17. Where There Is Light, There Is Shadow; Where There Is No Light, There Is Only Shadow

Author: Kiki
Raw: https://novel18.syosetu.com/n2498fn/19/
Translator: Lilia v4
Editor: Yuriko AYA

Ellis slashed apart the orb of light with her claws.
Unable to maintain its spherical shape, the mass of magical power suffered a spell collapse. It warped, exploded, released a shock wave, and vanished.

“Ghh!”

She shielded her eyes with an arm against the flash that filled her vision and braced her feet against the blast that threatened to fling her away.
Perhaps because she was exposed to the light, her skin prickled as though it were burning, though it was not quite painful.
Once the shock wave had eased somewhat, she sprang sideways to evade another orb that had already closed in from the front, then fixed her eyes on Leia.
It was the human who was casting the magic. Reese, the doll, was no more than a means of communication.
Ellis did wonder why Leia did not speak with her own voice—but she immediately discarded the thought.
There was no need to think about someone who was going to die anyway.

“Haaah!”

Ellis leapt at Leia.
She appeared to mean to take her head in a single swipe of her claws.
Though she saw Ellis coming, Leia did not even try to evade.
Was fear keeping her body from moving—or did she have some other means of defense?
Suspicious, Ellis nevertheless kept enough room in her thoughts to react at once if some spell intercepted her.

“So predictable. I suppose that is all you inhuman things ever are.”

The doll spoke.
Reese raised its cloth fist and stepped in front of Leia.

“You think a stuffed toy can stop me?!”
“I protect Leia. Otherwise, there is no point in my being Reese.”

Reese jumped and caught the claws descending toward Leia.
With a clang, as if metal had struck metal.
It was not ordinary cloth; magic had likely reinforced it.
Ellis retreated from the doll for the moment.
But Reese would not let her get away. The black-cat doll scurried toward Ellis on two legs, leapt, and threw punches in rapid succession at her face, stomach, and legs.

“Give it up. Dodging will not give you a chance!”

Ellis continued to evade Reese’s attacks by the narrowest margins.
But she knew there was no end to this if it continued.
Reese was not her only enemy. Leia had already created another orb of light and was about to send it at her.

“You are in my way!”

Timing her strike for the instant Reese landed, Ellis kicked.
The doll did not attempt to avoid it.
It caught the blow head-on and clamped both hands around Ellis’s leg.

“What?! Ahhh!”

It dragged her down, then, without letting go, whirled her round and round.

“I told you: know your place!”

Reese released her.
Ellis’s body flew through the air and slammed into the wall.
The crash of shattering masonry seemed to echo through the entire castle.
Embedded in the brick wall, she slowly slid down and collapsed limply to the floor.
Leia aimed an orb of light at her, larger than the last.

“I cannot understand why a vampire is not weak to light, but even you will be finished by this. Goodbye, vampire. In the next world, reflect on what you did to humans.”

As Reese delivered its parting shot, the orb left Leia’s hand.
A mass of magical power large enough to swallow Ellis whole bore down on her.
Ellis finally came fully to and lifted her face to watch it approach, but her body would not move properly.
—Sister will be angry.
I slipped out on my own, tried to kill Miyako on my own, and now I am going to die on my own.
Even Sister would finally lose patience with me. A thrall who died in a jealous rampage deserved to be discarded.

“I am sorry, Sister … I am such an idiot …”
“You certainly are. You were far too reckless.”
“Huh?”

At Ellis’s ear, she heard the voice she had heard countless times—and would have wanted to hear even in death.
She thought it might be a hallucination in her final moments, but Chigusa emerged from Ellis’s shadow.

“Still, this was caused by my own half-measures. We are both idiots, Ellis.”

Chigusa stepped in front of Ellis and raised her left arm to stop the orb.
But the orb changed shape as though it were clinging to her arm.
It was apparently a fundamentally different spell from the one Ellis had cut apart before.
It enveloped Chigusa’s arm, burned it away, and erased it. That was the magic Leia had cast.

“Sister, your arm?!”
“I thought I could stop it, but it seems to have been stronger magic than I expected.”

Chigusa spoke calmly.

“Another vampire … and you use shadows. You must be the ringleader. But wounded as you are, you cannot defeat us!”
“Wounded?”

Chigusa tilted her head and put the slightest bit of force into the severed end of her left arm.
Then black shadows oozed from it, forming an arm that should have been gone.
At last the shadow changed to her natural skin tone, and her lost left arm had regenerated completely.

