A/N: Thus begins part two of my story. Just as a reminder to the powers that be the only thing I own here is my own imagination. I am in thanks to A.A for giving me this wonderful vision that I hope that all of you are enjoying.
I also thank Ambrant Arandel for his inspiration in sparking my muse into action.
Demons
Part 2 first chapter
What he saw made him furious. He slammed the crystal against the wall shattering it into millions of pieces. Looking around for something else to destroy he spied a lesser demon who he turned his full fury loose on. The lesser demon barely had time to scream before it was ripped to shreds. The chambers shook with his rage as he vented.
Several rooms away a couple of demons were listening to the rampage going on.
"I guess that there is no good news about this new batch of magic users." A painted horned demon said.
"It would seem so." remarked a crow demon. "It's best to stay away from him for a while till he calms down. Try sending in a few lesser demons to give him something to play with. That may make him feel better."
"Yeah, you're right, after he kills something he's always in a better mood."
Several imps and lesser demons were transported into the chamber and all of them knew in a split second that they were dead, they just had not stopped screaming.
Several minutes after the screaming stopped a thunderous stomping came down the hallway. The door to the room burst off its hinges shattering across the room, covering the occupants with splinters of wood.
The Demon Lord stood in the doorway his massive shoulders heaving and his monstrous bat wings half open behind him. His ruddy face and tusks were glaring about the room as he searched for his younger brother and the leader of the crow demons.
"A DRAGON! What the HELL is a DRAGON doing there! And to make matters worse, SHE HAS KNIGHT!" he roared.
Both of them looked to their lord who continued, "There hasn't been a Dragon Knight in centuries, and never in Japan! What are those European Bastards doing in MY back yard!"
He slammed a piece of furniture across the room so hard that all that reached the wall were splinters. "There she was for the taking with all her little friends around for the killing and a DRAGON!"
"The offspring of that traitorous bitch Kuriko was within my grasp. Kuriko was to be my bride when she disappeared with that human. Then her offspring shows up here and I could have my revenge by making her into my bride. But, NO, There's a DRAGON there. I hate dragons."
The rant continued for several hours as the horned demon and the crow demon thought of a way to placate their lord. The problem was that dragons were nearly invulnerable to magic and their strength was on an even footing with their lord. To make matters worse, with her having a knight it meant that ganging up on her would be nearly impossible because of the knights enhanced speed and power not to mention the Dragon Slayer sword that was his alone to wield. They were working franticly to come up with a plan.
"OK, here is what we can do. I'll send fifty of my crow to keep the dragon occupied and another twenty on a raiding party to capture the half-breed and bring her back to you. We are smaller and more likely to slip in and then out again before that magister can come to their defense or that other half-breed can start cutting us up." He said referring to Negi and Setsuna
The demon lord just smiled an evil grin full of teeth and dripping bile as he thought it over. "Do it." Was all he said.
The World Tree:
With the ceremony over, all there was left to do was watch the fire burn down. Nadia, Sayo, and Alexandra, who had stayed to help John gather up the items from the ceremony, felt the ripple of space as the raiding party came through the dimensional wall from the demon world into theirs.
Sayo screamed for everyone to get down as she threw up a barrier to hold them back. John was aware that the barrier would not last long so he called upon the wind spirits to buffet the crow demons sending ten of them flying across the night sky out of control to slam into the World Tree where they fell to the ground broken and battered. Alexandra dodged a blow aimed at her that surly would have killed her and returned a kick to the demon at the point where his wings came out of his back crippling him. He slid head long into the fire. The demon screamed as the sacred flames covered him and consumed him. Sayo was worried about whether they could take on the remaining nine demons when she grabbed Alexandra saying "Sorry but we need to do this." She then kissed Alexandra on the lips fully causing a circle of power to form beneath their feet and in their heads the word "PACTIO" rang. A card appeared between them which Sayo grabbed and handed to a dazed Alexandra saying "Say this word, Adeat!" Without thinking she repeated the word and magic swirled about her adding to her strength and arming her with the bow and quiver of the god Haokah, She drew the first arrow and fired at two demons that had lined up. The results were nothing short of catastrophic for them as they vaporized as the mystic lightning slammed through them. John would have been in awe that this girl had drawn the bow of a god with out a thought and killed two demons in one shot but he didn't have time to think as one swooped in to slice at him with a nasty looking sword. He blocked the swing with a piece of wood from the fire then shoved the flame into the face of the demon who screamed and was consumed by the flame. Nadia formed a glowing ball of force in her hands then set it free as it locked onto a demon and slammed into it causing it to explode. Just then four shots rang out blowing the heads of the last four demons off as they saw Chachamaru stride into the light with a multi barreled gatling gun where her forearm should have been.
