there was Shizuri, but her domain was the Saikai Academy area over in Island South. That was a bit of a hike to bring over beef and veggies.

“Actually, senpai, ah…while you were sleeping, Ms. Minamiya subjugated approximately seventy percent of the domains in Island North.”

Yukina continued her explanation like that, perhaps finding it a little hard to spit it out because she thought it wouldn’t seem true.

His eyes bulged as he looked back at her.

“Natsuki did that all by herself…? I wasn’t even sleeping half a day, right?”

“Many of the ruler candidates in Island North were from the Island Guard, so they were submissive to… Er, rather, they favored Ms. Minamiya to begin with. Even if that hadn’t been the case, the influx of stray ruler candidates had overwhelmed the domains in Island North, you see.”

“So I guess I should be real grateful Natsuki became a ruler candidate, then?

“I see,” mused Kojou, folding his arms in comprehension.

With vampire primogenitors descending upon the three regions of Islands East, West, and South, the only region they weren’t occupying, Island North, had turned into a dangerous battlefield as small, weak ruler candidates clashed among themselves. Many of the subjects must have yearned for the appearance of a powerful ruler before the petty warlords succumbed to mutual collapse. It was then that the Witch of the Void, the most qualified person available to put Island North in order, came onto the scene.

“So where did Natsuki go off to?”

A questioning look came over Kojou as he looked around the lab. Natsuki was nowhere to be found, something that had bugged him since earlier.

“Ms. Minamiya returned to the Prison Barrier, apparently to repair the seal on her Guardian. Because of that, she said she wouldn’t be returning to this world for the time being.”

There was a bit of gloom mixed into Yukina’s voice. Bewildered, Kojou knit his brows.

“Natsuki’s Guardian? You mean that stupid-huge thing that’s like a suit of armor…and hold on, seal?”

“Apparently, Ms. Minamiya’s Guardian’s mere existence warps space in our realm, so she normally keeps it restrained using a sorcerous device. However, during combat with the Order of the End, it unshackled itself from the restraining device…”

“…You mean its power has been held back all this time…?” Kojou murmured in astonishment.

The Guardian that Natsuki called Rheingold had once suppressed a Beast Vassal of the Fourth Primogenitor through raw force. But apparently the golden knight statue hadn’t even been serious back then.

“Thanks to her Guardian appearing, no one can deploy spatial control–type magic spells in the general vicinity. I don’t think the effects will subside soon, either.”

Kensei Kanase stated this, as though to drive Kojou’s surprise even deeper.

“It’s all crazy stuff with her as per usual.”

Kojou acted half-exasperated as he shook his head. That monster warped space just through manifesting in their world. It was on par with a natural disaster. Little wonder, then, that sealing its power was a chore even for Natsuki.

In reporting that spatial control–type incantations were now unusable, she’d also inadvertently hit upon an inconvenient truth. Namely, that they couldn’t rely on Kensei Kanase’s teleportation spells as a means of getting around.

“Even if it was a surprise attack, the power was sufficient to put the Fourth Primogenitor out of commission for nearly half a day as a result. If anything, perhaps you should be glad there weren’t any other effects.”

Kensei nodded gravely as he spoke.

“Well, not that the causes of your stupor were limited to her attack alone.”

“…I suppose you’re right.”

Kojou lowered his shoulders dejectedly. Certainly, he’d taken a lot of damage from Natsuki, but she hadn’t been the only reason he’d recovered so slowly.

Back at the monorail station, a bizarre sense of hunger and thirst had overtaken him. The byproducts of the sensation remained deep in Kojou’s body, a weariness that made him feel like molten lava that had cooled and hardened in place.

“Famished, perhaps?”

Reading his emotions, Kanase asked that as if making idle conversation. Perhaps unconsciously reacting to her words, Kojou’s stomach grumbled loudly.

“Shall I serve you some sukiyaki as well, senpai?”

Yukina giggled and smiled as she picked up an empty bowl.

As if trying to compete with her, Shizuri posed with chopsticks and a ladle.

“Looks like I’ve got no choice but to step up. Just wait a few moments.”

“Ah, er, I…”

Which one should I stop? thought Kojou, dithering as he watched the pair snatch ingredients from each other. Of course, figuring out who got to serve sukiyaki shouldn’t have been a competition. Up until that moment, it probably hadn’t been.

“Please wait, Miss Kasugaya. Perhaps you are not aware of this, but since Akatsuki-senpai has difficulty with green onions, I believe it would be best to reduce them slightly—”

Yukina asserted this with a reserved tone of voice as she watched the other girl pile up food in her bowl.

That one casual statement caused Shizuri to sullenly knit her brows.

“I have spent a very long time with Kojou, so I’m obviously aware of that. Himeragi, do you not think there’s a nutritional balance issue with how you are preparing to serve nothing but meat?”

“Ah, I am deliberately using a fair bit of meat since Akatsuki-senpai has lost a great deal of blood. Proteins are vital nutrients for the production of red blood cells and hemoglobin.”

Even as her expression stiffened under Shizuri’s unexpected rebuttal, Yukina calmly issued her retort.

This served only to irk the other girl further.

“If you’re going to talk about the components of blood, then the types of vitamins contained in green onions are also very important. Indulging Kojou in his likes and dislikes will do him no good.”

“The allicin contained in green onions has the same composition of that in garlic, does it not?”

“Mere garlic is nothing to the World’s Mightiest Vampire. For that matter, Kojou had no problem eating gyoza or peperoncino!”

“Are you really bringing up something that happened in the virtual space of Onrai Island?!”

“Even if it occurred virtually, it’s undeniable that Kojou and I were together, nonetheless!”

“Ahhh…er, none of that stuff really matters, so you don’t need to argue about it…”

Kojou was a bit at a loss as he watched Yukina and Shizuri engage in a fruitless war of words. Both were possessed by such an ultra-serious sense of responsibility that neither felt prepared to yield. The way he saw it, they were actually pretty similar, so maybe that was why they didn’t see eye to eye on a fundamental level. Plus, there was the fact they’d thrown genuine punches at each other the first time they’d met.

“Akatsuki, here you go.”

Serene as always, Kanon didn’t notice the dispute between Yukina and Shizuri and tendered a bowl of sukiyaki in front of Kojou. His lips stiffened as he accepted the bowl from the smiling girl.

“Ahhh…thanks, Kanase.”

“You are welcome.”

Desperate, he dug into the sukiyaki. Kanon watched with a grin on her face.

Somehow, the stares Yukina and Shizuri gave Kojou as he ate seemed rather resentful.

3

Their meals finished, Kojou and the others ended up staying at Sorcery Lab Number Six for the night.

They still hadn’t pinpointed The Blood and the Order of the End’s whereabouts as of the night before, and with the primogenitors’ armed forces occupying the other regions, they couldn’t do anything that would draw attention to them. Since Kojou carelessly moving about would only spell more trouble, they’d concluded there was no good option save watching how the situation developed.

There was one more reason they’d stayed put—the fact that Kojou wasn’t altogether physically fit yet.

Since the lab had been designed to serve as a prison for sorcerous criminals, they couldn’t hope for the comforts of a five-star hotel. Their bedrooms were like cells, furnished only with a bed, and luxuriant theater rooms and gym rooms were nowhere to be found. The only noteworthy thing it did have was an excessively spacious shower room.

“Shit…it’s no good…!”

It was the dead of night. As cold water sprinkled over Kojou, he kept bumping his head against the wall of the shower.

The sense of racking hunger he’d felt upon awakening had only grown fiercer with time.

It wasn’t an issue of insufficient food. He’d been offered so much sukiyaki that he hadn’t been able to eat it all, and he’d drank enough of the black tea Shizuri had insisted on pouring him to get sick of it.

