CHAPTER FOUR

REUNION OF THE VAMPIRE PRINCESS

1

The huge demon beasts pursuing them emerged from all sides of the labyrinthine shopping mall.

Their sprinting along made the ground shake with ceaseless tremors. Their wriggling tentacles wreaked indiscriminate destruction upon the stores, their huge frames squishing and wrecking one structure after the next. It was a scene straight out of a disaster movie.

“Fooour, fiiiive, six, seven… Seven critters in all. More than I thought. I have to wonder, who cleans up all the droppings they leave behind?”

After confirming the number of demon beasts, Yuno voiced that question. She said it with a carefree tone. It was hard to tell if she was joking or actually being serious.

“Is this really the time to bring up that nonsense?”

Shizuri gripped the hilt of her long sword as she shouted.

Last time the type of monster known as IX-4 appeared on Itogami Island, it had exhibited the dangerous characteristic of absorbing surrounding magical energy to grow larger.

Shizuri’s demonic sword, which robbed anything it sliced of magical energy, was one of the few effective weapons against them. Nevertheless, there were simply too many foes for them to defeat. Rui and Yuno must have also been aware of that.

In spite of all that, the two were shockingly calm.

“IX-4…Proitogaminodon Magus Nipponix, was it? But these differ from the individuals confirmed to date. They’re clearly a closely related, artificially modified species. Fascinating.”

Rui calmly commented his observations of the demon beasts.

The Unknowns in the Keystone Gate were smaller than the one they’d encountered previously. Instead, these were agile and highly intelligent. They’d formed a pack and had attacked in a coordinated fashion. Their threat level had to be higher than IX-4’s had been.

“Well, fine. We’ll draw these kids off, so go on ahead of us, Shizurin.”

Yuno smiled boldly as she spoke. Shizuri turned back to them, aghast.

“Wh…what are you saying?! The two of you can’t possibly take on so many Unknowns at onc—”

“Rainbow Dragon Fist Number One, Talon Cry—!”

Before she even finished her sentence, Yuno slammed a palm strike into the demon beast before her. Although it was far slower than her usual blows, the instant her palm touched it, the demon beast’s huge body shuddered.

The creature roared as the shock wave pierced its hide, unable to endure the agony. Yuno was destroying the Unknown’s cells one by one from the inside out.

“Yin and yang, thy have a name, yet no form. Accordingly, thy fist is formless…and stuff. Ms. Sasasaki taught me this technique, so I’m glad it paid off so soon.”

“M-Miss Yuno…”

Shizuri’s eyes bulged at her teammate’s unexpected growth.

Over the last several days, Yuno had spent time with “Mystic” Misaki Sasasaki—a member of a group of combat masters who went by the Wizards of the Four Fists. Evidently, Yuno had put that time to good use by training under her.

An excellent hand-to-hand fighter to begin with, Yuno was probably exceptionally well suited to Misaki’s teachings, a combination of the mystic and the martial arts. In a scant few days, she’d grown to the point where she could duke it out with an Unknown on equal footing. This was the source of her composure.

“I suppose so. I never thought a chance for a rematch would come so soon.”

Behind the surprised Shizuri, Rui opened fire with his pistol-type Spell Throwers.

His spell bullets looked downright puny compared to the huge demon beast he faced. They couldn’t even hope to penetrate its hide. And yet, the instant the bullets touched it, his opponent’s outer hide collapsed and fell away as if it was being dissolved. He’d corrupted its cellular composition via a curse.

Consuming the demon beast’s demonic energy, the curse’s power grew greater and greater until it covered its target’s entire body.

This was the same type of curse that Kiriha Kisaki had employed in the Armor-Type Simplified Cursed Spear—aka “Flat”—she had used to eliminate IX-4. Apparently, Rui had independently analyzed the data of Flat, the Bureau of Astrology’s secret weapon, to complete a ritual bullet of the same kind.

Yuno and Rui had both lost to IX-4 once upon a time. Even if they never showed it, neither had forgotten the humiliation. Thus, they’d quietly polished up countermeasures against the Unknowns. Despite how happy-go-lucky they usually seemed, they couldn’t stand losing.

Thanks to that, Shizuri and the others could fight toe-to-toe against the Unknowns they had fought with such great difficulty in the past.

“Squad Leader, please go ahead of us. MAR must be out of security pods in the area if they’re sending in demon beasts.”

“Roger that… So be it!”

Rending the tentacles an Unknown had sent flying after her, Shizuri tried to head deeper into Keystone Gate.

However, the instant she broke from the demon beasts’ encirclement, Shizuri ground to a halt on pure instinct.

The next second an explosive shock wave betraying immense bloodlust raced by right before her eyes.

The blade was wreathed in a pale flame of demonic energy… The aura seemed to pulse from the sword itself.

“Shizurin?!”

“I am all right. This is nothing…!”

Her back still turned to Yuno, Shizuri adjusted her grip on her blade.

She pointed the tip of her sword to a woman with a white robe wrapped around her.

The woman clutched a curved sword that traced a gentle arc. Beautiful agate-colored horns that looked like gemstones protruded from her temples.

“So the Order of the End finally shows itself… What happened to that tacky mask of yours?”

Shizuri directed her inquiry toward the acolyte of the Order of the End, an ogre swordswoman.

The woman looked like she was in her midtwenties. Shizuri couldn’t make out much of her physique, but as the woman bluntly readied her curved sword, Shizuri sensed an odd melancholy about her. It came from the incredible amount of hatred her opponent harbored.

“Hear me, traitorous daughter of the Castiellas. I am Izea Nios.”

The ogre identified herself in a low voice.

Her statement made Shizuri knit her brows.

“You’re mentioning that again…?! Just who have I betrayed?!”

“Is not the attire you wear proof of your betrayal, daughter of the Castiellas?”

“Do you have some kind of grudge against Gisella?!”

Shizuri rudely prompted back, unable to restrain her irritation.

The ogre’s eyelids twitched slightly in anger.

“How shameless. Or are you simply ignorant that the Paladins of Gisella destroyed our people?”

“…Ogres…destroyed by Gisella?”

Shizuri murmured this, taken aback.

Seizing that momentary opening, the woman swung her curved sword. Shizuri blocked the demonic energy–infused azure blade with her deep crimson long sword. The surrounding air creaked as the two weapons collided.

“What do you know of Gisella?”

The ogre smashed her curved blade in with brute force.

“I mean seriously, what is Gisella? A group of knights protecting humankind from demons? A charitable organization preserving rare demon species that are nearly extinct?”

With Shizuri thrown off balance, the woman charged in, leading with her body. The hit from the woman’s ram attack sent Shizuri flying.

“No, that’s wrong. Gisella is a band of pillagers. They destroyed a great many demons in the name of converting them, plundering their wealth in the process. And to add insult to injury, they whisked away demon children and raised them to serve as soldiers for their own cause. That is what you Paladins of Gisella are.”

Shizuri barely managed to continue fending off Izea Nios’s follow-up strikes.

One certainly could not describe her swordsmanship as polished, yet however unpracticed it seemed, it left no openings. She’d forged this personal style of swordcraft on the field of battle. It boggled Shizuri’s mind to even contemplate how many duels she must have undergone.

Even so, Shizuri endured Izea’s ferocious assaults. The training she’d accumulated in her quest to become a paladin was helping Shizuri hold out, largely on an unconscious level.

This must have rubbed her opponent the wrong way; Izea was exuding incredible bloodlust.

“White hair is the mark of ogre royalty—how could you of all people wield the divine armament Hauras as part of the group that destroyed our people?!”

“Khh!”

Shizuri’s expression stiffened in shock. The blue curved sword Izea swung high was enveloped with a dazzling radiance—the light of demonic energy.

“—Demonstrate my rage, Radia!”

A beam enveloped Shizuri. The vast amounts of demonic energy it scattered about even made the Unknowns halt for a second.

The beam rent the floor asunder and smashed the wall behind Shizuri.

“Squad Leader…!”

“Shizurin?!”

Rui and Yuno turned back in shock.

Sword still pointed downward, Izea Nios breathed raggedly. The glow of demonic energy had already been banished, but they couldn’t make out Shizuri amid the dust dancing in the air.

But—

“…e allora…?”

They sensed her coughing amid the particles.

Izea lifted her face in surprise, hastily repositioning her curved sword.

“That’s…your reason? Why you…became a member of the Order of the End…”

Shizuri doffed her headscarf and slowly revealed herself. Although her pure-white coat was scorched and smoking, she’d somehow come out unscathed. Even for an ogre, she was unbelievably resilient.

“That’s right. I do not recognize the Holy Ground Treaty. There’s no way I can let humanity, the very species that brought us to the brink of extinction, coexist with Demonkind as if nothing ever happened.”

As though wary of Shizuri’s bizarre fortitude, Izea spoke while carefully maintaining her distance.

Shizuri looked back upon the woman with scorn.

“And so…you want to make the Fourth Primogenitor go berserk so that he can destroy the other primogenitors…? Hah… That’s a trivial, idiotic motive if I ever heard one.”

“What did you say…?!”

Izea’s expression contorted with anger. Shizuri let the ogre’s bloodthirsty gaze wash over her with annoyance before returning a smile fiercer than she’d ever given before.

“You…have this all wrong.”

“…All wrong?”

“You seem to think I’m unaware of Gisella’s past deeds!”

“What…?!”

When Shizuri pounded home her crimson long sword, Izea blocked it with her curved blade. But Shizuri ignored this and continued to brandish her sword with mighty force.

“Gisella’s efforts to propagate its own faith were obviously excessive, and it committed many sins as a result. Sometimes their actions sparked conflicts, which generated misery that could never be undone.”

“—Then why did you become their pawn?”

“Because I have faith that Gisella’s ideals were not in error!”

Shizuri yelled back, unleashing a flurry of sword strikes. With relentless attacks both vertical and horizontal, she circled around Izea’s defensive stance. For the first time, Shizuri’s will surpassed Izea’s.

Gisella was a heretical sect that splintered off of the Western European Church. According to their teachings, their members both had a duty to protect humanity from Demonkind and a duty to take demons under their care.

These ideals became the basis of numerous conflicts.

It was Gisella that had announced the existence of the ogre species to the world, thus creating the cause of their decline. Influenced by Gisella’s teachings of love, the ogre royals defenselessly welcomed human plunderers filled with malice, resulting in a genocide of a severity rarely seen in all of history.

“But even so,” shouted Shizuri.

“Long before adoption of the Holy Ground Treaty, only Gisella extolled the coexistence of humankind and Demonkind. Scorned and hated by their fellow humans as heretics, they never wavered in their creed. And they sought to atone for their sins without ever averting their eyes from the past—that’s why the queen of the ogres entrusted Hauras to them!”

