The Amphisbaena (20 page)

There was no longer anything to be sad of. There was no longer any need to fear loneliness.

And yet…

In this world, a world devoid of anyone else, she felt a presence enter—the presence of the boy who should have been lost. The boy who should have been disintegrated had awakened.

It was not possible. It was something that must not be. And yet…

Then why?
Kanon thought.

Why did the thought of it make her so happy…?

Kanon Kanase awoke within the pillar of ice. Tears continued to flow from her eyes.

“She’s on the move…”

Faux-Angel, sealed within the ice, opened her eyes.

Looking up and beholding this, Kensei Kanase let out a satisfied-sounding murmur.

Even now, a thin layer of snow rested upon his shoulders; a white frost covered the back of his black garment. His cheeks had lost all trace of blood; he was as pale as a ghost. It was the cost of having been rooted to that spot, continuing to observe Faux-Angel for several hours after she ran amok.

He’d continued to watch over the fruit of his experiment that took the form of his own “daughter.”

“Perhaps it is projection of mental imagery during the destruction and reconstruction of the surface personality? An unanticipated phenomenon, but that’s fine. Now there is nothing to tie you to this world to hold you back…Kanon.”

Kensei looked like he’d found salvation as he spoke his monologue.

But as if to betray his words, the very earth abruptly shuddered with a tremendous roar.

An incredible oscillation warped the very air, taking on a mirage-like form. It was a summoned beast bearing two horns and an incandescent, glittering mane: a bicorn with titanic magical energy.

“…A Beast Vassal of the Fourth Primogenitor?!”

Kensei narrowed his eyes in astonishment. Leaving behind a neigh
that seemed to blow like a gale, the Beast Vassal faded away; a group of three familiar faces emerged from the rupture in the ice left behind it.

It was Kojou, Yukina, and La Folia Rihavein.

Even as they held one another’s hands, the atmosphere that floated off them seemed formal and distant somehow. They awkwardly avoided meeting one another’s eyes, maintaining an odd distance from each other.

“…Achoo!”

Looking up at the dazzling tropical sun, Kojou sneezed hard. He pulled the hood of his tattered parka over his eyes as best he could.

“…Aw, crap. Really is freezing outside. Gonna catch a cold like this.”

“Will that not be because you indulged in indecent behavior with your clothes off?”

It was Yukina who replied in a frosty tone. She’d regained consciousness only to witness the sight of Kojou sucking on La Folia’s blood, putting her in a foul mood ever since.

It was understandable that Kojou’s sucking on another person’s blood while she, his watcher, was asleep, would have feelings of anger, but…

“You’re the ones that took my clothes off!!”

…Kojou made a subdued murmur in the back of his mouth at the sense it was somehow less than rational.

“That may well be so but…goodness. Come on, turn toward me. You are not a child.”

Yukina’s cheeks were still puffed up as she spoke, taking a handkerchief and wiping Kojou’s runny nose.

La Folia giggled and smiled as she watched the interaction between them.

They’d come face-to-face with death but a few short hours before, and the angel that had pushed them to that point was right before their eyes, yet even so, there was not even a smidgen of tension between them.

Rather taken back by the sight, Kensei asked his question in a composed tone.

“You are still alive, Fourth Primogenitor? Or perhaps I should say I would expect no less of the World’s Mightiest Vampire?”

Sensing an echo of pity in his voice, Kojou saw the suspect look on his face.

“Old man, you’re…”

Kensei interrupted Kojou’s words, making a one-sided speech. “But I am grateful. By fighting you once more…if she can fully activate her spiritual nodes in combat against a mighty foe, this time Kanon will evolve to the final stage. There will be no need for Kanon to seek out new enemies. No one will hurt Kanon anymore.”

Kojou felt blood rushing to his head at his all-too-arbitrary excuses. But before Kojou could think up a suitable counterargument, La Folia stepped forward. Even while smiling pleasantly, her declaration was very stern.

“That’s a rather laudable statement from someone treating Faux-Angel like a weapon for sale, Kensei.”

“That is something Magus Craft cooked up all by itself. It is no intention of mine.”

Kensei brushed off responsibility like it didn’t involve him.

