Akatsuki Kojou… Aiba Asagi… Yaze Motoki…
These three people, at first glance, all seemed like ordinary high school students, but in reality, each had an extraordinary identity.
At least, that was the case in the original story.
As for now…
Kaiser looked at Akatsuki Kojou sitting next to him, a faint golden light appearing in his eyes.
With the help of the power of the Golden Sword within him, activating one of Verethragna's Ten Incarnations—"The Warrior"—Kaiser at this moment possessed a special insight that could pierce through the essence of an enemy.
Yet even under this special insight that revealed an enemy's true nature, Akatsuki Kojou appeared before him as nothing more than an ordinary male high school student, with no abnormalities whatsoever.
He wasn't a demon, and there were no signs of spiritual or magical power flowing within him. He was just a human one could see anywhere on the street—so ordinary that he couldn't be any more ordinary.
"Looks like he really is different from the original story, and didn't become the Fourth Progenitor."
Kaiser was now half-convinced of this.
And the reason it wasn't fully convincing was because Aiba Asagi, sitting next to him, also appeared to be nothing more than a normal female high school student in his eyes, with no abnormalities.
But in truth, Aiba Asagi's uniqueness was in no way inferior to the Fourth Progenitor—in fact, in some ways, she even surpassed it.
However, very few people knew this—besides Kaiser, even Aiba Asagi herself was unaware of her special nature.
On the other hand, Yaze Motoki, who looked like a carefree slacker, caught Kaiser's attention for his unusual constitution.
"Hyper-Adaptive Ability User…"
This referred to those born with special constitutions—humans who nonetheless possessed extraordinary abilities, otherwise known as psychics.
Unlike spirit users or magicians, the abilities of hyper-adaptive users were often extremely rare skills, but not systematizable. Although phenomena that defied scientific, sorcery, or magical understanding occurred frequently, they were still regarded as irregular and thus typically not taken seriously.
The Yaze clan was a powerful conglomerate closely tied to the founding of the Demon District Itogami Island, and also a lineage from which many of these special ability users originated. Yaze Motoki was one of the family's members.
"Didn't expect that, even though Akatsuki Kojou is no longer the Fourth Progenitor, someone from the Yaze family would still appear at his side."
Kaiser silently pondered.
In the original story, Yaze Motoki's reason for staying close to Akatsuki Kojou was to monitor the Fourth Progenitor living on Itogami Island.
Now that Akatsuki Kojou was no longer the Fourth Progenitor, Yaze Motoki was still at his side—could it be a roundabout tactic, trying to approach Akatsuki Kojou in order to get to Akatsuki Nagisa?
Speaking of Akatsuki Nagisa, Kaiser was also full of doubts.
In fact, back when they met in the apartment yesterday, Kaiser had already used the special insight of "The Warrior" incarnation to secretly observe Akatsuki Nagisa.
The result was that Akatsuki Nagisa indeed had something extraordinary about her. Not only was her spiritual power abundant and inherently pure, but like Yaze Motoki, she also possessed a special constitution and abilities.
Akatsuki Nagisa's grandmother was an excellent spirit user, and her mother was a hyper-adaptive ability user. Akatsuki Nagisa inherited the strengths of both at birth—not only was she a top-tier spiritual medium, but she also had hyper-adaptive abilities, making her an extremely rare and exceptional hybrid ability user.
She was a natural-born talent for being a hime-miko, and in this regard, she might even surpass Mariya Yuri.
Now, she had become the Fourth Progenitor, which was as ridiculous as Mariya Yuri becoming a Campione. She was a special individual among special individuals, far more striking than Akatsuki Kojou becoming the Fourth Progenitor in the original story.
However, what puzzled and confused Kaiser was that under his inspection, Akatsuki Nagisa's special qualities were limited only to her status as a hybrid ability user. There was no trace of her being the Fourth Progenitor.
She hadn't become a demon, let alone a vampire. Her body held only abundant spiritual power, with no magical power whatsoever, which left him completely perplexed.
This made Kaiser somewhat suspicious—suspecting whether the Lion King Agency had deliberately fed him false information in an attempt to achieve some secret goal.
