Yukina Himeragi felt incredibly unlucky, truly, unbelievably unlucky.
When she was a child, her parents had sold her to cultists as a blood sacrifice. She had later been rescued and taken in by the Lion King Organization, where she was trained as a Sword Shaman. Just when she had finally begun to show real progress, she was summoned by the highest authority of the organization, the "Three Saints," and assigned a mission that looked ominous no matter how she thought about it.
Her task was to monitor the Fourth Primogenitor, Kojou Akatsuki. If he ever showed signs of intending to endanger the world, she was to kill him.
Setting aside what she had felt when she first received the mission, the moment she arrived on Itogami Island she went straight to the residence the Lion King Organization had prepared for her. It was two houses away from Kojou Akatsuki's home.
Inside the house, she found the operational funds provided by the Lion King Organization along with a notice confirming her admission as a first year high school student.
Hmm… that seemed reasonable at first.
The next day, she followed behind Kojou Akatsuki. Her plan was to monitor him while also learning the route to school by following him. After all, it made sense that the one doing the surveillance and the one being watched would attend the same school.
That assumption lasted until she realized that the route Kojou Akatsuki was taking was completely different from the one she had seen on the map.
She panicked.
Hurriedly checking the map, she rushed along the route and even used Spiritual Energy to increase her speed. Only then did she barely make it to Saikai Academy before class began. In the office, she met her teacher.
A loli?
Under the teacher's guidance, she went to the classroom and introduced herself at the podium. Fortunately, she managed to make a few new friends. One of them, Nagisa Akatsuki, was quite the chatterbox, but she was very friendly and actively introduced Yukina to the rest of the class.
Since they did not attend the same school, there was naturally no way for Yukina to monitor Kojou Akatsuki during lunch break. All she could do was deal with her classmates, who had somehow become very enthusiastic after practical training class, while quickly finishing her lunch.
When school ended, she did not even have time to say goodbye to Nagisa Akatsuki before using Spiritual Energy to rush toward Kojou Akatsuki's school.
Fortunately, it seemed something had delayed him. When she arrived, Kojou Akatsuki had not left the school yet.
She could finally begin her surveillance mission.
Her eyes almost welled up with tears.
But just as she started tailing him, a sudden thought appeared in her mind.
She was not good at following people.
At the Lion King Organization, she was trained as a Sword Shaman, not a Shamanic War Dancer. The ones who specialized in surveillance and tracking were the Shamanic War Dancers.
So could she really follow Kojou Akatsuki successfully?
Actually, there was no need to think about that anymore.
Because she had already lost him.
Wonderful.
As if things were not bad enough, two Demon punks suddenly came over and started harassing her.
If it had only been verbal harassment, she might have endured it. But when they tried to lay their hands on her, there was no way she would tolerate that.
Before they even managed to touch her, she slapped one of them to the ground.
The matter could have ended there, but the two idiots actually summoned their Beast Vassals and tried to turn the situation around.
How bold.
Did they not know she was from the Lion King Organization?
The outcome was obvious. Yukina beat the two Demon thugs senseless.
As for whether this would cause trouble for her, she was not worried. They had started it first, and besides, the Lion King Organization was an official organization. Nothing serious would happen to her.
Beating up those two punks was not exactly a good thing, but it did help her release some of the frustration she had been holding since arriving on Itogami Island.
That was until she reached into her pocket.
Empty.
Her wallet was gone.
Inside it had been all of her operational funds.
Including the money she needed for food.
After doing a quick calculation, she realized that the Lion King Organization would not issue the next round of funds for another six days.
Alright. Decision made.
She was definitely not reporting this to the Lion King Organization. It was simply too embarrassing.
Besides, with her physical conditioning and spiritual power, enduring six days without spending money would not be a problem.
In theory, even ten days would be manageable.
There was also no need to personally follow Kojou Akatsuki anymore. Since they attended different schools, it was impossible to maintain close surveillance anyway, no matter how fast she was.
Using a Shikigami instead would be enough. If it got discovered, she would think of another method later.
So during the weekend, she stayed home and used a Shikigami to monitor Kojou Akatsuki for two days.
After observing him for that long, she could not help feeling puzzled.
Was there something wrong with the Lion King Organization's intelligence?
Are you sure this guy is the Fourth Primogenitor?
Even the Shikigami released by someone like her, a Sword Shaman who was terrible at surveillance, had not been discovered.
And this is supposed to be some ambitious mastermind secretly planning to build the Akatsuki Empire?
When Monday arrived and she went to school, Yukina suddenly realized something she had overlooked.
The school she was attending seemed very similar to the magic academies used by the Lion King Organization to train Sword Shamans.
Which meant there would definitely be practical combat classes.
That evening, no matter how carefully she tried to conserve it, the Spiritual Energy she relied on to keep her body moving was completely exhausted. What should have lasted two weeks had been drained in a single day of combat training. The little that remained was not even enough to maintain its normal circulation.
Just as she was about to collapse from hunger on the street, her luck finally seemed to improve a little. She happened to run into a kind Senpai who treated her to a meal.
After finishing dinner, she was about to introduce herself to Cid-senpai when he suddenly called out her name. At that moment, she genuinely wondered if her surveillance had been discovered and she had been targeted.
