「があああ！」
　航空灯瞬く深夜のビル街。半ば雲に隠れた月が薄暗く照らす高層ビルの屋上に、苦悶の声を上げ男が墜落した。歪に筋肉が発達した、しかし生気を感じられない体の所々から煙が上がり、肉の焼け焦げた嫌な臭いが鼻を突く。服は内側から弾けたように破け、大きく露出した背中からは蝙蝠を思わせる巨大な羽が生えているが、今にも崩れそうな程炭化し、辛うじて原形を留めているだけのそれは、最早本来の役目を果たせそうもなかった。
「クソッ…クソッ！オレは無敵のバンパイアになったんだぞ、あ、あんな巫山戯た奴に…ぐえ！」
　男は全身を襲う激痛に苛立ちを隠そうともせず、息も絶え絶えになりながら苦悶の声を上げるが、上空から落下してきた小柄な少女？に背中を踏み抜かれ、それすらも中断させられてしまう。
「ああ、そこに倒れていたの。思いがけない追い打ちになっちゃったわね」
　その少女？は悪びれもせず、しかも背中からどこうともしなかった。奇怪なシルエットの箒を携え、何処ぞの学校の制服に身を包み、夏だというのに顔を隠すように巻かれたマフラーと長い白髪が、吹き上げてくるビル風にたなびく。どう見てもジャパニメーションのコスプレにしか見えないが、威風堂々たる佇まいがそれを自然なものとしていた。
「ま、好き勝手に罪もない人間を襲ったんだから、これも因果応報と諦めなさいな」
「フザケンな…！夜の王たるヴァンパイアが貴様等下等な人間如きの都合なんぞ…」
「ハ、たかがヴァンパイアに”成り下がった”分際でそこまで吠えられるなんて、世間知らずも甚だしい。日も浴びれん流水も渡れんニンニクも食えん血液でしか食事も摂れんような偏った下等生物如きがホザくでないわッ、寝言は寝て言え童貞の糞餓鬼が！！」
　あくまで自分優位にしかものを考えない男に心底呆れたのか、絶対零度の冷ややかな視線で男をこき下ろすと、耳鳴りに似た高周波音と共に少女？の全身に紫電が走る。怒りに牙を剥く男が上体を起こそうとするが、背に乗せられた足から発生した強烈な電流に遮られた。そして背中に圧倒的なエネルギーの圧力が増幅していく事を感じ、男はここで初めて少女？に恐怖した。
「フン、改心するつもりが無いのであればそれも結構。すぐには殺さぬ、貴様の仕業で腐肉喰らいとなった者達の無念、己が犯した罪の重さを存分に味わい、後悔して死ね…っ！」
「ちょ、おま、せめて白木の杭とか十字架とか、ヴァンパイア相手なんだから何かそういうお約束なのがあって然るべきじゃぎゃああああああああああああああ！！」
　摩天楼を望む上空で断続的に眩いスパークが迸り、やがて沈黙した。

「お疲れ様です。こちらのカタがついたので、お手伝いに来たのですが…いやはや流石、早いものですね」
　夜だというのにサングラスをかけ、灰色の髪をオールバックにまとめたスーツの男が隣のビルから飛び移ってきた頃には、つい先ほどまで無敵のヴァンパイアを自称していた男だったものが、風に吹かれ舞う塵となっていた。
「この程度の雑魚の掃討で時間が掛かるようじゃ、端から表になんて出てこないわ」
「…少なくとも眷属が三十体近くいた筈なんですがね。まぁ本気の貴女に急造の間に合わせでは役者不足ですか」
「貴方の方こそ早かったじゃない？親玉は外れだったの、ＶＫ」
「ええ、爆発的に眷属を増やしていたので、もしやと思ったのですが。仇を探すというのも一筋縄ではいきませんねぇ」
「…そうね。探しているもの程見付からないのよね」
　ＶＫと呼ばれた男がサングラスを指で押し上げ溜息を吐くと、少女？も憮然とした表情でそれに同意する。そこに不機嫌な気配を感じたＶＫは、思わず一歩後ろに下がってしまった。
「な、なにやらご機嫌斜めですね、どうしたんです？」
「別に」
「別にって事はないでしょう、明らかに機嫌悪そうですよ貴女。そんな不機嫌に付き合わされる私の身にもなってみて下さい。何が不満なんです？」
「不満なんて無い。むしろ私に付き合ってくれてる貴方に感謝してるくらいだわ」
「…ま、貴女からスイーパーズの依頼を手伝わせろ、と連絡を頂いた時には何事かと思いましたがね。もしや、扱う事件に私自身の私怨に関係したものまで含まれているのが、お気に召さないとか？」
「それは今も昔も変わらないでしょうに。単に私自身の目的がなかなか達成できないから、イラついてるだけなの。ごめんなさいね」
「貴方が素直に謝られるとは、明日辺り吹雪きますかね。夏ですけど」
　不機嫌のトーンが落ちた少女？にＶＫが大袈裟に肩を竦めて空を見上げた。皮肉たっぷりな仕草に怒鳴りつけてやろうとしたが、ぐっと堪える。
「それはそうと、その口調やめませんか、”ライジング・ハルモニクス”。いや、”ミッドナイト・ミストレス”でしたっけ、その格好の時は？もう面倒臭いんでエルザ嬢とお呼びしますが、地の貴女を知っているだけに頗る気持ちが悪いんですよ、貴女の若者口調。歳考えて下さい」
