Chapter Twenty-Nine: Krory's Castle Part III

Written: July 6, 14


Lavi could not believe his luck. Ignoring his near death experiences via cannibalistic plants, vampires and Akuma, along with the trek to locate Allen and Kagome with Bookman, Lavi just had the most gorgeous woman in the whole area call him a "cutie," and express interest in him by asking if he wanted to become her lover. Without a doubt, the perverted redhead was in heaven.

"Would I?!" He hollered hearts protruding around him. His eye swirled with glee whilst he walked towards the blonde.

Kagome and Allen, stunned, watched Lavi in anger and semi-hatred. "Lavi!" shouted Allen, sounding desperate. He had managed to free one hand from the plants killer grip, and was using it to point venomously at the blonde. "This is no time to be finding love! Especially with that!"

The blonde hissed, her face twisting into an ugly expression. "'That'? Huh?" She repeated angered specks forming all around her face.

Lavi stopped mid-walk and sighed. "Ah, Allen, you're such a child…"

At the sight, Kagome looked away, shaking her head. I'm not going to even bother, she decided. Let the two idiots bicker themselves to death. She eyed their surroundings in semi-disgust. Then again, with these man-eating plants around, I wouldn't be surprised if that did happen. Beads of sweat formed behind her head and neck. She exhaled again, this time louder than before.

The woman continued to speak. "What are you three doing here? I'm Eliade, Lord Krory's Assistant."

So her name is Eliade; how interesting. Kagome made a mental note to ask the Earl about Eliade the next time she saw him. Perhaps there is more to this Akuma than meets the eye.

Eliade watched Kagome wearily. Yet her gaze shifted when Allen shouted struggling to free his other arm. "We've come for the villager the Lord took!"

"We're Vampire Hunters!" Lavi added, only to be smacked in the back of the head by a shoe.

"What the hell?!" he turned around to see a one foot shoeless Kagome glaring daggers at him. Without speaking, her glare spoke for itself: Baka Usagi come here and help; if not you're dead!

Chuckling nervously, the redhead nodded, gulped numerous times and cast a longing glance at Eliade before stalking back towards Kagome and Allen.

Meanwhile, Eliade arched a brow. "Villager?" she repeated. "Hmm, if you want, you can have him!" The three watched as she removed a body from the casket. She held him by the foot while looking away in repugnance. "I was just going to bury it. But if you want him… he's all yours." With surprising force, she launched the body sending it flying straight to Allen.

"Franz!" he screamed, desperately trying to free himself. Yet, he was too slow; before he even liberated his arm, a nearby plant stretched its mouth wide open and swallowed the body whole.

Both Lavi and Kagome's jaws dropped. All the remained of the body was part of his left boot, which was coated in blood. Lavi's face quickly paled while Kagome looked away, struggling to hold back a sudden accumulation of bile.

How horrid…

"What?!" A shout from Allen snapped both teens out of their dazes. Looking to the right, they saw Allen sporting a look of shock to seeing the flower and its surrounding neighbours developing multiple dark stars while turning a matching shade of grey.

Even Eliade looked surprised, "Hmm."

A large clump of hair fell in front of Kagome's face, partially blinding her. She blew at them in vain, but stopped suddenly. Again, her face paled. "W-What's that noise?" She stuttered upon hearing multiple popping sounds.

Lavi rubbed his chin. "I'm not sure." He looked around the room. "Hmm, it looks like the flowers are popping," he said calmly only to stop and gape a second later. "What!" He hollered his voice rising by several octets.

"Oh no!" screamed Kagome. "If that's happening don't tell me—"

"The flowers will explode!" Lavi finished for her.

The two shared a hesitantly frightful stare when abruptly the room exploded in a flourish of lights, making all three exorcists scream with fright.


