Author's note: I apologise deeply for the time it's taken to get this out. It's been a bit hectic and it turned out to be longer than I had expected. Anyway, hopefully this chapter will make up for it by being cool enough. I certainly enjoy the final parts of it.

Also, I would like to say that I'm very surprised that we can't change the size of letters in this website, that's rather annoying. If we can do that, please tell me how. Now please sit back and enjoy the latest chapter.

Darkness

"This is a joke. Right?" Asuna asked no in particular. She tried to look for some reassurance from anyone. She didn't find it. "Come on, she's… she's Evangeline. She wouldn't… couldn't…"

The red-head silenced when she met Takahata's eyes. They were devoid of denial or reassurance. Asuna turned a blank stare of disbelief to the pit that was occupied by Anna and Evangeline's remains. "No way." She whispered quietly and couldn't make up her mind whether she should scream or cry.

Elsewhere on the platform Konoka had grabbed on to Setsuna and was crying into her shoulder. The swordswoman held back her own tears and offered a comforting arm around her ojou-sama.

Yue, Haruna and Kasumi had all gone uncharacteristically silent. They just couldn't gather the will for single outbursts of enthusiastic eccentricity in light of what had happened.

Nodoka was the only person on platform to move from one place to another. Specifically to check on her teacher. "Ne-negi-sensei." She said cautiously.

The boy genius trembled as he turned around slowly and handed over Chachamaru's perplexed head to Nodoka. "Take care of her for me." He then turned around and headed to the edge of the platform.

"Somebody should probably stop him." Chachazero suggested from her sitting position on the railing, not a care in the world could be made out of her tone of voice.

Several huhs could be heard as the occupants of the platform turned to Negi, who was now standing on top of the railing. An aura of anger and general darkness radiated from the young boy. Takahata quickly stepped up to his fellow teacher.

"Negi-kun, please think about what you're about to do. It won't make things any better and…" He was ignored entirely as Negi blasted off with a vengeful scream towards the spirit knight.

The rousing joy that had gotten to her head was already dying down. Anna looked down on what had once been her hated foe and blinked. There was something missing.

It felt as if there should be trumpets or someone congratulating her. "Or someone to free me of this form at least." She thought solemnly as she remembered sitting for weeks on end in a white room. She also remembered pain, lots and lots of pains, as she had felt herself get torn apart. There had also been more hard work than she actually could recollect. But she knew it had been done. By her. Five times over.

The point is that she figured that her moment of triumph deserved something more than the silence she was listening to.

Not that she wasn't happy with the moment the way it was. Because she most certainly was. Happy that is. She was very happy.

Wasn't she?

Little time could be spent on those thoughts as she blurred out of the path of a raging prepubescent boy. That his blow blasted up another smaller, but still impressively big, hole inside the large pit surprised Anna, as she appeared on the edge of said pit, but didn't warrant her attention for all that long.

"Who are you?" She asked with the voice of a person who didn't really care but wanted to not think about things.

"You killed my master!" Negi shouted in fury and jumped at the spirit with a powerful uppercut ready. Anna merely jumped back a little to narrowly avoid the attack.

"So?" She asked with a bored voice as he touched down on the ground. "She deserved it. More than you will ever know."

Thoughts of her parents began to creep up in Anna's head. Just like her victory something about them was missing. With these thoughts in the way she didn't pay attention to Negi as he powered up his right fist with as many magical arrows as he possibly could summon up. But she did have enough presence to catch his strike before it properly hit her. Even so she was pushed back quite a bit by the force of the attack.

She was impressed, but not concerned.

"I know all about what my master did to you. But… but… She was a good person and you just murdered her for your own selfish reasons." He said through angry tears. It pissed Anna off.

"A good person you say." Her grip on his fist tightened painfully for the young mage. "So she was a good person when she selfishly slaughtered my parents was she?!" Her strength was overwhelming him as he was pushed down to one knee. "I have only taken the revenge that was rightfully mine. But what would you know about anything like that?"

In her reinvigorated anger Anna raised an arm to strike Negi down. Before she could finish follow through with it however she was forced to let the boy go and jump back to avoid two attacks the split the ground between her and Negi.

"What now?" Anna thought with a mix of annoyance and satisfaction, she wanted to be distracted.

Setsuna and Asuna stood protectively in front of their teacher with their respective swords raised and poised for attack.

"Don't move." Asuna said through gritted teeth. "If you move we will take you down with full force." A rather bold proclamation against a person that has just defeated the physically most powerful person Asuna knew.

"You've gotten what you came here for. Now just leave." Setsuna said with restrained anger.

Anna relaxed her stance. There was a certain logic to it. She looked over the trails of smoke that steadily streamed from the cracks in her armor. "I can stay here for a few hours more. But there's nothing more for me here. I could pick a place and finally let it end there. At least, that's what should happen." Anna gazed over at the three warriors waiting for her response.

She turned away from them. "There is nothing else for me. I'll disappear and you won't ever have to see me again." Her cloak took on its wing form and she was ready to take off.

"Wait!" Negi shouted.

...ic...la...l ac!

Anna turned her head in Negi's direction and stared at him with cold eyes. "What?" She fully expected him to scream out a promise of revenge.

"I can never forgive you. No matter what your reasons for killing Evangeline-san was I will not let it excuse your actions…"

"My actions don't need to be excused." Anna said assuredly.

Op.n...gat...to..e..iver...of...death

"Either way," Negi continued undeterred. "I know what it's like to lose your whole world in one night. The flood of raw feelings that surge through you is over-powering. The world just doesn't seem right anymore and you're driven to extremes that are the only things that make sense. My village was destroyed and I might've been just like you if I hadn't gotten the help that I did. Wandering the entire world with only revenge driving me on."

"Get to the point." Anna said impatiently.

Drnc...Your...ast.r

"What I'm trying to say is that while I can't claim that I can fully comprehend what you're feeling, I have an idea of where you're coming from. The burden of losing everything is something horrible that nobody should have to deal with."

Negi's eyes steeled as he met Anna's gaze with determination. "Again, I won't forgive you for killing my master. But I hope that in doing so you have found peace in your existence."

Anna's eyes widened in surprise. She was at a loss for words. Not because he wasn't swearing revenge in Evangeline's name. Rather she was terrified because the little boy had indirectly pointed out what was wrong with her without realizing that she had a problem to begin with.

..et...despai...and...Horror...ike...All Who See.

The sound of thunder caught everyone of guard.

