I do not own Mahou Sensei Negima. I only own the OCs in this fic.

Bold – Chanting in Greek

Underlined – Chanting in Latin

Shadow Hunters

Chapter X

Power Struggle

"How irritating," muttered Aleric.

During the course of this world tour that he and Harley were taking they had come across a pride of African lions while trekking across the savanna. The two Hunters had made every effort to slip away peacefully, but the majority of the pride's lionesses and the alpha male, fearing for the safety of the cubs, were intent on mauling the travelers and wouldn't let them leave. Don't cats ever get tired of being stupid?

"We have better things to do than entertain a bunch of dumb beasts who don't know their superiors when they see them," hissed the Magister Magi.

"You wanna massacre them?" asked his Ministra.

The lionesses charged at the pair, trying to force them into the jaws of the alpha male.

"Yes," was the terse reply.

The fight was over quickly but the effects lasted for weeks. When the alpha male attempted to decapitate Aleric, he responded by smoothly ducking the swipe and then landing a hard blow on the creature's nose with his palm. Instantly the alpha male stumbled backward, no longer looking half as fierce. Aleric's curse, delivered in that one fatal palm strike, would ensure that the lion would die a very long, very agonizing death. Over the next few weeks the alpha male would become so consumed by crippling arthritis that he would be unable to move at all. Eventually he would starve to death. "A horrible way to go, I must admit," thought the Hunter. "But that's what you get for getting in my way for no reason."

Harley dealt with the lionesses in a quicker, but perhaps no less painful, manner. Her solution was to rip each individual clawed toe from the front paws of every one of her attackers. This was followed up by a series of swift, magic-enhanced punches that shattered the lionesses' fangs. Ignoring the cries of the mortally wounded animals, Harley and Aleric moved on to their destination - a secret Shadow Hunter hideout in Ethiopia.

The cubs and those lionesses that remained with them shrank back as the Hunters passed. No one fought with these two and got off easy.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Ugh… bored," moaned Herald.

"We haven't had an interesting mission for days!" Sati whined.

It was true. If you were going by the internal clock of Negi Springfield's most hyperactive teammates, that is. In reality they had only gotten back to Ragnarök – the main headquarters of their organization – one day ago. But whenever Sati and Herald had to take a vacation at the base time seemed to slow down. For them at least. Negi and Rebecca, however, would always take full advantage of the respite.

"Can you believe those two?" asked Rebecca. "They never enjoy their downtime properly!"

Negi shrugged. "I wasn't always so good at relaxing either," said the team leader. "Maybe they'll learn how as well."

"Hah!" exclaimed a new voice. "The only thing your flunkies are good for is carnage!"

Negi and Rebecca turned, their faces ones of deadpan annoyance, to see their only real rivals: Shadow Hunter Team Epsilon.

"Hello, Tess," said Negi, looking straight at the only girl in the group. "What brings you here? Run out of little kids to spit on?"

"Very comical," sneered Tess before changing the subject. "I hear that someone gave a severe beating to a group of girls who used to be his students. What a lowdown piece of scum that guy must be! Now what was his name again?"

Negi narrowed his eyes but said nothing.

Rebecca snapped, "Oh, like you're one to talk, you self-righteous windbag!"

The tallest member of Team Epsilon stepped forward. "You shouldn't talk to Captain Tess like that," he said. "She's your superior."

Rebecca started to respond but Negi cut her off with a shake of the head. "Tell me, Tess, did you and your team come here just to insult us or is there some less petty explanation?"

Sati and Herald landed behind their leader as Tess started to talk. "Actually, I came here to congratulate you on keeping your mouth shut. Knowing what Project I was for so long and not being able to talk about it must have been quite the burden."

"Ah, so that's what this is about," said Negi with a knowing smirk. "Now that Master Aleric has put his big plan in action you think it's your chance to find out what it is." Negi took a moment to 'tsk' and wag his finger. "You know better than that. Even I don't know everything. And I was planning to tell you, along with all the other elite teams today, anyway."

"When?" demanded Tess.

"In about two hours," replied Negi. "In the meantime, however, I must ask that you and your squad leave. You are interrupting our well-earned vacation time."

"Certainly," said the lady Captain in a voice that left a lot to be desired in the sincerity department. Then Team Epsilon departed, leaving Team Delta to the company of itself.