Huffing and puffing, Kagome, Lavi and Allen struggled to sit upright as their lungs viciously fought for air. Allen clutched his stomach, groaning, while Lavi was on all fours struggling to stand. Sprawled out not too faraway was Kagome, whose face was a pale shade of white. She was staring upright into the night sky with a semi-frightful look.

"We're lucky," she whispered, exhaling loudly.

"Yeah," Allen agreed, panting. "We got away with just a few bruises… thanks to our suits." Kagome made a mental note to graciously thank Johnny, Tapp, and the other scientists who designed and fabricated their uniforms upon returning to the Order.

"We're pretty amazing in general, eh?" Lavi wheezed, coughing loudly. "I thought we were goners for sure."

"Such a pessimist, Lavi-kun," Kagome chuckled. She sat up straight, muttering to herself about the pains in her side. In an attempt to ignore them, she wobbly stood up and walked towards Allen. "Allen-kun," she whispered, dropping down beside him. "How are you feeling?"

The white haired exorcist ran a hand through his hair. "I-I've been better," he stuttered, looking around the area. Kagome leaned in closer, studying the intensity of his gaze.

"Allen-kun, what's wrong?"

"Look," he instructed. "We're in a cemetery."

Kagome blinked, stunned, before realizing it too. "Oi, Lavi-kun, look this way!" She shouted.

The sound of vomiting greeted them. "Eh?" Allen and Kagome looked sideways and saw Lavi, still on all fours, barfing in the corner. They looked away, saying nothing.

"Sorry," the redhead uttered softly, "I got hit in the stomach. I'm gonna be sick… again." As Lavi was preoccupied with emptying his unsettled stomach, Kagome and Allen got to their feet and began to search the graveyard.

"Makeshift graves," Kagome whispered, counting off eight. "I wonder who they're for."

"I think it's for the villagers Lord Krory carried off." Allen deduced. "That Eliade said she was on her way to bury Franz. And look… there are eight graves, which match the amount of victims the mayor told us about."

"You sure they're not just for pets?" Lavi questioned, joining them.

Kagome rolled her eyes. "Get real, Patchy."

"Patchy?" both boys repeated, whipping around to face her.

"Ugg…" She looked away, groaning. "Forget it. Let's keep investigating."

Lavi smirked before stating, "Allen, your deduction is logical, but Krory's killed nine people, not eight." He corrected the youngster whilst fiddling with his scarf. Kagome, who stood not too far from Lavi, briefly noted the smells of bile, blood and… beef jerky coming off him. She arched an eyebrow before scrunching her nose as she slowly inched away. Luckily, Lavi was too busy speaking with Allen to notice her actions and comment rather inappropriately on them.

"But the first victim evaporated, Lavi," Allen explained briefly touching a nearby gravestone.

"Uh, Allen-kun," Kagome pointed out nervously.

"Hmm?" he looked her way, "Yes, Kagome-chan?"

She pointed forward. "You broke the makeshift tombstone."

"WAH!"

"AAHH! YOU BROKE IT!" Lavi hollered.

"I BARELY TOUCHED IT!" Allen seethed, slapping Lavi on the back of his head.

Kagome rolled her eyes before crossing her arms over her chest. "If you two are done, then maybe you should take a closer look at the grave and the ground surrounding it." Capturing the boys' attention and interest, the three leaned forward to see the ground covered with pentacles.

"It's the blood of the virus," Lavi whispered.

"But how?" exclaimed Allen.

"There must be an Akuma buried here," Kagome answered.

Lavi looked off into the distance. For once, he appeared serious. "Come to think of it, when that flower ate Franz, didn't pentacles appear? Could it be that… perhaps Franz was an Akuma?"

Allen stiffened. "There's one way to determine whether or not that's true." He paused. "We need to investigate the other graves."

"Right boss," saluted Kagome and Lavi making Allen cringe. Before allowing the chance for Allen to answer, they split up to investigate the remaining graves.

"Allen-kun, there are pentacles over here," Kagome shouted from three gravestones away.

