Strike the Blood - Volume 11 - Chapter 4

CHAPTER FOUR 

THE WITCH OF THE VOID 

1 

Silver sparks buried the midday sky. 

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

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

“Leap, Fourth Primogenitor!” 

“Wh-whoa!!” 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Ugh…!” 

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

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

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

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

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

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

“What?!” 

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

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

“…What do you mean by that?” 

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

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

“And what makes you say that?” 

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

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

“G…uoa…?!” 

“Senpai?!” 

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Don’t mess…with me…dammit…!” 

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

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

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

Kojou did not understand the meaning of her words. 

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

“…?!” 

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

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

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

Her terrified reaction forced Kojou to realize the truth. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Ah…!” 

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

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

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

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

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

“Hmph…” 

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

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

“No, senpai. This is our fight—!” 

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

“—Himeragi?!” 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Himeragi?!” 

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

“Gah?!” 

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

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

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

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

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

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

2 

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

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

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

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

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

“Huh?!” 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Left at the next corner, li’l miss.” 

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Bodyguard…?” 

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

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

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

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

“You’re…Tanker?!” 

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

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

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

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

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

However, Lydianne let out a cheerful laugh and said: 

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

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

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

“Eh?” 

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Straddle…er, where?” 

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

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

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

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

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

“Nn?! Gah…?!” 

“What now?!” 

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

“Gremlins. Island Guard Attack Mages.” 

Mogwai calmly analyzed the situation. 

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

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

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

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

“Mogwai, can’t you do something?!” 

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

“M… Mogwai?!” 

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

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

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

“This is bad…!” 

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

“—Tanker?!” 

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

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

“How did you break the spell…?” 

“’Twas not I. Rather, it was—” 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“What did you…do to that person…?!” 

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

“So you came to save us, then…?” 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Empress!” 

“I get it. Let’s go, Tanker.” 

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

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

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

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

3 

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

“Sh…it… C’mon over, Natra—!!” 

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

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

“Too late.” 

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

“Natsuki… Stop this…!” 

“It is not Natsuki to you.” 

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

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

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

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

“Dwaa?!” 

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

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

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

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

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

Natsuki unleashed an attack before she heard a reply. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“What the heck are those things…?!” 

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

However, Kiriha glared hatefully at the beasts and said: 

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

“…Are you serious?!” 

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

“Don’t tell me that was her plan…?!” 

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

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

“Fourth Primogenitor!” 

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

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

“—Reverberate!” 

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

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

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

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

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

The black leopard shikigami were smashed into pieces with ease. 

“Oh n—!” 

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

“Kiriha?!” 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The cost imposed on Natsuki was “sleep.” 

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

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

“And what of it?” 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“—Awaken, Rheingold.” 

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

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

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

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

“What the hell is that…?!” 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Regulus Aurum—!” 

The giant lightning lion turned into a thunderbolt that slammed into the golden knight construct from the front. 

An incredible explosion erupted, and a supersonic shock wave parted the sea. The fifth Beast Vassal of the Fourth Primogenitor, Regulus Aurum, had once scorched an entire Gigafloat district in an instant. That power remained undiminished. 

In the sky, black clouds began to gather, drawn in by the lightning lion’s energy. The ferocious aftershocks shook the entire island. The electromagnetic waves made digital devices go crazy, and the area around the coast had surely suffered considerable damage. 

However, Natsuki’s Guardian did not fall. Enveloped in dazzling brilliance, it was the lightning lion that roared in anguish. 

Crimson thorns unleashed by the golden knight construct had entwined around the lightning lion, pinning it in place. 

Kiriha, watching how the battle proceeded with an astounded look, murmured, “It is holding back a Beast Vassal of the Fourth Primogenitor…through brute force…?!” 

Put more accurately, the golden knight construct was not pushing the lightning lion back. It used the crimson thorns like a net, preventing the lion from moving. But it had withstood the attack of the Fourth Primogenitor’s Beast Vassal all the same. 

“G…uooooooooo?!” 

“Futile, Akatsuki… Gleipnir cannot be torn apart.” 

Natsuki solemnly smiled at Kojou as he desperately tried to control the lightning lion. And this time, the silver chains she unleashed caught Kojou completely. 

“Fourth Primogenitor!” 

Yukina, collapsed on the sandy beach, had no power left with which to rescue Kojou. 

Kojou’s body was swallowed up by the spatial distortion, sinking into the watery void, and vanished. 

“Senpai!” Yukina, finally regaining consciousness, screamed in a forlorn voice. 

4 

Blast winds swirled around with a great roar. 

The guardrail and lampposts running alongside the coast were mowed down, and the sandy beach was heavily gouged out. 

Two bearers of enormous magical energy had clashed—the Fourth Primogenitor’s Beast Vassal and Natsuki’s Guardian. Surely, it was fortunate that so little damage had been done. 

“So this is the Witch of the Void’s Guardian…Rheingold, that which plunged the demons of Europe to the depths of terror. It would seem the rumors are true… It warps this world’s time and space merely by its presence.” 

Kiriha sullenly swept her sand-smeared black hair as she groggily rose to her feet. Then, she made a weary sigh as she returned her forked spear to its carrying form. 

When Natsuki saw Kiriha abandon her combat posture, she seemed disappointed as she inquired, “Already finished, Priestess of the Six Blades?” 

The Beast Vassal of the Fourth Primogenitor was still materialized. However, its power seemed insufficient to break through the net of thorns, perhaps due to the loss of Kojou, its host. Restrained by the golden knight construct that was Natsuki’s Guardian, all it could do was continue its ragged snarls. 