Shizuri wore an expression filled with pride as she swung her crimson blade without the slightest hesitation.

The ogre tribe had a scant few members and was teetering on the brink of extinction. Shizuri had lost her family at a young age, so it would have scarcely been strange for her to lose her life as well.

But the Paladins of Gisella had saved her.

That was how she wound up living with them—and why she had chosen of her own volition to be their final paladin.

“Silence…!”

Izea forced back Shizuri’s sword. And yet, Shizuri’s blows did not cease.

“Gisella’s actions may have accelerated the destruction of the ogres. But when poachers and slavers aiming for their horns hunted our people to ruin, Gisella was the only one to fight on their behalf!”

“I told you to be silent!”

“And yet, because of your grudge against Gisella, you seek to erase the Holy Ground Treaty and make unrelated people suffer. That I cannot permit. As the last Paladin of Gisella, I shall stop you!”

“You little bitch!!”

Izea violently kicked Shizuri in her side. She took the blow in stride. It was Izea who let out an anguished moan as her bones creaked.

At that moment, Izea finally realized the nature of Shizuri’s bizarre level of toughness. The girl had called it the Blessing of a Paladin, but in reality, she was subconsciously deploying a bio-ward demonic energy.

Ogres had resilient bodies to begin with, so they had no reason to add a bio-ward—to learn the art of using one’s inner qi. But Shizuri, raised alongside human beings, had absorbed those teachings as if they were second nature.

She was both an ogre and a full and proper Paladin of Gisella. Izea appreciated this fact for the very first time.

“—This fang is the light that rends our darkness. Its breath is the flame that repels evil!”

The shaken Izea was before her as Shizuri solemnly incanted a spell.

A crimson glow enveloped the undulating blade of her long sword. She was going to release her demonic energy at point-blank range, blowback be damned. Without her own bio-ward, Izea would have no means to block it.

“Why you…!”

“Thy name is the fire-eating Serpent. Born of the soul of a saint, thou art the immutable blade—”

Shizuri slammed down the scarlet sword teeming with power.

The beam-like blade grazed Izea’s ear as it sent her azure sword flying. The fine-edged brand of energy sliced the ceiling of the shopping mall, bringing clumps of concrete falling down one after another. It also cleaved the waterfall, spraying water everywhere.

Her eardrums stung with pain as a violent gale raged across the area. Blood gushed from Izea’s shoulder.

But that was all the damage Shizuri had done. Izea stood there in bewilderment, unable to believe she’d sustained little more than a shallow cut to the shoulder. Shizuri had changed the arc of her sword an instant before ripping Izea’s body asunder.

“…Why…didn’t you finish me?”

Her weapon gone, Izea asked that like a woman adrift.

“Why am I obligated to kill you?”

Shizuri shot a disinterested glance at Izea, who had lost all will to fight and accepted defeat.

The ogre had slammed all her raw enmity and loathing into her opponent, yet Shizuri didn’t even view her as an enemy that needed to be put down. Now Izea knew.

Shizuri hadn’t been looking down on her. As the Paladin of Gisella, she saw Izea not as her foe but as a demon she was obligated to protect.

As far as Shizuri was concerned, the ideals of Gisella were more than empty words. Her actions had proven this to Izea.

“I have no time to deal with you any further. If you’re satisfied, I would ask that you politely withdraw—”

Steadying her breath, Shizuri walked past Izea on her way farther down the corridor.

The ogre gazed back wordlessly before she suddenly let out a gasp and lifted her head. Then she shoved Shizuri’s shoulder, hard.

“Wh-what are you…?!”

Buckling over, Shizuri glared back at the other woman.

Warm fluid struck Shizuri’s cheek. Crimson fluid that had scattered from Izea.

Izea collapsed forward, hands still outstretched from thrusting her opponent to safety.

The robe she wore was tattered and stained with the fresh blood gushing out of her. It was as if some giant, invisible blade had slashed her up without a sound.

“Wha—?!”

Mouth agape, Shizuri supported Izea.

There was no doubt that Shizuri would have taken the attack had the ogre not thrust her aside. Izea had saved her.

“The Order of the End…?! There’s still more?!”

Upon defeating the last of the Unknowns, Yuno shouted as she raced to her friend’s side.

Behind Izea, a new figure had emerged in the dimly lit corridor—a tall man in a suit.

Although he was Asian, his skin was bone white, and his face was plastered with a perpetual smile.

This was the man who had swung the invisible blade to rip Shizuri to shreds.

“No…he’s not from the Order of the End.”

Rui exclaimed this with his Spell Throwers raised. Despite usually being unflappable, even his voice was shaking. That was just how unexpected this man’s arrival was.

“President of Magna Ataraxia Research…Shahryar Ren…!”

Rui voiced his name.

Shizuri, however, couldn’t catch any more than that because an invisible blade swung down to assault them once more.

Though she tried to block it by emitting demonic energy, her foe’s invisible slice attack slipped right through Hauras. Whatever the invisible strike was, it didn’t run on magical energy.

His attack tore through Izea once more and sent fresh blood flying from her back.

The instant she witnessed this, something inside Shizuri snapped.

“Aah…aaaaaaaaaaaah!!”

Brandishing her crimson long sword, she charged at the man wearing a frigid smile.

A moment later, countless robot tanks emerged from behind him—Shahryar Ren. The MAR robot tank unit trained its gun barrels upon Shizuri all at once.

“Don’t, Squad Leader! Get back!”

“Shizurin!”

Rui and Yuno shouted at the top of their lungs.

The sound of the tank unit’s antipersonnel machine guns drowned out their cries.

2

“—Snowdrift Wolf!”

A silver flash sliced apart the frigid mist surrounding the blond girl.

Avrora looked on in surprise as Yukina leaped into the raging, demonic energy–infused whirlwind, intent on shielding the girl. Yukina looked back at the vampire and smiled for the briefest of moments.

Protecting Avrora was outside of the bounds of Yukina’s mission. Eliminating her was the surest way to stop the Blazing Banquet.

So long as Avrora’s seal remained unbroken, the Blazing Banquet could not be contained. Perhaps all Yukina was doing was forcing the decision onto Kojou.

But that was something Kojou should choose for himself. If The Blood whisked away Avrora, the Blazing Banquet would happen whether he wanted it to or not—and there was no way she could let that happen.

“Move aside, Yukina Himeragi. I have no desire to harm you.”

The Blood watched Yukina guard Avrora as he spoke that warning.

He aspired to hoist up the Fourth Primogenitor as a symbol of fear incarnate. And since she was Kojou’s Blood Servant, The Blood needed her power to realize his ambitions. As far as he was concerned, she had no value beyond that. If she ignored his warning and defied him, he would have no reason to hold back.

“Yukina…!”

Avrora called out to her. Heed me not and run was her message.

“It’s all right. I will bring you with me to Akatsuki-senpai!”

Yukina shook her head without hesitation, rejecting her appeals.

“Quit it, li’l Himeragi…!”

The whirlwind buffeted Yaze as he shouted in desperation. Yuiri was on the ground, injured. The only thing Shio could accomplish was staying put so that she didn’t get blown away. Only Yukina, protected by the Divine Oscillation Effect of Snowdrift Wolf, was exempt from the effects of The Blood’s Beast Vassal.

“So that’s how it’s going to be. How disappointing.”

Sighing slightly, The Blood raised his right hand.

Something looked off about him to Yukina. But before she could deduce what that was, his Beast Vassal raised a neigh.

The pitch-black bicorn slammed one of its enormous hooves downward toward her.

In response, she thrust her silver spear forward, receiving the hoof head-on.

It was a mass of demonic energy enveloped by raging winds. Its might was on par with the Beast Vassals of the Fourth Primogenitor, the World’s Mightiest Vampire.

Even if you had demonic energy–nullifying properties of the Schneewaltzer, this creature wasn’t the sort of opponent you could take head-on.

But the wellspring of spiritual power coursing through Yukina beyond human limitations willed that possibility into being.

Wings of light spread from her back as she repelled the bicorn’s enormous frame.

“The abilities of Faux-Angel, hmm?”

The Blood let out a murmur of admiration. All excess confidence had vanished from his voice. In fact, it was tinged with a blatant nervousness unfit for a vampire who boasted an inexhaustible supply of demonic energy.

But when it came to having little room for error, Yukina was the one backed into a corner.

Even tapping into spiritual energy beyond her limits, the best she could achieve was parity with a single one of The Blood’s Beast Vassals. And as the prototype of the Fourth Primogenitor, The Blood had twelve at his beck and call.

“Come forth, Primus Succinum!”

His expression contorted with pain as he summoned a second Beast Vassal.

Pitch-black magma gushed out from the artificial soil, changing into the form of a giant minotaur.

“Khh!”

Yukina’s eyes wavered with despair. The minotaur swung its giant ax at the immobilized girl.

Seeing this, Avrora rushed forward, her entire body enveloped with a white mist once more. She was releasing the Beast Vassal within her body.

Just then, she halted at the sound of an incredible roar behind her.

It was a roar like beautiful, subtle music, or perhaps a roar like countless humans screaming.

“—Most Brilliant Flaming Horse, Illustrious Kirin, He Who Governs Heavenly Thunder, pierce these evil spirits with thy wrath…!”

A girl chanted a prayer in a serene voice.

Then the glow of giant magic circles spread above Yukina and the others’ heads.

These circles multiplied in overlapping layers as if to form the barrel of a cannon. High-density ritual energy beams burst out from them with incredible force. The roar of whistling arrows had formed a spell for an ultra-large-scale cursed cannonball.

“Der Freischötz ritual artillery attack…! Kirasaka?!”

Shio’s eyes glimmered as she looked overhead.

Standing on the roof of the half-wrecked warehouse was Sayaka Kirasaka, clutching a silver recurve bow.

The Der Freischötz was a Lion King Agency area-suppression weapon. Its instant ritual energy rivaled a large-scale ceremonial spell in strength.

The ritual spell artillery attack produced an abnormal reaction even in The Blood’s Beast Vassals as it washed over them. They dissolved into a bloody mist before vanishing into thin air.

It happened suddenly, as if their demonic energy had run dry.

“I made it in time! Looks like you’re all right, Yukina!”

Sayaka’s ponytail flapped around as she leaped down to the ground. Now that The Blood’s Beast Vassals had disappeared, the whirlwind that had been blowing abated.

“Kirasaka…how did you get to Itogami Island? Aren’t the airports completely…?”

Setting her happiness at their reunion aside, Yukina asked this to Sayaka skeptically.

For some reason, the other girl grimaced as if she was remembering something rather unpleasant.

“Er, let’s talk about that later… More importantly, where’s the host for those Beast Vassals from earlier? He’s The Blood, right?”

Sayaka nocked a new cursed arrow as she surveyed the area with a serious look on her face.

