A/N: Running a bit late on this update, I had to work tonight. Still, I hope you guys find my feeble efforts entertaining. As usual, I don't own Negima.

Chapter 14) Defending

"What do we do grandfather?" Negi asked in alarm as another volley slammed into the walls outside. In the distance, Nicholas could see tall figures towering over the trees headed towards the castle.

"Do as I told you boy. Get to the lower levels with your class. Abigail, contact the Magic Knights. Let them know what's happening. I'm going to need reinforcements as soon as they can get here." Nicholas ordered as he headed for the door.

"We're coming with you." Asuna said resolutely.

"You will do no such thing, get to the lower levels and let the adults handle this child. I'll not repeat the past." Nicholas barked his anger blunted by apprehension for his grandchildren; adopted and otherwise.

"No." Asuna said firmly. "You said it yourself, they're here for us. We are going to have to face them eventually; it might as well be here."

"Asuna's right grandfather." Nekane said standing next to her sister. "Negi and Asuna have trained hard. I've trained hard. It's time we faced the danger for ourselves."

"We're not letting you face this alone." Negi said standing with his sisters.

For a brief instant, Nicholas felt a swell of pride for the children, willing to face the dangers to come. However his own harsh life experiences dampened his emotions as he remembered all the youth he'd seen wasted on countless battlefields. The vision of their mangled bodies lying bleeding and broken in the mud made his blood run cold.

"The first priority is the girls. Negi, you know this to be true. Get them lower into the castle. I'm going to go raise the shields for the castle so the demons won't be able to enter. We'll all be safe until help arrives. This isn't the time or the place to test your skills; this isn't a training exercise where your skill keeps you. This is war, where happenstance can fell the mightiest of warriors despite decades of training. Trust me, I will join you soon." Nicholas said fervently as the volleys crashed closer outside. "Now go."

Nicholas didn't wait for his orders to be carried out. The children knew their duty and would see to the safety of the other girls. Right now he had to get the shields up or things were going to get messy.

Nicholas ran through the corridors of his castle, regretting the teleportation dampening field he'd installed. His tired old legs groaned from the workout, but he pressed on until he reached the armory where the controls for the magic shields were kept.

Nicholas entered the armory and turned on the light to feel his heart sink clear to his stomach. Before him the controls lay about smashed, rendering the castles' defense shields inoperable. Nicholas felt his hopes shatter and join the wreckage on the floor of the armory.

"Is something wrong, master?" Galin said stepping into the armory from the hall.

"Galin, thank goodness. I need you to get below and help get the girls to the lower levels before the demons breach the castle." Nicholas said looking around the armory for his equipment.

"I'm afraid I can't do that, master." Galin's low malevolent voice said behind Nicholas.

Nicholas turned just as massive claw raked his chest and sent him reeling into the hallway. Black spots danced before Nicholas' eyes as he gasped for air and struggled to stand as another claw raked his chest, sending him spinning to the ground again.

Nicholas looked down at the ragged slashes across his chest and then looked up at his familiar as his twisted form began to shift further into a wicked amalgam of man and beast. "You have no idea how long I've dreamed of doing that."

"What is the meaning of this, Galin?" Nicholas said pushing himself away along the floor as the cat-thing advanced.

The thing which was Galin advanced slowly, enjoying the fear his prey felt at his slow approach. "It really is quite amusing, master, the irony of it all. You were so terrified of taking a Ministra you set yourself up."

Nicholas reached out with his magic to undo his transformation spell. He wasn't surprised when it didn't work. He stalled, looking around for options. Thankfully, most villains were addicts when it came to rhetorical gloating. "How so?"

"It's ironic; you feared losing someone so much you drove everyone away. And now, you are all alone, betrayed by the one companion you thought could never hurt you." Galin said mockingly as he inched closer.

Anger burned more deeply in Nicholas' chest than the scars across his chest. "So, you betrayed me and my family to demons for what? You think they will be better masters than I was?"