Seeing this for herself, Kiriha unenthusiastically shook her head and said, “Now that the Fourth Primogenitor is held captive in the Prison Barrier, further combat is fruitless, is it not?” 

“A wise decision.” 

Natsuki narrowed her eyes as she spoke. In spite of the combat that had just taken place, Natsuki wasn’t even winded. She was displaying a margin for error seemingly without limit. 

Even if Kiriha continued the fight alone, there was surely little she could do. The difference in power was simply too great. In any case, her opponent was a monster who’d overwhelmed the World’s Mightiest Vampire. 

“However, it would seem that is not what the girl over there thinks,” Kiriha murmured with apparent delight as she shot a sidelong glance behind her. 

Yukina, presumed flattened by Natsuki’s attack, was rising to her feet, using her spear to support her weight. 

Even at that moment, Yukina’s legs trembled from her wounds. Despite that, the will to fight against Natsuki had not faded from her eyes. 

“So another recalcitrant pupil remains…” Natsuki sighed slightly. Then she turned to face Yukina and said, “It is as you see, transfer student. Your target for observation has been captured. Yet you still intend to fight?” 

“I believe I stated it at the beginning. This is my fight as well.” Yukina quietly readied her spear. 

Snowdrift Wolf, able to nullify magical energy and rend any magical barrier, was the mortal foe of witches like Natsuki. In terms of pure combat ability, Natsuki was overwhelmingly superior, but if Snowdrift Wolf’s edge even grazed her, their positions would be immediately reversed. 

Of course, Natsuki was no doubt well aware of this. She coldly looked back at the wobbly Yukina, and slowly raised her left hand. She gave the fan she held within it a small flutter. 

The air screeched, violently being torn asunder as Natsuki launched chains out of thin air. 

However, Yukina knocked all the chains down with a bare minimum of movement. Her reaction speed suggested she knew the course along which each of the countless chains would fly. 

“The Spirit Sight of a Sword Shaman of the Lion King Agency… Divining the future, then? I see. You are well trained.” 

For once, Natsuki praised Yukina. 

Meanwhile, Yukina sprinted toward her. Pure-white sand swirled up as she approached within her spear’s reach in one go. With a light tap, Natsuki kicked off from the ground and danced in midair. Yukina leaped in pursuit. 

Then, a charming smile came over Natsuki as the air warped before her eyes—a shock wave cannon produced via spatial control. 

“But you rely on your Spirit Sight too much… Hence why you fell for such a simple trick.” 

“Ugh…!” 

Natsuki’s lecturing words made Yukina’s expression harden. Even her Spirit Sight could not see the invisible shock wave. Even if she knew in advance the shock wave was coming, she didn’t know when—or what course it would take. 

In any case, it was impossible for Yukina to evade a launched shock wave while in the midst of her leap. 

Therefore—the only way left for her was to slice her way through. 

“Snowdrift Wolf!” 

Yukina poured all the spiritual energy she had into the silver spear. The enchantment inscribed upon Snowdrift Wolf activated, causing it to radiate a pure-white light. This was the light of the Divine Oscillation Effect that nullified magical energy. 

“So you blocked the spatial control spell creating the shock wave with a Divine Oscillation Effect barrier…” 

Realizing that her attack had misfired, Natsuki instantly retreated. 

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

Yukina landed with her spear at the ready. She pursued Natsuki once more as her lips wove a solemn incantation. 

Amplified by Yukina’s spiritual energy, the Divine Oscillation Effect grew more radiant still. The light collected at Snowdrift Wolf’s spear tip, forming a single, giant blade. 

It was a radiant blade of light reaching several times her height. 

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

Yukina swung the blade horizontally, finally catching Natsuki’s body. It grazed Natsuki’s slender torso, gouging a deep wound that reached nearly to her spine. 

However, the lack of feedback from the blow caused Yukina to gasp in shock. Natsuki’s body, which should have been nearly cleaved into two, vanished without a trace. 

“An illusion—?!” 

“Did I not tell you? You rely too much on your Spirit Sight.” 

Natsuki’s statement came from behind the confused Yukina—her disappointment apparent. 

Silver chains shot out from thin air. Having focused all her spiritual strength into her attack, Yukina had no strength left with which to fend off the chains. The chains wrapped around her four limbs, rendering her unable to move or act. 

“How immature. Relying on a toy like this while losing sight of what is important.” 

Natsuki spoke in a pitying tone as she opened the gate once more. 

She meant to bring Yukina to the Prison Barrier, too. Once dragged into Natsuki’s dream, it would be impossible for her to escape on her own power, even with the capabilities of Snowdrift Wolf. 

Yukina desperately struggled, but the chains mercilessly pulled her body toward the gate. 

“It’s over,” the Attack Mage said dismissively. 

“No, not yet.” 

A moment later, a girl in an old-fashioned sailor uniform swung down a gray blade from Natsuki’s defenseless back. 

Natsuki easily evaded the attack, but she had not been Kiriha’s target. Her pseudo-spatial severing blade rent apart the silver chains binding Yukina’s limbs. 

“What are you playing at, Kiriha Kisaki?” 

Natsuki folded her fan and shifted a sour look toward Kiriha. Yukina, freed from the silver chains’ bondage, also looked up at Kiriha in surprise. 

“I changed my mind. I’m so sorry.” 

However, Kiriha’s pleasant smile contained not even a hint of shame. She twirled her forked spear around, turning the twin tips toward Natsuki. The gesture was a clear declaration of war. 

