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Decadent Habits	By : OverMaster Category: +M to R > Mahou Sensei Negima/Magister Negi Magi Views: 8829 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I don't own Negima. No profit at all is made out of this story.

Chapter List
- 30
- 31
- 32
Standard issue disclaimer: Akamatsu Ken created and owns Negima. I am not him. This is a parody, protected speech. Thanks to my cowriters and the reviewers.

The finale of this tale is a collaboration between myself, OverMaster and Shadow Crystal Mage. It's been a ride, gentlemen.

Decadent Habits

Chapter 31: Mahora

Rows and flows of angel hair,

And icecream castles in the air,

And feathered canyons everywhere,

I've looked at clouds that way,

But now they only block the sun.

They rain and snow on everyone.

So many things I would have done,

But clouds got in my way.

I've looked at clouds from both sides now,

From up and down, and still somehow,

It's clouds illusions I recall.

I really don't know clouds ... at all.

Konoe Konoemon stared out his office window at the great dark tower that had suddenly erupted from the grounds of his academy. He swallowed the urge to say something rather profane as he did so. To do so would be completely inappropriate to an elderly man of his dignity and character. But he would really have enjoyed it. He settled for simply grinding his teeth.

"Well?" he said to the woman standing in front of his desk.

"Sir," Touko said. "We still have full communications capability, but we're nonetheless having a difficult time contacting all our personnel. Casualty reports are just beginning to come in for the explosions. They're not high -"

"They will be," Konoemon interrupted.

"Sir," she replied non-comittally. "I'm mobilizing all personnel to repel the invaders. Deadly force has been authorized."

"Yes," he said. Not good. Never good. The order he now had to give was not good either. He drew a deep breath. "Contact our people in JSDF command. Inform them of the situation, and tell them that if they don't receive confirmation of the situation's successful resolution within the next six hours, they're to employ any and all methods to reduce Mahora to a cinder."

"Sir!" Touko protested, horrified.

At last, he turned to look at her, face set in an iron mask. "The alternative is permitting the master of that tower to seize control of the World Tree. Considering what we know about its nature, what can be done with the power it holds, considering the likelihood of his identity, preventing him from doing so qualifies as a G Threshold event." He pronounced the terrifying English loan-words without hesitation.

Touko simply stared at him.

"I believe that our people will succeed, Touko-kun," Konoemon said, sounding gentle this time. "But I must prepare for the alternative." He turned away again. "You have your instructions."

"Yessir," she answered ... and then was gone.

At least, the headmaster mused silently, with Lingshen's activities and the intrusion from the Magical World a few weeks ago, we are prepared for this. It almost makes me wonder whether that preparation might have been the girl's intention all along. He shook his head. That way lay madness.

Such a horrible old man he'd become, putting all the hopes of this academy's survival on such small shoulders. Sayo-chan would have hated the man he'd become.

Ah well. Such was life.

It had been a strange day for Makie.

She was using the word 'day' in the literal sense, rather than simply beginning with when she'd woken up. In the last twenty-four hours, she'd had a thrilling and just a little bit terrifying adventure, followed by a rather disturbing discovery. Walking in on her three best friends making out in the shower - with each other - had not been anything she'd ever expected to happen. Or wanted to happen. If she'd walked in on them making out with a guy, or two or three guys, that would have been a little embarassing but kind of hot. But with each other?

Eep.

And the weird thing was, the girl-girl thing didn't bother her in the abstract. She thought that Konoka and Setsuna made an adorable couple, and wished them all the best. Likewise, Nodoka and Yue. And she didn't just want to see Asuna and Ayaka together because it would take out her two biggest competitors for Negi, but because she earnestly believed that they'd be happy together.

The group thing didn't bother her either. As she'd thought earlier, if it had been two or three guys, and they'd been switching around a bit, that would be really, really embarassing to walk in on but also really, really hot to watch. Although it would have been a little tricky to fit six people in one of those shower stalls. Well, actually -

But anyway! It had really been a relief last night when Ako hadn't come back to their room. Presumably she was spending the night in Akira and Yuna's room, doing with each other whatever it was that they did with each other. On the other hand, she did find it a little lonely in her room that night, on top of the fact that she had weird dreams that she couldn't remember.

Maybe that was what bothered her about all of this. She was being left out. None of them had even made any overtures in her direction. But no, that made no sense! She didn't want that, right, so if they offered, she'd be offended, not flattered, of course. So why would she want to have it offered, so that she could be offended? It wouldn't be flattering.

Right?

All these thoughts and many others with much less in the way of coherence or pertinence had been running through her head as she walked through town the morning after all of that. It would have been nice to stay in bed, but she had a feeling that if she did that, she'd start doing things that would make her even more confused than she already was. She wasn't sure what those things were, exactly. She'd heard vague statements like, "I took care of myself", but she wasn't really sure what they meant.

She didn't want to take care of herself. She wanted to be taken care of by someone else. And that someone else should definitely be male at least, and Negi at most! Right? After all, her friends were cute, and Yuna in particular had some very nice breasts, but she didn't think about girls that way! Ever!

"Aw, man, what a strange day!" Makie finally yelled.

As though on cue, there was a series of explosions all over town right after she said that. She could hear people shouting in panic in the distance, even though her immediate surroundings appeared to be all right. And then there was a rumbling noise as, not too far away, a huge tower grew out of the ground.

Makie just stood there staring.

"I'm sorry," she finally said, she knew not to whom. "I take it back. It's not that strange."

Before she could do anything else, men wearing helmets and heavy armor came out from the buildings around her pointing rifles in her direction, complete with red dot laser pointy things that converged on her chest.

"Team leader to base, team leader to base," one of them said. "Third daughter is secure. Waiting orders to deliver package."

Oh, for the normalacy of a few moments ago.

They were surrounded on all flanks now.

Nothing too new, all things considered, but somehow, things looked even bleaker, more hopeless, than ever before, even more than when all of Cosmo Entelecheia had shown up to face them in Ostia. There were demons, monsters and armored drones launching from the vehicles everywhere on sight, coming out with no interruptions, swarming down on them despite their best attempts to keep them at bay. There were far too many of them for Negi to be able to plow through them in Lightning Mode without causing collateral damage that would hurt his students, and no matter how many they struck down, more of them took their place just as soon.

"This is nuts!" Haruna grunted, even as her notebook-created giant robot dinosaur crushed several drones between its massive jaws, only to be shot through its head seconds later. "How could this happen so quickly, with no warning at all? Even the Lifemaker took his time to act, so we could have an idea what to expect "

"These are state-Of-the-art military attack drones, especially built by Lex Corp to battle and subdue alien invaders!" Hakase was more amazed than anything, even as the power fists of her backpack punched a hole through one of them. "Ahhhh, it seems almost a waste to destroy them. Chisame! Why don't you see if you can take some of them over?"

"What do you think I'm doing, playing Online Sudoku? Just cover me while I try to track their origin signals!" the hacker barked, madly typing on her laptop as Yue provided her with covering fire from her wand.

"Dammit, dammit, dammit!" Yuna gritted her teeth, unloading her guns on row after row of monsters. "Out of all the lousy ways to go - "

"We won't lose anyone, Yuna-san. No matter what, we -" Negi began, striking enemies down at left and right along Asuna and Setsuna, only to gasp when, at that very same moment, one of the largest demons behind him took its chance to jump in a wide arc towards Nodoka.

And then, a few repeated words ran through the air. "Bure, bure, bure bure bure..."

And ten thin tendrils of darkness flew through the demon's skull, ripping it apart and sending it flying into the horizon before it could reach Nodoka.

Ala Alba and their enemies paused for an instant, looking towards the tall, thin, pale man in a traditional hakama and sandals who had just shown up, surrounded by several young women. He had a wooden ruler in a hand, which was overflowing with dark energy.

"Itoshiki-sensei?" Negi blinked.

"Why?" Itoshiki lamented loudly. "Why, in addition to all of my new added duties covering Takahata's assignments, must I cope with this hopeless situation? What have I done to deserve this punishment?" He blasted one demon trying to sneak up on him with a casual wave of the ruler. "Why do I feel like I have wandered into a plot not involving me at all? Why do I have to help with this, something I want no part in? I'M IN DESPAIR! THE FACT THE FACULTY ALWAYS DUMP THE WORST MESSES ON ME DRIVES ME TO DESPAIR!"

The attackers took the chance to regroup, some of them lunging at the newcomers to overwhelm them as well, but then, one of the girls with Itoshiki jumped ahead to smash several of them with a single swing of the glowing silvery spade in her hands.

The girl, who had her long silky black hair parted right down the middle of her head, fumed madly while smashing robots and monsters alike. "Make up your damn minds!" she shouted. "Either you are an invading robot army, or an invading demon army! Evil forces who can't decide what they want to be are the worst! Have some consistency! This kind of uneven disorder angers me to no end!"

Another girl, this one with short black hair and a very happy and wide pleasant smile, wearing a very pretty short skirted pink dress, skipped ahead joyfully. "Come on, come on, Chiri-chan!" she said, with a voice eerily identical to that of Konoka. "I'm sure these hellish beasts and souless machines only want to be our friends! It's just they only know how to express their emotions through violence! That's why we must offer them our friendship first! Here, monster-san!" She pulled out a huge pink bag, and sprayed pink fragant flower petals all over a large group of enemies. "This is a gift from your friends in class 3-F!"

The opponents looked unsure of what to do for a second, as the petals blanketed them. Then the petals suddenly became sharp, large metallic spinning saws, shredding them to rips of metal, blood and guts in a wink.

"Ahhhh, it happened again!" The girl sounded amazed. "Well, maybe next time!"

A busty and tall girl with twin braids, wearing nothing but hospital bandages wrapped all over her body, used the bandages as razor sharp tentacles she swung around in all directions, splicing through demons and drones alike like a hot knife through butter.

Another, much smaller, girl carrying a cellphone pressed a few keys on it, and instantly, the drones around her froze in place, shaking as their display screens only showed error messages.

Hey dere, dudz, your outta place here. Go 2 hell, loozers...

A nervous, shaky girl in a yellow rain trenchcoat waved an umbrella around, her teeth chattering. "S-S-So sorry about this! Really! I hope this d-doesn't discourage you from visiting Mahora on better terms later!" she apologized while creating huge streams of water out of the air's humidity, sending them in gigantic blasts to crush the machines and drown several monsters.

A taller, grinning girl with glasses and long black hair, a bit resembling Haruna, was scribbling and doodling quickly on a Pactio notebook of her own, finally holding it up for some demons to see. The page that was shown depicted those demons blowing their own heads off. "Look! A really good work, don'tcha think? I doubt you'll ever see something better, right? Now do it! The power of the Geass Death Note compels you!"

Stiffening in place, compelled against their will by a force they couldn't oppose, the demons aimed their claws at their own heads and blasted them off with hellfire.

Haruna groaned. "Always the showoff, Fujiyoshi-sempai."

"Pot, kettle -" Yue muttered.

A tall, busty, buxon blonde in a microskirt, wearing a black leather jacket, a black tube top with lots of cleavage, and a red scarf, arrived on the scene on a motorcycle - specifically, a speeding motorcycle armed with twin machineguns blowing several enemies down. "What nerve, attacking us at our own school, without any warning, harassing and bothering us while we were taking a few days off! This goes against all our rights explicitly stated in the laws! I'LL SUE YOU!"

Finally, a very beautiful girl with a long black mane struck even more monsters with a glowing long katana. She moved with perfect grace and elegance, finishing the last few enemies in the area before smiling and resting, standing at Itoshiki's side.

"Itoshiki-sensei ... when -" Negi babbled.

The older teacher blushed and coughed. "Well, I mean, you aren't the only one who has had things happening to him!"

"I'm Ministra Magi Kitsu Chiri!" the girl with the spade said.

"Ministra Magi Fuura Kafuka!" the Konoka-sounding girl chirped.

"Ministra Magi Kobushi Abiru, " the bandaged girl said, before taking a moment to tug on Kotaro's tail. Kotaro yelped. Natsumi scowled.

The tiny girl showed something she just wrote on her cellphone. Ministra Magi Otonashi Meru, ya pozers.

"M-M-Ministra Magi Kaga Ai!" The shaky girl bowed quickly. "Sorry for taking so long! Sorry, sorry, I'm really sorry!"

The blond girl stood, arms crossed, on top of her bike, the wind blowing her skirt up and flashing pink strawberry printed panties to everyone. "Ministra Magi Kimura Kaere!"

"Ministra Magi Fujiyoshi Harumi!" the other mangaka grinned, leering in Haruna's direction.

"Ministra Magi Tsunetsuki Matoi," a girl with very short black hair showed up behind Itoshiki, holding a sword much like Asuna's in a hand, and another one much Setsuna's in the other. Both of them were covered in demonic dark blood.

"Gah!" Itoshiki sprang up. "You were here?"

She nodded. "Yes. Always."

"Ministra Magi Itoshiki Rin," the girl with the katana smiled, posing in a way that accentuated her behind.

Negi gave Itoshiki a stunned glance. "B-but Sensei, she is your, your -"

The older man fidgeted nervously. "I-I-I only granted her a Pactio! Nothing else!" He didn't sound too convincing. The faint blush on Rin's cheek didn't help matters.

"But - but -" Negi began.

Chisame bonked a fist down on his head. "Oh, like you've any room to talk!" she said.

Harumi smirked, slamming a hand on her own chest. "3-A, our hated rivals! No matter what our differences may be, we are all Mahora students, and we'll defend this school together to the last breath, to the last man or woman! So, in the glorious tradition of shonen manga, we will cover and secure this area, allowing you to go fight the Big Bad!"

Negi breathed in and nodded, biting his lower lip. "Thank you, Itoshiki-sensei ... girls ..." He turned to his own companions. "Ala Alba, and associates - let's go! For everyone's sake!"

His comrades nodded as a single being.

Once they were gone for the tower, Itoshiki sighed, turning around to face the next horde of incoming enemies. "So, this is what being a hero feels like."

With their rear covered by Itoshiki and his ministra, Negi's party were able to cover most of the distance to the base of the tower. Their passage wasn't unchallenged, but they were no longer pinned down. Many of their demonic assailants were taken down within seconds by the lethal combination of Asuna's Cancel and Setsuna's Shinmeiryuu training, with Negi's fists, Kotaro's claws, and Mana's bullets accounting for most of the mechanical ones.

But within no more than a short distance of the tower, their progress came to an abrupt halt. Negi stopped dead in his tracks. "Incoming telepathica!" he shouted. "It's Ku!" He pulled out the martial artist's pactio and held it to his head as Setsuna and Asuna took up guard positions around him - accompanied by Ayaka, somewhat to Asuna's surprise. Before Asuna could say anything, though, Ayaka gave her a smoldering 'shut up' look that made her back down. For now.

