Sensei…… Kisu wa Jugyou no Hanigai desu V1 Illustrasi

 

Chapter 7 Drop Dead, You Mages

Ten minutes before the alarms began to echo through the city, Laurier and Karane were locked in a fierce exchange of blows.

Laurier gripped an iron pipe as a makeshift spear, while Karane swung her katana—a weapon with a disadvantageous reach in this matchup. The air rang with the screech of clashing metal; their skill levels were perfectly matched.

Facing her opponent head-on, Laurier’s shoulders heaved. This was her first experience in actual combat without being able to coat herself in mana. Fighting with only her physical body was far more exhausting than she had imagined.

“Sealing away one’s magic is truly a troublesome thing, isn’t it?”

“This blade’s job is to make sure things that shouldn't exist on Earth... stay gone,” Karane replied quietly. She leveled the spine of her katana horizontally, dropping into a thrusting stance. “I’m going to prove that there are people in our world who can't be touched by magic. It is the mission of the Watarase family to keep the world exactly as it should be.”

“I see. That is a truly wonderful sentiment.”

Hearing the conviction in Karane’s quiet voice, Laurier tightened her grip on the iron pipe.

Karane’s breathing remained steady as she held her stance, showing she still had energy to spare. Realizing the sweat sliding down her own cheek signaled a disadvantage in stamina, Laurier steeled herself for a quick decisive strike.

Laurier moved.

It was a straight-on charge, bordering on reckless. Power surged from the soles of her feet as she stepped forward without hesitation. She channeled the energy rebounding from the ground through her hips, twisted it through her torso, and linked every muscle from her chest to her shoulder blades. She unleashed a thrust that carried every ounce of her strength through her arms to the very tip of the iron rod.

It was a brilliant strike, but Karane met Laurier’s desperate lunge with perfect precision. Calmly reading the trajectory of the gleaming tip, she aligned her own counter-thrust. Her blade slid into the opening of the iron pipe as if it were being sheathed, and the katana’s guard collided with the rim of the pipe with a sharp, metallic ping.

“Oh no—”

Feeling the unexpected impact, Laurier tried to pull the pipe back—a fatal mistake. Karane stepped in deeper, moving in sync with Laurier’s retraction. Pushed back by the force against the guard, Laurier lost her balance and tumbled onto her backside.

“—Ngh.”

I’m going to lose. Just as the thought crossed her mind, she noticed something closing in behind Karane.

“Behind you!”

Forgetting the duel entirely, Laurier shouted a warning.

Though, perhaps, it hadn't been necessary.

The long, slender object that lunged at Karane from behind vanished into mist before it could touch her. It was Karane’s magic, [Unreal (Anti-Magic Power)]. Throughout her battle with Laurier, she had kept her [Unreal] active, shielding her surroundings at all times.

With her blade still pointed at Laurier, Karane asked, “Why did you warn me? If you’d kept quiet, that might have been your chance to counterattack.”

“Eh? Well, um... if someone is in danger right in front of me, wouldn’t anyone try to help...?”

“...I see.”

The corners of Karane’s mouth twitched into a small smile, and she lowered her sword. “You sound just like a certain someone I know.”

Draining the hostility from her stance, Karane slowly turned around. Her chilly gaze locked onto the figure who had interrupted their fight.

“And who are you? ...I’m guessing you’re not one of this soft-hearted girl’s friends.”

A male student wearing the uniform of the 107th Branch School had appeared. Laurier, catching Karane’s sideways glance during her question, shook her head with a stiff expression.

The base of the plant that had attacked Karane was connected to the male student’s Mana Crystal. There was no doubt he was the one who had attacked.

“Haha, can’t you tell by looking? I’m your ally. I’ve come to lend a hand, Karane-san.”

Despite his upbeat tone, his demeanor was clearly off. He was looking at them and speaking, yet his eyes wouldn't focus. Even the trees coiling around his Mana Crystal didn't seem like they were produced by the student’s own magic; rather, they looked like parasites that had taken root from the outside.

Above all, Laurier recognized the way he spoke.

“That tone... no, could it be you, Ginion?”

“...You realized?”

“Yes. More importantly, you weren't supposed to be able to use magic that manipulates others, were you?”

Laurier threw the sharp question at him. Ginion’s magic was supposed to be the enhancement and manipulation of plants. It certainly wasn't an ability to parasitize and control humans.

The male student, presumably being puppeted by Ginion, didn't answer. Instead, the Mana Crystal where the plant was rooted began to emit a dim, ominous glow.

“[Unreal].”

Striking first, Karane enveloped the student in her anti-magic. The creeping branches turned into harmless mist, and the boy collapsed like a marionette with its strings cut. Though wary of a trap, the two girls approached the unmoving figure.

“I guess Ginion-san played me,” Karane muttered. “...Still, that’s some weird magic. Is he using other people’s Mana Crystals?”

“Magic that interferes with the minds of others shouldn't be something one can master in a single leap, but—”

“Priencess Laurier. I have obtained a new power. I have been granted a strength that transcends that of a magician.”

The new voice made them both jump and whirl around.

The one who had interrupted Laurier was a female student in the 107th Branch School uniform. Just like the boy before, her eyes were hollow, and plants were coiled around her Mana Crystal.

Realizing the true meaning behind Ginion’s words, Laurier turned deathly pale.

“Ginion! You... did you actually sell your soul to a 【Vampire (Plague Individual)】!?”

“Exactly. My loyalty no longer belongs to the Tritonis Royal Family.”

It wasn't just a second person. One by one, students from the 107th Branch School began to appear. Every single one of them had plants parasitizing their Mana Crystals.

This was Ginion’s magic, [Treant], used to control the students.

By parasitizing humans in possession of Mana Crystals, he could absorb their magic and control them even from a distance. That extraordinary magic was something he had gained by becoming a 【Vampire】.

However, those controlled by Ginion all collapsed simultaneously, unable to do a thing.

“I don't know your circumstances, but appearing in front of me was your last mistake.”

The trees coiled around the fallen students' Mana Crystals all dissolved into mist and vanished.

This was Karane’s magic, [Unreal]—the power to disperse mana.

No matter the attack, no matter how sturdy the defense, as long as mana was its source, it was no match for Karane.

“I’m not so docile that I’ll just cry myself to sleep after being tricked.”

“So that is the exception of the Earth world I have heard rumors of—the [Unreal] of the Watarase family. A truly magnificent power.”

This time, the voice came from inside a building. Karane grimaced in annoyance.

Exercising her [Unreal] was easier for her than moving her own limbs. She cast a glare toward the source of the unpleasant sound, intending to erase it, but then she froze at what she saw.

“Your ability is undoubtedly the natural enemy of magic, but I wonder how it fares against this.”

Next to the smiling voice, a gun barrel was leveled at Karane.

It was a Gobot. A Disciplinary Gobot, its round chassis parasitized by plants, was aiming a machine gun at her.

To a magician, pure physics isn't usually a threat. Simple gunfire has a hard time even cracking a [Barrier], a basic function of a Mana Crystal.

But the magic Karane wielded, [Unreal], functioned exactly as its name suggested—it only worked against mana. Because she specialized in erasing magic, she couldn't use mana to enhance her physical abilities or deploy a [Barrier].

“Karane-san! Deactivate [Unreal]—”

In a world where no one could use magic because of Karane’s power, the roar of gunfire drowned out Laurier’s voice.

While the alarms were blaring, Kuro was out in the streets.

He was trying to gather information about the 【Vampire】 that had supposedly appeared at the 107th Branch School. Having moved from Tritonis Academy to a park plaza near the quarantine zone, Kuro cursed in frustration.

“What the hell does 'a Vampire has appeared' even mean...!?”

An announcement had been made to suspend the Counter-Battles, but the Gobots hadn't provided a single explanation regarding the current situation. With his smartphone unusable, he couldn't check the internet. Haruhana was still being held by the Administration Bureau, and Laurier hadn't returned since she left for the 107th Branch School.

Just as Kuro’s anxiety was reaching its breaking point over the lack of updates since the initial report, voices called out to him.

“Oh, there he is! Boss! It’s us!”

“We found you, Boss!”

It was the Kaldi siblings. It wasn't a chance encounter; they had been looking for him.

“What’s up? I don't remember giving you guys a reason to come looking for me.”

“Well, you see, a Vampire showed up at a school nearby, and the Administration Bureau put out a subjugation request, right? We wanted to ask the Boss something about that.”

“The reward for the 107th Branch School request is insanely high. Our Bancho might even move out with the rest of the underlings.”

“Bancho, huh... come to think of it, you mentioned someone like that before. Is that person like the leader of School 666?”

“Hahaha, so you don't know? Well, I guess the Boss is still a newbie to the Academy Archipelago.”

Seeing Kuro’s furrowed brow, the Kaldi sister took on a boastful look.

“The Bancho of our School 666 is the Fourth Seat of the Academy Archipelago! That’s a higher rank than Haruhana!”

“The two of us can’t handle a subjugation, but if we support the Bancho, we might get a share of the spoils.”

“Whoa. You guys have someone that strong?”

The thought of the leader of a criminal school holding a rank higher than Haruhana was nothing short of terrifying.

However, a glimmer of hope appeared. With Haruhana detained by the Administration Bureau, it was reassuring to know that someone with combat power equal to or greater than hers was moving to resolve the situation.

“But it’s not as simple as just taking them down, right? The enemy has occupied the school. There must be hostages.”

