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  And he was the man with the “discontinued weapon” of the Lion King Agency…

  “Meiga…Itogami…!”

  Kojou’s voice echoed around the enormous cylinder.

  Displeased, Meiga Itogami grimaced as he listened to the reverberation.

  6

  “It is an honor to be in your presence once again, Fourth Primogenitor.” As Meiga closed the gap between himself and Kojou, he spoke with a courteous tone. “Truly, I had expected to meet with you sooner…but that is all well and good. Thanks to the delay in our reunion, my wounds have healed.”

  “Tch.”

  Kojou clicked his tongue as he distanced himself from Yukina and dropped into a fighting stance. Pain consumed his every thought, but he could not allow himself the luxury of acknowledging it.

  “You waiting for us means Asagi really is here, doesn’t it?” Kojou asked for confirmation.

  Meiga smiled slightly as he said, “If I said the Priestess of Cain is not here…would you believe me?”

  “Like hell I would! No way I’d just nod and trust the words of an escaped convict!” Kojou spat.

  The appearance of the sorcerous criminal Meiga was hard proof that this was no ordinary place. There was no way Kojou could turn back without being certain of Asagi’s whereabouts.

  “Hmm,” Meiga murmured as if he took offense to Kojou’s words. “I am a criminal, yes, but also I believe that you and I are more alike than you care to admit.”

  “Oh, shut up!” Kojou, remembering the newly wrecked security pods, unwittingly bared his fangs. “Meiga Itogami, where is Asagi?! I’ll make you answer by force if I have to!”

  Kojou gave Meiga a look that could kill. Meiga chuckled, as if demeaning him.

  “Fourth Primogenitor, there seems to be some sort of misunderstanding.”

  “Misunderstanding…?”

  A crease formed in Kojou’s brow. The devilish grin was plain on Meiga’s face as he met Kojou’s glare.

  “I am not interested in confronting you. Or rather, I do not feel threatened by you in the slightest. In fact, I’m feeling generous, so I’ll make you a deal. If you vacate the premises immediately, I’ll let you leave in one piece.”

  “How very kind.” Kojou said with a sigh. He didn’t want to fall for a cheap taunt, but if Meiga was on the side of people using Asagi, he’d have to fight the guy either way.

  “Now I’ve got a deal for you. If you release Asagi, I won’t tell Natsuki that you were here.”

  For a brief moment, hearing Natsuki Minamiya’s name wiped the smirk off Meiga’s lips. The pitch-black spear he wielded emitted a bizarre miasma.

  “That is unfortunate. I felt just a smidgen of kinship toward you, but now…I pity you; a pathetic young man deceived by the Lion King Agency, just as I once was—”

  “Senpai, I shall handle this—!”

  Yukina drew her silver spear.

  But before that, Kojou leaped—a feat made possible by drawing out his vampiric might to the maximum. Neither Yukina, despite being aware of his fatigue, nor Meiga, poised and on guard, could respond to his speed.

  “Let’s go, jailbird!”

  Kojou dashed straight for Meiga, intent on punching him square in the face. It was the simplest attack he could think of. Kojou was not a genuine vampire; he held no pride toward a vampire’s abilities. If Meiga’s spear could nullify demonic energy, he would opt for a physical attack instead.

  And as it happened, Meiga never saw it coming. Kojou’s mighty blow connected with Meiga’s chin, knocking him up into a somersault and blowing him away.

  “Eh?!” Yukina stood dumbfounded, staring as Meiga sailed into the far wall and collapsed.

  Kojou followed through with his punch before hunkering down on one knee, grimacing as pain washed over his entire body.

  Meiga remained facedown, motionless. Even a demon possessing a powerful, resilient body, to say nothing of a normal human, could not have withstood such an attack. At the very least, Meiga’s lower jaw had to have been smashed to pieces.

  “Ow, ow, ow… Damn it, I think I might have overdone it…a little?”

  He’s not dead, right? Kojou wondered, looking at Meiga with an expression of concern.

  However, only a moment later, Kojou heard a deep “Heh-heh” coming from the facedown Meiga. Driving a tip of his spear into the floor, Meiga slowly rose to his feet.