Despite that, Kojou’s hunger and thirst hadn’t been sated in the slightest.

He continued pouring water onto his head in an effort to soothe his nerves even a little when…

“Akatsuki, are you there?”

From outside the shower room, he heard a girl’s gentle voice.

Kojou turned off the shower and wrapped a bath towel around his hips.

Standing outside the frosted glass door was Kanon, dressed in a T-shirt and shorts. Kojou tensed up for no particular reason; he wasn’t used to seeing her in such a plain outfit.

“Er…Kanase? Why are you here at a time like this?”

“I brought you a change of clothes, Akatsuki.”

As he opened the door halfway and poked out his head, Kanon grinned and told him that. She was holding a fresh bundle of menswear against her chest.

“A new outfit?”

“Yes. Abbess provided them to me.”

“Alchemy, huh…? What were the original materials?”

Kojou raised an eyebrow as he posed the question. Kanon was referring to Nina Adelard, the self-proclaimed Great Alchemist of Yore. After a series of twists and turns, Nina had become the size of a doll not even thirty centimeters tall, but her prowess as an alchemist remained intact, so she could make something as simple as clothes with ease even while tiny. She did, however, require ingredients to use as “fuel.”

“She used Chinese cabbage and fried tofu for the western-style clothes.”

Kanon replied in a tone of voice lacking the slightest hesitation. Kojou’s eyes popped wide open.

“Those are sukiyaki ingredients, aren’t they?! Wow, alchemy’s amazin’!”

“I am kidding. She actually used spare white sheets and prison uniforms.”

“You were kidding?! Er…prison clothes…prison clothes, huh… Well, that’s fine…”

Kojou made a weak, pained smile at the surprise twist. Either way, a new outfit was something he was grateful for. Now that she’s done, Kanon’ll probably head off, thought Kojou, as he thanked her and tried to return to the shower room.

Kanon, however, set the clothes down on the changing room bench and slipped past the half-open glass door.

“Do you mind if I come in?”

“Eh? Come in… You do know this is a shower room, right?”

He replied to her sudden request obtusely.

The silver-haired girl seemed to accept something or other as she blinked heavily.

“Would it be better if I took off my clothes as well?”

“W-wait a sec! How did it turn into that?!”

As she put her hands to the hem of her T-shirt out of the blue, he hastily tried to stop her. However, he hesitated to approach her when he recalled that he was only wearing a towel himself.

Kanon, on the other hand, glanced back at Kojou with a thoroughly serious look.

“My clothes will get soaked if I don’t take them off.”

“Never mind that—why did this turn into us getting into the shower together?!”

Thrown for a loop, he tried to shoo her away. But Kanon just stripped without hesitation and moved closer to him.

“Kanase…why…?!”

Kojou murmured this in a daze, captivated at the sight of her so exposed.

Obviously, Kanon must have had some scruples about being fully nude, because she still had on her underwear. But the pale flesh she’d bared was plenty to tempt him.

Her lips were delicate, fairylike. She had slender shoulders and a slight swell to her chest. The pure-looking underwear she wore only made the effect more sensuous still.

“I hear voices.”

Kojou went rigid, and Kanon quietly walked close to him, speaking with an earnest expression.

“…Voices?” he asked, his own raspy. Kanon’s blue eyes beheld Kojou within them.

“The voices of the beasts. The beasts inside you.”

She gently touched her ear to his damp chest. He could feel her warmth through the skin she pressed to his own. The sweet scent of her silver hair pricked at his nostrils.

Suddenly, a ferocious sensation raced up Kojou’s spine. Pleasure accompanied by powerful destructive impulses dyed his consciousness white.

“Don’t! Kanase, get back!”

Grabbing hold of her shoulders, he tried to force her off him.

But Kanon moved her hands around Kojou’s back, firmly embracing him with a strength and power he never saw coming.

“It’s all right… It’s all right; you don’t need to be afraid.”

“K-Kanase…?”

“I want to assist you, Akatsuki. I can’t fight by your side like Yukina and Shizuri, so if I can do at least this much…”

She bared her slender neck right before his eyes, like a holy maiden offering her own body up as a sacrifice. He was keenly aware of the blue blood vessels visible through her delicate skin.

“Kanase…!”

A ferocious hunger and thirst wrecked Kojou’s sense of reason as he moved his hands around Kanon’s back.

The instant that his lips touched against her nape—

Click, went the changing room door as it opened. He sensed someone coming in.

“?!”

Kanon froze as if she’d been struck by electricity. Kojou, on the other hand, numbed as he stopped moving.

Cold sweat gushed from his back, leaving him thoroughly drenched.

After all, the only men in the facility they were spending the night with were him and Kensei Kanase. And given that Kojou was in the shower room, it was unthinkable anyone other than Kensei would enter the changing room.

Just how would the former Court Sorcerous Engineer react when he saw Kojou and his daughter disrobed and embracing each other? Kojou went pale with fear just picturing it in his mind.

But what he heard from the changing room was the voice of an individual he’d expected even less.

“Ehi… Kojou? Are you there?”

“C-Cas?”

Though liberated from his initial fears, Kojou was struck by fresh confusion.

Shizuri Kasugaya, self-proclaimed Paladin of Gisella, was louder about infringements of moral standards than most. To Kojou, a girl like her entering a men’s shower room in the dead of night was no small matter. He would’ve liked to keep their breath down so that she might move on, but given the tension of the situation, that possibility was distinctly unrealistic.

“Sorry, but could you hide in here for a little while?”

Kojou requested with a hushed voice. Yes, said Kanon’s nod. She was cooperative by default.

Pushing her to the least conspicuous corner of the shower, he turned toward the changing room.

Then he opened the glass entrance before Shizuri could come in.

She was glancing over her shoulder when she noticed him.

“Kojou. If you are there, I would appreciate a prompt repl— Why are you undressed?!”

Her eyes bulged wide as she instantly placed her hand on the hilt of her long sword.

Kojou stroked his drenched forelocks up with an air of annoyance.

“You’re the one who decided to come in here! I was in the middle of showering, y’know!”

“Sta zitto! Quiet! Other people will notice!”

“Don’t come in if you don’t wanna be noticed.”

He waved his hand dismissively, as if shooing away a stray dog that was in the way.

Fortunately, Shizuri hadn’t noticed Kanon’s doffed outfit. That being said, there was no guarantee his good luck would persist indefinitely. He had to get Shizuri to leave before that happened.

The next moment, however, she did the exact opposite of what he expected.

“…Wouldn’t you be inconvenienced if someone noticed?”

Dauntlessly, Shizuri approached Kojou as he stood there with nothing more than a towel wrapped around him.

“What do you mean?”

Cowed by the mysterious intensity she exuded, Kojou questioned her back in a trembling voice. He was worried that it was already no longer possible to cover up Kanon’s presence.

Shizuri stopped right in front of him, reaching her index finger out and gently pressing it to his lips.

“I am speaking of—vampiric urges.”

“!!”

His heart jumped. He tried to force himself to remain calm, but it was too late. The momentary expression that came over him changed Shizuri’s prediction into conviction. She shook her head with exasperation.

“I am your former watcher. Did you really think you could pull wool over my eyes? No matter how much you drink and eat, the thirst in your throat will not subside, yes?”

Speaking as if lecturing a young child, Shizuri took off her sword belt, placing the long sword with its scabbard onto the bench. Next, without fanfare, she began unfastening the buttons of her uniform, exposing the cleavage of her modest breasts and a floral-patterned bra.

“H…hey?!”

“The ‘Demon Sanctuary of Iroise’…my homeland…no longer exists.”

Cheeks burning red, Shizuri spoke in a strong tone of voice. She was equally embarrassed. Even so, Shizuri’s hands did not stop removing her clothes. She looked straight up at Kojou with a sober, serious gaze.