But the pause left them open to an ambush, as one of the larger war machines dropped down right in front of them. To Haruna's untrained eye, it resembled the drone that had greeted them as they came out of the library during the festival, only larger and not quite as sophisticated looking. Its guns swiveled towards Negi's position, leaving it wide open to attack from the rest of the party.

Yuna needed to say something stirring and dramatic. It was part of the code, after all. She opened her mouth to cry out -

"For Mahora!" shouted Yue and Nodoka as one as they directed a large number of Sagita Magica at the war machine.

"For Ariadne!" shouted Collet and Beatrix, not to be outdone, as they directed fire at its other side.

Now Yuna was annoyed. To hell with the code! "For Tommy and Gina who never backed down!" she shrieked as she drew her guns and began firing up into the machine's leg servomotors.

One of her bolts hit a crucial section of the motor at just the right time to blow the leg off, unbalancing it at just the right time to send it crashing to the ground. It did not move again.

Slowly, Collet turned to look at Yuna. "Those must be very potent deities you just invoked, " she said.

"Yeah! Right! Eyes front!"

All the while, Negi had been receiving a communication from Ku Fei. Where are you, Ku-roshi? he sent.

With Asakura at Chao Bao Zi, the martial artist replied. We come here for -

There was a brief squawk before the signal stablilized once again. Negi-sensei, this is Satsuki.

Satsuki-san? How are you doing this!

Class representative powers. It was a few years ago in Elem - that's not important, sensei. I'm here with Asakura and Zazie, as well as a couple of my part-timers. Even though Ku and Zazie have managed to hold off any attackers here, I don't think we can last much longer at this location. But I don't want to test the flight mode on the train without someone who knows about its workings taking a look at it!

It was a little unnerving for Negi to 'hear' the obvious apprehension in the 'voice' of the usually placid chef. Satomi's here with us, I'll send her your way ASAP.

Thank you, sensei. Brief pause. She put more than just flight mode systems on the train, sensei.

What do you - But the contact was broken before he could finish sending the question. He didn't let his eyes snap open just yet, turning his thoughts to the problem of sending Satomi to their assistance. She'd need backup. Who to send with her?

I wish Misora-san were here, he thought. She'd be perfect, if Satomi were willing to be carried by her. Where could she be?

It had been a perfectly normal day. Spend half the night making sweet, sweet love to Cocone, stay in bed eating cereal fruit bars for breakfast, make the earth move for Cocone again -

Wait.

The Earth really was moving.

Misora and Cocone paused, staring out the window at the huge, immensely Fruedian tower now rearing over the landscape.

"Maybe we can pretend we slept through it, and Negi-sensei will just make it go away before dinner," Misora said weakly.

Cocone seemed to consider this for a moment, before she let out seemingly tranquil sigh that spoke VOLUMES to Misora about her extreme, near-murderous annoyance. The little telepath took a while to read, but when you bothered to learn she not only spokes volumes, but whole libraries.

The public face of the Mahoran contingent of the church - many of whom actually were clergy - were working their way outward from the church that was built over their primary underground facility, faces grim about the situation. Well, most of them.

"At last!" senior priest Kotomine Kirei enunciated loftily, quite an achievement for a man crouched behind a plant box holding a Bible in one hand and pulling Black Keys out of it with the other. "The end is nigh! The Tower of Babel has risen once more as a sign of the Judgment most divine! The lord has decided to punish us finally for our evil habits, and has sent his metal angels to slay the unbelievers and send them to eternal damnation!"

Sister Shakti repressed the urge to take the nine millimeter holstered to her hip and then shoot the Apocalypse-Fetishist in the head. Kirei was a good fighter and quite reliable when it came both to the battlefield and the day-to-day workings of the church, but all of Mahora agreed he tied with Itoshiki Nozomu when it came to whose mouth spouted the most depressing things.

Seruhiko, clad only in hastily donned pants and undershirt since he and Shakti had been interrupted - she herself was only wearing underwear, a towel, and her weapon belts - essayed a cough. "Actually Kirei-kun, I beleive this is just normal magic and some mundane weaponry."

Kirei shifted gears without his face changing one iota. "The infidels who attempt this blasphemy must be punished! How dare they usurp what is only the Lord's to do? The end of the world may only come about by the hand of the Almighty and his loyal priesthood! No hand but mine shall plunge Mahora into a pit of endless death and fire!"

Next to him, Father Gendo was nodding. "Indeed. So it says in the Dead Sea Scrolls."

Off to the side, pseudo-nuns-in-training Ikari Yui and Caren Ortensia exchanged looks. "What do you see in him?" Caren asked.

"I could ask you the same question," Yui shot back.

"I have no idea what you are talking about," Caren said, completely blank-faced.

Misora ran down the streets of Mahora, Cocone sitting on her shoulders and telepathically feeding her predicative data from the elementary fortune telling spell she was maintaining. Her Artifact, while increasing her running speed, did not accelerate her thoughts or her perceptions, and thus it was unsafe to try to use at really fast speeds unless the way forward was relatively clear. Unfortunately, due to all the demons and tanks and whatnot running around, it wasn't, and so the fortune telling spell was needed.

As she jumped over empty air where a mortar shell suddenly streaked though as she was in mid-leap, she suppressed the urge to cry. Racing towards the defense of the central base was all well and good, but what exactly was she supposed to do? She wasn't some kind of combat savant like her Ala Alba classmates were! Heck, she was barely competent at the running around and casting spells part of her training!

As she dashed around a patch of ground upon which a demon suddenly fell into, followed by the slightly crazy-eyed Tohsaka Sakura, her normally purple hair pale in her berseker frenzy as she began ripping chunks out of the demon to consume for power, Misora resolved to look for a new line of work, some place idle and peaceful. She'd heard they were setting up a group to go to Gotham City and help set up a new hospital. That would be a nice change of pace. Just a normal, far from magical, highly urbanized city...

A slight telepathic prod from Cocone derailed that train of thought literally: Misora saw a summer-blockbuster-worthy vision of a train jumping off its tracks bcause of a penny on the rail, slamming into a train coming the other way, and resulting in an explosion that leveled the countrysieand threw up so much smoke it started the next ice age reminding Misora of her more immediate responsibilites, like not getting killed, surviving through this and getting back to giving her girlfriend some sweet, sweet lovin'. Cocone unvocally growled in lusty agreement.

Up ahead, they saw some college students laying waste about them with spell and Artifact. Misora didn't really know their names, but she vageuly recognized them from meetings as some of the mage students, like herself, or Goodman, Mei and Nutmeg. She thought they called themselves Iridia...

Her mind drifted dangerously off topic, and she barely percieved Cocone's telepathic warning to move until it was too late. The groud she was standing one suddenly levered upward and sideways, throwing off her rhythm and balance as a Demon tried to pounce on them from behind. Fortunately, it had underestimated her speed, and thus had ended up eating concreate rather than thier heads. The sudden improptu platform its landing had created, however, sent Misora and Cocone hrtling into the air, and the unexpected vector added by the suddenly unstable ground through off Misora's stance, making her spin danerously, her feet no longer under her. Frantically, she tried to twist and grab Cocone, to keep her body between the hard landing and the little girl's.

Cold, narrow threads suddenly surrounded her, and confusion reinged for a moment before she recognized the feel of Soei-jutsu threads wraping around her and gently setting her down.

"You all right, kohai?" someone asked her, and she looked up to see a vaguely feminine face peering down at her in concern from behind large, squarish glasses. He wore a blue vest and diagonally slashed black and white pants and shirt.

"I wanna go back to bed, " Misora gibbered.

"Don't we all, " a solid-looking, vaguely latino male said, his own glasses slightly askew. Misora loopily noted he seemed to be wearing a Chiu-sama t-shirt. He held a strange, vaguely disturbing mask of a pale, laughing face with blood red lips. Some kind of Artifact, Misora surmised. "It's getting back up!"

The demon that had crash-landed roared, sending Misora panickedly to her feet.

The vageuly feminine-looking boy, who seemed to be some kind of leader, called out, "Anemoi, lantern that thing! it's a demon, it needs magic to be able to sustain impossible metabolic functions! Marq, SHOOT IT!"

Two other students moved into action. One, who looked like some kind of Jewish taxidermist wielding some kind of severed head charged forward heedless of danger, the head held high like a talisman, and Misora felt her heart growing lighter for some reason. His coat fluttered dramatically in the wind as he approached the demon, who was not struggling to move, panting and choking, its wings fluttering fitfully.

The other student held up what was apparently his artifact, which looked like a faberge egg made of diamond, surrounded with a golden lattice. "Potentia Puellae Sagittarius" he called out, and the Artifact glowed as the wind dramatically caught his long blue bangs. When it dimmed, a little girl barely taller than Cocone stood in his place, though with inappropriately large breasts, wearing an all white outfit and holding a rifle. "Noble Phantasm: Iron Sight!" she called out, and there was a shot that cracked the air as an ominously glowing dark bullet streaked.

The one called Anemoi quickly jumped out of the way, just as it struck the demon, which died instantly.

"Nice, " the first one said. "Which one was that?"

"Simo Hayha, " the little girl said, glowing as she transformed back into a college student.

Another student wearing a purple hoodie approached Misora. "You all right, kohai?" he asked. Little tendrils of cold mist seemed to emanate from him.

Misora nodded. "F-fine. But we really need to get going! We need to reach the church to help with the defense there!"

The first student smiled grimly. "Well, we'll see what we can do about getting you there. Iridia, let's clear a path, then we need to continue on to library island! If anything happens to those books..."

"What is it with you and books?" a vague, dark-blob said, looking kinda like one of those inky monster things that followed Zazie around.

"I like them. Is there some problem with that?" the first student asked. "RT, can you use your Artifact to does something about all this?"

The dark blob with its glowing eyes raised something that looked vaguely like a cellphone, its formless tendril arms tapping quickly, and shook its head. "No good! Whatever is on the other side isn't responding to request through my Ex Altera Parte Quarti Muri. Something about a greater overarching plot overriding my requests. It still works on a micro level, though. It's not raining dramatically like it was supposed to be."

The first hissed. "Fine, we do this the old-fashioned way. Overmaster, Anemoi, Mega, you regroup with Cygan, Cygnus, Immi, Starwave and head for the library. RT, keep trying to contact the Professor!"

The one holding the mask nodded, gesturing to the others as he put the mask on his face. Instantly, it seemed to bond with his flesh, his clothes becoming a rather stylish purple suit as he led the way.

"Sereg, you think you can give our little kohai a little boost to help her get where she's going?"

A curly-haired student with a rather high hairline pulled a book, murmuring Magus Liber Alter to activate it. "Well, let's see what we've got..."

Misora suddenly shook as she felt the magic affect her, and when she did, her shoes suddenly felt warm. Surprised, she looked down at her Artifacts. They were subtly different, and she felt instinctively they were faster than before.

Sereg nodded. "I've switched you with a similar version of your self from some unequally rational and emotional place. You'll be slightly faster now. Sorry, it's the best I can do on such short notice."

The first student nodded and cracked his knuckles as the others ran off to head for the library. "Be ready to run, kohai. I'll clear you a path, then be running off myself. My Artifact's been acting wonky lately, so this is the best I can do. Adeat, Fenestra Creationis Scribendi!" A kind of tablet appeared in his hands, and he hastily began tapping on scribbling on it. "Enter! Alteration loaded. Initiating actualization!"

A girl in a white and purple costume resembling a sailor fuku suddenly appeared. "Death reborn revolution!" she cried, bringing down the scythe she was holding, and a globe-shaped path of destruction cut through the streets in a relatively straight line before disappearing abruptly.

The college student grimaced. "Damn. Too much resistance. Well, the path is clear, kohai! Start running."

Suiting actions to words, he turned to run where his companions had gone.

"Thanks sempai!" Misora called out. "Hey! Got a name?"

"My friends call me SCM!" he called back. "Ask anybody! you'll find me."

"See you around!" Misora called one last time. She looked over at Cocone. "Betcha I never see that guy again."

Cocone nodded in solemn agreement as Misora began to run again.

Wow, she WAS faster now...

They hurried on to the church.

But there was no point in Negi wishing for things that couldn't be. His eyes opened. "Satomi, I need you to head for the Chao Bao Zi to help Satsuki-san get it airborne," he called out as he stood up. "Kaede, will you please -"

"I'll do it," interrupted Mana. "You'll need her here."

"And of course, you wish to demonstrate that you're a better courier," Kaede noted dryly.

"That's a factor," Mana allowed.

"Okay," Negi agreed, beckoning for Mana to come over. "Nobody gets near her, all right?" he said quietly.

"Not within thirty feet," she agreed. "But before I go -" And with that, she quite soundly kissed him in front of the entire party.

"What, what -" he stammered when she released his lips.

"Damn, but you're cute when you blush," she said, then turned to Satomi. "Let's go," she said with a nod of her head.

"Ah, yes," the mad scientist agreed, just a little flustered.

Nodoka and Yue just stared for a moment, before turning to look at each other. "Do you get the feeling that we've been leaving some people out of our speculations?" Yue asked.

Nodoka nodded, in a way that would have seemed solemn if not for the look of extreme befuddlement on her face.

Yuna, who had been taking pot shots at the demons surrounding them, abruptly yelled out. "We've got incoming!"

"Hold your fire!" Asuna shouted just as loudly. "That's not a -"

The flying figure landed some distance away, among a group of demons who'd been driven back by Itoshiki and company, and proceeded to eviscerate them with a series of slices from her armblades. Cleaning her blades with a flick of the wrists, she bowed in Negi's direction. "Sensei. I apologize for my tardiness," said Chachamaru.

Negi gaped for a moment. "Cha- No, no, it's my fault for -"

"Oh, come on, you're not going to do the 'it's my fault no it's mine' routine now, are you?" Chisame shouted at him. Bracing herself, she turned to look at Chachamaru, suspecting that everyone there could see her blushing, hearing the catch in her voice as she addressed her. "Chachamaru - did she send you?"

"No. The Master gave me permission to come to Negi-sensei's assistance, but did not give me any instructions in this matter. When I departed, she was pouting over the damage done to her home," Chachamaru replied, telling the truth as she knew it.

"Then I suppose that she won't be coming to help us herself," Negi said grimly. "Well, she did warn me that she wouldn't always be there. Thank you for coming, Chachamaru."

"You are welcome, Negi-sensei. You should be aware that Arika-sama and Chizuru-san are apparently within the tower," the gynoid said, clearly aware that she was dropping a bombshell.

The detonation rocked Ayaka, Natsumi and Kotaro, as well as Asuna and Negi. It was the actress who found her voice first. "What, what is Chizu-ne doing in that thing!"

Chachamaru blinked, then, as though answering a serious question, replied, "The highest probability is that she is being held captive. I assign somewhat lower probabilities to the notion that she is responsible for its creation."

