The Knights Descend
The next day, mass continued as usual. The only difference was that the male students who had apologized were absent, while the number of female students had oddly increased. After a plain service without the hot-blooded boys or the sociopathic young lady, I finally inspected the weapons that had arrived.
“Damn it. Three grenades again.” I’d asked them to pack more, but they were being stingy. Along with a note telling me to stop breaking things so often came a brand-new pump-action shotgun and extra magazines. The heavy weight of the weapon made it clear it wasn’t meant for ordinary exorcist priests; it had been reinforced for durability and destructive power instead.
The magazines for Horizon were few, sent only as emergency reserves since I rarely used them. There was also a rifle for Luna.
“Hmm.”
I tested the action. Click-clack. Built to hold the line in a crisis, the weapon prioritized durability and firepower over portability, giving it noticeable heft. That same sturdiness meant it wouldn’t jam even if I fired it in a hurry, and the attached bayonet allowed it to handle close-quarters combat as well.
“Haah. That crazy woman really…”
Last came the holy water. Aside from the unnecessary heart drawn on the glass bottle, it was clearly top-grade.
“Inspection complete. Time to do some shooting.”
Grabbing only the rifle and magazines, I headed for the cathedral’s training ground. It wasn’t a garden, but every cathedral had a shooting range as standard equipment.
“Sister Luna.”
“Y-yes!”
She had been dozing in the training area, exhausted in a way that differed from her days living on the streets. My call startled her awake. Physical training was never easy, and because she was a Dhampir I had been pushing her harder than any ordinary human.
“Ah, I wasn’t sleeping!”
“If you’re tired, it’s only natural to nod off, Sister. I’m not so deranged that I’d scold you for a natural reaction, so relax.”
“Okay…”
“Today we’re only doing marksmanship. For a while we’ll combine shooting with physical training.”
Whether with blades or bullets, skill improved with practice unless someone was truly talentless. Since she was still a novice, I had brought plenty of magazines so she could train to her heart’s content.
“Rifles are easier to manage recoil with than shotguns or revolvers.”
I had been half-spraying shotguns, but without superhuman strength my wrists would have developed carpal tunnel syndrome long ago.
“Support the barrel with one hand, grip the trigger guard with the other, and seat the stock against your shoulder. Then aim and fire.”
Bang! Click-clack. Bang! Click-clack.
The distinctive lever-action reload sound was always satisfying. Unlike old-fashioned lever-actions, this custom model from the armory could take rough handling without issue—that was its greatest strength.
“Now you try.”
“Right, so…”
The moment she took the rifle, the muzzle dipped toward the ground.
“Muzzle up. That’s basic range safety. I’ll let it slide since it’s your first time, but do it again and you’ll be running ten laps around the training ground.”
“Y-yes!”
Having seen idiots blow their own toes off doing exactly that, I simply hoped the girl would keep all her limbs if she wasn’t a threat.
After that she did fine. She gripped the barrel, shouldered the stock properly, and fired.
Bang!
“Kyaa!”
Being a beginner, she hadn’t accounted for the recoil. From a standing position she stumbled backward; I caught her before she fell.
“Are you all right?”
“Y-yes…”
“Your physical abilities are weaker than a trained exorcist priest’s, yet stronger than a normal person’s, so the recoil on this rifle will feel heavier than you expect.”
I helped her up, then gave more detailed instructions while supporting her back.
“Your basic stance was good. You should shoot in whatever posture lets you perform best anyway.”
I adjusted her foot placement first.
“Put strength into your lower body. It looks like you’re bracing with your upper body, but once your posture is correct the upper body will hold fine.”
Strictly speaking the upper body needed strength too, but this rifle didn’t require that level of detail.
“Plant your feet and don’t relax your core. Sister?”
“Y-yes!?”
“You are listening, right?”
“Yes…”
Her face had gone strangely slack. More pressing, however, were the two obstacles in front of me. Even while only correcting her stance, those two mounds were ridiculously in the way.
“All right, try again.”
Click-clack. Bang!
The cheerful lever-action sound rang out and the bullet struck the target. I wasn’t sure if it hit the exact spot I wanted, but the goal of this training wasn’t to kill—it was to stop intruders.
“Good. Focus on hitting something rather than a specific point.”
“Yes!”
Once she scored a hit her mood visibly improved. Thanks to better-than-expected talent, the afternoon session ended early.
“Is something wrong?”
After cleaning the range we shared a simple dinner. She had eaten, but she was only picking at her food—different from usual.
“It’s been a long time since I stayed in one place.”
The stain of being a vampire. To them, the very fact that a being they were supposed to kill on sight had survived this long was a great humiliation.
“There are problems here besides the vampires.”
Filthy sewers, dark alleys everywhere, and the city overflowing with human vices—greed, lust, and every other base desire. It was a miracle Babylenia still existed at all.
‘A giant piece of bait, essentially.’
Because most of the humans here were scum, the city could be wiped out the moment an opportunity arose. The real targets had all slipped away, though.
“They’ll come, won’t they?”
