Uh.....

　Kyousuke let out a small moan and raised his upper body. Only then did Kyousuke realize that his upper body was back to normal. The engagement with the red-winged demon should have shattered his entire ribs and cervical vertebrae, and he should have been lying empty on the floor.
　However, as Kyousuke lay on the bed, he confirmed that the bones in his body that should have been shattered were indeed back to normal. Had Gokugawara reassembled them?　But then, the other parts are from whom.........

''U, Utsurugi-kun........''

　I heard a trembling voice from the side, so I turned my gaze to see Rin plodding and trembling at my left side.
　Rin wasn't the only one. Sakuma, Serena, and Ei surrounded Kyousuke, while Benii was brushing his nails a little further away, looking bored. Apparently, he was quite worried about them. Scratching his head, Kyousuke looked around at them again.

''Oh, no, guys...''
"Utsurogi-kun!
'What?　Ah, eh~?

　Sakuma, with tears in his eyes, hugged Kyousuke's body and Rin screamed bareheadedly.

''Wait a minute!　Oh, I don't suppose you'll let me go there...
'What is Himemizu saying...'
Well, that's okay. Utsurogi-kun!
Oh, well...

　Rin wraps herself around her free left arm. Sakuma hugged her, Rin tangled her, and now Serena jumped on Kyousuke's thigh bone, which was completely unable to move at all.

'Well then, me too!　Mr. Utsurogi!
You too, Serena!
Hehehe..... Utsurogi-san, you have a nice femur........ Creatures that walk on two legs, such as humans, have well-developed bones here. A skeleton of a skeleton tends to become brittle and weathered by the passage of time, but the bones of your femur have a great calcium feel to them.

　I felt like only one person had a different focus.

'Well, I'm glad you're okay, Kyousuke.

　I thought I was going to be angry at him, but Ei's words, which are uttered while floating wobbly, are calm.

''Ah, ah........ I'm glad you're safe, but........ How are you safe?　Five-minute riverbed?
'Nope. As expected, I didn't have enough time to go get a spare bone to help you with the physical destruction of the bone itself.

　Saying that, Ei looked at Serena, who was stroking her femur with interest.

　According to her, monsters such as slime and skeletons are able to survive only by maintaining their shape and mass, which are kept in a special information nucleus called the conceptual nucleus. Skeletons can take apart and reassemble their body parts, but if their cervical vertebrae or ribs are destroyed, they cannot retain their life shape unless the destroyed parts are replaced, even temporarily. Apparently.
　I say apparently because the name "conceptual nucleus" itself is new to me to begin with. Whether it's common knowledge in this world, or whether it's because it's Serena's familiarity with monster information that makes the word come out so smoothly, I don't know.

　Anyway, because of those Serena's words, the only way to save Kyousuke was to replenish the new parts, but there was a chance that Kyousuke would die before he could go get them. So that's what happened.

'Then what's going on?'
It's Beni....
Beni?

　With Kyousuke's body in a hold, he only turned his gaze to Benii.

　The class queen, Asuka Benii, was still brushing her nails, seemingly uninterested in Kyousuke's direction. She didn't give him a single glance from her side, but she made a bored voice.

''What?''
Oh, no, I was just wondering what Benii... did to you.
You know, they used my blood.
Beni's blood?

　Beni has a special skill called Bloodline Corps (Bloody Corps) (named Ei), which allows him to control soldiers created with his own blood at will. Is this a tribal ability of a vampire, or is it a unique ability of Beni's? It is said that he used this "blood" to "revive" Kyousuke's skeleton, which had been shattered into pieces.
　It's hard to believe it, but since Ei and everyone else in the room didn't particularly talk about it, it must be true. Right now, Kyousuke's entire body is said to be covered with the blood that Benii dropped on him.

''It doesn't seem quite right...''
Well, it's okay if you're not coming. You're alive.
Yeah. Thanks Benii, that was a big help.
I didn't use it for you.

　Then who is it for? Are you saying it's because Sakuma, who is now hugging Kyousuke's body, is sad?

　Since it would be complicated if I asked her about it out loud, I'll keep quiet. But, judging from the unusually strong strength of Rin's entwined left arm, it seems that her thoughts have been transmitted to her.