"What was that?" Asuna asked with a chilled voice.

"I can't see any clouds in the sky." Setsuna said while she looked at the sky fervently.

"I think that it's coming from behind us." Negi said with a confused voice.

They looked over at the large pit. A small and dark cloud had formed above it. Thunder rumbled from it as tiny, barely noticeable, drops of a liquid they couldn't quite identify fell into the pit.

"No." Anna muttered.

"Is… is that..?" Setsuna stammered.

"Blood." Negi finished.

Indeed. It was blood that was raining down in an increasing amount into the pit. All four of the warriors where transfixed to the gut-wrenching sight. Not only because it is a rather terrifying to see a concentrated rain of blood. But also because such a bizarre event could only be caused by magic and since none of them had done anything for such a spell to be activated it left a possibility that they mere moments ago had considered impossible.

Then a terrifyingly exultant shout ripped through the air. Confirming everyone's' suspicions.

"Contract of Sacrifice!"

On the platform the less battle-able members of Ala Alba stared at the blood rain with horrified expressions.

"What the hell is that?!" Kasumi yelled to Takahata who had opted to stay on the platform and protect the other girls.

"I'm not sure." He answered cautiously and glanced over at Chachazero. "But I think I know someone who does know."

The string-puppet turned her head and smirked playfully at the students and teacher. "Oh I know exactly what it is. Doesn't mean that I'm going to tell you though." She said mockingly and jumped into the air as Yue tried to grab her. She back-flipped through the air and landed on Chachamaru's head, which was still being held by Nodoka.

"Take it easy." Chachazero told everyone as it looked like they were about to gang up on her. "All you need… No, all you want to know is that the fight isn't over yet. So sit back and relax. Because round two is about to begin."

"No." Anna said much louder in disbelief as the blood poured into the pit, seemingly without end.

The dark but hoarse laughter of someone reveling in a joke that only they could enjoy cut through the air. "HehehehehehehehAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"No. No. No! No! No! NO!" Anna screamed with increasing fury as she blasted into the sky. She positioned herself directly above the pit and formed a lightning spear in her hand. She threw the projectile with all her might as the amount of mist steaming out of her armour increased.

The lightning spear cut through the cloud and struck down into the pit, abruptly stopping the laughter. Stray bolts of lightning caved in the walls of the pit and Anna flew down into it with a powerful strike that sent up a large dust cloud into the air.

Negi, Asuna and Setsuna stared at the rising cloud with confusion. "What's going on? Should we do something?" Asuna questioned.

"I'm not sure." Negi said hesitantly.

In the pit Anna was looking around desperately for the corpse of her sworn enemy. But she couldn't find even the smallest bit that might've been blown off by her previous attack. She only found dirt and a little too much blood. This made her search more desperate which in turn made her careless enough to fall for a trick had already been used on her by not observing the shadows.

A small but strong hand gripped the back of her helmet and she was pushed off her feet. The world seemed to go into slow-motion as a strangely sincere voice whispered to her.

"Thank you."

Before she could react Anna's face was roughly shoved into the ground and her foe jumped into the air. Dirt and blood sipped into her helmet. Making it the most humiliating attack she had to endure tonight and thus the most infuriating, even if she had been hit by more powerful strikes.

With fury burning in her eyes Anna pushed herself up to her knees and turned around, ready to chase after. She never got a chance as ice-spike, about three times her size, smashed into her and buried her further into the pit.

Negi's eyes boggled at the sight in front of him.

She was somewhat hidden by the repeated dust clouds that had spewed up from the pit during the last fest seconds and her back was turned to him. But the young teacher easily recognised his magic teacher's short stature and flowing hair. Still being quite emotional from believing her to be dead just a few minutes ago he reacted like any one his age would.

"EVA-CHAN!" He screamed and ran towards her with the foolish intention of glomping her in happiness. Setsuna and Asuna followed him with slightly less emotional intentions.

The vampire stopped stretching and slowly turned around to face her comrades with an indifferent face.

Negi was inches from wrapping his arms around Evangeline when she suddenly and unceremoniously hit him in the face, sending him rolling back until he was caught up by Asuna.

The three stared at her with confused expressions as they saw how she looked at the moment.

Overall she didn't seem to have any injuries anymore but there were still large spots and trails of fresh blood on her body. And as they had been destroyed earlier she wasn't wearing any clothes at all. None of this seemed to bother the tiny vampire as she glared her angry teacher glare on all three warriors in front of her.

"What did I tell you to not do tonight?" She asked simply and waited. Her three juniors were too confused to answer and just looked at each other and back at her. Evangeline sighed and suddenly she was right in their faces. "You got involved with my fight. I clearly told you not to."

The trio gulped at her tone of voice. It was the tone of someone who would punish disobedient children. Normally they would've protested by now but their current confused and overly emotional state along with Evangeline's blood covered visage proved to overwhelming for them. Luckily the giant ice-spike was getting pushed out of the pit and required the vampire's attention.

Evangeline sneered. "If I wasn't so busy trying to survive here I would take care of all of you." She turned around to ice-spike when Negi found his wits again.

"Wait, master!" Evangeline glanced over at the boy. "Please, how did you survive? Not that I'm not happy to see you." At the same time the ice-spike suddenly exploded to a million tiny fragments and Anna leaped out of the pit and landed a few meters in front of Evangeline, who seemed strangely unfazed by it all.

"I don't know how you survived! But you cannot…"

"Ssh." Evangeline hissed as she held up a finger. There was such authority in her voice that Anna shut up immediately. "I'm about to tell the story behind my miraculous resurrection. Well, it's not that miraculous really, or a story."

She was silent for a moment to see if anyone would interrupt her. When no one spoke Evangeline began explaining.

"Throughout the last few decades I've come a bit too close to the great unknown called death a few too many times. So I built a, for lack of better words, safety net. I call it the Contract of Sacrifice." She paused, knowing the value of good drama. "Basically I've gathered blood from people I killed inside a pocket dimension. And let me tell you all something, I've killed a lot of people during those few decades." She glanced at Negi. "Until a certain smug red-head locked me inside these school grounds."

Negi flushed a little. He felt that he was being unjustly accused of something, and he was.

"But then again, I had sort of forgotten about it since I had never actually used it." She looked Anna straight in the eyes. "Until now that is. Congratulations Anna my girl. You've really become stronger since the first time you try to take your revenge upon me."

Anna tightened her fist and took a stance. "And that strength will be enough to kill you even if you've completely recovered."

