Strike the Blood - Volume 8 - Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE 

THE FUGITIVES 

1 

She gazed at the sea from a café terrace in the harbor district. 

She was in Itogami City, the Far East Demon Sanctuary, an artificial island floating atop the ocean nearly three hundred kilometers south of Tokyo. A twisted land constructed from resin, metal, and sorcery. Powerful tropical sunrays shone upon the vast ocean, stretching as far as she could see. To her, a native Eastern European, such a sight was a novelty. 

But she was tired of gazing at it every day. 

Of course, it’s not a bad place to live, she mused. Even if over four decades had passed since the Holy Ground Treaty went into effect, there were still precious few cities where humans and demons could coexist as if it was normal. 

The buildings were tidy, and public order was pretty decent. And more than that, the food was delicious. If someone asked her if it was easy to live there, yes was the only honest answer she could give. 

Things were too expensive, though; for example, the slice of cheesecake on display at the café. In her far-off homeland, she could probably buy the entire cake for the same price. 

Of course, as an artificial isle, Itogami Island was not very food-sufficient, so she could understand that importing food from the homeland jacked up the prices. However, if she was a guest learning a restaurant’s prices on that island, she’d think they had lost their minds. 

“This is an objection…a protest…yes, the fact I’m ordering only one cup of coffee isn’t because I’m poor, it’s a type of protest against the government…” 

Saying it for her own benefit, she poured in sugar and milk until her coffee was saturated and took a sip of the sweetened drink. Her first caloric intake in half a day gradually permeated her hungry body. 

“Ugh… Why is this happening to me, a daughter of Caruana…?” 

Out of the blue, she complained about how far she had fallen from her past carefree life as the daughter of an esteemed nobleman. She ferociously shook her head, swallowing back the rest of the words. 

She didn’t want the person arriving to meet her there to hear her. 

A tall woman approached, wearing a metal bracelet clasped over her left wrist—with the markings of a demon registration bracelet. Her hair was short, and she had sharp, almond-shaped eyes. She wore a modest dark blue suit and carried a high-end brand’s attaché case. She was a beautiful woman with a chilly atmosphere that could cut through the air like a sharp blade. 

“MAR’s Chief of Research, Mimori Akatsuki, I presume?” 

The girl set down her coffee cup and rose to her feet, addressing the beautiful woman in the suit. 

MAR, Magna Ataraxia Research Incorporated, was a giant corporation spanning every corner of East Asia. One of the world’s few sorcerous manufacturing conglomerates, their product lines covered everything from cold medicine to weapons. 

Mimori Akatsuki was a woman working as Chief of Research at that same MAR. According to rumors, she accounted for some 40 percent of the research produced at MAR’s Itogami branch. 

“I am Veldiana, daughter of the late Frist Caruana, lord of the Duchy of Caruana of the Warlord’s Empire. It is an honor to meet you, ma’am.” 

As she formally introduced herself, the beautiful woman in the suit extended her right hand. Yet, she looked at Veldiana with an expressionless gaze, sighing in apparent discomfort. 

“I am Tooyama, her assistant. This is Chief Mimori Akatsuki.” 

“…Eh?” 

As the stunning woman in the suit introduced herself, Velidana noticed a woman with a cherubic face wearing a wrinkled white gown behind her. Thanks to poor grooming, her long hair was something of a mess. Her eyelids were not fully open, like someone who had just gotten out of bed. She was holding the stick of an already-eaten ice cream in her mouth like others would hold a cigarette. Even a foreigner like Veldiana could tell at one glance that she was a slovenly adult. 

“Y—you are Mimori Akatsuki? The profile stated that you have two children…?!” 

Veldiana was taken aback as she posed the question. 

Her image of the woman as a cool-headed, talented researcher cracked and fell to pieces. The woman wearing the white gown seemed like a high-maintenance child; she could scarcely imagine her raising her own children. 

However, Mimori Akatsuki nodded crisply in reply. 

“Mm-hmm, that’s right. Kojou is in the third year of middle school, and Nagisa is a year below.” 

“R-right…” 

“Nice to meet you, Miss Caruana. You don’t mind if I call you Vivi, do you? Yes, yes, here is a token of our coming closer together.” 

Saying this, Mimori fished out a new ice cream stick from a portable cooler box. 

For a moment, Veldiana’s mind was captivated by the ice cream offered to her, but the reaction of Tooyama, standing beside them, scared her off. Veldiana put aside her considerable lingering attachment and weakly shook her head. 

“No…I must respectfully decline. We are in a café, after all.” 

“Mm-hmmmm… I suppose we are.” 

Mimori Akatsuki readily accepted her answer and shut the cooler’s lid. She sat in the chair opposite Veldiana and placed an order with the waitstaff as her assistant, Tooyama, began to speak. 

“You really made a scene…” 

Veldiana’s body shrank, as if trying to escape from that woman’s gaze. 

“—An industrial road in Island North was caved in, and a pedestrian walkway collapsed. Surrounding residential areas had power outages for up to four hours. Thanks to delays in the shipment of raw materials, our company’s operations were impacted. We also had to assign staff to aid the police in their investigation.” 

“W…wait a minute—that was…” 

“Pemptos…the fifth Kaleid Blood’s handiwork, yes? And you are a mere victim wrapped up in it?” 

“Th-that’s right.” 

Veldiana nodded firmly. 

It had been almost exactly one day since she’d sustained that assault. She had been tailing Kojou Akatsuki when she was attacked by a vampire controlling an incredibly powerful Beast Vassal. She was what Veldiana and her kind called Pemptos, one of the elements of the Fourth Primogenitor. 

“I never dreamed that Pemptos would attack in a public place like that. It was impossible to predict. Certainly, I will concede that it was because I was bringing that in, using an unconventional route, but…” 

“I understand. It’s not as if we’re here to demand an apology and financial compensation, after all.” 

Veldiana patted her chest in relief at Tooyama’s businesslike explanation. Even if they had demanded damages for their losses, Veldiana lacked the finances to pay them. 

“Mm-hmm… I wonder if it’s acceptable to believe that the Key you have, stolen from your very own ‘king,’ is genuine.” Mimori Akatsuki asked with a grin as her sleepy eyes narrowed. 

Veldiana drew in her chin as she took something out of her coat pocket: a metal stick wrapped in coarse cloth. It was about three to four centimeters thick and under fifteen centimeters long. Tapered at one end, it seemed like a small stake. Minute magical symbols were engraved into its silver-glowing surface. 

“Hmm… So this is the Key to the coffin?” 

“Yes. One of the legacies of the Devas, of which there are only three in the entire world—a primogenitor-slaying holy lance able to nullify demonic energy and rend any barrier.” 

Veldiana’s voice was hard as she spoke. 

The silver-colored metal stake was a precious heirloom passed down in her family from one generation to the next. It was pretty much the only valuable thing she had left. 

“I’d heard that just the descendants of Methuselah could use it.” 

“Yes. I was told as much.” 

Veldiana lowered her eyes at Mimori Akatsuki’s comment. 

It took a great deal of spiritual energy, at a high level of purity, to make that divine object function. In the first place, it had been created not by humans, but by a race of demigods called Devas, ancient super-humans who had become extinct before recorded history. Either way, it wasn’t something a demon like Veldiana could use. 

“Hmm.” Conflicted, Mimori pursed her lips. “So a precious spirit medium inheriting genes passed down from the Devas—that really does mean very few people. You don’t see many of those around, even in this Demon Sanctuary.” 

“But Gajou’s daughter is—” 

“Mm? Gajou…?” 

Mimori’s ears twitched at Veldiana’s familiarity when she had spoken his name. She grinned, extending her arm toward the woman as she stared at her. 

Veldiana, feeling very afraid of her smile for some reason, quickly shook her head. 

Gajou Akatsuki was Kojou Akatsuki’s father. In other words, that made him Mimori’s husband. However, the two had apparently lived apart for several years. She was probably suspecting some form of infidelity because of how casually Veldiana had bandied around his first name. 

Of course, Veldiana was not in any kind of improper relationship with Gajou. So she figured there was no point trying to hide anything, but it was true that a string of “occurrences” since she’d met that man gave her a bit of a guilty conscience. Occurrences such as how, in the course of fleeing from a common enemy, they’d ended up nestled close, he’d seen her naked, she’d ended up drinking his blood… Things like that. 

“M-my apologies. I had heard that your and Mr. Akatsuki’s daughter had activated the seal at the ruins on Gozo.” 

Veldiana tried to spur the conversation forward, even as she became slick with sweat. 

Gozo Island, the world’s most ancient Demon Sanctuary, sitting in the Mediterranean Sea— 

It was both the place where the coffin of the twelfth Kaleid Blood had been discovered, and where Veldiana’s older sister—Liana Caruana—had lost her life. 