“…What a self-centered thing for you to say.”

Yukina wedged herself in, her voice filled with painful sadness that silenced even the princess. The tip of the spear resting in her hands made a tiny shake; her dark eyes wavered.

“Weren’t you raising Kanase as your own daughter? Why, then, are you using her as a test subject? Do you understand how it feels for you to treat her like a tool…?”

Yukina’s voice echoed with raw emotion.

She spoke the words in Kanon’s place that she surely wanted to speak but could not. Of those in that place, only Yukina was qualified to speak those words herself.

After all, Yukina herself, discovered by the Lion King Agency, was a tool bearing the label of Sword Shaman.

She and Kanon were a great deal alike. Yukina was fully aware of it. That’s how Yukina was able to speak to Kensei like this—not to condemn him; rather, to save not only Kanon, but also herself as well…

Kensei made a heavy sigh, as if pushed back by the power of Yukina’s feelings.

“Young lady, it seems that you are laboring under a misconception.”

“What do you mean?”

Yukina’s expression wavered from bewilderment. Kensei looked up at Kanon in the pillar of ice as he continued.

“I have never seen that as a tool, not even once. Even now, I think of her as my very own daughter.”

“You’re telling us to look at Kanon as she is now and believe that…?”

Yukina made an unpleasant scowl of her brows as she asked. Of course it got under her skin. He’d made his “very own daughter” slaughter others and had changed her into a different existence. What father could want such a thing?

But Kensei calmly shook his head.

“Even if you will not believe it, the truth is the truth. Perhaps you would be somewhat more minded to believe me if you knew her biological mother was my own younger sister?”

“Your sister’s…child?”

Kensei’s unexpected words made Yukina’s eyes stare intently at him.

Kojou was just as surprised as she was. If what he was saying was true, Kensei was not only Kanon’s adoptive father, but also her biological uncle.

“It’s some fifteen years ago now, but my sister visited Aldegia while I was serving the royal family of that nation. And so she met the king of that time and fell in unrequited love. Though I only learned of this after meeting her daughter after her death.”

“And does Kanase…your daughter, know of this?”

“Of course not. Her own biological mother never claimed her. It’s not something for her to hear from my lips.”

Kensei bluntly shook his head as he replied to Yukina’s question. But Kojou didn’t think he was lying.

La Folia was silently listening to the exchange between Yukina and Kensei. No doubt she knew of Kensei’s relation to Kanon from the beginning.

“The same as your very own daughter, huh…?” Kojou murmured in irritation. Kensei’s little sister was Kanon’s mother. What he was saying about thinking of Kanon as his own daughter was probably true. So Kensei hadn’t adopted her as his daughter just because she was of the Aldegian royal family’s bloodline.

But that only made his actions even less forgivable…

“That’s even worse, then. Why’d you use Kanase for your experiment?”

Kensei calmly endured Kojou’s wrathful gaze. “What father does not wish for his daughter to be blessed?”

“Blessed, you say?! Kanase, right now, looking like
that
?!”

“Kanon has evolved into an existence greater than human. There is no one anywhere who can harm such a being. Before long, she will be summoned to the side of God and become a true angel… If that is not being blessed, what should I call it?” Kensei replied in a tone completely devoid of hesitation or regret.

But even so, Kojou calmly turned his words back on him.

“…Did Kanase tell you that? That she wants to be blessed by becoming something more than human?”

“What?”

That was when Kensei’s expression, hard like an unshakable boulder, began to sway.

Kojou gazed down at him with a look of pity in his eyes. Now, he was sure.
This guy doesn’t understand
anything
…!
“Is that really the blessing she wants? Or isn’t it just what you decided on your own she wants and pushed onto her by yourself? That’s what the rest of us call treating someone like a tool!”

“…Be silent, Fourth Primogenitor…” Kensei’s voice was shaking. Pain, anguish, and confusion came over his expression of unshakable faith. “You have no right to speak such words. You who know nothing even of your own self!”

What does he mean?
thought Kojou, at a loss from Kensei’s unexpected words. Then, that moment…

“…Kensei, get down!” La Folia warned in a sharp voice.

But an explosion occurred above Kensei’s head before her words could reach him.

