I do not own Mahou Sensei Negima. I only own the OCs in this fic.

Author Shout-Outs:

HikariNoTenshi-San: Ah, yes! People will begin to choose sides from here on. And thanks for the review!

Yipstar: Actually, I did put indicators every time I had a scene change, but FanFiction had some kind of an update to its upload/text interface and all of them disappeared on me. However, I have since replaced all of them and will be using different indicators from now on so it shouldn't happen again. Thanks for reviewing!

Murraymints999: I'm not really sure how to respond to compliments like that. But you are right that many authors who start stories like this never finish. Perhaps it's sheer stubbornness that keeps me from giving up. Well whatever it is I'm glad you still enjoy this little story of mine! But I really, really, hope this chapter turns out alright because it has several big revelations that could mess the whole thing up if the readers don't like them!

Midnight Finalage Throw: Again I'm uncertain on how to answer compliments. I think my biggest flaw as a writer is that I have low self-esteem. Either that or the crappy computer I'm typing on right now! But there is some light at the end of that tunnel because the other members of my household have started pricing computers!

ColinatorGX: Thank You! I hope you continue to enjoy the story!

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Bold – Chanting in Greek

Underlined – Chanting in Latin

Shadow Hunters

Chapter XXV

The Response

"Rakan Ten Thousand Blazing Fists!"

It was a testament to Alexander's skill in prognostication that he was able to dodge every one of those ten thousand fists. The Shadow Hunter had been using similar evasive maneuvers for the entire fight and it was starting to get on Rakan's nerves.

"Damn, he's good," thought the Crimson Wing member. "I think I should have taken on the dragon instead."

Rakan had a specialty as a hired soldier: the extermination of dangerous magical beasts. Going by this, most would have assumed that Rakan would have gone after Gaul first. However, Rakan loved rising to new challenges and heights. His entire career was based around it. So he had chosen to fight the blue-robed Shadow Hunter just to see what he could do. But now he had run into a problem.

Alexander Titov was proving to be one of the slipperiest bastards Rakan had ever encountered, even with his forty-four years of battle experience. The veteran soldier knew what his opponent was doing: using fortune-telling magic to correctly anticipate all of Rakan's attacks and successfully react to them. It was a simple enough trick, fortune-telling magic being taught to even the youngest and most junior of mages, but Alexander's skill with it was such that it could not be countered directly.

Still, there was always a way to beat 'em, and Rakan was kind of working on a tight schedule. From what he had seen, both his opponent and the dragon Kagetarou was fighting were on the same level as the Crimson Wing. Kagetarou was strong, but he wasn't that strong, and although he was holding his own for now, it would only be a matter of time before he was overwhelmed and left Rakan caught between both of the Shadow Hunters. While Rakan had enough confidence in his ability to hold his own in that situation, it would still be a pain in the ass, so he would try to avoid it while still possible.

"Your strength is truly terrifying, Rakan of the Thousand Blades," said Alexander, breaking Rakan's line of thought. "Even though I've been able to avoid all of your blows so far, I can tell that it would only take five or six to take me down for good."

Rakan smirked again. "Five or six? I was thinking maybe three or four. Somebody who does nothing but dodge all the time doesn't really have the right to brag about how well they can take a punch."

Now it was Alexander's turn to smirk. "You also live up to your reputation of not being very intelligent. I've heard snappier comebacks from my breakfast cereal."

It just so happened that Gaul overheard this part of the conversation and decided to add his two cents. "Come to think of it, he does have another nickname. What was it, the Immortal Gasbag, or…"

"It's the Immortal Fool, you insolent dragon!" snapped Kagetarou without thinking. "Show some respect for Rakan-dono, you…oh…"

Now Rakan looked unhappy. "Thanks for trying to help, Kage-chan, but from now on keep your masked mouth shut." Now even more frustrated than he had been before, Rakan transformed one of his swords into a lance, charged it with one of his energy blasts, and hurled it at Alexander. The blue-robed mage sidestepped the attack, and the weapon smashed into the mountainside, creating a nightmarish explosion.

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Asuna felt as though she must be in the middle of a bad dream. Makie Sasaki was one of the most simple-minded and innocent people in the whole of her former class. She wasn't even supposed to know about magic! Yet all of a sudden, Makie had jumped to the defense of an extremely dangerous magician who she was addressing as 'Sensei' and who had just admitted to holding another member of their former class prisoner.

