_VOLUME 2_
Chapter 8
Destruction and Disaster
Lit_FUSE.
Part 1
Both the green-haired vampire known as Miyako Mizuki and the red-haired Esper known as Arakuyo Kenji stood on either side of Johnathan H. Langley, who was standing over a glowing array, preparing to launch some sort of attack. The orange array on the floor glowed fiercely with a bright glow, illuminating a good portion of the mall's front entrance as the white-haired vampire closed his eyes.
Mizuki clenched her fists, crouching over and coiling her muscles. Just like when he had bitten his servant earlier, he was leaving himself completely open. Yet Kenji had attacked him head on at that time, and he effortlessly blocked the Esper's attacks.
From what she had seen of Kenji, Mizuki knew she was faster on her feet than the red-haired high school student, however, she still had no way of knowing whether she could land a solid hit on Langley. Moreover, she had no way of knowing what kind of spell the white-haired vampire was preparing.
Suddenly, Langley's eyes shot open and the orange array below him erupted in a burst of light. Glowing lines spread out from the circular array like cracks, reaching the walls and crawling up them like the floor was actually shattering. Once it had finished, the whole room up to the tall ceiling was covered by the orange cracks.
"Now," Langley spoke, his voice calm, yet filled with unmistakable malice, "Allow me to show you the difference between my powers and yours!"
Mizuki and Kenji eyed Langley warily, waiting for any indication of the function of the spell he had just cast. The white-haired vampire wore a twisted grin across his face, his eyes still wide from when he opened them earlier. He leaned forwards and outstretched his arms, and something unusual happened. Rather than simply stretching out in front of him as he extended them, Langley's arms seemed to sink into the air. Ripples spread out from where his arms disappeared, like he had plunged them into a body of still water.
Mizuki's eyes widened, but before she could realize what was happening, something slammed into the side of her face with tremendous force. Mizuki instantly jumped backwards away from the attack, and was shocked to see a disembodied arm floating in the air in front of her.
Mizuki didn't have time to register what the arm meant before she felt something slam into her back. A searing pain shot through her back as a powerful shockwave blasted her off her feet and sent her tumbling forwards. The green-haired vampire winced as she forced herself back to her feet and whirled around to come face to face with Langley's other arms.
The white-haired vampire drew his arms back through the water-like ripples and Mizuki watched the arms that had just assaulted her disappear just as quickly. Langley wasted no time and plunged his right arm back through the air around him and it vanished yet again. Mizuki's eyes widened and she whirled around to spot it before it could strike her, but she found the air around her clear.
Her eyes widened and she glanced over at Kenji, who was out of Langley's line of sight. Langley's arm was hovering in the air behind him, an explosive orb primed and resting in his palm.
"Kenji, look out!"
The red-haired Esper barely had time to turn around before the disembodied hand slammed into his side, exploding with enough force to throw him back about a meter. Kenji clutched his new injury and staggered, but he managed to stay on his feet and turned around. By the time he looked up at Langley, the white-haired vampire had already retracted his hand, reeling it back along with his other arm and preparing to plunge them back into the air before him.
Kenji caught movement to his left and his eyes darted just in time to see Mizuki charging towards Langley. The white-haired vampire had seen it too, and paused before his arms passed through the space in front of him. However, he made no move to dodge, nor bock the green-haired vampire's attacks.
"Mizuki-san, wait!"
Kenji's call was too late. By the time he called out, Mizuki had leapt into the air and spun around, preparing to deliver a powerful spinning kick to the vampire's face. However, as her leg reached the space around Langley it vanished just like Langley's arms had done, and Mizuki's eyes widened.
She careened fully into the air around Langley and vanished, and Kenji's eyes immediately darted around to find her. Suddenly, a powerful kick slammed into his back and the red-haired Esper was sent tumbling to the ground. A gasp above him made him look up, and he was met with Mizuki's red gaze as she straddled his back.
"Kenji-san, are you alright?" Mizuki asked, getting off of the red-haired Esper immediately and extending a hand to help him to his feet, "Damn, I shouldn't have rushed in like that!"
"It's fine," Kenji answered, accepting the hand and glaring over at Langley, "Besides, now I pretty much understand what his spell does. There's something like a 'warp space' around Langley that connects to this entire room. Anything that passes through it, whether from inside or out, can be warped anywhere in the room at Langley's whim. Tch… that makes fighting him quite difficult."
"Are you two quite done!?"
