Chapter 2

The phone rang, interrupting his game. A groaning teenager reached forward and snatched up his cell phone, seeing it was his mother, most likely calling to check in on him, he picked it up.

"Hello?" He asked in a light, friendly tone.

"John? It's mom."

"Hey mom." Said the teen, setting down the controller and leaning back into the couch. "What's up?"

"Just checking in on you." Said his mother, her voice low and womanly, but still light enough to be friendly. "That pizza come out okay?"

"I didn't burn anything down, if that's what you're asking." The pale skinned teen grinned as his mother groaned.

"You know what I mean, smartass." His mother said, as the teen got to his feet and stretched his back. He walked to the edge of their apartment as his mom continued speaking, "I just got off the phone with your father, he said he's going to be covering for a friend of his tonight, so neither of us will be home until well after dark." She trailed off, leaving her first born to finish her thoughts.

"Don't answer the door, don't answer the phone." Said the teenager automatically, as he looked out the window.

The view outside was beautiful, for a city-scape, anyways. The sky was just beginning to darken as the sun set, and off in the distance he could see a news helicopter passing over the city.

His mother chuckled, "alright, just wanted to let you know, I'll -" The phone went dead just a split second before the entire house went dark.

The teenager, phone still held against his ear, looked up and around, startled. "The fuck?" The ground shook violently as something slammed into the building, the teenager saw a bright blue flash from the other side of the apartment, so, racing over, he ripped open the curtains, to be greeted by an enormous, bright blue dome coming from the Historic district. It was like something out of a movie, expanding as it seemed to suck in the energy of the world around it.

"What the - fuck!" The teenager exclaimed, running away from the window just as he caught sight of a car flying through the air. Fortunately for the teenager, his fears that it would hit his building were unfounded, but the ground continued shaking and the bright dome only got brighter. The teenager swore he could hear the sounds of the people outside as they screamed in their death throes, so in a fit of panic, the teenager ran to his room, barricading the door with his bed and drawing shut the blinds, silently sobbing just as something did slam into his building, the flaming vehicle coming to stop just a few inches before the terrified teenager's face, the metal so hot that he could almost feel his skin searing -

"Gah!" Shouted John VaSilas, unintentionally sending a lighting bolt into the far wall of his dorm room.

Breathing deeply, quickly, it took Silas a few moments before it finally registered that he wasn't in Empire. Far from it, he was in school, a school for monsters, ghouls, goblins and other such gruesome beings. He remembered thinking the conduits in the Warren had been bad, he chuckled and looked around. His room was dark, nearly pitch black, save for the solitary source of light on his desk, the alarm clock that had been provided with the room. He stared at it for a moment, focusing his tired vision, it was seven in the morning. Silas groaned, flopping back down on his pillow, he'd woken up at seven each morning for the last week, yes, but today was Sunday, they - apparently - didn't have school on Sunday. Silas had been looking forward to sleeping in, but now that idea had been shot, and it was far too early for breakfast, even if he mooched off of the night-classes and stole some second-dinner.

Groaning as he got to a sitting position, Silas rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. His hair fell down in front of his face, covering much of it in detailless shadows, but not proving to be a nuisance to his attempts to wake up. Silas inhaled deeply, and exhaled just as deeply, trying to get some of the chilly air of his dormroom into his lungs, to shock his body back to consciousness.

Silas placed his hand against his lips, first and second fingers parted as if he were smoking a cigarette. A habit he'd fallen into, Silas often used his smoke powers to puff out a small blast of smoke, much like how smokers would when they tried to form shapes. Silas was no Gandalf, but he could make a few circles with his own meager smoking skills. Doing so calmed his nerves, gave his mind something to focus on and required the smallest amount of concentration, all things he needed to wake up. Three exhales later and a few rings of smoke hung loosely in the air, slowly dissipating as time went on.

Silas shook his head and swept his hand through his hair, before he finally forced himself onto his feet and went through his morning routine, deciding today was a good day for a walk; it wasn't like he had any friends to hang out with, anyways.

