Chapter 8
…
"" – Speaking
'' – Thought
] – Albion
(Dream)
Ayato Hosokawa as awakened from his sleep when he heard a seductive voice. A familiar one that was close to him.
He was on his right side, facing the direction of the voice. So when he cracked open his eyes a bit, Ayato smiled at what he found.
Rias Gremory was sleeping soundly next to him, naked. Her face was only two inches away from his, with the two of them holding each other. His arms were around her, holding the busty young woman close to him. Rias' left arm was around his head, while her right hand was placed on his chest. She had her right leg around his left leg, trapping it between her thighs.
With a few longs of her crimson hair in front of her face, her stimulating smell filled Ayato's nose. It was a smell that he's been getting used to ever since Ayato started living with him at the Hiryu residence.
But it was a school day, Ayato didn't want for the two of them to be late. "Rias," he said softly, moving his left hand from her back to her shoulder to lightly shake it. "Rias, it's time to wake up."
Rias' eyes open as though she'd only closed them for a few seconds. "Ayato, good morning," she said, brushing her hair away from her face to look at him with her bright blue-green eyes.
"Yeah, good morning." He smiled back at her. Ayato sat up and brushed some of his Long dark silver-blue hair away his eyes. Looking down at her laying body, he became curious. "
When did you get here?"
"Oh, I'm sorry. I felt like sleeping while using you as my hugging pillow. I came in after you went to sleep."
Ayato wasn't complaining. He enjoys sleeping with her.
"That's fine, but we should get ready for school." He was about to pull the covers off his legs when Rias sat up and pressed her large breast against his back and wrap her arms around him, before resting her chin on his left shoulder.
"We've still got some time left," Rias whispered to him in a seductive and tempting voice, slowly tracing a heart on his chest with her finger. The way she talked and pressed herself onto him with her breast caused his face to turn red with embarrassment. As well as his pants to get tighter.
"It might be wonderful to stay like this until it's time to wake up. Do you think doing something sexy would deepen communication with my cute Hybrid?" She kissed his cheek.
"Well… I'd think so, but…" Ayato then surprised when Rias moved herself around him, placed her hands on his shoulder and sat across his lap.
"Then do you want to come at me?" Rias replied with a sexy whispering voice, further stimulating the dark silver-blue-haired teen, as he placed his hands on her hips and stared at her with slightly wide red eyes and Sharp tapered Fangs near Her Neck.
"You know I'll do anything that will please you."
"Senpai."
(Dream End)
"Whoa?!" Ayato made a vivid yelp as Yukina Himeragi called out to him from point-blank range. Yukina hmphed, her lips twisting in displeasure as she looked up at Ayato. She was a middle school schoolgirl in uniform with a black guitar case on her back. She had a refreshing beauty to her, almost too nicely arranged. He ought to have been a little more used to seeing her, but when she suddenly popped into his vision looking like that, he got nervous for no good reason.
However, she had not the slightest inkling of the effect she had. Yukina spoke to the shaken Ayato in a blunt, dubious tone. "We're going to arrive at the station shortly." Right on cue, the monorail was just beginning to decelerate before reaching the next station. This was the station closest to Hagun Academy, where Ayato and Yukina went to school.
This was the normal time slot for the school commute, so there were a good many other students on the train at the same time as they were. Numerous jealous and hate-filled glares fell upon Ayato for being able to go to school with a girl as pretty as Yukina.
In reality, Yukina was simply performing her duty as watcher, but under the circumstances, no one would believe any such claim. Nor would they believe that the guitar case Yukina carried over her back contained a demonslaying spear said to be able to kill even a Primogenitor. Gimme a break here, Ayato murmured internally as he made a frail sigh.
"R-right. Sorry. Dozed off a little there."
"I can see that."
"C-can you now."
"…Is something on your mind? You seemed to be having a nightmare of some sort." Yukina had an overly serious expression as she inquired. Ayato's expression wavered once more. Of course, he didn't say something like, Oh, I was remembering how I was sleeping by my classmate, Rias.
"N-nah, nothing like that at all. Just surprised me, that's all."
"…Did something happen with Aiba?"
"Eh?!" How did you know? Ayato nearly said, furiously swallowing down the words. Yukina's spiritual sensitivity as a Sword Shaman was not to be underestimated. As Yukina drew closer, staring intently at him, Ayato averted his gaze as a cold sweat came over him.
"N-no, of course not… Ah-ha-ha…"
"Really?"
"Nothing. Didn't do nothing."
"…Why are you looking away, senpai?"
"I-if you've really gotta ask, this angle is kinda…," Ayato mumbled hesitantly. Yukina was all but pressed up against him as she looked up.
"Angle?" Yukina blinked with a blank look. She was a short girl; Ayato was nearly two hundred centimeters tall.
From his vantage point, if he looked down at Yukina while she was at point-blank range, he had just the right angle to stare down at the bust of her uniform. In other words, at the pale white skin visible through the gap in her collar and at the valley between those softly swelling peaks—
"Senpai…!" With a sudden move, Yukina covered her bust with both hands and glared at Ayato. Ayato desperately shook his head. "Wait, wait! It's not my fault!"
"…I suppose not. It is a relief you are being your normal self, senpai." Yukina sighed deeply as if surrendering. Like your being relieved by that is a good thing, Ayato thought with a grimace on his face. It was good that he'd managed to get off that topic for the moment, but for some reason, he didn't feel like the air had been cleared. The automated monorail reached the station, and the doors opened.
Ayato and Yukina mixed with the noisy flock of students getting off the train and made their way to the ticket gate.
It wasn't even a ten-minute walk from the station to Hagun Academy.
Ayato listlessly walked along the undulating road. Glancing up to see the side of Ayato's face like that, Yukina's eyebrows frowned in apparent concern.
"Senpai, are you really all right? You don't look so good."
