The isolation wall Kojou had called the end of Nod was not one flat surface, but countless facilities merged together as a series of intersecting structural blocks. It was a little like a miniature spaceship similar to what you’d see in old superhero shows.
Many of the facilities were tiny structures like containers, but in the middle was a large-scale structure reaching numerous kilometers in total length.
The place Glenda Number Two was taking Kojou and Yukina to was a ridiculously huge transmission tower inside this section. The tower jutted vertically toward the night sky. The tower was five or six kilometers tall. Kojou estimated its diameter to be a couple of hundred meters or so.
This structure, enveloped by clouds of thick steam, looked more like a cape or a floating bridge than a tower when you looked straight up at it. The way it floated in a sea of clouds gave it a surreal, ethereal feel.
Because it was a little removed from the colony center, there was a weak amount of gravity on the bridge’s surface. Thanks to this, Kojou and Yukina, unaccustomed to weightlessness, were able to walk along it with ease.
Their guide, Glenda Number Two, had vanished from sight at some point.
Kojou and Yukina subconsciously held hands as they walked together along the bridge into the clouds—and then a small figure leaped out at them from a pure white cloud.
“Daah! Kojouuu!”
The girl with long, steel-colored hair hugged Kojou with the vigor of a puppy. Owing to the low gravity, Kojou staggered, unable to withstand her momentum.
“Glenda! So this is where you’ve been!”
Seeing that it was the real Glenda this time, Kojou fluffed up and stroked her hair.
A heartwarming smile came over Glenda as she rubbed her cheek against him. Watching this, Yukina exhaled in relief.
Glenda had been in front of a small building standing at the tip of the bridge. Kojou could make out familiar girls nearby and, also, a creature looking like a badly sewn teddy bear.
“—Er, Kiriha Kisaki?! What are you doing here…?!”
Noticing the raven-haired beauty with a foul look in her eyes, Kojou blinked, visibly perplexed.
Hmph, huffed Kiriha, snorting with contempt as she gripped her tuning-fork-style spear.
“Miss Hikawa…Miss Yuiri, too…”
Noticing that Yuiri and Shio were sitting on the ground, Yukina broke into a small run and approached them.
Yuiri and Shio were wearing High God Grove uniforms, but Shio wasn’t wearing her jacket. Yuiri was wearing Shio’s jacket in her place. The right hand poking out of the jacket’s sleeve was red and inflamed, hanging limply. Yukina’s expression grew grave when she realized this.
Beside her, Yukina felt Kojou gasp.
“Avrora…”
Kojou was staring at the willowy, golden-haired girl standing stiff, still clutching the badly sewn teddy bear in her arms. Her radiant blue eyes drifted left and right from worry. Her cheeks were red.
“Avrora…I’m so glad you’re safe.”
“I-indeed.”
When Kojou tensely called out to her, the vampire girl gave him a little nod.
The girl was maintaining an odd degree of distance as Kojou awkwardly scratched his head.
“Ahh…sorry I’m late. I’m here to pick you up.”
“Th-thou hast done well. Thine efforts are praiseworthy.”
“R-right.”
Neither of the two met each other’s eyes, and after exchanging words like complete strangers, Kojou and Avrora fell silent. This was the first time they’d properly met face-to-face in ages, so neither had any idea what to say.
For a time, Yukina and the others watched the tension-filled exchange between the pair with bated breath.
“—What are you, a couple of cousins who haven’t seen each other in forever?!”
Finally, unable to endure the silence, Yuiri gave them a tongue-lashing from behind.
Shio indulged in a deep, weary sigh.
“There’s more to say than that, isn’t there?! Like, hug and stuff, cry tears of joy over being reunited, something?! After you went through all that trouble just to see each other again…!”
“That’s true, but it’s just straight-up embarrassing with everyone else watching…!”
Kojou retorted, his own face red. Yes, yes, said Avrora’s little nods.
“He’s acting quite a bit differently than he does with us, isn’t he?”
“Dah…”
Yukina and Glenda shot Kojou cold stares. Oh, give me a break, said Kojou’s heavy grimace.
“Right, Avrora. You hungry? Wanna eat some, um, candy?”
Reaching into his parka’s pocket, Kojou took out a handful of colorful candy pieces.
“Kojou, when did you get ahold of…”
“Probably when I decided to bring Avrora back. Figured I’d lure her with food.”
Yuiri and Shio whispered to each other with tiny voices. Yukina sighed as she watched on. Avrora, however, peered into Kojou’s hand with glimmering eyes, as if to say, ’Tis as expected of thee.
Then she noticed a tiny, silver-colored ring mixed in with the candies.
“A ring of pacts…”
“Eh? Ah, this…well, this isn’t food.”
“Aaa…”
When Kojou tried to put the ring back in his pocket, Avrora reflexively grabbed his hand to stop him. Kojou found Avrora’s reaction a little surprising.
