A prison in another world—an alternate realm built inside a human dream.
Prison Barrier, Abyss, Ice Prison, Netherworld, castle in the air... The names varied, but cursed prisons capable of eternally confining even the gods had existed across the world since ancient times, each with its own administrator.
As long as the administrator slept within that "prison in another world," no one could harm them. They would not age, would not be wounded, and would not die. And if they left the prison, once the connection between the prison and the dream was severed, it would be expelled into the real world.
Itogami Island needed a Prison Barrier. That was why they had Natsuki Minamiya make a pact with a demon.
Becoming the administrator of the Prison Barrier, sleeping within it for all eternity, sustaining its existence as its administrator, and guarding the vicious criminals inside it—that was the price Natsuki had to pay under the contract.
Witches had lives far longer than humans. Living for several centuries was nothing difficult for them.
There had been other witches who paid the same price as Natsuki, but most of them went mad because they could not endure that endless loneliness. They abandoned their contracts, offered their souls to demons, devolved into true monsters, and were ultimately destroyed.
In the original plot, Natsuki's true body had always been asleep inside the Prison Barrier. The one acting outside was a duplicate she had created with magic, and everything the duplicate saw, heard, and experienced outside would be fed back to her true body in the form of dreams.
However, the demon who had contracted with Natsuki had already been killed by Ciel. Naturally, her Natsuki-oneechan no longer needed to suffer the way she had in the original plot.
Who said you had to be asleep to dream? Daydreams were dreams too!
And who said the owner of a dream had to be inside the dream while dreaming? When SpongeBob dreamed, he could not only run outside the dream, he could even run into other people's dreams.
The essence of magic was sophistry. As long as you could argue it, you could make it happen.
Thanks to Ciel's arrangements, Natsuki no longer needed to keep her true body trapped inside the Prison Barrier to sustain its existence. She could move freely outside, and Ciel had even reinforced the Prison Barrier's defenses.
In the original plot, Natsuki had only dared to imprison Kojou Akatsuki inside the Prison Barrier after first making him lose the ability to summon Beast Vassals. The instant he recovered that ability, she immediately let him out, proving that a Primogenitor's power could easily destroy the Prison Barrier.
But now, the Prison Barrier Ciel had reinforced could even withstand some of her rampaging. As a battlefield, it could not have been more suitable.
"I could have killed you just now, but that would have been far too boring. So stop hiding things. Summon your Beast Vassal."
Ciel did not say this to Number Two or Number Nine. Her eyes stayed fixed on Zaharias as she spoke.
"...So I've been exposed?"
Zaharias laughed. Even after witnessing Ciel's strength, even in such danger, he—who should have been an arms dealer, an ordinary human—showed not the slightest tension or unease.
"Might I ask you to clear up my confusion? I thought I had hidden it quite well. Where exactly did I slip up?"
"You stink." Ciel frowned in displeasure, making no attempt to hide her disgust. "The stench of a vampire. I could smell it from far away... It wasn't coming from those two children. It was coming from you."
Zaharias froze for a moment, then gave a helpless chuckle.
"Ha! Now that is a truly unexpected answer..."
The arms dealer puffed out his chest.
In that instant, astonishing magical power surged from his body.
Like a flash flood, like a tsunami, a violent, ferocious torrent akin to a natural disaster erupted from within Zaharias.
The amount of magical power even surpassed that of the two Fourth Primogenitor vessels, Number Two and Number Nine.
There was no doubt about it. It was an immense, Primogenitor-class magical power on par with a dragon vein.
"Come swiftly! First Beast Vassal—[MESARTHIM ADAMAS]!"
Zaharias shouted and summoned a Beast Vassal. The terrifying magical power billowing from him transformed into an enormous diamond sheep, appearing within the cathedral with a roar like a mountain rising from the ground.
The star Beast Vassal corresponding to Aries, which should have been under the Fourth Primogenitor's dominion, had appeared in answer to Zaharias's summons.
This was because Zaharias had long since abandoned his human identity. He had transplanted the rib of a Fourth Primogenitor vessel into his own body, turning himself into that vessel's "Blood Servant."
The vampires of this world could not create their own kind through bloodsucking. If they wanted to transform humans or other creatures into vampires, they would share their own blood with them, making them their "Blood Servants."