  “I see. Knowing that Fangzahn can nullify demonic energy, you led with a normal punch… Naturally, even I wasn’t expecting that. It would seem I underestimated you, Kojou Akatsuki.”

  Meiga moved his purportedly broken lower jaw and calmly smiled at him. He couldn’t have come out of that unscathed. And yet, he didn’t appear to be in any pain.

  “However, unfortunately for you, an undying body is not a privilege exclusive to you vampires.”

  Coursing from Meiga’s split lips was a dark liquid resembling decayed blood. He made no effort to wipe it off as he walked in Kojou’s direction.

  “What’s with this guy…?!”

  “An undead?! No, could he be…a jiangshi?!”

  Yukina murmured in a raspy voice. The oddly malevolent ring to it instilled a sense of disgust in Kojou for no particular reason.

  “Jiangshi?”

  “A demon given life using a human being’s corpse… An artificial vampire.”

  “Technically speaking, a poor excuse for a vampire,” Meiga corrected with a laugh at his own expense. “An incomplete bystander, able neither to live nor perish. But…that is why I am able to wield this weapon!”

  Meiga glanced at his own feet as he swung the jet-black spear downward.

  In only an instant, as Kojou stood defenseless, countless blades were thrust toward his body.

  Dark blades, practically paper-thin, jutted from Kojou’s own shadow. They were formed of a dark aurora that ate into the world itself.

  “Shit… This feeling! Is this the encroachment of Nod?!”

  The dark blades, able to nullify demonic energy, robbed Kojou of his vampiric power. The effect was the same as when the knights of the Cleansers had employed relics of The Cleansing. Meiga’s Fangzahn was a weapon that controlled the encroachment of Nod.

  “Snowdrift Wolf—!”

  Twirling her silver spear, Yukina bore down on Meiga. The Schneewaltzer, capable of piercing any barrier, was the sole weapon capable of resisting the encroachment of Nod. In fact, Yukina had saved Kojou with that power several times during the fight at Kannawa Lake. Even so…

  “It is futile. Have you forgotten? My Fangzahn nullifies both demonic and spiritual energy.”

  …Meiga swung his spear with a leisurely smile. The two spear wielders collided head-on, but it was Yukina who was blown back. With extraordinary speed impossible for any normal person, Meiga continued the barrage of slashes. Yukina fell off-balance as spears of darkness rained over her.

  “And with your spiritual energy sealed, you are nothing but an ordinary human. You could never defeat one such as I, who does not know death!”

  “Ugh…ngh…!”

  As she parried Meiga’s slashing attacks, Yukina’s stance wavered greatly due to Fangzahn nullifying her spiritual energy. At that moment, Yukina could employ neither her Spirit Sight nor ritual spells to augment her physical strength. She was a powerless little girl.

  Even so, Yukina’s counterattacks reached Meiga without fail, lacerating Meiga’s limbs and breaking several ribs on his left side. A normal person would surely have been put out of commission long before this point.

  Yet, the movements of Meiga, the jiangshi, did not change. Meanwhile, Yukina was nearing the limits of her endurance.

  Unable to withstand Meiga’s slicing attack, Yukina flopped onto her back. With still eyes, Meiga looked down at her, seeing that she was unable to move, her breaths catching in her throat.

  “And so, I shall kill the one Touka once saved. This ironic twist of fate suits me well.”

  Although Meiga’s offhand murmur had been mea
nt for no one in particular, his words made Yukina’s breath catch in her throat.

  “Miss…Touka? Why do you know that name…?!”

  “Farewell, Priestess of the Divine Wolf…”

  Meiga brandished his pitch-black spear. The bladed tip was sinking toward Yukina’s chest, and in that instant—

  “Himeragi, run!”

  “Senpai?!”

  —Kojou rammed his shoulder into Meiga’s back, sending the man’s slender body flying. Meiga turned to sullenly glare at the wounded Kojou.

  Kojou must have yanked all the blades from his body himself. His body was in tatters, and his freshly bought parka was dyed deep crimson. His left arm dangled listlessly at his side.

  In spite of this, Kojou stood in front of Meiga to shield Yukina from him.

  Eyes coldly fixed upon the Fourth Primogenitor, Meiga slowly readied his spear in a stance known only to the Attack Mages of the Lion King Agency.

