At night, atop the conning tower, golden mist gradually condensed into human form.
This was a technique known as Mist Form, an ability possessed by vampires of the First Primogenitor's bloodline, allowing them to turn their bodies into mist.
The blond-haired, blue-eyed nobleman was Vattler—Dimitrie Vattler, Duke of the Principality of Ardeal, a territory under the Warlord's Empire.
Before him, someone else had already arrived at the conning tower.
"Are you admiring the Demon Sanctuary, Itogami Island? The view is quite fine."
He addressed the boy before him in a respectful tone.
The black-haired, dark-skinned boy could not help giving a cold laugh.
"In the end, it is only a counterfeit land created from scrap iron and magic. Nothing but junk."
"Still, it is junk on an absurd scale. That is the sort of thing that makes humans interesting."
"I see... You are Dimitrie Vattler?"
The boy looked back at the affectedly smiling young nobleman and narrowed his eyes fiercely.
Vattler brought a hand to the breast of his coat and gave a solemn bow.
"It is an honor to meet you, Your Highness Prince Iblisveil Aziz. I never imagined that one of the Second Primogenitor's direct line would personally visit this Demon Sanctuary in the Far East. To be frank, I am somewhat surprised."
"This is entertainment that comes only once every seventy years. I ought to pay it the proper courtesy. Leaving everything to my servants while I pretend to stand apart from it all would be rather lacking in elegance, wouldn't it?"
The boy named Iblisveil bared the sharp fangs at the corners of his lips as he told Vattler this.
Standing beside the slender Vattler, he looked even younger by comparison. Yet the sinister, vicious presence emanating from that small body was in no way inferior to Vattler's.
"I am deeply impressed by your insight, Your Highness."
Vattler answered respectfully.
Iblisveil, however, looked at Vattler in displeasure and clicked his tongue right in front of him.
"I'm the one who wants to ask what you're plotting, Vattler. This place is no battlefield, is it? Have you come to devour the Fourth Primogenitor? Or is it me you came looking for?"
"You jest. This time, I am merely a witness—the witness responsible for guiding them..."
"Them?"
Iblisveil frowned in confusion and glared at Vattler.
"Don't tell me you've let those dolls run loose, Vattler!"
"After all, this is a rare banquet. It would be a shame not to enjoy it properly, wouldn't it?"
Vattler narrowed his blue eyes with a composed smile.
The black-haired prince shook his head again and again, as if he had just seen an unbelievably foolish man.
"You want to throw beasts carrying bombs into a powder magazine? You are an even more ridiculous fool than the rumors say."
"But it will make the banquet more exciting, will it not?"
Vattler smiled, recalling the surprise brought to him by the vessel in his possession.
The Fourth Primogenitor's Beast Vassal summoned by the vessel—although Vattler was confident he could defeat it, according to her account, today she had encountered a monster-like woman who had destroyed her Beast Vassal in an instant.
That was something Vattler, as he was now, absolutely could not do.
Ah... I want so badly to meet that person. What sort of person could she be?
He could not suppress the anticipation in his heart. He was looking forward to discovering even more surprises in this banquet.
"It seems this Demon Sanctuary still hides many, many secrets... How very exciting."
"Please show some restraint, Duke of Ardeal."
A Japanese girl in a high school uniform responded to Vattler's murmur.
She was a plain girl with braided hair, dowdy glasses, and a book tucked beneath one arm.
Yet even facing two powerful vampires alone, she remained perfectly composed. There was no fear in her eyes, no sign of nervousness. She even had the courage to offer them advice.
Koyomi Shizuka... the girl who had previously been thwarted by Ciel now appeared here.
"Hmph. One of the current Three Saints of the Lion King Organization? How young."
Iblisveil looked at the girl and snorted without much emotion.
The girl's expression did not change. She merely saluted Iblisveil with her gaze.
"My name is Koyomi Shizuka... I look forward to your guidance from now on, Your Highness Aziz, Duke of Ardeal. I am likewise deeply humbled that you both could spare the time tonight."
"I did not come all the way to this tiny island nation in the Far East to listen to your nonsense. Have the other Electors still not arrived? The sin of making me wait will not be so easily repaid."
Iblisveil smiled ferociously.
