Don't Touch the Cat (3)
"......"
Somewhere along the way, the man's expression had turned to one of utter bewilderment.
Unlike me, fully prepared for a fight, he was still staring unblinkingly at the collapsed Priscilla, tilting his head as if something didn't add up.
"What is it?"
When I, too, tilted my head slightly with a puzzled look, the man answered by suddenly rummaging through the inner pocket of his suit.
At length, a curious wooden cross slowly emerged from his hand.
"...?"
Small and unremarkable as it was, the thing gave off a strangely unsettling feeling.
It was blatant enough to bring to mind an exorcism scene from a movie — the man kept thrusting the wooden cross toward me with the most absurd expression, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
A demon baring a wooden cross at a vampire was, frankly, behavior I couldn't make heads or tails of.
"Hmm, you really are an unusual vampire, just as I heard. Blood magic is one thing, but to not only live in a church but be immune to a cross as well..."
"Were you serious about that?"
"Of course. Ordinary vampires won't go anywhere near a church, and they have a pathological aversion to holy objects."
"Doesn't it strike you as strange that a demon would resort to something like that?"
"I have to try whatever I can. Who knows? Things might resolve themselves more easily than expected—"
What an utterly ridiculous demon.
His actions weren't entirely baseless, but they weren't entirely comprehensible either.
From the looks of it, the vampires of this world could apparently be dispatched with the usual methods, relatively easily at that.
But weren't those the very methods that worked on demons?
"Ah... just in case, I should mention — our kind cannot be repelled by crosses and the like. We've evolved over generations to suit our environment."
"Wouldn't that apply to vampires as well?"
"Hmm, no. Impossible. As you know, vampires are nearly extinct. Until you appeared, they were entirely wiped out."
"...Is that so?"
"Indeed. They were vermin — creatures that could barely cling to life unless they drained someone else's blood. There's no way such a pathetic species could have survived to this day."
The more I listened, the more the female demon I'd first met back then drifted into my mind, and a vague sense of wrongness began to creep over me.
Something about the way the demons regarded vampires had felt genuinely hateful — a contempt that went beyond mere disregard.
"And yet... strangely, I can't find any particular weakness in you. Are you really a vampire?"
"As you can see, I'm under the grace of Goddess Paelia."
"Ha, what nonsense. From what I've observed, you seem unusually weak to sunlight, at least."
"Have you been keeping surveillance on me?"
"I heard some things, you see. It seemed more likely to give me the upper hand than barging in blind."
The peculiar unease radiating from the man refused to fade.
Until a moment ago, I'd assumed he was no different from that female demon I'd first met.
...This was clearly not someone I could afford to stall with for long.
- Swish
The moment the thought settled, I slowly sharpened the tip of the spear I held.
Without a shred of hesitation, I straightened my stance — and just as I was about to charge straight at the man—
"Do not move. Our conversation isn't over yet."
The man's voice, which had rung out so leisurely until now, suddenly took on a crushing weight and began to press down on my body without mercy.
As if the gravity around me alone had multiplied several times over.
"Oho. I figured I had nothing to lose by giving it a try, and it seems quite effective after all."
"...What did you just do?"
"Nothing special. I merely used the one skill available to a weakling like myself."
Somewhere along the way, the man's expression had swelled with confidence.
It certainly had the feel of a trump card, but I felt no immediate sense of mortal danger.
And for good reason — the effect was fading remarkably quickly.
The man didn't seem to have noticed my condition yet.
"Which confirms it. You're weaker than I am."
"...?"
"My Spoken Word doesn't work on stronger opponents. And yet here you are, unable to twitch so much as a finger under it, aren't you?"
"......"
"If I'd known it would come to this, I should have used it from the start. To think you'd be weaker than me..."
Absolute against those weaker than the caster, yet utterly helpless against the strong.
A skill with an extreme gap between its ceiling and its floor.
Even as the man's triumphant voice droned on and on, I was lost in my own happy little daydream, my thoughts consumed entirely by this thing called the Spoken Word.
Just maybe — just like last time — I might be able to absorb one of a demon's skills.
Subduing an opponent completely with nothing but words...
Was there truly a more tantalizing skill in all the world?
"So you're just a helpless vampire after all. It was a short time, but I enjoyed our conversation."
With those parting words, the man drew steadily closer to me.
It seemed he intended to finish things now.
"......"
My back to the statue of Goddess Paelia, feeling the deep stillness of the church wash over my entire body.
I was slowly being consumed by a nameless thrill.
- Thud
Just as the man took a single step forward—
"Get away from Levi right now—!!"