"Is it just me, or do those guys seem to get more obnoxious every time we see them?" muttered Rebecca.

"It's just you," said Sati.

"I'm with 'Beck on this one," Herald put in.

"All right, all right," Negi interceded. "We only have a few hours before we're due at a briefing. So I advise all three of you to use that time for yourselves. You're gonna want to be alert for what I tell you."

Negi's group just nodded in answer. They would finally be told the outline of Project I. That's not a small thing.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Nodoka and Yue decided to keep what they had seen to themselves for as long as they could. If they carelessly told anyone else about what they had experienced (particularly Asuna) there was sure to be an uproar. So the two librarians kept silent throughout most of the meeting of Negi's old friends and allies.

"I still can't believe Aniki would do something like this," said Chamo with his furry head pointed down.

"Whether you believe it or not it did happen!" barked Setsuna. "The important thing now is getting what he stole back and showing him what fate befalls traitors like him!"

"Set-chan, stop it!" pleaded Konoka.

"Setsuna nee-chan's right!" declared Kotaro. "We can't let that two-faced rat get away with this!"

"Now hold on, Kotaro-kun," said a troubled Kaede. "You shouldn't jump to conclusions about other people like that, de-gozaru."

"Yeah!" yelped Asuna. "From what Negi was saying it sounded like he didn't really want to fight us!"

"Asuna, how can you say that after he hit you?" asked Setsuna.

"How can you say that Negi's a traitor after he went out of his way not to kill anyone?" Asuna shot back.

Setsuna recoiled. "W-w-what?" she stuttered.

"Asuna is correct," said Mana. "Going by the skills Negi and his group revealed during their attack I would have to say that they could have killed nearly everyone who fought against them. For some reason they chose only to incapacitate those who stood in their way."

"Is true," added Kū. "I tell from way opponent moves. They no try to kill us."

"Then why did they feel the need to pound some of the staff so thoroughly?" asked Haruna, remembering what had happened to Sister Shakti and Takamichi.

"I don't think it would have been possible for them to win without beating somebody up, de-gozaru," said Kaede.

"Even so," growled Kotaro. "Just attacking us is…"

"Part of his job," Mana cut him off. "Since Negi is a mercenary now he has to do whatever will pay well enough. I often do the same thing myself… unless of course you're insinuating that I am rotten to the core as well?"

"I didn't mean it that way," assured Kotaro, somewhat annoyed.

"I think what Kotaro-kun meant was that we cannot allow Negi to attack us, the ones who promised to help him, and get away with it," said Setsuna. Then she muttered, "The little backstabber."

"Set-chan, please!" said Konoka. "You shouldn't say such things about Negi-kun!"

"Why not?" questioned the half-demon. "It's true, isn't it?"

"Why are you so hung up on this, Setsuna nee-san?" asked Chamo. "I don't see anyone else flipping out. Not even Kotaro, who's on your side, is having a meltdown like you are. And you're usually the calm one! What's really bothering you?"

"What do you mean?"

"I think it has something to do with what you said to Aniki during the school festival he was here for," retorted the ermine. "You remember? When you told him, and I quote, 'Negi-sensei is my savior and also a special person to me. If you ever need help, I will be there straight away'."

Setsuna stumbled back as if she had been slapped in the face. Caught up in her fury and pain she had pushed that particular memory as far away from her conscious mind as possible. Now, though, it was back at the forefront of the swordswoman's thoughts and was causing all kinds of problems. Not the least of which was the stinging in her eyes that threatened her composure altogether.

Seeing their friend's distress Asuna and Konoka moved to put their arms around Setsuna's now-shaking form.

"I think that's what they call hitting below the belt, Chamo-kun," Haruna whispered in the familiar's ear.

The magical ermine sighed. He hadn't meant to make Setsuna nee-san cry. But just as he opened his mouth to apologize the door opened and Evangeline, Chachamaru, and Takamichi walked in.

"So…" started Takamichi. "How's everyone doing?"

"Peachy dandy," said Kotaro sourly.

"No, you're not," said Eva flatly. "You guys are a mess just like the rest of us."

Haruna made a 'hmm' noise. "Just like the rest of us, huh? So the Dark Evangel isn't as heartless and isolated as she'd like everyone to believe. That's an intriguing twist."

