Editing The Unexplored Summon Blood Sign:Volume6 Chapter3 (section)

===Part 7===

The situation changed just before noon.

“Ah!?”

The black-haired shrine maiden suddenly sat up on the top floor of a luxury apartment.

Meinokawa Renge had no idea why she was here and she shuddered at the unfamiliar flavor she found in her mouth.

“Huh? What was I doing? What happened!? The date on the TV is different and what happened with Azale-…with all that???”

And before even checking on her disheveled clothing, she checked for her sister. She looked around the area in a panoramic view.

“~ ~ ~”

She did indeed see a blonde shrine maiden (with a flushed face) who had apparently woken up just like her, but her eyes immediately locked onto the gloomy hoodie bastard who was embracing her cute twin sister from behind.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing to my Higan!? This calls for the death penalty!!”

“No, Renge, you need to watch out! Um, behind you!!”

“Hm?”

Confused, she turned around and saw a 5 meter beast there: the white liger☆

“Ah, abyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!?”

She got up and tried to scramble away, but she tripped quite spectacularly and made a perfect hole-in-one on Shiroyama Kyousuke and Meinokawa Higan. ''I see,'' she thought. ''So Higan woke up shortly before I did and followed the exact same path along this tricky 7th hole.

Kyousuke lay sprawled out with a twin sister in each arm, but he focused on his business and asked Aika a question.

“A-any progress?”

“As your spiritual little sister, I’m starting to think I should reach for my bikini’s knots to emerge victorious in the battle over you, but fine. We had hits in A Block, Z Block, and P Block. I honestly think you should start with P Block since it was the most recent one, but…”

After receiving a photo of 3A from Lu Niang Lan of Illegal (in exchange for a large debt of gratitude), he had passed that on to Aika of Government (in exchange for looking after the shut-in) and she had searched for the girl using Toy Dream 35’s public crime prevention system. That had given them some general location information. She could not go around in a full-face helmet all the time and she would grow careless on occasion no matter how cautious she was.

But this was no more accurate than telling them which of the 26 blocks she had last been seen in.

In that case, they needed something more.

That was where the item bought from Lu Niang Lan came into play.

Claude Magentarain used an animal vessel. It was a giant bird of prey and its name was Ricky. They had no way of knowing how much he cared for the bird, but he would certainly be in trouble if he lost it in enemy territory. He was a summoner, so he could not use his power without a vessel.

That led to a simple answer: Edelchohilaris Disease.

Those parasites were fatal to birds of prey but had no effect on humans and their eggs had been scattered across P Block. That would ensure that Claude went running to the nearest animal hospital.

Kyousuke and Sekurtiti left Aika’s luxury apartment.

They made their way to one of the giant bridges crisscrossing between the buildings.

The Tomb Priestess was still dressed in her bandages, L-shaped transparent lace, and gold decorations, but she was also wearing her yukata since they had to take a train to P Block.

“I have heard of those. They’re called capsule toys.”

“I don’t think any kid would use that official name.”

“I-I heard they are a nightmarish trap that keeps you from ever quitting once you’ve started. Tremble tremble.”

“Maybe I should have a chat with that old man in a casual suit.”

This time, they were working with Biondetta and her white snake. Kyousuke was going to use everything available to him. He was willing to fight Claude two-against-one.

Drawing him out was one thing, but they still had no idea how powerful he was. And with the glimpses of the White Queen they were getting, it was unclear how much he could use her in an actual battle.

If possible, Kyousuke wanted to hit him with a quick attack before she showed up.

If he was alone, they could crush him two-against-one. If he had help, Biondetta could clear out the others while Kyousuke focused on Claude.

“Hee hee hee. But I see you didn’t go for three-against-one.”

“Oh, you mean those twins. They haven’t made any kind of contract with me and they won’t be at their best so soon after recovering from their defeat. Plus, Renge apparently had all of her organs taken out and put back in. I’m not foolish enough to use something with so many uncertain factors.”

“Yes, let’s go with that. Oh, Kyousuke-chan is growing up so fast.”

Kyousuke looked like he really wanted to say something, but the horned demon in an Oiran-style mini yukata only smiled and poked at his cheek with her skinny index finger.

The city was as peaceful as ever. For the Tanabata Fair, smiling families wearing yukatas and jinbei were crossing the giant bridges and using their light filtered smartphones to visit tourist locations.

Within all that, Sekurtiti sighed in exasperation.

Her eyes followed a stray cat out for a walk around its territory.

“It was very cruel of you to spread a plague through the pharaoh’s new resting place prepared by President Toydream.”

“I had to go this far to draw Claude out of hiding. …And if he’s connected to the White Queen, then this does not even approach cruel in comparison.”

If Claude had the White Queen, he might not need any other Material. But anyone could tell how dangerous it was to use that capricious queen as your primary fighting force. Any proper summoner would also want to keep a vessel handy.