The whole thing was more than a little confusing. So confusing, in fact, that Nodoka had to voice Asuna's question for her. "W-what are you doing, Makie-chan?"

Makie's face formed a sad smile. "I'm helping you guys," she answered. "Aleric-sensei is very powerful. I don't think there's anyone here who could defeat him in a fight. And he doesn't have any mercy against serious opponents. I'm stopping you from committing suicide."

"But… but when did you learn about magic?" shouted Asuna, who had found her voice but not lost her confusion. "And what do you mean 'Sensei'? Don't you realize that he's…?" Asuna was about to point out the recently captured Chisame but Makie cut her off.

"Chisame-chan shouldn't have tried to steal from Aleric-sensei!" She spoke with slightly more force than before. "What he and Negi-sensei are trying to do is really important, and it has to be done without a lot of people knowing about it. What Chisame-chan did might have put everything in danger!"

"Makie is correct," Aleric supported his student. "We have no plans to harm your friend if that's what has you so worried. But we have to make sure that she won't go hacking into any of our databases anymore."

"And how do we know we can take you at your word?" asked Kaede from her position behind Aleric. Since her attack on the Shadow Hunter leader had failed she had been locked in a staring contest with his Minister Magi, Kevin. The excited gleam the kunoichi kept seeing in the tan-robed mage's eyes didn't inspire confidence that Chisame would be totally unharmed.

"Killing people is not my long-term goal," said Aleric, glancing backward for a moment. "Everything that I am doing at this moment, every alliance, every imprisonment, and unfortunately every killing, all has an important overriding purpose. That is what Project I is."

"Let's hear about this project of yours, then!" It was Eishun Konoe who erupted in anger this time. "What is this thing that the Shadow Hunters are trying to do?"

Makie opened her mouth like she wanted to answer, but closed it again and looked back to Aleric. The Shadow Hunter leader gave a small smirk, closed his eyes, shook his head and sighed. "Well, at this point, I don't suppose it would hurt to give you guys a small sample," he said. "It might even help, actually."

Aleric cleared his throat. "The explanation behind Project Infinity goes all the way back to the earliest times of my life, so you'll have to bear with me while I tell you a bit of a story." When nobody spoke or moved to interrupt, Aleric continued. "I was born twenty-five years ago to pure-blood mages in the city of Megalomesenbria, but I was brought up in this world. The reason for this is simple: by the time I was five months old, both my parents were dead. I know," Aleric said, raising his index finger, "that some of you are probably thinking that this was because of the war instigated by Cosmo Entelecheia. But with a bit of figuring with dates, you'll see that my parents died before the war."

The green-cloaked mage waited a few moments for this to sink in before going on. "Thanks to memories they left embedded in an item they left to me, I know that they perished as a result of a long-standing feud with several residents of the Hellas Empire. I'll be the first to admit that Fate Averruncus's group was one of the main driving forces behind the war that was soon to follow, but they were merely taking advantage of what was already there: the inherent animosity that the peoples of the Magic World have for one another."

"And your point is what exactly?" asked Konoemon warily.

"That is one of the largest points of Project Infinity," said Aleric with a smile. "I intend to unite the Magic World once and for all time! And I'll start by doing away with both the Confederation and the Empire!"

Expressions and feelings of shock ripped through the Shadow Hunter's audience. A few seconds of open-mouthed disbelief passed before the first reply was formed.

"You are…insane," proclaimed Albireo. "That just sounds like a plan for world domination!"

"You think you can do a better job leading that world than all the governors, senators and royalty, do you?" asked Konoemon. "You're confident that you can find the solution that all of their predecessors failed at?"

Aleric waved his hand. "Oh, no, you misunderstand," he said dismissively. "I have no intention of replacing all of the Magic World's leaders, just the ones whose ambitions have descended into greed, and may do so in the future. Let me run a few names past you—Third Princess Theodora of the Hellas Empire, Senator Ricardo of the Megalomesenbrian Senate, and Grandmaster Seras of the independent city-state of Ariadne. These are three of the people I intend to keep around." Aleric smiled again. "What I am trying to eliminate most of all is the distrust that still lingers in the hearts of both races. Since the three I just named are already friends that will just help speed things along."

