Strike the Blood - Volume 20 - Chapter 1.5

5

“Grounded Lightning—!”

The blunt attack unleashed from Yukina’s right palm punched through the jaw of the young beast person. From his expression, the beast person seemed not to even comprehend what had happened as he flew hard through the air, eyes white as he fainted.

Stepping right over their compatriots, fresh enemies assaulted her. This group of violent demons wearing street gang-style attire were rogue ruler candidates who had lost their domains and subjects.

“Aww, crap! There’s no end to ’em! What hole did these guys crawl out from?!”

Kojou lamented as he desperately dodged a ball of fire shot at him via magic spell.

At present, Kojou and Yukina were in the northern section of Itogami Island. They were inside a station connecting Island East and North for transferring between monorail lines.

The Electoral War had brought monorail travel to a halt. That meant the terminal should have been sparse on guests. It was with that expectation Kojou and Yukina had opted for the monorail’s elevated bridges as the best way to move around. Encountering rogue ruler candidates in such a place was an unfortunate accident for both parties.

“They seem to be demons that set up camp in Island East. I suppose the rumors that the Second Primogenitor appeared in the east were true.”

Clutching her silver spear, Yukina breathed hard as she spoke. The group of delinquent demons they’d encountered weren’t especially battle hardened, but there were just too many of them. To Kojou and Yukina, worn down from fighting the Order of the End the night before, they were troublesome foes indeed.

“So Fallgazer’s army pushed them out, and they fled here into Island North, huh—”

Kojou twisted his lips in visible annoyance as he spat out the words.

“—Geez, this ain’t no joke. Giada settin’ up in Island South is bad enough as it is! Plus, the First Primogenitor went over to Island West, right?”

“Yes. It seems that he’s been staying in Yume’s domain since before you and I returned to Itogami Island.”

Yukina answered while standing back-to-back with him. Irritated, Kojou grimaced.

“What the hell is that guy thinking?”

“I don’t have the slightest idea, either… However, it appears that Yume and the others get along very well with him…”

“…No choice but to trust him for the time being, huh?”

He sighed deeply, suppressing his inner bewilderment and concern.

They’d only exchanged a brief conversation in an Aldegian airport, but for better or worse, the man going by Ki Juranbarada, who Kojou had encountered, possessed a sunny, jovial disposition.

Kojou didn’t know why the man had come to Itogami Island, but as far as he could tell from what Yukina had told him, he hadn’t approached her out of some weird scheme. For starters, he was so powerful that if he and Kojou happened to confront each other, he wouldn’t even have to take Yume or Nagisa hostage beforehand or anything of the sort.

“What’s with all these people already—?!”

The angry voice of the other girl with them in the station pulled Kojou out of his scattered thoughts and back to reality. Using her undulating long sword, the white-haired girl wearing a long wimple—Shizuri Kasugaya—was engaged in a slashing contest with a lizardman swordsman.

“There she is! It’s the white-haired ogre, Kazugatani!”

“The ruler of the Saikai Academy Domain who sent the Third Primogenitor packing?!”

When they’d noticed her presence, the group of demons had gone after her all at once, completely ignoring the other pair. Their target was Shizuri, not Kojou or Yukina. They’d been driven out of their domains, so if they could defeat Shizuri, a fellow ruler candidate, they would steal the right to rule Saikai Academy Domain from her. That was why they had attacked Kojou and the others at the drop of a hat when they’d bumped into each other at the station.

“Kasutaniii! Your head is mine!”

A beast person from one of the various strains of werewolves assaulted Shizuri from above with nimble movements.

“K-Kasutani…?!”

Lips twitching, Shizuri blocked her enemies’ blows. Hearing them butcher the pronunciation of her Japanese family name was making her see red.

“You won’t get away, Kasuyaaaaa!”

“Take this, Kasutaaa!”

“I-it is Kasugaya! Shizuri Kasugaya Castiella!”

Shizuri swung her sword in anger, enraged at them changing how she was addressed like some demented game of telephone. Her hair was disheveled, and her breathing was ragged. She seemed even more exhausted than Kojou and Yukina. Maybe that was why she came off as unable to concentrate on the fight in front of her.

“You all right, Cas?!”

“But of course! No matter how many they may be, foes so base are unworthy to face a Paladin of Gisella!”

Shizuri glared back at the concerned Kojou and shouted in anger. It was obvious that she was putting on a strong front. She was near the limits of her endurance.

Tch, went Kojou’s harsh click of his tongue. He did a quick head count of the demons continuing to bear down upon them.