“No matter how much I may wish to, I cannot regain Iroise. However, Itogami Island is different. There’s still time to return to those peaceful days. Your power is necessary for this purpose.”

Stripping off her skirt, Shizuri reached her hands out to embrace Kojou. But instead, he backed off as far as the wall, as though rebuffing her.

“Cas, you can’t…!”

“A-are you dissatisfied with me?! Are you saying that since you engaged in such acts once prior, you have no further use for my body…?!”

Her features stiffened as her voice trembled with hurt. Shizuri’s eyes moistened even as he watched.

Kojou swiftly and heavily shook his head.

“Not that, idiot. It’s not that at all!”

“I-idiot?! Did you just call me an idiot?”

“Right now, my thirst ain’t no ordinary vampiric urges. I can’t control myself anymore.”

Reaching a hand out to push her away, he averted his gaze from her disrobed body.

“You can’t control yourself…?”

She blinked several times. He exhaled painfully, raggedly.

“It’s not…gonna end with taking just a little blood from a spirit medium. I’ll keep on consuming power without limit until this thirst is sated. No way can I go ahead and drink from you if I can’t even guarantee your life!”

“Then that’s all the more reason you should pick me!”

Shouting with irritation, Shizuri forced Kojou to press his hands against her breasts…beneath her bra, at that. The raw sensation conveyed through his palm brought his mind to a screeching halt.

“Wha…?”

“I am an ogre. If the body of other girls can’t satisfy you, I shall please you with mine.”

“N-no…that’s…”

Kojou opened and shut his mouth like a fish flopping around on land. With all reason seared away, he could no longer resist Shizuri’s temptations. She gave her jaw a little lift, moving her refined face close to his as if going in for a kiss.

Just then, there came a knock, knock from someone at the changing room door.

Coming back to their senses with a gasp, Kojou and Shizuri looked at each other’s faces, flustered and panicked.

“—Akatsuki-senpai. May I come in?”

The voice he heard across the changing room door belonged to Yukina. As Kojou’s watcher, she was no doubt well aware he was in the shower. Perhaps she’d come to check on him because he’d been taking an unusually long time. It would be impossible to get through this by pretending he was not there. On top of that, the changing room entrance was set up so that you couldn’t lock it from the inside.

“Why is Yukina Himeragi here?!”

At her wits’ end, Shizuri pressed close against Kojou with a reproachful look. He fiercely shook his head.

“Hell if I know…! Just hide already!”

“Hide where?!”

She looked around the area before locking her gaze onto a corner of the changing room. Standing there was a locker for storing cleaning supplies.

“Senpai, I am coming in.”

The tone of Yukina’s voice grew stronger. Perhaps she thought the noise was suspicious.

“W-wait, Himeragi!”

Kojou hastily pressed upon the inner side of the door to prevent it from opening. Yukina, however, forced the door open with an unexpected exhibition of strength.

“What are you so nervous abo—?! If you weren’t dressed yet, you should have said something…!”

“That’s why I told you to wait, sheesh.”

Confirming that Shizuri had finished hiding in the locker by a hairbreadth, Kojou let out a sigh of relief. If he could use being in the middle of showering as an excuse, he could send Yukina away to resolve the situation immediately.

However, a grave look came over Yukina as she looked up at his visage. The earnestness of her gaze bewildered him.

“Senpai, what’s with your hair…?”

“Hair?”

Touching his still-damp locks, Kojou turned his eyes toward a mirror on the wall.

Superstition would have it that mirrors did not reflect vampires, but this applied only to a particular subset of the furniture. At least he’d never had any trouble using them.

In that large, horizontal mirror was a very familiar sight.

He saw a slender, muscular physique with only a bath towel wrapped around his hips. He saw a very plain face with a languid look in the eyes.

But for some reason, on that day alone, he felt as though he gave off an impression so vivid he was almost like another person entirely.

That was undoubtedly due to the gorgeous blond locks, which changed color depending on the angle you viewed it from.

Yes, at some point, Kojou’s hair had changed to a spectacular shade of blond.

“What the heeeeeck?!”

He shrieked at the mirror hanging in front of him. His hair was completely blond, without a hint of bleach or die, as though it had regrown entirely. He came off very much like a punk from out in the sticks with frighteningly poor taste, although perhaps that was an issue with his face to begin with.

“You didn’t do this yourself, senpai?”

Yukina asked this as she touched Kojou’s hair.

“There’s no way I could pull off something this fancy!!”

He gave a corner-cutting retort. The Third Primogenitor, Giada Kukulkin, could alter her appearance and even her gender at will, but he had no such ability, of course.

Kojou couldn’t tell when he’d gone blond—but the vampiric urges that kept assaulting him were probably the root cause.

Perhaps Kanon and Shizuri had noticed the change in him, but neither girl had broached the subject. Both of them had hair that was plenty spectacular in color to begin with, so neither probably had much reason to go out of their way and make a fuss about it.

“Aw man,” muttered Kojou, messing around with his bangs.

“I’m pretty sure Natsuki will say something if she sees me like this. What are the hair regulations for our school again?”

“That’s the first thing you’re worried about…?”

Yukina sighed, exasperated. Then, shaking her head as she composed herself, she looked up at Kojou with her usual overly serious expression.

“Besides, isn’t there a more pressing issue at hand right now?”

“Issue?”

“—Vampiric. Urges.”

“Ah, er…well…”

Feeling a sense of déjà vu at his conversation with her, Kojou vaguely hedged his answer.

His turmoil over the change in the color of his hair did not mean he’d been freed from his vampiric urges that had been hounding him up until moments before. If anything, he was nearly at his limits after enduring so much teasing.

On top of that, since Yukina had just showered herself, the heated glow of her flesh and her freshly washed hair were oddly sensuous. She remained unaware of this as she drew close to him.

“I am your watcher, senpai. Did you really think you could deceive my eyes? You’ve been suffering from vampiric urges ever since the rampage back at the station, haven’t you?”

“No…you’re wrong, Himeragi… That’s…”

Kojou covered his mouth, trying to conceal the throbbing of his canine teeth. Yukina’s gaze remained full of earnestness and obligation as she gently loosened the necktie of her uniform.

“Senpai. If my blood will suffice…”

“…I’m trying to tell you, that’s no good. I won’t drink your blood, Himeragi.”

Averting his eyes from her neck, he attempted to thrust her away.

Yukina grasped Kojou’s hand, her eyes wavering with visible concern.

“…What’s the meaning of this? Is it because there’s someone else you…l… You…would rather drink from…?”

“No, I’m telling you, it’s not like that at all…”

What kind of logic is that? thought Kojou, twisting his lips.

“If I drank your blood right now, my brakes wouldn’t work anymore, so I’d end up going all the way…”

“A-all the…way…”

She made an audible gulp. For just an instant, she lowered her eyes in fear, touching the ring on her left hand. Then she steeled her resolve as she lifted her face once more.

“Please…take responsibility, okay?”

“What…?!”

As Yukina embraced him and leaned her body into his, her cheeks reddened, and he felt a sensation akin to dizziness. With his final shreds of reason beaten down, he slid his hands around her back just as his urges commanded.

The next moment, he heard an adorable achoo from the shower room, which halted his movements. It was Kanon sneezing, left there in her underwear.

“Achoo…?”

Yukina’s expression suddenly went rigid as she slowly turned her attention toward the glass door of the shower.

“Is someone in there?”

“N-nobody’s there. No way anyone would be, right?”

Kojou responded to her strangely glacial voice with a hasty shake of his head.

As he barred the way with both arms spread out, Yukina calmly pushed him aside. For some reason, he sensed that the bloodlust radiating from her entire body was directed squarely at him.

“Then there’s nothing wrong with me entering, is there?”