「あーもーうっさい！うっさいばか！余所行きの口調なんだから仕方ないじゃろ！ばか！ばーか！」
　余計な一言にやっぱり我慢できずに素に戻って怒鳴りつける、少女ことエルザであった。

　エルザ達がシュトラヘルツ邸に帰省して、早二週間が経過していた。
　この二週間の間、エルザはＶＫを仲介に怪事件や超常事件を解決する傍らで、犯人の住処やアジトは勿論、大立ち回りを演じた周囲の建物等にこっそりと入り込んでは、怪しい施設の有無を調査していた。ランの消えた遺体の手掛かりと思しき実験データ、その出所となる研究施設の類を探る為である。
　このＶＫという男は、所謂スイーパーズの支部長という地位にありながら現場主義をモットーとする男だ。エルザとは百年以上も前に初対面での誤解から殺し合いをした仲で、今ではエルザの素性を知る者としてシュトラヘルツ家と外部を繋ぐパイプ役を担っていた。そんな彼の権限を使い、エルザは怪しまれる事なく調査を進められている。彼を伴っているのは、彼がシュトラヘルツ家（実際はエルザ本人）の古くからの知人である事に加え、彼自身が扱う事件の調査にエルザがヘルプとして助力するという名目を設ける事で、素性を隠しているエルザが第三者に干渉される事を避ける為でもあった。また、彼の管理する支部が街の中心に位置するホテルであり、下支部を通じて手広く事件を扱っているお陰で、現場主義という彼のやり方を逆手にとって調査の手を広範囲に伸ばせるという利点が、エルザにとって好都合であったからだ。
　しかし、そうしてあらゆる施設に侵入を果たしているというのに、一向に成果は上がっていなかった。データの出所はシュトラヘルツ家の所有地の近郊の街、と大まかな特定はできているものの、具体的な絞り込みはできておらず、現在もアイーナが追跡調査を続けている。エルザも昼はフォックスライダー邸へ赴きデータの解読、夜はスイーパーズの仕事と多忙な毎日を送り、全く進展しない調査状況にいい加減苛立ちを募らせていた。不機嫌にもなろうというものである。
　今日もまたビル内部を調べ終わったエルザが、やはり収穫が無かったらしくぶすっくれた表情で屋上に戻ってくるのを、ＶＫは困ったように笑いながら見ていた。
「しっかし、怪事件が二週間で５件、今回ので６件目か。ちょっと多過ぎやせんか？何か、地獄の釜の蓋でもくぱぁしたか」
「これだけの件数を迅速に解決できているのは喜ばしい事です、全て貴女のお陰ですよ。ここ最近で多発しているのはやはり…それ自体が怪異となっている可能性があるから、なのでしょう」
「あん？」
「おや、ネクロマンサーたる貴女が、気付いておられなかったとは。丁度街を見渡せる場所にいる事ですし、御覧になってみては？」
　言われて街を見下ろしてみる。殆ど人通りのない深夜のビル街は、時折車のヘッドライトがまばらに通り過ぎ、遠くからパトカーのサイレンが聞こえてくる以外、至って平和そのものである。通りを行き交う彼等は、まさか上空で異能の者と異形の者が戦っていた、等と夢にも思っていないだろう。裏路地で微かに動くのは野良猫だろうか、レストランの裏手でゴミ箱をひっくり返し残飯を漁る小さな者達は、今日も必死に生き延びようとしていた。
　どこにでもある、ありふれた風景。しかし何かが違うとエルザの感覚が告げていた。
「なんじゃこれは…平和だ、動物達が穏やか過ぎる、街中だというのに」
「気付かれましたか？そう、普段なら”そこに居る、居る筈がないもの”を警戒して、臆病なほど慎重な彼等が、我が物顔で出てきているんです。これが意味するところとは、つまり」
「…浮遊霊、地縛霊、雑霊、悪霊…動物霊もだな、全てではないようだが、あらゆる霊が姿を消している…！」
　街は混沌とした人の思念が集まる。それに引き寄せられるように、霊達もまた街に集まってくる。深夜のビル内で人影を見た、等の怪談は、そういった人の意思が集中した場所に引き寄せられた彼等の目撃例だ。そして霊もまた人を引き付けようとする。それは興味であったり、怨念であったり様々だが、だからこそ彼等は人が集まる場所から離れられないのだ。
　その彼等の姿が、驚くほど見当たらない。
「そうです、普段なら勝手気ままに漂っている彼等が居ない。我々の知り得ない力が働いているのかどうかまでは定かではありませんが、何かがあると見て良いでしょう。そして怪事件を起こしている者達が、その”何か”に引き寄せられているという可能性も否定できません。いくらこの街が大きくとも、あの御稲荷市のように封じられてなおヨウカイを引き寄せる程の大きな”魂核の欠片”は、ここには封じられていませんからね」
「では、おぬしの言う”人外の者達を引き寄せている何か”は”災厄”ではないと判断して良いのだな？」
「ええ。もしこれが”欠片”の仕業だとすれば…目立った活動をしている時点で既に手遅れ、最悪我が国の人口は半減、良くても州の一つが地図上から消え、世界地図を書き換える羽目になりますね」