“Even if she is an apprentice, seeing a Sword Shaman from the Lion King Agency proper so easily defeated makes me, a Priestess of the Six Blades, sometimes referred to as a Black Sword Shaman, sick to my stomach. I shall thus render a touch of aid.” 

It was unclear just how much of Kiriha’s declaration was how she really felt. 

Natsuki replied with apathy, “Do as you like. The result will be no different.” 

“I wonder about that. You’re awfully stuck-up for a mere witch. Perhaps death will humble you.” 

Speaking those words in a belligerent tone, her true nature bared, Kiriha glanced over to Yukina. 

Yukina nodded without a word, readying her spear at Kiriha’s side. 

Natsuki gazed tediously at the light and dark Sword Shamans, supposed enemies now fighting side by side, and sighed. 

5 

When Kojou came to, he was standing in a Spartan room featuring stonework. 

The walls were built with uneven, natural stones, and there was a small, iron-barred window. It was what you’d expect from an antique prison straight out of the Middle Ages. 

“Here again…” 

Kojou squatted down and looked up at the ceiling. The sunrays shining in from the window were the color of blood. He faintly remembered the scenery. Kojou had been in this room once before. The fact that his memories of it were uncertain was likely because this was inside the world of dreams. 

This was the Prison Barrier, the world Natsuki had constructed out of her own dream. 

The walls appeared rugged and thick, but not so thick that a Beast Vassal of the Fourth Primogenitor could not break them. 

Kojou tried to call a Beast Vassal over, but the results were as he expected. He felt no sign of a Beast Vassal appearing. For that matter, he could no longer sense his own demonic energy. 

“Give it up. You cannot employ your Beast Vassals within this space. It is my dream, after all.” 

As Kojou continued his futile efforts, someone spoke to him from behind. 

At some point, a luxurious reclining armchair had appeared in the center of the room. Seated upon it was an adult woman wearing a white shirt and a tight miniskirt. 

She was about 165 centimeters tall; she was probably about twenty-six years old. 

She had the delicate beauty of a doll, but her vainglorious eyes, seemingly looking down on all before her, made that impression go to waste. The woman, characterized by long, black hair, was holding an elaborate lace fan. 

“And you look like that because it’s a dream, too?” 

Kojou sighed deeply, as if wholly exasperated by the sight. “Hmm-hmm,” went the woman in the tight miniskirt, smiling proudly as she said, “I matched appearance with my actual age.” 

“Well, you certainly do come off pretty grown-up with that look…” 

Kojou voiced his half-baked appraisal. 

Her appearance might have changed, but the woman’s tone and personality were all Natsuki. Thanks to that, he didn’t feel put off very much. If anything really stood out, it was the extremely large difference in bust size, but pointing that out would only anger her, so he kept his mouth shut. This was Natsuki’s dream world after all. 

“Your face says you have not yet given up on going to the mainland, Kojou Akatsuki.” 

Adult Natsuki recrossed her legs, highlighted by her pumps and black tights. 

Kojou kept sitting cross-legged on the floor, nodding like a sulking child as he said, “Of course not. I still haven’t heard from you why you’re trying to stop me.” 

“An explanation, is it? Would you be dissatisfied to hear that I do not wish to lose you?” 

Natsuki’s expression was oddly serious as she made the statement. That really threw Kojou off. 

“Lose…? You mean, dying? I am a vampire, you know…” 

“A vampire primogenitor cursed with immortality by God…yes?” Her tone was most unamused. “Hmph. And if, on the mainland, you met a being who could slay that very God? Could you really speak of your own immortality so casually then?” 

“Kill God… You’re tellin’ some tall tales at your age…” 

Kojou turned toward Natsuki, who was giving him a look that was a little like pity. Sure, Kojou’s title of the World’s Mightiest Vampire was far-flung in itself, but he thought Natsuki’s words far too great a leap. 

However, Natsuki calmly ignored Kojou’s rudeness and said, “By God I mean in the sense of the creators of the system we know as the world…a God at least on the level of the ancestor of all humankind.” 

“Ancestor of humankind… The first human, then? That sounds pretty mythological, but…” 

“I suppose so. One can view the mythos from every corner of the globe in various ways… He did as the God that created him commanded, or perhaps, he slew that God, and the children of this later God became the rulers of a new world?” 

“So that’s what you mean,” said Kojou, accepting Natsuki’s words. 

Like vampiric primogenitors, the original human brought to life by a mythical Creator was said to be unaging, undying, remaining himself in myths the world over. 

“But in the end, which side is this founding god the founder of?” Natsuki muttered the words, almost like she was asking herself that question. 

“What do you mean, which?” 

“Isn’t it obvious? Humans or demons?” 

Natsuki seemed bored as she pressed her chin against her hand. 

“This is not a matter of which is superior, but humankind and demonkind differ immensely. Though they speak the same languages, and it is even possible for them to crossbreed, they differ too much as living beings. Is it not unnatural to think of the two as descendants of the same gods?” 

Kojou began to sense an ill premonition as Natsuki readily continued. 

Why did the race known as demons exist in the world…? Scientists and theologians the world over continued to pose that question, and to that day, no final answer had been found. It was said that Demon Sanctuaries existed to unravel that very mystery. 

“And if, say, the ancestors of humans and demons turned out to be brothers, would there be a problem with that?” 

Kojou aired a rather naive question. After all, if the two had been created by the same God, the two ancestors were equals. The descendants—humans and demons—had no supremacy over the other. Neither race was evil. And yet— 

“It is the other way around,” Natsuki answered, smiling with scorn. “There will be conflicts so long as different peoples exist. It goes the same for the gods.” 