"There are pentacles around this one too, Allen," Lavi chorused, five gravestones left of Allen.

Allen, having taken on the role of leader, surveyed the scene before them. Based on Kagome and Lavi's sightings, along with his own, all eight graves bore the markings of Akuma pentacles. Without a doubt, there was something wrong. "We may have made a big mistake," he hissed.

Kagome and Lavi returned. "What do we do now?" Lavi asked, crossing his arms behind the back of his head.

Kagome nodded. "All eight graves are marked with pentacles. How does that prove anything?"

"Let's dig them up to verify our previous hypothesis," was all Allen suggested.

"WHAT?!"

"I guess that's the only way to find out." Kagome heaved a sigh, moving away from Lavi yet again.


"I can't believe we're doing this… we're actually digging up a grave."

Allen rolled his eye. "Grow up, Lavi. We're almost there."

"Need a hand?" Kagome volunteered.

"No!" Both boys chorused.

She rolled her eyes and looked away. "Idiots," she huffed, partially annoyed that neither one offered—better yet, allowed her to help with the hefty task of digging up the graves.

It would've gone much faster if they let me help, she thought to herself, seething with annoyance.

Suddenly, it was quiet. Curious, Kagome looked up to see Lavi and Allen staring each other down. Both sported serious looks with their faces drenched in sweat and covered in dirt. "Huh?" Just what were they up to?

"Rock, Paper, Scissors!" They then screamed like maniacs, one flashing a 'rock' and the other a pair of 'scissors' with their hands.

She fell over.

What the hell?

"Yay! I win!" Lavi shouted victoriously, dancing around a sulking Allen.

Kagome refused to look their way, let alone acknowledge them, as Allen offered a small prayer of forgiveness before opening the coffin. After Allen successfully opened the grave, he and Lavi leaned forward to inspect the body.

"The skin's rotted away," Lavi noted, studying the corpse intently—and perhaps a tad too curiously in Kagome's opinion.

"It's an Akuma all right," Allen continued.

Kagome jumped to her feet, inching closer. "So the Lord's been killing Akuma, huh?" She questioned them.

Lavi nodded, wiping his sweaty forehead with the back of his arm. "Yeah, all the bodies are Akuma. There are pentacles over their graves because their blood seeped into the ground."

"So that means we're not vampire hunting, but actually looking exorcist hunting." The three shared a round of concerned glances.

Allen was the first to speak. "Lord Krory must be an accommodator."

"It's the sole plausible solution we've got thus far." Lavi agreed. "And then—" Almost like magic, the Lord appeared behind Lavi, startling Kagome and Allen who stared in shock. Before either could activate their Innocence to attack, the Lord whipped his arm out, grabbed Lavi by the jacket and threw him towards the nearest wall.

"Lavi!" they both screamed.

Krory eyed them both and prevented them from passing. "You're the ones…"

Allen protectively pushed Kagome behind him.

"Die, Exorcists!" Krory rushed forward. On instinct, Allen activated his Innocence prepared to defend himself against the Lord. Yet, what he hadn't expected was for Krory to charge straight past him and head directly for Kagome.

"Huh?" With barely enough time to prepare, Krory grabbed Kagome by the shoulders, quickly drawing blood. She screamed in agony.

"Kagome-chan!" cried Allen.

"Girl, you're to be my next victim." Krory smiled, revealing a set of perfectly white fangs.

Kagome struggled in vain to free herself, but the man had a set grip on her shoulders, which restricted her movement. As well, the newly sustained injury did not help. It only increased her paralysis, as the scent of blood in such proximity made her vision and stability waver greatly.

"With the death of your friend and yourself, all of your kind will learn to not cross my path." Taking a large step back, Krory swiftly catapulted Kagome towards an unsuspecting wall, sending her straight through it and into an unknown portion of the Castle.


