2 years later
A yellow bus trotted its way down a road, driven by a shady character. There was a group of people on that bus. The humans on that bus are Tsukune Aono, a boy with the bad luck of entering a school of monsters; Gabrielle, a little girl who lost her mother to a demon; and Dr. Till Lindemann, a scientist who once worked with a group of Nazis called Millenium.
The inhuman beings on the bus are Yukari Sendo, a witch quite different from the ones in other parts of the world; Ginei Morioka, a werewolf exponentially different from the werewolf that followed Millennium; Kurumu Kurono; a succubus; Shizuka Nekonome; a cat-human hybrid that teaches at Yokai Academy where the bus is heading; Mizore Shirayuki, a snow fairy with social issues; and Moka Akashiya, a vampire born from other vampires so her power manifests differently from turned vampires like Seras Victoria.
The last inhuman being on the bus is Dr. Alex Mercer, a being almost unparalleled in power and immortality. Once a scientist employed by Gentek, Alex Mercer was targeted for assassination. At the moment of his death, he released a deadly biological weapon in New York City. His corpse became infected and he became a titanic being.
11 years I've roamed this world, thought Mercer, will these friends stay with me? Or will they die like the rest? Mercer then recollected on how he met these Japanese yokai.
Mercer, Lindemann, and Gabrielle were traversing a sunflower field in the sunset. "We really should be going." said Mercer. "Something is off about this field" Gabrielle was near one of the flowers when she was grabbed by a vine and dragged into the sunflowers. She screamed as she was taken. Mercer followed, his Claws coming out and reducing the sunflowers to ribbons.
After minutes of chasing and shredding, Mercer came to a clearing with a huge plant monster. He saw Gabrielle being lifted towards the monster's mouth, along with a woman with long, silver hair. "GABRIELLE!" Mercer screamed. The monster noticed this and it grabbed Mercer in a thick vine. It brought Mercer up to its mouth, looking like it was going to devour him. The woman and Gabrielle were brought up also. Mercer decided to play the helpless victim to find a vulnerability. The creature opened its mouth, revealing a dark haired woman fused to the creature with a staff fused to the creature in front of her. The woman said something in a language Mercer couldn't understand. The woman understood and replied in the same tongue. Gabrielle was reduced to tears from the situation. "FUCK THIS SHIT." said Mercer. His Claws easily reduced the restraining vines to ribbons. The silver hair woman looked on in awe feeling a unique energy radiating off him. The dark hair woman looked like she was going to soil herself. Mercer turned to Gabrielle and the woman, who he now sensed was a type of vampire. "This isn't for your eyes." The vampire looked confused, but saw Gabrielle shut her eyes tight. The woman saw Mercer talking to the woman. Mercer receded his Claws to bring out his Blade. "I haven't fed from a human in over four years. Now I break that fast because you meant to kill my innocence." He then stabbed the woman with his blade, sending out tendrils of Blacklight to consume the witch. After being assaulted with the memories of the woman, a witch named Ruby Tojo, the monstrosity they were in started to collapse. The vampire freed herself, freed Gabrielle, and got out of the monster with Mercer close behind. They landed on the ground, around some other people, and the plant monster was reduced to compost.
The vampire looked at Mercer, who transformed his Blade back to an arm, and said, "What are you?" Gabrielle then ran towards Mercer, looking for comfort.
Mercer held on to Gabrielle and said, "If you speak first, I might tell you. You don't look like any type of vampire I've fought. Where is your darkness? The vampires I've fought would've killed that witch quicker than I." The four bodies around them started to stir.
The vampire walked over to one of them, a boy with a silver rosary, and picked up the artifact. "The others will be nice enough to enlighten you, creature." She attached the rosary to a necklace she wore and her appearance started to change. Her hair changed from silver to pink and her eyes went from blood red, to an innocent shade of green. When the transformation was complete, she fainted. At this moment, Lindemann finally showed up.
"What happened, Alex?" asked Lindemann.