"Silence old fool, I am the master now. They granted me power. I'm one of them now, made demon for this day so I could be here to watch you in your final hours and have the privilege of being the one to end your long life." Galin said as he prepared to pounce.

Nicholas gulped involuntarily. He was out of options. With Galin's speed, even an unincanted spell would be too slow. All Nicholas' magical weapons were still in the armory and he had no one around to stop his betrayer. Nicholas looked up as Galin pounced, his death coming for him.

The crack of the gun being fired was all Nicholas could hear for what seemed like several seconds. One moment, Galin was airborne ready to end his life, the next he lay in a heap with his head blown asunder from a rifle shot at close range.

Nicholas rolled over to see Mana walking nonchalantly up the hallway, slinging her rifle back over her shoulder. Nicholas fumbled dumbly for something to say. "How did you ever get that thing on the plane?"

"Magical illusion, it looks like a guitar to the security cameras." Mana explained in her usual monotone.

Nicholas nodded as the young woman helped him to stand. "Thank you child, it appears that I owe Negi my thanks for sending you up here instead of getting you to the lower levels like I told him."

"Actually, Nodoka sent me. She got worried about you and used her book to see what was going on up here." Mana explained as she followed Nicholas into the armory.

Nicholas stopped to look at the dark skinned girl seriously. He merely grunted and turned back to his labor. "The shields have been smashed. We're unprotected. You get down to the lower levels and barricade yourself in with the other children and I'll hold them off for as long as I can. Hopefully I can keep them busy until help arrives."

"That's not going to work and you know it." Mana stated flatly.

"THEN WHAT ELSE WOULD YOU HAVE ME DO?" Nicholas roared. Several seconds ticked by as Mana regarded him coldly while he managed to regain his composure. "Should I send children into battle against demons that will delight in ripping their innocence from them and then torture them in the infernal pits of hell for all eternity?!"

"I think you seriously underestimate him." Mana said with a soft smile.

Nicholas looked at the girl in shock for a moment. "Are you actually smiling?"

Mana nodded with another brief flicker across her lips. "I've been finding that it's easier to do now. The power of the World Tree hasn't helped that much so far. I think Negi might have helped it a little. He has a strange power over us, that one."

"I never would have though you to be capable of smiling again after the Severing took you." Nicholas said sadly.

"I lived, and now I'm actually starting to feel again. I'm even thinking of getting into another relationship with someone I know at school. If these past few years have taught me anything, it's that loving and losing is indeed better than never loving at all. Your memories will always be there, and there will always be the hope of finding someone else." Mana said sagely.

"Sometimes." Nicholas said cryptically. "I'm not winning this one, am I?"

"Probably not, Negi's already gathering the others." Mana admitted.

"Then I'd better give him the best chance I can." Nicholas said as he finished ransacking the armory for the items he'd hoped he'd never need again. "Here child, you better take this."

"What is it?" Mana asked as the old man handed her a rune-etched rifle.

"It was supposed to be your wedding present one day. I'm… sure he would have wanted you to have it anyway." Nicholas said quietly.

Mana bowed as she accepted the weapon. The only trace of emotion she showed was the slight tremble to her hands as she took the weapon. Nicholas nodded and then stepped out into the hall to head down to the gates. Mana followed him out and the two stopped short at the door, looking back and forth down the hall.

Galin was nowhere to be seen.

"It's not like I chose the bloody thing, Kotaro!" Yue said ducking as another tremor dislodged a stone that skimmed past her head.

"All I'm saying is WHY can't I get a different artifact? I don't want a more powerful one, just one that isn't as degrading." The dog demon complained as he looked at his card dubiously.

"Some people actually wear those things thinking that it makes them look tough." Nodoka offered as she ran alongside the other two towards the lowest levels of the castle.

"THOSE people aren't really dog demons now are they?!" Kotaro griped as he smashed a stone that threatened to fall on Yue.