“You attacked without even knowing the enemy’s face?”

Shio, wobbling as she rose to her feet, shifted an exasperated gaze toward Sayaka.

Sayaka sullenly pursed her lips.

“I looked into him that much at least…but isn’t he a little on the scrawny side?”

“Scrawny? I mean I guess he looks like a boy, but…”

Glaring at the boy with the flaxen hair as she said this, Shio suddenly gasped.

“…?!”

Yukina and Avrora simultaneously drew in their breaths.

Even cloaked in the darkness, The Blood was clearly two degrees smaller than before.

His breathing was labored, and he had dropped to a knee on the ground.

His now oversized tailcoat slid down his shoulder. Droplets of sweat gushing from his forehead trickled down his cheeks. His body was spewing a pitch-black mist with a shhhuuu. He was indiscriminately leaking demonic energy.

“The Blood is…getting younger…?”

Yukina understood just why she’d felt something was off about him.

When she had first encountered The Blood, he had appeared to be roughly the same age as her. But when they’d met again at the start of the Electoral War, he’d seemed younger than that. And now he was younger still, continuing to regress in age.

“Could it be a consequence of summoning the Beast Vassals…?”

Yukina murmured this, realizing the source of his abnormality.

Even though he possessed power on par with the Fourth Primogenitor, The Blood—Kaleid Blood Number Zero—had been deemed a failed prototype. His current state explained why.

Unable to withstand the vast “negative life force” of a vampire primogenitor, his body was continuing to revert in age. He was not unaging and undying. In place of getting old, he was turning younger and surely would completely vanish someday. That was why he had abandoned becoming a king himself and had entrusted that role to Kojou.

“You…saw…!”

Heaving agonized breaths, The Blood glared at Yukina and the others.

He was out of time. The more he fought, the more power he lost, and the weaker he became. If Kojou learned of this, The Blood would have no chance of achieving victory.

To continue the Electoral War, he only had one option remaining—exterminating everyone present to keep his secret under wraps.

“Kreyd!”

The Blood called out the name of the acolyte on standby behind him—the man wearing a lizard skull–motif mask.

He nodded silently and charged at Yukina and company with incredible force.

“Why you!!”

Sayaka rose to face off against him. Transforming her silver recurve bow to a sword, she slipped into cutting range. Yukina’s expression froze over as she saw this. Sayaka was still unaware of his true nature.

“No, Sayaka! That acolyte is…!”

“Huh…?!”

Just before colliding with the masked man, Sayaka widened her eyes in shock as magma-like flames enveloped his entire body.

The skull mask split apart. The man’s robe burned away in a single instant. His already large frame swelled up to several times that size, transforming into the form of an enormous dragon.

“I…I heard nothing about a dragon…!”

Sayaka could not stop his charge. The difference in mass was simply too great. All she could do was defend herself from the incandescent breath he scattered with a pseudo-spatial severing bulwark.

His tail, enveloped by bronze scales, swept sideways to assail Yukina and the others.

Snowdrift Wolf was powerless against physical attacks that didn’t depend on magical energy. Even with Physical Enchantment firing on all cylinders, Yukina could do nothing but evade it.

As Avrora cowered, unable to even speak, the dragon stretched an enormous forepaw out and grasped her.

“Miss Avrora?!”

The creature spread its enormous wings and soared into the air.

Now that he’d taken her hostage, Sayaka couldn’t use her ritual spell artillery attack. Meanwhile, Yukina and the others could raise neither hand nor foot against him.

“How unfortunate. To think that the Fourth Primogenitor’s Blood Servant would come to such an end…”

The Blood murmured, coldly glaring upon their desperation.

Yukina watched aghast as he raised his right hand to summon a Beast Vassal.

“Yukina?”

When she stopped moving, Sayaka glanced back at her with a questioning look. Her friend, however, said nothing in reply. She had frozen in place as if turned to stone, fear clouding her eyes.

Lion King Agency Sword Shamans peered an instant into the future as they fought.

Reading the opponent’s actions in advance, she evaded fatal blows and selected the most favorable outcome. That was why Yukina could stand toe-to-toe with demons despite her physical inferiority.

But now that foresight had filled her with despair.

In a single second, The Blood would unleash every one of the Beast Vassals at his disposal. Then Yukina’s future was severed. No matter what action she took, she would not be able to defend herself against his attack. Sayaka, Shio, Yuiri, Yaze—everyone else would fall alongside her. There was no way to alter this fate. Every branching path Yukina could select resulted in a Bad End.

Yet just before despair swallowed her heart, Yukina thought she heard someone’s voice.

Peer not into the future. Slice it open with thine own hands—

She recalled Koyomi Shizuka’s words. All the futures Yukina glimpsed held only despair. She could not choose any branch to avoid that.

Therefore, she had to create her own future, one that should not exist—

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah—!!”

Don’t rely too much on Spirit Sight. The teachings of Yukari Endou came rushing back to her.

Peer into a future that does not exist. Move within a future that does not exist. The only fundamental difference was its nonexistence. If she could recognize it, then surely she could manifest it.

It was like cramming a nonexistent page into a closed book. She was forcing a phantom moment into the continual flow of time.

She would defeat The Blood before he launched his assault. Such was the privilege of an absolute initiative attack—

“Wha…?”

The Blood stared at his severed right arm, dumbfounded.

A noise echoed like the world itself had cracked as time reverted to normal.

The vast demonic energy spewing out of The Blood to summon his Beast Vassals vanished like an illusion. Snowdrift Wolf’s demonic energy–nullifying capabilities had erased his demonic energy.

“Yukina Himeragi…what have you done…?!”

The Blood looked back at Yukina, who’d appeared behind him as if she’d teleported.

Silver spear still raised, she stood unmoving, as though she’d done nothing at all. The time during which she’d struck him did not exist. All that there was to show for it were the results.

“Yukii…”

“That ability… Don’t tell me that’s…Lady Shizuka’s…”

Yuiri and Shio stared at Yukina incredulously. As members of the Lion King Agency, they knew she’d worked miracles.

“‘Paper Noise’…!”

Sayaka’s voice trembled with shock. This seemed to trigger The Blood’s scream.

“Khh…aaaaaaaah…!”

A pale light like a flame was spreading from his shoulder. Snowdrift Wolf’s Divine Oscillation Effect was eroding his vampiric body.

“Kreyd! Take Sister and go—!”

The Blood shouted his command to the dragon circling above. Even if he was gravely wounded, he could still fulfill his objectives by whisking Avrora away. But…

“Thou shalt…not…!”

Accompanying a low, gravelly voice, a silver light burst from the earth.

This luminescence wrapped around the dragon’s neck, causing his huge form to stagger midflight. An armor-clad swordsman flew toward him. In his right hand, he gripped a two-handed blade of incredible size.

The large bronze dragon shot flames right at the swordsman. No matter how stout his armor, surely he could not endure their scorching heat.

“It’s…futile!”

The swordsman, however, slipped past the blaze and swung his huge sword. His weapon, more mass of metal than blade, easily rent the resilient scales covering the dragon’s hide, causing it to roar in agony.

With its left wing severed up to half its base, the creature plummeted to the sky just like that. Avrora shot out of his hand on impact, then rolled across the ground, unconscious.

The man in full body armor landed before readying his sword once again.

Yukina knew his identity.

“You’re…one of the escapees from the Prison Barrier…!”

“Bruté Dumblegraff…! Why is one of the Georgius…?!”

The Blood glared hatefully at the man as he exclaimed. Naturally, even he hadn’t anticipated an interloper quite like this.

The man in armor—Dumblegraff—spared a glance for neither Avrora nor The Blood as he approached the fallen beast.

“I care not for thee… My only desire is to annihilate all dragons…!”

Raising his huge sword high, the man smashed it into the beast’s flank.

Bruté Dumblegraff, a descendant of the Georgius—the dragon slayers—was a former mercenary and one-time employee of the Western European Church. He had enhanced his body solely through heretical rituals. His hatred for dragons was so extreme that he’d destroyed a number of cities through excessive combat, which eventually placed him in the ranks of the most notorious criminals. Thanks to Natsuki Minamiya, he was at last incarcerated in the Prison Barrier.

And now that very same Dumblegraff had appeared in the real world to challenge an acolyte of the Order of the End to battle. They could think of only one person behind this.

“Well played, Witch of the Void…!”

The Blood audibly clenched his teeth in irritation.

Dumblegraff lived solely for slaying dragons. He wasn’t someone you could trust or leave to his own devices, but so long as Yukina and the others faced one of his sworn enemies, he was unmistakably a dependable ally.

The Order of the End had a dragon among their ranks. Realizing this, Natsuki had no doubt deliberately released Dumblegraff from the Prison Barrier. Since his focus was on defeating dragons, his interests had aligned with their own.

“How…pitiful, ‘Kenon.’”

The Blood grimaced in humiliation as they heard a laughing, scornful voice from behind him.

Shrouded in crimson mist, a small individual in an elegant dress appeared.

They had long purple hair, a shapely face, and white skin. And their body was enveloped in demonic energy that rivaled The Blood’s.

“Fallgazer…Aswadguhl Aziz…”

The vampire boy backed away as though afraid.

Yukina and the others were fighting inside the Second Primogenitor’s domain. That prolonged combat might cause him to make an appearance was hardly unexpected.

No, it was probably the other way around.

The Second Primogenitor had been lying in wait for The Blood. And he’d used Avrora to bait The Blood out of hiding.

“I was certain that if the Twelfth was backed into a corner, you would reveal…yourself.”

Aswadguhl’s long pure-white fangs poked out of his smile.

If Avrora fell into peril, The Blood would invariably come to save her. He couldn’t allow the vampire girl to release her Beast Vassal and stop the Blazing Banquet.

The Second Primogenitor knew this. That was why he’d let Shio and Avrora go on purpose and had chased them all around. And why he’d lit a fire under Yuiri to make her try to kill Avrora.

All of it was his stratagem to flush The Blood out of hiding.

“I find an easy end to the Electoral War inconvenient, so I had planned to overlook you…but I have changed my…mind. Kenon—in the end, you’re a defective product, a failure unable to endure your own negative life force… Am I wrong? That is most…unsightly.”

Looking down upon The Blood as he continued regressing to a little boy, the Second Primogenitor smiled cruelly. Cowed by his bloodlust, The Blood stretched his left hand forth.

“Kuh—Primus Aurum!”

“Are you fine with that? Even with that body you summon a Beast…Vassal?”

A smile like a flower in bloom came over Aswadguhl’s lips. A mist of fresh blood emanated from his body and transformed into enormous beasts.

“Re…vive, Battalion of Death…!”

The Second Primogenitor summoned a Beast Vassal composed of dozens of huge, carnivorous dinosaurs, each surpassing ten meters in total length. They all bared their fangs as they assaulted The Blood’s Beast Vassal.