“Huh? Why not just ignore them? It doesn't matter what happens to the hostages; it won't affect the reward we get. Thinking about the safety of some strangers is just a waste of effort.”

“The sister’s right, Boss. If there aren't any Tourists around, even the Gobots don't give a damn about human safety.”

Hearing the words of the two School 666 students, Kuro turned pale.

If this "Bancho" character stepped in now, the safety of the hostages—and by extension, Pina and Laurier—wouldn't be guaranteed.

“W-Won't the other 【Single Numbers】 show up? If people as strong as Haruhana gathered, they could save the hostages safely! Isn't the appearance of a Vampire a huge deal even in the Academy Archipelago!?”

“Don't know, don't care.”

The Kaldi sister’s blunt response came from a place of genuine lack of concern for the hostages' lives.

“It’s the first time a Vampire’s shown up in the Archipelago, so maybe they aren't interested in the reward? Those guys are rich anyway.”

“No, it looks like they’re reinforcing the defenses of their own schools,” the Kaldi brother added, looking up from the smartphone in his hand, having apparently found some information through his own channels. “...That’s weird. USE is one thing, but the Two Great Academies are acting way too conservative. Are they the type to hunker down in a situation like this...?”

He tilted his head in confusion, then looked at Kuro. “Anyway, what happened to the Fifth Seat, Haruhana Bacchus? She has a track record of killing Vampires and she was at a nearby school, so I thought it’d be over by the time we got here.”

“We were looking for the Boss to find out what Haruhana was doing. You’re enrolled at Tritonis now, right, Boss? You know why she hasn't moved?”

“Haruhana is... well, things happened, and she got caught by the Administration Bureau.”

“Wait, for real!? Serves her ri—Ow!?”

“Shut up. It was your fault in the first place.”

Kuro silenced the Kaldi sister, who had begun to look delighted, with a light chop to the head. Haruhana’s detention by the Bureau was ultimately caused by the Kaldi siblings forcing a fight between her and Kuro.

However, thanks to these two, he now understood the current state of affairs. The situation was more dire than he had thought.

“I guess... I have no choice but to go,” Kuro muttered quietly, hardening his resolve.

Outside help couldn't be relied upon. In fact, if he didn't settle things before the Bancho of School 666—who was ranked higher than Haruhana—made a move, Pina, Laurier, and many others would be in grave danger. He had no choice but to head into battle before they did.

“Oh, so the Boss is going too?”

“Good luck. It’d be great if you could weaken them before we get there.”

“Why are you acting like this is someone else’s problem?”

Kuro grabbed the collars of the two who had just given him such half-hearted encouragement.

“You two are coming with me.”

““...””

“Ehhh?”

The brother’s face cramped up, while the sister let out a groan of protest.

“Why, Boss? I don't like losing battles.”

“Th-That’s right! We’re talking about a Vampire! Our lives are on the line here! You got a plan to win or what?”

“Shut up. Just pipe down and follow me.”

Kuro didn't feel a shred of guilt about making unreasonable demands or being rough with these two. He ignored their protests, dragging them along as he flashed a smirk.

“After all, I’m supposed to be your 'Boss,' right?”

Haruhana, having been taken from Tritonis Academy, was undergoing interrogation at a Disciplinary Branch of the Administration Bureau.

Her basic strategy was silence. Laurier would surely come to defend her once the Counter-Battle was over, so she kept her mouth shut, thinking it best not to say anything unnecessary until then.

“You’re a tight-lipped human, aren't you? You have something to hide, don't you? Hmm? If you didn't, you’d just explain the situation honestly, wouldn't you? Hmmm? Well? What is it?”

“Sigh. The interpretation of silence is... oh?”

As she let the Gobot’s persistent questioning go in one ear and out the other, a news flash appeared on a display mounted on the wall. Haruhana’s eyes widened at the content of the news on the screen.

“A Vampire... has appeared? In the 107th Branch School building?”

“It seems so, but that has nothing to do with you during your interrogation. We will continue the questioning now.”

There was no way it had nothing to do with her. The 107th Branch School was the very opponent Tritonis Academy was facing in the Counter-Battle.

“U-Um! Is it not possible for me to move to resolve this!?”

“Of course not. Do you not realize your own position?”

“Is that... so...?”

Her leaning-forward appeal was met with total dismissal.

If asking nicely doesn't work, then I suppose there's no choice. Haruhana sat back in her chair and quietly closed her eyes.

“Giving up easily, I see. I am aware you are one of the finest magicians in the Academy Archipelago, but once you are separated from your Mana Crystal, a human is nothing more than a fragile human—”

“...[Mysterion].”

“—Eh?”

Ignoring the Gobot’s confusion at her sudden chant, Haruhana entered a state of deep concentration and opened her eyes.

“[Black Box].”

In an instant, a shrill alarm blared through the building.

[Intruder Alert. Confirmed morphological change via [Mysterion] of a Mana Crystal in the Evidence Storage Room. Possible unauthorized access by a magician. Repeating: Intruder Alert—]

“What? Eh? Wh-Wh-Wh-Impossible!?”

Haruhana’s chant and the alarm signaling an anomaly in the storage room—the Gobot, its logic circuits connecting the two into the impossible conclusion of "long-distance Mana Crystal manipulation," began to glitch.

“Remote activation of a Mana Crystal is a phenomenon not even a single one of the past 【Single Numbers】 has ever achieved...! Th-This must be a bluff and a coincidence—!”

“[2/4 cube].”

“—Hiee!”

Two small black boxes appeared above Haruhana’s head.

She had activated magic despite not wearing her Mana Crystal. At this continued string of impossible phenomena, the Gobot’s frame began to tremble.

“D-Do you know where you are, human!? This is a Disciplinary Branch managed by us, the Gobot Administration Bureau! In this place, the symbol of order in the Academy Archipelago, such problematic behavior cannot possibly be allowed—”

“It is quite alright,” Haruhana said, offering a bright, innocent smile to the frantic Gobot. “I report that I shall return as soon as I have defeated the enemy!”

“That is not the issue, you shitty humaaaaan!”

Leaving the Gobot’s scream behind, Haruhana smashed through the reinforced glass window and flew outside.

Soaring through the air atop a black mist, Haruhana looked up at the two black boxes above her.

“Being this far from my Mana Crystal, bringing these two is my limit...”

Remote activation of a Mana Crystal. She had done it for the first time in a while out of necessity, but as expected, the drain was severe. Stopping at an altitude with a clear view, Haruhana searched for the 107th Branch School where the Vampire had supposedly appeared.

“...There it is.”

In one corner of the city district, there was a school where trees were clustered with unnatural density. The trees of this small forest area covering the school facilities were intricately intertwined, forming a terrifyingly sturdy magical fortress.

Even if she tried to approach to break that defense, Haruhana wouldn't be able to use magic if she moved any further away from her Mana Crystal.

However, a magician who couldn't overcome such unfavorable conditions would never be ranked among the 【Single Numbers】.

Haruhana took off her track jacket and tied it around her waist. Entering an even deeper state of focus, she raised her left hand and issued a command to the black boxes.

“Set: Configuration Up.”

One of the black boxes was absorbed into Haruhana’s arm, while the other vanished from the spot.

On the rooftop of the 107th Branch School, surrounded by the plant fortress, two girls were being held captive.

They were Laurier and Karane. The blonde, gentle Laurier and the black-haired, cool Karane. The sight of these two beautiful girls of different types captured together by plant vines possessed a certain artistic quality.

Having been struck down by the Gobot’s non-lethal rounds, they had found themselves in this state upon regaining consciousness. Both were glaring at the culprit with eyes full of rage.

The man in question, Ginion, was sliding his finger with interest over the transparent Mana Crystal embedded in the hilt of the Japanese sword.

“Hmm. Even if it is a Mana Crystal from the Earth world, it seems the rule of it being unusable when separated from its owner remains the same. It is also rare that it hasn't taken on a color while adapting to its user...”

“Could you please not touch other people’s belongings...!”

“Oh, my apologies.”

Smiling with a condescending politeness at the trembling, furious Karane, Ginion tossed the katana aside. Karane’s expression turned even more murderous, but bound by the plants, she had no means of resistance.

Ginion, who had been basking in their anger with a smile, suddenly looked up. A moment later, Laurier and Karane also noticed the approaching sound of propellers.

The Gobot carrying Pina had arrived. Seeing her walk toward him, captured by [Treant], Ginion nodded in satisfaction.

“Finally, the guest of honor has arrived.”

“Pina...? Why—no, Ginion! What have you done to Pina!?”

“When I told her exactly what your situation was, she was more than happy to cooperate. You should curse your own carelessness in being unable to control even your own confidante.”

“That's impossible!! What are those trees attached to Pina’s Mana Crystal!?”

“Haha. Well, what I just said wasn't entirely a lie.”

Ginion shrugged at Laurier’s outburst.

“She has been leaking information to me for some time now. Pina Lycure was truly concerned about your future. Perhaps you, too, should refrain from acts that would devour your own future, Princess.”

Though Laurier glared at Ginion with resolute anger, she was as powerless as Karane. Separated from her Mana Crystal, she too was unable to use magic.

“What is it you want, Ginion?” Laurier asked in a chilling tone that moved past anger.

What he was doing now was far beyond the scale of mere ambition for the principal’s chair or crushing Tritonis Academy.

“Not only have you trampled upon my sister’s trust, but you've also become a Vampire and occupied a school building in the Academy Archipelago...! Vampires are the natural enemies of all mankind. It wouldn't be strange if both the Two Great Academies and the Administration Bureau mobilized everything they have to hunt you down!”

