When Doon had fallen to Finé, Koyoi had felt frustrated that she had not been able to protect him from the monster, but also, for some reason, that everything had fit perfectly into place.
Things had returned to the way they ought to be. Nothing could be more fitting.
"Now, call your beloved's name."
"Aah, ah, Bunkichi, Bunkichi...."
Koyoi stopped in her tracks. Eyes wide with shock, she turned her head in the direction the voice had come from.
To her right, on the other side of the hedges planted so as to line the gravel path that stretched from the castle gate, was a channel about twice as wide as she was tall. Beyond that was a garden. In its center were three figures.
One was a monster. She wore a reddish-purple garment that liberally exposed the pale purple skin of her breasts, belly, and thighs. Her hair was long and pale. A pair of wings and a tail, the same shade as her hair, sprouted from just above her equally exposed buttocks. Black and red eyes. Pointed ears. Horns on her head.
One was a man. He wore a black robe, in the style of Zipangu, but his sash was undone, and his belly exposed to the outside air. Beside him lay a pair of straw sandals, presumably his. Occasional shudders shook his lower body, on which he wore nothing but socks. Relaxation and tension alternated on his face.
The last was a woman. Her robe was orange, and also in the Zipanguese style. She was straddling the man's crotch, and pumping her hips up and down. Her face was flushed, and her eyes vacant. Saliva dripped from her slovenly opened mouth.
Her lovely hair was cut short, for a woman. From it sprouted the ears of an animal, the same orange as her kimono.
Koyoi recognized them, except for the monster. She could not forget the pair that not only she, but her entire extended family, had been trying to find for years.
"Tasogare!"
Concentrating mana into her lower body, Koyoi leapt. She crossed the hedges and the channel in a single bound, tracks of purplish red light trailing behind her geta.
Why? What is Tasogare doing in a place like this?
Her head was full of question marks. She rushed to Tasogare without knowing what she was doing.
The monster glanced at the ghastly look on Koyoi's face, but quickly returned her attention to Tasogare. An instant later, there was a sound like something bouncing off a wall, and Koyoi froze.
This is the same as in the cemetery!
A pale violet sphere, about six meters in diameter, was spread around the trio. That was what had stopped Koyoi. No sooner had she realized that than she sensed that the monster in front of her was the very enemy she had come to defeat — the enemy leader.
This monster created a barrier like this instantly, without any incantations or tools...
She took a step back from the wall, and drew several talismans from a pocket. Seeing that, the monster suddenly smiled.
"You're really something, making it this far safely."
She shot Koyoi a sidelong glance. On the other side, the monster stroked Tasogare's head with her left hand. Tasogare narrowed her eyes and made a delighted purring noise in her throat.
The monster was touching her sister. Koyoi bared her teeth in open hostility.
"Tee hee hee. This girl must mean a lot to you."
Koyoi's face would likely have terrified an ordinary monster to the point that they were covered in gooseflesh, but the monster did not even change her expression. Still smiling, she watched Koyoi affectionately.
"I have a feeling that this won't be the end of our relationship."
The monster flashed her teeth in a smile, and raised the index finger of her right hand, as if she had just had an idea.
"Why don't we introduce ourselves?"
The monster's pleasantries stuck out like a sore thumb. Koyoi's expression grew increasingly severe.
"I'll do no such thing!"
"My name is Druella."
Druella went on introducing herself as if she could not hear Koyoi.
"A daughter of the Overlord, and the ringleader behind what's happened to Lescatié."
All expression vanished from Koyoi's face. Concentrating on circulating the mana accumulated in her belly throughout her body did not allow her the luxury of forming one.
"Impressive."
Druella watched the shining mana circulate. Lines of light flowed efficiently to the ends of her limbs, and thence to the talismans she held in her hands. Aside from Koyoi, she had seen only one human capable of utilizing mana so skillfully. And that one had already fallen into the domain of monsters, and seemed quite enchanted with it.
I'm certain this girl will make a wonderful monster.
At the thought of Koyoi's future — squeezing essence from the man she loved, her face melting with pleasure — Druella experienced a love almost like a mother's for her child.
"Now, would you please tell me your name?" Druella asked, but Koyoi did not answer. She was surveying the wall that separated her from Druella, and from her sister, in search of a spot where the mana was weak.
Shaping a vague, fluid thing like mana into a wall meant that its thickness would necessarily become unstable. Especially now, when it was possible to perceive the mana with her naked eyes, it would be easily possible to judge the thickness of the barrier by the concentration of color.
Before long, however, Koyoi gave up.
This thing is already beyond questions of thick or thin...
The quality of the wall of mana Druella had created was on another level from Finé's. In fact, it was probably better described as a true sphere than as a wall. Koyoi realized that it was constructed so that only the outer surface of the sphere was solid, but all the space inside it was also filled with mana.
"Well, alright," Druella sighed, "I'm sure we'll see each other again soon. Let's have a nice, long talk then."