Strike the Blood - Volume 22 - Chapter 2.4

4

The place that had once been the lobby of Keystone Gate looked like the impact site of a huge meteorite. There was a large pile of rubble twenty meters or so in diameter and dust hovering in the air on top of that.

“Yuuma!”

Noticing the girl standing amid that dust, Kojou spoke her name.

The girl wearing a sports brand parka over her tall, slim physique—Yuuma Tokoyogi—waved a hand as she saw Kojou and Yukina approach, seeming amused for some reason.

“Heya, Kojou. Himeragi, too. You two came awful quick.”

“The heck is all this? What a mess…”

“What in the world happened?”

Kojou and Yukina both spoke up as they surveyed the sorry state of the lobby once more.

Both of them had returned to their hotel after finishing their meeting with Ladli Ren about twenty minutes before. Immediately after, they felt incredible amounts of demonic energy being thrown around nearby, destroying the roof of the structure.

On top of that, a spherical castle of unknown origin had appeared in the sky above Keystone Gate. Thanks to that, Kojou and Yukina were left very confused, so they came to the lobby—now reduced to an impact site—to find out what the situation was.

“Ladli Ren.”

Yuuma looked back at the stiffly standing pair with a small, strained smile. She was working as an assistant to Natsuki Minamiya in the Attack Mage Section, so she had to have more info than Kojou and Yukina at the very least.

“Imperial Knights from the Warlord’s Empire tried to apprehend Ladli Ren. There are international arrest warrants for all MAR employees as terrorist suspects, see.”

“So Warlord’s Empire guys took Pun Girl for a ride? “

Kojou questioned back in surprise. If Ladli had been captured by the Warlord’s Empire, Kojou and his side couldn’t negotiate with her any way you sliced it.

Yuuma, though, blinked in minor bewilderment.

“Pun Girl? Ahhh…no, Ladli Ren went back home without harm, to her at least.”

“…‘To her at least’?”

What does that mean? they both wondered as they tilted their heads together. It was just then that they heard a familiar, high-pitched voice on the other side of that pile of rubble.

“There! Tanker, underneath! Get this pillar out of the way!”

“Indeed. Understood. Hangest on!”

With the boisterous whine of a motor, a crimson robot tank picked up a stupidly huge piece of concrete and violently cast it aside. It was the brand-new two-seater that Lydianne Didier had dubbed Momiji.

Guiding that tank was the World’s Mightiest Succubus—Yume Eguchi, Lilith aka the Witch of the Night. The girls, staying at the same hotel Kojou was, had apparently raced straight to the site of the collapse to begin rescue operations for victims caught up in the incident.

Yume with her powerful mental abilities was well suited to searching for survivors buried under rubble, and Lydianne’s tank, far more mobile than heavy machinery, truly shined at a disaster site like this. Kojou wasn’t in a hurry to admit it, but the two primary schoolers were a lot more useful here than a top-class vampire like him. The Island Guard members finally gathering on the scene watched on, reassured by the girls’ dependable work.

Kojou and Yukina both drew in their breaths when they realized just what Lydianne’s tank was dragging out of the rubble. These were gleaming, vermillion statues with glossy surfaces. They numbered two. The beautifully shaped transparent statues resembling rubies looked awfully familiar.

“Aradahl…?!”

“Miss Zana…!”

Both exclaimed simultaneously. The vermillion statues emerging from inside the rubble were perfectly patterned after Aradahl and Zana. Their heights, figures, and even expressions were spitting images of the live versions.

“This is petrification…no, jewelification?”

Yukina murmured while touching the statues that had been dug up.

“Jewelification? Wait, transmutation…?!”

Kojou’s face stiffened as he exclaimed. Transmutation was a master-level alchemical technique, one of the few ways of completely nullifying an immortal vampire. Rather than destroying the flesh, it was transformed into inorganic matter, sealing away a vampire’s vital functions and preventing all regeneration. Kojou had gone through the same thing when he’d fought against the Wiseman’s Blood.

All the same, transmuting a vampire with powerful resistance to magic was a difficult feat even for the very top alchemists. Short of a monster on the level of Wiseman’s Blood, it should have been impossible.

“—This is Ladli Ren’s doing.”

Just as Kojou wondered who could have done this, Yuuma told him.

“She defeated Aradahl and Zana…? All by herself?”

Kojou looked at Yuuma in shock.