「かくして攻撃の関与を疑い各国で軋轢が発生、疑いの目しか向けられなくなった国同士で互いに憎しみ合い、”災厄”の糧を生み出す事となる…か。ま、大丈夫だろ」
　それまで真剣に考えていたエルザが突然お気楽にそんな事を言い放ち、ＶＫは気を削がれて足を滑らせた。
「なんじゃ、おぬしがコミカルな仕草をするなど珍しいな」
「私だっておどける事くらいありますよ！そうじゃなくて、何故そんな楽観できるんですか」
　ＶＫの質問に、エルザはある人物の顔を思い出して苦笑する。
「四百年先くらいまで平穏が続くと、保証されとるからな」
　意味が解らずしきりに首を傾げるＶＫに、エルザは更に苦笑した。
　あの元が生真面目な、すっかり自分と同じくらいエロくなって未来から来た孫弟子なら、大きな危険があればハッキリと言えずとも警告の一つくらいはするだろう。つまりはそういう事だ。
　あまりにエルザが苦笑し続けるものだから、からかわれたと思い少し拗ねた様子のＶＫを促し、街から霊が消えた原因を探るべく街を見回ってみる事にした。
「ほれほれ、いつまでも拗ねとらんと、見回りに行くぞ。まったく、”吸血鬼殺し”ともあろう者が、こんな事でヘソ曲げるなよなぁ」
「…ヘソ曲げたって、どうせ可愛げなんてありませんよ私は。ハァ…（…ホント敵いませんね、人妻相手に惚れた身としては）」
「なんぞ言ったか？」
「何も言ってませんが！！…さあ、見回りに行きましょう」
　無邪気な人妻エロ魔法使いと真面目過ぎて奥手な男の二人を乗せたエアリ＝アルが、夜空に舞い上がった。

"Gaaaah!"
Late at night, a light in the sky flickered in an urban city. On the rooftop of a tall building, dimly illuminated with light from the semi-cloud covered moon, a man screamed in agony and collapsed. His muscles were distorted, and smoke was coming out from his lifeless body, and the terrible smell of burned flesh invaded their noses. His clothes were torn, like they were ripped apart from the inside, with some giant bat-like wings growing from his back. But now, they had been destroyed and turned to ashes, and he was back to his original form, having not fulfilled his original task.
"Damn... Damn! I'm an unmatched vampire, g, getting toyed around like this by someone... geh!"
The man couldn't hide his irritation as pain wracked his entire body, and as he gasped for breath, he screamed in agony, but the petite girl? who descended from the sky landed on his back, and interrupted that.
"Ah, so you fell here. That was unexpected that my chasing shot got you."
The girl? was calm, but didn't get off of his back. Carrying a broom with a strange sillouette, wearing some school's uniform, and wearing a muffler to keep her face hidden even though it was summer, the girl with long white hair whispered into the wind over the building. Now matter how you looked at it, it seemed like some anime cosplay, but her dignified appearance seemed natural.