Fortunately, it turned out to be a misunderstanding.
Cid-senpai was actually the one who had picked up her wallet. At first, he had been tempted and kept it for himself. But when he saw her nearly faint from hunger, his conscience could not take it. So he treated her to a meal, apologized, and returned the wallet.
Well, even though Cid-senpai kept insisting that he was a bad person, she felt he was actually a good one.
After all, someone who, out of guilt, returns money he had already pocketed and even says she can ask for any compensation she wants cannot possibly be a bad person.
Naturally, she and Cid-senpai became fairly good friends. It was probably one of the few good things that had happened since she arrived on Itogami Island.
Later, during their conversation, she began to notice something strange.
According to Cid, while not every student at Saikai Academy enrolled for this reason, most of them came in order to establish a relationship similar to a political marriage known as "King and Peerage." In other words, the academy was essentially a semi-aristocratic school.
There was nothing unusual about aristocratic schools. They existed everywhere.
The problem was, why was she attending this one?
She was a Sword Shaman from the Lion King Organization, sent to monitor the Fourth Primogenitor. So why was the school arranged for her a noble academy?
If this was a surveillance mission, should she not have been placed in Kojou Akatsuki's school?
What exactly was the point of putting her in an aristocratic academy?
She had already felt an ominous sense of unease when she first accepted the mission. After speaking with Senpai, that feeling only became stronger.
When you start suspecting something is wrong, everything begins to look suspicious.
She had not thought about it deeply before, but after Cid-senpai's reminder, one question after another flooded her mind.
Why assign a Sword Shaman like her to a surveillance mission? Should that not be the job of a Shamanic War Dancer?
They sent a Sword Shaman to monitor the Fourth Primogenitor, yet they were not even placed in the same school. Was this really meant to be surveillance?
She had never done surveillance work before and knew nothing about it, but no matter how you looked at it, they should have at least given her some information about Kojou Akatsuki.
Everything she knew about him came solely from the Three Saints of the Lion King Organization. At the time, they had only told her that Kojou Akatsuki was hiding his identity in order to secretly control Itogami Island and build his own army. Other than that, she knew absolutely nothing.
The more she thought about it, the more suspicious everything became. Assigning her to monitor the Fourth Primogenitor but placing her in a noble academy, providing no information at all, and giving the job to someone without the right expertise. Suspicious. Far too suspicious.
Of course, none of those questions mattered right now.
What mattered was whether she could defeat the enemy in front of her.
"Clang!"
Amid a sea of flames, a silver spear collided with a massive battle axe in midair, producing a harsh metallic screech. After a brief clash, the two weapons separated.
"Please cease fighting. Your actions are already in violation of the Holy Ground Treaty and international agreements."
Gripping the "Demon-Purging Assault Spear" tightly, Yukina Himeragi landed on the ground and stared intently at the Armed Apostle in front of her, not daring to relax for even a moment.
"Astarte, eliminate her."
Ignoring Yukina Himeragi's attempt at persuasion, the Armed Apostle simply issued an order.
"Order acknowledged. Beginning execution. Rhododactylos."
As the command was given, a small figure leapt out from the flames behind Yukina Himeragi. Magical power surged through her body and condensed into a massive white arm that burst through her coat and smashed toward Yukina Himeragi.
"Clang!"
Hearing the rushing wind, Yukina Himeragi spun around in time to block.
But she failed.
The moment Yukina Himeragi's Sekkarou collided with the giant arm, the spear collapsed instantly upon contact. The enormous arm struck her directly, sending her flying and smashing through the wall behind her.
With the sudden ambush and the overwhelming difference in magical power, even wielding the Demon-Purging Assault Spear could not save her. A single blow left Yukina Himeragi's life hanging by a thread.
Cracks spread across the ground as she crashed down, raising clouds of dust.
The Armed Apostle did not even glance at Yukina Himeragi. Instead, his attention was fixed on the giant arm formed from Astarte's magical power.
The section that had collided with the silver spear was noticeably paler than the rest. Large amounts of magical power were pouring out of Astarte's body to repair that portion.
"Could that spear be the Mechanical Demon-Purging Assault Spear Mark Seven? The Lion King Organization's secret weapon, engraved with a divine oscillation vibration formula. I never expected to see it here."
The Armed Apostle looked toward the spot where Yukina Himeragi had fallen. The monocle on his face flashed with a red light.
As the dust slowly settled, Yukina Himeragi could be seen standing unsteadily. Sekkarou was planted into the ground, and she was using it to support her body.
"So you survived thanks to that spear. It does not matter. Astarte, continue."
"Order acknowledged."
In just a few seconds, a figure rushed toward Yukina Himeragi.
Instinctively, she raised her spear to block in front of her. But she was already at her limit. There was no way she could withstand the attack.
Yukina Himeragi was sent flying once again.
But this time, could she still stand up?
She lay on the ground, her consciousness fading, yet her hand still gripped Sekkarou tightly.
Just before her awareness completely slipped away, she heard slow footsteps approaching from the other side.
And then a voice.
"Even though the entire world has already been covered in webs, you still choose to slaughter one another. I wonder whether you will manage to break out of the cocoon."
A deep, magnetic voice echoed out.
Through her fading vision, she saw a figure dressed entirely in black.