“That depends on how badly they want you dead, Sister. At least Lord Albaros doesn’t seem to want you dead himself—that’s fortunate.”
Through occasional conversations we had come to know each other without realizing it. Of course my identity as a possessed body remained secret, but she now knew why I had become an exorcist priest and that her father apparently didn’t want her dead after all. Aside from the people at the Exorcism Bureau headquarters, everyone else’s attitude toward her had been some variation of “Should I kill her?”, “Kill her!”, or “Die.” So when our talks ended I always felt oddly dazed.
“Well then, I’ll be going.”
The sunset was visible through the window behind her. It was time to return to being an exorcist priest instead of a priest. I removed the rosary and changed into my black coat.
“That look suits you best.”
“Flattery won’t reduce tomorrow’s training load.”
She looked oddly indignant, but trying to slack off with tricks? Tomorrow I’d have to make it even stricter.
* * *
The night view of Babylenia from the rooftops was unchanged. A city of ultimate pleasure that no one would imagine housed an academy. Students who still tried to better themselves rarely came into the city, but most of the regular attendees slipped out every single night.
“Hoo.”
People like that made the ones who shone even brighter, yet I could understand them too. In this world, no matter how hard you tried, you could become a monster’s meal overnight.
“Yeah. You’d be bitter, wouldn’t you?”
Crunch.
“Kieeeek!”
A half-rotted bird let out a dying scream. It wasn’t a witch. Anyone using animal corpses as familiars was either a mage or a vampire. Demons didn’t bother with such things. Personally I would have preferred it to be a mage who had wandered out of their workshop, but the situation was obvious.
“Anyway, quite the flashy entrance.”
A swarm of bats filled the night sky. As the countless bats took shape, they became pale knights clad in black armor.
“An exorcist priest?”
“So what?”
“I am Hector, knight of the great Lord Albaros.”
“Right. Why has Lord Mosquito’s personal funnel come all the way here?”
“…I will kill only the half-vampire and return. We have no desire for conflict with the Thousand Heavens Sect.”
Hah. He even frowned at the mere mention of Luna being called a vampire.
“The only vampires here are you ten. And you’re the ones carrying swords and guns.”
“You intend to block our path alone?”
“Yep.”
First strike wins. I opened up with the shotgun right away.
Kakakang!
“That’s…”
“Yeah. Black Gold Iron.”
Give me a break. What kind of vampire carries a solid Black Gold Iron shield?
“Scatter!”
“Kyaaah!”
At the sound of the shotgun blast, the people in the street began to flee. Apparently incidents like this were common enough that the escapees quickly hid themselves.
Click-clack.
“Damn it!”
The familiar reload sound—but this time it came from someone else’s hands. Even while leaping like they were flying, their ridiculous sense of balance let them aim straight at me.
Tatatatatang!
“Kuh!?”
I dodged as fast as I could, but I couldn’t avoid every round. The coat that served as my only armor lost its function in an instant, and one bullet grazed my cheek, sending blood spraying.
Thud.
As I rolled across the roof I saw the vampire knights scattering into bats to conceal themselves.
“These bastards have killed plenty of people before.”
Shields made of Black Gold Iron that absorbed divine power, rifles perfect for killing humans, and superhuman bodies capable of snapping necks—yet they refused to close the distance. I stowed the shotgun and drew Horizon. Using an ordinary revolver against rifles would be insane, but Horizon was different.
Click-clack.
After the heavy reload sound, one vampire was aiming at me with a mocking expression.
Bang!
Crunch!
Where the bullet passed, fragments of metal scattered. Behind them, a headless vampire collapsed.
“Let me be clear. If you want to fight from a distance I won’t stop you, but it won’t end peacefully.”
Dragging things out was an option, but I had no intention of doing so. A tedious interception battle didn’t appeal to me either. And the same went for them.
In the center of the now-empty plaza, nine vampire knights with drawn swords gathered around me after I holstered Horizon.
“Thanks for turning my one good coat into a rag.”
This was the only coat I had with bulletproofing. Good thing I’d worn it on a hunch—otherwise I would have been full of holes from the start. I tore what could no longer be called a coat and wrapped the strips around my hands and arms.
Shk.
While wrapping them I used a hidden dagger to cut my palm.
“You dare challenge knights with your bare hands!?”
“Yeah.”
Using divine power would have been easier, but these guys had come prepared with Black Gold Iron shields. I had no choice but to keep that power hidden as much as possible.
I took the initiative again. Kicking off the ground, I charged the nearest vampire knight.
Shrrrrk.
As expected, he turned into bats. Sometimes these vampire brats seemed to think their bat transformation made them invincible. Among the hundreds of scattered bats, only one pair of red eyes remained.
Crunch!
“Wh-what!?”
Blood from the wound I had prepared earlier soaked the torn coat. Like black ink on white paper, the divine power in my blood suppressed their abilities the moment it touched them.
Boom!
I slammed him into a building wall and finished him with my remaining fist. Chunks of what had been a vampire’s head fell from my knuckles along with bits of stone.
The remaining eight, who had been rushing over, froze and refused to approach carelessly.
“Come on, you mosquito bastards.”