But looking at Akatsuki Kojou's current appearance as an utterly ordinary high school student, he was confused again.
Since Akatsuki Kojou hadn't become the Fourth Progenitor, then it was possible for Akatsuki Nagisa to have become the Fourth Progenitor.
Though the public and the Three Saints claimed that the Fourth Progenitor had appeared multiple times throughout history, each time bringing great disasters to the world, and that now it had merely awakened on Itogami Island, Kaiser knew the original story too well to believe those claims.
The Fourth Progenitor—The Kaleid Blood—was actually a God-Slaying weapon created jointly by the only three existing Progenitors and the devas known as the Ancient Gods. It was a vampire created in the image of a god.
This strongest vampire in the world had rebelled against the devas and was ultimately split into twelve body vessels, each containing one of the twelve familiars, and hidden across the world.
The so-called awakening of the Fourth Progenitor was actually the unsealing and assembly of these twelve body vessels, followed by a resurrection ritual.
This ritual, known as the Blazing Banquet, involved the twelve vessels engaging in mutual slaughter and battle, ultimately merging into one—the resurrection of the Fourth Progenitor.
Not long ago, the twelve vessels sealing the twelve familiars of the Fourth Progenitor had all awakened, their seals fully undone, and they had initiated the Blazing Banquet on Itogami Island.
In the original story, the twelfth vessel emerged victorious in the Blazing Banquet, inheriting most of the power of the Fourth Progenitor, and then passed this power on to Akatsuki Kojou. It was only then that Kojou gained nine familiars, transformed into a vampire, and became the Fourth Progenitor.
Both Akatsuki Kojou and Akatsuki Nagisa had deep ties to the unsealing of the twelfth vessel, and thus were inevitably drawn into the Blazing Banquet.
This time, with Akatsuki Kojou not becoming the Fourth Progenitor, it meant that the arrival of Kaiser had already altered the original storyline. But the core remained unchanged—Akatsuki siblings being caught up in the Blazing Banquet was a fixed event. Since Kojou didn't become the Fourth Progenitor, it wasn't unreasonable for Nagisa to take that role.
The issue was, both of them had clearly forgotten about the Blazing Banquet, and even more so about the twelfth vessel. They had returned to a normal daily life and seemed perfectly normal—one still an ordinary human high school student, the other a somewhat special hybrid ability user, yet neither showed any signs of having become the Fourth Progenitor.
Under such circumstances, the Lion King Agency remained adamant that Akatsuki Nagisa had become the Fourth Progenitor…
What exactly was going on here?
It sounded complicated, but in reality, all these thoughts flashed through Kaiser's mind in an instant.
In the real world, only one second had passed before Kaiser began to respond.
"So, you're Akatsuki Kojou." Naturally, Kaiser was the first to strike up conversation, smiling faintly. "Didn't expect we'd end up in the same class."
"Huh?" Kojou was slightly stunned. "You know me?"
"Sort of," Kaiser nodded. "Your sister… Akatsuki Nagisa mentioned you in front of me."
"Eh?" Kojou was even more taken aback. "You know Nagisa too?"
"Oh?" Aiba Asagi was also surprised. "So you're an acquaintance of Nagisa?"
With that, Kojou looked at Kaiser with a trace more wariness in his eyes.
Meanwhile, Yaze Motoki watched Kaiser with a meaningful smile, saying nothing.
"You didn't know?" Kaiser smiled as though he didn't notice the wariness in Kojou's eyes. "I'm actually your neighbor—my place is right next to yours."
"Neighbor?" Kojou was momentarily stunned, then seemed to recall something. "Come to think of it, the Yamada family in Unit 705 moved out recently. I did hear someone new had moved in and rented it."
"I'm the new tenant," Kaiser smiled. "I met Akatsuki Nagisa just yesterday—we took the same elevator. She's quite talkative and spent the whole ride up to the seventh floor complaining about you."
Hearing that, both Aiba Asagi and Yaze Motoki couldn't help but laugh.
"That's so Nagisa-chan."
Aiba Asagi commented.
"Seems like little Nagisa has more and more complaints about you, Kojou."
