Chapter 25

Disclaimer: I need a nap…

(Ruined Dimension, Last Day)

This was it. That was the single theme running through the group's heads. Today was the final day of training; after this, they were officially prepared to return to their own world. None of them knew what to expect. At that time, the demoness chose to manifest herself.

"So, you've made it. I'm actually impressed; most would not survive a year and a half of harsh training with me, but all of you have not only lived, but thrived. I expect that, upon, your return, you will perform admirably," said Grimro, who was smiling slightly. The yokai gaped; for her, it was like she was sending them a parade complete with balloons. "But this is only the final day. Until it is actually time for you all to leave, you will stay here. Now, for your last test…"

Here the group members all looked on either nervously (Yukari and Kurumu), indifferently (Mizore and Wylfred), or even excitedly (Shizuka and surprisingly Inner Moka). No matter their feelings on the subject, none of them could wait to see what would happen. They got their answer when the Fabled tribeswoman turned around, the famous demonic grin on her face. "I've got it! As your final exam, I want all eight of you to fight me." The statement caused all of them to stare at her wide-eyed.

"Wait, wha...?"

"You cannot be serious."

"Eh?!"

"What do you mean Grimro-sensei?"

"I mean exactly what you think. I am going to fight at full power, and I want you all to do the same. Do not let up simply because I am your instructor. If I sense that you are going easy, I shall kill you. This exam shall begin immediately!" she roared, unleashing a wave of demonic youki that increased the pressure in the area to insane levels.

"Prepare yourselves. This is the only chance I shall give you to consolidate your power; once the exam begins I shall give you no such opportunities," the demoness intoned in a loud, booming voice the others could only assume was her demonic presence. They wisely chose to follow her advice and went up to their first state.

Mizore formed her ice gauntlets, an improvement upon her classic ice claws; she also formed the ice katana she had grown fond of. Yukari settled into her Gentle fist stance, wand kept in a sheath looped to her belt for easy access. Kurumu kept her elbows bent, her hands held up a bit and tensed up her wings; it was her personal version of the legendary succubus fighting style. Kokoa transformed her bat into a large, menacing greatbow; it was just as strong and sturdy as her mace, and was highly accurate. Outer Moka got into a boxer's posture, automatically releasing the first level of power in her Cromwell Seal. Inner Moka put her hands in the pockets of her capris in an imitation of the infamous 'Red Leg Style' and released all the power her sealed form had to offer. Tsukune focused his ghoul's youki into his hands and feet; it would be useful for both attack and defense. Wylfred drew both of his swords and held them in a reverse grip; it was a new style that Grimro told him was used by his friend Copilli. Finally, Shizuka removed her glasses and got into a stance that resembled languid dancing.

All in all, the entire group was a menacing bunch. The sheer power coming from them would make most yokai pass out from fear. Grimro was not most yokai, however. She unleashed all of her demonic youki; it took on the appearance of powerful flashes of black light. It eventually enveloped her and caused her wings to expand in size.

She now had a twenty-foot wingspan; the wings themselves were now patterned with blues, purples and golds as well as black. The demoness's nails grew into true talons; they would tear apart any obstacle in their path. Her bun had come undone and her hair now fell in waves down her back; yet it somehow seemed to protrude here and there, almost like spikes. Her red eyes glowed with a true demon's fury; she was the sort of creature that exorcists feared to face.

She slowly addressed the group of young warriors, revealing a mouth full of sharp teeth. "Yes! All of you are ready for your test. There is no time limit in this fight. You have only one goal here: Unleash all of your power and vanquish the enemy! Begin!"

With that, the demoness formed a veritable swarm of clones. Yukari gulped; there had to be at least five hundred doppelgangers! She briefly wanted to run, but looked to where Tsukune and her precious Mokas were standing. They had only hard, determined looks on their faces, as if acknowledging the sheer number of foes but at the same time knowing there was naught to do but fight. The young witch followed their example and steeled herself; if Moka could handle the enemies, so could she!

At a wordless signal, the clones dove forward. The friends were ready. Kokoa, Yukari, Mizore, and Wylfred began the battle by opening fire with a salvo of magic, arrows, ice kunai, and other missiles.

Kokoa effortlessly nocked three arrows onto her bowstring and let them fly. Each arrow found a new home in the throats of three clones. She looked over to where Wylfred was standing to see him stow his swords temporarily and instead firing off round after round of gunfire from the Phoenix gun Grimro had given him. She smiled; together they rained down pure hell on the clones, attacking from a distance.

The ex-mercenary was proficient with the bow, but had found that his affinity for guns was much greater. Thus he had searched for a new weapon and was pleased to find the powerful and accurate alien pistol. Its rounds made the pierced clones resemble Swiss cheese before they summarily fell from the sky.