With an impatient shout, Langley thrust both arms into the space in front of him and once again they reappeared before both Kenji and Mizuki, who were standing close together. With a flick of his wrists, Langley primed two explosive orbs and the two launched themselves backwards. With a twisted smirk, the white-haired vampire slammed the two orbs together, and the resulting explosion blasted both Kenji and Mizuki back. Luckily, since they had already been retreating from the attack, the two remained mostly unscathed.
"Difficult?" Mizuki exclaimed indignantly, picking up right where their conversation had been interrupted, "Fighting Langley like this is downright impossible! We can't even hit him!"
"You're right," Kenji nodded, "Like this, it'll be impossible to fight Langley… but that's just the thing. We don't have to!"
Mizuki's eyes widened, glancing briefly back at Langley to watch as he reeled his arms back in and prepared for another attack.
"Langley's spell is confined to this room. Meaning, all we gotta do is leave the room. He won't be able to attack us like this outside."
Mizuki's face went deadpan and she looked at Kenji with an unreadable expression,"Your plan is running!?"
Again, Langley didn't wait for Kenji to answer before plunging his arms through the warp space again. One arm swung for the red-haired Esper's face, but Kenji reacted quickly and blocked the blow with relative success. Mizuki didn't see the other hand near Kenji, so she sidestepped to the left and watched as Langley's hand swung uselessly past her arm.
Unfortunately, unlike the arm Langley had struck Kenji with, this arm was primed with one of his explosive spells. Langley bent his elbow and slammed the orb into Mizuki's arm and it exploded on contact, causing the green-haired vampire to cry out in pain.
Kenji made his way over to Mizuki with a concerned look on his face, supporting the green-haired vampire as she clutched her arm and winced.
"Are you okay? Come on, let's get out of here!"
"R-right!" Mizuki nodded.
The two turned around and dashed forwards, darting towards the doors of the mall. Kenji was slightly worried that someone outside like an Anti-Skill officer on patrol would spot them and get dragged into this unnecessarily, but it was a risk worth taking if the alternative was staying in this room.
Langley seemed to realize immediately what they were doing and frowned, reeling his arms back in faster and plunging them back in almost immediately. This time, his arms emerged from the floor of the mall in front of Kenji and Mizuki, attempting to trip them up. Mizuki leapt over the hand grasping for her legs, but Kenji was not so lucky. He felt an arm grasp at his ankle, and he nearly tripped as he staggered forwards.
"As if I'd let you leave so easily!" Langley taunted, gripping Kenji's ankle so tightly that it began to hurt.
Gritting his teeth, the red-haired Esper slipped his foot out of his shoe and kicked the hand grabbing at him, forcing Langley to reel his hand back in with nothing but Kenji's empty sneaker. Kenji immediately darted off for the door again, catching up with Mizuki and reaching the glass doors.
Suddenly, however, the air before them shimmered slightly and Langley's arms popped out from the air in front of them. However, this time it wasn't just his arms. Langley's head emerged from the air as well, and it kept going until his entire upper body was sticking out of the air before the door.
"Did you not hear me? I said I am not about to let you leave so easily!"
Almost instantly, both Mizuki and Kenji dodged to either side, aiming for passing around Langley rather than face him head-on. Langley laughed, merely summoning two orbs in each of his palms and smashing them together like before.
Another explosion shook the mall, and a large fireball erupted from the vampire's hands, engulfing both Kenji and Mizuki and blasting them backwards. A thick cloud of smoke clouded the entrance and blocked out what little moonlight had been filtering in through the windows, leaving only the eerie glow of Langley's spell covering the room.
Suddenly, a figure burst forth from the clouds and rushed towards one of the storefront windows. It was Mizuki, covering her face with her arms and preparing to smash through the window and escape the mall. Mizuki leapt off the ground and braced herself, but even after she closed her eyes at the last second, nothing happened.
Mizuki opened her eyes and gasped. She was sure she had run at full-speed at the glass, but now she was on the other side of the room. She glanced behind her and the residual rippling of Langley's warp spell in the air told her all she needed to know.
"Hahaha! Fool! Did you really think a spell like this would have such a glaringly obvious weak point? Once an area is chosen, you can't enter or exit until the spell is released! There's no escape-"
The white-haired vampire was abruptly cut off when a fist burst through the thick smoke and slammed into Langley's face. The blow was strong enough to knock Langley's upper body back through the warp space and reappear in the center of the magic array. The smoke cleared, revealing Kenji grinning confidently back at Langley, facing where his upper body had just been.
