Ginka launched herself off a utility pole into the sky. A horde of black clay retainers appeared in midair and unleashed a flurry of attacks at her with swords and axes.
“So irritating!” She swung her silver spear and turned the retainers to black sand. Their weapons clattered to the ground.
A chill down the back of Ginka’s neck made her turn around just in time to dodge a bullet. She looked closely at the buildings behind her and saw retainers armed with guns and rifles on a rooftop.
“How dare you steal my weapons...!”
Those firearms had been stolen from her apartment, which was bad enough, but now the retainers were trying to kill her with them.
Ginka was furious. She fired exoforce arrows and sent the retainers flying. The guns rolled off the building, where other retainers picked them up and fired back. More retainers were picking up the fallen swords and axes too.
They attack, I defeat them, and then they attack again. This has been going on since yesterday.
She couldn’t use her phone, and her weapons had been stolen. And she had to be careful about damaging buildings or being seen by civilians. This endless battle was slowly but steadily wearing her down.
I can’t keep going like this.
Ginka gathered her concentration and sent her exoforce out far and wide. By following its flow, she sensed someone else’s exoforce and found its origin in a distant, deserted parking garage. David was using the same method to determine Ginka’s location and continue sending retainers after her.
“Is he trying to lure me in...?”
His deployment of exoforce felt unnatural. As a vampire hunter focused on support, he could surely make himself undetectable. This was almost certainly a trap.
But it’s best to fight while I still have energy, she thought, so she scattered the retainers swarming around her like mosquitos and headed straight for the parking garage.
Ginka flew into the building, kicking up a cloud of dust as she landed. The floor and pillars were cracked, and there wasn’t a single car parked there. That, along with how the structure looked from the outside, told her the garage had been abandoned.
“Show yourself, David! Or do you intend to hide like a scared child forever?!”
She didn’t think he would come out just because of a cheap taunt like that, but she wanted to make her presence known. That would lower the possibility of getting civilians involved. Of course, it would be ideal if what she had said did bother him, but...
“After twenty-four hours of fighting, your supply of exoforce remains inexhaustible—proof of the requisite mental fortitude you’re blessed with. You truly are the Silver Dancer, our beacon of hope,” said a low voice.
A figure stepped out of the shadows. David Highgate wore the same dark suit he had worn yesterday, and his gray eyes narrowed in amusement.
“I told you to stop calling me that!” Ginka threw her spear at David.
Five retainers materialized in front of him. The spear disintegrated the first, pierced through the second, and punctured the third’s abdomen. It was losing speed after each retainer. By the time the fifth had turned to dust, the spear was slow enough for David to disperse it with a backhand blow.
“A hunter protected by retainers? Shameless,” Ginka said with all the loathing she could muster.
David sighed. “I’m sure you must have realized how difficult it is to live in this world. Everything we so diligently studied is of no use here, and our accomplishments will never be acknowledged.”
“Hunters are not to seek honor and glory. Have you forgotten the precepts? How far you’ve fallen...”
“The precepts were established by a degraded and decayed hunter alliance. If we do nothing, the precepts themselves may deteriorate. Now is the time to act.”
As they spoke, Ginka carefully measured the distance between her and David. Less than ten meters. I can close that gap in an instant with exoforce. But the fact that he showed himself like this concerns me. His odds of winning would have been good if he had remained hidden. I’m sure he has a plan...
“Many have struggled due to the ineptitude of the hunter alliance. Some have even taken their own lives. We simply wish to stop all of that. Ginka, please lend us your aid.”
To think he has the audacity to try and recruit me now...!
Ginka’s voice was full of fury. “We hunters resolved to face new challenges after the war. It is a trial we must overcome. What you’re doing is an insult to those of us attempting to do just that.”
Vampire hunters could not live normal, everyday lives. In exchange, they could obtain and use exoforce. Hunters were surely capable of handling struggles and difficulties without a teenager’s help. Besides, making any kind of decision based on David’s words alone was illogical.
“It seems as if I must defeat you, after all...” David gestured like a conductor, and four figures emerged from behind the pillars. They were twitching slightly in the sun like retainers, but these four wore clothes and didn’t seem to be made of clay.
“Humans changing into vampires...” said Ginka.
All of them had pale skin. With their eyes unnaturally wide open, the whites of their eyes were clearly visible. They didn’t seem to be conscious, and they were moving in sync like broken machines.
“I gave these four diluted vampire cells. It will take time for them to fully transform, which is rather convenient for my purposes. Also...” David gestured again.
Retainers appeared from the ceiling and floor. They stretched their claylike bodies out and clung to the four pale figures until the humans looked just like pitch-black retainers.
“I see. So this is your plot.” Ginka considered her options. She had to hold back against the humans, but then she wouldn’t be able to defeat the retainers. She couldn’t attack humans with the force needed to defeat retainers either. Her expression grew grim as she realized what David had done.
My hands are tied. I can’t attack at all because I can’t separate them.
The retainer-covered people threw themselves at her. She dodged with exoforce under her feet, which wasn’t difficult because her enemies were slow, but their attacks kept coming and there were far too many for her to deal with.
I’m losing energy. This is just a repeat of that fight earlier.
“Silver Dancer, this is no time for dancing if you truly wish to defeat me,” David jeered from far away.
I hate to admit it, but he may be right.
She could simply cut through the retainers and transforming humans, but that would go against the ideals she and her grandmother both held. They had always fought these monsters to protect the innocent. Hurting them was wrong. She couldn’t do that, no matter what.
But what if I let David escape? What if his plan to revive vampires succeeds?
Murderers would run rampant once more, and people would disappear into the night. The deaths of these victims would be treated as suicides or missing persons cases, but in reality their bodies would be consumed by monsters. The success of David’s plan would destroy the dignity of all humankind and sow seeds of suspicion that would threaten this peaceful world.
I have to decide quickly.
Ginka silently apologized to her grandmother for what she was about to do. With a vampire revival on the horizon, such a merciless act was her only choice.
I won’t ask for forgiveness. Once this is over, I’ll ask to be punished for my crimes.
She drew upon her exoforce to destroy her enemies. But as it filled her body, she heard quiet footsteps behind her.
More retainers? Or more victims? She turned around cautiously.
A girl with platinum-blonde hair wearing makeup and a bright smile was coming this way, her short skirt fluttering as she ran.
Ruka Moriki.
What? Why? How is Ruka here? Ginka couldn’t understand, and she couldn’t move.
“Hup!” Ruka yelled. She took a big step forward and threw a number of small bottles in the air.
They flew over Ginka’s head and burst like fireworks. A blizzard of silver powder filled the parking garage with shimmering light. Sacred silver dust turned the retainers to black sand. The humans, released from their captors, collapsed on the ground. They were unconscious, but their breathing was calm and they appeared to be safe for now.
“Huh...? Wha...?” David was frozen in shock after his plan fell to pieces in an instant.
Ginka assumed that David’s inaction meant that he didn’t have any more transforming humans up his sleeve. But that also meant her resolve was now meaningless. Is this really happening?
Both vampire hunters stood dumbfounded.
Ruka Moriki stood in front of them with a sunny smile on her face. “Thanks for waiting!”