"Can't be helped, can it? It's seriously tough for someone with a Hybrid vampire's constitution to come to school at this time of day." Ayato made a resentful expression as he looked up at the excessively bright blue sky. This was Itogami Island, the artificial city of eternal summer floating in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Even in April there was no sense of Spring whatsoever; powerful sunrays poured down, as was their wont. Truth be told, it was tough on everyone, not just vampires.
"Besides, I've been sleep deprived all the time lately."
"Sleep deprived?"
"Yeah, 'cause that Kirasaka girl's been calling me in the middle of the night."
"Calls? From Sayaka to you, senpai?" Yukina's eyes were wide in apparent shock. Ayato did notice.
"Yeah, she's been doing that from time to time lately. Like asking how you were that day, and after that, long lectures for who knows what. What the hell's she thinkin', calling me over little things like that?"
"Lengthy…and over…little things?"
"She said she's gotta talk to me because you don't have your own cell phone, y'see." Without displaying any special suspicion, Ayato relayed the explanation exactly as it had been given to him. For some reason, Yukina had a serious look on her face as she murmured to herself.
"…Sayaka's hated phones since way back. It caused a bit of trouble at times. She'd even turn down calls from her Lion King Agency superiors, saying she couldn't endure the voice of a man in her ear."
"Oh yeah… She hates men, doesn't she?" Ayato sighed as he remembered how prickly Sayaka's attitude had been just after they'd met. Sayaka Kirasaka was an Attack Mage affiliated with the Lion King Agency, just as Yukina was. As a child, she'd been physically abused by her father routinely because of her excellent Spirit Sight power. Thanks to that, she held a grudge against all men, even now.
"I've gotta say, though, she really cares about you to be going out of her way to call me like this. Maybe you could call it concern for her friend, overprotectiveness maybe…"
"Senpai…" Yukina turned a reproachful glare at Ayato as he murmured in apparent annoyance. Ayayo was a little thrown off by her unexpected reaction. "Himeragi?"
"No, it's nothing at all. I suppose you're right." Yukina stopped walking as she replied flatly. She seemed to be pouting somehow, but Aya5o had one idea why. Yukina kept a blank expression on her face as she robotically went through the motions.
"Well then, I must excuse myself. I am going to the middle school campus, after all."
"R-right." Ayato tilted his head slightly as he watched Yukina head off into the distance. With the guitar case over her small back, she soon vanished into a sea of similarly dressed schoolgirls.
"What the heck was that about?" He stood in place as the dazzling morning rays of the sun poured down without mercy. It seemed this would be another sweltering day.
(Later on Night After School)
The seventh day of the lunar month, the night of the first quarter of the moon…
"H…hello?! Ayato Hosokawa?! It's me!" About an hour after midnight, the sudden ringing of the phone roused Kojou from the verge of falling asleep. The voice he heard through the phone's speaker sounded tight with tension. Ayato replied to the voice, one he'd become very accustomed to hearing over the last several days, with a reluctant tone.
"…Kirasaka? Sorry, I don't feel like dealing with you today. Later." With that, Ayato moved to hang up the phone.
"Huh?! W-wait, will you?!" The girl on the other end of the line, Sayaka Kirasaka, sounded very rushed. She was a War Dancer for the Lion King Agency—a specialist in curses and assassination. She was also Yukina's former roommate. Ayato had come to know her due to an incident that had rocked Itogami Island two weeks prior. A one-sided grudge by the man-hating Sayaka had caused a great deal of grief for The seventh day of the lunar month, the night of the first quarter of the moon…
"H…hello?! Ayato Hosokawa?! It's me!" About an hour after midnight, the sudden ringing of the phone roused Ayato from the verge of falling asleep. The voice he heard through the phone's speaker sounded tight with tension. Ayato replied to the voice, one he'd become very accustomed to hearing over the last several days, with a reluctant tone.
"…Kirasaka? Sorry, I don't feel like dealing with you today. Later." With that, Ayato moved to hang up the phone.
"Huh?! W-wait, will you?!" The girl on the other end of the line, Sayaka Kirasaka, sounded very rushed. She was a War Dancer for the Lion King Agency—a specialist in curses and assassination. She was also Yukina's former roommate. Ayato had come to know her due to an incident that had rocked Itogami Island two weeks prior. A one-sided grudge by the man-hating Sayaka had caused a great deal of grief for Ayato, but for some reason, she kept in touch by phone like this even after she'd left Itogami Island once her mission had ended.
"What in the…? I don't understand a word you're saying…" Suppose that figures, Ayato thought with a bit of self-reflection.
"It's not about her, it's my little sister who's in Himeragi's class…"
"Ah, Shizuku you mean?"
"Why do you know about her?"
"She was in a file concerning the recent incident. Unlike you, she's pretty cute," Sayaka said glowingly in a self-absorbed voice.
"Oh, shut up," Ayato muttered, grinding his teeth.
"So…a boy in her class gave her what looked like a confession…"
"…Did you kill him?" Sayaka asked in a suddenly frigid tone. Ayato was bewildered by the sudden change. "Huh?"
"Did you kill the filthy little thief? I mean, I do understand how you feel, but I wonder if burning him to a crisp with your Beast Vassal might be overdoing it just a little."
"Like hell I did!" Sayaka's altogether too-extreme impression made Kojou feel a shiver as he shouted. "Why would I use a Beast Vassal to fry a guy making moves on my little sister anyway?! I don't get what you're going on about!"
"Why not? Maybe now you can sympathize a little with the anger and despair I felt when I'd heard you'd laid a hand on my Yukina."
"No, no, no, Himeragi's not your little sister, and anyway, I didn't lay a hand on her."
"…You drank my Yukina's blood, you drank my Yukina's blood…," Sayaka repeated the words in a subdued, resentful tone.
"Shut up," muttered Ayato again as he pulled the phone away from his ear. After a little while, he heard an "ahem" sound of her clearing her throat. "Well, I basically understand the situation."
"D-do you now."