“How the Administration Bureau and the Two Great Academies act upon seeing a Vampire... that is precisely what is important.”

As he spoke, Ginion pulled out a syringe from his pocket. Laurier’s face contorted with even greater fury as she saw him press the dull, silver needle against Pina’s arm.

“Ginion! What more do you intend to do to Pina—ngh!”

“I think I’ll have the Princess and our guest sleep for a while.”

Plants extending from Ginion’s arms tightened around Laurier’s and Karane’s necks, causing them to lose consciousness.

On the now-silent rooftop, Ginion began drawing blood from Pina’s arm.

While a Vampire’s blood turns to ash as soon as it leaves the body, a 【Dampiel】—whose parent was human—retains its liquid properties. Ginion held the drawn blood up to the sunlight through the cylinder of the syringe.

“Now, all that remains is to verify the authenticity of this blood with my own body, is it?”

Laurier was captured, Pina was brainwashed via magic, and Haruhana was detained by the Administration Bureau. Tritonis Academy was essentially destroyed, both in name and in fact. Now, he only had to wait for the intervention of a third party as planned.

Against that third party, Ginion would likely lose.

“I am well aware that there is no escape.”

Tucking Pina’s blood into his pocket, Ginion looked at his own arm, which had become a cluster of thick vines. At the same time he became a Vampire, Ginion had unified with his own magic. This allowed him to use magic without the need for a Mana Crystal, granting him power even beyond [Mysterion].

In exchange for ceasing to be human.

“...Hm?”

After binding Pina to the trees alongside the other two, Ginion noticed an anomaly.

At some point, a small black box had appeared above the schoolyard. Black mist was billowing out from the hovering box, beginning to fill the grounds of the 107th Branch School.

“Is that... Haruhana’s magic?”

She was supposed to be in the custody of the Bureau, but it seemed she had managed to slip away somehow.

However, given that she hadn't come here personally, her escape must have been incomplete. If she were currently in the middle of a forced escape from the Bureau, a single long-distance attack was the best she could manage.

In that case, I can handle it, Ginion thought, glaring at the black box.

“Haruhana Bacchus. You are strong, but can you really break the defenses of this school building, which I have turned into a fortress with my magic? There are three hundred people! This is a defense that bundles the magic of everyone in this school!”

The plant cage surrounding the 107th Branch School was a magical fortress that had siphoned magic from nearly three hundred students. In contrast to Ginion’s shouting—insisting that a single person, especially with a single spell, couldn't possibly destroy it—the black mist continued to increase in density with a terrifying stillness.

At that quietude, which felt like the eye of a coming storm, Ginion’s face twisted with anxiety.

“I have received fangs from that person and obtained power...! I became a Vampire, unified with magic, and approached the Truth. Even if you are a Single Numbers, there is no way I could lose to a mere student!”

Bellowing, Ginion manipulated the trees surrounding the building, sending them all lunging toward the black box at once.

The 107th Branch School sat in the palm of Haruhana’s hand.

Of course, a massive architectural structure like a school building couldn't actually fit in a human hand. It was merely a trick of perspective, with Haruhana holding her hand out so the school appeared to rest upon it.

Yet, in Haruhana’s subjective reality, the school was in her palm, and thus the mist-filled 107th Branch School was effectively within her grasp.

The black box unified with Haruhana’s arm and the black box generating mist at the 107th Branch School.

Through these two identical black boxes, 'there' and 'here' were connected.

With a quiet, effortless voice, Haruhana chanted the magic that crushed the very concept of distance.

“[Complete (Grasping)].”

She crushed the school resting on her black palm.

In sync with Haruhana’s hand movement, the black mist filling the 107th Branch School grounds moved. The dispersing mist followed her intent, interfering only with the trees covering the site. Overpowering the magically reinforced trees and tearing them out by the roots, the black mist contracted toward a single point, mirroring Haruhana’s crushing motion.

With a squelch—a sound far too small for the scale of the destruction—only the trees that had fortified the 107th Branch School were crushed by the black mist and vanished.

“Phew—ngh.”

As Haruhana exhaled a thin breath, sweat suddenly erupted from her entire body. Using magic while isolated from her Mana Crystal, combined with the precision required not to involve the people within the area—the recoil of forcing such a feat weighed mercilessly on her body.

“I am... still immature...”

Haruhana slowly descended through the black mist. Buffeted by a exhaustion so great she even struggled with the weight of her sweat-soaked track jacket, she landed on the ground, only to be surrounded by multiple armed drones and armored vehicles.

These were the Disciplinary Gobots that had pursued Haruhana after her escape from interrogation. From within the hostile encirclement, a unit with gold coloring rolled forward.

“Haruhana Bacchus-sama. Do you have the intention to surrender?”

Haruhana’s eyes widened at the appearance of the gold Gobot, its round chassis exposed.

“If you offer any further resistance, the rounds used during suppression will be switched from non-lethal to Anti-High-Level-Magician rounds. Additionally, the use of chemical weapons, biological weapons, and experimental armaments utilizing Mana Nuclear Fusion Reactors is being considered. If you intend to surrender, please place both hands behind your head.”

“...A high-level unit directly under the 【Mother Sphere】. That is rare. I report: is Mother doing well?”

“Do you have the intention to surrender?”

At the second, uncompromising demand, Haruhana placed both hands behind her head.

The reason she surrendered so easily wasn't just because she was cornered, but because of something she had seen from the sky.

In the quarantined evacuation zone, she had clearly caught sight of a boy heading toward the 107th Branch School.

“...I am believing in you, Kuro-dono!”

Exhausted to the point of collapse, Haruhana entrusted her hopes to Kuro and was once again taken into custody by the Gobots.

A single car was roaring down the main street leading to the 107th Branch School.

It was traveling at an incredible speed through the city, which had been cleared of students and Gobots due to the evacuation. The Kaldi siblings sat in the front seats, while Kuro, in the back, was staring at the screen of a smartphone he had borrowed from the sister.

Some streamer was flying a drone and broadcasting the situation at the 107th Branch School in real-time. Kuro, who had been watching the live stream to gather information, muttered in awe at the phenomenon that had just occurred on screen.

“Was that... Haruhana?”

He had been worrying about how to break through the plant-fortified defenses to attack the 107th Branch School, but the black mist had completely eradicated the biggest obstacle.

Faced with such a powerful and mysterious display of magic, even the female streamer was so excited she began speaking in a frantic, high-pitched ramble. Her comments section was flooded with messages like: “Urusi’s fast-talk is out!” “The fast-talk helps!” “Fast-talk more, Urusi!” “That fast-talk is like a drug!” “Hiee. I have translation telepathy and I still can't understand what she's saying. What is this fast-talking woman?” “A streamer who became one of the Seven Wonders of the Archipelago just by talking fast?” “I love the mystical fast-talk ♡” “I like the normal Urusi who doesn't talk fast...” and other such beloved comments.

“Thanks for the phone. Haruhana really is something else. She peeled the plants right off the school building.”

“Whoa... wait, yikes. Haruhana really is insane. She did that while being caught by the Bureau?”

Hororokka took her smartphone back from Kuro and stared at it with wide eyes as she replayed the footage.

Settling deep into his seat, Kuro glanced at the person sitting next to the Kaldi sister.

Almost every vehicle in the Academy Archipelago was a fully automated model designed exclusively for Gobots. The interior lacked a steering wheel or pedals; they simply weren't built for human operation.

And yet, there was a very specific reason the car Kuro and the others were in was actually moving.

“Hyah-hah! Put your back into it, you engine! You’ve got me, Kurulukka Kaldi, behind the wheel! You can do better than this! Let’s blow past those factory specs!”

It was the work of a criminal, currently out of his mind and intoxicated by the speed.

At first, the older Kaldi brother had been reluctant to help. But the moment he found a car abandoned on the side of the road, his demeanor shifted. He performed some suspicious operations on his smartphone, unlocked the doors, and started the engine as if it were the most natural thing in the world—transforming into a full-blown speed junkie in the process.

“Hey... is it really okay for a student to be driving?” Kuro asked.

“What are you talking about, Boss? I’m not driving.”

Being inside a stolen car that was breaking the speed limit every second could easily get Kuro branded as an accomplice. Since he was the one who had dragged them along, he tried to ask the most harmless-sounding question he could, but the brother’s response was eloquent in its deceit.

“The cars in the Archipelago are programmed and controlled by Gobots, so there’s no way I could be driving right now, see? I don’t know why, but it seems this car’s self-driving program just happened to go a little haywire. If anything, we’re victims caught up in a software glitch!”

Even as he spun this classic criminal’s web of sophistry, Kurulukka’s fingers never stopped dancing across his phone screen.

It was obvious his finger movements were interfering with that "program." Kuro wondered if he should just turn them over to the Administration Bureau right now, but then Hororokka popped her head over from the front seat.

“Look, Boss. When we play in the city, I’m the one who handles living things, and Big Bro handles the machines.”

“That doesn’t make it any better...” Kuro muttered.

Either way, they were using it without permission. It was a crime.

Just as Kuro was worrying about his future criminal record and hoping no one would think he was actually friends with these two, several students appeared in the road, blocking their path. Kuro winced, expecting them to be run over, but the students—now parasitized by plants—each deployed a [Barrier].

No matter how fast the car was going, it was a mass of pure physics; colliding with a mana shield would result in a one-sided wreck.

But Kurulukka didn’t slow down one bit.