Even if she wasn’t as young as she looked, Ladli Ren was a slender, lovely woman. Even if she could take on normal demons and Attack Mages, he hadn’t thought she was capable of the same against the likes of Aradahl and Zana.

Yuuma, though, shook her head with a slightly conflicted look on her face.

“She didn’t just put those two out of action. I simply took the four subordinates Chairman Aradahl brought with him to the hospital. All of them were Old Guard vampires, but it’ll be three days before any of them can move again. Weaker vampires might have been completely annihilated.”

“So Pun Girl did all of that…”

Kojou’s expression grew graver still. Yukina was at a loss for words, too. Yukina had actually fought Zana, so she knew just how strong the woman was. Word of her defeat had to leave Yukina feeling incredulous, yet she and Aradahl were right there, turned to gemstones for all to see.

The fact that neither body had so much as a scratch after being buried in rubble had to mean they were as hard as real gemstones. Bringing about such a complete transmutation required frighteningly high-end magic, which made lifting the spell all the more difficult. At the very least, Kojou himself had no clue as to how they could be returned to their original states.

“—I see. They employed the same technology used to construct the Beast Vassal Warheads, I presume. If primogenitor-class Beast Vassals can be sealed, neutralizing noble-class vampires and a primogenitor’s Blood Servant is no impossible feet.”

Kojou was still lost before the sight of the jewelified Aradahl and Zana when an elegant, laughing voice suddenly greeted his ears. When he looked around in surprise, Kojou locked eyes with a beautiful, blue-eyed, silver-haired woman, the princess of the Northern European Kingdom of Aldegia, extolled as the second coming of Freya.

“La Folia…!”

“It seems you have regained your power, Kojou. I am quite relieved.”

Narrowing her deep, lake-blue eyes, La Folia Rihavein smiled charmingly.

He knew that the princess, realizing the peril Kojou and others had fallen in, had come running all the way from Aldegia. Kojou more or less figured she’d come to meet him. All the same, the princess’s sudden appearance left Kojou shaken and twitching his cheeks. He had something of a hard time dealing with the black-hearted, scheming princess, one of the world’s leading strategists.

Still, the fact remained that, without her help, they’d never have been able to deal with the black Beast Vassals making Kojou run amok. Of course he felt grateful.

“Ahhh, er, I heard you and your people did a ton to help me. You were a big help.”

Kojou regained his senses and conveyed his thanks to La Folia. The silver-haired princess shook her head in feigned, exaggerated surprise.

“My, you do not need to thank me. I owed you for the disturbance in Aldegia, and it is only natural for a wife to aid a husband in distress. Is that not so, Yukina?”

“Y-yes…so it is, although Akatsuki-senpai is not your husband so far as society is concerned.”

In spite of being a little overwhelmed by the princess’s force, Yukina still managed to make that contrary assertion. La Folia let Yukina’s rebuttal glide past as if she’d never heard it.

“Besides, where saving Kanon is concerned, I believe it is I who should be thanking you, Kojou.”

“Ahhh…well that was kinda my fault to begin with…”

Kojou was touching a hand to the back of his head as he spoke when he gasped, a guarded expression coming over him. La Folia had casually pointed out the fact Kojou had drunk Kanon’s blood in order to prevent Kanon from angelicizing.

“Hold on a sec. Why does even La Folia know about me and Kanase?”

“This was a matter of life and death for a member of our royal family, after all.”

La Folia calmly spoke these words as she produced a laminated photo taken surreptitiously. It showed the decisive moment when Kojou bit into Kanon’s neck.

“Someone snuck a shot of us?! Wait, so Miss Justina not being at Kanase’s side at the time was because…!”

“Giggle…well, I wonder?”

La Folia playfully stuck out her tongue as she beat around the bush.

Kojou sighed with a stern expression on his face. For some reason, he was getting the feeling the surreptitious photo handed to Yukina was making her mood sour further the more she looked at it. It was dangerous to let La Folia continue to set the pace. Judging this, Kojou forced a change in subject.

“More importantly, you all right, La Folia? If Kanase might angelicize from overusing spiritual energy, won’t the same happen to you?”

“Oh my, if you are so concerned about my physical condition, perhaps you should do what you did to Kanon with me? Right here, right now?”

La Folia’s eyes sparkled as she looked at Kojou.