“Yes, I see, certainly Nagisa might have used the thing in the past.” Mimori closed her eyes and sighed. “But it won’t work.” 

“What do you mean, it won’t work?” 

“Nagisa lost her power due to the incident on Gozo. For that matter, she’s in poor health and hospitalized right now.” 

“Ah…” 

Veldiana was filled with regret as she realized she’d made a slip of the tongue. Her sister was one of many casualties from the beast-man-supremacist terrorist raid on the Gozo Island ruin, and Kojou and Nagisa Akatsuki had both been there at the time. She knew they’d been injured, but she had not anticipated that Nagisa would lose her spiritual abilities as a result. 

“Isn’t the surest way to be certain of opening the Fairy’s Coffin by relying on the Lion King Agency? They’re famously rumored to have gathered together and raised descendants of Methuselah for quite some time. That’s why the agency was tasked with being the Bookmaker for the banquet, too…” 

Mimori stated the facts bluntly. 

“The Lion King Agency… But they…” 

“You asked them for aid, and they said no, right? Of course they didn’t help. The Duchy of Caruana of the Warlord’s Empire has already been seized by others. There can be no wager if there are no suitable stakes.” 

“B-but if your company was to offer its assistance—” 

Tooyama coldly interrupted her words, “Veldiana Caruana, allow me to state MAR’s public position concerning that. We have no intention of awakening the Sleeping Princess.” 

“What…?” 

Veldiana’s face went pale. Sleeping Princess was the nickname for the twelfth Kaleid Blood administered by the MAR lab. She was a prototype Fourth Primogenitor—itself the World’s Mightiest Vampire, fashioned by the three vampire primogenitors and the Devas. 

But at the moment she was sealed away in the block of ice known as the Fairy’s Coffin. Veldiana had sacrificed much to make her way to the Far East Demon Sanctuary in order to awaken her. And yet— 

“But that’s—?! Why…?!” 

“Our company stands to profit greatly from her as a precious test subject. It would be foolish to court her loss due to unforeseen circumstances. I believe it is a natural judgment by a for-profit corporation.” 

“Ugh…” 

Veldiana had no rebuttal for Tooyama’s businesslike statements. The twelfth Kaleid Blood was a masterpiece of the sorcerous technology of the Devas. Her value as a specimen was incalculable. To them, it was far more profitable for her to remain asleep. 

“Furthermore, the Key that you possess is something we value rather highly. I wonder, would you consider selling it to us? Of course, you could name your price.” 

Tooyama’s expression did not change as she spoke. Veldiana’s eyes tinged red with anger. 

“Who would sell such a thing to misers like you?!” 

Veldiana clutched the metal stake as she glared at Tooyama, who gazed at her as if she were a rather curious creature. 

“Your possession of it is meaningless. You’re a demon; you cannot use it.” 

“That’s none of your business!” 

“I see. It would appear negotiations are at an impasse. A pity,” Tooyama said without emotion. 

“Yes, that’s right. I’m sorry to have wasted your time.” 

Veldiana rose up from her chair in a huff, on the verge of storming out. But Mimori Akatsuki clapped her hands with a cheerful expression that seemed completely out of place. 

“Oops, I almost forgot. Tooyama, bring it out.” 

“Yes.” 

Tooyama opened her aluminum attaché case and took a long, slender, beat-up cardboard box out of it. The box had several international mailing stickers on it, like it had been shipped from some remote corner of the globe. 

“This arrived from Gajou, addressed to you.” 

“From Gajou?” 

Veldiana’s brows rose as she accepted the box. She opened it, heedless of the renewed twitch of Mimori’s cheek. 

The cardboard box contained a glossy black metal hunting implement. It was a dangerous-looking “bow” with a stock resembling that of a rifle. Inside was another tool—a slender, metallic tube. It was less than fifteen centimeters long, with three small stabilizer fins; just the right size for the metal stake in Veldiana’s hand to fit within it. 

“A crossbow and… What is this?” 

“A cartridge. It apparently uses the same principles as a spell gun cartridge, employing the spiritual energy sealed within as an extender for a holy lance. It can only be used once before being discarded, but the energy within is theoretically capable of activating the Key. My goodness, what priestess did he trick into putting her spiritual energy into this—” 

“Mm-hmmm.” Mimori sighed in annoyance. 

Without a word, Veldiana held up the container Mimori had called a cartridge. At a casual glance, it looked like nothing more than a pile of metal, but she could tell that the interior was infused with incredible spiritual energy. 

With that much power, the chances of her activating the Key to the coffin were high. She could awaken the twelfth Kaleid Blood without relying on the auspices of a spiritualist. 

However, the person unleashing so much spiritual energy at point blank range would not emerge unscathed. It would inflict lethal damage to demons like Veldiana in particular. Therefore, it was necessary to accurately fire the Key at the Fairy’s Coffin from a distance—without a doubt, that was what the crossbow was for. 

“With this…I can open the lid of the coffin…” 

Veldiana’s body trembled as she clenched the metal container. 

Backed into a corner, she could not have asked for better help. Yet, at the same time, she felt conflicted. Mimori and Tooyama were declining cooperation, so why were they handing Veldiana something like this…? 

Mimori murmured, musing to herself, “We have no intention of awakening the Sleeping Princess ourselves. Making enemies out of the Lion King Agency and the other elements would be a lot of trouble, after all.” 

Then her eyes crinkled into a teasing smile, fixing Veldiana with a suggestive look. 

“But if an outsider were to break into the lab without permission and open the coffin lid all on her own, well, it would be out of our hands, wouldn’t it?” 

“Ma’am…you…,” Veldiana blurted, realizing Mimori Akatsuki’s true intent. 

She would break into the MAR lab and destroy the coffin without anyone’s say-so. Breaking and entering, destruction of property, industrial sabotage—she had no idea how many crimes it would include, but if she put on the detestable mantle of criminality, she could awaken the twelfth Kaleid Blood from her sleep. Without a word, Mimori Akatsuki was asking her if she was willing to go that far. 

Veldiana’s reply was a certainty. She did not hesitate. 

After all, one way or another, it was the only choice she could bring herself to make. 

2 

The twilight shone into the small room. There, lying atop a bed at the center, Nagisa Akatsuki slept. 

She was small, even for a thirteen-year-old, and had a bit of a childish air. Her long black hair was strewn across her unadorned white shirt. Her slender arms, poking out from her pajamas, were still connected to intravenous tubes. Kojou Akatsuki sighed as he gazed at the side of her face. 

It had been just the previous weekend when Nagisa had collapsed at school. It was the fourth time she’d been hospitalized that year. Ever since the heavy injuries she’d suffered three years prior, she’d fallen ill numerous times. Apparently, even the Demon Sanctuary’s cutting-edge medical treatments had difficulty completely healing her. 

“Huh? …Kojou? When did you get here?” 

Finally, Nagisa noticed Kojou’s presence, gently rolling over as she opened her eyes. She let a small yawn escape as she looked up at Kojou, there in his school uniform, as if she found that strange. 

“I just got here. Sorry, I’m a little late.” 

Kojou brought his hands together as he spoke. 

Lately, dropping by the hospital to see Nagisa on his way home from school was Kojou’s daily ritual. However, that day, he’d been wrapped up in preparations for the Harrowing Festival, which had postponed his arrival. He had only a little time left before visiting hours were over. 

Despite this, Nagisa didn’t scold Kojou. With an amused smile, she said, “Oh. That’s too bad. If you’d come sooner, I would’ve let you wipe my back with a steamy towel. Special service, just for you.” 

“What kind of consolation prize is that supposed to be…?” 

Kojou exhaled with an exasperated look. As it was, Kojou had no interest at all in his preteen little sister. Besides, Nagisa looked too much like a little girl to be sexy. 

“It’s just you today, Kojou? Where’s Asagi?” 

Nagisa, puffing her cheeks at Kojou’s effortless parry, slowly sat up. Kojou switched the pillow around, letting Nagisa use it as a cushion to support her back. 

“Asagi’s at a part-time job. This is a gift from her. It’s the latest model.” 

“Wow, really?! Tell Asagi thanks for me! I was wondering why she didn’t come yesterday. This is a mahjong manga, and that’s the gourmet tavern one.” 

“…Geez, it’s like you’re both old men… Well, it’s fine.” Kojou grimaced and smiled resignedly at the manga interests both girls stubbornly held. 

Since childhood, Nagisa’s vice had been her talkativeness, and even then, weakened by illness, that hadn’t changed very much. But her cheerfulness made things a lot easier for Kojou and other family members. 

“You’re more chipper than I thought.” 

“Yeah. Sorry for all the trouble. They’re doing the usual hospital tests. I think I’ll be able to leave by this weekend.” Then she gave a small giggle and blushed a little. 

“That’s fine and dandy, but don’t push yourself.” 