Yokai Academy's forest hadn't changed one bit since he'd last walked through it. Silas, hood drawn and gloved hands in his jacket pockets, was walking through the dead forest silently, listening to the music on his iPod as he did so. With Tenacious D playing a personal concert right in his ears, many would think the Conduit could be vulnerable to attack, but his senses were far too attuned to his surroundings for something like that.

Case in point, when Silas felt the chilly feeling creeping down his spine, the very same feeling he got when he knew he was being watched, he could all but tell where the culprit was. However, the same voice in the back of his mind that had told him so many times before, was subtly telling the Conduit that this presence behind him, it wasn't stalking him out of malicious intent, like a Sniper would; much the contrary, Silas thought he could sense curiosity in the air, as if whoever was following him was following him simply because he or she was interested. As the Conduit continued walking, he debated internally on whether or not he should simply smoke-dash out of here, or allow the figure to follow him, and see where things led.

His question was answered, however, by a rather loud scream. A startled Conduit smoke-dashed in the direction of the scream, cutting the dash just at the border of a clearing in the forest. Hidden behind the thick trunk of a tree, Silas observed what was going on with a general air of indifference. In the center of a group of cackling monsters was a wolf, though Silas was somehow able to distinguish feminine characteristics from her, slowly coming to the conclusion that the wolf in the center of a half dozen lizard men was, in fact, a wolf woman.

Oh... Man. Thought Silas, as he watched the Lizards practically play with the wolf, I let this go on, someone will get hurt... Probably the girl, probably get raped. He reasoned, seeing the hungry look in the Lizard's eyes. But... If I interfere, I'll put my hide on the line, I'll be risking my life, risking my identity... For... What, exactly? He thought, staring hard at the spectacle.

The wolf woman cried out when a lizard made a pass at her ass, the lizard got slapped violently, but he seemed only to be further aroused by the action. One of them made a comment about how the woman had stepped into their territory, and had no chance of winning, while another mentioned how long it had been since he'd seen such a nice 'tail', though Silas honestly couldn't distinguish whether the Lizard meant the girl's actual tail, or her lady parts.

Ugh... I can't just - Thought Silas, as he rounded the tree, only to freeze when he saw a new player enter the field.

The newcomer, a tall man, most probably older than Silas, walked casually into the clearing. He completely ignored the lizards, instead heading for the wolf woman. The man had dirty blonde hair and pointed ears, and wore dark gray robes, with some sort of policeman's badge on his chest. He kindly spoke to the wolf maiden, "are you alright, miss?" He asked, his voice calm and polite.

"I... I..." The woman was very obviously flustered by the man's appearance, though Silas had no idea why.

Might be because of the badge... Silas thought, retreating back behind his tree.

"Are these men trying to hurt you?" The blonde slowly looked around the clearing, eying each lizard individually, they all visibly cowered at his glare.

"y... Yes." The wolf said, her voice far deeper than any woman Silas had ever heard, but it still contained a hint of femininity.

Silas suddenly felt a bad feeling in his gut, like there was somewhere else he should be looking. He scanned the treeline, but couldn't see anyone else.

"What exactly are they trying to do?" The man kindly asked, his voice still the epitome of calm.

"They tried to... To..." The wolf looked more and more uncomfortable with each spoken word.

"If you feel uncomfortable, whisper it in my ear." The man leaned down.

Silas immediately honed in on what was giving him the horrid feeling, just as it leapt out from the woods. Another lizard, this one far bigger than the others, leaped out of the forest, claws razor sharp and aimed right for the unsuspecting blonde. He roared a battle cry as he flew, obviously intending to catch the blonde by surprise. Silas had other plans, and the bolt of lighting that flew from his outstretched hand and slammed into the chest of the flying lizard agreed. His cover blown, Silas slowly walked out into the clearing, right hand still outstretched, electricity arcing all the way up to his shoulder. The robed man seemed intrigued, but was more focused upon what the wolf said to him.

"This woman states you six were in the process of an attempted rape... What say you in your defense?" The man asked calmly, straightening up as he spoke.