"You're one of those. What do they call them? You've got a sister complex."
"Er, no, you don't understand one little bit. It's not that at all," Kojou disputed in irritation.
"…It's just, after our parents died there was in the house and My Oldest Sister taken care and Training me, and Shizuku had a hard time for a while living in a hospital. That's why I kinda feel like…if I don't protect her, who will?"
"Is…is that so…? W-well, that's pretty…commendable by your standards…" Normally he'd never think about the matter that deeply, and more than half of it was born of the need to come up with an excuse at the moment, but Sayaka seemed to take it quite seriously. She murmured in a quivering voice before going silent. Ayato felt a little guilty and changed the subject. "Anyway, what were you calling for tonight?"
"It's not as if I have any business that has to do with you!" Sayaka's reply came in the blink of an eye. What's her problem? thought Ayato, beside himself. "Geez, don't call, then!"
"Th-this week I'm going to Itogami City again, so I just wanted to tell you that if you ask, it's okay to meet up somewhere."
"…Did that idiot Vattler do something again?" Ayato asked with the sudden onset of a bad premonition. Dimitrie Vattler was an aristocrat of the Warlord's Empire in Europe. He was a pureblood vampire of the bloodline of the First Primogenitor, the Lost Warlord. He was militant to the point you could call him a combat maniac. Sayaka was his watcher. But Sayaka made a weary sigh.
"Separate case. A…VIP from the kingdom of Aldegia is coming that day, so I'm supposed to be her…escort and guide… "…There's been a bit of trouble, though."
"Aldegia? What's someone that far from Itogami City want here?" Ayato asked back with a dubious voice. The kingdom of Aldegia was a small European nation on the coast of the Baltic Sea. Known for its beautiful natural environment and high-tech industrial power, it was especially famous for production of magical products. But thanks to the great distances involved, it had no deep links to Japan.
"I…can't really say I don't know the details, but they're diplomatic secrets, you see…"
"Ahh. Yeah, they would be…" Based on Sayaka's oddly reluctant tone, Ayato took her words at face value. "Getting assigned escorting a VIP from another country, though, you're really something, Sayaka. Even though you're the same age as I am…"
"Er, ah…thank you…" As if stricken by surprise, Sayaka spoke in a rather cute voice. After that, she hastily returned to her usual overbearing tone. "Wwell…naturally. I'm not a half-baked Hybrid Primogenitor like you are. This is the least expected of Yukina's older sister." Not like you actually are Yukina's older sister, Ayato mentally interjected.
"If you're escorting a big shot like that, you won't have time to meet me or Himeragi, though. I'm sure it'll be real busy. Figures it's a totally different situation than us."
"Er, yeah…" Upon hearing Ayato's genuine words of praise, Sayaka murmured weakly, then groaned a low groan as if wanting to rebut him about something.
"That's right, that's how it is! Go die, idiot!" she suddenly yelled defiantly and hung up. What the heck did she really want, anyway…, pondered Ayato, staring at the silent cell phone in bewilderment. Oh well, he immediately decided and went back to sleep.
(Few Days Later on a Deserted Island)
There lay a spring enveloped by the trees of the forest and mist. The water seemed to be welling up from a cavity in the rock created by a caldera. Countless stone pillars jutted out of the surface of the extremely clear water, creating a beautiful, otherworldly scene. Suddenly, he heard a watery sound in the distance. Ayato, shifting his gaze on reflex, sucked in his breath as he stood. Illuminated by the moonlight, there was a woman in the spring.
For a moment, her slender, fairylike body made him mistake her for Yukina. But it was not her. Her hair was silver; her eyes pale. Her silhouette was well removed from a Japanese person's. A beautiful girl, she looked like a goddess of the moon.
The saintly bathing woman, her body immersed in the cold water, silently stood up. Clear droplets of water ran down, drawing supple lines over her pale flesh.
"Kanase…" Ayato murmured the word out from his lips without thinking. The girl in the middle of the spring resembled Kanon Kanase a very great deal. But no. This girl's aura was decidedly different than that Kanon's. She was a little taller than Kanon and her facial features more adult. She possessed a majesty reinforced with absolute confidence, enveloping her in an overpowering aura, even while playing in the water without a stitch of clothing. Indeed, without a stitch of clothing whatsoever…
"Wa… At a time like this! Shit… Gimme a break!" Ayato suddenly made a low groan as he covered his own mouth. He felt his canine teeth throb and a dry sensation in his throat. His field of vision contracted and became tinged with red as he became filled with wild, violent desire. These were vampiric urges, the worst drawback of Ayato's physical transformation into a Hybrid vampire. The silver-haired girl lifted her face, perhaps from hearing Ayato's anguished voice. Her pale, resolute eyes looked straight ahead at Ayato.
(Few Minutes Later)
With a thunderous roar, a ray of light came flying, impaling the blackarmored troops right before Ayato's and Yukina's eyes. A second ray of light came flying, likewise cutting down the soldiers surrounding them all at once. The beams were actually gunshots. Two bullets fired, and the tenacious soldiers surrounding them had been destroyed, saving Ayato and Yukina from their predicament.
"Are both of you safe?" From atop a nearby boulder, they heard a voice completely devoid of any sense of tension. Calmly standing there was a beautiful silver-haired woman. It was the girl who Ayato had seen at the spring, the one whose face resembled that of Kanon Kanase. She did not look like a soldier, but she wore a blazer that resembled a military dress uniform and laced boots.
Her arms held within them an oversized, beautifully decorated pistol resembling a brass musical instrument. She fired a gold cartridge from the single-shot pistol at the soldiers pursuing her without any hint of indecision. The barrel let loose an incredible beam of light, blowing the black-armored troops away.
The silver-haired girl made an elegant smile as she beckoned both of them with her hand. Ayato and Yukina nodded to each other and approached the silver-haired girl. Her shooting the soldiers without hesitation made Ayato disinclined to trust her, but they had no other option. "Who are…?"