Yue sighed. She'd finally gone and taken a partner, and it was Kotaro of all people. It wasn't her fault that the magical spirits in charge of dispensing magical items had a sense of humor. Honestly if Kotaro would stop being such a baby about it, they might actually be able to find out what it could do.

"Well, I think it looks cute." Nodoka said sweetly, as she jumped over a pile of fallen rock.

"CUTE?!" Kotaro roared holing up his pactio card. "What could you possibly find CUTE about a DOG COLLAR!"

"Well, the spikes do make it look a bit more menacing." Nodoka offered apologetically.

"Well, they are a nice touch, but… Hey, don't go trying to make this seem reasonable. No self respecting dog demon would be caught DEAD wearing this thing." Kotaro fussed as he quickly blocked a few more bits of debris from hitting the two girls.

"Could we please stop using the word 'dead' please? It's conjuring up too many unpleasant mental images." Yue scolded her partner.

The three finally came skidding to a halt as they reached an intersection to find Chisame. "Is that everybody?" Chisame asked.

"Yeah, Ku Fei and Kaede headed up to fight. We're on our way up too. You might want to go down and make sure the girls are safe and keep them out of trouble." Yue relayed to the resident hacker. "Your hacking skills won't do you much good in this."

"It doesn't look like there's a decent combatant among you alright." Someone agreed from behind the three of them.

Yue turned to look back down the corridor the way they had come. Behind them Galin sauntered up looking as malevolent now as he ever had. Any sexy connotations to his sinuous movements had been lost as his body had taken on a demonic almost were-cat like form. Saliva dripped from his fangs to sizzle as it dripped onto the cold stone floor of the labyrinth. "Give me the librarian, I need a hostage."

"You girls get out of here. I'll take care of this." Chisame said seriously.

"NO WAY!" Nodoka shouted at the hacker who looked like she was seriously about to fight the monster. Haruna had been bested by this thing and now Chisame wanted a turn?

Yue started to disagree as well when Kotaro interrupted her. "You think you can handle him?"

Yue stood there in dumbfounded amazement as Kotaro exchanged a hard glance with Chisame who nodded. He then turned to Yue. "We need to get up top as quickly as we can. If those demons breach the castle there's going to be a lot worse things to deal with than him."

Yue started to argue, but finally had to agree. For Kotaro to set aside his own repulsion for Galin, it must be critical. The Baka Leader then turned to Chisame. "If you think you can handle him, I need a favor…"

Galin growled in frustration as his targets bolted off down the corridor, with the one girl who stayed behind looking at him coldly. He didn't have time to lose, but a quick diversion could be made up for later.

"So, the pretty little schoolgirl wants to see what it's like to be a fighter, or did you WANT me to rape you?" Galin said as he slinked closer.

"Oh, I don't intend to fight you, I'm just going to make sure you don't bother my fr-r-r… my com-m-m… my asso-o-o…" The young hacker stuttered.

"Scared?" Galin asked, a bit taken aback by the girl's reaction.

"It's just hard calling them that okay?" The young woman yelled back at him as she pulled out her wand to face him.

"My, what a pretty wand, just wait till I show you mine." The demon cat sneered.

"Please hairball, like I'd ever give you the chance. I've met too many guys like you in chat rooms." Chisame said as she flicked her wand at the cat. "Nihil Nullum Zephirum, Spiritus Magnum Unum, Spiritus Electronici Nantur Super Aquas…"

Galin growled and charged forward to catch the girl before she could complete the spell; too late he reached her as he heard her complete the incantation. "Ego Electrium Regno."

Light flashed all around the demon as he reached out trying to grab the girl. When the light cleared, the hall was much as it had been before. He looked up mischievously at the young woman to find her a bit further down the hallway. "It looks like you missed my pet."

"Hardly." Chisame snorted. "I've pulled your mind into a cyber world. Your body has collapsed and is on the outside."

Galin couldn't help the grin that spread across his face. "That's fine, screwing with little girls' minds is almost as much fun as screwing… are you paying attention to me?"