“So a war among the ancestors, huh?” 

“It is something that happened long enough ago to make the mind grow numb. No proper records of it remain.” 

“Oh… Okay…,” Kojou murmured at Natsuki’s words. 

Just because two sides were equal didn’t mean they would get along. If anything, it was because they were equal that enmity between them deepened. Now that she mentioned it, such things were all too typical, and the same apparently went for these ancestors. 

“So in the end, what happened to them? The battle’s over, right?” 

“Who knows? Even I do not know the truth about The Cleansing in any detail. Perhaps they destroyed each other, were both sealed away, or even slain by weapons built to slay the gods.” 

“…Weapons?” 

The disturbing echo of that word made Kojou’s look turn grave. Natsuki gazed at his expression, cruelly curling up the corners of her lips as she said: 

“Within the memory of Avrora Florestina, the Fourth Primogenitor was called a god-killing weapon, yes? The gods were warring against one another. Is it strange that weapons for slaying gods would be constructed? And the Fourth Primogenitor is not necessarily the only god-killing weapon that still exists.” 

“……” 

Kojou’s silence was like a lament. 

He was remembering Leviathan, which he had previously encountered at Blue Elysium. According to scripture, it was the Serpent of Jealousy, the mightiest of all creatures fashioned by the gods. The demon beast was off the charts, several kilometers in length, and was called a living weapon from the age of myth and legend. 

What if, like that monster and the Fourth Primogenitor, other god-killing weapons had been built and still existed? 

And so— 

“You’re saying the relic of The Cleansing at the bottom of Kannawa Lake is one of those god-killing weapons?” 

“We do not yet know. Nor, for that matter, which side it belongs to.” 

“Which side…?” 

“There are two types of relics of the so-called Cleansing. In other words, there are weapons to kill the ancestors of demons, and weapons to kill the ancestors of humankind.” 

“…!” 

Natsuki’s nonchalant explanation sent a cold shudder up Kojou’s spine. 

“Both would be dangerous beings, but if they obtain a weapon for annihilating the ancestors of humankind, less so… Far less than the alternative,” she continued. 

Kojou could only grimace in silence. 

Since the dawn of recorded history, humankind and demonkind had waged incessant conflict against the other, and only in recent history had they achieved something resembling peaceful coexistence. Thanks to the Holy Ground Treaty, formed some several decades prior, peace had finally become a reality. 

This had come about because of the efforts of the First Primogenitor, the Lost Warlord, and because humanity was tired from a long war. However, the more practical reason why the treaty had been signed was that the science and magic humans possessed had evolved to the point of rivaling the military might of demons. In short, there was a concern that human and demon civilizations would both collapse. 

And what would happen if either camp obtained a weapon powerful enough to throw the balance of power askew? There was no point imagining—the result was all too clear. 

“I get why the thing at the bottom of Kannawa Lake is dangerous,” Kojou said after a long sigh. “But what does that have to do with Nagisa and Avrora?” 

“…The Lion King Agency is not considering digging up the relic of The Cleansing,” Natsuki replied, shrugging. “Their objective is to neutralize it—to seal away the relic about to awaken at the bottom of Kannawa Lake—this time forever.” 

“Seal? Wait—about to awak— Er… What the hell?! That’s news to me!!” 

In his surprise, Kojou pressed closer to Natsuki. Finding his approach annoying, Natsuki brushed Kojou aside with her left hand. 

“Do you understand at least a little why I cannot let you go to Kannawa Lake?” 

“Because you don’t know whether the relic will respond to my demonic energy and just wake up faster.” 

“Correct.” 

“……” 

Kojou bit his lip and grunted quietly. “Ugh.” 

However, he felt everything making sense deep inside of him. The Lion King Agency was a government organization. They acted with the objective of preventing large-scale sorcerous disasters and sorcerous terrorism, or so he had been told. 

If an incident like that was happening at Kannawa Lake, on one level, their actions were entirely rational. He also thought that Gajou trying to take Nagisa there indicated a gross inability to read the mood. 

“But isn’t it just as dangerous to bring Avrora close to it?” 

“It might well be.” 

Surprisingly, Natsuki did not refute Kojou’s misgivings. 

“However, even the Lion King Agency cannot use a ritual to seal a god-killing weapon of ill-known provenance. Hence, why they set their eyes on Nagisa Akatsuki.” 

“What for?!” 

“Avrora Florestina knows a ritual to seal a god-killing weapon.” 

Natsuki’s unexpected answer struck Kojou completely out of the blue. 

Properly speaking, Avrora, one of the twelve Kaleid Blood vampires, was not the Fourth Primogenitor. She was a vessel built to contain the accursed soul of the Fourth Primogenitor—Root Avrora—that made it a god-killing weapon. 

As a result of Kojou’s actions and those of Avrora’s herself, the soul of Root was annihilated, and she had been liberated from her duty as a sealing vessel. 

However, that did not mean Avrora had lost her functionality as that sealing vessel. 

“They want to use the ritual for sealing Root on the relic at Kannawa Lake? They can do that…?” 

“Certainly, it is a poor gamble. But if it succeeds, no human lives will be lost. Furthermore, the Avrora Florestina possessing Nagisa Akatsuki is a psychic remnant unable to take physical form. Her effects on the relic are likely to be minimal.” 

“And what happens if they fail?” 

When Kojou suppressed his emotions and posed the question, Natsuki displayed a sarcastic smile. 

“Let’s see… Best case, they might be able to tame it, much as you did with Avrora Florestina.” 

“And worst case?” 