"Oh, great, you picked now to develop sarcasm!" Chisame snarled.

"Enough," Negi said, trying to sound forceful. "This doesn't change anything. We've just got to get into the tower, fight our way up to the floor where they're being held - the top, right?"

"Correct, sensei," Chachamaru confirmed.

"Y'know, I think we can do better," Haruna said, glaring at the tower and pulling out her artifact. "Skip the 'fight our way up' part. Just give me some cover while I'm doing this!"

On Negi's nod, the party proceeded to surround Haruna, taking out the occasional attackers who approached them while she knelt down to the ground and began drawing frantically. As she drew, she started to mutter. "Tezuka-sensei, manga no kami-sama, I have never prayed to you before. I have no tongue for it, and, let's not kid ourselves, you really wouldn't have approved of me.

"The strange thing is, I get that now. I never would have before all this happened. I always told myself that I could always understand the other person's point of view, that I could tolerate anything, but when it came to people who weren't tolerant ... that's where my own tolerance ended. Funny, huh? But then, for the first time, I found something I couldn't tolerate."

Nodoka paused in her efforts to read the demonic attackers minds and turned to stare at Haruna for a moment, before focusing on her task once more, shouting information to those who needed it.

"But that's not important right now. Right now, for the first time in a while, my friends are all on the same page, all doing what they can to help others, to stop bad things from happening. And I want to do my part. So if you're listening to this silly person's prayer, help me get this right. This needs to be the best drawing I've ever done, Tezuka-sensei.

"And if you're not listening, well, I liked Urasawa-sensei's interpretation of your characters better than yours anyway." She drew in a deep breath, then stood up, holding her sketchpad before her like a shield. "Harunakaizer - hasshin!" she shouted, bracing herself.

Out from the sketchpad, something enormous emerged. Haruna's teeth clenched, not in her usual maniacal grin, but in genuine pain. She had never animated anything this huge. It dwarfed the giant robot dinosaur she'd drawn a few minutes ago, and its mass! Maybe including that note about the neutronium in its armor plating hadn't been such a good idea. There was usually a little pang when the creation leapt off the page, but nothing like this!

But then it was out - the largest robot she'd ever imagined, almost as large as the twisted tower itself, eyes glowing a bright blue, and a sword patterned on Asuna's blade in its hand. "Let's make an entrance," Haruna shouted, and the robot swung its blade towards the tower's walls -

And vanished like a soap bubble the instant it contacted them.

"Ehhhh?" Haruna asked aloud.

"Wait a minute," Asuna yelled. "That was -"

"- Magic Cancel?" Arika shouted as she watched all this on the monitors.

"Of course!" Alladia said, clearly amused at her consternation. "Surely you didn't think that once our daughter was born with the power, that would be the end of my efforts? What use is the ultimate weapon if only one person can use it? The studies began almost as soon as she was out of you. It took years and a fortune to produce results, but I had both. Even so, the artificial Magic Cancel isn't quite as perfect as the original, but it will function quite nicely for my purposes."

He turned back to look at the screens. "Now, I wonder what little Negi will try this time?" he asked, smiling.

"He almost sounds proud of him," Chizuru mused softly, intending the words for Arika's ears alone.

"Why shouldn't I be?" the mad king said, having plainly overheard her. "Simply by being male, he is far more suitable an heir than a certain person could ever be. Not that I will ever need an heir, of course, since I intend to live forever, but it's the idea of the thing. Further, as my descendant through two lines, he is -"

"So Nagi's mother was one of your byblows," Arika interjected. "I thought so!"

Alladia coughed. Then he turned and, with eye-blinding speed, moved across the chamber to deliver a slap to Arika's cheek that could easily have broken the neck of anyone less resilient. "Do not interrupt me," he said softly, then turned his deadly gaze on Chizuru. "Either of you."

Returning to stand by his chair, where the slime-girl Purin was still seated. "The woman who grew to be called Nicole Anne Springfield was my second-born daughter," he continued casually. "I got her on my younger sister soon after she turned twelve, around the time that I first developed my plans to create a new child with Magic Cancel. I believed that the way to do so was to increase the purity of our bloodline, so she was the logical choice. In retrospect, I suppose I should have heeded her objections, for it turned out that she was only a half-sister, and her child didn't bear the mark of our family." He pointed towards his mismatched eyes, twins to Arika's own.

"Nor was there an opportunity to try again, for the wench had the audacity to die giving birth. I ordered the child killed as well, but that proved too much for my servants, who smuggled her to the Old World. Ah, well. It worked out in the long run, I suppose. The boy will make an excellent enforcer, once I break his will." He smiled brightly as he watched Negi's party come under heavy assault once more. "And all this talk of my past conquests is quite arousing! Purin, dear, do you think your sisters would be interested in a bit of fun?"

Purin nodded vigorously.

"Let's go down and visit them, shall we?" he added, picking her up and strolling over to the elevator shaft.

Chizuru cleared her throat a moment later. "I apologize for comparing you to him," she said quietly. "It was unfair."

"Not really," Arika replied, just as quietly. "Of course, some good does come of all this. I've speculated before that the Royal Magic will act to mitigate genetic damage from inbreeding, and if I could have a healthy child with one who was my - hm, half-nephew and first cousin, somewhat removed? Something like that - then it seems that must be the case." She smiled. "Asuna can have Negi's child without worries."

Chizuru privately thought that it said something about her new-found sister that such things were on her mind at a time like this, but didn't say anything, to preserve the fragile entente between them.

Makie was sure that there had to be worse situations than this one. Not being very clever, though, she found that she couldn't think of any. Here she was, standing in the middle of the street, unable to make even a slight move for fear that one of the people pointing very, very large guns at her would take it amiss and then shoot her. Which would be bad, although there was the slight chance that she could dodge the bullet. However, if one of them started shooting, Makie was pretty sure that the rest would start in on it, too, and she couldn't possibly dodge all of the bullets.

All of this would be bad enough, but on top of that, it just went on and on!

They'd been standing there for ages and ages, it felt like, with the guy who'd radioed in the report of her capture now trying to get ahold of someone in authority on the other end. "No, I don't want you to disturb him," he was saying now. "And I especially don't want you disturb him and then tell him that I told you to disturb him! But I have the package, and I don't want to just stand here waiting for someone to come along and interrupt - yes, I do understand where you're coming from, but -

"Y'know, to hell with this, I'm going to put this doohickey they gave on me and send her to you! Then you can figure out what you're going to do with her once she gets there. I don't care if you don't appreciate this! I don't appreciate any of this! Screw you too!" He reached up and yanked an earbud out of his ear, and then looked at Makie, smiling warmly. She couldn't see his eyes behind his reflective sunglasses, but she didn't think the smile reached them. It wasn't that kind of smile.

"Okay, girly, here's what's going to happen. I'm going to amble on over to you, and attach this little widget to your upper torso," he said, holding up a thin strip of paper printed with some characters that Makie couldn't quite make out. "You might say to yourself, I can probably turn this whole situation around, all I have to do is just grab this guy and then the rest of his buddies will have to let me go! Are you thinking along those lines?"

"Not really, I'm not that sort of person," Makie answered honestly.

"Yeah, right. Anyway, you can do that, but it won't matter. These guys, they're loyal to their wallets, you know what I mean? If they've gotta shoot you through me, they'll do it without blinking an eye. So there's no real point in it, is there?"

"I'm really not that sort of person," Makie replied, wondering why he didn't believe her. What a sad, cynical man. "What is that thing?"

"Apparently, it's a teleportation sutra," he explained. "I put it on you, and activate it, and you're instantly moved somewhere else."

"Like maybe Hawaii?" asked Makie, hopefully.

"No, not Hawaii," the man told her patiently.

"Too bad. I've never been to Hawaii. Are you sure I couldn't go there instead of wherever you're planning to send me?"

"I'm very sure. Okay, I'm going to start walking now," he announced.

"Can I maybe talk you out of that? I just really think this is a very bad idea -" Makie started to ask, but she broke off when the man started laughing. It wasn't mean laughter, like he was laughing at what she'd said, more like he was laughing at the whole situation. Maybe he wasn't so bad. Maybe they could work something out. Maybe -

"Oh, wow, thanks. I needed that," he said, after a while. And with that he started walking towards her.

He hadn't taken three steps in her direction before a pink rose quite abruptly landed, stem first, in the street in front of him.

He stared at the rose. So, for that matter, did Makie. She'd only been eight years old when a certain anime went off the air, but her older brother had been a fan (stridently maintaining that there was nothing at all girly about his interest) and so there'd been plenty of VHS tapes to watch on lazy afternoons. Slowly she turned in the direction from which the rose had been flung, wondering if there would be a tuxedoed stranger standing there. She was disappointed in her speculation.

Standing there was a girl ... no, a woman. Well, she definitely looked older than Makie, even if she wasn't a grown-up, and it was hard to guess her age. Her hair was pink, much like Makie's own, but her eyes were a bright, almost luminescent blue. She was wearing a long, dark blue coat over blue jeans and a white shirt. And she looked ... tired, or maybe sick.

"You?" the man said, in a strangled voice.

"I see that my reputation proceeds me," the woman replied in a toneless voice, as she started walking towards where Makie was standing.

Looking around, Makie could see that the men pointing guns at her were all having reactions like their nominal leader. Some of them were shaking their heads in disbelief; some were shaking far more generally. And ... now she knew she had to be imagining this, but Makie could swear that she could smell pee! Which was ridiculous, of course. But none of them had made any attempt to shoot the woman who by now had walked past their leader, and was standing right beside their target.

"It's going to be okay, I'm going to get you out of here," she said to Makie, in the same quiet toneless voice, before raising it a little as she made an announcement. "All right. You all know who I am. You know what will happen if you try anything with me. You are a large group of men at arms ... and I am a single person with right on my side. You all know how that story plays out. So I'm going to walk away, with her, and you're all going to just chalk this up as a loss. Okay?"

Without waiting for a response, the woman reached around Makie's shoulder and held her firmly. "Start walking," she said, quiet again. "Don't run until we get around the corner, but then run like your life depends on it, because it will."

Slowly, they walked past the fire team's leader, and then past the men who had been surrounding her. They kept walking until they reached the corner of the intersection, and then, as Makie heard one of the men shouting, "Hey, wait a minute!", they started to run.

"Who are you?" Makie asked as she ran beside her, hearing the sounds of several feet pursuing them.

"Call me Tomoko," the woman said. Then she did a double take. "You don't know me?"

Makie shook her head, then let out a shriek as 'Tomoko' abruptly changed the direction they were running, dragging her along with her.

"They're going to try and cut us off if we keep going one direction," she told her. "An actual innocent. That's ... incredible. Okay, I need you to tell me a place where you'll be safe."

"Wherever Negi-sensei is," Makie promptly said.

"Place, not person," 'Tomoko' said, her toneless voice getting a little sharp.

"Okay, okay, uh, the Chao Bao Zi. Do you -"

"They have great soup, there. All right. I'm going to do something a little scary now."

"What?" Makie asked, wondering what could possibly be scarier than -

She grabbed hold of Makie's torso and leapt up into the air.

Ask a silly question ...

The day had started out so nicely, too.

She'd woken up curled up beside Madoka in her bed, with far more than just their pinkies entwined. (Eeeee!) The only way it could have been better was if there was another warm form on the other side of her. But Misa had firmly indicated that such a turn of events was never ever ever going to happen, not even if Sakurako gave her puppy dog eyes for the rest of time, so she should just stop.

Saku still thought she could wear her down before graduation. She was a lucky girl.

Of course, with the new session starting in just a few days, it was important for them to get ready for their autumn cheerleading duties. They'd kind of slacked off on their training over the summer, what with one thing and another, and so it was imperative (in Misa's words) that they pick up the pace. So, eventually, she hauled her two smitten roomies out of their beds and into warm-up suits for a jog down to the football field.

They arrived just as everything went to hell all over campus. This had become distressingly familiar, so the three of them promptly took shelter in the gym locker room. If there'd been an opportunity to arm themselves, like there had been before, they'd have taken it, but as things actually stood, they were just a trio of athletic young girls, one of whom was admittedly very lucky.

And so it was that they were there when the demons came for them. Somewhat predictably, these were vaguely humanoid demons who had wavy tentacles instead of hands, and their intentions were distressingly clear. Fortunately, they were not terribly clever demons, and the cheerleaders were easily able to hide from them. Unfortunately, one didn't have to be terribly clever to block a door. So no matter how the girls hid, eventually, they were going to be found.

"Okay, don't panic," whispered Misa, who was clearly close to panicking. "There's got to be something we can do."

Slowly, Sakurako peeked out around the corner of the rows of lockers, to see that the majority of the demons were on the far side of the room from the three of them. There were four of them, she thought. That was sort of overkill, she thought. After all, there were only three of them, so what was the fourth one supposed to do while they were - she decided not to think along these lines anymore.

And then a plan occurred to her. "Hey, Misa," she said softly. "I bet I can deal with these guys. If I lose, and we survive, I'll be your servant for a month."

"Saku, what are you talking about?" Madoka hissed.

"And what if you do pull this miracle off?" Misa asked. "I'm not going to be anyone's servant -"

"Guess," Saku cooed, reaching up to tickle Misa's cheek.

Misa rolled her eyes. "Fine. If you pull this off, I'll give you both a freebie. But you won't. I bet you can't."

"Do I get a vote in this?" asked Madoka, looking a little alarmed.

Sakurako drew in a deep breath and closed her eyes. She didn't even come close to understanding her luck. It was just, you know, luck. Things went her way, most of the time. And when they didn't, well, it wasn't so bad. But this would be really bad, so she needed to be really, really, lucky, so she reached deep down inside herself, searching for her center as she had never searched for anything.

And then, before she could let self-doubt, paralyze her, she slammed the palm of her hand against the lockers they were hiding behind. Improbably, but not impossibly, they fell back, slamming into the next row, which then hit the next, and then the row behind which the demons were presently discussing their options, hitting them with the accumulated force of a row of dominoes and squashing them flat.

Madoka and Misa stared at this for a moment, before they slowly turned to look at Sakurako, who was smiling a silly grin. "Just lucky, I guess," she said, as blood slowly began to drip from her nose. And then she fainted dead away.

Ku Fei wasn't really impressed by the quality of her opponents this day. Really, more than anything else, they reminded her of the demon-guys that she'd fought in Kyoto during the class trip, only not as easy-going. And she'd progressed a lot farther in her training since then, so there really shouldn't be any problem.

However, she was starting to realize something, as she smashed yet another drone with the business end of her compliant rod. If someone had told her about the quote 'Sometimes quantity has a quality all its own,' she would have nodded and loudly agreed that whoever had said that had possessed great wisdom. Had they then told her to whom it was attributed, she would have glared at them for making her look like an idiot. Again.

