As she started to gradually regain consciousness, Ruby noticed the voices around her, all asking eachother what they should do with her, except one voice which seemed to be quietly chanting a healing spell. Upon opening her eyes, she quickly sat in shock at the sight of those around her.
"Oh, you're awake." Tsukune said while being healed by Yukari and smiling.
"Have a drink." Moka offered kindly, holding a cup of tea close to the witch.
"If you think you can buy me with tea, you've got another thing coming!" Ruby threatened.
"Don't bother with the tea then." Izael replied, holding back as much hostility as he could, although it was still present in his voice.
"We just want to hear your story." Tsukune said kindly.
"You do?" Ruby replied, shocked and cautious.
"Just tell us already!" Izael said, quickly being taken out of the room by Kurumu, who returned shortly after.
"Fine, that hill's a place where witches have lived for a very long time. And we lived there in peace, never bothering or hurting anybody, just minding our own business." she started.
"Yeah right!" Izael shouted from the next room, before being hit on the head by Yukari, who had finished her healing spell moments before.
"Anyways..." Ruby continued, slightly confused. "The humans destroyed everything in sight. They ripped everything to shreds, treating our home like it was nothing, so why should we trust them?! What good could that possibly do us now?! We will never trust the humans ever again!" she finished furiously.
"So you're saying that because of a few humans, you want revenge on all of mankind?" Mizore asked skeptically, but also ignored by Ruby.
"Yukari, you should know better than anyone else, being alone is a terrible feeling, and now that the humans are destroying my home, me and her ladyship will have nothing anymore." Ruby pleaded.
"I'm sorry Ruby, but I don't feel that way." the smaller witch replied.
"But we must destroy the humans! There is no other way!" Ruby shouted.
"So you're gonna kill the humans to save one hill?" Kurumu asked, somewhat looking down on her.
"Why not just move to a new house?" Izael asked, poking his head into the room once more.
"No! Her ladyship says we must bring retribrution, so that's what we shall do!" Ruby yelled more, making even Izael think she was acting rather stupidly.
"Wow, you witches sure are crazy." Kurumu said, making Izael chuckle quietly.
"No we're not." Yukari complained.
"Well, maybe not the little kiddy witches." Kurumu replied with a smug look, Izael laughing a little more.
"All of you just shut up! If the pathetic humans destroy this hill, we'll have nowhere to live!" Ruby shouted in rage.
"Come to Yokai academy with us?" Izael asked, shocking everyone in the room, except Tsukune who seemed to be thinking the same thing.
After a few hours, everyone had fallen asleep except Ruby who was still considering their offer, but she finally made up her mind and snuck out of the cabin without making a sound, as she reached the top of the hill she thought about the others once more before summoning a raven, carrying her wand.
"I'm sorry, it's just too late." she muttered before creating large raven-like wings on her back and flying away to a mansion, in which she knelt before the one she calls 'her ladyship', but before she could say a word, she found herself quickly tangled in a messy array of vines, lifting her slightly above the ground and keeping her still. "N-no, you're ladyship, I would never betray you!" she pleaded, as the vines tightened their grip. She let out one final pained cry.
"You guys hear that?" Izael asked, as the distant and faint voice seemed to wake him, Izael then noticed that everyone else was still sleeping so decided to get a snack before waking them, but as he entered the other room, he noticed that Ruby was missing and canceled on his snack. Instead he made his way back into the bedroom and woke everyone up.
"What do you mean Ruby's gone?" Kurumu asked, acting cautious as she looked around the cabin.
"Well, I woke up because I heard a faint scream, and then I saw that Ruby was gone, it's pretty simple." Izael answered, not noticing that this was a rhetorical question.
"We've got to go and look for her!" Yukari demanded with a worried tone.
"Of course we do." Tsukune said as he grabbed his coat, everyone following him out of the door. "Izael, you lead the way, you heard the scream." he continued, as Mizore let out a quiet yawn.
"Alright fine." Izael said as he strolled past everyone and entered a forest, but as soon as everyone had followed him into the trees, Yukari was pulled off of the ground by vines.
"Yukari!" Tsukune yelled as he turned, and almost immediately after, the other girls were also trapped in vines and lifted into the air, Izael on the other hand seemed to go un-noticed as he hid behind a tree.
"Leave now or face peril." Ruby said as she floated a small distance away from them.
"Ruby!?" Tsukune called, suprised and shocked.
"Please Ruby, let us go!" Moka cried.
"Listen to her and we can work things out Ruby." Yukari pleaded.
"Silence!" Ruby shouted once more, summoning a horde of plant monsters once more, all of them rushing at Tsukune.