'Anyway, Sachi, it's time to get away from Utsurogi.
Oh, um, yeah. I'm sorry, Utsurogi-kun...

　Sakuma apologizes and lets go of his hand to hug Kyousuke.

　The situation finally calms down, and Kyousuke is able to get his head back to just thinking calmly. However, once he had calmed down somewhat, there were just too many things to worry about to deal with all the mysteries and circumstances in order. Kyousuke runs a hand over his forehead and thinks about it.

''First of all, Kyousuke, let me tell you something. Koganei was captured by that red-winged demon.
...Yeah, I know that.

　You can't show the king that you're not a handful of goodies. That's what that devil had said. Koganei was that handout.

''What was that devil in the first place?　It was like he knew what was going on with us.
I don't know. You said it was atari or unlucky, right? Tatsuzaki-kun and Sacchan said it was a deciding factor, and Hibiki-chan said it wasn't.

　Rin said as she bounced up and down.

'I don't see how Inugami can call us hazards. I think we're a lot more of a hazoo than we are.
"The other thing you said about Kyousuke figuring out his inherent abilities and incorporating them into his warfare tactics is that he's a 'Phase 2'.
I wonder if two means there's going to be three.

　Kyousuke ran a hand over his chin and pondered.
　Is this bone regenerating Beni's blood an inherent ability? Or is it simply a tribal ability? Like the Bloodline Guard, this one, too, is a part of the story that is not well understood. This case has subtly deepened the mystery about her. The fact that they're not close enough to each other to ask her about the details is troubling.

''Anyway, that red-winged demon holds clues about the original world...''

　Kyousuke looked at Serena as he was about to say. Was this information something that should have been kept secret from her?
　But Serena stopped stroking her femur and chuckled.

''Oh, no, don't worry. Ryuzaki-san and the others told me everything that happened after that.''
Oh, yeah?
'We're not in a situation where we can hide anything from each other anymore. We had a meeting again with Serena-chan. Tatsuzaki-kun and the head of the search team were the main ones.

　'We'll talk about the information we got from that meeting later,' Rin said.

'I'm surprised. Utsurogi-san and the others were 'trippers'.
You mean the transporter from another world?
Yes. It's also called Folinar, but there are several of them in my country. But to be honest, this is the first time I've ever been in a situation where I've had to change into a monster, so beyond that...
Well....

　Kyousuke's shoulders slumped. There was a heavy air among the other faces who would have already heard the conversation.

　By the way, how are the other students doing right now? Some are still frightened by the overwhelming power shown by that red-winged demon, but the majority of the remainder seem to have headed towards the heavy cruiser with Gokugawara (Goblin), Kurumori (Gremlin) and others. This was in order to quickly implement the heavy cruiser modification plan that was raised at the meeting just now.
　That red-winged demon said, 'I'll come again. I want to take all the steps I can before that. I guess that's about it. To be honest, we don't know how much time we have before the demon arrives here.

'Well, things are pretty bad, aren't they?

　Sakuma gives a powerless smile.

''Including that, what kind of cooperation will you ask Serena-san to provide in the future?　That's what we decided to do at our meeting earlier.
"For Serena?
''Yeah......... When Utsurogi-kun found out, he wants everyone to come to the operations room together........ Ryuzaki-kun...

　The faces Sakuma looked over when he said, "Everyone. It's Kyousuke, Rin, Ei, and Serena. Once again, Kyousuke checks his own hands.
　Perhaps the blood of Beni's blood or something like that is working, but there is no discomfort at all in moving the body. Rather, it's more of a feeling that the movement of the whole body is strangely light. I was more comfortable than ever before.

I don't have a problem with it. As long as you guys are good, I'm ready to go.
All right, then. Let's go!

　Rin makes a cheerful noise and that's what happens. Kyousuke stands up and turns to leave the room.

'Ah, Utsurogi.... In case you're wondering...''

　After all, without even a glance, Beni spoke up.

''What is it, there might be some side effects. I'll tell you in case.
Don't scare me too much...
I'm not trying to scare you, though.

　The side effects of blood. What could it be? For Kyousuke, even the fact that he was revived by her blood still didn't sink in. Kyousuke left the napping room with Rin and the others while listening to Beni's words half-heartedly.