The Beast Vassal of the Second Primogenitor, Aswadguhl Aziz, was actually a single horde of deceased spirits. The malice of the beasts known as dinosaurs, destroyed long, long ago, now constituted a single Beast Vassal.

“Aah…aaaaaaaaaaah!!”

The Blood screamed in agony.

The horde of ravenous carnivorous dinosaurs chewed apart the pitch-black, lightning-shrouded lion. To repair its flesh, the pitch-black lion needed to absorb demonic energy from its host.

The Blood’s weakened body could not withstand that depletion of demonic energy. His lethal age regression accelerated instantly.

“—Come forth, Primus Cinereus!”

Backed against the wall, The Blood summoned a second Beast Vassal.

But this wasn’t for resisting the Second Primogenitor. The pitch-black shelled beast spewed mist over The Blood, letting him vanish from sight. He must have conspired to flee after realizing that he couldn’t defeat Aswadguhl.

“Shit…Aerodyne!”

Yaze manipulated the air to whip up a sudden gust of wind and blow away the black miasma. Perhaps because the Beast Vassal’s host had vanished, he managed to sweep it away with relative ease.

But now The Blood was gone. And so was someone else—

“Avrora…?! Avrora, where are you?!”

Shio looked around inside the wrecked warehouse, shouting.

She’d tried to evacuate Avrora’s unconscious body to safety. But all of the sudden, she vanished within Shio’s very arms. The Blood had taken her away.

“Unfortunately…he has es…caped.”

Brushing his purple hair back, Aswadguhl spoke tediously.

The dragon slayer was still locked in combat with his target. But Aswadguhl couldn’t have cared less about that. Since The Blood had escaped, their battle no longer held any meaning to him. The same went for Yukina and her group.

“But it is all…right. ‘Kenon’ no longer has anywhere to…run. The rest, tee-hee…let us leave that to the Fourth Primogenitor.”

“To Akatsuki-senpai…?”

Aswadguhl’s suggestive comment made Yukina’s expression harden. He knew something about Kojou’s actions.

“What’s the meaning of this, Yukina Himeragi? Where’s Kojou Akatsuki right now?”

Perplexed, Shio asked this of Yukina.

It was Sayaka who answered.

“Kojou Akatsuki went to Keystone Gate.”

“What did you say…?!”

Shio glared at Sayaka in shock.

“Why didn’t you stop him? Right now…Kojou’s body is…!”

Yuiri closed the distance to Sayaka with teary eyes.

She had gone as far as to try and kill Avrora in order to stop the Blazing Banquet from activating. If Kojou fought the acolytes of the Order of the End occupying Keystone Gate, however, the chances of the Blazing Banquet activating rose tremendously.

“Nah, I get it… Li’l Kasugaya is at Keystone Gate, huh? And Kojou went there to save her?”

Yaze checked with Sayaka in a composed tone of voice.

Sayaka gave him a wordless nod. To save Shizuri, who’d come into contact with Unknowns, Kojou entrusted saving Avrora to Sayaka while he headed for Keystone Gate.

“Kasugaya…? Shizuri Kasugaya?! Don’t tell me she’s trying to end the Electoral War?!”

Shio exclaimed, bewildered.

The only way to prevent the Blazing Banquet without killing Avrora was to force the Electoral War to a swift end.

Shizuri had entered Keystone Gate in order to do that in a way none had thought possible. Hence why Kojou couldn’t simply abandon her.

And by a twist of fate, The Blood was fleeing toward Keystone Gate with the other key to ending the Electoral War—the Twelfth, Avrora—in tow.

Now it was beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Electoral War would be settled at Keystone Gate.

Yes. No matter how it concluded—

“Senpai…!”

Clenching her silver spear, Yukina shifted her gaze toward the inverted pyramid.

The giant structure serving as the nucleus of Itogami Island stood silently against the darkness.

3

When he arrived at Keystone Gate, Kojou found enough wrecked weaponry to fill the entire corridor to the brim. They were the remains of military-grade armed security pods and anti-demon robot tanks—all MAR’s latest models.

Parting the wreckage as he advanced farther in, he caught sight of a pair of acquaintances. It was Rui and Yuno, his former Team Kasugaya teammates, engaged in a fierce bout against two security pods.

“Miyazumi! Amase!”

“Akatsuki? What are you doing here?”

Pistol-form Spell Throwers raised, Rui turned around in complete surprise. If they were cooperating with Shizuri, they of course knew about Kojou’s circumstances, too. In spite of them fighting so that he wouldn’t use any demonic energy, the man himself had shown up on the battlefield. Small wonder Rui was shocked.

But from Kojou’s perspective, Rui and Yuno being there was the surprise.

“Kojikoji, run!”

Yuno shouted at the perplexed Kojou.

When he looked back, grotesque shapes rose into his field of vision; a horde of Unknowns. He didn’t understand the circumstances very well, but apparently Rui and Yuno were fighting MAR automated combat weaponry and Unknowns at the same time.

“Nah…these guys bein’ here is a huge help!”

Glaring at the approaching demon beasts, Kojou grinned ferociously.

Pitch-black wings shimmering like flames shot from his back. These sliced through the air as if they were sentient beings to pierce straight through the Unknowns’ bodies.

Skewered, the creatures writhed and screamed.

“Whoa, what’s with that getup…?! Kojikoji’s hobby?”

“No one has hobbies whacked enough to grow stuff like this!”

Feeling emotionally drained from Yuno’s misunderstanding, he continued deploying the jet-black wings.

The Unknowns, which had enough life force to be practically immortal, began to decompose on the cellular level at an incredible clip. Kojou was sucking out their demonic energy reserves with his black wings.

This way, he could compensate for his lacking demonic energy to postpone the start of the Blazing Banquet a little longer—the Unknowns’ appearance had unwittingly worked out in his favor.

At the same time, Rui and Yuno gained more room to breathe with less enemies to worry about. Instantly seizing upon their advantage, they destroyed one MAR-manufactured automated machine after another.

The fact MAR was so blatantly involved in the occupation of Keystone Gate made Kojou blast past surprised all the way to astonished. The fact that the Unknowns had shown up meant they didn’t think there was a need to hide it any longer.

“Where’s Cas? Wasn’t she with you?”

He asked this as Rui and Yuno continued fighting. Rui fired off a burst of spell rounds as he glanced back.

“We were separated. Squad Leader is fighting the president of MAR by herself.”

“MAR’s…president?”

Kojou’s eyes widened. Naturally, he didn’t think a big shot like him would come to Keystone Gate himself.

“Go ahead of us, Kojikoji! Go save Shizurin!”

Yuno encouraged Kojou as she kicked apart a security pod.

“Got it; leave the rest to me!”

With that, Kojou ran off deeper into Keystone Gate. His wings sliced apart the MAR-manufactured automated weapons trying to bar his path.

“Leave the rest to him, he says… Sure got reliable all of a sudden.”

Yuno narrowed her eyes, deeply moved as she watched from behind him. It was the sort of expression a mother would make as she watched her own child grow.

“I suppose you’re right. That being the case, all we need to do is secure an escape route—though that may prove somewhat difficult.”

Rui let out a small sigh as he glanced up at the sky through the crevice in the ceiling.

The din coming down from above was created by an MAR transport helicopter. They were probably bringing in automated weapons to reinforce the others. This move perfectly demonstrated the strength of the conglomerate’s convictions; it showed that MAR would not let anyone take Keystone Gate, no matter the cost.

By contrast, Rui was just about out of spell rounds. Yuno’s endurance was also at its limit. If they mistimed their retreat, they could wind up getting wiped out entirely instead of securing an escape route.

But even as he looked on morosely, flames suddenly spewed from the descending transport helicopter. Components scattered along with exploding flames, and the helicopter fluttered and spun as it crashed into the canal.

“Eh? Why…?”

Yuno blinked in total surprise. Then her bestial ears twitched as they picked up something.

Behind Rui and Yuno, from the direction of Keystone Gate’s entrance, they heard the voices of multiple people. After that came the sound of explosions, gunfire, and even sorcery and vampires summoning Beast Vassals.

“This is…”

Rui and Yuno traded glances.

Pouring in from the entrance all at once like an avalanche were ruler candidate demons from all across Itogami Island. They’d noticed the abnormality at Keystone Gate; it had apparently served as a signal for them to band together.

The duo didn’t know what they were after. Perhaps they wanted to win the Electoral War; perhaps it was to give the Order of the End a pounding and bring the conflict to a close. Or maybe they were simply going with the flow, rampaging as they pleased.

But they did know one thing for certain—even MAR could not halt their momentum.

The Electoral War had unmistakably begun moving to its final act.

4

Shizuri Kasugaya lay in a shallow crater that looked as though it had been punched out of the corridor.

Rubble covered half her body. It was a terrible sight. Her coat was charred all over the place and had become largely shapeless. The school uniform beneath it was in tatters, too.

“Cas!”

Sweeping rubble away with his bare hands, Kojou picked up Shizuri. He violently shook the limp girl, desperately calling into her ear.

“Cas! Hey, Cas! Hang in there!”

“…It’s Shizuri Kasugaya Castiella… Who’s this Cas person…?!”

Furrowing her brow, Shizuri sullenly opened her eyes. In contrast to her cruelly wrecked outfit, Shizuri herself was largely unscathed. She was as shockingly resilient as ever.

“You all right, Cas?”

“But of course… This is the blessing of a paladin of Gisella…?!”

The instant she shook her head and tried to sit up, there was an audible rip that sounded like fabric tearing. Shizuri’s skirt had snagged on some rubble, sending her fastener flying off its hook, whereupon her skirt smoothly fell down without the slightest resistance.

“Aaaaaahhhh,” went the bestial cry Shizuri raised as she crouched down on the spot.

Kojou instantly averted his eye. She glared at him with tears in her own.

“Y-you saw, didn’t you?!”

“Didn’t you do that to yourself?!”

“Uuu…!”

Pouting, she yanked up her skirt and used her sword belt to force it to stay wrapped around her hips. The bottom of her skirt seemed a lot shorter all of a sudden, but given the situation, he pretended not to notice.

“Well, I’m glad you’re all right at least. Doesn’t look like you’re hurt that bad.”

“I am not all right at all. Plus, that sounds pretty indecent coming out of your mouth.”

She sourly retorted, still pressing down on the hem of her skirt.

“What the hell for?!” said Kojou, baring his teeth before scowling suddenly. He noticed that a member of the Order of the End was on the ground very close to them.

Though barely breathing, she was gravely wounded from spectacular slashes all over her body. If she wasn’t a resilient demon, she would have lost her life long before this.

“And her? You did this?”

“No, it wasn’t me.”

When Kojou inquired, bewildered, Shizuri replied with a hardened expression.