“No, no, that’s bad. You can’t do something as, uh, impure as goin’ into a shower room after a guy just used it.”

“Please step aside!”

Kojou was earnestly trying to persuade her when she moved his hand aside with a snap. The blow barely brushed him, but the ferocious pain it transmitted to his wrist made him let out a fervent yelp.

“Wait! It might be a passing household spirit or something!”

“All the more reason a Sword Shaman of the Lion King Agency cannot overlook this!”

“Whoa?!”

“Augh!!”

When Yukina thrust Kojou aside, he lost his balance and crashed into the locker behind him.

It was an old locker of steel construction for storing cleaning supplies. The force of his impact made the door open, sending mops, scourers, and the half-naked girl within tumbling out. Kojou also toppled over and ended up tangled with her on the floor.

“Owww…”

“What is the meaning of this, Kojou…? Are you trying to crush me…?”

Shizuri, who was pinned beneath him, shoved his shoulders and glared at him resentfully.

Yukina stared down dumbfounded at them jumbled up.

“M-Miss Kasugaya…? What were you doing…in a place like…?”

“Y-you’re wrong, Himeragi. Don’t misunderstand.”

“Th-that’s right, Yukina Himeragi. I wasn’t trying to jump ahead of you or anything…!”

Kojou and Shizuri remained mutually entwined as they blurted out excuses.

The next moment, an achoo came from the shower room once again.

Without another word, Yukina approached the glass door, giving Kojou no time to stop her as she slid it open.

Kanon, who’d been hiding in there, poked out her head to look at Yukina and Shizuri with a strained expression.

“K-Kano?”

“Ah—…”

“Do whatever you want already,” went Kojou as he flopped onto the floor. Yukina stood in a daze. Even Shizuri was speechless.

“I am sorry, Akatsuki. You told me to hide, but…”

Kanon projected a pitiful, dejected air. Perhaps she felt guilty about slipping up and sneezing. Of course, this wasn’t a situation that she could reasonably be blamed for.

“Wh-wh-what is the meaning of this, Kojou?! What’s she doing in the shower room…?!”

Thoroughly worked up, Shizuri straddled Kojou as she interrogated him.

Yukina glared at Shizuri as she did.

“Please don’t change the subject! Miss Kasugaya, what were you doing hiding in the locker?!”

“I-if the issue is a nighttime tryst, aren’t you just as guilty?!”

“N-nighttime tryst…?!”

Accused of misplaced anger, Yukina pressed a hand over her exposed cleavage as she yelped.

“Gimme a break…”

Kojou limply murmured in a deflated tone as Shizuri continued trying to wring his neck.

That instant, Kojou’s heart leaped with a hard thump. He let out an agonized scream as dizziness and throbbing overwhelmed him, as though his blood were flowing backward through his entire body. This time, his long-smoldering vampiric urges had surged beyond critical mass.

“Gr…ah…!”

“Akatsuki?!”

Kanon, the first to realize something was wrong with Kojou, went pale as she raced over.

“Ko…Kojou?”

“Senpai?!”

Shizuri and Yukina reacted virtually simultaneously. When the girls tried to sit him up, he violently thrust them aside, desperately cautioning them with a raspy voice.

“It’s no good; run for it…!”

Yukina embraced him powerfully. The soft sensation pressing against his right cheek made him stop breathing for a moment.

It was Shizuri who next hugged Kojou from his left.

He felt their body heat, the beating of their hearts, from his left and right.

“It’s all right. I’ll always be with you.”

Finally, as though addressing a tiny child, someone’s gentle voice gently tickled Kojou’s eardrums.

Kanon touched him from behind. He was in her warm embrace as his mind sank into a blank darkness.

Then sweet, alluring droplets filled his mouth.

4

She awoke to a sweet scent tickling the back of her nostrils.

Through her hazy vision, she glimpsed candy packages of differing colors displayed in a row on a shelf. Shio Hikawa narrowed her eyes as she picked up one of the pastel items she’d been stuffing her cheeks with.

“…Gummies?”

Sitting up with bewilderment, she glanced around her.

She was inside a convenience store illuminated by emergency lamps.

The shop was deserted, and its entrance and windows were shuttered. Instead, one of the walls was broken, from which outside air was blowing in. Apparently, it had ceased operating after getting caught up in the opening phase of the Electoral War. Shio had passed out in a corner of that store.

“I see… I…used up all my ritual energy…”

She shook her head a little at the folded recurve bow she was clenching in her hands.

While fleeing from the horde of Beast Vassals the Second Primogenitor had summoned, and the Fallen Dynasty’s pursuing troops, Shio had employed ritual energy beyond her limit. She must have collapsed in the process.

At some point, the sun had completely set. That meant, at minimum, she’d been sleeping five to six hours straight. On top of that, her entire body ached like her muscles were on fire. She’d overused her physical enchantment.

The silver lining was that she had no external wounds, but for the time being, fighting at full strength would be out of the question. Can I really protect Avrora from the Second Primogenitor in this state? When that thought crossed her mind, she gasped and lifted her head.

“Avrora? Where are you? Avrora Florestina!”

Wobbling as she rose to her feet, Shio called out the name of the girl she was supposed to protect.

She vaguely remembered that just before passing out, she’d fled into that convenience store with Avrora in order to lose their pursuers. The problem was what had happened after that.

Since Shio hadn’t been able to move, Avrora might have left her to head off on her own. It was also conceivable the Second Primogenitor had captured her alone. Of all the possibilities she could think of, that was the worst-case scenario. In her current state, Shio’s odds of rescuing her again were practically zero. As fear and regret afflicted her, Shio’s shoulders trembled.

As if responding to her call, something moved on the other side of the store shelves. She heard a light patter of steps as a tiny silhouette poked its head out.

“…A dog?”

Shio was staring at an unfamiliar puppy who was amiably wagging its tail.

It was a Havanese with golden fur. Though it seemed reserved somehow, it approached Shio nonetheless. In her mind, the sight overlapped with that of the girl she knew as Avrora.

“Avrora…is that you? What are you doing, looking like that?”

She squatted down and picked up the puppy.

Apparently, vampires of the Third Primogenitor’s bloodline had the ability to transform into ferocious beasts and birds of prey. If this was true, it would not be so strange if an artificial vampire like Avrora could do the same.

Having convinced herself of this, she addressed the canine.

“Sorry to make you worry like that. I’m all right.”

Shio was speaking quite seriously when the Havanese began licking her cheek.

She laughed and squirmed. She was happy that she’d finally conveyed her feelings to the girl. No matter what form Avrora might take, Shio was simply happy to know she was safe.

“Ah-ha-ha…cut it out, Avrora. That tickles.”

“Uu…uu…”

“Uu?”

Hearing an odd voice from behind her, Shio turned around with the dog still in her arms.

A blond girl wearing a hooded coat was standing there wearing a particularly conflicted expression. Unable to comprehend what was occurring, Shio looked between the girl’s face and the puppy’s.

The blond girl—the real Avrora—opened her mouth in a timid pout.

“Th-the little one I am not.”

“Oooops…r-right. I thought that was strange. Oh, and this guy’s a boy, too…”

Shio swiftly put down the Havanese. He raced around Shio’s feet with apparent regret. Avrora glared at him with a twinge of jealousy before offering Shio something in her hand: an unopened plastic bottle.

“This is?”

Shio asked as she took the PET bottle.

Her reaction caused Avrora to glance at her with upward eyes.

“Wintry drops that gush from the Spirit Peaks—may they heal thine thirst.”

“A mineral water PET bottle…er, merchandise from this store?”

“Th-there is no need for concern. The treasures Mimori left are abundant.”