"I'm sick of this." Izael stated, stepping out of his cover, his hair over his eyes and the shadows of the trees seemingly bending around him.
Izael kicked away from the ground at high speeds and slammed his fist into one of the creatures, a few shadows following and arching around his fist before seperating and stabbing the beasts.
"Run Tsukune, I've got this." Izael said in an oddly calm voice, but Tsukune couldn't just run and leave his friends behind.
"Izael, if I can just get to Moka's rosary I can pull it off and maybe save us." Tsukune said, another group of creatures surrounding the two.
"Fine, I'll help." Izael replied, letting a small smirk show before returning to a fighting stance. For a couple of seconds everybody stayed perfectly still as Izael planned his pattern of attack, until suddenly he let loose his attacks, running to the nearest one and slamming his elbow against it, followed by a swift kick to the next one, Tsukune trying to stay close enough to Izael to make it past the other creatures.
After a few moments Izael found himself close to his trapped friends as Tsukune quickly tried to reach for Moka's rosary, Izael then noticed one of them about to attack his friend so ran and tried to tackle it, getting bitten in the process.
"You think biting my leg is gonna stop me?" Izael said before letting out a small chuckle and surrounding his hands with a cloud of darkness before releasing another barrage of punches to those around him.
"Moka, I'll get you out of here in no time." Tsukune said, desperately tugging at the vines, trying to break them and free his friends.
"You're taking too long again." Izael said before quickly grasping the vines himself and tearing through them as quick as he could, first letting Kurumu out, who in turn changed into her monster form.
"Now, you two keep at it while I go back to killing things." Izael ordered with a twisted smile, his friends doing as he instructed and quickly making their way to Moka, Yukari and Mizore.
"Become a blood offering!" Ruby yelled at the top of her voice, summoning hundreds more of the plant creatures from all directions, the only one left to save at this point was Moka, but now everyone but Tsukune were busy fighting as the creatures started to prove too much for Izael.
"Got it!" Tsukune yelled as he ripped off the rosary mere moments before getting severely wounded himself, as this happened there was a large burst of yokai energy and the silver-haired Moka among the shreds of plants.
"She looks angry." Kurumu mentioned with a tint of worry in her voice, as she looked on at the vampire who kicked a small group of them away in one sweeping motion, she then used the newly placed corpses as a springboard as she leapt up and slammed her foot against Ruby's face, knocking her into the floor with tremendous force.
"Finally, she's down." Mizore said, about to melt her ice crafted claws when Ruby rose to her feet once more.
"Still not gonna give up, eh?" Izael asked, Tsukune quickly getting lifted into the air as he did, the vines quickly ensnaring the human, but before anybody could help him the creatures from before seemed to repair themselves and mutate into larger and more powerful versions.
"Great, they're even more powerful now!" Kurumu said, almost sounding as if she was about to give up, Moka quickly jumped at the witch once more but found herself too trapped within the vines.
"Nobody is going to survive! Her ladyship demands it!" Ruby yelled like a psychopath before slamming her wing against Tsukune's face and cutting it.
"Oh no you don't!" Moka shouted, her voice filled with rage as she broke free from the vines and kicked the witch in the stomach, making her drop Tsukune.
"Don't try to disobey you puny mortals!" Ruby demanded, using even more vines than before to make sure Moka can't move, but Tsukune had already ran away towards a mansion in the distance.
"Tsukune wait!" Yukari called, but to no avail.
"You three, go after him, I'll stay here and help Moka." Izael said, his friends quickly nodding and making their way to Tsukune, getting to him just in time to protect him from another onslaught of attacks.
"I'm sure her ladyship is in here!" Tsukune said excitedly as he and the others made their way into the mansion, the entire area filled with roots.
"It's hard to believe that these roots are what's controlling all of those creatures." Yukari spoke in disbelief.
"Probably Ruby too." Tsukune thought as the group got closer and closer to the main room, once they entered they saw something completely unexpected.
"This can't be right." Mizore said, completely confused about what she was seeing. Meanwhile, Izael had been fending off the plant monsters and preventing them from attacking Moka, at the cost of a few injuries that would be fatal to an ordinary human.
"You know, it'd be great if you would just stop wasting your minions' lives." Izael said in a cocky tone as he swept a few torn roots from his shoulder, but as he did so he almost immediately regretted it as they reformed once more, once again more powerful than the previous forms, as Izael once more prepared for battle, the others returned to confront Ruby, only for all of them except Izael and Tsukune to be thrown into the air and trapped in a large ball of vines.
"Ruby! Stop!" Tsukune pleaded.