Evangeline waved a hand dismissively at the spirit knight. "Don't worry about that. It's just my body that's been restored without injuries. I still feel the pain and fatigued from our confrontation." The vampire smirked. "Of course, you're in almost as bad shape as I am. The playing field is still even in my eyes."

Her eyes narrowed as a small wind kicked up around her when she started glowing with power. "Now then, story time is over. Let's settle this." She challenged Anna who shifted her feet to attack when a loud voice broke the mood.

"WAIT ONE MINUTE!" Asuna yelled at them, earning a dull look from Evangeline. "Do you really think that we're just going to let you wreck our school in your petty mega-fight?" Neither she nor Negi or Setsuna noticed when Evangeline blasted the ground in front of them.

"Actually we don't really care." The vampire responded. "Now…" She blurred away and appeared before Anna with a flying double kick aimed at the vengeful spirit's face. The attack caught Anna off guard and knocked her to the ground.

Evangeline then pushed Anna's head further into the ground by using it as a springboard to jump into the air. "…tag! You're it!" She shouted gleefully as she disappeared into the air. Anna wasted no time in getting up and hunting after her foe with blinding speed.

"ARRGGH!" Asuna screamed. "I'm going to get that little brat and…"

"Now, now Asuna. Young ladies should watch their mouths." Takahata said kindly while lowering the platform down to ground level. "Besides, you should be happy that Evangeline-san is still alive."

"For the moment." Chachazero added.

"Ignore her," Takahata said nonchalantly. "And get on. We've already seen this fight for so long. We might as well watch it to the end."

The trio complied, with Asuna muttering with a grumpy voice, and got on the platform, where an ecstatic Konoka glomped Setsuna while happily, and loudly, declaring that Evangeline was alive. Similar happy reactions rang out across the platform as it followed the warring fighters.

Only Chachazero seemed to be silently contemplating this turn of events. "That's one major spell down and one to go. Are you ready to break your own rule, and quite a few other things, or are you still a big wuss." She thought to herself in an overly dramatic fashion and smiled widely. "This is more fun than I thought."

"Aren't you curious?!" Evangeline asked while twisting in mid-flight to avoid a sword-slash from her pursuer.

"About what?!" Anna angrily shouted back as she chased after the vampire, who seemed to have gone for a more evasive fighting style than before as evidenced by the fact that she was still flying away from Anna.

"About what I said?" She shifted to the left to avoid a lightning bolt flung her way, "Why I thanked you." She flew downward and Anna gave chase. "It's really an interesting story!" Evangeline shouted.

Tired of her talking, Anna blasted forward with burs of speed to slam the blonde into the pavement. Before she could do that however, said blonde melted into the shadow the two made on the ground. The spirit knight didn't have any time to stop herself and hit the ground hard.

"Come on. I want to tell you." Evangeline continued while hovering above her opponent as if nothing had happened.

Anna sharply turned around and glared at her currently elusive target. "Be quiet and fight like a proper warrior you fiend!" She roared and produced a lightning sword in each hand. She launched herself at the vampire who just dropped down the ground.

"Fine, if you want to be that way." She said unabashed as Anna once again rushed her. The spirit knight went for slash that would cut Evangeline right down the middle if she hadn't suddenly blocked it with a sword of her own, this one being made out of ice that softly glowed blue. "I'll just have to tell you while we're doing this. How troublesome."

Anna screamed in fury and attacked with her remaining sword. It too was blocked as another ice sword materialised in Evangeline's free hand.

The two began an exchange of slashes and swipes that, as most of their duels, resulted in a wind being kicked up with them as the epicentre. The blonde vampire focused on dodging, blocking and countering while Anna pressed on a furious offence with little regard to defending herself. All the while, Evangeline spoke her mind.

"It was so dark. And I mean real dark. Not the kind of dark that shows up after light is taken away. But the kind of dark that scares away the light." She said conversationally while barely missing Anna's head as the spirit knight backed up a bit and then attacked again. "I was almost swallowed up by the whole thing and honestly, it scared me to begin with."

"Then I shall take great pleasure in sending you back!" Anna roared and followed up a failed swipe and Evangeline's mid-section with a stab at her head. The vampire merely tilted to the side and ignored the emotional outburst.

"Then I calmed down and remembered that I had been prepared for it ever since yesterday. I was ready to die and go to where I belong." She vaulted over Anna and tried a stab at her back. But her rival quickly spun around and struck the sword out of its path. "I've lived longer than most have a right to. My name is so famous that it would live on for much longer than myself. I even have a student to carry on the legacy of my spells. And to be fair," They locked each other in a pushing match. "I deserve to die."

Suddenly Evangeline exerted more force than before and actually forced Anna to jump back a fair distance just to avoid losing her balance. When she landed she could she the blonde staring at her with a wild expression.

"Despite all this, there was something keeping me here. Something that made the thought of dying apprehensive to me. At first I believed that I was just afraid of it. That I had gone soft from spending too much time with them." Here she nodded her head at the platform that was hovering high above them.

"But as I was sinking into the darkness I suddenly realised why I wanted to stay. And if you hadn't sent me into such a tight embrace with the grim reaper I wouldn't have figured it out. That's why I'm thanking you." Evangeline said with a mischievous grin.

Anna just stared at her with a confused expression. It looked like should couldn't come up with anything to say to that. So she just attacked the cucumber-calm vampire. It was a sloppy assault that Evangeline danced around and blocked with ease.

"You have no idea how close it was that I didn't come back." Evangeline said with a tense voice. "Then I saw the reason to crawl and tear myself back here. A wonderfully… selfish reason."

She jumped up, floated in the air and suddenly spun around vertically with her ice-swords stretched outward. Such an attack would normally just be ridiculous in a fight of this level, but the speed Evangeline used it with combined with Anna's current state of mind made it surprisingly effective. Mostly in confusing the spirit knight rather than hurting her, but it was enough for the vampire to sneak in a sharp kick to the side of Anna's head.

She was knocked to the ground with a crash and her swords disappeared. Evangeline assumed a sitting position in the air as she returned to her speech.

"I want to stay alive because there's a man that I wish to meet before I go." She said with a soft tone. "The only man I ever really cared for." Anna looked up at the vampire with genuine surprise in her eyes. "A man that I would follow across the entire world, even when he spurned me." There was a small crack in her voice at the end there.