"Ah, you were attacking innocent humans as you wanted, so accept this as your punishment."
"Don't mess with me...! Vampires, the kings of the night, striking down lowly humans like you is simpl..."
"Hah, you must be completely ignorant, for a vampire to have "fallen so low" as to scream. Not being able to withstand sunlight, cross running water, eat garlic, and only able to drink blood as food, and calling others low, don't spout such nonsense, you damn virgin brat!!"
Maybe the man who had thought himself as 1st class was shocked through and through, but as he was verbally abused with a gaze as cold as absolute zero, a high pitched sound rang in his ears as a purple lightning ran through the girl?'s body. Baring his fangs in anger, the man tried to life his upper body, but it was stopped by a powerful electrical current that ran from the foot on his back. And then, he felt the overpowering energy on his back be amplified, and the man now started to fear the girl?.
"Hmph, if you don't mean to reform yourself, then that's fine too. I won't kill you right away, since I want for you to feel regret for your job in eating rotted meat, and to taste the weight of the sins you committed, and then die...!"
"Hold on, wait, at least use a wooden stake or a cross, since I'm a vampire you should use one of those traditional gyaaaaaaaaaa!!"
In the sky, aiming for the skyscraper, flashing sparks intermittently landed on it, and eventually it grew silent.

"Good job. I had come to help take care of this one, but... alas, you were too fast."
A man with grey, slick back hair in a suit and wearing sunglasses, despite it being night, jumped over from the neighboring building. Already, the man who was earlier calling himself an unmatched vampire, was now dust blowing in the wind.
"It takes some time to deal with these minions, and they all don't come out at once."
"...There's probably at least 30 of them in this group. Well, I guess these ones that were quickly made so they were ready in time aren't enough for you when you're serious."
"Weren't you the one who's early? Did you miss the boss, VK?"
"Eh, their numbers explosively increased, so I thought maybe, that searching for the enemy would take some extraordinary means."
"...I see. We haven't found him, despite all this searching."
The man called VK sighed as he pushed up his sunglasses with his finger. The girl? agreed, with a look of disappointment on her face. VK, who sensed her displeasure, unconsciously took a step back.
"W, why are you in such a unpleasant mood?"
"I'm not."
"No, you are, you're clearly unhappy. Please put yourself in my position. Are you unhappy to be accompanied by me? What are you unsatisfied with?"
"I'm not unsatisfied. Actually, I'd like to thank you for accompanying me."
"...Well, when I received the call to help you with your request to the Sweepers, I wondered what it could be. I thought it might have been related to a personal grudge against me for the way I handled an incident, but are you unhappy with me?"
"That's not the case, neither now nor back then. I simply have not made any progress towards my own goal, so I'm annoyed. I'm sorry."
"For you to honestly apologize, I wonder if it will snow tomorrow. Since it's summer."
The girl? dropped her unpleasant tone, and VK exaggeratedly shrugged his shoulders and looked up at the sky. He was used to putting up with her sarcastic-seeming yelling.
"But still, could you stop with that tone, "Rising Harmonics". Or was it "Midnight Mistress", when you're dressed like that? It's such an annoyance, so I'll call you Elza-sama, but just knowing it's you is extremely disgusting, when you talk like a young person. Please consider your age."
"Ah, geez, shut up! Shut up you idiot! I'm talking formally, so it can't be helped! Idiot! Idiottt!"
The girl named Elza couldn't stand that unnecessary bit, and went back to yelling.

Two weeks had passed since Elza had returned to the Schtlehertz estate.
In those two weeks, Elza was using VK as a go-between for resolving the mysterious incidents and supernatural incidents, all the while secretly searching for the criminal's location or base by fighting and invading the surrounding buildings, and investigating whether there were any suspicious facilities or not. The clue to Ran's missing corpse appeared to be experimental data, and she was trying to find the research facility which was the source of it.
The man VK was the branch manager of the Sweepers, and a man whose motto was managing from the field. When he first met Elza over 100 years ago, due to a misunderstanding, they tried to kill each other, and now as someone who knows Elza's history, he is the pipe that connects the Schtlehertz family with outside groups. Using his authority, Elza could continue her investigation without any reasonable cause. He was brought along because he is an old acquaintance of the Schtlehertz family (in reality, Elza herself), and officially, Elza was helping and supporting the incident investigation that he was dealing with. Elza, who was hiding her history, was there to prevent 3rd parties from interfering. Also, his base that he was in charge of was a hotel in the heart of the city,
and there were a wide variety of incidents that he was handling, so his method of managing from the field was an unexpected benefit, and his reach could extend wide. For Elza, this was convenient.