For her part, Evangeline could not understand how she could have let herself get sidetracked by 3-A's former cheerleaders. She had actually started explaining when they had queried her about her lack of growth. After telling the trio it was a special medical condition they had insisted on taking her to a karaoke bar to have a 'Eva-chan never having to deal with wrinkles' party. It had lasted four hours!

"Oh… just thinking about it makes me nostalgic for that time I had to have my appendix taken out by a seventeenth century surgeon," thought the vampire.

"Has anyone been able to come up with any leads?" asked Takamichi after a moment.

"Unfortunately we're just spinning our wheels, Takahata-sensei," said Asuna.

"I have researched all of this school's files on the Shadow Hunters," said Chachamaru. "We have everything from the track record of their successes to the prices they charge for each type of mission they're willing to take on. But there is nothing in that collection that may lead us to the retrieval of the Fang." The gynoid paused for a second. "Or tell us why Negi-sensei joined up with them."

It was at this point that Nodoka looked over at Yue, who gave her the nod, and thereafter spoke up.

"Umm… Yue-Yue and I… have had a breakthrough with the information on Negi-sensei."

The replies to this out-of-the-blue statement were varied and immediate.

"Huh?"

"What?"

"You have?"

"Why didn't you two say something earlier?"

"Spill it!"

As Yue raised the glass orb up for all to see, and started to explain what she and her best friend had already seen, there was one thought that kept asserting itself in her mind.

"I could really use a juice pouch."

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

The room was almost unnervingly quiet as the elite teams of the Shadow Hunters waited for Negi to begin his lecture. There was actually a story behind this silence. During Negi's last speech one member of Team Beta had made an insulting remark and Negi had had to straighten him out. The other man refused to listen and Negi had turned the offender over to his friend Fate Averruncus. Now the guy had a new career: as a tasteful ornament in a rock garden somewhere.

No one was going to risk setting Team Delta's leader off this time.

"All right, people," said the former teacher. "I won't keep you waiting any longer. It's time to tell you lot about Project I."

The members of Teams Alpha, Gamma, Epsilon, Beta, Zeta, Omega, and Delta leaned forward, all their attention on the Thousand Master's kin.

"As you know," started the boy, "our leader, Master Aleric, has spent many years acquiring info on both the magic organizations of this world and the workings of the Magic World. He has also built an impressive collection of magical artifacts for use in the missions we are given. But," Negi stopped to raise a finger, "what none of us knew was that all of this has a single purpose behind it. That is what Project I is."

Tess lifted her hand. "If this project is what the boss created the Shadow Hunters for, then why keep it a secret from us?"

"Because if the word had gotten out too early it would have easy to stop us," the captain of Team Gamma answered for Negi.

Negi nodded. "But now that Master Aleric has formed alliances with a number of influential magic associations it will be far more difficult for anyone to derail this plan of his. For you see, it is with their help and with our own innate skill as professional mercenaries that we will move our forces and equipment into the Magic World without being caught. But it doesn't end there! Once we get to that alternate world we, under the leadership of Master Aleric, will change it forever!"

"Change it how, Captain?" asked Rebecca.

Negi gave his fellows a knowing smirk before continuing. "We are going to bring about the total overthrow of every government that now exists in the Magic World. That is what Project Infinity is all about."

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Harley landed at the bottom of the ravine and removed her hood. Her raven hair was kept in an unusual style. In the front it covered only the left side of her forehead; the right side was exposed with the bangs combed backwards. It was the same in the back, but different. The strands that reached all the way down to her shoulder on the right side were only at the level of her upper-neck on the left. Her eyes were a dull red, slightly slanted, and contrasted sharply with her pale skin. She was completely focused on her goal as she strode across the rock-filled landscape.

"It's around here somewhere," Harley said as she scanned the area. "Ah! There you are!"

The Huntress stooped and grabbed a pebble off the ground. Harley then enclosed it in her fist and exerted her magically enhanced strength. A brief crunching noise was heard and when the girl opened her hand again a small red crystal rested where the rock had been. In a flash Harley, second-in-command of the Shadow Hunters, had vaulted the height of the sheer stone walls that had surrounded her. "Very soon," she told herself. "Very soon those fools who run the Magic World will be nothing but a bad memory! I can hardly wait!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

And there's chapter ten everyone! Just for clarification Fate is not a Shadow Hunter. He's just an out of town ally.