"I thought that you could use a little help, I hope you don't mind." She said in her soft monotone voice as she scanned for further dangers.
In the woods leading back to the dorms:
Mist stopped dead in her tracks then dropped to the ground. "Straddle my back and do it now Kazike." She barked at him
"Wha?" he started.
"Just do it NOW" she roared.
He stepped over her then a flame erupted around them as she changed into her native form rising up to her full height. Kazike was covered in the flames but they didn't burn him instead they wrapped around him covering him before he had a chance to be afraid forming a shining suit of armor, at his hip hung one of the biggest swords that he had ever seen.
He was now seated at the juncture of where her long neck met her shoulders and instinctively clamped down on her neck with his legs to stay put as she launched from the ground to meet the incoming crow demons. Twenty of them were immolated in the blast of flame she let loose as she swept through them. Another ten were ripped apart as she hit them with her claws. Kazike swung his blade catching two that tried to attack from above. Mist then pulled up and over blasting the remaining eighteen with her flames.
As she glided back towards the World tree she watched the decapitation of the last four standing demons by Chachamaru. She landed then went to where the demons had been slammed into the World Tree and found one still alive. She picked him up in her talons shearing off his wings in the process and brought him to her face. "What is the meaning of this!" She roared. The terrified demon blurted out that they were to capture the half Kitsune, Nadia, and take her to the demon lord, where she would become his bride as revenge.
Nadia looked at the dragon and then hung her head as she took in the meaning of what the demon said.
Mist was furious for them to have interrupted such a nice evening with their attack that she crushed the helpless demon then dropped it on the ground and burned the remains.
Mist calmed after that and bent down low to let Kazike off and to take a closer look at Nadia. "So you're the cause of all the hub-bub. Well you're pretty enough to drive most of the guys crazy without being half kitsune. Mind telling me why they wanted you?"
Mist reverted to human form and Kazikes' armor whooshed out of existence in a swirl of flame. "Well?" said the beautiful dragoness, "I have all night if you do."
"I'm not sure what just happened or why it happened. I don't know why I was the object of their attack but I was. I can only contact my mother and ask her now that you have killed the last surviving member of that raiding party." Nadia rejoined.
"Ah, that one? He wouldn't have lasted another ten minuets anyway so I did him a favor. Yes I can be ruthless when dealing with demons but they would be just as ruthless if they ever caught me unawares." Said Mist in a dismissive manner.
She looked around at the gathered people and said "I guess this means that you all already know who and what I am."
"Yeah Mist, we already know about you and we had a feeling about Kazike too so it's official. Congratulations you two" said Alexandra.
"Congratulations to you two also," Mist replied dryly, "I saw the wet one Sayo landed on you before the flash of lighting."
This caused both girls to blush very deeply.
And as for you shaman," She turned on John, "That magic I saw from you reminded me of someone else who used very similar magic on me once before. Please don't try it on me again, it hurt the first time and I have a good mind to be ornery if someone did it to me again, and besides Kazike might get a bit upset with you."
"I would never think of using magic against one of my students Mist, so have no worries about me." John said his native Lakota.