  “No, senpai! Run—”

  Before Yukina could finish, Meiga silently swung his spear. The movement was muted…surreal. Kojou, and even Yukina, had no time to react.

  “Hell-Eater Wolf—”

  A second too late, they heard Meiga’s voice. The black spear had impaled Kojou through the heart. The blood that exploded from Kojou’s wound painted Yukina’s face red.

  Yukina’s voice trembled.

  “Sen…pai…”

  Kojou’s body tumbled onto the metal floor. A scream erupted from Yukina’s mouth.

  As she tried to get up, Yukina’s hand touched the silver spear that had rolled onto the floor.

  The darkness enveloping the empty room was pierced by a pale, dazzling beam.

  “U…aaa…aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh—!!”

  The radiance pouring out of Yukina’s back traced a giant symbol in the air.

  Setting eyes upon it, Meiga’s expression stiffened for the first time.

  The encroachment of Nod unleashed by the black spear shattered into dust like thin panes of glass—and vanished. Fangzahn was unable to nullify Yukina’s overwhelming spiritual energy.

  “Absurd… This power—don’t tell me this is…?!”

  Meiga’s lips contorted into shock. Steam was shooting upward as his purportedly undying body was scorched. As the beam buried his field of vision, Meiga narrowed his eyes and trained his spear toward Yukina.

  “Now you’ve done it, Lion King Agency! Was this your true objective all along…?!”

  Dragging his wounded body along, the black-clothed man drew closer to Yukina.

  She had already lost consciousness. Drawing on spiritual energy beyond her limits had been more than her body could withstand. The light from her spiritual energy enveloped her, but in that moment, Meiga could kill her— No.

  He had to kill her.

  But as he raised his black spear, the voice of a supposedly dead teenage boy reached his ears.

  “I, Kojou Akatsuki, inheritor of the Kaleid Blood, release thee from thy bonds!”

  “What?!”

  Meiga’s eyes swayed with hatred.

  Kojou, presumably dead from being impaled through the heart, raised his right hand up with a devilish grin.

  The pure-white beam unleashed by Yukina was the cause. That radiance had destroyed the encroachment of Nod, restoring Kojou’s lost immortality and power. This was the power of the World’s Mightiest Vampire—the Fourth Primogenitor.

  “C’mon over, Beast Vassal Number Five, Regulus Aurum—!”

  There appeared a blinding pillar of light and a thunderous shock wave as Kojou’s lightning lion decimated the room known as Stratum Zero. The demonic power was overwhelming, making the very ground of the artificial island shudder. That golden radiance swallowed up Kojou’s field of vision, with the hollow space of Stratum Zero soon to follow—

  CHAPTER THREE

  THE SPEAR AND THE ANGEL

  1

  Demons were denizens of darkness. Many of them loved the night, and so the dark hours of the city were no time for rest. It was after midnight, and a large throng of people could still be seen along a road in Itogami’s Island West.

  Along that road, a woman came to a halt. She had wings on her back, and her cheeks were rosy from intoxication. She looked up at the side of a building, upon which the comely face of a teenage girl was being displayed.

  “Ah, it’s Asagi.”

  Different pedestrians in the area turned their gazes to the building’s big screen all at once. A young man sighed a wistful “ohhh” as if he was in love with the girl on the screen.

  “Who’s that? An actress?”

  “No, no. She’s a local idol. A regular resident of Itogami Island.”

  “I’ve seen her before! She was buying waffles at Thetis Mall.”

  “Was she cute?”

  “Suuuper-cute!”

  The easygoing conversations continued as they gazed at the image of the girl. People all across the city fawned over the girl on the screens.

  All at once, their expressions were suddenly clouded with confusion. Abruptly, the image of the girl on the screen became heavily distorted. The girl’s song had cut off at some point. Within the static-filled, monochrome screen, the girl’s lips seemed to tremble as they struggled to form words.

  “…jou… Sa…”

  What came through the speakers was a simple, mechanically synthesized voice, quietly broadcast to every corner of Itogami Island through the countless electronic devices existing within its shores.

  Even the promotional video looked bizarrely glitched.

