Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, April had arrived.
With the start of the new school term, Kanon Kanase was now a middle school student at Saikai Academy. Avrora, too, had become a student there thanks to Ciel and Natsuki Minamiya's arrangements, and she had even been placed in the same class as Kanon Kanase.
For Avrora to enroll, setting aside her identity as a Primogenitor for the moment, there was no hiding the fact that she was a vampire. So Ciel had no choice but to take Avrora for a physical examination first, allowing her to obtain a Demon Registration Bracelet like the other demons.
Ciel felt she might have spoiled Avrora too much, to the point that Avrora would even ask her for ice cream at school.
Eat, eat, eat. All you know how to do is eat. How can you eat this much ice cream without getting a stomachache or gaining weight?
Then again, she had almost forgotten. Avrora's current body had been created by Ciel using the power of the Holy Grail together with the Sephiroth Graal.
Now, Avrora and Kanon Kanase were students at Saikai Academy, while Ciel and Natsuki Minamiya were teachers there. The four of them could go to school together.
"Kanon, when Natsuki-oneechan and I haven't been around these past few days, has Avrora caused you any trouble?"
Ciel asked curiously, causing Avrora to hurry to her own defense.
"Th-That was not my fault!"
"So she did cause trouble?"
"It doesn't really count as trouble..." Kanon Kanase explained with a smile. "It's just that Avrora is so cute that our classmates all like gathering around her. Avrora might not be very used to everyone's enthusiasm."
Ciel grinned. "It would be stranger if she could get used to it. Last time, when there was no ice cream in the fridge and she went to the convenience store to buy some, she got so nervous in front of the cashier that she bit her tongue."
"Th-That was an accident!"
"Be quiet while you're eating breakfast. You're still dawdling like this. Are you trying to be late?"
Natsuki Minamiya frowned in displeasure. The moment she spoke, her authority immediately silenced the other three.
While the four of them ate breakfast, the morning news was playing on the television... Natsuki Minamiya said watching more news helped improve one's political sensitivity.
A strange news ticker appeared on the screen, reading, "Large-Scale Infection Breaks Out in Nelapsi Autonomous Region."
In 1996, the Nosferatu, who had always only been able to survive in the cracks between powers, successfully occupied the Duke of Caruana's territory in the Warlord's Empire. That same year, they declared autonomous independence and established the "Provisional Autonomous Government of Nelapsi."
More than ten years had passed, yet there were still many people who did not know Nelapsi existed. After all, ever since founding their country, they had neither expanded their territory nor worked very hard to establish diplomatic relations with other nations.
That was because the Nosferatu's goal had only been to have a country of their own, a land where they could survive. By now, that goal had already been achieved.
Until December of last year, when Nelapsi suddenly attacked the Dominion ruled by the Second Primogenitor, the Fallen Dynasty... More accurately, they attacked the Caucasus Fortress, the territory of the Ninth Prince, Iblisveil.
The Duke of Caruana, who had been defeated by the Nosferatu, was a vampire noble, a distant descendant of an Elder vampire. Elder vampires were those who had gained a Primogenitor's recognition and directly received their blood.
Unlike the Duke of Caruana, Iblisveil was second-generation, the son of a Primogenitor, a vampire whose blood purity and power were closest to that of a Primogenitor.
No one thought mere Nosferatu could defeat a second-generation vampire.
And yet, the result left everyone stunned... The fortress was destroyed by the Nosferatu, and Prince Iblisveil's fate remained unknown.
Something like that had only happened at the end of last year, and now the news was reporting a large-scale infectious disease outbreak within the Nelapsi Autonomous Region. It was hard not to suspect there might be some connection between the two incidents.
The morning gossip program was airing a grainy, privately filmed video. On a foreign street, a huge mob of rioters surged forward, attacking the people around them indiscriminately. The footage was horrifying, like something out of a zombie documentary.
"Ah, I heard people in class mention this too... They say it's a new type of vampire infection."
Kanon Kanase set down her chopsticks. She had already finished breakfast.
She looked worriedly at the television screen. Even though the incident had taken place overseas, far from Japan, she still cared about the people there. Kanon Kanase was that kind of saintly, kind-hearted girl, the sort who cared for everyone.