“But this ogre…”

“Yes, she’s an acolyte of the Order of the End. She shielded me from an attack from Shahryar Ren—”

“Shahryar Ren…? MAR’s president?”

He stared at her in surprise. Ren, top manager of a conglomerate spanning the globe, was so famous that even Kojou knew his name. The president of MAR had attacked an Order of the End acolyte while she was shielding Shizuri. He had no idea what could have brought that about.

Shizuri, however, did not reply any further as she began administering first aid to the acolyte. Beginner-level healing spells could do little beyond stopping bleeding and regenerating surface wounds, but that was all she could do since she wasn’t a proper healer.

“Did Shahryar Ren also destroy the security pods?”

“Hmm? No, surely not…”

Shizuri was at a loss for words as she examined the wreckage of automated weaponry scattered around them.

From a quick count, about thirty security pods and robot tanks had closed in on her. But since someone had scrapped them, she’d managed to remain largely unscathed.

The scars on the automated weapons bore a strong resemblance to the attacks that had wounded the Order of the End woman. The grand, chaotic marks suggested a giant bladed object had slammed against them.

But Shahryar Ren, president of MAR, had no reason to destroy his own company’s automated weaponry.

The hell’s goin’ on? wondered Kojou, but when he and Shizuri tilted their heads, gunfire rang out in the corridor, followed by the screeching sound of vehicle tires spinning against the floor. Someone fighting the automated weapons.

“Haah, haah—!”

Chasing after a retreating robot tank, a diminutive figure leaped out of the darkness. It was a dreadlocked youth clad in outdated streetwear. On his left wrist, he wore a gold bracelet that looked like a manacle for securing prisoners. Kojou had seen identical things previously.

“Hey you, ya ain’t gettin’ away! Take this—Thunder Ax!”

Face twisted like he was really worked up, the youth swung his right arm high.

That instant, the robot tank’s chassis was smashed apart as if rent by some invisible blade.

“How ’bout that! Sheesh, really makin’ me work my ass off here…!”

The youth’s shoulders rose and fell a bit as he laughed loudly, proud of his victory.

It was then that he narrowed his brows questioningly, only just now noticing Kojou and Shizuri’s presence. Kojou pointed at the youth and unwittingly raised his voice.

“You’re…! That escaped prisoner from a while back…!”

“Ah? Of all people, it’s the Fourth Primogenitor brat? Whatcha come here for at a time like this?”

Keh, the youth went, spitting off to the side as he arrogantly threw questions back at Kojou.

Schtola D was supposedly his name. He was one of the escapees from the Prison Barrier during the Black Bible Incident that had taken place the year before. After losing his fight with Sayaka, he’d returned to the Prison Barrier and should have remained under Natsuki Minamiya’s observation ever since.

“This vulgar man is an acquaintance of yours, Kojou?”

Shizuri continued treating the ogre woman as she grimaced with visible displeasure.

“Nah, not exactly an acquaintance but…”

“Aah?! The hell’s with you? Wanna go at it, you sow?!”

Schtola interrupted Kojou’s awkward rebuttal and shouted angrily at Shizuri.

“S—,” she went, aghast. Though her temple twitched, she managed to keep her anger in check with superhuman effort.

“A-are you the one who came to my aid?”

“Haah? Who the hell are you? All I’m doin’ is trashing everyone gettin’ in my way. Like I give a rat’s ass about you, moron.”

“M-moron…?!”

“Why are you puttering around inside Keystone Gate?”

With Shizuri on the verge of snapping and going berserk, Kojou swiftly butted in to confirm that with him.

Schtola glanced morosely back at Kojou.

“I came to kill that Shahryar bastard’s ass. Got special permission to head out from that annoyin’ Witch of the Void to do it, too.”

“Shahryar? You mean Shahryar Ren, MAR’s president?”

“President? That shitty thievin’ jerk sure got himself a lofty, important-soundin’ title.”

“Thief?”

Kojou asked this with a bewildered look on his face. Schtola nodded in utter disgust.

“Yeah. That Shahryar R dude is a survivor of the Devas just like me.”

“Devas? The descendants of the ancient gods… Are you saying you’re one of them?”

She widened her eyes. Schtola bared his teeth with annoyance.

“What?! Ya got a problem with that?!”

“…What’s a Deva survivor doing trying to kill off another one?”

Annoyed at himself, Kojou continued his line of questioning. The conversation wasn’t progressing much since Schtola and Shizuri were at odds with each other.

“I told ya already—the bastard’s a shitty thief.”

He violently stomped apart a piece of wreckage at his feet.

“Shahryar R is a rebel who came down to the surface after robbin’ the legacy of the Devas. We’ve been chasin’ after him to get it back. I’m the only survivor of the group, but thanks to me killin’ the asses of people gettin’ in my way, I got treated like some criminal at some point.”

“…Legacy of the Devas?”

Schtola’s unexpected revelation piqued Kojou’s interest.

However, Schtola simply clicked his tongue as if to indicate he’d said too much already.

“It’s a nasty sorcerous device made usin’ super high-level spells you primitives couldn’t copy even if you all stood on your heads. And I ain’t sayin’ no more.”

“So even you don’t know?”

Shizuri spat back with half-lidded eyes. “Uu,” groaned Schtola, making it seem like she’d hit the mark.

“Oh shaddap, stupid! Well, fine, I ain’t got time ta deal with you all anyway. I gotta go. Don’t get in my way, Fourth Primogenitor. You stick your nose in and I’ll blow ya both away.”

Threatening them for no real reason, Schtola vanished into the corridor, heading deeper into Keystone Gate. Kojou heaved a sigh, feeling extremely fatigued for some reason.

“Just what’s with that vulgar man…?!”

Shizuri puffed up her cheeks, making her displeasure easy to note.

He gave a strained smile and shrugged.

“But what he said is probably true. No way Natsuki would’ve let him go free otherwise. Plus, I heard a rumor from somewhere that MAR grew so suddenly as a sorcerous enterprise ’cause it was using Deva technology. That explains why the president of MAR and The Blood are connected.”

“The Blood… Yes…so it does.”

Shizuri murmured quietly. Like the Fourth Primogenitor, The Blood was an artificially constructed vampire. The people from Devas had built him.

If Shahryar Ren was a descendant of those ancient superhumans, it wouldn’t be strange for him to know The Blood’s true identity. But they still didn’t know what Shahryar Ren was trying to use him to achieve.

Was it better to chase after Schtola and check that out, or was heading back with Shizuri in tow the right call? As Kojou asked himself this, they suddenly heard a strange voice from overhead.

It was a demon beast’s howl that resembled the shout of a high-pitched girl.

“Daaah!”

From the rift in Keystone Gate’s ceiling fluttered down a steel dragon, flapping its giant wings. Shizuri’s eyes bulged as she beheld the sight.

“…D-dragon…?!”

“Hold on, Cas! That’s—”

Kojou stopped Shizuri as she reached her hand toward her sword. Two familiar girls were riding on the creature’s back. Realizing this, she stopped moving.

“Senpai!”

“Kojou Akatsuki! You’re still alive?!”

“Himeragi! Kirasaka…!”

Yukina and Sayaka got off the dragon’s back as it landed. Seeing that no one else had been riding it, Kojou clenched a fist with worry.

“And Avrora…?!”

“She was taken. By…The Blood…”

Sayaka lowered her eyes as she weakly answered his question. Surprised, he drew in his breath.

“Wha…?!”

“I’m sorry, senpai. I…”

“Y-you’re wrong, Kojou Akatsuki! Yukina did nothing wrong!! She tried to protect Avrora Florestina! But—”

When Yukina tried to speak with a voice like that of a child about to break into tears, Sayaka hastily put Yukina behind her back to shield her.

“Dah!!”

That’s right, the steel-colored dragon’s head shake seemed to say.

“Sorry, my mind is all jumbled up.”

Kojou pressed his palms against his temples and closed his eyes. Apparently, The Blood had abducted Avrora in the Second Primogenitor’s domain, and Yukina had gone to kill Avrora, then failed to protect the girl. The situation was so overwhelming that it was hard for him to process what he was hearing.

“Point being, Avrora’s with The Blood?”

“Yes. According to the Second Primogenitor, he’s returning to the Keystone Gate.”

Yukina stared at the steps at the end of the corridor as she spoke.

The Keystone Gate’s underground structures reached forty strata beneath the surface of the sea, but to get there, they would need to pass through the lobby portion they were in currently.

In other words, if The Blood was there, he was in Keystone Gate’s aboveground portions. If they went up those stairs, they’d reach him sooner or later.

“Big help it ain’t more complicated than that. I’ll get Avrora back and end the Electoral War—two birds with one stone.”

Kojou strongly declared this. The more time passed without him doing anything, the higher the chances the Blazing Banquet would occur. Even if it was pretty dangerous, defeating The Blood and ending the Electoral War was the logical choice to make.

“Kojou…!”

Even as she continued treating the ogre, Shizuri looked up at him with visible concern. He smiled cheerfully to her.

“Cas, you take that person and go back ahead of us. I’m sure Kanase’s old man can manage somehow. Glenda, take care of Cas, ’kay?”

“Dah!”

Kojou’s request left the dragon happily swaying her enormous tail.

Shizuri had depleted her stamina fighting MAR and the Order of the End’s acolyte. She must have understood that she could battle no longer. For once, she accepted Kojou’s one-sided proposal without a word of complaint. But—

“Kojou!”

“Eh?”

When she suddenly called him to a halt, he turned around, defenseless. Shizuri approached without a sound and swiftly brought her face close to his. Her soft lips overlapped with his own.

Unable to comprehend what was happening, Kojou froze in place.

“C…Cas…?”

“Aah… Ah…”

Despite initiating the kiss, Shizuri was now red-faced and squirming. She’d probably originally intended to give him a light peck on the cheek. But since she wasn’t used to kissing, she must have thoroughly missed her target.

Still, she puffed up her chest with a confident air, pretending like she’d planned it that way from the start.

“You have received the blessing of a paladin of Gisella! Be grateful!”

“R-right…”

Staring at her as she practically turned tail and fled, he let out a weary sigh.

Yukina’s and Sayaka’s eyes were glacial and emotionless as they stared at the side of Kojou’s face.

5

Kojou and the others were sprinting up the emergency stairs, heading to the tenth aboveground floor of Keystone Gate.

The elevators and escalators were out of commission and considering the threat of being sniped by Beast Vassals, they couldn’t have Glenda airlift them, either. In the end, they’d had no choice left but to hoof it.

“Kojou Akatsuki! Who was that girl? And why was she k-kissing you…?!”

It was around when they’d climbed as far as the eighth floor that Sayaka, who’d maintained her silence to that point, suddenly asked Kojou to explain. Her expression was tinged with an air of anger that threw him off.