''But I didn't know that the true identity of that black knight was Utsurogi and the others...''
It's called the Black Knight Trinity Full Cross.
Isn't that name a long time ago?
It's been a long time...

　While compiling the post-meeting materials in the operations room, Ryuzaki smiles bitterly.
　As a result of the flow after the meeting, the leader of the search team 2, Uozumi Brother (Gilman), the leader of the search team 3, Kenzaki (Dullahan), and the leader of the search team 4, Nekomiya (Ket Shih), are currently in the operation room with their heads together. The leaders of the search team are all directly appointed by Ryuzaki, and most of them are relatively sensible students in their classes.

　Nekomiya Miya, who boasts a glossy black coat, sits on Ryuzaki's office desk and speaks with a somewhat pretentious look.

''So, the chairman and Kenzaki already knew about it, huh? That's a very bad story.
But not human.

　Returning the joke that had become a staple in the class, Kenzaki shrugged.

'At Hino's request, he wanted to keep his identity as hidden as possible.
Oh, you're a geek.

　Uozumi makes Gilman's peculiarly sakana face giggle as hard as he can.

'I used to watch it sometimes too until junior high school. After high school, Sunday mornings are morning drills, you know.'
'Well, I don't think it's just because of Hino's hobby that he was hiding himself. It's probably because he didn't want to disrupt the class too much. Whether the decision was right or not, though.

　Ryuzaki followed up with them exactly.

　At least in the squad leader's meeting, there was no negative feedback about Kyousuke and the others being full cross. There must be a layer of distrust for the fact that they were hiding their identities, but they would be gently rebuked by the squad leaders for that.
　The only good thing about the attack by the Red Winged Demon is the unity within the class, especially among this squad leader. They finally seem to have a sense of solidarity among those who are going through the same hardships, and even students like Uozumi from the swimming club and Nekomiya from the drama club, who don't have much conversation in the classroom, are starting to talk to each other.

''Well then, chairman. I suppose it's fine that we're going to refurbish the heavy cruiser at a rapid pace here and leave the matter of the example to Utsurogi and his team?

　Nekomiya asked, fiddling with his own beard.

''Well, that's appropriate. I'm not sure Utsurogi himself would agree, but we'll talk about that in the future.''

　Just then, there was a knock on the door. When a response was given, it opened with a bang, revealing our Utsuragi.

Oh, well, we'll take our leave then.

　Nekomiya jumped down from the office desk with his bow tie on his chest. Ket Shih is a cat fairy said to be the motif of The Cat in Boots, but this theatrical, theatrical action peculiar to the drama club is quite impressive. Following Nekomiya, Kenzaki and Uozumi leave the operation room.

I'm glad you're here. Come in, Utsurogi, come in.
'Oh, yeah...'

　Kyousuke and the others enter the operations room as Nekomiya and the others walk out horizontally with their signature key tail. Rin was exactly, high-fiving Kenzaki and Uozumi in greeting. It's a sense of solidarity peculiar to the former sports club. It's not surprising that she has the ability to communicate.

"Utsurogi, are you feeling well already?
I'm all better. It's all thanks to Beni's blood, isn't it?

　Beni's blood? Ryuzaki frowned slightly when he heard those words.

　Kyousuke's body, which was shattered into pieces, could not be repaired by recovery magic. According to Serena's words, his body, which was already in a half-dead state, could not be repaired with the level of recovery magic to repair the missing parts. This is the same for humans and other monsters as well, and apparently recovery magic doesn't work with critical organs such as the heart and lungs destroyed.

　However, when Benii heard Serena's story and dripped his own blood on Kyousuke, the shattered bones were repaired in no time at all. Even Ryuzaki was somewhat aware of the bizarre regenerative abilities of vampires in games and manga, but he wondered why Benii had kept such a useful ability hidden until now.
　And Beni clearly stated that since this was an emergency measure, he had no intention of using it in the future in principle. When pressed, Benii told him cumbersomely that it was because of the side effects.

''So, Ryuzaki. What do you want to talk about?
Oh, um, yeah. Sorry.

　Ryuzaki looks around at Kyosuke, Rin, Ei and Serena as they enter the room.