The idea that being bitten by a vampire would turn someone into a vampire was only superstition. At least in this world, it was only superstition. If humans wanted to become vampires, they had to be given blood or other bodily tissue by another vampire. It was somewhat similar to the demons of the Demon Slayer world, where almost all demons had become demons from humans after receiving blood from Muzan Kibutsuji.
Even the many experts on television had not figured out the source of this infection. They could only speculate that some sort of biochemical weapon developed by Nelapsi had leaked.
What was currently known was that both humans and demons could be infected. Patients who developed symptoms would lose their reason and attack anyone around them indiscriminately, and the number of infected was still increasing.
The symptoms themselves were close to those of vampires known as "Type G" or "Ghouls." Most infected showed increases in muscular strength and sense of smell. On the other hand, as time passed, their memories would show obvious gaps due to the infection. In the end, they would completely lose their reason, and it was said they would even have difficulty sustaining life.
Whether it was simply an infectious disease or the appearance of an unidentified demon race, the details were equally unclear. Because the cause could not be found, the treatment method also remained uncertain. At this rate, there were even concerns that it might spread into a global epidemic.
Looking at the horrific footage playing on television, fragmented memories unconsciously surfaced in Ciel's mind... memories belonging to "Ciel."
...
—It was Christmas night.
A blazing square. Corpses piled like mountains. The church, as it did every year, rang its bells to celebrate the arrival of Christmas.
The townspeople were divided into two kinds.
Those who pursued, and those who fled. Those who killed, and those who were killed.
Creatures that had been human only moments before, and creatures still fleeing as humans.
Towering walls surrounded the entire town, forming a fortress over ten meters high.
People ran madly for the walls. Some argued, some cursed each other, some killed each other, and then they stepped on bodies that still held warmth, or on the maimed, climbing toward the top of the wall.
Yet what greeted them was not salvation, but deeper despair.
Behind the people, another, shorter wall rose up from the ground. Like two slices of bread in a sandwich, it trapped both the living and the dead inside.
It was like an enormous old-fashioned blender.
The more than one hundred people still alive were crushed bit by bit, slowly. Only the blood that constantly spilled out was carefully preserved by the walls, like red paint splashed across them.
Creatures that were no longer human gathered around the wall, as if admiring an exhibition.
Something like thorns tightly wrapped around the people who were still alive, using humans as seedbeds to bloom crimson roses.
Six-legged insects, eight-legged spiders, and vast swarms of many-legged creatures terrifying enough to make one tremble. Crying out and chanting in chorus, "Turn me back," they pierced the fleeing living with their thin, elongated legs...
"..."
Ciel drew a large breath into her lungs and let it out slowly, using it to calm herself, to keep those memories from affecting her judgment.
The situation now was different from back then.
The Dead Apostles of the TYPE-MOON world had to feed on humans if they did not want to die, and in that world, they had far too many natural enemies. True Ancestors and the Holy Church both hunted them down, so they hid themselves, turning more humans into low-level vampires and ghouls, making their subordinates bring them prey until a city became a dead city, then moving on to the next.
Every appearance of a Dead Apostle was a massive disaster capable of destroying a city. In addition, some of the monsters transformed by Dead Apostles could also become Dead Apostles themselves and go on to transform others. They were even more troublesome than cancer cells. That was why, when Executors of the Holy Church encountered vampires, there was basically no room for negotiation. Those they could kill, they killed. Those they could not kill, they drove away or sealed.
By contrast, the vampires of this world could live perfectly well even without eating humans.
In the great battle eight years ago, she had in fact been capable of killing those three Primogenitors... The price would have been catastrophic damage to this planet. In the worst case, Earth and all living creatures on it would have become dust in the universe.
If those three Primogenitors had personalities as brutal and inhuman as the Dead Apostles of the TYPE-MOON world, she might have agonized over it a little. But the truth was, while those three Primogenitors could not be said to love humanity, they did not harbor feelings like disgust or hatred toward them either.
Moreover, their friend Cain loved humanity. For Cain's sake, the three of them would take care of humans to some extent.
Ciel felt that was enough. Seven days and seven nights of a one-sided beating had also worn away most of her killing intent, so she gave up on the idea of killing those three Primogenitors at the cost of an entire planet.
Every living creature continued moving toward death from the moment of birth, their life force constantly decreasing.
But what the vampires of this world possessed was negative life force. As time passed, these vampires would only grow stronger and stronger.
