The scent of the dragon’s blood in the air would lead Mari to her prey for sure. “The botched berserk suppressant stops her factor from manifesting fully. As long as she can’t use her wings to fly away, I can catch up to her. It’s just a matter of time. And she knows this, or at least, I’d hope so…” What preoccupied her more than the chase was the matter of Ryuunosuke, though. Her mission had to take priority, but… “I’m so sorry, Ryuunosuke Dazai…” Getting her beloved Ryuunosuke involved in the fight and injuring him wasn’t something she could justify to herself. Mission or not, what she’d done was unforgivable. She’d withdrawn her blade as soon as she realized she’d struck Ryuunosuke, so she didn’t end up lopping off his arm, but the injury was serious. He might die from it. Mari knew she’d messed up. It wasn’t the first time she’d inadvertently gotten him dragged into something that wasn’t his business. “Ryuunosuke Dazai…” Even if he recovered from that wound, the Order would be after him, since he’d interfered with the mission. Mari couldn’t do anything to prevent that. She supposed the best-case scenario would be Ryuunosuke having his memories erased. As long as he wasn’t killed, even if she never saw him again, she’d be okay with that. “A stupidly altruistic Goody Two-shoes getting involved in my mission was the last thing I needed…” Suddenly, there was a flash of light through the trees. Mari sensed that all her knights had been annihilated. “What?! How come?!” She finally made it to the edge of the woods and emerged into an open area with a large ginkgo tree in the middle. “…” There she stopped to observe and get a handle on the situation. She spotted Ryuunosuke and Rinne by the big tree. Rinne looked different. Gone were the wounds and blood that had covered her before, and she showed no sign of deadly exhaustion or weakness. Her wings had membranes. She was fully capable of flight. “She’s healed… Did she recover her dragon factor abilities? Hold on, what’s that…?” Something else attracted Mari’s attention—there was no red symbol on Rinne’s chest, but there was a red ring of light on her left ring finger. Ryuunosuke, too, had a ring of light on his ring finger. Mari knew exactly what it was. “Those rings of light… You’ve got to be kidding me. Sacred Sealing Rings?!” She stared at the shining rings as if they were a miracle. “I can’t believe it… They’re real…,” she said to herself. The dragon took a step toward her. “You are strong,” she said in a voice that now sounded majestic. The change in her was dramatic—the emaciated, frail dragon had recovered her dignity, power, and confidence. “I loathe to admit this, but you are strong.” Mari looked at Ryuunosuke, who was standing behind Rinne. His arm looked perfectly fine. His wound, which would have absolutely needed surgery, had simply disappeared. Mari guessed that the Sacred Sealing Ring allowed Rinne to share her regenerative powers with Ryuunosuke. “…” She waited in silence for the dragon girl to get to the point. “You are strong…but I have Ryuunosuke,” said Rinne. “I win.” “Oh, really?” For the first time since her encounter with the dragon, Mari readied herself for battle with deadly seriousness. Her air of nonchalance and playfulness vanished. She bent her knees, crouching slightly, with Carmilla the Bloody Maiden pointed at the ground. Rinne extended one arm forward. “You shall witness the power of linked souls.” She clasped her wrist with her other hand. “Feed on malice…,” she called forth her Valkyrie Dress. “…Nidhoggr!” The remains of Rinne’s straitjacket burst into blue and black flames that enveloped her entire body. They transformed into armor, which looked as if it was made from dragon scales and scutes. It was minimalist, covering only the most vital areas—a scale breastplate with tassets attached, elbow-length gauntlets, greaves that seemed to be made from bony plates and had long talons. The armor was designed not to restrict her wings and tail. “Huh, so you have your Valkyrie Dress. What a bright idea, equipping a death row convict with that… Well, whatever. Look at you—your outfit’s kind of skimpy, don’t you think?” In contrast to Mari’s gorgeous crimson dress, Rinne’s armor exposed more than it covered. Its defensive qualities seemed rather dubious. “Why should I wear brittle armor when I have my tough scales? I am satisfied with my dress.” “Oh, really?” Thus began the second round of their battle. Rinne whipped her tail against the ground and spread her wings. She and Mari leaped simultaneously. They flew at each other in a straight line, at top speed. Mari brandished her polearm, which gave her a range advantage over the unarmed Rinne. But if the vampire had her special weapon, it would only be reasonable to expect the dragon to have something, too. “Gram!” Rinne shouted, and her right gauntlet transformed. A new part had been added to her armor—when Rinne extended her arm to the side, a light blade appeared from