Three of the Lizards acted on impulse and attacked the blonde, the last three ran for the woods, all seeming to decide to run straight for the Conduit. Silas reacted instantaneously, his electricity covered fist slammed into the face of one lizard, knocking it out cold. He dodged a swipe from a second and sent it flying with a shockwave, before he blasted the third in the face with a bolt of lightning. Silas turned to face the robed man, intending to help, but he was greeted with the sight of two smoldering, cooked lizards, and one trying in vain to break the student's grip.

"In light of the evidence..." The blonde said, "you face a guilty verdict." Silas only had a second to blink before the lizard was lit on fire, the flames white hot and billowing in a superheated guyser as the student screamed in pain. It only took the student a few moments to die completely, leaving a cowering wolf-woman and a befuddled Conduit.

Silas stared at the smoldering corpses, but he heard movement to his left, and saw the lizard he'd punched trying to crawl away. Silas made it one step forward, intent on restraining the lizard with his electricity, but in a blink-and-you-miss-it moment, a blast of fire soared forth faster than a bullet and set the lizard ablaze. Two more cracks in the air told him the other two had been met with the same, sudden fate.

Silas felt a chill run down his spine, he looked at the blonde, who was regarding him with interest. "I thank you for the assistance... Mister..." Silas gave the man a once over, that funny little voice in his mind that always gave him bad ideas had been suddenly shut up, drowned out completely by the far more useful voice, which told Silas that this was a man not to be trifled with, by any means.

Could I even beat this guy, with smoke and electricity? Silas thought, "Err.. VaSilas." He said, "John VaSilas." He looked into the man's beige eyes, but could not, in any way shape or form, read his thoughts, which set off a lot of alarm bells in his mind.

The fire-wielder nodded, and held his hand up, silently telling Silas that he intended to speak with him further. "Ma'am, these were all the men that attempted to rape you, yes?" She nodded furiously, slowly metamorphosing back to a Human as she did so, Silas noted with slight interest how her uniform seemed to morph along with her body. "I see... Then there is nothing else to worry about, I recommend you either refrain from late night walks, or do so with members of your own species, there is great strength to be had in numbers." The blonde cast a quick glance at Silas, and then at the charred and cindered corpses on the ground. "Not like they -" He was interrupted by the Burly Lizard, who had been spared the fire wielder's wrath, and was now wielding a thick branch.

The annoyed fire wielder set the branch on fire.

The surprised conduit zapped the Lizard with a several deca-thousand volt bolt.

The resultant explosion, quite literally, tore off the Lizard's arm, which had been almost instantaneously cauterized, and thus, it leaked no blood. The horrified Lizard finally decided further combat held no gains, and ran as fast as they could.

The Blonde stared after the lizard. "Not like they would benefit from such a strength." He finished, "run along, now, breakfast will begin in an hour." The wolf nodded, thanked 'Kuyou' profusely, and sprinted away.

The robed fire-wielder stared after the wolf for a few moments. Silas did not like the silence that resulted, and made to turn and leave, but the man interrupted him. "I'm afraid I have you at a disadvantage, John, for I know your name and you do not mine." Silas turned around and suddenly the blonde was in front of him, albeit at a respectable distance, his hand outstretched. "Kuyou." He said, a light smile on his face, "Kuyou Tanzin."

Silas stared at Kuyou for a moment, before he accepted the hand. "My friends call me Silas." He responded, shaking the hand, and noting that he felt the heat of the man's skin even through his glove, and also noting the strength of his grip.

Kuyou nodded and, after releasing Silas' hand, nodded to the edge of the forest. "Are you aware you were being followed?"

Silas nodded back, "I was going to see what that was about, but then... Well... I ordered Fried Lizard."

Kuyou seemed to smile at that, "speaking of... I haven't ever heard of a species that can manipulate lightning as you... And rumor has it a hooded monster had deftly manipulated smoke, just last morning."

Silas stared up at Kuyou, who was a good foot taller than him. "So?"

"You wouldn't happen to be that hooded, smoke-wielding student, would you?" The man asked, innocently.

Do... Not... Lie... To this man. Was the only thing running through Silas' suddenly blank mind. "Yeah, what about it?"

Kuyou shrugged, "like I said, I've never seen a monster who could manipulate Lightning before... But smoke as well? I must ask, now, what kind of monster are you?"