"No, to be honest, I'm ignoring you much like the other guys I mentioned that I meet in the chat rooms. Attention seems to make you even more driven to annoy me, even when it's negative. Now if you'll excuse me, I have something to work on as a favor to Yue." Chisame said turning to a screen that suddenly appeared in the wall in front of her.

Galin spat in disgust and decided to make the upstart little girl's punishment that much more severe when something tapped him on the shoulder. The cat demon turned around to find a small mouse hovering in front of his face. "Excuse me, my name is Daiko, my brothers and I have been ordered to deal with you by Chiu-sama."

Galin looked around at the seven little floating mice that had surrounded him. "Let me get this straight, she honestly thinks that seven little mice are going to keep a cat demon busy?"

Daiko nodded with a grin. "Well, this is our world."

Galin began to look about nervously as the seven mice began to expand, powerful muscles rippling beneath their fur as they began growing into monstrous rat-like entities that only a powerful hacker and computer genius could possibly control… much like corporate databases. For the first time, Galin began to worry.

"Hey Kincha."

"Yeah, Shirataki?" Kincha replied back in a guttural and distinctly malevolent sounding voice.

"What exactly did Chiu-sama ask us to do?"

"She said 'There's more than one way to skin a cat. Find them all.'" Kincha reported as he and the other seven beasts began to chuckle. Galin gulped and looked around unsuccessfully for an escape. Oh bugger…

"Master, I am getting an incoming message from Chisame-san." Chachamaru reported dutifully.

"I'm a little busy at the moment!" Eva shouted as her ice shards speared through a pair of demons that made the completely moronic move of jumping towards her. The battle had already ensued at the gates as packs of lesser imps and devils charged mindlessly forward to test the castle's defenses. Eva had arrived to find Setsuna and Konoka preparing to face the horde alone like a couple of mice ready to face a hungry pack of lions. Granted one of the mice had wings and some rather sharp teeth, but still…

"Chisame reports that Galin has been subjugated using her artifact. She can only stop him though; she isn't able to kill him." Chachamaru said as her forearm blades sent a couple of imps flying into pieces and back to hell where they belonged.

"Go kill the wretch then. Then hurl the body to the demons. I want you to stay and protect the other girls while you're there. Between the two of you, you should be able to handle anything that comes along that gets past us. I'll stay here and make sure Setsuna and Konoka don't get themselves killed." Evangeline ordered as a wave of her hands brought forth a freezing mist of vapor and darkness to freeze several demons in an icy, suffocating prison.

"Yes, master." Chachamaru said dispassionately and turned to go and do as she'd been instructed.

"Thank you Eva-chan." Konoka said as she ducked the flying body parts of the demons that tried to get near her. Setsuna's sword swiftly teaching the erring fiends more respect for her Ojou-sama.

"Don't call me Eva-chan!" The vampire snorted as she sent a couple of large incubi back to their dark master.

"Sorry Eva-chan. Thank you for helping." Konoka continued.

Eva merely laughed. "Are you kidding? If I let anything happen to you, your grandfather will see to it that being unable to die would be a most unfortunate circumstance to find oneself in when I get back to Mahora. He's going through a lot of trouble…"

"…and trees…" Setsuna added as her blade slid through the midsection of an advancing devil.

"…to make sure you and all the rest of the girls are safe. Besides, it's going to be fun telling Nicholas he owes me one for helping defend his castle. Which reminds me…" The Dark Evangel said as she snapped her fingers. Suddenly a great ball of ice fell from the sky, as the undying mage summoned her 'Hammer of the Ice God' to flatten several demons beneath its titanic weight along with a rather lovely little white gazebo covered in yellow roses with a quaint stone bench inside it. "I always thought that looked tacky. You girls try not to go too easy on the collateral damage."

"Ojou-sama, can you reach Negi-sensei with your pactio card?" Setsuna asked as she slashed another imp as it tried to get past her.