Along with the hurried footsteps of three children, Eisen's enormous cry — his breath caught somewhere in his throat — echoed through my ears like a bell.
Three children, each gripping their own weapon, trembled violently as they stood against the unidentified man.
Eisen, Ellie, Iris.
Tears were already welling up in the corners of their eyes.
Whatever fighting spirit they might have had had long since drained away.
They simply stared at Leviania — the one in mortal peril — desperately trying to buy her whatever time they could.
"What did we ever do to you?! Just leave us alone—!!"
Amid it all, Eisen forced out his courage and raised his voice loudly at the man.
As if in solidarity, Ellie and Iris, standing behind him, each chimed in as well.
"Don't you hurt Sister...!"
"Sister didn't do anything wrong..."
For children, the words were surprisingly threatening — even valiant.
But the fact that the ones facing him were kids not even ten years old made the man flash a brief, derisive smile.
"Ah, right. I'd forgotten about you three."
Only now did the man recall that besides Leviania, there were three more children in this church.
To him they were hardly more than insects, but something about three children being nursed by a vampire needled him for reasons he couldn't quite name — and he naturally began to think that, since they'd caught his eye, he might as well deal with them all at once.
"Rejoice. Gathered here right now are three children who will walk the same road as you!"
Unlike his leisurely demeanor from before, the man now wore an affected smile, his voice rising with theatrical excitement.
Then he slowly turned his gaze away from the children and quietly met the eyes of Leviania, who had not moved an inch.
"This is my final gift to you. Now you and the children may close your eyes in pea—"
Somewhere along the way, Leviania's two eyes had turned crimson.
The man, drunk on arrogance and hubris, had kept up his deliberate provocation of her — but the moment he met those two frigid eyes, his body froze in place like a stone pillar, entirely against his will.
"──."
A bleak wind blew through the gap of the open door.
Her black hair stirred quietly in that wind.
She had said nothing. She had made no movement whatsoever.
And yet her presence, simply by standing there, was intense enough to turn everything around her into a sheet of razor-sharp ice.
For that single instant, it was as if time itself had stopped around her — a cold, suffocating tension hung heavy in the air.
"Wh-what..."
For a long while, the man couldn't string his words together properly.
Why?
Leviania was, without question, frozen in place, unable to twitch so much as a finger under his Spoken Word.
He was unquestionably the one with the upper hand.
So why did the atmosphere feel so desperate — as if he were the one backed to the edge of a cliff?
No matter how he turned it over, he simply could not understand.
"Wh-what is with that look?! Why are you glaring at me like that?!"
"......"
"Have you still not grasped the situation? You're nothing more than a mouse in a poison jar right now!"
"......"
"A lowly species that can't even measure up to a demon's heel... and yet you dare, a mere demon like me—!"
"Priscilla."
Paying no heed whatsoever to the man's rising voice, Leviania simply called Priscilla's name in a low, level tone.
At that, Priscilla — who had been feigning unconsciousness all this while — jolted violently, then began to breathe in small, sharp gasps, her movements growing tense.
"For now, don't say a word. Take the children and run to the convent building, a little ways from here."
A quiet utterance from Leviania, as though she were suppressing a tempest of emotion behind it.
Priscilla had only come to midway through the exchange, so she couldn't fully piece together what was happening.
And yet, even so, one thing was easy to grasp — that the current situation was anything but ordinary.
"Y-yes, ma'am...!"
Priscilla shot to her feet at once, swallowing down her tears with effort, and hurriedly sprinted toward the children.
But for Eisen, who had lived through a similar situation before, moving his feet was not so simple.
He couldn't run away and leave Leviania behind. Not again. Not like last time.
"I'll... I'll fight too!!"
So saying, Eisen clenched the hilt of his sword even tighter.
But with the outcome already decided, Leviania had no need to borrow anyone's hand.
"Don't overdo it, Eisen."
That single sentence from Leviania was as good as a declaration: she would no longer hide her strength.
Because of this incident, she could faintly sense that more demons would come flooding into this church before long.
To keep the children safe from them,
Leviania had decided that acting as a nun who had been concealing her power was the right answer — more so than playing the frail sister she'd pretended to be.
"You're still far too weak."
Delivering those words gently to Eisen, Leviania fixed her gaze back on the man.
"You may be nothing but an unfinished monster, but the fact remains that you laid hands on my children. So you'll receive a punishment befitting that, won't you?"
The innocent smile that refused to leave her face somehow made the man feel colder still.
"Prepare yourself."