the back of her hand, its glow dazzlingly bright in the darkness of the night. Besides serving to protect Rinne’s hand, the gauntlet was also the hilt of her sword. Mari took a swing at Rinne with the ax blade of her polearm. Rinne blocked it with her sword. “Is that your little ‘claw,’ dragon?!” Rinne didn’t reply. “Hnnngh!” She flung Mari away. “She’s monstrously strong…!” Mari admitted and tutted angrily as she flew backward. Among all the mythical factors, the vampire factor was one of the most powerful when it came to physical abilities. Mari had absolute confidence in her strength. Her brief exchange of blows with the dragon in her restored form taught her a valuable lesson—that dragons were in a league of their own. Like a passenger car and a dump truck. Rinne changed her stance. She put one foot forward and crouched, leaned slightly toward her opponent, and covered her right arm with her left as if she were a samurai ready to draw their sword. “…!” A chill ran down Mari’s spine. She held the Bloody Maiden in front of her defensively. If it weren’t for her superhuman senses and battle experience, she’d have had her head chopped off just then. A slash of the dragon’s sword smudged the darkness with a light blur. She was about ten meters away from Mari. Her sword’s reach was maybe one meter, so Mari should’ve been safe at that distance. Yet somehow, the strike felled the great ginkgo tree and reached Mari’s neck. The Bloody Maiden, which Mari used to protect herself, snapped loudly in half and, losing its rigidity, turned into blood, which splashed onto the ground, creating a large puddle. Mari landed on the ground. “Looks like I’ve got to stop fooling around and fight you for real,” she said, raising her arm. “Vampire Knights of Sigismund!” The puddle of blood around her roiled. Blood knights began to rise from it, armored and armed with swords or spears, carrying shields. A great number of them rushed Rinne all at once. “Your ridiculous strength won’t be much use to you if you can’t get close to me!” Unlike Mari’s first batch of Vampire Knights, which had been optimized for speed and pursuit, these were bigger and more numerous. Rinne, though, didn’t even try to dodge the oncoming throng. She had her eyes fixed on Mari. She silently extended her right arm, and her sword of light disappeared. The opening on her gauntlet the sword had retreated into was glowing. “You underestimate dragons, assuming they can only fight at close range.” The gauntlet, which had also turned out to be a sword hilt, had another use—it was a turret. “Fafnir!” the dragon girl roared. A beam of blue light shot out of the gauntlet, growing hotter and expanding to engulf the Vampire Knights as it flew straight at Mari. “Shit…!” Mari swore, but her curse was drowned out by the blast as the beam hit. Ryuunosuke had silently watched the girls’ battle from beginning to end. It was now over. When the dust cloud cleared, he saw Mari lying on the ground. She was alive but had taken heavy damage. Her red dress had vanished, and she was back in her body armor and cloak. Mari sat up, but when she tried to stand, she staggered and dropped to her knees. She stared at Rinne’s gauntlet with vacant eyes. “You redirected the surplus heat from your dragon heart into that dragon breath Reginleif.” “If I spare you, you will come after me again someday. In which case, I have no choice…” The beam of light shone out of Rinne’s gauntlet again. She walked toward Mari, stopping right in front of her. She raised her arm and brought it down swiftly. Mari had suffered too much damage to be able to dodge or block the strike. She needed more time to recover her mobility. She shut her eyes. “No, wait!” It was like déjà vu. Ryuunosuke jumped out in front of Rinne to shield Mari. The blade of light stopped just a centimeter away from Ryuunosuke. “You asked me for help, and I agreed, but I didn’t want to lend you a hand to finish off Abara. I simply wanted to save you and myself. Don’t hurt Abara anymore, or I’ll do all I can to protect her from you. I know what you’re thinking: I keep flip-flopping…” Ryuunosuke was determined to protect Mari this time, even if it meant dying to Rinne’s blade. “Think what you want, but I can’t stand by and watch my friend get killed.” “Ryuunosuke…Dazai…,” Mari whispered behind him. Ryuunosuke had no idea she was looking at him with eyes sparkling with love. “But leaving her alive is too risky…,” Rinne began but didn’t finish, sensing that Ryuunosuke was in a lifesaving frenzy and wouldn’t back down. “Very well, we shall spare her. I will restrain and deliver her to the Calamity Research Institute.” Rinne withdrew her blade into the gauntlet. “As if I’d let you, fool!” Mari shouted as soon as the dragon’s weapon disappeared. She jumped up high into the sky, spread her wings, and flew away. “Sto—” Rinne didn’t finish. She tried to chase the vampire girl, but suddenly, all strength had left her. Her armor, wings, horns, and