"The removal of all political boundaries will begin with each nation's military force," said Kevin, finally putting in his two cents' worth. "The Empire's armies and the Confederation's armed forces will both have to be crushed. The time immediately after that will be devoted to removing all the greedy bureaucrats and spoiled nobles from positions of power. Afterward we Shadow Hunters shall return to our military profession, replacing the defunct militaries of both sides and thereby giving all the peoples of the Magic World a single army to bring their problems to. Any additional merging should occur over the next few years, even without our help."

But even as Kevin and Aleric were explaining, Makie was experiencing extreme confusion. That in and of itself was not uncommon; Makie was often confused by complicated speeches. But this time her bewilderment was not due to her somewhat low IQ level. It was because the explanation her master was giving to her friends was not exactly the same explanation he had given to her. Still she was perceptive enough to realize that there was perhaps a reason for this and decided not to interrupt.

"And what about what all the people think?" demanded Asuna. "What if they don't want their countries changed? What if they like their lives the way they are?"

Aleric shook his head sadly. "If they disapprove of the coming changes it's because they don't know enough about their own situation to understand what's best for them."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Yue asked, now genuinely interested. But the green-cloaked mage did not answer and Takamichi spoke up.

"You must realize," said the teacher, frowning, "that to accomplish this vision of yours a certain number of deaths is a prerequisite. Several hundred at the very least."

"I am a soldier as well as a mage," said Aleric, stony-faced. "I am prepared to accept the consequences for my actions. And besides, everyone dies eventually." Aleric spared a moment to glance wistfully down at the new gravestone he was still standing near. "But whoever said that death is the end?"

Yue and Nodoka both blinked in surprise and uncertainty at the statement while Evangeline chuckled. "That's some good determination you've got there," she said with her toothy grin. "I can see why the boy took a shine to you."

"Negi is very fond of anyone who is willing to sacrifice their time in order to teach him," replied Aleric. "For example, when I offered to teach him the Magia Erebea that you created he practically jumped at the chance."

Instantly Eva's entire demeanor changed. Her smirk transformed into a look of stunned surprise. "You taught him what?"

This reaction caused quite a stir among the other girls; questioning expressions from Setsuna, Nodoka, Yue, Kaede, and Ku and renewed suspicion and anger from Asuna. Seeing this Aleric held his hands up hoping to placate his audience. "Oh, don't worry, he's proven very adept with it," he said. "Of course I deserve some of the credit as well, as I helped him tame it so it wouldn't overwhelm him. But these days he's so good with that particular spell he could be your successor."

Eva's disturbed expression calmed down somewhat. "My—my successor, huh?" she said, looking down. "Yes, that boy always did have the drive to become that…"

"Enough!" barked Konoemon. "Aleric! You said you came here to deliver Haruna Saotome's Pactio card to her gravesite. This you have done, so why are you still here?"

"There are still a few matters that need to be addressed," Aleric answered, frowning. "The most pressing of which is, now that you know what we are doing, where do the Kanto and Kansai Magic Associations stand? What is your take on my plan?"

Konoemon and Eishun shared a glance and then a nod, and turned back to Aleric.

"You may believe that what you're doing is the right thing," started Eishun slowly, "but you have no right to flip the entire Magical World upside down just to satisfy your own ideas of how it should be run."

"I've met your kind of person before, Aleric," said Konoemon. "The plans your kind come up with never end well."

"I see," said Aleric. "Well, I was going to ask you if I could borrow the World Tree for a brief period, but I can see that that would be utterly pointless now. In which case, I've only one final small piece of business to finish." Aleric pointed to the ground. "You, ermine!"

Chamo jumped as if he had trod on hot coals. "M-me?"

"You are Negi's familiar, are you not?" asked the master mage.

"Y-yes, I am." Chamo looked as though he wished Aleric would speak to anyone else.

"A familiar's place is by the side of the mage he serves," Aleric stated matter-of-factly. "You really ought to come with us so we can bring you back to Negi."

This also caused quite a stir. After a few moments of scattered exclamations, protests, and other unintelligible noises, Konoemon shouted, "Quiet!" With the tumult silenced, the dean continued. "Aleric does have a point about familiars needing to be by their masters' sides," he conceded. "As long as you promise not to help them in any way… I don't see the harm in it."