“Like that’s gonna stop us! Right, Sis!?”

“You bet, Bro! [Spiral]!”

Hororokka’s Mana Crystal on her left arm glowed, and her magic enveloped the car in a vortex of wind. The swirling gale gouged through the barriers and scattered the 107th Branch students like leaves.

“Weak! You trash! If you’re gonna stand in our way, at least show some backbone!”

“Even if we’re both Imperial schools, our levels are just different, you losers! This is School 666!”

The Kaldi siblings cackled as they sped past the students who had been tossed high into the air by the wind.

“...They didn’t die just now, did they?” Kuro asked nervously.

“The wind blew them away before they hit the car, so they’re fine! Probably!”

“If you want to stop us while Big Bro is driving, you better bring someone on Haruhana’s level!”

“Hahaha! That’s a bit of an exaggeration, Sis. ...Huh?”

The conversation between the siblings, whose cockiness was making Kuro’s anxiety swell, came to a halt. In place of the students, plant-infested Gobots appeared.

Gobots, armed only with physical weapons, should have been even less effective as a roadblock than the students. Kuro’s confusion was quickly cleared up when he saw where their gunfire was landing.

They weren't aiming for the car. Understanding that they couldn't pierce magic with bullets, they were destroying the pavement to hinder the car’s progress.

“Hah! Don’t underestimate my driving skills!”

“So you are driving!”

Ignoring Kuro’s retort, the smirking Kurulukka slid his fingers across his phone. Just before a section of the road that had been torn up by gunfire, he swung the car’s frame violently, tipping it onto two wheels and driving along the side of a building.

“Sis!”

“Got it, Bro! [Breath]!”

A heavy thud echoed as the car’s roof groaned under the pressure. Hororokka used her wind magic to forcibly pin the car against the wall, keeping all four wheels stuck to the side of the building.

“Whoa, whoa!”

Gravity shifted sideways, and Kuro reflexively grabbed the front seat to steady himself.

They were driving on the wall—an impossible feat. They bypassed the destroyed road by racing along the buildings lining the street, but the Gobots’ interference didn't stop. Kurulukka clicked his tongue at the persistent gunfire.

“Tch, these shitty brat-machines, getting hijacked so easily. What do they think all my hard work is for?”

Cursing, Kurulukka put strength into the fingers touching his phone. The bracelet wrapped around his right arm glowed with the light of magic.

“[Hack].”

Kurulukka’s fingers invaded the phone screen.

A few seconds after he unleashed a type of magic Kuro had never seen before, and the gunfire ceased. In fact, the Gobots began to fire on each other.

“Ah, this is so much easier. Their mental firewalls, which are usually annoyingly complex, are just gone. Does breaking them physically disable their barriers? Or is it because they’ve lost their sense of self...? I kind of want a sample.”

Kuro watched in stunned silence as Kurulukka began to analyze the situation. He had clearly hacked the Gobots using magic. The method felt strangely familiar to Kuro.

“You... are you part of that group that was crowdfunding to hack the Gobots?”

At Kuro’s pointed question, Kurulukka gave a visible start.

“Y-You’re well-informed, Boss.”

“I just donated some money to it the other day, that's all.”

Hijacking cars, hacking Gobots... thinking back to Haruhana’s behavior when they first met, Kuro realized they might have even wiped their own criminal records from the Administration Bureau’s database.

“Hmm? What’s a donation? Are we talking about money?”

“N-No, um... i-it’s nothing you need to worry about, Sis!”

“Ah! That reaction! Bro, are you keeping secrets from me!? Is it a secret stash!? Is it your emergency fund!?”

A commotion broke out in the front seat as Hororokka caught the scent of money. Kuro left the criminals to their bickering and looked out the windshield.

The 107th Branch School building was coming into view. He flexed his hands, checking his physical condition. Having rested in the car, his stamina was recovered.

“—Alright! Enough arguing! We’re charging in!”

“Che! We’re settling this after the raid, Bro!”

“Y-Yeah, right. Here we go, Boss!”

At Kurulukka’s shout, the car accelerated sharply.

The closed main gates of the 107th Branch School were blown away by the wind-shrouded vehicle. It barreled into the center of the schoolyard with a momentum that would be impossible for the Archipelago’s "safe and secure" automated cars, coming to a halt with a drift that carved tire marks into the ground. Kuro stepped out the moment the door opened.

“Oh, Boss.”

As Kuro prepared to storm the building, Kurulukka poked his head out of the car window.

“When I was using [Hack] earlier, I found something in the Gobots’ memory storage. It looks like the big boss and the hostages are on the rooftop!”

“Nice work! You guys go wild down here. I’ll give you half the subjugation reward!”

“For real!? You’re too generous, Boss!”

“Thanks, Boss! Love ya! [Spiral]!”

Hororokka blew him a kiss with both hands before activating her magic. The wind-clad car began racing across the schoolyard, immediately scattering the Gobots that had caught up.

Kuro dashed through the schoolyard and burst into the building. Students who appeared to be under control swarmed him, but they were no match for someone who didn't even use conventional magic. Aiming for the Mana Crystals parasitized by plants, he knocked them unconscious and fought his way up the stairs to the roof.

Standing there was a single man.

Behind him, Pina, Laurier, and Karane were all crucified by plant vines.

Seeing Karane there was unexpected. As Kuro froze in surprise, the man’s eyes narrowed.

“You’re... the student who was with Pina Lycure when she was captured?”

He was a long-faced young man who gave off a nervous impression. His right arm had lost its human shape, transformed into a mass of intertwined vines. By becoming a 【Vampire】, a part of his body had turned into something monstrous.

“Asahino Kuro, transfer student at Tritonis Academy. Are you Ginion Ponelea?”

“...I thought capturing Priencess Laurier and neutralizing Haruhana Bacchus would be enough for a victory. I was naive. To think a newcomer from Earth would make it this far.”

Ginion laughed self-deprecatingly at Kuro’s question, revealing long fangs.

“You’ve guessed correctly. I am Ginion Ponelea. A 【Vampire】, reborn after receiving fangs from my master.”

Even as Kuro clenched his fists and red lines of light pulsed along his arms, Ginion remained relaxed. Perhaps to show he had no intention of fighting, he slowly raised his hands.

“If you only intend to rescue Priencess Laurier and our guest, I will not stand in your way. Take them and go.”

The unexpected offer only served to heighten Kuro’s guard. After everything the man had done, there was no way he could trust such a sudden release of the hostages. Seeing Kuro’s suspicion, Ginion sneered.

“I only detained Her Highness to keep Haruhana in check. Since she used her magic to peel away the school’s defenses and allow you to break in, I have no intention of causing any further unnecessary inconvenience.”

“...Then release Pina, too.”

“I’m afraid I can’t do that. I still have use for Pina Lycure.”

As Ginion snapped his fingers, the restraints on Karane and Laurier were released. The wooden vines that had held them even went so far as to carry them to Kuro’s feet.

Still wary of a trap, Kuro picked up Karane’s katana and Laurier’s Mana Crystal. Even as he returned weapons to two powerful fighters, Ginion made no move to interfere. Kuro couldn't read the man’s intent, especially his refusal to let Pina go.

“Why are you doing this?”

Ginion’s attitude was markedly different from his brother, Conrad. Even now, while acting as an enemy to the Royal Academy, a sense of respect for Laurier bled through his actions. It wasn't just a surface-level performance; the habit of honoring the royalty of his homeland was ingrained in his very way of life.

For a man who understood loyalty to betray the country he was born into as a noble, to cause such an uproar that he abandoned his position as principal of the school he helped found, and then to give up his humanity to become a 【Vampire】...

When asked about the motivation behind his self-destructive actions, Ginion looked away from Kuro.

“Because the world has changed.”

“...The world?”

“Yes.”

Kuro frowned at the grandiose statement, but Ginion’s expression was deadly serious.

“The source of all this is the appearance of these Academy Islands—the exchange between two worlds that began seventeen years ago.”

Seventeen years ago, a hole opened, connecting two worlds. With the opening of dimensions and the Academy Archipelago acting as a buffer zone, the meaning of "the world" changed. For better or worse.

“Asahino Kuro. A child of Earth like you probably wouldn't understand. In the seventeen years since the connection with Earth was established, you have no idea what kind of upheaval the [Heaven Disc World] has endured.”

For Kuro, the Academy Archipelago had existed for as long as he could remember. The time before the connection was nothing more than "history" to students his age.

But for adults like Ginion, the appearance of the Archipelago was an event that radically transformed the world they lived in.

“The civilization of Earth pollutes and destroys the culture of the Heaven Disc World. This transformation is so profound it makes our natural enemies, the Vampires, look cute in comparison. At this rate, pride will be lost from our world, and the spirit of our culture will become subservient to Earth!”

The technologically advanced culture of Earth had exerted a massive influence on the Heaven Disc World. It was because he had experienced this revolutionary change that Ginion directed a gaze bordering on hatred at Kuro.

“Do you understand? To prevent the civilizational pollution looming from Earth, we must sever all ties.”

“...And what does that have to do with you becoming a Vampire and going on a rampage?”

“I will make Earth realize that the exchange with our world carries a threat they cannot ignore. I will show them that the connection between two worlds is not just a one-sided cultural invasion.”

Ginion tapped his exposed fangs with his fingertip.

“Vampires. A race of natural enemies to humanity that drinks and transforms human blood. If the Vampire infection from the Heaven Disc World reaches Earth, even they will have to reconsider the merits of interacting with another world.”

