Negima and the Curse of the Dreadnoids
Chapter 21: A Deck of Many Souls
As Zazie shuffled the deck, she had an evil smile with a devilish chuckle to match. Negi would have to prepare for the worst. He saw Zazie had a heart shaped hole in her chest which meant she was in her third state. Negi wasn't quite sure he could handle a level three opponent without Asuna or any of the others.
"Negi. Just stay focused. That crazy girl's got your class all stacked up nicely in a deck!" Chamo said. Negi knew that was for sure.
"I just wonder what power the bug has given Zazie." Negi said. Zazie chuckled and threw a card to the ground. A zombie version of Asuna came out from it.
"Agh! Asuna?!" Negi shouted. Zazie threw down two more and out came a zombie Kotaro and a zombie Setsuna.
"Wait Negi. These CAN'T be the girls! She's using some kind of dark summoning magic to use them. Focus on her!" Chamo said. Zazie huffed and jumped back. The cards in her arms came out and started spinning around like giant blades.
"Oh no you don't!" Negi shouted. He shouted a spell and he blew the cards away with a gust of wind. Zazie wasn't impressed.
"Now take this!" Negi shouted. He shouted another spell and fired bolts of lightning at Zazie. Zazie summoned a card from her hand and spun around. The card acted like a shield and deflected Negi's lightning and it hit the ground. Zazie snapped her fingers and the zombie Asuna attacked.
"Take him out." Zazie said. Asuna raised her blade and swung. But Negi dodged just as her sword connected with the ground. In the process, her sword got stuck in the tiles and she couldn't get it out. Zazie sighed.
"Kotaro dear? Get him." Zazie said. Kotaro growled and charged for Negi. He went into a spiraling attack that smashed into Negi. His clothes were torn by Kotaro's spinning claws before he got kicked away.
"Man. That kid packs a punch!" Chamo thought. But Chamo was soon worried when he saw Kotaro's kick sent them directly towards the zombie Setsuna!
"Agh!" Negi said. Setsuna swung her sword and it knocked Negi upward. Zazie summoned her cards up from the ground and sent them at Negi. He was struck and they pinned him to the wall of the castle like shuriken. Zazie chuckled as her zombies approached Negi.
"No...you don't!" Negi said. He struggled and broke free of the cards. Zazie gasped and she was struck by a bolt of lightning from Negi along with her zombie minions. The zombies passed out and they vanished. Negi landed on his feet again.
"My. Someone has been hiding his strength." Zazie said. She snapped her fingers and summoned giant cards. They headed for Negi and begun to orbit him.
"Negi! She must be using what she used on the girls before on us!" Chamo said. Negi wasn't sure what to do but he remembered his tie to the Golden Pactio.
"Chamo? Hang on." Negi said. As the cards begun closing in on him, Negi planted his staff into the ground and begun to build magical energy around him. When the cards completely sealed him off, Negi yelled and blew the cards back and off the balcony. Zazie gasped.
"What...what magic is this?!" Zazie said. Negi was now in his golden pactio state with the new outfit and staff. His eyes lit up bright gold.
"Oh. That's right. The golden pactio." Zazie said. Negi pointed his staff at Zazie.
"Now then Zazie. Will you surrender?" Negi said. Zazie laughed.
"Never. This is getting too interesting to stop now!" Zazie said. Negi huffed and charged for Zazie. Zazie surrounded herself with cards and put her arms up. Negi blasted the cards with a giant blast but when they vanished, Zazie was gone!
"What the?! She's gone!" Chamo shouted. Negi looked around frantically for Zazie. Meanwhile, Nagi and the Dreadnoid prince were looking out a shattered window at the ruined town below.
"I see. It's been like this for more than five years now? If I remember right, Negi was born around that time period." Nagi said. The prince sighed.
"I've tried my best to rid this kingdom of that fiend Gragon and bring it back again. But...none of my fellow people believe I am really the prince. Gragon must have tricked them into thinking I perished as well." he said. Nagi turned to him.
"Then what really happened to you?" Nagi said.