"...Oh? Is that so? Then it seems I'll need to think carefully about how to compensate you."
A new voice suddenly came, causing the three of them to turn.
Against the backdrop of the star-filled night sky, a lightly dressed girl with flowing pale-green hair appeared in empty air.
Her eyes were emerald, like a deep lake. The girl called to mind a black panther, with a beautiful face both alluring and resolute.
She showed her cute little fangs and offered Vattler and the others a friendly smile.
"It can't be... the Chaos Bride...?!"
Iblisveil cried out softly. Toward Vattler and Koyomi Shizuka, he had remained arrogant and high-handed throughout, but before the green-haired girl, he did not dare show the slightest disrespect.
The First Primogenitor, the Lost Warlord, ruler of the Warlord's Empire and master of Europe.
The Second Primogenitor, Fall Gazer, ruler of the Fallen Dynasty and overlord of Western Asia.
The Third Primogenitor, the Chaos Bride, ruler of Chaos Zone and ruler of the Americas.
He, Iblisveil, was only the Ninth Prince of the Fallen Dynasty. No matter what, he could not compare to the Third Primogenitor, the Chaos Bride.
"That old grandfather of ours would surely regret missing this if he learned of it... To think the Third Primogenitor would come in person."
Vattler was just as astonished. He dropped to one knee and bowed deeply, while a smile appeared at the corners of his mouth—a smile of delight at encountering a powerful foe.
"I don't like such grand titles. Just call me Giada."
One of the strongest and oldest vampires—Giada Kukulcan—said this with a confident smile.
"You too, Paper Noise."
"...As you command. Then, from now on, please permit me to address you as Giada Kukulcan."
Koyomi Shizuka lowered her head and answered humbly.
Giada smiled and nodded, seemingly quite satisfied with Koyomi Shizuka's response. Then she turned to look at Vattler and Iblisveil.
"Let me ask while I'm here: how are those two doing? Eight years ago, the three of us were all hurt pretty badly. I still haven't fully recovered even now, so I'm a little curious whether those two are in as sorry a state as I am."
Giada's voice was light, as though she were speaking of some trivial matter that had nothing to do with her.
Instead, the eyes of the other three present flickered faintly.
...
Mentioning eight years ago naturally brought to mind that great battle that shook the world, the battle that took place in the Warlord's Empire.
Those who participated were the undisputed strongest beings in this world, the pinnacle—the three Primogenitors who ruled their Dominions... Or rather, the vast majority of people in the world believed there had only been those three.
There was no helping that. The aftershocks of that battle had been too terrifying. Every method of observation lost its effect, and even vampires with the strongest vitality were crushed to death in droves by the fallout.
Only an extremely small number of people, including the three Primogenitors themselves, knew the truth.
"We are grateful for your concern. Our king's recovery has gone smoothly enough, and he remains in robust health."
Vattler spoke respectfully, with a demeanor no one could fault.
"...No idea. The one from my family has always been mysterious. Even I cannot understand what he is thinking. At least on the surface, he doesn't seem to be in any great trouble."
Iblisveil closed his eyes and answered indifferently.
Among the three Primogenitors, the Second Primogenitor, Fall Gazer, had always been the most mysterious. He had always lived in seclusion, and even among the nobles of his own bloodline, very few knew his true identity or whereabouts.
"If Ki has recovered smoothly, then Aswad-Guul should be more or less recovered too. After all, he was the least injured of the three of us. In contrast, I was the one hurt the worst back then, because I charged furthest ahead. At the time, I really thought I was going to die."
With an easy smile, Giada said those words in a joking tone.
If summoning Beast Vassals to fight was Giada's gift, then close combat was her hobby.
Giada could alter her own body—not only changing her appearance, but even manifesting beastly traits such as claws and a carapace. In addition, she possessed extraordinary martial skill and bore the title "Ancestor of Martial Arts." Her Beast Vassals could even transform into living weapons with wills of their own for her to wield.
During that great battle, once her opponent displayed impressive martial arts, her fighting spirit was stirred, and she rushed forward to engage them in close combat. That was why, after the battle ended, she was the most severely injured.