Speaking these words, Avrora pointed to indicate a pouch suspended beneath her collarbone. It was the sort of purse one wore around the neck. The interior of the pouch was chock-full of small change. The sight of her looking proud as she showed this off was just adorable. She was like a little girl who’d been entrusted to run an errand for the first time in her life. It seemed she’d picked up enough common sense to know paying for merchandise was the right thing to do.

“Mimori Akatsuki… Kojou Akatsuki’s mother, huh?”

Shio recalled Mimori Akatsuki as she poured the mineral water Avrora handed her down her throat.

Shio and the others had met Mimori in the dead of the previous night. It had been right around the time one day changed into the next.

While visiting Blue Elysium during their time off, Shio and Yuiri had wound up saving Mimori and Avrora from a group of armed pursuers. As far as the two girls were concerned, this development was a completely unanticipated turn of events, but apparently it was actually part of a plan Mimori had concocted. For some reason, she’d been aware of their visit to Blue Elysium.

Mimori had made two requests of them.

The first was to protect the recently awakened twelfth of the Kaleid Bloods from her MAR pursuers.

The second was to bring her to Kojou Akatsuki’s side.

Thus, she entrusted the girl named Avrora to Shio and Yuiri. No, it was more accurate to say that she pushed her onto them.

But since she told them doing so was required to bring the Electoral War to an end, there was no way they could refuse.

Even if that weren’t the case, as members of the Lion King Agency, they couldn’t simply abandon a Kaleid Blood, a portion of the Fourth Primogenitor.

After handing over Avrora to Shio and Yuiri, Mimori Akatsuki had immediately set off somewhere to draw away the men running after her. She was very much a whimsical woman dancing to her own tune.

Shio didn’t know where she ended up after that.

And then Shio, Yuiri, and Avrora had crossed over to Itogami Island, only for the Second Primogenitor to give chase.

“Thank you. That was good.”

Drinking the bottle dry, Shio smiled at Avrora. As a matter of fact, the replenishing mineral water did make her feel like she’d recovered a fair bit of physical energy.

“Indeed.”

Seeing that Shio was satisfied, Avrora nodded with delight. It was the reaction of a puppy being praised for doing a trick. You really wouldn’t think she was a piece of the World’s Mightiest Vampire.

“The first thing we need to do to rendezvous with Kojou Akatsuki is escape the Second Primogenitor’s sphere of influence. Can you walk?”

“O-of course.”

Even as an expression of worry came over her, Avrora nodded as stoutly as she could. Then, however, she immediately lowered her eyes, seemingly in consideration for Shio.

“But the sword maiden and the dragon girl…”

“I think the Second Primogenitor captured Yuiri and Glenda.”

Shio murmured this casually as she gazed at the lack of a recent call history on her smartphone.

It had already been half a day since Yuiri and Glenda had taken on the role of decoys and had gone their separate ways. Since there had been no contact from them since, it was natural to conclude they were in a situation where communication wasn’t permitted. At this point, all Shio could do was pray for her friends’ safety.

“Their sacrifice adds to the crimes weighing upon mine shoulders.”

Avrora spoke in an exceedingly dejected tone.

“It’s not like that. We’re the ones who weren’t powerful enough to keep you from going through all this peril.”

Shio shook her head and gave a frail reply, saying it to herself more than Avrora.

“We’ll definitely save them. But we can’t do that now. To resist the vampire primogenitors, we need the power of a fellow primogenitor—to save Yuiri and Glenda, I need to get you to Kojou Akatsuki.”

“Kojou…”

Vitality returned to the girl’s eyes the instant his name came up. Her reaction surprised Shio a little. As far as Avrora was concerned, the boy named Kojou Akatsuki really was something special.

The moment the vampire got psyched up, something fell out of her coat pocket. It was a small pouch of colorful candies, a package of gummies that had already been opened. Apparently, she’d eaten these to soothe her empty stomach while Shio had been out.

“I—I have already offered fair compensation…!”

Avrora hastily excused herself, probably assuming Shio was going to scold her for laying hands on the merchandise without permission. When she tried to lift up the pouch, her face that of the most pitiable girl in the world, gummies spilled out from her hand.

Seeing this, Shio burst into a fit of laughter.

“I’m a bit hungry, too. Go ahead and eat whatever you like. I’ll pay for anything you can’t cover.”

“W-woooow!”

Avrora’s eyes glimmered at Shio’s generous proposal.

As Shio observed the girl peruse the sweets, she abruptly realized how strange it was that there were still untouched goods left in the shop.

The convenience store had suspended operations because the busted wall prevented it from closing securely. Under normal circumstances, it wouldn’t have been strange for heartless people to have seen it as a target ripe to plunder and loot it completely, so the risk should have been even greater since the Island Guard was all but destroyed.

The simple reason no one had done that was because they hadn’t needed to.

Certainly, the effects of the Electoral War had interrupted the flow of goods, but MAR was providing an abundance of foodstuffs and supplies in their place—and virtually for free at that. She’d heard that MAR was also shouldering the costs for repair and compensation of homes and stores destroyed in the proceedings.

Lifelines such as power and water utilities were functioning without any issues at present. Hence, the ordinary citizens of Itogami Island could spectate the Electoral War like it was some kind of sporting event.

However, even an enormous conglomerate like MAR wasn’t so rich that it could simply shrug off such vast expenditures. Neither did she imagine that the Order of the End was paying them enough that the profits outweighed shouldering that burden.

If that was the case, then why on earth was MAR cooperating with the Electoral War—?

Shio stopped breathing as she searched for an answer to that question.

She had a very bad feeling about this. She was worried they’d missed something, something critically important. There could be another dark side to the Electoral War that she wasn’t yet aware of.

However, before she could arrive at the truth behind her anxieties, Shio’s thoughts were pulled back to reality.

Because suddenly, Avrora cowered on the spot and loosed an agonized moan.

“Avrora…?”

“Uu…ghh…”

When Shio rushed over, Avrora squirmed around as though trying to thrust her away.

The air around Avrora grew frigid as her unintentional dispersal of demonic energy pricked at Shio’s skin.

Demonic energy was pouring from Avrora’s body. She wasn’t doing this consciously. Somehow, an external stimulus had forced it into an agitated state.

“Demonic energy…resonance? Has something happened to Kojou Akatsuki?!”

Shio’s palms broke out in a sweat.

Something with even greater demonic energy than the Beast Vassal inside Avrora, who was a piece shorn from the Fourth Primogenitor, was trying to awaken. It was as though a beast were responding to the distant howls of its comrades.

But this phenomenon was also dangerous; it could potentially expose them to enemy forces.

“Be…still…Glacies…!”

Hugging her narrow shoulders, Avrora let out a pained wail. Then her emission of demonic energy abruptly terminated; perhaps her request had rung true. Quiet returned to the dimly lit interior of the store.

Unfortunately, they didn’t have the luxury to bask in relief.

Avrora had been suffering from the resonance for an entire minute. That was plenty of time for the Second Primogenitor to figure out where she was.

“Let’s leave the store, Avrora. They might have deduced your location.”

“Under…stood…”

Avrora wobbled as she rose to her feet. Approaching the broken wall, Shio held her silver recurve bow at the ready. Then she poked her head out of the gap to examine the state of the street outside.

It hadn’t even been two minutes since the demonic energy resonance phenomenon occurred, three at most. There had to be at least a little time before the Second Primogenitor’s subordinates showed up.

But in the brief moment that passed through Shio’s mind, the nighttime street brightened with a dazzling radiance.

A mist of fresh blood swirled out from thin air and changed into the form of a beast.

It had become a carnivorous dinosaur that walked on two legs. Though comparatively small for one, it still easily exceeded three meters in length.

Its body flickered like a flame, indicating that it was a beast summoned from another world. In other words, it was a mass of demonic energy so dense as to possess sentience—a vampire’s Beast Vassal.