However, Blood Servants created through the granting of blood had limited power. If a vampire wanted to create a more powerful Blood Servant, they would often give the other party a part of their body.
That part of the body would not regenerate. Therefore, even immortal vampires could not casually create Blood Servants in such a way.
The more important the body tissue bestowed, the stronger the Blood Servant would be.
In the Bible, Eve was created by God from one of Adam's ribs, and ribs also contained abundant blood-forming tissue. As far as body parts a vampire could grant to a retainer went, it was a top-class item.
That was precisely why Zaharias could summon the Fourth Primogenitor's Beast Vassal like this.
Looking at the crystal-clear Mesarthim-Adamas, Ciel raised an eyebrow, her gaze gradually turning somewhat irritated.
Because she suddenly remembered that Fenghuang Yu's sign was Aries...
"Look at this body! Majestic, powerful, like a god! This is the world's strongest Beast Vassal! And such overwhelming power is entirely under my control! With this power, it feels as if the whole world is in my hands!"
Watching Zaharias flaunt himself, Ciel thought the phrase "borrowing another's might" suited him perfectly. Right now, he looked like a child desperate to show off a new toy to the people around him and satisfy his own vanity.
"Go! [MESARTHIM ADAMAS]!"
Zaharias gave the order in excitement, making the diamond sheep lower its head and look toward Ciel. Red light flashed in its eyes.
Magical power condensed into piece after piece of clear, gorgeous jewel crystal, floating around the diamond sheep before shooting out like cannon shells and setting off explosions across the cathedral floor as though it were being swept by artillery fire.
The floor, brutalized yet again, let out what might have been its umpteenth wail and shook repeatedly, giving the terrifying impression that the earth itself was trembling.
The wide-area barrage continued for two minutes before Mesarthim-Adamas finally ceased its attack under Zaharias's command. Curious, Zaharias craned his neck, wanting to see how his opponent had fared.
When the smoke and dust cleared, Ciel's figure appeared, completely unharmed.
Shattered jewel crystals lay beneath her like a throne forged of gems, and she sat upon it, gazing down at Zaharias from above with careless indifference.
"Using rocks to fight your enemy... Are you a child?"
Hooking a small shard of jewel with the top of her foot, Ciel swung her leg with tremendous force and fired it off, making the fragment exceed the speed of sound in an instant.
With the power of Mesarthim-Adamas, Zaharias created a barrier of countless jewel crystals in front of him. Light flickered across it.
The two made contact for only an instant. The supersonic jewel not only failed to break through the gleaming barrier, it was instead sent flying back even faster... or rather, reflected.
The reflected jewel pierced the atmosphere and broke through layer after layer of wind before Ciel swatted it aside with a casual slap.
"The ability to reflect all attacks. That's a little more interesting than the previous two."
The young Executor tossed Black Keys into the air.
Magic circles lit up at their hilts. The Black Keys fixed in midair were like bullets loaded into a chamber, or arrows set upon bowstrings, all aimed at Zaharias at once. Lightning serpents writhed along their slender blades.
Lamb.
With a single thought from Ciel, the Black Keys overhead accelerated to their limit in an instant and fired in perfect order, like streaks of lightning tearing across the sky.
One sharp Black Key after another struck the jewel barrier like torrential rain lashing against a glass window.
The jewels forming the barrier flashed incessantly, but the barrier stubbornly held.
The speeding Black Keys could not leave even the slightest mark upon it. Instead, they were bounced back, knocking aside the Black Keys behind them and sending dazzling sparks bursting out.
One Black Key came shrieking through the air, tearing open the atmosphere. Just as it was about to stab Ciel, she caught its tip between three fingers, stopping it instantly.
"Mm... So it really won't break that easily?"
The young Executor murmured softly, not particularly surprised by the result of this test.
Diamond's defining trait was hardness. It was the hardest natural substance in existence.
The Beast Vassal Mesarthim-Adamas was the Fourth Primogenitor's strongest shield, symbolizing a vampire's nature as untouched by death or injury. It was the Lamb of God, capable of repelling all impurity and hostility.
"It's useless. No attack can harm the First Beast Vassal, much less me, the one capable of wielding the First Beast Vassal."
Zaharias declared this with a grin.
