Chapter 12.
"What did you say?" Setsuna couldn't believe what she had heard.
"I said, I was distilled." Evangeline sighed deeply and turned around to face them, leaning back against the balcony railing. "Back when I was still the Dark Evangel—before Nagi trapped me in this cursed body—I was truly evil. So evil, in fact, that I would have killed you both the first day I met you, had you looked at me funny. There was nowhere I could not go; nothing I could not do. The world was my plaything, the inhabitants my puppets, dancing for my glory while I pulled the strings. This world and Mundus Magicus were held slave to my whim. Everyone knew my name, and none dared speak it. That was the legacy of the Dark Evangel. At least, until that brat's father showed up."
Setsuna felt uneasy. She always knew that Evangeline was evil—or at least she called herself evil—but this… It was almost unbelievable! If this is really true, then maybe she wasn't kidding about what she said on the bridge… I shouldn't let her get close to Konoka anymore. Setsuna got up from her chair in haste and shielded Konoka with her body, setting herself for battle. Evangeline only smirked.
"Don't bother Setsuna. If I had wanted to kill her—or you for that matter—I would have done it by now. Now sit back down, you foolish girl." Setsuna took a moment to think before realizing that Evangeline was right. A good thing too. I'm not sure I would have been able to stop her if she tried. Embarrassed by her foolishness, she bowed to the vampiress.
"I'm sorry Evangeline-san, please continue," she said as she returned to her seat. Waiving off the apology, Evangeline continued.
"Nagi Springfield was an interesting man. I knew him well." Maybe too well, she thought to herself. "Early on we were something between enemies and friends. I would commit crimes and he would try and stop me. His power almost rivaled mine, but I always found a way to win against him. Until he decided that he wanted to change who I was, instead of just defeating me. He wanted to make me a better person. He spent years trying, and failing. He was delusional—someone born of darkness can never be comfortable in the light—but he never gave up trying. Years passed, and finally I gave him an ultimatum: stop pursuing me and trying to change me, or fight and die." Like I could ever kill that man, Evangeline thought to herself. Still, I don't need to be too honest with them.
Konoka was almost on the edge of her seat. "What'd he say Eva-chan?"
"Nothing. He met me face to face in battle. Twelve days we fought. Our battle covered countless kilometers of ground, leaving nothing but glorious destruction in our wake. Blow for blow we matched each other's strength. Each of us gave it our all, but we were locked in a stalemate. On the thirteenth day he had retreated to some remote beach on the Elysium peninsula of Mundus Magicus."
"When I chased him there, he had laid a trap for me. I was careless and fell right into his grasp. He had captured me there in the sand, but instead of harming me, he just spoke to me. He said…" Evangeline struggled to divulge the words he had said. Her past certainly didn't come back friendly. "He said 'why don't you try to live in the light for a change.' Then he chanted two incantations back to back. The first was the Infernus Scholasticus, which changed me into the form you see now and locked me to Mahora Academy. The second, a spell never used before or since. Anima Conflans—which means 'soul refining.' As soon as he finished the incantation, a dark shadow passed over his face and he spoke a few last words before killing me." Evangeline's features turned icy cold.
"Those words have never left me. 'May the light distill you.' Then everything went black and I had an experience very similar to yours, Setsuna. The memories, the darkness, the cycles of dying. All of it. When I finally did wake up, I was already at Mahora. Nagi was dead, and everything that I had known was gone." By the end of the story Evangeline was staring off into the distance beyond the two girls.
Setsuna was trying to take it all in. She knew Nagi was powerful: everything Negi and the others had said always painted him the ultimate hero—the knight in shining armor. But to have trapped Evangeline? She had grossly underestimated his power. Still, she was somewhat relieved that Konoka and she weren't the only ones distilled, but she wasn't sure how much of a comfort that was, considering Evangeline was still the way she was even after the fact.
Apparently, Konoka was wondering the same thing too. "But Eva-chan, you don't seem that much different… Did it actually change you?"