Her unexpected proposal made Kojou’s eyes bulge as he looked around the area.

“Right now?! Here?! That’s a little…”

“Giggle…then with all haste.”

“No, ah, that’s too much haste…!”

“Come, Yukina. Please give me my ring.”

“Eh?”

Yukina, thrown off from the sudden invocation of her name, raised a clueless voice.

La Folia smiled and stared at Yukina as if to test her.

“You still have rings left from those you received from Zana Lashka, yes?”

“Ah…er, well, yes…”

Yukina took a silver ring out from her uniform pocket. The pact ring sealed a portion of Kojou’s body within, a catalyst for the sake of producing a mimic vampiric Blood Servant.

“I, too, expended spiritual energy beyond my limits to seal the rampaging black Beast Vassals. If it is a countermeasure against angelification, I believe that qualifies me to be Kojou’s servant just as much as you and Kanon?”

“That…may be so…”

Yukina’s words vaguely trailed off. Her expression told them she didn’t really know if it was a good thing to hand that ring to La Folia.

“Aaa…”

That moment, La Folia let out a tiny moan, losing her balance as if she was dizzy.

“La Folia…?!”

Yukina instantly reached out with her hand to support the tottering princess. Slipping right past Yukina’s flank, La Folia twirled around to face her again. The princess’s fingers were grasping the silver-colored ring. She’d plucked it from inside Yukina’s hand in the moment they passed each other.

“I see. So this is a catalyst ring.”

“Wh-when did you…?!”

The suggestive way La Folia lifted up the ring made Yukina stare with a shocked expression.

The princess swiftly put the stolen ring on her ring finger.

“Zana Lashka provided eleven rings in total. Of these, the Attack Mages of the Lion King Agency and the Bureau of Astrology have taken four. The ogre of the Castiella family took one for the sake of bringing the Electoral War to a close. Kanon has used one to halt her angelification… Now that I have taken this one, this would leave four.”

“No, that leaves three. I’m taking mine right now.”

While Yukina was distracted, a tiny hand came in from a blind spot and snatched another ring from her hand. A smile of relief came over the small primary schooler wearing a beret now that she’d obtained her own ring.

“Eh?! Yume…?! But that’s…”

“I understand. This is just a preview.”

“P-preview?”

“Yes. You just watch. In another three years, I’ll be able to be lovey-dovey with Mister Kojou as much as Miss Yukina and everyone else!”

“Wait…wait a moment. I am not lovey-dovey with Akatsuki-senpai…!”

Yukina was desperately trying to deny it, but Kojou was thinking, That’s not the problem here, sheesh.

For her part, La Folia shot the primary schooler a gaze as if they were powerful enemies on equal footing.

“Yume Eguchi, also known as Lilith, the World’s Mightiest Succubus, yes? As I shall be Kojou’s lawful wife, I cannot have you frittering around him.”

“Princess La Folia of Aldegia, I am surprised, you are just as pretty as the rumors say. However, I will someday snatch the throne of lawful wife from you!”

“Why is La Folia being his lawful wife being taken for granted…?!”

Yukina muttered in a quiet voice so that neither Yume nor La Folia could hear her. It was then that a tall, slender girl appeared right behind Yukina without the slightest warning.

“Hmmm…if you have a spare one, I guess I’ll grab one for myself.”

“M-Miss Yuuma, you too?! Wait a… Give that! Give that back!”

With a light toss, Yuuma whisked away a third ring. Realizing this, Yukina hurriedly tried to take it back, but the height difference between the two meant Yuuma could raise her hands too high for Yukina to reach.

“Return it…? I cannot comply with your request. Properly speaking, these are Kojou’s to administer and not yours, are they not? Right, Kojou?”

La Folia critiqued Yukina’s words with a calm tenor. The blackhearted princess was in her element when it came to negotiations like this.

“Ahhh…well, feels like it now that you mention it…”

Kojou hesitantly acknowledged what La Folia was saying. Yes, Zana Lashka had directly handed the rings to Yukina, but that was because Kojou had fallen unconscious from Zana having carved a hole in his chest. Under normal circumstances, Kojou should’ve held the rings because the pacts were being made with him.

“Uuu…”

Exposed not only to La Folia’s objecting gaze but those of Yume and Yuuma as well, Yukina reluctantly handed the final ring over to Kojou.

Kojou sighed wearily before simply stuffing the thing into his pocket.