“People and things from the Heaven Disc World can’t go past the Academy Archipelago. Vampires shouldn't be an exception—”

Kuro stopped mid-sentence as the realization hit him. Seeing this, Ginion smiled.

“Exactly. If a human from Earth becomes a Vampire, and that person can return to Earth, what happens then?”

Even if a human from Earth becomes a Vampire, the fact that they were born on Earth doesn't change. If a person of Earthly origin became a Vampire in the Archipelago, there was a high probability they could return home.

Startled, Kuro looked down at Karane. “Did you... did you try it!?”

“No. Not yet.”

It seemed he hadn't turned Karane into a Vampire. As Kuro breathed a sigh of relief, Ginion bared his fangs in a grin.

“First, I must demonstrate just how much damage a single Vampire can cause. If the people of Earth don't suffer themselves here in the Archipelago where their students reside, they will never feel a sense of urgency. For worlds once connected to decide on severance, they must undergo an experience accompanied by pain.”

No matter how much havoc Vampires wreaked in the Heaven Disc World, it would always be someone else's problem to those on Earth. That was why Ginion had chosen the Academy Archipelago, with its many Earthling students, as his target.

“You... became a Vampire just for that?”

“Yes. My status, my honor, my very life—even if I must sacrifice the Royal Family I am meant to serve, I will see the two worlds severed. That is what is necessary for the Heaven Disc World.”

To show Earth the terror of humanity's natural enemy and block the exchange between the worlds—Ginion claimed that was why he had become a Vampire and was causing this chaos.

For a moment, Kuro couldn't find a retort. He had never deeply considered the negative effects of the exchange between the two worlds. He inadvertently looked down.

“...What you're saying... it makes sense, I guess.”

“Oh? You’re surprisingly understanding. Then take the Princess and leave this place—”

“But I was saved here.”

“...What?”

As Ginion’s face filled with suspicion, Kuro slowly looked up.

“I came to these Islands, and I was saved.”

Kuro looked Ginion straight in the eye.

“For someone like me, who couldn't be 'normal' on Earth, this place is a sanctuary. So, I can't just let you go.”

Clenching his fists, he stated the simple method he would use to crush Ginion’s plan.

“If I defeat you here, your plan fails.”

Ginion’s plan to sever the worlds relied on showing just how much of a threat a Vampire could be. If Kuro defeated him alone, Ginion’s ultimate goal would never be achieved.

Who would fear a Vampire that was defeated by a single student from magicless Earth—a student who had only just enrolled in a minor school?

“...The children of Earth truly are arrogant. You should be more aware of what your history and technology have brought upon our world.”

Ginion scolded Kuro with the arrogance of an adult who looked down on the student’s words.

“Your world has taken away what our world was meant to experience. The meaning of so many lives, the steps they took to grow, the foundations they built, everything that constitutes a cultivated life! You outsiders have ground it all to dust and trampled on it. Do you not understand that resentment?”

“Then let me say this as a student of the Academy Archipelago.”

Kuro’s heart didn't waver at Ginion’s speech. Not as a person of Earth, but as a student of these Islands, he stated his opinion clearly.

“Don't you dare ruin our school life.”

Kuro had chosen to come here himself. And he wasn't the only one. Many children from both the Heaven Disc World and Earth had chosen to enroll of their own accord. The Archipelago was composed of students who had chosen the "now." Believing that a brilliant future lay ahead rather than a fading past, they studied, fought, and built relationships with their peers.

“You’re acting like you’re the representative of the Heaven Disc World, but you aren't. You’re not the only person from that world who gets to have an opinion.”

Pina had told him. She wanted to spend her high school life with him, Laurier, and Haruhana.

“There are plenty of students from your world who are looking forward to the school life they spend here.”

Kuro’s generation was the one that had been born and raised precisely because the old world had broken. They had no interest in the opinions of adults who only sought what was already gone.

“I’m going to beat you and save Pina. So we can spend our extraordinary youth at Tritonis Academy... take your ambitions and drop dead!”

At Kuro’s straightforward declaration, Ginion fell silent. He narrowed his eyes as if looking at something unpleasant, or perhaps as if enduring the pain of looking directly at something too bright.

“...Then I shall stake my very life to erase you.”

Ginion held his right arm out defencelessly. It was the symbol of him giving up his humanity—the monstrous wooden arm that had unified with his magic.

Ginion pulled a syringe from his pocket. Inside the transparent cylinder, a red liquid was visible. Kuro’s guard shot up.

“Let me teach you one thing, boy from Earth. Aside from their infectivity, Vampires possess a distinct harm to humanity.”

Changing into a Vampire provided a staggering leap in various abilities. Physical strength, a regenerative factor that healed wounds in an instant, immortality, and the ability to use magic without a Mana Crystal. Furthermore, unlike the legends on Earth, sunlight and silver were not weaknesses.

But there was a clear drawback. In fact, without this drawback, the Vampires—who had conquered death—might have established themselves as a new race of humanity in the Heaven Disc World.

“Just as my right arm has become monstrous, becoming a Vampire means the unification of magic and the physical body. And the magic coexisting within the body can, at times, devour the host. The magic itself takes control of the caster’s flesh, ousting the original personality and transforming them into a completely different creature—a monster.”

“You... don't tell me—”

“With this blood, I should be able to manifest the true threat of a Vampire!”

Before Kuro could shout out, Ginion moved. He had no hesitation in staking his life for his mission. Ginion plunged the needle into his monstrous right arm and injected the blood.

“Sprout—Dryad.”

The moment Ginion uttered the chant that cast aside his very self, he transformed into a single tree.

The wood of his right arm enveloped his entire body, undergoing an explosive growth that seemed to cause him to swell all at once. The bulging tree pierced through the stonework of the roof, crumbling the building materials like sugar candy as it instantly took root and swallowed the school building whole.

“You—!”

Kuro reflexively grabbed the still-unconscious Karane and Laurier in his arms. Ginion was already swallowed by the tree and nowhere to be seen. As the rapidly expanding wood destroyed the ground beneath him, Kuro reached out for Pina.

But he couldn't reach. Countless vines, thrashing about as if seeking nutrients, coiled around Pina and grew further, blocking Kuro. It even looked as if the tree was growing specifically with her at its center.

“Damn it all!”

He couldn't do it while carrying the two girls. Screaming in frustration, Kuro turned his back and prioritized escaping the 107th Branch School.

[Hi... heehee—Hyah-hahahaha! Good morning, you lower-order life forms! The superior species that will rule over you has awakened!!]

A cracked, electronic voice vibrated through the air. Hearing the voice behind him, Kuro looked back at the school. The monster that had been Ginion, the [Dryad], now covered the entire grounds of the 107th Branch, taking root in the earth and growing even further.

[My host, thank you for waking me up! As a reward, I’ll turn your fellow lower-order humans into livestock to provide me with nutrients! Hyah-hahahahaha!]

The laughter, which made no attempt to hide its malicious nature, echoed from the tree as it grew more branches and leaves.

After laying Laurier and Karane down in the shadow of a nearby building, Kuro glared at the massive tree that was behaving so unexpectedly.

The Dryad spoke as if the polite mask of a Gobot had been stripped away, revealing a nature that looked down on humanity. Numerous people, presumably students of the 107th Branch, were trapped within it. Human heads protruded from the bark like clusters of bells, making it look like a grotesque tree bearing obscene fruit.

It was likely keeping them alive so they could breathe while it siphoned their mana for nutrients. In the center of the trunk, he could see Pina, her entire body entwined with vines.

[Haha, this blood that woke me up, and this power I’m drawing from the ground—what incredible energy...! But this isn't enough. If I turn more humans into livestock and feed on them, I can grow even more!]

Not just the students who had been in the building, but the Gobots that had been lying around were also being absorbed by the Dryad. Among them was a familiar UFO-type Disciplinary Gobot. The magic's characteristic of possessing people and things had likely swallowed the consciousness of many Gobots, resulting in this apocalyptic personality being broadcast through the speakers.

In a sense, it was a monster that was the incarnation of a Gobot. Now that Pina had been taken, running away was not an option. Just as Kuro clenched his fists to charge in...

“What is that annoying plant...?”

“That is... a monster born from the runaway magic of Ginion after he became a Vampire. By the looks of it, its thoughts have been polluted by the Gobots it absorbed. How pitiful.”

“Eh? If it was influenced by those polite Gobots, wouldn't it have turned out differently?”

“Ah... I forgot that Karane-san was a Tourist.”

Karane and Laurier had woken up. Their own Mana Crystals were now back in the hands of the girls who had been released from Ginion’s restraints.

“Karane...”

“...Kuro. We’ll talk later.”

“Right... more importantly, Laurier.”

Kuro gestured toward the Dryad, which was currently occupying the schoolyard and continuing to grow, even as he wilted under Karane’s familiar chilly gaze.

“Pina’s trapped inside that thing.”

Laurier’s face stiffened at Kuro’s words. Standing beside her, Karane brushed back her black hair and narrowed her eyes.

“Pina... that's the silver-haired girl, right? Laurier’s friend?”

“Yes. She is my precious best friend who has always supported me.”

Laurier looked down for a brief moment before raising her head with a look of firm determination.

“Please lend me your strength. I know it is a brazen request to ask of Karane-sama, who has no connection to our school...”

“Fine by me. If she’s a friend of Laurier’s, she must be a good girl.”

“Thank you!”

There was an easy familiarity in the conversation between the two. While Kuro wondered when they had become so close, the discussion moved forward.