“Why are you upset?”

“F-fghh!!”

It was easy to tell that Sayaka was flustered. She must never have even dreamed her question might be thrown right back in her face.

Wearing an expression that indicated he found this tiresome, he glanced back at her.

“Besides, a kiss like that is basically a good luck charm.”

“If anything goes for good-luck charms, how about I slit open your belly and examine your entrails this very moment?!”

“What kind of good-luck charm is that?! That’s scary! Himeragi, say something to her, please.”

Kojou stared at Sayaka, baffled as to why she’d blown up on him for some reason.

“I believe she has a point.”

However, the very woman he’d sought aid from glared back at him with an even more sour expression than Sayaka’s.

“Senpai, what are you doing here at Keystone Gate to begin with? Do you understand the position you’re in? What did you plan on doing if your recklessness started up the Blazing Banquet?”

“If you wanna whine, send your complaints to Cas. She’s the one who headed into Keystone Gate all alone, so I had to follow her, all right? And then those Unknowns came out on top of everything…”

“Would you still speak the same way if Miss Avrora’s sacrifice had been for nothing?”

Yukina asked this of Kojou reproachfully.

It was then that he finally realized why she was angry. He had thought Yukina was pouting because he’d put rescuing Shizuri over her, but it wasn’t that at all.

In a sense, Shizuri falling into peril after charging into Keystone Gate was her reaping what she’d sown.

If Kojou had gone on a rampage to rescue her and triggered the banquet as a result, everything would be rendered meaningless: Shizuri’s reckless actions to bring the Electoral War to an end all by herself, Yukina’s decision to stop the banquet from activating even if it took killing Avrora, and even Avrora’s very existence.

Kojou hung his head like a puppy being scolded by his master, weakly and haltingly trying to justify himself.

“With Avrora, I figured since you were there, it’d turn out all right.”

“Eh…?”

Yukina’s eyes swayed in shock. She clutched her chest, unable to endure her own feelings of guilt.

“B-but I went in intent on…killing Miss Avrora…”

“That may have been what Professor Kitty and the others told you to do, but no way you were gonna do that, right, Himeragi? Hey, Kirasaka. You think so, too, right?”

“Eh? W-well, yes. On occasion you say something nice, Kojou Akatsuki.”

With the conversation suddenly tossed to her, Sayaka nodded proudly multiple times as if to say, Yeah, yeah.

Yukina’s cheeks reddened as she lowered her face, a conflicted expression hovering over it for a time. But finally, she lifted her head enthusiastically, her spirits restored.

“Be careful, senpai. The Blood has likely abducted Avrora so that—”

“I get it. So I can’t consume her, right?”

He twisted his lips into a painful grimace.

“Yes. The Blood yearns for the Blazing Banquet to come to fruition.”

“Hearing that makes me rest easier. At the very least, we don’t have to worry about Avrora’s safety unless it comes to that.”

“Yes…”

Yukina raised her eyebrows, slightly surprised. The Blood wouldn’t harm Avrora in any way since he had a reason not to. It didn’t change the fact that he’d abducted her to drive Kojou into a corner, but the situation wasn’t all bad, either.

“It’s all right. The Blazing Banquet won’t happen. I won’t let Avrora fade away.”

Kojou smiled as he looked straight at Yukina. His invigorated, smiling face breaking through from parts unknown frightened her for no discernible reason, causing her to plant her feet. Kojou continued regardless.

“But if the time comes that my Beast Vassals go berserk, please, Himeragi. Kill me.”

“Senpai…?!”

“You’re the only one who can, right? If it’s that or living on after stealing the memories from Nagisa and Yaze and everyone at school, I’d rather you do me in. So please.”

His laid-back request left her speechless.

The Lion King Agency had dispatched her to be the Fourth Primogenitor’s watcher. If he caused a large-scale sorcerous disaster, it was her duty to destroy him before things got out of hand.

Kojou was just reinforcing that fact. He wasn’t saying anything the slightest bit strange.

But she couldn’t bring herself to nod at his plea.

“…I… I…”

The silver spear trembled in her hands as her voice caught in her throat.

Then, before Yukina could reply, they heard a quiet voice from above.

“Do not be concerned, Yukina Himeragi. I shall allow no such thing.”

Yukina gasped and looked up. Sayaka reflexively held her sword at the ready.

Sharpening his gaze, Kojou stared up in the direction of the voice’s echo.

Atop a long stairwell, which led to the Keystone Gate’s uppermost corridor, they saw a golden-haired boy.

His outward age was about ten, give or take. He’d folded back the cuffs of the tailcoat of mismatched size, but it was a poor fit to a comical degree. However, both of his blue eyes glowed like flames.

“The Blood…!”

Yukina turned her spear toward the boy.

“You’ve gotten a lot smaller since the last time I saw you.”

Kojou ascended the stairs slowly to reach the same floor where the boy was.

Behind The Blood was a mass of ice about two meters in height.

Sleeping inside that transparent chunk of ice was Avrora. He’d no doubt frozen her over to seal her, averting even the remotest possibility she might unleash the Beast Vassal within. It burned Kojou on the inside, but the boy’s method wasn’t wrong so far as ensuring Avrora’s safety was concerned.

“Gotta say, you look pretty horrible there. If you give back Avrora right now and say you’re sorry, I’ll spare you the spanking?”

Kojou provocatively curled up the corners of his lips as he gazed at The Blood’s wounded form.

“Unfortunately, I cannot do that. I have no reason to give up on the banquet. As you can see, I am a failed model with little life span remaining.”

The vampire boy made a self-deprecating smile. The Blood had lost his right arm, and there was no sign of it growing back. He no longer had enough “negative life force” remaining to repair all the damage done to him. Even as they spoke, demonic energy was vanishing from his body, accelerating his lethal age-regression process.

“But do you not also have little time left, Kojou Akatsuki? Just how long can you keep your Beast Vassals from running amok in your current condition?”

His calm assertion brought a pained smile out of Kojou.

Even if The Blood had little life span remaining, his abilities were on par with Kojou’s—no, the fact he had twelve Beast Vassals in his possession no doubt put him on top. If he fought The Blood like that, it was highly likely Kojou’s Beast Vassals would begin running amok as they sought even greater demonic energy than The Blood’s.

“I get it… The game is this: Do you use up all your life span first, or do I hit my limit first? I don’t mind things being simple like that.”

“What a coincidence. Neither do I.”

The Blood jeered in reply.

“But are you truly satisfied with this? Even if you defeat me, you’ll be forced to annihilate Dodekatos in order to prevent the Blazing Banquet.”

“Well…who knows about that?”

Kojou shook his head evasively. The Blood knit his brows with displeasure. His diction was thrown off ever so slightly.

“The Electoral War and contact with the other primogenitors are nothing more than the triggers. Even if you see this fight through, sooner or later, you will end up consuming the Twelfth, Avrora! Surely you realize this!”

“Maybe you’re right.”

“Kojou Akatsuki…!”

Unbridled ire radiated from The Blood’s entire body.

“And yet, you duel me even so, Kojou Akatsuki—for the sake of annihilating my pitiable elder sister! Then I shall stop you using all the remaining power that I possess!”

“—No, I won’t let you!”

Yukina raced past Kojou, charging toward The Blood.

If he only needed to stop the Electoral War, Kojou didn’t need to fight. All she had to do was defeat The Blood before Kojou’s Beast Vassals began going berserk. With her Snowdrift Wolf and Paper Noise ability, it was by no means impossible.

She activated Stillness—time that should not have existed.

But her privilege of absolute initiative attack was interrupted in a most unexpected manner.

When she deployed the technique, another Stillness user intervened.

“Oh, no you don’t.”

“?!”

A woman suddenly appeared before Yukina and blocked her spear with the silver pieces she wore over her fists.

The woman made a leering smirk at her surprised opponent. She was beautiful; gorgeous, in fact. She had a sunny smile that seemed as radiant as the sun itself.

“I am your opponent.”

“Miss…Zana Lashka?!”

Yukina exclaimed this as she realized the woman’s identity. With Stillness foiled and the time that should never have existed erased, she returned to the normal flow of time. Kojou and Sayaka didn’t understand what had happened yet. They were simply taken aback by the arresting woman’s sudden appearance.

“The Blood Servant of the First Primogenitor is…?! Why…?!”

Yukina readjusted her lance and stepped backward.

Even as she posed the question, however, she already knew the answer.

The First Primogenitor was staying on Itogami Island to participate in the Electoral War. It would inconvenience him if The Blood lost and the Electoral War came to an end. Zana no doubt had the First Primogenitor’s intentions first in mind when she lent The Blood her aid.

Of course, Yukina couldn’t dismiss the possibility this was purely Zana’s whim. She didn’t think she’d serve as the “companion” of a vampire primogenitor if her personality wasn’t at least selfish and egotistical.

“Yukina! Get down!”

To support her friend, Sayaka unleashed a slicing attack toward Zana’s footing. She was trying to cut right through the floor to pound the woman into the level below them.

Zana, however, simply lashed out with the metal knuckles on her right hand to completely erase Sayaka’s technique.

“She nullified the…pseudo-spatial severing?!”

“Divine Oscillation Effect…! How…?!”

Zana’s absurdly overwhelming might left both girls shaken. The woman was toying with Snowdrift Wolf and Lustrous Scale—divine armaments from the Lion King Agency’s secret trove—with nothing more than simple-looking metal knuckles.

“Oh nooo, you’re really cute, too…like.”

Brushing back her vibrant red hair that approached gold, Zana Lashka gave her lips a little lick. A beautiful smile came over her as she beckoned Yukina and Sayaka condescendingly.

“I’ll take you both on. Now let’s dance.”

6

Yukina and Sayaka’s fierce battle with the beautiful redhead suddenly appearing from parts unknown began in earnest. Kojou kept the girls in the corner of his vision as he and The Blood traded glares.

He and The Blood were both near their limits. The fight would probably be decided in a single instant. The tension rose between them like a stifling silence between a pair of gunslingers.

“Do you remember the words I spoke to you previously, Kojou Akatsuki?”

A crimson mist enveloped The Blood’s small body. The vast demonic energy transformed into the shape of a beast.

“I said, you cannot defeat me in your incomplete state! And so it remains!”

Demonic energy emanating from Kojou’s back became pitch-black wings that struck The Blood.

But just before they could skewer the boy’s youthful body, Kojou’s wings were swatted away. The Blood had deployed his own pitch-black wings to intercept Kojou’s.

“!!”

“It’s useless, Kojou Akatsuki. I am the prototype Fourth Primogenitor. Even if I am incomplete, even if I am a failure, I can do anything you can!”

A confident smile came over him as he howled.