"Headmaster-san!" stammered Chamo. "I'd love to see Aniki again, but this way is a little…"

"If you're going to let the pervert ermine see Negi…," started Asuna angrily. It was in this moment that Aleric's well-worn patience finally broke. He understood that people like this helped to keep life interesting, but at the moment he was wondering how Negi had survived so many months surrounded by these flakes.

"I don't have time for this," the green-cloaked mage groaned, raising a hand. Chamo gave a strangled yelp of surprise as he was lifted into the air and tossed toward Makie, who caught him. "Could you please carry him, Makie-chan?" Aleric asked. "I think he'll be happiest with you."

"Uh, s-sure," Makie said uncertainly.

"Chamo-kun!" exclaimed Nodoka.

Kaede, Ku Fei, and Setsuna all rushed forward, calling out for the two Shadow Hunters and Makie to stop. Aleric simply ignored them, turned to his tan-robed Minister, and said, "Do it."

Quick as a flash, Kevin had drawn a card out from the folds of his cloak, crying "Adeat!" A burst of light later and Kevin's artifact had come to his hand. At the first sight of it the girls found themselves somewhat under-whelmed; all it appeared to be was a set of five keys on a ring. But they had all had too much experience with the usefulness of Pactio artifacts to underestimate one now. Setsuna, Ku, and Kaede broke off their charge while Asuna sprang forward, ready to use her Magic Cancel if necessary. But it turned out not to be necessary; Kevin simply grabbed one of the keys, pointed it out into space, and turned it as though it was already inside of a lock. Then, before the astonished eyes of the surrounding group, an entire doorway materialized around the Shadow Hunter's artifact key.

It looked very surreal, an entry point just as complete as somebody's front door standing right in the middle of a cemetery with no building attached to it. But aside from its improbable appearance, it seemed to be fully functional; Kevin simply twisted the knob and swung the door into the open position, though there was no sign of this on the other side of the doorframe.

"High-level space manipulation!" realized Takamichi.

Makie quickly rushed through the opening, carrying the panic-stricken Chamo along with her. Aleric moved to follow but suddenly found Asuna charging at him, reaching for his collar. "Get back here, you jerk!" the redhead was screeching. Aleric, an expression of irritation firmly in place, turned to face her. The mage knew that Asuna was immune to most magic but, thanks to Negi, also knew that she was easily distracted. Thus all Aleric did to stop the one-woman army was flick his wrist and cast a mid-level disarming spell. It didn't knock the greatsword she was still holding away but it did send all of her clothes, including her underwear, into one of the nearby trees.

"WHA-WHA-WHAT THE HELL? NOT AGAIN!"

Completely ignoring poor Asuna's crisis, Aleric briskly walked through the stand-alone doorway, followed at once by Kevin, who yanked the key from the door's lock and slammed the door shut behind them. Immediately the door began to fade until there was nothing left of it at all.

A few minutes later, when Asuna's clothes had been retrieved, Konoemon spoke so that everyone would hear him. "There can be no doubt as to our next course of action," he said. "At any cost, we must stop Aleric and his Shadow Hunters."

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Negi let out a sigh of relief as he caught sight of Fortress Ragnarök. The amount of effort he and Fate had had to put into tearing Herald and Sati away from their fight with Tsukuyomi was enough that he nearly gave himself a migraine just by remembering it. And he had been remembering it all throughout the trip home, because he and Rebecca had been sitting on top of their hogtied and gagged teammates the whole way. But now at last they were back, and Negi could focus on something besides Herald's squirming.

"Uh, Captain?" asked Rebecca.

"Yes?" asked Negi, turning to look at her.

"If you want to go on ahead and find your sister, I think I can manage these two," she said, smiling. The movement of the boat slowed, and came to a stop.

"Thanks, Rebecca," said Negi. "I think I'll just take you up on that. But are you sure…"

"Let's check," said Rebecca, bending down so that she had eye contact with Sati. "Would you two mind terribly if I continue babysitting while Negi goes on ahead to meet his sister?"

"Mwy mwonin mif mu moud munvwie mwe!" Sati choked through her gag.

"No, that's great," said Rebecca cheerfully. "You're good to go, Captain." Negi chuckled as he stood up. Herald tried to wriggle out of the seat but Rebecca placed one end of her staff on his back and he went nowhere.

