Their teleport finished, Kojou and the others stepped into a vast chamber enveloped by darkness.
Countless cylindrical pillars of varying heights and diameters soared indiscriminately up, down, left, and right, filling Kojou and company’s vision. Stairs and corridors stretching out like arteries had been grafted to these pillars.
Each and every one of those cylindrical pillars was built like a castle tower, probably also serving as the supporting framework for the giant exterior wall. This was the interior of Castle Kalenaren—one of the Deva Necropolises.
Kojou and the others were standing on the top of a cylindrical pillar about ten meters in diameter.
The place, illuminated by burning braziers, looked like a spherical stage.
Some distance away, upon one of the cylindrical pillars standing taller than the others, was a single, extravagant throne. Kojou and the others had to look up a bit to gaze at that vacant seat.
“—Welcome to Castle Kalenaren. What do you think? A beautiful sight, is it not?”
Ladli Ren turned around, standing on the same stage as Kojou and the rest. Based on the proud way she gave her nose a little scratch, she didn’t seem to be speaking ironically.
“So this is a Deva castle, hovering between the real world and another, huh?”
“Seems an awful lot like a haunted house…”
Yaze and Asagi genuinely grimaced as they spoke. To human beings with any sane sense of aesthetics, the irregular geometry of the chamber made it very hard to feel at ease.
“It is not to your liking? What a pity.”
Ladli tapered her lips peevishly at Asagi and Yaze’s less than enthused reaction.
A moment later, a man’s voice echoed through that dark, creepy chamber.
“Welcome, Ruler of Itogami Island.”
The supposedly vacant seat straight ahead had a man of indeterminate age sitting on it, a light skinned, blue-eyed Asian man with a wry, gentle smile reaching all the way to his eyes.
“Shahryar Ren…”
Kojou spoke the man’s name. Shahryar Ren, supposedly in Nod, was sitting in the extravagant throne-like seat, looking down at Kojou and the others.
He was dressed in an ornate robe reminiscent of ancient royalty. The attire no doubt indicated that he was king of the Devas.
“I truly did not think I would be speaking with you ever again, Kojou Akatsuki.”
Ren spoke in a frigid tone. Kojou and the rest had already realized it wasn’t his real body talking. The Shahryar Ren here was just an illusion. This wasn’t even magic, just a hologram.
Ladli turned to her holographic brother, reverently going down on one knee. It was a dated gesture like that of a knight serving her liege. Ren nodded, apparently satisfied with the propriety of her demeanor.
“Allow me to say you have made a wise choice, particularly since you desire to meet Dodekatos…no, Avrora Florestina, once more.”
“Save the small talk. More importantly, you know why we’ve come here, right?”
Kojou cut off Ren’s words with his own.
Kojou’s unexpectedly rude behavior made Ren’s eyebrows twitch several times. Even so, he kept his emotions in check, shifting his eyes to his little sister below.
“…Ladli.”
“Yes, yes. Let’s tune in to events in progress. Your Excellent Excellency Kul Zu of Castle Zu?”
Ladli said, returning to her usual clownish tone.
She was looking at a small cylindrical pillar jutting sideways out of the darkness to Kojou and the others’ right side. A small, elderly man was standing on that cylinder’s uppermost portion.
“…Lady Ladli, I ask that you be restrained in your jests.”
The old man she’d called Kul Zu stood near Ladli and looked up to speak.
If he was the owner of Castle Zu, that made him the owner of a different Necropolis. He was actually the one who’d fired the Beast Vassal Warhead, instigating the sinking of the HGTO military’s battle fleet.
“Forgive my rudeness. The situation has been conveyed to you, Your Excellency?”
Ladli double-checked without the faintest sliver of guilt. Apparently Kojou’s request—fire off a Beast Vassal Warhead into Tokyo—had already reached Castle Zu.
Kul Zu, however, shifted a reproachful gaze toward Ladli.
“You have provided no resupply, yet you tell us to use our final Beast Vassal Warhead?”
“I’m asking you to overlook that. We’ve already arranged replacement warheads.”
Ladli grinned and pressed both hands together.
For whatever reason, the girl smiled teasingly as she shifted her gaze toward her older brother above. Her expression was basically saying the dried-up supply of Beast Vassal Warheads was Shahryar Ren’s fault rather than hers.
“Wait until roughly half past four. We will move our Necropolis. Its destination will be the airspace above Tokyo Bay.”
Kul Zu spoke brusquely.
“I thank you, Your Excellency.”
Ladli bowed courteously. The braziers illuminating that cylindrical pillar vanished, and the old man sank into the darkness. The connection with Castle Zu had been cut.
“Arriving in Tokyo Bay in thirty minutes… You’d planned to attack Tokyo from the start whether we asked you to or not, didn’t you?”
Asagi shifted a critical gaze toward Shahryar Ren. They didn’t understand the process by which the Necropolises moved, but she didn’t think an object over a whole kilometer in diameter could turn on a dime at high speeds. If it was going to arrive at Tokyo Bay in thirty minutes, Castle Zu must have already been heading toward Tokyo for the last several hours. They must have intended to attack Tokyo to begin with.
“Negotiations are all about discerning what cards are in the other side’s hand, Priestess of Cain.”
Ren triumphantly gazed down at Asagi as he spoke. It was tantamount to saying he’d anticipated Kojou and the others’ reaction to the government of Japan trying to sink Itogami Island every step of the way.
“Thanks. I’ll keep that in mind.”
Asagi shrugged her shoulders as she spoke. She squinted at him with a sarcastic air.
“To pay you back, I’ll tell you something nice from my end. It’s a bit of an old story—it’s about the old memories carved into Cain’s Coffin, the deepest part of Itogami Island.”
“…The memories of Cain’s Coffin, you say?”
Ren’s brows twitched faintly. Apparently, even he couldn’t remain indifferent to the mention of the memories of Cain, mortal enemy of his fellow Devas.
Amused by Ren’s reaction, Asagi opened her mouth with a theatrical air.
“In the first place, Beast Vassals are beasts summoned from another world using a ritual spell. They’re masses of demonic energy powerful enough to possess sentience. No one can control them—that’s why the Devas used them as weapons of mass destruction, hence the Beast Vassal Warheads, yes?”
“That’s right.”
Ren quirked his brow. You only understand that now, said his expression mockingly.
Asagi paid no heed and continued.