Compared to Kojou, who had to defeat him while keeping his own Beast Vassals from running amok, all The Blood to do was back his foe to the wall, even if he was annihilated in the process. From the very outset of the battle, Kojou had been at an overwhelming disadvantage.

“And the more demonic energy you use, the closer the hour of the banquet approaches! Victory is mine, Fourth Primogenitor!”

The sable wings protruding from The Blood pierced Kojou’s body again and again.

Blood spilled out of Kojou’s mouth. His vision was dyed crimson.

Falling to one knee on the blood-smeared floor, Kojou smiled ferociously as he tilted forward.

Behind the triumphant vampire, The Blood, was the transparent chunk of ice. The beautiful golden-haired girl slept within, clutching her knees like an infant.

Just like when he’d first met her—

“Reverberate!”

Sayaka scattered silver spell tablets. They transformed into birds of prey that assaulted Zana Lashka from all sides.

“—Roaring Thunder!”

As Sayaka used her shikigami to blind, Yukina spun and slammed a heel kick toward Zana. Their coordination was perfect since they’d lived together so long. Their uninterrupted attacks from all directions didn’t give Zana the opening to employ Paper Noise. But—

“Chassé!”

Zana’s body swayed like a mirage, easily slipping past Yukina’s attack.

“Glissade assemblé—grand jeté!”

“What are these movements…?!”

Sayaka’s face twisted out of nervousness.

The shikigami she had unleashed bounced off one after another without so much as touching Zana.

Their foe was moving freely like a passionate dancer on the dance floor. Yukina and Sayaka couldn’t keep up with her bizarre movements. Even with their Sword Shaman Spirit Sight, Zana was making sport of them.

“Fouetté!”

She swung her right leg up high to assault Sayaka as if cracking a whip. Sayaka groaned as she blocked with her right hand and her long sword went flying, rolling onto the floor.

“—Fouetté! Fouetté! Fouetté! Fouetté! Fouetté!”

“Wha…?! Khh…!”

Zana spun as she unleashed a flurry of super high-speed kicks. Sayaka crossed her arms, fending off a direct hit, but her opponent cared nothing for her attempts to guard. Zana blew away Sayaka’s tall body like a sheet of paper, driving her as far as the stairwell.

“Sayaka?!”

Yukina let out a brief yelp as she watched her ally being pummeled.

However, Zana’s unending spins gave her no opportunity to deliver Sayaka aid. If she carelessly forced her way in, there was no guarantee she wouldn’t end up hitting Sayaka instead.

Moreover, Sayaka’s winning personality wasn’t the sort to just stand and take it. Overlapping physical enchantments beyond her limits, she took Zana’s kick the hard way, ignoring defense and launching an all-out attack.

“Why you… Full Star/Saiha!”

“Oh wow!”

Sayaka unleashed a lethal blow toward the woman’s vitals that couldn’t be ignored—a palm strike targeting the diaphragm from point-blank range. Zana was forced to defend herself. The woman’s eyes sparkled with delight as Sayaka’s resistance exceeded her expectations.

Although she fended off the attack, this allowed Sayaka to create a crack in Zana’s movements, which had been completely flawless up to that point. The crack was as tiny as the eye of a needle, but it was the first opening she had shown.

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

Raising her silver spear, Yukina danced. Enveloped by vast spiritual energy amplified by Snowdrift Wolf, her physical capabilities temporarily reached a realm beyond human ken. She could not defeat Zana with close-combat skill. She could only overcome her foe with pure, overwhelming force.

“Heh, so marvelous. I just love that about you!”

Zana beamed as she read Yukina’s intentions. Then she adopted a stance the girl didn’t know. It was a beautiful pose resembling that of the deity dubbed the King of Dance.

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

“Navaratri, First Goddess—Shailaputri!”

The silver knuckles Zana wore over her fists collided with Yukina’s spear head-on. The pressurized spiritual energy blew apart all at once, knocking both to their rears.

The light of the explosive spiritual essence filled the entire floor, robbing Kojou and The Blood of their vision.

But even amid that dazzling radiance, Kojou gazed only upon the girl trapped in the chunk of ice.

“Avrora—can you hear my voice?”

Kojou murmured under his breath.

Naturally, she didn’t reply.

But he knew. The blood of the Fourth Primogenitor that flowed through them linked both their souls. Memories of the past linked to will trained upon the future.

The eleven wings protruding from Kojou’s back transformed into eleven Beast Vassals.

The torrent of destructive demonic energy blew away the roof of Keystone Gate like it was nothing at all.

Spreading above their heads was the sky before daybreak. The morning glow spread like an aurora. A dawn sky.

Kojou summoning all of his Beast Vassals shook The Blood for an instant as he widened his eyes. Then he released his own twelve Beast Vassals.

The Fourth Primogenitor’s Beast Vassals collided with pitch-black Beast Vassals of equal strength.

But The Blood had a twelfth Beast Vassal that Kojou lacked. If their power was truly equal, Kojou would have no way of defeating him.

Yes. So long as Kojou’s twelfth Beast Vassal was not unleashed, this was absolute—

“This time, I’ll grant your wish for real! I’ll bring you to our school—to Saikai Academy. Together with Asagi and Yaze and Nagisa—and me!”

Kojou reached his hand out toward the girl sleeping within the block of ice.

A moment later, she changed.

The color of her hair, gold like a shimmering flame, altered. Her eyelids, rimmed by long eyebrows, opened. She looked at Kojou with glimmering blue eyes. The ice enveloping her broke apart, and she reached out a slender arm toward Kojou. Rushing over, he grasped her hand.

Yukina, Sayaka, Zana, even The Blood—everyone present stared awestruck at the impossible scene.

Kojou and Avrora did not exchange a single word.

Gazing at each other for only an instant, they raised their joined hands overhead.

Then they shouted simultaneously. It was as if the two had become a single vampire—

“—Come forth, Alrescha Glacies!”

A pale, transparent, monstrous bird of water spread its wings into the daybreak.

Pure cold enveloped the world around them, freezing everything in sight.

“Kojou…Akatsuki…!”

His entire body frozen white, The Blood looked completely lost as he stared at Kojou and Avrora with wide-open pupils.

Kojou could not defeat him so long as the twelfth Beast Vassal remained sealed. But if the twelfth Beast Vassal awakened, their mutual demonic energy capacity would determine who won the day.

The Blood, unable to endure even his own negative life force, could not triumph against the true Fourth Primogenitor, boasting inexhaustible demonic energy.

“Sister…why…?!”

Avrora’s hand joined Kojou’s as The Blood weakly posed her that question.

The next moment, his entire body broke into tiny pieces.

After becoming an ivory mist, the boy named Kenon was blown away in the morning breeze, vanishing without a trace.

7

“Kojou…”

The blue-eyed girl gazed at him within the mist of pure-white cold.

Kojou embraced her tiny, frigid body.

They gazed at each other at a distance so close as to share the other’s breaths. Perhaps it felt like being reunited at long last with one’s other half.

“And so we meet again.”

The girl shook her head a little at his heartfelt comment.

“My soul has always been at thine side.”

“Yeah, seems that way.”

Kojou made a lonely smile as he nodded. From the time when she’d been completely annihilated until gaining a new body, Avrora’s soul had dwelled inside Nagisa. He had spent time with her without ever being aware.

“I’m glad to see you anyway.”

He told her this.

“And I—”

Her eyes brimmed with tears. These were tears of joy and tears of parting regrets.

Now that the twelfth Beast Vassal had been released, her duty had come to an end.

A vampire that had lots its demonic energy could no longer maintain a physical body. The girl named Avrora Florestina would vanish—this time, completely.

Even so, the girl shook her head with a fleeting smile.

“Even if this ephemeral flesh must vanish, then there is no greater delight to glimpse thee like this again.”

“Nah, I’m not losing you this time. No way.”

He asserted this with determination, as much to himself as to Avrora.

His eyes were dyed crimson. Fangs poked out from the impetuous smile on his lips.

“But…the collapse of my flesh is inescapable…”

The girl stared at her own two hands in disbelief. They had already begun to fade away.

Kojou clutched the girl to him tightly. She gasped, eyes widening.

His lips crept up her slender neck. Her soft flesh made his fangs throb.

“Sorry, Avrora.”

“Kojou…what art thou…?!”

Her voice cut off weakly. Finally, it changed into a ragged breath.

Still holding her firmly, Kojou embraced his feelings of guilt and prayed.

“Live, Avrora…! Even if I have to trade all my power for it…!”

The uppermost floor of Keystone Gate filled with white silence.

The Beast Vassals fighting in the sky above had vanished from sight, and the madly raging demonic energy had completely dissipated. Kojou and The Blood had surely ended their fight.

All that was left was a cold mist.

“Is it…over?”

Sayaka murmured with concern, wiping blood coursing from her lip.

Yukina closed her eyes, hanging her head without a word.

Kojou had released the twelfth Beast Vassal. This had awakened him as the complete Fourth Primogenitor, which also meant the annihilation of Avrora. The Blazing Banquet had been averted, and the Electoral War was nearing its conclusion.

But was this really the ending Kojou had hoped for? Yukina did not know.

Sayaka picked up the sword she had dropped.

The next moment, they heard a clap, clap of sparse applause from out of nowhere.

Yukina and Sayaka went on guard.

Appearing from within the hovering mist was a Caucasian, middle-aged man wearing a finely tailored suit.

“And so, the true ruler of Itogami Island has been born?”

The man spoke as he continued calmly clapping. His voice was gentle but carried well. It was the voice of someone accustomed to speaking in front of others.

“MAR president… Shahryar Ren…”

Sayaka spoke his name. The owner of Magna Ataraxia Research Inc.—one of the world’s few giant sorcerous manufacturing conglomerates. He was an immensely wealthy man with great influence in the worlds of politics and finance alike.

He had appeared before the Fourth Primogenitor’s battlefield with an amused smirk plastered over his face.

Automated weapons serving in place of bodyguards flanked his left and right—a pair of anti-demon robot tanks.

But the machine on his left suddenly released a crushing sound as something smashed it flat. The reinforced plastic armor was cleaved in two, its internal components flying all over the place. Sparks ferociously scattered as the tank’s functions ground to a halt.

“Why you! Finally found ya, Shahryar!”

A youth in dreadlocks wearing punk clothing appeared from deeper down the corridor—the former Prison Barrier escapee, Schtola D. Swinging an invisible blade, he destroyed the other robot tank as well.

Finally, his gaze shifted toward Shahryar Ren. Schtola raised his right hand high to generate another invisible blade.

“Take this, Thunder—”

“Loud, aren’t you?”

Ren’s expression did not shift as he snapped the fingers of his right hand.

That instant, blood burst from Schtola’s abdomen. He crumpled to his knees, wearing an incredulous expression as blood continued to spew.

“I hadn’t wished to sully my audience with the new king with unnecessary bloodshed…but perhaps this, too, is a fitting entrance for the Fourth Primogenitor.”