Chachamaru stepped forward at this point and said, "It may be best if we all retire to a different location. We may have drawn some unwanted attention." She motioned to a approaching police helicopter.
They doused the flames to the sacred fire and proceeded to the Springfield home where Nadia made a call to her mother asking what was going on and why they would want revenge on her.
"Hi Daddy. (pause) Yeah I'm doing fine. I need to talk to Mom about something right now though. (pause) I'm not sure just yet that's why I need to talk to Mom. (pause) OK I love you. Hi Mom. (pause) No, I'm fine but I need to know something. What do you know about the demon lord in these parts?"
On the other end of the phone, Kuriko paused to gather her thoughts. "Where do I begin? A long time ago when I was still a young pup I managed to catch the eye of the lord's son. I'm not sure why but he lusted after me and hounded me for years. That's when I decided to move to Okinawa to escape him. From what I heard the son rose to power after he slew his father as most demons come to power and I had hoped that he had forgotten about me. I jumped at the love that your father had for me and I came to America with him as his bride. All I can tell you is that it appears that he has not forgotten about me yet."
"Oh you got that one right Mom, He sent seventy crow demons to abduct me. If I hadn't been with my friends I would be doing the mattress mambo with that monster right now!"
"You and your friends stopped seventy crow demons? How was that possible?"
"Well lets see Mom, First there is a Lakota Shaman, then there is the magister in training, Oh and did I tell you about the magic canceller? And then there is this dragon and her knight. So, yeah we handled them without to much problem. I would have liked a little heads up though you know."
"I'm so sorry Nadia; I didn't think that after two hundred years he would be still looking for me. I guess that I was wrong and I'll make the arraignments for you to come home immediately."
"No Mom, don't do that. Now that we know what's going on we'll be better prepared. Besides what if he followed me back there? All I would be doing is placing you and Daddy and my brothers and sister in danger. I won't do that. I'll talk to Professor Springfield in the morning. We will take care of it here."
"All right Nadia, I'm so sorry about this. Please forgive me."
"Nothing to forgive, that demon is the one that should be apologizing to me and to you. Ok then I love you and I'll talk later this week. Hugs all around, bye."
She hung up the phone and turned to face her friends. She told them what her mother said and the boys laughed, at least until Kazike saw the look in Mists eye, he nudged John to be quiet.
I'm not pleased getting involved with the affairs of demons but you are making a go of it as a human as I am so I'll help you. I want you to know this though, I expect to be rewarded for this." Mist said in a flat tone.
Nadia looked at her with her mouth hanging open in shock, sweat drops forming, not knowing what the Dragon would want. "What sort of payment did you have in mind?"
Mist smiled a toothy grin, "Show me where you bought those lovely skirts I've seen you in I need to get with fashion these days." She finished.
The underworld:
"You lost seventy demons to a bunch of children? You weren't supposed to engage the dragon head on. Just keep her entertained as the raiding party snatched the half-breed."
"Sire we never got close to the half-breed, she had magical help from a mage and her partner and a different type of magic user not to mention that golem of the vampires."
"You FOOLS!" He roared. He reached out and snatched the head off the crow leaders shoulders allowing the lifeless body to drop.
"BROTHER!"
"Yes lord, what can I do for you." his brother asked quietly while looking at the ground beneath his feet.
"Send a spy to learn what we are up against with this group of magic users."
"Yes lord."
The horned demon left the chamber and went in search of the one he could depend upon to get the information he desired.
He opened the door to the room where his pawn was kept. There on the bed was one of the most alluring creatures that this world had ever trembled to bear.
She beckoned to him, enticing him, begging him to come to her. He knew it was all a ploy to get him within her power. He pulled out a small object from his pouch and held it before him and squeezed it a little. She screamed in mortal pain.
"You know better than that bitch, I hold your heart so don't try it again."
"Now come give me some sugar while I tell you what you are going to do."