“That goes without saying—war.” 

“Wha…?!” 

Natsuki’s reply was exceedingly simple; moreover, it was oddly persuasive. Natsuki and the Lion King Agency had fully anticipated the worst case long before, hence why they had made their move. 

“The negotiation condition presented by Hisano Akatsuki was to free Nagisa Akatsuki of Avrora Florestina. The Lion King Agency likely has some sort of plan to save your little sister.” 

“Hisano… You’re sayin’ Grandma’s the one pullin’ the strings?!” 

Astounded, Kojou widened his eyes. But when he thought about it calmly, it immediately made perfect sense. In spite of Gajou’s wariness about being tailed, the Lion King Agency learned Nagisa’s movements for one simple reason: Hisano had leaked the information to them from the inside. 

“Surely, it is not so surprising. In the first place, was Gajou Akatsuki not taking Natsuki there so she could be examined?” 

“Shit…! But if they save Nagisa, what happens to Avrora’s soul?” he asked, clenching his fist once more. 

Natsuki calmly shook her head. “There is nothing to be done. That girl no longer exists. That which is chipping your little sister’s life away is nothing but a psychic remnant. It is a fragment of a soul that is already lost.” 

“…Why didn’t you talk to me about this in the first place?!” 

When Kojou glared at Natsuki in rebuke, Natsuki’s expression turned haughty. 

“Relax. This is my dream world. I will make you forget about all this before you leave this place, like a dream you cannot remember after awakening.” 

“Don’t give me that crap…! There’s no way I can back down after hearing all that!” 

Giving into his emotions, Kojou tried to grab Natsuki by her shirt. However, his hand was repelled by Natsuki’s barrier before he could touch her. Groaning from the pain, like from an electric jolt, Kojou brought his face closer to Natsuki’s again. 

“And besides, if you end up fighting this relic, aren’t you gonna need my power?!” 

“Do not get a thick head, brat. What can a shrimp unable to lay a finger on me do against a god-killing weapon?” 

Natsuki’s beautiful lips curled upward. This time, Kojou was sent flying, making an unsightly crash against the wall. 

With his powers currently stripped from him while inside the barrier, Kojou was unable to defy her. And yet, Kojou did not relent, raising his face with a ferocious smile. 

“Ain’t it a little too soon to say I can’t lay a finger on you?” 

“Oh really…? Would you like to try escaping the Prison Barrier right now, then?” 

Kojou replied to Natsuki’s taunts with a nod. “If we get out of here on our own power, you’ll let us go to the mainland, got it?” 

“Our power…? Interesting. We shall see.” 

6 

“Black Thunder—!” 

With an earsplitting cry, Yukina leaped with agility that surpassed human limits. She worked her way through countless Natsuki afterimages, lashing out with spear blows resembling rays of light. 

“Hmph, a physical enchantment. Certainly, you are fast, but—” 

The small-statured witch easily deflected Yukina’s blow, using the momentary opening to brush the girl aside with her left hand. Yukina was unable to evade the shock wave thus released, interrupting her string of attacks. 

“The way you fight is too honest, transfer student. It is easy to discern your target.” 

“Gah…!” 

With Yukina’s mobility reduced, Natsuki sent her teddy bear-like familiars barreling toward her. The familiars self-destructed faster than Yukina could mount a counterattack. Yukina, sent flying by the explosive pressure, was heavily off-balance when silver chain spears shot out of thin air poured down on her. 

It was a Priestess of the Six Blades in an old-fashioned sailor uniform who rescued Yukina in her moment of peril. 

“Mist Leopard—Twin Moons!” 

She knocked Natsuki’s silver chains down using her forked spear in a slicing attack. The resulting cracks in space also fended off the blast waves from the familiars. 

“Kiriha…!” 

“I am sorry, but that was my last pseudo-spatial severing. Ricercare’s ritual energy depletion rate far exceeds the original’s.” 

Kiriha’s statement was blunt while she lowered her forked spear—its glow now lost. The pseudo-spatial severing ability, able to sever Laeding and block the invisible shock wave, was an exceedingly effective weapon against Natsuki. Now that it had been lost, they could not help but be at a disadvantage. 

“No, you have done enough.” 

However, Yukina stood up with a charming, forceful smile. 

Kiriha looked back at her in surprise and said, “But we will be whittled down at this rate. The Witch of the Void has a wealth of composure like an instructor’s.” 

“I wonder… Does she really?” 

Yukina spoke with an oddly reserved tone. Kiriha looked at her suspiciously; Yukina behaved like she did not think her words were mere trash talk. 

“If Ms. Minamiya is merely preventing senpai from escaping Itogami Island, the fact that he is locked in the Prison Barrier means her objective has already been achieved. She has no reason to fight us.” 

“…Certainly, you might have a point. If she teleported to Keystone Gate, there would be nothing we could do.” 

“Yes. Yet, in point of fact, Ms. Minamiya remains here. I believe she has a reason why she is unable to teleport at this time.” 

“…?!” Kiriha’s lips trembled slightly. 

It was Natsuki’s illusion that had made Yukina realize it. This was Natsuki, someone who teleported with the same ease of breathing. There was no need for her to rely on an illusion to evade Yukina’s attack; she needed only teleport somewhere beyond the reach of Yukina’s spear. 

However, Natsuki had used the illusion. Moreover, she was avoiding the use of teleportation, even to the point of fruitlessly dragging out the battle. Even if Natsuki could still teleport but had merely deemed it best not to, it must have had some external cause. 

