Blood Blockade Battlefront: Echoes of Hellsalem's Lot
Three months ago, Leonardo Watch used the Gods' Eyes to help Klaus defeat Count Möbius—and the price was his little sister's sight. Now, every coin he earns disappears into an envelope bound for Michela, a silent penance he pays with a smile. But the Eyes are aching more often lately. The blur at the edge of his vision is getting harder to ignore.
In Hellsalem's Lot, a city stitched together from two worlds, Libra keeps the fragile peace. Zapp runs his mouth, Chain worries between insults, and
Blood Blockade Battlefront: Echoes of Hellsalem's Lot - Sealed Memories — The Notebook in the Basement and a Blurring Field of Vision
Morning in Hellsalem's Lot always began with the color of fog.
The infirmary on the fifth floor of Libra headquarters. The fog drifting past the window was especially thick this morning. More gray than white, a membrane of it smothering the city. Now and then a sound like a car horn echoed from somewhere distant. Was it the cry of an alterworld beast, or just human clamor? In this city, even that distinction was blurred.
Leonardo Watch sat on a round stool beside the bed. He'd barely slept all night. His messy black curls were disheveled, and faint shadows pooled beneath his squinted eyes. Even so, his gaze never left the girl on the bed.
Lily. Her long, silver-tinged white hair spilled across the white sheets. Only the tips were red, as if steeped in blood. Behind her closed lids hid crimson eyes. A half-blood of Bloodline kin and human—a Bloodline being. Even now, the seals of blood arts surfaced along her body like veins.
"...Good morning, Lily."
Leo spoke softly. No answer. Lily was still deep in sleep. But since last night, Leo had seen her fingers twitch faintly several times. It shouldn't be long before she regained consciousness.
The infirmary door flew open with force.
"Oi, Leo-brat, how long are you gonna stand there hovering?"
A silver-haired young man entered, wreathed in cigarette smoke. His spiky hair was sticking up in bedhead tangles again today. Sharp blue eyes flicked a glance at Leo. His tall frame made the cramped infirmary feel even smaller. A cigarette hung from his lips as if it belonged there.
"I'm not hovering. I'm sitting."
"You've got a hovering kind of face. Look in a mirror—you look like hell."
Zapp rummaged roughly for an ashtray. There was none in the infirmary. He clicked his tongue, pinched the cigarette between his fingers, and ran a brief blade of blood across his fingertip to snuff it out. As a use of the Blood Blade arts, it was blatantly wrong.
"We're going to the abandoned church today, right? Chain said there's something in the underground sealed chamber."
Leo nodded.
"Yeah. To analyze Lily's seals, we might need what's there. Steven said to go today."
"That scheming four-eyes. You haven't slept, and you've still got that much energy?"
"I'm fine. I can handle it."
Zapp snorted. He didn't believe Leo's words. But he didn't press further. Instead, he jerked his chin toward Lily on the bed.
"You bringing her?"
"Yeah. The seals might react to the air in the sealed chamber. And... I think she wants to know. What's been carved into her own body."
At Leo's words, Zapp fell silent for a moment. Then he let out a small breath.
"...Fine. But if something happens, you protect her. I'm not gonna do it."
That was Zapp's way of saying "be careful." Leo had known this man's clumsy kindness long enough to recognize it.
"Yeah. Thanks, Zapp."
"Huh? What's this 'thanks' crap? Don't say creepy stuff."
Zapp turned his face away. His ears were just slightly red.
The infirmary door opened once more. This time quietly, almost without sound.
"Don't smoke in the infirmary. It's bad for Lily."
A black bob cut. Narrow black eyes. Chain Sumeragi, in a black suit, pierced Zapp with a cold stare. Her small frame somehow carried an abnormally strong presence. A member of the Werewolf Bureau's Special Intelligence Division. Her ability was "dilution of existence"—by thinning her own presence, she could move without anyone noticing and gather information.
"Huh? I already put it out. Got a problem?"