“A dinosaur…! Summoned by the Second Primogenitor?!”

Shio exclaimed in a low voice and bit her lip.

It was indeed possible for a vampire to send their Beast Vassals somewhere instantaneously, ignoring terrain and distance. Shio’s plan to flee before the enemy arrived had been torn to shreds.

However, the dinosaur-type Beast Vassal had yet to notice Shio and Avrora inside the convenience store. Since the Second Primogenitor was controlling it from a far-off distance, even she couldn’t have ascertained Shio and Avrora’s precise location.

Maybe we can just wait for it to go by, Shio thought, but a moment after embracing that slender hope, Shio beheld an incredible sight.

The puppy with golden fur was barking right at the Beast Vassal.

The canine continued to yap with sharp ruff, ruff sounds as the Beast Vassal glared at it darkly.

The dog must have been operating instinctively to instill fear in the familiar. However, it had the complete opposite effect. Reacting less to the sound than to the puppy’s hostility, the Beast Vassal automatically entered an offensive stance.

“The little one is…!”

Raising her voice in a plaintive cry, Avrora rushed out toward him.

“Wha…?!”

Shio gazed dumbfounded behind her. Certainly, with Avrora’s power—if she unleashed the power of the Beast Vassal of the Fourth Primogenitor slumbering within her, she could save that little puppy.

But if she did that, Avrora would not go unscathed.

In the worst-case scenario, she would vanish then and there; and with its host lost, the twelfth Beast Vassal of the Fourth Primogenitor would begin running amok. Itogami Island itself might get blown away in the process.

The only way to keep the girl from using that Beast Vassal was for Shio to defeat the dinosaur beforehand.

“I, Dancer of the Lion, Archer of the High God, beseech thee!”

Holding her silver recurve bow in place, Shio notched a cursed arrow. Pouring all the ritual energy into it that she could muster, she aimed to the limits of her precision.

Even with Freikugel Plus’s maximum power output, it wouldn’t be enough to win in a head-on collision with a primogenitor’s Beast Vassal. Wringing out her ritual energy to the greatest extent possible, she could only focus all its power on a single point.

“Let there be light—!”

Unleashed with a roar, the cursed arrow generated countless overlapping magic circles.

After amplifying Shio’s ritual energy several times over, the arrow transformed into a ray of light that pierced through the creature’s heart.

The collision between vast demonic energy and ritual energy was a tug-of-war lasting for but a single moment.

After what felt like an eternity, an incredible explosion erupted.

Itogami Island’s artificial soil shuddered and trembled. The glass of the buildings in the area shattered all at once. The beam blinded Shio’s vision. By the time the light had faded, the Second Primogenitor’s Beast Vassal had vanished without a trace. All that remained was a fan-shaped crater in the ground.

“Shio!”

Returning with the puppy in her arms, Avrora let out a yelp as she saw her protector fall to her knees.

“Don’t come any closer, Avrora…! You need…to get away, at least…”

Shio shouted this, mustering up the little strength left in her.

The carnivorous dinosaur Freikugel Plus’s ritual spell artillery attack had destroyed was already starting to regenerate. Destroying a primogenitor’s Beast Vassal was truly impossible with solely the power Shio possessed.

She didn’t have the ritual energy remaining to let loose another artillery shot. The only thing she could do was to make Avrora run as far away as possible.

The other girl, however, extended a hand to Shio in a desperate plea.

“Unacceptable. Thy duty was to lead me to Kojou’s side and save the sword maiden thereafter, was it not?!”

“Sorry…but as I am now, I…”

Shio frailly shook her head, trying to rebuff Avrora.

The Second Primogenitor’s familiar had already finished regenerating; the eyes it turned toward Shio and Avrora glowed like flames.

Despite knowing it was futile, Shio pulled out an offensive ritual spell tablet and went on guard.

The next moment, a voice rang out in their ears.

“—Don’t move, either of you.”

“Huh?!”

Shio and Avrora obeyed, suddenly prodded by a call out of nowhere that lacked any sense of tension. It was the voice of a boy Shio didn’t recognize.

Suddenly, a gust of wind erupted before her eyes, sweeping up dust to rob her of her vision and leaving her bewildered.

She could no longer see her opponent, but that surely went both ways. Instead, she heard footsteps off in the distance. Then she heard voices that were just like Shio’s and Avrora’s.

It dawned on Shio that the voices were fabrications. Someone was manipulating sound to make it seem like she and Avrora were running away.

Yet the blowing wind was nothing but that. She didn’t sense any magical energy whatsoever. In a blinded state, even a vampire primogenitor wouldn’t be able to discern that the footsteps were fabrications.

And so, the carnivorous dinosaur departed, chasing after the false sounds of its targets.

After checking to ensure the Beast Vassal’s aura had vanished, a slightly absent expression came over Shio. Avrora, puppy in hand, sank down and sat, exhausted.

“Man, seems like I just managed to fool it. Maybe that Beast Vassal’s intelligence was dino level, too?”

From across the still-raging dust storm, they heard a flippant voice.

Shio lifted her face and examined the speaker.

He was a high school–age boy wearing rugged-looking private wear.

His hair was short and combed back. He wore thick, over-the-ear headphones. Nothing on his person came across as a weapon. Neither did he seem to be a wielder of ritual spells, and yet…

“Thou…! Why art thou…?!”

Gazing up at the boy, Avrora opened her eyes wide in total surprise. Shio couldn’t hide her bewilderment over the girl’s unexpected reaction.

“Well, that makes me happy. So you remember me, Avrora baby?”

Looking back at the befuddled Avrora, he narrowed his eyes with what seemed like nostalgia. Then, pulling off his headphones and placing them around his neck, he turned toward Shio and offered his right hand in the chummiest of fashions.

“Motoki Yaze of the Gigafloat Management Corporation. I’ve come to lend you a hand, Shio Hikawa.”

5

He had a dream. A vision of a little girl with golden hair stuffing gummy candy into her mouth.

“Avro…ra?”

As he awoke, the familiar contours of her face sank into the far reaches of oblivion and vanished.

Feeling a wrenching sense of loss in his chest, Kojou opened his eyes amid the darkness.

He was in a cramped room that had once been constructed as a prison cell. It was the dorm they’d assigned him. He didn’t know at what point he’d returned. His memories of what happened after the shower room were vague.

Kojou’s whole body felt sluggish and heavy, like it wasn’t his own.

Both his arms were numb. His fingers were without feeling. Even so, Kojou shook his body and tried to force himself into a sitting position.

That instant, a strange sensation met his right palm. It was a stretchy, soft feeling, pleasingly cool yet warm at the same time. In fact, it was so pleasant to the touch that he wanted to sink his hand right in.

“What’s this softness…?”

Squinting through the darkness, Kojou almost had a coughing fit on the spot. He was blithely grasping Yukina’s bare breasts as she continued to sleep with her clothes undone.

“Whoa…?!”

His head full of proverbial question marks, Kojou yanked his hand back, quickly tidying up Yukina’s crooked bra to hide the evidence.

However, he had no time to be relieved, for he realized that something soft was embracing his left flank. Lying facedown as she slept, Shizuri’s entire half-naked form was wrapped tightly around his arm.

Moreover, what he’d mistaken for a pillow was actually Kanon in her underwear.

Oblivious to what had happened prior to this, he’d continued sleeping, embracing the trio in their most immodest state as if they were hugging pillows.

On top of that, Kojou himself was buck naked, not a single stitch of clothing on him. Even if they chided him for it later, he couldn’t complain about the spectacle.

“How the hell did I wind up like this…? What happened?!”

Kojou was completely at a loss, but none of the three girls replied to his question. They seemed not so much asleep as unconscious from fatigue.

“I see…all three of them…stopped my vampiric urges…”

Memories started flitting back to him as he became racked with a ferocious sense of guilt.

