"They say violent crimes committed by demons decreased after the Holy Ground Treaty was concluded, but that's a lie fabricated by the government to manipulate public opinion. They hide the real data and only publish forged materials."
The woman stated her claims one-sidedly, as if she did not care what Ciel thought.
Ciel withdrew her surveying gaze and looked at the woman before her. No emotion could be read from her calm eyes.
"How exactly do you want me to cooperate?"
"The incident currently taking place in Nelapsi was caused by the revival of the Fourth Primogenitor. If left alone, a disaster far worse than that will happen on Itogami Island, and to even more innocent people. Therefore, we must address the source—we must stop the Fourth Primogenitor's resurrection!"
The nameless woman launched into an impassioned speech. In her eyes, Ciel saw something familiar.
We stand on the moral high ground, and anyone who disagrees with us deserves to die. That was what her eyes seemed to say, just like those fanatics who had raised the banner of "purging heresy" while slaughtering countless innocent people.
How did one verify whether the person before them was possessed by a demon? Fanatics of the past had proposed an extremely efficient method.
Put the suspect over a fire and roast them. If they burned to death, that proved they were innocent. If they survived, that proved they were possessed by a demon, because demons from hell were unafraid of flame.
"For the people! For justice! To stop the Fourth Primogenitor's revival! Please, hand over the Fourth Primogenitor's vessel!"
The woman did not notice the pity in Ciel's eyes. She explained their true objective to Ciel, her emotions growing more fervent the more she spoke.
They had come for Avrora.
"After hearing what you just said, there are a few things I don't understand. If your answers satisfy me, maybe I'll hand Avrora over to you."
Ciel's clear eyes reflected the woman's face as she spoke flatly.
Avrora, who was hiding beside Ciel, nodded in apparent agreement, then froze and looked up at Ciel in confusion.
Hand me over? In a normal novel, aren't you supposed to say something like, "If you want to take Avrora from my side, you'll have to step over my corpse first"...? Avrora's eyes seemed to be expressing exactly that.
The woman's eyes were tinged with surprise. It seemed even she had not expected Ciel to give such an answer.
"What questions?"
"You said your organization's purpose is to protect innocent humans and exterminate vicious demons..."
Ciel narrowed her eyes, looking straight at the woman before her as she slowly spoke.
"Then my older sister... Natsuki Minamiya, the Witch of the Void. To you people, is she someone who should be protected, or someone who should be subjugated?"
"..."
The affected smile vanished from the woman's face. That silence was answer enough.
Her three companions had already drawn firearms. Both Avrora, who was a vampire, and Kanon Kanase, who was an ordinary person, had been targeted by cold gun barrels.
Though it was not exactly accurate to call Kanon Kanase an ordinary person. Kanon Kanase had inherited the bloodline of the Kingdom of Aldegia's royal family and was an outstanding spirit medium. If these extremist supremacists knew Kanon Kanase's identity, they would very likely regard her as a target that had to be subjugated too, and direct their malice at her for no reason.
"You never intended to hand over the Fourth Primogenitor's vessel from the start?"
"You never intended to let any of the three of us go from the start either, did you?"
Ciel stroked Avrora's head. The girl looked utterly wronged, so Ciel reassured her that she had never intended to hand her over.
"Of course not! A filthy, hateful witch shamelessly blending into human society? What kind of joke is that?! A monster can never become human, no matter how much human skin it wears! Have some self-awareness! The witch's little sister and the ones living with a witch are monsters too! The greatest contribution you can make to this world is for all of you to die!"
The woman shouted like a madwoman. From the very beginning, she had never been someone Ciel could communicate with. No matter how much one said, she would only blindly cling to her own views.
The four of them raised their guns without hesitation and pulled the triggers at Ciel and the other two.
The instant they fired, one of Ciel's hands whipped out at a speed beyond the limits of normal human vision. Not a single bullet struck Kanon Kanase or Avrora. They simply vanished into thin air.