As Schtola cried in anguish, Ren stared down at him, unaffected.

He’d used the same invisible blade ability as Schtola D. But his speed and precision were on a completely different scale. Shahryar Ren’s blow had been overwhelmingly polished. He was a different level of Deva.

“…Deva, psychokinesis…”

Sayaka murmured with a shaking voice. Ren made an exaggerated shake of his head and laughed sarcastically.

“I would prefer you call it Divine Power. I have no desire to be compared to psychics…those charlatans your kind call Hyper Adapters.”

“Damn…you!!”

Bloodied and fallen, Schtola D wailed expletives as he glared at the president of MAR. Then, with the look of a man facing certain death, he called out to Sayaka.

“Hey, lady!! Stop that bastard Shahryar R! He’s planning to open Keystone Gate!”

“Open…Keystone Gate?”

She raised a perplexed voice.

The Keystone Gate building served as a crucial structure for Itogami Island, but that didn’t mean it could actually open up.

However, when he heard Schtola’s words, Ren said, “Oh,” raising an eyebrow, as though impressed.

Then he produced a sword from inside his suit. It was an exceptionally aged steel short sword.

“Would you finally show your face, Fourth Primogenitor? Or should I call you the Former Fourth Primogenitor—Kojou Akatsuki?”

Ren called out as he glared deeper into the mist that was finally thinning.

Yukina and Sayaka also turned their eyes in in the direction of the footsteps approaching from down the passage.

Emerging from the parting white mist was Kojou. But the impression he gave off was not that of the Kojou who Yukina and Sayaka knew. The hair on his head, once golden, had reverted to its previous shade. And in his arms he carried a tiny, golden-haired girl.

“Sen…pai…?”

“Avrora Florestina hasn’t disappeared… So that’s it…”

Yukina and Sayaka both spoke up.

Kojou had settled his battle with The Blood. He had unleashed the twelfth Beast Vassal and averted the Blazing Banquet. And yet, he was carrying Avrora, who should have disappeared.

“So this was your choice…Kojou Akatsuki. You chose her over the power of the Fourth Primogenitor.”

Ren continued to clutch his sword as he let out a kuh-kuh laugh.

His statement made Yukina understand just what had happened to Kojou.

If the Beast Vassal in her body was released, Avrora would dissipate.

The unsealed Beast Vassal would return to the side of the Fourth Primogenitor, its proper host and master, and the artificial vampire Avrora would lose her Beast Vassal, the source of demonic energy she needed to maintain her flesh and blood.

But if the released Beast Vassal was returning to the Fourth Primogenitor’s side, all Kojou had to do was make Avrora the Fourth Primogenitor—and that was what he’d chosen.

Overwriting the soul. Kojou had transplanted all of the abilities of the Fourth Primogenitor into Avrora.

Of course, had he been born as the Fourth Primogenitor, there was no way he could have done this. He was born as a human. He was an irregular Fourth Primogenitor, turned into a vampire after the fact.

And it was none other than Avrora who’d turned him into the Fourth Primogenitor. Kojou was simply returning the power of the Fourth Primogenitor she’d loaned to him to begin with.

Thus, the Twelfth, Avrora, last of the Kaleid Bloods, had turned into the true Fourth Primogenitor.

Into a complete Fourth Primogenitor served by all twelve Beast Vassals—

“Fabricated that she is, you threw away the power of the World’s Mightiest Vampire for her nonetheless. What a truly dramatic conclusion. Not one I can comprehend whatsoever—but that’s fine. At any rate, the fact remains that a complete Fourth Primogenitor has been revived. Here and now, let us offer this altar known as Itogami Island as the fuel to open this great gate.”

“Fuel…you say?”

Kojou’s expression hardened as he looked at the short sword Shahryar Ren raised high.

At that moment, he realized its steely light resembled the sorcerous devices of the Sinful God.

“Keystone Gate is…!”

Sayaka exclaimed, realizing that something was very wrong with the building they were in.

The entirety of the giant Keystone Gate rumbled. Its outer wall was dyed in a malignant, metallic darkness. It was resonating with the short sword Ren held aloft.

“Four years ago—when the Twelfth Kaleid Blood was discovered in the Mediterranean, it was not by mere chance that she was transported to Itogami Island. Everything and everyone has been dancing on MAR’s palm.”

Still holding his short sword in the air, Ren explained with a soliloquy like an actor on the stage.

“Nonetheless, this is not a circumstance to boast of. Thanks to a string of irregular incidents, the revival of the complete Fourth Primogenitor was considerably delayed.”

“Guoa…?!”

Sustaining an invisible impact, Kojou went flying. This was Shahryar Ren’s telekinesis at work.

He’d escaped without injury, but that was undoubtedly because the MAR president had held back.

He hadn’t done this out of consideration for Kojou. Rather, Ren’s objective was to rip Avrora out of Kojou’s hands.

“Avrora?!”

Her slumbering body floated up into the sky above Keystone Gate.

It wasn’t just the building resonating with Shahryar Ren’s sorcerous device. The steely darkness now swallowed Avrora as well.

Ren’s short sword must have been the legacy of the Devas he’d stolen.

Moreover, the Fourth Primogenitor was itself an artificial vampire produced by the Devas. It was hardly unthinkable that the two might be connected.

Additionally, MAR had been deeply involved in the construction of Itogami Island itself. Naturally, that included the design of Keystone Gate.

The altar that was Itogami Island. The complete Fourth Primogenitor. The sorcerous device of the Devas—

In that place, in that moment, Shahryar Ren had assembled everything he sought.

“Even the irregular incidents brought bountiful harvests of their own. The appearance of New Itogami Island. The coordinates for New Itogami Island as displayed by Glenda, Dragon of the Swamp. And the data for The Cleansing left by Asagi Aiba—the conditions to open Keystone Gate have been fulfilled. All that remains is making a sacrifice upon the altar.”

Twelve wings spread from Avrora as she floated in the sky.

The inexhaustible energy of the Fourth Primogenitor was fueling Keystone Gate.

Kojou and the others could only gaze upon this in awe. They didn’t even know what was happening.

They hear a clang from behind.

A huge swordsman, his entire body covered in armor, plummeted down from midair. It was the man from the Georgius—the dragon slayer—and a former escaped prisoner just like Schtola D.

“Why you… Dumblegraff! Don’t let yourself get beat that easy, you stupid jerk!”

Schtola D heaped abuse upon the gravely wounded swordsman. Come to mention it, he was on the verge of death himself.

The bronze-colored dragon had cast the man out of the sky. He was the last acolyte of the Order of the End—the Flame Dragon.

“It seems you had quite a difficult duel, Kreyd.”

Shahryar Ren spoke amiably to the dragon dancing its way down.

This shocked Kojou. He understood that MAR had been connected to the Order of the End behind the scenes, but he would have never imagined that a confidant of The Blood would turn out to be Ren’s pawn.

“As promised, I shall show you the landscape you dragons call home.”

Ignoring everyone else’s shock, Ren touched the blade of his short sword.

That instant, the world completely changed.

The color of steel blotted out the brightening sky.

“A city…in the sky…”

Yukina’s voice trembled.

In the black clouds swirling over the entirety of Itogami Island was a giant, spiraling city.

Its shape bore an uncanny resemblance to New Itogami Island—the fortress city that Cain the Sinful God had left behind.

But his was on a completely different scale.

Even the vastness of New Itogami Island amounted to nothing more than a fraction of the fantastical city floating in the sky.

Itogami Island, floating atop the Pacific Ocean.

And this otherworldly metropolis, floating in the sky.

The two cities were like mirror images of each other. When you stared straight up at the city overhead, it was unclear which was really the ground and which was really the sky. Kojou felt like the firmament might collapse on their heads.

And linking the two was a single girl—a vampire with twelve wings.

“That landscape…!”

Kojou moaned as he gazed at the skyline of the fantastical city. Kojou knew it well. He’d seen it in the memories of Cain the Sinful God.

“This is the true form of the floating artificial isle once ruled by Cain the Sinful God—the place you call Nod.”

Shahryar Ren gazed upon Kojou with delight as he elucidated.

The words artificial isle sounded ridiculous to Kojou. After all, a city so enormous as to cover the entire sky might as well be called a continent.

“Only one who possesses demonic energy rivaling Cain can link this world to Nod. In other words, only the Fourth Primogenitor, the World’s Mightiest Vampire built to destroy him—”

Confirming for himself that the otherworldly structure had completely materialized, Ren lowered his short sword.

The metallic darkness shrouding Keystone Gate vanished, and the structure’s rumbling halted as well.

The wings vanished from Avrora’s back. As if strings suspending her had been cut, she began a slow descent—not toward the surface but toward the heavens—

“What’s your goal, Shahryar Ren?”

Kojou glared at the Caucasian Deva.

Ren looked back at Kojou with an exceptionally cold smile.

“I hated you, Kojou Akatsuki.”

“What…?”

“I loathed that you were born as a human but obtained the powers of the Fourth Primogenitor. It is the Devas’ hatred that grants vampires their power. It is not something for a lowly human to touch!”

Ren’s naked ire slammed into Kojou. It felt as though his skin were being pricked.

As he stood now, Kojou was merely a powerless civilian. With his Divine Power, Ren could surely kill him without so much as lifting a single finger.

And yet, Ren did not. He needed to let Kojou live so that he could appreciate his own powerlessness and suffer.

“—I have obtained the power of Nod that agonized we Devas so during the Great Cleansing of Old. Now we have regained the world once more. The Blood said as much, didn’t he? The victor of the Electoral War would become the ruler of this entire world.”

Ren spread both his arms wide, intoxicated.

His words were not some empty boast. Even just the Nalakuvera in New Itogami Island had enough power to reduce a small country to rubble with ease. Kojou couldn’t even imagine what the might that gigantic floating city came equipped with. Even with the combined combat strength of the Holy Ground Treaty Organization, it felt like they wouldn’t be able to hold a candle to that.

Ren had to be stopped before he got his hands on it. But—

“Now you are powerless to stop me. You, who willingly abandoned the power of the Fourth Primogenitor—!”

The caustic words of the descendant of the Devas impaled Kojou.

The bronze dragon flapped his wings as he let Ren onto its front claw.

They were going to head up to Nod before anyone else. Ren’s subordinates—helicopters with MAR combat units aboard—rose up from all over New Itogami Island.

“Avrora…”

Even once the dragon had faded from his vision, Kojou kept his eyes locked skyward.

Looking at the steel city covering the sky, he strained to find the girl that had fallen somewhere within.

The girl that had been revived as the new Fourth Primogenitor—

“Just you wait…Avrora.”

As he made that promise to the sky, Kojou clenched his fist.

The small fist of a powerless human being.