Losing himself to the urges, he’d attacked Yukina and the others and absorbed their spiritual energy until they were no longer able to move. The trio had spiritual energy far beyond that of any normal person, so the fact they’d passed out rudely awakened him to how reckless he’d been. If it hadn’t been them involved, it wouldn’t have surprised him if someone wound up losing their life.

“Uu…”

Sensing a metallic scent and a throb at the back of his nostrils, Kojou swiftly averted his eyes from all three girls. The sensation of their soft flesh had come rushing back to him, threatening to reinstate his cravings once more.

“I drank that much, and it’s still not enough…?”

Kojou pulled up the blanket to cover their bodies. He had some lingering regrets, but now wasn’t the time to voice them.

Pulling his eyes away from Yukina’s and the others’ sleeping faces, he put on some fresh, folded clothes.

The outfit Nina had provided for him was just like the school uniform and parka Kojou normally wore. They didn’t look any different, but right now he was grateful for that.

“Mm… Sen…pai…”

Abruptly, Yukina let out those bewitching words in the middle of her sleep. This was followed by Kanon and Shizuri also making oddly sexy noises as they slept. His shoulders trembled each time.

Painfully aware that his body would never hold out if he stayed put, he practically fled the room.

It was already the dead of night, but he sensed a fair number of people inside the lab.

Even at this hour, Kensei Kanase and Nina were continuing to treat the injured Astarte. On other floors, lab workers unfamiliar to Kojou and the others seemed to be at work. He could see guards on duty as well.

Opting to walk down a deserted-looking path so that no one would spot him, he easily slipped outside the building. It wasn’t that the security guards were monkeys; they were just that short-staffed.

The outer wall and ceiling Kojou had punched through during his battle with The Blood the night before remained broken and abandoned. Gazing up at the sky from the artificial isle’s bowels, he saw it beautifully packed full of stars.

Kojou continued walking around town, still staring at the silvery moon. The nighttime breeze felt good against his heated body. But this pleasant feeling didn’t last for long.

Sensing an unnerving gaze pricking at his flesh, he ground his feet with irritation. Even he was surprised at how sharp his senses had become.

“Come on out.”

Kojou suddenly called out to the back of the darkness. He behaved rudely and provocatively, making sure not to neglect beckoning whoever it was with his hand.

Responding to his taunt, figures emerged from the shadow of the building one by one. There were three in all. Each wore a metal bracelet around a wrist.

“What, yer still a brat ain’tcha? Tryin’ to act all cool.”

A demon man glared at Kojou as he spat that out. He was large—the spitting image of a hoodlum.

Most likely he was a gigas variant able to use spirit magic. But it was all the same to Kojou.

“Alone, huh? You’ve got guts.”

“Vampire…are you the ruler candidate of this domain, brat?”

“Huuuh? Whatever weird ideas you got in your heads, I don’t look anything like Natsuki, okay?”

Kojou grimaced in annoyance at their questions. Apparently, they hadn’t even gotten the memo that the ruler who’d subjugated the vicinity was none other than the Witch of the Void. That meant they were rogue ruler candidates, recent arrivals in Island North that just happened to be inspecting the premises.

“Never mind all of that; just get out of here…!”

Kojou warned them in a low voice. The beasts inside him were reacting, egged on by the hostility of the men. He couldn’t contain the ferocious emotions that were pouring out from him.

Watching him agonizingly grit his teeth, the men broke into scornful laughter.

“Ahh?”

“I’m telling you to get away from me! You got a death wish?!”

Glaring back at them, he shouted in fury. Kojou had already reached the limits of his self-control.

For a moment, the men were shocked into silence; the next instant, however, it was evident he’d fanned the flames of their ire. They no doubt felt Kojou was taking them for weaklings.

“You brat!”

“Don’t get ahead of yerself!”

“—You stupid jerks!”

Kojou watched with a desperate expression as the group activated spirit magic spells.

Then a torrent of demonic energy shimmering like black flames gushed out from his back.

Adopting the form of wings, they mowed down the men’s huge bodies.

A burst of wind raced down the street, digging into the surface of the ground. Several roadside trees blew away, roots and all, and streetlight poles bent and broke.

The rogue demons were unable to even raise a cry as the gale slammed them into the building behind them. The ominous sound of their bones breaking reverberated as fresh blood spilled from their mouths. Then the wings sprouting from Kojou’s back became giant blades and impaled them.

The pitch-black wings undulated with delight as they sucked fresh blood and demonic energy from his foes’ bodies.

“Senpai?! That demonic energy just now… What in the world was…?!”

He saw Yukina rush out of the laboratory, gripping her silver spear. By all rights, she shouldn’t have been in any condition to move yet, but she’d no doubt diligently pursued Kojou as soon as she’d noticed his absence.

“That’s…?!”

Noticing the things protruding from him, Yukina found herself aghast, unable to move.

Exhausted of strength, Kojou went down to his knees then and there as the pitch-black wings vanished. Since they’d completely consumed the demonic energy of the gigas men, they had lost their reason to remain materialized.

Kojou’s entire body was drenched with sweat as he breathed raggedly over and over.

It wasn’t because he was feeling pain. Quite the opposite.

He’d brandished overwhelming power to trample his foes. And he’d stolen the very life force from them.

The incredible pleasure he’d felt throughout the process filled him with terror, made his thoughts grow distant. He was awash in cravings and urges; at this rate, he felt as though he would cease to be himself.

“Senpai…”

Though Yukina’s expression was stiff with fear, she raced to Kojou’s side.

A moment afterward, a booming voice reverberated across the city just as it had quieted once more. It was a laughing, jovial tone.

“Ohhh, ohhh… My, you’ve done something brutal yet again, boy. Scary, scary.”

Looking down upon the fainted gigas was a tall and athletic foreigner. He wore baggy cargo pants and work boots, topping off the rugged getup with a black tank top.

“You’re…!”

“The First Primogenitor… Lord…Ki Juranbarada?!”

Kojou and Yukina exclaimed at the same time. The tall man—Ki—seemed somehow sullen, now bearing a resentful look.

“What, you figured out who I really am already? Must’ve been Aradahl’s doing… Damn him for stealing a man’s fun. And I thought I’d surprise you and everything.”

Ki kicked away a clod of earth, acting like a child whose prank had gone sour.

Kojou and Yukina continued to stare, taken aback at seeing the First Primogenitor like this. He looked genuinely rueful, nothing you would expect from the ruler of the Warlord’s Empire, the oldest and mightiest of the Dominions.

“Well, fine. Thanks to this I got to see something real interesting.”

Shaking his head ever so slightly to ward off his thoughts, Ki smiled in a leering, impetuous manner. He wasn’t what you’d call a pretty boy, but strangely, the man’s every gesture made him look attractive.

“What the heck are you doing here…?”

Kojou stood up and went on guard.

Previously, they’d unexpectedly crossed paths at an airport in Aldegia and that was it, but now things were different. Ki was revealing to Kojou that he’d come to Itogami Island as a participant in the Electoral War.

If Ki, the First Primogenitor, genuinely wanted the seat of Itogami Island’s ruler, a clash between him and Kojou was inevitable. It wouldn’t be surprising if he started up a duel to the death on the spot.

However, Ki simply stood there defenseless, smiling with delight as he gazed upon Kojou.

“Don’t give off all that bloodlust, boy. I came all this way to see you ’cause I was worried.”

“…Do you know what’s going on with my body?”

Keeping his guard up, Kojou prodded him back for answers.

He must have noticed the abnormal changes in Kojou’s body if he was saying he was worried. There was a slim chance he might have had an idea about what was causing it. After all, as a vampire primogenitor, he was Kojou’s senior by leaps and bounds.