“Wait, you want a ring, too?”
“Uuu…ah…i-if thou desirest it…”
Avrora spoke those words, glancing at Kojou’s expression as she implored him. After a brief contemplation, Well fine, thought Kojou, handing her the ring. Either way, it wasn’t something Kojou had any use for himself.
Shio and the others were beside themselves as they watched.
“H-hey, Kojou Akatsuki…! Are you all right with this?! If you hand that to Avrora, you’ll become the Fourth Primogenitor’s Blood Serva… Ah, wait, you’re both vampires, which one becomes whose servant…?!”
“K-Kojou…wait a…owww!”
Yuiri tried to stand up in a hurry but moaned frailly as she pressed on her right arm. Yukina instantly moved to support the tottering girl’s back.
“Miss Yuiri…um…your right arm…”
“Ahh, this…I was…kind of a klutz and tripped…”
Hehe, said Yuiri, bashfully sticking out her tongue. She was maintaining her calm, but her arm was hurt even worse than it looked. Even if it was given time to heal, Yukina didn’t think it would ever regain full motion.
“Shahryar Ren’s flame dragon companion got her. This never would have happened if I’d properly supported Yuiri at the time…”
Shio went down on one knee, her face twisting with deep regret. Yuiri shook her head, a bit in a bind.
“It’s not your fault, Shio. Besides, Nagisa healed it so it’ll be all right in a little while. That girl’s healing spells are incredible. Ah…it’ll be hard to use this arm for real combat, I suppose.”
I’m sorry, Yuiri, Yukina expressed with a bow of her head. Yukina bit her lips, unable to reply aloud.
“What do you mean, Nagisa’s healing spells? She really did come to Nod, too?”
Kojou cut into the conversation. He remembered that Glenda Number Two had been adopting Nagisa’s form when she’d appeared before them only a little earlier.
“Ah, no, it’s not that… I mean it’s not that Nagisa came in person…”
“In one sense, I guess she did come, but it was really Glenda doing the talking, you see…”
Yuiri and Shio seemed at pains to explain as they glanced at one another. Apparently even they didn’t have a firm grasp on exactly what had happened.
“Well, that’d be a long story so maybe wait until things calm down a little more before gettin’ into it?”
The badly sewn teddy bear interrupted to arbitrarily drag the conversation back on track. Glancing at the teddy bear still in Avrora’s arms, Kojou let out a languid sigh.
“You’re…Cain?”
“Eh?”
Yukina widened her eyes in bewilderment when Kojou suddenly brought up that name.
The girls were right to be skeptical. The name of the Sinful God was straight out of mythology, whereas this was a badly sewn teddy bear fit for a kindergarten. There seemed to be nothing in common between the two whatsoever, but…?
“Well, that’s pretty close to the mark, I’d say.”
Baring its triangular teeth, Mogwai smiled, downright proud of itself for some reason.
“More accurately, I’m an emulated personality from data taken while Cain was alive. My personality was engraved in stone inside of the ‘Coffin’ on Itogami Island. It learned to reconstitute itself as an AI. This is a mock body made with The Cleansing. Pretty cool, huh?”
“Freeing the icons of the Beast Vassal Warheads, that’s your objective, right?”
Kojou inquired without any hint of surprise. Drinking Asagi’s blood and sharing her memories meant that Kojou already knew Mogwai’s true nature.
“Well, that was kind of my one and only regret in life, y’see.”
Gazing at the artificial isle floating overhead, Mogwai narrowed his eyes with a nostalgic look.
“You have my thanks, Kojou My Bro. Thanks to you protectin’ Lil’ Dodekatos, I learned all about the icons. To free them, I needed a sample—I needed one of Mizen’s daughters in my hands more than anything.”
“…Were not you and the Fourth Primogenitor supposed enemies…?”
Yukina seemed perplexed as she posed this question.
In the history known to Kojou and the others, the Fourth Primogenitor was a god-killing weapon created for the purpose of slaying Cain the Sinful God, yet Mogwai spoke the name of the original Fourth Primogenitor as if they were old friends.
On top of that, the emulated personality calling itself Mogwai was in the embrace of the current Fourth Primogenitor. These incongruous facts were leaving Yukina and others confused.
“At the very least, it’s a fact that the Devas left behind on the surface made the Fourth Primogenitor to kill me. I gotta say, when I found out about the existence of Star Beast Vassals made out of pure hatred, guided by the stars so that you could summon ’em even in Nod, far removed from the surface world…man, even I had to shudder.”
Mogwai gazed on the bewildered girls with visible delight as he spoke.
“So you and the Fourth Primogenitor took advantage of that?”
Kojou glared at Mogwai reproachfully.
The human boy named Mizen was tamed by Cain the Sinful God. The Devas used his flesh and blood to give birth to the Fourth Primogenitor to extract payback from Cain, whom they considered a traitor.
Yet even this became but one component of Cain’s plan.