“It’s all right. I have Mimori coming to see me when I’m here, too.” 

“Well, she’s technically the head of the medical team…” 

On top of being the MAR research director, their mother, Mimori Akatsuki, was a medical psychometer, and had a medical degree for good measure. All of those things made Mimori frighteningly busy, so she spent most weekends at the MAR lab, often sleeping at the hospital attached to it. While hospitalized there, Nagisa was able to see her mother’s face on a daily basis, one of the saving graces of her hospital life. 

“I’m more worried about you, Kojou. As soon as I’m not there, you sleep with the windows open, you don’t hang the laundry to dry, your room gets messy, and the garbage piles up. And you have to remember to do your homework and brush your teeth before you sleep.” 

“What, am I in kindergarten?!” 

Kojou’s lips twisted in dissatisfaction at his little sister’s serious, worried look. Despite his response, it was true that his room fell to pieces when Nagisa the Neat Freak wasn’t around; he couldn’t voice a very strong argument. 

Nagisa abruptly changed the subject. “Come to think of it, I saw something on TV. That explosion a couple days ago was really something, huh?” 

Given her great love of her own voice, she’d no doubt been eagerly waiting to talk to someone about it. 

“Ah, you mean the one that caved in the road?” 

Kojou grimaced as he nodded. 

Two days earlier, there had been a large explosion right near that very same hospital. 

The pedestrian bridge near the blast had been annihilated without a trace, and the road itself had caved in, like something had punched down into it. Kojou and Asagi, who had just happened to be visiting Nagisa that day, had a really hard time, unable to get home until late at night due to road closures. 

“Probably a foul-up by the construction company. Maybe an underground pipe ruptured, gas leaked out, and static electricity made it catch fire and explode.” 

“Oh, you think so? You don’t think it’s a meteorite strike?” 

“Huh? Meteorite?” 

Nagisa’s outlandish opinion left Kojou dumbfounded. He wondered if it was some kind of joke, but Nagisa looked up at him seriously. 

“On top of that, some people say a UFO was spotted over the blast area, and aliens collected the bodies. It looks like the Gigafloat Management Corporation is covering it up. That’s what Mimori said.” 

“…Like you should believe anything that idiot tells you. You won’t find many stories that crazy floating around, even on the Internet.” 

“Eh, it’s not true?” 

This time, it was Nagisa’s turn to be dumbfounded. “Waaaah!” she shouted, diving under a blanket, perhaps embarrassed at having been deceived. 

“Oh yeah…I kind of thought it was odd, too. But still! If the time had been just a little bit different, you and Asagi would’ve gotten involved in that incident, so be careful, ’kay?” 

“I don’t think being careful is enough, at that level. If we get involved in something like that…” 

Kojou, who’d seen the site of the incident for himself, didn’t beat around the bush. 

“Well, be careful anyway!” 

“Yeah, yeah, sure thing. Well, it’s not like that happens every day, y’know.” Kojou acknowledged his little sister’s unreasonable request in a flippant tone. 

A moment later, a siren resembling a fire alarm rang out inside the facility. 

“—And as soon as I say that, something else happens?!” 

Kojou, shocked by the all-too-perfect timing, rushed to the windowsill. 

The siren wasn’t ringing in Nagisa’s medical wing, but rather, it was coming from the direction of the huge adjacent structure—the MAR lab. 

MAR was a giant conglomerate dealing not only with medical technology but with an extensive array of sorcerous products. Kojou wondered if an incident arising inside such a lab might spell trouble. He really had no idea what kind of dangerous things might come crawling out. 

But when Kojou looked back anxiously, he was greeted by the sight of his little sister falling to the bed, clutching her chest in pain. 

“Nagisa?!” 

She looked pale, even for her, as if blood had completely stopped flowing to her face. Her breathing was rough, and her back wouldn’t stop shivering. 

“I’m…all right… I’m just a little…surprised…” 

“You sure as hell don’t look all right. Just wait, I’ll call somebody, so—” 

Kojou desperately tried to maintain his composure as he looked around for the button to alert the nurse. But the door opened before he could find it. 

A tall woman wearing a white gown entered Nagisa’s hospital room, her face remaining neutral. 

“…Mrs. Tooyama?” 

“I heard Kojou’s voice from the corridor. Is Nagisa all right?” Miwa Tooyama, an MAR researcher, replied casually. 

Mimori Akatsuki’s assistant was a fairly familiar face to Kojou and Nagisa. An unflappable sort, she never let one feel much humanity from her, but her tranquility was reassuring under the circumstances. 

As Tooyama began examining Nagisa, Kojou asked, “So what’s with that siren just now?” 

He didn’t really expect her to have any information, but Tooyama surprised him with a prompt reply. 

“An intruder has been confirmed inside the main laboratory building.” 

“An intruder…?” 

“The guards are searching for the suspect, but there is presently no risk to the medical wing. However, it is possible the intruder could flee this way. Also, they could be carrying explosives or the like, so safety cannot be completely guaranteed.” 

“E-explosives…?!” 

Kojou’s entire body stiffened at Tooyama’s terribly blunt explanation. Strictly speaking, she was merely laying out the worst case, but neither Kojou nor Nagisa could laugh that off. After all, they’d already experienced an attack by explosive-wielding terrorists four years prior. 

“Therefore, I think we should move Nagisa to the intensive care unit just to be safe. It is guarded around the clock and shall be prioritized in case there’s any trouble.” 

“Y-yeah. If that’s so, then—” 

Kojou’s expression remained stiff and tense as he nodded. If Nagisa could not be evacuated from the hospital, Tooyama’s suggestion was surely the best option. 

Nagisa made painful little coughs as she said weakly, “Sorry, Kojou. You came all the way to see me and everything…” 

Kojou forced a smile as he patted her on the head. 

“Don’t worry about it. Just tell Mom to gimme a call when things calm down.” 

“Yeah.” 

“And this is the school uniform you wanted me to take back home?” 

“Yeah. I’ll leave the washing to you. Also, the North Pole Store at the West Gate has a half-off sale on Wednesday, so don’t forget to go. I have a coupon for it inside the drawer in the kitchen.” 

“That’s a tall order…” 

Kojou sighed, half in appreciation of how, even in that situation, his little sister was as wordy as ever. 

In the meantime, the nurses Mrs. Tooyama called had arrived, switching Nagisa to a stretcher. They carried her out, leaving only Kojou and Tooyama in the room. 

Then, Tooyama suddenly said with a serious expression, “The security level inside the hospital has been increased. It may be safer not to leave for the time being. Please change into your little sister’s pajamas, sniff the scent of her pillow, and spend as much time here as you like.” 

The surprise attack elicited a dry cough from Kojou. 

“Don’t ask people to do perverted things like that so seriously! I’m not interested in that stuff!” 

“…Eh?!” 

“Don’t ‘eh’ me! Why do you look that surprised?!” Kojou lamented, glaring at the blank-faced Tooyama. 

Her position as Mimori’s assistant made Tooyama a weirdo to begin with. He didn’t get along with her because he could never tell whether she was serious or not. 

“Well then, if you are returning home, please use the medical wing passage. This ID will get you through.” 

“Ah, right… Got it.” 

Kojou was still wondering if she was going to resume her scent-fetish teasing when he accepted the pass card. 

The medical wing was in the block on the opposite side of the lab. The odds of encountering an intruder certainly were slim. He’d heard that outsiders were forbidden entry, even if they were family members of researchers, but this was no doubt a special emergency exception. Tooyama might have been going out of her way to visit Nagisa’s hospital room just to hand Kojou that card. 

“Now, if you’ll excuse me,” she stated as she left. 

Kojou, having tucked the pass card into his uniform’s pocket, clutched his head in exasperation. 

A moment later, he felt a shot of brutal pain around the right side of his rib cage. 

“Ugh…?!” 

It was more heat than pain, like being impaled by a sharp spear. Unable to bear it, Kojou fell against a wall in anguish. Simultaneously, a bizarre image resurfaced in the back of his mind. 

A girl sleeping inside a giant ice block. A silver stake impaling it. A dazzling light. Pure, white, cold. 

Like a billowing flame, her hair changed colors as it danced inside the ice, and snow scattered all around. 

Then, her beautiful eyes opened. Eyes burning with a pale, blue flame— 

“What…the—?!” 

Kojou groaned out, clutching his forehead. 

A moment later… 

With a great roar, the ground shook, sending an incredible jolt up into the hospital. 

3 

“Shit…” 

Kojou wobbled on his feet as he headed toward the medical wing. 

The torrent of visions had vanished, but the pain in his ribs had sharply increased. His heart was beating loud enough to shake his eardrums. His entire body felt like it was on fire, as if every drop of blood was boiling. 

“This way…maybe?” 