Kagome screamed at the intensity of pain which pulsated throughout her body. Everywhere hurt; from the top of her head to the ends of her feet. She could barely move; she could barely breathe. She felt like she was dead. If she could have chuckled – without her abdomen hurting like heck – she would have scolded herself mercilessly.

If I were dead, then I wouldn't feel such pain.

"Noah-sama!"

She recognized that voice, it belonged to Eliade.

With great pain, she titled her bloody head to witness the blonde stalk forward.

"Noah-sama, you're injured." Eliade stood before Kagome. "Lord Arystar has injured you." It wasn't a question, but a statement, as she surveyed Kagome's bloody body—particularly, her wounded shoulder.

"That's right," whispered Kagome. "Krory was the one."

Eliade pursed her lips together, "Noah-sama." Her aquamarine eyes turned an alarming shade of red, as they stretched and tightened to form two narrow slits. "You're one of many disciples to serve Earl-sama." Her lips twisted from a firm line into a tight scowl. "He showers your kind with praise, yet pays his true subordinates none. The very praise your 'family' has merited is nothing but pure hogwash." Her voice rose by several octets. "It is us, the Akuma, who deserve the praise, beauty and luxuries he bestows upon Your Kind."

Kagome watched, both confused and fascinated, as Eliade's arms changed shapes to resemble that of a widening cobweb. The supposed 'cobwebs' soon latched themselves onto her shoulders, covering the entire surface with little difficulty.

"W-What are you doing?" She whispered, feeling a tingling sensation soon enter her bloodstream.

Eliade smiled, which resembled more of a smirk. "Numbing you," she explained. "Although I cannot kill you, a 'superior' entirely, I can at least speed up the process by which Lord Arystar already began." Her snide comments continued. "I might not understand your situation, Noah-sama, but honestly, I could not care. Given your past actions and that coat to which you currently sport, I view you as nothing more than a pesky exorcist-like cockroach that I must exterminate."

Kagome's eyes darkened, a shade of amber violently flickering through each orb. "You dare," she snarled her body pulsating, making her skin alternate from translucent white to a ghastly gray. "Hope to kill me?" Without realizing it, a hollow laugh vibrated from the bowels of her throat. Struggling to ignore her body's pain and slow numbness, she got to her feet excessively sluggish, yet stalked forward with the grace of a panther, as a trail of blood dripped down her back.

"Akuma, you dare not know your place in this world?!" She spoke softly, but snarled the word 'Akuma,' acting as though it were an unpleasant ailment.

Eliade watched, alarmed, as the stigma atop Kagome's forehead formed. Along with the darkening of skin, the Noah's eyes widened to the point of insanity, as a matching smirk lined her ash-skin cheeks. Fangs exposed, Kagome grinned wickedly whilst raising a hand to cover a portion of her face.

"I've had enough," she hissed, laughing, walking even closer, "of you, this Castle, the village. I want it stop. It will end… Now!"

If possible, her smirk widened, by a twice-fold, which elicited a terrifying shriek from Eliade.

"Noah-sama!"

"Shut your mouth!" With little consideration, Kagome grasped Eliade by the arm, her grip not once wavering. Laughing softly, her hands swiftly glimmer a vibrant shade of fuchsia, which Eliade recognized all too well… it was Dark Matter.

That meant one thing: Noah-sama intended to kill her.

Eliade's face paled. "You wouldn't," she hissed. "Noah-sama, you wouldn't dare kill me."

"And why not?" she decided to humour the woman. "You've insulted my family, and attempted to kill my friends along with myself. If that doesn't count for something, then I don't know what will." She giggled again. That laugh sent tremors of fear down Eliade's already frozen spine.

"And, if I don't kill you, I'm sure someone else would love to." Kagome continued her Noah-self loving the sight of the frightened Akuma. "As well, what would Earl-sama say?" She tapped her chin with her free hand. "If we decided to play fair and present this 'case' to him, who do you think he would believe? You, a lowly Akuma, or me, his Beloved 'Superior' as you called my family and me earlier? Hmm?" she licked her lips, tasting her own blood.