"When my father was killed, I witnessed it all. Gragon saw me and tried to do away with me. Luckily, I fled from the kingdom before that really happened. I didn't go back to the kingdom until a few months after my flee. And when I returned, you saw what became of the kingdom." he said.
"Yes. He's reduced it to a barren wasteland." Nagi said. The prince looked at Nagi.
"But tell me something Nagi. Why have you come? I thought you were only here to exterminate the Dreadnoids from existance." he said.
"Well, looking at things now, I believe I only killed fakes that Gragon made so he would be able to keep the real Dreadnoids into making his fiendish bugs." Nagi said "I'm here with my son and friends to finish what he started." The prince gasped.
"Surely you're joking. I've heard about your son, Negi Springfield. The boy is only ten. He cannot take down someone as mighty as Gragon." the prince said. Nagi chuckled.
"You would be surprised as to what my son is capable of. Don't doubt him just yet. In fact, you ought to be thanking him. When his friends were taken and infected, he managed break them free of the bug's control." Nagi said. The prince gasped.
"Wait. You mean...?" he said. Nagi smiled.
"Gragon doesn't stand a chance." Nagi said. Meanwhile, Negi still couldn't find Zazie. Just then, he could hear Zazie's chuckle and she leaped on top of Negi.
"What the?!" Negi said. He soon saw he was pinned to the ground by more cards. She threw a card in front of him and it called a zombie Mana. She pointed both guns at Negi. But Negi managed to shout a spell that froze the zombie Mana and gave him time to break free.
"Not a bad move." Zazie said. She called back Mana and leaped back. Negi charged for Zazie but she concealed herself into a card and multiplied it. Negi soon saw he was surrounded by many copies of Zazie's card.
"Oh man. I HATE these kinds of games!" Chamo said. Zazie laughed and something zipped by and struck Negi. It ducked into one of the cards and zipped out again. Negi was struck again by the speeding attacker.
"Where...where did that come from? Is that Zazie?" Negi said. Zazie laughed as the fast creature zipped by constantly time after time. Each time it came out, Negi was hit before finally falling over.
"Ah! Negi! You got to get up!" Chamo said. Negi got back up and looked at all of the cards with Zazie's image.
"I know that thing attacking me is Zazie. I just need to catch her before she gets me again." Negi said. But just then, Zazie struck Negi hard in the back and she vanished into another card.
"The only problem is she's way too fast." Negi thought. Chamo tried to spot anything different in the cards before she attacked. Luckily, he saw something. The copy behind Negi looked ready to rush out.
"Negi! Behind you!" Chamo shouted. Negi gasped and looked back. Zazie came running out but she ran into Negi facing her.
"Ah! Bad idea!" Zazie said. She rushed back and dove into the card before Negi could grab her.
"Darn it. We almost had her!" Chamo said. Just then, Negi realized something. He could hear the faint sound of Zazie's footsteps everytime she was going to attack.
"So...if I...that's it." Negi thought. He put his staff in the ground and held it. After that, he stood still like a frozen statue. Without even touching him, Zazie zipped around Negi faster than Chamo could follow her.
"Negi! What are you doing? You're just standing there?! Come on! Get her! She's right in front of you!" Chamo shouted. But Negi didn't say a word. He just stood there with his eyes closed.
"Actually Chamo..." Negi whispered. Right when he could hear Zazie's footstep hit the ground, his eyes flashed open. He turned around quickly and caught Zazie by her arm.
"She's right here!" Negi shouted. He fired a blast of lightning from his staff and it zapped Zazie. When Zazie was struck, the other cards vanished into thin air.
"Agh! You rotten little! You cheated!" Zazie said. She leaped back and summoned more cards. But instead of orbiting Negi like before, they blocked all the exits off the balcony and they became giant walls around Negi and Zazie. On the cards were Asuna, Kotaro, Setsuna, Nekane, Makie, Konoka and the other girls looking afraid.
"Now then...can you escape me?!" Zazie said. She snapped her fingers and five cards appeared in her hand. She threw them in front of her and multiple Asuna zombies arose.
"All right. Here's the name of this game. Only ONE of these is the real Asuna. If you find her, you survive. If you pick the wrong one, you'll become a card along with your furry little weasel! And you only get one shot!" Zazie said. Chamo gulped. Negi figured that the one directly in front of him was Asuna since he thought Zazie would fool him.