"I am La Folia Rihavein. So we meet again, Ayato Hosokawa." The silverhaired girl made an elegant smile as she replied to Ayato's half-posed question. "How do you know my name?"
"You are Ayato Hosokawa, are you not? The Fifth Primogenitor who appeared in Japan?"
"A spell gun…?!" Yukina cried out in shock as she realized the true nature of the pistol. "Come here while you have the chance. Quickly."
(Few Hours Later after Ayato was Injured by Faux Angel Kanon)
"However, we can awaken that which can save him. In the first place, being impaled by Faux-Angel's sword should have already annihilated Kojou's body. The fact that his body continues to exist despite that means that Ayato is subconsciously drawing upon that power."
"Senpai's power…?" Prodded by La Folia, Yukina lowered her gaze to Ayato's open wound once more. If she looked at the steady progression of Kojou's annihilation from another perspective, it felt like something was holding the angel's power in check. "…You don't mean the Fourth Primogenitor's Beast Vassals and The Cryo Dragon ?!"
"I do. Ayato Hosokawa inherited twelve Beast Vassals from the Michaela Blood, Cordelia Sakamaki and The Cryo Dragon Powers . It is likely that one of those Beast Vassals possesses the power to neutralize that of Faux-Angel." Yukina nodded, agreeing with the princess's words. Ayato still couldn't use the majority of the Fifth Primogenitor's Beast Vassals of his own volition. But several times in the past, a portion of the dormant Beast Vassals' power ran amok in response to their host, Ayato, falling into danger and also the Cryo Powers. That was probably what was going on this time as well.
"But wake up a Beast Vassal how…? Right now senpai isn't conscious; surely it is not possible for an external force to interfere with a vampire's Beast Vassals?" Yukina asked in a brooding tone of voice.
This time, La Folia nodded in complete seriousness.
"This is a first for me as well so I am a bit concerned if I can pull it off, but I have heard of the method from rumors among the maids. There is surely value in trying." Having spoken these words, the princess softly reached out to Ayato's clothes. She stripped off the parka that the unconscious Ayato was lying on, unbuttoning his wrecked school uniform from the top down. Judging from the shaking of his upper body, Ayato's chest wound was painful indeed. It looked like La Folia had forgotten how to breathe as she watched with a serious expression. Ayato had seemed gangly to her, but with his clothes off, he had an unexpectedly ripped and Scarred physique, no doubt due to having Extreme Travels around the World until just before he became a Hybrid vampire.
"…So this is what your body is like?" With an expression of deep interest on her face, the princess poked Ayato's side, as if testing the elasticity of his abdominal muscles. It was when she suddenly began to strip off Ayato's pants that Yukina reproached her with a suspicious look. "Er… La Folia?"
La Folia lifted her face up as she pulled off Ayato's belt. "My apologies. I fell victim to my curiosity; I'm taking mental notes for future reference." Yukina sighed. "Wait, why are you taking off your clothes, too?!" As the princess began to suddenly take off her own clothes this time, Yukina rushed to stop her. Perhaps there were spells that required direct flesh-to-flesh contact, but even so, this was not something she could let pass. However, the princess blinked and tilted her head as she asked her question. "
I have heard that intimate relations between a man and a woman involve embracing the other while nude. Am I mistaken?"
"I-intimate relations…?" Yukina's face froze as she tried to process La Folia's statement and failed. La Folia gave Yukina a quite serious look in return. "I believe a foolproof method of awakening a Beast Vassal is for a spiritual medium to offer her blood."
"Th-that is certainly the case, but…," Yukina weakly objected. Ayato's being unable to use the power of his Beast Vassals was apparently tied to his having barely drunk the blood of others at all. Thanks to that, the Beast Vassals did not acknowledge Ayato as their true master, and thus, did not respond to his summons. Furthermore, his proud Beast Vassals required blood of a high spiritual grade to sate their appetites. Surely, the blood of La Folia, princess of Aldegia, was of sufficient spiritual grade, but… "But…drink blood, you say? Right now senpai isn't even conscious…"
"That poses no difficulty. The trigger for hybrid vampiric urges is sexual arousal, yes? With proper physical stimulation, it is surely possible to trigger such a response even if he isn't conscious. My maids say that what happens above the neck and below the belt is completely separate."
"…B-below the belt?" "Heh-heh, they say the body tells no lies." Yukina made a covert sigh as she watched La Folia's innocent smile. She wondered if perhaps the Aldegian royal family should pay a little more attention to the sort of people it hired for domestic work.
"Do not be concerned, Yukina. I do not yet have any serious intention of having sexual relations with him."
"Of course you don't!" Yukina's cheeks were red as she shouted. She couldn't help but be concerned at her use of the word yet. Yukina couldn't nail down just how serious this free-spirited princess was speaking those words. La Folia stripped off her dress jacket, calmly undoing the buttons of the shirt beneath it as well. From her collar down, her flesh was as white as the driven snow. Also, the swell of her breasts was unexpectedly large.
"Well then, Yukina. Would you close your eyes for a few moments? Naturally, I feel somewhat…embarrassed to be doing this kind of thing in front of someone else." Speaking these words, La Folia pulled Ayato's body up into her arms. Yukina could not look away from how their bare flesh was pressing together. Pushing her silver hair up off her cheek, La Folia drew close to the sleeping Ayato's face. And just as their lips were about to touch…
"…You mustn't!" Yukina shouted the words before her head thought them. The princess seemed a bit surprised as she raised her face.
"Yukina?"
"Y-you mustn't, La Folia! I do not believe you need to do this!"
Yukina's voice was shrill as she strongly pulled Ayato's body in her direction, as if snatching it back. However, the princess had a composed look on her face. "This is to save you, me, and Kanon Kanase. It cannot be helped."