"I figured it was something like that," Kenji grinned, "but I managed to draw you out, didn't I?"
"Tch," Langley scoffed, wiping a small trickle of blood where Kenji's fist had split his lip, "Don't get cocky just because you managed to land a single hit. With your pathetic ability, it'll take at least one hundred more punches like that to finish me off! Whereas you and your little friend there already seem worn out."
Kenji frowned. Langley wasn't wrong. Kenji had taken quite the beating in his time fighting the white-haired vampire, and the fact that he had been fighting steadily the whole time wasn't helping. Mizuki was a little better off, but the fact remained that Langley was a far more powerful opponent than either of them.
Both Kenji and Mizuki realized it at the same time. They needed to end this fight quickly.
"You're helpless against me in this room!" Langley boasted, "Now run around like fools until you die!"
Langley thrust his hands through the warp space in front of him once more, but he was not aiming for Kenji this time. His hands appeared behind Mizuki, and he quickly primed them with explosive orbs.
Mizuki reacted quickly and ducked below the attack, watching Langley's arms fly over harmlessly. Before Langley could react, Mizuki reached up and grabbed the white-haired vampire's arms and held them in place.
"H-huh!?"
"It's true that you seem pretty invincible as long as you're using this kind of spell," Mizuki noted, "But there are limitations! Kenji's punch showed that you're vulnerable when you attack, and even if you control where the portal opens to…"
Mizuki yanked on Lanley's arms as hard as she could, and the white-haired vampire found himself being drawn through the warp space before him until his entire upper body was before the green-haired girl.
"Once it's open, you can be forced through it!"
While still clutching Langley's arms, Mizuki jumped and brought her leg up, kicking Langley in the face. She flipped over his upper body that was sticking out of the portal and twisted his arms so she was now standing behind him with his arms held behind his back.
"Let go of me, you pitiful excuse for a vampire!"
Mizuki grit her teeth. She knew she was a weak vampire. The weakest vampire, according to the Irish Catholic Church. She hated not having magic. She hated not being strong enough to do anything but run for the longest time. And even now, she hated how she froze up in the face of a stronger foe.
Yet, hearing it from the white-haired monster in front of her only served to enrage her. Out of that anger, she twisted Langley's arms roughly, causing the white-haired vampire to wince in pain.
"If being a vampire means throwing away all respect for life out of some self-entitled superiority complex, then I'd rather be human!" Mizuki declared angrily. Shifting her attention to a point beyond Langley, she called out, "Kenji-san!"
"Right!"
Langley looked up at the sound of the voice and found Kenji standing in front of him, his eyes closed and his fist already clenched.
"You said it would take a hundred punches to defeat you, right?" Kenji asked, opening his eyes and revealing amber orbs burning with determination, "Well, I'll finish you off in just one!"
Kenji kicked off the ground and launched himself towards Langley, who was still struggling to escape Mizuki's grasp. Mizuki's face was red with the strain of holding the stronger vampire in place, but as long as it was for a few more seconds, she could manage.
Kenji was also struggling against the newfound weight of his own arm. Raising his fist upright was taxing enough, to say nothing of the effort it took to reel it back for a punch. Still, this was it. He couldn't guarantee they'd be able to catch Langley off-guard again.
He had pushed his ability to its limits with this punch.
"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" Kenji yelled, reeling his arms back as he charged at his white-haired opponent.
Kenji look one final step and drove his fist into Langley's face once more, this time with a weight so strong there was a loud, echoing crack as Langley's face twisted from the impact. Mizuki let go of the vampire and he collapsed backwards once more, flying back through the portal and landing on the floor in the center of the room. Even from his position on the ground, it was clear that his lips and nose were bleeding severely, and his cheek was swollen where the punch had struck.
Langley tried to bring himself to his feet, but he staggered and fell over.
"W-what the… my head… I feel sick to my stomach…"
The white-haired vampire struggled to stand, grasping his head and tottering like a drunken man. Overcome with severe nausea, the vampire stumbled forwards and vomited a mixture of bile and blood up onto the floor in front of him and then collapsed backwards onto the floor again.
"Give it up, Langley," Mizuki commanded, "You won't be able to fight even one of us in that state, let alone both of us. It's over."
Kenji walked over to Langley as he sat collapsed on the ground, unable to reach him with the spell still active, but reaching out his hand regardless.