“You believe she acts like an instructor training us to conceal a tangible weakness?” concluded Kiriha, her lips forming a broad smile. Her face broadcast great happiness at the prospect that Natsuki’s composure was hollow. She nodded. “I see, a Beast Vassal of the Fourth Primogenitor…!” 

“Yes.” 

Yukina glared up at the small-statured witch hovering in midair. Behind Natsuki, above the ocean, was the lightning lion, trapped by a net of thorns. 

“That the Beast Vassal has not dematerialized means that senpai has not given up on breaking out of the Prison Barrier, doesn’t it? And to continue to keep senpai’s Beast Vassal bound, you are unable to use teleportation. Am I wrong?” 

“Hmph… Akatsuki being such a sore loser certainly was unexpected. For some reason, the idiot actually believes you will rescue him.” 

Natsuki affirmed Yukina’s words with surprising frankness. Knowing this does not change my absolute superiority in any way, spoke her demeanor. 

“In other words, Yukina Himeragi, if I capture you and drag you into the Prison Barrier, that idiot will finally give up.” 

Yukina listened to Natsuki’s nonchalant words with a powerful glint resting in her eyes. 

“Unfortunately, I believe that to be beyond your means.” 

“Just so you know, even if I can’t teleport, I’m very strong—” 

Before her words even reached Yukina, Natsuki gave Dromi physical form. 

This steel-colored anchor chain had a diameter of ten centimeters and was hundreds of meters long. It was impossible to tell by sight how many hundreds of tons it weighed. Natsuki waved the extraordinarily huge anchor chain like a whip, sweeping it at Yukina and Kiriha. 

“Tch!” 

It was Kiriha who struck back against it. With her blade, purportedly unable to use pseudo-spatial severing, she severed the flying chain at its base, proceeding on with a leap toward Natsuki. 

“So you did have strength left, Priestess of the Six Blades.” 

Natsuki lifted her chin in delight. Kiriha thrust her spear toward the defenseless Natsuki. It was at a lethal distance where even an illusion would be insufficient to escape. But: 

“How unfortunate, Kiriha Kisaki.” 

“Oh n—?!” 

Kiriha exclaimed as she noticed the silver chain wrapped around her ankle. 

Natsuki had strewn silver chains under the sand around herself beforehand—a trap Kiriha had leaped right into. 

Kiriha abandoned her attack on Natsuki and severed the silver chain around her ankle. Had her decision come a single moment later, Kiriha would have most surely been struck with an additional blow by Natsuki. 

During that time, Natsuki escaped beyond Kiriha’s range. And this time, Kiriha had truly hit the bottom of the ritual energy stored in Ricercare. That surprise attack had been her last chance to defeat Natsuki. 

“That is enough to break even my heart… The difference in combat experience is too great…” Kiriha dropped to one knee on the sand and spat the words. She felt like that single instant had shaved several years off her life span. 

With Kiriha like that, Yukina reluctantly spoke to her from behind. “I am sorry, Kiriha. Could you buy me just ten seconds?” 

“Excuse me?!” Kiriha’s eyes flew wide at Yukina’s incomprehensibly selfish request. “Are you trying to be funny?! Ten seconds against that witch is putting my life on the line, you know?!” 

“I know. But please.” 

When Kiriha vented her naked irritation, Yukina looked straight back at her as she spoke. Faced with Yukina’s obstinate demeanor, the poison seemed to drain from Kiriha as she sighed deeply and said: 

“Your personality is…far beyond my expectations. I sympathize with the Fourth Primogenitor somewhat.” 

Kiriha tossed out that sarcasm-laden line, stubbornly rising to her feet. Then Kiriha tossed away her gray forked spear. Either way, with its ritual energy spent, Ricercare was useless against Natsuki. Even knowing this, it was a highly resolute decision. 

The decisiveness of the Priestess of the Six Blades brought a wary look over Natsuki’s face. Kiriha, seeing this, smiled broadly as she said, “My shadow is mist, yet not mist. Blade, yet not blade.” 

With that quiet chant, Kiriha’s entire body melted into the scenery around her, vanishing from sight. Using an illusion spell, she had manipulated the refractive properties of the air, rendering her own body transparent. Simultaneously, she had activated a concealment spell, blocking all trace of her aura. 

“May it cut like a dream and sound the song of disaster—” 

When her incantation was complete, Kiriha had completely vanished from sight. Even Yukina’s Spirit Sight could not detect her presence. It was a frighteningly complete level of ritualistic camouflage. 

“Hiding yourself to restrict my movements— Not bad.” 

Natsuki murmured words of praise as she summoned a horde of familiars once more. She no doubt intended to use the beasts’ senses, far surpassing those of human beings, to locate Kiriha. 

“Too late—!” 

However, Kiriha appeared right before Natsuki’s eyes before the familiars could materialize. 

Heedless of the familiars surrounding her, Kiriha thrust her weaponless left hand toward Natsuki and commanded, “Fiery Lightning—!” 

Then she slammed condensed, high-density ritual energy into Natsuki like a transparent hammer. 

Kiriha’s point-blank attack sent the familiars flying as well. Knocked away, the familiars exploded with tremendous roars, sending Yukina’s black hair flapping in the blast winds. 

“I see. Employing ritual camouflage for a surprise attack to buy time—” 

Natsuki had only needed to retreat a little to evade being caught in the familiars’ explosions. Kiriha, buffeted by the blast winds, was in no position to give pursuit. 

Even so, Kiriha smirked. 

As Natsuki retreated slightly, a dazzling ritual symbol emerged under her feet. 