Even just from what he could make out, the delinquent monsters targeting Shizuri were over fifty strong. Their strength would surely have given out if they had taken them on one by one. At this point, all Kojou had left to draw on was the inexhaustible demonic power of the Fourth Primogenitor.

“Aww, crap— C’mon over, Sadalmelik Albus!”

Kojou summoned his own Beast Vassal in a fit of desperation.

In a burst of pale light, a Beast Vassal with a transparent body that looked like flowing water appeared.

Its upper body was that of a beautiful woman; its lower half, that of an enormous serpent. Its hair was composed of countless flowing snakes.

It was a pale Undine—a water maid.

“Wha…?!”

“The hell is thaaaat?!”

The sudden appearance of the powerful Beast Vassal caused the delinquent demons to fall into panic.

Unlike the other Beast Vassals of the Fourth Primogenitor, Sadalmelik Albus did not possess explosive attacks that scattered its targets to the winds. Instead, the Fourth Primogenitor’s eleventh Beast Vassal possessed the powers of healing and regeneration. Any matter enveloped in the water maid’s transparent flesh returned to its origins on an atomic level, reverting to its proper state.

Creatures reverted to before they were even born. Resilient castle walls became clumps of soil. High-end cities transformed into barren wastelands. Advanced civilizations morphed back into prehistoric times—hers was a destructive power that returned everything to nothingness.

The water maid aimed her destructive healing beneath the feet of the delinquent creatures surrounding Kojou and company—to the monorail station itself. The building’s walls turned to collapsing sand, as though time itself was being rewound; similarly, the steel girders supporting it were dismantled down to iron atoms.

The collapsing station engulfed the helpless, densely packed group of delinquents, who subsequently plummeted toward the surface of the earth. There, a large hole had opened to reveal the white, frothing surface of the sea. Kojou’s Beast Vassal had already destroyed the artificial soil they would have landed on.

“You overdid it, senpai…damaging Itogami Island so badly again…”

Lowering the spear she wielded, Yukina turned her reproachful gaze toward Kojou.

The greater part of their foes, who’d suddenly plunged into the sea, were in a state of terror. They no longer had the luxury of going after Shizuri.

They’d paid a significant price for that victory, however. The monorail station was now half-wrecked, and part of the rail itself had vanished, as though it had been cleanly cut away. Since the monorail itself was shut down, there was no immediate effect upon traffic, but it’d probably take a considerable expense to fix.

“Not like there was any alternative. If you wanna complain, complain to the shitty brats who caused this stupid mess.”

Kojou languidly leaned against a wall as he made that lazy rebuttal.

“In other words…The Blood?”

Yukina sullenly pursed her lips. Kojou nodded with displeasure.

“Guess the point of this Electoral War was to draw the primogenitors to this island and make me fight ’em. There’s stupid, and then there’s that. Besides that, they sure fell for it awful easy.”

“I…suppose they did.”

The monsters who’d fallen into the sea were engaging in unsightly competitions to crawl up the coast ahead of the others. Yukina exhaled powerlessly as they did this beneath her gaze.

“However, the current situation on Itogami Island is moving according to The Blood and the Order of the End’s plans. So long as the primogenitors are on this island, it will be difficult to bring the Electoral War to a close.”

“Difficult? If we captured The Blood and took back Keystone Gate, wouldn’t that settle things right there?”

Kojou seemed a little surprised as he prompted back. “No,” replied Yukina with a grave shake of her head.

“If it came to that, the three primogenitors would surely move to hinder you, senpai. If the Electoral War ended, they would lose their justification for remaining on Itogami Island.”

“So, what, the reason Giada attacked me was to bail The Blood out of a jam…?”

Kojou ruefully clenched his back teeth as he recalled his encounter with Giada Kukulkin the previous night.

When Kojou had tried to pursue The Blood as he fled, Giada’s Beast Vassal had attacked him by surprise to impede him. That was not a simple declaration of war; she’d done it with the express aim of letting The Blood get away, thereby prolonging the Electoral War.

“Also, now that all the primogenitors have gathered upon the island, The Blood has no reason to show himself in front of you any longer, senpai. After all, his objective is to make you fight the other primogenitors, to prove that the Fourth Primogenitor is the strongest—”

“So he’s decided to watch from up high until the Electoral War ends, has he?”

“Yes. Most likely.”

Yukina lowered her eyes with a stiff look on her face.

Kenon—Number Zero of the Kaleid Bloods—had stated that his objective was for the Fourth Primogenitor to be regarded as a symbol of fear. If that was true, he would not fight with Kojou in the future. After all, his real desire was for Kojou to battle the other primogenitors and emerge victorious. That was his sole motivation behind crafting a “Colosseum” for the vampire primogenitors.