tail dissolved into thin air. She was again dressed in the tattered straitjacket. Rinne’s legs buckled under her, and she fell to her knees, looking like a vulnerable young girl. “Hey, are you okay?!” Ryuunosuke managed to catch her before she collapsed on the ground. Her body was no longer abnormally hot. She was breathing evenly, asleep. “She ran out of battery and conked out… That’s a happy ending…I guess?” The battle had ended, but it wasn’t over yet. A whole pile of new problems had been left behind. “Abara…” Ryuunosuke gazed in the direction Mari had flown. His meeting with Mari that night was a shock, and the extraordinary chain of events had tired him out. No wonder he wasn’t alert enough to notice the sound of engines. Several black vans stopped in front of him, blinding him with the headlights. “The hell… What now…?!” Ryuunosuke instinctively shielded his eyes from the glare. The van doors opened abruptly, and a squad of armored people with automatic guns poured out of them to surround Ryuunosuke and Rinne. To the boy, they looked like special police forces. One of them aimed at Ryuunosuke. “Stay where you are! Kneel on the ground with your hands up!” That wasn’t the kind of thing Ryuunosuke would’ve expected to hear from police officers. These armed people had to be some other group. “…” Ryuunosuke had no choice but to do as he’d been told. When he’d knelt, two people got out of the van directly opposite him. He couldn’t see them well because of the headlights, but they clearly looked different from the others. One was a young girl in a white lab coat. “Well, well, look at this mess. I made the right call supplying her with the Valkyrie Dress just in case,” she said in a sleepy voice. “You armed the Third Factor? Isn’t a decision like that outside your authority, Deputy Chief Researcher…?” the other person, a tall man wearing a suit, replied to her. “Sarashina, it was better to have her equipped than not. The fact that she fought off the Order agents is proof of that, no? I still don’t understand how they found out about the transport route, though…” The girl cocked her head quizzically. “Well, the transporter is totaled, but there were zero casualties, and Rinne is alive and well, so nobody has a reason to complain, no? Rinne would’ve been unable to use her Valkyrie Dress in her uncontrolled state anyway, and if I hadn’t equipped her, it would’ve ended up being an even bigger mess. The end result proves my course of action was correct.” “I’m not entirely convinced… Is it just me, or has the Third Factor’s berserk phase gone down?” “Yup. We’ll need to examine her later, but at a glance, I can tell you that it looks as if it has been completely nullified.” The girl in the lab coat walked over to Ryuunosuke… No, it was Rinne she was walking toward. Without the strong light behind her, Ryuunosuke could finally see her face. Foolish of him to have thought that day couldn’t bring any more surprises. “P-President…?” “Shush.” Ranko Akeda, the student council president, silenced him, putting her index finger on his lips. He saw that she still wore her school uniform under the unbuttoned lab coat. The coat was too big for her, the sleeves longer than her arms. Ranko took out a penlight from the breast pocket of her lab coat. She lifted Rinne’s eyelids and shone the light in each eye. Next, she checked Rinne’s pulse. Like a doctor, it occurred to Ryuunosuke. “It looks like she used up her factor energy, wearing herself out… Her mythical factor is now dormant. I also see that her Stigma has disappeared. Blood pressure, pulse, and temperature are all normal. Her DF value is also within norm… It’s almost as if…” Ranko took Rinne’s left hand in hers to examine a dark mark around her ring finger. The ring of light, which shone so brightly in battle, had vanished when Rinne fell asleep. “No friggin’ way!” Ranko suddenly exclaimed. She quickly covered her mouth with her hands, looking around anxiously. “S-sorry, never mind what I just said.” “Er… President?” Ryuunosuke asked, raising his hand timidly. “Can you tell me why you’re here?” “Sorry, this must be a shock for you, but don’t worry—we’re not going to hurt you. We’re from the Special Calamity Prevention Research Institute, also known as Calamity Research Institute for short.” Calamity Research Institute—Ryuunosuke had heard the name earlier that night. Both Rinne and Mari had mentioned it. Ryuunosuke guessed that Rinne also belonged to that organization. Ranko looked at Ryuunosuke’s left hand. He also had a dark mark around his ring finger, like a bruise or birthmark. “I see what happened here. Sorry, Dazai boy, but I’ll have you come with me to answer some questions.” “Wait, I’m not going any—,” he began, but Ranko directed her penlight at his eyes and, with one pink flash, sent him into a deep slumber. “Thank you…” Before his consciousness completely faded, Ryuunosuke caught Ranko’s tearful words of gratitude.
Chapter 5
13 min read