Still in the wheelchair, Koyomi Shizuka approached Yukina and extended her right hand toward Yukina. She, possessor of an extreme level of spiritual energy, could wield Snowdrift Wolf just like Yukina. Once, she’d actually wielded Snowdrift Wolf to crush Kojou Akatsuki.
If Yukina handed Snowdrift Wolf to her, it probably would be easier. Maybe it would let her walk away without the guilt of destroying Itogami Island weighing on her conscience.
Yukina, however, shook her head, strongly gripping her spear anew.
“Thank you very much for your consideration. This is my duty, however.”
Turning her back to Shizuka and the others once more, Yukina faced the keystone. The spiritual energy flowing into the silver-colored spear made it emit the pale glow of the Divine Oscillation Effect. All she had to do was rend the barrier before her eyes, and all would be over.
The battle with the Devas, her mission to be Kojou Akatsuki’s watcher, everything—
“I am sorry, senpai… I am sorry, everyone…!”
Violently shaking her head as she wiped away her tears, Yukina regulated her breathing. Poising the light-imbued silvery spear, she thrust it toward the center of the barrier.
That very moment, she heard the powerful echo of the voice of a boy who shouldn’t have been there.
“Do it, Astarte!”
“—Accept.”
“…?!!”
Yukina exclaimed as a rose-colored radiance suddenly buried her field of vision.
The tip of the silver-colored spear Yukina had thrust forward was halted by a giant wing just short of touching the barrier. No, this was no wing—it was a giant arm, the right arm of a humanoid Beast Vassal enveloped in the same Divine Oscillation Effect that Snowdrift Wolf employed.
“Execute, Rhododactylos—”
The small homunculus girl appearing out of thin air stood before Yukina enveloped in her own summoned Beast Vassal. The sight severely shook Yukina.
Once upon a time, Yukina had witnessed the same sight in the same place, yet their positions had been reversed.
Back then, Yukina had protected the keystone when Astarte had tried to destroy it. Now Astarte, as an ally of Kojou Akatsuki, was trying to stop Yukina—
“Sorry, Natsuki. This time I’m getting in your way.”
A ferocious smile came over Kojou as the Beast Vassal–enveloped Astarte stood behind him.
Yukina was frozen, unable to move. The very last person in the world she wanted to witness her trying to sink Itogami Island had appeared with no warning. Her mind had gone blank. She had no idea what to do. She felt like she was having a nightmare.
“Kojou Akatsuki…why are you here?”
Natsuki inquired in the silent Yukina’s stead. Kojou seemed amused as he curled up the corners of his lips.
“Why? I’m the ruler of Itogami Island, y’know? It’s only right that I protect this island, even if it makes me the enemy of the world.”
“So Kirasaka let it slip?”
Koyomi Shizuka checked with a gentle tone. For some reason, her faintly anger-tinged voice made Kojou grimace with a conflicted look.
“Forgive her, ’kay? She got a big helping of Yume’s mind control.”
“…Yume Eguchi, Witch of the Night, you say?”
Koyomi Shizuka sighed sullenly. Yume Eguchi was the World’s Mightiest Succubus, able to bring even Leviathan, Weapon of the Gods, under her control. Even if Sayaka was a Shamanic War Dancer of the Lion King Agency, she couldn’t resist if Yume got serious, even less when Sayaka already had a guilty conscience.
“That girl is simply too kind. I had her keep watch over the lad because I thought her unsuited for this mission, but that seems to have backfired.”
Yukari Endou borrowed her familiar’s tongue to grumble offhandedly. To Yukina, Yukari’s words sounded like she was blaming herself. Precisely because Sayaka wasn’t suited for it, the duty fell to Yukari to fulfill in Sayaka’s place.
“—But you coming here doesn’t change the bottom line.”
Natsuki Minamiya solemnly pushed the still-stunned Yukina aside and stood before Kojou. The ghastly aura emitted by her entire body made Kojou reflexively go on guard.
“We will destroy the keystone. Or do you really think your abilities are enough to stop us?”
Not waiting for the answer to her own question, Natsuki began her attacks. Her target was not Kojou but rested behind him—Astarte, enveloped by her humanoid Beast Vassal.
Silver-colored chains spewing from midair assailed Astarte from four directions, wrapping her tight. These chains were Natsuki’s divine sorcerous devices known as Drómi. These stout chains, able to bind even the Beast Vassals of the Fourth Primogenitor, rendered Astarte immobile.