The demoness uncoiled from the bed and knelt before her master as he told her that she was to gain access to the school and learn all that she could about all the magic users and their partners as she could. He also warned her that there was a dragon and that she was with a knight.
The demoness giggled and said, "You lost a lot of demons didn't you? And you interrupted a dragon honeymoon? tisk tisk So now you want me to hand you my niece on a platter. So they foolishly sent her here to be what? Be served up to the lord so that he might forget her? Is she so foolish as to believe that? My sister was the most alluring creature that this world had seen and she threw it all away for a human! Yes I'll bring you what you want and I'll dance all the way to her demise."
He sent her away with a cuff to the head after that and she made her way to the world above.
Risa had other things going on in her head at the same time. Like how she could get this demon killed so that she could get her heart back and gain her freedom from him. "If I have to offer up my sister and her family then so be it. This should be fun though, it's been such a long time since I got to play with humans." She laughed to herself.
She appeared in a small garden miles from the campus in her fox form, hoping that she would not be spotted. Her first item was to reacquaint herself with the local dress and any customs that may have changed in 180 years. She was a bit surprised at the changes, and the number of magic users that she found.
"This must be a gathering point for mages." She said to no one in particular as she walked the streets. "Well that can't be helped."
Her first objective was to find some sort of cover that would allow her to get close to the campus. She thought of seducing one of the teachers, or staff members but that was going to be hard with the single ones living on the campus. The married ones were all very happy from what she could see as she observed them. "Damn, this is going to be harder than I thought." She barked.
Turning to leave she found herself muzzle to muzzle with a wolf.
"Who are you?" the wolf mind spoke to her in a threatening tone with his fangs bared.
Risa made to escape but the wolf pinned her to the ground and repeated the threatening tone. "Answer me or I tear you apart."
Knowing that she was done for Risa mind spoke back. "I am a spy sent to find a way to get into the campus and capture Nadia, my niece. You may kill me now."
"No, that won't be necessary. I think that I can make some good use of you." the wolf changed into John but he kept his hold on Risa tight and stuffed her into a cage that was nearby. "Don't try and escape from there because the wards on the cage will hurt a whole lot. We are going for a little walk and have a nice long talk about what's going on."
She was stunned that this shape shifter didn't outright kill her and even more stunned as he brought her on the campus. She looked out the sides of the cage and whined as he brought her to the administration building and then into the presence of Konoemon.
Once the door to the hall was closed Konoemon sealed the room with a short spell then looked at Risa in the cage. "It's been a long time Risa. Let her out please John Sensei."
John opened the cage releasing the kitsune. She stepped tentatively out then looked around finally noticing the rest of the assembled mages and the dragon. She knew that she had no choice so she changed into her human form.
She bowed to Konoemon saying, "You are looking well Konoemon San. It has been a long time since we had the pleasure of keeping one another company."
All the assembled mages were open mouthed at that statement. Negi, Takahata, Evangeline, Konoka, and John all looked back and forth between the two.
Risa blushed a bit, and Konoemon laughed a little. "Well I was a lot younger back then and you were so cute. What happened to you? You just disappeared."
"I was captured by the Demon lords' brother and enslaved. He holds my heart in a pouch at his hip and can force me to do what he wants. So I have been for quite some time now."
"I'll say, about one hundred and eighty years to be exact." Konoemon said. He poured a cup of tea and offered it to her and proffered her a seat on the couch. "You look as lovely as the day I first caught you trying to seduce me," he chuckled. "but enough about old times. Tell me what is going on and please don't hold anything back because Mist here would like to have some fun but is holding back at my request."
Risa told the assembled group about the demon lord and his obsession with Nadia's mother and his determination to take Nadia to be his bride in Kuriko's place as vengeance. "He has been unable to locate Kuriko since she left Okinawa with her human husband and has plotted on how to find them for many years. With Nadia coming back into his territory he found a way to take his revenge."
Konoemon looked at her as she looked down at the floor and thought for a few moments. "Kuriko is your sister isn't she." He finally said as a statement.