"It's true we were trying to find you, but it was never my intention to destroy you. You've killed people, and that's unacceptable, but I refuse to use that as a justification for killing you. We will restrain you, and you won't be allowed to just do whatever you want, but you don't have to die. Humans and vampires can work alongside each other as equals, after all."
Kenji turned to Mizuki as he spoke that last sentence, and the green-haired vampire smiled warmly.
"As… equals?" Langley looked up at Kenji's outstretched hand, eyes wide. There was still anger burning in the red-haired Esper's eyes, but there was also compassion in his eyes. Kenji was a person who legitimately did not want to take life if there was another option.
"Tch, is there truly no limit to your foolishness!?"
Langley's lips curled into a wry grin as he pulled himself to his feet shakily. He still wasn't completely healed, but he had regained enough of his senses to manage at least that much.
"I don't have to die if I surrender and agree to your whims? Ha, what a farce! Right from the beginning, I've already cornered you with no hope of escape! I still have the upper hand, fools!"
Langley clapped his hands together and the red cracks running along the floor instantly began to glow brighter, the light blinding both Mizuki and Kenji as it engulfed the entire front entrance of the mall.
"Wait, they're red!?"
Kenji's eyes widened. He was sure that when the cracks first appeared, they were orange. Somehow, during the course of the fight, they had changed color. It was just like Langley's explosion spells.
Could it be this whole time they were caught in a bomb!?
Kenji turned to Mizuki in a panic, but he was unable to say anything before the white-haired vampire acted.
Laughing maniacally, Langley extended his hands outwards as the red light turned white.
A blinding flash of heat and light burst forth from the glowing array spread across the entire room. The explosion engulfed the front of the shopping mall, flames and heat scorching all but the small cylinder around Langley. The floor tiles cracked and the ceiling crumbled, blasted by the powerful shockwave created by the fireball. The windows shattered outwards from the heat, and the powerful blast bent the steel frames.
From the streets, all that could be seen was the front entrance of the Midori Complex giving way to the sea of broken glass and fire that spewed forth as the windows broke and the doors were blown off their hinges. Thick black smoke quickly took the place of the flames as the explosion died down, concealing the entire entrance from view.
Out of the smoke, a lone figure staggered, clutching his head as he limped out of the explosion. Langley looked back at the building and the aftermath of the destruction that no one could have survived and grinned.
"Your mistake was assuming that, because the glowing cracks had appeared right as I started using the space-warping spell, that meant they were the same spell. It gave me enough time to properly charge the destruction spell to its maximum effectively. For that error, you paid with your lives."
Langley scoffed as he turned back around, staggering slightly as he stepped onto the sidewalk, "Still, this injury will take some more time to heal. If the Irish Catholic Church is truly here searching for me, moving locations to a different part of the city might be worthwhile…"
Before Langley could take two steps, however, he heard the sound of rushing air and something slammed roughly into his back. The white-haired vampire staggered forwards, still unsteady on his feet, as he felt the force push off and the sound of feet landing on the ground behind him.
The white-haired vampire turned around, coming face to face with the injured form of Miyako Mizuki. The green-haired vampire's clothes were torn, her skin was burned in certain places, and blood dripped from multiple wounds onto the concrete beneath her. She had sustained injuries her natural healing was struggling to keep up with, and she looked like she was ready to collapse any minute.
On top of that, in her arms she was carrying the equally bloodied form of Arakuyo Kenji, who's closed eyes and strained but even breathing made it clear he was unconscious.
She was well more injured than Langley, and she would receive no help from Kenji this time.
Yet somehow, she managed a glare that made even Langley hesitate.
"So, you survived. I'm impressed, vampire…"
Without a word, the green-haired girl bent down to place Kenji on the sidewalk gently. She took a few unsteady steps around him, placing herself in between him and the white-haired vampire before her.
"Ordinarily, I'd say that you surviving was pointless, because I would just turn around and kill you now. But I'm feeling generous tonight. If you run, I'll let you live, provided you don't come after me again."
Mizuki's legs tensed and she kicked off the ground with all her strength, launching herself into the sky. She twirled around in midair and brought her leg downwards, aiming for Langley's face. The white-haired vampire raised his arms to block the blow, catching Mizuki's leg and stopping it in its tracks. Still, Langley was still unsteady, and his lack of stability caused him to stagger. Mizuki kicked off of Langley's block and spun around again, slamming her foot into the side of Langley's head as he stumbled back.