She was burning energy every time she smited one of them. And they kept right on coming. Eventually, she'd be too tired to go on, and they'd overcome her by numbers. The cold equations spelled her inevitable defeat.

She wasn't enough of an idiot that she couldn't grasp this. She simply chose not to let it trouble her unduly, even as she started to feel just a bit fatigued -

Fatigued enough, she abruptly realized, to let one of them sneak up behind her, and even as she whirled to bring her staff up to block its killing blow, she knew she wasn't going to make it.

And then the demon rocked back as two bullets hit it right in the middle of its flat forehead. "Bullets?" it exclaimed. "Regular bullets! I'm insulted!"

"Very sorry," said Ku, and smashed right through his head. "That type is immune to bullets-aru!" she called over her shoulder.

"They slow them down at least," Mana opined as she ran up with Satomi, who was starting to wonder whether her robotic arms could double as legs. She'd never run so much in all her life before this point, and wasn't really enjoying it. She continued up to their goal as Mana stood sentinel with Ku.

"Okay," Satomi announced at the door of the Chao Bao Zi, breathing just a bit heavily. "I'm here, where's the -"

Satsuki quietly pressed an energy drink into Satomi's hand.

"Okay, this will help, thank you, Satsuki-san, but I need to -"

Satsuki gestured for her to drink it. With a sigh, Satomi did so, and felt her dehydration ease a bit. "Okay, now, the flight systems?"

Satsuki nodded and led her over to them. They were similar to the ones she'd installed in Chachamaru, though of course on a much larger scale. All of the vectored thrusters appeared to be functioning to specifications, and the system's gyroscopic stabilizer was on balance. Frankly, Satomi found herself a little disappointed. Surely Chao would have told Satsuki how to engage in inspections like this! She'd been expecting there to be something really wrong, that she'd have to fix in far less time than someone would normally need to do do.

"It's all in order, so if you want to get this thing in motion -"

Satsuki nodded, and then explained what else she neeeded Satomi to do.

"Sorry, what?" Satomi asked, blinking her eyes.

Satsuki repeated her explanation.

"Uh ... I had no idea that she'd done that," Satomi said, looking a bit spooked. "And, and you're okay with that?"

Satsuki replied that she was not.

"Well, then, m-maybe I should operate the vehicle and -"

Something seemed wrong with Satsuki's face. Satomi struggled for a moment to recognize what was wrong, before she realized that the chef was frowning. Not in annoyance, but anger. "No one flies my ship but me," she said.

"... okay," replied Satomi, thoroughly intimidated.

Satsuki's frown lifted, and she quietly thanked Satomi for understanding and tolerating her stubborness. The mad scientist just nodded politely as she was led to the controls for the other major system that Chao had installed on the Chao Bao Zi.

"Okay, how about this, we slap Akira's face a few times to get her angry, Ako zaps her with her needle -"

"In the butt," supplied Ako.

Chisame continued as though she hadn't been interrupted. "- and she tears a hole in this thing's side."

"I'm willing to try it," Akira said hesitantly.

Negi shook his head. "The Cancel will nullify the enhancement magic on Akira-san, and all she'll do is hurt her hands." At least, he thought, wondering at what would happen if the Cancel was applied to a nereid, if that was in fact what Akira was. He doubted it would be anything good.

"This is nuts!" Yuna shouted as she shot down a few drones. "There's open doors high up on this so it can launch all this crap, so why don't we launch ourselves into one of them? Setsuna can fly up and -"

"I don't think they're as open as they look," Yue noted as she did some curative magic on Emily, who'd gotten too close to a demon who responded to being killed by exploding.

"Correct," Chachamaru confirmed. "The egresses are shielded by electromagnetic fields that will roast anyone attempting to enter from the outside. Survival would be a possibility, but -"

"- you'd get swarmed by the tower's defenses," Yue guessed.

"One could hide a small force inside one's cloak, then pitch it through one of yonder egresses. Those within it might then emerge, defeat the defenders, and find a way of shutting down the aforesaid fields, permitting the rest of the company to join them," Kaede suggested quickly, then tossed one of her huge shuriken at a bird-like demon, neatly bisecting it.

"That could work!" Negi said enthusiastically. "But really, it would probably be safest if I was the only one in the cloak and -"

"Haven't you yet learned about not taking stuff like that on yourself!" chorused Asuna, Chisame and Ayaka (who hadn't been there on previous occasions, but didn't want to see her Negi risk himself like that) as they loomed over him.

"But -"

"Master?" said Chachamaru.

"I don't think we can expect any help from her, Chachamaru-san," Negi said, fairly sure that he'd already observed that, but even under the circumstances, he felt that he ought to be polite about -

"No, sensei, I meant, Master is there, somewhat to my surprise," the gynoid elaborated as she pointed up into the sky.

Following her gesture, Negi could clearly see Evangeline moving quickly and gracefully through the air towards the tower, her cloak spread out behind her like a great pair of wings. He blinked. "What?" he said.

"I thought the curse stopped her from doing that sort of thing except on full moon nights!" Asuna said.

"That was my understanding as well," Chachamaru agreed.

"The barrier around the school is down," Negi said slowly. "But even so, there's not nearly as much ambient magic to - I don't understand how this can be happening ..."

And then Evangeline was in front of one of the open doors on the tower's side, and then moved through it with a sudden burst of motion. There was a faint burst of light from the force field on the portal, but nothing more than that.

"Now what?" Chisame said, voicing what everyone was thinking.

Moons and Junes and ferris wheels,

The dizzy dancing way you feel

As every fairy tale comes real;

I've looked at love that way.

But now it's just another show.

You leave 'em laughing when you go

And if you care, don't let them know,

Don't give yourself away.

I've looked at love from both sides now,

From give and take, and still somehow,

It's love's illusions I recall.

I really don't know love ... at all.

There had been silence for a long while in the control room, as Arika kept trying to test the bonds holding her to the wall, leaving her with no time for speech. At first, she'd muttered about how they must be reinforced by the artificial Magic Cancel, and so prevented her from using her full, Royal Magic enhanced strength. But even that had stopped when Chizuru hadn't bothered to reply.

For her part, Chizuru spent these long moments thinking about how much she had to regret. Admittedly, she couldn't have known that Yukihiro-san wasn't her father, but that was a poor excuse for the hatred she'd always felt for someone who'd clearly only ever been as much of a pawn in the game, just as she was. Of course, that led her to think about Ayaka. She'd believed that she couldn't live with the disturbing elements of the girl's attraction to Negi-sensei, but had that simply been a way of pushing her away? Had her selfish wish to monopolize Ayaka's private attention really been a way of forcing things to an outcome that, she now realized, she didn't really want?

Regrets were all that she had, now. Very soon, she suspected, she wouldn't even have them.

The doors hissed open once more, and Chizuru braced herself for more offense from her mother's rapist, without bothering to look up. The sharp gasp from Arika, however, got her attention. She raised her head to see Evangeline, clad in black undergarments and a long cape, walking barefoot away from the elevator doors.

A slow smile spread across the little vampire's face as she saw them there, though it didn't come close to touching her red eyes. "Well, well, well," she said softly. "The day is finally starting to look up."

"Don't be more ridiculous than you have to be," Arika snapped. "The person responsible for this is, is also responsible for the destruction of your home, and -"

"He's responsible for alllll sorts of things, I'll bet," Evangeline said lazily as she wandered over to look at the monitors. "Hmph. Boya, I thought we discussed this. If you don't know what to do, just try something, anything. Don't ever choose to do nothing. Clearly, I made a mistake choosing him as my disciple ..."

"Perhaps he saw your arrival and doesn't want to mess up your play," Chizuru offereed politely.

Evangeline affected to notice Chizuru. "Oh, so you're here, too. That's nice. Family reunion time. Has he gone to get Sasaki, then?"

"What?" Chizuru asked, bewildered by the way that this conversation had turned.

"Sasaki Makie is my youngest living sister?" Arika said, being just a little quicker on the update. "The silly girl with pink hair? And you knew about this?"

Evangeline looked away. "I know all sorts of things that you'll never know," she said quietly then lifted her voice to continue. "The signs were obvious to see, if one knew what to look for. The subject just didn't interest me. Anymore than you do."

Before this conversation could further degenerate, the doors opened and Alladia appeared out of the shaft. The annoyed look on his face lasted just a moment before he sighted Evangeline, whereon it metamorphosed into an expression best termed as 'worshipful'. "At last," he breathed, as he slowly settled to one knee. "At last, I gaze upon perfection. Forgive me tardiness, my Queen."

"Uh ... right," Evangeline said. Whatever she'd been expecting, this wasn't it. "Alladia Autarkia -"

"None of those titles matter now," Alladia interjected. "Before you now is only Alladia, Alladia who has always, since his boyhood, burned with desire for you."

"... is he for real?" Evangeline asked Arika from across the room.

"I assure you of my sincerity!" Alladia said, cutting off anything that Arika might have said. "My father first spoke of you to me when I was but eight years of age, and showed me a picture of you. The fool thought you a failure, a dead end in our attempts to create the ultimate weapon. He was too blind to see you for what you are - the combination of all the feminine archetypes. Maiden, mother and crone in one person!"

"Right," Evangeline said, humoring the lunatic. "I really don't think I qualify for any of those. Definitely not a maiden, certainly not a crone, and never gave birth -"

"Ah, but that is the genius. By becoming nosferatu before your first menses, you have stayed a child forever, and so eternally a maiden, regardless of the state of your body. And yet within you is the wisdom and experience of the crone. And as for motherhood, many are the tales of the dark magi who studied with you, whom you guided in the paths of power - and more than one of them spoke of you as ... 'Little Mother'," he said, with the last words clearly being savored.

"They did?" Evangeline said blankly.

"They did," Alladia confirmed. "And as I read their accounts, I knew that you were the only woman in either world who would ever be worthy of my love." He rose up, then, and for a moment it looked as though he was about to rush towards her, but held himself back. "All that I have done has been done for the sake of this moment, when I would stand before you and offer you my hand. Together, we will wreck the world and build a new one on its ashes, one where you will be forever Queen of Night, and I, your humble servant, King of Day."

Evangeline stared at him. After a moment, she sighed. "Damned if that doesn't sound kind of tempting," she mused aloud. "What about them?" she asked, gesturing towards Arika and Chizuru.

"They - along with my third daughter, whom my idiot hirelings have failed to capture," he added savagely, before continuing smoothly. "- are to be your wedding feast. To celebrate your return to power, I offer you the best that I have, as Tantalus to Zeus." He bowed.

"Wow, that is reallllly tempting," Evangeline said, nodding slowly as she wandered over to look up at them. "I mean, after all, you always sort of pissed me off, Naba, with your perpetual good humor and cheerfulness. And then there's the bruise you gave me a while ago when you slapped me. People shouldn't really expect to get away with that sort of thing."

"I'm sorry you feel that way," Chizuru said, closing her eyes and preparing to bid farewell to her life.

"And you ... well. The whole world knows how much you grind my gears," Evangeline continued, looking up at Arika.

"So much for not killing women and children, then," Arika replied, glaring down at her.

"It was always more of a guideline than a code, as such," Evangeline said idly.

"If you expect me to beg for mercy, to ask you to step away from this path, then whatever you might know, you know nothing of me. I will never ask you for help," the former queen continued fiercely.

"Actually, that's about what I would expect of you," Evangeline noted, meeting her glare steadily. "But it really doesn't matter, because even if you could get past that pride of yours to ask for help, I have no reason to give it to you. I have no reason to help you."

For a moment, they stared at each other. Arika's brow furrowed. There was something in her words, something familiar, but she couldn't quite remember ...

So she asks me why I helped her, and I said -

"I don't need a reason," Evangeline quoted, and turned to throw a six-foot javelin of ice right through Alladia's chest.

Alladia stared down at the javelin sticking out of him, and opened his mouth. "Again?" he gargled, just as a fountain of blood spewed forth from his mouth, and then slumped forward in death.

"Well, that was disturbingly easy," Evangeline mused, watching the homonculous quickly decay for a moment, before she turned her attention to the binders holding Chizuru against the wall.

"There are more of him," Arika snapped reflexively before she glared down at Evangeline. "The curse on you is broken. How did that happen?"

Evangeline neither responded to the query nor met Arika's gaze, as she freed Chizuru's feet first. It was relatively easy to do, once she figured out how the locking mechanism worked. "Okay, when I let your hands go, you're going to drop a foot or so, so be ready for that," she said to the taller girl before flying up to take care of those locks.

"Answer my question," Arika demanded.

"Would you like to stay hung up like that for the rest of time?" Evangeline replied, still not looking at her as she got the lock on Chizuru's broken hand off first, allowing her to bring it back down against her stomach. "Ready?" she asked the girl.

"Ready," Chizuru answered.

"I would not like to stay here," answered Arika. "Now answer my question."

As she released the lock, and Chizuru landed on the ground fairly gracefully, Evangeline finally whirled to glare at Arika. "Use your bloody eyes," she hissed. "There, on the monitor, you can see the boya. You can see Chisame-chan and the damn iinchou. Who can't you see?"

Realization settled on Arika's face like frost on a window pane. "You bitch," she said softly.

"Damn straight," Evangeline replied, and proceeded to release Arika from her bonds too, with much less in the way of warning.

It didn't matter; Arika dropped to the floor with even more ease than Chizuru had shown, before whirling to glare up at Evangeline. "This will not go unanswered," she promised furiously.

"I look forward to your attempts to answer it," Evangeline replied, bitterness dripping from her words. "It is such a relief not to be dealing with people who insist on thinking I'm a good person underneath it all!"

"Are the two of you just about done posturing?" Chizuru asked, raising her voice for the first time. "Because we might want to try getting out of here before -"

The elevator doors flung open, and another iteration of Alladia, this one stripped to the waist with slime on his face bounded out of it, green eldritch light glowing in his hands. "You dare to reject my offering?" the mad king howled. "You dare reject my love!"

"Oh, please," Evangeline sighed, and prepared herself for battle.

Running across rooftops wasn't something Makie had ever expected to do. (Parts of it did seem a little familiar, but she decided not to examine that too closely.) Fortunately, the buildings in this area were pretty closely packed together, so she didn't have to make ridiculous leaps between them. It was still a little surprising how far she could leap, though. Rhythmic gymnastics wasn't about such maneuvers, after all, and she didn't think she was drawing on the pactio to augment her strength or speed.

Very mysterious.

It was almost as mysterious as her companion, who hadn't said much of anything after their introduction, other than to give her directions on which way to run. Makie found herself wondering why the other woman had decided to stick her neck out the way that she had, even though she was grateful. But there wasn't really a delicate way to ask that question, was there?