"Putting it out isn't the issue. Just your body odor alone has made this room reek of cigarettes."
"You—what the hell do you take me for!"
"A piece-of-trash thug. What else is there?"
Their bickering was routine. Leo smiled wryly and checked on Lily. Her fingers twitched faintly again.
"...Nn..."
A small voice. All three turned toward the bed at once.
Lily's eyelids slowly opened. Her crimson eyes stared blankly at the ceiling, then focused on Leo's face.
"...Leo...nardo."
"Good morning, Lily. How are you feeling?"
Lily tried to sit up slowly. Leo gently supported her shoulder. Her body was still terribly cold. Bloodline beings naturally had lower body temperatures than humans. But even so, she was cold.
"...I'm all right. Just... a slight headache."
She said that and smiled faintly. The smile looked somehow forced.
"Today we're going to the underground sealed chamber of the abandoned church to examine the seals on your body. Will you come with us?"
Lily's eyes wavered slightly.
"...The abandoned church?"
"If you're scared, I won't force you. But there might be clues there to unravel the seals carved into your body."
Lily stared at her left wrist. Old scars. Countless thin lines, as if cut with a blade again and again. She traced them gently.
"...I'll go. I want to know. About my own body."
There was a firm core in that voice. Different from her usual timid self—a strong will. In that voice, Leo felt he'd glimpsed the strength sleeping inside her.
"All right. Let's go together."
Leo took Lily's hand. Her hand was cold as ice. But within that coldness was the steady beat of life.
"Oi, how long are you two gonna flirt? Let's move."
At Zapp's voice, Leo hurriedly let go. Lily's cheeks flushed just slightly.
"Read the room, would you. ...Though I don't suppose you have the ability to read a room."
"Shut up! Hurry up and get ready!"
From outside the infirmary came a modest knock.
"Um, everyone, are you ready?"
Zed O'Brien peeked around the door. A fish-man. Gills lined the sides of his neck, and on land he wore an air-gill—a custom breathing apparatus. His large black eyes had the round shape typical of fish. His small frame was among the smallest in Libra.
"Ah, Zed. We're good now."
Zed looked at Lily on the bed and bowed slightly, looking a bit nervous.
"Good morning, Miss Lily. Are you feeling all right?"
"...Yes. Thank you for your concern."
Lily showed no particular surprise at Zed's appearance. Perhaps as a Bloodline being, she was used to alterworld beings. Or perhaps because she herself thought of herself as being on the "alterworld" side.
"Oi, fish-man, you coming too? Don't be a burden."
"Sorry, Zapp-san. I'll do my best."
Zed's shoulders drooped. But his eyes were serious.
"You're the biggest burden here. Planning to make a trail of cigarette butts as markers?"
"You—give it a rest already!"
Leo felt just a little reassured by the usual clamor. His companions' voices pulled him back to reality.
With Lily in a wheelchair, the four left Libra headquarters.
The fog outside was thicker than expected. Even five meters ahead was blurred. The outlines of street trees dissolved beyond the gray membrane. The air was cold and damp. A sensation like fog seeping deep into the lungs. Mornings in Hellsalem's Lot were always like this.
"It's about thirty minutes by car to the abandoned church. We may encounter Bloodline kin along the way."
Chain pulled a map from inside her black suit. Her fingertip indicated a point on the map.
"It's close to the Seventh Rift. The appearance rate of alterworld beings around there has been rising again lately. Stay sharp."
The Seventh Rift. A large-scale gate in the northwest of Hellsalem's Lot. From a rift about thirty meters wide and ten meters tall, fog constantly spewed and alterworld beings poured out. Libra monitored it at all times, but it wasn't fully under control.
"Fine by me. If they come out, I'll kill 'em."
Zapp said this while fiddling with the ring on his finger. A ring for turning blood into blades. His weapon as a user of the Blood Blade arts, Kagutsuchi.
"I'm not very good at fighting, so I'll support everyone."