The First Primogenitor had fought the opponent alone for an entire day and night before she and the Second Primogenitor arrived on the battlefield to reinforce him. Yet in the end, she, the latecomer, had suffered even more serious injuries than the First Primogenitor for that very reason.
"...If I may be so bold, during that great battle eight years ago, aside from the three Primogenitors, was there a fourth person...? Or rather, was the truth of that battle that the three Primogenitors joined forces against a certain powerful foe?"
Vattler, Iblisveil, and Koyomi Shizuka were all extremely curious about the truth of what had happened back then, and Vattler was the first to voice the question.
Naturally, neither Vattler nor Iblisveil had been on that battlefield eight years ago. Otherwise, the two of them would not have had the chance to stand here now.
Even if they had survived by luck, they would certainly have ended up gravely wounded. At the very least, they would not have been able to come all the way to Itogami Island now to participate in the Blazing Banquet.
That battle had taken place in the Warlord's Empire. As the Ninth Prince of the Fallen Dynasty, Iblisveil naturally would not have appeared on that battlefield, while Vattler had been in his own territory at the time, some distance away from the battlefield.
Vattler had always regretted that... If his guess was correct, and that truly had been a battle between the three Primogenitors and some powerful enemy, then even dying there would have been worth the price of admission.
"Hmm... Are you all that curious? About the truth back then..."
The corners of Giada's mouth lifted slightly, revealing a playful smile.
"What should I do? Should I tell you or not...? I feel as though telling you would be quite amusing..."
She opened her mouth, but her pupils suddenly contracted.
The words she had not yet spoken caught in her throat.
Of the other three present, Vattler and Iblisveil's expressions also changed.
Only Koyomi Shizuka felt nothing at all.
"Koyomi Shizuka" was not the name of any one person. In each generation, the one who inherited that seat among the Lion King Organization's Three Saints abandoned their original name and took on the name and position of "Koyomi Shizuka."
This generation's Koyomi Shizuka possessed the ability Paper Noise, which allowed her to insert the timing of her attack into nonexistent time, making the attack occur first. This made her attacks difficult to defend against and impossible to evade.
The girl herself did not possess particularly powerful martial ability or knowledge of magic. She had become one of the Lion King Organization's Three Saints purely because of this ability. If she were given a weapon capable of countering vampire Primogenitors, then theoretically speaking, she could kill a Primogenitor... Of course, that remained only theoretical.
At the very least, not a single Primogenitor would regard Koyomi Shizuka as a threat to be feared. At most, they would treat her as a minor diversion in their long, boring lives.
It was also because, aside from the ability Paper Noise, the girl was more or less an ordinary person that she did not sense that thing the way the other three vampires did.
In that instant, the ordinary people on Itogami Island essentially felt nothing.
But those creatures with keen senses, great strength, and long lives all clearly felt its presence. They were shocked by it, terrified by it, made to tremble by it.
Killing intent!
Cold killing intent that had crossed more than half of Itogami Island, yet remained utterly terrifying.
The keener one's senses, the greater one's strength, and the longer one had lived, the more one could feel from that killing intent.
How should one describe Vattler and Iblisveil's situation at that moment?
It was as though every blade of grass and every tree between heaven and earth—even every tiny droplet of water in the air—had transformed into a weapon capable of taking their lives, releasing lethal killing intent toward them.
Yet those two also understood in an instant... all of that was only the lingering force. What they felt was merely one tributary branching off from a surging river.
The true target of that killing intent was the Third Primogenitor standing with them, Giada Kukulcan.
"...I see. So this is where you ran off to."
Giada murmured softly, the magical power spilling from her body fluctuating unstably.
Although Koyomi Shizuka could not feel that killing intent, she could sense the terrifying Primogenitor-class magical power emanating from Giada, surpassing Vattler and Iblisveil and shaking the atmosphere itself.
Her expression shifted several times, but she could find no opening to speak and stop Giada.
At this moment, Giada's emerald eyes no longer held anyone else. She lifted her chin with a delighted smile and cast her gaze far toward the source of that killing intent.
"How heartbreaking. Do you really dislike my arrival that much?"
As if she were reuniting with an old friend, Giada's tone carried the faintest trace of nostalgia.
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T/N: bah whatever i dont feel like showing images
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