"A witch tried to kill these poor beings, along with Gabrielle." said Mercer, "I eliminated her." The others started to wake up, starting with a blue haired girl. She radiated of lust, an emotion alien to Mercer. The little brown-haired girl woke up next, grabbing a heart shaped staff. The boy woke up third and Mercer could tell instantly he was human. The last one woke up, a purple hair girl that lowered the temperature in the area slightly. Mercer was drawn to her, feeling an emotion he hasn't felt in years.
Affection.
They all got up and looked around, the boy noticing Lindemann, Gabrielle, and Mercer. He also noticed the pink haired vampire passed out. "Moka?" he said, rushing over to her. This woke the others right up out of their drowsiness. The blue and the purple haired girls rushed over to the boy, while the little, brown haired girl noticed the three others. She looked at them with suspicion.
"Did you see what happened?" said the little girl.
"Yes," said Mercer, "That creature was controlled by a witch. I took care of the situation." Mercer could see sadness in her eyes.
"You killed Ruby?" said the girl, trembling almost to tears. Mercer shook his head. "I wish I could see her again." At this point, the other awake girls noticed the three of them. The two girls moved past the little girl and stood right in front of Mercer, Lindemann, and Gabrielle.
The blue haired one blurted out, "Are you three humans?" At this, Mercer started laughing. Full blown, almost maniacal laughter came out. Unknowingly, to Mercer and the others, he started letting off a unique energy. The girls in front of him could feel it and were filled with primal fear and also a feeling of elation, as if the energies were clashing against each other. These energies were felt by the other two girls, with one of them waking up. The blue haired girl said, "You're not human."
"How did you know?" said Mercer, "I didn't even show my powers."
The purple haired one said in a quiet, almost stoic voice, "Your yokai energy. All monsters give it off to some degree. Your energy was not only powerful, but seemed almost divine." She paused, and then said, "I say almost because it seems to be blocking an energy undeniably evil." The energy then disappeared. The brown haired girl joined the other two.
"It must be a holy lock." Said a bubbly, joyous voice. It belonged to the vampire with pink hair. She walked right up to them, the boy being dragged along by her. "You must be a type of vampire to have that kind of energy." The boy then saw Mercer and his eyes widened in fear.
"Do you recognize me?" said Mercer.
He stepped in front of the girls, saying, "I know who you are, you monster. Alex Mercer, biological terrorist. I won't let you harm them!"
Mercer said, "That part of my life is behind me now. I'm trying to find my lot in life." He took Gabrielle away from the group to admire what was left of the sunflowers. By this time, sunset had past and the moon started to rise.
"So I assume none of you are human?" said Lindemann. The five of them nodded. "May I ask what you are then?" He then said immediately, "My apologies, I'm asking such questions without an introduction." He then bowed politely, "My name is Dr. Till Lindemann. I was a scientist for Millennium." The girls then introduced themselves in turn.
"My name is Kurumu Kurono and I'm a succubus."
"I'm Yukari Sendo, witch and smartest in my year."
"Mizore Shirayuki, snow fairy. Pleasure to meet you"
"I'm Moka Akashiya, vampire and daughter of Lord Shuzen."
At this, Lindemann said, "A vampire. You're not going to drain my blood, are you? I prefer not being a ghoul."
"No, a vampire can only turn a human into a ghoul by giving vampiric blood." Said Moka.
Close by, Mercer and Gabrielle were looking in sadness at the ruins of the sunflowers. Mercer said, "That witch tried to end you, but I saved you." Gabrielle continued to look almost stoic, desensitized by her experience. Mercer looked at the cliff nearby and saw the tell-tale glint of a scope. His eyes widened, fearing for Gabrielle's wellbeing. "Gabrielle," she looked at Mercer, "we have company. Let Lindemann know, and stay by him." She rushed over to Lindemann, while Mercer continued to look at the glint. He raised his hand up and curled his fingers towards him in rapid succession, beckoning the sniper to attack.
A loud crack sounded out as Mercer was hit in the lower right side, blowing his abdomen apart and his right leg off. A thunderous sound sounded immediately after due to the round going at supersonic speeds. Mercer fell to the ground, surprised that they didn't use the napalm rounds like they did 2 years ago. When he hit the ground, two more cracks blew his arms off, followed by two more thunderous sounds. "SHIT!" yelled Mercer. He tried to call on his displaced flesh, and it crawled towards him, attempting to heal him.