"That…might be so, and there might not be another way, but…" La Folia made a casual, charming smile as she looked back at the unsteadily murmuring Yukina. "Thank you for your concern. However, I am quite all right. Is it not natural to save one who can still be saved, such as Ayato?" Yukina was a bit overawed by the gallantry with which the princess had put it. Yukina had been thoroughly thrown off by the princess's frivolous behavior, but La Folia's words were proper and just. The course she was attempting was the best option to save everyone trapped there.
To her, offering her own blood to a Royal Hybrid vampire was nothing but another duty as a member of the royal family. This was how this beautiful princess of a foreign kingdom had borne many burdens all by herself and would no doubt bear many more to come. But this was different. It was not the princess who needed to bear this burden.
"…I will do it." This time, Yukina completely seized the sleeping Ayato back from La Folia as she spoke. The princess blinked her eyes in apparent surprise. "Oh?"
"Saving senpai is my responsibility. I-I am the Fifth Primogenitor's watcher, after all." Yukina declared that it was so with a resolute expression. The twinkle in her eyes conveyed without any need for words, no matter what more you may say, princess, you may not have him. As Yukina did so, La Folia made a light nod—as if she'd been waiting for that moment. "I understand, Yukina. Well then, I shall leave this in your hands."
"…Eh?" Yukina felt like she was being brushed off when, suddenly, a dumbfounded expression came over her. The princess was watching her with a charming leer on her face. When Yukina saw her beautiful, smiling face, she knew she'd been had. She'd been in the palm of the princess's hand from start to finish.
"Er, La Folia… You intended this from the beginning, didn't you…?!" Watching the outraged Yukina clutching Ayato all the while, the princess spoke without a hint of mischief as if speaking a prayer. "I believe, Yukina. I believe that if anyone can save Ayato it is you."
The pillar of ice born from Kanon Kanase's rampage finally stopped growing shortly after exceeding ten meters in diameter. The snow had already abated. But the majority of the island was encased in ice and was shrouded in a pure white frost. The area above the narrow space Yukina and the others were in was encased by ice several meters thick, which made ominous creaks from time to time. Of course, they could not escape; indeed, the ice seemed just as likely to collapse under its own weight. Amid this desperate situation, Ayato alone continued to sleep peacefully. Even though his own body was slowly fading away, he had a peaceful look on his face as he slept.
"…You really are something else…" As she gazed at Ayato's sleeping face, Yukina made a sigh mixed with a strained smile. He slept without any hint of tension as if making sport of her pathetic resolve; it seemed rather ridiculous somehow.
"Are you all right, Yukina? If you are anxious, perhaps I really should do it instead?" La Folia seemed amused as she asked. Yukina shook her head with an awkward look on her face. A small part of her wanted to follow that suggestion, but there was no way she could ask her to trade places at this point. Besides, she didn't want to see the princess embrace Ayato. For some reason it made her heart ache.
"No problem whatsoever. This is just like CPR, yes, like artificial respiration, you see." Yukina murmured in a tone that sounded like it was chiefly for her own benefit. La Folia made a nod of apparent admiration. "Artificial respiration… Indeed, it is so. The mouth-to-mouth version."
"U…rk." Yukina's face went red as she unwittingly pictured the scene. Her effort not to think about it went up in smoke. Yukina brought the tip of her spear, lying beside her, against the tip of her finger. She registered a faint pain as she pressed the blade in very softly. Yukina took her fingertip, with fresh blood now dripping heavily from the wound, and pushed it inside of Ayato's mouth. Even as he continued to sleep like the dead, Ayato's tongue made a faint quiver, like a convulsion. The change was so small that it could barely be seen by the naked eye, but Ayato was indeed still alive. Even so, the amount of blood was nowhere near sufficient. He apparently needed a much larger quantity flowing into him.
"Ayato's reaction is weaker than I expected. Perhaps you are not giving him enough stimulation?" La Folia's tone was uncharacteristically serious as she spoke. Yukina's face went even redder.
"S…stimulation…?"
The level of bare flesh in contact, perhaps? Hee-hee, shall I assist you?"
"No, that's quite all right. I will do it… I'll do it, so—!" Swiping away the princess's hand reaching out to her from behind, Yukina put a hand to the top of her uniform. At this rate, Ayato would never open his eyes again. She didn't need to worry about him seeing her like this. Removing the ribbon, Yukina opened up the front of her uniform, gently pressing herself against the sleeping Ayato.
"That's not enough exposure," said La Folia in dissatisfaction, but Yukina ignored her, this time touching her blade to the inside of her wrist. She made a wound as deep as she could go and still heal it by ritual, causing her own blood to spurt out. The fresh blood pooled onto Ayato's cheek and flowed into his mouth. His lips conveyed a corpse-like chill to her exposed skin.
But there was a tiny bit of warmth left.
As if trying to not lose sight of that warmth, Yukina squeezed her arm around Ayato tighter. Finally, with a small sound in his throat, she sensed Kojou swallowing down the blood flowing into him.
"…Senpai?! Senpai, can you hear me?!" Yukina called out to Kojou right into his ear. And in Yukina's own ear… "Please continue, Yukina. Kojou can feel you."
"Wh-why are you watching this, La Folia?!" Yukina's voice was turned inside out as she met the eyes of the princess observing her from point-blank range. La Folia had a mystified look on her face.
"I have heard nothing from you to the effect of 'Don't watch, I'm too embarrassed' or 'Don't look at me'…"
"I-I didn't say it, but I believe it is just common sen… Nn?!" During the time her attention was occupied by the princess's behavior, Yukina was suddenly embraced and shaken by a powerful force. Ayato, who was surely still unconscious, touched Yukina's tongue, as if lured by the lingering scent of blood. Yukina's body startled and froze as she felt the unfamiliar sensation transmitted by the tip of her tongue.
She felt a numbness climb up her spine, as if strength was being drained from her entire body. Even so, Yukina lifted her head in earnest.