'Utsurogi, how much do you know about our current situation?'
Mostly, according to Himemizu and Ei. I heard that they're going to renovate the heavy cruisers at a rapid pace?
Yeah. I'll also finish exploring the dungeon at the same time. The lowest level is probably 15 floors underground. I thought there was some kind of boss monster or something, but apparently not so much.

　The words "labyrinth, dungeon" had completely confused me, but it seems that this underground labyrinth was originally nothing more than an abandoned communal cemetery that monsters had nested in and used as a rooting ground. When I told her that Serena's analysis of this was also available, she proudly deflected her chest next to Kyousuke, of, next to Ei.

''As for the refurbishment of the heavy cruiser, according to what Kurumori said, we'll start the refurbishment now in a hurry, and it'll take, well, ten days or even two weeks at the earliest.
'Mmm, it's rather quick...?　Are you okay?
'We have almost all the materials we need, and I heard it's not impossible if we can get the search team to help us out. Even so, he said it will be a pretty cutthroat rush job, but we'll be able to get it working, yes.

　Kyousuke is shaking his head with a look of disbelief. Well, I understand how you feel. You can't believe it, even Ryuzaki can't believe it. But if Kurumori says he can do it, we'll just have to leave it to him.

''Just because that red-winged demon doesn't show up again during those ten days to two weeks doesn't mean it won't.

　Kyousuke nodded as he mentioned his biggest concern at the moment.

'We told Serena-san everything and discussed it with her. So. It was decided that we should request reinforcements from Serena-san's hometown.
Do you have... reinforcements... for the humans?

　Kyousuke turned his gaze to Serena. Serena clenched her fists and nodded with a gulp.

''We're human once, too. If you're going to be attacked by such an incomprehensible monster, it's better to ask a human for help.

　Of course, there was a bit of hesitation in making that decision.
　Perhaps the person who most correctly understood the current situation of this second year fourth class of Goddai High School was the Red Wing Demon and the people connected to it. Confronting them could lead him away from information about the means of returning to humans, the means of returning to the original world. However, even so, Ryuzaki and all the squad leaders chose to cooperate with the humans.
　From the way that demon speaks, they have no intention of returning us to our original form.

　Speaking of the red-winged demon, I'm also curious about the last being it called out to. The name that came to mind was "King of the Dead", but there is no proof of that.
　I'm sure you'll be able to find out more about it. Ryuuzaki switched his consciousness and continued his story.

''So, from now on, we will proceed with the refurbishment of the heavy cruiser, while also informing Serena-san's hometown of our situation and requesting their cooperation.
How do you suggest we do it, but...?
For that, of course, I'll have to send her home once.

　Kyousuke must have figured out the story once they got to that point. It's a story that has already been passed on to Rin and Ei, so these two are still silent. It's like leaving the decision to Kyousuke.

''We're the ones escorting Serena-san?''
'I'm not saying it's impossible. If Utsurogi refuses, though, I'm going to reach out to another student.

　Ryuzaki said as he thumped through the papers.

'I don't want to say no, but I want to know why it's us,'
'I don't want to say it, but it's because the combination of Utsurugi and the others looks the weakest. We don't have to worry about alerting them.

　Ryuzaki tells him that it's not even a mere thing. Kyousuke goes silent at this.
　Serena looks up at Utsurogi and says

''Um, the one who guards the western wall of the kingdom is my master. My master is a woman, but she's still as strong as my mother in her prime...''
Oh, and with a single swing of the sword, you can wipe out a whole army...
''He's one of the strongest in the kingdom. I can't use magic, but I might still be one of the ten best in the entire continent... oh, no, that's probably an exaggeration.

　Kyousuke scratched his head and seemed to be wondering how much he trusted her. No wonder. Even Ryuzaki couldn't believe what Serena said. But for now, he can only make a guess based on the information she brings him.

''Well, I understand, Ryuzaki. You're going to take Serena-san with you by selecting people who look as weak as possible so that you don't make this Serena-san's master look poorly alert.
Yeah, yeah.
''But isn't that not sincere enough to have a bunch of weak-looking people as Serena-san's guards?

　It was Rin who responded to Kyousuke's plausible question.

'In that case, why don't you just combine them?

　Ei nodded.