About how fast could I reach the tunnel if I started smoking there now? Silas wondered, "isn't it against school rules to reveal your species?" He deflected.

The man grinned, "a good answer." He said, "however, as you... May soon learn, when one is in the Public Safety Commission, rules can be more easily broken."

"Public Safety?" In the back of his mind Silas was trying to figure out why he thought those words translated to 'Gestapo' in another language. "School needs its own police force?"

"Well, when one puts so many monsters in one place, violence is bound to happen, frequently." Said Kuyou, as he beckoned Silas to follow him. "And with the possibility existing that numerous A and S class monsters could exist under the same roof, an organization was founded... To keep the peace, you see."

Silas nodded, it made sense, after all. "I guess you're a part of this commission, then?"

Kuyou nodded, "yes. I'm the head of it, actually." He mentioned offhandedly.

This caught Silas' attention, "what was the head of the PSC doing out at seven in the morning on a Sunday?"

"An Enforcer's work is never done." Said Kuyou, as the school's skyline came into view. "If you look hard enough, you may in fact see more of us now that you are aware, than before." Silas thought on that and, suddenly, realized he had, in fact, seen these robes before.

But that still begged the question, "but violence still runs rampant, here." He commented.

"We deal with the more... Existential threats. Small scuffles in the hallways, while within our jurisdiction, are nothing to be worried about."

"But an attempted rape in the middle of the woods is?"

"I simply happened to be passing by... A lot like you, actually." Kuyou commented.

Silas shrugged at that, "you've got me there, Kuyou." He said, as they breached the perimeter of the woods and made their way onto school grounds. "So I don't think I've seen you in any classes..." He mentioned, after a moment's thought.

"This month is my first shift of the year, I get next off to catch up with my studies... That is how things generally work, and unless there is an emergency, it does not change." Kuyou explained, "this is where we part ways, I'm afraid." He said, "the offices are that way."

"What, fire guys don't eat?" Chuckled the Conduit, as they came to a halt.

"I already ate." Kuyou said, extending his hand again. "It was interesting meeting you, John... I hope we meet again under better circumstances."

Silas thought a moment, before he smiled and nodded. "Me too, man." He accepted the hand and shook, "me too." And with that, the two separated, with Kuyou headed to the Public Safety offices, and Silas headed for the cafeteria.

Sitting down in the cafeteria, in his usual place, which had - surprisingly - been cleaned up and repaired completely since the previous morning, Silas mechanically ate his toast, still unable to get the feeling that he was being watched out of his mind. The dawn had passed and now the sky was its usual red/gray dingy tone, bringing a great source of natural light into the cafeteria, which was slowly filling up. Silas had his hood drawn and his head low, but he could still see all that was going on around him.

So when a particularly pissed Saizo Komiya entered the room, he wasn't surprised in the slightest. Saizo looked behind him and yanked his girlfriend inside with him, eliciting a painful streak from the freshly bruised teenager. Saizo looked around the room for a solid minute, before his dark brown eyes locked onto Silas' hood. The brutish teenager stalked over to the unassuming hooded man, who continued to eat his breakfast, acting as if he didn't notice it when Saizo yanked Moka along with him.

"Sit!" Saizo shoved Moka into a seat at the table, and uncouthly crashed into a seat next to her, directly in front of the hooded Conduit. He stared at Silas, "did I hear right? Were you talking to my woman yesterday?"

"Shut up, bean dip, I'm eating." Mumbled the Conduit through a mouthfull of food.

Saizo ignored him, "and I'm pretty god damn sure it was you who blasted me in the face yesterday morning!" He said, loudly and angrily, though thankfully his voice didn't drown out the dull roar of the cafeteria.

"Is it true guys burp when you blast 'em in the face?" Silas asked.

"Well there aren't any damn teachers around this time, and all the windows are locked tight!" Saizo growled.

"Saizo, please -" Moka whimpered.

"Shut up, bitch!" Saizo barked, before turning to Silas. "I'll give you the choice, quick, or slow?"

Silas looked up, but instead of looking at Saizo, his eye was attracted to the robed figure behind him. He blinked once before the figure spoke. "Saizo Komiya."