The crack evolved into an ever escalating scream. "The same man that rewarded my efforts and advances by locking ME, Evangeline Athanasia Katherine McDowell up in a fucking school with nothing but a bunch of moronic teenagers and naïve, sissy do-gooders for company!" Anna wasn't even sure if the vampire was talking to her anymore.

"Before I die, I'm going to find you Nagi Springfield and kick your ass an hour for every day you've forced me to stay in this miserable place of sun-shine and lollipops!" She roared at the skies, as if that would help carry her words to the man known as the thousand master.

The blonde breathe heavily to let out all her frustration before regaining her composure and looking down at Anna again. "So yeah, thank you for making me realise that. In return I will help you in a similar way before I send you back to… wherever the hell you go after I kick your ass."

"Problem?" Anna said with a sharp whisper. "My only 'problem' is that you're still alive. And I plan on rectifying that momentarily." She stood up and reformed her lightning swords.

Evangeline cocked an eyebrow. "By fighting so amateurishly that I can actually talk while we're exchanging blows and pull of silly attacks with great success?" She questioned and Anna tensed up.

"Face it, something's changed about during the time I was knocked out. And I'm going to help you out of it." The vampire smiled in fake kindness.

Anna hesitated to answer and squirmed awkwardly where she stood. She had an idea what her archenemy was talking about. Of course, that didn't mean that she wanted to 'talk' about it. Much less so with Evangeline. So she responded in the only way that came naturally to her. She attacked the vampire with an aerial blitz.

Evangeline swiftly glided to the side and countered with a slash that struck the spirit knight in the side and actually sent her reeling. The ever present white vapour was beginning to spew out more than ever, causing Anna to panic.

"No, stop it. I need more time!" She screamed to no one in particular and barely deflected the vampire's attack on her neck from both sides.

Evangeline was enjoying herself immensely. "First, let me ask you a question." She kicked off of Anna's chest to put some distance between the two. "What were your parents' names? I've forgotten." Evangeline asked with a purposely silly expression as Anna almost caught up to her.

For just a moment Anna slowed down to answer with a defiant demand that the vampire stop talking. The moment dragged on to several more moments and during that interval Evangeline gleefully speed past the spirit knight and hit her with a double cross-slice that pebble-sized chinks of her armour flew off.

The blonde touched down on the ground elegantly seconds after Anna crashed into and remained there unmoving.

"Come on now. Your parents' names. Say them." Evangeline demanded impatiently.

"…quiet…"

"Hm, I didn't quiet hear that. It didn't sound like names to me." It was getting hard for her to conceal the mockery in her voice.

"Be… quiet…"

"Nope. You're going to have to speak a little lou…"

Anna smashed her fists into the pavement, kicked herself up and turned to her antagonizer, her eyes absolutely livid with hate. "I said, BE QUIET!" A windburst strong enough to make Evangeline take a step back kicked up in all direction with Anna as the epicentre. Even the world tree dropped a few leaves from the force of the scream, despite the great distance.

Evangeline had a surprised smirk on her face. "Now we're getting somewhere."

"I hate this thing." Asuna grunted as she pulled herself back onto her feet. The wind had shaken the platform and knocked everybody off balance. An occurrence that seemed to be happening more and more frequently.

"It does seem to be a lot less stable than what I had been led to believe when I purchased it." Chachamaru answered with a distracted voice. Even now she did her best to get a good a view as possible of her master's struggle.

The normal rabble began amongst the other teenagers as Chachazero suddenly floated by Chachamaru's ear.

"Hey," She whispered. "Has master ever told you about the dark god of destruction?"

Chachamaru's eyes widened. "Once." She whispered back. "And she was very adamant that it is a subject that should not be spoken off in any situation."

"Yep, that's the one." Chachazero said with a calm voice as she nodded sagely.

Suddenly her mouth formed a grin so large that it unnerved the robot. "50 bucks says that we'll see said god in about 15 minutes." The doll said with a wicked and amused voice.

If her head had been connected to her body, Chachamaru's spine would've shivered then and there. That is, if her spine could shiver.

Anna was seething with fury. And while it was Evangeline's fault, for once it wasn't the vampire's past actions that enraged Anna. It was that she actually seemed to understand the situation, maybe better than Anna herself who was still feeling conflicted. And she had the gall to use this knowledge to mock her.

"Evil. Pure evil. I must not let her words distract me."

"I hit a nerve, didn't I?" Evangeline taunted. "But I can't blame you."

"Just don't listen to the evil monster. Your cause is just and you will not be…"

"It can be difficult to remember things after spending over 200 years on nothing hating little old me. In this particular case it would be your parents' names." The smiling vampire was certain that she could see her opponent twitching with rage.

The vapour steamed out of Anna's cracked armour as she began breathing heavily. "I told you to be quiet." She growled.

Evangeline shrugged. "And yet, I keep talking. I guess that you're not demanding enough. But you've answered one question, now I have one more."

The vampire swiftly blocked Anna's new lightning blade as the spirit knight tried to blitz her again. "If you will not be quiet then I will rip apart your mouth before I finally slaughter you!"

With renewed hate Anna put enough force behind her sword to break through Evangeline's own blades. The blonde quickly vaulted backwards as the lightning sword passed above her nose with inches separating the two.

"That's it, just a little more now." The dark mage thought as she flew back quickly to avoid Anna, who by now looked more furious and desperate than ever before. "Hopefully I'll survive to that point. Best just get to the centre of it." She blasted upward, narrowly avoiding a sword swing that had so much force behind it that a fracture was torn up in the pavement beneath it.

"Here it comes!" Evangeline shouted as she threw up a hastily made shield that stopped the pursuing Anna briefly. "Do you know where you're going?!" She punctuated the sentence by blasting Anna to the ground with dual ice blasts. It took her a few moments to rip the ice apart, by that time she had mellowed down, a little.

"What do you mean by that?" She asked with a voice that was trying to calm itself down, not knowing that she had stepped into the exact spot where Evangeline wanted her.

"After all this is done." Evangeline said while floating to the ground. "Say you win and I die completely. Where will you end up? Heaven? Are you sure that they'll allow a person who does nothing but hate and fight in there?" A hesitant movement in Anna's cloudy eyes was the only hint that Evangeline needed.

"You're not certain at all, are you?" It was almost as if her voice floated through the air. "The hate and anger are still there. But the conviction is wavering. You don't know where this is taking you. For confident people like us that think they know their own world to the final letter, not knowing something will mess us up more than we'd like to admit. And really, not knowing if you're going to get rewarded or punished for committing 250 years of death to killing one person much be a real bitch." The doll master's voice suddenly turned softer. "Let me guess. Killing me wasn't all that it was cracked up to be?"