“Sword Shaman! Destroy the keystone while you have the chance!”
Natsuki shouted at Yukina. Astarte’s humanoid Beast Vassal bearing the same ability was the only thing that could block Snowdrift Wolf’s Divine Oscillation Effect. Now that her humanoid Beast Vassal was pinned in place, Yukina could destroy the keystone with ease.
“Himeragi, don’t! …Whoa there?!”
When Yukina hoisted her spear, Kojou nervously leaped out before her, but countless arrows of light poured down straight at Kojou. It was Yukari Endou’s Spirit Archery.
Yukina turned her eyes away from Kojou as he fled in panic and faced the keystone. Kojou’s black Beast Vassals were too powerful for him to freely employ them in such a narrow space. Yukina, Kojou Akatsuki’s watcher, knew this better than anyone. Borrowing the black cat’s body, Yukari was able to exhibit only half of her real potential, but she was more than a match for Kojou under these conditions.
“Figures it’s too tough to take all of you at once…!”
Kojou commented with an anguished expression, probably grasping that fact for himself. Responding to his complaint was a carefree voice with a laugh tossed in.
“Yeah, not with just Kojou and Astarte.”
“—?!!”
Yukina’s field of vision swayed like a ripple, a precursor of teleportation magic. She instantly moved back. A faceless knight construct clad in rusty blue armor appeared before her. This was the devil’s familiar that protected Yuuma Tokoyogi.
“Miss Yuuma?!”
A tall, slender girl wearing a sports brand parka landed in front of the keystone. Her blue knight construct attended behind her.
“Thanks a bunch, Himeragi. With the bulwark’s barrier destroyed, I could jump straight down here. Even I’d get tired running down forty flights of emergency stairs.”
Yuuma Tokoyogi gave Yukina a friendly smile.
Yukina groaned ghh, her voice caught in her throat.
Keystone Gate’s isolation section was blocked off by a powerful barrier that made intrusion via teleport impossible. Yukina was the invader who’d destroyed that barrier. Yuuma, bearing the same witch powers as Natsuki, was able to jump straight to Keystone Gate’s lowest stratum herself as a result. Sending Kojou and Astarte into that chamber had been Yuuma’s work.
“Le Bleu—!”
Yuuma ordered her own Guardian to attack. The blue knight construct turned its sword not toward Yukina, but to the chains binding Astarte’s Beast Vassal.
A swaying in space itself transferred to the chains, faintly loosening the Beast Vassal’s bindings. Astarte did not let her chance slip, shaking off Natsuki’s chains with brute force.
“Go, Sword Shaman!”
Natsuki shot out fresh chains in an attempt to seal Astarte’s movements once more, but Yuuma’s Guardian beat all of them out of the air. None reached Astarte.
Natsuki’s real goal wasn’t to bind Astarte, though—it was to slow her down. The chains obstructed Astarte’s field of vision, delaying her motion by a single instant. During this time, Yukina raced through the gap between the Beast Vassal’s legs.
“—Snowdrift Wolf!”
“I will not allow it!”
When Yukina’s spear thrust toward the keystone, it bounced back with a fierce shower of sparks. A high-pitched sound of two metallic objects clashing accompanied the numbness in Yukina’s arms. Hiding in the shadow of the Beast Vassal, a white-haired ogre had halted Yukina’s attack with her crimson long sword.
“Shizuri Kasugaya Castiella…!”
“I will not allow it, Yukina Himeragi. As a Paladin of Gisella…no, as a survivor of the lost Demon Sanctuary of Iroise, I will not permit you to sink Itogami Island!”
“Khhh…!”
Yukina was wobbling from losing her balance when Shizuri thrust her shoulder forward. Bracing for the ogre’s angry charge, Yukina was blown into the air. She instantly back-flipped on one hand a few times to put distance between them, but this ended up putting her far from the keystone.
When Yukina entered a combat stance once more, Shizuri poised her long sword in turn. The undulating flame-like blade was thrusting forward, a stance specialized for attack—the basic stance of a paladin.
“Besides, I always did want to pay you back. Even if I was brainwashed and controlled at the time, I wish to return in kind the unsightly, humiliating way you defeated me. This is our rematch!”
As she glared provocatively at Yukina, a ferocious smile came over Shizuri. Overwhelmed by that resolute gaze, Yukina strongly clenched her jaw.