He had no idea where he was going. However, he felt like someone was calling to him the whole time. He continued onward; it was as if a minute voice was making his legs move. 

With the pass card he’d just received, he walked through the automated gate. 

The interior of the building was dark—perhaps the power was out due to the previous explosion. The unfamiliar route ahead became labyrinthine. Even so, Kojou continued without hesitation. 

Particles of dust danced in the passage. Coarse, strange scents struck his nostrils. The building was cracked in various places, and part of the passage had caved in. 

Kojou tripped over a piece of rubble as he advanced deeper. 

There was no sign of other humans in the passage. It was as if the darkness and debris blocked all outside intrusion. 

At some point, white mist began to appear, suspended in the darkness. The cold pricked his skin as if it was freezing him. 

“Ice…?” 

Ice covered the walls and floor of the passage, with thick frost coating the metal connecting joints. Tiny snow crystals like flower petals mixed with the hazy air. 

Countless pillars of ice sprung from the surface of the floor, like sharp thorns keeping interlopers at bay. Kojou stopped. 

He was inside a fairly large room, one that was on par with a school classroom. The unadorned interior had countless wooden boxes and the like piled up within. Apparently, this section was being used as a warehouse. 

At the center of the room were stairs leading underground, and large cracks ran along the floor surrounding it. The air was frigid there, colder than anywhere else in the room. It was probably where the blast originated. 

The concrete beneath his feet was fragile, possibly due to the sudden drop in temperature. Judging that any further approach was futile, Kojou slowly examined his surroundings. 

Somewhere along the way, the heat in his body had abated. The pain in his ribs had vanished, too. Yet… 

“Is…someone there?” 

Kojou’s voice echoed amid the white mist. As if to answer his call, he heard faint footsteps from someone stepping on what sounded like fresh snow. 

“…Huh?!” 

When Kojou looked back, he opened his eyes in shock and froze completely. 

Without a word, she stood in the rays of the sinking sun pouring through the warehouse’s sunroof: a young girl with delicate, fairylike features. 

Her limbs were as thin as a child’s, her physique was slender, and her eyes were as pale blue as a glacier. Her hair was colored faintly blond; like a rainbow, it seemed to change color depending on the angle. She possessed an inhumanly beautiful face, something that seemed straight out of a Western painting, the kind of beauty that inspired awe on an instinctive level. 

Kojou stood unsteadily as he moaned out, “Why…do I know you…?!” 

Once more, countless visions poured into his brain. 

He knew her. 

He had met her long before, somewhere else. Somewhere stained with violence, slaughter, and blood— 

“Gah?!” 

The girl gently stepped forward. Previously shrouded in pure, white mist, the entirety of her willowy body became visible. That instant, Kojou’s expression contorted out of nervousness, because he finally realized the girl wasn’t wearing a single stitch of clothing. Her slightly visible ribs, the faint swell of her breasts, her skin so pale that you could almost see through her… She was completely naked, her whole body fully exposed to Kojou’s eyes. 

“W-wait…” 

Kojou put a hand out to try to stop her, but the girl’s feet did not halt. Nor could Kojou look away; he was entranced by her, unable to move, not unlike drones captivated by their queen bee. 

“Shit… At a time like this…” 

Kojou suddenly found it hard to breathe. A metallic scent assaulted his nostrils; the taste of blood spread throughout his mouth. He was bleeding from his nose. 

The causes were probably the precipitous drop in temperature and the accompanying shift in air pressure, plus the stress related to the bizarre situation before him. He wanted to think that it was not because he was aroused at seeing her nude. 

The girl made a wry smile when she saw the expression on Kojou’s face. It was a pretty smile that suited her elfin looks, but somehow, it seemed malicious. 

With Kojou unable to move, the girl walked to him with surprising speed, drawing her face near his. White, gleaming fangs protruded from her shapely lips. 

The soft feeling of her lips pressing against him kept Kojou frozen stiff and unresponsive. 

After a time, the girl pulled back from Kojou. A thin line of fresh, glossy blood trickled from the edge of her mouth. She licked it off, narrowing her eyes in obvious satisfaction. 

Kojou’s voice quivered as he realized what the girl before his eyes really was. 

“You…drank my blood…?!” 

She was a demon. More than that, she was an unregistered vampire wielding immense, off-the-charts power. 

The explosion rocking the hospital and the cold, icy air were probably manifestations of the awakening of her demonic power. Even Kojou, a resident of a Demon Sanctuary, had never before encountered such a powerful vampire. 

Kojou resigned himself to death at her hands. She was an unregistered demon; the Demon Sanctuary’s laws held no sway over her. Neither the monitoring network spread over the island nor the Attack Mages of the Island Guard could protect him now. 

Even if she was small in stature, a Demon’s physical prowess was overwhelming. She’d never need to use a vampire’s Beast Vassal. She could easily rip Kojou apart with her bare hands. 

But her next action was not the one Kojou expected. 

Her eyes blinked heavily, as if she’d just woken up. She looked at Kojou, standing right before her, and timidly backed away from him. 

“U…a…” 

The girl let out an unsteady cry as she hid her bare breasts with both arms. She was nothing like the girl who had just licked Kojou’s trickling blood with a malevolent smile. Now, she looked like a completely different person: a helpless, insecure child. 

“You’re…” 

Kojou couldn’t hide his bewilderment over her sudden about-face. 

Instantly, a mysterious, unprecedented, and ferocious sense of guilt overcame Kojou. If a stranger saw them at that exact moment, the individual would surely be convinced he had assaulted the naked girl. 

And as if fulfilling Kojou’s worst fears, a presence emerged behind him at that very moment: a woman wearing a black coat, pointing something like a gun at Kojou as she shouted: 

“—Don’t move!” 

“Ah?!” 

Kojou reflexively raised both hands into the air as he looked back. 

The person standing there was a young, seductive brunette. Her face was chiseled and refined but surprisingly young; Kojou would have guessed she was only two or three years older than he. 

The woman was pointing a black, metallic crossbow at him. But it wasn’t loaded. It was a bluff, a mere threat. 

Kojou glared at her. “You’re a vampire, too, huh? So you’re the intruders barging into the lab?” 

Strangely, he felt no fear. In spite of the lady-spy-chic clothing she wore, there was no aura of violence coming from the girl. On the contrary, she felt like a soft, spoiled little girl whose defenses were hardly impervious. 

The woman did not answer Kojou, posing her own question instead. 

“Just to be certain—you are Kojou Akatsuki, correct?” 

Kojou blinked in surprise. He subconsciously checked to make sure he wasn’t wearing some kind of name tag. 

“How do you know my name?” 

“I am Veldiana Caruana, the daughter of Duke Caruana of the Warlord’s Empire.” 

“Caruana…?!” 

Her words threw Kojou off. Of course, it was the first time he had met the vampire who stood before his eyes. 

If she was related to the Duke of the Warlord’s Empire, she was a pureblood descendant of the First Primogenitor, the Lost Warlord—not the sort of person Kojou, a mere middle school student, ought to have as an acquaintance. 

And yet, he felt like he’d seen her before. 

Put more precisely, he knew someone who really resembled her: a beautiful female researcher, with her own brunette hair cut short. Someone who had risked her life to protect Kojou and Nagisa… 

“I am aware you have lost your memories of Gozo Island. Perhaps you cannot remember, but I want you to believe me: I am not your enemy, nor do I have any intention of causing harm to MAR.” 

Kojou glanced around his miserable surroundings and sighed in apparent disbelief. 

“No intention of causing harm… So, what, the underground explosion wasn’t you?” 

Veldiana averted her gaze with a guilty expression. 

“Th-that girl was held captive. I merely wanted to bring her out with me.” 

Veldiana pointed to the blond vampire girl as she spoke. The girl’s shoulders twitched and trembled; for some reason, she hid behind Kojou’s back. 

“…Held captive? You mean, she was a patient here?” 

“If I must be specific, ‘guinea pig’ might be more accurate…” 

Veldiana narrowed her eyes with a pitying look as she gazed at the blond girl. 

“She’s an MAR research subject? Because she’s a vampire?” 

“Yes, that is correct. That girl is not normal, but rather, a very special vampire.” 

Veldiana, apparently judging that Kojou had no hostile intent, lowered the crossbow in her hand. That was when Kojou noticed the fresh blood trickling down her right arm. 

“That wound… Did a guard shoot you?” 

Veldiana pressed her left hand against the open wound and snarled, “Do not underestimate a vampire’s healing ability. A wound like this will heal soon enough.” 

However, she seemed to be in considerable pain. When he looked closer, he noticed her eyes were watering. 

Kojou tediously shook his head and glared at her. 

“…Maybe if it was a normal wound, but this is a Demon Sanctuary. There’s no way they weren’t using special anti-demon rounds.” 

“I suppose you’re right. That’s why I don’t want to expose her to danger if at all possible.” 