“In either case, it’s difficult for us to conduct a search for The Blood’s whereabouts as we are now.”

“Yeah…”

Kojou grudgingly agreed with Yukina’s analysis.

“Well, fine. I’ll leave all the thinking about annoying stuff for later. For now, let’s get movin’. It’ll be real trouble if other ruler candidates spot us.”

“Move…you say?”

Yukina knit her brows, conflicted. Kojou turned his eyes toward the wreckage of the elevated bridge.

“But it’s impossible to ride the monorail line to cross over into Island South now. After having used such spectacular demonic energy, the Chaos Zone units have surely detected your presence, senpai.”

“So we can’t return to Saikai Academy, huh?”

Kojou lowered his shoulders with regret as he gazed at the soil of the artificial isle on the other side of the canal.

Saikai Academy Domain was completely isolated, its surroundings under occupation by forces from the Chaos Zone. Kojou and his friends had been in the middle of heading to Island South’s eastern coast. But their unexpected encounter with the stray ruler candidates had completely foiled their plan.

“The Tensou Academy Domain is pretty close by, but I would prefer to avoid encountering the First Primogenitor in such a depleted state. After all, we’re completely in the dark about his objectives…”

“Ki Juranbarada, huh… What do you think, Cas? You’ve met the First Primogenitor, too, right?”

Kojou tossed his voice toward Shizuri’s back. However, Shizuri said nothing in reply. She was still holding her drawn sword, as though she were dazed.

He found this suspicious as he approached her.

“…Cas?”

“Y-yes!”

After he spoke her name in her ear, Shizuri lifted her head in surprise.

A guilty look came over her face as she realized that Kojou and Yukina were staring at her with concern.

“Scusa…I’m sorry. I was somewhat lost in thought.”

“About the swordswoman from the Order of the End? She used a blue demonic sword that was quite similar to yours, Miss Kasugaya—”

Yukina asked that out of apparent consideration for Shizuri. Kojou stared at Shizuri, a little surprised. He recalled that Shizuri’s movements had lost some of their luster in the middle of that engagement.

“Was it someone you know?”

“No. It’s not quite like that… It’s just…”

Shizuri tried to gloss things over, but she trailed off when she glanced at Kojou’s and Yukina’s worried faces. With a single brief sigh, she rephrased things in a quiet tone of voice.

“She, too…is an ogre.”

“Ogre? You mean you’re of the same people? But that doesn’t mean you’re family or anything, right?”

“I do not know. However, that woman clearly knows me… She spoke as if she despises me. And then there’s that demonic sword she possesses…Hauras. It should have been passed down through Gisella since it’s so valuable, but…”

“I see… That would weigh on your mind.”

Kojou made a low noise as he grasped why Shizuri was bewildered.

During the collapse of the Demon Sanctuary of Iroise some six years prior, Shizuri had lost all her companions in Gisella, whom she’d thought of as her own family. To her, the last Paladin of Gisella, Hauras symbolized her bonds with her companions.

It was little wonder, then, that Shizuri had been shaken upon learning that the Order of the End possessed something very much like her precious demonic blade.

“Let’s think of a way to look into that ogre and her demonic sword. Perhaps it might help us determine the Order of the End’s whereabouts.”

Yukina proposed this in a very serious tone of voice.

“Y-yes… Grazie…thank you.”

For once, Shizuri politely nodded, smiling as she regained her poise.

“Now, then,” said Kojou with a drop of his shoulders, trying to restart their conversation about where to go from there.

But in that instant, Kojou’s heart pounded with a heavy thump.

He felt like a bolt of lightning had slammed down right beside him. A numbing, electric pain made his skin tremble.

That blow was unlike anything Kojou had felt up to that point—somewhere on Itogami Island, a powerful demonic energy on par with his own had been unleashed. No, it wasn’t in a single place but multiple places at once.

“The hell…?! What’s this feeling…?!”

Clutching his chest, Kojou fell to his knees.

His field of vision constricted and reddened. Like a fish flopping around on land, his throat tightened up, leaving him unable to breathe. He seethed with irritation and anger that had no outlet. And then, he felt overwhelming terror.

“Could those be…Beast Vassals of the Second Primogenitor…?”

Yukina exclaimed in surprise as she glared above the sea to the east.

Countless black shadows hovered in the sky above Island East, a horde of flying dinosaurs so enormous that she could make them out even from a great distance away. It was vast enough to fill the sky.

“It’s not just in the east…!”