For a few minutes the only sound that could be heard was that of an anxious wind blowing through the ruined city.

"I felt elated at first. But then it was as if there was an emptiness surrounding me. I should've been happy with my accomplishment but there was nothing in it that made me feel like the victor."

Evangeline restrained a smile. "Yes! Keep going like that. Maybe I can finally be rid of you this way."

"Instead I felt as if it had all been pointless. As if killing you didn't mean anything." Anna continued with a solemn voice.

"Ok, ok. Now wrap it up and we can both go on with our… whatever it is we have." Evangeline thought while nodding calmly.

"But," Anna said with a questioning voice. "Then again, you didn't really die."

The vampire's eyes couldn't get any wider. "What?"

"By your own admission you were only on the brink of death. But you never actually died." The spirit knight's voice grew in assuredness. "Of course. That's why everything felt so wrong. I was celebrating a false victory."

Evangeline blinked. "Crap."

"And now you are trying to deceive me and get into my head. You've realised that my power is superior and you're trying to get me to give up without a fight. To think that the monster is a coward as well."

Evangeline's eye twitched and a small vein showed in self on her forehead. "The lies people will believe to make themselves feel happy are incredibly annoying."

"Ok, listen to what…"

"No." Anna interrupted abruptly. "No more talks. I will not allow your heinous lies to cloud my mind anymore."

The vein on Evangeline's forehead pulsed. "Could she at least not talk like that? One more try."

"Look, you still don't remember…" She halted herself and jumped into the air to avoid the lightning bolt that blasted the ground below her. "Ok, screw that. I'm going to kill you now… or whatever it is I do when… you know what I mean!"

The two rushed at each other and simultaneously threw punches that crossed one-another. Naturally due to the difference in length Evangeline's strike barely had time to nick the side of Anna's helmet before she herself was sent flying back with a bloody nose.

"Crap, I got careless." The vampire's thoughts didn't get much further than that as Anna had caught up with her and kick her high into the air. She used the momentum from being launched like that to blast away from Anna and gain some distance from the pursuing knight.

"She's still stronger than I am, possibly a little faster as well. And even damaged her armour is a better defence than… well, my naked body. Maybe I should try… SHIT!"

Distracted by her planning and glancing back at Anna Evangeline had failed to notice that she was flying towards a certain platform with a certain group of meddling people that she wished weren't present. She was moving to fast for them to avoid her and Anna was catching up.

Hesitating just a little bit the vampire sharply turned around, came to a screeching halt right in front of the platform and right back at Anna. Several of the onlookers could've sworn that she mutter 'I can't believe I'm doing this.'

Due to her opponents unexpected actions Anna was too puzzled to counter getting Evangeline's right elbow slammed into her shielded face. The tiny vampire stuck to Anna like glue and continuously struck at her with claw-like blows that sent the two of them crashing into the street below.

Evangeline did not stick around for long in the new crater and flew into the sky at breakneck speeds; swiftly follow by Anna who matched her prey's flight course to a T.

They dived into the city and zigzagged, turned and twisted and just zipped around the place so fast that they tore up the ground if they flew to close to it.

Anna was rapidly gaining on Evangeline, and the vampire knew it. But she didn't let it bother her and instead focused on concealing the light blue, almost white, energy glowing in her hands while she chanted.

"The Cold Hell Dimension lends me Strength." She shifted to the right, avoiding a lightning spear which blew up the side of a popular bookstore. Next she turned a corner that ended in a dead-end. Evangeline did not halt.

"The Chill that Swallows the Warmth." Just as she was about to smash into the wall Evangeline flew straight up as high as she could. Anna followed persistently.

"Glacial Statue!" She turned around, held out her left hand and braced it with her right. A beam of energy, the same colour as the one she had been hiding. The air around it seemed to freeze into icy flakes.

At the same time Anna managed to throw one last lightning spear before trying to form her wings into a protective dome. This time however she was too slow. The ice spell hit her chest dead-centre and froze her completely. Not in a giant slab of ice, but in a way that made it appear as if Anna's entire essence had been turned to an elegant ice-statue.

The spirit knight fell from the skies looking like a porcelain-doll.

Evangeline on other resembled a rag-doll after the lightning spear hit her right shoulder. He body convulsed and smouldered as she twisted in pain while falling before smashing through the glass ceiling of an exclusive restaurant.

She pushed away the broken tables and glass while breathing heavily.

"Ok, I accept it. There's only one way I'm going to beat her so let's get started."

"Did anyone see where they went?" Haruna asked while trying to locate the two combatants who zipped away from the group with a speed that they just couldn't follow.

"There were some explosions in the east side, and now it's quiet. I suggest that we investigate that part." Setsuna asserted and Takahata moved the platform according to her instructions.

A small smile adorned Negi's face. "Master saved us, sort of. She could've done something much easier than to tackle Anna again. But she didn't. She…"

"Flew back into the fight, risking her own life to bladiblahblahBLAH!" Chachazero sort of quoted. "We heard you the first five times kid. No need to repeat it AGAIN!" She growled. "My one night out in months and she has the nerve to make the fight hard to follow after."

The others had learned to ignore Chachazero's grumblings and focused on finding the knight and vampire.

"I see one of them!" Yue alerted the others and they moved over to her. Down below they could see Anna's frozen body laying awkwardly on the ground with it's legs pointing up in the air.

"Where's master?" Chachamaru asked, unconcerned about the spirit knight.

Before anyone could answer her it felt as though the air rumbled as a bright blue light shined from the broken ceiling of a restaurant that none of them had the money to eat at.

Almost the exact next instant after that a lightning-bolt shoot up from where Anna was. The platform's crew was blinded and when their vision returned Anna was floating next to them, melted ice dripping from her. Worse than that, she was glaring at them.

"Where is she?" She demanded coldly.

Defiant in the face of a threat to their friend the group was about to tell the imposing figure something rather crude. A cheerful voice cut them all off before they could even speak.

"The tall building with a hole in the roof and lights coming out of it." Chachazero said with eagerness. As Anna flew to the revealed location the doll shouted after her. "Have fun!"

Hands grabbed onto Chachazero's little shoulders, lifted her and turned her around to face an angered group of teenage girls. "Why did you that?!" They simultaneously screamed. The doll didn't even blink.