They paused to catch their breaths, and Makie looked over the side of the building down to the street below. The sight was horrifying. Takane, along with Mei and Nutmeg and a few of the school's teachers, were effectively pinned down by a group of mechanical creatures. The stalemate had been going on for a while now, judging by the mechanical shells that were piled up around the defenders.

"Should we maybe help them?" Makie asked 'Tomoko'.

The other woman had started shaking her head even as the question started to leave Makie's lips. "If you go down there, you might help to even the odds. But eventually, the people who are chasing you will realize where you are, and come after you, putting those people in even more danger than they already are. It's better not to involve other people in your problems, even if they aren't of your own making."

She couldn't help herself. "You involved yourself in mine," she pointed out.

The woman's eyes went distant. "Yes, but I'm one of those annoying blood type B people who go around sticking their noses in where they don't belong," she said; the toneless quality of her voice made the reflective look on her face seem very strange.

"I like people like that," Makie told her.

In response, she let out a soft 'heh'. "Come on, break's over. It's just a little further to your safe place," she told her, and then they were running again.

Sure enough, it was just a few more buildings over that they spotted the Chao Bao Zi on the ground below. Makie could see Ku Fei and Mana dealing with the last of about a dozen demons as they arrived, leaving the plaza where the streetcar was currently parked clear.

"Better get you down there in a hurry if you don't want to miss your train," 'Tomoko' told her, before quickly grabbing her around the waist and leaping out into the air above the plaza. She came down hard not far from where Mana had just double tapped a demon, and the shootist whirled to see what had just arrived.

And then Makie saw something she'd never expected to see in her life. Outright panic on the perpetually composed face of Tatsumiya Mana. "You?" the mercenary shouted. "What are you -" And then she had her twin pistols up and pointed right at them. "Step away from her, now."

Makie, moderately freaked by this turn of events, obligingly stepped away from the other woman. "Tatsumiya-san, it's me! It's Makie!" she told her, wondering whether she might have been exposed to some sort of weird psycho-gas or something.

"I know who you are, I'm not talking to you, Sasaki - stay the hell away from my classmate, you!" she yelled at 'Tomoko', who had started to raise her hands in what looked like a calming gesture to Makie.

"She's an innocent, Tatsumiya," the other woman told her. "She's not seeing what you are. You're looking well, incidentally."

"I'd like to remain so," Mana bit out. "Sasaki, please head for the car, I think we're about to lift off."

The order grated on Makie's nerves. "Excuse me, but I think I'm going to thank the person who helped me out of a real jam, first." She turned to look at 'Tomoko'. "I'd like to thank you for your help, Tomoko-san, but I don't think it's right to do that to a fake name."

The other woman blinked, and smiled. "So you guessed, then. I'm impressed."

"Why is Tatsumiya-san so frightened of you, anyway?" Makie asked quietly, trying to make sure that the subject of her query couldn't hear it.

"Because unlike you, she's not an innocent, and so she doesn't see what an innocent would see."

"Ahhh," Makie said, nodding. "Because she's not innocent, she sees things that aren't there."

"Actually, it's because you're innocent that you see things that aren't there," the woman told her, smiling faintly. "But that's not really important. Anyway. My name, not that it matters, is U-"

Before the word could fully pass her lips, the thrusters on the Chao Bao Zi began to spin up, drowning out the word. Makie turned to look at the train car, somewhat annoyedly, then turned back to ask the woman to repeat herself.

She was gone without a trace.

Makie felt Mana's hand on her shoulder. "Come on," the mercenary told her, sounding a lot calmer now. "We've got to go now if we're going at all."

"Tatsumiya-san?" Makie asked as they ran for the car. "What did you see when you saw her?"

"... good little girls don't need to know such things," replied Mana, wondering, as she had the first time she'd seen that woman, how someone could walk around with a thousand swords stuck through them.

"You know," Misora mused philosophically, "it's just occurred to me that maybe not dying a virgin isn t much comfort when you re, you know, actually about to die."

Cocone sent a bundle of mildly stunned, terrified agreement.

"I mean, not to say it wasn t really, really good," Misora continued almost calmly. Cocone growled another affirmative. "But you know, when you re about to die, your brain thinks stupid things like how I could have spent all that really, really good Cocone-luvin time at the track working on getting faster, or maybe learning how to use a gun - and illegally buying a gun - or even, and I can t believe I m saying this, studying new spells and working on my magic."

Cocone nodded in agreement.

They all took another moment to look at the circle of tanks and demons they d stumbled into, who all basically had a look that said, Wow, I can t believe someone was actually stupid enough to run right at us on their faces. Even the tanks, and they didn t even have faces. And unfortunately, Misora s little magical Artifact boost seemed to have run out, else she d have used that cool vibrate to become intangible trick she d learned while using her boosted shoes. The back of her neck was still wet from the orgasm Cocone had had when she'd done it.

"Cocone-chan, I just want you to know, I love you, I ve always loved you, and my life has been complete ever since I met you," Misora whimpered, clutching the smaller girl to herself and doing her best to interpose as much of her body between the big scary things and Cocone as possible.

"I love you too," Cocone said quietly, holding Misora s torso tightly.

The first demon began to stalk forward, obviously savoring the anticipation. Others began following its lead, flexing their claws and licking their chops as they moved. Misora twitched in horror as she saw the tails of many seem to split apart and become masses of tentacles.

"Cocone, I know this is totally the wrong time to ask you this, but -" Misora burbled, trying not to think about the tentacles. Unlike the popular image of such things in anime, these were barbed and claw tipped. Judging from the expressions of the demons, however, they were nonetheless intended to be used for the same thing.

"What?" Cocone asked quietly.

"Will you marry me?"

Cocone stared at her, silent. For some reason, Misora figured that was because she d been shocked out of having anything to say rather than habitual silence.

"Cocone-chan?" Misora prompted. "Not to rush you or anything, but -"

"Yes."

Misora suddenly felt very much at peace. She hugged the girl tighter as the demons came within ten feet. "Would it be wrong of me to say I can now die happy?"

Cocone hugged her tighter, a small smile on her face.

And now the demon loomed over them.

"We're doomed," Misora said philosophically. "Only a Deus Ex Machina can save us now."

And that was when the frozen turkey fell out of the sky and slammed onto the demon, which then fell over, totally unconscious.

Everyone stared at the frozen turkey. The thermostat shoved into it fell out with a cheerful little ding! .

Misora blinked, then pinched herself. "Huh? Am I secretly Sakurako after suffering a traumatic rape incident that made me disconnect from reality and broke my mind, resulting in my thinking I'm Misora? Because there's no way in hell I'm that lucky."

Suddenly, voices from above! The demons looked up fearfully as someone asked Makie why she'd used the turkey like that.

"Ah! Sorry Sat-chan! But it was the closest thing I could pick up!" Makie's voice replied.

"Let me handle this now, Sasaki. Turn around and cover your eyes."

"Um, okay."

There was a sudden hail of gunfire, and demons were scattering at the sudden hail of death from above. The tanks tried to orient on whatever it was, but were cut down as substantially more potent weaponry was aimed at them.

"Kasuga!" one of the heavenly voices called out, which Misora finally recognized as Mana's "You okay down there?"

"We're cool!" Misora managed to call out. Was that the Chao Bao Zi? Flying? "Where are you going? Maybe we can hitch a ride?"

"We're going to back up Negi-sensei," Mana called.

Misora did the quickest math she d ever done in her life.

Mana plus flying-weapon-loaded Chao Bao Zi equals safety. (Misora plus Cocone) plus (Mana plus flying-weapon-loaded Chao Bao Zhi) equals safety. Negi-sensei equals safety.

Negi-sensei plus danger equals Negi-sensei in the middle of said danger trying to do something about it.

(Misora plus Cocone) plus (Mana plus flying-weapon-loaded Chao Bao Zhi) divided by (Negi-sensei plus danger) equals hellish scenario.

"Actually, I just remembered someplace we need to be!" Misora said. "But, uh, can you point us where the church is? We're a little lost."

Mana gave her a bland look but pointed. "That way. I suggest you get on the rooftops. There were some tanks in that direction when we passed."

"Cool! Thanks Tatsumi!" Misora called out, watching with some relief as the flying train car began to hover away.

Cocone tugged on her sleeve. Misora looked down, blinking.

"June wedding," the loli said. "I wear the dress. We'll find you a nice tux. We'll adopt a child after a year, and first chance we get, we're moving the hell away from here. I have relatives in Mol Mol. We're going there."

This was the first time Chizuru had been up close to a major magical battle while still conscious. She decided if she had any choice in the matter in future, she'd bring sunglasses. Good ones.

Alladia was hurling deadly spell after deadly spell at the three of them, only to see them all shut down by the counterspells that Eva fired off as easily as she breathed. Or rather, as easily as someone else breathed, since she suspected that Evangeline had left breathing far behind her.

The vampire was easily tanking the fallen king's spells with one hand, while countering with her own spells with the other. Though impressive, the spells only seemed to equal Alladia's and that didn't really square with Evangeline's reputation. They also didn't seem to be doing much good. It took a while to realize, since Alladia's spells were blindingly bright (again, very thick sunglasses), Chizuru soon saw that Evangeline's spells seemed to disappear some distance from Alladia.

As she watched, he called up another spell that further scorched the floor around him before he sent it flying towards Evangeline, who effortlessly batted it aside. What had he invoked with that spell? Why was it affecting the walls and floor despite the artificial Magic Cancel? Chizuru went back over the words faintly heard ...

Photos? Doesn't that mean light?

She opened her mouth to shout a warning, but realized that Evangeline seemed well aware of the situation, if her frown was any indicator. "Clever," she said, sending dozens of magic arrows at the area around her foe, watching them describe a roughly spherical area centered on Alladia. "Instead of a mere shield, you've placed yourself within an Anti-Magic Bubble the dissolves all magic but your own. You haven't been reading the Epic Level Handbook, have you?"

"What in Hecate's name are you babbling about?" Alladia hissed. "Did you truly think that I wouldn't take the possibility of your betrayal into consideration?"

"Try certainty!" Eva snapped back.

"Indeed, I see now that was bound to be the case. You are as unworthy as all the rest. Only I am worthy of my love!" And he threw another spell, not light based this time, but crackling with fire.

"Resigned to a life of masturbating, are we?" Evangeline dispersed it just as easily. "Eventually, you're going to run out of energy, you know. Unlike me, you can't do this all day."

"Foolish vampire wench!" Alladia sneered.

"Did you really just call me a wench?" she yelled.

"I have taken that into consideration, as well. I tap the magical energy of my homonculi for my own purposes, and a new one emerges from the laboratory below every minute! I will never run out of power! I will outlast you, wench! I am the King of Day! Let your darkness wither before my majestic brilliance! Seek as hard as you are able! You shall not overcome my light!"

"He did it again!" Evangeline seemed more amazed than angry.

"Do you possibly know a man named Dynamis, father?" Arika said.

"Surrender! Bow to me, vampire, and I shall be merciful!"

"I bow to no one!" Evangeline snarled. Her foot stamped hard onto the floor beneath her, shattering it with the blow. It was guarded against magic, not pure kinetic force. "You are a brute, germ, but I am a monster. You think you're the first who's sought to trap me? There is a difference between brutes and monsters, speck. Brutes know only strength. Monsters ... monsters know cunning." With a daintiness and dexterity that had Arika blinking in amazement, Evangeline's toes picked up a head-sized chunk of debris and flipped it up to her now-free hand, no longer striking at Alladia with magic. "Let's get old-school, you arrogant, deluded whelp!"

Maintaining her defense, she threw the chunk at Alladia with an off-hand gesture. The chunk spun like a meteoric discus, streaking almost as fast as one of Eva's spells.

The move surprised Alladia, and he instinctively raised a hand to ward off the projectile, reacting to survival instincts more ancient than magical combat reflexes. The chunk slammed into his forearm full on, and a loud, bloody snap echoed through the air a beat before Alladia's inhuman howl of agony as both bones in his forearm shattered.

Evangeline laughed. "Mortals. For all your magic and power, you all react the same when someone throws a rock at you. " Her foot slammed onto the ground, tearing out another chunk. She threw it at Alladia. He barely managed to shield against it, and it shattered to dust on his shield. He tried to retaliate, but Eva threw another rock as he cast, and he had to use his spell to blast it apart. It fragmented, peppering him with debris, and he let out a hiss of pain as some hit his arm.

"Even with your Royal Magic, that won't be a picnic, " Evangeline purred as she slowly began to stalk forward, tearing out another chunk and throwing it. "Your arm is shattered, halving your casting ability. The fragments digging through your flesh must be agony. But you seem to be going into shock, so I expect it's starting to feel better -"

The distance between them shortened inexorably ...

When the Chao Bao Zi hove into view above them, Negi let out a sigh of relief. Clearly, Satomi and Mana had made it to the restarant in time to help the chef get it in the air. "Setsuna, with me!" he yelled, then mounted his broom to take flight up to the flying car. Setsuna followed him, keeping an eye out for flying enemies while his were fixed on their target.

"Negi-kun!" Makie yelled from the cable car's window, waving frantically.

"Makie-san! And Asakura-san and Sayo-san, too!" he added, seeing them in there with her. "Thank goodness you're all right!"

"For a certain value of all right!" Asakura shouted, surveying the tower. "What the heck's going on, Negi-kun?"

"It's more of the same stuff as yesterday, I think!" he replied as he swept forward to speak into the car's control booth. "Satsuki-san, what did you mean by other systems?" he asked the chef, who was at the controls.

Satsuki looked uncharacteristically grim as she explained that he was about to get a demonstration of what she'd meant by that remark. She turned to look at Satomi, and nodded once.

Satomi drew in a deep breath. She couldn't see what Satsuki was so upset about. This wasn't violence, this was simply demolition. She wasn't trying to harm anyone. And unless there was someone behind the wall she was about to shoot, she wouldn't hurt anyone.

But what if there was?

She silenced the voice that asked that treacherous question, and pushed the firing studs of the Chao Bao Zi's twin guns.

A repulsor works by directing a stream of compressed and ionized air before it, then sending a stream of charged neutrons through this medium. At the time of this incident, the system's inventor had only theorized about using it as a means of propulsion, rather than as an offensive weapon. But Chao had seen what came from his ideas, and implimented them.

A pair of thunderbolts hit the side of tower, and its wall crumbled.

As the wall burst open, Alladia started in surprise, and once more instinct betrayed him. He turned, even as he called defensive shields to protect him from the debris and Eva's missiles. It was a mistep, and from the look of things, he realized it almost at once. But by that almost, it was too late.

The ground beneath her exploded from ruthlessly transferred kinetic energy as Evangeline streaked forward, claws extended. She moved not by shundo but by the mere inhuman force of her slender legs.