Mizore focused her powers and unleashed a small wave of cold air that seemingly did nothing at first; after about thirty seconds, the true effect was released. The cold wind had frosted over the clones' wings and limbs, hampering their movement and making them slower. After that, it was cake for the others to down even more clones with their magic and projectiles. There was a brief moment of genius when Mizore infused her ice powers into one of Wylfred's explosive rounds; the resulting blast froze the clones in a large area, after which they shattered from the impact with the ground.

That blast had taken out around fifty clones; unfortunately there were still about four hundred twenty left. They also knew that their instructor was lying in wait for them somewhere, so they could not afford to use too much of their youki (or Dark Force, as Wylfred's power was named) just yet. It was truly a daunting task.

Thankfully, Yukari was not considered a genius for nothing. As soon as she had regained her confidence, the cogs in her mind immediately began to turn in an effort to eliminate as many foes as possible while conserving youki. The first choice was to have the ex-mercenary use his Avalanche of the Jotun ability. While it would immediately solve the clone problem, its use left Wylfred exhausted and thus an easy target for the demoness should she choose to manifest. That was out of the question.

The second was to have Mizore use her Icy Wind ability. While freezing a few foes was easy to accomplish, using it to such a degree would be youki-exhausting. Nothing there. The third and final option was quite unorthodox, but so was their group. Now seemed like the best time…

"Guys, I've got an idea! Come over here!" The young witch motioned for her friends to gather round. When they did so, they huddled together, keeping their voices and plans a secret from the prying eyes and ears of the clones, currently being kept away by a barrier of magic that Yukari had erected; this barrier was known as a Paling.

"What is it, Yukari-chan?" asked Tsukune. He was willing to go along with any plan as long as it wiped out the veritable army coming down on them.

"Well, it's a bit risky, but I think I can pull it off," she said, summoning a strange round object with her wand. It was a large round ball wrapped with tan bandages wrapped around it; written on the bandages was the kanji for 'blast'. The fuse attached to it was a short oil-soaked rope; when lit, it would only be a few seconds before the bomb went off. The entire thing was vaguely cherry-shaped.

Mizore's eyes widened slightly when she saw the bomb. "That's a Tamaya cherry bomb! How did you get your hands on one of those? They don't make them anymore!"

Yukari smirked deviously. "It's not a Tamaya bomb, it just looks like one. I was studying one day when I found a scroll detailing them in the Library. I quickly reproduced one and modified it to my own specifications. I injected the bandages on it with some of my most potent magic so that the blast will be huge and destructive."

The young witch then filled them in with her plot. "The plan is to temporarily drop the Paling. You guys will take care of any stray clones while I light the fuse. Then Inner Moka-chan will throw the bomb upwards while I put up the barrier again. If it works, the clones will be taken out. If it doesn't we're taken out instead. What do you say?"

The silver-haired Moka cracked her neck and smiled. "Sounds like fun. After all, what's life without a little risk?" Her tone was smooth and sultry; it caused Tsukune and her outer self to blush (in equal parts arousal and embarrassment) while it made Yukari a little wet. Everyone present minus that small group sweatdropped at the excitement in her voice.

The brunette smiled winningly. "Let's go then! Everyone ready, I'm gonna drop the Paling, desu~!" As soon as she said that, everyone tensed into their fighting stances, ready to fend off any rogue doppelgangers who dared to stray too close to them. To ensure the success of their plan, they formed a tight circle around their youngest friend. With that, the blue glow of magic disappeared as their plot began.

Immediately, several things happened. The first was that the clones saw an opening and instantly dove forward, actually blocking out the 'sun' with their sheer numbers. Wylfred was tempted to say something about fighting in the shade but chose instead to shout, "They come!" He drew his swords and held them in the reverse grip again; he knew that at the speed they were coming his pistol would be a liability. Kokoa seemed to have the same opinion as she transformed Nazo (is that the right name?) into a large Scottish-style claymore.

The clones were barely thirty feet above them when Yukari yelled, "Now!" She lit up the fuse of the bomb with a small fire spell. The deadly weapon was then grabbed by Inner Moka and thrown upwards with an impressive display of vampiric power. Then a rogue clone dove straight down at the young witch; it had taken advantage of the brief opening to strike.

Yukari saw this and knew she had no hope of escape; the doppelganger was coming in too fast for her to dodge or erect the Paling again. She widened her eyes, horrified at the thought of dying and failing to protect her friends; she stood stock-still and waited for the end to come, but it never did.

"SOUL FIST!"

