"Himeragi, what exactly are you trying to do?"
After leaving the apartment and walking along the dark street, Avrora finally couldn't stand it and asked Yukina, who was trailing behind them.
"With her here, I can't do anything with Shichen," Avrora grumbled to herself. "It's been ages since I've paid my… protection fee."
"Avrora, I haven't explained this to you yet," Himeragi Yukina said, meeting her eyes seriously. "From now on I'll be with Shichen-sensei at all times."
"Why?"
"Because I'm his guardian."
"Guardian? What kind of nonsense is that?"
"I'm here to ensure Shichen-sensei doesn't do anything unbecoming of a Sensei."
"Shichen would never do that."
"It's possible—for example, making a move on women who look about your age…"
"Hey, hey, Yukina, watch yourself. Slander me again and I'll put you over my knee."
"S-spank me? Absolutely not!" Yukina froze, then quickly refused, flustered.
"As a Sensei, I'm allowed to discipline a student who talks nonsense, aren't I?" Shichen said with a smile, fixing her with a look.
"E-even so, you can't spank me!" Yukina reflexively covered her backside.
"Who told you to slander me?"
"I didn't…"
"Hm?" One warning look from Shichen shut her up.
"Mm… anyway, no spanking!"
"That depends on how you behave."
"Sensei, how can you threaten people like that?" Yukina protested.
"Then just be good."
"I—I won't back down!" she declared righteously.
"Oh? Then don't blame me if I stop being polite."
"…" Yukina opened her mouth, then closed it, at a loss. She didn't think Shichen would actually spank her—that'd be far too improper—but when she recalled the "preferences" she'd decided he had, her heart wavered. What if he really does like spanking women like her?
Still, as the one monitoring him, she couldn't let Shichen do bad things, nor let others be fooled by his looks. She'd just have to stay cautious.
"Himeragi, you're not a 'do-M,' are you?" Kaguya, who'd been quiet until now, couldn't help asking.
"Eh? Do-M?" Yukina didn't recognize the term.
"A masochist. Someone who likes being hit and such."
"Of course I'm not," Yukina said firmly.
"Then why keep butting heads with Shichen?"
"I—I have to take responsibility for Shichen-sensei."
"Is that really it?"
"Of course!" she answered, unwavering.
"Alright."
"Kaguya, you don't believe me?"
"That depends on how you act from here on."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
Kaguya shook her head without explaining. In her view, Yukina chased Shichen relentlessly, and Shichen hadn't rejected her or gotten annoyed. That left only one possibility: Shichen was interested in her. If so, it was only a matter of time before Yukina was his. Then they'd see if she was "do-M" or not.
"Eh? What's going on up ahead?" Avrora suddenly pointed at a narrow alley.
"Hm?"
They looked over and immediately sensed something was off.
At the alley's mouth, several obviously drunk men were surrounding a petite, blue-haired young woman. In the hazy moonlight, through the gaps between them, they could see her clearly: pale blue eyes, a knee-length cloak thrown over her body, bare legs, and bare feet.
"Hey there, miss. What's a pretty thing doing here alone? Want to have some fun with us?"
"Heh—wandering around a place like this alone… looking for a man, are we?"
"Even if you're small, that face makes up for it."
They spewed crude words and closed in.
"Those guys—!" Yukina was about to rush in and help, but Shichen caught her wrist.
"Sensei?" she looked back at him, incredulous.
"Don't worry. That young woman will be fine," Shichen said calmly.
"Eh?"
"Just watch."
As he said, even with men much larger than her closing in, the woman's face didn't change at all.
It wasn't because their taunts had hit home.
The men didn't care; they were enthralled by her uncanny beauty—translucent white skin, big eyes, perfectly symmetrical features—delicate as a fairy. And the living aura on her body was strangely faint.
When they were almost on top of her, the woman spoke. "Are you demon-kind?"
Her voice was flat and cold, like a machine.
"Demon-kind? Got a good eye, don't you."
"Into chatting up demons, huh?"
"Approach us in a place like this and we can't just laugh it off."
"Yeah. Lucky for you, we're in a mood."
They surrounded her on all sides—men over twenty, tall and brawny, brown-haired, radiating a rough, violent air.
One of them bared his fangs—clearly a vampire, his bloodlust triggered by excitement.
Another roughly yanked off the bracelet on his right hand—the demon registration band. Metal, with bio-sensors, mana detectors, and a transmitter. Anyone wearing one isn't human: a specially registered resident of the Demon Special Zone.