In front of them, Ciel opened her hand. Four bullets, badly deformed and no longer recognizable in their original shape, fell obediently to the ground under gravity, then bounced up again. The soft sound of them striking the ground seemed to smash directly into the hearts of the four supremacists.
The woman glared at Ciel through gritted teeth, unwillingness and rage nearly overflowing from her staring eyes.
"Monster... Of course. The witch's little sister is a monster too!"
Ciel shook out her hand. She could not be bothered to argue with these lunatics. She had seen plenty of people-shaped monsters like this, things that could not understand human speech, and she knew very well how to make this sort of person obedient.
Beings like Dead Apostles—things no longer human at all—could not be driven back with words, because their souls could not understand the meaning within them. Only humans could understand human reason. The Lord's words could not reach the hearts of Dead Apostles.
For that reason, holy words had to be made into weapons. Since Dead Apostles could not understand speech or the meaning of words, those holy words would simply be carved directly into their bodies... Black Keys were born from that very principle.
Animals could not understand human speech either, nor could they understand human reason. But if they encountered a human holding a gun, animals would feel fear, because they could understand that a gun was something terrifying that could kill them.
People who acted tyrannically in their own country and could not understand human words became more obedient than anyone once they went abroad. Why? Because foreigners really would shoot people dead.
In summary, the way to make those who could not understand human speech obey was unexpectedly simple: beat them into submission with your fists.
"Perfect timing. Natsuki-oneechan has been completely swamped recently because of people like you. If I capture you, things should get a little easier for her too."
"D-Don't look down on us!"
The woman tightened her grip on the gun. Its heavy weight gave her a slight sense of reassurance.
Ciel's contempt made the woman fly into a humiliated rage.
"Die! Die! All of you, die!"
She pulled the trigger at Ciel again, wanting to empty the magazine immediately.
However, no gunshot rang out.
It was not because Ciel had done anything, but because something had gone wrong with the gun itself.
The firearms in the hands of the four supremacists began melting like ice cream under the blazing sun.
"Wh-What's going on? What happened? What did you do?!"
All four were frightened by the changes in the guns in their hands, mistakenly thinking Ciel had done something.
"Aaaaaah!"
One of the supremacists instinctively tried to throw away the liquid metal in his hand, but the thing had stuck to him and would not come off no matter how hard he shook it.
Not only that, after sticking to their hands, the liquid metal began frantically absorbing their magical power... Ordinary humans had very little magical power, so the liquid metal absorbed their life force instead.
"No... no..."
"..."
In just a few breaths, the four of them collapsed limply to the ground, their faces looking awful, as if they had suffered a severe illness.
"Idiots. Four idiots fit for a museum display. You didn't even realize you were being used."
Though she said that, Ciel did not intend to let these four people simply have their life force drained dry and die. What awaited them should be prison, helping Natsuki-oneechan find their accomplices, and then working hard to atone for what they had done.
"Kanon, Avrora, this thing is strange. Don't get too close."
After giving that warning, Ciel raised her hand and easily tore the liquid metal off the four of them... Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say the liquid metal very cooperatively stuck itself to Ciel's hand.
Once torn free, the liquid metal immediately changed form, becoming a pair of silver handcuffs that locked around Ciel's wrists.
"Ciel-oneesama!"
"...Ciel!"
The cries of alarm came from Kanon Kanase and Avrora.
Immediately after, those people who had long since been itching to act finally deigned to show themselves.
"Seven thirty-nine and twenty-eight seconds—confirmed high-risk target restrained. Commencing capture of the Fourth Primogenitor's vessel."
One after another, Nosferatu with their bodies hidden beneath black clothing swiftly arrived around Ciel and the others, surrounding them completely.
The reason Ciel had been looking around earlier was because she had already sensed these Nosferatu hiding nearby and watching.