Veldiana accepted Kojou’s statement with surprising ease. Then, she folded the crossbow and presented it to him. 

“Please. Work with me, Kojou Akatsuki.” 

“Work with…?” 

Even as Kojou snatched the crossbow away from her, he was confused, unable to discern her true intent. Put bluntly, her relinquishing the unloaded crossbow had startled him. 

“I want you to take her and escape. I will distract the guards. Use the opening to get her out of here somehow. If you’re Gajou’s son, you can surely do that much.” 

“Huh?” 

What does Dad have to do with this? Kojou wondered, even more bewildered. Regardless, things were somehow starting to make sense. If the vampiress was an acquaintance of Gajou, that’d explain how she knew Kojou’s name. So it figures that her personality is just a little off, he thought. 

Then, perhaps taking Kojou’s silence for a yes, Veldiana walked away from him and the girl on her way out. 

“Get her somewhere safe. I will come for her later.” 

“Hey, wait!” 

Kojou urgently objected. Nothing but trouble could come from having this buck-naked girl pushed onto him with no explanation. 

“Explain things a little, dammit! Why are you just assuming I’m gonna help—?!” 

“There’s no time to explain!” Veldiana shouted right back with a twinge of annoyance. Behind Kojou, the blond girl twitched and shuddered in apparent fright. Irritated, Veldiana sighed. “I’ll tell you this, at least. You have a duty to protect her.” 

“What ‘duty’?” 

“If I say that only she can save Nagisa Akatsuki, would you accept it?” 

“…What do you mean?” 

Kojou’s expression morphed into a snarl as he glared back at Veldiana. 

His temperament had changed the instant she invoked his little sister’s name. The force rising in Kojou’s eyes, resembling bloodlust, made the vampiress’s words catch in her throat. 

“E-exactly what I said. Nagisa Akatsuki’s debilitation cannot be treated by medicine, even with the Demon Sanctuary’s technology. If anything, it is amazing that she is still alive. One day soon, she shall perish.” 

“Nagisa’s going to…die…?” 

Kojou grunted and clenched his fist. His mouth couldn’t form a rebuttal. 

No one had come out and told him, but he would have been lying if he said he hadn’t realized this. 

Nagisa’s body was weakening, slowly but surely. 

Her wounds from the incident three years prior had healed, but her physical energy had never returned. It was as if Nagisa had continued to bleed from an invisible wound all that time, her very life essence draining away moment by moment, even with Mimori Akatsuki and MAR’s medical technology doing their utmost to prolong her life. 

“With her, you can save Nagisa?” Kojou asked, pointing to the blond girl. 

The girl seemed ignorant of the circumstances as she uncomfortably lowered her eyes. Veldiana stared at her and said nonetheless: 

“She is the twelfth Kaleid Blood… Her name is Avrora Florestina.” 

“…Avrora?” 

Kojou felt a dull throb from the right side of his rib cage. Once again, he had hallucinations—or flashbacks—from the recesses of his mind. The girl floating in ice. The Sleeping Princess. Avrora Florestina—Kojou knew that name. 

“My sovereign, please permit me to leave your side for the moment.” 

Veldiana knelt before the timid girl, offering the girl her own coat. 

“A… U…” 

With a frail voice, the girl continued hiding behind Kojou. It appeared that she really didn’t understand the situation she’d been placed in. She seemed to have difficulty judging if Veldiana was her ally. 

Perhaps thinking she had to say something, the girl shakily opened her mouth. In a beautiful, clear, high-pitched voice, she said: 

“I-I permit it.” 

4 

“Three minutes from now, I shall summon a Beast Vassal in front of the laboratory—” 

And with that, Veldiana vanished. It was a simple decoy operation. Her spectacular rampage would draw the guards away while Kojou brought the blond girl—Avrora—out the back. 

The tactic was straightforward, and with security believing there was only one intruder, it was likely to be effective. He was genuinely grateful that Tooyama had lent him her medical wing pass card. 

Furthermore, it seemed there was no need for Kojou and Avrora to fear pursuit from the guards if they made it off MAR property. Only a tiny handful of researchers even knew of Avrora’s existence, and keeping an unregistered demon confined was criminal to begin with. 

Kojou wasn’t sure if he could trust a vampire he’d just met, but at the very least, it seemed that Veldiana really did know Gajou. Besides, it wasn’t in his nature to just abandon the fainthearted girl. If she really could save Nagisa, it was worth risking his life over. 

“That said, we can’t go far with you looking like that. Gotta get some clothes on you if I’m gonna take you outside…” 

Kojou gazed at Avrora, naked under a leather coat, and lightly clutched his head. Avrora simply stood out too much. If Kojou led the girl around town in such provocative attire, he’d be arrested as a sex offender long before the unregistered-demon part came to light. 

Plus, Veldiana’s bullet-for-hire coat wasn’t designed for concealing flesh. The slightest movement would expose Avrora’s breasts and crotch. 

What am I gonna do? he pondered as he gazed at the girl. 

“D-do not lay your indecent gaze upon me…!” 

Avrora turned her back to Kojou as she lodged a timid protest. Her manner of speech was regal, but her frightened, shaky tone made it difficult for her to sound haughty. 

“Ah, sorry…” 

So she does have a sense of shame, Kojou mused, oddly admiring her for that. Apparently, she wasn’t her normal self when she’d licked off Kojou’s nosebleed. But when he thought about it rationally, having a naked girl, vampire or not, press her lips against him was a crazy experience. He pondered in anguish whether such a thing counted as a kiss, but he told himself to forget about it for the time being. 

“I see… Right, I have Nagisa’s…” 

Kojou lowered the schoolbag he was carrying, taking out something packed within: the school uniform Nagisa had asked Kojou to wash. It was the one she’d worn when she’d collapsed at school, but it barely had a speck of dirt on it. 

“Anyway, put this on. It’s my little sister’s, but it beats wearing nothing but a coat.” 

“A, u… V-very well.” 

An expression of relief came over the vampire girl as she received the uniform. 

Nagisa was smaller than girls her own age, but her physique wasn’t that different from Avrora’s. Surely Avrora would be able to get the outfit on. Yet, as Kojou waited with his back turned, Avrora spent a long time changing. 

Not much remained of Veldiana’s promised three minutes. Even Kojou began to get irritated when he heard Avrora’s voice. She sounded as if she could break into tears at any moment. 

“K-Kojou Akatsuki… I-I permit an exception to my warning to thee.” 

“Huh?” Kojou turned and stared at her dubiously. “What’re you talking about?” 

Avrora was still holding the collar of the school uniform with a frightful expression. Apparently, she didn’t know how to button the uniform, putting her in quite a bind. 

Having successfully deciphered Avrora’s mystery language, he languidly said, “Ah… You want me to fasten your buttons?” 

Talk in a way that’s easier to understand, sheesh, crossed his mind, of course, but she was no doubt a vampire born in a foreign country. He should be grateful to understand what she meant at all. 

Kojou was closing the uniform’s buttons when he suddenly thought of something. 

“Hey, you’re a vampire, too, right? Can’t you turn into mist to move around like Veldiana did earlier?” 

He’d heard that a comparatively large number of vampires had that special ability. If Avrora could turn into mist and hide from sight, taking her out of the building would get easier by leaps and bounds. 

However, the vampire girl shook her head, lowering her eyes in a deeply apologetic look. 

“I-I do not possess the grace of mist.” 

“That so… Well, if you can’t, you can’t.” 

What era is that Japanese from? Kojou wondered, but he didn’t dwell on it. Deciphering was a bit of a pain, but one way or another, he knew what she was trying to say. 

“Anyway, it’s time. I think we should be as out in the open as possible. That way people won’t suspect anything.” 

“V-very well.” 

Her words were as haughty as ever, but Avrora was desperately clinging to Kojou’s uniform, which meant Kojou was dragged back the instant he tried to begin walking. 

“Hey, you…!” 

Kojou looked back and glared at Avrora. She whimpered, shrinking back like a small, frightened animal. 

A moment later, a new siren echoed throughout the medical wing. 

Apparently, Veldiana had summoned a Beast Vassal and begun wreaking havoc as promised. If they didn’t get off MAR property in a hurry, the gate might seal them in, and nothing good would come from that. 

“Geez, I just said we’ve gotta do this in the open. If you’re clinging to me like that, people’ll get suspicious for sure! And at least walk, dammit!” 

“Hi…u…” 

Kojou’s coarse shout nearly made Avrora cry. Her big, blue eyes filled with tears, but even so, she replied in a fleeting voice, “A-Avrora…” 

“Ah?” 

“I am not ‘you’… I am Avrora Florestina. R-respect my name…” 

Apparently, it had taken her considerable courage just to express that much. The latter part of her speech was so broken that he could barely hear them at all. 