"Thanks again, Rebecca," said Negi. "Just try not to humiliate them too badly." Negi then disappeared with a Ground Contractor.

"You know, you guys," said Rebecca. "You two wouldn't be in this fix if you would just take things easy for once. Honestly, going against Captain Negi's orders just to get a good fight! Don't you two ever get tired?"

"Yeah, right, Beck," thought Herald. "You're one to lecture Sati and me about energy. You're sixteen years old and you've got all the vigor of a seventy-year-old seamstress!"

"I'm sorry, what was that?" The voice was Rebecca's, but it was inside of Herald's head. The trapped Hunter first felt a jolt of panic, then a jolt of outrage.

"Come on, no mind-reading, that's not fair!"

"Well, whatever," said Rebecca out loud. "But I kinda get the feeling you two think of me as an old lady." Rebecca gained a mischievous smile from Herald and Sati's adamant head-shaking. "I happen to have plenty of energy, it's just that there isn't a lot of occasion to use it. But now I see an occasion." Rebecca stood up and used her magic to levitate her two helpless teammates. "I'm going to show the both of you just how spontaneous I can be, all the way back to our quarters. And don't worry, I'm sure this'll hurt you more than it's going to hurt me…"

Meanwhile, Negi was quickly moving across the training grounds, careful to avoid the ones that were currently in use. It wouldn't do to interrupt someone else's team while they were practicing. This had happened a number of times to his team, and although he had always managed to remain courteous during such encounters, he had learned not to expect the same of the other captains. Particularly Team Epsilon's captain.

Negi shook his head. He had always had a talent (though he would occasionally use the term 'curse') for getting along with girls. But from day one Tess McGuiness had been the glaring exception. Granted he and Asuna had never exactly clicked, especially during those first few weeks, but he eventually worked his way into her good graces. This had yet to happen with Tess; for some reason she had hated him ever since their first meeting. Because of this unexplained hatred Team Delta and Team Epsilon had always been rivals, trying to outdo one another on missions. And Tess always seemed to be looking to provoke Negi into a fight when they were off-duty. Negi shook his head again. There were some girls he just didn't think he'd ever understand.

However, Negi realized that all of his musings were neither here nor there and that he was wasting time. His sister was on the island, and he had promised to explain everything (well, as much as he was able) to her and Anya when he returned. It was time he followed through with that promise. The Hunter captain performed another Ground Contractor, and vanished.

Negi would have been surprised to learn that he had actually left his intended targets behind. Not two minutes after departing the area the colossal worm that belonged to Margaret Falcon and her offspring surfaced in that very spot. Bennie, as he was affectionately called, currently had both Nekane Springfield and Anya Cocolova in his many-tongued mouth.

The worm suddenly turned its head to the side as a new voice cried out, "Bennie!" Only a few meters away was a small dark-haired boy about the age of nine: Alfred and Valarie's older brother Donald. Both of his younger siblings stood behind him as he pointed his finger downward. "Bennie," said Donald, trying to make his voice as deep and intimidating as possible, "drop them."

Bennie dropped his head down, opened his giant maw, and regurgitated two figures out onto the dirt. Nekane and Anya were both covered in worm spit. Nekane was unconscious, having passed out at some point during the ordeal, and Anya was trembling so badly she looked like a blender. But on the plus side, both of them still had all their clothes on.

Donald, Alfred, and Valarie ran forward. "Bennie, go!" snapped the oldest boy. "Get back to your pen! Go nighty-night!"

Bennie the worm hissed in acknowledgement and dived head first back into the soft earth of the island. Within the next few seconds the giant worm was gone.

"I'm so sorry, miss," said Donald to Anya. "Usually he doesn't wander off like that."

"He…doesn't," repeated Anya slowly. "Why…do you have…a worm for a pet in the first place?"

"Ah—Mom got him for us when she was on a trip to the Magic World," said the nine-year-old. "But you're all wet—let me help you." Donald pulled out a wooden wand and started to cast a drying spell over Anya. The fire-mage shuddered a little as the offensive material vanished from her clothes, hair, and skin. Once he was done with Anya, Donald moved to repeat the process with Nekane. At the moment she became completely dry, Nekane moaned and pushed herself up from the ground.

"Anya?" asked the blond-haired woman. "Where'd that worm go?"

"Don't worry, miss," chirped Valarie. "Don sent Bennie back to his pen."