One claw slashed open Alladia's back in a spray of blood as another as the other dug its nails into his skull. There were cracks and pops as she dug into the bone, drawing back his head and fully exposing his throat.

"You want to have me, fool?" she whispered. "You wish to be together? Very well. Let me know you ... intimately."

Her free hand brutally pierced through the back of his rib cage, tearing through the front clutching his still-beating heart. Her other hand tugged further back.

Chizuru averted her gaze, but she knew the sounds alone would haunt her nightmares - in particular, the hiss of disappointment a moment later, as the corpse collapsed to rot in Evangeline's hands.

"This one was a homonculous, too," the little vampire muttered. "Where's the original?"

"For all we know," Arika replied angrily, "the original died with our kingdom, eighteen years ago. Your charming little antics are -"

"Magnificent," Alladia's voice issued from a concealed speaker somewhere in the room, as his face appeared on the last remaining monitor that hadn't been shattered by the magics exchanged in the duel. He looked strangely rapturous. "You would have been a perfect bride," he added, clearly directing this remark at Eva.

"I think it's pretty clear that ship has sailed, moron," Eva snarled in reply.

"I think it's pretty clear that he wouldn't bother to put an audio pick-up here," Arika sneered.

"I think it's pretty clear that you two should get a room," Chizuru mused as she headed over to the large hole in the wall. Sighting Negi flying near the floating Chao Bao Zi, she waved a bit frantically to attract their attention.

As Eva and Arika traded revolted expressions that they eventually directed at back of the youngest woman present, Alladia continued to speak. "Coward, you call me?" he said, clearly working from a script that Eva hadn't seen and so didn't bother to follow. "No coward I, but a king. Should a king face his foes when there are armies of his servants to do so for him?" His tone changed, then. "But rejoice, Maga Nosferatu, for you have driven me at last to an extremity I would have preferred to avoid."

"Rather than just wanking, you're going to try auto-" Evangeline started to ask, but the transmitted version of Alladia's chant interrupted her, and she frowned. "Wait a minute," she said. "That spell ... no, that can't be right, that spell doesn't work, it -"

"What is he doing?" Arika asked, appalled, as she watched Alladia start to melt. Not decay, as his homonculi did so rapidly when slain, but melt. His skin bubbled and slid off his frame, revealing the naked bone and muscle, which in their turn transformed into oozes that dripped down, dragging his liquifying organs with them as they went. The last part of him to remain solid were his brain and spine, with the still open eyes glaring out at them in a way that somehow suggested immense satisfaction, before they too oozed and fell from view.

"He got it to work," Eva said, clearly amazed. "He must have employed light magic in the design, that's why I could never ... wait, if he - oh no."

"Master! Mother! Chizuru-san!" Negi cried out as he flew right up to the hole. "What happ-"

"Get out!" Evangeline interrupted, roaring at the top of her lungs. "All of you, get out of here, now, before -"

Two things happened then. First, the edges of the hole in the wall began to shift and pulse, as though they were living tissue starting to heal the great gash shut. Secondly, the floor shifted, tilting slightly.

Just enough to pitch Chizuru, standing by the hole, out through it, faster than even Negi's enchanced reflexes could hope to catch her. She was too startled to even let out a cry as she plunged towards the ground.

Less than a second into her descent, though, a ribbon - one significantly longer, she thought, than regulation probably required - soared through the air towards her. Chizuru desperately reached out with both hands to grap it, just narrowly managing to hold onto the last foot or so of its length.

Above, on the back of the Chao Bao Zi, Makie let out a shriek as the sudden weight on her ribbon almost pulled her off her feet. "Little help please!" she cried out, as Asakura and Ku Fei both quickly wrapped their arms around her to hold her in place.

Once she saw that Chizuru was out of immediate danger, Arika immediately leapt through the hole to land behind Negi, wrapping her arms around him in a tight embrace. "I am so sorry," she whispered into his ear.

"Eh?" he asked, startled. "Why?"

"I -" Arika paused as she saw Eva flying out of the hole without even a glance in her direction. She knew that she ought to tell him. He needed to know. But the battle wasn't over yet. Indeed, as she turned to look at the tower, she knew it had barely begun.

For the tower was shifting, and twisting, and bending ... and then, quite abruptly, it no longer resembled a tower at all, but a colossal humanoid form. One that she knew rather well.

"Now," said her father's voice from the colossus' mouth. "Now, let us settle this."

On the ground below, the rest of Ala Alba had watched this mid-air rescue in horrified silence, and then (for the most part, with Ayaka excepted) been distracted from it by the transformation of the tower into its humanoid form. In the process, its formerly jet black walls had lightened slightly, to the point where they were perhaps best described as slate grey. That wasn't the distracting part.

The colossus was anatomically correct.

As it happened, Haruna found her voice first. "I am never going to be able to draw the male nude again, am I?" she asked faintly.

Ordinarily, that would have prompted a snarky response from Yue, perhaps along the line of every dark cloud having a silver lining. At the moment, all she, as well as Nodoka and the other girls who had never been exposed to male nudity before this, could do was stare in disturbed horror up at the thing between its legs.

Misora outran the tank trundling after them, jinking left and right to avoid shells while Cocone shielded them from shrapnel. The ground shook. It has been doing that for a while now, but Misora just figured Negi-sensei had found who was doing this and they were exchanging epic handshakes. As they passed the Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad, Cocone let out a yelp of surprise. Concerned, Misora slowed to look around, and nearly tripped as she saw the reason.

"Holy shit!" Misora exclaimed. "That thing is huge!" A beat. "And so is the giant monster!"

"I'M IN DESPAIR! MY PENIS ENVY HAS LEFT ME IN DESPAIR!"

"I'll sue," Kaere drooled, staring.

"How symmetrical," Chiri agreed.

"It is official," Seruhiko said, very aware he was still clad in his boxers and resisting the urge to crouch or cover up. That would be a sign of weakness in the face of this. "The one behind this chaos must die."

"Agreed," Father Gendo said, resolving that if he ever built a giant robot, it would not have such a thing.

Caren hugged Kirei. "Don't worry, father, " she whispered. "I still like yours better "

"Scatter!" Asuna shouted suddenly. "It's going to start moving, soon, and its feet are going to - scatter!"

Sure enough, the colossus did indeed lift one of its feet and shift its posture so as to take a step forward. The girls promptly darted in various directions, all trying to move away from the prospect of being stepped on. Except for Asuna, who held her ground even as it became clear that the foot was coming down directly towards her.

"Okay," Asuna whispered. "I guess I'm a caltrop, then." And as the foot came down towards her, she thrusted the point of her sword upwards with all of her strength. The colossus let out a grunt of pain and flinched back, before coming down again just in front of her. The impact knocked her off her feet, but she she got a clear enough glance at the foot to see that it wasn't 'bleeding'. All she'd done was cause it some surprise and pain, not injury.

Up above, Negi was quietly freaking out. "It's immune to all magic, and now it's moving around. How does it do that -"

"He's merged his flesh and soul into the tower's stone," Arika told him. "I don't how that works, but -in any event, it's not immune to all magic, there's one kind that -"

"Light magic," Eva said, looking at her disciple for the first time since his arrival. "The kind you can't use, boya. Not anymore." Her tone was flat and emotionless. "I have a plan. You just need to keep it in check for about five minutes. If this doesn't work, you need to tell someone that light magic will take it out."

"Master, what are you going to do?" Negi asked frantically. "You can't use that kind of magic either!"

Now she looked away from him. "These last few months ... haven't been bad. That's all I have to say to you, right now." She looked down, watching the Chao Bao Zi lower itself and its lone dangling passenger safely to the ground. It only took a moment to spot Chachamaru, approaching one of the colossus' feet with her arm blades out.

Chachamaru, she sent, using the abilities of her doll contract for the first time in quite a while.

Master, the gynoid replied, halting her charge. What is your command?

This may be the last order I will ever give you, Eva sent ... and having said so, found herself at something of a loss to decide what it should be. Live, she decided at last.

And with that last command, she turned and began to fly up and away.

Can't use that kind of magic?

Nothing is ever that simple. There's no rule that says that shinso and other creatures of darkness can't learn that kind of magic. It can be used to harm as well as heal. It was power, and I wanted to have all the power there was.

Knowledge is never harmful. Corruptive, yes, I will grant you. But simply learning to cast a certain spell will not ever hurt the one who learned it.

Using it is another matter.

It's not a matter of can't, with me. It's a question of, can't safely. If I use such spells, I will harm myself. Since I don't want to harm myself, I don't cast those spells.

And so here I am, at the end of the journey that began not too far from here, that day when you cast that random incantation on me. I am soaring up, up higher than I have been wont to fly in the past, as high as Chao flew for her battle with your son. And when I reach my apex, I will cast a random incantation that I've developed over the years, a few odd moments at a time. What goes around, comes around, I suppose.

Why am I doing this?

I regret nothing. I am not atoning for anything. Every vile deed I have ever done has been born of necessity, or was thrust on me unwilling, from the massacre I perpetrated in the moment of my awakening as a shinso, to my most recent murder.

So then why?

Only to you, who are not actually present, but who have never been far from my thoughts in all these long, lonely years, will I admit the truth.

I do this for love.

I love this place. I love the people here. Now that I can leave, I am faced with the fact that there is nowhere else I want to go. Now that I must leave, I only want to stay. I love my classmates, I love my teacher. I love the late nights spent playing go with the old man. I do not love your wife, but she will, I am sure, live with the loss.

And yes, I love you.

I wish I loved myself.

"What's she doing, running away?" Haruna shouted as she ran behind Nodoka, who'd started to use her knowledge of Evangeline's true name the instant the vampire began to fly upwards.

"No," Nodoka said softly, staring up in wonder and horror. "No, she's not."

At the same time, across the courtyard, the Chao Bao Zi descended towards the ground with Chizuru still dangling from Makie's ribbon. On the ground beneath it, Ayaka stood and gazed up. "Drop!" she called out, holding her arms out. "I'll catch you!"

Chizuru looked down, understandably skeptical about this notion.

"I have a pactio now, I can do stuff like this!" Ayaka insisted. Then, with a catch in her voice, she asked, "Or do you just not trust me at all, anymore?"

How manipulative can you get? Chizuru thought wearily ... but also, she had to admit, fondly. And with that thought, she let go of the ribbon and dropped down into Ayaka's waiting arms, promptly knocking her off her feet in the process. (The loss of the weight on the other end of the burden also had Makie, Asakura and Ku Fei falling back onto their backs as well.)

"See?" said Ayaka as Chizuru lay on top of her. "I can do that sort of thing easily."

"You should be more careful," Chizuru replied. "Asuna-san wouldn't like it if you got hurt."

"Forget about Asuna!" Ayaka demanded. "Are you all right?"

Chizuru stared down at the girl she knew perfectly well that she would always love, no matter what. And it was clear, now, that that love was, as she'd suspected, not limited by the fact that it was forbidden. Let's see. Nagi's mother was my half-sister, so I'm her ... half-great-aunt? Except that since the mother of Nagi's mother's was my half-aunt ... oh forget it.

"I am now," she answered, and kissed Ayaka deeply. And for a while, the problem of the gigantic colossus stamping around the boulevard went away.

At least, for them. Just about everyone else was focused on attempts to do some damage to the thing. The party's melee specialists had followed Asuna's lead in trying to assail it, but their attacks, even Setsuna's Sica Shishikuro, were like pinpricks to Alladia's new form. However, he was too slow to swat them. The effect was overall like a few dozen ants attacking a human being - not nearly enough to menace him, but too few and too quick for him to squash.

And then, its precious cargo delivered, the Chao Bao Zi flew up to start raining repulsor blasts towards his face. With a snarl, the colossus started to swing its fist up towards the cable car, having finally met an opponent big enough for it to hit.

Misora ran, firmly focusing on where she was putting her feet. The way was easier going now. Apparently even the demons were feeling intimidated by the display. Misora had passed a tangle of them slumped forlornly on the ground with Kaede's aunt Mido reassuring them that size didn't matter, and letting them prove it on her.

The church finally came into sight. There were a lot of fallen demons and the shells of tanks around it, in some places five deep, giving her some cover. There were a lot more still active though, and apparently the tanks left were loaded with heavier armor, because they were doing better at resisting magical attacks. Thus, the defenders were needing to be more ... direct.

Misora spotted her fellow nun Rosette showing her membership in the pistol-shooting club as she charged in guns blazing, her youkai boyfriend Chrono, no longer in his usual Cute Shotaro Boy form, tanking for her while her Ministra Azmaria supported them with spells. Misora dodged, jinked and hurdled, using every trick she'd ever picked up to finally reach the church

And neatly fell flat on her face as she saw Sister Shakti in her underwear being tended to by Ikari Yui. "You're late, Kasuga," the senior mage said in annoyance.

"Hey, give me a break!" Misora whined as she let Cocone off to help with the healing. Yui-san was good at first aid, but quite frankly sucked at healing magic. She was nasty in a rugby game though. "I had to run across campus with a passenger!" Inspiration struck her. "Besides, I helped acquire important information on enemy deployment!"

Shakti rolled her eyes. "Well, now that you're here we're sure to defeat the enemy now. You'll just wave your hand and they'll all be defeated." She was having a really bad day, else she'd never have said this.

Misora was slightly annoyed now. Clad in her red underwear instead of her habit, sister Shakti didn't look as intimidating. She was actually kinda ... but no, she shouldn't think that, she was an engaged woman now. "Give me a break!" She waved her hands at the demons. "It's not like I can just - "

At last, Evangeline reached the apex of her flight, and looked down at her target. One last, wholely unnecessary, deep breath ... and then she began to chant. "Lic Lac La Lac Lilac," she said first, as ever, and then began to speak in Greek.

The spell gathered up all the left-over magic that had been shed in battle so far that day. No matter how efficient the spell-caster, there was always some wasted. Indeed, given how sloppy most magicians these days were, so much was wasted, and so little used. Why in her day ...

But that was a distraction she couldn't really afford. The problem wasn't the magic she was gathering, it was what came with it. The magic she gathered up was utterly imbued with the emotions of those who had casted it. Their fear, their hope, their passion. Much of this would have been appetizing to the little vampire, but she had to cast away anything that wasn't utterly positive.

What was left was agonizing to her. So much love, so much hope, so much faith, so much desperate will to live. She gathered them all up in her hands, feeling them burning, almost, and shaped them into the ultimate weapon.

With lips that were almost paralyzed by pain, she spat out the last words of the spell. "Astrofeggia Diakopths!" Here I am, probably sacrificing my life so that all of them can go on living, she thought, not angrily, just tired. Am I walking in the light now, you great big dope?

In a cavern deep beneath the earth, a shadowy form lifted its head from the bier on which it rested, and spoke a single word into the darkness.

"Yes."

And with the last of whatever energy animated it, the form lifted a gnarled staff and moved it through the air before collapsing once more.