Put another way, she might have taken such a special liking to the name Avrora that she needed to hear Kojou say it. 

“I get it… I was wrong. Sorry.” 

This said, Kojou extended his hand to the tearful girl. Even then, the timid vampire girl retreated a step, leaving Kojou somewhat at a loss. 

“C’mon. Let’s go, Avrora.” 

That moment, he felt like it was the first time she’d smiled. 

Her expression was far too awkward and fickle to be called happy, though. 

Gingerly, Avrora grasped Kojou’s hand. 

Kojou firmly took her ice-cold hand as they began to walk outside, neither suspecting what fate awaited them… 

5 

Space seemed to rip apart as a giant beast appeared. 

It was a three-headed demon dog spewing fire in every direction. At its core was a dense mass of sentient demonic energy, a summoned beast serving vampires from within their own blood—a Beast Vassal. 

“Ganglot—please!” 

Veldiana took the multi-headed hound, nearly three meters in length, with her as she rushed the lab’s front gate. Its front paws mowed down the neatly arrayed lampposts, while its fire breath set the lawn ablaze. The actual damage was minimal, but at the very least, it looked like a spectacular act of vandalism. 

Veldiana’s objective was not to damage MAR. She only needed to draw the guards’ attention until Kojou Akatsuki got Avrora out. She’d meant to create a suitable ruckus before withdrawing in good order, but— 

“Aaah?!” 

Veldiana’s expression hardened in response to the merciless barrage all around. Little robots the shape of garbage cans rushed out of the front gate and the lab building one after another, each an autonomous security pod equipped with firearms. A barrage of large-caliber machine-gun rounds and grenades descended upon Veldiana. 

Veldiana used her own Beast Vassal as a shield, unable to contain herself as she said in a tearful voice, “Th-this isn’t what you told me, Mimori Akatsuki! Wasn’t security supposed to be light…?!” 

Mere machine-gun rounds were insufficient to defeat a vampire’s Beast Vassal, but that didn’t mean she could hide behind it forever. Soon she would be surrounded, her avenue for escape completely cut off. 

Moreover, the number of security pods was increasing every moment. She had no idea how they’d managed to run a permit past the Gigafloat Management Corporation, but it was firepower on par with a small private army. 

“This is why I can’t stand rich people!” Veldiana spat, rich with resentment, and slowly made her retreat. Since she had devoted her Beast Vassal to defense, she had no opportunity for a counterattack. 

She glanced at the medical wing at the back side of the lab complex. It was faster than she’d planned, but she seemed to have no option except to run for it. 

“Get her out, Kojou Akatsuki… You’re Gajou’s son, aren’t you?!” 

Veldiana felt like she was uttering a prayer as she approached the high wall surrounding the laboratory. She couldn’t use her ability to turn to mist while keeping her Beast Vassal summoned. But it wasn’t high enough that she’d have difficulty jumping over it with raw vampiric strength— 

“Agh…?!” 

Veldiana sustained a sudden blow that made her entire body go numb, driving her to her knees. 

The laboratory wall, once white, was now covered with complex magical symbols and magic circles. It was a barrier for capturing intruders. The dazzling, golden glow was no doubt holy light meant to constrain a demon’s movements. 

With Veldiana unable to move, security pods rushed right at her. Her Cerberus was fully occupied blocking gunfire from the front, so she couldn’t use it elsewhere. 

“Ugh…! Gangloti—please, punch through!” 

Veldiana clenched her teeth and summoned this new Beast Vassal. It was the second of the two Beast Vassals that served her—a twin-headed dog. 

The laboratory’s defensive wall sustained the huge Beast Vassal’s attack and crumbled down. Security pods circled to Veldiana’s left and right to pepper her with gunfire, but before they could, she regained her physical freedom and climbed over the wall to the outside. 

“As I suspected…no sign of pursuit beyond…the property…” 

Veldiana panted raggedly and released her Beast Vassals. She no longer had enough demonic energy to travel long distances while turned to mist. The vampiress, not even a hundred years of age, was too young and inexperienced to be considered an Old Guard yet. Just controlling two Beast Vassals simultaneously was pushing her limits. 

On top of that, she still had nicks from the bullets all over her body. They were not mortal injuries, but the bleeding was heavy. She needed to recuperate in a safe place if at all possible. 

Expending her remaining physical energy, Veldiana headed to a beach away from the city. She found a place under a steel monorail bridge away from prying eyes, where she flopped down in a heap. 

She wished she could at least sleep somewhere with a bed, but she was an unregistered demon. She could foresee the trouble that would come the second someone asked her for identification. Moreover, she could hardly show herself in public covered in blood. 

“To think you cannot even enter a store without a demon registration bracelet… That’s what makes it a city for daytime people! And they call this a Demon Sanctuary…!” 

Veldiana, well aware that was slander, clutched her knees as she grumbled. However, the situation felt nothing like a “worst case” to her. It was true that she’d had a horrid time, but she’d managed to achieve her objective: awakening Avrora Florestina. 

“Now that the Twelfth has awakened, even the Bookmaker must acknowledge her as a candidate for Fourth Primogenitor… Liana, my sister…with this, we shall avenge our family…” 

Veldiana clenched both fists, invoking the name of her dead sister as a prayer. 

In the end, it had taken nearly thirty minutes to regenerate from her wounds. The pain of the wounds remained, but the bleeding had already stopped. She had a vampire’s exceptional healing power to thank for that. It didn’t mean she had her lost blood or physical energy back, but at least she could walk without any problems. 

“First, I will rejoin Kojou Akatsuki… I must decide on a place to rendezvous.” 

Suddenly, a gush of fresh blood burst out from her right leg. 

By the time Veldiana realized it, she lost her balance and fell to the ground. Dumbfounded, she looked at her surroundings, not yet comprehending what had happened. 

Then, fierce pain set in. 

Her right leg had been raggedly torn at the hip. She’d taken a round from a large-caliber rifle. 

“Ah… Guaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!” 

Veldiana screamed, pressing down on her blood-drenched right hip. 

A vampire’s life force did not dull pain. Veldiana writhed from the prolonged, ceaseless, unbearable agony. 

From somewhere, she heard a theatrical voice that seemed to ridicule her suffering. 

“Ahh… That will not do; it will not. Such a scream. Even if your family has fallen from grace, you are the daughter of a noble family of the Warlord’s Empire. You must behave with grace at all times, even with a leg or two ripped off.” 

“Wh-why you…!” 

Veldiana’s cheek twitched as she looked up. Standing there and looking down at her was a supple, middle-aged man with a kaiser beard. He had deathly pale skin and small, inscrutable eyes. The man somehow seemed sly like a fox. 

Standing on either side of him were creepy men, dressed in black from head to toe. Their limbs were unusually long, and their shoulders were impossibly bulky. The men wore masks patterned after animal skulls, which revealed their thick lips and huge, bizarre, uneven teeth. 

“What are Nosferatu from Nelapsi doing in the Far East Demon Sanctuary…?!” 

While shouting, Veldiana forgot about the pain shooting through her leg. 

Nosferatu were a type of demon that dwelled in the Warlord’s Empire, a type of lesser vampire unable to summon Beast Vassals. To pureblood vampires like Veldiana, their repeated, violent acts of plunder made them objects of scorn and hatred. 

Nelapsi was the name of the Nosferatu’s autonomous territory, where Veldiana’s biological father, the Duke of Caruana, had lost his life in combat with those Nosferatu. 

With a triumphant expression, the man with facial hair said, “Hee-hee, does it bother you? Yes, of course I will tell you. Well, you see, we heard some trifling rumors…that the immature daughter of a foolish nobleman, who died a spineless death on the battlefield, losing not only the crown that should have been his but his lands in the process, intended to cowardly awaken a new Kaleid Blood and participate in the Blazing Banquet— Truly a farce, I say.” 

“…Silence! I shall not allow a mere, filthy ghoul to demean Father!” 

Veldiana howled raggedly, full of rage. Her summoned Cerberus spewed flames as it attacked the man. However, the Nosferatu on either side of him moved before the demon dog’s attack reached its target. 

Although lesser, they were still formidable vampires, with reservoirs of demonic energy on par with other demons. And in return for being unable to employ Beast Vassals, Nosferatu used magical devices to further amplify their demonic power, coursing it through their own flesh and blood. 

One after another, blades broke out from the flesh of their arms and shoulders and flew toward the Cerberus. Bathed in demonic energy, the blades stopped the Cerberus’s charge cold. With Veldiana exhausted, her Beast Vassal was unable to fight them off. 

“Truth be told, we are grateful for what you have done, Veldiana Caruana,” the bearded man said, bending his head forward in delight. “Thanks to your reviving the Twelfth, we are able to obtain yet another God-killing weapon.” 