"S-senpai?! Are you awake?! Where are you touching…? Wa…!" Ayato's fingertips, guided by instinct alone, gently ran up Yukina's back. Rigid, Yukina gasped audibly. La Folia covered her mouth with a fiery twinkle in her eyes as she leaned forward. "Oh my…"
"Senpai! The princess is watching, so… No! …Th-that's my…?!" Yukina arched back heavily as Ayato's fingertip touched the sensitive flesh on the inside of her uniform. As if drawn to Yukina's slender, white, defenseless neck, Ayato sank his fangs into her skin.
"Urk," went Yukina, biting her lip as if to gird herself against the pain. However, she offered no resistance as Ayato, unconscious even now, gently embraced her then stripped her and started to fuck her like no Tomorrow.
"…" Neither of them moved as La Folia turned her back, seemingly out of consideration.
Then, the princess suddenly lifted her face—for she sensed Faux-Angel's divine energy, still ceaselessly pouring into Ayato's open wound, disappear. The chest wound that had seemingly been eating away at Ayato's body gingerly grew shallower and vanished.
"The angel's sword has been…consumed?" La Folia murmured as she glanced over her shoulder.
"As I expected of you, Ayato… With such a Beast Vassal serving you… you really can do it…" Still holding up the unconscious naked Yukina, Ayato yawned. The princess nodded as she watched him before shifting her gaze up above her head. The man-made angel continued to sleep within a white, gleaming world of ice and snow.
"Gwa…!" Ayato awoke to ferocious pain, like every cell in his entire body was being ripped apart. He'd experienced this pain previously. It was characteristic of having revived after sustaining injuries severe enough to cause instant death.
"Ayato, are you awake?" As Ayato groaned in anguish, he opened his eyes; La Folia was looking down at him with a calm expression as their eyes met. He beheld the graceful features of her face, like those of a serene statue, and her silver hair. Against the backdrop of a transparent wall of ice, her beauty seemed unreal; he felt like he was still seeing a dream.
"La Folia? Where am I? So I'm still…alive…?" Ayato was perplexed at the sweet, lingering taste of blood in his mouth and the soft, warm sensation against his flesh as he awkwardly sat up.
He felt something odd from his slightly numb left arm. There was a supple weight in it that felt nice, like the feel of cradling a kitten in your arms. He could feel smooth skin; a charming fragrance filled his nostrils. There was something magnetic about the lovely suppleness. The silky hair that lightly brushed down against him tickled in a pleasant way. Yes, this was Yukina's hair brushing against…
"…Wait, what the heck is thiiiis?!" This time, the realization that Yukina was sleeping within his arms woke Ayato up for real. He was shocked beyond words. Ayato had no idea when, but his clothes had been stripped off; he was currently naked from the waist up. With Ayato like that, here was Yukina, sleeping soundly in his arms. Her sleeping face felt even more youthful than usual, making her cute to a truly amazing degree. She looked as pretty as a budding flower. But that was not something Ayato was in any position to appreciate.
"H-Himeragi?! Why is she?!"
"Please calm down, Ayato" La Folia spoke as if exasperated from watching Ayato become so very flustered. "Er, no, you can say to calm down all you want, but I don't remember doing anything like…"
"I know. Yukina provided you with her own blood and Virginity to revive you. If she had not, you would already have been annihilated via Faux-Angel's power."
"Himeragi…did that for me…?" Ayato shifted his eyes to the still-sleeping Yukina once more. Even now, there were still puncture marks from fangs on Yukina's pale neck and there's cum and blood coming from her vagina. He wasn't seeing things; Ayato had inflicted this wound upon her. Ayato touched the pit of his own stomach and exhaled heavily. He thought it was strange to have revived so easily after sustaining that Faux-Angel attack, but it hadn't been the case at all; indeed, Yukina had saved him once again.
Ayato couldn't put into words the gratitude he felt toward the tiny girl in his arms. Though he was reluctant to part with the pleasant warmth against his flesh, Ayato gently laid Yukina down on the ground. He averted his eyes from her Naked Form.
"Anyway, would you dress Yukina back up? Even you can't just leave her like this." La Folia made a pleasant smile as she nodded.
"I understand… Though it feels rather late for such sentiments after such an intense, intimate encounter, hee-hee."
"What the hell are you talking about?!" Ayato was shaken once more at the notion he'd committed wicked deeds while unconscious. The fact he couldn't remember made him all that much more uneasy. What in the world had he and Yukina done right before the princess's eyes? His pants half off and Yukina's uniform was open like that. Why…? Unintentionally looking up while tormented by unease, Ayato's expression suddenly grew grave, for he had noticed Kanon sleeping within the ice.
"Kanase…!" The midday sun shone straight through the transparent, spiraling pillar of ice. Kanon was curled up within that golden light. The wings on her back were folded, with no hint of those dreadful eyeballs. Perhaps they, too, were asleep.
"Right after she impaled you, she lost control of herself and went berserk," La Folia stood beside Ayato and explained. Hearing that, Ayato gasped while glancing at the side of her face. "You mean Kanase's still in there?"
"Yes. However, this unstable state surely cannot continue for long. At this rate, her consciousness will eventually dissipate."
"…So we've gotta save her before that happens." Ayato groaned from the back of his mouth. Gazing at him, La Folia narrowed her eyes in apparent joy. Kanon Kanase was an opponent who'd already tried to kill him. In spite of that, Ayato thought only of saving her—as if that was perfectly natural.
"Hmph," went the princess, her lips forming a broad smile as she drew close to Ayato's face. Seeing the princess get oddly close, Ayato's heart thumped harder as he backed up. As Ayato did so, La Folia grabbed both of his arms and drew even closer
That was when Ayato finally realized that the princess only had a thin shirt over her. How did things get like this? thought Ayato in a panic. La Folia was completely composed as she looked at him. "…Even after such passionate conduct, I still do not sense a new Beast Vassal awakening…"
"Y-yeah, that's right, come to think of it." Now that you mention it, thought Ayato as he tilted his head a bit. Setting his sense of responsibility for what had happened aside, Ayato certainly was feeling the aftereffects of sucking on Yukina's blood. However, he didn't feel that he had gained control of a third Beast Vassal. So sucking blood and having sex from the same human won't awaken another Beast Vassal…? thought Ayato, gripped by doubt.