So-called "accumulated intrinsic time" referred to the total amount of time an existing individual had experienced since birth. In other words, it was the personal history accumulated from a magical perspective.
The reason Primogenitors were the strongest demons was, on one hand, because of the Beast Vassals they possessed. On the other, it was because of the enormous amount of accumulated intrinsic time they had built up.
Then what about the Fourth Primogenitor? Although they possessed the strongest Beast Vassals, they had long since been sealed and would only revive after the Blazing Banquet ended. They could not possibly have built up massive accumulated intrinsic time like the other three Primogenitors. Then why were they called the strongest vampire?
The infection incident occurring within Nelapsi was the answer.
The infected people on television had already been chosen as living sacrifices. The Fourth Primogenitor would devour part of their memories, using that in place of accumulated intrinsic time to replenish the magical power necessary for awakening.
What they lost was only part of their memories, not their lives. As long as the Blazing Banquet ended as quickly as possible, no one would lose their life because of it.
However, the fact that the humans and demons within Nelapsi were all having their memories devoured by the Fourth Primogenitor also meant that the Elector from Nelapsi was currently the contestant closest to success.
Who knew how many Fourth Primogenitor vessels that arms dealer named Zaharias currently had in his hands.
...
"You all go to school. I'll be heading to the Island Guard shortly. Ciel, take over my classes for me today. Keep an eye on those little brats in my class, and don't spoil them too much."
Natsuki Minamiya was rather busy today and could not go to school.
Because of the Blazing Banquet, the situation had been unstable lately. The important figures were all watching the show, but certain small fry loved nothing more than choosing times like this to appear and fish in troubled waters.
It was not only demons who liked to rely on their racial talents to stir up trouble. Recently, some supremacists advocating the eradication of demons had also appeared on Itogami Island. They were not unlike militant vegans or extreme racists.
These supremacists did not only attack demons on the island. Ordinary people who befriended demons, as well as ability users and shrine maidens with special powers, were also among their targets.
The most troublesome thing about them was not that they were powerful, but that they could hide among crowds and disguise themselves as ordinary people. Before they launched an attack, it was very hard to pick them out from the crowd.
The Gigafloat Management Corporation could monitor every demon on the island through Demon Registration Bracelets, but it could not monitor every human on the island.
Natsuki Minamiya rested her elbow on the table and looked at Ciel, visibly frustrated.
"With all your bizarre spells, do you really not have anything that can be used in this situation?"
"Natsuki-oneechan... What do you mean, bizarre? They're all clearly very useful, okay?"
"What use could there possibly be for a spell that turns sweet grapes sour? Enough nonsense. Hurry up and tell me whether you have anything that can help!"
"Uh... I don't think so?"
Maybe she did have something, but she could not remember... There was nothing she could do about that. She knew too many spells, and they were far too miscellaneous. Whenever something might actually be useful, she often could not recall it right away.
The morning sun was bright. Ciel left home and stepped onto the side street leading to the train station. Beside her, Avrora and Kanon Kanase had both put on their schoolbags. It felt like the kind of bright morning that ought to have a children's song playing over it.
After getting off at the station closest to Saikai Academy, Ciel and the other two walked to the station exit, where they were stopped by an unfamiliar woman.
"Miss Ciel?"
"Hm? Do you need something from me?"
There were four men and women dressed in plain, inconspicuous suits. They differed in appearance and age, making the group rather hard to place, but their unwavering gazes were remarkably uniform.
The four quietly adjusted their positions, surrounding Ciel and the other two in the middle.
Avrora and Kanon Kanase both sensed the change in atmosphere and shrank closer to Ciel, while Ciel's gaze passed over them and expressionlessly scanned their surroundings.
"We are fighters from the human-salvation organization, the Guardians of Paradise. In order to protect the lives of good citizens, we have dedicated ourselves to the eradication of demons."
The woman who had stopped Ciel spoke with a smile that did not reach her eyes, her tone as light as if she were saying that removing oil stains was no trouble at all.
"..."
"We hope you can understand our ideals, understand that we are the side standing for the greater good, and actively cooperate with our actions... Miss Ciel, you're a nun, correct? Since you are a member of the clergy, you should understand better than anyone just how deeply sinful demons truly are, shouldn't you?"
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