Langley cursed, shaking off the blow as best as he could and glaring in front of him.
"So be it, girl. If you have a death wish, then- Huh!?"
Langley had turned to face where he assumed Mizuki was. Yet when he looked, the green-haired vampire was nowhere to be seen. The white-haired vampire growled as he swung his arm around, blocking another kick aimed at the small of his back as he turned on his heel.
"Do you think you have the upper hand just because you've gotten faster?"
Glowing red runes snaked down Langley's arms and wrapped around his fingers, steaming with arcane energy. He tightened his grip on Mizuki's foot and the runes on the arm grasping it began glowing yellow. Mizuki's eyes widened and she whirled around, using the white-haired vampire's grip on her leg as leverage to hoist her into the air. She aimed another kick at Langley's head, and slammed her foot into his temple, forcing him to loosen his grip on her leg. She pulled back just in time, and Langley's hand exploded and engulfed the air around her in thick black smoke.
Mizuki landed on the ground, her view of the white-haired vampire obscured by the smoke. The green-haired girl tensed up, seeking to peer through the smoke to anticipate Langley's next move.
A loud shout came from within the cloud, and with it dozens of red magic arrays appeared on the ground around Mizuki. With wide eyes, Mizuki dodged out of the way as pillars of hot flame rose from the arrays and stretched out into the night sky. More arrays appeared on the ground, and just as the first burst of flame died down, pillars rose up from the new arrays to replace them.
Mizuki dodged out of the way again, but the pillars kept moving, rising and falling faster and faster with each cast. The vampire's enhanced speed was allowing her to keep up with Langley, but just barely. One managed to graze her arm, and the vampire let out a cry of pain as the heat of the blast licked at her flesh.
A few moments later, the pillars died down, and Mizuki tensed up to anticipate her opponent's next move. The green-haired vampire was panting heavily from the exertion of dodging the intense attack, and her injured arm was dangling limply at her side, her healing ability no longer able to heal even severe injuries. Still, the smoke cloud lingered in the air around Langley, most likely the result of a spell to obscure him from Mizuki's view.
There was a bright flash of red from within the cloud, and Mizuki dashed to the right just as Langley's form emerged from the smokescreen. He shot forwards past her at blinding speeds, his body completely covered with the red runes he had used before.
Noticing that Mizuki had evaded his attack, Langley roared in frustration and swung an arm out behind him. The runes snaked around his arm moved across his body and gathered in the palm of his hand before exploding, propelling the white-haired vampire forwards with the shockwave.
Langley opened his palm and extended his arm forwards as he dove towards the green-haired vampire. Mizuki was unable to dodge in time, and she felt his clawed fingers grasp at her face. He allowed his momentum to carry him past her, dragging her with his hand and shoving her into the wall of a nearby storefront. The wall cracked from the impact, and the air in Mizuki's lungs was forced out from the rough blow.
Langley did not let up, however, and Mizuki became instantly aware of glowing red light right over her face. The runes snaking around Langley's other arm were moving towards his palm as well, giving off an uncomfortable heat as they glowed against Mizuki's face.
Without releasing her, Langley grinned, "Your burst of strength was little more than an act of desperation. The result of some foolish desire to protect that human and his human ideals. However, it was short-lived. Once I wore you down, it was simply a matter of restraining you and finishing you off up close. This is a power and skill I've cultivated for over 100 years. There is no way a pathetic vampire who doesn't use a lick of magic could possibly defeat me, girl."
Langley clenched his hands tighter around Mizuki's face, and the runes in his hand exploded violently. Blood splattered onto the white-haired vampire and thick black smoke swirled around him. He felt the struggling vampire in his grasp fall limp, and closed his eyes as he let Mizuki's body fall limply to the ground.
"Too bad. As pathetic as you proved yourself to be, I don't like it when I'm forced to kill other vampires."
Langley moved to wipe the blood from his face, but he paused when he felt something unusual. A small scratch on his cheek let Mizuki's blood mingle with his, and his cheek began tingling as the small wound closed itself up. But it was more than that. The raw skin and the swelling on the other side of his face from Kenji's punch healed and the pain was reduced to a dull ache.
"W-what the hell?" Langley asked, looking down at the vampire beneath him, "Without magic, this girl's blood is…!?"
Suddenly, it clicked in Langley's mind. The vampire, Miyako Mizuki, had spent an indeterminate amount of time without the ability to use magic. Of course her body would adapt to counteract this lack of magic. Her blood was saturated with far more of the natural healing factor that a normal vampire had.