"This Beast Vassal… I see, so that's how it is?" For some reason, La Folia made a pleasant smile as she seemed to grasp something all by her lonesome. Then, she abruptly got on her tiptoes and touched her own lips to Ayato's cheek. It was a light kiss, like a peck from a tiny bird…
"Wha…?!" Kojou reeled from the unexpected onslaught. Watching Ayato's innocent reaction, La Folia's voice let out a giggle and smiled. The smile stayed on her face as she brought a hand to her shirt and began unfastening the remaining buttons. Ayato hastily put up a hand to stop her. "The heck are you doing?! Have you lost your mind?!"
"Why are you nervous? You have seen all of me once before, have you not?"
"That's not the point! And there was mist all over the place back then…!" Ayato desperately excused himself as La Folia looked up, her lips in a pout. The image of the princess bathing in the spring arose from the back of his mind, reviving the insistent throb from his canine teeth. It was an extremely bad sign that his vampiric urges were returning with a vengeance.
"Am I indeed not as charming as Yukina?" La Folia spoke as a forlorn expression suddenly came over her. It was a look completely unsuited to her usual self, brimming with confidence.
"No, that's not the case at all, but… Wait, what's it to you, anyway?!" The princess smiled charmingly, seeming quite satisfied as she looked up at Ayato as he objected with a mysterious sense of guilt. "
Is that so? I'm quite relieved."
"About what?!" Ayato replied with a question, for this greatly increased his unease. The princess bashfully lowered her eyes as she made a pained, seemingly fleeting smile.
"I know nothing about this. I thought that this might be an opportunity to learn the basics on how to behave in such a situation should my marriage be arranged as a member of the royal family. But thanks to my father insisting that he shall let no one marry me…"
"Won't let you marry… Huh, he must love you an awful lot. Sounds like a nice dad." Ayato spoke while awkwardly scratching his face. Ayato, who'd lost it when he mistakenly believed someone had confessed his love to his little sister, was in no position to judge her father. And for a princess like La Folia, who could be packaged and sent off for a political marriage at the first false move, surely in that sense, the only thing he could call it was kindness toward her. But La Folia tapered her lips in a pout.
"My father has declared any man insolent enough to lay a hand on his daughter should be prepared to have all of the knights and the army pound him into the dirt."
"…Sorry, can I take what I said back?" Seeing Ayato's lips twist, La Folia giggled and smiled once more.
"You ruling a Dominion of your own … Perhaps you would be able to stand up to my father…" The silver-haired princess gently put a hand around Ayato's shoulder as she whispered. What are you saying? wondered Ayato with a frown. Looking at Ayato from a distance so short that the tips of their noses could touch, she commanded in a clear tone.
"In the name of the eldest daughter of the royal house of Aldegia, La Folia Rihavein, I command you, the Fifth Primogenitor, Ayato Hosokawa: Suck on my blood and Have Sex with Me Right Now." As Ayato moved to say, What kind of nonsense are you…? he suddenly noticed the look on the princess's face. Her blue, gemstone-like eyes had an earnest light in them, like she was praying. She wasn't kidding around.
"This is something we need to do to save Kanase, right?" Ayato asked into the princess's ear. "Of course it is," she replied with a sigh. With a delicate sound, Kojou touched La Folia with his hand and exposed her white neck. The princess gently closed her eyes. Her slender shoulders made a faint shudder.
"I'll take on your dad. You better not regret this, La Folia…"
"Of course I won't. Do prove that I have not lost my senses, Ayato Hosokawa." From the tone she made her declaration with, the princess somehow seemed amused. Ayato embraced her thin body and Fucked her like his life depended on it. Under the light that shone down through the pillar of ice, their breaths converged and became one.
(During Kanon final Fight with Ayato)
There was only one way to free Kanon from her suffering— "I'm gonna drag you down from there, right this minute!" Kojou wiped out the swords of light that poured down one after another as he yelled. The ominous aura gushing out from his entire body made the irises of the angel's eyeballs narrow like those of a cat. Kojou thrust his left arm out, aiming straight at them. What gushed from the end of his arm was fresh blood.
"I, Ayato Hiryu, inheritor of the Michaela Blood lineage, release thee from thy bonds…!" The fresh blood transformed into an enormous surge of demonic energy; the surge condensed, changing and materializing into a summoned beast: a vampiric Beast Vassal covered in glossy, silver scales.
"…Come, Beast Vassal Number Three—Al-Meissa Mercury!" It was a dragon that emerged. It had a slowly undulating serpentine body, four talons, and giant, ominous wings: a serpentine dragon covered in silver scales. And there were two of them— The two dragons that emerged simultaneously wrapped around each other's body in a spiral, taking the form of a single giant dragon with one head on each end; in other words, the form of a two-headed dragon. This was one of the Beast Vassals that Kojou had inherited from the previous Fifth Primogenitor, Michaela Blood.
Al-Meissa Mercury, the twoheaded Beast Vassal, was really two beasts merged into one. That was why it had not awoken from sucking Yukina's blood alone. Making them completely obey required consuming the blood of two different spiritual mediums at the same time. No doubt La Folia had allowed Ayato to suck on her blood because she'd perceived as much. The body of the mysteriously materialized Al-Meissa Mercury was colored silver. This was both the color of Yukina's spear and the color of La Folia's hair.
"Kyriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii—!" Faux-Angel launched swords of light at Ayato's Beast Vassal. But the dragons opened their great maws, swallowing the swords of light into the unfathomable depths within. They were thus annihilated without a trace. The angel's swords of light had been…consumed. The irises of Faux-Angel's six eyeballs opened wide in apparent shock. With a thunderous roar, the giant two-headed quicksilver-colored dragon assailed her. The golden light that enveloped the angel's body grew in radiance. This was the light of the divine aura flowing in from the upper planes.
Enveloped in this radiance, Faux-Angel was simultaneously in the world, but not of it. Even the incredibly destructive might possessed by a Primogenitor's Beast Vassals were unable to bring harm to an otherworldly angel…or so it should have been. But…
"It's not possible…!" Kensei Kanase raised his voice in horror at the impossible scene unfolding before him. Ayato's quicksilver-colored Beast Vassal was consuming the very golden light that enveloped the angel's wings—wings it should have been unable to even touch. Faux-Angel cried out as light gushed out in place of blood.
Ayato Decided to Summon his Sword: Curse Them All Sirenia as A Large Ice Crystal appears from the Ground in Front of Him. He then Manifested a blue sphere in his left hand and slammed it into the side crystal and it shattered as he pulled out a Nodachi that appeared less than 130 cm long.
"It…consumed Faux-Angel's Extra-Dimensional Membrane?!" Before Kensei's shocked eyes, Faux-Angel lost one of its wings and fell. But the two-headed dragon's assault did not relent. From the front and back, top and bottom, left and right, its two maws assaulted, whittling the golden defensive membrane down. As Kensei beheld this, he finally realized the true nature of Kojou's Beast Vassal.
"That Beast Vassal… It's a Dimension Eater! It can consume any space and the dimension along with it?!" Indeed. It looked every bit as spectacular as the lightning lion Dragon, every bit as wild as the incandescent bicorn. But in pure fiendishness, the quicksilvercolored two-headed dragon was head and shoulders above them. It was a Beast Vassal that consumed, so to speak, the very world itself, dealing unrecoverable damage. It was the mortal enemy of those beings of creation known as "gods." Surely, it was the most horrible, most accursed of all Beast Vassals. But at this moment, this very Beast Vassal was Ayato's trump card for saving Kanon. Now that Faux-Angel had lost its upper-dimensional grace, Ayato's attacks would reach it. She was no longer invincible. However… As if to scoff at Ayato's vain hopes, the divine aura flowing from Kanon's body grew even more intense.
"G…wah?!" Ayato groaned as an incredible beam of light burned into his retinas. Kanon's body was on fire. Divine aura flames gushed from her giant wings, completely at odds with her all-too-small limbs, before they burned out like candles. "That's right. She's only fallen into the same dimension… She has not lost her flow of higher-planar divine energy." Kensei murmured with a voice of self-admiration, or perhaps one of relief.
Kanon's gnawed-off wing regenerated. That wing launched countless swords of light indiscriminately. The Beast Vassal's attacks continued. The two-headed dragon swallowed the outpour of divine energy and the revived angelic wing whole.
The lost higher-planar divine energy membrane did not recover. Ayato's attacks were effective upon her. But so long as Kanon herself remained unharmed, upperplanar divine energy continued to flow into her.
"Kanase, stop this!" Ayato desperately called out to the still-wailing FauxAngel. There was no way to defeat the infinitely regenerating angel other than to destroy the spiritual nodes inside Kanon's body… But that was a choice he could not make. Ayato was fighting to save Kanon. If victory could only be obtained by wounding her, that was the same as defeat. This was all the more so because Ayato's all-too-powerful attacks would surely kill the now-defenseless Kanon. Ayato could not defeat her. He could not win against her.
"That's right. Even against a Primogenitor's Beast Vassal, Faux-Angel will not be defeated. We will prevail, we must prevail…!" "Shit! Why?! Even this isn't enough, Kensei…?!" As Kensei made a satisfied laugh like that of a martyr, Ayato's face grimaced in despair. That moment, Ayato heard a sharp metallic ring and the echo of a clear serene voice.
"No, senpai. In this fight, victory is ours." A small girl in a school uniform appeared before Kojou gripping a silver spear. A brilliant smile came over the girl as she kicked off the earth, leaping.
"—Himeragi?!" Ayato stared dumbfounded at the sight of her fairylike back. Yukina did not flinch as she plunged forward into the battlefield as the artificial angel unleashed swords of light upon the giant, wildly raging dragon. And without a sound, she soared into the air.
"—I, Maiden of the Lion, Sword Shaman of the High God, beseech thee." Responding to Yukina's solemn chant, her silver spear began to emit a glow.
That dim, white light was a divine oscillation wave that could rip apart any barrier. It was a purging light that could nullify all magical energy.
"O purifying light, O divine wolf of the snowdrift, by your steel divine will, strike down the devils before me!" Yukina's spear traced a beautiful silver arc. Faux-Angel, her upper-planar divine energy membrane having been consumed by Ayato's Beast Vassal, no longer possessed the strength to repel the attack. Yukina didn't need to run Kanon through. All she needed was a scratch—to slice but a single, thin layer of her skin. From that alone, the magical runes drawn upon Kanon's flesh dissipated. With one blow from the magic-nullifying Snowdrift Wolf, the spiritual augmentation mystic formula Kensei Kanase had engraved upon his daughter was wiped away. This meant Faux-Angel had lost the power of the spiritual nodes that had sustained it.
"Wha…?!" Kensei beheld the scene in abject shock. Kanon, freed from her sorcerous curse, returned to her proper human form, with the three-by-six wings falling from the nude girl's back. The eyeball-shaped spiritual nodes, no longer under control, were running amok…or the moment it seemed they would:
"…Chow down, Al-Meissa Mercury!"
The two giant flying maws swallowed the eyeballs whole. The glittering radiance dissipated; the gushing divine energy petered out. As if its hunger was finally sated, the giant two-headed dragon made a final roar before it, too, vanished.
To be Continued
No Flames and Flames will Continue to be ignored