“No… I’ll never let you do such a…” 

Veldiana groaned in anguish as her fingertips thrust at the ground. 

The man served by the Nosferatu meant to snatch Avrora for themselves. They’d simply been waiting for Veldiana to awaken her for them. And now that Veldiana was a loose end, they were going to eliminate her. She no longer possessed the strength to oppose them. 

“Your role has come to an end. I shall express my gratitude by sending you to the same place where your parents and your older sister reside. It is the least I can do.” 

The man glanced at the ghoul to the right. The ghoul nodded without a word, swiveling a gun barrel embedded into his wrist toward Veldiana. And without the slightest hesitation, he opened fire. 

The next moment, a sudden gust of wind slammed into the ghoul’s flank. 

“Nu…?!” 

With the gust of wind throwing off his aim, the bullet pierced the ground right before Veldiana’s eyes. The timing was too perfect to have been mere coincidence. 

“Oho,” the bearded man laughed, raising his eyebrows in curiosity. “That wind…? It does not seem to be sorcery, and yet…” 

Then, by the time he looked back to Veldiana, she was gone. 

She hadn’t turned to mist to hide. It was as if she had melted into thin air, vanishing without a trace. 

“…A teleportation ritual… I see. So that’s how it is.” 

He snorted, clearly unamused. 

Veldiana had not escaped by her own power. Someone had helped her. Someone specializing in teleportation magic— 

“Count Zaharias…we could still track her by scent, but…” One of the Nosferatu spoke through the mask covering his face. 

“Mmm,” Zaharias said, making a show of considering that option as he stroked his beard. “No, let us not. She is a formidable opponent. There is no need for us to plunge into a witch’s nest for Veldiana Caruana alone.” 

Saying this, Zaharias turned on his heels. 

“—Order the other unit to prioritize securing the Twelfth.” 

The next instant, the shapes of the Nosferatu dressed in black contorted as they vanished into thin air. 

The time of day was near sunset. The darkness of twilight enveloping the Demon Sanctuary grew further still. 

6 

Kojou was walking down a coastal footpath, with the vampire girl wearing a school uniform in tow. 

Escaping from MAR had been astoundingly simple. No one gave Kojou or Avrora a second look as they left via the hospital’s back entrance, to the point that he wondered if Veldiana’s diversion had been pointless. 

As Avrora walked beside Kojou, he looked at the side of her face, sounding a bit dismayed as he murmured, “Looks like the coast is clear… We pulled that off better than I thought.” 

Walking under the evening sun in her uniform, Avrora looked like a normal girl without a trace of vampire in her. The nurse’s sandals he’d picked up in the hospital and put on her bare feet fit her surprisingly well, and they even matched. 

For her part, Avrora seemed calm as she surveyed her surroundings. She gazed at the abundance of buildings and the cars crossing at intersections, letting out an ooh of admiration. 

“This shouldn’t surprise you that much.” 

As Avrora stopped to stare, Kojou spoke as he looked back, astounded. But the vampire girl shook her head fervently. That is not so seemed to be the message. Next, she ran to the fence along the coast. She gazed at the surface of the sea, which reflected the rays of the setting sun, and marveled at the abundance of seagulls. She looked like an overwhelmingly curious little girl. Kojou wanted to laugh. 

“Come to think of it, she did say you were locked up underground…” 

Maybe this is the first time she’s been outside in her life, Kojou pondered. If that was the case, he could understand why she was so worked up. But… 

“Hey, um, don’t run off too far. Also, don’t forget that you’re not wearing panties.” 

Seeing her scrambling up the fence, preparing to leap a long way down, Kojou urgently dragged her back. Her uniform’s skirt fluttered, which made him see things he wasn’t supposed to. Avrora went red to the tips of her ears. 

“D-do not engage in vulgar delusions, servant!” 

“Since when did I become your servant? Geez…” 

Seeing Avrora’s tearful eyes, Kojou glanced back with an exasperated look, sighing deeply. 

That instant, he had a flashback of another strange vision: that of Avrora and a silhouette floating behind her, which resembled an enormous Siren. 

“Hey, Avrora… I’ve met you before somewhere, haven’t I?” Kojou asked, suddenly becoming serious. 

“Auu…,” Avrora said, lowering her eyes with a conflicted look. Perhaps it was a rather sudden thing to ask, but… 

“I think I was still a kid back then, but…in a dream, I was with Nagisa in a cave I’d never seen before, and there was a girl just like you, sleeping in this ridiculously huge block of ice.” 

“…Nagisa?” 

“The girl that uniform belongs to. My little sister. She’s back in that hospital right now from aftereffects of that incident.” Kojou smiled wanly and added casually, “Well, Mom said I had dreams like that because the incident happened when we were heading to a ruin in a foreign country. A mix of reality and imaginatio—er?!” 

The sight of tears pouring out of Avrora threw Kojou for a complete loop. He didn’t think it was just sympathy, but even so, it hadn’t been enough for her to burst into tears. 

“What are you crying for?! It wasn’t that much of a sob story!” 

“M-my memories are confused… Unanticipated emotional interference seems to have…” Avrora sniffed as she spoke. Apparently, even she didn’t know the reason she was crying. 

Kojou pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and meticulously wiped the girl’s face as he said, “I really don’t know what the heck you’re saying… But, well, thank you.” 

“Y-you do not need to thank me.” 

The tip of Avrora’s nose was red as she whispered, apparently unable to endure the embarrassment. Meanwhile, Kojou gazed at her curiously. 

“Come to mention it, that Veldiana lady said you could save Nagisa. What can you actually do for her? Do you know some kind of healing spell or have some special power you can use…?” 

“Er, ah…” 

Avrora seemed conflicted as she bit her lower lip. I know not, the shake of her head seemed to say. 

With a look that said, What’s that supposed to mean? Kojou drew his face close to hers, making her retreat a step. 

“But MAR had a reason for nabbing you, didn’t it?” 

“M-my memories continue to be confused… I only just awakened from the seal of ice…,” the vampire girl earnestly explained in a straight-laced tone. 

“Hmm.” Kojou brought a hand to his mouth. “So you don’t remember, either.” 

“R-regrettably…” 

“Nah, don’t worry about it. I figured it was something like that anyway. I had a bad feeling the second I heard my idiot father was involved.” 

Kojou seemed to have regained his senses. He turned his gaze upward and then looked back at Avrora. He’d managed to forget due to the stress, but she was a fugitive from an MAR lab. It was no doubt best to hide her in a safe area for the time being. 

Having said that, he couldn’t think of a convenient place to hide a vampire girl without any form of identification. 

“…Geez, Vel sure dances to her own tune, pushing an unregistered vamp onto me. It’d be way easier takin’ care of a puppy.” 

Now that the gravity of the situation struck him, Kojou started seriously worrying. Either way, it’d be nighttime soon. He couldn’t just walk around with her in circles. But bringing her to Kojou’s apartment presented problems of its own. After all, Kojou’s own mother was an MAR chief of research. Even if she didn’t come home very often, it’d be a heap of trouble if she came face-to-face with Avrora. Getting her out of MAR would be all for nothing. 

“Can’t be helped… And it’s not like I can have you pantyless forever. Let’s go to my place for now and get you changed. We’ll think about what to do later after Vel catches up—” 

Kojou decided that the solution was to kick the can down the road and began walking again. But he didn’t have any sense Avrora was with him. 

He suddenly saw Avrora leaning against the guardrail, crouching limply. 

“Hey, Avrora…? What’s wrong? Are you in pain?!” 

Kojou got nervous when he recalled that she’d been in isolation under MAR. He ought to have considered the possibility that she hadn’t been captured for research purposes but rather because she was too sick and frail to be out and about. However, what made Kojou doubt that was how surprisingly well Avrora looked. 

She held a hand to her stomach, looking like the most pathetic girl in the whole, wide world as she complained: 

“I am s-stricken by p-pangs of hunger…” 

“…Ah?” 

Kojou felt his strength leak out from every pore. Avrora simply nodded in silence. 

“So…the gist is, you’re, ah, too hungry to move?” 

“I-it is as you say.” 

“Oh, right, you said you’d just woken up. So like normal folks, vampires get hungry when they don’t eat regularly, huh…” 

Kojou grimaced, surveying the surrounding landscape all the while. Island South was a corporate and academic research district with no eatery in sight that would be accessible to a middle school student. Despite that, he spotted a familiar logo on a sign along the coastal walkway and picked the vampire girl up in his arms. 

“Got it. Hang on for a bit, Avrora.” 

“Uu…” 

Frightened, Avrora clung to him as they crossed the nearest intersection. His destination was the ice cream stand with glass windows: Lulu’s, the place his little sister liked so much. 

Avrora, uneasy at first, went “Ooh” as she looked at the colorful showcase of ice cream flavors, her nostrils twitching and her interest piqued. 