In other words, a demon.
Registered demons rarely harm humans. If they do, the zone's Anti-Demon Security officers swarm them immediately. Take off the band, though, and there's nothing to restrain a demon's power—or trigger the transmitter.
He stripped off his shirt. Muscles bulged, his back bristled with brown mane—beastman transformation. Two more followed suit.
One vampire. Three beastmen.
"Sorry if we leave you with trauma—don't blame us."
Flushed with excitement, they stared at the woman with burning eyes. She still didn't react, only tilted her small chin up with a look of pity.
"A sleepless city where demon-kind strut about… This island really is a decadent, cursed capital."
Footsteps sounded. With those sorrowful words, a man stepped into the alley.
"Who goes there?!"
They snapped toward him, tense.
He wore something like a cleric's robe. His blond hair was cropped short like a soldier's—clearly a foreigner. A metallic monocle-like plate covered his left eye. He was tall; though not young, the massive muscles bulging under his robe made age seem irrelevant. Metal armor glinted beneath his vestments. In his right hand, he held a heavy crescent battle-axe like it weighed nothing.
At a glance he looked like a mage who couldn't cast healing—but this world wasn't that absurd.
"Where are you from? An anti-demon officer?" the vampire demanded, trying to tamp down his nerves.
"What do you want? You've been here the whole time, right? Then you know she approached us first."
"Yeah. Beat it," one beastman warned.
Expressionless, the robed man looked them over and shook his head. "I know all of that. So… why don't you play with me instead?"
He finished—and swung his axe with the blade edge.
One beastman, completely unprepared, had an arm lopped off. Blood gushed and splattered across the ground, dark under the moon.
"Argh—! You—! I'll kill you!"
"All together! Those two are in this together!"
"Die!"
"Too straightforward," the man said, bored. The armor under his robe whirred as it boosted his muscle strength. He stepped; the pavement cracked. The battle-axe flashed; afterimages traced an arc.
The strike was so fast the beastman couldn't react.
"Shlkk—!"
The blade fell from shoulder to waist, cleaving a beastman clean in two.
Blood sprayed. The air reeked of iron—even Shichen's group could smell it from where they stood.
"Ugh—gross," Avrora muttered, taking two steps back, wary of splatter. At this distance, it was unlikely, but still.
"Sensei, who are they?" Yukina frowned at the scene.
"Just watch. Demons who take off their registration bands deserve what they get," Shichen said coolly.
"Mm…"
Yukina offered no argument. She wasn't some saint; she had zero sympathy for demon-kind.
"Sensei, you don't feel anything?" she asked.
"Feel what?"
"All that blood…" Yukina watched him closely.
"Please. Beastman blood stinks. Why would that 'do anything' to me? And even if I did have a reaction, it wouldn't be to blood," Shichen said with a sly look at her.
"Oh, that—ah!"
Yukina remembered: a vampire's "reaction" comes from excitement—triggered by attraction to a desired opposite sex. And she knew she fit Shichen's "type."
She hurriedly looked away, focusing back on the alley, afraid he might try something.
"You—you bastard—!"
With two comrades down in an instant, the vampire roared, drew a pistol, and fired.
Bang, bang, bang!
The bullets were fast—but stopped harmlessly at the robed man's chest.
"How is that possible? W-who are you?" the vampire finally felt fear.
"Me?"
He answered solemnly, "Rudolf Eustach—Combat Deacon from Lotharingia."
"An exorcist? From the Western European Church? What are you doing here?"
"I'm not obliged to answer."
"Tch. In that case…"
The vampire clicked his tongue; his face twisted, and black flames coiled around his left leg.
"Get him—Scorchhoof!"
The flames shaped themselves into a warped, horse-like beast and lunged at the robed man. A familiar. Its heat was intense; the night air rippled, the ground it skimmed over charred dark brown.
"Using a familiar in the middle of the city? Foolish—but convenient."
The man, as if he'd been waiting, smiled faintly and raised his hand, casually blocking the flaming charge.
"What?!" the vampire's eyes went wide. He hadn't expected this at all.
It wasn't the robed man who did it. An invisible barrier stood before him—the young woman was the one shielding him.
Her defensive ward completely stopped the fiery familiar, though it couldn't push it back. The clash of barrier and flame made the air hum. The young woman's pale lips parted with a faint, weak breath, as if the violent energy strain was too much.