An orange ball of youki collided with the clone, its sheer speed and power crashing into the clone with incredible force. The ball then exploded, taking the doppelganger with it. Yukari gaped; there was only one individual who could have fired such a blast… "Cow-tits?"

To her surprise, Kurumu smiled back and ignored the jab. "Consider this a favor short stack. Hurry and put up the barrier again; the bomb won't last too much longer!" she shouted, swatting away another clone with her dangerously sharp nails.

"Right!" replied the budding teenager; her respect for the succubus had skyrocketed in that short amount of time. She quickly took advantage of this briefest of chances and chanted a few words in a dead language. The familiar blue glow of the Paling returned as the group breathed individual sighs of relief. "You guys better cover yourselves! That blast won't get through my barrier but the light certainly will! Shield your eyes!"

The group immediately followed the witch's advice; she had matured enough to become a reliable source of counsel for all of them. They crouched down and covered their heads with their arms (and wings).

Twenty feet above them, a clone realized what the strange lit ball was and moved to diffuse it only to receive severe burns on its hand and subsequently dispel. The oil-soaked fuse grew ever shorter as the nearby copies attempted to put it out only to meet the same fate as the previous one. And then…there was no such thing as a fuse, or even a bomb for that matter. It had done what it was designed to do: explode.

The resulting blast was equal parts destructive and beautiful. Rather than the big, fiery blast everyone (including Yukari) was expecting, they were witness to an equally-destructive boom that strongly resembled fireworks, complete with confetti and shapes, specifically the kanji for 'blast'. It was the entire group's opinion (even Mizore, who generally disliked anything to do with fire and/or explosives) that the explosion was a work of art.

(Another World)

Deidara sneezed. "I have the feeling that someone somewhere referenced me, un."

His partner Sasori shrugged. "You idiot, you're just catching a cold. No one is talking about you." He then hit the Iwa terrorist on the head, hard.

"You're so mean, Sasori-danna."

(Ruined Dimension)

When the smoke cleared several seconds (twenty-seven to be exact) later, there was nothing but feathers floating in the air. Besides this, there was not even a trace left of the sizeable force opposing them. "Way to think, Yukari-chan!" Outer Moka hugged the young witch tightly in an expression of thanks; said witch blushed furiously at being so close to her beloved (at least according to her).

The sound of clapping soon reached their ears as the group suddenly tensed all feelings of elation rapidly gone. "Excellent! I did not think that you would defeat my Army of Night so quickly! All of you have come so far in such a short time! I must say, I'm quite impressed."

They turned towards the Pyramid of the South to see their soon-to-be former instructor in her full demon form. A sincere smile played on her lips as she spoke to them. "Now I hope that you're all sufficiently prepared. I'm not going to-"

"Côtelette (Ribs)!"

Faster than anyone could follow, Inner Moka ran towards the demoness at full speed then went into a handstand. From that position, she lashed out with her leg in a wide arc, catching Grimro in her ribs. The vampiress wasted no time and, using the momentum from her kick, landed another attack. "Selle (Lower Back)!"

The quick handstand combo knocked the demoness back a far distance, causing her to crash into the far wall of the Villa of Flowers. The shocked expressions on everyone's faces (including the attack's recipient) were fixated on the silverette.

She merely shrugged them off, however. "I grew tired of waiting. She said she would not waste time, and I adopted the same ideal," she stated, getting up from her position and settling into the Black Leg stance again.

To their collective surprise the demoness smiled and got up rather easily (How many times has that happened, anyway?). She then crossed her clawed hands in front of her in her customary stance. "I hope that wasn't all you had. That kick was strong but it won't be nearly enough. Come!"

Inner Moka grinned ferally at her, causing everyone to visibly tense. "Gladly."

GRIMRO'S DEMONIC ENCYCLOPEDIA

ENTRY 2x: GHOULS

Ghouls are humans who have undergone the transformation from their former selves into vampires. However, the transformation has only gone halfway, causing the victim to become something new altogether.

Due to their incomplete state, ghouls have little to no self-control. Indeed, many of them are little more than bloodthirsty berserkers. In fact, the only way to stop a ghoul on a rampage is to kill them outright. It is possible for an infected human to hold back their savage nature, but only through certain means such as sealing their powers.

Unfortunately, since most means of sealing involve the person's emotions, they can be rather unstable and tend to fail, as is the case with one Tsukune Aono. This young man has shown the ability to temporarily contain his powers and even use them for short bursts in his human state. No other person has achieved the same heights as him.

The simple fact that he can retain a bit of his powers in his human form is an incredible achievement. I shall have to continue to monitor his progress. With the right training, he can surpass even the pureblood vampires in strength.

A/N: Wow, these chapters are getting harder to write *sweat*. See you next update! Unknownbyself, away! *casts Retreat*