“Impossible. Even for a vampire, I have never seen regeneration that fast!”
“I cannot comment, since I do not know the others. But if I use shadows, this much is effortless, is it not?”

There was an unhurried confidence in Chigusa’s manner.
Leia sensed the gulf between her and Ellis.
Chigusa gave off no pressure like killing intent; that was what made her unnatural, and all the more frightening.

“Then you were the one who charmed Miyako. But that is unfortunate for you. The charm has already been broken. Miyako will never come to see you again.”
“… Is that so?”

Chigusa lowered her eyes for a moment, her expression complicated.
She did not know whether she ought to be sad or glad.

“By the way, you knew Ms. Mikage.”
“That way of addressing her … it is the same as the other people brought here. Could you be one of those summoned too? No, surely not—are you Chigusa Hinata, who died the moment she arrived?”
“Oh? You know about me as well?”
“How did you survive in that state …? No, if you became a vampire, there must be a vampire somewhere who made you into one. There is only one possibility—”

Leia recalled the vampire who had infiltrated the castle some time ago to charm the “Princess.”
She had heard that, after a knight noticed something wrong with the Princess, he cut the vampire down, disposed of her, and had her body thrown into the Discard District.

“That knight said he had taken care of the vampire named Camilla—did he fail to kill her? And she lent her power to someone transported from another world, of all people? This is absurd. You are a hybrid of a vampire’s power and an otherworlder’s power. You are far too dangerous!”
“I do not really understand what you are saying, but it is true that Camilla saved my life. More precisely, I suppose we saved one another’s lives.”
“No, no, no. I cannot leave a monster like you at large. I have to dispose of you here!”
“… Am I imagining it, or are we not communicating at all?”

Looking a little lonely, Chigusa asked Ellis that question.
In the opening created by their exchange, Reese closed on Chigusa from behind in an instant.

“Sister, behind you!”
“I only want to take Ellis home.”

Chigusa turned and caught Reese’s fist in one hand.
With absurd ease.
As though an ordinary person had picked up an ordinary stuffed toy.

“Your power is nothing like that vampire’s!”
“Do not underestimate Ellis too much, or I really will be angry.”
“Tch!”

Reese sprang back from Chigusa.

“The cleanup will be troublesome, so I do not want to use this too much …! Ngh, aaaaah!”

Countless blades burst from inside Reese’s body, tearing through the stuffed cloth.
It apparently intended to use its speed to cut Chigusa to pieces with those blades.
Leia also muttered an incantation, bringing countless spheres of light into being around them.
Yet at the sight of them, Chigusa’s composure did not waver.
She merely wore her usual gentle smile.

“Do not think you can keep that composed face forever!”

Reese kicked off the floor and charged Chigusa.
Chigusa slowly held her right hand out before her.
Countless black hands emerged from the shadow behind her and wrapped themselves around Reese.

“What … the shadows …!”

The shadows gently enclosed the doll’s entire body—
Rip!
They tore it apart in every direction at once.

“…!”

Fear twisted Leia’s face.
She had poured a great quantity of magical power into that reinforced doll, and yet it had been destroyed with absurd ease.
She understood at last.
This vampire, Chigusa Hinata, was far stronger than any enemy she had ever faced.
Leia was the kingdom’s proud, invincible strongest witch.
Against humans, even people summoned from another world with powerful magical energy were no match for her.

“I am sorry.”

Leia stared wide-eyed at Chigusa, then was even more astonished to see her bow deeply.

“I thought it was only a doll, but judging from your reaction, it seems to have been important to you.”
“…”
“I will put it back, so please do not be so afraid.”

Shadows extended from behind Chigusa again, gathering Reese’s scattered pieces.
They repaired its seams, and in the blink of an eye the black-cat doll had returned to its original form.

“And, as a token of apology, I have a present for you.”

Once broken, the doll should no longer have contained any of Leia’s magical power.
It should have been nothing but a stuffed toy.
But Reese stood on its own and walked toward Leia.

“Hello, Leia. I am Reese.”
“…?! ”
“Because Leia loved me, I was able to gain a self like this.”

Reese slowly approached her.
At the sight, Leia desperately shook her head from side to side.
As though to say, No, no, this is not Reese.