Risa looked up somewhat alarmed. "How did you know?"
"Because I have been in touch with Kuriko since the attack on the ceremony." Negi supplied. "She told me that you were there with them and that you were a slave to them "
"She may have run off with a human but she never forgot you, you know" said Mist "She asked us to try and free you if they sent you as a spy. That's why John Sensei was out hunting you down, and not Me." Mist let a little fire rage in her eyes.
"Thank you all for not ending my life but if I don't give him the information he wants then I'll be dead anyway." Risa said as she looked at the floor.
"Oh ho ho ho" Konoemon laughed. "Don't worry about that my dear Risa, You will give him all the information he wants just what he wants to hear."
Risa got a sly look on her face as she figured out what was happening. "So you want me to double cross the demon lord and you are going to be waiting for them in force."
"Something like that I suppose." Said Konoemon with a grin on his face, "I've got a score to settle with that demon for taking you away from me, and as for his brother, the lord, I think that there are several other people who might want a piece of him as well."
Negi, Konoka, and Evangeline all looked rather grim at this statement causing a deep chill to run through Risa.
"I have worked healing magic for many years now but I have been unable to heal many of my friends that were petrified. I'm sure that you saw one of them as you were brought here. It was the statue outside of this building. Only it is not a statue, it is my friend Nodoka. She stepped into a blast from a demon to save Negi from being petrified and all we could do for her and the others was tend to them until we could find a way to reverse the process. We know how to do that now, and we have been waiting all this time to draw out that particular demon, the demon lord." Konoka said with a fury that surprised everyone in the room including her.
"Yes, this is our chance to save Nodoka, Ku Fei, and the others. We are going to terminate his lordship and save all of our friends. I think that includes you Risa." Negi said gently.
Risa looked very surprised at that and was about to say something when Konoemon said "Come in Nadia."
The door opened with Nadia entering in her Mahora school uniform.
"Risa, I would like you to meet your niece, Nadia Hopper." Konoemon said with a smile.
The girl and the demon looked at each other and were shocked as they each appeared to be looking in the mirror at themselves.
"You're my aunt?" Nadia asked.
"If your mother is Kuriko the kitsune then I am definitely your aunt, and by the family resemblance I think that, that is confirmed." Risa said as she looked at what could have been her twin.
"Mother gave me two instructions, one if you come around like you have, tell you she misses you, and two." She stepped forward and slapped her on the face hard knocking her to the floor. "That was for thinking that you could play games with these people here that want to help you. Mom always said you were a good actor and that the only people you couldn't out fox were her and Dean Konoemon."
The look of shock on Risa's face slowly became one of humor as she started to laugh. "Oh you are her daughter all right. I would know that lack of patience anywhere. She's right though, the thought did cross my mind, but I'm also a realist and a slave against my will so I discarded that thought after meeting all of you."
Mist yawned, "This is boring, I wanted to see a fox fight, Oh well, I guess I don't get to roast the fox this time. I'm going to leave the planning to all of you and I'm going to go find my Knight in Shinning Armor and play bad dragon with him for a while." She said as she left the room.
Konoka put her fist to her mouth to try and stifle a giggle while Evangeline just outright smirked. Negi, Takahata, and John just looked with open mouths. Nadia, and Risa just ignored her as they continued to look at each other.
Konoemon interrupted them. "What are we going to do with you in the mean time Risa?"
She looked at him smiling. "Well I can think of a few things to do if you are up to your old self."
"I'm being serious woman." He said in exasperated tones.
"So was I you old coot." She replied still smiling.
"Risa! Seriously we need to put you somewhere that will keep you out of their sight and still allow you to make contact without them knowing exactly you are."
Evangeline looked thoughtful for a moment then said, "What about my resort?"
"Perfect, and we can come there to do the planning." Konoemon finished.
"And maybe you could keep me company when no one else is around?" asked Risa.
"We'll see, We'll see" Konoemon chuckled.