"It's fine, Zed. Just do what you can do."
Leo patted Zed's shoulder lightly. Zed smiled, relieved.
The car moved through the fog. The cityscape streamed past beyond the gray veil. Crumbling buildings, utility poles tangled with otherworldly plants, unfamiliar script painted on walls. The streets of Hellsalem's Lot hadn't changed since the Great Collapse ten years ago—still a blend of the alterworld and the human realm.
Lily gazed out the car window. Her profile seemed to be looking somewhere far away.
"Lily, are you cold?"
"...I'm all right. The fog in this city... it's a little like the fog in my hometown."
"Your hometown?"
"...Fogbottom. The slums. That's where I was born."
Fogbottom. A poor district spread across the lowlands in the southeast of Hellsalem's Lot. Population about a hundred fifty thousand. A place where many Bloodline beings lived. The fog was especially thick there, and the appearance rate of alterworld beings was high. It was also Lily's birthplace.
"I see."
Leo said nothing more. He had no intention of forcing her to talk about her past. But Lily began to speak, little by little.
"My father was always absorbed in his research. He almost never came home. But sometimes, when he did, he'd read to me. Books about the history of Bloodline kin, about how the seals work."
"Your father—Mr. Arigura—was a member of Libra, right?"
"Yes. ...But I don't know the details of what my father was doing. He never told me anything. Only that 'you are a special child.'"
Lily's voice trembled faintly.
"Special. I never liked that. I just wanted to live with my father as an ordinary child."
Leo gently took Lily's hand. Her hand was still cold. But that coldness seemed to speak of the depth of her loneliness, and Leo's chest tightened.
"...It's all right. I'm here with you."
Lily squeezed Leo's hand back tightly.
"...Thank you. Leonardo."
Those tears held not only sorrow, but a shade of relief.
As the car drew closer to the abandoned church on the outskirts, the fog grew even thicker.
The abandoned church, "St. Agnes Chapel." About twelve kilometers northwest of the center. Built before the Great Collapse, half-destroyed during it. The spire was broken, and great cracks ran through the walls. The windows that must once have held beautiful stained glass were now shattered, hollows gaping open.
"We're here. This is St. Agnes Chapel."
Stepping out of the car, a chill air stung the skin. It wasn't just the fog. This place had a different kind of coldness. Perhaps the residue of Bloodline kin still soaked the air.
"...This place gives me a bad feeling."
Zed trembled slightly through his air-gill.
"Don't go getting scared, fish-man. If you're a Libra member, pull yourself together."
Zapp rapped Zed on the head. Rough, but with a note of encouragement somewhere in it.
"Sorry, Zapp-san."
Lily looked up at the abandoned church. Her eyes glowed faintly red.
"...My body is hot."
"Huh?"
When Leo turned, the seals of blood arts carved into Lily's body were faintly surfacing in red. Light running along her white skin like veins.
"...The seals are reacting. To the air in this place."
Lily pressed a hand to her chest in pain. Leo instinctively grasped her hand.
"It's all right, Lily. I'm here."
Leo's left eye—the Eyes of the Gods—glowed faintly gold. At once, the light of the seals on Lily's body slowly subsided, like a receding wave.
"...Leonardo, your eye..."
"It's fine. Your seals resonate with my divine eye. So as long as I'm beside you, the rampage should be suppressed."
Leo wasn't entirely certain himself. But from experience, he was almost sure his divine eye had the power to stabilize Lily's seals.
"...Let's go. The underground sealed chamber should have a hidden staircase behind the altar."
Chain led the way, and the four entered the abandoned church.
The interior was even darker than outside, thick with fog. Collapsed rubble was scattered about, making footing uncertain. The walls were densely carved with otherworldly runes. Traces of Bloodline kin having used the place for rituals.
"The ceiling... looks like it could collapse any moment."
Zed looked up at the ceiling fearfully. Indeed, the beams were badly warped, ready to give way at any mom
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