“Edelchohilaris Disease is such a powerful avian illness that they planned to intentionally disseminate it to eliminate the risk of a dangerous infection carrier when there was an explosion in the population of scavenging vultures. But they couldn’t properly calculate out the influence on the environment, so the plan was shelved. And it’s a rare parasite in Japan, so not many animal hospitals keep the serum on hand. There’s only the one place in P Block.”

“So the streets are filled with eggs of a bug that causes a dangerous disease?”

“How many tens of thousands of varieties of germs with Latin names do you think are lurking in the parks everyone relaxes in? Not to mention all the intestinal bacteria in your gut. Looking into those details is a good way to inspire an obsession with cleanliness.”

“I just hope the tomb raiders are the only ones who will suffer from this plague. Like a curse brought by the pharaoh.”

It was a relatively large animal hospital known by the locals as the Menagerie Hospital. That name and its prosperity were likely due to the fact that it primarily served dangerous pets imported from overseas: ferocious beasts, venomous bugs, carnivorous fish, etc. It was a niche business that was highly skilled but served a limited demographic. The panda statue in front of the entrance seemed to be the mascot of an animal-related pharmaceutical company. Aika might have known more since she lived with that white liger.

Perhaps because it was an animal hospital, it did not have an emergency outpatient entrance like a normal hospital would. Kyousuke’s group set up their position in the bushes next to the parking lot, where they could see both the front gate and the emergency exit. Since she no longer had to worry about people’s eyes on her, Sekurtiti reached for her yukata’s obi as she crouched down next to Kyousuke.

“…So you really are going to take it off.”

“?”

The serious girl did not hesitate to reveal her bandages, Y-shaped lace cloth, and golden decorations and she tilted her head with the golden tiara on top, so reasonable Kyousuke breathed a depressed sigh.

On his other side, Biondetta was feeding pellets of food to the white snake that crawled out of her yukata’s chest.

“There they are. Hmm, and no sign of putting a sniper in place. Does he not want to let any weakness show in front of his men? No, he might just be a lone wolf.”

“Yeah.”

They did not have to wait long.

It was Claude Magentarain and 3A.

The large man with a missing arm and an eyepatch looked like a pirate captain. The girl in a dress had a unique coloring reminiscent of a snow spirit despite it being July. They were jogging across the parking lot. And while holding a large but limp bird of prey. Kyousuke smiled while hiding behind the bushes. This man was involved with the White Queen and he was seeking the Founder’s Gallery and the Natural History’s missing entries, but he seemed to still have enough of a heart to care for the family pet.

For a brief moment, a past experience threatened to ensnare Kyousuke’s soul.

But he shook it off. And he spoke with the cold heart of someone waiting in ambush.

“Let’s get started.”

The two summoners moved simultaneously. Kyousuke pulled an Incense Grenade from his pants pocket and Biondetta pulled one from between her legs in the mini-yukata. They both pulled the pin and threw it. The delay was between 3 and 5 seconds. Even if Claude noticed and tried to knock them away, one or the other would detonate before he could reach it.

But Claude reacted swiftly here. Before the two Incense Grenades could go off, he reached into his coat. He pulled out a gun that looked like an enlarged version of the flintlock guns used in the Age of Discovery. It was a single-shot grenade launcher and he did not hesitate to fire it at his own feet.

At first glance, the result might have seemed the same.

An Artificial Sacred Ground quickly formed and it contained Kyousuke, Biondetta, and Claude. But control of a mixed Artificial Sacred Ground belonged to the summoner whose Incense Grenade detonated first. So when their footing was destroyed and they fell, if Kyousuke landed on the ground and Claude on a pillar, the next Artificial Sacred Ground would appear in relation to Claude’s footing. That advantage could not be taken lightly.

Claude had likely understood the situation from the moment he had pulled the launcher’s trigger.

And no matter how much his bird of prey partner was suffering, it would be distanced from death while fighting as a Material. But only for that long.

Kyousuke had Sekurtiti stay by his side, Biondetta placed the white snake on the pavement after it slithered out from the chest of her Oiran-style yukata, and Claude released the weakened bird of prey into the air once more. The man used his surviving left hand to swing and open up his retractable Blood-Sign and he linked with 3A whose dress fluttered around her and displayed her slender silhouette. They held the Blood-Sign straight ahead in their three-legged race style.

“…Not bad.”

“You interfered with us and didn’t hesitate to steal the key we needed for the hostage exchange, so did you really think we’d let you escape unharmed? Don’t screw with me, ghost. Just because things worked out in the end is no excuse. That was only how it turned out.”

“Oh? So you want the Natural History’s missing entries that badly? Well, I guess it is hard to fight the Queen’s pull.”

“You have no right to say that to me.”

Both sides had pulled out their Blood-Signs. They aimed the tips at the floating White Thorns and stared at the Rose made of 216 Petals that appeared at the midpoint between them.

“I don’t know what you hope to accomplish by taking advantage of the situation and gaining the Natural History’s missing entries. But if it has anything to do with the White Queen, I will do whatever it takes to crush you. I’m sure I don’t have to explain why to you of all people. You’re the one that saved me from that hell!!”