"Just die already! Her ladyship demands it!" Ruby ordered as more of her plants rushed Tsukune, Izael quickly dashing to help his friend.
"Her ladyship is dead!" Tsukune yelled at the top of his voice, shocking Ruby completely and making each of the creatures stop moving.
"Th-that can't be..." She replied in utmost disbelief.
"You heard him Ruby, she's dead, now will you finally stop trying to kill us?" Izael said with his voice full of both anger and fatigue, but upon hearing his words, Ruby raised her wand once more.
"Way to go Izael, you made it worse." he muttered to himself, but the plants seemed to change their plans and instead ran at Ruby and leapt at her before merging with her.
"Ruby no! There's a reason that spell is forbidden!" Yukari shouted, knowing what would happen if the spell was completed.
"It's over!" Ruby yelled as there was an explosive amount of yokai energy that ripped up huge chunks of dirt and flowers, also tearing through her own vines and freeing the girls. As the dust cloud settled Ruby was inside a giant plant monster's mouth, seemingly connected and controlling it, making it attack swiftly and destroy a large amount of surroundings, Moka jumped at the witch for a third time and was slammed by a large vine that crushed her to the ground, followed by several smaller vines quickly whipping around and striking all of Izael's friends as well as himself.
"Alright, now I'm really mad." Izael said as he wiped the blood from his face, as he did so there was a surge of energy around his body before he smirked. "You're in luck, you get to see my 'monster' form." he continued, the energy around him now blowing his hair away from his eyes and revealing that both of them were slowly changing to blood red, and as this was happening large wings made from solid darkness emerged from his back. Darkness began to slowly coat his hands and feet, but he quickly surpressed his power just enough to stop it.
"Izael, please don't kill her! Just break her wand to stop her magic!" Yukari pleaded, Izael simply nodded as a reply before spreading his wings and flying at the witch while swerving around the incoming swipes of the vines, then as soon as he was in range, Izael quickly punched directly at the witches wand, trying to shatter it, but at the same time a vine impaled itself through his stomach. Ignoring the pain Izael continued with his attack and successfully broke the wand, causing a massive explosion.
The next day the group of friends were standing by the bus stop, patiently waiting to be picked up, Izael had no wings once more.
"How are your wounds Izael?" Kurumu asked with worry as she and Mizore were hugging him from either side.
"I'm fine, I just want to get the hell away from this damned hill." he answered, having not let Yukari heal him he need a little help with walking even though a few of his wounds had healed.
"It's a shame we couldn't do anything to save Ruby." Tsukune said sadly as the bus slowed to a stop in front of them and opened it's doors.
"Sorry I'm late." said a familiar voice form inside the bus.
"Gin?" Moka asked.
"Damn, just what we needed." Izael muttered angrily.
"Calm down Izael." Kurumu said before patting him on the head.
"I'm not a puppy." Izael replied, his anger rising slightly.
"No, you're too adorable for that." Mizore whispered while hugging him tighter, Izael now beginning to show a grumpy face as he muttered quietly the words 'I'm not adorable'. While this was happening, Tsukune noticed that Gin was holding an unconscious woman, who just happened to be Ruby.
"Ruby?" he asked in shock.
"Oh, you know her then?" Gin asked rhetorically. "I just saw her floating on the ocean as if protected by something." he continued.
"Protected by something, huh? Well, I'm just glad she's alive." Moka said with a little concern in her voice.
"You crazy? after all-" Izael started, but was interrupted as Yukari made a wash pan fall on his head, the group quickly helped Izael onto the bus as he grumbled some quiet threats. All was not over however, as they returned to the academy and stepped off of the bus, Izael didn't want to be seen as weak so was walking without the help. Unfortunately for him, the first person they bumped into was Inazuma.
"Welcome home!" Inazuma said happily, before suddenly stopping to look at Izael in an odd way, there was a short silence between them as the white haired boy stepped closer, took a deep breath and slowly leaned forwards, everyone around watching, shocked and unsure of what was happening. At that point, Inazuma gently sniffed Izael's black hair before letting out a soft sigh.
"You had a fight without me, dammit! I want compensation, fight me right now!" Inazuma demanded as he stepped back, making everyone but Izael facepalm.
"Can't, too hungry, didn't have the chance to get a snack all day." Izael said, bluntly, avoiding the fight with Inazuma.
"You're always too hungry." Inazuma muttered, casting a quick glance at his sister, who seemed to be slightly jealous of what just happened.
And so the school trip was over, Inazuma had joined the newspaper club and they were all working together on the story of witches hill, but what will happen next?