Saizo whipped around, "what?!" He growled, losing a bit of steam when he came face to face with the black robes of a school enforcer.

"I'm more than certain you don't want to start trouble with a friend of the Enforcers... Especially in a public place." She said, breakfast tray in hand.

At this point, Silas had to get a snarky comment in. "Uh oh, Saizo, looks like someone figured out about all the guys who've been blasting you in the face." He chuckled, grinning genuinely when he noticed the suppressed smile on the pink-haired woman's face.

Saizo made to angrily retort, but after a zipping noise, his mouth was covered in a substance neither student could recognize. The Enforcer spoke clearly, "I think you're in my seat, by the way."

A fuming brute simply resorted to giving Silas a death glare, before he angrily yanked Moka off of her seat and exited the cafeteria. Silas looked up and got a good look at his savior, a purple haired, purple eyed woman who was probably a good inch or two taller than him. She had fair skin and a look in her eyes that reeked of power, though unlike the look in Saizo's eyes, the purple haired girl seemed like she'd earned her power.

"Does word travel around that fast, or did you just decide I looked like I needed saving?" Silas finally asked, taking another spoonfull of his cereal.

"Neither, actually, I ran into Kuyou on my way to breakfast, he said you were an interesting monster, and I'd do well to at least speak to you." She said, as she cut into a food Silas couldn't at all identify. "And you'll learn very soon, if Kuyou suggests you do something, you'd do your best to do it."

Silas shrugged, and nodded out of lack of any other available response. "John VaSilas." He extended his gloved hand.

The robed woman accepted it with a bone-crushing grip, that Silas tried but ultimately failed to return. "Keito Koyama."

What is it with all the Japanese sounding names here, and all the English speaking people? Silas absently wondered, "for the record, I didn't need any help."

"I know." Said Keito, "I almost laughed at your burp joke." She grinned, Silas noticed she looked slightly menacing when she did so, but he couldn't deny she also looked kind of cute.

Silas chuckled, "the thug's so stupid it probably won't register for a few hours, at least."

Keito nodded, "indeed."

The two lapsed into a silence as they ate their meals. Silas finished his first and stretched his back once he put his spoon down. The cafeteria now fully packed, he noticed that most everyone had ganged up into their own circles of friends, with that blue-haired girl from his homeroom taking up a majority of the Cafeteria's male population.

"I'm pretty sure that one's a Succubus." Keito commented.

"Which one?"

"The one with tits large enough to be used as basketballs." Keito said, "I know you're looking at her."

Silas chuckled, "I think the more appropriate term was 'gazing at', I just happened to be noticing her harem of guys, is all." He paused, "I got the same idea, by the way... Succubus." He nodded, "all of those guys look entirely robbed of their souls."

Keito chuckled, "indeed they do. I'll let you in on a hint, the Enforcers are considering intervening with her, if she keeps trying to seduce the school's male population."

"Oh?"

"Yes. As amusing as it is, watching the boys swoon over her, it gets annoying after a while..." Keito gave Silas a once over, "I'm surprised she hasn't tried to seduce you, yet."

Thinking about it, Silas thought the same thing. Eyebrow raised, he nodded, "how do you know she already hasn't?" He asked with a toothy grin.

"Your eyes still have their souls and..." Keito inhaled deeply, and paused. "You know... You smell odd."

Silas stared at her blankly.

"Like... Smoke?" She tilted her head, "you don't smoke, do you? That is against school rules."

I can work with that, actually... At least she didn't say I smell Human. "Well, I don't know what you're talking about -" Silas purposefully coughed up a lungfull of air turned smoke, "- seriously... No idea." He grinned again, with the grin growing wider at the slightly annoyed, yet also amused look Keito gave him.

"What do you plan on doing the rest of today?" She asked, innocently enough.

"Probably stop by my homeroom teacher and grab the club listings... That's supposed to be soon, I think, so I might as well get a head start, know what to look for." Silas responded, saying the first thing that came to mind, that sounded reasonable.

Keito narrowed her eyes, slightly, as she finished her meal. "You do not plan on joining the newspaper club, do you?"