"Because she asked me to." She said with an all-knowing grin. "Because she couldn't find her and there's only one thing in my master's vast arsenal that could produce such an effect." She glanced down where Anna was preparing to bombard the restaurant. "Because the final act is about to begin."

As if on cue the first lightning spear blew up a portion of the restaurant. Within seconds the barrage reduced the entire building into rubble in front of the eyes of the seven students and two teachers. With the dust clouds obscuring their view they could only Anna's outline descending towards what looked like a swirling mini vortex where the restaurant had been. Then they saw the outline bounce off the mini vortex.

Anna twisted so that she landed with her feet first on the rubble. She had attacked the first thing that moved in the destroyed building, and it had struck her away. Or rather, she had been thrown back by a simple but powerful centrifugal force. Suddenly the fact that her ability to find the hated vampire didn't work wasn't the only thing that was wrong in the situation.

And the air seemed to experience a momentary instability along with a white glow coming from the vortex.

Narrowing her eyes Anna let out a short burst of energy that dispersed any distracting dust. The sight before her was quite odd.

The naked Evangeline was floating a little above the ground. Surrounding her was a black see-through forcefield that rotated at a presumably very fast pace. In front of her there were two orbs of energy the size of footballs. One was an icy blue with a frosty aura surrounding it and the other was pure white with tiny flame like bursts all over. The vampire had her eyes closed and was talking, chanting probably Anna reasoned, but no sound came out of the spinning bubble.

Annoyed with this new development and cautious about what her opponent was doing Anna decided to act at once. She pulled her arms back as lightning energy gathered in her hands and then thrust them forward. Two giant lightning bolts blasted out of her hands and struck the swirling orb dead on. They were deflected away easily.

Evangeline opened her eyes, the light had caught attention, and smiled wickedly at the flabbergasted spirit knight. She said a few more words and a purple light almost exploded in front of her before compressing itself into an orb of dark and twisting energy. Once again, the air seemed to shake.

She placed the dark orb next to the others, with the white one in the middle and the blue one to the left, and had them hover stilly in front of her.

Anna didn't like the calmness that had appeared in Evangeline's features. They made light of the situation. With a thunderous fury Anna attacked the forcefield with a punch that would destroy entire buildings. It harmlessly slid off thanks to the rotation, which made Anna trip fall into the forcefield and was once again thrown back by it.

Humiliated and angry, she sharply turned to face the protected vampire who just shook her head and gave Anna a look that a wise old grandma would give her granddaughter. Then she stretched out her arms to the sides and spoke again, but this time she seemed to emphasize what she was saying because Anna could read her lips perfectly. It was only one word.

Run.

Suddenly Evangeline smashed the three orbs together with her hands and a twister of white, blue and purple energy blasted out from her position, smashing the forcefield apart as if it had been paper.

In the face of the sight before her Anna suddenly felt very small and dirty as she suddenly became aware of all the dirt and blood stains that covered her once pristine armour along with all the cracks and broken off chinks. But more than that. She felt afraid. Very afraid.

And she wasn't alone in that feeling either.

Up on the platform chills ran down everybodies' spines and a few of them jumped slightly out of pure shock as they felt a dark wave pass them by. All over Mahora the sleeping population shifted nervously and trembled as their dreams for a moment took a turn for the worse. Even the protective magic fields that covered most of the remaining buildings flickered nervously and wondered if there wasn't safer location they could shield right now.

Bracing herself, Anna was prepared for anything. At least she hoped so. She didn't have time to think it over when the twister seemed to be pulled down into its place of origin. As if someone was sucking it in.

Before long the twister was entirely drawn in to the spot at which point a burst of air exploded from it.

Anna couldn't look away at the same time as she wanted to avert her eyes to something less imposing.

Evangeline stood on the ground she had previously floated over. Except now, she had gone through a radical change. Her skin was black as coal with strange white markings covering her entire body. Her hair had gone from blonde to a light grey tone. Around her was a dark blue aura that Anna could feel was as cold as space. Lastly, her fists were surrounded by small masses of light that were constantly shifting form.

The vampire's face bore no expression whatsoever. She just locked eyes with Anna for several minutes during which even the wind seemed to afraid to move. Then, slowly and anciently, the vampire's lips curved into a smile.

It wasn't a jovial smile, or an arrogant one, or a challenging one. It was a purely, 100% evil smile that forced Anna to fight her instincts to run for her life.

Evangeline took one step forward and suddenly Anna was hit on the side of her head with a blow so powerful that it tore the mouth guard off from her helmet. Before she could even process what had happened another blow struck her right side, shattering that part that she had mended earlier and burying her into the ground.

Once again she didn't even have time to move before she was ripped up by a dark hand and thrown a few decimetres into the air. Before she touched down on the ground a third blow struck her chin in an upward motion. The force behind it knocked her helmet off completely, Anna was almost surprised that her head didn't go along with it, and launched the spirit knight high into the air.

As she was starting to understand why the stars looked like they were closer than usual a blur appeared above her and Anna could feel what she later summarised to be a kick to her head blast her down again.

She crashed into a street corner, making all nearby cars topple over from the force of the impact. Her spiritual body ached unlike ever before. The pain ran so deeply that she almost fainted a few times before stiffly rising up from the newest crater. It was quiet all around except for the large parts of her armour breaking off and falling to the ground. To top it all off, patches of the armour was covered in ice, making it difficult to move and easier to break.

"I told you to run."

Anna reflexively spun around, formed a lightning sword in her left hand and slashed at the voice coming form behind her. She hit nothing but air. Less than a second after that a now familiar blow smashed right through the armour's back and sent her flying down the street. When she was halfway through it she was smacked back down to the ground.

With excruciating effort she pushed herself up on her arms and looked up. Evangeline was standing right in front of her and looking down with the same evil smile as before. Her visage distorted by the light of the stars looking down on them.

"What are you?" Anna asked with a strained voice.

"I'm still me." Evangeline said with an almost childish voice. "You've just forced my hand. This is the result of my own creation. I call it Magia Erebea, and this form specifically I've dubbed the Dark God of Destruction. You can probably understand why. Imagine the combined power of an ice-spell powerful enough to kill a demon-god, a darkness spell designed to eradicate armies and a pure force spell that can lay waste to cities. It's all distributed throughout my body. But I'm still the same." Not moving an inch besides her right arm so fast that Anna didn't even see it happen, Evangeline caught the star-shroud as it tried to lash out at the vampire.