At this, Evangeline scoffed. "Don't be ridiculous. Nagi tried using Anima Conflans as a spell, without the power of the Great Grand Master Key, to create the link between Mundus Magicus and Cosmo Entelecheia. That meant the power of the distilling process was far weaker than what you two went through. It barely touched me. It certainly didn't change me." For some reason, Setsuna was disinclined to believe that. Evangeline was evil, no doubt about it, but not like what she described earlier.
Evangeline continued. "Unlike me, the both of you died here in the resort. Being a magical construct, the real location of this resort lies somewhere between the real world and Cosmo Entelecheia. That means that when you two died and your souls left your bodies, the souls could be easily transported to Cosmo Entelecheia. And once Cosmo Entelecheia had finished with you both, it could transport your souls, as well as your healed bodies, back to the real world."
Setsuna was having an increasingly hard time understanding. "Evangeline, you said our souls were transported… Transported by whom exactly?"
The swordswoman received little more than flat stare. "I don't know. It is possible that the very fabric of Cosmo Entelecheia can stretch into other worlds and pull souls into it. It may even be able to move bodies around between worlds. There is more mystery in that place than anyone has dared to investigate. What I do know is that those who are distilled are done so purposefully." Evangeline walked back down to her throne-seat, sitting deliberately. "Now that we have discussed that, do you have any more questions, girls?"
Setsuna looked at Konoka who was concentrating rather intently on the floor. There were, in fact, some things she was still confused about. "So what about the cavern Konoka and I fell into? Why was that there? And why was it all...backwards?"
Evangeline gave Setsuna a curious look before her eyes brightened in recollection. "Ah! You mean the one under the Rock Guardian? I made that a long time ago. By accident really. When I was still toying with the details of the resort's construction I tried to create an inverted space: a cavern where gravity pulled up, not down. The experiment was successful, but once I had created it, I couldn't deconstruct it for fear of the entire space collapsing. So I left it. I take it you two found the slide I created to get out of that cavern?" She paused for a second allowing for a nod from both girls. "That's one of the connections between the two fields of gravity, the other one being the hole beneath the pool in the middle of the island." The explanation satisfied Setsuna who leaned back in her chair, processing all that she had heard. There's no doubt about it, Evangeline is one interesting person.
Konoka still seemed worried over something. "So why were our clothes gone?" Setsuna had nearly forgotten about that. In comparison to other events it seemed trivial, but at the time it sure wasn't. She was likewise interested to hear Evangeline's explanation. She was even more curious when she noticed Evangeline squirming in her seat, a flush suffusing her cheeks. Hesitantly she sputtered out an answer.
"That's—well… It's none of your concern. I had my reasons for that change, and those reasons are personal. I apologize that you lost your clothes, but that's all I'm saying about it!" The small blonde had put her foot down, literally as well as figuratively.
While Setsuna knew not to toy with the evil vampiress, Konoka either did not, or just didn't care. "So, if you set it up that way, and the one who comes here most often now is Negi…" To anyone other than Setsuna, Konoka's demeanor would suggest innocent curiosity, but to her it spoke of playful manipulation. She didn't have to complete her thought before Evangeline burst out of her chair. Crystals of ice materialized from thin air around her feet as she landed on the now frozen stone floor. Her hands were glowing with a dark blue magical aura. The evil look was back in her eye.
"What did you say?!"
The demand elicited a high pitched "KYAA!" from Konoka who bounded up off her chair and began running around the open seating area, laughing and screaming. Evangeline was close on her tail, shouting "I'll get you for that!" and sending small blasts of snow in her direction, never coming too close to hitting her. As Setsuna merely watched the two girls play, she couldn't help but giggle. Who'd have thought those two would get along so well?
End Chapter 12.
Author's Note: And viola! Chapter 12. This is basically a wrap up of the explanation and more groundwork for the upcoming chapters/arcs. Hopefully you weren't too bored with all the talking. i just realized the two main characters haven't kissed in a while... Maybe I should work on that! Haha.
Also, I'd love to talk to you, the readers, through either reviews or PMing. But if you're going to post a review as a guest you should definitely think about making an account! They're free and it takes very little time. That way, I can talk with you! (Yes, I'm talking to you Yuki...).
Anyway, thanks for your continued support. In the words of Glyph, "Have a pleasant day."
-Grimbt.