Lindemann saw Gabrielle running towards him. He said, "Gabrielle, what's wrong?"
"Mercer says we have company." Said Gabrielle. At that moment, a loud rumble of sound waves.
The others were wondering what was happening. Lindemann said, "Get down!" They followed suit, while Lindemann pulled Gabrielle to the ground. Two more thunderous claps reverberated throughout the area. They immediately heard a helicopter overhead. Lindemann looked up and saw a figure falling from the chopper. The figure was in a head long dive, heading for an area nearby them. The figure flipped itself over, going feet first, before crashing into the ground.
"They can't be human," said Tsukune, "a fall like that would've turned them to mush."
"You're correct, civilian." Said the figure. The figure had a feminine voice. She stood up, revealing herself to be Mercer's 'nemesis'.
Seras Victoria.
She was wearing a Blackwatch uniform and carried two Browning .50 BMG machine guns, one in her human hand and the other wrapped in shadow. The ammo coming from boxes strapped to her back. "I am a vampire, and I am here to capture Alex Mercer, codename ZEUS." She rushed over to where Mercer was as the chopper she descended from landed nearby. The chopper opened up, revealing a dozen Blackwatch soldiers, which rushed out and followed Seras. The only person left behind was a man with a white lab coat. He had balding black hair and glasses. He walked out of the chopper and towards the group with a PDA in hand.
"Pardon me, my name is Dr. Garrett Harrison. I work for Gentek, a pharmaceutical company." He said. He approached each of them in turn, starting with Gabrielle. "If you excuse my intrusion, I need to check if any of you are infected." He waved his PDA around Gabrielle, clearing her of infection. He got the same results for everyone else. "You are all clean. I'd leave if I were you people. Seras can get pretty violent."
Over by Mercer, Seras and the other soldiers gathered around Mercer. "We've captured you now, you abomination." She turned to the other soldiers and said, "Gather what's left of his limbs and bring them to storage. Sterilize the area when you're done." She got down next to Mercer and said, "They rejected my plans to just keep killing you until you die, stating that you are more useful alive than dead. Your Blacklight will help us in exterminating all that is wrong with this world."
"What do you have against me?" pleaded Mercer, "How have I wronged you?"
This caused Seras to become furious, throwing Mercer's questions back at him. "What do you have against me?' 'How have I wronged you?' do you need a reminder? Have you forgotten what you did to my fiancée? YOU CONSUMED HIM, YOU SCOURGE! HOW COULD YOU HAVE FORGOTTEN? WAS HE JUST ANOTHER HUMAN FOR YOU TO EAT, ANOTHER SOUL FOR YOU TO SWALLOW?" Her anger got the better of her and she stabbed Mercer in the chest with her Dracul powers, tearing him asunder in the next instant. The soldiers looked at what happened and groaned.
"You just made our jobs harder, LT" said one of them.
"Stuff it, Sergeant. Just do your job." Said Seras. She looked at the remains of Mercer and saw an iron nail separated from the rest of him. She immediately started to panic, cursing herself for getting angry so easy. "We need to pull back, now!"
Another soldier grabbed what was left of Mercer's arm and was about to say something when the arm twitched and tendrils of darkness impaled the soldier's heart. He screamed as more shadows consumed him. The same thing happened with the other soldiers that had a piece of Mercer in their hands. The shadows that weren't consuming soldiers were connecting to the other parts of Mercer. The shadows started consuming the parts of Mercer, avoiding the Nail of Helena. The shadows started forming a pool in front of Seras, the still living soldiers behind her. The shadows stared rising, taking a humanoid shape. The shape started becoming more defined, taking on a more menacing form of Mercer, with demonic red and gold eyes..
Seras growled, "ZEUS" The soldiers behind her were muttering things like, "Is he a vampire?" and "What did he do to himself"
"Get back to the chopper, I'll buy you some time." ZEUS charged right by her and descended on the soldiers. They fired their weapons, not even slowing it down. One soldier jumped away from the rest, while ZEUS dived right at them, Claws out, like a glutton at an all-you-can-eat buffet. There was blood sprayed, limbs went flying, and corpses consumed.