Yaze Motoki teased Kojou.
"Geez, why's she still such a blabbermouth?" Kojou was embarrassed and helpless, scratching his head. "Why would she say all that to a new neighbor?"
"Well, you're always dumping the housework on her." Aiba Asagi scolded. "You're the older brother, but your little sister's the one taking care of you. Even I want to lecture you, let alone Nagisa."
"Yeah, compared to Kojou, little Nagisa's much more dependable." Yaze Motoki stuffed his hands in his pockets, showing no mercy to his good friend as he joked. "She's not just cheerful and cute, but also a domestic expert. She handles all your household chores, doesn't she?"
"Sure, having such a capable sister is a blessing, but Nagisa's still a middle schooler. Making your little sister take care of you like that is just embarrassing, Kojou."
"Shut up!" Kojou growled in frustration. "I help out with housework too, okay! But you guys know what Nagisa's like—she's got a borderline pathological obsession with cleanliness. If I do anything, she nitpicks everything, I can't get anything done!"
His friends showed no mercy in rebutting his excuse.
"That's because you're too sloppy."
"Isn't it exactly because you're too sloppy?"
Aiba Asagi and Yaze Motoki spoke in unison.
"You guys… Can you let me save some face in front of the transfer student and neighbor?!"
Kojou was shaking with anger.
Kaiser, like an amused audience member, watched the comedy play out—a two-man act… no, a three-man act—before finally speaking.
"Nagisa-chan is indeed cute and reliable. Having such a sister is something to be envied, Kojou."
That line immediately made Kojou wary again.
"S-she's not as great as you say! She nags, she's annoying, like an old lady muttering all day—don't be fooled by her."
Kojou stammered with forced calm.
"She's not! Nagisa's super cute, okay? Kojou, stop badmouthing that kid!"
Aiba Asagi immediately defended Nagisa.
In contrast, Yaze Motoki's smile grew even more offbeat.
"Come on, Asagi, try to understand him," Yaze Motoki chuckled, putting an arm around Kojou's shoulder. "There's a guy his age saying his little sister's cute—how could he not react? Especially since he's a total siscon."
"Who's a siscon?!" Kojou snapped like he'd been stabbed in the heart. "That's not true! I just… just…"
Seeing Kojou flustered beyond words, Aiba Asagi showed a look of disdain, while Yaze Motoki burst out laughing.
Even Kaiser gave Kojou a strange look, then added:
"Kojou-kun, even though we've just met today, I still want to say—one cannot, or at least should not, have those kinds of thoughts about their own little sister, okay?"
Kaiser's words struck Kojou like a lightning bolt.
"I! Am! Not! A siscon!"
Kojou's roar echoed throughout the entire high school building.
At that moment, the school bell rang, covering up his shout and rendering his rebuttal futile.
Kojou's siscon label was probably something he'd never shake off again.
...
A day of classes quickly passed.
After all, Itogami Island was an administrative area referred to as Itogami City under Tokyo jurisdiction. Even though it had its own political system, many aspects still closely resembled those of Japan.
Thus, around 3 p.m., Saikai Academy dismissed its students. After that came time for club activities; those who weren't in any clubs automatically became members of the "Go-Home Club" and, barring special circumstances, usually didn't stay at school.
Like Akatsuki Kojou, for example.
He had once been a member of the basketball team, but due to being ostracized, he had quit and became a member of the Go-Home Club.
Aiba Asagi was a hacker employed by the Artificial Island Management Corporation, known as the [Cyber Empress], a top-tier hacking expert. It seemed she also had work commissioned by the management after school, so she left early.
As for Yaze Motoki… strangely enough, rumor had it that the guy had a girlfriend. After school, he usually rushed off to be with her, often abandoning even his good friends.
Thus, Kaiser naturally became a lone wanderer, strolling through the campus.
He wasn't in a hurry to leave.
Because although Akatsuki Kojou wasn't part of any clubs, Akatsuki Nagisa was a member of the cheerleading team.
Now, Kaiser was planning to go see Akatsuki Nagisa.
Only, when he arrived in front of the middle school building, a figure caught his attention.
(End of Chapter)
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