Pang!
Pang!
Pang!
The stillness of the night suddenly shattered beneath the metallic roars of gunfire slicing through the air like fiery storms. At the edge of the dense forest, dozens of Automata stood in perfect formation, their mechanical bodies moving with cold precision, and their crimson eyes glowing like embers of hell, hunting for life to extinguish. The barrels of their rifles rose in flawless unison, unleashing an endless hail of luminous bullets that tore through the silence of night into a rain of scarlet sparks.
With thermal vision embedded within their metallic eyes, there was no room for error — their targets had been locked with deadly accuracy.
"Get down!" Touka shouted, her voice trembling with urgency as she stretched her arm to pull Kojou and La Folia to the ground — yet her strength wasn't enough to even budge either of them.
The air around them filled with the deafening sound of bullets striking earth and wood, sparks flying, the ground shaking under the relentless impact.
And yet… Kojou didn't move an inch.
He stood there, unmoving amid the metallic downpour of death, as if the storm of bullets were nothing more than a drizzle of rain falling upon his skin. His expression remained impassive — pure indifference cloaked him in an aura of unfathomable mystery, his gaze fixed calmly on the source of gunfire, untouched by fear or irritation.
Beside him, La Folia watched quietly, a glint of curious fascination flickering in her blue eyes. She wasn't watching the bullets, nor the Automata — but the man who seemed to belong to another realm entirely, one untouched by human law or logic.
Realizing her words were useless, Touka exhaled sharply and raised her long spear, shifting into a defensive stance between her companions and the enemy. Her movements were swift — disciplined — the posture of a trained warrior prepared to deflect any incoming bullet.
But…
No bullet ever reached its mark.
In a heartbeat, a faint azure glow shimmered before them, forming a semi-transparent barrier — a dome of light that repelled every bullet with a sharp metallic clang. The rounds ricocheted and scattered like showers of silver sparks, while the three stood unharmed inside, as though some unseen force had decided to shield them from all external harm.
Touka froze, her eyes widening in disbelief as she whispered,
"What… is this barrier?!"
Kojou, meanwhile, let a faint smile curl on his lips — barely visible — and replied in a calm, confident tone,
"Just a simple reflection… Don't worry about them."
And in that instant, a strange light flashed across his eyes — a glimmer like moonlight cutting through endless night — hinting that what followed would no longer be mere defense… but a cold, calculated retaliation befitting a vampire who feared neither bullets nor machines.
Kojou extended a single finger forward with serene composure, his motion slow, detached — as if time itself had slowed around him. From the tip of his finger, a tiny spark was born — dim, fragile, flickering between crimson red and smoky black.
A flame so faint it resembled the flicker of a candle, one a soft breeze could extinguish — and yet, there was something terrifying about it. A primal sense that this light hid something far deeper, far darker, than ordinary fire.
"…Grega."
He whispered the word softly — not as an incantation, but as a command. A tired sigh wrapped in absolute authority.
The next moment, the small flame shot forth from his palm like a blazing arrow, piercing through the magical barrier without slowing — as if even the laws of sorcery bowed to let it pass.
Grega was the simplest of fire spells — a beginner's charm, barely strong enough to light a candle. But when invoked by someone like Kojou, or by the one who had once taught him, Anos, the very concept of fire twisted — becoming a calamity of pure power.
Swish!
The spark shot through the air like a tiny meteor, expanding with each passing meter — from a faint gleam into a roaring inferno, from a flicker into a wave of destruction.
With every second, it grew wilder, until it became a seething mass of red fire veined with black shadows swirling like wings of living smoke.
Boom!
The first explosion thundered through the night, shattering the air. The battlefield turned into a blazing inferno, waves of flame surging in a straight path before him, obliterating dozens of Automata in an instant. Their metallic bodies melted like wax beneath the merciless heat, collapsing into puddles of molten steel, crackling faintly as they cooled upon the scorched sand.
But the flame did not stop.
Like a living creature reveling in destruction, it continued forward, leaving behind a trail of ash and the acrid scent of burnt metal.
In mere seconds, it reached the ship stationed on the shore — packed with even more Automata preparing for an assault.
BOOOOM!
This time, the explosion was monumental — a pillar of red and black flame rising to the heavens, a blast wave so fierce it hurled back the sea itself, forming a massive whirlpool that reached the clouds.
The waves crashed violently against the coast, and the air filled with the mingled stench of salt, steel, and fire.
Amid the chaos and ruin, Kojou stood motionless — his eyes calm and distant, as if nothing of note had occurred, as though that cataclysmic blast was nothing more than a bored exhale.
"That should be enough to make them realize… ordinary Automata won't work against me." Kojou said with detached composure, his gaze turning to La Folia. "Which means next, they'll send those false angels after me. And I believe… it's about time I heard your story, Princess."
A playful smile spread across his face as he added,
"After all, I think we've earned the right to know what's going on — especially since we're involved now… and perhaps, this will settle the debt for your little act of spying on us."
...
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