The Lulu’s sales rep was shocked by Avrora’s inhuman beauty, but he didn’t suspect anything further and treated them like normal customers. Since Avrora was so indecisive, Kojou picked “Today’s Special” and left the stand with her. 

“…Nn!” 

Licking the ice cream, Avrora’s enormous blue eyes bulged so wide, they almost fell right out. Apparently, the taste was not what she had been expecting. 

“Tastes good?” Kojou asked, holding back a smile as he watched Avrora’s eyes sparkle. 

Avrora made several small nods as she resembled a little puppy wagging its tail. 

“L-like a fruit of Eden!” 

“That much…?!” 

I wouldn’t go that far, Kojou couldn’t help musing to himself, but he didn’t think poorly of such outpourings of joy, even if it was over mere ice cream. Kojou watched Avrora devour the treat with great vigor. Here, he motioned, offering her his own portion. 

“If you want, you can have mine, too. It’s not good to overeat, though.” 

“I-indeed… P-praiseworthy of you.” 

With bashful reserve, Avrora reached out and took the ice cream cone. 

Kojou indulged in absentminded thoughts as he watched the girl lick the edges of her lips all over. 

Veldiana had called this vampire girl the twelfth Kaleid Blood. Kojou knew that name. The Fourth Primogenitor. The World’s Mightiest Vampire. The monster without any blood brethren, beyond all worldly doctrines. 

Even so, he just couldn’t see the girl before his eyes as a monster. In fact, he barely managed to interpret her as anything but a normal middle schooler. What’s wrong with me? he thought as he listlessly rested his chin on his palm. 

“Ah…” 

Kojou was still in that position when he sensed Avrora gasping right beside him. 

Her reaction caused him to notice the unfamiliar men that had surrounded them at some point—men in creepy black outfits, wearing animal-skull masks. 

One look was enough to understand that they weren’t gainfully employed humans. Either they were cosplayers with deviant tastes or criminals with a reason to conceal their faces. 

“…What’s with you people?” 

Kojou shielded Avrora as he got to his feet. As he did, his temple was struck with a blow from the side. 

Kojou flew several meters, slamming into a concrete bank. He’d only just realized a man in black had punched him when he was lying on the ground. 

There was no sign of restraint or mercy. It had been a killing blow, launched without warning. 

“Kojou—!” 

Avrora let out a loud cry. She rushed toward Kojou when a different man in black clothes caught her from behind. 

There were three men total. The man who was apparently in charge spoke quietly, almost like he was talking to himself. It seemed that he had a transmitter implanted inside his own throat. 

“16:38 hours, forty-four seconds— Contact with Dodekatos. Single companion. Companion neutralized, Dodekatos secured.” 

The scrutinizing eyes beneath the mask gazed coldly at Avrora. 

Avrora desperately tried to squirm away, but even her vampiric physical strength could not shake off the man’s arms. No doubt the men in the black outfits weren’t normal humans. 

“16:39 hours, fifteen seconds— Target secured. Proceeding to withdraw.” 

Judging that Avrora was not capable of resistance, the leader of the men gave instructions to his subordinates. A station wagon with tinted glass windows had just arrived. 

Kojou spat out a mix of blood and saliva as he stood back up. 

“…It doesn’t look like you guys are MAR guards, huh…” 

The man in the black outfit who’d punched Kojou turned his head, looking back at him in surprise. He seemed to be wondering why Kojou was still alive after being sent flying so spectacularly. 

“16:39 hours, fifty-seven seconds— Amendment. Resistance by companion confirmed. Proceeding to repeat neutraliza—” 

The leader continued his report with a calm voice. However, Kojou broke into a ferocious run before he’d finished his transmission. Then, he launched a haymaker punch at the man who’d grabbed Avrora. 

The opponent’s reaction to Kojou’s unexpected action was a moment too late. 

The masked man’s face whipped to the side. It wasn’t spectacular enough to send his body flying, but the impact must have been transferred straight to his brain. 

“Let her go, you jerk in a perv mask!” 

Kojou snatched Avrora from the reeling man’s grasp. 

Upon seeing this, the attitude of the attackers in black outfits changed. No doubt they’d never imagined that the boy, no more than a normal human, could put up that much of a fight. 

Kojou had only a vague grasp of where the power welling within him had originated. He was spurred by a simple sense of duty: He had to protect Avrora. 

The man in charge quietly stated, “16:40 hours, twenty-two seconds— Target’s threat level amended to Class C. Use of Option Bravo authorized.” 

The next instant, their flesh ripped apart as numerous embedded blades emerged. 

Kojou and Avrora gaped at the repulsive spectacle. Even in a Demon Sanctuary, it was rare to come across demons with dangerous internal modifications to that extent. The only people who’d need those kinds of implants were soldiers engaging in combat on a daily basis or criminals carrying out assassinations. 

“Let’s run for it, Avrora.” 

“Y-yes.” 

Kojou led Avrora by the hand as they ran. They had no reason to engage in a straight-up fight with wacko demons like these. 

Yet, the leader of the black-outfitted men leaped over their heads with monstrous strength, cutting off their avenue of escape. The remaining two pursued at Kojou and Avrora’s backs. 

“16:41 hours, three seconds— Target’s escape prevented. Applying Plan Delta.” 

One of the men swung up with a blade embedded in his right arm. The blade was a double-edged knife almost thirty centimeters long. The magic symbols carved into the blade glowed red as it spewed demonic flame. 

“What the hell’s with these guys…?!” 

Kojou clenched his sweat-drenched fist. Their assailants were clearly after Avrora. Furthermore, they were trying to eliminate him for standing in their way. 

If he could sustain an attack from that thick knife, there was no way he’d walk away from it. But there was nowhere to run. It was do or die. 

The man in black didn’t say a word as he swung down, right at Kojou’s face. But— 

“Guooooooa!” 

With an anguished voice, it was the attacker who staggered back. 

A dull zdan, like the sound of punching something metal, echoed all around. A transparent round, fired from the front, had scored a solid hit on the knife-wielder. 

Together with the bone-breaking blow, the transparent bullet bounced off, transforming into a sheet of water. His entire body bathed in those droplets, the man screamed again. 

Then, from somewhere else, they heard a jubilant male voice that somehow sounded sarcastic and unserious: 

“Ha-ha… Now that’s quite a sight!” 

The speaker was a tall Japanese man with an unkempt beard. He was wearing a color-matched leather trench coat and a fedora. He gave off the air of a member of the mafia or a private detective from times long past. 

He was carrying a bizarre pistol that resembled a fire extinguisher. 

Water guns that used air pressure to fire high-pressure liquid rounds—though originally designed for putting out fires, the powerful blunt force it generated gave it riot-control applications among military and police forces around the globe. The man used a miniaturized version, apparently modified for bullet cartridges with an eye toward portability. 

“It’s an impulse water gun with Lourdes holy water. Packs a punch, doesn’t it?” 

The man laughed as he gazed at the anguished man in black. The bullets used by the water gun were specially made with holy water from the Western European Church. They had no effect on the human body but acted like powerful acid to certain types of demons. 

“16:42 hours, zero seconds— Irregularity has occurred. Sustained surprise attack from unknown combatant. Commencing intercept.” 

The leader of the black-outfitted men reacted with extreme calm to the appearance of a new enemy. However, the Japanese man had reloaded his water gun before they began their counterattack, easily bringing down the other subordinate in black with another shot. 

If a normal bullet was a pinpoint attack, the water gun’s holy water bullets were more like shotgun blasts. Even with a demon’s reaction speed, they were not easy to completely evade. 

“16:42 hours, twenty-six seconds— Deduction: Unknown is ‘Death Returner.’ Threat level B-plus—executing Plan Myu. Withdrawing.” 

It seemed that the assailants’ leader had finally abandoned the operation. He fled, taking his subordinates with him as they groaned in agony. The man in the fedora shook his head as if admiring how they’d retreated in good order. 

“Hey now, finished already? You guys are no fun… I wanted to at least take one of ya prisoner!” 

The man wore a lackadaisical expression as he watched his enemies’ backs before turning his head and looking at Kojou and Avrora, rooted in place. Kojou looked somewhat astonished; for her part, Avrora hid behind Kojou’s back. 

The man smiled wryly as he glanced over them in apparent satisfaction. 

“Heya, kid. Good job protecting Avrora. Didn’t know you had the guts, Kojou. And if I’d had my way, they wouldn’t have had any guts, either.” 

The man suddenly laughed at his own bad pun as only a father would. Avrora blinked with a mystified look; maybe she had no idea what he’d just said. 

And for his part, Kojou glared maliciously at the man, speaking in a low growl. 

“—What the hell are you doing here, Dad?!” 

Gajou Akatsuki, archaeologist, simply rested his water gun on his shoulder, smiling and enjoying himself.