“Then, Karane-sama. I will clear the path, so please follow behind me. It would be ideal if the two of us could settle this... but if the worst happens, Kuro-sama, I ask you to rescue Pina.”

“I’m counting on you, Laurier. Kuro, you better do your part too.”

“Thank you. Karane-sama, please pour all of your proud anti-magic into that blade.”

Laurier placed her hand on the Mana Crystal at her chest, and purple lightning began to coil around her.

“Now then—here I go!”

Laurier dashed forward. Sensing someone approaching, the Dryad’s branches writhed ominously.

[Oh? A lowly human actually intends to resist? How cheeky.]

“Of course. A malicious existence like you must be subjugated!”

[What was that? Discriminating against someone you can communicate with? I like it! How discriminatory! Monkeys who are good at pretending to be clever despite not understanding the essence of things really do lack intelligence and class! Hyah-hahaha!]

Letting out a sickening laugh, the Dryad flexed its branches and leaves.

[I’ll grant you lower-order creatures the honor of becoming my nutrients!]

Countless branches lunged at the rapidly approaching Laurier. Facing an attack that overwhelmed human speed and closed in from all directions, Laurier didn't show the slightest hint of fear.

“[Mysterion]—[Lord Regalia (Lord Succession Tool)]!”

Pulling a lance from her chest as she sprinted, Laurier glanced at the Dryad’s attack.

“[Voltic Move—Lightning Speed]!”

Laurier vanished.

It was truly a flash of purple lightning. Moving at an overwhelming speed that left only a trail of light even on the retinas of the distant Kuro, she intercepted and sliced through every single branch that attacked her.

“You’re quite slow for something so large. It's laughable that you call yourself a superior life form.”

[Y-You...! How dare you! I can regenerate as much as I want! I can draw power from my roots and grow until that tiny little toothpick of yours can't even scratch me—]

“Where are you looking, you shitty plant?”

The Dryad, enraged by Laurier’s provocative words, felt its branches tremble.

Karane had plunged her katana into one of the roots exposed in the schoolyard. She had approached during the opening created by Laurier’s strike.

“[Unreal].”

[Ngh, gah! My roots... they aren't... working...!?]

“What is this mana... it's so heavy...” Karane grimaced as she gripped her sword. She had intended to pour her [Unreal] directly inside to disperse it all at once, but she was only able to paralyze the root functions and sever them from the trunk.

However, she had regained her weapon and cut off the energy supply from the ground. As proof of its effectiveness, the Dryad, which had been growing endlessly, came to a halt.

[Guh. You lower-order creatures who don't even know the joy of photosynthesis! Don't underestimate my power!]

The Dryad swung its branches to attack the Karane at its base, but Laurier’s lance sliced them away or her lightning scorched them. Yet, the number of attacks that regenerated as soon as they were lost was bottomless.

“Kuro-sama, go!”

“Right!”

The plan to settle the fight instantly with Karane’s anti-magic had failed. While the two of them drew its attention, Kuro ran in a straight line toward the Dryad’s trunk.

Before he woke the monster, Ginion had said that Pina was the core. Kuro didn't know the reason why. It might have had something to do with her being a Dampiel, but he put those thoughts aside for now. If he could pull Pina free, he should be able to sap the Dryad’s strength.

Reaching the trunk, Kuro placed his hands on the part holding Pina. It was less like a single tree and more like a mass of countless vines as thick as human arms. He reached between the wood coiling around her, the red patterns on his arms glowing as he poured strength into them to tear her free.

But Kuro’s strength just spun in place uselessly.

It was the feeling of falling into a pitfall he hadn't noticed. As if matching Kuro’s movement, the space where Pina was held gaped open, swallowing both of them into the center of the trunk.

“What!?”

[Hyah-hahaha, you idiot! I put that in plain sight just to use as bait! You had such an annoying look on your face! I figured if I used the girl as bait, you’d fall for it!]

Had it absorbed the resentment of the drone-type Disciplinary Gobots? It seemed Kuro had been a target from the start.

This is bad. Anxiety bloomed in Kuro’s chest. The hole that had opened began to close the moment it swallowed him and Pina. He tried to tear through the vines coiling around him while holding Pina with one arm, but the speed at which he was being dragged in was faster.

Just as he grit his teeth, thinking he had to at least get Pina out, Kuro’s back—which was being absorbed into the tree—collided with a flat wall.

It clearly didn't feel like wood. When Kuro looked back to see what it was, he locked eyes with an unexpected pair.

“Oh?”

“Ah, it's the Boss.”

It was the Kaldi siblings, who had been absorbed along with their car. It seemed they had escaped parasitism through the car’s frame and the film of wind.

Kuro’s face lit up at the discovery of this unexpected safe spot. “Good job, you guys!”

“Wait, no. We were fine on our own, and you were supposed to be doing your best—Ah!?”

Kurulukka’s scream was drowned out by the sound of the windshield shattering under Kuro’s fist. Hororokka pouted as their precious defense was breached.

“Aww! We were finally safe! Don't drag us into this, you idiot!”

“Damn it! I’m gonna hold a grudge for this, Boss! You owe me a hundred times over for this!”

“Shut up! Consider it payback for all the trouble you’ve caused me, you morons!”

Shouting back at the siblings, Kuro rolled into the car while holding Pina. He was safe, for now. As he gently laid Pina down on the back seat, her eyelids flickered.

“Ngh... Ku... ro...?”

Pina’s red eyes looked at Kuro as she whispered his name. Seeing her wake up, he let out a sigh of relief.

“Thank God. Pina. Are you okay?”

“Yeah... um, what happened... after I lost to Kuro?”

Pina, her consciousness gradually returning, looked around. As far as she could see through the windows, they were covered in writhing wood, and in the front, the Kaldi siblings were desperately trying to keep the vines from invading. The scene illuminated by the interior lights was quite nonsensical without context.

“...What is this situation?”

“Roughly speaking, Ginion went out of control and became a monster. We’re currently being swallowed inside that tree.”

“Hey! If the girl is awake, you better help us, Boss! This is a bad situation!”

“Big Bro’s right, don't slack off! Both you and, um... Crepe-Splattered Girl!”

“That was your fault, wasn't it!? My name is Pina!”

Pina shouted back at the insulting nickname she was greeted with upon waking.

“Oh, honestly! Anyway, I’ll help too—!”

Pina’s attempt to sit up stopped halfway. She was clearly far from being in top condition.

“Don't push yourself, Pina. You’re practically just out of a sickbed.”

“I have to. We can't afford to say that in this situation, can we? Don't worry. The blood doping has worn off, but I can still use magic.”

The smile Pina gave him showed she was clearly overextending herself. He had managed to pull her away from the Dryad, but the situation was far from optimistic. The Kaldi siblings seemed to have their hands full with defense, and Kuro hadn't fully recovered from his earlier battle. To escape, he wanted Pina to recover if possible.

“...Do you want to drink my blood?”

If she drank blood, her mana capacity would increase. Pina had certainly said so, and after seeing the obvious increase in her magical power during their fight at Tritonis, Kuro made the offer.

“Hya!”

For some reason, Pina gave a little start and let out an incredibly cute sound.

“I-It’s true that it’s one way, but. Um, Kuro? Your blood? Me?”

Pina, her words failing her, let her gaze wander everywhere before finally asking hesitantly, “...Is it really okay for me to drink your blood, Kuro?”

“If mine is okay, you can have as much as you want... oh, but if you hate it, please say so. I mean, you know. A guy’s mouth... I mean, putting your mouth on a guy...”

Thinking about it, she would be putting her mouth against his skin. Realizing that a girl would normally find that unpleasant, Kuro panicked.

“Of course you’d hate that. I’m sorry, really! That was insensitive of me.”

“...Aha. So that’s the reason.”

His concern wasn't about the act of vampirism itself, but rather the delicate social boundaries of a teenage boy and girl. A small smile played on Pina’s lips, revealing her charming trademark fang.

​“Um, Kuro. I think... it’s a good idea.”

​“Wait, you’re okay with it?”

​“Yes. But, I don’t want you to get the wrong idea.”

​“R-right.”

​Pina’s voice carried a sudden, quiet intensity that made Kuro bolt upright.

​“No matter how much of an emergency it is, I would never drink just anyone’s blood. Absolutely never.”

​With her cheeks dusted a faint crimson, Pina held Kuro’s gaze, her words carrying extra weight.

​“...I’m only doing this because it’s you, Kuro.”

​“Then, well...”

​Kuro didn't understand the full depth of it, but he could tell she was acting on a significant resolve.

​That was why he gave her his sincerest answer.

​“I’m only doing this because it’s you, too, Pina.”

​“...Mm.”

​Nodding shyly, Pina leaned in close.

​Because of their height difference, they shifted and adjusted their positions until, sitting side-by-side and facing one another, she pressed her face against the line of his neck.

It wasn't a rejection of the act of drinking blood itself To a 【Vampire】, the act of drinking blood was far more than a simple meal.

As Pina pressed her face against Kuro’s neck, she couldn't help but be acutely aware of what she was doing. For a Vampire, their daily diet was virtually identical to that of a human. Sucking blood was an act meant to increase their kind, and the thirst they felt for it was often intertwined with a passionate, pleasurable impulse.

Pina knew that Kuro, coming from Earth, wouldn't understand that nuance.

But still, she felt the need to confirm it. Even for a Dampiel like her, the act carried significant weight.