"This is… If I drink that girl's blood, my injuries from tonight, as well as from spending a century in Stoker's Coffin…"
Running his tongue along his lips, the vampire smirked and bent down, grabbing Mizuki's shoulder and pulling her off the ground. She didn't respond, but Langley could still feel her blood coursing through her veins.
He positioned the limp girl in his arms and moved his head closer to the raw, singed skin on the surface of Mizuki's neck. Barring his fangs, he bit into the green-haired vampire's flesh and pierced her veins, drawing her blood and letting it mingle with his own.
The white-haired vampire's eyes widened immediately, feeling a tingling sensation spread across his entire body immediately. The ache in his head dulled as he felt the bones shift back into their proper place. Underneath his clothes, he could feel his scars and bruises from the multiple injuries he had gained since removing himself from Stoker's coffin disappear. Cuts on his face and arms closed up, leaving only trails of drying blood to indicate he had even been injured.
In addition to healing him completely, he could no longer feel the physical weakness from his prolonged stay in Stoker's Coffin, or the exhaustion from the fight he just had.
"Put her down."
Langley's eyes shot behind him and he stopped drinking from Mizuki, turning around and looking behind him. Kenji stood where Mizuki had set him down after escaping the building, looking less battered than he had been initially.
The red-haired Esper wasn't crouched into any sort of fighting stance, nor did he look as though he were about to launch himself towards the vampire. In fact, his demand had been spoken calmly yet sternly, as though he were making a demand rather than a threat.
"I said, put her down."
Langley smirked, removing his fangs from Mizuki's neck and turned to face Kenji, "Are you threatening me? Hahaha, what can you do against me, fake Gemstone? Before, I was weakened severely by the century I spent in that accursed prison. But thanks to your vampire friend, I have recovered practically all of that strength! Before it took all you had to even injure me. Now you're powerless against me! Powerless, you hear-!?"
Langley cut himself off and his eyes widened when he saw the red-haired Esper before him kick off the ground and lunge at him at superhuman speeds. Langley himself had trouble keeping up with Kenji's movements as the high school student swerved around him. Langley removed one of his arms from Mizuki and raised it to block a kick aimed high at his face.
Kenji's foot slammed hard into Langley's hand, and the vampire strained against the powerful blow. Veins popped out of the back of his hand and down his arms as he tried to stop the powerful impact, and was eventually forced back a few steps to prevent the back of his hand from smacking his face.
Kenji drew his leg back and dropped into a fighting stance, arms raised and muscles tensed. Glaring at Langley, he repeated himself, "Put. Her. Down."
The white-haired vampire took another step back under the piercing glare of Arakuyo Kenji. Dark rage burned like fire in his eyes, but that alone wasn't enough to phase the centuries-old vampire. Rather, there was something else different about the Esper that Langley noticed the instant he caught Kenji's kick.
In addition to the superhuman speed and strength the red-haired Esper seemed to have acquired, Kenji's eyes had changed color. Before, the Esper's eyes were an orange-amber color, Reminding Langley of the dull flames of a candle. Now, however, they were shimmering in the moonlight, glowing a brilliant silver-white.
To Be Continued...
AN: Are you hype? Because I'm hype! Anyway, here's Chapter 8! This battle looks like it's gonna come down to Kenji vs. Langley, and Kenji's got that strange clarity again.
Once again, I'd like to address a couple of concerns from the Reviews. Nothing much this time. There's the mysterious guest who pointed out that it's nearing the end of the Index Arc. That is true. For the record, before planning out my Volumes I figure out where the story I want to write fits into the actual To Aru timeline, then figure out specific dates and brush up on the specific dates in To Aru.
Also, particularly observant readers (like guest) may have noticed that this and the previous chapter only had a single part to them, yet still had the "Part 1" indication at the beginning. This is purposeful. If I leave that out, it'll be an indication that there will only be a single part to the chapter, which depending on the circumstances could spoil the length of a particular fight or scene. Because of that, even chapters that only have one part will still have a part indicator at the beginning of the chapter.
Anyway, that's really all I have to cover for today, so... I hope you enjoyed the chapter! If you liked the chapter or have any questions, feel free to leave a review! We're definitely reaching the climax of Volume 2, so there's probably not going to be many more chapters after this. Until then, however, I'll be posting new Chapters every Friday (EST), so I'll be back with another one next week!