The pure-white sand swelled and seemed to explode, with a black, metallic leopard emerging from within. They were autonomous shikigami that had activated when they sensed Natsuki’s approach. They attacked Natsuki from her blind side, independent of Kiriha’s will. 

With Natsuki unable to teleport, there was simply no way she could evade the attack. The black leopard’s steel fangs glimmered as they attempted to rend the small-statured witch’s flesh apart. However, it was Natsuki who spoke next. 

“—Or so you feinted, using yourself as a decoy for your own trap. A fighting style suited for experts in anti-demonic beast combat, but alas.” 

The following instant, it was Kiriha who was slammed onto the sandy beach. 

“Guh-ah!” Kiriha coughed, the wind blown out of her, which her ears heard only belatedly. 

Natsuki, of course, was without a scratch; Kiriha’s trap hadn’t been destroyed—the shikigami hadn’t reacted to Natsuki at all. Kiriha’s shikigami had responded to the golden knight construct appearing behind Natsuki. Natsuki’s Guardian crushed Kiriha’s shikigami in its grip, blowing Kiriha away with hand pressure alone. 

“I praise you for forcing me to use my Rheingold, Priestess of the Six Blades.” 

Natsuki spoke plainly as she examined Kiriha, covered in sand below. She spoke with the disinterested tone of a teacher praising a student barely avoiding a failing grade. 

“Having made me go this far, I will not forgive a disgraceful defeat, Yukina Himeragi!!” 

Kiriha’s face contorted in humiliation as she looked behind her where Yukina ought to have been. Then, when she caught sight of the girl, Kiriha was at a loss for words. The Sword Shaman of the Lion King Agency was simply standing there in a daze, dangling her silver spear from her right hand. 

During the time Kiriha had earned by risking her life, Yukina had neither engaged in a scheme nor laid a trap; she had simply stood there, absentminded and defenseless. 

To Natsuki and Kiriha, the wholly emotionless look of her eyes resembled the water of a windswept lake. 

She had beautiful skin and glossy lips. Her face, fair far beyond the norm, somehow seemed fantastical, beyond the realm of humanity. 

“Tch…” 

When Natsuki noticed the change in Yukina, her face registered nervousness for the first time. Setting eyes upon Yukina, standing there wide open, she launched a barrage of silver chains that bore down like the rain. Simultaneously, countless chains attacked from every fathomable direction—the sheer volume well beyond what human reaction speed could cope with. 

However, without a word, Yukina evaded them all. She slipped past most of the chains with a minimum of motion, lashing out with her silver spear to knock away the rest. 

It was the work of a god. 

“Divine possession…in this situation…?!” 

Kiriha had goose bumps over her entire body when she realized why Yukina had undergone the abrupt change. To counter the Witch of the Void’s overwhelming combat capabilities, Yukina had opted to call down a god. She had made a powerful divine spirit possess her, and in so doing, she’d obtained power beyond human limit. 

A Sword Shaman was at once a swordswoman and also a priestess with superior spiritual power. Even so, this did not mean divine possession was an easy power to employ. A single minor slip in control would cause the destruction of the Sword Shaman’s personality; she would never regain sanity again. Or perhaps the divine spirit’s power would run amok, likely inflicting a grievous calamity on the surrounding area. 

Kiriha did not think Natsuki Minamiya was an opponent who needed to be defeated by running such risks—all the more because they only opposed Natsuki for the Fourth Primogenitor’s sake. However, without hesitation, Yukina had resolved to call down a god. Kiriha’s tongue curled at the girl’s determination. 

“What is this…?” 

Natsuki, standing still before Yukina, scrutinized her with shocked eyes. 

Her teleportation magic would not activate. Her materialized familiars had also vanished from sight. 

All around Natsuki, white crystals danced like flower petals. Even while Natsuki watched, their numbers increased, filling her field of vision. 

“Snow…? No… Divine Oscillation Effect crystals…?!” Natsuki exclaimed when she understood the situation. 

The silver spear Yukina gripped in her hand radiated a dazzling glow. With the vast spiritual power from divine possession coursing through it, Snowdrift Wolf had crystalized a Divine Oscillation Wave. The pure-white crystals nullified Natsuki’s magical energy, preventing her magic from activating. 

And the fact that Yukina wielded Snowdrift Wolf like so meant that she was employing the spiritual energy gained from possession of her own free will. She was in complete control of the divine spirit she had called into herself. 

“This divine spirit… I see… So this is why you were selected as the Fourth Primogenitor’s watcher…” 

Natsuki boldly smiled as she narrowed her eyes at the dancing snowflakes. 

Yukina gently swung her spear upward. 

Her once-emotionless eyes had already returned to normal. Her face, which had been beautiful beyond human measure, had regained the cherubic look befitting her age. 

Yukina shifted her gaze toward the golden knight construct standing resolutely behind Natsuki. 

The crimson thorns stretching from the knight construct held the Fourth Primogenitor’s wild and ferocious Beast Vassal firm. 

When her eyes met those of the lightning lion, Yukina smiled slightly. 

It’s all right were the words formed by her lips. It’s all right. Victory is ours— 

“—Snowdrift Wolf!” 

When Yukina swung her silver spear down, it became a giant blade of light that cleaved the air. 

That light blew the golden knight construct away, rending the crimson thorns asunder. 

Regaining its freedom, the lightning lion scattered pale thunderbolts and roared. 

The pillar of lightning rose to the very heavens, erupting in an incredible electromagnetic wave. It was said that power utilities and machines broke down across the entire island, inflicting damage in the tens of billions of yen— 

7 

“Goodness… It seems I pushed that hardhead a little too far.” 

