A Demon Sanctuary referred to a special administrative region established primarily for research related to demons. Thanks to the existence of Demon Sanctuaries, demons whose numbers had sharply declined due to environmental destruction or wars with humanity, leaving them on the brink of extinction, gained public recognition and protection. Their bodies and special abilities were analyzed and used in science and expanding industrial fields.
Like Itogami Island, Gozo Island was also a Demon Sanctuary. In fact, it was the world's oldest Demon Sanctuary, a tourist destination with a richly varied natural landscape, and an island of ancient ruins registered as a World Heritage Site.
Among those ruins, the especially famous one was the megalithic temple known as "Ġgantija," one of the oldest temples in the world, built more than five thousand five hundred years ago during the Neolithic Age.
Kojou Akatsuki and Nagisa Akatsuki—one had only just graduated from elementary school, while the other was still in elementary school. No matter how one looked at it, letting two children that young fly to an unfamiliar foreign country without an adult accompanying them was an extremely dangerous thing to do...
And yet their father, Gajou Akatsuki, had done exactly that.
Though that was not entirely accurate. The one who had truly made the decision was the sponsor of the investigation team. Gajou had merely been forced to accept it against his will. As for his cheap son Kojou, that was one thing, but he still doted on his adorable daughter, Nagisa.
Gajou was an archaeologist. He had come to Gozo Island because the Japanese government and the Warlord's Empire were cooperating to excavate a ruin on the island, the "Fairy's Coffin." He was one of the representatives commissioned by the Japanese government.
Even the advanced magical engineers they had invited could not open the door to the innermost chamber, which was why they had brought in Nagisa. Nagisa had inherited spirit medium abilities from her grandmother and could communicate with the spirits inside the ruin to obtain a way to open the door.
However, while Gajou and the others entered the ruin, the people left outside came under attack.
Half-rotted corpses that had been buried beneath the camp beforehand turned into the living dead, bypassed the barriers set up around the camp, and caught the guards completely off guard. Those killed by the corpses would also become walking dead like them.
Inside the ruin, Gajou sensed the tremendous commotion outside. He entrusted his son and daughter's protection to Liana, the person in charge from the Warlord's Empire, then went up to the surface alone.
The ones attacking this place were remnants of the Black Death Emperor Front: the "Prince of Death," Golan Hazaroff, younger brother of the "Black Death Emperor," and the only beast man besides the Black Death Emperor himself who was proficient in necromancy.
The Prince of Death did not know what was hidden in the ruin. He only knew that the Warlord's Empire considered it very important. His reason for attacking this place was simply to cause trouble for the vampires of the Warlord's Empire.
Although Gajou had plenty of combat experience, he was ultimately still human. Faced with the Prince of Death and the corpses under his control, he was quickly defeated.
By the time Ciel and Natsuki Minamiya arrived, flames were already raging through the camp. The walking dead had set it alight, and there were hardly any living people left to be seen.
"A barrier? Looks like it was meant to protect what's inside. It even cut off the flow of magical power. No wonder I couldn't detect anything wrong here."
Natsuki frowned slightly, her expression less than pleasant.
The barrier blocking their way was, in essence, a Beast Vassal summoned by a vampire. Not only had the barrier Liana set up failed to stop the attackers, it had instead kept out the people who could have rescued them.
Natsuki turned her head to look at Ciel. "I'm impressed you found this place."
"As the saying goes, the lack of abnormalities is the greatest abnormality. Ripples quietly spreading across the lake suddenly vanished when they reached a certain area. No matter how you think about it, that's suspicious, right?"
As she spoke, several Black Keys slid from Ciel's sleeve and were caught between her fingers.
Semi-solid blades of condensed magical energy sprang from the crimson hilts.
She swung her arm and threw them. The "Scriptures" shaped like blades pierced into the obstructing barrier with a rush of wind, and the "Holy Words" engraved upon the weapons began to take effect.
Lightning flickered, and the barrier let out an earsplitting wail like a living thing.
Beast Vassals were biological weapons from another realm, creatures that could be kept within blood. Driving them consumed vast amounts of life force. In theory, all living beings had the qualifications to summon and command them, but only vampires, who possessed infinite negative life force, could withstand the burden of controlling those beasts.
The barrier before Ciel and Natsuki was a vampire's Beast Vassal, and after Ciel's Black Keys pierced through it, it immediately revealed its original form.