With a hand that trembled slightly, Pina brushed back her silver hair and cautiously brought her lips toward the nape of the boy's neck. Kuro gave a small start as her breath tickled his skin, and for a moment, Pina almost pulled away. If they made eye contact now, her embarrassment would only intensify.

Once she stopped, hesitation would take root. Sensing her tension, Kuro reached around and gave her shoulder a gentle, reassuring pat.

It’s okay, his touch seemed to say.

Her stiffened lips relaxed. With a faint smile, Pina pressed her mouth against the curve of his neck.

A slightly damp sensation. The touch of skin on skin.

The masculine scent of sweat. The faint saltiness on her tongue. The brush of his hair against her temple, and the sound of his breath tickling her ear—though overwhelmed by these new sensations of the opposite sex, Pina bared her elongated fangs.

With a clumsy puncture, the taste of blood flooded her mouth. It was metallic and raw—sensations that should have triggered a physiological revulsion—yet Pina felt no such disgust. She swallowed the hot blood filling her mouth.

As it traveled down her throat, something changed.

Inside Pina, Kuro’s essence exploded.

“—Ngh!”

A shock like electricity coursing through her nervous system jolted her. Her eyes flew wide at the sensation—a stimulus unlike anything she had ever known—and in that moment, Pina truly understood the meaning of drinking blood.

Kuro was entering her. Not just on the surface, but his very core, dissolved into his blood, was flowing into her. Through that scarlet medium, his body and soul surged into the deepest parts of her being, places she wasn't normally even conscious of.

Kuro's inflowing blood began to meld with her own. Through the liquid she swallowed, his thoughts poured into her. Their two separate currents became one, and the beating of their two hearts synchronized.

"Mnn... ah... nh!"

The distance she had once kept out of a sense of reserve had vanished. Pina wrapped her arms around Kuro’s neck, pressing her body flush against his. The more Kuro tried to pull back in surprise, the further the craving Pina pushed forward.

Her slender limbs entwined with his muscular frame. Her soft curves were crushed against the firm plate of his chest. With not a hair’s breadth of space between them, their skin met, exchanging and mixing their body heat. They gorged themselves on each other's blood, emotions, souls, and very lives.

The two of them shared a loneliness—opposites in nature, yet somehow identical.

By merging, the parts of themselves that had been lacking were suddenly made whole.

With every swallow of blood, as her understanding of him deepened, the voids left by a lifetime of isolation were filled. There was no holding back. She wanted more. She wanted to know everything about him, and she wanted him to know her. She wanted to be understood; she wanted to understand. Pina forgot to breathe, her lips pressed tight against the crook of his neck as she let out ragged, panting gasps. A wet, swirling pleasure pooled deep in her gut. Driven by a sweet impulse that saturated her brain, she clung to him, their skin melding together.

A sugary joy dampened her reason. A melting comfort. A sense of unity so profound she felt she might drown in it.

She wanted to stay like this forever.

But her yearning for an eternal connection was cut short by a frantic whispering from up front.

"B-Big bro... Boss and the girl are getting all hot and heavy...!"

"Stupid! Don't look, sis! That's strictly R-rated material right there!"

The objective commentary from the third parties sent the two of them springing apart.

"Just look forward and focus on defense, you idiots!" Kuro yelled.

"Hah?! Don't give us that, Boss! Not when you’re doing lewd stuff in the middle of a fight!"

"We’re working our butts off over here! What do you think an emergency is, you pervy Boss?!"

As Kuro and the Kaldi siblings bickered, their faces varying shades of crimson, Pina found herself blushing all the way to the tips of her ears.

It wasn't just from shame, though.

The power thrumming in her heart had reached its absolute zenith. Strength saturated her entire body; her blood roared with a predatory joy. Kuro was inside her. The missing pieces she could never fill on her own had clicked into place with him, and she could feel herself growing stronger by the exact measure of that fulfillment.

So this is blood-drinking.

It wasn't a mere replenishment from a blood pack. Having fed from human skin for the first time in her life, Pina felt a sense of completion and a sensual heat circulating through her that she could never have achieved alone.

"Kuro."

"Y-Yeah...?"

Kuro faltered at her call. There was a small wound on his neck. That was where her fangs had sunk in. The blood that had flowed from there was now inside her. Surrendering to the exquisite fluttering in her chest, she leaned in and whispered into his ear.

"That... felt really, really good♡"

An exhilaration so intense she hesitated to even give it a name filled her body.

If only I could share even a little bit of how I feel right now. Blaming her newfound dizzying emotions on the "blood-drunk" sensation, Pina rested her weight against Kuro’s shoulder.

The sensation of touching him, the heat radiating from his skin, the way he looked at her—it was all so unbearably comfortable, so ticklishly sweet.

"G-Gyah! It’s coming inside! You’re just a plant, what do you think you’re doing to us superior humans?!"

"Boss! Save us, Boss! The wiggly bits are all over Big Bro... B-Big Bro?! Big Broooo!"

It seemed the Kaldi siblings had reached their defensive limit. Hearing the screams echoing through the car, Pina and Kuro looked at each other and shared a wry smile.

"Better get us out of here fast," Kuro said.

"Yeah, you’re right. Leave this to me."

Lingering in the afterglow any longer would be an unforgivable luxury. Pina reached her hand toward the front of the vehicle.

"[Mysterion]."

She focused her consciousness into the Mana Crystal set in her ring, releasing the unprecedented power swelling within her.

"[Witchcraft]!"

The metallic broom, born amidst a swirl of flames, spun once in the cramped interior. She pointed the tip—a cluster of joined metal plates—away from the back seat and straight through the windshield.

"Here we go, Kuro!"

"Yeah! Give 'em hell, Pina!"

Bolstered by Kuro’s firm voice, Pina poured the power of the blood into her broom.

"[Flare]!"

The flames erupted.

Several minutes had passed since Kuro had been swallowed by the [Dryad].

Should I be the one to go for the rescue? Laurier wondered, her mind racing even as her spear shredded the relentless wooden vines attacking her.

It was possible for her to weave through the [Dryad]'s attacks and reach the trunk. She could even blow the entire trunk away from where she stood.

However, having manifested her [Lord Regalia], Laurier had no fine control over her output. Deleting the trunk with high-output magic would involve too many collateral casualties. Furthermore, if she left her current position, Karane—who was currently suppressing the roots' functions—would be left vulnerable.

"It’s okay, Laurier."

Perhaps sensing the irritation in Laurier's gaze, Karane spoke with calm composure. The moment the words left her lips, fire burst from the inside of the trunk.

"Ah...!"

Those flames were a magic Laurier knew all too well. As she saw her best friend emerge from the explosion, her crimson cloak fluttering atop her flying metallic broom, Laurier's tear ducts tightened, and her vision blurred.

Seeing the tears pooling in the corners of the princess's eyes, Karane shrugged.

"See? When push comes to shove, Kuro gets the job done."

"—Yes!"

Karane was right. Wiping away her tears, Laurier nodded with a radiant smile.

The wind pressure slammed into them from the front. Momentum yanked their bodies back. The sensation of soaring through the sky heightened the feeling of unity between the two of them.

Below, they could see Laurier practically radiating joy at their escape, Karane letting out a long sigh of relief, and the Kaldi siblings—who had been bucked off the broom by the shock of the exit—tumbling across the schoolyard.

[You... you little...! One after another, you inferior humans just keep pushing your luck! I’ll make you regret mocking me, you talking piles of ape-trash!!]

The [Dryad], enraged by Kuro and the others escaping its interior, went into a frenzy. Its slender leaves transformed into blades; the tips of its branches became sharp spearheads. While keeping the ground-bound Laurier in check, the remaining branches surged toward Kuro and Pina in the sky.

"Kuro, let's go!"

"Right behind you!"

The broom Pina piloted spat fire, banking hard to evade the gale of green blades intended to mince them. To keep from being thrown off by the centrifugal force of the sharp turns, Kuro gripped Pina’s slender waist tightly.

Pina's shoulders gave a small, sharp quiver at the strength in his arms.

"Ah, sorry. Did I grab you too hard?"

"...No, I'm fine! Just don't let go!"

A myriad of flames manifested around Pina as she answered.

"[Fire]!"

The burning bullets punched through the branches. The jet-broom dove through the gaps, either burning through the wood or reducing the leaf-blades to ash.

Unwilling to let them reach the core so easily, the overlapping layers of foliage formed a shield to block their path. The road that had been open was suddenly sealed shut. As they were forced to veer off course, the writhing branches began to encircle them.

The defense was ironclad. Kuro could feel a flicker of doubt from Pina’s back—the question of whether they could actually break through.

"Pina."

Kuro let go of her waist and stood up on the broom.

"Go straight."

Startled by the unexpected command, Pina looked up. Seeing the raw power radiating from Kuro as he stood tall, she set her jaw.

She didn't voice any doubts or anxieties. She simply looked forward, placing her absolute trust in those two words.

"Understood."

From Pina’s [Witchcraft], a torrent of fire erupted—several times more powerful than the blast she had used during her final showdown with Kuro.

The scorching heat—red, then blue, and finally reaching a white-hot intensity—condensed into a single mass of flame, settling into the bristles of the metallic broom.

"[Boost]!"

The flames, pushed past the point of human control, exploded.

The propulsion generated by the continuous detonations inside the broom's head tore through the atmosphere. They entered a velocity range that even Pina, the caster, couldn't control. It was less like flying and more like being shot forward at terminal velocity.

Facing the wall of wind pressure head-on, Kuro thrust his hand straight forward.