Someone had attacked the tower of ice sealing Kanon within, causing it to explode.

Countless sharply tapered shards of ice poured down, hitting Kensei squarely and making him collapse.

“Beatrice Basler…!” Yukina shouted as she realized who’d launched the attack.

The vampiress wearing the red bodysuit was standing on a hillcrest behind Kojou and the others.

She had hurled the crimson spear that had destroyed the ice. Her Beast
Vassal, in spear form, scattered about fireworks of ferocious magical energy, smashing the wall of ice shielding Kanon to bits.

Standing beside Beatrice was the bestialized Lowe Kirishima.

He was holding a metallic container the size of a coffin in both arms. The beast man tossed it down the hill with great ease.

“Sorry to interrupt your leisurely discussion about how to raise a little girl, but time is money, and we want to go home already. So hurry up and beat the Fourth Primogenitor to death already, would you?”

Beatrice blew out an unenthusiastic sigh as she recalled her spear Beast Vassal to her own hand.

Then, she operated the panel of a remote control in her other hand. It was identical to the type of remote control Kensei had. Seeing the word A
DVENT
on the screen, Beatrice tossed out a laugh.

“If you don’t, these babies I made will get left on the shelf…!”

With a roar, the lid of the metallic container blew off from the inside.

With a long shriek, small silhouettes emerged from within.

They had four unsightly mismatched wings, magical runes all over their skin…and a ghastly metallic mask over their faces.

“A Masked?!” Yukina shouted in horror as she poised her spear.

What Kirishima had carried over was without doubt one of the unfinished Faux-Angels known as the Masked.

Even incomplete, they had sufficient combat ability to push Kojou into a corner. And there were two of them.

They’d apparently lost patience with Kanon, still sleeping in spite of failing to finish off Kojou, and hauled the pair off the ship they’d been on.

“What’s going on here? Didn’t you only have seven test subjects to make Faux-Angels?”

Kojou’s face grimaced as he glared at Kensei. Kensei was clutching his bloodied head as he nodded.

“There should be. I only prepared the minimum necessary for the ceremony.”

“Sorry, but that’s not enough for a product. I took the liberty of expanding production,” Beatrice explained with an expression that resembled scorn.

The Masked spread their wings and took to the air. They looked very
much like the test subjects Kanon had defeated previously. Kensei’s face grimaced as he realized the truth.

“…Clones?”

“Exactly. They might be from inferior test subjects and a long way from Kanon Kanase’s capabilities, but these are loyal to my commands and therefore
much
easier to use.”

Beatrice proudly raised up her remote control and laughed.

“I see,” La Folia murmured coolly, making a reproachful look up at the vampiress.

To her, Beatrice was not merely the criminal who was coming after her personally. She was the enemy who’d shot down the royal armored airship and slaughtered her faithful retainers. She wanted to avenge her subordinates.

“So you indeed wanted to abduct me so that you could make clones of the Aldegian royal family.”

“Ahh, you just figured it out, princess? We’ve already squeezed everything we can from Kanon Kanase’s modified cells. Just when we were wondering what to do about it, here you came casually blundering over, you see.

“That was a big help,” said Beatrice, wildly baring her fangs as she summoned her own Beast Vassal once more. She advanced upon La Folia, dragging the intelligent crimson staff along like it was an annoyance.

“I’ll chop you all up into little pieces and make plenty more of you, sow. Even without modifying them to be weapons, I can sell
your
clones for a lot of money right off the shel… Gah?!”

Beatrice’s lips twisted as her amused-sounding rant was interrupted by a sharp pain.

A bolt of lightning released from Kojou’s body flew at her like a whip, rapping her shoulder.

However, this was not an attack aimed at Beatrice. It was merely Kojou’s unquenchable anger turned into a gush of magical energy, scattering indiscriminately all around the area.

“…Fourth Primogenitor…!”

Beatrice audibly ground her teeth.

Kojou shot the vampiress a glare along with a gush of explosive magical energy.

“Shut up, old maid… And that goes for you, too, old man!”

“…?!”

Beatrice and Kensei were both at a loss for words at Kojou’s thunder-like shout.