"Fine. I'll pick...!" Negi said. But right before he said which one, he froze in place. He couldn't feel any life emitting from the Asuna copy in front of him. In fact, he was having a hard time finding the real Asuna. Zazie smiled and tapped her foot.
"I'm waiting. Pick someone already." Zazie said. Negi didn't know what do. He thought he had it figured out, but the power of the golden pactio was showing him otherwise.
"Wait. I...I don't feel Asuna's prescence anywhere. That means...Zazie is...tricking me?" Negi thought. Chamo watched Negi's face feeling pretty worried. Suddenly, he heard someone's voice calling his name. It sounded like Asuna.
"Negi...help...me..." Asuna said. Negi looked towards Zazie and gasped. He saw what looked like Asuna's face hiding on a card behind Zazie. Negi could see a glowing light lighting up the card. He was sure of it now.
"All right. I pick...that one!" Negi shouted. He pointed at the card behind Zazie and fired a blast of lightning. With the oddest of luck, the card he zapped was the real Asuna. She came leaping out of the card and landed by Negi's side. Zazie was also struck and her cards went flying everywhere. The cards soon shined brightly and all of Negi's group were ejected out of the cards.
"What in the..?! You rotten kid! How did you know?!" Zazie said. Negi smiled.
"Because Asuna and I...are best friends. And I would NEVER fall for an imposter like those you showed me!" Negi shouted. Zazie gasped and the cards around them vanished. Zazie collapsed to her knee completely out of breath. Negi figured now was the best chance and he charged for Zazie.
"No! Go away! Stay back!" Zazie said. She summoned one last card to protect herself, but Negi's magic broke through and he struck Zazie with one last blow. In his other arm was Zazie's regular form with her dark form collapsed.
"How could you...professor?" she said. Her dark form faded away as the real Zazie gained consciousness. The others watched Zazie and Negi feeling relieved that both were all right. But Nekane and Anya felt hopeless.
"Negi. We...couldn't protect you. Forgive us." Nekane thought. With Zazie now added to their side, she activated her powers and they left the balcony. They returned to the other room and saw the door to the right was now open. They entered it with hopes of another of their class within it.
"Only Ayaka and Evangeline are left. This Gragon guy must be getting desperate now." Sakurako said. Just then, they heard someone approaching from behind. It was Nagi and the prince.
"So here you are. Good thing we found you." Nagi said. Negi couldn't believe it.
"Hey! Nagi. You're all right!" Asuna said. Nagi nodded and saw Zazie and Mana with them.
"I see some more of your class is back. Allow me to further help you Negi." Nagi said. The prince offered his aide as well. Nagi introduced the prince to the group and they introduced themselves.
"Like Nagi says, don't worry. We'll bring down Gragon for sure!" Sakurako said. The prince said he would need some pretty good convincing to have him believe that.
"Well, just watch us!" Kotaro said. The next room Negi and the others entered was a large music room with a shattered piano in the corner. The drapes in the windows were shredded and the windows were shattered, the entire room seemed completely destroyed and abandoned. But by the window, they saw a blonde haired girl looking out it. She turned around and it was Ayaka.
"I should have guessed. Only YOU could have made it this far in one piece...you imposters." Ayaka said. Asuna growled.
"All right Ayaka! That's enough!" Asuna shouted. The others nodded and faced Ayaka.
"Yeah! Come on Ayaka! Don't you recognize us? It really is us!" Makie said. Negi and Asuna hoped Ayaka would realize this. But she raised one hand and it changed into a werewolf claw. She looked at them with her eyes turning black and red.
"I thought I told you to stop lying." Ayaka said. She let out a giant howl that caused a massive gust of air. Negi and the others held their position as hard as they could. Seeing a giant gush of air coming, Nekane stepped in and made a barrier around Negi's group. They were blown back just as a barrier rose up.
"Professor!" Nodoka shouted. Ayaka had gone into her full werewolf form and faced the ones remaining in the barrier. The three remaining to take on Ayaka were Negi, Asuna and Kotaro.
END OF CHAPTER