The four supremacists lying on the ground had been used by them as tools. Even their weapons had been provided by these Nosferatu... More accurately, the weapons had been manufactured by Kou Amatsuka, then supplied to them by the arms dealer Zaharias.
Those supremacists certainly would not have accepted weapons provided by Nosferatu. But Zaharias was human, and the world's number-one arms dealer besides. With a bit of maneuvering, he could make those fools buy his weapons, and they would not even know that the weapons had come from Zaharias.
Now that their objective had been achieved, the four supremacists were ignored by the Nosferatu like trash dropped on the ground. They stared fixedly at Ciel and Avrora, all of them carrying the scent of blood and exuding a murderous air.
Ciel raised both hands, cuffed by the silver handcuffs. Unlike Avrora and Kanon Kanase, her expression was not tense. Instead, she wore an easy smile.
"Dozens of Nosferatu died in one operation. I thought you'd have learned to be a little smarter this time, and I was curious what kind of methods you would bring out. But you couldn't sit still this quickly? What gave you that confidence? Do you really think these little handcuffs can handle me?"
"Sister Ciel, stop bluffing. Those handcuffs are a product of alchemy. They can directly drain all magical power from a vampire noble, rendering them as harmless as a kitten or a puppy. Even if you are the Witch of the Void's little sister, you must be too weak to hurt a fly by now, right?"
The Nosferatu leader stepped forward very arrogantly and gave that speech.
Too weak to hurt a fly?
More like she was wielding the power of Fuxi in her hands.
"A vampire noble? You're actually comparing me to that sort of thing?"
The corners of Ciel's mouth lifted in a mocking smile, and a sharp gleam flashed through her eyes.
The Nosferatu leader caught the mockery in that smile, and an ominous premonition enveloped his heart.
"Move! Kill her!"
He shouted the order, but it was already too late for that command to reach his subordinates.
Magical power, vast beyond common sense, erupted with a roar, turning into a brilliant pillar of energy that pierced the sky and surged into the heavens with mountain-toppling force. The clouds above were instantly stirred and torn apart by the violent stream of energy, forming an enormous, slowly rotating vortex that covered the sky. Deep within the eye of the vortex, lightning flashed and thunder roared, as if the firmament itself had been ripped open by that power.
There was no need to doubt it. Magical power that terrifying—the storm and shockwave produced by its overflow alone—would be enough to sink all of Itogami Island.
Nosferatu were the lowest class of vampire, so although they could not summon Beast Vassals like normal vampires, they likewise possessed vast magical power.
However, the instant Ciel released her magical power, the Nosferatu leader closest to her felt like a tiny mayfly looking up at the blue sky.
His mind went completely blank. All the pride and self-respect he once possessed were utterly shattered.
He realized that everything he had once been so proud of was nothing at all before that existence.
"Mm... Did I overdo it a little?"
Ciel tilted her head... Surely Natsuki-oneechan was not going to scold her again, was she?
She had only released a very small portion of her magical power, and that alone had knocked out all the surrounding Nosferatu.
Moreover, because the amount of magical power she released was very small, she had controlled it perfectly. Although Kanon Kanase, Avrora, and the four supremacists were all very close, they had not been struck by the magical power she released.
As for passersby, they had mostly all run off when the supremacists opened fire earlier.
Ciel stopped releasing her magical power and was just about to say something to comfort Kanon Kanase and Avrora.
...
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
To the west of Itogami Island, a dazzling pillar of magical power shook the sky.
Magical power became a storm... an enormous storm powerful enough to disturb the atmosphere and make space itself wail.
The churning air roared violently, directly becoming a powerful shockwave. While vibrating as one, it spread outward like a tornado, causing a giant beast to emerge within it.
It was a magnificent war beast whose body shone with a distorted mirage-like deep crimson hue, possessing a beautiful mane and battle horns.
A two-horned horse more than ten meters tall circled and roared at the center of the storm.
---
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