"Kyousuke, our strength is our 'strength after the fact' through merging. It's fine to appear weak at first. As long as they think 'you did a good job of bringing her here despite her weakness', that's all that matters, and if they say something like 'entrusting a weak person with guarding her is disrespecting her treatment', then we can combine them.

　Kyousuke looked up at the ceiling and scratched his chin.

''Well, I don't know........ I wonder if you could take Serena-san with you and then listen to what we have to say.
I'm ready.

　Gulping and clenching her fists, Serena said.

'I can't tell you all the details, but I'm sure I'm worthy of some diplomatic material as well.
''I see........ I even have one of the strongest in the kingdom as my master, so that's about as much as it gets.......

　Kyousuke pondered for a while, but eventually nodded.

''I understand. As long as you make the preparations properly, but if you say we're the right people for the job, I don't mind.
Just for the record, Utsurogi, I think that's a lot of work.
Then I want to take the white horse with me.

　Ryuzaki's eyes roll as he is given an unexpected name. A white horse. It's the unicorn Hakuba. He was one of the classmates who had bullied Kyousuke before. There was a bit of a surprise when she suggested taking him with her in a matter-of-fact way.

''If it's going to be a trip that takes a few days, I want my legs. Besides, Hakuba can use recovery magic, you know.
Oh. Oh, yeah. But I wonder if it will be okay. Serena-chan will probably carry me on her back, but........
It's enough to get Serena on board. Even a white horse would be happy.
You're assuming that I'm a dimwit, aren't you?　As you can imagine, though?

　Rin doesn't seem to be too bothered by it, but only Ei floats around in a bit of a huff of frustration.

　Hakuba is the recovery man for Search Group 1. This member is close to the strongest team at this stage, incorporating the aces Sakuma and Benii, but considering the work of the entire class in the future, some of the squads will be reorganizing, so leaving won't be that much of a blow. Besides, if it was a unicorn, they'd be less wary of it.
　Although it would be very crude, it would also prove that we didn't violate Serena.

　After that, we proceeded to talk about Kyousuke and Serena's repatriation for a while. As for Serena, she didn't show much joy over the fact that 'we can go home now'. ''It doesn't feel right,'' she said, ''so, well, maybe it's just as she said.
　Eventually, the conversation was done and everyone was in the process of leaving the room. After Serena, Rin, and Ei left the operations room in turn, only Kyousuke paused and looked back at Ryuzaki.

''Hey, Ryuzaki........''

　Ryuzaki could see what he was going to say next.

'As a result of the team leader's meeting, it was decided that rescuing Koganei would not be a priority.
Well....

　When I told him coldly, Kyousuke tried his best, he returned my short words.

　Not a single student said that it was good that it was Koganei who was taken away on that occasion. But even during the squad leader's meeting, such an atmosphere was silently exuded. Ryuzaki wanted to say out loud that Koganei was also one of the most important friends of the class, but in the end he swallowed it down.

　It was good that it was Koganei who had been taken away. It's a fact.
　If that had been any other student, the problem would have been much worse. It was precisely because Koganei was disliked in the class that the argument to go and actively rescue him did not arise. Going to rescue them would indicate that we would be riding into the main body of an enemy with that much fighting ability.
　The reason why not a single student was able to say such a dangerous thing was because it was Koganei who was kidnapped.

　Koganei had saved Kyousuke once back then. As a result, though, it didn't do any good.
　He shot a fire magic that didn't need to be shot, aimed at that demon's back. Ryuzaki sees that.

　I'd like to believe that it was a sign of reformation.

Ryuzaki, do you think the documents Koganei left behind are useful?
''Yeah, thanks to that, we're making a lot of progress with the work on the Turtle Forest.
Well....

　After saying that much, Kyousuke left the operations room. Ryuzaki narrowed his eyes.

　I'm worried about Koganei, and I'm worried about Kyousuke. To tell the truth, in Ryuzaki's state of mind, it was much easier to have him refuse the matter of Serena's repatriation. Honestly, it was hard to imagine that Kyousuke Soraki's body was stable at all.
　Beni had given Kyousuke blood, and then told him that there were side effects to it. No matter how many times he asked about the nature of the side effects, Beni wouldn't talk about the details. Still, when I tried to persistently question him, he only left out one word, 'For better or worse.

　For better or worse, there are side effects.

　Is something about to happen to Kyousuke's body in the future?