Lindemann and the others heard Seras yelling at Mercer. They saw Seras tear Mercer apart with her powers. The others gasped and stood in awe at the darkness that formed afterwards. Knowing what was going to happen, Lindemann said, "Mizore, do you see an iron nail somewhere near where Mercer died?"
She looked and said, "Yes." She then said, "What is going on?"
"The nail is the source of Mercer's divine power." Said Lindemann. "It needs to be stabbed in him to control his demonic energies." Overhearing it, the others nodded with her. ZEUS darted past Seras and made mincemeat of the other soldiers. At that moment, Mizore rushed forward to grab the Nail.
ZEUS opened its mouth and chomped on the remains of one of the soldiers. The last soldier pointed his gun at ZEUS and said, "What the Hell are you!?" The soldier then sprayed ZEUS with his M16 rifle, hitting ZEUS in the back with the incendiary rounds.
Shrugging off the rounds, ZEUS said in a demonic voice, "Does the mouse ask the wolves what they are? No, the mouse knows the wolves will eat the poor creature. That is all that matters. Food doesn't speak, it gets eaten." After speaking those cruel words, the soldier was grabbed by tendrils of shadows and pulled into the darkness at his feet. It happened so quick, the soldier didn't get the chance to scream. ZEUS turned to face Seras and said, "However, you are a worthy nemesis, draculina. I will enjoy tearing you limb from limb." Their confrontation didn't even start due to ZEUS being encased in ice.
Mizore Shirayuki ran forward to ZEUS with the Nail of Helena in hand. "You must be a manifestation of the demonic energies I felt earlier." Said Mizore as she was right next to ZEUS.
"You're very brave, snow-fae, or very foolish. And perhaps, I could be a manifestation, but that is my secret to divulge." Said ZEUS, hissing in pain as the Nail was stabbed in him. Getting weaker due to its powers being locked away again, ZEUS looked at Seras and said, "We'll meet again, draculina. We will have our match and I will consume you." Its eyes fluttered shut. Mizore saw this as defeating ZEUS and released it.
Seras walked towards Mizore and said, "Well done. I'll take it from here."
"I'M NOT DONE YET!" yelled ZEUS, sending Hammerfists in both directions, sending them flying. They saw ZEUS open his eyes, still shining gold like an alpha-predator, but without the demonic red. "The Nail can't seal me away, snow-fae, I am much too powerful." ZEUS brought out its Claws and started walking towards the fallen form of Mizore. She got up, stumbling as she got on her feet.
He was intercepted by a small, blonde child.
Gabrielle.
She hugged ZEUS, pouring her familial love into ZEUS saying, "Come back to us, Alex, you can't do this." She had tears pouring out because she didn't want to lose him to its madness. Slowly, but surely, ZEUS started to lose control. Its gold eyes fading to grey. Alex Mercer returned the hug, basking in her love.
Seras looked at them stoically, suppressing her rage. "I'll need a stronger force." She walked over to the helicopter, carrying her guns to the chopper, which had Dr. Harrison already inside. Mercer looked their direction and made eye contact with Dr. Harrison, glaring at him. The helicopter then took off, stopping at a nearby hill before disappearing from sight.
Lindemann walked up and said, "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine," said Mercer. "Right now, we need a place to lay low for a while."
Moka and the others walked up to the three and said, "You three should come to Yokai Academy with us. The barriers around the school keep it hidden from the humans."
Mercer looked at Lindemann, then Gabrielle, and said, "If I can bring these two with me." He walked over to the yokai and said, "I'm sure it won't stop Seras, but she is under orders from Blackwatch. If they can't find me, she won't either."
The bus kept trotting along, approaching a tunnel. Gabrielle was sleeping, her head resting on Mercer's arm.
"A new world, who will I end up killing here." Said Mercer.
Damn, it's been a while. I hope the size will compensate. I normally don't write chapters this size.