Natsuki, the adult version wearing a white shirt and a tight miniskirt, gently placed a hand on her forehead. 

It was the stone cell inside the Prison Barrier. Outside the window stretched a crimson sky reminiscent of sunset. 

From time to time, flashes of light glimmered in the sky, and the building shook from the echo of distant thunder. 

Through his Beast Vassal’s senses, Kojou already knew what had happened in the outside world. Regulus Aurum, freed by Yukina, had run amok, and its demonic energy affected even the Prison Barrier. 

“Just like before with Yuuma, huh?” 

Kojou smiled weakly as he spoke, feeling partially responsible for his Beast Vassal’s rampage. 

Yuuma Tokoyogi had once borrowed the power of Kojou’s Beast Vassal to break the Prison Barrier. 

Inside the Prison Barrier was Natsuki’s dream world, and even the power of the Fourth Primogenitor could not break out. However, outside the Prison Barrier was another story. If you slammed it with enormous demonic energy, slapping Natsuki’s sleeping body awake, the dream world vanished, and the Prison Barrier became corporeal again. 

If Regulus Aurum continued rampaging in the world beyond, the same phenomenon would inevitably reoccur. For that matter, there was a greater than zero chance it would reduce all of Itogami Island to cinders. 

The only way to prevent that was to send Kojou, the Beast Vassal’s host and master, to put an end to the rampage. In other words, Natsuki had no choice but to set Kojou free. 

“Well, fine. You pass.” She smiled wryly. 

Kojou quietly patted his chest in relief. 

He’d achieved his objective of escaping the Prison Barrier, and it was fair to say he’d done it on his own power. Had Natsuki not accepted her defeat, he’d end up busting out by force. 

“So you’ll…let us go?” 

“It would be troublesome if the barrier broke again, and Aya and the others were freed, so yes. Go wherever you wish.” 

With that timid reminder, Natsuki gazed at him, listlessly crossing her arms. Kojou unwittingly averted his eyes, for this made her eye-catching bust stand out even more. 

Natsuki, gazing at Kojou’s reaction with visible amusement, suddenly rose to her feet. 

“But before you go…I suppose I will give you a special going-away present.” 

“N-Natsuki…?” 

Kojou’s voice went shrill when Natsuki’s body drew unnaturally close. 

Cleavage that did not rightfully exist poked out from the top of her white shirt. Natsuki gave her long hair an upward stroke, seemingly showing off her slender neck on purpose. From any angle, the situation looked like a female teacher seducing her pupil while giving a private lesson. 

Thanks to Natsuki’s body having grown so much, the fact that she still had the baby face just seemed wrong. Kojou gulped, swallowing as he gazed at her beautiful, doll-like visage. 

He did have some idea why Natsuki was seducing him like this. “I will give you a special going-away present,” she’d said. 

She probably means drinking her blood, he thought. 

If he crossed over to the mainland, there was no telling what dangers awaited him. It was better than not, if he could use even a single Beast Vassal once more. If he drank Natsuki’s blood there, the chance was high that he could claim a Beast Vassal that had not yet acknowledged him as its host. However: 

“W…wait a sec! You’re an educator and stuff…!” 

Kojou desperately tried to hold Natsuki at bay. 

Even if she was all grown-up, Natsuki’s real body looked like an eleven- or twelve-year-old girl’s. He just couldn’t bring himself to drink her blood. After all, the trigger for vampiric urges was lust. 

He felt that if he gave in to Natsuki’s seduction and drank her blood, he’d lose something precious to him as a person. 

“What, this situation holds no appeal to you? In other words, you prefer my usual form to my buxom female-teacher form?” 

“Er, the issue isn’t whether I like this look or not…!” 

“Well, fine, here you go.” 

That said, Natsuki pulled up a roll of photocopied sheets from the cleavage of her breasts. 

Where did that come from? thought Kojou, thrown off as he accepted the papers. 

“Um… What is this anyway?” 

“I told you, didn’t I? A going-away present. You intend to skip the rest of your winter break extra lessons, yes? So I prepared your homework in advance. You should thank me. It’s due the next day of classes.” 

Natsuki giggled, explaining with her usual vainglorious look. 

“Ah… So that’s what it is…” 

For reasons not clear even to him, Kojou sank into disappointment, hanging his head as if all his strength was spent. 

Apparently, Natsuki had been teasing him from the beginning. Maybe losing the bet had gotten under her skin. Either way, it was the sort of thing she would do. 

“What? Did you think I would let a sex-starved brat like you drink my blood?” 

Natsuki looked down at the crestfallen Kojou with amusement, insulting him for good measure. Then, with her usual haughtiness, she arched her bust, smiling coolly as she said, “Well, I’ll think about it if you actually graduate.” 

“Thanks a bunch.” 

Kojou half-heartedly parried Natsuki’s words, unable to take her seriously by that point. 

A moment later, his vision wavered—a sign of teleportation. 

When he suddenly came to, the Natsuki in the white-shirted female-teacher look was gone, and the young-looking Natsuki stood before Kojou. Apparently, she was escorting Kojou out of the Prison Barrier. 

“Do ensure you make it in time for classes after winter break.” 

Natsuki made the statement in a quiet voice, almost a whisper. The atypically gentle voice felt like a command to Kojou. 

Make sure you come back. 

“Natsuki…” 

Without thinking, Kojou called out her name, speaking it like a word of thanks. 

As he did, his face was assaulted by ferocious pain, almost like being punched. 

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

Somehow, Natsuki’s indignant voice sounded…distant. 

Then Kojou awoke from her dream—