"I can't reach him, something's jamming telepathy." Konoka replied.

"Figures; and I would have to send my cell phone pack to help Chisame." Eva groused.

"Chachamaru is more than just a cell phone." Konoka scolded the vampire.

"I'll remember that the next time you want to use her as a printer." Eva shot back.

"I forgot my homework in my room that day okay?" The mage apprentice replied defensively.

Demons continued to pour from the forest surrounding the castle. Thus far they were weak enough to be handled in packs, but their power was steadily increasing. Eva noticed Ku Fei and Kaede join the fight, but still the fighters would only be able to handle a limited number of opponents at a time. Even with such limited demons, their numbers could easily overwhelm the girls if more came to the party.

Eva was startled as everything seemed to slow down for a moment as Eva looked around to see what was happening. Centuries has taught the vampire that contrary to popular belief, time was not linear. It was roughly linear, but tended to speed up or slow down depending on what was happening. In situations where everything seemed to happen at once, time slowed, and the watchful were able to take advantage of this to act.

Feeling time begin to move sluggishly, Eva turned to see the demon racing for Setsuna. The swordsman had buried her sword deep into the chest of an advancing imp only to find it stuck as a more powerful incubus moved in for the kill. Unaware of the approach of her impending demise, Setsuna tugged at her sword not realizing her death was imminent.

"SE-CHAN! NO!!!" Konoka screamed. Ku Fei and Kaede looked, but were too hard pressed to make it to the Shinmei-ryu fighter.

"DOWN!" Eva screamed as she dove for the girl as Yunagi ripped free of its victim. The breath left Eva as she collided with the bigger girl, carrying both of them to the ground. Eva could feel the energy as it ripped across her back. The blazing heat seared at her flesh, one of the few things that could actually harm her. Explosions echoed all around her filling her ears with the sound of rumbling death like an earthquake during an air strike.

A deathly calm settled over the battlefield. Eva struggled to rise to her hands and knees and noticed that Setsuna had a few burns across her arms as well. As time began to resume its natural course, Eva looked around to see demonic fluids oozing down nearly every surface around her from the remains of the demons that had detonated all around them.

"What did you do?" Ku Fei asked. Eva noticed she wasn't looking in her direction either. Eva looked up at the startled expression of Konoka as she stood there wide eyed with her hands thrown out in front of her.

"I don't know… That thing was going to hurt Se-chan, and I…" Konoka stuttered. All around the walls outside the castle, demons had exploded upon contact with the energy that had been unleashed by the apprentice.

Breathing hard, Eva struggled to sit. "That's it. When we get back to Mahora, you're going into combat training."

Konoka slumped down, nearly losing consciousness. "Do you think I could do that again?"

"Not with me around you won't." Eva scolded her. "You're a healer; as such your powers won't do much to people, but is extremely effective against demons… and undead. It would be too dangerous for you as well. The last thing you want to do is burn yourself out when you haven't mastered your powers yet."

"I'm afraid she's right Ojou-sama." Setsuna said meekly, as she looked over the burn marks from her own encounter with the energy Konoka had released. Eva was uneasy with the idea, but being a vampire Konoka might actually wield enough power to be able to… For the first time in centuries, Eva shivered a little at the thought that she might actually have found someone capable of putting her immortality to the test.

From the look on Setsuna's face it was apparent that the half-demon was more than a little frightened of the power she'd just witnessed. Her own demon blood would make her also susceptible to Konoka's magic. Not since the field trip to Kyoto had Konoka brought so much of her magic to bear. It reminded Eva than the Negi wasn't the ONLY prodigy at Mahora that demanded attention.

"We better get moving." Kaede said bringing the group back into focus with their surroundings. "More demons will be here shortly."

A/N: Things should be pretty intense for the rest of the story as we begin to reach the end. Hopefully, I'll still be able to stick in a chuckle or two here and there. I'll be wandering around Ohayocon tomorrow (1/5/08), maybe I'll see you there!