  As bewildered looks came over the masses, they stood dumbfounded as they listened to the girl’s words.

  “Kojou… Save…”

  Then the screen suddenly went dark. Someone had cut the transmission short.

  All that remained was the darkness of night and the stirring of the crowds.

  2

  The first thing he could see through his hazy vision was a pair of eyes staring down at him in concern. They were deep, serene blue eyes, reminiscent of an immaculate glacier.

  It was a white, sterile space greatly closely resembling a hospital room. Beautiful silver hair swayed under an artificial white light.

  “Akatsuki, are you awake?”

  As Kojou was lying there, he heard a gentle voice close to his ear. Realizing that the girl was familiar, Kojou gasped and sat up.

  “…Kanase?”

  “Are you all right? You are not in pain anywhere?” asked Kanon Kanase. She was wearing a white gown for some reason. The ephemeral scene made him wonder if he was still dreaming.

  The bed upon which he’d been sleeping was the kind found in hospital examination rooms. Somehow, it also felt like a bed used for autopsies. The room’s walls bore no windows, and as he took in his surroundings, he saw a number of unfamiliar medical instruments.

  Kojou then realized that his entire body was wrapped in bandages.

  “Yeah, somehow. Kanon, were you the one who took care of me?”

  “I-it was no trouble,” she quickly replied—unusually fast for her—and blushed. The unnatural way in which she averted her gaze made Kojou subconsciously follow it.

  “Eh? It was?”

  “I am accustomed to caring for cats, and I have taken some in for castration, so…”

  “R-right…”

  It was then that Kojou realized he wasn’t wearing any clothes. The only thing on him was a thin layer of bandages over his entire body. Beyond that, he was naked. Buck naked.

  The clothes Kojou had originally been wearing were bloodstained, thanks to Meiga, and there was no avoiding stripping them off to apply medical treatment. Even if he did have a vampire primogenitor’s body, recovering after having one’s heart completely destroyed would take time. He didn’t care for being compared to a cat, but if anything, the fact that he’d made Kanon see him like that made him feel downright awful.

  “Where is this? Natsuki’s place? Did Natsuki get me out of Stratum Zero?” Kojou asked
in order to change the subject.

  Kanon shook her head and said, “No, Akatsuki. Apparently, you and Yukina were found lying on the beach, around the connecting bridge to Island North.”

  “That’s on the opposite side of the tunnel we used, isn’t it…?” Kojou murmured, perplexed.

  Island North meant a minimum of two kilometers removed from Keystone Gate’s Stratum Zero. Of course, neither the wounded Kojou nor Yukina had any requisite endurance remaining to travel that far. He didn’t think Lydianne and company had aided them on their end. Someone had brought the unconscious Kojou and Yukina out of Stratum Zero. And apparently, whoever had done so had not captured the two of them but had left them there—and departed without them.

  “It was Big Sis who found the two of you lying there.”

  “Big Sis?” As Kanon continued her explanation, the creases in Kojou’s brow deepened. “Who?”

  “I do not know her, but she said to call her that. She was very pretty.”

  “…The hell?”

  This person is textbook suspicious, thought Kojou, thoroughly beside himself. Furthermore, she sounded rather brazen. Kojou didn’t know many people who would insist that a middle-school girl they were meeting for the first time call them anything like Big Sis.

  Who the heck is she? he pondered, and in the very next moment, without warning, the door behind Kanon violently burst open from a kick.

  “Kojou Akatsukiiiiiii…!!”

  Swinging a long, silver sword, a tall, slender girl came rushing in, yelling in a shrill voice. Her chestnut ponytail was bouncing wildly.

  “Th-the hell…?! Kirasaka?!”

  Kojou looked back, eyes bulging at the sight of Sayaka in a blind rage. Kanon was so surprised that she was too stiff to even raise her voice.

  Heedless of the white-gowned Kanon, Sayaka glared only at Kojou, lying upon the bed.

  “So this is where you were, Kojou Akatsuki! How could you do such a thing to my precious Yukina—?!”

  “Huh…?!”

  Before Kojou could ask Do what? a silver flash of light rent the air. With Kojou lying on the bed, Sayaka thrust her long sword toward him as she shouted more threats.