Quite suddenly, she felt something shatter inside of her.

Oh.

Oh, Nagi, you magnificent bastard.

You weren't talking about the infernus scholasticum, were you?

Then there was only silence. And the vampire called Evangeline died gracefully after seven hundred years.

With a roar, a mass of pink light roughly the size of a small building slammed into the colossus' torso, essentially annhilating it. The arm that it had been swinging up towards the Chao Bao Zi started drop, narrowly sliding under the cable car instead of impacting it, before twisting like a helicopter rotor blade towards the ground. So too with its other arm, as well as the head formerly perched atop the torso. But there was enough time, barely, for those who had been attacking the monstrosity's legs to get out of the way of the falling body parts.

The head's eyes still glowed for a moment, and though its facial features were as immobile as rock, they nonetheless managed to convey confusion. Then the light went out forever.

"Incredible," Negi murmured from his position in the sky, turning to look up where his Master had cast down that awesome spell. He started to see that she was descending rapidly, and in an uncontrolled manner. His first impulse was to fly up and try to match her velocity so as to catch her.

"Negi," said Arika, behind him. "Negi, there's something -"

No, that wouldn't work; he had a passenger, and he couldn't very well ask his mother to get off. So there was only one real option, and he almost chuckled at the notion. The very spell he'd cast on his first day here, to slow Nodoka's fall. He began casting at once.

"Negi," Arika said forcefully. "There's something that you need to know before you -"

"Not now, Mother," he answered, just as forcefully.

He didn't see her face go white, as though she'd been slapped. He didn't see her eyes close, nor hear a sigh escape her lips. His focus was solely on the person he was trying to rescue.

And then it was done, and her fall was slowed. He had a few precious seconds to spend before going up to catch her, and chose to spend them by turning around to look at his mother contritely. "I apologize, mother, but the safety of my students, all of them, comes first. Now what's the matter?"

And then she told him.

There was a brilliant burst of light and a deep, resonant scream. Then the giant monster began to come apart. Demons gave a cry of surprise as they started to dissolve away and tanks started going dead. Silence dominated.

Slowly, everyone turned to stare at Misora, who was staring at her hand like she'd never seen it before and was wondering if she gotten a demon trapped in it like Nube-sensei over at the grade school did. "Huh. It's never done that before ..."

Sister Shakti was unfazed. "Why didn't you do that sooner?"

Misora groaned. She just couldn't catch a break!

Father Kirei looked down as he felt a tugging on his Kevlar vestments, and found Cocone looking up at him. "Yes?" he said as his brain filled with the usual thoughts of loli-cide it had around young girls.

"Misora and I are going to get married, " Cocone said. "Can you do the ceremony?"

Kirei frowned. "I am a traditionalist, Sister-in-training Rosa. I believe marriage is a union between man and woman, and that homosexuality, pre-marital intercourse, condoms, and pedophilia are evil. And yet you ask me to condone an act that is three out of four?"

"Yes."

"Good, just getting your facts straight. I'll be happy to do it. Though you should really use a condom, make it an even four. After all, every sperm is sacred, and thus I feel compelled to do my part in seeing as many as possible are wasted."

Stare. "Misora and I are both girls."

"Ah, as to that, I have this catalogue of heathen Chinese magical products from Jusenkyou."

On the ground, a great deal of dust had been thrown up by the collapse of the colossus, neatly allowing a pair of figures to slip out of the back of one of its still-standing legs. They promptly split up, as neither wanted anything to do with the other after this debacle.

Chamo was already thinking of how he could spin this to his advantage. Yes, I was in there, aniki, he'd tell him. But I was really just spying on the bad guys, not selling you out! Run away? I was just laying the foundation for my undercover work, see? I'm just sorry that you had to do all the hard work. No, don't worry, sure I was in terrible danger, but that's just how I -

And then, over the body of one of the fallen demons, he spotted a familiar face. "Chamo-kun!" Chachazero yelled out, her body stained with blood and ichor, with a huge cleaver in each hand.

"Oh, wow, Chacha, you would not believe the day that I've been having," Chamo started to say as he ran towards her.

"Probably not," she agreed, and promptly disembowelled him with a single slice of one of the cleavers. "Ah, I'm glad I got to do that before -"

And then all animation fled her as her doll contract expired with the passing of the other party, and the deadly doll collapsed across the body of her last victim.

The other figure fleeing from the ruins of the colossus quickly realized he was being pursued, and turned to look at his pursuer. Even the Royal Magic won't protect someone who does such things from putting a foot wrong, and so he tripped and fell to the ground, permitting his pursuer to catch up to him.

"I surrender," Alladia gasped.

"That's nice," said Asuna, lifting her blade up above her head. Her face was cold and without visible emotion.

"No," he said, clearly disbelieving. "Not you, you can't do this, not to me, I'm your father, and besides, I'm helpless, all my magical energy is gone, I'm surrending and unarmed, and I'm your father, and, and you're Japanese, you were raised this way, to think that a man can't live under the same sky as the one who kills his father, it's a contradiction for you to, you can't -"

"Maybe you didn't notice," Asuna said quietly. "But I'm a girl."

And then she brought the sword down, cleaving his skull, and most of the head and neck beneath it, in twain.

With a bit of difficulty, she pulled the blade out of the wreck that had been a man, and waited for it to decompose quickly, like the homonculi were supposed to do. Nothing happened, and it occurred to her that it was possible that nothing would.

"I guess you were the real one," she said softly. She hadn't expected to feel triumphant, but she expected to feel something. But she didn't. She felt nothing at all.

She turned around to look up, and saw Chachamaru flying up into the air, and Negi speeding away on his broomstick. She wondered what the matter was, and got ready to run after him.

"Asuna."

She stopped, and turned to look at Takamichi, who'd come out of nowhere to stand behind her with a grim expression on his face.

"We need to talk," he said.

"Okay," Asuna replied, a moment later. He'd led her over to the foyer of one of the buildings around the boulevard. "So talk."

"Yesterday, you told me, in so many words, that you were having sex with Negi. Right?" the former teacher asked, his face eerily calm.

"Maybe I did, maybe I didn't. If you were planning on selling us out, then I definitely -"

"Asuna. You know me better than that," he interrupted.

"I thought I did," she said. "Can we get to the point? My little brother probably needs me."

Takamichi drew in a long breath. "If Negi is planning to continue as a teacher here at Mahora, then that can't continue. In the wake of my exposure, every teacher here will be under increased scrutiny. If they catch you, Negi will not only lose his job, but his hope of becoming one of the Magister Magi. It has to end."

Asuna blinked, then opened her mouth to try and say something. For a few moments, though, nothing came out. "Then we'll stop," she finally said, a faint note of hysteria in her tone. "It's just a few months until graduation, and then, then everything will be ..." She trailed off.

"You won't last a week," Takamichi said, not ungently. "And you'll get caught. And it will all go to dust."

"So what do I do?" she asked, angrily and desperately. "What should I do?"

"If you love something, set it free," he told her. "In your case, that means you need to walk away from all of this. With me, I hope."

She looked at him, confused.

"Yes," he said, answering her unasked question. "I've come to terms with it. You're not a virgin princess, and I'm not a prince on a white horse. I'm not even a very good knight. But I think that we can be good together, Asuna. Wherever you go, I hope you'll let me come with you."

Asuna swallowed, remembering the kiss, yesterday. Remembering how good it had been.

All right, she thought then, let's see how far he's willing to go. Aloud, she asked, "How badly do you want this?"

Takamichi blinked. "Uh, I -"

Not waiting his reply, she reached out and ran her hand down the front of his crotch, finding the hardness there. "Looks like you want it pretty badly," she said, as she rubbed the bulge for a moment, then moved her hand up to the fastener of his belt.

"Well, yes, I do, but, well, I'm not sure about doing it here and -"

"Negi does it wherever I want it, whenever I want it," she lied. They'd only ever done it in his room. "Maybe you're just scared that you won't measure up," she said, and then reached up to kiss him, hard, even as she got the belt undone, followed quickly by the zipper. Asuna pulled back from the kiss, a trail of saliva briefly linking their mouths until she pulled him out of the boxers he wore under his pants, then went down to take him in her mouth.

She paused briefly, in mild panic, when she got a good look at what she had in her hand. It was significantly bigger than the largest one she'd ever seen or had inside of her before this, which was in turn signifcantly bigger than Negi's. It was big enough to make her reconsider this whole idea. But she couldn't back down now, and so she quickly bent forward and sucked him towards the back of her throat. At least she could take comfort in the fact that it tasted better. Maybe he'd had a shower more recently than Yuna's dad had.

Takamichi groaned as his hands reached down to take her head in his hands as she bobbed back and forth. They bumped up against the bells in her hair, the bells he'd bought for her when she was only a child. Despite the obvious associations, he didn't pull away from them.

Okay, let's push on that, Asuna thought as she pulled back to look up at him, jerking him with her hand. "Remember braiding those into my hair all those times? Were you having dirty thoughts about me when you did that? Were you?"

"Yes," he answered hoarsely. "Every second of every day we spent together."

"Perv," she sneered. "Lolicon. Good thing I'm a sick bitch, too, or you'd be in real trouble, saying things like that to me."

"Don't, don't say such things about yourself -" Takamichi started to say.

"Or what?" she snapped, tightening her grip on him enough to make him gasp. "Okay," she continued after a moment, standing up, lifting the hemline of her skirt up and tugging aside her panties. "Now I want you to stick this big, hard cock into my moist, juicy cunt, and if you stop even once, no matter how much I cry, I'll know that you're nothing but a wuss. Got it?"

"Got it," he said, then grabbed her hips and mounted her on him as he leaned back against the wall. She felt herself being opened up further than she had ever been, and bit back a scream as she settled down on him. But he didn't stop, and then the pain was eclipsed by the rush of satisfaction as his length caressed her walls.

"Oh, yeah," she said, rocking up and down, back and forth on his hips. "Yeah, you like this. You like it when I cheat, don't you? Well, then, you're gonna love it when I cheat on you."

"I, don't, mind," he huffed.

"Oh, you don't mind? I'm gonna be doing it with boys, girls, the occasional dog ... if you buy me a pony, I won't ride it. No one in the neighborhood's gonna be safe. Not even any children we have. Not that they'll be yours, but then you don't mind, do you? Well, do you?"

"No," he said, as he turned them around and slammed her back into the wall. "I love you, so whatever you do is okay with me."

"Oh yeah?" Asuna hissed, enjoying the sensation of being pounded against the wall. "Well, I don't love you. I'll never love you. I'm just using you for the sex I can't get from Negi, and you're not even, even very, g-good at thaaat!" she lied some more as he brought her to climax.

"I don't mind," he said. "That's about what I deserve." And with that, he pushed once more and spewed up into her.

Shit, she thought. "Fine," she said. "Now get down there and lick up what you just dirtied."

He did.

Negi rode his wand down to the ruins of Evangeline's cabin, with the resort still standing there. At the bottom of the stairs, he found Nekane's corpse.

He hopped off of the flying staff before it had quite settled down, leaving his mother to drop the rest of the way, though she landed easily and caught the staff before it hit the ground. He paid her no mind as he ran up to the body.

The bite mark on her neck spoke eloquently of the cause of death. He could at least be grateful that someone had closed her eyes so that he wasn't treated to the sight of her staring endlessly up at the afternoon sky and seeing nothing forever.

Slowly, he reached out, hoping to find some warmth there, some hint that it was all just an illusion. He touched her cheek, and felt the chill of death there.

"No," he whispered.

"I tried to tell you," Arika said softly, behind him. "I truly did try."

"Negi-sensei," said Chachamaru, from behind both of them.

Arika turned quickly, Negi somewhat more slowly. She was hovering just a bit above the ground, holding Evangeline's limp body in her arms.

"She won't wake up," Chachamaru said, her voice expressing less emotion than it had in the first days of their acquaintance. "I do not know what to do."

Negi stared at her, stared at them both. "Keep her away from me," he finally said, as quiet as death.

"Sensei?" Chachamaru asked, then looked past him to see Nekane's body. Her eyes blinked. "Sensei, I did not know -"

"KEEP HER AWAY FROM ME!" Negi roared, then crumpled to the ground, holding his head in his hands as he curled up in a fetal position and wept.

Arika watched him for a moment. When it became apparent that all he was going to do was lie there, rather than trying to harm himself or others, she turned back to Chachamaru. "She's alive?" she asked shortly.

"Yes," the gynoid answered.

"Pity." Arika looked up at the resort towering above her, and then turned to look back at the wreckage of Mahora. "What a mess," she said at last.

The members of the group known as Iridia lay in a heap.

"What a battle, " SCM groaned. "I ache all over and not in a good way "

"I want to go back to the dorm but I can't seem to feel my legs," Anemoi agreed.

Overmaster rolled his eyes. "Oh, what are you complaining about? I did more than you guys!"

"Hey!" came a chirp.

Sereg looked up, adjusting his glasses beneath his slicked-back widow's peak. "Professor! Where have you been? We could have really used your help!"

The pink-haired Iridian smiled a bit maniacally, eyes too wide to be healthy, her pink hair blood-stained. "Oh, around. I was busy too. I actually played a vital part in the final battle!" Her axe dripped blood as if to prove her point, its innocuous appearance giving no hint of it's true, awesome power.

No one argued. Even SCM, the lunatic, had learned not to mess with the yandere of their group, who was nearly all 'yan-yan' and no 'dere-dere'. (Much later, when they heard about the condition of the corpse of the one responsible for the attack, they would all nod to themselves, sagely.)

For a moment they all just lay there. RT was using his Artifact to log in to Tv Tropes and check on the forum thread he hung out at, reading snippets of Fanfiction.

Bliss ...

"So, when will our avatars be done?" NL said.

"And the picture of Nelly for the cover of my doujin?" JT asked.

"I'M WORKING ON IT!"

Hito Nami, a perfectly normal girl leading a perfectly normal life, had been out visiting her family for the last couple of days. By the time she headed back to Mahora Academy, she found all train ways and highways leading to the school completely closed, with absolutely no explanation on the reasons. Cursing her luck, Nami had to sped several hours sitting with a large group of similarly stuck students and staff, including a rather disgruntled Nitta-sensei.

By the time she made it to Mahora, she was surprised to see several parts of the grounds reduced to rubble, smoking wreckage everywhere. The general mood of the students and faculty was sour and grim, and no matter who she asked, she got few if any answers. Puzzled, she erratically wandered across campus, helping some wounded and injured along her way, since she was a normal, good-hearted typical Japanese girl.

However, she couldn't rest until she found her beloved teacher and friends. Knowing them, if all of Mahora was caught in the clutches of so much despair, then they would be... the mere idea of it boggled her mind.