"Yeah, you don't really have to worry about Bennie," said Donald. "He could tell that you two didn't mean any harm. He was just playing around."

Anya came very close to asking the boy what would have happened to a real intruder but wisely decided not to. Visions of severed limbs and digestion were running through her head and she'd really rather not have them confirmed.

"Anyway," Donald continued, "we should go back to our room inside the fortress. I've never met any of them but Mom says that some of the people around here can be pretty strange when they want to be."

Nekane and Anya exchanged glances. Neither one of them was able think of an answer to that statement.

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The casual observer might have been somewhat perplexed to see two cloaked figures, a nineteen-year-old girl, and a talking ermine emerge from a utility shed in the middle of New York City's Central Park. Even most mages would have found this peculiar, because the space magic that would have been required for all of them to fit inside was a rarity at best. But most of the area was under the influence of Aleric's illusionary magic so nobody was able to see anything anyway.

"Ah, well, that was fun," said Aleric as Kevin shut the utility shed door behind the group. "Sorta reminded me of that time when I was nine and I had to fight off three slime creatures by myself."

Kevin snorted and returned his artifact to card form. "You know, it might have been best to take care of all those guys right then," said the tan-cloaked mage. "Considering the fighting styles of most of them, defeating them should be easy for you."

"I'd really rather avoid that scenario," Aleric said simply.

"You mean put it off for as long as you can," returned Kevin smoothly.

"Hey, wait a minute!" demanded Chamo. "Where are we? And what did this guy's artifact do?"

Aleric smiled at the inquiry. "Yes, well, you see," started the Shadow Hunter leader, "Kevin's artifact has the power of spatial manipulation. With a bit of preparation, it can set up an escape route through nearly any doorway on the planet. It's quite handy for quick getaways, as you can plainly see."

"Of course you realize," said Kevin, "that this is privileged information, since you're on our side now."

"Now wait just a minute!" protested Chamo. "I may be Aniki's familiar, but that doesn't…"

"You're on our side," said Kevin, his expression becoming feral, "or I'll kill you." Chamo was quickly sobbing on Makie's shoulder.

"He's terrifying, Nee-san!"

"There, there," said Makie, running a finger through the ermine's fur. "I'm sure Kevin-san didn't actually mean kill, kill."

"Right, I'm just going to use his hide to make a pair of gloves, and let him live out the rest of his days without skin," Kevin said while grinning. This only served to upset Chamo further, who then dove into Makie's cleavage for protection. Makie gave a strangled giggle, took several seconds to adjust to the odd feeling of having a small animal down her front, and then addressed her master.

"Aleric-sensei," she said apprehensively, "is it really necessary for us to have to fight them? Can we even fight them?"

"Makie-chan, you know the answers to both those questions already," Aleric replied sadly, turning away. "We have always possessed the necessary firepower to take on one or two Magic Associations. That, plus we have several groups of the same level on our side already. And even if we didn't, we would have no other choice but to fight them at this point. Project I has to be completed."

"I do know that," Makie conceded, still looking apprehensive, "but it just seems that if we explained everything to them, they would want to help us. I mean, when you were talking to the dean, you didn't even tell him about the Magic World, sensei! About how it's collapsing and we're going to stop it from happ…"

"Makie-chan, NO!" shouted Aleric, spinning around, his expression one of undiluted horror. Makie appeared startled by the interruption, but suddenly her eyes went wide and glassy, and her breathing hitched. The gymnast collapsed to the ground and began twitching as if in extreme pain. Aleric rushed to her side and placed his hands on her, invoking a healing spell. "Dammit!" the master mage swore. "Kevin! The fourth key, now!"

Kevin had already re-summoned his artifact and used another of the keys to open a new doorway in midair. Kevin didn't bother to be gentle with this one and instead opted simply to kick it open. Just as swiftly, Aleric scooped the still-twitching Makie up in his arms and rushed through the door into the unknown space beyond. And if one looked closely, one could see dust falling out from Makie's shirt as she was carried—dust that had, until recently, been Negi Springfield's one-time magical familiar.

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Hahahahahaha! If anyone saw that ending coming I'll eat all the doorknobs in my house through a straw! I realize some of you are undoubtedly upset with it so allow me to share with you the upside of this whole thing: this chapter came out much earlier than usual.