“Using the impressions left in the stuffed toy as a basis, I formed a personality with shadows. I did not put anything into it, of course, so I am sure you will be able to get along even better than before.”

Chigusa meant nothing but kindness.
She had truly regenerated the doll and given it a self because she believed that would be best.
But because Leia understood that it was kindness, it was something she could neither comprehend nor accept.
An orb of light appeared in her palm.
She fired it at Reese—

“Leia, why would you do that? Wait, Leia, I have always protected you. It is because I love you so mu—aaah! It is hot! It is hot, Leia! Help me, Leia! Leiaaa …!”

She erased Reese.
Its death cry rang through the dim space.
Hearing it, Leia trembled, wept, and crumpled to the floor.

“I am sorry. I thought you would be pleased. I never imagined this would happen.”

Saying that, Chigusa slowly approached the stunned Leia.
Still lying on the ground, Ellis watched Chigusa with an enraptured expression.
This was it. This was the Sister she loved.

“D-don’t … come closer …”
“At last, I have heard your voice. Do not worry. Today, I do not intend to charm you yet.”
“N-no …”
“But I do need to apologize properly. I am sure you will like this one, Leia.”
“N-no …”

Shadows slowly stretched across Leia’s body as she looked up at Chigusa, her face distorted with fear.
They were formless darkness, like mud.
They crawled over her, covering her body closely.

“Ah … aaah …”

At first, Leia’s voice held only fear—but then it began to change.
Her Gothic clothes dissolved beneath the gleaming shadows, which enveloped her from head to toe.
They were, in effect, Chigusa’s own hands.

“Since I am not touching you directly, this should not count as charm. I will simply take my time and make you feel good.”

Leia shuddered violently as an alien sensation ran through her.
It was an overwhelming inhuman sensation, inflicted on someone with almost no knowledge of such things.
She could not resist it.

“You make such a cute voice. It would be a shame to stay silent.”

Leia’s face flushed, and her eyes grew wet.
Her mind became wholly ruled by the sensation; even her fear of Chigusa disappeared.
Once Chigusa saw that Leia had begun to lose herself in it, she spread the shadows further.
They crept upward over her body.

The shadows forced their way through every part of her, inside as well as out, until the experience threatened to break her mind.
Her voice was still recognizably Leia’s, but outwardly she had become nothing but a black mass.
Chigusa watched her convulse like a dying larva, delighted.
The shadows permeated her from brain to cell, controlled her, and stripped away even her will to flee.
Deprived of every faculty except sensation, Leia remained helpless until her consciousness grew dim.

 

◇◇◇

 

When Leia’s reactions began to fade, Chigusa withdrew the shadows and released her.
The clothes the shadows had swallowed returned as well, and, having learned from her earlier mistake, Chigusa restored the black-cat doll Reese without altering it.

“W-wait …”

Trembling, tears and drool streaming down her face, Leia desperately reached for Chigusa as she moved to leave.
Her hand could not reach, of course, but Chigusa was impressed by her strength of spirit and stopped.

“Sister?”
“Wait a moment, Ellis. I think I will leave her a message.”

Chigusa approached Leia, crouched, and brought her mouth close to Leia’s ear.

“Please give Ms. Mikage a message.”
“W-why … me …?”
“There is no harm in delivering a farewell, is there?”

Leia still did not accept it, but Chigusa spoke unilaterally.

“Tell her: ‘I am sorry. Thank you for everything, Mya-nee.’”
“Mya-nee …?”

Leia would not understand the words, but it was enough if she conveyed them.
If Miyako would never come to see her again after today, then so be it.
For some reason, Chigusa felt that way.
Perhaps this was what Ellis disliked: the human part that still remained within Chigusa.
But if Miyako would never come again, that too was over.
Chigusa would no longer feel human emotions. She would go on as a vampire, single-mindedly pursuing the world she desired.

“Come, Ellis. Let us go home.”
“Mm … You are not angry, Sister?”
“I had things to reflect on as well. But if you still want me to be angry, I can think of a punishment for you.”

Chigusa smiled bewitchingly.
At that expression, Ellis’s cheeks reddened.
She could immediately imagine what Chigusa meant.

“… Then maybe I will ask for only the punishment.”

Chigusa embraced Ellis’s bashful body, and the two of them vanished as though dissolving into the shadows.
Leia could do nothing but watch them go.
Crushed by her own helplessness, she lost consciousness the instant they disappeared, as though a taut thread had snapped.