Much to her shock, she found the spot occupied by Class 3-F, the depressing, depressive, all of them but Kafuka moody to some degree or another, 3-F, to be the sole celebratory spot at the grounds.

"Oh, there you are, Hito-san!" Chiri greeted here. "Welcome back!"

"Welcome back!" Nami shouted. "WELCOME BACK? What kind of attitude is that, after this whole place is ravaged to the ground!" Naturally, it was logical for Nami, normal girl she was, to be outraged over such lunacy. "What the devil happened here?"

"Oh, not much," Kafuka laughed, slicing a piece of cake for her with one of Chachazero's knives, the lifeless doll laying at her feet. "We only had a mild case of visits by unfriendly demons, monsters, robots and soldiers, that's all! But it's all okay now! All those who weren't sent to a better world are currently making good friends at prison!"

"What." Nami was so aghast she couldn't even say it as a question.

Harumi bit her lower lip, hugging her sketchbook. "Oooohhhh, and we got such a lovely sight of giant uncensored male equipment! Now that Paru-chan's mostly off the H-Doujin biz, I'm going to make a kill with this imagery! No competition, lots of inspiration, a market full of depressed girls eager for entertainment to forget their woes! It's my golden moment, I'm sure of that!"

"You guys ..." Nami facepalmed.

"And to think, despite all that danger, and despite so much bloodshed, I escaped with my life again!" Itoshiki lamented loudly. "Not even a scratch on me! Why! If anyone deserved that, it was me! I'M IN DESPAIR! THE FACT THE UNIVERSE KEEPS GOING OUT OF ITS WAY TO PROTECT MY WORTHLESS EXISTENCE HAS LEFT ME IN DESPAIR!"

His sister Rin clung to him, smiling fondly. "You have so much to live for, oniisama..."

Nozomu blushed and whispered, "N-not here, Rin ..."

Kaere smiled and softly patted Nami's shoulder. "And you missed it all. You're such a fortunate girl! Nothing bad ever happens to you! I guess that's a good thing about leading such an ordinary life!"

Now that made Nami explode. Figuratively, of course, since she was, you know, just normal. "DON'T CALL ME ORDINARY!"

Elsewhere, Kaede moved slowly through the wreckage of one of the school buildings with an increasingly heavy heart. From all that she'd been able to find out, the twins had last been seen fleeing the attackers into this building, which had been demolished a few seconds later. She'd come here hoping to find them, or at least -

She hardened her heart. The path of the shinobi was the path of death, after all. And if they had fled from a foe too great for them to conquer, they had done the right thing. They had, after all, learned their lessons.

Kaede heard a shifting in the rubble. At once her kunai was in her hand. "Come out where I can see you," she said harshly, not allowing herself to hope. It was probably just one of the attackers, hiding out, nothing more than -

"Neechan?" asked a faint voice.

A few panic-stricken moments later, she had Fumika and Fuka out of the rubble that had covered them. By a stroke of fantastic, near-Sakurako-esque luck, it had landed in a pattern just right to shield them from further harm. They were bruised and rather traumatised, but not seriously injured.

"Are you dead too?" Fumika asked Kaede hesitantly.

"No, one is alive, as are you," Kaede answered brusquely, refusing to let the incredible relief she felt show on her face. They would never let her live it down.

"Are you sure? You could be like Sayo-chan, you know, and not always - yeow." Fuuka's speculation was cut off when Kaede reached down to pinch each of their cheeks.

"I really thought we were dead," Fumika mused aloud. "I even saw mom."

"... one was under the impression that your mother was still alive."

"I can dream, can't I?"

Kaede decided to let that pass unanswered.

What a day, thought Akashi Wataru wearily. He'd been lucky enough to avoid serious injury, unlike some of the people he'd been fighting alongside, but it had been a narrow thing. And of course, his reward for the hard work was more hard work, watching over the clean-up, when all he wanted to do was have a shower and a long sleep.

Preferably beside -

No. That had to stop. He'd made a promise to his late wife that he'd stop it, and he was going to keep that promise, or he'd never be forgiven by her ghost.

And then, quite suddenly, as he was walking the wrecked streets, he saw a ghost.

The girl's long hair, more blue than black, was all that he could see of her, aside from the uniform of one of the high schools. She was walking in the same direction that he was, facing away from him, and yet the resemblance was almost enough to stop his heart.

"Saeko?" he asked aloud, dumbfoundedly.

She turned, and as soon as he saw no glasses on her high-browed face, he knew the mistake he'd made.

"Oh," she said. "You." In much the same way as someone might say, piece of shit.

"Natsuki ... san," he said, quickly remembering to add the honorific, despite how startled he was. "I didn't know you were attending school here."

"I'm sorry," she said, clearly not sorry. "Was I supposed to keep you appraised of my movements? I thought you decided that you didn't want to be involved in my life." There was a mountain of sarcastic resentment behind her tone.

"It wasn't like that," Akashi protested. "Please, if you'll just hear me out, I can explain."

For a moment, the anger in her cold green eyes seemed to ease a bit, and he really thought she might listen to him. They'd be able to talk, and she'd understand why he'd done what he'd done, and why it had been for the best, for both of them.

And then of course it didn't happen.

"Dad!" he heard the voice cry out from behind him, and he turned reflexively to see Yuna running towards him, and when he looked back to Natsuki, the anger was back, in force.

"Are you okay?" Yuna asked him as she grabbed him from the side. "That was so completely messed up, I didn't even have ... uh ... who's this?" she asked, belatedly grasping the fact that he'd been talking to that girl over there.

"No one you need to know about," Natsuki said shortly. And with that, she stomped off, hands in the pockets of her uniform's vest.

"Who was that?" Yuna repeated, a bit more urgently to her father.

"Well, that's sort of hard to explain," he said weakly.

"... y'know," she said, letting go of her embrace of him, "when I said, get a girlfriend, I didn't mean, get one just a little bit older than I am! Cripes, dad!" She shook her head and started walking away muttering.

"It's not like that!" he protested.

He really couldn't win with either of his daughters, could he?

Tears and fears and feeling proud,

To say "I love you" right out loud,

Dreams and schemes and circus crowds,

I've looked at life that way.

But now old friends are acting strange,

They shake their heads, they say I've changed.

And something's lost but something's gained

In living every day.

I've looked at life from both sides now,

From win and lose, and still somehow

It's life's illusions I recall.

I really don't know life ...

At all.

Having reached the end of the song, Negi finally allowed himself to fall silent as he lay on his back on the bunk in the school's infirmary. Most of the more serious cases had been transferred to hospitals in the town, leaving them open for those who suffered from exhaustion, like him.

"I didn't really understand that, but it had a very sweet tune," Asuna told him.

"It was one of neechan's favorite songs," he said, without looking up. "Her mother left her a record it was recorded on in her will, I think, and she'd play it a lot when I was just a baby."

"I'm so sorry, Negi," she said.

He was silent for a while, and then said, "So that's what that's like. It sucks."

"Huh?"

"Getting an apology from someone for something that isn't even remotely their fault," he said, still not looking up. "I'm sorry for doing that to you, all those times."

Asuna flushed. "That kind of defeats the purpose of the insight, you know."

"I know," he said, finally lifting his head to look at her, smiling sadly. "But that which we are, we are."

For a moment, they looked at each other. And then, simultaneously:

"Negi, I need to -"

"Asuna, I need to -"

And they broke off at the same time, blushing brightly. "You first," Asuna said.

"No, you," Negi replied.

"Okay. Negi, I'm leaving."

He blinked. "... what?"

"I ... I've been thinking about it, and ... well, it won't, won't be safe to stay here and keep doing this, after what happened with Takahata-sensei, will it? You'll need to slow things down, and the best way you can do that is if the biggest temptation is out of your way. So ... I'm leaving. I don't know where I'm going, but I can't stay here."

Negi stared, then, slowly, smiled. "It's funny ... I was, I was just about to say sort of the same thing, how we'd need to cool off for a while, but I wasn't sure how we were going to do that. You solved the problem, Asuna. It's very clever."

"Really?" she asked, startled by how well he was taking it.

He nodded. "Really. You're right. It's for the best. I know that everyone will miss you, though."

"I'll write," she said. "Every chance I get, I'll write. And someday, someday when it's safe, I promise that I'll come back."

"I will be waiting," Negi replied gently.

"And even, even if something happens and I can't," she continued, starting to tremble just a bit. "Even if that happens ... you will always, always be my teacher. My little brother. And my first love." She bent down over his supine form and kissed him, just once, on the lips, and then again on the forehead. And then she slowly backed away towards the infirmary door, never once taking her eyes off of him until she was out in the hallway.

And then she was gone.

Slowly, Negi let the fake smile fall from his face, and let out a sobbing breath.

Asuna, I need to ask you something. Please stay with me forever.

"Fuck," he said quietly.

In another room a little bit further down the hallway, Nodoka slowly walked up to where Evangeline's still, silent form lay in a bed, unmoving, unresponsive. Chachamaru was out in the hallway standing guard over the room.

Only Nodoka knew what had happened, what payment the girl had offered, what reward she had been given.

Only she could make the decision that would allow her to keep it.

So she did.

"I'm sorry you are hurting, my son," Arika said to him, just a little bit later. "And I'm sorry that I'm about to add to your woes."

"What?" he asked wearily, then shook his head. "I'm sorry, that was very rude of me. What do you mean, mother?"

"I will be leaving, too," she told him. "You have responsibilities that keep you here. I do not. While you are teaching your students, I will be searching for your father."

"That's ... that's a good idea, mother. Someone should do that. The sooner he's found, the happier we'll all be," he said, again trying to hide the pain.

"I won't be leaving right away," she said, suggesting that she wasn't wholely fooled. "I think that a month will give me time to do the research, make my plans and gather the correct supplies. And besides, I will not leave you doubly bereft like this. But I think that the time of my departure will come more quickly than you realize, so you should be ready."

He nodded.

"I will also be spending that time helping you to organize your harem," she started to say.

"There's not going to be a harem," Negi interrupted.

"But -"

"No," he said firmly. "I will not ignore my Ostian heritage, but I will not embrace this part of it. A proper English gentleman does not have a harem. When the time comes for me to choose a, a permanent mate, I will choose one, have and hold to that one alone, and accept that I must break the hearts of others who would love me. I accept this as ... a necessary evil." The last words tasted like ashes in Negi's mouth, but he said them anyway.

"I see," Arika said, considering him in silence. "You have grown up, my son."

"I guess that I have, at that," Negi allowed.

"It looks good on you," she added, smiling gently. "Now, rest a while."

And with that, she also turned and walked out the door.

Negi slowly closed his eyes.

"Ahem. I'm sorry to ruin that exit," Arika said, returning quickly. "But you should know ... Evangeline has awakened."

Negi got out of bed and slowly followed his mother down the hallway. He honestly wasn't sure what he was going to do when he got there. Part of him wanted to scream and curse at the person who'd killed the only mother he'd ever known; but the upbringing of that very same mother figure told him to bottle up such emotions, to employ reason and calm, especially in dealings with women.

And whatever else the Master might be, she was surely a -

"I say again, who are ye all?" a familiar voice demanded from within the room. "And why do ye speak such heathen tongues at me?"

Negi blinked. At her angriest, Evangeline would sometimes let a bit of a Scottish burr into her words, but even when she and he were alone, she always spoke Japanese, never English ... the way that someone with her voice was speaking now. And to be specific, a fairly archaic form of the language.

He walked in to find Chachamaru trying (and failing) to calm Evangeline down, while Nodoka stood back with an apprehensive expression on her face. "Excuse me," he said, in English. "Is there a problem?"

She turned to look at him, and he realized that she was breathing heavily, another thing that never happened. "Who are ye?" she repeated, but sounded a little calmer. "I dinnae ken your accent, but at least ye speak a civil tongue. Who are ye and what place is this?"

"My name's Negi Springfield," he said slowly. "And you're at a, a place of learning called Mahora. Now, why don't you tell me who you are?"

"I hight Kitty McDowell," she answered, then looked around. "How came I to be here? Where are my ma and da?"

"Kitty," he repeated, not wanting to open that door just yet. "Not Katherine?"

The girl called Kitty stared. "That's, that's my christening name, indeed, but 'tis too fancy for general use. What manner of name is Negi? Be it short for Nigel?"

"It's a long story, Kitty," he said, avoiding adding a '-san' to her name with some difficulty. "Let me just ask you one more question, and then I'll start explaining things to you. Does the name Evangeline mean anything to you?"

She shook her head, promptly. "Another strange name, that," she replied. "Like the word evangelist? A Spaniard's name, perhaps?"

"I think it's French, actually," Negi murmured as he slowly sat down at the foot of her bed. "All right, Kitty, basically, what's happened is that you've just now woken up from a very long sleep, one that lasted for years. In fact, you've been asleep for so long, that I think the dreams you've had have probably replaced whatever memories you might have had of your life before you went to sleep."

"Eh?" Kitty asked, crinkling her brow. "Then ... do I no' live in a castle?"

"No, I'm afraid not," Negi lied smoothly.

"Then ... I dinnae know anything. It's all just a dream?" she asked.

"It's best to think of it like that," he answered.

"What's to become of me?" she pressed, starting to sound frightened again, as she had been before he arrived. "I dinnae know anything, anything at all!"

"It's going to be all right, Kitty," Negi promised her, smiling gently. "It doesn't matter if you know nothing ... because this is a school, and I am a teacher."

Arika quietly gestured for Chachamaru and Nodoka to follow her out of the room, leaving the two children to talk to each other. Once the door was slid shut, Chachamaru finally found her voice. "The Master is gone forever, isn't she?" There was unmistakable grief in her tone, but there was something else as well.

"Yes. Whatever broke the curse that turned her into a shinso also took away all the memories of those years," Arika said, not looking at Nodoka as she said it. "It's probably better this way -"

"It is," Chachamaru agreed. "The one thing she wanted most, the one thing she could never have ... was her innocence, again. And now she has it. And I will try to be happy for her." With what might have been a sigh, or perhaps a sob, the gynoid turned and walked away from the hospital room.

Arika watched her go. "You missed a spot of shattered gem on one of your hands," she said to Nodoka.

Nodoka did not look down at her hands, and indeed showed no expression of guilt whatsoever. "I don't know what you're talking about, Arika-sama," she answered smoothly.

"Very well." She smiled then. "You may yet prove to be a worthy match for my son, dear. Though you have quite a bit of competition ahead of you."

"I know that Chisame-san comes first in his heart," Nodoka said, calmly. "But I will not stop trying."

Arika coughed to hide her laughter. "Actually, that's not who I was thinking about," she said, casting a glance at the door. "But that's not important right now. Come now. Let's give them some room. Listening to private conversations is a decadent habit, and should be avoided if at all possible."

And they walked away.

THE END

Of Decadent Habits
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Decadent Habits