"Well," Evangeline continued as if nothing had happened. "I might be a little bit crueller." Ice was spreading over the edge of the star-shroud as it tried to pull itself away from the grip. Evangeline used the star-shroud to haul the spirit knight over her head and repeatedly slammed her to the street and super-speeds while cackling like an insane child at Christmas. Then she finished it off by tossing Anna through a car.

Disoriented by the rough treatment Anna didn't have a chance to defend herself as a small but cold and powerful hand closed around her throat and lifted her into the air. Ice began to spread from across her throat.

"Let's have a look at you." The vampire said with mock interest while examining her opponent as they floated higher and higher into the air.

Without the helmet one could see Anna's features clearly. She had a pretty, thin face with a small nose and short unkempt hair. Of course, being a spirit it looked as though she was made up entirely of solid white energy.

"Well, look at that. You're exactly the same as that day. Only you're shining now, and leaking it would seem." Evangeline referred to the white vapour that, as she could now see, was emitting from Anna's body. "But otherwise," The vampire said with a low voice. "You're still the same." She caught Anna's right hand as the spirit knight tried to hit herself loose. Ice spread over the now captured arm and Evangeline once again didn't seem to notice that anything had happened.

"Still all alone and angry. Still completely helpless to do anything but glare and shout at me." The overwhelming dark power that Evangeline was emitting along with the asswhupping that she'd received had a paralysing effect on Anna. She could barely get herself to move. But the taunting had a rather different effect. "250 years of hate and you've achieved nothing. Man you're worthless." It was pissing her off.

"Get." Her eyes glowed brighter. "Away." Her entire armour glowed with lightning energies." From." The ice growing on her began to crack. "ME!" A gigantic lightning blast discharged in all directions from her body. It was powerful enough to actually knock the empowered vampire away from her.

Not wasting a second Anna's formed her wings on the back and charged towards her adversary. A lightning sword in each hand and an energy being released from her entire being that was furious enough to knock out lesser men. She was within breathing distance of the vampire when she decided to cut her in half.

In that same instant she was unceremoniously hit in the face and sent rocketing to the streets below. Evangeline let out a short laugh and followed.

Anna destroyed the stairs leading into a museum when she crashed into them. But she swiftly forced herself up. Determined to not be defeated so easily, or at all. More armour fell off, this time around her right shoulder, as she noticed Evangeline elegantly touching down a few blocks away, challenging Anna.

The spirit knight instantly complied and launched her wings. As soon as they shifted into sharp and burning arrows Evangeline dashed towards them while smiling. She danced between the arrows effortlessly while moving slowly enough for Anna to see her to it.

Not caring about the assault failing Anna summoned the arrows to fly back again, hoping to strike Evangeline's blind side. Apparently it didn't work as Evangline spun around and made a sweeping motion with her left arm which sent out a wave of pure force that shattered all the arrows. She continued to turn around until she faced Anna's direction again, this time firing a thin black beam at the spirit knight from her right hand.

Anna crossed her arms and summoned back the stars from the shattered arrows. They managed to convene and form the protective dome around her just before the black beam hit. For a few seconds it seemed as though the dome would hold against the pressure. Then it cracked and a small hole was punched through it. Anna did an admirable job of trying to dodge the beam but it cut a large gnash through the left side of her armour before she could completely evade it. She lost her balance and fell to the ground.

She knew that the vampire would be upon her sooner than she could imagine. So she forced herself up and instinctually threw a punch with all her weight behind it along with enough electric energy to destroy a battleship. To her astonishment she actually the vampire in the gut and made her double over.

But any happiness that she might have over this success was quickly extinguished when she felt a cold hand grab onto her extended arm.

"Ok, I take it back." Evangeline said with a smirk. "You have changed a little. I mean, it's not everybody who becomes strong enough to force me into using this form. Especially since I've forbidden this magic from actually being used. Bravo. You've made me break one of my own rules."

Her smirk grew into a full-on smile again. "But you're still pathetic." She pulled the spirit knight in closer and delivered a bone-crushing to her face. "There's been no deception this night!" She punched Anna in the face again. "You can't remember your parents." And again. "You don't know what's going to happen to you after this!" And again. "You decided to hate me all these years without thinking what it might mean!" And again, and again and so many times more that both of them lost count.

Finally she let go of Anna's arm and punched her into the air with a slashing movement that split open the chest piece of Anna's armour. The spirit knight once again flew through the air, smashing the edge of the museum's roof as she did so, and was then caught by Evangeline who smashed the two of them into the ground a few meters away from the world tree.

Anna felt Evangeline jump away from her. As she stood up once again she saw her hated enemy standing 10 meters away from her in a pose that could be either relaxed or tired.

"That's how it is." Evangeline said with a final tone. "What do you want to do now?"

It was impressive that even with a largely shattered and dirty armour Anna still managed to look strangely dignified as she met Evangeline's hard gaze.

"I've come here to kill you for ruining my life or die trying." Anna said as electricity sparked around her right arm. "That is all I need to know right now." She held her right arm in Evangeline's direction as the electricity grew in intensity.

Evangeline chuckled. "While you are a misguided I have to tell you that I admire your determination."

"Let's just finish this." Anna said indifferently.

"Fair enough." Evangeline answered and the darkness covering her body seemed to gather in her right arm.

"I can't believe that she used Magia Erebea." Asuna muttered nervously while looking for any sign of Evangeline and her opponent.

"I can't believe that it took her so long to use it." Chachazero countered to deaf ears.

"It was scary when she did it." Yue contributed to what Asuna had said. "I just wanted to run away when she used it." She muttered with a shamed voice.

"Don't worry, you're not the only one." Kasumi offered and shuddered at the memory of the feeling that had gripped most of them earlier.

"It was completely different from Negi-sensei's." Haruna said with an analysing voice. "Both in power and in sensation."

"Not that there's anything wrong with Negi-sensei's…" Nodoka quickly jumped in, seeing Negi's solemn frame. But he interrupted her.

"Don't worry, I understand." He assured her while looking after the two combatants. In truth he too had been somewhat awed by the display his master had put on.

He recounted Chachazero's explanation of the form called Dark God of Destruction. "Force magic for increased attack power, ice for defensive strength and a freezing touch, darkness to further empower all physical attributes as well as adding the mark of darkness on all her spells. Incredible, to think that master could absorb three such high-level spells at once and distribute them like that. I still have a way to go."