“Ahhh, well of course I know that. Haven’t you realized it yourself by now?”

Ki replied with an easygoing tone.

Kojou went ghh as he clenched his teeth. The First Primogenitor’s assertion was true. He already knew the cause of the transformation. He was just afraid to acknowledge it.

“Senpai?”

Yukina shifted a bewildered gaze toward Kojou.

When he remained silent, Ki called out to him in an amused manner.

“At this rate, it’ll start up again.”

“Start? What are you…?”

Concerned, Kojou turned back to Ki. The towering First Primogenitor tilted his head for dramatic effect.

“What did they…? All that thing… Oh yeah, the Blazing Banquet.”

“The Blazing Banquet…you say…?”

The blood drained from Kojou’s entire body. “Blazing Banquet” was the name of a ceremonial ritual performed to revive the sealed Fourth Primogenitor.

In truth, however, that was simply a moniker for an indiscriminate plundering of memories over a huge target area. Anyone within the banquet’s area of effect, human and demon alike, had their memories stolen and their ability to reason stripped, which ultimately resulted in their deaths.

“Strictly speaking, it’s not exactly the same. Though admittedly the principle is pretty similar.”

Staring at the pale Kojou, Ki smiled ferociously.

“What’s different is that last time, it was Root Avrora kicking up the banquet, while this time, Root ain’t here. That’s about it.”

“If Root’s gone, then why’s the banquet happening…?!”

Kojou closed the distance with Ki.

“Hey, hey, use your head a little, boy. You should know that without even having to think, right?”

He shook his head theatrically.

“You’re starting the banquet. Or more precisely, the Beast Vassals inside you are.”

“The Beast Vassals…?”

Yukina murmured that with skepticism. After all, she’d never encountered Root Avrora. She didn’t know the horror of the banquet.

“But senpai should have the Fourth Primogenitor’s Beast Vassals under his rule…!”

“Ruling Beast Vassals?”

Surprised, Ki raised an eyebrow. This immediately gave way to a fit of laughter. He bent his tall frame forward, clutching his belly as he continued to guffaw. Kojou and Yukina watched in silence while he wiped tears from his eyes.

“That’s one hell of a good joke. Even I couldn’t pull that off.”

“Huh…?!”

Yukina’s eyes widened, as though she found this beyond belief.

Ki Juranbarada was the First Primogenitor, among the most ancient of vampires. He wasn’t like Kojou, who’d turned into the Fourth Primogenitor, an incomplete vampire, through a twist of fate. And now he was claiming Kojou couldn’t even rule his own familiars.

“Are you folks mistaking vampire Beast Vassals as tools to be used at your convenience? Beast Vassals aren’t a vampire’s weapons or possessions, let alone obedient pets. They’re shitty, rampaging beasts that just happen to inhabit our bodies, y’see? If they think they’re not getting enough to eat, they’ll go off hunting on their own for sure, understand?”

“To eat…?”

Yukina narrowed her eyes.

“Demonic energy.”

Ki bore his white fangs and chuckled. Then as Kojou stood there frozen, Ki pointed straight at his heart.

“The ‘Fourth Primogenitor’ is an artificial vampire built to become the World’s Mightiest Vampire served by twelve Beast Vassals. Thing is though, boy, you’re missin’ one of ’em at the moment. And when you’re missing something, ya have to make up for it—your Beast Vassals know by instinct.”

“…Then how has this not happened once before this?” rebutted Kojou in a quivering tone.

Good grief, went Ki as he shrugged his shoulders.

“That means the guys you’ve fought till now didn’t require the Fourth Primogenitor getting all serious. Don’t make me spell it out. Even that brat Dimitrie ended up like ‘that’ when he fought with ya.”

Ki seemed almost nostalgic as he uttered the name of the vampire Kojou had once defeated in the war of the primogenitors—the name of the Warlord Empire’s aristocrat said to be second to the primogenitors in power.

“But this time it’s a little different. On this island there’s me, that Fallgazer bastard, and even the Chaos Bride, that old hag. Your Beast Vassals realized that it’s bad stuff, stayin’ incomplete as ya are right now.”

“That’s why they’re craving demonic energy? To make up for the twelfth Beast Vassal…?!”

“Demonic energy? Honestly, it’d be great if they stopped at just that.”

Ki curled his lips sarcastically.

“Even if you sucked up all the power from every demon on this island, there’s no guarantee it’d be equal to even one of the Fourth Primogenitor’s Beast Vassals. That’s why they’ve got no choice but to directly consume the sources of that demonic energy. Anger, jealousy, hate, ambition, sadness, tenacity, and the thing all these strong negative feelings coalesce into—”

“Memories, huh…”

Kojou spat the words out with a sigh. Ki nodded.

“That’s right. They consume other people’s memories to make up for the demonic energy they’re lacking. That’s the mechanism behind the Blazing Banquet—the ceremonial ritual for awakening the World’s Mightiest Vampire.”

“Then The Blood’s reason for gathering all the primogenitors upon this island…,” Yukina muttered, realizing something.

“Was to back me into a corner and make me start the Blazing Banquet whether I like it or not…?”

Kojou suppressed his anger as he finished her thought with an even tone.

Raising up the Fourth Primogenitor as a symbol of terror—according to The Blood, that was the purpose of the Electoral War.

In that case, he would certainly want to reenact the Blazing Banquet.

If the Fourth Primogenitor destroyed Itogami Island, his own territory, his infamy would be unshakable for all time.

On top of that, with his power boosted by the banquet, he had a golden opportunity to prove he deserved the title of World’s Mightiest Vampire by defeating Ki and the other primogenitors.

That was how The Blood wanted this to end. This was the truth behind the stupid mess known as the Electoral War.

“What should I do to stop this…?”

Kojou looked up at Ki and asked this. The First Primogenitor let out an exasperated sigh.

“Like I said, use your head. What’s the reason your Beast Vassals want demonic energy in the first place?”

“To compensate for the missing Beast Va…”

Midway through, Kojou swallowed the words he was on the verge of voicing.

His mind was colored with anger and despair. There was a way to stop the banquet. But Kojou didn’t accept it. He absolutely could not accept doing that.

“You realized?”

Ki Juranbarada shot him a look resembling pity.

“If you take the twelfth Beast Vassal into you and become a complete Fourth Primogenitor, the banquet will end. Consume Dodekatos and obtain your final Beast Vassal or gain power by robbing memories wholesale from everyone on this island—pick whichever one you like.”

“I…”

Kojou’s lips trembled meaninglessly.

Taking the twelfth Beast Vassal into him meant breaking the seal of the last remaining Kaleid Blood—Avrora’s seal.

Since she was constructed for the sole purpose of sealing one of the Fourth Primogenitor’s Beast Vassals, she would vanish once he broke the seal.

But there was no other way to stop the Blazing Banquet.

“This time, I only came to tell you that. Once you get your power, let’s take some time to play, all right?

“Later,” said Ki with a casual wave of his hand, his entire body enveloped by black mist.

He thinned and vanished from sight, melting into the darkness.

“Wai…”

Kojou reached out to try and stop Ki, but he ended up futilely clenching his fist without having gotten in a single word.

There was nothing left to ask him or anything left to say. The man wasn’t Kojou’s mentor or even his friend. He’d just come to explain the rules, to give him some advice so that the game called the Electoral War would grow even more exciting. That was the role he’d adopted tonight.

“Senpai…”

As Kojou stood there with an agonized expression, Yukina gingerly called out to him.

However, he didn’t even notice her before he walked off, wobbly and without a destination. Stumbling over a broken roadside tree, Kojou fell to his knees, crouching down on the spot.

“Aaaaauuuuggghh!!”

Pounding the ground before him, Kojou howled toward the sky.

All Yukina could do was sadly gaze at him from behind.