Shizuri looked behind her and shouted. As if it had conspired behind the scenes to adopt the exact same timing, a fresh source of demonic energy appeared from Itogami Island’s south side, the direction of Saikai Academy.

“Gu…ooooooooooo!!”

As the twin demonic energies manifested simultaneously, Kojou felt as though his entire body were being ripped apart.

Just then, the intense pain activated a bizarre sensation that overtook him. A ferocious sense of hunger, a desire to consume everything to the last… A deep desire blazing within him surged up from the innermost depths of his flesh.

“Senpai?!”

“Kojou?! What are you doing?!”

Yukina and Shizuri gazed dumbfounded at him, both of his eyes dyed red and fangs bared.

A crimson mist enveloped his entire body. The miasma gushed forth like flames, tracing a strange pattern in midair.

“This is…bad… Get back, Himeragi…! You too, Cas…!”

Kojou warned them in a nearly incoherent voice.

Even he didn’t know what was happening to his body. But he knew what it was trying to make him do. What this incredible sense of hunger craved was power—the force that was the source of a vampire’s demonic energy.

“Is it…the same…as back then…?”

Amid his thinning consciousness, Kojou remembered. This was a memory of fear, a memory of the day the natural disaster known as the Fourth Primogenitor assaulted that very Itogami Island.

As he lost his sense of reason, nothing entered his vision save the sight of the girls in front of him. He wanted to greedily devour every aspect of them—he could not defy that sweet temptation.

The tiny remaining portion of Kojou’s true personality shouted at the corner of his mind, Kill me!

Kill me, before I do something that can’t be taken back.

Surely, the silver spear Yukina possessed could do it. Surely, Shizuri’s sword could do it.

But before he could voice the plea, Kojou leaped toward them.

A shocked expression came over Yukina as she poised her spear, a mostly subconscious movement. Reacting to Kojou’s bloodlust, her body had subconsciously adopted a stance to intercept him.

But he never entered her range. A shock wave slammed into him from the side and sent him flying before he got in close.

“Gaah…!”

The rippling strike was unavoidable; it was as if space itself had transformed into a giant maul.

Buffeted by the swaying of space itself, Kojou couldn’t even yelp as he vomited blood all over the place. The attack had done enough damage that any normal person would have died on the spot.

The bloody miasma enveloping Kojou’s whole body vanished, and the pattern behind his back dissolved.

Freed from his demonic energy’s rampage, he fell like a puppet with its strings cut, rolling onto the floor.

“Senpai!”

Gasping as she came back to her senses, Yukina raced over to the fallen Kojou’s side.

He couldn’t even lift his head as he responded to her with a shaky, groaning voice.

Wounds lined his body and he was thoroughly beaten up, but the violent sense of hunger he’d experienced just moments before had vanished entirely. Apparently, bathing him in even greater demonic energy from up close had decreased the influence of the other primogenitors’ demonic energy.

“Have you awoken yet, Kojou Akatsuki?”

With a gentle, ripple-like sway in midair, a witch resembling a little girl appeared.

This was Natsuki Minamiya, the Witch of the Void—preeminent wielder of spatial-control magic.

However, her current form differed somewhat from the form Kojou and the others were used to.

Her long black hair and extravagant dress were the same as usual, but there were now thorny vines stretching forth from her shadow that were wrapped all over her.

It looked dangerous, as though some terrible beast lurking in her silhouette was attached to her own body.

Just what had happened to her during the time the Order of the End held her captive?

“Natsuki…Minamiya… What…is that form?”

“A few things happened on my end as well.”

When Shizuri posed that question with visible concern, Natsuki glanced at her and lobbed an indifferent reply.

“Sorry, but I can’t tone down my power for the moment. It’s healthier for you if you don’t rampage any further.”

“…Ain’t like I…wanted to rampage in the first…place.”

Wheezing with every breath as he replied, Kojou fainted again, depleted of strength. The wounds Natsuki’s attacks had inflicted ran deeper than they looked.

“K-Kojou?!”

“Senpai, please hang in there! Senpai!”

Shizuri and Yukina sat up his motionless body and shook him violently.

On top of an unknown influence driving him berserk, he’d sustained a blow from the warping of space itself. Even an immortal vampire primogenitor wouldn’t escape that unscathed. No wonder his friends were flustered.

For her part, Natsuki looked down at Kojou with a neutral expression and murmured to herself.

“I see. So this is your final desire, ‘The Blood’…”

As Kojou had rampaged, a strange pattern had floated up behind his back just before he lost consciousness.

This was the same pattern that the vampire known as Root had once created—eleven pitch-black wings.