“So what of the acts of vampirism? Shall we do them here and now?”

Watching that course of events with visible satisfaction, La Folia looked up at Kojou and posed her inquiry. Kojou reactively distanced himself from the princess.

“In a situation like this? Like hell I can!”

“You do not need to be concerned for my sake…having others see…that might well be a turn-on, giggle.”

“The fact that I can’t tell how much you’re joking is really scarin’ me…!”

“Well, let us leave it at receiving the ring for the time being.”

Pfft, went the tiny laughter escaping La Folia’s lips as she gracefully shrugged her shoulders.

“You need not be concerned for my physical condition. Unlike Kanon, I did not employ my spell with my flesh alone. Large-scale spells employed by the Royal Family of Aldegia are fashioned with support from a spiritual reactor as a premise.”

“So Kanase pushed herself too hard takin’ a Beast Vassal on all by herself, huh?”

I get it, said Kojou, accepting La Folia’s explanation. Yes, said the princess’s smile.

“I suppose she did. It must indeed be the power of love?”

“Er, love…she’s kind to everyone, right?”

“…I suppose we can leave it at that.”

For once, La Folia murmured in a slightly exasperated tone of voice. She then shifted her gaze to the jewelified Aradahl and Zana once more.

“More importantly, the immediate issue is what to do about them.”

“Himeragi, can’t you use your spear to lift the jewelification?”

Kojou suddenly thought of something and asked Yukina. Yukina sank into thought with a serious look on her face.

“I believe it is possible. Snowdrift Wolf cannot reverse normal petrification, but their current state seems to be a type of sealing so—”

“Yeah, but you should probably pass on that anyway.”

Yuuma interrupted Yukina midsentence. Kojou looked at Yuuma with a bit of surprise.

“Why’s that?”

“Himeragi’s spear might be able to neutralize the magical energy, but the shock from destroying the seal with brute force from the outside might wreck the cells of people on the inside. If you’re gonna lift it, better to take your time and do it slow.”

“…So it’s like thawing frozen food, then.”

Kojou aired a silly-sounding comparison, but even he could understand how the more powerful the magic, the bigger the backlash from lifting it.

“Besides, Snowdrift Wolf’s attack would inflict damage on Chairman Aradahl to begin with so…”

“Ahhh…”

Yukina’s apologetic-sounding explanation made Kojou back down for good. The Divine Oscillation Effect emitted by her spear neutralized demonic energy, allowing it to inflict lethal damage to vampires.

“It is no doubt safest to return them to the Warlord’s Empire without any excessive intervention, though in that case, the standing of Chairman Aradahl might become somewhat frayed.”

La Folia spoke in a thoughtful tone.

If word of Aradahl, feared as a vampire of martial prowess, being neutralized by a little Deva girl spread through his homeland, it would likely be a humiliating stain on his reputation. Losing only his status as chairman of the Imperial Parliament would be the light version. Failing that, he might have his lands and title stripped from him—Kojou couldn’t even dismiss the worst possibility that he might be executed. If that happened, Kojou would have an awful time sleeping at night.

La Folia sank into thought with rare earnestness.

“If possible, I truly do not wish to pass on an opportunity to put him greatly in my debt…”

“Debt, sheesh…”

Kojou sighed wearily at the princess’s very calculating words.

The very next moment, a reserved voice flowed from the robot tank’s speakers.

“Ah…ladies and gentlemen…I pray you, pardon me. Concerning Sir Aradahl and Lady Zana…”

“Lydianne?”

Knowing how high-tension “Tanker” normally was, her meek demeanor made Kojou look back with deep suspicion.

A pile of rubble. Island Guard members hastily moving to and fro. Hovering dust particles illuminated by the rays of the setting sun through the broken ceiling. The scene was the same as before.

Nothing was happening to throw Lydianne into a state of confusion. Nothing, save one tiny change—

“The remains of both have vanished.”

“…?!”

The sudden disappearance of the jewelified Aradahl and Zana made Yukina, Yuuma, and even La Folia gape.

None of them had felt someone taking Aradahl and Zana away. There was no trace of someone having used teleportation. The two jewel statues that had been there were simply gone.

It was a small anomaly with neither the objective nor the means being known to them. Amid Yukina and the others’ unrest over this mystery—

Er, they aren’t remains, damnit, Kojou thought to reassure himself.