"You can't completely nullify even a familiar of this level? You still need improvement."
"Heh."
The man's cryptic aside didn't register with the vampire, who smirked. At this rate, he thought, he'd win.
Then the robed man shook his head. "Tonight's experiment ends here, Astarte."
"Yes, Deacon," the young woman replied.
She closed her eyes, then threw open her cloak and, in a flat, mechanical voice, intoned, "Order received. Execute—Rose Fingertips."
At her words, power burst from within her cloak—a clear, pale-white glowing arm, far larger than her slender body, as if reaching from her abdomen. Like a living serpent, the giant hand coiled and struck, piercing the vampire's familiar.
"Scorchhoof? Impossible!" the vampire stared, aghast.
It didn't stop there. After skewering the beast, the transparent arm swept again and again, as if to consume it.
"W-what are you… doing…?" the vampire collapsed to his knees. Unable to maintain form, the familiar vanished. Drained of mana, he lay prone, trembling in terror.
The robed man looked down impassively. "Use a stronger familiar to overpower a familiar, and it falls. That's all."
"You're calling that a familiar? You're joking."
"It is a familiar."
His gaze turned cold. "You can feed Rododactylos a little… Astarte, grant him mercy."
Astarte glanced at the vampire with pale blue eyes, lowered her gaze, and said softly, "Order received."
The pale giant arm stirred like a malicious beast and lunged for the vampire.
"Eh? N-no… help…"
"Wait." Shichen's voice cut in.
"Hm?"
The robed man looked toward Shichen's group—missing the way Astarte seemed to exhale in relief.
"And you are?"
"You don't need to deal with that one," Shichen said, walking forward. Golden flame gathered in his hand; he flicked it onto the vampire.
"Argh—!" The vampire hadn't expected Shichen to attack him. The fire seared like it burned his very soul; the pain was unbearable. In moments, he was gone—no ash left behind.
The golden flames didn't stop. They spread, deliberately consuming the beastmen and the blood on the ground. Within seconds, the corpses and gore were gone. Even the metallic tang of blood vanished; the alley looked as it had before.
"Mm. That's better." Shichen nodded, withdrawing the flames.
"That fire… Who are you?" the robed man stared hard at him.
"Hold that thought," Shichen said, raising a hand. He turned to Yukina behind him. "Yukina, that alright?"
"It is, Sensei. Those demons deserved it—and you even cleaned up," Yukina nodded.
"Good."
Only then did Shichen face the robed man. "Go on."
"…You're a Teacher?" the man asked.
"I am," Shichen said with a nod.
"What do you want? Why interfere in our business?" The robed man quietly shifted his stance. That fire unsettled him; it didn't look like a familiar or magic he knew. He had no idea how to counter it—and it felt very dangerous.
"Heh. You come onto my turf and ask why I'm involved?" Shichen sneered.
"Your turf?" he frowned.
"Haven't you heard the rumor?" Shichen's gaze slid to Astarte. "Itogami Island belongs to the Fifth Primogenitor—the Fourth Night Empire."
"The Fifth Primogenitor… You—?! Impossible!" The robed man stiffened. If he was the Fifth Primogenitor, he was finished.
But how could that be? He'd never even seen the Fourth—
Then his eyes finally landed on Avrora and Kaguya: iridescent hair and eyes of flame… vessels of the Fourth Primogenitor.
Rumor had it the Fifth not only devoured the Fourth, but also took in her twelve vessels—and was into petite, youthful types.
There were two women at Shichen's side who looked like the Fourth's vessels, and the three other women with him were all petite.
Which meant… The robed man stared at Shichen in disbelief. He really had run into the Fifth Primogenitor.
"Oh? You believe me now?" Shichen smiled.
"F-Fifth Primogenitor… may I ask what you want?" the man said nervously.
"Good. Simple. Hand the girl over," Shichen said, pointing at Astarte.
Before the man could react, Avrora was already unhappy.
"Shichen, what nonsense are you spouting?" she smacked him lightly.
"Exactly! Sensei, you really are into lolis! I was right to tail you!" Yukina added.
"What are you two talking about? Can't you see something's wrong with that child?"
"We see you're very interested in her."
"She's obviously loli—what's 'wrong'? Or is she even smaller than we are?"
"It's not about you…"
Shichen realized he was being wildly misunderstood. He'd only wanted to save Astarte.