Eliade kept quiet; her silence acting as her answer.

Kagome smirked, "Precisely." Raising a gloved hand to Eliade's throat, she mouthed one word before another explosion of light burst within the Castle.

"Goodnight."

And with that, both females fell forward, slipping into a warm yet uninvited darkness.


The entire Castle burst into a massive set of flames. Allen and Lavi watched, beyond dishevelled and shaken, as Arystar Krory walked towards them, smiling softly. Eyes lined with partial tears, he carried an unconscious Kagome in his arms, not once looking back at the Castle.

Wordlessly, Allen took Kagome from Krory's arms, struggling slightly, yet refusing to budge as he kept the girl within his firm hold.

Lavi whistled. "Take a look at Kago-chan." Drench in blood, sweat, dirt and more blood, Kagome was a mess. Her uniform was torn to shreds, in part from the fire and their previous fights. Her hair, which had been secured into a firm bun prior to the commencement of their mission, was long destroyed, enabling her ebony locks to flow down her whole backside.

Allen heaved a sigh, leaning his head against hers. "I think we had better leave."

Nodding, Lavi helped Allen straighten Kagome in her arms. Meanwhile, Krory turned back towards the Castle. "Allen, I will adhere to your words, and continue to fight Akuma." His bottom lip trembled. "For the sake of Eliade… I will continue to live."

Allen smiled softly. "I'm happy to hear that, Krory." Then, without another word, the three men walked away from the burning structure, Allen carrying their unconscious female partner with them.

Trekking back to the village, Allen looked down and studied Kagome. Her breathing, although faint, along with the slow rise of her chest, were the only two indicators of her being alive. Allen frowned. Kagome-chan, what happened back there? After having witnessed Krory catapult Kagome into the Castle wall furthest from them, Allen battled the Lord. The two fought long and hard, but were eventually joined by Lavi. Together, Allen and Lavi managed to deliver a powerful set of attacks and combinations, which left the Lord defenceless. Prepared to finish the fight, a feminine scream erupted which took all three by surprise.

"Eliade!" Krory had swiftly run past the exorcists in an attempt to locate the screams of his lover.

Allen remembered standing there, confused, before Lavi grabbed him by the collar and literally hoisted him over the shoulder to land onto Ozuchi Kozuchi, his Innocence. Lavi had then commanded the hammer to extend, and in the blink of an eye, the duo was following Krory.

When they reached the room where the scream emanated from, they were greatly by a ghastly sight. There stood not Eliade, but an Akuma, partially transformed with half of her left arm and the right side of her face disintegrated. She struggled to stand, while lying just inches from her was a lifeless Kagome, surrounded in a pool of her own blood.

KAGOME-CHAN!

It was at that point, that the second half of the battle commenced, which ended with Arystar Krory killing the one he loved most, Eliade. Allen and Lavi did their part to stop the Akuma attack, but ultimately it was Krory who finalized the battle, making the exorcists victorious through killing Eliade.

Allen shook his head, slightly shifting Kagome in his arms. Although he was happy the mission was finished, and even more grateful that they had managed to discover another exorcist, Allen, no matter how hard he tried, could not forget the sight of Kagome lying on her side, not moving while blood continued to pour from her wounds.

Kagome-chan… Subconsciously, his hold around her limp form remained strong; firm yet gentle. I don't ever want to see you that way again. Eyes lining with fresh tears, the young exorcist bit on the sides of his cheeks in an attempt to reduce the chance of crying. Ignoring the dubious look from Lavi, who seemed to sense his wavering stance, and Krory's look of sheer curiosity, he quickened his pace, pushed past them, and marched towards the village.


Author's Note: Finally finished the Krory ark. Comments, thoughts and suggestions are appreciated. In the next chapter, Kagome will also reunite with her Noah family. :)

Thanks for reading.