Give some people a little power and they got carried away. Ciel could not even be bothered to respond to this sort of man. Rather than waste words, she preferred to let her actions speak.
Harm him? She had a hundred ways to kill him within a single second.
Hundreds of Black Keys fell like an unceasing storm. Ciel pinched the Black Key that had just been reflected back between her fingers, then abruptly threw it in a certain direction.
The thrown Black Key ricocheted after striking jewels, walls, and other Black Keys.
By the time Zaharias caught the sound of it cutting through the air, it was already too late. After four rebounds, the Black Key pierced his neck from a blind spot outside his field of vision.
"It...!"
His pupils shook, Zaharias's eyes filled with disbelief.
"See? That hurt you, didn't it?"
Ciel's voice reached the stunned Zaharias's ears.
"That Beast Vassal's ability manifests through those jewel crystals. Only attacks that touch the jewel crystals are reflected. So as long as my attack can bypass them, your defense is no different from having none at all."
"Firearms are powerful, but if humans want to use them properly, they need to practice marksmanship. Beast Vassals are powerful, and in order to wield that power, vampires have spent hundreds and thousands of years honing themselves. You're a human. So what if you stole a Primogenitor's Beast Vassal? You don't have the combat experience or battle sense to match it at all."
"You're only an arms dealer, not a warrior. You can't adapt to the ever-changing rhythm of a battlefield. Even with a Beast Vassal, you're nothing more than a child holding a gun. How much of its power could you possibly bring out?"
Ciel spoke with perfect logic, mercilessly laying bare the cruel truth Zaharias did not want to face.
He had no choice but to admit that she was right. Because he was an arms dealer, he understood the example Ciel had given better than anyone.
Under Ciel's control, the hundreds of Black Keys in the air slowly adjusted their positions, surrounding Zaharias at the center from every angle without a single blind spot, forming a hemisphere around him.
"[MESARTHIM ADAMAS]!"
Realizing what was happening, Zaharias hurriedly shouted at the top of his lungs.
The next second, countless jewel crystals suddenly appeared, forming a blind-spot-free hemisphere around Zaharias.
The arms dealer was not stupid. Knowing that his battle sense and combat skill could not keep up, he immediately changed tactics and had the jewel barrier cover his entire body from the start.
This way, attacks from any angle would be blocked by the barrier, like a tortoise shell, and could not harm him inside.
That was what Zaharias thought.
And very soon, he would understand just how naive that thought had been.
"Once you're safe, you completely stop caring about your Beast Vassal? How selfish can you be?"
Ciel's voice came from above.
Almost at the same time, Zaharias suddenly felt a tremendous amount of power being drawn out of his body, making his consciousness blur for an instant.
Then he saw an enormous sheep's head fall from the sky and crash down in front of him. One of the horns on the diamond sheep's head was broken, and its red eyes were still glowing.
Ciel sat cross-legged atop the head of Mesarthim-Adamas, as if showing off her trophy to Zaharias.
The arms dealer stared blankly at her, his eyes so wide they nearly popped from their sockets. He was so shocked he could not utter a single word, and even forgot to breathe.
What had just happened?
Was that his Beast Vassal in front of him?
When had his Beast Vassal been killed?
Outside the Prison Barrier, Ciel had also instantly killed Cor Tauri-Sucinum and Al-Nasl-Minium, but those had happened in the blink of an eye. Zaharias had also been pinned to the ground by Ciel at the time, so he had not seen that spectacular sight. Had he witnessed it, he would not be so shocked now.
"Nice expression."
Ciel took in Zaharias's current expression and nodded as though satisfied.
"You're already too shocked to speak? Too soon. You're far too surprised. The real show hasn't even started yet."
"Bring out all your Beast Vassals. Try harder. Try a little harder. I finally managed to get interested, so at least show me enough to warm up."
---
bonus chaps
200 stones → 1 bonus chap
400 stones → 2 bonus chaps
600 stones → 3 bonus chaps
and so on :3
100+ new chaps every week across all my TLs on the P website :)
hehe every 100 followers on either instagram or twitter = 5 bonus chaps...?
(for all ongoing tls)
discord.gg/wisetl
patreon.com/wisetl
instagram: hanbaowise
twitter: WiseKingOfUruk_