"I can see them!" Konoka shouted, knocking Negi out of his thoughts and he hurried over to her part of the platform. "There, those two lights have to be them right?" The healer said eagerly and Negi nodded.

They could see Anna and Evangeline standing with a short distance between them. Their right arms glowing with electricity and darkness, if that makes any sense, respectively.

"What are they doing?" Nodoka asked.

"They're gathering their remaining energies to finish the fight." Chachamaru said with an unfocused voice. At the same time Anna's electricity formed a giant lance that was so big that she was holding it so much as it surrounded her arm. Evangeline actually had to take a short step back so that it did touch her then and there.

For the vampire in question a ball of black and white mass of swirling energies the size of a medicine-ball covered her right hand, besides that she looked as she usually did.

"This is not good." Takahata said out loud. "Not good at all." Down below Anna's star-shroud dispersed into the hundred tiny stars that it was made up of and they extended into light poles before flying into the lightning lance, adding their power to Anna's.

Takahata looked over at Negi and Setsuna. "You two, formed a protective barrier around us. As strong as you can make it and with as many layers as possible. I'm taking us away from here."

"What?!" Negi asked out loudly. "Why, we just got here and…"

"We're too close!" Takahata yelled with a voice of desperation that Negi had never heard him use. "Just do as I say!" He started steering the platform away while the lance began shrinking back into her arm, coalescing all the energy into her right fist.

"Wait!" Chachamaru screamed from Konoka's arms. "What about master?" She asked with a concerned voice as Negi and Setsuna formed barriers around them all.

"Whatever happens it is her own decision." Takahata said sincerely as they flew away.

Chachamaru stared back in horror at the two warriors as they rushed each other with their right fists pulled back and ready for the final strikes. She was able to zoom in on them with her telescope capabilities of her eyes. Her master didn't hold any fear or regret in her face. Just a calm yet excited expression illuminated by the dark magic at her disposal.

Anna's face on the other showed nothing but a steely determination. An expression that Chachamaru had often seen in her teacher's face whenever he fought for others.

Just when they were about to throw their fists it seemed as though time stopped just long enough for Chachamaru to hear her senior speak up.

"This is going to be fun." And then the fists and the massive energies contained within them collided.

The blast was enormous to say the least. It completely engulfed the vampire and spirit knight and would've covered the majority of the world tree had it not been for magical barriers powered by the tree's core.

The rest of Mahora wasn't that lucky. Stray beams of light and dark burst out from it and destroyed whatever was unfortunate to come in their paths. The barriers that still remained across the area shattered almost instantly along with the majority of the windows. The buildings nearest to the blast collapsed from the pressure of the shockwave. Benches, street-lights, cars, trees etc was lifted off the ground and blown across the streets.

At ground zero the biggest crater of the entire fight was excavated as a huge blob of clashing energies pushed against each other in a battle for dominance.

The platform was blown away like a leaf when the barriers were destroyed and it was only thanks to some quick spells from Negi that everybody was restrained to the platform and able to stay on, except for Asuna who was unaffected by the spell and forced to hold onto the platform's railing.

Amidst the chaos the lone voice of a cheerful and pretty sadistic little doll could be heard shouting. "WHEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

Just as sudden as it had begun the blast that would be called a 'freak disaster event' ended when the dark energies pushed the light into the ground and clobbered it mercilessly.

Anna was on her knees and her left hand was the only thing that stopped her from stooping lower than that. Except for her left gauntlet and leg-guards her armour hand been completely destroyed. Even more prominently was that where her right arm used to be was now nothing but a steady trail of white vapour.

She was breathing heavily and barely dared to look up. All around her a steamy smoke had appeared and it was hard to see anything in front of her. When she finally did look up it was with hope in her eyes.

"Did… did I do… it? Did I win?" She asked no in particular.

The answer came in the form of a icy-blue hand breaking through the smoke and grabbing her face.

"No, you did not." Evangeline said casually as she revealed herself. Her right arm was burned badly and her patches of skin where entirely missing from her body. Overall she looked like hell but still confident and ready for a fight"And you really should've remembered that I had three giant spells ready."

She waited for a few seconds to give the spirit knight some time to reply. Anna said nothing but glared with an exhausted expression at the vampire who decided to really end it.

"This is called a 'headshot' in the gaming world. COSMIC CATASTROPHE!"

Ice magic showered over the spirit knight's face and in an instant she was frozen solid within a mountain of spiked icicles that was just as large as the world tree.

Evangeline sharply turned around and snapped with her fingers. On cue the ice-mountain fell to tiny pieces, breaking everything inside of it.

Evangeline stumbled forward. "There, it's done. Finally I can…"

"AHHHHHHH!" Just as Evangeline turned around in disbelief to face the screamer she was punched across the face with an electrified left fist that sent her skidding across the ground and leaving another burn-scar on her right cheek.

In pain but not defeated the vampire stood up and glared at Anna, who was now as naked as the vampire.

They glared while letting out heavy breathing. "I'm more tired than I ever thought possible." The vampire muttered. "But if you're still up for this then I'm game."

With her remaining hand still tightly fisted Anna almost shook with anger as vapour was being expelled from her entire body. She looked down and as if to inspect something and then she calmed down.

Confused, Evangeline looked down at the same spot and understood what was going on. Anna was beginning to fade away starting at her feet.

The two locked eyes one final time. Anna's filled with anger. Evangeline's filled with exhaustion and relief.

There was an uncomfortable silence as Anna's for gradually faded away. When the effect had reached her stomach Evangeline spoke up with an uncertain voice.

"Good try this time."

Anna just glared at her and didn't answer until nothing but her neck and above was still present.

"I hate you so very much."

"Yeah." Evangeline answered. "I probably would too."

And then, just like that, the wind carried away the last piece of Anna into the sky and away to wherever it is that she goes to.

Evangeline let out a soft sigh.

"It's over. I can finally let it go."

She closed her eyes and heard the scrambling noises of the fight's spectators closing in and calling her name.

The vampire didn't even try to respond. Instead she just stopped forcing her body to remain whole and slipped into a peaceful state of unconsciousness. Wounds all over her body opened up all at once and blood sprayed out of them as she fell forward. Negi and the others screamed with fear as the vampire hit the ground with a soft thud and her own blood created a sticky mess.

They rushed to her aid and did what they could for her. She would survive.

In their stressed state of minds none of them notice that despite her battle worn and bloodied form with dishevelled hair, Evangeline was smiling peacefully.

To be concluded…