Once the barrier Beast Vassal vanished, Ciel and Natsuki immediately smelled the stench of corpses that had been hidden away and could not help frowning. At the same time, the walking dead wandering through the camp also caught the scent of the living.
"Natsuki-oneechan, be careful. They're carrying guns."
"If mere small fry like this could hurt me, how would I maintain my dignity as an older sister in front of my little sister?"
A dense rain of bullets came flying at them, then vanished strangely before Natsuki, as if they had been sent into another space.
Behind Natsuki, purple magic circles suddenly appeared in midair. Chains shot out from them like spiritual serpents and bound several of the nearby walking dead into bundles.
With a rush of hurried footsteps, several more fully armed walking dead arrived, raising their submachine guns and aiming at Natsuki.
"DUST TO DUST, EARTH TO EARTH..."
Ciel threw the Black Keys in her hand once more. The walking dead struck by the Black Keys collapsed like puppets with their strings cut, falling to the ground and turning back into ordinary corpses.
Natsuki's gaze swept over the corpses on the ground.
"How unexpected. I thought you would pulverize them outright."
"The Great Principle of the Lord... By reciting its contents, the dead who hear it are made to know the Lord's love. The dead who defy the order of death are returned to proper corpses and to dust. The weapons in my hands were created based on the principle of mourning and burying the dead. They are merciful and correct, unlike a violent weapon like a rocket launcher."
"Mm... Right now, at least, you do look like a proper member of the clergy."
"Natsuki-oneechan, that was very rude. What do you mean, 'like a proper member of the clergy'? I already am one, all right?"
Ciel narrowed her eyes and objected unhappily.
Natsuki did not answer. She simply handed over the walking dead she had restrained to Ciel to deal with as well.
The walking dead on the ground were soon cleared away. They did not find the attacker, and inferred that the other party had already run into the ruin, probably taking most of the controlled corpses with him.
Natsuki found Gajou, who had sustained a fatal injury yet miraculously survived. His nickname was "the Death Returnee," and Natsuki sighed that, sure enough, names might be wrong, but nicknames never were.
As for Ciel, while Natsuki was searching for survivors, she had already rushed into the ruin.
Powerful cold air kept blowing through the passageway. It was like running outside in the depths of winter wearing only a white shirt, the breath from one's mouth rapidly turning white and freezing.
But that reassured Ciel.
If the existence sealed within this ruin had awakened, the chill in the surroundings would absolutely not be limited to this degree. It seemed she had made it in time.
...
In the deepest part of the ruin, Liana, who had stayed behind at Gajou's request to protect Kojou and Nagisa, was facing off against a pitch-black beast man with a dog's head.
"I'm different from vampires like you, who can't do anything without relying on the power of summoned Beast Vassals! We are descendants of demon wolves born after swallowing the hearts of giants. That is why beast men are the highest-ranking demons! Experience the power of the strongest race on earth!"
His opening words were exactly the sort of rhetoric one would expect from a beast man supremacist. The pitch-black beast man used a skill known as Divine Bestialization.
It was a special ability possessed only by a very small number of high-ranking beast species. By using an enormous amount of magical power, they could temporarily transform their bodies into divine beasts, mythical creatures powerful enough to rival angels or dragons.
The pitch-black beast man's body gradually swelled to several times its original size, and a thick layer of magical power covered his surface. The density of that magical power even exceeded that of the Beast Vassals Liana had summoned, which were themselves dense aggregates of magical power.
Liana gave the order, and her two Beast Vassals attacked him. Against a single Beast Vassal, the pitch-black beast man in Divine Bestialization could still hold the upper hand, but facing the fierce assault of two Beast Vassals at once left him somewhat hard-pressed.
"Gahahahaha! Though your house has fallen, you're still a noble of the Warlord's Empire. Tough enough! But in the end, we win!"
"You still refuse to admit defeat—!"
Liana's face twisted as she released magical power to the verge of her limit.
Because of that, her field of vision narrowed, and her response to danger slowed.
As if they had been waiting for this very moment, several walking dead emerged from the rubble piled inside the stone chamber and lunged at the completely defenseless Liana herself.
"Walking dead?!"
"It's too late! Liana Caruana!"
The beast man laughed proudly.
The guards who had been turned into walking dead opened fire. Liana, who had sent out all her Beast Vassals, had no way to defend herself.
Special bullets customized to fight demons pierced her body and punched through her heart.
