The Fang That Shattered the Barrier
Even at Erzsébet's cries, no answer came back. She drew a deep breath and was about to spread her webs in every direction when—
"Wait."
Kajan stopped her.
[Yes, Master?]
"It seems Francesca isn't here."
As if he had noticed something, Kajan strode forward. At the far end of the Secret Hazardous Material Storage stood a single table, and this spot in particular had received extra care—traces of security spells were layered upon it, fold after fold. Yet whatever should have been resting atop it was gone without a trace.
Kajan began studying the empty space intently. He even took out a measuring tape and a whole kit of tools, apparently trying to deduce what the missing object had been.
[Master!]
Erzsébet, who had been examining the magic circle embedded in the wall, rushed over to Simon and reported.
[At least a full day has passed since this magic circle was installed!]
"So she set up a trap and ran."
"We've been played."
Kajan lifted his head as he spoke.
"She never entered the Secret Hazardous Material Storage in the first place. And more importantly, it seems she had a Plan B prepared in case Plan A—all four Desolators going off—failed. You probably couldn't see that future either."
"...!"
Simon's face drained of color. Which meant the Priest's threat of mass murder was still very much alive.
"What in the world is the missing item, then?"
"Prima Materia."
Kajan answered.
"It's an agonizingly complicated thing, but simply put—an object that can produce alien monsters without end."
"Don't tell me she's going to use that to—"
"Yes. She intends to attack Kizen with it."
Kajan glanced down at his wristwatch.
"By now, Francesca's barrier must be more than half complete. Once it reaches one hundred percent, even professor-level necromancers will need time to break through. And in that window, the Prima Materia monsters will slaughter every first-year trapped inside the barrier."
"We have to stop her. No matter what."
Simon said through gritted teeth. Kajan nodded.
"There's a place I suspect Francesca will use that object. Follow me."
"Yes, sir!"
At the same time, Meilin—who had dealt with her assigned Desolator—arrived at the last location: the Lecture Hall.
She flung the classroom door open and swept her gaze around the room.
Huh?
The plant-type monsters that should have been guarding the Desolator lay piled across the floor, shredded to ribbons or withered to husks.
Meilin quickly took stock of the situation.
Someone got here before me! Was it Cami? Or else...
Crash!
Suddenly the window burst apart, and someone vaulted into the classroom.
Meilin stumbled back in shock. The man who picked himself up off the floor in a bizarre superhero crouch had a very easy-to-recognize face.
"Agh, that scared me! There was a perfectly good door—why'd you have to do all that?!"
"The urgency of the situation left me no choice."
Dick, clearly enjoying playing secret agent far too much, swept Kajan's glasses around the room. The plants were all dead, but there was no sign of the Desolator.
"And here I thought I'd be first for sure. You took care of it?"
"Not me. If it wasn't one of us, then Cami must've gotten here first."
"Okay."
Dick pulled off the glasses and tucked them away.
"Then with that, the Desolators are completely dealt with?"
Meilin nodded at his question.
All three of them had agreed to each neutralize a Desolator at their assigned location and then converge on the Lecture Hall. If Camibarez had come here first and cleared it, then all four bombs were now disarmed.
"Wahaha!"
Dick threw both arms into the air.
"We've saved Kizen's peace!"
"...Don't, don't jinx it. This is no time to let our guard down."
She let out a troubled breath and pressed her fingers to her temple.
Only when Simon and Kajan brought Francesca down would this crisis truly be over. Until then, there could be no relief of any kind.
"Actually, I've got a more fundamental question."
Meilin crossed her arms.
"Simon and Kajan. How exactly are two first-years planning to take down a necromancer who's Head TA-level or above?"
Dick shrugged.
"Simon's Special Admission No. 1, but more than that—Kajan is seriously strong."
"Him?"
"Yeah. And this is a secret, but word is not a single person who ran into Kajan on Survival Island last time made it out alive."
He lowered his voice, drawing out the words with an eerie relish.
"He's famous among the second-years for going undefeated in last year's ranking duels. Plus he's a repeater—rare as anything at Kizen—and he's with the Thieves' Guild. You getting the picture? He's a pro necromancer who infiltrated the school on a mission, no doubt about it!"
"..."
She couldn't take everything Dick said at face value, but if even part of it was true, then those two might genuinely be the combination with the best chance of defeating Francesca anywhere in Kizen right now.
After all, the people left on campus were students, henchmen, and a scattering of underqualified TAs—that was all.
"Fine. Then let's do what we can do."
"Which is?"
"Seize the broadcasting room and warn the students about the danger. With every Desolator dealt with, keeping watch on the situation and putting out warnings is a perfectly reasonable move."
Meilin's instincts told her the danger wasn't over.
This was, after all, a terrorist operation against Kizen itself—and the security around the Desolators had been far too lax for her liking.
'If it works, great; if not, no big deal'? No way. Francesca's main plan has to be something else entirely.
When she finished explaining, Dick smacked his hands together.
"Ooh, didn't even think of that!"
"Hurry up and follow me. If we can't talk the broadcasting room henchmen around, we'll overpower them and go in by force."
"Okay!"
The two hurried out of the classroom and the building, sprinting for the Broadcasting and Communications Hall where the broadcasting room was located. Across campus, students chattered busily as they moved between classes, preparing for the next lesson.