Silas shrugged, "maybe, if it seems interesting."

"I would advise against that." The purple haired monster said quickly, "they and the Enforcers have a... Tense relationship."

Silas nodded, "I'll keep that in mind." He said, before he sighed, "well, it was fun talking to you, but I've got to stop by my dorm room." He said, extending his hand again as he got to his feet.

Keito shook it, "the pleasure was mine." She said, with a nod.

Silas walked silently to his dorm. The mornings in Yokai Academy were far different from the mornings back home, here there were no birds tweeting or insects chirping, rather there was just a chill in the air and a slight mist hanging there, unassumingly, as if it belonged and nothing was wrong with its presence. Silas paid none of it any mind, nor did he pay any mind to the odd smacking sound he heard, reasoning that it was just a crow beating its wings.

Silas' mind was more focused on the events of this morning, and what had happened as a result. Kuyou was an interesting character, he had no problem with asserting his power over the school's rule breakers, though Silas questioned the morality of killing them outright. Even if thy were would-be rapists, they still deserved a trial, right? Some kind of sentencing by a jury of their peers.

There was the smacking noise again, he noticed, as he came closer to the dull gray dorm building.

And how Keito had spoken of him, saying that one would do well to do whatever he said. How much authority and respect did Kuyou hold? Furthermore, how much of said authority came from his killing of students? Was that just an out-of-context isolated incident, or was that a common occurrence? Silas didn't know what to think about that, regularly burning students alive with white-hot flames. He knew his smoke was pretty hot, and if he hit some bone-dry wood he could probably start a few fires, but he wouldn't be burning anyone alive with it.

Another smacking noise, did Silas hear a crack along with it?

And then there was Keito, where was she on the food chain, compared to Kuyou? And what was with that... Material she had slapped onto Saizo's mouth? Silas couldn't help but wonder if she was some kind of spider-woman, because the material did share a few similarities with -

Now the sound of cloth tearing joined the sound of flesh hitting flesh.

"The fuck?" Silas turned around and jogged around the corner of the building.

Silas was greeted with a disgusting sight. There was Saizo, half naked, standing over a crying, struggling Moka, whose clothes were in tatters.

"Come on, bitch! You know you want it!" The thug yelled, hungrily, "stop... Fucking... Struggling!"

Oh, you've done fucked up now, son. Thought Silas, as he gathered an orb of smoke in his hand, and savagely shot it towards Saizo.

The smoke slammed into the back of his head with a loud poof sound, making an audible impact as it slammed into Saizo's head. Saizo whipped around, to be greeted with Silas smoke dashing right past him. By the time Saizo figured out what happened, and had turned around, he saw Sils standing over Moka, hand out stretched.

"Come on." Silas said, almost silently. "You don't -" Saizo's battle cry gave him away, and Silas dodged his punch with another smoke dash. This time he shot Saizo with a bolt of electricity, and when Saizo turned around swinging, Silas took his original position above Moka. "- need to entertain this guy anymore."

Saizo growled and made a grab for Silas, who dashed away just as he felt Saizo's hand brush against his coat. Silas reappeared a few feet behind Saizo, rolling his shoulders as he got ready for the inevitable conflict. Silas had no idea what kind of monster Saizo was, but he most likely relied on brawn, which meant his speed, maneuverability, and intelligence would all be sorely lacking. With a liberal application of smoke dashing, and a powerful usage of electric bolts, he could have the fight won.

Of course... Thought Silas, as he eyed the cowering Moka's rosary, there is a point I should probably try and make. His eyes shifted from the Rosary to the angry thug.

"You... Trash!" Saizo growled, Silas only now noticed how his mouth was still covered in the material it had been shot with earlier in the morning. "You'll regret -" He was interrupted with a blast of smoke to the face, Saizo coughed violently as some of the sulfur and ash went straight down his windpipe.

"You've got one way out of this." Silas said simply.

Growling, Saizo responded by shifting into his monster form. It was an ugly, brutish thing, much like the man himself. He grew about three feet and his muscles doubled in size. His eyes narrowed on Silas, and he grinned as he felt power running through his veins.