However, even though she's been able to invade all these facilities like that, there's been absolutely no progress. The place the data originated from was in a nearby town close to the Schtlehertz land, which was a specific area, and without being able to specifically narrow it down, Aiina was currently continuing to trace it. Elza spent her days by heading to the Foxrider mansion to make sense of the data during the day, and be busy with the Sweepers' work at night. The fact that there was absolutely not progress on the investigation had her fed up and annoyed. This is why she was unhappy.
Elza, who had finished investigating the interior of another building today, had an angry expression at not finding anything. Returning to the roof, VK looked at her with a worried smile.
"But, in terms of unnatural incidents, in these 2 weeks, there's been 5, and this makes it 6. Isn't that a little much? It's like, the lid from a pot of Hell opened up."
"I'm happy just to be able to quickly resolve this many incidents, and it's all thanks to you. For this to happen so often recently... it's possible that this itself is a strange incident."
"Huh?"
"Hey, you're a necromancer, so haven't you realized it? You're in a perfect place to look out over the city, so why don't you try doing so?"
She looked down over the city as she was told. In the late night downtown, where there were hardly any people walking around, and the occasional cars' headlights were too few, aside from a distant siren of a patrol car, it was extremely peaceful. The people walking around probably never dreamed that in the skies above them, those with unnatural abilities and unnatural forms fought. In an alley, there was a faint movement, which probably was a stray cat, and behind a restaurant, an overturned garbage can was being rooted through by tiny things, who were desperately trying to survive.
No matter where she looked, it was an ordinary scene. However, Elza's sense told her something was wrong.
"Huh, this is... peaceful, the animals are too quiet, even if it's the middle of a city."
"You realized it? Yes, normally, beings who are vigilant for "things that are there, or shouldn't be there", and are timidly cautious, are out like they belong there. So, basically, this means..."
"...Wandering spirits, spirits bound to a location, nameless spirits, evil spirits... and animal spirits, it's not quite all of them, but every spirit have vanished...!"
A city is a jumbled collection of human thoughts. Spirits also gather there, as if they are drawn to them. Ghost stories, like a human sillouette being seen between buildings late at night, and places where people are focused on, draw people looking for them. And then, spirits are also drawn to people. They have an interest, or have a grudge, or various things. So they won't leave from a place where people gather.
And she could only see a surprisingly few number of them.
"Yes, those that normally wander as they please are not there. It might be some force unknown to us or something, but it's best to think that something is happening. And I can't deny that it's possible that the "something" that is causing these supernatural incidents is drawing them. This city is quite big, enough to have a large enough "broken soul core" that will draw sealed youkai, like Oinari City, though there's nothing sealed here."
"So, the "something that draws non-humans" that you spoke of, have you determined that it's not a "calamity"?"
"Yeah. If this was the work of a "calamity"... The moment it took noticable action, it would already be too late, and at worst, half of our country's population would be perish, and at best, 1 nation would vanish from the map and the world map would need to be redrawn."
"So the uncertainty of each nation participating in the attack would cause unrest, and all focus would be on the uncertainty, and the nations would all hate each other, and it would bring about the conditions for the "calamity" to happen... Well, it should be fine."
Elza, who had been thinking about this serious, suddenly said that lightheartedly, and VK slipped and fell in surprised relief.
"What, that's unusual for you to have a comical reaction."
"I can play a fool too! I mean, why are you so optimistic?"
At VK's question, Elza was reminded of a certain person's face and gave a dry laugh.
"Because I can guarantee there will be peace for about another 400 years."
As VK tilted his head, not understanding, Elza gave another dry laugh.
Her apprentice's apprentice, who was originally serious, but become dirty like herself and came from the future, didn't explicitly say there was a great danger, but gave a warming. That's basically why.
Since Elza kept on dryly laughing, VK thought he was being made fun of, and cause VK to pout a little, and he started looking around for the cause of the disappearing spirits from the city.
"Hey, hey, how long are you going to pout, let's go look around. Really, someone who's a "vampire killer" shouldn't be playing the Devil's advocate."
"...It's not very nice being called a Devil's advocate. Hah... (...Really, I can't compare to her. Especially falling in love with a married woman.)"
"Did you say something?"
"Nothing!! Well, let's go look around."
The dirty, married female wizard and the overly serious, shy man got on Aeri=al and flew off into the night sky.