"Hey, Meilin! But don't you think we're seriously cool right now?"
Dick said, his face lit up with excitement.
"All the other students are living their ordinary little lives, while in truth a major incident is lurking right beneath the school! And we're the ones an agent entrusted to resolve it! It's like we've become actual secret agents—"
Thud.
Dick's voice cut off. Meilin, too busy yelling at him to quit spouting nonsense while she ran, didn't notice.
The focus gone from his eyes, Dick slipped quietly off to the side and entered a narrow alleyway alone.
"Such an interesting story~"
Inside the alley stood an ivory-haired girl, smiling sweetly.
With a feather planted at the back of his neck, Dick's face went slack and dreamy the instant he saw her.
"You're the friend who hangs around with Simon, aren't you~?"
"Y-yeah!"
"Then would you secretly tell me all about that major incident, hm?"
With her hands clasped together, Serne asked cutely, giving a little wink.
Dick, his expression utterly enraptured, bobbed his head up and down like a puppet.
"Hah! Hah!"
Camibarez was running north across Kizen, sweat pouring down her face.
As she ran, she skimmed just a few passages of the diary.
That alone had been enough to chill her to the bone. Francesca was a Priest of the Holy Federation—and she intended to destroy Kizen.
Every life at the school rested in her hands. Even with her breath burning all the way up her throat, she couldn't stop running.
Thwump!
"Ugh!"
With a short cry, she crashed to the ground, bouncing backward off something invisible.
Scrambling up, she looked around and saw a reddish, solid barrier hanging in the air, blocking her path.
She ran her palm over it searching for gaps, then sprinted off to try another stretch of it—but the barrier covered a vast area without a single opening, completely cutting off the inside from everything beyond.
"No..."
She backed away, her face crumpling with dread.
"Please...!"
Cupping her hands together, she poured out her Blood Flow magic again and again. But the barrier did not fall. It didn't so much as tremble, let alone crack. Not the faintest hint that it might break.
"Let me through!"
Gathering Jet-Black into her small fists, she hammered down—bang! bang! bang! She pounded it with her fists, kicked it, headbutted it, everything—and still the barrier held.
"Why..."
She crumpled to her knees before the barrier.
"Why is running away the one thing I can't do?"
A wretched helplessness washed over her.
Even at this very moment, Simon, Dick, and Meilin would be fighting hard, each carrying out the role they'd been given.
She was always anxious. Even when the four of them laughed and joked together, there were times those three felt impossibly far above her.
Simon was someone who simply shone wherever he went. Meilin was brilliant and superhuman, dispatching anything that came her way. Dick had honed his own particular strengths and always pulled his weight, whatever the situation.
Over the next three years, those three would push through any obstacle in their path, she was sure of it.
But not her.
She was good at nothing, and unstable. A constant fear gnawed at her—did she even deserve to stand among them? And a darker worry beneath it: would they one day leave her behind and soar off to some higher place without her?
Her fists clenched tight.
I refuse to despair like this ever again.
Staggering to her feet, she stared steadily at the barrier through bloodshot, crimson eyes.
- What a pitiable thing.
- Born of supreme blood, yet the body inherited from the frail mother.
- Such noble blood, wasted on a half-creature. The heavens are cruel indeed.
- A body this fragile cannot endure the power of the blood. It will slowly kill her.
- Had it been the other way around, there might have been hope.
- The age is corrupt. The end of days.
Then, softly—
She began to undress. Her uniform jacket dropped into the grass.
- My daughter.
Among the countless voices, the voice of a great being rang out.
- At your mother's plea, I shall now seal your blood to protect you.
She undid her shirt buttons and pulled the fabric aside. Between her chest and her navel, a crimson magic circle drawn in blood was visible.
She drew in a great breath and placed her palm over the circle.
- The blood you inherited from me will kill you in the end. This is the only way for you to live.
Steeled, she inhaled with a sharp hiss and twisted the circle firmly to the side.
Click!
As the circle turned, the blood throughout her entire body began to churn like molten lava.
"Kgh!"
She staggered. The seal was breaking, and a reddish mana rose from her body. From her crimsoned eyes, tears of blood dripped one after another. The pain felt as if her whole body were being torn apart and reassembled, and she let out an agonized scream as she clung to the barrier.
Then she opened her mouth—and drove her fangs into it with all her strength.
Crunch!
A barrier that hadn't flinched at any attack now bore a small hole in an instant. The tips of her fangs began biting into it, bit by bit.
She pressed her whole body against the barrier and forced more power into her fangs. They dug deeper and deeper, and the barrier began to splinter, cracking like glass under strain.
"Aaaaaaah!"
Crack! Snap! Craaack!
The fissures spread wider and wider, until at last—
Shatter!
The barrier broke away around her fangs, leaving a hole. The instant Camibarez plunged through it, the barrier sealed itself back up, restored without a trace to its original form.
"Hah! Hah!"
She stared ahead, her crimson eyes burning wide open.
'Please, everyone—stay safe!'
Hugging Rae's diary to her chest, she scattered a crimson aura across her body. The tiny bat wings on her back suddenly swelled, as if drunk on blood.
Then she kicked off the ground and shot into the sky at tremendous speed.