Silas prepared a shockwave, "that wasn't it." He blasted the orc away from the girl, and dashed over to take his spot. Silas extended his hand, which Moka slowly, carefully accepted, while her free arm covered her exposed bra. Silas didn't ogle, but when Moka got to her feet, he did grab the Rosary far faster than she had been prepared for. With a quick, almost haphazard yank, it came free. Silas stared at it, and noticed how the red snake-eye in the jewel seemed to fade to black. Silas looked back at a gaping Moka, " 'doesn't come off'... My... Ass!" He said, stuffing it in his jacket pocket. "Now are you going to stand there, or are you going to help me kick his ass?" He asked, sending a bolt of lightning Saizo's way, keeping the stunned monster pinned to the ground.

Silas had expected a dramatic transformation, perhaps something worthy of a billion dollar special effects movie. Instead, however, he simply got a color transition and some proportion change. Moka's once bright pink hair seemed to melt off all of its color, now appearing as silver as silk. Her once green eyes darkened to a blood red, with snake-like slits replacing the black orbs in the center. And her modest 'assets' became even more so.

The now transformed Moka stared at Silas expectantly, albeit blankly. "Did you wake me up?" Asked Moka with a powerful, womanly voice.

Silas thought he heard Saizo shout something about an 'S-Class Monster'. "Yep." Silas said simply. "How do you people do it, draw straws, or -" The monster didn't wait for him to finish, she looked at Saizo and suddenly the tired look in her eyes became filled with hatred and vengeance.

"And he is the one who has been beating my outer self... Yes?"

Silas looked over at Saizo, who, while he had recovered, looked stunned, to say the least. "Yeah."

Moka looked from Saizo to Silas, back to Saizo, and nodded. Saizo seemed to sense the ass kicking that was starting to head his way, and blindly charged the Conduit and the Monster, roaring about how he didn't care what species they were, he would kill them all the same. The response would make Silas laugh in the future. Silas raised his hand and fired a nearly continuous stream of electricity, slamming into the orc like a thousand tasers and cooking him almost like how Kuyou had done earlier the morning. Moka, on the other hand, simply walked forward and, when she came within striking distance of Saizo, kicked him, as hard as she possibly could, in the face. Silas heard Saizo's skull crack from the impact, and heard several other bones break when Saizo hit the girl's dorm. Moka didn't stop there, however, and in a moment she was above Saizo, who was promptly tossed to the ground, before his face was viciously stomped on again and again.

"Whoa!" Silas couldn't hold back, once he saw blood begin to fly. "Damn!" He shouted when he heard the horrifying crunching sound of bones being repeatedly broken. Moka slammed her foot into Saizo's burst head one last time, and looked like she was finished, but her eyes traveled downwards to Saizo's groin, and Silas saw what she was going to do an instant before she did it. "OH! DAMN!" Silas instinctually covered his own manhood when Moka literally ripped Saizo's off and threw it as far as she could.

Silas let Moka have a moment, as she stared viciously at the corpse beneath her. Finally she looked up, and in an instant, was in front of him. Silas repressed a recoil, but couldn't help but stare at her, wide-eyed. He had seen many a varied death in his day, but this had been the first time he'd been present for a curb-stomping disembowelment. He could honestly say he hoped he never saw it again.

"So... You aren't going to do that to me... Right?" Silas clarified.

"No." The new Moka said simply, "much to the contrary, I owe you a great debt." She took a step closer, invading Silas' personal space as she did so. "If you hadn't removed my Rosary, and if you hadn't acted when you did, he would have done reprehensible things to my other self."

You mean the nice one? Silas thought, his gaze traveling down to her blood and brain covered legs. "You mean -"

"You..." Moka's arms were suddenly wrapped around Silas' neck, "smell..." She said, slowly and lowly, before she removed a stunned Conduit's hood. "Intoxicating." She sunk her teeth into his neck.

Wait... What?!That was each and every single alarm bell going off in Silas' head. He didn't even allow himself time to register the surprisingly good feeling of having his blood forcibly drawn from his neck, he acted on instinct, and his instinct was to punch, as hard and as electrically charged as he could.