Kojou could only watch the scene blankly.
Even the young Kojou could tell at a glance that, even for an Old Guard vampire, an injury this severe could not be regenerated. It was a fatal wound. Liana could no longer be saved.
The two Beast Vassals that had lost their host were kicked away by the pitch-black beast man, who had undergone Divine Bestialization. Unable to maintain their physical forms, they exploded at once, forming a wave composed of pure magical power.
Nagisa screamed. Kojou despaired. The pitch-black beast man merely cast them a cold glance before withdrawing his gaze as though he had lost interest. They were nothing more than two young human siblings, not worth his attention at all.
Compared to the two of them, the pitch-black beast man cared more about the girl sleeping within the ice.
"The Fourth Primogenitor..."
Due to Liana's Beast Vassals going out of control, the enormous block of ice had already been half-destroyed, and part of the fairy-like girl's body was exposed to the outside air.
But there was no sign that the blonde girl would awaken. There was no reason for a corpse imprisoned in ice to wake.
"I have no interest in whether this ruin is genuine or not. But the fact that Liana Caruana was willing to risk her life to protect this place gives it enough value to destroy... Young siblings, curse your misfortune for happening to be here."
The pitch-black beast man had already released his Divine Bestialization and only maintained a half-beast form. This was because Divine Bestialization, like summoning Beast Vassals, consumed life force—though not nearly to the same absurd degree.
Under his control, the walking dead had already aimed their guns at the girl sleeping within the ice. Kojou and Nagisa were also within their range of fire.
"Aba... Aba..."
Kojou held his suffering younger sister and desperately fought against despair. Gajou had not returned. Liana was dead. There was no one left to protect them. Facing the ferocious beast man and numerous walking dead, Kojou had no idea how he was supposed to fight back.
"The legend of Kaleid Blood ends here—tear them to pieces!"
As the pitch-black beast man saw it, if their Black Death Emperor Front could eliminate the Fourth Primogenitor, praised as the strongest vampire in the world, then the organization's fame would surely spread even farther. The day when they crushed the Warlord's Empire and beast men replaced vampires as the strongest race reigning over the world would come one step closer.
Just as he was imagining that beautiful future, an ill-timed voice suddenly came from behind him.
"Move. You're blocking my way!"
The beast man, nearly three meters tall, was sent flying by Ciel's kick.
"Haven't you ever heard that a good dog doesn't block the road?"
She withdrew her leg lightly, as if she had only kicked away a small stone lying at the roadside.
Ciel's gaze swept over Kojou, Nagisa, and the blonde girl inside the ice in turn, and she quickly grasped the current situation.
She had some impression of the vampire who had already died. The vampire who had picked up Kojou and Nagisa at the airport earlier had been her.
"Human? Why is there a human here?"
The pitch-black beast man, who had fallen flat on his face, had already climbed back up and now cast Ciel a puzzled look.
"You're..."
Kojou's eyes widened in shock. He recognized Ciel, and the scene at the airport, where he had recovered his luggage thanks to Ciel's help, flashed through his mind.
The guards around them who had been transformed into walking dead turned their muzzles, aiming in unison at Ciel, who had suddenly intruded upon this place.
"Don't...!"
A heart-rending cry came from Kojou's side, but two mere human children could not possibly shake the pitch-black beast man's decision.
"I don't care who you are. If you dare look down on noble beast men, then die here!"
Under the pitch-black beast man's control, the walking dead all pulled their triggers at once.
Kojou thought Ciel would be riddled with bullets, just like the dead Liana.
However, the scene that unfolded next far exceeded his understanding. Even the pitch-black beast man could not help crying out in shock.
"Impossible!"
When the special alloy bullets struck Ciel's body, they actually threw off dazzling sparks and were directly deflected by the high-density magical power covering her skin.
Treating the bullets hitting her body as if they were nothing, Ciel recited a solemn prayer in a low voice.
"Heavenly Father, we ask that You guide the departed with Your loving hand into the kingdom of glory. Remember their lifelong faith and toil; and embrace this grieving family, becoming their strength amid suffering."
Ciel transformed into a merciless Executor. Black Key after Black Key flew from her hands, passing through the hail of bullets and piercing precisely into the chest of every walking dead.
Like the walking dead on the surface, the guard-corpses surrounding Ciel were released from the necromancy controlling them and returned to ordinary corpses.
---
T/N: ohjohiu