The responding branches surged like a green tsunami. Glowing a brilliant red, Kuro ignored the attacks aimed at himself, striking down only the branches that threatened Pina. Using the magically reinforced Kuro as the tip of their spear, the two of them pierced through the green storm as one.

The branch-tentacles shredded Kuro's skin, drawing blood, only to be stopped as they bit into his muscle. After enduring the agony of being torn apart, Kuro’s glowing red right hand punched into the green shield barring their path. It was the [Dryad]'s final line of defense. The massive wall of leaves shattered under the impact, and the way forward was blown wide open.

[Hyaha! Fell for it, you moron!!]

Waiting for them on the other side of the clearing vision was a cluster of man-eating plants, reshaped and overlapping like a giant Venus flytrap. The final trap hidden behind the green shield opened its vicious maw to swallow them whole.

"I thought so. If you were going to set a trap, it would be right here."

Pina’s voice, the voice of one who excelled at traps herself, was eerily quiet. Blocking vision with a wall while concealing a trap—it was the oldest play in the book. Pina took Kuro’s wounded right arm and gave it a lick, her tongue sweeping up and swallowing the flowing blood.

Her eyes burned with fury at the [Dryad] for wounding Kuro this badly.

Pina swung her metallic broom through the air, converting the swallowed blood into a gout of vengeful flame.

"[Bloom]!"

[Wha... uwaaaaaagh?!]

The hellfire, swinging down like a pillar of flame, incinerated the giant Venus flytrap. Pina’s attack didn't just burn away the trap; it reached the [Dryad]'s core, setting every single leaf on its branches ablaze.

Kuro landed atop the peak of the trunk, now completely bald after the greenery had been scorched away. He had leaped toward the [Dryad] just an instant before Pina transitioned into her broom attack.

"Get ready, you overblown weed."

[...Heh. Hehehe. Wait, wait a sec. Let’s... let’s just talk this out peacefully!]

The arrogant [Dryad] suddenly turned sycophantic. Its fawning voice echoed across the schoolyard, reaching Pina in the air and Laurier and Karane on the ground.

[I admit there was a misunderstanding on my part. A tragic missed connection that resulted in casualties on both sides. But listen! Philanthropy and dialogue are the basic postures of any intelligent being, right? Let's be friends, brother!]

"What are you even saying? Did eating that Kaldi guy affect your brain? ...Are those guys even still alive?"

Kuro glanced down and saw the elder Kaldi brother looking a bit drained, his sister shaking his shoulders back and forth frantically.

[What?! I’m repenting here! World peace is the common goal of humanity, isn't it? What does conflict ever produce?! Let's build peace through a dialogue based on interspecies fraternity and my own preservation!]

Faced with this pathetic begging for his life disguised as an appeal to ethics, Kuro looked to the girls on the ground for their opinion.

"He's saying all that... what should we do with him?"

"Death penalty," Karane said instantly.

"I have no desire to associate with a creature possessing less class than a Gobot," Laurier added.

"Sorry, but plants don't really have human rights," Pina chirped.

"Die, you crappy weed! That's for what you did to my big bro!"

The verdict was in: Karane, Laurier, then Pina. One extra opinion had slipped in at the end, but they could just count the Kaldi sister as Haruhana’s proxy.

Kuro shrugged at the tree that had so recently been preaching the spirit of peace as an intellectual lifeform.

"You heard 'em."

[You... you inferior filth aaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!]

The [Dryad] let out a shriek as it split apart.

The trunk cracked down the middle to form a maw, attempting to swallow Kuro along with Laurier, Karane, and Pina at its base.

Despite being tossed into the air, Kuro didn't feel a hint of panic. Normally, a close-quarters fighter like Kuro would have no countermeasure here. He would just fall and end up as a snack for that giant mouth.

But fear never came. He even had the leisure to idly think about how he’d almost been swallowed whole when he first arrived in the Academy Archipelago. Since Pina had drunk his blood, Kuro had been filled with a vitality that resonated with her surging power.

Following a mysterious certainty coursing through him, Kuro raised his hand to the sky.

A power flowing from his heart saturated his entire body. A massive, overwhelming power. A power so vast it made his opponent look like a mere speck. A monumental force that gave him the absolute conviction that he could seize the very world itself.

Responding to Kuro’s will, it surged into his right hand, becoming a crimson radiance.

"[Origin]."

Every drop of blood flowing from his wounds concentrated into his right hand.

It wasn't the physical reinforcement he’d been doing by instinct, nor was it the basic technique of shrouding himself in mana.

It had only been three days since he’d come to the Academy Archipelago. But they had been an incredibly dense three days.

This was the release of it all—Kuro’s very first act of [Magic].

"[Break]!"

Kuro’s mana—his blood—flickered like a flame, erupting from his right arm.

Surging and burning with a momentum similar to Pina’s [Bloom], the blood extended out into a massive, vicious crimson arm. The manifested giant limb seized the upper and lower jaws of the wide-mouthed [Dryad], digging its claws in to force the mouth shut.

[Gwah?!]

The [Dryad] let out a groan, its mouth clamped shut by the burning blood-hand. It twisted its massive trunk, trying to resist its destruction.

[Damn it... I... I’m not done yet. I was finally... finally born. I was going to grow, to multiply, to absorb both the inferior humans and the superior Gobots... I was going to show the two worlds the meaning of my birth—!]

"Like I give a damn."

From the spots where the sharp crimson fingertips had dug in, Kuro’s blood—burning with the heat of a lotus hell—set the great tree ablaze. The power of demon-breaking eroded and shattered the monster's mana. It was a destruction so total it made "splinters" look like a mercy. The blood-flames, burning from the inside out, traveled from the trunk to the branch tips and down to the roots in the earth, reducing even the smallest atomic nuclei of its matter to microscopic ash.

"Just hurry up and drop dead, you shitty plant!"

[Gu... aaaaaaaagh! Aaaaahhhhhhhhh—]

Every absorbed Gobot was smashed to pieces, and the cacophonous audio vanished.

The pulverization was so complete that neither regeneration nor multiplication was possible. The people who had been absorbed were released unharmed, and the microscopic fragments of the [Dryad] scattered into the air as a mysterious, shimmering phosphorescence.

Finally, emerging from the last shattered remains of the great tree, was Ginion.

"Impossible..."

Ginion took a staggering step, looking more stunned by what had happened to his body than by his defeat.

The magic he had allowed to run wild while integrated with his flesh had been shattered, and he had returned to human form—but that wasn't all. The mana that had made Ginion a [Vampire], the blood pumped from his heart, had been purged by Kuro’s magic.

Ginion, who had become a [Vampire], had been turned back into a human.

Returning a [Vampire] to human state was unheard of. Even the Watarase family’s [Unreal], which erased mana, wouldn't have caused this phenomenon. Looking up with an expression of disbelief, Ginion asked Kuro once more:

"...Who are you?"

"I told you at the start, didn't I?"

Kuro didn't even know his own true nature. That was exactly why he could say it so clearly.

"I’m Asahino Kuro, a transfer student at Tritonis Academy."

"I see..."

All the strength left Ginion’s body as he heard Kuro’s answer.

What filled his heart now was a sense of profound remorse. Ginion collapsed to his knees, looking up at the sky.

Only now did he realize why the motives he had preached hadn't resonated with Kuro.

The division of the two worlds... in truth, he hadn't cared about that at all.

His loyalty as a vassal, his pride as a noble, his position as the eldest son, his lingering attachment to the human race, or even his own life—none of it was truly important to him.

Facing defeat, the only thing that surfaced in his mind was the image of a single woman.

Ginion had simply wanted to offer her victory. He had become a [Vampire] for that alone. Because she had championed the division of the two worlds, he had staked his very life to be the foundation of her will.

"I could not... offer you victory... I am so... sorry..."

Offering an apology to the one he had thrown everything away for, Ginion fell face-forward on the ground before Kuro’s eyes.

Kuro, who had been standing on sheer willpower alone, also flopped over in the center of the schoolyard the moment he saw Ginion lose consciousness. Particles of light rained down from the sky where the Small Earth floated.

"Ah... haha. I'm actually pretty decent when I'm serious, aren't I?"

Through his repeated battles, Kuro had come to understand the nature of his ability.

The power to break demons.

Touching mana, seizing it, and crushing it. A power similar to, yet fundamentally different from, the anti-magic crystals passed down by the Watarase family resided in Kuro’s blood.

The nature of his power, which had been unknown until now, had finally been partially revealed in its sixteenth year. Feeling the tangible progress he’d made since coming to the Academy Archipelago, he clenched his fist tight while lying on his back.

As he savored the victory, a shadow suddenly fell over him. A face looking down at him blocked out the sun.

"Good work."

Pina knelt beside him, smiling to reveal her charming snaggletooth.

"You were so cool, Kuro."

"...Thanks."

He rolled over to face away as he answered.

He couldn't act cool if she saw how much he was blushing. Pina gave a teasing grin at his attempt to hide his embarrassment.

"Gosh... I came here to bring Kuro back, so how did it end up like this...?"

"Eh?! If you take Kuro-sama back, I shall be very troubled...!"

Karane, who was speaking with Laurier, approached Kuro.

In the end, Karane had caught up to him, but it was fine. He had a place to belong now that wasn't the Watarase household. He had found an option other than returning to the Watarase family here in the Academy Archipelago.

Tritonis Academy was his new home.

With that conviction, Kuro slowly closed his eyes against the fatigue.

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